USA > Michigan > Lenawee County > History and biographical record of Lenawee County, Michigan, Volume I > Part 10
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1st. Marian, born in Romulus, Seneca county, New York, July 1st, 1808; married, November 18th, 1829, Asher Stevens, who died November 18th, 1847. She died March 7th, 1863. They are buried at Fort Amanda, Ohio.
2d. Russell, born in Romulus, New York, August 30th, 1810; married, November 16th, 1831, Angeline Rogers, and resides in the township of Rome, this county.
3d. Abel, born in Romulus, New York, July 26th, 1813;
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married, October 27th, 1836, Sarah Ann Budlong, and now resides in the city of Adrian.
4th. Rebecca, born in Shelby, Orleans county, New York, July 22d, 1815; married, March 1st, 1833, Edmund Burris Brown; he died and she married second, in 1852, Cornelius Cline, and now lives at Nottawa, St. Joseph county.
5th. James born in Shelby, Orleans county, New York, January 30th, 1818; was never married; died in 1850.
6th. William Augustus, born in Shelby, Orleans county, New York, April 21st, 1820; married, September 14th, 1847, Ellen Maria Bixby, and resides in the city of Adrian.
7th. Benjamin, born August 10th, 1822; married, November 5th, 1845, Minerva Daniels; she died and he married second, March 1st, 1857, Margaret Josephine Amstrong, and now lives in Duchouquet, Ohio.
8th. Sarah, born in Shelby, Orleans county, New York, May 17th, 1825; married, May 1st, 1851, William V. R. M. Layton ; he died in 1879; she resides at Wapakoneta, Ohio. The following account of Mr. Whitney's journey from New York to Michigan, appeared in the Adrian Times and Expositor of June 8th, 1878 :
"HALF A CENTURY .- In the fall of 1827, Captain James Whitney, an early settler of Orleans county, New York, sold his farm, and soon after started for the then far away and wilderness territory of Michigan, in search of a new home. After visiting several sections he came to Adrian, before any surveying or platting of lots had been done, and purchased on the west side of the Raisin four hundred acres of heavy timbered land, and in May, 1828, started with his family by way of the Erie Canal to Buffalo, and from thence by steamer Niagara, Captain William L. Pease, commander, for Detroit, thence by schooner, commanded by Captain Luther Harvey, to Monroe, where he purchased teams (having brought wagons with him) and again took up his march for Adrian, which, at that time, was as far west as any road had been opened east of the Mississippi, or any settlements made with the exception of military and missionary stations, the whole western country being in possession of the Indians. After a tedious journey through mud, woods and water, he arrived at his destination, the then embryo city of Adrian, with his wife and eight children, two of whom were Abel and William A. Whitney, who for the first time, fifty years ago to-day, saw the place where at this time there are nearly ten thousand inhabitants, and they the two oldest male residents within its corporate limits. So much for time and progress in the space of fifty years."
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BEL WHITNEY, son of James and Mary (Frisbie) Whitney, was born in Romulus, New York, July 26th, 1813. Before he was a year old, his parents moved to Orleans county, New York, and again, in the spring of 1828,
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
removed to Adrian. In the summer of 1831, in company with his brother-in-law, Asher Stevens and Richard M. Lewis, he made a journey into Ohio as far as Greenville, traveling in a south- westerly direction from Adrian, striking Bean Creek a few miles above where Morenci now stands; following down that stream to the Maumee river, and before any settlements had been made, more than about three miles south of Adrian, crossing the Maumee at Defiance and up the Auglaize river through a wilder- ness country, to Wapakoneta and St. Mary's to Greenville for the purchase of cattle. Returning, they swam their stock, some two hundred head, across the Maumee and other streams on the route. In the fall of the same year he engaged with Messrs. Finch and Skeels, as clerk in a store where a general assortment of merchandize was kept, such as dry goods, crockery, hardware, groceries, etc. In 1832 the firm of Finch and Skeels having dissolved, at the suggestion of Mr. Asahel Finch, one of the above firm, he opened a grocery store in the summer of 1833, having cut and hauled the logs to mill during the winter of '32-3, for the lumber necessary for building a place in which to do business. The same building is now standing nearly opposite the Masonic Temple, and is owned by Joseph C. Jones.
building he saw the meteors or shooting stars of November, 1833. In 1834 he sold out to Mr. Anson Clark, who came here from Monroe, and in 1835, in company with Mr. Asahel Finch, built a building known in after years as the Hance school building, in which they opened a general assortment of drugs and medicines, the first of the kind in the place; he again sold out to Mr. Finch and speculated for a time in land. He married, October 27th, 1836, Miss Sarah Ann Budlong, daughter of Doctor Daniel and Martha (Campbell) Budlong. Their only child, Augustus Harvey, born January 4th, 1841, died May 10th, 1859. In the spring of 1837 he formed a partnership with his brother-in-law, Alfred W. Budlong, in the dry goods trade, and went to New York early in the spring, by way of Cleveland, Pittsburg and Philadelphia, for the purchase of goods, traveling by stage from Toledo to Pittsburg; canal and short sections of railroad between Pittsburg and Philadelphia; steam boat and stage from Philadelphia to New York; and returned by Hudson river steamer to Albany, and Albany and Schenectady railroad and Erie Canal to Buffalo; stage again to Erie, Pennsylvania, and steamboat to Toledo, and again Erie and Kalamazoo railroad to Adrian, making the time from Adrian till his return, about six weeks. He sold out to his partner the same year, and in the winter of 1837-8, in company with Silas Crane, contracted with the Commissioner of the Michi-
From the upper story of this
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gan Southern railroad, General Levi S. Humphrey, to furnish the super-structure for two miles of road, it being the first work done on the Southern road west of the city of Monroe, and in the spring of 1838, again in company with Mr. Crane, contracted with the Commissioner to build the road from Leroy bridge to Adrian, including the clearing of the ground to the laying of the iron, building bridges, culverts, etc. They opened a grocery and provision store in connection with their railroad work, sent parties as far as Springfield, Illinois, for the purchase of a drove of hogs which was driven on foot to this place and slaughtered on the present fair grounds, to supply their men and citizens with meat. After completing his railroad contract he entered into partnership with Mr. Henry Hart in the dry goods trade, and again in 1842, sold out to Mr. Hart, and in 1843, was appointed postmaster and held the office till 1849, during which time he formed a partner- ship with Mr. Hart in the foundry business, and continued in the same for several years. In 1849, he was in company with Mr. Hiram Dawes in the forwarding and. commission business on the Southern railroad, till the company commenced to own their own warehouses; he then engaged in the buying and selling of grain which he continued till the spring of 1857. From 1843 to 1854 he was an active and influential member of the Democratic party, participating in nearly every State, county and congressional convention during those years, but never presented himself as a candidate for office or favors from his party ; he has been asked to allow his name to be used for the legislature, mayor of the city, and supervisor, but steadily declined any propositions of the kind as he had no aspirations for such honors, preferring to work for the public interest in an individual way. He was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, held in Baltimore in 1852, which nominated Franklin Pierce for the Presidency; but becom- ing dissatisfied with his party on the question of slavery, he ceased his activity in its behalf. In 1860, he was a Douglas man, and without his previous knowledge, was nominated by the party for the office of sheriff of Lenawee county, but as the Republicans, at that time, had a large majority in the county, no one on his ticket was elected. He voted for Abraham Lincoln at his second election in 1864, and has since been an ardent supporter of the republican party. During the war of the rebellion he acted efficiently with the friends of the Union, aiding largely with his means in filling the different quotas of men for the army, and assisting the aid society in forwarding supplies to the soldiers in the field. He was treasurer of the soldiers' bounty fund for the city, spending his time without compensation and contributing
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means to prevent a draft becoming necessary. When many despaired of eventual success in the efforts of the North to subdue the rebellion, he loaned a large sum of money to the city at a low rate of interest, for the times, in order that men might be found and paid to fill the calls for soldiers to fight the enemies of freedom and save the Nation's life. He was a member of the board of trustees of our public schools from 1859 to 1868, having been three times elected its president, and largely aided with his time and experience in erecting three of the best school buildings in the State and in systematizing the schools, devoting a large share of his time to their service without remuneration, other than the satisfaction of having aided in permanently and successfully establishing a school system so well calculated to benefit and prepare for usefulness, the children of the present and coming generations. In 1840 the Presbyterian society selected him to obtain subscriptions, collect the same, contract for material and work for the present church edifice, which he did, superintending the same as if it had been his private residence; and in 1854 he was again authorized by the society to make an addition of thirty feet to the length of the church, all of which was done under his in- dividual direction, being attended with large outlays of money by himself, and although he is not a church member, he has, for forty years, been a large contributor to church expenses, and many years an active member of the board of trustees. He was, for a long time, a trustee of Adrian college, and contributed largely to its material prosperity, having on two occasions given it as much as five hundred dollars at a time; was instrumental in its transfer from the Wesleyan, to the Protestant Methodist denomination, by which means it was relieved of serious embarrassment, and its prosperity and usefulness enlarged. In company with Mr. Henry Hart he originated the idea of providing a suitable resting place for the dead of the city, and in the winter of 1847-8 selected and purchased, of Mr. Addison J. Comstock, the first ground for that purpose, and has devoted a large amount of time to its improve- ment and enlargement, since, having had the supervision of its interests for more than fifteen years, being treasurer over twelve years and continues such at this date. The original purchase of about twenty-two acres has been increased to over ninety acres, and Oakwood cemetery at this time is the pride and boast of our citizens, as one of the handsomest in the state. He has been a stockholder and director in the Michigan State Insurance Company, the oldest stock company in the State, for fourteen years, and its vice-president. He raised the subscription to the stock of the First National Bank in 1872, and is a stockholder, director and its
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vice-president. He is stockholder, director and president of the Union Hall association, and was stockholder, director and vice- president of the State Savings Bank. He has bought and sold large amounts of real estate in this city and other places, as well as doing a considerable amount of building in Adrian, and in· Leavenworth, Kansas, where he held valuable investments, and has aided in the general improvement and beautifying of our city. It may be said with perfect safety and propriety, that no man ever lived in Adrian who has contributed, from his time and resources more for the general prosperity of the place than he has done. A lover of progress and good order; a friend to the worthy and unfortunate; an enemy to all schemes of fraud or dishonesty in public officials or those holding individual trusts or otherwise, of any kind or nature, seeking and working to improve the condition of mankind ; in fact, more of a benefactor than a hoarder of riches.
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UGUSTUS HARVEY WHITNEY, son of Abel and Sarah Ann (Budlong) Whitney, was born in Adrian, January 4th, 1841. He attended the public schools in this city, and assisted his father in business until about thirteen years of age, when he was sent to Monroe to attend a select school for boys, at Beardsley's Place, Connecticut. On his return to Adrian he was sent to Bell's commercial college, Chicago, where he graduated. From 1855 to 1857 he was clerk in the banking house of D. K. Underwood & Co., the firm being Underwood and Whitney, his father. In 1857 he was receiving and paying teller in the banking house of Messrs. Taylor & Kreigh, Chicago, where he was attacked with typhoid fever, followed by abscesses, and after fourteen months' illness, he died in Adrian, and was buried in Oakwood cemetery.
AVID BIXBY was born in Sutton, Worcester county, Massachusetts, February 19th, 1783. His father was a farmer and lived in Sutton, where he died, about the year 1800. He married his first wife in Sutton, by whom he had five children, when she died, and he married a second wife in Sutton, by whom David, the subject of this sketch, was born. His second wife also died, when he again married and lived several years
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
with his third wife, who was a kind step-mother to David. After her husband's death she lived with her husband's son, Samuel, a number of years, and afterwards resided with her own family friends until at the age of one hundred and one years she died, in the State of Maine. After the death of his father, David lived most of the time in the family of his half brother Samuel, until about the age of twenty. After leaving his brother he went to live with Deacon Waters, where he resided several years until he went to live with a Doctor Braman as a clerk in a dry goods store. He remained here a few years and went to Charlton, Massachusetts, where he commenced in the same business, for himself and continued it for a few years. He afterwards formed a co-partnership with Doctor Braman, his old employer. He was married to Miss Laura Foster, April 9th, 1811, at Charlton, where he resided about one year, when he went to Sutton and continued in the dry goods and grocery trade for about three years. He then disolved partnership with Braman, dividing the goods, and he went to Lester and opened a store where he continued for some three years, taking in a partner in the mean time, and afterwards selling out his interest to him. About the year 1815 he removed with his family to Genesee county, New York, and settled in Alexander on a rented farm, where he stayed for about one year, when he purchased a farm on the Tonnawanda creek, in the township of Batavia, remaining about three years and then he removed to Albion, Orleans county, and rented a hotel, which he kept for some three years. In the spring of 1827 he came to Michigan and purchased from the government, one hundred and twenty acres of land in the township of Adrian, about two miles
north-east of what is now the city of Adrian. He returned to Albion, New York, and continued hotel keeping until the fall of
the same year, when he moved his family to Adrian and settled on
his new farm. Before leaving New York State he wrote a letter to Darius Comstock to build him a log house, which he did, employing Allen Chaffee to superintend the job. After the house was built he wrote Mr. Bixby as follows: "Friend Bixby, I have built thee a house agreeable to thy request." After coming to Michigan, Mr. Comstock never presented his bill for building the house until Mr. Bixby had several times requested him so to do, which was only characteristic of the old "chief," as the Indians in those days called the noble old Quaker. Mr. Bixby lived in the log house until 1835, when he built the frame house which is now occupied by Mr. Sudborough, who owns part of the old farm. Up to this time Mr. and Mrs. Bixby were the parents of six children, as follows : Caroline A., born in Charlton, Massachusetts,
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January 13th, 1812; she married Joseph C. Warner, in Adrian, and now lives in Des Moines, Iowa. Emeline E., was born in Millburg, formerly Sutton, Massachusetts; she was married to Sumner F. Spofford in May, 1836, and died in Des Moines, Iowa, July 17th, 1878. Laura Jane, was born in Lester, Massachusetts, May 7th, 1817, and died in Adrian, Michigan, November 19th, 1835. Alonzo F., was born in Batavia, New York, July 6th, 1819, and was married to Miss Emma L. Keeney, of Adrian, and he died in Adrian, April 18th, 1870. Ellen M., was born in Albion, New York, April 6th, 1825; She. was married to William A. Whitney, September 14th, 1847, and now lives in Adrian. Laura Jane, (second), was born in Adrian, July 27th, 1834, and died July 13th, 1851. Mr. Bixby sold his farm in the year 1853 and came to the city and purchased the house and lot on State street, where he lived until his death. He was taken sick Wednesday night, December 28th, 1864, and died Wednesday morning, January 4th, 1865, at half-past one o'clock. His funeral was held at Christ church the following day, at two o'clock, P. M. His remains were buried with Masonic honors, on the family lot in Oakwood cemetery, Adrian, Michigan. Mrs. David Foster Bixby was born in Dudley, Worcester county, Massachusetts, January 25th, 1795. Her father, Abel Foster, was a teacher, farmer and hotel keeper. He was born in Dudley, October 7th, 1767, and died near Providence, Rhode Island, a hotel keeper, in the year 1819. Mrs. Bixby's great grand father Timothy Foster, and her grand father Timothy Foster, second, and his brother served in the revolutionary war, and their united services in that cause was sixty years. Her parents had nine children, four sons and five daughters, all of whom are dead except one brother and herself. Her mother's maiden name was Mary Tucker; she was born in Charlton, Massachusetts, and moved to Dudley, where they resided many years, until her husband died, and she died at Providence, in the year 1851. Mrs. Bixby is still living at the advanced age of eighty-five years at her home on State street, in the city of Adrian, Michigan.
SRAEL PENNINGTON was born in Perrinton, Monroe county, New York, November 17th, 1808. His father, John Pennington, was born in Stafford, Monmouth county, New Jersey, August 25th, 1778, where he lived until about the year 1800, when he moved to Monroe county, New York, and
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
purchased a farm in Perrinton. [See John Pennington's record.] Although he was not a birth-right member, he was for many years, up to the time of his death, an active member of the Society of Orthodox Friends. Israel Pennington, was the oldest child in his father's family, and came to Michigan with his parents in 1829, and has resided in Macon since that time. His brothers and sisters, four in number -- John, Joseph, Isaac, and Mrs. Mary Smith, all of whom reside in Macon, are the oldest residents of the township. In 1830 he located two hundred and forty acres of land in the present township of Dover, which he soon after sold. This was said to be the first land taken up in that township. Mr. Pennington has always been an active man, and has performed his full share of hard labor in developing and subduing the township from a wilderness. In 1832 he returned to his old home in Monroe county, New York. He took passage at Detroit on the the then new steamboat "Washington." During the passage down the lake the boat encountered a terrific storm and went to pieces on the Canada shore, near the lower end of Long Point. There were about thirty passengers aboard and only one life was lost, although they were at the mercy of the storm for over twenty- four hours. In the fall of 1835 he again went east, and during that winter made the tour of all the large eastern cities. Early in the spring of 1836 he spent some time in Washington, and daily visited both houses of Congress. There he saw Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John Quincy Adams, John C. Calhoun, James K. Polk, President Andrew Jackson, and all the great and noted men of those days. He also visited Mount Vernon. During his resi- dence in Macon, he has greatly assisted early settlers in examining, locating and exploring the country, having extended his trips into Clinton, Ionia and Ingham counties. He has always been an active politician, always on the side of freedom, being an early anti-slavery man; he was afterwards a "Free-soiler" and then a Republican. He has ever been a staunch temperance man, and was a member of the first temperance society organized in the county, in the winter of 1829-30. He started the first nursery in the county, and during the past forty years has sold large numbers of fruit trees. For many years he has been an active worker in the county agricultural society, and was, for nearly fifteen years, a director. In 1879 he was a delegate to the American Pomological convention, at Rochester, New York. He was appointed by the Michigan Pomological Society, and was present during the entire meeting. June 26th, 1844, he married Mrs. Hannah Dennis, daughter of John and Hannah Niblack, of Saline, Washtenaw county, Michigan, by whom he had four
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
children, as follows : Darius C., born April 22nd, 1845, a farmer of Macon; Baron H., born January 23rd, 1847, a farmer of Macon; Alma Zoe, born September 4th, 1851 ; at home. Mary H., born January 29th, 1855; at home. All of the children were born in Macon. The two sons are graduates of the State University, and the daughters are graduates of the high schools of Adrian and Ann Arbor. Mrs. Hannah Pennington was born in Sparta, Livingston county, New York, October 27th, 1810, and came to Michigan in 1832. In 1834 she was married to James H. Dennis, of Franklin, this county, by whom she had two sons, Hamilton J. and Frank J. Dennis, now residents of Leavenworth, Kansas. James H. Dennis died in Macon, March 7th, 1842.
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OHN PENNINGTON, JR., was born in Perrinton, Monroe county, New York, April 3rd, 1813. His father, John Pennington, was born in Stafford, Monmouth county, New Jersey, August 25th, 1778, where he lived until he was twenty years old, when he went to Monroe county, New York, where he was a pioneer. He purchased wild land there, which he improved and lived upon until the spring of 1829, when he sold out and came to Michigan. He was a brother-in-law of Darius Comstock, and in 1828 came to Michigan and located land in Raisin, near Mr. Comstock's. When he moved his family in 1829, he came from Detroit by the way of Ypsilanti and Saline, and while passing through the present town of Macon, he was very much pleased with the appearance of the country and the land in certain portions of Macon, and after getting his family settled in Raisin, came back along the " trail," as it was then called, and took up one hundred and sixty acres on sections five and eight, this being the first land located in the township, and Mr. Pennington was then the first and only settler between Tecumseh and Saline, a distance of about twelve miles. In September a part of his family moved into a shanty he erected, and during that winter he chopped off twenty- three acres, and the following spring, 1830, he plowed and planted a portion of it, being the first ground plowed and first crops planted in the township. Since that time Mr. Pennington or his family have continued to live in Macon. In 1830 he took up 160 acres of land adjoining his first purchase, and he afterwards took up 160 acres more. In 1806 he married Miss Hannah Willetts, daughter
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
of John and Mary Willetts, of Sussex county, New Jersey, by whom he had six children, John Jr., being the second child. Mrs. Hannah Pennington was born in New Jersey, of Quaker parents, January 31st, 1789, and died in Macon, March 26th, 1864. John Pennington died in Macon, December 29th, 1860. The village of Pennington's Corners was named after him, and is located on land he took up from the government. John Pennington Jr., came to Michigan with his father in 1829, when he was sixteen years of age, and has resided in Macon, on the same tract of land, ever since, now fifty years. He has always been a farmer, and has assisted, as much as one individual can assist, in clearing, subduing and improving the now beautiful township of Macon. He saw the township before there was a settler or a cabin within its present limits, and was present, ax in hand, and saw the first tree fall and helped roll the first log that comprised a part of the first shanty, and slept the first night under a brush roof, being one of the five who first went into the woods there for the purpose of procuring a home, and making Macon a part of the civilized, productive, habitable world. He still lives within sight of the very spot where he first commenced so long ago, and has witnessed the wonderful, almost magical, change from a vast unbroken wilderness, to broad fields, elegant houses, churches, school houses, intelligence, wealth and prosperity. Still, with all these evidences of advancement, he says some times as he is passing along the present highways or whirling over the railroads, his mind reverts back to the early, happy days, and things look curious to him. He has often been to Detroit with ox teams, through the woods, sleeping under the wagon and roasting salt pork on a stick, for breakfast. These things are more bright in his mind than anything that has occurred during the last thirty years. December 5th, 1839, he married Miss Mary A. Harriott, daughter of Robert and Sarah Harriott, of Macon, by who he had twelve children, as follows: Sarah E., born August 14th, 1843, wife of Wheeler Collins, of Macon; she died July 1st, 1870. Mary J., born June 25th, 1846, wife of J. H. Aton, of Tecumseh; she died February 22nd, 1869. Auletta, born June 10th, 1848, died January 27th, 1871. Elizabeth, born May 22nd, 1850, now the wife of T. P. Collins, of Saline; Elenore, born January 13th, 1852, now the wife of W. P. Cotton, of Macon; John M., born December 17th, 1854; at home. Lulia, born March 4th, 1856, died October 7th, 1864; May, born May 10th, 1858; at home. Baron F., born November 22d, 1861; at home. Ethel, born March 4th, 1866, at home. Two children died in infancy. All born in Macon, this county. Mrs. Mary A. Pennington was born
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