USA > Michigan > Genesee County > History of Genesee County, Michigan, Her People, Industries and Institutions, Volume II > Part 21
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general advancement of the city's interests in the way of better public im- provement, better streets and better community life generally. He has taken a prominent part in the local work of the Young Men's Christian Associa- tion. of which he is president, and was chairman of the executive committee and a leader in the recent "whirlwind" campaign for the raising of one hun- dred and twelve thousand dollars for the erection of a new building for the association in Flint. He is a member of the Country Club at Flint, of the Detroit Club and of the Detroit .Athletic Club, as well as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Society of Automobile Engineers. He is a Scottish-Rite Mason, a Knight Templar, a noble of the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, and is a member of the Bene- volent and Protective Order of Elks, the Loyal Order of Moose and the United Spanish War Veterans. He is a member of the Episcopal church. being a vestryman at St. Paul's church in Flint.
On June 14, 1900, at New York City, Charles S. Mott was married to Ethel C. Harding, daughter of Herbert and Aimee (Culbert) Harding, of New York, and to this union three children have been born: Aimee, born April 15, 1902: Elza Beatrice, November 14, 1904. and Charles Stewart Harding, November 4, 1906, all born in Utica, New York. The Motts have one of the most beautiful homes in Flint.
RAY N. ANTHONY.
One of the young farmers of Clayton township who is making good in his chosen vocation is Ray N. Anthony, who has wisely decided to remain amid rural scenes instead of casting his lot in some city or town, as so many farmer boys are doing, the majority of whom see their mistake after it is too late. Mr. Anthony was born on the farm where he is now living, March 21, 1884, a son of Herbert and Hattie ( White) Anthony. The father was born in England, and when four years of age his parents brought him to the United States, the family locating in Oakland county, Michigan, where Herbert grew to manhood, attended school and was married. His wife was also born in England and when young came with her parents to the United States, her family also locating in Oakland county, Michigan, where she grew up and went to school. After their marriage, Herbert Anthony and wife came at once to Genesee county and located in Clayton township, buy- ing one hundred and sixty acres and there they have continued to reside to
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the present time, having developed a good farm by their industry and close application. To these parents five children have been born, all living, namely : Minnie, who is the wife of Frank Freeman, of Flushing, this county; May, wife of William Brooks, of Venice township, this county; Myrtle, wife of Roy Hardin, of Clayton township; Ray N., the subject of this sketch, and Lizzie, wife of Lewis Brooks, of Vernon township.
Herbert Anthony has been a life-long Republican, and has been more or less active in local public affairs. He was at one time clerk of Clayton township and also served as township supervisor. Fraternally, he is a mem- ber of Flushing Lodge No. 223, Free and Accepted Masons, and has been a member of the order for more than forty years.
Ray N. Anthony grew up on the home farm and received his education in the district schools and in the Flushing high school. He has remained on the homestead which he now successfully operates keeping the land well cultivated and well improved. He owns eighty acres lying just east of the homestead in section 16 and also farms the one hundred and seventy acres which constitutes the homestead. He raises a good grade of live stock, especially cattle.
On September 11, 1907, Ray N. Anthony was married to Eva Harding, a daughter of James and Electa Harding of Clayton township, where Mrs. Anthony was born, reared and educated. To this union two children have been born, Lloyd F., born on July 31, 1908, and Ilene, October 10, 1915.
Mr. Anthony is a member of Lennon Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
FRANK M. VAN SLYKE.
Frank M. Van Slyke, a farmer and carpenter, of Flint township, was born in Genesee county on March 28, 1844, the son of William and Betsey E. (Rogers) Van Slyke, were natives of the state of New York, who were married on February 10, 1835. Two of their children. William and Mary, ยท were horn in that state.
In 1840 William Van Slyke and family came to Michigan and located on the farm in Flint township, this county. The place was undeveloped, but by hard work and much energy the tract of eighty acres was cleared and soon ready for cultivation. Mr. Van Slyke was a great reader and became well posted. He took much interest in education and did much to better the condition of the schools of the township. William and Betsey Van Slyke
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were the parents of ten children, William, Eliza, Martha, Martin, Julia, Franklin, Sarah, Amelia, Mary and Hattie.
Frank M. Van Slyke was reared on the home farm and attended the district schools during the winters, until he was eighteen years of age. He worked for his father until he was twenty-six years of age. On December 25, 1871. he married Nellie Pratt, a native of Orleans county, New York. At the age of nine she came with her parents to this county, the family settling in Burton township. where she lived until her marriage. After their marriage, Mr. Van Slyke rented the farm of his father-in-law for twenty-five years. He then bought a farm in Flint township, where the family lived for eight years. Mrs. Van Slyke died in the fall of 1898.
To Frank M. and Nellie Van Slyke were born four children, namely : Zula, born on May 9. 1873, is the wife of Albert Quartermass; Alvin, December 13, 1879, served for a time in the Spanish-American War, and died in Cuba of yellow fever: Bessie, July 20, 1886, is the wife of George Taylor, of Flint, and Harry, June 23, 1888, who died at the age of eight years.
Politically, Mr. Van Slyke is a Democrat and has served his township on the school board for twelve years. He has always been active in local politics.
EDWARD BURROUGH.
All honor is due the pioneers of Genesee county, only a few of whom are left to thrill us with stories of other days. Wild was the region into which they came. Its forests stood in their primeval strength, the prairie land was still unbroken, and the Indians still roamed through the woodlands, seeking the deer and other varieties of game which could then be found in abundance. Edward Burrough, of Forest township, while not so early a pioneer as some, yet figured in the early development of this locality. He was born in the parish of Luppitt, in Devonshire, England, March 16, 1833. and is a son of Richard and Elizabeth (Farmer) Burrough, both natives of that same locality, where they were reared on farms, and where they were married and lived and died. The father was a farmer and butcher. Their family consisted of ten children, of whom Edward was the seventh in order of birth and eight of whom grew to maturity.
Edward Burrough grew up on the home farm and helped his father with the work of the same during his boyhood. and also learned the butcher
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business under his father. In 1855, when twenty-one years old, he emi- grated to Canada, having saved enough hy economy to pay his passage across the Atlantic. Arriving in Toronto he found work in a butcher shop, where he remained nearly a year, at the end of which time he quit and went to Collingwood, Canada, where he worked nine months, then returned to Eng- land, where he married Anne Baker, who was born and reared in the vicinity of his boyhood home. They soon set sail for the British dominion across the sea and located in London. Ontario, where Mr. Burrough fol- lowed his trade of butcher for a short time, and then went to Detroit, hav- ing met a man from Detroit who induced him to come to Michigan. After remaining a short time in Detroit he moved to Pontiac, working as a butcher, thence to the Pennsylvania oil fields, in which he spent eighteen months. His health failing he sold out his interests there and returned to Pontiac, and in a short time came on to Flint, and entered the meat business, the place being but a village at that time. After conducting his shop two years he bought the old Beesley brewery which he operated four or five years, then sold out. Meanwhile he had purchased his present farm of two hundred and sixty acres in Forest township, where he has since resided and has been one of the leading general farmers and stock raisers of his township. Although past his eighty-third year Mr. Burrough is still active and well preserved. The last few years he has been very successful in a business way.
Mr. Burrough has five children, living, namely: A. J., Frank W. and Charles W., of Michigan : Eva, the wife of C. C. Wright, of Birmingham, Saskatchewan, and Alice, widow of Thomas Crocker, of Flint. The wife of Mr. Burrough died in 1868, and he has never remarried. His niece, Bessie M. Skinner. a native of England, has heen his housekeeper for some time. Politically, Mr. Burrough is a Democrat. He served as township supervisor for one year.
E. A. SEELEY.
There is no question but that the simple life, of which one hears so much about nowadays, is the best life, whether lived in the country or the city. But it is in the former that it can, unquestionably, be carried into bet- ter effect. The man who is not contented on his farm has many things to learn yet about life. E. A. Seeley, of Thetford township, is one of the
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farmers of Genesee county who finds life pleasant and worth while and has no desire to assume the burdens of the city dweller. He was born in Genesee township, this county, June 1, 1842, and is therefore among the oldest living native-born citizens in this locality, and during his residence here of over three score and ten years he has seen many important changes, for the country was a wilderness when he was a boy. He is a son of Oren and Selina (Andrews) Seeley, early pioneers of Genesee county. The father was born in Orleans county, New York, and was of English descent. His wife was a native of Yates county, New York. They grew up in their native state, both being reared on farms, and were married there. After their marriage they settled on a farm in Orleans county, that state, where they lived until removing to Genesee county, Michigan, in 1840. Here they bought forty acres of timber land, on which they spent one year; then returned to New York, but came back to Michigan in 1842. Shortly after returning here their son, E. A., was born. They added another forty acres to their first purchase and continued to live here the rest of their lives. Nine children were born to them, four of whom are now living, namely: Harriet, widow of E. B. Clapp, lives in Forest township, this county; E. A., the sub- ject of this sketch; Daniel H., who lives in Genesee township, and William, who also lives in that township.
E. A. Seeley grew up on the home farm where, like all pioneer children, he worked hard when he became of proper age. He received a limited edu- cation in the early district schools, attending school in a log house with fire- place, greased paper for window panes, puncheon floors and seats. He remained at home until he was nineteen years of age, then worked out for two or three years, but gave his earnings to his father; then began life for himself, working out by the month. He saved his money and finally rented E. B. Clapp's farm in Thetford township for one year, then became owner of a good farm of eighty acres on which he has since lived, known as "Sunny- side Farm." He has added to his holdings and now owns in all three hun- dred and forty-one acres in Thetford township. Mr. Seeley has made it all by hard work and good management and has long been regarded as one of the leading general farmers and stock raisers of his township.
On March 7, 1865, F. A. Seeley was married to Hattie C. Drudge, who was born in the state of New York, a daughter of Henry and Mary Drudge, who, when she was ten years old, came to Michigan, the family locating on a farmi in Thetford township, this county, where she attended school and grew to womanhood. To Mr. and Mrs. Seeley two children have been born, Jennie May, who is the wife of Calvin Jobson, of Clio, this county, and
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LeRoy B., who married Theresa Brown and lives on his father's farm. Politically, Mr. Seeley is a Democrat. He has served as postmaster in his township and also as a member of the board of review.
HERMAN H. PIERSON.
One of the enterprising young farmers and stock raisers of Burton town- ship is Herman H. Pierson, who was born in Mt. Morris township, October 26, 1879, a son of Barrett and Sophia Marilla (Maxwell) Pierson. F
Barrett Pierson was born in Mt. Morris township, November 17, 1843, and grew up on the home farm and was educated in the early public schools. He remained at home until he was nineteen years old, when he enlisted in Company F, Fourth Michigan Cavalry, and served faithfully for the Union. He was one of the men that guarded the wagon which brought Jefferson Davis back north after the head of the rebellious confederacy had fled into Georgia at the close of the war. He saw much hard service, being injured once severely, from the effects of which he never recovered. After being honorably discharged and mustered out in August, 1865, he returned to Michigan and in 1867 settled on one hundred and sixty acres of wild land in section 3. Mt. Morris township, Genesee county, which he cleared and developed into a good farm and was living there when he married Sophia M. Maxwell, December 25, 1871. She was born near Syracuse, New York, of Scotch parentage. When Sophia Maxwell was a baby her parents moved to White Lake, Oakland county, Michigan, and there cleared up and developed a farm on which she grew to womanhood and attended school. She came of a well educated family.
In 1887, Barrett Pierson sold his farm in Mt. Morris and moved to Burton township, buying a farm in section 27, where he lived until 1914, when he moved to Flint, living retired in that city until his death on May 28, 1915. Politically lie was a Republican and active in party affairs. He cast his first vote for Lincoln, while a soldier in the Civil War and his last for Taft, having remained faithful to his party during his whole life, of which fact he was very proud. His family consisted of four children, namely: William S., who lives in Flint, born on November 29, 1872; Margaret C., wife of Charles Howland, living in Pontiac, Michigan, was born on March 12, 1875; Samnel Maxwell, who also lives in Pontiac, was born on April 6, 1877, and Herman H., the subject of this sketch.
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Herman H. Pierson grew to manhood on the home farm and was edu- cated in the public schools. He lived at home until his marriage on Decem- ber 15, 1900, to Alice Elizabeth Morrish, a daughter of Charles A. and Jen- nie ( McAllister ) Morrish, of Burton township, where Mrs. Pierson grew up and attended school. After his marriage Mr. Pierson moved on a farm across the road from that of his father, where he resided until in 1914, when he moved to his father's estate, where he now resides and where he is mak- ing a success as a general farmer and stock raiser.
Politically, Mr. Pierson is a Republican and he has always taken an interest in public affairs. In 1904 he was a delegate to the state convention. which nominated the last governor nominated by a convention. He was supervisor of his township from 1911 to 1914. He is a member of Flint Lodge No. 23, Free and Accepted Masons, and of Burton Center Grange No. 1072.
HON. JOHN JAY CARTON.
Hon. John Jay Carton, senior member of the law firm of Carton, Bray & Stewart at Flint, president of the National Bank of Flint, former county clerk of Genesee county, former speaker of the Michigan House of Repre- sentatives, president of the Michigan state constitutional convention in 1907 and for many years an active factor in the civic and business life of this part of the state, is a native son of Genesee county and has lived here all his life. He was born on a farm in Clayton township. November 8, 1856, son of John and Ann ( Maguire) Carton, natives of Ireland, the former born in County Wexford and the latter in County Monaghan, early and influential residents of Clayton township and whose last days were spent in the city of Flint.
John Carton grew to manhood in Ireland and then, in company with his two brothers, William and Peter Carton, came to the United States. locating in New York City, where they worked for a short time, after which they went to Batavia, New York. as wood choppers in the employ of a MIr. Pendill, who had a contract to furnish wood for the locomotives of the New York Central railroad. In 1837 Mr. Pendill made considerable investments in Michigan timber land, among the tracts which he bought being the north- west quarter of section 9, in the township of Clayton, in Genesee county. The Carton brothers bought the same, chopping cord-wood at about thirty cents a cord to pay for it. After paying for this land. they came here from Batavia and settled on it, built a log shanty and began to clear it for cultiva-
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tion. Peter Carton died not long afterward and when William Carton caught the "gold fever" and went to California shortly after the opening of the gold fields there in 1849. John Carton came into full possession of the place. On June 2, 1851, he married Anna Maguire, who had come from Ireland and settled in Flint not long before. She went to live with him on the farm where he had established his home and which he continued to improve, even- tually bringing it to a high state of cultivation, and there he and his wife lived, rearing their family, until the spring of 1891, when they retired from the active labors of the farm and moved to Flint, where they spent the rest of their lives, John Carton dying in 1892. at the age of eighty-five years. His widow survived him a little less than three years, her death occurring on September 30, 1895, she then being seventy-three years of age. John Carton and his wife were members of the Catholic church and their children were reared in that faith. There were thirteen of these children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the fourth in order of birth, the others being as follow : William, deceased; Peter, of Flint; Anna L., who died unmar- ried at Dallas, Texas; Mae, who died unmarried in 1915; Luke, of Kal- kaswa, this state; Frank R., of British Columbia; Isabelle, wife of James L. Daly, of Flint; Augustus C., of Lansing; James C., also of Lansing, and three who died in childhood.
John Jay Carton was reared on the old home farm in Clayton town- ship, receiving his schooling in the district school in the neighborhood of his home and in the high school at Fhishing, and during the winters from 1873 to 1877 taught school in that vicinity. In the latter year he began clerking in a store at Flushing and was thus engaged until his election to the office of county clerk in 1880. Mr. Carton served as clerk of the court of Genesee county for four years, 1881-85, meanwhile devoting his leisure to the study of law, and in 1884 was admitted to the bar. Upon the completion of his term of public service he formed a partnership for the practice of law with Judge George H. Durand at Flint, under the firm name of Durand & Caston, and this mutually agreeable association continued until the death of Judge Durand in 1903, after which Mr. Carton associated with himself in practice Everett L. Bray, under the firm name of Carton & Bray, which continued until 1913, when William C. Stewart was admitted to the firmn, since which time the firm has been Carton, Bray & Stewart.
Mr. Carton is a Republican and, in addition to the public service as clerk of the court. above referred to, he has served in several other import- ant capacities. During 1890 and 1891 he was city attorney of Flint and in 1808 was elected representative from this district to the Michigan state Leg-
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islature and was re-elected in 1900 and 1902. thus serving during the ses- sions of 1899. 1901 and 1903. during the latter two of which sessions he was speaker of the House. He was elected delegate from this district to the state constitutional convention in 1907 and was honored by his confreres in that distinguished body by election as president of the convention. Mr. Carton is a member of the American Bar Association, of the Michigan State Bar Association and of the Genesee County Bar Association and has served as president of the two latter organizations. In 1890 he was elected presi- dent of The First National Bank of Flint, was continned as president of that concern's successor, The National Bank of Flint. and he was formerly vice- president of the Weston-Mott Company. Mr. Carton is a thirty-third-degree Mason: was grand master of the grand lodge of Michigan, Free and .\c- cepted Masons, in 1896, and is an active member of the supreme council of sovereign grand inspectors-general, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, and deputy for Michigan.
On November 22, 1898. John J. Carton was united in marriage to Mrs. Addie C. Pierson, daughter of Charles and Cornelia Wager. natives of New York state, the former of whom is now living retired at Waterford, in Oak- land county, this state. Mrs. Carton is a member of the Presbyterian church.
L. C. SUTHERLAND.
Among the enterprising men of affairs of Genesee county is L. C. Suther- land, proprietor of the Argentine boat works. He has met and overcome obstacles that would have discouraged many men of less determination and won a position of no little importance in the body politic. He was born at Argentine on September 16, 1852, and is a son of G. G. and Sarah E. (Haw- ley) Sutherland. The father was born in Geneva, New York, in 1825. He was of English descent, although his parents came to the United States from Ireland, settling in New York state. G. G. Sutherland was but a boy when he accompanied his parents from Geneva, New York, to Detroit, Mich- igan. Later the family moved to a farm in Deerfield township, Livingston county, and were among the early pioneers there, the country thereabout then still being the domain of the redman, there being very few white settlers. When fifteen years old G. G. Sutherland was bound out to a man named Goundrell, in Detroit, to learn the wagon- and carriage-maker's trade. He served his time there and in 1846 came to Genesee county, being one of the
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first settlers at Argentine or in that locality. He erected a shop on the banks of North creek, the present site of the village of Argentine, and followed his trade until his death in 1896. His wife, Sarah E. Hawley Sutherland was born in Seneca, New York, and was a young girl when her parents moved to Ohio, later to Detroit, Michigan, where her father, Sidney M. Hawley, worked at the shoemaker's trade one year, then moved to Deer- field township, Livingston county, in 1837, about the time the Sutherland family moved there. Mr. Hawley took up land from the government and lived there forty years or more, then moved to Fenton, this county, where he spent the rest of his life, meeting death under a train at the age of eighty years. The parents of the subject of this sketch were married in Deerfield township, Livingston county. They located in Argentine about 1846 and G. G. Sutherland was actively engaged in business there until his death. His widow survived him twenty years, dying on April 21, 1916, at the advanced age of eighty-seven years. To these parents six children were born, five of whom are still living, namely: Emma J., who is the wife of Fred Moran, of Argentine township; L. C., the subject of this sketch; Frank A., who lives in Flint ; Fred G., who lives in Cadillac, and Dr. Bert G. Sutherland, who is practicing dentistry at Owosso.
L. C. Sutherland received liis education in the Argentine schools and when but a boy began learning his trade in his father's shop, in due course of time becoming a highly-skilled workman. He formed a partnership with his father, and about 1890 they established a boat-building business. The father had purchased the water right there in 1857 and at his death the son took active charge of the business, which he has since conducted with ever- growing success. He finds a very ready market for his products owing to the superior quality and workmanship of his boats. He has a modernly equipped shop and employs a number of good mechanics.
On June 13, 1878, L. C. Sutherland was married to Eva Whalen, a daughter of James Whalen, who died in the autumn of the next year, leav- ing one son, Everett L. Sutherland, who was graduated from the Linden high school and is now a minister of the Methodist Protestant church at Dice, in Saginaw county. In January, 1883, Mr. Sutherland married Lulu B. Church, of Tyrone, Michigan, and to this second union three children have been born, Lena L., who was graduated from Linden high school, and is the wife of Leonard Stiff, of Fenton township, this county; Grace G., who also was graduated from the Linden high school and is the wife of Fred Hetchler, of Linden, and Ruth, who was graduated from the Michigan
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