USA > Michigan > Genesee County > History of Genesee County, Michigan, Her People, Industries and Institutions, Volume II > Part 58
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Elijah A. Rockafellow was about five years of age when he came to this county with his parents and he grew to manhood here, from boyhood being an able assistant to his father in the blacksmith shop and foundry. In 1856 he took up a farm in Davison township and after his marriage about that time established his home there, living there until 1868, when he sold the farm and bought his father's foundry, which he traded in November of the next year for a farm west of the village of Atlas, where he lived until 1887, when he moved to Flint, where he lived until after the death of his wife in 1893, after which he made his home with his son, Emrie W., until his death on March 29, 1904. Elijah A. Rockafellow had for years taken an active part in public affairs, one of the local leaders of the Republican party in his community, and for four years served as highway commissioner. He was a member of Davison Lodge No. 236, Free and Accepted Masons, and took a warm interest in the affairs of that organ-
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ization. His wife, who before her marriage was Joan Burpee, was born in Atlas township, this county, January 22, 1837, daughter of Nehemiah S. and Sarah J. (Childs) Burpee, both natives of the state of Vermont, who were among the earliest settlers in this part of Michigan. Nehemiah S. Burpee was born at Chittenden, Vermont, June 29, 1807, son of Nathan and Lucinda Burpee, the former of whom, born at Westminster, Massa- chusetts, December 12, 1758, served as a soldier in the patriot army during the Revolutionary War, died at his home in this county on January 5, 1836. and is buried in the old burying ground east of Grand Blanc. Nehemiah S. Burpee married, at Rutland, Vermont, Sarah J. Childs, who was born there, daughter of Jacob and Nancy (Bowker) Childs, both natives of that same town, the former born on August 19, 1780, and the latter born in that same year, and in 1830 came to the Territory of Michigan and pre-empted the northwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section 18 in Atlas town- . ship, this county. The next year, 1831, he brought his family out here and established his home on that homestead tract. On June 5, 1833, he entered a claim to the southeast quarter of the same section and became one of the foremost pioneer farmers of that part of the county. There he spent the rest of his life, his death occurring in 1882, he then being eighty years of age. To Elijah A. and Joan (Burpee) Rockafellow four children were born, of whom the subject of this sketch was the first-born, the others being Ellis S., now living at Detroit; Francis I., who died at the age of ten days, and Edward C., who lives at Chicago.
Emrie W. Rockafellow was ten years old when his father moved from his homestead farm in Davison township to Atlas in 1868, and when his father traded the foundry for a farm west of the village the next year, moved with the family to that farm and there grew to manhood. In the spring of 1881 he married and continued to make his home on the old home place until 1891, when his father sold the farm and moved onto the Burpee farm at the west edge of the township of Atlas, which his mother's father had entered from the government, and there he followed farming until 1913, when he sold the place and moved to the village of Goodrich, where he ever since has made his home. During his residence on the old home farm and following his marriage, Mr. Rockafellow spent seven seasons "on the road," selling self-binder reaping machines and became one of the best-known agents in that line in this part of the state. During the two terms, 1902-03 and 1903-04, he served as treasurer of his home township and in 1908 was elected justice of the peace in and for that township. He was re-elected in
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1912 and again in 1916 and is now serving his third term in that important office. Squire Rockafellow is a Republican and has for years given close attention to local political affairs, frequently serving as a member of the county central committee of his party. In August, 1912, he was appointed to superintend the work of good roads in his section of the county and has had charge of that work in the district comprised in Atlas and Grand Blanc townships ever since. Squire Rockafellow is a member of the Masons, the Grange, the Maccabees and the Gleaners and takes a warm interest in the affairs of these organizations. In July, 1915, he re-opened the old hotel at Goodrich and has ever since been conducting the same, proving a very popular landlord.
It was on March 16, 18SI, that Emrie W. Rockafellow was united in marriage to Mahala C. Williams, who was born in Mundy township, this county, April 29, 1858, daughter of the Rev. Samuel A. and Cynthia S. (Gustin) Williams, both natives of Oswego county, New York, who came to this county before the days of the Civil War and spent their last days here. The Rev. Samuel A. Williams, for many years a well-known minister of the Free-Will Baptist church in this county, was a stone mason by trade and followed that vocation for a livelihood. He was born on August 30, 1826, and grew to manhood in his native county in New York and was twice married there. His first wife died within a year after her marriage, with- out issue, and on July 14, 1849, he married Cynthia S. Gustin, who was born in that same county, and in 1856 they came to Michigan and located in Mundy township, this county, where Mrs. Williams died in July, 1863, leaving six children, four sons and two daughters, John J., Samuel F., Aaron E., George W., Mahala C. and Sophronia S., of whom John, Samuel and George are now deceased; Aaron lives at Clio, this county; Sophronia, who is married, lives at Alma, in Gratiot county, and Mahala is the wife of Squire Rockafellow. On October 6, 1863, the Rev. Samuel A. Williams married Marie Anna Wilcox, who was born in Mundy township, this county, February 3, 1841, daughter of Charles and Matilda (Bentley) Wilcox, the former of whom was a farmer and cabinet maker there, and to that union three daughters and one son were born, namely: Alice A., wife of Mark Potter, of Burlingame, Kansas; Ida May, wife of William H. Sage, living near Durand; Ethel E., wife of James Burden, of Atlas township, and Elmer E., deceased. The Rev. Samuel A. Williams was a Royal Arch Mason. He died on August 2, 1903, and his widow is now making her home with her daughter, Mrs. Sage.
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FARMERS EXCHANGE BANK OF GRAND BLANC.
The Farmers Exchange Bank of Grand Blanc was organized on August I, 1907, as a private bank with Elmer H. Stone as president and general manager. Mr. Stone was the only local man interested in the bank, the other stockholders being C. J. Miller, W. L. Miller, John Miller and Dell Davison, of Swartz Creek ; Charles Chambers and A. T. Miller, of Flint, and Ira T. Sayre, of Flushing. After the death of Mr. Stone in 1912, Frank J. Sawyer, of Grand Blanc, was taken in as a director. About eighteen months later, March 10, 1914, five other men of Grand Blanc became inter- ested in the bank, namely: Alexander Gundry, I. E. Parsons, John Gainey, George Coggins and Frank M. Perry.
At a meeting of the stockholders held in March, 1914, the following officers were elected: Frank J. Sawyer, president ; Alexander Gundry, cashier : Ivan E. Parsons, secretary; Frank Perry, vice-president ; George Coggins, chairman of the loan board, and Floyd Larobardierre. assistant cashier. All of these officials are still serving in these capacities.
The bank is not an institution for the benefit of its stockholders, but it seeks to serve in every legitimate way the needs of the community. With a responsibility of $200,000 and deposits of $100,000, it may be seen that the bank shows a security of two dollars for every dollar it has on deposit. Such an institution merits the high esteem in which it is held by the com- munity it serves.
FRANK J. SAWYER.
Frank J. Sawyer, banker and farmer, of the village of Grand Blanc, this county, was born there, April 14, 1867, and has lived there all his life, the village occupying a portion of the farm on which he was born. He comes of a family that settled in Grand Blanc in the early days and left a definite and continuing influence for good thereabout, his grandfather, Col. Edward Sawyer, and his father, Edward Armand Sawyer, in their respective generations, having been among the most potent factors in the work of developing the resources of the southern part of Genesee county and of this part of the state in general.
Col. Edward Sawyer, the first of the family to come to Genesee county, was a native of New Hampshire, born at Piermont, in that state, August 12, 1788, a member of one of the old New England families, descended
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from Thomas Sawyer, who was born in England about 1615 and died at Lancaster, Massachusetts. One of this Thomas Sawyer's eleven children was John Sawyer, who settled at Lancaster, Massachusetts, but died at Lynn, Connecticut. John Sawyer was the father of Edward, who was the father of Thomas, who settled in Oxford, New Hampshire, in 1756, and was the father of eleven children, among whom were Susanna, who was the mother of Governor Palmer, of Vermont; John, who lived to be nearly one hundred and four years of age, and Edward, born in 1742, married Hannah Strong and was the father of Col. Edward Sawyer, the Genesee county pioneer. The latter spent his early life in Canandaigua, New York, where he owned a wholesale saddlery and harness business and was a man of much influence and of considerable wealth. He was an active member of the Masonic fraternity and when the celebrated "Morgan case" came up he was accused of having been a leader in the alleged conspiracy to do away with Morgan. Colonel Sawyer spent twenty-five thousand dollars trying to clear up the mystery, but was never able to trace Morgan. Largely because of the unjust odium heaped upon him by reason of the incident, Colonel Sawyer disposed of his interests in the East and came to Michigan. Many years afterward Thurlow Weed, a New York political leader at the time of the Morgan incident, admitted on his death-bed that Colonel Sawyer had been unjustly accused in the matter.
It was in the fall of 1835 that Colonel Sawyer came to the then Terri- tory of Michigan and bought a large tract of "Congress land" in the Grand Blanc country along the south line of Genesee county, taking in part of Slack's Lake and extending east along the Saginaw trail. He built a log house not far from the lake, cleared a tract of about six acres and returned to New York, whence, the next spring he brought his family to their new home in the wilderness. All unprepared for the rigors of pioneer life, two of the dangliters, Elizabeth and Mary, died within a year after coming here. The Sawyer home early became the center of the social life of the pioneer community and the influence that emanated therefrom went far toward bring- ing about proper conditions in the formative period of that now well-estab- lished and prosperous region. Mrs. Sawyer's name was second on the list of the charter members of the Episcopal church at Flint, the first church organized in that city, and Colonel Sawyer ever was a leader in public affairs hereabout and foremost among the leaders in all good and worthy enter- prises. He was a member of the building committee that built the Congre- gational church at Grand Blanc and he and his team headed the procession of teams that hauled the lumber from Atlas to build the same. He was an
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uncompromising Democrat, as have been his descendants, even to his great- grandson. Colonel Sawyer died at his home in this county, February 2, 1885, and his widow survived but ten weeks, her death occurring on April 12 of that same year. She was born, Almira Kellogg, at Sheffield, Berk- shire county, Massachusetts, February 2, 1800, and was married to Colonel Sawyer on January 1, 1818. Of the children born to that union, besides Edward A. Sawyer, father of the subject of this sketch, Caroline K., who married B. F. Bush, died on March 21, 1914; Maria A., who married M. S. Tyler, died in 1903, and J. Frank Sawyer, who was a soldier of the Union army during the Civil War, continued in the service after the close of the war and was killed by Indians at the battle of Ft. Phil Kearney, in Dakota, in November, 1867.
Edward Armand Sawyer was about fourteen years old when he came to Michigan with his parents in 1836 and he grew to manhood on the pater- nal farm. On January 14, 1863, he married Esther Mascall, who was born at Auburn, in Oakland county, this state, December 25, 1832, a daughter of Gen. Charles C. and Nancy (Rounds) Hascall, prominent pioneers of that settlement, whose last days were spent in Flint, this county. In 1838 Gen- eral Hascall was appointed receiver of the land office at Flint and held that office for years, later becoming a banker and large landowner, particularly of lands to the south of Flint, reaching to the Grand Blanc line. He was a man of much influence in political affairs and was at one time the nominee of his party for Congress. Edward A. Sawyer remained a farmer at Grand Blanc all his life. He was an ardent admirer of fine horses, as was his father and as is his son today, and, like his father, also was deeply con- cerned in the work of promoting better conditions hereabout, having been one of the most influential supporters of the movement that led to the sur- veying of the railroad through Grand Blanc, instead of along a different line. For many years he was a member of the school board and did much toward establishing proper educational standards in his community. While an active supporter of the Democratic party, he never sought office. In the days before the coming of the professional undertaker he was widely called on to act as "manager" of funerals through the Grand Blanc region and he and his wife were ever helpful in the performance of all good neighborly offices thereabout. Mrs. Sawyer died on August 17, 1896, and Mr. Sawyer survived until January 27, 1905. They were the parents of seven children, those besides the subject of this sketch being Charles E., Mary Elizabeth, Angeline Wisner, John, Edward Strong and Harold C.
Frank J. Sawyer has lived at Grand Blanc all his life. Until becom-
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ing interested in the banking business a few years ago he had given his chief attention to the management of his firm farm at the edge of the vil- lage, to his extensive live-stock interests and to his equally extensive real- estate transactions, long having been active in both of these latter lines. As was his father, he is an ardent fancier of fine horses, and has raised a number of prize-winners, including the noted "Red Fox," with a racing record of 2:0914 and which was widely exhibited at horse shows under the name of "Fascination," and which was declared in New York to have been the finest horse that ever was raised in Michigan. Upon the death of Elmer H. Stone, president of the Farmers Exchange Bank of Grand Blanc and father-in-law of Mr. Sawyer, in 1912, the latter was made a director of that bank and about two years later was elected president of the bank, which position he now holds, giving his attention now almost exclusively to his banking and real-estate interests, a very potent factor in the business life of that entire community.
It was on November 2, 1904, that Frank J. Sawyer was united in mar- riage to Mabel Stone, daughter and only child of Elmer H. and Helena (Van Tifflin) Stone, the former a native of the neighboring county of Oakland and the latter of this county. Elmer H. Stone was born on a farm in Groveland township, Oakland county, November 3, 1847, son of Darius H. and Mary J. (Hadley) Stone, both natives of the state of New York, of English descent, who became early settlers in this part of Michigan. Elmer H. Stone was the eldest of the seven children born to this parentage and when ten years old came with his parents to Genesee county, the family locating at Flint, whence, a few years later, they moved to Gibsonville, in Grand Blanc township, moving thence, about 1870, to Holly, and thence to Flint, where they lived for two or three years. Elmer H. Stone married in 1870 and for four years was engaged in the mercantile business at Holly, later moving to Grand Blanc. In 1883 he moved to a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in section 16 of Grand Blanc township, where he engaged in the sheep business and where he remained for twenty-five years, at the end of which time he moved to the village of Grand Blanc, where he spent the rest of his life, and where his widow is still living, making her home with her daughter, Mrs. Sawyer. It was on August 1, 1907, that Elmer H. Stone and others organized the Farmers Exchange Bank of Grand Blanc. He was elected president of that concern and remained thus connected until his death on February 29, 1912. Mr. Stone was active in local civic affairs, had served for five years as supervisor of Grand Blanc township and for several years as treasurer of the township.
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It was on February 3, 1870, that Elmer H. Stone was united in mar- riage to Helena F. Van Tifflin, who was born in Flint township, this county, daughter of David and Louisa (Jacobus) Van Tifflin, the former of whom was born at Avon, New York, and the latter at Newark, New Jersey. David Van Tifflin came to Michigan with his parents, Peter Cornelius and Hannah (Allen) Van Tifflin, who settled in Grand Blanc township in 1832. Louisa Jacobus also came to this country in childhood with her parents, Cornelius and Sarah (Smith) Jacobus, who also located in Grand Blanc township. Mr. Van Tifflin died in 1908, at the age of eighty-three years, and his widow is still living on the home farm two and one-half miles east of the village of Grand Blanc, now past eighty-three years of age. Mrs. Sawyer comes of a long-lived family, numerous of her ancestors having lived to great ages. When she was a child she had twelve living direct ancestors, three of whom were past ninety years of age. Mr. Sawyer is a Democrat and, fraternally, is affiliated with the Maccabees, the Order of the Loyal Guard and the Order of Gleaners, in the affairs of all of which organizations he takes a warm interest.
ADRIAN P. GALE.
Few names are better known throughout the lower part of Genesee county than that of Gale and few, if any, are held in better memory there- about than that of the late Adrian P. Gale and of his father, Dr. Elbridge G. Gale, pioneer physician and statesman, the latter of whom rendered a notable service not only to the people of his home vicinity, but to the state at large, as a member of the Michigan state constitutional convention and as a member of the Legislature. Adrian P. Gale, who was commissioned as an officer in the Union army during the Civil War, was for many years justice of the peace in and for Atlas township and in other ways rendered acceptable public service in that community.
Adrian P. Gale was born in Niagara county, New York, in 1836, son of Dr. Elbridge G. and Mary (Rich) Gale, natives of Massachusetts, the former of whom was born at Warwick, in Franklin county, that state, February 2, 1811. Doctor Gale's mother, Mary Gale, was descended from the Sargents and Washburns, old Colonial families in Massachusetts. In 1818 the Gale family moved to Shoreham, in Addison county, Vermont, and it was there that Doctor Gale laid the foundation for his future success as a physician and statesman. At the age of sixteen he began teaching
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school and later attended three or four terms at Newton Academy at Shore- ham, in the meantime studying medicine in the office of Doctor Hall at that place and presently entered the Vermont Medical College at Castleton. from which he was graduated in 1834. In April of the next year, 1835, Doctor Gale married Mary Rich, of Shoreham, and immediately afterward moved to Niagara county, New York, where he was engaged in the practice of his profession until November, 1844, when he came to Michigan and settled in Atlas township, this county, continuing his practice there until 1851, one of the foremost of the earnest pioneer physicians of this region. In 1850 Doctor Gale served as a member of the Michigan state constitutional convention from this district, was a member of the lower house of the Legislature in 1853 and a member of the state Senate in 1861. In 1863 he was appointed surgeon of the provost board of the sixth Michigan mili- tary district and occupied that position until the close of the war, after which for two years he served as collector of internal revenue for this district. He was a Knight Templar Mason and took an active interest in Masonic affairs. On June 10, 1863, while on a visit to her old home at Shoreham, Vermont, Doctor Gale's wife died and his later years also were spent at that same place, his death occurring there on November 3, 1885, he then being nearly seventy-five years of age. His mother spent her last days in this county, her death having occurred at the home of her grandson, Adrian P. Gale, in Atlas township, on November 26, 1880, she then being ninety-two years of age. She had in her possession an ancient pitcher that had come over in the "Mayflower" and had been handed down through the generations of descendants of the original owner, always being given to a Mary Gale, and since her time has continued to be held in the possession of a Mary Gale.
Adrian P. Gale was seven or eight years old when his parents came to Michigan and he grew to manhood in the old Gale homestead in Atlas town- ship, later becoming the owner of the farm that his father had bought in pioneer days. In the latter fifties he married and when the the Civil War broke out enlisted for service and was given a commission as an officer, but before being ordered to the front he was seized with an attack of rheumatism which compelled him to use crutches for about a year, his military ambitions thus being effectually crushed. He was an active Repub- lican and during the most of his mature life served as supervisor or as jus- tice of the peace of his home township. For many years he was master of the Masonic lodge at Davison and was ever warmly interested in Masonic affairs. Adrian P. Gale died on December 17, 1910. His wife, Helen T.
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Wilder, was born at or near the city of Albany, New York, a daughter of Hamilton and Sylvia (Howe) Wilder, and became a school teacher, com- ing to this state and teaching at Atlas two or three years before her mar- riage to Mr. Gale. She had a brother, Hamilton S. Wilder, who died in Andersonville prison while serving as a soldier of the Union during the Civil War, and another brother, Wilber E. Wilder, who was graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point and is now a major in the United States army. To Adrian P. and Helen T. (Wilder) Gale six children were born, two of whom died in infancy, the survivors being Perry Gale, of Atlas; Fred Gale, of Flint; Will A. Gale, of Atlas, and Mary R., wife of William A. Irving, of Springfield, Missouri.
THOMAS OLIFF.
Thomas Oliff was born in Aylesford, Kent county, England, May 21, 1849. He is a son of Thomas M. and Esther Bush Oliff. John Oliff, his grandfather, was a sailor who deserted his ship and joined the American navy and fought through the War of 1812 against his native country. Little is known of his life, as he joined the American navy under an assumed name. He was buried in the James river. Esther Bush Oliff was a daugh- ter of John and Elizabeth Bryce Bush, both of Scotch descent. The family has been very prominent in the British parliament both in early days and at present.
Thomas M. and Esther Bush Oliff had six children, Ella, Walter, Thomas, Lewis, Amos and Albert. Ella married John Perrin and always lived in England. Walter went to New Zealand and engaged in farming. Thomas came to America. Lewis came to America and was engaged in business in Shrevesport, Louisiana. Amos came to America and stayed a short time, leaving for South Africa, and is now engaged in the brick busi- ness at Johannesburgh, Transvaal. Albert went to South Africa and super- intended the construction of the Durban, Maritzburg & Ladysmith railroad. He now owns large niining interests in South Africa and is prominent in government affairs.
Thomas Oliff came to America and to Michigan very young. He found employment at railroading and later bought a farm and engaged in the brick- and tile-manufacturing business in Milford, Michigan. in 1873. He moved to Clio, Genesee county, in 1890 and established the Clio brick plant,
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which he continued to operate until the spring of 1916, when it was sold. Mr. Oliff is vice-president of the Clio State Bank and is a large property owner in Clio and elsewhere. He has a fine home and has done much toward the building up and the prosperity of the village of Clio.
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