Portrait and Biographical Album Ingham & Livingston Counties MI - Bios

     (627) GRANT S. BURGESS. He of whom we shall attempt to give a short biographical sketch in outline is the leading merchant in the pretty town of Brighton, Livingston County, this State. He is also a native of this State and county and consequently his interests naturally center here more than they otherwise would. Pioneer life in Michigan is a familiar tale to him and its hardships as well as its adventures have made a lasting impression upon his mind. Mr. Burgess was born in Putnam Township, this county, December 25, 1844, and has here made his home all his life, having started out in life for himself at an early age and attained his present high standing by his own unaided efforts.

     Our subject's father, Samuel Burgess, who was a native of New York and born sometime in the year 1809, came to Michigan at the age of seventeen, in the year 1826, with his mother and stepfather, his own father having died when he was quite young. The family settled near Ann Arbor at a day when settlers were few and far between. Michigan was then a Territory and continued so for several years after their settlement here. In 1833 our subject's father started out in life for himself, locating in Putnam Township, Livingston County, and two years later took up a piece of land from the Government, clearing and improving eighty acres.

     To such good purpose did the elder Mr. Burgess pursue the work of clearing his tract, that when in 1854, he sold it, there was not a tree standing on it. He seemed to have an innate love for the forest, and that year, after disposing of the farm that he had improved he went into another locality, that of Handy Township, and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of wild land on which not a stick had been cut prior to his coming, and immediately began the work of clearing and improving another farm. His hard work, however, did not avail him much in the end for his health was broken down, and he saw scarcely a well day after locating on his new farm and finally died in 1861. He was a typical pioneer and endured many of the privations and vicissitudes incident to the life which he had adopted. He at one time made the breaking of new land a business and at times owned three or four yoke of oxen which were in constant requisition by the early settlers. A harder working man never lived.

     Our subject's mother was in her maiden days Miss Lucy A. Perry, a native of Saratoga County, N.Y. She survived her husband thirty years, finally (628) passing away January 1, 1891, at the good old age of seventy-eight years. She was the mother of five children, three of whom are still living Our subject was reared on a farm, the rudiments of his education were received in the pioneer log schoolhouse of his day, and those who know of the advantages given in an educational way at that time can appreciate the fact that the three months of schooling during each winter did not afford much of a chance for any great accumulation of book lore. The school that he attended was a mile distant from his home and in the winter he had to wade through the snow to his boot tops, and often so long would he be detained in getting home after school that his mother feared her son was lost in the snow. He is familiar with some of the hardships incident to pioneer life and knows the suffering, for want of sufficient clothing, and food.

     After the death of Mr. Burgess' father the young man began working out by the month on neighboring farms. He continued to so employ himself for nearly five years. In 1866 he accepted a position as clerk for William McPherson & Son, of Howell, Livingston County, with whom he remained for six and one-half years. As an employee he proved himself so trustworthy and capable that in March, 1873, they sold him an interest in a general store which they had established at Brighton, three years before, and there he went to manage the business. This he continued to manage successfully until 1888, when the firm name was changed from McPherson & Co., to G. S. Burgess & Co.

     Under its new proprietorship, or rather the change of name, for the management continues as before, the business has grown and has proved to be very profitable. It is located in a double-store building that is filled with goods comprising a good stock of dry goods, groceries, boots and shoes, hats, caps and ready-made clothing. An addition to the store was made in 1886. Mr. Burgess understands perfectly the requirements and needs of his patrons and keeps constantly on hand so well-assorted a stock of goods that those who patronize him can find nothing to be bettered in his line.

     The original of our sketch became a benedict in 1871, at which time he was married to Miss Sarah E. Jenks, a native of Ohio; she is an intelligent and amiable lady, drawing about her the best class of people in social intercourse. Their union has been blessed by the advent of five children--Lantie C.; Amelia, who is deceased; George S., Charles G. and Bruce. As the little ones are growing up to manhood and womanhood they are realizing the fond hopes of their parents in becoming intelligent, refined and educated. Their home is everything that a home should be in its purest sense; not a palace, but a place where the best nature can develop under the most favorable circumstances. They are surrounded with all the comforts and many of the luxuries of life. Our subject is in his political liking a Republican. He is liberal in his religious views, but his wife is a member of the Baptist Church.

WILLIAM T. COLISTER. This representative citizen, residing on section 28, Locke Township, Ingham County, was born, March 22, 1826, in Ontario County, N.Y., and is a son of Robert and Phoebe (Sharpsteen) Colister. The paternal ancestors were Scotch-Irish and he is from German stock on the mother's side. Of a large family of children born to his parents, only two are living: Emma C., the wife of Joseph Hedges in Ingham County being the only sister of our subject. When about twelve years old this youth emigrated with his parents to Oakland County, this State, and there the mother passed to her reward, and the father died after their removal to Clinton County a number of years later. In both these localities they were considered as pioneers, as they settled upon unbroken land in the forest and cleared it for cultivation.

A district school education of the most primitive kind was all that this young man had offered to him but upon that scanty but sure foundation he has builded a superstructure of intelligence and broad information, as he has cultivated a taste for reading and has fed upon substantial literature. Celestine Freeman was the maiden name of the lady who became his wife upon the 3d of December, 1849. She was born, October 28,1829. in Niagara County, N.Y. Her father, David Freeman was a native of New York and her mother, Betsey Thomas, was born in Connecticut. The Freemans are said to be of German extraction. To her parents were born five children, three only of whom are now living, namely: Orpha, Harriet, the wife of William Gunn and Mrs. Colister.

This lady came to Michigan with her parents when she was fifteen years old and in the woods of Meridian Township, Ingham County, they did pioneer work. She taught four terms of school after coming to this State and is a woman of more than ordinary intelligence. Her three living children are: Emma A., wife of F. A. Feller; Mary, wife of W. H. Johnson and Henry. The Colisters came to their present farm in the fall of 1856, and under their hand it has greatly improved so that it is now very productive and in a fine condition.

In political matters Mr. Colister is decidedly independent as he casts his ballot for the man and the measure and not for the party, and is ever regarded as one of the most public spirited and enterprising men in the township. His excellent property has been gained through the industry and self-denial of himself and his good wife and they have spent their lives in usefulness and friendly kindness to all who have come in their way. Their farm comprises some eighty acres of land which bear the indisputable marks of the hand of a thrifty farmer. Mr. Colister is identified with the Masonic order and is highly respected in that body.

     FRANK P. VAN BUREN, wholesale and retail grocer and dealer in produce at Williamston, Ingham County, is a son of F. C. Van Buren and a grandson of James M. Van Buren, a native of New Jersey, who at an early day became a pioneer in St. Joseph County, this State. His last years were spent in Mendon, St. Joseph County, Mich., where he carried on the business of a livery stable. He reared a family of three sons and four daughters, his son George being the builder of the Wakeman House at Mendon.

     F. C. Van Buren was of New Jersey birth and was but a boy when he came to this State. Upon reaching his majority he engaged in farming which he carried on until within the last twelve years when he has retired from business, and merely looks after his own interests, being a landowner in St. Joseph County. He was married in that county to Mary Done, a daughter of Elisha Done, who died in California. Mr. Done was a farmer and miner and also a successful speculator. The parents of our subject had three children Frank P., Eva A. and Maude.

     He of whom we write first saw the light in Mendon Township, St. Joseph County, December 21, 1824. At the age of seventeen he commenced clerking and for about four years was in the general store of J. B. and H. Anderson. He then went to Coldwater and clerked for W. S. Allen and was in his dry-goods store for two years, at the expiration of which time he entered the wholesale and retail dry-goods house of Donehoe & Riardion at Muskegon. Later he sent two years at Stevens Point, Wis., and afterward traveled in the West for a wholesale tobacco firm, thus acquiring quite an experience.

     The next move of this enterprising young man was to enter the wholesale dry-goods house of Voigt, Herpolshimer & Co., at Grand Rapids and in 1882 he came to Williamston and engaged in the grocery and produce business, having sales during the first year to about $16,000 and in 1890 his sales amounted to $75,000. He carries the largest stock of groceries that is to be found along the line of the Detroit & Lansing Railway, keeping in stock fully $14,000 worth and is in extensive buyer of produce in different parts of the State.

     Mr. Van Buren was married in 1881 at Mendon, to Mary Kline whose father, a native of Germany, lived and died in his native home. To our subject and his wife have been born three children, namely: Mabel who died at the age of one year; Martin Clyde and Eva Leona. He carries over $10,000 life insurance in the New York Life Insurance Company and in the Modern Woodmen. He has (630) a fine business education and is counted as one of the leading business men in the county. He is strictly temperate in his habits as neither tobacco nor strong drink ever passes his lips. His political views bring him into affiliation with the Democratic party and he is earnestly desirous of the success of that organization.

     CHESTER DEAN. A traveler journeying along the highways of Conway Township Livingston County, must be well pleased with the appearance of the farms which greet his eye. They are well fenced, neatly cultivated and richly productive, and with their handsome farm houses and substantial and attractive barns and out buildings make up a beautiful picture of rural prosperity. These farms are an indication of the wealth and progress of the county, and among them we are pleased to mention that of Mr. Dean.

     Our subject was born in 1856, in Genesee County Mich., not more than two miles from Flint, and remained there through his infancy removing when two years old to Cohoctah Township, Livingston County. Thence the family returned to Genesee County and afterward made their home successively in Brighton and in Conway, both of which latter places are in this county, and finally settled upon the farm where Mr. Dean now resides.

     Daniel Dean, the father of our subject, was born in 1824, in New York, and was twelve years old when he came to this State where he still resides his wife. Lydia Curtis was a native of the Empire State, where she was born in 1826, and to them were granted ten children, four daughters and six sons, namely: Mary, deceased; John, born in 1847 who is now married to Mary Carpenter and is the father of two daughters; Lucy, who has married Albert Nichols and has two sons and one daughter; Wilber, born in 1851, deceased; Truman, married Norma McKean, who has, brought him two children; Morris, who married Levina Carr, and has one child; Chester; Willard, deceased, born in 1858; Martha, born in 1860, and married to Frank Randall, by whom she had one child; and Agnes, born in 1863, who married E. Gleason and has one child.

The marriage of Chester Dean with Laura Rathburn which took place in 1887, resulted in the birth of one child, a daughter, Ada, who was born September 21, 1890. Mrs. Dean is a native of Conway Township, and was born November 8, 1866. Upon his farm Mr. Dean has one hundred and seventeen head of sheep and has an average sale of $515 worth of wool and sheep each year. Besides this flock he has sufficient stock to enable him to carry on general farming in the best and most progressive manner. His political views incline him to vote the Republican ticket, but he has his leanings toward the cause of Prohibition which render him quite independent in his vote, as he believes a man should use his own common sense and judgment rather than to be blindly led by party leaders.

     JOHN H. BRISTOL is perhaps as well known as any man in the township of Tyrone, Livingston County, as he has made his home in the county for nearly fifty years, and has always been highly respected here as a thorough-going farmer and business man. His wife, too, shares in the esteem which is given to him and she has a high standing in the most cultured circles of this part of the county.

     Mr. Bristol was born April 24, 1832, in Rush, Monroe County, N.Y., where his parents, John Y. and Sarah (Moon) Bristol, were then residing. The father was born in Rensselaer County and was a son of Bethel and Catherine (Heampstead) Bristol. Bethel was a shoemaker by trade and in later years removed to Monroe County where he engaged in farming. He and his good wife, who were both members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, brought up in the faith and graces of the Christian religion four sons and three daughters, as follows: Lydia, Thomas, Fannie, John Y., Alonzo, Timothy, (631) and Mary E. In 1840 John Y. Bristol came to Michigan and settled in Deerfield, Livingston County, on one hundred and twenty acres of land, which he greatly improved and rendered very productive. Besides carrying on farming he was a carpenter by trade and a thorough workman. His mother made her home with Alonzo in her later years and died it Coldwater, Mich. He was twice married, his first wife having died in New York, and his second wife, Olive Seal, having survived him. She had six children--Phoebe, Bethel, Daniel, Fannie, James and Cora, while the children of the first, marriage were Sarah C. (deceased) and John H.

     The subject of this biographical sketch spent his boyhood upon the farm and took advantage of such opportunities as the district schools afforded. At the age of twenty he began for himself in the coopering business, and in it continued for about three years, after which he purchased one hundred acres in Deerfield Township which he cleared and improved and upon which he has an orchard of ten acres. The family was established in its present home, April 16,1873, on sections 29 and 30, Tyrone Township. The estate comprises some one hundred and twenty acres, which are well-improved both by cultivation and buildings, and Mr. Bristol owns besides some forty acres in Tyrone Township, and one hundred and twenty acres in Midland County, this State, having in all over four hundred acres besides village property.

     Prior to locating where he now is, this enterprising man purchased a foundry, blacksmith and wagon shop at Parshallville which he operated for about five years. He is greatly interested in horses and raises many fine animals. He is an active man in the Democratic ranks and has served as Justice of the Peace and also as Notary Public. He has been married three times, his first wife being Polly E., daughter of Ira and Hannah (Parks) Marble, who carry on a farm in Deerfield. She was the mother of six children--Ira O., Charles H., Wells B., Clarence A., J. Ward and Sarah C. She met with her death by being overturned in a buggy and being thrown violently to the ground, her neck was broken.

     The second wife of our subject, Mary Chamberlin, died childless, and the third wife, Alice M. Seaton, daughter of Richard and Emily Seaton, now presides over his home and shares with him the respect and regard of his neighbors.

STEPHEN P. LEIGHTON. There is a finely operated farm on section 34, Williamston Township, Ingham County, that is owned by him whose name appears at the head of this sketch. He is a grandson of Benjamin Leighton, a native of Maine, who in an early day went to New York, where he died, and a son of Nathan Leighton, who was born in Maine, went to New York with his parents, and in 1855 came to Michigan and settled in Ingham County on the farm now owned by our subject. Here he lived with his family until the death of his wife, when he removed to the village of Williamston, spending the remainder of his life there. His marriage had been solemnized in New York, his bride being Abigail Carll. From this union there were eleven children, four sons and seven daughters.

After the death of Abigail Leighton, our subject's father again married, his wife being Mrs. Manda Julian, a widow. The husband died in August, 1883, and Manda Leighton died in 1891. On coming to Michigan our subject's father had bought one hundred and seventy-five acres of land. This he had for the most part cleared and improved and was one of the promoters of the best interests of Ingham County. Stephen P. Leighton was born January 19, 1837, in Wayne County, N.Y., in Huron Township, and was but a lad of sixteen years of age when his parents came to Michigan. He lived at home, giving his father his time until twenty-one years of age, after which he continued working at home until the breaking out of the war, and in 1862 our subject enlisted in Company H, Twenty-Sixth Michigan Infantry, and during the desperate period of bloodshed and varying fortunes, was a loyal soldier to the cause of liberty and equality. He was honorably discharged in 1865, having been a participant in the following (632) battles--those of the Wilderness and Spottsylvania, where he was wounded in the left foot and was taken to the hospital, remaining there for three months, after which he again joined his company and was promoted to the post of First Sergeant, afterward receiving a commission as Second Lieutenant. His regiment was on picket duty when Gen. Lee surrendered. He has received a pension of $4 per month in recognition of his service.

December 30, 1866, our subject was married in Ingham County to Miss Rozella Loranger, a daughter of Nelson Loranger, an early settler in Ingham County. Mrs. Leighton's mother was Mary Loranger and to the parents were born eleven children, six sons anti five daughters. For the greater part of his life Mr. Loranger was a merchant, being one of the leading men in Williamston.

As the fruit of their married life seven children have come to our subject and his wife. They are, Eli A., Hiram, Nelson, Rozella, Stephen P., Annie and Isadore. Mr. Leighton has always devoted himself to the agricultural calling and has always been a hard worker. He now owns seventy acres of land whereon he resides and one hundred and sixty acres in Crawford County; he also owns a valuable lot in the village. Socially he is a Mason, having attained a Master degree and belonging to Lodge No. 153. He also belongs to Eli P. Alexander Post, No. 103 G. A. R. A Democrat in principles and prejudices and one of a most pronounced kind, he has been placed by his party in several official positions.

     JOSEPHUS LARE. The early struggles of some of the men who have made a financial success of life are worthy of recountal and make most interesting reading. The boy who became the man of whom we now write, started out in the world for himself with a manly spirit of independence at the tender age of ten years. Two $3 suits of clothes was all that he earned during his first seven months of work, after which he labored for one month to earn a pair of boots, the first pair he had ever had, and after that worked for some seven months for one man at the rate of $2 a month, after which his stupendous wages were raised a little higher and during the next seven months he had $3 a month. The highest wages he ever received while working in New York was $8, and during the last three summers of this period of his life he was in the employ of the same man for whom he worked when a little boy. Notwithstanding his small wages he managed to lay by $200 during the last four years that he was thus engaged.

     The home of our subject is situated on sections 8 and 9, Oceola Township, Livingston County. He was born in Montgomery, Orange County, N.Y., March 13, 1832. His father, Jacob Lare, was a native of New York where he grew to manhood. He was known far and wide as one of the best blacksmiths in that region and horses were brought to him from many miles away. He was located at Searsville and Pine Bush. He had lost his father when quite young and had therefore been bound out to a master. His marriage in New York united him with Elizabeth Bodine, who was born in Crawford Township, Orange County. They came to Michigan in June, 1865, but their real residence here was not continued for many years as the mother died in 1869 and the father passed away in 1871. Their household consisted of three daughters and three sons.

     In New York Josephus Lare received his early education and remained there until he reached the age of twenty-two years after which he came to Michigan in 1856 and making his way directly to West Bloomfield Township, Oakland County, began working by the month on a farm. He remained there for four years, doing farm work summers and chopping cord wood during the winters. The wages he received ranging from $13 to $16 per month.

     The marriage of our subject with Catherine F. Merithew took place in Oakland County, November 11, 1858. This lady was born in Bloomfield Township, Oakland County, December 10, 1839, and she is the youngest daughter of William and Philomela (Wisner) Merithew. The father was a native of Seneca County, N.Y., and the mother of (633) Cayuga County. Gov. Wisner was an uncle of Mrs. Lare. It was April 2, 1859, when our subject came to Livingston County and he lived for five years with the parents of Mrs. Lare, after which he moved into a log house which still remains on the place where he now resides. After seven years in this primitive home he built a two-story frame house in 1872 at a cost of $3,500.

     Mr. and Mrs. Lare have had a large family of fourteen children and their eldest, Frank H., was born December 17, 1859. He was elected Township Clerk first in 1882 when he served two years, and was re-elected in 1891. He married April 20, 1881, Susan R., daughter of T. R. and Mary Staley. Mrs. Frank Lare's father is sketched upon another page of this Volume. She was born in Howell Township, this county, April 27, 1859, and as they have no children of their own they have adopted a daughter, Olive Moody by name.

     The second son of our subject George H. W. was born November 16, 1862 and died June 16, 1882. Fannie C. who was born April 6, 1865, is the wife of Lewis Dickerson of Marion Township. Clara B. born March 28,1867, is a teacher of excellent repute; Mary J. born March 5,1869; Phila E. born May 1, 1870, died May 12, 1870; Minnie J., born September 11, 1871, has begun her career as a teacher; Josephus born April 1, 1873, died July 25, 1875; Helena C. born January 15, 1875, and died February 11, the same year; Myrta, born June 2,1876; Ernest G., born May 12,1878, died October 19, 1889; Benjamin G., born January 30, 1881; Nettie P., born September 17, 1882, died November 9, 1889, and one child died in infancy unnamed.

     When Mr. Lare started out as an independent farmer he bought eighty acres of land where he now resides for $1,000, paying $60 down in cash and using the remainder of the money which he had saved by his hard work to stock the place. He purchased twenty-eight sheep as his first stock and he added both animals and acres until he now possesses a fine estate. His land comprises three hundred acres, two hundred of which have long been known as the Conklin farm. Every building upon the place has been put there by him and the timber and lumber for it he drew from Flint and Forestville. He now keeps on an average one hundred and eighty head of sheep besides other stock in proportion. He built a frame house and a good barn 44x52 feet for his son in 1884, at a cost of $2,000.

     Mr. and Mrs. Lare and all their family with the exception of the eldest son, Frank, who belongs to Presbyterian Church, belong to the Methodist Episcopal Church and there is no household more thoroughly respected or more useful than they. Our subject is Superintendent of the Sunday-school and has been for some fourteen years. His excellent wife is President of the Ladies' Aid Society. Mr. Lare was Supervisor of Oceola Township from 1885 to 1886, and is now Justice of the Peace an office which he has occupied for eight years. He was Township clerk from 1861 to 1862 and has been School Inspector for many years. He has been Class-Leader in the church and also Steward and Trustee in the same.

     EDWIN R. MERITHEW. This respected head of a highly esteemed family in Oceola Township, Livingston County, bears a splendid record as one of the noble defenders of the old flag in the days of the Civil War. It is with great delight that the historian sat down beside him to listen to his thrilling details of the days of conflict and the part which the regiment to which he belonged took in the Civil War, and we feel sure that the men and women who peruse this volume will take an equal interest in reading the annals of his life.

     This gentleman was born in Springport Township, Cayuga County, N.Y., January 21, 1831. His father, William Merithew, was a native of Cayuga County, where he was born in 1813. He was at first a farmer by occupation, but at one time was a contractor at Auburn State Prison, buying staves and lumber, and engaging for seven years in a general business. He came to Michigan in 1832 and located in Oakland County, but in 1833 removed to West Bloomfield Township, in that (634) county, where he improved a farm, and in 1837, during the trouble between Ohio and Michigan, enlisted as Drum Major in what is known is the Toledo War. He remained in West Bloomfield Township until 1859, when he came to Oceola Township and made his home on section 9, where our subject now resides. Upon this place he made substantial improvements and here remained until his death, which took place in 1871.

     William Merithew was an old-line Whig and voted that ticket until the organization of the Republican party, and at the convention which was called for that purpose he was a delegate. He was Anti-slavery in principle and was interested in the Underground Railroad. Many a negro did he help to send through to Canada to find freedom. He was a man of deep religious convictions and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. His father, William Merithew, who was of Pennsylvania Dutch origin, was in the Revolutionary war as a soldier.

     The mother, Philomela Wisner, was a native of Cayuga County, N.Y., who lived to the age of sixty-four years. She was a daughter of Moses Wisner, a New York farmer, who was a Colonel in a regiment of State militia during the War of 1812. In one conflict he was entirely covered by the sand which was thrown up by a shell which struck the ground near him. He was also captured by a band of Cayuga Indians in 1813, but made his escape by getting them to smoking, and then when one of them left the door open he slipped out, and hiding in the corn made good his escape by paddling across Cayuga Lake in a large potash kettle. This brave and crafty Colonel was the father of Gov. Moses Wisner, who is thus the uncle of our subject.

     Edwin R. Merithew is one of a family of seven children, and was only one year old when with his parents he migrated to the Territory of Michigan. His entire education was taken in the log schoolhouses in West Bloomfield Township, Oakland County, and he began independent work by laboring by the month for his neighbors. In the year 1852 he went to California, making the journey by water by way of Panama, taking the steamer "United States" from New York City to the Isthmus, and there journeying by a French sailing vessel, "Fion Brothers," to San Francisco, making that part of the journey in sixty-seven days. He went into the mines at Long Bar in the Yuba River and remained there for three years, dividing his time equally between farming and mining. He returned in 1855 by the way of Greytown, landing at New York City.

     Upon the young man's return to West Bloomfield Township he decided to give a "hostage to fortune" by establishing himself in his own home with a wife. He was, therefore, married September 8, 1856, to Harriet Pennell, a native of that county, who was born in 1833. In 1858 they removed to Oregon Township, Lapeer County, where they took new land and began cultivating it. They first, however, had to put up a log house, for which Mr. Merithew cut the logs and made the shingles. This palatial residence, measuring 20x26 feet on the ground, was now their home while they improved this property, and they remained there until 1864, when the husband enlisted in the defense of his country's flag.

     Company E, Eighth Michigan Infantry, was the body of troops to which the young man attached himself, and they were at once sent to Cincinnati and thence to Louisville, after which they were ordered east to Annapolis, Md. They were made a part of the Ninth Army Corps, and upon April 9 they were in Washington, where they marched over the Long Bridge and upon May 6 took part in the battle of the Wilderness, after which they were engaged in the conflicts of Chancellorsville, Cold Harbor and Petersburg. During this siege they took an active part, and as he was wounded there he was sent to the hospital, where he remained for six weeks, and then returned to Petersburg, where he was on picket duty every, other night until the 28th of March, 1865, and was under fire for one hundred days. On April 2 he was the first one to mount the defenses of Fort Mahan, and this was the last conflict in which he was engaged, as after this they went to Washington and were on picket duty until July 30, 1865. His regiment was mustered out of service at Detroit, August 3, and he returned to West Bloomfield Township and worked in a saw-mill in the (637) town of Commerce. His first wife having died in September, 1863, he was united with his present wife March 8, 1866. This lady was born in 1835 in Commerce Township, Oakland County, and her maiden name was Eliza J. Compton. After this marriage he removed to Oceola Township, Livingston County, where he now resides on his father's old homestead.

     Mr. Merithew has two children by his first marriage, a daughter and a son. The daughter, Alice, is the wife of L. Buckloo, and Charles M. is a car inspector at Owosso on the Toledo & Ann Arbor Railroad. By his second union he has six children, who are equally divided between sons and daughters, namely: Flora, the wife of Ulie Batchelor, who resides in Oceola Township; Jacob, Inza, Norah, Edwin R. and Oscar F.

     One hundred acres of well improved land forms the estate of Mr. Merithew, upon which he is carrying on a general farming business and where he keeps from eighty to one hundred head of sheep. He is keenly interested in all matters pertaining to public affairs, and has served his township as Justice of the Peace and was elected in 1856 as Constable of West Bloomfield Township, being the first man elected on the Republican ticket in this section. For fourteen years he has been School Director in Oceola Township. He is a freethinker in his religious views, and is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and has filled almost every office in the gift of his comrades.