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submitted by: Ivan Garth Corbin |
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| James G. Davis (Davies) and his wife, Martha Haries Davis (Davies) came to
Austin Township near Stanwood sometime in the Fall of 1859. They came via
Quebec and Newaygo County, having left Wales in 1857. They very possibly came
in illegally. Their first home was a log cabin. With them came several surviving children, including my great-grandfather, William "Shouting Willie" Davis. They were very active in the Free Methodist Church of Stanwood and many of the Davis are buried in that cemetary. Their farm saw generations of decendants born in the family home, including my grandmother, Jennie Leonne Davis Corbin, born June 13, 1898 (and celebrating her hundredth birthday this year), and my father, Garth Victor Corbin. The Francis Marion Corbin farm was only about a mile from the Davis farm and at least two brothers and sisters in the close families married. William Davis helped do much of the cement work on several of the dams on the Muskegon River, including Rogers, Morely and Hardy. The Davis Farm was last owned by a daughter of William Davis, Grace Couldry. Aunt Grace always had a great garden at her place and the best molasses cookies in Michigan. She also related a story of seeing the ghost of a woman in the root cellar of the farm house. She and husband Arthur are buried in the Stanwood Cemetary next to the Free Methodist Church. The house burned partially not long ago. One other connection I have to Mecosta County is through Nahum Darling and family who moved there from New York. He was my great grandfather on my mother's side. His son, Harvey, was my grandfather and moved from the farm in southern Mecosta County to Belding to work in the silk mills. His brother Ira also moved there. My mother was born to Harvey and Bertha Darling in Belding in 1918. |