Lenawee County Michigan
Biography and Family Data - page 4

Smith Laing and Abby Shotwell

Six Decades of Love and Mutual Devotion
An Event Not Often Equaled in the Annals of Hymen
The Sixtieth Anniversary of Pearl Wedding of Smith and Abby Laing.

Interesting Sketch of Their Earlier Experience

When in the prime of youthful manhood and womanhood two lives are joined together in the bonds of matrimony, the event calls forth the best wishes of all for their future prosperity and happiness. But how many casesthere are when these wishes of friends, when the bright hopes and fond anticipations of the young people themselves, come to naught. Many cases there are where unhappiness, and discord, and separation maybe, follow, because of the faults and foibles of themselves; but in cases by far the greater in number, after a few years of happiness, death comes and takes the one or the other, and the nearest and dearest of all the relations of life are broken until they shall be joined again in the great hereafter.

Of those who, half a century ago, took upon themselves the solemn obligations of love, honor and cherish until separated by death, few, very few, remain with those ties unbroken. When such a case does occur, a Golden Wedding, the event, always an interesting one, is usually heralded far and wide by the press, and the aged pair receive the congratulations of not only their immediate friends and relatives, but of the world beside. Very few there are who pass many anniversaries after the period stated; but yesterday, at the residence of W. A. Laing, Esq., in this city, occurred the sixtieth anniversary, the Pearl wedding, of an aged couple, Smith and Abby Laing. So rare an event as this deserves more than a passing notice.

SIXTY YEARS AGO, yesterday, in Western New York-that country was then the "far west," and was sparsely settled, and only partially improved-Smith Laing and Abby Shotwell were joined together in marriage, according to the usages of the Society of Friends, in which religious denomination they were born and reared, and of which Society they still remain consistent and honored members.

Smith Laing was the son of Joseph and Annie Laing, and was born in the town of Plainfield, Middlesex county, New Jersey, on the 18th day of November, 1793. He was one of six children, of whom five grew to manhood and womanhood. When seventeen years of age, in 1810, in company with hisparents, the subject of our sketch moved to western New York, near Waterloo, in Seneca county. The father secured from the government the patent of 150 acres of forest land. Here young Smith assisted his father in clearing up a farm and received that training of both mind and body which so well qualified him for the position he afterward so ably filled-that of a Michigan pioneer.

Abby Shotwell was the daughter of Richard and Mary Shotwell, and was born in the town of Mendon, Morris county, New Jersey, on the 25th of January, 1795. In 1804, when Abby was about ten years of age, her parents moved to Farmington, Ontario county, N. Y. Western New York at that timewas a wild new country, which the tide of emigration had just begun to reach, and those who had a share in the development of the country, suffered all the privations of frontier life. During the years of Abby's girlhood, her father was engaged in clearing a farm, and making for his family a home out of the wilds of a new country. It was not a life of ease for her of whom we write. She had her part to do, as had the daughter of every pioneer.

On the 2d of March, 1815, the lives of these two parties were joined by marriage, they having first met about a year previous to this event, and thenceforth their history has been as one.

The First Three Years
     of their married life were passed in Seneca county. In 1818 they moved to the town of Batavia, now Elba, Genesee county, where Mr. Laing purchased 120 acres of wild land from the Holland company, which had large patents fromthe government in that section. Here they commenced life in earnest in making a home for themselves. With youthful strength and vigor for fourteen years, they toiled hand in hand, and in that period cleared and improved most of this farm. About 1830 the "Michigan fever" was running high in that part of the state, and in the spring of 1831, Mr. Laing came to Michigan prospecting. Visiting this county he was so well pleased with theappearance of the country that in May of that year he took up from the government a quarter section of land in the township of Raisin. He then returned to New York, and made his arrangements for moving his family to their new home. This he did in the following year, arriving on the 8th of July, 1832. Again the pioneer life was commenced. His qualifications for this were excellent, for he had already assisted in clearing two farms out of the forest, and, for his father and himself, had spent twenty years in this labor. When they moved to this county, Adrian was but a hamlet, containing perhaps half a dozen buildings, and the country surrounding it was little else but a large forest, with here and there a log house in the midst of a little "clearing," which was the beginning of the fine farms which justly put Lenawee county at the head of agricultural counties of the state.

Upon this farm Smith and Abby Laing continued to live, adding year by year improvements, and such comforts as increasing prosperity would permit, until it became one of the best farms in that section. AL these years,improvements around them kept pace with their own, until the county became what we see it now.

Upon the marriage of their youngest son, Webster A. Laing, about nineteen years since, the management of the farm was turned over to him, the old people living with him. Nine years since the son moved to the city andfor four years, they lived upon the homestead with their son Benjamin I., who then took the farm, when they too moved to the city again to live with their youngest son, where they have continued to reside until the present time.

For people of their age they retain the faculties of both mind and body to a remarkable degree. Uncle Smith can be seen about the city every day, doing the marketing for the family, being still quite smart and active. Aunt Abby's general health is good, although during the past few months shehas been confined to the house with rheumatism, but has occasionally ridden out. She is now, however, recovering quite rapidly from this difficulty. They have been the parents of nine children, five girls and four boys; of these five are now living, Sarah, Hannah, Joseph, Benjamin and Webster, all of whom were present yesterday. They have thirteen grandchildren, and eightgreat-grand-children, and all but three of each of these were on had to gladden the hearts of the aged pair.

Yesterday Afternoon
     the relatives and invited guests began to gather at the residence of Mr. Webb Laing, on Chestnut street. They were received by Uncle Smith and Aunt Abby, with old fashioned hospitality, who accepted the congratulations which were showered upon them in a quiet and dignified manner. There were something over fifty persons present during the afternoon. All seemed to enjoy themselves; and listened wit great interest to a few of Aunt Abby's reminiscences of the olden time. Shortly after three o'clock, the company sat down to tables well filled with all that a highly cultivated country could afford. After dinner, the company were again assembled in theparlor, and Rev. A. F. Bourns, in behalf of the children, tendered the bride and groom a number of appropriate presents. Among these the ones which will be the most highly prized by the recipients, were a fine photographic group of all their children now living, and a scrap-bag, the handiwork of four of their grandchildren. After the presentation, both returned their thanks for the kindness shown in thus remembering them, and to their friends for being present on this anniversary, expressing the wish that they lives of all might be as happy as their's had been. The afternoon and evening was spentin social intercourse, interspersed with music. The company separated at a late hour, feeling that they had enjoyed an occasion that comes very seldom. It is the wish of all present that Uncle Smith and Aunt Abby may long live to celebrate additional anniversaries of their wedded life.

According to the death indexes for Michigan that are online, Abbey Laing died in Adrian, Lenawee County, Michigan on May 3, 1878. The record indicates she was a widow, however, Smith's death record was not located. Her parents on the death record were recorded as Benjamin and Elizabeth Shotwell.

Rev. Peter Sharp

From the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collection, Vol. 22, 1893; Memorial Report Lenawee Co; pp.136-137 Article by S. C. Stacy.

Rev. Peter Sharp died in San Jose, California, September 13, 1892. Peter Sharp was born May 14, 1810, at Willsburg, Essex county, New Jersey. He was the fourth son of Cornelius Sharp, who had eight sons and daughters, and moved with his family to Ohio, when his older children were quite small.

Peter was converted at the age of eighteen and giving up the study of law, began at once to prepare himself for the ministry which he entered four years later. He continued in active service as an itinerant in the M. E. church until 1853 when the failing health of his wife made it necessary to locate. While the Ohio conference still included southern Michigan, he was stationed at Ann Arbor, and was married at that place to Miss Eunice M. Doty, March 19, 1837, in the presence of the Sabbath morning congregation of the quarterly conference and by the presiding elder, Rev. Henry Colclayer.His next station was Tecumseh, then a four weeks circuit, including Clinton, Franklin, Macon, and Ridgeway.

From there he returned to Ohio and filled various appointments until 1849, when he was transferred to Michigan conference and stationed at Coldwater, at Constantine, at Ridgeway, and at Dundee, which was his last regular appointment.

December 24, 1853, he began business in general merchandise at Ridgeway, Michigan. He received the appointment of postmaster soon after and continued to hold the office for nearly thirty-five years.

He was a member of the Michigan legislature 1859-1860, and continued to preach the gospel as a local elder in the M. E. church, March 14,1888, his beloved wife was called home after years of invalidism and six months' helplessness. His untiring patience in caring for her, but proved his devotion. A few months after he yielded to the necessity and closed out his business at Ridgeway and moved to Tecumseh to live with his daughter. August, 1889, he went to California, where his oldest son lived on a mountain ranch. Here he found work for his Master in conducting a Sunday school at the nearest school house. In the spring of 1891 he moved with his son's family to San Jose. It was his intention to return to Michigan in the spring of 1892, but the Lord ordered otherwise.

Peter Sharp was a man of true nobility, held in esteem and veneration by all who had the capacity to appreciate the excellence of his character and his ability as a theologian.

Truly beloved by his family and intimate friends; devoted and untiring in the discharge of religious duty, seeming always to possess his soul in peace.

Mrs. Isaac Adams

From the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collection, Vol. 22, 1893; Memorial Report Lenawee Co; pp.129-130 Article by S. C. Stacy.

Mrs. Isaac Adams is dead. The journey was finished at Omaha, Nebraska, January 20, 1895. It was a long one, spanning this entire century, save the opening and the remainder of the present decade. The heart that has just ceased its beatings began to pulsate when this republic was an experiment and this continent, beyond the seaboard states, an unknown wilderness. It was before the second war with England, during the first administration of President Madison. There then lived in the village of Charlemont, amid the Berkshire hills of Massachusetts, a plain young couple of Puritan descent, John and Elizabeth Fisher. In 1881 their first child was born and christened Mary. As years passed brothers and sisters entered the household until the family circle numbered twelve sons and daughters. In addition to the village schools the children from time to time were given the advantages afforded by academies in neighboring towns. An epoch in the life of Mary was the winter of '29, when she attended a select school for girls by Mary Lyon, founder of the Mt. Holyoke seminary. Finally the time came when the anxious parents decided that the future of their flock demanded a wider field for operations than their snug New England home. In 1836 the great migration was undertaken. The rocky seventy acre homestead, and the father's cabinet shop were converted into money; the stage coach winding along the valley of the Deerfield, over Hoosac Mountain to Troy, was chartered; fond farewells were chokingly uttered; eyes blinded in tears looked for the last time upon dear scenes of childhood, and the long journey westward was begun. At Troy there was the transfer to the Erie canal, and at Buffalo the canal boar was exchanged for the Lake steamer. At Monroe, Michigan, family and household goods were transferred to wagons, and hauled by ox teams to their new home in the forest, three and one-half miles north of Tecumseh, now the farm of the youngest son, John Fisher. During the succeeding thirteen years Mary Fisher, as eldest daughter, continued to share with her mother the responsibilities of pioneer life. In 1839 she was one of fifteen who organized the Baptist Church of Tecumseh. Of this little band of fifteen she was the last survivor.

In 1849 she became the wife of Isaac Adams. Their companionship lasted thirty years, terminating with the death of Deacon Adams in 1879. For the past ten years Mrs. Adams has resided with her only son, Isaac, at Omaha, excepting one year spent at Lincoln, Nebraska, with her daughter, Francina, now Mrs. J. J. Wilson. In early life Mrs. Adams was not robust, but care and prudence brought into healthy action her vigorous constitution so that or the last forty years of her life she scarcely experienced any sickness. In August last, paralysis rendered her helpless. Realizing that there was no relief, she longed to be free from the bonds which time had forged. With the opening of the year the disease assumed a new phase, but to her its progress was not unwelcome. She predicted that ere the 23d of January, the fourteenth anniversary of the departure of him whose memory she cherished so tenderly, she would have joined him. As the month grew apace she numbered the days as one waiting a long and anticipated meeting. Thus was the passing of this life, long and ripe. The milestones along its way can be pointed out, but who can conceive the scope of its century of influence! She inherited many of those traits that have enabled the sons and daughters of New England, though comparatively few in numbers, to stamp their character upon all genuine American institutions. To her, Christianity and the highest Christian morality was not a faith and practice necessary to be accepted and cultivated, but it was ingrained and instructive. Anything else was simply unnatural and abhorrent. Her influence was confined to the family circle. There, though silent, it was as vital and all-pervading as the atmosphere. Prior to the attack of paralysis her faculties, both physical and mental, never waned. She never grew old. She enjoyed the life of a growing city. Her surroundings and new association were always agreeable. The past had not more grasp upon her than upon one who knows of it from hearsay only. She was abreast of the times, in full sympathy with the busy and progressive. She made herself companionable. She leaves to her children and relatives the best of legacies, an inestimable fund of precious memories.

Ellery Sisson

From the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collection, Vol. 22, 1893; Memorial Report Lenawee Co; p. 137 Article by S. C. Stacy.

Ellery Sisson died January 7, 1893, in his 80th year, at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Geo. Shuart, in Jackson. Mr. Sisson resided in Tecumseh and Raison for more that 70 years, until a few weeks before when he went to live with his daughter in Jackson.

Mr. Sisson was one of the earliest settlers of this township. His father located the old Aaron Comfort farm, across the road from N. M. Sutton's, the present home of A. J. Van Winkle and of Dr. C. A. Waldron. He had voted in Tecumseh at every presidential election since attaining his majority, and was a staunch democrat.

Edmund Woodmansee Borden

From the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collection, Vol. 22, 1893; Memorial Report Lenawee Co; p. 131-132 Article by S. C. Stacy.

Edmund Woodmansee Borden, the second son of Tyler and Hannah Borden, was born in Monmouth county, New Jersey, March 30, 1822.

Orphaned by his mother's death when he was but eleven years old, by which event the family was broken up, he was almost immediately thrown upon his own resources. Being drawn by the teachings of his pious mother, he soon left the farm where he had been engaged for a number of years, and buying up his unexpired time, he went to New York city to prepare himself for preaching the gospel. This he did by learning the tailor's trade, studying as he worked, and attending night school. He thus supported himself and obtained a substantial basis for a thorough education, which he afterward acquired by private tutors, by a course of study at the University of Michigan, and by a remarkable patient, persevering , and thorough reading of the masters of learning in its various branches. His logical and close reasoning powers were always based upon verified truth.

When twenty years old he married Miss Margaret Hopper of New York city and with her removed to Michigan in 1843, a land then in primeval forest and far away from the city of New York, while as yet railroads were but just beginning to be. Taking up pioneer life at Battle Creek as a circuit rider of the M. E. church, he was instant in season and out of season to carry the gospel message to all within his circuit.

After laboring in that church from his seventeenth year, when he was licensed as an exhorter, his ordination taking place when he was twenty-one years of age, till 1858 a period of nearly twenty years, his theological views undergoing some change, he united with the Congregational denomination. In this body he continued his ministry about fifteen years. In 873 he transferred his standing to the Presbyterian church, finding in its polity and system of doctrine a congenial resting place for his inquiring and independent mind. He gave up settles pastoral charge in 1888 but continued to preach until last summer, his last discourse being a funeral sermon on the 27th day of August, 1892. His family consisted of eight children, five of whom, two sons and three daughters are still living.

The last year showed rapid decline in his health but he was still happy and fairly well at the anniversary of his golden wedding, October 6, 1892. He died on February 27, 1893, at his home. So ended a career of triumph and an active ministry of fifty-three years in the gospel.

Mr. Borden never lost a month of service nor was ever absent from his pulpit through sickness. He never took any vacations and as a public servant of Christ was faithful in all his charge.

William Bresie

From the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collection, Vol. 22, 1893; Memorial Report Lenawee Co; p. 132-133 Article by S. C. Stacy.

The death of William Bresie, April 23, 1893, at the ripe age of 76 years, removes from the social and business circles of Tecumseh, one of our foremost citizens. But few men typified better than he the restless energy and activity of the western pioneer, and his life was a long and eventful one. He was born in Tioga county, New York, April 25, 1817, and when six years of age his father's family moved to Conesus, Livingston county, New York, where the subject of this sketch lived for ten years, obtaining such a meager education as the schools of those days afforded. At the age of seventeen he caught the prevailing western fever, and started for Buffalo afoot and alone. Upon arriving there he took a boat to Detroit, and thence walked in Michigan City, Indiana. Here he obtained work at driving stage and for about two years subsequently, he made his headquarters in Chicago. In the spring of 1839 he returned east, and upon the 20th of March in that year he married Mary A. Johnson of Groveland, Livingston county, with whom he lived a most happy domestic life for over half a century. Soon after his marriage he moved to Conesus, where he kept the village hotel for about six years. He then lived on a farm in Groveland for a time, and from there moved to Dansville, Livingston county, where he kept the Western hotel for several years. In 1850 he moved to Hornellsville, Steuben county, New York, and began work on the Buffalo & New York City railroad, now the NY,LE,& W Ry. He was employed first as baggage master and then as passenger conductor for a period of seven years on a run between Buffalo and Hornellsville. He then resigned to take a position with Mr. Geo. B. Gates, who was proprietor of the first sleeping car line - the first sleeping car having been put in use about 1858 - and he served in this capacity for Mr. Gates during a period of ten years running on the New York Central, the Buffalo & Erie and the Cleveland and Ashtabula railroads, the two latter now forming a part of the Lake Shore system. Mr. Bresie enjoyed the distinction of being the first regularly appointed sleeping car conductor. He was in several wrecks but always escaped unhurt.

At the expiration of his ten years' service here he took charge of a sleeping car line between that city and Chicago. He then moved to Glenville, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, where he dealt largely in real estate. While a resident of Glenville, he became a pioneer in the operation of street railways. He obtained the right of way and the original charter of the St. Clair St. R. R. Co., a street car line running from the heart of Cleveland to Glenville. To encourage the enterprise the owners and citizens along the route donated the use of the line without rent, and he managed it very successfully for ten years. His property in Glenville increased very much in value and gave him a handsome competency.

In 1874 he moved his family to Tecumseh and took up his abode on forty acres of land just north of the village which has made a model home for him during his declining years. His house was an historical landmark, being in an early day the homestead of Gen, J. W. Brown, one of the founders of Tecumseh. Within its hospitable walls he celebrated his golden wedding on the 20th of March, 180, and there he passed the remainder of his earthly pilgrimage. For nearly twenty years he was a resident of this village. He served as township supervisor, as village councilman, and as janitor of the cemetery, in all of which positions he displayed the same business tact and ability which made his early life such a marked success.

Four children blessed his married life: Wm. R. Bresie, of Decatur, Illinois; Mrs. Elizabeth Crowell, of Cleveland, Ohio; Mrs. Sarah Betts, of Edmore; and Amanda, who died at the age of three years.