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| ISAAC W. FERRIS, Justice of the Peace, Township Supervisor, and member of the Council of Mecosta village, was born in Sherwood Tp., Branch Co., Michigan, Jan. 24, 1840, and is the son of John C. and Mary A. (Watkins) Ferris. At the age of 23 years Mr. Ferris went to Placer Co., California, and was engaged one year in farming; thence he moved to Omega, Nevada Co., and became a clerk in a grocery and provision store, where he was engaged about eight months, and then returned to St. Joseph County. He was thee occupied with agriculture five years, when he went to Branch County and engaged in the same pursuit two years. He went to Vergennes, Kent Co., and in September, 1873, opened a grocery, which he kept until 1878. He sold out, went back to St. Joseph Co., and took an interest in the mercantile establishment of his brother-in-law, S. J. Schutt, in Leonidas. He sold out in the fall of 1878, and in the spring of 1879 went to Butler Co., Kansas, and after a brief stay at Eldorado, came, in August, 1879, to Mecosta village, then comprising three houses, two saloons and a grocery. He erected the building where he operates, and owns 11 lots on Main street, on the west side of the river; also 80 acres of land on sec. 14, Morton Tp. He was elected Justice of the Peace in the spring of 1880, which post he has since held, and was elected Member of the Village Council in the spring of 1883. In the spring of 1881 he was elected Township Treasurer. He is a charter member of the A.O.U.W. Mr. Ferris was married at Union City, Branch Co., Dec. 10, 1868, to Carrie, daughter of Leonard and Thankful (Havens) Wilson, born in the Tp. of Naples, Ontario Co., N.Y., Aug. 20, 1842. Of this marriage two dhildren have been born, as follows: Eva, in St. Joseph Co., Nov. 17, 1869, and Georgia, in the same place, Sept. 7, 1879. |