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| HENRY HEARN, farmer on sec. 20, Austin Tp. (P.O. Stanwood), was born in Oxfordshire, Eng., Oct. 1, 1834. He is a son of Benjamin and Sarah (hearn) Hearn, both natives of England, where they lived and died. Mr. Hearn remained at home till he was seven years of age, when his boyish aspirations impelled him to go among strangers and secure what seemed to him the greatest boon on earth - personal liberty. He was variously employed until he was 20 years of age; the last year of this period he spent in the stables of English sporting men. In 1854 he came to the United States, landing at the city of New York and remaining there but a short time. He came on to the city of Detroit and found employ in the immediate vicinity as a farm laborer for 10 years. He then went to Shiawassee County, and thence to Austin Tp., in the spring of 1868, where he purchased 80 acres of land, and has since added 40 acres, making 120 acres of wild land, of which 60 acres are now under first-class improvements. Mr. Hearn was married in England, May 15, 1855, to Mary, daughter of Thomas and Sarah (Rolfe) Frost, both English by birth and inseparably wedded to their native country. The daughter was born Oct. 6, 1832. She accompanied her husband to the United States and went bravely through all the trials and privations of the pioneer days of the township. She died April 11, 1872, leaving a large family and a multitude of freinds to mourn her irreparable loss. Her seven sons and daughters all survive her. Their record is as follows: Florence G. was born July 18, 1856; Mary E., Nov. 28, 1850; Sarah A., March 4, 1863; Alfred W., May 8, 1864; Edward H., June 15, 1866; Lucy E., Oct. 4, 1868; Martha T., Nov. 27, 1870. Mr. Hearn and wife were members from youth of the church of England, and Mr. Hearn is still an adherent to belief in its tenets. He is a Democrat and has always sustained the issues of his party. |