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| NELSON HIGBEE, farmer and lumberman, resident on section 9, Deerfield Tp.,
was born in Broome Co., N.Y., Dec. 1, 1825. He is a son of Loring and Mary
(Roberts) Higbee, the former a native of Massachusetts, the latter of
Connecticut. The paternal grandfather of Mr. Higbee, settled in Broome
County, in 1796, when his son Loring was only a boy. The father of Mr.
Higbee died in 1862; the mother is living on the homestead with a younger
son, and has attained the venerable age of 91 years. Mr. Higbee received a fair education at the public schools and finished study with a partial academic course. He passed the years of his minority in the home of his parents, and on reaching man's estate he went to Tioga County, where he was occupied with farming and lumbering three years. In 1853 he came to Michigan and located in Croton, Newayge Co., devoting his attention to the same pursuits. He bought there 300 acres of land and placed 200 acres of the tract under fine improvements; he also erected a number of buildings in Croton and exerted all his influence toward the substantial progress of the place. Meanwhile, in the year 1865, he purchased of John W. Forbes, John W. Brooks and Robert S. Watson, of Boston, Mass., 1,700 acres of pine land in Deerfield Tp., for which he paid ten dollars an acre. The advance in value has swelled the estate (numerically) to a comparitively enormous amount. Without details of purchase the following statement exhibits his estate in Deerfield, aggregating 4,080 acres, sectionally located as follows: On section 1 120 acres 7 40 8 80 9 640 10 440 11 120 12 240 13 200 14 320 15 600 16 40 17 120 20 240 21 160 22 320 26 40 27 160 30 200 Aside from his lands in the township of Deerfield, Mr. Higbee owns, in company with others, 15,000 acres of land. He also owns 300 acres of valuable land adjoining the city of Grand Rapids. He has owned at different periods 5,000 acres in Aetna Tp., alone. His home farm (so called), on which he located in 1878, includes 720 acres, with 500 under advanced improvement. He keeps 15 horses, 10 oxen, and 15 cows to supply the wants of his estate and employees, and even these are inadequate to the necessities of the case. He cures five tons of pork anually, raises 1,500 bushels of onions, 2,000 of corn, 1,200 of wheat, 2,000 of oats, 2,000 of potatoes, cuts 150 tones of hay and has a flock of sheep. In 1873, in company with A.B. Watson, of Grand Rapids, Mr. Higbee built a dam on his property in Deerfield. He bought the claim of Mr. Watson soon after and in company with William Hugh, Sr., built the mill they are now managing, and commenced the manufacture of lumber and lath and added planing works to the mill facilities. Mr. Higbee married in 1849 to Catherine A., daughter of Johnathan and Phebe (Hoagland) Truesdell. The latter venerable personages, aged respectively 86 and 85 years, reside with and are the special care of their son-in-law. The daughter and wife died July 7, 1883. Mr. Higbee is a Republican in political sentiment. Mr. and Mrs. Higbee's portraits are given in this work. |