Henry Darling

Henry Darling

HENRY DARLING, farmer, section 6, Garfield Township, was born in Ulster Co., N.Y., March 8, 1811, and is the son of James and Margaret (Misner) Darling. His father was a native of Scotland and was born July 23, 1774, in Prestonpans, and died in Schuyler Co., N.Y., at the venerable age of 92 years. The mother was born Feb. 29, 1780, in Canada, of German ancestry, and died March 22, 1865, at the ripe of age of 85 years. They were the parents of 14 children, nine of whom are still living. During the war of1812, the family lived in Canada, the father wishing to remain neutral in the issue between the British Government and the United States.

Mr. Darling came to Newaygo in 1858 and in 1859 bought a saw-mill, which was burned in 1863, with a loss of $1,200, not being insured. He was married Dec. 22, 1861, to Lydia J., daughter of Henry and Cynthia Upton, born at Adrian, Aug. 18, 1841. They passed the four years following their marriage in Schuyler Co., N.Y., where their two children, Henry Tavern and Duane, were born, the eldest July 11, 1863, the younger, Sept. 22, 1865. In the spring of 1864, Mr. Darling returned to Newaygo County and bought 320 acres of land in (then) Dayton Township. The place is known as the Fremont Lake Farm, and is in what is now Sheridan Township. In the same year he built a saw-mill, which was burned in 1870, involving a loss of $5,000. In December, 1870, Mr. Darling went to Kansas and entered a claim of 160 acres of land. He remained there until the spring of 1871, when he returned to Newaygo County and purchased the farm of which he is the present proprietor. It contains 50 acres, with one half under improvement. The owner has made additional clearings, built a substantial residence, set out an orchard and put the place in a fine state of cultivation. He has officiated four years as Justice of the Peace and i several other positions of trust.

Mr. Darling is a descendant, on both sides of his parentage, of ancestors remarkable for tenacity of life. His maternal grandfather lived to be 104 years old. Every tooth was perfectly sound and bodily faculties comparatively unimpaired at the time of his death.

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