Silas Edgecomb

Silas Edgecomb

SILAS EDGECOMB, farmer, section 21, Big Prairie Township, was born Nov. 24, 1826, in the State of New York, and is the son of Asel and Sarah M. (Sears) Edgecomb. Both parents were of German descent and were born in the Empire State, the former about 1804 (died in 1877), the latter in 1806 (died in 1827).

Mr. Edgecomb became a resident of Michigan in 1826, when his parents settled in St. Clair County. He was married in Brockway, St. Clair County, March 20, 1848, to Anna Freeman. She was born June 19, 1831, near St. Thomas, Canada West, and is the daughter of Curtis and Cynthia (Arms) Freeman. Her father was born Feb. 18, 1795, in Lower Canada, and died Jan. 9, 1866, in Brockway. The mother was born May 20, 1800, in the Dominion, and is still living. Following are the names of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Edgecomb: C. Maria (dec.), Nelson (dec.), John W., Mary Jane (dec.), Charles S., Alvaretta, Arthur (killed in 1881 on a log rollway on the Muskegon River), Annie and Thomas.

Mr. Edgecomb was a resident of St. Clair County about ten years, when he removed to the State of Iowa. He went thence, 18 months later, to Wisconsin, where he resided one year at Prairie Du Chien, and two years in Grant County. He came to Newaygo County, Jan. 9, 1860, and entered the employ of Henry Loomis, for whom he kept a boarding-house about five months, located two miles from Newaygo Village. He went in the summer of 1860 to Gainesville, Kent County, where he bought 40 acres of land, with about 25 acres improved, where he lived three years, selling out at the expiration of that time and removing to Croton. After a year's residence there he moved to section 26, where he logged one winter. The following spring he bought 120 acres of land on section 25, on which he resided one year and sold out. His next purchase was 160 acres, which is now his homestead. This became his property in 1870, and ws partly improved. On this he has since resided with the exception of several winters he has spent in the lumber woods. In political belief Mr. Edgecomb is a Democrat, and in religious tendency inclines to the Presbyterian faith.

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