David W. Squier

David W. Squier

DAVID W. SQUIER, farmer and lumberman, section 17, Bridgeton Township, was born in Ft. Edward, Washington Co., N.Y., March 15, 1822. His parents, John and Mary (Lampman) Squier, were natives of the same county and were of English and Holland Dutch lineage. Mr. Squier gre up on the homestead of his father, under whose care he remained until he was 18 years old, when he fulfilled a long cherished desire to devote his attention and energies to lumbering, which he has made the pursuit of his life, and in it has achieved a large degree of success. He traces this inclination to the days of his boyhood when, more as a recreation than as labor, he assisted in rafting logs down the Hudson and Susquehanna Rivers. He afterwards engaged in the same employment on Lake Champlain. In the years of 1844 and 1845 he operated as a contractor in Monroe co., N.Y., getting out timber to construct the schooner "Genesee Chief" and "Venice" for Lake Erie service, working in the heavily timbered region traversed by the Genesee River.

Mr. Squier was married Dec. 18, 1846, to Sarah, daughter of Idas and Paulina (French) Dayton. The parents were natives of Washington Co., N.Y. Mrs. Squier was reared and educated in Penfield, Monroe Co., N.Y., where she was born, Jan. 23, 1829, and where she was married. The event of marriage changed Mr. Squier's plans to some extent for the time being, and he engaged in agricultural pursuits in his native State until the fall of 1848, when he located in the vicinity of Coldwater, Mich., and again pursued farming, interesting himself also in buying horses for the Eastern market. In the fall of 1851, he went twice personally to Rochester, N.Y., with a fine lot of animals for that market. He remained in Monroe County until May, 1856, when he again came to Michigan abd settled in Eggleston Township, Muskegon County, on the river, where he managed a hotel and engaged in lumbering for a time. In the spring of 1858, he settled permanently in Newaygo County. During that season he bought 140 acres of partly improved land, where he kept hotel 12 years and has been constantly and heavily interested in lumbering, "running in" from two to seven million feet of logs each winter. He has been one of the most extensive operators in pine and farming lands in Northern Michigan, and is now in possession of 8,000 acres. One half of this immense territory is improved and cultivated, its management being under his own personal supervision. His farm buildings are on the most extensive scale, and his private residence, bult at a cost of $16,000, is reputed to be the finest farm house in Newaygo County.

In political sentiment, Mr. Squier is a Democrat. He is no wire-puller nor office-seeker, and has persistently declined all proffered positions.

The children of Mr. Squier were born as follows: Frank W., Oct. 17, 1853; Eva L., Dec. 5, 1855; these two alone survive. E. D., born May 16, 1849, died June 12, 1868; Nellie, born March 24, 1860, died Oct. 8, 1860; David W., born June 19, 1864, died Oct. 5, 1864. Frank w Squier has attained a fine position as civil engineer.

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