John B. Byers

John B. Byers, farmer, section 36, Burdell Township, was born April 29, 1838, in Bavaria. At the age fo eight years he found himself thrown on his own resources, and he earned his own living thenceforward as well as he could, until his marriage, which occurred Jan. 21, 1851, to Wealthy Bigameyer. they have had nine children, - Henry, Mary, William, John, Charles, Anna, Ella, Frank and Della. The mother was born June 21, 1831, in Bavaria.

Two years after marriage Mr. Byers came to America. He landed at the port of New York with his little family, and resided in that city about two years; he went thence into the country and passed four years as a general laborer. In 1856 he went to Geauga Co., Ohio, where he operated as a farm laborer until the breaking out of the Rebellion, which afforded him an opportunity to better his fortunes and to prove the spirit in which he adopted the issues of the country for which he had abandoned the home of his birth. He enlisted Dec. 20, 1861, in the 128th Ohio Vol. Inf., Co. E, under Col. C.W. Hill. the duty of the regiment was chiefly to guard the rebel officers taken prisoners of war and confined on Johnson's Island in Sandusky Bay. He received an honorable discharge Jan. 17, 1865. He returned to Geauga County, where he continued to reside until the fall of 1868, the date of his coming to MIchigan.He secured a claim of 80 acres on section 36, where he established his homestead permanently. The condition of things was primitive; there were no roads and the township of Burdell was for some time afterward unorganized. He has made extensive improvements on his farm, and erected excellent buildings.

In political faith he is a Republican, and in religion the family are Catholics. His children are all unmarried, and there has been no death in his family.

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