E. J. Terrill

E. J. Terrill, merchant and Postmaster at Avondale, and farmer, section 26, Hartwick Township, was born July 23, 1837, in Middletown, Vt. His father, Ezra Terrill, was a farmer in the Green Mountain State, where he was born in the town of MIddletown in Rutland County.

In early life he was a miller. Later he went with his family to the State of New York, where he reared his family. In 1865, the Terrills, father and son, came to Michigan, where they remained at that time but a year, going in 1866 to Jones County, Iowa. There the mother, Orra (Newland) Terrill, died June 11, 1870. She was born in Vermont. In March, 1881, Mr. Terrill, of this sketch, removed his family to Hartwick Township, whither he came a month earlier and bought 40 acres of land, on which some improvements had been made. He afterwards erected a building for a store, put in a stock of goods worth $1,200, and has since transacted a fairly good business as a merchant. On the establishment of the postoffice at this point he was appointed Postmaster.

The senior Terrill is a Republican in political sentiment. He was married Feb. 20, 1862, at Potsdam, St. Lawrence Co., N.Y., to Bertha Bachelor, and they have the following named children: Orra L., born July 2, 1863; Inez M., March 14, 1867; Irma L., August 23, 1869; and died Oct. 8, 1870; Albert K., Nov. 18, 1872. The mother is the daughter of Nathaniel and Lucretia (Ward) Bachelor. Her parents were natives respectvely of Vermont and Massachusetts, and they located in North Amherst, Mass., where the mother died. The father went to St. Lawrence Co., N.Y., married a second time, and died there in March, 1862. Mrs. Terrill was born in Conway, Franklin Co., Mass., and was 12 years of age when she was taken by her father to the State of New York.Mr. and Mrs. Terrill are members of the Baptist Church.

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