SAMUEL MOUNTFORD

Samuel Mountford is not only one of the representative citizens of the county, but as a business man is shrewd, practical and far-seeing, well qualified to discharge the necessary duties of life and well adapted to the active life he has led. He is at present Justice of the Peace of Olive Township and is a merchant and the Postmaster at West Olive, Mich. Mr. Mountford came originally from England, born in Burslem, Staffordshire, August 23, 1837, and is the youngest of six children born to the union of George B. and Elizabeth (Roy) Mountford, natives also of that country. The father was a turner in a pottery in England, and there resided until 1847, when he decided to come to America. He settled in LaGrange, Walworty County, Wis., and there purchased eighty acres of Government land, following agricultural pursuits until his death, which occurred about 1854. His wife had passed away in 1849, leaving six children: Thomas, who resides in Minnesota; Esther, widow of George Austin, of White Water, Wis.; George B., who died leaving a family of children; Edna, widow of Benjamin O. Bradway, of Milwaukee, Wis.; Aaron, who died in Iowa; and Samuel, our subject.

Samuel Mountford received his early educational training in England and Wisconsin, and finished in the High School of Palmyra, that State. The parental roof sheltered him until twenty years of age, when he started out to make his fortune. For some time he was engaged in tilling the soil in Wisconsin, but in the year 1861 his patriotism was aroused, and in September of that year he joined the Fifth Wisconsin Battery of Light Artillery, under Capt. O. F. Pinney, and was attached to the Army of the Cumberland. He participated in Island no. 10, siege of Corinth, Perryville and Stone River, besides numerous skirmishes. He served from the time of enlistment until October 15, 1864, when he was discharged at Madison, Wis., his term of enlistment being up. He was neither wounded of captured, though he had many close calls. On one occasion the Confederates charged and captured a gun at Stone River, and while fighting for it a Confederate soldier struck Mr. Mountford over the top of the head with his gun. This laid the scalp open, and as a consequence a large scar ornaments the top of Mr. Mountford’s head.

After being discharges our subject went to the village of Johnstown, where his wife had purchased a home during his absence, and there he again engaged in farming, which occupation he followed for many years. In 1868 he came to Michigan, located in Georgetown Township, Ottawa County, and there resided until 1877, when he moved to Olive Township, the same county. In this township he purchased a farm of eighty acres, has forty under cultivation, and has an elegant residence. All his outbuildings, barns, etc., are kept in good repair and he has a most attractive home. He has a good orchard of nearly all kinds of fruit, but having been appointed Postmaster at West Olive, he moved to that town on the 21^st of December, 1891. Te still holds that position and also that of Justice of the Peace, to which he was elected in 1887, and again in 1991.

Mr. Mountford has been twice married, first on the 6^th of April, 1858, to Miss Sarah A. Westbury, a native of Rochester, N.Y. and the daughter of Edward and Ann Westbury, natives of England. This union resulted in the birth of five children, two of whom died in infancy. Hiram E. resides at 504 Thirteenth Street, Chicago; Byron A., at 912 Taylor Street, Chicago; and Warren R. lives in Millbank, N.D. Mrs. Mountford died on the 15^th of September, 1872, in full communion with the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which she had long been a member. On the 22d of March, 1877, Mr. Mountford married Mrs. Eliza Brooks, widow of Charles C. Brooks, and daughter of Luther and Hannah L. Brown, who were among the first settlers of this portion of the county. By her first husband Mrs. Mountford became the mother of three children: George, of this township; Agnes, wife of Frank Willey, of Chicago, Ill.; and Lucinda, wife of G.H. Flieman, of this township. Mr. Mountford is a member of the Grange, and also a member of William Thirkettle Post No. 388, G.A.R.