Biographies Michigan Biographies Project |
The subject of this sketch is one of a family of nine children, the oldest, James, was born in Ireland and there remained; the second, Thomas, also a native of the Emerald Isle, there remained until about fourteen years of age, when he joined his father and mother in New York, he eventually settled in Minnesota, but is now deceased; the third, John, is also a native of Ireland, and he accompanied the family on their removal to America, and is now a resident of Randolph, N. Y.; William, the fourth, was born September 18, 1842, at Randolph, N. Y.; the fifth, Mary Ann, born in 1845, is married and resides in the city of Buffalo, N. Y.; Agnes, the sixth, was born in 1848, and is now deceased; the seventh, Fannie was born in 1850, and now resides on the old home place in New York; the eighth, Jane, born in 1853, is deceased, while the ninth, Henry, was born in 1857, is married and also resides on the old home place.
Our subject received his early education in the district schools of New York state, after which he worked by themonth on a farm for two and one-half years, when in response to his adopted country's call, he enlisted in service on the first day of September, 1862, in Co. H, 154th N. Y. Volunteer Infantry, and in this he saw considerable service. He was sent to Maryland Heights, Va., in company with he regiment and was in the Battle of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, and was on of the four bunk-mates who escaped death, in his regiment in that memorable engagement. In 1863 his was transferred to a western army and he was left in hospital at Alexandria seriously ill, but followed his regiment in the spring of 1864 and rejoined his command at Chattanooga, and took part in the entire campaign, Sherman's March to the Sea and was in South Carolina when President Lincoln was shot. The officers called the regiment up into the public square and there read them the message of Lincoln's assassination. He participated in that great Grand Review of Veterans at Washington, D. C., and was there mustered out of the regular service. Proceeding then to Elmira, N. Y., he there received his discharge from the state service. Returning home he worked by the month, for three years, and then in the fall of 1869, came to Henrietta, Jackson county, of this State. In the spring of that year he found employment on a farm at Rives Junction, where he remained for one and one-half years. In 1871 he worked for James and John Blackmore, in their mill near Leslie, and in the following spring found employment on a farm at Layton's Corners.
In 1872 an important event occured in Mr. Galbraith's life when he was united in marriage to Miss Ellen Ripley, who was born July 5, 1847, at Union City, Branch county, Michigan. They removed to Bunker Hill township and in 1873 pruchased a farm of forty acres, section one, Leslie township, and there they remained two years and then found employment with Mr. George Archer for three years, and during the last year of this employment he traded his farm for the place he now resides, which consisted of one hundred and twenty acres, to which he has since added forty acres, owning now, altogether, one hundred and sixty acres of valuable and productive land, to which he has added many improvements, until he now has one of the best farms in the locality. Here he has engaged in general farming and stock raising, in which he has met with uniform success. He casts his vote for the Republican party, and cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln, while in the army at Savannah, Ga. Unto our subject and his wife have been born six children: Arthur, born March 7, 1875; Alden, born March 10, 1879; Elva, born December 16, 1876; Grace, born June 17, 1881, married Theady Hamilton, February 4, 1903; Genevieve, born December 23, 1885, and the last, born July 19, 1887, is deceased. Since 1873 has Mr. Galbraith been a resident of this locality, and as the years have gone by he has prospered until today he is considered one of the substantial agriculturists of his community.
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Biographies Michigan Biographies Project |
 Sondra Higbee
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