The early education of our subject was received at the primitive log school house of his township and he remained under the parental roof for a number of years, assisting his father in the working of the home farm. The property of his father was willed to our subject's oldest brother, who was to pay the father an income of two hundred dollars per year. Our subject, however, had a small interest in the property which he later sold and bought eighty acres where he now resides. He later added forty more and then later anothe forty, and as he prospered, he again added forty acres until his farm boundaries now comprise two hundred acres of splendidly improved land. Upon this place he has erected a good residence and good substantial barns, making it one of the best improved properties in that locality.
In 1861, Mr. Harwood was united in marriage with Miss Rachel Baldwin of Onondaga township, and this union was blessed with seven children, four of whom are now living: Mina H., the wife of J. P. Smith; Eursula, the wife of George Snyder, and Harry, who resided on the home farm. Mr. Harwood affiliates with the Democracy and has long been an ardent and staunch supporter of that party. At the time of his location here there was but little if any resemblance to the general appearance of the country where its thriving villages and fertile fields now abound. This was once the home of the Red Men, who roamed about through the forests where these places now stand.
The primitive log cabin no longer marks the abodes of our pioneer forefathers, who were the history makers of this locality. The name of Harwood has been indelibly engraved upon the pages of the pioneer history of Ingham county and to the memory of such men and families are these records recorded.
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Sondra Higbee
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