Ingham County Biographical Sketches



William Z. Secord



The subject of this memoir was born Oct. 13, 1820, in the State of New York, and was the fifth in a family of nine children. His father, Isaac Secord, was a native of Canada, and his mother, Sarah (Wellman) Secord, a native of New York, who married Mr. Secord in Canada in 1808. In the war of 1812, Mr. Secord was pressed into the British army, but made his escape to the States and enlisted in the army of the United States. In 1813, William being then an infant, his parents came to Michigan, settling in Wayne County, but afterwards making a permanent settlement in Shiawassee County, where the mother died in 1834, the father struggling against the vicissitudes of life until 1872, when he died at his home in Ingham County, being then one hundred and four years of age.

William was schooled as a farmer, remaining under the parental roof until he was twenty-two. He then, with a strong arm and willing heart for capital, commenced the business of life for himself. In 1843 he married Miss Maria D. Sheldon, who was a native of Orleans Co., N. Y., where she was born in 1825. To this marriage were given three children. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Secord settled in Washtenaw County, where they remained eight years, when they moved to Meridian township, where he purchased a small farm of forty acres in Washtenaw County. In 1864 he sold his land in Meridian township and bought his present home, which then contained one hundred and thirty acres, -- sixty acres improved, -- now one hundred and seventy acres, one hundred and twenty-six of which is in a high state of cultivation.

In the early part of 1854 he was bereft of his of his wife, and in August of the same year he married Miss Arminda Potter. To this union were born two children. In April, 1859, he again suffered the loss of his companion, and in July of that year married Miss Mary E. Patterson. To this marriage were born six children. In March 1872, he was the third time bereft of his companion.

Mr. Secord was formerly a Republican in politics, but the last few years has acted with the Greenback party, though voting in all minor offices for whom he considered the best man.

In religion he was Catholic.





Taken from:
"History of Ingham and Eaton Counties Michigan, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Their Prominent Men and Pioneers", by Samuel W. Durant.
Published by D. W. Ensign & Co., 1880.
Page 347





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