Tuscola Memories |
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Contributed by Barb Shannon. |
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document was written by Katherine Garner, (Mrs. Moses Garner, Jr.) in the year 1938. She
also read the brief biography at the 27th Annual Gaunt-Osgerby-Garner Reunion
which was held on July 16, 1938. The three family reunion lasted only for a few more years
after this date but the Garner Family Reunion is still held on an annual basis and except
for a few occasions has always been held at the original homestead located on M-46 (the
old English Line Road). The Garner Reunion is held every year on Father’s Day. It is
a potluck dinner, followed by visiting and getting to know one another. All Garner
descendants are welcome—just bring a dish to pass, your own tableware and drinks and
enjoy the good company and good food!
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THE GARNER FAMILY HISTORY Samuel Garner, born March 31, 1824, at Sutterton near Boston, England, the son of William Garner (born June 12, 1784—died May 8, 1855) came with his three brothers: Abram, Moses, and Cornelius and wife to the U.S. in 1849, settling in Milford, Michigan. It took six weeks to make the voyage across the ocean. The passengers then went up the Hudson River, and from there to Buffalo via the Erie Canal. Abram Garner later married Mrs. Matilda Pearson and remained in Milford. To this union three children were born: Adeline, Moses and Alfred. Adeline married Lewis Simpson and they had four children: Nellie, William, Fannie and Moses. Moses married Mrs. Libbie Stringer and to them three children were born: Norman, Hattie and Alfred. Alfred Garner married but has no children. The brother of Samuel, Moses, settled in Saginaw but had no children. He married Sarah Hutton. Cornelius and wife soon returned to England. The following year (1850), Ann Gaunt, born at Swineshead near Boston, England, came across the ocean with her two brothers, Benjamin and James, joining the friends at Milford. On September 9th of the same year, 1850, she and Samuel Garner were married. In June, 1853, Samuel Garner, Joseph Wells, and Robert Whittaker came from Milford to Tuscola County to purchase farm land for future homes. All three were originally from England.
Frederick Bourns, a friend, also an Englishman, and a one-time resident of Milford, was then operating the store of Arms and Bourns in the lumbering town of Vassar. Mr. Bourns accompanied his friends over several sections of the country, but the choice made consisted of three eighties two miles west of the place where the Belknap School now stands. (Corner of M-46 and Vassar Rds.) When a road was built through this section it was known as the English Line, a name which has not been entirely discarded, although the road from shore to shore is now M-46. Mr. Whittaker took the east eighty, Mr. Wells the next, and Mr. Garner the one on the west. The land purchased directly from the government for $1.25 per acre, had to paid for in gold. The deeds were signed by the president, Franklin Pierce. In April, 1856, Joseph Wells, his wife and three children came to their new home, making the trip with an ox-team. A road had been broken through as far as the gravel pit but the next mile was made as best they could winding in and out among the trees.
Samuel Garner, wife and three children: William, Lizzie and Eliza, came to Tuscola County in September of the same year, 1856, locating at once on the farm bought in 1854. A log house was built, serving as a home for fourteen years. Five children: Harriet, Samuel, Ida, Moses and Agnes were born during that time. A frame house, the present home of Mr. & Mrs. Moses Garner, Jr. was built in 1870, the land having been owned continuously by father and son. Mr. Whittaker never lived on his eighty acres but later sold it and bought the farm now owned by Mike Schnell. Samuel Garner died August 19, 1900, in the home in which he had lived for forty-four years.
Postscript: I learned from an aunt, that the eighty acres was a heavily forested area, covered with many hard wood trees and pine. When the land was cleared for farming and for the lumber to build the cabin, the hardwoods were burned for fuel as they were too hard and difficult to work with, and the pine which was softer was used to build the shelters for both man and beast. Also the use of Jr. after my grandfather’s name was only used in order to differentiate between the two Moses Garners on the same Rural Free Deliver route for the mailman’s benefit. (Barbara Marsh Shannon) For a very complete genealogy of the Garner Family, I would suggest that anyone interested should visit the following websites: http://www.parsonstech.com/genealogy/trees/jgarnerb/garner.htm http://www.parsonstech.com/genealogy/trees/jgarner/index.htm
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This page was last updated on May, 24-1999 01:59:54 PST |
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