Compendium of history and biography of Hillsdale County, Michigan Elon G. Reynolds, editor.

I56

HILLSDALE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

to arms in defense of the Union rang loudly
through the land in I86I, he enlisted in Co. C,
First Michigan Infantry, and, after an active
service of eighteen months, he was discharged for
disabilities incurred in the line of duty, for which
he now draws a pension. He participated in the
battles of Mechanicsville, Va., Savage Station,
Fair Oaks, Gaines Mills, Malvern Hill, and a
number of others, being slightly wounded in one.
He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and takes a leading part in the work of
Quincy Post to which he belongs. No one of the
progressive farmers of the township is more
widely known or more highly esteemed throughout its borders. None is more deserving of the
place he occupies in the general regard and good
will of his fellow'men.
THE KIRBY FAMILY.
The late William Kirby, of Adams township.
was well and favorably known in all parts of
Hillsdale county and throughout a much larger
scope of country for his upright and serviceable
life of more than half a century in the county,
his valuable contributions to its development and
progress, his wisdom and breadth of view in
establishing its forms of government and vitalizing its productive and conserving forces, his
patriotic devotion to its interests all the while,
and his genial and obliging disposition from
start to finish, gave him a strong and enduring
hold on the respect and admiring esteem of the
people, and fixed his place forever in their recollection as one of the worthiest and most useful
of the early pioneers and one of the best representative citizens the county ever has had. Of
his sons, who are living among this people, it
is high praise, but only just, to say that they are
exemplars of the amenities, the thrift, the progressiveness and the public spirit which the father exhibited in marked degree and that they
are worthy followers of his commendable example.
William Kirby was born in Yorkshire, England, on February 8, I8o5. In his native land
he was reared, educated and learned his trade

as a cloth-dresser. There, too, he was married
to Miss Hannah Sykes, a native of Lancashire,
born on September 7, I8oI. The young couple
settled down for life, as they probably supposed,
amid the scenes and associations of their early
years, and began the struggle for a competency,
with no thought of ever becoming pioneers in a
new country and partial founders of an empire
of commercial and industrial wealth in the Great
Lake region of America. Their domestic shrine
was sanctified by the birth of two daughters in
their native land, and all looked promising for
a continued residence on the soil which was hallowed by the labors and covered the bones of
the countless generations of their long lines of
thrifty ancestors. But quite a different fate was
in store for them. There came to their ears the
call of the great American wilderness for volunteers to clear it from its wild, native growth and
make it habitable and productive for civilized
man. They obeyed the call, and, in 1827, they
came to the United States and joined this great
army of industrial conquest, settling in St. Lawrence county, New York, where for four years
they were actively engaged in farming. In I83I
they removed to Lake county, Ohio, and, in I834,
leaving his family at their -new home in that
state,' Mr. Kirby, with Richard Fowler and Caleb
Bates, proceeded to Toledo, from there followed
the old Indian trail to Jonesville, then little more
than a halting place for adventurous trappers
and pioneers. These men cut a road through the
forests to the farms on which they determined to
locate, and, after making temporary provision
for their own safety and comfort by building At
rude shelter, they devoted the summer to cutting
and curing hay for the cattle they had driven
in on the long trail. The stock was left in care
of the Fowlers during the winter, while Mr.
Kirby and Mr. Bates returned to Ohio for their
families. All came back to Michigan in the following spring, and Mr. Kirby, with the help of
his neighbors, erected a small log house and
barn and began to clear and improve his land.
During the first few years of his residence here
old Baw Beese was of great assistance in furnishing food for the families, and in many other