Pioneer history of Ingham County, compiled and arranged by Mrs. Franc L. Adams, secretary of the Ingham County pioneer and historical society.

LEROY TOWNSHIP AND ITS HISTORY

613

George Fear, who lived in the south part of this neighborhood,
was English born, but came to Leroy in the sixties. He and his
son Thomas were carpenters and farmers. His daughter Mary
married George Jacobs, and another daughter, Frances, married
Joel Briggs, of Handy Township.
The farmers that located and settled in the center of the township on the western border of the swamp were: Seth Stow, J. M.
Christian, Mr. Nelson, Mr. Baker, David Stoddard and James
Catlin. Mr. Catlin's son, Ashmund, has been supervisor and treasurer of the township, also Representative in the State Legislature
from the second district of Ingham county.
In the seventies, three German families, Rudolph Huschke,
August Keil and Edward Bierley, bought farms from the Gamby
tract and became prosperous farmers. Four of Mr. Huschke's
boys are farmers in Leroy and adjacent townships.
In the eighties a tall, raw-boned, awkward farmer boy, who had
no home, worked for the farmers of Handy and Leroy. His employers always found him willing to work, with a happy disposition, careful of his earnings and honest in all his dealings. During the winter, or a slack time, he found some job so that he was
never idle. While in his teens he bought an almost worthless
piece of land, improved it, sold it and bought a better piece, and
by so doing in a short time had a good farm. Today we find him
on a good farm, well stocked, and a good bank account. Edward
Lewis has improved his opportunities, and by hard work, careful
saving and shrewd investment in farm land, made good. By his
example he has shown the farmer boys that there is money In
farming.
The history of this township since 1872 is so interwoven or
united with the development of their township village, Webberville, that it will have to be given in the paper on the aforesaid
village.
Le Roy, in 1863, according to Micigan State Gazetteer, is a
postoffice of Ingham county, 19 miles south from Lansing.