Portrait and biographical album of Ingham and Livingston counties, Michigan, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the counties ... the governors of the state and of all the presidents of the United States.

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL ALBUM.

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cabin but his own, and had struggled through
poverty and scarcity of opportunities to gain a
bare subsistence, we may well believe that he
knows the full definition of the term, "hard times."
This pioneer farmer resides on section 7, of the
township of Leslie and was born in Mentz, Cayuga
County, N. Y., June 14, 1812, being the son of
Jabez and Betsey (Ayres) Tuttle, natives of New
Jersey and New York respectively. Jabez Tuttle
first saw the light in Elizabethtown, N. J., in 1761,
and while still a young man he removed after his
marriage to Mentz, N. Y., where he and his good wife
made their home for the remainder of their days. He
was a pioneer there and followed both carpentering
and farming, and also operated a distillery on
his farm for many years, for in those days temperance reform had not begun and distilling was
considered a very reputable calling. This pioneer
was also a Revolutionary soldier for a short time
and also served in the War of 1812. He became a
Whig and upon the organization of the Republican party joined that body, but never took any
part in public service. Notwithstanding his warlike experience, he was ever a faithful member of
the Society of Friends, while his wife was an earnest and zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. She was born on Long Island, N. Y.,
about the year 1771 and died at the age of seventy-six years.
These parents were blessed with four sons and
three daughters, namely: Phoebe, Sallie, Hannah,
Benjamin, James B., John J. and Samuel. James
B. and John J. are the only survivors of the
family and they were reared upon their father's
farm. Our subject remained at home until he
reached the age of sixteen years, at which time he
was bound out to learn the blacksmith's trade in
Auburn, N. Y., but not liking the man to whom
lie was apprenticed he ran away, and going to
Weedsport, N. Y., there served an apprenticeship
for three years at the tanner's and currier's trade.
He then engaged in the tanning business, using
his father's old still-house on the home farm as a
tannery, and carried on this business for two years.
During the Black Hawk War he took a contract
from the Government to butcher and supply the
friendly Indians with meat and was located at

Chicago, which was then a village of perhaps one
thousand inhabitants. He at that time owned a
half acre of land on which the Tremont House in
that city, and which, if he had held it to the present time, would have made him immensely wealthy;
but Chicago corner lots had not seen the advance
which they now hold and he disposed of his property.
In November, 1834, this gentleman returned to
New York and followed farming for two years,
when he decided to give up his work there and
come West. It was in the fall of 1837 that he
purchased eighty acres of forest land where he
now resides in Leslie, Ingham County, and in the
following spring he brought his family to the new
homestead. They came from Auburn to Detroit
by water and from Detroit to his farm by team
through the woods, cutting their way through the
heavy timber.
Nothing was so scarce as money in those days
and often when the family received a letter from
the East it would be weeks before they could
obtain the two shillings which must be paid for its
delivery. They struggled along through difficulties which to the modern man would seem insurmountable, but never faltered nor fainted by the
way. With his own right arm and his own trusty
ax he cleared the timber from one hundred acres
of his farm, and with the help of others has cleared
another one hundred acres. For several years he
was surrounded by Indians and wild beasts, but as
he was always friendly and true in his dealings
with the red man he had no trouble with him. He
has added to his possessions until he now has one
thousand and forty acres all in one body, a portion
of which he gives to his son.
Mr. Tuttle is one of the wealthiest men in this
county and has made his property by hard labor
as he has never speculated. Besides his farm property he also owns farm property in Leslie and is a
stockholder in the People's Bank, in which he has
been a Director since its organization. He is a
man of very decided convictions and is strong in
his preference for and belief in the Republican
party. During the days of the Civil War he was
Township Supervisor and has been Justice of the
Peace for fourteen years, besides filling various