My Genealogy Hound

FRANKLIN GOWDY, a leading citizen and prominent general agriculturist and fruit-grower of New Buffalo Township, Berrien County, Mich., is well known and highly esteemed, and has occupied with distinction most of the township offices, ever giving to public duty the faithful consideration demanded, and discharging every trust reposed in him with able efficiency. Our subject is a native of Oneida County, N. Y., and was born on March 5, 1831. His parents, Elam and Lucy (Stroud) Gowdy were long-time residents of the Empire State, but the father, a native New Englander, was born in Connecticut, October 20, 1788.

The paternal grandfather, John Gowdy, was also born in Connecticut, in 1760. He was an eloquent Baptist divine, and served bravely as a soldier in the Revolutionary War. Surviving to reach his ninety-fourth year, he died at the residence of his son Elam in 1854, in Batavia, Kane County, N. Y., where he had passed the latter years of his life, tenderly cared for by the father and mother of our subject. Elam Gowdy was a man of energy and enterprise. Discerning the larger opportunities of the West, he removed from New York to Illinois in 1852 and settled in Kane County, which he made his home for a period of twelve years.

In 1864, Mr. Gowdy came to Michigan, then a venerable man, and three years later, in 1870, passed away, aged eighty-two years. His good wife, who was born in Vermont August 19, 1798, survived her beloved husband and companion five years and died in Berrien County in 1875. Elam and Lucy Gowdy were the parents of eight children, of whom Franklin was the seventh in order of birth. Reared in Oneida County, N. Y., he gained his education in the district schools of his birthplace, and later accompanied his parents to Illinois, remaining with his father and mother until 1862, when with his family he settled in Berrien County, Mich.

Our subject was united in marriage in the State of New York with Miss Mary A. Millard, a native of Allegany County. The wedding took place October 5, 1856, at the residence of the bride’s parents, William C. and Polly (Ripenbark) Millard. The father and mother of Mrs. Gowdy were well-known and highly esteemed residents of Allegany County and were of English and Welsh ancestry. Both the paternal and maternal grandfathers were men of note. Grandfather Ripenbark fought with gallant courage in the War of 1812, while Great-grandfather Sears served in the War of the Revolution. The union of our subject and his estimable wife was blessed by the birth of eight children, five of whom are living, as follows: Luna G., the wife of John B. Streed, an attorney in Cambridge, Ill.; Frank M., a successful physician in New Buffalo; Herbert W. B.; Mary Elnora; and Bessie. The deceased were, Elizabeth, Cora and Lillie.

The maternal great-grandfather of our subject, John Stroud, was a man of great strength of character and steadfast resolution. He served with Washington in the War of the Revolution and afterward made his home in the Green Mountain State, where the maternal grandfather, John Stroud, Jr., was born, and at a good old age died. The Strouds were people of position in New England, and some of the mother’s family were members of the Legislature. One of the sons of Grandfather Stroud was born, reared, and died at the good old age of eighty-five years, upon the same farm, having spent his four-score years and five without a single removal from the homestead. The parents of our subject were devout members of the Baptist Church, but two of the great-uncles of Mr. Gowdy, brothers of the paternal grandfather, were ministers, preaching in the Universalist Church.

Since 1862, Franklin Gowdy, with his family, has made his home in Berrien County, but for some time previous resided in Chikaming Township, and there engaged in getting out wood and lumber and shipping the same to the Chicago market. Our subject with a brother, J. F. Gowdy, and several others built a large pier on Lake Michigan to facilitate the handling and shipping the products of the woods. In about 1861, Mr. Gowdy purchased the land he now owns for the timber, and built a sawmill, which he operated for several years. After his land was fully cleared he turned his attention entirely to the culture of fruit and the tilling of the soil. Beginning in 1861 with the purchase of forty acres, he added one piece after another, until he now has a tract of two hundred and sixty acres brought up to a high state of productiveness, and unproved with an attractive residence, commodious barns and sheds. The valuable homestead, three miles northeast of New Buffalo, has been the constant residence of Mr. Gowdy since 1863, and during this period of thirty years he has been an important factor in the development of the best interests of the township.

Politically a stalwart Republican, our subject cast his first Presidential vote for Fremont and has ever been faithful to the principles of the “Party of Reform.” Taking an active part in local issues, Mr. Gowdy has held with executive ability the official positions of Justice of the Peace, Clerk of Chikaming Township, and has served efficiently as Supervisor, Treasurer and Highway Commissioner of the township of New Buffalo. Straightforward, energetic and enterprising, he is a liberal-spirited citizen, and possesses the high regard of a host of friends.