My Genealogy Hound

OSCAR PITCHER, a successful farmer residing in Watervliet Township, Berrien County, was born in Jefferson County, N. Y., December 18, 1847. His parents, Peter and Matilda (Smith) Pitcher, were natives of Jefferson County, the former having been born October 17, 1811, and the latter August 31, 1826. Their children were: Oscar, Delia, Viola, Isola and Lillie. In 1868, they came to Michigan and located in Watervliet, where he died June 8, 1885. A little more than two years afterward, on the 26th of October, 1887, his wife departed this life. In his political affiliations, he was a Republican, loyal to every principle of his chosen party. He was a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and an earnest worker in religious enterprises. Throughout his entire active life, he followed the occupation of an agriculturist, in which he met with success. The maternal grandfather of our subject was Harmonious Smith, whose wife bore him three sons and one daughter.

At the age of fourteen, our subject commenced to be a wage-earner. When about fifteen years of age, in September, 1862, he enlisted in the service of the Union, his name being enrolled as a member of Company I, Twentieth New York Cavalry. He served on detached duty and participated in a number of important and decisive engagements. In February, 1865, he entered the hospital at Portsmouth, Va., from which he was discharged on the 7th of June, 1865, at the close of the war. Resuming the peaceful pursuits of civil life, he returned home and learned the trade of a carpenter. In 1861), he came to Watervliet, and in 1876 purchased forty acres on section 5 of this township. He now owns an eighty-acre tract, the improvements on which have been made through his untiring efforts.

On Christmas Day, 1873, Mr. Pitcher was united in marriage with Miss Isabelle Dustin, who was born near Kalamazoo, Mich., March 4, 1855, being the daughter of Joseph M. and Jane A. (Easton) Dustin. Her paternal grandfather, Coburn Dustin, was a descendant of English ancestors, and he and his wife reared six children: Albert, LaFayette, Dudley, Luke, Joseph M. and Philine. Joseph M. Dustin was born in Boston March 20, 1810, and in his youth learned the carpenter’s trade. He went later to Cayuga County, N. Y., where he met and married Miss Jane A. Easton. Subsequently he removed to Michigan and arrived in Kalamazoo County at a period so early in the settlement of the now flourishing city of Kalamazoo that it contained only a very few houses. There he entered land from the Government and erected a primitive structure, destitute even of doors, for the abode of his family. He improved a farm, which, as time passed by, he embellished with a number of suitable and conveniently arranged buildings. Politically, he was a strong Republican, and was a leader in his party in the township. His death occurred January 6, 1866.

The mother of Mrs. Pitcher bore the maiden name of Jane G. Easton, and was born in Cayuga County, N. Y., December 9, 1818, being the daughter of Isaac Easton, a farmer. She married George Sparks for her second husband. A sincere Christian and a gifted singer, it was her custom in the pioneer days, when it was impossible to secure a preacher to minister to the spiritual wants of the people, to preside at meetings, and frequently she preached funeral sermons. Her nine children were: Albert M., who served in the Civil War; William, also a soldier in the defense of the Union; Luke E., Eugene, Elizabeth, Frank, Isabelle, Mary E., and Jennie. Mr. Pitcher and his excellent wife have one son, Robert, and the family is one of the most prominent and popular in the township.