My Genealogy Hound

GEORGE F. SILVER, a prominent citizen and able agriculturist of Ontwa, Cass County, Mich., has held with efficiency various official positions of trust, and is widely known as a man of sterling integrity and fine business attainments. Mr. Silver was born January 9, 1835, in Newport, Sullivan County, N. H., and was the son of Oren and Abigail (Fifield) Silver. The paternal great-great-grandfather of our subject emigrated from Scotland to New England, and in New Hampshire, the great-grandfather, John Silver, is supposed to have been born. He was by trade a mason, and, a man of enterprise, journeyed to Michigan in a very early day and died in his new home at over four-score years and ten. His good wife also passed away in Michigan, at about the same age. They were members of the Episcopal Church, and were upright and conscientious in the daily work of life. Fraternally, Great-grandfather Silver was connected with the Ancient Free & Accepted Masons. The venerable couple were the parents of a large family of children, and reared to maturity Jacob, Josiah, John, Jeremiah, Joan, Abiel, Margaret, and Benjamin, who is the only survivor and now resides in Kensington, Ill.

The paternal grandfather, also John Silver, was a New Hampshire farmer, and in about 1850 located in Ontwa Township, Cass County, Mich., and he died at the age of seventy-five years in Sullivan County, N. H. He was a minute-man in the War of 1812, and was a leading member of the Ancient Free & Accepted Masons. Until 1840 he was a Democrat, but then became a Whig, and later joined the ranks of the Republican party. Twice married, he first became the husband of Judith Colby, the mother of one child, Oren. The first wife dying in New Hampshire in the year 1820, he again married in New Hampshire. While in New Hampshire he kept an hotel and owned a stage-line. He farmed in Michigan and, energetic and industrious, was prospered. He was a sincere Christian man and a valued member of the Episcopal Church. He was also a member of the Ancient Free & Accepted Masons and had many warm friends within and without that ancient order. The father of our subject, Oren Silver, was born upon the old homestead among the Granite Hills of New Hampshire, December 8, 1812. He had arrived at mature years before he made his home in the West. He first came to Edwardsburgh in September, 1835, and journeyed from his New England home by canal and lake to Detroit and thence by stage to Cass County.

Father Silver followed the business of an hotel-keeper for six years in Michigan, and then returned to New Hampshire with a team and remained one year. At the expiration of a twelve-month he drove slowly back to Michigan and bought an eighty-acre tract of land two miles southeast of Edwardsburgh. In about 1846 Oren Silver settled where Dr. Sweetland now resides, the property then being owned by Abial Silver, who was Land Commissioner. He was Commissioner when the State capitol was laid out, when the capital was located at Lansing. In about 1850 the father of our subject bought forty acres where he resides and to which he has since added, now owning one hundred and fifty acres, all under excellent improvement, with a handsome and commodious residence, substantial barns and out-buildings. In starting out in life, the main capital of Oren Silver was youth, ambition and energy, which, coupled with good judgment, have aided him to climb up the ladder of life. He is in religious belief a Swedenborgian, and is fraternally a Free Mason. His only child is George F.

Our subject was reared upon a farm, received his education in the district schools of the neighborhood, and has always made his home with his parents. He has run a thresher for thirty-four years, and has held with ability several important offices of the township. He is now Clerk, and as Supervisor aided in local progress and improvements. Although he did not enlist in the late war, he served for a time as a teamster in Tennessee and Mississippi, working for the Government. He is a Democrat and is active in politics. He is a valued member of the Ancient Free & Accepted Masons and belongs to the chapter. Mr. Silver was united in marriage June 6, 1862, with Miss Sarah J. Haney, of Ontwa Township, Cass County, Mich., and a daughter of Charles and Jane (Smith) Haney. Mr. Haney emigrated from Baden, Germany, in 1836, and, arriving in the United States, came to Cass County, Mich., where he entered and improved eighty acres of land and survived until January 1892. A wife and five children mourned his death. Mrs. Haney was a native of Pennsylvania, and was the daughter of Jacob Smith, a pioneer of Cass County, who located in this part of Michigan, in Ontwa Township, in about 1829. He died on his homestead, respected by all who knew him. Mr. Smith was of direct German descent.

Our subject and his estimable wife were blessed by the birth of five children. Isabelle, the eldest, died at two years of age. Belle is the widow of Charles Flint. Mary died at two years of age. Dora and Benjamin survive. Mr. and Mrs. Silver have spent their years among the associations of youth and enjoy the esteem and confidence of the large acquaintance of their lifetime, and in the social and benevolent work of their locality, they lend ready aid, being both liberal in sentiment and public spirited in action.