My Genealogy Hound

Harvey Halsted, one of the best known fruit growers of the State of Michigan, residing on his farm of 80 acres in section 7, Farmington township, Oakland County, was born in Farmington township, December 23, 1840, and is a son of William and Hannah (Boorn) Halsted, and a grandson of David Halsted.

David Halsted, the paternal grandfather of our subject, was born in Western New York in 1791 and lived to the age of 76 years, dying in 1867. William Halsted was born in Western New York in 1815 and at an early age came to Michigan. He lived in Farmington township, Oakland County, and in Plymouth township, Wayne County. He was engaged in farming and in the buying and selling of live stock. He was successful in his business ventures, and was most highly regarded by his neighbors and fellow citizens. His wife, Hannah Boorn, was born in Farmington township, Oakland County, Michigan, and was a daughter of James Boorn, an early pioneer of Michigan, who was born in Vermont, June 18, 1792, moved thence to Western New York at an early age and came to Oakland County, Michigan, in 1828, locating on government land in Farmington township, where he died in 1869. William Halsted died in 1899 at the age of 84 years; his wife died in 1887.

Harvey Halsted received his schooling in Plymouth township, Wayne County, where his father was engaged in buying and selling stock. In 1869 he purchased his present farm, consisting of 80 acres in the heart of the most fertile agricultural district of the State, 35 acres of which he has devoted to the culture of Steele’s Red Winter, or Red Canada, apples, as they are sometimes called. By skilled methods and painstaking endeavors he has produced some of the largest and finest fruit ever grown in Michigan. He is considered by all apple shippers the best fruit grower in the United States. His fruit commands the highest prices in the market, Mr. Halsted often getting $4 per barrel for his apples right from the trees in the orchard. He has one of the finest improved orchards in the State, one that is not inferior to any other in point of skilled management. He has erected a fine brick fruit house, for the storing of his choice fruit, and has a fine farm house, barns and out-buildings. In addition to his fruit business, Mr. Halsted engages in farming to some extent.

Mr. Halsted was married in 1870 to Mary Mathews, who was born November 3, 1838, in Novi township, Oakland County, Michigan, and is a daughter of Daniel Mathews, of Plymouth, Michigan, who was there engaged in the milling business until his death in 1876. Mr. and Mrs. Halsted are the parents of two children, namely: James, born April 17, 1873; and Charles H., born July 27, 1875, who was married to Grace Calista Green, a daughter of Horace A. Green, whose sketch will be found elsewhere in this work. Mr. Halsted is a Republican in politics.