LEVI LOOMIS, Ganges Twp., Allegan Co., Michigan

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History of Allegan and Barry Counties, Michigan, with Illustrations and 
Biographical Sketches of their Prominent Men and Pioneers.
Philadelphia:  D. W. Ensign & Co.  1880.  Press of J. B. Lippincott & 
Co., Philadelphia.

Mr. Loomis is the direct descendant of Revolutionary stock, one of his 
ancestors having been a soldier of the war of 1812.  His parents were 
Josiah and Rebecca (Sheen) Loomis, who were the parents of four sons 
and a daughter.  Their son, Levi, was born in Madison Co., N. Y., Sept. 
6, 1810.  On the death of his mother he found a home with a family 
friend, --Dr. Foot, --with whom he remained five years, his time having 
been principally occupied in school duties.  He later engaged in labor, 
and with the proceeds liquidated the indebtedness upon his father's 
farm.  Subsequently, having learned the trade of a carpenter and 
joiner, he, in June, 1835, removed to Michigan, landing in Detroit on 
the 23d; July 3d he went to Marshall; on the 4th went to Grand Rapids; 
thence to St. Joseph, and crossed the lake to Illinois.  He returned to 
St. Joseph on the 28th, and commenced work on the steamboat "Royalon." 
On the 8th of September he quit work on account of the ague.  He sailed 
on the lake from May 1st to June 19th, being towed from St. Joseph to 
Swan Creek, Allegan County.  He built a mill, thirty-five by fifty, 
doing all the framing and laying foundation, and within three weeks, 
with the help of a millwright, had it in running operation.  He 
remained there until the 10th of May, 1837, when he returned to the 
East, and was married to Miss Sally Ann Skinner May 25th, same year, 
and returned to Michigan, crossing the State in a wagon, going from 
Allegan to the mouth of the Kalamazoo River on a raft.  Of their eight 
children five are married and living near their parent's home.
  The early home of Mr. and Mrs. Loomis after their marriage was 
Singapore, where they erected the first dwelling in the hamlet.  Mr. 
Loomis followed for a period of years his calling of a millwright, 
assisting to build a mill fifty by one hundred and twenty feet.  In the 
spring of 1839 he moved to Saugatuck, then to Kalamazoo; left there in 
January, 1840, for a farm of eighty acres which he had purchased in 
1839, which was then uncleared land, and is the site of the present 
homestead.  Eighty acres has since been added, and the whole farm 
placed under a high state of cultivation.  After becoming a farmer he 
was not satisfied, but built a mill at Fennville; built and supplied it 
from his farm; but fire wiped it out, and about four hundred thousand 
feet of lumber, worth about six thousand dollars.  he then went back to 
his farm satisfied.  Much of this land is devoted to fruit-raising, ten 
acres being devoted to apples and twelve to peaches.  This has proved 
exceedingly lucrative.  He may justly be said to have been the pioneer 
in the peach-growing interest in the western portion of the county.  
Mr. Loomis was formerly a Whig in his political convictions, and has 
fallen very naturally into the Republican ranks.  He is not in any 
sense an office-seeker, though several minor offices in the township 
have fallen to his lot.  He was the earliest assessor in Saugatuck, 
and, with the assistance of Mrs. Loomis, made the first assessment-roll 
in the township.  Both he and his wife are members of the Baptist 
Church, and are, in their daily walk and conversation, exemplars of the 
faith they profess.
  Two of their sons were soldiers in the war for the preservation of 
the Union, one of whom sacrificed his life in 1864.  With this 
affliction, together with the loss of two other of their children, 
their lives have been saddened, though many occasions for thankfulness 
are still gratefully recognized by them.