Biography of Asa Pennock, Hickory Corners, Barry County, Michigan

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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL ALBUM
EATON AND BARRY COUNTIES MICHIGAN 1891
Page 755
                                    ASA B. PENNOCK
        ASA B. PENNOCK. This old settler and prominent citizen of Barry 
County, is widely and favorably known for the part he has borne in the 
agricultural affairs of this section, and his connection with other 
interests. He owns three hundred and ninety-four acres of land in Barry 
Township, and considerable valuable property in the town of Hastings, as 
well as a home in Hickory Corners, and may well be considered a prosperous 
man. 
        The parents of our subject were Daniel and Lucy (Benjamin) 
Pennock, natives of Vermont, who for some years made their home in New 
York and died there early in the '30's. The father was a carpenter, a 
reliable workman, and they were numbered among the useful and respected 
members of society. Their son, Asa B., was born in Allegany County, N. Y., 
July 30, 1830, and was the youngest of eight children. Upon the death of 
his parents he was taken into the family of Isaac Tolles, whom he 
accompanied to Michigan about 1842. A settlement was made in Barry 
Township, Barry County, within the bounds of which there were but a few 
homes established. Young Pennock remained with his benefactor until he was 
nineteen years old, and then began working as a farm hand at $11 per 
months.
        After spending four years at work by the month Mr. Pennock 
bargained for eighty acres of land, and indebtedness on which he paid off 
by doing various jobs, among them being rail-splitting at fifty cents per 
hundred, taking store bills for his pay.  He worked in this way four or 
five years and in 1855 began work on the land he had bought. It was 
heavily timbered and in a wild condition. A half-roof log shanty was 
built, into which Mr. Pennock removed with his young bride, and together 
they built up a home of comfort and even luxury. In place of the log 
shanty now stands a large, handsome frame house, and many barns and other 
outbuildings are conveniently disposed about it.
        For many years Mr. Pennock bought and sold stock, and was one of 
the most prominent dealers in this section. During the war he delt 
extensively in cattle, and has since handled horses largely. For nearly 
two years he was engaged in the mercantile business at Hickory Corners, 
and for a quarter of a century he has been an auctioneer and during the 
time has presided at nearly three hundred public sales. He is a No. 1 
auctioneer, having the ready wit, which keeps up the life of a sale and 
disposes of goods to advantage by increasing the good humor of the buyers 
and pointing out to them the merits of the carious articles. Mr. Pennock 
started out in life with a pair of yearling steers, which he received from 
the man who reared him, and the success which he has earned by industry, 
perseverance and thrift is rejoiced in by all that know him. During his 
pioneer days he manufactured oak staves, which he hauled to Battle Creek 
with an ox-team, selling them there for $3 per thousand. He also drew the 
lumber for his barn from the pineries, twenty miles northwest of his 
place, with oxen.
        In 1855 Mr. Pennock was married to Miss Elvira Rose, an estimable 
and capable woman, who was born in Vermont in 1826. To them have been born 
a son and daughter; Ellen, wife of Alonzo Cadwallader, a lawyer in Ha 
Hastings; and Anson, a farmer in Barry Township. Mr. Pennock has been 
Township Supervisor, and is now President of the Barry County Agricultural 
Society. His political allegiance is given to the Republican Party, and 
his sympathy and support to every movement which he believes wise and 
beneficial.