George Emmons's biography, St Johns, Clinton County, Michigan

Copyright © 2000 by Jan Sedore. This copy contributed for use in 
the MIGenWeb Archives. 

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PAST AND PRESENT OF CLINTON COUNTY - 1906
CLINTON COUNTY, MICHIGAN
Page 96-99
Photo: George W. Emmons
GEORGE W. EMMONS
George W. Emmons, who bears the distinction of having been the first
settler within what is now the corporate limits of St. Johns and who is a
self-made man, obtained a comfortable competence through honorable methods
and unflagging diligence, was born in Seneca County, New York, September
12, 1823. His parents were Phelanous and Susan Emmons, the former a native
of Pennsylvania and the latter of New York. Little is known concerning the
ancestral history of the family. The father died in the Empire state at the
age of fifty years, after which the mother came to Michigan, and for twenty
years prior to her death resided in Bingham township, at the home of her
son, George W., departing this life April 9, 1890, at the very advanced age
of ninety-five years.
The early youth of George W. Emmons was a period of earnest and
unremitting toil. When thirteen years of age he was bound out to George
Rogers, of Oakland County, with whom he remained until at the age of
twenty-one years. He worked for him constantly during all of that time and
when he had obtained his majority Mr. Rogers gave Mr. Emmons eighty acres
of land where St. Johns now stands. He at once began clearing and improving
this tract, from which he cut cord wood and from its sale and through other
means he managed to save about fifty dollars per year until he had earned
enough to purchase forty acres more. Again he began saving and when he had
accumulated a sufficient amount he once more added a forty acre tract of
his land so that his farm was one hundred and sixty acres in extent. It was
entirely covered with timber when it came into his possession but it is now
one of the most highly cultivated tracts of land in Clinton County. Over
one half of this is within the city limits of St. Johns and has been sold
off in acre lots. The remainder is under a very high state of cultivation.
Every acre but twenty was cleared of the timber and transformed into a
cultivable tract from which annually rich harvests were gathered in reward
for the care and labor which Mr. Emmons bestowed upon his fields. He has
been a careful and painstaking man, avoiding debt, following honorable
principles, and his accumulations have grown under careful management and
the husbanding of his resources. Fortune in the way of good crops has
favored this pioneer from the start and his realty and personal possessions
are represented now by a considerable figure. He was one of the founders
and is still a stockholder and director of the St. Johns State Bank.
When he came to St. Johns more than a half century ago there were no roads
cut through the site of the present city and in fact there were but two
roads in the county. Within forty feet, in sight of his present palatial
home, built about twenty years ago, he cut trees and built his first log
shanty. The next morning after he had felled a cluster of trees, intending
to construct his cabin home upon the site, he found that the ground was
covered with the tracts of deer, which were still quite numerous in the
forests, while other kinds of game and also many wild animals were often
killed in the neighborhood. The work of progress and improvement had
scarcely been begun and all around stood the green forests, inviting the
labor of the lumberman and the agriculturist. As Mr. Emmons' early years
were spent in arduous toil he had little chance of acquiring an education.
More than once he walked to Oakland County, a distance of eighty miles, and
back in early days. He was an expert hunter in his manhood and he often
supplied his table with meat as a result of the chase. In later years he
has indulged in his favorite sport in the wilds of northern Michigan.
Mr. Emmons is an unusually well preserved man, still active and energetic.
He has never found need for eyeglasses and in his beautiful home in St.
Johns he is enjoying the fruits of his labor. He bears the distinction of
being the first settler within the corporation limits of the county seat
and is one of the three oldest pioneers of Clinton County, His mind bears
the impress of many events which have shaped the history of the county and
he is regarded as authority upon the early annals of this section of the
state. Politically he has always been a democrat and in the early days of
his residence here he served as a member of the village board of St. Johns
for seven years and was assessor for one year.
In November 1851, Mr. Emmons was united in marriage to Miss Mary Jane
Norton, a daughter of Bishop Norton, of Dewitt Township. She died after
twelve years, leaving two children: Ella, who died at the age of thirteen
years; and an infant. For his second wife Mr. Emmons chose Mrs. Cornelia
Pate, of Wayne, Michigan, who died six years later. In 1861 he wedded Mary
Jane Chase, of Detroit, and unto them were born three sons and two
daughters; Mrs Mary E. Wegner, now of Canada; Walter, who is living in
Lansing, Michigan; Frederick C., of St. Johns; Mrs Grace C. Henderson, of
Pontiac; and Clarence H., also of St. Johns.
Many decades have passed since Mr. Emmons came from the east to cast in
his lot with the pioneer settlers of Clinton County. People of the present
age can scarcely realize the struggles and dangers which attended the early
settlers, the heroism and self-sacrifice of lives passed upon the borders
of civilization, the hardships endured, the difficulties overcome. These
tales of the early days will be almost like a romance to those who have
known only the modern prosperity and convenience. To the pioneer of early
times, far removed from the privileges and conveniences of city or town,
the struggle for existence was a stern and hard one, and these men and
women must have possessed indomitable energy and sterling worth of
character as well as marked physical courage when they thus voluntarily
selected such a life and successfully fought its battles under the
conditions that then prevailed in Michigan and other states of the
Northwest Territory.