GEORGE W. McCRUMB’s biography, Eagle Township, Clinton County, Michigan Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Janet Wilkinson Schwartz ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/mi/mifiles.htm ************************************************ History of Shiawasee and Clinton Counties, Michigan with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of their Prominent Men and Pioneers. Philadelphia: D.W. Ensign & Co., 1880. Chapter LVII—Eagle Township, Clinton County WILLIAM McCRUMB, who was descended from Scotch ancestry, was an early settler in Canandaigua, NY, and a soldier in the war of 1812. He was married Dec 4, 1815 to MissMARY STEWART, and George W., the seventh of their children, was born in Medina Co., Ohio, April 26, 1827, to which State his parents had emigrated a few months previous. They, however, soon after removed to Lorain County, and remained until 1844, when the family repaired to the township of Eagle, where Mr. McCRUMB died the year following. The mother survived until March, 1853. GEORGE W. at the age of eighteen was left with the care of the family almost entirely devolving upon him. He was married June 14, 1856, to Miss CALANTHE M. HILL, whose parents are inmates of her own cheerful home. The children of Mr. and Mrs. McCRUMB were born in the following order: HELEN M., Mar 24, 1857; FLOID, Feb 1, 1858; CHARLES, Aug 3, 1860; NETTIE and MATTIE (twins), Aug 25, 1863; GEORGE W., JR., Sep 14, 1866; JENNIE, Jan 18, 1869; CALANTHE MAY, Jun 11, 1875. Of these children have died CHARLES and MATTIE, October, 1863; FLOID, Nov 13, 1874; CALANTHE MAY, May 11, 1876; HELEN, Aug 28, 1876; leaving still three to brighten the home circle. Mr. McCRUMB is actively engaged in business pursuits, and is at present largely interested in the saw-mill on the Looking Glass River, of which he is the proprietor, and which has a capacity of one million feet of lumber per year. He has been especially prominent in politics, having held many influential offices and been a recognized leader in his township. His convictions have caused him until recently to affiliate with the Republican Party. From the same chapter, GEORGE W. McCRUMB is featured in a section about EAGLE VILLAGE: The location and platting of the village of Eagle followed the opening of the Ionia and Lansing Railroad. It will therefore be proper to preface a sketch of the village by a brief history of this thoroughfare in its connection with the township. While the subject of a railroad through Eagle was being agitated a meeting was called by GEORGE W. McCRUMB at Jenison Hall, by request of many prominent citizens desirous of expressing their opinion in favor or against the measure. At a later meeting a resolution was passed, with but one dissenting vote, offering aid to the company, and the township officers were subsequently authorized to issue bonds against the township, bearing ten per cent interest, for the sum of nine thousand five hundred dollars, payable in four equal installments, the first of which would become due six months after the completion of the road. The time for the first payment on these bonds having expired, at the date specified the amount was promptly met. Before the succeeding obligations had matured the Supreme Court had declared the issuance of township bonds for such purposes unconstitutional. The bonds had meanwhile been disposed of or fallen into the hands of other parties. Action was brought against the township, as represented by its supervisor, GEORGE W. McCRUMB, who engaged counsel, and in the suit which followed was victorious. An appeal was taken, however, and ultimately the township was compelled to pay principal and interest, amounting in the aggregate to about twenty thousand dollars. The site of the depot having been determined, GEORGE W. McCRUMB in 1872 purchased forty acres of land on section 21, of the estate of JOHN H. McCRUMB, a part of which was fornerly owned by AMOS NICHOLS, the remainder being a portion of the TOWNSEND tract. To this JACOB SCHOTT added ten acres, the whole of which was platted as the village of Eagle and recorded May 6, 1873. Mr. McCRUMB may therefore be regarded as the projector of the village. He removed from Lorain Co., Ohio, in 1845, with his father, WILLIAM McCRUMB, who located upon eighty acres on section 17. This land was uncleared on their arrival, and a cabin built in the immediate neighborhood afforded them a home while erecting a log house. The father survived his arrival but a year, when GEORGE W. purchased the estate and remained with the family at the homestead until 1859, when he removed to his present farm of two hundred and forty acres, to which he later added two hundred and sixty acres adjacent to it. Upon this land he erected in 1877 his present spacious residence. Mr. McCRUMB at once built a depot upon his plat, bearing himself the entire expense of its construction. In the same year (1873) LOYAL W. HILL removed from the township and built a store, in which he placed a general stock of goods. This was the beginning of business enterprise in the village. He was followed by JOHN FORCE, who became the pioneer blacksmith, after which LOYAL HILL and others erected dwelling houses and Mr. McCRUMB laid the foundation for a spacious building, which was later rented to Messrs. COLE and MARSH, who opened a general store which supplied the wants of the surrounding country. In 1876, Messrs. COLE and FLETCHER built a store in which was placed a stock of hardware, and the church edifice was erected in the same year. The first public house was opened by EUGENE MARSH in a building originally designed as a dwelling. A spacious and well-appointed hotel was erected in 1879, of which WASHBURN STRICKLAND is proprietor and landlord. The present business of the place embraces, in addition, a general store, owned by Messrs. PEARL & STARCH; a grocery and hardware, kept by EUGENE MARSH, who is deputy postmaster, the commission being held by GEORGE W. McCRUMB; two blacksmith shops, ROBERT PULLEN and JOSIAH HOGLE presiding at the forge; a milliner, who is Mrs. ELIZABETH PALMER; and a saw-, planing-, and moulding-mill, with feed-mill combined, owned by Mr. McCRUMB and located one mile from the village. The teacher of the public school is Miss DIANA PENNINGTON.