Genesee County MI Archives Biographies.....Babcock, Dwight 1844 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com January 1, 2007, 2:48 am

Author: Chapman Bros. (1892)

DWIGHT BABC0CK. This liberal and public-spirited citizen, whose business as a
manufacturer of pine and hard wood lumber is one of the best enterprises of
Flint, and who is known among his old comrades as one of the brave boys in blue
who fought for the old flag in the '60s, was born in Burton Township, February
25, 1844. His father, Abelino Babcock, was a native of Cooperstown, Otsego
County, N. Y., and was a playfellow and associate of the renowned novelist,
Fenimore Cooper. His father, Samuel Babcock, was a farmer and dairyman, and lost
a leg in the Revolutionary War.

  The father of our subject came West after marriage, and in 1834 settled in
Rochester, Oakland County, and buying eighty acres of Government land built a
log house in which there was not a nail, board or shingle. He came here a very
poor man, and during the first eighteen months of his residence here he had only
twenty-five cents in money. He took a three-mile contract on the old railroad
from Port Huron to Flint, but as that was the time of the wild cat speculation
he lost all that he put into it. In 1867 he located in Flint, where he had been
for some time, buying produce as a partner of J. B. Covert. His business was
successful, and he became a stockholder in the Genesee County Savings Bank. He
was a prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and for twenty-one
years superintended the Sunday-school. He was in his early life an Abolitionist
and later a Republican, and died at the age of sixty-four years.

  The mother of our subject was known in her maidenhood as Emeline Shaw. She
also was a native of Cooperstown, where her father, Sylvester Shaw, was a
farmer. She died in Grand Blanc Township, and of her thirteen children twelve
grew to maturity and nine are now living. Two brothers served in the war—David,
who was a member of the Twenty-seventh Michigan Infantry and died at Crab
Orchard in 1864, and S. S., who is now a prominent attorney in Detroit, and
served for two years in a New York regiment.

  Dwight Babcock learned the practical work of agriculture upon his father's
farm, and studied in the log schoolhouse with its shake roof. In June, 1862, he
enlisted in Company K, Twenty-seventh Michigan Infantry, and took part in the
battles at Bowling Green, Jackson, Champion Hill, and the siege of Vicksburg.
After that memorable Fourth of July, 1863, when Vicksburg surrendered, he went
down the Mississippi and afterward crossed the mountains of East Tennessee and
took part in the conflict at Campbell Station and the siege of Knoxville. He
veteranized about that time, and then went East to Harper's Ferry and became a
part of the Army of the Potomac. He was in engagements all the time from the
battle of Rapidan to the surrender of Petersburg. His regiment was the first to
place the National colors on the parapet at Petersburg, and they were present at
Lee's surrender at Appomattox, and took part in the Grand Review. After the
death of Abraham Lincoln they were placed on guard at the old Arsenal Prison
over the conspirators, and were there on duty until the execution of those
prisoners.

  After receiving his honorable discharge as Orderly Sergeant Mr. Babcock
engaged in farming in Davison, buying about two hundred and forty acres of land,
but in 1867 he began lumbering, in which he has been very successful. He employs
some sixty men the year round, and handles from six to eight million feet of
lumber a year as his different camps. In 1889 he built a grist and saw mill in
Flint which he operated by steam, and he engaged at once in the manufacture of
pine and hard wood lumber. He was married in Flint in 1871 to Miss Susan Baker,
a native of Devonshire, England, and they have two children—Abelino, who is a
member of the Class of '92 at Flint High School, and Elizabeth. This gentleman
is a prominent member of both the Masonic order and the Grand Army, and all his
family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he is a liberal
supporter. He is a Republican in his political views, and a stanch one,
believing that in the doctrines of that party will be found the true solution of
our political questions.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

Portrait and Biographical Record of Genesee, Lapeer and Tuscola Counties,
Michigan, Containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative
Citizens, Together with Biographies of all the Governors of the State, and of
the Presidents of the United States

Chicago:
Chapman Bros.
1892


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