Genesee-Livingston County MI Archives Biographies.....Handy, John W. 1852 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/mi/mifiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com December 7, 2007, 2:03 am Author: Chapman Bros. (1892) JOHN W. HANDY, M. D. There is probably no physician in Genesee County more worthy of the name than the one of whom we now write, and he is at the same time thoroughly worthy of the title of gentleman, and is a man of great practical experience and ability. His father, John H. Handy, was born in Connecticut in 1817, and his grandfather, James H., was a native of the same State. It was during his lifetime that the family name was changed by custom from Hendee to Handy. The great-grandfather, Cyrenus, was born in Connecticut and served in the Revolutionary War, and his father, Barzilla, was a native of England, and established the Hendee family in Connecticut. The grandfather was a pioneer near Batavia, Genesee County, N. Y., and about the year 1829 he brought the family to Hartland, Livingston County, Mich., where he resided throughout the remainder of his life, which carried him over more than ninety-nine years. One of his brothers, Leman, was the famous showman, and owned the first caravan in which a man entered the cage of lions in the United States. The father of our subject carried on the home farm in Hartland, until 1859, when he removed to Steuben County, Ind., and died there in 1879. He was an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was honored and respected by all, having not an enemy in the world. Dorothy Hancock was the maiden name of the mother of our subject and she was born in Ireland and married there for her first husband Thomas Walsh, and emigrated with him to America, where Mr. Walsh was book-keeper for the millionaire A. T. Stewart, his old playmate and schoolmate in England. He died of consumption a few years after their migration to Livingston County, Mich., where he came for his health, and she here became the wife of John H. Handy, and the mother of our subject. By her first marriage she had three sons and two daughters. The three, sons are; Frank, Thomas and Alexander. The two last named served in the Civil War, and Alexander is the author of the "Mary, the Queen of the House of David." Our subject is the only child of his mother's second marriage, and was born in Hartland, Livingston County, October 5, 1852. His educational advantages were indeed limited, and he paid his tuition for his first term in a graded school by selling the pelts of musk rats, which he had caught, and all through his school days he worked early and late to keep in school at all. At the age of eighteen this young man began teaching, and saved the money thus earned to pay for further schooling. During the spring and summer of each year he was employed upon the farm, Attending a fall term of graded school and teaching every winter until he reached the age of twenty-six, after which he was obliged to take charge of the farm until after the death of that parent. He early evinced great love for the study of physiology and anatomy and before long became an authority on these subjects in his neighborhood, and thus gradually drifted into the study of medicine. After studying at home for some time he entered the University of Michigan in the department of medicine and surgery, and worked his own way through. He graduated in 1884, taking his degree, and began practicing in Hartland, Livingston County, remaining there until the fall of 1885. At this time the young Doctor decided to come to Flint, where he located for two years and entered into partnership with Dr. Cogshall for a short time, since which he has carried on his practice independently. His marriage in Indiana in 1876 brought to his home a wife in the person of Miss Elizabeth Robbins, a native of that State. He is a member of the Saginaw Valley Medical Association, a Republican in politics, and belongs to the Odd Fellows, the Foresters and the Maccabees. 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 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mi/genesee/bios/handy914gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/mifiles/ File size: 4.7 Kb