Genesee-Oakland County MI Archives Biographies.....Horton, Dexter 1836 - ************************************************ 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 19, 2006, 11:44 pm Author: Chapman Bros. (1892) MAJ. DEXTER HORTON, of Fenton, Genesee County, is a man whose fine personal qualities and character no less than his public services make him a worthy subject for the pen of the biographer. He was born at Groveland, Oakland County, this State, June 24, 1836, and his father Henry Wisner Horton, was born at Owego, N. Y., May 31, 1797. The grandfather, Joseph Lee Horton, took to wife Hannah Todd, and he was of the seventh generation from Barnabas Horton who came over in the ship "Swallow" from Leicester, England, and landed at Hampton, Mass. In 1640 he built the first frame house in the eastern part of Long Island: He was a warm advocate of religious freedom and a man of deep and genuine piety. Henry W. Horton was married at Canfield, N. J., January 31, 1819, to Adah Jennings, who died January 20, 1856. She was the mother of eleven children, seven sons and four daughters, two of whom died in early childhood, and one son Emerson C. died at Richmond, Mo. It was in 1830 when the parents of our subject removed with three of their children from Royalton, Niagara County, N. Y., to Michigan intending to settle in Genesee County, but on account of the terrible condition of the roads and the slow pace of his ox-team he was greatly delayed and upon reaching Flint he learned that the land he had selected had been taken by John Todd and he consequently located upon three hundred and sixty acres in what was then known as Pleasant Valley in Groveland Township, Oakland County. There he resided during the remainder of his life and died fifty-four years after coming to Michigan. The township was organized in April, 1835, and he was its first clerk and afterward Supervisor, and was Justice of the Peace for twenty-two years. On the 20th of September, 1856, the father of our subject was united in marriage with Mrs. Mary E. Losee, widow of Isaac J. Losee, who proved to him a faithful and devoted wife and who died in June, 1890. He died in 1886 at the age of eighty-eight and with him passed away the last of the early settlers of this township. He was one of the original stockholders who owned the Oakland Chronicle, one of the first newspapers in Michigan. He was an active Abolitionist before the war and a Republican to the core, and ever took a firm stand against the use of and traffic in intoxicating liquors. The Methodist Episcopal Church of Groveland ever found in him an active worker and he donated to its use a liberal portion of land for the erection of the church. The poor and the wayfarer ever found in his home a welcome, and every needy one was welcome to food and lodging. His was "the ministers' home" for all itinerant preachers. Maj. Horton was born in the log house built by his father and was reared upon the farm, taking his early education in the district schools and afterward being sent at the age of fourteen to Albion College, but there his reputation for a mischief maker was so pronounced that his course was cut short. He was acknowledged to be a good student, and besides excelling in his studies was well liked by teachers and pupils, but his irrepressible love for fun led to his expulsion from the school. When he left college he was President of the Eclectic Society. Farming summers and teaching winters occupied his time until he reached his majority and he then took up his residence in Fenton. During the presidential campaign of 1860 this young man took an active part in promoting the election of Abraham Lincoln and after Lincoln's inauguration he applied for the office of Postmaster of this city, which he received, although his opponent had the endorsement of the member of Congress from this District. From boyhood this young man was an active and shrewd worker in politics, voting first with the Whig party but becoming a Republican upon the organization of that party. During the war he was one of the most interested workers in holding meetings and recruiting men throughout this region and in 1863 joined the Light Horse Artillery of the Army of Potomac, and in 1864 received an appointment from President Lincoln as Captain and Commissary of Subsistence, in which capacity he was with the armies of Tennessee and of Georgia until the close of the war. He participated in the Atlanta campaign, marched with Sherman to the sea and took part in his subsequent campaigns in the Carolinas, being promoted for efficient and meritorious service to the rank of a Major. At the close of the war he was re-appointed Postmaster but for political reasons was removed from this office by President Johnson. He was a delegate to the Soldiers' Convention at Chicago that nominated Gen. Grant for the Presidency. In 1867 Maj. Horton was appointed Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms of the State Senate and two years later he was the Representative in the State Legislature from this district and two years after received the nomination again, and came within thirty-one votes of being elected. When he first located at Fenton his capital consisted of two colts and fifteen bags of corn; lie has been successful from year to year in business and for more than twenty years has successfully conducted a business in the line of agricultural implements and is now one of the largest retail dealers in this part of the State. Maj. Horton was married in 1861 to Miss Lavinia Losee, a native of New York who came with her parents to Michigan at an early day and setled [sic] in Springfield, Oakland County. The four children who have blessed this union are: Mary A., who is now the wife of H. H. Rackham, an attorney of Detroit; Mabel F,, who is the wife of Z, D. Patterson, an attorney and clerk in the Pension Department at Washington, D, C, and Bryson D., and Myra who are at home with their parents. For seven years our subject was commander of Fenton Post, No. 24, G. A. R., and has been a Mason for thirty years. He is one of the Trustees of the Presbyterian Church to which both he and his wife are attached, and has been President of the School Board for twelve years and a member of it for three years longer. The Village Council has had the benefit of his abilities for a number of years and he was also President of the village. He is the President of the Fenton Agricultural Society, President of the Electric Light and Power Association, and of the Genesee Pioneers Picnic Association, and Chief of the Fenton Fire Department. 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/horton23nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/mifiles/ File size: 7.3 Kb