Genesee County MI Archives Biographies.....Penoyer, James 1812 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com December 26, 2006, 4:56 pm

Author: Chapman Bros. (1892)

JAMES PENOYER. The fellow-citizens of him whose name appears above are united in
their kindly expressions and appreciation of the work that he has done for this
por- [sic] of Genesee county. He and his wife both hold a high position in
regard of the community. They have not witheld their help from any good
enterprise and the neat churches and well kept school-houses that dot the
country are monuments to their enterprise as to that of others.

  Mr. Penoyer is a retired farmer living in the village of Flushing. He was born
in Fabius Township, Onondaga County, N. Y., October 1, 1812, and is a son of
Jacob and Lucy (St. John) Penoyer, who were natives of Connecticut. Although our
subject's father was by trade a carpenter, his career was varied by different
occupations. For a time he ran a grist mill and later became a farmer. His
decease occurred July 17,1830; his wife died June 22, 1828. Our subject is one
of two children surviving of the four that were born to his parents. The other
living child was Julia, now Mrs. Orris Barnes of Newbridge, Onondaga County, N.
Y. Our subject is of French ancestry, the first representative of the family in
this county having crossed the seas many generations ago and settled in the New
England States. James Penoyer was educated in his native place and lived at home
until sixteen years of age, when he began to serve an apprenticeship of four
years at the hatter's trade at Pompey Hill and Tully of the same county. He
later served as a journeyman and went to Medina County, Ohio, when it was very
new, and there bought a farm. He remained there three years engaged in
cultivating the place and then came to Flushing, but before the township had
been named.

  On coming to this place our subject was first engaged in work for his brother
David on the old Brent farm. He worked for a year, chopping and logging and then
came to section 25, this township. He then purchased a farm in two pieces. It
comprised eighty acres on section 35, of this township and ninety-two acres on
section 2, of Clayton Township. He paid for it $3.50 per acre and built a log
house which was 18x24 feet in dimensions and two stories high. He lived in the
same for thirteen years and then built a fine home, which he afterward traded,
however, with Thomas Packard and got for it one hundred and sixty acres of land
in Clayton Township, He added to it from time to time and built a beautiful home
on that farm. In 1881, however, he left this farm and moved to Flushing and
there built a fine brick residence where he now lives. The enclosure in which it
is built comprises five acres and is located on East Main Street. Mr. Penoyer
has chopped two hundred and fifty acres of timber land and logged more than he
has chopped.

  Our subject was married in 1828 to Miss Nancy N. Freeman of Westfield, Medina
County, Ohio. She was a daughter of the Rev. Rufus and Clarissa (St. John)
Freeman. The father was a minister in the Baptist Church. Mr. and Mrs. Penoyer
have a family of four children. They are Lura C., who is Mrs. A. S. Partridge,
of Flushing and the mother of four children; Rufus J., who married Emmeret White
and has one child; Hiram F., who married Rose White and after her decease
married Mrs. Rachel Carmichael; Byron L., who married Alice Woodruff and lives
in Flushing and has two children. Our subject is a Prohibitionist in politics
and he and his wife are members of the Baptist Church.


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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