Biography of Noah Bishop, Easton Township, Ionia County, Michigan


Copyright © 1997 by Rebecca Bishop. This copy contributed for use in 
the USGenWeb Archives.  

 

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From the Portrait and Biographical Album of Ionia and Montcalm Counties,
published 1891, pages 822 and 825:


    "Noah BISHOP, a representative pioneer of Ionia County, Mich.,
residing on  Section 8, Easton Township, was born August 15, 1822, in 
Western New York. He  is a son of Luther and Harriet (Wheelock) Bishop. His 
father is a native of Massachusetts and his mother of Rhode Island. Both 
his grandfathers were Revolutionary heroes, and his grandfather Bishop was 
in the battle of Bunker  Hill, and saw the first shot fired, and was also 
present when the last fighting of the war was done. Of his father's family 
seven children survive:  Marcia, Mrs. Taylor, a widow; Maria, wife of 
Granville Madison; Sylvia, wife  of William Booker; Noah; Devilo; Eleanor, 
wife of Charles Reynolds; and Lucretia, Mrs. Milton Taylor.
     The subject of this sketch remained at home until he was fourteen 
years of  age, when he came to Oakland County, Mich., and worked out by the 
month on a  farm, receiving about $25 per month with his board.
     The excellent lady who presides over the home of our subject became
Mrs.  Bishop May 18, 1845. She is Ellen, daughter of Charles and Anna 
(Gillman) Madison and was born in New Hampshire, July 20, 1830. To her 
parents had been granted ten children, of whom the following are now living:
Nancy, Mrs. Jackson, a widow; James G., Granville, Charles, Frank, and Mrs. 
Bishop. When she was only two years old the Madison family emigrated to 
Oakland County, Mich., and about a year later Mr. Madison died, and about 6 
years later the mother was called away from this young family, and this 
little girl was left a double orphan at a tender age. She received the 
rudiments of her education in the log schoolhouses of New York and Michigan.
     In 1848 Mr. Bishop settled on the farm where Robert McKendry now 
resides, in the western portion of Easton Township. Here he bought eighty 
acres from the Government, for which he paid at the rate of $1.25 per 
acre. He subsequently got forty acres more for the same price. He built a 
log cabin in the woods before there were any roads to its site. For a 
number of years he lived in this house and developed the farm from the
woods to a well-cultivated state. In the spring of 1884 he settled on his 
present farm on section 8,Easton Township. He owns one hundred and forty-one
acres of land which comprises his home farm. On this he has a fine brick 
residence.
     Mr. and Mrs. Bishop are counted among the old pioneer corner stones of 
Ionia County, and they have seen many of the hardships to which pioneer
life is subjected. They are both identified with the Methodist Episcopal
Church in which he has served as a Steward for some years. They are now in 
their prime, enjoying the fruits of a life well spent, and doing all in 
their power to help those who are younger and less prosperous. Their fine 
brick residence is a favorite resort among all the neighbors. He is a 
Democrat in politics, and in local matters favors all movements for the 
elevation of social conditions.
    Mr. Bishop's army experience began September 9, 1861, when he enlisted
in Company E, First Michigan Engineers and Mechanics. This regiment was
attached to the Army of the Cumberland and Ohio, and later to the Army of 
the Tennessee. They were engaged in bridge building and repairing. He
received his honorable discharge December 29, 1864, and returned to Ionia 
County where he has resided ever since, enjoying the esteem and confidence 
of all who know him."
 






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