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Submitted by Cheryl VanWormer

			ARCHIBALD F. AND JANE A. (HOWE) CARR

	This gentleman, whose name is so prominently associated with the history of the city of 
Ionia, was born in Amsterdam, Montgomery Co., N.Y., Sept. 3, 1814.
	The Carr family is descended from three brothers, who came from Paisley, Scotland, some 
time previous to the Revolution and settled in Providence, R. I.  They were weavers by trade, and
followed their vocation in this country.
	John T. Carr, father of the subject of this memoir, and son of one of the three brothers 
just mentioned, was born in Providence in 1784; when a young man, in company with two brothers, 
he emigrated to Amsterdam, N. Y., where he was married.  He reared a family of seven children, 
Archibald being the second son.  When he was three years of age the family moved to Syracuse, 
N.Y., where the elder Carr resided many years.
	At the age of thirteen Archibald F. went to live with an uncle who was a merchant in 
Orleans County.  With him he remained until he attained his twenty-first year.  He acquired a 
good practical business education, and in his youth evinced much perception and business acumen, 
and laid the foundation for a successful business career.
	In 1836 he was married to Miss Jane A. Howe, of Fairport, N. Y., and shortly after his 
marriage he went to Rochester, N. Y., where he was engaged as salesman in a wholesale 
drygoods-house.
	In 1839 his only child, Marion, was born.  She married Dr. Zenas E. Bliss, who died in 
Grand Rapids in 1877.  Mrs. Bliss is now at the University of Ann Arbor, educating her only 
daughter, Jennie.
	In 1843, Mr. Carr came to Ionia and engaged in mercantile pursuits up to 1865, when he
 turned his attention to other interests.
	But few men have been more prominently connected with the best interests of Ionia, or 
have identified themselves more largely with its growth and development.  He was one of the 
first directors of the First National Bank of Ionia; he was its president a short time, and held 
the responsible position of cashier nearly eleven years.  He then devoted his time and energies 
to his lumbering interests and pine lands.
	Mr. Carr is a gentleman well and favorably known, and aside from his identification with 
the business interests of the city, has taken a prominent part in all social and educational 
enterprises.
	He was one of the projectors of the Stanton branch of Detroit, Lansing, and Northern 
Railroad, and prominently identified with its construction.  In a word, he is one of those 
gentlemen whose identification with any county is always productive of good.



This biography is taken from "HISTORY OF IONIA AND MONTCALM COUNTIES, MICHIGAN" 
by John S. Schenck. Philadelphia:  D. W. Ensign & Co., 1881. Page 160.