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Submitted by Cheryl Van Wormer.


					ERI LEVALLEY.
			MRS. EMELINE (HARTT) LEVALLEY (1st wife).
			MRS. PHEBE (TUTTLE) LEVALLEY (2nd wife).

ERI LEVALLEY.  This name is not unknown to the residents of Ionia County, but on the contrary is 
familiar to them as that of a pioneer who has witnessed a large part of the growth of this 
section.  It is also recognized by its connection with the fruit-growing carried on in this part 
of the State, as he who bears it has long been engaged in the nursery business and was the first 
man in the county to raise peaches.  He set out the first peach orchard and he has done much in 
propagating other varieties of fruit.
	Mr. LeValley belongs to a family whose history contains several interesting and romantic 
incidents.  His paternal grandfather, a Revolutionary soldier, married a sister of Gen. Greene, 
and settled in Vermont.  His father in turn was a silk merchant of Lyons, France, and was robbed 
on the high seas by the notorious pirate, Capt. Kidd.  After the robbery he was placed on board a 
schooner which floated into Providence Harbor and he laid out the city of that name.  The father 
of our subject was Holden LeValley, who was born in Vermont and in his early manhood settled in 
Western New York.  He was a soldier in the War of 1812 and was stationed at Black Rock, near 
Buffalo, when that city was burned by the English.  He married Irena Fuller.
	The birth of Eri LeValley took place in Niagara County, N. Y., August 9, 1817, and he 
lived there until he was six years old.  His parents died when our subject was five years old and
he was taken at the age of six years to live with relatives in Ontario County where he grew to 
manhood and was reared to farming and fruit-growing.  In these lines he has been engaged all his 
life.  His education was begun in the district schools and has been continued by self-effort.  
In 1838 Mr. LeValley came to Michigan on a prospecting tour and sojourned in Ionia County about 
two and a half years.  He then went back East and in 1844 came again to this State, this time to 
make a permanent location.
	Mr. LeValley settled in Ionia Township on section 32, taking up his residence in the 
thick woods, and like all who made such location, enduring many hardships and being obliged to 
toil laboriously in order to develop his land.  When he came hither Ionia was a village with but 
three frame houses within its limits.  He was obliged to work by the month to pay for his first 
eighty acres of land, but his perseverance was rewarded and as years passed by he was enabled 
to give his children a fair start in life and to divide a considerable property among them.  His 
personal possession of real estate is now thirty eight acres of good land, nearly half of which 
is devoted to nursery stock.  He made a small beginning in this business in 1846, and afterward 
made it more extensive.
	In the Empire State in 1843 Mr. LeValley was married to Miss Emeline Hartt.  Her father 
was a captain in the American army operating on the Niagara frontier in 1812 and was also in the 
battle of Lundy's Lane.  Having been bereft of his wife Mr. LeValley was married a second time
in 1846.  His bride on this occasion was Phebe, daughter of Nelson Tuttle, now deceased, who is 
remembered as one of the early pioneers of Ionia County.  This marriage has been blest by the 
birth of six children, but two have been taken from their parents by death.  The survivors are 
Lewis H., who lives in Ionia Township; Harriet, wife of Abel Benedict, in Benedict Township; 
John, a resident of Easton Township, and Mary, wife of James Gaul in Ionia Township.  Mrs. Phebe
LeValley entered into rest September 29, 1890, leaving behind her many friends, among whom her 
days had been spent in usefulness.
	Mr. LeValley has served as Justice of the Peace of Ionia Township two terms.  He has 
been known as a public-spirited and enterprising citizen and one who in his business affairs is 
the soul of integrity, making his word as good as his bond.  That he is held in high esteem by 
his fellow-pioneers is shown by their having elected him President of the Ionia County Pioneer 
Society.  Personally he is a courteous, entertaining gentleman who dispenses hospitality with a 
free hand and who, although considerably past threescore and ten years old, does not lack in 
interest in that which is going on around him.

 

This biography is taken from "PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL ALBUM OF IONIA AND MONTCALM COUNTIES, 
MICHIGAN."  Chapman Brothers.  Chicago, Illinois.  1891.  Pages 419-420.