Ionia County MI Archives Obituaries.....Otis, Amon 1915 ************************************************ 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: Marilyn Ransom mlnransom@chartermi.net July 1, 2011, 6:52 pm The Ionia Standard, Friday, December 3, 1915 Amon Otis died at Saranac, on Saturday morning at 8:00 o’clock, at the age of 72 years. Deceased was one of the ex-County Treasurers of Ionia county, of which he is the last to pass away. For half a century he was numbered among the more prominent and most highly esteemed farmers of Berlin township, his farm being located on Section 9. He retained the ownership of the farm to the end, but for nearly ten years he has made his home in Saranac. Asa H. Otis, the grandfather of the deceased, was a member of the Michigan state constitutional convention in 1853, and of the state legislature in 1950, besides holding numerous other minor offices. He took up government land in 1828, in Wayne county, within six miles of where the City hall now stands, and is still in the ownership of the family. The father of deceased was Amos Otis, a native of New York state. Amos Otis’ wife was Phila Harwood, also a native of New York state. They were married in Berlin township, Ionia county, Feb. 17, 1841. Amon Otis was the eldest child of his parents, being born October 30, 1842, in the old homestead in Wayne county, Mich. He availed himself of the best education which could be obtained in the district schools of that region, until at seventeen years of age he went the State Normal School at Ypsilanti, of which institution he was a member for two terms. He began teaching school at nineteen years of age in Ionia county, and for five winters the district schools of Berlin township knew him as one of their most capable and earnest teachers. Except this experience in the schoolroom he has adhered to his business as a farmer. Our subject was married March 24, 1866 to Cynthia Harwood, a daughter of Isaac Harwood, of Berlin township. She was born July 25, 1847, in Orleans township, Ionia county. She had been prepared in the common schools for the profession of a teacher, and taught until her marriage. After this Mr. Otis worked a farm upon shares for two years until 1867, when he settled upon his farm. It comprised eighty acres of perfectly wild, raw land and was heavy timbered. At the same time that he was occupied in clearing off his land, breaking and cultivating it, he worked the land of others on shares. Deceased is a member of the Masonic fraternity, many years a member of Ionia lodge, and has long been active in the circles of the Grange. Funeral on Monday afternoon at two o’clock, at the home in Saranac. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mi/ionia/obits/o/otis14031nob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/mifiles/ File size: 3.0 Kb