Tuscola-Eaton County MI Archives Biographies.....Barber, Fred M. 1860 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 5, 2007, 9:12 pm

Author: Chapman Bros. (1892)

FRED M. BARBER. This gentleman is one of the progressive young farmers of
Tuscola County, where he resides on section 30, Juniata Township, and assists
his father in conducting his farm of eighty acres. He is the son of William C.
and Mary S. (Swanzie) Barber, natives respectively of Washington County, N. Y.,
and Armagh, Ireland. The maternal grandparents of our subject emigrated from
Ireland to Canada when their daughter Mary S. was about ten years old. Her
marriage to William C. Barber was solemnized in 1851, and in 1863 the young
couple removed to Eaton County, Mich., where the father purchased one hundred
and thirty-seven acres of land on Montgomery Plains. This was his home until
1884, he in the meantime improving and cultivating his estate, and erecting upon
it a comfortable and substantial set of buildings, until it was one of the
finest farms in the community.

  In 1884 William C. Barber purchased one hundred and sixty acres in Tuscola
County, where he began to embellish and improve a homestead. He afterward sold
eighty acres, but still retains in his possession the remaining eighty-acre
tract upon which he resides. Of his union with Mary S. Swanzie four children
were born, as follows: James E., born December 1, 1853, is now with his father;
Sarah M., born September 7, 1857, is at home; Fred M., August 22, 1860, is the
subject of this biographical sketch, and William who was born October 6, 1872,
and resides at home. During their youthful years these children were given
excellent opportunities for acquiring educations, and they became well informed
on all questions of national or local importance. Now they have a place among
the influential citizens of their various communities.

  Fred M., of this sketch, was born August 22, 1860, in Eaton County, this
State, and has always been identified with the interests of Michigan. He passed
the early years of his life on his father's farm in Eaton County, where he
gained a practical knowledge of agricultural pursuits. He alternated farm work
with attendance at the district school, where he gleaned a good education from
the text books then in vogue. He completed his education in the schools of Eaton
Rapids, and having always been a close student of the political and national
issues of the day, he is a well-informed man, and a pleasing conversationalist.

  On February 12, 1889, Fred M. Barber and Miss Sophia Gerstein were happily
united in marriage. Mrs. Barber is a daughter of Detrich Gerstein, a native of
Germany, and was born February 12, 1860, in Tuscola County, this State. Mr.
Barber pays especial attention to the raising of fine horses, and has other
stock of considerable value on his place. The land which forms their homestead
was, at the time of its purchase, heavily timbered, but with the active labor of
our subject and his father, it has been reduced to splendid cultivation and
improved with a substantial set of rural  buildings.

  Our subject, as well as his father, is a member of the Patrons of Industry,
and is a public-spirited man, aiming to develop the highest interests of the
township.


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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