Elisha P. Randall Biography, Tuscola County, Michigan

This Biography extracted from “Portrait and Biographical Record of 
Genesee, Lapeer and Tuscola Counties, Michigan…”, published be Chapman 
Bros., Chicago (1892), p. 1002-1003


This copy contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives.

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ELISHA P. RANDALL. When contemplating the present condition of this 
State and noting the wonderful development of its resources, due credit 
should be given to those pioneers who stood in the vanguard and bore 
many privations which we of the present generation find it hard to 
realize. Among those who belong to that grand class-the old settlers of 
Tuscola County-perhaps no one is more prominent than Mr. Randall, who 
is engaged in farming pursuits on section 10, Almer Township. The 
biographical writer finds pleasure in giving an outline of his career, 
but the details of the hardships, trials and constant toil which fell 
to his lot in early years must be left to the imagination of the 
reader.

   Many years ago in the East, occurred the marriage of Elisha Randall 
and Amy Brown, the former born in Rutland County, Vt., in 1791, and the 
latter a native of Brookfield, Madison County, N. Y., where her birth 
took place in 1795. That worthy couple devoted their lives to training 
to useful manhood and womanhood their children, who were eleven in 
number, and gave them the careful home example and advice which to no 
small degree fitted them for obtaining and honoring responsible 
positions in the world. The father, whose calling was that of a farmer, 
was unable to his children many educational opportunities, as the 
temples of learning in those days were inferior in every respect to the 
excellent schools of the present.

   Elisha P. Randall, the subject of this sketch, was born October 15, 
1820, in Brookfield, Madison County, N. Y., and passed the first ten 
years of his life in the home of his birth. He attended the district 
school near his home, and while seated on an old slab bench conned his 
lessons from a primitive text book. The extensive information which he 
now possesses has been mainly gained by reading and observation for he 
makes constant use of every opportunity for self-culture. At the age of 
ten years he accompanied the other members of the family to Persia, 
Cattaraugus County, N. Y., where he resided twenty-seven years, or 
until about the time of his mother's death in 1857. His father passed 
away in 1861.

   November 6, 1851, Mr. Randall was united in marriage with Miss Lucy 
A. Parsell, who was born in September, 1827, in Dayton, Cattaraugus 
County, N. Y., and is the daughter of John Parsell. Mr. and Mrs. 
Randall are the parents of seven children, namely: John, Clara, Ernest, 
Lottie, Herman, James and Alice. In October, 1857, Mr. Randall came to 
what is now the thriving town of Caro, but which at that time existed 
only in the imagination of a few. Settling in Almer Township, he 
commenced to operate as a farmer, in which he still continues 
successfully engaged. In May, 1874, he purchased eighty acres on 
section 10, Almer Township, where he now resides. In the various duties 
associated with agricultural life he finds abundant exercise for his 
energy and judgment, while his farm bears evidence of the thrift of 
the. husbandman. The farm buildings are first-class and conveniently 
located, while the residence is comfortable and tastefully furnished.

   While the Civil War was in progress, Mr. Randall enlisted August 13, 
1861, in Company A, Twenty-ninth Michigan Infantry, and served until 
the close of the war, when he was discharged August 6, 1865. He is a 
member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and popular among the 
veterans. In his political views he is a Republican, and has held many 
of the township offices, at present serving as Drain Commissioner. In 
advancing the status, moral and social, of the community he is greatly 
interested and has contributed his quota to gain that result.