Tuscola-Wayne-Oakland County MI Archives Biographies.....Wilcox, Selah M. 1835 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 15, 2007, 11:41 pm

Author: Chapman Bros. (1892)

SELAH M. WILCOX. It is with pleasure that we recount the life history of those
residents of Arbela Township, Tuscola County, who had their birth in the
Wolverine State, and it is gratifying to know that those whose training and
culture have been largely or altogether within the bounds of the Wolverine State
have shown themselves citizens of value in the community. Mr. Wilcox was born
October 1, 1835, and is a son of Mark and Hannah (Mathews) Wilcox, who were both
born in New York, but were not married until after coming to Michigan. To them
were born three sons and three daughters.

  The father of Hannah Mathews was Peter Mathews, one of the early settlers of
DeWitt County, who finally went to Illinois, where he made his final home at
Belvidere, Boone County. Mark Wilcox came to Michigan when a young man and first
settled in Detroit, and was there married. He came to Arbela Township in 1855,
and was here a pioneer, beginning as a poor man and settling on eighty acres
which our subject now owns. He was a Methodist and his wife a Presbyterian. His
death occurred in 1864, and his wife died in 1890, at the age of eighty-eight,
years. Our subject was reared in Michigan during his first three years, when he
went with his parents to Illinois, and was seventeen years old when they
returned. He lived in Oakland County for four years and worked in the lumber
woods, remaining with his parents until they died.

  The marriage of our subject with Elma, daughter of Barney Hamel, a native of
New York, took place in 1866, in Genesee County. The family had formerly lived
in Canada and finally came to Detroit, where they resided during the youth of
Barney Hamel. His parents died in Canada and he was separated from his brother
and never was re-united with him. He left Detroit and came to Genesee County,
where he was married to Harriet Thompson, a native of New York and daughter of
George W. Thompson, a Vermonter and one of the first settlers in Genesee County,
coming here when only one building was standing in Flint. Mr. Hamel was a
carpenter by trade and also followed farming. He owned one hundred and sixty
acres in Genesee County, and at the time of his death, in 1869, his property was
worth $10,000. His wife died in 1858.

  Twelve children were born to our subject and his wife, namely: Rush T., Willis
H., Henry E., Edwin, Clarence and Carrie (twins), Elbert J., Charles B., Ermina
C., Fred, Ellsworth and Alice. Edwin, Carrie and Alice are deceased. Our subject
bought his brother's share of the farm which he now owns, and has since added to
it eighty acres, from which he has given his son forty acres. He was drafted
during the Civil War and furnished a substitute. Both he and his wife are
members of the Protestant Methodist Church and he has always been a Republican
in his politics and is now a School Director. His son Willis is at school at
Ypsilanti, where he intends to complete his course, and he has taught for some
time, having commenced at the age of seventeen. Rush T. married Clara Hoover and
they have one child —Lola. They reside on a farm in this 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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