Thomas H. Fagan

Thomas H. Fagan. Noteworthy among the useful and valued residents of Holly township is Thomas H. Fagan, who for many years has been intimately associated with the development and growth of the agricultural prosperity of this section of Oakland county, and who is now serving ably and acceptably as supervisor of his township. A son of Peter Fagan, he was born January i, 1844, in Holly township, on a farm lying about one mile east of his present home.

Born in 1808, in Drogheda, a municipal borough and seaport of Ireland, Peter Fagan came with his parents, Terrence and Bridget Fagan, to America in 1823, and the ensuing nine years lived in the eastern part of New York, not far from Albany. In 1832, with his brother John, he came to Michigan with a gang, and helped build the old Detroit, flint and Saginaw pike, working until cold weather. Returning home, he remained in New York until the spring of 1833, when he came back to Michigan, accompanied by his parents and his brother Thomas, settling in Holly township, through the center of which the pike passed. The brothers and their father bought land in sections two, three, ten and eleven, paying the government $1.25 an acre, their family being the third to locate in this part of Oakland county, which was heavily timbered with oak and hickory. The first family to come here was that of William Gage, and the second was that of a Mr. Herrick, who improved a good farm. Peter Fagan built in section two, and John, in section three. John and Thomas never married, and for many years lived and labored together, at their deaths not being separated, for, one morning several years ago, their neighbors seeing no signs of life around their little home made investigations and found them both dead, Thomas ])eing then seventy-eight years of age, and John four years older. Peter Fagan lived to a good old age, and was buried on the eighty-fifth anniversary of his birth, while his wife, whose maiden name was Eliza Dains, passed away at the age of eighty-six years. She was a daughter of Stephen Dains, who came from Yates county. New York, to Oakland county, Michigan, settling in Holly township, which was largely people by men and women from the Empire state, and was but seventeen years old when she married in 1836 or 1837.

Shortly after his marriage Peter Fagan secured a half section of land lying near the parental homestead, and installed his bride in a small shanty, twelve by fourteen feet. He subsequently erected the log house in which his son, Thomas IL, was born, and about 1853 erected a good frame house, in which he spent his remaining years, dying in 1893, very same year in which his brothers died. His wife survived him, passing away in May, 1909, at the venerable age of eighty-six years, having spent seventy-two years of her life on the Fagan homestead. Peter Fagan had at one time owned three-fourths of a section of land, but he helped each of his children to obtain homes of their own, dividing a part of his property before his death. To him and his wife twelve children were born and reared, as follows: Mary E., of Rose township, widow of Frederick Forsythe; Thomas H., the special subject of this sketch; Edwin A,, owning a part of the old homestead; Eliza J., who married Charles FI. Spalding, died in Eapeer county, Michigan; Nancy A., who died in Lapeer county was the wife of the late Thomas Ryan; Francelia L., wife of Marion Dains, of Isabella county; Peter died in l)boyhood; John S., living on a part of the old homestead; Imogene, second wnfe of Charles Spalding, who married for his first wife her sister Eliza, owns a part of the old home farm; Rhoama, who married Fred Wortman, died in Fenton, Michigan; William H., who inherited a part of the parental acres; and Sabra, who died in early womanhood.

Brought up on the home farm and educated in the rural schools of his native district, Thomas H. Fagan those farming as his life occupation, and began his active career on a part of the parental homestead. Subsequently selling out to his brother, he bought his present farm, the old Andrews homestead, in 1880, and has since carried on general farming with much success, his estate being finely located about two and one-half miles north of Holly, and containing two hundred and forty acres of rich and highly productive land.

Affiliated in politics with the Democratic party, Mr. Fagan has filled many offices of responsibility, having served as justice of the peace seven years; as highway commissioner three years; and for eleven terms, though not in succession, as supervisor. Fraternally he is a member of the Free and accepted Order of Masons.

Mr. Fagan married, at the age of twenty-seven years, Fmma J. Andrews, a daughter of James M. Andrews, a farmer and dairyman who came from New York to Oakland county, Michigan, in 1850, locating near Holly, in Holly township, on the farm now owned and occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Fagan, who have but one child, namely: Fmma J., wife of Harvey Hawley, who now has charge of the home farm. Mr. and Mrs. Hawley have two children, Joyce Josephine Hawley, born in 1904; and James T. Hawley, born in 19 10.

Calki) Evkrts. Prol)ably no man has ever been more deeply mourned by his fellow citizens than has the late Caleb Everts, who lived in Oakland county, on the farm where he died, for over thirty-nine years. He was a man possessed of keen business sense and scarcely knew what failure meant, but his success was not the result of happy circumstances or a chance stroke of good luck, but of hard work and a brain kept clear and active by temperate habits and constant use. His farm and homestead were among the finest in the county, and it was his pride that this was all the work of his hands. His influence was scarcely realized until after his death, and then people discovered how they had depended on the keen vision of his eyes, long accustomed to judging his fellows, and how great a gap was left by his death. Such a man as this, who is not widely known outside of his own section, perhaps, has, nevertheless, a tremendous opportunity for good, and when such a man dies the power of influence is brought home to us with an overwhelming force.

Pawlett, Rutland county, Vermont, was the birthplace of Caleb Everts, the date of his birth being the 15th of July, 18 12. He was the son of Gilbert and Polly Everts, and when he was two or three years old his parents moved to Washington county, New York. There he grew from babyhood into boyhood, and in 18 19, they again moved, this time to Monroe county in the same state. There the boy became a man, and there occurred the death of both of his parents, his father dying in 1827 and his mother in 1833. Caleb was the eldest of the seven children of his parents and in his youth there was consequently little time for either study or play. Being only fifteen when his father died, it yet devolved upon him to help in the support of the family, and he consequently went to work by the month. In this way he earned enough to feed and clothe his brothers and sisters until they were able to support themselves. It was 1836 before he was free to consider his own future, and in that year he came to Michigan. It was the fall of the year when he arrived and in the winter he returned to New York state for an important event, which was no less than his marriage to Harriet Middleton, who was a native of Monroe county, New York, her birth having occurred at Greece, in that county, on the 21st of April, 1817. The marriage took place on December 11, 1836.

In the spring of the following year Caleb Everts and his bride came back to Michigan, but remained only a short time, returning to the old home in New York, where they remained for the next three years. In the fall of 1 84 1, Mr. Everts made his final migration and settled in Oakland county, where he bought the place on which he lived until his death. In the fall of the following year, after he had become convinced that he wished to settle in this section, he brought his family, which at this time consisted of his wife and two children. Bending all his efforts towards making his farm a model one, he rapidly advanced in prosperity, and in 1856 was enabled to build the handsome home in which his son Caleb resides at present. This was at the time considered one of the finest in the county, and is still able to hold its own with many never and more expensive dwellings. As his wealth grew he was able to invest in more land and owned nearly twelve hundred acres before he died. Before his death he gave each of his seven children ten thousand dollars and still left a fine estate, which proves that he was a business man of unusual ability.

Mr. and Mrs. Everts became the parents of seven children, three of whom are now living. William T.; Gilbert, who died in childhood; Gilbert T., who became a highly respected farmer in Oakland county, and died at the age of sixty-four; Angenette married Charles House and died in Highland township at the age of fifty-seven; Caleb owns the old homestead, two miles west of Rose center; Eugene died when he was only thirty, in Shiawassee county; and Harriet M. is the wife of Ross Pickett, of Rose Corners. The mother of this family died on the 8th of October, 1878, as the result of an accident.

Caleb Everts was a staunch Democrat all of his life, and was almost a life-long reader of the ''Free Press.'' The place which he occupied in the hearts of his fellowmen was shown at the time of his funeral, when one hundred and sixty carriages followed his body to its last resting place in the ''Bebie Burying Ground." The funeral services were conducted by an old friend and schoolmate of his own children, Elder E. E. Caster, who had been closely connected with the sorrows of the Everts family, for he had been requested by Mrs. Everts some fifteen years before her death to take charge of her funeral and he had also delivered the address at the funeral of Mrs. William T. Everts. The death of Caleb Everts occurred on February 15, 1880, but his personality remains as vivid in the minds of his old friends as though it were but yesterday.

William T. Everts. Highly respected among the citizens of Oakland-county is W. T. Everts, where he has lived for many years, and where as a farmer he has won considerable material prosperity. Genial by nature, of a kindly and generous disposition, he has won the friendship of all with whom he has come in contact, and through his years spent as proprietor of various hotels this list is a very large one. He has been engaged in various lines of business, and in each of these has proved himself to be possessed of business acumen and, what is more to be admired, of the strictest integrity. Though the years have piled up behind him to quite a height, he is still active and interested in the affairs of the busy world about him.

New York state may claim W. T. Everts as one of her sons, for he was born on the 24th of September, 1837, in Monroe county in that state. He was the eldest son of Caleb Everts, who held an important position in the affairs of Oakland county until his death.

When W. T. Everts started out for himself in life, he tried his hand at various things, among these being lumbering, at which he made quite a bit of money as a jobber. However, an unsuccessful venture in the same line of business caused this small fortune to vanish. In 1860 came the event of his marriage to Ellen Powers, the day of the ceremony being the 25th of March. His wife was the daughter of James and Mary Powers, both of whom were born in Ireland. In 1834 they came to the United States, and in 1841 removed to Michigan, coming to Rose township in Oakland county in 1843. Here on the farm where W. T. Everts now lives Ellen Powers grew to womanhood.

In 1884 Mr. and Mrs. W. T. Everts came to live at the Powers home in order to care for her mother, who was well along in years. It was during this year that Mr. Everts built the house in which he lives at present. Mrs. Powers died in 1888, and, relieved of the responsibility of her care, Mr. Everts went to Shiawassee county, where he engaged in farming for a time. Then returning once more to the Powers homestead, he farmer here until he became the proprietor of the Everts House in Fenton. This was a new field of endeavor for him, but determining to make a success he threw himself into the work of getting the hotel into smooth running order, and soon it was earning money for him. He remained here for three years, and then became proprietor of the hotel in Flint, Michigan, which he operated for about a year, going thence to a hotel in Grand Rapids, where he remained for upwards of three years. 'The Old Souther," which was at one time a well known hotel in Pontiac, Michigan, next came in for a share of his attention, and he remained in charge of this house for about two years and a half. After this long experience in the hotel business he was ready for the quiet of farm life again, and it was with something of a sigh of relief that he found himself once more back on the old farm. This change; in his life took place in 1903, and since this time he has lived quietly on the farm, which is located two miles south of his father's old homestead in Rose township. While not large in extent, it is fertile and is well cared for, so that the best results are obtained. Mrs. Everts was overjoyed to return to her childhood home, and here she died on the i6th of February, 191 1, having almost reached the age of seventy-four years.

Mr. and Mrs. Everts, having no children of their own, adopted a son, who was everything that a son could have been, and who has come to live at the old farm since the death of Mrs. Everts. This son, Charles Everts, married Libbie Gordan and they became the parents of one daughter, Marie. The latter married Leo Tinsman, who is employed in Barrett's factory, at Holly, Michigan. They have an infant son, Charles Seeley Tinsman.

Striking proof of the popularity of Mr. Everts and his wife was had on the twenty-fifth anniversary of their marriage, when they were surprised by over two hundred of their friends who took possession of the house for the evening and gave the honored couple an entertainment worth remembering. Supreme court Justice Waite, of Fenton, Michigan, remarried them, and the expressions of friendship and affection were so smcere and unaffected that Mr. Everts looks back on the occasion as one of the most memorable in his whole life. Taking his life as a whole, ''Grover Cleveland," as he is called by his friends, on account of the striking resemblance between Mr. Everts and our late ex-president, considers that he has had much more happiness than sorrow, and this happy optimistic view of life draws closer than ever his circle of friends.

As printed in History of Oakland County Michigan a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, its principal interests (1912). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.