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The Edgerton Database |
William Edward Edgerton, son of Harris and Adelia M. (Edgerton) Edgerton. PHOTO
Sarah Ann Lauthers, daughter of John and Ann Jane (Stewart) Lauthers. PHOTO
Children:
The following biography of William Edward Edgerton
is excerpted from A History of Northern
Michigan and its People (Perry Francis Powers & Harry Gardner Cutler;
Chicago, Ill.: The Lewis Publishing Company; 1912; Volume II, pp. 713-715): “The present efficient and popular sheriff of Emmet county has been closely identified with the industrial and civic activities of this county, where he has maintained his home since 1886 and where he has gained definite independence and prosperity through his own well directed endeavors, the while he has so ordered his course as to retain the high esteem of the community. He has served in various local offices of public trust and he assumed the duties of his present important office on the 1st of January, 1911, prior to which time he had given effective service as deputy sheriff. He is a son of one of the sterling pioneer families of Michigan and his parents, each of whom has passed the psalmist's span of three score years and ten, now reside in the village of Brutus, Emmet county, where his father has the distinction of being the oldest blacksmith in the state actively engaged in the work of his trade. Will E. Edgerton, whose duties as sheriff of the county, involve his residence in its judicial center, the attractive little city of Petoskey, is a native of Steubenville, Jefferson county, Ohio, where he was born on the 17th of December, 1858, and he is a son of Harris and Delia (Edgerton) Edgerton, both of whom were born in Vermont and both of whom are representatives of families founded in historic New England in the colonial era. Of the three children Sheriff Edgerton is the elder of the two now living, and his sister, Etta, is the wife of George Aurand, of Flint, this state. The present sheriff of Emmet county gained his rudimentary discipline in the village schools of Almont, Lapeer county, and supplemented this by an effective course of study in the public schools of Goodrichville, now known as Goodrich, in Genesee county. His first independent occupation was that of laborer on the farm of John Schuman, in the vicinity of Goodrichville, and in compensation for his services he received eight dollars a month and his board. Later he was similarly employed on the farm of John Coats of Oakland county, and here he commanded an augmented stipend, as he received thirteen dollars a month. He was still a boy when he entered the employ of the firm of Carpenter Brothers, who were engaged in lumbering operations in Lapeer county, and from the position of general-utility boy in the lumber woods he was gradually advanced by this firm until he had the entire supervision of a crew of eighty workmen. He continued with this concern for nine years, and soon after his marriage, which was solemnized in 1878, he established his permanent home in Emmet county, where he secured a homestead claim of eighty acres of wild land, one and one-half miles east of the little hamlet of Brutus, and instituted the reclamation of a farm. He applied himself with diligence and by good management he developed the place into a valuable property. In the meanwhile Mr. Edgerton had shown a lively interest in all that touched the welfare of the community and he had been appointed deputy sheriff of the county, an office of which he continued incumbent during thirteen years, nine of which he also held the position of superintendent of the county farm and poor house. His total service as deputy sheriff covered a period of thirteen years, and thus he was a most logical candidate for the still more responsible office of sheriff, to which he was elected in November, 1910, and in which his administration has been marked by the utmost efficiency and vigor. He also served five years as highway commissioner of Maple River township and was for three years incumbent of the office of school director of the Brutus district. The sheriff is unswerving in his allegiance to the Republican party and has been a zealous worker in behalf of its cause. In a fraternal way he is affiliated with the Knights of the Maccabees and he is well known throughout the county in which he has so long maintained his home and in which his popularity is of the most unequivocal type. On the 3d of July, 1878, was recorded the marriage of Mr. Edgerton to Miss Sarah A. Lauthers, who was born in the province of Ontario, Canada, and who is a daughter of John and Sarah Lauthers, both natives of Ireland, where their marriage was solemnized and whence they soon afterward came to America and established their home in Ontario, Canada, where all of their children were born. Finally Mr. Lauthers came with his family to Michigan and engaged in agricultural pursuits in Lapeer county, where he remained until 1881, when he established his home in Petoskey, where he is now living virtually retired and where his wife died several years ago. Of the six children Mrs. Edgerton was the second in order of birth. Mr. and Mrs. Edgerton became the parents of nine children, of whom five are living, namely: Custer R., Mary, Winifred, Hugh, and Bina F.” The household of William Edgerton was recorded in
the 1880
Federal Census of Columbiaville (
The household of William Edgerton was recorded in
the 1900
Federal Census of Maple River Township,
According to the above census
record, Sarah was the mother of nine children, five of whom were still
living, and had emigrated to the Original Source Documents: 1880 Federal
Census – household of William Edward
Edgerton; Columbiaville (Marathon Twp.), Lapeer Co., MI. 1900 Federal
Census – household of William Edward Edgerton;
Maple River Twp., Emmet Co., MI. |
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