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| DAVENPORT, Melinda
(Abt 1790-) |
DAVENPORT, Melinda 1
Melinda married Jonathon BRIGHAM about 1805 in Prob. Vermont. (Jonathon BRIGHAM was born about 1786 in Vermont and died in Geauga County, Ohio.) |
1
Unknown, Portrait and Biographical Album of Stephenson County, Illinois: Containing full page portraits and biographical sketches, Vol I & II (Stephenson County, Illinois: published abt. 1880-1890), Vol II, p. 488. Surety: 4. Alfred A. Crary, who for many years was identified with the educational interests of Stephenson County as a teacher and Superintendent of Schools, has been a resident of Freeport since 1866. He was born in the old Morman town of Kirtland, in Geauga County, Ohio, July 2, 1826. His father, Erastus Crary, was born in Stonington, Conn., in 1786, and the mother, formerly Miss Rebecca Dunwell, was born in the same place, and became the wife of Erastus Crary about 1805. They emigrated to Western New York and thence to Ohio, settling in the latter state in 1807, where the father engaged first as a carpenter and joiner and subsequently in farming pursuits. Their family consisted of eleven children, ten of whom lived to mature years and six of whom still survive. The parents died in Lake County, Ohio.
Alfred A. Crary was the ninth child, and passed his boyhood and youth in his native county, completing his education in the Western Reserve Seminary, an institution especially calculated for the instruction of those designed [for] becoming teachers. He began the duties of his chosen profession near Niagra Falls, in Canada. In 1856, he came to this county, and taught first at Andrew's Mills, then at Lena, and afterward in the town of Davis. In 1860 he was elected County Superintendent of Schools, which position he held for ten years, in the meantime working hard and availing himself of every opportunity to excel in the duties connected with his profession. After retiring from this office he engaged in teaching two years at Wellsville, Mo., and six years at Chatsworth, in the southeastern part of Livingston County. He afterward taught two years at Storm Lake, Iowa.
Mr. Crary was married, in 1850, to Miss Eunice, daughter of Jonathon and Melinda (Davenport) Brigham, natives of Vermont, who died at Geauga County, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. C. have no children, but have performed the part of parents to a boy and a girl, both of whom were formally adopted. The boy died at the age of fifteen years, and the girl still lives with her foster parents.
Mr. Crary was in former years a member of the Masonic fraternity, belonging to Moses R. Thompson Lodge, but demitted to help organize a lodge in Missouri, and has not since affiliated with his home lodge. Both he and his estimable wife are connected with the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which Mr. C. has officiated as Steward and to which he has been a cheerful and liberal contributor for many years. Politically, he was in early life a staunch adherent of the old Whig party, but upon its dissolution allied himself with the Republicans, with whom he has since voted.
The grandfather of our subject, Christopher Crary, was of substantial Scotch ancestry, and was the first settler in the old town of Kirtland, Ohio, where he following general merchandising.
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