Smith Laing, gen-6W NJ>NY>MI

SEE SHOTWELL TREE [Smith Laing, gen-6W NJ>NY>MI]

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ANNALS of OUR COLONIAL ANCESTORS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

A. M. Shotwell

pg. 167

8. Abbe b. 25 of 1 mo., 1795, Mendham,
Morris Co., N. J., d. at Adrian, Mich., 4 of 5 mo., 1878, she and her husband are buried in Friends ground three miles north of that city; her epitaph says she d. " May 4, 1878, aged 83 yrs., 3 mos., 19 days." She m. in Farmington (N. Y.), Friends meeting house, 23 of 2 mo., 1815, Smith Laing, of Junius N. Y., b. 18 of 11 mo., 1798, in borough of Elizabeth, Essex Co., or in Middlesex Co., N. J., d. Adrian, Mich., 1 of 5 mo., 1877, "aged 88 yrs., 5 mos., 13 days," THE SHOTWELL FAMILY. 167 buried in Friends ground, Adrian Valley, Mich., s. of Joseph^ and Anna (Smith) Laing, of Seneca Co., N. Y., [of John, Samuel ?, Wm., John']. The pearl wedding, or 60th anniversary of their marriage, was appropriately observed by their five surviving children, Sarah, Hannah, Joseph, Benjamin I., and Webster A., with ten of their thirteen grandchildren, and five of their eight great-grandchildren, together with thirty or forty other friends and neighbors. The Rev. A. F. Bourns, in behalf of the children, tendered the aged pair a number of well chosen presents, among them a photographic group of all their children then living, a scrap-bag, the handiwork of four grandchildren, etc. From an account of this event in the Adrian Daily Times of March 3, 1875, , i we gather the following particulars :
1 1 Smith Laing was b. at Plainfield, in Middle- sex Co., N. J., 18 of 11 mo., 1793, removed with his parents in 1810, to Seneca Co., N. Y., settling near Waterloo, where the father secured a patent for 150 acres of forest land. After his m.. Smith continued three years in Seneca Co., N. Y., whence in 1818, he removed with his family to the town of Batavia (now Elba), Genesee Co., N. Y., and there purchased 120 acres of wild land from the Holland Company, which had previously obtained from Robert Morris title to a large tract of land embracing several of the western counties of the State. In the spring of 1831 he went to Michigan prospecting, and took up from the government a quarter section of land in the Tp. of Baisin, Lenawee Co., Mich., (the farm now occupied by Stephen E. Harkness), to which one year later he moved his family, arriving at their new Michigan Home on the 8th of 7 mo. , 1832, and here for the third time renewed pioneer life. Adrian was then a mere hamlet of perhaps half a dozen buildings, and the surrounding country was a great forest with here and. there a log house in the midst of a little clearing. Upon the marriage of their youngest son, Webster A., about 1856, the management of the farm was turned over to him; but when he in 1866, removed to Adrian, the parents remained for four years upon the homestead with their son, Benjamin I. When, however, the latter also moved, to the city, the parents again lived with their youngest son, Webster A., on Chestnut St., Adrian, Mich., and there spent their remaining years. According to the records of the Society of Friends, they and two minor children, Sarah Maria and Amy, having removed to the Holland Purchase, became members of Farmington M. M. , by cert. from Junius M. M., dated 25 of 5 mo., 1818.