Portrait and biographical album of Lenawee County, Mich. 816-817

• Title	Portrait and biographical album of Lenawee County, Mich. 816-817
  Short Title	Portrait and biographical album of Lenawee County, Mich. 816-817
  Author	Chapman Brothers
  Publisher	Chicago: Chapman Brothers, 1888
  Source ID	S130
  Text	JOHN VELIE MUNGER, a prominent and well-to-do farmer of Hudson Township, was born at Stillwater, Saratoga Co., N.Y., July 17, 1829. He is a son of John and Maria (Velie) Munger, both of whom were natives of the Empire State, and pioneers of the wilds of Michigan, having come to this State when it was yet a Territory, in 1835. The father of the subject of this sketch was born in Saratoga County, N. Y., May 26, 1796, while yet that part of the State was but sparsely settled and largely covered with primeval forests. When he was some four years old, the family removed to Erie County. Pa., where they made their home until 1835. at which time his father started for the Territory of Michigan, where he hoped to build up a new home in the wilderness. He was accompanied by his wife and eight children, including our subject, and came by way of the lake to Toledo, Ohio. On arriving at the latter place, he left his family and started on foot for his future home in Hillsdale County. He had visited the Bean Creek Valley the year previous, and had entered some Government land on section 36 in what is now Pittsford Township. On his arrival in Hillsdale County, he procured a yoke of oxen and a cart, and returning to Toledo for his family and house hold goods, brought them to their new home. His land at that time was thickly covered by the forest that had grown and luxuriated for centuries undisturbed. Knowing that it would take some time to clear enough of it to raise a crop to support his family, he rented a tract of improved land, on which they lived for that year. During this time he disencumbered a portion of his own place of its leafy covering, and prepared the land for cultivation. Putting up a log cabin in 1836 he therein installed his family, and entering upon the arduous duties of a frontier farmer patiently endured the hardships and privations attendant on a pioneer life. On this farm, which he had literally hewn out of the forest, the father resided until 1855, when he sold out and removed to Amboy Township, Lee Co., Ill., where he purchased 160 acres of prairie land of the Government, and commenced to break up a new farm, but two years later was called upon by the Angel of death to cross the dark river. His wife, who was before marriage Miss Maria Velie, was also a native of Stillwater, Saratoga Co., N. Y., and first drew the breath of life on the 25th of May. 1804; she died in Amboy, Ill., in 1875. John V. Munger, the subject of this sketch, was but six years oid when he came to Michigan with his parents, and is a living witness of the great changes that have taken place since his early days. The deer, wolves, beers and wild turkeys that were so plentiful here in his boyhood, have entirely vanished, and the forest wilderness has given place to beautiful farms and thrifty towns and villages. He remained beneath the parental roof, attending the pioneer schools and assisting his father in his agricultural labors, until he was some nineteen years old, when he commenced an apprenticeship to the trade of carpenter and joiner. Having completed that trade, he has followed it ever since, with the exception of about ten years, when he was engaged in the manufacture of extension tables. In 1855 he removed to the village of Hudson, and purchasing a house on West Main street, took up his residence therein, and remained there until 1876, when he moved into a fine brick mansion which he had just erected. He made this latter house his home until February, 1888, when he commenced agricultural pursuits upon the Kenyon farm, where he is now living. The subject of this sketch has been twice married. April 21. 1855, he entered into a matrimonial alliance with Miss Emily Allen, a native of Seneca County, N.Y., and the daughter of Robert Allen, also a Native of the Empire State. Her parents had settled in Hillsdale County in 1855, locating in Jefferson Township on a farm, and sometime subsequently removed to Reading Township, where they died. Mrs. Munger was called away by death April 25, 1881, leaving one child, Edith, now the now the wife of Lewis Graham of Wheatland Township. The second marriage of Mr. Munger took place May 10, 1882, at which time he espoused Miss Louise M. Kenyon. She is a native of this township and county, having been born on the farm where she now lives Feb. 15, 1840, and is a daughter of Sylvester and Eliza (Goodrich) Kenyon. Her father was one of the earliest settlers of Hudson Township, having located here in 1834. He was born in Hinesburg, Vt., Dec, 4, 1808, and grew to manhood among the green hills and valleys of his native state. May 11, 1834, he was united in marriage with Miss Eliza, a daughter of George and Clamania (Lee) Goodrich, who was born in Williston, Vt., Feb. 22, 1814. On the 14th of May following his marriage. Sylvester Kenyon started with his young bride for the West, to seek in the wilderness a new home. He came by way of the Erie Canal and the Lake to Detroit, and thence by team to Tecumseh, Lenawee County. Arriving at the embryo village, he left his wife and started on foot for the Bean Creek Valley, and found at Lanesville, now Hudson, but one log cabin, then occupied by Beriah Lane. Mr. Kenyon purchased a tract of land of Mr. Lane, adjoining the present site of the village, but after paying for it, he had but a few shillings left in his pocket, and therefore returned to Tecumseh, and worked on the territorial road to earn money enough to carry them through the winter. Before the snow began to fly, Mr. K. removed to his place, where he had erected a log cabin, and during the winter felled some of the timber that covered the ground. The next season he raised a crop of corn and potatoes among the logs and stumps, which he had not yet time to destroy. After bringing his place to a high state of cultivation, he remained upon it until his death, which occured March 29, 1879. Mrs. Eliza (Goodrich) Kenyon died Dec. 24, 1879, nine months after the death of her husband. They left three children, the eldest, Mrs. G.G. Williams, now a resident of Vanderbilt, Otsego Co., Mich., but still owning the east half of the Kenyon homestead; Mrs. J.V. Munger, of Hudson, and Mr. Martin Kenyon, now a resident of Pittsford, Hillsdale Co., Mich. Mrs. Kenyon died on the homestead. Mrs. Clamania Goodrich was born in Wells, Vt., June 16, 1790, and after her marriage settled with her husband at Williston, where they remained until 1836. At that time they started for the Territory of Michigan, by way of Lake Champlain to Troy, N.Y., and from there by Erie Canal and the Lake to Toledo. From the latter place they proceeded by team to Pittsford Township in Hillsdale County, where they settled upon a farm, where her husband died June 2, 1850. Mrs. Goodrich died on the old homestead, Dec. 13, 1863.
  Linked to (8)	Emily Allen Louise M Kenyon John Munger John Viele Munger Maria Viele Family: John Viele Munger / Emily Allen Family: John Viele Munger / Louise M Kenyon Family: John Munger / Maria Viele