Anson Ackley

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 1797, Massachusetts
• Alternate birth: 1797, New York
• Alternate birth: Abt 1798, Connecticut

Notes:

"[Charles H. Ackley] was born in Shenango county, New York, August 25, 1836, the son of Anson Ackley and Olive (Holliday) Ackley, both natives of the Empire state. They were among Michigan's early pioneers, coming across country in 1838 and settling in Monroe county, where they resided for a short time before coming on to Calhoun county. Arrived within the boundaries of the county, Anson Ackley located in Convis township in 1839 and on this homestead farm he and his wife lived until their term of life was ended. They were good citizens in the highest sense of the term and stood for all that was best in the many-sided life of the community. Ackley Lake in Convis township was named after Anson Ackley, this body of water joining his farm on the north. Under his roof-tree were reared to maturity seven fine children, three being boys and four girls. Today, the father of the immediate subject, and his sister, Mrs. Sarah M. Fitzgerald of Battle Creek are the only survivors of the number." [History of Calhoun County, Michigan: A Narrative Account of its Historical Progress, its People, and its Principal Interests by Washington Gardner. Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1913. Volume 2, p. 655.]

According to a 16 Dec 1950 Battle Creek Enquirer obituary for Samuel A. Ackley, a grandson of Anson Ackley, Anson and family came to Michigan in 1838 from Lockport, New York.

From Portrait Biographical Album of Calhoun County (citation details below):

[Anson Ackley] was a farmer and was engaged as a jobber on the Erie Canal when it was in process of construction. He likewise kept a tavern and built and operated a sawmill. He was at one time in good circumstances but was finally swindled out of his money.

In 1837 [he] came to Michigan and made his way from Detroit into the interior of the State with a wagon drawn by oxen. In 1838 he located in Convis Township where he had purchased three hundred and twenty acres of land on section 2. He put up a log house with the help of his eldest daughter, and the family lived in that abode some years. In 1856 he located on the homestead now occupied by [the son of his son George W. Ackley] and erected here suitable buildings. He was successful as a farmer and he branched out into the milling business, putting up a mill in Convis Township. He erected a mill on Beaver Dam Creek and managed it successfully for years. He furnished three hundred thousand feet of plank for the plank road of which he was a shareholder.

At one time Anson Ackley owned some three hundred and fifty acres of improved land and was in comfortable circumstances at the time of his death in December, 1865, at the age of sixty-nine years. He was first a Democrat in politics but voted for Fremont the first candidate of the Republican party, and he was a staunch Republican until he died. He was one of the pillars of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he was a Class-Leader and active in the Sunday-school. He was highly thought of by all who knew him and had a large circle of friends and acquaintances. He was very social and extremely liberal and open-hearted. He gave generously to all schemes for advancing the welfare of his township materially and otherwise, and the poor and unfortunate found in him a kind and sympathetic friend who relieved their necessities whenever he could.

Anson married Olive Holliday in 1822. Olive (daughter of John Holliday) was born about 1802 in Chenango County, New York; died in 1861. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Sarah married Abram Fitzgerald on 4 Mar 1858 in Convis, Calhoun, Michigan. Abram was born about 1831 in New York; died after 1870. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

He was a newspaper pressman.

Norman married Catherine Frazier on 21 May 1892 in Calhoun County, Michigan, and was divorced on 17 Sep 1906 in Calhoun County, Michigan. Catherine (daughter of Duncan Fraser and Catherine Gillespie) was born on 2 Mar 1874 in Creemore, Simcoe, Ontario; died on 3 Sep 1920 in Battle Creek, Calhoun, Michigan; was buried on 5 Sep 1920 in Oak Hill Cemetery, Battle Creek, Calhoun, Michigan. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Norman married Minnie O. Hart on 20 Apr 1932 in Battle Creek, Calhoun, Michigan. Minnie was born on 20 Jan 1873 in Iowa; died on 8 Dec 1958; was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, Battle Creek, Calhoun, Michigan. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 1 Dec 1972

Waldo married Dorothy M. Squier on 9 Jun 1920 in Battle Creek, Calhoun, Michigan. Dorothy (daughter of Charles Albert Squier and Julia Elizabeth Hickman) was born on 15 May 1896 in Battle Creek, Calhoun, Michigan; died on 15 Jul 1988. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Daniel married Barbara Ann Myers on 14 Feb 1947 in Battle Creek, Calhoun, Michigan. Barbara (daughter of John Q. Myers and Rosalia Martha Allen) was born on 19 Sep 1926 in Williamston, Ingham, Michigan; died on 13 Feb 2006; was buried in Summit Cemetery, Williamston, Ingham, Michigan. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]