Portrait and Biographical Record, Pgs. 281, 282

GEORGE W. AIKEN, a long-time resident and prosperous horticulturist of Ottawa County, owns a beautiful home upon the banks of the Grand River, a little southeast of Grand Haven, and the homestead contains one hundred and twenty-three acres of fine land, twenty-five of which are devoted mainly to gardening and fruit-raising. William Aiken, the father of our subject, was a native of New England, and was born amid the hills of New Hampshire, where he received his education and grew to adult age. After his marriage, he and his wife commenced housekeeping near the scenes of his childhood days.

George W., also a native of New Hampshire, from the date of his birth, in 1846, spent the days of boyhood in his birthplace, and gained his education in the common schools of the district. When about twenty years old, inspired with a desire to see something of the world beyond the quiet village of his nativity, he embarked on a whaling voyage, and from 1866 until 1870 was sailing on the Southern Pacific Ocean, all the time below the equator. Cruising along the shores of Juan Fernandez and out in mid ocean, he made some successful catches and returned again to his home on the 5^th of July, 1870.

Upon the vessel "Sappho," commanded by Capt. James Handy and owned by a Mr. Seabury, Mr. Aiken first caught a glimpse of the life of a sailor, and experienced the excitements and privations of a whaling voyage. He had scarcely returned to the old New Hampshire home before he decided to try his fortunes in the farther West, and from 1870 to 1874 sailed on the great chain of lakes connecting Buffalo and Chicago. Between these two ports he voyaged upon the bark "Chicago Board of Trade," in charge of Capt. Fountain, and owned by Charles Bradley. Not long after the close of the season of 1874, Mr. Aiken bought his valuable homestead, and settled down to the tilling of the soil and horticultural employments.