Homer H. Hayes

Homer H. Hayes. The soil of Michigan is in many places peculiarly adapted to raising of small fruits, and many of the most successful citizens now residing in the State have secured prosperity through the medium of this occupation. Fruit-growing is one of the prominent industries of Ottawa County, and among those who pursue this vocation may be mentioned Mr. Hayes, who owns eighty acres in Tallmadge Township. He is an extensive fruit farmer, his specialties being grapes, peaches and pears. He has ten acres planted with Niagara grapes, in the raising of which he has been especially successful.

The family of which our subject is a member is of German-Scotch descent, and has been represented in America for several generations. The parents of our subject, Ira and Roxie (Kawkins) Hayes, were natives of Vermont, the former having been born in 1801. They had a family of thirteen children, the third of whom, Homer H., was born in Chenango County, NY, February 25, 1834. At the age of three years he was taken by his parents to Canada, where he remained until he was eighteen, meantime spending his winters in the schoolroom and his summers in farm work.

In 1852 Mr. Hayes came to Michigan and settled in Lamont, Ottawa County, where for four years he worked as a day laborer. Carefully saving his earnings, he was enabled at the expiration of that time to purchase a tract of eighty acres and embark in agricultural pursuits. He was unfortunate, however, for during the same year in which he bought his farm he was truck by lightning and injured to such an extent that he was unable to perform any manual labor for some time thereafter. Indeed, he has never entirely regained his health and the shock still affects his nerves.

After recovering sufficiently, Mr. Hayes attempted to join the Union army, but the physicians pronounced him unable to do active service and he was rejected. However, he procured permission to serve in the Quartermaster’s Department an filled that position for eighteen days, when he was taken ill and forced to resign. Upon returning home, he and his wife secured positions as attendants in the Kalamazoo Asylum for the Insane, where they remained for six years. They then removed to Muskegon, where Mr. Hayes worked at the trade of a carpenter and joiner for two years, and afterward conducted a boarding-house for three years. Upon coming to Tallmadge Township in 1870, he purchased the place where he has since resided.

In 1858 Mr. Hayes married Miss Alena Smallman, and one child, Harley H., has been born to bless the union. He is a young man of ability, and makes his home with his parents. Politically, our subject is a Republican, and always advocates party candidates and principles. Socially, he belongs to Muskegon Lodge No. 140, A. F. & A. M., in which he is prominent. He is not identified with any religious organization, but contributes to the support of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which Mrs. Hayes is an active member.

Portrait & Biographical Record of Muskegon & Ottawa Counties, Michigan 1893, Chicago: Biographical Publishing Company

Transcriber: Evelyn Sawyer
Created: 14 August 2003
URL: http://ottawa.migenweb.net/biographies/1893/hayeshh.html