Colon C. Lillie
Pages 203, 204 - COLON C. LILLIE, President of
the Coopersville Creamery Company, and a successful agriculturist of Tallmadge
Township, Ottawa County, was born in this township January 6, 1860. His father,
Joel B. Lillie, was born in St. Lawrence County, N.Y., and emigrated to Michigan
soon after attaining his majority. Here he engaged in lumbering and worked in
various places until he purchased the land upon which our subject now resides.
To the improvement and cultivation of this place he gave his attention until the
death of his wife in 1883, when he removed to Coopersville, and made his home in
that village until his death, September 19, 1893. He was a man of wealth, and
was the owner of a large brick and tile factory in Coopersville.
The mother of our subject was Sarah, daughter of Ammon and Annis Augur, who for
many years resided in the State of New York, but afterward came to Michigan.
Colon C. Augur, the uncle after whom our subject was named, is now on the list
of retired army officers. To the marriage of Joel and Sarah Lillie there were
born five children, two sons and three daughters. Edith S. married John M. Park
and now resides in Wright Township, Ottawa County; Walter married Ella McGrath
and makes his home in Grand Haven, this State; the third in order of birth is
the subject of this notice; Emma E., who is unmarried, is a teacher in
California; and Annis M., who is the wife of William E. Baxter, lives in Los
Angeles, Cal.
In his youth our subject received ordinary common-school advantages. At the age
of twenty-one he entered the Michigan Agricultural College at Lansing, where he
remained for four years, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Science, and
gaining a practical education in farming. For four years he filled the position
of Principal of the Coopersville schools, resigning it in order to accept the
office of Commissioner of the county. He is the founder and President of the
Coopersville Creamery Company, a flourishing enterprise which is established on
a paying basis. At the present time he conducts the dairy department of the Practical
Farmer & Fruit Grower, a popular agricultural paper published at Grand
Rapids.
A Republican in politics, Mr. Lillie has represented Tallmadge Township upon the
County Board of Supervisors, and has also officiated as County School
Commissioner. While Secretary of the County Board, he introduced the graded
system into the schools of the county, and as a result of his efforts the
standard of education has been greatly advanced. In his social connections, he
is identified with the Knights of the Maccabees and Coopersville Lodge, A. F.
& A. M. His marriage occurred on the 26th of June, 1890, and
united him with Miss Julia A. Lawton, a daughter of Albert and Mary A. (Loftus)
Lawton. The young couple reside upon the old Lillie homestead, where Mr. Lillie
cultivates two hundred and forty acres of the finest land in Ottawa County.
Everything on his place is of modern improvement, and he raises large crops of
wheat, corn, oats and hay.
Portrait & Biographical Record of Muskegon & Ottawa Counties, Michigan 1893, Chicago: Biographical Publishing Company
Transcriber: Susan Gates Davis
Created: 13 January 2003
URL: http://ottawa.migenweb.net/biographies/1893/lilliecc.html
Contact County Coordinator: Evelyn_Sawyer@msn.com