 IOGRAPHIESLenawee County, Michigan |
Charles M. McKenzie was born in Hartland, Vermont, June 1st, 1800. His father was born in Scotland, and came to America with his parents in the year 1774. Charles M. McKenzie was married to Anna H. Hawkins in the year 1825, and in the spring of 1830 he tied up a few things in a handkerchief and with but fifty cents in his pocket, he bade his wife and three children goodbye, turned his face and footsteps toward the west and in the fall of the same year reached Tecumseh. Although he had never served any apprenticeship as a carpenter, he took up the square and compass and laid out and completed one of the first frame houses put up in that town. In 1831 he came to Adrian. In 1833 his wife and children came on from the east with a number of other settlers, whom he had induced to leave the old Granite State and come to Michigan, which he claimed to be the flower garden of the west. In 1834 he moved to the town of Woodstock with his family and lived in a log cabin, standing at the head of the lake called then by the Indians, “Michenmantou” and later called Devil’s Lake. He called his homestead “McKenzie’s Port”. He kept a hotel there, where people sometimes assembled and held one of the two-days elections which the law then required. On such occasions the face of Mr. McKenzie used to beam with good nature, and he seemed to be in his proper element. The cabin had neither doors, windows, nor floors, but he took lumber with him and it was soon fully equipped and for a number of years it afforded shelter for many a weary traveler. Their meats consisted of fish, turkey and venison and their fruits were whortleberries, cranberries and blackberries, which were bountifully brought in by the Indians who were glad to exchange them for pumpkins and potatoes, or anything that the white squaw had to give them. During the nights, the wolves and bears were frequent visitors, but not welcomed by a lone mother with four small children, as her husband was obliged to be away, most of the time in Adrian at work. He named the town of Woodstock after a small village in Vermont. After finding that through a mistake of the land commissioner, nine-tenths of the eighty acres he had taken up from the government, and paid for, was lying in the lake, he decided to return with his family to Adrian, which was in the year 1843, where for the second time he engaged in the brick-making business, which he pursued until he retired from business. The wrong sustained in the purchase of his farm was subsequently made good to him by a special act of Congress, passed for his relief, which Hon. Robert McClelland was a member of that body. Mr. McKenzie deeded back the water and received therefor eighty acres of land. He well lived out the allotted time given to man, three score years and ten. His wife, Anna H. McKenzie, died in March 1871 without suffering; her spirit took its flight as a bird let loose from its cage, and doubtless her death hastened his exit from this earth, as he followed her the following November. Their work was done, they entered upon the higher life, the goal of such as do virtuously. They left to mourn their loss, four sons and three daughters, as follows: Charles Hawkins McKenzie, lived in Chesterfield, Ohio, a farmer; Richard Haze McKenzie, lived in Hudson, and is a manufacturer of brick and tile; Laura Anne, now Mrs. Abraham B. Poucher, lived in Morenci, and her husband is a farmer; Joseph Cahoon McKenzie, lives in the city of Adrian, on the old homestead, is a manufacturer of brick and tile, and is the patentee of the brick and tile machine which is now manufactured by the Adrian Brick and Tile Machine Company; Samuel Duncan McKenzie, lives in the city of Adrian, and is a mason and builder; Frances Amanda, now Mrs. William Knight lives in the town of Adrian; her husband is a farmer. Ellen A. McKenzie, (later Mrs. Ephraim Luther) resides with her brother, Joseph C. McKenzie at the old homestead, in the city of Adrian. Two children, George A. and Julie E. McKenzie preceded their parents in death. In the year 1832, when the new and wilderness Territory of Michigan was threatened with war and an Indian invasion by Black Hawk, Charles M. McKenzie was among the first to shoulder his musket, to protect the then frontier. Again, in the year 1834 when our young Territory was in danger of being wronged by the adjoining State of Ohio, he joined the little army that succeeded in driving back the invading Buckeyes. Mr. McKenzie was a patriot in every sense of the word, yet, like most men, had his peculiarities. He was always sympathetic, kind-hearted, and ever ready to do work in a good cause. It always seemed to be a pleasure for him to work for the good of mankind. He was ever ready to give to the needy, and if necessary, harness his horse and traverse the country soliciting aid for the poor, and often did so. Throughout his whole life he was never accused of appropriating to himself that which did not belong to him; he died an honest man. Mrs. Charles M. McKenzie was born in Bridgewater, Vermont on May 10th 1803. She was the daughter of Samuel D. and Elizabeth (Miller) Hawkins.
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