Guy

 
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Doraville Whitney was the first Black settler in Isabella County in 1860.  The first documentation of an African-American settler in Mecosta County Michigan was James Guy.  His deed was signed by Abraham Lincoln.  He  obtained 160 acres in Wheatland Township on May 30, 1861.  Lloyd & Margaret Guy were the first Black settlers in Montcalm County in 1861. The Homestead Act of 1862 allowed each settler 160 acres in Michigan.  By 1873 African-Americans owned 1,392 acres in the three counties of Isabella, Mecosta and Montcalm.  In the 1860's most of the land in Remus was owned by the Old Settlers. 

 

SECTION 1

James Guy

 

SECTION 2

John Welcome Guy

 

SECTION 3

John Welcome Guy Family Pictures

 

SECTION 4

Harry P. Guy

 

John Welcome Guy

Son of William Ellsworth Guy

Family History and Photographs Courtesy of

Peggy (Sawyer) Williams, Fern Johnson-Cross Deonna (Todd) Green

 

John Welcome Guy and Alice Dell (Myers)

Guy Family - Lloyd

Wealthy, Wenda, Gladys, Jessie (1913)

 

Fred Guy

Son of Charles W. Guy & Sarah J. Pointer

 

Gladys Guy-Harper 18 Years Old (1914)

17 June 1896 - 30 November 1991

 

Clyde & Mae Guy (1940)

31 May 1894 - 22 Oct. 1958

 

Clyde Guy & Hershel Cross

World War I - US Navy

 

Guy Farm 1910

(John Welcome Guy - Son of William Guy)

Lloyd Guy, Alice (Myers) Guy

Neighbor Mr. Plowman

 

Gladys (Guy) Harper

 

James K. & Armintha (Lett) Sawyer

 shown with grandchildren:

Baby Max, James Welcome Manning,

Lyle, Worothy & Donna Sawyer

Rowena Manning, Ione Sawyer

 

Elizabeth Guy-Manning

 

John & Lydia Guy

 

4 Generations of Guys

 

Gladys (Guy) Harper &

Wealthy (Guy) Sawyer

Gladys Harper Day at Church Nov 23, 1980

 

First Generation Michiganians

 

John Welcome Guy, the fourth child of William Guy and Elizabeth Segee-Guy was born in Bushnell Township, Montcalm County, Michigan in 1869.  John and his two surviving siblings became the first Michiganians in the William Guy Family.  Their parents, William and Elizabeth had settled on farmland in Bushnell in 1862.  Their family became the community's first Black residents in a poor white farming area near Vickeryville.

 

In 1872 the family moved to Rolland Township, Isabella County.  John and his two sisters, Theodosia and Margaret attended Oberlin School, a log school house, built in 1867 two miles from their home.  Later, a wood frame school was built during the 1870's.  They walked to and from school every day.  Their father etched notches in the trees along the path to they would not get lost.  John and Theodosia completed the Oberlin School.  Margaret died at age 15.

 

John Welcome married Alice Dell Myers (1873-1949), daughter of John Myers of Remus, Michigan.  Their surviving children were:  Clyde, Gladys, Wealthy, Jessie, Lloyd and Wenda.  John was an excellent horseman.  He used his team of horses to haul logs to the nearby sawmill for $.50 a day.  Alice was a homemaker and also a midwife in the Rolland area.  They raised their family on the William Guy farm, which had been equally bequeathed to Theodosia and John.  Theodosia married John W. Cross of Remus, MI.

 

After the children were grown, the farm was sold.  John and Alice moved to Lansing for a few years, but later returned to the Rolland area.  John died in Battle Creek in 1936.  Alice died in Detroit in 1949.  Both are buried in Pine River Cemetery, Blanchard, Isabella County, Michigan.

 

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Guy

 

There are "Old Settlers" who came from Canada via "The Underground Railroad."  It was the most dramatic nonviolent protest against slavery in the United States that began in the Colonial Era and reached its peak between 1830 and 1865. An estimated 30,000 to 100,000 slaves used the "railroad" to get to Canada; many others escaped to Mexico, the Caribbean, and Europe.