John Segee

	John Segee

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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.

John Segee

Family History and Photos: Courtesy of Peggy (Sawyer) Williams & Tyrone Guy

John Segee Family

John, Frankie (Tate), Elva,

Ettie, Onie Segee

Back: Elvie Segee,

George Tate

Left: Ettie, Right: Leona Segee

Elva, Ettie,

Onie (Leona)

Segee

Dwight Guy

Son of Delbert & Elva Mae Segee-Guy

Geraldine Guy

Daughter of Delbert & Elva Mae Segee-Guy

John Segee, the second child of Abraham Segee and Janet McAllister, was born in 1857 in Ontario, Canada. He married Frances (Frankie) Tate, daughter of John Tate and Sarah Guy. The oldest child, Elizabeth (born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1850) married William Ellsworth Guy. The other children in the family were: Isabella, Janet, Mary, Anne and Robert. Elizabeth and John moved to Michigan. The rest of the family remained in Ontario, Canada.

John and Frances' children were, Etta, Leona and Elva Segee and one step-child George Tate. The Segee family lived on State Road (as it was called then) in Rolland Township. They were neighbors of the William Ellsworth Guy family (John's sister Elizabeth Segee). John Segee died in 1905. Frances died in 1915. Both are buried in Pine River Cemetery, Blanchard, Isabella County, Michigan.


	John Segee

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.