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BIOGRAPHIES
Source:
Biographical Memoirs
of
St. Clair County, Michigan
A Comprehensive Compendium of National Biography -
Memoirs of Eminent Men and Women in the United States,
whose Deeds of Valor or Works of Merit have Made their Names
Imperishable.
Illustrated
Embellished with Portraits of Many National Characters and
Well-Known Residents of St. Clair, Michigan
Published Logansport, Indiana:
B. F. Bowe, Publisher
1903
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GEORGE W. DALRYMPLE. When the gold fever of 1849 broke out
it not only carried many of the enterprising, hardy youths and
middle-aged men of east to California, but even the thinly
settled woods and prairies of the west contributed no
insignificant number to the horde which drifted by land and sea
to the Pacific coast. Among them was Israel R.
Dalrymple, father of George W. Dalrymple, the subject
of this sketch. He did not stay long, however, in the
west. It was 1852 before the crisis of the fever got
possession of him and a sojourn of four years in the mining
camps of California was sufficient to convince him that finding
gold was not as easy or as profitable as it had been
represented.
Israel R. Dalrymple, father of George W.
Dalrymple, was born in New York Feb. 22, 1813. The
mother of George W. was Margaret (Burkholder)
Dalrymple, and she was a native of Pennsylvania. After
their marriage, which occurred in Elkhart, Indiana, about 1845,
they moved to South Bend, Indiana, where they resided a number
of years and where George W. Dalrymple was born, Feb. 25,
1849. In 1850 the family moved to Niles township, Berrien
county, Michigan, where they purchased one hundred and sixty
acres of land, erected a home and were beginning to prosper
nicely, when the gold fever came along and swept the head of the
house out onto the Pacific coast. Mr. Dalrymple was
a carpenter by trade and during the four years of his sojourn in
the west he produced more gold with his hammer, saw and square
than most of the others who went out there did with their pick
and shovel. A favorable opportunity coming his way, he was
only too glad to embrace it to get back to his wife and
children.
To Israel R. and Margaret Dalrymple six children
were born, viz: Jackson, George W. Madison, Jefferson,
Mehitabel and Lillie. Each grew to
maturity and are successful and prosperous. In 1868 the
father came from Berrien county to St. Clair county, locating at
Port Huron. Here he became possessed of a piece of land
upon which he built a home and which he proceeded to improve.
He continued to occupy, cultivate and improve this land up to
the time of his death, in 1879. In politics he had been a
Democrat all his life, but never aspired to any office. In
religion he had no choice, but generally attended the meetings
of the Adventists with his wife, who was a believer in the
teachings of that denomination. Both were people of high
standing in the community and their deaths occasioned much
sorrow.
July 3, 1873, George W. Dalrymple was united in
marriage to Susan E. Farquhar, daughter of Thomas and
Mary (West) Farquhar. Mr. Farquhar was a native of
Ireland, a Presbyterian in religion and a Republican in
politics. He came to America when young, landing in
Canada, but soon drifted to the United States. The family
was prosperous and well-to-do, owning a good home and a nice
tract of well-improved land. They were the parents of four
children, of whom Susan E., wife of the subject, was the
youngest. The other children were Jane, John, and
Thomas. All the people of recognized worth and
respectability in the community.
Soon after their marriage the Dalrymples bought
a tract of eighty acres of land in St. Clair township, where
they built a home and where they have since resided. They
are the parents of three children, viz.: George Thomas,
born April 29, 1874; Effie Jane, born Aug. 1, 1876, and
Guy Oscar, born Dec. 6, 1880. Mr. Dalrymple
has followed general farming all his life and in that calling
has been quite successful. In politics he is a Democrat
and although no office-seeker, he has been compelled to occupy
some of the local offices nearly all the time since his
majority. He has been highway commissioner, moderator and
member of the school board. For four years he has been
justice of the peace, which has given him an opportunity of
settling among his neighbors more law suits than ever ought to
have been filed or tried. Some officials make that office
a position in which to instigate litigation; he makes it one in
which to suppress law suits. If all justices' courts were
conducted on the plan on which he conducts his, the upper courts
and lawyers would not be as hard worked as they are. He is
a worthy, capable man, possessed of an abundance of common sense
and a wide knowledge of human nature. His motto is "Do
good," and his talents afford him ample opportunity of doing so.
Source: Biographical Memoirs of St. Clair County, Michigan -
Published Logansport, Indiana: B. F. Bowe, Publisher - 1903 -
Page 327 |
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