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Francis D. Lacy |
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Francis D. Lacy, of Nirvana, Lake Co., Mich., was born in Western, New York on
the 5th day of May 1838. He is the
youngest son of Eli Lacy, who raised up a family of six boys and four girls.
His father moved to this State in the year
1840, and settled in the wilds of Oakland County upon 120 acres of land, marsh
and lake, about one-third of which was
upland of an inferior quality, and the remainder entirely worthless.
Eli Lacy ws a man of respecability and fair intelligence, but his financial
abilities were lacking, and had it not been
for the wonderful qualities of his wife, her good physical health and untiring
ambition, it is hard to say what would
have been the result in raising up a family of ten children, and in what
condition they would have been launched out
upon the world. As ot was. the family passed through many privations and was
forced to exercise a frugality which has
scarcely a parallel on record. Thousands have passed through a more degraded
poverty, but the cases where a family of
such high order of intelligence has been forced to so low a condition of
destitution, are certainly uncommon. Imagine
what a burden of anxiety must have rested upon the inadequate abilities of
parents, struggling to their utmost to
furnish food and raiment and educate so large a family, and at the same time
somebody standing ready to snatch the last
dollar at hand to pay the interest on an old calloused mortgage which held a
death grip upon the freedom of the
household! Children attending school in cold winter weather, wearing blue
drilling trousers without lining or drawers,
and otherwise lightly clad, and suffering with the cold as the children of
this family were often compelled to, have
learned to demonstration what "hard times" mean. An older brother, now a
wealthy citizen residing in Reed City, went
bare-foot the winter through, and did chores in the barn, and often slid down
hill as a pastime; and in rlating the
fact, remarks that it was not so much a matter of romance as of stern
reality. This brother, V.E. Lacy, always born his
privations with fortitude, and labored for the comforts of others, denying
himself; being half way from the oldest to
the youngest, he was last to be provided for; and yet he doubtless did more
for the comforts of home than all the others
together; and even since leaving home for himself, he has rendered much for
the comforts of parents and sisters, as also
has Francis, of whom we are narrating. these blessings have doubtless been
showered back upon both of them, as they are
both well situated in life, with happy families around them. In those boyhood
years, it required but little to
constitute a luxury. A toy like a penny jewsharp, a slate pencil or goose-
quill pen, or stick of candy, were all worthy
of remark, and well relished by children of such poverty. A new garment made
by that industrious mother, or a new pair
of shoes, would make the lucky wearer the center of attraction for a time, and
let those only who have experienced the
situation judge how "good" the red leather "looked."
Francis was mentally bright and physically active. He became a good scholar,
and at the age of 16 engaged as a teacher.
This vocation he followed for several years, "until," as he expressed it, "he
became unfit for anything else, and a few
more terms would make him totally unfit for that!" At intervals, during the
years of his teaching, he learned the
printer's trade, and having a taste for literature, indulged in writing
considerable for the press, and acted at times
in the capacity of the editor. Having quite a fondness for poetry, he wrote
occasional pieces, and in the year 1860,
published his first pemphlet, entitled "Leisure Hours." In 1862 he
published "The Ray of Light," and in 1863 a treatise
on mental philosophy, to be used as a phrenological chart in giving
delineations of character. Engaging in this
profession, he followed lecturing for a time, but having an opportunity of
studying more carefully the anatomy of the
human brain, and the nature of its convolutions, he rather concluded that the
old theory of phrenology as advocated by
Fowler & Wells was somewhat a farce, and therefore dropped the subject to
engage in the study of legerdemain. In this
he soon became proficient, and, being without money to start with, constructed
his own apparatus, and bought on credit a
horse, buggy and harness. He now boldly struck out in his new profession,
and, meeting with good success, soon paid for
these, and contracted for 80 acres of land, costing $1,400, mear Laingsburg in
this State.
Wearying of this business, after following it for about three years, he
engaged as a partner with his brother, V.E.
Lacy, near Lapeer, this State, in the manufacture of shingles. This business
prospered, the same as anything else the
V.E. ever took hold of, and at the end of three years they dissolved
partnership, each buying a mill for himself; and in
the year 1874 Francis shipped his mill and household goods to Nirvana and
established himself there for making shingles,
and also engaged in merchandise, where he will be found comfortably situated
at the present time. Since he has been at
Nirvana he has suffered some severe losses. His mill was burned, and at the
time when the loss fell most heavily upon
him, and in other ways has had numerius financial set-backs; yet he has passed
through them with scarcely a riffle tio
disturb his good humor; and being surrounded by a beautiful wife and four
sparkling eyed children, he has but little to
regret. He still continues to ply the pen, and within the last two years has
published two works, - "Nature's Harmony,
" a philosophical treatise, and "Star Lake Romance," a poetical story - both
of which do credit to the author. And thus
we have narrated the history of one who commenced in the lowest degree of
poverty, and has risen to a fair height in
both fame and fortune.
When he had made some progress in the accumulation of property, and was
standing well in society, he thought favorably
of taking a wife. some there were of the gay and fashionable circles, and
some who were wealthy, among the ladies, whom
he flattered himself that he could win; but being interested with a beautiful
child 13 years old, Eunice A. Stevens, the
daughter of William and Delilah Stevens, who lived far back in the lowest of
poverty, he took pleasure in providing her
with nice clothing and furnishing her with books for intellectual culture.
She bore the appellation of "The Rustic
Angel" and "Lacy's Gypsy Princess" until 1872 at which time she had reached
her 14th year; and on the 8th day of
November, of that year, in the presence of a pleasant circle of friends at
Lapeer, Mich., he married her. She was
arrayed like a princess on the occasion, much to the admiration of those
present, but greatly to the contempt of many
who envied her.
Eunice A., nee Stevens, the wife of Francis D. Lacy, was born on the 28th day
of October, 1858. On the 19th day of
August, 1874, she gave birth to her first child. Lately before this ordeal,
they moved from near Lapeer to Nirvana, and
it is thought her fatigue proved fatal to the child: it lived but 12 hours.
His name was entered upon the family
register as Herbert Emmanuel. Arthur Jay, the second son, was born Sept. 30,
1876; Rollo Guy was born Jan. 27, 1879;
Plato Ray, April 17, 1881; and Florence May, March 17, 1884.
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