My Genealogy Hound

JACOB McINTOSH. A man seems living nearer to nature who adopts as his life calling some occupation that has been honored from the earliest limes. That of the agriculturist is of historic growth, and this our subject has been reared to know best, for from early boyhood his days have been passed in farm work. William McIntosh, the immediate progenitor of our subject, was born in Scotland in 1801, and when three years of age was brought to the United States by his parents. Daniel McIntosh, his father, located in Baltimore, and there followed the trade of a wagon-maker. He moved from Baltimore to Ohio, and thence to Cass County, Mich., at a very early day, and endured many hardships in the wilds of that county. When he first settled here he had three horses, and two of them soon were missing. He took the third horse to go in search of them, and was compelled to sleep out of doors for several nights. The weather became very cold, and both his feet were badly frozen. Thinking that water might draw out the frost, he went to a stream, but this did no good, for his feet had to be amputated. An uncle of our subject’s was the surgeon in this case, accomplishing the work with a jack-knife. Daniel was a man of great endurance, and lived to the advanced age of eighty-seven. After losing his feet he would hobble to the woods and split rails and chop wood, standing on his knees while working. He was a man universally respected.

The father of our subject grew to manhood in the different States in which his father resided, principally Michigan, and selected as his companion in life Miss Sarah McEntaffer, a native of Pennsylvania. Both passed the closing scenes of their life in Cass County, Mich., the mother dying in June, 1889. Nine children were born to them, four sons and five daughters, three sons and two daughters now living. Our subject remained under the parental roof until twenty-one years of age, and received his education in the common schools. He served an apprenticeship at the carpenter’s trade, and on the 7th of August, 1861, he enlisted in Company D, Michigan Infantry, and served three years. During the charge on Ft. Hudson, La., a rifle-ball passed through his right hip, and for this he now receives a pension. He was in the battle of Baton Rouge, August 5, 1862, and was in various skirmishes.

At the close of service our subject returned to Cass County, and on the 26th of November, 1865, he wedded Miss Emily Rivers, a native of Chester, N. Y., and the daughter of James and Delilah (Chase) Rivers. Her grandfather Rivers was a native of England, and crossed the ocean to the United States when James was a small boy. James Rivers and his wife removed from New York State to Illinois, and thence to Cass County, Mich., in 1864. To our subject and his wife were born two children, Minnie Blanch and Jacob Howard.

Mr. McIntosh is one of the representative men of the township, has held the offices of Township Treasurer, Highway Commissioner, and is now Justice of the Peace. In 1886 he was elected Sheriff of Cass County, and is a man eminently qualified for that position, being faithful and fearless in the discharge of his duties. He served four years with credit to himself and his constituents. In politics, he is a Republican, and his first Presidential vote was for Gen. U. S. Grant. In his social relations, he is a member of Cassopolis Lodge No. 22, I. O. O. F., the Albert Anderson Post No. 157, G. A. R., and is also a member of the Order of Modern Workmen, in which he carries $2,000 life insurance. He is a member of the Free-will Baptist Church, and his wife is a member of the Presbyterian Church. He is the owner of eighty acres of valuable land near the east shore of Diamond Lake, and is a prosperous and progressive man.