“If there is no Struggle, There is no Progress”

I am impatient, I don’t like waiting. Right now in my personal life this is a very difficult thing, I am frustrated with how long it is taking to make progress. So, I thought I would share part of a story I found in A Twentieth Century History of Allegan County, Michigan (compiled under the supervision of Dr. Henry Franklin Thomas of Allegan in 1907) about my 4x Great Grandfather, Ransom Aaron Layton who made his progress slowly with hard work.

“He always manifested the progressive spirit which has been the dominant factor in the upbuilding and development of agricultural interests in this great state.”

Ransom was born to Francis Layton and his wife Margaret Ann Wagner Layton (both originally from New Jersey) on July 16, 1841 in Genesee County, New York. His mother died when he was four, and when he was nine he and his father relocated to Cooper, Kalamazoo, Michigan where he was educated and eventually became a laborer on a nearby farm until he had earned enough to purchase his own land and begin his own farm.

He chose Watson, Allegan, Michigan as the site of his homestead and farm and purchased 80 acres. As he continued to work, he was eventually able to purchase 80 additional acres. Making his total 160 acres – which was all forest land at the time of his purchase. In addition to clearing his own land and farming, Layton also worked at an area sawmill for a number of years spending half the day and half the night being spent at the mill and the remainder of his time was spent working on his land. On that land, he built a home and several outbuildings. 

In 1868, Layton married Hannah Elvira Leach (born 1848 in Ohio), daughter of Justus Leach and Mercy D. Mason Leach. He and Hannah became the parents of three daughters and one son:

• Margaret Edith Layton Decker (my 3x great grandmother), wife of Luther Decker. They had seven children: George Oren Decker, Lee Decker, Maude Decker, Roy Decker, William Decker, Annie Decker, and Leota Decker.
• Arthur J. Layton who married Gertrude Mabel Goucher. Their children were Garnet Clara Layton and George Russell Layton.
• Alta Almeda Layton, wife of Simon Fox. Mother of Pearl Myrtle Fox and Juanita Fox.
• Bell Ethel Layton

In politics Layton was a Republican, and he never ran for office, instead focusing on his farm, but he was always interested in what was best for the people. 

“He may, without exaggeration be called a self-made man… Starting out in early life in the humble capacity of a farmer being employed by others, through industry, economy and careful management he worked his way year by year until he was the possessor of a valuable property of 195 acres”

“To know him was to respect him, and his many friends yet cherish his memory, for he was a man of excellent character and was ever ready to lend a helping hand to every worthy cause.”

Luther Taylor and his Girls

My 5x great grandfather Luther Taylor was born about 1805 in Connecticut according to US Census records. He married Desire Norton/Newton prior to 1831. Desire died prior to 1860 (probably even before 1850). Sometime before 1860, Luther had relocated along with his three youngest daughters to Kalamazoo, Michigan. He died September 11, 1895 in Watson, Allegan, Michigan.

The Taylors had five known children, all daughters:

• Cynthia Marie Taylor (my 4x great-grandmother) was born May 6, 1831 in New York. She married Levi Decker, the son of Wilhelmus and Mary Decker of Wayne Co, NY in 1850. Cynthia and Levi moved to Michigan in about 1858, settling in Allegan County. She died on the Decker family farm on Big Lake in Watson, Allegan, Michigan of Jaundice coupled with Senility on March 4, 1907. She rests in Hicks Cemetery in Watson.
• Melissa Surviah Taylor was born May 3, 1833 in Fowler, St. Lawrence, New York. She married Eli Charles Spencer in Kalamazoo County, Michigan on June 24, 1855. Together they had three known children and she helped raise his older children from his previous marriage. They moved to Kansas where he passed away around 1877. She eventually moved with her son Allison to Delta County, Colorado where she passed away on April 27, 1919.
• Caroline E. Taylor was born in 1836, also in New York. In 1850, a sixteen year old Caroline was living with her newlywed sister Cynthia in Ontario, Wayne, New York. She married a soldier with the Michigan 1st Regiment of Mechanics and Engineers named William Bates May 1, 1861 in Kalamazoo County, Michigan. They had one daughter; Edith Bates. William died in 1863 in Tennessee. Caroline married James M. Flanagan of the same company and regiment as Bates on December 4, 1865 in Kalamazoo County. James and Caroline moved from Michigan to Kansas where she died sometime before 1902.
• Emaline Louisa Taylor was born February 21, 1842 in NY. She married Irish immigrant John Shaw in Kalamazoo on April 1, 1862. They settled in Texas Township, Kalamazoo, Michigan and had many children. She passed away there on June 1, 1921 of Dropsy and is buried in the Hope Cemetery in Texas Corners.
• Mary Taylor was born November 3, 1845 in NY. She married Charles Campbell in Kalamazoo on May 9, 1863. They lived in Cooper, Kalamazoo, MI with her father Luther in 1870, at that time their family also included their 10 month old son, Charles Jr. and Adeline Fuller and her husband farmhand Jonathan Fuller. Mary died of dropsy of the heart August 30, 1873 and was buried in the West Cooper Cemetery. Campbell then went on to marry Adeline Fuller, who was by then 21 and had been divorced from Jonathan prior to 1872. In 1880, Luther Taylor was still living with the Campbell family, his grandson was by then 11 years old.