Son of Thomas and Ann Garner, was born in the town of Hardiston, Sussex county, New Jersey, February 12, 1808, and is consequently now in the seventieth year of his age. When a lad his parents removed to Paterson, New Jersey (now in Passaic county), and in September, 1825, when he was in his eighteenth year, he went with them to the town of Pultney, Steuben county, New York. His father emigrated to Michigan in 1833, and in 1836 he followed him, and settled on the farm he now occupies, on section 24, Rose township. His father had located in White Lake township, and died there in 1838.

George Garner was married March 19, 1829, to Margaret Speelman, a native of the town of Benton, Ontario (now Yates) county, New York, where she was born December 5, 1806. Her mother's father, John Mittower, settled near Geneva, New York, on the west side of Seneca lake, in 1800. He was from the State of Maryland, probably Frederick county. Her father's father, John Speelman, was also an early settler of the township of Benton, which was Mr. Mittower's home.

Mr. and Mrs. Garner are the parents of eight children, their births occurring as follows: Levi S., born April 2, 1830; died May 17, 1862. Was a graduate of the Cincinnati Eclectic medical college, and at the opening of the war entered the army as surgeon of the Fifteenth Regiment of Michigan Volunteer Infantry. Died in the service. Ann Maria, born March 12, 1832 ; now living with her parents. Elizabeth, born February 19, 1834 ; died September 17, 1864. Nancy, born July 20, 1836 ; now the wife of Peter Carr, of Rose township, Oakland County, Michigan. These four were all born before the family left the State of New York. Mary, born October 17, 1839; died June 27, 1864. David M., born December 30, 1841 ; now living on a part of the old farm. Is a graduate of the high school at Corunna, Shiawassee county, Michigan; owing to a serious affection of the eyes, he was obliged to relinquish a course he was intending to take in the university. George, born January 24, 1844 ; died in infancy. Francis S., born April 4, 1846 ; died January 31, 1857.

In the month of May, 1836, Mr. Garner came to Michigan, and purchased four hundred acres of government land, locating three eighty-acre lots on section 24, and the other two on section 2, town 4 north, range 7 east. He next erected a log house, eighteen by thirty feet, on section 24. It stood just north of David Garner's present residence, and was among the earliest houses built in the township ; was a very substantial structure, the logs being hewed smooth, or "faced," on the inside. After building his house, Mr. Garner went back to New York after his family, and brought them to their new home in the then forest wilds of Michigan the same fall, moving into tlieir log house some time in October, 1836. The house was without either upper or lower floor, and was not exceedingly comfortable. Mrs. Garner had brought a quantity of factory cloth with her, and with it made partitions in the house by hanging it across from wall to wall. Beside the care which necessarily became her portion of pioneer life, she had additional work in attending to her infant daughter Nancy, then but two months old. Many families, who came in during the summer, lived in their wagons until they could erect suitable shelters for the approaching winter.

The frame house in which Mr. Garner now lives was erected in the summer of 1847, and was one of the first frame houses built in the township.

When he came to Michigan the first time (May, 1836), Mr. Garner started on horseback, but, on arriving at Buffalo, changed his mind as to the mode of travel he should pursue, and, taking a steamer, came through to Detroit by water. Before returning for his family he sold his horae. When he came with the family, they proceeded as far as Buffalo by team, and from there they engaged passage to Detroit by way of the lake. On arriving near Dunkirk, however, their boat sprung a leak, and was forced to put in to the dock. She had some six hundred passengers aboard. They transferred their baggie to the steamer " William Penn," and after lying about a week at Dunkirk, waiting for the boat to move out, they concluded to leave their goods on board and come on by team. Accordingly they started, and drove as far as Huron, Ohio, a distance of a hundred miles or more. On arriving at the latter place, they discovert the "William Penn" making in towards the dock, and consequently waited for her, and on her arrival drove aboard, and were landed in Detroit the next morning at sunrise. The remainder of the distance they traversed with their team, and reached their location in what is now Rose township at the end of a three weeks trip from New York, tired, and rejoicing that they at last had reached a haven, even though in a comparative wilderness.

In politicBj Ms, Garner was originally a Whig, and has been a Republican since the organization of the party. He and his wife are both members of the First Presbyterian church of White Lake, with which body they united when they first came to Michigan. Mr. Garner became a member of the Presbyterian church at his old home in Pultney, in 1830, and his wife joined the same denomination at Benton, Ontario county. New York^ in 1826. No liquor nor tobacco has ever been used in the family, every member of it being strictly temperate, as were Mr. Garner's parents before him, and also every member of his father's family. He has reached the age of nearly seventy years, and though his hands are hardened with the toil of threescore years, and his experience has been greatly varied, the marks of care seem no deeper on his brow, and his countenance wears yet the cheerful look of his younger days.

Mrs. Garner is a true Christian lady, and in her sphere has made herself most useful, and gained many lasting friends. Her voice and hand have always been ready to comfort and soothe the weary patient on the sick bed, and her old neighbors, near and far, remember with gratitude the services performed by her in the days reaching backward for a period of forty-one years.

This happy couple, now in their old age, are reaping the just reward of a life spent in seeking to do good to all who lived around them, and the closing scenes of their lives promise to be upon the same plan of calmness and serenity by which their experience has always been characterized.