JAMES W. HENDRYX and his wife, who are modestly well-to-do, exponents of successful Michigan agriculture, hold a high place in the respect and goodwill of their fellow townsmen in Farmington and their wide acquaintance in its vicinity. The ancestral generations of Mr. Hendryx's family line run back to colonial days and are recorded as having been connected with the Revolutionary struggle for independence. His parents, William W. and Prudence ( Adams ) Hendryx, were residents of Steuben county, New York, where William Hendryx was a blacksmith . The birth of the subject of this sketch occurred on March 16, 1829. When he was six years of age his parents changed the location of their home, coming to Michigan, where they settled in Bedford center. There the father pursued his vocation and here he and his wife spent the rest of their lives . There too the son was educated, receiving the advantages of the public schools until his ambitious young manhood led him to enter upon lucrative activity. The life work which from his earliest thoughtful years had appealed to the interest of James Hendryx was the wholesome, honorable and dependable vocation of farming. This work he began in the way that is for the beginner always the most practical. Engaging himself as a farm assistant, he worked by the month on various farms in the locality, until he understood all the profitable features of farming as practiced in this part of Michigan. He was then ready to share his life with his chosen companion on property of which he should be master.

The lady referred to was then Miss Lovina "Lee, a daughter of John and Martha Lee, both parents being natives of New Jersey, where their marriage had taken place and where the daughter who later became Mrs. Hendryx was born on June 22, 1831. She was twenty-one years of age when her parents effected the transplanting of their home to Bedford, where Mr. Lee followed both farming and the carpenter's trade. He later lived in Detroit until the close of his life, on December 28, 1872, eleven years before the demise of his wife. Both were members of the Baptist church. It was on December 14, 1853, that Lovina Lee and James Hendryx united their lives for all the subsequent years of earthly life. Their first home was in Livonia, in Wayne county, where they lived for one year. In 1877 Mr. Hendryx concluded the purchase of a farm two miles west of Farmington. On this property of 160 acres they lived for nearly a score of years, developing its remunerative possibilities and improving them until it was recognized by every one in the community as a particularly fine farm and its owner widely known as one of the leading agriculturists of the community. Mean while their family gradually increased in numbers, receiving such wise training as would make them worthy citizens. When their children were fairly well grown and the family financial status gratifyingly comfortable, James Hendryx and his wife decided to leave the farm they had managed so successfully by means of continued and strenuous effort, and to spend their latter years in the village. Their Farmington home is a very attractive one, with extensive grounds of several acres, a comfortable and attractive home, all convenient outbuilding and such agreeable accessories as the owners' tastes and preferences require. Of the nine children the years brought to the Hendryx home, eight grew to the years of maturity. The eldest, William R., is a farmer of Farmington township . The next in line, a daughter named Sarah, died in infancy. Zoett is now Mrs. Nathan Power, of Detroit. Hattie S. is Mrs. George Francis, of Farmington. J. M. , the second son, is now deceased . Martha is Mrs. John Power, of Farmington. Frank L. Hendryx is a farmer of Wayne county, Michigan. George W. Hendryx is a carpenter of Farmington. The youngest member of the family, Jennie T. , became Mrs. Adelbert McDermott ; her death occurred on June 27, 1908.

With their surviving sons and daughters creditably settled in life and within convenient distance of their present home; with their excellent farm in satisfactory hands; with church interests to appeal to their activity; with political affairs to absorb much thought from such a loyal Democrat as Mr. Hendryx has ever been; and with the deserved esteem of all who know them , no elderly pair deserves or should expect a happier close to a long and useful existence than James Hendryx and his worthy wife.