Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2013, All Rights Reserved U.S. Data Repository Please read U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Karen D. Foster for the US Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ ========================================================================== U.S. Data Repository NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization. Non-commercial organizations desiring to use this material must obtain the consent of the transcriber prior to use. Individuals desiring to use this material in their own research may do so. ========================================================================== Formatted by U.S. Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. ========================================================================== SOURCE: History of Genesee County, Michigan pub. Everts and Abbott - 1879 Page 296 PETER HEMPSTED Peter Hempsted was born in Rice township, Monroe Co., N.Y. His father, John Hempsted, was born in Dutchess Co., N.Y., in 1776, where he grew to manhood; he was a weaver by trade, and worked at it when he was not farming. Soon after his marriage to Miss Amy Barker he moved to Monroe Co., N.Y., where he bought a small farm. Here Peter lived until he was twenty-three years old, working on the farm, or at whatever he could get to do. In 1836 he was attacked by the Western fever, and determined to go West and make himself a home where land was cheap. He came to Grand Blanc, in Genesee County. The first year he worked for Roland Perry; in 1837 he bought of his father the west half of the southwest quarter of section 14, in Mundy township, a lot which his father had purchased of the government. On this farm, now one of the best in the county, Mr. Hempsted still resides. In 1843 he built a small house on his farm, and made a permanent settlement. At that time there was no road to his land, and the family came and went by blazed trees. From Flint and Grand Blanc he carried his supplies to the new home in the woods with the help of an old fashioned neck-yoke. Their nearest neighbors were Indians, with whom they lived on the most friendly terms. The wolves were then a great source of annoyance, killing their sheep and making it unsafe for the family to be out in the evening. Mr. Hempsted is one of the most successful agriculturists in the county, and his farm is a model after which the young men of to-day would do well to pattern. One secret of his success is his versatile skill in labor, making most of his farming tools, and assisting to erect his buildings. In politics Mr. Hempsted is a Republican, but not a seeker of office. He has been a member of the Baptist Church for nearly half a century, as has also his wife. He is spoken of by his neighbors as an honorable and successful business man, one whom to know is to respect. On the 8th day of June, 1841, he married Mrs. Mindwell Beebe, daughter of Guerasey and Asenath (Brainard) Goff. She was born Jan. 9, 1814. There have been born to them eight children: Arthur, born April 6, 1842; Adelia, born Feb. 22, 1844; Eliza, born Feb. 11, 1846, died March 24, 1848; Cyrus, born April 30, 1848; Emeline, born Dec. 17, 1849, died Aug. 6, 1850; Sylvester, born July 23, 1851; Peter J., born Oct. 12, 1853; and Frank, born Dec. 9, 1857. To Mrs. Hempsted, by her first husband, were born two children, — Zala Beebe, born Oct. 25, 1837, and Edmund Beebe, born Nov. 25, 1839. Three of their children served in the Union army during the war of the Rebellion, — Arthur Hempsted, in Co. E, 5th Michigan Battery, enlisted Dec. 9, 1862, and served until the war closed; Zala Beebe, served in the same company and battery about a year; Edmund Beebe, enlisted Dec. 9, 1862, and served during the war in the same company as his brother. ==========================================================================