Joseph Gage Biography, Tuscola County, Michigan

This Biography extracted from “Portrait and Biographical Record of 
Genesee, Lapeer and Tuscola Counties, Michigan…”, published be Chapman 
Bros., Chicago (1892), p. 1013-1014


This copy contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives.

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JOSEPH GAGE, who is well known throughout Tuscola County in connection 
with large farming interests, hotelkeeping and other branches of 
business, and who is a resident of Gagetown, was born near the city of 
Toronto, upon a farm on the 17th of .January, 1833. He is a son of 
William and Lydia (Hopkins) Gage, and had his early training and 
education upon the farm and in the common district schools, working 
upon the farm during the summer months and attending school in the 
winter.

   Leaving home at the age of twenty-one the young man worked on wages 
for four years and in the spring of 1860 came to Michigan and located 
on the last day of April in Elmwood Township, Tuscola County. He built 
a little cabin and piling some brush in the corner for a bed slept upon 
it for two years. He remained here until the spring of 1870 and during 
that time there were few white people in the county, and many of the 
townships of the county had not a resident. He built the first sawmill 
in this part of the country and it began running on Independence Day. 
1869. It was situated upon what is now the location of Gagetown, which 
was named for this family and the first Postoffice was located here in 
1870. During that same year he removed his family here.

   Mr. Gage had been married September 18, 1866, to Sarah J., daughter 
of Peter Bush and they became the parents of five children. Their 
mother died in the spring of 1871, and the present Mrs. Gage became the 
wife of our subject in the fall of 1876. Her maiden name was Helen 
Nelson and she has three children: Mary, Paul and William. They lost 
one child in infancy whose name was Mina. After carrying on farming and 
milling for some time our subject in 1890, built the first hotel in the 
village, the Gagetown Hotel, which he carried on and at the same time 
pursued the mercantile business for some eight years. He now runs the 
hotel and operates a large farm upon a splendid tract of twelve hundred 
acres.

   It was in 1872 that Mr. Gage built his gristmill in Gagetown and he 
carried it on for about four years, after which it was burned. He and 
his brother are now preparing to erect another mill which will probably 
go up this fall. The political tendencies of Mr. Gage bring him into 
affiliation with the Democratic party and his public spirit and 
enterprise have made him prominent among the men of his vicinity. He 
has held all the offices in the township from Supervisor down and is 
ever active in all public enterprises, especially in building up good 
schools.




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