Early Memories of Saugatuck, Michigan : 1830-1930
Author: Heath, May Francis
Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Grand Rapids, Mich: 1930

THOMAS WILSON

Thomas Wilson was a native of England, born in 1828. He was a brickmaker in his native land but when only 20 years of age he came to America and at first was a Mississippi river steamboat engineer. In 1850 he moved to Singapore, Mich, at the mouth of the Kalamazoo, where during the life of that once famed "Wild-Cat" town he was an engineer in the saw mills.

In 1856 he married Anna Cuthbert Abbey, daughter of Pierce and Abigail Abbey and a native of County Carlow, Ireland, who came to America when nine years of age.

Four sons were born to this couple, Thomas and Robert, deceased, and William P. who wedded Miss Libbie Randall and resides at Saugatuck, and Frank E, who lives in Ganges.

After the fall of Singapore Mr. Wilson took up a tract of 160 acres in Ganges and became one of the foremost fruit growers in that section, working hard and perservingly to subdue the forest wilderness which it was when the Wilsons moved there. He built good buildings and continued through the years improvements; at one time he had an orchard of 3,000 peach trees, and was a large shipper.

He was always a straight forward Christian and devoted to the best interests of the community and his death was deeply regretted by a host of warm friends as well as his immediate family.

The Wilsons were promoters and active members of the M. R. Church. Mrs. Wilson and her son, Frank, continued on the farm until her death, April 4, 1929, at the ripe old age of eighty-nine, one of the highly respected women of Allegan county.