Stephen McGarry, Jr.

Grand Traverse and Leelanaw Counties by Elvin L. Sprague and Mrs. George Nelson, 1903

The sons of the Emerald Isle are found in every land upon the face of the globe and their ready adaptability to circumstances, their quick wit and their enterprise have made them valued citizens.  Mr. McGarry is one who has come to Michigan from the Green Isle of Erin.  Stephen was born in county Roscommon, Ireland, about 1857, and was a lad of about eight years when brought by his parents to the United States.  He is a son of Michael and Bridget (Mulague) McGarry, but the latter is now deceased, having passed away at her home in Blair Township.  She had become the mother of nine children, Mr. Stephen McGarry of this review being the second in order of birth.  He yet remembers incidents of the ocean voyage to the United States and of the early residence in Michigan.  The father brought his family to Grand Traverse County, settling upon a farm in Blair Township and it was here that Stephen McGarry was reared, being early trained to habits of industry upon the old homestead.  He worked in the fields through the months of summer and during the winter seasons attended school.  Throughout his entire life he carried on agricultural pursuits or else worked in the lumber woods, with the exception of a brief period of tow years which were spent in Manistee, Michigan.  Whatever he has undertaken has received his undivided forms the basis of all success which has crowned his efforts.

 Stephen was married in Traverse City, Michigan, in the month of October, 1883, the lady of his choice being Miss Elsie Rennie, who was born in Traverse City.  Their marriage has been blessed with a large family of nine children, as follows: Maggie, Lottie, Hattie, William, Dominick, Stephen, Jr., Mary, Eleanor and Annie.  Stephen is now living with his family upon the home farm of one hundred and ninety-five acres. He cultivates eighty acres of this tract and the soil is rich and productive, therefore returning to him good harvests, for which he finds a ready market.  Thus his income is annually increased and he is able to provide his family with all of the necessities and many of the comforts of life.  

He has served as highway commissioner in Blair Township and has likewise filled the office of school director and school moderator.  The cause of education finds in him a stalwart friend for he realizes its value as a preparation for life's responsible duties.  From an early day he has resided in Grand Traverse County and his memory forms a connecting link between the primitive past and the progressive present.  He can relate many interesting incidents of the early days here when the work of progress largely lay in the future.  Not only has he been a witness of the growth of the country, however, but has also aided in its development and as one of the honored early residents of this section of the state he deserves mention in the history of Grand Traverse County. 

@Created by Brenda K. Wolfgram Moore 18June2003