See also
1 Jeanne DEWITT1,2 (1947- ) [3263]. Born 11 Sep 1947.1,2
2 Herbert DEWITT1 ( -1987) [3260]. Died 24 Jul 1987.1
3 Artheda June PRIDGEON1 (1922- ) [617]. Born 2 Jul 1922, Sherman Twp., Isabella County, MI.1
6 Samuel Melvin PRIDGEON , Jr.1 (1882-1953) [576]. Born 6 Jun 1882, MI.1,3 Marr Fanny Eliza DAVIS 20 Feb 1905, Sherman Township, MI.1 Marr Myrtle Belle THOMPSON 23 Mar 1921. Died 19 Feb 1953, Sherman Twp., Isabella Co., MI.3 Buried Forest Hill Cemetery, Weidman, Isabella County, MI.1,3
Samuel Melvin and Fannie lived on the west side (Mecosta Co.) of the Isabella / Mecosta County Line - Samuel and Kitty lived across the road - a little to the south - in Isabella Co. Hence, the closeness of the two families. After Fannie died, Samuel M. and children moved into the home of his parents in Isabella Co.
Samuel Pridgeon Sr., wife Catherine, Mrs Fannie (Davis) Pridgeon, her son Iden Pridgeon and Audre Pridgeon, dau of Stan & Tessie Pridgeon are all buried in lot 3, Forest Hill Cem. Only Sam Sr. and Catherine have headstones.
12 Samuel PRIDGEON3 (1837-1919) [564]. Born 4 Apr 1837, Detroit, Wayne County, MI.3,4 Marr Carolyn L. HAIGHT 3 Dec 1858, Algansee, Branch County, MI.5 Div 4 May 1881, Isabella Co. MI.1 Div. Marr Catherine M. LAWRENCE 12 Jun 1881, Sherman Township, Isabela County, MI.6 Died 29 Jan 1919, Sherman Twp., Isabella County, MI.3 Buried Forest Hill Cemetery, Weidman, Isabella County, MI.3
Entry in Volume 14, p. 94 of Michigan Volunteers in the Civil War, 1861-1865.
Pridgeon, Samuel Drafted for one year from California, Branch County, age 27. Mustered Sept. 27, 1864. Assigned to company I, Fourteenth Infantry. Mustered out at Louisville, KY., July 18, 1865. Samuel was 81 Y 9M 25D when he died. He lived in Branch Co., MI until 1878. Moved to Hillsdale Co. MI then to Sec. 19, Sherman Twp., Isabella Co., MI., then to Weidman, MI
From "Eleventh Census of the United States - 1890 - Enumerated in June, 1890, by Fred L. Kent. (Fred L. Kent was the son in law of Samuel Pridgeon) - Persons who served in the Army, Navy and Marine Corps of the United States during the war of the rebellion and who are survivors.
"Samuel Pridgeon Private I 14th Michigan Infantry August 9, 1861 Sept. 18, 1865 "
From HISTORY OF SHERMAN TOWNSHIP by Fred L. Kent (about 1914).
Of those who came in 1871 Mrs. Margaret M. Tinker, Wm. Tinker (son of John B. Tinker), Mrs. Retta Tinker (widow of Amos J. Tinker), Endora Loree (daughter of James H. Tinker) are all that remain. Of those who came in 1872, Andrew L. Lawrence is the only survivor.
From 1870 to 1875 but few came, and many moved away. Then the tide changed, and in the next five years many new settlers moved into the township; among the number Thomas Doyle, Winfield Bly, William , Jesse and John Thompson, Richard ALderman, John Burd, Walter Lyon, George Waight, Samuel Pridgeon, John Beutler Sr., John Hine, J. H. and E. B. Denslow Sr., Joseph and Stephen Losey, F. D. Woodard, David and Charls Carr, David P. Mecum Ms. F. Sherman, Will Sheldon, H. M. Goodenough, Stephen Morey, H. D. Smith, John H. Putman, Philander Brand, George Engles, Dan Loomis, Millard Pennington, Asa A. Smith, John Gatehouse, Wm. Miller, E. D. Adams, Samuel Kirvan, Wm. K. Gibbs, Frank Harrison, Martin Elliott, Andrew C. Divine, Silas Wright, Frank Rodgers Sr., Chas. Gardner, R. H. Garner, A. W. Konkle, David Pruthero, L. J. Beebe, Wm. Cox and Wm. Brooks.
As related by Joyce McClain:
"Samuel Pridgeon didn't move to Weidman, MI...he always lived on his farm on the county line...Isabella side.....Mecosta Co. across the road. His grandson, Stanley Pridgeon, (and father of Carolyn Ruth Pridgeon) told me the story about how Samuel always wanted to die "with his boots on". He ate his supper...went in to lie down on the bed to rest and when he didn't get up, they discovered he was dead...so he did die with his boots on. Samuel died at his farm home on the Isabella/Mecosta Cos. line.
This past September a group of Pridgeons (from North Carolina and Michigan) met at a home west of Weidman and we made a tour of the area looking at places where the Pridgeons lived. The old Samuel Pridgeon (#32) home is still standing but has had the upper floor taken off...the barn is gone...but we stopped and talked to the lady who lives there and she said yes, her home was the former home of Samuel and Catherine "Kitty" Pridgeon."
13 Catherine M. LAWRENCE1 (1848-1922) [3232]. Born 22 Sep 1848, Kalamazoo, MI.3,7 Marr Andrew DIVINE Jul 1869.1 Died 9 Jul 1922, Weidman, Isabella County, MI.3,7 Buried Forest Hill Cemetery, Weidman, Isabella County, MI.3
7 Myrtle Belle THOMPSON1 (1889-1969) [616]. Born 29 Nov 1889.1,2,3 Died 12 Nov 1969.1 Buried Forest Hill Cemetery, Weidman, Isabella County, MI.3
| 1 | "Information provided by Paula Hines Archer Gullion". |
| 2 | "Information provided by Vada Pridgeon". |
| 3 | "Tombstone inscriptions, Forest Hill Cemetery, Sherman Twp., Isabella Co., MI". |
| 4 | "1870 Branch County census". |
| 5 | "Ancestry.com Database of Michigan Marriages, 1851-75". |
| 6 | "Paula Gullion - copy of marriage certificate". |
| 7 | "Births, Deaths, Marriage Licences, and Marriages reported in "The Isabella County Enterprise 1875 - 1900, compiled by Eunice E. May, Barbara Lesser". |