H. J. Vesey
H.J. VESEY is a native of Vermont, as were his parents, William and Adeline (Copland) Vesey, his birth occurring October 19, 1834. They came West to Geauga County, Ohio, in 1834; his father, in 1835, bought land in Elkhart County, Ind., and returned to Ohio; his five children, in the spring of 1836, accompanied by their uncle, came and located on the land, but the father was detained in Ohio by the illness of his wife, that resulted in her death. He then joined his family in Elkhart County, where he died in 1873. At the age of eighteen, H.J. Vesey paid $150 for his time until twenty-one, and, in 1853, began attending school at Ontario, working at any available employment during the remainder of the time. he has paid special attention to grafting, and for thirty-four years has worked at that during the spring season, traveling through Canada and seventeen of the States. In 1858, Mr. Vesey traded land in Fillmore County, Minn., that he bought in 1851, for 120 acres of his farm in this township. He now owns 302 acres, which are improved with many fine buildings; property valued at $20,000. In connection with farming, he raises live-stock, having, in the fall of 1881, 510 sheep for the spring market. August 6, 1857, Mr. Vesey and Helen E. Smith were untied in marriage. She was born December 14, 1839, and is the daughter of Joseph H. and Margaret (Robinson) Smith, natives of New York, who went to Michigan at an early day. Mr. and Mrs. Vesey have four children -Maggie A., now Mrs. Charles Sears; Lottie E., now Mrs. George McKibben; Lydia C. and Sylvester T. Mr. Vesey has been a member of the Masonic Order.
From History of La Grange County Indiana, F.A. Battey & Co., 1882