CHARLES E. AND EMILY A. SMITH CAIN

Charles E. Cain was born October 13, 1839 in France. He came to the United States in 1861 through Pennsylvania. He married Emily A. Smith; she was born in New York in 1840.

Charles and Emily had the following child:

1. Almeda (Ida K.) Cain was born July 1, 1867 in Saginaw, Michigan. She married Michael Spurbeck. Ida died on January 1, 1949 and Michael died in 1917 and they are both buried in Lakefield Township Cemetery.

On March 20, 1878, the United States General Land Office in accordance with the Homestead Act of May 20, 1862 granted Charles E. Cain (Homestead Certificate # 709, Application # 1338) the tract of land on the North half of the Northwest Quarter of Section Twelve, in Township Eleven North of Range one East (T.11N. R1E), in the district of lands subject to sale at East Saginaw, Michigan containing eighty acres (80 acres). This property was located in Section 12 on the SW corner of Swan Creek and Chapin Roads. At that time, a neighbor would have been Albert Cooper, a veteran of the Civil War.

The 1880 Michigan Agriculture Census states that Charles had 15 acres of tilled land and 25 acres of forest or woodland in Lakefield Township.

Charles elected or appointed to the following Lakefield Township offices:

1.  elected Superintendent of Schools on April 7, 1887

2.  elected to  Treasurer on April 4, 1881 and April 3, 1882

3.  appointed Overseer of Highways in District #1 on April 7, 1879.

By 1900, Charles is widowed, living with his daughter, Ida Cain Spurbeck and her family, in Fremont Township, Saginaw County on Iva Road. This location was one mile east of where Charles property was in Lakefield Township.

Charles died June 3, 1904 and Emily died October 13, 1895. They are both buried in Lakefield Township Cemetery.

SOURCES: 1870, 1880, 1890 United States Census; 1880 Michigan Agricultural Census; Lakefield Township Cemetery; United States General Land Office Records; Charles E. Cain death certificate; Ida Cain Spurbeck birth and death certificates.