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Note: N2481 A wonderful 2-volume book of more than 1500 pages about the CILLEY Family genealogy has been written by Annie Morse Cilley, and for each entry the author traces ancestry back to either Thomas or to Benoni (the two CILLEY brothers living in NH in 1700). However, she has a section at the back of the book devoted to “Miscellaneous Cilley’s” who have the surname CILLEY but do not (yet) have a known ancestry line to one of the CILLEY brothers of early NH. The husband of Mary Jane SILVERWOOD is one of the CILLEY’s in the “Miscellaneous Cilley’s” section. Refer to the book by Annie M. Cilley, “The Cilley Family Roots in New England: A Genealogical Workbook,” Vol II (2004, Higginson Book Company; CD-ROM at http://www.morsesistersgenealogy.com/), p 545. Augustus D. CILLEY, born about 1837 in Canton, Wayne, MI, died Dec 1872 in Sacramento, CA, buried in Canton, Wayne, MI. He married 8 Dec 1859 in Delaware County, OH Mary Jane SILVERWOOD, born Feb 1839 in Northumberland County, PA, daughter of James F. and Elizabeth (McPHERSON) SILVERWOOD. Mary Jane married 31 Dec 1889 in Windsor, Essex County, Ontario, Canada her 2nd husband Charles S. WICKWARE, born about 1848 in Canada. Three children of Augustus D. and Mary Jane (SILVERWOOD) CILLEY: - - -1. daughter CILLEY, died young, about 1865 “shortly after the removal of the family to Tuscola County.” - - -2. Edwina E. CILLEY, born Oct 1865 in MI. She married __?__ HAMILTON. - - - - a. - - Grace Jennie ‘June’ HAMILTON, born Jun 1884 in MI. She married Ellis M. RHODES, born about 1882. - - - - b. - - Dora Louise HAMILTON, born Mar 1886 in MI. - - -3. Theodora CILLEY, born about 1869 in MI. AUGUSTUS D. CILLEY. The subject of the following sketch was born in Canton, Wayne County, Mich., where he lived until he arrived at the years of manhood. He was for some time in business at Canton, but leaving there he went to Detroit and was for a number of years engaged in business as a general commission merchant. Having become the owner of some pine lands in Tuscola County, he came here in 1865 to look after them. While here he decided to remove to the county and build a saw-mill, which he did, building it in the township of Almer, about two miles east and four miles north of what is now the village of Caro. The difficulties in the way of erecting a mill in those days, 1865, were very great, as everything had to be brought by teams from East Saginaw. The roads were primitive ones, and their condition was such that it took six spans of horses to haul the boiler from the last named place to the site of the mill. There was no foundry or machine shop nearer than East Saginaw at the time capable of making mill repairs, and any breakage in the machinery necessitated a shutting down of the mill until the necessary repairs were made, which of course involved a trip to the last named place. Tuscola County now ranks among the first in the State as an agricultural county, but at the time Mr. Cilley was building and running his mill he could not purchase enough here to feed his people, consequently it had also to be brought in by teams. He operated the mill until 1872, when it was destroyed by fire, together with a large quantity of valuable lumber, entailing a loss upon him of about $30,000. After the fire on account of ill health he went to California with the hope that a change of climate might prove beneficial. It failed to have the desired effect, however, .Mr. C. dying at Sacramento, Cal., in December, 1872. His body was brought home and buried at Canton, Wayne County, Mich. Mr. Cilley was a man who was much esteemed by those who knew him, and in leaving a comfortable home with pleasant surroundings in the city of Detroit and locating in what was literally a wilderness at that time, he was a veritable pioneer, and to a great extent a public benefactor. There are few houses in Caro or the adjoining townships which were built previous to the destruction of his mill by fire in 1872, the lumber used in the construction of which was not cut at his mill. The farmers and others in the neighborhood had to haul lumber for long distances over bad roads, and Mr. Cilley's enterprise was a great saving in both time and money to them, a benefit which many very freely acknowledge grounds, and was used for a number of years as a court-house, but to-day, and also speAR in high terms of him.
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