"1892 Portrait & Biographical Album of Genesee, Lapeer & Tuscola Counties, 

Chapman Bros", in Michigan.



DWIGHT BABCOCK. This liberal and public-spirited citizen, whose business as a 
manufacturer of pine and hard wood lumber is one of the best enterprises of 
Flint, and who is known among his old comrades as one of the brave boys in blue 
who fought for the old flag in the '60s, was born in Burton Township, February 
25, 1844. His father, Abelino Babcock, was a native or Cooperstown, Otsego 
County, N. Y., and was a playfellow and associate of the renowned novelist, 
Fenimore Cooper. His father, Samuel Babcock, was a farmer and dairyman, and lost 
a leg in the Revolutionary War.



The father of our subject came West after marriage, and in 1834 settled in 
Rochester, Oakland County, and buying eighty acres of Government land built a 
log house in which there was not a nail, board or shingle. He came here a very 
poor man, and during the first eighteen months of his residence here he had only 
twenty-five cents in money. He took a three-mile contract on the old railroad 
from Port Huron to Flint, but as that was the time of the wild cat speculation 
he lost all that he put into it. In 1867 he located in Flint, where he had been 
for some time, buying produce as a partner of J. B. Covert. His business was 
successful, and he became a stockholder in the Genesee County Savings Bank. He 
was a prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and for twenty-one 
years superintended the Sunday-school. He was in his early life an Abolitionist 
and later a Republican, and died at the age of sixty-four years.



The mother of our subject was known in her maidenhood as Emeline Shaw. She also was 
a native of Cooperstown, where her father, Sylvester Shaw, was a farmer. She 
died in Grand Blanc Township, and of her thirteen children twelve grew to 
maturity and nine are now living. Two brothers served in the war--David, who was 
a member of the Twenty-seventh Michigan Infantry and died at Crab Orchard in 
1864, and S. S., who is now a prominent attorney in Detroit, and served for two 
years in a New York regiment.



Dwight Babcock learned the practical work of agriculture upon his father's farm, and 
studied in the log schoolhouse with its shake roof. In June, 1862, he enlisted 
in Company K, Twenty-seventh Michigan Infantry, and took part in the battles at 
Bowling Green, Jackson, Champion Hill, and the siege of Vicksburg. After that 
memorable Fourth of July, 1863, when Vicksburg surrendered, he went down the 
Mississippi and afterward crossed the mountains of East Tennessee and took part 
in the conflict at Campbell Station and the siege of Knoxville. He veteranized 
about that time, and then went East to Harper's Ferry and became a part of the 
Army of the Potomac. He was in engagements all the time from the battle of 
Rapidan to the surrender of Petersburg. His regiment was the first to place the 
National colors on the parapet at Petersburg, and they were present at Lee's 
surrender at Appomattox, and took part in the Grand Review. After the death of 
Abraham Lincoln they were placed on guard at the old Arsenal Prison over the 
conspirators, and were there on duty until the execution of those 
prisoners.



After receiving his honorable discharge as Orderly Sergeant Mr. Babcock 

engaged in farming in Davison, buying about two hundred and forty acres of land, 
but in 1867 he began lumbering, in which he has been very successful. He employs 
some sixty men the year round, and handles from six to eight million feet of 
lumber a year as his different camps. In 1889 he built a grist and saw mill in 
Flint which he operated by steam, and he engaged at once in the manufacture of 
pine and hard wood lumber. He was married in Flint in 1871 to Miss Susan Baker, 
a native of Devonshire, England, and they have two children--Abelino, who is a 
member of the Class of '92 at Flint High School, and Elizabeth. This gentleman 
is a prominent member of both the Masonic order and the Grand Army, and all his 
family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he is a liberal 
supporter. He is a Republican in his political views, and a stanch one, 
believing that in the doctrines of that party will be found the true solution of 
our political 

questions.

Contributed by Colleen Mysliwiec.  She is not related to the family.