My Genealogy Hound

COL. DAVID BACON, Justice of the Peace, and a well-known citizen of Niles, was born in Saratoga County, N. Y., September 9, 1827, being the son of Cyrus and Malinda (Guernsey) Bacon. His father was born in Saratoga County, N. Y., in 1796, and was the son of David Bacon, a native of Connecticut and by occupation a farmer. The mother of our subject was also born in Saratoga County, being the daughter of Solomon Guernsey. In 1835 the family came to Michigan, locating in Cass County, where the father engaged in general farming and stock-raising until his death, which occurred in that county in 1872. A stanch Democrat politically, he served his district in the Michigan Legislature during the session of 1849. Religiously, he adhered to the Presbyterian faith. His widow survived him for a number of years, her death occurring in 1887, when eighty-four years old.

A lad of six years of age at the time the family came to Michigan, the subject of this sketch received a common-school education in Cass County. Later he entered Jefferson College, of Cannonsburgh, Pa., from which he was graduated in 1852. After completing his literary studies he came to Niles, where for two years he read law with Nathaniel Bacon, being admitted to the Bar in 1854. Two years later he was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Berrien County on the Democratic ticket, and served for two years. At the opening of the Civil War, in 1861, he enlisted as a member of Company K, Sixth Michigan Infantry, and was commissioned Captain of the company, Col. Curtenius commanding the regiment.

The company was assigned to the Army of the Gulf under Gen. Benjamin Butler, and participated in the various engagements in the South under the leadership of that famous warrior. On the 5th of August, 1862, our subject was wounded at the battle of Baton Rouge, the bullet penetrating the body at the shoulder and passing entirely through the chest, resulting quite seriously. On account of this injury he was discharged at New Orleans and returned home in the fall of 1862. Later he re-entered the service of the Union as Lieutenant Colonel of the Nineteenth Michigan Infantry, and remained in active duty until 1863, when he resigned his commission and returned home.

Upon his return to Niles, Col. Bacon embarked in the real-estate business, in which he continued in connection with his legal practice. In 1888, he was elected Justice of the Peace, and is still serving in that capacity. On the 16th of September, 1857, he married Miss Lydia A., daughter of Samuel H. Griffin, of Niles. They are the parents of two sons, the elder, David, being a conductor on the Missouri Pacific Railroad; while the younger, Ernest, is Superintendent of the Niles waterworks and also City Engineer. The family residence is pleasantly located on the corner of Main and Fifth Streets. The Colonel is a man who stands high in the esteem of his fellow-townsmen, for he has been loyal and faithful alike in times of peace and war. While in the Gulf States he was made Provost-Marshal of the District of Baton Rouge, which position he was filling when wounded. The date of his commission as Lieutenant-Colonel was August 7, two days after he was wounded.