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ROBERT
STUART FISHER, who died on his farm on Lot 11, River Road, June 1st,
1897, and was interred in Maple Leaf Cemetery, was born near Callander,
Perthshire, Scotland, in 1813, a son of John and Catherine (McIntire)
Fisher, of Perthshire, Scotland.
John
Fisher and family came to the present Fisher homestead in the County of
Kent, in 1826, taking up 300 acres, all of which now remains in the
family. This property was then nearly a wilderness, but the sturdy
pioneers cleared off the land and developed it into an excellent farm.
The father died in 1852, aged about seventy, and his wife in 1835, and
both were interred on the homestead farm, but in 1870 their bodies were
removed to Maple Leaf cemetery, where they now repose. These worthy
people were consistent members of the Presbyterian Church. The children
born to their union, all of whom are now deceased, were as follows: John,
Peter, James, Robert S., Margaret (who married Alvin Gregory) and Jane.
In June,
1856, in Cleveland, Ohio, Robert Stuart Fisher married Mary Butler, and
they had these children: Frances, at home; Stuart, deceased; and Martha,
Jean and Arthur, all at home. Mrs. Fisher was born in London, England, a
daughter of William and Martha (Sparkes) Butler, of London, England, who
emigrated to New York, in 1831, but later returned to England. However,
preferring the United States, they again crossed the ocean and settling in
Cleveland, remained until the death of the father in 1856, when he was
fifty-eight years of age. He was a retired gentleman, and his father had
been a gentleman farmer in England. The mother came to Chatham, Ontario,
and there resided with her daughter, Mrs. Pegley, until her death in 1872,
when she was seventy-six years of age. The children born to Mr. and Mrs.
Butler were: John, president of a rubber company at San Francisco,
California; Elizabeth, deceased, who married Eldridge Stanton; Martha,
deceased wife of Charles E. Pegley, an attorney, now also deceased;
Samuel, of Chicago, Illinois; Joseph, who died in Chatham; and Mrs.
Fisher. The paternal grandfather, John Butler, lived and died in England,
where he was very prominent.
The late
Mr. Fisher was a mere babe when brought to the United States by his
parents in 1816, and they settled first in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, for a
year, whence they went to West Virginia, and after seven years moved to
Detroit, Michigan. At the end of one year, they located on the homestead
farm, and there lived out their lives, consistent in their faith in the
doctrines of the Presbyterian Church. In politics Mr. Fisher, like his
father, was a Reformer, but never aspired to public office. The brick
residence in which his family make their home, was built by him in 1853,
but for many years after he and his parents settled in the wilderness a
primitive log cabin sheltered them. Mr. Fisher himself, was a man of
education, well read, with literary inclinations, which tastes he has
transmitted to his children, and the library is one of the pleasantest
rooms in the home. MR. ARTHUR FISHER, the owner of the farm, is an
enterprising and progressive young man, who stands high in the community,
and is following in his father’s footsteps with regard to his political
and religious convictions. Mr. Fisher was essentially a good man, and as
such had an elevating influence upon the community, while in his home
circle he was devotedly beloved and revered, and his loss is deeply
mourned, not only by his family, but also by all who knew him and
appreciated his many excellent traits of character. |
