BACK TO THE BIOGRAPHIES MAIN PAGE DOTY, HARRY L. Thaddeus D. Seeley, History of Oakland County, Michigan, The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago (1912), Vol. II, pp. 515-516 HARRY L. DOTY. Owning and occupying a valuable farming estate in the northeastern part of Highland township, Harry L. Doty has during his entire life been associated with the agricultural interests of Oakland county. He is the descendant of an honored pioneer of this section of Michigan, his grandfather, Enos Doty, having been one of the earlier settlers of the county. He was born in Highland township, about half a mile west of his present home, in September, 1877, a son of the late Charles Doty. Leaving New York, his native state, in the early thirties, Enos Doty, accompanied by three of his brothers, Elias Doty, Tobias Doty [Begin Page 516] and Silas Doty, traveled across the country to Michigan, locating first in Hillsdale, where Silas Doty, took up land and continued his residence. The other three brothers subsequently came to Oakland county, and all settled in the southeastern corner of Rose township, Enos Doty locating one-half mile northeast of the farm on which his grandson, Harry L. Doty, now lives. He later traded farms with his brother Elias, who lived a mile farther west, and was there prosperously engaged in tilling the soil until his death, November 2, 1870. Enos Doty's wife, Betsey, was born in New York state, and died in Oakland county, Michigan, September 18, 1869. They were the parents of four children, as follows: Andrew, Reuben, Charles and Mary. Andrew, the first-born, whose birth occurred February 15, 1836, was a life-long farmer. He was twice married, and reared one child, Charles W. Doty. The maiden name of his first wife was Augusta Ingersoll, and she died October 9, I868. His second wife, whose maiden name was Alice Jones, now lives in Eugene, Oregon. Reuben Doty, the second child, born September 13, 1838, died in 1889, on his home farm, which was located in Highland township, west of Clyde. He acquired considerable wealth. Mary Doty, the youngest child of her parents, was born September 21, 1846, and died June 27, 1870. She married Zephaniah Sexton, and they reared one child, Mrs. Carrie Chaffee, of Ovid. Charles Doty, the third child of Enos and Betsey Doty, was born on the homestead in Rose township, September 4, 1840. As a boy and youth he assisted in the pioneer labor of felling trees and helping to improve a farm, remaining beneath the parental roof until after his marriage. In 1868 he bought one hundred and fifty-five acres of land in the northeastern part of Highland township, and continued his career as an agriculturist. Laboring with characteristic energy and diligence, he met with good success in his operations, and subsequently bought other land, becoming owner of a highly improved farm of one hundred and seventy-six acres, lying three miles east of Clyde. He died September 13, 1911, an honored and highly respected citizen, his death being a loss to the community in which he had resided for so many years. Charles Doty married, November 26, 1868, Mary Goodell, a native of Highland township. She died at Holly, Michigan, March 4, 1894, not having strength to rally from a surgical operation which she was forced to undergo, leaving one child, Harry L. Doty, whose name appears at the head of this sketch. Brought up on the home farm, Harry L.
Doty gleaned his early education in the district schools, supplementing it by an
attendance at Ferris Institute, Big Rapids, and at Cleary's Business College, in
Ypsilanti. He has always resided on the old
homestead, which has come to him through inheritance, and in its management is meeting
with good results. The larger part of his
farm is under tillage, although forty acres are still in timber. Fraternally Mr. Doty belongs to Austin
Lodge, No. 48, Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons, at Davisburg.
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