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John Segee

Family History and Photos: Courtesy of Peggy (Sawyer) Williams & Tyrone Guy

John Segee Family - John, Frankie (Tate), Elva, Ettie, Onie Segee

Back: Elvie Segee, George Tate Left: Ettie, Right: Leona Segee

Elva, Ettie, & Onie (Leona)Segee

MVC-003F

Dwight Guy - Son of Delbert & Elva Mae Segee-Guy

Geraldine Guy -Daughter of Delbert & Elva Mae Segee-Guy

John Segee, the second child of Abraham Segee and Janet McAllister, was born in 1857 in Ontario, Canada. He married Frances (Frankie) Tate, the daughter of John Tate and Sarah Guy. The oldest child, Elizabeth (born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1850) married William Ellsworth Guy. The other children in the family were: Isabella, Janet, Mary, Anne, and Robert. Elizabeth and John moved to Michigan. The rest of the family remained in Ontario, Canada.

John and Frances' children were, Etta, Leona, and Elva Segee and one step-child George Tate. The Segee family lived on State Road (as it was called then) in Rolland Township. They were neighbors of the William Ellsworth Guy family (John's sister Elizabeth Segee). John Segee died in 1905. Frances died in 1915. Both are buried in Pine River Cemetery, Blanchard, Isabella County, Michigan.

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Old Settlers

The "Old Settler" families arrived in Michigan from different places. They came from Canada through "The Underground Railroad," and from Payne's Crossing in Ohio as "free" people. The draw was to homestead land made available through the Homestead Act of 1862 which allotted homesteaders 160 acres. The Underground Railroad was the most dramatic nonviolent protest against slavery in the United States beginning in the Colonial Era and reaching its peak between 1830 and 1865. An estimated 30,000 to 100,000 slaves used the "railroad" to get to Canada and eventually came back to the states and Mexico. A large settlement stayed in Ontario, Canada.

Doraville Whitney was the first Black settler to Isabella County in 1860, and in Mecosta County, Michigan was James Guy. His deed was signed by Abraham Lincoln. He obtained 160 acres in Wheatland Township on May 30, 1861. Lloyd & Margaret Guy were the first Black settlers in Montcalm County in 1860. The Homestead Act of 1862 allowed each settler up to 160 acres in Michigan. By 1873, African-Americans owned 1,392 acres in the three counties of Isabella, Mecosta, and Montcalm. In the 1860's most of the land in Remus was owned by the Old Settlers.

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Old Settler Dedication

Instead of disappearing into the dust that swallowed many other Black rural areas, the old settlers of Mecosta, Isabella, and Montcalm Counties prevailed. They came there in 1860 and they're still here. Some have moved to the larger cities of Lansing, Grand Rapids, Flint, and Detroit. There is compiled data and drawn maps of Black households in nine townships in Mecosta and Isabella Counties. In 1870, the nine-township area had 41 Black households; 86 in 1975, and 106 in 1994. The website was created to remember our ancestors who were the trailblazers making us who we are. We have become enriched, enabled, and elevated because of the ample regard and gratitude for the work of our ancestors. This site is dedicated to the Old Settlers.