| Other People | Frank J. Bradley | Olive Rambo Cook | Jerry Litton | | |||
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Past and Present of Livingston County Volume 2. Biographies by Major A. J. Roof. 1913 |
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Page 38-39
Michael P. Girdner, who resides at No.1311 Polk street, Chillicothe, is the owner of one of the most valuable farms in Livingston county, comprising two hundred acres of highly cultivated land. A native of this county, he has lived here for fifty-three years and in this time has not only attained individual success but has been constructive in the development of agricultural methods as a man who has always followed most progressive ideas in his business. His farm is located on sections 4 and 9, Jackson township, and there he engages in general farming, paying particular attention to stock-raising.
Michael P. Girdner was born in Livingston county, February 3, 1860, and is a son of David and Martha (Smith) Girdner. The father, who resides in Chillicothe, is one of the pioneers of this section, where he is very prominent and highly esteemed, as was the mother who has passed away. Michael P. Girdner was reared under the parental roof and received his education in the district schools of Jackson township, which he attended until the age of twenty years. During his leisure time he helped his father with the work on the farm and under his guidance became acquainted with the details of agriculture. After laying aside his schoolbooks he began his independent career, acquiring forty acres of land, to the cultivation of which he gave his undivided attention. Gradually as his means increased he extended the boundaries of his farm and now owns two hundred acres of fertile land, where he engages in mixed farming specializing along the line of stock-raising, which has become an important department of his enterprise. He keeps about six horse, seventy-five head of cattle, one hundred head of hogs and three hundred sheep, while he has also fifty head of Angora goats on the farm. He also interests himself in poultry raising and keeps several hundred fowls, receiving a gratifying income front this branch of his undertaking. As he is energetic and industrious and has always followed up-to-date and progressive methods in the cultivation of his farm, his property has become one of the most valuable in Livingston county and bespeaks by its appearance the prosperity of its owner. No small part in his success, Mr. Girdner attributes to the faithful collaboration and assistance of his wife, while to his judgment of land values it must be attributed that lie selected one of the must fertile stretches to be had in this vicinity.
On July 31, 1881, Mr. Girdner married, in Jackson township, Miss Ada Potter, a daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth (Kennedy) Potter, the father formerly a prominent stock-raiser of Jackson township. Both of the parents are deceased. Mr, and Mrs. Girdner have two children; Frederick K., an electrician who makes his home in Denver, Colorado; and Cora, the wife of James Griffith, a farmer of Jackson township.
Mr. red Airs. Girdner are members of the Christian church, to which they give their moral and material support. In polotics he is a republican and has efficiently served on the township board for a number of years, He has attained the third degree in the Masonic order, in which he is a member of the blue lodge. Mr. Girdner is accounted one of the substantial men of Chillicothe and what success lie has achieved is well merited, for it has been brought about entirely by his own efforts. He is highly respected for his unfaltering allegiance to principles of honorable manhood, which he manifests in his business and social relations, and for his public-spirited citizenship.