(1) William HAVILAND & Hannah HICKS
(2) Benjamin HAVILAND & Abigail MOTT
(3) Thomas HAVILAND & Jane CLEMENT
(4) James HAVILAND & Ann (Nancy?) HONEYWELL
(5) Abigail Jane HAVILAND & Morris FERRIS
(6) Warren FERRIS & Ruth CURTIS
(7) Congressman Jacob FERRIS & Lovica TRIPP
(7) Congressman Jacob FERRIS & Ann R.
(7) Congressman Jacob FERRIS & Anna M.

The genealogical author Josephine Frost (in the Haviland Genealogy) erroneously lists Jacob Ferris as a Michigan Senator, but in fact he was in the state House of Representatives. The following information comes from researchers Richard L. Reed (a second great grandson of Jacob Ferris) with help from his 7th cousin once removed, Phyllis S. Kitson.

From all available accounts, Jacob Ferris was a rather remarkable man. He was a member of the 7th generation of the Ferris family in America, with ancestral line:

(1) Zachariah FERRIS (I)
(2) Zachariah FERRIS (II)
(3) Benjamin FERRIS
(4) Reed FERRIS
(5) Morris FERRIS
(6) Warren FERRIS
(7) Jacob FERRIS

He was born in Glens Falls, NY. He subsequently settled in Michigan. He served in the Michigan state legislature as a Representative from Montcalm County. He was a lawyer and prosecuting attorney with offices in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The States & Territories of the Great West, by Jacob Ferris
Miller, Orton & Mulligan Publishing Company of Boston (1853)
Per Richard Reed, it is "quite detailed, interesting, and scholarly;
reflecting a good deal of travel and research."
The Flint, Michigan Library alledgedly has a copy.

Apparently, Jacob Ferris reconciled his Quaker beliefs with his enlistment and commissioning as a volunteer officer in a combat unit of the Union Army during the Civil War. In March 1999 the writer obtained his military service records from the National Archives in Washington, D.C. (The records are separately filed). He enlisted in the Army of the United States on July 26, 1862 as a 2nd lieutenant in the 21st Michigan Infantry Regiment. He was promoted to captain August 12, 1862 and assigned as company commander, Company D, 21st Michigan Infantry Regiment. He was present with his company and regiment at the Battle of Perryville in Kentucky on October 8, 1862. His regiment sustained 22 casualties, all wounded, at Perryville. He was later left sick in the hospital at Lebanon, Kentucky on October 27, 1862. The nature of his illness is not indicated. However, the Battle of Perryville is known for a critical shortage of water and the troops on both sides were forced to drink from stagnant and unsanitary pools on the battlefield. Jacob resigned his commission on January 15, 1863 and returned to convalesce from his illness at his home in Greenville, Michigan.

On February 10, 1863 he wrote a touching letter to a Lt. Col. Smith in Detroit concerning the return to active duty of his son, Private Henry Murry Ferris, who was then a paroled prisoner-of-war. Henry Murry Ferris served as an enlisted man in Captain Ferris' unit. The letter is included with Captain Ferris' military service records. (Richard Reed obtained the military service records of Henry Murry Ferris from the National Archives in Washington, D.C. on April 19, 1999 and has them on file.) Corporal Henry Bonnell Tripp, brother-in-law of Captain Jacob Ferris, also served throughout the Civil War in Captain Ferris' unit.

A web site called Michigan in the Civil War, a roster of Company D, 21st Michigan Infantry was listed, showing at the top of the roster: "Captain Jacob Ferris - Home: Ionia - age: 40." Also listed in the roster are "Henry M. Ferris - Home: Sidney - age: 18" and "Henry B. Tripp - Home: Montcalm - age: 36." Additionally, there were copies of the regimental battle flag and history of the 21st Michigan Infantry during the Civil War. The major battles in which the 21st Michigan participated were: Perryville, KY; Stones River (or Murfreesboro), TN; Chickamauga, GA; and Bentonville, NC. The regiment also participated in the famous Sherman's March to the Sea from Atlanta to Savannah in 1864. During the Civil War, the 21st Michigan incurred a total casualty rate of 36.5%. Be that as it may, Captain Jacob Ferris participated only in the Battle of Perryville. It is likely that Private Henry Murry Ferris and Corporal Henry Bonnell Tripp served in most of the major battles and engagements of the regiment.

Jacob Ferris' first wife was Lovica Tripp (erroneously listed as Livici Treat in The Haviland Genealogy by Josephine Frost). They had 12 birth children. His second wife was Ann R. (maiden name unknown). His third wife was Anna M. (maiden name unknown). Anna M. died in 1914. Anna M. probably had two children from a previous marriage when she married Jacob Ferris. It is guessed that he adopted her children or allowed them to use his name. Anna M. Ferris and one of her children, Robert J. Ferris, are buried at the same gravesite of Jacob Ferris in the Spring Lake Township Cemetery (East Side), Section 14, 17181 N. Fruitport Road, Spring Lake, Ottawa County, Michigan. Telephone (616) 842-6720. The grave stones at the site read: FERRIS Jacob Co. D, 21 Mich. Inf (no dates of birth and death shown); Mother 1840 - 1914; Robert J. Nov. 28, 1861 - June 22, 1930. The fact that the Union Army unit in which he served appears on his tombstone would indicate that he was proud of his military service during the Civil War.

In a letter to Richard Reed from Phyllis Kitson, dated March 2, 1999, she stated that she had read in Michigan Biographical Sketches that Jacob Ferris came to Michigan from New York in 1837, and that he was a prosecuting attorney. This merits further investigation in that Robert Bruce Ferris, son of Jacob Ferris, was born March 11, 1851 in Clyde, Wayne County, New York, about 14 years after Jacob Ferris reportedly moved from New York to Michigan. Also, having been born in 1822, Jacob Ferris would have been only about 16 years old if he moved from New York to Michigan in 1837.

Another web site, Kent County, Michigan Biographies 1924, Primarily Political Figures, provides additional information: "Jacob FERRIS, p. 288. Representative from Montcalm County, 1859-60; and Delegate from Kent County to the Constitutional Convention of 1867. Was born in Glenn's [sic] Falls, N.Y. Feb. 10, 1822. He came to Michigan in 1837. By profession he was a lawyer. He held the position of Prosecuting Attorney, was Capt. of Co. D, 21st Mich. Infantry, during the Rebellion. In politics he was for many years a Republican, and an effective stump speaker, but later an Antimonopolist. He resided at Spring Lake in 1887, but was engaged in practice at Grand Rapids."

(Glens Falls is the true spelling of the city in New York, and the year he came to Michigan probably is incorrect.)

Jacob's first son, Henry Murry Ferris, was born March 18, 1844 in Stark County, Ohio, and his second son, Robert Bruce Ferris, was born March 11, 1851 in Clyde, Wayne County, New York. Young Jacob Ferris was an active Quaker anti-slavery lecturer in upstate New York in 1840-1843. Based on this, Richard Reed suspects that Jacob actually came to Michigan in 1857 rather than 1837.

In May 1999, Mr. Reed communicated with Christopher Densmore, then Associate Archivist, University at Buffalo, State University of New York. Mr. Densmore, a researcher of Quaker history, provided photocopies of letters written by Jacob Ferris to the National Anti-Slavery Standard in 1841-43. Mr. Densmore stated that, "As an anti-slavery lecturer in central New York in 1841-43, Jacob Ferris very probably lectured on the same platforms and knew Frederick Douglass and William Wells Brown." These exceptionally well-written anti-slavery letters of Jacob Ferris and some related material provided by Mr. Densmore are separately filed by Richard Reed. As of 2001, Mr. Densmore was Curator of Friends Historical Library at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania.

In addition to Jacob Ferris' letters to the National Anti-Slavery Standard, Mr. Densmore sent a copy of an untitled handwritten essay by Jacob Ferris that reads as follows:

Home is the grand centre of our earthly existence. Our affections and sympathies cling around it as firmly as does the ivy to the mountain oak. When far away, we turn our eyes towards it, and desire to behold its hallowed walls again. When journeying among strangers or pining with dread, or borne down with toil, we sigh for its endearments, and our hearts turn toward the sacred hearth, round which we sported in childhood as the magnet turns to the pole. Oh! Then cherish the friend of thy home who give to it its sweetest enchantment. And when thou art enjoying its prime delights, remember the poor who have no home to shelter them from summer's sun or winter's storm, but are rocked and tossed upon the billows of life's tempestuous sea with none to comfort or console them. --Jacob Ferris, Marengo [New York], May 1st 1841