Obed Pierpont Lacey*
1810-March 13, 1844
Niles Republican, Niles, MI, Thursday, May 6, 1886, page 5 col. 4, microfilm Niles District Library
Early Legislative Day, No., 7
EDITOR REPUBLICAN—Berrien county was represented in the 7th State Legislature by Hon. Alonzo Bennett, then a resident of Berrien Springs, where he held the office of county clerk, but who was one of the pioneers of New Buffalo where he still resides, a highly respected citizen.
To the eighth Michigan State Legislature, Hon. Obed P. Lacey, of Niles, was elected in November 1842, and took his seat in the House of Representatives which convened in Detroit January 9, 1843, continuing in session until March 9. Hon. Robert McClelland, of Monroe, was elected Speaker of the House, and the Hon. Edwin H. Lothrop, of Schoolcraft, speaker pro tempore, both of them first class men, and the body was composed of exceptionally able men, and in this respect has never been excelled by any Legislature elected in the State. In this assembly, Mr. Lacey was a conspicuous member. This Senatorial District, then numbered the 5th, took in a goodly portion of the south-west part of the State, comprising the counties of Ionia, Kent, Allegan, Kalamazoo, St. Joseph, Cass, Berrien and Van Buren, and was represented by Hon. George Redfield of Cass county, Mr. Lewis F. Sharkey, of Kalamazoo, and Hon. Digby V. Bell, of Ionia, all solid, able men, who looked carefully to the rights of their constituents and the interests of the District.
This was the first legislative experience of Mr. Lacy, but he was a man of rare ability, fully equal to the position, and acquitted himself with credit.
Mr. Lacey was a great reader and took pains to well informed and thoroughly conversant on all subjects which came before him, and after giving a matter his usual investigation he was fully prepared to discuss any subject which came before him. He was a clear headed, brainy man.
Mr. Lacey was a native of Virginia, where he was born in 1910. His father, Ephraim Lacey, who was one of the first residents of Niles, emigrated to Richmond, Indiana in 1822, from whence he came with his family to Niles. Obed P. Lacey came to Niles in the fall of 1828 and spent the following winter hunting and trading with the Indians. After the land was surveyed and placed on the market, Ephraim Lacey, Elijah Lacey, S.B. Walling and William Justice, purchased the land and laid out the first plat of the village, to which Obed P. Lacey gave the name Niles, in honor of the Niles Register, of Baltimore, a weekly journal of which he was an ardent admirer. When the township was organized, the same name was given it and Obed P. Lacey was the first township clerk. He was proprietor of two additions in the original village of Niles and also of West Niles, and built the first bridge across the St. Joseph River at Niles. He was a man of sturdy, vigorous type, bold, frank, honest, liberal, tender and true, a man of rigorous intellect, a careful student. He died suddenly March 13, 1844, at the early age of 34 years, deeply regretted by a side circle of acquaintances and friends. OLD SETTLER
*This is not an obituary but rather a memoir published several years after the death.