This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: DUVERNAY, DUVERNEY Classification: Obituary Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/CIB.2ACI/1217 Message Board Post: Obituary, Michigan, Grand Haven, Loutit Library, vertical file, Duverney, Pierre C.: Mr. Pierre C. Duverney. DIED. In this village, on the 21st inst. [21 August 1862], Mr. Pierre C. Duverney. Mr. D. has been intimately connected with the history of our village. He was of French descent, born near Montreal, of Catholic parents, educated in that faith, and designated for the priesthood. But, at the age of 15, or thereabouts, he left the parental roof clandestinely and engaged as a voyageur in the Indian Fur Trade, up Lake Superior, under the English North-West Company, continuing in that employment as a common hand for some seven years, first with Mr. Magotta and afterward with Mr. Davies. He then became a subordinate clerk, over a small outfit, at Lac du Flambeau, first under Erskin's, then Auld, and afterward Truman Warren, the father of Capt. John B. Warren, so well known as a lake captain. Mr. D. continued connected with Mr. Chas. Ermating, the principal Factor of that department, as an employee, till 1821, when he entered the employ of the American Fur Company, as principal clerk, in continuation of the fur trade at Lac du Flambeau, where he remained eight years, passing thus twenty-four years at that lake and the Superior region, and up to 1830. The two following years he spent with Rix Robinson, in this vicinity, in charge of an outfit upon the waters of the Muskegon, one year at the Badeau place, near the present village, and the next year some distance up the Muskegon River. The three years following he resided at Mackinaw, engaging a portion of the time only in the fur trade, till the fall of 1834, when, with his family, he accompanied Rev. Wm. M. Ferry [William Montague Ferry 1796-1867] and family to this place, and here resided till his death, a period of nearly twenty-eight years. As we before stated, he was educated in the Catholic faith, but his connection with the American Fur Company brought him in contact with Protestant influences at the Island of Mackinaw, under the ministerial labors of Rev. Wm. M. Ferry, during his visits there. His bitter animosity to the Protestant faith gradually gave way under the softening, modifying and correcting influences of the gospel, and, in 1826, he united with the Protestant Church at that place. The following year Mrs. D. connected herself with the same church, having their children, four in number, baptized. They remained connected with the Presbyterian Church, in Mackinaw, till 1834. In '36 they both united in the organization of the First Presbyterian Church, at Grand Haven, Mr. D. enjoying in that body the position of ruling elder to the time of his death. His quiet, unpretending manners won the respect of all acquainted with him. His funeral was attended on Friday last by a large concourse of friends Rev. D. M. Cooper officiating in the service. (Grand Haven News, August 27, 1862).