PETER McGINLEY GETTY, eighth child of James and Matilda Getty, was born in Groveland, New York, on August 18, 1853. He was named after his family's benefactor, Peter McGinley, a local farmer in the Groveland area. In 1854 the family came to Michigan, and Peter spent his childhood on his father's wilderness farm northeast of Britton in Ridgeway Township. He appeared on the 1870 Federal Census, Franklin Township, Lenawee County, in the household of Zebedia and Margaret Stout. He was listed as a farm laborer, 17 years old.

When he was eighteen, Peter went to work for Erastus Cone, who owned 100 acres a mile east of West Milan Post Office, which was later known as Cone. He married Rebakah, daughter of Erastus and Sarah Cone, on May 1, 1873. They were married in East Ridgeway, later known as Britton, by W. W. DeGeer, Minister of the Gospel, Christian Church; witnesses  Joseph Cone and Eva Dubois. Peter was 19 and Rebakah was 18. The young couple continued to live at West Milan, even though Peter owned land in the northwest corner of Dundee Township. His father had sold 80 acres for $500 to Peter on October 30, 1871.

Their first son, James, named for his Grandfather Getty, was born February 6, 1873. Erastus, named for his Grandfather Cone, was born October 27, 1874. Their third child was born on Wednesday, February 9, 1881. They named her Grace. Rebakah apparently suffered complications after the birth of her daughter, for she never regained her health and on Friday, February 25, 1881, just sixteen days after Grace was born, she died. The cause of death was pneumonia.

Following are some excerpts from a diary kept by Rebakah's younger sister, Rachel Cone. This diary is now in the possession of Rebakah's grandson, Clifford Culver. 

Peter was devastated by the death of his lovely young wife of only eight years. Sometimes he thought he couldn't go on, but he had two little boys and a baby girl to think of. Rebakah's younger sister, Rachel, took the baby home with her to Grandpa and Grandma Cone's and offered to look after her until Peter could find a housekeeper. A few weeks later a young lady named Mariah Holcomb came to work for him, to keep house and to look after the children. It proved to be a very practical arrangement. The children took to Mariah right away. She was an excellent housekeeper and had a pleasant disposition and a way with kids. Before a year was up, Peter decided to ask Mariah to be his wife. During the past months he had grown to think a lot of her, and felt she would be a good helpmate as well as a loving mother for his children. On March 27, 1882, Peter and Mariah were married. Peter was 28 and Mariah was 25. Witnesses to their marriage were William Underwood (Peter's brother-in-law) and his second wife, Adelaide. Mariah was born near West Milan on March 24, 1857, to a Mr. Mason and his wife Nancy (McLease). Mason left the family to work in the gold fields in California, never to be heard from again. Mariah took the name of her stepfather, Lorenzo Holcomb. On October 9, 1883, Mabel was born, the first child of Peter and Mariah. She lived to be only a year and a half, and died March 28, 1885. She is buried next to Rebakah in the Rice Cemetery on Dennison Road, northeast of Cone, in Monroe County. Both their names are on the same stone. Many Cones and Holcombs are buried in the Rice Cemetery, including Erastus and Sarah Cone, and Lorenzo Holcomb. They were among some of the first families who settled that section of Monroe County. In 1881 Peter sold his eighty acres in Dundee Township  the north half to F. Haystead and the south half to John Throop, but kept the land near Cone which he and Rebakah had inherited from Erastus Cone. Right after Mabel's death, Peter sold the rest of his holdings and they moved to Faribault County, Minnesota, along with Peter's brother, Charles and his family, and their cousins, the John Getty family, who had recently emigrated from Ireland. The trend then was to move west, and they had heard glowing reports of the rich but wild farmland to be had in Minnesota. In the Town of Pilot Grove, Faribault County, Minnesota, on October 1, 1886, Myrtle Mae was born. Clarence was born July 4, 1888, in Blue Earth. He died when he was fourteen months old, on September 16, 1889. Gertrude Ina was born August 22, 1892, in the Town of J0 Daviess, Faribault County. Peter's oldest son, James, was known as quite a dandy after he became a young man. He married a girl with a first name of Jule. Her last name is not known. They had no children. Very little has been found about James, only that he spent nearly his entire life in Jackson County, Minnesota. He died on December 18, 1911, at the early age of 38, only four and a half years after his brother, Erastus, died. Peter had such high hopes for his sons. He hoped to interest them in the real estate ventures in which he engaged in Minnesota as well as in North Dakota. How heart rending to lose them both when right in the prime of life.

Peter's second son, Erastus, married Jennie Margreta Nissen, who was born to Christian Peter and Maren (Jensen) Nissen on February 17, 1880. They had one daughter, Maren Rebecca, born August 18, 1901. Maren married Joseph Prevratil, a baker, and their daughter was named Joan.

After Joseph's death, Maren married Harry Wiese.

Consumption, a disease of the lungs (tuberculosis) which was so common in the 19th century, struck Erastus when he was in the prime of life. On June 7, 1907, Erastus died at the age of 33.

It was their strong Presbyterian faith which sustained the family during Erastus' long illness.

On the following page is a letter that Peter wrote to Erastus and Jennie from Fredonia, North Dakota, on May 11, 1907, just one month before Erastus died.

Peter owned a land company in Fredonia, which dealt in "improved and wild lands". In the letter, he tells Erastus that there is lots of fine land around there and it has doubled in price during the last two years. He hopes Erastus is feeling better.

Erstus died in 1907, and four years later Peter lost his oldest son, James. Soon after James' death, Peter gave up his land office in Fredonia, North Dakota. Land wasn't selling as well as he had hoped  he found that a good share of it was arid and unproductive. He had a flourishing real estate agency in the village of Alpha, Minnesota, which dealt in the sale of wild and improved lands, and farm loans and insurance.

The fertile prairie land in Jackson County was at this time much more desirable than the wild land of North Dakota. Prosperity increased as iron ore was discovered, railroads developed, towns sprang up and emigrants flocked to this "far western country" from Europe.

The land office pretty well kept Peter busy. He still lived on the farm, but wasn't doing much faming. His hopes and dreams lived and died in the beautiful state of Minnesota, "The Land Of Cloudy Water".

Grace Rebakah met Ralphus Culver when she was visiting relatives in Milan.

On October 25, 1904, they married and returned to Minnesota, living with Peter and Mariah until they got a place of their own. Their first child, Glenda, was born in Alpha, Minnesota. She died accidentally while just a toddler. Their son, Clifford, was born in Alpha on July 5, 1910. They moved to Flint, Mich., in 1918 and lived for a short time with Ralph's parents, George and Rena Culver.

They continued to live in Flint, where Ralph worked several years at Buick Motor Company. After leaving there, they lived on a farm on Francis Road, Mt. Morris, Michigan, then finally settled on Bisby Drive, Mt. Morris. After Grace's death, Ralph lived with Clifford's family, until his death on July 26, 1965.

Clifford John was born to Ralphus and Grace Culver at Alpha, Minnesota, on July 5, 1910. On March 25, 1932, he married Sabra T. Wager. They have four children:

• Charlotte Anne, born October 12, 1933, married Kenneth Paulson on June 6, 1952.

• John Ralph, born August 27, 1936, married Ethel M. Johnson on October 12, 1957.

• Mildred Elaine, born June 19, 1945, married Frederick Gaddis on January 2, 1971.

• James Clifford, born November 10, 1953, married Cindy Ann Newton on March 29, 1980. 

Myrtle Mae married Levi Theodore Hall on October 12, 1907, in Alpha, Jackson County, Minnesota. They had four children: Mildred Myrtle, born in Dunnell, Minnesota, on August 18, 1908; Kenneth Levi, born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, on August 20, 1910; Dorothy Ina, born in Omaha, Nebraska, on August 5, 1914; and Valdon Lauder, born in Omaha on March 20, 1918. Valdon died when two days old.

Peter and Mariah raised their family in Faribault County, Minnesota, and spent their later years in Jackson County. Following are some comments by their grandchildren, children of Myrtle.

"I don't remember any conversations with Grandpa, only as little kids when we were there in the summer and we tagged around with him a lot. He always met the two trains that went through Alpha every day and we'd go with him. When we passed Jake Snyder's General Store he would give us pennies for candy. I remember him as tall, slim, wearing a full mustache. He was a hard worker, provided well for his family, respected in the community and very progressive in his thinking and actions. He had the first automobile in town. Ina was the first young lady driver.

"Grandma was of medium height, carried a little weight and had very thick white hair. She was a hard, willing worker, knew everybody, helped everyone, liked people and loved conversation. She was fun loving, loved Arizona and wished she and Grandpa had settled here instead of Minnesota. Arizona would have been a territory then. She attended and was active in church. Her favorite hymns were Rock of Ages and The Old Rugged Cross, which she sang often as she went through the house doing her daily chores. She took great pride in her family and what ever they were involved with." Mildred Hall "I only remember my grandparents' home being in the little town of Alpha, which is about halfway between Jackson and Fairmont, where I spent several summer vacations and part of a school year in 1918. My grandfather died in 1919 and I remember being there for the funeral. They are both buried in the Getty plot in the old Jackson Cemetery. After Peter's death, Mariah spent time between Alpha and Fairmont, where Gertrude Ina lived, and Omaha, Nebraska, where we lived, and Mount Morris, Michigan, where Grace lived. In 1924, we moved to Phoenix, Arizona, where Mariah lived for a time with us. In 1939 she went to live with Grace, where she died." "We moved from Omaha, Nebraska, to Phoenix when I was ten years old (1924) for my father's health. I attended Arizona State College and taught school in Phoenix five years. On June 17, 1939, I married Richard Merchant. My husband was raised on a ranch near Carlsbad, New Mexico, and came from a long line of pioneer cattle people. His father died when he as a teenager and he subsequently managed his uncle's San Simon ranch. He was in the navy in World War I and became a professional rodeo cowboy. In 1932 he was the World's Champion Calf Roper. We met in Phoenix in 1935 when he was directing a rodeo for the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, and were married four years later. We came straight to the Santa Lucia Ranch between Tucson and Nogales, Arizona where he had a job managing the ranch. It is a beautiful spot and I am still living in our cottage here (almost 42 years). In 1983, five years after Richard died, he was inducted into the Oklahoma National Cowboy Hall of Fame," Kenneth Hall

Gertrude Ina, the youngest child of Peter and Mariah Getty, was born August 22, 1892, in the tiny settlement of Jo Daviess, Faribault County, Minnesota. She married Arthur Peterson, a widower with several children. She and Arthur had one son, Carroll, born August 15, 1923. Ina died January 5, 1930, at the age of 37.

Peter Getty was a farmer all his life, first at his parents' home in Ridgeway Township, Michigan, then at Cone, Michigan. At the approximate age of 32 years he and his family moved to Faribault County, Minnesota, where their last three children were born. Later they moved to Jackson County, Minnesota, and lived on a farm near the village of Alpha. Life was pleasant but hard during those early days in Minnesota. It has been said that in the winter Peter would stretch a rope between the house and the barn, because the blizzards would be so violent and the snow would get so deep, that they used the rope as a guide to find their way 1:Bck and forth from the house to the bam. Peter was a kind and pleasant person. All the old timers remember that Uncle Pete and Aunt Mariah would come all the way to Michigan to visit as often as their work permitted. In 1919, tragedy struck. At the age of 66, our beloved Peter took his own life.