Another of the representative farmers and sterling citizens of Antrim county is James Larue, whose well improved and attractive homestead is situated in Central Lake township. He is a native of the old Empire state, having been born in Onondaga county, New York, on the 19th of May, 1859, and being a son of Harvey and Jane (Rice) Larue, both of whom were born and reared in the state of New York, where they passed the major portion of their lives, the father having been a skilled mechanic and having been a contractor and builder by occupation. The family came to Michigan when the subject of this sketch was about twenty years of age, and in 1874 the father located in Barry county, where he purchased land and turned his attention to farming, in which connection he met with marked success, continuing to be identified with agricultural pursuits until his death, which occurred in 1899, in the city of Jackson, where he had lived retired for several years, having also been the owner of a good farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Jackson county. He was a man of strong individuality and impregnable integrity, and in politics was a stanch advocate of the principles of the Democratic party. He was of French lineage, his father having been a native of France. The mother of the subject was summoned into eternal rest in 1866, and is survived by six of her twelve children.
James Larue passed his youth in Onondaga county, New York, and his educational discipline was secured in the public schools. As a young man he secured employment in a planing mill, becoming familiar with the business in all its details and continuing to be identified with this line of enterprise for eighteen years, within which time he resided in various towns in Michigan. In the year 1897 he came to Antrim county, and he has since continued to make his home in Central Lake township, where he has a well improved farm of one hundred and twenty-one acres, of which he has reclaimed ninety acres. The place is devoted to diversified agriculture and horticulture, and the energy and good judgment which the owner has brought to bear in the prosecution of his farming enterprise have insured to him the maximum of success. In 1903 he raised twenty-eight hundred bushels of corn on his farm, while his average yield of potatoes is about five hundred bushels annually. He also has a considerable number of choice fruit trees on the place, apples being the principal orchard crop, and in the live-stock department of his enterprise he gives preference to Durham cattle and Chester White swine. In politics he is a stalwart Republican, and he takes an intelligent and active interest in the questions and issues of the hour and is ever ready to lend his influence and aid in the promotion of local measures for the general good. He served two years as pathmaster in his township, but has never sought local office. Mrs. Larue is a Baptist in religion.
In 1881 Mr. Larue was united in marriage to Miss Nellie New, who was born in Barry county, this state, being a daughter of George and Martha New, the former of whom was a representative farmer of Barry county. To Mr. and Mrs. Larue have been born eight children, of whom six are living, namely : Maude, Gladys, James, Doris, Grace and Irving. Blanche, the second child, died at the age of ten years, and the third child died in infancy.
Source: Biographical history of northern Michigan containing biographies of prominent citizens; Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Company, 1905.