Silas Benjamin Anway was born on the family homestead in Seneca County, Ohio, on March 9, 1839. He was the son of Harvey and Eunice (Brown) Anway. In 1854, Silas moved to Michigan and stayed there until 1859 when he went back to Ohio to take up farming. In 1862, he enlisted in Company H of the 101st Ohio Volunteer Infantry. The descriptive role shoed him to be a tall man, 6' 1 ¾" tall. He had a light complexion, blue eyes and dark hair.                 On February 28, 1863, he was transferred to the Second Minnesota Battery of Light Artillery. He served with the Battery until October when he was dropped from the roles of the Battery and returned to the 101st Ohio. He served until the end of the war and was discharged with his company on June 20, 1865, at Camp Harker near Cleveland, Ohio.                 Silas remained in Ohio after the war until the spring of 1867 when he went to Barry County, Michigan, to farm. He farmed there 12 years before going out to Colorado and other western places before returning to Antrim County, Michigan in 1880. There he bought 160 acres of land in Central Lake Township and took up farming again. He cleared his land and was involved with horticulture and fruit in addition to cattle, horses and pigs.                 An active member of the community, Silas served eight years as "superintendent of the poor of the county", six years as the treasurer of Central Lake Township, and as a school official many years. He was a declared Republican, attended the Baptist Church, and belonged to the Eastport Post of the GAR.                 He married Sarah R. Sanford in 1867. Together they had two children. Sarah died in 1897 and Silas remarried the widow of David Sanford, Mrs. Margaret J. (McKibben) Sanford on March 4, 1900.                 Silas died on November 18, 1915, and is buried in the Southern Cemetery, Central Lake Village, Antrim County, Michigan.