LeGrand Beach a farmer, (b. Nov. 4, 1810, N.Y.) came to Green Oak Township c. 1845.  He purchased government land, 120 acres, in Section 1.  East of Kensington Rd., south of the Grand River Trail, north of the Huron River, it is now part of the Island Lake Recreation Area.  A house was built and LeGrand and Zuba raised their family of four.  Betsy, who married neighbor William H. Hooker, was born in New York in 1845.  Sons, Alanson and Henry were born 1846 and 1847, respectively, in Green Oak as was Hattie, the youngest, born in 1855.

Henry N. gained most of his education at home and at the local district school about ½ mile from home, the Gage School, corner Kensington and Sutherland Roads, He later attended school in New Hudson.  By age 25, he began farming on his own.  In 1870, he and Alanson, purchased land in Sec. 36, Brighton Township, directly across Grand River Trail from his father’s homestead.  Presently I-96 runs through the southern portion and the HCMA has a park on the remaining.  After their father’s death in 1874, the brothers bought the interest of their sisters.

By then Henry had married neighbor Ella Burnett (one of seven children), December 12, 1871.  She was the daughter of Jonathon and Sarah Burnett, who settled in Green Oak 1834.  Henry and Ella had six children; Louie, Belle, Grace, Nell, Henricha and Newton in their home in Brighton Township.  To provide a higher education for their children, the Beaches moved to Ann Arbor by the turn of the century.  As most early farmers, Henry raised stock on his 217 acres making a specialty of breeding sheep for city markets.  At that time he’d have driven the stock to the railroad yards in Brighton.  However he also felt a responsibility to the community and served the township in a number of offices, serving four terms as supervisor beginning in 1887.

Henry died July 8, 1923, on a boating outing from a heart attack.  Henry, his parents, siblings, wife and most of his children are buried at Kensington Cemetery.  Henry’s mother, Zuba, was a life long Baptist and was instrumental in establishing the Kensington Baptist Church.  It is tempting to lump into one family the many Beaches found in early census records who came from the east c. 1840.  Archelaus, b. 1768, MS. And wife, Rhoda, had 10 children.  Were they the parents of Lyom born 1790? Aaron 1797 MS? Edward 1800? John 1808 N. Y. ? LeGrand 1810 (Henry’s father)? Luther 1820 N.Y.? or are some of these sons of Nathanial 1774, father of Smith 1800 N.Y. ? And the are others who settled in other townships. In the Kensington Cemetery one finds 24 Beaches buried.  In the Pleasant Valley Cemetery, originally set aside by Willard Beach, Brighton Sec. 16, there are 11.

Compiled by Marieanna Bair, from 1891 Portrait and Biographical Album; census records, atlases, and area obituaries gathered by Milton Charboneau.