As was true of many early purchasers of land in Michigan, Elijah and Betsey Marsh, born 1802 and 1806 respectively in Massachusetts, bought acreage in Brighton and surrounding townships, even before coming to Michigan. Research shows much land speculation occurring at that time. Two hundred eighty acres were bought and sold in Brighton Township before […]
Henry W. b. 1831 and Elizabeth Buek b. 1833 Pipp were both born in Germany. Henry, an orphan at 16 came to America in 1847. Before his apprenticeship as a wagon maker Henry worked in a brick yard. Their shop was on the south side of Fitch (E. Main) between East Street and Grand River; […]
In 1830, Stephen Lee, wife Lydia (Emmons), and nine children arrived in Green Oak Township, at that time still a part of Washtenaw County, from New York State. They purchased the E 1/2 NW 1/4 of Section 20 recorded October 6, 1830. (West side of U.S. 23, from Winans Lake Road north to the Huron […]
The John F. and Margaret Lawson family arrived in Livingston County in 1836 from New York with four children under 10 years of age. Eighty acres in Genoa Township, Section 9, were recorded July 9, 1836. In Section 4, 120 acres were recorded September 22, 1836. The first order of business would have been the […]
The son of a veteran of the Revolutionary War, Ira Warner came to Michigan in 1839 from his home state, New York. Ira was only nine when his father, Col. Seth Warner, died in 1812. There were three siblings. Until he was 18, he worked on his mother, Rebecca Tylers farm. December 27, 1829, he […]
William R. Cobb, whose father was from England and his mother, Ireland, was born in Vermont in 1820. By 1837, he was married to 15-year-old Lucy E. That year, son, Realdes was born to be followed by Charles L. in 1838. Realdes lived to the age of five, his younger brother died when eight years […]
It was 1716 when Archibald Thompson, with two brothers, landed in Amboy, New Jersey, from Scotland. It is surmised he was a child at the time since he did not marry until 1741, 25 year later. His wife . . was of Holland stock and bore many children. One of their sons, John Thompson, […]
From Niagara County, N.Y., William Carpenter , at 18, with his father, William, came to Lyon Township, Washtenaw County in 1836. They very likely came by way of the Erie Canal, in the area of their home, and Lake Erie. Here they cleared away the forest and turned the wilderness into a highly cultivated and […]
From Plattsburgh, N.Y. Lewis B. Fonda, 25 and his wife Sophia (Cochran), 19, came to Michigan on the steamboat Superior in 1832, landing in Detroit. They walked to Ann Arbor, living there for four years, until they could move to the land purchased in 1832; Section 32, W ½ SW ¼, in Brighton Township. The […]
Egbert F. Albright, b. 1823 in New York (Allbright) was 13 when he came to Michigan with his father Amos and Amo’s wife, Harriet. (Edbert’s mother was Olive Wheeler. Amos eventually had four wives.) Amos had been a millwright and miller in New York state, milling flour during the War of 1812. A millwright builds […]
