The establishment of the Borden’s Condensed Milk Factory in Howell, just before the turn of the century, marked the beginning of a new era in Livingston County.

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The recent donation of a scrapbook of clippings from Eva Whalen sheds light on the origin of the list of local farms, their names and owners, which has been the inspiration of recent study to locate and learn about them.  Around 1900 the editor of the Brighton Argus, Seth Jacobs, was encouraging farm owners to […]

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Eight children were born to John and Polly Curry while living in New York and Pennsylvania.  Among the very earliest names recorded in the area’s history is that of Curry.  John and Polly’s sixth child, Enoch Waldron, b. May 17, 1821, arrived in Brighton in 1841.  He bought land in Brighton Township in the Pleasant […]

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This second of a series of notes on farms and the names given them, will be concerned with the Ernest M. Crippen Farm, Springdale Farm. Located just north of the Charles Jacobs farm, which was described last month, it was also on Ore Creek.

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A newspaper clipping (c. 1900) contains a list of 41 farms, almost all in Brighton Township.  From that list & research on background of these farms should show what life was like at that time.  The Lamart Hicks Farm on Skeman Road is the subject of this article.

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In this issue Shady Nook, on the southwest corner of Spencer and Kensington Roads, is the site of our research.  In the newspaper clipping c. 1900, Charles S. Foote, is listed as the owner.

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Research is continuing on a list of farms, copied from a c. 1900 newspaper clipping.  Attempts are being made to find where they were located, why they have the name assigned and some information about the owners.  This issue deals with the Henry J. Crawford Farm, Meadow Brook on Pleasant Valley Road in Brighton Towship.

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The 80-acre Hillcrest Farm of Robert Longthorn was located on the west side of Flint Rd., south of Hilton Rd., E ½ SE section 19, Brighton Township.  Prior to his purchase, it had been owned by Henry J. Warner.  It was originally bought from the Federal Government November 16, 1836, by John Dean (Pennsylvania) and […]

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Number four in this series of attempting to identify some of the area’s early settlers and where they located.  Listed on an undated newspaper clipping, Wirt Bradley is noted as the owner of Elmdale Farm.  One can only assume there were a number elm trees in the area to give rise to the name.

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Thomas S. Hilton, born in England in 1822 came to the U.S. in 1849; settling the Brighton Township shortly after.  By 1852 he and Adeline Rogers, neighbors across the road, married.  Adeline, born in 1834 in New Jersey, came with her parents, Amos and Permelia Rogers in 1836.  (The 1859 Atlas shows Rogers owned 50 […]

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