Born in Cambridshire, England, Joseph, b. 1831 and James, b. 1833, Peach were the two older of the seven of the ten children of Charles, b. 1807, and Ann Ankar, b. 1812, who made the ocean voyage to America. (The others were Robert, Mary Ann, John, Sarah and Hannah.) Arriving in New York in 1854, […]
Only close observation when traveling I-96 with its gentle rises and filled-in valleys reveals any indication of the steep hills, many streams and rivers and the ever present swamps through which a team struggled to pull a wagon load of humanity. It is very difficult to imagine the fields of corn and pastures full of […]
Land in the southwest corner of Brighton Township was first taken up from the US Government by Maynard Maltby in 1832. Between 1832 and 1835, Anthony Gale. Elijah Fitch, John & Elizabeth Cushing, Wm. Noble and others also filed claims to land in this area. Some of these folks stayed and developed the land; others […]
In 1907, Henry Fitch was one of the some 800 former residents of Brighton to return from all points of the compass to attend a Home Coming celebration. Henry had been away for more than 50 years, and at a mass meeting at the old “Opera House” (today, Stouts Bar on Grand River) reminisced, in […]
Its Springtime, 1907. As one approaches the Village from the north on Grand River and comes to the Village limits (at the corner of Grand River and Cross street), one sees a sign warning: ” Speed Limit 8 Miles per hour”. Continuing one passes over a red, wooded bridge spanning Ore Creek and attention is […]
THE DATE: May 30, 1884 – THE PLACE: The Brighton Village Cemetery alive with the flutter of small American flags placed at each veterans grave. THE PEOPLE: School children standing quietly, dressed in their finest; soldiers and veterans, hats in hand, heads bowed and other residents of the area, all in reverent attention as the […]
The history of Crooked Lake, along with that of all the SE section of Michigan, properly begins about 30,000 years ago when the last glacier slowly retreated, leaving in huge heaps the enormous amount of material it had scoured off the Laurentian Range in Canada. These heaps left hit or miss over this area, penned […]
The Brighton Argus, August 28, 1907, reported: ” The 1907 Homecoming was the biggest time we ever had” and “Friends who had not seen each other for years were brought together to laugh and weep for joy”. Visitors arrived each day by railroad, by horse and buggy and by horse and wagon. Many had not […]
Today one is accustomed to paying several hundred dollars a year for automobile insurance. Today one recognizes the need for liability limits of $100,00 or more. Today one is aware the purchase of a new and more expensive auto will mean an increase in ones insurance costs and to top it off there is the […]
“Arent you two ready yet? Ive got old Brownie hitched to the cutter. If we dont hurry itll be dark before we get back. I dont want to have to be on he lookout for wolves,” Papa teased. “Papa, Bonnies putting on her mittens and Im tying Elmers scarf so itll cover his ears. Dont […]
