Less than 20 years after the earliest pioneer settled in Brighton Township, Rev. and Mrs. Chauncey Osborne arrived in 1852. Newcomers to the village area were hard pressed to find organized Christian leadership. The German congregation of St. George Evangelical Lutherans had been chartered in Genoa Township and St. Patrick Roman Catholic Church was making […]
In the 1870 census of Livingston County we find the first evidence of Myron West living in Brighton Township. He is working for Hiram Nichols who has 120 acres in Section 35, SE ¼ (The present side of Brighton Hospital. The house, which formed the nucleus of the hospital was moved to its present location […]
Evergreen Lodge, in Mrs. George W. (Alice) Conleys name, is the subject of this article. In the days before Michigan became a state, many from the east traveled the Erie Canal over the Adirondack Mountains; many boarding a boat at Buffalo to cross Lake Erie, to finally arrive in Detroit. To reserve acre of land […]
In a report on religious activity in Brighton Township in the 1880 History of Livingston County, writer John Ellis notes the early beginnings of the Wesleyan Methodist Church in the area. March 9, 1873 the Pleasant Valley Congregation was organized, meeting in the log one room Lyons Schoolhouse. In spring, 1874, it was decided to […]
Over the radios came the news, D-Day, the Invasion of Europe! Those over the age of 65 are all too able to recall that day. As with December 7, 1941, and November 22, 1963, one will always remember that momentous event. Following high school graduation, June 8, several of the 18 year olds found themselves […]
It was 1871 when William and Rachael Hunter arrived in the South Lyon area from Ontario, Canada. John Hunter’ parents had been born in Scotland, as were several of his eight siblings, before migrating to a new life.
Phillip Standlick, born in England in 1846, was in Brighton and married to Hannah Hartman, by the 1870 census. (Hannah, b. Sept. 1, 1848, was a daughter of John and Maria Westphal Hartman of Genoa Township, settlers who came from Germany in 1836.)
The establishment of the Bordens Condensed Milk Factory in Howell, just before the turn of the century, marked the beginning of a new era in Livingston County.
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 […]
