Brighton Area Historical Society

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.

Read More »

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.)

Read More »

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.

Read More »

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 […]

Read More »

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.

Read More »

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.

Read More »

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.

Read More »

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.

Read More »

As the logical repository of items of historical value the Society has acquired a listing of  local farms and the names given them.  The listing gives no clue as to date or origin, compiler, reason for compiling or how these names were determined or bestowed.

Read More »

The c. 1900 newspaper clipping includes three Bidwells, F.E. (Frank) G.A. (George Albert) and W.L. (William). Frank and George Albert are two of the three sons of Seth Bidwell.  William is a son of George Albert.

Read More »