History of Livingston County, Michigan

The History of Livingston County here presented to its patrons for their approval, is the result of long and patient labor and research, which have been bestowed upon it with the view of producing an authentic and connected narrative of events of general importance or interest, which have occurred in the territory now comprised in the county of Livingston, or in which its residents have been actors; confining the account as closely as practicable to the limits of the county, and to its former and present inhabitants; referring to outside matters only so far as is necessary, to show the connection of events.

To the general matter pertaining to the county, is added a history of each of its townships, embracing notices of early settlers, sketches of churches, schools, societies, and other local organizations, and also special and statistical matters relating to the county and townships, intended chiefly for reference. Other portions of the work are necessarily arranged according to the subjects of which they treat.

In the preparation of the history many of the best and most reliable works bearing on the subject have been consulted, and no labor has been spared in the gathering of historical material from the most thoroughly informed citizens of the county; and in these labors and researches it has been not more the object to collect all obtainable facts, than to exclude everything of doubtful authenticity. If errors are discovered (as it is almost certain that there will be) in the orthography of some of the family names of the early and later residents of the county, it is largely due to the fact that these names have been found spelled differently (and sometimes in as many as four or five different ways) in the county, township, church, and society records. In several cases it has been found that different members of the same family vary in the orthography of their surnames; one especially notable instance of this kind being that of two brothers, both of whom are highly educated and intelligent men, and both prominent and influential citizens of Livingston County. Under such circumstances it should not be thought strange if the several writers of the county and township histories, often finding themselves wholly at a loss to know which method of spelling to adopt, have sometimes made the mistake of choosing the wrong one.

 

Table of Contents.

HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY, MICHIGAN

I. — Livingston County and its Indian Occupants... 9
II.- Cessions of Indian Lands — Settlement of the County... 16
III. — Changes of Civil Jurisdiction — Erection and Organization of Livingston County — Courts and County Buildings... 25
IV. — The Press — The Professions — Livingston Civil List — County Societies... 35
V. — Internal Improvements... 51
VI. — Military Record of Livingston County... 60
VII.— Fifth Infantry... 67
VIII. — Ninth and Fifteenth Infantry... 79
IX. — Twenty-second Infantry... 87
X. — Twenty-sixth Infantry... 96
XL— Third and Sixth Cavalry... 108
XII. — Other Livingston County Soldiers... 112
XIII. — Agriculture — Farmers' Associations — Population... 120

HISTORY OF THE VILLAGES AND TOWNSHIPS OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.

Village of Howell... 135
Township of Howell...184
Village of Brighton... 201
Township of Brighton... 218
" Handy... 233
" Tosco... 255
" Putnam... 269
" Hamburg... 278
" Genoa... 291
" Unadilla... 304
" Green Oak... 322
" Conway... 334
" Marion... 346
" Hartland... 362
" Oceola... 376
" Tyrone... 388
" Deerfield... 413
" Cohoctah... 437

BIOGRAPHICAL.

Francis Monroe... facing 162
Hon. Josiah Turner... 182
Hon. William McPherson, Jr... between 182, 183
S. E. Howe... facing 183
Sardis F. Hubbell... 183
Peter Brewer... 200
Solomon Hildebrant... 200
Flon. John Carter... 229
Aaron H. Kelley... 229
Rev. Ira Warner... 230
Melzer Bird... 230
Thomas Woulds... 230
George W. Conely... 231
Samuel M. Conely... 231
O. K. Van Amburg... 232
W. C. Sears... 232
James Converse... 250
Harvey Metcalf... 251
Ralph Fowler... 252
George Lovely... 252
Edwin Nichols... 253
Marvin Gaston... 253
S. P. Kuhn... facing 258
William S. Caskey... " 262
Amanda Douglass... " 264
Luana Stow... 266
Hon. Isaac Stow... 266
Seth G. Wilson... 267
William H. Kuhn... 268
James Wooden... 268
William J. Jewell... 269
Hobart A. Twichell... between 284, 285
Stoddard W. Twichell... " 284, 285
Major George Mercer... 290
Hon. William Ball... 290
Dennis Corey... 291
Elias Davis... 291
Joseph Rider... 302
Chester Hazard... 302
Charles Benedict... 303
Ely Barnard... 303
William Bloodworth... 303
S. G. Ives... between 312, 313
Philander Gregory... 320
Morris Topping... 321
Pavid D. Bird... 321
Linus Clark... facing 328
Hon. Kinsley S. Bingham... 332
Hannibal Lee... 332
Cornelius Corson... 332
Almon Maltby... between 332, 333
John Hooper... 332, 333
George Gready... 333
Benjamin P. Sherman... 343
Luther Child... 343
William P. Stow... 344
Levi H. Bigelow... 344
Cecil D. Parsons... 345
George Coleman... 357
W.K. Sexton... 358
Thomas Love... 359
George B. Wilkinson... 359
Pierpont L. Smith... 360
George Younglove... 360
Aaron Van Patten... 361
Eldred Basing... 361
Charles Smith... 374
Elisha G. Smith... 374
Le Grand Clark... 375
Jacob S. Griswold... 375
Peter Y. Browning... facing 385
Ephraim J. Hardy... 385
J. A. Van Camp... 386
William Hazard... 387
Richard Walker... 387
Robert Walker... 387
Edward Browning... 387
Robert Browning... 388
George Cornell... facing 390
David Col well... 390
Hon. John Kenyon... " 392
Isaac Cornell... " 396
Rev. Isaac Morton... 412
John T. Carmer... 413
John How... facing 418
Col. Castle Sutherland... " 424
Joseph Chamberlin... " 426
Ezra Frisbee... 461

 

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Livingston is one of the inland counties of Michigan, situated in the southeastern part of the lower peninsula of the State; its county-seat — which is very nearly on the central point of its territory — lying between Detroit and Lansing, on the direct railway line, by which it is fifty-one miles distant from the first-named city, and thirty-four miles from the State capital. The counties which join this, and form its several boundaries, are Shiawassee and Genesee on the north, Oakland on the east, Washtenaw on the south, and Ingham on the west.

Within these boundaries are included sixteen townships of the United States survey, lying together in the form of a square, being four adjoining ranges of four towns each; which, on the supposition of an accurate and uniform survey (which, however, is not strictly the case in Livingston), would give the county a superficial area of five hundred and seventy-six square miles, or three hundred and seventy-eight thousand six hundred and forty acres.