This newspaper transcription was submitted by Cheryl VanWormer, and avid Ionia County researcher and Ionia County GenWeb volunteer. Cheryl found this newspaper article while browsing through some old issues of the local newspaper looking for a death notice. What a wealth of information is found in this article! Enjoy -
(The original text was copied from The Ionia Sentinel Standard newspaper, Thursday, Jan. 19, 1882, page 8 and the following names were not in alphabetical order in the original text. The names were put into alphabetical order for easier searching.)
The Early Settlers.
The following statement prepared by Hon. Louis S. Lovell gives the names and date of birth, of more than a hundred of the older residents of this county, some of whom were pioneers who came here from other states, when the county was a wilderness, some were born here, and others removed here at a later period. It is thought that the list will prove of interest to those gentlemen now in the sere and yellow leaf, who have borne the brunt of the work in building up the county. Six at least of the number mentioned have died since the list was made; perhaps others. We have only hastily perused it. The names are as follows:
Alderman, Abraham April 24, 1828
Arnold, Walter D. May 25, 1827
Babcock, Herman June 29, 1818
Babcock , Jos. M. January 16, 1820
Babcock , Lucius April 13, 1811
Barber, Benjamin G. March 16, 1796
Bartow, Harvey March 31, 1813
Bayard, S. M. October 1, 1820
Bell, Alexander F. August 5, 1812
Blanchard, John C. September 19, 1822
Blanchard, W. Z. December 1, 1800
Brownell, Daniel S. February 14, 1808
Burhans, Winslow P. May 7, 1821
Cadwell, A. C. July 14, 1810
Carr, Archibald F. September 3, 1814
Clute, Lemuel August 7, 1834
Coon, Peter April 26, 1816
Cooper, George S. January 27, 1830
Cornell, Thomas January 28, 1806
Delaney, John September 20, 1799
Dewey, Thos. H. December 30, 1818
Dexter, John C. April 6, 1817
Dodge, David December 21, 1798
Dye, Richard October 23, 1810
Freeman, Frank S. February 14, 1829
Freeman , Joseph L. February 28, 1805
Germain, George W. June 4, 1818
Hackett, Peter April 7, 1810
Hall, Frederick March 24, 1816
Harter, Benjamin April 18, 1813
Harter, Harvey November 14, 1818
Hawley, Alpheus C. November 4, 1809
Hayes, Hector July 23, 1804
Hayes, N. B. December 13, 1835
Howe, Philander R. January 29, 1812
Irish, David April 3, 1811
Jennings, James L. January 16, 1819
Johnson, Ethan S. October 5, 1813
Kellogg, George D. December 31, 1814
Kidd, James M. November 13, 1813
Kinney, F. C. May 1, 1812
Kitson, William November 13, 1817
Letandre, Jos July 10, 1807
Lewis, Charles E. January 10, 1813
Lincoln, William B. December 29, 1807
Lovell, Cyrus September 9, 1804
Lovell, Louis S. November 15, 1816
Mann, Loomis September 26, 1818
Mather, Asaph March 21, 1810
Matthews, Charles June 13, 1813
McKelvey, John November 15, 1816
Mills, Major D. December 14, 1806
Mitchel, William W. February 20, 1831
Morse, A. Benton January 7, 1839
Overhiser, George C. October 15, 1811
Page, Stephen F. September 30, 1816
Page, Wellington C. November 12, 1820
Palmer, Asa September 20, 1815
Post, Edward B. February 5, 1811
Powell, Joseph P. February 28, 1821
Probart, John December 17, 1814
Probart, Thomas January 15, 1817
Rice, Calvin M. May 14, 1805
Rich, Hampton December 1, 1815
Roof, Adam L. February 10, 1810
Scott, Cornelius June 3, 1800
Searing, Nathaniel February 17, 1814
Sessions, Alonzo August 4, 1810
Sessions, Nathaniel August 20, 1790
Sessions, William May 2, 1821
Shelton, Benjamin December 27, 1819
Smith, Asaph C. July 26, 1807
Smith, Lewis D. July 16, 1818
Smith, Myron C. December 9, 1816
Smith, Nelson E. August 9, 1826
Stevenson, Edward April 18, 1819
Stevenson, George January 8, 1813
Stevenson, John August 28, 1811
Taylor, Charles September 30, 1817
Taylor, John L. May 25, 1824
Taylor, Palmer H. July 23, 1819
Taylor, Sylvester April 9, 1814
Thatcher, Moses November 14, 1795
Thayer, Isaac H. August 22, 1823
Tibbits, Jona January 29, 1809
Toan, John November 22, 1824
Toan, Robert July 12, 1796
Toan, Wm. June 1, 1831
Tompkins, John October 7, 1806
Tower, Osmond February 16, 1811
Tupper, Myron May 18, 1816
Van Vleck, Albert October 22, 1826
Van Vleck, Matthew May 22, 1794
Varnum, Phineas March 31, 1802
Vosper, Richard May 12, 1817
Webber, George W. November 25, 1825
Welch, Ezekiel January 29, 1809
Welch, John B. March 22, 1816
Wells, Willard B. March 28, 1829
Willey, Lewis September 26, 1815
Williams, Albert February 8, 1817
Winslow, William February 9, 1816
Woodworrh, William H. January 14, 1828
Yates, Job L. October 27, 1812
Yeomans, Erastus August 11, 1791
Yeomans, Sanford A. November 29, 1816
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This page was last edited January 20, 1997 10:55 AM