JEFFERSON COUNTY MIGRATIONS

MICHIGAN

Migrations Part 5 - Lenawee Co. MI:

History of Tecumseh, Lenawee Co MI:

The settlement of the Village of Tecumseh, MI was officially 21 May 1824. The county history notes that fifteen men, four women and eleven children comprised the first group of settlers. All but one man and wife came from Jefferson County, NY. Musgrove Evans was believed to be the pathfinder of the group as he visited the area in 1823. The following is a list of the first group of settlers:

Musgrove Evans, wife and six children

General Joseph W. Brown, wife and five children

Ezra F. Blood

Peter Benson and wife

Simon Stoate

Nathan Rathburn

Peter Lowe

James Young

George Spofford

Curtis Page

Levi Baxter

John Borland

Captain Peter Ingals

John Fulsom

Turner Stetson and wife from Boston, who joined the party at Detroit.

It was Musgrove Evans who found the Tecumseh location the most desirable and it was he who interested Gen. J. W. Brown in the enterprise, and through him was able to enlist other members of the party. While Musgrove Evans was never regarded as the leader, it was Gen. Brown whom everyone relied upon.

Gen. Joseph W. Brown was born in Falls Township, Buck Co, PA on 26 Nov. 1793. At six years he removed with his parents to Jefferson Co., NY where he worked as a farmer until 1824, when he sold his 300 acre farm and emigrated to Michigan. In company with Austin E. Wing and Musgrove Evans the land for the village of Tecumseh was purchased. In 1824 Brown and Ezra Blood, plowed the first furrows in Lenawee County. In 1817, while a resident of Jefferson County, at the age of 24, Brown was commissioned an adjutant in the regular Cavalry by DeWitt Clinton, Gov. of New York, and then in 1818 was made a captain in a rifle company of the New York Infantry. He became lieutenant-colonel on 27 March 1819.
Upon his removal to Michigan, he received numerous appointments and in 1848 Governor Shannon of Ohio made him associate judge of Lucas Co, OH. On 4 May 1858 he was admitted to the bar in Ohio. His death occurred in Toledo on 9 Dec 1880; however, he is buried in the Tecumseh Cemetery.

Ezra Blood died Tecumseh MI on 15 Feb 1887. He was born in Deering, Hillsboro Co, NH on 28 Oct 1798 and when he reached the age of 21 he moved to Brownville, Jefferson Co NY, where he worked with Asa Whitney in a nail factory for five years. Ezra's Michigan biographers state that he was a soldier in the War of 1812 but do not include his state of service. In the spring of 1824 he joined a party of western fortune hunters, whose destination was Tecumseh, MI. On 12 Jan. 1830 he married Alzina Blackmar. Ezra died at his home in Tecumseh Twp on 18 Feb 1887.

A number of the fifteen men who came to Lenawee Co in 1824, did not at that time become permanent settlers; among them was the Hon. Levi Baxter, Jr., who born at E. Windsor, CT 5 October 1778. He subsequently moved to Delhi, Delaware Co., NY, and then to Michigan. In 1848 Levi Baxter moved from White Pigeon to Jonesville, MI and remained there until his death in 1848.

PIERCE, Capt. Benjamin F., a native of Jefferson County NY, where he was born in 1814, came to Lower Saginaw, MI in 1839, built a warehouse and bought the first tug used for towing vessels. He was involved in several enterprises and in 1858 moved to West Bay City, MI. Married.

INGALLS, B. F. was born in Jefferson Co NY in 1846. He was a businessman at Petoskey, MI.

Veterans of the War of 1812 buried in Lenawee, MI:

CHEEVER, Jacob, born Jefferson Co., NY and died August 1859 at age 84. He is buried in Ridgeway Twp., Lenawee Co. MI.

Marriage notice from Charlevoix Sentinal newspaper:

INGALLS, LIBERTY J. of Bear River, formerly of Clayton Jefferson Co NY, married to Lucinda Cole of Clayton, Jefferson Co NY on 11 Sept 1869 at Jackson MI

Sources: History of Lenawee and Tecumseh, MI; war records, vital records, newspaper records

If you have any questions or comments about this page, please contact,
County Co-Coordinator Nancy Dixon or
Co-Coordinator Bruce Coyne.

Return to Jefferson County Genweb Page