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INTRODUCTION
This book was
designed to locate many of the people who came to Michigan
to locate land and settle in the state of Michigan and ended
up in Livingston county for some period of time. In the
early days when Michigan was only a territory, there were
just marriage records, wills and and land records. These
were the only records demanded by law, even when Michigan
became a state in 1836. This was the same year that
Livingston county was laid out, but even then, when the
county began to keep its own records and to have their own
courthouse and courts, it was not until the fall of 1867
that the state of Michigan required counties to keep birth
and death records. One other record was the Federal Census,
but they were taken in ten year periods. Some states took
their own census in the in between years, but those of
Michigan were lost or destroyed. Livingston county has no
in-between records.
So, unless you got
married or died in the county or left a will or probate
there was no known record of their ever being here,
especially if they came and went in between census. There
was one set of records, land records, often
overlooked, that contained some vital information on people
who had moved to Michigan, and of those who had left the
state. This book tries to supply that information and add
many pioneers and settlers to the county of Livingston that
are not found in our history book.
We have included the
Tract Record book, kept by the Federal Land Office, that
gives all the original purchases from the Federal government
and signed by the President of the United States, at the
time of purchase. We have included the Transcribed Record
book, which has the copies of all land sales made for
Livingston county by Washtenaw, Shiawassee and Oakland
counties, when our county was under their jurisdiction,
before it became an organized county, and Michigan became a
state. This all happened in 1836. We also include all the
records kept in the Grantor-Grantee books, kept by
Livingston county and the original Deeds books, as
well as the Township books, copied from the original
Deeds books, copied into 36 sections, and in quarter
sections, with Liber & page where the original record can be
found in the Deed book. (copied about 1879 by the Register
of Deeds staff).
We have also included
the Federal census of 1840, 1850, and 1860, with the names
of those who lived in Livingston county, and would be old
enough by 1870 to own land. (We found that many people lived
on the land in Michigan, for many years, without owning the
land, but often spent the rest of their lives in our state.)
With the additions of
the birth and death records in 1867, we felt we did not have
to use the 1870 census, as by that time the vital records
held the information on people who may have lived here, in
that time period. (We did not do the Tax records, begun in
1836, as they contain no family information.)
We have also included
Maps of the townships, of 1875 and some village plats,
both existing and forgotten hamlets, that existed in the
time period of our book research.
If you wish to obtain
more information, you may write the author, Milton E.
Charboneau at the Howell Archives, or you may like to
contact the several Historical groups that exist in
Livingston County Michigan. They are:
Howell Area Historical Society, P O. Box 154 Howell MI
48844. (They do a very limited search)
Livingston County Genealogical Society, P. O. Box 1073,
Howell MI 48844-1073 (This group does genealogical searches
and takes queries)
Howell Archives, care of Howell Carnegie District Library,
314 W. Grand River, Howell MI 48843 (Archives has extensive
records & photos of Livingston County.)
Brighton Area Historical Society, Box 481, Brighton, MI
48816-0481 (They answer queries)
Fowlerville District Library, 131 Mill St. Box 313
Fowlerville MI 48836
Green Oak Historical Society, P. O. Box 84, Brighton MI
48116 (They have a museum and much data and should answer
queries)
Hartland Area Historical Society, P. O. Box 49, Hartland MI
48353
If you write to any of these groups, you might include a few
dollars for copy cost and send a couple of stamps for
postage. SASE. This should ensure an answer.
Good luck and we hope
that this book will be of some help, especially to the New
York and New England people, in their search for long lost
ancestors.
The Editor |
