Ionia County

Biographical history of northern Michigan

Biography of Erwin Hemstreet of Bellaire, Michigan

Antrim County, Genesee County, Ionia County /

For a score of years has the subject of this review been identified with the business and civic affairs of the thriving little city of Bellaire, the judicial center of Antrim county, and no citizen is held in higher regard in business and social circles than is this pioneer merchant, who is recognized as one of the leading business men of the county, where he has varied and important interests. He is a man of sterling character and the intrinsic strength and individuality of his nature have made him a valuable factor. He has stated that he has always had […]

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Collections and Researches made by the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society, vol. XXXVIII

Early Days In Grand Rapids

Ionia County, Lenawee County

By Miss Lucy Ball Read at the annual meeting, June 27, 1907. In 1836 my father, John Ball, [1]See biographical sketch, Vol. VII, pp. 496-509, this series. was practicing law in Troy, New York. It was a year when conservative eastern capitalists speculated wildly in western government lands. Some of father’s friends, knowing his love of travel, proposed to him that he take their capital west and buy and sell land on speculation. Father readily accepted the offer. He left Troy July 31st, 1836, in company with a Mr. William Mann. They crossed New York state by railroad to Utica

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John S. Hooker

John S. Hooker of Lowell

Ionia County, Kent County

John S. Hooker was born August 29, 1830. Seven years later his father, Cyporean S. Hooker with the family settled at the trading post that has since claimed the French name of Saranac. It was July 2, 1837, when the Hookers took up their abode at Saranac and there was far too much work to be done that year to permit of a Fourth of July celebration. The elder Hooker was a builder. It was Oyporean Hooker who designed and threw one of the first bridges over Grand River. This structure was put up at Portland. At Saranac Young Hooker

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