Lett

 

 

Doraville Whitney was the first Black settler in Isabella County in 1860.  The first documentation of an African-American settler in Mecosta County Michigan was James Guy.  His deed was signed by Abraham Lincoln.  He  obtained 160 acres in Wheatland Township on May 30, 1861.  Lloyd & Margaret Guy were the first Black settlers in Montcalm County in 1861. The Homestead Act of 1862 allowed each settler 160 acres in Michigan.  By 1873 African-Americans owned 1,392 acres in the three counties of Isabella, Mecosta and Montcalm.  In the 1860's most of the land in Remus was owned by the Old Settlers. 

 

SECTION 1

The Original Letts

 

SECTION 2

Othias B. Lett
 

SECTION 3

Samuel Lett

 

SECTION 4

Aquilla McClelland Lett

 

SECTION 5

Lett Families
 

SECTION 6

 

Reunion 2004

Reunion 2005

Reunion 2006

Reunion 2007

 

SECTION 7

Lett Cemetery

 

SECTION 8

Lett Settlement Map

 

SECTION 9

Othia Lett Farm

 

SECTION 10

Lett Family Poem

 

Family History and Photograph Courtesy of Robert Lett

 

Aquilla McClelland Lett

 

Aquilla McClelland Lett was born in Corning Township Ohio on October 18, 1864 and died in 1920 Wann, Nowata County, Oklahoma. 

 

This Aquilla McClelland Lett is the great grandson of Samuel Delaney Lett and Jemima Banneker-Lett.  His grandfather, Benjamin Lett (born 1792 in Maryland)  married Mary "Polly" Caliman (born in 1790) on January 5, 1809 and had 12 known children.  Benjamin was a brother to; (A) Aquilla  #1. married Chrstina Cobbler - 10 known children, ( (B) Meshack  married; (1) Rosana Cummins, (2) Amelinza Wallace, (3) Susan Stewart (4)  Mary "Mollie" Goins - 5 known children (C) Samuel married Esther Beard - 16 children (D) Elijah married wife; (1) unknown, (2)   Elizabeth "Betsy" Caliman - 5 known children, (E) Mary "Mollie" Lett married Charles Lett - several children unknown, (F) Keziah "Kizzie" Lett married Solomon F. Lett 5 known children and Peter Lett wife unknown - 9 known children.

 

Moses Lett, father of Aquilla McClelland Lett was was born in 1828 in the Lett Settlement and was a first cousin to Aquilla (b 1828) and Othias B. Lett b (1810) children of Samuel Lett & Elizabeth Beard Lett who migrated to Michigan.  Moses married Amanda Stewart (born 1829) and thereafter had 11 children; Alta Jane, Elizabeth, Henry Jackson, Siegle, Aquilla M, James, Benny S, Mary Elizabeth, Dora Ethel, Willie Ray and Liela.

 

Aquilla M. Lett married Margaret Ann Reynolds and had 9 children.  This patriarchal line goes from Samuel Delaney Lett, Benjamin Lett, Moses Lett, Aquilla McClelland Lett, James Lett, to James "Jimmy Lett".

 

 

 

 

Lett

 

There are "Old Settlers" who came from Canada via "The Underground Railroad."  It was the most dramatic nonviolent protest against slavery in the United States that began in the Colonial Era and reached its peak between 1830 and 1865. An estimated 30,000 to 100,000 slaves used the "railroad" to get to Canada; many others escaped to Mexico, the Caribbean, and Europe.