Elijah H. Guy

	Military

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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.

Private Elijah H. Guy

102nd United States Colored Troops. Co. 1

Headstone Dedication Service

Maple Ridge Cemetery - Vickeryville, MI

The Daughters of Union Veterans of

Civil War 1861 - 1865

Sarah M. W. Sterling Tent No. 3

Detroit, Michigan

Bruce B. Butgereit - SUVCW Memorials Officer

Gen. John A. Logan Camp No. 1

Eva Gray Tent No. 2, Daughters of Union Veterans

Grand Rapids, MI

Bruce B. Butgereit - SUVCW Memorials Officer

Gen. John A. Logan

Camp No. 1 Wenda Fore

DUVCW Chaplain, Eva Gray Tent No. 2

American Legion Post 380 - Carson City, Michigan

On behalf of Mrs. Peggy Sawyer-Williams

Great Grand Niece of Elijah,

we thank you for your attendance today

in helping

her honor her ancestor and one of

the boys who wore the blue.

Sons of Union Veterans of The Civil War

Camp No. 1 - Grand Rapids, MI

Dan Herald - Mayor of Carson City, MI

Elijah H. Guy Direct Descendants

Max Sawyer

Worthy Sawyer, Ione-Sawyer Todd

Peggy Sawyer-Williams

Marsha Todd-Stewart, Diana Todd-Green

September 17, 2005

Presented by:

The General John A. Logan Camp No. 1

Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War

With Assistance From

Champlain Corps No. 41 - Woman's Relief Corps &

Eva Gray Tent No. 2, Daughters of Union Veterans

Pvt. Elijah H. Guy was born the fifth child of Lloyd and Margaret Guy on March 11, 1840 on a farm in Meigs Township, Muskingum County, Ohio; a free man.

At age 22, he married Rebecca H. Norman on October 31, 1862. In 1862 Elijah purchased a 40 acre farm in Bushnell Twp., Montcalm County, from his oldest brother Moses. His parents and siblings had moved from Ohio to Sodus Twp., Berrien County, Michigan in the late 1850's. They later purchased several acres of farmland in Bushnell in 1862 and became the first black family in the area.

Elijah and Rebecca's only son Clifford was born August 5, 1863. On August 31, 1864 Elijah and his brother Benjamin F. Guy age 27, enlisted as Privates in Co. 1, 102nd USCT Volunteer Infantry in Grand Rapids. During the one-year he served, Elijah contracted consumption and rheumatic fever. Elijah and Benjamin were both mustered out on September 10, 1865 at Charleston, SC. they were paid and discharged in Detroit on October 17, 1865.

After his discharge, Elijah returned home to his family and continued farming for the next five years. Due to conditions he suffered in the war his health failed; he died on February 3, 1870 at the age of 29 years and 23 days.


	Military

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.