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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. |
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George Washington
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William
Lett & Frank Washington |
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Isabella Washington
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Stella Washington
(Mozura's Washington's Daughter)
Daisy Berry (Ike Berry's Daughter) |
George
Washington and wife Sarah Brazelton came to Little River around 1878-1880.
They had four children: Mozura, Frank, Isabella, and George.
Mozura had a
daughter, Stella Washington, who was born in the 1890's. She went to
live Jackson, Michigan, with her mother around the year 1915. Mozura
married Ira Buck. Stella Married Mr. Reynolds. They had
several boys. One lived in Albion, Michigan. Frank never
married. Isabella never married and died in October 1923.
George died at a young age. All of the Washington's are buried in
the Wheatland Cemetery. Mrs. Washington was a sister to Emmett
Porter's mother, Emily Brazelton Porter.
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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.
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