Home Old Settler Family Pages UncategorisedThomas Harris, Sr.

Thomas Harris, Sr.

Photographs Courtesy of Ken Todd

According to the 1850 Census of Hocking County, Ohio, Thomas Harris is listed: Thomas Harris, age 32, race mulatto, occupation farmer; Sarah Harris age 32, race mulatto. Their children and ages: Rebecca 11, Edward 10, Thomas 8, Elmicy (Ellen) 7, Ezekiel 5, Lydia 4, and Amos 2. Also listed was Charles Lett, age 20, occupation farmhand. Thomas came to Michigan in 1869 and settled in Millbrook Township. Thomas Harris, Sr. died October 1, 1907, in Fairplains Township, Montcalm County. He lived with his daughter and son-in-law Abner and Lydia (Harris) Reed.

Rebecca married Granderson Norman. (SEE GRANDERSON NORMAN FAMILY). (SEE GEORGE AND MARY (STEPHENS) NORMAN). There is no known information on Edward Harris. Thomas, Jr. married Elizabeth Ann Harper. Elmich (Ellen), the second daughter of Thomas and Sarah Harris, married Thomas Squires. Lydia, the third daughter of Thomas and Sarah Harris, married Abner Reed. Amos, the fourth son of Thomas and Sarah Harris lived with his parents until their death. Before his death moved to South Dakota where he died. He was never married.

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Chief Red Cloud of the Lakota Sioux

To photograph people is to violate them, by seeing them as they never see themselves, by having knowledge of them they can never have; it turns people into objects that can be symbolically possessed.‎

Ace Red Cloud also appeared in the Clyde Beatty Circus that started in 1935.

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Old Settlers

The "Old Settler" families arrived in Michigan from different places. They came from Canada through "The Underground Railroad," and from Payne's Crossing in Ohio as "free" people. The draw was to homestead land made available through the Homestead Act of 1862 which allotted homesteaders 160 acres. The Underground Railroad was the most dramatic nonviolent protest against slavery in the United States beginning in the Colonial Era and reaching its peak between 1830 and 1865. An estimated 30,000 to 100,000 slaves used the "railroad" to get to Canada and eventually came back to the states and Mexico. A large settlement stayed in Ontario, Canada.

Doraville Whitney was the first Black settler to Isabella County in 1860, and 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 1860. The Homestead Act of 1862 allowed each settler up to 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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Old Settler Dedication

Instead of disappearing into the dust that swallowed many other Black rural areas, the old settlers of Mecosta, Isabella, and Montcalm Counties prevailed. They came there in 1860 and they're still here. Some have moved to the larger cities of Lansing, Grand Rapids, Flint, and Detroit. There is compiled data and drawn maps of Black households in nine townships in Mecosta and Isabella Counties. In 1870, the nine-township area had 41 Black households; 86 in 1975, and 106 in 1994. The website was created to remember our ancestors who were the trailblazers making us who we are. We have become enriched, enabled, and elevated because of the ample regard and gratitude for the work of our ancestors. This site is dedicated to the Old Settlers.