Beyond The Gate

	Beyond The Gate

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Doraville Whitney was the first Black settler to 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.

By: Carol Norman

Direct Descendents

the Old Settlers who passed away

2008

Mary Carol Lynn

Andrew (Jack) Flowers

Robert Bywater

Vicki Pointer

Robert (Bobby) Newman

2007

Dorothy Miles

Carol Mumford

Bradley Cross

Arthur Wayne Mumford

Joyce Norman-White

Eloise Higginbotham-Guy

Thelma Johnson-Dickerson

Etta Hardy

Donna Sawyer-Nelson

Thomas Woodford

Maidie Campbell

Theodosia Johnson-Sawyer

Henry Lett

Roger Harper

Fred Barnett

Merle Lett-Webb

Ken Read

Coleman Castro

Donald Cross

Thomas Green

Wayne Johnson

Norma Woodson-Moore-McDaniel Tony R. Willis

Genevieve Sleet-Ross

Remembrance is a golden chain,

Death tries to break, but all in vain.

To have, to love, and then to part,

Is the greatest sorrow of one's heart.

The years may wipe out many things,

But this they wipe out never,

The memory of those happy days

When we were all together.

Author Unknown

Annual Ceremony commemorating direct descendants who have

passed away during the year

Shirley Cross-Miles & Marvin Lett


	Beyond The Gate

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.