Home Old Settler Family Pages UncategorisedJeremiah Myers

Jeremiah Myers

Photographs Courtesy of Peggy (Sawyer) Williams - Deonna (Todd) Green, Robert Lett, Ken Todd & Barb Nelson - Family History Courtesy of Barb Nelson

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Jeremiah Myers was born June 25, 1809, near Baltimore, MD. His father was Philip from MD and of German descent. They were Methodists. Jeremiah moved to Belmont Co., OH in 1825. He married his neighbor, Mary Ann Harper who was born in 1817 in VA. They were married on March 15, 1832, in Belmont Co., OH by JOP Panter Laws. They settled in the Barnesville, OH area and began their family. They moved to Morgan Co, OH in 1848 and purchased a farm. It was a few miles north of Chesterhill, OH. They had 2 stillborn children and raised their 13 living children plus later 2 of their granddaughters.

The 1850 census in Marion Township, Morgan County, Ohio states that as of 1 June 1850 Jeremiah was age 39, his wife was Mary, age 34, and they had eight children ages 2-16 all born in Ohio. He was a farmer who owned $800 worth of real estate at that time. Other records say he was a prosperous farmer and had several oil wells. Jeremiah served in the Civil War.

When Jeremiah's oldest boys were of age to enlist in the Civil War, he sent them to Michigan to keep them out of the war. They settled in the Remus area where many of the families from Ohio settled.

Jeremiah's son George, 1850-1940, stayed on the family farm. He was a school teacher and farmer. He purchased Jeremiah's farm from him about 1890.

Jeremiah died April 13, 1894, of dropsy. Mary Ann died on Sept 22, 1904. They are buried together in the Chesterhill Cemetery Section 1, row 7, stone 13. George and his wife are buried next to them.

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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.