Newsletter 17 .pub - The Binns Family

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American Tales from Lenawee County, Michigan by Brad Hess Way back in autumn of 2004 we had a brief look at the Binns family of Lenawee County Michigan. This time around I explore a bit about the early county history and the varied progenitors of the family within this county. As the Binns family moved into Michigan in the mid 1830s Michigan was a territory at a crossroads between statehood and the outbreak of war. Michigan and Ohio were locked into a stalemate over a 468 square mile piece of land at the border. In the midst of this struggle was a small border county given the name of Lenawee by former territorial governor Lewis Cass. When David Binns stepped into this county in March of 1834 the population was around 7,900 souls. Just three years later that would approach fifteen thousand. By 1840 it would be the fourth largest county in the newly formed state. David and the rest of the Binns settled into what would shortly become Woodstock Township. This township has the distinction of being the most “irregular” in the county. Early histories of the area refer to the land as “broken and rugged” and “swampy and marshy in places, and the soil third rate and poor.” Nonetheless the township is not without highlights as it does contain more than a dozen lakes as well as “Prospect Hill” which is one of the highest elevations in the state. Through the hard work and energy of the settlers of this area, many of which share Binns blood, the area has been converted into a rich agricultural area. I don’t know much about David Binns but based on the fact that he seemed to closely move with my ancestor James (I97) and information found in the Bindex I believe him to be a second cousin to Joseph recorded as I144. We first see record of James and David together in the “Microfilm records of Fayette county courts, as regards: Petitions, Declarations of Intent, and granting of Citizenship actions” index as follows:- “#233 DAVID BINN; born Skipton (?), County of York, England on January 18 1780; migrated September of 1818 from England and arrived in the U. S October 21, 1818; sworn statement of March 1819. #234 JAMES BINNS, born at Canonly (?), County of York, England, on September 13, 1773; migrated from whence place September 1818 and arrived in U. S. October 21, 1818; sworn statement of March 4, 1819.” We again see James and David living two townships from each other in Pennsylvania during the 1820 Federal census. Additionally we know that David received two different land patents in today’s Woodstock Township on October 1, 1935. The first consisting of 160 acres in section 23 and the other in section 33 containing 120 acres. As we know David came into the area in 1834 it’s likely that he cleared the way for the rest of the family to come in 1835. James and his descendants came in 1835. James and his wife Alice (I175) had emigrated from England to Fayette County, Pennsylvania in either 1817 or 1818. We know from the book titled “The Thistlewaite Family” by Bernard Thistlewaite (private circulation, 1910, pages 4 and 5) that James was of Cononley Woodside, parish of Kildwick in Yorkshire and that he was the son of John (I55) and Sarah (I94). James married Alice Thistlethwaite whose family was from Stonehouse near Dent. James was described as a “clogmaker” between 1797 and 1808 and then later as a “farmer” between 1810 and 1818. Together they are recorded as having eight children; Sarah, Margaret, William, Daniel, John, Joseph, Wilson and Hannah. All the children were born in Cononley Woodside. Of the sons, we know that Daniel died as an infant and are told that all the rest, except William, ventured into Lenawee County and settled in the area of Addison, Michigan. What follows is an exploration of that statement. The James Binns family seems to have first made its appearance into Lenawee County on July 9, 1835. John and his wife Sarah were received on certificate from Providence Monthly Meeting in Pennsylvania into the Adrian Monthly Meeting from the town of the same name along with his father James and stepmother Elizabeth. With James and Elizabeth were minor children Wilson, Hannah and Daniel. Another son Page 8
Tales from Michigan con’t of James, Joseph, was accepted into the Meeting on December 10, 1835. Sadly Hannah’s death is recorded the following day. On the fourth day of April, 1836, the first meeting of the township of Woodstock was held at the house of Jesse Osborn. Among the officers elected that day we find Jesse Osborn and John Binns (I180), directors of the poor. John purchased eighty acres in the west half of the Northeast quarter of section 32, in Township five, south of Range one East, in the District of Lands subject to sale at Monroe, Michigan Territory on March 18, 1837. This purchase would be in what is today known as Woodstock Township in Lenawee County, Michigan. John was married to Sarah Hewitt (I461) and they appear to have had five children. On the same day John’s brother Joseph (I181) purchased the Southwest fractional quarter, and Northwest quarter of section thirty, in what is today Woodstock Township. This land grant consisted of “one hundred and twenty-one acres and fifty two hundredths of an acre.” Also in February of 1846 we see a petition presented to the Michigan State Senate by Joseph Binns and twenty-five other citizens of Lenawee County for the incorporation of a manual labor school which was later built in Woodstock Township. Joseph married Susannah Lupton who was the daughter of Gideon Lupton a prominent Friend and Minister of the Gospel on December 14, 1842. They had at least five children. My ancestor, Wilson Binns, is notably the most obscure of the group. I have a family bible that records the marriage of Wilson Binns (I182) and Adaline Carr on the eighteenth of January 1843. The same source mentions that he married Jane Faucett on the twenty-ninth of January, 1857. According to the bible Wilson died on the seventh of April, 1877. There is little mention of Wilson aside from the occasional census and an entry in the Adrian Monthly Meeting notes. On the eight of August, 1844 he condemned himself for marrying outside of unity with Adaline. Wilson and Adaline had three children. The last known son of James to settle in Lenawee County is Daniel (I185). He was a half brother to the rest, having been born June 28, 1828 near Brownsville, Pennsylvania to James’ second wife Elizabeth Hewitt. He came to Addison in the spring of 1935 with the previously listed siblings and parents. His parents died the following year. That left him, at the age of seven, to be raised by an unknown aunt and uncle. He returned to Fayette County, Pennsylvania in 1848. There he married Caroline Nickel on Oct 13, 1852 and conducted a mercantile business for approximately 25 years. She preceded him in death in 1904. In 1878 he purchased a farm near Addison, Michigan and farmed there until one year before his death. Daniel, like many in the family, was a Quaker. By 1857 he had moved to the Methodist denomination. He then began active work in the church which continued for more than 40 years. “Though busy with the cares of a business and a large family during all of this time he was a local preacher in both Pennsylvania and Michigan and often preached continuously for several months during the illness of the regular pastor. He was also Sunday school superintendent during much of this period.” He and his wife had thirteen children, twelve of whom were living at the time of his death on January 7, 1906. His obituary states that his children were scattered across Pennsylvania, Michigan and California. So there we have the origins of all but one of the many Binns branches in the Addison, Michigan area. Feel free to contact me at Brad.Hess@Gmail.com. We very much look forward to reading more about the Lenawee family in future Editor. Page 9
Page 1 and 2: From The Editor …..going to any l
Page 3 and 4: George Binns, Chartist George Binns
Page 5 and 6: The Brett Binns Family con’t He r
Page 7: The Many Faces of Ernest Binns Erne
Page 11 and 12: Democracy in the Good Old Days 17 J
Page 13 and 14: Richard Napoleon Jenkinson Medallio

Newsletter 17 .pub - The Binns Family

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