Newsletter 17 .pub - The Binns Family

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.
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