EXAMINING PATTERNS OF ITALIAN IMMIGRATION TO ...

4.0 Goals and Methods
Chapter IV - Settlements
The aim of the following chapter is to learn more about where in Houghton County
Italians preferred to settle and to find out whether there was a relation between province of
origin and spatial clustering in locations and villages.
The data used to determine the pattern of settlement of Italians in Houghton County
are from the censuses of the state of Michigan, Houghton County, of 1870, 1880, 1900,
1910, 1920, and 1930.
In these censuses, Houghton County is divided into townships and villages. Their
boundaries are not the exactly the same in each year however. There exist no known sources
defining how long current boundaries have been configured, but it seems that they are/were
relatively fluid over larger spans of time. The more significant changes probably occurred
during the setting off and/or creation of new townships. Over time, townships have ceded
property back and forth, affecting their boundaries. In addition, unincorporated township
property was regularly annexed into incorporated villages and cities. However, because
changes came slowly and in small degrees for the most part, they should not be significant in
affecting comparisons among general patterns of Italian settlement through the years. 45
Organized or incorporated villages (e.g. Hancock, Calumet, and Laurium) are
technically not part of townships because the villages are managed by their own
governments. Spatially, however, they can be identified as within townships. Therefore,
even when they were incorporated, they have been grouped with the township to allow
spatial continuity and help comparisons. South Range Village has been included in Adams
Township, Calumet, Laurium, and Red Jacket Village in Calumet Township, Hancock in
Hancock Township, Houghton in Portage Township, Lake Linden in Schoolcraft Township,
and Hubbell Village in Torch Lake Township.
45 Houghton has grown spatially due to land annexed from the surrounding Portage Township. For instance,
that the boundaries between Adams and Stanton townships changed quite dramatically in the early 20th
century. One could also look in the minutes of the Houghton County Board of Supervisors, part of the MTU
Archives “state archives collection”. (RG 89-464, volumes 16-24, 1861-1963). The Board must approve any
change in township boundaries, so they are detailed here.
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