Lenawee County, Michigan

WGLS blog 8/30

Still tracking down my Millet/Millett family. A great new "find" on the USGenWeb site for Lenawee Co., Michigan. This is one of those good sites with plenty of data. The particular family I am looking after at the moment is Alexander & Hannah Millet. Alexander was born about 1819 in Wayne Co. NY, according to his death records. His 1st wife was Hannah, possibly Hoag. I have not uncovered absolute proof of her maiden name yet, but have seen other family trees with "Hoag" as her maiden name. Therefore, I decided to research into the Hoag families in Lenawee County as well, to see if I could find some form of proof.

What I did find in Lenawee Co's web site for the USGenWeb Project was a couple of Millett marriages--one Rebecca Millett to Stephen Still, and Mary Jane Millett to Abram McNames. Marriages occurred in 1860 & 1859 respectively. I don't know who they are. They are not older children of Alexander and Hannah, as they are not listed with their family in the 1850 census. Also found a death notice for a Frank Millett, who died in 1876 at the age of 39, in Adrian, Lenawee Co. I also found a number of entries for Hoag family members, so will attempt to research them to see if I can make a connection to Hannah Millet(t).

Every time I get an answer to a question, I get new questions:

Answers: This Alexander Millet(t) is not the same Alexander Millet(t) who was an early settler of Jo Daviess Co. Illinois, nor the one who went off to the California Gold Rush in 1850. In 1850 THIS Alexander Millet(t) is happily living in Madison, Lenawee County Michigan with his wife Hannah and children Theron, Jonathan & Edmond. So of the 4 early Alexander's (one born in 1790, one born between 1790 & 1800, one born 1809, and this Alexander), I can eliminate one as the early Jo Daviess Co. IL pioneer. But, is he the same Alexander reported to be the son of my 3gg grandparents, William and Aurinda Millet(t) of Jo Daviess Co. IL? Oops, that goes in the next section for questions.

Questions: Who was Frank Millett who died in 1876? How does he connect with Alexander, if he does? Was he a brother of Rebecca and Mary Jane? And who were their parents?

Oh, and one more thing I found on the Lenawee Co. web site: A diary, kept by one Hannah Pierce, from 1835 till 1873, although her entries were sparse in the 1860's and the last entry was by a niece in 1873, who reported her death on New Years Day. I decided to take a look, since it was possible that she may have mentioned my family in her diary. Well, she did, there are several mentinons of Alexander Millet, A. Millet, and Hannah Millet. Mostly things like going to visit or their coming to visit her, but there is a mention of a child's death in 1858. Since the three children in the 1850 census are still in the 1860 census, there was another child born between 1850 & 1858 who died. More research is needed.

Hannah Pierce also details their travel from Williamson NY (same area as my Millet(t)'s are from) to Michigan, in 1836. They made the journey from Williamson to Palmyra NY by wagon, but the rest was made by canal boat and steamship across the Great Lakes. The entire journey from Williamson to Adrian, Lenawee Co. Michigan was made in approximately one week. To read this, go to http://migenweb.net/lenawee/diary.html
It's pretty long, and most of her entries are short (visited so-&-so, went quilting, etc.), but there are some very interesting entries about life in her era.