Mormon History 1830-1844

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Mormon History Gazetteer for Michigan (1831–1839)
Locality / county Link to map of Michigan counties at U.S. Census Bureau website.

Detroit / Wayne
  June 15, 1831 Lucy Mack Smith, Almira Mack, Hyrum Smith, John Murdock, John Corrill, Lyman Wight Visit Mack relatives in Detroit. The next day, finding no one interested in their message, the men wipe their feet "as a testimony against that city." Hyrum and John Murdock ¶ John Murdock
  Oct. 1834 Oliver Cowdery "Detroit is a small town on the West bank of the River of the same name; is pleasantly situated … it is said that some hundreds have fallen victims to [cholera this season] … contains no more than 4000 inhabitants … [a] stage runs daily from Detroit to [Pontiac]." MA 1, no. 1 (Oct. 1834): 6.

Florence (Florence Bay, Lake, Pond, or Island?) / ?
  May 1832 Gideon and Jared Carter "Brother Jared has been to Michigan and raised up three small ones. There is the greatest prospect in Florence that there ever has been: I baptised ten there." Gideon H. Carter, EMS 2, no. 14 (July 1833): 108.

Monroe / Monroe
  Sep. 10, 1818 Algernon Sidney Gilbert Purchases a small lot for a store near the harbor. ¶ Algernon Sidney Gilbert
  June 10, 1820 Algernon Sidney Gilbert Sells Monroe store, starts another one in Mentor, Ohio. ¶ Algernon Sidney Gilbert

Pekin Township (16 mi. W of Detroit; Redford, March 1833) / Wayne
         

Pontiac / Oakland
  Early summer 1831 Lucy Mack Smith, Hyrum and Samuel H. Smith, Almira Mack, John Murdock, John Corrill, Lyman Wight Visit Mack relatives in Detroit. David Dort and wife are converted. ¶ 1831 Chronology
  Feb. 16, 1833 Jared Carter Samuel Bent: Jared has been here 5 weeks and baptized 22, including himself, wife, and children. He ordained Samuel an elder and they have been traveling together two weeks. EMS 1, no. 11 (Apr. 1833).
  1833   Branch is organized (year before Joseph arrives). Edward Stevenson manuscript, The Life and History, Elder Edward Stevenson. LDS Church Archives.
  Oct. 1834 Joseph and Samuel H. Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Frederick G. Williams, David Whitmer, Amos and Roger Orton visit Visit. MA 1, no. 1 (Oct. 1834): 6; Edward Stevenson Reminiscence (2)

White Pigeon Prairie (on Indiana border, 24 mi. NE of Elkhart, Indiana) / St. Joseph
  Named for Indian chief White Pigeon, who was friendly to early travelers and white settlers. Third village settled (ca 1826) in current Illnois. Situated on the road from Detroit to Chicago. On October 30, 1829, the original St. Joseph County was organized into five large townships, of which White Pigeon Township was one. It included the present townships of Lockport, Florence, Fabius, Constantine, Mottville, and White Pigeon. Short-lived White Pigeon Academy was incorporated in 1831, by which time the village included a tavern and stage stop. White Pigeon History
Fabius Township History
Tales of Early Niles by Ballard
    Our drive of twelve miles to breakfast was very refreshing. The roads were the best we had travelled since we left New York State. We passed through a wilderness of flowers; trailing roses, enormous white convolvulus, scarlet lilies, and ground-ivy, with many others, being added to those we had before seen. Milton must have travelled in Michigan before he wrote the garden parts of "Paradise Lost." Sturgis's and White Pigeon Prairies are highly cultivated, and look just like any other rich and perfectly level land. We breakfasted at White Pigeon Prairie, and saw the rising ground where the Indian chief lies buried, whose name has been given to the place. Harriet Martineau, " "Picture of Michigan," Society in America. London: Saunders and Otley, 1837. Link to source.
  June 30, 1831 Hyrum Smith, John Murdock Preach a sermon on way to Independence. Next day travel 20 miles and overnight with Potawatomie Indians. "… received supper and breakfast from them and gave them some articles we had for their kindness." Murdock autobiography, 23.
       
     
Illinois Gazetteer
Indiana Gazetteer
Gazetteers
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