Roswell Britton

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Roswell Britton
Member of the Michigan House of Representatives
from the Kent, Ottawa, Ionia and Clinton Counties district
In office
November 2, 1835 – January 1, 1837
Personal details
Born1788 or 1789
Vermont, United States
Died (aged 60–61)
Political partyDemocratic

Roswell Britton (1788 or 1789 – June 10, 1850) was an American politician who served in the Michigan House of Representatives in its first session after adoption of the state's constitution.

Biography[edit]

Roswell Britton[1] was born in Vermont.[2] His birthday is given as either July 21, 1788,[3] or June 16, 1789.[2] He served in the War of 1812 in Churchill's Regiment of the New York Volunteers from 1813 to 1814.[4]

Britton and his wife Sarah H. were living in Batavia, New York[4] and moved to Michigan in 1824.[2] By December 1825, he was living in Ann Arbor and was a delegate to a convention to nominate officers for Washtenaw County.[5] He moved to Grandville, Michigan, in Kent County, in 1834.[6] That year, he built a sawmill[7] in partnership with Nathaniel Brown. The mill, on Buck Creek, milled the first shipment of Michigan white pine lumber that arrived in Chicago on the White Pigeon in April 1835.[8]

Britton, a Democrat,[2] was elected to the first session of the Michigan House of Representatives following adoption of the state constitution in 1835.[9] Britton served as treasurer of Kent County several times, in 1837 and from 1843 through 1846. He also served as a justice of the peace from 1845 to 1846.[10] When the town of Byron was reorganized as Wyoming, Michigan, in 1848, Britton was again elected as a justice.[11]

He died on June 10, 1850, and is buried in Grandville Cemetery.[3][12][13]

Family[edit]

Sarah Britton was born about 1800 and died May 9, 1847.[4]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ His name was also spelled Brittan or Brittain (Ewing 2017, p. 113).
  2. ^ a b c d Bingham 1888, p. 123.
  3. ^ a b Find A Grave 2009.
  4. ^ a b c Ewing 2017, p. 113.
  5. ^ Fletcher 1975, p. 4.
  6. ^ C. C. Chapman 1881, p. 195.
  7. ^ C. C. Chapman 1881, p. 274.
  8. ^ Hotchkiss 1898, pp. 168, 192.
  9. ^ C. C. Chapman 1881, p. 321.
  10. ^ C. C. Chapman 1881, p. 606.
  11. ^ C. C. Chapman 1881, p. 1412.
  12. ^ Baxter 1974, p. 625.
  13. ^ Bingham 1888, p. 123, gives June 2, 1850, but this is contradicted by his tombstone.

References[edit]

  • Baxter, Albert (1974) [1891], History of the City of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Grand Rapids Historical Society, retrieved 2018-11-27
  • Bingham, Stephen D. (1888), Early History of Michigan: With Biographies of State Officers, Members of Congress, Judges and Legislators, Lansing: Thorp & Godfrey, retrieved 2018-11-27
  • Ewing, Wallace K. (2017), "Northwest Ottawa County Encyclopedia of History" (PDF), Loutit District Library, retrieved 2018-11-27
  • Fletcher, Foster (February 1975), "As It Was in the Beginning" (PDF), Ypsilanti Gleanings, retrieved 2018-11-27
  • History of Kent County, Michigan, Chicago: C. C. Chapman & Co., 1881, retrieved 2018-11-27
  • Hotchkiss, George W. (1898), History of the Lumber and Forest Industry of the Northwest, Chicago: G.W. Hotchkiss & Company, retrieved 2018-11-27
  • Michigan Manual (1877–78 ed.), Lansing: W. S. George & Co., 1877, retrieved 2018-11-27
  • "Tombstone of Roswell Britton", Find A Grave, August 18, 2009, retrieved 2018-11-27
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