DENNIS HARMON PIONEER
1851-1861
Of Dayton Township, Tuscola County, Michigan
(Dennis,
Hiram, Simeon, Simeon, Nathaniel, Nathaniel, John)
Dennis Harmon was born
October 01, 1815 in Phelps, Ontario County, New York. He was the son of Hiram and Jane Berdan Harmon. Dennis was brother to Violetta, Austin,
Eliza, John, Sally Ann, and Spencer Harmon all born in Phelps New York. In 1830, Michigan Territory began blooming
with many pioneers coming from the East.
Land Grants were plentiful. In
1831 Hiram and Jane and their family came to Michigan Territory, (not yet a
state). They journeyed by canal to Buffalo,
and then by a boat named “ The Henry Clay” to
Detroit. They applied for a land patent
at the Detroit Land Office on May 23, 1831, for 80 acres, in what is now known
as Canton Township in Wayne County. It
was a two day walk from Detroit to Canton Township where they set foot on the
land to be theirs. At the age of 16, Dennis and his family
had to make a new life in the wilderness.
The Siblings were all close in age, Dennis being the middle child, and
were a great help in their teen years in clearing land and building a cabin and
homestead. There were great hardships in 1831 when
there was not much civilized living going on in that area. Finally, with a lot of hard work, the land
patent of 125 acres was lived up to and a homestead in place. Now it was time for Dennis to move on and
start a life of his own. At the age of 23, Dennis married Emeline Westbrook on September 18, 1838 in Plymouth
Michigan. We assume that Emeline was a next door neighbor as there was a Thomas
Westbrook family farm next to the Harmon farm in Canton according to “Cornerstones”
the history of Canton. That Westbrook
family also came from Phelps New York about the same time as the Harmon
family. It is quite possible that Dennis
and Emeline knew each other for a very long time. In 1842, son James was born to Dennis and Emeline. In all they
had ten children. The first four were
born in Plymouth, Wayne County, Michigan, and the next three in Nankin Township,
Wayne County, Michigan, and the last three in Dayton Township, Tuscola County,
Michigan. About 1855/56, Dennis came
north to what is now known as Tuscola County with his family of seven
children. He applied for a land patent
at the Genesee Land Office. There was
nothing in Dayton at that time except for a few lumbermen, some Indians, and a
few other pioneer families. There were
no roads, only foot paths, probably made by Indians. Dennis and Emeline
and their children might have come part way by stage coach, but probably came
all the way on foot. They were given a
map for directions from the land office, to show them the way. It was a long way to come on foot, estimating
the distance to be approximately 90-95 miles. It was strictly wilderness. Other Pioneers had come earlier that
year. They were the Mead family,
Crawford family, and a few others.
However, it was probably a while before Dennis and Emeline
realized that others were in the area.
Dennis planted his feet on section 5 of Dayton along what is now known
as M46 or Sanilac Road between Murray and Lee Hill Roads. He cleared the land and planted crops. It is hard to picture what the area really
looked like in 1856. There were no close
neighbors, no well for water, no electricity, no cabin, no horse, no barn, only
a place to start to build a homestead.
Three more babies were to come on this place. A log cabin was built and life went on for
the Harmon family. Soon others came and the township of
Dayton was proclaimed and molded into a community. Dennis took part in important jobs such as
road commissioner and constable. A short
distance down the road to the east of the homestead, a store and post office
was erected at what was then known as Hurd’s
Corners. Mail probably didn’t come every
day to a mail box in front of your home.
You were lucky to get mmail once a month which
you picked up at the post office.
District country schools came later in the late 1870s. In 1857, Dennis had his land patent after
living up to the agreement according to the application. The land now belonged to Dennis Harmon. In the 1860 US Census for Dayton Township,
these facts were known. Population 129,
28 families, 28 dwellings, 18 farms, 514 acres improved, 1 horse, 25 cows, 25
oxen, 107 bushel of wheat raised, 1635 bushel of corn, 395 bushel of oats, 1340
bushel of potatoes 1550 pounds of butter, and 25 tons of hay. Numerous saw mills and gristmills began
appearing throughout the Township. Many
of the lake and road names in Dayton was named for the early settlers,
including Lorenzo Hurd, Dennis Harmon, N.C. Phelps,
and Michael Shay. Dennis was a good hunter. He had to hunt to provide food for his large
family. Of course back in the mid-1800s,
there was plenty of wild game in Dayton Township and the surrounding area such
as bear, elk, deer, etc. Dennis wounded
an elk on one of those hunting days. He
chased the elk for a mile or so when he came upon a nice lake to the south and
west of his homestead. This would mean
maybe some fish would be another kind of food for his family. He named the lake, Lake Emeline,
after his wife who was waiting back at the cabin for his return. The lake was later re-named Harmon Lake and
today is inhabited by many families along the shoreline. Dennis and Emeline
now had nine children and another one on the way. Son, James, had a job at a neighboring farm
in Wells Township and the two oldest girls, Lucia, and Caroline had gotten
married to young men who were of neighboring families. Winter was setting in and the ground
beginning to freeze solid. Supplies were
very low and with so many mouths to feed, food and other necessities were badly
needed. It was close to Christmas
time. Dennis and a neighbor, Mr. Wells,
went on foot to Saginaw for supplies taking the trail of what is now known as
Wells Road. The trail began almost
directly in front of the Harmon home and went straight through to what is now
known as Wahjamega where there was a lumbering camp
and a crossing of the mighty Cass River.
From there Dennis and Mr. Wells might have taken a stage coach, but more
than likely went on foot to Saginaw. It
is an estimated distance of about 40-45 miles one way. The trip probably took 2-3 days. Upon return with their supplies in hand, and
being very tired from their long journey, Dennis and Mr. Wells decided to spend
the night at the lumbering camp boarding house (or tavern) at Wahjamega. During
that night the tavern caught on fire leaving Dennis and Mr. Wells, as well as
others, badly burned. Others perished in
the fire. A few days later on December
22 1861, Dennis and Mr. Wells died as a result of their burns and smoke. They were buried in shallow graves and were
to be moved to a cemetery after the spring thaw. Their bodies were never located and it was
said that the wild animals had dragged the carcasses away and eaten them. There is no evidence to be found about the
demise of Dennis and Mr. Wells. There is
no record at the court house of his death or burial. This story has been handed down from the
family of Dennis. Dennis was now gone at the age of 46. Soon after his death he became the father of
another son, Philo. Now the family of
Dennis and Emeline was complete. A few years later Emeline
died at her home near what is now known as East Dayton. Her remains are in a grave site at the East
Dayton Cemetery. A headstone there bares
here name and date of death. As with
Dennis, there are no court house records about the death of Emeline. The headstone is the only record. Descendants of Dennis do not know anything
of his stature. We can only guess about
his appearance. There is a photo of
three of his sons, Spencer, Albert, and Philo.
Philo appears quite tall with dark hair and eyes, and Spencer had dark
hair and eyes, while Albert seems on the husky side with lighter hair and appears
more medium in height. Civil War pension
papers tell that another son, Arthur, was five feet eight and a half inches
tall and had black eyes and light hair.
Photographs of daughters Emma and Caroline have been found. There are many descendants of Dennis and Emeline Harmon.
James and Rosannah Bylington
stayed in the East Dayton Area. Lucia and Julius Hurd
had a large family and moved on to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and later on
to Oregon. Caroline and Philo King moved
on to Ohio. Arthur Douglas and Lucinda
Hall stayed in the area. Spencer and
Rhoda Belknap stayed in Dayton Township and had many descendants spreading
across Michigan. Charles moved on to the
Upper Peninsula of Michigan at Manistique where he married Louisa Lang. Emma and John McLaughlin stayed in the area
and later moved on to the Detroit area.
Andrew died young and was single.
Albert and Lucelia Richley
lived in Wells Township. Philo and
Lillian Putman lived in Tuscola County. There are many stories about all of the
descendants of Dennis and Emeline Harmon telling of
beginnings and endings in many other places across the county.
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