Roswell Britton

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.

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

Biography

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

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

Notes
  1. His name was also spelled Brittan or Brittain (Ewing 2017, p. 113).
  2. Bingham 1888, p. 123.
  3. Find A Grave 2009.
  4. 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
  • 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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