Hillsdale County, Michigan Historical Research

  Last night I was browsing Newspapers.com and I came across these articles in the Chicago Tribune, from May 16, 1860 and the other from June 8th, 1860.  So then I Googled "Abraham Lincoln" "Rustic Chair" and come across this chair that sold at auction called  The Lincoln Nomination Chair .  From the website: A bentwood hickory armchair, painted black, bow back crest leading to curved and bowed arms with D-shaped seat comprised of bundled set of branches supported on 4 twig legs, joined by rear and front stretchers; portion of lower bow back rail lacking proper right section (approx. 13 in.) between the front post and rear junction of arm, lacking proper right side diagonal cross brace, front seat rail probably lost,  upper bow renailed at junction of proper right post, front joint at seat of both posts resecured with bound copper wire (proper left repair among the earliest, probably 19th century), lower back rail and rear cross of arms at back of chair bound with w

The first wave of settlers in Hillsdale County, beginning with Moses Allen, chose to live in the “oak openings” or prairie around the Sand Creek.  The property Moses Allen settled had on it an abandoned french trading post and a Native grist mill which was basically a hollowed out stump with a mortar that was attached to a spring pole. [1] This was also a place where two of Hillsdale County’s main Indian trails intersected. [2] The Potawatomis referred to this area as “Mascootah-siac”. [1] Now, Maschootah means Mascouten. But according to my research, “siac” does not exist in the Algonquin lexicon. The closest word that I could find was “wi-yak” which derives from the word “wiyakihe-wa” meaning “sad loss”. [3] Sad loss of Mascoutin Indians?  Before the Iroquois Wars (1609–1701) southern Michigan was home to the Fox, Kickapoo, Mascouten, and Miami. While the Potawatomi inhabited much of the northern lower peninsula.  By 1653, the Iroquois War had virtually emptied the lower peninsula of