Name/Title
History of Allegan and Barry Counties 1880Entry/Object ID
2019.35.105Description
This important historical book covers the general history of the two counties Allegan and Barry. Villages and townships of Allegan County and the city of Hastings and the villages and townships of Barry County. Time frame covered is roughly 1671 to 1815.
521 pages : illustrations, plates (part double), portraits, maps ; 31 cm
A summary of Saugatuck and Douglas book content by David Schwartz is at the URL listed below.Context
HISTORY OF ALLEGAN AND BARRY COUNTIES
The history of Allegan and Barry counties is completed and will be ready to deliver to the subscribers about the first of July. It is a large volume of 520 pages of reading matter,not counting the illustrations, which would make it all over 560 pages. It is strongly and neatly bound with gilt edges, and is a typographically perfect work. It contains five steel portraits, lithographs and wood cuts, which are very fine, and is a volume of which the citizens of Allegan and Barry counties may well feel proud.
The historical part is very valuable, and is probably the most correct and complete ever gathered. Careful and exhaustive search has evidently been made and rumors, reports and traditions of the earlier period thoroughly sifted so as to ascertain and give the exact facts, which have all been grouped together in an entertaining, intelligent and orderly manner, the whole forming a most reliable history from first to last. The misty past is clear ly linked to the clear present--step by step is traced the progress of the county from its initial occupancy to the prosperity and importance obtained in these later days. The comparison of then and now is striking and the history full of absorbing interest; nothing is slighted-everything is given, bearing in any manner upon the history of the county,with an ample consideration of its varied and important interests.
We are of the opinion, decidedly, that Messrs. D.W. Ensign & Co., if anything, have exceeded their promises, and the public generally owe these gentlemen their thanks for a work of such general excellence, for it cannot but be regarded for years to come as the standard authority of local history and as such ought to find its way into the libraries of citizens generally, and into the homes of many people.
The publishers have done their work well, and we commend them to the favorable consideration of other counties in which they may hereafter enter to confer a like benefit upon the people.
- Commercial Record, July 2, 1880Collection
Books, 1830 Settlement, pioneer era, 1840 Shipbuilding, Property records and tax assessments, Hospitals, medical care and doctors, Saugatuck, government, Fires and fire departments, Churches and religion, 1870 Fruit growing, farming, agriculture, Clubs and social organizations, 1835 Logging and Lumbering, Industry and manufacturing, 1836 Singapore, 0001 Anishinabek/Ojibwe/Odawa/Bodéwadmi, Douglas, government, 1836 Newark/Saugatuck Township government, Education and schoolsCataloged By
Slusar, VernLexicon
Search Terms
Allegan County, Barry County, Allegan County (Mich)--history, Michigan--Allegan County, United States, Michigan, Allegan--history, United States, Michigan, Allegan--Centennial Celebrations, etc., Barry County (Mich.) > Barry County (Mich.) /Biography., Barry County (Mich.) > Barry County (Mich.) /History., Allegan County (Mich.) > Allegan County (Mich.) /Biography., Allegan County (Mich.) > Allegan County (Mich.) /History.Book Details
Author
Johnson, CrisfieldPublisher
D.W. EnsignDate Published
1880Call No.
977.414 JOHCondition
Overall Condition
FairNotes
very old copy of book. cover needs repair due to the fact that it is detaching from spine.Relationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Kalamazoo Lighthouses 1839/1858/1956-presentGeneral Notes
Note
Status: OK
Status By: Vern Slusar
Status Date: 2020-08-26Note
History of Allegan and Barry Counties, Michigan, with illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Their Prominent Men and Pioneers (D. W. Ensign & Co.: Philadelphia) 1880. 521 pp. 9 x 12, hardbound with leather spine. Also issued in full leather, and many copies have been rebound over the years in a variety of styles.
The county history, tracing a county usually from its very beginnings to "today" was a stock promotion for publishing companies, from about 1870 to 1920. They often asked local people to write the general history pages and financed the publication with the sale of subscription biographies. The individual or family was charged a certain amount for a written biography, more if a portrait was included and an additional fee if the portrait was engraved.
The aim was to be complete. This book includes a nice, color-tinted map of the counties involved, a general state history, a color-tinted Michigan geological map, an account of "Indians during Pioneer Days," and various lists of doctors, newspapers, lawyers, etc. The county participation in the Civil War is included with lists of veterans and their regiments and short regimental histories.
The most important historical part was the township-by-township history, usually including a list of first land holders in the township, anecdotes of pioneer history, and anything the local editor thought might be interesting.
The Allegan and Barry County history was written while many of the early settlers were still living and contains many first hand accounts of the earliest days. There are some factual errors, the Saugatuck post office was opened in 1835, for example, and many later writers repeated them.
The original publication lacked an index and, because the arrangement is not consistent some of the bigger libraries there are supplemental indexes created by a county DAR chapter. A facsimile reprint of the title was sponsored in 1975 by the Allegan County and Barry County Historical Societies with 117 pages of index added.
Original editions of the History of Allegan and Barry Counties, Michigan, surface frequently in used bookshops. The four I have seen in the last year were priced between $125 and $200. The reprint is even more difficult to find. -
Review by Kit Lane from SDHC Newsletter inserts, pages 7-8Create Date
August 26, 2020Update Date
April 6, 2025
