History of Barry county, Michigan

It is not claimed that the following is a complete history of Barry County. It is only intended to sketch the most prominent points of county history as distinguished from the history of the several townships and individual biography. The biographical sketches of prominent men which follow, fill out and amplify the outline of county history which is here presented, and when these are considered in connection with the brief history which follows, they give a fairly accurate account of Barry county.

 

Read the Book - Free

Download the Book ( 10.0 MB PDF ) - Free

It is difficult to segregate local events from those of wider influence. The history of Barry County, though replete with happenings of special interest to her people, is intimately interwoven with that of the state and nation.

Michigan, in common with all the region of the lakes, has been the scene of events of mighty significance in the fate of nations. It was here that the current of English colonization, flowing from Jamestown and Plymouth Rock, met that of France starting from Quebec, Montreal and Ottawa. The region of the lakes was at once the Keystone in the arch of French influence radiating from Louisiana and Quebec, and the link sought to be forged to connect the chain of British posts along the Atlantic seaboard, with those of the Hudson's Bay Company. For a hundred years through Indian feuds and colonial wars the struggle for control continued; but it was not until after Montcalm surrendered to Wolfe that the British exercised a dominant influence on the affairs of the two peninsulas.