Short Bio's of
Canton Township Pioneers

The Perrin family dates back to about 1635, when John Perin came to Brainstree, MA from England. The family moved from Brainstree to Rehovath, MA , to Perrinton, NY, to Clyde, Ohio, and finally to Plymouth, Michigan. Austin Perrin was the first arrival to Wayne County. He died in 1882 in Plymouth, however, the family of Pamelia Perrin settled on land received from a Government deed from then President, Andrew Jackson, located on the southeast corner of Canton Center Road and Ann Arbor Trail, which would later become Perrinsville Village.
Pamelia Perrin married John Harmon, who was born February 22, 1818. The Harmon family's homestead was located at Canton Center Road and Warren Avenue. Six generations of the Harmon family would later attend Plymouth Community Schools, which were then located in the Canton School district.
Arline Harmon, attended Bartlett School. After graduating, she became the first teacher at the Truesdell School, and was paid twenty-five cents per day.
Heloise Dunstan, the great-granddaughter of Pamelia Perrin, and the granddaughter of Arline Harmon, married to Allen Campbell, the son of Perry Campbell, who owned the Jersey Bell Dairy. The Dairy was located on Canton Center Road, as well.

Christopher Hasselbach immigrated from Germny and settled in the southeast corner of Canton Township, having purchased 80 acres of land at Hannan Road and Van Born Road in 1853. He and his family of six children, lived here until 1916, when they moved their homestead to land owned by Charles Ballou. The only indication of lineage here is: Christopher Hasselbach > Jacob Hasselbach > Frederick Hasselbach > Freeman Hasselbach.

Richard Barker, was also an early settler to Canton Township. He immigrated from England and established an agricultural business. He purchased a Government Deed and cleared the land bounded by Sheldon Road, Palmer, Taylor Road and the Rouge River. He and his wife, Elizabeth had four children ; Margaret, William, George and Edward. Barker built a cabin on his 120-acres of land which later became the site of a large seven room brick house. This was located at 2349 Sheldon Road and had also a barn and cattle ranch. He also built a frame house across from the Sheldon Cemetery with his grandson, Fred Barker. Fred Barker lived down the road at 3442 Sheldon with his wife and 2 children, Fred Jr and Clara Barker (Sutton).
William Barker founded a 125-acre homestead near Van Born and Sheldon Roads where he lived with his wife and 2 children, William Jr and Gladys Barker.
Two other grandchildren of Richard Barker are mentioned, however, it is not indicated who their father is. Ella Barker (Reid) born in 1898 and Nettie Barker (Walker) born in 1900.

On the corner of Michigan Avenue and Sheldon Road, stood the general store, post office, and bank. Adjacent was the village blacksmith shop owned by James Russell. His son, Bernard Russell had two daughters, Gertrude and Margaret, who's home was still standing (in 1976) as a landmark.

Richard West was born in Ireland, July 26, 1826. He married to Jane Jones, of County Cork on October 22, 1848. They immigrated to Montreal, Canada in 1850 with their daughter, Deborah. In 1863 Richard purchased 165 acres of land at Beck Road and Michigan Avenue.
Richard and Jane West had a total of eight children. Their son, William West married to Louise Cook and settled near Cherry Hill and Sheldon about 1900. William had worked as a street car conductor in Detroit. After World War I, he bought a general store located at the corner of Cherry Hill and Ridge Road from James Gunn and established a post office. He served as Post Master for 5 years and he died in 1934. Five other West descendants , Alfred, Wilbert, Earl, Stanley and Joseph established the International Harvester Implement in 1945. Joseph was also Treasurer of Plymouth Township. And another, Dorothy West (May) was a well-known historian of the United Methodist Church and Cherry Hll settlement.

John and Rose Patterson left Monroe County, NY and purchased 160 acres of land in 1826. John was born in 1804, he died in 1856 having had one daughter, Mabel Patterson.
Mabel became a prominent teacher, teaching as far away as Highland Park. She was also the aunt of Florence Patterson who married William Gilmore. Mabel had one son, Charles who lived at 6205 Ridge Road, where his century-old house stood until the extension of Ford Road in 1928.

Hiram Berdan was born in 1823 in the Plymouth area, of which Canton Township was South Town 2. His parents moved the family back to Rochester, NY where his father was a large ranch owner of live stock. Hiram attended Hobart College and became an enginner expert on rifles and inventor of several practical items. There is little known about the Berdan family, however there was a township tax collector, George Berdan who worked from about 1833 to 1835 and another Berdan was listed as Constable in 1866.
George Berdan and Harrison Berdan were Uncles of Hiram Berdan. They were both born in a home located on Cherry Hill Road between Haggerty and Lotz Roads. George Berdan operated a Road House on Michigan Avenue. The site is occupied by a resturant called the Chicago Road House. (Michigan Avenue, used to be called, Chicago Road).
Harrison Berdan traveled northwest in 1849 during the gold rush, and eventually reached Alaska.

B.W. Huston started out as a farmer's handy man, operating a seed mill business and thrasher. He was later Attorney General of Michigan. His father, Robert Huston boarded a steamboat in New York in 1833, and arrived in Detroit, and guided his family of eight children through the rugged terrain to Canton Township. By 1876, Oscar, William, John, Robert and F. Huston were all large land owners in Canton Township.

James H. Hanford, one of the first public school teachers of the Ridge Road settlement, left Highland Park to teach at Canton Fraction School No. 1. He was deeded 160-acres of land in October 6, 1826 located in the northwest quarter of Section 8. James and his wife, Edith lived here only one year, when he sold the land to his brother, William H. Hanford for $240. In 1890, Henry O. Hanford sold the property to Ebenezer Penniman, Jr for $4,000. The property then totaled, 290 acres, all of the northeast section, except one acre left for a school. This later became Hanford School. James and Edith Hanford are both buried in Kenyon Cemetery.

Clarence Stevens was born November 23, 1865 at the corner of Ford Road and Canton Center Road. His family moved to Ridge Road where he road a horse down Proctor Road to attend school. He graduated from Plymouth High School in 1883, where he had studied music, and his ambition was to become a teacher.
Clarence waited until he was 90 years old before joining the Plymouth Historical Society, in about 1955. In 1908 he became a piano tuner, a job that he held for over 50 years. He was a member of the First United Presbyterian Church Choir until the age of 92. Clarence lived to the age of 103 years, one of Canton Township's only centenarians.

Jothan Goddell and Aurilla Stevens came to Michigan from New York and raised 11 children. Jothan purchased 80 acres on the south side of Geddes Road on the Wayne-Washtenaw County borders. He also cleared farmland for his son, Pike Goddell on the south side of Proctor Road. He later purchased an additional 80 acres which he gave to another son, Solon Goddell (1840-1920).
Jothan (1796 - 1871) and Aurilla (1801 - 1871) died only six months apart.
Solon later married Hulda Knapp and they had seven children. He grew peppermint and built a distillery for extracting peppermint oil. According to the 1876 County Map, Solon owned 112 acres of land. He also distinguished himself by serving as a State Representative from 1895 to 1899 and as State Senator from 1899 to 1903.
Albert Staebler married Ella Goddell and had six children. Their son, Donald married Lena Severance.

John C. Padget(1796-1857) immigrated from England with his wife, Ann Suggitt. He purchased property in 1833 from her father, Richard Suggitt. They had two sons, John and George Padget In the Wayne County Land Records Volume 12, John Padget is listed as having purchased 80 acres of property at the corners of Geddes and Beck Roads. He and his wife, Ann (1794-1868)are buried in Sheldon Cemetery. His son, John Collins Padget married to Mary Ann Smith and purchased 80 acres of land on the west side of the same two corners. They had 6 children, one of them Frederick Padget, became a township officer.

John Robb was a prominate fruit farmer. His stand was located on Michigan Avenue and Canton Center Road. He sold fruit, vegetables, eggs, and cheese here. He also remodeled the cheese factory that had already been located near Plymouth Township into a three story brick building with a chimney and raised chickens here. Robb owned half of Section 27, which had orginally been purchased by his family since government deeds were sold. In 1941, Charles Osborne purchased 10 acres of this land and later became the owner of the Osborne Concrete Company in Romulus. He and his family , his wife, Jean and sons, John and Bruce lived at 3339 South Canton Center Road in a landmark home that was 160 yeard old.

Henry Sitlington constructed Canton Center School. He was born in 1812 during the French-English War. He married to Frances E. Lilley and settled on 80 acres of land at the east half of the southeast quarter of Section 27, in 1840. His daughter, Nellie Sitlington was born here. Edward Barker married Nellie and they had children, Nettie and Ella Barker. James Lilley who settled on Lilley Road and Old Chicago Road in 1850, is the grand uncle of Nettie Barker.

George Palmer who founded Palmer School and for whom, Palmer Street is named, came to Michigan, from New York. His wife, Maria and six children lived here well into the 1900s. Palmer School was built on Geddes Road and Beck Road in the late 1800s. It was destroyed in a fire and was closed permanently when Canton Township consolidated with Van Buren Township school district. George became the director of District No 1 Canton School, in 1876. He died in 1889 and is buried in the Sheldon Cemtery. His son, Grant Palmer was the first person to be buried in this cemetery, founded in 1835. Fred Palmer, another son, was born in Canton and traveled to Buffalo, NY where he married Odillia Knoll. They returned to Canton and had 4 children, Warren, Gladys, Iris and Theron.

Peter Knapp came from New York State to Canton and settled long Lilley Road and Willow Creek, on 80 acres of land. According to old school records of the Hough School, he was charged 94 and half days of schooling for his children on October 9, 1838. They were Charlotte, Jesse and Louise Ann Knapp. By 1846 they added James, Jay and George Knapp to their family.
James Clinton Knapp was born in 1840 on their Lilley Road homestead. He married to Elsie Hubbell who had come here from Canada, across the Detroit River, with her parents, when she was 4 years old. They had 10 children and lived on 122 acres of land and built a two-story house in 1878, near the original Knapp cabin. On September 6, 1886, James was elected moderator of Canton District No 1 school which was then named, Hough School.
George Knapp married Ella Truesdell sister of Clyde Truesdell. Mary Knapp married to Wilbur Mault, and Louis Knapp lived unmarried until he died at the age of 59 years.

John Fulton purchased 82 acres of land from Martha Barber in 1898. He farmed corn, oats, and wheat and he raised cattle. Fulton was born in Livonia and moved to Detroit and then to Sheldon and Ecorse Roads, from where he left and moved to Lotz Road. He died at the age of 56 years, having had four children. His son, Floyd resided on their homestead located at 51 Lotz Road until at least 1976.

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