Pioneer history of Ingham County, compiled and arranged by Mrs. Franc L. Adams, secretary of the Ingham County pioneer and historical society.

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PIONEER HISTORY OF INGHAM COUNTY

SIDNEY PARKER HOMESTEAD SOLD.
Life-time Resident of Vevay Township Will Move to Vermont.
Home Historic Spot. Rich in Lore of Pioneer Days, Farm
Passes Into Hands of Strangers.
The above is the aheading of an article in the Journal-Republican, dated Mason, February 9, 1911, and the article follows:
Sidney J. Parker, a well known resident of Vevay, has sold the
farm four miles east of here on the Dansville road, where he has
lived since his birth there in 1838, and will soon go to Vermont to
live. He has been a member of the F. and A. M. lodge here over
45 years, and recently about 30 of his fellow members paid him a
farewell visit.
During the evening D. P. Whitmore presented Mr. Parker with
a gold-headed cane, as an expression of the esteem in which he is
held. Mr. Parker was in a reminiscent mood, and told many of
the pioneer experiences of his family, who were central figures in
early local history.
Seventy-five years is a long time in this region for a tract of land
to be owned by one family, but the recent transfer is the only one
which has been recorded against this 80 acres since Hiram Parker,
the father of the family, took it from the government in 1836.
The old parchment land grant, signed by President Martin Van
Buren, is still treasured by the family. This was not signed until
1839, however, owing to the press of business at the Kalamazoo
land office, where Mr. Parker had to go to secure the title to the
property.
The farm was the first one settled in western Ingham county,
and was far in the wilderness away from roads and other settlements when Mr. Parker brought his young bride here in the fall
of 1836, shortly after their marriage at her home in Bennington
county, Vt. They went by wagon to Albany, N. Y., and from
there on the Erie canal to Buffalo, where they boarded the steamer
Robert Fulton for Detroit, while three men drove their cattle
through Canada to the same place. A lumber wagon was their
next conveyance, and in this they journeyed westward over the
newly-made roads, and when these were impassable through the