MICHIGAN TRAILS -
GENEALOGY and HISTORY


COMIS, Ezra
COMSTOCK, Darius
COMSTOCK, O.C.
CONANT, Omar D.
CONANT, Shubael
COOLEY, Thomas M.
COOPER, George B.
DABLON, Claude
DESNOYERS, Peter
HORNER, John Scott

COMIS, Ezra
He was elected a member of the Michigan Legislature from Calhoun County in 1836, and was the first Speaker chosen under the State Constitution, and he had previously been a member of the Convention which formed the said Constitution. He was also a general in the militia service; reputed a man of talents and strict ingegrity. Died in Detroit February 1837. Source of Information: Biographical History of Michigan E.B. Smith & Co. 1871

COMSTOCK, Darius
He was of Quaker parentage, and one of the original contractors of the Erie Canal, and a number of the locks at Lockport were constructed under his supervision. Having made a fortune in that capacity he emigrated to Michigan, purchased an extensive tract of land in Lenawee county, and founded the village and now the flourishing city of Adrian. He was a worthy and sagacious man, and took an active part in developing the resources of the State, throughout the length and breadth of which his name was synonymous with prosperity and enterprise. Source of Information: Biographical History of Michigan E.B. Smith & Co. 1871

COMSTOCK, O. C
He was born in New York in 1784; received a good­ education, and prepared himself to officiate as a Baptist preacher; was elected to the New York Assembly in 1810 and 1812; and was a Repre­sentative in Congress from that State from 1813 to 1819. He subsequently officiated as Chaplain of the National House of Representatives; and hav­ing. after sojourning for 3 time in Illinois, taken up his residence at Mar­shall Michigan, remained there until his death, which occurred on the 11th January, 1860. Source of Information: Biographical History of Michigan E.B. Smith & Co. 1871

CONANT, Shubael
He was for a. great many years one of the most influential, cultivated. and enterprising citizens of Detroit, and did much by his sagacity as a merchant to promote the prosperity of the city and State. He emigrated to the West from Massachusetts ; had a brother, who resided on the River Raisin, at Monroe,. who was a prominent physician, and also a man of ability and refinement Mr. Shabael Conant was a man of rare judgment, by the exercise of which he acquired a hand­some property, and stood high as a man of character and benevolence, always taking a. deep interest in the welfa.re of Detroit and the entire State of Michjgan. As early as the year 1819 he established, in conjunction with two other Detroit.citizens,.the first grain and saw mills in the town of Pon­taic. He was never married and died in Detroit in 1865 or '66, leaving a name which will alvways be kindly remembered by the older citizens of the State. The writer regrets that he cannot be more particular in his notice, but if pleasant personal recollections were suited to this place he would have no trouble in writing an entire essay. And this remark holds true in regard to nearly all the pioneer citizens whom it is his pleasure to mention in this volume.

CONANT, Omar D.
He was born. in Cooperstown, Otsego county, New York, in 1818 ; removed with his father, who was a clergyman, to Huron connty, Ohio, in 1824; graduated in 1842 at the Western Reserve College; from 1845 to 1847 he was employed in the Geological Surveys of Lake Su­penor; and in 1848 he settled at Port Huron Michigan in the practice of law. In 1850 he was elected Judge of St. Clair County; was a Senator in the State Legislatu.re from 1855 to 1859, during the latter year serving as President pro tem.; was a. delegate to the Baltimore Convention of 1864; also a Presidential Elector at the ensuing election in 1865, and messenger from Michigan to carry the vote to Washington; in 1866 he was a member of the State Constitutional Convention; and in 1868 he was elected a Representative from Michigan to the Forty-first Congress, serving on several commitees but especially the Committee on Commerce. He resides at Port Huron, and was re-elected to the Forty-second Congress. Source of Information: Biographical History of Michigan E.B. Smith & Co. 1871

COOLEY, Thomas M.
He was born at ttica,:New York, January 6, 1824; studied law in Palmyra; removed to Michigan in 1843; completed his legal studies at Adrian, where he was admitted to the bar in 1846: and spent the two following yeas practicing his profession in Tecumseh, after which he settled permanently in Adrian. In 1857 he was appointed by the Legislature to compile the General Statutes of Michigan, which were duly publisbed in two volumes; in 1858 he was appointed Reporter of the Su­preme Court., held the position until 1864, and published eight volumes of Reports; in 1850 he was made Jay Professor of Law in the University ot Michigan, which office he holds at the present time; in 1866 he published a Digest of Michigan reports; and in 1868 (through Little, Brown & Co.) a "Treatise on the Constitutional Limitations which rest upon the Legislative Power of the States of the American Union," Which work has been eminently successful. In 1864 he was elected a Justice of the Supreme Court by 17,000 majority .and in 1869 re-elected by a majority of more than 30,000 for the term which ends in 1878. Notwithstanding the pressure of his public duties, he has found time to prepare for early publication a new edition of Blackstone; and among the important cases which have been decided since he went upon tbe bench are first, one declaring tbe Military Suffrage Act unconstitutional; and another declaring Railroid Subscriptions void ­both of which have been extensively discussed by the public at; large. The present residence of Judge Cooley is in Ann Arbor. Source of Information: Biographical History of Michigan E.B. Smith & Co. 1871

COOPER, George B.
Born at Long Hill Morris County, New Jersey, June 6, 1808; received good common-school education; removed to Michigan in 1830; served in the two Houses of the State Legislature; served two terms as State Treasurer of Michigan; held the position of Postmaster at Jackson for eleven years; which be resigned when chosen Treasurer; and was elected a Representative from Michigan to the Thirty-sixth Congress. His seat, however, was contested by William A. Howard. and before the. close of the first session the latter was admitted. Source of Information: Biographical History of Michigan E.B. Smith & Co. 1871

DESNOYERS, Peter
He was born in France in 1713; came from Paris to America in 1790; lived at Gallipolis a number of years and afterwards in Pittsburg, from which p1ace he removed to Detroit in August, 1796, where he resided until his death. In consequence of his loyalty as an American citizen he received a donation of land on the river Detroit, under an act of Congress in 1807; was subsequently United States Marshall for the Territory; also, State Treasurer in 1889; and during his long residence in Detroit was considered one of the most influential men of the city, as well as a leading spirit among the French population. Source of Information: Biographical History of Michigan E.B. Smith & Co. 1871

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