Smith Lapham (1804 - 1884)

Born 8 Apr 1804 in Smithfield, Providence, Rhode Island

Ancestors

Died 26 Jul 1884 at age 80 in Rockford, Kent, Michigan

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Biography

From: History of Kent County, Michigan Chas C. Chapman & Company Chicago, 1881:

Hon. Smith Lapham, Justice of the Peace, is the oldest settler now living in Algoma tp., and the, second settler in the tp. He was born in Rhode Island, April 8, 1804. He is a distant relative of Senator Lapham, of New York, and a son of Job Lapham, who removed with his family to Saratoga, N. Y., in 1806. At the tender age of three years, he lost his mother, and in 1816 he returned to Rhode Island, and resided for four years with his aunt, Lydia Sales, a widow lady. For some time after this he worked on the farm by the month. In 1825 he went to Buffalo, where be went aboard the "Pioneer," and sailed on Lake Erie. During her Second trip she was overtaken by a severe storm, and was wrecked off the shore at Fairport, Ohio. The manner in which the crew and passengers escaped was singular: The ship had grounded a short distance from the shore, but the waves were too high for any one to venture; so they tied a line to a billet of wood, and threw the billet between the shore and the approaching wave, which carried the billet nearly to the shore; some parties on the land then waded in and secured it in to shore. At one end of the line was a boat made fast, in which the wrecked people were all soon safely drawn to shore. Mr. Lapham and eight other men walked thence to Sandusky, Ohio, where they went aboard the only remaining steamer, "Superior" (which was the second steamer built on the lake), and came to Detroit, where he and his associates separated. Mr. Lapham then proceeded on foot, to travel over the counties of Wayne, Oakland, Washtenaw and Monroe, in the State of Michigan. He finally concluded to locate in Washtenaw county, and accordingly purchased a tract of land on Lodi Plains, in that county, six miles south of Ann Arbor.

This was in the fall of 1825. He returned to Saratoga the same winter, and April 10 following, married Miss Catharine Gilbert, returning with his wife to his land in Washtenaw county in June of the same year. He sold his farm in 1835, and built the American House, which is still standing in Saline, and is still used as a hotel, But he, however, ran it as a hotel only about two years. In 1839 he became interested in the construction of the Wabash & Erie canal, which was at that time being built. His department was the building of culverts, and it is said that one which he erected is the largest culvert on the canal, In 1843, Mr. Lapham, in company with Luke Gilbert, his brother in law, came to Okamos, on the Okamos river, where they dug a canoe out of a basswood log, and in this rude boat floated down the river to the mouth of Flat river, where the town of Lowell now stands, They there left their canoe, and started through the woods with no road, to visit another brother in law. Mr. David Gilbert, reaching the settlement late in the evening of the same day. Mr. L. came to the Rouge river, and decided to locate here, although the land was not yet in market, He found a mill site where Rockford now stands, and the same year, in July, purchased 80 acres where Rockford or Laphamville was afterward built, and proceeded immediately to locate and erect a saw-mill. This mill was the first in the tp., and the dam was the first on Rouge river. He finished the mill in 1844, and ran it successfully for 20 years. In 1866 he sold his mill and kept hotel in Rockford for two years.

Mr. Lapham was the first Supervisor for Algoma, and has held the same office many times since. In 1856 he was elected to the House of Representatives of the Michigan Legislature, and in 1858 was elected State Senator from this district. He has held the office of Justice of the Peace almost constantly for over 35 years. In 1876 Mr. and Mrs. Lapham celebrated their golden wedding, and are still stout and healthy. They have had nine children, of whom six are living, viz.: Geo. G., Embree B., Amy A., Derias A., Josephine and Adah.

1860 census for Algoma, Kent, Michigan lists:

Smith Lapham M 55 Rhode Island

Catharine Lapham F 52 New York

Gilbert Lapham M 22 Michigan

Lodica Lapham F 17 Michigan

Josephine Lapham F 12 Michigan

Embree Lapham M 10 Michigan

Ada Lapham F 6 Michigan

^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ "United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MW6Q-83J : 14 December 2017), Ada Lapham in entry for Smith Lapham, 1860.