Individual Profile

Notes
Hon. Henry S. Babcock was born in Orwell, Vermont, 1798.  In 1829 he with others came to Michigan, landing at Detroit in June.  They purchased a yoke and oxen and a lumber wagon, and loaded theron their household goods, started for Oakland County, via Piety Hill, now Birmingham.  After several days they reached the home of William Ives on section 21, and located 400 acres of land, built a log house, two frame barns and began clearing the land.  He was commissioned justice of the peace by territorial Governor george B. Porter.  On July 12, 1830, town 1 north, 10 east, was by an act of the legislative council, organized into a separate township and called Ossewa; seventeen days thereafter the name was changes to Southfield.  At the first town meeting held in the new township, April 4, 1831, he was elected supervisor and countinued to hold for five years.  He was a delegate to the second convention convened at Ann Arbor, Dec 14, 1836, to give assent to the conditions imposed by Congress on the territory premilinary to its admission into the Union as a state.  After the terrory became a state he was elected justice of the peace and held the office terms.  In 1841 he represented his district in the State Legislature, and was killed by a kick of a horse Oct 26, 1842. His widow died in 1872.