Judge Levi Baxter, Jr.

Levi Baxter Jr. was born October 5, 1788, East Windsor, CN.

The 1888 book Early History of Michigan, by Stephen D. Bingham, has a paragraph on pp 79-80 about Levi Baxter Jr.:

"When a boy he removed with his father to western New York, where he was engaged in farming, lumbering and merchandise at Sidney Plains. He settled at Tecumseh, Michigan, in 1831, and built the "Red Mills," the first of any size west of Monroe, settlers coming fifty miles to this mill. Governor Cass made him chief justice of the Lenawee county court, hence the title of judge. He built a mill at Jonesville in 1834, the first west of Tecumseh. He removed to White Pigeon in 1836 and built large mills. In 1840 he made large additions to his mills at Jonesville. In 1848 he made Jonesville his home. He was a Whig, then a Free Soiler in 1848, and was elected Senator to the legislature of 1849 and 1850 by a coalition of Whigs and Free Soilers. Through his influence Jonesville was made a point on the Michigan Southern Railroad. He was a member of the Presbyterian church and an elder. He died at Jonesville in 1862."

Levi Baxter, Jr. was a member of the Michigan state senate for the 3rd District, 1849-50. But he made his really big mark as the chairman of the committee that organized the Republican Party “under the oaks.” Anti-slavery activists and individuals who believed that the federal government should grant western lands to settlers free of charge created the Republican Party. A proto-Republican band held an earlier informal meeting in Ripon, WI, but Baxter’s group held the first official meeting of the party in Jackson, MI, July 6, 1854.

(A comparable claim has been made for George Manierre I [grandfather of George Manierre III, husband to Levi Baxter Jr's great-grandaughter, Katharine Newbury Manierre]. George Manierre I was credited with suggesting the name of the Republican Party. He was one of five men who signed the call for the convention that convened at Aurora, Illinois on September 19, 1854. He was Chairman of the Committee on Resolutions that was charged with drafting a platform at that meeting. T. C. Moore, a colleague of Manierre’s, asserted that, “He it was who suggested the name Republic for the new party, and presented the same to the convention.” [letter from T. C. Moore to William R. Manierre, 1888])

Just six years later, Abraham Lincoln was the Republican Party’s first candidate to win the White House. The Civil War erupted in 1861 and lasted four grueling years. During the war, against the advice of his cabinet, Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation that freed the slaves. Then Republicans worked to pass the Thirteenth Amendment, which outlawed slavery, the Fourteenth, which guaranteed equal protection under the laws, and the Fifteenth, which helped secure voting rights for African Americans. The Republican Party also played a leading role in securing women the right to vote. In 1896, it was the first major party to push for woman's suffrage. When the 19th Amendment was added to the Constitution, 26 of 36 state legislatures that had voted to ratify it were under Republican control. The first woman elected to Congress was a Republican, Jeanette Rankin from Montana in 1917.

Levi Baxter Jr. died February 28, 1862, Jonesville, MI.

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Levi Baxter

Birth: Oct. 7, 1788

Death: Feb. 28, 1862

Inscription on his gravestone: Born East Windsor, Conn. Died Jonesville, Mich.

Note: husband of Elizabeth M. Baxter

Burial: Sunset View Cemetery, Jonesville, Hillsdale County, Michigan, USA

Created by: Keith Larzelere

Record added: Oct 27, 2008

Find A Grave Memorial# 30915514

Downloaded May 2011 from http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=30915514

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Biographical information regarding several members of the Baxter family, along with portraits of Levi Baxter and Witter J. Baxter.

Source: Downloaded June 2011 from History of Hillsdale County, Michigan, with illustrations and biographical ..., by Crisfield Johnson, Everts & Abbott, Philadelphia, pp 128, 130, 132, 136, 138, 139, 142, 146, 147, 148, 309, at http://books.google.com/

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