Please add profiles of those who were born, lived or died in Branch County, Michigan.

Official Website

History

As one of the "cabinet counties" it was named for the U.S. Secretary of the Navy John Branch under President Andrew Jackson.

Branch County was a New England settlement. The original founders of Coldwater were settlers from the northern coastal colonies – "Yankees", descended from the English Puritans who came from the Old World in the 1600s and who brought their culture. During the early 1800s, there was a wave of New England farmers who headed west into what was then the untamed Northwest Territory. Many traveled through New York State via the Erie Canal; the threat of Native Americans had been reduced by the end of the Black Hawk War.

These early settlers laid out farms, constructed roads, erected government buildings, and established post routes. They brought a passion for education, and established many schools. Many were supporters of abolitionism. They were mostly members of the Congregationalist Church though some were Episcopalian. Culturally Branch County, like much of Michigan, developed as part of the Northern Tier, continuous with New England culture, during its early history. The county still depends on agriculture as the basis of its economy.

Adjacent Counties

• Kalamazoo County
• Calhoun County
• Hillsdale County
• Steuben County, Indiana
• LaGrange County, Indiana
• St. Joseph County

Cities, Towns, Villages & Communities

• Alagansee
• Batavia
• Batavia Center
• Bethel
• Bronson
• Butler
• California
• Canada Shores
• Coldwater (County Seat)
• Crystal Beach
• East Gilead
• Gilead
• Girard
• Hodunk
• Kinderhook
• Lockwood
• Matteson
• Noble
• Ovid
• Pearl Beach
• Quincy
• Ray
• South Butler
• South Souci Beach
• Sherwood
• Union
• Union City
• West Kinderhook

Links

Wikipedia

USS Branch County LST-482

National Register of Historic Places

Genealogy Trails

Roots Web

MI Family History Network

Branch County Historical Society

MI Gen Web

RAOGK