People of Detroit

All | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z


Notice: Undefined variable: birth_date in /home/tinamar/public_html/historydetroit.com/people/index.php on line 73

Notice: Undefined variable: death_date in /home/tinamar/public_html/historydetroit.com/people/index.php on line 78

Edward Abbott

Lieutenant

James Abbott

Voted in Detroit's first election in 1768.

James Abbott (II)

Son of James Abbott. Was one of Detroit's first postmasters. Lived in a house that was later the site of the Hammond Building.

Chapman Abraham

First known Jew in Detroit, Chapman was one of the few men who escaped the fort during "Pontiac's War".

William Adair

Nurseryman and landowner.

Charles S. Adams

Husband of Mary Sibley.

Guilleaume Aguet

Held lot #35 of the original 68 land grants Cadillac made to private individuals from March 1707 to June 1710.

Claude Allouez

Father

Jesuit who was the first known non-Native American to hear of the Mississippi River. Native Americans told him of the great river in 1665.

Jeffrey Amherst

Sir

Governor-general of the British colonies.

Read more...

William Ancrum

Major

Twelfth official commandant of British Fort Detroit (1785?-86?).

James Anderson

Architect of Old City Hall

John Anderson

Colonel

Commanded artillery defense of Detroit during the War of 1812 and for the following 21 years.

Colin Andrews

Active citizen in British Detroit in the late 1760's. Voted in Detroit's first election in 1768.

Charles Anthon

Professor

Son of Genevieve Jadot and George Christian Anthon. An esteemed Greek and Latin scholar.

George Christian Anthon

Doctor

Born: 08-25-1734

German-born garrison doctor at Detroit under British rule.

Read more...

Henry Anthon

Reverend

Son of Genevieve Jadot and George Christian Anthon. Rector at St. Mark's in the Bowery.

John Anthon

Son of Genevieve Jadot and George Christian Anthon. A New York attorney.

Dennis Archer

Mayor

68th Mayor of the City of Detroit (1993-2002).

William Smead Armitage

Born: 06-11-1830
Died: 01-28-1887

Son of William and Rosina Armitage. Secretary and treasurer of Detroit's American Glass Plate Company, and later, of Eureka Iron Company, and still later, of Galvin Brass and Iron Works.

James A. Armstrong

Husband of Augusta Sibley.

Arnault

Company of the Colony representative sent with Radisson to take over Fort Ponchartrain.

Adelaide Askin

Daughter of John Askin. Wife of Elijah Brush.

John Askin

Detroit settler. Owner of the Askin farm, which became the Brush Farm when Askin's daughter married Elijah Brush.

Reuben Attwater

Secretary of Michigan Territory

Marie Louisa Augier

1st wife of Philip Dejean.

Close Help Window

Glossary:
Algonquin

General term used to describe Native Americans of the following tribes (and others): Delaware, Fox, Huron, Miami, Ojibwa (Chippewa), Ottawa, Potawatomi, Sac, Shawnee and Winnebago.
Close Help Window

Glossary:
arquebus

A 39 pound (approximate) musket that two men would prop on a tri-pod and fire with a small torch. The arquebus was used by Champlain's men against the Iroquois to defend the Hurons. This may be the cause of decades of Iroquois abuse of the Hurons.
Close Help Window

Glossary:
clay and wattle

Building technique used in the construction of chimneys in the early days of Fort Ponchartrain. The technique involved piling sticks and packing them - inside and out - with clay and mud.
Close Help Window

Glossary:
Colbertism

Name for early French mercantilism in America, which Jean-Baptiste Colbert was influential in developing.
Close Help Window

Glossary:
conges

Trade permits issued by the Canadian government/court of France in the late 1600s to early 1700s.
Close Help Window

Glossary:
coureurs de bois

Very early French inhabitants of the current US and Canada who gave up their farmsteads for lives in the fur trade. They often lived with Native Americans.
Close Help Window

Glossary:
District of Hesse

Land district provisioned by the Canadian Council on July 24, 1788. The area was on the east side of the Detroit River.
Close Help Window

Glossary:
Fox

"Properly ""Mesh-kwa-ki-hug"". Native American tribe living in the area between Saginaw Bay and Thunder Bay at the time Detroit was founded. The French called the tribe Renyard. An allied tribe of the Sacs and Mascoutin."
Close Help Window

Glossary:
Huron

A Native American tribe that built a village near Fort Ponchartrain.
Close Help Window

Glossary:
Iroquoian

General term sometimes used to describe Native Americans of the following tribes: Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, and Seneca.
Close Help Window

Glossary:
Iroquois

"A Native American tribe known for antagonizing and brutalizing the Hurons (see also arquebus)"
Close Help Window

Glossary:
Mascouten

Native American tribe living in the Grand Traverse Bay area at the time Detroit was founded. An allied tribe of the Foxes and Sacs. Also spelled Mascoutin.
Close Help Window

Glossary:
Miami

A Native American tribe that built a village near Fort Ponchartrain.
Close Help Window

Glossary:
Muskhogean

General term used to describe Native Americans of the following tribes: Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Creek.
Close Help Window

Glossary:
New York Currency

First standard currency used in Detroit (first used in 1765).
Close Help Window

Glossary:
Ottawa

A Native American tribe that built a village near Fort Ponchartrain.
Close Help Window

Glossary:
Outagamies

Native American tribe living in the Grand Traverse Bay area at the time Detroit was founded. An allied tribe of the Foxes (and Sacs?).
Close Help Window

Glossary:
Plains Indians

General term used to describe Native Americans of the following tribes: Apache, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Comanche, Kiowa, and Pawnee (Pani).
Close Help Window

Glossary:
Potawatomi

A Native American tribe that built a village near Fort Ponchartrain.
Close Help Window

Glossary:
Quebec Act

Act of June 22, 1774, in which British Parliament decides to exercise English law in criminal cases and old French provincial law in civil cases in western settlements. The idea was to discourage people from settling in the west.
Close Help Window

Glossary:
Renyard

See Fox
Close Help Window

Glossary:
ribbon farms

Original land grants given by Cadillac. The lots were typically around 200 feet wide at the river front, with lengths up to 3 miles.
Close Help Window

Glossary:
Sac

See Sauk
Close Help Window

Glossary:
Sakis

See Sauk
Close Help Window

Glossary:
Sauk

Native American tribe living in the area between Saginaw Bay and Thunder Bay at the time Detroit was founded. The French called the tribe Sakis; English and Americans generally call them Sacs. An allied tribe of the Foxes/Renyards and Mascouten.
Close Help Window

Glossary:
Shoshonean

General term used to describe Native Americans of the following tribes: Bannock and Shoshone.
Close Help Window

Glossary:
Treaty of Montreal

Treaty ending the war between the Iroquois and France and England. Negotiations began in July of 1698 and the treaty was signed in August of 1701.
Close Help Window

Glossary:
Treaty of Ryswick

September 20, 1697 treaty ending war between France and England.
Close Help Window

Glossary:
voyageurs

Early French explorers who traveled mainly by water.