20–21.  Ella Judson was born in Mantua Township, Portage County, Ohio, on Wednesday, February 22, 1809, and died in Byron Township, Kent County, Michigan, on October 22, 1872. Margaret/Nancy Harmon was born in Ohio in 1808-1809, and died in Byron Township on May 25, 1856. They were both buried in Boynton Cemetery, Byron Township, Kent County, Michigan. They were married in Kent County, Michigan, in 1837. She took the name Margaret/Nancy Judson. The marriage license, issued in Grand Rapids, is dated September 7, 1837. The marriage license, issued in Grand Rapids, is dated September 7, 1837. He is the son of Samuel and Lois (Atwater) Judson. She is the daughter of Joseph Harmon. They had six children:

i.	Caroline Judson was born in 1838-9. Rufus Dibble Caroline Dibble She was the first child born in Byron Township, Kent County, Michigan, of European ancestry. She married Rufus Dibble; he died before 1900. As a widow, she was living in Trowbridge Township, Allegan County, in 1900. They had at least the following children: Henry Bertha; married Donnelly, at least three children, including sons: Clare (married Helen Boone), Henry, and Al. See pictures below. Arthur; married twice
ii.	Emeline Judson was born in Byron Township in 1840-1. She married Luther M. Clark, who was a soldier in the Civil War, and in 1900 was a farmer at Jamestown, Ottawa County. They had five daughters and three sons (order unknown): • Almy L. Clark, b. Apr. 30, 1862, d. Apr. 20, 1864 (in infancy, from tombstone) • Alice Clark Brown • Zella Clark Fleetwood • Lottie Clark (never married) • Etta Clark Shuck, had son, Walter • Mirava Clark Conkrite • Henry (never married) • Albert • Virgil All the daughters save Lottie had died by 1957 [per Rose Gilbert]. The Civil War Pension Index of Ancestry.com has a copy of Luther's pension index. It states that he was in the "B 185 Ohio Inf."; that on February 17, 1910, he applied for pension benefits (Appl. No. 346,477; Certificate No. 1,052,624), and on December 6, 1912, Emeline Clark, applied for widow's benefits (Appl. No. 997,539; Certificate No. 757,330).
iii.	Harmon Judson was born in Byron Township on February 22, 1843, and died on August 11, 1881. The Michigan Genealogical Death Indexing System gives his age at death as 38 years 6 months 20 days from which his birth date was calculated. It also gives his birth place as Ohio.
iv.	Washington Judson [#10]: He was born in Byron Township on December 14, 1844, and died in Kent County on February 9, 1908.
v.	Sarah Ann Judson was born in Byron Township on May 12, 1850, and died on May 5, 1852. She died in infancy. Data from her tombstone. Another source gives her birth date a Marcy 12, 1849.
vi.	Lewis Judson was born on December 2, 1852, and died in Byron Township on January 12, 1917. Lewis and Effie Judson and family: Leah, Ethel, Lewis, Bessie, Effie, Alma, and Herbert He is buried in Boynton Cemetery. He married Effie Norris. She was a cousin of Washington Judson's wife, Mary Lynn McKenney, and was living with Mary's parents in the 1870 and 1880 censuses (ages 6 and 16). Her death in Detroit was reported on March 28, 1939, in the Grand Rapids press. Their children were: Bessie Judson, born January 1882; her married name was Bessie Avitt, she lived in California. Herbert Judson, born January 12, 1884, Byron Center, died January 14, 1934, Grand Rapids, of scarlet fever. He and Anna Katherine Miller were married on April 5, 1910. (All per his granddaughter, Mary Ann Palmer.) Ethel Judson, born January 15, 1887; she married Chris Stein on September 3, 1908. Alma Judson, born September 1889; died 1940; buried Boynton Cemetery Leah Judson, born March, 1891; her married name was Leah Gable, she lived in Detroit. The list of children and information about them taken from the back of a photograph in Rose Judson Gilbert's collection and from the 1900 census. Rose also wrote: "I lived with the family a great deal and I never heard them quarrel in my life."

His second marriage was to Lovina Collester in Kent County on Wednesday, February 12, 1868. She took the name Lovina Judson. She was born in New York in 1808-1809. Her maiden name was Loomis; she was living in Wayland. His name was recorded as Ellis Judson; he was a farmer living in Byron.

Bertha Donnelly nee Dibble

Henry Donnelly Bertha's son?, husband? brother-in-law?

Rose (Judson) Gilbert, granddaughter of Ella and Nancy, always referred to them by these first names. However, since the death certificate of their son, Lewis, refers to her as Margaret, both names must apply to the same person. Also, land purchases in the late 1830s were made by Nancy Harmon and Margaret Harmon; again, most likely the same person. Rose Gilbert is the source of the children of this family, her parents, aunts and uncles.

Since Nancy/Margaret had enough money to buy/patent two 80-acre tracts of land, it is possible that her father, John (per Rose Gilbert), may have died in Ohio and left her enough money to do this.

The International Genealogical Index has two entries for the birth of Ella Judson (with the above parents). They both give Braceville, Trumbull, Ohio, about 1811. Both entries list his gender as "F".

The original marriage license for Ella Judson and Nancy "Harman" is in the possession of his great-great-granddaughter, Shirley (Judson) Cords. She has many other original documents.

Section 8	Section 9
F A I G C D H	B K   J E
A 1837 Nov 2; William Boynton B 1837 Nov 2; Jeremiah Boynton C 1837 Nov 2; Margaret Harmon D 1837 Nov 2; Ella Judson E 1837 Nov 2; John Harmon	F 1839 Oct 10; Jeremiah Boynton G 1839 Oct 10; Nancy Harmon H 1839 Oct 10; George Boynton I 1841 Aug 10; William Boynton J 1841 Nov 10; Jeremiah Boynton K 1848 Apr 15; Jeremiah Boynton

Per the Bureau Of Land Management — General Land Office Records, on November 2, 1837, Ella and Margaret bought adjacent 80-acre plots of land in section 8 of township 5-north of range 12-west (Kent County). These were land patents, the original purchase from the government. His was the W½ of the SE¼; hers was the E½ of the SW¼. This is about a month after their marriage license was dated. Since she used her maiden name, they probably were not married yet. John Harmon also bought (patented) 80 acres ¼-mile to the east: the W½ of the SW¼ of section 9.

Nancy/Margaret died when their youngest child, Lewis, was 3½ years old. He was born when she was about 43 and they had lost the previous child, Sarah Ann, at just under 2 years old. One could speculate that Nancy was weakened by the last births and fell prey to a passing disease. Fortunately, their oldest two children, Caroline and Emeline, were 18 and 16 respectively at their mother's death and probably ran the household and tended the younger children. 12 years later, Ella married Lovina Collester (nee Loomis). She had been living in Wayland, Michigan. Their marriage was recorded as: Judson, Ellis (w) 58, Byron, b. Ohio, occ. Farmer, and Lovina Collester (nee Loomis) (w) 59, Wayland, b. N.Y. State, 12 Feb., 1863, by Zenas Smith, J.P. Joseph Skinner and Zenas M. Smith, witnesses. 6:14

Ella's record of death appears on page 104, Liber 01, of Record of Death for Kent County, Michigan:

On page 805 of The City of Grand Rapids and Kent County, Up To Date, in an item on Washington Judson, is found the following.

... The father of these children [Ella Judson] was born near Cleveland, Ohio, about 1809, was reared to agricultural pursuits, was educated in the common schools, and supplemented that education by devoting his spare moments to self-instruction. He was a very industrious youth and began his business life as a poor boy in Cuyahoga county, Ohio, and in early manhood walked from his native county to Michigan. He reached Grand Rapids when it was an insignificant hamlet with but one log house, there worked for a Mr. Chubb on a farm for one year, and then, in 1836, located eighty acres of wild government land in section No. 8, Byron township. His son, Washington, the subject of this sketch, still has in his possession the original deed to this tract, executed November 2, 1837, and signed by the then president of the United States, Martin Van Buren. The land was purely virgin, as not a stick of timber had ever been cut from it, and the first habitation occupied there by Mr. Judson was a primitive log cabin, usual in those days, but he afterward developed a good farm from the forests with comfortable improvements. Among the other settlers in 1836 were Nathan, Jerry and William Boynton, brothers, and John Harmon and Harman Kellogg.

In politics Mr. Judson was a democrat, but his farm occupied his attention rather than office-holding, and his devotion to his own interests met with its reward. He was a warm friend of the public-school system, and religiously was a member of the Disciples' church, in the faith of which he passed away October 22, 1873. His wife [Nancy Harmon], who traced her ancestry to the puritans, was also a native of Ohio, and died May 25, 1856, at her home in Byron, also in the faith of the Disciples' church.

Since Nancy Harmon bought land in 1837 it is assumed that she, also, arrived in that year with her brother, John, and brother-in-law, Nathan Boynton (see later comments). The IGI shows a Nathan Boynton born 1809 in Orange, Ohio; parents: Caleb and Asenath (Hill) Boynton. Same parents for Jerry Boynton b. ~1812. Jerry H. Boynton married Mercie M. Smith 27Nov1860, Georgetown, Ottawa, Mich. Rose Judson did have an Aunt Mercy Boynton. Caleb Boynton of St. Lawrence, NY, m. Asenath Hill in 1804.

The History of Kent County, in the section on Byron Township, relates that Ella Judson settled in the township in 1838, shortly after the first settlers, the brothers Nathan, Jerry, and William Boynton, who had come in 1836. [Ella came in 1836, as well.] He is mentioned to have said that when he built his log house, he had to a distance of four miles to get men to help "raise," and could get only eight men at that.

During the first year the settlement of Byron progressed very slowly. It required a brave heart and a strong arm to encounter the dangers and hardships consequent upon opening up a new and heavily timbered country. But gradually the forests yielded to the pioneer's ax, and beautiful fields and thrifty orchards, comfortable dwellings and well-filled barns, have taken its place. Byron has already become one of the foremost agricultural townships in Kent county.

Other settlers of that time were John Harmon and James K. McKenney, brother of Samuel A. McKenney, as having purchased land in section 8 on November 7, 1836, the same date and section as Nancy Harmon's purchase.

The November 26, 1926, issue of The Byron Center Progress newspaper, contains the following information in a column headed "SETTLEMENT OF FIRST FARMS".

Ella Judson and John Harmon, brothers-in-law of Nathan Boynton, came about the same time in 1845; the first settling on section 8, the second on section 9. [They came in 1836.]

Plenty of Indians camped on the Ella Judson place then. Mr. Judson was clearing land and in cutting timber, threw an ax and killed a raccoon belonging to these Indians. ... a yellow ribbon [text missing] ... whereupon someone asked the Indians if they weren't going to give Jud a drink. The Indians replied: "No. Kill 'em coon." This shows their skill in ferreting out the killer and the fact that they never forget a wrong.

Caroline Judson, daughter of Nancy and Ella Judson, was the first white child born in Byron township. She was born on the farm already described.

Liber 36, page 498 of the Kent County land records shows that Ella Judson, Emeline Clark, Caroline and Harmon Judson, and John and Julia Harmon, all of Byron Township, purchased land in section 8 from William D. Tibbet on November 17, 1865. The plot map of Byron Township in 1873 shows 80 acres in section 8 as belonging to W and L Judson, probably Washington and Lewis Judson. A visit in January, 1983, to the farm house indicated on the map showed it to be in good condition and the farm obviously productive.

On page 607 of History of Kent County it is recorded that Nancy Harmon was one of the first land purchasers of Byron township, having purchased land in section 8 on November 7, 1836, before Michigan became a state. The Federal Land Patents for Kent County, Michigan, show the following land transactions in Byron Township. These were land patents, or original sales of property from public lands. Nancy Harman [sic], Margaret Harman, Ela [sic] Judson each bought 80 acres for $100 on November 7, 1836, in Section 8. The patents for all of the purchases made on this date were granted on November 2, 1937, except for Nancy and Margaret Harmon; Nancy's was granted on October 10, 1839, and it appears that Margaret's was never granted. William Boynton, Stephen O'Brien, George W. Boynton, and Jeremiah Boynton bought the remainder of the section. John "Harman" bought 80 acres at the same price, also on November 7, 1836, in Section 9. [Note that Nancy and Margaret are most likely the same person.]

Since the Boynton family is intertwined with the Harmon and Judson families, a few research findings will be given here. Caleb Boynton, b. St. Lawrence, New York, in 17__, married Asenath Hill in 1804. They lived in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. She was b. 1778 in Schoharie County, New York. She married first Thomas Garfield in 1794; he died in 1801. Caleb and Asenath had at least the following children:

• Amos Boynton b. 1805, lived in Orange, Ohio (just east of Cleveland)
• Jeremiah Boynton [d. 24 Nov 1871, age 57-2-29; b. 25 Aug 1814, NY]
• George W. Boynton
• William Boynton, b. Jan 1818 [d. 19 Dec 1873, age 55-10-27 b. 23 Jan 1818, NY]

Asenath Hill and Thomas Garfield were the grandparents of James A. (Pres.) Garfield.

The International Genealogical Index has two entries for the birth of Ella Judson (with the above parents). They both give Braceville, Trumbull, Ohio, about 1811. Both entries list his gender as "F".

• Walter J. and Rose (Judson) Gilbert
• D.A.R., "Cemetery Records of Wyoming, Byron, ..., Townships of Kent County, Michigan": Boynton Cemetery
• Marriages 1845–1870 from Kent County Court Files (1936)
• GENDIS: Michigan Genealogical Death Index System.
• Mary Ann Palmer, August, 2002 (daughter of Leona Josephine Judson who was the third child of Herbert and Anna Katherine (Miller) Judson.)
• LDS Family Search site.