Original Highland Township Landowner George W. Putnam (Putman) George Washington Putnam (also sometimes "Putman") was born circa 1800, the son of Reuben and Huldah/Mahuldah (Cummings) Putnam. His family is said to have lived in Hanover, New Hampshire, at the time of his birth, but by 1810 had removed to Thetford, Vermont. Ten years later Reuben Putnam appears on the 1820 Census for Parma, Genesee (now Monroe) County, New York. George W. Putnam married Melinda Hosner, the daughter of Christopher Hosner of Monroe County, New York. Around 1835 they brought their family to Oakland County, Michigan. It does not appear, however, that they ever occupied the 80 acres George W. Putnam purchased in Highland Township. Putnam may instead have stayed for a time with his father-in-law, Christopher Hosner, who by then had settled in Milford, Oakland County, and/or with his brother-in-law, Edward Hazen, husband of Hannah Putnam, who was an early settler in Novi, Oakland County. By the time of the 1840 Census "G. W. Putnam" is shown living in Salem Township, Washtenaw County. Soon after, however, Putnam moved to Farmington, Oakland County, where he died September 4, 1845. His estate papers describe him as a farmer and blacksmith. Some claim Melinda (Hosner) Putnam preceded her husband in death earlier that same year, while others suggest she remarried, but in all events the couple's children were made wards of their uncle, Edward Hazen. |
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