Charleston was a settlement in Allendale Township, Ottawa County, Michigan. [1] It began as a trading settlement to exchange goods with the local Native Americans in 1810, constructed by Pierre Constant.
According to the Honorable William M. Ferry, "The first trader who located in what was Ottawa County--then embracing Muskegon county--was Pierre Constant, a Frenchman, of the type that advanced guard of pioneers--Marquette, LaSalle, Joliet, and Tonti--who, two hundred years before, invaded and brought to the world the great Northwest. [Constant] was of the chevalier order of men--brave, honorable, and undaunted, amid all dangers. In 1810, he engaged with the British Fur Company, then having a depot at Mackinaw, as a trader; and with his supply of merchandise coasted along the shore of Lake Michigan, and established a trading post on Grand River, near what is now called Charleston, and another on the banks of Muskegon Lake." [2]
Charleston was platted in 1836. However the sawmill was removed in 1872 and the village ceased to exist.
Ottawa County is a county located in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the United States 2020 Census, the population was 296,200. The county seat is Grand Haven. The county is named for the Ottawa Nation. It was set off in 1831 and organized in 1837.
Muskegon County is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of 2020, the population was 175,824. The county seat is Muskegon.
Kent County is located in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 Census, the county had a population of 657,974, making it the fourth-most populous county in Michigan, and the largest outside of Metro Detroit. Its county seat is Grand Rapids. The county was set off in 1831, and organized in 1836. It is named for New York jurist and legal scholar James Kent, who represented the Michigan Territory in its dispute with Ohio over the Toledo Strip.
Emmet County is a county located in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the northernmost county in the Lower Peninsula. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 34,112. The county seat is Petoskey.
Muskegon is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Muskegon County. Muskegon is known for fishing, sailing regattas, pleasure boating, and as a commercial and cruise ship port. It is a popular vacation destination because of the expansive freshwater beaches, historic architecture, and public art collection. It is the most populous city along the western shore of Michigan. At the 2020 census the city population was 38,318. It is at the southwest corner of Muskegon Township, but is administratively autonomous.
Allendale is a census-designated place (CDP) in Ottawa County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 17,579 at the 2010 census. It is located within Allendale Charter Township, occupying approximately the northern two-thirds of the township, from the eastern boundary with the Grand River west along Pierce St., north along 75th Ave., then west along Lake Michigan Drive (M-45) to the western boundary of the township. It is a part of the Grand Rapids-Muskegon-Holland, Michigan combined statistical area, and is an exurb of Grand Rapids, due to its major commuter routes into the city.
Allendale Charter Township is a charter township of Ottawa County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 Census, the township population was 26,583. It is a part of the Grand Rapids metropolitan area and is a suburb of Grand Rapids due to its major commuter routes into the city.
Chester Township is a civil township of Ottawa County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 United States Census, the township population was 2,315.
Crockery Township is a civil township of Ottawa County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the township population was 3,960.
The Grand River is a river in the southwestern portion of the southern peninsula of Michigan, United States, that flows into Lake Michigan's southeastern shore. It is the longest river in Michigan, running 252 miles (406 km) from its headwaters in Hillsdale County on the southern border north to Lansing and west to its mouth on the Lake at Grand Haven.
West Michigan and Western Michigan are terms for an arbitrary region in the U.S. state of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Most narrowly it refers to the Grand Rapids-Muskegon-Holland area, and more broadly to most of the region along the Lower Peninsula's Lake Michigan shoreline, but there is no official definition.
Eastmanville is an unincorporated community at the southern edge of Polkton Township of Ottawa County in the U.S. state of Michigan.
The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians is a federally recognized Native American tribe located in northwest Michigan on the Leelanau Peninsula. Sam McClellan is the current tribal chairman, elected in June 2016 to a four-year term after succeeding Al Pedwaydon, who served from 2012 to 2016.
Joseph Bailly was a fur trader and a member of an important French Canadian family that included his uncle, Charles-François Bailly de Messein.
Rix Robinson (1789–1875) was a Michigan pioneer. He was a fur trader and the first permanent Euro-American settler of Kent County, Michigan, a representative to the state constitutional convention of 1850 and a state senator.
Michigan's 2nd congressional district is a United States congressional district in Western Michigan. From 2003 to 2013 It consisted of the counties of Benzie, Manistee, Wexford, Mason, Lake, Oceana, Newaygo, Muskegon, Ottawa, and the northern portion of Allegan and the northwest portion of Kent. The borders were altered slightly for redistricting in 2012.
The Grand Rapids metropolitan area is a triangular shaped Metro Triplex, in West Michigan, which fans out westward from the primary hub city of Grand Rapids, Michigan, to the other two metro hubs of Muskegon and Holland. The metropolitan area had an estimated population of 1,059,113 in 2017. The region, noted in particular for its western edge abutting the Lake Michigan shoreline and its beaches, is a popular tourist and vacation destination during the summer. Noted popular metro area beach towns include Grand Haven, Holland, Muskegon, and Saugatuck.
The recorded history of Grand Rapids in the U.S. state of Michigan, began with settlers in 1806.
The Campau family of Detroit, Michigan, was established when brothers Michel and Jacques Campau settled in Detroit, Michigan in 1707 and 1708, respectively. Jacques, Joseph Campau, and Barnabé Campau are among the Barons of Detroit, according to Richard R. Elliott, because they had "ancestral virtues most worthily perpetuated."
Wabiwindego (d.1837), also spelled Wobwindego, Wobiwidigo, or Wabaningo, and known among the Ojibwe as Waabishkindip, was a leader of the Grand River Band of Ottawa in what would become the U.S. State of Michigan. He negotiated the 1836 Treaty of Washington with the federal government on behalf of the Grand River Ottawa, leading to the admission of the State of Michigan to the Union. Several villages he led formed the basis for several modern Michigan towns, including Lowell, Whitehall, and Montague.