Land at Pentwater,
Michigan
On 1st May 1858, John Mettes paid cash
to buy 80 acres of land at the Land Office of IONIA, becoming the first
private owner of this property. This land was in township 14 North range
17 West. Martinus James and Mary Euzenia were born in or near Pentwater,
Michigan, in the early 1860s. Therefore, Pentwater is the most likely
location of the land, but this could be verified using the details of the
land below.
The townships were six-mile-square land blocks which
were the original divisions of land from the federal land grants. The
townships were then divided into 36 one-mile squares. The township
numbering was the north-south numbering, starting from the center line.
The range numbering was the east-west numbering, starting from the center
line.
The section is the one-mile-square portion (approximately
640 acres) of a township. That section was further subdivided into equal
parts, in this case John bought 80 acres in this section.
Interestingly, Peter Sleutel bought another part of 80 acres in
that same section, on the same date (document nr 15811, while John's
document nr was 15810), so they were probably neighbours. The families
must have known each other well, as the name Peter Sleutel indicates that
Peter was from Dutch descent ("sleutel" means "key" in English) and that
Peter was probably speaking Dutch.
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