Witherell, Benjamin Franklin Hawkins, 1797-1867

B.F.H. Witherell was born in Fair Haven, Vt. on Aug. 4, 1797. Educated in a private school in Troy, N.Y., he studied law and was admitted to the Michigan Bar in Detroit in 1819. Witherell became a prosecuting attorney and probate judge of Wayne County; in 1843 he was judge of the district judge of the criminal court of Wayne, Washtenaw and Jackson counties. He was also historiographer of Detroit in 1855. From 1857 until his death ten years later, Witherell was Circuit Court judge of Wayne County. He was a member of the Michigan legislature, serving several terms, including a member of the State Constitutional Convention in 1850. Judge Witherell was president of the Michigan Historical Society. He died in Detroit, Mich. on Jun. 26, 1867

James Witherell (1759-1838) was the father of B.F.H. Witherell, and served as commandant in the Michigan Territorial Militia during the war of 1812. He owned a medical practice in Vermont.