Smith, George Nelson, 1807-1881

George N. Smith was born, 0ct. 25, 1807, near Swanton, Vt., and died in Northport, Mich., Apr. 5, 1881. He learned the millwright trade, taught school, and studied for the ministry. On July 4, 1830, he married Arvilla Almira Powers of St. Albans, Vt. On May 8, 1833, they left Vermont for Michigan, and settled at Gull Prairie, where he taught and did carpentry work. On Feb. 5, 1836, he was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of St. Joseph; on Jan. 13, 1837, he was appointed to do missionary work at Plainwell at a salary of $200, and was ordained April 7 as the first Congregational minister in Michigan. The following January he was appointed general agent of the Western Society of Michigan to work among the Indians. On Aug. 2, 1839, he settled near present-day Holland, where he worked with the Indians until 1849, when the growing Dutch settlement caused him to remove his charges to the site of Northport, formerly Waukazoo. Smith was a Whig and later a Republican; served as Judge of probate, treasurer of Leelanaw County, and in other capacities. Although at one time bitterly opposed to Masonry, he later joined and was buried with Masonic rites. He had ten children. (from Mich.Pio.Colls., XXX, 190-212 ; Wait-Anderson, "Old Settlers" ; Mich. Hist. Mag, I, 94-95 ; "The Traverse Region", 233ff.) (blue index cards)

Pioneer Congregational minister in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, and missionary to the Indians.

Educator, farmer, and missionary.

George Smith, born in Vermont and trained as a millwright, headed west to Michigan in the early 1830s. He taught school and worked as a carpenter for several years until, in 1835, he received an appointment to preach. In 1836 he was licensed to preach and ordained as the first congregational minister in Michigan. Soon after Smith's ordination, Chief Joseph Waukazoo asked the government for a Protestant mission. Smith was sent to Allegan as a missionary to Waukazoo's Ottawa tribe. A settlement, the Old Wing Mission, was built near Black Lake and consisted of a church, a school, and several homes. Under increasing pressure from the heavy number of Dutch immigrants, the mission moved north in the late 1840s.