In 1833, John Wesley Conant (1801-1877) left New York and settled his family in Van Buren Township, Wayne County, Michigan. The family purchased a farm on Denton Road and built a one and one-half story frame house that, as of 1989, was listed (after its relocation to Salem Township) on the State Register of Historic Places. John Wesley and wife Alice Van Pelt had three daughters and three sons. Their son John Stoughton Conant (1837-1897) became the next owner of the Conant farmstead in Van Buren Township.
On February 20, 1863, John Stoughton was drafted into Company H, Fourth Infantry and joined the regiment at Falmouth, Virginia on March 23, 1963. As a soldier during the Civil War, John Stoughton fought at the Battle of Gettysburg. He was later discharged at the expiration of term of service on November 11, 1863. Soon after, Conant married Cynthia Anne Lamkin (1845-1918) in Ypsilanti. The couple had three children, Mary (b. 1865), Ellen (b. 1868) and Eugene (b. 1880).
After the death of John Stoughton, Eugene Conant became the official owner of the family farm; however, his sisters Mary and Ellen continued to live in the family home. Along with sharing the home with his sisters, Eugene Conant and his wife Ella May Glass raised their two children Hebert Eugene (1905-1999) and Edith Belle (1907-1930) in the John Wesley Conant House.
Herbert Eugene married Olive Neubert in 1940. The couple moved into the Conant house with aunts Mary and Ellen. In 1941-1942, the Conant family received multiple offers to sell their farm to Henry Ford. The family declined to sell their land at the time; however, they were forced to move in 1942 when their land was purchased with the aim of building the Willow Run Bomber Plant. The family moved the John Wesley farmhouse and other outbuildings to its current location on the Bowers-Walker farm in Salem Township, Washtenaw County, Michigan.
From the guide to the Conant Family papers, 1833-2001, (Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan)
