Littlefield Family

Josiah Loomis Littlefield, was born in Flat Rock, Wayne County, Michigan, July 3, 1845, the son of Daniel and Mary Hall Littlefield. Soon after his birth, the family moved to Gibraltar, six miles from Flat Rock, where Daniel supported his family by operating a sawmill with his brother-in-law Henry Woodruff. Josiah in later years blamed business worries and failures for his father's early death in 1850.

After her husband's death, Mary Littlefield moved her sons (Josiah, Wesley, and Cyrus) to an eighty acre farm at Swan Creek, Monroe County, where the family had lived earlier. With the help of her young sons and occasional hired men, she commenced to farm the land and teach school at near-by Grafton. The family remained here until 1865.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Cyrus joined the 1st Michigan Cavalry. He contracted typhoid during his second year in the army which the family said affected his mind; this was by way, in part, of explaining his subsequent desertion from the army.

In 1865, Mary moved to Ann Arbor, bought a house on the corner of Church Street and Washtenaw Avenue, and entered Josiah in the Ann Arbor High School to prepare him for the University of Michigan. Josiah spent the years from 1867 to 1871 as a student at the university and graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering. Short descriptions of student life are found in Josiah's autobiography (this autobiography was privately printed under the title Josiah Littlefield, Lumberman-Conservationist; An Autobiography ) and his diary (a microfilm of the original diary is located in this library).

After graduation, Josiah moved to Farwell, Clare County, Michigan as county surveyor. He became active in local concerns, serving as Township Treasurer, Village Council member, Superintendent of the Union Sunday School, and a member of the Methodist Church Board of Trustees. About 1875, Josiah began operation of a lumber mill which he continued for the rest of his working life.

Josiah's work in surveying, buying up woodland as a source of supply for his lumber mill, and as the person in charge of the sale of lots for the Farwell Land Company gave him considerable opportunity to observe land speculation and the rise in prices of land. (see Mary Hall Littlefield folder: Letters from Josiah Littlefield, November 26, 1871, and March 26, 1872; also see Edmund Hall folder: Letter, February 17, 1841 from Daniel Littlefield; and letter, July 1886, from Gradus Deyoe).

At the same time Josiah was cutting trees for his lumber business, he began to set aside preserves of trees as a conservation effort. Filibert Roth, professor at the University of Michigan and member of the Michigan Forestry Commission, as well as early proponent of reforestation, encouraged Littlefield's efforts in this direction. A gift of ten acres of land to the Farwell school on which students planted 16,000 seedlings was one of the ways in which Josiah tried to create an interest in forestry and conservation.

An adjunct to lumbering activities was clearing former forest areas and turning this land into productive farm land. Josiah's agricultural interests led him to experiments in growing sugar beets and alfalfa in the 1930's and an involvement with the Farmers' Institutes in Clare County.

From the guide to the Littlefield Family Papers, 1834-1935, (Bentley Historical Library University of Michigan)