Descendants of Moses THOMPSON
and
Margaret MORRIS

The second wedding was that of Alvin L. CRITTENCEN and Jane THOMPSON which occurred August 27 of that same year (1836). Their wedding was made a social event, They were the first couple in the county to be married by a minister, Rev. John COSART performing the ceremony. Mr. CRITTENDEN borrowed a rig and drove to South Lyon the next day for a wedding trip, the first taken by any couple from Howell. Their wedding feast was right up to the very highest point of luxury in those days. Its central dish was a young pig nicely roasted and standing on a platter.

That following winter Mr. CRITTENDEN got out the lumber and built a house on a farm bought with the savings from his year's work at SAGE's. He would get out a hardwood log at home, draw it to the saw mill at the foot of the lake just east of the head of the present flume, and go on to the pinery west of what is now the town, where he would cut a pine log to be left at the mill on his return. By the time the oxen had made the round trip it was night, During the evening he would saw the two logs into lumber and get ready to repeat the round trip the next day. The old house stood up the bank from the little lake on the M^cPHERSON farm in the north part of this township and was torn down only a year or two ago. Mr. and Mrs. Crittenden only lived in it a year or two when they bought the farm which has been in the family since and is now owned by W. W. CRITTENDEN and Mr. and Mrs. H. D. KIRTLAND. They lived there until 1854 when Mr. CRITTENDEN joined the M. E. conference, He served regular pastorates for twenty-six years when he and his wife returned to Howell to live.

The meetings commenced by Deacon BRANCH in 1835, at Eagle Hotel, were soon held from house to house. Some time in January, 1836, a Presbyterian clergyman named Wm. PAGE, stopped at Deacon BRANCH's and word was sent out for services which were held at the Deacon's house in Marion. This was the first sermon in this vicinity but it remained for Rev. Johnathan POST a Baptist clergyman to preach the first sermon in this township, which he did sometime in February at the home of George T. SAGE. In April or May of the same year the second sermon in this township was preached at Moses THOMPSON's and was by Rev. Mr. KANOUSE, a Presbyterian clergyman. Some time in April or May A. L. CRITTENDEN walked to Ore Creek, (now Brighton) to attend a Methodist meeting which he heard was to be held there. While at this meeting he arranged for Rev. John COSART to come to Howell in four weeks and preach and form a class. By some mistake the notice was given a week to soon, The people assembled but as no preacher came they decided, after a prayer meeting, to organize, and elected Pardon BARNARD chairman and A. L. CRITTENDEN secretary of the meeting. No class book was to be had so A. L. CRITTENDEN who was elected leader, folded a sheet of writing paper to make a book, ruled it and entered the names of members therein. The original book is now a keepsake of the family and contained the following names as the original class: "Alvin L. CRITTENDEN, Pardon BARNARD, Eliza Ann BARNARD, Peter BREWER, Dorcas BREWER. Sylvester ROUNDS, Polly ROUNDS, Asahel ROUNDS, Mary SAGE, Nathaniel JOHNSON," Rev. COSART came the next Sunday, probably early in June, and preached the third sermon in the township, the first by a Methodist minister. He acknowledged the proceedings of organization and reported it to the Ohio conference who sent Rev. Washington JACKSON as a missionary to Livingston County, during that fall. This was the first church organization in the township. Pardon BARNARD and A. L. CRITTENDEN were licensed as exorters by this class, November 4, 1836.

CHILDREN of Jane THOMPSON and Alvin L. CRITTENDEN:

   91. 1. AMANTHA M.  b:    Nov 1840; , Livingston, Michigan.
                      d:  2 Sep 1860; 
   92. 2. MARGARET L. b:    Abt 1842; , Livingston, Michigan.
   93. 3. SARAH       b:    Abt 1844; , Livingston, Michigan.
   94. 4. WESLEY      b:    Aug 1846; , Livingston, Michigan.
                     md:            ; , , Michigan.
                                      Eliza A. ??
                     md:        1889; , Livingston, Michigan.
                                      Susan M. SMITH
                      d: 24 Jul 1918; 
   95. 5. URUSLA      b:    Abt 1848; , Livingston, Michigan.
 + 96. 6. ELIHU D.    b:    Mar 1953; , , Michigan.
                     md:            ; 
                                      Harriet E. KIRTLAND.
                     md:    Abt 1889; , , Michigan.
                                      Rinda E.  ??
                      d: 31 Aug 1928;
 + 97. 7. ALVIN RILEY b:    Jul 1859; , , Michigan.
                     md:    Abt 1888; , , Michigan.
                                      Jane (Jennie) L. FIELD
                     md:    Abt 1868; , Livingston, Michigan.
                                      Jane BUSH
                      d: 18 Jun 1933; , , Michigan.
 

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