I have been on this list for a long time..... This is just an interesting observation...... I live in MI. We have in my area several places with names like: Pine Grove Twp., Deerfield Twp., Columbia Twp, Jerico, Brownsvillle, Bear Lake(now Berlamont), Gobleville(now Gobles), Breedsville, and a lot of others .... I enjoy matching these places with the ancestors who I think brought them here. Michigan must have been settled by a lot of people from NY/PA who migrated here together. But I guess this follows right on down in history all acrossed the land.....It still makes me wonder who brought each particular name to MI. And how it was decided what to name each place. There is a little story regarding Bear Lake, MI. It is in the Bloomingdale Centenial Book compiled about theVan Buren County Area surrounding Bloomingdale. In the late 1800's one of the Prominant Women in the area thought the name Berl La Mont better described their small town. And the named was changed. I wondered exactly how this was accomplished. But the name has remained the same from that day to this. Have fun researching and enjoy the Holidays. Char in MI R8459@aol.com wrote: > Akeley - A village in Pine Grove township. Tradition says the crossroads at > Akeley got its name from Levi Akeley, Jr., who settled here after his father > and mother came from Brattleboro, Vermont, in 1828. The family originally > settled on the east side of Conewango Creek, opposite Russell, which land was > owned by Levi's older brother, Joseph, who arrived in 1815 and purchased six > hundred acres of land. While Joseph Akeley spelled his name as Akeley, the > form now in use, there was a period of years during which some of the family > spelled it Ackley. The post office was Ackley Station from 1878 to 1904 but > during that year the name changed to Akeley. The Grange, however, still > clings to Ackley. The first bridge across Conewango Creek at this point was > built prior to 1846 and three bridges have stood here, one having been built > as a covered bridge. The present steel bridge was built about 1900 and was > heavy enough to carry the track of the Warren and Jamestown Street Railway > Company from 1905 to 1929. > > Alcuin - A small and brief utopian settlement on the Homer Preston farm, near > Lander, Farmington township. Named for Alcuin, the English scholar who aided > Charlemagne in the revival of learning at the Court of Franks, 735-804. On a > farm of thirty-six acres that had been given to the Order of St. Benedictine, > Inc. St. John's Abbey, of Collegeville, Minnesota, a small band of devoted > Roman Catholics, chiefly from the New York City area, established a > craft-agrarian community in February 1940. The group learned farming methods > from Rod Carlson, a farmer who had been living on the farm. Although they > worked hard and long, the advent of World War II doomed the society; some of > the members were drafted, others became discouraged and left to take good > paying jobs in industry, and new recruits could not be obtained. Following > the end of World War II, the farm was sold to Robert Sukoski, one of the > original members of the community, and he operated it until 1953 when he sold > it to Calvin Penly, a farmer from Ohio. > > Althom Station - A small settlement in Deerfield township. Named by the > railroad, this was a shipping point for lumber and silica sand. The AL part > of the name came from the Allegheny River and THOM came from Robert Thompson, > hence AL-THOM. Thompson, an early settler engaged in the lumber trade, was a > river pilot, and owned large tracts of land. > > Dennis R. Davis > R8459@aol.com