History of the Michigan Society

The Michigan Coat of Arms adopted at the Constitutional Convention of 1835.

April 1, 1897 was the day that the Michigan Society of Colonial Wars was organized. Early on, Pontiac, an Ottawa war chief, was an important symbol to the group. May 7 was established as the date to hold the Annual Spring Court, as this was the day that Pontiac launched his siege of Fort Detroit in 1763. May 13, 1897 was the day it was chartered by the General Council. On November 18, 1897, the officers were elected.

The original mission of the Society was “the encouragement of interest in the history of the Northwest during the Colonial period and the suitable marking of spots of historical note.” It was established that “no party political question of the day, or controversial religious subjects, shall be discussed or considered at any Court of the Society.” Membership was limited to one hundred members who shall “hold a celebration commemorative of some martial event in Colonial history, and dine together at least once in each year.” A nine-member Council (“Gentlemen of the Council”) would govern. Dues were established at $10 per year.

The first Governor of the Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Michigan was Frederick Trowbridge Sibley (1852-1916). He was a Detroit attorney, and a descendant of John Sibley, who arrived in 1629 from Dorsetshire, England. He was the great-great grandson of Commander Abraham Whipple, who burnt the British customs schooner Gaspee in 1772 in one of the first acts of the American Revolution. Sibley’s grandfather was Solomon Sibley (1769-1846). Solomon Sibley arrived in Detroit in 1797. As one of only two lawyers in Detroit, he was instrumental in the incorporation of Detroit as a town in 1802. He was appointed Detroit’s first mayor in 1806 by Governor William Hull. He commanded a company of riflemen during the unsuccessful defense of Detroit during the War of 1812, in which Governor Hull surrendered Detroit. From 1815-1823, he served as the first United States Attorney for the Michigan Territory, which extended to Iowa and North and South Dakota. During this time, he negotiated the 1821 Treaty of Chicago with the Native American tribes to cede most of southwest Michigan. From 1824-1837, he was one of three Judges on the Michigan Territorial Supreme Court, appointed by President James Monroe. He was Chief Justice from 1827-1837. Sibley was also one of the founding families of the city of Pontiac, Michigan. Sibley was also the grandson of former Detroit mayor Charles Trowbridge, who participated in the 1820 Cass Expedition.

The first Deputy-Governor and only two-time governor, Theodore Horatio Eaton Jr., (1842-1910) was the son of a 19th century Detroit industrialist, Theodore Horatio Eaton Sr. At the time of his death, according to the Resolution of the Michigan Chapter: “Next to his family and his church, his greatest affection and interest was in the Society of the Colonial Wars, in the State of Michigan, of which he was a charter member in November, 1897, then elected its first deputy governor, which office he held until May 7, 1900, when he was elected governor of the Society. This office he held for a period of three years, and again in 1908-1909. He was a delegate to nearly all the sessions of the general assembly and whether in office or not, he was constantly solicitous for the welfare of the Society.”

The other 11 of the 13 charter members of the Society were a “who’s who” of Detroit history. They were: William Charles McMillan, Truman Handy Newberry, Sidney Trowbridge Miller, John Newbury Bagley, Charles Albert DuCharme, Henry Whipple Skinner, Rev. William Prall, Rufus Woodward Gillette, Henry Kirke Lathrop Jr., Benjamin Hand Scranton, and Henry Hawes Meday.

William Charles McMillan (1861-1907) was the son of Senator James McMillan, an industrialist, philanthropist, and politician pivotal to Detroit and Michigan’s industrial and political growth in the late 1800s. Senator McMillan’s wife, Lucy Wetmore, was descended from both Lieutenant Joseph Kellogg (1626-1707), who commanded troops in the famous Turner’s Falls Fight during King Philip’s War in 1676, and Captain Nicholas Olmsted (1612-1684), another veteran of King Philip’s War and one of the founders of Hartford, Connecticut.

Truman Handy Newberry (1864-1945) was the son of John S. Newberry, a friend and business partner of Senator McMillan. Truman was one of the founders of the Packard Motor Car Company in 1902. He served as the Secretary of the Navy in 1908-1909, and was a U.S. Senator from 1919-1922.

Sidney Trowbridge Miller (1864-1940) was a prominent attorney, and cousin to Frederick Trowbridge Sibley. Thus, he was also a descendant of former Detroit mayor Charles Trowbridge and Commander Abraham Whipple.

John Newbury Bagley (1860-1929) was the first treasurer. He was the son of John Judson Bagley, a tobacco magnate, who later served two terms as Michigan Governor from 1873-1877.

Charles Albert DuCharme (1858-1925) was the first secretary. He was the son of one the founders of the Detroit Stove Works which helped make Detroit the “Stove Center of America.”

Henry Whipple Skinner (1852-1916) was the first registrar and historian. He was descended from Deputy Governor Samuel Symonds, brother-in law to John Winthrop Jr., and Captain John Putnam, whose family was intimately involved in the Salem Witch trials in 1692.

Rev. William Prall (1853-1933) was the pastor of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Detroit from 1891-1900. He was chaplain.

Rufus Woodward Gillett(e) (1825-1906) was the great grandson of both Israel Woodward, a captain in the French and Indian War, and Lieut. Shubael Griswold, who fought in both the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War. He is also a descendant of Augustus B. Woodward, the Michigan Territorial Judge and namesake of Woodward Avenue.

Henry Kirke Lathrop Jr. (1847-1916) was a dental surgeon, who married Warrior Rufus Woodward Gillett’s eldest daughter. Like fellow Warrior Gillett, he is descended from Israel Woodward, a captain in the French and Indian War, and Lieut. Shubael Griswold, who fought in both the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War.

Benjamin Hand Scranton (1856-1936) was descended from Captain Ichabod Scranton, who commanded 74-man company during successful campaigns in upstate New York in 1759. He and his troops contracted smallpox in 1760, and were buried in the Smallpox Burying Ground in East Guilford, New York.

With the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in 1898, Warrior Truman Handy Newberry served aboard the USS Yosemite. The Michigan Society awarded him a Silver Medal in 1899.

On July 31, 1902, on the 139th anniversary of the Battle of Bloody Run in 1763, the Society placed a plaque near the site of Pontiac’s victory over British Captain James Dalyell’s troops. In 1977, it was replaced by a Michigan State Historical Marker.

The shortest term of any Governor of the Michigan Society was 76-year-old Alfred Russell, who was once chosen by Abraham Lincoln to serve as the United States District Attorney for the State of Michigan. However, on May 8, 1906, as he delivered his acceptance speech, while pointing skyward to invoke God, he suffered a fatal heart attack.

1908 marked the addition of arguably the most auspicious member: Clarence Monroe Burton as the registrar and historian. Burton, who would later establish the Detroit Historical Society, was Detroit’s preeminent historian, author, and artifact collector. His most important contribution was the Society’s 1912 publication of the Journal of Pontiac’s Conspiracy, 1763. He served as the Society’s historian until his death in 1932.

Many society members served in military and civilian capacities during World War I. Meetings were suspended from May 1918 to December 1919. In 1920, bronze medals were bestowed on five Michigan Warriors in the Army, including James Thayer McMillan, and on four in the Navy, including Truman Handy Newberry. Sidney Trowbridge Miller served as the head of the Red Cross campaign in Michigan.

The Great Depression, and the resignation or death of key members like Clarence Burton, caused the Society to decline precipitously. When World War II started in earnest in June 1944, the Society ceased all operations for the next 40 years.

In early 1984, Warriors Thomas P. Curtis and Donald MacDonald Dickinson Thurber resurrected the Michigan Society. On September 23, Warrior Thurber invited all Michigan Warriors to his home and an interim Council of five officers were selected. In 1985, the group sought and received reinstatement from the General Society. A year later, the Constitution and By-Laws were formally adopted. In May 1986, the first Spring Court was held since 1943. At that time, a new seal was adopted, which celebrates the Michigan’s multicultural heritage: French, British, Spanish, and Native American.

In December 1986, the Society lost is only remaining link to the pre-1944 society: Harold Hunter Emmons, Jr. Emmons, who served as an Army Major during World War II, famously served as one of only two U.S. attorneys who defended 300 Japanese commandants and camp guards against charges of atrocities against U.S. POWs.

In 1994, the Michigan Society hosted the General Council at the historic Dearborn Inn. Since then, Mackinac Island has been the site of the Old Northwest Court four times, most recently in 2024.

The current Governor, Francis Wetmore McMillan II, is the descendant of one of the charter members, William Charles McMillan. Under McMillan’s leadership, with help from David Trebing, former Governor General of the GSCW, the General Society made an unprecedented gift to the Detroit Historical Society’s to reimagine their “Frontiers to Factories” exhibit in 2021.

In 2024, the General Society will again hold its Old Northwest Summer Court on beautiful Mackinac Island, marking the fourth time.

We currently have 31 members of our chapter, with the newest member being Cleveland Thurber III, who is the son of the Honorable Cleveland Thurber Jr.