A Confederate General's Connection To Genesee County

Deeds I noticed while thumbing through the pages of Liber 58 in the Genesee County, Michigan, Register of Deeds office (the name "Longstreet" jumped out at me). A Confederate General Connection in Genesee County? Wow!

The "Flint General Motors Celebration - History" explained the relationship of the deeds' Grantee (Mrs. Maria Stockton) and the "Garland" Grantors.

Flint had its beginnings in 1819 when fur trader Jacob Smith set up a permanent trading station at the Grand Traverse... . ...Smith enjoyed a close friendship with the Ojibway chief Neome...and he was adopted into the Ojibway tribe. During the Saginaw Treaty negotiations of 1819; Smith and his children, under their Indian names, received tracts of land north of the Flint River within the current city limits of Flint.

Two of Smith’s daughters later married prominent Flint residents. Maria married Colonel Thomas Stockton; Harriet married Major John Garland. Garland’s daughters, Louisa and Mary, also married military men who later served as Confederate officers, General James Longstreet and Colonel George Deas.

Genesee Co., MI
Liber "58", Page "241"
10 October 1866
$1,750.00
Maria L. Longstreet, late of Virginia, and heir-at-law of General John Garland, deceased
To
Mrs. Maria G. Stockton of Flint, Genesee County, Michigan

All unsold portions of that part of Section 8, Smith's Reservation, Genesee County, Michigan --- Thread River, North by Flint River - East by west line of Section 7 in Smith's Reservation and South by Court Street
City of Flint.........
Notarized in the State of Mississippi, Noxubee County
Witnesses: W. D. Longstreet & _ S. Davies
.....apart from her said husband James Longstreet.....

Genesee Co., MI
Liber "58", Page "242"
10 October 1866
David S. Garland by Administrator
To
Maria G. Stockton
Henry Lovell, administrator of the estate of John Garland, deceased, and David S. Garland, heir-at-law of said John Garland, deceased, by H. R. Lovell his attorney of the first part, and Mrs. Maria Stockton of Flint, Michigan, of the second part...all unsold portions of Section 8 Smith's Reservation...Genesee County, Michigan....by west line Section 7....on plat of Stockton's ...addition to Village of Flint....not sold during lifetime of General Garland....
Witnesses: C. F. Bridgeman and William L. Smith

Genesee Co., MI
Liber "58", Page "243"
10 October 1866
$1,700.00
Mary E. Deas (Known as Bessie Deas)
To
Maria Stockton of Flint, Michigan
Mary E. Deas (Known as Bessie Deas) daughter and heir-at-law of General John Garland, deceased, late of the State of Virginia and now of the State of New York of the 1st part...
Section 8.....
Notarized in New York, New York
Witnesses: F. J. Whiting & William H. Riblet, Notary Public in New York

Genesee Co., MI
Liber "58", Page "244"
10 October 1866
$1,750.00
John S. Garland, of Baltimore, Maryland
To
Maria Stockton of Flint, Michigan
John S. Garland, of Baltimore, Maryland, heir-at-law of General John Garland, deceased....
Witnesses: John S. Hollingshead and John D. Bloor?
Notarized in Washington, D.C. by the Commissioner of Deeds for Michigan in Washington, D.C.

Apparently the Jacob Smith to John (& Harriet) Garland to Maria (& Thomas) Stockton path to land ownership near the Flint River was not smooth and was contested by Nancy (Smith) Crane, purported to be the daughter of Jacob Smith. A letter from John Garland regarding the Jacob Smith property can be found here.

See additional details at my "Detour Through History" blog.