From the Owosso, Michigan History Index

One of the first white men was Henry Bolieu, a fur trapper, who had several shelters along the Shiawassee River.

In 1825, the completion of the Erie Canal brought many people from New York to the Great Lakes region. Major Oliver Williams and his family had been among the first settlers in 1819 in the area of northern Oakland County. Major Williams' sons, Ephraim and Gardner, helped settle Saginaw in the 1820's, while his other sons, Alfred and Benjamin, moved on to Shiawassee County.

While on his way to Saginaw to visit his brothers, Benjamin Williams stopped at a bend in the Shiawassee River. He was impressed with the drop in the river and envisioned the potential source of power for saw and grist mills. Benjamin Williams went back and told his brother Alfred of the possibilities of this area and together they started purchasing land in August of 1833.

The brothers not only bought land in what became the original plat of Owosso, but they influenced Elias Comstock (a former teacher in Pontiac) to buy land nearby. Comstock in 1836, built the first permanent home in the original plat.

Comstock's Cabin is preserved today in Owosso's Historic Park, and furnished authentically representing the period. Until 1839 the settlement was known as the Big Rapids.

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