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Lenawee County By John J. Adam, February 7th, 1878.
One of the earliest settlements in the county, after those in Tecumseh, Blissfield and Adrian, was made about where the village of Deerfield now stands, by William Kedzie, of Delhi, N. Y., in 1826, he having previously bought some government land there in 1824. He and his family of nine were followed in 1827-8 by Benjamin and D. H. Clark, Anthony McKey, Charles Miller, and others. In 1828 a postoffice was established, with William Kedzie as first postmaster, the postoffice being named "Kedzie's Grove," afterwards changed to Deerfield. After the death of Mr. Kedzie, which took place in the winter following, Anthony McKey was appointed postmaster. Mr. McKey was one of the most prominent men of the settlement, acting as farmer, surveyor and engineer, and served as a member of the state senate for two years in 1837 and 1838. The mail at first was carried on horseback from Monroe to Blissfield, by way of Deerfield, making weekly trips. Some of the early settlers in Deerfield and vicinity were over twenty days in getting through with teams from western and central New York—a trip which can now be made by railroad in about half as many hours.
Michigan
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