John N. Ingersoll

John was born on May 4, 1817 in North Castle, N.Y. By the time he was 11 both parents had died and he soon moved to live with his uncle in Connecticut. At 13, he moved to New York City to become a printer's apprentice. This is were he met Horace Greeley who was a lifelong friend.

At 17, he married and moved to Detroit, working for the Detroit Free Press. By 1838, he was a writer for the Detroit Daily Advertiser and the Detroit Journal.

From 1842 to 1846 he published the St. Clair Banner. From 1846 to 1850, Ingersol was the editor and owner of the Lake Superior and Miner's Journal. He soon moved back to Detroit to work for the Detroit Daily Times even owning the paper for a short time in 1855.

In 1858, he moved to Owosso and bought the Owosso American and became Owosso's first City Clerk upon the incorporation of the city in 1859. And in 1861 , Mr. Ingersoll had taken his leave of the Whig party and become a strong supporter of the Republican Party.

He served as State Senator from 1861 to 1862.

He moved his newspaper to Corunna and changed the name of it to the Shiawassee American, a Republican paper.

The Ingersoll Home stands today at 570 W. Corunna Ave. in Corunna.

In 1863, he had become a State Representative. He was a very colorful and contraversial fiqure in the State of Michigan.

In his paper, the Shiawassee American, dated Tuesday March 17, 1868, he reported that 'posters' were being circulated calling for a meeting of Republicans. They were to consider forming a Grant Campaign Club.

In this same paper, Ingersoll advertised himself as "Justice of the Peace" and "Special Swamp Land Agent for the State of Michigan".

At his home in Corunna, which is now on the National Register of Historical Sites, he reportedly entertained U.S. Grant in 1870. Ingersoll served Corunna as its mayor in 1871 to 1874 and 1878 to 1879. He also served as secretary in Feb. 1872, to the Old Settler's Society of Shiawassee County.

In 1880, he sold the Shiawassee American and started the Shiawassee Journal and after only 23 issues, he died at the age of 64 in May of 1881.