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William Montague Ferry
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William Montague Ferry
William Montague Ferry Sr. (September 8, 1796 – December 30, 1867) was a Presbyterian minister, missionary, and community leader who founded several settlements in Ottawa County, Michigan. He became known as the father of Grand Haven and father of Ottawa County.
Ferry was born in Granby, Massachusetts to Noah Henry Ferry and Hannah Montague Ferry. Rather than pursuing farming like his father, Ferry chose a professional career. Graduating at age 24 in 1821 from Union College at Schenectady, New York, he attended New Brunswick Seminary and received his ordination by the New York Presbytery in 1822.
In the 1820s, Ferry established a Christian mission of Ojibwe natives on Mackinac Island. The Mission House he built there in 1825 is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is operated as part of the Mackinac Island State Park.
Ferry developed a flair for enterprise while serving at the mission post. While serving as a missionary, he contracted to have a schooner built to carry materials and provisions. The schooner was named Supply. This ship made trips to Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago and Grand Haven. The ship made a profit and the profit went to the operation of the mission. The Massachusetts Mission Board determined that this enterprise thinking was in conflict with the purposes and goals of the Mackinac Mission. He was forced to sell the ship.
Ferry made an impression on the explorer Robert Stuart, who worked with the American Fur Company's Northern Department based on Mackinac Island. Stuart saw the enterprising young Ferry as a perfect prospect for someone to run his affairs in Michigan's budding lumber industry. Ferry surveyed places to develop a lumber foothold. Ferry proposed to Stuart that the Grand River Valley held great possibility. By June 1834, Stuart placed funds in the hands of Ferry to settle on the Grand River to set up a land and lumber enterprise while sharing the profits.
On October 31, 1834, Ferry and his family arrived on the banks of the Grand River. The ship Supply was chartered to bring them to Grand Haven from Mackinac Island. Within a year, they were living in a log cabin near the Grand River in a new settlement named Grand Haven.
Ferry, an ordained minister in the Presbyterian church, started a new church within days of arriving. He preached his first sermon on November 2, 1834, at the log cabin house and fur trading post of Rix Robinson, who became his friend and business partner. Ferry began this house church with 21 people, including his family. On March 11, 1835, Ferry moved the religious services to his partly completed log cabin on the southwest corner of Washington and Water. Near his house, for a cost of $650, Ferry owned and built the first framed building in Grand Haven in 1836 that served as a school and a church. Together with Robinson and Stuart, he founded the Grand Haven Company, which was engaged in the lumbering business. Soon, factories were built on the area and produced products ranging from farm machinery to pianos.
Ferry communicated with other key bi-vocational ministers in West Michigan like Rev. A. C van Raalte, founder of Holland, Michigan. Van Raalte led a group of Dutch Christians looking for religious liberty in America. In 1847, Ferry and van Raalte met. Ferry encourage van Raalte to settle in the Holland area.
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William Montague Ferry
William Montague Ferry Sr. (September 8, 1796 – December 30, 1867) was a Presbyterian minister, missionary, and community leader who founded several settlements in Ottawa County, Michigan. He became known as the father of Grand Haven and father of Ottawa County.
Ferry was born in Granby, Massachusetts to Noah Henry Ferry and Hannah Montague Ferry. Rather than pursuing farming like his father, Ferry chose a professional career. Graduating at age 24 in 1821 from Union College at Schenectady, New York, he attended New Brunswick Seminary and received his ordination by the New York Presbytery in 1822.
In the 1820s, Ferry established a Christian mission of Ojibwe natives on Mackinac Island. The Mission House he built there in 1825 is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is operated as part of the Mackinac Island State Park.
Ferry developed a flair for enterprise while serving at the mission post. While serving as a missionary, he contracted to have a schooner built to carry materials and provisions. The schooner was named Supply. This ship made trips to Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago and Grand Haven. The ship made a profit and the profit went to the operation of the mission. The Massachusetts Mission Board determined that this enterprise thinking was in conflict with the purposes and goals of the Mackinac Mission. He was forced to sell the ship.
Ferry made an impression on the explorer Robert Stuart, who worked with the American Fur Company's Northern Department based on Mackinac Island. Stuart saw the enterprising young Ferry as a perfect prospect for someone to run his affairs in Michigan's budding lumber industry. Ferry surveyed places to develop a lumber foothold. Ferry proposed to Stuart that the Grand River Valley held great possibility. By June 1834, Stuart placed funds in the hands of Ferry to settle on the Grand River to set up a land and lumber enterprise while sharing the profits.
On October 31, 1834, Ferry and his family arrived on the banks of the Grand River. The ship Supply was chartered to bring them to Grand Haven from Mackinac Island. Within a year, they were living in a log cabin near the Grand River in a new settlement named Grand Haven.
Ferry, an ordained minister in the Presbyterian church, started a new church within days of arriving. He preached his first sermon on November 2, 1834, at the log cabin house and fur trading post of Rix Robinson, who became his friend and business partner. Ferry began this house church with 21 people, including his family. On March 11, 1835, Ferry moved the religious services to his partly completed log cabin on the southwest corner of Washington and Water. Near his house, for a cost of $650, Ferry owned and built the first framed building in Grand Haven in 1836 that served as a school and a church. Together with Robinson and Stuart, he founded the Grand Haven Company, which was engaged in the lumbering business. Soon, factories were built on the area and produced products ranging from farm machinery to pianos.
Ferry communicated with other key bi-vocational ministers in West Michigan like Rev. A. C van Raalte, founder of Holland, Michigan. Van Raalte led a group of Dutch Christians looking for religious liberty in America. In 1847, Ferry and van Raalte met. Ferry encourage van Raalte to settle in the Holland area.
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