Mrs. Betsey Hanson Biography, Oceana County, Michigan Transcribed from the 1890 Oceana County Pioneers and Business Men of Today Copyright © 2004 by Jan Cortez. This copy contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives. ************************************************************************ USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submittor has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. ************************************************************************ Mrs. Betsey Hanson was born at Kingsburg, Norway, in the year 1823. Her parents dying when she was but a small child she was left to the care of an uncle. At the age of about 16 she left Norway for America with her uncle and landed at Milwaukee, Wis. There she resided for a period of about 5 years, when she was married to her late husband, JOhn D. Hanson, when she removed directly to Whitehall, Mich. This was about the year 1845, her husband having been in business there with Charles Mears for several years lumbering. She was the first white woman to see Whitehall, or White Lake as it was then called, and lived two months before any other white woman arrived, and her neighbors and visitors were found among the Indians, which language she could speak fluently after she lived there a short time. She lived there until the year 1856, when she removed with her husband and family to Claybanks where she has since resided. She is the mother of nine children, seven of whom as still living: Mrs. G.C. Nyers, Charles H., John D.S., Myron W., Winfield S., and Fremont M., all of this county, and Mrs. Lillie L. Peck of Montague. Sicne childhood she has been a member of the "Lutheran Episcopal Church."