The following news story and photo was taken from Kathleen Firestone’s book, “Suttons Bay, Peshawbestown and Bingham Shores of Grand Traverse Bay.”
James and Robert Lee and their wives also had dreams as they arrived at a large curve of property next to Grand Traverse Bay and south of Suttons Bay, in 1858. A long stretch of bay shoreline in Sections 10,15 and 21 of present Bingham Township was recorded by the Traverse City Land Office as becoming the property of Robert Lee, on Dec. 1, 1858. The property consisted of 296 1/3 acres on both side of the present M-22.
Settlers usually erected small shelter cabins at first, until time and money allowed for bigger homes to be built. James Lee and wife Jane (Ackley) built their home on what early maps called “Sutton’s Point,” a large extension of land which included Stony Point on one side and Lee Point on the other. There, in Section 15, James and Jane Lee settled with their children, John and Sarah. Son John was born in Wayne County in 1840 and was 18 when the family moved to Sutton’s Point. He lived there the rest of his life. The Lee cousins and their families were some of the first settlers in present Bingham Township. Besides owning shoreline property, they were among the first farmers and orchardists in the area. James Lee became a State Legislator in 1875 and was reelected in 1877. Some of the other families arriving during this time were Alward, Manseau, Palmer, Bates and Quackenbush.
