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Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott
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Formatted by U.S. Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott
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SOURCE: History of Wexford County, Michigan
        by John H. Wheeler, pub. B. F. Bowen - 1903
        
        Pages 299-300

                B. W. HALL, as heretofore noted, was the first
            settler in Wexford county.  He was born in Steuben
            county, New York.  His father removed to Cattaraugus
            county, New York, in 1856, where he died soon after
            locating in his new home, leaving a widow, two sons
            and a daughter, the children all under eighteen
            years of age. Benjamin, the subject of this sketch,
            was of a roving disposition and soon left home to
            seek his fortune in the west.  He settled first in
            southern Michigan, where he lived until after the
            breaking out of the war of the Rebellion, and after
            the passage of the pre-emption law he came to the
            wilds of Wexford county, arriving in the fall of
            1863.  It was then out of the question to get lumber
            with which to build a house, and it was equally
            difficult to build a log house, as there were not
            enough men within twelve miles of his homestead to
            roll the logs into a house, so he built a shanty
            with elm bark, where he and his wife lived for 
            nearly two years.  His wife then ran away with a
            Mr. Anise, and Mr. Hall rented his farm and went
            east to visit relatives, where he remained for
            nearly two years.  Soon after his return he married
            again, but this union was not pleasant and after a
            few years a separation was secured through divorce
            proceedings.  A few years later a third matrimonial
            venture was made, which proved more lasting than
            either of the others, the death of Mr. Hall in 1894
            alone causing the separation.  Mr. Hall, like many
            a lad of that period had meager opportunities for
            gaining an education, yet in his later years he was
            honored with nearly all the offices in the gift of
            his townsmen at different times.  He was industrious
            and frugal, and left his family a farm of one hundred
            and sixty acres, eighty of which were under cultivation.
            
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