Burr Caswell
Aaron Burr Caswell was an American frontiersman and the first white man to occupy any part of Mason County, Michigan. He became the county's first coroner, probate judge and surveyor; and constructed its first framed building that functioned as a home, courthouse and jail—it is also the only surviving landmark of Mason County's earliest history.
Early life
Caswell was born in 1807 as Aaron Burr Caswell at Glens Falls, New York. His parents were George and Sarah Caswell.Caswell practiced woodworking as his first trade for several years in Glens Falls. Caswell married Hannah Green in 1837 at Glens Falls, where they remained through 1839. They went to Mississippi in 1840 and were employed on the river boats. In 1841, he moved his family to Barrington Station, Lake County, Illinois, where they bought a farm and lived for six years.
Mid life
Caswell went on a hunting and fishing trip in 1845 to Pere Marquette Township in Mason County, Michigan. He hunted in the territory for the next two years, though he spent most of his time fishing. He briefly returned to Illinois in 1847 to retrieve his family for relocating back to the Michigan area permanently.Caswell's house was the first frame structure in Mason County; it still stands at White Pine Village where it was placed as the Mason County Historical Society's outdoor museum's centerpiece, very close its original constructed location. The Mason County Courthouse county seat was located at Caswell's house. For many years, Caswell produced lumber and shingles from the local timber and it was shipped to Chicago for construction. He operated the boat Ranger for years to deliver his lumber products.