THE DOOLITTLE FAMILY

We’re going to take our Historical Notebook "on the road" for the next few weeks and head towards the Homer area, where we have many faithful readers of this column. Earlier this year we featured several photographs from the family albums of Carrie (Snyder) Ott (1877-1959), who was a Benham family descendant. These came from her grandson Clifford C. Ott of Cleves, Ohio. The Benhams came to the South Albion area in 1836 from Roxbury, New York.

Another early pioneer family was the Doolittle clan from Delhi, N.Y. Both aforementioned towns are only a few miles apart in Delaware County, N.Y. Four brothers, William, Benjamin, Anthony, and Isaac Hezekiah (the sons of Benjamin Doolittle) settled in Section 30 of Clarendon Township on adjoining farms. Anthony came first, in 1832, and was the first settler of Clarendon Township, locating first in Section 1. William and Benjamin came in 1833, and Isaac later. Several Doolittle and Benham family descendants married each other, and there are still descendants who live in the Homer and Tekonsha areas today.

Rhoda Benham (1832-1888) Doolittle was a sister of Holmes Benham (1816-1880), Carrie (Snyder) Ott’s grandfather. Rhoda was married to Isaac Hezekiah Doolittle (ca. 1820-1895) and a lithograph of the couple appears to the left of page 189 in the 1877 History of Calhoun County, along with a drawing of their farmhouse. They owned the whole SW quarter of Section 30, then part of the Pritchard School district. The farmhouse was located on the west side of 18½ Mile Road, south of T Drive South. They are buried in West Clarendon Cemetery along with the other original Doolittle brothers.

One son, Byron G. Doolittle (1868-1939) was a prominent Tekonsha banker and a graduate of Albion College Business School (1889). He was cashier of the First State Bank of Tekonsha for 30 years. He also operated a shoe store, a flour mill, and a hardware store there in Tekonsha. He was a Tekonsha Township clerk from 1893-1902, and supervisor from 1903 to 1906. Byron was buried in Riverside Cemetery in Tekonsha.

Another son of Isaac and Rhoda was Harvey A. Doolittle (1866-1947), who took over the family farm upon the death of his parents. The other son was Haskell M. Doolittle (1863-1954). All had daughters who survived them.

From our Historical Notebook this week we present original photographs of Isaac Hezekiah and Rhoda (Benham) Doolittle. Compare this with the lithograph in the 1877 History of Calhoun County. Also illustrated this week is a postcard photograph of the family farm circa 1920. The boy in front is Clifford Snyder Ott (1909-1987). The man on the right is Delos Snyder (1844-1933), father of Carrie. The woman on the left is Harvey’s wife Lida, next Harvey Doolittle. Standing on the porch is their daughter Hazel (1894-1979) (Doolittle) Gregory.

	Frank Passic — Albion Historian An Albion native and 1971 graduate of Albion High School, Frank Passic has been researching and writing Albion history since 1976. He is the creator of the Albion Historical Notebook, with hundreds of articles appearing weekly in the Morning Star and The Recorder. Frank maintains an extensive personal archive including Riverside Cemetery records, family surname files, genealogies, photographs, city directories, and high school yearbooks. Support his 2026 research at the Historic Albion Michigan Facebook page. Historical Notebook \| From the Archives \| Subject List \| 100 Years Ago \| Alphabetical Index \| Frank Passic Home Page \| Albion History Books \| Contact Frank
	Michigan Prints by Maggie LaNoue Michigan Prints offers limited-edition archival Giclée prints, miniprints, notecards and boxed sets featuring Michigan landmarks, nature, resorts and nostalgia. Each print and card includes a legend on the back with stories about Michigan history. Albion scenes include the Kalamazoo River waterfall and the Blizzard of 1978. Find Michigan Prints online and at local shops. Michigan Prints \| Albion Scenes \| Custom Cards \| Zazzle Gifts
	AlbionMich.net — General Guide to Albion AlbionMich.net is a hub for community life in the greater Albion area, featuring current news, city council updates, river restoration stories, parks and trails. See Albion's beautiful Kalamazoo River waterfall as it looks today — and follow the story of its future restoration. Includes news from The Recorder and stories about Albion's 17 parks. AlbionMich.net \| Albion Blog \| Frank Passic on AlbionMich.net
	General Guide to Albion AlbionMich.net offers two General Guides to the Albion area — one covering community life including city council, veterans, history, youth and wellness resources, and one covering the outdoors including roads, rivers, parks, trails and downtown. Both guides feature stories by local writers including contributors to The Recorder, sorted by topic for easy reference. General Guide — Community \| General Guide — Outdoors
	Robin James — Indices Unlimited Robin James is the editor of the Albion Historical Notebook and has kept Frank Passic's thousands of articles organized and searchable for decades. A trained librarian and archivist, Robin specializes in back-of-book and online indexing, multimedia collection management, and corporate information distribution. He also enjoys strange music and is a contributing editor for Igloo electronic music magazine. For more about his indexing services, visit Indices Unlimited.
AlbionDesign.com — Communications Specialists Since 1981 \| Advertise on AlbionMich.com