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Any photos not otherwise credited are from the personal collection of Frank Passic, Albion Historian.
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Morning Star, July 19, 2020, pg. 8 Albion was officially incorporated as a Village in 1855, and remained so until 1885 when it became a City. During this period, Albion was led by a village president and a board of trustees. In 1863 at the height of the Civil War, Albion was led by president Carmi C. Olds (1815-1888), and trustees Joel Brooks, William Howard, Charles C. Lane, Orton Robinson, Benjamin Peckham, and L. D. Williamson. Carmi was a career Methodist teacher and minister, one of many ministers associated with the Methodist Episcopal Church who lived in Albion at various times through the years. He was a native of Cranville, New York, and graduated from Genesee College, N.Y. In 1846 he was elected president of Rock River Seminary at Mt. Morris, IL, a Methodist school. He remained there until 1848 when he moved to Michigan due to health reasons. He joined the Detroit conference of the church and served in two subsequent positions. In 1861 he came to Albion College to serve as chair of the Natural Science department. He served in this position through the end of the school year of 1862. Concurrently, Carmi became involved in our local city government. He served as a village trustee in 1861 and 1862. In 1863 he was elected village president and served until November of that year. At that time, he left Albion and moved to Lansing where he established the Lansing Academy. He operated that until the close of the school year in 1867, when he returned to church work as presiding elder of the Lansing district. He subsequently served in Niles, Parma, Quincy, North Lansing, Vermontville, and Grand Ledge. He retired in September, 1887 after celebrating 50 years of active work as a teacher and minister. He died in Lansing on November, 21, 1888, and was interred in Mount Hope Cemetery in Lansing. His www.findagrave.com burial listing memorial number is 24430214, for those who would like to visit that website and leave "virtual flowers" on his listing. For those who would wish to see the burial listings of at least 50 of Albion’s other deceased mayors and village presidents, I’ve prepared a "virtual cemetery" entitled "Albion, Michigan Mayors and Village Presidents." Here is the web address: www.findagrave.com/virtual-cemetery/1203445 . I hope you enjoy this. Click on each name to access their listings. From our Historical Notebook this week we present an 1861 daguerreotype photograph of Carmi C. Olds, clipped from that classic Albion College faculty photo. Special thanks to Albion College archivist Elizabeth Palmer for her identification of Rev. Olds in that faculty photo.  1861 Daguerreotype Photograph of Carmi C. Olds
All text copyright, 2026 © all rights reserved Frank Passic | Artwork copyright Maggie LaNoue © 2026
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