Was born in Tioga (now Tompkins) county, New York, May 31, 1797. When he was five or six years of age his parents removed to Ontario county, where they spent the remainder of their lives.

On the 31st of January, 1819, Mr. Horton was married to Adah Jennings, and the same year removed with his wife to Niagara county. The issue of this marriage was a family of eleven children, seven sons and four daughters, of whom eight are now living. A son and daughter died in New York, both small, and another son, Emerson C. Horton, died at Richmond, Missouri, after the Rebellion. He was thirty five years of age, and had served during the war, with the exception of three months subsequent to his discharge, after being released from a rebel prison. In Sherman's grand campaign of 1864 he was under General Kilpatrick, in the cavalry arm of the service.

In March, 1830, Mr. Horton made a trip to Michigan on horseback, and located the first land in the township of Groveland, three hundred and sixty acres. On a part of it he afterwards settled with his family (section 7). While on his way out upon his first trip he found snow near the River Thames, in Canada, which stream he crossed at Delaware town. The snow was two feet deep or more, and after passing the Thamcb it was forty miles through a dense forest to another house. His horse was a spirited and hardy animal, however, and he started on undaunted. After riding some distance he found a man busy at work digging rails from under the snow. He stopped his horse and spoke to him, but received no answer, undoubtedly because the man was greatly frightened at the unusual sound of a strange voice. Mr. Horton, bent on learning whether he was alive or dead, spoke again, saying, "Young man, how came you here ?" The frightened individual dropped his tools as if shot, and turning quickly, said, " Wait a minute and I'll tell ye. I am here and can't get away, and by God I believe this is the centre of creation!" Mr. Horton was satisfied and rode on. He says every pioneer who left his home and came into the wilderness so far that he "couldn't get away" was, sooner or later, led into the conviction that the spot he had selected was the "centre of creation," and became greatly attached to it. This was his own experience, as his sojourn of forty- seven years upon the spot where he first settled will testify.

In the fall of 1830, Mr. Horton, who had returned to New York for his family, brought them back with him to the place destined to be their future home, on the "beautiful peninsula." His family then consisted of his wife, two sons, and two daughters. They came all the way by land from Niagara county, the trip occupying seventeen days, and the route being through Canada. A log house, or shanty, sixteen by twenty feet, was built, and the family moved into it on the 3d day of February, 1831. There was then a depth of six or eight inches of snow upon the ground, and the weather was bitter cold. The house was without door, window, or chimney, and a floor was only partially kid. A blanket was hung up at the entrance to serve in lieu of a door, and a huge fire was built against the logs to keep the family from freezing. The roof consisted of boards roughly laid on, and through the crevices between them the snow or rain passed almost "without let or hindrance." When they moved in, the last house they passed was at Waterford village, fourteen miles away. Game and Indians were plenty, the latter being almost the only neighbors for several years. They were never troublesome, although a thousand of them would sometimes pass along the trail in a single day.

The first potatoes the family had were procured by Mr. Horton in the northeast corner of Troy township, thirty miles away. He sowed the first grain in Groveland township, and made the first actual improvements, although William Roberts and Masten W. Richards are accredited as being the first settlers. Mr. Horton procured his first plow at Birmingham, Mr. Richards probably bringing one in about the same time. His first drag he made with his own hands. In the fall of 1831 he went to Pontiac, in company with Lot Tobey, and purchased some apple trees. The two men brought the trees to their respective farms, and set them out the same day with each other, these being the first orchards in Groveland. The trees are nearly all standing.

In the old log house Mr. Horton lived for about ten years, and then built him a frame dwelling. His wife died January 20, 1856, aged fifty-six years, and on the 20th of September of the same year he was manned to Mrs. Mary E. Losee, widow of Isaac J. Losee. One son was born to them, but died in infancy. Mrs. Horton's father, Cornelius Davis, came from Ulster county, New York and located on the site of Davisburgh, in Springfield township, in 1836. Both he and his wife are now deceased.

At the first town-meeting held in Groveland township, which then included what is now Holly, Mr. Horton was elected township clerk, and was re-elected for four successive years afterwards, holding the office during the years from 1835 to 1839 inclusive. In 1842 and 1843, and 1846, he was chosen supervisor, and in 1843 was also elected justice of the peace, which office he has held a number of times since. In that capacity he performed the first marriage in the township. During the famous "Toledo War," in 1835, when Governor Mason called upon the militia to advance to the frontier, Mr. Horton, who commanded a military company raised in the territory now included in the townships of Groveland and Holly. Oakland County, and Grand Blanc, Genesee county, accompanied them to Pontiac, where he resigned. As the affair ended amicably by the decision of the United States government, no blood was spilled from the veins of Oakland County patriots, and all returned safely to their homes.

Mr. Horton is the only one of the first settlers who is now living, and has reached the ripe age of eighty years. In politics he is Republican to the core, and has always been opposed to the principles of slavery. He has lived a strictly temperate life, taking an early stand against the use of and traffic in intoxicating liquors. In religion he is a Methodist, and joined the Groveland church when it was organized, in 1839 or 1840. He has been one of its main supporters, and has stood by it in time of need from its organization until the present. In him is seen a pleasing example of happy old age, and, though his life has been a checkered one and his sinews have been long strained with manly toil, yet the weight of his years rests lightly upon him, and his decline promises to be as peaceful as his life has been interesting and his success remarkable.

he place where Mr. Horton settled was called "Pleasant Valley" by the French or Indian traders. The location is extremely pleasant, and what nature did not do toward beautifying it the art of man has supplied.

Mr. Horton's son, Joseph Lee Horton, born November 27, 1832, was undoubtedly the first white child born in the territory now including the townships of Groveland, Holly, Rose, Springfield, and Brandon, in Oakland County, and Fenton, in Genesee county. In the same territory there were no houses when Mr. Horton came, except those of William Roberts and Masten Richards in Groveland (before mentioned).

Another son, Emerson C. Horton, whose death (which occurred April 4, 1873) has been previously mentioned, spent two years, subsequent to the War of the Rebellion, in South America, and soon afterwards married Miss Lamira Bryant. At his death he lett one child, a son, John Emerson Horton. A third son. Dexter Horton, served three years under Sherman in the western army. He served for a time in the commissary department, and eventually rose to the rank of major.

The first school in Groveland township was taught in Henry W. Horton's house, for the benefit of his own children, by Miss Sallie Parshall, about the winter of 1832, The parents generally were poor, and could not afford to give their children the education which can be acquired at the present day at a comparatively small cost.