Details & Bibliography: Victorian Southwest Michigan True Crime

Victorian Southwest Michigan True Crime

Murder and mystery haunt the shadowy corners of the Victorian Era in Southwest Michigan.

Decades after his supposed death in 1846, a litigious bachelor was discovered to have been buried alive. In 1865, a Battle Creek woman, yearning for her lover, used Spiritualism to conceal poisoning her three children. An 1883 unsolved quadruple homicide near Jackson caused two suicides, one attempted suicide and two assassination attempts. In 1891, a ten-year-old girl adopted from the State School in Coldwater one morning was found dead in an icy river two counties away that same afternoon.

Researcher and author Michael Delaware unfurls these and other stories that shocked Michigan and the nation over a century ago.

This book will be released on March 11, 2024.  If you order from the author, he will send you a signed copy.

Order your signed copy today by clicking here!

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Details

  • Pages: 192
  • Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
  • Imprint: The History Press
  • Series: True Crime
  • Publication Date: 11th March 2024
  • State: Michigan
  • ISBN: 9781467156073
  • Format: Paperback
  • BISACs:
    TRUE CRIME / General
    HISTORY / United States / 19th Century
    HISTORY / United States / State & Local / Midwest (IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, SD, WI)

History Press Author Bio

Michael Delaware is an Arizona native who left home at age eighteen. He lived fifteen years in Georgia, where he worked as a craftsman, artist, salesperson, manager and owner of a stained- and decorative glass door and window business. He moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1999 and to Battle Creek in 2001. He still lives there today.

In 2022, he launched his podcast, Tales of Southwest Michigan's Past . He is passionate about researching forgotten stories from the Victorian era and is known for his video programs on local cemetery, landmark and biographical history.

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———. May 16, 1848.

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———. February 15, 1856.

———. January 4, 1856.

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———. January 9, 1856.

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———. February 6, 1856.

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———. November 21, 1855.

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———. February 6, 1856.

———. June 16, 1875.

———. May 7, 1856.

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———. October 19, 1907.

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———. March 17, 1852.

———. March 10, 17 and 24, 1858.

———. March 21, 1860.

———. May 9, 1860.

———. November 3, 1858.

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———. May 26, 1866.

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———. February 7, 2005.

———. October 7, 2012

———. “Women in the Big House.” October 1, 2017.

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Marshall Democratic Expounder. July 26, 1866.

Marshall Statesman. May 30, 1866.

———. June 6, 1866.

———. November 7, 1866.

Michigan, Washtenaw County Atlas 1856 and 1864 (U.S. National Archives).

Michigan, Washtenaw County, Augusta Township Marriage Records, 1846.

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Michigan, Washtenaw County Probate Notice on Ira Haviland Estate, 1858.

Milford Times. May 23, 1896.

Phoebe Baker Death Certificate 1910.

Saline Observer. June 15, 1895.

———. May 21, 1896.

San Francisco Call. May 15, 1896.

Sarah Haviland Death Certificate 1906.

Sunday Record [Battle Creek, MI]. December 11, 1898.

True Northerner. May 20, 1896.

Van Buren County Press. June 11, 1866.

Washington (D.C.) Evening Star. June 5, 1866.

William Heaviland (Haviland) Marriage Records 1893 and 1894.

  1. Dark Secret in a Sandbank (1875)

Atlas of Calhoun County 1873.

Battle Creek Daily Journal. December 2–3 and 13, 1875.

———. March 6 and 7, 1875.

———. October 1, 1875.

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———. March 22, 1876.

———. September 29, 1875.

Hillsdale Standard. December 14, 1875.

———. March 20, 1877.

———. March 28, 1876.

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Marshall Statesman. March 8 and 15, 1876.

———. June 14, 1876.

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Northern Tribune. December 11, 1875.

———. December 25, 1875.

———. February 10, 1877.

———. March 24, 1875.

———. March 24, 1877.

True Northerner. December 17 and 24–25, 1875.

  1. Death of a Giant: Robert Molyneaux (1875)

Battle Creek Daily Journal. March 10, 1876.

———. May 4, 1891.

———. November 29–30, 1875.

———. October 1–2, 4 and 18, 1875.

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———. February 23, 1876.

———. October 20, 1875.

———. September 29, 1875.

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———. November 10, 1875.

———. “The Nye Trial.” December 15, 1875.

———. October 6, 1875.

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  1. The Thomas Lilley Case (1876)

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———. March 20, 1877.

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———. June 28, 1878.

  1. The Crouch Murders (1883)

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———. February 6, 1884.

———. March 10, 12, 20–22, 1884.

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———. November 11, 1884.

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Jacob Crouch US Land Grant Cert #6435, March 20, 1837.

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———. March 27, 1884.

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Pinckney Dispatch. January 3, 1884.

———. March 27, 1884.

Pontiac Bill Poster. January 1884

———. November 25, 1883.

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———. November 30, 1884.

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———. November 20, 1884.

  1. The Lonesome Death of Lizzie Stratton (1884)

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Fort Wayne Daily Gazette. March 25, 1884.

Hillsdale Standard. April 22, 1884.

Kalamazoo Gazette. April 4, 11, 18 and 18, 1884.

———. March 21 and 28, 1884.

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Nightly Moon. March 25, 1884.

  1. The Butcher of Dibble Hill (1886)

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Battle Creek Daily Journal. August 27, 1872.

———. January 8–12, 1886.

Battle Creek Daily Moon. April 30, 1887.

———. January 8, 11–12 and 14, 1886.

———. October 12, 1885.

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———. January 12, 1884.

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Nightly Moon. April 8, 1881.

———. July 15, 1880.

———. May 2, 1884.

Sunday Morning Call. January 10 and 17, 1886.

  1. The Adoption and Murder of Nellie Griffin (1891)

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Bay City Times. February 5–6, 12, 21–22 and 27, 1891.

———. March 5, 1891.

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Crawford Avalanche. December 3, 1891.

Detroit News. April 2–4, 14–15 and 29, 1891.

———. February 3, 7, 10–11, 13 and 17–18, 1891.

———. June 12, 1891.

———. March 5, 8 and 12, 1891.

———. May 29, 1891.

———. September 8, 1891.

Gogebic Iron Spirit. February 7, 1891.

———. March 7, 1891.

Grand Rapids Telegram Herald. April 3, 1891.

———. September 21, 1891.

Hillsdale Standard. April 7, 1891.

———. February 10 and 24, 1891.

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Saginaw News. February 4, 7 and 10, 1891.

———. June 13, 1891.

———. March 12, 1891.

South Haven Sentinel. February 7, 1891.

  1. The Ghost of Farrand’s Bridge (1893)

Battle Creek Daily Journal. August 29, 1896.

———. June 8, 1895.

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———. June 18, 1894.

———. September 8, 1896.

Marshall Expounder. March 7, 1902.

Marshall Statesman. July 5, 1895.

Owosso Times. June 12, 1896.

Saline Observer. September 10, 1896.

St. Joseph County Atlas, 1897.

Yale Expositor. September 4, 1896.

  1. Coins for a Horse: The Murder of Leroy Rogers (1894)

Battle Creek Daily Journal. April 4 and 27, 1895.

———. December 13–14, 18, 20 and 23, 1895.

———. February 7, 13–14, 16, 18, 20–21 and 26, 1895.

———. January 26, 1894.

———. March 23–25 and 29, 1894.

———. May 31, 1894.

Battle Creek Moon. April 2, 9, 15–16, 25, 27 and 29, 1895.

———. April 22, 1897.

———. February 5, 7–14, 16, 18–21 and 25, 1895.

———. January 4, 1895.

———. January 26, 1897.

———. March 4 anf 6, 1897.

———. May 6 and 14, 1895.

Democratic Expounder. May 26, 1894.

———. June 1, 1894.

Hillsdale Standard. May 29, 1894.

———. June 5, 1894.

Kalamazoo County, U.S. Census, 1910.

Marshall Daily Chronicle. May 23–24, 26 and 31, 1894.

Michigan, Allegan County, U.S. Census 1880.

Michigan, Barry County, Rutledge Township Atlas 1860.

Nightly Moon. April 9 and 14, 1881.

———. July 2, 1884.

———. March 29, 1881.

———. November 5, 1883.

Owosso Times. May 25, 1894.

Saline Observer. 1897.

South Haven Sentinel. June 2, 9 and 16, 1894.

Sunday Morning Call. August 31, 1884.

  1. In Cold Blood: The Murder of James Robinson (1894)

Alma Record. December 6, 1895.

———. March 8, 1895.

Battle Creek Daily Moon. February 27, 1895.

Detroit Detroiter Absend-Post. December 30, 1918.

Escanaba Daily Press. December 23, 1911.

Michigan, Branch County, Coldwater Township Atlas 1894.

Michigan, Branch County Marriage Records 1894.

Hillsdale Standard. February 12, 1894.

———. July 13 and 17, 1894.

———. March 5, 1894.

South Haven Sentinel. February 9, 1895

———. July 28, 1894.

Weekly Expositor. July 20, 1894.

  1. The Deadly Porridge of Mary Sanderson (1898)

Alpena Evening News. December 26, 1898.

American Biographical History of Eminent and Self-Made Men, Michigan Volume. Cincinnati, OH: Western Biographical Publishing, 1878.

Battle Creek Daily Journal. December 11, 14–16, 18, 20–21 and 23, 1899.

———. March 6, 1899.

Battle Creek Moon. April 5, 1900.

———. April 10, 1897.

———. February 28, 1902.

———. March 5–6 and 11–12, 1902.

———. November 29, 1898.

———. November 26, 1898.

———. October 24, 1898.

———. October 24, 1901.

Marshall Daily News. December 14 and 27, 1899.

Marshall Statesman. December 29, 1899.

Rudolphus Sanderson Death Certificate, September 6, 1898.

Saline Observer. December 15, 1898.

———. November 3, 1898.

Sunday Record. January 8, 1899.

True Northerner. December 27, 1899.

Wisconsin, Sauk County, Fairfield Township, U.S. Census 1880.

For More Information

For researchers in search of more details on the information provided in this bibliography, they can contact the author directly with their inquiries.

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