Courtesy of the Byron Center Chambers of Commerce.
Nathan Boynton located a farm in Byron Township in the year 1835, but being taken sick, his brothers Jeremiah and William Boynton began his improvements for him, and they became citizens of the Township in the year 1836, settling in the northwestern part. John Harmon, Harmon Kellog, and James B. Jewell and perhaps a few others followed them in 1837. Soon after they were joined by Mr. Ella Judson, Larkin Ball, Peter Golden, Eli Crossman, Amalek Taylor, Alden Coburn, Benjamin Robinson, and William Olmstead who came to the town in 1840, and were later joined by Samuel Hubbel, Joseph Gallup, Henry A. Vannest, Oliver Harris, Ezekiel Cook, E.R. Ide and James K. McKenny.
Byron was organized in 1836 and the first town meeting was held at the house of C.H. Oakes, in Grandville, by far the largest portion of the voters of that day residing in and near the village.
The officers elected for the year 1836 were:
Supervisor – Gideon H. Gordon
Clerk – Issac A. Allen
Assessors – Eli Yeomans, Ephraim P. Walker, Justin Brooks
Justice of Peace – Gideon H. Gordon, Robert Howlit, E.P Walker
Collector – Lorenz FrenchAt the general election in November, but 20 votes were polled for any one candidate. The present Township of Byron did not fill up so rapidly as some others and by the year 1850 its population had increased to only about 300.