Soldiers, having finished the revolutionary war, were beginning to think of their futures, wishing for more land than was available on the eastern seaboard, and began to look to the west for settlements and farm land. The newly formed government, not having much of a treasury, offered to pay these soldiers for their services during the revolutionary war in land grants under the “bounty land act”. Michigan became a “bounty land act” area until 1816 when the government withdrew it, because the Territory General Inspector considered the lower peninsula mostly swamp land and, therefore, not fit for cultivation. Although travel to Michigan was very expensive back then and there were rumors of disease, such as malaria, because of the swamp land, when the Erie Canal opened in 1825, some immigrants from the Eastern Seaboard, did finally settle in the Sumpter area. The earliest settlers were the Allens, Merrills, Coons, Aldridges, Morey, Anderson, St. Johns, and Brooks. Prior to 1840 Sumpter was part of Huron Township, which included all of Huron, Van Buren, Romulus and, of course, Sumpter Township. The Township of Sumpter was finally officially formed on April 6, 1840. The Township was named after revolutionary war General Thomas Sumter, and the misspelling for the Township name, with the added “p”, was put in by the first clerk and has remained to this day. When the Township was officially formed there were 228 residents. The Township began to grow and by 1900 there were 1495 residents. Back in those days elections were held annually, generally at someone’s home.