Politics / Military / City history
Jonathan Kearsley
1786–1859 · army officer, federal land official, mayor of Detroit
War of 1812 veteran who lost a leg at Chippawa, came to Detroit in 1819 as the federal receiver of public money and was twice mayor (1826 and 1829).
- Born
Middletown, Pennsylvania- Died
Detroit, Michigan- Detroit years
- 1819–1859
- Field
- Politics, Military, City history
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Jonathan Kearsley, a Pennsylvanian, graduated from Washington College in 1811 and joined the Army the next year as a lieutenant of artillery. He fought at Stoney Creek, Crysler's Farm and Chippawa, where a wound cost him a leg; the badly performed amputation caused him pain for the rest of his life. In 1819 he moved to Detroit as Receiver of Public Monies at the federal land office, a post he held for thirty years while land sales boomed in Michigan. He lived at the corner of Jefferson Avenue and Randolph Street. The council appointed him mayor in 1826 to finish the term of Henry Jackson Hunt, who had died in office, and voters elected him again in 1829. He also sat on the University of Michigan's board of trustees and later its board of regents for about a quarter century. He died in 1859 and is buried at Elmwood; a creek, a school district and a street in Flint bear his name.
Highlights
- Mayor of Detroit in 1826 and 1829
- Lost a leg at the Battle of Chippawa (1814)
- Receiver of Public Monies in Detroit for thirty years
- University of Michigan trustee and regent, 1827–1852
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Buried here · 1859
Elmwood Cemetery
He is buried at Elmwood Cemetery.