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Louis Martin Trudell (1850-1942)
The first white child born in Bay City.

1941 Obituary. (Contributed by John Trudell, 2003)

Bay City Times - July 13, 1942

- Obituary -

Louis Martin Trudell

____________

Louis Martin Trudell, retired veteran commercial fisherman and first white person born in what is now Bay City, died at 5 a.m. this morning at his home. He was 92 years old. Son of a government agent who came to the Saginaw Valley in the early 1830's, Mr. Trudell was born on Jan. 25, 1850, at what was then known as Scutt's Corners, across the river from the Village of Lower Saginaw.

A descendant of one of the continent's earliest settlers, Mr. Trudell was the son of John B. Trudell who married a daughter of Benoit Trombley, pioneer settler of Bay City. The couple built a log house here in what was later to become the village of Portsmouth, now the southern part of the city. Later they moved across the river where Louis Martin was born.

Mr. Trudell saw Bay City rise out of the misfortune of land venture of the founders of Saginaw Bay Co., who platted the village of Lower Saginaw. He watched the three villages of Wenona, Banks, and Salzburg grow, He was a young man when the three villages incorporated into West Bay City to vie with the bigger city of Bay City across the river.

Additional Notes:

1870 Census, Bangor Twp. Bay, MI:
• TRUDELL: Bangor, Bay Co.
• John: 30,m,fisherman,MI
• Jane: 19,f,keep'g hse.,Canada
• John: 2,m,,Canada
• Alexander: 17,m,laborer
• Louis: 19,fisherman,MI
  Source: {Roll 662, Page 367R] {Roll 662, Page 368]