Prior to the first township meeting in Conway, which was held at the house of Levi Parsons on April 2, 1838, Henry H. Hoyt and Williams N. Hoyt had settled upon section 29; Stephen Dailey upon section 25; Lee Nutt upon sections 35 and 36; Joseph Alexander upon section 20; and John Bush upon section 35.

It is stated that 17 voters were present at the first meeting, which probably included all of the legal voters then residing in the township.

Other settlers who came here during the year 1838, and not already mentioned, were John Martin, Thomas Martin, Reuben Wood, Warren G. Grant, Chauncey Yaples, Marcus Munn, and Samuel Ball.

Appearing on Iena (Conway) Township’s first assessment roll, dated May 9, 1838, and reported as resident taxpayers were: Frederick B. Parsons, Julius F. Parsons, Lorenzo K. Strong, Cecil D. Parsons, Waterman B. Fay, Timothy Wait, Joseph Alexander, John Martin, Thomas Martin, Robert Colborn, Henry H. Hoyt, William N. Hoyt, John Coughran, Ledyard S. Adams, Reuben Wood, Warren G. Grant, Chauncey Yaples, Marcus Munn, Samuel Ball, John Bush, Stephen Dailey, and Lee Nutt.

Among those early Conway settlers was Warren G. Grant who came here in 1838. The following account of he and his family’s settlement during that year was provided later on by his son, Elisha W. Grant.

“Early in February 1838, Warren Grant exchanged his farm in Wayne County-- where he had resided for eight years, coming from Massachusetts in 1830-- for lands situated in Livingston County.

“Soon after the exchange-- which was made with Rufus Beach-- he made a journey to Conway, or, as it was called then, Howell. He traveled to Livingston Centre by stage, then by foot to John Fowler’s residence in Handy, who went with him and showed him his land.

“On the next day Ralph and John Fowler, Harvey Metcalf, Lee Nutt, Elijah Gaston, John Bush, and Calvin Handy, with an ox team and sled, on which was placed some marsh hay and provisions for the men, went up to Mr. Grant’s new location to prepare another home for a new settler.

“All went to work with a will, and before night set in, the logs were cut and hauled, and the wooden walls of a shanty, 16 by 20 feet, were ready for the roof. Gaston agreed to put the roof in place for a few dollars of wildcat money. According to the contract with Gaston, about three feet of one end was left open for the chimney-- yet to be built-- and for the passage of smoke until that time.

“Having accomplished this much, Mr. Grant returned to Wayne County and made due preparations for the removal of his family to their new home (located in section 33). He purchased a pair of half-broken steers, four years old, a light cart into which was loaded a sugar kettle, grindstone, and a few smaller articles. With two (rented) horse teams and wagons to carry the family, household goods, provisions, etc., they started about the second week of April for the county.

“Arriving at Gaston’s residence, they spent the night. The next morning the teamsters were paid and returned to Detroit. The same morning, the steers were again hitched to the cart, a few articles were placed therein, and driving besides them two cows, the male members of the family went forward to their new shanty, a distance of four miles to the west.

“It was found without doors, floors, windows or chinking. Their cattle were driven to the pasture, a small swamp some 30 rods west of the shanty, where wild grass had already grown to the height of some six or seven inches.

“The house was soon made in a habitable condition, with crevices chinked, the floor laid, and a door and cupboard made from the packing cases. An opening was made for a six lighted window.

“The tall oaks towered directly over this cabin and their branches could be seen swaying back and forth through the (chimney) opening during the first night of its occupation. On the succeeding day trees that stood in dangerous proximity were felled, a yard was built of poles in which to keep the stock, the floor was completed, and some stones gathered for the construction of a chimney, which was not finished until the logs forming the walls of the house were burned nearly through by the fires used in cooking.”

This cabin was situated on the ‘Trail Road’, which had been the first highway opened in the township and followed an Indian trail running along the north bank of the Cedar River. It was opened sufficiently for the passage of teams and wagons as early as the spring of 1837.

In December of 1838 Warren Grant applied for and received a license “to keep a public house and to sell spirituous liquors at his house on the Trail Road for one year from and after the 31^st of December, 1838”.

Another early tavern-keeper in Conway was Lee Nutt, located in nearby sections 35 and 36. He was first granted a license by the township board in February of 1841.

Along with having the first tavern, Grant also had the first post office in the township, that being called the Cedar Post Office and established about 1840.

Township clerk and Justice of the Peace Levi Parsons performed the first marriage here on August 19, 1838, marrying Amos Colborn to Hannah Alexander. Along with Levi Parsons, other township officers elected during that first meeting in 1838 were John Coughran, supervisor; Henry Hoyt, Frederick Parsons, Stephen Dailey, assessors; Ledyard Adams, Timothy Wait, Amos Colborn, school inspectors; Cecil Parsons, Amos Colborn, Ledyard Adams, highway commissioners; Lee Nutt, Frederick Parsons, directors of the poor; Joseph Alexander, John Coughran, Levi Parsons, Timothy Wait, Justices of the Peace; and Lorenzo Strong, constable and collector.