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- The first to go to Michigan:
http://files.usgwarchives.net/mi/lapeer/history/whhoin.txt
THE HISTORY of the White Horse includes the names of some of the earliest pioneers of southern Lapeer County. Daniel Ammerman built the inn in 1850. After several changes of ownership, it passed to the Hoard family, first represented in this area by Lorenzo Hoard. He passed through Metamora in 1837 when Flint was little more than a few log cabins and Indians were as numerous as the settlers.] Hoard returned in the early 1840's and on Oct. 15. 1846. bought 40 acres. The same year, Isaac Hoard, a retired sea captain believed to have been his uncle, bought some land from Able Webster. Later, when Lorenzo Hoard bought the inn, he renamed it the Hoard House. He added the east wing to the north-south structure. He served no liquor, and the inn remained dry until 1906, when the family ownership ended. By 1858 Hoard was paying almost $50 a year in taxes on the inn. He was appointed postmaster of the village on Aug. 2, 1861, and served until 1877. James Banker, Grandfather of Mrs. Hoard, lived in the area. Banker, who had fought in the Revolutionary War, had to go to Pontiac once a month to pick up his $100 pension. He was 105 when he died. In the early days, the stagecoaches went to Pontiac as well as Hadley and Thornville. Thornville was on the Flint river and its mill made it a center of commerce larger than Metamora. Now it is all gone except for a church and a few homes. About 1872, the Michigan Central Railroad built its line through Metamora and Hoard received a franchise to feed and house passengers. One of Hoard's daughters, Louisa, was born in Penn Yan, N.Y. but was reared in Metamora. Her husband, James Perkins, son of Harry F. Perkins, was postmaster from 1841-1843. They managed Hoard House after the death of Lorenzo Hoard in 1888. Their daughter, Bessie, and her husband William Thompson sold it in 1906 to William Detter and Samuel Miller. The partnership of Miller-Detter put liquor in. But temperance was gaining popularity and it wasn't long before the townspeople voted under the Local Option Law of 1889 to make the town dry. Today the White Horse Inn is owned by a Detroit firm that has remodeled the interior and plans still more work. The weight of its years is lightly borne, and it is keeping up with the times under the management of Mrs. Betty Bailiff. Where travelers once waited for stagecoach, there now are jazz sessions, every Sunday.
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