Hillsdale County, Michigan: History
The county is named for its rolling terrain. It was described by action of the Michigan Territorial legislature in 1829, and was organized six years later. See List of Michigan county name etymologies.
Hillsdale County was a New England settlement; its early settlers came from the northern coastal colonies – "Yankees", descended from the English Puritans who emigrated from the Old World in the 1600s. There was a wave of such settlers into the Northwest Territory during the early 1800s, many traveling on the newly completed Erie Canal, and made safe by the conclusion of the Black Hawk War. They brought with them a passion for education, establishing many schools. Many were abolitionists.