Project Scroll Research Note 2026-26: "Postmarked 'Niles'": Hezekiah Niles's own notice of the naming of Niles, Michigan, 7 November 1829

The village of Niles, on the St. Joseph River, was platted for the traders Walling & Lacey on 1 August 1829 and its plat recorded in Lenawee County on 29 August. The county histories give no reason for the name until Orville W. Coolidge in 1906, who says Obed Lacey chose it after the editor of the Niles Register. The earliest printed explanation cited until now was Benjamin Lundy's Genius of Universal Emancipation of 20 November 1829: a town "called Niles, in honor of Hezekiah Niles, of Baltimore," for his "efforts in behalf of the American System." Thirteen days earlier, on the front page of Niles' Weekly Register of 7 November 1829, the editor himself had printed the news: "We were surprised a few days since to receive a letter postmarked 'Niles'—and, on opening it, found that it was from a new town laid out on the St. Joseph's river, not far from lake Michigan; and so called in compliment to the senior editor of this paper, because of his long and zealous support of internal improvements and domestic industry. The editor wishes to return thanks for this compliment." It is the earliest notice of the name in print yet found, and its postmark shows that by the first days of November 1829 letters were leaving the new town marked "Niles." Project Scroll Research Note 2026-26, version 1. The note sets out the record quoted, where it is held, what it changes, its limits, and what was searched before calling it new. Web version: projectscroll.com/discoveries/notes/2026-26/.