Ingham County History gives no authentic account of the first white man who came onto Ingham county soil, but old records show that the history of the county dates from the time when the “Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace” was established by the Territorial Legislature in 1817. Ingham County was named after the secretary of the treasury Samuel D. Ingham. Previously, Ingham County formed parts of both Washtenaw and Wayne counties. On October 29, 1829 the Legislative Council of the Territory of Michigan enacted upon and passed that the lands were outlined and "set off into a separate county, and the name thereof shall be Ingham". The original county-seat of Ingham County was located about two years previous to the organization of the county. On March 8, 1836, Governor Stevens T. Mason appointed Theophilus Crawford of Livingston, Washington Wing of Washtenaw, and John Wright as commissioners to locate the county seat of Ingham County. Mr. Wright resigned and was replaced by John Bronson of Detroit.

On June 15, 1836, the commissioners made the report that they had located the seat of the county of Ingham at the quarter-section post, between sections one and twelve, town two north, range one west. Governor Mason issued his proclamation confirming the location for the county-seat of Ingham agreeably to the report that the commissioners had made. The land on which the county seat is now located was owned by Charles T. Thayer. Mr. Thayer laid out a village and named it Ingham.