In 1824, Hervey Bliss, who according to Duane DeLoach's Blissfield's First 150 Years stood "about five feet, three inches tall, with a somewhat florid complexion and . . . blue eyes," left Monroe County, blazed a trail 20 miles through the woods, built a log cabin, and founded the village of Blissfield on the west bank of the River Raisin. In 1826, George Giles, a neighbor of Bliss in Monroe County, moved onto land on the east side of the river in...