George Christian Anthon

George Christian Anthon was born in Germany on August 25, 1734. He and his first wife, Mariana Navarre, who died in 1773, had no children. In 1778, Anthon married Genevieve Jadot (also a member of the Navarre family). The couple had three sons: John Anthon, a New York attorney; Reverend Henry Anthon (rector at St. Mark's in the Bowery); and Professor Charles Anthon, an esteemed Greek and Latin scholar.

In 1757, Anthon was brought to New York as a British prisoner of war. In 1760, he came to Detroit with Major Rogers. He was commissioned surgeon-mate in the 60th Regiment of Royal Americans in 1761. He left Detroit when Colonel Gladwin retired in 1764. In 1765, he returned to Detroit where he was given (?) a plot of land 800 feet wide on the Detroit River by Chief Pontiac of the Ottawa tribe.