Simmons was one of ten children, born in
Kentucky in 1814. As a boy, he moved with his mother to
Pike County, Illinois. When Michael was 21 years old, he moved to
Iowa and married a 15-year-old girl named Elizabeth Kindred. Five years later, the couple moved to
Missouri and Michael built a
gristmill. In late 1845, at the age of 30, he decided to abandon the Midwest and came to the Puget Sound on a wagon train with a group of settlers (including his friend
George Bush). He assumed leadership of the new settlers, who gave him the title of "Colonel". Despite its help, three years later Simmons led a campaign of complaints against the "monarchist" Hudson's Bay Company. At New Market, Simmons exploited the power of
Tumwater Falls to construct mills, organizing the Puget Sound Milling Co. with
Edmund Sylvester, Antonio B. Rabbeson and others in August 1847. In 1850, Simmons sold his interests at New Market to Clanrick Crosby and moved to
Olympia. Simmons invested in shipping and, despite being illiterate, became Olympia's
postmaster. In 1850 he sold his rights along the Deschutes to Clanrick Crosby and moved to Olympia, where he operated a store. He sold the store in 1853 and moved to Mason County, where he took out a Donation Land Claim and built another saw mill in 1854. After the appointment of
Isaac Stevens as the first governor of newly established
Washington Territory, Simmons was appointed
Indian Agent in 1854, and in 1855 was charged with preparing the enforcement of Governor Steven's Indian treaties. Simmons died on November 15, 1867 from
acute hepatitis. • Stephen Douglass Simmons (d. 1852) • David Kindred Simmons (1838–1882) • Francis Marion Simmons (1841–1924) • McDonald Simmons (1843–1906) • Christopher Columbus Simmons (1845–1931) • Benjamin Franklin Simmons (1848–1925) • Charlotte Elizabeth Simmons Koontz (1850–1929) • Catharine Simmons Bannon (1857–1941) • Charles Mason Simmons (1860–1944) • Michael Troutman Simmons Jr. (1862–1939) • George Washington Simmons (1837–1929) • Douglas Woodburg Simmons (1852–1852) • Mary Allen Simmons (1853–1919) == References ==