Henry Hudson Hutchins was born in Ganges township in 1853, the 3rd son of Harrison and Laura (Hudson) Hutchins.  His father was the first white settler in Ganges township, his mother one of the first school teachers.  He attended the Veeder school and later studied at Kalamazoo College.  Hutchins was married in 1877 to Hattie Robertson.  They had 4 children.

In 1873 he established a fruit farm on 122nd Avenue east of Ganges.  He was never a success at fruit farming but added to the family income with his inventions including a mechanical fruit and vegetable assorter and a portable buggy light.  For many years he was an officer in the Ganges Pomological Society, and was secretary to the Western Allegan Pioneer Society.  He was also a founding father of the Saugatuck and Ganges Telephone Company, said to have been the first cooperative telephone company in the country.

About the turn of the century he began interviewing the "old timers", of the area and writing up their recollections.  In 1919, "since no one has appeared on the scene to use my notes", Hutchins wrote a series of 16 articles which were published in the "Commercial Record", in Saugatuk, and the "Fennville Herald".  In 1925 he followed the original 16 with 19 additional "letters"   Hutchins died in 1933.