QUESTION: When did Michigan first celebrate Thanksgiving?

a. 1829

b. 1840

c. 1851

d. 1863

ANSWER: A. In 1829, before Michigan even achieved statehood, territorial Gov. Lewis Cass declared Nov. 25 to be a day of Thanksgiving. It became an official federal holiday in 1863, when President Lincoln set the last Thursday in November as a day of “thanksgiving and praise.”