Mr. Jones may be on the right track.

I know that this holds true for Schoenherr and Saal Road in Sterling Heights. But the J Ryan in that Atlas has only a minor plot of land. Does that Atlas tell anything more about him?

I have an 1875 Atlas of Macomb County that show members of the Conant family owning land on both sides of Ryan from 8 Mile all the way up to 12 Mile Road, so there has to be more to it than that.