-7
`7
S



WII




PII
-AWI




















RIC(HARI) 1. BONNER




M.EMOIRS
OF
LENAWEE COUNTY


MICHIGAN
FROM THE EARLIEST HISTORICAL TIMES DOWN TO
THE PRESENT, INCLUDING A GENEALOGICAL
AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF
REPRESENTATIVE FAMILIES IN
LENAWEE COUNTY
RICHARD ILLENDEN BONNER, EDITOR
ILLUSTRATED


VOLUME I


MADISON, WISCONSIN
WESTERN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
1909








PREFACE
It has been the aim in the preparation of these volumes to
give a faithful account of the early settlements in Lenawee county,
to note the progress that attended the noble efforts of the pioneer
citizens and their worthy descendants, and also to make the reader
acquainted, by biographical mention, with many of those to whom
we of the present day are indebted in no small measure for the excellent advantages we enjoy. Records of pioneer times are interesting, and they are not without their lessons of instruction. In Lenawee county only a very few of the early settlers are now living, and
those who still survive are the lingering bonds between us and bygone days, transmitting the traditions of early times to the inquiring minds of the present generation. So, it is by the light of
the recorded past, as it appears upon printed pages, that one must
follow in the foot-prints of the adventurous and enterprising pioneer. He is seen, as it- were, amid the labors and struggles necessary to convert the wilderness into a fruitful field. The reader sits
by his cabin fire, partaking of his homely hospitality, and listens
to the accounts which he is pleased to give of frontier life, and of
the dangers, trials, hardships, and sufferings endured by himself
and others, in their efforts to make for themselves homes in regions remote from civilization. And through these pioneer records
and printed pages, the way is followed along to the present. From
small beginnings are seen the mighty achievements of industrythe, complex results of daring enterprise, subduing and creative
energy, and untiring perseverance.
Looking backward some fourscore years, a few hardy pioneers
are seen locating at Tecumseh,, Blissfield and Adrian. They were
vigorous frontier men and women, of scanty means, but possessed
of a courageous determination to win homes for themselves and
their posterity. A few years later, others came, some settling on
prairie and ridge lands, while some sought homes in the beautiful
valleys of the River Raisin and Bean Creek. Log houses with shake
roofs, and barns of equally primitive structure, were soon in evi



iv


PREFACE


dence, signifying that a civilization was being established in the
wilderness. Small clearings were made and grain was planted and
harvested wherever such efforts and labor had assurance of commensurate reward. Farms were gradually increased by clearing
the land of timber; and now, following on in the path of progress
and improvement, what were once waste places are seen rejoicing
under the kindly care of the husbandman, while beautiful farms,
with all the fixtures and appliances necessary to make the tillers
of the soil and their families contented and happy, are spread out
in all directions.
Home-made clothing gradually disappeared, the tables had
more of the delicacies of life; the ox-team gave way to the more
speedy animal, the horse; the sickle was supplanted by the grain
cradle, and the latter was laid aside for the reaper; the scythe was
hung up as a relic and the mower took its place in the meadow;
and the house looms were no longer seen when the pioneer mothers,
one by one, passed to their eternal home. The old log school-house,
long to be remembered, had its day, and the white frame and red
brick temples of education stand by the roadside at frequent intervals. The prayer meetings and other religious services which
were once held in the kitchen of the log cabins, now are convened
in stately church edifices, dedicated to the living God. On the
large and well cultivated farms are seen modern machinery for
tilling the soil and reaping the fruits thereof, and wherever the
eye roams it is greeted by the towering wind-mill, marking the
places where the breezes of heaven perform the work of the primitive contrivance in drawing water.
The pioneer fathers laid a foundation upon which they and
their successors have erected a magnificent structure; villages have
sprung up as if by magic, and hundreds of human souls are congregated therein; the marts of trade and traffic and the workshops
of the artisans are thronged; the press is established, whence floods
of light may emanate for the instruction and benefit of all; electricity and gas now illumine the dark places, where once the torch
and the tallow candle were the only lighting agencies; railroads
have been built which bring the products of every clime, and the
people from afar, to the confines of Lenawee county, and the telegraph and the telephone, "upon the lightning's wing," carry messages far and near. As some one has said, "Let the records of the
pioneers be preserved; in after years our children and our children's
children will look over them with pleasure and profit."




PREFACE


v


In issuing the "Memoirs of Lenawee County," the publishers
take the preface as a means of acknowledging obligation to many
who have so cordially co-operated in their preparation. When we
began this arduous task it was with the active co-operation and
under the immediate supervision of Hon. Willard Stearns, that
distinguished citizen of the county who shed luster on every thing
he undertook, and acquired a state-wide reputation for the brilliancy of his intellect. Unfortunately, we were not to have the
benefit of his advice and assistance to the end. His death, though
coming after a long life of highest usefulness, was keenly felt by
all citizens of the county, and distinctly so by us. The editorial
work which Mr. Stearns had agreed to do was assumed by Richard
I. Bonner, and much of whatever excellence is attained by these
volumes may be attributed primarily to that gentleman, whose intelligent direction and courteous suggestions have been unfailing.
Dr. Clifford Kirkpatrick, who stands high as a physician and surgeon, has edited the chapter upon "The Medical Profession," and
to his painstaking efforts and interest in the subject is due the
completeness with which it is treated. Clinton D. Hardy, the
genial cashier of the Lenawee County Savings Bank, has revised
and edited the chapter on "Banking and Finance," and he gave the
work the same careful and intelligent consideration that characterizes his efforts in all matters claiming his attention. The chapter
entitled "Farming and Allied Interests," has been written by the
Hon. James W. Helme, than whom there is none more competent
to speak upon agricultural matters, and he has given to this chapter much thought and research.
Acknowledgments are also due to the different county officials, who kindly assisted and thereby made easy the search
through the records of their offices; to Mrs. Margaret F. Jewell,
librarian of the public library, and her efficient assistant, Miss Agnes H. Jewell, for their unfailing courtesy; to A. E. Metler, photographer, for the use of some fine engravings which appear in
this volume; and to many others are we indebted for numerous
acts of kindness.
That the "Memoirs of Lenawee County" may prove satisfactory to our patrons is the hope of
THE PUBLISHERS.








TABLE OF CONTENTS


CHAPTER I.
LENAWEE      COUNTY    ANTIQUITIES-The Mound Builders-Classification of Mo u n d s- Their
Works in Lenawee County-General Description of Mounds-Arrow-making-Early Archaeological Writings-Later Opinions...... 17
CHAPTER II.
EARLY JURISDICTION-Title to
Lands-Treaty of 1783-Virginia's
Claim of Sovereignty-The Greenville Treaty - The County of
Wayne-Claims of the IndiansCessions of Territory by the Red
Men - Formation   of  Lenawee
County................................  31
CHAPTER III.
SETTLEMENT AND       ORGANIZATIO N.................................  57
CHAPTER IV.
OTHER SETTLEMENTS AND INCIDENTS...........................  83
CHAPTER V.
THE BOUNDARY DISPUTE-Importance of the Question-The
Origin of the Difficulty-Mitchell
& Bradley's M a p - Exception
Clause in Ohio State Constitution-The Harris Line-The Fulton Line-Attack Upon Surveying
Party-Major Stickney and His
Connections with the Boundary
Dispute - Activity of Governor
Mason-Dispute   Finally  Settled
by Congress-Legal Phases of the
Question.............................. 107
CHAPTER VI.
GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT.. 130
CHAPTER VII.
POLITICS AND OFFICIAL HONOR S..................................  151
CHAPTER VIII.
REPRESENTATIVES AND COUNTY OFFICIALS................... 182
CHAPTER IX.
TECUMSEH     TOWNSHIP — Organization - Topography-Early History-Musgrove Evans and Other
Pioneers-Locating Seat of Justice-First House, Saw Mill, Grist
Mill, Store, Crop of Wheat in


Lenawee County, School House,
Religious Services, and Election
-Fourth  of July, 1826-Pioneer
Sketches..............................  221
CHAPTER X.
ADRIAN TOWNSHIP-Location, Organization and Boundaries-Name
Changed from Logan to AdrianTopographical Features - Early
History - First Settlers - James
Whitney, Anson Howell, David
Wiley and Other Pioneers-The
Old Tabor Farm-First Township  Meeting-Census of 1830 -Heads of Families in 1830-Schools 235
CHAPTER XI.
BLISSFIELD    TOWNSHIP - Location-River Raisin and Other
Streams-First Permanent Improvement - Hervey Bliss and
Other Early Settlers-First Election and Officers Chosen-Wild
Game-First Minister, Hotel and
School House-Pioneers Previous
to 1836-Village of Blissfield-Railroads - Religious Organizations
and Schools-Fertility of Soil..... 245
CHAPTER XII.
FRANKLIN     TOWNSHIP-Location
and Boundaries-Surface Drainage and Soil-The Early Settlers
-Township Organizatio nChurches - Postoffice - Soldiers'
Monument............................ 259
CHAPTER XIII.
FAIRFIELD TOWNSHIP - Topographical and Agricultural Features-The First Settlement and
Township Organization-The First
Election - Early Settlers - Early
and Present Church Organizations-First Saw Mill-First Postoffice-Cheese Making-Villages... 265
CHAPTER XIV.
MADISON TOWNSHIP-Boundaries
-Topography-Soil and Drainage
-Railroads - Agricultural Interests - Early Settlers - Township
Organization-First Election and
Officers-First  Saw  Mill-First
School House-First Log CabinFirst White Child Born............ 271
CHAPTER XV.
RAISIN TOWNSHIP - Location
Boundaries -Topography-First
Settlers-Early Sketches - Incidents of Pioneer Life-First Saw




viii


CONTENTS


Mill-First Election and Officers
Elected- Early Industries-Nooney Simonds, Joseph Southworth,
Alvin Doty, Edmund Hall and
Other Pioneers - First School
House-First Church Organization.................................... 279
CHAPTER XVI.
PALMYRA TOWNSHIP — Location
and  Organization-Surface  and
Drainage-Early   Settlers-Timothy B. Goff, Americus Smith, Lester Clark, John Comstock, Stephen Warner, Alonzo Mitchell, and
Other Pioneer Sketches-Early
Industries-Incidents of Pioneer
Life-Village of Palmyra-Early
Schools-Religious Organizations
-First Saw Mill and Grist MillFirst Marriage...................... 297
CHAPTER XVII.
MACON    TOWNSHIP-Surface-Organization - Early Settlers-John
and   Israel  Pennington,  Dr.
Howell, James and Gabriel W.
Mills and Other Pioneers-First
Religious Services-First Stock
of Goods-Early Schools........... 309
CHAPTER XVIII.
ROLLIN    TOWNSHIP-Topography
- Organization - First  Election
and Officers Elected-Joseph Beal,
Deacon Matthew Bennett, John
R. Hawkins, Levi Jennings and
Other  Pioneers - First  Death,
Birth and Marriage-First Religious Services-Village of RollinFirst Store-First Religious Organizations-First Public School"Wild-cat'- Money - Fine  Mill
Site....................................  317
CHAPTER XIX.
ROME    TOWNSHIP-Location and
Natural Features - Name - First
Settlement - Lyman W. Baker,
David   Smith,  Jr.,  John  B.
Schureman, Theodoric Luther,
Joseph M. Baker and Other Pioneers-Organization - First Election and Officers Elected-First
Grocery-Baptist Church........... 331
CHAPTER XX.
WOODSTOCK      TOWNSHIP-Topography-Organization-First Election at the Home of Jesse Osborn
-First School House - Natural
Features-First Settlement-Jesse
Osborn, Charles M. McKenzie and
Other Pioneers-First Township
Meeting and Officers ElectedFirst Mill- Cement City- Two
Foul Murders-Schools-Orsamus
Lam b.................................. 339
CHAPTER XXI.
CAMBRIDGE      TOWNSHIP - Location-Drainage- Early SettlersRev. William N. Lyster, James
King and Other Pioneers-Charles
Blackmar, First Settler-Public
Improvements-Nathan S. Wheeler-John Rawson-First Township
Meeting-Officers Elected - First
Mail.Rout —First Store - First


I


Saw Mill-First Ministers-Peter
Onsted................................ 349
CHAPTER XXII.
H U D S O N   TOWNSHIP-Natural
Features and Advantages-Products of the Soil-First Settlements - Lanesville - Beriah  H.
Lane-Village of Lenawee-First
Marriage,  First  Death,  First
Store-First Religious MeetingFirst Frame House-Silas EatonEarly Saw Mills-First Township
Meeting-John H. Carleton, the
Father of Will Carleton, the Poet
-Village of Clayton-City of Hudson-Public  Library................. 359
CHAPTER XXIII.
DOVER TOWiNSHIP-Location and
Natural Features-First Entries
of Land-Samuel Warren-Isaac
Warren-An Early Tavern-Some
of the Pioneers-Cadmus Presbyterian Church-Rev. Paul Shepherd - C I ay t o n  Presbyterian
Church.................................373
CHAPTER XXIV.
SENECA TOWNSHIP - Establishment and Boundaries-First Election - Simon D. Wilson - Amos
Franklin-Topography and SoilEarly  Settlements-First White
Child-Early Pioneers-The Haywards-The Kinneys-Hard Times
in 1835-First Death in TownshipFirst  Weddings - Other   First
Events-William  Sutton - Village
of Morenci-Silas A. Scofield-The
Stair Auditorium................... 381
CHAPTER XXV.
OGDEN    TOWNSHIP-Acts of Organization and Change in Boundary-Streams - Topography and
Early Conditions-First Settler,
Moses Volentine - John Underwood-Erastus Brockway - Ephraim Hicks - Other Pioneers -
First Town Meeting, First Saw
Mill, and First Death-William
Crockett-Extensive Ditching..... 393
CHAPTER XXVI.
MEDINA TOWNSHIP - Organization-Natural Features-First Settler, Nathaniel W. Upton-Deacon
Cook Hotchkiss-John KnappFirst White Woman-First Tavern- First Religious Sermon -
First School-Rev. William E.
Warner-First Deaths-George W.
Moore-Hard Times-Early Marriages and Births-John D. Sutton-Rival Villages-Names and
Sketches of Early ResidentsFirst Township Meeting-Amusing
Incidents-Early Merchants-Villages of Medina and Canandaigua................................ 401
CHAPTER XXVII.
RIDGEWAY     TOWNSHIP-Creation
of the Township and Change in
Boundaries-Topography and Water Courses-Natural Conditions
-First  Land   Purchase -First




CONTENTS


ix


Dwelling House-First Permanent Settlers-First Death-First
Election-Sanford Hause-Joshua Waring-First Public RoadEarly Religious Movements-First
Physicians-Early Hardships and
Difficulties.......................... 415
CHAPTER XXVIII.
RIGA   TOWNSHIP - Organized as
Pottsdam,  Name    Changed   to
Riga - Natural Features - First
White Settler- R o s w e l  W.
Knight-The Cottonwood Swamp
and the Riga Ditch-Names of
Early  Settlers - First EventsVillage  of  Riga...................... 423
CHAPTER XXIX.
DEERFIELD      TOWNSHIP-Organization, Enlargement and Natural
Features-Village  of DeerfieldFirst Settlement-William Kedzie
-Daniel H. Clark-Girl Lost in
the Woods-First Events and Pioneer Incidents-George Ferguson
-Albert K. Hickok-Change of
Name of Postoffice from Kedzie's
Grove to Deerfield-Ephraim Hall
-Jason Hemenway-Joe BraggOther  Pioneers...................... 427
CHAPTER XXX.
CLINTON TOWNSHIP - Organization-Features, Natural and Modern-Thaddeus Clark-First Marriage and Death-Alpheus KiesBenjamin B. Fisk and Son, Gen.
Clinton B. Fisk-First Fourth of
July Celebration - Early Horse
F a n c i e r s-Pioneer Mercantile
Houses-Mammoth Sleigh RideJohn P. Silvers-Early Christian
Ministers, Doctors and LawyersVillage  of Clinton.................. 435
CHAPTER XXXI.
CITY OF ADRIAN-Founded by Addison J. Comstock, and Named
by His Wife-Original Plat —First
Events-Early   Fourth  of July
Celebration-Early  Hotels-Isaac
Dean - Postoffice  Established -
First Dry Goods Store-E. Conant
Winter - Rufus Merrick - Indian
Scare - First Newspaper - First
Drug Store-Abel Whitney-First
Railroad-Adrian as a City-Original Boundaries - Summary of
- Charter -Amendments      and
Changes-List of Mayors with
Personal Sketches-Present Conditions-Adrian Public LibraryCemeteries-Fraternal and Other
Societies-State Industrial Home
For Girls-Sketch of Mrs. Laura
S.  Haviland......................... 441
CHAPTER XXXII.
CHURCH    HISTORY-General Remarks-M e t h o d i s t Episcopal
Church-Camp-Meetings- Presbyterian Church-Baptist ChurchFirst Baptism by ImmersionEpiscopal Church-William   Narcissus Lyster-Friends (Quaker)
Church-Congregational ChurchCatholic  Church- L u t h e r a n
Church - G e r m a n Evangelical


C h u r c h-Methodist Protestant
Church-Free Methodist ChurchUnited Brethren Church-Disciples of Christ Church-Church of
C h r i s t (Scientist) - Woman's
Christian Temperance Union...... 473
CHAPTER XXXIII.
EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENTGeneral  Remarks - The    First
School House in the County-Past
and Present Educational Institutions at Tecumseh-Second Public
School in the County-Blissfield
Schools-Adrian Schools-Schools
of Madison Township, of Deerfield, of Clinton, of Raisin Township-The Raisin Institute-Raisin Valley Seminary-Schools of
Cambridge, Rollin and HudsonThe Will Carleton School-Schools
of Medina - Medina AcademySchools of Seneca, Dover, Rome
and Woodstock-Woodstock Manual Labor Institute-Schools of
Franklin, Palmyra, Fairfield, Ogden, Riga, Ridgeway and Macon
-Summary-Parochial SchoolsAdrian College - Brown's Business  College......................... 515
CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE PRESS OF THE COUNTYLaunching of the First Newspaper-Name Changed to Watchtower -  Michigan ExpositorRensselaer W. Ingalls-The Jermain Brothers-Francis R. Stebbins-The Constitutionalist-Benjamin Workman-Michigan Whig
-The Christian Advocate - The
Farmer and Mechanic-Adrian
Journal-Japheth  Cross - Adrian
Press - Evening Record - David
W. Grandon-Michigan PatronTecumseh Newspaper HistoryJames L. Smith-William Richards-Scovel C. Stacy-Hudson
Newspapers-Enos Canniff - William T. Schermerhorn-Morenci
Observer - Erasmus D. AllenBlissfield Papers - Other Papers
of the County, Past and Present. 549
CHAPTER XXXV.
THE    MEDICAL     PROFESSIONThe Lenawee County Medical Society-Trials of the Early Physicians-Personal Mention of Early
Practitioners........................ 573
CHAPTER XXXVI.
BENCH AND BAR-Early Judicial
System-Changes Therein by Different Constitutions of the StateCircuit Court-Associate JudgesJudge Andrew Howell-List of
Circuit Judges - Probate Court
and List of Judges with Personal
Mention - County  Courts   and
Judges - Prosecuting  Attorneys
with   Sketches - Circuit  Court
Commissioners - Sheriffs - Members of the Bar-Lenawee County Bar Association................. 589
CHAPTER XXXVII.
BANKING AND FINANCE-Antipathy to Banks-Early Banking




x


CONTENTS


Laws —"Wild-cat" Banking-City
Bank of Brest-Panic of 1837-Report of Bank CommissionersBanking Law Declared Unconstitutional-Complete F i n a n c i a 1
Ruin-Erie & Kalamazoo Railroad Bank-Philo C. Fuller-Period of Sane Banking-Waldby &
Clay's  State  Bank - Lenawee
County Savings Bank-Commercial Savings Bank-Adrian State
Savings Bank-National Bank of
Commerce-Lilley State Bank and
the Tecumseh State Savings
Bank, at Tecumseh-The Boles
State Savings Bank and the
Thompson Savings Bank, at Hudson-Other Banking InstitutionsA Dishonest Banker............... 619
CHAPTER XXXVIII*
MILITARY HISTORY-The Black
Hawk War-The Adrian GuardsFirst Military Encampment-The
War with Mexico-Civil War Period-Differences of Opinion-First
Mass Meeting in Adrian-Enlistments-First, Second and Fourth


Infantry Regiments-The Gallant
Eleventh - The  Twelfth,  Fifteenth, Sixteenth, Seventeenth,
Eighteenth and Twenty-sixth Infantry  Regiments - "Engineers
and Mechanics" Regiment-Batteries  of  Artillery - Cavalry -
Spanish-American War........... 639
CHAPTER XXXIX.
AGRICULTURE AND ALLIED INTERESTS-Early Statistics-Notable Change in ProductionsAbandoned Industries - L at e r
Statistics on Agricultural Wealth
-Comparisons with Other Counties in the United States-Lenawee County Stands at the HeadManufacture of B u t t er and
Cheese- "The   Co t t o n w o o d
Swamp"-Riga and Ogden Townships-Sugar-Beet Industry — Organization of Farmers-Lenawee
County Agricultural Society-The
G r a n g e - Farmers' InstitutesFirst Farmers' Club-The Great
Farm Factory...................... 667




INDEX


Adam,      John     J......................... 161
Adams, Peter R..................... 600, 610
Addison,     village    of.................... 345
Adrian, city      of, chapter............... 441
Adrian    College.......................... 544
Adrian     township, chapter............ 235
Adrian, village      platted................. 65
Agricultural      Growth................. 667
Agriculture, chapter................... 667
Allen, Erasmus Darwin.............. 568
Allis, George R.......................... 214
Ames, Charles.......................... 360
Andrews, Dr. Edwin           P................. 576
Angell, Clark........................... 397
Antiquities, chapter....................         17
Arnold, John........................... 266
Ash, William........................... 287
Attorneys-General................ 163
Attorneys, list of....................... 599
Auditors-General................. 162
Backus, Andrew....................... 610
Baker, Aaron        S.......................... 241
Baker, Albert        M........................ 613
Baker, John............................. 266
Baker, Joseph M......................... 334
Baker, Lyman         W....................... 332
Baker, Rufus........................... 269
Baker, William, Jr..................... 173
Baker's Corners........................ 270
Baldwin, Charles         M.................... 410
Baldwin, Elias J......................... 196
Bank Commissioners, report of....... 624
Bank    of Brest.......................... 621
Bank of Palmyra, examination of... 622
Bank    robbery........................... 636
Banking     and    Finance, chapter....... 619
Banking      law, suspension       of.......... 625
Banking     laws of 1838................... 624
Banking, period of sane............... 627
BANKSAddison     State   Savings............... 635
Adrian    State Savings................ 631
Bidwell's     Banking      Office........... 627
Blissfield   State   Bank............... 634
Boles, Eaton      &  Company............ 633
Call in    their circulation............. 623
C. C. Wakefield &         Company........ 633
Chartered, list      of..................... 620
Commercial Exchange............... 631
Commercial Savings of Adrian..... 630
Deerfield    State....................... 634
Early    prejudice     against............. 619
Erie &    Kalamazoo       Railroad    Bank. 627
Exchange Bank         of Addison......... 635
Exchange       Bank    of  Clayton........ 635
First in    county....................... 627
First National of Adrian............ 628
First National of        Morenci.......... 634
Howell, Baker        &  Company......... 630
Jipson-Carter      State    Bank........... 634
Law    providing     for.................... 620
Lilley, Bidwell &        Company........ 632
Lilley's State      Bank................. 632
Lenawee      County     Savings........... 628
National Bank        of Commerce....... 631
Of Bills, Lilley &      Co.................. 632
Of Britton............................. 635
Onsted    State Bank.................... 635
Smith, Richmond & Co., of Clinton 635


Tecumseh      State    Savings............. 632
Thompson       Savings................... 633
T. J. Tobey      &   Company............. 630
Van    Tuyle &     Silvers................ 635
Wakefield     State   Bank     of Morencl. 633
Waldby      &  Clay's State Bank...... 628
Whitney's Commercial Exchange 630
W. H. Stone &         Company............ 629
Wild    Cat.............................. 620
Bar Association........................ 618
Barber,     John........................... 170
Bar, members of....................... 610
Bates, Daniel............................ 335
Bates, Winslow......................... 336
Bayles, Samuel........................ 276
Baxter, Benjamin L..................... 205
Baxter, Levi............................ 599
Baxter, Levi, Jr......................... 60
Beal, Joseph........................ 91, 319
Beal, Porter............................   91
Beaman, Fernando           C..............163, 597
Bean    Creek    Country.................. 89
Beecher, Robert R................. 197, 597
Bench    and    Bar, chapter............... 589
Bennett, Davis        D....................... 194
Bennett, Joseph        R...................... 607
Bennett, Matthew..................... 319
Berry, Jonathan........................ 191
Berry, Langford        G...................... 162
Bills, Perley............................. 170
Bird, John      M.............................   186
Bixby, Alonzo Foster..................          600
Bixby, David............................ 239
Bixby, David        A................... 210
Black    Hawk     war...................... 448
Blackmar, Charles..................... 352
Blair, Charles...........................       190
Bliss, Almond       L......................... 212
Bliss, Hervey........................... 61
Blissfield   township.................... 245
Blissfield, village     of.................... 256
Bliven, Samuel......................... 254
Blood, Ezra       F........................... 59
Boies, Henry        M......................... 171
Boies, John       K........................... 175
Boodry, Sylvester...................... 325
Borland, John.......................... 225
Boughton, Selleck         C................... 74
Boundary      Dispute, chapter........... 107
Boyd,    Robert....................... 83, 282
Bradish, Calvin......................... 275
Bradish, Nelson.................... 87, 272
Bradish, Norman         F..................... 277
Bragg, Joe............................... 433
Brockway, Erastus................... 396
Brower, Archibald..................... 384
Brown, Asahel.......................... 304
Brown, Charles......................... 206
Brown, Gen. Joseph          W............. 57, 599
Brown, Dr. William.................... 583
Bugbee, Moses......................... 242
Burridge, Charles...................... 617
Bury, Richard A......................... 459
Butler,    Orange.................... 183, 611
Cairns, James        R........................ 609
Cambridge      township................... 349
Camburn, Joseph....................... 261
Camburn, William..................... 261
Camilla, Rev. Mother.................. 541




xii


INDEX


Camp-meeting, first in         county........ 477
Canandaigua       Hotel.................... 404
Canandaigua       village................... 413
Canniff, Enos........................... 566
Carleton, John       Hancock.............. 366
Carleton, Will M........................ 367
Carpenter, Guy......................... 190
Carpenter, Joel.......................... 172
Carpenter, Samuel..................... 272
Carter, Norman         B...................... 397
Case, Ovid      N............................. 616
Cavender, William................... 404
Cawley,     James     P....................... 390
Cement City............................. 345
Census, first state......................   80
Census reports.......................... 150
Cessions of territory................... 40
Champlin, Elisha         P................ 223, 599
Chapman, John......................... 243
Chatfield, Josiah....................... 289
Cheese, first factory................... 269
Cheese    industry........................ 671
Childs, Augustus W.................... 196
Chittenden, Joseph..................... 612
Church     History,     chapter.............. 473
CHURCHESBaptist............................. 487
Catholic................................ 503
Church of Christ (Scientist)......... 510
Congregational....................... 500
Disciples of Christ................... 510
Episcopal............................. 494
Free    Methodist...................... 508
Friends, or      Quaker................... 498
German      Evangelical................. 507
Lutheran............................. 506
Methodist Episcopal................. 474
Methodist Protestant................ 507
Presbyterian....................... 482
United    Brethren...................... 509
Circuit Court Commissioners, list of. 604
Claims to     territory, rival.............. 39
Clark, Daniel H......................... 429
Clark, Elihu L....................... 195, 452
Clark, Eliza, lost in woods............ 429
Clark, John      R......................... 201
Clark, Lester       P......................... 299
Clark, Thaddeus........................ 436
Clarkson, Daniel....................... 314
Clayton village......................... 379
-Cleveland,    John........................ 284
Cleveland, Joseph        H.................... 607
Clinton    township....................... 435
Clinton    village......................... 440
Collins, James.......................... 312
Colvin, Isaac      A.......................... 276
Combs, Dr. Henry          P.............. 200, 582
Comstock, Addison          J................... 64
Comstock, Darius..................... 63
Comstock, John........................ 300
Congress     Lands........................ 53
Congress, members          of................    163
Conkling, Henry        C...................... 176
Conkling, Samuel G.................... 288
Constitutional Convention, first...... 74
Conventions of assent............. 77
Converse, Benjamin.................... 411
Cooley, Thomas M...................... 605
Corbet, William          M.................... 134
Corbin, William........................ 208
Coroners, list of........................ 219
County Clerks, list of.................. 212
County    officials........................ 211
County    seat established............... 68
County     seat, removal of............... 130
County    Treasurers, list of............ 213
Court house, first in Adrian......... 131
Court house, present.................. 132
COURTSAssociate     Judges..................... 593
At Tecumseh....................... 592
Chancery      powers given.............. 592
C ircuit.................................   591
Circuit court, appeals to............. 595
County................................ 598


Equity     powers........................ 591
First county       court judge............ 599
Of   chancery      abolished............... 592
Original jurisdiction................. 591
Organization       of....................... 589
Probate................................ 595
Provisions in      Constitution     of 1850.. 590
Supreme      Court in     1835-6-8........... 590
Supreme, re-organization            of........ 590
Territorial............................. 589
Cottonwood       Swamp............... 425, 672
Crabbs, Rev. John..................... 3P0
Crane, Archer H......................... 205
Crane,     Calvin.......................... 218
Crane, George.......................... 196
Crane, George         L........................   203
Crane, William......................... 277
Cressy, Dr. Alonzo............... 184, 579
Crockett, William...................... 398
Cross, Japheth.......................... 557
Crosswell, Charles        M................... 159
Dairying,     first.......................... 268
Daniels, Ebenezer...................... 189
Darling, Henry......................... 197
Davidson, Simeon..................... 313
Dean, Isaac............................ 444
Deerfield, first land       entered........... 84
Deerfield    township.................... 427
Deerfield    village........................ 428
Deming, Daniel         H...................... 192
Dennis,     David     B........................ 195
Dewey, Suffrenus....................... 410
Ditching............................. 399
Dodge, Dr. Thomas F.................. 575
Doty,    Alvan............................ 292
Dover     township........................ 373
Durocher, Laurent....................   78
Early    Jurisdiction, chapter............ 31
Earthworks............................. 17
Eastman, Ahira.................... 192, 612
Eaton,     Silas............................ 364
Eddy, John.............................. 255
Eddy, Hiram        S........................... 197
Educational Development.............. 515
Eldredge, Nathaniel Buel.............. 165
Election, first in     county................ 152
Election    statistics...................... 156
Era    of speculation.................... 623
Evans, Musgrove..............81, 222, 595
Fairfield, Ebenezer................ 191, 613
Fairfield   township...................... 265
Fairfield, village of...................... 270
Farmers' organizations.............. 673
Farmers' organizations,            first........ 673
Faxon, Thomas J........................ 193
Ferguson, George....................... 431
Field, James............................ 184
Finch, Asahel, Jr........................ 184
Fisher, Dr. William         C.................. 586
Fisk, Benjamin         B....................... 437
Fisk, Clinton      B.......................... 438
Fletcher, William         A.................... 592
Flour Mill, at Tecumseh.............. 85
Flour    mill, first........................      61
Foster, John............................ 324
Fourth    of July, first celebration...... 86
Fowle, James........................... 255
Franklin, Amos......................... 382
Franklin     township..................... 259
Frary,    Stephen......................... 254
Fraternal societies, Adrian............ 465
French, Isaac........................... 448
French     regime..........................    37
Fuller,    Philo    C.......................... 189
Fulton    line.............................. 115
Furman, Robert........................ 376
Geddes,     Norman....................... 597
Giles, George............................ 62
Giles    House...........................     62
Giles, Mrs. Margaret..............63, 579
Gilmore, Arthur        D...................... 181
Gleason,     Nathaniel.................... 302
Goff, Sewall S.......................... 197
Goff, Timothy B........................ 299
Gould, Jay, visit to Adrian............ 147




INDEX


xiii


Governors............................... 159
Grandon,      David     W..................... 559
Grandy, Dr. Francis.................. 584
Grange................................ 673
Gray, Joseph        W......................... 280
Great Britain, second         war with...... 51
Green, Nelson.......................... 197
Green, Noah       K........................... 196
Green, Orson............................ 202
Greenly, William         L..................... 159
Gregg,     Samuel.........................    92
Griswold, Thomas...................... 226
Growth and Development, chapter... 130
Hagaman, Francis H................... 191
Hale, Seneca............................ 595
Hall, Alfred      D........................... 207
Hall, Edmund.......................... 292
Hall, Ephraim......................... 432
Hall, Dr. Leonard          G...............325, 581
Hall, Jonathan..........................    89
Hamilton, Dr. Increase           S.............. 580
Hard    times.............................. 623
Harkness, John         U...................... 210
Harris line............................... 112
Hart,    Henry............................ 456
Harvey, Barzilla        J...................... 201
Haskins, John.......................... 324
Haskins, Luther........................ 325
Hause, Sanford......................... 418
Haviland, Laura S....................... 469
Hawkins, John          R....................... 321
Hayward,       Henry..................... 383
Hayward, Micajah..................... 385
Hemenway, Jason..................... 432
Hickok,     Albert    K....................... 431
Hicks, Capt. Daniel................... 216
Hicks,    Ephraim........................ 397
Hodges, Israel S......................... 203
Holdridge, Eleazer..................... 293
Holdridge, Felix........................ 293
Holdridge, Horace..................... 211
Holloway, Dr. William............ 287, 579
Holt, Alvah.............................    99
Hooker, Azel............................ 328
Horton, George         B....................... 269
Horton, Richard         S...................... 285
Horton, Samuel........................ 268
Hotchkiss, Deacon Cook........... 101, 402
Hotchkiss, Lauren..................... 185
Hotel, first in county..................   85
Hough, Olmsted........................ 167
Howell, Andrew................... 174, 593
Howell, Anson.......................... 237
Howell, Dr. Joseph................ 76, 579
Hudson, city      of......................... 368
Hudson     township...................... 359
Hull, Dr. Harry         D...................... 587
Humphrey, Gen. William............. 162
Hutchens, John.........................  75
Hutchins,      Allen................... 183, 611
Illinois, county     of.....................      33
Indiana, Territory        of.................   48
Indian    nations, council of............. 36
Indians...................................    32
"      claims to sovereignty......... 41
"      implements of................ 21
tribes in Raisin Valley....... 56
Indian    trails............................    96
Indian    treaties..........................    42
Infirmary,     county...................... 149
Ingalls, Rensselaer        W.................. 553
Jack, Fulton............................ 283
Jackson's, President,          bank    policy.. 622
Jail, first in Adrian...................... 135
Jasper village........................... 270
Jennings, Levi.........................          321
Joslin,    Willard........................ 341
Judson,     Lucius......................... 286
Kedzie's Grove......................... 432
Kedzie, William.................... 84, 428
Kelley, Libni............................ 293
Kennedy, Frederick          A., Sr............ 196
Kent,    Burton........................... 219
Kent, Richard.......................... 170
Ketcham, George W.................... 608




Keyes,    Danforth....................... 207
Kibbee, Rufus...................... 169, 581
Kidder, Hiram...................... 94, 360
Kidder, Mrs. Hiram.................... 95
Kidder settlement...................... 363
Kies, Alpheus........................... 436
Kimball, Dr. Nelson         H................. 577
King, James............................ 350(
Kinney, Amos A......................... 385
Kinney, Richard H...................... 386
Kinney, Samuel K...................... 386
Knapp,     Cornelius...................... 206
Knapp, John....................... 102, 403
Knight, Roswell W................102, 424
Lamb, Nahum......................... 341
Lamb, Orsamus........................ 348
Lamberson. Coonrod................... 416
Land    grabbing..........................   44
Land    office, at Monroe............... 73
Land    office, first in    Michigan........ 53
Lane, Beriah       H...................... 97, 362
Lane, Jacob............................. 252
Lanesville, village       of................... 97
Laur, Benjamin........................ 341
Laverty, Dr. Thomas H................ 587
Lazell, George.......................... 436
LeBaron, Sirrell C...................... 186
Legislature, representatives          in....... 182
Legislature, territorial................   78
Lenawee county, creation           of..........   55
Lenawee county, organized............ 68
Lenawee, origin        of word.............. 68
LIBRARIESAdrian.................................. 463
Hudson................................ 370
Tecumseh.............................. 232
Loomis, Daniel A........................ 457
Long, Michael P......................... 217
Lovett, John............................ 280
Lowe, Peter............................. 225
Luck,    William       W...................... 459
Luther, Theodorick..................... 333
Luther, William....................... 335
Lyster, William       Narcissus........ 350, 494
Macon     township........................ 309
Madison     township...................... 271
Manning,      Randolph................... 592
Mayors of Adrian, list of.............. 455
McDonald, James.....................   187
McKenzie, Charles          M..............342, 449
McKey, Anthony....................... 167
McLouth, William         W................... 375
McMath, Fleming...................... 376
McNair, William...................... 195
Mason, John        G.......................... 608
Mead, Darius........................... 183
Medical Profession, chapter.......... 573
Medical Society......................... 573
Medina     township....................... 401
Medina     village.......................... 409
Merrick, Rufus.......................... 447
Merritt, Willis.......................... 606
Michigan, admission         as state......... 76
Michigan     bedstead..................... 100
Michigan, Territory         of............... 48
Mickley, Charles        E..................... 177
Military    bounty lands.................  51
Military    History, chapter.............. 639
MILITARY ORGANIZATIONSAdrian     Guards....................... 640
Adrian     Volunteers................. 649
Battery    H............................... 658
B attery    I................................ 658
Eighteenth      infantry................. 655
Eleventh     cavalry.................... 663
Eleventh     infantry.................... 651
Engineers and       Mechanics.......... 658
Fifteenth    U. S. infantry............. 642
Fifteenth     Michigan     infantry........ 653
Fifth   cavalry......................... 662
First cavalry......................... 658
First Michigan        infantry............. 647
First Michigan volunteers.......... 641




xiv


INDEX


Fourth    cavalry....................... 660
Fourth    infantry...................... 649
Hardee    Cadets........................ 646
Hudson     Volunteers.................. 649
Ninth    cavalry......................... 662
Second    infantry...................... 648
Seventeenth      infantry................ 653
Sixteenth      infantry................. 653
Tecumseh      volunteers............... 649
Third cavalry.......................... 659
Third   U. S. Dragoons................ 642
Thirtieth   infantry.................... 657
Thirty-first infantry................. 665
Troops in Black Hawk war......... 639
Twelfth infantry....................... 653
Twenty-sixth      infantry.............. 656
Military    service in Mexico.......... 642
Millard, Alfred      L........................ 613
Miller, Capt. Charles Rollin........... 602
Miller, Oliver............................ 191
Mills, Gabriel W........................ 311
Mills, James............................ 311
Mitchell, Alonzo....................... 301
Moore, George        W....................... 406
Moore, Thomas         F....................... 173
Morenci village......................... 390
Morey, Peter....................... 163, 611
Mosher, Jabez       S......................... 195
Mosher, Thomas         H..................... 191
Mound     Builders........................  17
Mound Builders, authorities on....... 26
Mounds, classifications of.............. 18
Mounds, remains of.................... 19
Murders in      Woodstock................. 345
Newcomb, Dr. Roland B. C....... 178, 583
Newspaper, first in       county............ 449
NEWSPAPERSAddison     Courier..................... 570
Adrian Daily and Weekly Times... 550
Adrian    Gazette....................... 550
Adrian    Journal-....................... 557
Adrian Press.......................... 558
Adrian Watchtower.................... 550
Anzieger............................. 571
Blissfield Advance.................... 570
Blissfield   Advertiser................. 569
Billet-DouX......................... 571
Cement City       Enterprise.............. 570
Christian    Advocate.................... 557
Christian    Endeavor Helper.......... 571
Clinton Courier........................ 571
Clinton    Local........................ 571
Clinton   News.................... 565, 571
Clinton    Standard..................... 571
College World................... 571
Constitutionalist................... 555
Deerfield Record..............  5.....  571
Deerfield Times................... 571
Dollar Weekly................. 554
Educational News.................... 571
Epworthian......................   571
Evening     Record.................... 559
Family Favorite..................... 557
Farmer and Mechanic............... 557
Greene's Weekly................... 572
Grocer's Index....................... 571
Hall's Hudson       Grocer................ 568
Hudson     Courier....................... 566
Hudson Gazette....................... 566
Hudson     Post........................ 567
Hudson     Republican.................  568
Hudson     Sentinel.................... 565
Lance...............................560
Lenawee      County    Prohibitionist... 570
Madisonian............................. 571
Michigan     Advocate................. 571
Michigan     Expositor.................. 551
Michigan     Messenger................. 560
Michigan     Patron................. 561
Michigan     Representative...........  571
Morenci News........................ 569
Morenci Observer..................... 568
Morenci Star.......................... 569
Onsted    News......................... 570


Our    Church........................ 571
Our Messenger........................ 568
Pledge of Honor....................... 553
Raisin   Valley    Record................. 565
Reformator........................... 571
Repertory.............................. 571
Saturday     Evening News............ 566
Tecumseh      Democrat................. 562
Tecumseh      Herald.................... 563
Tecumseh      News...................... 565
Telegram, Adrian.................... 559
Vibrator............................... 568
Young     People's Advance............. 568
Nickerson, Lewis....................... 274
Northwest Territory................... 45
Norton, Noah........................... 280
Ogden     township........................ 393
Old Red Mill, Adrian................... 65
Onsted, Peter............................ 355
Onsted    village......................... 357
Ordinance of 1787................... 45, 108
Ormsby, Dr. Caleb N.............. 229, 574
Osborn, Franklin....................... 260
Osborn, Jesse....................... 225, 338
Osborn, Richard................ 343
Osborne, William        H.....................   204
Page, Dobson........................... 328
Palmer, John........................... 417
Palmyra township...................... 297
Palmyra village......................... 306
Panic    of 1837............................ 155
Parker, James H......................... 198
Patchin, James......................... 223
Patterson, Joseph        H.................... 185
Patterson, Michael A................. 169
Pawson, John........................... 354
Penfield, William       L..................... 615
Pennington, Israel................. 88, 310
Pennington, John................... 87, 309
Pennock, Thomas...................... 360
Perkins, Dr. Jabez.................. 203, 583
Perry, Gideon       D......................... 172
Peters, Dr. Harrison................... 585
Physicians............................... 573
"       first in county............ 574
" early, trials           of............ 573
Piersol, Dr. J. K......................... 588
Pitman, Daniel.......................... 225
Pleasant Valley.........................   64
Politics and Official Honors, chapter....................................  151
Potsdam      township..................... 424
Pottawattamies......................... 56
Pratt, Henry      C.......................... 617
Pratt, Rev. David...................... 367
Presidential campaign         of 1832......... 153
Presidential campaign         of 1840......... 155
Press, chapter on........................ 549
Prosecuting     Attorneys, list of........ 599
Race for land prize.................... 103
RAILROADSChicago & Canada Southern......... 146
Cincinnati Northern................. 148
Detroit, Toledo &       Ironton............ 148
Erie   &   Kalamazoo.................... 140
Michigan     Southern................... 142
Palmyra      &  Jacksonburg............. 142
Toledo    &  Western, electric.......... 149
Wabash............................... 147
Raisin River, battle of................          48
Randall,     Isaac........................ 247
Randall, Samuel........................ 218
Raymond, Daniel...................... 287
Raymond, Hiram....................... 203
Raymond, Selah         H...................... 211
Raisin    township........................ 279
Reed, Marshall.......................... 207
Registers of deeds, list of.............. 214
Reynolds,      James     Henry.............. 460
Rice, John A.............................. 192
Richard, Archibald.................... 289
Richard, William....................... 564
Ridgeway      township.................... 415
Riga    ditch.............................. 425
Riga    township.......................... 423


r




INDEX


xv


Riga    village............................  426
ROADSCharters to various companies...... 138
Chicago    turnpike..................... 73
La   Plaisance Bay..................... 90
Plank   to Coldwater................... 137
Territorial..............................   72
Robbins, Col. Richard        B............... 179
Robinson, Dr. Caius C................. 301
Robinson, Rollin........................ 303
Robinson, Walter....................... 205
Rogers, Deacon       0....................... 283
Rollin   township......................... 317
Rollin   village........................... 326
Rome    township......................... 331
Rynd, Dr. Charles....................... 577
Salsbury, Lester H...................... 603
Salsbury, Osmyer...................... 238
Sawyer, Jacob C......................... 208
Schermerhorn, Wm. Ten           Broeck..... 566
School-house, first in county.......... 516
SCHOOLSAdrian, first...............               518
Adrian    township............... 534
Brown's Business University........ 547
Cambridge township................. 525
Clinton   township..................... 523
Deerfield   township................... 523
Dover township....................... 531
Fairfield   township................... 535
Franklin    township................... 533
Graham     school........................ 524
Hudson     township.................... 528
Hudson     village....................... 527
Macon township....................... 538
Madison    township.................... 523
Medina township..................... 529
Morenci village....................... 530
Ogden township....................... 536
Palmyra     township................... 534
Palmyra     village...................... 534
Parochial............................      541
Pioneer............................        515
Raisin   township...................... 524
Ra~isin Valley    Seminary.............. 525
Ridgeway     township.................... 537
Riga   township........................ 537
Rollin township........................ 526
Rome    township....................... 531
Seneca township...................... 530
St. John's.........                        543
St. Joseph's.........       543
St. Joseph's Academy................. 541
St. Mary's.............................   543
St. Stephen's.......................... 543
Summary      of........................... 539
Tecumseh      Academy................ 516
Tecumseh     Literary    Institute........ 517
Woodstock Manual Labor Institute 532
Woodstock     township................. 532
Schreder, John      F........................ 418
Schureman, John        B..................... 333
Scofield, Silas A......................... 389
Scott, George........................... 241
Seger, Dr. Alexander W................ 576
Settlements and Incidents, chapter... 83
Settlement and Organization, chapter 57
Settlement, first...................'.57
second..................       61
third..................         63
Seneca township.................. 381
Sharp, Peter.................. 203
Shaw, Brackley.................. 180
Sheriff, first.................. 606
Sheriffs, list of.................. 606
Shepherd, Rev. Paul.................. 377
Shumway, Levi.................. 274
Sibley, Solomon..................   46
Silvers, John P..................             440
Simonds, Nooney.................. 290
Sinclair, Daniel D..................          169
Slater, Joseph.................. 263
Slavery    In  Michigan..................     37
Sloan, Ephraim.................. 322
Sloan, James.................. 323




Smith, Alonzo        L........................ 344
Smith,    Americus....................... 299
Smith, David............................. 407
Smith, David,        Jr........................ 332
Smith, Davis............................ 186
Smith,     Isaac........................... 342
Smith,     James     L......................... 562
Smith, Le Grand J....................... 206
Smith, Sylvester B...................... 213
Snow, Fielder S.......................... 170
Southworth,       Joseph.................... 291
Spafford, Charles....................... 185
Spalding, Dr. Parley          J............ 215, 575
Spear, Stephen        P........................ 387
Spofford, Abner........................ 224
Spofford, Sumner         F..................... 607
Stacy, Consider A....................... 596
Stacy, Scovel C.......................... 564
Stair   Auditorium....................... 391
State   Industrial Home         for Girls..... 467
State Senators, list of................... 167
Stearns, Willard........................ 460
Stebbins, Francis        R..................... 554
Steere, Joseph       H........................ 616
Stetson, Isaac........................... 610
Stetson, Turner......................... 224
Stephenson, Dr. Robert................ 576
Stewart, Ira............................. 313
Stickney,     Major........................ 121
St. John, Ezra.......................... 610
Stockwell, Martin         P.................... 374
Stocum, Dr. Charles W................. 586
Stone, Pomeroy......................... 448
Surveyors, early........................  53
Surveyors, list of....................... 218
Sutton, John       D.......................... 408
Sutton,    William........................ 388
Sumter, effect of firing        on........ 643, 644
Sweeney, James          H................. 192, 580
Tabor, Lorenzo......................... 612
Tecumseh, Indian         chieftain.......... 50
Tecumseh       township.................... 221
Tecumseh, village         of................... 231
Thames, battle of.......................  51
Thompson, Jeremiah           D................. 185
Tiffany, Alexander         R.............. 200, 596
Tiffin, Edward.113
Tiff in, Edward, report of...... 52
Tilton, William.......................... 280
Tingley, John      H.......................... 327
Tipton    postoffice....................... 264
Todd, Dr. Daniel........................ 578
Toledo     war.............................. 107
Torrey, Norman........................ 255
Town, Dr. Nathan..................... 580
Town, Dr. William         B............... 210, 585
Townships, creation          of................ 69
TREATIESOf Brownstown.......................  49
Of Greenville..........................  43
Of   Paris...............................    33
0f 1783..................................       34
Jay..................................           43
Tripp, Dr. J. D........................... 584
Tripp, Dr. Joseph....................... 578
Tripp, Rev. Henry..................... 259
Turner, John       W..................... 194, 614
Tuttle, Dr. A. F......................... 584
Underwood, Dr. Edward Kingsley.. 187
Underwood, Edward................... 304
Underwood, John....................... 396
Underwood, William           Allen........... 602
United States, sovereignty established.................................     38
Upton, Nathaniel W..................... 401
Van    Akin, Simeon....................... 361
Van    Auken, Lemuel................... 377
Vaughan, Dr. Julius.................... 586
Virginia, claim       of sovereignty........ 36
Volentine,     Moses...................... 394
Wakefield, Dennis......................  99
Wakefield,      Hiram...................... 411
Waldby, William          H..................... 458
Walker,      Charles    M..................... 614




xvi


INDEX


Walker, Sylvester...................... 194
Walton, Jacob..........................  206
WARBlack    Hawk........................... 639
Chapter............................ 639
Civil............................ 643
Enlistments............................ 646
First meeting.645
Lincoln's call f       or troops................. 644
Mexican............................ 641
Public    sentiment..................... 643
Spanish-American.................... 665
Waring, Guernsey          P.................... 209
Waring, Joshua.........................  419
Warner, Rev. William            E.............. 405
Warner, Stephen....................... 300
Warren, Isaac..........................  374
Warren, Samuel........................ 373
Washburn, Ezra Allen................ 606
Wayne, county         of....................... 45
Weaver, Charles         M..................... 614
Weaver, Clement E..................... 601
Wells, James       B.......................... 262
Western     posts, evacuation       of......... 38
Weston     village..........................  270
Wheat, first grown.....................  85
Wheeler, Abraham..................... 315
Wheeler, James........................ 183
Wheeler, Nathaniel S................... 353


Whipple, Walter.......................           66
Whitmore, Ancil K..................... 609
Whitney, Abel.......................            450
Whitney, James...................  237, 273
Whitney, Richard         H.................... 456
Whitney, Wm. Augustus............... 216
Wickwire, Frederick          W................ 285
Wilcox, Albert......                            189
Wilcox, William Seward.176
Wild-cat banking...................... 621
Wild-cat, why       so called................ 626
Wiley,    David.......................      238
Wilkins, Ross.......................       74
Wilkinson,      Daniel S.................... 195
Willis,   Nathan....................... 610
Wilson, Philo....................... 190
Wilson, Robert...............                   417
Wilson, Simon       D...............         98, 382
Wing, Austin        E...............    58, 81, 152
Winne, Jacob       C...............             616
Winter, Dr. E. Conant................ 446
Wolcott, Horace........................ 225
W o m a n' s Christian Temperance
Union...                                    512
Woodstock      township................... 339
Woodworth, Orville................... 411
Wyman, Dr. Henry................ 192, 582
Younglove, Joseph................... 343


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


Facing Page.
Bonner, Richard I., frontispiece.
City Hall at Adrian.................... 441
Comstock, Addison         J...................  64
Court House............................ 132
Entrance to Clinton Cemetery........ 435
Facsimile of Old Bank          Bill........... 627
Hardy, Clinton       D....................... 619
Helme, James W........................ 667
High    School Building, Adrian........ 518
Hudson     Public    Library................ 370


Facing Page.
Kirkpatrick, Clifford................... 573
Old Red Mill (built in 1829)............ 240
Old Stage House at Clinton........... 96
Postoffice at Adrian.................... 452
Public Library at Adrian.............. 463
Scenes on the River Raisin........... 280
Soldiers' Monument................... 643
State Industrial Home for Girls...... 467
Stair Auditorium........................ 391
Tecumseh     Public Library.............. 221
Views of Adrian College............... 544




RICHARD I. BONNER.


Richard I. Bonner has been a member of the newspaper fraternity of Lenawee county for a longer period, perhaps, than any
other person residing within its borders, and although now living
essentially retired, he manifests a live interest in journalistic and
kindred matters, and in the preparation of the historical volume of
this publication gave the publishers the benefit of his long residence in and intimate knowledge of Lenawee county by editing
and revising the "copy." Richard Illenden Bonner was born in
Pembroke, Genesee county, New York, March 7, 1838, and is of
pure English extraction. His father was Thomas E. Bonner, who
was born in London, England, in 1804, and who lived in the
world's metropolis until he was old enough to be apprenticed to a
trade. He was then sent to Bath, where he entered the service of
a locksmith and brass-worker. After serving an apprenticeship of
seven years in that place he returned to London, where he was
engaged at his trade until 1830. Nature had endowed him with
superior talents for his chosen vocation, and as evidence of his proficiency in that line of work he received three valuable medals
from different industrial societies, and the highest commendations
from the industrial journals of London, for his workmanship and
improvements in locks. He was also a designer and engraver on
wood or metal, and at one time he taught drawing in his native
city. In 1830, Thomas E. Bonner migrated to America and settled
in the city of New York, where he opened a business place and
manufactured locks and brass work, also following designing and
engraving. Subsequently he went to Newark, N. J., and carried
on an extensive business until 1834, when he moved to Buffalo,
N. Y., and, in company with John W. Davock, did a large business
until 1839, when, owing to ill health, he sold out and came to
Michigan. Upon coming to the Wolverine State he first settled
in Livingston county, where he purchased a farm, but he afterwards disposed of this property and went to Ypsilanti, where he
engaged in business. In 1845 he moved to Tecumseh, and a year
later established himself in Adrian, moving his family to the last
named place April 1, 1847. He carried on a brass foundry and
general jobbing shop in Adrian until the spring of 1851, and then,
owing to ill health, he again sold out and started for Oregon, but
he died en route, at Vevay, Ind., at the home of his brother-in-law,
John Henry, May 17, 1851. Undoubtedly he was the most skillful
and best mechanic in every sense of the term that could be found
xvii




xviii


PREFIX


in the West at the time of his death. He was an expert in all
branches of metal working, a great lover of art, and he was possessed of a peculiar genius for engraving, drafting, and inventing
new designs and models. On Dec. 25, 1828, Thomas E. Bonner
was married at St. Luke's Church, in the parish of St. Luke, London, to Miss Mary Wynn, a native of London, who died in Buffalo,
N. Y., Nov. 20, 1835, having become the mother of four children:
Mary A., Elizabeth, Thomas E., Jr., and Samuel George, the last
named of whom died in infancy. On May 23, 1837, Thomas E.
Bonner married Miss Grace W. Illenden, who was born at Woodchurch, Kent, England, May 7, 1816, and died in Adrian, Dec. 26,
1860. She was the daughter of Richard and Sarah (Grant) Illenden, both natives of Kent, England, the former being born at
Woodchurch in May, 1776, and the latter at St. Nicholas, Isle of
Thanet, Dec. 11, 1782. The Illenden family had formerly resided
in the town of Illenden, in Northumberland, which place had been
the family seat as far back as the records are known until early in
the Eighteenth century, when John Illenden, the only male representative of the family at that time, removed to Woodchurch.
The Illenden coat-of-arms consisted of a half moon and sheaf of
wheat, with the sickle thrust in. The members of the family were
communicants of the Church of England until the advent of John
Wesley, when Richard Illenden became a convert to Methodism.
On 'July 8, 1830, Richard and Sarah (Grant) Illenden-the maternal grandparents of Richard I. Bonner-with eight children
left London, and after a voyage of seven weeks and three days,
landed in New York. They immediately went to Buffalo, and
shortly afterward purchased a farm of the Holland Land Company, in Pembroke, Genesee county, New York, where the father
died in February, 1837. The mother survived until Jan. 29, 1866,
and died in Three Rivers, Mich. Of the union of Thomas E. and
Grace W. (Illenden) Bonner were born five children, of whom
Richard I. is the eldest, the others being Sarah Maria, who became
the wife of Franklin B. Nixon (now deceased), of Adrian; Mary
Jane, who died in infancy; John Davock, who is a resident of the
state of Washington; and Walter George, who resides at Eureka,
Humboldt county, California. Richard I. Bonner commenced to
learn the art of printing, Jan. 2, 1854, in Adrian, in the old Expositor office, with those thorough and. practical printers and publishers, S. P. and T. D. Jermain. He served an apprenticeship of
four years and for a half-century, excepting a very few years, he
was connected in some capacity with the newspaper and publishing business. In 1860 he became a partner in the Expositor office,
with S. P. Jermain and Marcus Knight. In 1865 Page & Bonner
leased the office and conducted the Daily and Weekly Expositor
one year. In January, 1867, Mr. Bonner established the Adrian
Journal, a Democratic paper, and was its editor for several years.
In 1873 he engaged with the late William A. Whitney, and went
with him to Philadelphia and New York, to purchase the presses
and material for the Daily and Weekly Press office. He selected
all the material, which cost about $8,000, superintended the ar



PREFIX


xix


rangement of the office, set up the presses, started them, putting
them all in full and perfect operation, wrote the salutatory of the
paper, and was superintendent and one of the editors of the paper
for over five years. He commenced the publication of the "History and Biographical Sketches of Lenawee County," in company
with William A. Whitney, July 7, 1879, and published two volumes. In the early spring of 1881 Mr. Bonner commenced the
publication of the Evening Record, the first two-cent daily paper
in Adrian. This enterprise was successful, but owing to ill health
he sold the plant to S. W. Beakes in the fall of 1884. He then.engaged in an out-door calling for some years, and in the spring
of 1894 went to Virginia, where he purchased a farm and engaged
in oyster growing in the York river. He afterward sold his Virginia property and went to Washington, D. C., where for about
one year and a half he was editor of the old National Intelligencer.
In 1900 he went to Philadelphia and engaged in journalistic work.
He returned to Adrian in the spring of 1902, and in company with
John I. Knapp commenced work on an "Illustrated History and
Biographical Record of Lenawee County," which was published in
1903. When the movement for the "Home-Comers" celebrations
was organized in Adrian, Mr. Bonner was chosen as secretary and
has since officiated in that capacity. He was largely instrumental
in the movement which resulted in the placing of a statue of
Laura S. Haviland in front of the city hall, the dedicatory exercises being a part of the programme of "Home-Comers Day," in
June, 1909. On March 24, 1863, Mr. Bonner was married to Miss
Margaret M. Brown, daughter of John S. and Sally Brown, of
Adrian, in which place Mrs. Bonner was born, March 4, 1842. Her
father was a pioneer in Lenawee county, coming to Michigan in
1833 and first settling in Rome township.' He was born in Canada
in 1815, and died in Adrian, Oct. 29, 1877. Mrs. Brown was born
in Clarence, Erie county, New York, March 2, 1818, and died in
Adrian, July 24, 1872. Mr. and Mrs. Richard I. Bonner became
the parents of one son, John S. Bonner, who was born in Adrian,
Nov. 11, 1864. He was educated in the public schools of his native
city and early became a journalist, which calling he has followed
during the greater part of an active career. In 1901 he, went to
Para, Brazil, South America, as Vice and Deputy United States
consul at that important station at the mouth of the Amazon river.
During his residence there he mastered the Portuguese or Spanish
language and profited by a valuable experience. In the newspaper
field he has been employed on many of the largest newspapers,
both in the East and the West. On Dec. 23, 1897, John S. Bonner
was married to Miss Mabel Clayton, of Washington, D. C.








CHAPTER I.
LENAWEE COUNTY ANTIQUITIES.
THE MOUND BUILDERS-CLASSIFICATION OF MOUNDS-THEIR WORIKS
IN LENAWEE COUNTY-GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF MOUNDS-ARROW-MAKING-EARLY ARCHAEOLOGICAL WRITINGS-LATER OPINIONS.
Before the white man, the Indian; before the Indian-who?
The archaeology of any county forms one of its most interesting
chapters. Who the ancient dwellers were, what they did, what
lives they led, are all questions of conjecture now. Their history
appears only in their silent monuments, as silent at the race, the
fact of whose existence they perpetuate. The relics they left are
the only key that we possess of their lives, and these give a history
whose antiquity seems almost Adamic. The principal remains
left consist of earthworks, mounds and parapets, filled with the
rude implements of the people who built them, and with the bones
of these lost portions of humanity. From their proclivities to
build these earthworks, these people are known as "Mound Builders," the only name that now fits their peculiar style of life. The
mounds erected by them are of all sizes and shapes, and range in
height from three or four feet to sixty or seventy feet. In outline,
they are of equal magnitude, though none of great height was
ever known to exist within the confines of Lenawee county. What
have been discovered are generally small in size and irregular in
outline. They have in nearly all instances been much reduced in
height, as the hand of modern man demands them for practical
purposes.
The more pretentious earthworks are very generally distributed from western New York, along the southern shore of
Lake Erie, through Michigan, to Nebraska, thence north from
this line to the southern shore of Lake Superior. From this line
they extend south to the Gulf of Mexico. Mounds occur in great




MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


numbers in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida. They are found in less numbers in
western New York, the Carolinas, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Michigan, Iowa, and portions of Mexico. In choosing this vast region,
extending from the Alleghanies to the Rocky Mountains, and from
the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, the Mound Builders took
possession of the great system of plains, controlling the long inland
water courses of the continent. Along the broad levels drained by
this vast river system, the remains of prehistoric man are found.
Archaeologists have no difficulty in locating the places which were
most densely populated, by reason of the irregular distribution of
the works. It is interesting to note that in the selection of sites
for these earthworks the Mound Builders were influenced by the
same motives, apparently, which governed their European successors. It is a well established fact that nearly every town ot
importance in the valleys of the Ohio and Mississippi and their
tributaries is located on the ruins left by this ancient people. The
sites selected by the Mound Builders for their most pretentious
works were on the river terraces, or bottoms, no doubt because of
the natural highways thus rendered available, besides the opportunities for fishing and the cultivation of the warm, quick soil,
easily tilled.
The earth mounds are classified as sepulchral, sacrificial, temple
or truncated, mounds of observation, symbolical or animal-also
known as emblematic-and mounds of defense. The first named,
sepulchral, are generally the most common of any. Emblematical
or symbolical mounds are not known to have existed in this
county. If they ever did exist here, all traces of them have been
obliterated by that leveler of savage country, the plow. Sepulchral
mounds were devoted to the purpose of burial and were generally
pyramidal in form and usually contained layers of clay, ashes, charcoal, various soils and one or more skeletons, often very many.
Sacrificial mounds are usually stratafied, the strata being convex
layers of clay and loam, the layers alternating above a layer of
fine sand. They also contain ashes, igneous stones, charcoal,
calcined animal bones, beads, implements of stone, pottery and
rude sculpture. They also have altars of burned clay or stone,
resting in the center of the mound upon the original earth, on
which the people offered sacrifice, employing fire for the purpose.
Mounds of observation-sometimes termed defensive-are found
upon prominent elevations. They were, doubtless, alarm posts,




HISTORICAL


I9


watch-towers, signal stations, or outlooks. They commonly occur
in chains or regular systems and still bear traces of the beacon
fires that once burned, upon them. In addition to the division of
mounds already made, some add monumental or memorial mounds,
not numerous, supposed to have been erected as memorials to the
distinguished dead among the Mound Builders.
None of the few small mounds in Lenawee county has been
properly opened. The examinations have not been systematic,
and hence much has been lost. Commonly the plow has been
run over the mounds, regardless of the history a careful search
would reveal, until almost all traces of their existence have been
obliterated. This ruthless leveling of the mounds has not been
perpetrated, however, merely to gratify the iconoclastic propensities of the ploughman, but their cupidity moved them. They
wanted the corn the mounds would produce. Running the plowshare through the mounds was not a very succesful method of obtaining a knowledge of their contents.
But vestiges of the labor of the so-called Mound Builders still
exist in various parts of the county of Lenawee, in the form of
earthworks, and those most worthy of mention are in the vicinity
of the village of Tecumseh. We herewith insert a notice of them,
from the pen of the late Hon. Francis A. Dewey, who left many
valuable statistics relating to early events and conditions in the
county:
"A short half-mile from the corner of the road, near Brownville, where it turns east on the old Saline road, were the remains
of earthworks. Here was a square enclosure with an embankment
of earth four feet high and three rods square, with two openings.
Here in this enclosure tradition of the older Indians points with
majestic pride, and says there is where the celebrated or imperial
chiefs held council. Also near by, on this level and beautiful plat
of ground, was a circular embankment or enclosure, four feet high
and about two rods in diameter, with a cavity scooped out in the
center. Where tradition of olden time illustrates the historical
emblems, the sacred plants or herbs were placed in the center of
the circle and set on fire; from the fumes of this smoke the pipe of
peace or war was dictated by the chiefs to the Indian nations. It
is with pleasure that I now say within the year 1829 and '30, full
fifty-eight years ago, it was a cheerful treat for me on several different times to visit this beautiful plateau of ground, with its
ancient works of solid embankments, with leisure and admiration
studied to learn who were the managers of this olden time monu



20


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


mental relic. Since the year 1832 the plow and cultivator have
leveled the historic work of the ancient Mound Builders."
These and a few others-none of great magnitude-constitute
all the evidences of the existence of this pre-historic race within
the confines of Lenawee county, but it will be well to notice the
implements made by these forgotten tribes of men. Very few
utensils, made of copper, have been found in this part of Michigan,
owing partly to the fact of the unexplored condition of the mounds,
and to the additional fact that little, if any, copper exists in this
part of the state. What does exist is in loose fragments that have
been washed down from the upper lake region. When mounds are
explored, great care is necesary lest these small utensils be lost,
as they are commonly scattered through the mass, and are not
always in close proximity to the skeletons. The copper deposits
about Lake Superior furnished the pre-historic man with this
metal, and, judging from the number of relics now found, which
were made of this metal, it must have been quite abundant. The
population then must also have been quite numerous, as occasionally copper implements, tempered to an exceeding hardness,
are found about the country. These implements are small, generally less than half a pound in weight, and seldom exceeding three
pounds. There were millions of these in use during the period of
the ancient dwellers, which must have been thousands of years in
duration. The copper implements left on the surface soon disappeared by decomposition, to which copper is nearly as subject as.
iron. Only a part of the dead Mound Builders were placed in
burial grounds, and of these only a part were buried with their
copper ornaments on or about them. Of those that were, only a
small part have been discovered, and in many instances the slight
layer of earth over them has not prevented the decay and disappearance of the copper relics. Articles of bronze or brass are not
found with the remains of the builders of the mounds, and it is
evident they knew nothing of these metals in the Mississippi valley; nor did they possess any of the copper that had been melted
and cast in molds.
Stone relics, however, are very numerous and well preserved.
Stone axes, stone mauls, stone hammers, stone chisels, etc., are
very plentiful yet, and were the common implements of the prehistoric man in this part of the West. None were made with
holes or eyes for the insertion of a helve or handle. They were
made more perfect by rubbing and polishing, probably done from
time to time, after they were brought into use. A handle, or




HISTORICAL


21


helve, made of a withe or split stick, was fastened in the grove by
thongs of hide. The bit is narrower than the body of the axe,
which is generally not well enough balanced to be of much value
as a cutting instrument. It is very seldom the material is hard
enough to cut green and sound timber. The poll is usually round,
but sometimes flat, and, rarely, pointed. It is much better adapted
to breaking than cutting, while the smaller ones are better fitted
for war clubs than tools. As a maul to break dry limbs they
were very efficient, which was probably the use made of them.
In weight they range from half a pound to sixteen pounds, but are
generally less than three pounds. The very heavy ones must have
been kept at the regular camps and villages, as they could not
have been carried far, even in canoes. Such axes are occasionally
found in the Indian towns on the frontier; as they were found in
Michigan, among the aborigines. The Mound Builders apparently
did not give them as much prominence among their implements as
their savage successors. Double-headed hammers have the grooves
in the middle. They were made of the same material as the axes,
so balanced as to give a blow with equal force at either end. Their
mechanical symmetry is often perfect. As a weapon in war, they
were indeed formidable, and for this purpose they are yet used in
the wilds of the far West.
Implements known as "fleshers" and "skinners," chiselformed, commonly called "celts," were probably used as aids in
peeling the skins of animals from the meat and bones. For the
purpose of cutting tools from wood they were not sufficiently hard,
and do not show such use, excepting a few flint chisels. They
may have been applied as coal scrapers where wood had been
burned, but this could not have been a general thing without
destroying the perfect edge most of them  now  exhibit. The
grooved axes were much better adapted to this purpose. Fleshers
and scrapers of various sizes and shapes are numerous in this
county.
Pestles to grind maize so as to fit it for cooking have been
found in a variety of forms-some cylindrical, some bell-shaped
and some cone-like. The materials are also various, consisting of
green stone, syenite, quartz, etc., and sometimes sandstone. Most
of the pestles are short, with a wide base, tapering toward the top.
They were probably used with one hand, and moved about in the
mortar in a circle. The long, round instrument, usually called a
pestle, does not appear to be fitted for crushing seeds and grain by
pounding or turning in the mortar. It was probably used as a
rolling pin, perhaps on a board or leveled log, but not upon stone.




22


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


It is seldom found smooth or polished, and varies from seven to
thirteen inches in length. In outline they taper toward each end,
which is generally smooth and circular in form, as though it had
been twirled in an upright position.
Perforated plates, thread sizers, shuttles, etc., generally made
of striped slate, are met with in an almost endless variety of forms,
most of which have tapering holes through them flat-wise, the
use of which has been much discussed. They are generally symmetrical, the material fine grained, and their proportions graceful,
as though their principal use was that of ornamentation. Many of
them may well have been worn suspended as beads or ornaments.
Some partake of the character of badges or insignias of authority.
Others, if strung together on thongs, or belts, would serve as a
coat of mail, protecting the breast or back against the arrows of
an enemy. A number of them would serve to size and twist twine
or coarse thread made of bark, raw-hide, or sinew. The most
common theory regarding their use is, however, lacking one important feature-none of them show signs of use by wearing, the
edges of the holes through them being sharp and perfect. This
objection applies equally well to their use as suspended ornaments.
Some of them are shuttle-form, through which coarse threads
might have been passed for weaving rude cloth, or bark, or of.fibrous plants, such as milkweed or thistles. There are also doubleended and jointed ones, with a cros-section, about the middle of
which is a circle and through which is a perforation.
Badges and wands, in a variety of forms, are frequently found.
They are nearly all fabricated from striped and variegated slate,
highly finished, very symmetrical and elegant in proportions, evidently designed to be ornamental. If they were stronger and
heavier some of them would serve the purpose of hatchets or battle-axes. The material is compact and fine grained; but the eyes,
or holes for handles or staves, are quite small, seldom half an inch
in diameter. Their edges are not sharp, but rounded, and the body
is thin, usually less than one-fourth of an inch in thickness. The
form of badges known as "double crescents" is the most elegant
and expensive of any yet brought to notice. They were probably
used to indicate the highest rank of office. The single crescent
perhaps signified a rank next below the double. In nearly or
quite all the crescents the points turn outward. The finish around
the bore of all winged badges and the crescents is the same, and
the size of the bore about the same-from two-fifths to three-fifths
of an inch. On one side of all is a narrow ridge; on the other, a




HISTORICAL


23


flat band, lengthwise, like a ridge that has been ground down to a
width of one to two-tenths of an inch. Badges and crescents are
invariably made of banded slate, generally of a greenish shade or
color. The other forms of wands or badges, such as those with
symmetrical wings or blades, are also made of green striped slate,
highly polished, with a bore of about one-half inch in diameter,
apparently to insert a light wooden rod of staff. They were probably emblems of distinction, and were not ornaments. Nothing
like-them is known among the modern tribes, in form or use, hence
they are attributed to the Mound Builders. In addition to stone
ornaments, the pre-historic man seems to have had a penchant,
like his savage successors, to bedaub his body with various colors,
derived from different minerals. These compounds were mixed
in hollowed stones or diminutive mortars-"paint cups"-in which
the mineral mass of colored clay was reduced to powder and prepared for application to the body. Such paint cups are not common
in this county, in fact they are quite rare.
A few pipes of special note have been found. The comparative rarity of aboriginal smoking pipes is easily explained by the
fact that they were not discarded, as were weapons, when those by
whom they were fashioned entered upon the iron age. The advance of the whites in no way lessened the demand for pipes, nor
did the whites substitute a better implement. The pipes were retained and used until worn out or broken, save the few that were
buried with their dead owners. What was the ultimate fate of
these can only be conjectured. In very few instances does an
Indian grave contain a pipe. If the practice of burying the pipe
with its owner was common, it is probable that the graves were
opened and robbed of this coveted article by members of the
same or other tribes.
It only remains to notice the "flints," in addition to which a
few other archaeological relics of minor importance are found
about the country, but none of sufficient import to merit mention,
or to throw additional light on the lost tribes of America. Arrow
and spearheads and other similar pieces of flaked flints are the
most abundant of any aboriginal relics in the United States. Stone
implements, such as have been heretofore mentioned, have been
found in all parts of Lenawee county, but more frequently along
the banks of the Raisin river and other streams. "Indian arrows,"
on the contrary, are found everywhere; and there is not a boy
living amid pastoral surroundings who does not treasure among
his possessions a few of the flinty weapons. They are chiefly made




24


4MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


of hard and brittle siliceous materials; are easily damaged in hitting any object at which they are aimed, hence many of them bear
marks of violent use. Perfect specimens are, however, by no
means rare. The art of arrow-making survives to the present day
among certain Indian tribes, from whom is learned the art practiced that produces them. A classification of arrow-heads is not
within the scope of this work,; indeed, it is rarely attempted by
archeologists. The styles are almost as numerous as their makers.
In general, they are all the same in outline, mostly leaf-shaped,
varying according to the taste of those who construct them. They
may have been chipped-probably most of them were-and some
may have been ground. Spear-heads exhibit as large a variety as
arrow-heads.  Like arrow-heads, spear-heads were inserted in
wooden handles of various lengths, though in many tribes they
were fastened by thongs of untanned leather or sinews. Their
modes of manufacture were generally the same.   Sometimes
tribes contained "arrow-makers," whose business it was to make
these instruments, selling them to or exchanging them with their
neighbors for wampum or peltry. When the Indian desired an
arrow-head, he could buy one of the "arrow-maker" or make one
himself. The common method was to take a chipping implement,
generally made of the pointed rods of a deer horn, from eight to
sixteen inches in length, or of slender, short pieces of the same
material, bound with sinews to wooden sticks, resembling arrow
shafts. The "arrow-maker" held in his left hand the flake of flint
or obsidian on which he intended to operate, and pressing the
point of the tool against its edge, detached scale after scale until
the flake assumed the desired form.
The peculiar and distinctive features of these various relics of
past ages may be of little interest to some readers; but the fact of
their existence, and that they are the only remains of a race of
human beings who passeld away, possibly hundreds of years before
the advent of the white man on the American continent, urges the
effort to solve the mystery of the ancient people and their works.
From the great number and variety of stone implements found
in Lenawee county, one would suppose that this section was a
favorite locality of that peculiar race; and that fact adds a local
interest to what would otherwise be, perhaps, a dry subject. A
nation doubtless arose and fell in the same region where now
thrives an Anglo-Saxon civilization; and we, "who tread on the
earth that lies over.their brow," can obtain information concerning
them only by a careful study of the implements and works they




HISTORICAL


25


have left behind them. But the solution of the problem has baffled
the skill, research and learning of the most noted scientists of two
continents, since the existence of these "works of human hands"
was first determined. True, we have theories, ably supported by
argument, and these, in the absence of absolutely established facts,
we must accept, weigh, adopt, or discard, and still remain in darkness as to the origin, mission and final destiny of the Mound
Builders.
Judging by the works which they have left-and that is in
accord with scriptural suggestion-they were a powerful race of
slightly civilized and industrious people. The earth monuments
only remain, these enclosing relics of rude art, together with the
last lingering remains of mortality-the crumbling skeletonswhich the curious investigators have disturbed in their resting
places. But even these have yielded to scientific minds, strongly
imaginative, some knowledge of the character and lives of the
race. The twentieth century dawned in almost as great ignorance
of the pre-historic race as did the nineteenth, yet in the ever
restless spirit of modern investigation, efforts have been made to
link the Mound Builders with some ancient and far distant race of
civilized mankind.  Perhaps the best evidence to sustain this
theory, and also to establish the great antiquity of these mysterious
earth-works, has been obtained in the mammoth mound at Moundsville, W. Va. Standing 70 feet high, 900 feet in circumference,
with trees growing on it 700 years old, it is the greatest monument
of antiquity in the Ohio valley, and a tremendous memorial of the
aboriginal life of a pre-historic people. This mound is said to be
the largest in America, and was discovered by Joseph Tomlinson
in I770, he being the first pioneer settler in that section of the country. Relative to the age of the mound, litle is known.. Tomlinson,
the discoverer, stated that when he discovered it and first mounted
its summit, then ninety feet high, the timber on the mound was as
large and dense as any of the surrounding forest. At that time
some of the trees bore names and dates, one of the latter being
I734. A gigantic oak tree, felled some years afterward on the
summit of the mound, was ascertained to be more than six centuries old. Even conjecture cannot point to the time when the
mammoth mound was erected by a by-gone people. It may have
been old when Cheops was being built by half a million men, or
when Cleopatra's Needle was being fashioned.  Certain it is
thought by some to be that the mound was erected by a prehistoric race who were very similar to the Egyptians, ruled by




26


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


some one monarch who had sufficient control to combine vast
numbers of them in a huge undertaking. In 1838 the mound was
opened by its owner by excavating a passageway from the north
side of the mound toward the center. At a distance of Ioo feet from
the entrance two skeletons were unearthed in a vault crudely
constructed with unhewn timbers and loose stones common in that
neighborhood. One of the skeletons was surrounded by 650 ivory
beads and an ivory ornament about six inches in length. A shaft
was sunk from the summit of the mound to meet the drift, and at
a point thirty-four feet above the vault first discovered was another containing a skeleton which had been ornamented with copper rings, plates of mica and bone beads. History does not record
whose silent tomb this was, and it remains for another Champollion to exercise his ingenuity in ascertaining the period of erection
and the use of these monuments.
Probably the most interesting curio or antiquary taken from
the mound in 1838 was a stone engraved in unknown characters resembling those used by the Scandinavian priests before the introduction of the Roman alphabet. It has attracted more attention
from scientists and antiquarians at home and abroad than any
other relic of the vanished race found in America. The characters
are conceded to be of European origin, and if this be true, it is
evidence that other Europeans visited America before Christopher
Columbus, or even Lief Erickson. Powell, the antiquarian, concerning the stone and its inscription, says: "Four of the characters correspond to the ancient Greek, four to the Etruscan, five to
the Norse, six to the Gaelic, seven to the old Erse, and ten to the
Phoenician." The characters used are those of the ancient rock
alphabet, consisting of right and acute-angled strokes, used by the
Pelasgi and other early Mediterranean people, and which is the
parent of the modern Runic as well as of the Bardic.
As early as 1772, Rev. David Jones publicly noticed the existence of the mounds in America, and advanced his views concerning
them. In 1784, Arthur Lee wrote a treatise on the lost race, and
advanced some rather visionary ideas regarding it. But the first
general survey of the works was made by Caleb Atwater, of Circleville, Ohio, in I819, under the auspices, and at the expense, of
the Archaeological Society of Worcester, Mass. About I836, Dr.
Edwin Hamilton Davis, of Chillicothe, Ohio, was employed with
Col. Charles Whittlesey in explorations and surveys of the Newark,
Ohio, antiquities. In this work Dr. Davis became greatly interested and continued his investigations and collections ever after



HISTORICAL


27


ward. Ephraim George Squier, of New York, also became greatly
interested in archaeological matters, and in I846 he and Dr. Davis
joined in the preparation of a work which formerly stood at
the head of the archaeological literature of North America. Recognizing the merit of this work, the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, D. C., assumed a protectorate over it, and in I848 published
the work of Squier and Davis, together with some plans and notes
furnished by others, under title of "Ancient Monuments of the
Mississippi Valley." This publication constituted the first systematic work with descriptions and figures of the numerous remains
of the Mound Builders. From that day to the present, the Smithsonian Institution has continued to publish books and original
papers relating to this subject. Stimulated by this national recognition, and in view of the absorbing interest of the subject, many
original investigators have published manuscripts and books at
private expense, some of which are very elaborate and complete.
It is a noticeable feature of all the early publications in this
department of archaeology that they attach great antiquity to the
Mound Builders. The variations in this regard are also very great.
Some assume that thousands of years have elapsed since the
building of these ancient relics, and all agree that they are very
old. Eminent authorities are as widely at variance regarding their
antiquity as they are concerning their origin and purpose. In
closing this chapter, we present the views of a number of recognized authorities, as tending to show that the Mound Builders
were, or may have been, the immediate predecessors of the Indians
found here on the advent of the white man.
The Marquis de Nadaillac, in his admirable work on "Prehistoric America," published in 1895, and edited and verified by
W. H. Dall, sums up a voluminous discussion as follows: "What,
it may be asked, are we. to believe was the character of the race
to which, for the purpose of clearness, we have for the time
being applied the term 'Mound Builders?' The answer must be,
they were no more nor less than the immediate predecessors, in
blood and culture, of the Indians described by De Soto's chroniclers and other early explorers; the Indians who inhabited the
region of the mounds at the time of their discovery by civilized
men. As, in the far north, the Aleuts, up to the time of their
discovery, were, by the testimony of the shell heaps, as well as
their language, the direct successors of the early Eskimo-so in the
fertile basin of the Mississippi, the Indians were the builders, or
the successors of the builders, of the singular and varied structures




28


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


attributed to the Mound Builders. It is true that a very different
opinion has been widely entertained, chiefly by those who were
not aware of the historical evidence. Even Mr. Squier, who, in
his famous work on the ancient monuments of the Mississippi valley, makes no distinction in these remains, but speaks of the Mound
Builders as an extinct race, and contrasts their progress in the
arts with the supposed low condition of the modern Indians, in a
subsequent publication felt compelled to modify his views and
distinguish between the earth-works of western New York, which
he admits to be of purely Indian origin, and those found in southern Ohio. Further researches have found that no line can be
drawn between the two; the differences are merely of degree. For
the most part the objects found in them, from the rude knife to the
carved and polished 'gorget,' might have been taken from the
inmost recesses of a mound, or picked up on the surface among
the debris of a recent Indian village, and the most experienced
archaeologist could not decide which was their origin. Lucian
Carr has recently reviewed the whole subject in a manner which
can not but carry conviction to the impatient archaeologist, but
the conclusions he arrives at have the weight of other, and, as all
will admit, most distinguished authority. It is not asserted that
the mounds were built by any particular tribe, or at any particular
period, nor that each and every tribe of the Mississippi valley
erected such structures, nor that there were not differences of
culture and proficiency in the arts between different tribes of
mound builders as between the tribes of modern Indians now
known. All that can be claimed is, that there is nothing in the
mounds beyond the power of such people as inhabited the region
when discovered; that those people are known to have constructed
many of the mounds now, or recently existing, and there is no evidence that any other, or different people, had any hand in the construction of those mounds in regard to which direct historical evidence is wanting. Summing up the results that have been attained,
it may be safely said that, so far from being any prior reason why
the red Indians could not have erected these works, the evidence
shows, conclusively, that in New York and the Gulf States they
did build mounds and embankments that are essentially of the same
character as those found in Ohio."
Lucian Carr says: "In view of the fact that these same Indans are the only people, except the whites, who, so far as we know
have ever held the region over which these works are scattered,
it is believed that we are fully justified in claiming that the mounds




HISTORICAL


29


and enclosures of Ohio, like those in New York and the Gulf States,
were the work of the red Indians of historic times or of their immediate ancestors. To deny this conclusion and to accept its alternative, ascribing these remains to a mythical people of a different
civilization, is to reject a simple and satisfactory explanation of a
fact in favor of one that is far-fetched and incomplete, and this is
neither science nor logic."'
We quote a few brief extracts from sayings of other eminent
students and scholars, and leave the determination of the question
to the patient reader:
"The earth-works differ less in kind than in degree from other
remains respecting which history has not been entirely silent."Haven.
"There is nothing, indeed, in the magnitude and structure of
our western mounds which a semi-hunter and semi-agricultural
population, like that which may be ascribed to the ancestors or Indian predecessors of the existing race, could not have executed."Schoolcraft.
"All these earth-works-and I am inclined to assert the same
of the whole of those in the Atlantic states and the majority in the
Mississippi valley-were the production, not of some mythical tribe
of high civilization in remote antiquity, but of the identical nations
found by the whites residing in these regions."-Brinton.
"No doubt that they were erected by the forefathers of the
present Indians."-Gen. Lewis Cass.
"Nothing in them which may not have been performed by a savage people."-Gallatin.
"The old idea that the mound builders were peoples distinct
from and other than the Indians of the Fifteenth and 'Sixteenth
centuries, and their progenitors, appears unfounded in fact and
fanciful."-C. C. Jones.
"Mound Builders were tribes of American Indians of the same
race with the tribes now living."-Judge M. F. Force.
'The progress of discovery seems constantly to diminish the
distinction between the ancient and modern races; and it may not be
very wide of the track to assert that they were the same people."
Lapham.
The preceding pages give the views of well known scientists
and explorers, both early and recent. It is not the-purpose of this
work to decide controverted questions, but to give both sides and
allow the reader to form his own opinions, based upon authorities cited.




30


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


In concluding this chapter we will state, however, that, although Lenawee county may not be a rich field for archaeological research, yet the evidence in existence that this section was once the
abode of these unknown earth workers is sufficient to create a
local interest in any information concerning them. Judging from
the mass of published information on the subject, the Mound
Builders were a race or races of people, somewhat nomadic in their
habits, yet more centralized in habitation than the Indians of historic
times. They were semi-agricultural in pursuits, given to hunting
and fishing, and 'schooled in the primitive arts of warfare. They
had some knowledge of trade, or a system of rude barter, which
brought them into possession of articles from far distant localities,
since in Ohio copper implements have been found that must have
come from Lake Stuperior, and mica that probably had its origin in
the old mines of North Carolina. But, after all, our opinions can
be but deductions drawn from the mementoes they have left us, and
which have withstood the forces of nature that causes less enduring
materials to crumble and decay. However carefully we may study
and examine these rude and imperfect records, much will doubtless
always remain shrouded in dense obscurity.




CHAPTER 11.
EARLY JURISDICTION.
TITLE TO LANDS-TREATY OF 1783-VIRGINIA'S CLAIM OF SOVEREIGNTY-THE GREENVILLE TREATY-THE COUNTY OF WAYNE-CLAIMS
OF THE INDIANS-CESSIONS OF TERRITORY BY THE RED MENFORMATION OF LENAWEE COUNTY.
It was not until many years after the close of the American
Revolution that the Anglo-Saxon race undertook the project of
colonization in the region now known as Southern Michigan, of
which Lenawee county is a component, and as regards population
and resources, a very important division. It should not be inferred,
however, that the territory contained within the present limits of
the county remained unvisited by white men and unknown to them
until after the epoch mentioned above. While this portion of North
America was under the dominion of the French government, an extensive trade with the Indians was carried on, and in pursuit of
the returns that came from the traffic with the red men the wiley
and skillful French traders traveled extensively over this portion
of their mother country's possessions.  They continued their relations with the natives, notwithstanding that the result of the
French and Indian war transferred the right of dominion to the
English government, and even for years following the American
Revolution they followed their vocation,'undisturbed and without
competition, save the rivalry existing among themselves. So it is
fair to presume that during their many excursions, in quest of trade,
the present limits of Lenawee county were frequently invaded, and
as their much traveled route, connecting Detroit with the Wabash
river, was through this region, it can easily be inferred that the
natives who then inhabited this section were the beneficiaries, or
victims, as the case might be, of commercial intercourse with the
early French traders.
Good traditional authority exists for the belief that at least one




32


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


Indian and French trail passed through the southern part of Lenawee county. Major Suttenfield and wife passed over it on horseback, after Hull's surrender of the Northwestern army in the latter
part of the summer of I812, on their journey from Detroit.to Fort
Wayne. And from the present site of the village of Tecumseh,
where one of the great camping grounds of tle Indians was located, there diverged four trails, one for Detroit, one for Monroe,
one south, and one for Chicago. But railroad tracks and plowshares have long since destroyed all vestige of these highways, so
often trodden by the once powerful tribes and their eager customers. These commercial adventurers were not pioneers in the
true sense of that word, and it is doubtful if they could properly be
called advance agents of civilization. Their mission in these parts
was neither to civilize the denizens of the forest nor to carve out
homes in the western wilderness. "The white man's burden"
rested not heavily upon their shoulders and gave them little or no
concern, the only motive that fetched them hither being a desire
to possess, at as little cost as possible, the wares which the Indians
had for sale. This object being attained, they wended their way
homeward and the localities which had known them knew them no
more. So it remained for the fore-runners of Anglo-Saxon civilization, as they led the "march of empire" in a westerly direction, to
open this section of country for actual settlement and win from
hostile nature-and at times a more hostile foe in human formhomes for themselves and posterity.
The Indians who inhabited the northern region east of the
Mississippi at the beginning of historic times were, in language, of
two great families, which are given the French names-Algonquin
and Iroquois. These are not the Indian names. In fact, from the
word Indian itself which is a misnomer-arising from the slowness
of the early voyagers to admit that they had found unknown continents-down to the names of the tribes, there is a confusion of
nomenclature and often a deplorable misfit in the titles now fixed
in history by long usage. The Algonquin family may more properly be termed the Lenape, and the Iroquois the Mengwe, which
the English frontiersmen closely approached in the word Mingo.
The Lenape themselves, while using that name, also employed the
more generic title of Wapanackki. The Iroquois, on their part,
had the ancient name of Onque Honwe, and this is their tongue,
as Lenape in that of the other family, signified men with a sense
of importance-"The People," to use a convenient English expression. The Lenape became a very widespread people, and different




HISTORICAL


33


divisions of them were known in later years by various names,
among which was Pottawattamie, the name of the division of the
tribe that inhabited the present limits of Lenawee county. It is
from the word Lenape that the name of Lenawee county is supposed by some to have been derived, and if so the red man may be
said to be held in remembrance, although he has long since left the
county, and but few traces of his occupancy yet remain.
Before proceeding with an account of the organization and
settlement of Lenawee county a brief review of the question of
title to lands will be necessary, the word title as here used having
special reference to racial dominion or civil jurisdiction. As is well
known, the French were the first civilized people who laid claim
to the territory now embraced within the state of Michigan- and
France exercised nominal lordship over the region until the treaty
of Paris, in 1763, which treaty ended the French and Indian war.
Prior to this date the French actually occupied isolated places in
the vast extent of territory claimed by them (the south shore of
Lake Erie, for instance), but it is an open historical question when
such occupancy began. It is certain, however, that there was not
the semblance of courts or magistrates for the trial of civil or criminal issues, and hence the chief function of civil government wvas
lacking. And even for some years after the Michigan country
passed under the control of the officials of the British government, affairs there were managed by army officers, commandants
of posts on the frontier.
Immediately after the peace of I763 with the French, the
Province of Canada was extended by act of Parliament, southerly
to the Allegheny and Ohio rivers, and westward from the Detroit
river. This, of course, included all of the present state of Michigan,
notwithstanding the claims of the colony of Virginia that she had
the title to all land northwest of the Ohio river. This conflict of
authority was at its height during the Revolutionary war, and in
I778, soon after the conquest of the British forts on the Mississippi
and the Wabash, by Gen. George Rogers Clark, Virginia erected
the county of Illinois, with the county seat at Kaskaskia. It practically embraced all the territory in the present states of Ohio,
Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. But the British held
possession of the Michigan country and all the lake region, and in
the same year (1778), Lord Dorchester, Governor General of Canada, divided Upper Canada into four districts for civil purposes,
one of which included Detroit and the lake territory.
Great Britain had promised the Indian tribes that the whites
3-Iv




34


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


should not settle north of the Ohio river, and the government of
this almost unlimited region was, during English control, exclusively military, with Detroit as the central post. This was the condition during the Revolutionary war, and even after the treaty of
peace, in i783, the same state of affairs continued until after the
second, or Jay treaty, in I794. Early in 1792 the Upper Canadian
parliament authorized Governor Simcoe to lay off nineteen counties
to embrace that province, and it is presumed that the County of
Essex, on the east bank of Detroit.river, included Michigan and
northern Ohio. While this supposition is not conclusive, certain
it is that some form of British civil authority existed at their forts
and settlements until Detroit was given up and all its dependencies
in Ajugust, I796.
The treaty of I783, which terminated the War of the Revolution, included Michigan within the boundaries of the United
States, and the Seventh article of that treaty stated that the King
of Great Britain would, "with all convenient speed, and without
causing any destruction or carrying away any negroes or other
property of the American inhabitants, withdraw all his armies, garrisons and fleets from the United States, and from every part, place
and harbor within the same, leaving in all fortifications the American artillery that may be therein, and shall order and cause all
archives, records, deeds and papers belonging to any of the said
states or their citizens, which in the course of the war may have
fallen into the hands of his officers, to be forthwith restored and
delivered to the proper states and persons to whom they belong."
By a subsequent article it was stipulated that five months should
be the utmost term for the validity of hostile acts. The final treaty
of September, 1783, reaffirmed all these articles as of the preceding
date. By the terms of this treaty the international boundary line
between the possessions of Great Britain and those of the United
States ran through the middle of Lakes Ontario, Erie and Huron,
and their connecting water-ways, and through Lake Superior to
the northward of Isle Royale and thence by the grand portage to
the Lake of the Woods, embracing so far as the Northwest is concerned, the entire region to the eastward of the Mississippi river.
The maps which accompanied this treaty left no doubt that the
whole of Michigan, as at present constituted, was within the United
States. Military posts were garrisoned, however, by British troops,
and continued under the dominion of Great Britain for many years
after that date. The British forces showed no inclination to vacate
the fort at Detroit, and General Washington sent a messenger to




HISTORICAL


35


Governor Haldimand to establish a date for the actual surrender
of the western posts. Haldimand wrote in a respectful tone to the
effect that he could not consider the matter of vacating these posts
in the absence of positive orders from his majesty. Preparatory to
taking possession of the country, and in order to avoid collision
with the Indian tribes, who owned the soil, treaties were made with
them from time to time (of which more is said on a subsequent
page), in which they ceded to the United States their title to their
lands. But the territory thus secured by treaties with Great Britain, and with the Indian tribes-and concerning which we had thus
established an amicable understanding-was many years sequestered from our possession. In spite of the claim by Congress for
the actual possession of the western country, in spite of the agitation on the part of officials of our government for the carrying out
of the treaties in good faith, the British government took no action
whatever. Governor Haldimand shielded himself behind his lack
of instructions, and so matters remained for a long time in this
unsatisfactory condition.
There is some ground for belief that this was a deliberate
policy, founded upon the expectation or hope that something might
turn up in the interests of Great Britain through which that government could continue its occupancy indefinitely. It is known
that Washington harbored some such idea. There were still opportunities for complications in the new state of affairs between
the two countries. No one could foresee what questions might
arise or whither the course of events might lead. There were
plenty of emissaries of Great Britain working among the Indian
tribes, seeking to bind them to British interests and to solidify a
naturally unfriendly feeling against Americans. This very feeling
of the Indians was offered as a pretext for maintaining an armed
force in the country. It was argued that the safety of the whites
could only be assured by the presence of a strong military guard.
This the United States had not undertaken to supply. Hence, it
devolved upon Great Britain to preserve the peace. In view of
the known efforts to foment Indian hostility this argument was
transparently deceptive. There were evidences of intrigues on
the part of Great Britain in dealing with her former Indian allies,
who had suffered severe losses and who felt that they had not been
adequately rewarded for all their sacrifices. So the Indian question cut a considerable figure in the determination of Governor
Haldimand to hang on to the western posts as long as possible.
The British government urged as a further excuse the failure




36


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


of Americans to fulfill that part of the treaty protecting the claims
of British subjects against citizens of the United States, but, from
the "aid and comfort" rendered the Indians in the campaigns of
Harmar, St. Clair, and Wayne, the apparent prime cause was to
defeat the efforts of the United States to extend their power over
the country and tribes north of the Ohio, and continue to give the
British the advantage of the fur trade, which, from their relations
with these tribes, they possessed. This trade had been of immense
value to England. She could not see these profits slip from her grasp
without a struggle to save them. The region included within the
new boundaries of the United States had been the most profitable
source of supply. In I786 a council of Indian nations northwest
of the Ohio river was held at the Huron village near the mouth of
the Detroit river. This was attended by representatives of all the
leading tribes. They were troubled about the boundary between
their possessions and those of the United States. They maintained
that the Ohio was not to be crossed by the Americans. They also
insisted that their rights had not been properly considered in the
treaty between the United States and Great Britain. It seemed
to be the feeling of the savages that the United States had neglected
to show the attention to their wishes which the same demanded.
A grand council was held at Fort Harmer, Marietta, in I787, which
formulated a treaty tending to settle in a satisfactory manner the
points in controversy. The ultimate result of the complaints of
the Indians and the international difficulty with England was the
campaigns of I790-9I-94, ostensibly against the Indians, but substantially against them and their British allies. Matters in controversy with the Indians were finally and definitely disposed of at
Greenville in I795, when by treaty the title to large tracts of lands
included in Michigan was confirmed to the United States.
Virginia, however, still adhering to her claim of sovereignty
over the northwestern country, on March I, I784, ceded the territory to the United States, and immediately Congress entered seriously upon the consideration of the problem of providing a government for the vast domain. Its deliberations resulted in the famous
"Compact of I787," and under this organization Gen. Arthur St.
Clair was appointed governor. It might not be out of place here
to call attention to the fact that this compact, in two provisions,
which were inspired by Thomas Jefferson, guaranteed to all the
right of religious freedom and prohibited slavery in the territory.
Hence the citizens of Lenawee county, in common with the citizens
of Michigan, and those of the sister states that were carved from




HISTORICAL


37


Virginia's grant, can feel a pardonable pride that never, under any
American jurisdiction of this domain, has a witch been burned at
the stake, or a slave been sold on the auction block. It should be
understood, however, that slavery had always existed under the
French regime in Canada or New France, to which Michigan also
belonged. Nor did it cease under British rule, for as late as 1782
the commandant at Detroit, Maj. Arent Schuyler De Peyster,
caused an enumeration to be made of the people and property of
Detroit, and in the "survey" are found these two items: "Male
slaves, 78; female slaves, Ioi." It appears that Indians as well as
negroes were held in slavery in spite of the Ordinance of 1787,
which totally prohibited it. There is a tradition that even as late
as the coming of John T. Mason, as secretary of the territory in
1831, he brought some domestic slaves with him from Virginia, and
it is not improbable that a few domestic servants continued with
the old masters down to the time of the adoption of the state constitution. As late as 1807 Judge Woodward refused to free a negro
man and woman on writ of habeas corpus, holding in effect that as
they had been slaves at the time of the surrender in I796, there
was something in Jay's treaty that forbade their release. But it is
proper to say that after the Ordinance of 1787 took effect there
was no legal slavery in Michigan.
Though Michigan was included within the provisions of the
Ordinance of 1787, they could not at once be practically applied,
owing to the fact that the country was still under British control.
In I792 Quebec was divided into Upper and Lower Canada, with
the seat of government of the latter at Toronto, then known as
York. Sir Guy Carleton, as Lord Dorchester, had again become
Governor-General of the whole province, with John Graves Simcoe
Lieutenant-Governor, of Upper Canada. The Quebec act, so far
as related to this region, was repealed and all legislation under it
was abrogated. Permanent courts were established in the regular
way and a form of civil government was set up for the first time
at Detroit and Michilimackinac. The legislature also made provision for granting lands in the province and grants or pretended
grants by Indian tribes were made to Jonathan Schiefflin, Robert
Innis, Alexander Henry, John Askin, Robert McNiff, John Dodemead and others of parcels of land covering pretty nearly the whole
southeastern portion of Michigan westward as far as the center
line and as far north as Saginaw. This was supposed at the time
to cover all of the region likely to be considered worth anything
for the next hundred years.




38


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


To encourage the Indians in self-defense and incidentally as a
protection to Detroit, Simcoe built a fort at the rapids of the Maumee and garrisoned it with British soldiers. He was evidently persuaded, even so late as 1794, as was apparently Governor Carleton
also, that the prospects were favorable for Great Britain to continue holding the country. But in that very year their hopes must
have been blasted, for Jay's treaty, made in September, 1794, stipulated that all the western posts within the territory belonging to
the United States should be surrendered by June I, I796. In spite
of this, however, they still sought to postpone the inevitable
through Indian hostility which they lent their efforts to promote.
While there were some disaffected savages ready to take up arms
in behalf of British interests, the councils were divided. Nevertheless there were troubles of a sufficiently serious character to call
for the energetic efforts of Gen. Anthony Wayne, and a considerable
army. Several bloody engagements took place, in which militia
and volunteers from Detroit participated, one of them almost under
the gates of the British fort on the Maumee. When the news of
Jay's treaty came some of the natives were shrewd enough to see
that with a definite date set for the surrender of the country there
was small prospect of annulling a solemn treaty made and confirmed by the governments of the United States and Great Britain,
and they were ready to agree to a permanent peace. Then followed
the treaty of Greenville and the end of hostilities.
The ratification of Jay's treaty having been exchanged, a messenger was at once despatched to Lord Dorchester at Quebec, with
a demand that its provisions be carried into effect. This time there
was no hesitancy in acceding to the demand. The necessary orders
for the evacuation of the western posts were issued, and upon the
return to Philadelphia of the messenger they were at once put into
the hands of General Wayne. They were duly forwarded by him
to Lieut.-Col. John Francis Hamtramck, at Fort Miami, to be carried into effect. He despatched Capt. Moses Porter with sixty-five
men fully armed and equipped to take possession of Detroit. The
detachment arrived on July II, 1796, and on that day Col. Richard
England, then in command of the garrison, lowered the British
colors from the flag-staff at Fort Lernoult. and Captain Porter ran
up the stars and stripes. Thus, after long and vexatious delays,
the sovereignty of the United States was established over Michigan. Colonel Hamtramck, with his entire command, arrived at
Detroit two days later and assumed military authority over the
post and the town. General Wayne himself came in a few weeks




HISTORICAL


39


with the powers of a civil commissioner as well as those of a military commander, and remained throughout the summer, busied
into setting into operation the governmental machinery. So, for
the first time it can be said that Michigan had ceased to be a British
province and had attained the dignity of allegiance to the United
States.
As has been previously stated, Virginia claimed the whole
northwest to the Mississippi under her colonial charter of 6og9,
which gave her a front on the Atlantic 200 miles north and 200
miles south from Point Comfort, "and all that space and circuit of
land lying from the sea-coast of the precinct aforesaid up into the
land, throughout from sea to sea, west and northwest." It will be
readily seen that under this charter she' could claim almost anything between the two oceans, north of Cape Fear river. New
York, by virtue of a treaty with the six nations of New York, laid
claim to all the country the said Indians had overrun, south to the
Cumberland mountains, and west to the Mississippi, but it is very
questionable whether Michigan could be brought within her claim,
and it never became a practical question. Connecticut claimed by
virtue of her colonial charter, which extended her western limit
"to the South sea." Under this old charter Connecticut claimed a
belt of territory extending west from the west line of Pennsylvania
to the Mississippi and north and south from parallel 41 to 42 degrees 2 minutes north latitude. This included nearly all that part
of Michigan south of the second tier of counties as now organized.
'And finally, Massachusetts had a colonial charter extending on the
Atlantic border from the Connecticut limit of 42 degrees 2 minutes to a point "three English myles to the northward of said river
called Monomack alias Merrymack" and "throughout the mayne
landes there from the Atlantic and Western sea and ocean on the
east parte to the South Sea on the west parte." This would have
carried the projected north line of the Massachusetts claim, if extended due west, to about the north line of Oakland county, or near
the latitude of Port Huron and Grand Rapids. The task of the
Congress of the Confederation was to unite as many of these claims
as possible in the hands of the United States. The first and most
important thing to be done was to secure cessions from each of
the individual states having claims on the western lands. In doing
this aid came in a most unexpected way. It is necessary to premise
that by the "Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union," it
was provided that the said Articles should not become operative
and binding until ratified by each of the thirteen states. On Feb



40


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


ruary 22, I779, Delaware, the twelfth state, ratified, leaving Maryland only yet to ratify in order to complete the Confederation.
Maryland demanded, as the condition of her ratification of the
Articles, an amendment giving Congress power to fix the western
limits of those states claiming to the Mississippi, and as early as
December, I778, the legislature of Maryland adopted a "Declaration" to the effect that "Maryland will ratify the Confederation
when it is so amended as to give full power to Congress to ascertain
and fix the western limits of these states claiming to extend to the
Mississippi." This document was presented to Congress January 6,
I779. This was followed by "Instructions to Maryland Delegates,"
presented May 2Ist, of the same year. The completion of the Confederation hung on the action of Maryland, and she stood fast and
refused to ratify unless the desired amendment was made. Virginia adopted a counter declaration, in which she laid down the
proposition that "the United States hold no territory but in right
of some one individual state of the Union," and further declared
that the setting aside of this principle "would end in bloodshed
among the states." It would require a very long chapter to give
anything like a full history of the long struggle by which New
York, Virginia, Massachusetts, and Connecticut were finally led
to cede to the United States, as trustees for all the states, the lands
which they severally claimed west of the mountains. But it may
be summarized briefly as follows:
New York led the way, by the passage of an Act January 17,
1780, "For facilitating the completion of the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union among the United States of America,"
by which her delegates were authorized to limit her western boundaries, and to cede the surplus of her claim to the United States, for
the use and benefit of all such states as should become members
of the Federal Alliance. On March I, 1781, the New York delegates executed a deed of cession, of all her territory west of her
present west line, on the meridian of the most westerly bend of
Lake Ontario. On the same day the delegates of the state of Maryland ratified and signed the Articles of Confederation, thus completing the Confederation. But already, on January 2, 1781, Virginia had yielded to the pressure of Congress and the non-claimant
states and had by act of her legislature resolved to cede the territory northwest of the Ohio river for the common benefit, but she
placed this cession on such conditions of acknowledgment of her
title to the transmontane lands and of guarantee of her remaining
territory, as rendered it impossible for Congress, representing all




HISTORICAL


HI


the states, to accept.  But on October 20, 1783, Virginia made a
new or amended cession, obviating the most important objections,
and on March I, I784, her cession was accepted by Congress. On
November I3, I784, the General Court of Massachusetts authorized
her delegates to execute cessions of her lands west of the Hudson
river. And on April i9, 1785, just ten years after the day when
the "embattled farmers" stood on the green in front of the Lexington meeting-house and at Concord bridge, where they "fired the shot
heard round the world," Samuel Holton and Rufus King, her delegates in Congress, executed, and on the same day Congress accepted
the cession of all her right, title and claim to lands west of the meridian of the westerly bend of Lake Ontario, the same being the west
line of New York state. This now left only Connecticut of the claimant states. She did not long stand out. On May II, I786, her legislature authorized the cession of all her western land, reserving, however, a tract extending 120 miles west of the western boundary of
Pennsylvania, "as now claimed by said Commonwealth," and from
the 4Ist degree north latitude to Lake Erie. This became the famous "Western Reserve." There was much opposition to the acceptance of this cession, on account of the reservation. But on May
26, I786, it was finally accepted, thus completing the title of the
United States to all that vast domain bounded by Pennsylvania on
the east, the Ohio river on the south, the Mississippi on the west,
and the chain of lakes and their connecting waters on the north and
northeast.
All these pretensions of sovereignty and conflictions of authority were aside from the claims of the real inhabitants of the country.
The Iroquois Indians, or Six Nations, laid claim to the entire extent
of territory bordering on the Ohio river and northward, basing
their contention upon the assumption that they had conquered it
and held it by right of conquest. In 1722 a treaty had been made
at Albany, N. Y., between the Iroquois and English, by which the
lands west of the Allegheny mountains were acknowledged to belong to the Iroquois by reason of their conquests from the Eries,
Conoys, Tongarias, etc., but this claim was extinguished by the
terms of the treaty of Fort Stanwix, concluded October 22, I784.
Article III, of this treaty provided for a line to be drawn four miles
east from the carrying path on Lake Ontario, parallel with the Niagara river to Lake Erie and along the north boundary of Pennsylvania, to the west boundary, thence south to the Ohio river.
The six nations were to hold to that line, and all west of that line
they yielded to the United States. But there were tribes and na



42


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


tions settled on these western lands, who did not admit the right
or power of the Six Nations to dispose of the title to their lands.
So a separate treaty must be made with them, or the settlers in
the Ohio country would experience the horrors of savage warfare
on their settlements. The treaty of Fort McIntosh, in 1785, was
intended to quiet the claims of the Delawares, Wyandots, Ottawas,
and Chippewas, in the Ohio valley. The Shawnees relinquished
their claims under the provisions of the treaties of Fort Finney,
January 31, I786, treaty of Fort Harmar (held by General St. Clair),
January 9, I789, by the treaty of Greenville, and various other
treaties from that date until I818. It is a notable fact that every
foot of Michigan soil was acquired from the Indians through treaty
or purchase, and, when compared with methods followed in other
sections of America, the means employed were decidedly honorable. True, some of these treaties, as for instance, the one concluded at Greenville, were entered into at the close of long and
bloody conflicts, when the Indians had been conquered and reduced
to a condition of helplessness, thus making them obliged to submit to any terms offered by the victors. But when we consider
the fact, demonstrated on every page of the world's history, that
the tree of civilization does not grow until the soil has been fertilized by human blood, we can excuse the warfare waged against
the Indians, and by comparison at least point to those treaties as
just and merciful ones. Concerning the earlier Indian treaties,
Rufus King, in his history of Ohio, says:
"To open the way for surveys and sales of the western lands
and to induce immigration, it was essential to obtain the Indian
title. A board of commissioners had been established for this
purpose in I784. Instead of seeking peace and friendship through
the great council of the northwestern confederacy, which had now
transferred its annual meetings from the Scioto to the Rapids of
the Maumee (near Toledo) these officials adopted the policy of
dealing with the tribes separately. Year after year they treated
with sundry gatherings of unauthorized and irresponsible savages,
at what are known as the treaties of Fort Stanwix in October,
1784; Fort McIntosh (mouth of Big Beaver), in January, 1785;
Fort Finney (near the mouth of the Big Miami), in January, 1786,
and Fort Harmar (mouth of Muskingum), in January, 1789. By
these proceedings it was given out and popularly supposed that
the Indian tribes on the Ohio had acknowledged the sovereignty
of the United States and surrendered all the territory south and
east of a line which passed up the Cuyahoga river, and across the




HISTORICAL


43


portage to the Tuscarawas, then descending this stream to Fort
Laurens, thence running west to the portage between the heads of
the Big Miami and the Auglaize rivers to Lake Erie. Congress
was under the delusion that it had acquired the Indian title and
full dominion of all the lands between this line and the Ohio river.
The mischief of these travesties was soon discovered in new raids
and murders perpetrated upon the settlers of the government lands
by the very tribes ignorantly reported and supposed to have ceded
the territory."
The Greenville treaty was made by Gen. "-Mad Anthony"
Wayne, on Atgust 3, 1795, at the close of the Indian war that
waged in the Maumee valley and throughout Ohio and southern
Michigan during the years 1790-95. Full particulars of these hostilities are not germane in this connection, but the provisions of
the treaty comes properly within the scope of the history of Lenawee county. Between the Cuyahoga and Tuscarawas and the
Maumee and Miami, south to the line from Fort Laurens to Laramie's store, the Indians were to retain possession, and besides that
were to hold the title to all the rest of the country, west of a line
from Fort Recovery to the mouth of the Kentucky river, and west
and northwest of the Maumee, except Clark's grant on the Ohio
river and certain reservations about Detroit and the forts in Ohio
and other parts of the Northwest, with the understanding that when
they should sell lands it should be to the United States alone, whose
protection the Indians acknowledged, and that of no other power
whatever. There was to be free passage along the Maumee, Auglaize, Sandusky, and Wabash rivers, and the lake. Twenty thousand dollars' worth of goods were at once delivered to the Indians,
and a promise was made of $9,500 worth every year forever.
The United States Senate ratified the Wayne and Greenville
treaty in due time, and southern Michigan and northwestern Ohio,
north of the treaty line and west of the Connecticut Reserve line,
remained unorganized for a number of years thereafter. About the
same time (I794) John Jay, as minister to England, concluded his
treaty with that country, by the terms of which the British posts
were to be abandoned in the neighborhood of the Great Lakes on
or before June i, 1796. The terms not being strictly complied with,
in July, 1796, the United States demanded a fulfillment of the
treaty and the transfer of authority was accordingly made, General Wayne moving his headquarters thither and displacing the
English commander. In the absence of Gen. Arthur St. Clair, who
was the governor of the Northwest Territory, Secretary Winthrop




44


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


Sargent went to Detroit and proclaimed the county of Wayne,
which included what is now the lower peninsula of Michigan, a
large part of Indiana, and the Indian country in Ohio, the boundary
of which on the south was the Greenville treaty line.
It will be well to digress here a moment and turn our attention
to some events, which, though they left no permanent results, but
for a miscarriage might have very deeply affected the subsequent
history of what is now Lenawee county and the state of Michigan
in general. There is an impression that there has been some "landgrabbing" in recent years, participated in by men in high official
positions, including several members of Congress, but compared
with some of the great land "deals" in the first two decades after the
treaty of peace with Great Britain, they have been very tame affairs. The legislature of Georgia during I794 had sold to four
companies, including some of the most eminent citizens of the
country, a vast tract of land lying between the Chattahoochie and
the Mississippi rivers, and these speculators had succeeded
in selling out at a great advance to other speculators in the middle
and northern states. It was believed that this action by the legislature of Georgia had been procured by corrupt means, and, stimulated by their success, a scheme was concocted to "gobble up"
nearly the entire lower peninsula of Michigan. In was in I795,
while the treaty of Greenville was still pending, that one Dr. Robert
Randall, of Maryland, visited Detroit for the purpose of interesting
certain Detroit merchants and capitalists in no less a scheme than
the purchase of all the rights of the United States in 20,000,000,
acres of land in the peninsula for the sum of $500,000. He had associated with him one Whitney, of Vermont, who was looking after
New England, while other confederates were "interesting" members
of Congress, as members of the Georgia legislature had been "interested" the year before. Among the local people at Detroit who had
entered the "combine" were said to be John Askin (merchant and Indian trader-' Robert Innis, William Robertson, David Robertson,
and Jonathan Shiffelin. The entire capital stock was divided into
forty-one shares, of which five were apportioned to the Detroit
parties, six to Randall and Whitney and their associates, and thirty
were alloted to members of Congress to "influence" them. Overtures had been made to a number of members of Congress-just
how many is not known-among them Giles, of Virginia; Smith,
of South Carolina; Murray, of Maryland, and others. Randall
boasted that he had already "secured" thirty members. But Murray exposed the whole scheme on the floor of the house. Randall




HISTORICAL


45


was arrested, brought to the bar of the house, tried for attempted
bribery, convicted of high contempt, and sentenced to be reprimanded and held in custody to the end of the session. The exposure was fatal to the whole scheme and this attempted "land-grab"
-not the last be it said-fell flat and came to naught. It might be
interesting, but not profitable to speculate what the effect would
have been upon the future of Michigan and Lenawee county had
this gigantic scheme succeeded. Among other things the promoters promised that through the influence of their Detroit representatives they would maintain peace and amicable relations with
the Indians of the peninsula. For many years the Randall-Whitney
attempted bribery and purchase has been a forgotten episode in the
region which their ambition and greed would have made a proprietary estate. Most of the resident promoters were British adherents,
and it is probable the whole intrigue would have come to naught
after American occupation.
But meanwhile Michigan remained a part of the as yet undivided Northwest Territory. The proclamation creating the county of
Wayne was issued August 15, I796, and the boundaries named
therein were as follows: "Beginning at the mouth of the Cuyahoga
river, upon Lake Erie, and with the said river to the portage, between it and the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum, thence down
the said branch to the forks, at the carrying place above Fort Laurens, thence by a west line to the western boundary of Hamilton
county (which is a due north line from the lower Shawanese town
upon the Scioto river), thence by a line west-northerly to the southern part of the Portage, between the Miamis of the Ohio and the
St. Mary's river, thence by a line also west-northerly to the most
southern part of Lake Michigan, thence along the western shores
of the same to the northwest part thereof (including the lands upon
the streams emptying into the said lake), thence by a due north
line to the territorial boundary in Lake Superior, and with the said
boundary through Lakes Huron, Sinclair, and Erie, to the mouth
of Cuyahoga river, the place of beginning."
From the organization of the territory, in 1788, it had had
no representative government, owing to the restrictions of the
"Ordinance of I787." A reference to this "Compact" will discover
to the reader that the legislative function of the territorial government in its first stage of development, and until there should be
5,ooo free male inhabitants of full age in the district, was lodged
in the governor of the territory, and the judges of the general (or
Territorial) court, or any two of the judges and the governor. But




46


4MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


in I798, a census was taken, which disclosed more than the necessary "5,000 free male inhabitants" in the Territory, and it thus
having reached the second stage of territorial government, entitling
it to an elective territorial council, on October 29, 1798, Governor
St. Clair accordingly proclaimed an election, to be held on the third
Monday of December, for the choice of a house of representatives
in the general assembly, to which the territory was entitled at that
stage of development. The election was by districts, and Wayne
county was entitled to one representative. No election returns
are known to be in existence from that part of Wayne county now
included in Michigan, but it would seem certain that an election
was held at Detroit in December, 1798; if so, it was the first time
the elective franchise was ever exercised, under the laws of the
United States, in what is now the Peninsula State. It would appear that James May, of Detroit, was chosen representative. It
would seem also that this election was set aside for some reason,
a new proclamation of the governor having assigned three delegates to Wayne county. A new election was held at Detroit January 14 and 15, I799, at which four candidates were voted for, towit: Charles Chabert de Joncaire received 68 votes; Jacob Visger
63 votes, Oliver Wiswell 37 votes, and Louis Beaufait 30 votes.
Joncaire, Wiswell, and Visger were declared elected. But there
is some confusion and lack of record in regard to this first assembly.
Wiswell, though declared elected, did not serve, and Solomon Sibley, though not voted for and not chosen at this election, appears
to have served instead. It would seem probable that Wiswell resigned and Solomon Sibley was appointed or elected at a special
election in his place, for "on September 28th, Solomon Sibley appeared and took his seat." The gentlemen chosen at this election
met at Cincinnati on January 22, 1799, and organized the first elective legislative body that ever convened within the limits of the
Northwest Territory. Twenty-two representatives were chosen
by the nine counties then organized, and they constituted the lawmaking power of the territory, when taken in conjunction with a
legislative council of five members, who were appointed by the
United States Congress. This was the first time Michigan was
ever represented in any legislative body except an Indian council.
Wayne county (of which the territory now embraced in Lewanee was then a part) as previously stated was represented in
this assembly by Solomon Sibley, Charles Chabert de Joncaire, and
Jacob Visger, all residents of Detroit. The first named,, Mr. Sibley, was an exceedingly active and influential member of this as



HISTORICAL


47


sembly and was appointed a committee of one to superintend the
printing of the laws of the session. The book as printed is now in
possession of the Supreme court library in Columbus, Ohio, and
in it Mr. Sibley certifies that he has carefully compared the printed
laws with the original enrolled bills, and finds them to agree. During the interim between the adjournment of the first and the meeting of the second session of this legislature, Congress passed the
act dividing the Northwest Territory and creating the new territory of Indiana. This act legislated Henry Vandenburgh, of Vincennes, out of the legislative council, and Mr. Sibley was later
promoted to that position. At the election for members of the second legislative assembly, Wayne county chose as her representatives Charles Chabert de Joncaire, George McDougal, and Jonathan
Shiffelin. The election of the last two named was contested, but
they were declared to be entitled to their seats.
The first section of the Ordinance of 1787 provided "That the
said territory, for the purpose of temporary government, be one
district, subject, however, to be divided into two districts, as future
circumstances may in the opinion of Congress make expedient.'
In December, 1789, William Henry Harrison was elected delegate
in Congress, and in the following March entered upon his duties,
being made chairman of a committee on the division of the Northwest Territory. Through Harrison's influence the committee reported favorably, and on May 7, I8oo, the act was approved, making the divison. The dividing line followed Wayne's treaty line
from a point opposite the mouth of the Kentucky river to Fort Recovery, and thence due north to the international boundary. The
region east of this line remained under the title of "The Territory
Northwest of the Ohio river," and while by the provisions of this
act the old county of Wayne was considerably reduced in extent,
yet. its numerical strength as regards population was probably lessened very little. By the United States census of 800o, Wayne
county-which it must be remembered included Detroit-contained
a population of 3,206. The first, and what proved to be the last,
session of the second territorial legislature, convened at Chillicothe,
Ohio, November 23, I80o, and adjourned January 23, 1802, and
this was the last time that Lenawee county or any part of Michigan
was represented in an Ohio legislative assembly.
In the Congressional enactment providing for a convention to
consider the question of statehood for Ohio, Wayne county was
not permitted to elect delegates, owing to the fact that its population was confined chiefly to Detroit and vicinity, which region it




48


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


was not intended to include in the proposed new state. On April
30, 1802, Congress passed the act to enable Ohio (that part of the
Eastern District lying east of a north and south line passing
through the mouth of the great Miami river, and south of a line
projected due east from the most southerly bend of Lake Mlichigan), to form a state constitution, and to be admitted to the Union
on an equal footing with the original states. On the taking effect
of this act, the whole of Michigan was attached to the Territory
of Indiana, and so remained until June 30, 1805, when the act organizing the Territory of Michigan took effect. This separation
left the region of which Lenawee county is now a part-though
perhaps considered a part of Wayne-practically under no county
jurisdiction, but as all the vast territory of Southern Michigan, excepting Detroit and its environs, was as yet the hunting ground of
the aborigines, such a condition of affairs entailed no hardship
upon anyone. It must be constantly borne in mind that the Indian
title had not yet been extinguished in Michigan, except as to the
six mile strip from the River Raisin to Lake St. Clair, and that
even this strip had not been surveyed into lots and brought into
market; therefore settlement was confined to the old French grants
along the river front, and almost entirely within the six mile strip.
Hildreth, writing of the year I8I2, and speaking of Governor Hull's
arrival at Detroit, says: "Hull's army reached Detroit, which contained at that time only some 8oo inhabitants. The neighboring
villages on the strait had about twice as many, the whole Territory
of Michigan not much above 5,000, most of them of French origin."
During all this time, following the Greenville treaty, the lands
remained in the hands of the Indians with the exception of the
small amount of territory heretofore mentioned. In the main, all
of southern Michigan was barren of white inhabitants, and so far
as the present site of Lenawee county is concerned, it was, in the
language of the young Fourth of July orator, "a howling wilderness." The Indians and what few whites there were in the vicinity
of the reservations had continued to live in comparative peace from
and after the ending of hostilities by the Greenville treaty. Even
during the troublous times, incident to the war of I8I2, when Tecumseh was marshalling the men of his race to assist the British
forces, there was but little antagonism between the settlers and
natives of the region known as southern Michigan. Feelings of
security were necessarily absent, however, owing to the scenes of
war being enacted at nearby points, and with the news of the great
disaster on River Raisin-where an American force numbering




HISTORICAL


49


I,ooo was almost annihilated-came a realization of the danger that
menaced the settlers. Occasionally, of course, there were outrages
that threatened serious trouble, due to lawless elements in both
races and the race hatred entertained by many of the whites; yet
is a rule the Red Men of the Forest pursued their wild and favorite
vocations, undisturbed by naught save what must have been apparent to them-the irresistible and ceaseless march of Anglo-Saxon civilization. The end of his dominion in southern Michigan
was rapidly approaching, and in his thoughtful moments the Indian must have heard, reverberating through the air, in tones that
a modern policeman would envy, the laconic and authoritative
command-"Move on!"
Governor Hull was instructed and commissioned to negotiate
a treaty with the peninsular and allied tribes, and a council was
called to meet at Brownstown, on the river front below Detroit,
where, on November 7, I807, was signed the treaty commonly
known as the treaty of Brownstown, or the treaty of Detroit. This
treaty was concluded between the sachems, chiefs and warriors of
the Ottawa, Chippewa, Wyandot, and Pottawattamie nations, on
the one part, and William Hull, Governor of the Territory of Michigan, and commissioner on the part of the United States, on the
other. The aforesaid sachems, chiefs and warriors "cede, relinguish
and forever quitclaim unto the United States, etc., beginning at
the mouth of the Miami river of the Lakes (Maumee), and running
thence up the middle thereof to the mouth of the great Auglaize
river, thence running due north until it intersects a parallel to latitude to be drawn from the outlet of Lake Huron which forms the
River Sinclair; thence running northeast, the course that may be
found will lead in a direct line to White Rock, in Lake Huron,
thence due east until it intersects the boundary line between the
United States and Upper Canada, in said lake, thence southerly,
following the said boundary line down said lake, through River
Sinclair, Lake St. Clair, and the River Detroit into Lake Erie, to a
point due east of the aforesaid Miami river, thence west to the place
of beginning."
The western line of this vast extent of territory, which was by
the above treaty granted to the United States, almost exactly located the present boundary line between Lenawee and Hillsdale
counties. Extended north from the Maumee, this cession of land
comprised a considerable portion of northwestern Ohio in addition
to the Michigan territory, included. The consideration for this
cession was $Io,ooo down in goods and money, and $2,400 annually
4-IV




50


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


to be divided among the tribes. The Indians were to have the right
to hunt and fish upon the lands, so long as they belonged to the
United States, and the said tribes placed themselves under the protection of the United States. This treaty extinguished the Indian
title to practically all that part of the territory east of the "principal
meridian" of Michigan, and south of Saginaw (or Sagana) bay,
for the treaty was so interpreted as to include the sources of all
the streams flowing eastward and southward, along the northeast
line from the principal meridian, on the county line between Clinton
and Shiawasse counties to White Rock in Huron county on Lake
Huron. And all this vast domain for $Io,ooo and an annuity of
$2,400. The reader, in contemplating this vast domain-covered
then with valuable timber and a fertile soil as yet untouched-will
doubtless come to the conclusion that Uncle Sam was a shrewd
"bargain-driver," and that "Poor Lo" was correspondingly "easy."
But when we recall that the Greenville treaty bound the Indians
to sell the land to no one but the United States, thereby rendering
any possible competitor ineligible, the moralist may consider the
transaction not quite up to his ethical standard. This treaty marks
an epoch in the history of Michigan, for it opened up to survey and
settlement the whole territory as far west as the site of Jackson,
and as far north as Saginaw river and bay.
From the year 1807 to 1812 there is not much to record in regard to the general growth or progress of the Territory of Michigan, and as far as the lands now contained within the limits of Lenawee county are concerned it may be said that they remained in
statu quo. Two things especially were keeping back the settlement of the territory. First, Michigan was bordered along its entire eastern boundary by Upper Canada, a British province, and
liable at any moment to become hostile territory, exposing the
whole frontier to invasion by the Indian allies of Great Britain, as
well as by British troops, and the war-cloud had been gathering,
more and more portentious, since the opening years of the century.
The other cause was the constantly increasing prospect of a new
attempt by a confederation of Indians drawn together and led by
the Shawanese twins, Tecumseh and his Prophet-brother, Elsquatawa. Tecumseh was an orator of great ability and eloquence, and
as a warrior he was noted for his intrepid boldness, undoubted personal courage, and his skill as a strategist. The village of Tecumseh, in Lenawee county, is named in his honor, and to this fact can
doubtless be attributed the erroneous idea that Tecumseh, the warrior, was born on Michigan soil. His birth-place was near the




HISTORICAL


a  5I


present site of the city of Springfield, Ohio. In writing of him the
late Hon. Francis A. Dewey falls into the common error concerning his birth, but otherwise pays him a truthful and deserved tribute, as follows: "In my brief outline I do not wish to omit a few
words as a passing notice of the renowned chief, Tecumseh. He
was born, and over forty years of his life were spent, in the forests
of Michigan. His wigwam was on the banks of the River Raisin.
Historians say he possessed a noble figure, and his countenance
was strikingly expressive of magnanimity, also was distinguished
for moral traits far above his race; a warrior in the broadest Indian
sense of the word. He disdained the personal adornments of silver
brooches, which the tribes so much delighted to wear. In the war
of i812 he joined in the British service, and had in his command
over a thousand Indians belonging in Michigan. In General Proctor's division of the Canada soldiers, Tecumseh held the rank of
brigadier-general in the British service. He still adhered to his
Indian dress, a deerskin coat with leggings of the same material,
being his constant garb. In this he was found dead at the battle
of the Thames, October 5, 18I3."
The battle of the Thames here referred to practically ended
the second war with Great Britain so far as operations in the vicinity of southern Michigan were concerned, and it broke up, once
for all, the northwestern Indian confederation, and gave peace to
the region of which the future Lenawee county was a part. But
another obstacle to immigration nfow arose, which for a number
of years thereafter retarded the settlement of the territory. On
May 6, i8I2, there had been approved an Act of Congress "to provide for designating, surveying, and granting military bounty
lands," for the benefit of soldiers who should enlist in the war then
about to commence. This act provided for the survey of 6,ooo,ooo
acres of military bounty lands, of which 2,000,000 acres were to be
located and surveyed in the Territory of Louisiana; 2,000,000 acres
in the Territory of Illinois, and 2,000,000 acres in the Territory of
Michigan. The act itself described the lands to be surveyed as
"lands fit for cultivation." By a subsequent act of Congress, approved April 29, i8i6, entitled "An Act to authorize the survey of
2,000,000 of acres of public lands in lieu of that quantity heretofore
authorized to be surveyed in the Territory of Michigan as Military
Bounty Lands," that part of the act of May 6, I8I2, which provided for the survey of 2,000,000 acres of said lands in the Territory
of Michigan was repealed, and the survey of 1,500,000 additional
acres authorized in the Territory of Illinois, and 500,000 acres




52    I


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


thereof in the Territory of Missouri. In this latter act, no reason
is given for the change in location, but it was based upon an official
report of the surveyor-general of the state of Ohio, Edward Tiffin,
who had been entrusted by the commissioner of the general land
office with the making of an examination of the military bounty
lands in the Territory of Michigan. The report is dated at Chillicothe, Ohio, which was then the capital of the state, November 30,
1815, and begins thus:
"Description of the military land in Michigan. The country
on the Indian boundary from the mouth of the great Au Glaize
river, and running thence for about fifty miles, is (with some few
exceptions) low, wet land, with a very thick growth of underbrush,
intermixed with very bad marshes, but generally heavily timbered
with beech, cottonwood, oak, etc., thence continuing north and extending from the Indian boundary eastward the number and extent
of swamps increases, with the addition of numbers of lakes from
twenty chains to two and three miles across." After much more
labored and depressing description, he says: "It is with the utmost difficulty that a place can be found over which horses can be
conveyed." He concludes this remarkable report as follows: "Taking the country altogether so far as it has been explored, and to
all appearances, together with the information received in reward to the balance, it is so bad there would not be more than
one acre out of one hundred, if there would be more than one out
of one thousand, that would in any case admit of cultivation." As
all the military lands were to be "fit for cultivation," of course
there was nothing for Congress to do but to repeal the act authorizing the location of a part of the lands in the Territory of Michigan,
and to re-locate them in the high, dry, and salubrious regions of
Missouri. This curious and long-forgotten incident will bring a
smile, perhaps of incredulity, to the faces of thousands of people,
should it ever meet their eyes, now dwelling on the magnificent
farms in Lenawee county, and they will wonder whether the Ohio
surveyor-general ever saw Michigan at all, and whether he did not
get lost in the swamps of the great Auglaize or the Maumee. But
the report of the surveyor-general had gone to the general land
office, and thence it had gone to Congress, where it became officially known that "not one acre in one hundred, if there would be more
then one out of one thousand" of the land in Michigan was fit for
cultivation, insomuch that it was made the basis for the repeal of
the act for the location of the bounty lands. The fame of the
"great dismal swamp" of Michigan went abroad and it soon turned




HISTORICAL


53


aside the tide of immigration, which passed by her doors to other
less desirable localities.
In I818, the Indian title having been extinguished over a large
part of the Peninsula, and there being some indications of a tendency of immigration thereto, the first land office in the territory
was opened at Detroit. This was an epoch, for now, for the first
time, settlers could acquire lands outside the old French and British
grants along the Detroit river. Another advantageous fact was
that many thousands of soldiers-regulars, volunteers, and militia
-a great many from Ohio and Kentucky, and others from Pennsylvania, and even from far-away Virginia, had come with Hull and
with Harrison, had looked upon the majestic Detroit with its beautiful islands, had noted the farms stretched along the Michigan
shore, with their fruitful orchards and white-paled gardens, and had
seen the beautiful Raisin with its vine-clad banks, and other streams
gliding down from the deep-wooded interior, hinting of possible
water-falls and sites for flouring and saw-mills, and eligible locations for villages and towns. They had gone back with the report
that Michigan was not one boundless morass, across which it would
be impossible to "convey" a horse, and of which not one acre in
a hundred would be "fit for cultivation."
On the admission of Michigan to the federal union, the public
domain was classified as Congress Lands, so called because they are
sold to purchasers by the immediate officers of the general government, conformably to such laws as are or may be, from time to
time, enacted by Congress. They are all regularly surveyed into
townships of six miles square each, under authority and at the expense of the national government. The townships are again subdivided into sections of one mile square, each containing 640 acres,
by lines running parallel with the township and range lines. In
addition to these divisions, the sections are again subdivided into
four equal parts, called the northeast quarter-section, southeast
quarter-section, etc. And again, by a law of Congress which went
into effect in July, 1820, these quarter-sections are also divided by
a north and south line into two equal parts, called the east half
quarter-section and west half quarter-section, containing eighty
acres each. It was not until after the war of 1812-I5, and the conquest of the Indian territory north of Wayne's treaty line, that surveys were ordered in the territory of southeastern Michigan. The
township lines of Lenawee county were run by Benjamin Hough,
Alexander Holmes, Joseph Fletcher, Joseph Wampler, and John
Mullett, in the years I815, I8i6, I819, 1820, and 1824, principally




54


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


in the years I815, i8i6, and I8I9. The first surveying was done by
Alexander Holmes, who ran the township lines of township five
south, range five east (Macon), and township six south, range five
east, which in the main is the present township of Ridgeway. At
about the same time Benjamin Hough surveyed the township lines
of Medina, Hudson, Rome, Rollin, Woodstock, and Cambridge.
The last surveying was done by Andrew Porter in I837, when he
connected the original government survey with the state line at the
time of the settlement of the "boundary dispute." For the purpose
of surveying these and other lands in this vicinity of Michigan a
base line was run on or near the parallel of forty-two degrees and
thirty minutes north latitude. A principal north-and-south line,
known as the principal meridian, was run at right angles, of course,
with the base line, and extending throughout the entire length of
the lower peninsula. This meridian line is also the boundary between Lenawee and Hillsdale counties. The ranges in Lenawee
county were numbered east from the principal meridian, and the
towns were numbered south from the base. Lenawee county, as
has been stated, was included in the reservation known as "Congress lands," and it might be added that the land within its limits
were sold by the Federal government at the statutory price of $I.25
per acre. Early provisions were made for the support of free schools,
and Congress reserved one-thirty-sixth part of all lands lying
northwest of the Ohio river for their maintenance, the lands in
Michigan thus becoming the nucleus of the present magnificent
school fund of the state.
We will not return and take up events incidental to the formation, organization and development of Lenawee county. After the
formation of the Ohio state government in I803, Michigan remained
without any semblance of county government or organizations
until i815. The first laying out and naming, and defining the
boundaries of the county of Lenawee is to be found in a "Proclamation" of Governor Cass, dated Sept. o1, 1822, in which he altered
defined and established the boundaries of certain counties previously organized-that is to say, the county of Wayne, established
by an executive act of Nov. I, 1815; the county of Monroe, established by an executive act of July 14, 1817; the county of Macomb,
established by an executive act of Jan. 15, 1818; the county of Oakland, established by an executive act of Jan. 12, 1819; the county
of St. Clair, established by an executive act of March 28, I820; and
by which "Proclamation" he also laid out and defined the boundaries of the following named new counties: Lapeer, Sanilac, Sagi



HISTORICAL


55


naw, Shiawassee, Washtenaw, and Lenawee, and said six counties
were to be organized whenever the competent authority for the
time being should so determine; and until so organized they were
attached to counties then already organized, viz: the counties of
Lapeer, Sanilac, Saginaw and Shiawassee to the county of Oakland, the county of Washtenaw to the county of Wayne, and the
county of Lenawee to the county of Monroe. The boundaries of
Lenawee county were described therein as follows: "All the
country included within the following boundaries: beginning on the
principal meridian, where the line between the townships numbered
four and five, south of the base line, intersects the same; thence
south to the boundary line between the territory of Michigan and
the state of Ohio; thence with the same east to the line between
the fifth and sixth ranges east of the principal meridian; thence
north to the line between the townships numbered four and five,
south of the base line; thence west to the place of beginning, shall
form a county to be called the county of Lenawee." Thus it will
be seen that the county as then formed was in extent and according to boundaries the same as it is to-day, although it was fully
understood at that time that the southern boundary included the
"disputed strip" that later was given to Ohio by a legislative compromise in Congress. What is now Lenawee county was a part
of Wayne county from the organization of the latter in I815, until
July 14, I817, when it became a part of Monroe and so remained
until erected as an independent division as above described.
Although Lenawee county was created by the above mentioned
executive proclamation, it remained unorganized, so far as governmental functions were concerned, until Dec. 26, I826, when its organization was provided for by the provisions of "An Act to organize the county of Lenawee," as follows:
"Sec. I. Be it enacted by the Legislative Council of the Territory of Michigan: That the county of Lenawee shall be organized
from and after the taking effect of this act, and the inhabitants
thereof entitled to all the rights and privileges to which by law the
inhabitants of the other counties of the Territory are entitled.
"Sec. 2. That all the country within this Territory to which
the Indian title was extinguished at the treaty of Chicago, shall be
attached to and compose a part of the county of Lenawee."
The above second section became necessary in order to detach
the country th'ere spoken of from the county of Mpnroe, to which
it had previously been attached, but from which it would now be
separated by the county of Lenawee, and when Lenawee county




56


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


proper should become organized and be, itself detached from the
county of Monroe, it was necessary that this Indian country also
should be detached and become part of the new county of Lenawee.
By the above legislative enactment Lenawee county was organized
and took its place among the separate and distinct political divisions
of the future state of Michigan.
Of the Indian tribes inhabiting the Raisin valley when the first
definite knowledge of the country was acquired, the Pottawattamies
were the most prominent, while other tribes were represented in
fewer numbers. Later, still other tribes made their appearance,
but it was chiefly with the Pottawattamies that the pioneers of this
section had to deal. This tribe had possession at the time of the
final treaty, and it was with it that negotiations were made providing for the Indian exodus. The Indians were slow to join with the
tide of western emigration, however, and for many years afterward,
wandering bands would annually visit their old huntifig
grounds in Lenawee county, and their intercourse with the settlers
came to be regarded more as an occasion of pleasant remembrances
than of dread or danger. Some pleasant friendships were formed
between the pioneer families and the former owners of the land
which the paleface was tilling.




CHAPTER III.
SETTLEMENT AND ORGANIZATION.
The pioneer settlement of Lenawee county was commenced
less than two years before the county, as a seperate organization,
had an existence. The first settlement was made on May 21, I824,
on the present site of the village of Tecumseh. The primitive pioneers nearly all came from Jefferson county, New York, and consisted of fifteen men, four women and eleven children, as follows:
Musgrove Evans, wife and six children; Gen. Joseph W. Brown, wife
and five children; Ezra F. Blood, Peter Benson and wife, Simon
Sloate, Nathan Ratburn, Peter Lowe, James Young, George Spofford, Curtis Page, Levi Baxter, John Borland, Capt. Peter Ingals,
and John Fulsom. Turner Stetson and wife, who had come from
Boston, joined the party at Detroit. It is fair to say that Musgrove
Evans was the pathfinder of this bold adventure, for during the
previous year, 1823, he visited the locality during a preliminary exploration, and after covering a large portion of the region, decided
that this spot was the most desirable and beautiful of all he had
seen. It was he who interested Gen. J. W. Brown in the enterprise,
and through him enlisted the other members of the party. But
while it is true that Mr. Evans projected and succeeded in settling
his colony in the beautiful wilderness, he was never regarded as
the leader and mainstay by the settlers.  It was Gen. Brown
whom each relied upon.
Gen. Joseph W. Brown was born in Falls township, Bucks
county, Pennsylvania, Nov. 26, 1793, the youngest of a family of
eleven children. As a boy of six years he removed with his parents
to Jefferson county, New York, where he lived as a farmer until the
spring of 1824, when he sold his farm of three hundred acres and
emigrated to Michigan, arriving at the present site of Tecumseh
in May, with his wife and five children, and in company with Austin
E. Wing and Musgrove Evans purchased the land and founded




58


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


the village of Tecumseh, which place was ever afterward'his home.
The following incident, as related by the General himself, explains
his immigrating to Michigan. Austin E. Wing was at one time secretary for Gov. Cass, but in 1823, while a resident of Monroe, conceived the idea of becoming a Territorial delegate in Congress.
Musgrove Evans, who was a relative of both Wing and Brown by
marriage, came to Monroe in i823 to visit Wing and look after a
government surveying contract. Wing and Evans looked at the
land where Tecumseh now stands, and at once made up their minds
that if they could get a miller and a farmer to unite with them in
the enterprise, both of their objects might be accomplished. "For,"
said Wing, "if we go into farming and establish a mill and the settlers know that I am interested, they will vote to send me to Congress; and if I am elected, why, with the aid of Gen. Jacob Brown
(a brother of Gen. J. W. Brown, and who was then in Washington
at the head of the army) you can be appointed government surveyor." Then, says Evans, "let's go back to Jefferson county and interest Joseph W. Brown in the matter, for he is both miller and
farmer." This plan was at once decided upon, and Evans returned
to New York, bearing a letter from Wing to J. W. Brown. Mr.
Brown finally decided to accept the proposition, and a co-partnership afterward known as Wing, Evans & Brown was formed, and
the land was entered and the village founded as above described.
In the spring of i825 an election took place, the candidates for delegate to Congress being Wing, of Monroe, and Bidwell and Richards,
of Detroit. Lenawee county cast thirteen votes at Tecumseh,
all of which were for "A. E." Wing, which elected him, but Bidwell contested it on the ground that "A. E." Wing was not a legal
ballot, and claimed election. Wing then sent an agent to every
voter in Lenawee county, and each, on his oath, testified that he
voted for Austin E. Wing of Monroe. This finally settled the dispute and Wing was admitted to Congress. Evans was subsequently made a government surveyor and J. W. Brown was miller and
farmer at Tecumseh. He built the first grist and saw-mill in the
county, and established the first stage mail-route between Detroit
and Chicago, running the coaches through the woods before the
roads were laid out; he did the first farming and ground the first
wheat; he carried the first mail into the county from Monroe, and
he built the first frame house in the village of Tecumseh. In the
spring of i824 he ploughed the first furrow in Lenawee county, and
Ezra F. Blood, another of this party of pioneers, held the plow.
Gen. Brown was an active and useful man throughout his long ca



HISTORICAL


59


reer. In 1817, at the age of twenty-four, he was commissioned an
adjutant in the regular Cavalry by DeWitt Clinton, governor of New
York, and by the same authority was made a captain in a rifle company of the One Hundred and Eighth regiment of New York Infantry on April 24, I818, and lieutenant-colonel in the same regiment on March 27, I8I9. On Nov. 23, I826, he was appointed
chief justice of Lenawee county by Lewis Cass, governor of Michigan, and by the same authority was made colonel of the Eighth
regiment of Michigan militia on Nov. o1, 1829. He was also a member of the commission to locate the county seat of Hillsdale county,
to which position Governor Cass appointed him on Oct, 25, 1830.
Andrew Jackson, as president of the United States, appointed
him brigadier-general of the Third brigade on April 21, I83I. On
Jan. I8, 1832, Stevens T. Mason, governor of Michigan, appointed
him a member of the commission to locate the county seat of Berrien county, and on July 5, 1836, President Andrew Jackson appointed him register of the land office at Ionia, Mich. On March 13,
1839, he was appointed major-general of the Michigan militia, and
on April I6 of the same year Governor Mason appinted him brigadier-general of the Michigan state guards. Governor Mason also
honored him on July 12, 1839, by appointing him a member of the
board of regents of the Michigan University, and on May 12, 1840,
I. R. Pomset appointed him examiner of the cadets at West Point.
In 1848 Governor Shannon, of Ohio, appointed him associate
judge of Lucas county, Ohio, and on May 4, I858, at the age of
sixty-five years he was admitted to practice as an attorney-at-law
in Ohio. He died in Toledo, Ohio, Dec. 9, I880, and is buried in the
cemetery at Tecumseh.
Ezra F. Blood, one of these pioneers of 1824, was a soldier of
the war of I812, and was born in Deering, Hillsboro county, New
Hampshire, Oct. 28, 1798; he departed this life at his home in Tecumseh township, Feb. I8, I887. When twenty-one years of age
he left the old Granite State and took up his abode in Brownville,
Jeffersonville county, New York, where he engaged with Asa Whitney in a nail factory and remained five years. In the spring of 1824,
Mr. Blood, with a party of fourteen men, started from Jefferson
county, New York, to the territory of Michigan, a number of the
party being accompanied by their wives and children, and they
chartered a sailing vessel, the "Red Jacket," at Buffalo, for the
transportation of the party to Detroit.  There the women and
children were left with the goods, and the fifteen men (Turner
Stetson, of Boston, having joined them at Detroit) started on foot




60


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


for Lenawee county, arriving within the present limits of Tecumseh
township on May 21, and staying that night in a house upon the
land now occupied by the village. The party selected their claims
that same day, and the next morning, after eating up all their provisions, started for the town of Monroe to make their entries. Mr.
Blood took up a quarter-section about one and one-half miles southeast of the now flourishing village of Tecumseh, and there, for a
period of fifty years, made his abiding place, and by an honest and
upright course in life secured the esteem and confidence of the people around him. He was for many years before his decease the
oldest resident farmer of Lenawee county. He lived to see a rich
and fertile country develop from the wilderness, and lent a helping
hand to every enterprise calculated for the good of the community.
Soon after locating his land Mr. Blood put up a small log house,
and he kept bachelor's hall until the beginning of 1830, when, on
Jan. 12 of that year, he was united in marriage with Miss Alzina
Blackmar, a lady of excellent education and intelligence, who had
for some time been engaged in teaching at Tecumseh. She was the
first lady who ever taught a public school in Lenawee county, beginning her labors on June 2, 1829. The young people began life
together in the primitive dwelling erected by Mr. Blood, not far
from the banks of the River Basin, and they worked together in
their efforts to build up a homestead and provide for the wants of
their family. During those early days they suffered all the hardships and privations incident to the times, and had their share of
pleasure as well as their anxieties. While the woods were still
around their humble dwelling they were frequently obliged to
build a "smudge" under the table to drive away the mosquitoes.
They practiced economy in connection with their church-going,
walking to meeting bare-foot to save their shoes and stockings,
and halting when in sight of the temple of worship to put them
on before going in. Mr. Blood assisted in the erection of every
public building and every highway bridge in Tecumseh township,
and there were few matters of importance in which his views were
not consulted.
A number of these fifteen men who visited Lenawee county
in 1824 did not at that time become permanent settlers, and among
these was Hon. Levi Baxter, Jr. This gentleman was born at
East Windsor, Conn., Oct. 5, 1778, removed with his father's family
while a child to Delhi, Delaware county, New York, and again,
in 1803, to Sidney Plains, in the same county. After his first visit
to Michigan he returned to his Empire State home and was en



HISTORICAL


6i


gaged in farming, lumbering, and merchandising until 1831, when
he removed with his family to Tecumseh, arriving there on July
4. There, in connection with his partners, Selleck C. Boughton
and Gen. Joseph W. Brown, he built the first flouring mill of any
size west of Monroe, in the then Territory of Michigan. During
his residence at Tecumseh he was appointed chief justice for the
county of Lenawee, and thus obtained his familiar title of 'Judge."
In 1834, he, with Cook Sisson, built the flouring mill at White
Pigeon, Mich., also in connection with Henry L. Hewitt, the flouring mill at Jonesville, and removed to White Pigeon in 1835, and
during the making of extensive repairs on his mill at Jon,.ville
in 1840, he received an injury from a stick of timber falling upon
and crushing one of his limbs, from which he never fully recovered.
He removed from White Pigeon to Jonesville in 1848, and there
he continued to reside until the time of his death, in 1862. Mr.
Baxter was prominently connected with the Whig party until the
organization.of the Free-Soil party in 1848, was made its candidate for state senator and, being endorsed also by the 5Whigs, was
triumphantly elected; was regarded as a ready debater, and was in
reality one of the leaders in the senate. Mr. Baxter was widely
known as a man of large discernment, great energy and resolution,
and of excellent judgment, in his opinions always decided, and in
carrying out his project bold and unyielding, and by these qualities he attained that social, political, industrial and religious influence, which he possessed to an unusual degree.
The second settlement made in the county was by Hervey
Bliss and family. On June 19, 1824, this gentlemen entered land
on the present site of the village of Blissfield, and moved his family
on the land in December of that year. Mr. Bliss was born at
Royals'ton, Mass., in I779. In 1814, with his brother Sylvanus, he
moved to the then far west and settled in Huron county, Ohio.
In the spring of I8I6 he moved to Monroe, then a hamlet of four
families, and a year later, with several other families, settled on
government land, thirteen miles up the River Raisin, where, in
I8I9, with the other families, they were driven from their houses
by the Indians, who claimed the land, and which land was subsequently set apart as the "Macon Reserve." He then removed to
Rainsville, three miles below, and resided there until the year 1824,
when he removed some twenty miles up the river, cutting his way
through heavy timber from Petersburg (which was the nearest
place from whence supplies could be had), and purchased and settled on government land now occupied by the village of Blissfield,
of which he was the founder, and which was named in his honor.




62


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


He was ruling elder in the Presbyterian church, which he joined
in i829. In 1827 he was commissioned by Governor Cass as
justice of the peace, which office, with that of township clerk and
postmaster, he held at the date of his decease, December, I84I.
The second entry of land in the township of Blissfield was
made by Gideon West, June 28, 1824, on section 29. Mr. West
moved there with his family in 1825. These were followed in
1825 by Geo. Giles, Almond Harrison, and Samuel Buck, who all
entered land.
George Giles was born in Cayuga county, New York, I789.
At an early age he went to Canada and lived on the River Thames,
where he carried on a farm. He lived there at the time of the war
1812 and was imprisoned by the British government because he
refused to take up arms and fight against the United States. Soon
after the close of the war he made his escape from Canada and setled in Monroe county, Michigan. He took up a farm in that county,
ten miles above Monroe, on the Raisin river, and there he made a
large improvement. He lived on this farm until the spring of 1826,
when he removed his family to Blissfield, arriving there on April
17. He cut a road through the woods and swamps from Petersburg, Monroe county, to Blissfield, a distance of at least fifteen
miles. He took up the east fractional part of section 31. The same
year he put in ten acres of crops among the stumps and logs, and the
second year he put in thirty acres of crops. In I834 he built a house
26x36, three stories high, out of oak and whitewood timber. This
was the first hotel built in the village, and it was known for years
as the "Giles House." Mr. Giles made the first brick in that part
of the county, and Noah Norton and Isaac French, of Adrian, both
purchased brick of him in I832. During the year 1834-5 he cut a
road through the Cottonwood swamp to the head of Ottawa lake,
a distance of about six miles, and cleared it out and made it passable for teams, in dry weather, and he was instrumental in getting
a state appropriation to build a log causeway through the swamp.
He improved the fording place across the river, at Blissfield, and
kept a canoe to transfer beds, bedding, provisions, etc., across the
river for the immigrants. He was one of the most active men in the
village and did more to improve and build up the place than any
other man of his time. He furnished Mr. Armstrong, the first
Presbyterian minister to locate there, a house and one acre of
ground, and he kept his horse for over a year. The "Giles House"
was known from New York to Chicago as one of the best places
on the route to stop at. On the morning of May 22, 1841, Mr. Giles




HISTORICAL


63


was stricken with paralysis while plowing in a field, between four
and five o'clock, and died the following day. His wife, Mrs. Margaret Giles, was born in Pennsylvania in I793, and died in Blissfield
on Oct. 14, i864. She was one of the most useful, kind-hearted,
and intelligent women who ever settled in a new country. She
was a good cook, a good nurse, and was the only doctor in Blissfield fourteen years. No woman was ever better or more favorably
known throughout a whole region of country than she. She answered calls from Adrain to Petersburg, day or night, and always
went on horseback. Mrs. Giles' name was a household word in
the east half of the county.
Early in the fall of 1825, Addison J. Comstock, accompanied
by his father, Darius Comstock, started from their home in Lockport, N. Y., for the territory of Michigan. Upon arriving in Detroit
they found Walter Whipple, who was on his way back East. Mr.
Whipple had been on an exploring tour and had taken up land.
He and the Comstocks were old acquaintances in the state of
New York, and Mr. Whipple informed his friends of the fine lands
and opportunities south of Tecumseh, where he had purchased.
The Comstocks took the "Tecumseh trail," and on Sept. 7, 1825,
Addison J. Comstock purchased from the government 640 acres of
land, on which the greater portion of the city of Adrian now stands.
Mr. Comstock was then a "single" man. Immediately returning
East, he was married the following February, and that spring, i826,
started for his future home in Michigan. Thus the third settlement
of pioneers in Lenawee county was begun.
Hon. Darius Comstock was born in Cumberland, R. I., July
12, 1768. At an early day he went with his parents to Massachusetts, and he resided in that state until about the year 1790,
when he emigrated to the state of New York and settled in Farmington, Ontario county, which was then "way out West among
the Indians." There the Comstock family must have resided
about thirty years, or until about i820, when we find several members of it at Lockport, largely engaged in land speculations and
laying out village lots. There Darius Comstock had a large contract of excavating the rocks and building a portion of the Erie
Canal, which he completed, and on Oct. 26, i825, the great thoroughfare, which was commenced near the village of Rome on
July 4, 1817, was finished and opened for navigation from the Hudson river to the waters of Lake Erie. That same year Mr. Comstock and his son Addison J. came to Michigan, where he purchased of the government a tract of land in the then town of Logan




64


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


(now Raisin) which he christened "Pleasant Valley." In the
spring of I826 he moved with his family to Michigan and settled
on the land he had purchased the year previous. In the year I827
he was elected the first supervisor of the then town of Logan, and
in the year 1835 he was chosen one of the eight delegates from the
county  of Lenawee to frame the     first state  constitution
of Michigan.   He was afterward for one or more terms
chosen supervisor of the township of Raisin after that town
was organized. His old home afterward constituted part of the
buildings of the Raisin Valley Seminary. Mr. Comstock was born
a birthright Quaker and until his death lived a member of the
Society of Friends. He was for many years a very prominent man in
that society. When the Adrian Quaker meeting-house was built,
near the town line between Adrian and Raisin townships, he subscribed and paid one-half of the expense which the building was
estimated to cost. When the sum estimated was found inadequate
he subscribed an additional amount sufficient to complete the house.
With all the early history of Michigan, and especially that of
Lenawee county, Mr. Comstock was closely identified.  He was
always prominent in the early settlement and development of the
county. At an early time, when the strife between Adrian and
Tecumseh was going on, over the question of the removal of the
county seat, he gave his immense influence with others in favor
of Adrian, thereby securing the location of the seat of justice there
after several years of contention, legislation, and hard work. Darius Comstock died at his homestead in Raisin, June 2, 1845.
Hon. Addison J. Comstock, son of Darius, was born in Palmyra, Wayne county, New York, Oct. 17, I802. He received a good
business education, and about the year I820 he moved with his
parents to Lockport, Niagara county, and for several. years spent
his time in his father's office. In the fall of 1825, in company with
his father, he came to the Territory of Michigan and purchased of
the government 640 acres of land in Lenawee county, in what was
then called Logan, now Adrian. On part of that purchase, as before
stated, the city of Adrian now stands. Mr. Comstock then returned
to the state of New York, but the following year again came to Lenawee county and proceeded to establish a home in the then wilderness. With his bride of a few months he first stopped with his
father, who had in the meantime located at what was then known,
or been christened by the old gentlemen, "Pleasant Valley," now
called Raisin Valley, on the grounds where the Raisin Valley school
or seminary was afterward established. He immediately com





ADDIISON J. COMISTOCK








HISTORICAL


65


menced building a saw mill on his new purchase, in Logan, now
Adrian, on grounds just below where the Citizen's Light and Power
Company's building is now located, and the mill was in running
order in November following. The same year he erected a log
house, which was the first house built in the present city limits.
The house was built for his hired man, John Gifford, and was situated directly in front of the St. Charles Hotel, about the center of
Maumee street, which was located some time later. This house was
occupied first by Mr. Gifford and his family on Aug. IO, 1826, and
a few days later, on Aug. 15, Mr. Comstock with his young wife
occupied their new house, situated in a beautiful oak grove on the
bank of the River Raisin, on the same grounds now owned and occupied by the Toledo & Western Electric Railway as a terminal station, on the south side of Maumee street. On March 31, I828, Mr.
Comstock laid out and platted the village of Adrian, and the same
was recorded in the register's office on Tuesday, April I, of the same
year. On May 28 Mr. Comstock was chosen town clerk of Logan
at the first election held in the town. At the celebration of the
Fourth of July in 1828, the first one observed in Adrian, he read
the Declaration of Independence to all the people of the neighborhood, consisting of nearly or about forty persons, young and old.
In the year I829 he was appointed the first postmaster at Adrian,
and his first quarter's receipts was nineteen cents. He held this
office for several terms and at the same time held the office of town
clerk. In the year 1829, in company with his father-in-law, Isaac
Deane, he built the red grist mill which was for a long time a landmark in Adrian. Mr. Comstock was the leading spirit in the long
and bitter controversy on the removal of the county seat from
Tecumseh to Adrian, which lasted for several years, and finally was
decided, in 1835, in favor of Adrian. In 1832 he and his father
projected the Erie & Kalamazoo Railroad from Toledo to Adrian,
which road, after years of toil participated in by a few others, was
completed in I836 to Adrian, a distance of thirty-three miles,
through what was considered at that time an almost impassable
swamp, opening a market direct with Lake Erie and the East. Mr.
Comstock held the offices of secretary and treasurer during the time
of the construction of the road and for one year thereafter. In 1837
he represented Lenawee county in the Territorial legislature.
About this time immigration was rapidly pouring into the county
and Mr. Comstock, was most active in selling village property,
which he had further laid out, on the most favorable terms to all
who desired to locate in the embryo city. In all the enterprises
5-Iv




66


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


of building roads, bridges, and mills-and they were many-he
was the first to lead. In 1837 he started the Bank of Adrian, which
proved a bad investment, and in 1848 he was elected president of
the Adrian & Bean Creek Plank Road Company, which completed
a road to the Chicago turnpike the following year. In I850 he was
elected a member of the convention to revise the state constitution,
and in 1853 he was elected mayor of Adrian, being the first mayor
of the city elected by the people. About this year, in company with
others, he purchased the old suspended Erie & Kalamazoo Railroad
Bank charter of Gov. Washington Hunt, of New York, and revived that institution. Through questionable management on the
part of those connected with him the institution failed, leaving
the responsibility of meeting the liabilities mostly upon Mr. Comstock, and this nearly brought about his financial ruin. From that
time forward he almost wholly retired from the active business of
life, except to extricate himself from the dilemma which had thus
been so unjustly brought upon him by others, and he was in a fair
way of so doing when death came to his relief. He died suddenly
on Sunday, Jan. 20, 1867, at his home in Adrian, after attending
in the morning the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he had
been a prominent member for many years.
Walter Whipple, who, as before stated, was instrumental in
inducing the Comstocks to come to Lenawee county, was born
Feb. 28, I792, in Hinsdale, N. H. At an early age he began to
learn the shoemaker's and tanner's trade and served an appren-_
ticeship of about four years, thereafter following the trade at intervals for a number of years longer. In 1813 he embarked in
business at Warren, N. H., but he sold out in 1814 and went to
Boston, where he was present at the grand celebration over the
declaration of peace, in the spring of I8I5. He then engaged as
steward on board of a trading vessel and visited the West Indies.
He afterwards went to Otsego county, New York, and there entered Hartwick Academy to fit himself for a school teacher, and he
taught his first school in Sharon in I8I6. He then studied medicine
in Palmyra, with a Dr. McIntyre. About this time Jethro Wood
had patented an iron plow, and a company being formed for its
manufacture, Dr. Whipple became a stockholder and the "traveling man." He remained one of the company four years and then
sold out, coming to the Territory of Michigan in the fall of 1824
and taking up two tracts of land situated within the present limits
of Raisin township. He then returned to the state of New York,




HISTORICAL


67


but came back again the next summer, when he purchased land
situated near the present city limits, long known as the "Tabor
Farm," then supposing the village would be started there. In
the fall of 1825 he again returned East, and when in Detroit waiting for a steamer, he met Darius Comstock and his son, Addison
J., with whom he was well acquainted, as Addison J. had been
one of his pupils in Ontario county, New York. He told them to
come to Tecumseh before they purchased, and see Evans & Brown,
and he also told them of his purchase on the west branch of the
River Raisin. Mr. Whipple lived upon his land in Raisin until
1848, when he sold out and removed to Adrian, where he spent the
remainder of his life. In I854 he bought the city circulation of both
the papers, the Expositor and Watchtower, and he made daily deliveries for eleven years, with scarcely a mistake, it is said, in the
whole time.
After the coming of those already mentioned, and subsequent
to the year 1825, the lands became rapidly taken up and settled.
These early pioneers, the advance guard of a new civilization in
the wilderness, were the blood and brains of the Eastern states
and they formed the main composition of this growing territory.
Their fathers had educated their sons and daughters for the practical work of life; and these sons and daughters have, in turn, left
their impress upon the country by their determination, energy, perseverance, thrift, and their stern political integrity and loyalty to
government.
The Indians were disposed to be peaceful, observing their
promises recently spoken in the treaties made with them. No
trouble whatever was experienced with them, except when under
the excitement induced by the white man's "fire-water," and this
very satisfactory condition of peaceful associations continued unbroken until they bade a final adieu to the hunting grounds of their
fathers.
The growth and development of the country in this section of
the territory had, in the year 1826, become so marked that it was
deemed prudent that Lenawee county should be organized. Furthermore, the county of Monroe, to which it was attached, had
jurisdiction over a very large tract of territory, and in the more remote portions thereof, especially in the west, the convenience of the
people demanded the organization of the new county. In this locality then, as well as now, resided men of energy, integrity, and
determination, who not only felt the necessity of a new county organization, but who saw the great advantage to the country of such




68


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


a movement in case it could be carried out successfully. They not
only discussed the project, but gave such substantial assistance as
finally completed and consummated the work, and made the organization of the county of Lenawee not only possible but an established fact. As there has been no event of greater importance to
the county or its people than that which gave it an organized existence, it is deemed proper that the essential portions of the enactment which provided for the organization of the county should be
given. The act was approved, Dec. 22,'1826, and read as follows:
"Section i. Be it enacted by the Legislative Council of the Territory of Michigan: That the county of Lenawee shall be organized
from and after taking effect of this act, and the inhabitants thereof
entitled to all the rights and privileges to which by law the inhabitants of the other counties of the Territory are entitled.
"Section 2. That all the county within this Territory to which
the Indian title was extinguished at the treaty of Chicago, shall be
attached to and compose a part of the county of Lenawee."
The above second section became necessary in order to detach
the country there spoken of from the county of Monroe, to which
it had previously been attached, and from which it would now be
separated by the county of Lenawee; and Lenawee county proper
now being organized and itself detached from the county of Monroe, it was necessary that this Indian country also should be detached and become part of the new county.
The name "Lenawee" is said by some to have been taken from
a Shawnee word meaning "Indian," but Abel Whitney, a long-time
resident of the county, and who gave the subject study, advanced
the following theory, which seems a quite plausible one: "Lenawee
appears to be a compound of the words Lena and wee, the etymology of Lena being 'a sluggard,' as applied to man; to a stream,
small, slow, sluggish, shrunken; and wee, vile, wretched. Therefore, the small, slow, sluggish Raisin, or sluggard men who inhabited the region embraced within the limits of Lenawee county (the
Indians); the presumption is that the name was given this region
of country by the French from the above reasons, and adopted by
the Territorial Council, in giving name to the county."
The original territory of the county, as defined in the proclamation of Governor Cass, Sept. IO, I822, has never been changed,
and the first legislative act in regard to the county was an act approved June 30, i824, entitled, "An Act to establish the seat of justicte in the County of Lenawee." The same was as follows:
"Section. I. Be it enacted by the Governor and Legislative




HISTORICAL


69


Council of the Territory of Michigan: That the seat of justice in the
county of Lenawee be, and the same is hereby established on the
northwest quarter of section numbered thirty-four, in township five
south, range four east, in the said county of Lenawee, on land
owned by Messrs. Wing, Evans & Brown, agreeably to the plan
of a town or village, situated on the said northwest quarter-section,
and recorded in the register's office in the county of Monroe, the
twenty-sixth day of June, one thousand eight hundred and twentyfour."
In 1825 county officers, except judicial, had been made elective,
and so it may be fairly presumed that an election to fill the various
positions was held for the purpose of completing the organization
of the county. But the date of this election and the names of the
fortunate ones who were the first to don the official garments at
the behest of vox populi have been lost, or at least hidden from the
eyes of the historian. The burning of the court-house, in 1852, and
the destruction of the county records, make it impossible to give an
authentic history of the early transactions, and the curtain has
fallen upon events that doubtless would be of much value in a historical sense.
The establishment of courts of justice, however, and the installation of public officers were naturally the first work attending
the organization of Lenawee county. The seat of justice having
been located at Tecumseh, the first requisite in the embryo town
was buildings in which to hold court and house the county officials.
It of course will be readily inferred that the first county buildings
were simple and in keeping with their surroundings.
The increase in the population of the county and the distribution of the same soon made it necessary to divide the large territory into townships to better administer the matters of local government. In one of the sections of an act approved April 12, 1827,
entitled, "An Act to divide the several counties in this Territory
into townships and for other purposes," provision was made for
laying out and organizing the townships of Tecumseh, Logan,
Blissfield, and St. Joseph, but this part of that act never took effect,
being repealed and superseded by an amendatory act approved the
same date, and entitled, "An Act to amend an act entitled, 'An Act
to divide the several counties in this Territory into townships, and
for other purposes,'" establishing somewhat different boundaries
for the three townships in Lenawee county proper, from those first
proposed in the original act. The latter or amendatory act was as
follows:




70


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


"Section I. Be it enacted by the Legislative Council of the Territory of Michigan: That all that part of the county of Lenawee
south of the base line and east of the principal meridian, containing the surveyed townships numbered five, and the north half of the
townships numbered six, in ranges one, two, three, four, and five, be
a township by the name of Tecumseh, and that the first township
meeting be held at the house of Joseph W. Brown, in said township;
that the south half of the surveyed townships numbered six, in
ranges one, two, three, four, and five, and township numbered seven,
in one, two, and three, in said county, south of the base line and east
of the principal meridian, be a township by the name of Logan, and
that the first township meeting be held at the house of Darius Comstock, in said township; that the surveyed townships numbered
seven, in ranges four and five, and townships numbered eight and
nine, in ranges one, two, three, four, and five, in said county, south
of the base line and east of the principal meridian, be a township by
the name of Blissfield, and the first township meeting be held at
the house of Hervey Bliss, in said county; and that all that district
of country situated west of said county of Lenawee, and which is
attached to said county, and to which the Indian title was extinguished by the treaty of Chicago, be a township by the name of
St. Joseph, and that the first township meeting be held at the house
of Timothy S. Smith, in said township."
In order to show the final disposition of the country lying west
of Lenawee as far as relates to its forming a part of said county,
it may be sufficient to state here that by an act of the Legislative
Council, approved Oct. 29, I829, the same was laid off into the
counties of Hillsdale, Branch, St. Joseph, Cass, and Berrien, with
about the same boundaries which those counties still retain. The
county of Hillsdale remained attached to Lenawee county until
Feb. I, 1835, when an act was passed for its separate organization.
To return to the further organization of townships in Lenawee
county proper, the next one organized, after the first three in 1827,
was the township of Franklin, organized under the provisions of
an act entitled, "An Act to organize the township of Franklin," being as follows:
"Section I. Be it enacted by the Legislative Council of the Territory of Michigan: That all that part of the township of Tecumseh,
in the county of Lenawee, comprised in surveyed townships numbered five south, in range one, two, and three, east, be a township
by the name of Franklin; and the first township meeting shall be
holden at the dwelling house of Hiram Reynolds, in said township.




HISTORICAL


7I


"Section 2. That this act shall take effect and be in force on
and after the first Monday in April next."
By an act approved March 7, I834, entitled, "An Act to organize
certain townships," provision was made for the organization of five
new townships in Lenawee county, and for the alteration of the
boundaries of the township of Logan-section one of said act being
as follows:
"Section I. Be it enacted by the Legislative Council of the Territory of Michigan: That all that part of the county of Lenawee,
comprised in surveyed townships eight, nine, and fractional townships ten, south, in ranges one, two, and three, east, be a township
by the name of Fairfield, and the first township meeting be held at
the now dwelling house of John H. Carpenter, in said township; and
all that part comprised in surveyed townships seven south, in
ranges one, two, and three east, be a township by the name of
Lenawee, and the first township meeting be held at the schoolhouse one mile east of William Edmonds', in said township; and all
that part comprised in surveyed township six south, in range four
east,'be a township by the name of Raisin, and first township meeting to be held at the now dwelling house of Amos Hoag, in said
township; and all that part comprised in surveyed townships seven,
eight, and nine, and fractional township ten south, in range four
east, be a township by the name of Palmyra, and the first township
meeting to be held at the now dwelling house of Cassius G. Robinson, in said township; and all that part comprised in surveyed townships five and six south, in range five east, be a township by the
name of Macon, and the first township meeting to be held at the
now dwelling house of Henry Graves, in said township; and all
that part of the township of Tecumseh, comprised in township six
south, in ranges one, two, and three east, be attached to and constitute a part of the township of Logan."
The last Territorial law providing for the organization of townships in the county of Lenawee is contained in the first section of
an act entitled, "An Act organizing certain Townships," approved
March 17, 1835, as follows:
"Section I. Be it enacted by the Legislative Council of the Territory of Michigan: That all that part of the county of Lenawee,
comprised in surveyed town six south, range one east, be a township by the name of Rollin, and the first township meeting be held
at the now dwelling house of Joseph Beal, in said township; and all
that part of said county, comprised in surveyed township six south,
range two east, be a township by the name of Rome, and the first




72


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


township meeting be holden at the now dwelling house of John B.
Schureman, of said township."
After the passage of the act to enable the people of Michigan
to form a constitution and state government, which act was approved Jan. 26, I835, the Legislative Council seemed to almost abdicate their powers and leave all future legislation in respect to
Lewanee county, and all other portions of the territory intended to
be embraced in the new state, to the state legislature, when organized. And to complete the history of the organization of townships in Lenawee county, 'it will be sufficient to add here that the
state legislature of I835-36, by an act approved March 23, 1836, provided for organizing the townships of Woodstock, Cambridge,
Hudson, and Dover, with the same boundaries as at present, and
Seneca, including what is now Seneca and Medina; and also proposed a township to be called Channing, but which never became
organized, as almost the whole of it was included in the strip set
off to Ohio by Congress; and what was left of it was afterward
made part of the township of Ogden. In i837, provision was made
for the organization of the townships of Ogden and Medina, and in
I838 the name of the township of Logan was changed to Adrian,
and of Lenawee to Madison. In i84I, that part of the township of
Macon in town six south, and the south half of the southern tier of
sections in town five south, was formed into the township of Ridgeway. In i843, town eight and fractional town nine south, of range
five east, was organized as Pottsdam, but this was changed in i844
to Riga. In i867, out of the southeastern portion of Ridgeway and
some of the northeastern portion of Blissfield, there was carved out
the township of Deerfield; and in i869, the old six-mile-square
township of Tecumseh was divided into two, the north half being
formed into the township of Clinton, and the south half retaining
the name of Tecumseh.
The great obstacle to the progress of the Territory of Michigan during the decade from i820 to i830 was the want of roads into
the interior of the peninsula, and Lenawee county was seriously
affected by this handicap. The settlers were too few and too poor
to make roads for themselves, and the territory had no means for
making them; and so appeal was made to the general government
to assist, in the interest of the settlement of the country and the
sale of the public lands. As a result, in i826, the government made
provisions for the construction of several "territorial roads;" one
of which, from Detroit to Chicago, passed through the northern
part of Lenawee county, entering the county at Clinton. This road




HISTORICAL


73


had been commenced and was in process of building, when an act
was approved May 31, 1830, "making appropriations for examinations and surveys, and also for certain works of internal improvement." Among the items in this act we find one: For continuing
the road from Detroit to Chicago, $8,00o. An act of Congress, interesting in an historical sense and in showing the early spelling of
familiar names; is "An act to establish certain post roads and to
alter and to discontinue others," approved April 3, I832. "In Michigan territory. * * * from Detroit to Tecumsee, by way of
Ypsilanti, Sabine and Clinton. From Pontiac to Sagana; from
Ypsilanti to the mouth of the River St. Joseph, on the territorial
road, by way of Ann Arbor and Jacksonburg." On July 4, 1832,
an act was passed for a survey of a road from La Plaisance Bay
(mouth of River Raisin) to intersect the Chicago road, and this also
opened a highway into Lenawee county.
In January, 1833, provision was made for a new land office, the
new district to embrace the lands east of the principal meridian,
and ranges one, two, three, four, five, and six south. This included
Lenawee county, the office was located at Monroe, and the pressure
for better roads continued unabated. On March 2, 1833, there was
an appropriation, "For continuing road from Detroit toward Chicago, in the territory of Michigan, $8,ooo;" which probably means
that the money was to be expended in the Territory of Michigan.
Also this appropriation: "For paying the balance due the commissioners for surveying and marking the road from La Plaisance
Bay to intersect the road to Chicago, within the territory of Michigan, $608.76. For making the said road, $I5,ooo. On June 30, 1834,
the president approved "an act to aid in the construction of certain
roads in the Territory of Michigan," and among other things it
appropriated $Io,ooo for a road from Port Lawrence (Toledo) to
Adrian, and $Io,ooo for a road from Clinton, on the Chicago road,
through Jackson county to the rapids of the Grand.
The extent to which settlement was penetrating the interior
of Lenawee county and other portions of southern Michigan is
indicated not only by the building of these new roads, and the estabishment of post-routes, but also by the demand for the organization of new townships. The great Chicago road by Ypsilanti,
Saline, Tecumseh, Jonesville, Bronson, Sturgis, White Pigeon and
Niles was leading daily caravans of immigrants to all parts of the
surveyed portion of the future state of Michigan and Lenawee
county, by the superior natural inducements which she offered, was
receiving her share of the great influx of population. With the in



74


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


crease of immigration came the "land fever," which grew and increased with that it fed upon, until by the end of I835 it had become
a veritable mania. Miss Harriet Martineau, previous to writing her
"Society in America," traveled through Michigan from Detroit to
Chicago over "the Chicago road" in June, 1836, and at Detroit she
found it almost impossible to secure entertainment at the hotels,
on account of the crowd of land speculators. She describes the
roads, until they reached the oak openings and prairies of southwestern Michigan, as well-nigh impassable. When the Black
Hawk war was in progress a company of dragoons under Capt.
Charles Jackson, together with General Williams and staff, traveled
over this road from Detroit to Chicago.
In the act authorizing the election of delegates to a convention
to form the first state constitution, which assembled at Detroit on
the second Monday of May, I835, there were assigned to Lenawee
county eight delegates, the population of the county, according to
a census taken in September, 1834, being 7,91I, including the county
of Hillsdale. It is said of this first constitutional convention that
it was one of the ablest bodies of men ever assembled in Michigan.
The delegates from Lenawee county were the following: Ross
Wilkins, Selleck C. Boughton, John Hutchens, John J. Adam,
Joseph Howell, Joseph H. Patterson, Darius Comstock, and John
Whitney, but the seat of the last named was contested by Alexander
R. Tiffany, and after sitting with the august body five days Mr.
Whitney was declared not entitled to the position and Mr. Tiffany
was seated, participating in the subsequent deliberations.
Judge Ross Wilkins was born at Pittsburg, Pa., in February,
I799, and was the son of John Wilkins, who served in the wars of
the Revolution and 1812, and became a quartermaster-general in
the United States army. Judge Wilkins graduated at Dickinson
college, Pennsylvania, in I818, studied law, and was prosectuing
attorney at Pittsburg in 1820. He was appointed judge of Michigan territory by Jackson, and opened his court June 17, 1832. In
I836 he became United States district judge, and held that position
until December, 1869, when he resigned, never having been absent
a term in thirty-two years. He was a member of the constitutional
convention of I835, and of the two conventions of assent in 1836.
He died May 17, I872. He was an able judge. In politics he was a
Democrat, in religion a Methodist, but he died in the Catholic faith.
Selleck C. Boughton was born in West Stockbridge, Mass.,
June 30, I796. He followed farming and milling until 1822, when
he went to Pennsylvania and settled in Sidney, Delaware county,
on the Susquehanna river, engaging in the mercantile business.




HISTORICAL


75


He finally entered into a co-partnership with Levi Baxter, and in
I831 they came to Tecumseh and opened a store under the firm
name of Baxter & Boughton. They had a large stock of goods and
intended to go to Jackson when they left Pennsylvania, but the
runners at Detroit told them that Jackson was a very sickly place
and that Tecumseh was a very healthy point and a much more desirable one to go to. General Brown also happened to be in Detroit at the time, and he finally convinced them that Tecumseh was
just the place to locate in, and they finally decided that that place
instead of Jackson should be their destination. There were very
few buildings in Tecumseh then and they could find no place in
which to store their goods, but they finally unloaded them in a small
building on the hill on the east side of the river, in Brownville.
The fleas were so thick that boys who were employed to watch the
goods at night were driven out several times while on duty, and
the goods were finally moved across the road into a building later
known as the "General Brown House," which was then a hotel kept
by William Hoag, and where they opened their store. Baxter &
Boughton purchased of General Brown the old "Red Mill," the
first grist mill built in the county, and run it in connection with
their other business for several years. In 1835 they dissolved partnership, Baxter continuing the business.  Mr. Boughton then
formed a co-partnership with Stephen Fargo and went to Manchester, Washtenaw county, where they opened a store and built
a grist mill, but, after three years, Mr. Boughton disposed of his
interest to Mr. Fargo. He was postmaster of Tecumseh for several
years previous to 1840; he was for many years a justice of the
peace, and was a civil engineer, doing a large amount of surveying
for the settlers and land owners. He was also township assessor
for many years, and was one of the most prominent and reliable
men of the village and township of Tecumseh. -He died May 22,
1856.
John Hutchens was born Sept. 26, I792, in the town of Schuyler,
Herkimer county, New York, to which his father had recently removed from Berkshire county, Massachusetts. He had scarcely
finished his apprenticeship to a blacksmith when he volunteered to
go with a company of men from his native town to keep the British
out of Sackett's Harbor, and when discharged at that place, in November, 1812, he went to Spafford, Onondaga county, New York,
and established himself at his trade. In 1822 he settled in the village of Rushville, near Canandaigua, N. Y., still continuing to work
at blacksmithing, but in I825 he moved upon a farm in Orleans




76


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


county, and from Medina, in that county, he emigrated, in September, 1831, to Adrian. His log house that stood near where Mrs.
A. L. Millard now resides was the welcome home for relatives and
friends, who followed him from the state of New York; and it was
also the only meeting-house the Baptist church had until he fitted
up an upper room for the church near the corner of Maumee and
Broad streets, where the office of Dr. M. R. Mordern is now located,
and in this room was, kept the first select school in Adrian, and
probably in the county. Mr. Hutchens built for a few Presbyterians, led by Asahel Finch, what was presumably the first meetinghouse erected in the county, setting it away out yonder, among the
stumps on Church street. Upon the organization of the Erie &
Kalamazoo Railroad Company, in I834, Mr. Hutchens was selected
to begin the work, though he had never seen even as much pertaining to a railroad as a car link, and at that time Schenectady was the
nearest point at which a railroad could be viewed. It was long,
hard work, and Mr. Hutchens devoted himself to his duties with
untiring energy, and at last a passenger car- a large coach drawn
by two horses-came into Adrian a little before dark on Nov. Io,
I836. Mr. Hutchens lived in and near Adrian until I849, when he
moved to Norwalk, Ohio, to give the younger members of his
family the advantage of an academy, in which one of his sons was
teaching. In I852, he settled in the town of Sharon, Walworth
county, Wisconsin, and after a short illness died on Jan. 8, 1855.
He was a member of the convention to organize a state government,
and all the offices to which his fellow-citizens called him were discharged with fidelity and sound judgment. In company with A.
J. Comstock and others, he did efficient work in making Adrian the
county seat.
Dr. Joseph Howell was a native of the state of New York, and
was of English extraction. He moved with his family to Lenawee
county in 1831, and located upon a farm in the township of Macon,
where he settled and began the improvements of the farm, and at
the same time and for many years thereafter, practiced his profession among the people of that part of the county. As has been
stated he was one of the members representing Lenawee county
in the convention of 1835, which framed the first constitution of the
state of Michigan. He was born in I803 and lived to an advanced
age.
The admission of Michigan into the union of states stands alone
as regards its peculiar features, for it was accomplished without
enabling act or sanction of Congress first being obtained. The con



HISTORICAL


77


stitutional convention adjourned on June 24, after having made an
"appeal to the people of the United States," and the constitution
was adopted by the people at an election held in the following October. Secretary and acting governor, Stevens T. Mason, was
elected first governor under the new constitution and a full complement of state officers was provided for, and on Nov. 2, 1835, the
state legislature met and organized. It remained in session until
Nov. 14, and among its acts was the election of two United States
senators who in due time presented themselves at Washington to
assume their official duties. This brought the question of statehood
for Michigan before Congress and a long and at some times bitter
contest ensued. The southern boundary of the new state was the
bone of contention, and the final result in Congress was the passage
of an act of admission, establishing the present boundary, and providing for the admission of Michigan to the Union on an equal
footing with the original states, on the condition that Michigan
should by a convention of delegates elected for that express purpose, give her assent to the boundary as established by that bill.
In response to this act of Congress the legislature of the state met
at Detroit on July ii, I836, and on the twenty-fifth passed the act
calling the first "Convention of Assent" to meet at Ann Arbor on
Sept. 26. The members of this convention from Lenawee county
were Darius Comstock, Joseph Rickey, Ross Wilkins, and John
Hutchens. The convention by a decisive vote refused its assent
to the proposed conditional admission with the boundaries as established by Congress. The people of Michigan were heartily and
almost unanimously in favor of statehood, but they despised the
manner in which, as they thought, the state had been robbed of a
big piece of her territory on the south. But it was arranged by the
act of Congress providing for admission that the senators and representatives from the new state could take their seats only when
the assent to the boundary was given, and this having been refused
by the convention a peculiar dilemma presented itself. The governor declined to call another convention, but he intimated that a
convention, originating with the people, "in their primary capacity," might be regarded at Washington as sufficient. On Oct. 29,
I836, the Democrats of Wayne county held a convention and resolved in favor of a second "Convention of Assent." Washtenaw
county followed with a similar convention and similar action, and
thereupon a Democratic conference selected a "Committee of the
People," consisting of David C. McKinstry and John O'Donnell, of
Wayne; Ross Wilkins (who had been nominated for United States




78


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


District Judge), of Lenawee; and Charles W. VWhipple and Marshall J. Bacon, to call a second convention. They issued a call for a
convention of the people by delegates to meet at Ann Arbor, Dec.
14. The opponents of the movement regarded it as wholly illegal
and took part no part, so that as a rule only those favorable to assent
were chosen delegates. The convention met on Dec. 14, and adjourned on the following day, having by resolution assented to
the boundary as provided by Congress. This ended the long and
bitter fight, and as soon as the news could be conveyed to Washington, President Jackson issued his proclamation which made
Michigan a state of the American Union. The Lenawee county
delegates to this second "Convention of Assent" were John Hutchens, Jeremiah D. Thompson, Joseph Rickey, Addison J. Comstock,
Peter Morey, John J. Adam, Oliver Miller, and Darius C. Jackson.
Lenawee county does not appear to have had a representative
in the Legislative Council of the territory until the session of I830.
The county was attached to Monroe county, which was more
densely populated and naturally controlled in matters political.
But in the election of members for the Fourth Legislative Council
one of the three members to which Lenawee and Monroe were
jointly entitled was given to Lenawee, and Laurent Durocher was
the man selected for the position. At least he is so accredited in
the annals of the different sessions of the legislative council in
which he served. But a sketch of his career would seem to place
doubt upon the propriety of accrediting him to Lenawee county.
He was born at Genevieve Mission, Mo., in 1786. He received
a collegiate education at Montreal, Canada, and settled at Frenchtown, Mich., in 1805. - In the war of 1812 he served in the army
of General Hull, and after the surrender of Detroit rendered important services to the government. He was made county clerk
on the organization of Monroe county in I818, and held that office
many years. He was a member of all the territorial councils, except the first, serving from I826 to I835. He was also a member
of the first constitutional convention in 1835; state senator in 1835
and 1836; and representative in I839. He also held the offices of
justice of the peace, probate judge, circuit clerk, and clerk of the
city of Monroe, where he died Sept. 21, I86I. He was an accomplished gentleman and the great legal authority among the French
population on the River Raisin.
The immigration during the summers of the years from the
time of the first settlement in I824 until the close of the succeeding decade was largely peopled from the state of New York, while




HISTORICAL


79


Ohio, Pennsylvania, and other Eastern states furnished their full
quota. Many trekked overland, with their teams inspanned, with
wide-strap harness and broad-gauge wagons; some with a bell
cow, chickens, a dog, and usually a large family of children. While
their belongings were scanty, they had hearts of oak and muscles
used to toil; therefore the heavy timber land of the Raisin and Bean
Creek valleys and the higher land adjacent invited them to locate.
They built at first temporary homes of logs, chinked and daubed
with mortar, roofed with shakes, with a huge fireplace and a
chimney of wood on the outside of the house. Many of the early
homes had looms, spinning and quill wheels, where the industrious
mother, in addition to the house work and family cares, toiled on
until the midnight lhour, carding wool, spinning, weaving, dyeing,
and fabricating cloth for the family; also supplying the family with
the mother-knit stockings. The forest was dense, consisting of
maple, oak, elm, bass-wood, and cherry trees. Gradually the clearings grew larger and neighbors were closer by. Sugar-making was
an active spring industry, and the sale of maple sugar was an important item in "bridging" over till the marketing of winter wheat
and the annual sale of swine. Nature did much to help during those
hard times. Deer roamed in the forest, grouse drummed on the
branches, and quails came near the log barns; crab apples, thornapples, wild plums, cherries, and gooseberries were in abundance
and supplied the luxuries, while the animals roaming in the forest
helped to keep the family in necessities. The forest also afforded
much luxury in supplying hickory nuts, walnuts, and butternuts.
A rifle usually hung over the door, and in many families a violin
supplied music. The dancers often made merry all night, in the
crowded one-room house, and when the country became more settled the bowery dance was the favorite amusement on all public
occasions. In the winter time the people were often snow-bound,
and during the long evenings the families assembled around the
fire-places, where the back-logs were blazing, and before them
were the pictured coals.
Speaking of the county in its entirety, it may be said that the
early settlers were Americans, but no matter where they came
from, mutual desires'and interests made them all akin, and by a
silent process of "benevolent assimilation" they were converted into
a Lenawee county family. Among them there existed very little
distinction in worldly circumstances and modes of life-the disparity in conditions that we now observe having been developed
gradually with the country, and emphasized by the frowns and




80


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


smiles of that giddy dame, Fortune. It was neither the indolent
nor the opulent, as a general fact, who sought homes in this region,
for none but industrious men of moderate means would care to endure the preliminary privations and encounter the dangers that
they knew would attend them while building homes in the almost
unbroken wilderness. They came to better their conditions in life;
to become land-owners instead of tenants; to rid themselves of a
species of landlordism which prevailed in the Eastern states, and
to emancipate themselves from a condition of semi-vassalage which
threatened a doom of servitude for themselves and children.
As showing the growth and the standing of the several townships in the county at the time of taking the first state census in
October, 1837, the following statistics are taken from a table prepared by the late John J. Adam from the results of that census.
showing the population, the number of saw mills, of grist mills, of
merchants, etc., in each township, thus indicating the relative
progress up to that time of the several portions of the county in
population and business. It will be remembered that Ridgeway
was then, and until 1841, included in the township of Macon; Riga
(first called Pottsdam) was still a part of Blissfield; and Deerfield,
when organized as a separate township in 1867, was formed, in
part, from Blissfield, and in part from Ridgeway; and Clinton, then
and until 1869, was part of the township of Tecumseh. Blissfield,
organized in 1827, had a population of 559, and contained two saw
mills, one grist mill, and three merchants; Logan (now Adrian),
organized in 1827, had a population of 1,962, and contained six
saw mills, three grist mills, and twenty-eight merchants; Tecumseh, organized in 1827, had a population of 2,462, and contained
seven saw mills, three- grist mills, and twenty-four merchants;
Franklin, organized in 1833, had a population of 989, and supported
two saw mills; Fairfield, organized in 1834, had a population of 203;
Macon, organized in 1834, had a population of 1,111ii, and supported
one grist mill and four merchants; Madison, organized in 1834, had
a population of I,15i, and supported three saw mills and two merchants; Palmyra, organized in 1834, had a population of 898, and
contained two saw mills, one grist mill and two merchants; Raisin,
organized in 1834, had a population of 1,076; Rollin, organized in
1835, had a population of 508, and contained two saw mills, one
grist mill, and two merchants; Rome, organized in 1835, had a
population of 826; Woodstock, organized in 1836, had a population
of 541, and contained one grist mill; Cambridge, organized in 1836,
had a population of 523, and contained three saw mills, one grist




HISTORICAL


mill, and one merchant; Dover, organized in 1836, had a population of 680; Hudson, organized in I836, had a population of 333, and
contained two saw mills, one grist mill, and one merchant; Seneca,
organized in I836, had a population of 43I, and was supplied with
one merchant; Medina, organized in I837, had a population of 420,
and contained three saw mills, two grist mills, and three merchants;
and Ogden, organized in 1837, had a population of I98. In the village of Adrian at that time there were a cabinet factory, a pottery,
a tannery, and an iron foundry; in Tecumseh there were two carding machines, one cloth dressing shop, and a distillery; and there
was an iron foundry at Clinton.
Thus far specific mention has been made of only the first three
settlements in Lenawee county, and the pioneer incidents of other
portions have been reserved for another chapter. Before proceeding, however, it will be well to give some account of the man who
has the distinction of being the first to claim a home within the
county limits. We are indebted to a historical sketch written by
John J. Adam for the following account of Musgrove Evans:
"By consulting a history of Jefferson county, New York, the
county from which Musgrove Evans, J. W. Brown, and so many
others of the first settlers of Lenawee county came, I find that Musgrove Evans had been employed in 1811, or earlier, as a surveyor,
by a Mr. LeRay, a French nobleman, who owned a large tract of
land in Jefferson county; and that in I818 Mr. Evans was also acting as land agent for Mons. LeRay, and was the means of bringing
on quite a number of Quaker families from Philadelphia or vicinity.
He also acted as one of three commissioners, appointed by the legislature of New York, under an act authorizing "James LeRay de
Chaumont to build a turnpike from Cape Vincent to Perch river,
at or near where the State road crosses the same, in the town of
Brownville." He was also acting as postmaster at Chaumont, in
Jefferson county, in 1823, when he came to Michigan with a view
to engage in the survey of the public lands then being made in the
Territory, or to look out a location, where to found a settlement.
At Detroit or Monroe, he met Austin E. Wing, then a resident of
the latter place, and who was connected with Mr. Evans and the
Brown family by marriage, and was advised by him as to where
he could find the best water power in southern Michigan. This led
him to explore the country along the upper waters of the River
Raisin, and to select lands embracing the mill sites now occupied
by the Brownville and the Globe Mills at Tecumseh. After this
selection he and Mr. Wing found the necessity of looking around
6-iv




82              MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY
for some active, out-door business manager to embark with them
in the enterprise of building up a village, and erecting saw mills
and grist mills, and making other improvements needed for the accommodation of a new settlement in the wilderness. They finally
pitched upon their relative and friend, Joseph W. Brown, if they
could induce him to go in with them. And certainly no better
pioneer for such a purpose could well have been found. After going
through the hardships and privations necessarily attendant on such
an enterprise, he has long survived both his partners-Mr. Wing
having died at Cleveland, Ohio, in August, I869; and Mr. Evans,
after the death of his wife, at Tecumseh, went to Texas, where he
soon caught a fever which carried him off. His two sons, both
seeming to be imbued with the spirit of adventure of their father,
had previously gone to the Republic of Texas, and were both killed
at the battle of the Alamo, bravely fighting for the liberty and independence of their adopted country."




CHAPTER IV.
OTHER SETTLEMENTS AND INCIDENTS.
Before proceeding to note some incidents concerning the early
settlement of other parts of the county, it will perhaps be well, at
the risk of repetition, to mention some facts connected with the
three settlements described in the previous chapter. And in the
beginning of this chapter we wish to acknowledge our indebtedness for the information it contains to the writings of John J.
Adam and James J. Hogaboam, the latter of whom, in a little
volume entitled "The Bean Creek Valley," has placed in enduring
form a great deal that is of interest concerning the early settlement of Lenawee county. The first settlement of the present
township of Raisin was in the west or main part and was included
in the settlement of Darius Comstock and his associate Friends.
The eastern part of the town did not begin to be settled until
I830. In the spring of that year Robert Boyd and some three or
four others, started from Tecumseh, with General Brown as a
guide, to explore that part of the town; and Mr. Boyd soon afterward located the land on section Io, which was his home for many
years, and another young man of the party took up some land
adjoining him. The nearest settlement to them on the south was
at the village of Blissfield, distance about ten or twelve miles,
through heavily timbered land. In 1831 quite a tide of immigration
set in to this part of the township, mostly families of the Congregational or Presbyterian persuasions, being thus distinguished
from the older or west part of town, which was mainly settled by
the members of the Society of Friends.
Robert Boyd was born in Dungal, County Antrim, Ireland,
October 20, I8o6. His father was a linen weaver, and carried on
a farm in Dungal until I818, when he came to America with his
family, consisting of his wife and five children, Robert being the
oldest. He settled in Livingston county, New York, and purchased a farm in the town of Groveland, where he died about the




84


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


year 1820. Robert Boyd was reared a farmer, and after the death
of his father, when he was fourteen years old, he, with his younger
brother, James, carried on the farm for nearly ten years. In the
fall of 1828 Robert went to Ireland and remained until the following summer, when he returned, and in the spring of 1830 he came
to Michigan, arriving in Tecumseh about the first of May in company with Fulton Jack. Boyd located 320 acres of land on section
Io, in Raisin, and not only lived to see a better country, but he was
instrumental in making it what it is. He participated in all movements, enterprises, and endeavors, to bring about the present high
state of moral and religious civilization, and he assisted largely in
proving to the world that Lenawee county is one of the most productive and beautiful counties in the United States. Mr. Boyd
cleared off about I50 acres of land, erected a good frame house,
with large barns, sheds, etc., and resided there until 1879, when he
moved into the village of Tecumseh.
On May 3, 1824, William Kedzie, of Delhi, N. Y., purchased
of the United States government a tract of land in the township of
Blissfield, but he did not settle on it until October, I826. Mr.
Kedzie was born in Roxboro, Scotland, where he lived until the
age of fourteen, when he immigrated to America with his brothers
and sisters, landing in New York. He went to Washington
county, New York, and settled in Salem, but soon afterward
moved to Stamford, Delaware county, about the year I8Io. He
resided there about ten years, when he removed to Delhi, in the
same county, and purchased a second farm, where he resided for
six years, clearing up about Ioo acres of land in the meantime. In
the spring of 1824, as stated above, he came to Michigan and purchased 304 acres of land in what was then a part of the township
of Blissfield, now Deerfield, it being the first land entered in the
township. He then returned to Delhi and remained there until
the spring of 1826, when he sold his farm and emigrated to Michigan territory. He took passage on a canal boat at Utica and came
to Buffalo, where he remained four days waiting for a steamboat
-the old "Superior"-which was the only one at that time running between Buffalo and Detroit. At Detroit he transferred his
goods to the steamer "Chippewa," which brought his family to
Monroe, landing there May 13, 1826. There he rented some land
and stayed until the fall of that year, when he moved upon his
farm in Blissfield into a new and unfinished log house, without
doors or windows. During the winter of 1826-7 he let a job to
Benjamin and Nathan Tibbets of chopping thirty acres, a portion




HISTORICAL


85


of which was cleared and planted to corn and potatoes in the
spring of 1827. On August 5, 1828, Mr. Kedzie died, which was
the first death and burial in the township.
For the first two or three years the early settlers of Blissfield
township had to go to Monroe to market, to mill, to post-office,
for blacksmithing, and for a doctor. It is related that in the
spring of 1825 Mr. Bliss lost one of his oxen, and had no means to
buy another, but his new neighbor, a Mr. Harrison, being about to
return to Massachusetts for his wife, loaned him a pair of young
steers. With these he managed to log and drag a small field for
spring crops. He had to go to Monroe to mill, but had no team he
could drive on 'the road. He drove his remaining ox to the township of Raisin, yoked him with a borrowed ox, hitched the pair to
a borrowed cart, returned to his residence, took in sixteen bushels
of corn, and drove to Monroe. The grist ground, the whole distance had to be again traveled over in reverse order, and to get
that grist ground it cost him eight days' time and I40 miles' travel.
He found this milling so expensive that he burned a hollow in the
top of a stump, of sufficient size to contain a half bushel of grain,
and with a pestle attached to a spring hole, he pounded his corn
for bread until he was enabled to procure another team.
With the opening of the spring of 1825 busy scenes recurred,
and before autumn large accessions had been made to the population of Lenawee county. In that year the people of the Tecumseh settlement were principally engaged in making sure the progress of the preceding eventful year, in preparing dwellings for
those on the ground and those arriving, and in clearing off ground
for cultivation. Mr. Brown built a frame building and opened it
as a public house, the first and then the only public house west of
the village of Monroe. Jesse Osborn, in the fall of that year,
sowed the first wheat in Lenawee county, on the ground a little
north of the place where Judge Stacy long resided, and James
Knoggs built and opened a store.
In the spring of 1826 Wing, Evans & Brown built a grist mill
at Tecumseh, the settlers having agreed to pay $200 toward the
cost of its erection. Turner Stetson was the builder. The dam
was ready built, the building and water-wheel easily constructed,
but it was extremely difficult to provide the mill-stones. A pair
of French burr stones would cost a large sum at the East, and
then it would have been difficult, not to say impossible, to transport them over Michigan mud, through Michigan forests, to the
metropolis of Lenawee county. It has been said that "necessity is




86r


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


the mother of invention  and these pioneer mill builders were not
to be discouraged by difficulties. A granite rock was found lying
on the ground about two miles from the mill building. It had
been broken into two pieces by the falling of a tree across it. The
services of Sylvester Blackmar, a practical miller, were called
into requisition and the pieces prepared, the larger for the upper
and the smaller for the nether mill-stone, and with them for several years the grain of Lenawee county and surrounding country
was ground. The mill was twenty feet wide and twenty-five feet
long, two and one-half stories high-the first story thirteen feet
high, the second eight feet in the clear, and from the top of the
upper floor to the top of the plate, four feet-the first story built
separate from the upper and of timber twelve inches square,
braced in the strongest manner. Each story was of four bents
and the whole building was boarded with inch boards, over which
the sides and ends were clapboarded, and the roof was shingled
with oak shingles. The whole of the timber used in the erection
of the mill and flume was sound oak. The foundation was dug
deep enough to receive the mill, which rested on three mud-sills.
As will be seen the mill was on a small scale, but with regard to
milling, as well as other matters, it was the day of small things,
but adapted to the wants of an infant settlement, and toward
which almost every one in the community gladly contributed.
After the erection of other and larger mills it was known as the
"old pocket mill." The second grist mill of the county was the
red mill of Comstock & Dean, at the village of Adrian, built in
I829.
The mill at Tecumseh was completed in the early summer of
i826. The people had determined to celebrate Independence day
that year and great preparation was made for the first Fourth of
July celebration in Lenawee county. The mill was ready for
business, the wheat sowed by Jesse Osborn the fall before had
ripened, been harvested and threshed, and on this auspicious
Fourth of July morning Jesse Osborn carried some wheat to the
mill, Sylvester Blackmar ground it into flour, and Mrs. Brown
made the cake and biscuit for the celebration of that day.
That the county had settled rapidly since the advent of its
first family, in I824, may be seen by the following extract from a
letter, written by Mr. Brown, uinder date of January I4, i827:
"The Legislative Council have organized three new counties this
winter, and in none of them was there a white inhabitant in the
year i823, and in ours not till June, i824. This is the youngest and
smallest of the three, and we have more than 6oo inhabitants."




HISTORICAL


87


The surveyed towns nearest to the villages of Adrian and
Tecumseh were naturally the first to attract immigration and to
become settled. The town now called Madison, and of which a
portion near the northeast corner was included in the village and
is now a part of the city of Adrian, began to be settled in 1827,
Nelson and Curran Bradish being the first settlers. Nelson built
the first log house, and his wife was the first white woman to settle
in the township. Their son, Myron, born in April, I830, was the
first white child born in the town. Calvin Bradish built the first
saw-mill.
Nelson Bradish was a native of Wayne county, New York,
and was born in I803. Upon coming to Lenawee county he took
up a quarter section of land in Madison township, and in 1828 put
up a log house on section I6. After establishing himself and his
young wife comfortably, he proceeded with the cultivation of the
land, and remained there until the spring of I860, when he retired
from active labor and repaired to a snug home near the outskirts of
Adrian, where he spent his declining years. He died there on May
6, I875.
One of the first settlers in the township of Macon, and who is
said to have entered the first land in the town, was John Pennington, who moved there from the township of Raisin in I83I, but
Peter Sones is said to have made the first actual settlement and
improvement.
John Pennington was born in Stafford, Monmouth county,
New Jersey, August 25, 1778, and there he lived until he was
twenty years old, when he went to Monroe county, New York,
where he was a pioneer. He purchased wild land there, improved
it and lived upon it until he sold out and came -to Michigan. He
was a brother-in-law of Darius Comstock, and in 1828 he came to
Michigan and located land in Raisin, near the land entered by the
latter. When Mr. Pennington brought his family hither in the following year, he came from Detroit by the way of Ypsilanti and
Saline, and while passing through the present town of Macon he
was very much pleased with the appearance of the country and the
land in certain portions. So after getting his family settled in
Raisin he came back along the "trail," as it was then called, and
took up I60 acres on sections 5 and 8, this being the first land
located in the township, and Mr. Pennington was then the first
and only settler between Tecunseh and Saline, a distance of about
twelve miles. In September a part of his family moved into a
shanty he erected, and during that winter he chopped off twenty



88


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


three acres. In the following spring, 1830, he plowed and planted
a portion of it, this being the first ground plowed and the first
crops planted in the township. In I830 he took up I60 acres of
land adjoining his first purchase, and he afterward took up I6o
acres more. Mr. Pennington died in Macon, March 26, I86o.
Among the most prominent of the early settlers of Macon
were Israel Pennington, who was the first postmaster, and Dr.
Joseph Howell, who built the first frame house in the township.
Israel Pennington was born in Perinton, Monroe county, New
York, November 17, I808, and was the oldest child in the family of
John Pennington, who has been heretofore mentioned. He came
to Michigan with his parents in I829, and resided in Macon during
the remainder of his life. In 1830 he located 240 acres of land in
the present township of Dover, but he soon afterward sold this
claim, which was said to be the first land taken up in that township. Mr. Pennington was always an active man and performed
his full share of hard labor in developing and subduing the township of Macon from a wilderness. He held the plow to break up
the first piece of land plowed in the township, which event took
place in the spring of I830. In r832 he returned to his old home in
Monroe county, New York, taking passage at Detroit on the
steamboat "Washington." In the fall of 1835 he again went East,
and during that winter made a tour of all the large eastern cities.
Early in the spring of 1836 he spent some time in Washington and
daily visited both houses of Congress. There he saw Henry Clay,
Daniel Webster, John Quincy Adams, John C. Calhoun, James K.
Polk, President Andrew Jackson, and all the great and noted men
of those days. He also visited Mount Vernon. During his residence in Macon he greatly assisted early settlers in examining,
locating, and exploring the country, making extended trips into
Clinton, Ionia and Ingham counties. In 1837 he was appointed
the first postmaster at Macon, and held the office twenty-five years.
In 1848 he was a delegate to the first Free Soil convention held at
Adrian, and also a delegate to the first Republican convention,
held at Tecumseh, at the organization of the party in this county,
in I854. He was a delegate to the Republican state convention in
1878, which nominated Governor and state officers, and in I880 he
was a delegate to the state convention which nominated state officers. He was ever a staunch temperance man, and was a member
of the first temperance society organized in the county in the winter of I829-30. He started the first nursery in the county, and
during a period of forty years sold large numbers of fruit trees.




HISTORICAL


89


For many years he was an active worker in the county agricultural society, and was a director of the same for nearly fifteen
years. In I879 he was a delegate to the American Pomological
convention at Rochester, N. Y., being appointed by the Michigan
Pomological society, and he was present during the entire meeting.
Jonathan Hall may be considered as one of the first settlers
of the town of Ridgeway, as he commenced to clear up a farm in
the spring of 1828. Mr. Hall was born in Lyme, New London
county, Connecticut, April 7, I80o. He was brought up a farmer
and received a common school education. He lived at home until
he was about twenty-five, and in the fall of I826 went to North
Carolina, and during that winter he taught school near Wilmington. In the spring of I827 he came to Michigan to "look land,"
but went back east as far as Huron county, Ohio, where he taught
school during the winter. In the spring of 1828 he returned to
Connecticut, got some money fiom his father, and came back to
Michigan the same fall. He located 240 acres of land in Lenawee
county, the same being the east half of the west quarter and the
west half of the northeast quarter of section 6, and the west half
of the northwest quarter of section 5, all in Ridgeway-a part of
the village of Ridgeway standing on this property. He cleared off
and cultivated 130 acres of the land himself, until he had a fine
and highly productive farm, with a large brick house, good barns,
etc. In 1830 he returned to Connecticut on foot, being about two
weeks making the trip. It was in the month of March that he
made the journey, going from Tecumseh to Detroit, and then
through Canada to Niagara Falls, where he crossed and went on
to Troy. His greatest concern during the trip was a package of
$500 in money which he was carrying to Troy for Judge Blanchard, of Tecumseh; but he delivered it safely. At one place in
Canada the ice was thin, the water was over his boots, and he
pulled them off and waded the water and ice barefoot for fifty or
sixty rods. A few years afterward he made the same trip again on
foot, but this time he went through Ohio to Buffalo.
The townships of Woodstock, Rollin, Hudson, Medina and
Seneca are frequently referred to as the "Bean Creek Country,"
because they are drained by Bean creek and its tributaries, and the
bginning of the year 1833 found all this part of the county an unbroken wilderness. Nine years had elapsed since the first settlement was made within the county limits, and although considerable encroachments had been made on the dense forests, yet
comparatively but little had been done. From Tecumseh, as a




go


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


center, settlers had made their way through the township of
Franklin and some settlements had been made in Cambridge. But
the principal part of the settlers were in the region of country
between the two principal points, Tecumseh and Adrian. From
Adrian settlers had ventured as far west in Dover as Robert and
Bart White's, who lived on either side of the road where the
Raisin crosses the line between sections 2 and ii. Settlers had
occupied the most eligible lots in Madison, and commenced on the
two northerly tiers of sections in Fairfield, but the southern part
of Dover, the townships of Seneca, Medina, Hudson and Rollin
were yet untouched by the pioneer hand, and but one or two families had settled in Woodstock. The governnent military road had
been surveyed in I825 and built in the succeeding years, probably
before 1830, but for years it was but little better than a quagmire.
The road followed the old Indian trail along the highest lands, but
a single belt six rods in width, through interminable forests, afforded the sun but little opportunity to dry the soil, and it required
but little travel to make the newly plowed road almost impassable.
In i832 the general government surveyed another military road,
from La Plaisance Bay to the Chicago road, uniting with the
latter in the township of Cambridge. This road was not finished
until 1835, but its completion afforded a valuable route to the
westward bound emigrant. In i828 the Legislative Council appointed commissioners to lay out a territorial road "from Port
Lawrence (Toledo) in the county of Monroe, running in the most
direct and eligible route through Blissfield and Logan, and also
through the village of Adrian, to intersect the Chicago road on the
most direct and eligible route." This road was surveyed soon
afterward to pass through the townships of Rome and Woodstock,
just touching the corner of Rollin, but the westerly portion of it
was not completed until i835. This road passed to the northeastward of Devil's Lake.
Thus matters stood in 1833. The valley of the Raisin had
been sparsely settled, while beyond to the westward, half of Lenawee was an interminable forest. On June 4, i83I, Ira Alma, of
Seneca county, New York, had entered the west half of the northwest quarter of section 20 in the township of Rollin, and on May
io, i832, Addison J. Comstock entered the east half of the northeast quarter of section 32, in the same township, but nothing was
done toward effecting a settlement in either of those years. Hiram
Kidder settled in "the valley" in i83I, and early in the year i833
visited the Bean Creek country, on February 6th entering the




HISTORICAL


91


southwest quarter and west half of the southeast quarter of section 6 and the northwest fractional quarter of section 7, town. 7
south, range I east, now the township of Hudson. This land he
entered in the names of Daniel Hudson, Nathan B. Kidder and
WVilliam Young, all of Ontario county, New York.
About the first day of April, 1833 Joseph Beal and his son
William, equipped for a land hunt, departed from the village of
Adrian, and taking a southwesterly course, reached Bean creek in
the vicinity where Morenci now stands. They then proceeded up
the creek until they reached the bend in the southerly part of town
7 south (Hudson), and then taking their bearings by the aid of a
pocket compass, they proceeded through the wilderness on a
straight line as near as possible for Devil's Lake, the headwaters
of the Bean. They came out on the banks of Round 'Lake. After
considerable explorations thereabouts they returned to Adrian
through town 6 south, range 2' east (Rome). Several other exploring parties visited the region of the lakes during that month, and
the result of such explorations was that on May I David Steer entered seven or eight lots, and on May 3 William Beal and Erastus
Aldrich entered their land, all in the township of Rollin as now
constituted. During the early part of May the Hon. Orson Green
visited Devil's Lake and slept under the blue vault of heaven on the
land he afterward entered. At that time there were no inhabitants
save Indians in all this country from the Chicago road to and into
the states of Ohio and Indiana.
On June I6, Hiram Kidder entered the east half of'the southeast quarter, and the west half of the north part of the northwest
fractional quarter of section 8, town 7 south, range I east (Hudson),
in the name of his brother, Nathan B. Kidder, and on July 27 he
entered the west half of the northeast quarter of section 7, same
town, in the name of Hudson, Kidder and Young.
On June I, 1833, Stephen Lapham bought land on section 4, in
town 6 south, I east (Rollin), and immediately built a shanty and
moved a man into it. The man's name was Levi Thompson, and to
him must be accorded the fame of being the first settler in the valley of the Bean. Erastus Aldrich settled on section 9 in August,
and in the month of October Joseph Beal and his son Porter settled
on sections 15 and Io.
Porter Beal was born in Perinton, Monroe county, New York,
April 6, I8o9. His father, Joseph Beal, son of Seth Beal, was born
in Cummington, Mass., April 15, 1778, and resided there until he
was seventeen. In the year 1795 he went to Macedon, Wayne




92


IMEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


county, New York, where his brother, Bernard, then lived and
owned a farm. He lived with his brother until he was twentyone, and assisted him in clearing up a new farm. About the year
I8oo he purchased a new farm in Perinton, which farm he cleared
up and resided upon until he came to Michigan in the spring of
1830. He came to this county because his oldest son, William,
had settled in Adrian township. In 1833 Joseph Beal located
forty acres on section 15, in Rollin, and ever afterward resided
in the township. He died in Rollin on January 22, I877. Porter
came to Michigan with his parents in 1830, and arrived in Adrian
on June I. In 1833 he located land on section Io, in Rollin, and
made a home there. He afterward removed to section 15, in the
same town, and there erected a very large brick house upon the
land his father first located. He served the township as supervisor
during the years 1861-2. For many years he was a member of the
Rollin Methodist Episcopal church, and was very active and energetic in the erection of the fine brick church at Rollin Center. He
gave liberally towards its construction and was trustee for years
after its completion. He devoted considerable time and attention
to fruit culture and was one of the most successful growers in the
county, during one season marketing I,ooo bushels of peaches.
In politics he was always liberal, having first voted for James G.
Birney, but on the organization of the Republican party he
adopted its principles. During the later years of his life he was
an ardent Prohibitionist, and in I880 was a candidate for Commissioner of the State Land Office on the Prohibition ticket.
Samuel Gregg, then of Adrian, piloted a party of mill men
into the Bean Creek country in search of water power. They left
Adrian on July 4, 1833, going by the way of Mudge's Corners
and Samuel Jordan's, the latter place being near the south bend of
the Raisin, which was on the "very verge of civilization in that
direction." They followed an old Indian trail until they reached
the creek on what is now the site of the village of Canandaigua.
It was dark when they arrived and they passed the night in an old
Indian wigwam. In the morning they took their bearings and
found they were at the southeast corner of section I, town 8
south, range I east. They resumed their journey and followed
Bean creek to a little stream just below where the village of Morenci now stands, since called Silver creek. They did not find
water power to suit and returned to Adrian. Gregg was so
pleased with the country that he wrote a glowing description of
it to his brother-in-law, William Cavender. The latter visited




HISTORICAL


93


Michigan in August of that year and selected lands on section 6
in town 8 south, range 2 east, and on section i, town 8 south,
range i east, comprising the site of the village of Canandaigua
and lands adjoining. The land was entered at the land office on
September 2d, the Seneca lands in his own name, the Medina
land in the name of Samuel lordan. But the latter tract was
afterward deeded to Cavender, according, no doubt, to an agreement entered into at the time the land was taken up.
On August I4, i833, Hiram Kidder took with him from the
Valley George Lester and Henry C. Western, proceeded with
them to his Bean creek purchase, and rolled up the body of a
log house and put a roof on it, This, the first log house within
the limits of Hudson, was twenty-five feet square, and in the fall
it was finished off in the height of style, with chinked and
mudded cracks, stick chimney and puncheon floor. But these
finishing touches were not put upon this mansion in the wilderness until after the house was occupied. In October Mr. Kidder
moved his family from the Valley to their new home, arriving on
the evening of Tuesday, the 29th. The family consisted of Mr.
and Mrs. Kidder, their five children, and two men who assisted
them in moving. The house was yet unfinished, as it had no
floors, doors or windows. To the eastward it was twelve miles
to the nearest abode of civilized man. Near the shores of Devil's
Lake there was a solitary cabin, and there were a few houses
along the Chicago road from fifteen to twenty miles distant, but
all to the westward and southward was one vast wilderness.
On November 9, i833, Francis H. Hagaman and Gershom
Bennett purchased of the United States lands on section 31, in
Dover, and section 6, in Seneca, and the same months erected a
log house near the northwest corner of the township of Seneca.
Samuel Gregg, desirous of opening a road to his brother-in-law's
new purchase, induced the highway commissioners of the township of Blissfield to lay out the angling road leading northeasterly
from Canandaigua. The surveying party went to Cavender's purchase in the month of November to commence the survey of the
road. They found Hagaman and Bennett there, having arrived
the day previous and commenced building a house. The surveying party encamped on the ground that night. The next morning
there were several inches of snow on the ground and the survey
was postponed for a while, but it was executed and the road established during the winter of I833 and '34.
The Kidder settlement was the nucleus not only of the future




94


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


city of Hudson, but of the region known as the Bean Creek Valley
as well. Hiram Kidder, the chief moving spirit in this settlement,
had previously, in I83I, been a settler in the township of Raisin,
and he helped to pioneer the first settlers to the western part of
the county. Winter had fairly settled down soon after the completion of the house which served as a home for a considerable
family and a haven of refuge for wandering land-lookers during
a period of several months. The house is said to have accommodated at one time twenty-six persons, by their sleeping on the
floor in two rows. Mrs. C. R. Beach, a daughter of Mr. Kidder,
wrote in later years of the scenes of that winter as follows:
'The excitement of this first winter was an ever-changing
drama; the land-lookers, the wolf-trappers, and deer-hunters. I
remember a manner of sleeping in those days that would hardly
do in these modern times. It was a sort of general bed that covered the entire floor of the house. I have seen Mrs. Kidder
picking her way over the heads and toes of this pavement of
sleeping men, women and children, early in the morning, to get
things started for breakfast that she might be able to supply the
demands of all for breakfast. And every night brought a new
set of lodgers.
"An adventurer (one of the kid-gloved kind), dressed in
broadcloth, with beaver hat and calf boots, anxious to become a
land speculator, started on foot from Adrian to the Bean Creek
country. In. the evening one of the children reported to Mrs.
Kidder that something white out in the bushes kept flopping its
wings. Observing it for a moment, the object left the brush and
came to the door. Mrs. Kidder was much surprised to find it a
man. Our would-be speculator had been thrown down so many
times by his long-toed boots that, fearing his fine clothes would
be spoiled, he had changed his habit by putting his white cottonflannel underclothes on over hit broadcloth, and thus became the
white fowl that flopped its wings to the terror of the children.
"Mr. Kidder was awakened one night by the squealing of
some hogs in an enclosure near by. A bear had entered the enclosure, killed one hog, and, seating himself on the carcass, proceeded to hold the other hog in fond embrace until it, too, was
dead. One night Mr. Kidder was absent, having gone out that
morning with some land-lookers. Mrs. Kidder put the children in
bed and laid down too, hoping at least to get a little rest. She
thought of wolves, bears and Indians, until she fell asleep. Soon
afterward she was awakened by a noise like the gnawing and




HISTORICAL


95


crunching of bones. She arose in terror to see which of her
darlings had become a prey to the beasts. She went quickly to
the fireplace, and taking a fire brand, turned toward the door.
She found a horse in the doorway; the blanket which had served
as a door now served as a head-dress for the horse. The horse
was neither in the house nor out of doors. There was no floor
on that side of the house, and as he rested across the log that
served as a door-sill his feet could not reach the ground. He
could neither advance nor retreat. In this dilemma he had seized
a tin pan and was biting it, which made the peculiar noise that
had alarmed Mrs. Kidder."
The following description of Mrs. Kidder, then a young wife
and mother, as she appeared amidst the scenes of the October
evening when she first gazed on a sunset from her pioneer cabin
door, is quoted from a paper prepared by Mrs. C. R. Beach, and
from which the foregoing extracts are taken. It is a daughter's
fond recollection of her mother's early loveliness, but it will be
none the less interesting on that account: "A log cabin on the
brow of a hill; at its base a little stream whose ripple could be
heard at its summit. It was sunset. From the aperture left for a
doorway the view is obstructed by dense forests. Before us, on
the right hand, on the left hand, all around us on every side, were
deep, dark forests. The departing sun gilded for a while the
beautiful canopy of brown, crimson and yellow leaves, and then
the shades of night drew on and all were wrapped in impenetrable globm. At this moment another home, with its vacant places
beside the cheerful fireside, the school and college days, with wellremembered classmates, all came back on memory's wings to add
intensely to homesick feelings, which, despite strong endeavor,
came over the spirit of that young wife and mother as, standing
there with head uncovered but wreathed in golden curls, she
views her future home. Those golden locks are silvered now;
those strong arms are palsied by the lapse of years; but her heart
seems as young and blithe as ever."
The following story is told as illustrative of Mrs. Kidder's
kindness of heart: "She had one child-a daughter-in delicate
health. One day a party of twenty-six persons arrived at her
house. They had been lost in the woods and were very hungry. The
last provisions had been cooked, Mr. Kidder had gone for a supply, and it was hoped these would last the family until his return.
It took several days to go to market then, and the day of return
was by no means certain; but Mrs. Kidder could not resist the




96


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


appeals of hungry fellow-beings. Her entire store was placed
before the hungry crowd. Still they were not satisfied, and one
woman bemoaned her fate in bitter terms. Soon one of the boys
came in and said: 'Mamma, is there not something Maria can
eat?' 'No,' said Mrs. Kidder. Soon he came again. 'Ain't there
some potatoes that Maria can have? Was not some dropped
around the hole whence they were taken?' 'No, my son, there are
none.' Soon after, Maria fainted. 'Why! how long is it since
that child has had anything to eat?' asked the lady who was
making such a fuss. 'None since morning,' said Mrs. Kidder.
'God bless the child!' went up the chorus from twenty-six voices.
'Why!' said the lady, I have just had something to eat, and I am
repining while the child is starving.' Just then the signal gun
announced the arrival of Mr. Kidder on the hill, east of the
creek, and summoning aid to descend the dangerous declivity. It
was ten o'clock when the wagon reached the door that night, but
supper had to be prepared for the family and the guests before
sleep was thought of."
Besides the exciting scenes incident to land explorations, it
became necessary for the settlers to become acquainted with their
Indian neighbors. The Indians here were the Pottawattamies
who had been crowded by the settlement of the eastern portion of
the state into this then unbroken forest. The principal Indian trail
extended from Detroit to Chicago, nearly where the Chicago road
was located. A trail left this in the northeastern part of the
county and led off, through the townships of Dover and Medina,
to Defiance. Another left the main trail near Silver Lake, skirted
Devil's Lake, passed near the Kidder settlement, to Squawfield
in the present limits of Hillsdale county. Another connected the
Indian villages; and still another, leaving the main trail at Jonesville, Hillsdale county, passed through Squawfield, Medina and
Morenci, and terminated at the rapids of the Maumee. These
were the Indian thoroughfares, and into them came and from
them went many lesser trails, all as well known to an Indian as
our.roads are to the present denizens of the land.
In March, I834, Reuben Davis located the middle sub-division
of the southwest fractional quarter of section I8, town 7 south,
range I east (Hudson) and commenced building a log house. That
lot of land now forms a part of the city of Hudson, it being that
portion lying north of Main street and between Church and High
streets. The house he commenced stood in the vicinity of Market street, between Main street and the Lake Shore railroad. In




S            fit                           9 a"rsam ~   ~-...,t


OLD STAGE HOUSE, CLINTON








HISTORICAL


97


the month of May Beriah H. Lane and his brother, Erastus, came
to the Bean Creek country. Beriah selected the first sub-division
of the northwest fractional quarter of section 19. Upon going to
the land office he found it had already been entered by Harvey
Cobb. He returned to the Bean Creek and selected the west and
middle sub-divisions of the southwest fractional quarter of section
I9, which he afterward entered. Almost immediately afterward
he traded the south part of the tract to Reuben Davis for his land,
and sold the north half to Sylvester Kenyon. The land he bought
of Davis had a log house partly finished and about one and a half
acres chopped. Mr. Lane also purchased of Jesse Kimball the
south half of the west sub-division of the southwest fractional
quarter of section I8, or that part of the city of Hudson north of
Main street and west of Church street.
Beriah H. Lane was born in I800, in Enfield, Hampshire
county, Massachusetts, and was reared in his native town, where
he learned the trade of a carpenter and joiner. This trade he pursued until the spring of 1834, when he came to this county and
entered a tract of land from the government, the same being
located one mile south of the present city of Hudson. He soon
exchanged I60 acres of it for eighty acres now included in the
city, lying north of Main street. After erecting a sawmill, the
first in the vicinity, he returned to Massachusetts for his family,
coming back with his wife and two children in the fall of the same
year. On their way they staid for a short time at Elyria, Ohio,
and from there journeyed to Hudson with an ox-team, and upon
their arrival at once took possession of the log cabin-the only
dwelling where the city of Hudson now stands-and commenced
clearing the land. The father ol Hudson, as Beriah H. Lane may
be justly termed, witnessed during his half century's residence
here its development from a wilderness, with his rude log house
as a nucleus, to a thriving city of 3,000 inhabitants. In this wondrous change he took a prominent part, always aiding financially
or otherwise anything that would add to its advancement. The
first election in Hudson was held in his house, and at that time he
was elected justice of the peace. When a postoffice was established here it was named Lanesville in his honor, and he was
appointed postmaster, an office which he held a number of years.
He died at Hudson in November, I887.
The settlement of Francis H. Hagaman and Gershom Bennett
in the northwest corner of town 8 south, 2 east (Seneca), in No

7-Iv




98


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


vember, I833, has already been noticed; also the purchase by
Cavender of several parcels of land in the fall of the same year.
Besides these, Ebenezer S. Caipenter, John F. Packard, Archibald Brown, and Levi Sherman entered land in 1833; but aside
from these purchases the township was government property in
the beginning of I834. On February I, I834, Roswell J. Hayward
purchased of the United States land on section 13, and settled on
it immediately afterward. Mr. Hayward had first come to Michigan in 1831, locating in Livingston county, where, in 1832, he enlisted in the Black Hawk war. After the "war" he returned to
New York and reported so favorably of Michigan that others were
induced to come to the territory with him. Jacob Baker entered
land on section 30, on March Io, and soon afterward came with his
family and commenced a settlement. Horace Garlick and Arnold
H. Coomer accompanied Mr. Baker to the wilderness. They proceeded at once to build a log house. Coomer had the bark to peel
for the roof, and he pressed the Indians into service to assist
him. The house was the usual log cabin of the early settlerpuncheon floor, bark roof and gables, small window holes, and
panelled doors. The doors were of the kind called batten doors,
but the batten was a piece oi timber a little longer than the
width of the door and larger at one end than the other; the large
end projected beyond the door and was bored to serve as part of
the hinge. The boards were fastened to the battens by wooden
pins or by nails, as the necessity or convenience of the builder required. Arnold H. Coomer entered his land on section 31, town 8
south, on May 8, I834. In the early part of the same month Simon
D. Wilson and four other gentlemen came to the township, looking
land, and Mr. Wilson selected tracts on section 30, in town 8 south,
and on sections 6, 7 and 8, town 9 south.
Simon D. Wilson was born in Thompson, Windham county,
Connecticut, November 7, 1804. He lived with his parents until
he was ten years old, when he went to live with an aunt, Mrs.
Lydia Ford, of Berkshire, Mass. He lived in Berkshire until he
was twenty-one years old, and only received a limited common
school education.  At the age of twenty-one he returned to
Thompson, Conn., where he worked on a farm and taught school
until I834, when he came to Michigan and settled in the township
of Seneca, this county, taking up from the government the northwest quarter of section 30. He lived on this farm and cleared it up
from a dense wilderness, building a good house, barns, etc., until
I866, when he moved into the village of Morenci, where he spent




H ISTORICAL


99


the remainder of his days. He was elected the first clerk of the
township, in i836, and was again elected to the same position several years afterward. He was also elected the first school inspector and held the office for fifteen years.
Upon his arrival in the new country Mr. Wilson immediately commenced operations on his land by building the inevitable
log cabin, but he had not yet got settled when Dennis Wakefield
came into the township, prospecting for land. The latter made his
selection-a tract of 420 acres-on Bean creek, and he entered the
same on June 14th, after which he returned to Connecticut, but
again came to his new home with his family in the month of
August.
Dennis Wakefield was born in Thompson, Windham county,
Connecticut, in November, i809. After receiving a common school
education, and working out for about three years, he came to
Michigan in i834 and entered the land mentioned above, the original homestead being on section 2, town 9, Medina, this county.
He afterward entered additional land until he owned over four
hundred acres in Medina. He died in Morenci, June I, i886. He
did his share in making all improvements and in helping to make
a new country a pleasant abiding place.
On September 29, I834, Alvah Holt entered his land in the
township of Seneca and immediately commenced to build upon it.
This gentleman was born in the town of Hollis, Hillsborough
county, New Hampshire, on March I7, i803. He graduated in the
old log school-house and in the shop of his father. For eleven
years he cut stone in Onondaga, N. Y. He came to Seneca in i834
and took up i6o acres of land, two and a half miles north of what
is now Morenci. At Maumee he took an Indian trail, following
it to Bean creek, bridging his way over logs and swales through
the dense forests of Michigan. At nightfall he gathered the family
around him and, taking the chart that guides the traveler through
the wilderness of this life, he read, and, kneeling on nature's wild,
yet sacred soil, committed to God his earthly interests.
On May 2I, i834, Dexter Smith, George W. Moore, Nathaniel
Upton, and a Mr. Pierce started from Dean's tavern, Adrian, to
locate land in the Bean Creek country. Their outfit consisted of
an axe, a rifle, ten pounds of crackers and an Ohio ham. They
traveled on foot and that day reached the house of Gershom Bennett, in the northwest corner of town 8 south, 2 east, now known
as Seneca. The next day they viewed lands on sections 3 and 4
in town 8 south, and on sections 34 and 35 in town 7 south, i east.




IOO


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


The land suited them, and the following day they started on their
return to Adrian by the Indian trail running from Defiance to
Detroit. The trail crossed the Kidder road about three miles west
of Adrian. Here they fellin with a man named Corey, who was
also traveling Adrianwards. They learned from his talk that he
intended to locate I6o acres of the land their party had selected.
A consultation was held in Dean's barn that night, and Moore and
Smith were detailed to go on to Monroe in haste and locate the
land before Corey could reach there. It was raining, but they at
once set out and reached Blissfield, eleven miles distant, at I
o'clock a. m. Here they laid themselves down on the bar-room
floor and rested until daylight, then pursued their journey, reached
Monroe that afternoon and entered their land. Corey arrived the
next morning. Smith and Upton returned at once to commence
the new settlement. They arrived at the creek on May 28. They
built a log cabin-or three sides of it were logs, the other being
open-and before it they built their fire. The roof was of elm
bark. The bedstead was a fixture of the house. When the house
was laid up, notches were cut in the logs at the proper height and
poles laid in; the outer corners were supported by stakes or posts
made of a section of young trees. Beech withes were woven across
in place of cords, and on these elm bark was laid. It was called a
Michigan bedstead, and was probably the first spring bed on
record. In this cabin Smith and Upton lived during the summer,
but in the fall they built themselves a. comfortable log house, in
which they kept bachelors' hall until the winter of I836. The
cabin and house occupied by these men were in the township now
called Medina, but as Smith's land was situated in the township
now called Hudson, Nathaniel V. Upton- has been considered the
first settler in Medina.
On April 8, 1834, Cook Hotchkiss and John Knapp purchased
the northeast quarter and the east half of the southeast quarter of
section 2. They brought their families to Adrian on June 2. On
June 3d William Walworth purchased the northeast quarter of
the southwest quarter of section I, and on June 6, John R. Foster purchased the northeast quarter of section 6. Knapp, Walworth and Foster each built houses and settled their families during the month of June, but Foster's family preceded the others a
few days, and Mrs. Foster was therefore the first white woman
resident of that township. Mr. Foster's house was built near the
northeast corner of his farm, and was built after the model of the
early log houses, only this had no chamber. The floor was of split




HISTORICAL


IOI


and hewed basswood, the roof of bark, two small windows, and a
stick and mud chimney. John Knapp built a somewhat better
house-infact, it smacked a little of aristocracy. It was 20x26
feet, one and a half stories high, the floors were of split and hewn
basswood, and the roof was covered with shakes. Shakes were
rived out of oak timber; they were about thirty inches long, all
the way of a thickness, and as wide as could be made out of the
quarter of an oak log. The shakes, therefore, varied in width according as they were split out of a large or small tree, or was the
first or last riven out of the bolt. The shakes were laid on poles
flattened to the rafters and held in place by other poles, the poles,
underneath and top, being fastened together with hickory or blue
beech withes. But, notwithstanding these aristocratic notions,
Mr. Knapp was compelled to have a stick and mud chimney, because there were neither brick nor stone to be had. The land
bought by William W. Walworth was that on which the Canandaigua mills afterward stood, and he built a house a little northwest of where the old saw mill was afterward built.
Deacon Cook Hotchkiss was born in Cheshire, Conn., September 14, 1797, and went to Delaware county, New York, with his
parents before he was twenty years old. He experienced religion
in Homer, N. Y., when he was twenty, and subsequently united
with the Baptist church in Medina, N. Y., where he served in the
office of deacon. He was a blacksmith by trade, and carried on
a shop in the village of Medina for several years, until the spring
of 1834, when he came to Michigan in company with John Knapp.
They traveled the entire distance on foot, in the month of March,
and located together 320 acres of land on section 2, in Medina
township, where the village of Medina now stands. After locating
their land they immediately returned to New York, traveling on
foot as far as Buffalo. About May I they again started for Michigan, with their families and all their effects, coming by their own
teams and arriving in Adrian on June 2d. Mr. Hotchkiss remained in Adrian, working for Gabriel Todd until January I, 1835,
when he moved on his land in Medina, the purchase which he and
Mr. Knapp made there having then been equally divided. Mr.
Hotchkiss at once put up a blacksmith shop, making a frame of
poles, which he covered with shakes, it being the first shop in
the township. The village was subsequently platted upon the land
of Hotchkiss and Knapp, principally upon that belonging to
Knapp, and was named by them. During Mr. Hotchkiss' residence in Adrian he united with the Baptist church and was one of




I02


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE.COUNTY


the organizers of the Baptist church at Medina village in 1836,
serving as a deacon until his death. He was the first justice of
the peace in Medina. He was well known by every early settler
of the Bean Creek Valley, his house being a meeting-house, almshouse, and resting place for all, and no man was ever more sincerely mourned by an entire community than was he at the time
of his death, August 28, 1839, after an illness of only one week.
John Knapp was born in Mamaroneck, Westchester county,
New York, August 22, I785. He was reared a farmer and first
began his independent career in Onondaga county, but finally went
to Ridgeway, in Orleans county, and purchased a farm. He resided there until May, I834, when he came to Michigan, bringing
his family of a wife and three children, and all his possessions
with his own horse team, and he finally settled on the west half
of the northeast quarter of section 2, in Medina, this county. As
has previously been stated, he came in company with Cook Hotchkiss, his brother-in-law, and together they took up the northeast
quarter of section 2. Mr. Knapp cleared up his farm and lived
there until 1841, when he sold out to the Medina Milling Company
and removed to Fairfield, purchasing 200 acres on sections 19 and?o, where the village of Weston now stands. He resided there
until I870, when he became feeble in health and went to Adrian to
reside with his son, John I. Knapp, and there he died January 17,
1874.
The present township of Palmyra began to be settled along
the river as early as 1826. The first saw-mill in Palmyra was built
in 1834; and a large flouring mill, with four run of stones, was built
in 1836-37, costing about $60,oo and mostly furnished by Toledo
capitalists. It was burned in 1870 and never rebuilt. In the south
and southwest part of the county, the first land entered in Fairfield was in I830, and the first house was built in I831. The settlements in Seneca and Medina have already been mentioned. In the
southeast part of the county the town of Ogden began to be actively settled in 1836, though some scattering settlements were
made several years earlier. There were some settlers moving
into the south part of Riga in 1836, but the north part was but
little settled until Roswell W. Knight and others moved into it in
I839.
Roswell W. Knight was born in Canaan, Conn., April ii,
I792. He lived on a farm with his parents until he was about eighteen years old, at which time he went to Hornellsville, N. Y.,
where he worked in a store until 1812, and then-enlisted as a




HISTORICAL


103


drummer boy and served through the second war with Great
tritain. At the close of the war he returned to Hornellsville and
established himself in the mercantile business, conducted a grocery and provision store, carried on a saw-mill, and did an extensive shipping business for many rears. In 1837 he came to Michigan and settled in Blissfield. Shortly afterward he took up forty
acres of land on section 4 in Riga, on the north side of the Cottonwood swamp, on the old State road, between Toledo and Adrian.
He built a log house, the first building erected in that part of the
township (this was in i839) and kept a hotel for several years.
During this time he took the contract of rebuilding the Erie &
Kalamazoo railroad between Sylvania and "Crane's Curve," west
of the village of Palmyra. In I853 he founded Knight's Station
(now Riga) and Wood Station, three miles east. At Knight's Station he erected the first house and established the first store,
making his son, A. J. Knight, a partner. At Wood Station he built
side-tracks and erected large sheds, which he donated to the railroad company. He afterward furnished thousands of cords of
wood to the company. He gave the ground for all the churches
and school-houses in the village, and donated seven acres to
Bradbury & 'Wilkinson for the purpose of erecting a saw-mill.
He also gave seven acres of land to the railroad company for station purposes. At different times he owned 657 acres of cottonwood swamp land, and was the instigator of the "big ditch,"
which made the land tillable. Hfe was the first justice of the peace
and the first postmaster at Riga, and he resided there until his
death, which occurred on March I2, i86o.
It will be seen by the foregoing pages that at the time the territorial days had ended and Michigan assumed the dignity of statehood, every portion of Lenawee county had, been invaded and settlements were quite generally planted throughout the domain.
Those who came first had the first choice in making their selections, but in due time there was intense rivalry. Often ludicrous
situations were presented, and a certain tract of land would be the
prize for the winner of an exciting race to Monroe, where the government land office was located. We will close this chapter by
giving one of these incidents, a good story on Levi Goss and Orville Woodworth, early settlers of Medina township. Our authority is John J. Hogaboam in his little volume entitled, "The
Bean Creek Valley."
Messrs. Goss and Woodworth were strangers to each other,
but came to Baker's settlement land-looking at the same time.




I04


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


Arnold H. Coomer was detailed to guide Goss, and Horace Garlick performed that service for Woodworth. They carried on their
explorations separately, and pretty thoroughly scoured the c6untry. Coomer and Goss, having finished, came in late one afternoon and found that Woodworth had preceded them. Mr. Goss
was already somewhat advanced in age and was considerably
fatigued. He had written the description of land selected on a
slip of paper thus: "S. E. half sec. 3, T. 9 S., I E.," etc., and
placed the slip in his hat, which on coming in he sat on the floor.
Woodworth sat where he could see into the hat, and was observed to be earnestly looking in that direction. All at once Woodworth started up and inquired, "How far is it to Hagaman's?"
"Five miles," was the reply. "Then," said Woodworth, addressing
two fellow travelers, "we have time to reach there before dark;
let's go." And immediately they started. Their sudden departure
was a cause of wonderment to Mr. Baker, his household and
guests. Goss sat demurely contemplating the movement, when
his eyes resting on the slip of paper in his hat, he exclaimed:
"He has gone to enter my land.". After a moment's further
thought, he asked: "Is there no way of reaching Adrian tonight?
He will go no further than Hagaman's tonight, and if I can reach
Adrian I may save my land yet." Baker told him there was no
way, unless he could make some arrangement with Coomer. Said
he, "I have two horses in the barn; maybe you can make arrangements with Comer to bring them back." The hint was acted on
and without waiting for supper, the horses were mounted, and
away went the adventurers toward HIagaman's, through thick
woods, with nothing but a bridal path to follow. It was dark early
in the forest, but Coomer had provided himself with a tin lantern
and candle, which lighted, enabled them to pursue their journey
with tolerable speed. When they reached Hagaman's it was dark
in the clearing, but beyond the house were some log heaps burning. To prevent discovery the candle in the lantern was put out
and the house passed as noiselessly as possible. At the most remote log heap the candle was relighted and the journey pursued.
They now had a wagon track to follow and they traveled more
expeditiously, and reached Jordan's somewhat past midnight. Mr.
Jordan was aroused to get the travelers something to eat. It was
here arranged that Coomer should go no farther, but that Jordan
should take Goss on as soon as light appeared. Jordan was to remain up to insure an early start, but so great was Goss' anxiety he
could not sleep, so the two were up the entire night. With the


4




HISTORICAL


Io5


appearance of light they were off for Adrian, and from there to
Blissfield.
It will no doubt occur to the reader that via Adrian was not
the shortest route from Jordan's to Blissfield, but on the more
direct route there was no road through the wilderness. At Blissfield, Goss hired a man to take him to Monroe in a wagon (the
journey had so far been made on horseback), but it was stipulated
that the driver was to let no man pass him, and away they went
towards Monroe. Coomer, sharing none of Goss' anxiety, slept
soundly at the house of Jordan until long after the departure of
the others, but at last awakened, and breakfast procured, he set
out on his return to Baker's. A little way out he met Woodworth
on foot, who recognized him and at once asked, "Where's the old
man?" Boylike, Coomer desiring to worry him, sang out, "He's in
Monroe by this time." Woodworth probably suspected that that
could not be true, but Goss was ahead, and something must be
done. He traveled on at as quick a pace as possible until, somewhere eastward of Jordan's, he found a man plowing in his field.
Woodworth walked up to the team and commenced unharnessing
one of the horses. While unfastening the harness he told his
story, and as he sprang upon the horse's back, he said, "I have no
intention of stealing this horse. If you want him, follow me."
The other horse was stripped and mounted, and away the pair
went over the road traveled by the other party in the gray of the
morning. At Blissfield the horses were changed, and Woodworth
and his new companion proceeded towards Monroe. Expecting to
pass Goss on the road, Woodworth attempted a sort of disguise by
changing hats and coats with his companion. Toward evening,
as Goss and his driver were jogging along near the end of their
journey, two men appeared riding along in the distance. One of
the men appeared to be better mounted than the other, as he
neared the wagon much more rapidly. "Are you afraid of that
man?" said the driver. "No," said Goss, "he lives hereabouts, I
think," and the man rode by. Woodworth, for it was he, rode
rapidly forward, while his companion jogged leisurely along, some
way behind the wagon, seemingly in no hurry. Riding up to the
door of the land office, and thrusting his hand into his pocket,
Woodworth called out, "I want to enter -" but alas! his memorandum was in the pocket of his own coat on the other man's back.
Giving rein and whip to his horse he dashed away, met and passed
the wagon, rushed up to his companion, secured his paper, and
turned again towards the land office. The driver of the team,




Io6


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


seeing the same man coming again, apparently very anxious to
pass, said, "There is some deviltry there," and put whip to his
horses. Woodworth passed, however, and as he passed, Goss
recognized him. Away they went towards the land office, where
they arrived almost at the same instant. "I want to enter -" said
Woodworth. "I want to enter -" cried Goss, at the same time
jumping, but his foot caught on the wheel and he fell heavily to
the ground, knocking the breath from his body. When Goss recovered consciousness, Woodworth had entered his land and was
quietly chewing his quid, chuckling over the success of his scheme.
Goss cared little for his bodily injuries, but mourned pitifully
over the loss of his land. The receiver tried to comfort him by
suggesting that perhaps some other land in the immediate neighborhood would answer as well. "Let me see your description,"
said Miller. The paper was produced, when lo! it appeared that
Goss' land was not the Woodworth land at all. Woodworth had
selected and entered the southwest quarter of section 3, and Goss
had selected and now was but too glad to enter the southeast quarter of the same section. And thus it come about that after an
exciting race, each man had secured his own land, and neither man
had any intention of getting the other's land. Looking with suspicious eyes at the slip in Goss' hat, Woodworth had confused the
southeast with the southwest, and hence the race. The two men
settled on their' land, where they lived and died, respecting each
other, and each enjoying the respect and esteem of their neighbors.




CHAPTER V.
THE BOUNDARY DISPUTE.
IMPORTANCE OF THE QUESTION-THE ORIGIN OF THE DIFFICULTYMITCHELL & BRADLEY'S MAP-EXCEPTION CLAUSE IN OHIO STATE
CONSTITUTION-THE HARRIS LINE-THE FULTON LINE-ATTACK
UPON SURVEYING PARTY-MAJOR STICKNEY AND HIS CONNECTIONS
WITH THE BOUNDARY DISPUTE-ACTIVITY OF GOVERNOR MASONDISPUTE FINALLY SETTLED BY CONGRESS-LEGAL PHASES OF THE
QUESTION.
The history of the trouble which arose over the matter of establishing a permanent boundary line between the present states
of Michigan and Ohio should be of special interest to the people of
Lenawee county, because of the fact that upon the decision and
adjustment of the difficulty depended the question, whether the territory now embraced in the townships of Gorham, Chesterfield,
Royalton, and Amboy, and the northern parts of Franklin, Dover,
Pike, anid Fulton, now in Fulton county, Ohio, should bee a part and
parcel of the Wolverine State, and form a part of Lenawee county,
or the inhabitants thereof should be numbered among the Buck'
eyes. At one time the trouble threatened to assume the magnitude
of civil war between the sovereign State of Ohio and the Territory
of Michigan, supported, as the latter would unquestionably have
been, by the military arm of the United States. The interest manifested was not confined to this locality, by any means, for leading
members of Congress-notably John Quincy Adams, of Massachusetts-took a hand in the fray, and it formed a subject for heated
debate between giants of the political arena. Years have passed
since the amicable settlement of this dispute, but time should not
efface the record of historical events. Reasoning thus, and believing (with no desire to be invidious) that many people are not
familiar with the history of the difficulty, the writer has consulted
various authorities and decided to devote a chapter in this work
to what is sometimes called "The Toledo War."




Io8


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


The question of boundary between Michigan and Ohio antedated the admission of the latter into the Union, and had its birth
in the Congress that framed and adopted the "Ordinance of I787"
-an instrument providing for the civil government of the Northwest Territory, then lately ceded to the United States. And it
would be within the bounds of truth to say that this controversy,
which for a time seriously threatened the peace of the country, was
conceived through a blunder committed by a well-meaning though
misguided Herodotus, prior to the action of the legislative body that
convened under the Articles of Confederation. By the "Ordinance
of I787," Congress divided the Northwest Territory into three
parts, the western to include all the present states of Illinois, Wisconsin, and a portion of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan; the
middle to include the present state of Indiana, and north to the
British line; the eastern to include the territory bounded by Indiana, Canada, Pennsylvania, and the Ohio river, "Provided, however, and it is further understood and declared, that the boundaries
of these three (prospective) states shall be subject so far to be altered, that if Congress shall hereafter find it expedient they shall
have authority to form one or two states in that part of the said
territory which lies north of an east and west line drawn through
the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan."
The latest map in use at that time, which purported to give a
representation of this portion of the earth's surface, was one published by Mitchell & Bradley in I780, and, being decidedly inaccurate, it showed the southern extremity of the lake to be thirty
miles north of where it really is. Congress, however, with only
that map as a guide, thought that the "east and west line" would
intersect the Detroit river, and hence really intended that the future state of Ohio should extend a considerable distance further
north than it does. In fact it was plainly the purpose of the framers
of the "Ordinance" that the southern boundary of Michigan should
be near the forty-second parallel of north latitude. Judge Burnet,
in his "Notes on the Northwest Territory," thus explains the origin
of the difficulty:
"The question of boundary, though not expressly referred to
the Convention, was one of greater importance than would appear
at first view. It is generally known to those who have consulted
the maps of the western country extant at the time the Ordinance
of 1787 was passed, that Lake Michigan was represented as being
very far north of the position which it has since been ascertained
to occupy. On a map in the Department of State, which was be



HISTORICAL


Iog


fore the Committee of Congress who framed the Ordinance for the
Government of the Territory, the southern boundary of that lake
was laid down as being near the forty-second degree of north latitude, and there was a pencil line passing through the southern bend
of the lake to the Canada line, which intersected the strait between the River Raisin and the town of Detroit. That line was
manifestly intended by the committee and by Congress to be the
northern boundary of this state (Ohio) and, on the principles on
which courts of chancery construe contracts, accompanied with
plats, that map, and the line marked on it, should have been taken
as conclusive evidence of the boundary, without reference to the
actual position of the southern extreme of the lake."
If Judge Burnet is correct in his conclusions, and if this boundary line had been established, it will be seen that all of Lenawee
county, with the exception of the northern tier of townships,
would have become a part of the state of Ohio. But Judge Burnet
argues from the standpoint of equity, while the champions of the
Michigan side of the controversy hold strictly to the legal phase
of the question. They maintain that the provision in the Ordinance of 1787 was an article of "compact between the original
states and the people and the states in said territory," and by the
express terms of the Ordinance was to "forever remain unalterable
unless by common consent," and it never by common consent had
been abrogated or changed. To quote the words of Judge Cooley,
in his "Michigan," "The people of Michigan had, therefore, two
rights solemnly guaranteed to them by the Ordinance, neither of
which could be taken from them without their consent. These were
first to have a line drawn due east from the southern extreme of
Lake Michigan for their southern boundary and, second, to be
admitted into the Union as a state on reaching a population of
6o,ooo."
When the act was passed, enabling Ohio to take the necessary
steps toward statehood, Congress, under the same misapprehension,
bounded the future state on the north "by an east and west line
drawn through the southern extremity of Lake Michigan, running
east until it shall intersect 'Lake Erie on the Territorial (British)
line, and thence on the same through to the Pennsylvania line."
Again it is clearly proven that Congress intended the boundary line
to be further north, for the Fulton line, so-called (the boundary
claimed by Michigan), if extended east would not intersect the
British line at any point whatever. When the convention that
framed the Ohio state constitution was in session, in I802, it was




I IO


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


still the prevailing understanding that the old maps were correct,
and that the line, as defined in the Ordinance and enabling act,
would terminate at some point on the Detroit river, far above the
Maumee bay. But, while that subject was under discussion, a strolling hunter, who had for many years plied his vocation in the vicinity of Lake Michigan, and was well acquainted with its position, happened to be in Chillicothe, and, in conversation with some
of the members, mentioned to them that the lake extended much
farther south than was generally supposed, and that a map which
he had seen placed its southern bend many miles north of its true
position. His statement produced some apprehension and excitement on the subject, and induced the convention to change the line
prescribed in the act of Congress so far as to provide that, "if the
southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan should extend so far
south that a line drawn due east from it should not intersect Lake
Erie, or if it should intersect the said Lake Erie east of the mouth
of the Miami river of the Lake (Maumee) then, and in that case,
with the assent of the Congress of the United States, the northern
boundary of this state shall be established by, and extended to, a
direct line running from the southern extremity of Lake Michigan
to the most northerly cape of the Miami (Maumee) bay," etc. The
object of this proviso was to save to the state of Ohio the valuable
port and harbors on the Maumee river and bay, as was clearly intended by Congress, and which were the prizes contended for in
the threatened resort to arms. Congress accepted this constitution, but without expressly giving assent to the alternate boundary,
and. as the assent was not expressly given it was claimed by the
adherents of Michigan that in the face of the compact of I787 such
assent could not be implied. In i805 Michigan territory was created with the southern boundary as originally specified-the old
erroneous map being used as a guide-and without any reference to
the Ohio amendment.
Upon this technicality arose the boundary difficulties, and the
location of the line was considered very uncertain, even by the
Ohio legislature, for at different sessions, in 1807, i809, and i8i I,
resolutions were passed, requesting that commissioners be appointed to establish definite boundaries on the north and west. Soon
after the admission of Ohio into the Union an attempt was made
to secure the assent of Congress to Ohio's boundary, but on December 6, I803, this provision was stricken out in the Senate, and
from that time until the close of the war of i812, the question
seems not to have been again raised in Congress.




HISTORICAL


III


In the meantime, however, not only had Michigan's claim to
the southern boundary existed de jure, but the asserted right had
been exercised de facto, and had been recognized repeatedly and
constantly by both the United States and the Territorial government. The United States government had attached the lands north
of the falls of the Maumee to the Monroe (Michigan) land district; it had recognized the boundary of Michigan as at the Rapids
of the Maumee in the survey and building of the Ohio-Michigan
road from the Connecticut Reserve to the lower falls of the Miami
of Lake Erie; it had located the Michigan University lands on the
Maumee river; it had recognized the same boundary in the building of the road from the Rapids of the Miami to Detroit. On the
other hand the territorial government of Michigan had, without
let or hindrance, exercised all the usual acts of jurisdiction to the
line running due east from the southern bend of Lake Michigan.
It had organized counties, townships and districts to that line, had
extended the jurisdiction of its courts and its judicial process to the
same boundary; in short, in every way that the case admitted, it
was fixed as the boundary between Ohio and Michigan.
But by assuming authority in the Maumee country the Michigan officials soon excited the jealousy and resentment upon the
part of the settlers in the disputed strip who professed allegiance
to Ohio. On January 23, 1812, Amos Spafford, Collector of the
Porf at Miami Rapids, addressed a letter to Governor Meigs, in
which he stated it "to be the general wish of the people in this settlement (which consists of about fifty families) to have the laws
of the state of Ohio extended over them." He informed the governor that the people, with few exceptions, considered themselves
clearly within the limits of Ohio-the exceptions being those who
held office under the governor of Michigan, whose orders they
were endeayoring to enforce. Collector Spafford stated that if no
adjustment should be made, he feared the contention would, ere
long become serious. This letter of Mr. Spafford, it will be observed, was written during the period when the population of the
western frontiers was excited by the- unfriendly relations existing
between England and the United States, and which resulted in a
declaration of war made by the latter in June of the same year.
On May 20, I812, an act was passed authorizing the president to
ascertain and designate certain boundaries, but the great issue of
a foreign war, threatening a common danger, united all the people
of the frontier, including those of the disputed jurisdiction, in support of the general welfare, and national patriotism subdued for a
time the promptings of local and selfish interests.




112


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


In the act of May 20, I812, Congress, heeding the petitions
of Ohio's legislative assembly, and recognizing the seriousness of
the boundary dispute and the importance of its early settlement,
authorized and instructed the surveyor-general of the United
States, under the direction of the President, and as soon as the
consent of the Indians could be obtained, "to cause to be surveyed
marked and designated, so much of the western and northern
boundaries of the state of Ohio, which have not already been ascertained, as divides said state from the territories of Indiana and
Michigan, agreeably to the boundaries as established by the
(enabling) act" of I802. As will be observed, the framers of this
act had in mind the line as originally stipulated (due east from the
southern extremity of Lake Michigan), but they evidently recognized the mistake made in such designation, for they instructed
the surveyor-general "to cause to be made a plat or plan of so
much of the boundary line as runs from the southerly extreme of
Lake Michigan to Lake Erie, particularly noting the place where
said line intersects the margin of said lake, and to return the same
when made to Congress." But, as before stated, the war of I812
came on, and this, with ensuing difficulties, served to defer the
making of the survey as directed.
The matter remained in statu quo for several years, but on
August 22, 1816, the commissioner of the general land office directed
the surveyor-general to "engage a faithful and skillful deputy to
mark said northern boundary agreeable to the act of May 20, I8I2."
In 1817 peaceful treaties having been made with the Indians, Edward Tiffin, survey-,ogeneral of the United States, in pursuance
of said instructions and the Act of Congress mentioned above, employed WV\illiam Harris, a skillful surveyor, to run a portion of the
western and all of the northern boundary line of the state of Ohio.
Indiana had been erected into a state in I816, and its northern
boundary, as defined by act of Congress, included "a strip of land,
ten miles wide, off the southern portion of Michigan territory."
This was another recognition of the old line which had been established through a mistaken idea of the geography of the country,
but by extending Indiana ten miles further north, Congress showed
its disregard for the instructions given in the Ordinance of I787,
and gave to the Ohio claimants a precedent decidedly in their favor. Harris found that a due east line from the head of Lake Michigan would intersect Lake Erie seven miles south of the most northerly cape of Maumee bay, his survey in this matter agreeing perfectly with that afterward made by Fulton. He accordingly, in




H ISTORICAL


II 3


conformity with the proviso in the constitution of Ohio, ran another
line from the lower extremity of Lake Michigan to the northerly
cape of Maumee bay. It was claimed by the Michigan adherents
that this act of the deputy surveyor was without authority of law
or instructions from the department. In fact, the commissioner
of the general land office, in a letter to the secretary of the treasury,
June 5, i8i8, said, "Having never heard of the proviso in the constitution of the state of Ohio relative to its northern boundary, I
had uniformly supposed it to be an east and west line drawn from
the southern extreme of Lake Michigan." This line established the
northwest corner of Ohio at a point on the Indiana line, five miles,
twenty-four chains, and sixty-four links north of where the due
east and west line located the same. Or, in other words, the difference in the lines at this place was the distance between the northwest corner and southwest corner of Northwest township in Williams county, Ohio.
Gen. Lewis Cass was at that time (1817) governor of the Territory of Michigan, and, after investigating the boundary question,
claimed the line to be the one established by the Ordinance of
I787, and accordingly claimed the disputed territory. The running of the second or Harris line brought out a protest from him
to Edward Tiffin, then surveyor-general. This Edward Tiffin was
the same who, in i8i6, had made the famous report on the military
bounty lands in Michigan, in which he described the lands of Lenawee county as unfit for cultivation. He was an Ohio man; had
been first governor of the state as well as a member of the constitutional convention that framed the constitution and the proviso,
and it may be not unfairly inferred that he had something to do
with the running of the "Harris line" in accordance with said
proviso, instead of with the law. Governor Cass wrote (Detroit,
November I, i8I7):
"Report says that the line which has been recently run purporting to be the line between the state of Ohio and this territory,
was not run a due east course from the southern extremity of Lake
Michigan to Lake Erie, but a course somewhat to the north of this,
although how much I am unable to ascertain. The act of Congress
organizing this territory makes its southern boundary a due east
line from the southern extremity of Lake Michigan, and this act
is in strict conformity with the fifth of the articles of compact, in
the ordinance for the government of the Northwest Territory;
these are declared to be unalterable except by mutual consent."
A lengthy correspondence followed between Governor Cass
8-iv




I 4


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


and the surveyor-general, and the matter was taken up by the Ohio
legislature in January, I818, strong resolutions being passed, affirming the Harris line as the true one and holding that Congress so
decided in approving the organization of that state. On January
3, I818, the governor and judges of the Territory of Michigan addressed to the Congress of the United States a formal and solemn
memorial undoubtedly drawn up by Governor Cass, in which they
recite the entire history of the boundary dispute to that date. The
memorial is ably and clearly drawn, and is signed by Lewis Cass,
governor; A. B. Woodward, John Griffin, and J. Witherell, judges.
After reciting the provisions of the Ordinance of 1787, the enabling
act of April 30, I802, the seventh article of the constitution of Ohio,
containing the alternative boundary to which Congress had never
given its assent, and the act of January 1, I805, in which the due
east and west line through the southern extreme of Lake Michigan
was expressly made the southern boundary of the Territory of
Michigan, thus definitely excluding it from the state of Ohio, the
memorial then proceeds:
"Your memorialists beg leave to state that during the past
summer a line was run, under the direction of the surveyor-general,
intended to be the boundary between this territory and the state of
Ohio. This line instead of being on an east and west line from the
southern extremity of Lake Michigan, agreeably to the acts of Congress before mentioned, was run on a course north 87 degrees 42
minutes east, and strikes Lake Erie at the northern cape of Miami
bay, taking from the southern boundary of this territory, seven
miles and forty-nine chains and adding it to the state of Ohio.
The legislative power of this territory is by law vested in your
memorialists, and they conceive they would fail to discharge the
duties of their station were they not to submit this subject to the
consideration of the national Legislature."
In conclusion the memorialists pray:
"The undersigned respectfully submit the subject of this memorial to the consideration of Congress, and pray that the boundary
line between this territory and the state of Ohio may be run and
established agreeably to the provisions of the Ordinance of Congress of 1787, and of the several acts of Congress heretofore passed
upon the subject."
This memorial produced the desired effect, and on June 24,
I818, W. FT. Crawford, secretary of the treasury, directed the commissioner of the land office "to have the northern boundary of Ohio
run and marked in conformity with the act of May 20, I812," that




HISTORICAL


II5


is, on the due east and west line. John A. Fulton was employed to
make the survey, and the result of course agreed exactly with the
first line run by Mr. Harris. It became known from that time as
the "Fulton line"-said line being the present boundary between
the northern and middle tiers of townships in Williams county,
Ohio, extending thence east through Fulton, and leaving a good
portion of the city of Toledo in the present state of Michigan. But
even the Fulton survey proved very unsatisfactory and inadequate.
He did not establish the latitude of the southern extreme of Lake
Michigan, nor did he determine the latitude where the east line intersected the Maumee river, nor where it reached Lake Erie. These
were all left unsettled questions. As a starting point he accepted
the intersection of Harris' line east from Lake Michigan with the
north and south line between Ohio and Indiana. His plat showed
a variation in latitude on different portions of the line. However,
the United States' surveys for subdividing the lands purchased
from the Indians into townships and sections were completed a few
years thereafter, and as they were closed in Ohio and later in Michigan upon the Fulton line, it seemed that the government had decided favorably to that boundary.
Ohio, however, claimed to the Harris line and proceeded,
wherever the population was sufficient, to organize townships, etc.,
accordingly. Wordy discussions followed and civil officers were
appointed by each claimant. Nothing serious occurred for several
years, but, "a disputed jurisdiction," as Lewis Cass wrote to Edward Tiffin, "is one of the greatest evils than can happen to a country." Claims which involve vast sums of money fail to provoke
strifes as acrimonious as those relating to contested land boundaries. The anxiety of the inhabitants of the infant settlements,
occupying the disputed tract, can be easily imagined, and almost
any decision would have been welcomed by them if it ended the
strife and established an undisputed jurisdiction.
Duplicate copies of both surveys were forwarded to the secretary of the treasury on March 7, I82o, and on the 8th transmitted
by the President to Congress. Here the matter rested until March
I8, 1828, when the committee on territories of the house of representatives made a report recommending that the correct latitude
of the several points be accurately ascertained.
During John Quincy Adams' administration arose the question
of internal improvements all over the country, and the project of
uniting the waters of Lake Erie and the Wabash river by a canal
was considered. As is well known, Gen. Andrew Jackson, who




II6


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


succeeded Adams as president, did not favor internal improvements
by the aid of the general government, but the state of Indiana obtained an appropriation by Congress of each alternate section of
land, five miles wide, on each side of the proposed canal, and extending its entire length, including the portion through Ohio. Indiana conveyed to Ohio the portion within the latter state upon
the conditions of the original grant. Thus Ohio became interested,
and in March, 1834, the legislature authorized Governor Lucas to
appoint three commissioners to locate the canal through the state.
During the same year a survey of the proposed canal was made
and it was found necessary to locate the eastern terminus at a
point on the Maumee river, north of the Fulton line, in order to
reach navigable water. This re-opened the mooted boundary question and brought the partisans of the rival claimants to a frenzied
state of excitement.
On December 26, I834, the territorial council of Michigan had
passed an act providing for the appointment of three commissioners
to negotiate and settle all disputes in regard to the southern boundary of the territory. To this conciliatory movement Gov. Robert
Lucas, of Ohio, responded by a special message to the legislature
of that state, under date of February 6, I835, in which he said:
"I have received from the acting governor of the Territory of
Michigan a communication enclosing a copy of an act passed by
the legislative council of the territory, providing for the appointment of commissioners to adjust the boundary," etc. "in the
present case we cannot admit that the legislative council of the
Territory of Michigan had any right to authorize a negotiation on
the subject of a boundary, or that any arrangement entered into
with commissioners appointed under their authority would be binding even on Michigan herself, after she might become an independent state." He then recommends "the passage of a declaratory
act, declaring that all counties bordering on the northern boundary
of the state of Ohio shall extend to and be bounded on the north
by the line running from the southern extremity of Lake Michigan
to the most northern cape of Maumee bay * * * and that the
county and township officers within these counties and townships
be directed to exercise jurisdiction within their respective counties
and townships thus extended."
The Michigan Territorial Council, on February I2, 1835, made
a response to this action of the governor and legislature of Ohio
by the passage of "An act to prevent the exercise of a foreign jurisdiction within the limits of the Territory of Michigan," punishing




HISTORICAL


II7


by heavy fines and imprisonment any person who should "exercise
or attempt to exercise any official functions" within the limits of
the territory or any county thereof "by virtue of any commission
or authority not derived from this territory," or from the United
States, and punishing in like manner any person residing within
the limits of the territory who should accept any office from any
authority other than the Territory of Michigan or of the United
States. The legislature of Ohio promptly passed the act as recommended by Governor Lucas, thus forcibly extending jurisdiction
over a strip of land about seven miles wide, along the southern
border of Michigan territory, over which the latter had exercised
unquestioned jurisdiction for thirty years.
The fight was now on in earnest. The commissioners of Williams county, Ohio, met on March 30, I835, and in accordance with
the legislative enactment extended the county jurisdiction to the
Harris line, notifying all citizens of such extension. Wood and
Henry counties likewise extended. A further provision of the act
of the legislature (passed February 23, 1835) provided for the appointment of three commissioners to run and re-mark the Harris
line, and the Ist of April was named as the time to commence the
survey. Governor Mason, of Michigan, keenly watching the Buckeye movements, ordered Gen. Joseph W. Brown, of Tecumseh, who
commanded a division of the territorial militia, to be prepared to
meet the impending crisis and to "use every exertion to obtain the
earliest information of the military movements of our adversary."
On March 31, Governor Lucas, accompanied by his staff and the
boundary commissioners, arrived at Perrysburg on their way to
run and re-mark the Harris line in compliance with the act "in
such case made and provided." Gen. John Bell, in command of the
Seventeenth division of, the Ohio militia, arrived about the same
time with his staff and mustered into service a volunteer force of
about 600 men, fully armed and equipped. The force went into
camp at old Fort Miami and awaited the orders of the chief executive. Governor Mason, with General Brown, arrived at Toledo
with a force under the immediate command of the latter, variously
estimated at from 800 to 1,200 men, and went into camp, ready to
resist any advance of the Ohio authorities upon the disputed territory to run the boundary line or any other movement inconsistent
with Michigan's claim of jurisdiction over it. As a distinguished
lawyer has put it, "the two governors, having made up an issue
by legislative enactments, found themselves confronted by a military force that had been called out to enforce their respective




MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


legislative pleadings. Governor Mason, representing the tenant in
possession, was content to rest at his ease. Governor Lucas, representing the plaintiff, had to open the trial."
The whole country in the meantime became wild with excitement, and Governor Lucas had determined to order General Bell
with his force to Toledo as soon as he could make the necessary
preparations, and risk the consequences. No doubt such action
on his part would have resulted in a serious military engagement
and possibly menaced the peace of the entire country, but before
he had got his preparations made, two eminent citizens-Hon.
Richard Rush, of Philadelphia; and Col. Benjamin C. Howard, of
Baltimore, arrived from Washington as commissioners from the
President of the United States, to use their personal influence to
stop all warlike demonstrations.  Hon. Elisha Whittlesey, of
Ohio, accompanied the commissioners as a voluntary peace-maker.
The commissioners and Mr. Whittlesey had several conferences
with both governors, and finally, on April 7, submitted the following propositions for their assent:
"i. That the Harris line should be run and re-marked pursuant to the act of the last session of the Legislature of Ohio, without interruption,
"2. The civil elections under the laws of Ohio having taken
place throughout the disputed territory, that the people residing
upon it should be left to their own government, obeying the one
jurisdiction or the other, as they may prefer, without molestation
from the authorities of Ohio or Michigan until the close of the next
session of Congress."
Governor Lucas, on the urgent request of the commissioners
and Mr. Whittlesey, agreed, reluctantly, to accept the proposition
as a peaceable settlement until after "the close of the next session
of Congress." Governor Mason, on the other hand, after conference with his advisors, promptly, rejected the compromise, but referred it to the territorial council, which he called in special session, August 17, i835. A committee of the council, of which James
Duane Doty was chairman, reported on August 19, sustaining the
governor. In its report the committee said: "We are not, therefore,
disposed to regard these propositions as emanating from the President, but rather as the suggestions of two eminent individuals which
were promptly and properly rejected by the executive of Michigan.
* * * Your committee does not deem it advisable to investigate
the merits of this arrangement, as they are of the opinion that it is
entirely incompetent for this council to enter into any arrangement




HISTORICAL


II9


to permit the exercise of a foreign jurisdiction within the limits of
Michigan established by the ordinance and acts of Congress." On
the next day, August 20, I835, the report of the committee was
unanimously adopted.
Governor Lucas, however, assented to the agreement as proposed by the commissioners, professing to regard the governor of
a territory as a subaltern, subject to the control of the President.
He looked upon the agreement as one made with the President,
through Messrs. Rush and Howard as that official's representatives,
and hence disbanded the military force he had collected. Governor
Mason partially did likewise, but still continued to make preparations for any emergency that might arise, and stationed a military
force at Adrian under the command of General Brown to keep a
close watch upon events.
In I832 new observations of latitude were made, under an act
of Congress previously mentioned, by Captain Talcott, assisted by
Lieut. Robert E. Lee, then a recent graduate from West Point, but
afterward the famous military chieftain of the Confederate forces,
and the idol of all loyal Southerners. These observations showed
that the originally proposed line, if extended due east from the
southern point of Lake Michigan, would not touch the international
boundary in the middle of Lake Erie, but would pass several miles
south of it, and coming to land again would throw into the territory of Michigan a considerable part of Northeastern Ohio. This
absurdity was so apparent that it was confidently expected by the
Ohio partisans that the alternative line, which was provided for
in their state constitution, would be confirmed-especially so, when
the fact was considered that Congress, as they claimed, by admitting Ohio to statehood, had constructively approved it. On March
7, I835, President Jackson referred the papers relating to the
boundary question to the attorney-general of the United States,
then B. F. Butler, of New York, a distinguished lawyer, and on
March 2I he rendered his opinion that the assent of Congress
had not been given to "the actual and present extension of 'the
northern boundary," and "thirdly, that until this last mentioned
assent shall have been given by Congress, the tract in dispute must
be considered as forming, legally, a part of the territory of Michigan." There is little doubt of the correctness of his view of the
legal phase of the question, and with that tenacity which is a char-.
acteristic of lawyers he adhered to the letter of the law. He softened
a little, however, by saying that no harm could come from the resurvey of the Harris line, as proposed by the Ohio authorities.




I20


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


Accordingly, notwithstanding the determined attitude of Governor Mason, Governor Lucas directed the commissioners to proceed to run the Harris line, commencing at the western end. Engineer S. Dodge, who was engaged in the construction of the Ohio
canal, was employed as surveyor, and together with the commissioners and a considerable party, came up the Maumee river to Defiance, and then started across the country to the northwest corner
of the state to commence the survey. They arrived at the Fulton
line on April Igth, but as the "border" was infested with Michigan
scouts, the party decided not to advance without further advice
from Governor Lucas. The governor instructed them to run the
line at all hazards, and they proceeded to.what is now the extreme
corner of Northwest township, Williams county, Ohio, where they
found the corner of the state as described in the field notes of Surveyor Harris. General Brown kept a line of scouts in the woods
along the line to report the progress of the surveying party. The
commissioners and party proceeded eastwardly along the line, finding it with little or no difficulty, and re-marking it as directed, until
they reached a point near the present village of Lyons, in Fulton
county, Ohio, on April 25. This point is near the present southern
boundary of Fairfield township, and as soon as the party came
within the limits of Lenawee county the under-sheriff, armed with
a warrant from a justice of the peace, and accompanied by a
posse comitatus, went to arrest them. At the point mentioned the
party left the line and retired about a mile to the south, where they
expected to spend the following day, Sunday. The Michigan force
started on Sunday morning. The infantry, about one-half of the
total number, was carried in wagons about ten miles out from Tecumseh, and from that point they had to march about ten miles. The
force arrived a little after noon, the mounted men considerably in
advance. The surveying party was occupying two cabins. As
soon as the mounted men arrived, General Brown, who accompanied the expedition, assumed command and ordered the surveyors
to surrender, which they promptly refused to do. But when the
infantry arrived, the occupants of one of the cabins, including the
commissioners, became alarmed and broke for the woods, hastened
by a volley of musketry. They dashed into Maumee nearly disrobed by the briars and thorns that beset their path through the
wilderness. The occupants of the other cabin, including the engineer corps, were arrested by the officers and taken in triumph to
the Lenawee county jail at Tecumseh. The civil authorities concluded to hold Colonel Fletcher, the chief of the engineer corps,
in nominal imprisonment to test by law the validity of the arrest.




HISTORICAL


12I


The others were permitted to return to their homes in Ohio.
Colonel Fletcher was allowed to be his own jailor. When he desired exercise he would carefully lock the door, and putting the
key in his pocket would stroll through the village or drive out with
the village belles.
In addition to this "outrage" upon the official surveying party
there were numerous flagrant assaults upon individuals-some of
the events being ludicrous, but all of them doubtless having a serious aspect to the victims. Among the latter was Major Stickney,
one of the most interesting and famous characters who were figuring on the Maumee in those early days. It will add a humorous
interest to the dry details of this boundary dispute if we digress
here and devote a little space to this eccentric individual. Major
Stickney had been appointed by President Jefferson as Indian
Agent, and as such had long resided in the western country —first
at Upper Sandusky, and then at Fort Wayne. He was a man of
some intelligence, and assumed to be a scholar and philosopher.
His wife was a highly respectable lady-in every way amiable, and
a daughter of General Stark of Revolutionary fame. But his wife's
accomplishments did not prevent Major Stickney from resorting
to all kinds of eccentricities. A part of this was to be as much as
possible like nobody else. This he carried out in the naming of his
children-not after any names found in either Christian or profane
history, but the boys were to represent the numerals and the girls
the states-as far as their numbers would go. The boys, therefore,
were named One, and Two, etc., and though he condescended to
name his eldest daughter, from respect to Mrs. Stickney, Mary,
the rest of his daughters were named after the states, Indiana,
Michigan, etc. This eccentricity produced some of the most ridiculous anecdotes, among which is the following: Soon after the family moved to the Maumee Valley, and while living in a house
erected near the landing at the mouth of Swan creek, Mrs. Stickney
one morning came to the piazza in front of the house, where a vessel lay at anchor, and calling to her sons, said: "Two, call One to
breakfast." A sailor, aboard the vessel, looked up and said: "Is
this Maumee? It is a terribly hard country if it takes two to call
one to breakfast."
In the spring of I82I Major Stickney was a ruling spirit in
what was already a thriving settlement in the neighborhood of
Swan creek. Up to this time the little colony had been without a
question within the jurisdiction of Ohio. Writs had been issued
from Maumee in Wood county, to the settlers, as witnesses, jurors




122


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


and suitors, and they, until then, had answered as such without a
question as to jurisdiction. But other views had entered into Major
Stickney's policy and philosophy.  He called a public meeting of
the citizens, and to them when thus assembled he represented that
the citizens of the incipient city had very seriously mistaken their
interest as to the question-where the true northern line of the
state of Ohio was. He did not care as to what the constitution of
the state of Ohio said on the subject-the true line was the one
run due east from the southern extremity of Lake Michigan, which
run considerably south of the settlement and would leave them
in the Territory of Michigan, instead of the state of Ohio, and
therefore they were Wolverines instead of Buckeyes. He averred
that it was greatly to their interest to be so, that while they were
citizens of the Territory they would be cherished. and protected
under the auspices and guardianship of the United States, while in
Ohio they could not expect anything except to be taxed. He said
he was well acquainted with General Cass, the governor of Michigan at that time, and would go to him and get a commission as
justice of the peace for Michigan in the settlement, in case the citizens there would sustain him. The motion carried-the secession
was complete. Major Stickney procured his commission and proceeded to exercise the jurisdiction of a justice of the peace of Michigan over the seceded territory. Soon after these things had matured Gen. J. E. Hunt, of Maumee, had some official business to
transact in that vicinity as an officer of Wood county. The citizens threw every obstacle in his way to prevent the discharge of
his duties and to convince him that they had really seceded. General Hunt returned with just complaint of the conduct of the citizens
there. A meeting of the commissioners of the county was called
and the question was, what shall be done with the seceding rebelsshall they be prosecuted and hung? Perhaps so, if justice were
done them. But mild and discreet measures and counsels were
adopted. It was considered that Congress. and the State of Ohio
would in die time settle the question, and in the meantime it was
neither discreet nor prudent to get up a war which could be avoided.
This policy prevailed and Major Stickney and his followers were
let "alone in their glory."
But about this time the canal question became an absorbing
theme to the people of the Maumee valley. When fully acquainted
with the project Major Stickney called another meeting of the citizens of Swan Creek, and to them he now represented that they
had committed a great error in seceding from Ohio and going over




H ISTORICAL


123


to Michigan; that while they belonged to Michigan they could not
expect that the state of Ohio would construct the canal to Swan
Creek, they must go back to Ohio; they must secede from Michigan and go back to Ohio again, they must undo their former secession and rebellion or they could not expect to secure the canal.
Thereupon all sorts of resolutions were adopted to the effect that
they were, aind of right ought to be, a part and parcel of the state
of Ohio; that Ohio was a great and glorious state, and that they
would maintain their position, if necessary, at the point of the bayoniet. These measures succeeded in arousing Michigan to a demonstration of war. Militia soldiers were sent from Detroit by land
and water to Swan Creek, to whip the rebels into subjection to their
legitimate authority. They went in martial array and took possession of the territory where the proud city of Toledo now stands,
making the citizens succumb to the power and jurisdiction of
Michigan. They returned to Detroit in the most jubilant triumph,
drinking all sorts of toasts to the glory of Michigan, and to the
anathematization of Major Stickney in Ohio, one of which was,
"Here is to Major Stickney's potatoes and onions-we draft their
tops and their bottoms volunteer!" This, however, was all to the
wishes of the sycophantical Major, and in accordance with his policy, he went immediately to Columbus and represented to the governor and the people of Ohio the intolerable barbarity of the Wolverines-how they had desecrated the just authority of Ohio and
trampled under foot the loyal citizens of the state. In the meantime the people of Monroe county, Michigan, were kept busy assisting the sheriff in executing processes of the Monroe county
courts in the disputed territory. Every inhabitant of the district
was a spy for one or the other of the contestants, as inclination
dictated, and was busily employed in reporting the movements of
Monroe county or Wood county officials, as the case might be.
The Ohio parties, when arrested, were incarcerated in the Monroe
county jail. Among the individuals arrested by the Michigan atuthorities during the troublous times of 1835 was Major Stickney,
the arrest being made after a violent resistance by himself and
family. He refused to mount a horse. He was put on by force,
but would not sit there. For a long distance two men, one on each
side, held him on. At last, wearied by his resistance, they tied his
feet under the horse, in which way they at last reached Monroe.
The Major was confined in jail at the latter place for some time,
as he described it, "peeping through the grates of a loathsome
prison for the monstrous crime of having acted as the judge of an




I24


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


election within the state of Ohio." He was finally released, however, but it is doubtful if ever, in either ancient or modern history,
there has been an instance of secession and rebellion so successful,
or a hero of one so clearly entitled to the distinction as Major Stickney.
Other citizens of the disputed strip, who claimed allegiance to
Ohio, were arrested and harshly treated, among whom were Messrs.
N. Goodsell and George McKay, of Toledo, and feeling was aroused
to a high pitch. The commissioners appointed to re-mark the Harris line reported the attack upon them to Governor Lucas, and he,
in turn, reported the facts to President Jackson. The President
sent a copy of the report to Governor Mason, and directed him to
send a statement "by the officers engaged in the transaction complained of." William McNair, under-sheriff of Lenawee county,
and the officer who made the arrests, replied, denying that the commissioners' posse was fired upon.  Great excitement prevailed
throughout Ohio. The press spread the news with such comments
as corresponded with their views. Most of the papers advocated
the cause of the Governor, and severely condemned the conduct of
Michigan, but some few of the Whig papers, or those anti-Democratic in politics, took an opposite view and severely berated the
conduct of Governor Lucas and those who sided with him. They
treated the proceedings on the part of the authorities of Ohio as
ridiculous and calculated to bring the state into disgrace. But
these papers that spoke freely against the course pursued by the
state were very few. Governor Lucas, finding it impracticable to
run the line or enforce jurisdiction over the disputed territory,
called an extra session of the legislature to meet on June 8th. That
'body passed an act "to prevent the forcible abduction of the citizens of Ohio." The act was intended of course to prevent, if possible, a repetition of offenses heretofore mentioned-and also had
reference to counteracting the previous acts of the legislative council of Michigan-and made such offenses punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary for not less than three nor more than
seven years. An act was also passed at this special session creating the county of Lucas out of the north part of Wood and Henry
counties. This new Ohio county extended from the east line of
Williams to Lake Erie, the greater part of the new division lying
between the rival boundary lines. An act was also passed levying appropriations to carry into effect all laws in regard to the
northern boundary. Three hundred thousand dollars were appropriated out of the treasury and the Governor was authorized to




HISTORICAL


125


borrow $300,000 more on the credit of the state. The determination to run and re-mark the Harris line was still in evidence, and
a resolution was adopted inviting the President to appoint a commissioner to go with the Ohians when they again attempted to
make the survey.
The issue was now changed, and to quote again from a legal
chronicler of events, "The United States now became defendant as
claimant of title in fee." The determined attitude of Michigan to
prevent Ohio from exercising any authority over the disputed strip
aroused a feeling of state pride that could not well brook the idea
that the thinly populated Territory of Michigan, with her stripling
Governor, should successfully defy Governor Lucas and a state of
a "million" inhabitants. Governor Lucas investigated the military
strength of the state and found that at least 12,000 men were ready
to respond to a hurry-up call. The authorities of Michigan became exasperated. They dared the Ohio "million" to enter the
disputed ground and "welcomed them to hospitable graves." Prosecutions for the crime of holding office under the laws of Ohio were
conducted with greater vigor than ever, and the people of Monroe
county, Michigan, were busy in acting as a sheriff's posse to make
arrests of the recalcitrant Buckeyes. The partisans of Ohio being
thus continually harassed by the authorities of Michigan and attempting frequently to retaliate in kind, the disputed strip was
not an attractive point for the home-seeker during the greater part
of the summer of I835.
But such a state of affairs could not permanently exist and
was certain ere long to reach its culmination. The frequent arrests and imprisonments of reputable men tended to keep the matter at a fever heat, and in a few instances homicide was narrowly
averted on the part of the infuriated citizens. On July I5, I835,
an attempt was made to arrest Two Stickney, second son of the
doughty Major, and to re-arrest George McKay. The accused were
found at a tavern, "in the village of Toledo," by officers Lyman
Hurd and Joseph Wood, of Monroe county, Michigan; but Stickney and McKay resisted the efforts to arrest them, and in the melee
that followed Officer Wood was severely wounded by a dirk knife,
in the hands of Stickney, who escaped and fled to Ohio. He was indicted by the the grand jury of Monroe county, and a requisition
was made on Governor Lucas for his surrender. The Governor
refused to surrender the fugitive, and this and other similar proceedings were reported by Governor Mason to President Jackson,
who was becoming strongly impressed with the necessity of interposing some check to the evident tendency toward serious trouble.




I26


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


Some time previous to this Governor Lucas, perceiving considerable uneasiness at Washington for the peace of the country, had
sent to the Federal City, Noah H. Swayne, William Allen, and
David T. Disney, to confer with the President on the subject of
the boundary difficulties. The result of this mission was the urgent appeal of the President for "the mutual suspension until after
the next session of Congress," of all action that would possibly
produce collision, and the assurance that an earnest recommendation would be immediately sent to the acting Governor of Michigan
and the other authorities of the Territory, whom he could rightfully advise in the performance of their duty, "that no obstruction
shall be interposed to the re-marking of the Harris line; that all
proceedings already begun under the act of February I2, 1835,
shall be immediately discontinued, that no prosecution shall be
commenced for any subsequent violations of that act, until after the
next session of Congress, and that all questions about the disputed
jurisdiction shall be carefully avoided, and if occurring inevitably,
their discussion shall be postponed until the same period."
This arrangement was made with Messrs. Swayne, Allen, and
Disney, on July 3, I835, and the provisions defined the base of operations for Ohio. The state now had the direct promise of the
President that he would advise that "no obstruction shall be interposed to the re-marking of the Harris line, etc." This "recommendation" was promptly conveyed to Governor Mason, but it had no
effect on his action. Prosecutions went on as before. This aroused
the President to action; he at once removed Governor Mason, and
appointed Charles Shaler, of Pennsylvania, his successor. He also
advised Governor Lucas to refrain from any act of jurisdiction over
the disputed territory pending the action of Congress. Mr. Shaler
never entered upon the duties of the office, and soon afterward John
S. Horner, of Virginia, was appointed secretary and acting governor, but he did not enter upon the duties of his office until September 21, and in the meanwhile Mason continued as acting governor.
Governor Lucas now felt sure that Old Hickory was aroused,
and that he would tolerate no more show of force on his part, but
he also felt it necessary to perform some act of jurisdiction, so it
would not be said he had backed down. The act of the Ohio legislature, erecting the new county of Lucas, also provided "that the
said county of Lucas, when organized, shall be attached to the second judicial circuit, and the court of common pleas in said county
shall be holden on the first Monday of September next.' Accordingly




H ISTORICAL


127


preparations were made for the holding of court at Toledo upon the
date mentioned. Governor Mason was aware of the fact, and was
on hand with General Brown and the militia to prevent the consummation of the order. To actually hold this court in defiance
of Governor Mason and his military force, and also in defiance of
the President's recommendation, looked to Governor Lucas like a
grand achievement, one that would burnish his tarnished honor,
and maintain the dignity of the gubernatorial office of the great
state of Ohio. He, through his adjutant-general, ordered out a
regiment of troops to escort the judges to Toledo, and protect them
in the performance of their duty. They were to march from Matmee on the morning of the day of September 7, but the evening
previous a report was circulated that General Brown was in Toledo with i,200 men, ready for any emergency. The report was
untrue, but it served to test the valor of the judges; they hesitated
and trembled at the prospect. The Colonel in command provided
a forlorn hope, and taking the judges in charge, marched them
into Toledo at 3 o'clock Monday morning, September 7, I835, proceeded to a school house, held court less than five minutes, and
then hastily returned to Maumee. How easily was Ohio honor
vindicated. Not a soul over whom they came to assert jurisdiction
knew of their coming, doings, or retreat.
There might have been further trouble had not President Jackson removed the fiery Mason from his position as acting governor
of Michigan and placed the affairs of the Territory in the hands
of one whose disposition was less excitable and whose acts were
governed more by careful consideration. John S. Horner, his successor, immediately entered into an amicable correspondence with
Governor Lucas, the effect of which was to allay all excitement and
restore peaceful relations, leaving the final settlement of the question with Congress at its session the following winter. This, however, merely changed the scene of the conflict and the personnel of
the combatants, for when the matter was taken up in Congress, the
advocates on each side displayed a feeling in the matter no less intense than that exhibited by the partisans on the Ohio frontier.
John Quincy Adams championed the cause of Michigan, and declared in an impassioned address that never before in his life had
he known "a controversy in which all the right was so clearly on
one side and all the power so overwhelmingly on the other." He
had able assistants in the debate, but Ohio also was represented
by men who were abundantly equipped with ability to do battle
for the other side of the contention. Thomas Ewing, in the Senate,




I28


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


and Samuel F. Vinton, in the House, were the Buckeye knights,
and in the following June, I836, Ohio won the day and the disputed
strip-Congress holding that the state constitution, having been
solemnly accepted, authorized Ohio to annex the territory in question. In the main, this action of Congress was more in the nature
of a compromise than a clear-cut decision upon the merits of the
controversy. Congress is not a court of equity, and the members
thereof are sometimes actuated by motives other than a desire to
give force and effect to the letter and spirit of existing law. What
a chancery tribunal would have done, had a proper issue been joined
and brought before it for adjustment, is of course problematical,
but with the facts fully stated (as the writer has endeavored
t.o give them in this chapter) and with the intent of the framers of
the Ordinance of I787, so apparent, it seems that exact justice
would have placed the boundary line considerably further north
than it is. But following the strict letter of the Ordinance, and
the ensuing acts of Congress, a judge of the law would doubtless
have named the Fulton line as the southern boundary of Michigan.
In fact the Supreme Court of Ohio, in the case of Daniels vs.
Stevens, lessee, reported in the Nineteenth Ohio Reports, Chief
Justice Hitchcock delivering the opinion, affirms that Michigan
had jurisdiction to the Fulton line until the act of Congress was
passed, in June, 1836, which established the Harris line as the true
boundary. And the United States Circuit Court, in a case of considerable interest (Piatt vs. Oliver et al., reported in 2 McLean,
267), in which the question of state jurisdiction became important,
decided the right of jurisdiction to be in Michigan until the boundary line was changed by Congress, in I836. The latter case was
appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, and there the
jurisdiction over the disputed territory was again treated as rightfully and clearly in Michigan.-3 Howard's R. 333.
But those were days of compromises in American politics, as is
evidenced by the act of Congress admitting Missouri, the tariff
law of I833, etc., and in the settlement of this disputed boundary
line, the handiwork of a skilled peace-maker is also apparent.
Michigan had applied for admission to the sisterhood of states, and
to secure such recognition could be easily induced to surrender
her claims to a narrow strip of land, averaging about eight miles
wide. As additional salve for her wounded pride, however, she
was given as a part of her domain the large peninsula between
Lakes Huron, Michigan, and Superior, now so well known for its
rich deposits of copper and other minerals. If "the jingle of the




HISTORICAL                    129
guinea helps the hurt that honor feels," when speaking of men,
the same is doubtless true of states, and Michigan was abundantly
compensated in mineral wealth for whatever damage was done
to her escutcheon.  The chief value to Ohio of the territory contended for was the harbor at Toledo, formed by the mouth of the
Maumee-essential, as her public men believed, to enable her to
reap the benefit of the commerce made by her canals to Cincinnati
and Indiana. Results have shown that they judged correctly, for
Toledo has proved to be the true point for the meeting of the lake
and canal commerce.
Thus the angry strife,'resulting from a geographical error, was
happily settled through the ascendancy of conciliatory statesmanship, and the citizens of the two commonwealths, once on the
verge of open warfare, became united in a common interest, and
nothing but tranquil and fraternal relations have since prevailed
between themt
9-IV




CHAPTER VI.
GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT.
From the time of the first laying out and platting of the village
of Adrian, there grew up quite a strife between it and Tecumseh
for the final location of the county seat. Tecumseh had the start
of Adrian by about two years, and had obtained the advantage of
having had the county seat first established there by the Territorial
legislature, and thus kept rather ahead of Adrian in population
and improvements for the first ten or twelve years of their growth.
By the state census of 1837, the township of Tecumseh had a population of 2,462, whilst Logan township (afterward changed to Adrian), including the village of Adrian, had 1,962, and Raisin township, lying between them, had about 1,076, about equally divided
in interest as between the two villages, but leaning strongly toward
Adrian on account of the influence of Darius Comstock being
thrown actively and powerfully in favor of his son's interests as
the founder of that then thriving village. The late W. A. Whitney
stated that he well remembered a conversation between General
Brown and Darius Comstock, when the latter inquired, "Does thee
really think, Joseph, that thee has a better place at Tecumseh for
the county seat than we have at Adrian?" "No," said the General,
"but we have a much better water power and will keep the county
seat also, if we can." But the geographical position of Adrian, being so much nearer the center of the county, and the then near
completion of the Erie & Kalamazoo railroad, from Toledo to Adrian, and which was being built largely by means of capital furnished by Adrian and vicinity, decided the question in favor of
that place, and the old feeling of rivalry between the two places has
long since ceased to exist, or to show any evidence of even being
much remembered.
The removal of the seat of justice of the county from Tecumseh to Adrian was provided for by an act of the first state legislature, approved March 21, 1836, to take effect from and after the




HISTORICAL


I3I


first Monday of November, I838. The first section of the act declared the present seat of justice at Tecumseh vacated, and then
proceeding it declared that from and after Nov. I, 1838, "the seat
of justice of Lenawee county shall be, and the same is hereby established at the village of Adrian, in said county, upon lands heretofore conveyed to said county by Addison J. Comstock, or upon such
other lands in said village as may be hereafter conveyed to said
county for that purpose, and accepted by the board of supervisors
of said county, and said board of supervisors are hereby authorized
and empowered, from and after the first Monday of May, next, to
designate and fix the site for erection of the county buildings for
said county, in the village of Adrian aforesaid." The next section
of this enactment authorized the board of supervisors to borrow
$Io,ooo for a term not exceeding ten years, and at an interest not
exceeding seven per cent., to be redeemable in not less than five
annual installments, for the purpose of 6btaining site for and the
erection of buildings.  A subsequent section provided, "that said
board shall compensate the owners of the buildings now used for
county purposes in such sum or sums as they shall deem just and
equitable for the use of said buildings for the nine years they have
been used, or may hereafter be used for purposes aforesaid."
The seat of justice having thus been located at Adrian, the
first requisite in the embryo city was buildings in which to hold
court and house the county officials. As may readily be inferred,
these first county buildings were simple and in keeping with their
surroundings. The court house was built in the years I836-7; it
was built on the land donated by Addison J. Comstock, extending
from Clinton street east to Locust and north to Front street. The
building stood on the lot fronting on First street and occupied the
spot where the Gilliland homestead now stands. It was a brick
structure, two stories high. The court and jury rooms were on
the upper floor, while the offices for the county officials were below. A hallway extended through the center and at the back end a
stairway led to the court room above. It was a large, commodious
and airy building, presenting a very good appearance, and on the
roof in front was a belfry. This building served as the official residence of the county officers and the place for holding the courts
of the county until March 14, 1852, when the court-house was destroyed by fire, and with it a great many of the county records
and other valuable articles in the various offices. Soon thereafter
the county purchased the present court-house site and on it erected
an office building, one story high, of brick. This building was




I32


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


solely for the use of the county officials, and for court purposes
various expedients were resorted to. Court was held at different
times in the old Odd Fellows' hall, on Maumee street, a vacant
room on the third floor of the Underwood block, and at other
places until 1863, when Dean's opera house, which had formerly
been the place of worship for the First Methodist Episcopal Church
was secured, and it was the building in which courts were held until
the erection of the present structure in 1884.
The delay in building a new court house was long and exasperating, occasioned by the opposition manifested by residents in
other parts of the county, but in I88I a movement was started that
was finally successful and the new court house was built. It came
about in this way: Jesse Warren, chairman of the board of supervisors, appointed Shepherd, of Dover; Manning, of Deerfield, and
Howell, of Macon, as a committee on public buildings. At that
time, as already stated, the courts were held in Dean's opera house,
and there the board of supervisors met, and the county office building was inadequate for the purposes for which it was used. The
need of the county for better conveniences was very great. The
question of an appropriation for a new court house had several
times been submitted to the voters of the county, and they had always voted it down.   The board of supervisors had little or no
faith in submitting the question to the people again. The committee carefully examined every project that promised relief, but
no suggested plan was practicable, and the final report of the committee was made up without recommendations. The report of the
committee was completed and signed in the little hallway leading
from the court room to the supervisor's room in Dean's opera house.
Before the committee left the building Mr. Howell said to Mr.
Shepherd: "My town sent me here to represent their interests,
and I believe their interests demand greater security for the records,
and better conveniences for the courts. When our report has been
adopted, I will offer a resolution to again submit to the voters the
question of an appropriation to build a new court house." "I will
stand by you and second the motion," said Shepherd. The report
of the committee was made and adopted Wednesday morning,
March 22, 1882. At the opening of the afternoon session Mr.
Howell offered the resolution to submit to the voters the question
again. Mr. Dewey moved that the resolution be made the special
order for 9 a. m. of the following day. At 9 a. m., March 23, the
resolution was taken up for consideration. The amount named in
the resolution was $75,000, Mr. Dewey moved to strike out $75,



---— __


I


tf "


- i


4;.
I


w, t


Iid,   I,,     -
bee:  g,&


2` `:*~-i* p
f


I,lSNA\VIr,' (OOUJNTY COURT HOUSE


Foio by Metler, Adriana








HISTORICAL


I33


ooo and insert $50,000oo. Mr. Shepherd moved to amend Mr. Dewey's
amendment and make it $6o,ooo. Mr. Shepherd's amendment was
lost, yeas 9, nays 14. The question then came up on Mr. Dewey's
amendment, which was lost, yeas Io, nays 14. D. A. Bixby then
moved to reconsider the vote by which Mr. Dewey's amendment
was lost. This was carried. After much discussion the resolution
as introduced by Mr. Howell, and as amended by Mr. Dewey, was
carried, yeas I8, nays 6; two-thirds of the supervisors-elect being
necessary to submit. The question was submitted to the people,
Nov. 7, 1882, and carried.
As a site for the new court house the tract of land bounded
by Maple evenue, Main, Front and Winter streets was purchased.
A sale of the contract for building was advertised and held, and the
lowest responsible bidder was Messers. Allen & Van Tassel, of
Ionia, and the contract was awarded to them,'their bid being $47,460. The contract for the construction was made on April 3, 1884,
and the building was first used for court purposes in the early part
of the year I886. The structure is of brick, two stories high, with
a tower and belfry, and faces on Main street, although there are
also entrances from Maple avenue and Front street. It is a very
substantial building, the interior being admirably arranged for the
accommodation of the county officials and others having business
therein. The total cost to the county of the building, including all
extra work, amounted to $49,944, although this does not represent
the entire cost of the structure. The original contractors, realizing that they had "counted without their host" in estimating the
cost of the work, made an assignment before its completion, the
assignees being their bondsmen, Messrs. Knapp & Avery. These
gentlemen carried out the contract to the letter, but found at the
end that they were the losers in a sum that amounted to more than
$8,00o. Several efforts were made by members of the board of
supervisors to reimburse these gentlemen for at least a portion of
their loss, but' nothing was done in that direction.  The building
committee appointed by the board of supervisors, and who superintended the work from its inception to its completion, was Ira
Swaney, Thomas M. Hunter, A. James, H. Holdridge, and Wm.
M. Corbet.
William M. Corbet, who officiated as a member of this committee, is deserving of more than a passing mention, and it is with
no desire to be invidious that the writer takes this opportunity to
give a short sketch of his career. During life he was one of the
most popular men of Blissfield township, as was evidenced upon




134


'4MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


several occasions, particularly in his repeated elections to the office
of supervisor by the people, notwithstanding the fact that the party
with which he affiliated was in the minority in the township by
at least one hundred votes. Mr. Corbet was born in Villanova,
Chautauqua county, New York, on May 22, i826. In I830 the
family emigrated to Michigan, arriving at Detroit on July 4, on
a schooner after a week's sail from Buffalo. At Detroit the father
secured ox-teams and removed his family to Adrian, arriving there
about the middle of the month. He afterward took up eighty acres
on section 26 in Palmyra township, where the family lived most of
the time until i859. 'William M. Corbet lived at home until the
death of his mother, in 1840, when he went to Monroe and lived
with W. G. Powers for several years, spending a part of three
or four years in school during this time.  On January 9, 1843,
when he was seventeen years old, he commenced as a locomotive
fireman on the Michigan Southern railroad, on a locomotive called
the "Hillsdale," of which Edwin Reese was enginer. He acted as
fireman about two years. when Thomas G. Coe, then superintendent, promoted him, and he at once became a full-fledged engineer
Df the old locomotive "Ypsilanti,' the first that ever ran on the
Michigan Southern road; it had previously been used on the
Michigan Central, but was shipped to Detroit from Monroe by vessel. He ran on the Michigan Southern for about six years, then
went into the employ of the Michigan Central, and remained nearly
a year, after which he returned to the Michigan Southern and ran
a locomotive until I853, after which time he followed that occupation but little. During the ten years of his services as fireman and
engineer he was in several accidents, including two collisions. In
1853 he went to Toledo, and there clerked for W. G. Powers until
i854, when he purchased the Pratt farm near the village of Blissfield, but sold it to W. G. Powers in i86o and purchased the Fitch
Dewey farm about two miles northeast of RElissfield, where he
afterward resided. He was a Democrat in politics, and was first
elected to the office of supervisor in i883. During that and the following two years he served as a member of the committee which
superintended the building of the court house, and he was annually re-elected as supervisor for a number of years. At one time
he was a candidate of his party for a seat in the legislature, but
party lines were so closely drawn that he was defeated by a small
majority. In the board of supervisors he also served upon several
small committees, the most important of which was upon equalization, and at one time he was the candidate of his party for chairman of the board.




HIS rORICAL


I35


The first county jail in Adrian was built at about the same time
as the court house, in 1836-7, and the building was located near the
old court house at about the spot where the barn on the Gilliland
homestead now stands. This served as the place of confinement
for offenders until 1877, when, the building having become dilapidated and out-of-date, it became necessary to erect a new one.
The question of an appropriation for the purpose of building a new
jail was submitted to the voters of the county at the April election in
1876, and was carried by a comfortable majority. A site for the new
building was selected just south across the street from the present
court house. The contract for the building was let on August 31,
1876, to James Donough, of Adrian, the contract price being $I7,784. The building was completed in the following year, and is in
all respects a model county jail, both in point of security and arrangement. The total cost was $19,914.45, thus keeping well within
the amount of the appropriation, which was $20,000.
ROADS.
The first thought taken by early settlers, when a few homes
are once established, is of facilities for communicating with a
modest section of the outer world, and the realization of this desire becomes a business and social necessity. Afterward, when the
limits of a village are expanded into a city, comes the thought of
general means of communication and transportation, not only
within the bounds of the corporation, but far beyond into the distant districts of the state and nation. The first roadways leading
into and out of Lenawee county were not public highways. They
were adopted by accident, belonged to nobody in particular, and extended across the country without regard to the cardinal points
of the compass, but as irregular as a cow-path. When the white
men first visited the present site of Tecumseh they found the remains of one of the great camping grounds of the Pottawattamie
Indians, from which diverged four principal Indian trails; one for
Detroit, one for Monroe, one south, and one for Chicago. The
wagons of the pioneers usually followed these and other minor
trails; and as they were found to be the best routes, the principal
roads of pioneer days were established on nearly the same courses.
But these roads were mere openings through the timber, with
logs laid across some of the streams-and varied occasionally by
stumps and hollows. Still the tide of immigration passed through
these channels with an unceasing flow, and spread out over the




136


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


rich country to the west. As the population increased, however,
the demand for more and better highways became constant and imperative. In the fall of 1826 Musgrove Evans was employed by
the United States government to superintend the construction of
the Chicago road from Detroit to Clinton, in Lenawee county.
This road had been surveyed by the United States in 1825, and
established as a military road between Detroit and Chicago. It
was 254 miles long, extended from Detroit through Ypsilanti and
Saline, entered Lenawee county a little to the northeast of Clinton
village, passed through the. village of Clinton and along the northern boundary of Lenawee county, through Hillsdale, Branch, and
St. Joseph counties, and crossed the corner of Berrien into the state
of Indiana. It was the thoroughfare to other states along which
immigrants flocked in almost countless numbers. Blois' Gazetteer of the state of Michigan, published in 1838, speaking of the
Chicago road, said: "The travel on this road is immense, equal
to, if not more, than on any other in the United States of the
same length." In June, 1828, the Legislative Council, in response
to a general demand, laid out a Territorial road from "Port Lawrence" (Toledo), "in the county of Monroe," through "Blissfield
and Logan, and also through the village of Adrian, in the county
of Lenawee, to intersect the Chicago road on the most direct and
eligible route; and Anthony McKey, of said county of Lenawee,
and Eli Hubbard and Seneca Allen, of the county of Monroe, are
hereby appointed commissioners to lay out said road." The act was
approved June 23, 1828. Only the west portion of this road was
ever completed. The first public roads in the vicinity of Adrian
were laid out, fourteen in number, by Noah Norton and Warren
Aylesworth, road commissioners, from November 26, I827, to
Pecember II, 1828.  These roads opened up the country surrounding the future county seat and proved an impetus to the speedy settlement of that region. In the winter of 1831-2 Congress made
an appropriation to build a turnpike road from La Plaisance Bay to
the Chicago road, through Tecumseh, and in the fall of 1832 Musgrove Evans, of Tecumseh, was employed to survey the route.
The jobs were let in the spring of 1833, and the road was completed during the summer of I835.
These were some of the early roads in Lenawee county and
others are mentioned in different chapters of this work. It is not
possible to give in detail the development of highways, and an
effort is only made to mention a sufficient number to convey to
the reader some idea of early days and pioneer conditions. As




HISTORICAL


I37


has been noted in a previous chapter, Congress appropriated money
at different times to construct military roads in the Territory of
Michigan, and some of these, notably the Chicago road, were
a great convenience to the early settlers of Lenawee county. These
matters at that early day were regarded as of great local importance. The business of road construction soon became systematized to some extent and gradually the county of Lenawee became
threaded with public highways. Upon them the settlers had to depend as routes of travel into the interior, for as yet the railroads
and their advantages had not become to be realized.
Although the subject of railroads had begun to occupy the
thoughts of the more sanguine and far seeing, plank wagon-roads
were regarded as more practicable and better adapted to the wants
of the community in reaching a market for their agricultural products, of which at that time wheat was the principal. In the legislative assembly of 1837 a charter was passed incorporating a company with authority to construct a road or turnpike from Adrian to
the village of Coldwater, in Branch county. The incorporation
was styled "The Adrian and Coldwater Turnpike Company," and
Addison J. Comstock, E. Conant Winter, Henry Wood, George
Crane, Samuel Comstock, Rockwell Manning, and Hiram Cowles
were named as commissioners to receive and solicit subscriptions
for stock therein. The books were to be opened at the inn of E. C.
Winter in the village of Adrian, and the capital stock was $50,000,
consisting of I,ooo shares of $50 each. A state road from the Ohio
line north to the village of Hudson was provided for by act of the
legislature of March 31, I841. Franklin Goodell, T. C. Sawyer and
E. R. Parmelee were appointed commissioners to lay out and construct the road from a point where the line between Lenawee and
Hillsdale counties intersects the line between the states of Ohio and
Michigan.
It seems that the project of a turnpike from Adrian to Coldwater came to naught, for on March I6, I847, the state legislature passed an act incorporating the "Adrian and Coldwater Plank
Road Company." The incorporators were Richard Kent, Elisha
P. Champlin, and Henry Lockwood, and these gentlemen were to
serve as a board of commissioners to solicit and receive subscriptions for stock. The capital stock was placed at $250,000, consisting of o0,000 shares of $25 each. The company was empowered to
survey and construct a road from Adrian to Coldwater, passing
through the villages of Harrison and Jonesville, and the same was
to be built of plank not less than eight feet long and three inches




138


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


in thickness. As soon as five miles of said road was completed the
directors were to be allowed to appoint toll collectors and erect
toll stations. The following rates of toll were established: Meat
cattle, six cents for every score; wagons drawn by two animals,
twelve and one-half cents; for every additional animal, 4 cents;
coaches, pleasure wagons, or carriages, drawn by two animals,
twelve and one-half cents; each additional animal, four cents; for
single vehicles, IO cents; every horse or mule driven or led over,
without vehicle, four cents; horse or mule, with rider, six cents.
Following these enactments, numerous applications were made
to the legislature for charters authorizing the construction of other
plank and turnpike roads. At the session of the state legislature
of I848, on April 3, of that year, six acts of incorporation were
passed; giving to companies authority to construct plank roads
and collect tolls in Lenawee county. "The Adrian and Union City
Plank Road Company" was chartered to construct a road from
Union City, in Branch county, to Adrian, over the most eligible
route, and William 'L. Greenly, George C. Knight, and Abel Whitney, were appointed commissioners; the capital stock was placed
at $ioo,ooo, divided into 4,000 shares of $25 each. "The Adrian
and Jackson Plank Road Company' was incorporated to construct
a road from Adrian to Jackson, and J. H. Cleaveland, Charles Bidwell, S. Walker, A. F. Fitch and J. B. Pierce were appointed
commissioners; the capital stock was placed at $ioo,ooo, divided into 4Mo0o shares of $25 each.  "The Adrian and White
Pigeon Plank Road Company" was incorporated to construct
a road from Adrian to White Pigeon, in St. Joseph county, and
Henry Hart, John R. Clark, T. D. Billings, Charles Buck and C. B.
Stebbins, were appointed commissioners; the capital stock was
placed at $75,ooo, divided into 3,000 shares of $25 each. "The Indiana and Adrian Plank Road Company" was incorporated to construct a road from the Indiana state line in the county of Hillsdale
to the southwest corner of Lenawee county, and thence on the most
direct and eligible route to Adrian. The commissioners were James
Fowle, John King, and Sidney S. Drake, of Hillsdale county, and
the capital stock was $5o,ooo, divided into 2,000 shares of $25 each.
"The Tecumseh and Jackson Plank Road Company" was incorporated to construct a road from Tecumseh to the village of Jackson,
in Jackson county, and G. W. Ketchum, Perley Bills, S. Walker,
H. B. Lathrop, and J. C. Wood, were appointed commissioners to
receive and solicit subscriptions; the capital stock was placed at
$75,ooo, divided into 3,000 shares of $25 each. And "The Adrian




HISTORICAL


I39


and Bean Creek Plank Road Company" was incorporated to construct a road from Adrian to such point on Bean Creek in Rollin
township as might be thought to be advisable. George C. Knight,
E. C. Winter, C. D. Smith, W. Corey, and Nathaniel Cooper, were
appointed commissioners, and the capital stock was placed at $75,ooo, divided into 3,000 shares of $25 each.
It would be interesting if we were able to give the history of
these various projects, but we are unable to do so, and it is probable
that the great expectations of the incorporators were never fully
realized. It would seem that some of them were rival concerns,
and if so they probably met with an early demise. But the company last named enjoyed a lease of life and realized a measure of
success. It was organized on May 4, 1848, with a capital stock
of $75,000, divided into 3,000 shares, as stated above. The original
charter was from Adrian to Bean Creek, but an extension was
granted, and the road was built as far as Gambleville, in Hillsdale
county, where it intersected with the Chicago turnpike. During the
year the survey was made, the right of way purchased and the contracts let for lumber and construction. The first plank of the road
was laid in Adrian in the spring of 1849. Commencing on Front
street, opposite where the court house now stands, planks were laid
up Main street to Maumee, and on Maumee street west to the village of Addison, etc. A. J. Comstock was the first president of
the company, Henry Jones was the secretary, and E. L. Clark was
treasurer. This plank road was one of the principal highways of
Lenawee county for a number of years, but in due time it had served
its period of usefulness. By an act of the legislature, approved
February I6, 1857, "The Adrian and Bean Creek Plank Road Company" was empowered, by a majority vote of stockholders at a regular meeting thereof, to "discontinue any part of their road and remove planks therefrom and may by like vote discontinue their
branch of said road and remove planks therefrom, and also gravel
any part of their said plank road or branch thereof." It was also
provided that the company should record with the register of deeds
a description of any part of the road which might be discontinued,
within sixty days after such discontinuance, but that no part of the
road which should be properly graveled should be deemed to have
been discontinued.
But this road and all others of like description have long since
passed away, having performed their part in the development of
the country, and it must be borne in mind that the growth of Lenawee county and surrounding territory was by successive if not




I40


4MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


rapid, steps of progress. None of these steps was of more importance than the locating and building of public roads, and it is
the duty of the historian to mention these numerous steps, even
though they do not possess for the present generation the interest
which inspired them. Where, in I826, the only evidences of human
occupancy were a few scattered Indian trails, and where the only
travel by white persons had been by land-surveying parties, or
perhaps an occasional Indian trader, we now find every mile or
so, well traveled roads, interpersed every few miles with school
houses and churches, and all other evidences of a thickly settled,
rich and prosperous community. Such has been the transformation
in Lenawee county during a period of but little more than eighty
years.
RAILROADS.
Perhaps one of the greatest events in the history of Lenawee
county occurred on November 2, I836, the same being the completion of the Erie & Kalamazoo railroad from Toledo to Adrian.
It was through the enterprise and untiring efforts of Addison J.
Comstock, his father, Darius Comstock, George Crane, Joseph Gibbons, and Dr. C. N. Ormsby, of Adrian, together with some gentlemen in Toledo, that the work was done. The Erie & Kalamazoo
was the first railroad built in the United States, west of Schenectady, N. Y., and the company was incorporated by the Territorial
Legislature of Michigan, in April, 1833, to construct a railroad
from Lake Erie (Port Lawrence, now Toledo) to the headwaters
of the Kalamazoo river, hence the name, "Erie & Kalamazoo."
At that time the entire road was supposed to be in Michigan, but
on the final adjustment of the boundary question, after the celebrated "Toledo War," about one-third of the road-eleven mileswas found to be in the state of Ohio. This road was laid with a
thin iron ribbon, on oak stringers, and was opened in I836. Until
January, 1837, the motive power consisted of horses. The notice
of the arrival of locomotive No. I, the first one in the tier of states
bordered by the Great Lakes, and the advertisement of the road,
in 1837, is here given, copied from the Toledo Weekly Blade, of
January 20, I837:
"It affords us pleasure to announce the arrival of the long expected locomotive for the Erie & Kalamazoo railroad. The business of our place has been embarrassed for want of it; goods have
accumulated at our wharves faster than we could transport them
into the interior on cars drawn by horses, and as a natural conse



HISTORICAL


I41


quence several of our warehouses are now crowded to their utmost
capacity. It is expected that the engine will be in operation in a
few days, and then, we trust, goods and merchandise will be forwarded as fast as they arrive. A little allowance, however, must
be made for the time necessary to disencumber our warehouses of
the large stock already on hand."
In the advertising columns the following appeared:
"To Emigrants and Travelers:
"The Erie & Kalamazoo railroad is now in full operation between
Toledo and Adrian.
"During the ensuing season trains of cars will run daily to
Adrian, there connecting with a line of stages for the West, M\ichigan City, Chicago, and Wisconsin Territory.
"Emigrants and others destined for Indiana, Illinois, and the
western part of Michigan
WILL SAVE TWO DAYS
"And the corresponding expense, by taking this route in preference to the more lengthened, tedious and expensive route heretofore traveled.
"All baggage at the risk of the owners."
This advertisement was signed by Edward Bissell, W. P. Daniels, and George Crane, as commissioners of the Erie & Kalamazoo
Railroad Company, and A. Hughes is named as superintendent
of the Western Stage Company. It will be observed that no time
is given for the departure of trains. The Board of Directors adopted the following tariff in 1836:
"Resolved, That the fare in the 'Pleasure Car' (a two-story,
top heavy affair that was always jumping the track) shall be as follows: Passengers, Toledo to Adrian, twelve shillings, fifty pounds
of baggage free. Freight, Toledo to Adrian, four shillihgs per hundred pounds; salt, $i per barrel."
For ten years this road had a stormy and troublous existence,
its affairs being managed sometimes by a Commissioner, acting
for the Board of Directors, sometimes by trustees, appointed by
order of the court, and part of the time by a receiver at the Toledo
end, and a commissioner at the Adrian end, recalling the familiar
anecdote of the retort of the mate of a vessel to the captain, "My




.,  t 42


[MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


end of this craft has come to anchor." In 1848 the road was sold
out under accumulated judgments; Hon. Washington Hunt, of
Lockport, N. Y., and George Bliss, of Massachusetts, were the purchasers. On August I, I849, they leased the road in perpetuity to
its rival, the Michigan Southern, which was then in operation from
Monroe to Hillsdale, and, although it now forms a part of the main
line of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern from Toledo westward, the Erie & Kalamazoo company still exists, drawing and
dividing its rental of $30,000 per year.
The Palmyra & Jacksonburg railroad (now the Jackson
branch of the Lake Shore) was started by the owners of the Erie
& Kalamazoo railroad, and was opened to Tecumseh, which place
was its terminus for nearly twenty years, with a celebration on
August 9, I838. This road became involved and was sold to the
state of Michigan in I844 for the amount of the state's loan and
interest, $22,000. The state united it with the Southern road, after
the construction of the latter, as the "Tecumseh branch," stipulating in the sale of the Southern road, in I846, that this branch
should be extended to Jackson, which, after a delay of ten years,
was done. We find that on March 12, 1849, an act was passed by
the state legislature, providing that the "state auditors settle and
compromise the balance due the state from the Palmyra & Jacksonburg Railroad Company."
In January, 1837, the legislature of the state passed the Internal Improvement Act, providing for a loan of $5,000,000 (an enormous sum at that time) for the improvement of rivers, construction of canals, and for three lines of railroad across the state-a
Southern, a Central, and a Northern railroad. The Southern road
was to start at Monroe, on Lake Erie, traverse the southern tier
of counties, and terminate at New Buffalo, on Lake Michigan.
Chicago was a mere Indian trading post, with a fort (Dearborn)
in an apparently irreclaimable quagmire. In pursuance of that act
commissioners were appointed to locate the routes. Of course the
people of Lenawee county were greatly interested, for upon the
successful completion of the road depended, in a great measure,
their future welfare. The commissioners at once determined the
principaI points of the route, viz: Adrian, Hillsdale Center, as it
was then called, Coldwater, Constantine, etc. As we shall not have
occasion to refer to this matter again, it may as well be remarked
in passing that Constantine was not finally made a point on the
road, in consequence of the road being turned into Northern Indiana. The direct route between Adrian and Hillsdale Center lay




HISTORICAL


143s


through or near the village of Rollin. The inhabitants of the twin
villages, Lenawee and Keene, desired to deflect the road two miles
from a straight line to accommodate them, and the inhabitants of
Lanesville (now Hudson) desired to deflect it three miles to accommodate them. Of the three proposed routes the Lanesville
route was the most unlikely to be adopted. The Lenawee and
Keene folks had a better route to offer in place of the shorter Rollin route, but the Lanesville route was the longest and most difficult of the three, and if a company had been locating the road it
would have taken a mint of eagles to buy it from its proper course.
The result proved the correctness of the old saw, "Where there is
a will there is a way." In the person of Augustus Finney, Lanesville possessed a valuable agent for the accomplishment of her purposes. Gentlemanly in appearance and pleasant in address, and having an eloquent and persuasive tongue, he was just the man to make
"the worst appear the better reason." Mr. Finney also possessed
a personal interest in the location of the road. He had purchased
a half interest in a saw mill, located in what is now the city of Hudson, and five acres of land with a frontage extending from Market to Church street. In the spring of 1837, a few weeks after the
appointment of the commissioners-Levi S. Humphrey, of Monroe,
being one-Mr. Finney appeared at Monroe to advocate the claims
of the Lanesville route. A public meeting was convened in the
court house to listen to the statements and arguments of the Lanesville orator. It did not take much to arouse the enthusiasm'of Monroe city people then. The "Toledo War" was but just closed, and
the state but three months admitted under the hated compromise
that robbed them of a harbor. The state had just borrowed $5,ooo,ooo, and was going to build them a railroad across the state. Monroe was to become the metropolis of Michigan,- while the agueshaken denizens of Toledo would hover over the swamps that environ the place, until their bloodless bodies find a sepulcher in her
miry soil. Under such a state of feeling the court house was
easily filled with the business men of Monroe. Mr. Finney spoke
of the beautiful country around Lanesville, and of the fertility of the
soil, but principally of the mammoth water power which he said
was about to be created near by, by digging a race across the neck
of a bend in Bean Creek, and which power he said would be estimated by the thousand horse power, and the machinery driven
would not only equal, but would surpass the greatest manufacturing cities of the world. He dwelt upon this branch of his subject
until the audience fancied it saw a great manufacturing town on




144


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


the Bean, only fifty miles away, furnishing the food, the furniture,
and the clothing for the hundred thousand inhabitants of the city
of Monroe.
Satisfying the people paved the way for labor with the commissioners. The preliminary surveys were made in the autumn of I837,
but the road was not established until the fall of 1838. During all
that time the question was open, and argument, persuasion, and
more substantial inducements were the order of the day.
Whether the inhabitants of the other routes offered any substantial
inducements is unknown, but the probability is they relied upon
their superior route, and deemed it impossible that the road would
be laid on the longest and hardest route, until its location was fixed,
and then offers were useless. The inducements operating on the
minds of surveyors and commissioners will probably never be
known, but that they did locate the Michigan Southern Railroad
between Adrian and Hillsdale on the most ineligible route is a fact
that can never be obliterated. The state commenced to take conveyances of right of way between Adrian and Hudson in November,
1838, and the road was opened as follows: Monroe to Petersburg,
eighteen miles, in 1839; Adrian, thirty-three miles, in I840; Hudson,
fifty miles, in 1843; Hillsdale, sixty-six miles, in I843. This comprised all the Southern road built by the state. In I846 the state
sold the road to a company, with Edwin C. Litchfield at its head,
for $500,000, in ten equal annual installments. The new company
did but little the next four years, adding but four miles to the west
end to reach Jonesville. During the years 1851-52 the road was constructed very rapidly, reaching Chicago, 243 miles from Toledo, in
March, I852. The lease of the Erie & Kalamazoo, already noticed,
August I, 1849, settled the struggle for supremacy between Monroe
and Toledo, in favor of the latter. Following is a copy of a time
table printed in the Watchtower office, Adrian, May 6, I844, sixtyfive years ago:
"Michigan Southern Railroad.
"Spring Arrangements for I844.
"(Road owned and operated by the State of Michigan.)
"From Monroe to Adrian, Hudson and Hillsdale.
"This road is now in operation from Monroe to Hillsdale, a distance of sixty-six miles, and being well provided with Locomotives,
Freight and Passenger Cars, is prepared to transport
"Freight and Passengers




HISTORICAL


I45


"Expeditiously and at low rates. This road is the cheapest and
most direct for Passengers going to Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin,
Iowa, South and Western parts of Michigan.
"Stages leave Hillsdale for Jonesville, Coldwater, Marshall, Kalamazoo, White Pigeon, Constantine, Niles,
Mishawaukie, South Bend.
"Mouth of St. Joseph River, and all the important Western Villages and Cities. Passengers will find it for their interest to leave
the Lake at Monroe, to avoid delay, as the Cars on this Road pass
Adrian for the West before they can reach Adrian from Toledo;
and also to avoid the expense and trouble of transhipment.
"The Train for Passengers Leaves Monroe Daily,
"Sundays Excepted, at Six o'clock A. M.,
"And Adrian at Nine o'clock A. M., and arrives at Hillsdale at
Half Past Eleven o'clock A. M.
"Leaves Hillsdale at half past I2 o'clock P. M., and Adrian at 3
o'clock P. M., and arrives at Monroe at 6 o'clock P. M. Fare
Through, $2. To intermediate places in proportion.
Table of Distance.


Miles
Monroe to Adrian..........34
Adrian to Hudson.........I7
Hudson to Hillsdale.......I7
Hillsdale to Jonesville...... 5
Jonesville to Coldwater.....I8
Coldwater to Bronson Prairie...................13
Bronson to Sturges' Prairie. 14
Sturges to White Pigeon... I2


MIiles
Mottville to Edwardsburgh.21
Edwardsburgh to Niles.....II
Niles to Michigan City.....36
Michigan City to Chicago
(steamboat)............60
Boat runs through daily.
Niles to mouth St. Joseph
river...................25


"Boat leaves St. Joseph daily for Chicago."
This time table and advertisement was dated May 6, I844, and
was signed by J. H. Cleveland, superintendent.
It is interesting to make comparison between the service then
and that which is given the people today. Now, one of the least
powerful of the many locomotives, which almost hourly pass over
IO-IV




14(


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


the several railroads that thread the county, would draw with ease
a train consisting of at least three times the tonnage of all the rolling stock in use on the Michigan Southern in I844. Fourteen passenger trains and two fast mail pass or leave the Adrian station
of the 'Lake Shore road daily; and on an average eight local freights,
with a capacity of 40,000 to 80,000 pounds per car. The Wabash
railroad approaches the Lake Shore in the magnitude of its passenger traffic and excels it as regards freight, and the other railroads of
the county, each have a large and growing business. Two electric
railways pass through the county, affording excellent passenger
service, and the numerous telegraph and telephone lines have completely annihilated distance in the matter of communication. What
marvelous changes in the means of transmitting intelligence have
been produced in a period of less than the allotted lifetime of a
man! Today, at any railroad station in Lenawee county, connected
with which is a telegraph office, one may transmit a message 2,000
miles distant, or even to Europe or the Orient, and receive to it an
answer in less space of time than, sixty-five years ago, would be
consumed by the speediest mode of travel to make the distance from
Macon to Canandaigua and return; and, during the January and
June floods that then appeared as regularly as the seasons, to communicate with a neighbor ten miles distant. Imagine a pioneer who,
about three months after the presidential election of 1832, had received an Eastern letter or newspaper conveying the intelligence
that Andrew Jackson had been re-elected president of the United
States in the preceding November. If the settler is a Jackson man,
he dons his hunting shirt and coon-skin cap and sallies forth in
search of neighbors of his political faith to communicate the glad
tidings, and mingle rejoicings. News of the result of a presidential
election would now be known in every considerable city and town
in the United States and Europe within twenty-four hours after the
close of the polls.
In the year I872, the Chicago & Canada Southern Railway Company completed the construction of its line as far west as Fayette,
Ohio, and ran the first train through Morenci on July 4, since which
date Fayette has been the terminal point. This road furnishes a
good outlet for the produce of the country contiguous to Morenci,
and makes that village a good market for all country produce. The
construction of the Wabash line, with a station two and one-half
miles directly north of the village, also furnishes good shipping
facilities, with a healthy competition in Seneca township. The
station is called North Morenci. In 1884 the Michigan & Ohio road




I


HISTORICAL                     147
was built through the northern part of the county, with stations
at Britton, Ridgeway, Tecumseh, Pentecost, Onsted, Devil's Lake,
Addison Junction, and Addison, thus establishing important shipping points at places where they were much needed. After a precarious existence for a number of years this road passed into the
hands of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway Company,
as did also the Canada Southern line to Fayette, and this gives the
Lake Shore & Michigan Southern a net-work. of roads in Lenawee
county. The Ypsilanti branch of that road also enters the county,
passing through the northwest corner of the township of Woodstock and affording a station at the new village called Cement City.
One of the most important events in the history of Lenawee
county, and especially its capital city, Adrian, was the construction
of the Detroit, Butler & St. Louis railroad, from Detroit to Butler,
Ind. In I88o the movement to construct such a road was completed
and was headed by the Hon. James F. Joy and other prominent
men in Detroit. It was unquestionably the intent of the prime
movers, at its inception, to make this road part of the Wabash system, although its construction was accomplished by an independent
company. The importance of the great undertaking has been
demonstrated in the highest degree since its completion, as it has
become the "main line" of this great thoroughfare between the East
and West. There is now no greater or more efficient railroad line
between Chicago, St. Louis, and New York, than the Wabash, and
Adrian and Lenawee county are benefited proportionately. The
Detroit, Butler & St. Louis railroad was built during the years
I880-8I, and the first passenger coach came into Adrian from Detroit, a distance of about fifty-seven miles, May 12, I88I. On June
o1, of the same year, Jay Gould passed over the entire line from
Butler to Detroit. The great financier stopped in Adrian for some
two or three hours, and a grand reception was given him. He was
driven about the city by the Hon. \W. S. Wilcox, the carriage being
occupied by Mr. Gould and Ald. W. T. Lawrence, with Mr. Wilcox
at the reins. A splendidly served lunch was given at the Lawrence
House, when Mr. Gould proposed as a toast, "Prosperity to Adrian,"
which was heartily responded to by a large number of citizens present. The actual bonus given by the citizens of Adrian to secure this
important railroad connection was $36,199. The largest subscription
of any Adrian citizen was that of Hon. E. L. Clark, amounting to
$Io,ooo. On July 6, I88I, an excursion party of ten carloads, containing Mayor Thompson and prominent and enterprising citizens of
Detroit, came to Adrian to rejoice over the completion of the road.




148


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


This was during the administration of Thomas J. Navin, As mayor
he made a short speech of welcome, and Mayor Thompson, of Detroit, responded. It was looked upon as a great occasion by both
cities. The day was intolerably hot, but all participants were unanimous in their sanguine faith of future results. On July 15, following, the subscribers to the bonus raised by Adrian were invited to
Detroit as the guests of that city, in honor of the completion of the
road. The number of citizens who took advantage of the occasion
was 725, and a great ovation was enjoyed. Col. W. F. Bradley
was appointed agent for the company at Adrian, June I5, i88i, and
still fills that important position.
Several north and south railway lines through Lenawee county
have at different times been contemplated and discussed, and one
that was finally constructed in i887 was originally known as the
Cincinnati, Jackson & Mackinaw, and now as the Cincinnati Northern. This road, as originally projected, in i852-53, was to pass,
after leaving Cincinnati, through all the county seats of the western
range of counties in Ohio, until it struck the Michigan line. After
the expenditure of a large amount in grading and making the road
bed ready for the ties in Ohio, thousands of which ties were made
and delivered on the line, where they rotted on the ground, the
panic of I857 struck the enterprise and placed a rough lock upon
its further progress. And in this comatose state the project remained until March 7, i88i, when some energetic men revived it,
and after six years more of doubt and uncertainty the road was completed from Cincinnati to Jackson, Mich. In Lenawee county it
passes through Hudson, Rollin, Manitou Beach, Abbot, Addison
Junction, Cowham and Cement City, crossing an east and west road
at Hudson, Addison Junction, and Cement City, and withal it is a
source of convenience and profit.
The first train to pass through Lenawee county, over what was
then known as the Lima Northern railroad, was on Sunday, July 27,
i896. At that time the track was completed from Lima, Ohio, to
the Wabash track in South Adrian, and a temporary traffic arrangement was made with the Wabash company. The work of tracklaying was soon afterward pushed on through Adrian, north to
Detroit, and in I898 trains commenced running between Lima and
Detroit. In I902 the name of the road was changed to the "Detroit
Southern," and it is now a very important line, known as the De.
troit, Toledo & Ironton. It connects with all the trunk lines running through Ohio, and at its present terminal, Ironton, Ohio, with
the Chesapeake & Ohio and Norfolk & Western roads, making it
a very important freight and passenger road.




HISTORICAL


I49


The first car to run from Toledo to Adrian on the Toledo &
Western electric line arrived in Adrian on Saturday, December 7,
I9OI. Cars commenced running on the following day on schedule
time. The subway, under the Wabash railroad tracks at Adrian,
was completed in August, I903, and the first through car came into
Adrian on August 11.
THE COUNTY INFIRMARY.
As early as 1836, the need of provision for the poor gained
official action. The increase in the population in this locality, the
same as in nearly every county in the state, the incoming of new
families, the infirmities of age and the unfortunate condition of some
persons who had become a charge upon the public, led to the establishment of an institution within the county, to be maintained at
public expense, called the Infirmary, by which it is commonly
known throughout most localities, as a home for aged, decrepit and
indigent persons. On March 25, 1836, the board of supervisors purchased of Josiah Sabin the east half of the southwest quarter of
section 9, in the township of Madison, the same to be used "for the
purpose of establishing a poor-house in said county" of Lenawee.
Proper buildings were erected, and this sufficed for the county's needs
for about twenty years. On March 14, I856, the county purchased
of Stephen Allen "all that part of the northwest quarter of section
No. 9, in township No. 7 south, of range 3 east, lying south of
the Michigan Southern railroad, and containing about seventy
acres of land." This added to the original purchase makes a farm
of something more than 50o acres. The buildings on this farm
are elaborate and expensive, and with the grounds surrounding
them cover several acres of land. The infirmary proper is a threestory brick structure, with a basement conveniently arranged for
heating, with the least possible danger of fire. Inmates who are
able to work are employed on the farm, or in caring for stock and
"choring" on the premises. Good, wholesome and substantial food
is provided in abundance, as is also comfortable and seasonable
clothing, and volunteer ministers from the various churches in the
county supply the spiritual needs. From the last annual report of
the superintendents of the poor the following facts are gleaned:
Whole number of inmates supported at the county house during
the year, eighty-nine; whole number at close of year, fifty-four;
number of deaths during the year, thirteen; current expenses at the
county house, $3,I74.06; miscellaneous expenses and temporary re



O50


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


lief as paid from poor fund, $1,521.49; temporary relief furnished by
supervisors to persons settled in other municipalities, $1,858.48;
temporary relief as reported by supervisors, $5,794.53; total expenditures, $12,794.60. The cost per week for each inmate at the
county house, aside from what is raised on the farm, is $I.I83. The
estimated value of stock on hand is $805, and the estimated value of
produce raised on the farm is $2,259.
CENSUS REPORTS.
The United States census tells the story of the wonderful
progress of Lenawee county during the first half century of its existence. During the past thirty years the population has remained
somewhat stationary, due to the fact that every portion of the
county had become occupied, and the population being largely rural,
the natural increase has been largely offset by removals to the
western country, where unoccupied land is plenty and the opportunities for securing homes are more attractive. But the fact that
the county has not suffered a decrease in population'speaks volumes,
for the history of old and well settled counties will show that to be
the usual experience after the county has once reached the population limit. The first census, taken in I830, revealed an enumeration
of 1,49I, but this was increased very rapidly until in I837, at the taking of the first state census there were I4,540 residents of the county.
Three years later the United States census revealed 17,889, and
since that time the population by decades has been reported as follows: I850, 26,372; i86o, 38,112; 1870, 45,6oI; i880, 48,343; I890,
48,448; 1900, 48,406. And the state census of 1904 gave the population as 49,097. The twentieth century has started with fine prospects for Lenawee county in a material sense. Already well supplied with means of communication with the outside world, other
highways of travel and commerce are promised; and with her fertile
fields, thriving cities and villages, and excellent people, Lenawee
takes a high rank among her sister counties of the Wolverine State.




CHAPTER VII.
POLITICS AND OFFICIAL HONORS.
Lenawee county received its first white inhabitants the same
year (1824) that the remarkable presidential contest occurred between Jackson, Adams, Clay, and Crawford. The administration
of Mr. Monroe had been so pacific and conciliatory in its measures
that the party lines previously existing had become almost obliterated, and it appeared to be conceded that his policy had established
"an era of good feeling." Means of communication with the outer
world, inhabited by civilized people, were then so limited, and newspapers and documents so scarce and difficult to obtain that the political excitement among the new settlers was not sufficient to disturb neighborhood tranquility. But when the election, under the
forms of the Constitution, was transferred to the House of Representatives, after the meeting of Congress on the first Monday
in December, 1824, and when it became known that, by the decision
of the Hrouise, the popular voice had been disregarded by the choice
of John Quincy Adams, and intelligence of the result finally penetrated the fastnesses of the dwellers in the Michigan wilderness,
it aroused a feeling that had a tendency to form political classification. But sharp party lines were not drawn for many years, and
even when they were they did not embrace candidates for the popular suffrage of a lesser grade than federal and state officers, rarely extending to candidates for merely local positions. In process
)of time, however, political organizations were formed upon a
broader basis, and they contested for possession of the smaller official plums, making the organization of political parties, although
occasionally broken, generally more compact.
Until 1834 the party adverse to the Democratic organization
had been known as National Republicans and Anti-Masons, but in
that year all that were opposed to the Democracy formed a coalition and changed their name to Whig, and under this banner fought
their battles until 1854, when a fusion between the Free-Soilers




I52


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


and Know-Nothings was made, and both elements combined under
the name of Republican. There existed, however, for many years
in Lenawee county, a small but brave and earnest body of Abolitionists, who were denounced and persecuted by both Democrats
and Whigs, who vied with each other in making assaults upon "the
incendiary Abolitionists." But it was only upon this common
ground that the two powerful parties would make common warfare. The leaders of the opposition to those who would abolish
the institution of slavery called themselves "conservative" men
who deemed it their duty to emphasize their dislike of fanatics who
advocated freedom for the black man as well as the whites. The
"conservative" men of that day decried such agitation, because,
they said, "it disturbed business interests." They were the psychological ancestors of those vainglorious men of today who oppose
every measure of reform that appears abstruse to their benighted
reasoning powers. They seem to think that the Emancipation
Proclamation was the culminating achievement of this Christian
civilization, and that the enemies of human progress were all slain
when the Demon of chattel slavery perished. Reasoning thus, they
do not consider it their duty to study proposed reform measures,
and in the conflict of opinion their weapons are sneers and vituperation instead of reason and logic.
But this is a digression, and we will return to the proper subject. The first election in the county took place in Tecumseh, in
1825, when only fourteen votes were cast for the Hon. Austin E.
Wi;ng, for delegate to Congress. He was twice elected to Congress,
and served from 1825 to 1829. Although Mr. Wing was closely
contiected with the first settlement of Lenawee county, he never
became a resident, his home being in Monroe. Hlie had filled the
office of private secretary to Governor Cass, with ability, and
possessed rare qualities for organization and public service. He
took a lively interest in the early growth and development of Lenawee county. He personally entered the land for the firm of
Wing, Evans & Brown, upon which the village of Tecumseh now
stands. He lived many years and saw the county completely settled and become dotted with beautiful cities and villages, and
prosperous and happy farm homes. He died at Cleveland, Ohio,
in August, 1869.
About the time that Lenawee county was rapidly increasing
her population, during the first years of her existence as a separate
division, and as a component part of the new state of Michigan, the
country experienced one of those financial panics which so fre



HISTORICAL


I53


quently shake commercial communities to their very center. As
this had an important influence upon the political events of that
time, it maybe well'to enter briefly into the details in so far as they
relate to political action. In December, I816, a new United States
bank was chartered for a term of twenty years. This institution,
located at Philadelphia, became in the course of years the center
of business interest. It was the custodian of the moneys of the
government, and the government was the owner of a considerable
amount of its stock; it could and did control the rates of discount.
It could make or break private or state banks by a bestowal or
withdrawal of its confidence, and as it controlled the pockets of the
nation, so it began to also control its opinions and political action.
President Jackson attacked the bank in his first annual message
in I829, and returned to the attack in the annual messages of 1830
and I83I. Notwithstanding the hostility of the President, Congress, in July, 1832, passed an act granting the bank a new charter.
This act the President promptly vetoed, but its failure produced
no immediate effect, as the old charter did not expire until December, I836.
The Presidential campaign of 1832 was then in progress.
Jackson was nominated for re-election, and the re-chartering of the
bank was one of the issues between parties at that election, but
Michigan being yet in its territorial stage of existence, the inhabitants of Lenawee county could take no part in the settlement of
the vexed controversy. Jackson was re-elected, and with him a
House of Representatives sympathizing with his financial views.
In his message of that year the President recommended the removal
of the deposits and the sale of the bank stock belonging to the
United States. So thoroughly entrenched was the bank in the
business interests of the country that Congress dare not make the
attack. But so soon as Congress had adjourned, the President directed the secretary of the treasury to remove the deposits. The
secretary, William J. Duane, hesitated. There were about $Io,ooo,ooo of government funds in the bank; the bank loans amounted to
$60,ooo,ooo, and were so distributed as to effect almost every hamlet
in the nation, and the secretary had not sufficient courage to jostle
the monster that might easily crush whole parties, and whose destruction, if accomplished, would bring ruin on almost every business house, and whose dying throes would be felt in every household in the land. The President at length made a peremptory order to remove the money, and to deposit it in certain state banks.
The secretary promptly refused, and the President as promptly re



I54


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


moved him and appointed Roger B. Taney, of Maryland, to the
secretary's office. The business community was startled, and
prophecies of widespread disaster freely made, but an iron hand
was at the ielm of state, and nothing would stay its work or change
its purpose. The new secretary commenced the removal in October, 1833; the greater part was removed within four months, and
the entire work was completed within nine months. The designated. state banks received the deposits, and to relieve the threatened financial disaster, discounted freely. Indeed, the deposit of
the national funds among several rival banks stimulated reckless
speculation. Each bank was anxious to do more business than its
neighbor, and therefore in every possible way made money easily
obtainable. They believed the money would remain until needed
by the government for ordinary governmental purposes, and therefore treated it as so much capital, and increased their circulation
in proportion to the deposit. Money was plenty, and business was
unduly stimulated. Internal improvements and all the industrial
pursuits were inordinately revived, and reckless speculation, especially in real estate, was largely indulged in, and in I836 it amounted
to a mania. Says Lossing: "A hundred cities and a thousand villages were laid out on broad sheets of paper, and made the basis
of vast moneyed transactions."
If Jackson was an enemy of extravagance he also was a firm
believer in the doctrine of State Rights, and during his administration the doctrine was strictly and severely enforced. He was not
prepared, like Calhoun, to carry it to the length of nullification and
secession, but so far as he believed in it, he unrelentingly applied
it to the affairs of the general government. By that code all the
receipts of the government, in excess of its expenditures on the
narrowest basis, belonged to the states, and to them it should go.
Accordingly, in January, 1836, Congress directed the Secretary of
the Treasury to divide the money in excess of $5,000,000 among
the several states, on the basis of their representation in the House
of Representatives. Notwithstanding this portent of the gathering
storm, it was unheeded, and reckless speculation continued and
increased into madness. In the midst of this widespread financial
dissipation (July ii, 1836) the President caused a treasury order
to be issued, directing that all duties should be paid in gold and
silver coin. A deputation of New York merchants waited on him
to secure its rescission. But he was inexorable. He told them
hard times were produced by reckless expenditure and speculation,
and any measure that would stop the flood-tide of extravagance,




HISTORICAL


155


although productive of present distress, would eventually be of
service to the country. It was in times such as these that the
state of Michigan first participated.in the election of a President of
the United States. In Lenawee county Van Buren received 558
votes and Harrison 261.
But to continue the story of the panic of 1837, which latterday apostles of a certain economic theory delight in attributing
to the compromise tariff law of I833. At length the time fixed by
Congress for the distribution of the government funds arrived.
More than a year had elapsed since the passage of the act gave
notice to the banks and the business community to prepare for the
effects of shortened capital, but no preparation had been made.
On the contrary, recklessness had increased in proportion as the
time for the preparation shortened. In proportion as the currency
was converted into coin for payment to the Government, the amount
available for business purposes was decreased. Discounts could
not be obtained, and therefore business could not be continued. In
the months of March and April, 1837, there were failures in the
city of New York aggregating more than $Ioo,ooo,ooo. A deputation of merchants waited on Mr. VanBuren, then just seated, in the
Presidential chair, and asked him to defer the collection of duties
on imports, to rescind the treasury order of July II, 1836, and to
call an extra session of Congress. He refused, and on May io
all the banks of New York suspended payment, and the banks of
the entire country followed their example.
Such conditions in the financial and industrial world could not
fail to have a great influence in American politics, and I840 was a
year of great political excitement. The opposition to the Jackson
Democracy had been out of power for twelve years, and extraordinary efforts were made to regain it. Contrary to expectation, the
times had not improved since 1837, but were constantly growing
worse. In I838, and even in I839, men had been kept at work, and
although paid in "wild-cat" money, they were busy, and consequently had no time to grumble. But now nearly the whole working
class was out of employment, discontented, and complaining. The
Whigs affected to believe the hard times were all chargeable to the
destruction of the United States Bank, and seemed to think that
with such an institution in the country, extravagance and patent
violation of the laws of trade would go unpunished. They had
again nominated General Harrison for the Presidency, and adopting coon skins, hard cider, and log cabins as their insignia, and crying "Corruption" at every breath, they made the campaign. On




I56


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


their banners was the inscription, "Two dollars a day and roast
beef under Harrison, 6%4 cents a day and sheep's pluck under VanBuren." The campaign, although perhaps greater in the intensity
of excitement, was not unlike that of 1896 in some respects. The
idle, the dissolute, and the unthinking rushed after the banner that
promised so much, and joined in the hue and cry against the party
in power. The material for large processions was at hand, for
mechanics and laborers had little else to do. Those who could sing
were employed in vociferating log-cabin songs, and those who
could not sing hallooed themselves hoarse in the praise of hard
cider, Tippecanoe and Tyler too. The Adrian Brass Band, which
had been organized in 1838, went to Fort Meigs, Ohio, with a large
Lenawee county delegation, to attend the great Harrison mass
meeting held at that place. Gen. Joseph W. Brown was in command of the Michigan delegation at this great meeting, and held an
umbrella over General Harrison while the latter was speaking. The
VanBuren administration was literally swept out of existence, and
Whig partisans retired to winter quarters to dream of the two
dollars a day and roast beef that awaited them under Harrison's administration. Lenawee county voted as follows: VanBuren, 1,865;
Harrison, 2,117. Mr. Birney, the Abolition candidate, seems to
have received no votes in the county.
In 1844, the Abolitionists had no candidate and the Free-Soil
party was not then in existence. For President, Polk received 2,272
votes, and Clay 2,178.
In the Presidential contest of 1848, a convention of FreeSoilers, held at Buffalo, N. Y., placed in nomination a candidate for
the Presidency and adopted a chart of principles satisfactory to
nearly all the Abolitionists and to many others of the old parties.
In Lenawee county the vote stood: Lewis Cass (Dem.), 2,171
votes; Zachary Taylor (Whig), i,886; Martin VanBuren, (FreeSoil), 795. Majority for Cass over Taylor, 285.
1852-Franklin Pierce (Dem.), 2,857 votes; Winfleld Scott
(Whig), 2,418; John P. Hale (Free-Soil and Abolition), 640. Majority for Pierce over Scott, 439. Between this and the quadrennial election following the very name and machinery of the Whig
party had passed out of existence.
1854-At the State election in Lenawee county, for govenor,
Kinsley S. Bingham (Republican) received 3,197 votes, and John
S. Barry (Democrat), 2,379 votes. The majority of the Republican
ticket was elected, although the plurality for Mr. Bingham was the
largest. This was the first instance in the political history of Lena



HISTORICAL


I57


wee county when the regular nominees of the Democrat party were
entirely overthrown in a strictly party contest.
I856-James Buchanan (Dem.), 2,779 votes; John C. Fremont (Rep.), 4,499. Majority for Fremont over Buchanan, 1,720.
Lenawee county, it will be observed, gave a heavy vote for the Republican ticket, increasing its vote of two years before by more
than forty per cent.
I86o-This contest terminated the "irrepressible conflict" between the Free and Slave states, as Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Seward
had declared several years previous that it was destined to become,
and, so far as law could make it so, placed the former master and
slave on the terms of civil equality. Lenawee county sustained
her Republican majority, giving to Lincoln (Rep.) a vote of 5,080,
to Douglas (Dem.) a vote of 3,510, making the majority for Lincoln
over the vote of his chief competitor, 1,570.
1864-Lincoln's (Rep.), vote, 4,780, McClellan's (Dem.), 3,632.
I868-Ulysses S. Grant (Rep.), 6,205 votes, and Horatio Seymour (Dem.), 4,623, resulting in a majority for Grant of 1,582.
I872-At the November election of this year, Grant received
a majority of 2,445 votes over Greeley, thus proving conclusively
that the latter was not very popular with Lenawee county Democrats. The vote stood: Grant, 5,788; Greeley, 3,343. Indeed the
candidacy of Mr. Greeley seems to have effected the vote for governor also, for in 1870 the Republicans had but 782 majority in the
county for governor, and in 1872 they had 2,307.
I876-Hayes (Rep.), 6,540; Tilden (Dem.), 4,564.
I88o-Garfield (Rep.), 6,45I; Hancock (Dem.), 5,246.
I884-Blaine (Rep.), 5,827; Cleveland (Dem.), 5,572.
I888-Harrison (Rep.), 6,475; Cleveland (Dem.), 5,67I.
I892-Harrison( Rep.), 5,833; Cleveland (Dem.), 5,592.
I896-McKinley (Rep.), 6,863; Bryan (Dem.), 6,300.
Igoo-McKinley (Rep.), 6,847; Bryan (Dem.), 5,966.
I904-Roosevelt (Rep.), 7,891; Parker (Dem.),'3,334.
I908-Taft (Rep.), 6,607; Bryan (Dem.), 4,704.
The figures of 1904 represent tile largest vote and majority
ever given to a political party in Lenawee county. And, though
there can be no doubt that the Republicans have a comfortable
majority in the county, the presidential election of I904 is not a fair
criterion by which to judge its size. It is but stating a truth in
history to say that Mr. Parker was not a popular candidate with the




I58


ME5MOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


"rank and file" of the Democratic party, and especially was this
true after he exhibited his weak conception of the coinage question.
With such an independent character as Mr. Roosevelt in the field,
many Democrats considered it an opportune time to consign Mr.
Parker, "irrevocably," to the shades of political oblivion. As a
further evidence of this fact, notwithstanding the great majority
for Roosevelt, the vote for governor in the same year was as follows: Warner (Rep.), 5,953; Ferris (Dem.), 5,461, a Republican
majority of only 492.
It will be seen, in the statistics given, that since 1852 the Republican candidate in Presidential years has carried the county, and
that the Democrat vote reached high-water mark in I896, when it
registered at 6,300. In that campaign Mr. Bryan's wonderful personality, magnetic force, and matchless oratory, contending for a
platform of principles that was unequivocal in meaning and clear
in expression, succeeded in arousing an interest in political affairs
to an extent seldom if ever witnessed before. In Lenawee county
every district schoolhouse became a political forum, and interest
in everything else waned while the "Battle of the Standards" was
in progress. The vote given to Mr. Bryan was considered the
greatest achievement that has ever been accomplished by the Democrats of Lenawee county.
In local and state affairs, however, an independent spirit has
been manifested more or less ever since the close of the Civil war.
The voters of the county have been generally given to "scratchinig"
their tickets, and it has been difficult to estimate results, particularly as regards candidates for county offices, until the votes have
been officially canvassed, and members of the minority party have
frequently been incumbents of official positions. In 1874, the Democratic candidate for governor received a majority of thirty-two
votes in the county, and they were also successful in the state elections of 1890, 1898 and 1908. With these exceptions, however, the
Republican candidates for governor have carried the county at
every election from and including I854.
The writer has attempted to perfect an official list of Lenawee
county, including national, state, and county officers, from the admission of Michigan to statehood to 1909, and also to include with
the list, biographical matter concerning some of the gentlemen who
have borne the official honors. In some instances the favored ones
have passed away, leaving neither "kith nor kin" to preserve their
records, while in others, either from indisposition, churlishness,
cupidity, ignorance, or some other cause those who could have done




HISTORICAL


159


so have manifested no disposition to furnish the required information. Nothwithstanding these difficulties, considerable information
is here presented concerning residents of Lenawee county who
have held official honors. For court judges and officers, see chapter on Bench and Bar, and the biographical department of this work
also contains additional information.
Governors.-From March 4, I847, to Jan. 3, I848, William L.
Greenly; 1877 to I88I, Charles M. Croswell.
William L. Greenly was born at Hamilton, Madison county,
New York, Sept. I8, 1813. He attended school at Hamilton academy until the age of fourteen, then attended Union college, where
he graduated at the age of eighteen. He commenced the study
of law with Stower & Gridley, in Hamilton, where he remained
three years. He was admitted to the bar at Albany, N. Y., in the
fall of 1833; he practiced law at Eaton, Madison county, until October, 1836, and then, on October 20th, he came to Adrian and commenced the practice of law. In the fall of 1837 he was nominated
for the legislature to fill a vacancy, and was defeated by James
Fields. In the year of 1838 he was nominated and elected state
senator in the district composed of Monroe, Lenawee, and Hillsdale counties, by a large majority, re-elected in the fall of I841, and
served two years more. In January, 1846, he was elected lieutenant-governor, and served as such until March 4, 1847, when by the
resignation of Governor Felch, he became acting governor of the
state of Michigan, which position he occupied until Jan. 3, 1848.
He was afterward elected three times justice of the peace, and held
the office for twelve years. In 1858 he was elected mayor of the
city of Adrian for one year.
Charles M. Croswell was born at Newburg, Orange county,
New York, October 31, 1825. At the early age of seven years he
was orphaned by the death of his father, who was accidently
drowned in the Hudson river, at Newburg, and, within three
months preceeding that event, his mother and only sister had diedthus leaving him the sole surviving member of the family, without fortune or means. Upon the death of his father he went to
live with an uncle, who, in I837, emigrated with him to Adrian. At
sixteen years of age, the future governor commenced to learn the
carpenter's trade, and worked at it very diligently for four years,
maintaining himself, and devoting his spare time to reading and
the' acquirement of knowledge. In I846, he began the study of law,
and was appointed deputy clerk of Lenawee county. The duties
of this office he performed four years, when he was elected register




I6o


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


of deeds, and was re-elected in 1852. In 1854, he took part in the
first movements for the formation of the Republican party, and was
a member and secretary of the convention held at Jackson in that
year, which convention put in the field the first Republican state
ticket in Michigan. In 1855, he formed a law partnership with the
late Chief-Justice Cooley, which partnership continued until the
removal of Judge Cooley to Ann Arbor. In 1862, Mr. Croswell
was appointed city attorney of Adrian. He was also elected mayor
of the city in the spring of the same year, and in the fall was chosen
to represent Lenawee county in the state senate. He was reelected to the senate in 1864, and again in I866. Among various
reports made by him, one adverse to the re-establishment of the
death penalty, and another against a proposition to pay the salaries of state officers and judges in coin, which then commanded a
very large premium, may be mentioned. He also drafted the act
ratifying the Thirteenth amendment to the Federal Constitution,
for the abolishment of slavery, it being the first amendment to the
instrument ratified by Michigan. In 1863, from his seat in the state
senate he delivered an elaborate speech in favor of the Proclamation
of Emancipation issued by President Lincoln, and of his general
policy in the prosecution of the war. In 1867, he was elected a
member of the Constitutional Convention, and chosen its presiding
officer. In I868, he was chosen an elector on the Republican Presidential ticket, in 1872, was elected a representative to the state legislature from Lenawee county, and was chosen speaker of the house
of representatives. At the close of the session of that body his abilities as a parliamentarian, and the fairness of his rulings were freely
and formally acknowledged by his associates, and he was presented
with a superb collection of their protraits handsomely framed. He
was also, for several years, secretary of the state board for the
general supervision of the charitable and penal institutions of Michigan, in which position, his propositions for the amelioration of the
condition of the unfortunate, and the reformation of the criminal'
classes, signalized the benevolence of his nature and the practical
character of his mind. In I876, the general voice of the Republicans of the state indicated Mr. Croswell as their choice for governor, and, at the state convention of the party in August of the same
year, he was put in nomination by acclamation, without the formality of a ballot. At the election in November following, he was
chosen to the high position for which he had been nominated, by a
very large majority over all opposing candidates. He was renominated by acclamation in 1878 and was re-elected, serving from I877




HISTORICAL


to I88I. He vetoed many bills, none of which was passed over his
veto. He was an attendant of the Presbyterian church at Adrian,
and enjoyed in private life the respect and esteem of the people of
Michigan. He died suddenly at Adrian, December I3, i886.
Lieutenant-Governor.-From January 5, I846, to March 4,
I847, William L. Greenly.
State Treasurer.-From January 13, 1842, to I845, John J.
Adam.
John J. Adam, one of the most prominent among the early
settlers of Lenawee county, on July 4, I826, when a youth of eighteen years, set sail from his native Scotland in a brig of less than
I50 tons burden, and landed in the city of Baltimore, Md., fortysix days afterward, having been forty-two days out of sight of land.
He was born in the city of Paisley, Scotland, October 30, I807. His
father departed this life when John J. was a child of two years, and
after that event the mother left Paisley, and returning to her native
county-Dumfriesshire-located in Closeburn Parish for the purpose of educating her two sons. They were for some time students
at the celebrated Wallace Hall Academy and completed their studies
in the University of Glasgow, where they were graduated with
honors. The first employment of John J. Adam after his arrival
in this country was that of a teacher of languages and mathematics
in Meadville Academy, Crawford county, Pennsylvania. Then
migrating to Lenawee county, he was soon recognized as a valuable
accession to the intelligent and able company of men who had cast
their lot among the pioneers. Upon the calling together of the convention foi the framing of the state constitution, in I835, he was
elected one of the eight delegates from this county. The succeeding three years he was secretary of the state senate, and gathered
more laurels as an indefatigable worker and intelligent and active
officer. In 1839 he was elected a member of the Michigan legislature, serving one term in the house, and at its expiration was elected to the senate. In January, 1842, he was elected state treasurer,
which position he held more than three years, until his resignation,
at the request of Governor Barry, to accept the position of auditorgeneral to complete the official term of Mr. Hammond, resigned.
After serving another term in legislature he again accepted the
office of auditor-general, which he held until 1851. He had lived
upon his farm during these years and until I853, when he removed
with his family into Tecumseh village. In the last year above mentioned he became connected with the Michigan Southern railroad
during the construction of the Jackson branch and the Three Rivers
II-IV




I62


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


road, acting as agent, and was subsequently appointed to the same
position for the Air Line, the Detroit, and the Toledo roads, which
were being built by the same company. At the completion of these
he was appointed auditor of the company, which position he held
until his resignation, in I868. The people during this time had
borne in mind his efficient service as a legislator, and in 1871-72
he was again elected to the house of representatives. Upon the
establishment of the University of Michigan, in I837, Mr. Adam
was a member of the first board of regents, and was re-appointed
the following year. In the meantime he had established a branch
of the university at Tecumseh, and resigned his place in the regency
in favor of Dr. Patterson, who resided at the place mentioned.
Auditors-General.-From May 24, 1845, to January 28, I846,
and from May 9, 1848, to I85I, John J. Adam; I86I to 1863, Langford G. Berry; I867 to I875, William Humphrey.
Langford G. Berry was born in Berlin, N. Y., June 19, I8I2.
He settled in Adrain in October, I835. He was a real-estate dealer,
then went into the banking business, and became one of the most
prominent private bankers in the state. He was a representative
in the state legislature, session of I857. He was elected auditorgeneral in I860 as the Republican candidate. He was appointed collector of the First district of Michigan, with head-quarters at Detroit, prior to the expiration of his term as auditor-general. He
held the position some time and resigned. The later years of his
life were spent in Arkansas, where he died June 3, 1878.
Gen. William Humphrey was born in Canandaigua, N. Y., June
12, I828, and came to Michigan with his parents in 1838. He spent
his childhood and youth on a farm, and depended for his education
on the district schools of Hillsdale county, until 1848, when he went
to Geneva, N. Y., where he had the advantage of two school
years, afterward attending a commercial institute at Cleveland,
Ohio. In the fall of I857 he came to Adrian and engaged in the
mercantile business as a clerk, and here he remained, with the exception of one year, when he taught school at Williamsport, Pa.,
until the first call for troops in I86I, at the breaking out of the Civil
war. On May 25, I86I, he was mustered in at Fort Wayne, Detroit,
as captain of Company D, Second Michigan infantry, receiving his
commission from Governor Austin Blair, April 25, I86I. He took
part in the first battle of Bull Run. In I862 he served in the penin-.
sular campaign, in Gen. Phil. Kearney's division, and he also engaged in the second battle of Bull Run. In the fall of I862 he took
part in the battle of Fredericksburg, under General Burnside. In




HISTORICAL


i63


1863 he accompanied Burnside to Kentucky, and the following May
was commissioned as colonel of the Second Michigan infantry. In
June he was ordered to Vicksburg, taking part in the siege, and he
also took part in Sherman's campaign against Jackson, Miss. He
took part in various skirmishes about Knoxville; and at Fort
Saunders, where Longstreet was repulsed with fearful loss, he had
command of a brigade. In the spring of 1864 his regiment was ordered to the Potomac, and he served in Grant's campaign against
Lee, participating in the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania,
and all the engagements up to October, when he was discharged
on account of expiration of service. During the summer of 1864,
a part of the time he had command of a brigade and was brevetted
'brigadier-general to date from July 30, 1864. After his retirement
from the army and return to Michigan, General Humphrey purchased the Daily and Weekly Watchtower of Adrian, taking possession Saturday, September 9, 1865, and on the following Monday,
September ii, issued the Daily Times. He continued as one of its
editors until i866, when he was elected auditor-general of Michigan, and upon taking office abandoned all editorial work. He filled
the office of auditor-general for four successive terms, and in 1875
was appointed warden of the Michigan state prison at Jackson, occupying this position for eight years. In 1883 he became interested
as a partner in the Adrain Brick and Tile Machine Company. In
1890 he was appointed postmaster at Adrain by President Harrison,
and held the office for four years. He died at his home in Adrian,
Jan. 12, 1898.
Attorneys-General.-From March 21, 1837, to March 4, I84I,
Peter Morey; 1905 to 1911ii, John E. Bird.
Peter Morey was born in Cazenovia, N. Y., in 1798, was educated at Hamilton academy, studied law and was admitted in 1831.
He practiced four years in the state of New York, and in 1835 removed to Tecumseh. In 1837 he removed to Detroit, having been
appointed attorney-general of the state, which office he held four
years. After the expiration of his term of office he returned to
Tecumseh, where he continued in practice for many years, finally
going to Marion, Ohio, to live with his daughter, until his death
in the fall of i88i. He was a fine scholar, a courteous old school
gentleman, an able and energetic lawyer, in politics a Democrat.
Members of Congress.-From i86i to 1871, Fernando C. Beaman; 1883 to 1887, Nathaniel B. Eldredge; 1899 to 1903, Henry
C. Smith.
Hon. Fernando C. Beaman was born in Chester, Windsor




I64


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


county, Vermont, June 28, I814. He lived at home until the death
of his parents which occurred in his fifteenth year. At that time
he had received a good common school education, afterward working himself through Franklin Academy, of Malone, N. Y., teaching school seven winters and three summers. He went to Rochester in 1836, and in the following year entered the law office of
Haight & Elwood, subsequently reading also with William S.
Bishop, a prominent member of the bar of that city. In 1838 he
came to Michigan, and early in I839 was admitted to the bar in
Lenawee county, first settling in Manchester, Washtenaw county,
where he entered upon the practice of his profession. Later in the
same year he moved to Tecumseh, and formed a partnership with
Hon. Consider A. Stacy. In I843 Mr. Beaman was appointed pros"ecuting attorney of Lenawee county, by Governor Barry, and removed to Adrain, where he resided until his death. He was twice
re-appointed to this position, holding it for six years. In this time
lie formed a law partnership with the Hon. A. R. Tiffany, and later
he became a member of the law firm of Beaman, Beecher & Cooley, composed of himself, the late Hon. Robert R. Beecher, and the
Hon. Thomas M. Cooley, afterwards a justice of the supreme court.
Subsequently Judge Cooley dropped out of the firm, the remaining members continuing until after Mr. Beaman's election, in 1856,
as judge of probate for Lenawee county, which office he held for
one term. In I87I, soon after retiring for the first time to private
life, he was appointed judge of probate again, to fill a vacancy
caused by the death of Judge Beecher, and in 1872 and 1876 was reelected to the same office. In early life Mr. Beaman was a Democrat of the liberal sort, and afterward, in 1848, became a Free-Soiler,
and made a vigorous canvass of Lenawee county in favor of VanBuren and Adams, the Presidential candidates of the party. In 1854
he attended the Jackson convention, which organized the Republican party in Michigan, and was one of the vice-presidents of that
assembly. He was also a delegate to the national convention at
Pittsburg, which met for consultation and paved the way for the
organization of the Republicans as a national party. The same
year he served as one of the presidential electors for this state,
casting his vote for Fremont and Dayton. In I856 he was also
a delegate to the Philadelphia convention which nominated Fremont and Dayton. In I86o Judge Beaman was elected to Congress
in the Second district, comprising Monroe, Lenawee, Cass, Hillsdale, Branch, and St. Joseph counties, receiving I9,173 votes against
I2,699 cast for the Hon. S. C. Coffinberry, of St. Joseph. For four




HISTORICAL


succeeding and consecutive terms he was re-elected. The year 1862
was when the "Union" movement came so near sweeping the Republicans from their footings, and Judge Beaman only won by I92
majority over Hon. E. J. Penniman, of Plymouth. In 1864 he defeated the Hon. David A. Noble, of Monroe, in the same district,
by 2,314 majority, in I866 he was elected over the Hon. J. Logan
Chipman by 3,876 majority, and in I868 was chosen over the Hon.
M. I. Mills by I602 majority. In none of these years had Judge
Beaman sought the nomination. In May, 1872, he was elected
president of the First National Bank of Adrian, and held the position until the bank went into voluntary liquidation. On November
13, 1879, Mr. Beaman was appointed by Governor Croswell to the
exalted office of United States Senator, to fill the vacancy caused
by the death of Hon. Zachariah Chandler, but owing to ill health
did not accept the position, although it was one of the highest
encomiums to his ability, fidelity, and personal worth that could
be tendered him, coming, as it did, unsought and unexpected. Gov.
Kinsley S. Bingham tendered him the appointment of Justice of the
Supreme Court, to fill the vacancy on the bench, which Mr. Beaman
declined. When Senator Chandler was Secretary of the Interior,
he tendered Judge Beaman the position of Commissioner of Indian
Affairs, which he also declined. Mr. Beaman died in Adrian, September 27, 1882.
Col. Nathaniel Buel Eldredge was born at Auburn, Cayuga
county, New York, March 28, 1813; received an academic education and taught school for several winters, commencing when sixteen years old. At the age of sixteen he was appointed a cadet to
the Military Academy at West Point, by President Jackson, but
for the reason that his father felt unable to furnish the outfit, he was
obliged to decline. At the age of twenty he commenced the study
of medicine, under the instruction of his brother, Dr. H. D. Eldredge, and afterward with Dr. Lansingh Briggs, attending the
medical college at Fairfield, N. Y. After graduating, in October,
I837, he moved to Michigan and settled at Commerce, Oakland
county, where he practiced his profession six years. In August,
1843, he moved to Lapeer and formed a co-partnership with Dr.
DeLasker Miller, for many years professor in Rush Medical College, of Chicago. He continued the practice of medicine until 1852.
He was elected Justice of the Peace four times, and was chairman
of the board of supervisors of Lapeer county four successive years.
He was clerk of the senate of the Michigan legislature in 1845, and
a member of the house in 1848, which was the year the legislature




i66


ME1MOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


first convened at Lansing. In I852 he was elected judge of probate
of Lapeer county, and in 1853 was appointed postmaster at Lapeer.
In 1854 Colonel Eldredge was admitted to the bar, and from that
time commenced the practice of law, soon thereafter forming a
partnership with the late Charles M. Walker. WVhile they were
partners they were twice opposing candidates for prosecuting attorney. In the spring of I86I Colonel Eldredge was the first man
who enlisted from Lapeer county, and C. M. Walker, his partner,
the second. He raised a company and appointed his partner orderly sergeant. His company was assigned to the Seventh infantry,
and before the regiment left the state, in September, I86I, he was
promoted to major, and C. M. Walker to quartermaster. Colonel
Eldredge was with his regiment at the affair of Ball's Bluff and
Edward's Ferry, on October 21, I86I, and after the disaster wrote
home a letter, in which he severely blamed Gen. Charles P. Stone,
which letter got into print, and for which General Stone ordered
him under arrest. After waiting six weeks without obtaining a
trial, he resigned, and Governor Blair, upon his return home, immediately appointed him one of the State Military Board, and in
April, I862, appointed him lieutenant-colonel of the Eleventh Infantry. He at once joined this regiment, which was then in Tennessee, and was with it in several skirmishes and battles, until his
health failed and he resigned in I863. He moved to Adrian in I865,
and with his old partner, C. M. Walker, commenced the practice
of law. In 1870 he was elected mayor of the city of Adrian, and in
the fall of the same year was the Democratic candidate for Congress, in the district composed of Wayne, Monroe, Lenawee, and
Hillsdale counties. In 1874 he was elected sheriff of Lenawee
county. IHe was always a constant and persistent member of the
Democratic party, having held various offices within the gift of his
party, and frequently been forced to be a candidate when there was
little hope of success. He was elected to the Forty-eighth Congress, receiving I5,257 votes against I4,609 votes for J. K. Boies,
being the first Democrat elected in twenty-five years, overcoming
3,500 Republican majority, thus making a change of over 4,000
votes. He was his own successor, being elected to the Forty-ninth
Congress over Capt. E. P. Allen. While in Congress he was placed
on some of the most important committees, such as the committee
for the District of Columbia, which is all the government the District has. He was also made chairman of the Committee on Pensions, being the only Congressman from Michigan to receive a
chairmanship on the second term. An important committee, it




HISTORICAL


i67


placed him in a position to shape the pension laws, which he went
about to do in his own hearty way. He was the oldest man in the
Forty-ninth Congress. His death occurred at his home in Adrian,
November 27, I893.
State Senators.-Sessions of 1835 and 1836, Olmsted Hough;
1837, Olmsted Hough and Anthony McKey; 1838, Anthony McKey; 1839, William L. Greenly; I840, John J. Adam and William
L. Greenly; 1841, John J. Adam; 1842-43, William L. Greenly;
1844-4-5, Michael.A. Patterson; I846-47, Rufus Kibbee; 1848, Daniel D. Sinclair; 1849-50, Fielder S. Snow; I85I, John Barber; 1853,
Richard Kent and Fielder S. Snow; I855-57-58, Perley Bills and
Henry M. Boies; 1859, Joel Carpenter and Gideon D. Perry; I861 -62, William Baker, Jr., and Joel Carpenter; 1863-64, Charles M.
Croswell and Thomas F. Moore; 1865-67, Charles M. Croswell and
Andrew Howell; 1869-70, John K. Boies and Henry C. Conkling;
1871-72, James P. Cawley and William S. Wilcox; 1873, Charles
E. Mickley; 1875, John K. Boies; 1877, Roland B. C. Newcomb;
1879, Richard B. Robbins; I881-82-83, Brackley Shaw; I885, Manson Carpenter; 1887, George Howell; I839, Arthur D. Gilmore;
I891-92-93, James H. Morrow; 1895, Edwin Eaton; I899-9oo0-o0,
James W. Helme, Jr.; I907-09, Fred B. Kline.
Olmsted Hough was born in Columbia county, New York, in
I797. He lived with his parents until he was fourteen years old,
when he was bound out to a brother-in-law to learn the trade of
carpenter and millwright. When he was eighteen he bought his
time. He followed the business until 1830, when he was elected
to the New York legislature, on the "Masonic ticket," and served
one term. In June, 1831, he emigrated to Michigan with his family,
and settled on a farm on what was then known as "the trail road,"
running from Tecumseh to Saline. He was always an active, enthusiastic Democrat in politics, being present and assisting in the organization of the party in this county. At the first state constitutional
convention he was elected sergeant-at-arms. He was elected the
first state senator of his district after Michigan was admitted to the
Union. In 1838 he was appointed by President Martin Van Buren,
Register of the State Land Office, then located at Detroit, but resigned when the Whigs came into power, in 1841. In 1844 he was
elected sheriff of Lenawee county, and was re-elected in 1846. He
was elected by the township of Tecumseh to the board of supervisors for several terms, and was also made chairman of that body.
He died in the village of Tecumseh, December 25, I865.
Anthony McKey was born in Delhi, Delaware county, New




i68


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


York, January 3, I800. When he was about nine years of age his
father removed to Chemung county and settled upon a farm, where
Anthony remained at work with his brothers until he was about
eighteen years old, when he commenced teaching school. In i826
he came to Michigan, taught school for a time in Monroe, and in
i828 settled on section I2, in Blissfield (now Deerfield), and was
married soon thereafter to Jane Clark, daughter of Dr. Robert Clark,
an eminent physician of Monroe. On November 26, i828, Mr. McKey was appointed postmaster at Kedzie's Grove (now Deerfield),
and held the office without interruption to the time of his death,
which occurred at his homestead, January 26, i849. In i83i he
traveled extensively through the northern portion of the state, often
on foot, and sometimes hiring the Indians to transport him from
place to place with their ponies or canoes, as circumstances would
require, often camping in the woods, with only his compass and
trustv rifle for companions. Being postmaster, and not liable to
military duty, in i832 he volunteered to fight Black Hawk, and
served until the troops were disbanded. He was an extensive reader
and was well informed upon all the topics of the day, was elected
supervisor in I829, re-elected in i830, '31, '32 and '33, and was again
elected in i844, and he served a part of the year 1848. In the fall
of i836 he was elected State Senator, took his seat January I, I837,
and he was re-elected for the following term. He was earnestly
in favor of and helped to secure the passage of the charter for the
Michigan Southern Railroad, was a prominent contractor and surveyor, and assisted in the location and construction of the road to
Hillsdale. He was a warm friend of Governor Barry, and rode to
Jackson on horseback as a delegate to the convention that nominated the latter for governor of the state. In i842 he was appointed by Governor Barry, in company with Mr. Higgins, of Detroit, to select land ceded by the general government to the state,
under act of Congress, approved September 4, i84i, and he entered
33,4II acres of land in the land office at Flint. He was also a warm
friend and admirer of General Cass, and was the president of the
immense mass meeting at Adrian, in i848, when General Cass was
the principal speaker. He was one of the commissioners and the
surveyor appointed by the general government to locate and build
the Port Lawrence (now Toledo) and Adrian wagon road, also was
one of the surveyors of what is known as the Chicago road, and of
the Vistula & Indiana road. In politics Mr. McKey was a Demcrat, upheld the Mexican war, and was in favvor of the admission of
Texas. In religion he was a Presbyterian, active in the church and




HISTORICAL


I69


Sabbath school, and at the time of his death, and for years previous
an elder of the church.
Michael A. Patterson, a representative in 1846 and senator
from Lenawee county in I844-45, was born in Easton, Pa., March
II, I804, and was educated there until early manhood. He studied
medicine in the University of Pennsylvania and graduated with
honor at the age of nineteen. He practiced in western New York
for four years, and then settled in Tecumseh, where he continued
in active practice until I875. He then sought a southern climate
for health, and died at Westham Locks, Va., April 17, I877. He
was a regent of the University six years, and held many local offices. Politically he was a Democrat.
Rufus Kibbee, senator from Lenawee county in I846-47, came
from the state of New York, and was a physician and druggist at
Canandaigua. He removed to Coldwater about 1867 and died
there about I883-4. In politics he was a Democrat.
Daniel D. Sinclair, long prominent in the business and social
circles in the city of Adrian, was a native of Broadalbin, N. Y., and
was born April I6, I805. He was in early life trained to habits of
industry, and when a lad of twelve years went to Albany, N. Y.,
where he engaged with a grocer, for whom he officiated as clerk
for a period of eighteen months. He then apprenticed himself to a
merchant tailor, Ira Porter, who was a near neighbor of Martin
Van Buren, afterward President of the United States. Two years
later Mr. Porter retired from business, but procured for young Sinclair a situation with a firm in Schenectady, where he remained
until twenty years of age. In the meantime his father had died,
and he subsequently removed with his mother to Livingston county,
New York, and engaged in the clothing business three years. In
1830 he repaired to Albion, and in company with a partner carried
on the clothing business there until October, I834. He now decided to seek his fortune in the young and rapidly growing Territory of Michigan, and was accompanied on the journey by his bride
of a month. Upon reaching Tremainsville, Ohio, however, they
were induced to spend the winter there, but in April following,
they resumed their journey and took up their residence in Adrian,
where Mr. Sinclair associated himself with Daniel Wilkinson, and
they continued in the clothing trade until I838. Mr. Sinclair was
then elected justice of the peace, and later county treasurer, holding
the latter office two terms. Upon coming to this county he was at
once recognized as a man of more than ordinary ability, and after
having discharged in a creditable manner the responsibilities which




IO0


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


had been already committed to him was, in 1847, elected State Senator and attended the first session of the legislature held at Lansing. In 1849 Governor Ransom commissioned him brigadier-general. In 1850 he was made assistant superintendent of the Michigan
Southern & Northern Indiana Railway, which position he held
eight years, and was then employed by Pinkerton's Detective
Agency until the fall of 1859. In the spring of i860 he was elected
supervisor of the Second and Third wards of the city of Adrian,
which office he held for a period of eighteen years, and acquitted
himself in a manner highly creditable to his good judgment and
ability, and to the satisfaction of the people of the city. He had
always been interested in the establishment of educational institutions, and in 1867 was elected a trustee of the public schools at
Adrian, and served on the board some years.
Fielder S. Snow, representaive from Lenawee couny in 1843,
and Senator in 1849-50-53, was born in Ashford, Conn., May 17,
18t4. He became a clerk at the age of fifteen, and settled in Clinton,
Micl., in 1837. He was a merchant and miller, and in politics a
Democrat. He was a leader in public enterprises and was administrator of many estates. For twenty-five years he was a justice
of the peace.
John Barber, Senator from Lenawee county in I851, was born
in Perham, Mass., in 1792. He emigrated first to Vermont and then
to Walworth, Wayne county, New York. Afterward he lived at
Marion in the same county, where he was a justice of the peace,
also clerk of Wayne county for six years, and was an associate
judge of the county court. He then became a resident of Clyde,
N. Y., and was there a merchant. He settled in Adrian in 1836,
and held, among other offices, those of county clerk and justice of
the peace. In politics he was first a Democrat and later a Republican. He died April I5, 1867.
Richard Kent was born in Newburyport, Mass., October 30,
1786. He received a good academical education, taught school and
practiced surveying several years. He was an early settler in the
township of Adrian, where he followed farming, and was senator
in 1853. He was also supervisor and held other town offices. He
died in 1867.
Perley Bills, a native of the Green Mountain State, was born
far up among its eastern hills, near the town of Wilmington, June
5, i8io. Amid these wild and simple scenes he spent his childhood
and youth, and possessing more than ordinary ability, at the early
age of nineteen made arrangements to embark in trade at Hones



HISTORICAL


I7I


dale, Pa. He had associated himself with a Mr. Whiting, but before they had fairly commenced, the illness of the latter compelled
them to abandon the undertaking. Young Bills then went to work
as a house carpenter, which occupation he followed during the
summer and in winter engaged in teaching school. He finally returned to his native state and spent the summer in Vermont, at
the mountain home of his father. UpQn leaving New England
again he migrated to Ohio and first engaged in teaching in Medina
county. He was of studious habits, desirous of obtaining a good
education, and in the spring following joined the preparatory class
at the Western Reserve College, where he studied two years,
paying his expenses by labor when not in school. He finally returned to Bennington, Vt., spending two years in the seminary
there as pupil and tutor, and in 1835 retraced his steps to Ohio,
becoming a student at Oberlin College.  The two years following
were spent partly in teaching in an academy at Strongsville, whence
he came to Michigan and located at Tecumseh in the spring of
I837. There he established and conducted primary and advanced
classes for young men who designed to enter college. He was foremost in encouraging the establishment of schools, and by his own
unaided efforts and constant application to his books, obtained a
thorough knowledge of the common law, and in 1842 was admitted
to practice in the courts of this state. He had in the meantime
been prominent in political affairs, and in 1837 was a delegate to
the Young Men's State Convention at Marshall, having in view
the organization of a branch of the Whig party. In 1854 he was
elected to the state senate, re-elected in I856, and chosen by the
Senate as their Speaker pro tem. In I867 he was elected a member
of the state constitutional convention. Mr. Bills organized the
first primary school district in the village of Tecumseh, and was a
member of the school board for nearly forty years. In I86I he instituted the savings bank of P. Bills & Co., and four years later
became a director and vice-president of the National Bank of Tecumseh. After the close of this institution, in 1874, he at once organized a bank under the firm name of Bills, Lilly & Co., of which
he was made president. Mr. Bills died in I882.
Henry M. Boies was born in Blandford, Mass., January 12,
1818. He came to Michigan in 1840, settling at Hudson, where he
was a pioneer merchant of the village. He was president of the
village of Hudson in 1854 and I855, and was state senator from
Lenawee county in 1855 and in I857-58. He was appointed one
of the inspectors of the state prison by Governor Blair in I860.




I72


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


He removed to New York City in 1862, was in the mercantile business there several years, and in 1873 he changed his residence to
Chicago, where he established the wholesale grocery house of
Boies, Fay & Conkey, continuing at the head of that concern until
his death from pulmonary disease, which occurred at Chicago on
November 5, I88o.
Joel Carpenter was born at Potsdam, St. Lawrence county,
New York, September 3, I818. He lived with his father on the
family homestead until his eighteenth year, when he entered St.
Lawrence Academy, where he obtained an ordinary English education. On September 15, 1838, at the age of twenty, he left his
father's house, and arrived at Blissfield, September 23. During
the winter of 1838-39 he taught a district school near the present
village of Deerfield, in this county. On June Io, I839 he entered
the office of Halsey & Greenly, in Adrian, as a student of law.
He was admitted to the bar April 9, 1842, Justice Fletcher presiding at the court, and returning to Blissfield he opened a law
office at that place in the winter of I842-43. In April, I850, in
company with his brother, David Carpenter, he went into the mercantile business, and two years later, having bought out his brother,
he formed a co-partnership with his brother-in-law, the late Marvin L. Stone, in the same business, and after Mr. Stone's death,
July 24, 1854, he carried on the business alone until the fall of
I858, when he sold out and again opened a law office. He served
as supervisor of and postmaster at Blissfield, enrolling officer, and
deputy United States assessor during the Civil war, and was state
senator for two terms, beginning January I, I859. He introduced
and secured the passage of the first general insurance law ever
adopted in this state, under which himself and the late Royal Barnum, of Adrian, organized the Michigan State Insurance Company,
of Adrian. He was a warm Republican in politics, and was always a strong anti-slavery man. He attended as a delegate from
Michigan the great Free-Soil convention, held at Buffalo, August 9,
1848. He was also a delegate to the celebrated convention held
"under the oaks" at Jackson in 1854, which first organized and
named the Republican party, and he was one of the alternate delegates-at-large to the Republican national convention in Chicago,
in I88o, that nominated Garfield. He died at his home in Blissfield, January 22, 1891.
Gideon D. Perry was born in Palmyra, Wayne county, New
York, October 25, I8II. He left his father's home when he was
nineteen years old. He had been brought up a farmer, but after




HISTORICAL


I73


leaving home he commenced teaching and going to school, and so
continued until 1833, when he commenced preaching, and was admitted to the Genesee conference of the Methodist Episcopal
church. He preached for about eleven years, when, owing to poor
health, he was compelled to give it up. In I843 he came to Michigan and settled on section 26, in Franklin, on a new farm, where
he resided the remainder of his life. He was the first to introduce
the system of homeopathy in Michigan. In the spring of 1856 he
was elected supervisor of Franklin, and every vote polled for supervisor in the township was cast for him. He was elected chairman
of the board that year. In the fall of 1856 he was elected a member of the house of representatives of the Michigan legislature. In
1858 he was elected a member of the state senate, and served upon
important committees. After taking up his residence in Michigan
he preached more or less every year, and during the first few years
he officiated at many funerals.
William Baker, Jr., was for many years a leading citizen of
Lenawee county, and was engaged in the mercantile and other
business at Iudson. He was a native of New York, his birth occurring at Ft. Ann, Washington county, October 21, I818. During
his boyhood he attended school, and when it was not in session
assisted his father in the labors of the farm. In 1837 he left the
home of his parents and came to Michigan to join an elder brother,
who was a civil engineer, and at that time engaged in making railway surveys in southern Michigan. Mr. Baker assisted his brother
for some time, but in I84I he turned his attention to the mercantile
trade in Hudson, and from that time until his death he was engaged
in that and other branches of business there. Besides his business
as a merchant, he was part of the time engaged very extensively
in buying and selling stock, grain and lumber, driving the cattle
to Toledo for shipment. He was elected to the state senate on the
Republican ticket, and in that body he won for himself an honorable record.
Thomas F. Moore was born in Peterboro, N. H., October 2,
I8I9, and in that rugged, hilly country, as he grew to a vigorous
manhood, he received a practical education at the district school,
supplemented by three terms of diligent study at Appleton Academy, New Ipswich, N. H., and a thorough course of industrial
training on the home farm. At the age of eighteen years he left
the parental home and sought to carve his own fortune. At first
he worked by the month farming, but he took great pleasure in
reading, and still pursued his studies, keeping them fresh in his




I74


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


mind by teaching in the winter season. Glowing accounts of the
rapidly growing West reached him, and the youth determined to
prove their reality for himself. He worked his way along, reaching Erie county, N. Y., but remaining there one year only, he
pushed still farther west, and came to Lenawee county in I839.
Being pleased with the country he purchased I60 acres of land from
the Government, and though there was much labor to be performed
in preparing this land for cultivation, he undertook the task, and
in a few years had Ioo acres well cleared. He lived there fifteen
years and then exchanged this farm for 200 acres in Madison township, section 20, on which he resided the remainder of his life. He
added to his possessions until he was the proprietor of 300 acres
of land, and he had a fine farm, with substantial and commodious
buildings, and all the modern appurtenances for conducting a wellordered estate. He represented his district in the legislature in I86I
and the following year, and in the Senate in 1863 and I864. He
took a prominent part in securing the necessary appropriation to
arm and equip the brave soldiers who were first sent to the field.
For ten years he was superintendent of the poor in Lenawee county,
and was chairman of the committee that built the county poor
house. He served several years as one of the board of prison inspectors. He also served several years as a member of the board
of supervisors from Madison township, being chairman of the
board two terms, and he was vice-president of the First National
Bank of Adrian for four years. In politics he was formerly a Republican, but later identified himself with the Prohibition party and
conscientiously upheld its principles.
Andrew Howell was born in Seneca county, in the state of
New York, on December I8, 1827. He was not yet four years of
age when his parents settled in Lenawee county, and here he
passed his boyhood upon the farm and in the district school of the
neighborhood, until well advanced in young manhood. From I847
to I850 he pursued his education at Tecumseh, and at the Wesleyan
Seminary at Albion, Mich. In the fall of 1850 he commenced the
study of his profession-the law-at Adrian, in the office of F. C.
Beaman and R. R. Beecher, then the leading attorneys of Lenawee
county. In I853 he graduated from the law department of the College of Cincinnati, Ohio, standing first in his class of thirty-three.
After graduation he returned to Adrian and commenced the practice of the law in partnership with Judge Beaman, his former preceptor. Later, and in I855, he joined in a law partnership with
Judge R. R. Beecher, with whom he continued in successful prac



HISTORICAL


I75


tice for many years. While in practice he was three times elected
to the office of circuit court commissioner, and for two terms, I865
and 1867, he represented Lenawee county in the state senate. In
1871 he was appointed by the governor as one of the commissioners to supervise and certify to a new compilation of the laws
of the state then lately ordered by the legislature. But this position was soon afterward resigned, and thereupon, in pursuance
of a recent act of the legislature, he was immediately appointed by
the governor as special commissioner to prepare general laws for
the incorporation of cities and villages in the state. Bills for that
purpose were accordingly prepared and submitted by him, were
adopted by the legislature at its next session, and they became a
part of the general statutes of the state. In 1879 the legislature
again ordered a new compilation of the general statutes of the
state, and Judge Howell was elected compiler in joint convention
of the senate and house, but the measure failing to meet with the
approval of the governor, no further action was taken under it.
But soon after this he compiled and published, as a work of private enterprise, a complete edition of the general statutes of the
state, in force, with copious annotations from the decisions of the
supreme court. While in practice at the bar Judge Howell also
enlarged, revised, and published several editions of "Tiffany's Justice's Guide" and "Tiffany's Criminal Law," both of which he
made standard works of practice in Michigan. In the spring of
I88I Judge Howell was, upon the nomination of both political
parties, elected to the bench of the First judicial circuit. Judge
Howell became a member of the Republican party at the time of
its organization and ever after kept himself closely identified with
all its interests. His religious affiliations were with the Presbyterian church.
John K. Boies, a prominent and active citizen of Hudson for
many years, was born in Blandford, Hampden county, Massachusetts, December 5, 1828, and he was educated in the Westfield
Academy. In 1845 he came west to Oberlin, Ohio, where he intended to study law, but in December he visited his brother, H. M.
Boies, who was engaged in mercantile business at Hudson. He
decided to enter into business with his brother and make Hudson
his home. When he was twenty-one a partnership was formed
under the name of H. M. Boies & Brother. This firm continued
until about 1857, when the business was sold to a stock company.
But the next year J. K. Boies & Co. bought it back and continued
to do business at the old corner store for thirty years. In addition




I76


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


to his mercantile interests, Mr. Boies dealt largely in grain, pork,
wool, and other kinds of farm produce. In 1855, in company with
his brother and Nathan Rude, he started the first bank in Hudson,
under the name of Boies, Rude & Co. The bank continued, with
changes in the partnership, necessitated by the death of the senior members, and at the death of J. K. Boies in 1891, the Boies
State Savings Bank was incorporated and succeeded to the business. Politically Mr. Boies was a staunch adherent and supporter
of the Republican party, and in every campaign devoted his eloquence to its service. He was elected president of the village of
Hudson in 1863 and was re-elected in 1867. In 1864 he was elected
to the Michigan legislature and was re-elected at the end of his
term. In i868 he was elected to the state senate and was re-elected
in 1874. In 1871 he was appointed by Governor Baldwin a member
of the State Board of Control of Railroads and served four years.
In 1878 he was re-appointed as a member of that board by Governor Croswell and held the position nine years. In i880 he was
appointed by President Garfield a member of the United States
Board of Indian Commissioners, serving in this capacity until he
resigned in i885. In the campaign of 1882 he was the Republican
candidate for representative in Congress from the Second district
of Michigan. He served many years as trustee of the public
schools and Congregational church of Hudson. Mr. Boies died at
Washington, D. C., August 21, 1891.
Henry C. Conkling was born at Middletown, N. Y., January
26, 1824. He came to Michigan with his parents in 1833, and was
brought up on a farm until nineteen years of age. Ile was clerk
in a store in Tecumseh for three years. He went to New York
City in 1846 and was employed seven years in a wholesale grocery
house. He returned to Tecumseh in 1854, and from 1862 to 1869
was engaged in general grocery and produce business, later being
engaged as a railroad transportation agent. In politics he was a
Republican. He was county clerk of Lenawee county from 1872
to 1876, and state senator in 1869-70. He was appointed county
superintendent of poor in 1879 and filled that position a number
of years.
William Seward Wilcox was born in the town of Riga, Monroe county, New York, April 25, 1819, and came to Michigan with
his brother-in-law, Ira Bidwell, September i8, 1836. Earlier in the
same year he had left his Empire State home and came west to
Milan, Ohio, where he engaged as clerk in the dry goods store of
Mr. Bidwell. That fall Mr. Bidwell removed his stock of goods




HISTORICAL


177


from Milan to the then growing village of Adrian, Mr. Wilcox coming with him. The latter remained in Mr. Bidwell's employ until
I840, when he became a partner in the business, continuing four
years. In the spring of I844 he commenced business for himself,
with a new and suitable stock of dry goods. He was successful in
this venture, and remained so engaged ten years, a portion of the
time having as partners Justus H. Bodwell and William D. Tolford. In I854 he sold out to Bodwell, Carey & Clay. He at once
engaged in the hardware business and opened a store, the firm
being Wilcox & Chappell. This firm continued for about eighteen
months, when Mr. Chappell withdrew, and Mr. Wilcox carried on
the store until I867, when his brother became a partner. In 1873
the firm name was changed to Wilcox Bros. & Co., when George
A. Wilcox, son of W. S., was taken in as a partner. In I864 William S. Wilcox was elected to the Michigan legislature, was reelected in I866, and was chairman of the ways and means committee. He was elected mayor of Adrian in I865. In 1870 he was elected
state senator, and was chairman of the finance committee. In I869
he was appointed by Governor Baldwin, state prison inspector, and
was at once elected chairman of the board. He was elected president of the Michigan State Insurance Company in I866, which position he held for seventeen years. In I863 he was elected president of the Oakwood Cemetery Association, and held the office at
the time of his death. He became an active member of the Adrian
volunteer fire department in 1841 and continued until the paid department was organized in I867. He became superintendent of the
Baptist Sabbath school in 1839, and for over fifty-one years he
faithfully filled that position. In I880 he became interested in
banking, and after that time gave most of his attention to the interests of the Commercial Exchange Bank of Adrian. He died in
Adrian, September 15, I893, beloved and respected by all classes
of citizens.
Charles E. Mickley was born in Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, August 26, I818. He was a youth of fifteen years when
he came to Lenawee county, and in company with his mother and
brother, his father being deceased, made the journey from Buffalo
to Detroit, spending six days on Lake Erie. From the City of
Straits they reached Adrian by ox-team when the town was in its
infancy and the country around composed of forests, and uncultivated land. He commenced working by the month clearing land,
and in the fall of' I836, three years later, began operations on his
I2-IV




I78


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


own purchase. He worked quietly on his farm for several years,
and in the meantime identified himself with the Democratic party.
In I850, when the anti-slavery movement was inaugurated in
Adrian, he espoused the cause of liberty for the oppressed and became an active worker for the freedom of the colored race. The
Boston Liberator was then being published by William Lloyd
Garrison, and to this Mr. Mickley was a frequent contributor, while
he was also frequently called upon as a public speaker in defense
of the cause to whose members there were now daily accessions.
Upon the organization of the Republican party, Mr. Mickley at
once wheeled into its ranks, and as time passed on his public services were rewarded by his election to the house of representatives
of the Michigan legislature. From this he was advanced to the
senate and served on various important committees. He was the
first to introduce the measure in the legislature for the admission
of ladies to the Michigan University, and by almost superhuman
efforts succeeded in bringing it to a successful issue. In 1871 he
was appointed by Governor Baldwin one of the commissioners for
selecting the site for the State Public school, and was chairman of
the board until disabled from further duty by illness.
Dr. Roland B. C. Newcomb was born in Williamstown, Orange
county, Vermont, September 25, 1822. He lived with his father
until he was twenty-one, and received a good common school education. In the fall of 1843 he emigrated to Madison, Lake county,
Ohio, where he taught the Madison school the following winter.
In May, 1844, he became a student in the Western Reserve Teachers' Seminary, at Kirtland, Ohio, where he remained about five
months. That fall he commenced the study of medicine in the office
of Dr. E. L. Plympton, of Madison. He was without any means,
except what he could earn from time to time, and again taught
school in Madison to procure money to attend lectures, etc. In
the spring of 1847 he went to Columbus, Ohio, and read medicine
with Dr. R. L. Howard, where he did the chores and took care of
the Doctor's horses for board and tuition for one year, graduating
February 22, 1848, at Starling Medical College, of Columbus. On
July 20, 1848, he located in Palmyra, Lenawee county, and commenced the practice of medicine. On May I, I85I, he moved to
Blissfield, where he resided the remainder of his life. In addition
to his professional duties, he was largely connected with the schools
cf Blissfield, serving as township school inspector, and eight consecutive years as trustee of the union school board. In I86o he
was elected supervisor of the township of Blissfield. In 1864 he




HISTORICAL


I79


was elected a member of the house of representatives of the Michigatl legislature, and in 1876 he was elected a member of the state
senate, serving one term and declining a renomination. He was always an active temperance man and a prominent politician, and he
acted with the Republican party after I854.
Col. Richard B. Robbins was a native of the state of New Jersey, and was born April 27, 1832. From the time he was old enough'
to hold the plow until sixteen years of age, he worked on a farm,
and at that age was apprenticed to a blacksmith and learned his
trade. Believing that the West was the place for a young man,
he then strapped his worldly effects on his back and started on foot
and alone for the then distant state of Ohio. Having been deprived
of the advantages of an education, being at that time unable to
read or write, and keenly appreciating his need, he entered the
school of the Rev. Samuel Bissell, at Twinsburg, Ohio, at which
place he spent about five years, paying his way by his own manual
labor. In the fall of 1854 he landed in the village of Palmyra,
where he spent the winter in teaching, writing and reading Blackstone. The spring following he went to Tecumseh and entered the
office of Stacy & Wood, making his home with Dr. Hamilton and
doing chores to pay for his board. Subsequently he moved to
Adrian and for some time wrote in the probate office of the Hon.
C. A. Stacy, then judge. The Hon. F. C. Beaman succeeding Mr.
Stacy as Judge of Probate, Mr. Robbins remained in the office as
clerk, devoting all his spare time to his legal studies, and he was
finally admitted to the bar as attorney, May 2, I859. In I860 he
was elected justice of the peace in Adrian, and was engaged in the
discharge of his duties when the Civil war broke out. Believing
that the country needed his services, he obtained a second lieutenant's commission from Governor Blair, with authority to raise a
company for the Fourth Michigan cavalry then organizing. He
raised his company and was mustered into the United States service as captain August 13, I862, going at once with the regiment
to the front. He participated in over sixty engagements and skirmishes, including the hard-fought battles of Stone's River, Chickamauga, and Missionary Ridge. At Shelbyville, while leading a
charge, he had his horse shot under him, and was complimented
in general orders for gallant conduct. He was promoted to major
August 23, 1863, and continued on duty with his regiment until
May I8, I864, when, at the head of his battalion, in an engagement
near Kingston, Ga., his left arm was shattered and rendered useless
by a minie-ball. After spending some time in the hospital, and be



i8o


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


ing permanently disabled from active duty, he was detailed as member of the general court-martial, then sitting at Jackson, in this
state, and was subsequently made commander of the camp in that
city, where he remained on duty until the war was over. On March
13, 1865, he was made lieutenant-colonel by brevet for gallant and
meritorious services in the action near Kingston, Ga. While at
Jackson he was elected justice of the peace in Adrian, serving two
terms, his last term expiring July 4, I873. In 1873 he was elected
mayor by a fair majority, in one of the hottest campaigns ever experienced in the city. He was elected to the house of representatives in the state legislature for 1875 and re-elected in 1876. In
1878 he was elected state senator, and in I88I he received the appointment of United States consul at Ottawa, Canada, where he
remained until relieved by the Cleveland administration. He was
also, in the spring of I886, again elected justice of the peace of the
city of Adrian. While a member of the house of representatives
he was a member of the Committee on State Affairs and chairman
of the Committee on the Liquor Traffic, and as such he advocated
the tax and restraining law as the best system that could be obtained in the cause of temperance. Besides discharging the duties
of the office of justice of the peace, Colonel Robbins was engaged
as a solicitor of patents and pension attorney.
Brackley Shaw was born in Plainfield, Hampshire county,
Massachusetts, May 2I, I818, and was a self-made and self-educated
man. With his parents in 1825 he moved to Ira, Cayuga county,
New York, and in 1835 the family migrated to Michigan, and became pioneers of Lenawee county. They came to Michigan'by way
of Lake Erie, disembarking at Port Lawrence (now Toledo), Ohio.
There the goods were loaded onto wagons, drawn by oxen, and
the trip, which consumed two days, through swamps and dense
forests to Adrian, was anything but pleasant. The energy and
business capacity of Mr. Shaw made him one of the most successful farmers in this community. He had a fine farm of I45 acres,
on which he built one of the most beautiful residences in the county,
and he at one time owned 400 acres in Dover township. He took
an active part in state and county affairs, and although he never
sought office he often commanded the suffrage of his fellow-citizens on account of his well known talent and ability. In I868 he
was elected to the Michigan legislature and served two years. In
I880 he was chosen state senator for the Sixth district, and in 1882
was re-elected to the same office, serving in all four years. He was
president of the Farmers' Association of Lenawee and Hillsdale




HISTORICAL                     i8i
counties for two years. He was a Whig until the organization of
the Republican party, after which time he supported that party.
Arthur D. Gilmore, representative from Lenawee county in
1873-4, and state senator in I889-90, was born March 3, I847, in
Blissfield, Mich. He attended Adrian college from 1863 to i866,
and entered the Michigan University in I868, graduating in the
law department in I870. He was appointed clerk of the judiciary
committee of the senate of Michigan in I87I. Some time after retiring from the office of state senator he took up his residence in
the city of Toledo.




CHAPTER VIII.
REPRESENTATIVES AND COUNTY OFFICIALS.
Representatives.-Sessions of 1835 and 1836: Hiram Dodge,
George Howe, Allen Hutchins, Darius Mead, and James Wheeler;
1837: Jesse Ballard, Orange Butler, Alonzo Cressy, James Field,
and Asahel Finch, Jr.; I838: Lauren Hotchkiss, Jira Payne, Charles
Spafford, and Jeremiah D. Thompson, 1839; John J. Adam,
Artemus Allen, Joseph H. Patterson, and Davis Smith; 1840: John
M. Bird, Sirrell C. LeBaron, James McDonald and Daniel K. Underwood; I841: Ebenezer Daniels, Philo C. Fuller, William Sprague,
and Albert Wilcox; 1842: John C. Ball, Charles Blair, Philo Wilson,
and James H. Woodbury; 1843: Guy Carpenter, Francis H. Hagaman, Joseph H. Patterson, and Fielder S. Snow; I844: Jonathan
Berry, Ebenezer W. Fairfield, Oliver Miller, and Thomas H.
Mosher; I845: Charles Blair, Ahira G. Eastman, George Ecklee,
and Henry Wyman; I846: James McDonald, Michael A. Patterson,
John A. Rice, and James H. Sweeny; 1847: John J. Adam, Daniel
H. Deming, Thomas J. Faxon, John W. Turner, and Sylvester
Walker; 1848: Davis D. Bennett, Elihu L. Clark, David B. Dennis,
Joseph H. Patterson, and Daniel G. Quackenboss; 1849: Daniel
H. Deming, William McNair, Jabez S. Mosher, John W. Turner,
and Daniel S. Wilkinson; I850: David B. Dennis, Noah K. Green,
Frederick A. Kennedy, Sr., Daniel G. Quackenboss, and Philo Wilson; 1851: Elias J. Baldwin, Augustus W. Childs, George Crane,
Henry Darling, and Thomas Gray; 1853: Sewell S. Goff, Nelson
Green, Daniel G. Quackenboss, and Jeremiah D. Thompson; 1855:
Robert R. Beecher, Hiram S. Eddy, James H. Parker, and Alexander R. Tiffany; i857-58: Langford G. Berry, Dr. Henry P.
Combs, Barzilla J. Harvey, and Gideon D. Perry; 1859: John R.
Clark, Orson Green, Jabez Perkins, and Peter Sharp; 1861-62:
Noah K. Green, Israel S. Hodges, Thomas F. Moore, and Daniel
D. Piper; 1863-64: Henry P. Combs, George L. Crane, Noah K.
Green, Daniel D. Piper, and Hiram Raymond; i865: John K. Boies,




HISTORICAL


i83


Charles E. Mickley, R. B. C. Newcomb, William H. Osborne, and
William S. Wilcox; I867: John K. Boies, Charles E. Mickley, William H Osborne, Walter Robinson and William S. Wilcox; I869-70:
Benjamin L. Baxter, Archer H. Crane, Charles A. Jewell, Brackley
Shaw, and Jacob Walton; 1871-72: John J. Adam, Archer H. Crane,
Orson Green, Cornelius Knapp, and Jacob Walton; 1873-74:
Charles M. Croswell, Arthur D. Gilmore, LeGrand J. Smith, and
Jacob Walton; 1875: Charles Brown, Danforth' Keyes, Marshall
Reed, and Richard B. Robbins; 1877: Alfred D. Hall, Richard B.
Robbins, and Jacob C. Sawyer; 1879: Stillman W. Bennett, Manson
Carpenter, and Alfred D. Hall; 1881-82: Manson Carpenter, William
Corbin, and Guernsey P. Waring; 1883: David A. Bixby, John U.
Harkness, and George Howell; I885: George Howell, William B.
Town, and William H. Wiggins; I887: Adrian O. Abbott, Miner
T. Cole, and Norman B. Washburn; I889: Adrian O. Abbott, Miner
T. Cole, and John W. Dalton; 1891: Lewis C. Baker, Selah H. Raymond, and John D. Shull; 1892: Selah H. Raymond, and John D.
Shull; I893: Horace Holdridge and Selah H. Raymond; 1895-97-98:
Thomas M. Camburn and William R. Edgar; I899-I900: Burton L.
Hart and George Howell; I901-03: John H. Combs and Alvah G.
Stone; 1905: Warren J. Parker and Alvah G. Stone; 1907: Warren
J. Parker and Ernest J. Bryant; I9o9: William L. Baldwin and
Ernest J. Bryant.
Allen Hutchins, representative from Lenawee county in I835 -36, came to Adrian from Orleans county, New York, as early as
I832-33. He was a lawyer, and probably the first who settled in
Lenawee county. He was an active, prominent business man, and in
politics a Democrat.
Darius Mead, representative from Lenawee county in 1835, was
born in Lanesboro, Mass., in 800o. He was a farmer and a Democrat. He settled in Michigan in 1833 and was a justice and associate
county judge of Lenawee county. He died at Blissfield in 1859.
James Wheeler, representative from Lenawee county in I835-36,
was born in Saratoga county, New York, March 2I, I793. Later he
lived in Wheeler, Steuben county, New York, a town named from
the family. He settled in Tecumseh in I834, and was a justice from
1837 to I841. He was a farmer, and in politics a Democrat. He
died at Tecumseh, February 20, I854.
Orange Butler, representative from Lenawee county in 1837,
was born in Pompey, Onondaga county, New York, March 5, I794.
He graduated at Union college, studied law with Victor Birdseye,
at the same time teaching classics. He commenced practice at




i84


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


Vienna, New York, then at Gaines, New York, where he had a large
practice and was prominent in the famous Morgan trials, during the
anti-Masonic excitement, and was prosecuting attorney. He came
to Adrian in I835. He removed to Delta, Eaton county, in I847,
and purchased the Ingersoll mills. He sold this property in I849
and removed to Lansing, where he died July II, I870. He practiced
law and was justice of the peace for many years. In politics he was
a Democrat.
Alonzo Cressy was born in Scipio, N. Y., in I808. He received a fair education, studied medicine, and began practice at
Lima, N. Y. There he married a daughter of Dr. Justin Smith, and
immigrated to Clinton, Mich., in I83I. In 1832 he accompanied a detachment of troops sent to the Black Hawk war as far as Chicago,
treating many attacked with cholera and studying the malady in
hospital. In 1836 he was elected representative as an Independent. He removed to Hillsdale, in I855 was senator from Hillsdale
county, and toward the close of the session was president pro tem.
He was first an anti-slavery Whig, later a Republican, and the latter portion of his life a Democrat. He took high rank as a physician. He was presiding officer of the Sons of Temperance for two
years. He died many years since.
James Field, representative from Lenawee county in 1837, came
from the state of New York, settled at Palmyra at an early day, and
afterward removed to Adrian, where he was in business as a warehouse man. His mother was a Quaker preacher at Scipio, N. Y.
While living at Palmyra Mr. Fields was a justice of the peace. He
died at Adrian, March I6, I863.
Asahel Finch, Jr., was a native of New York state, born at
Genoa, Cayuga county, February 14, I809, and he came of as brave
and hardy a race of pioneers as ever contributed to the upbuilding of new communities or commonwealths. His early education
was received in the common schools in the neighborhood in which
he was reared, and in his young manhood he attended school at
Middlebury Academy in Genesee county. He was married in
1830, near Rochester, N. Y., to Miss Mary DeForest Bristol, a
native of Connecticut, and almost immediately thereafter was carried westward with the tide of immigration as far as Michigan.
Locating at Tecumseh, he engaged for three years in merchandising,
when, having a strong liking for the law, removed from there to
Adrian and entered the office of Orange Butler, of that city, as a law
student in I834. While reading law he took an active interest in
public affairs, was elected to the Michigan legislature, and while




HISTORICAL


I85


serving in that body aided materially in bringing about a settlement of the boundary line dispute, betwen Michigan and Ohio,
which is treated of extensively in another chapter. After a systematic and thorough course of study he was admitted to the bar
in 1838. In the fall of the following year he removed to Milwaukee,
Wis., and began his professional career there, a well-seasoned and
well-informed man, whose experience as a man of affairs added
materially to his qualifications for successful practice. He died
on April 4, 1883, and at the time of his death was a member of the
oldest law firm at the Milwaukee bar.
Lauren Hotchkiss, representative from Lenawee county in 1838,
settled in Adrian as early as 1833, and came from the state of New
York. He built a house in Adrian and lived there for several years.
He then became a resident of Medina, where he died about I855.
He was a Baptist preacher, and was also engaged in milling business.
Charles Spafford, representative from Lenawee county in 1838,
was a merchant and miller at Tecumseh, and a Whig in politics.
He has long been deceased, and no further information is obtainable concerning him.
Judge Jeremiah D. Thompson was born in Dutchess county,
New York, in 1790, and there he resided until he was about twentyone, when he, with his father, Silas Thompson, moved to Schoharie
county, where they purchased a large farm. Jeremiah lived there
until 1823, when he moved to Perinton, Monroe county, and again
purchased a farm. He lived there until 1834, when he came to
Michigan, and he arrived in Adrian on the first day of March, having traveled the entire distance through Canada with a four-horse
team. After looking around for a week or two, he purchased of
Anson Jackson I20 acres of land on the prairie, in Madison, on section 9. He owned several other farms in Madison, but finally moved
into Adrian, where he resided several years. Previous to I840 he
was appointed a "side judge" under the old law, which position he
held until the present judiciary system was adopted. He was twice
elected a member of the Michigan legislature. He was elected
supervisor of Madison in 1837-38-39, and again in 1843 and I853.
He also served a great many years as justice of the peace in the same
township. He died at the residence of his son-in-law, William Hart,
of Hudson, February 16, I873.
Joseph H. Patterson was born in Ireland in I801, came to
America in I8I9 and located at Lockport, N. Y. In 1828 he removed
to Adrian, where he settled on a farm. He was prominent in early
Michigan politics, was a member of the constitutional convention




I86


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


of 1835, and representative in I839 and 1848. He is said to have
given the names to four counties in the state: Antrim, Wexford,
Roscommon, and Clare. In politics he was a Democrat.
Davis Smith, representative from Lenawee county in I839, was
born in Dutchess county, New York, in I808. By occupation he
was a farmer, and in politics a Democrat. He came to Tecumseh
in I830. He held several public offices, and took part in the Black
Hawk and Toledo wars. He bore the title of general. Mr. Davis
died March 26, I868.
John M. Bird was born in the village of Litchfield, Litchfield.
county, Connecticut, January 3, 18IO, but he resided there only until
he was two years old, when his parents, Chauncey and Mary Bird,
removed to Verona, Oneida county, New York, where a farm was
purchased. He lived with his parents until he was twenty-one.
He had always worked at farming, and in the spring of 1833 he came
to Michigan to look for a home. He prospected through Wayne,
Monroe, Lenawee, Hillsdale, Branch, and St. Joseph counties, and
returned to New York that fall. In the spring of 1835 he again came
to Michigan and purchased land on section I8, in Dover, this county,
and in the spring of 1836 he settled on it and resided there the remainder of his life. He cleared and improved about 150 acres of
land, built good buildings, and made a good home out of the wilderness. He served the township as road commissioner, school inspector eight years, and justice of the peace twelve years. During
the early days of the settlement of the township he was active in
assisting in the work of organizing schools and laying out, building
and improving roads and bridges. One day in 1835 he went to
Lanesville (now Hudson) to see about some lumber, and.on his
return through the woods he was chased for some two miles by an
old bear, which seemed to contest his right to encroach upon her
solitude. The village of Clayton was named by Mr. Bird in honor
of Senator John M. Clayton, of Delaware, whom William H. Seward
then said was fifty years ahead of his time. In 1839 Mr. Bird was,
without his knowledge, nominated as a candidate for representative,
and he was elected and served as a member of the state legislature
for one term.
Sirrell C. LeBaron was born in Woodstock, Windsor county,
Vermont, January 25, I8o7. He was educated at Woodstock, and
at the age of eighteen he went to Harrisburg, Pa. He was a delegate to the Clay convention at Washington in 1832, and was a great
admirer and warm friend of Henry Clay. He came to Tecumseh
on July 5, I832. He was the second clerk of Lenawee county, taking




HISTORICAL


187


the place of Daniel Pitman, who left here and went to Texas, about
the year I834. Mr. LeBaron held this office until Michigan became
a state, when he was elected the first clerk of the county under the
state organization. He was a member of the legislature in 1840, and
was elected county judge the same year. During the years I837 -38-39 Mr. LeBaron was a merchant at Tecumseh, and when he quit
business in 1839 he had "wild-cat" money enough, that he had taken,
dollar for dollar, to paper his house with, and he is authority for
the statement that that was about all it was good for. He opened
the first grammar school in the county, in I832, and in I836 he sold
his benches and school fixtures to Benjamin Workman, who continued the school until 1838, when he went to Canada. In 1842 Mr.
LeBaron was the assignee of the old charter bank of Tecumseh, and
was also assignee for the Judge Blanchard estate, administrator of
the Major Mills estate, with twelve heirs, and the Owen estate of
Clinton, and was at that time under $70,000 bonds.
James McDonald, representative from Lenawee county in i840
and again in 1846, wa's born August ii, 1796, and died August I9,
1848. He was a farmer, and in politics a Whig. He settled in
Lenawee county in I837.
Dr. Daniel Kingsley Underwood was born in Enfield, Mass.,
June 15, I803, the son of Kingsley and Elizabeth Allen Underwood,
and died at Adrian, May 6, 1875, nearly seventy-two years of age.
He was educated in the common schools of Enfield, his native town,
and then prepared for college at Amherst Academy. Graduating
there, he entered as freshman Williams College, in the class of 1827.
There he remained two years, and then took up the study of medicine, graduating with honor at the medical school of Dartmouth
College, then one of the most noted medical schools in New England.' After this he started in the practice of his profession at Yarmouth, on Cape Cod, in Massachusetts, but remained only about
two years, and then settled for a short time in Quincy, Mass., but
after a short residence returned to Amherst and entered into partnership with Dr. Gridly, one of the best known physicians and
surgeons of central Massachusetts. In the latter part of the summer of 1836, Dr. Underwood started for Michigan, taking a stage to
Northampton, Mass., thence another stage to Albany, N. Y., and
thence by another to Schenectady; from there a packet on the Erie
Canal to Buffalo, and from there the steamer "Daniel Webster"
carried him to Detroit in a week's time. Here, with two fellow
passengers, he engaged a wagon, and in- two days more reached
Adrian, arriving about the first of September. The three left most




I88


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


of their luggage at the old red mill on North Main street, the owner
of which was known to one of them, and then drove to the tavern
called the "Adrian House," situated nearly where there was for
many years a drug store, on the northwest corner of Main and
Maumee streets. The next morning Dr. Underwood started to find
his sister, who with her husband had preceded him to Michigan
two years earlier and settled at what was afterward called "Keene,"
about two miles due north of the present city of Hudson. There
was no road except the winding path used by ox teams, and Dr.
Underwood walked. During the day he passed one house on what
has since been called the "Jake Jackson Place," and at nightfall came
upon a second house belonging to the late John Colwell, near the
township line between Dover and Hudson. There he remained
over night, being most hospitably treated, and the next morning
pursued his journey, arriving at his destination about noon. He
found the family of his brother-in-law sick, with hardly any provisions in the house, and after some necessary medical attendance
he started for one of the nearest neighbors, of whom he had heard
from Colwell, as being likely to have provisions to sell. He walked
nine miles through the woods to the southeast corner of Medina
township. There he procured as much provisions as he could carry
back on his shoulders, and returned, and after doing what was possible for his sister and family, went back to Adrian and sent out a
wagon-load of necessaries. He finally made up his mind to settle in
this neighborhood, and having heard of Toledo as a town of much
promise, he went there, rented a building which was in process of
erection and nearly complete, and then went East to get a stock of
goods shipped in before the winter closed the canal and lakes. He
bought a stock of drugs, medicines, groceries, paints, oils, etc., in
New York, and returned with it to Toledo by the last boat of the
season, only to find that the owner of the building he had rented,
finding an opportunity to sell at a large profit, had sold the building
and lot in his absence, and the new owner was in possession. No
room was to be had in Toledo, and he must sell his goods during
the winter to pay what he owed for them in the spring, so he transported his goods to Adrian by wagon and opened business on the
west side of North Main street, eight or ten doors north of the
corner, afterward buying the building. The building and stock were
afterward destroyed by fire, but he rebuilt and finally bought the
ground and built a building on the southwest corner of Main and
Maumee streets, afterward occupied by Hart & Shaw. He never
practiced medicine after coming to Michigan, except in the families




HISTORICAL


I89


of one or two friends, but he carried on his drug business until about
1850, when, having been severely ill for some time and despairing of
ultimate recovery, he sold out to the late Samuel E. Hart, who had
been a clerk for him for several years. Then for several years Dr.
Underwood gave his attention to his books, his fruit, and his garden,
until his death in 1875, except that for two or three years he was
engaged with the late Abel Whitney, under the name of D. K.
Underwood & Company, in a private banking business in Adrian.
Dr. Underwood was a deeply religious man, and he contributed
about one-quarter of the cost of Plymouth church; and that it cost
not more than it did was largely attributable to his personal supervision and painstaking oversight. He was interested in public education and served as a member of the school board for several years.
He gave one-half of the land and about two thousand dollars in
money to the college at Adrian.
Ebenezer Daniels, representative from Lenawee county in 1841,
was born in 1803. By occupation he was a merchant and in politics
a Whig. He settled at Medina in 1833 and died there June I, 1862.
Philo C. Fuller, representative and speaker of the House in
1841, was born in New Marlborough, Mass., August 13, I787. By
profession he was a lawyer and politically he was a Whig. He was
a member of the New York assembly, and also senator. He settled
in Adrian in I837, and had charge of the Erie & Kalamazoo railroad
and bank. He was assistant postmaster-general under William
Henry Harrison, and again became a resident of New York, where
he served as comptroller of the state. He died at Geneva, N. Y.,
August I6, I855.
Albert Wilcox, representative from Lenawee county in 1841,
was born at New Marlborough, Mass., November 15, I805. His ancestors were engaged both in the French and Revolutionary wars.
He was brought up on a farm, and in I818 removed with his parents
to Guilford, N. Y. He received a common school education and became a teacher. He removed to Wheeler, N. Y., where he was a
partner of his father in farming and the making of wagons, and was
a captain of militia. In 1835 he came to Michigan and took up a
farm in the town of Bridgewater, Washtenaw county. In 1836 he
enlisted as carriage maker in the United States arsenal at Dearborn, with the rank of orderly sergeant. In I839 he settled at Cambridge, Lenawee county. In politics he was first a Whig and later
a Republican. Beginning in I85I, for many years he was in the
employ of the Lake Shore railroad, in various mechanical positions.
He held many local offices, including justice and alderman. Dur



Igo


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


ing the Civil war he had entire charge of the water supply of 426
miles of railroad. During the later years of his life he resided at
Adrian.
Charles Blair was born in the year i802, in Middlefield, Otsego
county, New York, and was a representative of the good old Puritan stock of New England farmers, whose energy, industry, and
purity of character, have stamped their impress on the whole North.
Educated in the common school and academy of the olden time, he
was a thorough student, and in his early manhood a successful
teacher and public officer. He immigrated to this county in I830
with his wife and two children. Having previously selected i6o
acres of good land in Franklin, Mr. Blair moved upon it with his
family December I, I830, and built a log house three miles from
the nearest neighbor, and there he lived for several days with the
house half roofed, with blankets for doors, mother earth for a floor,
and the blue canopy of heaven as a shelter from the storm. On
this farm he lived until the day- of his death, beautifying and improving his home, an important item of which was the building, in
1848, of the finest residence then in the town of Franklin. In politics he was a Democrat of the old school, a firm believer in equal
rights, and an active and earnest advocate of his political and religious views, but tolerant and charitable to the views of others.
Elected supervisor of the old town of Tecumseh when it embraced
the whole northern part of the county after Franklin was organized
into a separate township, he was elected supervisor of the latter town
for a series of years, though often a majority were opposed to him
politically. In I84I, and again in i844, he was elected to the state
legislature, and served with credit to himself and great usefulness
to the community. He was an earnest supporter of the "two-thirds
law," for the benefit of debtors, and a firm advocate of the abolition
of capital punishment. He peacefully met his death, July 28, i852,
on the farm where he first settled, beloved and lamented by all who
knew him.
Philo Wilson, representative from Lenawee county in 1842 and
again in i850, settled in Canandaigua about i836, and came from the
state of New York. He removed to Adrian about 1870, and died
there. In politics he was a Democrat.
Guy Carpenter, representative from Lenawee county in 1843,
was born in Potsdam, N. Y., December 13, i809. He received an
academical education, studied higher mathematics and civil engineering, and came to Michigan in i830. Hle taught school, and
from i832 to 1835 was a farmer, then became a merchant at Bliss



HISTORICAL


I9I


field, continuing in that business until his death in 1849. He held
the offices of supervisor, justice, and county commissioner. He was
an anti-slavery Democrat. As a legislator he drafted the first law
for the drainage of swamps, marshes, and other low lands.
Francis H, Hagaman, representative from Lenawee county in
1843, settled as a farmer in Medina about I834. He came from
the state of New York, and in politics he was a Democrat. He died
at Medina about I845.
Jonathan Berry, representative from Lenawee county in 1844,
was born in I790., His parents came from Rhode Island to Rensselaer county, N. Y., where it is thought he was born. He removed
with them first to Orleans county, N. Y., then to Mt. Vernon, Ohio,
in 1835, and to Adrian in 1836. He was a soldier of the war of 1812.
He finally settled on a farm in Rome, where he died October 20,
I85I. He was for one term an associate judge of the circuit court.
In politics he was a Democrat.
Ebenezer W. Fairfield was born at Pittsfield, Mass., in I812.
By profession he was a lawyer and in politics a Democrat. He came
to Ann Arbor in I835, but shortly removed to Adrian, where he
practiced his profession until his death in August, 1845. He was a
representative in I844.
Oliver Miller, representative from Lenawee county in I844, resided at Ridgeway, and was in politics a Democrat. He was a
brother of Dan. B. Miller, of Monroe, a prominent business man at
an early day.
Thomas H. Mosher was born in Union Springs, Cayuga county,
New York, October I8, I815, and lived with his parents until he
was about twenty-one years old. He received a common school
education, and was one year a student at the Cayuga Academy, at
Aurora, N. Y. In 1831 he went into his father's store, as a clerk, and
remained there until 1836. In August, 1836, in company with John
Hart, he came to Lenawee county and settled in Cambridge. He
immediately opened a store in Springville, in company with Mr.
Hart, and carried on a general store, under the firm name of Hart
& Mosher, until 1848, when the firm was dissolved. In I840 Hart
& Mosher erected a large store building in Springville, and it was
afterward for a long time used as a public hall. In I856, in company with Ambrose S. Berry, Mr. Mosher built the "Lake Mills,"
near Springville, and soon after the completion Mr. Mosher purchased the entire property. In I844 he was a member of the Michigan legislature and served on the Ways and Means Committee. In
the years 1843 and 1845 he served as supervisor of the township of




I92


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


Cambridge. In 1838 he was elected clerk of the township and was
re-elected for several years. He also served several years as township treasurer. He was always prominent in the township and
well-known throughout the county.
Ahira G. Eastman, representative from Lenawee county in I845,
was a practicing lawyer at Adrian and came there from the state of
New York in I835. He held the position of master in chancery.
During the Mexican war he volunteered and received a lieutenant's
commission, but resigned from ill health before reaching Mexico.
Later he removed to Breedsville, Mich., where he died.
Dr. Henry Wyman was born in Keene, Cheshire county, New
Hampshire, April 2, I803. He was reared on a farm, received his
rudimentary education in the common schools, and his academical
education at Lowville, N. Y. In 1825 he began the study of medicine at Lockport, N. Y., and in 1832 removed to Anderson, Madison county, Indiana, where he -began the practice, and lived there
until 184I, when he went to Mississippi and resided until I843. In
that year he removed to Blissfield, where he lived four years, and
in 1847 returned to Anderson, Ind., where he remained until 1864,
when he again came to Blissfield and engaged in the practice of
medicine until he was seventy-five years of age, when he retired.
He was at one time postmaster at Blissfield. Dr. Wyman displayed
a master hand in all the pioneer movements in Madison county,
Indiana, and on account of his ability and knowledge of the wants of
the people, was selected to represent the district of which Madison
county was a part in the lower house of the state legislature. Besides this official position he was for many years a justice of the
peace in Anderson. In the year I844 he was elected as a representative of Lenawee county to the Michigan legislature, and drafted
and succeeded in having enacted into a law the first bill ever introduced in the United States on the subject of drainage.
John A. Rice, representative from Lenawee county, session of
1846, was born in Cambridge, N. Y., November 29, 1806, and died
November 6, I87I. He settled on a farm in Tekonsha, Calhoun
county, in 1836, and there he lived until 1842, then removed to
Adrian, where, with the exception of two years, he was connected
with the Michigan Southern railroad as ticket agent, or general
baggage agent, during life.
James H. Sweeney, representative from Lenawee county in
1846, was a physician. He came from the state of New York about
1835, and lived many years at the village of Morenci, where he died.
Daniel H. Deming was born in Sharon, 'Litchfield county, Con



HISTORICAL


I93


necticut, September 25, I804, and was the son of Daniel and Cynthia
Deming. He lived in Sharon until about the year I829, when he
went tb Poughkeepsie, where Mr. Beecher, his brother-in-law
(father of the late Robert R. Beecher), was engaged in the hotel
business. Mr. Deming was employed as clerk in the hotel and remained there about two years. He then went to Canandaigua and
acted as agent for a stage line for a time. In the spring of 1834 he
came to Michigan and settled on section 26, in Dover, on the south
bank of the lake which now bears his name. He was the first settler in that locality, his nearest neighbor being Samuel Warren, two
miles east. He located I60 acres and cleared nearly Ioo acres, built
a log house and a good barn, and resided there until I860. He then
sold and purchased a farm on section 35, in Rome, where he resided until his death, which occurred April 7, I871. During his
residence in Dover he served the township for nine years as supervisor, besides holding the office of assessor one term and justice of
the peace four years. In 1846 he was elected a member of the legislature, and during the controversy of I847-48 in regard to the removal of the state capitol from Detroit to Lansing he took an active
part, favoring the change, because, as he said, "the Detroit folks are
controlling the state, and will continue to do so as long as the capitol remains there." He was re-elected in 1848 and was a member
when the capitol at Lansing was dedicated. He often in after life
related his trip to Lansing to attend the first session there. He took
a stage as far as Ypsilanti, where an ox team and sleigh were engaged to take him and his companions a certain distance, when
they walked into the village. During the session of I848-49 he took
up I6o acres of land, which is now mostly within the limits of the
city of Lansing. In the fall of 1846, while hunting deer with a party,
he was shot, the ball passing through his body, a distance of eleven
inches, but he recovered from the wound. In I850 he was a candidate for state senator, and would have been elected had it not been
for certain men in his own party (who had sought the nomination)
bolting and working against him at the polls.
Thomas J. Faxon was born in Whitesboro, Oneida county, New
York, August 25, I803, and represented the seventh generation of
the Faxon family in the United States. He was brought up on a
farm, but learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed for several years. He came to Michigan in the summer of I834 and worked
at his trade in Detroit for some time. As he was able to make plans
and construct buildings his services were in demand, but he soon
removed to Manchester, in Washtenaw county, where Eastern
I3-IV




I94


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


friends had settled. In October, i835, he purchased of the government eighty acres of land on section I3 in Raisin, this county,
where he resided for about thirty years. He soon cleared up his
original purchase, and added to his holdings from time to time until
his farm consisted of 355 acres. He served several terms as supervisor of Raisin township, and in i846 was elected a member of the
Michigan legislature, serving one term. In i86o he left his farm
and moved to Adrian, purchasing a home on West Maumee street,
which he soon afterward disposed of to T. J. Tobey for the old
Judge Rickey farm, on section 28, in Adrian township. After a year
or two he again purchased a home on Scott street, in Adrian, and
engaged in merchandising with his sons, continuing some four years.
About this time he purchased a large tract of land near Topeka,
Kan. He died at his home on Scott street, Adrian, April 25, i875.
John W. Turner, representative from Lenawee county in 1847
and again in i849, was born in Putney, Vt., in i8i8. By profession he was a lawyer. He came to Hudson in I841, and later removed to Coldwater, where he resided the remainder of his life.
He was a Democrat until i854, after which time he was a Republican. He was the first Republican nominee for lieutenant-governor,
but declined in favor of Coe. As a public speaker and legal advocate he always stood high in southern Michigan. He published a
volume of poems of considerable merit.
Sylvester Walker, representative from Lenawee county in 1847,
was a hatter in Norwich, N. Y., in i8i3. He settled in Cambridge
in 1838, opened a hotel at the junction of the Chicago and La Plaisance Bay turnpikes, erected fine buildings, where many a weary
traveler found a genial place of rest. In politics he was a Democrat. He died Dec. 28, i868.
Davis D. Bennett was born in Tioga (nowi Chemung) county,
New York, March 25, i8o8. He left his parents at the age of sixteen, and worked on a farm and at lumbering until the fall of i828,
when he came to Michigan. He continued to reside in Adrian until
the fall of i829, when he returned to Orleans county, New York,
where he was married. In the spring of i830 he came back to
Michigan and located eighty acres of land on section 33, in Adrian
township. He lived on this farm one year, and then sold it to Harry
Wood. One year later he purchased i6o acres of land on section
29, in Adrian township; this land he sold to John Raymond in i837,
and the same year purchased 220 acres on sections 9 and i6, in
Fairfield, where he resided until i868, when he sold out to his son,
Stillman W. Bennett, and afterward resided in Fairfield village.




HISTORICAL


I95


After removing to Fairfield township he held various offices of
honor and trust, including supervisor for four terms, justice of the
peace four terms, and town clerk about fifteen terms. In 1847 he
was elected a member of the Michigan legislature, and as such was
present at the dedication of the first capitol building in the city of
Lansing.
Elihu L. Clark was born in Walworth, Ontario (now Wayne)
county, New York, July I8, I8II. At the age of nineteen he commenced business as a clerk in a dry goods store at Palmyra, N. Y.,
and this he continued until the year 1832, when he commenced business there for himself, continuing the same until the year I835, when
he sold out to a Mr. Jackson for $I,ooo. He then immediately wentto New York and invested all his means in goods and shipped them
to Adrian, where he opened a small store on Main street, selling
goods exclusively for cash. From about the year 1838 to 1842, he
invested considerable means in the purchase of what was then called
State warrants, and State scrip, which he bought at a discount,
thereby making quite a profitable investment, as he soon afterward
realized par value for the same. He continued the dry goods trade
until about the year 1847, when he sold out to his brother, John R.
Clark, and thereafter he was engaged in loaning money. He was
elected to the Michigan legislature in the year 1847 and served one
term. When the Lenawee County Savings Bank was organized he
was elected president of the institution and served in that capacity
for several years, finally resigning in consequence of poor health.
David B. Dennis, representative from Lenawee county in 1848
and again in I850, was born in Farmington, N. Y., June 12, I8I7.
By occupation he was an attorney and banker, and politically he
was a Democrat. He came to Michigan with his father's family
in 1827, and settled at Adrian. He resided at Adrian for twentyfive years and then removed to Coldwater, where he lived the remainder of his life. He was a leader in the Democratic party, and
was repeatedly its candidate for state and other offices.
William McNair was born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania,
January i, 800o. He immigrated to Michigan in 1826, became a
merchant at Tecumseh, and afterward a farmer. In politics he was
a Democrat and he was a representative in I849.
Jabez S. Mosher, representative from Lenawee county in I849,
was born in Springport, N. Y., and came from there to Jackson's
Mills, now known as Addison, about I840. In politics he was a
Democrat. He died about I856.
Daniel S. Wilkinson was born in the state of New York in I8I3.




I96


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


He came from Albion, N. Y., to Adrian in I834, and there resided
until his death, May 24, I875. His business was that of loaning
money. In politics he was a Democrat and he was a representative
in 1849.
Noah K. Green was born in Windsor, Berkshire county, Mass.,
December 24, I8o8. He was reared and educated in his native
county, and there he lived until June, 1835, when he came to Michigan. He settled in Medina, this county, purchasing 280 acres of
land on sections 25 and 36. He assisted in organizing the township
of Medina in I837, and in 1842 he was elected supervisor, serving
in that capacity for seven years. He was again elected in 1852, serving one year, and in 1859 he was elected and served two years. In
1849 he was elected to the Michigan legislature and was re-elected
in I860 and I862. He died at his home in Medina, May 8, i886.
Frederick A. Kennedy, Sr., was born in England, Dec. 27, I785.
He came to America in I817, and resided in Pennsylvania and New
York until 183I, when he removed to Michigan, settling in Lenawee
county in what was afterwards called Ridgeway. He was a cooper
by trade, but after coming to Michigan followed farming principally.
In politics he was a Democrat, and in I850 was a representative in
the legislature. In 1857 he removed to Jackson, where he resided
until his death, February 26, 1872.
Elias J. Baldwin, representative from Lenawee county in I851,
came from Berkshire county, Massachusetts, to Morenci, about
I834. He lived at Morenci until he died, being at the time of his
death over eighty years of age. In politics he was first a Whig and
then a Republican.
Augustus W. Childs, representative, session of i85I, was born
in the state of New York in I8I4. He came to Michigan in 1836
and resided the greater part of the remainder of his life at Hudson.
He was supervisor, town clerk, and held other offices. By occupation he was a farmer, and politically he was a Republican.
George Crane was a native of Massachusetts, and was born
March 3I, 1783. In early manhood he became a pioneer settler in
Wayne county, New York, where he continued to reside until his
removal to Michigan in May, 1833. Upon his arrival in Lenawee
county, he located on section i8 in what is now the township of
Palmyra, where he entered upon and cleared the farm upon which
he resided until his death, April 17, I856. In the time when the
commissioner plan of county government was in vogue he served as
one of the commissioners of Lenawee county, and afterward served
as supervisor and represented the county one term in the legislature.




I ISTORICAL


I97


He was one of the commissioners who took part in locating the
Erie & Kalamazoo railroad, which was the pioneer road in the
West, and he was one of the directors of that road until his death.
For some years he acted as president of the company, and was also
civil engineer in building the road.
Henry Darling, representative from Lenawee county in I85I,
emigrated from the state of New York to Macon township, where
he died. In politics he was a Whig.
Sewell S. Goff was born in Royalston, Mass., January 29, i8II.
When a young man he went to Niagara county, New York, and
lived at Lewiston until I829, when he came to Michigan. He settled on section 29, in Blissfield, where he ever after resided. He
died January 23, I865. He was a lieutenant in the Black Hawk war,
and served as representative from Lenawee county in I853.
Nelson Green, representative from Lenawee county in I853,
senator from Muskegon county in I86I-2, and form Oceana county
in 1863-4, was born in Wayne county, New York, May 29, 1803.
He was married in 1826, and lived in Otto, N. Y., from 1826 to 1847,
when he settled in Rollin, Lenawee county. He was a member of
the New York legislature of 1838, and a member of the Michigan
constitutional convention of I850. By occupation he was a farmer
and surveyor, and politically he was first a Whig and then a Republican. He removed to Oceana county in 1856, was for many years
county surveyor and did a large amount of surveying in Oceana
and Muskegon counties. He was judge of probate for Oceana
county. He removed to Addison, Lenawee county, in I879, and he
died at that place.
Robert R. Beecher, representative from Lenawee county in
I855, was a leading lawyer at Adrian, and was a law partner of Judge
Cooley and of Hon. F. C. Beaman. He was a leading Republican in
the early history of the party. He was a good lawyer, and was
honored with various county offices. He held the office of judge of
probate from I86I until his death in I871. He died in the prime of
manhood.
Hiram S. Eddy was born in Clarendon, Rutland county, Vermont, June 6, I812. He was brought up a farmer, and afterward
worked at the carpenter's trade. His education was confined to a
few terms in a district school. At the age of fifteen he commenced
to work by the month, which he followed until he came to Michigan,
in the year I832. At this time he was twenty years old, and for a
year or more he worked at carpentry or on a farm. When he first
came, he took up some land in Palmyra, but soon afterward sold it




i98


MEMOIRS O`F LENAWEE COUNTY


and purchased the northwest quarter of the southwest quarter of
section I and the north part of the east half of the southeast quarter
of section 2, in Fairfield, where he resided the remainder of his life.
In the spring of I837 he was elected constable and collector, which
office he held for seven or eight years. In i848 he was elected supervisor of Fairfield, which office he afterward held, at different times,
for about eight years. In i855 he was a member of the house of
representatives of the Michigan legislature. Beginning in i848,
he undoubtedly administered on more estates and settled -more
heirship property than any other man in the southern portion of
the county. In i867 he purchased a large farm in Butler county,
Iowa, and commenced farming there on quite a large scale. In i873
his wheat crop amounted to nearly 6,ooo bushels.
James H. Parker was born September 2, 1803, in Masonville,
Delaware county, New York. He lived with his parents until he
was twenty-one years old, and received a common school education, finished by a three months' term at an academy. He usually
worked at farming and lumbering while at home, except during the
winters after he was seventeen, when he taught school and "boarded
'round." After arriving at his majority he worked at the carpenter
and joiner's trade a part of his time during the following ten years.
When eighteen years old he was enrolled in the state militia, and at
the' first drill was elected fourth corporal, and by regular gradation
and election was made captain of the company eight years afterward. He served in that position two years and then resigned. In
the spring of i833 he came to Michigan and located the southwest quarter of section I4, in the present township of Rome, and at
once built a shanty and kept bachelor's hall. During the summer
and fall he built a log dwelling house, chopped six acres, cleared
two, and sowed it with wheat. In the month of November he returned to Masonville and found the same school district, which had
employed him four preceding terms, ready to employ him again.
He taught that school during the winter. The following summer
he again came to Michigan, this time with his family, and settled on
his land. In company with John B. Schureman he built a saw mill
that, like many other mills, accommodated the neighborhood but
yielded no profit to the proprietors. At a meeting held late in 1834
to petition the legislative council to organize the township Mr. Parker took a prominent part, was a member of the committee appointed to select a name for the township, and he cast the deciding
vote in favor of the name-Rome. He later sold his interest in the
saw mill to a neighbor and gave his attention to his farm. Unfor



HISTORICAL


199


tunately, in August, 1835, while logging, one of his oxen got a leg
broken, and he immediately found employment and ready pay at
Palmyra, on Mr. Pomeroy's flouring mill, then in progress of erection, and he moved to that place with his family and labored six
months. The flouring mill being finished, he worked several
months on Tiffany & Crane's saw-mill at Palmyra. That also
being finished, Mr. Parker and another man took all the bridges
to build (except one called Foster's bridge) on the Palmyra
& Jacksonburg railroad, as it was then called, between Palmyra and Clinton, a major part of the work only having
been completed when he was attacked by ague. Sickness, railroad
promises and checks unredeemed, "wild-cat" money, and a tax deed
on his farm, fraudulently obtained, wiped out all his savings of three
years' labor, and he returned to his farm with no capital but his axe,
plane, and lever, out of health, and as poor as when he left it, but
he was not discouraged and was full of hope, notwithstanding his
bad fortune. During the following eleven years he added by exchange of unimproved lands, twenty-five acres of improved land
adjoining his quarter section, and he improved fifty acres of the latter tract, making in all 185 acres in the farm and Ioo acres improved,
built a good frame house and barn, purchased and paid for a good
horse team and three cows, raised some young cattle and about Ioo
sheep. He lived on his farm in Rome about thirty years, selling
out in 1863, after which time he lived four years in the city of Adrian, where he built a house; 'six years in Raisin, and then in Adrian
township until his death. During Mr. Parker's residence in Rome
he served six years as supervisor of the township and six years as
justice of the peace. He was also a school director for nine years.
He served as a member of the house of representatives of the Michigan legislature in I855, the same being the first Republican legislature in Michigan. As a member he offered the following resolutions, which were adopted: "Resolved, That the exclusion of the
'female sex' of our state from the benefits of a liberal education in
the State University, which is created and endowed by the common
treasury, is unjust, and furnishes a just occasion of complaint on
their part, and abundantly authorizes the numerous petitions now
before the house calling for large expenditures to erect a separate
college for their education. Resolved, That the committee on education be instructed to inquire into the expediency of providing by
law for the education of youth without distinction of sex in the
State University." On January 29, 1855, Mr. Parker, pursuant to
previous notice, introduced a bill, which was passed, to "prohibit




200


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


the use of the common jails and other public buildings in the several counties in this state for the detention of persons claimed as
fugitive slaves." While a bill for the establishment of an "Agricultural School" was under discussion, he moved that a department
of "Domestic Economy" be included, and that provision be made
for the instruction of persons without distinction of sex. A bill to
establish a "Female College" being considered, he moved that the
president, professors, and teachers should be women, and that there
should be a department of "Medicine and Obstetrics." He also
introduced a bill giving mothers the exclusive custody of their infant children, unless cause be shown. He was a prominent, earnest,
and consistent Abolitionist, and he, with his wife, in the slavery
days, helped through several fugitives who came along oh the
"underground railroad."
Judge Alexander R. Tiffany was born in Niagara, Canada, October I6, 1796, and made his way to the Territory of Michigan in the
fall of 1832. He settled in Palmyra, this county, which place it was
then believed would eventually become a large city. Two years
later he was appointed prosecuting attorney of Lenawee county,
and in I836 he was elected judge of the probate court, which office
he held eight years, and of which he was the second incumbent;
he was also judge of the county court two terms. Judge Tiffany
was a man of giant intellect, a learned lawyer and a conscientious
attorney; he became prominent in the politics of Southern Michigan and was a member of the Constitutional convention of I850.
Four years later he was elected to the Michigan legislature and appointed chairman of the Judiciary committee. He wrote and
studied beyond his strength, and during those memorable years
wrote and published "Tiffany's Justice Guide" and "Tiffany's Criminal Law," which are today considered of great practical value in
justice's courts, and to practicing attorneys generally in the state.
He never enjoyed robust health, owing probably to his unremitting
labors, and he died at Palmyra, January 14, I868, when seventy-two
years old.
Dr. Henry P. Combs was born in Onondaga county, New
York, June 19, 1820. His father dying when Henry was quite
young, the latter lived with his mother until he was eighteen years
old, attending the district schools, and came with her to Michigan
in I838. About the year I840 he commenced the study of medicine,
followed it closely, and after graduation at the Cleveland, Ohio,
Medical College, in 1845, he began the practice of medicine in Rome
township, this county. He at once became very successful and pop



HISTORICAL


201


ular in his profession, which he faithfully followed until I865, when
he retired from active practice. In politics he was first a Whig, but
became a Republican after I854. In I856 he was elected to the
Michigan legislature, and in 1862 he was re-elected to the same
body. He served as school inspector and township clerk for several
terms, and was county superintendent of the poor for thirteen
years. Dr. Combs died January I, I895.
Barzilla J. Harvey was born in Ontario county, New York,
September 29, I808. He came to Michigan in 1832 and purchased
lands in Adrian, which property he occupied until his death, September 25, 1863.. In politics he was a Republican, and he was representative in the legislature of I857.
John R. Clark was a native of the state of New York, and was
born in Ontario township, Ontario county, which township is now
known as Walworth, and the county as Wayne, on September 4,
1822. He lived with his father until he was about fifteen years old,
and attended a district school in his native state. He came to Michigan with his parents in I836, and resided in Adrian ever after. He
was graduated in Adrian in 1840, at Brewster's Select School, in
the building afterward owned by AV. A. Whitney and occupied as
a residence. In I840 he entered his brother's store as a clerk and
remained until 1845, when he became a partner in the business and
remained until I847, in which year he bought his brother's interest.
In the fall of I847 he erected a brick store on Maumee street, in
which he carried on general merchandising until 1853, when his
health failed. He then sold out to Col. L. F. Comstock and A. H.
Wood, and purchased and moved upon the Pease farm on section
IO, in Madison township. During the years I854 and I855 he erected
the finest farm house in the county. In I855 he formed a partnership with A. H. Wood, and embarked in the dry goods business,
which they continued until I859, when he bought out his partner's
interest and carried on the business until I863, then closed out and
gave his attention to farming and stock dealing. In I866 Mr. Clark
became interested in the erection of the Madison Cheese Factory,
and was its president and manager for three years. He was selected
supervisor of Madison township for five years. In 1858 he was
elected a member of the house of representatives of the Michigan
legislature, and was chairman of the Committee on Mines and Minerals, and served on four other committees. In 1874 he sold his farm
to A. H. Russell, and moved to the city of Adrian, where he resided
the remainder of his life. In 187I he engaged in the wholesale
cheese business with Henry F. Shattuck, and afterward engaged




202


22MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


in packing pork. In 1877 Clark & Shattuck admitted to the firm as
a partner Lafayette Ladd, and continued until i878, when E. L.
Baker was admitted, and the firm of Clark, Baker & Co. entered upon
a prosperous career in the wholesale provision, cheese, and pork
packing business. In i875 Mr. Clark was elected alderman of the
Fourth ward of Adrian, and was re-elected in i877. Politically, he
was in early life an old-line Whig, and cast his first presidential
vote for Henry Clay. After the organization of the Republican
party he affiliated with it, and gave it his warmest and most earnest
support.
Orson Green was a native of Palmyra, Ontario (now Wayne)
county, New York, where he was born on March 5, i8i2. He continued on the home farm until reaching his majority, receiving his
education in the public schools, while he inherited in a marked
degree the intelligence and decided traits of character of both parents. On April io, 1833, he left the Empire State, and landed in
the Territory of Michigan on May 6 following, having walked the
entire distance, stopping first near the embryo town of Palmyra.
Thence a few days later he repaired to Adrian, and after travelling
about in this county a few weeks, returned to Detroit and took a
steamer for Buffalo, landing a few days later in Cattaraugus county,
New York. In May of the following year he started again for his
proposed new home. Leaving his newly wedded wife at Van
Buren, Wayne county, he came to Rollin township and took up
240 acres of government land, being one of the first men to locate
permanently in that section. He cleared a spot large enough for a
cabin and garden, then returned to Van Buren for his wife, and they
made their home with their nearest neighbor until the fall, when Mr.
Green put up a log house, into which they removed before it was
provided with either a floor or a window. Mr. Green was justice
of the peace in Rollin township before its organization or the admission of the Territory into the Union as a State, the election being
authorized by the governor. He held this office for a period of
twyenty years and finally refused to become a candidate. He was
elected supervisor in the spring of I845, and in this capacity he
served six years in succession and was afterward elected twice to
the same office, serving in all eleven or twelve years. He was assessor several terms, and in I858 was first elected to the state legislature and thereafter re-elected in i870, being a member of that body
for a period of four years. He assisted in the building of the first
church in Rollin township, in i868, and with his estimable lady was
a member in good standing of the Methodist Episcopal church for




HISTORICAL


203


many years. He cast his first presidential vote for William Wirt,
and was an old-line Whig until the organization of the Republican
party, when he gave his cordial support to the latter.
Jabez Perkins, representative from Lenawee county in i859,
was born in Defiance, Ohio, October 26, I820. He received an academical education at Delaware, studied medicine, and graduated
at Cleveland in I849. He practiced medicine at Springville, this
county, for ten years, but in I860 removed to Owosso. He took
charge of a hospital at Nashville in I862, became a surgeon of Kentucky volunteers, medical director of the Second army corps, and
then medical director of the Cavalry corps, Army of the Cumberland. In politics he was first a Whig, and then a Republican.
Peter Sharp, representative from Lenawee county in I859, was
born at Willsborough, N. Y., May 14, 1812. His father moved to
the Genesee valley, and later to Franklin county, Ohio, and the
son became a traveling minister in 1832, by admission to the Ohio
conference of the Methodist Episcopal church, then including nearly
all the territory of Michigan. After twenty-one years' service as
a minister, he settled at Ridgeway, Lenawee county, as a retail
dealer in drugs and groceries. A Whig until 1854, he then became
a Republican. He was thirty years postmaster, also a justice.
Israel S. Hodges, representative from Lenawee county in
1861-62, was born in Onondaga county, New York, June 29, i8oi.
By occupation he was a farmer and lumberman, and in politics a Republican. He came to Michigan in I835, and had his residence in
Ogden township.
George L. Crane came to Michigan territory with his parents
in the summer of I833. He was born November 20, I8IO, and remained under the home roof until twenty-four years of age, receiving a liberal education, and learning surveying of his father, while
becoming familiar with farm pursuits. He was twenty-three years
of age when he came with the family to this county, and in 1835
he started out for himself, locating on a tract of land in Madison
township. For twenty years he followed surveying, using his father's
compass and outfit, while he invested his surplus capital in real
estate, and at one time was the owner of I,ooo acres of land. In 1842
he was elected supervisor of Madison township, serving three terms,
and was several times elected county surveyor, but never qualified.
He was elected to the Michigan legislature in 1862 and served one
term.
Hiram Raymond was born in the township of Cphocton, Steuben county, New York, January 4, I819. He came to Michigan




204


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


with his parents in I833 and continued to follow farming in Raisin
township until the spring of I868, when he removed to the village
of Tecumseh and there spent the remainder of his life. Upon his
removal to Tecumseh he engaged in the manufacture of agricultural implements, the firm being McConnell, Raymond & Company.
At one time during the Civil war Mr. Raymond was drafted, but
poor health prevented his serving. He believed that $300 would
serve his country better than himself, and cheerfully paid that
amount to assist in suppressing the Southern uprising. He was
elected supervisor of Raisin township in the year I859, and held
the position two years. In the fall of I862 he was elected to the
Michigan legislature, and held that position for one term. After
he moved to Tecumseh he was elected justice of the peace, which
position he held four years, commencing July 4, I873, and ending
July 4, 1877.
William H. Osborne was born in Ovid, Seneca county, New
York, October 29, 1814. He received a good education, pursuing
his studies at Ovid Academy, and Lima and Cazenovia seminaries.
He employed his leisure hours in the perusal of instructive books,
and after leaving school was engaged as a teacher three winters in
his native state, one winter in Maumee, Ohio, and one winter after
coming to this county. Upon coming to Michigan in I830, his
father located on the south half of section 20, in Macon township,
which farm he operated nine years, and in I839 turned it over to
William H., who retained possession of it until he removed to the
village of Tecumseh, about I88I. In the meantime he cleared and
improved 220 acres, and erected a large frame house with two or
three commodious barns, besides two tenement houses; he also purchased another farm on section 2I. In addition to the labor and
responsibility involved in looking after these extensive interests,
at the solicitation of his townsmen he served as justice of the peace,
school inspector, highway commissioner, and town clerk. The
fidelity with which he discharged the duties of these various positions, naturally resulted in his election to the higher office of a state
legislator. In I864 he was elected a member of the Michigan legislature, re-elected to the position in I866, and served on several important committees. He attended the convention at Pittsburg,
when John P. Hale was nominated for President, and he stood
bravely up under the stigma of being called an Abolitionist, casting
one of the first three votes polled in Macon township against the
perpetuation of human bondage. Subsequently he became a Free



HISTORICAL


205


Soiler, and finally a Republican, the principles of which party he upheld through sunshine and storm during the remainder of his life.
Walter Robinson was born in Wayne county, New York,
December I7, i8i8. He started out for himself in life at the age of
thirteen, clerking in a store until he was twenty-three years old,
and obtained his education by attending school out of office hours.
After his marriage he worked his father-in-law's farm three years,
when, in I846, he struck out for the great West, and coming to the
city of Adrian, was engaged in the livery business eight or nine
years, during which time he also operated a United States mail
route. He then opened a book and jewelry store, which he carried
on four years, and then, in i858, traded for a home, consisting of
i6o acres of land in Adrian township. Politically he was an ardent
Republican, and was always an active worker in the interests of his
party. In i867 he served one term as a member of the Michigan
legislature, and for years he was prominent in the various meetings
and conventions of his party. He had a wide acquaintance throughout the state, having traveled one year with the Michigan State Insurance Company. He was deputy revenue collector during i863
and 1864.
Benjamin L. Baxter was born in Sidney Plains, Delaware
county, New York, April 7, I8I5. He accompanied his parents to
Michigan in i831, first locating at Tecumseh and six years later
at White Pigeon. He remained in the latter place until the fall of
i840, when he left for Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, and remained there until the fall of 1843. He then returned to Tecumseh
to take charge of the Tecumseh branch of the Michigan University,
where he remained three years, in the meantime studying law with
Hon. Perley Bills. He was admitted to the bar, and the same year
became the law partner of Mr. Bills, and remained so for twentyfive years. In the year i87I, Mr. Bills withdrew from practice, when
Mr. Baxter formed a partnership with Edwin S. Ormsby, then of
Deerfield, which co-partnership lasted for about three years, when
Mr. Ormsby went to Illinois. Mr. Baxter was elected Regent of
the Michigan University for six years, from i8 8 to i863, and in
i868 he was elected representative in the legislature, and served one
term.
Archer H. Crane, representative from Lenawee county in
i869-70 and I87I-2, was born in Onondaga county, New York, March
30, i82I. By occupation he was a farmer and in politics a Republican. He held the office of supervisor ten years. He settled in




206


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


Freedom, Washtenaw county, in I834, but in the '6os removed
to Lenawee county, locating at Hudson.
Jacob Walton, representative from Lenawee county in I869 -70-I-2-3-4, was born in Buckingham, Pa., Feb. Io, I818. He received
a common school education. In I834 he immigrated to Michigan
and settled in Saline, and in I85I he moved to Raisin, Lenawee
county, where he resided the remainder of his life. By occupation
he was a farmer, and in politics he was a Republican.
Cornelius Knapp was a native of Nassau, Rensselaer county,
New York, and was born June I2, 1824. He made his home with
his father's family, and was brought up to the life of a farmer until
he had reached the age of twenty-five years, receiving his education
in a log school house, built in the primitive fashion, which stood but
a short distance from his father's house. At the age of nineteen
years, having a natural genius for mechanics, he adopted the trade of
a carpenter, working the first year for eleven dollars a month, and
the next for one dollar a day. This business he followed for some
twelve years, when, in I849, he purchased a farm on section I8, in
Rome township, on which he removed in 1851, and where he ever
after made his home. He was always a Republican in politics, and
took a prominent part in the local councils of that party. Being a
man in whose prudence and ability the community had confidence,
in I865 he was elected as the member of the county board of supervisors from the township of Rome, and remained in that office for
eleven consecutive years. At the expiration of that time he went
to California with his wife for a little recreation, and returning the
following year, was re-elected as representative on the board of
supervisors, and was retained in this office five years more. Growing in popularity throughout the county as he became better known,
in I870 he was elected member of the house of representatives
of the Michigan legislature, and for two years occupied a seat amid
that august body.
Le Grand J. Smith, representative from Lenawee county in
1873-4, was born in Bethel, Conn., Jan. 8, I837. He received a common school education. In 1839 he settled in Somerset, Hillsdale
county, and in I859 he removed to Woodstock, Lenawee county,
where he spent the remainder of his life. In business he was a merchant.
Charles Brown was born in Cayuga county, New York, Jan.
8, I808. He remained under the parental roof until twenty years
of age, assisting as duty demanded, and receiving an excellent education at the public schools. He then commenced teaching, and was




HISTORICAL


207


engaged in that profession for a period aggregating ten winters
and three summers. In the intervening time and subsequently, he
was employed in various occupations, remaining a citizen of Cayuga
county until the fall of I830. He subsequently resided in Genesee,
Liyingston, and Wyoming counties, and in 1851 he went to Wisconsin, where he spent the winter. In the following spring he came to
Lenawee county and found employment as a clerk in Medina, which
position he held one year, and during the next six months he was
engaged in mercantile business in Newaygo county. A year and
a half later he formed a partnership with Baxter'Lyon, and under the
firm name of Lyon & Brown, carried on a large mercantile trade
in Medina. He continued in business there until 1882, when he sold
out, and thereafter lived a comparatively retired life. In Medina
township he served twenty-four and one-half years as postmaster,
and as township clerk fourteen years, while for three years he was
county superintendent of the poor. In the fall of 1874 he was
elected to the house of representatives, and served acceptably two
years. He was instrumental in putting through a measure in the
house for the relief of Mary J. McDermott, an orphan girl who lived
in Lenawee county, and who was about to be defrauded of her
rights in an estate. Mr. Brown was notary public for a period of
thirty-two years. He was a strong Republican, courageously and
fearlessly upholding the principles promulgated by that organization.
Danforth Keyes, representative from Lenawee county in I875,
was born in Ashford, Conn., May 27, I8i6. He received a common
school education, removed to Clinton, this county, in I836, and resided there the remainder of his life. He was supervisor of Tecumseh in 1863-64-65, and after the division of the town in 1869 was
supervisor of Clinton in I869-70. He was engaged in the milling
business, and also as a grain dealer. In politics he was a Democrat.
Marshall Reed was born in Richmond, Ontario county, New
York, August 21, I833. He lived with his parents on the farm until
he was twenty-one years old, and in 1854 he came to Michigan and
settled on section 33, in Rome. He served eleven years as justice of
the peace, and held other township offices. He was a Republican in
politics, and was elected to the state legislature in I874. In I866 he
sold his farm in Rome and purchased another on section 34, in Cambridge township, where he resided at the time of his death, which
occurred Dec. I6, I89I.
Alfred D. Hall was born in the town of Byron, Genesee county,
New York, Jan. 6, 1824. He came with his father to this state in




208


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


i845, and purchased a tract of land adjoining that of his father in
Calhoun county. This he cleared from the heavy timber and occupied it until the winter of i853-54, when he sold out and purchased
a homestead in Tecumseh township-the farm being pleasantly
located one and one-half miles northeast of the village, and his
family took possession in the spring of 1854. Mr. Hall served as
justice of the peace in Calhoun county, and after his removal to
Tecumseh township he was elected president and treasurer of the
Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance Company, of which he was one of
the original incorporators, and he held the position for ten or twelve
years. Subsequently he served as secretary, and for a number of
years continued on the board of directors. He was president of
the Lenawee Agricultural Society for five years, and held the office
of supervisor six years, during one year of which he was chairman
of the board. He had now amply distinguished himself as a man
of more than ordinary ability, and in the fall of i876 he was elected
a representative to the Michigan legislature, and re-elected in 1878.
He cast his first presidential vote in i848, and continued with the
old Whig party until the organization of the Republican party, after
which time he gave his support to Republican principles.
Jacob C. Sawyer, representative from Lenawee county in i877,
was born Dec. 26, i822, in Manchester, N. Y.; removed to Ashtabula county, Ohio; was admitted to practice law in that state in
i848; removed to Lenawee county in I853, and engaged in farming
in the township of Medina. He was a graduate of the law department of the University of Michigan of the class of i86i, and he was
a member of the constitutional convention of i867.
William Corbin first saw the light in Nichols, Tioga county,
New York, July 30, i825, and lived at home until he was fifteen
years of age, receiving only a common-school education. At that
age he went to Burlington Flats, Otsego county, New York, to learn
wragon-making, but being dissatisfied with the treatment he received he remained only one year, when he went to Chittenango,
where he worked for his board during one winter and attended
school. In the spring of 1843 he went to Buffalo, and thence by
steamer to Detroit, where he landed about July I. From Detroit
he went to Dundee, Monroe county, where Mr. Dunham, a brother
of his step-father, resided, and there he engaged at farm labor. He
afterward worked on the Michigan Southern Railroad for some
time, and then we find him running a grist and saw mill which he
had leased and was operating successfully at Dundee. In I847 he
entered the mercantile business, opening a general store at Peters



HISTORICAL


209


burg, and continued at merchandising for about fifteen years.
While there, he bought the water-power and mill property at Petersburg, in company with John W. Conlogue, and operated it for several years. He was also postmaster for twelve years at Petersburg,
receiving his appointment from President Pierce. He at one time
owned about 2,000 acres of land in Monroe county, a part of which
consisted of valuable farms. He was the first station agent appointed at Petersburg by the Michigan Southern Railroad Company, and held the position about fifteen years. He was township
clerk, justice of the peace twelve years, and supervisor three terms.
He was elected state senator in I862, and was a member of the constitutional convention in I867. He lived in Petersburg until I872,
when he removed to the city of Adrian, where he resided the remainder of his life. He was one of the original incorporators of
the Adrian Paper Mill Company, and was its president seven years.
He subsequently engaged in the hardware business, and finally
became a member of the Adrian Packing Company. lie was a member of the board of education for a number of years, three years of
which he was secretary. He was elected a member of the house
of representatives in I880 from the Second district of Lenawee
county, which was strongly Republican, he being the only Democrat elected in a period of more than twenty years. He was elected
mayor of the city of Adrian in 1882 and again in T883. He also occupied the position of member of the Board of Control for six years,
receiving his appointment from Governor Begole.
Guernsey P. Waring was born on section 9 in the township of
Ridgeway, Aug. 31, 1852. He had the advantage of a good practical education, and after being graduated at the high school in Tecumseh, he began to turn his attention to business. In 1874 he
succeeded his brother in the undertaking business which the latter
had established at Ridgeway, and he conducted it in a successful
manner. He purchased land approximate to the village, and later,
to add to the general interest of the place, he erected a good, large
double store building, and a beautiful brick residence upon pleasant
grounds. He made himself a public-spirited character, and in the
fall of I880 was selected by the Republicans of the First district to
represent this county in the state legislature, the duties of which
office he performed to the credit of himself and his constituents.
He was of decided Prohibition principles, and was soon placed on
the Committee on Liquor Traffic, in which committee he was a
prominent figure. By his investigations while thus engaged in his
duties in the state legislature, he became more and more an advoI4-Iv




210


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


cate of the principles of temperance and the suppression of the
whisky traffic, and when he returned home he championed the cause
of the Prohibition party, and always voted with it. Some years ago
Mr. Waring removed to Chicago, Ill., and there engaged in the realestate business.
David A. Bixby was born in Adrian, Sept. 24, 1854. He graduated in the Adrian high school in I870, and also in the literary department of Michigan University in the year I875. He read law
for a time in Adrian, and was soon elected city recorder, being three
times re-elected to the same office. He served as representative in
the legislature during the session of 1883, and held other positions,
elective and appointive. In the fall of 1884 he was elected to the
office of county clerk, and he was the first Democratic clerk ever
elected in the county. He now lives in St. Louis, Mo., where he is
connected with the American Car and Foundry Company. He removed to that place soon after the expiration of his term as county
clerk.
John U. Harkness, representative from Lenawee county in
1883, was born in Raisin township, May I2, I840. In I848 he settled
with his parents in Rollin township, where he spent the greater
part of his life. He received a common-school education, with two
or three terms at Friends' seminary, near Adrian. He learned the
carriage-maker's trade, which business he carried on several years.
In 1879 he engaged in farming. He filled various township offices,
and was supervisor three years. After retiring from the office of
representative in the state legislature he becane superintendent and
treasurer of Earlham College, at Richmond, Ind. In politics he was
a Republican.
Dr. William B. Town was born in Norwich, Oxford county,
Dominion of Canada, July 23, I830. He pursued his early studies
in the district school and subsequently attended the schools at Jackson, Mich., during the winter season, his parents having migrated
to Michigan in the fall of I838. He commenced reading medicine
under the instruction of Dr. H. Powers, of Rollin, when some twenty-one years of age, and took a two-years' course in the medical department of Michigan University. Aside from the practice of his
profession he lent his aid to those enterprises calculated for the general good of the community, serving in the local offices, and for a
period of seventeen years he was postmaster at Geneva; this office
he finally resigned. He was school director for a period of seven
years, and in 1884 was elected a member of the state legislature.
During his services at the capital he was on various important com



HISTORICAL


211


mittees, especially those concerning the public health and industrial
school for girls at Adrian. He always voted the straight Democratic
ticket.
Selah H. Raymond was born in Rollin township, Aug. 31, I840.
His early life was passed on the homestead, where he was carefully trained in principles of truth, honesty, and perseverance. The
year succeeding his father's death, which occurred while the future
legislator was still in his boyhood, he worked by the month in
Franklin township. Subsequently, he bought out his father's heirs,
and afterward purchased more land as his means justified, until he
had acquired a farm of 2Io acres, the tilling part being adapted to
the raising of all cereals. Politically, Mr. Raymond was a Republican with strong temperance ideas, and for a time voted the Prohibition ticket. He held the position of highway commissioner, to
which office he was elected in I876, serving three terms, and in I879
he was elected township clerk and served until I882. For five years
he was supervisor of the township, and during the year i886 was
chairman of the board, and for a great many years he was connected with the schools in an official capacity. Every scheme for
benefiting the public he assisted, and he was largely instrumental
in getting the Cincinnati, Jackson & Mackinaw Railroad through
the township, while he also aided in getting the Michigan & Ohio
Railroad through the northern part of the county. In I890 he was
elected a member of the Michigan legislature, was re-elected in I892,
and served two terms.
Horace Holdridge was a native of Raisin township, and was
born on Aug. 28, I840. He was reared as farmer boys usually are,
on the farm of his father, and passed through the common schools
of the district in which he lived, acquiring habits of industry and
study. At a proper age he was placed as a student in Adrian College, and was among the first to enter there after the completion of
the present college building. He adopted farming as an occupation
and followed it during the greater part of an active career. He
was a Democrat in his political principles, and for many years was
the supervisor of Raisin township. In 1892 he was elected a member of the Michigan legislature and served one term.
COUNTY OFFICIALS.
An act of the first state legislature, approved March 14, 1836,
provided that "There shall be elected on the first Monday of November, next, and on the following day, and in every succeeding two




2I2


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


years, thereafter, in each of the organized counties in this state, a
sheriff, county clerk, county treasurer, county surveyor, a register
of deeds, and two coroners, who shall respectively hold their offices
for the term of two years." The act also provided for a probate
judge, to hold office for four years, and two associate justices of the
circuit court, to be elected for four years. The burning of the court
house in 1852, and the neglect of the early newspaper publishers to
carefully preserve the files of their papers, make it exceedingly difficult to obtain a complete list of officials prior to 1852. Nevertheless
an earnest effort has been made in that direction, and the lists given
in the following pages may be considered approximately correct.
County Clerks.-The first occupant of this office during the
territorial days was Daniel Pitman, who served from the time of
the organization of the county until about the year 1834, when he
left the county and removed to Texas. He was succeeded in the
office by Sirrell C. LeBaron, who filled the position until Michigan
became a state, and then he was elected the first clerk of the county
under the state organization. The successors of Messrs. Pitman
and LeBaron, in so far as the writer has been able to obtain their
names, with the years of their elections, follow: I836, John Barber;
1838, William R. Powers; I846, Daniel Hicks; I848, Lucius G.
Sholes; i85o, Charles Chandler; 1852, John Miller; 1854, William
Kinsley; I856, Almond 'L. Bliss; I862, Leander Kimball; I866,
George W. Westerman; 1872, Henry C. Conkling; 1876, William L.
Church; i88o, Thomas Hunter; 1884, David A. Bixby; I886, George
W. Fleming;-I89o, Ira Waterman; I894, Edwin LeRoy Mills; I898,
John Gahagan; I9oo, Fred B. Kline; I904, Fred A. Acker, present
incumbent.
Almond L. Bliss was born in Blissfield, Lenawee county, Nov.
7, 1832. He attended the district school in his native village until
sixteen years of age, when he entered the employ of Marvin L.
Stone, then the leading merchant of Blissfield, and he gained the
confidence of his employer so rapidly that the second year he was
selected from the force of employes as bookkeeper of the establishment and confidential clerk to his employer. At the age of nineteen years Mr. Bliss formed a co-partnership with his then brotherin-law, Myron E. Knight, under the firm name of Knight & Bliss,
and kept a general stock of merchandise, the firm continuing business about two years, when a new firm was organized (Mr. Knight
retiring) under the firm name of A. L. Bliss & Co., with Sewell S.
Goff as co-partner. The business was continued until I856, when
Mr. Bliss was elected county clerk on the Republican ticket, in the




HISTORICAL


2 13


ever memorable "Fremont campaign." His services were so acceptable to his constituents that he was re-elected in i858 and gain in
1860, a compliment to efficient services then unprecedented in the
political history of the county. Mr. Bliss was elected clerk of his
township as soon as he arrived at his majority, and was continued
in that office until 1856, and he was twice elected by the board of
supervisors as one of the county superintendents of the poor. In
i858 (while clerk of the county) Mr. Bliss commenced the compilation of the records of land titles of Lenawee county, which system has since been universally adopted in all the Western states, and
he built up an extensive land business, acquiring a well-merited
reputation as an examiner of land titles. Mr. Bliss removed to
Adrian in January, i857, and was connected with the choir of
Plymouth church and Sabbath school, most of the time as chorister,
for more than twenty years, and until the disorganization of the
church and society in 1879. He was identified with the musical interests of the city and county and gained much local notoriety as a
singer, and he was active and efficient in all public enterprises of
the day.
County Treasurers.-i836, Charles Hewitt; i838, Daniel D.
Sinclair; i844, James Geddes; 1848, David Horton; 1850, James
Geddes; i86o, John I. Knapp; i866, William H. Kimball; i870, Sylvester B. Smith; I874, George R. Allis; I878, 'George R. Cochran;
i882, Jay Hoag; i886, William C. Moran; i890, William H. Wiggins; 1894, James E. Jacklin; i898, Frank E. Pratt; 1902, Frank A.
Bradish; i9o6, William Britton.
Col. Sylvester B. Smith was born in Raisin, Lenawee county,
Sept. i9, i832. He removed to Palmyra with his parents when he
was six months old, and he lived with his father on the farm until
he was sixteen years of age. He afterward learned the cabinetmaker's trade, which he followed at times until he was about twentytwo years old. He received a good common-school education, and
commenced teaching school at the age of eighteen. In i854 he
went to Morenci, and acted as salesman and bookkeeper for different firms until the fall of i86i. While residing in Morenci he was
three times elected clerk of the township of Seneca, and he was once
elected justice of the peace. At the breaking out of the Civil war
he was active in raising recruits for the Union army, and went into
the service in command of a company recruited in Morenci and
Hudson, and was assigned to the Eleventh Michigan infantry, which
was ordered to Bardstown, Ky., in the winter of i86i-62. He was
commissioned major in August, i862. At the battle of Stone's




214


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


River he was badly wounded in the face and neck, being entirely
disabled for future service. He was commissioned lieutenant-colonel immediately after the battle, but was obliged to resign, and
he came home in the spring of 1863. In April, 1863, just after returning from the army, he was elected supervisor of Seneca. In the
fall of I864 he was elected sheriff of Lenawee county, and was reelected in i866. In the fall of 1864 he moved to the city of Adrian,
where he resided the remainder of his life. In the fall of i870 he
was elected to the office of county treasurer, and was re-elected in
1872. In the last-named year he engaged in the hardware business
with C. D. Todd, soon afterward purchasing the well known store
of F. J. Buck, and formed a company known as Todd, Smith & Jewell. In 1873 Mr. Todd retired, and Smith & Jewell continued the
business until the fall of 1878, when Mr. Smith disposed of his interest to R. J. Jewell. In June, 1876, Mr. Smith was elected cashier
of the Lenawee County Savings Bank, and served in that capacity
until November, I878, when he formed a partnership with Thomas
J. Tobey, and engaged in the banking business as successors to W.
H. Stone & Co. In politics, Mr. Smith was always a Republican,
and for four years after the death of Robert R. Beecher he was chairman of the Republican county committee. He was an attendant of
the Presbyterian church and a member of the board of trustees.
George R. Allis was born in Riga, Monroe county, N. Y., April
26, I829. He lived at home until the age of twenty-one, at LeRoy,
N. Y., and at Romeo, Mich., until he was twenty-six, after which he
spent eight years as clerk in the hardware store of George L. Bidwell, in Adrian, twelve years on a farm in Cambridge, this county,
and four years as treasurer of Lenawee county. After retiring from
that office he was elected justice of the peace in Adrian and also became the secretary of the Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance Company
of Lenawee county.
Registers of Deeds.-The following occupants of this office are
given in the order of their service, so far as it has been possible to
obtain their names, and the list can be relied upon as being approximately correct. Prior to the organization of the state government a register of probate performed the duties of the office, and
the incumbents of that position were George Spofford, M. A. Patterson, and Davis Smith. Beginning with 1837 the registers have
been as follows: Dr. Parley J. Spalding, Edgar A. Brown, Daniel
Hicks, Charles Smith, John Miller, Charles M. Croswell, Charles
Chandler, Benjamin Turner, William A. Whitney, Morton Eddy,
Myron E. Knight, E. Haff, Michael P. Long, Avery A. Dolbear,




HISTORICAL


215


Stillman W. Bennett, Alfred W. Smith, Warren J. Parker, Mark B.
B. Mills, Smith C. Fairbanks, John A Poucher, and William W.
King, the present incumbent.
Dr. Parley J. Spalding was born in the town of Columbia,
Herkimer county, New York, Aug. 6, 1805, and resided there until
the year I825. He received his preparatory education at Hamilton,
after which he went to Williamsville, Erie county, New York, where
he studied medicine with his brother, Dr. Luther Spalding, and
afterward graduated at Fairfield Medical College, in the year I829,
commencing practice in company with his brother at Williamsville.
He continued in practice at that place until the year 1832. In that
year he removed to Adrian, where he formed a co-partnership with
Dr. Caleb N. Ormsby, Adrian's first physician, and this partnership
continued for one and a half years, when it was dissolved, and Dr.
Spalding continued to practice alone until 1836. Then a co-partnership was formed with Dr. A. Barnard, under the name of Spalding
& Barnard, which continued until the death of Dr. Barnard in the
summer of 1864, making a continuous partnership of about twentyeight years. After the death of Dr. Barnard, Dr. Spalding continued
the practice of his profession alone until the fall of 1871, when he
sold out his office, books, instruments, fixtures, good will, etc., to
Dr. George W. Voorhees, a young physician who was born and
educated, in part, in Adrian. In the fall of I836 Dr. Spalding was
elected register of deeds of Lenawee county, which office he held
two years. In the spring of 184I he was elected president of the
village council of Adrian, and was re-elected in 1842, holding the
office two years. In 1844 he was elected one of the presidential
electors on the Democratic ticket, and was chosen messenger by the
electors to carry the vote of the state to Washington. In the year1853 he was elected moderator of the Adrian Union School Board,
and served in that capacity three years. In April, 1854, he was
elected mayor of the city of Adrian, being the second mayor elected
after the organization of the city government, and in accordance
with the charter of the city he acted as a member of the board of
supervisors of the county, and was chosen by that board as chairman, in which capacity he acted throughout the year. He was frequently importuned to accept nominations for various and important legislative offices, but always declined, except in the year 1851,
when, by the unanimous request of the Lenawee county Democratic convention, he permitted his name to be used in the Congressional district as a candidate for representative in Congress, and
after a series of balloting he was defeated by David A. Noble, of




2I6


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


Monroe. Together with other prominent and active Democrats, in
the winter of 1832-33, he organized the Democratic party in Lenawee county, and to that organization he was ever after strongly
attached.
Capt. Daniel Hicks was born at Newburgh, Orange county,
New York, April II, I813, and removed to Adrian in the spring of
i837. In 1840 he was elected register of deeds of Lenawee county,
and in 1846 county clerk, holding each office one term. He was
partial to military life, and before coming to Michigan commanded
the Governor's Guard in the city of New York. On May Io, I842,
he organized the Adrian Guards, and was captain thereof until I847.
Upon the outbreak of the war with Mexico he raised and was commissioned captain of Company G, First regiment of Michigan volunteers. With his command he was stationed near Vera Cruz until
the close of the war, when he returned home. He was subsequently
appointed by President Taylor receiver of moneys at Sault St.
Marie, where he died from cholera, Aug. 9, I849.
William Augustus Whitney was born in Shelby, N. Y., April
21, 1820, moved with his parents to Adrian in June, 1828, and when
eighteen years old went to Attica, N. Y., in the service of Elias T.
Stanton and David Scott, as a clerk in a dry-goods store. After two
and a half years he returned to Adrian and continued in the same
business till the fall of 1847. In December, 1847, he opened the
New Franklin hotel, which he kept about one year, when he disposed of it and returned to the mercantile business, in which he
continued most of the time till 1858. In the spring of 1859, in which
year the first stone pavement was laid in Adrian, he was elected city
recorder; was again elected in I86o, and held the office till April,
i86i. In the fall of 1862 he was elected register of deeds of 'Lenawee
county; again elected two years later, and served till Jan. I, I867.
He then engaged as a clerk in the office of the Michigan State Insurance Company, where he continued till the spring of I869, when
he was appointed postmaster at Adrian, which office he held from
May 17, I869, to May I7, 1873. He then engaged in the printing
business and founded the Adrian Daily and Weekly Press, which he
published for nearly five years, and sold out April 5, 1878. In November, 1877, he wrote for his paper the early history of Adrian,
from 1825 to 1835, and on Feb. 17, 1875, organized the Lenawee
County Pioneer Society, of which he was chosen the first secretary.
In 1879, in company with Richard I. Bonner, he canvassed the
county of Lenawee, gathering material for a series of biographical
sketches, which they published in two handsome volumes under the




HISTORICAL


2I7


title, "History and Biographical Record of Lenawee County, Michigan," a very valuable work, to which the writer of this volume is
indebted for a great deal of information. Mr. Whitney died Jan.
23, 1884, and was buried in Oakwood cemetery.
Michael P. Long was born in the city of New York, Aug. I.,
1835, but was taken by his parents to Chicago when four years old.
In his youth he secured a very fair education, and after he grew to
manhood he devoted three winters to school teaching, after which he
attended the Ansel Smith Academy, located in Kane county, Illinois. Very soon after the breaking out of the war in I86I he came
to Michigan and settled in Cedar Springs township, on what is now
the site of the village of that name in Kent county. In the month
of June, that year, he enlisted in the army, being mustered as a
private soldier in Company E, Third Michigan infantry, in time to
participate in the battle of Bull Run; and during his term of service
in that regiment he passed through the various grades of non-commissioned officers until he attained the rank of first sergeant, in
which position he remained until the regiment was consolidated
with the Fifth Michigan, after the battle of the Wilderness. Soon
after this he was tendered a captain's commission in the re-organized Third regiment, and in that rank he served during the remainder of the war, being mustered out of the service a captain and
brevet major of the regiment. At the close of the war he returned
to the North and located in Adrian, where, in 187I, he obtained a
position in the office of the register of deeds, and in that capacity
he served two years. He was then appointed probate register, and
in I876, on account of his efficiency and experience, he was elected
by the people to the office of register of deeds of Lenawee county.
At the close of his first term, having served so acceptably and faithfully, he was complimented with a second election, which gave him
as chief of that office four years' service. In I88i he was elected
to the office of justice of the peace, and at the close of his first term
was re-elected, being the last to hold the position of police justice
during the existence of the old charter. In I886 he was elected to
the office of coroner of Lenawee county, and in all these public positions he brought to the discharge of their duties intelligence and
a fair sense of justice.
Avery A. Dolbear was born in Sweden, Monroe county, New
York, Feb. I6, I825. He resided there until he was about Io years old,
when his parents moved to Barre, Orleans county, New York, where
he resided until the fall of 1842, when the family migrated to Michigan and settled on section 13, in Rollin, this county. Avery A.




218


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


lived with his parents until he was twenty-one years old, following
the occupation of a farmer, and then he learned the carpenter's
trade, which he followed summers and taught school winters for
several years. In i855 he purchased a farm on section I4, in Rollin,
wected nearly all the buildings, and resided there until i875, when
he sold out and removed to Greenville, Montcalm county, and engaged in the mercantile business. He remained there only about
two years, when he disposed of his interests and returned to Rollin.
During his residence in Rollin he served the people as school inspector, town treasurer, justice of the peace, and was elected supervisor ten years. In i88o he was elected register of deeds of Lenawee
county on the Republican ticket, was re-elected in i882, and served
in that position four years.
Surveyors.-i838, Richard Kent; I850, Calvin Crane; I852,
Burton Kent; i882, James Blair; i900, Franklin S. Phillips; I904,
Charles Kissinger; i906, John L. Richard; i908, Charles S. Keating,
present incumbent.
Calvin Crane came of New York stock and was born in Wayne
county, near Palmyra, Dec. 25, i8i6. He passed his early boyhood
in his native county, where his opportunity for an education was
only that of the common or district school. When he came with
his parents to Lenawee county he was sixteen years of age, and
after that time he was deprived of the privilege of even a district
school education, but was sent three months to a select school in
the town of Raisin. In the fall of i836 he was allowed to return to
the state of New York, to spend the winter in the completion of his
school education, and returning he remained on the farm with his
parents until he attained twenty-one years of age. In 1844 he
settled on section i8, Palmyra township, on a part of the family
homestead, where he was engaged in general farming, and also
turned his attention to surveying. In i850 he was chosen as assistant resident engineer, and had charge of the rebuilding of the
"Kalamazoo," now known as the Lake Shore Railroad. He also
assisted in surveying and constructing the Michigan Southern road,
running from Monroe to Adrian. His position as assistant resident engineer on the Michigan Southern continued about a year,
and he also occupied the position of resident engineer at Toledo station for the section of the road known as the "Air Line Division"
of what is now the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern road, from
its conception to its completion. After completing the construction part of the work he was appointed purchasing agent, and it
was made his duty to buy supplies for the various departments.




HISTORICAL


219


After serving a considerable time in this capacity he was compelled
to resign on account of failing health, and he returned to the farm,
upon which he remained until 1864. In 1867 he was appointed civil
engineer for the city of Toledo, Ohio, and held that position until
I872, when he resigned and returned to Adrian, where he spent the
remainder of his life. He held various offices in the gift of the
people, having been supervisor one term, assessor, and highway
commissioner several terms.
Burton Kent was born in New Hampshire, in the town of Londonderry, July 24, 1814, and was twenty years of age when he
came to Michigan. He was educated principally in his native state,
first in the common schools and afterward at Pinkerton Academy,
one of the best endowed institutions in that part of the country.
After completing his term at this academy he engaged in teaching,
and after his arrival in Lenawee county he taught several terms, at
Hudson and other places. He served as county surveyor for a
period of thirty years, and it is said that no line of his establishment has ever been set aside or re-located. He also carried on farming until he was about forty-five years of age, when he retired from
that occupation. He was a Democrat until I860, at which time he
joined the Republican party and afterward affiliated with it.
Coroners.-The following list, although not complete, gives the
names of many of those who have served in this capacity: 1838,
Moses B. Cook and Oliver Miller; I840, Warner M. Comstock; I850,
Samuel Dean and Thomas C. Warner; 1852, F. McMath and Solomon Warner; I854, James B. Hampton and James Sword; I856,
Solomon Warren and W. S. Wilcox; I858, Alonzo Colgrove and
John Stretch; I86o, James Sword and Charles Chandler; 1862, James
Sword and L. Palmer; I868, James Sword and A. J. Hunter; I870,
James Sword and Elisha Baker; 1872, James Sword and H. S. Russell; I884, H. H. Searer and Joseph R. Bennett; I886, Michael P.
Long and Henry C. Conkling; 1888, John I. Knapp and Hiram D.
Ellis; I890, John E. White and Eugene Case; I892, John I. Knapp
and Samuel W. Hamilton; I894, Darwin M. Bainbridge and Samuel
W. Hamilton; I896, John I. Knapp and Samuel W. Hamilton; I898,
Wira H. Dolph and SamZuel W. Hamilton; 900o, Henry W. Stevens
and Samuel W. Hamilton; 1904, Henry W. Stevens and Bernard P.
Thomas, present incumbents.
Judges, Prosecuting Attorneys, Circuit Court Commissioners
and Sheriffs.-See chapter on Bench and Bar.












TECUMSEH PUBLIC LIBRARY




CHAPTER IX.
TECUMSEH TOWNSHIP,
ORGANIZATION-TOPOGRAPHY - EARLY HISTORY - MUSGROVE EVANS
AND OTHER PIONEERS-LOCATING SEAT OF JUSTICE-FIRST HOUSE,
SAW MILL, GRIST MILL, STORE, CROP OF WHEAT IN LENAWEE
COUNTY, SCHOOL HOUSE, RELIGIOUS SERVICES AND ELECTION-4TH
OF JULY, 1826-PIONEER SKETCHES.
At present this is one of the smallest subdivisions of Lenawee
county, as it contains but one-half of the territory of a regular Congressional township, but it is one of the wealthiest and best improved sections of the county. It has perhaps more tillable land
per acre than almost any other township in the northern tier, and
it contains some of the choicest farms within the county. The soil
is rich in the bottom lands of the branch of the Raisin river, which
flows through the township, and much of it is of unsurpassed fertility. The higher lands, of course, though good grazing fields,
and reasonably productive in the growth of grains and fruits, are
less fertile'than the valleys.
Tecumseh was one of the first three townships into which the
county of Lenawee was divided, and it was organized by an act
of the legislature, approved April I2, I827. Its original territory
was co-extensive with the northern one-third of the county, as will
be seen by the act creating it, but it has since been reduced in size
by the formation of other townships out of its original territory.
The act creating it provided that "all that part of the county of
Lenawee south of the base line, and east of the principal meridian,
containing the surveyed townships numbered five, and the north
half of the townships numbered six, in ranges one, two, three, four
and five, to be a township by the name of Tecumseh, and that the
first township meeting be held at the house of Joseph W. Brown,
in said township."
The early history of this township has much to do with that of




222


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


the county, and will be found under that head. Its first settlement
was made May 2I, I824, on the present site of the village of Tecumseh. These primitive pioneers nearly all came from Jefferson
county, New York, and consisted of fifteen men, four women, and
eleven children, as follows: Musgrove Evans, wife and six children;
Gen. Joseph W. Brown, wife and five children; Ezra F. Blood,
Peter Benson and wife, Simon Sloate,. Nathan Rathburn, Peter
Lowe, James Young, George Spofford, Curtis Page, Levi Baxter,
John Borland, Capt. Peter Ingals, and John Fulsom. Turner Stetson and wife, who had come from Boston, joined the party at Detroit. During the previous year, 1823, Musgrove Evans visited the
locality during a preliminary exploration, and after covering a
large portion of the region, decided that this spot was the most desirable and beautiful of all he had seen.
Soon after the arrival of these immigrants a village was platted
and named Tecumseh, in honor of the renowned Shawnee warrior,
who had often, tradition says, visited that locality and sat in council
around the fires of the resident tribes. As soon as the settlement
was fairly commenced-a village platted and named-a movement
was put on foot to establish the seat of justice for the county at
this, its only settlement, and in its only village of one log house.
This house was built under the direction of Musgrove Evans, and
its dimensions are said to have been twenty feet square, horizontally, and about nine feet perpendicularly. There was a low garret,
two logs in height above the ceiling, which was used as a bed-room
for the boys and hired men. There was no floor, as the nearest saw
mill was at Monroe, the roof was covered with bark peeled from
elm trees, and until the following November the house was provided with neither chimney nor fire-place. A bake-kettle served
the purpose of an oven for several months. For cooking purposes
a fire was made on the ground, the smoke ascending through a hole
in the roof. In this house Evans and his wife, with five children,
Peter Benson and wife, and several men, lived during the summer,
Mrs. Evans and Mrs. Benson preparing food for from fifteen to
twenty persons daily. In the following November a floor was laid,
a chimney and an out-door oven, and two small shanties were
added to the house, for two other families had arrived to occupy
the mansion during the ensuing winter. General Brown returned
East in July, and had brought back his wife and children, and
George Spofford and wife had arrived. Brown brought a dozen
chairs with him, and some other articles of household furniture,
including a trundle-bed. During the winter of 1824-25 this house




TECUMSEH TOWNSHIP


223


afforded a home for Mr. Evans, his wife and six children; General
Brown, his wife and six children, Peter Benson and wife, and
George Spofford and wife. This log house was the first in Lenawee
county, and one of the first ones in Michigan, west of Monroe and
Detroit.
But to return to the subject of locating the seat of justice. A
petition unanimously signed, no doubt, was sent to Governor Cass,
who, in accordance with the territorial statute in such case provided, appointed commissioners to examine, select and report a location for the county seat of Lenawee county. They decided to locate it at Tecumseh, and it is related that when the commissioners
stuck the stake to mark the site for the court house, the company
present, among whom were the proprietors of the village, swung
their hats and gave three hearty cheers. About the latter part of
June a postoffice also was established, and Musgrove Evans was
appointed postmaster. An extract from a letter, written by Mr.
Evans to General Brown while the latter was in the East preparing
to bring his family to the new settlement, will shed some light on
the condition of things at that time. The letter bears date, "Tecumseh, 8 M., 8th, i824." After acknowledging the receipt that
morning of Brown's letter "of the 6th ult.," it continues: "The articles thee mentions will be good here, particularly the stove, as
it takes some time always in a new place to get ovens and chimneys
convenient for cooking. We have neither vet, and no other way
of baking for twenty people but in a bake kettle and the fire out
at the door."
During the summer, several other families reached Tecumseh
from Jefferson county, all of whom had been induced to come
West from the representations of Mr. Evans. In June or July,
James Patchin arrived with his family, coming by the way of Detroit and Monroe, as the pioneer party had done. He located two
lots of land east of Brownville, and built a small log house thereon,
where he continued to reside for many years. Elisha P. Champlin
arrived with his family about the same time, and settled on land
near the Patchin farm, and a little west. He resided there two
years and then returned to New York. He again came to Tecumseh in i830, and remained there until I834, when he sold out and
removed to Jonesville, engaging in the mercantile business with
George C. Munro, and built a block of stores. Hie retired from
business in I85i, and died in i855. He was postmaster at Jonesville from i840 to I844, representative in the state legislature in
I838 and i840, and state senator in I84i and 1842. In politics he
was a Whig.




224


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


Turner Stetson, who came with the original party, built a
house on the bluff of Evans creek, near the site afterward occupied
by the Episcopal church. IHe sowed a small patch of wheat in the
fall of 1824, as also did Mr. Evans. The first land bought of the
government was in I823, when Austin Wing entered two lots, covering the Brownville mill privilege. The next land entered was
in June, I824-one lot by Stetson, extending north and west from
the present railroad station, and the next was two lots, entered by
Ezra F. Blood, in June, 1824, about a mile southeast of the village.
The next family which arrived was that of Abner Spofford, who
was born in New Hampshire about the year I779, and lived there
until I818, when he removed to Lyme, Jefferson county, New York.
He lived at the latter place until the summer of 1824, when he migrated to Michigan with his family, and arrived in Tecumseh about
July 20. The same year he took up eighty acres of land, afterward known as the Patterson farm, adjoining the village. He was
a blacksmith by trade and opened the second blacksmith shop in
the county, Turner Stetson opening the first. About the year I826
he purchased a "mill privilege" of Ezra Blood, and erected a saw
mill, and in I828 he built a grist mill at the same place, with a
blacksmith shop attached. He carried on these mills until about
1838, when he sold to his son, Samuel Litch Spofford, and Eliphalet
Wood, and removed to Racine county, Wisconsin, where he was
killed by a horse while driving, in I86I. Upon their trip west the
Spofford family came on the Erie to Detroit, where they arrived
on July 4, 1824. From that place, with two of his boys, Mr. Spofford started for Monroe by land, driving eleven head of cattle, and
Mrs. Spofford, with the rest of the family-five in number-took
a sail boat called the "Fire Fly" and proceeded to Monroe by water.
After a week's stay at Monroe, Mr. Spofford got two yoke of oxen
and a lumber wagon, and with this rig the family started for Tecumseh. They camped out two nights, and on the third day arrived at Musgrove Evans' house. They located their house on the
flat near the creek, a few rods north of the present railroad station
of the Jackson branch of the Lake Shore road. Elevating the wagon-box on crotches and poles, they camped under it until a log
house could be raised. This house, like its predecessors, was destitute of floor or chimney. They had no floor until Nov. 27, when
the new saw-mill had commenced operations and enough lumber
was obtained to make one. The family lived in this house two
years.
During the fall of I824 Mr. Blood built a log house upon his




TECUMSEH TOWNSHIP


225


farm, the gable ends being 'finished with the first lumber turned
out of the new saw-mill, which is hereafter mentioned. The same
fall an Indian trader by the name of Knaggs built a small house
on the north side of Chicago street, upon the block east of the East
Branch school, and during the winter of 1824-25 that was the only
place of business in Tecumseh. In July or August, Daniel Pitman
and his family, consisting of a wife and two children, arrived. He
put up a small house on the site afterward occupied by the residence
of Dr. Patterson, and there he lived for several years. The next
summer he erected a store on the same lot and embarked in the
mercantile business. John Borland, his wife and two children, arrived the same fall, although late in the season, and took up their
abode with Mr. Blood, upon his farm, where they lived for two
years, and until Abner Spofford's family moved in. Mr. Borland
then became the landlord of the Brown tavern. Horace Wolcott
and family came about the same time. He entered two lots north
of the Evans home, in Brownville, which were later divided into
several small farms, and built a small log house there. The family
lived there for some years. Peter Lowe joined the pioneer party
at Buffalo. He entered a lot on Evans creek, between Shawnee
street and the present village cemetery. He sold this lot in the fall
to Jesse Osborn, and took up a part of the farm afterward owned
by Perley Bills, east of the road leading to E. F. Blood's farm.
Jesse Osborn and family, consisting of a wife and five or six children, came in during that fall and purchased the lot of Peter Lowe.
He set out a large orchard on this place, and it was afterward
known as the Hoag orchard. His house was on the bank of the
creek, a few rods north of where John Whitnack afterward resided.
A few years later Mr. Osborn moved to the town of Woodstock, in
this county. To him belongs the honor of raising and taking to
mill the first wheat that was ground in Tecumseh. In the original
party which came with Evans was a lawyer, Nathan Rathburn, but
as the pioneers were a peaceable set he had no litigation to attend
to. But as there was a considerable sickness in the new settlement
a physician became a necessity. Dr. Ormsby arrived in the fall of
I824 and continued in practice there two years. Ezra F. Blood had
the honor of going to Detroit after his medicine chest.
We have thus enumerated (as far as possible with the insufficient data obtainable) all the persons who came to Tecumseh during 1824 with a view of a permanent settlement. When that winter
set in, the total population of the village, including men, women,
and children, numbered about fifty. We will now take a brief
I5-Iv




226


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


retrospect to relate a few incidents of a general character, which
are gleaned from an excellent article on the early days in Tecumseh,
written by the late Consider A. Stacy. During the summer of I824
the principal business of the men in the settlement was building
houses and cutting roads. No crops of any amount were put in during the season. As often as a new family arrived all hands would
turn in and help put up a log house. Nearly all their provisions,
flour, merchandise, etc., were carted from Monroe in wagons. Peter
Benson, who was in the employ of Mr. Evans as his teamster, did
most of this work. He spent the whole summer traveling back and
forth between Monroe and Tecumseh. New pieces of road had to
be cut every few days, as the soil was marshy in many places and
the road would soon become impassable by reason of the mud. The
entire stock of sugar, however, was purchased of the Indians. It
was maple sugar, and was put up in a vessel called a "mocock."
This vessel was made of hark and about the size and shape of a copper boiler. A "mocock" of maple sugar would last a family several
months. The mails came up from Monroe at intervals of a week or
ten days, whenever Peter Benson came over the road with a load of
provisions.
In the year i825 but few new settlers presented themselves,
but many new buildings were erected and substantial improvements made. Among the arrivals were Curtis Page and William
W. Tilton, two practical carpenters. Mr. Tilton came in June, I825,
and he was the man who cut the two small fields of wheat sown by
Stetson and Evans the fall before. Soon afterward, he and Page
hired out to Daniel Pitman, and were employed several weeks in
building his new store upon his lot at the corner of Chicago and
Ottawa streets. In the fall Mr. Pitman opened his store, and continued in mercantile business there for several years.
Thomas Griswold, wife, and four children, arrived in July,
i825. He entered two lots about a mile north of Wolcott's,-on the
present Clinton road. The family lived with Evans until November
and then moved upon the farm. Thomas Griswold was born Feb.
22, 1790, on his father's homestead in Southport, Chemung county,
New York, and he did good service for his country as a soldier,
taking part in the war of i812. He followed the occupations of
farmer and miller in his native town for some years, but in July,
I825, concluding to seek a new home in the forests of Michigan,
he came to Lenawee county and procured a tract of i6o acres of
land in Tecumseh township, on section 21. He thus was among
the very earliest settlers in Lenawee county. His land was heavily




TECUMSEH TOWNSHIP


227


timbered, with no improvements. The grist mill which had been
erected by Messrs. Brown and Evans was not as yet in running
order, as the miller who had been sent for to complete the arrangements for grinding wheat and corn, became sick and could not
come. It was quite important to get it in working order as soon as
possible, and Mr. Griswold volunteering to prepare the stone, the
owners very gladly availed themselves of his skill. IIe soon had
everything in readiness, and from the first grist ground fine wheat
cakes were made to celebrate the Fourth of July in the year I826.
After he was fairly settled Mr. Griswold commenced the improvement of his farm, and built the first frame dwelling house erected
in this county, General Brown having erected a frame building to
be used as a hotel during the preceding summer. Into their new
house Mr. Griswold and his family moved in November, I825, the
autumn following their arrival. Mr. Griswold soon became a prominent figure in the early annals of this county, doing much toward
opening it up for settlement, while he gave much valuable assistance to new settlers as they came in, and gave them such information in regard to the land and resources of the country as would
be beneficial to them in their selection of a home. In I829 he was
appointed Commissioner of Lenawee county by the Territorial
governor, General Cass, and in the discharge of the duties of that
office did very efficient service for the government. He died Oct.
15, I836.
In the spring of I825 General Brown commenced the erection
of a large frame tavern on the southeast corner of Maumee and
Chicago streets. The house was occupied during the summer, and
was kept as a public house for ten or twelve years, when it burned
down. At the time it burned it was known as the "Green Tavern."
The first death by accident occurred on July 30, 1825, when a child
of Musgrove Evans, little Charley, aged about three years, was
drowned in the river near his father's house in Brownville. George
Griswold, a lad of about four years, was with the child when the
accident happened. The two boys went down to the river bank to
play, and while there Charley walked out on a plank which had been
placed to stand on while dipping up water, and he fell off into the
river. His companion shouted for his mother, but before anyone
arrived Charley was drowned. Col. Daniel Hixon and family
arrived in the fall of 1826 and took up their abode in the building
owned by the Indian trader, Knaggs. They lived in Tecumseh
a couple of years, and then moved on a farm just north of Clinton,
where Mrs. Hixon continued to reside until she was well past the




228


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


century mark in age. Theodore Bissell arrived the same summer,
remained over one winter, and then returned East. In I827 he
came back and settled in Tecumseh.
During the season of I825, the settlers were hard at work
breaking up the land, tilling, and harvesting their crops. A large
amount of wheat was sown that fall. It was in the fall and winter
df this year that Wing, Evans & Brown started the project of a
new grist mill, which has been previously mentioned. The first
winter had been a very mild one, but the second one was colder,
and there was some good sleighing. At this time a sleigh ride was
gotten up to Benjamin's tavern, ten miles this side of Monroe.
There were two loads of seven persons. One load contained
Theodore Bissell, Horace Wolcott, and five young ladies, from
fifteen to thirty years old. They were the only single ladies of a
marriageable age then living in Tecumseh. The other load contained Dr. Ormsby, George Spofford, and five married ladies. As
there were but two strings of bells in the county, each load appropriated one string. The husbands of the married ladies had previously gone to Monroe to purchase provisions, and after the two
sleigh loads arrived at Benjamin's, the five husbands stopped on
their return home, and very unexpectedly found their wives there.
The occurrence produced much merriment and was the theme of
gossip in the village for sometime afterward. Another incident
related by Mr. Stacy is that in the fall of 1825 or spring of I826,
John Borland made a party at his house on the Blood farm. General Brown hitched up Evans' lumber wagon, put a long board
across, and picked up a load of ladies to take to the party. Going
home the wagon reach came apart, the board dropped down, and
the women were tumbled into the ditch. Mrs. Daniel Hixon was
one of the heroines of this accident. The first white child, or rather
children, born within the present domain of Tecumseh township,
were twins, and Mrs. Peter Lowe was the happy mother. In the
spring of I826, Musgrove Evans commenced the building of a large
frame house on the corner of Oneida and Chicago streets, and by
July 4 in that year the frame was up and roof on; and it was used
for the celebration. And in the spring of this year the grist mill,
which is described at length in Chapter II, was completed.
For several days prior to July 4, 1826, arrangements were
making for an extensive celebration. About noon a procession
formed at Brown's tavern. Daniel Pitman was marshal of the day
and rode on a small, bald-faced pony. Brass bands were not plenty
in those days, but music of some kind was necessary, so they got a




TECUMSEH TOWNSHIP


229


French fiddler from Monroe, and that Frenchman with his fiddle
constituted the band. After forming the procession it was marched
to Evans' new house, three blocks up Chicago street, where the
exercises were held. During the march, one string of the Frenchman's fiddle broke, and the band cried out, "Stop the procession."
The marshal, however, kept the procession moving, the music after
that was rather demoralized. Arriving at Evans' house, the speaking of the day was gone through with and then the company dispersed. Some of the men returned to Brown's tavern for their
dinner, and others, with the ladies of the village, made some tables
in Pitman's yard, on the corner opposite Evans' new house, and
enjoyed a picnic dinner. Mrs. Brown had some cake and new
biscuits there made from the new flour ground that morning.
The first physican to abide in the county was Dr. Caleb N.
Ormsby, heretofore mentioned, who first located in Tecumseh, but
permanently settled in Adrian in i827. Dr. M. A. Patterson was the
first to permanently settle in Tecumseh. In the spring of I830 a
stage route was established west from Tecumseh to White Pigeon,
by Horace Wolcott, and Sumner F. Spofford drove the first coach
through.
The first election in the county took place in Tecumseh, in
1825, when only fourteen votes were cast for the Hon. Austin E
Wing, for delegate to Congress. Mr. Wing was twice elected to
Congress, and served from 1825 to 1829.
The first school in the township of Tecumseh was taught in
the winter of 1824-5, in a building erected by Evans and Brown,
of tamarack logs, the building being twelve feet square. In that
house Mrs. George Spofford taught school during the winter. In
the fall of 1825 a small frame school house was built on the north
side of Chicago street, where the old Michigan House was afterward erected, and in the ensuing winter George Taylor taught the
first regular term of school in the new building. The development of the educational interests of the township kept pace with
the onward march of civilization in other directions. The log
structure of pioneer days soon gave place to the more pretentious
buildings of the middle period, and these, in turn, to the modern
and finely equipped buildings of the present day.
The first regular store in the county was opened in Tecumseh
by Daniel Pitman, in 1825. It was greatly appreciated by the white
settlers, as well as the Indians.
The Presbyterians were the pioneers in religious effort in
the township of Tecumseh, they having held meetings at a very




230


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


early date. The first religious service held was in the summer of
i825, and was conducted by Rev. Noah M. Wells, then pastor of the
First Presbyterian Church of Detroit. He formerly resided in New
York, and Mrs. General Brown was a member of his church there.
He came over to Tecumseh to pay the General's family a visit, and
as he remained in town one Sabbath, a meeting was held in Brown's
tavern, and Mr. Wells preached the sermon. In the fall of the same
year Rev. John A. Baughman, a Methodist, commenced preaching
in Tecumseh and continued regularly every two weeks for three or
four years, that place being the principal point in his circuit, He
received the magnificent salary of $ioo per year. The services
were held at first in the school house and afterward in the court
house. A Methodist Episcopal church was organized in i826, and
the first church building for that denomination in Tecumseh was
erected in i842. In April, i826, the Rev. Alanson Darwin established a Presbyterian church with ten members, and in i839-40 the
first church edifice was built. The Baptist church was organized
in 1839, with a membership of twenty-eight. St. Peter's Episcopal
church dates back to September, I83I, when Rev. Dr. P. Galatin conducted the first services in a school house, and in 1832 the parish
was organized. A Universalist church was instituted April 9, i853,
and the Friend's church was organized in 185I.
The first burial places in the township were usually private
grounds, established on the farms, as necessity required. The
Tecumseh village cemetery is the oldest public burying-ground in
the township, and this sacred spot contains the remains of many of
the early pioneers of Tecumseh. It was first located at the corner
of Ottawa and Killbuck streets, but with the development of the
village it was moved to a pretty location in the northwest part of
the corporation limits.
The first mill in the county of Lenawee was a saw mill, built
in 1824, and it was completed and commenced operations in the fall;
thenceforth building became possible. A dam was thrown across
the river in Brownville, and the work was done mostly by volunteers, the same as the log houses had been raised. Men had but
little to do at home, and they were all waiting for lumber with
which to finish their houses for winter. The site of the saw mill
was east of the bridge across the mill-dam and south of the race.
It was completed in a few weeks, and by November was in running
order. Several logs were sawed up that fall, and thus the settlers
were supplied with boards with which to make floors for their
houses. This mill did valiant service for several years, but it finally




TECUMSEH TOWNSHIP


231


went to decay, and the last timber of its foundation floated down
the Raisin many years ago. There may have been other temporary
saw mills, erected on the various streams as necessity demanded,
in the early days, but if so they were discontinued when the wants
of their patrons were supplied.
The history of the village of Tecumseh is inseparably connected with that of the township, and it was platted and christened
in 1824 by Musgrove Evans, who was the first mail contractor and
postmaster. When it was decided to make the place the seat of
justice for Lenawee county it was stipulated that in laying out the
village the company (Wing, Evans & Brown) should set apart for
the public benefit four squares, viz., one for a court house and jail,
one for a public promenade, one for a cemetery, and one for a military parade ground, and that they should build a bridge across the
River Raisin east of the village. These conditions were accepted.
In the meantime Wing, Evans & Brown had entered the land comprising the present village east of Railroad street, and extending
north to the Brownville mill. Upon this tract the original plat of
the village was made. Musgrove Evans, who was a surveyor, himself laid out the village plat during the summer of I824. The
original plat embraced the territory bounded east by Wyandotte
street, south by Killbuck street, west by the present railroad and
the section line running directly north from the present railroad
station of the Jackson branch of the Lake Shore road, and north by
a line about ten rods north of the street leading east from Brownville across the river. All of the territory west of the railroad has
been attached to the village by subsequent additions. The cemetery
square was located on the corner of Ottawa and Killbuck streets,
the military square on Shawnee street, the court house and park
sq,uares on the west side of Maumee street, and upon either side
of Chicago street. The cemetery square has long since ceased to be
used for that purpose. The park square has been turned over to
the school district, and upon that the East Branch school was
erected. The court house square, opposite, no longer contains the
temple of justice and the county bastile. The court house building,
vacated by the removal of the county seat to Adrian, was for a time
occupied by the Tecumseh branch of the State University, and
then, moved one block farther east, it was used by S. P. Hosmer
as a tool handle factory. Tecumseh soon came to be a place of
importance, and retained the county seat until 1838, when, by
act of the first state legislature, it was removed to Adrian. By the
state census of 1837 Tecumseh had a population of 2,462, while




232


MEMOIRS OF,LENAWEE COUNTY


Logan township (afterward changed to Adrian), including the village, could only muster 1,962. With the construction of the first
railroad to Tecumseh, in 1838, a new impetus was given to the
flourishing business of the village, and through all the years of its
existence it has been a place of considerable importance and a very
popular trading point, sustained by an excellent farming country.
The population of Tecumseh in I904 was 2,525. In writing of
churches, schools, and other public enterprises, the village has
been frequently mentioned. It is located on the Jackson branch and
also the old Michigan & Ohio, now an east and west branch of the
Lake Shore & Michigan Southern railroad, and the Detroit, Toledo
& Ironton road has a station there, thus giving excellent means of
communication with the outside world. Tecumseh is one of the
handsomest and most desirable places of residence of its class in
Michigan. As a business center it is an influential factor in Lenawee county. Many important manufacturing industries are
located there. The various industries incident to villages of this
size, together with the social, religious, educational and political
functions, are all represented, while the mercantile and other business interests are quite extensive. The business places, many of
which are filled with most desirable and varied assortments, are
mostly located in substantial brick buildings of good style and
architecture. The streets are wide and shaded by deciduous trees,
bordered by beautiful lawns and fine residences. There is an efficient system of water works, and water of the best quality is supplied. The village also has a good electric light plant, and the
public places are all nicely lighted, while most of the stores and
many residences enjoy this most brilliant and cleanly illuminator.
Noted among the educational institutions of Tecumseh, and
standing as a monument to the enterprise and intelligence of its
local promoters, as well as an illustration of the generosity of Andrew Carnegie, is the Tecumseh Public Library. The volumes it
contains have been carefully selected by competent judges, and
upon the shelves are found scientific treatises, works of a general
nature, books devoted to history and biography, and others descriptive of travel, while in the realm of poetry and fiction the classics and modern works of an enduring nature have been chosen.
The writer feels that he is easily within the bounds of truth when
he says that few communities of the same population have institutions that equal, and that there is none which excels the Tecumseh
Public Library as an intellectual storehouse for the student and a
place of entertainment for the reader of wholesome literature. The




TECUMSEH TOWNSHIP                  233
building is "a thing of beauty," as may be seen by a glance at the
accompanying illustration, and its interior is so arranged as to afford ample room for the large number of volumes the library contains and also a well appointed reading room for visitors. The
people of Tecumnseh and vicinity feel a just pride in this temple of
knowledge.
Rural postoffices for the accommodation of the people were
early established, some of which were kept in the farm houses.
These have been discontinued on the adoption of the admirable
system of "rural free delivery," which brings almost every farmer
in daily contact with the outside world, and his mail is left at his
door. Add to this the convenience of the modern telephone, and
the isolation of country life is reduced to the minimum.








CHAPTER X.
ADRIAN TOWNSHIP.
LOCATION, ORGANIZATION AND BOUNDARIES-NAME CHANGED FROM
LOGAN TO ADRIAN-TOPOGRAPHICAL FEATURES-EARLY HISTORY
-FIRST SETTLERS -JAMES WHITNEY, ANSON HOWELL, DAVID
WILEY AND OTHER PIONEERS-THE OLD TABOR FARM-FIRST
TOWNSHIP MEETING-CENSUS OF 1830-HEADS OF FAMILIES IN 1830
-SCHOOLS.
Previous to April I2, 1827, the territory of the county of Lenawee had not been divided into townships for the convenience of
the people in the adjustment of local affairs. On the date above
written, however, the townships of Tecumseh, Logan, and Blissfield, were organized, the boundaries of the township of Logan
being then determined as follows: "The south half of the surveyed
townships numbered six, in ranges one, two, three, four, and five,
and townships numbered seven, in one, two, and three, in said
county, south of the base line, and east of the principal meridian,
be a township by the name of Logan, and that the first township
meeting be held at the house of Darius Comstock, in said township." Since that time the county has been variously subdivided
in the erection of new townships, Logan (Adrian) contributing its
share to that end.
The town of Logan, as then organized, was comparatively
nhort lived, as on March 7, 1834, in "An Act to organize certain
Townships," provision was made for the organization of five new
townships in Lenawee county, and for the alteration of the boundaries of the township of Logan-section one of said act being as
follows:
"Section I. Be it enacted by the legislative Council of the
Territory of Michigan, That all that part of the county of Lenawee,
comprised in surveyed townships eight, nine, and fractional townships ten, south, in ranges one, two, and three, east, be a township




236


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


by the name of Fairfield, and the first township meeting be held at
the now dwelling house of John H. Carpenter, in said township,
and all that part comprised in surveyed townships seven south, in
ranges one, two, and three east, be a township by the name of
Lenawee, and the first township meeting be held at the school
house one mile east of William Edmonds', in said township, and
all that part comprised in surveyed township six south, in range
four east, be a township by the name of Raisin, and first township meeting to be held at the now dwelling house of Amos Hoag,
in said township, and all that part comprised in surveyed townships
seven, eight, and nine, and fractional township ten south, in range
four east, be a township by the name of Palmyra, and the first
township meeting to be held at the now dwelling house of Cassius G.
Robinson, in said township, and all that part comprised in surveyed townships five and six south, in range five east, be a township by the name of Macon; and the first township meeting to be
held at the now dwelling house of Henry Graves, in said township, and all that part of the township of Tecumseh, comprised
in township six south, in ranges one, two, and three, east, be
attached to, and constituted a part of the township of Logan."
On March 17, 1835, the last Territorial law providing for the
organization of townships in the county of Lenawee was approved,
making the last important change in the territory of the township
of Logan. At that time the townships of Rollin and Rome were
created, thus reducing Logan to its present convenient size, and in
I838 the name of the township of Logan was changed to Adrian by
an act of the State legislature. The boundaries of the township are
regular, with the exception of the northwest and southwest corners,
where slanting lines appear, the same being made necessary in joining the surveys made at different times by different surveyors.
The adjoining townships are Raisin and a small fraction of Palmyra
on the east, Madison and a fraction of Dover on the south, Rome
on the west, and Franklin on the north.
The topographical features of the township are not very striking, if to be so comprehends a great variety of natural scenery.
The broad and fertile fields, rich and productive, are the principal
sources of agricultural wealth. That this particular spot was
chosen by some who were among the first settlers of the county,
and who had the choice of a vast scope of country from which to
select, is evidence sufficient of the productive character of the soil.
The first settlers of the township were of the class of the heroic
pioneers who were identified with the settlement of all of this por



ADRIAN TOWNSHIP


237


tion of Michigan. They were seeking homes on productive soil,
and hence the lands of the township of Adrian were very generally
occupied by actual settlers at an early date in the history of Lenawee county.
The early history of the township is to a great extent identical
with that of the city of Adrian, as most of the early settlers
clustered about the then village. However, there were a few exceptions. The first settlement in the township was made in 1828. In
June of that year James Whitney came with his family and located
upon a farm which he had purchased the year before. His farm
was bounded on the north by what was later known as the Tabor
farm and on the south by the section line running east and west
through the center of Adrian college.
James Whitney was born in Warwick, Orange county, New
York, Feb. IO, 1783, and dwelt there until he was about eighteen
years old, when, on foot and alone, he journeyed to Romulus, N.
Y., passing through the "beech woods" in the northeast part
of Pennsylvania, where there was scarcely a house for forty miles.
He was drawn for service in the war of 1812, but it being difficult
for him to leave home he provided a substitute. In 1813 he purchased 200 acres of land from the Holland Land Company, in
Shelby, Orleans county, New York, and there he settled with his
family in the spring of I814. While in Shelby he was captain of a
military company for several years. In the fall of 1827 he came to
Michigan to look for a new home, and on Oct. 23, bought the south
half of section 34, and the east half of the northeast quarter of the
same section, all of which, however, is now within the bounds of the
city of Adrian. In the spring of 1828 he removed his family to this
farm, arriving June 8, and he settled upon the site where was afterward located the residence of H. V. Hart on West Maumee street.
After a residence of five years on this farm, Mr. Whitney sold it
on June 6, 1833, to James Wheeler, and moved to Nottawa, St.
Joseph county. There he purchased 8oo acres of land at Sand
Lake, where he dwelt until I839, and then moved to Moulton, Allen
county, Ohio, where he died Aug. ii, I85I.
Among the very earliest settlers were Anson Howell, Warner
Aylsworth, Walter Whipple, Osmeyer Salsbury, David Wiley,
and David Bixby.
Anson Howell was born in Suffolk county, New York, April
I3, I786, where he resided until he was about twenty years old,
when he went to western New York and settled in Victor, Ontario
county. He was a millwright and carpenter and joiner, and fol



238


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


lowed his trade until about I830. In the fall of I827 he came to
Lenawee county and located I6o acres of land on section 28, in
Adrian township, and after letting the job of clearing twenty acres
and building a log house, to Burrows Brown and Ashur Stevens, he
went back to New York. The following spring he returned and
erected a frame house for Darius Comstock on the farm of the
latter in the "Valley." About Sept. I, Mr. Howell brought his
family, consisting of his wife and eight children, and settled on
his farm. During the summer of I829 he assisted in building the
Red Mill, and also built the first frame school house in Adrian,
that year, and he worked a short time on the old Michigan
Exchange, which was the first hotel built in Adrian. After the
spring of 1830 he turned his attention to farming exclusively, cleared
up his farm, and in I838 erected a large frame house, having built
a large barn in 1831. Mr. Howell was a practical, careful, judicious
man, but was ever ready to assist his neighbors, or help the settlers
in any way. In 1830 there were not men enough in and about
Adrian to lay up more than one log house at a time, and it was
necessary to go as far as the "Valley" and notify every man when a
house was to be raised. Mr. Howell was always ready to help at
these raisings, and his practical knowledge of building was always.
of great value. He occasionally went as far as Wolf Creek, in
1832-3. He often went out with newcomers to "look land," and
he sometimes kept their families until they could locate. He was
a kind hearted, generous man, and a noble pioneer, and many a
family has thanked him for his goodness to them while they were
struggling for a home in the wilds of Lenawee county. He died
Oct. 8, 1873, in Adrian. His ancestors were English.
The old Tabor farm, on section 27, was the first farm located
in the vicinity of the city of Adrian. It was located by Walter
Whipple in 1825, before Darius and Addison J. Comstock came to
Michigan. Osmyer Salsbury, "Deacon" Salsbury, as he was commonly spoken of, a native of Orleans county, New York, where he
was born April 30, 1804, came to Lenawee county in 1826. He
first located in the village of Adrian, where he remained three
years, and then entered eighty acres of land just west of the village.
Soon thereafter he located upon another farm in Dover township,
upon which he resided for many years, and then removed to Ann
Arbor, where he died June 5, I879.
David Wiley was born in Schoharie county, New York, Sept.
6, I799. His mother died while he was young, and at the age of
eleven years he went to Genesee county and worked on a farm for




ADRIAN TOWNSHIP


239


five or six years, and then went to Rochester and learned the shoemaker's trade, which he followed for many years. He worked in
different places, and in the spring of 1826 came to Michigan, arriving in Adrian early in May. He met Darius Comstock in Lockport,
N. Y., and came to Michigan in his employ. He first worked one
year for Darius on his farm, and then entered the employ of
Addison J. Comstock. He was thus employed one year, when he
purchased a village lot, and in i827 built a house on the corner of
North Main and Toledo streets, where Dr. Stephenson now resides.
On June 8, i827, he located eighty acres of land on section 33, in
Adrian township, which after making considerable improvement,
he sold to Harry Wood, June 6, i83i. He then went about one
mile west and located eighty acres on section 32, where he made
extensive improvements. After residing there until June i6, i840,
he sold out to Moses L. Pruden, and went to the town of Rome,
where he purchased a farm on section 31, of James B. Stinson, living there the remainder of his life. He assisted in building the
first house in Adrian, which was constructed of logs, and he erected
a log house on each of the three farms owned by him. In i85i Mr.
Wiley went overland to California and remained until i854, when
he returned by the Panama route. He was the last survivor of the
first band of pioneers who settled in the village of Adrian and
vicinity.
David Bixby was born in Sutton, Mass., in 1783, and for some
years after reaching manhood resided in Charlton, that state, where
he was engaged in the mercantile business. In i8i5 he removed to
the state of New York, where he remained until the fall of i827,
and then took up his residence in Adrian during the period of its
early settlement. Ile purchased of the government a tract of 120
acres of land, where he resided with his family until i853. He then
retired from the active labors of life and took possession of a pleasant home in the city, where he continued to reside until the time of
his death, which occured Jan. 4, i865. He arrived at the advanced
age of eighty-two years, and during the long period of his life he
ranked among the highly esteemed and honored men of the community.
At the first township meeting in the township of Logan, held
at the residence of Darius Comstock in accordance with the legislative enactment, May 28, i827, the following persons were elected
for township officers: Elias Dennis, moderator of the meeting,
Addison J. Comstock, township clerk, Darius Comstock, supervisor,
Noah Norton, Warner Aylsworth, Cornelius A. Stout, commis



240


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


sioners of highways; Patrick Hamilton, Milo Comstock, Abram
West, assessors; Patrick Hamilton and Abram West, overseers of
the poor. At the annual town meeting of 1828, held at the house
of Addison J. Comstock, April 7, I828, the following persons were
elected for town officers: David Bixby, moderator of the meeting,
Darius Comstock, supervisor; Addison J. Comstock, Township
clerk; Patrick Hamilton, Abram West, and Elias Dennis, assessors;
Cornelius A. Stout, Warner Aylsworth, and Noah Norton, commissioners of highways; Allen B. Chaffee, collector; Allen B. Chaffee,
constable; Joseph Pratt and Lyman Peas, overseers of the poor;
John Gifford, Nathan Pelton, and Nathan Comstock, fence viewers;
David Bixby, overseer of highways for district No. I; Lyman Peas,
overseer of district No. 2. Noah Norton and Warner Aylsworth,
road commissioners, and Anthony McKey, surveyor, laid out and
established about fourteen roads, from Nov. 26, 1827, to Dec. II,
1828. At the annual town meeting in 1829, convened at the house
of Isaac Deane, April 6, the following persons were chosen for
town officers for the ensuing year: Nathan Comstock, supervisor;
Addison J. Comstock, township clerk; Patrick Hamilton, Abram
West, and Curran Bradish, assessors; Cornelius A. Stout, collector;
Cornelius A. Stout and Nathan Pelton, constables; Warren Aylsworth, Noah Norton, and Nelson Bradish, commissioners of highways; Joseph Pratt and Darius Comstock, overseers of the poor;
overseers of highways: district No. I, Cornelius A. Stout; district
No. 2, Isaac Deane; district No. 3, Daniel Walworth; district No.
4, Milo Comstock. It was voted at this election that the overseers
of highways also be fence-viewers for the township. It was also
voted that all boars be restrained from running at large in the
township, under a penalty of two dollars.
In I830, the United States census was taken, and the returns
showed that the whole number of inhabitants in the township of
Logan was 500. The following is a complete list of the names of
heads of families in the township, which at that time included half
of all the congressional townships numbered six and the present
townships of Hudson, Dover,. and Madison: Darius Comstock,
Catharine Fay, Alpheus Hill, Cornelius A. Stout, George Scott,
Allen Chaffee, Jonathan Harnard, Elijah Brownell, Anson Howell,
Samuel'Todd, Cary Rogers, James Whitney, John Wood, Pliney
Field, Addison J. Comstock, Charles Morris, Hannah Gifford,
Robert Smith, Josiah Shumway, Patrick Hamilton, John Walsworth, Daniel Smith, Milo Comstock, D. Torrey, Davis D. Bennett,
John Powers, Anson Jackson, Lyman Peas, Silas Simmons, Lewis




OLD RED MILL
BUILT IN 1829








ADRIAN TOWNSHIP


24I


Nickerson, Nelson Bradish, William Edmonds, Curran Bradish,
Levi Shumway, Daniel Gleason, Samuel Davis, Stephen Fitch,
Aaron S. Baker, William Foster, Elias Dennis, Nathan Pelton, Turner Stetson, William Jackson, John Arnold, Nathan Comstock,
Betsy Mapes, Joseph Pratt, Abram  West, Thomas Sackrider,
Daniel Odell, William H. Rowe, Moses Bugbee, Samuel Weldon,
Jeremiah Stone, David Wiley, Noah Norton, Ashur Stevens,
Samuel Burton, John Comstock, Joseph Beal, John Murphy,
Samuel S. L. Maples, David Bixby, Charles Haviland, Benjamin
Mather, John Chapman, Jacob Brown, Jacob Jackson, Job S. Comstock, Elijah Johnson, Samuel Carpenter, Cassander Peters, William Brooks, Josiah Baker, Seth Lammon, N. W. Cole, Reuben
Davis, John Fitch, Daniel Walworth, Nehemiah Bassett, Ephraim
Dunbar, Isaac Dean, C. N. Ormsby. Eighty-three noble men and
women, bold adventurers in a new territory, generous-hearted to
a fault. To undertake to say which of these performed his or her
part best would be a difficult task. It is enough to say that all
worked to make it pleasant for each new settler.
George Scott, one of these early settlers, was of English nativity, having been born March 12, 1803, in Cumberland county,
England. Not satisfied with his prospects in that country, and
believing that better opportunities awaited him in the New World,
he migrated to America in 1824, landing in New York city. From
there he went to Henrietta, N. Y., where he spent one or two years,
engaged in such employment as he could find. He had learned the
trade of a baker in his native land, but did not follow it in this
country. In I826 he determined to seek his fortune in the far
West, and coming to Michigan with his young wife he located near
Adrian, where he took up I60 acres of timber land, on which he
built a log cabin, and he lived there until 1857, experiencing all the
hardships and drawbacks of pioneer life. Politically, he was a
Democrat, being thoroughly persuaded of the soundness of the
principles advocated by that party.
Aaron S. Baker was born in Palmyra, Wayne county, New
York, April 25, I807. He was brought up a farmer and lived with
his father until 1828, when he came to Lenawee county and settled
in Logan, now the township of Adrian. He at once located a farm
west of the village, but afterward located several other farms,
being quite a trader. He finally settled on a farm in the present
town of Fairfield, where he lived until 1847, when he sold out to
John Tenbrook, and again went into the woods, in Clinton county,
this state, where he purchased 280 acres of land near Maple Rapids.
I6-iv




242


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


In 1855 he sold this land and returned to Lenawee county and purchased a farm adjoining the one he had sold to Mr. Tenbrook. He
soon again became identified with the interests and growth of
Lenawee county, and was prominent in all movements that tended
to advance the prosperity and welfare of the county. He was a
man of unblemished character, of sterling integrity, honorable and
kind, with a strong sense of duty and force of character that gave
him prominence in the community, and drew to him fast and true
friends from the best classes.  For some time after his return to
Lenawee county he was engaged in the cattle business'with Orin
Baker and others, and in 1857, while in Buffalo, on his way to New
York with cattle, he was drugged with some sort of poison. It was
supposed the poison was administered for the purpose of robbing
him, as his cattle were in the yards, and during the night several
of them were driven out and were never recovered. He arrived
home in a very weak condition, and lingered in a continued fever
for some time, finally dying Feb. 28, I858.
Moses Bugbee first opened his eyes to the light, June 22, 1787,
in Connecticut. Through his own efforts he acquired a fair education and taught school for a time in his own neighborhood. He
was married soon after reaching his majority, and with his young
wife settled upon a farm in Orleans county, New York, where
they became the parents of seven children, all sons. Twenty years
later, after his family had grown up around him, he disposed of his
interests in the Empire State and came to Michigan while it was
as yet a territory, reaching this county in the spring of I829. In
FVebruary, I830, he settled upon a tract of land in section 30, which
was afterward included within the limits of Adrian township, and
he was probably the first settler in that vicinity. There was but
one house between him and the embryo village, a distance of four
miles. He had a thorough contempt for the frivolities and superfluities of life, and pursued his farming operations with oxen alone,
claiming that he could depend upon them and that they were not
apt to run away. He was of a contented disposition, and spent
the last days of his life upon the homestead which he had labored
so industriously to build up, and where he had surrounded himself
and his family with many comforts. He looked his last upon the
scenes of earth, April I9, I869. Two years after Mr. Bugbee settled
on his farm he went fishing one day, and upon his return home was
treed by wolves that surrounded his perch and made themselves
merry at his expense until morning. He was afterward very much
annoyed by the hungry rascals, which each night for a long time




ADRIAN TOWNSHIP


243


made a path around his sheep pen in the vain endeavor to get at
the inmates. Indians also were plentiful in that region then, and
one night three of them sought shelter under the hospitable roof
of Mr. Bugbee, where they remained all night, using a stick of
wood for a pillow. They learned that the white man was their
friend and frequently came to the cabin, never making any disturbance. Mr. Bugbee identified himself with the Democratic
party in early manhood, but after the organization of the Republican party changed his views and upheld the latter the remainder
of his life. Religiously he was a zealous member of the Baptist
church, which he regularly attended with his wife and children.
John Chapman was a brother-in-law of Isaac Dean, lived neighbor to that gentleman in Ontario county, New York, and came
to Michigan with him. Mr. Chapman took up eighty acres of land
about two and one-half miles west of Adrian, on section 32, and
lived there about one year, when he sold out to Erastus Torrey.
There was not a house nor a "chopping" west of this place until
the Chicago turnpike was reached, and there was no road cut out
west of James Whitney's house, which then stood where the Hart
place was afterward located on West Maumee street, in Adrian.
After Mr. Chapman sold to Mr. Torrey he went about one mile further west and took up the farm afterward owned and occupied by
Isaac A. Dean, and in that year, I830, a road was cut through west
along the shore of Devil's Lake to the Chicago turnpike. There
was no work done on the road at that time, except simply to cut
the small timber and draw away the old logs, so that a wagon could
be drawn through. It was some time after that before the road
was permanently laid out and straightened. After living on section 31 until 1833 Mr. Chapman sold his farm to Isaac Dean and
went to Fulton county, Ohio, where he lived about one year, and
then he moved to St. Joseph county, Michigan, and finally he purchased 240 acres of land in Ingham county, where he resided until
his death, which occurred in 1846.
The township of Adrian does not differ materially from other
townships of the county in regard to early industries. The pioneer
mills, churches, and schools had their existence, and with the exception of the latter have mostly passed away, with the increasing
prominence of the city of Adrian as a marketing and trading point,
coupled with the superior advantages of the city in a religious and,
educational way. The principal grain crops are wheat, corn and
oats, for the production of which the soil is admirably adapted. Of
these corn is the staple product, and this is largely fed to cattle




244             MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY
and hogs, these being the source of a large income. Horses and
sheep are also raised with profit on the rich grazing fields afforded
on the productive farms, and which are not used at the time for
the cultivation of crops.
There are eleven ungraded district schools in the township of
Adrian, exclusive of the city schools, but one of them-district No.
2-includes a portion of the township of Rome, the school house
standing on section i8 in the township of Adrian. With a carefully
arranged course of study, these schools give the persisting students
the advantages of a good common school edfucation, and fit their
graduates for the ordinary business of life.
i6-iv




CHAPTER XI.
BLISSFIELD TOWNSHIP.
LOCATION-RIVER RAISIN AND OTHER STREAMS-FIRST PERMANENT
IMPROVEMENT-HERVEY BLISS, AND OTHER EARLY SETTLERS-ORGANIZATION-FIRST ELECTION, AND OFFICERS CHOSEN - WILD
GAME-FIRST MINISTER, HOTEL AND SCHOOL HOUSE-PIONEERS
PREVIOUS TO 1836-VILLAGE OF BLISSFIELD - RAILROADS - RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS AND SCHOOLS-FERTILITY OF SOIL.
The territory embraced within this township as originally organized included the surveyed townships numbered seven, in ranges
four and five, and townships numbered eight and nine, in ranges one,
two, three, four, and five, in Lenawee county. The organization
of Blissfield dates from 1827. It is one of the three original townships which were carved from the county of Lenawee, but it has
been materially reduced in size during the various sub-dividing in
erecting new townships. On March 7, I834, the territory comprised
in the present townships of Medina, Seneca, and Fairfield, was
erected into a township by the name of Fairfield; and the territory,comprised in the present townships of Palmyra and Ogden was organized as Palmyra township. This left Blissfield occupying the
territory embraced in townships seven, eight, and nine, in range
five east. In 1843, town eight and fractional town nine, south, of
range five, east, was organized as Potsdam, which was changed in
I844 to Riga; and in 1867, out of the southeastern portion of Ridgeway, and the eastern and northeastern portions of Blissfield, there
was carved out the township of Deerfield. Prior to this last enactment, however, on March 28, I85o, sections 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, and 36,
~of the township of Ridgeway, had been taken from that township
and annexed to the township of Blissfield, so that upon the organization of Ridgeway township, Blissfield was left with the same territorial identity that it presents today. It is not only one of the most
fertile and wealthy townships of the county, but it is also one of
the most picturesquely beautiful, historically interesting in the de



246


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


tails of its civil existence, and prosperous in its material development.
Rasin river passes northeasterly through the south central portion of the township, and is its most striking topographical feature.
The river enters the township near the southwest corner and leaves
it at the northwest quarter section 22. The river is fed by many
small streams which enter into and help swell the volume of water.
The smaller streams are made up from the many clear and sparkling
springs that exist in various parts of the surrounding country. The
splendid water power that the River Raisin affords was utilized in
a very early day.
The first permanent improvement which was made in the township of Blissfield is credited to Hervey Bliss, who located there in
December, 1824. He came from Monroe county, made his purchase
June 19, 1824, on sections 29 and 30, moved his family into the town
in December of the same year, and was the first inhabitant. It
was this circumstance that gave the name to the township and village. Gideon West, also from Monroe county, made his purchase
on June 28, 1824, on section 29, and moved on with his family in
January, 1825, being for a time the only neighbor to Mr. Bliss,
nearer than ten miles. George Giles purchased his farm on Feb.
23, 1825, but did not move his family on until the spring of 1826,
when he located on section 3I. Almond Harrison, from Berkshire,
Mass., made his purchase Sept. 17, 1825, on section 30, and began
immediately to chop and clear, preparatory to building. a log house,
in which to put a young wife from his native state. Samuel Buck,
a young man, late of Ohio, purchased a farm on section 29, Oct. 29,
I825, and believing the injunction that "it is not good that man
should be alone," chose a helpmate in the person of Miss Margaret
Frary (step-daughter of Gideon West), and was married Nov. 23,
1826. This was the first wedding, but at a later hour of the same
day George Stout was married to Miss Delight Bliss. There was
no one authorized to perform the marriage ceremony nearer than
Monroe, and therefore they had to send a messenger to that place,
a distance of thirty miles, on foot, expressly to call Loren Marsh, a
justice of the peace in and for that county, it being taken for granted
that he could officiate in the unorganized counties of the Territory.
Gideon West died on his farm in Blissfield, June 29, I837. It
was nearly eighteen months after Mr. Bliss and Mr. West located
on their land before the next settler made his appearance as a permanent settler. George Giles had been a neighbor of Mr. Bliss
and Mr. West in Raisinville, Monroe county, and after coming to




BLISSFIELD TOWNSHIP


247


Blissfield he located land on the east side of the river and opened
a hotel. He laid out a village there and called it Lyons. There
were large numbers of otter in the river at that time, and an old
settler says that he has seen quite large trees come down the river
during the spring floods, the trees having been felled by beavers.
During the first few years the settlers came in very slowly, most
of the pioneers going further on to the "openings"-land around
Tecumseh and Adrian. It was a "little dismal," as the land was low
and the timber almost impenetrable throughout Blissfield township,
and in fact all along the river region. It was not until after i832
that Blissfield township began to be settled up very rapidly, but
from that time on the community has grown and been improved
beyond the possible imagination of those who looked upon it then
for the first time. Late in the fall of I826, and early in the spring
of i827, however, quite an immigration came into the township,
namely: Jonas Ray and Benjamin Tibbitts, in the north part, and
Isaac and Samuel Randall, Morris Burch, Ebenezer Gilbert, Edward
Calkins, Jacob and John Lane, and John Preston, in the south part.
Isaac Randall was born near the city of Portland, Maine, April
i8, 1787. When of proper age he commenced learning the trade of
bridge building and carpentry, working with his father for that purpose, but he did not perfect his trade by reason of'near-sightedness.
In the autumn of i8o8 he and his young wife emigrated to the state
of New York and settled in the township of Clarkston, Monroe
county, three miles directly north from Clarkston village, where he,
like many others, bought land from what was then known as the
"Holland Purchase Company." With plenty of ambition and energy, he immediately began the laborious work of making for himself and family a home on land thickly covered with a large growth
of beech, maple, oak, hickory, and occasionally hemlock timber. The
war of i8I2 breaking out about this time, together with his neighbors he was called out upon a draft of the United States, under
orders to rendezvous at Buffalo, where he, with many others, volunteered to go into Canada with General Birown, for the purpose
of giving our English cousins a chance to fight, providing they were
so disposed. A few days after their arrival in Canada the battle of
Fort Erie took place, when Mr. Randall and many of his comrades
were made prisoners of war. The next day, under a strong guard
of British regulars, the prisoners were started on a march for the
head of the St. Lawrence river, where they were placed in open
boats and sent down the river to the city of Quebec. During this
journey, wherever night overtook them, they stopped, and in many




248


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


places took whatever rest could be obtained in the open fields, with
only a scant supply of blankets and rations, suffering greatly. At
Quebec they were put on board transports and sent to Halifax,
where they were kept in a large stone prison (not altogether unlike
Libby prison, of Civil war fame) until the close of the war, when
they were exchanged for British soldiers, who had been taken prisoners by the Americans. Isaac Randall returned to his family
(wife and one child) and his farm in Clarkston, where he remained
until the fall of I826, having in the meantime chopped, cleared, and
fenced fifty acres of heavily-timbered land, and erected a good, substantial frame house and barn. Having heard very flattering accounts of the Territory of Michigan, early in August, 1826, he
landed at Monroe. He traveled on foot along the River Raisin until
he arrived at the new settlement of Blissfield, of which he had been
told at Monroe. After looking around the neighborhood a day or
two, and being much pleased with the large growth of corn, potatoes, and other vegetables, which he saw growing in the small
fields which had been cleared by the first pioneers, viz.: Gideon
West and Hervey Bliss, on the north side of the river, and Almond
Harrison and George Giles on the south side, with their respective
families, he returned to Monroe and purchased at the United States
land office, the east one-half of the southeast quarter of section 29,
in the present township of Blissfield. Returning to Clarkston he
began making preparations to move his family to his new purchase
in the wilds of Michigan. Early in November, following, he, with
his wife and four children, together with his brother Samuel, and
his wife and four children, bade their friends in Clarkston adieu and
started via the Erie Canal and Lake Erie for Michigan. Reaching
Buffalo in due time, they took passage on the schooner Amaranth,
Captain Ransom, master, bound for Monroe. Owing to a severe
storm which came on soon after leaving Buffalo, the vessel could
not make the port of Monroe, as was intended, but was forced to
go on to Detroit, which place was reached after a stormy passage
of four days. At Detroit the two families were detained more than
a week, and while there occupied a part of the officer's quarters in
an old fort, which had been used and occupied by American soldiers
in the war of I812. By his contract, Captain Ransom was bound
to carry the two families to Monroe, or rather to the pier in La
Plaisance Bay, as at that time it was the only safe landing place for
Monroe, but not wishing to go himself, Ransom engaged the owner
of a small sloop to perform this part of the contract. The families
and goods were put on board the sloop, and in a few hours they




BLISSFIELD TOWNSHIP


249


were unloaded upon the pier, four miles from Monroe, where they
remained until one of the brothers could go to that village and get
teams to transport them to the residence of Robert G. Clark, an old
acquaintance. They remained two or three days, until an ox team
could be purchased and the wagon they had brought with them
could be fitted up. When all was ready, the two families and a
limited supply of provisions were loaded upon the wagon, and soon
these sturdy pioneers were on the march toward their future home
in the then dense forest of Blissfield. It being rather late in the
morning when they left M'onroe, and their wagon being heavily
loaded, their march was necessarily slow. The going down of the
sun found them at the house of Isaac Farewell, eight miles from
Monroe. Mr. Farewell was an old acquaintance of theirs from "York
State," and his was now the last house for many miles on their
journey.  They stayed with him until the next morning, when,
after a good night's rest and a "hearty" breakfast, they again
started on their way westward, which now lay through oak openings, to the house of Richard Peters, which was located on the site
of the present village of Petersburg, and there they put up for the
night. Early next morning they were again on the road (which
was an Indian trail and very crooked) and soon entered the dense
forest, which at that time covered a large part of Lenawee county.
The ground in this forest was soft and yielding, making their
march slow and toilsome, yet all went well until they arrived at
what was then known as Floodwood creek, which was a water
course with a channel eighteen or twenty feet wide, and at that
time contained running water eight or ten inches in depth. After
fording this creek and reaching the opposite bank, the wagon stuck
fast, and with the united strength of two stout men and a good pair
of oxen it could not be forced to roll one inch farther, and the more
the oxen "pulled and tugged" the more the wagon settled down
into the soft black mud. By this time the sun had gone down behind a curtain of black clouds. Meantime, Samuel Randall had
started to go to the house of Almond Harrison, three miles distant,
for the purpose of getting a light, as their flint and steel could not
be found, and as yet matches had not been invented. Soon after
he started a thick darkness overspread the forest and Samuel was
obliged to feel his way along the trail to Harrison's. Having procured a torch, made of hickory bark, he soon returned to the creek,
where his friends were patiently awaiting his coming. A large fire
was soon blazing on the creek bank, and when the wagon was unloaded its forward axle was found to be fast against the stump of




250


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


a small tree, just at the water's edge. The wagon was soon placed
on terra firma, re-loaded, and again the toilsome march for Harrison's was taken up. With the aid of the hickory torch to light
their way they arrived at that destination all well, but very tired.
The Harrison's received our pioneers very kindly, and soon set before them a good, warm supper, of which the newcomers partook
with a hearty relish. The supper things were then set away, beds
were made upon the floor, and all hands retired to rest the remaining part of the night.
The next day Samuel Randall moved his family effects across
the river to the house of Hervey Bliss, there to remain until a cabin
could be provided for his brother Isaac and another for himself.
Isaac Randall moved his family and effects into a shanty one and
a half miles down the river, which shanty had been built and occupied the previous winter by lumbermen from Monroe, and therehe remained until he could build a cabin for himself upon his own
land. Assisted by his brother, the walls of a log house were soon
erected and covered with shakes, which were held in place by
weight-poles instead of nails, and on Dec. I, I826, his family was
moved into the house, which was without doors, windows or floors.
This much accomplished, Isaac, in turn, helped to build his brother's
house, and meantime his wife and children gathered moss and
"chinked" the cracks in the walls of their house to keep out the
wind, while blankets were placed over the openings for doors and
windows. Hickory bedsteads were made in the usual style and
filled with cords made from basswood bark. The lower floors were
made by cutting logs of a suitable length, and thirteen to fifteen
inches in diameter. They were then split in halves, and with a
common axe their split sides were hewn to an even surface, reducing their ends to a proper thickness to be laid on sleepers.
When this work was well done a good, "substantial" floor was
produced, although it was not so smooth as if planed and matched,
but it answered a good purpose. The upper floors were made of
oak shakes, three feet long, four to eight inches wide, and one and
one-fourth inches thick. For his house Isaac Randall made one
outside door, and a small table was procured by using the boards
which had served as a temporary box on his wagon when the trip
was made from Monroe. He also made a door for the back side
of his house by hewing, with a narrow axe, inch boards from basswood logs about sixteen or eighteen inches in diameter, and nailing
these boards to battens, which also served for a hinge on which the
door turned. The latches were of wood, and were raised with a
buckskin string.




BLISSFIELD TOWNSHIP


251


Three or four evenings after moving into this new house, a
visit was received from an Indian chief named Whisney, whose
son, eighteen or twenty years old, accompanied him. They brought
with them a ham, taken from a deer, and wanted salt in exchange
for it. These were the first "children of the forest" the Randalls
had seen since arriving. They appeared very friendly, and for
many years thereafter they often called to barter venison or wild
honey for salt, corn meal, flour, and sometimes cow's milk, and tobacco. The winter of I826-27 was remarkably mild and pleasant,
but little snow falling during this and several succeeding winters.
In the autumns of 1826-27-28 cattle were driven to Blissfield from
Monroe, and passed the winter without feeding, there being on the
river flats a sort of wild rye and wild onions, etc., on which the
cattle fed, coming through the winter in good condition.
Having finished their log cabins, each Randall brother began
chopping and clearing off the timber from his land, in order that a
quantity of corn, potatoes and other vegetables might be planted
when the proper time arrived. By the first of May, besides making
two journeys to Monroe for the purpose of getting home a part of
their goods which could not be carried at the time they moved for
want of sufficient conveyance, each had about four and one-half
acres of land ready for planting. This was no small job for two
men, without pecuniary assistance, to perform. During the summer and autumn a fair crop of corn and potatoes had been grown
and harvested, and this was at least a great help toward the coming
year's sustenance.
These pioneers now considered themselves pretty well established in their new homes. Wild turkeys, deer and raccoon were
very plentiful in the forests. The deer and turkey were often
killed, and they made quite an item in the meat line of provisions,
while the raccoon proved very annoying and destructive in corn
fields, often destroying one-tenth of the crop before it could be harvested, thus entailing quite a serious loss to the pioneer. Suffice
it to say, these pioneers endured all the privations and hardships
which in those days were the common lot of all who made their
homes in the. then western country.
On April 7, 1828, Isaac Randall was elected a commissioner of
highways, and assisted in laying out and establishing many new
roads throughout the township, which at that time comprised the
south one-third of Lenawee county. He was elected school inspector, April 5, I830, and was again elected and served as highway
commissioner from April I, I832, to April 4, I836, when he was




252


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


elected a justice of the peace for the term of four years, and he filled
that position with credit to himself and to the entire satisfaction
of all doing business with him. He had cleared up his farm and
erected good frame buildings thereon, when, after a short illness,
his wife died, April 25, 1842. In I849 he sold his farm to Richard
McFarlane, and going into the town of Raisin, he bought a small
place a little north of Holloway's Corners, where he died Oct. 8,
1852. As a citizen he was unobtrusive and quiet, obliging as a
neighbor, and honest and just in his dealings.
Jacob Lane was a native of New Jersey, born Oct. I, I798, and
there he grew to manhood on a farm. He learned the blacksmith
trade in his native state, and came to Michigan in I825, first setling in Monroe county. He worked at his trade there until 1826,
when he came to Lenawee county and settled in Blissfield. He entered land on section 31, where he built a log house and a blacksmith shop. For three or four years he did what work came to
him, and also did what he could in clearing land. He then went
to Monroe, working at his trade until his health failed, when he returned to Blissfield and began keeping hotel. In I836 his wife
died, and he then abandoned the hotel and went to Philadelphia,
where he worked at the machinist trade for three years. He then
returned West, worked in Detroit and Monroe, and at the latter
place he was killed by the cars, Nov. 9, 1846. George Lane, his
oldest son, and who was the first white child born in Blissfield,
and among the very first born in Lenawee county, is still a resident
of the village, at the advanced age of eighty-two years.
The wife of Jacob Lane was Miss Eliza Giles, daughter of
George Giles, who was the first settler on the east side of the river.
The pioneer residence of the Giles family was a log house on what
is now Irving Bliss' farm. The house stood on the opposite side of
the road from the present brick dwelling house, and was quite close
to the river. In those days Indians frequently visited the woods
town and one of their favorite camping places was in Mr. Giles'
sugar-brush, near where the beet-sugar factory's pump is now located. Blissfield's first hotel occupied the same location as does
the present well and favorably known "Coon's Tavern." Not quite
so imposing in structure, however, was this first little wayside inn
-a block-house in the begining, and later a frame addition was
built. Many years after the original structure had gone the way
of most buildings, the frame was converted into an addition to a
larger hotel, and was eventually destroyed in the conflagration
which visited Blissfield in the '70s. As is well known to all of the




BLISSFIELD TOWNSHIP


253


older citizens of the county, Blissfield formerly was almost entirely situated on the west side of the river, the depot originally standing on the spot now occupied by the Furman brick building. When
the railroad company decided to erect a new station a difference
in opinion between the company and the land-owners on the west
side caused the former to build the new station and lay out the
depot grounds on the east side of the river, and this had great influence in building up the east side to the corresponding detriment of
the west.  The first store in Blissfield was a general store, and
was located where the restaurant now stands. It was owned and
conducted by Almond Harrison, who also owned a sawmill and
grist mill on the site of the present Blissfield water mill.
Blissfield township was organized May 28, 1827, nearly ten
years before Michigan was admitted to the Union as a state. The
township then included Palmyra, Medina, Senaca, Fairfield, Ogden,
Riga, and the greater part of the present townships of Blissfield
and Deerfield. Those that stood first around the ballot box were
Hervey Bliss, William Kedzie, Almond Harrison, Benjamin Clark,
Anthony McKey, Ezra W. Goff, Jacob Lane, Gideon West, John
Lane, George Giles, Isaac Randall, Moses Valentine, and Samuel
Randall-thirteen in all-and there were twenty offices to fill, so
that every voter was destined to fill some office and some were
elected to two or three. William Kedzie was chosen supervisor;
Ezra W. Goff, township clerk; Anthony McKey, Jacob Lane and
Moses Valentine, assessors; Almond Harrison, John Lane and Anthony McKey, commissioners of highways; Samuel Randall, constable and collector; Gideon West and George Giles, overseers of
the poor; William Kedzie, Isaac Randall, and Samuel Randall,
fence viewers; Hervey Bliss and George Giles, pound masters;
William Kedzie, Hervey Bliss, George Giles and Benjamin Clark,
pathmasters. This little band of pioneers who then laid the foundation of the township, have all long since passed away. The first
State or Territorial election was held July ii, i831, when twentynine votes were given for delegate to Congress. Austin E. Wing
received fourteen votes, Samuel W. Dexter nine, and John R. Williams six.                     /
The first minister to hold religious services in the township
was Rev. J. A. Baughman. He organized the society of the Blissfield Methodist Episcopal church, in 1827. The first hotel in the
township, as has been stated, was kept by George Giles, the first
postmaster was Hervey Bliss, who also served as a justice of the
peace for a number of years. The first school house in the town



254


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


ship was built of logs in the summer of 1827, and stood on what
is now the northeast corner of Adrian and Monroe streets.
The following are the names of some of the early pioneers, in
addition to those already mentioned, that came before I836: Ezra
Newton, Solomon Harrison, Ralph Baily, A. J. McWilliams, Charles
Miller, Stephen Frary, John M. Haywood, William Tenant, William C. Clark, Samuel Bliven, Darius Mead, George Stout, George
McWilliams, Stephen Clark, John C. Giles, Jared Pratt, Philander
Munson, Ruel Payne, Sr., John Payne, Charles H. Gilmore, Horace
Pierce, O. A. Sackett, George M. Hubbard, Avery Pool, John Eddy, Nathan Austin, John Sherwin, Norman Torrey, Samuel
Stewart, James Fowle, Thomas F. Dodge, and Caleb Wheeler.
Stephen Frary was born in Huron, Huron county, Ohio, Sept. I I,
I8I5. He came to Lenawee county with his mother and step-father,
Gideon West, in January, 1825, and spent the greater part of his
life on the farm that was first taken up on section 29, a half mile
northeast of Blissfield village. He saw the country when it was
in its primitive state, when it was occupied by its original inhabitants-Indians, wolves, bear, deer, turkey, rattle-snakes, and all
the other denizens of the forest.
Samuel Bliven was born in Westerly, R. I., Feb. 28, I792.
When a boy, thirteen or fourteen years old, he went to sea in the
sloop "Benjamin," on a fishing expedition to the Straits of Belle
Isle, on the northern coast of Newfoundland. Afterward he shipped
on board a merchant vessel, and went to England, France, and
many of the southern ports in this country. He made one voyage
from New York to the Russian ports in the Baltic Sea, and spent
in all about ten years of his life upon the ocean. He was a soldier
in the war of 1812, in a Connecticut regiment of minute men. About
I8I9 he went to Stonington, Conn., where he lived about one year,
and then went to Berkshire county, Massachusetts, where he followed farming for about six years. In 1827 he migrated to Cleveland, Ohio, and purchased a farm within the present limits of the
city. He lived there about seven years, and in 1833 came to Michigan and purchased 125 acres of land on sections 20 and 2I, in Blissfield township, where he spent the remainder of his life. He was
always an active man, and bought and sold several pieces of land,
both in this and Monroe county. He always enjoyed remarkably
good health, and until after he was sixty years of age never was
ill enough to keep him from his labor, excepting while he had his
regular spells of ague, during the first few years of his residence
in this county.




BLISSFIELD TOWNSHIP


255


' John Eddy was born in Massachusetts, but grew to manhood
in New York State, whither his parents moved when he was quite
young. Upon reaching manhood he bought timber lands, which
he cleared and reduced to cultivation, and he resided in New York
until 1832, when he disposed of his farm and started for the Territory of Michigan, coming by the way of the Erie Canal and the
Lakes to Monroe, and then overland to Lenawee county. He
joined friends in Fairfield township and remained with them until
~he selected a location. He soon bought IIo acres of land on section 3I, in Blissfield township, of which about eight acres were
cleared and contained a log house and a log barn. He removed his
family there in 1832, and there he continued to live until April,
1849, when he died, in his fifty-first year. The log cabin had a
large open fireplace, in which all the cooking was done for years,
as in those days on the frontier stoves were unknown.
Norman Torrey was born in Williamstown, Berkshire county,
Massachusetts, June 24, I807. He spent his boyhood days on a
farm, and what education he had was obtained in the common
schools of those days. He remained with his parents until he had
grown to manhood, and then for two seasons he worked away from
home, by the month. On Sept. 21, 1830, he was married to Ann
Kriger, and the next day after his marriage they started for their
farm, which he had purchased the year before when on a visit to
Michigan. They came by the way of the Erie Canal to Buffalo, and
then by the Lakes to Monroe, where a team was engaged to convey them to their future home. Mr. Torrey at once set to work
building a log house, in which he and his wife began housekeeping
before either door, windows or chimneys were built. He made what
was then known as puncheon floor and covered the house with
shakes, and as they had no stove they baked by the fireplace for
years. The nearest mill was then located at Monroe. At that time
deer were plenty, as were also wild turkeys, bears, and other game.
Mr. and Mrs. Torrey endured all the privations and hardships that
were entailed upon the pioneer settlers of Lenawee county, as they
were surrounded by a veritable howling wilderness, the forests
being dense and inhabited by the wild beasts of various species.
In those days the forests were as thickly populated with game as
the barnyards are now with domestic fowls.
James Fowle was born in Monroe county, New York, in I807.
In I83I he came to Michigan, settling in Blissfield, but in 1835 removed to Camden, Hillsdale county. There he was the first postmaster, from I837 to I844, the first supervisor of Camden town



256


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


ship, and he held that position and justice several terms. He was
a volunteer in the Black Hawk and Toledo wars, and served as a
representative in the state legislature from Hillsdale county in
I85o, and 1861-62 —63-64. He died May I8, 1865.
A little boy by the name of Tubbs was stolen by the Indians
from the Blissfield colony in I829, and he remained with his captors for many years before he returned to the home of his early
childhood and civilized life.
The village of Blissfield, which had a precarious existence for
the first years of its life, gradually assumed the proportions of a
thrifty center of population. Prior to the construction of the Erie
& Kalamazoo railroad to that point it was scarcely a business center, and had a small population, though there were successful
business enterprises located in the village. But with the building
of the railroad, and the establishment of a station there, the village
began to take on life, and in 1875 it was incorporated. It is supported by a rich agricultural district, remote from formidable
towns, and is an extensive shipping point, being probably the
largest shipping point for fat live stock on the line of the Lake
Shore & Michigan Southern railroad, between Chicago and Toledo.
The business men of the place are a class of progressive and enterprising people, who command ample capital and first-class facilities
for the transaction of the large volume of business. Though it has
not made rapid strides in growth, its population is mainly of that
solid, permanent character which adds financial strength and stability. According to the state census of I904 the population is
1,425. The village has well built residences and business blocks,
and good educational advantages and church facilities.
The Methodist Episcopal and the Presbyterian denominations
were the pioneer religious organizations in the township of Blissfield. As early as 1827, itinerant ministers of these sects held religious services in the settlers' cabins, and invaded the school
houses for the same purpose as soon as they were established. In
I829 Alanson Darwin, one of the early Presbyterian ministers in
the county, established a church organization at the village of Blissfield. A class was organized under the leadership of Hervey Bliss,
Timothy Goff, and Nathan Gibbs, the class consisting of themselves and wives, and a few others. The congregation at first
worshiped in.the dwellings of the members and in the old log
school house, which had been constructed in the summer of 1827,
and the first church edifice was erected in the summer of I849.
The Methodist Episcopal conference had sent ministers to Bliss



BLISSFIELD TOWNSHIP


257


field since the time the village was laid out, the first meetings being held by the Rev. John A. Baughman. The church was not assigned a conference pastor until 1857, when Rev. Edwin H. Brockway regularly occupied the pulpit. A German Lutheran society
has also been organized in the village and contributes to the spiritual welfare of the people.
Blissfield township is well supplied with district schools now,
in striking contrast with the log houses and antiquated means of
instruction of former days. Among the early teachers in the township were Chester Stuart, of Monroe, who taught at a salary of
thirteen dollars per month and "board around," Thomas F. Dodge,
and George W. Ketcham-all sturdy "wielders of the birch."
Reference has been made to the first school house, from which
arose one of the prosperous religious organizations of the village
of Blissfield. But that was not its only mission, nor in fact the
principal one. While serving in the capacity of town hall, a voting
place, a general receptacle for itinerant shows, and all classes of
public meetings, it was also the birthplace,of educational ambitions,
which culminated in some of the colleges of the day. The old school
house has been superseded by fine structures, with a systematic
arrangement for the instruction of pupils in all grades of advancement, each of the various departments being in charge of a teacher
especially adapted to the class of instruction required, and the whole
under the direct supervision of an educator of known ability and
success. The schools of Blissfield are second to none of like grade
in the county, and they reflect, in a marked degree, the intelligent
and public-spirited enterprise of those who sustain them.
The soil of the township of Blissfield is generally fertile and
well adapted to the raising of all kinds of grains, grasses and fruits.
The valleys of the River Raisin and its various branches are especially rich and productive, while the upland is not so desirable
for farming purposes, yet the soil there is of better quality than
much of the land of similar character in other localities. The territory was originally covered with a fine growth of timber, in
which the hardwood varieties predominated. There is much valuable timber still in the township.
I7-Iv




I
I
I
I
I




CHAPTER XII.
FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP.
LOCATION AND BOUNDARIES-SURFACE, DRAINAGE AND SOIL-THE
EARLY SETTLERS- TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION- CHURCHES-POSTOFFICE-SOLDIERS' MONUMENT.
Congressional township 5 south, range 3 east, is what is known
as the township of Franklin. It is bounded on the north by Washtenaw county, on the east by the townships of Clinton, Tecumseh,
and a narrow strip of Raisin, on the south by the township of
Adrian, and on the west by the township of Cambridge. The surface in some parts of the township, particularly in the northern,
is undulating, while in others it is generally level. The township
is watered by Evans creek and other small streams which eventually find their way to the River Raisin, and it has a number of beautiful lakes, which are becoming quite famous as places of resort during the summer. Originally there was a large amount of timber
distributed over the surface of this township. Among the early
settlers were the Rev. Henry Tripp, Franklin Osborn, Joseph and
William Camburn, James B. Wells, William Bradley, David Edwards, Eli Whelan, Joseph Slater and Samuel Hubbard. Horace
Case, it is said, made the first improvement. The township was
named after the eminent American philosopher and patriot, Benjamin Franklin.
Rev. Henry Tripp was born on the other side of the Atlantic,
in Bristol, England, Nov. 28, 1825, and was of pure English ancestry. When a lad of fourteen years he went aboard a man-of-war
as a sailor, and during the period of his seven years of sea life,
crossed the Atlantic nineteen times. His vessel was commanded
by Commodore Decatur, with whom he sailed to Tripoli, and after
his return from that voyage he refused to make another and thus
escaped being blown up with the vessel, which was soon afterward
destroyed. Upon resuming the life of a landsman he repaired to




260


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


his native city and turned his attention to religious matters. His
zeal and piety served to make him a highly valued member of the
Baptist church, and possessing much natural talent as a speaker
and writer, he was ordained as a minister, and sent by the church
at Bristol to the Island of Jamaica, as a missionary, and there he
served eight years. This was his initial work in the ministry, and
volunteering his services at a time when the church experienced
great difficulty in obtaining men courageous enough to deal with
the natives, he labored carefully and conscientiously. He subsequently returned to England and remained on his native soil until
June, 1831, when he sailed with his family for the United States.
It will be borne in mind that Michigan at that time was a Territory in its undeveloped state, but notwithstanding this, upon his
arrival in New York City, Rev. Tripp proceeded directly westward
and pitched his tent in the unbroken wilds of what subsequently
became Cambridge township, this county. He selected his location
near the body of water which is now familiarly known as Sand
Lake, taking up a tract of government land and improving a farm
of I60 acres. He was present at the meeting called to organize
Franklin township, and he it was who suggested its present name,
after Benjamin Franklin, and this name was given in accordance
with his request. He subsequently removed from Cambridge to
Franklin township, where he spent his declining years, and where
his death took place July 19, I863, after he had summed up his fourscore years. He did not lay aside his pious zeal upon coming to
this new country, but was mainly instrumental in the organization
of the Baptist church of Franklin township. He cherished strong
convictions upon the question of African slavery, to which he was
bitterly opposed, and he cast the first Abolition vote in Franklin
township. Upon the organization of the Republican party he
became one of its most earnest supporters, and kept himself well
posted upon state and national affairs until the day of his death.
Franklin Osborn, a representative of the well known family of
that name in this county, for many years carried on farming
successfully in Franklin township, and was numbered among its
most reliable and substantial citizens. He was a native of Ovid,
Seneca county, New York, where his birth took place Aug. I6,
I820. He was reared to farming pursuits, and remained a resident
of his native state until after his marriage. Then with his wife
he migrated to Michigan in the spring of 1845, taking up his
residence in Franklin township about the middle of April. There
he carried on farming and lived until the winter of I876, when, in




FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP


26I


the month of December, he set out on a journey to New York, and
was one of the victims in the terrible railroad disaster near Ashtabula, Ohio, when a train of eleven cars went through a bridge, and
a large number of people were either killed outright or met their
death by burning. The body of Richard Osborn, a brother, was
never recovered, and is supposed to have been entirely destroyed.
Franklin Osborn just escaped with his life, being'terribly mangled,
and he received such a shock to his system that he never fully
recovered, and died Feb. 6, i88i.
Joseph Camburn was born in Barnegat, N. J., March 23, I796,
and he lived with his father, who was a Methodist minister, until
he was twenty-three years old. What little schooling he received
was in Macedon, Wayne county, New York, where the father and
family removed in I804. In I818 Joseph Camburn rented a farm in
Macedon and carried it on until 1827, when he made up his mind
that he would go to Michigan, where he could then purchase the
best of land for $I.25 per acre. In the spring of 1828, he started
for Tecumseh with his wife and four children. He came up the lake
from Buffalo to Detroit. At Detroit he purchased a yoke of oxen,
loaded what few things he had upon a wagon he brought with him,
and after nearly three days' travel he arrived in Tecumseh, -himself,
wife, and children, having walked the entire distance. All the
money he possessed when he reached Tecumseh was six dollars,
and he was among strangers with six in his family. He settled
on eighty acres of land belonging to his father-in-law, Abram
Shadduck, and after living on it two years, improving it and building a house, he finally bought it, taking a deed and giving a mortgage for $400. Before the end of another year he sold out for $700,
paid up the mortgage, and purchased I60 acres of land on section
22 in Franklin, where he resided the remainder of his life. This
was in 132, and Franklin then comprised all the territory in the
present townships of Franklin, Cambridge, and Woodstock, and
there were not men enough in this scope of country to fill the
offices. In 1832-3, Mr. Camburn assisted in surveying and cutting
through the La Plaisance Bay Turnpike, from Tecumseh to the
Chicago Turnpike. He was instrumental in building the first
school house in the present town of Franklin, in the fall of I833.
He also was the prime mover in the erection of the Methodist
church at Franklin Center, or Tipton, as it is more commonly
called.
William Camburn was a native of New Jersey, born not far
from Barnegat Bay, and was reared in Lockport, N. Y. He was a




202


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


soldier in the war of i8I2, did service as a private, and was also
on guard duty on the frontier at Niagara. He came to Michigan
by the Lake route in i83I, then obtaining an ox-team at Detroit, he
drove across the country to Tecumseh, where he located near the
village, but not liking the situation, he sold and came into Franklin
township, where he purchased the southwest quarter of section 2I.
This was on the line of the old Da Plaisance Bay Turnpike, which
was then being laid out and built, and on this road, which passed
diagonally through his farm, a great deal of the travel of the state
was conducted. There he built a double-log cabin and conducted
a tavern or public house for some years. He came here before the
township was organized, and was elected one of the first justices of
the peace, and he was also made postmaster at Tipton, which
office he held for about thirty-six years. He held the office of
justice of the peace till his death, April 7, I872, at seventy-nine
years of age. He was a Republican from the beginning of the party,
in I856. He was a successful man and practical farmer, and was
prominent in the affairs of the community.
James B. Wells was born in Rutland county, Vermont, Sept.
21 1798, and when a young man removed with his father's family
to Ontario county, New York, where he was married and lived
for a number of years. He landed with his family in this county in
the spring of i835, and took up a tract mostly of wild land in Franklin township. He labored after the fashion of the people of those
days, putting forth his most strenuous efforts in order to cultivate
the soil and build up a comfortable homestead. He was a man of
excellent judgment and forethought, and was greatly prospered in
his labors. As time passed on he invested his surplus capital in
land until he became the owner of 6oo acres lying in one body in
Franklin and Tecumseh townships. There he continued until he
rested from his earthly labors, Dec. i6, i864. He was reared in the
faith of the old-school Presbyterian church, but some years before
his death identified himself with the Congregationalists. The stern
and sturdy traits of his New England ancestry had been transmitted to him in a marked degree, and he reared his children in a
manner strongly similar to the stern precepts of the old Puritans.
He adhered strictly to temperance principles, and ever advocated
that high morality which is the basis of all true citizenship, and
without which the fabric of a community is liable at any time to
degenerate into something more unworthy. Politically, he was in
early life a Whig, but upon the abandonment of the old party
allied himself with the Republicans, whose principles he advocated




FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP


263


and supported with all the strength of his convictions. He took
considerable interest in local politics and was a man whose opinion
was generally respected. He officiated as Deacon in his church
and was numbered among its most cheerful and liberal supporters.
Joseph Slater was born in New Jersey, Oct. 2, I804, the son of
William Slater, whom he was destined never to see, however, as the
latter left his home and family when Joseph was very young, and
was never heard of again. At the age of eight years Joseph was
bound out to a farmer until he was twenty-one. Bound boys in
those days were treated about the same as slaves, and were compelled to work early and late, good weather and bad, and under all
circumstances. No attention was paid to his education, and he was
sent to school only enough to learn to write his name and read a
little. He was at that place thirteen years, in which time he never
received one cent of money, except when he gathered chestnuts in
the fall of the year, and sold them. When he was twenty-one he
commenced work on the Morris Canal in New Jersey, and remained
thus employed until September of the following year. In the
fall of 1826 he went to Seneca county, New York, where he followed farming until the fall of 1831, when he came to Lenawee
county and located the southwest quarter of section 25, in Franklin township, where he resided the remainder of his life. He added
to his first purchase until he owned 320 acres in one body. He
erected a large brick house, with sufficient out-buildings. He was
always a useful, honorable, hard-working man in the township, and
did a great deal toward transforming Franklin into the productive
and beautiful township that it now is.
The township of Franklin was organized at a meeting held the
first Monday in April, I833, at the house of Hiram Reynolds, but
as to who the gentlemen were that were honored by being elected
to office, the writer has been unable to learn, with the one exception
of William Camburn, who was chosen as one of the justices of the
peace.
In the year I850 the Methodistchurch of Franklin was formally organized, and at the annual session of the conference in
September of that year it was made a regular appointment on the
Tecumseh circuit; but this organization has long since been dissolved. At present there is an active Methodist Episcopal organization in the little village of Tipton, of which the Rev. G. W. Hoffman is the pastor. The Tipton Congregational Church Society was
the second of that denomination to be established in the county,
having been organized in I837. The Rev. W. E. Grove is the
present pastor, receiving his call to the pastorate in I907.




264             MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY
What is known as Tipton postoffice was established in 1836,
William Camburn being appointed postmaster, and he kept the
office at his house, on the mail route from Tecumseh westward.
Pentecost and Putnam are the names of two other trading points in
the township, the last named being especially lively during the
outing season, when the campers make their annual pilgrimage
to Sand Lake. At Tipton is located the Soldier's Monument,
erected by the unanimous contributions of the residents of the
township, and dedicated July 4, I866. It is thirty-three feet in
height and is intended to be a tribute of honor to the heroes who fell
in attempting to stem the tide of civil war; but it also reflects
credit upon the patriotism of the people of Franklin. If not the
first, this was among the first of the soldiers' monuments erected
after the close of the great sectional strife.




CHAPTER XIII.
FAIRFIELD TOWNSHIP.
TOPOGRAPHICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES-THE FIRST SETTLEMENT AND TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION-THE FIRST ELECTIONEARLY SETTLERS-EARLY AND PRESENT CHURCH ORGANIZATIONS
-FIRST SAW MILL - FIRST POSTOFFICE-CHEESE MAKING-VILLAGES.
Topographically, this township is considerably diversified. Nile
creek and Black creek drain the territory and flow in a northeasterly direction, Black creek leaving the township on section I2.
The valleys or bottom lands adjacent to the streams are especially
fertile, highly improved, and very valuable. The higher lands are
not so rich for agricultural purposes. The surface of the township is
generally rolling, but no elevations of any considerable magnitude
appear. There is some land of little value for farming purposes,
and such is either used for grazing lands, or is still in the primitive state, nourishing the native timber which is yet standing. The
principal varieties of timber which abounded in almost exhaustless supply and excellent quality were hickory, walnut, butternut,
ash, poplar, sugar-maple, oak of all kinds, elm, and on some of
the lower lands there was a growth of reed willow. With the advent of the first white settlers, the woods abounded in game of all
kinds known in the country. Deer were exceedingly plentiful and
afforded the principal meat supply of the early settlers. Every
man and boy, and some of the female population, were expert
hunters, and many are the tales told of hair-breadth escapes from,
and single-handed contests with bruin, the arch enemy of the
young domestic animals about the settlers' cabins. Wolves and
wild-cats also made night hideous and nocturnal travel precarious,
with their prowling, stealthy and deceptive methods of attack.
The first settlement of the township of Fairfield antedates its
organization by several years. The township organization was




266


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


effected in the spring of i834, from territory previously embraced
within the township of Blissfield. The house of John H. Carpenter
was designated as the voting place, and there the first election was
held.
It is not clearly -known as to who was the first actual permanent settler of the township of Fairfield, but it was settled mostly
by people from the state of New York. The first land entered in
the town was by John WV. Austin, Jr., who located eighty acres
on section I1, Oct. 7, i830. The first house was built in i83I, on
the southeast quarter of section Io, and in i832 several log houses
were erected.
John Arnold, one of the early settlers, was born at Barnegat,
N. J., in I779, and lived in New Jersey until i8o6, when he moved
to Wayne county, New York, near Palmyra. When he was a boy
he learned the tailor's trade, which he followed until he came to
Michigan, in i829, settling in Washtenaw county, near Saline. In
1830 he moved to this county and worked land for Darius Comstock, in Raisin, one year. In the spring of i83i he purchased a
farm in Madison, and he owned that place until the spring of
i833, when he purchased a large farm on Black creek, in Fairfield.
At the time the township was organized, he proposed that it be
called Fairfield, which name was adopted. He was the first clerk
of the township. He afterward sold his farm to William Wilbur,
and purchased a farm in Seneca, where he died, Feb. 24, i876.
The Baker family was foremost among the early settlers of
Fairfield, John Baker being elected as the first supervisor after the
organization of the township. John Baker was born in Adams,
Mass., Jan. I7, I798, but in I800 his father, Moses Baker, moved to
Wayne county, New York, where he was a pioneer, and assisted
in building the aqueduct for the Erie Canal, over the Genesee river
at Rochester, and he also worked on the canal. Moses Baker took
up a large tract of new land in Macedon, Wayne county, New
York, and he afterward divided this land among his sons, John
coming into possession of a part of it, where he lived until i832.
In the fall of i83I, Moses Baker and two of his sons, John and Orin,
sold out and all came to Michigan, arriving in Detroit, June i,
i832. Being well acquainted with Darius and Addison J. Comstock, in Wayne county, and John having a brother-in-law-Levi
Shumway-already settled here, they naturally came to Lenawee
county, where they finally settled as follows: Moses took the
southeast quarter of the northeast fractional quarter of section 3
Orin took up the north half of the northeast fractional quarter of




FAIRFIELD TOWNSHIP


267


section 3; and John the northwest fractional quarter of section 2,
all in Fairfield, the locality for years being known as "Baker's
Corners," afterward the platted village of Fairfield. Moses Baker
lived in Fairfield upon his original purchase until his death, which
occurred Nov. 26, I853. Orin Baker died on his old farm in Fairfield, Jan. 30, 1871, and John Baker died in Fairfield, on the farm
he purchased from the government, May 7, I873.
The record of the first election in the township of Fairfield has
been lost or was not properly kept, hence it is impossible to give
the names of all those who were first chosen as officials of the township. However, it is known that the first township meeting was
held in the house of John H. Carpenter, in the spring of I834, and
that there were thirty-two electors present at the time. Andrew
Millett was chosen chairman; votes were cast in a hat in lieu of a
ballot box, and in the contest between John Baker and John H.
Carpenter for the office of supervisor, the former was elected by
one majority. And John 'Arnold was elected the first towpship
clerk.
The Baptist church was the leader in religious effort in the
township of Fairfield, the first church edifice being erected by that
denomination on section 7. The fourth society of the Baptist
denomination to spring into existence in this county was the First
Baptist church of Weston, which was launched in the year 1838.
The progress of the society has been gradual, the foundations having been laid upon a durable and substantial basis, and in point of
active membership it is the third largest Baptist church in the
county today.  The present house of worship, the erection and
finishing of which cost in the neighborhood of $3,500, is one of the
most adequate and commodious church buildings in the township.
The Rev. Frank Burnett is the present pastor, having been installed
in the summer of I908. The Methodist Episcopal organization at
Fairfield was first assigned a conference pastor in I86o, in the person of the Rev. O. J. Perrin, but the organization is now in point
of active membership the smallest of its sect in the county. The
church has no regularly assigned pastor at this time, but the organization is still intact and the regular services are conducted every
Sunday. Free Methodism is represented by a church society at
Jasper, and at the same place the Disciples of Christ have an
organization, it being one of only two of the organizations of that
sect in Lenawee county. At the present time there is no pastor,
and the membership of the society is very small.
The first saw mill was built on section 9, by Levi Shumway and




268


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


Andrew Millett. Shumway had purchased about four hundred
acres of land in Palmyra, Madison, and Fairfield townships, and
he and Mr. Millett built this mill on a creek that then passed
through the land on section 9, in Fairfield. At that time this creek
afforded a good water power, but it has now nearly dried up, a very
small brook being all there is left to remind the passer-by that
"once this was a mill-site."
The first postoffice was established in the winter of 1835-6,
and was called "Baker's," Orin Baker being the postmaster-a duty
he performed for eighteen years. John Baker was the first man
that contracted to carry the mails from Baker's Corners to Adrian,
a distance of six miles, and the first few mails he carried tied up in
his red bandanna.
The first cheese dairying was commenced in 1852 by Samuel
Horton, who carried it on with success during his life, and established the fact that as good cheese could be made in Michigan as in
New York. Mr. Horton was born in Lincolnshire, near Boston,
England, Dec. 9, I818, and he lived there until he was about
seventeen years old, when with a school-mate he emigrated to the
United States. The voyage from London to New York was most
distressing and unfortunate, seventeen passengers perishing from
starvation and exposure, while all on board suffered nearly to the
point of death from lack of necessaries of life. The vessel was
I04 days at sea, finally landing at Castle Garden, N. Y., where Mr.
Horton passed six weeks in recovering strength sufficient to leave
the place. While thus confined he was robbed of nearly all the
money he had, but finally managed to get as far as Troy, N. Y.,
where he found employment in the lumber woods of Herkimer
county. He remained there for three years and prospered reasonably well. In I839 he went back to England and took possession of
a little property his father had left him. He returned to America
in I840, and in the fall of 1841 removed to Medina county, Ohio,
purchased a farm in Lafayette township, and resided there six
years. In the fall of 1847 he sold out and returned to the state of
New York, residing for three years in Niagara county. A resolute,
thrifty man, he was not satisfied; the opportunity and the ideal home
he was seeking were not to be found there, and in 1851 he migrated
to Lenawee county and purchased a farm on section 6, in Fairfield township. In 1853 he commenced the manufacture of cheese,
and with a dairy of ten cows, he was the first man in Michigan to
manufacture that desirable edible for the general market. He met
with special success at once, as his product was good, and it soon




FAIRFIELD TOWNSHIP


269


became sought after by merchants. He steadily increased his dairy,
and in the spring of I866 erected one of the first two cheese factories
in the state. He was an enterprising, honorable, unassuming
man, and by his probity, honest dealing, and the quality of his
product, soon became a leading farmer and dairyman in the West.
More than a score of other cheese factories were afterward operated
in the county, and the business soon grew to large proportions. At
the time of his death, April 25, 1872, Mr. Horton owned 469 acres of
land and about fifty cows. It is said, however, that Mrs. Horton was
really the first cheese-maker in Michigan from a commercial point
of view. She learned the business as a girl in Herkimer county,
New York, and superintended her husband's cheese-making for
eight years, beginning with its inception.  Mr. and Mrs. Horton
were the parents of George B. Horton, who, succeeding to his
father's business, has become one of the leading men in the farmer's
organizations of the state and nation.
The first cheese factory to be put in operation was erected by
Rufus Baker, in I866. Mr. Baker was born in Palmyra, Wayne county, New York, June 30, I82I, and was the son of John Baker, who is
mentioned on another page. He was reared a farmer and only
received a common school education. He was but eleven years
old when he came to Lenawee county with his parents, and therefore passed through all the different phases of pioneer life, many
of the hardships and pleasures of living in the woods being
impressed more vividly upon his mind than upon those who were
older and had more cares and anxieties. He grew with the country
and improved with it, and at the age of nineteen commenced teaching school, his first term being two months, for which he was to
have ten dollars per month, but for some reason or other he never
received all of his pay. He taught eleven winter terms of school,
working by the month in summers, until 1846, in the meantime purchasing forty acres of land in Madison township, where he lived
until I855. He then purchased I60 acres of land, it being the southwest quarter of section 2, in Fairfield, and there he lived the
remainder of his life. He added to this farm until he owned 370
acres of choice land. His health failing him, in 1853 he commenced
dealing in live stock, which he followed with energy and success
until I860. In the spring of that year he commenced dairy farming
with eighteen cows; gradually increasing until I866, when he built
the Fairfield cheese factory, the first to be operated in Michigan,
preceding Samuel Horton only four days. From that time he was
engaged with his son, E. L. Baker, largely in the business, manu



270


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


facturing during some seasons as high as $6o,ooo worth of cheese.
In 1872 Rufus Baker & Son opened a wholesale cheese store in
Adrian, and continued until 1874, when L. Ladd was admitted as a
partner, and the firm then known as Rufus Baker & Company continued until December, 1878.
As will be inferred from the foregoing, the township is devoted
mostly to grazing, either to make milk for the dairy or to fatten
cattle for the shambles, large farms being used for the, latter purpose. Many thousand pounds of cheese are made in the township annually.
The township embraces three villages within its boundaries:
Fairfield, Jasper, and Weston; the first named being still popularly
known among the older residents by its original name, "Baker's
Corners." The locations of these villages are beautiful, and the
spots are historical, as far as the township of Fairfield is concerned.
They are busy trading points, sustained by large scopes of good
farming country, and their support is assured in the character and
reputation of the business men. Some of the stores would do
credit to much larger places. Some small manufacturing is also
done. Excellent schools in the township afford ample opportunities to the children in the acquirement of a good practical
education.




CHAPTER XIV.
MADISON TOWNSHIP.
BOUNDARIES-TOPOGRAPHY-SOIL AND DRAINAGE - RAILROADS-AGRICULTURAL INTERESTS-EARLY SETTLERS-TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION-FIRST ELECTION AND OFFICERS-FIRST SAW MILL-FIRST
SCHOOL HOUSE-FIRST LOG CABIN-FIRST WHITE CHILD BORN.
This is one of the two most centrally located townships in
Lenawee county, the township of Adrian being the other. Mladison, or Lenawee, as it was originally named, is one of the five new
townships that were organized in consequence of a legislative
enactment of March 7, i834, and the date of its organization is
April 7, of the same year. Its boundaries are four straight lines,
with the exception of a short slanting line at the northwest corner
caused by connecting two different surveys. Territorially, it is an
exact Congressional township and contains thirty-sections of land.
The land is comparatively level and as fertile perhaps as any
other portion of the county, being generally very productive. It
was originally a fair alternation of openings and heavy timber, andthe soil is sandy. The valleys of the small streams in the township are not wide, hence the general topography of the township
might be described as level or gently undulating. There is some
excellent land, with fine farms and improvements, and it can be
said that Madison is a specially rich and valuable territory. A
branch of the River Raisin, sometimes called Sand Creek, is the
principal stream, and this divides the township into nearly equal
parts, following from southwest to northeast, and depositing its
water into the main channel of the Raisin. In the pioneer days this
stream was considered of sufficient magnitude to afford water
power for the early mills, and it derives its name of Sand Creek
from the nature of the soil through which it flows. There are a
number of spring brooks which are tributaries to this stream, and
these afford the drainage and water supply of the township.




272


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


Three railroads-the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, the
Wabash, and the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton-traverse Madison,
and beside the stations at the city of Adrian, there are the villages
of Madison and Sand Creek. Ample Shipping facilities are thus
afforded, and the railroad accommodations are superior to most
other rural districts in the county. The country is traversed by
well kept roads, which add to the comfort and convenience of
interior travel. The village of Sand Creek is a shipping and trading
point of importance and convenience to a large farming community.
The agricultural interests of the township are varied and extensive, stock raising and fruit culture being profitable accessories to
the raising of grain and vegetables. Much land is devoted to grazing purposes, to which it is admirably adapted, by reason of the
abundance of pure water, and successful growing of all kinds of
grasses. In an early day this locality was especially valued as a
hunting ground, game of all kinds being found there in great
abundance.
The first settlers of this township were Nelson and Curran
Bradish, who came in 1827.
Nelson Bradish was a native of Wayne county, New York, and,was born in I803. Upon coming here in 1827 he took up a quarter
section of land in Madison township, and the year following put up
a log house on section I6. After establishing himself and his
young wife comfortably, he proceeded with the cultivation of the
land, and remained there until the spring of I86o, when he retired
from active labor and repaired to a snug home near the outskirts of
Adrian, where he spent his declining years. He died on May
6, I875.
The Messrs. Bradish were soon followed by Samuel Carpenter,
who located 320 acres of land in one body, and cleared and
improved nearly the whole of it, erecting good buildings, setting
out an orchard, etc. It was on Sunday, July 22, 1828, that Mr.
Carpenter came into the little hamlet of Logan (now city of
Adrian) with two wagons drawn by oxen, with his family, consisting of his wife and eleven children, and a valuable and favorite
dog under one of the wagons. At that time the village consisted
of Addison J. Comstock's house, a log one, which stood on the east
side of the river, where the terminal station of the electric railway is now located; Noah Norton's residence, which stood a little
east and north, it being constructed of slabs split out of logs, standing one end upon the ground and the other against a pole which




MADISON TOWNSHIP


273


was held up by two crotches. Capt. James Whitney and family
resided on the west side of the river. Mr. Carpenter drove directly
to Captain Whitney's house, they having been old friends and
neighbors in the state of New York. Mr. Whitney and family received the new-comers gladly, and cared for them cheerfully and
kindly for one week. Mr. Whitney's house was a log structure,
i6x2o, but during- that week it sheltered and protected the two
families, consisting of twenty-four persons. MIr. Whitney and
his sons turned out and assisted Mr. Carpenter in putting up his
house during this time. Mir. Carpenter was a thrifty, enterprising,
well-to-do farmer in New York, and having been a pioneer in
Orleans county, he was conversant with all the phases of life in a
new country; hence he was a valuable acquisition to the new settlement here. His wide experience gave him confidence in himself,
and established him firmly in his new home at once. He soon
became known to all the settlers, and was of great assistance to
many who came in from time to time. All newcomers who applied
to him for assistance were kindly received and helped in their
efforts to locate and become comfortable. He resided on his farm,
which was finally set off into the township of Madison, until his
death, which occurred Oct. 3, i871. He was born in Orange county,
New York, Feb. 28, I779, and was the son of Joshua Carpenter, who
was a soldier in the Revolution. He, himself, was a soldier in the
war of I8I2, and drew a pension for many years.
One day some Indians stopped at Mr. Carpenter's house to
beg, and one of their dogs stole two hams which he was smoking
in a barrel. Mordecai, one of Mr. Carpenter's sons, declared he
could cure the dog of stealing, and at once filled a goose-quill with
powder and plugged it with punk. When the Indians came along
again Mordecai took a piece of pork, crowded the loaded quill into
the meat and lighted the punk. Then putting another piece of the
punk over the one he had fired to protect the ftise, he threw the
morsel down, and it was soon swallowed by the dog. Within the
next half hour there was an explosion, and then a dead dog. The
incident caused great consternation among the Indians, but they
soon buried their favorite canine in a hillside near by, and never
passed there afterward without visiting the grave.
Mr. Carpenter's oldest son, John R., was something of a wag.
After his marriage he lived on a farm north of his father's.. On a
wash day in the spring, when he was very busy plowing, his wife
discovered that she was out of indigo, and hustled him off "to
town" to get some, telling him to get four ounces. He started off
i8-iv




274


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


immediately, going to E. C. Winter's store, the only one in town,
and ordered four pounds of indigo. Mr. Winter told him there
must be some mistake about it, that it must be four ounces that
he wanted, instead of four pounds. But John R. insisted on four
pounds, and got that amount. It took nearly all there was in the
store, and, as the article was then worth thirty cents per ounce, and
business was done on credit, Mr. Winter knew he would soon
return. His wife sent him back immediately, and he took the four
ounces home.
Among the other early settlers may be mentioned Nehemiah
Bassett, J. L. Edmunds, William Brooks, Stephen and Cassander
Peters, Elijah Johnson, Reuben Mallory, Samuel and Reuben
Davis, John and Joel Fitch, Levi and Josiah Shumway, Nathaniel
Cole, Aaron S. Baker, Lewis Nickerson, Calvin Bradish, and many
others.
Levi Shumway was born in Belcher, Hampshire county,
Massachusetts, June II, 1788. He lived with his parents until he
was about sixteen years old, when he went to Wayne county, New
York, where he worked by the month on a farm until he earned
enough money to buy a piece of land on the "Gorham tract." He
added to his first purchase until he owned Ioo acres, and he was a
thrifty and successful farmer there. He lived there until the spring
of I829, when, after having cleared up his farm and put it under
good cultivation, building a good frame house and a large barn, he
sold out and migrated to Michigan, where he again commenced
life as a pioneer. He came to Lenawee county in June, I829, and
located 400 acres of land on section 35, in Madison. He immediately returned to Wayne county, New York, and brought his family
on, arriving in Adrian the latter part of September, that year.
The family lived with some of the other settlers for a month or so,
or until he could build a log house on his land. He used his wagon
box to make a door to his house, to keep out wolves and other
wild animals. In 1832 he built a barn, getting his lumber in Adrian,
the same being sawed from trees which stood within the then village limits. If this was not the first barn built in Madison, it was
the first in that part of the township, and all the settlers in that
vicinity brought their wheat there to thresh upon the floor. Mr.
Shumway was fatally injured while assisting in raising a barn for
Thomas Hagaman, in Fairfield township, July 27, 1834, and he
died Aug. 3, following.
Lewis Nickerson was one of the honored pioneers of Lenawee
county, coming to Michigan while it was yet in its infancy, and




MADISON TOWNSHIP


275


before the march of civilization had given any intimation of the
proud position which it has since attained among the states of the
Union. He was a native of Massachusetts, but early in life he
settled near Ticonderoga, N. Y., and later removed to Wayne
county, in the same state. There he resided some years, learned the
trade of a tanner and currier, and gave some attention to that business, but he devoted the major part of his time to agricultural pursuits. Not being quite satisfied with his location, nor with the
results of his hard toil, he removed with his young family toMichigan, in 1830, and settled in Madison township, where he died six
years later, followed by his widow in 1846.
Calvin Bradish was a native of Massachusetts, but in early life
settled in Wayne county, New York, where he lived quite a number
of years. In June, I831, he moved with his family to Lenawee
county and settled in Madison township on section 23. Three years
prior to this time he had bought from the government a tract of 240
acres of land, and he afterward became possessor of I,6oo acres in
Lenawee and Hillsdale counties. He became actively engaged in
farming, and also took a prominent part in aiding the future
growth and prosperity of the township and county. Realizing that.
railways form one of the most important factors in the building up
of new countries, and are most potential in the advancement of our
civilization, he ardently advocated the building of the Erie & Kalamazoo railway, and contributed $I,ooo to further the enterprise.
This road now forms a part of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern
railway. In I834 Mr. Bradish erected substantial farm buildings,
and at the old homestead in Madison township he and his good
wife passed their declining years, her death occurring in 1839, and
his on Sept. I7, I851. They left behind them an honorable record of
good deeds, and their admirable traits of character still endure in
their posterity. Mr. Bradish was justice of the peace in Madison
township for several years.
The township was organized April 7, 1834, and at that time
was called Lenawee, but in 1838 the name changed to Madison,
owing to the fact that very many of her citizens came from Madison, in the state of New York. The first election was held on the
date above given, "at the school house one mile east of William
Edmunds', in said township." Calvin Bradish was moderator, and
N. D. Skeels was clerk of the election. Officers were elected as follows: Supervisor, Garrett Tenbrooke; township ilerk, Isaac A.
Colvin; assessors, John Hutchens, Patrick Hamilton, and Levi
Shumway; collector, Ezra Allen Washburn; overseers of the poor,




276


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


Nehemiah Bassett and Elijah Johnson; commissioners of highways, Jacob Jackson, Samuel Bayles, and Moses C. Baker; constable, Ezra Allen Washburn; commissioners of schools, Lyman
Pease, Isaiah Sabens, and John Power; school inspectors, Curran
Bradish, Thomas F. Dodge, William Edmunds, and Isaac A. Colvin. The township meeting voted to pay three dollars for every
wolf slain within the township, and one dollar and fifty cents for
each wolf whelp. During the year Bart White was paid bounty
on six wolves, and William Winslow a bounty on one wolf.
Isaac A. Colvin, who was honored by election as the first clerk of
Madison township, migrated from Palmyra, N. Y., to this county,
settling first in Madison township. Thence he removed to Hillsdale
county about I837, and in 1847 he returned to this county and located on a tract of land in Palmyra township, where he remained until
I85I engaged in milling. Then, being quite well advanced in years, he
abandoned active labor and took up his residence in Adrian, where
he lived for a time. In 1852 he left Adrian for the West, and after
crossing the Mississippi was never again heard from. It is believed
that he was foully dealt with, and the most diligent search failed to.discover what had become of him.
Samuel Bayles, one of the first commissioners of highways in
Madison township, was born in the town of Rye, Westchester
county, New York, Nov. 22, I796. When he was about nine years
old he moved with his parents to the city of New York, where he
lived about ten years, and then returned with the family to Westchester county. He again removed to New York city in the spring
of 1824 and engaged in the grocery business, remaining there and
so engaged until the spring of 1832, when he migrated to Lenawee
county and "took up" 320 acres of government land, the same
lying in the present townships of Dover and Madison. At that
time, however, Madison, or Lenawee, as it was then called, comprised all of the townships of Madison, Dover, and Hudson. On the
day on which Mr. Bayles arrived in Adrian, the soldiers, then
enlisted in this locality for the Black Hawk war, were standing in
line upon the street, waiting for orders to march "to the front."
The land that Mr. Bayles entered had never been improved at all;
he cleared and fenced it, erected the buildings, and lived upon it
more than thirty years. In I865 he sold his farm and took up his
residence in the city of Adrian, where he resided the remainder of
his life.
The various industries of commerce and manufacture were
early established, and prosecuted with intelligence and success.




MADISON TOWNSHIP


277


The first saw mill was built by Calvin Bradish. Many of the present day citizens and men of affairs are the sons of the early pioneer
settlers, who have left their impress upon the succeeding generations, and the people are generally well-to-do and progressive.
The first school house was a log one, built in what was afterward called Madison Center, and Ebenezer S. Carpenter was the
first to teach in it, though Miss Emeline Bixby was the pioneer
teacher of the township, teaching at the private house of Cassander
Peters. At present the district schools of the township are in keeping with the high standard of excellence maintained throughout
the county.
Myron, son of Nelson Bradish, was the first white child born
in Madison ownship, the event occurring April 20, I830. It may
also be added, although readily inferred from the personal mention
given on a foregoing page, that Nelson Bradish built the first log
house, and his wife was the first white woman in the township.
Norman F. Bradish, son of Calvin Bradish, who is given
mention on a preceding page, is now one of the venerable and
honored residents of Madison township. He was born in Wayne
county, New York, Aug. 25, I822, was nine years of age when he
came with his parents to Lenawee county, in 1831, and he has since
lived in the vicinity of his present home.  He was reared on the
home farm, and there received the benefits of a practical instruction in all things pertaining to farm life. Most of his life has been
spent in farming, and in connection with this occupation he
operated a threshing-machine during the summer and fallmonths
for a period of sixteen years. He is now the proprietor of 230 acres
of valuable land on section 23, upon which he has erected ample
and convenient buildings. He has held the office of highway commissioner, and has also served the county as deputy sheriff.
William Crane is another of the old settlers of Madison
township who survives, linking the present with the days of the
pioneer. He was born in Macedon, Wayne county, New York,
Sept. 4, 1831, and came to Michigan with his parents in I833. His
father, Turner Crane, came to Lenawee county in company with his
brother, George Crane, and he settled on section 13, in Madison.
There he cleared up his land, made a comfortable home, and
enjoyed the results of his hard labor for only ten years, dying from
a sudden illness, July, 23, I843. William Crane was less than two
years old when he came.to Lenawee county, and since that event
he has resided on the farm his father entered from the govern



278             MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY
ment, over seventy-five years ago. He has always followed farming, and was educated in the district schools of his neighborhood.
He has grown with the county, and has witnessed a great transformation in his lifetime, having seen the primitive forest, inhabited
by wild beasts and peopled with Indians, disappear before the
approach and settlement of the Anglo-Saxon. With the exception
of Norman F. Bradish, he is the oldest resident of Madison township. In times past, no hunting party was complete without
"Bill" Crane. He has served his township as justice of the peace
and was highway commissioner for many years.




CHAPTER XV.
RAISIN TOWNSHIP.
LOCATION -BOUNDARIES - TOPOGRAPHY - FIRST SETTLERS-EARLY
SKETCHES-INCIDENTS OF PIONEER LIFE-FIRST SAW MILL-FIRST
ELECTION AND OFFICERS ELECTED-EARLY INDUSTRIES-NOONEY
SIMONDS, JOSEPH SOUTHWORTH, ALVIN DOTY, EDMUND HALL AND
OTHER PIONEERS-FIRST SCHOOL HOUSE-FIRST CHURCH ORGANIZATION.
This township, like that of Madison, is six miles square, comprising township 6 south, range 4 east. It is bounded on the north
by the township of Tecumseh, on the east by the townships of
Ridgeway and Blissfield, on the south by the township of Palmyra,
and on the west by the township of Adrian and a small portion of
the township of Franklin. The township is watered by the River
Raisin, which is fed by a large number of small tributaries. The
river takes its course through sections 3, 10, 15, 22, 2I, 20, 29, 30,
and 32, and in the northern half of section 3 the water flows into
quite a large basin. From this the stream continues its course
southerly and leaves the township on the southwest quarter of
section 32. The surface of the country is rolling, but in the valleys
and also on the higher lands is found soil that when fully cultivated
will produce bountiful crops. It is distinctly an agricultural township, and derives its name from the river which flows midway
through it, as described above. The sol is mostly sandy loam,
easily cultivated, and very productive. Those who saw the country
in its natural state have left their testimony that it presented to the
eye a very beautiful appearance. The northern part was rolling
with scattering timber, the ground clear from underbrush, and in
the spring covered with flowers in an almost endless variety. The
-southern part was a majestic forest, standing in all its glory, and
as yet the woodman's axe had not been heard. The variety of
soil and general appearance of the country offered many induce



280


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


ments to those seeking a home in what was then called the far
West. The River Raisin, winding its way through nearly the
center of the township, was recognized by early travelers as a
motive power, which in no distant day would be utilized and
made to serve the interests of a farming community. Nature had
not been sparing in her gifts, and hill, valley, and plain had been
waiting for ages for the industry of man to develop them into
productive farms.
It is said that Noah Norton settled in "the valley." cleared some
land, and built a log cabin in 1826. He came to Lenawee county
with Darius Comstock and his little son Milo, and they settled on
the farm where the Valley school was afterward established. About
this time there was also a settlement made east of the river in the
vicinity of Tecumseh, by William Tilton, Joseph W. Gray,
Thomas Sisson, John Lovett, Aaron Comfort, and others.
William Tilton first opened his eyes to the light in the old
granite State, in Cheshire county, July 21, I803. He spent his
childhood and youth upon the farm, attending the district schools
and becoming familiar with the various enjoyments and employments of country life. After reaching his majority he set out for
himself, and took up a tract of eighty acres in Raisin township, to
which tract he added until he became the owner of I40 acres.
After laboring industriously a number of years he found himself
the owner of one of the most fertile farms in Lenawee county. He
put up good buildings, stocked the farm with excellent grades of
domestic animals, and supplied himself by degrees with the most
approved machinery. About I870, finding himself in possession of
a competence, and the necessity of his arduous labors having
ceased, he rented the farm and moved to Tecumseh, where he
spent the remainder of his life, continuing to look after the operation of the farm.
Joseph W. Gray was a native of Jefferson county, New York,
where he spent his boyhood and youth, and where he remained
until migrating to this state, which was then a territory. He was
prospered at his labors in tilling the soil, and invested his spare
capital in additional land until he became the owner of 560 acres in
different tracts. He erected a fine brick residence in 1845, and lived
to reach his four-score and two years, passing away at the homestead he had built up, in February, I885.
John Lovett was born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, in I79I.
He was a farmer and owned a large farm in Pennsylvania, where he
resided until the fall of I830. In I829 he came to Lenawee county
and located 320 acres of land on section nine in Raisin township.




SCLN.E_ ON TIlE      N ff  R
Joto by Afet~er, Adi ian








RAISIN TOWNSHIP


28I


He then returned to Pennsylvania, but in the fall of I830 he came
back with his family, settled on his land, and subsequently added to
his original purchase until he owned I,oo5 acres. This was the
finest purchase, without a doubt, that had been made in Michigan
at that time, and there was probably not a better thousand acres
of land in the state than was contained in this farm. No prairie
in Illinois, Wisconsin, or Iowa, can be any more beautiful than
this land is today. With the exception of about ten acres, the
entire tract is tillable, without creek, swamp, or broken land, and it
presents the appearance of a vast lawn and garden spot. It is now
owned by different parties, and many of the finest farm dwelling
houses in the county are standing on the land, or adjacent to it,
and the entire expanse of country presents a landscape rarely
found for natural beauty and productiveness. Mr. Lovett was a
man of rare attainments and foresight, and when he first saw this
beautiful plateau and beheld its' marvelous beauty, at once secured
it. He came from Pennsylvania with his own teams, which consisted of three wagons and seven horses. He was six weeks on the
road, and passed one night in the mud of the "black swamp" in
Ohio. After his arrival here he at once commenced clearing his
land and getting out rails and lumber, spending the entire winter
at this work. In the spring he fenced I60 acres of land, and put in
twenty-five acres of corn, besides some oats, potatoes, and other
garden stuff. This was the more easily and speedily accomplished
for the reason that the land was what was called "burr-oak openings." That fall he put in fifty acres of wheat. During the
spring of 1831 he built a barn, one side of which he used for a
dwelling and the other for his horses, and that summer he erected
a large frame house. In 1832 he put in Ioo acres of wheat, and the
following season I50 acres. During the summer of 1834 he erected
a barn with stone foundation and an underground stable, 5ox9o
feet. This is said to have been the first barn raised in the county
without whiskey. Mr. Lovett lived on this place until I849, at which
time he had improved and cropped 560 acres, and accumulated
considerable money, besides increasing largely the value of his
land, as well as that of all his neighbors. He was a good citizen, a
kind and charitable neighbor, and a consistent member of the
Presbyterian church. In the spring of I849 he went to California,
where he died Jan. 7, I850.
In the spring of I830 Robert Boyd, Fulton Jack, Reuben Satterthwaite, and Thomas Tate, with Gen. Joseph W. Brown as a
guide, started from Tecumseh to look at land in this vicinity. Some




282


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


of the party having heard of the wet prairie in the eastern part of
the county, expressed a desire to see it, and accordingly they
started, following the section line running east from Holloway's
Corners. They found a hard road to travel, and not caring to stay
in the woods over night, they returned to Tecumseh without having seen the prairie. Soon afterward Robert Boyd and Fulton
Jack located the first land occupied in East Raisin, south of Champlain brook. In fact there were no settlements south of them,
nearer than the village of Blissfield. They were both young men
and unmarried, full of life and energy, fond of adventure, and ready
for any emergency. They built a cabin on the line between their
farms and kept bachelor's hall until fall, spending their time in improving their land, hunting and fishing. Game was plentiful, especially deer and wild hogs, and they had no difficulty in supplying their table with meat.
Robert Boyd was born in Dungal, County Antrim, Ireland,
Oct. 20, I806, and when twelve years old came to America with his
parents, who settled on a farm in Livingston county, New York.
He was reared a farmer, and after the death of his father, two
years after coming to America, he, with his younger brother,
James, carried on the farm for nearly ten years. In the fall of
1828 Robert went to Ireland and remained until the following
summer when he returned and in the spring of I830 he came to
Michigan, arriving in Tecumseh about the first of May accompanied by Fulton Jack. Mr. Boyd located 320 acres of land on section Io, in Raisin. The land was what was then known as timbered
openings, and when he first saw it in the spring of the year, covered
with its gayest spring dress of flowers, shrubs and grass, he
thought it was the handsomest country he ever beheld and, although the folks "back east" had told him that the land was poor
and the country very sickly, he could not help thinking there must
be some good in so much beauty, and he decided to locate, believing
that if he was careful of his health he would one day see a better
country than he had left in New York. And he not only lived to
see a better country, but he was instrumental in making it what
it is, and he participated in all movements, enterprises and endeavors, to bring about the present high state of moral and religious
civilization, as well as to assist largely in proving to the world that
Lenawee county is one of the most productive and beautiful counties in the United States. Mr. Boyd cleared off about I50 acres
of land, erected a good frame house, with large barns, sheds, etc.,
and he resided there until I879, when he moved into the village of
Tecumseh, where he spent the remainder of his life.




RAISIN TOWNSHIP


283


Fulton Jack was born in County Antrim, Ireland, in 1799, and
there he lived until 1822, when he came to America. He worked
for General Wadsworth in Geneseo, N. Y., for several years, and
in the spring of 1830 came to Michigan in company with Robert
Boyd, locating 240 acres of land on section Io in Raisin township.
iHe came here a single man, made quite a start, cleared considerable
land and built a house, and then returned to New York, where he
was married. He immediately brought his wife to Lenawee county
and commenced life in real earnest. He was a soldier in the Black
Hawk war, cleared and improved Ioo acres, built good barns, set
out orchards, and was one of the sturdy, active, earnest and thriving pioneers of the county, becoming well known as a useful citizen, and the father of a promising family who needed his care and
protection. He became the victim of consumption and died July
6, I843, when in the very prime of his life and usefulness.
In 1831 another pioneer made his appearance, Deacon O.
Rogers, who located the land where he lived the remainder of his
life. He came to the wilds of Lenawee county, a strong, active and
energetic man, in the prime of life, ready to grapple with any difficulty, and possessing a will that enabled him to overcome any
obstacle that came in his way. He and a companion by the name
of Fish, who bought the land afterward known as the Spencer
farm, built a shanty, spent the summer in clearing land, and returned in the fall to Massachusetts after their families. Fish never
returned. Obediah Rogers was born in Dana, Worcester county,
Massachusetts, Jan. 26, 1792, and there he resided until he was forty
years old, commencing life by renting a farm upon which he lived
until the spring of I831. He then made up his mind that he would
come to Michigan, with a view of getting a farm of his own. The
land that he located consisted of I60 acres on section 27, in Raisin
township, and he made a little improvement the first year, putting
in about five acres of wheat. He had his choice of nearly all the
land south of Tecumseh, as there were but few settlers then. He
made an excellent choice, however, and the farm became one of
the most valuable in the township. His experience during the first
year of his settlement here was not the most pleasant. The log
house which he erected was burned with all its contents on Feb.
27, I833. But very few articles and scarcely any of his provisions
were saved, but the settlers, and especially Sylvanus Westgate
offered every assistance until another house could be erected. After
this serious drawback he began to prosper. His family all remained
in good health, and with the assistance of his four sons he cleared




284


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


up his land and soon became a prosperous farmer. In the spring
of 1853 he erected a frame house, previously erecting good barns
and sheds. He was an energetic, thrifty farmer, and a good citizen. He was a zealous Christian, and was instrumental in organizing a society and erecting a Congregational church in Raisin
township.
During the summer of 1830 Reuben Satterthwaite settled on
the farm afterward occupied by Michael Smeltzer; Daniel Waring
on the farmn afterward owned by Horace Brewer, or the Wing
Kelley farm, and Jasper Howard on the Libni Kelley farm. Thus
began the settlement of East Raisin. But little progress was made
the first season in clearing the land, most of the immigrants being
young men, and those who were married having left their families
in the East, their sojourn here was simply an experiment. They
were not sure that they would like the country well enough to locate permanently. Many went back to their eastern homes in the
fall to spend the winter and make preparations to bring'their families in the following spring.
In 1831 the tide of emigration again flowed towards Lenawee
county, and Raisin township having been well reported of by those
who had been here during the summer of 1830, received her share
of fortune seekers. There began at this time to be some stir in
the woods; wagons laden with household goods, women and children might frequently be seen plodding slowly along-not on the
road (for roads were unknown then), but wherever they could
find a path. Numerous log houses made their appearance and little
neighborhoods were formed. The settlers would frequently hear
the sound of an axe ringing through the woods, and traveling in
the direction of the sound, would find much to their surprise that
a family had just arrived and the men were cutting logs with
which to build a house. During this year John Cleveland settled
on the farm afterward occupied by Horace Holdredge and Gabriel
Wells on the farm afterward owned by Richard Beamish.
John Cleveland was a native of the state of New York. In
1831 he determined to migrate to Michigan territory and try his
chances in that more newly settled country, which was even then
regarded as a territory destined to become a great state, noted for
its varied resources. After coming here he settled in Raisin township, three miles from Tecumseh, in the green woods, and there
he improved a farm, upon which he spent the remainder of his life,
dying in 1842.
Benjamin Pattison came all the way from the state of New




RAISIN TOWNSHIP


285


York with a span of horses and wagon, which was no small task
in those days, and settled on the farm afterward occupied by Daniel Anthony. Isaiah Colvin settled where George Lyster afterward
lived, Reuben Hall on the farm later occupied by Henry Wilson,
and Richard S. Horton settled where Joseph Billmyre afterward
lived. Mr. Horton spent his life where he first located. The improvements of this year made quite a show, openings were made in
the timber, and soon fields of wheat were sown.
Richard S. Horton was a wagon-maker, and a very skillful
worker at his trade. He was born and reared in Orange county,
New York, and in I830 came to Lenawee county to purchase some
government land for himself, and he was also entrusted with money
to make a like purchase for two neighbors. He bought I60 acres
for himself on section 13, Raisin township, and two tracts of the
same number of acres for his neighbors in the same township. JHe
then went back to New York, and in 1831 returned to Lenawee
county with his wife and their five children-two daughters and
three sons-who had been born to them in their old home. They
came via the Erie Canal and Lake to Detroit, where Mr. Horton
purchased an ox-team, and with a wagon laden with their household goods proceeded toward their destination. After the first
day's journey the oxen were stolen, and others had to be procured
before they could complete their journey to Tecumseh, whence
they went soon afterward to locate on their land in Raisin township.
Many years afterward Mr. Horton closed a long and useful life
on his farm, where he had built a home in the wilderness, his death
occurring in January, 1863, at the age of seventy-three years. He
was passionately fond of the chase, and had killed as many bears,
wolves and deer as any of the settlers who were not professional
hunters. He supplied his own table with game, and many a deer
and wild fowl that had been brought down by his unerring aim
found its way to his neighbors' larders. He was very popular
among his fellow citizens and was known far and wide as "Uncle
Dick," and he was respected as an honest man wherever known.
The spring of I832 came and with it came new additions to
the little settlement, among whom was Frederick W. Wickwire,
who came from Connecticut. On their journey to this state Mr. and
Mrs. Wickwire made the first oo00 miles by team from their old
home to the city of Albany, and from there by canal to Buffalo,
thence by the old boat "William Penn" to Detroit, at which place
they arrived in the night. The wife was then worn out with illness and fatigue, and they tarried six days for her to recuperate,




286


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


and upon again setting out she took a stage to Tecumseh. Mr.
Wickwire purchased a yoke of oxen in Detroit by which means
their personal effects, packed in two casks, were conveyed in a
small wagon which they had shipped from their home in Connecticut. They finally landed in Raisin township, where Mr. Wickwire
purchased forty acres of wild land in the woods, and there they
began the establishment of the home which they occupied for a
period of fifty-six years. The settlers were few and far between,
and each man was dependent upon his own resources. There was
no dwelling ready for their reception, not even the rudest cabin
of those times, and Mr. Wickwire was compelled to put up their
first shelter in the best manner possible, with indifferent tools.
This, as may be supposed, was a very rude structure, being simply
a hut with a mud and stick chimney. The first year Mrs. Wickwire
did her cooking by the side of a stump, and afterward by a fireplace for more than fifteen years. Although there was great difficulty in obtaining bread-stuffs when they first came to this county,
they were always supplied with rare wild meats in the shape of
deer, turkeys, and other choice game, which roamed unrestrained
through the forest. Having made still further headway, in 1838
Mr. Wickwire added to his possessions until he became the owner
of 154 acres, Ioo of which he put under a good state of cultivation.
He continued to live at this homestead until Dec. 23, I887, when
he sank under his burden of four-score years, and was laid to his
final rest.
In 1832 Hugh Grey settled on the farm afterward occupied by
Alvah Raymond. Lucius Judson bought the farm later owned by
his son, L. W. Judson, and Dr. William Holloway and his sonsEdwin, William, Silas and Butler-located the farms afterward
known as ihe Holdredge farm, the farm owned by John Proctor
and the farm where Butler Holloway long resided. A school house
was built this year in the district called the Conkling district,
and in the winter of I832-33 Reuben Hall taught the first school
therein.
Lucius Judson was born March 12, I8oo, in Vermont, near
Lake Champlain. He learned the trade of brick-making near Rochester, N. Y., and manufactured the first brick in Raisin township.
He held the office of lieutenant and was promoted to captain of
the Brighton militia, holding the position four years; was justice
of the peace nine years, and supervisor and township clerk, one term
each, in Raisin, where the party he trained with was always in the
minority.




RAISIN TOWNSHIP


287


Dr. William Holloway was the first physician to locate in
Raisin township, and he, with his four sons, entered a large tract
of land on sections 23 and 24. The intersection of the east and west
and north and south roads near the old residence, has been known
as Holloway's Corners for over seventy years. Sylvanus Westgate settled the same year on the farm afterward occupied by William Westgate, and the township was christened at a meeting held
in his house. William Ash also came, in 1833, and Stephen Mitchell
took up his abode far down in the woods on the banks of the
swampy Raisin.
William Ash was a native of Yorkshire, England, from whence
he emigrated to the United States in 1831, landing in New York
City on May 3. Shortly afterward he proceeded to Buffalo, and on
to Toledo, Ohio, from which place he walked over the old Indian
trail to Ann Arbor, Mich. After a brief stay at that point, which
was then but an embryo village, he came to this county, locating
first in Adrian township, near the site of the present city. It then
boasted but a few settlers, and Mr. Ash took up his abode with
Darius Comstock, not far away, in Raisin township. A few weeks
later, however, he went back east as far as Lockport, N. Y., and
entered the employ of an old Quaker, Jesse P. Hems by name, with
whom he remained for a year, at the end of which he received $Ioo,
out of which he was obliged to pay a moderate sum for his washing. He remained in that vicinity until I833, and then returned to
Lenawee county and invested his small capital in a tract of government land on section 34, in Raisin township. The location which he
had chosen proved to be an extremely fortunate one and the soil
exceedingly tillable. He retained possession of this, and subsequently extended his landed interests until he became the owner
of 220 acres, the most of which he brought to a high state of cultivation. He also erected a good set of farm buildings and surrounded himself and family with all the comforts of life. His death
took place on July 13, I88I. He was recognized in the community
where he lived and labored so long as a man of unimpeachable
moral character and correct business habits.
The year 1833 was a great year for Raisin township. A larger
addition was made to its population than in any previous year.
People in the East had now ascertained that this was really a good
country, and that folks could live in it, so they made haste to secure
farms.
Daniel Raymond came in this year. He was born in Montgomery county, New York, in April, I792, and there he resided until




288


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


about the age of fifteen years, when he moved with his father to
Steuben county, in the same state. There his younger brother,
Roswell, was drafted, at the age of eighteen years, to serve in the
war of I812, and Daniel, thinking him too young, volunteered to
take his place, and served about three months, until he was discharged from the service near the close of the war. He then continued to live on a farm in Steuben county until May 12, I833,
when he removed to Lenawee county and settled on section 24,
in the township of Raisin. He used to be called "Uncle Daniel"
by everybody. He is said to have been the first man in the settlement of East Raisin who raised a log house without whiskey. When
told by his neighbors that he could not raise one without it, he
said, "Then I won't raise at all." He tried the experiment and
succeeded, giving the men a good supper instead of whisky. Uncle
Daniel was noted for his hospitality. One night when his house
was filled with travelers looking for land, and he had neither meat
nor butter in the house, his wife asked him how she was going
to feed so many in the morning. His reply was, "The Lord will
provide," and in the morning before breakfast Uncle Daniel killed
a fat deer within a few rods of his house. Mr. Raymond died in
April, i845.
Samuel G. Conkling settled in East Raisin in 1833, also Archibald Richard, John Richard, Deacon Josiah Chatfield, James Boyd,
Samuel Murdock, Amos Hoag, and Morrison Sackett. These all
settled on farms, making a considerable addition to the population.
Nearly all the land in that part of the township was now taken up
by actual settlers, men who proposed to make homes for themselves and their families. They worked with a will and for an
object, and their labor began to tell on the forest.
Samuel G. Conkling was born in Orange county, New York,
April II, 1797. He lived with his father on the farm until he was
twenty-three years old, when he purchased a farm near the old
homestead, and there he remained until the spring of I833, when
he migrated to Michigan and arrived in Tecumseh on May 23. He
immediately took up a quarter section of government land in section ii, Raisin township. He lived upon this farm for thirty-five
years, clearing up I30 acres, and building a good house, barns,
sheds, etc., until it became a most productive and desirable home.
He left the farm in November, 1867, and for the remainder of his
life resided in the village of Tecumseh, resting in his old age upon
the results of his early labors. In politics he was formerly a Whig,
and naturally became a Republican on the formation of that party



RAISIN TOWNSHIP


289


He was elected supervisor of Raisin in 1844, and was twelve years
justice of the peace in that township.
Archibald Richard was born in County Antrim, Ireland, about
1782, his ancestors coming from Scotland. He was a farmer in Ireland, and carried on a large farm in that country. In the spring of
1828 he emigrated from Ireland to America and settled in Geneseo,
Livingston county, New York, where he purchased a farm and
resided until the fall of I833, when he came to Lenawee county,
driving teams through the mud from Detroit to Tecumseh, and arriving in September. He took up the west half of the southwest
quarter of section 14, in Raisin township, and at once settled with
his family in the woods, and upon which farm he resided until his
death, in I854. His son, John Richard, was born in County Antrim, Ireland, in November, I806. He lived with his father in his
native country until the spring of 1825, when he came to America
and landed at Baltimore about the first of June. He had commenced to learn the brick and stone mason's trade in Ireland, but
business in that line was dull in Baltimore, and he went to New
Jersey, where he worked in the iron furnaces until the fall of 1827 and
then returned to Ireland. He remained in that country until the
following spring, and then persuaded his parents to come with him
and try their fortunes in America. He entered the west half of the
northwest quarter of section 23, in Raisin township, and finally became the owner of Ioo acres of highly improved land, with good
and adequate buildings. He became a prominent man in the township, and although he was not on the "winning side" in politics,
was twice elected treasurer and twice supervisor of Raisin. He
was active in all improvements in the township, more especially in
the welfare of schools and churches. He was an active member
of the First Presbyterian church of Raisin and aided largely in the
building of a fine church edifice which stood on his farm. He also
assisted liberally in building the first two Presbyterian church
edifices in Tecumseh.
Josiah Chatfield was born in Waterbury, Conn., Dec. 10, 1775,
and was one of the first settlers in Greene county, New York, where
he owned a farm on the Catskill Mountains. He resided there until
I833, when he came to Lenawee county and located I6o acres of
land on section 35, in Raisin, and this land he cleared up and made
into a desirable farm. He erected a frame house, good barns, etc.,
and raised a good orchard. He died there in I849.
In 1833, also began a settlement in the southwestern part of
the township of the followers of William Penn. The pioneers
I9-Iv




290


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


mostly consisted of a few families-Westgate, Haviland, and Bowerman. They came here with the intention of founding a colony
of their own religious denomination, and immediately organized
a society and held meetings in the house of Sylvanus Westgate
until they were able to build a meeting-house. They were always
an enterprising people, and the pioneers being now all gone, their
descendants are enjoying the fruits of their labors. A saw mill
was built this year by Amos Hoag and others, on the farm afterward owned by James Simonds, and this was the first in the township and a great convenience to the settlers. Nooney Simonds, an
enterprising and active man, afterward selected this land with the
view of using the water power for manufacturing purposes. He
died in the prime of life, however, before he had time to carry
out the many enterprises he had in view.
Nooney Simonds was born in New York in December, I790.
When a boy he was apprenticed to a woolen manufacturer at Trenton, N. Y., and after working there for several years he moved
to York, N. Y., and established a woolen mill of his own, which he
run for three years and then sold it. He then went to Wheatland
and purchased a farm and water power, and again built a woolen
factory on Allen's creek. He lived at Wheatland until the fall
of 1835, when he went to Huron county, Ohio, and purchased 2,000
acres of land from a land agent who did business for a sea captain
residing in the city of New York. After hearing of the purchase,
the captain repudiated the action of his agent, and Mr. Simonds
lost the property but recovered his money. After this transaction
he came to Tecumseh the same fall with the intention of purchasing
what is now known as the Globe Mills water power, with the
farm attached, but he considered the price too high, and finally
purchased of Amos Hoag the south half of the west half of the
northwest quarter of section 22; also the north half of the west
half of the northwest quarter of section 22, of Stephen Titus; also
the east half of the northeast quarter of section 22, of Lodema
Hoag; also the southwest quarter of section 22, of Israel Hoag;
also the west half of the southwest quarter of section 36, of George
Cleveland. He at once improved the water power and rebuilt the
old saw mill, and run it until his death. His intention was to
build a woolen factory when the county improved sufficiently to
warrant farmers in raising sheep to furnish wool to work with.
He owned a full set of machinery for a factory, and had it stored
in the state of New York until it was destroyed by fire in I84I. In
September, I842, he was taken ill with cholera morbus, and after an
illness of about six days, he died.




RAISIN TOWNSHIP                  29I
The first township election was held at the house of Amos
Hoag, April 7, I834, and the following officers were elected: Gabriel
Wells, supervisor; Amos Hoag, clerk; Joseph Southworth, Richard Horton and Reuben Satterthwaite, assessors; Sidney Derbyshire, collector; Darius Comstock and Thomas Sisson, directors
of the poor; Ephraim Reelen, J. B. McRay, and Sylvanus Westgate, road commissioners; Sidney Derbyshire, David P. Hannah
and William Saxton, constables; Thomas Chandler, Timothy
Mitchell, and William Gray, school commissioners.
Joseph Southworth was born in Mansfield, Tolland county,
Connecticut, Jan. 30, 1788, but when young removed with his parents to Edmeston, Otsego county, New York. He was reared a
farmer and owned a farm in Otsego county, where he resided until
1832. In the spring of 183I he came to Lenawee county and purchased of John Pennington I60 acres of land on section 23, in Raisin
township, and then, returning to Otsego county, he sold his farm
there and moved his family to Michigan, settling on his land in the
spring of 1832. There was a log house, and small improvements
had been made on the farm. His nearest neighbor on the north
was Mr. Derbyshire, who lived over a mile distant, and on the south
was Darius Comstock, one and one-half miles distant. That fall
Mr. Southworth sowed a few acres of wheat, which yielded a good
crop the following summer, and furnished food for the family,
which otherwise must have suffered. He cleared up the entire I60
acres, and afterward purchased I60 acres more adjoining, and he
also cleared up the most of this tract. He also purchased a farm
on section i8, in Raisin township. He was one of the organizers
of the township, and as noted above was elected one of the first
assessors. For many years he was one of the active men of the
township, and performed his share of the work in organizing and
establishing schools and churches. He was sociable and genial, a
good neighbor and kind friend, and a man of strong character and
strict integrity, sagacious, prompt, and ambitious. He was a lifelong Democrat, and assisted in organizing the party in Lenawee
county after Michigan was admitted into the Union. He died' in
Raisin township, Sept. 14, I873.
The first brick were made in I834 by Judson & Wickwire. The
first Sunday school was held in May of the same year in a shanty
on the farm later occupied by William E. Doty. In 1835 changes
of a different kind began to take place. Some of the pioneers became discouraged and returned East, and others, actuated by the
same spirit of adventure which brought them to Raisin, sold their




292


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


land and journeyed farther west, their places being filled by immigrants. Alvan Doty settled this year on the farm where he resided the remainder of his life.
Alvan Doty was a native of Saybrook, Conn., and came of old
New England stock, strongly tinctured with Puritanism, as one
generation after another had belonged to the Presbyterian church.
In 1807 he settled among the rocks of the Catskill Mountains, where
he accumulated a good property. He followed farming under
many difficulties, and after the birth of nine children, resolving
upon a change of location, he set out with his family in 1835 for the
Territory of Michigan. They made the journey via the Erie Canal
and Lake to Detroit, thence overland by teams to this county, locating on section 26 in Raisin township. Upon this place there was
only a log cabin, of which the family took possession and made
themselves as comfortable as possible. Mr. Doty lived to build
up a good homestead and to note the development of the country
around him, rejoicing in its prosperity. He became the owner of
Ioo acres of land, which he brought to a fine state of cultivation,
and he departed from the scenes of his earthly labors Dec. 3, i866,
at the age of seventy-eight years. He was a Republican politically, and was quite prominent in township affairs, serving as treasurer three years and overseer of the poor for a long period, until
the office was abolished.
Edmund Hall also took up his abode here in 1835, and made a
splendid farm in one of the wettest places in the township. Mr.
Hall was born in Pompey, N. Y., Feb. 20, 1807, and distinguished
himself during his early years as a diligent and thoughtful youth,
giving early evidence of those principles of high morality which
were one of the distinguishing characteristics of his later life. He
remained under the parental roof until coming to the West, first in
1834, when he took up Ioo acres of wild land on section 25, in
Raisin township. He then returned to his home in New York
State, but came back to the West the following year and began in
earnest the establishment of a permanent home. In common with
the early settlers, he labored often under great difficulties, with imperfectly constructed farm implements, and the market miles
away. He had "come to stay," however, proving himself equal to
every emergency, and the result of his plodding industry soon made
itself apparent in a good farm with excellent improvements, and
consisting of 147 acres, he having added to his first purchase. He
was never very much devoted to style and fashion, but was a simple,
honest, and reliable man, who was prompt in meeting his obliga



RAISIN TOWNSHIP


293


tions and followed the Christian precept, aiming to do to others
as he would have them do to him. This purest of moral principles
served him well through the vicissitudes of a long and eventful
life, and no man enjoyed in a larger measure the esteem and confidence of his fellow citizens. Mr. Hall was in earlier years a Whig,
and identified himself with the Republicans upon the abandonment of the old party. He held the office of justice of the peace
eight years and also served as road commissioner. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Libni Kelley came in 1836. Mr. Kelley was a New Englander
by birth and parentage, and first opened his eyes to the light, Jan.
27, I799. He grew to manhood in Kennebec, Me., to which place
his parents removed when he was one year old. Upon reaching
manhood he removed from Kennebec to western New York, where
he followed blacksmithing, a trade he had learned under the instruction of his father. In 1836 he determined upon another removal westward, and gathering together his personal effects, he
started with his family for the wilds of Michigan. Their journey
was made by teams, and twenty-one days from the time they started
they landed in Raisin township. Mr. Kelley selected a portion of
section 23, where he built up a home from the wilderness, in the
meantime watching with intense satisfaction the development of
the country around him. He took a lively interest in state and
national affairs, was a strong advocate of temperance principles,
and voted the Prohibition ticket.
In 1837 many came to the township who had much to do with
improving the country and building up society, among them Felix
Holdridge and Eleazer Holdridge, his.son. Felix was a sturdy
man of the New England type, honest, industrious, and worthy.
He was a pioneer in every sense, and did his utmost in the early
days of its settlement to develop the country. One of the saddest
catastrophies in the settlement of Lenawee county occurred in his
family. One day in October, 1839, his wife went into the woods
to gather rushes and was never again seen alive. It was soon discovered that she was lost, the alarm was given, and a general and
systematic search was made by all the inhabitants far and near.
The search was continued for two weeks, but was finally abandoned
by all except Mr. Holdridge, who still persisted, and at the end of
about six weeks her body was discovered in an Indian hut in the
township of Dundee, Monroe county, about seven miles from her
home. Felix Holdridge died in Raisin township, about I855.
Eleazer Holdredge was born in Onondaga county, New York,




294


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


Sept. 14, 1814, and was reared a farmer. Considering the advantages offered in those days, he received a very fair education, to
which he added by study after leaving school, thus fitting himself
for teaching, which occupation he followed during several winters.
The greater portion of his early life was spent in Royalton, Niagara
county, whither his parents had removed when he was about six
years of age. In the fall of 1837 he came to Michigan and settled
in Raisin township, where he and his father purchased 200 acres
of land on sections 22 and 23. This entire tract he cleared up, built
a large brick house and barn, and planted an orchard. The first
purchase was added to until he at one time owned 340 acres of
valuable land. Immediately after his settlement in Raisin, he became active and energetic in all public matters. He was largely interested in the growth and progress of the county and lent every
energy to its development. Being a man of good intelligence and
education, he soon held a prominent position in society, and in the
first year of his settlement was made school inspector. He always
took an active part in public meetings and discussed questions
with terseness and intelligence. He was quite a politician, and his
actions were swayed solely by conviction. He was elected justice
of the peace and served several years, and he was the candidate
of his party many times for other and more important offices. IIe
resided on his original purchase until 1867, when he removed to
the city of Adrian, where he purchased a good home and resided
until his death, which occurred on May 4, I873.
A log school house was built at Holloway's Corners in the
spring of 1835, and the first school was taught in it by Mary Ann
Simonds. It was a rude structure, with a large fire-place in one
end of it. The seats were made of slabs with the flat side up,
supported by legs resting upon the floor, and the few desks it contained were made by driving pins into the logs and laying boards
on them. In that uncouth and uncomfortable building many who
went from there to other parts of the country secured the rudiments
of an education. The First Congregational church of Raisin was
founded in March, I855. The inhabitants of the settlements having provided rude habitations for themselves and their families,
began to think of something further. A bond of union had been
cemented among those who together had struggled through the
difficulties of pioneer life. They had learned the value of associations in temporal things, and found that united efforts accomplished
more than the efforts of single individuals. Reasoning thus in regard to spiritual things, they resolved to organize a church, and




RAISIN TOWNSHIP


295


thus secure for themselves, their families, and the whole commu —
nity, the advantages which can be obtained in no other way. The
church was organized in the log house of Deacon Rogers, with
seventeen members-seven men and ten women. The Rev. Ashbel
S. Wells, of Tecumseh, was present at the organization, and two
other ministers-Rev. Reuben Armstrong and Rev. J. G. Kanause
-were also there. Meetings were held every Sabbath in private
houses, and in the log school house for about ten years, when a
brick church was built. The Rev. William Wolcott was the pioneer minister in this community, being the first who preached
regularly in Raisin church. He was a man possessed of strong
powers, both of body and mind, and was well fitted to share the
hardships and privations of the early settlers, receiving only a
mere pittance for his ministerial services. Like Paul, he administered to his necessities and those that were with him.
Many and varied were the scenes through which the fathers
passed in their pioneer days, and those who now live in Raisin
township can hardly realize the changes which have taken place
during the past three-quarters of a century. The log cabins have
been replaced by more comfortable dwellings, and these again in
many instances by fine mansions. The log school houses and also
the modest frame school houses are gone, and their places are
occupied by beautiful and commodious edifices. The inhabitants
today are enjoying good homes, surrounded by every advantage
necessary to make them comfortable'and happy.




I




CHAPTER XVI.
PALMYRA TOWNSHIP.
LOCATION AND ORGANIZATION- SURFACE AND DRAINAGE-EARLY
*  SETTLERS —TIMOTHY B. GOFF, AMERICUS SMITH, LESTER P. CLARK,
JOHN COMSTOCK, STEPHEN WARNER, ALONZO MITCHELL, AND
OTHER PIONEER SKETCHES-EARLY INDUSTRIES-INCIDENTS OF
PIONEER LIFE -VILLAGE OF PALMYRA -EARLY SCHOOLS-RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS-FIRST SAW MILL AND GRIST MILLFIRST MARRIAGE.
The township of Palmyra was one of the five civil divisions
provided for in an act of the territorial legislature, approved
March 7, I834. It then constituted the territory described as follows in the act creating it: "All that part comprised in surveyed
townships 7, 8, and 9, and fractional township IO south, in range
4 east." Thus it will be seen that the township of Palmyra at that
time embraced in addition to its present territory all that now comprises the township of Ogden, besides all of what is now Amboy
township and three tiers of sections of Fulton township, in Fulton
county, Ohio. At the time of the organization of Palmyra the
southern boundary of Michigan was claimed and generally conceded by everyone-save the Ohio partisans-to be the so-called
"Fulton line," and all county and township jurisdictions bordering on Ohio were extended to that line. But in the spring of I837,
when by a legislative compromise the "disputed strip" passed
under the unquestioned control of the Buckeye State, the township
of Palmyra was correspondingly reduced in size to the present
limits of Palmyra and Ogden. In a few years it became apparent
that this territory was altogether too large, as from the northern to
the southern boundary was a distance of about thirteen miles. In
1837 provision was made for the organization of the township of
Ogden, thus putting the township of Palmyra into boundaries described as "Congressional township 7 south, range 4 east." On




298


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


March 2I, 1851, an act was passed, providing that "All that part
of the township of Palmyra which lies south of Raisin river, between the point where the line between Palmyra and Ogden intersects the above river, to that point where said river enters the
township of Blissfield, be taken from the township of Palmyra and
made a part of the township of Ogden; and all of Ogden which
lies north of Raisin river shall be taken from Ogden township and
be made a part of Palmyra."
The surface of the township of Palmyra is rolling, and the
drainage is entirely to the River Raisin, which flows completely
through the township in a southeasterly direction. The soil of this
valley is rich alluvial, washed from the higher lands, and is well
supplied with the elements producing crops.  In fact the soil of
the entire township produces good crops of wheat, oats, corn, rye,
barley, clover, timothy, and potatoes. In the early days wheat
was the principal money producing grain, and it was marketed at
the village of Palmyra, but later stock-raising received more attention. Wheat growing becoming less advantageous for several
reasons, the acreage grew less and corn came to yield more abundantly.  More attention was then given to stock-raising, and
dairying has been found to be a fruitful source of farm profits.
The village of Palmyra was for many years a center of activities.
The early settlers of Palmyra township generally possessed
money sufficient to purchase a yoke of oxen and a cow, a few hens
and pigs, and some farm implements. Those who were unable to
purchase a full outfit borrowed from the neighbors, who willingly
loaned. In every instance grain was planted, the sower scattering
by hand. The harvests of grain were gathered with a hand cradle,
the wild grass was mown with a scythe, and a grind-stone, axe,
plow, and fork, completed the utensils for early farming. They
were a people well adapted to endure the privations necessary to
improve a new country. They were generally of small means, with
a limited education, and all strong in the faith of the religion of
their ancestors. That their triumph over difficulties was well established, behold the large holdings of their descendants, who now
are the possessors of well stocked farms.
The township of Palmyra was settled nearly as early as any of
the townships of Lenawee county, and the first purchase of land in
the township is said to have been made by N. W. Wadsworth,
from Connecticut, Oct. 7, 1823. To Ezra Goff and Henry J. Paddock are ascribed the honor of having been the first actual settlers,
in 1826, followed soon thereafter by Timothy B. Goff, William




PALMYRA TOWNSHIP


299


Foster, Benjamin Mather, Americus Smith, Nathan Gibbs, Jr.,
Julius Gibbs, Daniel Clark, Lester P. Clark, Walter P. Clark, John
Comstock, Wait Chapin, and William Beldin; and prior to 1834,
Benjamin Clark, Stephen Warner, Alonzo Mitchell, Horace Whitmarsh, Robert Craig, Orrin and Nathaniel Gleason, Dr. C. C. Robison, Reuben Tooker, Rollin Robinson, David Buck, George and
Barzilla J. Harvey, Gershom Noyes, Alexander R. Tiffany, Asahel
Brown, George Colvin, Edwin Holloway, and Edward Underwood.
Timothy B. Goff was born in Massachusetts, April. 25, I790.
When a boy, he learned the puinter's trade at Royalston, Mass.,
where he worked until his health failed, and then he turned his
attention to farming. About the year 1820 he moved from Massachusetts to Niagara county, New York, and purchased a farm. In
1827 he migrated to Michigan and settled in Palmyra on the
southwest fraction of section 26, the farm containing 202 acres. It
was very heavily timbered land, but he worked hard and faithfully
to subdue the wilderness, until his death, Sept. 17, I843. During
his residence here he served as an associate county judge.
Americus Smith, another pioneer of this township, took up
land from the government in 1832. He came to Lenawee county as
a young man in 1828, and was a member of the first Methodist
church organized in Adrian, being one of but five members. In
the spring of I833 he went to Palmyra township, where he had entered some land, and for a time he lived in a shanty, one and a half
miles from Palmyra village and five miles from any other settler.
A mill was improvised by hollowing out the top of an oak stump
and rigging a pestle on a spring pole, with which he crushed corn
into "samp" for food.
Lester P. Clark was born in Connecticut, Aug. 22, 1805. At
the age of fourteen he went to Norwich, Chenango county, New
York, where he went to school and afterward learned the carpenter's trade.  He resided in Norwich until his twenty-second
year, when he went to Rochester and followed his trade for about
one year, assisting in building the first Presbyterian church erected
in that city. About the year 1827, he emigrated to Michigan and
settled in Monroe. He immediately commenced business and established himself as a contractor and builder, opening a shop and
manufacturing furniture as well as carrying on a general carpenter shop. He built several edifices in Monroe before 1830, and he
was also a vessel owner on the lakes, at one time commanding his
own vessel. On one of his trips from Buffalo, in 1828, he brought
Isaac Dean and his family to Monroe. In the summer of 1834 he




300


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


came to Lenawee county and located eighty acres of government
land on section 4, and he also purchased from Daniel Clark I03
acres of land on section 8, all in Palmyra, afterward adding to it
until he had a farm of 450 acres. On the I03-acre farm there were
only about two acres cleared, with a small log house, when he
purchased it. He cleared it all up, erected good buildings, and
was at one time one of the largest and most successful farmers
of the county. In the spring of 1845 he had just finished one of the
largest and finest farm houses in the county, when, on May 23 of
that year, it took fire and was totally destroyed, with nearly all of
its contents. During the construction of the Michigan Southern
railroad from Monroe to Adrian, and the building of the LeRoy
bridge, he accommodated thirty boarders for one year, besides occasionally caring for the surveying party, seven in number. This
surveying party consisted of HIenrv Hart, who was the engineer,
and six assistants. Mr. Clark was at one time a prominent dry
goods merchant of Adrian and was an active business man of that
city. He died in Palmyra, April 23, 1877.
John Comstock was born in Massachusetts in I774, and was
reared a farmer, his father, Nathan Comstock, being one of the
first settlers of Ontario county, New York, settling in Farmington
in I788. The son was educated in Canandaigua, N. Y., and afterward studied law with Judge Howell, of that village. He practiced
law in that county for several years, and in i830 migrated to
Adrian with his family.  He took up a part of the land now
known as Oakwood cemetery, but soon thereafter entered i6o
acres in Palmyra. He afterward sold this farm and purchased a
small place in Raisin, near the "Valley," where he died in June,
i85I. He was one of the very first settlers of Lockport, N. Y., in
company with his nephew, Zeno Comstock, taking up the land upon
which nearly all of that city now stands. He was a brother of
Darius Comstock, and followed him here, being one of the active
and prominent pioneers of Lenawee county. He never practiced
law after he came to Michigan.
Stephen Warner was born at Cummington, Mass., April i8,
1779. With his wife and family of nine children he came to Palmyra township in August, I83I, his oldest son, Norton D., having
preceded him the year before in order to locate lands. The family
made the journey by the Erie Canal from Albany to Buffalo, and
across Lake Erie on the schooner "William Tell," there being but
one or two steamboats on the lake at that time. Landing at Monroe,
they proceeded by lumber wagons over a corduroy road and




PALMYRA TOWNSHIP


30i


through deep mud to the residence of an old friend and cousin,
Calvin Bradish, who had settled in Madison township, and there
they remained for a few days, until their log house was ready for
their reception. Through all the privations and sickness incident
to a pioneer life, as well as in all the varied experiences of after
years, Mr. and Mrs. Warner ever exercised tender sympathy and
charity. Both lived to a good old age, he being 71 and she 83 at
the time of their respective deaths. Five daughters married and
for a time were settled in Palmyra. Eliza, the oldest of the family,
married Dr. Caius C. Robinson, of Palmyra, N. Y. He came west
in 1832 with his brother-in-law, Judge A. R. Tiffany. Mr. Robinson bought a large tract of land where the village of Palmyra
now stands, built a mill and laid out the village, giving it the name
of his former home. It was in his humble log house that the first
church of Palmyra was organized, and there the meetings were
held for many months, he leading the meetings and superintending
the Sunday school. He was a great lover of music and always led
the singing, accompanying his fine voice with the bass-viol. Eminent and most successful in his profession, esteemed as a citizen
for his integrity and zeal in promoting every object that tended to
the common good, and admired in the social circle for his geniality
and humor, his early death was deeply mourned by those who
loved and honored him.
Alonzo Mitchell was a native of the Bay State and was born
in Cummington, Hampshire county, March 28, I807. He commenced going to school at an early age and continued his studies
until fifteen years old. Afterward his services were utilized in a
tannery conducted by his father, in the details of which he became
thoroughly posted, and he remained a member of his father's
household until 1828. He then proceeded to New York City,
where he worked a few months as a carpenter, but returned to
Massachusetts and engaged in a tannery at Cummington for two
years following. He was not satisfied with his condition or his
prospects in the East, and accordingly, in the month of April,
1831, accompanied by John Bryant, brother of the poet, William
Cullen Bryant, started for the great West. They proceeded by
wagon to Troy, N. Y., where they took passage on a canal boat to
Buffalo, thence by the lake to Monroe, Mich., and from there on
foot to Adrian, about forty-five miles distant. They landed in
what was then but the beginning of a village on May 4, after sixteen days' travel. The postoffice at Adrian was then in a log house
and the country around was but thinly settled. Mr. Mitchell en



302


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


tered a tract of government land on section 22 in Palmyra township, a part of which tract is now included in the village. Having a
good opportunity to sell he parted with this soon afterward and
entered another tract on the same section. He then returned to
Massachusetts, where he was married, and upon again arriving in
Palmyra township he rented a small house adjacent to his land,
and there the young couple lived more than a year, at the end of
which time they moved into a new log dwelling on their own land.
In the embryo village of Adria:i there was fortunately a saw and
grist mill, which proved a great convenience to the early settlers,
and the country around abounded with all kinds of animals, including deer, wolves, bears, wild turkeys, and wild-cats. Mr. Mitchell
was a good marksman and kept the family well supplied with
choice meats. The howling of the wolves was a serenade they
would willingly have dispensed with, but it gave way in time, as
the country became settled and the rifles of the pioneers caused these
animals, with the others, to disappear. Mr. Mitchell from his early
training and natural gifts was at once recognized as a man of
more than ordinary ability, and was destined to become a useful
member of the community. He was foremost in those enterprises
calculated to develop the resources of the country and improve the
condition of the people.  He encouraged the establishment and
maintenance of schools and was one of the seven original members who organized the Presbyterian church at Adrian. Later he
assisted in the building of the church edifice at Palmyra, and was
one of the most liberal and cheerful contributors to the support of
the society there. He labored early and late, both on his farm
and in behalf of the interests outside, and was prominent in local
and political as well as religious affairs. He assisted in the organization of the Republican party in this section and was ever after
one of its most faithful adherents. He served as assessor and
highway commissioner, and in his district as school director and
trustee. During the Black Hawk war of 1831-32 he campaigned
seventeen days. William Mitchell, the father of Alonzo, followed
the tanning trade in Massachusetts until I833. He then sold out
his business and, migrating to Michigan, located in Palmyra township on section I9, where he erected a frame house and afterward
put up a tannery, and there he carried on business until he rested
from his earthly labors, his death taking place July 17, 1856.
Nathaniel Gleason was born in Massachusetts, July 6, I774.
He was a farmer, and went to Chenango county, New York, about
I806, and there he purchased a farm and lived until 1823, when




PALMYRA TOWNSHIP


303


he sold out and went to Wayne county and lived until I830. In
I829 he came to Michigan and took up the west half of the southwest quarter of section 31, in Palmyra, and in June of the following year he moved his family upon this land. He at once commenced clearing, but was soon taken ill with a cancer and died
Feb. 24, 1832. When he moved in, he brought two barrels of salt
pork and a horse team, but he soon traded the horses for oxen
and grain.
Rollin Robinson came to this section of country from Wayne
county, New York, where he was born June 3, I8Io. He continued
on the farm of his parents until fifteen years old and then removed
with them to Palmyra, N. Y., where he continued his studies in
the schools of the village and carried the Wayne Weekly Sentinel to
the subscribers in the town. He also learned to set type in the
office, which he entered when seventeen years of age as a regular
apprentice. He was thus occupied two years, and in the meantime
assisted in the printing of the first edition of the "Book of Mormon," or Gold Bible, for the prophet, Joseph Smith, with whom
young Robinson became well acquainted, and who was a neighbor
of his father. In 1829, wishing to see something of the world, he
started out by himself and made a tour of the New England
states, then returned home and engaged in clerking until the fall
of 1832, when he migrated to the Territory of Michigan. He employed himself at whatever he could find to do in the new country,
chopping wood and assisting in clearing land at twenty-six dollars
per month, and he assisted in the erection of the first grist mill at
Palmyra. In 1835 he purchased a tract of timber land on section
22 in Palmyra township, on the west side of the River Raisin. He
put up a good house on the place, but never occupied it, as he returned to New York state soon thereafter and engaged as a clerk
in the city of Buffalo one summer. He then returned to Michigan
and commenced operating as a grain dealer in Adrian. In 1843 he
was appointed station agerft of the Michigan Southern railroad at
Adrian, which position he occupied five years, and when the state
sold the railroad, he returned to Buffalo and purchased a line of
canal-boats, with which he engaged in freighting on the Erie Canal
until I854. He afterward proceeded to Chicago and became agent
for the American Transportation Company, but in the spring of
I860 he returned to Lenawee county and resided in the village of
Palmyra two years, then repaired to the farm where he spent the
remainder of his life. He was the first constable and collector of
Palmyra township after its organization, and represented the town



304


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


ship several terms on the county board of supervisors; he also
served as justice of the peace for a period of eight years. He cast
his first presidential vote for Andrew Jackson, hut being directly
opposed to the extension of slavery he was a Republican during
the Civil war period and then returned to his former allegiance.
Asahel Brown was born in Stafford, N. J., April 9, I803. He
removed with his parents to western New York when young, and
there he was reared to farming and received a common school
education. In I833 he came to Michigan, first settling on a farm in
Palmyra township, but in. I836 he removed to a farm in Algansee,
Branch county. The first town-meeting there was held in his log
cabin in i838, and he was elected the first supervisor, which position he held consecutively until i85i, also in i853, i856, I857, and
from i86i to i865. He was also for several years justice of the
peace. He was a strong Whig until I854, then a Republican. He
was a delegate in the constitutional convention of i850, also that
of i867, and state senator in i857-8-9. He owned a large farm,
and for several years was president of the Branch County Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance Company. He died June 8, I874.
Edward Underwood was a native of Dutchess county, New
York, and was born in February, i8oo. Upon reaching manhood
he purchased twenty acres of land in Wayne county, but later
bought out the heirs of his father's homestead and took possession
of that, which he occupied until i836. In the spring of that year,
leaving his family in the Empire State, he started for the undeveloped West and purchased 200 acres of land on section i9, Palmyra township, for which he paid eleven dollars per acre. In the
fall of the same year he brought his family here. They came by
team to Buffalo, thence by the lake to Toledo, which was then a
small place, and thereafter traveled through the cottonwood swamp
to this township. There was a log house on the place he had
purchased, and a few acres had been broken by some immigrant
with less courage, perhaps, than the one who now took it in hand.
After establishing his family as comfortably as circumstances
would permit in the log house, he commenced the improvement
and cultivation of his farm. In the course of a few years he found
himself the proprietor of a comfortable homestead, which he occupied the remainder of his life, his death taking place on May 20,
1878. In the meantime the first primitive dwelling had been succeeded by a handsome, substantial brick residence, flanked by a
frame barn, a good orchard, and the other improvements naturally
the result of industry and enterprise. A large portion of the land




PALMYRA TOWNSHIP


305


had also been brought to a high state of cultivation. Mr. Underwood was a man held in respect by his neighbors and esteemed
as one who had contributed his quota toward the development and
progress of Lenawee county.
The experiences of the early settlers were similar, regardless
of locality, and, to some extent, without regard to wealth. Necessaries of life, as we of later generations class them, were not to be
procured, by reason of the great distance to be traveled, and
hazards encountered in reaching the older settlements. The forest
supplied the meats, for the most part, as it did, also, the fruits and
sugar. Coffee and tea were luxuries seldom used. This is mentioned to show the simple fare that satisfied the demands of the
times. A dinner of corn bread alone, or of meat without bread,
was a common repast. Potatoes were early raised, but had not
become a household necessity as now. Maple sugar and syrup
were among the old-time luxuiies easily obtained. The cabins
usually had a "shake" roof, fastened on by weight poles, with a
clay or puncheon floor and a door made of boards split from native
timber, and fastened together with wooden pins, or, in the absence of this, a blanket hung in the opening. The dimensions of
the cabin were usually limited to the smallest size which would
accommodate the family, the walls of rough logs, cracks "chinked"
with split sticks and stones, and plastered with mortar, with sometimes a little cut straw mixed in the "mortar" to prevent its falling out.
The pioneer shoemaker, gunsmith, and blacksmith were welcome adjuncts to the early settlements, as were, also, the backwoods schoolmasters and preachers. The first schools usually
embraced only the rudiments of the "three R's." The "master"
taught twenty-two days for a month, at a salary of about eighteen
or twenty dollars per month. He was oftener selected because of
his muscular development than on account of his scholastic attainments, though both were considered essential to complete success.
The school "furniture" was in keeping with that which adorned
the homes of the pupils, entirely home-made, and of the variety
created for utility rather than beauty. The desks were puncheons,
or at best planks, resting on wooden pins driven into auger holes
in the logs of the wall. These were bored at an angle of about
thirty degrees. Fronting the desks were stationary seats made
of slabs or puncheons, with flaring legs of wooden pins, and these
were made high enough to accommodate the largest pupils, while
the smaller ones sat with their feet dangling in mid-air. Globes
20-IV




306


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


and outline maps were unknown to the pupils, and were a mystery to the masters. The "text-books" comprised Adams' arithmetic and Webster's Elementary Spelling Book. These covered
the curriculum of reading, and spelling, mathematics, language
and literature, history and science. The ancient "pot-hooks," more
difficult to form than any letter in the alphabet, comprised the first
lessons in writing, but were never heard of afterward. There was
no system by which these characters were made, hence each "master" had a "system" of his own. Sundry boxing of ears and other
barbarous punishments often followed the pupil's futile efforts at
imitating these useless hieroglyphics. And yet we must credit
the pioneer schools with producing a class of plain and neat writers,
a feature very noticeable, and often commented upon, in the reading of ancient documents.  It is equally true that most of the
students of those early days were excellent spellers, according to
the rules then in vogue. But the primitive schools of pioneer
days have long since been succeeded by the excellent school system so nicely provided for, in part at least, by the reservation of
a portion of the public domain for that purpose.
The village of Palmyra was at one time thought to be destined
to become a thriving city, but fortune was against it, and as the
country developed the currents that tended to the upbuilding of
a place turned toward Adrian, and Palmyra was left to continue
its existence, in the language of an old pioneer, as "an imaginary
city." It is located near the center of the township, six miles east
of Adrian, on the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern railroad and
the Toledo & Western electric line, and although the fond hopes of
its founders were not realized, it has always been an important
trading and shipping point for the farmers. And this particular
locality has always been a prominent landmark to both the resident
and stranger. It derived its name, as did also the township, from
the fact that many of the first settlers came from Palmyra, N. Y.
A postoffice was established there soon after its first settlement,
and as related above, there were high hopes of its becoming a
city, but it was finally surpassed by other localities which were
favored with superior advantages. Palmyra boasts of an excellent
school, in which the patrons take great interest.
For many years after the settlement of the township, religious
services were conducted by the traveling ministers, of various
denominations, usually at private houses, or in the school-houses
of the township. In the year 1836 a Presbyterian church society
was formally organized at the village of Palmyra under the super



PALMYRA TOWNSHIP


307


vision of the Rev. Joel Walker, who became the first regularly
installed pastor thereof. This organization, like most of the other
religious societies of the county, has been compelled to pass
through the various evolutions of adversity and prosperityseasons of diminution and of gradual growth-but it is now housed
in a commodious and tastefully finished house of worship. There
is no regularly installed pastor in charge at the present time. A
regular appointment of the Methodist Episcopal church was established at Palmyra by the Michigan conference in the fall of
1838, the Rev. John Scotford being the first pastor assigned to the
charge. This was on the antiquated Maumee circuit of the Michigan conference, but the charge, district, and circuit, have long
since passed from existence.
George Crane was the first supervisor of Palmyra. The first
saw-mill was built in 1834 at the village of Palmyra, and the first
grist-mill at the same place, by a Toledo company, in I836-7. The
grist-mill had four run of stone and cost $60,000. It was burned in
1870, and was never rebuilt, the site now being occupied by a paper
mill. The first marriage was that of Elisha Franklin to Miss
Lucy Noyes, the notice of which event was published in the first
issue of the first paper published in the county. Lyman L. Goff,
son of Judge Timothy B. Goff, is supposed to have been the first
white child born in the township, the event occurring on Sept. 3,
1829. In 1837 Palmyra had a mild experience with a "wild-cat"
bank, but it only did business for a few months.
Palmyra is one of the prosperous townships in Lenawee
county. Agriculture being the principal industry, and in fact
almost the exclusive occupation of the people, it has received careful and thoughtful attention, and the farmers are equipped for the
varied branches of agricultural pursuits, including extensive stockraising and fruit-growing. Early attention was given to the introduction of improved strains of domestic animals, and this has
proved a source of pleasure and profit. The well tilled farms, with
their substantial residences of modern design, or the old and wellbuilt mansions of more ancient days, together with an occasional
log house or unpretentious cabin, all evince the varying degrees of
prosperity attained by their owners, and emphasize the fact that
"there is no place like home." The inhabitants are a class of intelligent, public-spirited people, who trace their lineage, with just
pride, to patriotic ancestors, and the perpetuity of our great Repul
lic they are ever ready to defend.








CHAPTER XVII.
MACON TOWNSHIP.
SURFACE-ORGANIZATION-EARLY SETTLERS-JOHN AND ISRAEL PENNINGTON, DR. HOWELL, JAMES AND GABRIEL W. MILLS AND OTHER
PIONEERS-FIRST RELIGIOUS SERVICES-FIRST STOCK OF GOODSEARLY SCHOOLS.
The prevailing soil of Macon township is a black, sandy loam,
with some clay. Crops, in quality and yield, compare favorably
with any of the other townships. The railroad facilities consist of
the Wabash railroad, which passes through the southeastern part,
and a near-by station in Ridgeway township, called Britton.
One of the earliest settlers was John Pennington, who moved
into the township with his family, from Raisin, in i829, and entered
the first land. Mr. Pennington was born in Stafford, Monmouth
county, New Jersey, Aug. 25, I778, and there he lived until he was
twenty years old, when he went to Monroe county, New York,
where he was a pioneer. He purchased wild land there, improved
it, and lived upon it until the spring of i829, when he sold out and
came to Michigan. He was a brother-in-law of Darius Comstock,
and when he first came to Lenawee county, in i828, located land in
Raisin, near the home of his relative. When he moved his family,
in the spring of 1829, he came from Detroit by the way of Ypsilanti
and Saline, and while passing through the present township of
Macon he was very much pleased with the appearance of the country and the land in certain portions; and after getting his family
settled in Raisin he came back along the "trail," as it was then
called, and took up i60 acres on sections 5 and 8, this being the first
land located in the township, and Mr. Pennington was then the first
and only settler between Tecumseh and Saline, a distance of about
twelve miles. In September, i829, a part of his family moved into
a shanty he erected, and during that winter he chopped off twentythree acres. The following spring, 1830, he plowed and planted a




3Io


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


portion of it, this being the first ground plowed and the first crops
planted in the township. From that time forward Mr. Pennington
and his family continued to live in Macon. In I830 he took up
I60 acres of land adjoining his first purchase, and he afterward entered I60 acres more. He died in Macon, Dec. 29, I860. The village
of Pennington's Corners (now called Macon) was named after him,
and is located on land he took up from the government.
The township was named in the winter of I833, after a creek
which flows through it from the northwest to the southeast. Israel
Pennington and Dr. Joseph Howell circulated a petition at that
time to have the township set off from Tecumseh, the present townships of Macon, Tecumseh, Clinton, Ridgeway, and portions of
Blissfield and Deerfield then being one township. The act creating
the township of Macon was a general one so far as the county was
concerned, and it was the second division of the county into townships for the purpose of local self-government. At the time of its
erection Macon included all of the territory now embraced in the
townships of Macon and Ridgeway, and all of the land in Blissfield
and Deerfield townships lying north of the line between Congressioial townships 6 and 7.
Israel Pennington, who with Dr. Howell, was instrumental in
the organization of Macon township, was the son of John Pennington, and came to Lenawee county with his parents in I829. He was
born in Perinton, Monroe county, New York, Nov. 17, I8o8. Although he was not a birthright member, he was for many years
and up to the time of his death an active member of the Society
of Orthodox Friends. In I830 he located 240 acres of land in the
present township of Dover, which is said to have been the first land
entered in that township, but he soon afterward sold his claim.
He was always an active man, and performed his full share of hard
labor in developing and subduing Macon township from a wilderness. He held the plow to break up the first piece of land plowed
in Macon, in the spring of I830. In 1832 he returned to his old
home in Monroe county, New York, taking passage at Detroit on
the then new steamboat "Washington." In the passage down the
lake the boat encountered a terrific storm and went to pieces on
the Canada shore, near the lower end of Long Point. There were
about thirty passengers aboard, but only one life was lost, although
they were at the mercy of the storm for more than twenty-four
hours. In the fall of 1835 Mr. Pennington again went East, and
during that winter made a tour of all the large eastern cities. Early
in the spring of 1836 he spent some time in Washington and daily




MACON TOWNSHIP


3II


visited both houses of Congress. He had the pleasure of seeing
Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John Quincy Adams, John C. Calhoun, James K. Polk, President Andrew Jackson, and others of the
nation's celebrities of that day and time. He also visited Mount
Vernon. Mr. PNnnington greatly assisted early settlers in examining, locating, and exploring the country, sometimes extending
his trips into Clinton, Ionia, and Ingham counties. He was an
active politician, always on the side of freedom. He was an early
anti-slavery man, afterward a "Free-soiler," and then a Republican.
In 1837 he was appointed the first postmaster at Macon and held
the office for twenty-five years. In I848 he was a delegate to the
first Free Soil convention held at Adrian, and was also a delegate
to the first Republican convention in the county, held at Tecumseh, in I854. He was a delegate to the Republican state convention
in 1878 that nominated governor and other state officers, and he
was also a delegate to the state convention of I880. He was ever
a staunch temperance man, and was a member of the first temperance society organized in the county, in the winter of I829-30. He
started the first nursery in the county, and for many years he was
an active worker in the county agricultural society, being a director
for nearly fifteen years. In 1879 he was a delegate to the American Pomological convention, at Rochester, N. Y., being appointed
by the Michigan Pomological Society, and he was present during
the entire meeting.
The first religious services in Macon township were held by
Joseph Bangs, a Methodist minister, in a log house near Pennington's Corners. The first frame house was built by Dr. Howell.
Mary White was the first white person to die in the township, in
the spring of I833.
James and Gabriel W. Mills were the first to bring a stock of
goods into the township to sell.  Gabriel W. Mills was born in
Barnegat, N. J., Feb. 14, I793. He was reared a farmer and lived
with his father until he was twenty-one, when he commenced
business for himself and engaged in the wood and lumber industry, purchasing pine lands along the Jersey coast and cutting the
timber off and shipping it to the New York market. He followed
this business until I834, when he came to Michigan and settled in
Macon township. In 1832 his brother, James Mills, came to
Michigan, and, looking around for a location, came upon Macon
creek.  He believed that a good mill site could be made, and
at once wrote to Gabriel his ideas, telling him he could procure
a good mill privilege, with I60 acres of heavy timber, of Joseph




312


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


Howell, for two and one-half dollars per acre. Gabriel at once
sent the money on to make the purchase, erect a dam, and build
a saw mill. This was immediately done, and in 1834, when he arrived with his family, the mill was running. This was the first
saw mill in Macon, and the second one in the northern portion of
the county.  It was of great importance to the settlers and was
the means of increasing the settlement and adding to the comfort
and protection of the pioneers. There was a great abundance of
white-wood timber in this section, and the settlers in the entire
northern part of the county came to this mill for lumber, several
buildings in Clinton and Tecumseh being erected of lumber sawed
at this mill. It was kept in operation for over thirty years, and
then it was torn away, the dam scraped down, and the old pond
now affords the very best grazing land. Without a doubt, Mr.
Mills was the wealthiest settler that came to Lenawee county during its early settlement. He brought $6,ooo in specie with him,
which was a fortune in those days, and it was probably more
money than all the "wild-cat" banks in southern Michigan actually
possessed. He was a great benefactor to the settlers, and stood
between them and starvation and loss in many instances. He
trusted all who asked him, for lumber and other necessaries which
he possessed, and he was to Macon what Darius Comstock was to
Raisin, a big-hearted, benevolent man, loved and respected by all.
He owned at one time 1,200 acres of land in Michigan, 800 of
which were in Macon. He erected the first frame school-house in
the township, furnishing all the material, and John Norton did
the work. At that time there was a log school-house at Pennington's Corners. Mr. Mills died in Macon Feb. I, I85I.
Among the earliest settlers not before named were Samuel
Niblack, the first justice of the peace; James Collins and his sons,
William Hendershott, and Peter Sones. The last named ("honest
old Peter") broke the first ground in the township.
James Collins was also of New Jersey and of New England
ancestry, and was characterized by his loyal adherence to the
Quaker faith. He followed the occupation of a boatman while a
resident of New Jersey, and came to Michigan with his son, Isaac,
when the latter was a youth of eighteen years. It is supposed that
they settled in the wilderness of Macon township as early as the
fall of 1832. They took up a tract of land on section 5, and after
making some improvements, the father returned to New Jersey
after his wife and family. Before they had started on the return
journey, however, his wife was seized with cholera and died very




MACON TOWNSHIP


313


suddenly. Her remains were laid to rest in her native soil. and
then James Collins proceeded to carry out his original intention,
coming to Lenawee county with the remaining members of his
family. Upon his arrival here he went forward with the cultivation of his land, but subsequently returned to his native state and
married a second wife. His death took place in Macon township
in i864, when he was quite well advanced in years.
When Ira Stewart came, in i833, he had to cut his road for
four miles through the woods to reach his place. He was a native
of Massachusetts, whence he removed with his parents when a
child to the vicinity of Utica, N. Y., where he developed into manhood. He then made his way to Wayne county, Michigan, locating first near the little hamlet of Plymouth, whence, in i833, he
removed to this county. He took up a tract of land in Macon township, converted the same into a good farm, and there he spent the
remainder of his days.
Peter Miller, who settled in i833, caught a deer by the horns
while it was asleep, and in trying to hold it was dragged through
the woods until his clothes were torn to shreds. Simeon Davidson,
Daniel Clarkson, William Cadmus, Abraham Wheeler, Burtis Bird,
and Capt. Isaac Miller, may be mentioned also as early settlers of
Macon.
Simeon Davidson was born in Lodi, Seneca county, New York,
June 26, i804. He was reared a farmer, but learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed for several years. He came to Michigan in i83i and settled on section 30 in Macon township, where he
resided until i854, and then purchased a farm on sections 25 and
36, consisting of 670 acres, in Tecumseh township, at the same time
owning i6o acres in Macon. During the first few years of his
residence in Lenawee county, he followed his trade when not
obliged to. work on his farm. lie built many of the first houses,
barns, mills, and bridges in the northern part of the county, and
after the county began to be settled and the people were able to
build, he engaged in contracting and building, employing a gang of
men. No man in the northern half of Lenawee county was better
known than he. His first settlement in Macon was at a time when
the country from Tecumseh to Monroe was an almost unbroken
wilderness, when the few scattered pioneers were poor in this
world's goods, with little to sustain them but strong muscles,
stout hearts, and their own unflinching energies. If he had but
little to spare in those trying days of pioneer life, Mr. Davidson
was ever ready, "without money and without price," to divide that




314


MEMOIRS OE LENAWEE COUNTY


little with those more destitute than himself. When a log cabin
was required to shelter an immigrant and his family, he was the
first invited to the raising and the first to respond to the call, and
when frame dwellings of more pretensions succeeded the primitive structures, unless he could be present with his cheering voice
as master of the occasion, the raising would frequently be postponed until convenient for him to attend. In fact, as one of the
most enterprising, energetic, and liberal-minded men, he was long
and favorably known throughout southern Michigan. As a farmer
he was eminently successful, and as the auctioneer of northern
Lenawee his services were regarded as indispensable. In all public
measures for the promotion of the social, religious, moral, and
educational interests of his neighborhood, and for the general development of the resources of the country by railroad or otherwise, he was ever ready to bear his full share of the burden. He
was liberal without extravagance, economical without meanness,
a good husband, a kind parent, and as a member of the Methodist
Episcopal church, a Christian without offensive zeal or undue
pretension, ever ready to aid the poor and sympathize with the
afflicted, and it is not strange that from an early period to the day
of his death he was almost universally greeted wherever known
by the familiar name of "Uncle Sim." Although of ripe age, he
passed away in 1874 in the midst of an active and useful life, and
his death was regretted by the whole community. He donated liberally for the construction of the fine brick church edifice at Ridgeway village, giving over $4,0ooo to the building committee.
Daniel Clarkson was born in Woodbridge township, Middesex
county, New Jersey, and was of New England ancestry for several
generations. His childhood and youth were spent in his native
state, and when starting out for himself he migrated to Seneca
county,' New York, where he was married. In November, 1831,
he started with his family for the Territory of Michigan, taking
the household goods and making the journey via the canal and
lakes to Detroit. At that city, which was then in its infancy, they
secured an ox-team, by means of which they made their way to
this county, along narrow roads, almost impassable, through
swamps and underbrush; these alone were the sights and scenes
by which the tediousness of the journey was relieved. They probably traveled many miles without passing a human habitation, and
finally pitched their tent in the woods some distance from any
opening, and with not a settler in sight. Daniel Clarkson entered
a tract of government land on section I9, in what was afterward




MACON TOWNSHIP


315


laid off as Macon township, and he put up a rude log cabin with
a stick-and-mud chimney and the wide, old-fashioned fire-place,
before the cheerful blaze of which men, women and children sat
with deep content. They passed that winter under many difficulties,. and in the spring the father commenced clearing the land and
preparing it for cultivation. This involved the labor of years, but
the parents lived to see a finely improved farm around them, and
their children comfortably settled in life. As time passed, Mr.
Clarkson added to his real estate, and before his death, in July,
I869, when about seventy years of age, was the owner of 400
acres. He was a man of great energy and determination, and by
prudence and economy acquired a valuable property. Politically,
he was an active Democrat, fearless in the expression of his sentiments, and always ready to do battle for what he believed to be
right.
Abraham Wheeler was a native of Ovid, Seneca county, New
York, where he was born May I6, I803. He came to Michigan in
June, 1833, and purchased land on section 22, in Macon township,
and there he resided until the spring of I840, when he removed to
a farm on section 16. Making this his residence until I863, he then
sold out and retired from active business, making his home with
his son, James K., until his death, which occurred Jan. 6, I874. He
was quite influential in local political circles in his day, and served
his township as supervisor for several years, while he filled the
office of justice of the peace for eight years. Thoroughly active
and progressive in all public improvements, he shirked no responsibilities that came upon him as a pioneer. Politically he was attached to the Democratic party.
The school facilities of Macon township are first class and various church organizations are represented. The eastern portion of
the township is well watered by artesian and flowing wells, some
of which are said to have at times thrown their waters twelve or
fourteen feet in the air. A ridge runs through the township nearly
from northeast to southwest, and it has indications of having once
been the shore of a large inland lake. Macon village is a small
hamlet in the northeast corner of the township, and it is appreciated by farmers in that vicinity.








CHAPTER XVIII.
ROLLIN TOWNSHIP.
TOPOGRAPHY-ORGANIZATION-FIRST ELECTION AND OFFICERS ELECTED-JOSEPH BEAL, DEACON MATTHEW BENNETT, JOHN R. HAWKINS, LEVI JENNINGS AND OTHER PIONEERS-FIRST DEATH, BIRTH
AND MARRIAGE-FIRST RELIGIOUS SERVICES-VILLAGE OF ROLLIN
-FIRST STORE-FIRST RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS-FIRST PUBLIC
SCHOOL-'WILD-CAT" MONEY-FINE MILL SITE.
This is one of the townships that, territorially, corresponds
with a Congressional township, only ten of such being among the
townships of Lenawee county. It occupies a portion of the farfamed Bean Creek Valley. The surface is generally rolling, and
several streams of running water and numerous springs contribute
to the fertility of the soil, and form an abundant supply for stock
and living purposes, and the township is admirably adapted to all
classes of diversified agriculture. The principal stream is Bean
creek or Tiffin river, which drains the township from the northwest
portion to the southward, and the other streams contribute to the
facilities for grazing, an industry which is well represented in connection with general farming and fruit growing. Mill creek empties into Devil's Lake in the northern part of the township, and in
addition there are Posey and Round lakes, and several small
streams in the eastern and southern portions.
The township is, of course, rectangular in shape, bounded on
the north by Woodstock, on the east by Rome, on the south by
Hudson, and on the west by the county of Hillsdale. Like all
other territory in the county, the system of Congressional survey
is regular, the land being described by the section and quarter section system, and the township contains thirty-six sections, comprising 23,040 acres. The territory was originally covered with an
abundant growth of excellent timber, and these desirable features
early attracted crowds of immigrants, who had followed the original
pioneers into the new country.




318


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


Rollin was organized as a separate township on March 17,
1835, from territory originally included in the township of Logan
(Adrian), and the definite boundaries then provided by the territorial legislature have never been modified or changed. The first
election for township officers was held at the dwelling house of
Joseph Beal on April 6, 1835, with Matthew Bennett as moderator
and William Beal as clerk, and resulted in the selection of the following named persons: Matthew Bennett, supervisor; William
Beal, clerk; David Steer, James Bacon and Joseph Beal, assessors;
Elijah C. Bennett, collector; David Steer and John T. Comstock,
directors of the poor; Warner Aylesworth, Asa R. Bacon and Joseph C. Beal, commissioners of highways; Elijah A. Bennett, constable; Joseph Gibbons, Orson Green, and Joseph Steer, commissioners of common schools; Joseph Gibbons, Orson Green, Joseph
Steer, Elijah C. Bennett and James Boodry, "school inspectors
of common schools." It was voted that "our cattle, hogs, and
sheep run at large the ensuing year," and "our pathmasters be
fence-viewers." The record does not state the number of votes
polled at the township meeting, but at the general election, held
Oct. 5 and 6, I835, there were fifteen votes polled for governor,
three votes for lieutenant governor, nine votes for senator, fifteen
votes for representative in Congress, and three votes were given
for "Representative of Michigan." Of the votes given for governor, Stevens T. Mason received three and John Biddle received
twelve; Edward Mundy received the three votes for lieutenant
governor; Olmsted Hough, Edward D. Ellis and Laurent Durocher each received three votes for senator; William Woodbridge
received thirteen votes for representative in Congress and Isaac
E. Crary received three votes; Allen Hutchins, Hiram Dodge, James
Wheeler and Darius Mead each received three votes for "Representative of Michigan."  There were also twelve votes cast against
the ratification of the constitution of Michigan, and one for its ratification. The reader will notice, perhaps, a discrepancy between
the statement of the whole number of votes given for the office of
representative in Congress and the aggregate of votes stated to be
given to the two candidates. Fifteen is said to be the whole number given for the office, while Woodbridge is said to have received
thirteen and Crary three. From a careful review of the vote it
seems plain that Woodbridge received only twelve votes. The
reader will also have noticed, perhaps, that at the township meeting
no justices of the peace were elected. That meeting was held under
the Territorial laws, and by these laws justices were appointed by




ROLLIN TOWNSHIP


319.the Legislative Council. That position was held, no doubt, by Joseph Beal, whose name appears as one of the inspectors of the election.
Joseph Beal was born in Cummington, Mass., April 15, 1778,
and resided there until he was seventeen. In the year I795 he went
to Macedon, Wayne county, New York, where his brother, Bernard, then lived and owned.a farm. He lived with his brother
until he was twenty-one, and assisted him in clearing up a new
farm. About the year I8oo he purchased a new farm in Perinton,
and this he cleared up and resided upon until he came to Michigan
in the spring of I830. He came to this county because his oldest
son, William, had settled in Adrian township. In 1833 Joseph
Beal located forty acres on section 15, in Rollin, and ever after resided in the township. At that time there were but two families
living within the present limits of Rollin. These families were
Levi Thompson, who lived on section 4, and Erastus Aldrich, who
lived on section 9. At that time, at certain seasons of the year,
numbers of Indians camped around Devil's and Round lakes, and
they would often make friendly calls upon Mr. Beal and ask for
something to eat. They invariably asked for bread, which they
seemed to relish' more than any other kind of food. Joseph Beal
died in Rollin, Jan. 22, I877.
Deacon Matthew Bennett was born in Orange county, New
York, in I778. In.792 he removed with his parents to Wilkesbarre,
Pa., where he resided until I805, when he returned to his native
state and purchased a new farm in Tioga county. Not being quite
satisfied there, in I816 he removed to Shelby, Orleans county, and
again purchased a new farm, but subsequently settled at Alabama,
in Genesee county. One of his sons, Davis D., came to Michigan
in I828, and lived in Adrian until the next year, when he returned
to the old home in New York with such glowing tales of the beauties and the opportunities in Michigan that his father disposed of
his property in Genesee county and came to Adrian in 1834, at
which place his son, Davis D., who had married and returned, was
then a pioneer in good standing. Deacon Bennett located 480
acres of government land in Rollin, where he resided until the last
few years of his life. He was the third man to build a house in
Rollin township. He died in Fairfield in October, I863. The township was named by Deacon Matthew Bennett, in honor of the Rev.
David Rollin, who was his intimate and esteemed friend.
When the first white man visited the township of Rollin it was
an unbroken wilderness, inhabited only by the red men and their




320


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


dusky families. The only roads were the trails made by the Indians
in going from lake to lake, and around their borders. These trails
in many places were a foot in depth, and not much more than a
foot in width. The only houses were their wigwams, built on the
banks of the beautiful lakes in summer, and in the thick wood in
winter, and thus the inmates were protected from the cold. On
the north and east side of Round Lake, Meteau and his tribe built
their wigwams, and also on the east side of Posey Lake, and up
at the head of Devil's Lake, north of Round Lake, were their council grounds. In the year 1835 a grand council was held there.
A few inhabitants had moved into the township of Adrian
previous to the year i830, but they had paid but little attention to
the lands west. The first piece of land bought of the government
was the west half of the northwest quarter of section 20, by Ira
Alma, of Seneca county, New York, June 4, i83I. The next tract
was taken up by Addison j. Comstock, of Adrian, on May io, I833,
and was that upon which Rollin village and mills are located. In
the spring of i833 the whole country thereabouts was thoroughly
explored. Joseph Beal and William, his son, and others, started
from the vicinity of Adrian, by a southwest direction, to the section of the country where Morenci is now located. Following
Bean creek up to near where Hudson is built, not knowing where
they were, they found a section corner, set their compass and
started for Round Lake. They were gone from home about a
week, and in their long tramp not a house nor a white man were
seen. The same spring Orson Green and Joseph Beal came out to
the Bean creek country to find homes for themselves and friends.
The night of April IO, i833, they slept on the bank of Devil's Lake,
On the morning of the iith they caught a mess of fish and had a
fine breakfast. On June I, i833, David Steer, of Belmont county,
Ohio, took up the first land for farm purposes-the northwest quarter of section 4. In the same month the first family settled in the
township on land located by Stephen Lapham, east one-half of the
southwest quarter of section 4, and Levi Thompson and family were
thus the first pioneers. There must have been many a sad and
lonesome hour passed by the family; not a house within a dozen
miles, not a man to say "good morning" to-a pioneer alone with
his wife and three little children. But Mr. Thompson was not
long to remain alone in the wild woods of Rollin. In August
Erastus Aldrich and family settled on section 9, and in October
Joseph Beal and his son, Porter, settled on the west half of the
southwest quarter of section Io. They first put up a little shanty,
large enough for the two to live in till they could build a house.




ROLLIN TOWNSHIP


32I


This they accomplished without help. They cut logs and hewed
them square, and in this way succeeded in building one of the
nicest log houses there was in the woods for a long time. Early in
January, 1834, William Beal settled on section 8, and up to March
there were but four settlers in the township. But from that time
to July the number largely increased. Among the settlers that
moved into the township in 1834 were David Steer, on section 5;
John T. Comstock, on section 7; Warner Aylesworth, section 28;
John Upton, on section 28; Matthew Bennett, on section 24; Salem Vosburg, on section 22; James Macon, on section 27; Roswell
Lamb, on section 29; Joseph S. Allen, on section 27; John R. Hawkins, on section 20; Levi Jennings, Orson Green and Jonathan Ball.
John R. Hawkins was born in the city of Oxford, England, in
I809, and came to America when a young man twenty-one years
old. In I834 he sought the wilds of southern Michigan and took
up a quarter section of land in Rollin township. After clearing
and preparing the soil for cultivation he added to his real estate
until he became the possessor of 250 acres. He was a man of fair
education, and had occupied the position of clerk in a hardware
store in his native town before crossing the Atlantic. He died at
the old homestead about 1882, when seventy-three years of age.
Levi Jennings was born in Milton, Saratoga county, New
York, April 2, I808. He was a lad of six years when his father
died, and was then cared for by James Shucraft the following year,
when he was taken into the home of an uncle, with whom he remained until he was sixteen years of age. He then returned to his
mother's farm, where he operated with his two brothers for five
years. He then purchased a small farm near by, and lived there
until I834, when he sold out and cast his lot with the pioneers of
Rollin township. He landed in Ypsilanti on May 8, and there he
left his family until he could determine upon a location. He looked
around in Washtenaw county for a day or two, but not being
pleased with the appearance of the land in that locality he came
over into Lenawee and prospected along the creek in the western
portion. He finally located eighty acres on section 22, in Rollin
township, and from that day until his death he called it home.
There were then only four families in the township, and his first
business was the erection of a log cabin for the shelter of his family. In I835 provisions were scarce and flour was worth fifteen dollars per barrel at Toledo, and this article could not be procured at
any price in Adrian. Mr. Jennings finally managed to borrow
thirty pounds from one of his far-away neighbors, and this, by
2I-IV




322


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


strict economy, was made to last the family until after harvest. In
his early experience in Lenawee county Mr. Jennings passed
through the trials common to his neighbors, but these pioneers
were men strong of muscle, and they had "come to stay." They
were accordingly prepared to meet every emergency except direct
starvation, and from this danger they were comparatively free.
Some of them, it is true lived on bran bread, which was rather light
food with which to furnish muscle for chopping wood and clearing land, but they ate the oftener and pulled safely through. Mr.
Jennings assisted in cutting the first roads through the forests,
building the first bridges, organizing the township, and establishing the first schools and churches. For a long period he was regarded as a leader in the enterprises which materialized, one by
one, and which a section of country steadily increasing in population forced upon the people, who cheerfully accepted the burden.
He served as justice of the peace, township clerk, and highway
commissioner, and lived to see the wilderness transformed into
smiling fields and busy villages.
Ephraim Sloan moved into the township with William Beal.
He was born in Pawlet, Rutland county, Vermont, April 28, i8o6.
He lived with his parents until he was fourteen years old, when
he went to Palmyra, N. Y., and lived with his uncle until he was
twenty-one. In 1827 he went to Williamson, Wayne county, New
York, where he purchased a farm and resided three years. He then
sold out and went to Macedon, residing there until 1833, when he
came to Michigan, and in the spring of I834 located land on section
8, in Rollin, where he resided the remainder of his life. When a
young man he followed carpentering, and assisted in building all
the first mills on Bean creek, in Rollin. He also assisted in building a large number of the first houses and barns in the township.
He was young when he came to Lenawee county, having everything to gain, and he took considerable interest in the topography
of the surrounding country. He sent to Daniel B. Miller, land
commissioner at Monroe, and made an arrangement by which he
got a plat of the townships of Rollin and Wheatland (the latter in
Hillsdale county), each month, showing the land still untaken.
These plats afforded him an advantage that no one else enjoyed,
and his services as "land looker" were in constant demand by the
new-comers during the year I834. He enjoyed his pioneer life here,
and never met with any serious accident or misfortune. He always had enough to eat and wear, and to visit with the neighboring settlers, to hear the trees fall, and see the light from the burn



ROLLIN TOWNSHIP


323


ing log heaps and brush piles at night were great enjoyment to
him. He then knew every person for ten miles around, and all was
as one family in sickness, trouble or want.
James Sloan settled on section 7, the place afterward known
as the Patterson Landing. When he raised his house in the early
spring of 1834 every man in town was present-nine in numbercoming from all directions with guns in hand, with the firm step
of men that felt they had something to do, to commence on new
land covered with heavy timber, but they were equal to the great
work before them. In June of this year the first death in the township occurred-the wife of John Upton. The funeral was held at
the house of the deceased, and she was buried on the farm. The
first white child born in the township was Mary Vosburg, Aug.
27, I834, daughter of Salem and Lydia Vosburg. The first marriage in the township took place this year at the house of William
Beal-Hiram Aldrich to Eliza Titus. They were married by Job
Comstock, justice of the peace of the township of Adrian. As near
as can be ascertained there were about twenty-three settlers in the
township in the year 1834, each one feeling the need of constant
effort to make themselves and families comfortable. The ground
for their cabins had to be cleared and their cabins built, provisions
to be brought from a distance, and a number of the settlers were
with scanty means. The gun and fishing rod were sometimes
brought into requisition to supply food for the family. But corn
and potatoes were a necessity, food must be raised, for it could not
be bought. The axe, the only necessary tool of the pioneer, was in
constant use, its sound could be heard from early dawn till dewy
eve; every day the little clearing would be wider, and the early
settler would look over the work done through the day with pride.
The winter of 1834-35 was very mild, but little snow, giving a fine
opportunity for the settlers to chop fallow, build fences, and make
their houses more comfortable. Of this work they took hold with
alacrity, and the sound of the axe was heard early and late. The
spring showed many fine fallows ready for the fire; five, ten and
twenty acres had been chopped around the log houses, and many
showed comfort and convenience.
The principles of religion, morals and temperance were warmly advocated. It is thought that religious meetings were held in
the early part of 1835, at the house of Salem Vosburg, and other
places. In April of this year a commencement was made on the
saw mill at Rollin. Addison J. Comstock gave the management
of the building to William Beal, and for this purpose he left his




324             MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY
farm. About this time he sold the land on section 8 and bought
the northeast quarter of section 20 and the east half of the southwest quarter of the same section, upon which he built a house and
immediately occupied it. Mr. Beal employed Ephraim Sloan, Hosmer Clark and others to assist in the work.
In June of this year John Foster settled on the west half of
the southeast quarter of section 27. Mr. Foster was born in County
Derry, Ireland, March 2I I807, and lived with his parents until lie
was twenty-five years old. In April, i832, he started for America.
landing in New York June 8. The cholera broke out in the city a
short time after his arrival, and he went to Farmington, Ontario
county, where he worked for a farmer until the spring of i835.
That spring he came to Michigan, landing in Adrian on May I5.
He immediately commenced looking for land, and on June I he located the west half of the southeast quarter of section 27, the northwest quarter of the northeast quarter of section 34, and the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter of section 34, in Rollin,
where he resided the remainder of his life. He cleared iio acres,
built a good house, barns, sheds, etc. In the winter of I835-36,
with one of his neighbors, he went to Adrian to the old Red mill.
They went with an ox-team, being compelled to go by the way of
Devil's Lake and thence through Rome Center. They were two
days on the road, and then waited three days in Adrian for their
"grist." Their money gave out on Sunday morning, and they were
obliged to eat parched corn and drink river water for breakfast.
Their grist was to be ground that morning, but just before their
turn came the mill-dam gave way, and they were obliged to go
home without their flour.
Barnabus Bonney settled on the southeast quarter of section
I3. Samuel Comstock purchased a one-half interest in the lands of
the Rollin mill property, put up a log house, and moved into it in
July. John Haskins and his sons, William and Luther, settled on
sections 24 and 26. John Haskins is thought to have been born
in Taunton, Mass., Jan. 8, I785, and there he resided until I834,
with the exception of about four years, when he lived in Maine.
He was a carpenter and joiner, but owned a small farm in Taunton.
In the fall of I834 four families, Sylvester Boodry, wife and five
children; William Haskins, wife and one child; John Haskins, wife
and nine children, and Luther Haskins and wife, twenty-three in
all, came to Lenawee county and all settled on adjoining farms
in Rollin. John Haskins located 280 acres on sections 24 and 25,
in Rollin, and i9, in Rome. He improved considerable land, built




ROLLIN TOWNSHIP


325


very good buildings, and became a thrifty farmer. He never did
much at his trade after he came to Lenawee county, except to
erect his own buildings and the Rollin town house. He died June
20, I85I.
Luther Haskins was born in Augusta, Me., Aug. 30, I8o8. He
came to Lenawee county with his father in I834 and located a farm
on section 26, in Rollin, where he resided the remainder of his life.
When he was a young man he worked in a machine shop and cotton
factory in Taunton, Mass., but afterward learned the carpenter
trade with his father. He never followed his trade much after he
came to Lenawee county. He built his own house and barns and assisted other settlers more or less, but he paid most of his attention
to farming. In I835 he was warned out to go to the Toledo war,
and reported for duty at Tecumseh. He went all through the "war"
without a scratch, and returned home after an absence of a week.
Sylvester Boodry was born in Massachusetts, May 23, 1787,
and there he resided and owned a farm in Taunton until I834,
when he came to Michigan and located land on section 25, in Rollin. He was the first man to settle on section 25, and there was at
that time but five or six families in the entire area that now comprises the township of Rollin. He cut a road through the woods
for a distance of a mile and a half to get to his land, and afterward
assisted in opening and cutting out nearly all the first roads in
Rollin. He cleared fifty acres of land, built a good frame house and
barn, and was one of the prominent and thrifty men of the township.
He died of apoplexy, Feb. 23, I841.
In May, 1835, Dr. Leonard G. Hall settled in the township;
also, Daniel Rhoads and his son, William, settled on the west half
of the southwest quarter of section 21. When the Rhoads family
became settled, Dr. Hall made his home with them. The Doctor
had many trials to encounter in ministering to the sick and afflicted
-no roads nor bridges but those made by the settlers for their convenience. He soon married and settled on the farm afterward
owned by the Cook brothers; later moved from that farm to the
village of Rollin, where he lived a short time, and then to Hudson,
where he resided the remainder of his life. In the summer of this
year William Beal was appointed postmaster and Porter Beal mail
-carrier.  Previous to the appointment of William Beal as postmaster all the mail for this section of country was distributed at
Adrian. This was very inconvenient for settlers who had to go a
distance of eighteen miles for their letters and papers. This change
was received with much pleasure, and the pioneers began to feel




326


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


that they were not to be deprived of all the advantages they had
left in their old homes. The spring of this year was quite favorable for the burning of brush and log piles, and nearly every settler
had a little piece of land cleared for corn and potatoes, and a little
garden. Provisions had to be brought from a distance-sometimes
from Monroe or Toledo-hence they were high and somewhat
scarce. This gave the settlers a strong desire to raise all they could.
New settlers were coming in, and all that could be raised would be
needed. Teams were scarce, hence some did not clear the land of
logs, but would simply burn the piles of brush and then plant corn
and potatoes among the logs; in this way fine crops were raised.
In the fall of 1835 the saw mill was raised. The raising of this
building required considerable help; all within three or four miles
were invited, and they came from all directions. The mill was
started in November, giving the settlers the convenience of obtaining lumber without traveling so great a distance. They highly
appreciated this advantage, as lumber was very much needed to
make their cabins comfortable. Many very good floors had been
made by splitting small logs that had been cut the right length,
and then hewing the split pieces on one side. But this mode of
making floors was very expensive.
But two houses were built in the village of Rollin in 1835, and
preparations for the building of the grist mill were being made.
Only three or four additional settlers moved into the township in
the fall of the year. Bishop Van Wert settled on the east half of
the southeast quarter of section 27, and Jacob Foster on the northwest quarter of section 22. In the fall of this year there must
have been thirty-five or forty settlers scattered over the township.
A more determined, active, resolute set of men could scarcely be
found. There were no laggards here and no idlers, as it was no
place for such. The first law suit was caused by an effort to sell
whisky, by a man named Thomson, who had established a little
trade south of the lake. He was notified to appear at Adrian, and
this was the last effort to sell whisky for some time. There was
considerable sickness this fall-mostly fever and ague-but as a
general rule the people of the township were quite healthy. The
winter of 1835-36 was more severe than the winter of I834-35 -more snow and colder-and this gave the settlers an opportunity
to haul logs, of which they made good use. The saw mill was kept
very- busy, and large choppings were made. John Tingley, then
living with his brother, north of Adrian, hired forty acres chopped
and cleared that season, and in the fall of 1836 he removed to Rollin.




ROLLIN TOWNSHIP


327


The early home of John H. Tingley was not far from the Atlantic coast, in Sussex county, New Jersey, where his birth took
place on Dec. 25, I8Io. Upon coming to Michigan he first located
in Adrian township, in 1833, entering 240 acres of government land.
This he sold a year later and purchased another tract on section
II, upon which he labored two or three years, then turned it over
to his father and brother, and coming into Rollin township purchased I8o acres of wild land. Upon this he resided the remainder
of his life. He tilled the soil to good advantage and gathered
around him all the accessories of a comfortable and convenient
home, including a commodious residence, a good barn, stables,
sheds, and all other necessary out-buildings, and he stocked the
farm with good grades of domestic animals.
William Hathaway settled in the township in 1836, but had
been among the earliest landholders. The axe had been kept very
busy, and the crash of falling timber was heard early and late.
The election this year was held at the house of Jacob Foster, who
lived at the center of the township, and the township officers
elected were nearly the same as the year before. Justices of the
peace and constables were for the first time elected, and they were:
Matthew Bennett, Orson Green, Leonard G. Hall, and Brayton
Brown, justices of the peace, and William Hathaway, Ephraim
Sloan, Elijah C. Bennett, and Joseph Allen. constables. Levi
Sherman settled on the farm afterward owned by Merritt Sherman,
and Josiah Ball on the east half of the southeast quarter of section
28. Beal Sloan settled on the farm where he lived the remainder
of his life.
The spring of 1836 gave promise of more than usual interest
to the settlers of the township. The Erie & Kalamazoo railroad
was in course of construction, with the expectation that the village of Rollin would be one of the points made on its western
route. The line for the road was surveyed, but that was all, and
Hudson finally obtained this favored boon, in the building of the
Michigan Southern road through that place. Preparations for
building the grist mill moved forward with activity. A grist mill
was one of the greatest needs of the community. There was no
mill nearer than Adrian or Tecumseh, and there were but very few
horse teams in the country. Ox teams were mostly used, and to
go a distance of eighteen or twenty miles with an ox team was in
those days quite an undertaking. But they had only to wait a
short time for the new mill to start, and then they were saved much
hard toil and exposure.




328


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


The first store in the village of Rollin was started by Azel
Hooker and was managed by a man by the name of Allen. The
building used was the log house built by William Beal. Mr.
Hooker, the proprietor, was a resident of Petersburg, Monroe
county, to which place he had migrated from Penn Yan, N. Y.,
in 1832, when about thirty years old. He was a merchant and a
Whig, and represented Monroe county in the state legislature in
I839. He was also a justice of the peace for several years. In
1840 he moved to Buffalo, N. Y., where he engaged in the transportation business, and nothing further is known of him.
Preparatory to the admission of Michigan as a state in the
Union a census was taken, and Ephraim Sloan was appointed to
perform that duty in Rollin township. He was engaged but one
day in the work and what the number of inhabitants was cannot
be ascertained, but at the time of taking the first state census, in
October, I837, there was a population of 508, with two saw mills,
one grist mill, and two merchants within the confines of the township. A number of inhabitants settled in the village in 1836, but
their names are not remembered. William Beal having moved
onto his farm, Samuel Comstock was appointed postmaster, and in
this year Ephraim Sloan took the contract for carrying the mail.
In the spring of 1836 the first religious organization was established by the Baptists, the meeting being held at the house of
Matthew Bennett.  The Methodists held meetings at the house of
William Rhoades, and at the house of Dobson Page. A man by
the name of Jackson was the first pioneer preacher, and he was a
man much devoted to his calling. These meetings were generally
held week-day evenings, and once in two weeks.
Dobson Page was born on a farm near New London, Conn.,
in the year 1780, and when seventeen years of age removed with his
father and family to the town of Columbus, Chenango county, New
York, where he resided until reaching his majority. He then left
those frosty hills, where the pioneer had to struggle so hard to secure sufficient food to make life enjoyable, and went to New York
City, where he engaged in boating on the Hudson river, between
New York and Albany. He removed to the west in the fall of I823,
and after locating on several farms in the western part of New
York state, he made up his mind to migrate to the Territory of
Michigan-a bold move, but one that proved a success. On June
7, I834, with his wife and two sons-Nicholas A., aged seventeen
years, and John Olson, aged fifteen-he started for his new home.




ROLLIN TOWNSHIP


329


In October, 1835, he located in Rollin township, on the west half
of the northeast quarter of section 28, and there he lived until his
death, June 5, 1847.
The first public school was kept by William Rhoades, at his
house, in the winter of I836-37. It is thought a private school was
kept in the summer of 1836, at the house of John T. Comstock, by
Lucretia Beal. The first school house was built on the corner of
the southwest quarter of section 22, but this house was burned a
year or so afterward. In the winter of 1836-37 the Rollin grist
mill was started. The starting of this mill was an event of great
importance, not only to the township of Rollin, but to the western
part of Lenawee and the eastern part of Hillsdale counties. For
some years this was the only grist mill in this section, and it was
kept running almost night and day.
The spring of 1837 gave promise of continued prosperity to
the new settlement. This was the fourth year after the first settlement of the township. No serious drawback had been felt, the
progress was onward, and if a few years more of comparative prosperity could have been secured, the early settlement of this section
would have been more easy than the early settlement of most new
countries. But there was a dark cloud hanging over the country
that was soon to burst. The country had been flooded with paper
money, under the wild-cat system of banking. This money had
passed current in all exchanges, but in this year it was doomed to
smash, and for a few years the greatest inconvenience was experienced with this useless money. To add to the hard times, provisions were very scarce. and high in price. Wheat was worth three
dollars per bushel, corn two and a half to three, and other classes
of farm produce in proportion, making it very difficult for those
who had to buy, and particularly for those that depended on their
labor to earn money to support a family. Eastern money was the
principal medium of exchange in use, and the people were very shy
in taking even this. The state issued state scrip, but in a short
time it was worth only fifty or sixty cents on the dollar. In 1842-43
wheat had become quite plentiful, but very low in price, forty to
fifty cents per bushel being all it would bring in Hudson and Adrian,
and part of the time only half cash at that. These were very close
times, so close that some men were under the necessity of cutting
green timber, burning it to ashes, and selling the ashes for six cents
a bushel to get money to pay their taxes.
At what time the Friends held their first meeting in the township is unknown, but probably as early as I836-37. Their first




330


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


house of worship was built about one mile east of Addison, and a
place for burial was established there at an early day.
Rollin possesses one of the finest mill privileges there is on
Bean creek. It is seldom the water is so low that grinding cannot
be done, and if circumstances had been more favorable for a village, it would undoubtedly have proved a healthy and beautiful
one, the land being light and rolling, with a good farming country
around it. Mr. Beal, as soon as he had completed the Rollin mills,
made preparations to build the Quaker mills. The saw mill was
built in 1837-38, and the grist mill a short time afterward.
The township of Rollin is one of the best agricultural districts
in Lenawee county, and the thrifty farmers are profitably engaged
in all classes of diversified farming. Considerable attention is
given to the raising of fine stock, and some are buyers and shippers of the same. A very large portion of the grain raised is fed
to stock on the farms. There-are many fine homes in the township,
an evidence of thrift and prosperity, and the great change has been
brought about in the seventy-six years since the first log cabin was
built-the first move from savage to civilized life. The log cabins
have gone and beautiful structures have taken their places.




CHAPTER XIX.
ROME TOWNSHIP.
LOCATION AND NATURAL FEATURES-NAME-FIRST SETTLEMENTLYMAN W. BAKER, DAVID SMITH, JR., JOHN B. SCHUREMAN, THEODORICK LUTHER, JOSEPH M. BAKER AND OTHER PIONEERS-ORGANIZATION-FIRST ELECTION AND OFFICERS ELECTED - FIRST GROCERY-BAPTIST CHURCH.
Rome is in the northwestern part of Lenawee county, with the
township of Rollin for its boundary on the west, Camridge on
the north, Adrian on the east, and Dover and a small portion of
Hudson on the south. It comprises Congressional township 6,
range 2 east, and contains of course thirty-six sections of land.
The only watercourse within this township is a small stream, or
rather two streams that unite and form Sand creek or the west
branch of the River Raisin, and Wolf creek flows through the
northeastern corner of the township. Not unlike the other townships of Lenawee county, especially the region of country between
the River Raisin and Bean creek, there is very little rough, untillable land, and the greater portion of it has been cleared of its
native timber. The valleys of the streams are very productive, and
this is equally true of the higher lands. A reasonable portion of
the fields is given over to pasture for the various kinds of live
stock, which are very extensively raised. It is one of the best
agricultural districts in the county, and yields large crops of wheat,
corn, oats, etc. The farmers are mostly well-to-do and possess
fine residences and comfortable homes, as a trip through the township will readily make manifest. Although possessing no railroad
facilities, being the only township in the county without this
means of travel, nor having any large commercial mart within its
borders, it has a rich soil, an enterprising population, and all the
elements of a thrifty farming district.
The township was named in I834 by Lyman W. Baker, presumably after the famous capital of the ancient Roman empire.




332


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


Prior to 1835 it was a part of Logan, or Adrian, as it is now known.
Lyman W. Baker, from the time of his first settlement in
the township, in the spring of 1833, was one of its most active men.
He came in before its organization, and during the meeting held
at a logging-bee was made secretary and instructed to write to the
president of the Legislative Council and ask if the township might
organize. There was soon received a reply in the affirmative,
and at the meeting of the twenty-seven voters in the township,
Mr. Baker proposed it be called Rome, David Smith, Jr., proposed
the name of Junius. It was put to vote by ballot and Rome had
three majority. The chairman then declared the township should
be called Rome, and secretary Baker so informed the Legislative
Council. In 1837, Mr. Baker was elected justice of the peace and
continued in the office until about I849. He subsequently represented the township in the county board of supervisors, and for
a period of thirty years was postmaster at Wolf Creek. He was
commissioned twenty times as notary public, and in I840 was made
deputy United States marshal. In addition to the duties of his
various offices, being a man of great industry and energy, he carried
on farming.
David Smith, Jr., came to Lenawee county and settled in
Rome township in the spring of 1832. He labored induistriously
for years with slow returns, and succeeded in building up a comfortable home from the wilderness. He proved just such a man
as was needed in the early settlement of the township, his labors
not being confined to his own personal interests, but from the very
first he encouraged the settlement of a good class of people, and
he was foremost in the enterprises which were inaugurated for
the general good of the community. He was born near the town
of Constable, St. Lawrence county, New York, Oct. 30, 1812, and
came to Lenawee county in 1832, the year before the arrival of his
father, David Smith, Sr., who located nearly 200 acres of land on
section 6, in what was then Logan, but is now Adrian township.
Like his father, David Smith, Jr., contributed his full share toward
all that was necessary to be done in establishing the educational and
religious institutions which have such an important bearing upon
the moral and intellectual welfare of the community  He was
twenty years of age upon coming here, and being blessed with good
health and strength, accomplished a very great amount of work
during the following thirty years.
The earliest settlers who came to this township with their
families were Sturgis L. Bradley, John B. Schureman, Sylvester




ROME TOWNSHIP


333


Knapp, William and Theodorick Luther, Allen Hubbard, and
Joseph M. Baker, who came in 1832, 1833, and I834, from New York
state.
John B. Schureman was born in Westchester, Westchester
county, New York, April 26, I795. He lived in the county of his
birth until the spring of I832, when he came to Lenawee county
and settled on sections 22 and 23, in Rome township, taking up
320 acres of government land. He also entered I6o acres in Dover.
He at once built a house, in I832, and it immediately became headquarters for all new settlers. Mr. Schureman was a well educated
man, with considerable business experience, and the settlers depended upon him in many ways. He built his house on a beautiful
eminence on the south side of the road, one mile east of Rome
center. Sturgis L. Bradley settled on section 23, about the same
time, and built his house a few rods north of Mr. Schureman's,
and Sylvester Knapp also settled on section 22, and built about
a half mile west. William Luther lived about one mile south, and
these four families comprised pretty much all the inhabitants of
the township at that time. During the three or four following
years a large number of settlers came in, Mr. Schureman's house
being headquarters for nearly all the immigrants who were looking for homes. He accommodated all that came, lending them
all the aid and giving them all the information possible. Mr.
Schureman was a man of ability, with a good education for those
days, possessing a good knowledge of all kinds of business, hence
he was at once looked upon by the settlers as their superior in
matters of public welfare. The township of Rome was organized
at his house and the first town meeting was held there. He built
one of the first saw mills that was erected west of Adrian, the
same being located on his farm, one-half mile south of his house.
He was the first supervisor of the township, also the first postmaster, and he held all the offices in the township within the
gift of the people. He was always a very prominent man in the
township, being highly honored and respected by all for his uniform kindness and good judgment. He lived to see every foot of
land in Rome owned by actual settlers, and the township become
one of the wealthiest and most productive townships in the county.
He died March 25, I879.
Theodorick Luther was one of the prominent figures in the
scenes of the early history of Rome township, where he first made
his settlement in 1834. He was born in South Hero, Vt., March 23,
I799. He resided with his parents until he was twenty-one years




334


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


old, and by them wag reared as a farmer, receiving a good
school education in the Empire State, to which his parents removed
while he was young. The family lived in the neighborhood of
Plattsburg, N. Y., until i83I, and for the last ten years of his
residence there Theodorick Luther followed various kinds of a
mechanical business, such as building barns, wagons, sleighs, etc.,
he having a natural ability in that line. In August, i83I, he came
to Michigan and made a settlement at Superior, Washtenaw
county, where he resided three years. In the summer of i834 he
sold out and came to Lenawee county, locating some lands in Rome
township, joining on the west a tract that had been entered by his
father, William Luther. There he resided the remainder of his life.
Not being entirely content with his agricultural pursuits, in the
winter of i834-5, in company with his father he built a saw mill on
the River Raisin, which ran through their land, and with it sawed
lumber to build their own houses and barns, besides doing considerable work for neighbors and new settlers. In I847 Mr. Luther
built a steam saw mill that was for many years well and favorably
known throughout Rome township. It was a great benefit to the
community in more ways than one, and the enterprise of Mr.
Luther in erecting it was commendable. Fortunately, when he
and his father came here, they had quite a sum of money, more
than was necessary to purchase their farms, and being among the
very earliest pioneers, they had their choice of the land, but preferred to have small farms and nearer neighbors. Theodorick
Luther filled the place of an estimable citizen, a kind father, and
a loving husband, until April 25, i887, when he was called from
this vale of tears by the Angel of Death.
Joseph M. Baker was born in Adams, Mass., Feb. I9, I780.
When he was quite young his parents removed to Ira, Rutland
county, Vermont, where he li/ved with them until the year i8oo,
when he left home and went to Manchester, Ontario county, New
York, where he purchased a farm in the woods. He at once commenced clearing his land, and built a log cabin. He married a
pioneer's daughter, reared a family of eleven children, and resided
there until the country was well improved. He erected a large
and fine house, and the family enjoyed all the comforts and many
of the luxuries of that period. But he had five sons, and as they
became men they grew uneasy and wanted homes and farms of
their own. Michigan at that time being the Eldorado, these young
men began to talk about emigrating to that unknown country, and
the parents, rather than have the family separated, finally decided to




ROME TOWNSHIP


335


sell and abandon the pleasant home they had worked so hard to
make, again to go into the woods and start once more. This they
did, and in the spring of 1833 Joseph M. Baker and the entire
family came to Michigan and settled in the virgin forest of Lenawee county. Mr. Baker purchased from the government I,ooo acres
of land on sections I2, in Rome, 5, 6, and 7, in Adrian, and 30, in
Franklin. Each of his sons was given I6o acres, and his daughters
eighty acres of land. The family arrived in the woods on Aug. 7,
1833, and this day is now celebrated by Mr. Baker's descendants, to
the number of nearly four hundred, by the annual Baker picnic.
Joseph M. Baker died in Adrian township, May 27, 1872.
William Luther was born in Bennington, Bristol county, Rhode
Island, Sept. 28, I774, and when a child moved with his parents to
New Hampshire, afterward going to Vermont, where he lived
until about the year 800o. He then moved to Plattsburg, N. Y.,
where he purchased a farm and lived until 1832, when he came to
Michigan and took up the northeast quarter of section 27, in Rome.
He possessed quite a sum of money when he came into the township and could have purchased a large tract of land, but he preferred to have neighbors. He was one of the earliest settlers in the
township, and was active in doing all he could for its growth and
development. He was ever ready to assist and encourage the new
settlers as they came in, and lived to see the entire township settled up, and many fine farms and buildings wrought out of the
forest. He died in Rome, Oct. 2, I84I.
Daniel Bates was another of the early settlers of Rome who
became prominent in the civic affairs of the township. He was
born in Pownal, Binghamton, county, Vermont, Aug. 8, 800o, but
moved with his father, Stephen Bates, who was a Revolutionary
soldier, to New Lisbon, Otsego county, New York, when he was
about eighteen months old. In I8II, the family removed to Erie
county, in the same state, and there Daniel Bates was reared,
assisting his father in clearing up a farm, and there he lived until
he was eighteen years old, when he commenced on a farm for
himself. He took an "article" for some land and lived upon it ten
years, when he sold his "chance" for $400 and purchased another
farm in the town of Clarence, in the same county, where he lived
until I835. He then sold out and came to Lenawee county, and
purchased 200 acres of land of Job Comstock, on section Io, in
Rome. This was all new land, but a log shanty had been erected,
with shake roof and split log floor. Mr. Bates cleared up his first
purchase, and added to it until he owned 520 acres, and he built a




336


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


good frame house with barns and sheds. He was a sturdy, honest,
energetic man, a thrifty farmer, and a good citizen. In his early
settlement in Rome, he was alive to every enterprise that would
benefit the township or county, assisting in cutting through roads,
building bridges, erecting school houses and churches, and advancing the social and material interests of the community. He died
on the land he purchased, Jan. 13, 1878. In religious faith he was a
Baptist, having united with the church in I832, and he always
lived a consistent Christian life.
Winslow Bates was the eldest son of Daniel Bates, and he was
born in Erie (now Newstead), Erie county, New York, Oct.
II, I8I9. He lived with his father until he was twenty-three, coming to Michigan with his parents in 1835, and he resided in Rome
township the remainder of his life. He was a genuine pioneer, having assisted his father in clearing up his farm, and he saw the township transformed from a wilderness to a high state of cultivation.
When he first saw the township, there were only a very few log
shanties within its limits, but he saw them all gradually replaced
by comfortable, and, in many instances, elegant brick and frame
houses. Every acre of land in Rome is owned and occupied by
farmers, and there is not an eighty-acre lot in the township but
what a farmer can get a good living from. There are no large
swamps or marshes within the township limits. Winslow Bates
was elected highway commissioner in 1854, and was annually
re-elected as long as he would accept the office. He was also
elected justice of the peace, and filled the office one term. He was
always an enthusiastic Republican, and he posted the first call
in the township for a Republican caucus, in the spring of 1854, the
notices being written by James H. Parker. The Republicans carried
the township that spring, and have elected a majority of the
officers in nearly every year since.
The township of Rome was organized in 1835, and the first
election was held that year, the following persons being elected to
fill the more important of the township offices: John B. Schureman, supervisor, Theodorick Luther, James Allen, and John Bates,
assessors. The first grocery was opened by Messrs. Knowles and
Halstead.
The Baptist church of Rome was founded in the fall of 1839,
being the sixth organization of that denomination to be established
in Lenawee county. The Rev. H. Churchill is the present incumbent of the pastorate, having been installed therein in the summer




ROME TOWNSHIP                     337
of I905. In point of membership this church is one of the smallest
in the county.
Rome, familiarly known as "Rome Center," is a hamlet appreciated by farmers in their vicinity.
22-IV




I
I
a
I




CHAPTER XX.
WOODSTOCK TOWNSHIP.
TOPOGRAPHY-ORGANIZATION-FIRST ELECTION AT THE HOME OF
JESSE OSBORN-FIRST SCHOOL HOUSE-NATURAL FEATURES-FIRST
SETTLEMENT-JESSE OSBORN, CHARLES M. McKENZIE AND OTHER
PIONEERS-FIRST TOWNSHIP MEETING AND OFFICERS ELECTEDFIRST MILL-CEMENT CITY-TWO FOUL MURDERS-SCHOOLS-ORSAMUS LAMB.
Topographically, this township enjoys the distinction of being
among the most irregular in Lenawee county. The township was
erected by action of the state legislature, approved March 23, 1836,
from territory then embraced in the township of Franklin. The
house of Jesse Osborn was designated as the place for holding
elections.
Jesse Osborn was born in Newburgh, Orange county, New
York, in I784, and lived with his parents until after he had reached
man's estate. His parents then moved to Cayuga county and purchased a farm, upon which they lived for several years, and Jesse
lived with them during the time. In 1824 he came to Michigan,
and landed in Detroit with his family, bringing his own team and
wagon. He was the first man to drive a team from Detroit to Monroe after the War of 1812. When he arrived at Monroe he could
find no house to live in, and finally went up the River Raisin about
five miles and occupied an old deserted house, where a woman and
five children had been murdered by the Indians, the blood-stains
being on the floor at the time. They occupied this house until
winter. In the latter part of August Mr. Osborn went to
Tecumseh, but could not get a house up and make it sufficiently
comfortable for the winter, so he returned to Monroe and stayed
until the spring of 1825. In June, 1824, he purchased eighty acres
of land adjoining the Judge Stacy farm, in Tecumseh, a part of it
being now used for the cemetery. He raised the first wheat in the




340


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


county on this farm. He lived there until I832, when he sold out to
William H. Hoag and purchased I20 acres on section 9, in Woodstock. He built a large log house and kept a hotel on the Chicago
turnpike until I857. He then sold out and moved to Coffey county,
Kansas, where he died in I865. He was the first man to purchase
land in Woodstock township and Cornelius Millspaugh was the
first settler, he pre-empting his land some years previous. Thomas
Jowls and Mary Ann Millspaugh were the first couple to be married in the township. Jesse Osborn built the first school house, in
1834, and Alvin Chase taught the first school.
Bean creek, or Tiffin river, as it is called on the early maps,
flows through a small portion of the township, maintaining a
course a little north of west until it reaches the east and west
quarter line of section 32, when it makes an abrupt turn to the
southward and enters the township of Rollin. This is the largest
water course in the township, but there are other small ones, fed
by springs and the lakes. A portion of the township is very broken
and rugged, and it contains a dozen or more of picturesque little
lakes, the three larger ones being called respectively Devil's,
Goose, and Silver lakes. "Prospect Hill," near the eastern boundary-line of the township, is one of the highest elevations in the
state.
This township was originally surveyed by Benjamin Hough and
Robert Clark, Jr., and in their notes accompanying the report of the
survey they describe the land as being hilly and broken, swampy
and marshy in places, and the soil third rate and poor. But, notwithstanding their discouraging statements in regard to the soil,
the land is principally owned by actual residents, who have strenuously endeavored to cultivate and improve it, and a comparison
with other townships in the county will show that their efforts have
not been in vain. Choice farming land lies in the valleys of the
streams. Some of the land is still covered with natural forest trees,
thinned out, of course, by the process of seventy-five years of culling in the search for desirable timber for various purposes. Being
a purely agricultural and dairy district, in this respect it maintains
a high standard of excellence. The soil averages with other lands
in the county in fertility and value, being well adapted to certain
features of the farming industry, and the farms are rendered profitable according to the energy and intelligence employed. Long
years before the white man entered the territory, this was a
favorite rendezvous for the Indians in passing through the country,
and doubtless was the scene of stealthy plottings against the




WOODSTOCK TOWNSHIP


34T


enemies of their own race, equally as often as against the white
intruder.
As stated above, the honors of first settlement are due to
Cornelius Millspaugh, but he was a resident here only a short
time-a year or two, perhaps-and he then sold and went further
west to what is known as Somerset Center, in Hillsdale county.
In November, I834, Willard Joslin and Nahum Lamb moved into
the township with their families. Mr. Joslin was born, April 29,
I793, and came to Michigan from Erie county, New York. His
family was among the very earliest of the pioneers of this section,
and while he lived Mr. Joslin discharged with unshrinking energy
the duties devolving upon him as a frontier citizen. He was an
old-line Whig politically, and a stanch supporter of Henry Clay and
his associates. He died in Woodstock township, Sept. 18, 1842.
Nahum Lamb was born in Charlton, Mass., in I794, but was a
farmer in Wales township, Erie county, New York, prior to his
migration to Michigan. He took up a farm on the line of the Chicago turnpike, on section Io, the farm afterward owned by Garrett
F. Harris. About I860 he sold this farm and moved to the village of North Adams, Hillsdale county, where he was engaged in
the mercantile business the remainder of his active career.
Benjamin Laur settled on section 12, in the month of April,
I834. He was an active, industrious man, upright in his dealings, a good farmer, and later in life a consistent member of the
Methodist Episcopal church. He lived to see his honest industry
crowned with success, the wilderness around him bloom and
blossom as the rose, and the reclaimed forest give place to fields
of plenty. The cabin in which the members of his family sheltered
themselves has long since given place to a spacious and comfortable home.
Soon the tide of immigration and the spirit of enterprise
brought new accessions, new neighbors, new friendships, and new
associations. After those already enumerated, came William Western, who settled on section 8 and subsequently removed to Wisconsin with his family. Next, George W. Clark, a son-in-law of
Jesse Osborn. He has been described as a man of fine sensibilities,
of superior mind, of strict integrity, a gentleman with a high sense
of honor, careful of giving offense and quick to resent an insult,
sincere in his profession of friendship and an honored and open
foe. But in the springtime of his usefulness consumption carried
him over the unrelenting gulf of death. Thomas McCourtie, who
first settled on section II, and soon thereafter on section 9, was a




342


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


man of indomitable perseverance and industry and lived to accumulate a splendid farm property. Isaac Smith settled on section io,
one-half mile east of Nahum Lamb's place. He was born in Connecticut, May 3, 1787, and there he lived until after he was twentyone. He then went to New York, and finally settled in Paris,
Oneida county. He was a carpenter and joiner by trade, and followed that business until he was about fifty years old. In the fall
of i835 he came to Lenawee county, settling in Woodstock, on
the Chicago turnpike, and there he resided as long as he was able to
attend to any kind of business. He died in Woodstock, Jan.
i6, i879.
Charles M. McKenzie settled on the western shore of Devil's
Lake, in an indentation of its shore, to which he gave the euphonious
name of "McKenzie's Port." He was born in Hartland, Vt., June
I, i8oo. In the spring of I830, he tied a few things in a handkerchief, and with but fifty cents in his pocket, he bade his wife and
three children good-bye, turned his face and footsteps toward the
West, and in the fall of the same year reached Tecumseh. Although
he had never served an apprenticeship as a carpenter, he took up
the square and compass, and laid out and completed one of the first
frame houses put up in that village. In i83i he came to Adrian,In i833 his wife and children came on from the East, with a number
of other settlers, whom Mr. McKenzie had induced to leave the old
Granite State and come to Michigan, which he claimed to be the
flower garden of the west. In I834 he moved to the township of
Woodstock with his family, and lived in a log cabin which stood at
the head of the lake then called by the Indians, "Michenmantou."
The cabin had neither doors, windows, nor floors, but Mr. McKenzie took lumber with him, and it was soon fully equipped. For a
number of years it afforded shelter for many a weary traveler.
The meats at this primitive hotel consisted of fish, turkey, and
venison, and the fruits were whortleberries, cranberries, and blackberries, which were bountifully brought in by the Indians, who
were glad to exchange them for pumpkins and potatoes, or anything that the white squaw had to give them. During the nights,
the wolves and bears were frequent visitors, but they were not
welcome by a lone mother with four small children, as most of the
time the husband was obliged to be away, at work in Adrian. Mr.
McKenzie named the town of Woodstock after a small village in
Vermont. After finding that through a mistake of the land commissioner, nine-tenths of the eighty acres he had entered from the
government, and paid for, was lying in the lake, he decided to




WOODSTOCK TOWNSHIP


343


return with his family to Adrian, and there, in 1843, for the second
time he engaged in the brick-making business, which he pursued
the remainder of his active life. The wrong sustained in the purchase of his farm was subsequently righted by a special act of Congress, passed for his relief while Hon. Robert McClelland was a
member of that body. Mr. McKenzie deeded back the water and
received instead eighty acres of land. In 1832, when the new and
wilderness Territory of Michigan was threatened with war and an
Indian invasion by Black Hawk, he was among the first to shoulder
his musket to protect the then frontier. Again, in 1834, when the
people of the young Territory thought they were being wronged
by the adjoining state of Ohio, he joined the little army that made
the demonstration against the invading Buckeyes. Mr. McKenzie
was a patriot in every sense of the word, yet, like most men, he had
his peculiarities. He was always sympathetic, kind-hearted, and
ever ready to do work in a good cause.
Joseph Younglove settled on section 36, where he opened a
hotel on the new road opened from Adrian to the Chicago road, in
the western part of Woodstock. He held numerous offices in the
township, sustained a good reputation, and finally removed to
Illinois. Richard Osborn also settled on section 36 and reared a
large family of children, who distinguished themselves in various
pursuits of life. He always sustained a spotless reputation and
maintained an honorable record. Susanna Sanford settled on
section 15, coming to the township with a grown-up family of
seven sons and two daughters.    Five of the sons and both
daughters were married and had families of their own. Mrs. Sanford was a woman of more than ordinary abilities, of generous
impulses, strict integrity, pure womanly affections, and with heroic
resolves. Her sons were named as follows: Malachi, Ezekiel W.,
Joseph B., Ezra., Wardel W., and Lewis, the latter of whom held
several offices of trust in the township.
There are many more that should receive a passing notice, but
the names and facts concerning them have been lost in the years
that have intervened. Those pioneer days were days of toil, privation, and suffering. To rear the rude dwelling, subdue the forest,
prepare the soil, fence the lands, harvest the crops, and in short
create a home with anything like comfort, required indomitable
courage, untiring industry, and unwearied attention. Yet those
noble men who forsook the luxurious ease of their Eastern homes,
the scenes of their childhood, the graves of their fathers and
mothers and kindred friends, and those noble women who left




344


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


behind them the luxuries of refinement and ease, the allurements
of society and style, are worthy of the blessings which the most
sanguine of them may have pictured, as well as the gratitude of an
enlightened people.
The first township meeting in Woodstock was held at the
house of Jesse Osborn on April 4, 1836. The officers elected were:
Nahum Lamb, supervisor; Thomas McCourtie, township clerk;
David Terrell, Samuel Dunn, and Joseph Younglove, justices of the
peace; Israel Titus, Ezekiel W. Sanford, and Willard Joslin,
assessors; Jesse Osborn and John Binns, directors of the poor;
Charles M. McKenzie and Jedediah P. Osborn, constables; Nelson
Terrel, Michael Chool, and Isaac Titus, commissioners of highways; William Western, Joseph Younglove, and Mitchell Gue,
commissioners of schools; Alonzo L. Smith, William Babcock,
and Wardell W. Sanford, school inspectors; Ezekiel W. Sanford,
pound master; Benson Hulin, sealer of weights and measures.
Alonzo L. Smith, who was one of the first school inspectors of
Woodstock township, was born in Paris, Oneida county, New
York, April 25, 1814, and lived with his father until he was
twenty-one, learning the carpenter's trade. He came to Michigan
with his parents in I835, and followed his trade until the spring of
1839, when he settled on section ii, on land that he had purchased
about three years before. He taught school during three winters, in
Cambridge and Woodstock townships, but after I839 he followed
farming exclusively. He at one time was elected highway cormmissioner, and filled the office of school inspector for at least twenty
years. He was also elected justice of the peace and.served one
term. He was an influential man, took an interest in public affairs,
and from the first was active in organizing the school districts in
the township, laying out roads, building bridges, etc. He was
probably as well known as any man in the township.
In December, 1835, John Talbot commenced preparations for
building a mill on Bean creek, near the outlet of Devil's Lake,
and it was finished in August, 1836. The mill is said to have been
situated near the southwest corner of section 33, and it was the
pioneer grist mill of the township, proving a great accommodation to the settlers. It was a small affair, however, and when run
to its full capacity it was unable to do the grinding for even the
northern portion of the Bean Creek Valley. In a short time there
was quite a collection of houses, shops, etc., around the mill, and the
place received the name of Peru. In the fall of I837, Mr. Talbot
concluded he could obtain a better power farther down the stream,




WOODSTOCK TOWNSHIP


345


and commenced a new race and mill. Although the mill property
was nearly all within the limits of Woodstock, yet the mill was
located just south of the township line, in the edge of Rollin. The
new mill commenced operations in the month of July, I838, and
very soon thereafter all the denizens of Peru moved to and settled
around the new mill-site. In the political campaign of I840,
because nearly every voter of the burg was a Whig, and coon
skins (one of the Whig campaign emblems) Were displayed at
nearly every door, Thomas McCourtie nicknamed the place "Coon
Town," an appellation it did not outgrow for many years. On
April 8, 1847, the village was platted and given the name of Harrison but soon thereafter became generally known as Addison.
It is situated in two townships, with perhaps the greater part of the
residence portion in Rollin. In I840 Jesse Osborn and David Terrell built a saw mill on Goose creek, in the northern part of the
township. The mill at Addison was sold to Darius C. Jackson in
1842, and about that time a saw mill was built there. A new grist
mill was built in the fall of 1848, and an extensive milling business
is still done there. The village has several reliable merchants and is
surrounded by a fine farming country.
Cement City, on the line between TWoodstock township and
Jackson county, is also a thriving village. A large cement factory
is located there, the site being selected because of the discovery
of extensive marl beds in the surrounding country. The growth
of the place has been quite rapid, and a bright future for it is confidently expected.
The township of Woodstock has been the scene of two foul
murders, or more properly of five, for one was a quadruple murder.
The particulars of these foul crimes have been given about as follows by another writer, who was familiar with the circumstances:
Mr. and Mrs. Bivins had long been residents of the township,
and had won the respect and esteem of all their neighbors. They
had but one child, a boy named David. He was not different from
other boys, except that he was noticed to have a very revengeful
disposition. At an early age he married a daughter of Ezra Sanford. She died July 5, I862, and it was afterward thought that
David was instrumental in her "taking off." At the time of her
death she was but nineteen years of age. In February, following,
he married his second wife, a daughter of Thomas Brownell, a
citizen of Rollin township. Miss Laura Brownell was a young
lady of great personal attractions, and appeared to be much
attached to her husband, and they lived happily for a time. David




346


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


took a notion that he ought to have a deed to his father's farm, and
to induce him to deed it, David enlisted in the army. His idea
was that his parents would rather deed him their home than have
their only son go into the army. In this he was mistaken. Learning his mistake, he hoped he would not receive his commission and
appeared disappointed when it came. He subsequently deserted
the army, and at the house of his father-in-law had an interview
with his father, who besought him with tears to endeavor in some
way to earn an honorable living. As it was not safe for David to
stay there, his father gave him $Ioo, expressing the hope that it
was the last money he would ever ask of him. David went to
Grafton, in the state of Ohio, and engaged in the sale of Blackman's
medicines, and earned some money. While thus employed, he
made the acquaintance of Miss Myra Hart, the daughter of a
drygoods merchant of Grafton. He was smitten with her charms,
and it is believed made some progress in gaining her affections.
But there was a Woodstock lady in the way of a consummation of
his wishes. He resolved to be rid of this encumbrance, and at the
same time secure the property he would need to support Miss Hart.
With this thought uppermost in his mind, he left Grafton for
Michigan, in January, 1865. He went to his father's house and had
an interview with his parents and wife, and then to Hudson the
same day. At the livery stable of Green & Johnson he applied for
a saddle horse. Mr. Johnson informed him that they had none, but
could furnish him a light buggy. It was winter, but the ground
was bare. He gave orders to have the horse and vehicle ready on
the arrival of the night train from the east. Having made these
arrangements he went east on the afternoon train. He returned
on the night train, took the horse and buggy, and driving to the
vicinity of his father's house, hitched the horse among some bushes
by the roadside. Going into the house, he found that his father and
mother were absent, taking care of a sick neighbor. His wife was
alone. He sent her for his father, saying he must see him immediately.  Mrs. Bivins accompanied her husband home.   David
seated himself beside his father, under pretense of private conversation, and thus held his attention while he presented a pistol
to his head and fired. The old man dropped dead. His mother
was next slain, and then he faced his wife. She pleaded with
him for the sake of their unborn child to spare her life, but the
image of Myra Hart was before his eyes, and the brute at once
murdered his wife and their child. He then set fire to the house
and retraced his steps to Hudson. He arrived there in time to




WOODSTOCK TOWNSHIP


347


take the morning train eastward. A robe dropped from the buggy
told who the murderer and incendiary was, and he was immediately
arrested. He died in the Michigan state prison.
The other murder was that of Rhoda Pennock, who was killed
by her husband, James P. Pennock, on April 22, i865. Mr. Pennock had formerly lived in the city of Adrian, and there owned the
McKenzie farm. He removed to Woodstock about the year I854.
He was upward of six feet in height, and in i865 he was sixty-seven
years old, and his hair was perfectly white. He owned i6o acres of
land on the shore of Devil's Lake, on section 34. He was a profane
man, excitable and passionate, but had never been intemperate, and
although penurious, had never been deemed dishonest. On the
question of domestic economy Pennock and his wife had had frequent quarrels. Their son-in-law had been living with them, and
most of the household furniture belonged to him and to his wife.
They had determined to live apart from the old folks, but the old
man objected to a removal of the furniture. Mrs. Pennock took
sides with the young folks, and the result was a series of family
quarrels. On the afternoon of the day of the crime, just before
dark, the neighbors discovered Pennock's barn to be on fire. They
rushed over there and succeeded in extinguishing the flames.
When this was done, the house was discovered to be on fire. This
fire also was extinguished, but while they were engaged there Pennock succeeded in firing the barn so effectively that it was
destroyed. When this third fire was discovered it first occurred to
the neighbors that Pennock was the incendiary. Mrs. Pennock
was nowhere around, and as darkness had now come on, they procured lights and went in search of her. They found her lifeless body
under a bridge which spanned a small stream running into the
lake. He had killed her by blows on the head with some blunt
instrument.
The township of Woodstock has today within her borders
seven excellent schools, exclusively of the high and graded schools
in the village of Addison. These institutions of learning are in
charge of a corps of specially trained instructors, who receive compensation according to their attainments and efficiency. No township in the county has a better system of public schools or a more
appreciative class of patrons.
The township now, as a whole, presents a striking contrast
to what it was when the early surveyors made their unfavorable
reports. The majestic solitudes, before those days unbroken, save
by the howling of the wild beast, the war of the elements, or the




348


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


peals of the reverberating thunder, now respond to the busy hum
of industry, the scream of the locomotive, and the chime of the
church-going bell. Where the red man once bivouacked around
his camp-fire, with his girdle of wampum strung with the scalps of
his enemies, and then whirled into mazes of the war-dance, now
fields of plenty and homes of industry, comfort, elegance, and luxury, gladden the eye of the beholder. Where the unsightly swamps
and quagmires and waste places marred the symmetry and beauty
of nature, now arises the stately manufactory, with its thundering
machinery, all subjected to the control of man, for the good of the
generation-yes, and of generations yet unborn; where vice, ignorance, and superstition was once the rule, now it is the exception,
and institutions flourish which are worthy of the progress of the
age, and a bright prospect opens for the future.
Considerable of the data for this chapter has been taken from
an address which was delivered by Orsamus Lamb, in March, I877.
Mr. Lamb was for many years one of the most prominent and
active citizens of Woodstock township, a sketch of which would
not be complete without appropriate mention of him.
Orsamus Lamb was born, Jan. 23, I8I9, in Erie county, New
York. He came to Lenawee county with his father, Nahum Lamb,
who settled in Woodstock, in November, I834, upon a farm on the
line of the Chicago turnpike, in section Io. About I860 the old
gentleman sold his farm and moved to the village of North Adams,
Hillsdale county, where he engaged in the mercantile business.
Orsamus Lamb lived in Woodstock, engaged in farming, until
January, 1868, when he removed to the city of Adrian. While
residing in Woodstock, he held several public offices of importance
and trust, having been elected school inspector when he was but
twenty-one years of age, and this office he held for six years. He
was also elected to the office of justice of the peace, at the age of
twenty-three, and held the position for twenty-six consecutive
years. He was elected supervisor of Woodstock for nineteen successive years. In I867, he was appointed county drain commissioner, and held that position six years, when he resigned to accept
the office of justice of the peace, to which office he was twice
re-elected.  He was always a prominent man in the county,
earnest, energetic, and diligent, constantly working for the advancement and improvement of the county and the welfare of the people.
He was a self-made man, with a laudable ambition for the honor
and respect of his fellow citizens. In politics, he was always Democratic, and took an active part in all campaigns, as an organizer and
public speaker.




CHAPTER XXI.
CAMBRIDGE TOWNSHIP.
LOCATION-DRAINAGE-EARLY SETTLERS-REV. WILLIAM N. LYSTER,
JAMES KING AND OTHER PIONEERS-CHARLES BLACKMAR, FIRST
SETTLER-PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS-NATHAN S. WHEELER-JOHN
RAWSON-FIRST TOWNSHIP MEETING —OFFICERS ELECTED-FIRST
MAIL ROUTE-FIRST STORE-FIRST SAW MILL-FIRST MINISTERSPETER ONSTED.
That part of Lenawee county which is known as the township
of Cambridge comprises Congressional township 5, range 2 east,
and contains, of course, thirty-six sections of land. It is bounded
on the north by Jackson county, on the east by Franklin township,
on the south by Rome township, and on the west by the township
of Woodstock. This township is watered by Wolf creek and its
branches, the main stream flowing in a southeasterly direction. The
surface of the township is rolling, with many picturesque lakes,
giving variety to the landscape. The soil is a sandy loam, occasionally gravelly, and the township originally consisted of oak openings, with a soil admirably suited for grain and grass. On the line
between the townships of Cambridge and Franklin is one of the
most charming of the many beautiful lakes of Lenawee county,
but it has been given the unpoetical cognomen, Sand Lake. It has
no visible inlet or outlet, and the water supply is supposed to be
afforded by subterranean springs. When first seen by white men
the lake was two or three feet lower than it is today, but the cause
of this phenomenon is a question for the scientist, rather than the
historian.
Among what may be termed the early settlers of the township
are the following: Rev. Henry Tripp, Rev. William N. Lyster, Dr.
Benjamin Workman, and James King. These were in some
respects remarkable men, and they exerted considerable influence
upon the settlers in that portion of Lenawee county. Rev. Tripp




350


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


later moved across the line into Franklin township, and he is given
appropriate mention in the chapter devoted to that division of the
county.
The Rev. William N. Lyster, a clergyman of the Episcopal
church, an Irishman by birth, was in personal appearance, and in
his general make-up the very counterpart of the typical pioneer
citizen. Delicately formed, reared in luxury and wealth, he was
educated for the ministry, and could have occupied any Episcopal
pulpit in the country. He was, in fact, rector of Christ church in
Detroit for a time, and also at one time preached in Tecumseh.
But he became fascinated with the beauty of Sand Lake and its
surroundings, and having inherited wealth, he purchased and at
one time owned nearly all the land about the lake. With the culture and education fitting him for what he termed the best society
in any country, he was in manners, and in all his life, simple as a
child. While he could have received a large salary and occupied a
prominent pulpit, he preferred the simple, unostentatious life that
he led upon the banks of Sand Lake, to that of any other in the
world. There was nothing rough or harsh in his organism, or in
his preaching. His sermons were models of persuasive eloquence,
and he sometimes wore his clerical robes, but often preached
without them.  His distinguishing characteristics were simplicity
and self-abnegation. Lenawee county has had many noble, christian men in the ministry, in its numerous churches and sects, but
among them all it would be difficult to find the peer of Rev. William N. Lyster in all those qualities which go to make up our highest ideal of what a clergymen should be. He is given further mention on another page, in the chapter devoted to church history.
James King was an Englishman of superior education and
acquirements, aAr it is said that he was a graduate of one of the
famous universities in his native country. Falling in love with the
'lake, in i835 he purchased land upon its southern border, from the
government, and built a log house upon an eminence commanding
a magnificent view. He was a man of fine presence, of cultured
mind and extensive learning, had mingled with the best society
in his native England, and in knowledge of poetry, literature, and
art, had no peer in all the region of country where he established
his pioneer habitation. But in that most practical and useful of all
arts and acquirements, especially for a man with. a wife and children dependent upon him-the art of making a living on a farm,
in a new country-he was a failure when compared with some of
his neighbors who could scarce read their mother tongue. His




CAMBRIDGE TOWNSHIP


35I


accomplished wife, reared as she had been in luxury and wealth,
knew absolutely nothing of domestic life or of its requirements,
especially as the wife of a farmer without money. Spending, as
she did, much of her time in her boat upon the lake, sketching its
beautiful banks and hillsides, she doubtless drank in lessons which
her more practical sisters, engaged in the varied duties of domestic
life, would perhaps have been incapable of receiving. But, while
she was feeding her soul with visions of beauty, and deriving comfort and consolation from the study of nature, the children became
ragged and almost naked. The lack of practical knowledge finally
compelled Mr. King to abandon his farm. It is stated that he subsequently obtained an appointment as a professor in a Canadian
college, and afterward founded the village of Kingsville, in Canada,
became wealthy and enjoyed his old age in wealth and affluence.
Benjamin Workmen, another of these pioneers, who seemingly
was unfitted for the life he had chosen, is given mention in the
chapter devoted to Literature and Journalism.
The north half of Cambridge township is somewhat rolling
and very hilly in some sections, interspersed with many beautiful,
clear lakes, bountifully supplied with fish of several varieties. The
soil is generally a sandy and gravelly loam and well adapted to produce all kinds of grain. There is also a fair allowance of marsh
lands. The whole north half is what is termed oak openings. The
south half is what was called heavy timbered lands, rather level,
abounding with large and stately oaks, majestic black walnuts, with
what was considered by the early settlers an exhaustless supply
of whitewood, sugar maple, and ash timber. From the high lands
in the vicinity of the lakes, two small streams of water meander
their course until one helps to form the north branch of the River
Raisin, and the other the south tributary of the same stream. The
military road was surveyed and laid out by the United States
government in 1825, running from Detroit to Chicago and passing
through the north part of this township, a number of years before
any white inhabitant had erected his cabin west of Tecumseh.
The records of the United States land office shows that John
Gilbert, of Monroe county, New York, entered the first land, I6o
acres on section 4, in 1825. One of the commissioners, who assisted
in the laying out of this military road, located several thousand
acres of land on the line of the road, for a Rochester company, of
which Mr. Gilbert was one of the managers. The second lot was
purchased in the year I829 by Isaac Powers, of Washtenaw county.
The third lot was taken by Charles Blackmar, July II, I831.




352


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


The first settler in the township was Mr. Blackmar, he having
erected his house in I829, fifteen miles from the nearest settlement.
Charles Blackmar was born in Massachusetts, Dec. 25, I784, and
upon coming to Lenawee county chose as his future home a tract
of land on sections 6 and 7, in Cambridge township. He built a log
tavern in 1829, and at that time it was the only house between
Tecumseh and Jonesville, nearly midway of the "forty-mile woods,"
so called in those days, between the above-named villages. He was
very poor when he came, and lived under a white oak tree for several days. In fact, he commenced "keeping hotel" under this tree
the first night after his arrival, and he had several guests, as some
travelers came along and were glad of the accommodations
offered. After a few days Mr. Blackmar rolled up a temporary log
house, which he lived in and kept hotel for about five years, and he
was one of the most popular landlords in the country. In I834 he
commenced the erection of a frame house, but that summer a
traveler came along and stopped with him, dying within a few
days of cholera, which he contracted in Detroit. Mr. Blackmar
nursed him during his brief sickness, and shortly after the
stranger's death he, too, was attacked with the dread scourge, and
died Aug. 22, I834. His death caused general mourning throughout the entire settlement, and even the Indians, with whom he was
very friendly, wept like children at the loss of their old friend,
The Indians had great respect for him. On one occasion, a petty
Pottawatamie chief, Me-ta-aw, came to his house intoxicated and
wanted whiskey, undertaking to help himself to it, when Mr. Blackmar threw him out of the house, striking him somewhat severely
several times. He gathered himself up and ran away, whooping his
loudest. In a few days he returned, sober, and begged for peace
and friendship, saying, "I boss Injun, you boss che-mo-ka-man"
(white man). Old Baw-Beese was the chief of the Pottawattamies,
and often called and ordered his meals, wanting to pay "two shilling like white man." The frame hotel building was finished by
Mr. Blackmar's family, and was kept as a hotel for several years.
The second public improvement made in the township was the
La Plaisance Bay military road from Monroe, intersecting the
Chicago turnpike in Cambridge, and it was laid out in 1832. In
I835-6 the woodman's axe was heard on all sides, with the crash
of the falling trees, in place of the howl of the wolf and the bear.
The cheerful log house, with its ample fire-place, was erected, roads
were opened, clearings were made, corn, potatoes and wheat were
planted, and with a little cultivation yielded bountifully. Thus




CAMBRIDGE TOWNSHIP


353


prosperity, with the true and generous hospitality which prevails
in all new settlements, united the good citizens in the bonds of
friendship and good will to all. The first school house was erected
in the east part of the township, in I835, on lands where the Springville school house now stands. There was school taught in the west
part of the township in the winter of 1836. Children came a distance
of four miles to learn to read and spell. The first practicing physician was Dr. A. N. Moulton, who settled in the west part of the
township in 1834. In the fall of 1835 a number of citizens met in
council at the inn of Abram Butterfield to give a name to the township. Among those present were Abram Butterfield, Isaac Powers,
William Blackmar, Nathaniel S. Wheeler, Joseph Achins, John
Pawson, Paul Geddes, John Stephenson, and John Smith, who have
the honor of giving Cambridge its name, which was unanimously
ratified by the company present, and afterward by the Territorial
legislature.
Nathaniel S. Wheeler was born in Amenia, Dutchess county,
New York, Sept. 5, I808. His father, Thomas Wheeler, was born
in the same place, Jan. 31, 1783.  He owned a farm in Dutchess
county and lived there until I829, when he moved to Seneca county
and lived there four years, immigrating to Michigan in I833. He
took up land in Cambridge and Franklin townships, arriving
here with his family by Indian trail at four o'clock on the afternoon
of Sept. 21. His land was known and described as follows: The
east half of the east half of section 24, and the east half of the
northeast quarter of section 25, in Cambridge; also one-half of the
west fraction of section I8, and the west fractional half of section
I9, in Franklin. He lived to see the entire farm cleared, fenced,
and improved, with large and sufficient barns, sheds, etc., with a
very commodious and elegantly finished stone house, located on as
beautiful a building spot as can be found. IHe died Jan. 25, I87I.
Nathaniel S. Wheeler was reared a farmer, and all the education
he ever received was at a common district school. He remained
at home with his father and did his full share of all the work in
clearing up and subduing the 500 acres of land his father purchased
in this county. He held the plow to "break up" over three hundred
acres of it. In fact, he owned an undivided one-half of the entire
property, and in company with his father always worked the farm
for the very best results. The land proved to be very productive,
although somewhat stony and hilly, but Nathaniel made it a most
desirable farm. In 1859 he took a deed of the land, and in I869 he
sold the entire tract to Galusha Case, of Ohio, for $I7,000. In the
23-IV




354


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


fall of I870 he purchased the old "Hagaman farm," it being the
northwest quarter of section 34, of Adrian, adjoining the Adrian
city limits, and there he resided the remainder of his life.
John Pawson was born in Denton, Yorkshire, England, Jan. 2,
i8o6. He lived with his parents and followed farming until he was
twenty-two years old, when his sister and her husband, Thomas
Burkby, were coming to America, and John decided to come also.
In March, I828, they sailed from Hull in the ship Westmoreland,
and landed at Quebec after a rough voyage of seven weeks and
four days. They immediately went to Ogdensburg, N. Y., where
John found employment with Dr. J. W. Smith, and remained with
him until the spring of I831, when he came to Michigan. In the
fall of I830, his mother, two brothers, and two sisters, came to this
country, and they all came to Michigan with John in I83i, he purchasing forty acres of land at Springville, in Cambridge township.
He resided there until I840, when he traded with his brother,
Samuel, for a farm on section I8, in Franklin, where he resided the
remainder of his life. When he first settled here he was not much
encouraged with the country. There were very few settlers, teams
and schools were scarce, wheat was nearly half smut, and the bread
was nearly black. Millers at that time had no "smut machines."
Pork was very high and very poor, wolves were very plentiful and
hungry, while Indians were numerous, familiar, and continually
begging. John got very homesick, and had it not been for his
mother and sisters he would probably have returned to Ogdensburg. One of the settlers, who was quite a wag, heard of his despondency and called on him one day, telling him to come over
to his cabin and "look over his girls," having three bouncing daughters. Mr. Pawson got over his "sickness" after a year or two,
when several new settlers came in and more were coming every
day, and things began to liven up and look prosperous. There
were only three or four settlers in Cambridge when he first settled here, and he assisted in all the first improvements.
The first township meeting was held at the house of Abram
Butterfield, April 4, i836. Isaac Powers was elected supervisor
and justice of the peace; Paul Geddes, justice of the peace and
township clerk; Harlow C. Smith, justice of the peace and assessor; A. N. Moulton, justice of the peace, and Dr. James Geddes,
constable and collector. There were twenty-six voters, and very
unanimous they were. In i836 Abram Butterfield was appointed
postmaster, and the first postoffice was immediately opened. The
first mail route through this township was on the Chicago road,




CAMBRIDGE TOWNSHIP


355


in I83I. The first mail route over the La Plaisance Bay road was
established in January, 1835, through Cambridge. The first store
building was erected by Hart & Mosher, in 1836, and it was well
filled with groceries, dry goods, and hardware.
In 1836 a saw mill was built on the far-famed Wolf creek,
which, in speculative times, was reported in eastern cities as navigable for the largest class of steamboats from Lake Erie to the
lakes in Cambridge. City lots bordering on the stream sold for
fabulous prices, and wild-cat money was circulated in uncut reams.
The first grist mill was built in I837. The first resident ministers
of the Gospel were Elder Tripp, Rev. John Stephenson, Elder
John Smith, and Rev. William N. Lyster. The last named as is
stated elsewhere, selected his home on the high and beautiful banks
of Sand Lake, and here, amid the towering oaks, he built his house.
A few rods from his residence, on a large and majestic tree, was
an eagle's nest, where the Indian tradition said they had raised
their young for Ioo seasons. Looking from the window out on
the lake, one could see in their season large flocks of ducks, and
hundreds of wild geese, intermingled with the low-set and solitary
loons, and with the graceful and admired swans. In the depths
of these waters were untold numbers of fish of many varieties.
This venerable pioneer rector of the forest held services in this
township for over thirty years, and when the first church was built,
in 1855, he furnished one-third of the money toward its completion.
Peter Onsted was another of the early settlers of Cambridge
township. He was a native of Sussex county, New Jersey, and
was born March Io, I8o8. He continued in his native state until
twenty-two years old, then went to Yates county, New York, and
six years later, in the spring of 1836, came to this township and
settled-on section 33, near the site of the present village of Onsted.
He had already visited Michigan and selected his location, after
which he returned to New York and made his preparations for removal. He first located I6o acres, but added to his real estate from
time to time until he finally had a farm of 515 acres, of which he
cleared and improved I40 acres, and put up a large frame house
with barns and sheds. He was among the earliest settlers, when
Indian trails and blazed trees were the only guides to the traveler
through the wilderness. At times no provisions could be had for
any amount of money, and many newcomers suffered from hunger
as well as discouragement. The market at Adrian involved a twodays' journey, and from twenty to twenty-five bushels of wheat
was a full load for a yoke of oxen over the terrible roads and the




356


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


hills which were almost impassable. Mr. Onsted left Cambridge
township in the spring of 1871, and removed to the city of Adrian,
where he resided the remainder of his life. Late in the fall of 1836
Mrs. Onsted, in passing through the woods, a mile from any house,
met a large panther who disputed the right of way. Her courage
and bravery drove the varmint up a tree, where he was left to howl
in solitude.
A short time afterward a large bear got into a yard where
there was a hog, and his jaws were immediately fastened to the
porker's neck. The squealing was tremendous, and Mrs. Onsted,
with undaunted courage, ran with the first ready weapon, a pitchfork, and plunged it deep into the side of the bear. The hog was
left staggering, the bloody trail of the bear was followed, and bruin
shot. His weight was over 300 pounds. In the summer of 1838
a family named Loveland, living on section I8, in a small cabin
covered with bark, went into a partly finished building near by for
protection during-a heavy shower. They were there but a few
minutes when lightning struck the building, and Mr. Loveland
and two daughters were killed. The wife and one girl were not
hurt.
In 1838 Sylvester Walker opened a hotel at Cambridge Junction. This house sustained a well earned reputation among the
traveling community as being one of the best west of Detroit. The
passengers of two stages dined at this house daily. Oftentimes
there would be from ten to twenty wagons and carriages waiting
their turn for accommodations. About the period of I840 it was
the boast of farmers to have luxuriant fields of grain, a good pair
of oxen, and occasionally a horse, and most every farmer kept a
dog. And they also took pride in one other thing-in rearing the
largest and best families of children. It is said that one family in
the west part of the township were not blessed with children, but
usually kept from ten to sixteen dogs.
The late Francis A. Dewey, from whose writings considerable
of the information of this chapter has been obtained, is authority
for the statement that in the month of June, 1828, about the third
team that had ever passed over the Chicago military road was that
with the family of Ebenezer Jones. In looking for a western home
they had come as far as Wolf Lake, where they camped over night.
They were of course delighted with the beautiful waters of the lake
and the rich alluvial soil; also the fine scenery. They unloaded
the wagon, erected their tent, and left their horses to roam around
and rest. Here they intended to make a farm plantation, with a




CAMBRIDGE TOWNSHIP                357
pleasant home, twelve miles from the nearest house. On the second
day a large company of Indians encamped on the opposite side of
the lake, and two of them rode on ponies around where Mr. Jones
was. They seemed to act as though they did not like those white
intruders, and made some warlike demonstrations. Mrs. Jones was
much frightened, their wagon was again loaded, the tent was done
up, and they left the admired lakes, also the Indian war-path. Mr.
Jones afterward erected his home on the banks of the St. Joseph
river. Thus this township lost the first white inhabitant, and the
western river gained the first white citizen and improvement between Allen's Prairie and Tecumseh, viz: the now flourishing village of Jonesville.
Upon the building of the Michigan & Ohio railroad (now a
branch of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern) through the
township, a thriving village sprang up on section 28, taking the
name of its founder, Onsted. The village is beautifully located and
is the center of a fine farming region.








CHAPTER XXII.
HUDSON TOWNSHIP.
NATURAL FEATURES AND ADVANTAGES-PRODUCTS OF THE SOILFIRST SETTLEMENTS - LANESVILLE-BERIAH H. LANE-VILLAGE
OF LENAWEE-FIRST MARRIAGE, FIRST DEATH, FIRST STOREFIRST RELIGIOUS MEETING-FIRST FRAME HOUSE-SILAS EATON-EARLY SAW MILLS-FIRST TOWNSHIP MEETING-JOHN H.
CARLETON, THE FATHER OF WILL CARLETON, THE POET-VILLAGE OF CLAYTON-CITY OF HUDSON-PUBLIC LIBRARY.
This township was organized by an act of the state legislature,
approved March 23, 1836, with the boundaries the same as they are
at present.
The township of Hudson is traversed by Bean creek, or Tiffin
river, a stream of considerable size, on each side of which are broad,
level tracts of land of the rich black loam variety, which is exceptionally fertile as corn land. The higher lands are strong and fertile clay soil, which yields abundant returns under proper cultivation. Being abundantly watered from the many springs and small
branches which abound, these lands are especially valuable for
grazing purposes, the stock-raising industry being a source of profit
as well as pleasure. Bean creek, with the many spring branches,
or runs, constitutes the drainage of the township, as well as the
water supply. With these enumerated advantages, it is not strange
that a large majority of the farmers are extensively engaged in the
stock business, and many of them feed the entire grain product of
their farms to stock, raised by themselves, while others are buyers
and shippers. The yearly growth of this industry is a feature
which distinguishes the township from a really agricultural community.
Extensive fruit-growing is another profitable industry which
commands large investment and correspondingly large returns.
There are those who have kept abreast of the onward march of hor



360


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


ticultural science, and in the scientific propagation and culture of
the varieties best adapted to the soil and climate have realized
abundant returns.
Traditional history at best is unreliable, but becomes especially so when transmitted to the third or fourth generation. However,
it is not necessary to depend upon tradition to learn of the early
residents of the township of Hudson. The first efforts toward the
settlement of the township were made by Hiram Kidder, who located there in I833. Mr. Kidder had settled in the Raisin valley
in 1831, but on Feb. 6, 1833, he entered a part of sections 6 and 7,
in the present township of Hudson, in the name of Daniel Hudson,
Nathan B. Kidder and William Young. In August Mr. Kidder
took men with him from the Raisin valley and rolled up the body
of a log house, and in the latter part of October he moved his family thither. The family consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Kidder and their
children: Harriet, Celestia, Addison, Maria and Nathan.
A few days later, Nov. I, about sunset, the Ames party arrived at the solitary habitation of Mr. Kidder. The members of
this family were natives of Massachusetts, but they had scattered
through the New England states and the state of New York. In
the spring of 1833, they determined to send Charles Ames and
Thomas Pennock into the wilds of Michigan to locate homes where
all the families of that branch of the Ames stock could be reunited
in one settlement. Advised by Nathan B. Kidder, then of Geneva,
N. Y., they came to the house of Hiram Kidder, in the Raisin valley, in May, I836, and guided by him they visited the Bean creek
country, in the vicinity of the lands then recently entered by him,
and so favorably were they impressed with the beauties of the country that they located land in the immediate vicinity, adjoining the
Kidder entries. Mr. Ames, according to the original tract book,
entered the east half of the southwest quarter of section 7, in Hudson, and the southeast quarter of section I and the northeast quarter of section 12, in what is now the township of Pittsford, Hillsdale county. Mr. Pennock entered the west half of the southwest
quarter of section 7, in Hudson, and the southwest quarter of the
southeast quarter of section I2, in Pittsford. They returned East,
and in November, as before stated, they arrived with their families
-or, to be more definite, Charles Ames and family and some members of other families, and some unmarried individuals belonging
to the Ames stock, to-wit: Charles Ames and wife, Miss Ball, sister
of Mrs. Ames, and afterward the second wife of Henry Ames; Miss
Elizabeth Ames, afterward Mrs. James Sprague; Henry W;illiams,




HUDSON TOWNSHIP


36i


Ezra Ames, and Alpheus Pratt. Henry Ames was married, but had
left his wife in the East on account of her ill health, and Alpheus
Pratt had left his wife at the house of a Mr. Pease, a little west of
Adrian, to rest a little before completing the journey; the other
two men were unmarried. The night of Oct. 31, they lodged at
the house of Stephen Perkins, about four miles west of Adrian. All
day, Nov. i, they pursued their way through the forest between
their last lodging place and Bean creek, and there was snow on the
ground, making travel the more inconvenient. Mrs. Ames carried a baby about seven weeks old, and therefore had to ride, but
the men of the party and the two girls, the Misses Ball and Ames,
walked the entire distance. The girls frequently stopped by the
wayside to wring the water from their stockings, and then proceeded until a repetition of the operation became necessary. These
newcomers found the Kidder mansion yet unfinished; it had a part
of a floor, but lacked doors, windows and chimneys. A few days
afterward Jesse Smith arrived, located some land, and returned
East. Oliver Purchase and Samuel VanGander also arrived about
the same time, and located land which Mr. Purchase entered at
the Monroe land office, Nov. 6, and then returned East. Mr. VanGander remained on the land. The Kidder house was soon completed, and was for a time the common habitation for all the settlers. In a short time, however, a second house was completed, and
there the Ameses took up their abode.
Early in November, 1833, Simeon VanAkin visited the township and located land in what is now the city of Hudson, although
he did not take up his residence there until the following year. -In
i834, he made the entire trip from Ontario county, New York, with
a pair of horses and a wagon, and accompanied by his two children.
Near Detroit he was joined by his mother and a brother-William
H. H. VanAkin-and then they all continued their journey with
the team, and three days later found themselves in Hudson township. Where the lively city of Hudson now stands there was but
one dwelling, a log cabin occupied by Beriah H. Lane and his family. This hospitable man warmly welcomed the VanAkins, and
invited them to share his home until they should be able to locate
themselves in a house of their own. Mr. Lane's cabin, though of
small dimensions-having bWt me room below and a loft, reached
by a ladder, above-often accommodated many guests. At that
particular time the family consisted of ten members, including Mr.
and Mrs. Lane, his children, his parents, and his sister and her
children. Besides that number Mr. Lane had twenty men working




362


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


on a mill dam, and they were also accommodated under that roof.
Eleven days after commencing the construction of their cabin, the
VanAkin family had it ready for occupancy, moving in before
there were any doors, floors, or windows, and with but two-thirds
of the roof on. At night dry-goods boxes placed before the entrance served to keep the wolves which prowled around the house
from coming in, but they did not keep out the noise of their hideous howling, by which the slumber of the inmates was often disturbed. Simeon VanAkin entered I96 acres and his brother 200
acres of government land, all of which is now included within the
incorporated limits of the city. As soon as they had completed
their cabin, they commenced to clear the land and make it ready
for cultivation, and in 1835 the brothers and their mother bought
a half interest in the saw mill with Mr. Lane, owning the same for
two years. Their pioneer cabin was located on the corner of the
present Main and High streets in the city of Hudson.
Beriah H. Lane was born in Enfield, Hampshire county, Massachusetts, in 800o, was reared in his native town, and there he
learned the trade of a carpenter and joiner, which he pursued until
the spring of 1834, when he came to Lenawee county and entered
a tract of land from the government, the same being situated one
mile south of the present city of Hudson. He soon exchanged I6o
acres of it for eighty acres now included in the city, lying north of
Main street. On it was a log cabin, which was then the only dwelling where the city of Hudson now stands. After erecting a saw
mill, one of the first in the vicinity, Mr. Lane returned to Massachusetts for his family, and came back with his wife and two
children, in the fall of the same year. On their way they stayed
for a short time at Elyria, Ohio, and from there journeyed to Hudson with an ox team, at once taking possession of the log cabin
and commencing the clearing of the land. In the course of time
other settlers moved in and took up sections, or parts of sections,
of land near by, the forests were eliminated, verdant and smiling
fields taking their places; the log houses which were the first habitations of the newcomers, were replaced by frame houses, neatly
and tastily constructed, and churches, schools, warehouses and
manufactories sprang up as if by magic. The father of this city,
as Beriah H. Lane may be- justly termed, during his half century's
residence here witnessed its development from a wilderness, with
his rude log house as a nucleus, to a thriving city of 3,000 inhabitants. In this wondrous change he took a prominent part, always
aiding financially or otherwise anything that would add to its ad



HUDSON TOWNSHIP


363


vancement. The first election in Hudson was held at his house,
and at that time he was elected justice of the peace. When a postoffice was established there, it was named Lanesville in his honor,
and he was appointed postmaster, an office which he held for a
number of years. He died in Hudson, in November, I887, mourned
not only by his family, but by the entire community, who held him
in the highest respect and esteem.
The Kidder settlement being near the west line of the county,
naturally extended into the neighboring county of Hillsdale, into
what are now the townships of Pittsford and Wheatland; in fact,
very soon after the settlement started, the larger part of it was in
Hillsdale county. On May I, I834, Hiram Kidder commenced
work on a mill race, and on June I, the millwright, Samuel O. Coddington, of Geneva, N. Y., commenced the work on the mill. On
July I the mill irons were hauled from Adrian by ox teams, and
on the I4th day of the same month the frame was raised. The mill
was put in operation about Oct. I, was completed during the same
month, and cost $1,441.3I. Early in June Mr. Kidder platted the
village of Lenawee, on the land of the mill company. In 1835 the
spring business was opened by a marriage, John Rice and Mrs. W.
K. Douglass being the contracting parties and Oliver Potter the
officiating magistrate. This was the first marriage in what is now
Hudson township. On July 27, 1835, Mrs. Davis, mother of Reuben Davis, died, this being the first death in the township. On
July 28, George Salisbury opened the first Lanesville store.
On August 8, 1835, the citizens of the township held the preliminary meeting for the purpose of organizing a township. It was
decided to petition the new state legislature, about to convene in
November, for a separate organization. On suggestion of Hiram
Kidder the township was named Hudson, after Dr. Daniel Hudson,
of Geneva, N. Y., the senior member of the company which purchased and owned the Kidder mill property, and Lenawee village.
But the legislature continued in session only six days, and took
no action on township organizations.
On Sunday, Aug. 9, 1835, the first religious meeting in the
township was held at the house of Erastus Lowe. In the month
of November Mr. Lane built a frame house where the Comstock
house now stands, and this was the first frame house in the township. In the same fall William Frazee and family, Salmon Trask
and family, and Miss Abigail Dickinson, were among the arrivals
in the Lanesville settlement. On Nov. ii, 1835, the Rev. William
Wolcott preached, the first sermon in the village of Lanesville, at




364


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


the house of Mr. Lane, and at the same time and place a temperance society was organized.
Reuben Davis, the death of whose mother has been heretofore
mentioned, came in March, I834, and located the middle sub-division of the southwest fractional quarter of section I8, in Hudson
township, and commenced building a log house. That lot of land
now forms a part of the city of Hudson, it being that portion lying
north of Main street and between Church and High streets. The
house he commenced stood in the vicinity of Market street, between
Main street and the Lake Shore railroad.
Some time during the summer of 1834 Dudley Worden, having
built a house in the village of Lenawee, opened a little store, and,
as was the custom of those days, a part of his stock consisted of
whisky, an article as necessary for Indian traffic as for home consumption.  In December of the same year John Davenport and
family settled in Lanesville. The house he built and occupied
stood on or near the east bank of the Bean, and just north of Main
street, on a half acre of land reserved by Reuben Davis when he
sold to Mr. Lane. In excavating for the Lake Shore railroad, the
north part of the house was undermined, and soon afterward was
removed. During the year 1834, besides those already named, Sylvester Kenyon and Silas Eaton settled in the township of Hudson.
Silas Eaton was born in Duanesburg, Montgomery county,
New York, Feb. 22, I798, and there he resided until his twelfth
year, when he removed with his parents to Perinton, Monroe county, where he was educated and lived until he was married. He remained in western New York until 1834, when he came to Michigan. He first came in the spring of that year, and located land on
sections 7 and 8, in the present township of Hudson. He then returned to New York and brought his family, arriving in Adrian,
Oct. Io, and immediately started with teams, with his goods and
family, for Mr. Kidder's house on Bean Creek.  On the night
of the IIth he was obliged to camp in the woods, and on the
following morning he remarked that he would not move again if
he was sure he was on his own land; he suspected that he was in
the neighborhood of it, but did not know. He therefore went on
to the cabin of Mr. Kidder, who was to show him the land, and
afterward discovered that he had camped on his own premises.
His family was the seventh to settle in the present township of
Hudson, and he was afterward active in organizing the township.
He at once took an interest in the improvement and development
of the community, and was prominent and efficient in all that tend



HUDSON TOWNSHIP


-655


ed to enhance the interests and add to the comfort and prosperity
of the settlers. He lived on his farm until 1837, when he removed
to Keene, Hillsdale county, where he served as postmaster by appointment of Martin Van Buren. In i840 he removed to the village
of Hudson. He was supervisor during the years i848-49, and was
postmaster eight years, under Presidents Pierce and Buchanan. He
built five miles of the superstructure of the Michigan Southern
railroad, including bridges, between Hudson and Pittsford, in 1839 -40. He retired from active business in i86o, and died in Hudson,
August 2i, I876.
In the spring of i835 Michael Dillon came in and commenced
chopping on his land, entered the year previous. He was accompanied by his brother, Dennis. Some time in the summer Michael
returned East for his family. In the month of May, probably the
third day, Mr.' Lane organized a Sunday school at his house. On
June IO, i835, Noah Cressey and wife settled on section 32, adjoining land of Michael Dillon. Mr. Cressey, as well as the Dillons,
came to Bean Creek valley by the southern or Canandaigua route,
and because the lands of northern Medina were well culled, drifted
over into Hudson and commenced a settlement. Between them
and the Lanesville settlement there was an unbroken belt of timber, which effectually cut off intercourse, while the Medina settlements were comparatively easy of access. Therefore, for many
years, that neighborhood traded and visited with the Medina people, and were, for all business and social purposes, identified with
them. During the spring and summer the Kidder mill was kept
in constant motion, sawing out lumber with which to finish the
log houses of settlers in the township. This and Mr. Lane's mill
possessed great powers of civilization, and through their agency
puncheon floors and bark roofs and gables began to disappear, and
new houses were now finished with shake roofs and sided gables.
It marked a new era in the settlement of the township. In November Alexander Findley came in and cleared a part of the'Cobb
land, and built a log house in anticipation of the arrival of Harvey
Cobb and family. In this month the settlement in the south part
of the township received some recruits. On Nov. 2, Elisha Brown
and family arrived at the house of his son-in-law, Noah Cressey.
The Brown party consisted of Mr. Brown and wife, his son, Lorenzo L., and wife, and his other sons, Clement, David, Lewis, George,
William and Noah, and Dolly Elwell, a niece of Noah Cressey.
Mr. Brown had purchased his lands of Robert Huston, and there
was the body of a small house, roofed, but otherwise unfinished, on
the land.




366


MmEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


On April 4, 1836, the first township meeting of the township
of Hudson was held at the house of Beriah H. Lane. Officers
were elected as follows: Simeon VanAkin, supervisor; George
Saulsbury, township clerk; Beriah H. Lane and Henry Ames, justices of the peace; Thomas Kealey, John Davenport, and John C.
Colwell, commissioners of highways; John H. Carleton, assessor,
and Noah Cressey, treasurer. It was voted to raise fifty dollars
for contingent expenses.
John Hancock Carleton, who officiated as the first assessor of
Hudson township, was one of the brave, stout-hearted pioneers who
came to Michigan while it was yet under Territorial government,
and by his energy, sound judgment, and decision of character, rendered valuable assistance in developing its resources, and in establishing its civil, social and religious institutions. He was a native
of New Hampshire, and was born in the town of Bath, Grafton
county, Oct. I6, 1802. He was reared among the mountains and
hills of his native state, and there breathed in the spirit of independence and freedom with which he was so largely endowed. His
early life was passed in the village school and in assisting in the
labors of the home farm, until he was sixteen years old, when his
father died, and from that time he supported himself. Going to
Canada soon afterward, he found employment in the timber regions,
and remained a resident of the Dominion for several years. About
the year 1830 he again became a resident of the United States, locating in Wayne county, Michigan, where he worked as a farm
laborer the ensuing five years: In 1835 he visited Lenawee county
and purchased a tract of land on sections 21 and 22 of what is now
Hudson township. After securing the land he returned to Wayne
county for his family. Having made the necessary preparations
for the journey, he started bright and early one pleasant Monday
morning, accompanied by his wife and their two small children, for
his new home. Their conveyance, which also contained provisions
and furniture, was a large wagon drawn by horses and oxen, the
horses being attached to the wagon and the oxen ahead. They
traveled during the day, stopping at intervals to rest and refresh
themselves and their team with food, and camped at night, until
the following Sunday, when they arrived at the house of John C.
Colwell, on section I. This was a log cabin I8x20 feet, with one
room below and a loft above. Mr. and Mrs. Colwell were at church,
but the latch-string was out and they walked in, considering it a
very delicate invitation to accept the freedom of the cabin. When
the host and hostess returned from worship they welcomed them
heartily, and invited them to remain there until they could build




HUDSON TOWNSHIP


367


a house on their own land. Mr. Carleton at once commenced clearing a space on which he could build, and in a week had a log house,
eighteen feet square, ready for occupancy. The roof was covered
with shakes split from basswood logs, and these were weighted
by poles to hold them in place, nails being a minus quantity. After
chinking the cracks in the cabin with chips and mud, they had as
comfortable an abode as could be found in the vicinity. There being no stoves in those days, Mrs. Carleton did all her cooking by
the open fire. The forests were then tenanted by savage beasts,
wild game, and a few Indians; the latter were peaceful and frequently called at the cabin for food. Mr. Carleton kept the larder
well supplied with venison. bear steak, and turkeys, not having
far to travel to find any of these. Mrs. Carleton, who was also
expert in the use of the rifle, did not hesitate to use it if any of the
wild animals came prowling around the cabin. Mr. Carleton
cleared a farm of sixty acres, and resided there until his death, which
took place Feb. 9, 1872. Te had in the meantime erected a good
set of frame buildings and made other substantial improvements.
-He was a man of unswerving integrity, great ability and shrewd
judgment. An intelligent reader and profound thinker, his keen
intellect grappled with the leading questions of the day. He was
a strong anti-slavery man, and tenaciously upheld his opinions
when he stood nearly alone in the township as an Abolitionist. For
many years he was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church,
but later in life, differing with others of that faith concerning certain points of their creed, he severed his connection therewith and
joined the Wesleyan Methodists. Mrs. Carleton was a native of
Genesee county, N. Y., the daughter of Daniel Smith, who moved
with his family to Michigan in 1831. Later he removed to Williams county, Ohio, and established a pioneer saw mill in Northwest township, at a place known in an early day as "Kintightown,"
and there he died. To Mr. and Mrs. Carleton were born five children, one of whom-Will M. Carleton-has won world-wide renown in the field of literature, being one of the favorite poets of
America.
' In June, I836, the Rev. David Pratt came, and for two years
was pastor of the Presbyterian church. He bought a piece of land
known as Pratt's block, and there he built a house. There was no
church edifice in the then village of Lanesville, which then consisted of five houses and a log school house, and it was in the latter
building that Mr. Pratt preached for nearly seven years, until a
church building was erected. He was the first clergyman that
officiated as such in Hudson, and he also preached in Rome and




368


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


other parts of the county. He was the only located preacher in
the western part of the county for several years. He officiated at
most of the funerals and weddings in the early days of the settlement, and was always ready and willing to accommodate at all
times. He was killed one morning in the spring of I844, by a limb
of a tree falling upon his head.
In the summer of 1836, H. P. Oakley came and bought out
George Salisbury's grocery and notion trade, and David Stuck
commenced blacksmithing. In the fall Harvey Cobb came and
occupied the house prepared for him by Alexander Findley. Augustus Finney came some time during the season, but did not purchase property until the next year.
Miss Adelia Champlin taught the Lanesville school in the summer of 1836. The log school house stood on a piece of ground a
little way south of the highway, on the section line, near the brow
of a hill. The site was on the east side of Church street, now occupied by the second building south of the old store building of
J. K. Boies & Co. Then there were no other buildings south of
Main street between Church and Market streets. In the fall of
1836 the Messrs. VanAkin harvested about I50 bushels of wheat.
It grew on the square of ground bounded west by High street,
north by Main street, east by Wood street, and south by the hill
on which afterward became a favored residence place.
It will be impossible, in the space alloted to this chapter, to
give the history of Hudson township in detail. It would require
a volume to note every arrival and the careers of her worthy citizens. With the opening of the Michigan Southern railroad through
the township, the village of Lanesville became a place of considerable importance, and the name was changed to Hudson. The construction of the railroad also occasioned another village to come
into existence on the line between Dover and Hudson townships,
five miles east of the Hudson city limits. Clayton is the name of
this village, and it was first settled in 1836. Clayton is a progressive little village of about 600 inhabitants, carrying on extensive
lines of business in almost every avenue of trade. The village was
incorporated in I870, and is a business center of considerable importance. It is located in the center of a rich agricultural district,
which insures the merchants and general business men reliable and
'continuous support.
THE CITY OF HUDSON.
What is now called the city of Hudson, as the reader of the
foregoing pages is aware, was formerly called Lanesville, and




HUDSON TOWNSHIP


369


among the early settlers of the county the place was commonly referred to as Bean Creek, owing to the fact, no doubt, that it was recognized by them as the place of most importance on the creek of
that name. The original maps of this section of country give the
name Tiffin river to this stream, but the pioneers applied the cognomen of Bean Creek, because of the large quantity of bean timber that grew on its banks. In 1836 the settlement on the present
site of Hudson was formally recognized as Lanesville, and a commission was issued by Amos Kendall, Postmaster-General of the
United States, to Beriah H. Lane, as postmaster. In the course of'
time, however, by common consent, the village took the name given
to the township by Hiram Kidder, in honor of one of the first landowners in the township. The growth of the village was somewhat retarded during the early years of its history by the hard
times incident to and following the panic of 1837, which effected
the country in general and the new settlements in particular. But
it weathered the storm and added slowly to its population, and by
1853 it was deemed a place of enough importance to assume the
dignity of a municipality, and it was accordingly incorporated.
The early years of the village of Hudson were uneventful, and
every energy was directed towards the development of the place
and its surroundings. It sought the dignity of incorporation, and,
as before stated, this honor was accorded to it in I853, when the
village government was organized, with Caleb C. Cooley in the
office of president. The first banking institution in the village was
started by Henry M. Boies and Nathan Rude, in 1855, and was
called the Exchange Bank. That the management has been successful, every interested person knows, and now, with an honorable
record of more than a half-century's existence, the institution still
retains its reputation for solidity.
The religious and educational affairs of the village received
early attention and liberal support. Merchants, were aggressive
and public-spirited, their stocks often rivaling in value those exhibited by present day dealers. The early settlers and business
men of the township and village were generally people with agricultural tendencies and traditions. They purchased land, cultivated and improved it, erected dwelling houses, and lived out their
alloted days in the peace and harmony of the quiet community
their industry had established.
By an act of the Michigan legislature, Hudson became a city
in 1893, and its population in i904 was 2,307. It is the second
place in importance and population in the county, and it contains
24-IV




370


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


a number of handsome and expensive residences and public buildings, while the average homes evince the air of thrift and prosperity in their surroundings, in keeping with the industry and frugality of the occupants. The great trunk line railroad between
Chicago and New York-the Lake Shore and Michigan Southernand the Cincinnati Northern railway, running north and south, pass
through the city. Besides these two important thoroughfares, an
electric line is now being constructed from Coldwater east to
Adrian, and this will put Hudson on another very important route
with interurban service. The manufacturing interests of the city
are important and prosperous, one of the latest in construction,
but not least in importance being an extensive milk condensing
plant, which is a boon to the farmers and a valuable addition to
the industries of the city. A large amount of farm products are
handled and shipped from that station, and all in all, Hudson is a
commercial center of much importance. The city is supplied with
a good system of water-works, which affords adequate fire protection as well as a supply for manufacturing and domestic purposes.
There is now nearly a mile of cobble-stone paving, but the subject
of brick paving is agitating the people, and it is a question of but a
short time before the streets will be well sewered and paved. A
good electric light system is in active operation.
The city is well supplied with churches, and the public school
system will compare with any city in Michigan. The public schools
were consolidated by an act of the legislature in i89i, and since
that time the facilities for doing good educational work have been
materially increased. An extended mention of the schools of Hudson is given on another page of this volume, in the chapter devoted
to Educational Development.
One of the institutions of the city in which the citizens thereof especially have a pardonable pride is the Hudson Public Library,
which today stands as a monument to its promoters and reflects
credit upon the intelligence and enterprise of the people in the
community. The genesis of the movement which resulted in the
erection of a fine building, with shelves laden with the choicest
literature, dates from the early part of I903, when Byron J. Foster
wrote. a letter to Andrew Carnegie, with the end in view of securing
that gentleman's co-operation in the erection of a library building.
Mr. Carnegie replied, under date of March 27, I903, saying that
"If the city agrees by resolution of councils to maintain a Free Public Library at cost of not less than $i,ooo a year, and provide a
suitable site for the building, Mr. Carnegie will be pleased to fur





p?
0
o
p
P







HUDSON TOWNSHIP


371


nish $Io,ooo to erect a free public library building for Hudson."
Soon after the receipt of this letter, Edwvard Frensdorf was elected
mayor of Hudson, and the communication was turned over to
him. He referred the matter to the common council and that body
accepted the proposition, whereupon the mayor appointed the following gentlemen as the first library board: James B. Thorn,
Charles B. Stowell, William Derbyshire, Gamaliel I. Thompson,
Oren Howes, Galusha J. Perkins, Grant Fellows, Elmer E. Cole
and Byron J. Foster. The first meeting of the board was held
April 27, 1903, at the office of Fellows & Chandler, and at this meeting Charles B. Stowell was elected president of the board; James
B. Thorn, vice-president, and Byron J. Foster, secretary. Without
a change these gentlemen have remained as the incumbents of their
respective offices until the present. The site selected for the building is a location on the southeast corner of Market and Fayette
streets, and it was purchased of Homer H. Clement, the cost being
$2,ooo. The architect selected was Claire Allen, of Jackson, Mich.,
and on April 5, 1904, the library board contracted with Koch
Brothers, of Ann Arbor, for the erection of a field-stone building,
with red tile roof, the building to be 6Ix42 in size, one story with
basement, and to contain a reading room and a children's room.
The money for the erection of the building was deposited by Mr.
Carnegie with the Home Trust Company, of Hoboken, N. J., and
was drawn as needed by the board. The corner stone of the building was laid June 14, 1904, and the dedication ceremonies were held
on Feb. 10, I905, the entire cost of the building when ready for occupancy being $I0,389.77. The building committee was Oren
Howes, James B. Thorn and G. I. Thompson. The first gift to
the library was made by the publishers of the Hudson Gazette, and
consisted of a new Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. After the
building was erected, the first books received were about 500 volumes, which were placed in the library by the Hudson public
schools. Mr. and Mrs. C. B. Stowell donated 932 volumes of new
books, at a cost of $1,005, and numerous small subscriptions were
received, with which to purchase additional volumes. The first
year 2,067 volumes were acquired, and at this writing (June, I909)
over five thousand choice volumes await the call of the patrons of
the library. As an evidence of the appreciation of this store-house
of knowledge, it may be stated that during the past year 20,369
volumes and 1,562 magazines were issued from the library, and
this does not include books, magazines and newspapers, which
were perused within the library building. Several valuable water



372             MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY
color and oil paintings have been donated by Mrs. David Treichlinger, a former resident of Hudson, but now of St. Louis, Mo.,
and they adorn the walls of the library. On May 27, 1904, the board
employed Miss Mamie E. Havens as librarian and she has continued to fill that important position to the entire satisfaction of those
interested.  Her efficient assistant is Miss Frances G. Childs.
The present library board is composed of the following named
gentlemen: Charles B. Stowell, James B. Thorn, Edward Frensdorf, Charles C. Whitney, Rev. J. F. Hallissey, pastor of Sacred
Heart Catholic church; Galusha J. Perkins, Grant Fellows', Gamaliel I. Thompson and Byron J. Foster.




CHAPTER XXIII.
DOVER TOWNSHIP.
LOCATION AND NATURAL FEATURES-FIRST ENTRIES OF LAND-SAMUEL WARREN-ISAAC WARREN-AN EARLY TAVERN-SOME OF THE
PIONEERS-CADMUS PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH-REV. PAUL S'HEPHERD-CLAYTON PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
This township comprises township 7, range 2 east, which is
in the western part of the county, and is bounded on its north by
Rome and a small portion of Adrian, on its east by Madison, on its
south by Seneca, and on its west by the township of Hudson. Like
most of the land in Lenawee county, this is level or undulating,
and is of a fertile quality. The township is well supplied with
small streams, among which is an important branch of the River
Raisin. This flows through the northern and eastern portions of
the township, while Sand creek, Stony creek, and Bear creek
course through other portions. There are a number of fine springs
throughout the township.
This is one of the earliest settled townships in the western part
of the county. The first entry of land we can find on the records
was made by Israel Pennington, May 27, I830, and Samuel Warren,
of Ontario county, New York, entered the second piece only four
days later. The tract entered by Mr. Pennington consisted of 240
acres, but he sold it soon afterward and never became a resident
of the township. He was a prominent citizen of Macon, and is
given appropriate mention in the chapter devoted to that division
of the county.
Samuel Warren was a native of New Jersey, and a descendant
of that brave patriot, Gen. Joseph Warren, who nobly surrendered
his life for his country at the battle of Bunker Hill in the very
early part of the Revolution. Soon after his marriage, Samuel
Warren settled in Farmington, Ontario county, New York, and
was engaged in agricultural pursuits there until 1834, when he de



374


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


cided to emigrate to the Territory of Michigan. On May 23 of that
year, he and his family arrived in Dover township and located on
section 24, on land he had entered four years previous. Liking
the country, he purchased 400 acres of land on sections 24 and 25,
and this he made his permanent home, dying there in January, 1858.
Isaac Warren, son of Samuel, was born in Farmington, Ontario county, New York, Sept. I, I8I2, and came to Lenawee county
with his parents in I834. He was the oldest of his father's family,
and was about twenty-two years old when he came to Michigan.
After his marriage in 1838, he settled on section 32, in Dover, and
there he lived the remainder of his life. He was of Quaker antecedents, but became a Methodist, and from 1843 to the end of his life
was a prominent member and active worker in that church. He
was Sunday school superintendent and class leader for many years.
He also served as supervisor of the township, besides filling other
township offices.
In 1834, a Mr. Robb kept a tavern near the center of the
township, on the road from Adrian to Kidder's Mill. It was
a log house of two rooms, and it is said that there were
no bedsteads, the guests sleeping on the floor, and that a half
dozen persons filled the entire sleeping apartment, except one
corner, in which stood the whiskey barrel, the apology for a bar.
The other room was used jointly as a kitchen and a dining room.
But things have changed some since those days, and now as fine
farms and residences are found in this township as can be shown
anywhere in the county.
Below are given the names of some of the pioneers of this township, together with the date and location of their settlement, brief
sketches, etc. No special attention is paid to the exact order in
which they came-simply a record of the facts connected with their
settlement.
Martin P. Stockwell was born in Cato, Cayuga county, New
York, Feb. II, I818. He lived at home until he was about seventeen years old, when, his father being poor, with a large family, he
determined to leave home and try for himself. This was in 1835.
when the Michigan fever was at its height in the vicinity in which
he lived. He had heard of the cheap and beautiful lands to be obtained there for $1.25 per acre, and in his dreams of the future,
which are ever uppermost in the mind of an ambitious young man,
he pictured to himself a farm with a fine house and barns and all
the comforts of life about him; and he resolved then at that age,
to emigrate there.  He finally secured the consent of his parents.




DOVER TOWNSHIP


375


and starting from home on a Monday morning with a sack of provisions on his back-his good mother having provided the same for
him with tears and doubts "icd the gravest forebodings for her
son-he started on foot for Buffalo, an emigrant for the vast wilderness of Michigan, a boy only seventeen years of age, with only
$3.50 in money in his possession. He went to Buffalo and took
steerage passage for Detroit on a steamboat, being told by a
"runner" that the fare would only be $2.50, but the captain afterward made him pay the regular fare, three dollars. The captain
noticed that he shed tears when he paid the extra half dollar, and
afterward spoke to him about it, accusing him of running away
from home, but he was convinced that this was not the fact after
Martin told his story. The captain then befriended him and told
him not to go to Detroit, but to get off at Toledo, which would
save him over thirty miles' travel in getting to Adrian. He finally
arrived at Adrian on the evening of May 15, i835, after walking
from Toledo, in a drenching rain, through the cottonwood swamp,
and upon his arrival he had but twenty-five cents in money in his
possession. He stopped all night with Isaac French, and paid him
one shilling; he purchased six cents' worth of crackers for his supper, and when he arrived at the residence of his uncle-Moses
Perkins-in Dover, the next morning, he only possessed six cents
in money. He soon obtained work and stayed here until the last of
September, when he returned home to New York with forty-seven
dollars in his pocket, and this he gave to his father. He came back
to Michigan in i837, after which time he lived mostly in Dover.
He first worked by the month until he earned forty acres of land
for his father, and this he accomplished before he was twenty-one
years old. He then worked for David Bixby for seven months.
In i839 he purchased eighty acres of land in Hillsdale county, but
never lived there, and in i842 he purchased i6o acres on section
22, in Dover. In i846, he purchased i6o acres on section I5, adjoining his first purchase, and there he erected one of the finest
dwelling houses in the township, besides good barns, etc. He
served four years as justice of the peace, being elected in 1857.
In the spring of i859 he was elected supervisor of Dover, and was
re-elected the following spring. He was county superintendent
of the poor for eight years, and was a member of the constitutional
convention in i867. In religion he was a Baptist, and in politics
he was an active Republican.
William W. McLouth was born in Cheshire, Berkshire county,
Massachusetts, Sept. I0, I792, and there he lived until about the




376


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


year 1815, when he went to Galon, Wayne county, New York,
where he was engaged in the drygoods business for about four
years. He then moved to Farmington, Ontario county, and purchased a farm, upon which he lived until the spring of I835. He
then emigrated to Lenawee county and entered from the government the east half of the northwest quarter of section 23, in Dover
township, where he lived until his death, which occurred Dec. 4,
i86o.
Fleming McMath was born in Romulus, Seneca county, New
York, Jan. 14, I8o8. In the spring of 1826 he and his father came to
Michigan and located in Ypsilanti, Washtenaw county, and Fleming remained until July, when he returned to New York to harvest some wheat and bring on the family in the fall, which he did.
His father dying in the meantime, the care of the family devolved
upon him and his older brother. Fleming lived at home and
assisted in clearing the land and supporting the family until I829,
when he returned to New York on horseback, through Canada,
and was married. After this event, he returned to Michigan with
his bride, taking her to his partly built log house in the woods. He
lived there until 1835, when he sold and came to Lenawee county,
and purchased eighty acres of Stephen Perkins, on section 2, in
Dover; but shortly afterward he took up forty acres of government
land, adjoining on the north. Within a year or two he purchased
130 acres adjoining, on section 12, in Dover. With the exception
of twenty acres, this was all new land when he puchased it. He
cleared and improved I5o acres and erected good buildings, and
there he resided the remainder of his life. He served two terms
as supervisor of Dover, and was justice of the peace for fifteen
years.
Robert Furman was born, Dec. 31, I8o2, in Rockland county,
New York. He was a farmer, and lived there until the fall of 1835,
when he emigrated to Lenawee county and located a farm of government land in Dover township. He afterward sold this farm
and purchased another in the same township, and resided there
the remainder of his life. When he first moved into Dover he was
obliged to cut about one mile of road to get to his land. He had
invested all of his money in land, and for about two years he
could hardly get enough for his family to eat, and had it not been
for the deer, bears, raccoons, and rabbits, the family would have
gone hungry, and perhaps starved. It was almost impossible to
keep hogs at that time, as bears were very plentiful and fond of
"hog meat." The first corn he could get, Mr. Furman took to




DOVER TOWNSHIP


377


Monroe to mill. The first fall he lost his oxen, by getting mired
in a swamp, and during that winter he cleared about five acres
"by hand," which tract he planted to corn the following spring,
using an axe instead of a plow to make the soil ready for planting.
The most of his crop was eaten up by bears and coons, although
he watched the field almost day and night, to keep them out.
Lemuel Van Auken was born in Phelps, Ontario county, New
York, March, 9, i8i?. He first came to Michigan on a prospecting
tour in i833, stopping in Logan (now Adrian), and in i835 he took
up land in Madison (now Dover), situated on the town line of Dover
and Rome. In the spring of 1839 he moved his family to Michigan
and settled on his land. When he entered his, land he borrowed
twenty dollars, intending to have i6o acres, but when he got to
the land office, in Monroe, he found there was a fraction attached
to the land he wanted, and to secure the i6o acres he was obliged
to buy the fraction also, which took all his money except six cents,
and that he paid for toll over the bridge at Monroe. He did not
have money enough left to buy his breakfast, and he walked thirtysix miles that day without anything to eat. This was pioneering.
The Cadmus Presbyterian church society was established in
I843 by the Rev. Henry Root, who was the first occupant of the
pulpit,'he being succeeded by the Rev. Paul Shepherd, a few years
later. In I85o, an edifice was erected about three-fourths of a mile
west of the village, and this continued to be the home of the organization until 1902, when the present house of worship was built in
the village of Cadmus. The board of elders at the time of the establishment of this society consisted of Fleming McMath, Ashar
Hathaway, and Eli Benham, and the present elders are Jacob
Hering and Charles Schafer. The success of the institution is
largely due to the assiduous enterprise of Fleming McMath, who
cheerfully and willingly gave of his time and worldly goods that
the society might be maintained upon a sound and prosperous
basis. With the exception of the two above mentioned pastors,
and the Rev. Daniel Jones, who occupied the pulpit during the
latter part of the' 50s, the pulpit was filled by stated supplies, many
of them theological students, until i86o, when the Clayton church
of this sect was founded, and since then the incumbent of the pastorate of the latter organization has also filled the Cadmus pulpit.
Rev. Paul Shepherd was born near Penn Yan, Yates county,
New York, in i804, and was of German and Scotch ancestry.
After his marriage, in I826, he settled on his father's farm, near
Penn Yan, but after remaining there a short time removed to




378


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


Allegany county, in the same state, where he lived about two
years. In the meantime he had taken up the study of medicine, and
had fitted himself to enter upon the practice of that profession, but
while attending a protracted meeting at Angelica he was converted,
and then determined to change his profession and enter the ministry. He relinquished the further study of medicine, and with his
family removed to Oberlin, Ohio, where he entered the theological
department of Oberlin College. He was already well versed in the
Latin and Greek languages, and after two years' study was graduated in that college. In 1835 he came to Michigan and was induced
to go to Allegan county, near Saugatuck, and take charge of the
colony which had been established in that place. He also assumed
charge of the Singapore Mission, which was composed of the
Ottawa and Pottawatomie Indians, and became well versed
in their languages. He remained in charge of the colony and
mission two years, and then removing to Kalamazoo county, he
preached both in Comstock and Galesburg, being ordained at the
latter place. He afterward settled in Plainwell, Allegan county,
and from there was called to Constantine to settle his father's
estate, after which he came to Lenawee county, and in 1841 commenced a six years' pastorate in Medina Center. At the expiration
of this time, he came to Dover township, and was here engaged in
the ministry the following ten years. He was a stanch Abolitionist
and devoted to the cause of the slaves, pleading in their behalf with
learning, eloquence, and spiritual unction, and making his moral
force felt wherever he was known. After the repeal of the Missouri
Compromise, he went to Kansas and took an active part in the
bloody struggle between freedom and slavery that was enacted on
that soil, and which finally resulted in the admission of Kansas into
the Union as a free state. He was chaplain of the Territorial legislature, and was a member of that body which drew up the noted
Topeka Constitution. He was a close friend of John Brown, and
two of the men who took part in the raid at Harper's Ferry had often
found shelter and protection under his roof. He was fearless in
expressing his views at all times and under all circumstances, but
received no bodily injuries. In I859 he returned with his family
to Dover township, and remained there until his death, which
occurred in November, I860; he died in the harness, preaching until
the time of his decease. His name will long be remembered in
connection with those illustrious friends of the oppressed-William
Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, Charles Burleigh, John Brown,
and other leaders of reform.




DOVER TOWNSHIP                   379
The Clayton Presbyterian church society was formally. established on Feb. 28, I86o, by' the Revs. George W. Nichols and Paul
Shepherd, both members of the Monroe Presbytery, as a result of
a series of union revival meetings which had been conducted in the
Clayton Baptist church that winter by the Rev. Nichols. The original membership totalled twenty-one, and Reuben E. Bird, R. Smart,
and C. I. Shaw, were the first members to officiate as elders. The
Rev. Paul Shepherd was the first clergyman to be installed as
pastor.
The village of Clayton lies partly within the limits of Dover
township, and Cadmus is a village in the interior of the township,
on the main line of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern railroad,
seven miles west of Adrian.








CHAPTER XXI.V.
SENECA TOWNSHIP.
ESTABLISHMENT AND BOUNDARIES-FIRST ELECTION-SIMON D. WILSON-AMOS FRANKLIN-TOPOGRAPHY ANP SOIL-EARLY SETTLEMENTS-FIRST WHITE CHILD-EARLY PIONEERS-THE HAYWARDS
-THE KINNEYS-HARD TIMES IN 1835-FIRST DEATH IN TOWNSHIP
-FIRST WEDDINGS-OTHER FIRST EVENTS-WILLIAM SUTTONVILLAGE OF MORENCI-SILAS A. SCOFIELD-THE STAIR AUDITORIUM.
This township was established by act of the state legislature,
approved March 23, I836. Its boundaries are regular, with the exception that on the south there is a row of sections belonging to
township 9 south, and which became permanently a part of Seneca
township at the time of the settlement of the boundary dispute
with the state of Ohio. The act of the legislature establishing the
township of Seneca included within its boundaries all of townships
8 and 9, and fractional township Io south, of ranges I and 2 east,
which in more explicit terms means all of the present townships
of Medina and Seneca, in Lenawee county, and in addition all the
territory in Ohio in ranges I and 2 east, south to the so-called
"Fulton line." But when the boundary dispute between the two
states was settled by act of Congress, the territory south of the socalled "Harris line" was lost to Seneca, and by an act of the state
legislature, approved March II, 1837, the township of Medina was
created, comprising township 8 south of range I east. The settlement of the boundary dispute in favor of the Buckeye claimants
disarranged the plans of the Michigan people and annulled the acts
providing for the erection of townships south of the "Harris line."
But it left the first tier of sections of townships 9 south, in Michigan, and an act of the state legislature, approved March 3I, 1838,
provided that "all that part of the county of Lenawee, lying in range
2 east, and south of the township line between townships 8 and 9
south, be, and the same is hereby attached to and shall form a part




382


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


of the township of Seneca." This act gave Seneca township the
limits it occupies today.
At the first election held after the township organization, on
the first Monday in May, I836, of which meeting Elias J. Baldwin
was moderator, and by which he was chosen the first supervisor,
James H. Sweeney was elected treasurer and Simon D. Wilson,
township clerk. The highway commissioners for that year were
John Knapp, William Lee, and Amos Franklin. The first magistrates of Seneca were Elias J. Baldwin, Cook Hotchkiss, Alanson
Briggs and William Lee, the last three named and also Mr.
Knapp, being residents of what is now Medina township.
Simon D. Wilson was a native of Connecticut, and upon reaching manhood migrated west and located in that part of Fairfield
which is now Seneca township, where he entered 230 acres of government land and transformed it into a valuable homestead. There
he resided the remainder of his life, and died in 1887, when about
eighty-two years of age. He became a prominent man in the affairs
of the county and was the leader in the organization of districts
and the building up and maintenance of the common schools. He
served as school inspector for fifteen consecutive years, and as
stated above was the first clerk of the newly organized township
of Seneca. He held that religion and education should go hand-inhand, and organized the first Sunday school in Seneca township,
and he presided as superintendent.
Amos Franklin migrated from Bradford county, Pennsylvania,
in the spring of 1835, and settled in Seneca township. The prospects of those who settled in this part of the country at that time
were not of an enviable character, but Mr. Franklin cheerfully
engaged with other pioneers of that day in subduing nature, building cabins, clearing land, and laying the foundation of the happy
homes which now thickly dot this section of country. He died
in I844.
Seneca, as a whole, may be characterized as level or gently
undulating, and it perhaps contains more than the average amount
of farm land. The soil is of the very best in the county, and great
care has been taken by the farmers to cultivate their lands in a
proper manner, and, as a direct result, the township has more well
tilled, highly improved farms than almost any other township
within the county. There are many very commodious and beautifully designed farm houses throughout the township, a number of
which are surrounded by large, thrifty trees, the dark green foliage
of which adds materially to the beauty of the surroundings.




SENECA TOWNSHIP


3-83


Bean creek, or Tiffin river, flows through the southwestern
portion of the township, and Black creek, a tributary of the River
Raisin, has its origin within the township limits. There are.but
few other small streams, but the territory is well watered with excellent springs. Seneca is especially adapted to grazing purposes,
an industry which receives the careful attention of the provident
farmers, with favorable results. Fruit culture is also carried on
very profitably, apples being the staple in that line, though all
kinds of small fruits succeed admirably.
Unlike some of the other townships Seneca was settled only a
few years before the township was organized, the territory then
being embraced within the township of Fairfield. Two settlements
were made in the township during the fall and winter season of
i833-34, one known as Hayward's, in the east part, and the other
in the western portion, led by Gershom Bennett and others. On
Nov. 9, i833, Francis H. Hagaman and Gershom Bennett purchased of the United States, lands on section 31, in Dover and
section 6, in Seneca, and the same month erected a log house near
the northwest corner of the township of Seneca. This was undoubtedly the first settlement in the township. On Feb. i, i834,
Rosewell J. Hayward purchased of the United States, land on section 13, and settled on it immediately thereafter. He had first
come to Michigan in i831, visiting Livingston county, and there,
in i832, he enlisted in the Black Hawk war. After the "war" he
returned to New York and reported so favorably of Michigan that
a family by the name of Hair soon decided to return with him.
Micajah Hayward, who was then not seventeen years old, also
thought he would like to try his "luck" in the then new territory.
His father, Henry Hayward, had been' to Michigan, and had traveled through Wayne, Oakland, Livingston and Washtenaw counties, and finally located 240 acres of land on the "base line" in Livingston county, and had then returned home, thinking pretty well
of the country. In 1833 he again came to Michigan, this time
traveling through Monroe and Lenawee counties, and he purchased,one lot of land for himself on section 5, in Hudson, near Posey
lake, besides i6o acres for his son-in-law, J. R. Hawkins. He was
not as well pleased with Michigan in i833 as he was in i830, and
he refused to sell his farm in Ontario county, New York, for what
he had been offered for it, raising the price six dollars per acre.
This was finally accepted, and in the summer of i834 he came back
to Michigan and settled on section Io, in Seneca. 'The following
year he purchased i6o acres on sectiQn I4, in Seneca, on Black




384             MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY
creek, and erected a saw mill, the only one then in the township.
Most of the lumber used in the township for several years was
sawed at this mill. Henry Hayward lived on this farm until his
death, which occurred Jan. 26, 1842. He was born in Cummington,
Mass., July 12, I787.
Although the shanty erected by Messrs. Hagaman and Bennett,
in the fall of 1833, was doubtless the first structure for human
habitation, it is thought that Archibald Brower and Roswell J.
Hayward built the first houses, properly so-called, in the spring
of 1834, at the Hayward settlement. Archibald Brower was born
in Dutchess county, New York, Feb. 13, I8o5. He left his native
state when a young man, and his marriage was the first which occurred in Seneca township. His daughter, Alma, who became Mrs.
Willett, was the first white child born there. Mr. Brower married
Miss Julia A. Millett, of Fairfield township, and she is credited
with having been the first white woman who set foot in Seneca
township.
Among the early pioneers are prominently mentioned Jacob
Baker, Simon D. Wilson, Micajah Hayward, Amos A. Kinney,
Samuel K. Kinney, Richard H. Kinney, Alvah Holt, Stephen P.
Spear, John Stockwell, and others. After their advent the township settled up quite rapidly. Jacob Baker entered land on section
30, March IO, 1834, and soon thereafter came with his family and
commenced a settlement. Horace Garlick and Arnold H. Coomer
accompanied Mr. Baker to the wilderness. Mr. Garlick was married, but Mr. Coomer was a single man. They proceeded at once
to build a log house. Mr. Coomer had the bark to peel for the
roof, and he pressed the Indians into service to assist him. The
house was the usual log cabin of the early settler-puncheon floor,
bark roof and gables, small window holes, and panelless doors.
The doors were of the kind called batten doors, but the batten was
a piece of timber a little longer than the width of the door and
larger at one end than at the other; the large end projected beyond
the door, and was bored to serve as part of the hinge. The boards
were fastened to the battens by wooden pins or by nails, as the
necessity or convenience of the builder required.
In the early part of May, 1834, Simon D. Wilson, James Wilson, Ephraim Whitman, Ephraim Baldwin, and Samuel D. Baldwin came to the township, looking land. They were all young
men, and, with the exception of Simon D. Wilson, unmarried. The
first two were brothers, and the Baldwins were brothers-in-law of
Simon D. Wilson. Simon D. Wilson selected land on section 30, in




SENECA TOWNSHIP


385


Seneca, and on sections 6, 7 and 8, town 9 south, this tract lying
partly in Seneca and partly in Ohio. The land office 'at Monroe
was his next objective point, which he made, and he entered his
land on May 15 and i6, I834. Arnold H. Coomer had entered his
land on section 3I, May 8. Simon D. Wilson immediately commenced operations on his land by building the inevitable log cabin.
On Sept. 29, Alvah Holt entered his land and immediately commenced to build on it.
Micajah Hayward was a native of Farmington, N. Y., and
was born Jan. I8, I816. As stated on another page, the Haywards
came to Michigan in 1834 and located in Seneca township. Micajah
was reared to farming pursuits, which he followed all his life. At
the time of his death he was the owner of over 600 acres of land,
all in Seneca township. In connection with his farming he had
built two saw mills, a grist mill, and a cheese factory, all of which
he operated successfully. He died at his home in Seneca township, April IO, 1887.
Amos A. Kinney was born April 12, 1812, in Johnsonburg,
Sussex county, New Jersey, and when eleven years of age his parents removed to New York State. He there developed into manhood and became familiar with farm pursuits, in which he always
delighted and was ambitious to excel. His early opportunities for
education were exceedingly limited. When about twenty years of
age, he left home and entered the employ of his uncle, James Kinney, who conducted a hotel on Cortland street, in New York City,
and while there he made the acquaintance of Commodore Vanderbilt, who was at that time boating and operating a ferry. In the
summer of 1834 Mr. Kinney bade farewell to his friends and acquaintances in the Empire State, and started overland with a team
for the unknown West. For sixteen days he traveled through the
wilderness, and reaching Seneca township in March, 1835, he at
once entered eighty acres of land on section 17, and the following
year was joined by his father's family. He put up a log cabin, and,
after months of incessant labor, began to feel that he had done a
wise act in coming to this section of the country. The soil, under
proper cultivation, proved to be exceedingly fertile, and the prospect of having a well tilled farm of his own proved a pleasurable
stimulus to his exertions. Indians had not then left this region,
and they often passed by his cabin door in large numbers, but they
never attempted to molest him, and he was careful to keep them
at a respectful distance and treat them with proper consideration.
He added to his real estate until he had a good farm, embracing
25-IV




386


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


a quarter section of land, upon which he erected a substantial
dwelling, barn and other buildings required for the shelter of stock
and the storing of grain. For many years Mr. Kinney was prominent in township affairs, and he was one of the first assessors appointed, serving three years. He cast his first presidential vote
for Andrew Jackson, and from that time was a stanch supporter of
the Democratic party.
Samuel K. Kinney came to' Seneca township in 1835, accompanying his brother, Amos A., from the vicinity of Canandaigua,
N. Y. They made their way from Detroit overland with a team,
and Samuel made his home with his brother until joined by his
parents and the rest of the family in July, I836. Elias Kinney, the
father of Amos A. and Samuel K., purchased eighty acres of land in
Seneca township, and all the children who were old enough assisted
in clearing it and building up the homestead. Samuel attended the
first school in the -township, it being conducted in a log house,
twenty feet square, which was called the Kinney school house on
account of being projected by the father. It boasted but one window, while a blanket, hung up at the opening, served as a door,
and in this rude structure Samuel K. Kinney commenced his education when fourteen years of age. And this continued but a brief
time afterward, the school being carried on about three months
in the winter. The early life of Samuel was thus spent amid the
scenes of pioneer life, and he developed into manhood stout of
heart and strong of muscle, admirably fitted for the duties which
lay before him. He made his home with his parents until after
he was twenty-eight years of age. Politically, he voted with the
Democratic party, and he occupied some of the minor offices in
connection with schools.
Richard H. Kinney, a brother of the two above mentioned, located in Seneca township during its early settlement, and upon
reaching manhood took up I60 acres of land on section 8 transforming the wilderness into a beautiful farm. By slow degrees he
brought the soil to a good state of cultivation, and erected one
building after another until he had a shapely and convenient residence, good barns and out-buildings, tastefully laid out grounds,
with numerous shade and ornamental trees, including evergreens
and graceful maples. These last were set out in the spring of
I85o, and stand as giants. As an illustration of the industrious
and enterprising pioneer, Mr. Kinney occupied a place in the front
ranks. His straightforward business transactions gave him a good
position among the representative men of his community, among




SENECA TOWNSHIP


387


whom he built up a worthy and honorable record. Mr. Kinney was
born in Hardwick, Sussex county, New Jersey, Dec. 3, I820, and
was a youth of fifteen years when he came to Michigan with his
parents, with whom he lived until their decease. He assumed control of the homestead when twenty-five years of age, tilling the
soil and laboring under the disadvantages of a new settlement until
the march of civilization rendered the labors of the agriculturist
less laborious and more remunerative.
Stephen P. Spear was born in Palmyra, Wayne county, New
York, in I8o8. He was educated in the common school, lived with
his father until he was twenty-one, and then struck out on foot
and alone, having twenty shillings in his pocket when he reached
Lenawee county. He halted near Adrian, then in its infancy, in
I83I. There he worked out for a year and a half, and then took up
I6o acres of land. He finally located on Bear creek, about four miles
from Morenci, and there he resided the remainder of his life. He
was drafted for service in the Black Hawk war and went with his
company to Coldwater, where it encamped a few days, and then
marched to Niles, on the Big St. Joseph river, where the company
again went into camp, faring as soldiers fare until the news of the
capture of the celebrated Black Hawk reached them, and then each
received his discharge and I6o acres of land.
In 1834 Simon D. Wilson and a' few others cut a road from
the southwest part of the township to the Hayward settlement,
thus opening communication between the two points. The year
I835 was a trying one to the settlers; there was a great scarcity
of provisions, so much so that many persons went up to the
Adrian settlement and procured materials to make nets, and therewith caught fish from Bean creek, which was unusually well supplied with the finny tribe that year. Besides this food the settlers
had little to eat, some of them even dug up the potatoes they had
recently planted, in order to keep from starving.  Wolves were
plentiful, and many thrilling stories are told of them. It is related
that Elias J. Baldwin was followed, in the fall of 1835, by a pack
of wolves, all the way from the woods south of Morenci, where
he was erecting a log house for his future home, up to the very
door of the house in the village where he was temporarily stopping.
But the wolf bounty soon thinned out the annoying animals.
The first death in the township was Judith P. Hayward, who
died in January, I835. The first weddings in the two respective
settlements of Seneca were celebrated over the nuptials of H. N.
Wilson and Phoebe Wakefield, 1836, and Stephen Hayward and




388


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


Sarah Jane Sanger, in January, 1837. Stephen Hayward came to
Lenawee county with his father in 1834, and remained at home
until his marriage. He was born in Farmington, Ontario county,
New York, in 1814, and married the daughter of Benjamin and
Betsey Sanger, who settled in Seneca in 1834. Benjamin Sanger
was a native of Connecticut, and was a soldier in the war of 1812.
He died in Seneca township in February, 1849.
James H. Sweeney was the first disciple of Aesculapius, and
he had plenty of ague patients in those days. The first school
house was erected in the spring of 1835. The Methodist denomination was the first religious society to organize, and the members
of that denomination erected the first church in Morenci village,
in 1841. The first saw mill was set in motion in 1835, and the
grist mill at Morenci was probably the first flouring mill. William
Sutton was "mine host" of the first tavern, established at Morenci
in 1836, and his sign-board was a barrel-head nailed to a post. In
1836, Jeph Whitman built a log store building where Morenci now
stands. The township derives its name from Seneca, N. Y., from
which point many of the early settlers emigrated.
William Sutton, who is mentioned as the first hotel proprietor,
was born in Junius, Seneca county, New York, May 2, i808, and
there he lived until he was about sixteen years old, at which time
he went to Lyons, Wayne county, and learned the carpenter's
trade. He resided in Lyons until the spring of 1835, when he came
to Michigan and settled in Adrian, entering eighty acres of land on
section 34, in Adrian township, the tract being the same now occupied by Adrian college. He soon sold this land, however, removed
to Seneca, built a double-log house, and as before stated, kept the
first public house in what is now the thriving village of Morenci.
In 1838 he purchased i60 acres of land in Gorham township, Fulton county, Ohio, and resided there until 1870, when he purchased
120 acres in Seneca township, and there resided until his death,
which occurred in October, 1892.
Franklin Cawley came to Morenci in 1836. He bought his land
of James Armitage, of Monroe, and a large part of the village of
Morenci is on the land thus purchased. In 1838, a postoffice was
established, and Mr. Whitman was made postmaster. Its name,
Morenci, was given by Simon D. Wilson. In 1841 David M. Haight
came and opened the second store within Seneca township. Mo-renci was but little more than a country postoffice until about the
year i850, when it began a considerable growth. Almost immediately after his coming here, in 1836, Franklin Cawley purchased




SENECA TOWNSHIP


3,9


the pioneer saw mill on the Bean, about one and a half miles above
the site of Morenci. It had been built in 1835, by Jacob Baker
and Horace Garlick. In 1851, there were four stores in Morenci.
The original store had ceased to exist, but Mr. Haight was still selling a few goods. Asa A. Kennedy and Moses S. Worth each had
a little store, and the store of the mill company, which had built
the saw and grist mills in the village, made the fourth. In the
fall of that year, Silas A. Scofield came to Morenci, erected 'a
building, with steam power, and commenced the manufacture of
furniture. The community seeming to demand it, he afterward
added planing machinery, and extended his business in any direction the needs of the place seemed to demand, sometimes to his
o\vn detriment financially.
No sketch of the village of Morenci would be at all complete
without a somewhat extended reference to -Silas A. Scofield. He
was born in Lysander, Onondaga, county, New York, Oct. 5,
1826, his ancestors coming from Scotland. He was reared on a
farm until he was fifteen years of age. From the age of twelve
he worked the homestead on shares, and accumulated some $350,
which he gave his father for the balance of his time until he
attained his majority. He was a natural tradesman, and first
began clerking in a store at Plainville, N. Y., where.he remained
between two and three years. At this time he lreceived from his
brother-in-law an offer which led him to engage in peddling looking-glasses, pictures, and picture frames. Later he engaged in the
same business for himself, and then secured a one-third interest
in his brother-in-law's business, in which they carried on a quite
extensive trade. He had reached the age of twenty, when he suddenly decided to go West, and started for Watertown, N. Y.,
with his horses and wagon, peddling as he went. From that place
he set out for Gorham, Ohio, where he had relatives. The following spring he located in Adrian, where he sold furniture, and he
resided there until the fall of T85I, when he came to Morenci
and opened a similar store. From that time until his death Morenci
was his home-the place where his best physical and mental powers
were expended; where he finally established a successful business,
and where he was a potent factor in the general welfare of the
village. Fires devastated his establishment, but he was never the
sort of man who gives up because of misfortune. He became noted
far and wide as an undertaker, and he personally had charge of
over 3,000 funerals up to the time that his activity in that respect
ceased. Besides all that he did in and for Morenci, he established




390


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


the village of Scofield, in Monroe county. He cleared up considerable land there, and furnished the Canada Southern railroad
with all of its ties, timber, and piling, from the state line of Ohio to
the Detroit river, also furnishing forty miles of telegraph poles.
He built a depot, furnishing the funds himself, and otherwise helped
to build up the village of Scofield. He did much in giving mechanics
and other laboring men employment, in the manufacture of furniture and coffins in the earlier days and in other lines in a later
period. He also busied himself in inventing sundry devices, the
most important of which was his casket fastener and other articles
connected with the mortuary trade. These devices have made the
name of Scofield'noted in many parts of the country, as they are
largely used, and they contributed to a considerable degree to his
financial success in connection with the extensive furniture store, of
which he was the head. The automatic rug machine was another of
Mr. Scofield's inventions, and at one time it had a large sale. Mr.
Scofield had an alert mind and was an indefatigable worker, continuing his active labors considerably beyond the time when the
majority of men are ready or forced to retire. He was not a
politician, yet took a keen interest in local and general affairs,
and kept himself well informed, always having pronounced views.
He voted the Republican ticket. Such, in brief, is the life work of
an enterprising, industrious, valued citizen-one whose life labors
form a conspicuous place in the annals of Morenci, and whose
name will long be remembered.
In 1854, the Hon. James P. Cawley bought the store of the mill
company and commenced business on his own account. He continued in business until I86o, by himself, and at that time formed a
co-partnership with Messrs. Rothrock & Green, the business being
continued until I873. About 1855, the Rev. John Crabbs came to
Morenci and established himself as a tailor. He remained in that
business, preaching on Sunday a part of the time until the begining of the Civil war. He was commissioned chaplain in an Ohio
regiment and was stationed most of the time with Gilmore, on the
Island before Charleston, S. C.  After the war he engaged for a
time in the life insurance business, but later resumed his old business. David M. Blair came at about the same time, and engaged in
blacksmithing. This business he developed until it became one of
the finest carriage manufactories in Southern Michigan.
The village of Morenci is situated on the bank of the Tiffin
river (Bean creek), near the Ohio line, in the southwest corner
of the township of Seneca. The first school was taught there by










STATI? ATIDTTOIHTUT, MAOTENCT




SENECA TOWNSHIP


39I


Miss Louisa Dellman, in a log house erected for that purpose.
The first church organization was the Methodist, in i836, with
seven members. Rev. Mr. Staples was the first minister. The first
Methodist church edifice was dedicated in May, 1852, by R. R.
Richards, presiding elder. The trustees were Hiram Wakefield,
Josiah Osgood, Daniel Reed, Simon D. Wilson, and Samuel
Warner. A Baptist church was organized in 1852, with fifteen
members. The Congregational church was organized in 1858,
with the Rev. George Barnum as pastor. The first plat of the
village was made in I852 by Franklin Cawley, who also platted an
addition in i858. The first name given the village was "Brighton,"
but owing to the fact that there was another village in the state
with the same name, it was changed to Morenci by Mr. Whitman
and Simon D. Wilson. From this time, 1852, until the present, the
village has steadily grown in importance and wealth. It was incorporated in i87I, and is now one of the most thriving business points
and growing centers of population in the county, outside of Adrian
and Hudson. There is a splendid public school system, adequate
churches, and a sound and progressive social sentiment, and the
village today is one of the handsomest and most desirable places of
residence in the county. The business interests of Morenci are
large and varied, and there are many important enterprises that go
to make up a prosperous and happy community. The village is the
center of an excellent farming region and enjoys a large patronage
from the nearby Ohio farmers. Brick pavements are upon the
principal streets, and the business places and residences are lighted
with electricity. For railroad facilities, the main line of the Wabash
railroad, the Fayette branch of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, and the Toledo & Western electric line furnish adequate and
complete service.
One of the chief places of interest in the village of Morenci is
the Stair Auditorium. This magnificent structure, which would
be a credit to any city, was made possible by the generosity of E.
D. Stair, the famous theatrical promoter, who was born in Morenci
and has never lost interest in the village of his boyhood and young
manhood. The question of having a suitable place in which to
hold public functions was discussed in Morenci for a long time, and
numerous plans were proposed. The matter was finally taken up
by the village council, and in the spring of i9o6 an authorized committee visited Mr. Stair at his Detroit home, and asked him if he
would not be willing to assist in the erection of an auditorium at
Morenci. Mr. Stair generously offered to contribute one-half of




392


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


$Io,ooo or $I5,ooo for the erection of a building that would be a
credit to the village, providing the remaining half could be raised
by popular subscription. It was immediately decided to accept
the offer, subscription papers were soon circulated, and a number
of citizens worked zealously in behalf of the project, among them
being S. K. Porter, C. M. Butler, Vernon Allen, L. A. Snow and S.
T. Snow. After sufficient funds had been subscribed to warrant
the purchase of a site, a very convenient one was decided upon, and
on Oct. 31, I906, the contract for the erection of the building was
entered into, the contract price being $I5,8I5. The other expenditures increased the cost of the building until it approximated $26,ooo. The building is constructed of red brick with stone trimmings,
and it is a large and imposing edifice, being II2x63 feet in size,
with a 33-foot ceiling. The roof is covered with slate and galvanized steel, with a deep cornice, giving the structure an attractive
and substantial appearance, and the architecture is unique, being
a combination of mediaeval and modern. The interior decorations
are beautiful, and the stage is considered by experts to be highclass in every respect. This place of entertainment was formally
opened, Jan. 7, I908, and has steadily grown in popularity.
Just north of the village of Morenci is located Oak Grove
cemetery, one of the most beautiful burial places in Lenawee
county. This "city of the dead" has been given the care and careful
attention that is considered fitting and in keeping with that respect
and veneration which in all climes and localities is shown for the
departed ones. An interesting and attractive feature was added
to the cemetery in I908, when The Morenci Compartment Mausoleum was erected-a structure wherein the dead, singly or in
groups of families can be safely housed for ages.  The structure
is 105x33 feet in size and contains 240 compartments, with a marble
hall, twelve feet wide, extending the entire length. The architecture is a mixture of the Gothic and Greek styles, and glass, copper,
steel, concrete, and marble are the materials used to render the
structure both sightly and enduring. The exterior is of white
cement, with enameled terra cotta, and the walls are eighteen
inches in thickness. The Mausoleum is constructed of the best
materials known to this era, and it is regarded by all as a splendid
building of striking, appropriate design-a true ornament to the
cemetery.




CHAPTER XXV.
OGDEN TOWNSHIP.
ACTS OF ORGANIZATION AND CHANGE IN BOUNDARY-STREAMSTOPOGRAPHY AND EARLY CONDITIONS-FIRST SETTLER, MOSES
VOLENTINE-JOHN UNDERWOOD-ERASTUS BROCKWAY-EPHRAIM
HICKS-OTHER PIONEERS-FIRST TOWN MEETING, FIRST SAW MILL,
AND FIRST DEATH-WILLIAM CROCKETT-EXTENSIVE DITCHING.
On March II, 1837, the legislature of the state of Michigan
passed an enactment, a portion of which reads as follows: "That
portion of Lenawee county, designated in the United States survey as township 8 south, of range 4 east, shall be erected into a
township, called Ogden, and the first meeting shall be held at such
place as the sheriff of such county shall designate, giving three days
public notice thereof." On March 31, 1838, another act was passed,
providing that "All that part of the county of Lenawee, lying in
range 4 east and south of the township line between townships 8
and 9 south, be, and the same is hereby attached to and shall form a
part of the township of Ogden, in said county." On March 21, 1851,
by an act of the legislature, it was provided that "All that part of
the township of Palmyra which is south of Raisin River, between
the point where the line between Palmyra and Ogden intersects
the above river, to that point where the said river enters the
township of Blissfield, be taken from the township of Palmyra and
made a part of the township of Ogden; and all of Ogden which lies
north of Raisin River shall be taken from Ogden township and be
made a part of Palmyra." This last enactment of the state legislature gave to Ogden its present size and boundaries, as no change
has since been made.
The township is well watered by several tributaries of the
River Raisin. Bear creek enters the township near its southwestern corner, and flows northerly and easterly through the
entire extent of the township, and on section 2, near the northeast




394


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


corner, it unites with the River Raisin. Black creek, a branch of
Bear creek, enters the township on section 7, and unites with the
main stream on section 4. Another branch flows northerly through
the central portion of the township and unites with Bear creek
near the mouth of the latter, on section 2. Other and smaller
streams flow through the township, and these different water
courses render it, as before stated, a well watered region.
The surface of the township of Ogden is naturally low and
level, and heavily timbered with maple, oak, walnut, ash, whitewood, etc., from which large amounts of timber have been taken.
By large outlays in drainage, the lands have been made fertile and
are constantly improving. The township was originally one of the
finest hunting grounds in the county. Game of all kinds known in
the country was here to be found in almost exhaustless supply. The
heavy growth of timber afforded ample cover and protection,
and many are the "bear stories" and daring feats of frontier life
remembered of the early pioneers of Ogden. They were brought in
daily contact with bears, wolves, and wild-cats, and these were
formidable enemies to the young domestic animals about the settlers' cabins, as well as dangerous companions in the lonely wilderness. Deer and grouse were also to be found in great numbers,
and these, with an occasional "bear steak," furnished the principal meat supply, to which the epicurean of today would have no
reason to object. Venomous reptiles, and especially the dreaded
rattlesnake, were among the enemies of modern civilization, and
they added their share of the discomforts and perils of pioneer life.
The settlement of the township began under the same discouraging circumstances which prevailed everywhere in districts
remote from the natural thoroughfares. The meager supplies of
actual necessities had to be brought long distances, through trackless forests, infested with dangerous opponents of civilization. The
pack-horse was the faithful friend who was the means of connecting the pioneers with the outside world, carrying to them the
few articles of commerce which this simple mode of living
demanded. Ammunition, meal, and salt were the three articles
most required, but the first was always an absolute necessity.
The periodical trips to the "base of supplies" were always fraught
with peril, both to the lonely travelers who made them and to the
helpless and defenseless ones who were left behind. Several days
were required to go to Monroe or Toledo and return with a cargo
of supplies.
The first settler of the township was Moses Volentine, from




OGDEN TOWNSHIP


395


New York, who came in i826. He was born in Jackson, Washington county, New York, in I796, and upon coming to the then
territory of Michigan purchased of the United States the southeast
fraction of the northwest quarter of section i, situated in the northeast corner of the present township of Ogden. Returning to York
State, he passed the summer at his old home, and on Oct, 5, I826,
bade his friends good bye and started, with his wife and a few
household goods, for Michigan, via the Erie canal to Buffalo,
where they arrived at the end of ten days, the passage being made
on a freight boat. On Oct. i6, they left Buffalo on board a
schooner bound for Monroe, but adverse winds obliged them to go
on to Detroit, where they landed at the end of a three days' voyage
from Buffalo. After staying in Detroit ten days, they were landed
on the old log pier, four miles from Monroe village, which place
they reached the same evening. At Monroe, two days were spent
in procuring a quantity of provisions, and an ox team with which
to transport their goods and effects to their intended new home.
Leaving Monroe, Nov. 2, they arrived at the house of George Giles,
on the bank of the River Raisin, and within the southern boundary
of the village of Blissfield, having made arrangements to stay with
Mr. Giles until Mr. Volentine could build a house on his own land,
situated two miles further up the river. After hiring some help,
Mr. Volentine commenced to build a log house, and on Nov. 23,
i826, had finished and moved into it. On Jan. 25, 1827, the Volentines were much pleased to receive the first addition to their little
family, in the person of an average-sized girl baby. This child was
named Amanda M., and is supposed to have been the first white
child born in the township.  Mr. Volentine passed through the
many privations and hardships that are met by the pioneers of all
new countries. On April 7, i828, and for five succeeding years, he
was elected and served as an assessor of taxes in what was then
Blissfield township, giving the best of satisfaction to the taxpayers. In i837, while sufferiag from a severe cold, brought on by
exposure, he lost his voice, and a year passed before he regained
it, being compelled to speak in a whisper during all that time.
Meanwhile he continued his labors as a farmer. Up to this time
he had chopped and cleared about fifty-five acres of his land, erecting thereon good, substantial frame buildings. In i838, he was
attacked with a disease of the nervous system, and for a long time
was confined to his bed. Partially recovering, he was able to ride
out a short distance from his home, in fine weather. In July, 1859,
he sold his farm, and with his wife went to reside in the family




396


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


of his eldest daughter, Mrs. C. J. Randall, where they remained
until removed by death.  His wife died of inflammation of the
lungs, March 19, i860, aged fifty-six years.  In July of the same
year, Mr. Volentine's disease assumed a very remarkable change,
which obliged him to have his room made quite dark, light apparently having the singular power of imparting a very disagreeable heat to his whole body, and from that time until his death no
light was allowed in his room, except that of a lamp or candle,
and that was placed behind a screen. He remained in this condition until he died, July 19, I865, aged sixty-nine years. Mr. Volentine was a man of strict integrity, being just in his deal with
all persons with whom he had business transactions; he was social
in his disposition, entertaining in his conversation, liberal in his
religious beliefs, and in politics a Jeffersonian Democrat.
Mr. Volentine was soon followed in the township by Joel
Woodward and John Underwood. Mr. Underwood was born near
New York city, Sept. I6, 1788, and afterward lived in Dutchess,
Madison, and Wayne counties, in New York state, being a miller by
trade. He owned a large farm in Marion, Wayne county, New
York, where he lived until I833. In the fall of that year he migrated
with his family to Michigan, bringing his team and wagon with
him. He came from Detroit with his own conveyance, and arrived
at George Crane's, in Palmyra, in September. Within a few days
after his arrival, Mr. Crane asked him what kind of land he wanted.
He replied that he wanted 160 acres of heavy timbered land, flat
and level with a stream running through it, with trees tall enough to
make three or four railcuts. "All right, John," says Mr. Crane, "I
can show thee what thee wants," and they went down into the
town of Ogden, where Mr. Underwood took up I60 acres. He
built a shanty that fall and moved his family there. In the winter
of 1835-6, he was engaged by Addison J. Comstock to run the Red
Mill at Adrian, and he lived there three years. In January, 1840,
he traded with Isaac Rathbun for the latter's farm on section 30, in
Palmyra, and he lived on that farm until his death, which occurred
April I, I851.
Erastus Brockway moved into the township in the spring of
1835, and lived there until his death, April i8, i881, being one of
the pioneers. He was born in the state of New York, April, 13,
1802, was reared in his native state, and when a young man moved
to Ohio and located in Erie county, where he resided until 1835,
and then started for the territory of Michigan. He made his way
into the wilderness and settled in what is now Ogden township,




OGDEN TOWNSHIP


397


where he entered eighty acres of land from the government. It
was then covered with a dense forest of heavy timber, and the
country was inhabited by deer, wolves, wild turkey, and other
game. Mr. Brockway erected a log house on his land, and for
the construction of a roof used basswood bark. A considerable
time before his death, he put up a frame residence for the comfort
of his family, and good barns and other out-buildings for the
-domestic animals, with which he stocked the farm.
In the fall of I835, Ephraim Hicks settled with his family in
the township. He was a native of Massachusetts, and before coming to Michigan was a pioneer in. Ontario county, New York.
He was a man of sterling qualities, having been reared among
men who never faltered in time of need. His boyhood days were
spent in a Puritan atmosphere, and his young manhood was passed
among scenes of trial and triumph over the primitive in nature, and
strife and war in human affairs. He was a soldier in the war of
1812, and was at Buffalo when the British burned that city. He settled on sections 6 and 7, in Ogden, and there he took up two eightyacre lots from the government and purchased two from John T.
Comstock. There he resided until his death, which occurred May
I2, I879. He was the first supervisor elected in the township of
Ogden, in 1837, and was again elected in I84I-2-3. He was a man
highly respected by all, and enjoyed the confidence and esteem of
the people of the township for more than forty years.
Clark Angell, William Paul, and Ruel Thayer, came the same
fall, and Norman B. Carter in 1836.
Clark Angell was born in Bateman, Dutchess county, New
York, July I9, 1803, and lived with his father on a farm until his
twenty-first year. He then went to Rochester and lived until the
spring of 1835, when he came to Michigan, arriving in Adrian,
June I. The previous fall, in September, he came here and took
up the southwest quarter of section 7, in Ogden. He moved his
family on this land the following spring, and cleared and improved
it, erected good buildings, and lived there for forty years. In
1875, he rented his farm and purchased a house in the southwest
corner of the township of Palmyra, and there he resided the
remainder of his life.
Norman B. Carter was born in Warren, Litchfield county,
Connecticut, Sept. 7, I801, and there he lived with his parents until
the eleventh year of his age. In I8II, he moved with his parents
to New York, and settled in the western part of 'that state, on the
Holland Purchase. They moved with an ox team, and were twenty



398


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


four days on the way. For five years thereafter, young Carter
hardly saw the inside of a school house. He helped his father
clear up a new farm, undergoing all the hardships of a new country.
In December, I820, he took a contract of the Holland Land Company for a piece of land, in what was then called Ellicottville, Cattaraugus county. In the spring of 1821, with his small effects, he
moved on this land. There was not a tree cut, nor a neighbor living within several miles. He was one among a few who paid for
their land, and he got the first deed in the whole township. It was
there that Mr. Carter first undertook to hew a farm out of a vast
wilderness. He taught the first school in that township, his pupils
coming a long distance to attend. He remained there about sixteen years, until the country was well improved, and came to Michigan in 1832, purchasing land on section 8, in the township of
Ogden. In May, 1836, he moved upon this land with his family, it
being the third time that he had grappled with a wilderness
country. He was justice of the peace, township clerk, and school
inspector, during nearly the entire time he resided in Cattaraugus
county, New York. He was justice of the peace for at least twentyfive years in Ogden, and township clerk and highway commissioner for several terms in the same township. He at one time
owned I,600 acres of land in Michigan, 320 acres being in Hillsdale
county and the balance in Lenawee. He amassed a large property
through habits of economy and industry.
At the first township meeting held in Ogden, for the purpose
of organization, there were thirteen votes cast. The first saw mill
was built by Calvin Bradish, in 1837, on Gleason brook. The
first death in the township was that of Lydia D. Paul, 1838.
William Crockett is now one of the oldest, if not the oldest,
man of continuous residence in the township. He was born in
Sodus, Wayne county, New York, Feb. 4, 1828, and came to Lenawee county, in I836, with his father, Nathaniel Crockett, who settled on section 35, in Ogden township. The father afterward
removed to Iowa, and died in Hardin county, that state, March 13,
I872. William Crockett was eight years old when his parents came
to Lenawee county, and he has resided in the township of Ogden
ever since. When his parents settled in the township, there were
but few settlers, and the township was considered nothing but a
cottonwood swamp, most of the east half being under water half the
year. Mr. Crockett remembers most of the settlers who had located
there previous to 1836, and had made a beginning. They were as
follows, in addition to those already mentioned: Elisha Benton,




OGDEN TOWNSHIP


399


on section 33, Samuel Graham, on section 29, Andrew Sebring, on
section 28, Nathaniel Graham, on section 29, Gideon Sheldon on
section I5; and Jacob Gilbert, on section 15. At that time there
were no settlers in the east half of the township, and for many
years there were no settlers east of Nathaniel Crockett's, and no
roads were cut through. Many times the water was so deep that
for miles it would come up to the ox-bows, as the oxen wallowed
through the woods. It was some time before anything except
corn and potatoes could be raised, and they would often drown out
during the "June freshets," which then occurred almost annually.
Wheat was a failure until the timber was considerably cleared off,
and the ditch system was inaugurated. There was not a frame
house or barn in Ogden, in i836, and the first frame barn Mr.
Crockett saw was Norman B. Carter's. William Crockett lived
with his parents until he was twenty-one, but worked the farm for
some time, in the meantime purchasing a farm on section I4, in
Ogden, where he now resides. He has seen the township brought
from a primitive, worthless state, to one of the best and most
promising in the county. He has spent nearly his entire life in this
work, and has done his share in bringing about the great change.
He has assisted in clearing away the wilderness, and subduing the
rank and almost impenetrable swamp. He has expended much
time and money, besides cheerfully paying all assessments for the
ditching system that has proven so generally beneficial to every
resident. He has grown up with the township, and has prospered
slowly but surely as the township advanced in productivness
and value. The township is now entirely settled up, with no
swamps and "cat-holes," although Mr. Crockett's valuable and very
productive farm was, in I836, an impenetrable and worthless
swamp, covered with water almost the entire year.
As would be naturally inferred from the description given of
Ogden township, as the country there presented itself in the pioneer
days, miasmatic troubles plagued the residents a great deal. But
this and all the other ills were banished by the application of one
treatment-ditching. An examination of the land levels revealed
the fact that there was sufficient fall to direct the water by a proper
system of drainage into Lake Erie, and the inhabitants of three
townships-Ogden, Blissfield, and Riga-were interested in having such plans carried to a successful conclusion. The matter was
given careful consideration, and Dr. Henry Wyman, of Blissfield,
consented to become a candidate for the legislature for the express
purpose of procuring a legislative enactment looking to the drain



400             MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY
age of all that region of country. He introduced and secured the
passage of the first law ever enacted in the United States, providing for extensive ditching, and as a result of this enactment,
marvels were wrought in the increased productivness of the land,
and the purification of the atmosphere to such a degree that it
became as healthful as any other locality. And that region of
country, which was given such an unfavorable report by SurveyorGeneral Tiffin, is now a veritable garden spot.




CHAPTER XXVI.
MEDINA TOWNSHIP.
ORGANIZATION-NATURAL FEATURES-FIRST SETTLER, NATHANIEL
W. UPTON-DEACON COOK HOTCHKISS-JOHN KNAPP-FIRST WHITE
WOMAN- FIRST TAVERN     FIRST RELIGIOUS SERMON - FIRST
SCHOOL-REV. WILLIAM E. WARNER-FIRST DEATHS-GEORGE W.
MOORE-HARD TIMES-EARLY MARRIAGES AND BIRTHS-JOHN D.
SUTTON-RIVAL VILLAGES-NAMES AND SKETCHES OF EARLY RESIDENTS-FIRST TOWNSHIP MEETING-AMUSING INCIDENTS-EARLY
MERCHANTS-VILLAGES OF MEDINA AND CANANDAIGUA.
The organization of this township dates from March II, 1837,
on which date it was set off from the township of Seneca, with
boundaries described as follows: "Township 8 south, of range I
east." The sheriff was empowered to designate the meeting place
for the first township meeting, and that official selected the house of
John Dawes, which was considered a central location.
The surface of the township is generally rolling, and the
varieties known as hardwood predominate in the forests. The
lower lands were covered with maple, black walnut, shell-bark
hickory, and some varieties of oak, while the uplands and hills were
mostly covered with white oak. There were bears, deer, wolves,
and wild-cats in great numbers, which afforded great sport for the
local hunters in, pioneer days.
Nathaniel W. Upton was the first settler in Medina. In 1834,
this gentleman came into the present boundaries of the township
and entered land on sections 3 and 4. In company with Dexter
Smith, who entered an adjoining tract of land, in Hudson township, he built a cabin on his land, in May, I834. It was a log cabin,
or three sides of it were logs, the other being open-and before it
they built their fire. The roof was of elm bark. The bedstead was
a fixture of the house. When the cabin was erected, notches were
cut in the logs at the proper height and poles laid in; the outer
26-iv




402


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


corners were supported by stakes or posts made of a section of
young trees. Beech withes were woven across in place of cords,
and on these elm bark was laid. It was called a Michigan bedstead,
and was probably the first spring bed on record. In this cabin
Smith and Upton lived during the summer, but in the fall they built
themselves a comfortable log house, in which they kept bachelors'
hall until the winter of i836.
On April 8, 1834, Cook Hotchkiss and John Knapp purchased
the northeast quarter and the east half of the southeast quarter
of section 2. Deacon Cook Hotchkiss was born in Cheshire, Conn.,
Sept. I4, 1797, and went to Delaware county, New York, with his
parents, before he was twenty years old. H-e experienced religion
in Homer, N. Y., when he was twenty, and subsequently united
with the Baptist church, in Medina, N. Y., where he served in the
office of deacon. He was a blacksmith by trade, and carried on a
shop in the village of Medina for several years, until the spring
of i834, when he came to Michigan, as above stated, in company
with John Knapp. They traveled the entire distance on foot, in the
month of March, and together located 320 acres of land on section
2, in Medina township, where the village of Medina now stands.
After locating their land they immediately returned to New York,
traveling on foot as far as Buffalo. About May i, they again
started for Michigan with their families and all their effects, traveling by their own teams, and they arrived in Adrian, June 2. Mr.
Hotchkiss remained in Adrian, working for Gabriel Todd, until
Jan. I, I835, when he moved on his land in Medina, the purchase
which he and Mr. Knapp made there having then been equally
divided. Mr. Hotchkiss at once put up a blacksmith shop, making
a frame of poles, which he covered with shakes, and it was the first
shop in the township. Mr. Knapp built his house in the summer of
I834, and it was the first in the village of Medina. Charles A.
Prisbey came in that fall, and built his house about the time that
Mr. Hotchkiss erected his dwelling. The village was subsequently
platted upon the land of Hotchkiss and Knapp, principally upon
that belonging to Knapp, and it was named by those gentlemen.
While residing in Adrian, Mr. Hotchkiss united with the Baptist
church, and he was one of the organizers of the Baptist church at
Medina village, in i836, serving as a deacon until his death. He was
the first justice of the peace in Medina. He was a man of more
than ordinary ability, and was one of the most useful of men in a
newly settled country. Upright in deal, able in counsel, and dignified in manner, he exerted more than a common influence in the




MEDINA TOWNSHIP


403


community. He was a Christian in every sense of the word, and
never wearied in well going. He never failed to visit all neighbors,
and especially newcomers. He made it his business to find out
the condition a family was in when it came, and if he learned it was
in need of anything he could supply, he carried it to the family; not
even asking them to come and get it. It should be known that
many of the lowly pioneers of Lenawee county had a certain degree
of pride about them, and often suffered before they would make
their needs known. Mr. Hotchkiss realized this fact, and bore his
alms to them. He was well known by every settler of the Bean
Creek valley, his house being a meeting house, alms house, and
resting place for all, and no man was ever more sincerely mourned
by an entire community than was he at the time of his death, Aug.
28, I839, after an illness of only one week.
John Knapp was born in Mamaroneck, Westchester county,
New York, Aug. 22, 1785. He was reared a farmer, and first commenced his independent career in Onondaga county, but finally
went to Ridgeway, in Orleans county, and purchased a farm. He
resided there until May, 1834, when he came to Michigan, as before
stated. He cleared up his farm in Medina township, and lived there
until 1841, when he sold out to the Medina Milling Company and
removed to Fairfield, purchasing 200 acres on sections 19 and 20,
where the village of Weston now stands. He resided there until
I870, when he became feeble in health, and went to Adrian to
reside with his son, John I., and there he died, Jan. 17, I874.
On June 3, I834, William W. Walworth purchased the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section I, and on June
6, John R. Foster purchased the northeast quarter of section 6.
Messrs. Knapp, Walworth, and Foster, each built houses and settled their families in the month of June, but Mr.Foster's family
preceded the others a few days, and Mrs. Foster was therefore the
first white woman resident of Medina township. Mr. Foster's
house was erected near the northeast corner of his farm, and was
built after the model of the early log houses. The floor was of
split and hewed basswood, the roof of bark, two small windows, and
a stick and mud chimney. John Knapp built a somewhat better
house-in fact, it smacked a little of aristocracy. It was 20x26 feet,
one and a half stories high; the floors were of split and hewed
basswood, and the roof was covered with shakes. Shakes were
rived out of oak timber; they were about thirty inches long, all the
way of a thickness, and as wide as could be made out of the quarter
of an oak log. The shakes, therefore, varied in width according as




4o4


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


they were split out of a large or small tree, or was the first or last
riven out of the bolt. The shakes were laid on poles flattened to the
rafters and held in place by other poles, the poles, underneath
and top, being fastened together with hickory or blue beech withes.
But, notwithstanding these aristocratic notions, Mr. Knapp was
compelled to have a stick and mud chimney, because there were
neither brick nor stone to be had. The house stood near where
Allen's tavern, in Medina village, afterward stood. The land
bought by William W. Walworth was that on which the Canandaigua mills afterward stood. He built a house a little northwest
of where the old saw mill was afterward built. Charles A. Prisbey purchased the northeast fractional quarter of the northwest
quarter of section 2. Samuel Fincher bought the northwest quarter
of the northwest quarter of section 2, Oct. 5. Both these men built
houses on their lands in the summer and fall of I834.
William Cavender settled on his land in March, I835, and his
brother-in-law, Samuel Gregg, built a house on the land Cavender
purchased, and commenced keeping tavern. That original tavern
stood on the site where afterward stood' the Canandaigua hotel.
Of this enterprise, Mr. Gregg subsequently said: "Mr. Cavender
moved on his premises, and in March, I835, I went there and built
me a log house, 20x30 feet, took my lumber from Adrian, and moved
my family April I6. Soon afterward I made an addition of twelve
feet to one side, for a cook room and dining room, and came to Adrian to purchase groceries-whiskey and brandy-and told them I
was going to keep tavern. They thought that was a novel idea, and
laughed at me, and had their own fun about it. I told them all I
wanted of them was to send on the land-lookers; and in June and
July I had more customers than I could attend to, frequently from
twelve to twenty at a time, and one night thirty-five landlookers." In less than six months most of the land in the township was purchased, and a large portion by actual settlers. In
the month of September, I835, the first sermon was preached by
the Rev. William Wolcott, then of Adrian and afterward a resident of Hudson. The sermon was preached in Gregg's bar-room,
on the invitation of Mr. Gregg. In October, 1835, Dr. Increase S.
Hamilton settled in Canandaigua. The same fall the first school
house was built, on the farm of William Cavender. Dr. Hamilton
taught the first school in the winter of I835-6. In the fall of 1835,
William Cavender bought the land owned by William W. Walworth-the site of the Canandaigua mills-and commenced building a saw mill. It sawed the first lumber, April 12, 1836.




MEDINA TOWNSHIP                  405
In the month of November, I835, the Rev. William E. Warner
settled on section 4. He had formerly resided in the state of New
York, and was there a member of the Methodist Episcopal church
and a local preacher. His large and still increasing family ren —
dered it impossible for him to enter the itinerary permanently, but
for several years he had traveled circuits under the direction of the
presiding elders thereof. In 1835, feeling the importance of finding
a home for his large family, he traded what property he had for
Michigan land, never having seen the land or been in the territory.
He came by wagon to Adrian, and there inquiring for the Bean Creek
country, was directed to go out on the Territorial road. After several days' travel, he found himself on the Chicago road, north of
Devil's Lake. He then turned southward through the forests,
and made his way as well as he could toward where he supposed his
land to be. After a tedious journey he arrived at the abode of
Noah Cressy, on section 32 in Hudson township, two miles from
his land, on the evening of Sunday, Nov. 8, I835. There he found
brethren of his own church, for the Brown families had arrived only
the Monday previous. A few weeks later he moved into a cabin on
his own land. Mr. Warner was one of the most eloquent men this
county was ever blessed with. Always ready, he obeyed every
call for ministerial services, whether to break the bread of life on a
Sunday, or to speak words of consolation to mourning friends on
a week day. He had no regular work, but went everywhere,
among all classes of people-fearless always, reposing with confidence on the promise, "Lo, I am with you always." His name was
a household word among the settlers, from the Chicago road to
the Maumee river, and from the Raisin eastward to the utmost
bounds of the west, as applied to the Bean Creek valley. As with
out regular work, so he was without salary. However hard the
labor endured in answering the demands for ministerial labor, he
always accepted the proffered remuneration, whether it was a
silver, dollar or a peck of potatoes, with a pleasant smile and a
hearty "God bless you." He lived in Medina township for several
years, and then removed, about 1852, to the township of Ransom,
Hillsdale county, where he resided until his death, which occurred
about I87I.
After the Rev. Mr. Wolcott's sermon in Gregg's bar-room
in September, 1835, Mr. Wolcott continued to preach there once in
four weeks during the fall, and a Congregational society was
organized, but it soon became extinct. The religious element of
the Upton and Gregg settlements was largely of the Baptist order,




40o6


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


and on Jan. 29, i836, a church was organized under the name
and style of "The Baptist Church of Canandaigua." Cook Hotchkiss was deacon and superintendent of the Sunday school. Religious services were held in the school house at Canandaigua.
The mill, commenced building in i835, was finished in the
spring of 1836, by Laban Merrick, and the first lumber was sawed
on April I2. William W. Walworth built a small mill on Lime
creek, section 21. It was a patent arrangement, and ground coarse
grain only. Tyler Mitchell was the carpenter and millwright, and
the mill commenced grinding in June, i836. Mr. Walworth died in
August, the second death in the township, the first having been
Loren, a son of John Knapp, April 7.
In the fall of i836, George W. Moore became an inhabitant of
the township, having purchased his land in the spring of i834.
Mr. Moore was born in Peterboro, N. H., April 3, i814. He remained at home until a youth of eighteen years, and was then
apprenticed to his brother William to learn the machinist's trade,
which he followed until i836. In the spring of I834, he migrated to
Michigan and purchased 2io acres of government land on section
3 in Medina township. After securing his title he returned to the
Old Granite State, and followed his trade there until in September,
1836. Being now reinforced with a small capital, he came back to
the West and began the improvement of his purchase. With the
exception of five acres, which he had hired a man to chop. there
were no improvements whatever upon his land. The task before
him seemed an Herculean one, but he was strong in youth and
hope, and set about it with all the resolution which he had inherited
from his forefathers. He labored alone industriously until in
August, i837, and then returned to New Hampshire and was married. Immediately after the wedding the young people departed
for their new home in the West, and took possession of the log
house which had been erected by Mr. Moore. In I837 Mr. Moore
assisted in the organization of Medina township, and was one of
the first assessors, holding the office for some time. As the township became settled up and began to assume modern manners and
institutions, he was foremost in its various enterprises, among the
first of which was the Farmers' Mutual Insurance Company, of
Lenawee, in which he served as director for a period of fourteen
years. He repeatedly represented his township in state and county political conventions, and was the chairman of three different
county conventions, besides holding other important and
honorable offices. In i85o lhe sailed from New York to California,




MEDINA TOWNSHIP


407


spending a month on the Isthmus of Panama, and landed in San
Francisco April 14, having been three weeks on the journey. He
had intended to follow farming on the Pacific Slope, but being unable to carry out his original plans engaged in a saw mill several
months at $Ioo per month. He remained in the Golden State about
two years, then returned to Michigan and settled down upon his
farm in Medina township, engaging in agriculture and adding to
his real estate until he became the owner of about 300 acres. The
little log house which Mr. Moore put up for the reception of his
bride, in I836, in time gave way to a commodious, modern dwelling, and the first rude stable disappeared, its site being occupied
by a large and commodious barn with the addition of various other
buildings indispensable to the progressive modern farmer. Mr.
Moore introduced the first mower and reaper into the western portion of Lenawee county, and while giving due attention to the modern methods of agriculture, ever bore in mind the importance of education to the rising generation. He was foremost in the establishment of religious and educational institutions, being one of the
founders of Oak Grove Academy, and one of the most prominent
and active members of the Congregational church.
The Rev. David Smith preached in the township. He was a
Presbyterian clergyman, sent out as a missionary, and was supported by the Presbytery of Western New York. He lived in a
small house on the farm of Simon D. Wilson, in Seneca, and
preached in private houses. He removed to Illinois in the spring
of I837. In June, 1836, the Rev. Edward Hodge became the pastor of the Baptist church, organized at Canandaigua, in January of
that year. He received a salary of $200, and he lived in the township of Dover. The spring of 1836 was a very severe one for the
inhabitants of Medina township. The most of them had moved in,
in 1835, and as yet had not raised a crop, and provisions were very
scarce and dear. Even had there been provisions that could have
been bought, many of the settlers could not have purchased, as
they had used up their means in purchasing land and moving in.
One man who had planted some potatoes in the spring of 1836
was obliged to dig them up and eat them. It was all they could
get-to eat. Flour, when obtainable, was sixteen dollars a barrel;
pork, thirty to thirty-two; oats, $I.75 a bushel; and salt, ten dollars a barrel. Some families were obliged to live for weeks
without bread, and depended upon the rifle for their daily
subsistence. Said the Rev. William E. Warner to Mr. Moore, one
day in the fall of I836: "We are having snug times at our house;




408


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


for our breakfast this morning we had nothing but pumpkin sauce
to eat, and Mrs. Warner thinks these are rather hard times."
The hard times, however, did not have the effect to suspend
the 'execution of the Divine command, as given in Genesis I:28,
for on July 14, 1835, a son was born to Charles A. Prisbey. The
boy grew to manhood and died at Murfreesboro, Tenn., June 27,
1863, while a member of the Twenty-fourth Wisconsin infantry.
On Nov. 14, I835, Orrin Green was born, and on Feb. I8, 1836, a
child was born in the family of Lewis Shepardson. On the same
day a child was born in the family of a Mr. Bayless, in the south
part of the township. On Aug. 24, I836, Henry C. Foster was
born. He, also, died in the service of his country, at Athens, Ala.,
Sept. 24, 1864, a member of the Eighteenth Michigan infantry. In
the summer of 1836, Ansel Coats and Phoebe York were married,
Daniel H. Deming officiating, and on September I8, John D. Sutton and Abigail Knapp were married.
John D. Sutton, who thus had the distinction of being one of
the first men to be made a benedict in Medina township, was born
in Brutus, Cayuga county, New York, April 13, 1803. He came to
Michigan in the winter of 1835-6, and took up I60 acres of land
on section ii, in Medina, where he resided until his death, which
occurred July 25, '1877. He cleared up and improved I40 acres,
built good buildings, and reared a large family. He was a thorough farmer, an honorable and enterprising man, and a highly
respected citizen. In the early days of the settlement he never
shirked a duty or responsibility, and was progressive and ready
for any service. His was the first wedding to be solemnized in the
township, as Ansel Coats and Phoebe York, whose nuptials preceded those of Mr. and Mrs. Sutton, went to the residence of
Daniel H. Deming, in Dover township, to be married. There was
not a minister in that portion of the county at that time, and Mr.
and Mrs. Sutton were married by Deacon Cook Hotchkiss, the first
justice of the peace.
The young township must have early begun to feel the curse
of intemperance, for on July 4, I836, Dr. Hamilton delivered a
temperance lecture at Canandaigua. The Rev. Lorenzo Davis
having been sent to the newly organized Bean Creek mission of
the Methodist Episcopal church, preached in John R. Foster's
house. Mr. Foster had already built his second house, and the
pioneer building was used as a church and school-house. Mr.
Davis continued to preach in that house once a month during that
conference year.  Mrs. Dr. Hamilton taught the school in the




MEDINA TOWNSHIP


409


Canandaigua school-house in the summer of I836, and that fall a
frame school-house was built in the village. Then Canandaigua
aspired to be the metropolis of Medina township. The same fall
a log school-house was built on the farm of Benjamin Rogers,
southeast quarter of section 23.  Medina had three schools in
the winter of 1836-37, the third being taught by Miss Colgrove, in
John R. Foster's house, near the northeast corner of section 3.
In'December 3, 1836, the Baptist church of Canandaigua voted to
hold its meetings in the village of Medina. The meetings were
held at the dwelling house of Deacon Cook Hotchkiss during the
winter of I836-7 and the summer of I837.
Medina village, as it then began to be called, had no physician,
and, ignoring the Divine command, it coveted its neighbor's doctor. Dr. Hamilton had built a new frame house in the village of
Canandaigua, and to induce him to move to their village, the people
of Medina purchased the house, and the doctor moved in December, I836. As the villages are less than two miles apart, it practically could make but little difference whether he lived at one or
the other of the places, but for the oldest village to lose her only
doctor to enrich her rival, was rather humiliating. But Canandaigua's cup of humiliation was not yet full. The only frame
dwelling house in the township was within her borders, and this
the Medina people determined should not be-they would remove
it. Twenty of the most stalwart men went down there, with fifteen yoke of oxen collected from among the farmers of Medina
and Hudson, to accomplish the removal. Shoes were placed under
the building, the oxen hitched to it, and "Whoa," "Haw," "Get
up, Bright," and away the house went toward Medina. To avoid
the bridge, a road was cut through the woods, north of the creek.
The route they were compelled to take to avoid the bends of the
creek made the road fully two miles long, and the house was two
days in transit; but at last Medina had one frame house, Canandaigua none. In the winter.of 1836-7 the Medina Mill Company
built a saw mill in the village of Medina. It commenced sawing
lumber, April I, I837.
On March I, 1837, the legislature set township 8 south, I
east, off from Seneca and gave it the name of Medina, and on
March 20, of the same year, a supplemental act was passed, detaching fractional township 9 south, I east, from Seneca and attaching it to Medina. At the time of its organization, the first
Monday in April, 1837, the following named persons were voters
in the township of Medina, and it is supposed that they partici



41O


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


pated in the first township meeting: Nathaniel W. Upton, John
R. Foster, John Knapp, Cook Hotchkiss, Charles Prisbey, Samuel
Fincher, Ebenezer Daniels, John C. Hotchkiss, Artemas Allen, Dr.
Increase S. Hamilton, Rev. William E. Warner, Abel Platts,
Patrick McKenny, Tyler Mitchell, Patrick Dillon, William Cavender, Samuel Gregg, Suffrenus Dewey, Orrin Pixley, Charles M.
Baldwin, Lawrence Reubottom, Hiram Lucas, Asa Farley, Lewis
Shepardson, Amasa Converse, Noah K. Green, John Dawes, Levi
B. Wilder, Benjamin Holmes, James McQuillis, Benjamin Rogers,
Abner Rogers, Chester Savage, Justus Coy, Orville Woodworth,
Cassius P. Warner, John Powers, Ethan Barns, Seneca Barns,
Rollin R. Hill, Orlando Whitney, John S. Sweeney, John D. Sutton, Henry S. Smith, Samuel Kies, Horace Garlick, E. H. Johnson, Levi Goss, and Hiram Wakefield, all heads of families; and
Eli Upton, George W. Moore, Andrew McFarlane, James Burns,
Patrick Trumer, Levi Daniels, James Rogers, Charles Stone, Newton Dawes, Alonzo S. Hume, Benjamin Converse, Nahum Stone,
John Seeley, J. M. Baggerly, and Zebedee Baggerly, unmarried
men.
Suffrenus Dewey was born in Schoharie county, New York,
May 14, 1797. While young he was bound out to a man living in
Augusta, Oneida county, with whom he lived two years, and at the
end of that time he was again bound out to a man by the name
of Rice, with whom he lived until i8i8, when he left home and
went to Leroy, N. Y., where he worked at the carpenter's trade
until 1832, at which time he went to Brockport, N. Y. In the fall
of 1834, he moved with his family to Lenawee county and bought
land, which he settled upon and cleared. He followed farming
until 1846, when, leaving his family comfortably provided for, he
went to Wisconsin and worked at his trade, returning to 'Lenawee
county in i860. Among the many buildings Mr. Dewey erected
while working at his trade, may be mentioned the Globe Mills, at
Tecumseh. As an honored and respected citizen he enjoyed the
confidence of the community.
Charles M. Baldwin was born in Windsor, Berkshire county,
Massachusetts, Feb. 28, i806, and there he was reared on a farm.
He remained there until 1833, when he came to Michigan and took
up government land, it being the west half of the northeast quarter, section i8, Fairfield, the deed being dated May 27, 1833. He
made some improvements and lived there until 1835, when he
traded his land for property in Genesee county, but never moved
there. He at once purchased a farm on sections 24 and 25, in




MEDINA TOWNSHIP


4II


Medina, and there he lived until he was fatally injured by a horse
and died, April 3, I852.
Orville Woodworth was born in Columbia county, New York,
Feb. I, I807, and became the proprietor of a good farm near the
town of Sennett, about five miles from the city of Auburn. He
sold his interests in the Empire State, and coming to Lenawee
county took up a tract of land in Medina township. This he moved
upon in I835, and from that time devoted his attention to its cultivation and improvement. He was a public-spirited citizen, and
did much to encourage the settlement of Medina township with a
worthy and intelligent. class of people. He was ever the ready
helper of those trying to help themselves, and contributed of his
time and means to the various worthy enterprises upon which the
prosperity of the young and struggling community depended. His
third house, which he put up in the winter of 1847-8, was used as
a hotel, and was familiarly known as "Buckhorn Tavern." This
was before the days of railroads in that section of country and
before the village of Morenci had much of an existence. Mr.
Woodworth was an expert with the rifle in those early days, and
hunting and fishing were his favorite pastimes. Over 500 deer
fell by his unerring rifle after he became a resident of this county.
He lived to be quite aged, and died at his homestead, Oct. 3, 1870.
Hiram Wakefield's birthplace was at Thompson, Windham
county, Connecticut, where he first saw the light, Dec. 6, I807.
He was reared on a farm, enjoying the usual educational advantages, and remained until I835, when he came to Medina township
with his wife and one child, and settled on Bean creek, where
they remained until 1864, engaged in farming. At that date they
sold this farm and removed to Morenci, where he and his wife
resided the rest of their lives. Mr. Wakefield was a member of
the school board, and he and Mrs. Wakefield were worthy and
consistent members of the Methodist church, with which they
were identified from 1837, and Mr. Wakefield was a class-leader.
for twenty-four years. Throughout his life he lived peaceably with
his fellowmen, and was a man without enemies. He was a kind
and indulgent parent, a liberal-minded man and an obliging neighbor, and he gained a place in the esteem and affection of the
community as the result of an exemplary life.
Benjamin Converse was born in Belchertown, Mass., Oct. 29,
I8I3. He was bred on a farm to the calling which his forefathers
had pursued for many years on Massachusetts soil. When he
was about six years of age his parents removed to Northampton,




4I2


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


and in that beautiful New England town Mr. Converse grew to
manhood, remaining on the home farm and assisting his father
until the fall of 1834, when he came to Michigan to take up some
government land. He selected a tract of eighty acres of land in
Medina township, which was fertile and favorably situated for
culture, and had it entered in his brother's name, for in those
days money was scarce, and the pioneers had to resort to various
expedients to save expense. As soon as the land had been entered,
he and his brother Amasa returned to Massachusetts, and Benjamin remained in his native state for one and one-half years. In
1836 he returned to Michigan and began the improvement of the
tract of land which he had taken up on his previous visit, but
after spending two years in clearing his land, he returned to his
old home. In 1840 he again came to Michigan, and permanently
located on his land in Medina township, upon which he continued
to live the remainder of his life, with the exception of two years,
when he rented it and lived in Massachusetts. He added eighty
acres to his original purchase, and by vigorous and thrifty management brought his land into a well cultivated condition, erecting
good buildings and making many other substantial improvements. Besides accomplishing all this, he engaged in the manufacture of brooms for several years, which pursuit added greatly
to his income. Mr. Converse was a man of cautious discrimination
and far-seeing intelligence. In his political belief he was a thorough Republican, his high character and standing in his community having made him an acceptable office-holder, and he was
honored by his fellowmen by election to the offices of treasurer,
collector, and highway commissioner, in which last-named office
he served for one term, and he also held the various offices of the
school board.
In accordance with the sheriff's proclamation, the first township meeting was held on Monday, April 3, 1837, and officers were
elected as follows: Rollin R. Hill, supervisor; John Dawes, township clerk; George W. Moore, Noah K. Green, and James A.
Rogers, assessors; Orlando Whitney, John S. Sweeney, and John
Powers, commissioners of highways; Asa Farley and John D. Sutton, school commissioners; Benjamin Rogers and John Knapp,
overseers of the poor; Asa Farley, James A. Rogers, Henry S.
Smith, and Samuel Kies, justices of the peace; Charles Stone, Cassius P. Warner, Horace Garlick, and E. H. Johnson, constables;
Charles Stone, collector. The justices-elect drew for term, with
the following result: Henry S. Smith, four years; Samuel Kies,
three years; James A. Rogers, two years; Asa Farley, one year.




MEDINA TOWNSHIP


413


The voters thought it necessary to offer a five-dollar wolf bounty.
But there had been a muddle in this election. Hitherto, there had
been both school commissioners and school inspectors, but the
legislature abolished the office of school commissioner at the session in I837. The people evidently thought it was the inspectors
that were abolished, for they elected school commissioners, but no
inspectors. A special township meeting was called to rectify the
error, and it was held on June 20, at the house of John Dawes.
Dr. Increase S. Hamilton, Rollin R. Hill, and Noah K. Green were
elected school inspectors. Late in the same year, Samuel Kies removed from the township, and Samuel Gregg was elected justice
to fill the vacancy.
The rivalry still continued between the villages of Canandaigua and Medina, and James J. Hogaboam relates the following
little incident in his "History of the Bean Creek Valley." It tended
to even matters up a little: In the fall of I836, an itinerant fruit
tree vender brought some apple trees to Canandaigua to sell to the
farmers of Medina and Seneca. He had fifty more than he could
dispose of, and these he buried in William Cavender's field. In the
winter, a Medina man coming by the field, discovered the tree
tops covered with snow, and asked Burns Cavender what it meant.
Burns said Gregg had thrown a drunken Indian out of his barroom, that he had died from exposure, and that his body was
buried lightly and covered with brush. The Medina man went
home, revolving in his mind the tragic death of the Indian. He
called a secret council, and it was decided that the matter must be
investigated and Gregg punished. In the dead of the night, six of
Medina's most valiant sons sallied forth, armed with axes and
spades, for a march on Canandaigua. They came to the spot and
attempted to remove the brush, but the butt ends had sunk in
the mud and frozen down. The axes were called in requisition,
and the brush was cut away even with the ground. Then the digging commenced, and in the course of an hour's hard work the
bodies and roots of the trees were exhumed. They went home
sadder and wiser men, desiring above all things to keep their
agency in the matter a secret. But "murder will out," they had to
pay for the trees, and, what was of more consequence to them, they
were jeered at by the Canandaigua folks.
On March 7, 1837, a church was organized in the south part of
the township, and was called the First Congregational Church of
Medina.  It had eleven members, and the Rev. Paul Shepherd was
its first pastor. Canandaigua was platted, Oct. 26, I835, by Ira




414


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


White, but Medina village was not platted until a year and a half
later. The plat was made and acknowledged by Asahel Finch, Jr.,
Cook Hotchkiss, Artemus Allen, and Lauren Hotchkiss, March
30, I837. The original merchant of the township of Medina was a
Mr. Saulsbury, who located at Canandaigua, in I835. He was
succeeded by a Mr. Green, in 1836, also at Canandaigua, and Allen
Daniels & Company, at Medina, was the third in the mercantile
succession.
From 1840 to 1844, the villages of Medina and Canandaigua
were at the height of their power, grandeur, and glory. The two
villages did the most extensive milling business in the Bean creek
valley, if not in the entire county. The Medina mill alone, in I840,
floured 40,000 bushels of wheat, besides custom work, and the
store of Allen Daniels & Company was the most complete in Lenawee county, outside of the village of Adrian. But as centers of
industry these villages have long since ceased to attract attention,
the building of railroads on every side having built up other places
and given an advantage that was hard to overcome in the struggle
for superiority. And Medina may be said to be an exclusively agricultural district, although the village of Munson, on the Wabash
railroad, is a shipping and trading point of importance and convenience to a large farming community.




CHAPTER XXVII.
RIDGEWAY TOWNSHIP.
CREATION OF THE TOWNSHIP AND CHANGE IN BOUNDARIES-TOPOGRAPHY AND WATER COURSES-NATURAL CONDITIONS-FIRST LAND
PURCHASE-FIRST DWELLING HOUSE-FIRST PERMANENT SETTLERS-FIRST DEATH-FIRST ELECTION-SANFORD HOUSE-JOSHUA
WARING-FIRST PUBLIC ROAD-EARLY RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTSFIRST PHYSICIANS-EARLY HARDSHIPS AND DIFFICULTIES.
The Michigan state legislature, on March 15, 1841, created the
township of Ridgeway by the following official enactment: "All
that part of the township of Macon, in the county of Lenawee,
which lies south of the quarter-section line, running from west to
east through the middle of sections 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, and 36, in
township 5 south of range 5 east, as designated by the United
States survey, is hereby set off and organized into a new township
by the name of Ridgeway, and the first township meeting shall
be held at the school house in the village of Ridgeway." This arrangement lasted until March 28, I850, when an act was passed
providing "That sections 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, and 36, of the township of Ridgeway be taken from said township and attached to the
township of Blissfield." The boundaries were again changed on
Jan. 5, 1869, when, in response to a petition presented to the
county board of supervisors, sections 25, 26, 27, and 28, were detached from Ridgeway and placed in Deerfield township. The
township of Macon joins Ridgeway on the north, the eastern bounddary meets a tier of sections in Deerfield township and also the
county of Monroe, the southern boundary is the line that separates
the township from Deerfield and Blissfield, and the townships of
Raisin and Tecumseh are on the west.
The surface of the township of Ridgeway is somewhat broken
and hilly. It receives its name from a ridge of land extending
across the northwest corner of the township. On this ridge the




4i6


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


pleasant village of Ridgeway is situated. Many believe from the
geological formation of this ridge that it was at some remote
period the shore of Lake Erie. In the eastern part of the township is the land known as the Big Prairie, about five miles long
by one mile wide, and running nearly parallel with the ridge. It
produced a coarse grass, known as blue joint, mixed with wild pea
vine, and made very good hay, which was valuable to the early
settlers of this and the surrounding townships for wintering stock,
and what was not mown was burned in the fall or spring, making
a fine illumination for several days in succession, leaving the land
clean for a new crop. A portion of the land west of the ridge was
oak openings; the remainder, to the prairie, was heavily timbered.
The drainage of the township is principally towards the east.
The territory is well watered, the principal stream being the Little
Raisin river, which flows from northwest to southeast through the
central part of the township, and its tributaries, of which there are
several. These streams are all Ted by many spring branches, thus
affording good water~power for the early mills which were established along their banks. Natural conditions in the township were
favorable in early days to the existence of all kinds of game, ferocious animals, and venomous reptiles. These were found there in
great numbers by the white settlers, and Ridgeway was a favorite
hunting ground for the Indians at a still earlier date. The soil of
the township varies from a rich dark loam to a mixture of sand
and clay, the former being highly valuable for the raising of all
kinds of cereals, corn, oats, and barley, especially, and all the land
of the township is made to yield profitable returns to the owners.
Stock raising and fruit culture are among the principal industries,
and these afford good margins of profit.
The people are, as a class, industrious and hospitable, and possess some of the best farms in the county. The first land purchased of the government was by Coonrod Lamberson, who left
the town of Camilus, county of Onondaga, state of New York,
Nov. I, I825, with a pair of horses, riding one and leading the
other, and arriving at Tecumseh in December. In February, i826,
in company with-Peter Lowe, he started out to select land. They
crossed the River Raisin near Ezra F. Blood's and traveled to the
first section corner south of the Champlain brook, thence east three
miles, to the northwest corner of section 8, just east of the ridge
one mile south of the village of Ridgeway. Mr. Lamberson found
the land covered with early spring flowers, and it looked so beau



RIDGEWAY TOWiNSHIP


417


tiful that he located the north half of section 8, and built a house
on that land in I829. This was the only house at that time between the ridge and the French settlement west of Monroe. The
nearest dwelling south of this was at Blissfield, and the nearest
north at Ypsilanti.
The first dwelling house in the township, however, was built
by Giles Hubbard, in the spring of 1828, about one mile west of
the village of Ridgeway, on the farm afterward owned by Cecil
Clark. The next was built by a Mr. Martin, on the prairie, in July,
and was occupied by him about two months, when he removed to
Monroe. The building was destroyed by fire the same fall. But
none of the gentlemen mentioned could be called permanent settlers, and the first settlements of a permanent nature within the
present limits of the township were made in I83I, by George
Drown, J. O. Dennis, Jonathan Clark, and Robert Wilson, who
were soon followed by John Palmer, Francis Coats, Stephen V.
Miller, George Brown, Cecil Clark, John F. Schreder, and others.
Robert Wilson was a native of New York, and was reared
partly in Wayne and partly in Genesee county. When he left the
Empire State for the purpose of establishing for himself a home
in southern Michigan, he started with a team and wagon and $300
in money. He went by the canal to Buffalo, thence by lake to Detroit, where he loaded all his earthly possessions on the wagon and
followed the trail to Lenawee county, stopping at Tecumseh,
where he remained one year. He then came to Ridgeway township and invested $200 of his money for 16o acres of land, upon
which he settled. He obtained his land of Uncle Sam, and the purchase papers were signed by President Jackson. On this place, on
section 32 of what was then called Macon township but was afterward included in Ridgeway, he built his primitive cabin, a pleasant
little log house, which was his home for some time. In the course
of events, this gave place to a larger and finer residence, one of
the best then in the township, and Mr. Wilson lived to see almost
all of the farm well improved, and he owned at the time of his
death nearly 200 acres. He was an old-line Whig, casting one of
the first four Whig votes in the township, and later he was a solid
Republican. He was an active, energetic man, and accomplished a
great deal in the development of this township and county.
John Palmer was born in Washington county, New York, in
October, 1788. He was reared a farmer and owned a farm in Walworth, where he lived until the spring of 1831, when he emigrated
to Michigan with his family, arriving in Tecumseh on May 17.
27-Iv




418


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


On the same day he went to Ridgeway, and stopped in a shanty
with Calvin Drown until he could build one for himself. Four
years previous to this, in 1827, Mr. Palmer came to Michigan and
located I60 acres on sections 5 and 6, in Ridgeway, and it was
upon this property that he built his shanty. From the time he
moved his family here he always lived upon this farm, and previous to his death he had purchased 400 acres, clearing 250 acres
and building a large frame house, with barns and everything that
was needed. The same year he settled here, he cleared off twenty
acres of heavy timber land and put it into wheat, and the following
year he reaped 400 bushels, which he sold for $2.50 per bushel. He
also raised fifty bushels of potatoes among the stumps and trees
the first year. The death of his son, Decatur Palmer, who was
drowned in the Little Raisin river, was the first that occurred in
Ridgeway township. John Palmer died in Ridgeway, in 1864.
John F. Schreder was born in Orange county, New York. He
was in early life a miller, and when a young man he went to Pennsylvania, where he lived until his migration to Michigan. He then
came across the country with teams, and entered government land
in Ridgeway township, in June, I83I. He then resumed his employment as miller, in which he engaged for some time in Tecumseh,
managing the first mill that was ever built in the county, on the
banks of the Raisin river. He afterward commenced the improvement of his land, and made his home on it until four years before
his death, which time he spent with his daughter, Mrs. Arner, at
Ridgeway. His useful life was prolonged much beyond the usual
number of years that generally fall to man, his death occurring.
Nov. 26, 1882, at the age of nearly ninety-five years. In his day he
was a strong Democrat.
The first township election was held April 5, I84I, and the
records show eighty as the whole number of votes cast. Augustus
Montgomery received eighty votes for supervisor, the first township clerk was Timothy Baker, and Sanford Hause and Joshua
Waring were also given official positions.
Sanford Hause was born and reared in Seneca county, New
York, where he grew to manhood and was married. He then continued to reside on a farm in Seneca county until, feeling the necessity for better opportunities to use the limited means at his command, he decided to join the tide of emigration which was then
setting toward southern Michigan, and which place accordingly
became his home in the late '30s. The country was then in its
primitive condition, and the settlement below the Ridge, in Ridge



RIDGEWAY TOWNSHIP


4I9


way township, had few inhabitants other than the wild game and
animals which the settlers found there upon their arrival. This
section was then very low and flat, being thought by many to have
originally formed a part of Lake Erie. The land was exceedingly
wet and muddy, so much so that it was -known as "The Muddy
Swamp," and was greatly dreaded by travelers. Mr. Hause took
up his home on this flat land, building himself a log hut on the
principal road. When travel began to increase, he enlarged his
original cabin and converted it into a public house, known in those
times as a tavern, which he operated for some years successfully
and gained the reputation of being a genial landlord. The muddy
condition of the roads contributed to his prosperity, as it frequently necessitated delay on the part of travelers, and he kept
many of his guests two nights. Travelers would get within a
mile or so of the house, and leaving their wagons in the muddy
road, would proceed to the tavern and put up, in order to give their
worn-out teams a chance to recuperate. The next day they would
not get very far on the other side of the hotel, and would return
to the house and spend another night of comfort and good cheer.
An incident told by one of the guests who stopped at this wayside
inn will serve to illustrate the condition of the primitive roads in
that section. The author of the story was a real Yankee, and some
allowance should perhaps be made for the exercise of his imagination. As he was coming through the swamp, so he said, and
was nearing the tavern, he saw a hat, as he supposed, lying on the
ground. He reached down from his animal, which was sinking
deep into the bog, to pick up the hat, but was told by a voice
from under it to let it alone, as the wearer was all right, since he
had a good horse under him. The meat supplied for Mr. Hause's
guests consisted chiefly of venison, which was prepared by the
landlord's faithful wife. Sanford Hause lived to a ripe old age,
and died Feb. I5, I885. He filled the office of supervisor for several
years, and was many times elected justice of the peace, being
known for many years by the familiar name of "Squire Hause."
He was a charter member of the First Christian church of Ridgeway.
Joshua Waring was a native of Newburg, Orange county,
New York, and was born April 3, I803. He was moderately well
educated, and when a young man learned the trade of a chair and
cabinet maker, at which he was engaged for two years after his
marriage. In I834, with his young bride and her brothers, Daniel
and William Lockwood, he set out for Michigan in the usual way,




420


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


going via the canal and lakes. When they came into this county
the country was quite new, and Mr. Waring took up his home in
the woods on section 9, the property afterward owned by Justus
Lowe. After he had settled on his new homestead, Mr. Waring
erected a small shop, in which he could ply his vocation as cabinetmaker, and thereby furnish the early settlers with such articles
of furniture as were needed here in the. early days of settlement.
By this means he was enabled to have his heavily timbered farm
improved, receiving labor in payment for his furniture. Later, he
devoted his entire time to farming, and finally, in 1865, removed
to the village of Ridgeway, where he made his home until his
death, which occurred March I7, 1884. He was devoted to the
interests of the people in general, and especially to the church,
being a liberal contributor to and a strong supporter of the Methodist Episcopal denomination. He was a fine vocal musician, leading in devotional singing, and he took a great interest in prayer
meeting. His life was an example of moral rectitude.
The first road opened through the township was by Musgrove
Evans, William Tilton, Curtis Page, Ezra F. Blood, John Coon,
Peter Lowe, and others, in the summer of I824, and it was the
direct road from Monroe to Tecumseh, being near where the
La Plaisance Bay turnpike afterward was located. The first circuit preachers that preached in Ridgeway were Rev. J. F. Davidson and Thomas Wiley. They labored on the Tecumseh circuit,
in i835, and preached at Joseph Edmundson's and at Peter Miller's,
in Macon. By the efforts of Mrs. Peter Davidson, Mrs. Asa
Russell, and Mrs. Jehiel Miller, a Sabbath school was organized
in Ridgeway, in I835. A Mr. Hall, who lived where Minor Davidson afterward resided, was the first superintendent. The first
Methodist Episcopal class formed in Ridgeway village, of which
there is any record, was Jan. 25, i840, A. Billings, presiding- elder;
W. Sprague and U. Hoyt, circuit preachers; Joshua Waring,
leader. In i845, the society built a house of worship, partially
completed it and used it the same fall. It did service for twentyone years, and then the society erected a new and more pretentious building, the old one being afterward used as a dwelling by
Samuel Arner. A Dutch Reformed Society, organized in I842, built
a house of worship in i843. Rev. Charles DeWitt was the first
pastor, and for many years it was a prosperous society and accomplished much good. Eventually, it disbanded, some of the
members going to Pennington's Corners and the remainder to other
societies. The church building was sold, and was afterward used




RIDGEWAY TOWNSHIP


421


as a wagon shop. A society was formed in East Ridgeway, in
February, I849, known as the First Church of Christ, and a house
*of worship was erected the same year.
It is uncertain whether Drs. Saxon or Norton was the first to
locate in Ridgeway, but Dr. DeMott was the first to remain a considerable length of time, as he was the first that was acceptable
to the people. But he had very unpleasant roads to travel. On
*one occasion he attended Mr. Hocum, who lived on what was afterward known as the G. L. Oliver place, and he called Dr. Palmer,
of Tecumseh, as counsel. They had to ford the Macon river (it
was in the spring), and on returning, Dr. Palmer's horse lost its
footing, and although the Doctor was a high church man, he was
completely immersed in the cold water of the raging stream, and
rode to Ridgeway without change of clothing. Mr. Hocum died,
and Mr. Lupton went on horse-back to preach the funeral sermon.
Three yoke of oxen being hitched to a lumber wagon, Mr. Lupton
drove the lead team, and a man in the wagon the other two, and in
this way the corpse was brought to Ridgeway for burial.
The early settlers of Ridgeway had many things to contend
with. It was said that the land was too low or the water was too
high, and there was no way to get the surplus off. The land was
heavily timbered and it took much labor to fit a small piece for
cultivation. When the crops commenced to mature, wild animals
and birds were early on hand to gather their share. Small clearings were made, but being surrounded by dense timber, very'little
air was moving, and the sun beat down on them with intense heat.
The roads through the woods seemed to have no bottom, and long
pieces had to be covered with logs, rails, and brush, in order to
make them passable. The streams had to be forded, and the settlers went to mill, to church, and to visit each other, with ox teams
and lumber wagons. They did not listen to the sweet sounds of
the organ or piano; but to the howls of the wolf, which could, it
appeared to the listener, multiply himself until one would appear
to be ten, and ten one hundred; also, to the hoot of the owl, that
flew so noiselessly that in the night one would not be aware of his
presence till the hoot broke with startling effect near by, warning
the listener that if a chicken could be reached it would be missing
in the morning. But through the indomitable courage and persevering efforts of the early pioneers, this has all been changed; the
woods have disappeared, the roads have become smooth and pleasant to travel. The wild animals and destructive birds have also
<disappeared, the log cabin is gone, and fine farm dwellings and




422             MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY
large and productive orchards and small fruits of all kinds have
taken their place; but the pioneers have removed to that house not
made with hands.




CHAPTER XXVIII.
RIGA TOWNSHIP.
ORGANIZED AS POTTSDAM, NAME CHANGED TO RIGA-NATURAL FEATURES -FIRST WHITE SETTLER-ROSWELL W. KNIGHT-THE COTTONWOOD SWAMP AND THE RIGA DITCH-NAMES OF EARLY SETLERS-FIRST EVENTS-VILLAGE OF RIGA.
This township was formed of territory included in the original
township of Blissfield, which, prior to the organization of Riga (or
Pottsdam), extended to the southern boundary of the county. On
March 9, 1843, the township of Pottsdam was created by an act
of the state legislature, as follows: "Township 8 and fractional
township 9 south, range 5 east, now a part of the township of
Blissfield, shall be organized into a separate township, called Pottsdam, and the first township meeting shall be held at Hendrick
Wilby's." The name of the township was changed from Pottsdam
to Riga by an act of the state legislature, approved Feb. 29, I844.
The surface of the township, in common with the greater portion of the territory embraced within the county, is level and in
some places slightly rolling. The soil is principally loam, with a
clay sub-soil, while some portions are sandy, and it produces the
finest crops of grain and vegetables known to this part of the state.
There is comparatively little waste land in the township, and the
condition of the farms, buildings, and surroundings are indicative
of thrift and prosperity. As a grain-growing and stock-raising
township it is not excelled in the county, and it is also noted for
its heavy yield-of fine grass. What is known as the Big Ravine
extends from west to east through the south central portion of the
township, and this, with the little streams flowing into it, forms
the drainage system of the township.
The township of Riga was mainly covered with heavy timber,
and in the observations made by the gentlemen who first made
the survey, the timber is described as sugar, beech, ash, cottonwood,




424


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


sycamore, elm, and maple. Some of the choicest timber was used
for building, making rails, and sawing into lumber, but much of it
which would now be very valuable was burned in clearing the land.
The township was first called Pottsdam, after a village of the
same name in New York. Zebina Smith, from New York, was the
first actual white settler in Riga, in 1836, and he was followed, the
same fall, by Reuben Tredway and E. S. Guernsey. The first settlement was in the southern portion of the township, but Roswell
W. Knight moved into Pottsdam, from Blissfield, in 1839, and
erected the first house in the northern part of the township, the
site being where the village of Riga is now situated.
Roswell W. Knight was born in Canaan, Conn., April II, I792.
He lived on a farm with his parents until he was about eighteen
years old, when he went to Hornellsville, N. Y., where he worked
in a store until I812, and then he enlisted as a drummer boy and
served throughout that war. At the close of hostilities, he returned to Hornellsville and established himself in the mercantile
business, conducting a grocery and provision store, and he also
carried on a saw mill and did an extensive shipping business for
many years. In I837, he came to Michigan and settled in Blissfield. Shortly afterward, he took up forty acres of land on section
4, in Riga, on the north side of the Cottonwood swamp, on the old
State road, between Toledo and Adrian. He built a log house,
which, as before stated, was the first building erected in the northern part of the township, and he kept a hotel for several years.
While thus engaged, he took the contract of rebuilding the Erie
& Kalamazoo railroad between Sylvania and "Crane's Curve," west
of the village of Palmyra. In I853, he founded Knight's Station (now Riga), and also Wood's Station, three miles east. At
Knights' Station he erected the first house and established
the first store, making his son, A. J. Knight, a partner. At
that time, he was known as the "King of the Cottonwood
Swamp," and he was a friend and benefactor of every man
who settled in the township. At Wood Station, he built side
tracks and erected large sheds, which he donated to the railroad
company. He afterward furnished thousands of cords of wood
to the company. He gave the ground for all the churches and
school houses in the village of Riga, and donated seven acres to
Bradbury & Wilkinson for the purpose of erecting a saw mill.
He also gave seven acres of land to the railroad company for station purposes. At different times he owned 657 acres of what was
then called swamp land, and he was the instigator of the "big




RIGA TOWNSHIP


425


ditch," which made the land tillable. He was an enterprising, sagacious, honorable man, and was greatly respected by all of the settlers. He was the first justice of the peace, and the first postmaster
at Riga, and he resided there until his death, which occurred March
12, i86o. He was buried two days later, and his funeral is said
to have been the largest that ever was held in the eastern part of
the county.
In 1839, with some other gentlemen, Roswell WV. Knight cut
a road through to the settlement in the southern part of the township, and while thus engaged, his son Almon killed a bear which
weighed 205 pounds. John Dings, a German, was also an early
settler and he located in the southwest corner of the township.
John Gordineer took up land adjoining Mr. Dings soon afterward.
Lawrence Miner, a Germnan,.was the second man to settle in the
present village of Riga. The next man to come in was Stephen
A. Stoddard, who erected the first building-a log one-that was
especially designed for hotel purposes.
Up to i8-o, the most of the township of Riga, especially that
portion of it comprising what was known as the Cottonwood.
Swamp, was not considered worth anything, but shortly after that
time the "Riga ditch" was put through the center of the swamp,
and it has since been enlarged until it is now almost equal to a
canal in size, and, with intersecting ditches, has drained the land
completely. Since i853, the township has been rapidly settled,
mostly by Germans, and it is now a very productive portion of the
county. Among early settlers we may mention Armon Barrett,
Rufus Wells and George Westerman.  The first white child born
in the township was Martin Van Buren Tredway, who served as
a volunteer in the Forty-seventh Ohio infantry, and was killed
in the battle of Resaca, Ga. The first mill was built by Daniel
D. Sinclair and T. G. Templeton, in I858. The first church in the
township to rear its spire heavenward was the German Lutheran,
in i865.
The Indians were very tenacious of their "happy huntinggrounds," in this part of the country at least, and up to i852, they
made the southern portion of Riga their abode.
Riga is settled mostly by the German element-a sturdy,
thrifty race, and from whose ranks have come many of the leading
business men and some of the prominent officials of the county.
The township enjoys the distinction of being one of the best
agricultural townships in Lenawee county.  Its soil is especially
adapted to diversified farming and fruit growing, in which pursuits,




426             MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY
combined with stock raising, the intelligent and industrious farmers
have met with phenomenal success. The pleasant homes and
thrifty surroundings are abundant proof of this, while an occasional
handsome mansion, with modern improvements and appliances,
affirms the conclusion that even in this favored land, some have
been more successful than their worthy rivals.
The village of Riga is the only village in the township, and the
beginning of this place has been mentioned in connection with the
career of Roswell W..Knight. The various business and mechanical industries are carried on, and the handsome little village bustles with busy life. It affords an excellent market to the grain and
stock interests.




CHAPTER XXIX.
DEERFIELD TOWNSHIP.
ORGANIZATION, ENLARGEMENT AND NATURAL FEATURES-VILLAGE
OF DEERFIELD-FIRST SETTLEMENT-WILLIAM KEDZIE-DANIEL
H. CLARK-GIRL LOST IN THE WOODS-FIRST EVENTS AND PIONEER
INCIDENTS-GEORGE FERGUSON-ALBERT K. HICKOK-CHANGE OF
NAME OF POSTOFFICE FROM KEDZIE'S GROVE TO DEERFIELDEPHRAIM HALL- JASON HEMENWAY - JOE BRAGG - OTHER PIONEERS.
Previous to March 13, 1867, the territory of this township was
a part of the township of Blissfield. It was then organized as a
separate township, in conformity with the prayer of certain petitioners, and given the name of Deerfield. Nearly two years later,
by an act of Jan. 5, I869, the township was enlarged by the addition of four sections of land taken from the township of Ridgeway. The township comprises, practically, twenty-five sections,
which is considerably less than a full Congressional township.
The central part of the township is embraced in the valley of the
River Raisin, and is very rich and valuable territory. The northern
portion of the township is traversed by two smaller streams, the
valleys of which are also fertile lands and embrace a considerable
area. Numerous spring runs increase the volume of water in the
river and creeks mentioned, and at the same time enhance the
value of the lands traversed, rendering them available for grazing
purposes.
The general surface of the township of Deerfield is level, and
the soil is very productive, producing excellent crops of wheat, oats,
and other cereals. Fine farms and excellent improvements attest
the fertility of the land. The surface of the township was originally
covered with a heavy growth of excellent timber, and the varieties
were those usually found in this section of the state. While some
valuable timber is still preserved, by far the greater part of it was




428


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


destroyed in fitting the land for cultivation. That which survived the pioneer log-heaps has submitted to oft-repeated cullings
for market purposes, or the personal needs of the owners, until at
this time the territory where it grew thickest, more resembles-the
treeless prairies of the West than the original home of a dense
forest.
The village of Deerfield, located in the eastern part of the
township, is one of the most prosperous trading centers in the
county, and it was incorporated in I872. It is a thriving borough
of about I,ooo inhabitants, and some considerable trade is carried
on there in merchandise, live stock, and farm products. It has a
bank, hotels, and some manufacturing interests. It is situated on
the Detroit branch of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern railroad.
The territory now embraced within Deerfield township was
occupied at about as early a period as any of the townships of the
county, with a very few exceptions. The first man to make an actual settlement in the township was William Kedzie. Mr. Kedzie
was born in Roxboro, Scotland, where he lived until the age of
fourteen, and then emigrated to America with his brothers and
sisters, landing in New York. He went to Washington county,
that state, and settled in Salem, but about the year I8Io moved to
Stamford, Delaware county. He resided there about ten years and
then removed to Delhi, in the same county, and purchased a second
farm, upon which he resided for six years, clearing up about Ioo
acres of land in the meantime. In the spring of 1824, he came to
Michigan and purchased 304 acres of land in what is now Deerfield,
it being the first land entered in the..township. He then returned
to Delhi and remained there until the spring of I826, when he sold
his farm and migrated to Lenawee county. He took passage on a
canal boat at Utica and came to Buffalo, where he remained four
days waiting for a steamboat-the old Superior-which was the only
one at that time running between Buffalo and Detroit. At Detroit
he transferred his goods to the steamer Chippewa, which brought
his family to Monroe, and he landed at the latter place on May 13,
1826. There he rented some land and stayed until the fall of that
year, when he moved upon his farm in Deerfield, into a new and
unfinished log house, without doors or windows. In the winter
of I826-7, he let a job to Benjamin and Nathan Tibbetts of chopping thirty acres, a portion of which was cleared and planted to
corn and potatoes in the spring of 1827. For several years after
this, the nearest grist and saw mill, postoffice, blacksmith shop.




DEERFIELD TOWNSHIP


429


store, and doctor, were at Monroe, a distance of twenty-five miles.
For about one year after Mr. Kedzie's settlement, there was no
bridge at Petersburg, and in going to mill grists had to be ferried
at that point across the river in a large canoe, and the wagon was
taken apart and transferred in like manner. The horses then were
made to swim the river, when the wagon was put together again.
horses harnessed, etc.  The same operation had to be repeated on
the return trip. On Aug. 5, I828, Mr. Kedzie died, which was the
first death and burial in the township. A short time before his
death, a postoffice had been established, with Mr. Kedzie as the
first postmaster, and the name given the office was "Kedzie's
Grove," afterward changed to Deerfield.
Early in the spring of 1827, quite an immigration came into
the township, the Clark family, with Daniel H. Clark at its head,
being prominent among the early settlers. Daniel H. Clark was
born in Argyle, Washington county, New York, April 27, 1809.
He came to Michigan with his parents in I823, and lived in Monroe
county until the spring of I827, when the family moved to Lenawee
county and located land on section 14, in what is now called Deerfield township. The family then consisted of Daniel H., his mother,
four sisters, and a vounger brother. Daniel H. carried on the farm
and took care of the family. He cleared up the land, and when
the State Line road was built from Toledo to the Indiana line, after
the settlement of the Toledo war, with his brother,William C., he
took a contract for building seventeen half-miles of road and bridges.
They afterward had a contract of three half-miles on the La Plaisance Bay turnpike. Mr. Clark afterward had contracts, being
associated with different parties, on the Michigan Southern railroad,
between Deerfield and Osseo. With the means that he received
from his contracts he improved his farm, building barns, fences,
etc., and he resided there about fifty years, selling to Conrad
Haidle in the spring of I877. He then moved to Petersburg, Monroe county, where he purchased a small home and resided the remainder of his life. Mr. Clark was a soldier in the Black Hawk
war, and served under Gen. J. W. Brown as a musician. He was
not a soldier in the Toledo war, but did what he could for Michigan,
and was much interested in the controversy.
In the first year of the residence of the Clark family in Deerfield, Eliza Clark, one of the daughters, went to Petersburg to see
about attending school, and she became lost in the woods while
attempting to return to her home, a distance of about five miles,
through the- dense forest. It was about Christmas time, a little




430


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


snow had fallen, and, as she did not start on her return trip until
about five o'clock, it soon became dark. When she came to a small
creek, about half of the distance on her journey, she found the
water was high, and in attempting to find a better crossing place,
she lost the Indian trail, which she was following and was obliged
to remain in the woods through the night. The next morning, she
was bewildered and unable to find her course, and it was three
nights and nearly three days before she found a house. On one of
the nights, while she was sitting with her back to a tree, with the
dry portion of her underclothing wrapped about her feet to keep
them from freezing, she heard a little noise close by, and threw her
shoe in the direction of the noise. The next morning she discovered that she had killed a mouse, and she put the little creature
in her pocket with the intention of eating it if compelled to do so
in order to save her life. On the third day she came to a house on
Swan creek, about five miles north of Maumee City, Ohio, and
there she was kindly cared for. Her mother and brothers and sisters knew nothing of the circumstances until a letter came by the
way of Monroe, informing them of her suffering. She finally came
home all right, and afterward married Seeley Finch, of Caledonia,
Livingston county, New York, but her health was seriously impaired by her exposure in the woods, and she died a few years
afterwards.
After the death of William Kedzie, Anthony McKey was appointed postmaster at Kedzie's Grove. Mr. McKey was one of the
most prominent men of the settlement-active as a farmer, surveyor and engineer, and he served as a member of the state senate
for two years, in 1837 and 1838. The mail, at first, was carried on
horseback from Monroe to Blissfield, by way of Deerfield, and
weekly trips were made. Some of the early settlers in Deerfield
and vicinity were over twenty days in getting through with teams
from western and central New York-a trip which can now be
made by a railroad in about half as many hours. The first school
house was a log one, built in I829, and the first teacher was Miss
Caroline Amelia Bixby, of Adrian. For the first two or three
years, the early settlers had to go to Monroe to market, to mill, to
postoffice, for blacksmithing, and for a doctor. It is related that a
member of the Kedzie family at one time had to go a distance of
five miles, on a winter morning, for fire, or rather for the means
of making one. And they were not the only pioneers of Lenawee
county who occasionally had to go quite a distance on like errands,
as those times were long before the days of friction matches. An



DEERFIELD TOWNSHIP


43I


other incident, showing the difficulties and hardships of early pioneer life in Lenawee county, is related of Mr. Kedzie. At one time
he took a grist to mill at Monroe, but when he arrived at that
place the mill was out of repair and he was compelled to bring the
grain back unground. He then took it to Tecumseh, traveling
through an almost unbroken wilderness, with only marked trees
and old Indian paths for his guides. The distance to Monroe and
back, and then to Tecumseh and return, was about IOO miles.
George Ferguson, another of the early settlers of Deerfield
township, was a native of Perthshire, Scotland, and was born Sept.
I6, I786. When little past infancy he was brought by his parents
to the United States. He was reared to manhood in Washington
county, New York, and assisted his father on the farm, remaining
in the Empire State until after he had been married and had become
the father of seven children. In the early summer of I833, he determined to cast his lot with the pioneers of Michigan Territory.
Disposing of his interests in New York state, with his family he
started for Lenawee county, traveling via the Erie canal to Buffalo
and thence by lake to the present site of Toledo, where there was
then but a solitary house. There Mr. Ferguson engaged a man
with a team to bring him and his possessions to Lenawee county,
but the teamster compelled the children to walk the greater part of
the way. Mr. Ferguson, with his little family, first stopped in Kedzie's Grove, moving into a log house with another family, and while
residing there purchased the land which he in due time transformed into the homestead where he spent his last years. Upon this
there was also a log house, which the family occupied several
years, the father in the meantime raising it and putting a story
underneath. When Mr. Ferguson came to this section of country,
deer, wolves, bears, and wild turkeys were plentiful, together with
other game, especially coons, which were very destructive to the
corn crop. But he lived to see the country around him developed
from a wild waste into valuable farms and beautiful homesteads,
and he contributed in no small degree in encouraging the immigration of an intelligent and thrifty class of people. He departed
this life at the homestead which he had built up in Deerfield township, Jan. 4, 1867.
Albert K. Hickok was born in Norwalk, Conn., July 25, 1799,
and there he resided until he was eighteen years old, when. his
parents moved to Scipio, Cayuga county, New York, and purchased
a farm. Albert K. remained there until I821, when he came to
Michigan and settled at Monroe. At one time he carried on a




432


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


brick-yard there, and afterward manufactured the first brick ever
made in Toledo. He carried on a meat market in Monroe, and was
also engaged with a surveying party in laying out roads between
Detroit and Grand river. In 1834 he came to Lenawee county, and
after working a farm four years, he took up 200 acres of land on
sections 9 and 15, in Deerfield township, and there he resided until
his death, which occurred Nov. 26, I874.
In 1836, the name of the postoffice at the present village of
Deerfield was changed from Kedzie's Grove to Deerfield. One
evening, upon agreement, three of the five heads of families who
made up the most important part of the population met at the
postoffice for the purpose of changing the name of the hamlet.
On account of the abundance of deer during its first settlement,
Ephraim Hall suggested that the future name be Deerfield, and it
was accordingly changed to the name by which it has since been
known. Mr. Hall came to this county in 1836, and first engaged
in the lumber business, becoming junior member of the mill firm
of Clark & Hall. He built and owned the first dam and saw mill
at Deerfield, and they subsequently became the property of Jason
Hemenway. Three years after embarking in the saw mill venture,
Mr. Hall concluded to take up farming, and he purchased a part
of the Kedzie farm on the west side of the river, where he afterwards built his home. Another reason for his preference for the
name of Deerfield was that it reminded him of the home of relatives in Massachusetts to whom he was much attached.
Ephraim Hall was born in Sudbury, Rutland county, Vermont,
Jan. 20, I8Io. He remained in the Green Mountain State until he
had reached the age of twenty-three, when he made his way to the
Territory of Michigan, landing in Detroit in May, I833. He erected
the first frame house in the village of Deerfield, and was foremost
in many of the enterprises which helped to place the struggling
hamlet upon its feet and encourage within its limits the settlement
of an enterprising and intelligent class of people. In politics, Mr.
Hall was a Democrat.
Jason Hemenway made his way to the Territory of Michigan
in the summer of I830, and within a short time it was evident that
he was to be a most valuable accession to the community. There
were then but few people around him, only here and there the
cabin of an adventurous settler hidden among the forest trees.
He was a native of Seneca county,New York, and was born near
the town of Ovid, May 8, i8II. He made his home with his parents
until nineteen years of age. The previous year he had purchased




DEERFIELD TOWNSHIP                     43


433


his time of his father, and being a natural mechanic borrowed a set
of carpenter's tools and commenced his career as a builder. His
first undertaking was a house for his father, which he succeeded
in putting tup in good shape, and received the admiring approval
of all the people around. Upon the completion of this, he decided
upon a change of location, and coming to Michigan Territory, he
located in the embryo village of Ogden, Monroe county, where
he followed his trade continuously for a period of five years. In
the meantime he had purchased an acre of land and a house in
Odgen, but in 1837 sold this property and took up his residence
in Summerfield, Monroe county. There he bought a village lot,
put up a house, and worked at his trade until i840. He then traded
his Summerfield property for a half interest in a saw mill in Deerfield township, to which he removed and where he ever afterward
resided. He rebuilt the mill three different times, and invested
his surplus capital in land, which he cleared and improved, and he
carried on general farming with success. In 1848, he established
the first mercantile concern in Deerfield. When he first removed
to the place, there was but one frame dwelling in the village, and
that a very insignificant structure.  Deer, wolves and panthers
roamed through the wilderness and frequently surrounded the
little hamlet.  Mr. Hemenway was a man naturally looked up to
as the encourager of the enterprises which sprang to life as the
population increased, and he never failed the people in giving his
encouragement and substantial support to whatever tended to the
general welfare. He cast his first Presidential vote for Martin Van
Buren, but later in life was independent in politics.
Joe Bragg, another early settler of Deerfield township, was
born in Barre, Orleans county, New York, Dec. 25, i8oi. He was
reared a farmer, and remained in his native county, where he owned
a farm, until the fall of i833, when he came to Michigan and purchased land in Fairfield township, but after living there about five
years and making considerable improvement, he sold out. He then
located another piece of land near by, but in the spring of I839 he
made another change and purchased a farm on section 36, in what
was then Ridgeway, but now Deerfield township. At that time
Daniel Carey and Anthony McKey and one or two others, were
the only settlers in the vicinity of where the village of Deerfield
now stands. There were no roads nor improvements, and Mr.
Bragg assisted in all the first public work done. He resided on his
farm about seven years, when he sold out and went to Seneca township, purchasing a farm on section I. He resided in Seneca for
28-IV




434             MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY
about three years, and then again sold out and returned to his old
neighborhood, in Deerfield township, where he resided until his
death, April 8, 1856. He was indeed a pioneer in the truest sense.
He brought his family from New York to Michigan with an ox-team.
He was a poor man, and it required his best energies and judgment
to provide for his family and give them enough to eat. He was
an honest, hard-working, kind and generous man, who enjoyed the
friendship and confidence of every acquaintance.
Others of the early pioneers of Deerfield which may appropriately be mentioned, were Neal S. McBride, Alanson Pool, E.
E. Burnham, Philander Munson, John Scully, George Hall, James
Keegan, Hiram T. Fife, Daniel Carey, and Walter P. Clark. From
the small beginning, the particulars of which we have attempted
to relate in this chapter, the township has grown in population
until in I904 the Michigan state census gave the number of inhabitants of the township as 1,48I.








ENTRANCE TO CLTNTON CEFETE'RY




CHAPTER XXX.
CLINTON TOWNSHIP.
ORGANIZATION - FEATURES, NATURAL AND MODERN - THADDEUS
CLARK-FIRST MARRIAGE AND DEATH-ALPHEUS KIES-BENJAMIN
B. FISK AND SON, GEN. CLINTON B. FISK-FIRST FOURTH OF JULY
CELEBRATION-EARLY HORSE FANCIERS-PIONEER MERCANTILE
HOUSES - MAMMOTH SLEIGH RIDE - JOHN P. SILVERS-EARLY
CHRISTIAN MINISTERS, DOCTORS AND LAWYERS-VILLAGE OF CLINTON.
The organization of this township was provided for on March
12, I869. The act creating it provided that "Sections I to I8, inclusive, in township 5, south of range 4 east, being the north half
of the township of Tecumseh," be erected into a township by the
name of Clinton. The hotel of Charles H. Adam, in the village
of Clinton, was designated as the place for holding the first township meeting, and the date thereof was the first Monday of April,
I869.
The township is in the form of an oblong square, bounded
on all sides by straight lines, six miles in length and three in width.
The soil is exceedingly rich, and is not surpassed in fertility by any
land in the county. The River Raisin furnishes the drainage of
the township, taking a southerly course through the western part.
The Jackson branch of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern railroad also traverses the township, with an important station at the
village of Clinton, and before the days of railroads, Newburg gave
an air of business to the particular locality in which it is situated.
The township is abundantly supplied with well kept roads. In the
early days its territory was a popular hunting ground, the heavy
timber affording excellent cover and favorite resorts for all the
larger game found in the country. Even after the general settlement had progressed for some years, large game was plentiful, and
foreign hunting parties frequently visited the locality, and were




436


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


well rewarded for their efforts. Heavy timber of -the usual varieties found in the county covered almost the entire township, this
being relieved only by small patches of prairie in some portions.
In the early part of September, I825, John Terrell came as an
explorer to Clinton, and determined to locate there, but returning
East, he did not come to remain permanently until i83I, when
Thaddeus Clark accompanied him.
Thaddeus Clark was a blacksmith by trade, and helped to
construct a ship for service in the war of 18I2. In 183i, with his
wife and niece and Mr. Terrill, he came with teams overland from
the state of New York to Michigan, bringing their worldly effects
in a wagon, and he located in Clinton township, securing land on
which the village of Clinton is now situated. He secured a large.
property, consisting of 400 acres of land, which he lived to see
nearly all well improved at the time of his death, April 15, I870,
at the ripe old age of ninety-one years. He gave liberally to have
the railroad built into the township and contributed freely to other
local enterprises and charitable movements.
George Lazell came, March I7, I829, from New York. Clinton
at that time was all woods-no roads, no houses. Mr. Lazell left
Saline in the afternoon and traveled by foot to within four miles of
the present site of the village of Clinton, at dark, when he arrived
at the residence of Colonel Hixon, in Bridgewater township,
Washtenaw county, where Mr. Lazell located. The first marriage
in Clinton was that of George Lazell and Deborah Gillett, which
took place April 22, i832, and the first death in Clinton took from
Mr. Lazell the wife of his youth, after having been married only
ten months.
Alpheus Kies was already here when those above mentioned
made their settlement. He came from Cayuga county, New York,
the journey being made via canal to Buffalo and thence by the
lake steamer, "William Penn," to Detroit. This boat was commanded by Captain Hoyt, an old friend of Mr. Kies, and after
they had been out two days it became disabled and they were
obliged to put in at Dunkirk. From there they took the steamer
"Enterprise," and arriving in Detroit six days later, secured a team.
Then, loading their effects upon a lumber wagon, the family and
goods were by this means conveyed to their destination. The
route was scarcely marked by a wagon track, and in some places
almost impassable. Upon their arrival within the present limits of
Clinton township they found there one building, a "shanty," near
the site of the present village and standing in the woods between




CLINTON TOWNSHIP


437


what are now the villages of Clinton and Saline. Mr. Kies took up
a tract of government land, 240 acres in extent, lying on sections
4 and 5, and embracing the greater part of the present corporation
of Clinton village. He donated from this a lot of one acre each
to a carpenter and a blacksmith, to encourage them in establishing
their business. This was in keeping with the character of the
man, as he took a heartfelt interest in the progress and development of his adopted county and employed the best means in his
power to assist in bringing about this result. The site where the
village of Clinton now stands was then known as Oak Plains, and
there Mr. Kies erected the first house, there being but one other
building within forty miles, on what is known as the Chicago turnpike. The log house which Mr. Kies erected for the use of his
family in time became the stopping place for many a traveler
through that section. As time passed on he began dealing in real
estate, and was permitted to behold the transformation of the wilderness into smiling farms and valuable homesteads. He named
the village of Clinton in honor of DeWitt Clinton, an early governor of the state of New York and at one time a candidate for
vice-president on the Democratic ticket, which Mr. Kies uniformly
voted. The death of this early pioneer and thoroughly good man
took place at the homestead of his son, Joseph, after many years'
labor, in October, I864.
Edwin and John Smith, brothers, took up their abode in Clinton in the days of its early settlement, and the last named was,one of the early merchants of the place.
In the month of May, I830, Benjamin B. Fisk came in from
Livingston county, New York. He was a native of Connecticut,
was reared in the county of his birth, and there learned the trade
of a blacksmith. After reaching manhood he removed to the
township of York, Livingston county, New York, where he followed his trade for some time. In I830, with his family he came
across the lake in the "Peacock," which had a very stormy voyage,
landing in Detroit at the end of eight days. When the family arrived in what is now the village of Clinton, Mr. Fisk had about
$i.50, and in order to secure a lot on which to erect a shop-the
first in the place-he had to trade some cloth and bedding. He
had only gotten a fair start in life in this new country when death
called him to his final reward, his demise occurring from typhoid
fever, Sept. 28, 1832. He was an honest and upright man, a Universalist in religion, and in politics his sympathies were with the
Democratic party. He was the first of the early settlers to be




438


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


buried in Clinton, and a son, B. Western Fisk, was the first white
child born in the village. Mr. Fisk erected the second frame building in Clinton, and as a blacksmith did all the work in his line
from Clinton to Jonesville west, and to Ypsilanti east.
Gen. Clinton B. Fisk was a son of this early pioneer of Clinton
township, and was less than two years old when the family took
up its abode in Lenawee county. He grew to manhood in Clinton
and for several years conducted a general store at that place. He
removed to Missouri a few years before the outbreak of the Civil
war, and from that state he entered the Union army as a private,
and left it as brevet major-general of volunteers. He subsequently
held positions in the Freedman's Bureau and elsewhere, was the
Prohibition candidate for governor of New Jersey in I886, and in
1888 was the candidate of the same party for president of the
United States. He was one of the founders of Fisk University,
in Tennessee. He died July 9, I890.
In the fall of 1831, every adult in the village of Clinton was
invited by Benjamin B. Fisk and wife to dine, and they all at one
time sat around the table, thus giving some idea of the population of the embryo village at that time. The second death in Clinton was that of John Huston. The grave of Benjamin B. Fisk was
the first dug in the old burying ground, and the cemetery was laid
out by Owen Pomeroy the day following Mr. Fisk's death. Elder
Bangs, the first Methodist minister in Clinton, preached the
funeral sermon.
'On July 4, 1831, occurred the first celebration of Independence
Day in Clinton. There were about Ioo persons present, all told,
and the joyful occasion was marred by an explosion, as a result ol
which David Reed lost both his arms. Dr. Patterson, of Tecumseh, was the officiating surgeon, his assistants being George Lazell
and Calvin Drown, and his surgical instruments were a butcher's
knife and a carpenter's saw. In connection with the celebration,
there came up a thunder storm, with wind and rain, and the roads
were literally deluged. Many of the ladies' bonnets loosed themselves from their moorings and floated on the flooded streets, and
many a young man took a cold bath in a gallant attempt to rescue
the headgear from a watery grave.
The first grist mill in Clinton was started by Smith & Dodge.
In I836-7, some of the gentry in the place had a fine stud of saddle
horses, and they knew how to ride them as well as exhibit them.
Among these horse fanciers were J. W. King, Samuel Chandler, D.
W. Owens, Dr. A. Cressey, C. H. McClure, and Andrew J. Clark.




CLINTON TOWNSHIP


439


These gentlemen would saddle up on a pleasant afternoon, ride to
Tecumseh, and on their return would leave the public roads and
tutor their horses to clear the fallen trees. They would then ride
into town, single file, double file, or all abreast.
At about this time, the following firms in Clinton had large
stocks of merchandise: King & Warner, Clark & Snow, Smith &
Payne, H. & S. Chandler, E. & E. A. Brown, Seth Worth, A. Richardson, John Smith, G. E. Bull and others. It took a small fortune to get a stock of goods from New York in those days. King
& Warner paid $I.45 per hundred on hardware and groceries, and
$1.95 on dry goods from New York to Detroit, amounting to
$I,5o0 on the stock, and from Detroit to Clinton, one dollar for
heavy and $I.50 for dry goods on the same stock. Trade came in
from sixty to ninety miles west, and the travel on the Chicago road
was immense. About every third house was a hotel, and every
landlord kept a team to haul supplies from Clinton. The latecomers at a hotel cheerfully accepted a space on the bar-room
floor to spread their robes or blankets for the night. Two daily
lines of stages were then running over this route, and the passengers had to be accommodated at Clinton. Captain Parks, who
then conducted the hotel, would have refreshments in readiness
until midnight, and then would commence breakfasting the early
starters at 4 o'clock in the morning.
The winter of i836-7 was made memorable among the early
pioneers by a mammoth sleigh ride to Ann Arbor. The sleigh for
the occasion was built by John and Oraman Skinner, assisted by
their brother, Ben, who was a boss carpenter. It was nearly forty
feet in length, with seats arranged omnibus fashion. The driver's
seat was nine feet high and carried two reinsmen, with one knight
of the whip. The team consisted of twenty of the best horses in
the vicinity, three span of which were owned by the Skinner
brothers. The tongues were so rigged that three span could hold
back while going down hill. The four leading span were controlled by postillions, who wore red uniforms trimmed with black.
The best carpet in town was used to cover the sides of the conveyance, a piece of green flannel covered the seats, red bombazine bordered the frame, and the top was covered with heavy drilling.
The entire load consisted of fifty-six persons- all married but one
couple. Prominent among the originators of this ride were the
following pioneers: Alpheus Kies, Richard Townsend, James
Parks, Thaddeus Clark, J. W. King, John Terrell, D. B. Warner,
Edwin Smith, John P. Silvers, Hiram Dodge, B. R. Felton, Fielder




440


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


S. Snow, Henry Chandler, Daniel HIixson, Alonzo Cressey, and
Shubael Green. The whole expense of the sleigh ride was $450,
which averaged over sixteen dollars apiece for those who paid the
bills. A few days later, Mr. Skinner put eight horses before the
same sleigh and took eighty-four school children to Saline and return.
John P. Silvers, who was prominent in this sleighing party,
was born in Sussex, N. J., April 14, 1803, and three years later was
taken by his parents to Fayette, Seneca county, New York. He
worked on the home farm until the spring of 1833, when he
started for the Territory of Michigan with his team, driving the
entire distance to this county, and he purchased 264 acres of land
on sections 8 and 9, in what is now Clinton township. The greater
part of this was heavily timbered, about Ioo acres being "openings." That same spring he set out fifty apple trees, most of
which are now alive and in good bearing condition. He was remarkably active and industrious, and it was a favorite remark of
his that his farm had "produced everything but a mortgage."
The first Presbyterian minister who preached in Clinton, and
who officiated at the funeral of Mrs. George Lazell, was Noah
Wells, who afterward became a resident of Ohio. The first resident Baptist minister was R. Powell; Methodist, a Rev. Mr. Bangs;
and Episcopal, Rev. Mr. Lyster. The first physicians were Drs.
Pierce, Cressey, and Christie; the first lawyers, Ensworth and St.
John; the first school teacher, John J. Adam, and the first postmaster was H. N. Baldwin. The last named gentleman took the
census of the village of Clinton, in 1836, and the count showed
925 souls, with not one-half of the roofs necessary to cover them.
One house was occupied by five families, numbering thirty persons.
The village of Clinton is situated on the northern border of
the county, on the Jackson branch of the Lake Shore & Michigan
Southern railroad. The Clinton Wdolen Mill is one of the important manufactories of the county, and its fine product of cloth finds
ready market. The village is surrounded by a fine farming country, was incorporated in I869, has two banks, good hotels, and is an
important shipping point.








_ ___ __ ___ L __


r


II II lo rSa a


I


J


CITY HALL, ADRIAN


Foto by Metier, Adrian




CHAPTER XXXI.
CITY OF ADRIAN.
FOUNDED BY ADDISON J. COMSTOCK, AND NAMED BY HIS WIFEORIGINAL PLAT-FIRST EVENTS-EARLY FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION - EARLY HOTELS - ISAAC DEAN - POSTOFFICE ESTABLISHED-FIRST DRY GOODS STORE-E. CONANT WINTER-RUFUS
MERRICK-INDIAN SCARE-FIRST NEWSPAPER-FIRST DRUG STORE
-ABEL WHITNEY-FIRST RAILROAD-ADRIAN AS A CITY-ORIGINAL
BOUNDARIES-SUMMARY OF CHARTER-AMENDMENTS AND CHANGES
-LIST OF MAYORS WITH PERSONAL SKETCHES-PRESENT CONDITIONS-ADRIAN PUBLIC LIBRARY-CEMETERIES-FRATERNAL AND
OTHER SOCIETIES-STATE INDUSTRIAL HOME FOR GIRLS-SKETCH
OF MRS. LAURA S. HAVILAND.
The history of the city of Adrian properly begins with its incorporation and organization under the charter, Jan. 31, 1853, but
a portion of the pioneer annals has been reserved for this chapter,
in order that the record of the metropolis of the county might not
be disassociated from the earlier and important events. As has
been heretofore stated, the village was first given the name of
Logan, but this was afterward changed to Adrian at the suggestion
of Mrs. Addison J. Comstock. The name has no local significance,
as is frequently the case in selecting names for cities and villages,
but it was selected by Mrs. Comstock in honor of the noted Roman,
who made the name a famous one in ancient history. And it was
entirely fitting that this lady should be accorded the privilege of
selecting the name for the future chief city of the county, for although she was not the first Caucasian of her sex to become a resident of the place-her arrival being antedated a few days by that
of Mrs. John Gifford-she immediately assumed her rightful position as the "first lady" of the embryo village and was the wife of
the founder and proprietor.
Previous to the arrival of Addison J. Comstock the locality in




442


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


which Adrian is situated was known only to the red man, a scattering remnant of the once powerful tribe known as the Pottawattamies, having their wigwams located on the flats near the river
at the northeast corner of West Maumee and Greenly streets. At
that time the river followed around the west bank of Lawrence
park. And it remained for Addison J. Comstock to take the first
steps toward building up a civilized community and make for himself the distinction of being the founder of Lenawee's metropolis.
To him is entitled all the honor that attaches to the term of "the
first pioneer citizen." It was he who caused the first survey of
the village to be made, he became the first clerk of the township
after its organization, was the first postmaster, donated the first
land for public purposes, and later on, when the village had grown
to a city, was the first mayor elected by the people. Before Comstock's time there was nothing of Adrian but the river and a beautiful location, the blue sky overhead and the bluffs and the swamps
and the marshes round about, and the dark, unexplored wilderness
surrounding it on all sides-a part of the Territory of Michigan.
The name of Adrian and the name of its founder are as inseparably
connected as the name of Watt and the steam engine are interlocked for all time. Comstock's life, public services and interesting career, are part and parcel of the city's history, and it can be
truthfully said that before Adrian there was not much of Comstock,
and before Comstock there was nothing at all of Adrian. Coming
here as a young man, before he had entered upon an independent
career, but endowed with natural ability and excellent training for
a life of usefulness, he was the first to introduce a civilized mode
of living on the present site of the beautiful Maple City. An
epitomized account of his career is given on another page of this
volume.
It was in I828 that Comstock laid out the little village on the
banks of the River Raisin, and it is from that date that the historv
of Adrian, as a hamlet or village, may be said to begin. The village was a small and mean one, apparently, and for a time its history was nearly devoid of interest. Like the knife-grinder, it had
no story to tell, and the narrator of what little gossip there is about
it may be told, as Macaulay was about his "History of England,"
that it is his story, and not history.  Still, within the succeeding
months and years, the foundations were laid for the city as it exists
today, and it does not do for cities, any more than individuals, to
despise the day of small beginnings. It has always kept pace with
the growth of the county, and has always had reason to congratu



CITY OF ADRIAN


443


late itself that its founder had some conception, even if an inadequate one, of the flattering prospect before it. In the original plat,
the village consisted of two streets, Main and Maumee, each about
two blocks long, and they crossed each other at right angles, but
Maumee, west of Main, was first called St. Joseph, and has never
been legally changed, though by common consent it has long been
known as West Maumee. Why the streets were not laid out with
respect to the cardinal points of the compass is unknown, but it
was probably due more to thoughtlessness than design. The original plat contained forty-nine lots of nearly uniform size, with the
exception of the one on the corner where Hart & Shaw's drug store
is located, and that was laid out for a park, nine rods square, and
was given to the village for the location of the court house and
jail, it seeming even at that early date a certainty that Adrian
would be the future seat of justice of Lenawee county. In 1837
this lot was sold to Dr. Underwood, who erected the corner drug
store, which, in I85o, he sold to Samuel E. Hart.
The first two or three years after it was platted the village
grew quite rapidly, as the census of 1830, including Adrian township, showed a population of 500 souls. On Dec. 26, I826, Elias
Dennis purchased of the United States the eighty acres of land
which was known for a long time as the Dennis property and at
a later date was sold by the heirs to L. G. and A. S. Berry, who
platted the same, and it is now known as L. G. and A. S. Berry's
southern addition to Adrian. This same year Addison J Comstock
built a saw mill just north of the present Maumee street bridge.
In 1827 Noah Norton came and built a house just east of the present site of the St. Charles hotel. Mr. Norton afterward emigrated
to California, where he died. The first child born in Adrian was
Leander Comstock, son of Addison J. and Sarah S. Comstock, born
Aug. 9, I827, and died Oct. 8, of the same year, being the first to
be buried in the old burying ground. The second death was Mrs.
Elias Dennis, in the spring of 1828, and the third was John Gifford,
both of whom were also buried in the old cemetery. On Oct. 23,
1827, James Whitney purchased 400 acres of land of the United
States, the same being situated on the west side of the river, and
he then returned to Orleans county, New York, to close up his business, moving.to Adrian the next year.
A Fourth of July celebration was held in the little village in
1828, which shows that the inhabitants, though few in number,
were filled with patriotism. This was the first celebration of the
kind ever held in Adrian, and it is doubtful if there has been one




444


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


since that was filled with more enjoyment to the participants. Extensive preparations were made, and at an early hour the people
began to assemble around the stand which was erected for the occasion, and which was under a white oak tree near where George
Wilcox's store now stands. It is estimated that some thirty or
forty people were present, Addison J. Comstock read the Declaration of Independence, and Dr. Caleb N. Ormsby delivered the oration, after which the marshal of the day, Noah Norton, formed the
procession and proceeded through the principal streets-through
hazel brush-to the house of Addison J. Comstock, where dinner
had been prepared by Mrs. Comstock, assisted by the other ladies
of the village. The county seat question was already prominent
in the minds of the people, as is evidenced by a post-prandial toast
given by Noah Norton, as follows: "O, Tecumseh! Tecumseh!
How often would we have gathered thy children together, even as
a hen gathereth her children under her wings, and Ye would not."
Bonfires and a dance in the evening ended the festivities of the day.
It is said that the marshal was extremely fortunate in borrowing a
pair of shoes of Eleazer Baker, who boarded with Mr. Norton,
otherwise the latter could not have performed the duties assigned
him as generalissimo of the occasion.
In an early day hotels were in great demand, to accommodate
the immigrants until they could build homes of their own. In 1828
Isaac Dean built the Exchange Hotel, a large wooden building, situated where the Maumee Hotel now stands. In I859 it was torn
down and the Brackett House was built, afterward called the Lawrence House, still later the Hotel Gregg, and at present the Maumee. The "Exchange" was a commodious structure for those days,
became very popular as a public resort, and was the "stage house"
for many years.
Isaac Dean, who thus became the first hotel-keeper in Adrian,
was born in Plainfield, Conn., March I4, I77I. When a young
man he learned the trade of carpenter and mill-wright, and moved
to Ontario county, New York, in i8oo, and there he owned a saw
and grist mill and lived until his removal to Michigan. He arrived
in Adrian May 20, I828, and immediately purchased a village lot
on the corner of Maumee and Winter streets, and there he built
the first hotel, which was also the first frame building erected in
the village. The house was formally opened July 4, I829, when a
dance took place in the ball-room in the second story, and the
building was finished that year. Mr. Dean kept the house for about
ten years, then rented it, and retired from active business pursuits.




CITY OF ADRIAN                  445
In 1829 he and his son-in-law, Addison J. Comstock, built the "Red
Mill," Mr. Dean superintending the work himself. This was the
first mill south of Tecumseh, and Mr. Dean started the mill and
"ground the first grist." In the fall of 1833 he purchased eighty
acres of land on the Territorial road, in Adrian township, three
and a half miles west of Adrian, and built a saw mill on the west
branch of the River Raisin, which ran through the farm. He lived
in Adrian until his death, which occurred March 3, 1858.
In 1830 the French hotel was built where W. F. King's jewelry
store is now located. Afterward it was rebuilt, with high wooden
steps on either street, and it was then given the name of "Franklin
House," but in 1846 it was burned, after which it was rebuilt on
the lot immediately north of its old location, extended on both
sides of Franklin alley, with the upper stories overhanging the
driveway. In 1831 the St. Charles house was built and was known
for many years as the Mansion House.  Shortly after that the
American House was built where the jail now stands, and the National Hotel was located where the Bliss abstract office is. Another
hotel was built just west of the St. Charles, and was first known
as the Burns House, later the Sammons, and finally the Hildebrant
House. Another was built where the street car barns now are.
and still another was located just south of Monument Square,
known as the John Post Hotel. Among other noted buildings of
the early days, Tippecanoe Hall may be mentioned. It was built
of logs and was situated on the rear of the lot where Wood, Crane
& Wood Company's store building now stands. Prominent about
it was the coon-skin on the front door and the cider barrel in the
rear window, with its free faucet on the outside. Another landmark was the Universalist church, situated on Broad street, upon
the site now occupied by the residence of George Curtis. At first
it was merely'enclosed, but after a few years it was remodeled into
a boarding house and called the Streeter House. Then, after the
burning of the Union school house, in i866, it was used for school
purposes until a new school building was completed.
We will now return and take up events that were important in
their way in laying the foundation of the splendid little city —the
metropolis of Lenawee county. On June 2, I829, Abijah Russel
purchased 35.6 acres of land of the United States, and in May, 1831,
he sold the same to Richard M. Lewis for eighty dollars. This land
was known as the Lewis fraction for many years, until James Berry
purchased it and divided it into lots. The land purchased by
Messrs. Comstock, Gifford, Dennis and Whitney comprises nearly
all of that on which the city of Adrian is located.




446


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


In I829 a postoffice was established in Adrian, with Addison
J. Comstock as postmaster. The following somewhat amusing account, given by Mr. Comstock, and taken from a document prepared by him and deposited under the corner stone of the old
Union school house, will show something of the condition of things
in that early day: "The same year a postoffice was established in
Adrian, A. J. Comstock, P. M. The conditions of establishing the
office were that the contractor should take the net revenue of the
office for transporting the mail from Adrian to Monroe. The whole
receipts of the first quarter, ending March 31, I829, was $8.60 3-4.
The net revenue to the contractor, after paying expenses of
office, 90 3-4 cents. It should be remarked that the carrying of the
mail was not expensive, as the postmaster took advantage of the
ox teams that made regular trips to Monroe, and so obtained the
mail about every week, as a trip to Monroe and back could be performed in about five days when they had good luck."
The first dry goods store was opened by E. C. Winter, in 1829,
in the front room of Dr. Ormsby's house, which stood on the southwest corner of Maumee and Winter streets. Mr. Winter afterward
built a large wooden block opposite the site of the Maumee Hotel,
and for many years he was a successful trader with the whites and
Indians.
Dr. E. Conant Winter was born in Middlebury, Vt., Aug. 3,
1802, and was educated at Middlebury College, where he graduated
about the year I8i9. He afterward studied medicine, and in I824
removed to Maumee City, Ohio, where he formed a partnership
with his uncle, Dr. Horatio Conant, and practiced' medicine for
about one year, when he formed a partnership with Gen. John E.
Hunt, of the same place, and began merchandising. Their store
was a large one, and an extensive business was done with the settlers and Indians. Dr. Winter remained there until the summer of
I829, when he came to Adrian and opened the first store. In I83I
he erected a block of three store buildings on Maumee street, opposite.the Michigan Exchange. He occupied two of the rooms
with his goods, the third one being rented to families as they came
in, until they could find other quarters or build themselves houses.
R. W. Ingalls occupied a part of the upper rooms for his printing
office. Mr. Winter did an extensive business until 1836, his store
being headquarters for all the Indian tribes who then came to
Adrian for supplies. He could speak the Indian language quite
fluently, and was a well known and very successful trader. The Indians named him "McIntosh," and always called him by that name.




CITY OF ADRIAN


447


In I833, at the time of the great Indian treaty at Chicago, he took
a large stock of goods from Adrian and sold the entire lot during
the council. In 1838, he conducted the Michigan Exchange. and
in 1840 took in Lewis Follett as partner, which arrangement continued one year. He was subsequently elected justice of the peace,
in Adrian, for three terms. He was among the principal projectors
of the Erie & Kalamazoo railroad and assisted in its construction.
He was also very influential in securing the removal of the county
seat from Tecumseh to Adrian. In 1852 he went to California and
Oregon, remaining in that region one year, and in I854 he commenced the practice 'of electropathy, which occupation he followed
until his death, being very successful both as a lecturer and practitioner. He died in Adrian, Dec. 12, I867.
Rufus Merrick opened a cabinet shop in Mr. Winter's block,
and in 1832 built a shop of his own. This gentleman was born in
Corinth, Orange county, Vermont, April 15, I8oo. He lived with
his parents until the spring of 1817, when he went to Auburn, N.
Y., and learned the cabinet-maker's trade with Abijah Keeler. He
remained there until he was twenty-one, when he went to Kingston, Canada, where he worked six months and then returned to
New York. He worked in Auburn one year, and in Elbridge,
Onondaga county, eight years, and in 1830 he came to Michigan,
arriving in Adrian in October. There were but three frame houses.
in Adrian at that time. He immediately opened a cabinet shop,
and during the first nine months his cash receipts were only seventy-five cents. There was no one to buy the products of his work,
his services seemed to be not in demand, and there was but little
money to do business with. But he struggled along until the tide
of immigration set in, in 1834, and from that date for many years
he flourished. In the summer of I83r he purchased of Addison J.
Comstock a mill privilege, and in the fall of 1832 he built a cabinet
and chair shop, which he carried on for about twenty years. In
1854 he changed his shop into a flouring mill, and in 1856 he sold
the property. For several years, in connection with his furniture
shop and mill, he carried on wool-carding and cloth-dressing. In
I850 a large lot of cloth that had been dressed and was in the mill
awaiting delivery, was stolen, the cloth being valued at about $400.
Old "Sile" Doty was afterward indicted by the grand jury for the
robbery, but the indictment and proofs were destroyed when the
court house was burned, in 1852. In 1832 Mr. Merrick purchased
of Addison J. Comstock a piece of land consisting of about one
acre, on West Maumee street, for which he gave a wooden clock




448


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


and a bedstead. In I834 he built a house on this land, and in i846
erected a large brick residence, which is still standing. A portion
of the land is 'now occupied by the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton railroad. Mr. Merrick died Jan. 2, i882, at the ripe age of eighty-two
years.
In the fall of I830 Isaac French came to Adrian and purchased
lots I3, 15 and 34, on the original plat of the village. He built his
hotel on lots 13 and 15, and conducted it successfully until I836,
when he sold it to Pomeroy Stone. Mr. Stone was a native of 'Massachusetts and settled in Adrian in the fall of 1835. In I83i Turner
Stetson built the house now known as the St. Charles Hotel. In
those days it was the custom to give each building, after the frame
was up, a name, and Elias Dennis named this building "The Key
to Adrian." New settlers were occasionally arriving, some withi
families and others without. 'When a new house was raised anywhere in the neighborhood, all turned out to assist. It is related
that at one time, when nearly every man was absent from the place,
a large number of Indians made their appearance in the streets, and
this caused much alarm among the ladies and children, for the reason that the Indians got gloriously drunk and made the place hideous by their yells. N-o serious damage was done, however. In
i83I Joseph H. Cleveland opened a store in a building which stood
between the St. Charles Hotel and the river.
The year I832 was an exciting one for Adrian. In volume i,
of Whitney & Bonner's publications, we find the following: "This
was the year of the Black Hawk war, which gave us great alarm,
especially when an Indian made his appearance in the village. Rumors were rife that large numbers of Indians were collecting in
the woods, and that a general war was at hand. Nothing was
talked of except battles and defeat, and scalping of white men,
women and children. Ask an Indian any questions about it and
he knew nothing. This only had the effect to alarm the people
still more, who supposed they did know, but came in occasionally
as spies. They were questioned so much when they did make their
appearance that they actually became alarmed themselves. The
Indians were as innocent as babes, but the trouble was, the white
settlers had lost confidence. It was but a short time before the
able-bodied men were called upon to shoulder their rifles to defend
their families from the bloody tomahawk of the Indian. Then
came the time that tried men's knees. Then it was that such men
as Capt. Charles M. McKenzie were appreciated in Adrian. While
cowards wept like babies, he was one of the first to shoulder his




CITY OF ADRIAN


449


rifle. But it is not our purpose to give a history of the Black Hawk
war. We would leave that to Captain McKenzie, were he alive,
or some of his brave comrades, who filled the big tree with bullets
at the battle of Coldwater. This war and the cholera of that year
were about as much as Adrian could stand. The nearest case of
cholera was in Detroit, and the nearest hostile Indian to Adrian
was beyond the Mississippi river."
Capt. Charles M. McKenzie settled in Adrian in the spring of
1832. He commenced making brick on the farm of Capt. James
Whitney, boarded with Isaac French, and lodged with his men in
Mr. Whitney's barn. Mr. McKenzie died Nov. 21, I87I, aged seventy-one years.
Among the principal events of importance in the history of
Adrian, in I834, was the establishment of the Lenawee Republican
and Adrian Gazette, which occurred on Oct. 22. It is doubtful if
the village had at that time grown to sufficient size to warrant such
an undertaking, but Addison J. Comstock and others welcomed it
as an aid in the contest for supremacy and the honors of being the
county seat, then being waged by Adrian and Tecumseh. The
owner of the enterprise was R. W. Ingalls, a practical printer. It
was a very grave task to undertake the publication of a paper at
such a time. Paper and ink had to be brought a long distance, and
there were few mails. The owner persevered, however, amid all
discouragements, and the paper still lives under the name of the
Daily Times, much heartier and stronger than when it was born.
Many a similar venture has gone to the bottom in the seventy-five
years that have since elapsed. It was' like all the papers of its
time-filled with news from abroad. The proceedings of the legislature were given with great fullness, and of foreign news there
was an abundance, but of home news very little, and of editorials,
practically none. Editors, then, did not write. Nearly everything
original in any newspaper of that period was communicated, and
the writers all had classical signatures-"Cato," "Brutus,"
"Cassius," "Cicero," etc. The young lawyers and doctors of that
day probably aired their college education in this way, and seemed
to be happiest when they could stir up a controversy about something. The approach of an election was perceptible by communications on the danger the country was in, which could be averted
only by the election of John Smith to the legislature. A rival newspaper was established some time afterward, and the two engaged
in heated controversies.
In 1835, Asahel Finch, Jr., and Abel Whitney, both of whom
29-Iv




450


MEMOIRS OF tENAWEE COUNTY


had been engaged in the drygoods business, opened the first drug
store in Adrian. It was located on lot No. 30, north side of Maumee
street.
Abel Whitney was a man of much activity and influence during a long career in Adrian and deserves more than a passing mention in this connection. He came to Adrian with his father-James
Whitney-in June, 1828. He began his business life when only
eighteen years old, in the summer of 1831, when, in company with
a brother-in-law, Asher Stevens, and Richard M. Lewis, he visited
Ohio and bought a drove of about 200 cattle. They went in a
southwesterly course, striking Bean creek a few miles above the
site of Morenci, followed that stream to the Maumee river, which
they crossed at Defiance, and then up the Auglaize river through
a wilderness to Wapakoneta, St. Mary's and Greenville. Returning, they swam their stock across the Maumee and other streams
on the way. In readiness to "do the next thing," in the fall of
1831, Mr. Whitney took a place as clerk in the general country
store of Messrs. Finch & Skeels, where he made himself useful until
the dissolution of the firm, in 1832, when at the suggestion of one
of the partners, Asahel Finch, he made preparation for opening a
grocery store, cutting and hauling to mill the logs for lumber to
build his place of business, and he was ready to commence operations in the summer of I833. In 1834, he sold his place and business to Anson Clark, and in 1835, in company with Asahel Finch,
he erected the building in after years known as the Hance school
building. In this building they opened the first drug store in
Adrian. Some time later, Mr. Whitney disposed of his interest to
his partner, and began to buy and sell land. In the spring of 1837,
he formed a partnership with his brother-in-law, Alfred W. Budlong, in the dry goods trade, and early in the season went to New
York to buy goods, traveling by stage from Toledo through Cleveland to Beaver, and by steamboat to Pittsburg, thence by canal and
short sections of railroad to Philadelphia, and from there by steamboat and stage. Returning, he went to Albany by a Hudson river
steamboat, to Schenectady by railroad, to Buffalo by the Erie
canal, thence by stage to Erie, Pa., by steamboat to Toledo, and
by the Erie & Kalamazoo railroad to Adrian, having taken about
six weeks in making the trip. His interest in this business he sold
to his partner the same year. The project of building the Michigan
Southern railroad opened to his view a broader field of enterprise,
and in company with Silas Crane, he made a contract with Gen.
Levi S. Humphrey, commissioner of the Michigan Southern rail



CITY OF ADRIAN


451


road, "a state enterprise," to furnish the superstructure for two
miles of the road, which was the first work done on the road west
of the city of Monroe. In the spring of 1838, with the same
partner, he contracted with the commissioner to build the road
from Leroy bridge to Adrian, including the clearing of the ground,
building bridges and culverts, and laying the iron. They opened
a grocery and provision store in connection with their railroad
work, sent men as far as Springfield, Ill., to buy hogs-which were
driven to Adrian and killed on what is at present known as Lawrence Park-to supply their laborers and the citizens generally
with meat. After completing his contract on the railroad, Mr.
Whitney entered into partnership with Henry Hart, in the dry
goods trade, continuing until 1842, when he sold his interest to
Mr. Hart. In I843 he was appointed postmaster at Adrian, and
held the office until I849, and in this time he formed a partnership
with Mr. Hart in the foundry business, which continued several
years. In 1849, he was in company with Hiram Dawes, in the
forwarding and commission business on the Michigan Southern
railroad and until the company began providing its own warehouses, when he engaged in buying and selling grain, which he
continued until the spring of I857. In 1852, he was a member of
the Democratic National Convention, at Baltimore, which nominated Franklin Pierce for the Presidency, but becoming dissatisfied
with the position of his party on the question of slavery, he ceased
to be active in its behalf. In 1860, he was in favor of Douglas, and
without his previous knowledge was nominated by the party for
the office of sheriff of Lenawee county, but the Republicans having a large majority in the county, no one on his ticket was elected.
He voted for Abraham Lincoln, in 1864, and after that time acted
with the Republican party. During the Civil war, he was treasurer of the soldiers' bounty fund for the city of Adrian, spending
his time without compensation, and contributing means to prevent the necessity of a draft. His interest in education was always
active, and from 1859 to I868, he was a member of the board of
trustees of the public schools of Adrian, being three times elected
its president, and he aided largely, with his time and experience,
in erecting three of the best school buildings in the state and in
systematizing the schools, serving without compensation and devoting a large share of his time to the work, for the satisfaction of
aiding in the successful arrangement and permanent establishment
of a school system which would benefit the children of this and
future generations, and make them useful citizens. In 1840, the




452


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


Presbyterian society selected Mr. Whitney to solicit and collect
funds, and contract for materials and labor, for the erection of the
church edifice which they still occupy, and he superintended the
work as though it had been his own private enterprise. In company with Henry Hart, he originated the movement for providing
a suitable resting place for the dead of the city, which resulted
in the purchase by him of twenty-two acres of land, in the winter
of I847-48, of Addison J. Comstock. He raised the subscription to
the stock for the First National Bank, in 1872, was a stock-holder,
and served as a director and vice-president.
In I835, Elihu L. Clark located in Adrian. He opened a small
dry goods store near the hotel of Isaac French, in a building erected
by Mr. French for a blacksmith shop. Mr. Clark accumulated a
large fortune, and was at one time supposed to be the wealthiest
man in Southern Michigan. In 1836, the Erie & Kalamazoo railroad, which had been in progress for two years, was completed to
Adrian, amid great rejoicing of the people. This opened a market
long needed, the value of which can hardly be estimated. This
road was one of the first built in the United States, and the first
in Michigan. The day of its completion was a gala day for the
citizens of Adrian. The first brass band in Adrian was organized
in I838, by an Englishman named William Tutten, from Utica,
N. Y., and it was called the "Adrian Brass Band." It went to
Fort Meigs, in 1840, with the Lenawee county delegation, to attend
the great Harrison mass meeting. At this time it was led by William C. Hunt. William Barnes built the first reservoir in the
village in the summer of I839, at a cost of $111.33.
ADRIAN AS A CITY.
The formative period of Adrian's history comprises the period extending from 1828 to 1853. The little village that was laid
out and platted by Addison J. Comstock, in 1828, had a steady
growth and increased quite rapidly in population and wealth during the ensuing twenty-five years, and the need of a more complete governmental organization came to be felt. The little settlement of 1826 had increased to sufficient proportions that naturally
the question of a city organization came to be agitated, and by an
act of the state legislature, approved Jan. 3I, 1853, the place was
incorporated as a city. The life of Adrian as a village covered in
all a period of twenty-five years, beginning in 1828 and ending in
I853. And in passing the act for the incorporation of the city




I-2,,


N61


POST OFFTCE, ADRIAN








CITY OF ADRIAN


453


the legislature provided that James Sword, who had been elected
president of the village in 1852, should become the first mayor
under the charter.
As a comparison between the original and the present limits
of the city, we insert here the boundaries as they were in I853.
The incorporating act or charter provided as follows: "That so
much of the townships of Adrian and Madison, in the county of
Lenawee, as is embraced in the following description, to-wit: All
that part of section 34, in the township of Adrian, lying east of
the highway running north from the township line through said
section (excepting therefrom the north half of the north half of
said section) and the south half and south half of the north half
of section 35, and so much of the residue of said section as will
include the bridge near the Red Mill, so called, and also the west
half of section 36 (excepting therefrom the north half of the northwest quarter of said section) in the township of Adrian, and also
the west half of section I, all of section 2, and so much of section
3, in the township of Madison, as lies east of the north and south
road running through said section 3, is hereby set off from the
townships of Adrian and Madison and constituted the city of
Adrian, by which name it shall be hereafter known," the inhabitants thereof to constitute a body corporate and politic.
The city was divided into three wards, the first of which comprised all the territory taken from Madison township, the second,
all that part of the city lying north of the township line between
ranges 6 and 7 and east of Main street, the third, all that part of
the city lying north of said township line and west of Main street.
The charter provided for annual elections, to be held on the first
Monday of April in each year, at which the offices to be elected
were a mayor, recorder (who shall be ex-officio school inspector),
treasurer, marshal (who shall be ex-officio collector of taxes), street
commissioner, two school inspectors, two directors of the poor, and
four justices -of the peace. The terms of office were one year for the
mayor, recorder, treasurer, marshal and street commissioner, and
two years for the school inspectors and directors of the poor, one
to be elected in alternate years. The municipal government was
to consist of a common council, composed of the mayor, recorder,
and six aldermen (two from each ward), and the mayor Or recorder
and four aldermen constituted a quorum. There was also to be
elected at the same time, in and for the several wards, one supervisor (who shall also be assessor), one treasurer, one constable,
and two aldermen, the said aldermen to hold for two years after




454


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


the first year, at the first election one being elected for one year
and one for two years. The city of Adrian, for all purposes in regard to common schools and school monies, was deemed a township, and it was provided that the mayor of the city "shall represent the several wards in the board of supervisors of the county of
Lenawee, and shall be entitled to all the rights, privileges and
powers of a member of said board,'and no other." The president,
recorder, and trustees of the village were to determine the result
of the first election under the new charter, and subsequent elections
were to be determined by the mayor and common council. The
mayor was made the chief executive officer, and the head of the
police department of the city.
The above is a summary of the original charter of the city of
Adrian, stated as briefly as possible. It was amended in I855, and
the city was divided into four wards, as follows: The First ward
commenced at the southeast corner of the city, running thence
westerly on the south line of the city to the center line of State
street, thence northerly on the center line of State street and on
the center line of the continuation of State street to the center line
of Church street, thence westerly on the center line of Church street
to the center line of Main street, thence northerly on the center line
of Main street to the center line of Maumee street, thence easterly
on the center line of Maumee street to the east line of the city,
thence southerly on the east line of the city to the place of beginning. The Second ward commenced at the northeast corner of
the city, running thence southerly on the east line of the city to
the center line of Maumee street, thence westerly on the center
line of Maumee street to the center line of Main street, thence
northerly on the center line of Main street to the north line of the
city, and thence easterly on the north line of the city to the place
of beginning. The Third ward commenced at the northwest corner
of the city, thence running east on the north line of the city to the
center line of Main street, thence southerly on the center line of
Main street to the center line of Maumee street, thence westerly
on the center line of Maumee street to the west line of the city, and
thence north on the west line of the city to the place of beginning.
The Fourth ward commenced at the southwest corner of the city.
thence northerly on the west line of the city to the center line of
the westerly continuation of Maumee street, thence easterly on the
center line of Maumee street to the center line of Main street,
thence southerly on the center line of Main street to the center line
of Church street, thence easterly on the center line of Church




CITY OF ADRIAN


455


street to the center line of the continuation of State street, thence
southerly on the center line of the continuation of State street and
on the center line of State street to the south line of the city, thence
westerly on the south line of the city to the place of beginning. The
city government provided by this amendment to the charter was
a common council, composed of the mayor and eight aldermen, of
whom any five constituted a quorum, and the mayor was given a
vote only in case of an equal division of the aldermen. Each ward
was given a treasurer, a constable, and two aldermen, and the city
was given two supervisors, one elected in wards I and 4 and another
in wards 2 and 3. These supervisors represented the city in the
county board, whereas the mayor had formerly officiated in that
capacity. The ward treasurers were deemed township treasurers,
and in the collection and return of taxes were given all the powers,
performed all the duties, and were made subject to all the liabilities
of township treasurers.
Other changes in the charter were made from time to time,
and in 1887 a substantially new charter was passed by the legislature. This new charter enlarged the boundaries of the city somewhat, without increasing the number of wards. By act of May 23,
I893, the city council was empowered, whenever it deemed it expedient, to re-district the city into wards, divide any ward or change
the boundaries thereof, establish new wards, and increase the number of wards of the city. Soon after the passage of this act, the
city was re-apportioned into five wards, and following the census
of I9oo, another division was made, and there are now six wards in
the city. Under the present charter, the city government has a
mayor, city clerk, city attorney, city treasurer, marshal, street commissioner, surveyor, city physician, overseer of the poor, fire warden, and dog warden. There are two aldermen from each ward,
four justices of the peace, and six constables-one for each of the
wards. Other officers are the members of the board of health, and
a school board which is composed of seven members, and each ward
has a representative in the county board of supervisors.
The following is a list of all who have held the office of mayor
of the city since its incorporation, in 1853, the year given being the
time of the election of each, and the term of service extending to
the year given as the time of the election of his successor: 1853,
James Sword (served as mayor by virtue of the legislative enactment which incorporated the city, from January until the regular
election in April); 1853, Addison J. Comstock; I854, Parley J.
Spalding; I855, Francis J. Buck; I856, Fernando C. Beaman;




456


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


I857, Richard H. Whitney; 1858, William L. Greenly; 1859, Henry
Hart; I860, William  W. Cook; I86I, Daniel A. Loomis; I862,
Charles M. Croswell; I863, John D. Campbell; 1864, Benjamin Folsom; I865, William S.*Wilcox; i866, William S. Sammons; 1867,
John Townsend; i868, William S. Sammons; I869, Norman Geddes; I870, Nathaniel B. Eldredge; I871, Richard B. Robbins; 1872,
Henry A. Angell; 1873, William H. Waldby; I874, Nelson H. Kimball; 1876, William W. Luck; 1877, Charles H. Comstock; I878,
George H. Bruce; I879, Frank 0. Bray; I88o, James A. Stacy;
188I, Thomas J. Navin, 1882, William Corbin; 1884, Richard A.
Bury; 1885, Nelson H. Kimball; i886, Daniel Todd; I887, Adolph
J. Kaiser; I889, Abram Wing; I89o, Seth Bean; I891, Leonard WV.
Hoch; I892, Alanson B. Treat; 1893, William Foster Bradley;
i894, Charles S. Cain; I895, Clifford Kirkpatrick; 1896, William
0. Hunt; 1897, J. Will Kirk; 1899, Willard Stearns; 1901, James
H. Reynolds; I902, George B. M. Seager; I903, Jacob N. Sampson;
1904, David L. Treat; 1905, Frank S. Barnum; 1907, William F.
King; 1909, David L. Treat, present incumbent. Many of these
gentlemen are given appropriate mention on other pages of this
work.
Richard H. Whitney was born in Harvard, Mass., in 80o8,
and came to Michigan and settled in Adrian in 1831. Before coming to' Michigan he was engaged in general mercantile pursuits,
but after locating in Adrian he became largely interested in the
development of farming lands, built several houses in Adrian, and
for twenty-five years served as justice of the peace. He was elected
mayor of Adrian in 1857, was a member of the school board, and
was actively identified with the founding of the public school
system in the city. He was a thrifty, provident business man, and
when he died, July ii, I867, he left a comfortable estate.
Henry Hart was born in Albany, N. Y., Jan. 28, I818, and he
received his education in the old Albany Academy. Mathematics,
the practical sciences, and the rudiments of engineering were the
topics to which the young man most naturally turned, and in
these his opportunities were unsurpassed. Graduating early, he
secured employment for a time on the preliminary survey of the
Boston & Albany railroad, his father's friend, Erastus Corning,
then at the outset of his great railroad career, being one of its promoters. In August, 1837, Henry Hart came West, by way of the
Erie Canal and Lake Erie, arriving at Monroe, Mich., in company
with Henry Waldron, who had graduated at the same school, the
young men being then respectively nineteen and eighteen years of




\Y_


CITY OF ADRIAN                   457
age. Both readily found employment at their profession as civil
engineers, in the survey and construction of the Michigan Southern
railroad, which was then being built by the state. Their first employment was near Jonesville, and they continued in this work until
the final location of the route. Mr. Hart was then put in charge
by the commissioner of the final location and construction of the
work between Monroe and Adrian. The road was completed to
Adrian in I840, and in the fall of that year Mr. Hart located in this
city. He at once formed a co-partnership with Abel Whitney and
opened a dry goods store in Adrian, which firm continued for
about two years, when Mr. Hart purchased Mr. Whitney's interest
and carried on the business continuously until I866. He was appointed, under President Franklin Pierce, special agent of the Postoffice Department for the states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Northern Illinois, which position he held for about six
years. While absent in New York in the spring of I859, he was
(elected mayor of Adrian, and held the office one year, declining a
re-nomination. In 1866, he was elected secretary of the Michigan
State Insurance Company, of Adrian, which, under his management, became known as one of the 'most successful enterprises of
its kind ever organized under Michigan laws. He was one of its
founders, in 1859, and remained its secretary up to the time of his
death. In I865, at a called meeting of the citizens of the county
for the purpose of organizing a Soldiers' Monument Association, he
was elected its president, and continued in that position until the
erection of the fine memorial which now stands on Monument
Square, in Adrian, the main shaft of which was originally one of
the pillars of the old United States Bank at Philadelphia, and
which shaft, through Mr. Hart's solicitation, the Hon. Henry
Waldron, then in Congress, was influential in obtaining. The
monument was dedicated, July 4, 1870, and Mr. Hart acted as president of the day. He also acted in a like capacity at the Centennial
celebration in Adrian, July 4, 1876. On Thursday, Oct. 2, I879, Mr.
Hart received injuries at the fall of the grand stand on the county
fair- grounds in Adrian, a memorable and most distressing accident,
which took place at about 3 p. m., and resulted in sixteen deaths
and many permanent injuries. Mr. Hart was removed to his
home, but lingered only long enough to be surrounded by his
family, and he expired in the arms of his wife at about 5 o'clock on
the following morning.
Daniel A. Loomis was born, Sept. II, I8II, at Lanesborough,
Berkshire county, Massachusetts. He lived with his father and




458


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


worked at the carpenter's trade until about I830, when he met with
an accident, which disabled him, and he went into a store with a
brother for about a year: He afterward spent one year in the
South. With his family, he landed in Monroe, Mich., in 1836, and
there he lived until the spring of 1837, when he came to Adrian
and purchased a farm in Adrian township, on section 31, afterward
owned by W. F. Peebles. There he experienced all of the trials
and privations of pioneer life for four years, at the end of which
time he rented his farm to Job Card for two years and returned to
New York, where he worked the old home farm, returning to
Adrian in the fall of 1842. He then engaged in building and general
carpenter work, which he followed during the most of his life.
On Feb. 7, I843, he joined the Adrian fire department and became
a member of the hook and ladder company. In I845, he was
elected trustee of the village of Adrian, and he was elected mayor
of the city in April, I86I. He was a member of the board of commissioners of the Michigan state prison in 1864-5. He was foreman of the Hook and Ladder Company for two years, and chief
engineer of the Adrian fire department two years. He died Feb.
22, I868.
William H. Waldby was born at Cooperstown, Otsego county,
New York, May I6, 1826. In 1829, he removed with his parents to
the city of Utica, where he resided nine years, and where he received his education, the last three years attending the Utica Academy, under the instruction of William W. Williams. At the age
of twelve years, in 1838, he removed with his father's family to
the village of Rome, at which time his father purchased a printing
office and founded the Rome Sentinel newspaper. Young Waldby
entered the office at that time, learned the art of printing, and kept
his father's books. At the age of seventeen, he became a clerk in
the store of Adam Van Patten, in Rome, and in 1845, his father
having sold the Sentinel office and removed to Utica, he also returned there and became a clerk in the dry goods store of Edward
Vail. In July, 1846, in company with his brother, E. I. Waldby, he
came to Adrian and accepted a position as a clerk in the old Bidwell store. After clerking for the Bidwells for three years, in I849,
a clothing store was started in the then new brick store, second
east of where the Maumee Hotel now stands, the firm being Bidwell & Waldby, and the store was managed successfully by Mr.
Waldby, who was the junior partner, for one year. In I850, Ira
Bidwell decided to open a banking office in Adrian, and he offered
Mr. Waldby an interest in and the management of the same, which




CITY OF ADRIAN


459


position was accepted. In 185I, Mr. Bidwell retired from the business, selling his interest to Mr. Waldby, by whom the bank was
successfully continued. In 1855, Mr. Waldby purchased the lot on
the southeast corner of Maumee and Main streets, and in I857
erected and occupied the banking house which still stands, and
there he continued the business until 1872, the latter portion of the
time and for some years, with his brother, E. I. Waldby, as partner.
In 1872, he sold the building, business, and good will to the First
National Bank of Adrian. In the spring of 1873, at the request of
business friends and other citizens, he accepted a nomination for
mayor of the city of Adrian and was elected to that office by a majority of 614, receiving a majority in each of the four wards of the
city. He served one year, until the spring of 1874.
William WV. Luck was a native of New York state, and was
born in the city of Auburn, July 17, I819. He spent his boyhood
days in various towns of his native state and attended school in
the city of Buffalo. After he attained to manhood, he was variously
engaged for several years, and then, having a curiosity to investigate the western country of which he had heard so much, he made
a trip across the plains to the gold and silver mining country, where
he remained for two years. Upon his return he entered the employ of the United States Express Company, at Monroe, Mich., in
May, I854. He served at Cleveland, Toledo, and other places, coming to Adrian in I864, when he took possession of the office of that
company as its agent. In politics, he was a member of the Republican party, and as such was elected mayor in 1876. He was
a consistent member of the Episcopal church.
Richard A. Bury was born in Albany, N. Y., Feb. 20, I830: The
family removed to Detroit in 1832, and the son was educated in
the famous school of the Rev. Moses H. Hunter, at Grosse Isle,
Mich., his education being finished in the schools of Cleveland,
Ohio. From the age of twenty he was in business for himself and
made a mark in the lumber traffic. In 1862, he moved to Adrian,
opening a lumber yard and planing mill on the lot bounded by
Frank, Church, Locust, and Center streets. He removed later to
the corner of Michigan and Division streets, where he took in D.
M. Baker as a partner. On Jan. I, 1872, he was appointed lumber
agent of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern railroad, selling his
interest in the lumber business to Mr. Baker. He retained his
position with the railroad until the time of his death. He served
several terms as member of the school board, and one term as
mayor. Mr. Bury died at the family home on Division street, June
6, 1902.




460


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


Willard Stearns came to Lenawee county, in I85I, from Cherry
Valley, N. Y., where he was born, Oct. 3, 1838. He passed his boyhood days, until he was eighteen, upon a farm in Franklin township, and then he taught his first school in the Sebring district, in
Ogden. He had attended district school three months in the year,
and in the spring of I858 entered the State Normal School, graduating in I862. He entered the army in July, I863, enlisting in
Company H, Eleventh Michigan cavalry, and was mustered in as
first lieutenant of the company, serving till the winter of I864,
when he resigned, and shortly after his return he was secured to
teach the district school in the Payne district, two miles north
of Rome Center. He graduated from the law department of the
university, in I867, and at once formed a partnership with Gov.
W. L. Greenly, which continued until the latter's death. In I87I,
Mr. Stearns was elected county superintendent of schools for
Lenawee county, over Mr. Drake, of Medina, by ten majority in a
vote of over 8,000, being the first Democrat elected in the county
for twenty years. In 1872, he was the Democratic nominee for
Superintendent of Public Instruction, and in I876 was on the
ticket as a candidate for Secretary of State. He was elected justice
of the peace in I875, and he also served ten or twelve years as an
alderman in the Adrian city council. He was postmaster at Adrian
five years, being appointed in the first Cleveland administration,
and in I888 was the Democratic nominee for Congress, making
the most vigorous personal campaign ever waged in the district,
but while he received more votes than had ever before been cast
for a candidate for Congress by either party, he was defeated by
Captain Allen. In I898, he made the race for Circuit Judge, and
the next spring was elected mayor of Adrian, being re-elected in
900oo, and he was defeated by Dr. J. H. Reynolds, in I901, by only
eighty-three votes. The nominal Republican majority in the city
during this time was about 300. Mr. Stearns took charge of the
Adrian Press, in 1878, and for nearly thirty years conducted one of
the most vigorous Democratic papers in the state. He died in December, 1908.
James Henry Reynolds was born in Amherst, Lorain county,
Ohio, May I4, I845. When he was six years of age, his parents
moved to Petersburg, Monroe county, Mich., where he resided until I868. He was a student there in the public schools, and was
prepared for college at the Ypsilanti Seminary. He served in the
army about two years, and was mustered Out, May 7, I865, before
he was twenty years old. He was a member of Company G, Sixth




CITY OF ADRIAN


46I


Michigan heavy artillery, and performed the duties of hospital
steward. On his return from the army, Mr. Reynolds took up
the study of medicine with Dr. D. W. Loree, of Ridgeway, this
county. He attended medical lectures at the University of Michigan, and graduated at the Detroit Medical College, in I871. He
practiced medicine in Palmyra for fifteen years, removed to Adrian
in I883, and there he remained in practice until 1895. On account
of failing health, he then gave up his lucrative practice and assisted in the organization of the Bond Steel Post Company, being
made secretary and advertising agent, which positions he held for
two and one-half years. He then disposed of his interests, and
in October, 1897, accepted a position with the Page Woven Wire
Fence Company, as advertising manager. He always voted the
Republican ticket, and he held the office of superintendent of
schools in Palmyra township in the'days when that officer had to
examine teachers and visit the schools. He was twice elected township clerk and served as health officer many years. He was United
States examining surgeon for pensions on the board at Adrian for
six years, and for five years he was surgeon for the Lake Shore
Railroad Company at-this point. In the spring of I90o, he was
elected mayor of the city of Adrian, and it was under his administration that the work was laid out and estimates agreed upon for
the paving of North and South Main streets, East Church, Michigan, and West Maumee streets, the city being bonded for $50,000
to pay for these improvements. Dr. Reynolds erected one of the
largest and finest business blocks in Adrian, situated on North
Main street and known as the Reynolds Block.
With an honorable record of more than eighty years, since
the village was first platted, Adrian well sustains her long established reputation for solidity and the merited compliment of
being a good business center and a fine residence place. The men
who established the little hamlet in the wilderness, in 1828, founded that reputation, and their descendants and successors have well
maintained it. The religious and educational affairs received early
attention and liberal support. Merchants were aggressive and
public-spirited, their stocks oftimes rivaling in value those exhibited by present day dealers. The early banking institutions were
flourishing and impregnable, and general prosperity crowned the
efforts of the people. But if the reader will stop and reflect he
will observe that all of the business of the earlier days, as well as
at present, was closely related to agricultural supremacy. Lenawee county was then, as now, the center of one of the richest agri



462


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


cultural districts in the United States, a distinction which the locality has retained with creditable success. All business was directed toward handling the products of the farms and in supplying the
farmers' needs. The early settlers and business men of Adrian
were generally people with agricultural tendencies and traditions.
They were sons of farmers, and parental traditions and customs
are strong within the human breast. These men purchased land,
cultivated and improved it, erected houses and lived out their
allotted days in the peace and harmony of the quiet community
their industry had established.
Adrian has a population of Io,68o, according to the state census of I904. It contains a number of handsome and expensive
residences and public buildings, while the average homes evince
the air of thrift and prosperity in their surroundings, in keeping
with the industry and frugality of the occupants. The city contains fewer poor and squalid residences, indicative of poverty and
misery, than most cities of its size. The sanitary conditions are
excellent and the drainage system as good as can be had. The
board of health and sanitary offices are vigilant in the discharge of
their official duties, and the streets and alleys are kept in the most
perfect sanitary conditions. A well organized and trained fire department is equipped with the latest and best apparatus for the
purpose designed, and the efficiency of the department has been
demonstrated on many occasions. A police force, the guardians of
the public peace and property, although few in number, are noted
for their efficiency in the line of official duties, and the city marshal, John B. Maurer, has received high commendation for successful detective work. He and his deputies are courteous and
obliging men, to whose vigilance and alertness is due the small
percentage of burglaries and unlawful acts, a fact of which the
city boasts. The municipal government of Adrian for the present year (I9o9) is as follows: Mayor, David Leroy Treat; president pro-tem., Henry F. Bohn; city clerk, John Mawdsley; city
treasurer, John WM. Wagner; city marshal, John B. Maurer; street
commissioner, Charles H. Randall; city attorney, James H. Baker;
city physician, A. W. Chase; city surveyor, C. S. Keating; overseer of the poor, Niles Peterson; chief engineer of the fire department, Henry C. Bowen; assistant chief of the fire department,
John W\. Wagner; fire warden, Jonathan B. Davis; health officer,
Dr. G. B. M. Seager.








I'
I


ADRIAN PUBLIC LIBRARY                         Foto by Meter, Adrian




CITY OF ADRIAN


463


ADRIAN PUBLIC LIBRARY.
The nucleus of the present city library originated in I868,
when the cultured ladies of Adrian took hold of the matter in
earnest and organized the Ladies' Library Association. The Central school building, which was destroyed by fire with all its contents, in August, I866, contained a fairly good, though not large,
library, which consisted of books of travel, history, and standard
works of fiction. The Y. M. C. A. of that time had a library in
connection with its work, to be used at the rooms, and the firemen.
also had a collection of 441 volumes, which were later given to
the Ladies' Library Association. But the need of a circulating library, which should contain books of a varied character, being more
and more felt in the community, a call was made for the ladies
of the city, who were interested in such a movement, to meet at the
new Central building, Aug. 25, I868. The result was the incorporation of the Ladies' Library Association with a capital stock of
$5,000. For nineteen years this association continued, with Mrs.
A. F. Bixby as president. Meanwhile the school library, the nucleus of which had been formed in August, I869, by the purchase of
books to the amount of $I,200, had reached 5,000 volumes and was
housed in the third story of the Central school building, but the
capacity of the room was tested almost to its fullest extent. In
1887, a movement looking toward the union of the libraries was
started. The ladies offered to the school board their books-over
3,000 volumes-with a building which had cost them $I,150, the
only stipulation being that the combined libraries should be placed
in rooms on the ground floor. The proposed consolidation, with
a request for the use of, the lower floor of the city hall, was brought
to the attention of the common council. Opposition arose, excitement ran high, but a resolution was finally passed, leasing the
first story of the city hall building to the school board for library
purposes for a period of twenty years, at an annual rental of fifty
dollars. To arrange the preliminary details, to properly fit up the
room, and to re-number and catalogue the 8,000 volumes contained
in both collections, took time, and it was two years before the
library was opened in its new home. The room was finished and
the library opened to the public, Jan. 5, I890, under the charge of
Mrs. Margaret F. Jewell, the present efficient librarian. The 8,000
volumes in due time were added to until the number approximated
2o,000. Public-spirited citizens made donations, and Amos Baker,
of Clayton, left a bequest of $8,000, invested in 4 per cent. city




464


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


bonds, yielding an annual income of $320, which is used in the purchase of books "other than fiction." The need of a new home for
the library became pressing, and the idea was conceived of a Carnegie library building for Adrian. Negotiations were opened with
Andrew Carnegie, looking to a donation by him for library purposes, and the effort was successful, the steel magnate agreeing to
give $20,000 upon the usual conditions required by him in such
cases. Upon further correspondence, $5,000 was added to the original amount, and later $2,500, making a total of $27,500 from Mr.
Carnegie. The city council, in the annual appropriation bill of
1907, added $5,000 more to the amount to be used for the erection
of the library building, thus making the total $32,500. After mature deliberation, the Knight mill property at the corner of Church
and Dennis streets was selected as the most desirable and convenient site for the building. The corner-stone was placed in
position, Nov. 5, 1907, and the building was completed and made
ready for occupancy by Feb. 5, I9o9. The library is open on the
secular days of the week, from io a. m. until 8 p. m., and it is a
popular resort, much appreciated by the studious citizens of all
ages, who often fill the convenient sittings provided in the reading room. As before stated, Mrs. Margaret F. Jewell has been the
librarian since the consolidation of the ladies' and school libraries,
in i889, and from then until 1893 Miss Florence E. Bates was her
assistant, being succeeded in that year by Miss Agnes H. Jewell,
who has since faithfully performed the duties of that position.
Adrian may well be proud of her public library, where more than
20,000 choice volumes await the call of its patrons.
CEMETERIES.
The public burial place of Adrian is Oakwood Cemetery, located
in the northeastern part of the city, just within the corporation
limits. Previous to the establishment of Oakwood Cemetery, and
beginning with the need for such a place in the village of Adrian,
there was a public burying ground on the present site of South
Park. But the development of the village in every direction deprived this place of the quiet and seclusion which one always associates with a burial place for the dead, hence the selection of the
present site, which has been enlarged and beautified as the years
passed until it is now an ideal spot. It contains the mortal remains of several of Lenawee county's most distinguished citizens,
whose final resting places are rendered conspicuous by the erection




CITY OF ADRIAN


465


of worthy monuments. The private citizen and- the soldier are
equally honored by the reverence and sacrifice of surviving friends,
to the end that this sacred spot is rendered beautiful in, keeping
with the sadly reverential purpose which made its existence a
necessity. Mrs. Josephine Wilcox, wife of the late Hon. William
S. Wilcox, on her death in I897, left the sum of $5,000, to construct an entrance to the cemetery, in memory of her husband. It
is very beautifully designed and is a fitting memorial to one of
Adrian's honored citizens.
Two other cemeteries-St. Mary's and St. Joseph's-known
respectively as the Irish Catholic and the German Catholic cemeteries, are located near the parish buildings, the former on South
Division street and the latter just beyond Oakwood cemetery; and
the German Lutheran cemetery is situated on the east side of
Oakwood avenue at the city limits. Caretakers keep them looking like beautiful parks, and the lawns and hedges are carefully
clipped. No sign of neglect or carelessness is allowed, and thus
the modern cemetery is no longer a tangle of overgrown weeds and
grass as it was in years gone by.
FRATERNAL AND OTHER SOCIETIES.
The social spirit of the city of Adrian is revealed in a long
list of secret and benevolent societies, and from the records of
each organization it would seem that each one is prosperous. The
first Masonic lodge organized in the village was "Adrian Lodge No.
i9," on July 28, I847, by E. Smith Lee, Grand Master of Michigan
at that time. The original officers were: John Barber, worshipful
master; William Moore, senior warden; Warner Comstock, junior
warden; Jonathan Berry, treasurer; David Horton, secretary;
David Bixby, senior deacon; William Talford, junior deacon;
Samuel Anderson, tyler. This lodge is still in existence, in a very
prosperous condition, and it meets in Masonic Temple on each
Wednesday evening at 7 o'clock, standard time. Adrian Chapter
No. IO, Royal Arch Masons, operating under the jurisdiction of
the Grand Chapter of Michigan, meets in Masonic Temple Thursday evenings on or before full moon, at 7:30 o'clock from April to
October, and at 7 o'clock during the remainder of the year. Of the
Royal and Select Masters, there is also a council in the city: Adrian
-Council No. I8. It meets in the Masonic Temple on each Thursday evening at 7:30. Adrian Commandery No. 4, Knights Templar, operating under the jurisdiction of the Grand Commandery of
30-IV




466


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


Michigan, meets in Masonic Temple on each Friday evening, at
7:30 o'clock from April until October, and at 7 o'clock the remainder of the year. There is also a chapter of the Eastern Star:
Adrian Chapter No. II2. One of the acts of Masonry in the city
was the erection of Masonic Temple, which is one of the most
beautiful lodge buildings in this part of the state. The corner stone
was laid, June 24, I865, and the building was occupied the following year.
Adrian Lodge No. 8, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, was
duly instituted March 6, I835, by B. F. Hall, assisted by Past Grand
J. H. Mullett, of Michigan Lodge No. I. Daniel D. Sinclair was
installed as noble grand; Sebra Howard, vice-grand; Charles
Smith, secretary, and R. W. Ingalls, treasurer.  Other organizations of the Odd Fellows fraternity in the city are Canton Adrian
No. 8, and Lenawee Encampment No. 4. Inasmuch as this fraternity was the first to take root in the newly formed village of
Adrian its growth has been favored with that advantage. Enterprise Lodge, No. 4, Daughters of Rebekah, is an auxiliary organization, in which women are the directing geniuses.
Maple City Lodge No. 39, Knights of Pythias, has grown
rapidly in popular favor and in membership since the date of its
organization, and the Uniform Rank division of the order is represented by Adrian Division No. I4, while Adrian Temple No. 26,
is the lodge of Pythian Sisters.
Adrian is well supplied with lodges, and in this respect compares favorably with any other city of its size in the state. In
the more than thirty that find a home here it is practically impossible in the space allowed to give more than an individual mention of each one. In those already mentioned an effort has been
made to select those which to the greatest extent have withstood
the vicissitudes of years.  But the younger organizations are
equally entitled to mention. The local lodge of Elks-Adrian
Lodge No. 429-has had a phenomenal growth since its formation,
April 6, I898, and its membership is constantly increasing. The
Modern Woodmen of America, one of the largest orders in existence, has an active lodge organization in the city, and there are
four lodges of the Independent Order of Foresters. Others that
should be mentioned are the Knights of the Maccabees, National
Union, Ancient Order United Workmen, Degree of Honor, Ancient
Order of Hibernians, Knights and Ladies of Security, Ladies'
Catholic Benevolent Society, the National Protective Legion, and
the Grand Army of the Republic.




z


G3








Missing
Page










0
0








CHAPTER XXXII.
CHURCH HISTORY.
GENERAL REMARKS-METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH-CAMP-MEETINGS-PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH-BAPTIST CHURCH-FIRST BAPTISM
BY IMMERSION-EPISCOPAL CHURCH-WILLIAM NARCISSUS LYSTER
-FRIENDS (QUAKER) CHURCH-CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH-CATHOLIC CHURCH - LUTHERAN CHURCH - GERMAN EVANGELICAL
CHURCH-METHODIST PROTESTANT -CHURCH-FREE METHODIST
CHURCH - UNITED BRETHREN CHURCH - DISCIPLES OF CHRIST
CHURCH-CHURCH OF CHRIST (SCIENTIST)-WOMAN'S CHRISTIAN
TEMPERANCE UNION.
Lenawee county, and more particularly the city of Adrian,
has for years been noted for its beautiful church edifices. Not
only are the structures far superior to those found in the average
county, but the good feeling which prevails between members
of the various congregations, the perfect harmony which exists
between pastors and congregations, and the many evidences of
the kindly feeling prevalent between the different organizations
of the various denominations, are much more manifest in Lenawee than in many other counties. Here, as in various other sections of the country, the church as an institution has been compelled to pass through the various changes of prosperity and adversity-seasons of great soul-winning revivals and those of diminution. The work of planting the Gospel in a new country is
almost universally attended with great sacrifice of ease and comfort, and much severe and trying hardship on the part of those
faithful disciples who have consented to be its messengers; and
the pioneer religious beginnings in this county proved no exception to this general rule. The ministers of those days were
almost constantly in the saddle, searching out new. settlers, and
called them together in their humble log shanties as soon as




474


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


half a dozen or more of them could be mustered together; for
they did not tarry in a community until school houses or churches
were erected and then issue a summons for the pioneers to
occupy them, but they sought out these hardy "sops of toil" in the
forest or in the field, and called to them to become reconciled
to God.
The general growth of religious sentiment may be truthfully said
to have kept pace with the development of the county along
commercial, industrial, educational, and other lines. The past
two decades have been years of great activity in the erection of
churches, not only in the construction of buildings for newly organized congregations, but also in the erection of edifices for the
older societies which have become too extensive for the buildings
which they occupied.  There are today in this county approximately one hundred churches, and the greatest number of these are
in a prosperous and thriving condition.
THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
Though the first sermon in the county was delivered by a minister of the Presbyterian denomination-Noah Wells, of the First
Presbyterian church of Detroit-the Methodist Episcopal organization enjoys the distinction of having placed the first organized church society in the field. This was accomplished in the
village of Tecumseh, in January, I828, largely through the instrumentality of the Rev. George W. Walker, who drifted into the
village in September of the preceding year. Prior to his coming,
the Rev. John A. Baughman, of the Monroe circuit of the "M. E.
church," had for a year or more been regularly expounding the
message of the Gospel in this little hamlet, though there was no
organization effected until January, I828. The membership of
this first church society was composed of the following: Josiah
Wheeler and wife, Isaac Bangs and wife, Margaret Cross, Betsy
Stillman, Mary Woodard, Mary Bangs, together with three other
persons whose names have been lost to posterity. Josiah Wheeler,
an earnest and devout Christian gentleman, was made the first
leader of the Bible class, and George W. Walker continued in the
pastorate until the month of September, 1829, when he was succeeded by the Rev. Jacob Hill, who remained only one year, being
followed by James W. Finley, in September, I830. At the close
of the latter's pastorate, in September, 1831, the Tecumseh circuit was organized, including a part of the old Monroe circuit




CHURCH HISTORY


475


and a portion of the newer Ann Arbor circuit, and extending
over a large expanse of territory to the north and west of Tecumseh.
Elijah H. Pilcher, one of the pioneer pillars of Methodism in
Southern Michigan, together with Ezekiel S. Gavit, was the first
messenger of the "Word" to be assigned to this new wilderness
circuit. The church at Tecumseh has been constantly growing in
membership and influence, and today, under the able pastorate of
the Rev. W. M. Ward, it is one of the largest organizations of
its denomination in the county.
The second Methodist Episcopal organization in the county was
effected at Adrian (then Logan). While the founder of Adrian,
Addison J. Comstock, and his associates, were still residing in their
rude log huts, the Rev. John Janes, a Methodist Episcopal clergyman, drifted into the settlement, during the autumn of 1827, and
delivered the first sermon ever preached therein at the dwelling
place of Noah Norton. In fact, he was the first clergyman of
any denomination who visited this settlement. The village was
at that time so small and so remote from other hamlets that it
could not well have been included in any circuit. But, nevertheless, the Rev. Janes was succeeded at irregular intervals by others
until the spring of I830, when the Rev. Jacob Hill, of the Ohio
Conference, then a resident of Tecumseh, was appointed to preach
once a month at Adrian, and on a week night. These services
were conducted in the homes of the settlers of Methodist proclivities, and they were, as a rule, attended by most of the village's
inhabitants. To Reverend Hill belongs the credit of having founded
the first organized religious society in Adrian, which organization was completed in June, I830, eighteen months in advance of
any other church in the settlement. The following were the
charter members thereof: William Barrus and wife, Americus
Smith, and John Walworth and wife; only five, and all of whom
have since passed to the church triumphant. William Barrus
and Americus Smith were both licensed clergymen of considerable
talent and eloquence, and occasionally delivered sermons to the
other members of the society in the absence of the regular itinerant
pastor. The membership was re-inforced, in September, I830, by
the coming of Lois Foot, Phares Sutton, Hannah Sutton, Samuel
Gregory, Ada Gregory, and Altha Spink, all of whom were active
and enthusiastic followers of the Cross. The Rev. James W.
Finley, also a "circuit rider" of the Monroe circuit, was the second Methodist clergyman who was assigned to the Adrian charge,
he also coming but once a month, and like his predecessor, deliver



476


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


ing his message at the dwelling places of the members of the
society. In September, 183I, when the above mentioned newly
formed Tecumseh circuit was organized, Adrian was made an
appointment thereon, but as Adrian was at that time much inferior
to Tecumseh in point of population, the former had still to be
content with week-night appointments. As noted above, Elijah
H. Pilcher and Ezekiel Gavit, the two ministers whom the conference had selected to administer to the spiritual welfare of the
Methodists on this circuit, each preached to the Adrian flock once
per month, which furnished a sermon regularly every fortnight,
though still only on week-day evenings. These services continued to be conducted in private dwellings until the winter of
I83I-Z, when, upon the completion of the settlement's first frame
school house, at the corner of South Main and South Winter
streets, the services were held therein. This continued to serve
as the place of worship for some years thereafter. In the fall
of 1832, the Tecumseh circuit was so altered as to supply Sunday
services in the Adrian church, and though these were held but
once in every two weeks, this change from week-night services to
those conducted on the Sabath was generally considered a long
step forward. The Rev. James F. Davidson was the first "circuit
rider" to have charge of the altered circuit, and with Thomas
Wiley, his colleague, he conducted a very gracious and beneficial
revival during the ensuing spring, which revival was instrumental
in increasing the membership of the society. Adrian remained in
the Tecumseh circuit until September, 1837, when it was made a
so-called charge, or station, entirely separate and distinct from the
"circuit," and the Rev. John H. Pitezel was at the same time made
the first resident pastor of the Methodist Episcopal church of the
"Maple City". The project of erecting a church, a thing which
had come to be a dire necessity, was inaugurated in the year 1838,
but the edifice was not ready for occupancy until I840. Today
this structure houses the church organization of the "Disciples of
Christ," being located on the north side of Toledo street, about
half-way between Broad and North Main streets. In those days
this edifice was generally looked upon as a large and commodious
place of worship, but the Methodist society has long since outgrown it, and today the latter organization is housed in the beautifully and tastefully finished structure on the northeast corner of
East Maumee and Broad streets, which was erected in the year
1863, under the able supervision of the Rev. F. A. Blades, who
began his pastorate in the Adrian church in September, I862, con



CHURCH HISTORY


477


tinuing here until the fall of i864. Early in the career of this
institution, a Sunday school was organized, as was also the young
peoples' society-the Epworth League-and these two branches of
the service have been the source of much good in the community.
According to the annual report submitted by this church to the
Detroit Conference of the Methodist Episcopal church at the last
annual session, held at 'Calumet, Mich., in September, i998, of
which conference the Methodist churches of this county form a
part, the active membership of this church was 570, and there
were 760 persons enrolled in the Sunday school.
Up to the year I836, the Methodist churches in this section of
the state belonged to the Ohio conference of that denomination,
but upon the establishment of the Michigan conference, in that
year, the Methodist Episcopal churches of this commonwealth became component parts of this new conference. In 1856, the Detroit
conference was set apart from the Michigan conference, and since
then the Lenawee county Methodist Episcopal churches, and those
of a similar denomination in the state, have been under the jurisdiction of this body. The first annual session of this newly formed
organization convened in the old Methodist church on Toledo
street, in Adrian, in September, I856, the proceedings of the session being conducted under the able direction of the late Bishop
Morris. Four annual sessions have been conducted in the present
church building-those of i864, I877, i886, and i904. The popular
Rev. D. H. Ramsdell is the present incumbent of the pastorate of
the Adrian church, having received his appointment in September,
I907. The following clergymen have been pastors of this organization since it became a separate charge in the year 1837: John
H. Pitezel, Eleazer Thomas, James H. Kellam, Andrew M. Fitch,
George Smith, T. C. Gardner, J. F. Davidson, E. H. Pilcher, A. J.
Eldred, W. HI. Perrine, Benjamin Cocker, George I. Betts, J. A.
Baughman, F. A. Blades, J. S. Smart, J. H. McCarty, A. F. Bourns,
W. H. Shier, R. 'Hudson, W. H. Pearce, John Atkinson, J..Wilson,
W. W. Case, C. H. Morgan, J. M. Kerridge, E. B. Brancroft, C. L.
Adams, W. H. W. Rees, G. E. Ackerman, J. I. Nickerson, Eugene
M. Moore and D. H. Ramsdell.
The first camp-meeting held in the county was conducted
under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal church, in a grove
near the present village of Clinton, in the summer of I832, and it
was a time of much religious interest. Camp-meetings have been
held since then at various places, and with varying success, but
as a rule these gatherings of the people to worship in the groves




478


AIMEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


have been of great benefit to the church. Though they have
not been signalized so much by the number of conversions brought
about at the time of the meetings, they have usually imbued both
the ministers and the attendants with the spirit of holiness, which
has brought forth abundant fruit during the revivals of the ensuing
winters. There is one locality-and an ideal place for outdoor
religious work it is-where camp-meetings were held for several
summers in succession, and in spite of the singular conjunction of
names-"Devil's Lake" (the place of holding these meetings),
and a "Methodist camp-meeting," these assemblages of Christians
at this beautiful spot have always been of great spiritual profit
to the church.
The third Methodist Episcopal church to be established in
Lenawee county was organized by the Rev James Gahagan in the
log house of Noah Cressey, located in the present city of Hudson,
in the year 1835, sixteen persons composing the membership of
this, the first organized religious institution of the settlement.
The Rev. Gahagan, who had come to Hudson-then called Lanesville-on Nov. 8, I835, continued to preach at irregular intervals
to this little band of worshippers, and though the organization
was not then under the jurisdiction of the regular Methodist
Episcopal conference, because of the unbroken wilderness which
separated the hamlet from adjoining Methodist circuits, it was
nevertheless composed of as faithful and devout a group of Methodists as ever assembled in a house of worship. But in the year
1841, after trails had been blazed through the forests and communication had been established with various settlements in Hillsdale county, the Michigan conference of that year made the Hudson
church a place of worship on the newly created Hillsdale circuit, to
which the Revs. Charles Babcock and Gideon J. Shurtleff were
assigned as pastors, and the church was now a component part of
the Michigan conference of the Methodist Episcopal church. They
inaugurated their career in the conference by worshiping in the
small school-house on the west side of the village, which was occupied as a place of worship by the Methodists and Congregationalists on alternate Sundays for several years. Hudson remained
on the Hillsdale circuit until September, 1846, when it was made
a part of a new circuit composed of Methodist organizations in
the townships of Adams, Wheatland, and Pittsford, in the county
of Hillsdale, and the townships of Hudson and Rollin, in the
county of Lenawee, and which was termed the Hudson circuit.
The Revs. Henry Worthington and Robert Bird were the first




CHURCH HISTORY


479


pastors placed in charge of this new circuit, which remained intact
until along in the early 50's, when the Hudson church was made
a separate charge. On a Sunday morning, in January, 1857, while
the Methodist Sunday school was in session, a fire broke out in
the house of worship, and though no one was injured, the structure
was completely destroyed.  Later, a new edifice was erected,
though it was not dedicated until well along in the year of I859,
and this continued to be the Methodists' place of worship until the
erection of the present handsome edifice at the corner of Main and
North streets, in Igoo, during the pastorate of the Rev. D. H. Ramsdell, now the pastor of the Methodist Episcopal church of Adrian.
The Hudson church is now the third largest Methodist Episcopal
organization in Lenawee county, the membership enrollment being
in the neighborhood of three hundred, and all the departments of
service are in a growing and thriving condition. The Rev. George
N. Kennedy is the present incumbent of the pastorate, which position has also been occupied by the following clergymen: Ebenezer
Steele, Isaac Taylor, William Mothersill, Henry Penfield, Harrison
Morgan, Frederick W. Warren, C. M. Anderson, John A. Baughman, John H. Burnham, William G. Stonex, E. R. Haskell, Thomas
Stalker, William E. Bigelow, Richard R. Richards, Daniel C. Jacokes, Joseph Fraser and D. H. Ramsdell. The Eleventh annual
session of the Detroit conference convened in the old Methodist
church at Hudson, Sept. 5, I866, the late Bishop Ames acting as the
presiding official thereof, and for one whole week the beautiful
little city was fairly "over-run" with Methodist clergymen and
delegates.
The fourth regular appointment of the Methodist Episcopal
church to be established in the county was the one at Palmyra,
established by the Michigan conference in the fall of 1838, the
Rev. John Scotford being the first pastor assigned to the newly
created charge. This was on the antiquated Maumee circuit of the
Michigan conference, but the charge, district, and circuit, have
long since passed from existence.
The next regular appointment to be created in the county
was the one at Ridgeway. It was established at the home of
Joseph Edmundson, Jan. 25, I840, when the Rev. A. Billings was
presiding elder of this district, and Elder W. Sprague and U. Hoyt,
of the Tecumseh circuit, were the first clergymen who regularly
conducted the services of this organization. There was preaching
but twice per month, the sermons being delivered in. private residences and in a log school-house. In 1845, the first Methodist




480


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


edifice was erected in the settlement, and it continued to serve
as the place of worship until I866, when the commodious structure
now occupied by the congregation was erected. According to the
report rendered at the last session of the Detroit conference this
church had a total of 127 active members, its Sunday school was
enjoying an enrollment of I75, while the young people's society
-the Epworth League-was composed of forty active members.
The.Rev. A. T. Camburn is the pastor at the present time and the
church is doing a good work in the community.
Though the Methodist Episcopal church at Medina was not
formally established until along in the early 40's, the Rev. Lorenzo
Davis, of the old Bean Creek mission, delivered sermons regularly
once per month during the conference year of I836-37, in the
old log house of John R. Foster. The Rev. Horace Palmer is the
present incumbent of the pastorate there, and though this is the
second smallest Methodist Episcopal organization in the county
in point of membership, it is doing a beneficial work for the
Christian cause in that vicinity.
As early as July 25, I836, the Rev. Washington Jackson, accompanied by his brother Allen, both Methodist clergymen of the
Tecumseh circuit, came to Rollin, where the former delivered the
first regular sermon ever preached in the township at the home of
Daniel Rhoades. They came at the solicitation of William
Rhoades, who, during the fore part of the same month, had
journeyed to Tecumseh to request the presiding elder of the district to supply the Methodists of that township with a minister.
The next day the two clergymen traveled on down through the
Bean Creek valley, laying as they went the foundations of the
Bean Creek mission, a Methodist movement looking to the evangelization of the settlers along Bean creek, which movement, several years later, attained much prominence in that section of the
country. The church of this denomination at Rollin today is a
thriving one. It has an active membership of approximately
225, and the large and well-attended Sunday school is enacting a
prominent role in the biblical training of the younger generation
in the neighborhood. The Rev. F. O. Jones is the present pastor
of this flourishing congregation.
In the year I850, the Methodist church of Franklin was formerly organized, and at the annual session of the conference, in
September of that year it was made a regular appointment of
the Tecumseh circuit; but this organization has long since been
dissolved. In I85I, the Methodist Episcopal church at Clinton




CHURCH HISTORY


481


was established, being at first on the old Tecumseh circuit, but
later becoming a separate charge. The Rev. J. D. Halliday is the
present incumbent of the pastorate, and according to the report
submitted by the officials to the last annual session of the conference, the Clinton church is the second largest Methodist organization in the county, in point of active membership, it having at
that time 330 members. The Sunday school is also in a thriving
and prosperous condition, and the Epworth League is constantly
growing.
The Methodist Episcopal church of Morenci was established in
the year I836, with only seven members, the Rev. Staples being
the first clergyman who occupied the pulpit regularly. Though
the organization was launched in the 30's, it did not have a conference assigned pastor until i852. The first house of worship
was constructed in I852, being dedicated in May of that year, and
the board of trustees at that time was constituted as follows:
Hiram Wakefield, Josiah Osgood, Daniel Reed, S. D. Wilson, and
Samuel Wilson. The late R. R. Richards was then the presiding
elder of the district. According to the last annual report the active
membership totalled 183, the Sunday school enrollment was 263, and
the Epworth League was composed of thirty members. The
Rev. J. W. Campbell is the pastor at the present time.
In 1855, the Methodist Episcopal congregation at Addison was
formally established, and though it is one of the smallest churches
of its sect-in point of membership-in the county, it is doing a
beneficial service for the cause of Christianity in Addison. The
Rev. W. L. B. Collins is the present pastor. The last annual
report of this institution indicates that there are seventy-six persons enrolled as active members of the church proper, and that
there are ioo children enrolled in the Sunday school.
Though the Methodist church at Blissfield was not assigned
a conference pastor until i857, Methodist services had been held
in that village as early as 1827, the Rev. John A. Baughman, of
Tecumseh, having in that year delivered the first sermon that
was preached in either the village or township of Blissfield. The
Rev. Edwin H. Brockway was the first clergyman who regularly
occupied the pulpit, and the Rev. A. B. Sutcliffe is the present incumbent of the pastorate. The church proper has an enrollment
of 204 members, the Sunday school has one of 230, the Epworth
League has thirty-eight members, and the institution is one of
the strongest forces for the higher things in life that there is in
Blissfield.
3I-Iv




482


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


The Methodist Episcopal organization at Fairfield was first
assigned a conference pastor in I860, in the person of the Rev.
O. J. Perrin, and the organization is, in point of active membership, the smallest of its sect in the county. The church has no regularly assigned pastor at this time, but the organization is still
intact and the regular services are conducted every Sunday. Six
years after the church at Fairfield was organized the one at Clayton
sprang into existence, though there was no pastor assigned this
new charge until the annual session of the Detroit conference,
which convened at Hudson in September of that year. The Rev.
John A. Rowe administers to the spiritual wants and needs of the
congregation at the present time, and in point of membership this
organization is the largest in the village.
The Methodist Episcopal church of Deerfield is the fourth
largest organization of that denomination in the county. At the
time of the convening of the last annual session of the Detroit
conference, in September, I908, there were 250 active members enrolled in the church proper, and 400 scholars in the Sunday school.
which figures indicate that this is the second largest Methodist
Sabbath school in the county of Lenawee. In point of membership, this church is the largest protestant organization in the village of Deerfield, and it is a strong moral and spiritual force in
the community. The Rev. E. R. Rice is the present incumbent of
the pastorate, and there is not a more devout and enthusiastic
Christian worker to be found in the county.
There is also an active Methodist Episcopal organization in
the little village of Tipton, of which the Rev. G. W. Hoffman is the
pastor.
THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
To Presbyterianism belongs the credit of organizing the second church in the county, and it also enjoys the distinction of
having furnished the clergyman-the Rev. Noah M. Wells, of Detroit-who delivered the first sermon in the county. The Rev.
Alanson Darwin was the second minister of this sect to visit the
county, he having preached in Tecumseh in the fall of I826, although he did not settle there until September of the ensuing
year. Under his ministry a Presbyterian society, i. e., legal corporation, was formed in October, 1827, though the formal organization was not completed until April 6, 1828. The church at
that time consisted of ten members: John Huyck and wife, Wiiliam F. Finch and wife, Milla Ketchum, Euphemia Hillock, Emelia




CHURCH HISTORY                   483
Holbrook, Maria Hixon, Mary Darwin and Mary Metcalf. Alanson Darwin continued to officiate as the pastor of the church up
to the time of his untimely taking away, Dec. 15, I83I, when only
forty-eight years of age. A revival which he ably conducted in the
church in the winter of I830-3I, with the assistance of the Rev. Joseph Bangs of the Methodist church of the village, brought about
many conversions, and over thirty persons united with the Presbyterian church on one Sunday. It not only strengthened the latter organization, but it was also the cause of increasing the membership
of the Methodist church. The Presbyterian church of Tecumseh
has passed through the various periods of adversity and prosperity
which have been attendant upon the career of other religious institutions of the county, and today it is one of the strongest organizations of the sect in this section of the commonwealth. The
Rev. John W. Dunning is the present occupant of the pulpit.
The Presbyterian church of Blissfield, the second of that, denomination established in Lenawee county, and the first religious
organization of any sect to be placed in the field in Blissfield, was
formally organized on Feb. 22, I829, in the log house of Hervey
Bliss-the founder of the village-the Rev. Alanson Darwin, of
Tecumseh, presiding over the meeting. There were nine original
members, and they have all passed to the church triumphant.
Hervey Bliss, Timothy Goff, and Nathan Gibbs constituted the
first board of elders. The congregation at first worshipped in the
dwellings of the members and in the old log school-house, which
had been constructed in the summer of 1827. The first edifice
was erected in the summer of 1849, and this composes the main
body of the structure which serves as the place of worship today,
though extensive alterations in the original structure were made
in 1884 and 1904. The following is an incomplete list of the
clergymen who have occupied the pastorate of this church: Reuben
Armstrong, J. J. Dana, John Monteith, E. R. Bissell, D. H. Evans,
Joseph Swindt, James Quick, W. J. Amey, Hugh Lamont, George
Humphrey, William Saugree, W. L. Baker, Edward H. Vail, and
Abiather Beamer. The Rev. W. M. Pocock is the pastor at the
present time. In the eighty years' career of this organization, 445
persons have been members thereof, and the present membership
totals over one hundred. The following members now constitute
the board of elders: George Palmer, A. D. Ellis, Leroy H. Young,
F. WX. Josenhan, James L. Carpenter, and Oliver D. Porter.
The Presbyterian church of Adrian, the third of that sect to
be established in the county of Lenawee, and also the third of




484


IMEMIOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


any of the denominations to be launched in the Maple City,
was organized at the home of N. D. Skeels, Sept. 15, 1832, pursuant to a public call. The Rev. I. M. Wead, of Ypsilanti, was
present and was chosen moderator, with N. D. Skeels, clerk. The
moderator presented the articles of faith and covenant, as set forth
by the Detroit Presbytery, which was then the governing body
of Presbyterianism in this section of the state, and these were
unanimously adopted by acclamation. The clerk was then ordered
to enroll the following names on the church register: Josiah Sabin, Patrick Hamilton, Isaac Ormsby, Mrs. Isaac Ormsby, Amelia
Ormsby, Elijah Johnson, Elihu Frary, Asahel Finch, Jr., Mary
D. Finch, N. D. Skeels, Clarissa Fessenden, Mary A. Chapin,
Elizabeth Beals, Hulda Brown, and Elizabeth Skeels.   There
seems to have been a strong temperance sentiment among these
original members, for we find the following resolution recorded in
the minutes of that first meeting: "Resolved, That no persons
shall be admitted to this church unless they can conscientiously
abstain from the use or vending of ardent or distilled spirits, except for medical purposes." The meeting, after having thus recorded its sentiment in regard to the liquor traffic, proceeded to
select Elijah Johnson, Asahel Finch, Jr., and Josiah Sabin, to act
as the first board of elders. The first church edifice was erected
on the south side of Church street, between South Main and
State streets, just west of the present "fire-station," in November,
1832, it being the first house of worship erected in the city of
Adrian. In 1842, just ten years after the dedication of the first
structure on Church street, a new edifice was erected on the
site of the present church, on the south side of East Maumee
street, between Broad and South Main streets, at an expense of
$12,000. This was enlarged, in I854, at a cost of $5,000, and again,
in I869-70, it was largely rebuilt and beautified, at an expense of
$25,000. The gigantic church bell, weighing I,6oi pounds and costing the sum of $478, was hung, Dec. 31, 1846, and the chapel was
erected in 1884, at a cost of approximately $5,000.  During
the pioneer days of this organization the services were generally  conducted  by  transient supplies  furnished  by  the
Presbytery, first of Detroit, and later of Monroe. In November,
1832, the Rev. George Howell came to the church, and though
he was never installed as the regular ordained pastor of the society, he preached there for a year or more. The minutes show
that the next Presbyterian clergyman to visit the village was the
Rev. A. S. Wells, in I834. He was followed by the Rev. E. Gregory




CHURCH HISTORY


485


who filled the pulpit during the winter of 1834-35, and he in turn
was succeeded by William Wolcott, who came during the late fall
of 1835 and remained through the ensuing winter. The Rev. J. L.
Tomlinson was the first regularly installed incumbent of the pastorate, coming to Adrian in the fall of 1837 and remaining until
the fall of 1842, the new edifice on Maumee street being erected
during the concluding weeks of his ministry. The following
clergymen have been his successors: George C. Curtis, 1844-61;
George Duffield, Jr., i86i-65; William H. Webb, 1865-74; John
C. Hill, 1876-80; Joseph B. Little, 1881-85; Willard K. Spencer,
1886-98; Edward M. McMillan, 1898-1904; and Edward A. Krapp,
the present popular and affable pastor, who began his pastorate in
the fall of 1904. The following persons have served the church as
stated supplies for periods of six months or more: L. S. Beebe,
1843; F. F. Ford, February-October, I875, and H. T. Ford, October, 1875, to June, 1876. The following are now serving as members of the session: E. A. Krapp, moderator; Parker H. Burnham,
clerk; Henry M. Judge, Ambrose B. Park, Abijah M. Allen, James
C. Linnell, Sherman S. Withington, William  E. Chamberlain,
Henry H. Meyer, and George H. Lewis. The board of trustees
includes the following: John Kirby, president; B. L. Shaw, treasurer; Charles G. Hart, W. F. King (has charge of pews), and A.
B. Park. H. M. Judge is superintendent of the Sabbath school,
and M. W. Redfield is the official collector. The Presbyterian
manse, at No. 35 Dennis street, which was erected by the Samuel
E. Hart estate in 1895, and first occupied by the Rev. W. K.
Spencer, is one of the most handsome and costly parsonages in the
state. At the present time there are approximately 500 communicants in this church, and in point of membership it ranks as the
third largest protestant organization in the city of Adrian, the
First Baptist church being the largest, with the First Methodist
Episcopal ranking next.
In the year 1836, the fourth Presbyterian church society to
be established in the county was formally organized at Palmyra,
under the supervision of the Rev. Joel Walker, who became the
first regularly installed pastor thereof. This organization, like
most of the other religious societies of the county, has been compelled to pass through the various evolutions of adversity and
prosperity-seasons of diminution and of gradual growth-and it
is now housed in a commodious and tastefully finished place of
worship. There is no regularly installed pastor in charge at the
present time.




486


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


A Presbyterian organization was founded at Clinton in the
early 40's of the last century by the Rev. Noah Wells, of Detroit,
but this was dissolved many years ago.
The Cadmus Presbyterian church society was established in
1843, by the Rev. Henry Root, who was the first occupant of
the pulpit, he being succeeded by the Rev. Paul Shepherd, a few
years later. In the year I850, an edifice was erected about threefourths of a mile west of the village, which continued to be the
home of the organization until I902, when the present house of
worship was built in the village of Cadmus. The board of elders
at the time of the establishment of this society consisted of:
Fleming McMath, Asher Hathaway, and Eli Benham, and the
present elders are Jacob Hering and Charles Schafer. The success of the institution is largely due to the assiduous enterprise
of Fleming McMath, who cheerfully and willingly gave of his time
and worldly goods that the society might be maintained upon a
sound and prosperous basis.  With the exception of the two above
mentioned pastors, and the Rev. Daniel Jones, who occupied the
pulpit during the latter part of the 50's the pulpit was filled by
stated supplies, many of them theological students, up to I86o,
when the Clayton church of this sect was founded, and since then
the incumbent of the pastorate of the latter organization has also
filled the Cadmus pulpit. The Clayton Presbyterian church society was formally established, Feb. 28, I86o, by the Rev. George
W. Nichols and Paul Shepherd, both members of the Monroe Presbytery, as a result of a series of union revival meetings which
had been conducted in the Clayton Baptist church that winter by
the Rev. Nichols. The original membership totalled twenty-one,
and Reuben E. Bird, R. Smart, and C. I. Shaw were the first members to officiate as elders.  The Rev. Paul Shepherd was the first
clergyman to be installed as pastor, and the following have succeeded him: G. W. Nichols, Horatio W. Shaw, D. B. Campbell,
E. M. Foot, Robert Edgar, S. E. Hamme, G. Abbott, E. T. Branch,
E. F. Smith, Robert Brunfit, David M. Alleder, George C. Gerlick,
D. 0. McKay, George M. Layman, and Frederick A. Dean, the
present occupant of the pulpit, who commenced his pastorate, Nov.
15, I907.
The First Presbyterian church of Deerfield was established,
Oct. 19. 1853, under the appellation of the Second Presbyterian
Church of Blissfield, with twenty-four charter members. On Aug. 29,
I858, the name of the society was altered to its present form. The
site on which the present edifice stands was purchased, Sept. i8,




CHURCH HISTORY


487


1858, and the building was erected in 1865. The following have officiated as pastors of this charge: John Monteith, J. W. Baynes,
W. S. Taylor, Robert Edgar, George P. Blanchard, W. J. Gerlach, David Howell, Frederick Caldwell, T. B. Leith, Charles Carrick, E. H. Bradfield, E. H. Vail, A. M. Stirton, David McAllister,
and Cecil M. Bear, the present minister. The church society enjoys a membership of sixty-two, and it has a flourishing Sabbath
school and a wide-awake Christian Endeavor society.
There is also a Presbyterian church society in the township of
Raisin, of which Homer B. Dunning is the present pastor.
THE BAPTIST CHURCH.
Baptistism in Lenawee county can trace its origin to Nov. 5,
1831, when a number of the friends of the faith met at the schoolhouse in the village of Adrian, for the purpose of conferring on the
subject of covenant union. The gathering was composed of eleven
men and thirteen women, as follows: Joseph Rickey, Reuben
Tooker, Benjamin F. Gouldsbury, John H. Carpenter, John Whitney, John S. Older, John W. Meyers, Allen S. Hutchens, John T.
Carpenter, Gersham Noyes, David Wiley, Maria Hutchens, Lydia
Whitney, Delia Older, Eliza Gouldsbury, Lydia Thursting, Eunice
Rickey, Nancy Rickey, Lucy French, Elizabeth Parker, Cynthia
Upton, Elizabeth Carpenter, Amy Fitch, and Lois Stone. As
soon as the meeting had convened John Whitney was selected to
act as moderator, and William Foster as clerk, after which the
advisability of establishing a Baptist church in the village of Logan
(now the city of Adrian) was discussed, and it was finally "resolved
to meet again in this place on the g9th inst."
At the meeting on the g9th a committee to prepare Articles of
Faith and Covenant was selected, composed of John Whitney,
Reuben Tooker, Joseph Rickey, John H. Carpenter, Daniel Treat.
and William Foster, and at a subsequent meeting, held on the 23d
of the same month, the articles as drawn up by this committee
were presented, approved, and adopted. It was then "resolved
to call on the following churches for a council to witness our
union and to constitute us into a church state, if such council
should think it expedient, viz.: Church in Dexter, church in Ypsilanti, church in Saline, and also to give Elder Tripp, of Sand Lake,
an invitation; council to meet in the village of Adrian on the last
Saturday of December, I83I." The council convened at the appointed time, and after Elder T. Bodley had delivered a sermon,




488


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


the first rendered under the auspices of this newly launched society, he extended the right hand of fellowship to the members of
the congregation. On the following day, Sunday, Jan. I, 1832,
Elder Bodley delivered another sermon at the home of Isaac Dean,
from these words: "Who it is that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?" Regular services were conducted
at the homes of the various members during the ensuing winter
months, and Elder Bodley was installed as pastor in the following
February, being the first regularly installed Baptist clergyman in
the county, and continuing to occupy the pulpit during the ensuing
church year at a salary of $I50. On Sunday, Jan. 29, 1832, just after
the conclusion of the morning worship, the. entire congregation
repaired to the banks of the Raisin, where the first rite of baptism
was administered to eight candidates for church membership, this
undoubtedly being the first time that baptism had been administered by the immersion process in the county. John H. Carpenter
and John Whitney officiated as the first deacons of the church, the
latter also acting as the treasurer of the society. The second regularly installed pastor was the Rev. Bradbury Clay (father of
Frank W. Clay, the Adrian banker), who, though he commenced
his pastorate on May 3, I833, was not formally installed until the
following June. His salary was stipulated as $200 per annum,
and though the society, toward the close of his first year's work,
decided to increase his income, he declined to engage his services
for another year, and his request for a letter of dismissal was reluctantly granted.
From the early part of 1832 to the latter portion of the ensuing
year, the services had been conducted in the building occupied at
the present time by the family of the late Dr. 'Williams, but on
Dec. 5, I833, the society authorized the trustees to sell this first
house of worship. In I837, a brick church was erected and dedicated on the site of the present Baptist edifice on Broad street,
the services up to the time of the completion of this structure being
held around at the dwellings of the various members. Soon after
the dedication of the new edifice, a large and fine-toned bell was
purchased by the trustees and was suspended between two stumps
in the church yard, but as the small boys of the village continuously
insisted on trying its tones it was soon afterward hung in the
church tower. About the year I855, the first chapel was erected;
the annex and audience room in its present form was constructed
in 1884-85, during the pastorate of Rev. J. S. Holmes, at a cost
of about $12,000; and the present chapel-Dorcas Chapel-was




CHURCH HISTOIY


489


dedicated, Jan. I, 1900, costing $7,372.28, the last mentioned addition standing as a fitting and appropriate memorial to the memory
of Dorcas Fiske Whitney, who was for fifty-five years a devout
and faithful member of the society, and who generously donated
the land upon which the chapel stands. It has been estimated by
one who has for years been affiliated with the affairs of this institution that the edifice, all additions, alterations and repairs included, from its inception to the present time, has cost the society
approximately, $6o,ooo, this reckoning of course being merely
from a monetary view-point, consequently telling nothing of the
time, prayer, and loving service so generously rendered, that this
structure might stand as a monument, fitting and appropriate, to
the role which Baptistism has enacted in the intellectual, moral,
and spiritual development of the city and county. From an original membership of but twenty-four, in the year I83I, to an enrollment of approximately 700, in I909, seems a far cry, but such
has been the growth of the congregation, and today the First
Baptist church society of Adrian is the -largest protestant institution in the county of Lenawee.
The first Sunday school was organized as a union school by
Maria Hutchens, assisted by others, in I832, with Amos Knapp
as the superintendent, and upon the completion of the first Baptist
edifice, in I837, it was continued as a Baptist Sabbath school.
This early organization has ever been maintained with an increasing zeal and interest to the present day, now being recognized as the.largest Baptist Sunday school in Southern Michigan,
and the beneficial work which it has accomplished among the
younger generations of the Maple City can never be fully realized.
A unique feature of this branch of the service, though it is in no
way connected with the Sunday school proper, is the "men's discussion class," conducted by the present incumbent of the pastorate, the Rev. Franklin W. Sweet, which convenes in the chapel
on Sundays, directly after the regular morning worship, for a
general discussion of economical, sociological, biblical, and spirtual
matters. It is particularly unique in that the membership thereof
is composed of some of the prominent business men of Adrian,
who are in no way affiliated with church organizations, every one
present being entitled to set forth his own thoughts and views,
whether or not they be strictly orthodox, and the matters under
discussion are taken up and handled entirely 'without gloves."
The following have been incumbents' of the pastorate of the
Baptist church: Thomas Bodley, Bradbury Clay, Gideon D. Sim



490


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


mons, Marvin Allen, James Pyper, James Inglis, Anson Tucker,
Samuel Cornelius, J. K. Stimpson, W. J. Crane, R. Kingbury, James
A. Clark, Isaac Butterfield, E. J. Fish, A. Dunsford, J. H. Cole,
J. S. Holmes, Frederick Clatworthy, Wilson Whitney, Joseph B.
Banker, and the Rev. Franklin Sweet, the popular pastor of the
present day.
The following are now serving as deacons: Gilbert Clark,
Homer H. Palmer, H. F. Smith, F. W. Cantrick, W. J. Brown,
J. J. Morse, Anson Hibbard, George L. Bennett, J. C. Morse, and
Charles H. Willbee; and the board of trustees is comprised of D.
B. Morgan, John E. Carr, E. L. Baker, George L. Bennett, C. C.
Fisher, George W. Ayers, B. P. Hathaway, Frank E. Willbee, and
J. C. Van Doren.
The second church society of the Baptist faith to be established
in the county was founded at Clinton, in 1832, and though it has
never enjoyed a very extensive membership it has always performed a good service for the Christian cause in that community.
The present membership of the church proper is approximately
ninety, and the Rev. T. H. Carey is the present pastor, having entered upon the charge in I907.
The First Baptist church of Medina, the third of the denomination in the county, was organized in the hamlet of Canandaigua,
in January, i836, though the first pastor, Rev. Edward Hodge, did
not enter upon his duties until the ensuing June, and received
only $2o0 per annum. The meetings continued to be conducted
regularly at the dwellings of the various members about Canandaigua until December of the same year, when it was unanimously
voted that the organization be transferred to the village of Medina,
and accordingly the meetings were held at the home of Deacon
Cook Hotchkiss, in the latter village, during the following winter,
Mr. Hotchkiss acting as the first superintendent of the Sunday
school. A few years later the first house of worship was erected,
it being a small frame building. The congregation is one of the
smallest of its faith in the county, the active membership having
averaged only about forty. The present incumbent of the pastorate
is the Rev. A. H. Fraser, who was assigned to this church in the
summer of I905.
The fourth society of this denomination to spring into existence in this county was the First Baptist church of Weston,
which was launched in the year of i838. The progress of the society
has been gradual, the foundations having been laid upon a durable
and substantial basis, and in point of active membership it is the




CHURCH HISTORY


49I


third largest Baptist church in the county today. The present
house of worship, the erection and finishing of which cost in the
neighborhood of $3,500, is one of the most adequate and commodious church buildings in the vicinity of Weston. The Rev.
Frank Barnett is the present pastor, having been installed in the
summer of I908.
The First Baptist church society of Tecumseh, the fifth of that
denomination to be founded in the county, and today the second
largest in point of active membership, was formally established
at a council held by the friends of the Baptist faith, April Io, I839,
at which seven Baptist church societies were represented, either by
their pastor or a layman. The organization of the council was effected by the selection of Elder Allen as chairman and Elder Hamlin
as clerk, and after having examined and adopted the covenant and
articles of faith, as drawn up by Isaac Adams and Felix Holdridge, the council proceeded to organize the church society. The
Rev. J. I. Fulton then delivered the dedicatory sermon, Elder
Allen extended the hand of fellowship, Elder Hamlin delivered a
short address in behalf of the members of the congregation, and
this society, numbering twenty-eight charter members, was fully
established. Though it had neither a place of worship, nor a
pastor, the covenant meetings were continued in private dwellings
and school-rooms; and occasionally some ministering brother
would preach on the Sabbath, J. I. Fulton expounding the word
of God more frequently than any other of the laymen. On Dec.
4, of the same year, A.'N. Prentiss, a licentiate, was engaged
to preach for six months, but because of the general dissatisfaction,
which was later- aroused among the congregation concerning his
preaching and his conduct, his resignation was demanded and received before he had occupied the pulpit three months, and for
several years thereafter there was no pastor, no regular preaching, and no house of worship. Yet, in spite of this, seven members were taken into church membership through baptism, and
many more by letter. In the latter part of 1841, a call to the pastorate was extended to the Rev: L. H. Moore, who entered upon his
duties in January, I842, at a salary of $300 per annum, $Ioo of
which was furnished by the Baptist missionary convention of the
state of New York, and soon after his installation a series of.revival meetings was conducted under the auspices of this organization, which resulted in a large ingathering of souls, twenty-two
of the converts uniting with the church. But the Reverend Moore
resigned after he had capably filled the pastorate for one year and




492


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


four months, because of the inability of the congregation 'to negotiate his meagre salary. He was succeeded by the Rev. J. I.
Fulton, who took up the duties of his charge at a salary of $400
and a donation, and during his pastorate of three years and four
months, forty-one members were admitted to the church by baptism.
As early as March, I839, before the organization of the society
had been completed, a site for the church edifice was purchased,
at the corner of Logan and Pearl streets, and later in the year
the trustees were authorized to erect a building of the following
dimensions: "Length, 28 feet; breadth 24 feet; ten feet between
joists; with six windows of twenty-four panes each," but at the
next meeting it was decided to enlarge upon the above dimensions, as follows: "Length 36 feet; breadth 26 feet."  Though
there is no record of the precise time as to when the house of
worship was commenced or completed, or as to the cost thereof,
it is recorded that a covenant meeting was held in the new edifice
in the latter part of I84I, and we also read that the good sisters
of the society did not attend because there was then no stove
therein. The seats were made of planks and slabs, and in this
rude condition the edifice was occupied by the congregation during
the ensuing winter, that of I841-42. In 1843, this meeting house
was transferred from its original site, at the corner of Pearl and
Logan streets, to the west side of Ottawa, between Logan and
Chicago streets; the interior was finished and an addition was
built on one extremity thereof, and this structure continued to be
the home of the organization for more than twenty years. In the
early part of 1863, Dr. I. S. Hamilton, at a meeting of the society, presented the following resolutions, which were unanimously
adopted: "Resolved, That the time has arrived, and that it is the
duty of the church to take measures to at once erect and complete a
new house of worship," and "That a subscription for this purpose
be circulated immediately." On May 3, 1863, it was reported that
$2,700, the amount required to make the subscriptions binding,
had been raised. A committee, consisting of Dr. William C. Fisher
and Elder McCloud, proceeded to purchase a site, and at the next
meeting a building committee, composed of Elder McCloud, William C. Fisher, John Benedict, and Adrian Yawger, was selected.
The brick was purchased in the following February, and though the
work of construction was commenced in the ensuing spring, the
edifice was not completed and dedicated until Nov. 30, I865. The
cost of the site and the structure up to that time had been $8,503,




CHURCH HISTORY


493


of which amount $I,ooo was raised on the day of dedication.
Since then, the building has been altered and enlarged upon, and
today it is valued at about $Io,ooo, ranking second in point
of valuation among the Baptist church edifices of the county. The
present membership of the society is approximately 250, being
one of the largest protestant organizations in Tecumseh. The
following have been regularly installed pastors of the church: L.
H. Moore, J. I. Fulton, Samuel Cornelius, P. B. Haughout, E.
Royce, James McLeod, B. M. McLouth, J. Fletcher. J. L. McCloud,
T. S. Hill, J. Moxsom, P. Olney, M. E. Hayne, C. E. Conly, F. A.
Adkins, F. E. Arnold, H. A. Smith, and the present pastor, the
Rev. F. W. Kamm, who was installed in I906..
The Baptist church of Rome was founded in the fall of I839,
being the sixth organization of that denomination to be established
in Lenawee county. The Rev. H. Churchill is the present incumbent of the pastorate, having been installed therein in the summer of I905. In point of membership this church is one of the
smallest in the county.
The next church society of this faith to be founded in the
county was established at Hudson, July 8, I843, under the title
of "The First Baptist Church of Hudson," with the following
charter members: Samuel R. Close, Charles Coats, Ansel Coats,
M. S. Lathrop, Daniel Sankbury, John C. Lewis, Emily Lathrop,
Melinda Close, Abiathar Powers, Harriet Lewis. The first clergyman to be called to the pastorate was the Rev. Jacob Ambler, who
occupied the pulpit for the first time on Feb. I4, I844, remaining
with the church until May, 1845, when he resigned. He was succeeded by the Rev. Lauren Hotchkiss, who began his ministry,
June Io, I845, and in the fall of I847, during his pastorate, the
first house of worship was erected, though it was not completed
and dedicated until Feb. 23, 1848, the dedicatory sermon being delivered by Elder Tucker, of Adrian. Among the early pastors were
the Revs. P. B. Houghnout, Samuel Jones, A. P. Howell, Volney
Church, William Pack, James G. Portman, C. T. Chaffee, Cressey,
Osborn, and Shanabelt. The present occupant of the pulpit is the
Rev. T. D. Denman, who began his ministerial duties in the summer of I908, and B. F. Palmer is superintendent of the Sabbath
school, which department of service enjoys a membership of about
200. There are approximately 175 members enrolled in the church
proper.
The First Baptist church society of Morenci was organized
in I853, with but fifteen members. The congregation, which today




494


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


numbers 125 members, and the Sunday school, which is composed
of nearly 200 pupils, occupy a house of worship which is generally
valued at $2,500. The Rev. A. B. Whitney is the present incumbent of the pastorate, having been installed therein in I905, and
E. J. Wells is superintendent of the Sabbath school. There is also
a Baptist Sunday school at North Morenci, of which Mrs. A. J.
Sutton is superintendent.
The Baptist church society of Rollin is the youngest of that
denomination in Lenawee county, having been established in I866.
The house of worship, though not an imposing one, is entirely
adequate for the holding of all the branches of service, costing
in the neighborhood of $I,500. The present membership of the
society numbers a few more than Ioo, and there are approximately
fifty children enrolled in the Sunday school, of which 0. E. Clark
is superintendent. The Rev. E. D. Way is the present pastor, having been installed in the summer of I906.
There is also a colored Baptist church in Adrian, "Second,"
on Broad street, between Hunt and Chestnut streets.
THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
Episcopalianism in Lenawee county dates back to May, 1833,
when the Rev. William Narcissus Lyster, an Episcopalian missionary from Ireland, at the instigation of three pioneer settlers of Tecumseh - Musgrove Evans, George Spofford, and Gen. J. W.
Brown-delivered a sermon in the new court house in the village.
A few days later Lyster organized the first church of that faith
to be established in the county-St. Peter's Episcopal of Tecumseh
-and on Oct. Io, of the same year he laid the corner stone
of the house of worship. This building, which was erected during
the ensuing winter, is still occupied by this church society, it
being the oldest Episcopal church edifice west of Detroit, and
it has been utilized for church services for a longer period than
any other edifice in the county.
No history of Episcopalianism in Lenawee county would be
complete that did not contain a brief review of the career of William
Narcissus Lyster. He was given birth at Sion, County Wexford,
Ireland, March 5, I805, and was a descendant of ancestors of fervent piety and superior intellectual powers. He matriculated at
Trinity college, Dublin, in 1822, and there he graduated in 1826,
after which he pursued a course of theological studies at the University of Edinburgh. In I829, he made his first.journey to




CHURCH HISTOkY                   495
Michigan, passing several weeks in Detroit, and returning to his
native land in the fall of that year. In i830, he was ordained a
priest by Bishop Saurin, of Dromore; in March, I832, he was
united in marriage to Miss Ellen Cooper, of County Wexford, Ireland, and later in the same year he again came to the United
States to devote himself to missionary work, first settling in Cleveland, Ohio, where he passed the winter of 1832-33. In May of the
following spring, he journeyed to Tecumseh, where he delivered
the first Episcopalian sermon and founded the first church organization of that faith in the county of Lenawee, as is recorded in the
preceding paragraph. In June following, he removed his wife
and household effects from Cleveland and took active charge of
the parish of Tecumseh. He acquired the title to a considerable
land in the county, and in i837, he built a log cabin on his landed
possessions on the shores of Sand lake. Here, in his romantic
and secluded forest home, he reveled in the manifold beauties of
nature, delved into the works of literary men and theologians, and
enjoyed delightful boating and fishing; and as a pioneer minister
of the Gospel in Michigan his name will live when many who now
stand higher on man's roll of fame shall be forgotten. He died at
Mapleton, Van Buren county, Michigan, Sept. 9, I877, and his
body now reposes in the beautiful Elmwood cemetery at Detroit.
His later labors in the interests of Episcopalianism in this county
will be taken up in connection with the churches with which he
was associated.
Christ Episcopal church of Adrian was organized in i838, by
the Rev. David J. Burger, who remained in charge of the newly
organized parish for one year. He was succeeded by William N.
Lyster, who took temporary charge until i840, and he in turn was
succeeded by the Revs. Sabine Hough, Donald Fraser, Charles V.
Kelley, and Richard S. Adams, who, at different times, for the following twelve years were the temporary incumbents of the rectory.
The services of these early days were conducted at the homes of the
various members, and, in i84I, Bishop McCoskry administered the
apostolic rite of confirmation in the old Methodist church on
Toledo street, now the Church of Christ, the congregation kindly
tendering its house of worship for that purpose. About this time,
the old Presbyterian structure on Church street was secured, the
Presbyterian society having moved into their new edifice on Maumee street, and this continued to serve as the Episcopalian house
of worship until well along in I85I. In the spring of 185I, through
the untiring and zealous endeavors of the Rev. Rufus Murray, who




496


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


had been installed as rector of the parish in I850, an edifice was
erected on the site of the present beautiful structure at the corner
of East Maumee and Broad streets, at a cost of $4,432, being consecrated by Bishop Samuel Allen McCoskry, Oct. 31, I852. For
forty-six years thereafter this building continued to serve as the
house of worship, during which period it was at various times enlarged and improved. But in the meantime it was decided to
construct a new edifice, and on Sunday, Aug. 8, 1897, a special service was conducted by the rector, Rev. C. H. I. Channer, whose
sermon, which was the last ever delivered in the old church, contained many highly interesting historical references. During the
following month the old building was removed, and on Sept. 28,
I897, the corner stone of the present handsome sanctuary was laid.
and the first service therein was held on Easter Sunday, r898. The
building committee was composed of R. A. Bury, H. V. C. Hart,
A. W. Carey, H. L. Larwill, and E. E. Marble. The architects
were Spier & Rohn, of Detroit, the contractor was Samuel Pickles,
of Jackson, Mich., the edifice, with all of its furnishings, cost approximately $25,oo0, and it is today generally recognized as one
of Adrian's most handsome sanctuaries. The year following the
completion of this structure, the handsome rectory, on the corner
of Locust and Church streets, was erected with funds donated by
Mrs. Mary L. Drew, in memoriam of her husband, Delos Drew, and
son. The following have been rectors of the parish since the year
I850: Rufus Murray, Edward McClure, Thomas Smith, Henry N.
Strong, John Staunton, Benjamin F. Fleetwood, M. R. Dillonlee,
Alexander Capron, William H. Gallagher, Edwin G. Knock, R. O.
Cooper, and C. H. I. Channer, the present able and popular incumbent, who entered upon his duties in I888. He is also Dean of Consecration in southern Michigan, and has undoubtedly been in his
present pastorate for a longer period of time than any other Protestant clergyman in the county.
In I840 William N. Lyster was requested by Isaac Smith, Dr.
A. N. Moulton and A. P. Cook to deliver a sermon at the home of
Dr. Moulton, which was the first of the Episcopal order to be
preached in the township of Cambridge. For several months these
services were conducted, and later a church society was organized,
Sylvester Walker, M. iW. Southworth, Henry Bronson, Day Jones
and Alonzo L. Smith being the first vestrymen. On Sunday, May
2I, 1843, they met for the first time as an organized body at the
home of Norman Smith, and christened the society, "St. Michael's
and All Angels' Church," and A. P. Cook was selected to act as secretary, and S. Walker as treasurer. Isaac Smith, A. P. Cook, and




Missing
Page








0     0








CHURCH HISTORY


50o


church societies, there being one each at Hudson, Tipton, Clinton,
Morenci, West Adrian, and Addison.
The Congregational church of Hudson is the oldest society of
this denomination, having been formally organized, Feb. 24, 1836,
with the title of "The Presbyterian Church of Bean Creek," having
the Presbyterian form of government, and being affiliated with the
Monroe Presbytery, the governing body for churches of that denomination in this community. The constituent members, twentynine in all, presented letters from other churches, and one person
joined by profession of faith later in the same year. The first meeting for public worship was held in August, 1835, at the home of Beriah H. Lane (the founder of Hudson, then Lanesville), on the east
side of Market street, a few rods north of Main street, and here
the first sermon delivered in the town was preached on December ii, of that year, by the Rev. William Wolcott. Here, too, the
first Sabbath school of the town was formed, June 7, 1835. On
May I, 1841, the name of the church society was changed to its
present form, though it continued its connection with the Monroe
Presbytery until I853, when it withdrew from' that governing body,
and, on April I8 of the following year, it united with the southern Michigan (Congregational) association, with which all churches
of that denomination in this section of the commonwealth are
now affiliated. But this alteration in the form of government
was not accomplished peacefully, for from the very first there
was a great deal of wrangling between those members of the society who desired a Presbyterian model of government and those
who wanted the Congregational, and in the 40's a few disgruntled
brethren with Presbyterian leanings had withdrawn their membership and formed a Presbyterian church society, which, however, was but a short-lived affair, and a few years more found nost
of them back in the fold. The first house of worship was erected
in 1848, on Lane street, being dedicated on June 3 of that year.
But the congregation soon outgrew this edifice, and the present
one was built in 1871, at a cost of about $I8,ooo, being one of the
most commodious and tastefully finished edifices in the city of
Hudson. Its location is a very happy one, near the center of the
city, yet in a quiet neighborhood, at the head of Howard street,
on a lot which admitted of the admirable basement, which is
utilized for the holding of many social gatherings and the regular
weekly prayer-meetings. The following have served as pastors:
David Pratt, David R. Dixon, J. W. Pierce, Isaac Crabbe, Robert
Laird, John W. Baynes, XV. W. Atwater, L. Smith Hobart, H.




502


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


Judd, M. W. Reed, William Messmer, Olney Place, B. D. Conkling, T. G. Colton, and the present incumbent; the Rev. M. J.
Sweet.
The Tipton Congregational church society was the second
of that denomination to be established in the county, having been
organized in I837. The Rev. WV. E. Grove is the present pastor,
receiving his call to the pastorate in I907.
The third church society of this order was organized at
Clinton, in I844, under the title of the First Congregational church
of Clinton. Today it is one of the largest Congregational societies
in the county, and the Rev. John H. Ashby is the present pastor,
having been installed in I898.
Plymouth Congregational church of Adrian was organized,
May 23, I854, by a large group of brethren from the Presbyterian
church of Adrian, who had withdrawn from the last named society because of their dissatisfaction with the Presbyterian form of
government. The first meetings of worship of the newly established
society were conducted at the homes of various members until
the completion of the church chapel on Church street, in November, I854. During the summer and fall of 1856 and the spring
of the following year, the regular church edifice (now known as
the Methodist Protestant Church) was erected, at the corner of
East Church and State streets, under the able supervision of the
late Dr. Daniel Kingsley Underwood, of Adrian, who also contributed one-fourth of the cost thereof, though it was not dedicated until June 20, I857. Among those who acted as deacons of
this organization during the early days of its existence were:
Charles Philbrook, Edward F. Townsend, Moses L. Pruden, H.
S. Watts, Bronson Hopkins, William L. Quaife, F. H. Conant,
J. M. Cornelius, James Albright, and James A. Mansfield. The
Rev. L. Hobart Smith, subsequently pastor of the Congregational
church of Hudson, was the first installed incumbent of the pastorate of Plymouth church, commencing his service therein, Nov.
12, 1854, and continuing until November of the following year.
His successors were: Richard G. Green, Asa Mahan, Edwin P.
Powell, Alfred McSween, George R. Merrill, and R. Billman.
The first seven years of the society's existence were thriving ones.
but with the advent of the ministry of Edwin P. Powell, in I861,
a great many of the congregation became dissatisfied with his
orthodoxy,'and during the succeeding ten years of his pastorage, between twenty and thirty families withdrew their membership from
the church and united with various congregations of the city.




CHURCH HISTORY


503


About 1878, during the pastorate of the Reverend Billman, the
church organization was dissolved, some members uniting with the
church of the same faith at West Adrian, others with the Congregational society at Raisin, and some returned to the Presbyterian
Church of Adrian. In August, I879, the Plymouth Church edifice
was leased to the Methodist Protestant Church Society, and in May
of the ensuing year it was sold to that organization.
The First Congregational church of Raisin, the next of the
order to be founded in the county, was organized in March, I855,
in the log cabin of Deacon Rogers, with seventeen members-ten
women and seven men. The first pastor of the society was the
Rev. William Wolcott, formerly of Hudson. The services were
conducted at the homes of the various members and in a schoolroom during the first ten years of the society's existence, until the
completion of a brick edifice in 1865.
The next church society of the Congregational denomination
to be established in the county was founded at Morenci, in 1858,
being christened the Congregational Church of Morenci. The Rev.
George Barnum was the first incumbent of the pastorate, and the
Rev. W. H. Shannon is the present minister, having been installed in I905.
The West Adrian Congregational church, situated in the township of Adrian, about three miles northwest of the city, was organized in I867. A large brick edifice was erected during the following year, and it is still employed as the house of worship. The
Rev. John Gray, a resident of the city of Adrian, is the present
pastor, and William H. Knight, proprietor of the Mapleside Fruit,
Grain and Stock farm, of the township of Adrian, has been the superintendent of the large and thriving Sabbath school of this church
for more than twenty-five years.
The Congregational church of Addison, the last of that faith
to be founded in the county, was established in 1884, and the
Rev. C. C. Omans is the present pastor.
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.
At the present time there are six churches of the Roman
faith in Lenawee county: St. Mary's, of Adrian; St. Joseph's, of
*the same place; Sacred Heart, of Hudson; St. Alphonsus, of Deerfield; St. Domminic's, of Clinton, and St. Joseph's, of Cambridge.
About 1840, a Catholic mission was opened in the village of
Adrian by Father Smoulder, of Monroe, and though no regular




504


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


church organization was effected at that time, he continued to
return to Adrian once every month to read mass to the settlers
of that faith-the services being held at the homes of Patrick
Kelley, Charles Conlisk, and Patrick Stanton, until I845, when
Father Kindekens was placed in charge of the mission. In the
first year of his incumbency, the first church society of the Catholic faith to be established in the county was organized, and it came
to be known as St. Mary's Catholic church of Adrian, being one
of the oldest churches of that denomination in this section of the
state. The first edifice was erected at the corner of Erie and
Center streets, soon after the launching of this society. The Reverend Ehrenstrasser succeeded Father Kindekens, in July, 1865,
and remained until September, 1867, being succeeded by the Revernd Van Dyke. Under Reverend Van Dyke's regime the present
edifice was erected, in I869, at the corner of Erie and Division
streets. Father Van Dyke was succeeded by the Rev. Duhig, in
December, 1871, the latter remaining until September, 1873, and
the following have been his successors: The Revs. Wallace (October, I873-January, 1894), Dr. Charles O'Reilly, D. D. (January,
I894-March, I9OI), and the present incumbent-the Rev. Henry
D. Sullivan-who came in March, I9OI. St. Mary's has a membership of more than I,ooo, and a Sabbath school of nearly 200
scholars, being one of the largest Catholic church societies in this
section of the country.
St. Mary's congregation became divided, in I862, when the
German members thereof, desiring that mass and other of the rites
of the Roman faith be administered in their own language, withdrew, organized a church society, and later erected a house of
worship. The newly formed society became known as St. Joseph's
Catholic church, and during the first three years of its existence,
from 1862 to 1865, the spiritual welfare of the congregation was
administered to by the Redemptorists of Detroit. But as the membership was rapidly increasing, it soon became necessary that a
resident priest be engaged, and accordingly, in 1865, Rev. Father
Ehrenstrasser was assigned to St. Joseph's parish, remaining until
1870, when he was assigned to another field of labor. The Rev.
Father Tewis assumed charge of the parish in I870. but remained
but two years, being succeeded, in 1872, by Father Kullmann, who
performed a great work in behalf of the congregation. Under his
pastorate the first Catholic cemetery was platted and improvements were made on the church property, and as it was rapidly
becoming evident that the edifice would soon be outgrown by the




CHURCH HISTORY


505


rapidly increasing congregation, an agitation for a more adequate
and commodious house of worship was commenced, though nothing definite was accomplished until the ensuing year, when the
Rev. Casimir Rohwoski assumed charge of the parish. To the
latter is largely due the credit of bringing about the erection of
the present handsome edifice, the parochial school (which is
treated at length in the chapter on education), and the parish
manse, though the last named building was not completed until
after the installation of his successor, the Reverend Theisen.
Though the latter was in charge of the parish for only two years,
he rendered a great service in the way of liquidating the debts
which the congregation had incurred through the erection of the
new structures. The Rev. A. P. Ternes was the next incumbent
of the pastorate, remaining in charge of the parish until i896, when
he was succeeded by the Rev. Henry C. Koenig. The present
incumbent, the Rev. F. WV. Schaeper, took charge in March, I903,
and now administers to the spiritual needs of a large and thriving
congregation.
Along in the latter part of the 40's a Catholic church was
organized and an edifice erected on the township line between
Hudson and Medina, a few miles from the village of Hudson,
and though the congregation was administered to by no regularly
installed priest, mass was read by stated supplies from the Catholic church of Monroe and St. Mary's of Adrian, until I858, when
Rev. Father Van Erp was assigned to this rural parish. He at
once determined to make the village of Hudson the parish headquarters, and accordingly leased a building which was fitted up
for church purposes in the last named place. Services of the
Roman faith were then conducted at Hudson on the first three
Sundays of the month and at the old Medina church on the
fourth. The Hudson church was christened "Sacred Heart, " and
during the ministry of Father Van Erp a parish manse was
built and an edifice so far completed as to be utilized for worship
before his departure, about i865. The present beautiful and commodious edifice and the elegant rectory, on Market street, were dedicated on June II, I905, and are two of the most handsome church
buildings in the county. The congregation has gradually increased
until today it is the largest religious body in the city of Hudson. The Rev. Joseph F. Hallissey is now in charge of the parish.
The Rev. W. J. Heyden now administers to the spiritual welfare of the congregation of St. Alphonsus, of Deerfield, and Rev.
Edward Fisher is in charge of the parishes of St. Dominic's, of




5o6


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


Clinton, and St. Joseph's, of Cambridge. All of these congregations are the largest in their community, and they occupy large
and imposing houses of worship.
LUTHERAN CHURCHES.
St. John's Lutheran church of Adrian is the mother church
of the Lutheran faith in Lenawee county. During the early 4o's
of the last century, a group of German Lutherans settled in Adrian,
and from time to time the Rev. William Hattstaedt, of Monroe,
Mich., journeyed to Adrian to expound the Gospel to them. On
Oct. Io, 1847, the congregation, consisting of six families and
twenty young unmarried persons, was formally organized, and on
April 3, I85o, Rev. J. J. Trautmann, of Liverpool, Ohio, was called
to the pastorate, being the first resident pastor, and he continued
to officiate over the congregation until in 1882, when, after thirtytwo years of faithful service, he resigned. He was succeeded by
the present pastor, Rev. John Fackler, who was called to the pulpit
from Lyons, Iowa. The first house of worship, a frame building
of small dimensions-thirty-two feet in length, and twenty-four
feet in breadth-was dedicated on July 29, I849, and the present
stately edifice at the corner of East Church and Locust streets,
was dedicated to public worship, June 29, I86I, being remodeled and
enlarged in I899. The congregation also maintains a finely
equipped and commodious parochial school on East Church street.
directly opposite Monument park, and a parsonage at No. 39 Frank
street. The church is affiliated with the Missouri-Ohio synod.
St. Stephen's Evangelical Lutheran church of Adrian, the
second oldest Lutheran church in the county, was organized Oct.
I5, I86o, with eleven constituent members, most of whom were
formerly affiliated with St. John's congregation. The Rev. S.
Clingman became the first resident pastor in the early 6o's, and
during his pastorate the present house of worship, at the corner
of Toledo and Center streets, was erected, being remodeled in
1874, under the pastorate of J. Wuerthner. In 1883, the. congregation purchased a lot, upon which the modernly equipped and
commodious parsonage was constructed, in I899, at the corner of
Front and Finch streets, the congregation's parochial school, adjoining the parsonage on Finch street, being built during the same
year. The Rev. Herman Heyn is the present pastor, and during
his incumbency of twelve years, the congregation has been more
than doubled, having increased from sixty-five families in the fall




CHURCH HISTORY


507


of I896 to 50o families in the fall of I908. This church is under
the jurisdiction of the Michigan (Lutheran) synod, St. Stephen's
and St. John's being under the authority of governing bodies which
are entirely separate and distinct from each other.
There are two German Lutheran churches in the township
of Riga, of which the Revs. F. Krauss and Nest are the respective
pastors. There is also one at Lake Ridge, of which Rev. F. Schwede
is now pastor, and there is one known as "Zion's," of which Rev.
Theodore Schoech is the present incumbent of the pastorate,
about two and one-half miles northwest of Deerfield village, while
there is also one at Blissfield, and there are two at North Blissfield.
THE GERMAN EVANGELICAL CHURCH.
The Immanuel (German) Evangelical Church Society of Adrian
was formed in August, I892, under the leadership of Rev. J. B.
Meister, formerly an instructor in St. Stephen's school of Adrian.
The majority of the constituent members had 'also previously
been affiliated with St. Stephen's congregation. J. B. Meister became the first resident pastor, officiating from August, I892, to
November, I894, and the house of worship, at the corner of McVicker and East Church streets, still occupied by the congregation, was erected during the first year of his ministry. The parsonage, adjoining the church on East Church street, was erected
in I896, during the ministry of Rev. Edward Meinhold. Though
the membership is largely composed of persons who were formerly
affiliated with the Lutheran church, the organization is in no way
connected with Lutheranism, being under the jurisdiction of the
German Evangelical synod of North America. The following have
been incumbents of the ministry: J. B. Meister, F. W. Buehler,
Julius Reichert, William Hausmann, W. G. Rath, and Rev. Frederick Boehm, the present incumbent, who was called to' the pastorate in July, I908. There is also an Evangelical church located
southeast of Ogden Center.
THE METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCH.
The Methodist Protestant Church Society of Adrian, generally
known as the College Church, because of the fact that Adrian College has for years been under the jurisdiction of the General Conference of that denomination, was organized, April 14, 1867. There
were forty-six constituent members, many of whom had previously




5o8


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


been affiliated with the old Plymouth Congregational church of
Adrian, but had withdrawn their membership therein because
they had come to question the orthodoxy of Rev. Edwin P. Powell,
who had occupied the pulpit of Plymouth church for ten yearsfrom I86I to 1871. The first trustees of the newly established
church were: Dr. John Kost, J. H. Bailey, and D. G. Edmiston,
and the first board of stewards was composed of the following:
J. S. Wilcox, J. H. Davis, and J. R. Gilkey. In August, I879, the
society leased the edifice at the corner of East Church and State
streets, owned and formerly occupied by Plymouth congregation,
and in May of the subsequent year this house of worship was
purchased by the Methodist Protestant congregation, which still
utilizes it for church services. Extensive alterations and improvements were made in the building, in I908, and early in the spring
of I909, and today it is one of the most adequate and commodious
of sanctuaries in Adrian. The present membership of the congregation is about 275, having been almost doubled during the ministry
of the present pastor, Rev. Lee Anta Starr, a member of the
North Illinois conference of this denomination, who was called to
Adrian in October, I907. The board of trustees is constituted
as follows: Dr. B. WV. Anthony, D. D., president; I. W. Swift,
Charles Clark, C. M. Walker, L. D. Swisher, and V. A. Michener.
W. N. Swift is treasurer of the society and superintendent of the
rapidly growing Sabbath school, and Prof. H. L. Feeman is president of the board of stewards. The following ordained clergymen
have been incumbents of the pastorate: J. M. Mayall, Asa Mahan,
G. B. McElroy, John Kost, J. S. Thrapp, W. M. Goodner, C. WV.
Stephenson, Ernest Evans, and Lee Anna Starr, the present pastor;
and in addition, at various intervals, the pulpit has been supplied
by the following licentiates: C. B. Goodrich, A. R. Seamon, A.
H. Marsh, John Ellis, and D. G. Edmiston.
There are but three other churches of the Methodist Protestant
faith in the county, viz.: Adrian mission, at North Adrian, of
which Rev.. E. L. Steffey is pastor; one at Britton, of which Rev.
H. B. Hayes is the present minister, and one at W\ellsville.
THE FREE METHODIST CHURCH.
Free Methodism is represented by three church societies in
Lenawee county: one at Ridgeway, which is the oldest of the
denominations in the county; another at Jasper, and the third at
Adrian, the last mentioned having been established abouty twenty



CHURCH HISTORY


509


five years ago. It occupies a house of worship, which was erected
in I895, at the corner of McVicker and Frank streets, and the
present pastor is the Rev. C. W. Miller.
THE UNITED BRETHREN CHURCH.
The oldest United Brethren congregation in the county was organized in the village of Blissfield, in I886, by Rev. B. Baldwin and
wife, and among the charter members who are still affiliated with
the church are William Rothfuss and wife, Samuel Hass and wife,
Simon Young and wife, and Moses Palmer and wife. Rev. L.
AVade was the first resident pastor, remaining but one year, when
he was succeeded by Rev. S. H. Yeager. The first services were
conducted in various halls about the village, then they were held
in a house of worship leased from another church society, and
later a small frame meeting-house, known as the Tabernacle, was
erected. The present structure was built in the summer and
fall of I888, during the pastorate of S. H. Yeager, and it was
dedicated in December of that year, Bishop Milton Wright officiating. Today there are Io8 members of the congregation, the
Sunday school enrolls I60 pupils, and the young people's societythe Christian Endeavor-is composed of some forty-five members.
The following is a complete list of the pastors: L. Wade, S. H.
Yeager, J. E. Bodine, A. R. Landy, G. S. Seiple, O. G. Alwood,
E. C. Mason, C. L. Snyder, and the present incumbent, Rev. N.
E. Dennis, who commenced his present pastorate in I907, having
previously officiated as pastor from I898 to I9oI.
The establishment of the United Brethren Society of Adrian is
due to the work of a conference evangelist, Rev. A. H. Tussing, who
conducted tent meetings in the "Maple City" during the summer
of I903, resulting in the formation of the society, July 22, 1903.
Rev. R. V. Gilbert was appointed pastor, in the fall of that year,
and during his ministry of three years the house of worship and
parsonage, on the north side of French street, between Treat and
East Beecher streets, were erected, the edifice being dedicated in
August, I904, Bishop Halleck Floyd, D. D., officiating. Reverend
Gilbert was succeeded by the Rev. L. S. Wilmoth, in the fall of
90o6, the latter officiating until the fall of 1907, when he was succeeded by the present pastor, the Rev. M. A. Mason. Today the
society has a membership of approximately seventy and the Sabbath school enrolls about I25 children.
There is also a United Brethren society at Morenci, of which
the Rev. Edward Shadd is now pastor.
The township of Riga contains a society of this denomination,




510


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


known as the Bethel United Brethren, which has a membership
of seventy-five, and a Sunday school enrollment of eigthy-four.
This organization has no resident pastor, being conducted under the
authority of the pastorate of the United Brethren Society of-Blissfield.
In Ogden township there are six churches of this denomination, the Radical branch being represented at Victorsville, Mulberry, and Bethel; and the Liberal branch has organizations with
buildings at Ogden station, Ogden Center, and Pleasant chapel,
north of Mulberry.
THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST CHURCH.
The Church of the Disciples of Christ, of Adrian, was incorporated in i9oi, with but thirteen members, under the leadership
of Rev. G. J. Massey, who became the first pastor. During the first
two years of the society's career, the meetings of worship were
held in Everiss hall, at the corner of West Church and South
Winter streets. In 1902, the present incumbent of the pastorate,
Benjamin W. Huntsman, was first called to the pulpit, and during
the second year of his ministry the present house of worship
(the original Methodist Episcopal church edifice of Adrian), on
Toledo street, between Broad and North Main streets, was purchased from Mrs. Channing Whitney, and remodeled during the
ensuing fall. In the summer of 1904, Reverend Huntsman went
to Melbourne, Australia, where for nearly two years he was engaged in church activities, and during his absence the pulpit was
occupied by the Rev. W. H. Kindred. Reverend Huntsman returned to Adrian and resumed charge of the ministry, in the fall
of i906. Since he first commenced to serve as pastor, in the
fall of I902, i86 members have united with the congregation, there
being but thirty-five members when he took up his duties. WV.
L. Brisbin is superintendent of the large and prosperous Sabbath
school, Ernest Russell is clerk of the church society, and A. J.
Davis is treasurer. The board of trustees is comprised of the following: W. L. Brisbin, A. J. Davis, and J. W. Snedeker.
The only other church society of this denomination in the
county today is the Church of Christ, of Jasper. At the present
time there is no pastor, and the membership of the society is
very small.
THE CHURCH OF CHRIST (SCIENTIST).
The first Christian Science service in Adrian was held Sunday,
Sept. 30, i900, in the rooms used by the Woman's Christian Tem



CHURCH HISTORY


5"II


perance Union, these having been secured for that purpose. There
was an attendance of twenty-five. The First Reader was Mrs.
Eliza Howell, the pioneer of Christian Science in Adrian, and a
student of Miss Sarah J. Clark, of Toledo. Louis C. Jennings, of
Toledo, acted temporarily as Second Reader. A Sunday school was
organized on the same date and it consisted of three pupils-Harriet Taylor, Howell Taylor, and Floyd Nichols-Mrs. Maude H.
Taylor acting as teacher. On Sunday, Nov. ii, of the same year,
Mrs. Maude H. Taylor was made Second Reader in the place of
Louis Jennings. Services were continued in these rooms until the
first Sunday in January, I901, when Everiss Hall was secured, and
services were continued there for a little more than a year. In September, I9OI, Mrs. Eliza Howell being called to go out of the city
for an unlimited time, Miss E. R. Adams, of Toledo, was called to
fill the vacancy and take up the work of organization. In January,
I902, the place for services was again changed to 59 South Main
street, the object being to obtain rooms which could be controlled
wholly for Christian Science work. On Oct. 30, I90o, the First
Christian Science Society of Adrian was formed with nine members, as follows: Mrs. Eliza Howell, Mrs. Maude H. Taylor, Peter
Miller, Mrs. Frances L. Miller, Ogden Cole, Mrs. Hannah Cole,
Archer Crandall, Mrs. Mamie Crandall and Mrs. Maria Welch.
In April, 1902, services were again held at i6 East Maumee
street. In January, I903, Mrs. Maude H. Taylor was elected to the
place of First Reader, Miss Adams having returned to Toledo, and
Mr. Crandall became Second Reader. Mr. Crandall later leaving
the city, Mrs. Hannah Cole was elected to the office of Second
Reader. At an annual meeting of the First Christian Science Society, held Jan. 23, 1905, and after some discussion, it was moved
and carried that this society be dissolved and disbanded and that
the work of organizing a church under the laws of the State of
Michigan be commenced. In March of the same year the articles
of incorporation were signed before Harry L. Larwill, notary public, by Mrs. Eliza Howell, Mrs. Maude H. Taylor, and Mrs. Frances
L. Miller. With these three, the following constituted the charter
members of the organized church: Miss Ethel Love, Mrs. Jennie
Love, Mrs. Margaret Bonner, Richard Bonner, John S. Bonner,
Charles E. King, and Mrs. Mary Adelle Wade. Thus the First
Church of Christ, Scientist, of Adrian was established, with Mrs.
Maude Taylor as First Reader and Mrs. Rosella Wilson, of Toledo,
as Second Reader, both being students of Sarah J. Clark, of Toledo.
In August, I907, the location of the church rooms was changed to




512


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


I9 West Maumee, the present location. Mrs. Hannah Cole succeeded Mrs. Wilson as Second Reader, the First Reader remaining
the same until January, I908, when Mrs. Charlotte Clute was
elected First Reader, and Mrs. Mina Cummings Second Reader.
The present Readers are Mrs. Charlotte Clute and Mrs. Jennie
Cleveland, First and Second, respectively.
The number of members has now reached twenty-five and the
congregations average over forty. Wednesday evening services are
held in accordance with the Manual of The First Church of Christ,
Scientist, of Boston, Mass., and a public reading room is maintained,
opened every afternoon from two until four during the week, and
there the authorized literature of Christian Science may be read and
purchased, if desired. Under the auspices of this church four lectures have been given by the following members of the Board of
Lectureship of the First Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston: Edward A. Kimball, C. S. D.; Clarence A. Buskirk, Bicknell Young,
and Dr. J. Fluno. There has been a building fund established for
the erection of a church edifice in the near future.
THE WOMAN'S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION.
The Woman's Christian Temperance Union, of Adrian, the
pioneer union of the State, was organized on Tuesday, March Io,
I874, as the result of a temperance crusade which had been inaugurated in the city some time previous, and more particularly as the
result of a gigantic temperance mass meeting held at the Croswell
opera house on the evening of Monday, March 9, at which "Aunt"
Laura Haviland was one of the most effective speakers. The following were selected as the first officials of the union: Mrs. A. F.
Bourns, president; Mrs. Andrew Howell, secretary, and Mrs.
(Judge) Norman Geddes, treasurer, an executive committee of
eight members being appointed at the same time. In November,
1874, delegates were sent to the National convention of all women's
temperance societies, held at Cleveland, Ohio, at which the National
Womans' Christian Temperance Union was permanently organized
and Mrs. Norman Geddes represented the Adrian union at the National convention held at Newark, N. J., in the following year. The
first State convention of the unions of Michigan was held in Adrian
in 1875, the late Francis Willard being in attendance during the
last few days. The first district convention also convened at Adrian
May 4, 1876, being held in the old Plymouth Congregational
church (now the Methodist Protestant church), at which thirty




CHURCH HISTORY


513


delegates were in attendance. The convention adopted a constitution and elected officers for the ensuing year, and that same evening (May 4, 1876) the Adrian Union opened a reading room and
coffee house in the store room on Maumee street now occupied by
the Donnelly millinery firm. Mrs. R. B. LeFever first took charge
of this room until the following June, when Miss Lewis became matron, continuing to serve as such until February, of the subsequent
year, when Mrs. M. W.'Redfield assumed charge, and of her long
and faithful service the public can furnish ample testimony. Today a cafe and lunch room is operated at the headquarters of the
union, on the south side of East Maumee street, between Broad and
South Main streets, which is extensively patronized by the public
in general. Mrs. Ada Mumford is now president of Adrian union,
having been elected to that position at the last annual meeting, succeeding Mrs. Elizabeth Ferguson, who had served for eight consecutive years-from I9OI to I909, and Mrs. E. B. Steele is the present
secretary.  There are now eleven unions in the county, which are
banded into a county association, of which Mrs. E. S. Ferguson, of
Adrian, is president, and Mrs. Myrta Palmer, of Onsted, is secretary. The following is a list of the unions of the county, with their
presidents: Adrian, Mrs. Ada Mumford; Addison, Mrs. Grace
Crowfoot; Hudson, Mrs. Anthony Treat; Morenci, Mrs. F. A. Rowley; Rollin, Mrs. Nellie 'Will; Jasper, Mrs. T. G. Mann; Raisin Valley, Mrs. Henry; Weston, Mrs. Louise Southworth; Onsted, Mrs.
Julia Reed; Tecumseh, Mrs. Sylvia Davidson, and Blissfield, which
has no president at the present time.
33-Iv








CHAPTER XXXIII.
EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT.
GENERAL REMARKS-THE FIRST SCHOOL HOUSE IN THE COUNTYPAST AND PRESENT EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS AT TECUMSEHSECOND PUBLIC SCHOOL IN THE COUNTY-BLISSFIELD SCHOOLSADRIAN SCHOOLS-SCHOOLS OF MADISON TOWNSHIP, OF DEERFIELD, OF CLINTON, OF RAISIN TOWNSHIP-THE RAISIN INSTITUTE
-RAISIN VALLEY SEMINARY-SCHOOLS OF CAMBRIDGE, ROLLIN AND
HUDSON-THE WILL CARLETON SCHOOL-SCHOOLS OF MEDINAMEDINA ACADEMY-SCHOOLS OF SENECA, DOVER, ROME AND WOODSTOCK -WOODSTOCK MANUAL LABOR INSTITUTE -SCHOOLS OF
FRANKLIN, PALMYRA, FAIRFIELD, OGDEN, RIGA, RIDGEWAY AND
MACON - SUMMARY - PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS -ADRIAN COLLEGEBROWN'S BUSINESS COLLEGE.
The younger members of the present generation in Lenawee
county who enjoy the benefits of the modern schools, with which
the public has liberally provided them, have but little conception
of the "educational advantages" enjoyed by their grandparents in
the early pioneer days. The equipments of those pioneer schools
were of a most primitive nature. Often they were nothing more
than a log cabin or a frame shanty of the rudest type, of diminutive
dimensions, with a door at one end, a fire place at the other, and one
or two very small windows on either side. Long, backless seats
were provided for the smaller children, while along the walls, under
the windows, was arranged a broad board, often the only planed
one in the building, for a writing desk. Occasionally, small tables
and suitable seats were provided for the children old enough to
write, though these were regarded as a luxury in those days. The
school-master was furnished a chair, a small table, a few text
books, and a bottle of ink, and often one of his qualifications was
to know how to make a good quill pen, as steel pens were practically unknown in those days. Reading, writing, and arithmetic



516


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


in common parlance denominated as "the three R's"-constituted
the principal branches of the curriculum, though in some schools
an old map would be hung upon the wall and utilized for general
exercises in geography. Black-boards had not yet come into
general use, and the text books were of divers varieties, written
by various authors, so that efficient class-work was entirely impossible. Yet, notwithstanding the primitive conditions under which
their early scholastic training was attained, many of Lenawee's
most successful men and women owe their present standing in the
community to the log school-house on the frontier.
The first school-house in the county was erected in the village of Tecumseh, late in the year 1824, by two of the pioneer
settlers of that place-Musgrove Evans and Gen. Joseph WV.
Brown. It was only twelve feet square, of tamarack logs, and was
used mainly for the schooling of the children of the above named
men. Mrs. George Spofford taug4ht the first term of school therein,
and later the building was for many years utilized as an office
building by the firm of Wing, Evans & Brown. In the fall of
1825, a small frame school house was built in the village, directly
west of the old "Park square," so-called in the original plat of
the village, where the East Branch and Intermediate school is
now located. This virtually was the first public school in the
county, the first term being taught by George Taylor, and later,
Miss Alinza Blackmar, subsequently the wife of Ezra F. Blood,
became the teacher. Sirrell C. LeBaron, later a prominent and
successful merchant of the village, opened the first grammar school
of the county in that place, in the fall of 1832, and he continued to
teach until I836, when he sold the benches, text-books, and fixtures,
to Benjamin Workman, who conducted the school for two years.
In 1827, the legislature of the Territory of Michigan enacted that
as soon as twenty families were settled in a town, they should
select three commissioners of common schools, who should hold
their respective offices for three years, and whose duties should
be to lease the school lands and apply the proceeds to the establishment and support of the common schools, and it was by virtue of
this law that the first school district in the county was organized
in Tecumseh, in 1838, largely through the efforts of Perley Bills,
subsequently a prominent attorney of that place. On April 2, of
the same year, the Tecumseh Academy, an institution offering a
curriculum closely analagous to the high school of a later day, was
incorporated by enactment of the Legislature. The incorporators
were: George W. Jermain, Stillman Blanchard, Henry L. Hewitt,




EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT


517


~George Spofford, Seneca Hale, Daniel Pitman, Daniel G. Finch,
Ezra F. Blood, and Michael A. Patterson. Subsequently, this
institution became a branch of the State University, and Benjamin
L. Baxter, upon his graduation from Dartmouth College, in I843,
was placed in charge thereof, remaining until I846. On Feb. 13,
I849, another school, the Tecumseh Literary Institute, an institution looking to "instruction in the various arts, literature, and
sciences," was incorporated, Sirrell C. LeBaron, Alonzo B. Palmer, Increase S. Hamilton, Salmon Crane, Stillman Blanchard,
Perley Bills, and Charles Spofford, being the incorporators. Michigan was one of the states which first adopted the union or graded
school system, and by virtue of a law enacted in an early day
several school districts might unite under one organization, whose
aggregate resources would permit that classification of pupils characteristic of the graded school. Accordingly, the Tecumseh Union
School District, which comprised the above mentioned district in
the village and two in Tecumseh township, was organized and
incorporated, in 1854, and a school building was erected in the
village. Today there are four entirely adequate and commodious
school-houses in the village of Tecumseh, there being fifteen teachers employed and 4I9 pupils enrolled therein during the school
year, ending July I, 90o8, while the sum of $7,225 was paid for
teachers' wages, an average of $481.66 per teacher, and the aggregate value of the school property in this district was estimated
at approximately $53,000, indicating that it is the most valuable
of any in the county, exclusive of that of the cities of Adrian and
Hudson. S. W. Anderson is the present director of the schools
of this district. There are three other school districts in the township of Tecumseh, there being but one teacher employed in each,
and'in the school year, I907-08, only $900 was paid out for the
wages of teachers in these three districts, an average of $300 per
district. During the same year sixty pupils were enrolled in these
districts, district No. i having the largest enrollment, and district
No. 5 the smallest.
The second public school in the county, and the first to be
erected in the present village of Blissfield, was built of logs during
the summer of I827, on the corner of Adrian and Monroe streets,
and there the first term of school was taught by Chester Stuart, of
Monroe, who received the liberal salary of "$I3 per month and
board around." Anrong the other early teachers were Thomas F.
Dodge and George W. Ketchum. Today the school-houses of
two graded districts are situated in the village-the East and West




518


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


sides, respectively. The second public school to be erected was
built on the East Side, in I869, at a cost of about $5,00o. The value
of the present East Side school property, the site included, is
generally estimated at approximately $35,000, being one of the
most valuable school properties in the county outside of the cities
of Hudson and Adrian. Robert McWilliams is the present director,
and James H. Bancroft is the principal of this school. During
the school year of I907-08, there were 232 pupils enrolled therein,
who were instructed by seven teachers, to whom the sum total of
$2,900 was paid in wages, $I,ooo to the principal, and $1,900 to
the other six, an average of $316.66 to each of the latter. The school
property of the West Side district is valued at about $7,000, and
W. I. Ford is the present director. During the above mentioned
school year three teachers were employed in this school, at a
cost to the tax-payers of the district of $1,I50, an average of
$383.33 per teacher, while during the same period there were 158
pupils enrolled. There are five school districts in the township
of Blissfield, exclusive of those in the village, each of which
has but one room, and the teacher in each district received an
average wage of $334.80, during the school year ending July I,
1908. During the same year there were I44 pupils enrolled in the
five districts, an average of 20.8 per school, and the school in district
No. 6 contained the largest enrollment, with fifty-seven pupils,
while school No. 4 had the smallest attendance, with an enrollment of only eleven.
The first school in the present city of Adrian (then the village of Logan) was opened, in the summer of 1828, by Miss
Dorcas Dean, in the home of Dr. C. N. Ormsby, the first frame
house erected in the settlement, when there were but seven families in the village. The first school committee was formed during
the same year, and a combined school and meeting house was
built at the corner of South Main and Winter streets, where the
residence at No. 50 South Main street now stands. The first
term of school in this school-house was taught by David Buck, in
the winter of 1828-29, and the old English reader, Cobb's spellingbook, and Morse's geography were the text books used. David
Buck did not teach for any length of time, going farther West
(where he was drowned in the following year), and he was succeeded by Anson Jackson, who served the village as school-master
for many years, being both competent and popular. Among the
other early teachers were Messrs. Powers, Brewster, Inglis, Dixon,
Ramsdell and Hance, while Miss Emma L. Keeney, subsequently




ITTG  SCHOOL BUTTTLTNG, ATRTAN                   Foto by Ifet7er, Adrian








EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT


519


Mrs. A. F. Bixby, and Miss Casey, later Mrs. Judge Norman Geddes, were among the most successful and accomplished of the
early women teachers. Previous to 1849, there were four school
districts in the village, but in the fore part of that year the school
inspectors of the townships of Adrian and Madison, in which these
districts were situated, by virtue of the law which empowered
them to act in such cases, united the four districts into one organization, which was incorporated by the state Legislature, the same
year, under the title of "Adrian Union School District Number
One." Alonso F. Bixby, clerk of the board of school inspectors of
Adrian, then issued a call, dated March 27, I849, to the tax-payers
of the new district, to convene on April 12, following, "for the
election of officers and the transaction of such other business as
may be necessary." After the meeting had convened, Dr. Parley
J. Spalding was' chosen as chairman, and Samuel Jordan, secretary,
after which the first board of trustees was selected, being composed of the following: Richard H. Whitney, moderator; Warner
M. Comstock, director; and Abel Whitney, assessor. Later, a
committee, consisting of eight persons, two from each of the former
districts, was selected "to examine and report at an adjourned
meeting the different locations within this school district for the
site of a school-house, also the price and terms of each location,"
the committee being composed of the following: John Barber, J.
V. Watson, George Kennedy, Stephen Whiteborne, E. Vandegrift, James Field, William L. Greenly, James J. Newell, and Titus
H. Treat. Ten days prior to the holding of this meeting, the
state Legislature had enacted that "Adrian Union School District
Number One" be authorized to borrow a sum not in excess of $Io, —
ooo, for a term not longer than fifteen years, at a rate of interest
not in excess of seven per cent., for the purchase of a site and the
erection of a school-house, providing that the majority of the
electors of the district, at a special election to be held on the first
Monday of the ensuing month of June, vote in favor of such loan.
But the loan was not made, and the school-house was not constructed for some time, as from the first there had been an active
opposition to the consolidation of the four districts into one and
the consequent construction of a union school-house. In the words
of the late Hon. Charles M. Croswell, "It was a fact that some
influential citizens, through motives which they believed to be
right, vehemently opposed the organization of the new system
from the very start; and it was with extreme difficulty and after
considerable delay that the organization was finally put on a




520


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


working basis." At the adjourned school meeting, the above mentioned committee of eight reported "that several propositions had
been placed in their hands, but that they were unable to agree
upon a site which would be for the best interests of the said
school district." At a subsequent meeting of the taxable inhabitants of the district, however, Dr. John Cadman, to whom the
credit of consolidating the four districts into one is largely due,
and who had acquired an intimate knowledge of the practical workings of the graded-school system while a resident of the state
of New York, offered a resolution, "That a school-house be erected,
66 feet by 70 feet, three stories high."  This motion was
adopted, and the following committee was appointed to report
a plan for the building: Dr. John Cadman, L. Dodge, E. H.
Winans, F. C. Beaman, William  L. Greenly, R. H. Whitney,
John Barber, Daniel A. Loomis, A. Barnard, Marshall Huntington, William  L. Sheldon, and Thomas P. Thompson.     At a
special meeting of the district, held June 4, 1849, after a heated
discussion, the following results were attained: The plan for the
building, as reported by the above committee of twelve, was adopted; the site, as reported by the committee of eight, was accepted;
and a resolution, offered by Dr. Cadman, and authorizing the
raising of $2,000 as the first installment of the amount necessary to
be raised by taxation for the purchase of the site, the erection,
and the equipment of the school, was favorably acted upon; and
at the regular annual meeting, held Sept. 24, I849, the following
officers were elected to constitute the board of trustees for the ensuing year: Elihu L. Clark, moderator; Henry Hart, director;
Ira Ingals, assessor; and James Kingsland, Richard H. Whitney,
M. N. Halsey, and A. G. Eastman, trustees. But that there was
still considerable opposition to the erection of a union school-house
is evidenced by the fact that, on Feb. 9, I850, at a special school
meeting, it was "resolved as the sense of this meeting, that, in
view of the differences of opinion known to exist in the minds
of the citizens composing this district as to the practicability of
maintaining the present organization upon an equitable basis, that
we respectfully request the inspectors of the common schools of
the towns of Adrian and Madison to dissolve the district as at
present organized." The minutes indicate that, after a heated discussion, Joseph H. Cleveland and A. S. Berry were appointed tellers, and that the vote on the resolution resulted, 51 for and I39
against. This was the final effort of the opposition, and the board
of trustees, at the next annual meeting of the district, in Septem



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT


52I


ber. 1850, was authorized, by a resolution offered by F. C. Beaman, "to proceed with all convenient dispatch to the erection of
a building," after which the board for the ensuing year was selected
as follows: Henry Hart, director; E. L. Clark, moderator; Daniel
Larzelere, assessor; and F. C. Beaman, Richard H. Whitney, A.
G. Eastman, and William L. Greenly, trustees. At the next annual
meeting of the district, held in September of the following year,
it was ordered that $2,000 be raised by taxation as the third installment of the building fund, and the board was authorized "to contract for the erection of a suitable cupola upon the school building,
and to obtain a bell for the same, provided the cost of the same
shall not exceed $500. The new building, which was situated between East Church and East Maumee streets, upon a site extending from one street to the other, and nearly opposite the present
Central building, was occupied for school purposes for the first
time, Sept. I3, I852, M. S. Hawley commencing his two years'
incumbency of the school superintendency at the same time. A
vivid description of the building is furnished in the annual report
of Franklin Hubbard, the successor of M. S. Hawley, to the State
Superintendent of Public Instruction, in the year 1855, viz.: "The
Central building, or, according to the present plan, the Academy,
is sixty by eighty, three stories high, with a well-finished basement
under the entire building. The exterior is plain, but the interior
is commodious and very pleasant. The building often contains
500 scholars or more. It will accommodate 312 scholars and give a
large public lecture hall, a class lecture room, and a library room.
The original cost of the building, with grounds, was $II,375,I3."
But this building soon became over-crowded, and between I857
and I86I it became necessary to provide increased accommodations
for Adrian's school population. In 1857, the school familiarly
termed the East Branch, between McVicker and Tecumseh streets,
on East Maumee, was erected, at an approximate cost of $5,ooo.
The South Branch school, at the corner of South Main and East
Beecher streets, was erected in I859, costing about $3,500. The
West Branch, located on the corner of West Maumee and McKenzie streets, was built in the year I860, being enlarged in 1867,
costing approximately$3,00ooo. In I86I, the North Branch school,
situated on the corner of Broad and Hunt streets, was constructed,
at an approximate cost of $13,000.  The Central building, after
having been employed for school purposes for fourteen years, was
burned to the ground, Aug. Io, I866, and on that very day influential citizens requested the school board to call a special school




522


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


meeting of the district "for the purpose of taking measures to
immediately rebuild the Central school-house." The meeting convened Aug. 22, at which time the board was authorized to procure plans for a building to cost at least $50,000, and the plans as
drafted by Architect A. Barrows, of Adrian, were accepted by the
tax-payers of the district at a subsequent school meeting. The
building, which to this day is known as the Central school, was
constructed on a beautiful and commodious site at the corner of
East Church and Division streets, nearly opposite the site of the
old building. The present magnificent high-school building, situated a few yards east of the Central school, and which is one of the
most handsome and commodious school structures in the state of
Michigan, was erected in the year I907, the site, erection, and
equipment of the same costing approximately $I20,000. Robert
A. Bradley, of Indianapolis, was the supervising architect, while
Thomas Fay, of Kalamazoo, was the contractor, and Robert Darnton, president of the school board, was one of the principal instigators of the movement which resulted in the erection of this
beautiful edifice. Since the consolidation of the schools of Adrian,
in 1849, the following have served as superintendents: M. W.
Southworth; Nathan Britton, M. S. Hawley, Franklin Hubbard,
William W. Washburn, Newton WV. Winchell, William H. Payne,
William J. Cocker, George W. Walker, A. E. Curtis, P. J. Wilson,
and the present incumbent, Charles W. Michens. During the
school year, ending July I, I907, there were 2,003 pupils enrolled in
the public schools of Adrian, of whom 319 attended the high school,
633 being enrolled in the grammar departments, and I,051 in the
primary grades, while the school population of Adrian-those ranging in age from five to twenty years-at the time of the compiling
of the last state census, in 1904, was 2,498. During the above
named school year, the city of Adrian paid out $27,26I in salaries
to the instructional force in the public schools, the superintendent's
salary included. It has been estimated that the average cost per
capita for the instruction of the pupils of the Adrian high school
during the same year was $30.30, while the same for pupils attending the grammar grades of the city-the fifth, sixth, seventh,
and eighth-was $I4.63, and in the primary grades it was $I6.35.
The average cost per capita for instruction in all departments was
$I8.I9. The public school system of Adrian, with its fine elaborate
high school, its adequate and well-ventilated central and branch
buildings, its efficient and highly qualified corps of teachers, with
the practical and liberal courses of instruction offered, is equalled




EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT


523


by but few and excelled by no other in the great commonwealth
of Michigan.
The first school-house in the township of Madison stood at
the corner of South Main and Winter streets, in the present city
of Adrian, being the above named first public school-house to be
erected in Adrian, in which David Buck taught the first term of
school and it was erected in the year 1828. The second school-house
to be erected in that township stood on the northwest quarter of
section No. 23, where the antiquated Randolph tavern now stands,
on a tract of land then owned by Cassander Peters. During the
school year I907-08, there were 203 pupils enrolled in the eight
district schools of the township, the school in district No. 7 enjoying the largest enrollment, with thirty-one pupils, while the
smallest number were enrolled in school No. 2, where only fifteen
attended school. During the same school year, the eight teachers
employed in these schools-one in each district-received in the
aggregate as salaries the sum of $2,677, an average of $334.70 per
teacher. There are no graded schools in the township of Madison.
The first term of school in the present village of Deerfield,
then known as Kedzie's Grove, was taught by Miss Amelia Bixby,
of Adrian, in the fall of 1829. Today there is a commodious graded
school in the village, in which five teachers are employed. During
the school year which ended July I, I908, the sum of $2,070 in
salaries was paid to these teachers, an average of $414 per pedagogue, and during the same year 146 children were enrolled in
the five school-rooms, an average of 29.20 pupils per room. N. D.
Yale is the present director of this school. There are five district
schools in the township of Deerfield, which were attended by 171
children during the school year I907-08, an average of 34.20 pupils
per school, who received their instruction from five teachersthere being but one teacher in each district. The aggregate sum
of $1,845 in wages was paid to the five teachers, an average of
$369 per teacher. The school in district No. 3 enjoyed the largest
attendance, there being fifty-four pupils enrolled, while the school
in district No. 6 had the smallest attendance, twenty-one.
John J. Adam, later treasurer and auditor of the state of
Michigan, taught the first term of school in Clinton, in the fall of
I832. At the present time the village has one of the most efficient
graded school systems in the county. The brick school building,
which was erected in I906, is an ornament to the town and bespeaks the liberality of the tax-payers of the village; and the
value of this property, the site and equipment included, is esti —




524


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


mated at approximately $23,000, which carries a bonded indebtedness of $I2,900. During the school year I907-o8, there were seven
public school teachers employed in the village, at an aggregate
cost to the taxable inhabitants thereof of $3,360.80, an average of
$480 per pedagogue, while during the same period there were 185
pupils enrolled in the seven school-rooms, an average of 26.42 per
room. J. Robinson is now the director of the school district, while
S. R. Houghton is principal, having succeeded R. C. Young, in
the fall of I908. There are four school districts in the township,
exclusive of the graded school district of the village, each of which
has a one-room school, there having been seventy-six children enrolled therein during the school year which ended July I, I908. an
average of nineteen pupils to each district. District No. i enjoyed
the largest enrollment, and district No. 5 the smallest; and $I,I84.70
-an average of $296.17 to each teacher-was paid out for teachers'
wages in the four districts.
The first school-house in the township of Raisin was built of
logs, in I832, in what later came to be known as the Conkling district, and in the winter of 1832 a young school-master by the name
of Reuben Hall taught the first term of school. Another log
school-house was erected at Holloway's Corners, at the southwest
corner of section 23, in the spring of I835, in which building the
first term of school was taught by Miss Mary Ann Simonds. This
school house was virtually a log cabin of the rudest type. A large
fire-place stood at one end of the school-room, and the seats were
slabs-the flat side up-resting on legs, while the few desks it
contained consisted of rough boards laid across pegs, which had
been driven into the logs along either side of the room. About
1837, "Aunt" Laura Haviland, one of the most unique yet philanthropic characters known to Lenawee county and the state of Michigan in general (a sketch of whose career appears in another chapter), with her husband, Charles Haviland, Jr., opened a manuallabor school on their premises in the township of Raisin, at first
calling it the Graham school, but subsequently it came to be known
as the Raisin Institute. It was incorporated by legislative enactment, March 17, 1847, and was the first school in the state of Michigan to open its doors to students of good moral character, regardless of sex, religious affiliations, or color, and the first pupils to
attend were nine children from the Lenawee county poorhouse, who
were maintained entirely at the expense of the institute for more
than.a year. Out of this noble enterprise were developed the
two splendid industrial schools of the state-the one for boys at




EDUCATIONAL DEVELOl'PMENT


525


Coldwater, the other for girls at Adrian. This institution, which
was situated about two miles east of the Raisin Valley Seminary,
in the township of Raisin, has long since passed from existenceThe last mentioned institution of learning, which offered a curriculum similar to the high-school courses of the present day, was
founded in I850, under the auspices of the Friends' (Quaker) church
of the township of Raisin, on a beautiful wooded site in the southeast quarter of section nineteen, about four miles northeast of
Adrian. It was one of the early pioneer schools of Michigan, and
during its fifty-eight years of existence was recognized as a most
helpful and stimulating influence, not only in its immediate surroundings, but throughout the length and breadth of the state.
While it was undei the jurisdiction and management of the Friends
its doors stood open to all who sought an education, irrespective of
denominational or religious views. The seminary was maintained
largely through endowments of its generous friends, Moses Sutton
alone having donated more than $23,000, and for many years the
residence of the late Darius Comstock-father of Addison J., the
founder of Adrian-constituted one of the school buildings of the
institution. The school was discontinued in the fall of I908. At
the present time, there are twelve ungraded district schools in
the township of Raisin, though school was conducted in but eleven
of these during the school year I907-08, none being taught in district No. I, because of a dearth of children of school age therein.
During the same period, there were 300 pupils enrolled in the
schools of the township, district No. I enjoying the largest enrollment, with thirty-six pupils, while district No. 2 had the smallest attendance, with an enrollment of only twenty-one. The sum
of $4,007.50 was paid to the eleven, teachers of the township for
their services during the above school year, an average of $364.3I
per teacher.
The first school-house in the township of Cambridge was
erected of tamarack logs, in the eastern portion of the township,
in I835, on the site of the present Springville school-house, at
the northeast corner of the northwest quarter of section twentythree, the first term of school' therein commencing in the fall of
that year. Another school-house was built in the western portion
of the township, near Deep Lake, during the ensuing winter. Today
there are nine school districts which have their school-houses in this
township, all of them being one-room schools, with the exception
of the one in district No. 5, which includes the village of Onsted,
and which isa two-department school, the value of the building




526


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


and the site upon which it stands being estimated at $2,500, being
the most valuable school property in the township of Cambridge.
During the school year which closed on July I, I908, the sum
of $855 was paid to the two teachers of the district, an average
of $427.50 per pedagogue, and during the same period there were
sixty-three pupils enrolled in this school, it having the largest
enrollment of any of the schools in the township, district No. 8
having' the smallest, with only seven pupils. Exclusive of the
Onsted school, there were, in the above school year, 138 children
enrolled in the public schools of the township, an average of 17.25
to each district, the sum of $2,328.75 being paid to the eight teachers of these districts for their services, an average of $291.09 per
district. The school property in district No. 3 is the second most
valuable in the township, being generally estimated at approximately $I,5oo, while those in districts 4 and 7 are the poorest,
being estimated at $60 and $70, respectively. The school property
of the nine districts of the township, that of the village of Onsted
included, is valued at about $6,ooo, an average of $658.88 to each
district.
Lucretia Beal taught the first term of school in the township
of Rollin, at the home of John F. Comstock, during the summer
of 1836, and the first school-house was erected in the fall of the
same year, on a tract of land then in the possession of Samuel
Crout, the first term of school being taught by William Rhoades.
Today there are eight district schools in the township, each containing one school room. During the school year which was concluded on July i, 90o8, the sum of $3,I42.20 was paid to eight teachers of the township for their services, an average of $392.77 for
each district, while during the same year there were 219 pupils enrolled in the schools of the township, the largest enrollment being
recorded in district No. 8, where forty-five attended school, while
the smallest number was enrolled in district No. 5, only twelve attending school there. This township has some of the most adequate and commodious rural schools to be found in the county, the
aggregate value of the school property of the eight districts, at the
close of the above named school year, being estimated at $9,500.
The school property in district No. I is the most valuable in the
township, its present value being estimated at approximately $2,000.
The first term of school in the city of Hudson, then termed the
village of Lanesville, was taught by Miss Adelia Chamberlain, in a
log dwelling house, in the summer of 1836, on the site later occupied
by the long low store building of the firm of J. K. Boies & Co.,




EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT


527


on the'east side of Church street, the west portion of the last named
building being used for school purposes after its completion, in
1841. The East Side school district was organized and incorporated
in the same year, then being known as School District No. 5, of the
township of Hudson, and later a frame school house was erected
near the residence of Dr. Thomas B. Minchen, the building later
being removed to a site near the home of Samuel C. Perkins, on
West High street, where for many years it was employed as a
cooper shop. The fore part of the school building on the Vest Side,
commonly termed the Central School, which contains the high
school department of the city, as well as the primary and grammar
grades, was erected in I860, at a cost of approximately $6,ooo, and
it was remodeled and enlarged in I89I.  It is situated on an elevated site, partially wooded, on the south side of Washington
street, overlooking the city, the site being generally recognized as
one of the most beautiful in the state, the broad spacious lot affording a most excellent play-grounds for the pupils. The Third
ward school building, more commonly termed the East Side school,
was erected in 1862, on Hill street, while the small North Branch
school on North street was built in I874. For several years, in the
early history of the village, there were two separate and distinct
school districts in Hudson, commonly known as the East and West
side districts, the schools in each being entirely independent of each
other. But in I866, they were united and incorporated by legislative enactment into "The Public Schools of the Village of Hudson," remaining united until May I, I869, when they again became separate and distinct units, and though the adherents
of the "joint district" zealously strove to reunite them during the eighth decade of the last century, they remained
independent units up to the year I89I, when they were
once more combined by legislative enactment, and so they
have remained to the present day.   The first class of high
school pupils was graduated from the West Side school in I875, six
receiving the certificates of graduation at that time, the successful
ones being Hattie Beach, Clara Boies, Lillian Galusha, Ida Harris,
Allie Perkins and Edmund Childs. Among the early principals of
this school were Prof. James (later assistant superintendent of the
schools of the city of Cleveland), F. B. McClelland, Carson C. Van
Dorn (who was principal of the two schools from I866 to I869,
when they were united), E. G. Reynolds, C. D. West and C. F.
Bateman, while among the early principals of the East Side school
were Messrs. F. B. McClelland, J. C. Dutton, Overholt, Luther W.




528


IMEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


Covell, Carson and Coleman Williams. J. F. Rieman, formerly
superintendent of the schools of Monroe, Mich., is now city superintendent of the Hudson schools, having commenced his duties in
September, 90o8, succeeding Jean Wilcox, and Vernon W. Main is
the present principal of the Hudson High School, while in addition there is a teaching force of fifteen teachers, four of whom instruct the pupils of the high school proper, five are employed in the
primary and grammar grades of Central school, four teach in the
East Side, or Third ward school, one is engaged in the North Branch
school, and another, Miss Eleanor Kelley, supervises the music and
drawing work in all the schools. During the school year, which
ended July I, I907, there were 585 persons of school age-five to
twenty years-in the city of Hudson, 567 of whom attended the
public schools, 155 being enrolled in the high school department,
I69 and 243 attending the grammar and primary grades, respectively.
There are ten schools in the township of Hudson, including the
graded school in the village of Clayton. During the school year of
I907-'08 there were eighty-five pupils enrolled in the three departments of the last named school, and the sum of $I,305 was paid to
the three teachers for services, an average of $435 per pedagogue.
Within the last year the old school house was condemned by the
state school authorities, and there is now in the process of construction a handsome commodious brick school building, which is
to cost approximately $I2,ooo. It is located on an elevated wooded
site in the western portion of the village, overlooking the main line
of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway, and well may the
citizens of Clayton and the school district take pride in the erection
of this edifice. There are at the present time nine ungraded district schools in the township of Hudson, which, during the school
year ending July I, 90o8, were attended by 155 children, district No.
3 enjoying the largest enrollment, with 35 pupils, while the smallest
attendance was recorded in district No. 5, with an enrollment of six,
and during the same year $2,407.50 in teachers' salaries was paid
out in the nine districts, an average of $267.50 for each district. The
school in district No. 4, situated about one and one-half miles east
of the corporation limits of the city of Hudson, of which F. M.
Childs is the present director, is now popularly termed the Will
Carleton school, because of the fact that Will Carleton, one of
America's renowned literary men, not only attended school there
as a boy, but later also officiated as school-master. The most valuable rural public school property in the township of Hudson is sit



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT


529


uated in district No. Io, in which district Asa B. Coppins is the
present school director, the school house with its site and equipment being valued at about $I,ooo, but the school property in this
township is rather below the average, suffering in comparison with
that to be found in the neighboring townships of Rollin and Medina.
The first school in the township of Medina was opened in the
village of Canandaigua, in the summer of I836, Mrs. Increase S.
Hamilton teaching the first term of school. In the fall of the same
year, another school house was built of logs, on the southeast
quarter of section 23, on land then owned by Benjamin Rogers, and
the first term was conducted during the ensuing winter. A third
school was opened by a Miss Colgrove, in the log cabin of John R.
Foster, near the northeast corner of section 3, during the same winter; so Medina township, as early as the winter of I836-37 had three
different schools. About 1845 Mr. and Mrs. Barrows opened a select boarding school in the central portion of the township, conducting it under the auspices of the Congregational church, most of
the students coming from families affiliated with that denomination. In 1853 the citizens of Medina, feeling the need of more adequate school facilities than was afforded in the common rural
schools of the township, organized a joint stock company and
erected a school house, thirty by fifty feet and two stories high,
in which was offered a curriculum similar to that presented in the
graded school of today, there being also a preparatory department
corresponding to the modern high school, looking to the preparation of young people for college. It was first christened the "Oak
Grove Academy," though later it came to be known as the "Medina Academy," being incorporated under the latter appellation by
legislative enactment in 1872. The first term of school was conducted by Alonzo M. Carson and wife, of Hudson, O. L. Spaulding
becoming principal the following year. Among the other early instructors there were Edwin Cook, of Chicago; Byron M. Cutcheon,
of Manistee, Mich., who later became prominent as a member of
Congress; a Mr. Swan, of Exeter, N. H.; John Drake, of New York,
and Edwin B. Sayers and Henry W. Norton, of Lenawee county.
The school enjoyed a very successful career, and its alumni adorn
every walk in life, from the distinguished statesman to the successful and independent farmer. Today there are thirteen ungraded
district schools in the township of Medina, more than in any other
township in the county, while the school property is as a general
rule far more adequate and valuable than that in the average township. It has been estimated that the aggregate value of such prop34-Iv




530


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


erty in this township is about $12,000, an average of more than $900
per district, while that in district No. 8 is generally considered the
most adequate, its value being estimated at approximately $1,500
and the school houses in districts No. I, 2, 3, 6, 7, io and 20 are
entirely adequate, commodious, and well ventilated buildings.
During the school year I907-'o8 there were 290 children enrolled in
the thirteen schools of the township, an average of 22.3 per district,
district No. I, the Canandaigua district enjoying the largest attendance, with an enrollment of thirty-five, while the smallest enrollment was recorded in district No. ii, where only twelve attended school during the year. During the same year the sum of $4,703.75 in wages was paid to the teachers, an average of $361.82 for
each district. At the present time there are no grdded or department schools in the township.
There are ten school districts in the township of Seneca, including the graded district of Morenci. The old Central building in
the last named place was erected in 1872, at an approximate cost
of about $I3,000, the bonded indebtedness of the district at that
time being about $I2,ooo, while at the close of the school year of
I907-'08 the bonded indebtedness approximated $30,000. Today
there is in process of construction in Morenci a handsome, commodious brick school structure, which upon its completion will
have cost the liberal taxpayers of the district in the neighborhood
of $35,000oo, and it will stand for years as an appropriate monument
to the generosity and far-sightedness of these public-spirited citizens. During the school year I907-'08 there were 290 pupils enrolled in the nine school rooms of this district, as many as attended
school in the thirteen districts of the township of Medina during
the same period, an average of 32.2 pupils per room. Today the
teaching corps in the Morenci schools is comprised of nine competent teachers, to whom the sum of $4,028.67 in salaries was paid
during the above school year, an average of $447.63 to each pedagogue. There are nine ungraded district schools in the township
of Seneca, each of which has but one school room, and during the
school year, which concluded July I, I908, the sum of $3,218.75 was
paid to the nine teachers of the township, an average of $357.63 per
district, while during the same period 239 children attended these
rural schools, an average of 26.5 pupils per district, the school in
district No. 2, of which C. C. Kinney is the present director, having
forty-one pupils enrolled, the largest enrollment in the township,
whereas the school in district No. 4 recorded the smallest enrollment, as only twelve went to school there during the year. With




EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT


53I


the exception of those in the village of Morenci, there are no
graded or department schools in the township of Seneca. The aggregate value of the district school property of this township, exclusive of that in Morenci district, has been authoritatively estimated to be about $7,000 The school house in district No. 2 is
generally recognized as the most adequate and commodious rural
school building in the township, its value, the site and equipment
included, being computed at approximately $I,500, while those in
districts No. I, 3, 7, 8, and IO are considerably more adequate and
valuable than the school of the average rural district.
The present school population of the township of Dover receives
its scholastic training in the ten ungraded district schools of that
township. During the school year I907-'08 there were I96 children
enrolled in these schools, an average of I9.6 pupils to each district,
the largest number being enrolled in district No. 9, where thirtynine attended school during the above year, whereas but five attended the school in district No. 2; and during the same period, a
total of $3,I52.75 in the form of wages was paid to the ten teachers
in the township, an average of $315.27 per district. At the conclusion of the above school year it was estimated, by persons fully
qualified to judge thereof, that all of the school property included
within the ten districts was worth the aggregate sum of $8,750, that
in district No. 4, including two school houses, only one of which
had been employed for school purposes during that year, however,
being looked upon as the most adequate, its value being placed at
$3,000. There are no graded or department schools in this township.
Today there are nine school districts in the township of Rome,
each of which maintains one ungraded school. During the school
year ending July I, 1908, 201 children of school age attended these
schools, an average of 22.3 to each district. The school in district
No. 3 enjoyed the largest enrollment, forty-six attending school
there, while districts No. 2 and 8 had the smallest enrollment, the
schools in each being attended by only ten pupils. During the
above school year the nine teachers in the schools of the township
received for their services the aggregate sum of $3,I8I, an average
of $353.44 per pedagogue. The school houses in this township are
more adequate and commodious than those in the great majority
of rural districts, it being estimated that the aggregate value of
these, their sites and equipment included, at the close of the school
year I907-'o8 was approximately $IO,5oo, an average of $I,I66.66,
to each district. The school property in district No. I, in which




532


AIEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


district M. J. Merillat is now director, was at that time appraised
at $2,000, being generally considered as the most adequate and valuable in the entire township, while that in districts No. 7, 3 and i,
in which Justin R. Curtis, George Pawson and William Southard,
respectively, are the school directors, was valued at approximately
$1,500 each, and the value of the school properties in districts No.
4, 6 and 8, in which districts N. D. Davison, D. A. McRoberts and
William A. Porter are the respective directors, was estimated at
$i,ooo each. The school houses in districts No. 2 and 5, in which
communities Porter Jacox and Lester Evans are the respective directors of school affairs, were appraised at the lowest value of any
in the township of Rome, $6oo and 550, respectively. At the present time there are no graded schools in this township.
The first school in the township of Woodstock was established
during the early 40's of the last century. On Feb. I9, 1848, the
"Woodstock Manual Labor Institute," a school looking to the instruction of the youth of the township in mathematics, literature,
the arts and sciences, and ancient languages, was incorporated by
legislative enactment, James G. Birney, William P. Russell, Prior
Foster, Joseph Hewitt, William W. Jackson, and Joseph Foster being the incorporators. The doors of this institute were thrown
open to all desirous of securing an education, irrespective of color,
sex, or religious affiliations, and though it performed a beneficial
service in that section of the county, the educational needs of the
community were later fulfilled by the establishment of the graded
school in the present village of Addison, in i86o, and the Manual
Institute has long since passed from existence. The afore mentioned graded school in Addison was erected at a cost of approximately $3,ooo, when S. A. Lombard was director of the school board
in that district, but that building has been replaced by the present
more adequate and commodious edifice, the value of which, the site
and equipment included, is today estimated at about $I5,ooo, it
housing the three departments requisite to an efficient and complete public school system, viz: the primary, grammar and high
school departments. This school district carries a bonded indebtedness of $9,700, and L. S. Darling is the present director of the
school board. During the school year, which was concluded July
I, i908, I34 children of school age were enrolled at this school, receiving their instruction from five competent teachers, to whom,
during that year, the aggregate sum of $2,I90 was paid in salaries,
an average of $438 per teacher. There are seven ungraded district schools in the township of Woodstock, which, during the




EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT


533


school year of I907-'08 were attended by'I48 children of school
age, an average of 2I.I pupils to each district. During the same
year the seven teachers of these schools were paid the aggregate
sum of $I,907, an average of $272.42 to each pedagogue. At the
present time the aggregate value of the school property of these
seven districts approximates $5,500, an average of about $785.7I
per district, the properties in districts No. 4 and 5, in which districts
S. D. Drake and C. D. Binns are directors of the respective school
boards, being generally considered the most adequate in the township, their value being estimated at about $I,200. During the above
named school year the largest attendance in the township was recorded in district No. 7, where Martin Ruoff is the present director
of the school board, and in which thirty-six children were enrolled
during the year, whereas the smallest enrollment was recorded in
district No. 8, where only eight pupils attended school. There are
no graded schools in the township of Woodstock, exclusive of that
in the village of Addison.
During the school year I907-'08 there were ten ungraded district schools in the township of Franklin, though no school was
conducted in one of these districts, No. 3, during that year. The
sum of $2,988.62 in teachers' wages was paid out to the nine pedagogues employed in the schools of the township during the same
period, an average of $332.06 to each district, while 213 pupils
were enrolled in the nine schools taught that year, an average of
22.6 per district, the school in district No. 5, in which William J.
Fridd is director of the school board, recording the largest enrollment, with an attendance of thirty-six, while the smallest number
attended the school in district No. 6, where there were but fifteen
enrolled. The aggregate value of the school property of the entire
township has been authoritatively estimated at $9,700, an average
of $970 to a district, for the ten districts maintaining school property. That in district No. I, in which Irving C. Luce is the director
of the school board, is the most adequate in the district, its value
having been, by one fully competent to judge thereof, placed at
$2,000, while the school houses in districts No. 2, 4 and 7, in which
districts L. C. Harrison, Clarence M. Merritt and G. A. Van Dusen
are the respective directors of the boards, have been appraised at
$I,600, $I,ooo and $I,500 respectively, whereas those school properties in districts No. 3, 5 and Io, in which George Taylor, William J.
Fridd and C. E. Allison, respectively, are directors of the boards, are
looked upon as the least adequate in the township. There are no
graded or department schools within the township.




534


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


One of the first school houses to be erected in the township of
Adrian was built about I836, in district No. 9, largely through the
efforts of William Knight, one of the early pioneer settlers in that
township, and the father of William H. Knight, present proprietor
of the Mapleside Fruit, Grain and Stock Farm. There are eleven
ungraded district schools in this township which, during the year
i907-'o8, were attended by 244 pupils, an average of 22.I per district,
the largest number being enrolled in district No. 2, with an enrollment of thirty-seven. This district includes a portion of the township of Rome, the school house therein standing on section I8, in
the township of Adrian, and W. L. Beebe is the director of the
school board. The smallest enrollment was recorded in district No.
I5, where but thirteen children attended school during the above
school year. C. W. Spielman is the present director of the board in
this district. The school houses of this township are more adequate and commodious than those of any township in the county,
and during the year ending July I, 90o8, the aggregate value of
these, their sites and equipment included, was estimated at approximately $I3,500. Districts 4, 8 and 9 are considered the most valuable, each of which was appraised at $2,000, and W. A. Earles, E. G.
Titus and H. E. Burnett are the directors of the school boards in
these districts, respectively, whereas the school building in district
10, in which E. A. Nash is the present director of the board, was
the least adequate in the township, its value, the site and equipment included, being estimated at only $400. During the above
school year the sum of $3,534 was paid to the eleven woman teachers of the schools of the township, an average of $321.27 per district, the highest wages being paid in district No. 2, in which the
teacher received $405 for her nine months' services, while the least
amount was paid out in district ii, where the pedagogue in charge
received only $270 as compensation, though but eight months of
school were taught there. There are no graded schools in this
township, and many of those children desirous of securing more advanced scholastic training than that afforded in the district schools
of the township attend the high school in the city of Adrian.
There are nine schools in the township of Palmyra, including
the graded school in the village of Palmyra. During the school
year I907-'o8 the last named school, which contains two departments-primary and grammar-was attended by only thirty-one
pupils, though the school population of the district-those persons
ranging in age from five to twenty years-was at that time ninetynine. The two teachers therein received an aggergate salary of




EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT


535


$86o, an average of $430 per teacher, and James E. Jacklin was director of the school board. The school property in this districtthe most adequate in the township-is valued at about $2,500.
During the above mentioned school year the eight ungraded district schools of the township of Palmyra were attended by i98 pupils of school age, an average of 24.7 to each district, the school in
district No. 2, in which A. G. Rood is now director, recording the
largest enrollment, thirty-eight attending school there, while the
least number went to school in district No. 3, in which L. T. Lochner is the present director, where but twelve were enrolled during
the entire year. During the same year the eight pedagogues received an aggregate sum of $2,8I2.50 as compensation, an average
of $35I.56 per teacher, the highest salary having been paid in district No. 2, where the teacher received $382.50 for her nine months'
services, while the teachers in districts 3 and 8 received the
least compensation, each receiving $315 for their nine months
of trials and tribulations. At the close of the school year, the value
of the entire school property in the township, exclusive of that in
the graded district in the village, was placed at $4,000, that in district 7, in which district I. E. Dawson is the director, being valued
at about $I,200, and generally considered as the most adequate in
the township, while the school buildings in districts 3, 4 and 8,
their sites and equipment included, were appraised at approximately $i,ooo and the properties in districts I, 2, 3 and 9, as regards
their adequateness, were far below those in the other districts of
this township.
There are eleven schools in the township of Fairfield, including those of two departments in the villages of Jasper and Weston.
During the school year ending July i, i908, there were sixty-eight
pupils enrolled in the Jasper school, instructed by two teachers,
who, during the same year, were paid the aggregate salary of $i,OI9, an average of $509.5o each. The valuation of the school property at the close of the above school year, was appraised at $2,500,
including the second most adequate and commodious school house
in the township. During the school year I907-'08 there were
seventy-one children of school age enrolled in the two departments
-the primary and grammar-of the school in the village of Weston,
and they received their instruction from two competent pedagogues, to whom was paid the aggregate wage of $955, an average
of $477.50 per teacher. The school is the most adequate and commodious in the township of Fairfield, its valuation, the site and
equipment included, being estimated at approximately $4,500, in



536             MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY
dicating it to be far and away the most valuable school property in
the township. There are nine rural ungraded district schools in
the township of Fairfield, each of which employed but one teacher
during the year I907-'o8, at an aggregate cost of $2,44I, an average
of $271.22 per district. Districts 2 and 14 paid the highest salaries
-$405 each-while district No. 5 paid out the least amount for
wages-$2Io-though but seven months of school were conducted
therein. During the same school year 207 pupils attended these
nine rural schools, an average of twenty-three pupils to each district, the largest number-thirty-two-being enrolled in district 9,
in which Silas C. Baker is director, and the school in district I2,
wherein T. H. Ragless is now the director, was attended by the
least number, but eleven being enrolled there during the entire
school year. The aggregate valuation of the school property of the
nine districts has recently been fixed at about $7,500, an average
per district of about $833. That in district 7, in which A. D. Pratt
is director, was given the highest valuation, being estimated at approximately $2,000, while that in district 3, in which E. F. Davis
is now school director, was valued at only $400, indicating that the
school property of this district is the least adequate in the township.
During the school year I907-'o8 there were 360 pupils enrolled
in the nine school districts of the township of Ogden, all of which
districts contained single department schools, with the exception
of district No. I, which had  s school of two departments-primary
and grammar-with fifty-seven pupils enrolled therein, and taught
by two teachers, who received for their services an aggregate sum
of $8Io, an average of $405 each. The school property in the last
named district is the most valuable in. the township, its valuation
being appraised at $4,000, and B. B. Wotring is the present director
of the school board. During the same school year, the eight rural
ungraded schools of the township were attended by 303 children
of school age, an average of 37.8 to each school. The eight teachers
of these schools received a total sum of $2,792.75 in the form of
wages, an average of $349.09 each. District No. 2, in which S. S.
Porter is now director, paid the highest salary-$425 for the yearwhile district No. 5, of-which Richard Leake is director, expended
the smallest sum for this purpose-only $304-though only eight
months of school were conducted there during the year, the last
named district en joying the largest enrollment-forty-nine-and
the smallest number-twenty-three-was enrolled in district No. 3,
in which George Atkins is now director. The school property of
this township is far more adequate than that of the average town



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT


537


ship, the aggregate valuation of the same being authoritatively
placed at $8,800, an average of $I,Ioo to each district, that in district No. 8, in which George R. 'Fogelsong is director, being the
most commodious and adequate, being appraised at $2,000.
There are ten schools in the township of Riga, including the
three-department schools in district No. I, which district includes
the village of Riga and a portion of the township of Blissfield.
During the school year I907-'08 there were 114 children enrolled
in the last named school-sixty-four boys and fifty girls, who were
taught by three teachers who received in the aggregate the sum of
$I,260, an average of $420 per teacher. The school house in this
district is far and away the most adequate in the township, its valuation, site and equipment included, having been estimated at $4,ooo at the close of the above school year. The school property in
the other nine districts was at that time computed to be worth in
the aggregate the sum of $7,700, an average of $855.55 for each district, that in district No. 5, of which William Hazard is the present
school director, having been appraised at the highest valuation$I,400, whereas the school property in district No. 7, in which Henry J. Miller is the present director of school affairs, was given the
lowest valuation-$500. The school in this district, along with that
in district No. 3, wherein Herman Goetz is director, had at that
time the smallest enrollment of any of the schools of the township,
each having had an enrollment of twenty-four during the above
school year. The enrollment of the nine rural schools during the
same year aggregated 304, an average of 33.7 per district, that in
district No. 9, wherein Alexander Forsyth is director, enjoying the
largest attendance, as many as fifty-seven pupils having been enrolled there. During the same period the salaries paid to the teachers in these nine districts aggregated $3,609.50, an average of
$40I.55 per district, the teacher in the district enjoying the largest
enrollment-No. 9-receiving $516, which was the most lucrative
salary paid to pedagogues in the entire township, those of the
school of the village included, while district No. 6, in which George
Maierle is director, expended the least amount for this purpose$336-though only eight months of school were conducted.
There are two department or graded schools and four that are
ungraded in the township of Ridgeway. The graded school of the
village of Britton, one of three departments, is the largest in
the township, and during the school year I907-'08 there were Io6
pupils enrolled therein, an average of 35.5 to each department.
Durin'g the same period the sum expended for the wages of the




538


IMEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


three teachers aggregated $1,352, an average of $450.60 pet teacher.
The school property in this district is by far the most adequate and
valuable in the township of Ridgeway, its value having been computed at $9,ooo at the close of the above school year. The school
in the village of Ridgeway-district No. I-which district includes
a portion of the township of Macon, and of which Cyrus Underwood is now the director, contains two school rooms, and the school
property of this district is valued at approximately $2,000. During
the school year which concluded July I, 90o8, there were enrolled
in this district seventy-five pupils-thirty-four boys and forty-one
girls-who received their instruction from two competent teachers,
to whom was paid the aggregate sum of $896.50 in the form of
wages, an average of $428.25 per pedagogue. There are four ungraded district schools in this township, which were attended by
104 pupils, an average of twenty-six to each district, and the four
teachers of these schools received for their services the snum of
$1,320, an average of $330 per district,'the teacher in district No.
3, in which A. E. Palmer is now director, having received the highest salary-$405-while district No. 9, wherein W. C. Spohr is director, expended the smallest amount for this purpose, the pedagogue therein receiving but $315 for her nine months of trial and
tribulations. The aggregate valuation of the school properties of
these four districts has recently been estimated at $4,100, an average of $1,025 to each district, that in district No. 3, in which the
school house stands on the southeast quarter of section 9, being
the most adequate and valuable in the township, exclusive of that
in the villages of Britton and Ridgeway, its valuation having been
computed at $I,500, and this district also enjoyed the largest attendance during the above named school year, forty children of
school age having been enrolled therein.
During the school year I907-'08 there were I8I pupils enrolled
in the nine schools of the township of Macon, all of which were
comprised of a single department, with the exception of that in the
village of Macon, district No. I, of which C. D. Ellis is the present
director, and which contained two departments, primary and grammar, respectively. This school enjoyed the largest attendance
during the same period, having an enrollment of thirty-seven pupils, who received their instruction from two teachers to whom was
paid the aggregate wage of $765, an average of $382.50 each. The
school property in this district is the most adequate in the township, its valuation having recently been estimated at $I,500, while
the aggregate valuation of the school properties in the other eight




EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT


539


districts was at the same time computed at $3,700, an average of
$462.50 per district. That in districts 3 and 8, wherein Frank Gilmore and Charles Hindes are the respective school directors, was
computed at approximately $i,ooo and $1,200 respectively, indictating that the properties of these districts are the most adequate
of any in the township outside of that in the village of Macon.
During the same school year, $2,529 was expended for the salaries
of the teachers in the eight rural districts, an average of $3i6.12
for each district, the pedagogue in district No. 8 receiving the
largest sum for her services-$360-for the nine months' school
year, while the least amount for this purpose was paid out in district No. 6, wherein Samuel Patterson is now director. The largest
enrollment in the rural districts of the township of Macon was recorded in district No. 4, in which Edgar Auten is school director,
and where thirty-two children attended school during the year,
and the smallest number went to school in district No. 5, wherein
E. J. McIntyre is the present director, and in which only six pupils
were enrolled.
To summarize, there are in the county of Lenawee, i96 school
districts, the cities of Adrian and Hudson included, of which I79
maintain a school of but one department, an ungraded school in
common parlance, while nineteen contain one or more schools, each
of which is composed of two or more departments, commonly
termed graded schools. But the schools of only twelve of these
nineteen so-called graded districts are graded in the strictest
sense of the word-according to the state law applying to and
governing graded schools-they being those in the cities of Adrian
and Hudson, the two districts of the village of Blissfield, and the
villages of Addison, Britton, Clayton, Clinton, Deerfield, Morenci,
Palmyra and Tecumseh, and though the schools of the villages of
Jasper, Macon, Ogden, Onsted, Ridgeway, Riga, and Weston are
graded as regards all practical purposes, they are not graded in the
eyes of the graded school law, and in the statistics below they are
classified as ungraded schools. According to the annual report of
the State Commissioner of Public Instruction, issued in the summer of i907, there were in the so-called graded-school districts of
the county, 5,279 persons of school age-five to twenty yearswhile in the districts maintaining ungraded schools, there
was a school population of 6,604, indicating that the school population of the entire county was then ii,883. The same report sets
forth that there were, during the school year, 4,200 enrolled in the
county's graded schools, while there were 4,876 in the ungraded,




540


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


and that the cost per capita for the instruction of pupils in the
graded schools was $I4.83, whereas the same in the ungraded was $12.21, an average of $I3.43 for the entire county.
During the same period the average cost of educating each pupil,
all expenditures considered, in the graded districts was $26.57,
while the same for the ungraded districts was $I5.68, an average
of $20.72, in all districts of the county. The number of teacher's
positions occupied in the ungraded schools during the school year
I906-'07 was 200, whereas the number of teachers required in the
graded districts was I26, and during the same period forty-nine
male teachers and 30I female teachers were employed in both the
graded and the ungraded school districts of the county, the wages
paid to the men that year aggregating $24,968.I7, and to the women
$96,929.I2, an average monthly wage to the men of $60.60, and to the
women $39.55. It has recently been estimated, by one who is fully
qualified to judge thereof, that the aggregate valuation of the school
property of the entire county, including school buildings, their
sites and equipment, will approximate the enormous sum of $700,ooo, this computation including those school houses which are now
in the process of construction. The average length of the school
year of the schools of both the graded and ungraded districts of
the county has been computed at 8.7 months, though some schools
were conducted for only seven months out of the year, while
others were maintained in session for as many as ten months. According to the above report of the State Commissioner of Public
Instruction, reading was the most commonly taught branch of
study, being offered in the curriculum of all the school districts of
the county, while geometry was taught in but eleven districts.
United States history was taught in I94 districts, physiology in I9I,
geography in I89, arithmetic in I88, grammar in 187, civil government in 164, penmanship in I55, orthography in 125, algebra in
fifty-one, general history in thirty-eight, botany in seventeen and
physics in only twelve of the districts. Only two of the I96 school
districts supplied free text-books, 187 were furnished with school
dictionaries, i86 had school maps, 183 contained globes, 170 offered
a prescribed course of study, and I65 districts contained school
buildings which were properly heated and ventilated. The popular, affable and highly esteemed M. W. Hensel, of Blissfield, is the
present incumbent of the school commissionership of Lenawee
county. having jurisdiction over all of the public schools of the
county, with the exception of those in the cities of Adrian and FHud



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT


54I


son, and to him we are indebted for much of the information concerning the present status of the county's public school system.
PAROCHIAL SCHIOOLS.
At the present time there are five parochial schools in, or in
the immediate vicinity of, the city of Adrian, the largest and most
prominent of which is "St. Joseph's Academy," situated about
one-half of a mile northeast of the Maple City.
St. Joseph's Academy, conducted by the sisters of St. Dominic,
is a flourishing educational institution for girls, possessing the
most ample facilities for promoting the mental as well as the
physical qualities of the pupils. Beautifully located on an eminence
that commands a view of the surrounding country, it enjoys not
only a picturesque but a healthful location. The air in the vicinity
is always fresh and invigorating, the academy being surrounded
by a fertile farm of sixty acres, which affords not only ample recreation grounds, but also furnishes all the products of a well-kept
farm. The building was erected in I886 and was originally known
as St. Joseph's Hospital, and at the request of Father Casimir,
then stationed at St. Joseph's parish, the sisters came from New
York city to open a hospital, first taking charge of a small frame
building, a few rods east of the present structure. In I886, the
middle section of the present edifice was erected, whereupon the
sisters and patients, who at that time numbered but few, took
up their abode there. From the very first the resources of the
hospital were very limited, most of the patients received were
taken in for charity, the small maintenance fund-which originally
consisted of only a few hundred dollars-was soon exhausted,
and the institution no longer proved self-supporting. Happily,
at this juncture, Rev. Mother Camilla arrived from New York
city to take charge of the struggling enterprise, and her keen
foresight detected the advantages the locality offered for a boarding school, and thus conceived the idea of transforming the institution into an educational one, which plan was realized in I898.
With the hearty co-operation of Dr. O'Rielly, then in charge of
St. Mary's parish, fifteen pupils were secured for the first year,
and so satisfactory were the results achieved during that period
that the second and the following years each marked an increased
attendance, until today the enrollment approximates 300 pupils.
The gradual increase in the patronage necessitated the occupancy
of a more adequate and commodious building, with the result that




542


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


four additions have from time to time been added to the original
structure. The last named is of brick, ornamented in carved stone
work. Although the exterior presents an appearance imposing,
dignified, and pleasing to the eye, the interior surpasses the exterior in this regard. On the first floor are located the chapel,
lobby, parlors, dining rooms, library, infirmary, office, two class
rooms, a studio, a number of music rooms, and the auditorium,
the last named of which also serves as a study and recreation hall
for the seniors. The second floor comprises five class rooms, a
laboratory, study and recreation halls for the juniors, while the remainder of this floor and the entire third story is taken up with
bright and cheery dormitories and private rooms. The new chapel
is a commodious one, enjoying a seating capacity of 500, and on
entering this spacious hall for the first time the aesthetic eye of the
observer is at once absorbed in the beauty of the coloring and the
sunlight effects in the decoration, which enjoys that dignity and
unity of composition that at once conveys a sense of quiet and
rest. The general scheme of decoration is of. cream color in tone,
and the architectural effects of the decorated Norway columns
stand forth in bold relief; fifty-two life-size oil paintings ornament
the walls; the stations of the cross are in statuary, all the figures
of which are overlaid with rich old gold; the altars are of marble
and are beautiful manifestations of the works of art, while above
the center altar is a statuary grouping representing the presenting
of the rosary to St. Dominic, and on either side are life-size
statues of St. Agnes and Ross, while beneath the arch of the
altar is a bass relief representing the last supper. The ceiling of
this sanctuary is decorated with cherubs' heads in a cream back
ground, and the floor is mosaic in beautiful design. Another apartment, in which the aesthetic is most pronounced, is the art studio,
with its splendid display of oil paintings, water color, pencil drawing, and china painting. The city of Adrian takes just pride in
this progressive institution, and through the advocacy of some of its
influential citizens the academy has been supplied with electric
lighting and water from the city. Every precaution has been
taken to prevent the outbreak of fire, a large quantity of hose is
attached to the water mains on each floor, available for instantaneous use, and the numerous fire escapes, the spacious corridors, and
the many exits, tend to alleviate the danger from conflagration.
The large engine that supplies heat for the building has been stationed some distance away, under a separate covering, as a precaltion against the wrecking of the building by an explosion of the




EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT


543


boiler. This institution is the provincial house and Novitiate of the
Sisters of St. Dominic.  The sisters of this order also conduct an
academy at St. Charles, Ill., and twenty-two parochial schools in the
states of Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana.
St. Mary's school, conducted under the auspices of St. Mary's
Catholic church, of Adrian, is situated in the rear of the church
edifice on Erie street. This school, the oldest parochial educational
institution in Lenawee county, was established during the sixth
decade of the last century, and in it are taught those biblical
branches generally offered in the curriculum of parochial schools
of the Catholic denomination, and those studies common to the
primary and grammar grades of the public schools. Pupils successfully completing the scholastic work of this school are admitted to the high schools of the state without having to pass
the rigid entrance examinations commonly presented by these institutions.
St. Joseph's school, affiliated with the Catholic Church Society of St. Joseph's, Adrian, was erected during the 70's of the
last century, under the supervision and largely through the efforts of Rev. Father Casimer Rohwoski, who was then in charge of
the parish. The school is an entirely adequate and commodious
two-story building, standing on Ormsby street, adjacent to the
parish rectory, in the city of Adrian. There is a large enrollment
of pupils in this school, and the present incumbent of the pastorate-the Rev. F. W. Schaeper —takes a profound interest in the
affairs of the institution, personally supervising much of the
scholastic work.
St. John's parochial school, a spacious brick two-story building, situated at the corner of East Church and Center streets,
opposite Monument park, in the city of Adrian, is affiliated with
and conducted under the auspices of the congregation of St. John's
Lutheran church. It is the oldest Lutheran parochial educational
institution in the county, having been constructed during the
70's of the last century, at a cost of about $8,ooo. At the present
time two men teachers-J. G. Denminger and August Droegemueller-instruct the ioo pupils enrolled therein, during five days
of the week, and the school board now consists of two members
Martin Tornow and Henry Pries.
St. Stephen's school, also a Lutheran parochial school, is conducted and maintained by the congregation of St. Stephen's church,
of Adrian. The first school-house was erected at the corner of
Toledo and Elm streets, Adrian, in the 6o's, and it remained there




544


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


until I883, when it was removed to the site of the present school,
on the east side of Finch street, near Front street, and adjacent
to St. Stephen's parsonage. The present school building was
erected in I899, largely through the efforts of Rev. Herman Heyn,
the present incumbent of the ministry of St. Stephen's, and R. 0.
Patzwald, then principal of the school. Among those who have
officiated as principal are the following: B. Meister (founder of
Immanuel's Evangelical church, of Adrian), H. Oberschulte, B.
Hahn, R. O. Patzwald, and H. Frieg, the present incumbent.
ADRIAN COLLEGE.
Adrian College is among the oldest educational institutions
in this state of many colleges, having been organized in I859 by
the Rev. Asa Mahan, D. D., LL. D., an educator of rare ability
and of excellent reputation. It was established as a co-educational
institution, being one of the first schools in this country to adopt
this system, and at once this new institution received recognition
for its high ideals and thoroughness of work. It may be said to be
the successor of a school of a similar character, organized at
Leoni, Mich., in I852, by Dr. Mahan, who served as president of
the last named institution until the organization of the one at
Adrian, and it was quite natural that several of the students of
the college at Leoni should accompany this learned gentleman to
his new location. He was also accompanied by Dr. Luther Lee,
James McEldowney, Isaac McKeever, and Adam      H. Lowrie,
former members of the faculty at Leoni, who became professors
and instructors of the school at Adrian. This institution was at
first conducted under the auspices of the Wesleyan Methodist
church, but as this denomination found it financially difficult to
maintain the school, it was later transferred to the Methodist
Protestant church, which was at that time seeking to establish
a college in the Middle West, and the general conference of this
denomination has continued to operate it up to the present time.
The college is located upon a site in the western portion
of the city of Adrian, admirably adapted for the purposes of a
school, the site having been donated by the Hon. L. G. Berry and
Dr. Daniel K. Underwood. The campus embraces twenty acres of
land, handsomely laid out, with grove and athletic field in the
background, and there are five large and commodious buildings
employed for college purposes. The erection of the first of these
was commenced in 1858 and was finished the following year. This




~                             ~~~~J.~~....."T~~~
COMoMMENCEkENT C>A-t-.
Foto by Metltr, Adrian


574,~
I - ~ 0








EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT


545


building, now known as South Hall, contains the ladies' dormitory,
the apartments of the Dean of Women, the college parlors, the
Young Woman's Christian Association room and the School of
Fine Arts. The chapel building was constructed in i86o, but in
I896 was remodeled through the generosity of Jordan Downs, of
North Lewisburg, Ohio, and named "Downs' Hall." Besides the
auditorium, this building embraces the three literary society halls
of the college, in which the Star, Lambda Phi, and the Theological
societies conduct their weekly meetings. In the auditorium, during the year i909, a $20,000 pipe organ was installed, largely
through the efforts of Mrs. Minnie Kellog-Larned, a graduate of
the college and now a resident of Detroit, while associated with her
in this work were several prominent women of Adrian, among
whom should be mentioned Mrs. Bessie Prosser Watts, Mrs. Mary
Virginia Silcott Hart, Mrs. Bessie Leach Priddy, Mrs. Elizabeth
Gibbs Palmer, and Mrs. Bertha Page Robertson.   North Hall
was also erected in i86o, and was destroyed by fire in i88i, at
which time it was re-built. This building contains several recitation rooms, the president's offices and the Young Men's Christian
Association parlors, on the first floor, while the second and third
floors are occupied as gentlemen's dormitory. The cabinet building was built in i864, and for many years was known by this
appellation, until it was remodeled, in i906, and christened Science
Hall. At the present time this structure contains several recitation rooms, the biological laboratories, and the gentlemen's gymnasium. The latest building erected is known as Metcalf Hall, built
by virtue of a life loan by David Metcalf and various smaller contributions from other citizens of Adrian. This structure contains
the dining hall and culinary departments on the first floor, the hall
of music on the second, and the women's gymnasium on the third,
while the basement is taken up with the college steam heating
plant.
The greatest embarrassments which this little, but enterprising college has experienced have been of a financial character.
For many years it was burdened by a troublesome debt; but during
I907 the debt was completely obliterated and quite a handsome addition made to the endowment fund. The following extract from
the Alumni Bulletin, published under the auspices of the College
Alumni Association, 550 strong, and edited by Mrs. Bessie Leach
Priddy, the wife of the late postmaster, Frank E. Priddy, who
for many years was prominently affiliated with the college, tells
of the wiping out of this deficit and bespeaks the spirit and attitude
35-Iv




546


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


of the Alumni association, of which Mrs. Priddy is an influential
member:
"The matters of endowment and debt have ever presented
some delicate problems in ratio and proportion, as is the case
with all educational institutions of this kind, but as the half-century
mark is approached, Dr. Anthony is telling the brightest story of
all. In I907, the citizens of Adrian added their efforts to those
of the church, the alumni, and the friends of the college abroad,
and have subscribed the last $Io,ooo necessary for the liquidation of
the college debt, thus making it possible to add the recently promised Carnegie fund to an unencumbered endowment, and this has
created new enthusiasm and hope to all those who now work
unceasingly for the raising of that endowment to an adequate
amount."   The citizens of Adrian have a justifiable pride in the
welfare of the college, and no more substantial evidence of their
interest has been manifested in recent years than was displayed in
I907, when, in response to an appeal by the President of the college, the Business Men's Association co-operated in a canvass,
which resulted in subscriptions to the debt fund, which was then
being raised to something over $II,ooo."
"Adrian College does not seek to be a large institution of
learning. Its board of trustees insist on maintaining it as one of
the small colleges of the country, recognizing the fact that the
small college has manifest advantages over the larger schools.
These advantages contribute especially to the realization of excellency in educational and moral character. The school during
the last five years has been enjoying unprecedented prosperity.
The attendance is larger than in many years before, and there is
an enthusiasm in the work of the school which has perhaps never
before been equalled, surely not surpassed. This college has always insisted upon offering great educational opportunities at a
minimum cost.  The purpose of the management is to make possible superior educational opportunities to the young man and
woman of limited means, as well as to those who, financially, are
more fortunate. The class of students are for the most part from
the better homes of the middle classes. It has been seen that the
greater institutions of learning, in increasing the opportunities for
work, have necessarily diminished the ability to exact work. It
is conceded that the business of a college is to develop noble men
and women, and experience has proved that the personal influence
of the self-sacrificing, quiet, studious lives, possible to the smaller
institutions, has fostered most wonderfully and will continue to




EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT


547


foster such people. James Lane Allen, in the 'Reign of Law,'
speaks of the small denominational college as 'pelican like,' drawing the blood from its own breast for the nourishment of its
young. This must ever be so, and never, until this truth is realized
and met, can the college help but be impoverished in direct proportion as it enriches. Each student pays in but a fraction of the
expense incurred by the college in educating him.  If the college makes him capable of wresting a success from life, then let
him remember that for that capability she incurred a debt in dollars and cents, and let him hold himself in honor bound to cancel
that obligation. If his heart is full of the right kind of gratitude,
he will also swell the measure and endeavor to repay the obligation of the unsuccessful brother."
The foregoing paragraph is from the pen of the present
prominent and highly esteemed incumbent of the college presidency, the Rev. Benjamin W. Anthony, D. D., a sketch of whose
career appears in the biographical volume of this work.
During the last two or three years, the Department of Natural
Science has been strengthened, and a Department of Fine Arts
and Commerce added to the college curriculum. The courses of
study offered in the last named department should prove of everlasting benefit to those young men and women of this vicinity
who contemplate entering the employ of commercial enterprises
upon the completion of their college course, for they will be enabled to enter the business world with a slight conception of the
fundamental principles which underly the great world of commerce. Repairs amounting to more than $io,ooo have also recently
been made upon the buildings and campus, until at the present
time this educational plant, which seeks to produce large mental
calibre and durable and substantial moral fibre, is in better condition than ever before in its history.
Among those who are today prominenly associated with the
institution, outside of the faculty, may be mentioned Capt. J. FI.
Fee, Judge R. A. Watts, W. N. Swift, president of the board of
trustees; C. L. Palmer, secretary of the same board; B. E. Tobias,
cashier of the Adrian State Savings Bank; Ex-Congressman Henry
C. Smith, John A. Bird, attorney-general of the state of Michigan; Myron Hoisington, of the Bond Post company; R. G. Swift,
proprietor of Swift's Book Store; I. W. Swift, the grocer; J. W.
Sampson, J. A. Bird's law partner; and many others.
One of the most prominent and practical of Adrian's educational instiutions is Brown's Business College, which was founded




548             MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY
by L. S. Brown, in i884, and has been a growing success from
that time to the present day. The new building, conspicuously located at the corner of College avenue and McKenzie street, is
large and commodious and of imposing appearance, and will easily
accommodate over 400 students, with all of the comforts, conveniences, and equipment desirable in such institutions.  The
curriculum of this school is divided into two courses, the business
and the stenographic courses. The first named includes double
and single entry book-keeping, business arithmetic, rapid business
writing, business correspondence, spelling, English grammar, cornmercial law, banking, commission, corporation, and factory bookkeeping, while the course in stenography embraces shorthand (Graham's system), typewriting (by touch method), rapid dictation,
legal reporting, manifolding, spelling, business correspondence, advertisement writing, and English grammar. Instruction in both
of these courses is most thorough and complete, and numerous
graduates from this enterprising institution adorn the paths of
commercial life in Lenawee county and vicinity.




CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE PRESS OF THE COUNTY.
LAUNCHING OF THE FIRST NEWSPAPER-NAME CHANGED TO WATCH —
TOWER-MICHIGAN EXPOSITION-RENSSELAER W. INGALLS-THE
JERMAIN BROTHERS-FRANCIS R. STEB3INS-THE CONSTITUTIONALIST-BENJAMIN WORKMAN-MICHIGAN WHIG-THE CHRISTIAN
ADVOCATE-THE FARMER AND MECHANIC - ADRIAN JOURNALJAPHETH CROSS-ADRIAN PRESS-EVENING RECORD-DAVID W.
GRANDON-MICHIGAN PATRON-TECUMSEH NEWSPAPER HISTORYJAMES L. SMITH-WILLIAM RICHARDS-SCOVEL C. STACY-HUDSON
NEWSPAPERS-ENOS CANNIFF-WILLIAM T. SCHERMERHORN-MORENCI OBSERVER-ERASMUS D. ALLEN-BLIS SFIELD PAPERSOTHER PAPERS OF THE COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT.
No community in these days can be said to have reached the
progressive stage until that infallible index to prosperous conditions-a newspaper-makes its periodical visits to an intelligent
constituency.  But it was not always thus.  Seventy-five years
ago, "journalists" were not as plentiful as they are today, and
the appetite for printed news was not sufficiently keen to cause
one to endure martyrdom in attempting to "fill a long-felt want."
So, at the time of its organization, Lenawee county could not
boast of a newspaper within her confines, and the county had
been established for nearly a decade before a home-grown article
of that kind made its appearance. This, of course, besides the
inconvenience to its citizens individually, tended, in a considerable
degree, to retard the progress of the county generally. Adrian,
at the beginning of the year I834, was a straggling village of
some 200 inhabitants, and  it can hardly be truthfully said that
there was at that time "a long-felt want" for a newspaper in that
place, but the pioneer journalist is never very far behind the pioneer
farmer and artisan, and, besides, the necessity for a printing press
and the publication of a paper, to be located at the future county




550


5MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


seat, finally became so urgent as to induce the establishment of
The Adrian Gazette and Lenawee County Republican, the first
issue being dated Oct. 22, 1834. The publisher was R. W. Ingalls,
who brought to the little village from New York a small printing
outfit. Mr. Ingalls was an able and honorable newspaper man,
but his patronage was small, and paper supplies difficult to procure. Had it not been for the legal printing, which was abundant,
he could not have sustained his first venture into the western newspaper field. To please all parties, Mr. Ingalls declared his paper
neutral, but soon discarded that false pretense, changed the name to
The Adrian Watchtower, and advocated Jacksonian Democracy,
with marked ability and success.
His first office was located near the Maumee street bridge.
In 1849, fifteen years after he founded the first paper in Lenawee
county, Mr. Ingalls was appointed state printer under Governor
Ransom's administration, and held that position four years. That
office and his newspaper combined earned him a competence, and
he erected the Watchtower building, a three-story block on East
Maumee street, which was the home of that paper and its successor, the Adrian Times, until 1883, when the plant was moved to
the Armory block, on South Winter street, which had just been
completed by J. C. Rowley. Mr. Ingalls was proprietor and publisher of the Watchtower, first as a weekly and later a daily and
weekly, until I863, when, after thirty years of successful newspaper work in Adrian, he sold the whole property to Larwill, Applegate & Champion. Messrs. Larwill and Applegate had learned
the printing business in Brooklyn, N. Y., had been employed in
Rome, N. Y., and came to Adrian, in October, I863, fully competent
to carry on the venture they undertook. Dr. J. H. Champion had
been connected with the Watchtower as an editorial writer for
some years. Mr. Larwill sold his interest, in I865, with the intention of going to St. Louis, Mo.. but was finally persuaded by
Mr. Applegate to remain and take charge of the office, which he
did. On Saturday, Sept. 9, I865, the entire plant of the Watchtower was sold to Gen. William Humphrey, and on the following
Monday, the paper appeared as the Adrian Daily and Weekly
Times, completely changed in politics and public policy, Mr. Applegate still remaining in charge.  In the fall of I866, General
Humphrey was elected auditor-general of Michigan, and in I867
sold his interest in the Times to Dr. Ragan and Prof. Lowrie, then
of the Adrian College faculty, and the firm became Ragan, Lowrie
& Applegate. In the fall of I867, Capt. J. H. Fee purchased the




PRESS OF THE COUNTY


551


interest of Dr. Ragan, when the firm name was changed to Lowrie,
Applegate & Fee. In i868, Professor Lowrie retired, and for
nineteen years the paper was published by Applegate & Fee. In
I885, Mr. Applegate became the sole proprietor, and so continued
until his death, Dec. 27, i89i, whereupon his widow, Mrs. Harriet
M. Applegate, at once assumed the personal management of the
paper and carried it on successfully until her tragic death in a
railway accident, at Flint, Mich., June I4, 190I.
In 1843, S. P. and T. D. Jermain established the Michigan
Expositor as a rival to the Watchtower, and at once it became the
recognized organ of the Whig party. Jermain Brothers were bright
ambitious, enterprising men, and they soon firmly established a
tri-weekly edition, which was a success from the start. In 1854,
upon the organization' of the Republican party, "under the oaks"
at Jackson, the Expositor at once fell in line and became the leading Republican paper in southern Michigan, the late Francis R.
Stebbins being the political editor. In I852, Jermain Brothers
built what was then regarded as a huge four-story office block on
the north side of East Maumee street, facing the 'Watchtower
building, and the editors hurled defiance at one another as occasion demanded. The building was constructed with special
reference to accommodating the principal offices of the Michigan
Southern & Northern Indiana railroad.  Several rooms were occupied as railroad offices, and the remainder of the building was
devoted to the printing business. The Messrs. Jermain had been
successful in securing the major part of the printing required by
this great thoroughfare, and the office was well equipped with
type and machinery for doing the work satisfactorily. In I857,
the railroad moved its headquarters from Adrian to Toledo, and
most of the printing followed. That year the Jermain Brothers
dissolved their partnership, T. D. withdrawing, and in company
with Horace Brightman, then also a citizen of Adrian, purchased
the Milwaukee (Wis.) Sentinel, which they placed upon a firm
financial footing and published continuously until 1870. In 1859,
S. P. Jermain took in as partners in the publication of the Expositor Marcus Knight and Richard I. Bonner. The Tri-Weekly
Expositor, together with the weekly, were successful publications.
In i860, public policy as well as party exigency demanded a daily
publication. Early in the year of the famous Lincoln campaign,
Henry E. Baker, of Detroit, an experienced and able newspaper
man, was induced to come to Adrian and take a quarter interest
in the office. He at once became the editor and political director,




552


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


and during the years of the Civil war his talent and energy were
devoted to the Federal cause. In I868 the Expositor building and
plant were purchased by the late Dr. John Kost, who carried on
the business for about one year, when the Expositor was absorbed
by The Adrian Times, which publication thereafter became known
as The Times and Expositor.
In September, I9go, Thomas A. Dailey came to Adrian from
Washington, D. C., where he was in the employ of the government, and began to organize a local corporation for the purpose of
securing sufficient capital to purchase the Times property. With
him came DeWitt Wessell, from Jackson, Mich., a practical printer
and newspaper man, who had been employed in The Jackson
Citizen office twenty-four years. Together, they took $9,000 of
the stock, and the remaining $7,000 was subscribed by Adrian people. The new company was incorporated, Oct. 8, Igo1, with $16,ooo cash capital, which was immediately paid for The Times plant,
good will, and business, and on October 12 the new owners took
possession, with Mr. Dailey as editor and manager, and Mr. W\essell as city editor. A marked increase in the business of The
Times Printing Company necessitated enlarged facilities. The old
Weekly Times, which had been issued in two parts for several
years, was changed to a tri-weekly, an eight-column folio, which
together with the Daily Times was, at the beginning of I904, enlarged to eight pages of six columns each. The building on South
Winter street, which had served as its home for more than twenty
years, became so crowded that a new location was rendered imperative, and on Dec. 28, I903, the Times Printing Company purchased the Abel W\hitney homestead, No. 40 East Maumee street,
a beautiful lot, measuring five by fifteen rods, and on the west
half of this site The Times is now located in its own home, a
building measuring 33XI30 feet, and the printing plant is one of
the finest in a city of this size in Michigan. It is equipped with
every modern appliance for the rapid, economical and systematic
production of newspapers and printed matter. The building is
heated by steam and lighted by both gas and electricity, and
the plant is a model one in every respect.
\We have now traced the history of the first newspaper
published in Lenawee county, through the days of its prosperity
and adversity, its changes of names and ownership, etc., and it
now will be well to speak personally of some of the men who have
presided over its destinies and been connected with its publication in the past. The Adrian Times stands today as the lineal




PRESS OF THE COUNTY


553


descendant of the Adrian Gazette and Lenawee County Republican, and it also represents all that is mortal of the old Weekly
Expositor.
Rensselaer W. Ingalls was born in Middlefield, Otsego county,
New York, in I809, receiving a common-school education, and
graduating in the printing office of H. and E. Phinney, book publishers, in the village of Cooperstown, N. Y. In April, 1830, he engaged his services to William Hewes, publisher of a newspaper
in Potsdam, St. Lawrence county, New York, remaining with
him until the fall of I83I, when he purchased an interest in the
St. Lawrence Republican, printed at Canton, and subsequently
selling out to the Hon. Preston King, of Ogdensburg, who moved,the establishment to that place, where the publication of the paper
was continued under its original name. In the spring of I832, Mr.
Ingalls engaged with William Williams, book publisher, at Utica,
N. Y., and in the fall of I834 he moved to Adrian, where he commenced the publication of the first paper in Lenawee county, as
before stated. After retiring from the editorial sanctum, in I863,
he retired to his Dairy Brook Lodge farm, in the township of
Dover, and there he remained until I874, when he returned to the
city of Adrian and engaged in the crockery trade.
Sylvanus Pierson Jermain and Tompkins Delevan Jermain,
brothers, in the spring of I840, although neither of them had as
yet reached the required voting age, founded the Jonesville Expositor at Jonesville, Hillsdale county. It was a weekly newspaper, Whig in politics, and strongly aided in the successful campaign of "Tippecanoe and Tyler too." In September, I843, through
the solicitation of prominent citizens of Adrian, owing to the
recent demise of the Michigan Whig, hereinafter mentioned, they
removed their office and material to Adrian, and called their paper
the Michigan Expositor. The printing material was taken to
Hillsdale by teams, and from there by "horse cars" over the Michigan Southern railroad, as far as Hudson, and from there by "steam
cars" to Adrian. In 1847, they brought the second steam-power
press to Michigan, the first one having been operated in the Daily
Free Press office in Detroit, by Bagg & Harmon, then state printers. On June 17, 1848, Jermain & Brother issued from their office
the first number of a very neat semi-monthly quarto publication,
entitled The Pledge of Honor, it being the organ of the order of
the Sons of Temperance, of Michigan. It was edited by the Rev.
E. McClure, then the talented pastor of the Methodist Episcopal
church of Adrian. The year following, The Pledge of Honor was




554


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


changed into a folio weekly paper and called The Dollar Weekly,
which paper had a wide circulation throughout the state as a
family temperance publication.
Francis R. Stebbins was born at Williamstown, Vt., Oct. 26,
i8i8. At the age of sixteen years, he commenced to learn the
cabinet-maker's trade, with his brother-in-law, Lyman Briggs, at
Montpelier, Vt., earning money enough to pay the tuition for several terms at the academy at Montpelier.  In i837 he came to
Lenawee county and joined his brother, C. B. Stebbins, who was
carrying on the cabinet business at Palmyra. There he remained
for about two years, and then went to Buffalo, N. Y., in the employ of Cooley & Gallagan, cabinet makers. While at Palmyra,
he wrote articles for the Michigan Whig. He also contributed to
the. Michigan Observer, of Detroit, and to the Emancipator, of
New York. While in Buffalo, he wrote for The Buffalonian, The
Commercial Advertiser, The Republican, and several other papers,
and was finally given charge of the editorial work of the Morning
Tattler, a society paper, with the understanding, however, that it
should not interfere with his work as a cabinet-maker. Alternating
between Vermont, Buffalo and Palmyra, for a few years, he finally
came to Adrian, in the fall of i84I, and from that time until his
death, which occurred Sept. 29, i892, resided in that city. With
the exception of a few months spent in the study of law, in the
office of Baker, Harris & Millard, Mr. Stebbins, during the entire
period of his residence in Adrian (comprising more than half a
century of time), was continuously engaged in the business of
which he had made himself master in his youth. Commencing in
a small way and working at the bench himself, he gradually built
up one of the largest, best, and most successful factories and furniture stores in southern Michigan. A part of the time he was in
partnership with his brother, C. B. Stebbins. While Mr. Stebbins
was thoroughly master of his trade, yet his strong literary bias and
the urgent solicitations of the proprietors induced him to assume
the editorship of the Weekly and Tri-Weekly Expositor, of Adrian,
which position he held from 185o to i86o, and so long as he lived
he continued to write for the press. For nearly thirty years
prior to his decease, he spent a portion of each year in travel, and
while on these excursions wrote many interesting and instructive
letters, covering the country from Lake Superior and the River and
Gulf of St. Lawrence, to the Gulf of Mexico. He was a zealots
and active member of the Pioneer Society of the county of Lenawee, and also of the State Pioneer Society, contributing during




PRESS OF THE COUNTY


555


his membership interesting and valuable articles to each society.
He served as alderman of his ward in Adrian, also as member of
the public school board, where, either as president or chairman of
the building committee, he had the leading charge of the erection
of the Central school building, the main features of the plan of
which were furnished by him and adopted by the board. He
served as a member of the old volunteer fire department of the
city, and had much to do with the erection of its buildings, was a
member of the committee having charge of the erection of the
soldiers' monument, furnishing the design which was adopted for
the base, and in short, he was directly or indirectly identified with
almost every movement that was made, calculated to advance the
best interests of the city, during his long residence therein. In
politics, Mr. Stebbins was a Whig, and cast his first vote in Buffalo for William Henry Harrison for president, and subsequently
he became identified with the Republican party. He was an active
politician, but never sought public office. He was a religious
man in the best and broadest sense of the word, was liberal and
catholic in his views, and a member of the Presbyterian church.
Although Mr. Ingalls and his Watchtower were the first in
the field of journalism at Adrian, they were not destined long to
have a monopoly of the business. In October, 1837, a few months
after Michigan had been admitted into the Union as a state, and
Adrian had won the fight by being designated as the future seat
of justice in Lenawee county, The Constitutionalist appeared on
the scene as the representative of the Whig party and the exponent of its principles. Its presiding genius during a good portion if
not all of the period of its existence was Benjamin Workman, an
Irishman, who had become infatuated with the beauty of Sand
lake, and in 1835 had located land upon its shores, in Cambridge
township. He was rather above the medium height, broad-shouldered, deep-chested, with a marked intellectual cast of countenance
— a man whom after meeting in the street, one would involuntarily
turn to look at-a man who, when he spoke, riveted attention.
He was usually clothed in sheep's gray, well-worn and patched,
yet one could not but feel, while in his presence, as if in the
presence of a king. Although he had the advantage of the best
culture of his native land, and was a thorough classical and scientific scholar, yet he found himself at fault in trying to make a living
upon a new farm in the woods. Gradually, his clothing became
more and more seedy, and his purse lighter and lighter, and a
casual visitor at the lake would not have been likely to envy either




556


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


him or his possessions. There he lived until the parties interested
in the old Constitutionalist, the first Whig paper ever published in
this county, commenced looking about for an editor. Mr. Workman was selected and he took charge of the editorial department
of the paper, boarding, while here, with the late David Bixby, some
two miles north of the city. But little is remembered regarding
his success as an editor, but it is said that he was considered too
honest for the position.  He was a man of strong convictions, and
men with convictions are not always successful as editors of party
papers. He afterward taught school at Tecumseh and at Springville, and still later, be removed to Canada, studied medicine, engaged in business and became wealthy, being for many years
either at the head of or connected with the insane asvlum at
Toronto. In Canada, where he became known extensively, he was
held in the highest esteem, and all over the province great deference
was paid him as a man of culture and learning.
But The Constitutionalist, through which Mr. Workman expressed his thoughts to the public, was short-lived. In fact, it did
not live to celebrate its first anniversary. On July I8, 1838, the
first number of the Michigan Whig appeared, as a continuation of
The Constitutionalist, and in the date line appeals the words,
"Volume I, Number 39," which indicates that only thirty-eight
numbers were issued under its first name and management. The
publishers of the Whig, in the "prospectus," which it was the
custom to publish in those days, begins with this announcement:
"The press upon which the Constitutionalist has heretofore been
printed having changed hands, the proprietors propose publishing
a paper to be called the Michigan Whig, and under these circumstances, our patrons may very justly expect of us, as the conductors
of a public journal, to declare in some measure the course we
intend to pursue, and the principles which we intend to advocate."
Then, after fully explaining the views of the publishers upon questions agitating the public mind, the "prospectus" concludes as follows: "The Whig will be forwarded to the subscribers to the
Constitutionalist, and we will rely on the friends of our common
cause to use their best efforts to increase our subscription list.
On our part no effort will be spared to make the Whig a useful
and interesting journal to our patrons." Those who believed in
the principles of the Whig party certainly had no cause to complain of the lukewarmness of the Whig during its existence. The
publishers were H. J. Tyler & Company, with Mr. Tyler as editor,
and it continued to make its weekly visits until I842. Then, Mr.




PRESS OF THE COUNTY


557


Tyler having died, its publication was stopped, and in the following year, 1843, Jermain Brothers removed their plant from Jonesville to Adrian and established the Expositor, as related on a previous page.
Two other periodicals were published in Adrian in antebellum
days, one called the Christian Advocate and the other The Farmer
and Mechanic. The former was edited by the Rev. J. V. Watson,
a very able gentleman and a minister of the Methodist Episcopal
denomination. It was published in quarto form, and attained a
wide circulation, wielding a strong influence in the cause of Christianity in general and the Methodist church in particular. The
Reverend Watson first started a weekly publication, and later, in
January, I850, he launched the Family Favorite, a monthly periodical, which lived one year, and in January, 1851, it was succeeded
by the Christian Advocate.  The other publication, as its name
would indicate, was issued in the interests of the farmer and mechanic, and it was highly valued in those two lines of endeavor.
It was edited by a Mr. Davis, who continued its publication until
1849, when he mysteriously disappeared at Toledo, Ohio, and was
never afterward heard of. His silk hat, which he always wore, was
found on the bank of the river, but the most diligent search and
inquiry failed to unfold the mystery of his disappearance. The
paper, which he had published more or less successfully for a number of years, was allowed to discontinue for the want of a presiding
genius, and it joined the ranks of the deceased in the journalistic
graveyard.
In January, 1867, Richard I. Bonner, who had learned the art
of printing in the old Expositor office and was later an associate
publisher of that paper, established the Adrian Journal, a Democratic paper, of which he was the editor for several years. He
then disposed of the property to Japheth Cross, who continued the
publication of the paper until the early 80's, when it ceased to exist.
Japheth Cross, who published the last-named periodical for a
number of years, was one of the pioneers of Lenawee county, but
did not enter the newspaper business until late in life. He was
born in the town of Rutland, Jefferson county, New York, July 7,
I8IO. He lived with his parents until he was twenty-one years
of age, working on a farm at Antwerp, N. Y. At the age of twelve
years he commenced repairing watches, and at the age of fifteen he
began the study of medicine, which he continued about one year;
but becoming disgusted with the profession he gave up the study
and resumed farming and watch and clock repairing. At the age




558


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


of twenty-one he went to Canada, where he remained about three
years, engaged in trapping, hunting, purchasing furs, and working
at his trade. In the spring of I834, he removed to Cleveland, Ohio,
where he purchased a farm, eight miles from the city, on the
Columbus pike, and built a house for his father and mother.  He
owned this farm about eighteen months and then sold it and removed to Detroit, from whence he went to Perrysburg, Ohio, and
thence came to Adrian, establishing his permanent residence here
in i836. He first opened a stock of jewelry and other goods over
the furniture store of R. & G. W. Merrick, in the same store with
Dr. P. J. Spalding. The same spring he purchased a lot on North
Main street, where he erected a two-story brick house and moved
into it that year, this being perhaps the first brick dwelling erected
in Lenawee county. In the same year, he located the land where
the village of Osseo now stands, in Hillsdale county, and he also
entered a large farm in Seneca township, this county. In the
fall of 1837, he traded his brick house, on Main street, with Isaac
French, for an undivided one-half interest in the American hotel,
which stood on the corner of Winter and Front streets, where the
county jail is now located. That hotel he conducted for several
years, also acting as agent for the stage lines which ran into Adrian
from all directions. At a later date he purchased his partner's interest in the hotel, and, beginning in i836, he was an active business man in Adrian.  In the early '70's he purchased the Adrian
Weekly Journal, as before stated, and was the publisher and proprietor of that paper until it ceased publication, about i88o.
In I873 a new paper entered the journalistic field of Lenawee
county. William A. Whitney, having retired from the position of
postmaster at Adrian, which he had held for a term of four years,
decided that there was a field for a journal, such as he had in mind.
Engaging the services of Richard I. Bonner, a newspaper man of
much experience, together they went to Philadelphia and New
York, in which cities they purchased a very complete printing outfit. Mr. Bonner selected all the material, which cost about $8,ooo,
superintended the arrangement of the office, set up the presses.
started them, and put them all in full and perfect operation. He
wrote the salutatory of the paper, and was the superintendent and
one of its editors for over five years. The name of this paper was
the Adrian Press, the first number of which appeared in May, I873,
and Mr. Whitney continued its publication, a good portion of the
time as a daily and weekly, until April 5, 1878, a period of nearly
five years, when he sold out to the late Willard Stearns. Mr.




PRESS OF THE COUNTY


559


Stearns immediately took charge of the Press and conducted one
of the most vigorous Democratic papers in the state up to the time
that he disposed of the property. On April I, 1905, he sold the
paper and plant to Edward S. White, who conducted it only six
months, and then in turn sold it to George G. Grimes, who presided as the editor of the journal until his death, which occurred
Nov. 2, I908. Soon thereafter the publication of the Press was discontinued and the material was sold to parties in Hillsdale.
In the early spring of I88I, Richard I. Bonner commenced the
publication of the Evening Record, the first two-cent daily paper
in Adrian. This enterprise was successful, but owing to ill-health
Mr. Bonner sold the plant, in the fall of 1884, to S. W. Beakes.
That gentleman continued the publication of the paper for several months and then sold it to parties from Rochester, N. Y., and
they after a few weeks were disappointed in the outlook, and
stopped publication.
The city of Adrian is now represented by two excellent daily
newspapers, one of which has already been mentioned, while the
other is The Telegram, which ranks among the most successful
newspaper ventures in Michigan. From a very small beginning,
the paper attained great prestige under the guidance of David W.
Grandon, and the present publisher, Stuart Perry, is maintaining its
high standing.
David W. Grandon was born at Graysville, Greene county,
Pennsylvania, Jan. I9, I859.  He attended district school until
fourteen years of age, when he was apprenticed to the printing
trade in the Republican office at Waynesburg, the county seat of
Greene county. Following his apprenticeship, he held various positions in numerous offices, working at Cameron, Philippi, and Cairo,
in West Virginia, and at McArthur and other points in Ohio. Then
he returned to Greene county and taught school one winter, after
which he took entire charge of the mechanical department of the
Democrat, at Weston, W. Va. HIe also worked on the Republican
at the same place. He then went to Kentucky, where he was employed for some time at Lexington, Versailles, and Williamston.
Returning to Weston, W. Va., in I885, in company with the Hon.
Andrew Edminston, he started the Weston World, and in a few
months had made it the leading local paper of the county. Considering the field too small, after conducting the paper for about
two years, he sold the business and went to Charleston, W. Va.,
where he accepted the foremanship of the Charleston Daily Star,
and in order to keep fairly busy, started Grandon's Graphic, de



560


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


voted to the interests of temperance in West Virginia. This was
continued about two years. Then, Mr. Grandon came to Michigan
on the invitation of the Prohibitionists of Lenawee county, arriving at Adrian, May 30, I888. Next day, in company with Hon.
G. P. Waring and M. P. Brown, the plant of the defunct Lance was
purchased at Hillsdale.  The first issue of the revived Lance was
printed at Hillsdale and appeared June 9, i888. The office was
then moved to the third story of the Metcalf block in Adrian. Having but a small outfit of type, sufficient only to print four pages,
five columns to the page, and no newspaper press, it was found
impossible to secure the press work done in any Adrian printing
office. The forms were taken to Tecumseh and printed in the
Herald office in that town. This was continued about three months,
when a Prouty hand-power press was installed and the paper
printed at home. In I890, the Center, which was the Prohibition
party paper for the state of Michigan, was consolidated with the
Lance and the name of the Michigan Messenger adopted for the
new enterprise. Two editions were issued, one for the state with a
circulation running from 5,000 to 7,000 each week, and the second
devoted to the local interests of Adrian and Lenawee county. The
local edition of the Michigan Messenger proved so popular with
the home people that it soon became necessary to make it a semiweekly, and it was the first semi-weekly to be published in the
county of Lenawee. The paper continued to grow and prosper
and soon became a recognized factor in the newspaper field. Feeling that the field in Adrian was large enough for two daily papers,
on Dec. 3, I892, M. W. Redfield, an old newspaper man, and Elmer
E. Putman put out the first issue of the Adrian Daily Telegram.
The Messenger office had the contract for printing the paper, and
it was issued in this way for several months. Early in 1893, the
state edition of the Michigan Messenger was sold to Dr. Henry
A. Reynolds, of Pontiac. The business was moved away and the
name changed to Living Issues. The Daily Telegram had won
many friends in Adrian and the management not being in a position to continue it, Mr. Grandon and B. J. Kingston, of Jackson,
purchased the outfit on June 5, 1893, and succeeded in bringing the
little paper rapidly to the front, the partnership continuing until
the spring of I898, when Mr. Grandon became sole owner. The
Semi-Weekly Michigan Messenger was issued during this period
by Mr. Grandon, and was a winning paper with the county people.
In August, 1898, a Thorne typesetting machine, the first one in
Lenawee county, was installed in the office, and on Nov. 4, 1899,




PRESS OF THE COUNTY


56i


the Semi-Weekly Michigan Messenger was changed into the TriWeekly Telegram. The business continued to grow until it became necessary to add a more modern typesetting machine, and a
Mergenthaler Linotype, a line-casting machine, with but one
operator, was installed in September, I902. This was the first linotype ever brought to Lenawee county, and it proved as much superior to the Thorne typsetting machine as that machine was to
hand composition. On Jan 5, 1903, the Tri-Weekly Telegram was
merged into the Adrian Daily Telegram, which has since been supplied to the people of the villages and rural routes in lieu of the
weekly, semi-weekly, and tri-weekly. The daily paper proved so
gratifying to the ptarons and the circulation increased until the
capacity of the cylinder press was passed and it became necessary
to install a faster one. So, on June I0, I903, The Telegram was
printed on a new Duplex Perfecting press, printing from a roll
and capable of printing both sides, cutting, pasting, and folding
as high as 6,ooo perfect four, six, or eight page papers per hour, as
the occasion demanded. As The Telegram had been the first to
install nearly all new features in the printing business in Lenawee
county, it was fitting that it should be the first to establish an upto-date press of this character. In October, I907, the plant and business were sold by Mr. Grandon, who later engaged in a similar enterprise in Hillsdale, and the Telegram is continuing its phenomenally successful career under the management of Stuart Perry.
In November, 1902, the Michigan Patron was launched upon
the journalistic sea at Adrian by Commings & Balch, its purpose
being to serve as the organ of the Grange of Michigan. At the
end of about one year Mr. Commings retired from the business,
and Mr. Balch continued at the helm for about one year longer.
Not being very successful, however, he turned the paper over to
the Patron Publishing Company, a corporation that had backed
him in the enterprise. This company was about to give up the
business and suspend publication, when James W. Helme, one of
the members of the company, said that if those interested would
turn the business over to him he would make the paper a live issue
or else would bury it at his own expense. This was in January,
i905, and his offer being accepted Mr. Helme took charge of the
business. In four years from that date he had doubled the size of
the paper, had increased the subscription list from a paltry 2,500 to
I2,500, and today it is the most widely quoted periodical in the
state of Michigan. It reaches every county in the state, goes to
over 9oo postoffices, and arrangements are now being made to
36-Iv




562


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


launch it as the organ of the National Grange of the United States.
Every previous attempt to publish a Grange paper in Michigan had
proven a failure, even with the financial assistance of the State
Grange, but the Patron has proven a success without any help
from that source whatever. It is managed by Mr. Helme, who superintends every department of the editorial work, with the exception of the Ladies' Department, which is ably edited by Mrs.
Helme.
Undoubtedly Tecumseh is entitled to the distinction of being
the home of the second newspaper published in Lenawee county.
Late in 1834, or early in 1835, Beriah Brown started a paper at
that place under the name of Tecumseh Democrat, and it was a
strong advocate of Tecumseh in the struggle with Adrian over the
location of the county seat.  The enterprise originated with the
citizens of Tecumseh, wfio circulated a subscription and purchased
a press and font of type. 'Twas a Ramage press, similar to the
one first used by our venerable countryman, Benjamin Franklin.
The ink was laid on the type by old-fashioned "hand balls," and
the platen was brought down to make the impression by a lever
worked by hand. The principal object which induced the purchase
of this press was to print a weekly paper and for general advertising. Beriah Brown, who first assumed its management, was a
young printer from western New York. Not long after the paper
went into circulation the Hon. Peter Morey, a young lawyer from
Madison county, New York, settled in Tecumseh, and became
financially interested in the publication. When he became attorney.-general of the state, in 1837, John A. Brown, a brother of Beriah Brown, purchased the interest of Mr. Morey, and the paper
was thenceforth published by the Brown brothers until I840, when
they sold out to Daniel S. Curtis, a young man from Genesee, N.
Y., and a practical printer. Mr. Curtis published the Democrat
until about 1844, when he sold it to Henry S. Hewitt, and that
gentleman very soon afterward sold it to James L. and David
Smith, who worked the press some three or four years, having
changed the name of it to The Village Record. The press and type
were then sold to some one who conveyed them to parts unknown.
James L. Smith, who is thus mentioned as one of the early
newspaper men of Lenawee county, was born in Kilconquhar,
Scotland, May II, I8I3. He came to Tecumseh, in 1838, and later
removed to Sanilac county, which he represented in the Michigan
legislature in I85I. He followed various business pursuits and after
the organization of the Republican party was an adherent of that po



PRESS OF THE COUNTY


563


litical faith. He removed to Toledo, in I853, and in 1882 took up
his residence in Minneapolis.
On Oct. I, I850, James H. Perry, an Englishman by birth and
a practical printer, issued a new paper under the name of The Tecumseh Herald. Several citizens of the village interested themselves in this matter, and B. L. Baxter, then in the fourth year of
his legal practice and partnership with Perley Bills, undertook to
furnish the editorial matter gratuitously, while several of the leading citizens contributed funds for its support. But Mr. Perry,
though a practical printer, did not succeed as a publisher and was
soon in limbo, the press being more than once sold out on chattel
mortgage during the year. On Feb. 20, I851, L. G. Sholes bought
the concern and published the paper until Sept. ii, of that year,
when it was purchased by W. H. Stout. That gentleman ran it
just four weeks, when, Nov. I, 1851, it was sold to William Richard, who continued its publication under the editorship of B. L.
Baxter, who had, during all its changes and vicissitudes, continued
his gratuitous control of its editorial columns from the time of its
first issue by Mr. Perry. Mr. Richard sold the paper to John Shepherd March 25, 1852, but had to take it back again for non-payment.
He then sold it by contract to John Shepherd and George W. Benedict, the latter being a practical printer and an active and enterprising young man, and they continued to publish it to the end of
the second year of its existence, Oct. I, 1852. It was then purchased by William Richard, B. L. Baxter and Charles DeMott,
Baxter remaining as heretofore, its principal editor. Dr. DeMott
soon tired of the enterprise and fell out of the concern at the end
of its third year, Oct. I, I853. It was then published by Richard &
Baxter until Dec. I3, 1855, when Baxter went to Chicago to take
a position on the Chicago Tribune, leaving Mr. Richard to his fate,
and at a pecuniary loss of $I,5oo that gentleman continued to publish the paper until the end of its eleventh year. He then rented
the concern to Ralph T. Stocking, and Mr. Baxter, having returned
to Tecumseh, again edited the paper gratuitously. For two years
longer, the plant was leased to George S. and Charles K. Spafford,
practical printers, and Mr. Baxter still continued his gratuitous relations to the periodical during all its frequent changes as to publishers. Mr. Richard then leased it for one year to Mr. Nimmocks,
and one year to James A. Castle, and on Jan. I, I866, he sold it to
C. M. Burlingame, a practical printer, who managed and published
it for nearly eight years, when he sold it to S. C. Stacy, Nov. I,
I874. This. gentleman continued to publish the Herald with con



564


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


spicuous success until his death, which occurred in I900, after
which the paper was conducted by members of his family, a
younger brother, George N. Stacy, finally coming into full possession. Since the death of the latter, in I908, Mrs. Stacy has conducted the paper in an able, efficient, and acceptable manner.
William Richard, who was connected with the publication of
the Tecumseh Herald for a number of years, was born at Fleming
Hall, County Antrim, Ireland, and came with his parents to America, in 1829.  They settled in Geneseo, Livingston county, New
York, and remained until 1833, when the family came to Michigan.
William stopped at Tecumseh, and with the exception of one year,
when he resided in Adrian, spent the remainder of his life in that
village. He had learned the cabinet-maker's trade in the state of
New York, and in 1834, in company with H. A. Adams, he engaged in a rather extensive furniture manufactory, which was
operated by water power and located at the upper dam, in Brownsville. After a few years, he and David Van Tine purchased Mr
Adams' interest in the business, and enlarging it carried it on for
about eighteen years, it being the only furniture factory in this
region for several years. Mr. Richard built, or was instrumental in
building, ten brick store buildings and a large number of dwelling houses in the village. He was well known throughout the
county and had an honorable record.
Scovel C. Stacy, under whose editorial management the
Herald became highly successful, was born in Tecumseh village,
Aug. 2, 1841, and continued a resident of his native place his entire
life. His boyhood was spent in school and on his father's farm,
and at the age of nineteen years he had completed a full course of
study in the Tecumseh high school. In September, I86o, he entered the state university at Ann Arbor, took the regular classical
course, and was graduated in June, I864, prepared for the more
serious business of life. Upon his return from college, he began
the study of law in the office of his father, acting at the same
time as clerk, until October, 1867. He then returned to his alma
mater and took a six-months' course in the law department of the
university. He was admitted to practice in the courts of Michigan, May 29, I868, and in the United States courts, March 25, I870.
He commenced his regular practice in partnership with his honored
father, the firm being C. A. and S. C. Stacy, and continued until
November, I874. He had been considerably interested in newspaper work for some time, and now purchased the Tecumseh
Herald, for a consideration of $I,200. In August, 1885, he pur



PRESS OF THE COUNTY


565


chased the plant of the Addison Courier, and in October, I887,
added the outfit of the Britton Eagle. He wielded a ready pen,
was an enthusiastic lover of his profession, and was recognized by
his brethren of the craft as one of the leading journalists of
Southern Michigan.
In September, i866, Peter R. Adams, a lawyer of Tecumseh,
in order to furnish employment and position for his son, Waller P.
Adams, bought a press and printing outfit and started in that place
a weekly paper, styled The Raisin Valley Record. The publishers
were P. R. Adams & Co. (P. W. Adams and George S. Spafford
the company). They continued to publish the paper until the fall
of i867, when they sold the concern to Messrs. George S. and C.
K. Spafford, practical printers, formerly engaged on the Tecumseh
Herald. The new firm continued the publication about one year,
but did not succeed, and the press and appliances reverted to Mr.
Adams, who, in October, i868, sold it to Messrs. Chapin & Page,
practical printers, under whom the Record became a full-fledged
Republican paper. Mr. Page afterward sold his interest in the
paper to his partner, Charles T. Chapin, who continued the publication for several years, but finally removed with his press to Cadillac, Wexford county.
In i88i there was a paper being published in Clinton, called the
Clinton News. It was published by C. W. Clough, and in July of
that year he moved with his press and printing materials to Brooklyn, Mich. Charles F. Field purchased his list and the good will of
the paper, and getting a new press and type continued to publish
the Clinton News until in April, I884, when he removed the entire
plant to Tecumseh, changed the name of the paper to the Tecumseh
News, and under that title the paper has been continued in Tecumseh ever since. It is a good village paper, full of local and other
news, and Republican in politics.
The first attempt at journalism in the township and village of
Hudson was made by William H. Bolsby, July 9, 1853. The paper
was called the Hudson Sentinel, and T. D. Montgomery was editor.
About the beginning of the next year, Canniff & Montgomerv became the proprietors of the Sentinel, and Andrew C. Mercer, editor.
In November, Mr. Canniff appeared as editor and proprietor, Joseph
G. Davenport, publisher, and in December, Davenport became editor and proprietor. The paper was soon afterward consolidated
with the Michigan Republican, and was published for a short time
at Adrian by one Hobart, proprietor.
On Sept. 13, i855, a new paper appeared at Hudson. It was




566


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


called the Hudson Courier, and was published by a company, as
follows: H. M. Boies, W. H. Johnson, Enos Canniff, Benjamin
Turner, A. C. Mercer, L. G. Hall and Alonzo Palmer. A. C. Mercer was editor, but the paper was comparatively short lived.
Enos Canniff, who was connected with the first two newspaper
ventures in the village of Hudson, and a pioneer of Hudson township, was born in Knowlesville, Orleans county, New York, Feb. rI,
1822. He was eight years old at the time of his father's death, and
he lived with an uncle a year and then with Alpheus Phelps, near
Knowlesville, acquiring his education in the common schools, mostly during the winter seasons. In the fall of 1839 he came with his
mother to Michigan, but subsequently returned to New York state,
spending part of his time there and a part of the time in Michigan,
until locating in Richfield, where he engaged in the manufacture of
brooms two years. At the expiration of this time he took up his
residence in Hudson, where he lived the remainder of his life. He
was an Abolitionist from his earliest recollection, and was one of
the founders of the Republican party in this state. Early in I854.
as before stated, he purchased the Sentinel, the first journal ever
published in Hudson, and this he conducted until after the election
of Governor Bingham, when he disposed of the paper. He officiated
as supervisor of Hudson township, was the first street commissioner
and the first marshal of the village, and in I883 was appointed
postal clerk from Granger, Wyo., to Huntington, Ore. He ran the
first mail train passing over the route, and after a service of two
years in this capacity was made deputy postmaster at Weiser, Id.,
a position he filled satisfactorily for some time and then returned
to Hudson.
On Aug. I5, I857, still another paper appeared in Hudson, the
Saturday Evening News, E. Wolverton, editor and proprietor. This
paper was succeeded, March 26, 1858, by the Hudson Gazette, W.
T. B. Schermerhorn, editor and proprietor. Under the management of Mr. Schermerhorn the Gazette became an able village
paper. It was printed first as a neutral sheet, then as an independent. Although for several years it was thought its independency
leaned, it adhered to that motto until the summer of 1876, when it
came out squarely for the Democracy. It continued as an adherent
of that cause until I896, since which time it has been considered decidedly independent in its political views. It has always been an
able paper, and for many years it was the pet of all Hudson households, no matter what shade of political opinion prevailed.
William Ten Broeck Schermerhorn was born in Claverack, Co



PRESS OF THE COUNTY


567


lumbia county, New York, March I8, I835. He developed at an
early age studious and industrious habits, and when but thirteen
years old entered the office of the Wayne County Sentinel, at Palmyra, and thoroughly acquired the "art preservative." His ambition to progress in his calling led him to Utica, where he worked
for a time, and later he was employed in the Wayne County Democrat office at Lyons. Desiring to engage in business for himself,
he came to Hudson, in 1858, and bought the Gazette, which was
then in a collapsed condition. He continued the successful publication of the paper up to the time of his sudden death from heart
disease, Dec. 15, 1884. William Ten Broeck, Jr., the oldest son, was
attending school at Oberlin College at the time of his father's death.
He unselfishly relinquished his plans for a professional career, and
heroically applied himself to the work of carrying on the business
and maintaining the family. In this he succeeded admirably, keeping the paper up to the reputation it had achieved under his father's
management, till death called him from his labors, April I8, I887.
After his death the paper passed to the management of the second
son, James, who resigned from his cadetship at West Point on account of his brother's ill health. James Schermerhorn continued at
the head of the Gazette for a period of about ten years, and then
removed to Detroit, where he is prominently connected with the
newspaper business, as editor of the Daily Times.
Late in 1862 Titus Babcock started a Republican newspaper in
the village of Hudson and named it the Herald. He continued to
run the paper until, in I865, he was succeeded by Russel D. Babcock
and Daniel Russell; they were in turn succeeded by A. H. Pattee,
who changed the name to Transcript, and he, in the spring of I868,
by Laird & Penfield, who again changed the name to Post. Chauncey W. Stevens succeeded to the management of the paper sometime in the year I869, A. H. Pattee in 1870, and James M. Scarritt
in the spring of I872. During the latter part of the ownership by
Pattee, Dr. Andrews was editor and manager. When Mr. Scarritt
assumed the management, in the spring of 1872, he found less than
two hundred paying subscribers, and the office had no reputation
for job work and but little material to do job work with. The only
press that could be used was a Washington. Scarcely anyone would
subscribe for the paper-its several changes had invariably been to
the pecuniary loss of its subscribers-and they would trust it no
more. The first year's business showed a loss of about eight hundred dollars, the second scarcely paid, but a reputation had been
made, and thenceforward the progress was steady and constant.
As a.business manager Mr. Scarritt was a decided success.




568


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


Although Hudson now has but two papers, there have been
several others, besides those already mentioned, started and published for a short time, but for some reason or other the demand
did not seem to justify their continued existence.  Immediately
after the Rev. Jesse T. Webster assumed the duties of rector of
Trinity Church, Hudson, he commenced the publication of the
Record, a monthly parish newspaper, as an aid in parish work. This
paper he enlarged and improved until, under a change of name, it
became the organ, first of one, then of two dioceses. It was a beautiful and able religious journal, and was printed at the office of the
Hudson Post until some time after the editor's removal to Detroit,
when its publication office was changed to that place. Hall's Hudson Grocer, a monthly publication devoted to commercial interests,
and Our Messenger, also issued monthly, and religious in the subject matter treated of, made their appearance in 1890, and enjoyed
a reasonable degree of popularity during their existence. In 1894
a weekly paper appeared under the title of Hudson Republican, and
a monthly called the Young People's Advance, but both of these
publications ceased to appear in time, the field evidently not justifying the enterprise. Another paper, called The Vibrator, appeared
in 1896, but it also joined the ranks of the deceased, after the promoters were thoroughly satisfied with their efforts.
The newspaper history of Morenci is comprised in the story of
the progress of that sprightly weekly journal, the Morenci Observer,
and the success in the upbuilding of that publication has been due
in the main to the ability and energy of Erasmus D. Allen and his
sons, Augustus and Vernon, who succeeded to the management
upon the death of their father.
Erasmus Darwin Allen was born in the township of Farmington, Ontario county, New York, May 3, 1823. A farmer's son, he
was early ambitious to acquire a good education, and in furtherance
of that object attended the Canandaigua (N. Y.) Academy, where
he was a very apt and industrious young student, especially proficient in mathematics.  Subsequently, he attended the State
Normal School, at Albany, N. Y., in order to prepare himself
for the profession of teaching.  Shortly after graduating therein, he became principal of the Mendon (N. Y.) Academy, where
he remained some time. In I849, impelled by the emigration fever,
he removed to Michigan and first settled in Medina, Lenawee county, where he entered into partnership with his brother in the mercantile and milling business. Still interested in the cause of education, he materially assisted in the establishment of an academy at




PRESS OF THE COUNTY


569


Medina, and was one of the contractors who erected the building
to be used for that purpose. After about eight years' residence at
that place, he emigrated to Nebraska, and, purchasing some land,
began farming operations near Brownville. About i859 he decided
to return to Michigan, and, coming to this county, located at Mlorenci, where, with the exception of a brief interval, he resided nearly
a quarter of a century. He at once assumed the principalship of
the public schools and filled that honorable position for several
terms. About this time he entered upon his editorial career, first
publishing the Morenci Star, a journal which prospered until the
Civil war broke out and overshadowed all interests of a local or
business character. He then entered the dry goods house of J. P.
Cawley & Company, as bookkeeper, which position he retained for
nine years. In I872 Morenci for the first time heard the sound of
a locomotive whistle, and entered upon a very lively and rapid
growth. Mr. Allen, with ready discernment characteristic of him,
saw the opportunity to make a village newspaper profitable, and at
once embarked in the publication of a journal appropriately named
the New Era, for which, by his untiring energy and tact, he soon secured a large circulation, and assisted largely in the growth and
welfare of the village. After publishing the New Era for some three
years, he was induced to sell his office and go to Detroit as publishing agent of the Michigan Christian Advocate, of which he was one
of the original stockholders. Protracted sickness in his family prevented him from discharging the duties incumbent upon him in connection with that office satisfactorily to himself, and he therefore
resigned it and returned to his old home in Alorenci. In the autumn
of 1875 he purchased the office of the Morenci News, which had
been started in the meantime, and re-christened it the State Line
Observer. This journal, the name of which was afterward changed
to Morenci Observer, he managed until his death, which event occurred Feb. 28, i885. During the later years of his life his sons had
assisted him in the conduct of the paper, and after his death they
assumed the entire management, which they continued with gratifying success until they retired from business a few years ago. The
Observer, under its present management, is being maintained at a
high standard of efficiency and usefulness, and is counted among
the leading weekly journals of southern Michigan.
Arthur D. Gilmore started the first paper in Blissfield, called
the Blissfield Advertiser, in January, I874. Mr. Gilmore at that
time was a resident of Blissfield and engaged in the real estate and
banking business. The Advertiser was a four-page paper with fivee




570


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


columns to the page, and it was the intention to publish it quarterly, but after its second issue it was merged into, or rather succeeded
by the Blissfield Advance. The Advance was first issued March
I9, 1874, by C. T. Hamblin and Fred W. Samsen.  In July, I880,
Mr. Hamblin retired from the firm and Mr. Samsen presided over
the destinies of the paper until the early 'gos. He then disposed of
the business to Orrin E. Hawkins, who conducted the paper until
October, I899, when he, in turn, sold it to Harry C. Wilson. In January, I9OI, Mr. Wilson retired from the editorial sanctum and was
succeeded by J. C. Howell and Walter S. Goff, who together managed the concern until I904, when Mr. Howell retired. Mr. Goff
then continued in charge of the publication until Jan. 6, I906, when
the business was purchased by Henry P. Winte, who has since
conducted the paper, and under whose management it has become
recognized as a journal of merit and a worthy representative of the
business interests of Blissfield.
The Addison Courier and Tri-County Advertiser first made its
appearance at Addison, June 27, I884, with Albert E. Marvin as editor and publisher. On Aug. 8, 1885, the good will of the business
was sold to Scovel C. Stacy, of Tecumseh, and A. J. Kempton was
installed as editor. On Dec. 30, 1887, A. J. Kempton purchased the
good will of the paper, which up to that time had been printed at
Tecumseh, and he secured the small mechanical equipment of the
defunct Britton Eagle and commenced printing the paper in Addison. Mr. Kempton also for a time conducted a paper called the
Lenawee County Prohibitionist, and also the Cement City Enterprise. On July 30, I904, the Courier was sold to Prof. J. B. Stephenson, of Onsted. Prof. Stephenson was a man of large experience
and was for some years publisher of the Brooklyn Exponent. He
conducted the Courier but a few months when his son, L. W. Stephenson, took charge. In September, I905, the latter sold the paper to
Ralph Gary, who conducted it about a year and a half, and then
sold it to John Steward, an attorney of Addison. Mr. Steward published the paper until September, I907, when Mr. Stephenson again
took charge, and has since managed it very successfully.
In I894 the Onsted News made its appearance at Onsted, in
Cambridge township, and it has continued publication until the
present time, being a very creditable newspaper representative of
that thriving village. Different ones have presided as editor-inchief since its first issue, their names being as follows: Miss Myrtle
Maxwell, Oscar Cummings, L. W. Stephenson, Glenn Easton, W.
M. Hundley and Bert Thayer. The present owner took editorial




PRESS OF THE COUNTY


57I


charge in the spring of I909, and the c6lumns of the News give evidence of his experience and ability in that line of work.
The village of Clinton has had a varied history so far as newspapers are concerned, a number having been started and for some
reason or other ceased publication in the course of a reasonably
short time. The Clinton Standard had the field to itself in the early
'70s, but it seems to have gone by the board, given up the ghost,
or something of that sort. Then, in the closing years of that decade,
the Clinton News was published at that place for a time, but its
office of publication was transferred to Tecumseh, as heretofore
stated. It was soon succeeded, however, by the Clinton Local,
which is still in existence and is now being published as a semiweekly, and in I906, the Clinton Courier, an independent weekly,
was started and still lives in an apparently healthy condition.
In I880 the Deerfield Record began publication at the village
of Deerfield, and it survived under that name for a number of years.
In 1894 the Deerfield Times appeared, and in 1897 the name TimesJournal is given in the list of the county's newspapers, the hyphenated cognomen indicating a consolidation of the Times and Journal.
Under that name the village paper is now issued and it has a very
healthful appearance.
In the foregoing pages an effort has been made to give a record,
as nearly accurate as possible, of the different newspaper ventures
that have been undertaken in Lenawee county. Of those that for
any considerable time weathered the storms that beset the mariner
upon the tempestuous sea of journalism, the list given is, we believe, approximately correct. But many have started upon the literary voyage with high hopes and o'ertowering ambition, only to
sink beneath the waves of oblivion and be forgotten. Of a number
of these, but little information can be obtained. In 1838 The Madisonian, a Whig paper, was started at Tecumseh, but its existence
was brief, and the fact of its being seems to have been forgotten.
Among the other short-lived periodicals may be mentioned the following: The Anzieger and the Reformator, both German publications, at Adrian, are given in the Michigan Manual of I875, as is
also a monthly publication called the Michigan Advocate; the Billet
Doux at Adrian, in I88I; the Educational News, a monthly publication, and the Repertory, a college monthly, both at Adrian, in I883;
the College World, a semi-monthly, and Our Church, a monthly,
both of Adrian, are given in the list in I891; the Advance, a weekly,
the Grocer's Index, a monthly, and the Epworthian, also a monthly,
all of Adrian, in I893; the Christian Endeavor Helper, of Tecumseh,
and the Michigan Representative, of Adrian, in 1897.




572             MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY
The list of present publications, as given by the Michigan
Manual for 90o9, include the following: Courier (weekly), Addison;
Michigan Patron (monthly), Telegram (daily), and Times (daily
and tri-weekly), Adrian; Advance (weekly), Blissfield; Courier
(weekly) and Local (semi-weekly), Clinton; Times-Journal (weekly), Deerfield; Gazette (weekly), and Post (semi-weekly), Hudson;
Observer (weekly), Morenci; News (weekly), Onsted; Herald
(semi-weekly), and News (weekly), Tecumseh, and the Kodak
(semi-monthly), Weston. To these should be added Greene's
Weekly, the first number of which was issued at Cement City,
April 9, I909.








( 'IF, I ORD KIR K PATRICK, -[. D.




CHAPTER XXXV.
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
THE LENAWEE COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY-TRIALS OF THE EARLY
PHYSICIANS-PERSONAL MENTION OF EARLY PRACTITIONERS.
The history of the medical profession of Lenawee county must
necessarily be incomplete, as there were no records up to I90I.
In the early days of the county there were but very few physicians,
and no society of medical men was successfully organized until
Oct. 22, I9OI; consequently there is no authentic data for compilation. Many attempts to organize and form a county society had
been made, but all were unsuccessful until October, I901, when,
through the indefatigable efforts of Dr. D. L. Treat, of Adrian,
ably assisted by Drs. E. T. Morden and J. C. Johnson, of the same
city, a society was organized, taking the name of "The Lenawee
County Medical Society," affiliated with the State Medical Society,
and it has today (I909) fifty-seven members. Any account must
therefore necessarily be to a great extent traditional. And also,
in the space allotted, it would be impossible to give a complete
resume of all those who labored in the field of medicine and surgery in the early days of the county, ably and many of them unostentatiously, to combat the diseases prevalent in that period.
The practice of medicine and surgery during the early history
of our county was not a sinecure. The roads-where there were
any-were necessarily poor, and many journeys had to be made
over bridle-paths. Sometimes even these were impassable and the
journey had to be made or completed on foot and by fording
streams, climbing over fallen trees, crossing marshes-in fact, any
way possible to carry succor to the afflicted. And many times the
doctor arrived after death had closed the eyes that had looked so
long for his coming.
The doctor went on horse-back, carrying his saddle-bags,
which contained his small stock of crude drugs (and he acquired




574


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


rare proficiency in their efficacious combination) that he was compelled to use for all kinds of diseases. The medical practitioner of
today can have but little comprehension of the arduous and resourceful life of the early "country doctor." Then, the physician
furnished all of his medicine, many of his remedies being procured
by himself from the vegetable kingdom, and they were administered in what was known in the vernacular as "horse-doses."
Today, the busy doctor hands a prescription to his patient, who,
taking it to some drug store, is furnished with an elegant pharmaceutical preparation which is satisfying to the eye and pleasing to
the palate, in place of the crude and frequently nauseating compound then administered. Then, he had no trained assistants or
nurses, and the attention given to the sick, while prompted by
love or friendship, frequently was disastrous from excess of kindness.
In the domain of surgery the advancement has been simply
appalling. Then, the skill and ability of the operator were handicapped by his ignorance of sepsis, and many a patient paid with
his life the penalty for the doctor's hands not being clean. Had
we an authentic record of the early accidents, diseases, and deaths,
together with their causes, and could we appreciate the limitations
of the early physicians, we would not wonder that so many died,
but that so many lived; and we of today should take off our hats
to the resourcefulness and ability of our early brethren, who derived no assistance from the multitudinous antiseptics and the
operative paraphernalia and technique that have been evolved
since the early days.
The medical education of many of the early physicians was
extremely limited, and even those who had taken a college degree
and possessed a diploma had no such educational equipment as the
graduate of today. The early requirements to enter a medical college was a certificate of "good moral character," no preliminary
education being necessary providing they could read and write;
and the requirements for graduation were that the student should
have attended two terms of lectures, each of six months' duration.
Since that time the requirements have been steadily increased
until today most colleges require a term of four years, each of nine
months' duration, and it is not any exaggeration to assert that it is
now necessary to know more to get into a medical college than
was necessary forty years ago to get out of one, with a diploma.
The first'physician to abide in Lenawee county was Dr. Caleb
N. Ormsby, who first located in Tecumseh, but permanently set



THE MEDICAL PROFESSION


575


tied in Adrian in 1827. Dr. Michael A. Patterson was the first to
permanently locate in Tecumseh, and he there continued in the
active practice of his profession until I875. He became very prominent in civic affairs and filled various positions of honor, among
them being representative and senator in the state legislature.
Dr. Beebe came to Adrian, in 1831, and practiced successfully for
about a year, caught the small-pox while attending the family of
Jacob Brown, and died from it in the summer of 1832. He was a
young man of fine ability and his death, due to devotion to his profession, cast a gloom over the entire community.  He was the
second physician who settled in Adrian.
Dr. Parley J. Spalding was the third physician to locate permanently in Adrian. He came Nov. 22, 1832, was justly considered
an acquisition to the place and was always highly respected. At
various times he held prominent positions, was register of deeds,
mayor of the city, and at one time was a prominent candidate for
Congress, but was defeated by a division in his own party. When
he first located in Adrian he formed a co-partnership with Dr.
Caleb N. Ormsby. This association was dissolved in about eighteen
months and Dr. Spalding then practiced alone until 1836, when a
partnership was formed with Dr. A. Barnard, under the name of
Spalding & Barnard. This association continued until the death
of Dr. Barnard, in the summer of I864, after which Dr. Spalding
continued alone until he retired from active practice, in the fall of
I87I. He then sold out to Dr. George W. Voorhees, who is at this
date practicing in Adrian.
Dr. Thomas F. Dodge was born in Andover, Windsor county,
Vermont, Aug. 21, I806. Of his early history there is but little
known. His father died when he was eleven years old, and he
then went to live with his uncle. Upon reaching manhood, he
came to Blissfield, as early as Oct. I8, 1830, and on that date purchased a small farm of Isaac Randall, which tract of land, together
with school-teaching, furnished him employment. On June 20,
1835, he purchased of John S. Older the east half of the north half
of the northwest quarter of section 20, in the township of Madison,
and there he resided until Nov. 14, 1836, when he sold his farm to
Seth P. Benson. He then purchased of Job S. Comstock the property on the corner of Main street and Dodge's alley, in Adrian. In
the summer of 1859, he became a resident of Reading, Hillsdale
county, where he lived for four years, and then returned to Adrian
and again occupied his old home on Main street. He practiced
his profession more or less for over forty years, and by many his




576


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


kind care and gentleness will long be remembered. He did not
succeed in amassing a large fortune, but he left to his family a
name untarnished. He died at his residence in Adrian, May 28,
I877.
Dr. Robert Stephenson was born in County Monaghan, Ireland, Aug. 20, I821. He graduated at Anderson Medical College,
Glasgow, Scotland, in I845. He then took a trip to Greenland and,
about 1847, came to Adrian, where he began to build up a large
and lucrative practice. To illustrate the patience necessary to
establish a practice, the writer will state that he was personally
told by Dr. Stephenson that the first six months he (Dr. Stephenson) was in practice he did not make fifty dollars, and he was
pretty well discouraged. The diseases of this county, similar to
those of any new country (and mostly of teluric origin) were so
different from those where he received his degree that he took a
course in the Buffalo Medical College and graduated in that institution in I855. He then resumed his practice in Adrian and there
continued until I890. While abroad, he died at Vienna, Austria,
Aug. 9, I890.
Dr. Alexander AW. Seger was for years a physician well known
in this community. He came to this section of the country in the
summer of 1847, after having graduated at Worcester (Mass.)
Medical College, and at about the time of engaging in practice secured a tract of land on section 22, in Rome township. He was
born at Chittenden, Rutland county, Vermont, Oct. 15, 1822, and
remained with his parents on the farm until reaching his majority.
He early became interested in medicine and entered the office of
Dr. J. G. Ross at Middlebury, under whose instructions he studied
four years and commenced practice. Later, he attended lectures
at Woodstock Medical College, and completed his studies at Worcester as already stated. In the spring of I848, he removed from
his farm to Rome Center, where he engaged in the practice of his
profession, which he continued there until I870. In the spring of
that year, he sold his property in Rome and removed to the city
of Adrian, purchasing a fine residence on the corner of Michigan
avenue and Madison street. Here he established himself as a
physician. He was for a time interested in the drug trade, but
after I880 gave his entire attention to his practice. He was always
strictly temperate and never tasted a drop of intoxicating liquor
or used tobacco in any form.
Dr. Edwin P. Andrews was born at Plymouth, Wayne county,
Michigan, Aug. 26, I826. He remained at the home of his parents




THE MEDICAL PROFESSION


577


and assisted in the work upon the farm, including the clearing of
the timber from the land, until he was twenty-one years of age.
At the age of twenty-one he began the study of medicine with Drs.
Graham & Decker, prominent and successful physicians of Adrian.
He remained under their instruction until in the fall of 1848, when
he became a student in the -Starling Medical College, of Columbus,
Ohio. During the prosecution of his medical studies in college he
was obliged to work during the vacation in order to procure
money to defray his expenses. He graduated at this college in the
spring of 1850, and in that year began the practice of medicine in
Adrian, which occupation he continued during the remainder of his
life. In 1861 he was appointed by President Lincoln as examining
surgeon for Lenawee county, to examine all candidates for the service of the government during the Civil war. He was also for a
number of years the examining surgeon for pensions.
Dr. Nelson H. Kimball was for years a prominent member of
the medical profession in Adrian. He was born in the town of
Martinsburg, Lewis county, New York, Sept. Io, 1820. His father
died when the son was but two years old, and the latter was
adopted into the family of Arba Jones, who emigrated from New
York, in 1837, and settled in Seneca township, Lenawee county.
While residing in Martinsburg, young Kimball attended the district schools, where he began the education which was completed
in after life. At the age of nineteen years (in 1839), he went to
Tecumseh, where he engaged to learn the carpenter's trade under
the instructions of Charles Van Valkenburg. After working at
this for some years, he entered the office of Drs. Spalding & Barnard, in 1847, and began the study of medicine. He prosecuted
his studies in their office until he was fitted for entering the Cleveland Medical College, at which he graduated in I850. From that
time he was continuously engaged in the practice of his profession
in the city of Adrian and vicinity. From the beginning of his professional career he was a close student, and his manners were
always quiet and unassuming. He served in various civic offices,
was a member of the board of health, city physician, and also
served as mayor. For many years he was surgeon for the Lake
Shore & Michigan Southern railroad.
Dr. Charles Rynd was born in County Donegal, Ireland, Dec.
28, I835.,He graduated in the medical department of the University of Michigan, in the spring of 1859. In November of the same
year he located in the city of Adrian, where he continuously practiced his profession until the day of his death, Aug. I9, 1884. He
37-Iv




578


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


served four years on the common council, and was also president
of the board of education. In 1871 he was elected as a member of
the Board of Regents of the State University by a very large
majority. He was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in Cincinnati, in 1876, and aided largely in the nomination of
Rutherford B. Hayes. He was for many years examiner for the
pension department and was a warm friend of the soldiers. He
was always actively engaged in local and state politics, and as a
public speaker had but few equals.
Dr. Daniel Todd was born at Petersborough, N. H., Dec. 17,
1827. He graduated at the University of Buffalo College, in I851,
and settled in Canandaigua the same year, remaining until I854,
when he moved to Madison township and practiced his profession
there until I870, when he moved to Adrian, where he is still actively engaged in his professional work at this date (I909).
Dr. Joseph Tripp was born at Bristol, England, Nov. 3, I827,
and lived there until he was three years old. His parents came to
America in 1831, and settled in the present township of Franklin,
on the shore of Sand Lake. He resided with his parents in that
township, receiving his education there and at the Michigan University, and then located in Tecumseh. He came to Adrian, March
I7, I850, and, in the office of Dr. R. Stephenson, commenced the
study of medicine, remaining there, including lecture terms, for
three years. He attended two courses of lectures at Ann Arbor,
and graduated at the Cleveland Medical College, in February,
1854. He then went to Morenci and commenced the practice of his
profession, remaining there five years. He then went to Buffalo
and attended a course of lectures at the Buffalo Medical College,
receiving the degree of Doctor of Medicine, which was conferred
on him by Millard Fillmore, who was at that time chancellor of
that institution. Returning to Morenci, he continued to practice
at that place until I861, when he moved to Ypsilanti and lived there
until September, I873. He then removed to Adrian and formed a
partnership with Dr. Stephenson, which lasted but a short time,
and then he opened an office alone in rooms formerly occupied by
Drs. Spalding & Barnard. In 1873 he received an appointment as
examining surgeon for the commissioners of the Department of
the Interior, which position he held for a short time and then
resigned in consequence of his removal from Ypsilanti to Adrian.
He was city physician at Ypsilanti for four years and was employed by the county superintendents of the poor to attend to the
poor in the city of Adrian.




THE MEDICAL PROFESSION


579


The first to perform the duties of a physician in Blissfield and
vicinity was a woman-Mrs. Margaret Giles, wife of George Giles,
the first hotel-keeper in the place. Although not regularly licensed,
according to the requirements of today, she proved her efficiency
in many cases, and her services were considered indispensable by
the early pioneers of that section of the county. Mrs. Giles, whose
maiden name was Margaret Crow, was born in Pennsylvania, in
I793, and died at Blissfield, Oct. I4, I864. She was one of the most
useful, kind-hearted, and intelligent women who ever settled in a
new country. She was a good cook, a good nurse, and was the
only doctor in Blissfield for fourteen years. No woman was ever
better or more favorably known throughout this whole region of
country than she. She answered calls from Adrian to Petersburg,
day or night, and always went on horse-back, and her name was a
household word in the east half of the county.
Dr. Joseph Howell, the first physician to practice his profession in the township of Macon, was a native of the state of New
York, of English extraction. He moved with his family to Lenawee county, in 1831, and located upon a farm in the township of
Macon, and for many years thereafter practiced his profession
among the people of that part of the county. He was also one of
the members representing Lenawee county in the convention of
1835, which framed the first constitution of the state of Michigan.
He was born in 1803, and lived to an advanced age, in a remarkable
state of preservation, both physically and mentally.
Dr. Alonzo Cressy, who was among the first, if not the first
physician to locate in the village of Clinton, was born in Scipio,
N. Y., in I808. He received a fair education, studied medicine, and
began practice at Lima, N. Y. There he married a daughter of
Dr. Justin Smith, and emigrated to Clinton in I83I. In 1832 he
accompanied a detachment of troops, which was sent to the Black
Hawk war, as far as Chicago, treating many attacked with cholera
and studying the malady in the hospital. He removed to Hillsdale
in I855 and there took high rank as a physician. He died many
years since.
Dr. William Holloway was probably the first physician to locate in the township of Raisin. He was born in Massachusetts in
1781, and there resided until about 18i6, when he emigrated to
York, Livingston county, New York, where he practiced medicine
until he came to Lenawee county in I833. He settled in Raisin
township, where he continued the practice of his profession until
his death, Aug. Io, 1852.




580


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


Dr. Increase S. Hamilton was for many years one of the most
popular physicians in Lenawee county. He was a native of Massachusetts, born Jan. 5, I809, near the home of the poet, William
Cullen Bryant. He received his education in Orleans county, New
York, whither his parents removed when he was but a small boy,
and in Monroe Academy he acquired a knowledge of the higher
branches, including Latin and Greek. When about twenty-one
years old he commenced the study of medicine in the office of Dr.
James. Willard, of Geauga county, Ohio, and later entered the
Western Branch of the New York University, at Fairfield, in which
he graduated in I835. In casting about for his future location, he
decided to seek a place in the Territory of Michigan, and in May,
1835, first set foot in Lenawee county, stopping at Canandaigua,
on Bean creek, where he commenced the practice of his profession,
and remained in that vicinity for the ensuing nine years. In the
spring of i8,4 he took up his residence in Tecumseh, where he followed his profession continuously until the spring of i887, when
failing health admonished him that it would be wise to retire. He
devoted over half a century to the duties of his profession, looking
upon it in its true light, as a solemn responsibility, and one in
which it behooved him to gain all the knowledge possible.
Dr. James H. Sweeney was the first physician in the vicinity
of Morenci. He came from New York about i835 and practiced
his profession in that locality for many years.
Dr. Nathan Town was born in Berkshire county, Massachusetts, July I5, I792. He lived in his native state until he reached
manhood, and then removed to the state of New York. He remained there only a short time, however, and then went to Norwich, London district (now Oxford county), Canada, where he
settled and lived until i838. While a young man he studied medicine, and after his location in Canada commenced practice and became a successful physician. In I836 what is familiarly known as
the "Patriot War" broke out, and the Doctor was in sympathy with
the patriots. In I837 he was arrested on a charge of treason and
imprisoned in the Hamilton jail for nine months, at the end of
which time he, with others, was sentenced to be hanged. A short
time before the day set for the hanging, a reprieve came from
Queen Victoria, and the Doctor was banished from the Province,
being compelled to leave before he could settle his affairs or get
his family ready to move. He immediately went to Detroit, arriving in November, 1838, and there he remained until his family
came. He then went to Hanover, Jackson county, where he re



THE MEDICAL PROFESSION


58I


mained until the following spring, and in May, I839, located
government land on the shore of Round Lake, on section II, Rollin
township, and there he lived until his death, which occurred Oct.
2'8, I854. He did very little at farming, but devoted his entire attention to the practice of medicine, which he followed to the time
of his last sickness. He was the second physician to locate in Rollin, Dr. Hall having been the first.
Dr. Leonard G. Hall was a pioneer of Lenawee county, and
for many years a prominent physician, being one of the earliest of
that profession to establish himself in this county. He was born
in Duanesburg, Schenectady county, New York, Aug. 7, I806, and
in the same year the parents removed to Cold Brook, Herkimer
county. There the future doctor was reared, and in his vouth
turned his attention to the study of medicine. Having first to earn
money to pay for his tuition, he selected the shoemaker's trade, and
after learning it he went to St. Catherines, Canada, and was there
employed by the contractors of a canal to make boots and shoes
for their men. He carefully saved his earnings and was thus enabled to attend the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Fairfield, N. Y., in which he graduated with honors, his diploma bearing the date of Jan. 23, I834. Thus well equipped for his chosen
profession, he selected the Territory of Michigan, the southern
part of which was being rapidly settled, as a- promising field for a
young physician to establish a good practice in, and directly after
graduation he came here and located in Rollin township. He
made his home with Daniel Rhodes, continuing practice there until
1840, when he removed to Lanesville, as the city of Hudson was
then called, and opened an office there. The present city of Hudson was then but a small hamlet, with no railway connections, and
he was obliged for a time to drive to Monroe for his medicine. He
continued in active practice there until i860, when he opened a drug
store, and after that practiced but little until his death, which occurred Oct. 29, 1877. During his long residence in Hudson he
won the entire confidence and respect of all in the community.
Dr. Rufus Kibbee came from the state of New York and was
a physician and druggist at Canandaigua for a number of years.
He removed to Coldwater about I867, and there died in 1883 or
I844. Dr. Chappell came in 1844 and was widely known for his
ability, forcefulness and originality. Dr. Brown died in Medina
in 1858, and was succeeded by Dr. Weeds, who remained until in
I86I, when he was commissioned a surgeon in the United States
-army. Dr. James S. Power succeeded Dr. Weeds, and there re



582


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


mained until i866. Dr. Ely, an "eclectic," and Dr. Dodge, a "regular," also practiced in the village of Medina a number of years.
In addition to the physicians already named, Drs. Titus, Hampton
and Kendall have practiced medicine in Medina. Dr. Titus came
about I845, and for a time was a partner of Dr. Brown. He removed to the state of New York, thence to Missouri, and returned
to Medina in 1862 and stayed one year. He was a successful practitioner. Dr. Carlos G. Hampton practiced in company with Dr.
Brown two or three years and afterward, for some time, lived on
a farm near the village. He removed to Texas about I859 or I860,
but on account of Union sentiments was driven out of the South
two or three years later. After his return he practiced medicine
in Hudson for a time, and then removed to Muir, in this state. Dr.
Kendall lived on a farm in the southern part of Medina township,
and practiced medicine there for many years. He afterward engaged in the drug business at Fayette, Ohio.
Dr. Henry Wyman was born in Keene, Cheshire county, New
Hampshire, April 2, 1803, and when one year old was taken by his
parents to Jefferson county, New York. He left home when he
was twenty years old, having received an academic education, and
he taught school at Geneva until his father died, when he returned
home and settled up the estate. In 1825 he went to Lockport, N.
Y., where he taught school and read medicine three years. In 1831
he went to Springfield, Ohio, where he practiced medicine for a
few months, after which he went to Richmond, Ind., and in the
spring of 1832 he located in Anderson, Ind., as a physician. In
1841 he went South and settled in Ripley, Tipton county, Mississippi, where he remained until 1843, and then came North and located in Blissfield on Aug. I5, of that year.  He immediately associated himself with Dr. James W. Holmes, in the practice of
medicine and surgery. In 1847 he went back to Anderson, Ind.,
engaging in the practice of medicine and also becoming the editor
and publisher of the Anderson Gazette, which he sold in 1855. In
May, 1864, he returned to Blissfield, where he resided the remainder of his life.
Dr. Henry P. Combs was born in Onondaga county, New York,
June 19, I820, and came to Lenawee county in 1838. About 1840
he commenced the study of medicine and followed it closely. After
graduating at the Cleveland (Ohio) Medical College, in 1845, he
began the practice of medicine in Rome township. He at once became very successful and popular in his profession, which he faithfully followed until i865, when he retired from active practice. He




TIHE MEDICAL PROFESSION


583


became one of the best known and most popular men in his township, and to the end of his life commanded the respect and confidence of all classes. He died Jan. I, I895.
Dr. William Brown, for twenty-five years or more, was a successful practicing physician of Lenawee county, but in 1882 he associated himself with his youngest son and established a drug
store at Addison, to which business he afterward gave a share of
his attention. He was a native of the state of New York, and was
born near Fort Ticonderoga, Aug. 3, 182I. He continued under
the home roof, attending the district school during his boyhood,
and did very little work until thirteen years of age, after which,
when not in school, he was employed upon the farm. Later he
went to Niagara county, New York, and attended a private school,
under the instruction of Professor Whitlock, and afterward engaged as a teacher two years, spending his vacations upon the
farm. In the meantime he took up the study of medicine, and
later, entered the office of Dr. Case, of Rome township, with whom
he spent two years. After the death of Dr. Case he placed himself
under the tuition of Dr. Grove and subsequently Dr. Spalding, of
Adrian. He commenced the practice of his profession in Rome
township in 1846, and followed it in the northwestern part of the
county up to the time he retired from active practice.
Dr. Roland B. C. Newcomb was born at Williamstown,
Orange county, Vermont, Sept. 25, 1822. He lived with his father
until he was twenty-one, and received a good common school education. In the fall of 1843 he emigrated to Madison, Lake county,
Ohio, where he taught the Madison school the following winter.
In I844 he became a student in the Western Reserve Teacher's
Seminary, at Kirkland, Ohio, where he remained about five months.
That fall he commenced the study of medicine in the office of Dr.
E. L. Plimpton, of Madison. He was without means, except what
he could earn from time to time, and he again taught school in
Madison to procure money to attend lectures, etc. In the spring
of I847 he went to Columbus, Ohio, and read medicine with Dr. R.
L. Howard, doing chores and taking care of the Doctor's horses
for his board and tuition for one year. He graduated Feb. 22, 1848,
from Starling Medical College, of Columbus, and on July 20, of the
same year, he located in Palmyra, Lenawee county, where he commenced the practice of medicine. On May I, 185I, he moved to
Blissfield, where he resided the remainder of his life.
Dr. Jabez Perkins was born at Defiance, Ohio, Oct. 26, 1820.
He received an academical education at Delaware, studied medi



584


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


cine, and graduated at Cleveland in i849. He practiced medicine
at Springville, Cambridge township, for ten years, but removed to
Owosso in i86o. He took charge of a hospital at Nashville in i862,
became a surgeon of Kentucky volunteers, medical director of the
Second army corps, and then medical director of the cavalry corps,
Army of the Cumberland.
Dr. A. F. Tuttle, late of Clinton, was one of the most prominent and successful physicians in the county. He was a native of
Niagara Falls, N. Y., where he was born Aug. 9, 1827, of New
England parentage. He died at his home in Clinton, Jan. 8, i884.
He removed with his parents to Ann Arbor in his childhood, and
was there reared, receiving his education in the public schools.
When fifteen years old he was requested by his father to select a
profession, and he chose the practice of medicine. He at once connected himself with Drs. Sager, Douglas & Gunn, and was with
them three years before the college of Ann Arbor was organized.
He was graduated at Geneva, N. Y., which then had one of the
principal medical schools of the country, and he also took a course
of lectures at Cleveland, Ohio. After graduating at the age of
twenty-three, he located at Clinton in 1850. He began the practice of medicine when there were but few advantages for a physician. He was not easily discouraged, however, and proved to be
very successful in his practice.
Dr. J. D. Tripp, long a practicing physician in the township of
Franklin, was born on the other side of the Atlantic, in Bristol,
England, Nov. 28, I825, and was an elder brother of Dr. Joseph
Tripp. His parents came to this country when he was about five
years old and located on the shore of Sand Lake. He has ever
made his home in this county. In early manhood he began the
study of medicine and soon took up the duties and responsibilities
of a physician. He attended lectures in the medical department of
the University of Michigan. In his practice he was faithful and
conscientious and he was rated among the leading men of Franklin township.
Dr. Francis Grandy ministered to the ills of the people of Fairfield village and vicinity as a physician and surgeon for a period of
over thirty years. He was a native of the Empire state, and was
born in the town of Root, Montgomery county, Dec. 3I, 1826. He
was reared upon the farm and followed agriculture until reaching
his majority, up to that time receiving only the advantages of the
common school, supplemented by a brief term at the Canajoharie
Academy. He had already decided upon the medical profession as




THE MEDICAL PROFESSION


585


his future calling in life, and entered the office of Dr. Jerome Shibley, of Charleston, Montgomery county, with whom he continued
one year. He accompanied his parents to Lenawee county in 1848,
and was a student with Dr. T. F. Dodge two years. In I85I he
entered the medical department of the university at Ann Arbor,
where he took a six months' course, and in the spring of 1852,
opened his first office in the young village of Fairfield. Like all
young physicians he had his own peculiar trials, but in time he
found his toil and perseverance rewarded, and he built up a practice which required his whole time and attention. In 1871 he
opened a drug and grocery store, which he conducted successfully
the remainder of his active life. He traveled about the country in
the prosecution of his chosen calling for a period of thirty years,
then wisely concluded to retire from the arduous duties of his profession, and in the later years of his life he gave his sole attention
to his office business and his store. As a man and citizen he ranked
among the representative pioneers of Lenawee county.
Dr. Harrison Peters was born at Fayette, Seneca county, New
York, April 6, 1826. He lived with his father until he was twentyone, and received a good common school education, coming to
Michigan with his parents in I835. In the spring of 1847 he became a student at Ypsilanti Seminary, then considered one of the
very best educational institutions in Michigan, and there he remained until the summer of I850, preparatory to the study of medicine. The same year he commenced the reading of medicine with
Dr. Thompson, of Flat Rock, Wayne county, and after attending
lectures at Ann Arbor and Cleveland, he graduated at the head of
his class at the Geneva (N. Y.) Medical College, in June, I853. On
Aug. 9, of the same year, he commenced the practice of medicine
in Palmyra, where he remained until Jan. 5, I864, and then removed to Tecumseh, where he became a well known and successful practitioner.
Dr. William B. Town was born in Norwich, Oxford county,
Dominion of Canada, July 23, 1830, and was the son of Dr. Nathan
Town, who is mentioned on a previous page. He pursued his early
studies in the district, and subsequently attended the school at
Jackson during the winter season. He commenced reading medicine under the instruction of Dr. H. Powers, of Rollin, when twenty-one years of age, and took a two years' course in the medical
department of Michigan University. He gave his close attention
to the duties of his profession, availing himself of the instructive
medical works of the day, and by a conscientious and upright




MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


course in due time built up a profitable and extensive business. He
was the postmaster at Geneva for a period of seventeen years.
Dr. William C. Fisher, late physician and surgeon of Tecumseh, was one of the most prominent and active members of the
profession, and a citizen held in the highest esteem. His infant
years were spent on the other side of the Atlantic, he having been
born in England Jan. 7, 1830. While he was yet a child his parents migrated to the United States, and not long after setting foot
upon American soil made their way to Lenawee county, taking up
their abode in the village of Tecumseh, in the spring of 1840. The
primary education of Dr. Fisher was conducted in the schools of
Tecumseh, and after going through the high school, he entered the
office of Dr. Hamilton, under whose instructions he read medicine.
for several months and then entered the state university at Ann
Arbor, in the medical department, of which he graduated. Soon
afterward, he commenced the practice of his profession in Tecumseh, in which place he continued actively engaged until his fatal
illness, his death occurring May Io, 1879. In addition to'his extensive practice, he owned a half interest'in the drug business of
Fisher & Hendryx, and later with his brother-in-law, Dr. H. Baker.
Dr. Charles W. Stocum located in Morenci for the practice of
his profession, in June, I855. He was born in Delaware county,
New York, April 3, 1834, but removed with his parents to Lenawee
county in I837. He was reared on a farm, receiving his education
in the common schools until about eighteen years of age, when he
began the study of medicine with Dr. John Bender, of Adrian, with
whom he remained two years and eight months. He then attended a course of lectures at the Eclectic Medical College at Cincinnati, where he was graduated in the spring of 1855 and received
his diploma. The following June he located in Morenci, where he
afterward extensively engaged in the practice of his profession.
Dr. Julius Vaughan began the practice of his profession at
Springville, in the township of Cambridge, in the spring of I862.
He was a native of Concord township, Erie county, New York,
born March 21, I833. He passed his early years at home and received a good practical education at Griffith Institute in his native
county. Later, when about twenty-four years old, he began the
study of medicine. He then entered the College of Physicians
and Surgeons, in New York City, where he was graduated in the
summer of I86o, and he practiced in this county during all of his
active career.




THE MEDICAL PROFESSION


5 i


Dr. Thomas H. Laverty was born in Lockport, N. Y., Dec. II,
I821. He came to Jackson county, Michigan, with his parents, in
1831, and his father dying soon thereafter, he lived with an uncle
until he was eighteen, receiving very little schooling. In I839 he
went to Northville, Wayne county, and worked for a school-teacher
for his board and tuition during one term. He afterward went to
school at different places on the same terms until he was twenty,
when he went to Sandstone, Jackson county, then a live little village, and commenced the study of medicine. In I844 he went to
Castleton, Vt., and attended the medical college there for one term.
In the spring of 1845 he went to Royalton, Ohio, and commenced
the practice of medicine. In I846-47 he attended the Western Reserve College at Cleveland, Ohio, and graduated from the medical
department in the spring of 1847. He returned to Royalton and
remained one year, after which he moved to Fairfield, in Lenawee
county. In 1852 he went to Hillsdale, where he remained until
I856. He then moved to Adrian, where he lived for one year, and
in June, 1857, he went to California, where he spent ten years and
six months in the practice of dentistry. In I868 he returned to- his
old home in Fairfield, and there practiced medicine the remainder
of his active career. He saw a great deal of pioneer life, especially
that of a pioneer physician. He made visits twenty miles apart in
one day, often being compelled to hitch his horse to a tree and wade
through water, over logs and through brush for long distances. He
witnessed a great amount of sickness and suffering among the settlers, who did not know how to manage the fevers of the early
days of this county.
Among other physicians of prominence who deserve commemoration as earnest devotees of their profession should be mentioned the elder and'younger Drs. Post, who practiced in Adrian in
an early day; Dr. Hoyt, Dr. John Bender, Dr. Bennett, Dr. M. L.
Piersol, and Dr. Harry Hull, the last named of whom passed to
his reward but a few years ago.
Dr. Harry D. Hull was born at Westfield, Mass., July 23, I853.
About I860 his parents moved to Adrian, Mich., where they resided
up to the time of their deaths. Dr. Hull was an accomplished musician, having graduated in the musical department of Adrian College, in 1870. He graduated at the Bellevue Hospital Medical College in I877, and immediately took up the practice of his profession
in Adrian, and was so engaged up to the time of his death, Sept. 24,
I905. He was one of the brightest men, both professionally and
socially, that the county has ever known.




- 588


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


Dr. J. K. Piersol was born at Westchester, Pa., Feb. 28, i834.
He was a graduate of the Buffalo University and later took a postgraduate course at the University of Pennsylvania. He came to
Adrian, Mich., in January, i86i, and there he continuously practiced
his profession until his final illness, death occurring Jan. 2, I902.
He was not of a social nature, but was highly respected as a physician by both the laity and profession.
It has not been the aim in this chapter to give anything like a
complete list of the men who have "lived and labored" in the practice of the medical profession in Lenawee county. For reasons
already stated this task would be impossible of accomplishment if
entered upon, as there have been scores of physicians who have
been "birds of passage," but those who are mentioned fairly represent the class of men who devoted their time and talents in the
early days of the county to preserve the health of the people. Of
the physicians now engaged in active practice and others who are
deceased, many are given extended mention in the biographical
volume of this work, and some are also given a place in chapters
upon affairs with which they were prominently identified.




CHAPTER XXXVI.
BENCH AND BAR.
EARLY JUDICIAL SYSTEM-CHANGES THEREIN BY DIFFERENT CONSTITUTIONS OF THE STATE-CIRCUIT COURT-ASSOCIATE JUDGES
-JUDGE ANDREW HOWELL-LIST OF CIRCUIT JUDGES-PROBATE
COURT AND LIST OF JUDGES WITH PERSONAL MENTION-COUNTY
COURTS AND JUDGES-PROSECUTING ATTORNEYS WITH SKETCHES
-CIRCUIT COURT COMMISSIONERS-SHERIFFS-MEMBERS OF THE
BAR-LENAWEE COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION.
The establishment of courts of justice and the installation of
the necessary officials were naturally the first work attending the
organization of Lenawee county. As has been stated in a previous
chapter, the county was detached from Monroe county and given
a civil jurisdiction Nov. 23, 1826.
Under the Territorial government of Michigan, as established
in I805, the supreme court of the Territory consisted of a chief and
two associate justices, appointed by the President of the United
States. Their terms of office were "during good behavior," and so
they held until 1824, when the "second grade" of Territorial government was established. This court at first had original and exclusive jurisdiction in all cases involving the title to land, criminal
cases punishable capitally, and cases of divorce and.alimony; afterwards, of all cases beyond the jurisdiction of inferior courts, all
cases wherein the United States was a party, and all actions of
ejectment. During the existence of the district courts, it had concurrent jurisdiction therewith in civil matters, when the demand exceeded $500, and after that it was given original and exclusive jurisdiction of claims above $200. After the organization of county
courts, it had original jurisdiction in ejectment and civil actions,
when more than $I,ooo was in controversy. It also determined all
legal questions arising in circuit courts, on motion for new trial, in
arrest of judgments or cases reserved, and it also issued writs of




590


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


error to circuit and county courts. Upon the establishment of the
"second grade" of Territorial government, in i824, the term of office
was limited to four years.
The constitution of i835 provided for a supreme court, the
judges of which were to be appointed by the governor, by and with
the advice and consent of the senate, to hold for a term of seven
years. By an act approved July i6, i836, the court was made to
consist of a chief justice and two associate justices, a majority of
whom should constitute a quorum. It was given essentially the
same powers, except chancery, that the supreme court and circuit
courts of the territory exercised. The state was divided into three
circuits, and the supreme court was required to hold an annual term
in each circuit.. The revised statutes of i838 made the supreme court consist
of one chief and three associate justices, and gave it "original and
appellate jurisdiction of all such matters and suits at law, and in
equity and in probate cases," as might be lawfully brought before
it; also "jurisdiction of suits, actions and matters brought before
it by writ of certiorari or writ of error." Authority was also given
"to issue writs of error, certiorari, mandamus, habeas corpus, procedendo, supersedeas," and other necessary writs and process for
the due execution of the law. The supreme court was, moreover,
given a general superintendence over inferior courts. Any two of
the justices constituted a quorum for the transaction of business.
The revision of I846 made no essential changes in the composition
or the jurisdiction of the supmere court, but altered its annual
terms.
The constitution of I850 provided that for the term of six years
the judges of the several circuit courts should be judges of the supreme court. Four of them were to constitute a quorum, and a
concurrence of three was necessary to a final decision. There were
five circuit judges in the state at that time, and they constituted the
first supreme court under the I850 constitution. The court thus
organized had "a general superintending control over all inferior
courts," and had "power to issue writs of error, habeas corpus,
mandamus, quo warranto, procedendo, and other original and
remedial writs." In other cases it was given appellate jurisdiction
only. Four annual terms were provided for, and these were fixed
by statute as follows: A January term to be held at Detroit, a May
term at Kalamazoo, a July term at Adrian, and an October term
at Pontiac.
In i857, acting under constitutional authority, the legislature




BENCH AND BAR


59I


reorganized the supreme court, making it consist of one chief and
three associate justices, elected by the people for a term of eight
years. The legislature of 1887 increased the number of justices to
five, and the terms of the additional justice and all justices elected
after 1887, to ten years. By Act 250 of 1903, the number of justices
was increased to eight, five of whom constitute a quorum, and the
term of office was reduced to eight years.
Upon the establishment of a state government, equity and
common law jurisdiction was separated and vested in distinct
courts. All equity powers were vested in a court of chancery exclusively, save that certain exceptional cases might be taken to the
supreme court, and appeals by any person aggrieved by the decree
or final order of the court of chancery. This court held sessions,
in turn, in each of the circuits into which the state was divided by
the act establishing circuit courts. All causes were to be heard
and determined in the circuits in which they arose. This court was
abolished by the revised statutes of 1846, as passed by the legislature, although the original draft of the revision provided for its
continuance, with some modifications intended to simplify and perfect the system. Its jurisdiction was conferred upon the several
circuit courts and it has remained there ever since.
CIRCUIT COURT.
In I825 circuit courts were established by name, but were still
held by the judges of the supreme court. The circuit court was
given original jurisdiction in all civil actions at law where the demand exceeded $I,ooo, of actions of ejectment, of all criminal cases
punishable capitally, and of all cases not exclusively cognizable by
other courts, concurrent jurisdiction with county courts in civil actions beyond the jurisdiction of justices of the peace, and of criminal offenses not punishable capitally, and appellate jurisdiction
from county courts. Another act was passed, in 1827, repealing
the essential provisions of previous acts, and providing for two
more circuits, viz: Washtenaw and Lenawee. In 1833 the county
courts in all the counties of the territory east of Lake Michigan,
except Wayne, were abolished, and their places supplied by "the
circuit court of the Territory of Michigan." It consisted of one
circuit judge for the entire circuit, and two associate judges for
each county. The circuit judge was appointed for four years and
the associate judges for three. The court had both chancery and
common law jurisdiction and was given original jurisdiction of




592


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


civil cases at law and crimes not within the jurisdiction of a justice of the peace and appellate jurisdiction of such as were. It
might also determine questions of law arising on motions for new
trial or in arrest of judgment. The circuit courts already existing
were now called superior circuit courts, and were empowered to
issue writs of error to the circuit courts. By act approved March
26, 1836, the state was divided into three circuits, and judges of the
supreme court were to perform the duties of circuit judges. These
courts were given the same powers and jurisdiction as the territorial circuit courts under the act of 1833, except in chancery matters.
By the revision of I846, the court of chancery was abolished and
chancery powers conferred upon the several circuit courts. Since
then the jurisdiction of circuit courts has been essentially as at
present. The constitution of I850 made the office of circuit judge
elective, and the term of office six years. By act of April 8, I85I,
the state was apportioned into eight circuits, the First being comnposed of the counties of Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe. Although
the circuits, in general were rearranged and increased in number
at different times, the First circuit remained unchanged until 1883,
when Monroe county was detached and together with Washtenaw
was made to form the Twenty-second circuit. Hillsdale and Lenawee remained together as the First circuit from that time until, by
Act No. 75, of the Public Acts of 1907, each of these counties was
constituted a circuit, Hillsdale remaining as the First and Lenawee
being denominated the Thirty-ninth.
Tecumseh, the first county seat, as is related elsewhere, had its
log jail, and a very respectable frame court house. Here, Ross
Wilkins, as territorial judge, held court until the state was organized, and after him William A. Fletcher, the first chief justice of
the state. Judge Fletcher had the reputation of being an able lawyer and a clear-headed judge, but he succumbed, as many did at
that early day, to vicious indulgence in intoxicating drinks. He
became unfit for judicial life before his term had ended, and in 1842
Alpheus Felch, a man of clean life not less than of sound head, was
appointed to the bench, and assigned to hold the courts of this circuit as Judge Fletcher's successor. He had already been auditorgeneral and bank commissioner of the state, and he afterward became governor, senator in Congress, and judge upon land claims
in California.
Upon the establishment of the state government, when equity
and common law jurisdiction were separated and vested in distinct
courts, Randolph Manning held courts at Adrian, as chancellor. He




BENCH AND BAR


593


was a good man and an able lawyer, but altogether too strict and
technical in his practice for an equity judge, and he made his court
so unpopular that it was abolished by law. He resigned before the
new law took effect, and Elon Farnsworth, who had preceded him
as chancellor, took the office again for a short time. Judge Farnsworth is said to have been a good equity judge, but not a learned
one.
The ludicrous side of judicial life was illustrated by the system
of associate judges. This plan, which went in vogue in I833, provided that two citizens act as associate judges-theoretically supporting the legal subtleties of the president judge with their native
shrewdness and knowledge of human nature-and until I846 this,plan was continuously in operation. Judge Thomas M. Cooley
commented upon this judicial arrangement in an address delivered
upon the occasion of the laying of the corner stone of the Lenawee
county court house. In speaking of the associate judges, he said:
"Generally they were what may justly be called solid and weighty
men, such as William H. Hoag, Sirrell C. LeBaron, Jeremiah D.
Thompson, Jonathan Berry and H. J. Quackenboss. Their duty
was to do nothing, and they did it faithfully, and though they sometimes slept on their posts, yet sleeping or waking they performed
the duty equally well. Of how very few public officers can we
truthfully say this! They were a harmonious element in the court,
and never disturbed the business by intermeddling. Excellent as
they were, it' would be ungracious to say we want no more of side
judges, and we forbear."
Warner Wing succeeded Judge Felch when the latter became
governor in 1845, but was transferred to Detroit, and George Miles
and Abner Pratt held court here until, under the constitution of
I85o, Judge Wing was elected to this circuit. After him came, in
succession, E. H. C. Wilson, Franklin Johnson, Daniel L. Pratt and
Andrew Howell, the last named being the first resident lawyer of
Lenawee county to reach the dignity of circuit judge.
Judge Andrew Howell was born in Seneca county, New York,
Dec. I8, 1827, and was not yet four years old when his parents settled in Lenawee county. Here he passed his boyhood upon the
farm and in the district school of the neighborhood, until well advanced in young manhood. From I847 to I850 he pursued his education at Tecumseh, and at the Wesleyan Seminary at Albion, Mich.
In the fall of I850 he commenced the study of law at Adrian, in the
office of F. C. Beaman and R. R. Beecher, then the leading attorneys
of Lenawee county. In I853 he graduated in the law department of
38-Iv




594


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


the College of Cincinnati, standing first in a class of thirty-three. After graduation, he returned to Adrian and commenced the practice of
his profession in partnership with Judge Beaman, his former preceptor. Later, in 1855, he joined in a law partnership with Judge
R. R. Beecher, with whom he continued in successful practice for
many years. While in practice he was three times elected to the
office of circuit court commissioner, and for two terms, I865 and
I867, he represented Lenawee county in the state senate. In I87I
he was appointed by the governor as one of the commissioners to
supervise and certify to a new compilation of the laws of the state
then lately ordered by the legislature. But this position was soon
afterward resigned, and thereupon, in pursuance of an act of the
legislature, he was immediately appointed by the governor as
special commissioner to prepare general laws for the incorporation
of cities and villages in the state. Bills for that purpose were accordingly prepared and submitted by him, and were adopted by the
legislature at its next session, and are now a part of the general
statutes of the state. Some time after this he compiled and published as a work of private enterprise, a complete edition of the general statutes in force, with copious annotations from the decisions
of the Supreme Court. This work, now known as "Howell's Annotated Statutes of Michigan," was subsequently approved and
adopted by the legislature as the authorized compilation of the
laws, and the same is now, by such authority, in use throughout
the state. While in practice at the bar, Judge Howell also enlarged, revised, and published several editions of "Tiffany's Justice's Guide" and "Tiffany's Criminal Law," both of which he
made standard works of practice in Michigan. In the spring of
I88i, upon the nomination of both political parties, Judge Howell
was elected to the bench of the First Judicial Circuit, and at the
end of his term removed to Detroit, where he engaged in law
practice.
Judge Howell was succeeded as judge of the First circuit by
Victor H. Lane, who served from January, I888, to January, 1894.
He was then re-elected for a second term, but resigned before its
expiration, and Richard A. Watts, of Adrian, was appointed to the
vacancy. After retiring from the bench Judge Lane removed to
Ann Arbor, where he is now a member of the law faculty of the
University of Michigan.  At the spring election of I899, Guy M.
Chester, of Hillsdale, was elected to the position of judge of the
First circuit, and was re-elected in I905, being the present incumbent of that position. The legislature of I907, however, as before




BENCH AND BAR


595


stated, separated Hillsdale and Lenawee counties, and John L.
O'Mealy, o~f Adrian, was chosen as judge of the newly-created
Thirty-ninth circuit.
PROBATE COURT.
In i8i8 the Territorial legislative body provided for a court of
probate to be established in each county, the office to be held by
some "able and learned person," appointed by the governor, from
which court appeal might be taken to the supreme court. These
courts contnued in operation until after Michigan had become a
state. The revised statute of I838 made the office of judge of probate elective, for a term of four years. In different cases appeals
were allowed to the circuit, or to the supreme court. The revision
of i846 provided for direct appeals to the circuit court only. The
constitution of 1850 provided for a probate court in each organized
-county, the judge of which was to be elected for a term of four
years. The new constitution of i909 gives probate courts original
jurisdiction in all cases of juvenile delinquents and dependents.
The office of probate judge is peculiarly local and intimately
associated with the affairs of all the people, and it has been filled in
Lenawee county by some of her best citizens. In fact, it may be
said that the county has been singularly fortunate in the selection
of its probate judges, included in the list being some able lawyers,
and all who have filled the position have been honest and pureminded men, giving character and dignity to the court, and reflecting honor upon the county and themselves.
The first judge of the probate court of Lenawee county was
the Hon. Musgrove Evans, of Tecumseh.  He was appointed by
Gov. Lewis Cass, soon after the organization of the county, in
i827. Judge Evans was one of the small band of pioneers who
made the first settlement in Lenawee county, at Tecumseh, in I824.
He was a member of the Society of Friends, and a man of great
force of character and kindness of heart. Owing to the sparseness
of the population, the business of the court could not have been so
onerous as to interfere very seriously with his other avocations,
and the records show that nearly a year intervened between the
filing of the first and second petitions in his court. On Jan. I, 1833,
he was succeeded by Hon. Seneca Hale, also of Tecumseh, who
held the office four years. Little is known regarding the life, character or career of Judge Hale, save what appears in the records of
his own court, and these show him to have been a painstaking, careful official. Later he removed to Milwaukee county, Wisconsin,




596


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


and devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits, living to an advanced age.
Hon. Alexander R. Tiffany succeeded to the office in January,
I837. Judge Tiffany was a lawyer of learning and ability, and was
possessed of that culture, refinement and kindness of heart which
eminently fitted him for the discharge of the delicate and responsible trust. He had pursued his legal studies with Hon. John C.
Spencer, at that time one of the ablest lawyers in New York, and
who was afterward chief justice of the highest court of that state.
Before coming to Michigan, Judge Tiffany had for some years held
the office of county judge of Wayne county, New York, thus acquiring a judicial experience which admirably fitted him for judge
of the probate court in a new county, where he had few precedents
to guide him.  He came to Michigan in 1832, settling in Palmyra,
which then had the promise of becoming the future great city of
the county. He held various offices of trust and honor-prosecuting attorney, judge of probate, member of the Constitutional Convention of I850, and of the state legislature in I855. He was the
author of several valuable law books. In all the relations of life
he faithfully discharged whatever duty devolved upon him. He
died in Palmyra, Jan. 14, I868, having lived a useful and honored
life.
Hon. Consider A. Stacy, who succeeded Judge Tiffany in the
office, brought to the discharge of its duties, not only talents of the
highest order and a thorough knowledge of the law, but a kindness
of heart which eminently fitted him for the position. Among the
members of the bar of this state few have attained a more prominent position. Admitted at the age of twenty, he commenced practice, in 1837, with Hon. Peter Morey, afterward attorney-general
of the state, and he soon gained prominence in his profession. In
the spring of 1838 he was elected justice of the peace, and served
four years. In I839 he formed a partnership with Fernando C.
Beaman, which continued three years. In 1844 he was elected judge
of probate and served twelve years. In I845 he formed a partnership with Thomas M. Cooley (afterward judge of the supreme
court of Michigan), which continued about three years. In 1849 he
was appointed by Governor Ransom prosecuting attorney of Lenawee county, under the old constitution, and held the office until
that of I850 came into force. For twenty-six years he was a member Qf the school board of Tecumseh. In I858 he was the Democratic nominee for Congress, but was defeated by Henry Waldron,
of Hillsdale. In I850 he was appointed by Governor McClelland




BENCH AND BAR


597


a member of the State Board of Education, and was active in organizing the State Normal School and erecting the building at
Ypsilanti. That the people of the county appreciated his services
as judge of probate is evidenced by the fact that he was three times
elected to the position.
In 1857 Judge Stacy was succeeded by Hon. Fernando C. Beaman, who held the office until elected to Congress in I86I, when
he was succeeded by Hon. Robert R. Beecher.
Judge Beecher was a good lawyer, and of a most genial and
kindly nature. Sympathetic and generous, he brought to the discharge of the duties of the office qualities and qualifications rarely
found combined in one man. Nearly all the people in the county
personally knew and loved him, and their esteem was evidenced by
three times electing him judge of probate of the county. He held
the office from Jan. I, I86I, until his death, in 1871, in the prime
of manhood.
Hon. Fernando C. Beaman, who had been judge of probate
from Jan. I, I857,-to Jan I, I86I, was appointed to succeed Judge
Beecher, in I87I, was subsequently elected by the people in I872,
re-elected in 1876, and he continued to hold the office until the failure of his health rendered him unable to discharge its duties. He
resigned in April, I88o. Judge Beaman is given a somewhat extended mention in the chapter entitled "Politics and Official Honors," to which the reader is referred for facts concerning his interesting and honorable career. He was succeeded in the office of
judge of probate by Norman Geddes.
Judge Norman Geddes was born at Livonia, N. Y., April 14,
1823, and died at his home in Adrian, May II, 1899. He first became a resident of Lenawee county, Sept. 5, 1835, settling with his
parents upon a farm in Cambridge township. He began teaching
-at seventeen, was for some time a student in the branch, then located at Tecumseh, of the University of Michigan, and in 1843 entered the law office of Hon. Richard Butler, at Mt. Clemens, and
pursued his legal studies under the direction of Mr. Butler and of
the late Giles Hubbard, supporting himself meanwhile by teaching.
In 1846 he entered the law office of the late A. C. Harris, at Adrian,
and was admitted to the bar the following year. After admission
he taught two terms in Prof. Hance's academy, an educational institution at Adrian of considerable note at that time.
Thereafter he continued in the active practice of his profession until
shortly before his death, except for about six years, during which
he was in charge of the collection department of a large commer



598


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


cial house at Buffalo, and for nine years in which he served as
judge of probate. In 1849 he was elected recorder of the then village of Adrian, and was twice re-elected; in I85I, he was elected
justice of the peace; in 1864 he was elected circuit court commissioner, and was re-elected in I866, holding the office four years. In
I88o Governor Croswell appointed him judge of probate, to fill the
vacancy caused by resignation of Hon. Fernando C. Beaman, and
at the general election following he was elected to the same office,
re-elected in I884, and he filled the position nine years. For twelve
years he was a member of the board of trustees of the Eastern
Michigan Asylum for the Insane; for fifteen years was trustee and
treasurer of the Plymouth Congregational Church at Adrian, and
for twenty-seven years was president of the board of trustees of
Adrian College, resigning as president at the June session of the
board, in 1898. At the close of the Civil war he was prominent in
the organization of the county and city soldiers' monument associations; was secretary of both bodies, and at the dedication of the
monument, July 4, 1871, was orator of the day. He was a director
of the Commercial Savings Bank in Adrian from its organization,
and from July 25, 1898, president of the Pioneer and Historical Society of Lenawee County, in the work of which he took great interest and to which he devoted much time, holding both offices
until his death.
In I888 Col. Richard B. Robbins was elected to the position of
probate judge, and was re-elected in 1892, and again in 1896, serving in all, twelve years. Colonel Robbins is given appropriate
mention in another chapter of this volume. He was succeeded in
office by Harry L. Larwill, who was elected in 900o, re-elected in
I904, and again in I908, and is the present incumbent of the position.
COUNTY COURTS.
In 18I5 county courts were first established in Michigan, to be
held by one chief and two associate justices appointed by the governor. They had exclusive jurisdiction over all claims exceeding
a justice's jurisdiction and not exceeding $I,ooo, but no jurisdiction
in ejectment. In I818 chancery jurisdiction was given them and
provision was made for the appointment of masters in chancery.
But after the establishment of circuit courts the county courts began to decline. Much of their jurisdiction was gradually transferred to the circuit courts, and in 1833 they were abolished altogether in the organized counties east of Lake Michigan, except




]3ENCII AND BAR


599


Wayne, by the same act which established the old circuit court of
the territory.
The first county judge in Lenawee was Gen. Joseph WV. Brown,
appointed soon after the passage of the act organizing the county,
and his associates were Elisha P. Champlin and John T. Borland,
the three men being sworn into office by Dr. Caleb N. Ormsby, who
was a justice of the peace. Elisha P. Champlin had located in Tecumseh among the earliest of the settlers, in 1824. He remained
there until 1834, when he removed to Jonesville, where he engaged
in the mercantile business with George C. Munro and built a block
of stores. He was postmaster at Jonesville from 1840 to 1844, representative in the state legislature in 1838 and 1840, and state
senator in 1841-42. He died in 1855. Of John T. Borland but little
is known, further than the fact that he was one of the early settlers
at Tecumseh and a highly respected citizen.
General Brown was succeeded in the office of chief justice by
S. Blanchard, who was in turn succeeded by Levi Baxter. Judge
Baxter was born at East Windsor, Conn., Oct. 5, 1788, and when
a boy removed with his father to western New York, where he was
engaged in farming, lumbering and merchandising at Sidney Plains.
He settled at Tecumseh in 1831 and built the "Red Mills," the first
of any size west of Monroe. He built a mill at Jonesville, in 1834,
the first west of Tecumseh. He removed to White Pigeon in
1836 and built large mills. In 1848 he removed to Jonesville, and
was elected as senator to the legislature of 1849 and i850 by a coalition of Whigs and Free-Soilers. Through his influence Jonesville
was made a station on the Michigan Southern railroad. He died
at Jonesville in 1862.
PROSECUTING ATTORNEYS.
Following is a list of those who have held the office of prosecuting attorney in Lenawee county, with the year of their appointment or election, since the establishment of the state government,
in 1837. In a number of cases the occupancy of this office has been
the beginning of a distinguished career in the law: 1837, Milton
N. Halsey; 1841, Peter R. Adams; 1843, Consider A. Stacy; I850,
Alonzo F. Bixby; 1852, S. F. Wilkinson; 1856, Robert R. Beecher;
i86o, Andrew C. Mercer; 1862, George Kingsley; 1864, Clement E.
Weaver; 1868, Charles R. Miller; 1872, Edward B. Sayers; 187S,
Seth Bean; 1876, W. A. Underwood; i880, Richard A. Watts; 1882,
Lester H. Salsbury; i886, David B. Morgan; 1890, Fred B. Wood;




600


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


1894, John E. Bird; I898, Jacob U. Sampson; 1902, Theodore M.
Joslin; I9o6, Burton L. Hart, present incumbent.
Peter R. Adams was a native of Pennsylvania, born in the town
of Tioga, Feb. io, I8o5.  Although his school advantages were
rather limited, by devoting his leisure time to study, he obtained a
good knowledge of the common branches, and when a youth of
eighteen began teaching. Having in view the legal profession, he
repaired to Danville, N. Y., and commenced the study of law, being
admitted to practice in I825. In May, 1830, he came with his wife
to Detroit, and not many weeks later they took up their residence
at Tecumseh, which remained their home from that time. In Tecumseh, then the county seat, Mr. Adams began the practice of law,
which he continued with fair success until the fall of I842, and then
on account of impaired health he found it necessary to seek more
active employment. Besides giving close attention to his professional duties, he interested himself in the affairs of his adopted
county, serving as township supervisor, prosecuting attorney, judge
advocate, etc., and would have been called to other and higher
offices could he have been persuaded to accept them. Upon giving
up his practice he retired to a farm a mile east of the village, and
from that time until I86I gave his attention principally to agricultural pursuits. He returned to the village in I86I, and five years
later was elected president and one of the directors of the National
Bank of Tecumseh, holding these offices until the institution
closed up its business. In I866 he commenced the publication of
the "Raisin Valley Record," and for several years thereafter received a liberal public patronage. He finally transferred his interest
in this journal to other parties, and at the organization of the People's Bank became its president, retaining his position until it 'was
succeeded by the bank of Fitzsimmons & Company.
Alonzo Foster Bixby was born in Batavia, Genesee county,
New York, July 6, I8I9. He was the only son of his parents, with
whom he remained until seventeen years of age. Then, an earnest
desire for a liberal education induced him to leave the farm and
enter upon a course of study, which he pursued at Granville, and
in the Western Reserve College, at Hudson, Ohio. Later, he entered the law office of Baker & Millard, in Adrian, and in 1843,
after a most satisfactory examination, was admitted to the bar. He
commenced the practice of his chosen profession in Canandaigua,
but after a few months failing health from an affection of the lungs
compelled him to seek a warmer climate, and he took up his residence in LaGrange, Texas. Border troubles, terminating in the




BENCH AND BAR


6oi


Mexican war, agitated the country, and he became one of the renowned Texas Rangers, participating in the battle of Monterey,
and enduring much hardship and suffering. He returned to Adrian
in the fall of I846, and opening an office resumed the practice of
law in his boyhood home. In I850 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Lenawee county, running far ahead of his ticket. He continued the practice of his profession until the last illness, which
terminated in his death, April 18, I870. He had maintained the
position of one of the leading members of the bar, and was a man
of strong and positive character, but with a genial and kindly nature that secured him warm and lasting friends.
Clement E. Weaver was born in Hartland, Niagara county,
New York, July I8, I832, and came to Michigan with his parents
in I835. He lived with his father on a farm in Hillsdale county
until he was eighteen years old, when he commenced teaching
school, and that occupation he followed for about ten years. In
this time he taught one year in the city of Jackson, and two years
in the village of Hudson. In I85I and 1854 he attended the Michigan Central College (now Hillsdale College), then located at Spring
Arbor, Jackson county. In the summer of 1853 he attended the
high school of Adrian, J. Q. Disbrow being the teacher. He commenced the study of law in I855, and afterward went into the office
of Andrew C. Mercer, of Hudson, in I856. In the fall of I856, with
Mr. Mercer, he went to the Territory of Nebraska, where he remained one year, and upon his return he read law with Probate
Judge Webb, of Hillsdale, for one year. Subsequently returning
to Hudson, he read law with Mr. Mercer, and was admitted to the
bar of Hillsdale county in the fall of I859. He remained in Hillsdale' one year, and then went to Hudson and formed a partnership
with Mr. Mercer in I86I, while the latter was prosecuting attorney
of Lenawee county. During the second year of Mr. Mercer's term
of office he was too feeble to attend to his duties, and Mr. Weaver
acted as prosecutor. In 1864, upon the death of George Kingsley,
who was then prosecuting attorney, Mr. Weaver was appointed to
fill the vacancy. In the fall of 1864 he was elected prosecuting attorney of the county, came to Adrian to reside, and he was reelected in I866. In 1867 he formed a law partnership with Edwin
Hadley, and remained with him' five years. On Oct. 9, 1872, he
formed a partnership with Charles M. Walker, which continued
until Mr. Walker's death, Oct. 20, 1878. He then formed a partnership with his brother, Charles M. Weaver. His life was an active
and honorable one, and as a lawyer and pleader at the bar he stood




602


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


one of the foremost among his brothers in his profession. He died
in April, I9o6.
Capt. Charles Rollin Miller was born in Moravia, Cayuga
county, New York, June 7, I834, and came to Michigan with his
parents in I837. He remained under the parental roof and labored
with his father until he was nineteen years old, profiting by all
the school privileges that were then extant. He labored at farm
work summers and taught school winters until he was able to attend the State Normal School at Ypsilanti, in which he graduated
in I855. He then entered the literary department of Michigan University, graduating there in I858, and in the law department of the
same institution in I86o. He then located in St. Joseph, Mo., and
commenced the practice of law, but after about two years' residence
there he found the secession sentiment very strong, and he returned
to Michigan. In August, I862, he enlisted in Company C, Eighteenth
Michigan Infantry, as second lieutenant, but soon thereafter was
promoted to first lieutenant. At Nashville, Tenn., he was detached
from his company and put on the staff of the post commander, and
soon thereafter was made assistant judge advocate, on the staff of
Major-General Rousseau. Not many months after this, by special
order of Gen. George H. Thomas, he was made assistant judge advocate of the Department of the Cumberland, on the staff of General Thomas. At the close of the war, in I865, he was mustered out
with a captain's commission. In the summer of i865 he returned
to Adrian and immediately entered into a law partnership with
Hon. Norman Geddes, under the firm name of Geddes & Miller,
which partnership continued for over twenty years, when Mr. Geddes was elected judge of probate. Mr. Miller carried on the business until I894, when he retired from the law to give his entire attention to his extensive business interests. He was twice elected
prosecuting attorney.
William Allen Underwood was born at Adrian, Nov. i6, I846.
He was educated in the public schools at Adrian, and finished his
preparatory course for college at Williston Seminary at Easthampton, Mass. In the fall of I863 he entered Yale College as a
freshman, and remained throughout his freshman and part of his
sophomore year. He then returned home, and the following autumn entered the University of Michigan as a sophomore, and remained during the sophomore and junior years. He entered the
office of Eldredge & Walker, in Adrian, as a student in the summer
of I867, and entered the law school at Ann Arbor in the fall of that
year. After a time he returned to Adrian and again entered the




BENCH AND BAR


603


office of Eldredge & Walker, in January, I868, and remained there
until September of the same year, when he entered the law school
at Albany, N. Y. Ie took the full course, graduated there in I869,
and was admitted to the bar of the supreme court of that state.
After graduating he returned to Adrian, and during the next few
months continued his studies in the office where he had previously
been a student. He was admitted to the bar at Adrian, and then
for a short time took up his residence in Chicago. In 1871 he entered the office of the late Consider A. Stacy as a clerk and remained in that capacity two years. He then entered the firm,
which was composed of Judge Stacy and his son, Scoville, and upon
the retirement of the latter, in I876, a new firm was formed, called
Stacy & Underwood, which continued until some time in I879,
when Mr. Underwood began practice by himself. He continued
alone until the fall of I88I, when he entered partnership with the
late Seth Bean, and the firm was called Bean & Underwood. This
continued until some time in 1884, when the Hon. Victor IH. Lane
was admitted to the firm, the name of which became Bean, Underwood & Lane, and this association continued until July I, I885. In
1874 Mr. Underwood was appointed by the late Chief Justice
Waite, of the United States Supreme Court, to be Register in Bankruptcy for the Second congressional district of Michigan. He continued to hold this office until the spring of I876, when he resigned,
and in the fall of that year he was elected prosecuting attorney of
Lenawee county, and was re-elected in 1878. In July, I885, he
moved to Detroit, and finally, in I889, settled in New York, where
he continued in the practice of his profession until his death.
Lester H. Salsbury was also a native of Lenawee county, and
was born in Dover township, June 25, 1842. He was reared on his
father's farm, and attended school. a few weeks during the winter,
assisting in the work of the farm during the remainder of the year.
He attained his manhood about the time of the breaking out of the
Civil war, and in May, I86I, he enlisted as a private in Company
B, Fourth Michigan infantry, and was assigned to the Army of the
Potomac. He participated in all the campaigns of that army, and
in the battle of Gettysburg he was wounded in three places, one
ball passing through his left lung, one through his arm, and one
lodged in his right thigh. Upon his recovery he rejoined his regiment at Bealton Station, Va., and soon afterward took part in the
Mine Run campaign.   For meritorious service he had been promoted second lieutenant, but on account of his wounds, and the expiration of his term of enlistment, the commission was never issued




(04


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


by the government, and on March 24, 1864, he was mustered out
of the service, at Bealton Station, Va. Upon his return to Lenawee
county he again engaged in farming, and in the following spring
was elected treasurer of Dover township. In the spring of i866,
feeling the need of an education, he entered Oberlin College, where
he pursued his studies vigorously for two years, devoting a portion
of his time to school teaching, whereby he procured the means to
defray his college expenses. Tn the fall of i868 he entered Hillsdale College, in the junior class, and he graduated with the class
of i870. Having determined upon a professional life, soon after
his graduation he entered the law department of the state university at Ann Arbor. After leaving that institution he entered the
law office of Sawyer & Bean, at Hudson, and later taught a graded
school at Clayton. He then returned to his law studies and was
admitted to the bar Nov. 30, 1872. In January, 1873, he formed a
partnership with Seth Bean, of Hudson, which lasted for two years,
when Mr. Bean was elected prosecuting attorney. Mr. Salsbury
then continued the practice in Hudson until 1882, when he was
elected prosecuting attorney, as the nominee of the Democratic
party, in a county strongly Republican, and two years later was reelected by the handsome majority of i,i85 votes. In i886 he was
the candidate for Congress on the Democratic ticket, but was defeated by Hon. E. P. Allen, of Washtenaw county.
CIRCUIT COURT COMMISSIONERS.
The constitution of 1850 stipulated that "The legislature may
provide by law for the election of one or more persons in each organized county, who may be vested with judicial powers not exceeding those of a judge of the circuit court at chambers." In compliance therewith the legislature created the elective office of Circuit Court Commissioner. Prior to the adoption of the constitution of i85o, an office of the same name and duties had been filled
by appointment of the governor, and in Lenawee county A. L. Millard had been the incumbent for two or three terms. The incumbents of the office by election have been as follows: i850, Thomas
M. Cooley; 1854, Lucien B. -Bowen; i858, Andrew Howell; 1862,
Andrew Howell and John J. Hogaboam; 1864, Norman Geddes and
John J. Hogaboam; i868, Edward Hadley and John J. Hogaboam;
1872, Edward Hadley and Peter Shumway; 1874, Charles L. Hall
and J. H. Goff; 1876, Willis Merritt and J. H. Goff; i878, Willis
Merritt and Charles L. Hall; i88o, Frank R. Payne and George W.




BENCH AND BAR


6o5


Whitbeck; 1882, Frank R. Payne and James W. Helme, Jr.; 1884,
George W. Ayers and George L. Bennett; I888, George AV. Ayers
and Grant A. Rogers; I890, James W. Helme, Jr., and Burt D.
Chandler; I892, Jacob N. Sampson and George W. Ayers; 1894,
Jacob N. Sampson and Leslie B. Robertson; I896, George A. Chapman and Leslie B. Robertson; I898, George A. Chapman and Henry
R. Jewett; 900o, George A. Chapman and Louis 0. Brown; I902,
Edmund H. Griffin and WVilliam  B. Alexander; I906, Leland F.
Bean and Charles A. WVilson, present incumbents.
Hon. Thomas M. Cooley was the most eminent man that ever
made his home in Lenawee county. Born on a farm about one mile
east of Attica, Genesee county, New York, Jan. 6, 1824, he attended
district school until he was fifteen years old, and then became a
student at the Attica Academy, where he remained three years. In
1842 he began to read law in the office of Theron K. Strong, of Palmyra, N. Y., but in 1843 he removed to Adrian, where he continued
his studies in the law office of Alexander R. Tiffany and Fernando
C. Beaman. A portion of his time was given as deputy village clerk
of Adrian. In I848 he became a member of the law firm of Beaman,
Beecher & Cooley. In I850 he was elected circuit court commissioner, and also served as recorder of the village of Adrian. In
1855 he formed a law partnership with Charles M. Croswell. In
I857 he was chosen by the legislature to compile the laws, state and
territorial, up to that time, and accomplished the great task in nine
months. In 1858 he was appointed Reporter of the Supreme Court,
and the same year he was also chosen by the Board of Regents of
the state university as one of the first three professors in the law
department, with Judge James V. Campbell and C. I. Walker, and
he then removed to Ann Arbor. In I864 he was elected to the
bench of the Supreme Court of Michigan, and of course discontinued his work as Reporter, after having issued eight volumes of reports. In I868 he published his great work on "Constitutional
Limitations." In I870 his edition of Blackstone appeared, and next,
in I874, his Story's' Commentaries; in 1876, his work on Taxation;
in 1879, on Torts, and in I880, a manual on Constitutional Law. In
1882, with the Hons. Allen G. Thurman and E. B. Washburn, he
was appointed as a tribunal to settle differences between the great
terminal lines. In 1885 he left the bench, and in I886 was appointed
receiver of the Vabash railroad, becoming general manager. In
1887 President Cleveland appointed him one of the first five members of the Interstate Commerce Commission, and he became its
chairman and controlling spirit. In I891 he resigned this position




6o6


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


on account of ill health, and he died Sept. 12, 1898. His law books
and commentaries are the standards among lawyers throughout
the nation.
Willis Merritt was born in the township of Tecumseh, in this
county, March Io, I854. He acquired his early education in the
country district schools, and on June 26, 1871, graduated at the high
school in Tecumseh. In the fall of 1872 he commenced reading lawt
in the office of E. B. Wood, in Tecumseh, and in January, 1873, entered the law department of the Michigan University, graduating
there, March 25, 1874, and being admitted to the bar the same
month. In the following April he entered the office of Stacy &
Underwood, at Adrian, where he remained until April, I875, and
then he began the practice of law at Tecumseh. In 1876 he was
elected circuit court commissioner of Lenawee county, and was reelected in I878.
SHERIFFS.
The first executive officer of the courts in Lenawee county was
James Patchen, of Tecumseh, who was sheriff previous to the removal of the county seat to Adrian. Ezra Allen Washburn was
appointed Territorial sheriff after the removal to Adrian and served
until Joseph H. Cleveland was sworn in under the state organization. Messrs. Patchen and Washburn were among the earliest settlers in the county, and their successors in the office of sheriff, with
the years of their election to office, are as follows: I836, Joseph H.
Cleveland; I840, Darius Jackson; I844, Olmsted Hough; I848,
Sumner F. Spofford; I85o, Joseph R. Bennett; I854, George V.
Ketcham; I856, Joseph R. Bennett; I860, Flavius J. Hough; 1864,
Sylvester B. Smith; 1868, William R. Tayer; 1872, John G. Mason;
1874, Nathaniel B. Eldredge; I876, James R. Cairns; I88o, Charles
Bidwell; 1884, A. K. Whitmore; I888, Edward C. Baldwin; 1892,
Edward G. Wilson; I896, Edwin S. Ferguson; 1898, John C. Iffland; 900oo, William F. Shepherd; 1904, Oliver H. Holt; 1908, L.
Lafayette Knowles.
Ezra Allen Washburn was born in Middlebury, Vt., June T,
1807. In August, 183I, he migrated to Michigan and settled in
Adrian, where he purchased the land afterward known as the
Colonel Wood farm, just south of the city, and he cleared it up.
He afterward sold the farm to Jesse Treadwell and purchased another of Samuel Maples, located about one mile south of the present Lake Shore & Michigan Southern depot. In 1844 he again sold
out and moved to the village of Adrian, where he engaged in the




BENCH AND BAR


607


meat business. He was afterward a veterinary surgeon, and became well known throughout the county. In September, I836, he
was appointed sheriff to fill a vacancy, by the acting governor of
the Territory-Stevens T. Mason-and he held the office until Jan.
I, 1837, when Michigan became a state. He was also a candidate
for sheriff on a split Democratic ticket, in November, I836, but was
defeated by J. H. Cleveland. He was elected alderman of the city
in April, 1858, and was made chairman of the committee on streets,
when much public work was done, especially in the way of bridges,
culverts, etc. He was a thorough, practical man, of sound judgment and integrity. He died Dec. 26, I862.
Joseph H. Cleveland was born in Athens, Greene county, New
York, June 27, I809. He came to Adrian in October, I83I, and engaged in merchandising, which he relinquished in the spring of
I835. What was then called the township of Logan comprised
what is now Adrian township and city, Rome, Rollin, Hudson, Dover, Madison, Raisin, and a portion of Ridgeway, and Mr. Cleveland was its township clerk in I833. He was a volunteer in the
first call for troops in the "Black Hawk" war, in 1832, marching
west as far as Coldwater, where all were discharged. He was
elected sheriff of Lenawee county, in I836, and again in 1838. He
had much to do, officially, with that famous criminal, "Old Sile
Doty," who was then in his prime. Mr. Cleveland was the first
sheriff who resided in the old jail in Adrian. In 1842 he was chosen
superintendent of the Michigan Southern railroad, which position
he held until 1846, when the road went into the possession of the
present corporation. In 1847 he renewed merchandising, in which
business he continued until 1859, when he removed to Chicago.
Sumner F. Spofford was born in Jeffrey, Cheshire county, New
Hampshire, May ii, I808. He lived with his father until he was
twenty-one, came to Tecumseh with his parents, in July, 1824, and
did most of the work in clearing up and improving the pioneer
farm. In the spring of 1830 he drove the first stage that ever went
west of Tecumseh. In the spring of 1841 he was elected constable
of Tecumseh, and during the following twelve years he held the
offices of deputy sheriff, under sheriff, sheriff and deputy United
States marshal of Lenawee county. In 1843 he moved to Adrian,
and in I85I he became conductor on the Michigan Southern &
Northern Indiana railroad, between Toledo and Chicago, which position he held until 1855. In September, I855, he moved to Des
Moines, Ia., and became a prominent citizen of that state.
Joseph R. Bennett was born in Shelby, Orleans county, New




6o8


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


York, May I8, 1819, and he lived there until he was six years old,
when his parents moved to Sweden, Wayne county. In I834 he
came to Michigan with his parents, and he remained a resident of
Lenawee county up to the time of his death. He lived with his
parents until he was twenty-one years old, and shared the hardships and privations incidental to the making of a home in the
wilderness. In 1841 he was appointed deputy sheriff and held that
office about two years. In 1848 he was nominated for sheriff on the
Whig ticket, but was defeated. In 1850 he was again nominated
for the office and was elected by a majority of thirty-one, being
the only survivor of his party. He was re-elected two years later
by a majority of 2,00o, and he served in all four terms, as he was
elected again, in 1856 and I858, on the Republican ticket. In I861
he was appointed Deputy United States Marshal, and in the fall
of I862 he was made Assessor of Internal Revenue for the First
district of Michigan. In I869, President Grant appointed him
United States Marshal for the Eastern district of Michigan. which
office he held by re-appointment until I877. In 1870 it became his
duty as United States Marshal to supervise the census returns
taken that year for his district. His record as a public officer was
without a blemish, and no man in Lenawee county was regarded
with greater esteem by all parties. On Jan. 22, I903, he met with
a severe accident while alighting from his carriage, and it resulted
in his death on the morning of Feb. 19, following.
George W. Ketcham was born in Poughkeepsie, N. Y., March
Io, I8II. He came to Michigan with his parents in 1824, and lived
in Monroe one year. In 1825 he came to Tecumseh, where he resided until his death, Jan. 31, I875. He was a man of good business abilities, prompt, accurate and honorable, and when a young
man commenced the mercantile business. In 1854 he was elected
sheriff of Lenawee county and held the office two years, during
which time he resided in Adrian. In 1857 he returned to Tecumseh and again embarked in business, opening a dry goods store,
which he continued until I862, when, owing to ill health, he sold
out. He afterwards engaged in the grocery business in Tecumseh,
but he retired in I868 and went to Florida, where he remained six
consecutive winters, hoping to regain his health. His hopes were
not realized, however, and he died in I875.
John G. Mason came to this county in 1840, when a child five
years of age. He was born in Richmond, Ontario county, New
York, July 9, 1835, was reared to farm pursuits, and completed his




BENCH AND BAR


609


studies, in the fall of 1855, in the public schools of Adrian. Afterward he was engaged in agriculture in Ogden township until 1872.
In this interval he filled the offices of postmaster, school inspector,
and township supervisor three years, was deputy sheriff six years.
and in the fall of I872 was elected sheriff, which office he held two
years. He was then re-nominated by acclamation, but was defeated by Col. N. B. Eldredge.
James R. Cairns was a citizen of Lenawee county from I838,
in which year he located in the township of Tecumseh, coming here
with his father when he was but six years of age. He was born
Aug. 28, 1832, at Seneca Falls, N. Y., and he remained at home until 1846, when he set out to learn the trade of carpenter and joiner,
which he soon succeeded in mastering, and he followed that occupation until the breaking out of the Civil war. On Nov. 3, 1862,
he entered the army as first lieutenant of Company B, Ninth Michigan cavalry, which was under the command of Col. James I. David.
He participated in many engagements and remained, doing good
and faithful service until he was taken sick and sent to the Fairmount Hospital at Cincinnati, at which place he received his honorable discharge on account of disability. Returning home, he
turned his attention to farming, locating in the township of Franklin, where he owned a good property. In 1876 he was elected sheriff
of the county and held the office two terms, which is the limit allowed by the laws of Michigan. Previous to his election to the
office of sheriff he had served eight years as deputy sheriff.
Ancil K. Whitmore was born in Monroe, Ashtabula county,
Ohio, June 27, 1828. In September, I814, he came to Adrian and
served an apprenticeship to the shoemaker's trade, which he afterward followed for many years. In the spring of 1858 he was elected
constable and collector of the First ward of Adrian, and was reelected the following spring. In the spring of I86I he was elected
marshal of the city, and was re-elected for the two following years.
In the spring of 1865 he was again installed as marshal and served
four years. In the spring of I868 he went into the service of the
Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway Company as a detective
officer, with headquarters at Adrian, and from that time he also
served as deputy sheriff of the county. He served as deputy
United States Marshal from June, 1875, until the spring of. I877.
In I880 he was the candidate of the Democratic party for sheriff
of Lenawee county, but was beaten at the polls by Charles Bidwell. In I884 he was again nominated, was successful at the November election of that year, and in I886 was re-elected, serving
39-Iv




6io


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


a total of four years. He was one of the most efficient and competent officers that ever served the county.
MEMBERS OF THE BAR.
In I827 Isaac Stettson came into the county, first stopping at
Adrian. He soon returned to Detroit, but after a short stay there
come to Tecumseh, where he located and remained until about the
time of the Black Hawk war, in I832, when he went to Illinois, and
is said to have died there about I834. He came from the state of
New York, and was a well-read lawyer, but he loved the frontier
life and moved on to newer settlements as the population increased.
In the same year, Nathan Willis came from Connecticut to this
county and settled in Tecumseh. He lived there until I833 and then
removed to Wisconsin, where he died in I839. He was a plodding,
industrious, painstaking man, correct and careful in his professional and business affairs, and when he left was the oldest lawyer in
practice in the county. He was a cousin of the poet, Nathaniel P.
Willis, who then lived in New York City, but his habits and mental
capacity in its practical matter-of-fact view of things bore a marked
contrast to the idealism of the poet.
In i830 Peter R. Adams moved with his family to Tecumseh,
arriving there on July 26 of that year, and with the exception of a
short absence in Kansas he resided in Tecumseh the remainder of
his life. The essential facts of Mr. Adams' career have already
been given in this chapter and a repetition here is not necessary.
As prosecuting attorney, member of the Constitutional Convention
of i85o, and in various other public trusts confided to him by the
people of the county, he left the impress of his intellect upon the
affairs with which he was connected. Mr. Adams died in I883.
Ezra St. John came to this county and settled at Clinton, in
i834, and he practiced his profession there until his death, in
i839. He was an active, energetic man, and is said to have been
older than most of the settlers of that day.
In i832, as has been heretofore stated, Alexander R. Tiffany
came to the county from the state of New York, and located for
the practice of his profession at Palmyra. About the same time
Andrew Backus settled at Tecumseh, where he lived until about
1855. He was an able lawyer, held the position of register in the
land office at Marquette, in the upper peninsula, four years, and
finally removed to Detroit, in i855, and retired from the profession.
His father was one of the ablest lawyers and judges of Connecti



BENCH AND BAR


cut, where Mr. Backus was born and reared, and the son was the
best versed in elementary law among Lenawee's early disciples of
Blackstone. Kind, genial, of fine social qualities, the young lawyers looked up to him for advice and instruction, which he was always ready to give, at a time when few books and small libraries
rendered the study of the law much more difficult than at present.
Orange Butler settled at Adrian about I833. He came from
the state of New York, where he had been admitted to practice.
He practiced his profession here a short time, attended court in the
fall of 1836 and in April, 1837, but afterward engaged as a contractor on the Toledo railroad, and left the profession. He later removed to Lansing, soon after the removal of the capital there,
where he was engaged in land operations. He was elected justice
of the peace, served a number of years, and died about I855.
Peter Morey was born and reared in Cazenovia, Madison
county, New York, was educated at the academy in Hamilton,
studied law with Slomer & Gridley, of that place, and was admitted
to the bar in I83I. He settled in Cazenovia in 1832, later located
in the village of Eaton, from whence, in the spring of 1835, he removed to Tecumseh, where he resided until the spring of 1837, and
then removed to Detroit. He was appointed attorney-general by
Governor Mason, holding the office four years, and soon after the
expiration of his term returned to Tecumseh. After a few years
he removed to Adrian, where he resided until his age and infirmities
compelled him to stop the practice of law, and he then removed to
Marion, Ohio, where he lived with his daughter until his death, in
the fall of I88I, at the age of eighty-three years. Mr. Morey was
a fine scholar, a courteous old-school gentleman, an active politician of the Democratic school, public-spirited, and foremost in all
public improvements. Kind to the poor, charitable to the full extent of his means, he was nobly seconded socially and in kindness
and charities by his gracious wife. Mr. Morey was an able lawyer, talented and energetic, and his labors in the office of attorneygeneral in the early history of the state left their powerful and beneficial impress upon the judicial and legislative history of the commonwealth.
Allen Hutchins came to Adrian from Orleans county, New
York, about 1833, and he practiced his profession here until I836,
when he was appointed Receiver of the Land Office at Ionia, which
office was then being organized. He got into serious trouble in the
conduct of this office, was accused of being a defaulter, and as the
partisan feeling ran high at that time the Whig papers showed little




612


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


mercy in excoriating him, even invading the sanctity of his home.
He stoutly maintained his innocence of any wrongful act, and upon
retiring from office returned to Adrian and died a few years later.
He was one of the leading politicians of the county, and was reputed an able lawyer and business man.
Joseph Chittenden, who was also a lawyer by profession, came
to Adrian in I833. He was a young man of splendid talents, finely
educated, and one of the most promising young men in the Territory. He married the daughter of the late Dr. Webb, but died Oct.
6, 1834, ten months after his marriage. He was a brother of Mrs.
Henry Hart.
Ahira G. Eastman came to this county in the fall of 1835, was
admitted to the bar that year and practiced law here until about
I858, when he removed to Van Buren county and resided there until his death, in I88I. Mr. Eastman was a careful, prudent man,
and performed well and faithfully the duties devolving upon him
in his profession.
In the foregoing paragraphs mention has been made of the
lawyers who resided in Lenawee county prior to the adoption of
the state constitution, and it is thought that they include the names
of every lawyer who practiced his profession here prior to 1836. In
the fall of that year and the ensuing winter, the number of lawyers
increased rapidly, both by immigration and admission to practice,
and a list of members of the bar in 1841 include the following
names: Alexander R. Tiffany, Milton N. Halsey, William L. Greenly, Lorenzo Tabor, Josiah L. Ward, E. W. Fairfield, A. M. Baker,
A. C. Harris, A. G. Eastman, Peter R. Adams, Consider A. Stacy,
F. C. Beaman, Alfred L. Millard and John W. Turner.
Lorenzo Tabor was born in Bradford, Vt., Feb. 23, 1815, and
died at his home in Adrian, April 28, 1882. He was reared and
educated in his native town, where he studied law and was admitted
to the bar, commencing his practice among the people who had
known him during his boyhood and youth. A year later, in I839,
in common with scores of other young men of that region, he decided to cast his lot with the pioneers of the West, and coming to
Southern Michigan he entered into partnership with W. L. Greenly, at Adrian. Six years later the firm of Greenly & Tabor was dissolved by mutual consent, and Mr. Tabor then associated himself
with Josiah L. Ward, with whom he continued until the removal
of the latter to California. Not long afterward Mr. Tabor was
elected alderman of the city, the duties of which office he dis



BEN CH AND BAR


613


charged in a suitable manner, and later he began dealing largely in
real estate, in connection with his practice.
Ebenezer W. Fairfield was born at Pittsfield, Mass., in i8i2.
He came -to Ann Arbor in I835, but shortly afterward removed to
Adrian, where he practiced his profession until his death, in August, i845. He was the most brilliant advocate at the bar of that
day, and a good lawyer, but he fell a victim to intemperance, and
his death resulted from the effects of strong drink.
Albert M. Baker was born at Eden, Erie county, New York,
Feb. I7, i8I7, and his ancestors came from New England. He was
educated in Buffalo, and studied law in the office of Le Grande and
George L. Marvin, at that time prominent attorneys of that city.
Soon after completing his law studies, Mr. Baker came to Michigan
and settled in Adrian, Nov. 27, 1838. Immediately after his arrival at Adrian he opened a law office and formed a partnership
with Peter R. Adams, of Tecumseh. Upon the arrival of A. L. Millard, then a young lawyer, a partnership was formed which lasted
many years under the name of Baker & Millard. Early in the 50's
Mr. Baker was appointed attorney of the Michigan Southern &
Northern Indiana railroad (now the Lake Shore), which position
he held until his death, July 20, i86o.
Alfred L. Millard was born in Moravia, Cayuga county, New
York, March 6, i8I4. He lived with his parents until his nineteenth
year, when he went to Auburn, N. Y., and commenced the study
of law with the Hon. M. S. Myers, who was at that time clerk of
Cayuga county, Mr. Millard acting as his deputy. He remained
there until July, 1836, when he came to Michigan and settled at
Dexter, reading law a few months at Ann Arbor, with the Hon.
Olney Hawkins. He was admitted to the bar Jan. I7, 1837, -at the
first session o the Supreme Court held in the Second Judicial circuit
under the state organization, the judges of the court at that time
being William A. Fletcher, George Morell and Epaphroditus Ransom. Immediately after his admission Mr. Millard commenced the
practice of his profession in Dexter, where he remained until i841.
He then came to Adrian and became a member of the law firm of
Baker, Harris & Millard. After about two years this firm was
dissolved and soon afterward Messrs. Baker and Millard formed a
new one, which continued several years. Later, Mr. Millard formed
a partnership with H. D. Condict, which lasted about two years.
Mr. Millard was never an office-seeker, but he served as master in
chancery, circuit court commissioner, and alderman and city attorney of Adrian. On Jan. i, I877, he formed a law partnership with




614


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


Seth Bean, which continued some years. He was twice a prominent candidate before the convention of the Democratic party for
the nomination as judge of the Supreme Court of Michigan. He
died Jan. I, I900.
John W. Turner was born in Putney, Vt., in I818, and came to
Hudson in I84I, but later removed to Coldwater. He was the first
Republican nominee for lieutenant-governor, but declined in favor
of Coe. As a public speaker and legal advocate, he always stood
high in Southern Michigan. He published a volume of poems of
considerable merit.
Among the other prominent lawyers who have been given personal mention on other pages of this volume, thereby making repetition unnecessary, are Col. Richard B. Robbins, Willard Stearns,
Scovel C. Stacy, Nathaniel B. Eldredge and Orsamus Lamb.
Charles M. Weaver was born in North Adams, Hillsdale county, Oct. 24, I843. He was reared on his father's farm until the age
of twenty, receiving a rudimentary education in the district schools,
an important part of his early instruction being received from his
brother, Clement E. Weaver, who was at that time a prominent
pedagogue in Hillsdale county. At the age of seventeen he went
to Hillsdale college, where he spent in all about two college years.
After he left the farm he taught school in Pittsford, Hillsdale
county, and subsequently acted as clerk in a clothing store at Hudson. In the spring of I866 he came to Adrian and commenced the
study of law with his brother, C. E. Weaver. In September, I869,
he was admitted to the bar of Lenawee county, and remained in his
brother's office until the fall of I87I. In the fall of 1873 he formed
a co-partnership with Perry Shumway, of Hudson, which continued until Jan. I, I875, when he became associated with John F.
Welch, of Morenci. He kept his office in Hudson until the following May, and then removed to Morenci, where he practiced law
until November, 1878. Soon after becoming a resident of Morenci,
he was appointed village attorney, in which capacity he served for
nearly four years, and he officiated as village clerk two years. After
the death of Charles M. Walker, in October, I878, Mr. Weaver
formed a partnership with his brother, C. E. Weaver, and in November he became the junior member of the law firm of Weaver
& Weaver, of Adrian, which firm became quite prominent.
Charles M. Walker was born in Farmington, Oakland county,
Sept. 24, I834. When three years old he was taken by his parents
to Lapeer, where he had the advantage of the district schools of
that early day. When fifteen years old, he commenced an appren



BENCH AND BAR


615


ticeship at the tinner's trade, but after working at it a short time,
he threw down his tools and said: "I believe I can do better than
make tin pans for a livelihood," and he went immediately to Oberlin College. He remained there three years and then returned to
Lapeer, where he commenced the study of law with Col. J. R.
White, then a leading attorney of that county. As soon as he was
admitted to practice he and Col. N. B. Eldredge formed a partnership in the practice of law, and the same fall he was elected prosecuting attorney, being re-elected at the end of two years. When
the Civil war broke out he enlisted in the Seventh Michigan infantry, and was made quartermaster of the regiment. After serving
in that position with much ability for over a year, he was appointed
provost marshal of the Fifth congressional district. He held this
position for a few months, and then resigned and again went to the
front, serving as volunteer aid to Gen. George A. Custer. After the
close of the war he came to Adrian and again commenced the practice of his profession. He was clear and incisive in his views of
legal propositions, was thoroughly versed in the common law, and
when a case was stated to him he seemed to know and comprehend
at once the law which must determine it. He is remembered as a
genial gentleman, a good lawyer and eloquent advocate, and a true
friend and companion. He died at his home in Adrian, after a brief
illness, Oct. 20, 1878.
William L. Penfield, solicitor of the Department of State in
the United States government, and a very prominent lawyer, was a
product of Lenawee county, although he won his fame in other
fields. He was born in the township of Dover, Lenawee county,
in 1846, received his education in Lenawee schools, and was admitted to the bar at Adrian, in 1872. In the early 70's he taught
German and Latin in Adrian College, and then engaged in the
practice of law at Auburn, Ind. He served as judge of the circuit
court in Indiana, prior to his appointment as Solicitor in the State
Department at Washington. He was counsel for the United States
in the famous "pious fund case," in the Venezuelan arbitration before The Hague tribunal in 1903, and general counselor of the
United States government in the Emery claim against the Nicaraguan government. He was counsel for this country in international arbitration between the United States and San Domingo,
Hayti, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Salvador and Mexico, wherein
awards amounting to $2,500,000 were given in favor of the United
States. In I905 he was special commissioner to Brazil. Judge




6i6


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


Penfield died at his home in the city of Washington, after a long
illness, May 9, I9o9.
Ovid N. Case was another Lewanee product who won renown
as a lawyer in other fields. He was born at Windsor, Ashtabula
county, Ohio, Nov. 13, 1853. After receiving a common school education he removed to Lenawee county, where for some years he
worked on his father's farm, and in 1875 he graduated at Adrian
College. The same year he became superintendent of schools at
Cambridge, and later he entered upon the study of law in the office
of Stacy & Underwood, at Adrian. He began the practice of his
profession at Vermontville, Eaton county, in I877. The following
year he removed to Detroit, where he rose to a high place at the
bar, and to a commanding political position. He was elected successively to the legislatures of 1883, I885 and 1887, serving with distinction in those of 1883 and 1885. Elected to the legislature of
I887 he never took the oath of office, as he died Dec. 26, I886, at
the age of thirty-three years.
Joseph H. Steere is still another young man who started on his
successful career in the law at Adrian. He was born May 19, I852,
at Addison, Lenawee county, but removed to the state of Minnesota with his parents in I854. He returned to Adrian in I86I,
worked on a farm and taught school, attended Raisin Valley Seminary and Adrian high school winters, until 1872, when he entered
the literary department of Michigan University, and graduated in
the classical course in 1876. He then studied law with Messrs.
Geddes & Miller, of Adrian, and was admitted to the bar in I878.
He removed to Sault Ste. Marie and began the practice of law the
same year, was elected prosecuting attorney of Chippewa county
in I88o, and in the spring of I88I, when but twenty-nine years old,
he was elected judge of the Eleventh judicial circuit.
Jacob C. Winne was a native of the state of New York, where
he was born at Cherry Valley, Otsego county, Jan. 28, I855. He
passed his early boyhood in his native county, where he attended
the common schools until he was old enough to take a more advanced course, and then attended the Ames Academy in Montgomery county, New York, two years. lie then came to Lenawee
county with his parents, and entered the Adrian High School, pursuing his studies for a time. He then began teaching school, in
which he engaged for three winters. Concluding to adopt the law
as the profession of his life, he entered the office of Stacy & Underwood, in the spring of I877, for the purpose of pursuing the preliminary studies, and afterward he attended the law department of




BENCH AND BAR                    617
the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, for one year. In June,
1879, he passed a rigid examination, was admitted to the bar, and
began practice. He grew rapidly into a good practice, but death
cut him down in the midst of a promising career.
Henry C. Pratt was born in Reading, Seneca county, New
York, Dec. 5, I832, and there he resided until 1838, when his parents
removed to Peru, Huron county, Ohio. He was educated in the
district schools of his neighborhood and spent nearly two years at
the academy at Norwalk, Ohio. He taught his first school when he
was seventeen years old and followed that occupation for six years
in Ohio. He came to Michigan in 1856, and at once opened a select school in what is now known as District No. 7, Fairfield. During the following twenty years he followed teaching. In January,
I882, he was admitted to the bar, and for several years he practiced
law in Adrian. He retired from active practice in I890, and thereafter lived a -quiet life upon his farm in Fairfield.
Charles Burridge was born in the city of London, England,
Jan. 5, I837. The family migrated to-the United States in 1852, and
not long afterward came to this county. Charles attended school
and finally developed into a teacher, which occupation he pursued
three winters, and then entered the state university, where he took
a two-years' course. Later, he entered the law office of C. B.
Wood, as clerk, and continued with him, finally as partner, until
[879. He served as justice of the peace at Tecumseh for a period
of eight years, and as village recorder nine years in succession. He
also served as justice of the peace, and practiced law in Tecumseh
until his death.
To go farther in the enumeration of the members of the bar
would be to trench upon the domain of the present, and discuss the
characters of men still upon the stage of public life, which hardly
comes within the province of this chapter. The bar has grown
rapidly in numbers, and it is not too much to say that Lenawee
county has always been noted for the ability of its lawyers. It is
said of an old Pennsylvania judge that he was once examining a
candidate for admission to the bar, and asked him the stock question: "What is a court?" "A court," said the applicant, pompously, " is a place where justice is judiciously administered." "Not always," said the judge, shaking his head, "not always." The answer
given in Blackstone is "a place where justice is judicially administered." The difference between judicially and judiciously is a
marked one, and yet it may safely be said of the Lenawee county
courts that, from the first, they have been places where justice is
both judicially and judiciously administered.




618             MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY
Prior to i898 there was no regularly organized association of
the members of the bar in Lenawee county. There had been occasional gatherings at bar suppers, where the attorneys had met at
different times for social intercourse, and also from time to time
they met to pay their tribute of respect to deceased associates. But
early in the year mentioned above a plan of definite and permanent
organization was proposed, under the statute providing for the incorporation of such societies, passed in i88i. The purpose of the
organization is to establish and maintain a high standard of professional acquirements and deportment, and to promote a proper degree of harmony among the members of the bar. The association
is known as the Lenawee County Bar Association, and its first permanent officers were chosen Jan. 7, i898, as follows: Alfred L. Millard, president; Clement E. Weaver, vice-president; Clarke E.
Baldwin, treasurer, and Walter S. Westerman, secretary. Mr. Millard served as president until his death, Jan. ii, i9oo. Clement E.
Weaver succeeded him until his death, in April, i906, and the present incumbent, R. A. Watts, was then chosen to fill the vacancy.












(CLTNTON D. HARDY




CHAPTER XXXVII.
BANKING AND FINANCE.
ANTIPATHY TO BANKS-EARLY BANKING LAWS-"WILD-CAT" BANK-'
ING-CITY BANK OF BREST-PANIC OF 1837-REPORT OF BANK
COMMISSIONERS-BANKING LAW DECLARED UNCONSTITUTIONALCOMPLETE FINANCIAL RUIN-ERIE & KALAMAZOO RAILROAD BANK
-PHILO C. FULLER-PERIOD OF SANE BANKING-WALDBY & CLAY'S
STATE BANK-LENAWEE COUNTY SAVINGS BANK-COMMERCIAL
SAVINGS BANK-ADRIAN STATE SAVINGS BANK-NATIONAL BANK
OF COMMERCE-LILLEY STATE BANK AND THE TECUMSEH STATE
SAVINGS BANK, AT TECUMSEH-THE BOIES STATE SAVINGS BANK
AND THE THOMPSON SAVINGS BANK, AT HUDSON-OTHER BANKING
INSTITUTIONS-A DISHONEST BANKER.
Although the bank is an effect rather than the cause of industrial or commercial activity in any city or community, it is generally a good index to the state of industrial or commercial prosperity.
In a review of the history and development of Lenawee county it
is therefore eminently proper that its banking history should be
considered.
During the era of settlement, and for some years after the Territory was admitted as a state, the people of Michigan were not
friendly to banks. This was chiefly due to the unstable character
of the currency then in circulation. Most of the paper money of
that day was issued by private banking concerns, and went current only so long as some man of known integrity and business
standing said it was good. Nor was this prejudice-if prejudice it
can be called-indigenous to the Western frontier. Many of the
pioneers had been forced to leave their homes in the older states
and begin life anew on the margin of civilization through the failure of some "wild-cat" bank. Hence the antipathy to banks whose
solvency was liable at any moment to be called into question. And
it becomes necessary here to notice a series of events that had an




620


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


important bearing upon the development of Lenawee county, as
well as Michigan in general. Notwithstanding the hostility mentioned, at the beginning of 1837 there were sixteen chartered banks
in the state, nine of which had been chartered by the Territorial
Legislative Council and seven by the state legislature of 1836. The
following is a list of these banks: Michigan, Detroit; Monroe, Monroe; Pontiac, Pontiac; River Raisin, Monroe; Washtenaw, Ann
Arbor; Erie & Kalamazoo, Adrian; Farmers' and Mechanics', Detroit; Michigan State, Detroit; Tecumseh, Tecumseh; Merchants'
& Mechanics', Detroit; St. Clair, St. Clair; Clinton, Clinton; Calhoun, Marshall; McComb, Mt. Clemens; Constantine, Constantine,
and Ypsilanti, Ypsilanti.
It would seem as though these sixteen banks could have done
the business of this then new state, but on March 15, 1837, the legislature enacted a law providing for the incorporation of moneyed
institutions. This law provided that any number of men might
associate together, subscribe $50,00ooo for a capital stock, and by
filing articles of association with the county clerk, become incorporate. One-third of the capital must be owned in the county, ten
per cent. to be paid in before election of directors, and thirty per
cent. before bank notes should be issued. The law also contained
this restrictive clause: "It shall niot be lawful for any such banking association to issue, or have outstanding or in circulation at
any time, an amount of notes or bills loaned or put in circulation
as money exceeding twice and a half the amount of its stock then
paid in and actually possessed; nor shall its loans and discounts at
any time exceed twice and a half the amount of its capital stock
so paid in and possessed."
This was bad enough, but a subsequent statute allowed them
to deposit, instead of specie, a bond secured on real estate. Under
the operation of this lawv hundreds of banks sprang into existence.
Nearly every cross-road had its bank, and it is indeed a wonder
that the inhabitants of any community could forego the luxury of
a banking association. Every kind of property was quoted at inflated prices, and wild land, valued at three or four times its actual
worth, became the security for the bank circulation of Michigan.
These banks, on account of the character of their securities, were
called "wvild-cat banks," and the old banks were known as "chartered banks." Banks of the wild-cat species sprang up in Lenawee
county as follows: Lenawee County Bank, at Palmyra, capital $ioo,ooo; Commonwealth Bank, at Tecumseh, capital $5o,ooo, and the
Bank of Adrian, at Adrian, with a capital of $I50,000. The law re



BANKING AND FINANCE


621


quired a certain amount of specie to be kept in the vaults of the bank,
but this provision was evaded. The same specie served for exhibition
for a dozen banks, at various intervals. The bonds and mortgages
which were deposited were upon city lots in the woods, or on real estate at fictitious values. The notes of one wild-cat bank were held
as capital by another wild-cat bank. They clandestinely put out a
much larger circulation than the law allowed them. In these and
a hundred other ways they evaded the law and practiced outrageous swindles upon the public.
Incidents connected with the operations of these banking
schemes properly form a part of history, and none will serve as a
better illustration than the City Bank of Brest. Brest was a magnificent city (on paper), situated at the mouth of Swan creek,
about seven' miles from Monroe. An excellently lithographed and
beautifully colored map of the city represented it with broad avenues, lined with palatial residences and handsome grounds. The
extended river front of the city had continuous lines of docks, above
which towered, on either hand, lofty warehouses, filled with the
merchandise of the world. The largest steamers were represented
as sailing up past the city, whose docks were crowded with vessels
of all descriptions, while the streets were thronged with busy life.
The riins of Ninevah or Baalbec are not more-desolate now than
are the ruins of Brest, and it is little less a wilderness today than
it was seventy years ago. But Brest had a bank, with a capital of
$Ioo,ooo. It was a fair sample of a wild-cat bank, and an illustration of how those affairs were managed. The law compelled the
bank commissioners to make an investigation into the affairs of the
banks. Spies dogged the footsteps of the commissioners, and it
was generally found out when they were to visit a bank for inspection, whereupon the affairs of that particular bank were put into
favorable shape forthwith. On Aug. 2, the commissioners examined the Bank of Brest and found that its principal resources consisted of loans on bonds, $I6,ooo; bank stock, $o,oo000; specie, $12,900. It appears that of the specie, $I0,5oo belonged to Lewis Godard, and had been received by the bank the day before examination, and was drawn out the day after examination. The $I6,ooo
loan on bond and mortgage was a loan to the trustees of the town
of Brest, to secure which the bank received an assignment of the
bonds executed by Lewis Godard for the sum of $34,ooo, and also
of mortgages of II8 city lots in Brest. On the day after the examination the directors assigned the bond and mortgage back to the
trustees of Brest, having received nothing for the same. Seven




622


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


days later an impromptu investigation of the affairs of the bank
showed that the amount of specie on hand amounted to $I38.89,
while the whole amount of bills of the bank which were in circulation was $84,24I.
A few days after the investigation into the affairs of the Bank
of Brest, the commissioners examined the Bank of Clinton, and
found specie on hand to the amount of $II,029.36. On the day succeeding the examination $Io,500 of this specie was drawn from the
bank by the cashier, brought to Detroit and paid over to Lewis
Godard, it being precisely the same specie that had done duty a
few days before in the Bank of Brest. Thus the specie was carted
about the country in advance of the commissioners.
An examination into the affairs of the bank at Palmyra showed
the requisite specie on hand. Suddenly descending on the bank, a
few days later, the total amount of cash in the bank was found to
be $34.20. At the same time the circulation of the bills of the bank
amounted to more than $20,000. Isolated banks, which could not
enjoy the benefits of this rotation of specie reserve, resorted to
other devices. Some of them, it is said, would buy a small quantity of specie, and nearly filling small kegs with pounded glass,
would cover the top with specie and thus pass the examination.
Before the bursting of this financial bubble the amount of
notes of these banks in circulation is estimated to have been not
less than $300 for every man, woman and child in the state. While
some bona fide banks were established, it was soon found that the
law was taken advantage of by dishonest men to practice the grossest frauds and swindles. The law practically permitted these
frauds, and the officers of the state, though striving honestly to do
their duty, were powerless to prevent them. Banks were established in the most inaccessible places, which it was not likely the
holders of the bills could ever find, and hence the bank would not
be asked to redeem its currency. In addition to the bank already
mentioned, the then promising village of Palmyra was blessed with
another wild-cat establishment, known as the Palmyra and Jacksonburgh Bank.
About the time these wild-cat banks had got to work, the
country experienced one of those financial panics which so frequently shake commercial communities to their very center. President Andrew Jackson, it will be remembered, was hostile to the
United States Bank, which had been in existence since I816. It
had been chartered in December of that year for a period of twenty
years, and as its term was about to expire "Old Hickory" fought




BANKING AND FINANCE


623


the movement for renewing the charter with all of his characteristic
determination. He conquered, the bank was discontinued, its stock
was sold and the money was paid into the United States treasury.
The banks in the several states were thereupon-designated as banks
of deposit, and were used for collecting, transferring and disbursing the public revenues. There was then a surplus in the United
States treasury, and after a long and exciting debate in Congress,
in the session of I835-36, it was determined to distribute this surplus among the several states in proportion to their representation
in Congress, to be deposited in the various banks for safe keeping.
Then ensued one of the wildest eras of speculation. Money
was abundant, the coffers of the government were overflowing,
the country was prosperous and everybody seemed bent on making a fortune, regardless of whether the orthodox plan of action
was followed or not. The state banks loaned out the money which
had been deposited with them to the red-hot speculators who were
buying government land, and were laying out and building 'cities
in the wilderness, connecting them by railroads and canals. These
loans were given on what was supposed to be good security, it generally being real estate taken at its speculative value, or city lots
in cities where scarce a tree had been hewn down or a spade had
penetrated the earth. But the reaction came all too soon. Hard
times oppressed the country, the government had use for its money,
and called upon the banks with which it had been deposited to return it again in coin.  The banks did not have it; they had
loaned it out on security to speculators.  The speculators had
been unable to realize even their investments at the fancy prices
at which they had been made. The security proved of little or no
value, and the banks were sore distressed to meet their obligations
to the government, since specie only would be received.
In this cramped condition the banks, in order to save their
existence, were compelled to proceed with the utmost caution.
Specie payments were suspended. The banks called in their circulation as rapidly as they could, and refused to throw it out again,
preferring to await a turn of events, and not endanger their lives
by having a large irredeemable circulation out. The consequence
was a scarcity of money, and business was greatly cramped thereby. The people were clamorous for relief, and there was an outcry against the chartered banks as being moneyed corporations
which only sought their own selfish ends, and had no regard for
the welfare of the people. They were declared to be monopolies,
and everything else being free in this country, banking should also




624


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


be free. About this time a general banking law had been passed
in the state of New York, and numerous banks had gone into operation under it. Without waiting to see how the New York idea
would work in practice, the Michigan legislators quickly adopted
the same plan, and as a result the celebrated "wild-cat banks" came
into existence, making a very bad condition of affairs worse. The
system of wild-cat banks had just been organized when the crash
came, and well would it have been for the young state of Michigan
if all these financial institutions had been immediately swept out
of existence. But they were legal banking houses, and were entitled to any measure provided for the relief of honest bankers.
The legislature passed an act to suspend specie payments until
June 16, 1838. An act was also passed curtailing the bank circulation. Banks that had vested interests to protect were careful in
the extreme, discounted sparingly, and then only on undoubted
paper. But the wild-cats had no vested interests. Their capital
existed largely in imagination, and the requirement of the law
that thirty-hundredths of the capital should be coin in the vaults
was almost wholly disregarded. As their own securities were to
a great extent a myth, they ran no risk in accepting almost any security for their nearly worthless promises to pay. Therefore their
notes were in everybody's hands, while those of the chartered banks
were almost as scarce as gold.
The Bank Commissioners, in their annual report, dated Jan.
I8, 1839, gave in detail the policy pursued by them and the results
of their investigations into the condition of affairs of the various
banks. They used very strong language in denouncing the system,
and in referring to the General Banking Law asserted that there
were no species of fraud and evasion of law which the ingenuity of
dishonest corporations had ever devised, that were not practiced
under this act. Stock notes were given for subscriptions to stock,.
and counted as specie, and thus not a cent of real capital existed,
beyond the small sums paid in by the upright and unsuspecting
farmer and mechanic, whose little savings and honest names were
necessary to give confidence and credit. The notes of institutions
thus constituted were spread abroad upon the community in every
manner, and through every possible channel; property, produce,.
stock, farming utensils, and everything which the people of the
country were attempted by advancing prices to dispose of, were
purchased and paid for in paper, which was known by the utterers
to be absolutely valueless. And thus a law which was established
upon principles well digested and approved, and hedged aroundi




BANKING AND FINANCE


62 -

with so much care, and guarded with so many provisions that few,
it was supposed would venture to bank under it, became, by the
base dishonesty and gross cupidity of a few, who had control of
the specie of the country, nothing less than a machine of fraud.
Continuing- their report, the commissioners said:
"it has been said, with some appearance of plausibility, that
these banks have at least had the good effect of liquidating a large
amount of debt. This may be true, but whose debts have they
liquidated? Those of the crafty and the speculative-and by
whom? Let every poor man from his little clearing and log hut
in the woods make the emphatic response by holding up to view
as the rewards of his labor a handful of promises to pay, which, for
his purpose, are as valueless as a handful of dry leaves at his feet.
Were this the extent of the evil the indomitable energy and spirit
of our population, who have so manfully endured it, would redeem
the injury. But when it is considered how much injury is inflicted
at home by the sacrifice of many valuable farms, and the stain
upon the credit of the state abroad, the remedy is neither so easy
nor so obvious. When we reflect, too, that the laws are ineffective
in punishing the successful swindler, and that the moral tone of
society seems so far sunk as to surround and protect the dishonest
and fraudulent with countenance and support, it imperatively demands that some legislative action should be had to enable the
prompt and rigorous enforcement of the laws, and the making severe examples of the guilty, no matter how protected and cotuntenanced."
Upon this report the legislature promptly suspended the operation of the General Banking Law 'so far as organizing other
banks was concerned. But the evil had been accomplished. Worthless bank notes were in the hands of every one. The chartered
banks had at first refused to have anything to do with the bills of
the other banks, whereat there was a public clamor raised which
compelled them to receive such bills on deposit, and in the way of
business. Thus the regular banks, which had been doing an honest
and legitimate business, were engulfed in the ruin which followed.
When it became apparent that banks were established for fraudulent purposes, many of them were enjoined. Others, which had
been striving to conduct their affairs honestly, struggled along in
the hope of being able to redeem their circulation; and the holders
of notes, for a long time, had faith that they would be able to
realize something on them.  But at length the law, and all the
banks with it, collapsed fatally and forever.
40-IV




626


A MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


The question of the constitutionality of the law under which
these banks were organized, was raised in the supreme court, and
the law was decided unconstitutional at the January term, 1844,
on the ground that the constitution required that each corporation
created by the legislature must receive the direct assent of twothirds of the members elected, and that it was not a fair compliance
when the assent of two-thirds was given to a general statute establishing a system for the admission of voluntary associations to
corporate privileges. The opinion of the court was read by Justice
Whipple, who maintained that it was clearly the intention of the
framers of the constitution to prohibit the legislature from passing
a general law authorizing the erection of corporations.
The law being thus declared unconstitutional, of course the
personal liability of directors and stockholders under it fell to the
ground, and all hope which the holders of bills may have had of
realizing anything upon them vanished forever. The bills were
only so much waste paper. Already every one of the banks had
collapsed, and they had dragged down the chartered banks with
them. There was never a more complete financial ruin.
When all the banks had been swept out of existence there
were bills afloat representing millions of dollars. Many of these
were in the hands of bona fide holders, who lost heavily thereby.
Many of the bills had never been in use, and were then given away
promiscuously. Children used them to play with, and in the rural
districts, where paper hangings were scarce, people used.them to
paper their rooms. The bills were engraved by Rawdon, Wright
& Hatch, in the best style of their art, and were printed on a good
quality of paper, so that they made the walls of a log cabin rather
picturesque. They were scattered all over the state, thrown into
old garrets, closets and book-cases. While the Civil war was in
progress, thousands of dollars of these bills were resurrected and
taken South by Federal soldiers, who found that the people of the
South preferred them to Confederate money; in fact they were
quite as valuable and superior in point of typographical appearance.
Many of these bills are yet preserved and are shown as curiosities,
serving also as reminders of those exciting times, which in history
are regarded as partaking both of the ludicrous and the mournful.
Why the banks were called "wild-cats" is not known. The
bills of similar banks in the state of New York were known as "red
dogs." Whether the two names had any relation to each other
we are unable to say. Very likely the name of "wild-cats" was applied to them on some occasion in jest, and it seemed so peculiarly








I  ft, kJt, Ke,!;,L~ii3 ~ii,I  ~~     Cr., iN


14Z!R K- A
V  -
v s s
e  X
7 7 2'


I     I
tz, "


-        10


L  __      '. __t


'                            s...........
HFACSM IA.trE OF OLD ANt     B
FACSTMTLE OF OTD BANK BTLL,Z. ",
1p1




BANKING AND FINANCE


627


appropriate that it stuck to them and was generally adopted. One
authority says that the name was first given to them by Oliver
Newberry, who was at one time a leading merchant in Detroit.
Some debtor brought in a parcel of these bills to pay up an account.
Mr. Newberry refused to take them, and said he would have nothing to do with that "wild-cat stuff." Whether or not Mr. Newberry is entitled to the honor of going down to posterity as the
stigmatizer of this species of bank notes is of small moment, but
the characterization of them was certainly a fitting one. And
looking over the field now, it is hard to understand how men of ordinary wisdom and prudence were led into this wild scheme of universal banking. But they suffered intensely for it. Lenawee
county, which was rapidly filling up with a stirring Eastern population, received a check to her immigration and to her commercial
prosperity from which she did not soon recover. But the lesson
was not lost on Michigan. Upon the ruins of that utterly prostrated credit she builded so wisely that now no state enjoys greater
prosperity or has a more enviable reputation for financial soundness.
The first bank to be established in Lenawee county was the
Erie & Kalamazoo Railroad Bank, of Adrian, a chartered institution, established by Philo C. Fuller, of Geneseo, N. Y. Mr. Fuller
was born in New Marlborough, Mass., Aug. 13, I787. By profession he was a lawyer, politically a Whig. He had been a member
of the New York assembly, and also state senator, and while residing in Lenawee county was elected a representative in the legislature and was chosen speaker of the house, in I841. He settled in
Adrian in 1837, and had charge of the Erie & Kalamazoo railroad,
as well as the bank of that name. He later returned to the state
of New York, served as comptroller of that state, and in the administration of William Henry Harrison was assistant postmastergeneral. He died at Geneva, N. Y., Aug. I6, I855. After Mr. Fuller retired from the Erie & Kalamazoo Bank it went into the possession of John B. and F. W. Macy, of New York, who placed Carlisle Norwood in charge of the institution, and it continued in
existence for some years, until forced into liquidation by the series
of events already narrated.
THE PERIOD OF SANE BANKING.
In 1850 Ira Bidwell decided to open a banking office in Adrian,
and offered William H. Waldby an interest in and management of
the same, which offer was accepted. The bank was opened Dec.




628


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


3, 1850, in the old Franklin House block, south room, on Main
street, and remained there until the completion, in 185I, of a new
business block and banking house on the south side of Maumee
street, between Main and Winter, the location being where the
store of Wood, Crane & Wood now is. In that year Ira Bidwell
retired from the business, selling his interest to William H. Waldby, and in 1852 E. J. Waaldby joined his brother, the firm taking
the name of W. H. Waldby & Company, by whom the institution
was successfully continued. In I855 the business lot on the southeast corner of Maumee and Main streets was purchased, and in
1857 the firm erected and occupied the building which still stands
and has always been used for banking purposes. W. H. Waldby
& Company continued the business until 1872, when it was changed
to the First National Bank of Adrian, of which Fernando C. Beaman was president; Abel Whitney, vice-president, and Ebenezer
I. Waldby was cashier. On May i, 1878, E. I. Waldby and Frank
W. Clay purchased the business, good-will and building, and continued the banking business under the firm name of Waldby &
Clay. Waldby & Clay's State Bank was organized under the state
banking law, June 24, 1894, and has a paid-in capital stock of $75,ooo. In the Twentieth Annual Report of the Commissioner of the
Banking Department of the State of Michigan, issued Dec. 31,
1908, the resources of this bank amount to nearly $8oo00,000ooo. Frank
WV. Clay is president; R. S. Moreland, vice-president; H. B. Waldby, cashier, and J. C. Murphy, assistant cashier, while the board
of directors are E. B. Waldby, H. B. Waldby, F. W. Clay, Rial
Clay, J. D. DeFoe, R. S. Moreland, A. W. Wood, J. W. Kirk and
F. A. Stevenson.
The Lenawee County Savings Bank was incorporated Dec. 21,
1869, among the prime movers in the enterprise being the following named gentlemen: Rial Niles, William WA. Bruce, George
Bruce, Charles M. Walker, Henry Hart, Elihu L. Clark, William
Dutton, Nathaniel B. Eldredge, Joseph H. Wood, Alanson Worden, George Bidwell, R. R. Beecher, Joseph R. Bennett and George
H. Bruce. The first board of directors was selected from among
these gentlemen, and the original capital stock was $50,00ooo. The
bank was opened for business Jan. 13, 1870, on East Main street,
in the building which is now occupied by Fred Schwartz and Herman Berger. It remained at this location about two years and
then, in 1872, was moved to the Masonic Temple, where it remained for a period of thirty-five years. It is now one of the oldest incorporated state banks in Michigan, and with one exception




BANKING AND FINANCE


629


it is the only strictly savings bank in the state. The first president, elected upon the organization of the bank, was Elihu L.
Clark, who served in that capacity until I874, when he was succeeded by William Dutton. Mr. Dutton was succeeded by ExGov. Charles M. Croswell, and in 1887, Joseph R. Bennett was
elected to the position. Delos M. Baker succeeded Mr. Bennett,
and upon the death of Mr. Baker Herman V. C. Hart was elected
president of the bank and is the present incumbent of that position. The firsh cashier was William W. Bruce, who served from
the time of organization until 1876, when he was succeeded by
Col. Sylvester B. Smith. In the fall of 1878 Herman V. C. Hart became cashier and served until the early part of 9o09, when he was
promoted to the presidency, and Clinton D. Hardy was elected
cashier, which position he now fills. The present Board of Directors are Herman V. C. Hart, Ambrose B. Park, Clinton D. Hardy,
Dayton B. Morgan, Harry L. Larwill and Warren J. Parker. The
corporate existence of the bank was extended Feb. I, 1902, and its
present capital stock is $Ioo,ooo. On May 15, I906, ground was
broken for the commodious building which the bank now occupies on
East Maumee street. The site selected for the location of the building was that formerly known as the Dr. P. J. Spalding property, and
the lot has an 8I-foot frontage, with a depth of 247 feet. The size
of the building is 56x72, two stories, and the second floor is divided
into conveniently arranged office rooms. The building is both fire
and burglar proof, electric lighted and steam heated, and the material used in its construction is a light colored impervious brick,
with Bedford stone, and terra cotta trimmings around the roof.
The removal of the bank from its former quarters in the Masonic
Temple to the new building was made on June 25, I907, and on the
morning of the following day the place was opened to the public
in the continuance of business. It is no exaggeration to say that
the Lenawee County Savings Bank building has few, if any, that
equal it, and none that excel it in the points of architectural beauty
and convenience of arrangement, in a city of the size of Adrian.
In I849 Langford G. Berry and WVilliam H. Stone opened a
banking house in Adrian, and for several years did a general banking business under the firm name of L. G. Berry & Company. Mr.
Berry finally retired from the firm, and F. J. Remington became an
active partner, when the firm name was changed to W. H. Stone
& Company. Mr. Remington continued in the business until he
removed to California, in 1876, and then Mr. Stone assumed the
entire charge, but continued the firm name, and his bank was a




63o


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


prominent financial institution until his death, which occurred.
Sept. I3, 1878. In November, 1878, Col. Sylvester B. Smith formed
a partnership with Thomas J. Tobey, and they engaged in the banking business as successors to W. H. Stone & Company, and this
partnership continued until the death of Colonel Smith, in 1883.
The firm name was then changed to T. J. Tobey & Company, with
Delos M. Baker as the silent partner, and this arrangement continued until December, I885, when a new firm, consisting of Seymour
Howell, Edwin L. Baker and William B. Thompson, succeeded to
the business under the firm name of Howell, Baker & Company.
In June, I888, this bank was reorganized as the Commercial Savings Bank of Adrian, Howell, Baker & Company's interest being
transferred for stock in the new organization. The officers elected
at this time were Wvilliam J. Cocker, president and William B.
Thompson, cashier. Mr. Cocker served as president until his death,
which occurred in May, I9OI, and then Charles R. Miller was elected to the position. Mr. Miller retired in January, I904, and was
succeeded by Alanson Bennett, the present incumbent. William
B. Thompson served as cashier until in April, I891, when he resigned and moved to Denver, being succeeded by Seymour Howell. Major Howell officiated as cashier until December, 1897, when
he resigned, and Ernest N. Smith was elected to the position, which
he has been the incumbent of up to the present time. The first
board of directors of this institution consisted of Seymour Howell,
Charles Bowerfind, David Metcalf, Alanson Bennett, William J.
Cocker, Charles R. Miller, Dr. Abram M. Stephenson, John G.
Mason and Norman Geddes, and the present board is Alanson Bennett, Abram M. Stephenson, Edwin C. Sword, Alfred H. Wood,
Charles G. Hart, Edwin L. Baker, John E. Bird, Neil B. Hayes and
Albertus E. Palmer. The bank has a capital stock of $IIo,ooo, and
does a commercial and savings business.
In June, 1877, Channing Whitney opened to the public in
Adrian the doors of a financial institution, under the name of
Whitney's Commercial Exchange Bank. It was a private bank
and Mr. Whitney was the sole owner. It was located at No. I8
West Maumee street. The bank offered to pay five per cent. compound interest on deposits, which was the usual rate at that time,
and Charles G. Wesley, now a prominent merchant of Adrian, was
the first book keeper. The bank had the usual experience of new
institutions, and at first business did not come rapidly, but the
young banker kept steadily at it, gaining the confidence of the community step by step, and in the course of a year or two the enter



BANKING AND FINANCE


631


prise was an assured success. In I880 the late William S. Wilcox
became associated with Mr. Whitney and the business ran as the
Commercial Exchange Bank of Whitney & Wilcox. The institution continued to be one of Adrian's leading banks until June, I893,
when Messrs. Whitney & Wilcox organized under the state law
as the Adrian State Savings Bank.  Mr. Whitney was elected
cashier of the newly organized concern 'and was its largest individual stockholder. In 1894 he retired from the active management
on account of poor health, and in order to give his personal attention to his large real-estate holdings. According to the report of
the Commissioner of Banking for the year I908, R. A. Watts is
president and B. E. Tobias is the cashier of the Adrian State Savings Bank, while the board of directors is constituted as follows:
R. A. Watts, George A. Wilcox, William E. Jewett, R. A. Kaiser,
C. G. Wesley, W. O. Hunt, B. E. Tobias, A. D. Ellis, C. S. Whitney and R. H. Watts. The capital stock is given as $6o,ooo.
In I895 Channing Whitney opened a private bank under the
name of The Commercial Exchange Bank of Channing Whitney
& Company, with a capital of $75,000, starting in handsomely
equipped quarters at No. I8 West Maumee street, and having his
son, Charles S. Whitney, associated with him. The Messrs. Whitney's honorable methods and wide acquaintance in the city and
county secured at once for the new bank a generous share of the
public patronage, and they were conducting the affairs of this institution with marked success at the time of Channing Whitney's
death, Nov. I5, 1902. Chas. Whitney, the son, then merged the
institution into the Adrian State Savings Bank, and became the
auditor and a member of the board of directors of that financial
corporation.
Adrian had been without a National bank from I878, when
the First National Bank ceased doing business, until the early part
of I909. In May, I909, the National Bank of Commerce was organized, and it opened its doors to the public on June 3, following.
It has a capital of $Ioo,ooo, a surplus of $20,000, and its officers are
as follows: David L. Treat, president; Theodore M. Joslin, vicepresident; Rolland C. Rothfuss, cashier. The following gentlemen comprise the board of directors: Willis Chatfield, James W.
Helme, Smith C. Fairbanks, Webster C. Jipson, Theodore M. Joslin, Samuel 0. Rothfuss, Rolland C. Rothfuss, Charles L. Robertson, William H. Shierson and David L. Treat. The four-story
brick building on the north side of Maumee street, between Main
and Broad streets, is now being remodeled to become the home of
the new National Bank of Commerce.




632


6MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


In i855 Lucius Lilley engaged in the banking business in Tecumseh, where he has remained in the same business and at the
same locality up to the present time, a period of fifty-four years.
He is the president of the Lilley State Bank, of Tecumseh, and is
one of the oldest, best known and most conservative bankers in
the state. In September, i855, he accepted the position of teller in
the old Tecumseh Bank, with which he remained until the institution wound up its affairs, in I86o, when he organized the savings
bank of P. Bills & Company, Mr. Bills being the president and Mr.
Lilley the cashier. In I865 this bank was reorganized as the National Bank of Tecumseh, and Mr. Lilley held the position of
cashier, managing its affairs successfully until it went into voluntary liquidation, in the spring of I874. As a successor to this institution, the Bank of Bills, Lilley & Company was then organized,
and Mr. Lilley was cashier and manager of the same until the
death of Mr. Bills, in I88o, when a reorganization took place under
the firm name of Lilley, Bidwell & Company. The institution was
again reorganized under the state banking law, Jan. 26, 1893, as
the Lilley State Bank of Tecumseh, with a capital of $40,000, and
the officers of the bank, as reported in the State Bank Commissioner's report for I9o8, are Lucius Lilley, president; P. NVT. A.
Fitzsimmons, vice-president; F. J. Temple, cashier, and 11. S.
Temple, assistant cashier. The board of directors is given as follows: Lucius Lilley, L. I. Bidwell, P. W. A. Fitzsimmons, F. E.
Bradley, R. A. Heesen, F. J. Temple and W. D. Reed.
The Tecumseh State Savings Bank was organized April 2I,
1893, with Joseph H. Smith as cashier, and that gentleman has
continued to fill the position up to the present time. The late
Capt. Charles R. Miller was president for a number of years prior
to his death, but the local conduct of the institution has been
largely in the hands of the genial cashier, and John Q. Look, the
popular vice-president. The Tecumseh State Savings Bank is regarded as one of the safest and most conservative banks in this
section of the state. It owns the building which it occupies, and
has a paid-in capital stock of $26,000. The board of directors, as
given in the State Bank Commissioners' report for I908, is as follows: C. R. Miller, Joseph Russell, C. A. Slayton, J. Q. Look, L.
G. North, A. C. Aylesworth.
The first bank in Hudson was called the Exchange Bank, and
it was established by Henry M. Boies, John K. Boies, and Nathan
Rude, in i855. The entire control and management of it for several years was in the hands of Nathan Rude, and later John K.




BANKING AND FINANCE


633


Boies succeeded to the management. Upon the death of Henry
M. Boies and Nathan Rude, the old firm was succeeded by that of
Boies, Eaton & Company, the members being John K. Boies,
Stephen A. Eaton and John H. Boies. John K. Boies died in August, I89I, and the following year the bank was incorporated as a
state institution, and took the name of The Boies' State Savings
Bank, by which it has since been known. Stephen A. Eaton was
elected president under the new organization and has officiated in
that capacity since, the other officials at the present time being D.
J. Beachboard, president, and Byron J. Foster, cashier. The bank
has a paid-in capital stock of $75,000, and the board of directors
is composed of the following gentlemen: Stephen A. Eaton, James
B. Thorn, D. J. Beachboard, H. V. C. Hart, E. J. Southworth, Byron J. Foster, and Edward Frensdorf. This banking institution
has been a successful one during all the years of its existence, and
it continues to enjoy the implicit confidence of the community.
Its place of business is upon the same site where the original Exchange Bank was established in I855.
The Thompson Savings Bank, of Hudson, was organized Oct.
22, I892, and has had a very successful career during all the years
of its existence. Its capital is $Ioo,ooo, and according to the State
Banking Commissioners' report for I908 its total resources are
more than $850,ooo. The officers are WV. B. Thompson, president;
G. I. Thompson, vice-president; C. C. Whitney, cashier, and the
board of directors is composed as follows: AV. B. Thompson, Fred
S. Vedder, R. W. Thompson, G. I. Thompson and C. C. Whitney.
The Thompson Savings Bank is the outgrowth of or successor to
a private bank, which was organized by the Thompson brothers
in 1867, and for twenty-five years they conducted it as a private
bank, until I892, when a reorganization was made under the state
law, as before stated.
In the spring of I868 Charles C. Wakefield purchased a plat of
ground in Morenci, erected a suitable building thereon, and established an exchange bank under the firm name of C. C. Wakefield
& Company. This institution was conducted as a private bank
until its incorporation, Jan. Io, I898, since which date it has been
known as the Vakefield State Bank of Morenci. Ever since its
inception Charles C. Wakefield has been at the head of the institution, and its success and present standing in the financial world
is largely due to his integrity and business judgment. The bank
has a capital of $30,000, with total resources reported by the State
Bank Commissioner at about $400,000, and it is.officered as follows:




634             MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY
C. C. Wakefield, president; F. E. Cawley, vice-president; C. A.
Wilson, cashier. The board of directors is composed of the following: C. C. Wakefield, J. 0. Wakefield, William M. Hamilton,
F. E. Cawley and C. A. Wilson.
The First National Bank of Morenci was organized in 90oo,
as the successor of the Bank of Morenci, a private institution which
had been in existence for a number of years. It has a paid-in capital stock of $25,000, and its resources are placed at about $225,000.
In I896 Elias B. Rorick became cashier of the old Bank of Morenci
and upon the organization of the First National Bank of Morenci
he was elected president, which position he held for a number of
years. The officers as given in the last report are C. Rorick, president; Dr. E. H. Rorick, vice-president; A. V. Foster, cashier; J.
C. Rorick, auditor, and the members of the board of directors are:
C. Rorick, A. V. Foster, A. H. Rorick, L. E. Foster and Dr. E. II.
Rorick.
The Blissfield State Bank, of Blissfield, is the successor of a
private banking institution which was started in Blissfield about
1873, by Arthur D. Gilmore. It was successfully conducted as a
private bank until May 31, I893, when it was incorporated as a
state bank under the laws of Michigan, with a capital of $20,000.
It has steadily grown in the confidence of the public and in the
amount of business transacted, and in the last report of the State
Commissioner of Banking its total resources are placed at about
$270,000. Its officers are: A. D. Ellis, president; William Rothfuss,
vice-president and L. H. Rothfuss, cashier. Its board of directors
is composed of A. D. Ellis, A. D. Gilmore, George F. Ford, H. B.
Hathaway, William Rothfuss and George W. Davenport.
In 1885 the bank of Jipson, Carter & Company was organized
at Blissfield, Webster C. Jipson becoming the cashier. It met with
flattering success from the start, and was conducted as a private
institution until March I, I9oo, when it was reorganized as the Jipson-Carter State Bank, with a capital stock of $25,oo000, and Mr.
Jipson continued to fill the position of cashier. Its total resources
at the close of I908 were considerably over $500,000, and its officers
are given as follows: W. C. Jipson, president; C. E. Howland and
J. J. Walper, vice-presidents; Charles L. King, cashier, and J. G.
Bauer, assistant cashier. The board of directors is given as follows:
W. C. Jipson, C. E. Howland, J. C. Holt, W. F. Rodgers, H. E.
Morrow, J. J. Walper, John Ickler, R. M. Eccles, C. L. King and
S. C. Fairbanks.
The Deerfield State Bank at Deerfield was organized March




BANKING AND FINANCE


635


27, I906, with a capital of $20,000, and its resources at the last report, in I908, were given as $80,935.86. W. F. 'Weisinger is the
president, Dale Munson officiates as vice-president, and V. B. Cannon occupies the position of cashier, while the board of directors
is constituted as follows: W. F. Weisinger, Daniel Diver, Nathan
Bragg, George Cannon and Dale Munson. This bank is highly appreciated in the stirring village of Deerfield, and it is constantly
increasing in popular favor.
The Addison State Savings Bank, of Addison, was organized
Oct. II, I905, as the successor of the private bank of 0. B. Bowen
& Company, which had been in operation at that place for a number of years. Its capital stock is $20,000, while its total resources
reach considerably beyond the $Ioo,ooo mark. Its officers are 0.
B. Bowen, president; Fred B. Kline and L. S. Town, vice-presidents, and Henry F. Davis, cashier. The board of directors is composed of the following citizens: 0. B. Bowen, F. B. Kline, Henry
F. Davis, D. A. Curtis, R. C. Rothfuss and L. S. Town.
There is also a private banking institution at Addison, managed by Azariel Smith, a reliable and substantial citizen, who conducts the business under the name of the Exchange Bank of Addison.
The Onsted State Bank, at the thriving village of Onsted, was
organized Sept. 20, 1907, with a capital stock of $20,000, and its
record has been one of rapid and substantial growth. Its stockholders are numbered among the representative men of the locality
and the business is conducted carefully and on a conservative
basis, so that the institution well merits the popular support accorded to it. The personnel of the executive corps of the bank is
as here noted: Frank M. Skinner, president; Smith C. Fairbanks,
cashier, and Fay E. Ross, assistant cashier, while the directors
are: Frank M. Skinner, Leonard S. Mann, Smith C. Fairbanks,
Warren G. Shepherd, Charles Kerr, Fred Hardcastle, Dr. G. W.
Ross, Charles L. Reynolds and E. B. Rynd.
The villages of Britton, Clayton and Clinton have neither National nor State banks in their midst, but each of these villages has
one or more private banking institutions that fully meet the requirements of and afford the financial conveniences to the respective localities. At Britton is the Bank of Britton, with Frank
Bauer as cashier; the Exchange Bank at Clayton is conducted by
J. M. Lamb as president, W. W. Cooke as vice-president, and Leo
Haley as. cashier, and Clinton has the private banks of Smith, Richmond & Company, and that of Van Tuyle & Silvers. These form




636


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


important and convenient additions to the banking interests of
Lenawee county, and it may be said that in the matter of banks
the needs of the various sections of the county are supplied.
Recurring again to the "wild-cat" days in the banking history
of Lenawee county, it may be stated that following the bursting
of that financial bubble the organization of new banks was not to
be expected. Only two banks in Michigan-one at Detroit and
one in the Upper Peninsula-were chartered in the twenty years
between the repeal of the Act of 1837 and the enactment of the
General Law of I857. These two decades were distinctly the era
of private banks. But, notwithstanding the laxity of the early laws
and oftimes unfavorable conditions, since the "wild-cat" fiasco of
long ago, Lenawee.county has been fortunate in escaping the dire
effects of bank failures and the misdeeds of dishonest bankers.
But few exceptions mar this bright page in her history, perhaps
the most serious of which occurred in I864, at Hudson. Some time
prior to 1859, John M. Osborn had established a banking institution at Hudson, under the name of the People's Bank, and WVilliam WV. Treadwell, who was the son of a highly respected citizen
of that place, was taken in as an employe to assist in the management of the business. At length he became a partner in the bank,
and finally, in 1859, Mr. Osborn sold his interest to Urias (the
father) and William Treadwell. In I862 the son became the sole
proprietor and by his pleasant ways and obliging disposition he
made himself very popular among the farmers and business men.
His safe contained large sums of money which had been deposited
as a result of such friendship, and in December, I863, the treasurers of the townships of Hudson and Rollin, and of Pittsford in
Hillsdale county, commenced to deposit their collections, which,
increasing each day, would be allowed to remain in the bank until
the following February. Banker Treadwell also secured loans
from various city banks, procuring $4,500 from the banks in Adrian,
and on the night of Jan. 20, 1864, every dollar was taken from the
well-filled safe-its owner robbed it and decamped. An examination of the books showed he had taken $42,000 in round numbers,
from the safe, and in addition to this amount he had the loans
which he had procured and had not placed on the books. Money
deposited to await investment, the soldiers' earnings,'and the widow's mite, all were gone. Treadwell was arrested at Mansfield,
Ohio, Feb. 11, three weeks after his nocturnal flight from Hudson,
and he was immediately brought to Adrian and lodged in jail. Efforts were made to effect a settlement with the creditors of the




BANKING AND FINANCE


637


bank, but without avail, and on Friday, July I, after a trial in the
circuit court at Adrian, Treadwell was convicted and remanded for
sentence. About 5 o'clock, the same afternoon, he escaped from
jail in company with John Cowell, a convicted horse thief. Two
weeks later, July 14, his body was found in the woods in Wood
county, Ohio, one mile from any road, and about thirty-six miles
from Adrian. The body was badly decomposed, but the unfortunate
victim had received a series of severe blows on the head, and there
was a large fracture of the skull on the right side. Cowell, the
horse thief, was arrested and charged with the murder of Treadwell, and at the trial, which took place in May, I865, Mrs. Treadwell testified that before her husband left the Adrian jail she managed to give him $900 in $Ioo bills. Cowell was convicted, and
was executed July 7, I865. As soon as it was found that Treadwell was dead, the creditors of the bank petitioned for probate of
his estate, and letters of administration were granted. Suits were
brought against Treadwell's father-in-law to recover the money
that had been stolen, and after considerable delay a large sum was
recovered.
In the great panics of 1873 and 1893 not a single one of Lenawee county's banking institutions failed or suspended, and in the
panic of I907 they suffered no loss, either financially or in the confidence of their patrons, though there was some falling off in the
deposits. In conclusion it may be said that the banks of no county
in the state enjoy a more deserved prosperity or have a more enviable reputation for financial soundness than those of Lenawee
county.








CHAPTER XXXVIII.
MILITARY HISTORY.
THE BLACK HAWK WAR-THE ADRIAN GUARDS-FIRST MILITARY ENCAMPMENT-THE WAR WITH MEXICO-CIVIL WAR PERIOD-DIFFERENCES OF OPINION-FIRST MASS MEETING IN ADRIAN-ENLISTMENTS-FIRST, SECOND AND FOURTH INFANTRY REGIMENTS-THE
GALLANT ELEVENTH-THE TWELFTH, FIFTEENTH, SIXTEENTH, SEVENTEENTH, EIGHTEENTH AND TWENTY-SIXTH INFANTRY REGIMENTS-"ENGINEERS AND MECHANICS" REGIMENT-BATTERIES OF
ARTILLERY-CAVALRY-SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR.
The year 1832 was a stirring one in the annals of the young
county of Lenawee. In the spring Black Hawk, with a band of
warriors, crossed the Mississippi river and advanced through the
settlements. He was attacked by a body of Illinois militia, and
then the Indians broke up into small parties and began an indiscriminate massacre of the inhabitants, still constantly advancing
toward Chicago, which seemed their common objective point. Chicago was then an insignificant trading post, protected by a fort, but
the probabilities were, if that post should fall, the Indians, encouraged by success there, would advance through the infant settlements of Northern Indiana and Southern Michigan to the Canada
line. Word came to the infant settlements in the southern tier of
counties that the Indians were advancing, and along with it the
call of the Indian Agent at Chicago for military assistance. There
were enough Indians within these counties to cut the throats of
the white inhabitants, if aroused, and perhaps the best way to defend their own homes was to meet the enemy beyond the borders
of the Territory. Gen. Joseph W. Brown had been given the command of the Third brigade of the Michigan militia, and without
waiting for orders from the governor, he ordered his brigade to
rendezvous at the village of Niles. The Eighth (Lenawee) regiment, then commanded by Col. William McNair, responded nobly




643             MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY
to the call, and was in the shortest possible time ready for the order to march.
The regiment was composed of two companies from Tecumseh,
one from Adrian, and one from the village of Clinton, which had
sprung into existence since the completion of the Chicago road.
General Brown's order required Colonel McNair to take only volunteers. Said the order: "Take no man with you who is not a volunteer. Let the timid return to their homes." When the regiment
was drawn up into line, the order was read, and all who desired to
return home were ordered to step four paces to the front, but not
a man advanced. The regiment took up its line of march by the
way of the Chicago road for Niles, the place appointed for the
brigade rendezvous. The feelings of mothers and children, as they
saw every able-bodied man move off to battle with the Indian foe,
hundreds of miles away, can be better imagined than described. It
is true the danger was then distant, but the minds of those left behind must have been keenly alive to the terrors of Indian warfare.
It was then not twenty years since the horrible massacre at the
River Raisin, only a few miles off, the details of which were all too
well remembered to beget a feeling of security. The Indians living in their midst were friendly, it is true, but such was the known
treachery of the Indian character that the settlers lived in dread
lest even these friendly Indians should suddenly go upon the warpath and fall upon them in their unprotected condition. But the
red men remained friendly, and before the brigade left Niles the
regular army, under General Atkinson, defeated the hostile Indians
and captured Black Hawk. The troops were sent home with the
thanks of the commanding general for the spirit displayed in their
prompt response to the call of their country.
During the interim between this war-like episode and the commencement of the war with Mexico, in I846, the martial spirit of
the people was kept in forced abeyance. This was due partially to
the stern realities of pioneer life, with which they had to contend.
and partially to the lack of opportunity or occasion to show their
fighting tendencies. The Adrian Guards, the first military company regularly equipped by the state, in Lenawee county, was organized May Io, 1842, by Daniel Hicks, who was elected captain,
which office he held until I847, when he went to Mexico in command of a company. F. J. King was first lieutenant, Edwin Comstock second lieutenant and W5illiam Aldrich orderly sergeant. In
I843 George AW. Hicks was elected orderly, he being the best drillmaster in the company. Charles M. Croswell was elected captain




MILITARY HISTORY


641


to succeed Captain Hicks, and held the office until the next annual
election, when the late Frederick Hart was made captain, which position he held until April, I86I, with the exception of one year,
I855, when Justus H. Bodwell was made captain. In a copy of the
old "Detroit Advertiser" an account of the first military encampment ever held in Adrian is given, the same having occurred July
4, I843. The encampment consisted of the Brady Guards, of Detroit; the Monroe City Guards, the Toledo Guards, the Washtenaw
Guards, and the Adrian Guards. The late Pomeroy Stone was
quartermaster of the encampment. The narrator in the "Advertiser" says:
"I do not hesitate to pronounce the Adrian Guards the best
drilled company of its age which can be found anywhere. Its members wore a neat uniform, and appeared full of the genuine military
spirit. Captain Hicks, their commander, is a perfect gentleman. I
would say the same of Captains Hill and Mundy, the first of the
Toledo, the second of the Washtenaw Guards. The Toledo Guards
have a beautiful uniform; the Washtenaws, one very similar to our
own, except that they wore black shoulder-knots and plumes. I
cannot speak too highly of the soldierly and gentlemanly bearing of
the men of each company; we were taken by the hand by them all,
and treated in a manner we shall never forget. The Sabbath was
spent very appropriately, by a prompt attendance at the several
churches to which the companies were assigned. The great day
of days, the Fourth of July, was ushered in amid the roar of cannon, the wild beating of drums, and vociferous cheering of thousands of iron-nerved men-every heart was full-all eyes beamed
with a new luster, and gladness and joy trembled on every tongue.
Long before daylight the people from the country began to pour in,
and by Io o'clock, the time assigned for forming the procession, not
less than 6,ooo people were in Adrian."
The part of Lenawee county in the war with Mexico, while
neither great nor distinguished, was such as to reflect credit upon
the patriotism of her people. On May i9, 1846, a requisition was
made by the war department upon the governor of Michigan for
the enrollment of a regiment of volunteer infantry of ten companies, to be held in readiness for active service when called for by
the President. Under this call thirteen companies were tendered,
Lenawee county offering three, but only one company-the Brady
Guard, of Detroit-was accepted. Under a second call, in October,
I847, a regiment was enrolled and mustered as the "First Michigan
Volunteers," Company G of which was raised and commanded by
4I-Iv




642


I MEMIOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


Capt. Daniel Hicks, of Adrian. This company was recruited in the
counties of Hillsdale and Lenawee, and in due time landed at Vera
Cruz, near which place it was stationed until the close of the war.
It was mustered out at Detroit, July 23, 1848, having returned from
Mexico via New Orleans, Chicago and Mackinac. It was in actual
service somewhat less than six months, and although its members
did not meet the enemy, they performed faithfully the duty assigned them, which is all that any soldier can do.
In May, 1847, three companies were enrolled in Michigan for
the Fifteenth United States infantry, in which regiment they became Companies A, E and G. Company G, of this regiment, was
raised in this section of the state and contained a number of men
from Lenawee county, Ahira G. Eastman, of Adrian, being chosen
as first lieutenant. The regiment proceeded to Vera Cruz in the
spring of I847, and participated in the advance on the city of Mexico. Company G, however, did not leave Vera Cruz until Aug. 6,
and after engaging with distinguished credit at the battle at the
'"National Bridge," on Aug. I2, and at Paso Ovejas, on the Ioth, it
arrived at Jalapa, on the 20th. These three companies of "regulars" from Michigan distinguished themselves for valor and shed
luster on the state by their splendid actions on many fields. The
regiment was mustered out Aug. 2I, 1848.
There was one other company raised in Michigan which took
an active and a most honorable part in the war with Mexico, and
a number of its members were from Lenawee county. WVe refer
to Company K, of the Third United States Dragoons. In April,
I847, this company marched for the seat of war, I04 strong, and
when it returned only seventeen of the original members answered
to the roll call. The climate of Mexico had claimed some of them
for untimely graves, battle had taken victims both by death and
disabling wounds, and many had been discharged and sent home
to save them from the deadly disease that assailed them. This company was notable for its distinguished corps of officers. It was
commanded by Capt. Andrew T. McReynolds, then of Detroit, who
became colonel of the First New York cavalry in the Civil war;
John T. Brown, of Tecumseh, son of Gen. Joseph W. Brown, was
first lieutenant, and J. C. D. Williams, of Detroit, son of Gen. John
R. Williams, was second lieutenant. Companies K, of the Third
Dragoons, and F, of the First Dragoons, constituted General Scott's
body-guard, and from these companies his personal escort, which
consisted of ten men, was chosen. The late James N. A. L. Simonds, of Raisin township, was one of these ten men, and he served








A -.


t-A


S0L1JE RiS' _MON-ITMEN,\T. IN MONIUMENXT       Foto by Metier,, Adrian
PARK, ADRIAN




MILITARY HISTORY


643


on this guard until the war was over, and General Scott returned
to Washington. While on a scout, in which members of Company
K participated, at Toyacan, near Orizaba, General Santa Anna was
routed and his effects captured.  Among the trophies were I25
dresses belonging to the Mexican commander's wife and daughter,
and two very valuable canes. Another trophy, captured by Mr.
Simonds and his chum, the late Carlisle Soper, of Palmyra, was
General Santa Anna's boot, a most tasty and neat article of footgear. The boot was taken from the General's headquarters by
these two Lenawee county men, and they brought it with them
when they, returned to their Michigan homes. Company K, as an
organization, served until the war was over, its members doing
their full duty, and by their heroic conduct they added luster to the
fair name of the Wolverine State.
THE CIVIL WAR PERIOD.
The mutterings of internal strife, which had engaged the attention of statesmen for some years prior to I860, in that year began to take tangible shape, and the people came to realize that the
settlement of the questions of unlimited state sovereignty and
slavery extension could no longer be deferred by legislative compromises. The result of the Presidential election portended the
abolition of slavery in the territories and in all new states to be admitted thereafter, but in exactly what manner the decision in regard to unlimited state sovereignty should be made was a subject
not agreed upon, even by national leaders at the North, where the
dominant party disclosed its strength. The incoming national administration, in I86I, faced an unprecedented crisis in American
history and apparently was uncertain how to proceed in the midst
of the alarming dilemma that confronted it. A number of the
slave-holding states had passed ordinances of secession, thereby
exercising a right that had been generally claimed and not seriously
disputed since the adoption of the Constitution, and those who desired the maintenance of the Union were vainly searching for a
solution of the difficult problem. Able and patriotic statesmen, regardless of party affiliation, were giving their time and talents to
the perplexing question, hoping to discover a pathway that would
lead to a satisfactory adjustment of all differences-when all plans
were disarranged by the firing on Fort Sumter, and the administration was afforded a pretext, if not a justification, for waging a vigorous war of suppression. This overt act on the part of the South




644


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


cleared the atmosphere for those who had advocated a policy of coercion, and to a large extent lessened the number of those who had
talked of peaceable secession.'
But all were not of one mind. In Lenawee county, as elsewhere, there were those who denied the right and expediency of
the government's action, but they were comparatively few in number, and owing to that fact were the subjects of bitter denunciation,
epithets and contemptuous opprobium. The stigma attached to
their names existed in the minds of the thoughtless long after the.close of hostilities, but it should not be deemed "treasonable" at this
late day to calmly consider historical facts. The writer may be pardoned if, before entering upon the proud record of Lenawee county
during those dark days-which will constitute the web and woof
of this chapter-he pauses sufficiently long to merely extenuate the
action of those "copperheads," as they were derisively called. Criticism of national administrations and their various acts have always
been indulged in, whether in peace or war, and such conduct is not
a Constitutional definition of treason. The accepted teachings of
a lifetime can not be eradicated from the mind in a single day. The
sovereignty of the states had been an accepted doctrine from the
time of the adoption of the Constitution; it was claimed by the New
England states in I814; it was recognized in I820 by the Missouri
Compromise, and again by the Compromise of I850, and when the
Ship of State struck the quick-sands of sectionalism, in I86I, patriotic leaders of the North-even those who had bitterly opposed the
institution of slavery-thought the time for dismemberment of
the Union had arrived, and advised that the "erring sisters be allowed to depart in peace." Imbued so thoroughly with this doctrine-when President Lincoln issued his proclamation calling for
troops and evincing a determination to force the seceding states
back into the Union-it was but natural that some would oppose
such action, nor did such conduct on their part mark them as
traitors or make them any less deserving of respect as citizens. But
it is not the purpose of this apparent digression'to recall unpleasant
memories or argue questions long since settled-we desire merely
to record pertinent historical facts. Before leaving the subject,
however, and as a proof of the accepted doctrine of unlimited state
sovereignty, we will give the following extract from Henry Cabot
Lodge's "Life of Daniel Webster." On page I77, concerning "Webster's Reply to Hayne," Senator Lodge says: "When the Constitution was adopted by the votes of States at Philadelphia and accepted by the votes of States in popular conventions, it is safe to




MILITARY HISTORY


645


say that there was not a man in the country, from Washington and
Hamilton on the one side to George Clinton and George Mason on
the other, who regarded the new system as anything but an experiment entered upon by the States, and from which each and every
State had the right peaceably to withdraw, a right which was very
likely to be exercised."
The news of the firing on Fort Sumter was followed in a few
days by the President's call for 75,000 troops. The first mass meeting in Adrian was held at Bidwell's Hall on the evening of April
15. Speeches were made by Dr. P. J. Spalding, Charles M. Croswell, Addison J. Comstock, R. Barnum, A. F. Bixby, J. W. Horner,
R. R. Beecher, W. H. Cleveland, Andrew Howell, George Kingsley, and others. Upon the reception of the news of the hostile act
in Charleston Harbor, the people of Adrian and the surrounding towns were excited to the highest pitch, and the call for this
meeting was signed by Republicans and Democrats, indiscriminately. The universal feeling was that the government must be sustained and the Stars and Stripes were suspended across Maumee
street, amid the cheers of the crowd, and bearing on the front the
motto: "Anderson and the Union." This first war meeting was the
largest public gathering that had ever been held in Adrian up to
that time. The feeling was intense, and the love of country was
predominant. Dr. P. J. Spalding was president of the meeting, and
upon taking the chair said that they all met now upon a common
platform. He saw men in the audience whom he had strongly opposed politically, but all this now was to be put aside. The country
was in danger and demanded dur common efforts in its defense.
Charles M. Croswell was called out and made a brief but eloquent
speech. He believed they were all patriotic, Union-loving men,
*and looked upon their country with a just pride. For his part he
was ready to say, the government must and shall stand. Let the
old flag be maintained that has been to us a symbol of glory so
long. Let every man rally under its folds and do or die in its defense. Addison J. Comstock likewise responded. He was glad to
hear the chairman say that they had met without distinction of
party, impelled by a common love of country. We are now called
upon to maintain the government established by the blood of our
forefathers. It was now assailed, and the hour for its defense had
arrived. Although his locks were gray, if necessary, he was with
the supporters of the government to any extent, and wherever and
whatever that might be. He believed we were as one man in the
support of the government against rattle-snake flags.




646


IMEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


At this point in the meeting the chairman was informed that
a thousand people were in the street who could not gain admittance
to the hall. An adjournment was therefore carried to the street in
front of the Brackett House (now the Maumee Hotel), where the
crowd blocked up the passage throughout any hearing distance.
Patriotic resolutions were adopted and other speeches were listened
to with interest after the meeting had adjourned to the street.
But those were days of deeds, and not of words. Upon being
loudly called for, Col. D. A. Woodbury appeared. He said they
had all been telling what should be done. He would read a letter
as indicative of what he had already done. Thereupon he read a
letter which he had written to the governor of the state, in which
he tendered his services in any capacity in which he could
be useful, as early as the preceding January.  And following
this meeting, at noon on April 17, Colonel Woodbury opened
a recruiting office for the three months' service, and sixteen
enlisted that same afternoon.  By 4 o'clock of the following day,
fifty-one names had been added.  All were imbued with the
spirit of patriotism. L. R. Damon, a merchant of Adrian, was
in the East, purchasing goods. One of the clerks in his store desired to enlist in obedience to the call of his country, but felt embarrassed owing to the absence of his employer. He accordingly
wrote Mr. Damon, explaining the circumstances of the case, and
he received a reply informing him that he could have his employer's permission to enlist, that his salary would be continued
during his absence, and that his position in the store would be given
to him again upon his return. On April I8, a paper was put into
circulation at Adrian for a subscription to be placed at the disposal
of'the state government in sending off Michigan's quota of troops.
Elihu Clark headed thce Adrian subscription with $I,ooo.
Enlistments and company organizations followed in rapid succession all over the state, and while the Hardee Cadets of Adrian
was the only completed organization from Lenawee county in the
three months' service the members thereof were not the only
troops, as a number of boys residing in the southern part of the
county'joined Ohio regiments, and still others sought military organizations in neighboring counties in Michigan. Counting these
and the members of the company that went from Adrian, it is probable that nearly two hundred men from Lenawee county were in
the three months' service. The professions, merchants, mechanics,
farmer boys and laborers, all were imbued with the same spirit and
promptly laid aside their several 'vocations and joined in the su



MILITARY HISTORY


647


preme effort to preserve the Union of States. Gentlemen of the
cloth laid aside their shepherd's crooks and went to the front in
various capacities. During the four years of bloody warfare Michigan met every call for troops in advance of the time limit, and Lenawee county was always among the first to respond with her quota.
While the "boys" were at the front the citizens at home were
not idle, and the devoted mothers, wives, sisters and sweethearts,
imbued with the same spirit which had taken their loved ones from
them, assisted in organizing relief associations. There was much
outward show of sympathy and interest during the first few
months, but by the following year, after the disaster of the Peninsular campaign, matters settled down to a war basis and sentiment was
banished in the interest of helpful needs. Public and private donations to the Federal cause were kept up until the final capitulation
at Appomattox.
It would be impossible to trace the record of Lenawee county's
valiant soldiers through the ranging fortunes of four years of
bloody war; neither would space permit, were it possible. Without disparagement to the heroic services of any, it shall be the purpose of these pages to mention the organizations, which, as a whole,
are more closely connected with Lenawee county than other military organizations. While other regiments may have achieved
equal honors on the bloody fields, it is morally certain that none
surpassed those hereinafter mentioned in the performance of stern
duty.
The First infantry in the three months' service, was organized
at Detroit, and as before stated, contained one Lenawee county
company. On the formation of the regiment, this company received the designation of the letter "K," and its officers-all Adrian
men-were as follows: Captain, William H. Graves; first lieutenant,
John W. Horner; second lieutenant, William House. The lieutenant-colonel of the regiment was Loren L. Comstock, also of Adrian.
The regiment left the state May 13, for Washington, led the ad'vance into Virginia, and on May 24, entered and took possession
of Alexandria, capturing 150 cavalry. It was assigned to the Secand brigade of Heintzelman's division and fought at the first battle of Bull Run, charging one of the strongest of the enemy's batteries four times, under a heavy fire, but was compelled to retire
with a loss of ninety-five in killed, wounded and missing, the.loss
being one-eighth of its total numbers. Its dead were found nearest
the enemy's works. The regiment returned to the state on the expiration of its term of service and was mustered out Aug. 7, i86I,




648


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


having lost only three officers, who died of wounds, three men killed
in action and three died of disease.
The Second Michigan infantry was recruited and called into
service as a three months' regiment, and was rendezvoused as
such, but on instructions from the War Department, it was reorganized and enlisted for three years, allowing those who did not
desire to enter the service for that term to withdraw. In that regiment there were two companies from Lenawee county-the Hudson artillery, which enlisted as an infantry company and became
known as Company B, was organized at Hudson, and the Adrian
Guard, which became known as Company D, was from Adrian.
The Hudson company was commanded by Capt. Reuben A.
Beach; first lieutenant, Cyrus E. Bigelow, and second lieutenant,
Tilson C. Barden, all of Hudson, while the Adrian company was
officered by William Humphrey, Frank M. Wood, and William L.
Burlingame, as captain, first lieutenant and second lieutenant, respectively. Captain Humphrey was afterward successively promoted until he became colonel of the regiment. The regiment was
organized at Detroit, in April, I86I, and was mustered in on May
25, being the first three years' regiment to be enrolled from the
state. It left for the front on June 5, and reported at Washington.
It was engaged at Blackburn's Ford, and covered the retreat from
Bull Run three days later. It remained near Alexandria during
the fall and winter, with Col. O. M. Poe in command, its original
colonel, Israel B. Richardson, having been made a brigadier-gen
eral. It was assigned to Berry's brigade, Kearny's division, Heintzelman's corps, for the Peninsular campaign; was in the siege of
Yorktown, and was engaged at Williamsburg, Fair Oaks, Charles
City Cross-roads, and Malvern Hill, its losses being 137 in killed,
wounded and missing. It was in the hottest of the fight at Williamsburg, forcing back twice its numbers at the point of the bayonet. At Fair Oaks, 500 of the regiment charged ten times their
number, "stopping them in mid-career." The regiment was at
Harrison's Landing until Aug. 15, was under furious fire at the
second Bull Run, repulsing several cavalry charges, and was also
in the severe engagement at Chantilly. It was in numerous expeditions and reconnaissances until the last of November, and was
then transferred to the First brigade, Burnside's division, Ninth
corps, being held in reserve at Fredericksburg. It moved to Newport News, Va., in February, 1863, and to Bardstown, Ky., in March.
In June it joined Grant's army in Mississippi and participated in
the siege of Vicksburg. It was in the several engagements at Jack



MILITARY HISTORY


649


son, in July, including a skirmish in which it drove the enemy from
his rifle-pits and through his reserve. It moved to Milldale, then
to Nicholasville, Ky., and on Aug. 30 to Crab Orchard. It then
moved to Eastern Tennessee, and was in the engagements at Blue
Springs, Loudon, Lenoir's Station, and Campbell's Station, and assisted in the defense of Knoxville. The regiment performed heroic
service at Fort Sanders and at Thurley's Ford, after which it
camped at Blain's Cross-roads until the middle of January, 1864.
It rejoined its corps of the Army of the Potomac, May 5, and participated in the battle of the Wilderness. At Spottsylvania Court
House it recaptured some guns lost by a New York battery and
drove back a brigade. It was engaged at Oxford, North Anna,
Totopotomy, Bethesda Church, and Cold Harbor, and in the first
assaults on Petersburg, in June, it lost 22 killed, 143 wounded and
6 missing. In the attack following the springing of the mine, the
regiment lost 6 killed, 14 wounded and 37 missing. It was engaged
at the Weldon railroad and Poplar Spring Church, and was then
in camp near Peebles' House until Oct. 27, when it fought at
Hatcher's Run, and was then in the trenches before Petersburg
during the winter. It participated in the defense of Fort Stedman,
in March, 1865, sustaining heavy loss, and aided in the capture of
Petersburg in April. It was mustered out at Washington, July 28,
I865.
The Fourth regiment of infantry was recruited mostly on a
line running from Monroe county along through the southern tier
of counties westward, including St. Joseph county, and this regiment contained three companies from Lenawee county-the Hudson Volunteers, the Adrian Volunteers and the Tecumseh Volunteers. In the list of field and staff officers in the original organization appear the names of the following Lenawee county men:
Dwight A. Woodbury, of Adrian, as colonelj David P. Chamberlain, of Hudson, assistant surgeon; Henry A. Grannis, of Adrian,
quartermaster, and Henry N. Strong, of Adrian, chaplain. The
Adrian Volunteers became Company B in the regiment, with James
H. Cole as captain, Jeremiah D. Slocum as first lieutenant, and
James E. Avery as second lieutenant, all of Adrian. Of the Hudson Volunteers, which became Company F, Samuel DeGolyer was
captain; Simon B. Preston, first lieutenant, and Joseph L. Smith,
second lieutenant, all of Hudson. Of the Tecumseh Volunteers,
which was designated as Company G, David D. Marshall, of Tecumseh, was captain; George Monteith, of Adrian, was first lieutenant, and Jeptha W. Beers, of Tecumseh, was second lieutenant.




650


6MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


This regiment was organized at Adrian in May, I86i, and was mustered in June 20. On a beautiful spot of ground near the regimental quarters, which were known as "Camp Williams," and located
in the suburbs of the city, on June 2I, and in the presence of thousands of people, the regiment in full dress was formed in a hollow
square, inside of which Mrs. W. S. Wilcox, in behalf of the ladies
of Adrian, and in a few well chosen words, presented the command
with an elegant regimental flag. It was received by the men with
cheers, and in their behalf was acknowledged in a brief, but fitting
speech by Col. D. A. Woodbury. Patriotic speeches were also
made by Charles M. Croswell and Hon. Zachariah Chandler. The
regiment left Adrian June 25, and reported at Washington, where
it was engaged in defence of the city during the summer and encamped at Miner's Hill, Va., during the winter. It was attached
to Griffin's brigade, Morell's division, Porter's corps, and participated in the siege of Yorktown. It was also engaged at New Bridge
in May, fording the Chickahominy under a heavy fire and driving
off a superior force, for which it received high praise, General McClellan telegraphing that the Fourth Michigan had "covered itself
with glory." It was then engaged at Hanover Court House, Mechanicsville, Gaines' Mill, Savage Station, Turkey Bend, White
Oak Swamp, and Malvern Hill, where Colonel Woodbury was
killed. In six days' fighting the regiment lost 53 killed, 144 wounded, and 52 missing. It was next engaged at Gainesville, the second
Bull Run, Antietam and Shepherdstown Ford, where its brigade
forded the Potomac under battery fire, driving off the enemy and
capturing the guns. In December the regiment was at Fredicksburg, where a ridge was taken under terrific fire, with a loss of 9
killed, 41 wounded and I missing. It was in camp near Falmouth
during the winter, engaged in the battle of Chancellorsville, remained at Kelly's Ford until June 13, and then marched through
Maryland and Pennsylvania to Gettysburg, where it took a prominent part, sharing in the fiercest of the fight. Colonel Jeffords,
who then commanded the regiment, was killed, and the loss of the
regiment was 28 killed, 84 wounded, with many missing and prisoners. It followed the Confederate army southward, fighting at
Williamsport, Wapping Heights, Culpeper, Brandy Station, Bristoe Station and Mine Run, and was on railroad guard duty at Bealeton from Dec. I until April 30, I864. It was in the battle of the
Wilderness, where Colonel Lumbard was killed, fought at Laurel
Hill, the Po River, Spottsylvania, the Ny River, the North Anna,
Jericho Mills, Totopotomy, Magnolia Swamp and Bethesda Church,




MILITARY HISTORY


65I


and then proceeded to Petersburg, where it took part in the early
assaults on the works. On June 19 it started for home and was
mustered out on the 30th, with 135 men and 22 officers present, I29
having re-enlisted as veterans. The regiment was re-organized
during the summer, eight companies being recruited, with Col. J.
W. Hall commanding. It was mustered in at Adrian, Oct I4, left
the state Oct. 22, reached Decatur, Ala., on the 28th, participated
in the defense of that town and was then stationed at Whitesboro.
It was engaged at New Market, was then ordered to Murfreesboro,
where it was engaged in railroad guard and picket duty until Jan.
15, I865, when it moved to Huntsville, Ala., and was assigned to
the Third brigade, Third division, Fourth corps. It moved through
Tennessee during April, reaching Nashville on the 27th, and on
June I6 it moved for New Orleans, where it was joined by the detachment of the old Fourth. On July 6 it took steamer for Texas,
reached Green Lake on the IIth, and remained there in camp for
two months, losing many men from the effects of the poor water
and very hot weather, On Sept. ii it started for San Antonio, 170
miles; reached Salada creek on the 24th, remained there for two
months on provost duty in the city and at various points until
May 26, I866, when it was mustered out at Hudson.
The war had been in progress nearly six months and the "before breakfast job" of the three months men had been prolonged
to nearly twice their term of service, and up to this date the Confederates had been successful on nearly every field. An enlistment
for three years' service at this time meant more than a brief term
of a few months. The first spontaneous outburst had been succeeded by a candid and thoughtful consideration of the momentous
task, with the record of past events pointing to possible failure.
This was the condition of affairs when the gallant Eleventh was
raised in response to the President's first call for 300,000 troops for
a period of "three years, or during the war." Recruiting stations
were established in the southern tier of counties and the headquarters of the embryo regiment were located at White Pigeon. Company encampments were opened in other places. Enlistments
moved along slowly, but by Sept. 24 the regimental organization
was complete and it was mustered into the service of the United
States. The work of drilling and equipping the regiment had been
well attended to and by the time it was ordered to the field the discipline, drill and apparent efficiency of the regiment were alike
creditable to the officers and the men. In this regiment there were
two companies from Lenawee county-Companies F and K. The




652


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


officers of Company F were: Captain, Sylvester B. Smith, of Morenci; first lieutenant, Joseph Wilson, of Hudson; second lieutenant, Abraham Harper, of Hudson. Company K was officered as
follows: Captain, William W. Phillips, of Adrian; first lieutenant,
Patrick H. Keegan, of Deerfield; second lieutenant, Ephraim L.
French, of Adrian. The regiment left the state Dec. 9, and was
stationed at Bardstown, Ky., during the winter. In the spring of
1862 it was engaged in railroad guard duty, and in July pursued
Morgan's cavalry through Kentucky. On Aug. 13, it joined in repelling an attack made by a considerable force under Morgan. It
was then stationed at Nashville and assigned to Negley's division.
It joined a foraging expedition and reconnaissance, having three
engagements with guerrillas, and assisted in building forts and
general fortifications. It was then engaged at Stone's River, where
it joined the Nineteenth Illinois in charging a fierce assault and
driving back the enemy after he had broken the right wing. Its
losses were 32 killed, 79 wounded and 29 missing. It was then detached for provost duty at Murfreesboro. It participated in a sharp
skirmish at Elk River, in July, and then remained in camp at Decherd until September, when it joined the advance into Georgia,
with the Second brigade, Second division, Fourteenth corps. It
was then engaged at Davis' Cross-roads, and covered the retreat
of Negley's and Baird's divisions from Dug Gap. It was in the hottest of the fight at Chickamauga, its brigade holding one of the
most important positions against largely superior forces until night
and being the last to leave the field. The regiment's loss in this
engagement was 85. Where "Thomas stood like a rock," it did
its full share and received his compliments. It was in the siege
at Chattanooga, in the main and successful charge of Missionary
Ridge, under heavy fire, and always claiming to have been the first
to reach the works. It was then in the pursuit of the enemy,
charging his rear-guard and assisting in capturing "Ferguson's Battery," with caissons and horses. It was on outpost duty at Rossville from Dec. 2, I863, to March 15, I864, and then rejoined its old
brigade at Graysville. It entered on the Atlanta campaign under
General Sherman, fought at Buzzard Roost, Resaca, and New Hope
Church, where for eight days it was under almost continual fire,
but when the enemy evacuated his works the regiment joined in
the pursuit. It fought at Kenesaw Mountain, Ruff's Station and
Peachtree Creek, then moved toward.Atlanta, and in the battle of
Utoy Creek participated in a charge and took one line of defense,
with a loss of 30. It was ordered to Chattanooga, Aug. 27, for




MILITARY HISTORY


653


muster out, but joined in pursuit of Wheeler's forces, marching to
Murfreesboro and Huntsville, Ala. On Sept. I8 it started for home,
and it was mustered out Sept. 30, 1864. The Eleventh was reorganized at Jackson, in the winter of 1864. Four companies left for
Nashville March 4, I865, and the other six on the I8th, under command of Col. Patrick H. Keegan, of Deerfield. On April 8 the regiment was ordered to Chattanooga and assigned to the Third brigade, Second separate division, Army of the Cumberland. Three
weeks later it was sent to East Tennessee, four companies being
placed on duty guarding the Chattannooga & Knoxville railroad
at intervals of fifteen to twenty miles apart, and the other six companies were stationed at Cleveland. In June the regiment was ordered to Knoxville for guard duty, and on Aug. 3 to Nashville,
where it was mustered out Sept. I6.
Twenty-eight men from Lenawee county served in the Twvelfth
Michigan infantry, the greater number of them as members of
Company F, of which Samuel E. Graves, of Adrian, was second
lieutenant. William H. Graves, also of Adrian, was made lieutenant-colonel of the regiment at its organization and later was promoted to colonel. The Twelfth received its baptism of fire at the
battle of Shiloh, and its career was an honorable one to the close
of the war.
Seventy-six Lenawee county men found a regimental home
with the Fifteenth Michigan infantry, representatives of the county
being found principally in Companies H and K. Horace P. Woodward, of Blissfield, was assistant surgeon of the regiment; Isaac N.
Stout, of Deerfield, was second lieutenant of Company H, and
George R. S. Baker, of Blissfield, was first lieutenant of Company
K. This regiment was organized at Monroe and was mustered in
March 20, I862. It acted with conspicuous gallantry at the battle
of Shiloh, and during its entire term of service acquitted itself in a
manner which reflected credit upon the state.
Ten Lenawee county citizens became members of Company D,
in the Sixteenth Michigan infantry, of which company Theodore
S. Mahan, of Adrian, was first lieutenant. This regiment was organized at Camp Backus, Detroit, and was known as "Stockton's
Independent Regiment." It was mustered in Sept. 8, I86I, entered
the scene of hostilities in Virginia, and throughout the various
campaigns in the Old Dominion this regiment was never known to
waver in the discharge of duty.
The Seventeenth Michigan infantry was organized at Detroit
and contained one company-Company A-of Lenawee county




654


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


troops. Company A was officered by Lorin L. Comstock (afterward lieutenant-colonel of the regiment) as captain, John S. Vreeland as first lieutenant, and Richard A. WVatts as second lieutenant,
all of these officers being residents of Adrian. The regiment,
which later became known as the "Stonewall Regiment," was mustered in Aug. 21, 1862, and left the state on the 27th for Washington, where it was assigned to the First brigade, First division,
Ninth corps, for the Maryland campaign. It was first engaged at
South Mountain, where it won high honors, charging over a stone
wall and scattering a strong force in its front (from which act it
received its sobriquet), capturing 300 prisoners and driving the enemy down the slope of the mountain. General Willcox characterized this as "a feat that may vie with any recorded in the annals of
war." Its loss in this engagement was 27 killed and II4 wounded.
In the battle of Antietam it lost I8 killed and 87 wounded. It then
moved to a position near Falmouth and was present, but not engaged, at Fredericksburg. It moved to Newport News in February,
1863, on March I9 to Baltimore, thence to Bardstown, Ky., on April
3 to Lebanon, and on the 29th to Columbia. In June it reinforced
Grant at Vicksburg, being engaged there until July 4. It was then
in the siege of Jackson, returned to Kentucky in August, and joined
the movements of the Army of the Ohio in East Tennessee. It was
engaged at Blue Springs, Loudon, Lenoir's Station and Campbell's
Station, and as part of the Third brigade, First division, Ninth
corps, assisted in the defense of Knoxville, being stationed in Fort
Sanders. After the siege it encamped at Blain's Cross-roads until
it joined the Army of the Potomac, near Warrenton Junction, Va.,
in March. It was in the battles of the Wilderness, Ny River and
Spottsylvania, where it occupied the crest of a hill for which the
enemy was making, just as the latter came up the other slope, repulsing them handsomely. Its succeeding movements were of the
most gallant nature, being in the terrific assaults at the "bloody
angle," where it lost 23 killed, 73 wounded, and 93 prisoners, out of
225 engaged. On May I6 it was detailed as engineer troops, and
through the rest of the campaign fought at the North Anna, Bethesda Church, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, the Crater, the Weldon
Railroad, Reams' Station, Poplar Spring Church, Pegram's Farm,
the Boydton Road, and Hatcher's Run. It remained near the Appomattox river during the winter, and in the attack of the enemy
on Fort Stedman, in March, I865, the regiment as skirmishers repelled those of the enemy, capturing sixty-five prisoners. It was
engaged at Petersburg until the surrender, and was then on guard




MILITARY HISTORY


655


and provost duty until April 24. It was then ordered to Washington, participated in the Grand Review, and was mustered out at
Tenallytown, June 3, I865.
The Eighteenth Michigan infantry may be justly styled "the
Lenawee county regiment," as five companies of that organization
were raised in this county.  Among the field and staff officers at
the time of organization appear the names of John WV. Horner, of
Adrian, as major, and Horace P. Woodward, of Blissfield, as assistant surgeon. The regiment was later officered by John AW. Horner as colonel, Edwin M. Hubbard, of Hudson, as lieutenantcolonel, and James D. Hinckley, of Adrian, as major. Companies
A, B, C, E, and I were raised in Lenawee county, and at the time
of muster-in they were officered as follows: Company A-Captain,
Edwin M. Hubbard, of Hudson; first lieutenant, Myron AV. Reed,
of Hudson; second lieutenant, James S. Riddle, of Hudson. Company B-Captain, James D. Hinckley, of Adrian; first lieutenant,
John Shelt, of Rome; second lieutenant, George H. Wells, of Tecumseh. Company C-Captain, John W. Horner, of Adrian; first
lieutenant, Charles R. Miller, of Adrian; second lieutenant, Stephen
A. Denison, of Madison. Company E-Captain, Charles D. Stevens, of Tecumseh; first lieutenant, William A. Weatherhead, of
Tecumseh; second lieutenant, Edwin H. Hoag, of Tecumseh. Company I-Captain, David A. Dodge, of Tecumseh; first lieutenant,
William C. Moore, of Medina; second lieutenant, Isaac 0. Savage,
of Fairfield. The reverses of McClellan on the Peninsula, causing
a general alarm for the cause of the Union, induced the President
to make his call of July 2, I862, for 300,000 men, II,686 being the
quota of Michigan. The regiments called for were apportioned to
Congressional districts, the Eighteenth being assigned to the First,
the recruiting, however, to be made in the counties of Hillsdale,
Lenawee, and Monroe, as Wayne, the other county of the district,
assumed the task of raising the Twenty-fourth regiment alone. The
recruitment of the Eighteenth commenced July I5, 1862, and on
Aug. 26 it was mustered into the service of the United States. On
Sept. 4, the day the regiment left its camp at Hillsdale, and while
waiting at Toledo on the march to the front, an elegant flag of the
finest material and workmanship, arrived by express, having been
ordered made by the Hon. Henry Waldron, who had been charged
by the governor with' raising the regiment. It was presented by
Mr. Waldron in one of his best speeches, to which an eloquent response was made by Maj. J. W. Horner, who assured the donor,
on behalf of the regiment, that it should never be dishonored while




656


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


in their hands. The regiment reported for duty at Cincinnati, and
was stationed at Lexington, Ky., from Nov. I, 1862, until Feb. 21,
1863. It then moved to Danville and was with the forces that retreated from that place on the 24th, skirmishing with those of
Pegram as they left. On the 28th the regiment joined in pursuit
of Pegram, making a long rough march to Buck creek. It returned
to Stanford, then moved to Lebanon, and thence to Nashville, where
it was employed as provost guard from Nov. I, 1863, to June ii,
I864. Ordered south, it reached Decatur, Ala., in June, and was
placed on garrison and scouting duty. It was a part of the force
which surprised PattersQn's brigade of cavalry at Pond Springs,
capturing their camp equipage, wagons, and commissary stores,
and in July it assisted in routing the same brigade at Courtland,
being the only infantry engaged at either time. It left Decatur in
September to reinforce the garrison at Athens, reaching there just
in time to repel Roddey's command. It joined in pursuit of Wheeler, overtaking and skirmishing with his rear-guard, at Shoal Creek,
and then returned to Decatur. A detachment of 23I, enroute to reinforce the garrison at Athens, was attacked by a force under Forrest, numbering about 4,000, when within two miles of Athens, and
after five hours' desperate fighting was compelled to surrender.
The regiment participated in the successful defense of Decatur
against Hood's army, a detachment dislodging a body of sharpshooters in rifle-pits near one of the forts and capturing 115 prisoners. It remained at Decatur until Nov. 25, and then moved to
Stevenson, where it was engaged in building fortifications until
Dec. I9. It was then ordered back to Decatur, where it was on garrison duty until Jan. ii, I865, when it proceeded to Huntsville for
-post duty. It was ordered to Nashville in June, and was mustered
out June 26, I865.
It was found, after the organization of the several Congressional District regiments had been completed, that more companies
had been officered than had been provided for, and the Twenty-fifth was constituted from the surplus. But this having failed
to supply places for all the surplus companies which had been offered, the Twenty-sixth was organized and ordered into rendezvous at Jackson. The quartermaster of the Twenty-sixth was
Charles E. Crane, of Adrian, and Company F, of the regiment, was
almost entirely recruited from Lenawee county. Lemuel Saviers,
of Franklin, was captain; Edmond Richardson, of Adrian, was first
lieutenant, and Morris Roberts, of Tecumseh, was second lieutenant. The regiment left the state, Dec. I3, I862, reported at Wash



MILITARY HISTORY


657


ington, was assigned to provost duty at Alexandria, and was thus
employed until April, i863, when it was sent to Suffolk, Va., for defense. On June 20, it moved to Yorktown, marched to the Chickahominy, then returned to Yorktown and proceeded to New York
to maintain peace in the draft riots. It joined the Army of the
Potomac, Oct. I3, was attached to the First brigade, First division,
Second corps, and came to be recognized as the skirmish regiment
of the division. It was engaged at Mine Run, and then went into
winter quarters at Stevensburg. It was at the battle of the WVilderness, part of the time in reserve, and charged Stuart's dismounted cavalry on May 7, capturing a number of prisoners and important despatches. It was in the engagements at Corbin's' Bridge,
the Ny River, the Po River and Spottsylvania, where it participated
in the charge of the Second corps when the works were carried in
a hand-to-hand fight with the bayonet, the colors of the Twentysixth being the first planted. It also captured two brass guns and
the gunners, its loss being 27 killed, 98 wounded, and i4 missing.
It was next engaged at the North Anna, Totopotomy and Cold
Harbor, and was in the assault at Petersburg, June i6, in which
the first line was carried. It fought at the Weldon railroad, was
engaged at Deep Bottom, where its brigade drove the enemy and
captured four guns, the Twenty-sixth leading in skirmish line. The
regiment attacked double its numbers the following day and drove
them for half a mile. In August, it was engaged at Strawberry
Plains, White Oak Swamp, and Reams' Station, where it assisted
in repelling repeated assaults and took part in the charge when the
works taken by the enemy, were retaken.  It remained before
Petersburg during the winter, and in March, i865, charged the enemy's works at Peebles' Farm, capturing a portion of them. It was
in action at Hatcher's Run, the Boydton Road, White Oak Road,
Sutherland's Station, Amelia Springs, Deatonsville, Sailor's Creek,
High Bridge and Farmville, and was at Appomattox when Lee surrendered, having captured over 400 prisoners between March 28
and April 9, and lost 6o in killed and wounded. It was ordered to
Washington May 2, was in the Grand Review, and was mustered
out at Bailey's Cross-Roads June 4.
Continued threatenings of raids by Confederate refugees in
Canada, together with an outspoken, unnatural sympathy existing
among the people on the Canadian border in their behalf, produced
at times much uneasiness as to the safety of cities along the American lines. As a result of these conditions, the Thirtieth Michigan
infantry was raised, being mustered into the United States service
42-IV




658


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


Jan. 9, I865. Samuel E. Graves, of Adrian, was major of the regiment, and Lyman H. Dean, of Morenci, was chaplain, while Company D was almost entirely composed of Lenawee county men.
David D. Marshall, of Tecumseh, was captain of this company, and
Simeon M. Babcock, of Adrian, was the first lieutenant. The officers of the regiment had all seen service at the front and many of
the men in the ranks had participated in active warfare. The regiment did not leave the state, Company D being stationed at St.
Clair. The men were mustered out June 30, I865.
There were twelve Lenawee county men enlisted in the Michigan regiment known as "Engineers and Mechanics," and Daniel M.
Moore, of Rome, was first lieutenant of Company M in that regiment. Although not engaged in many battles as a fighting regiment, it was often under fire while engaged in constructing fortifications, roads, and defenses for the army, or in the destruction of
railroads and public works used by the enemy. The regiment was
organized at Marshall, was mustered in, Oct. 29, I86I, and was
mustered out Sept. 22, I865.
In the artillery branch of the service Lenawee county was also
represented. Battery H was commanded by Capt. Samuel DeGolyer, of Hudson, and at least a dozen of Lenawee county men were
among the members of that artillery company. Captain DeGolyer
received a wound May 28, 1863, in the siege of Vicksburg, which
caused his death on Aug. 8. The battery was mustered in March 6,
1862, and was mustered out at Jackson, July 22, 1865.
Battery I was almost entirely from Lenawee county, and was
officered by Jabez J. Daniels as captain, and Addison A. Kidder as
first lieutenant, both of Hudson. The battery was organized at
Detroit and was mustered in Aug. 20, 1862. It left the state Dec.
4, joined the Army of the Potomac, and was first engaged at Aldie,
Va., in April, I863. It participated at Gettysburg, then moved to
Culpeper Court House, and was ordered to Nashville in October,
remaining there in reserve until March 7, I864, when it was ordered
to Whiteside. It participated in the Georgia campaign, engaged
the enemy at Cassville, New Hope Church, Lost Mountain, Kolb's
Farm, Marietta, Peachtree Creek, reached Atlanta July 27, and
took part in the siege until Aug. 25. It was engaged at Turner's
Ferry in August, and remained at Atlanta until Nov. I, when it
was ordered to Chattanooga and mounted as horse artillery until
ordered home. It was mustered out at Jackson, July 14, 1865.
In the First Michigan cavalry there were nearly a score of
Lenawee county men, and Jabez J. Daniels, of Hudson, entered the




MILITARY HISTORY


659


service as second lieutenant of Company E, of this regiment. It
was mustered into the service Sept. 13, I86I, and performed distinguished service until mustered out at Salt Lake City, Utah,
March Io, I866, having been transferred to the Indian country after
the surrender at Appomattox.
The Third Michigan cavalry had its rendezvous at Grand Rapids, and almost an entire company was recruited in Lenawee county.
Robert O. Selfridge, of Tecumseh, was adjutant of the regiment,
and Company K was commanded by Capt. Collins Davis, of Tecumseh, while Amos M. Adams, of Adrian, was second lieutenant.
The regiment was mustered in Nov. I, I86I. It left the state Nov.
28, was stationed at Benton Barracks, St. Louis, during the winter,
and then joined Pope's movement against New Madrid and Island
No. IO. It was engaged at Farmington, Miss., and in the siege of
Corinth, then joined Grant's forces in the campaign of Mississippi,
and fought at Spangler's Mills, Bay Spring, and Iuka, where it
performed efficient work. In October it was engaged at the battles
of Corinth and the Hatchie River. During the remainder of the
year it was in actions at Hudsonville, Holly Springs, Lumpkin's
Mill, Oxford, and Coffeeville. In November, Company K made a
daring trip. Communication between Grant and Sherman had
been cut off by the destruction of railway and telegraph lines, the
enemy's pickets extending to Memphis, and regiments and brigades
were unable to open them or clear the way for a dash. Company
K advanced from LaGrange to Moscow, made a circuit of seventeen miles by night, attacked and captured the pickets at Somerville, and charged through a regiment. Finding the bridge burned
at Wolf river, the company plunged into and across the stream,
and being taken for Confederates pushed through a brigade and
reached Sherman's headquarters at Memphis. The regiment was
engaged at Brownsville, in January, and at Clifton in February.
At the latter point, sixty men of Company K crossed the river after
nightfall in an old flat-bottom boat and captured the Confederate
Colonel Newsom, three of his captains, four lieutenants, and sixtyone enlisted men, with horses, arms and equipments. The regiment was in engagements at Jackson and Panola, in July. and at
Grenada in August, was in the advance, destroying over sixty locomotives and more than 400 cars. In October it participated at Byhalia and Wyatt's Ford, on the Tallahatchie river. It was engaged
in scouting and numerous expeditions during November and December, meeting the enemy at Ripley, Orizaba, Ellistown, Purdy,
and Jack's Creek, and on Jan. i, I864, went into winter quarters at




660


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


La Grange, Tenn. It was later ordered to St. Louis, where it was
on provost duty for about two months. It reported at Little Rock,
May 24, and was engaged in scouting. It assisted in driving Shelby beyond the river and in dispersing guerrillas. During November, 1864, and February, 1865, it garrisoned Brownsville, and in
its scouting expeditions collected large droves of cattle, supplying
nearly all the beef required for the Department of Arkansas. It
was assigned to the First brigade, First division, Seventh corps,
which, on March 14, was transferred to the military division of
West Mississippi, and ordered to Mobile, where it engaged in the
siege. After the fall of that point the regiment was employed in
outpost duty. On the surrender of the enemy's forces east of the
Mississippi, the regiment was selected as escort of Major-General
Canby, and received the formal surrender of General Taylor's
army. In May the regiment removed to Baton Rouge, La., whel e
it joined the Texas expedition and reached San Antonio Aug. 2.
It was engaged in garrison and escort duty and along the Mexican
frontier until mustered out at San Antonio, Feb. 15, I866. Up to
November, I863, the regiment had captured 2,Ioo prisoners, and
had marched io,8oo miles.
Company F of the Fourth Michigan cavalry was a Lenawee
county company and was officered by Richard B. Robbins as captain, Walter B. Anderson as first lieutenant, and Tunis W. Henion
as second lieutenant, all of Adrian. Captain Robbins afterward
was promoted to major of the regiment. The regiment was organized at Detroit, and was mustered in Aug. 29, I862. It left the
state Sept. 26, for Louisville, thence to Tennessee, and was engaged
at Stanford, Gallatin, Lebanon, Rural Hill, Baird's Mill, Hollow
Tree Gap, Wilson's Creek Road, Franklin, Laurel Hill, Wilson's
Creek, La Vergne, Jefferson Pike Bridge, Nashville Pike and
Stone's River, before the close of the year. It was in successful
charges at Stone's River against superior forces. In January and
February, 1863, it fought at La Vergne, Manchester Pike, Harpeth
River, Cumberland Shoals, Bradyville, Woodbury, Dover, Charlotte and Auburn, and at Liberty drove Morgan's cavalry for six
miles. It was next engaged at Unionville, Thompson's Station,
Rutherford Creek, Duck River, Prosperity Church, Liberty, Snow
Hill, McMinnville, Statesville, Alexandria, Wartrace and Middletown. At the last named place it charged and drove the enemy,
capturing and destroying a large quantity of ordnance stores and
camp equipage and the standard of the First Alabama cavalry. At
Shelbyville it assisted in a charge when 599 prisoners and three




MILITARY HISTORY


66I


pieces of artillery were taken, and the enemy was driven out in confusion, the Union forces being 1,500 and the enemy's over 4,000. A
large body was driven into the river, from which over 200 bodies
were taken. Through the summer of 1863, the regiment was engaged at Hickory. Creek, Tullahoma, Rock Island, Sparta, Sperry's
Mill, Smith's Cross-roads, Reed's Bridge, the battle of Chickamauga, Rossville and Cotton Port. At Chickamauga its brigade,
with less than I,ooo men in line, fought 7,000 from 7 o'clock in the
morning until 5 o'clock in the evening, falling back in order for five
miles. It was in action at Smith's Cross-roads, Hill Creek, and McMinnville, in October, and was in camp at Maysville from the latter partof October until Nov. I7. It fought at Chattanooga and at
Missionary Ridge, and at Cleveland captured 90 wagons, 260 prisoners, 480 mules, and 275 hogs. It burned the railroad bridge at
the Etowah river, and the depot, iron works, and rolling mill at
Cleveland. From January to March, 1864, it took part in the operations about Tunnel Hill and on the Dalton road, and remained in
camp at the Etowah until March 29, when it was ordered to Nashville and attached to the Second cavalry division. In May it defeated a brigade at Farmer's Bridge, fought at Arundel Creek, and
was surrounded at Kingston, but cut its way out. On the Atlanta
campaign it fought at Dallas, Villa Rica, Lost Mountain, Big Shanty, McAfee's Cross-roads, Noonday Creek and Kenesaw Mountain.
At Latimer's Mill on Noonday Creek a force of less than I,ooo received the attack of 4,500 of Wheeler's cavalry and fell back, but
being reinforced by three regiments the enemy was in turn repulsed. The Fourth Michigan repulsed three charges by two regiments and gained new laurels. It was engaged at Roswell, Lebanon Mills, Stone Mountain, Covington, Flatrock, in the siege of
Atlanta, Fair Oaks, Jonesboro, Lovejoy's Station, and McDonough.
At Jonesboro the entire division was surrounded ard Minty;'
brigade, to which the Fourth was attached, made one of the greatest charges of the war, broke the enclosing lines in superb manner,
thus opening a way for Kilpatrick's forces to break from the cordon,
and captured three stands of colors. After the fall of Atlanta the
regiment was engaged at Roswell, Sweetwater, Nose's Creek, Lost
Mountain, New Hope Church, Stilesboro, Rome and Blue Pond.
In the latter part of October it was ordered to Nashville, thence to
Louisville, where it was newly mounted and equipped. It marched
to Gravelly Springs, arriving Jan. 25, 1865, and remained there until
early in march. Moving south from Eastport, it became engaged
at Selma, Ala., where it joined in the assault and captured the works




662


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


under terrific fire, Colonel Minty being the first to enter alive. The
result of this daring affair was the capture of a strongly fortified city,
nearly ioo pieces of artillery, 2,700 prisoners and a large amount
of ammunition and stores. On May 7, Lieutenant-Colonel Pritchard was ordered to proceed with the regiment and picket the Ocmulgee river for the purpose of preventing the escape of Jefferson
Davis, who was supposed to be in that section, and with 135
picked men he was instrumental in capturing the Confederate
leader. On May 21 the regiment was ordered to Nashville, and it
was mustered out July I, i865.
About fifteen Lenawee county men served in the Fifth Michigan cavalry, which was organized at Detroit and mustered into the
service Aug. 30, 1862. Stephen B. Mann, of Palmyra, was first lieutenant in Company G, of this regiment. This command served
valiantly until the close of the war, and then was sent to the far
West, being finally mustered out in Utah.
Company B, of the Ninth Michigan cavalry, was raised almost
entirely in Lenawee county, and was officered by Samuel Morey, of
Rome, as captain, and James R. Cairns, of Cambridge, as first lieutenant. The chaplain of this regiment was William Benson, of
Adrian, and Cyrus D. Roys, of Hudson, was first lieutenant of Company F. This regiment was organized at Coldwater and was mustered in May 19, 1863. It left the state by detachments May i8,
20 and 25, being ordered to Covington, Ky. It participated in engagements at Triplett's Bridge, Lebanon, Salvisa, Cummings' Ferry, Buffington Island and Salineville. At Buffington Island it aided in the capture of 500 prisoners, three pieces of artillery, and a
large amount of small arms and equipments. It was then ordered
to Tennessee and was engaged at Loudon, Cumberland Gap, Carter's Station, Zollicoffer, and Leesburg. At Cumberland Gap it took
the advance, burned a large mill, drove the enemy from his mountain stronghold, and assisted in the capture of 2,600 men and thirteen pieces of artillery. It was engaged at Blue Springs and Rhealown, scouted about Henderson during November, and in December was engaged at Knoxville, Morristown, Russellville, Bean's Station, Rutledge, Dandridge and Mossy Creek. It removed from Dandridge Jan. i6, 1864, and was engaged at Kinsboro's Cross-roads,
Dandridge, Fair Garden, Sevierville, and Strawberry Plains. It encamped near Nicholasville, Ky., and was in several skirmishes in
the early part of the year.  In June it was engaged at Cynthiana,
charging the enemy and taking 300 prisoners, 500oo horses, a number of cattle and a large number of small arms, the enemy being




MILITARY HISTORY


663


routed and driven in large numbers into the Licking river. The
regiment participated in the siege of Atlanta, Aug. I to Sept. 3, being on picket and train guard duty. It was engaged at Stone Mountain and Decatur, and was on foraging expeditions during the
month of October. It was engaged in numerous small skirmishes
with guerrillas and bushwhackers. It was with Sherman's army
before Atlanta in November, was engaged in several skirmishes,
including one at Lovejoy's Station, and on the I7th made a forced
march of thirty miles, capturing thirty prisoners. It was in a skirmish at Griswoldville, burning the town, arsenal, railroad depot
and train, and capturing seventy-five prisoners. It was engaged
at Macon, Milledgeville, Louisville, Waynesboro, Cypress Swamp,
Savannah, Arnold's Plantation and Altamaha Bridge. At Waynesboro it charged Wheeler's command, driving it from the field and
capturing Ioo prisoners, for which it received special notice. It
was in camp at Savannah from Dec. I8, I864, until Jan. 27, I865,
and then joined the Carolina campaign, being engaged at the Salkahatchie, White Pond, Aiken, Lexington, Broad River Bridge and
Phillips' Cross-roads, where it fought the enemy for three hours.
It burned the stables and a grist mill at Wadesboro after a skirmish; was in a skirmish at Solemn Grove, participated at Averasboro, driving the enemy before it; was then in constant skirmish,
the battle of Bentonville, and in actions on the Raleigh & Smithfield railroad. It was in camp at Concord from May 14 until mustered out, July 9, I865.
The Eleventh Michigan cavalry contained a large number of
men from Lenawee county. William L. M. Osborn, of Adrian,
was second lieutenant of Company B; John Edwards and W. Baker
Thompson, both of Hudson, were first lieutenant and second lieutenant, respectively, of Company D; James E. Merritt, of Tecumseh, was captain of Company G, and Company H, which was distinctly a Lenawee county company, was officered as follows: Captain, Henry Bowen, of Adrian; first lieutenant, Willard Stearns,
of Franklin; second lieutenant, Clark W. Decker, of Adrian. This
regiment was organized at Kalamazoo and was mustered in Dec.
10, 1863. It left the state the same day for Covington, Ky., and
was engaged in scouting in February and March. It was in a skirmish at West Liberty in April, and then moved to Louisa, Ky., forming part of the First brigade, First division, Army of the Ohio. It
was in engagements at Pound Gap, Hazel Green, Mount Sterling,
Lexington, Georgetown and Cynthiana. The fight at Mt. Sterling
was severe, the enemy being routed, and at Cynthiana the Eleventh




664


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


was in the charge which destroyed the enemy's line and scattered
his forces. Engagements followed at Point Burnside, McCormick's
Farm, Laurel Mountain, Bowen's Farm, Saltville, Sandy Mountain,
and in Western Virginia.  At Saltville the brigade to which the
Eleventh was attached carried the main work, the regiment losing
eighty-six in killed, wounded and missing. Compelled to withdraw,
the regiment acted as rear-guard and the following day it was cut
off and surrounded by 4,000 cavalry, but hewed its way through
the opposing lines in a hand-to-hand fight of an hour. It encamped
at Mt. Sterling and was engaged during November in clearing the
country of guerrillas and engaging in skirmishes with them at
Hazel Green, McCormick's Farm, Morristown, State Creek, Mt.
Sterling, Church River, Russellville, Cobb's Ford, Bristol, Paperville, Abingdon, Wytheville, Mt. Airy, Marion, Seven-mile Ford,
Saltville and Jonesboro. At Bristol the regiment took a number of
prisoners and a large quantity of stores and at Abingdon it fought
a brigade, capturing the enemy's artillery and 250 prisoners. It
was in a running fight from Marion to Wytheville, twenty-four
miles, when the enemy's wagon train and artillery were taken. At
Wytheville the command drove the home guards to the mountains
and captured 75,000 rounds of fixed artillery ammunition; 5,000,000
musket cartridges, 75 wagons, 6,ooo blankets, 8 cannon, 33 caissons, large quantities of stores, and destroyed a large amount of
property. At Saltville it aided in the destruction of the saltworks,
machinery, utensils (including 2,ooo kettles), buildings and wells,
three forts, two arsenals filled with ammunition, thirteen cannon
and caissons, five locomotives, eighty cars, depots and other buildings. In January, 1865, the regiment was engaged at Mt. Sterling
and Hazel Green. It next fought at Flemingsburg, Boone, Yadkin
River, Mount Airy, Hillsville, Salem, Christiansburg, Jonesboro,
Danbury, Statesville, Salisbury, and in a number of minor engagements.  At Anderson Court House the last remnant of the Confederate treasury was destroyed.  The regiment captured Jefferson Davis's cavalry escort and then moved to Hartwell and Asheville, N. C., Greeneville, Tenn., Strawberry Plains, Knoxville and
Pulaski, where it was consolidated with the Eighth Michigan cavalry, July 20, I865. It was in, service at that point until Sept. 22,
when it was mustered out.
Did space permit, it would be a pleasure to include the names
and service of the "men who bore the guns," many of whom performed feats of daring and services of incalculable value to the
cause, wholly prompted by the innate desire for national preserva



MILITARY HISTORY


665


tion, and without the hope of official reward. Some even declined
promotion on the conscientious ground that they would then be
serving for the emoluments and honors of office, while the charge
would be groundless if the salary remained at thirteen dollars a
month! Such conduct as this, it seems, should be a sufficient refutation of the latter-day doctrine that greed is the only incentive to
human exertion.  There were representatives of Lenawee county
in nearly every regiment organized in Southern Michigan and
Northwestern Ohio, either by original enlistment, transfer, or promotion, and wherever they were, and by whatever organization
they were known, the famous Wolverines always performed their
duty, and reflected honor upon themselves and credit upon the
noble state which they represented.
SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR.
In the spring of I898 came the declaration of war between the
United States and Spain, and the equipment of an army and navy
to combat the haughty Spaniard. In the settlement of this trouble
Lenawee county responded with old-time vigor and enthusiasm.
The noble sons of patriotic sires promptly offered their services in
the cause of liberty and performed their duty with commendable
devotion. The response was so universal over the land that many
were disappointed in.not reaching the scene of action, but they had
shown their devotion to country and sympathy with the downtrodden and oppressed. The Lenawee county boys, mostly members of Company B, of the Thirty-first Michigan infantry, were off
to the rendezvous at the earliest opportunity. They returned after
a few months of service, but were dissatisfied that they could not
have done more. A grand reception was accorded to the company
on its return, and then its members resumed the thread of peaceful
life. A few Lenawee county men reached the scene of action in the
Philippines, where they rendered valiant service and proved their
worthiness on every field. The officers of Company B, of the Thirty-first Michigan infantry were: Captain, James M. Holloway; first
lieutenant, Edwin A. Wells; second lieutenant, Myron C. Bond.
Laverne Wilcox, of Adrian, and George Fletcher, of Jasper, were
the only Lenawee county boys who contracted disease in the service and died.




I








JAMES W. HELME




CHAPTER XXXIX.
AGRICULTURE AND ALLIED INTERESTS.
WRITTEN BY HON. JAMES W. HELME.
EARLY STATISTICS-NOTABLE CHANGE IN PRODUCTIONS-ABANDONED
INDUSTRIES-LATER STATISTICS ON AGRICULTURAL WEALTH-COMPARISONS WITH OTHER COUNTIES IN THE UNITED STATES - LENAWEE COUNTY STANDS AT THE HEAD- MANUFACTURE OF BUTTER
AND CHEESE - "THE COTTONWOOD SWAMP" - RIGA AND OGDEN
TOWNSHIPS -SUGAR-BEET INDUSTRY-ORGANIZATIONS OF FARMERS
-LENAWEE COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY-THE GRANGE-FARMERS' INSTITUTES-FIRST FARMERS' CLUB-THE GREAT FARM FACTORY.
The history of agriculture in Lenawee county would be preeminently, and almost exclusively, a history of the county itself,
for Lenawee county is the greatest agricultural county in Michigan,
and one of the greatest in the United States.
When the tide of emigration turned to Michigan, in 1836-37,
Lenawee county was practically a wilderness, heavily timbered,
and offered to the pioneer settler, who desired to produce crops, the
hardest kind of hard work in felling the forests and clearing up
the lands for agricultural production. We are not able to present
the statistics of early production in Lenawee county, as we have
not been able to obtain the census reports back of the year 1860.
In that year the county had I97,000 acres of improved land, and
147,000 acres of unimproved land. In I870 the improved land had
increased to 263,I97 acres, and the unimproved had decreased
Io,ooo acres. In I880 the number of acres of improved land
amounted to 34I,I79, and of unimproved land there were 177,787
acres. In I890 the acres of improved land were 345,606 and the
acres of unimproved'land were 102,639. In I9oo, which is the last
census report available, acres of improved land were 352,ooo0, and
of unimproved land 95,000.




668


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


As was natural in the settling of a fertile region of this character, the number of farms constantly increased. In I86o there were
in the county 3,251 farms. A gradual increase was shown in each
decade until in i9oo there were 5,562 farms in the county, with
an average size of eighty acres each.
It is interesting to note from statistics of production the
growth of the county from the pioneer state to the state of intensive
agriculture.  When a country is first settled up the large areas of
land induce the production of wheat and other cereals, and also
the keeping of large numbers of sheep, which can thrive on the
pasture of the wild lands which exist in the early history of a
county. But as settlement proceeds and intensive agriculture develops, we see a gradual decline of the cereal and sheep crops, and
an increase in crops that require more brains and give better value
for the skill employed than the primitive agricultural occupations.
The census of I860 shows that there were 2,247 working oxen
in Lenawee county. In 1870 the number had dropped to 367, in
I880 to 249, and in 1890 to 79, while during the next decade an effort
by the Lenawee County Agricultural Society to find a pair of working oxen to exhibit on pioneer day was a failure, not one existing
within the county. During the same period milch cows increased
from 11,235 in I86O to 20,600 in I9oo, and in view of the large increase in dairying during the last decade there are undoubtedly
25,000 milch cows in Lenawee county at the present time.
The rise and decline of the sheep industry in Lenawee county,
as sheep pasture flourished and then passed away, is interesting.
In I86o there were 89,929 sheep in the county. In I870 the number
had increased to II2,653. In I880 the high water mark was reached,
with the figures II6,508. From this point the decline began, and in
I890 the sheep numbered 110,446, in I900 but IOI,OOO, and undoubtedly the census of I9IO will show a decline of 20,000 from the
above figures.
The rise and decline of the growth of wheat, which is a sure
indication of the gradual settlement of a new country, is also interesting. In I86o the county produced 423,843 bushels of wheat; in
I870, 685,000 bushels. In I880 the high water mark was reached,
along with sheep production, the county raising 1,251,479 bushels
of wheat. In I890 the production had decreased over half a million
bushels, to 719,000. In I9oo a still further decrease was shown, to
321,000 bushels.
Just as the production of the above crops, which are pre-eminently those of a pioneer country, decreased, so the crops that




AGRICULTURE AND ALLIED INTERESTS


669


require skill and care in the management increased, and also with
them, those cereals that are used exclusively as food for live stock.
The census of I860 shows the production of corn to be 1,213,311
bushels, and each decade showed a gradual increase until, in Igoo,
the county grew 2,700,000 bushels of corn. In I860 the county
grew 198,901 bushels of oats.  Heavy increases followed in each
decade until, in 900o, the county grew 1,881,720 bushels. The production of wool in the meantime, starting at 280,047, in 1860, and
reaching the high water mark in I880, at 663,598, had decreased in
900o to 462,000 pounds.
No branch of agriculture requires more skill and intelligence
in production than the manufacture of butter and the production of
milk. In I86o the county produced 993,558 pounds of butter, being
second to Oakland county in production of both butter and milk,
but today Lenawee county leads Oakland, producing, in I900,
2,132,000 pounds of butter upon the farms. In 1890 the county
produced Io,69I,000 gallons of milk, and in I900 it produced
J I,775,ooo gallons.
In I880 we have the first record of the production of eggs, the
county in that year having produced I,o99,000 dozens of eggs. In
900o the county produced 2,363,ooo dozens.
The increase in the production of agricultural wealth was accomplished to a great extent by labor saving tools, and the figures
show the large amount of money that the farmer pays annually for
implements to further his production. In I86o the total value of
farm tools in the county was $329,000. In 900o this item had increased to $966,000.
Horses on the farms increased from 9,542, in 860, to I8,ooo in
1900.
From the census returns one of the abandoned industries of
Lenawee county seems to be the growing of tobacco. In I860 the
county produced 25,602 pounds of tobacco. In I870 but I55 pounds
were produced, and since that time apparently none has been
raised in the county.
The hop industry imported by the early New York pioneers
has also passed away. In I860, 14,858 pounds of hops were produced in the county. In I870, 16,872 were produced. In I880, the
amount produced had fallen to 2,251 pounds, and in I890 but 3,500
pounds were produced, since which time the culture of hops has
apparently been abandoned in the county.
In the meantime, Lenawee has been helping to make Michigan
one of the greatest potato-growing states in the Union. Very few




670


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


people in Lenawee county realize the extent of the potato industry
in their midst.  In I860, the county produced 295,803 bushels of
potatoes, and an increase has been shown in every decade until in
900oo, the county produced 405,000 bushels, this being a larger production than many Northern Michigan counties that are classed as
potato districts.
Very few people are aware of the fact that Lenawee county
stands at the very top of all counties in the United States in the
production of agricultural wealth, and the figures, as shown by the
census of 900o, are surprising. In that year the value of farm
lands in the county was placed at $I5,496,740. The value of buildings on these lands was placed at $6,339,000. The value of live
stock on these farms was $2,791,ooo. The value of agricultural
products on the farms, not fed to live stock, reached the enormous
total of $4,005,543. Thus the total value of agricultural wealth in
the county in that year was over $6,800,ooo. We have made a
careful comparison from the census reports of the United States of
the various counties in the Union to ascertain the place Lenawee
occupies in the production of agricultural wealth. We find that
three counties in California and four counties in Illinois exceed the
production of Lenawee county in dollars, but these counties all
have from one-half to three times more land than this county, and
proportionately they do not produce as many dollars per acre as
Lenawee county. The only counties in the United States which
produce more agricultural wealth than Lenawee county, and which
are the same size as Lenawee county, are eleven in number. They
are: Baltimore county, Maryland, in which is situated the city of
Baltimore; Middlesex county, Massachusetts, in which is situated
the city of Boston; Monroe county, New York, in which is situated
the city of Rochester; Onondaga county, New York, in which is
situated the city of Syracuse; Orange county, New York, which is
situated near the city of New York; Wayne county. New York;
caster county, Pennsylvania, and Fon du Lac county, Wisconsin.
caster county, Pennsylvania, and Fon du lac county, Wisconsin.
In every one of these counties is situated a very large city, and
naturally the land around these cities is devoted to highly intensive
farming and truck growing, and the prices created by the immense
demand of the adjoining urban population undoubtedly gives a
somewhat fictitious value to farm products. Taking this into
consideration, we think that we can truthfully say that Lenawee
county stands at the head of the list of counties in the United
States for the production of agricultural wealth, provided the counties have equal area and no large cities exist within their borders.




AGRICULTURE AND ALLIED INTERESTS


67I


It is interesting to trace the production of agricultural wealth
in Lenawee county in connection with the same production in
various other counties in Michigan. Lenawee county leads every
Michigan county in every item of agricultural wealth shown by the
census. Its leadihg competitor, which occupies second place in
the value of agricultural products produced, is Oakland county.
Formerly, Oakland county exceeded Lenawee in the production of
agricultural wealth in many respects, and it should today, for
Oakland has twenty-five townships, six miles square, while Lenawee has only twenty, but for the last three decades Lenawee has
led Oakland in the total production of agricultural wealth, as well
as in every item thereof, showing that the agricultural population
of Lenawee county comprises the most intelligent in the state;
for, in spite of good land and improved farm methods, all now
realize that brains form a greater factor in agricultural operations
than any other item, and if this county is leading not only the
state, but the United States, in proportion to is population and
farm area, it does so because of the superior intelligence of its
farming community.
Closely allied to the agricultural interests of the county are
the factories that produce sugar, butter and cheese. The statistics
given above for butter represents only the production of butter
made on the farms. In addition to this, scattered throughout the
county, are various creameries and skimming stations which produce over a million pounds more butter in addition to the amount
given. The manufacture of cheese was begun in the early days of
Lenawee county by the late Samuel Horton, who originated the
distinct type of Michigan soft cheese, which is made throughout
Michigan today, and is distinct from the type made by other cheese
factories in the country. The business of Mr. Horton has been
very much enlarged by his son, Hon. George B. Horton, of Fruit
Ridge, who has the distinction of being the largest individual
cheese manufacturer in the United States. The production of Mr.
Horton's factories, which are situated in the southern part of the
county, totals nearly two million pounds of cheese, and he pays to
factory patrons monthly, during the cheese making season, $30,000
and upwards for their milk. Lenawee leads all Michigan counties
in both the production of cheese and butter, and the township in
which Mr. Horton lives has as many cows as it has human beings,
according to the census reports.
It is said in the Good Book that, "The last shall be first, and
the first shall be last," and never was this better illustrated than




672


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


in the settlement of Lenawee county. When the early pioneers
had reached Toledo, and were obliged to take the overland route
to Adrian, they entered, in the southeastern portion of Lenawee
county, near the two townships of Riga and Ogden, what was known
to the early settler as the "Cottonwood Swamp." The terrors of the
"Cottonwood Swamp," as related by the early pioneers, were certainly fierce. It was a level, alluvial piece of land, apparently composed of black muck and clay, and of unlimited depth. In this
so-called "Cottonwood Swamp" there were immense cottonwood
trees, which grew from six to nine feet in diameter, interspersed
with soft maple and hickory, also of immense size. It was a veritable wilderness, and was supposed to be the only part of Lenawee
county that was worthless. Naturally, these two townships were
the last to be settled.  Eventually, however, they were peopled
largely by Germans, and it was found necessary to ditch every road
and to tile every field. When this had been done, lo and behold,
there was not one square foot of swamp in either of these townships, and they became not only the garden of Lenawee county,
but the garden of Michigan.
The state tax commission in its efforts to determine the most
valuable township in the state concluded that the township of Riga
was by far the best township, agriculturally, in the state of Michigan, and the township of Ogden ranked next. Today the people of
these townships grow enormous crops of corn, and the land has
proved to be an ideal place for the growing of sugar-beets. At
first the sugar-beet factories of Central Michigan came down to
these two townships to fight for sugar-beet acreage, for the yield
was extra large there and the percentage of sugar exceeded that
of any county in Michigan. As a final result, a sugar-beet company was organized and a factory was built at Blissfield, and the
townships of Ogden and Riga today probably exceed any other
townships in Michigan in the production of sugar-beets. Beet
growing has spread from these two township to other adjoining
townships until today the Blissfield factory, operating under the
name of The Continental Sugar Company, is producing an immense
output of sugar annually and the terrors to the early settlers of the
"Cottonwood Swamp" has been turned into blessings for the beetsugar growers of to-day.
The reader will naturally wonder what particular element has
entered into the life of agriculture in Lenawee county to rpake it
the greatest producing county in the Union. Other counties have
richer soils and are better located for market, and have better




AGRICULTURE AND ALLIED INTERESTS


673


climates than Lenawee county, and yet this county in proportion
to its acres is the largest producer in the Union. The writer believes that this fact is largely due to the organization of the farming population in the county. It is a well known fact that only
the most intelligent of any class organize. Among the city laborers
it is not the digger of ditches or the street cleaners that organize,
mut the more intelligent of the laboring class, like the carpenters,
masons, and printers, and so it is with the agricultural class, that
only the most intelligent and enlightened see the benefits of societies and organizations and maintain them, and Lenawee county
probably holds the first place as being the best organized agricultural county in the Union.
The first farm organization to be formed in Lenawee county
was organized in the early '40's by a party of fruit growers in the
city of Adrian, under the name of The Adrian Horticultural Society.  Today the same society, under the name of the Lenawee
County Horticultural Society, is one of the largest organizations of
its kind in the state, and holds regular meetings, which it has done
for a period of over sixty years. Its influence upon fruit-growing
in Lenawee county has been very great, as the county is known as
a large producer of good, fine fruit. Previous to the Civil war, the
Lenawee County Agricultural Society was organized, and with its
successor, under a different name, annual fairs have been held in
the city of Adrian for over sixty years. Today the annual fair of
the Agricultural Society of Lenawee County is the largest in the
state outside of the State Fair. It is also the most successful, both
from a farmer's standpoint and financially, as it draws larger
crowds than any other fair, has larger grounds, and better buildings, and it is practically out of debt-a tribute to the intelligence
and energy of Lenawee county farmers.
The largest of all the farm organizations represented in Lenawee county is the Grange. Early in 1873 the Grange made its way
into Michigan, and Lenawee at once took the lead in the organization of granges in the state, and it has ever since maintained that
lead, both in having the largest number of organizations and the
largest membership. The first grange organized in Lenawee
county was Tipton Grange, followed closely by organizations at
Tecumseh and Macon.   Soon afterward the granges in Palmyra,
Adrian, and Raisin townships were organized. These were followed by the organization of Medina, Fairfield, Morenci, and Fruit
Ridge, under the name of Weston Grange, and the Onsted Grange.
These early granges had their trials and tribulations, as all pio



674


MEMOIRS OF LENAWEE COUNTY


neers had, and many of them died and were later reorganized, but
today all are in a flourishing condition. In addition, the following
granges have a live and active existence in Lenawee county: Bean
Creek Valley, Blissfield, Britton, Cadmus, Clinton, Deerfield, Four
Towns, Gorman, Hudson Center, Lime Creek, North Adrian, North
Rome, Ogden, Raisin Valley, Rollin, Rome, South Dover, Sugar
Town, Victorsville, Wolf Creek, Woodstock, and Working Grange.
There are at the present time in active operation thirty-four
granges in Lenawee county, having an active membership of from
3,500 to 4,000 persons, and it is almost impossible to over-estimate
the influence of these organizations. Most of them hold meetings
once in two weeks; and, for the last thirty years, every other week
when these meetings have been held public questions have been discussed and literary programs -have been given; co-operative buying has been practiced, until the immense benefit, both intellectually, morally, and financially upon the community is hard to estimate. Of the thirty-four granges now existing in Lenawee county,
twenty-six own their own grange halls, and these are of the most
substantial type, costing from one to five thousand dollars. In
every community in Lenawee county the grange hall is as much a
fixture in the community as the country church and the schoolhouse, and it has kept up its end with the church and school-house
in the education and enlightenment of the community.
Every winter, throughout the county, are held farmers' institutes, with speakers furnished by the state, and the grange halls
furnish the natural place for these meetings; and throughout the
year they are the center of the social life of the community. In
addition to the thirty-four granges in Lenawee county, there is the
Pomona, or county grange, which exercises a supervisory control
over all the others, meeting in different parts of the county from
month to month, and encouraging grange effort and enthusiasm.
The writer believes that the first farmers' club to be organized
west of the Allegheny Mountains was organized in the township
of Adrian, just after the war. At that time the Central New York
Farmers' Club met at Utica, N. Y., and attracted wide attention,
as it was the pioneer farmers' club in the country. Some enthusiastic Lenawee county farmers determined to organize a similar
club in this county, and for that purpose met at the Steere schoolhouse, near the present site of the Industrial Home, and there organized a farmers' club. The writer well remembers, as a little
boy, attending that club with his father and listening to discussions. The only men that he can now recall taking part in that
organization were B. W. Steere, the veteran nurseryman; A. Sig



AGRICULTURE AND ALLIED INTERESTS


675


ler, of Adrian, and the writer's father. For over a year this club
held its meetings in the Steere school-house, and the memory of
the writer is not clear why the club was discontinued, but since
that time a large number of clubs have been organized in different
sections of the county and they meet, as a rule, monthly at the
homes of the members and discuss various farm topics.
It will thus be seen that with its agricultural. and horticultural
societies, its granges, its farmers' clubs, and in addition the many
lodges of "Gleaners," which is another farm organization in the
county-the farmers of Lenawee county are probably better and
more thoroughly organized than those of any other county in the
Union; and it has undoubtedly been due to the efforts made by
and the education afforded by these organizations that the superiority of Lenawee county in the production of all farm products has
been attained.
We have given in a brief and concise manner the position that
agriculture occupies in Lenawee county affairs, but we doubt if
very many of its inhabitants have realized its overwhelming importance. The cities and villages of Lenawee county are engaged
in the very laudable effort of endeavoring to attract to their respective municipalities various manufacturing concerns, and the
county properly boasts of its wire-fence factories, which make
thousands of miles of fence each year; but the annual product of
the cackling old hen on the farms in Lenawee county exceeds in
value the entire product of all the fence factories of the county, and
the old hen never closes down her industrial plant nor runs short
hours on account of industrial depression. She is everlastingly at
it, year after year, without intermission. The great farm factory
of Lenawee county is annually producing over six million dollars'
worth of finished product, and at the same time the farmers are
not follownig out a course of farming that depletes the soil. Practically all of the great cereal productions are fed upon the farm,
and every year hundreds of cars of western sheep and cattle are
imported. After having been fed all that the county produces, they
the finished off with western corn, and thereby the productivity of
Lenawee's land is being constantly increased by the intelligent
farmers of the county. In the future, every year will see this great
farm factory producing over six million dollars' worth of wealth,
and gradually increasing its production. Whether the times are
good or poor the factory is run for the full output, and the effect of
this large production of wealth by the agricultural interests means
great and continued prosperity to the cities and villages of Lenawee
county.




















I
-,9




I




5 -II