USA > Michigan > Ingham County > Lansing > Past and present of the city of Lansing and Ingham county, Michigan > Part 1
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Gc 977.401 In4 pa 1385432
M. L.
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01071 8598
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018 with funding from Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center
https://archive.org/details/pastpresentofcit00cowl
albert E. boules.
PAST AND PRESENT ~
OF THE
CITY OF LANSING
AND
INGHAM COUNTY, MICHIGAN BY
ALBERT E. COWLES
HISTORICALLY
TOGETHER WITH
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
1
OF MANY OF ITS LEADING AND PROMINENT CITIZENS AND ILLUSTRIOUS DEAD
ILLUSTRATED
THE MICHIGAN HISTORICAL PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION LANSING, MICH.
PRESS OF ROBERT SMITH PRINTING CO. LANSING, MICH.
PREFACE.
The greatest of English historians, (Macaulay) and one of the most brilliant writers of the present century has said, "The history of a country is best told in a record of the lives of its people." 1385432
In conformity with this idea, the past and present history of Lansing and Ingham county has been prepared. Through the able assistance of the Hon. Albert E. Cowles, individually, an extensive review of the county has been written. We have also been assisted by an able and capable corps of writers, who have gone personally to the people, the men and women who have, by their enterprise and industry, brought the county to rank second to none among those comprising the great and noble State. And from their lips. has the story of their life struggle been told. No more interesting or instruct- ive a work could be presented to an intelligent public.
In this volume will be found a record of many whose lives are worthy of emulation and imitation by future generations.
It tells how many, commencing life in poverty, who, by industry and economy, have accumulated wealth. It tells how others, with limited advan- tages for securing education, have become learned men and women whose in- fluence has been felt throughout the length and breadth of the land. It tells of men who have risen from the lower walks of life to eminence as statesmen. and whose names have become famous. It tells of those in every walk of life. who have striven to succeed, and records how, that success has usually crowned their efforts. It also tells of many, very many, who, not seeking the applause of the world, have pursued the even tenor of their way, content.to have said of them, as Christ said of the women performing a deed of mercy, "They have done what they could." It tells how, that many, in the pride and strength of manhood, left the plow and the anvil, the lawyer's office and the counting room, left every trade and profession, and at their country's call, went forth bravely to do or die, and how, through their glorious efforts, the Union was restored and peace once more reigned in the land. In the life of every man
Nie's BA. Blive 9-2-66
6
PREFACE.
and woman there is a lesson that should not be lost upon those, who follow after.
Coming generations will appreciate the volume and preserve it as sacred, from the fact that it contains so much that would never have found its way into public records, and what would otherwise have been lost to the future generations. Great care has been taken in the compiling of this work, and every opportunity possible to those represented to insure correctness in what has been written, and the publishers flatter themselves that they give to their readers a work with few errors of consequence.
The biography of some will be missed in the volume. For this the pub- lishers are not to blame. Not having a proper conception of the work, some refused to give information necessary to complete a sketch, while others have been indifferent. Occasionally some member of a family would oppose the enterprise, and on account of that opposition the support of the interested one would be withheld. In few instances, men could never be found, though re- peated calls at their residence or places of business. Taking all well. we feel assured that our efforts have met with success, and that even the most skep- tical will feel well repaid for their co-operation.
THE PUBLISHERS.
PAST AND PRESENT
OF
LANSING AND INGHAM COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
INTRODUCTORY.
The history of a nation is the story of its wars, the causes of the wars, if there were any, and the results of the wars and im- mediate and after effects of them, together with the story of its wariors and their deeds of heroism and valor and victories and de- feats.
The history of a subdivision of a nation, such as a state or county, is the story of the early struggles of the people who warred with the elements, the wilderness and, perchance, with wild beasts, or worse, with wild men, or both, in its creation as a habitable abode for civilized people; and the relation of the results of the labors of these and their de- scendants.
The object of writing such a history is to perpetuate the experiences of the past, noble deeds of men of the past, who made the history, as the soldiers of the Revolutionary war, of the war of 1812, the Indian wars, the War of the Rebellion and the Spanish war made history for the nation. The names of these men and women and their work and what they endured and suffered
in preparing a place for themselves and for future generations, should not be forgotten, and, "lest we forget," we make a record of what can be learned from all sources, rela- ting to men and women of Ingham county, and what they have done for and in behalf of the county.
Probably no portion of the country has changed more than Ingham county, since the commencement of the work of re- claiming the land from the wilderness, the Indian and the wild beast. Originally the land of the entire county was covered with a heavy growth of timber ; principally beech, maple, oak, ash, linden (basswood), elm. hickory, whitewood, walnut and butternut. All kinds of this timber at the present time are valuable and nearly all kinds, very val- table ; but then it was not so considered, nor was it imagined that it would ever bring nearly so much money as it does, or even enough to even think of saving it, and, if they had, it could not have been saved. It had to be cut down and destroyed in order to cultivate the land for the raising of the
S
PAST AND PRESENT
absolute necessities for sustaining life. Af- ter the trees were "chopped down" they were cut up into logs ten to twelve feet long and hauled by a yoke of oxen to places where they were piled into huge "log heaps" and the limbs and brush that had been trimmed from the trees were piled into "brush heaps" and when, say, ten, fifteen, twenty or even more of these "log heaps" and "brush heaps" were finished they would all be fired, and they burned for many days, the big fire brands rolled together each day making at night a sight that was a joy to the children, and. as well, to the fathers and mothers, for added to the beauty of the scene, was the knowledge that it cleared a piece of land for the plow and seed, and generally for the seed without the plow; for the soil was so rich it did not need to be turned over and the seed was planted in among the stumps, which, in those days, were left until they decayed, or at least, until they seasoned and dry enough to be burned. Such a thing as the stump machine was not known. In later years the stumps were dug around, the roots chopped off and then hauled off by ox teams with log chains, but then the roots were left in the ground and they made it very difficult and very hard work to cultivate the land, for the sowing and "dragging in" of seed. Later, when the farmer could have more than one yoke of oxen, or had neighbors with oxen, the "breaking up team" hitched to a breaking up plow was put into the land as soon as the roots could be broken. The writer has seen as many as six yokes of oxen drawing a big "breaking up plow" and he used to wonder how the man behind the plow could manage to hold it.
What Ingham county was can hardly be imagined from what it is today. The great- ness and productiveness of the county is more the result of what was done by the pioneer than what is being done today. It
was very necessary that the pioneer should be a peculiar kind of man, but the circum- stances created the man here, as it always has and always will. It is of these pioneers and what they did that is the most interest- ing to the present generation and will be still more interesting to future generations, and it is of these men, ague shaken, poorly clad, big hearted, generous, fearless pioneers. that we would write. It is chronicle of a generation that is almost gone : only a few surviving; and these pages and others like them will soon be all that will be left to tell their story. Each of these men was self-con- tained and, by necessity, independent. Each was separated by miles of dense forests from their nearest neighbors, and were compelled to live, mostly alone, with his brave wife and small children, for they were mostly young married people. Imagine the sorrow and loneliness caused by the loss, by death, of one of the family. But, better, do not now think of the sorrow but try to imagine the great joy when some other family moved into the woods, one, two or even five miles away, and built a log house and began to make a "clearing." thus becoming a near neighbor and bringing news from the "East." for going to Michigan. then, was "going West," and "way out West" was a much greater undertaking than it is now to go to the Pacific coast, or even to China or the Philippines. How they ever found the land they had located or knew whether it was the right land when they got to it. having no roads, except as they cut them out as they went along, is more than I can tell, though I think they must have found and followed section and quarter section lines, as marked by the government surveyor, by blazing the trees, but who of us of this gene- ration, not versed in woodcraft, as the pio- neers are not supposed to have been, would undertake it without a guide?
9
INGHAM COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
To tell of all the deeds and brave and heroic acts of these people, many of which have never been published, would be impos- sible, but we will endeavor to learn all we can about them and hope we may give those who read a slight impression of the early set- tlers of one of the most valuable agricultural counties of the State, of the kind of man he was, and what he did, overcoming obstacles that would be considered unsurmountable by the young men of today, or, at least, so much so that they could not be induced to enlist in the undertaking.
EARLY SETTLERS.
The writer hoped to be able to give the name of the very first settler in Ingham county, but being unable to do so, he must be content to give the experiences of some of the early settlers.
WILLIAM A. DRYER.
He has found in the Ingham County News of April 5 and 12, 1872, a letter writ- ten by Honorable William A. Dryer, under the title of "A Reminiscence by a Pioneer," and as it details many of the experiences of all of the early pioneers, he will copy nearly all of the letter for, though quite lengthy, he thinks it will be very interesting read- ing for future generations, and for even present day readers, who know very little of the trials and experiences of the men and women who came into the woods and began to clear up the land which now "blossoms like the rose," and has fine farm houses where there were only rude log cabins. He omits only the description of his trip across the lake from Buffalo to Detroit in the old steamer "Michigan" which he says brought on that trip over six hundred men and
women, who were to become pioneers in what was then "the great West." The baby, Mary, he speaks of, is the present Mrs. J. E. Warner, now residing in Lansing. He does not say in his letter where in Ingham county he settled, but it was in the Township of White Oak. The writer's excuse for copy- ing so long a letter is that he thinks it very interesting and that it should be preserved.
The writer is not required to write bio- graphies, but he thinks he may make a brief statement regarding some of the early set- tlers, who have passed away, especially, Mr. Dryer, as a sort of preface to his letter.
Mr. Dryer was born at Cazenovia, N. Y., March 9, 1813. When sixteen years of age he was apprenticed to learn the wagon mak- er's trade, and continued in the business un- til he was twenty-four years of age. Octo- ber 24, 1834, he married Betsey H. Newell. In October, 1836, he moved with his wife and "baby Mary" to White Oak, Ingham county, as above stated, and settled on eighty acres of land, he had previously located. In 1845 he sold his farm and moved to Pinck- ney and engaged in carriage making until 1848, when he moved to Lansing and made the first wagon ever made in Lansing. In 1856 he purchased one hundred and twenty- five acres just west of the city, built a large brick residence and moved into it; he sold this farm and moved back to the city in 1891. He was the first Clerk of the Town- ship of White Oak, was Supervisor of White Oak several years, was Supervisor of Lan- sing several years, and was once candidate on the Republican ticket for Representative in the Legislature, but was defeated by O. M. Barnes on the Democrat ticket.
Mrs. Dryer died in March, 1861, and he. June 1, 1896.
The following is what Mr. Dryer had published in the News :
"I wish to tell you of my journey from
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PAST AND PRESENT
the State of New York to Ingham county, Michigan, and my first year's experience as a pioneer. Many of the incidents that trans- pired in the first settlement of the county will be remembered as long as any of the participants live. And the experience of al- most any one is similar in a general sense to the many others, and especially to that class, and I may say the large majority, that came with a "good start," as Mr. Parks of Ingham, said he did. Mr. Parks was a good manager, and of course was successful, and he said, well might he be for he had such a good start. He had everything he needed to begin with to carry on his farm, and his wife had a good setting out in her depart- ment. On being questioned as to what they had, he said, "I had a good axe and my wife had a first rate good straw bed, all but the tick."
We brought a lumber wagon with us, one of my own manufacture, of which I shall have occasion to speak hereafter. We bought a noble yoke of oxen in Detroit, and thus prepared, loaded what little we had in the way of goods. With a "Haw, Buck, go along, Bright," we set out westward towards Ann Arbor, via the Swartzburg woods. Any attempt for me to describe the travel- ling, the depth of mud, the almost innumer- able host of emigrants that filled the road, the hotels-every log cabin (there were none other) had out its sign "Inn"-and the accommodations they afforded, would be a perfect failure; it would require a more graphic pen than mine. But I will under- take to describe the inn at which we brought up the second night out of Detroit, having staid at Springwells the first. The main building, made of logs one story high, was about 24x36 feet with a small lean-to put on one side for a cook room or kitchen. The main building was divided into two rooms, the partition being constructed by hanging
to the poles (joists) some blankets which reached nearly to the floor. These consti- tuted the bar room, dining room, ladies' par- lor, gents' parlor, sitting room, reading rooms, bed rooms, etc. There was what was called the bar, in one corner of the entrance room, the furniture of which consisted of a water pitcher, a few glasses and two bottles, one of which contained water from a hole dug in the ground near a swamp and a little al- cohol (whiskey). The other bottle, the same with the addition of scoke berry color- ing (brandy) judging by the way those that partook grabbed at the water glasses. Seats were constructed on either side of the room, by putting pins into the logs, on which were planed plank slabs, made of basswood logs, split through the middle. For portable seats, holes were bored in the rounding side of the same kind of slabs, into which legs were driven. The balance of the furniture corre- sponded with the seats. About twenty of us patronized this hotel that night, all emi- grants bound westward. Nearly or quite all furnished their own provisions. A few made tea, using water from the kitchen tea- kettle. The most took their lunch by fami- lies or groups in their own way and style. We hauled the portable seats up in front of the side seats, so that families could set fac- ing each other. using their laps for tables. About nine o'clock our host informed us that the ladies could occupy the back parlor be- hind the blankets, and the gents the front or bar-room. The necessity of this arrange- ment was obvious to all and was soon com- plied with. We provided ourselves with blankets, bed ticks and such other clothing as we could and laid ourselves down on the dirty floor for rest. It was interesting to see those who had been reared in affluent circumstances, and especially the ladies : to their credit I can say the large majority of them made the best of it with laughable
11
INGHAM COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
jokes. Most all had been passengers on the old steamer "Michigan" and had made more or less acquaintance with each other. The evening had been spent in relating the inci- dents of the day. I will here give you one specimen. One man in representing how deep he found the mud, said he saw a gentle- man's hat lying on the road. Supposing he had found a prize, he plunged through the mud to secure it. In taking up the hat, the owner under it called out "Hold on there, that is my hat; I am all right. I have got a good horse under me." Such was the be- ginning of Michigan experience.
We had six days of hard labor and harder fare on the road from Detroit into the east part of this county. In coming through the northwest corner of Washtenaw county, now called Lyndon, at the junction of the Cedar and Grand river Indian trails, we took the wrong trail and did not discover our mistake until nearly dark. It was three or four miles back to the first house and how far forward to a house was of course un- known to us, for we knew not where we were. After a little consultation, we con- cluded to move on and take our chances, for we thought we were traveling about the right course. It soon became difficult to fol- low the trail, there being very little timber and nothing to guide us. It was only by going before the oxen and feeling for the trail, sometimes with the foot, and often- times with the hand, that we could follow it. After traveling this way until about eight o'clock, to our great joy we discovered a light ahead. The prospects of a place to rest, and safety relieved us of no small amount of anxiety, for surely the situation began to be exceedingly unpleasant. Arriving at the house, the good lady was surprised at seeing travelers at that time of night. She informed us that it was about three miles over a track- less trail to the Cedar trail. On being in-
formed of what we wanted, to-wit: The use of her fire to warm us, the use of her tea-ket- tle in which to boil some water for tea, and her floor to sleep on, she inquired if we had come through Detroit. I told her we had. She was alarmed and considerably excited, said they were all dying off there with small- pox, and we might expose her and her fam- ily ; that they had but just moved into their house; that her husband had gone to Ann Arbor for provisions, and she could not al- low us the privilege we desired. I told her that we had neither seen nor heard of small- pox in Detroit, or on the way ; that my wife and child were suffering with cold and hunger and that I could not take "No" for an answer. She knew perfectly well the im- possibility of our finding another house that night. The nearest one was about four miles away and no road to that ; no, not even an Indian trail. I stood in the door to se- cure its being closed against us, and called to my wife to come in. She was soon seated by a comfortable fire with a good degree of cheerfulness. The good lady of the house had the wisdom to accept the situation, and was soon pleasant and social, taking care of little Mary, and helping to prepare a warm supper.
And none but the Great Searcher of all hearts can ever know with what thankful- ness we partook of that evening's repast. We were thankful that our hostess was so much a lady and that in the morning we were able to relieve the good woman of so muchi anxiety for herself and three children by paying her liberally in provisions for her trouble and the entertainment of the night. Her husband had already been gone nearly two days beyond her expectations, and she was living on short rations ; so she, too, was thankful, so much so that she kindly offered us the use of a yoke of oxen to help us across a marsh near the house, which she said was
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PAST AND PRESENT
bad crossing, informing us at the time, that they had a bad trick of turning in their yoke, but that I could prevent it by tying their tails together. The trick and all being new to me, the good lady in the kindness of her heart went out and showed me how her hus- band did it, by tying them herself. Every- thing in readiness, my wife and baby on the load, with high anticipations of our two yoke of oxen making a successful passage across the muddy marsh, orders were given "forward." No sooner was the order given and echoed along the line, than the good lady's oxen tore their tails apart and whipped around their heads, with their faces toward my oxen. My wife advised me to sing the Doxology, "Praise God from whom all bless- ings flow," in the good old tune, Old Hun- dred, in the way of a joke. That was not necessary, for the performance was more a cause for merriment than anger. Without trying any further experiment with the lady's oxen, we let them go, thanking her kindly, for her good will toward us, feeling that our highest hopes were sometimes doomed to disappointment. We then drove our wagon as far as our oxen could draw it on the marsh, then unhitched and unyoked them, and separated from each other, they succeeded in crossing to hard ground. I carried to terra firma, everything I could from the wagon to lighten the load. The question now arose, How is the wagon to be got out of the mud? Necessity again, for the thousandth time or more, proved the mother of invention. I cut two long tama- rack poles that would reach, with two long chains from the hard ground to the end of the wagon tongue. I then cut a notch in the butt end of one of the poles that would catch on the ring end of the ox-yoke, chained the poles together and to the end of the wagon tongue. My wife was now promoted from seamstress to teamster, and myself
from a carriage shop in New York to wheel lifter in Michigan; and now, with a "Haw, Buck," a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull all together, out came the wagon. We soon loaded up again and went on our way re- joicing over another success. Nothing more of note transpired until we safely arrived at the promised land in Ingham county, which I had purchased of the government the July previous.
It was the custom with the first settlers. to admit all new-comers under their roof. It might be a seven by nine log house, or a small shanty, no matter how inconvenient, or how many there were in the family or families, they were bid a hearty welcome to stay while they could build a place to live for themselves. There was room enough out doors to do the cooking and there was roof enough for as many to sleep as there were planks in the floor. The generous good man that gave myself and family shel- ter while I was building a house for myself, had a house twenty by twenty-six feet that he had just moved into. There was no chamber floor, no door, no windows and no fireplace. Stoves were almost unknown. Our good women did their cooking out doors by a fire made against a log. The baking was done in a tin oven standing by the fire. Our host, in his generosity, soon admitted two more families, that wanted to build in the neighborhood. After this, when we called the roll, we found we could muster nineteen persons. Well, we were pretty thick, especially nights. But all passed off pleasantly. There were no bicker- ings, no jealousies; every one seemed to spare no pains to make the one that stood by his elbow comfortable and happy. Not- withstanding time passed pleasantly, we worked with our might to get our own shanties ready for occupancy, for it was now toward the close of October, and there was
13
INGHAM COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
no time to lose in getting ready for winter. We necessarily lost some time, for frequent- ly we were invited to go, sometimes five or six miles, to help raise a log house for some one that had got a little start of us, and we always responded to such calls. But by dint of hard labor-I mean just what I say, for from early youth I had been edu- cated a mechanic and practically knew how to use a chopping axe as well as a toad knows the use of a hair comb-in about four weeks my wife pronounced the house ready to move into. I will just now take the liberty to tell the reader just how ready it was. The logs were rolled up and the three pair of rafters were raised; there were shingles (shakes) placed on one side of the roof, a strip up and down the rafters about eight feet wide. We had seven feet square of floor, laid in one corner, made of basswood logs split into slabs ; no gable ends, no windows, but the holes cut out for them. It had been a bright pleasant day, and to our inexperienced eyes, the prospect was good for days to come. Well, move we did. No great job, however, for our furniture con- sisted of a small sewing chair and a common plain bureau. We made a fire by rolling some large logs together in the middle of the house, for the double purpose to keep warm and to scare off the wild beasts. We placed the box in which we shipped our bureau on the small piece of floor we had laid, in which to make our bed. Everything being in readiness, after imploring the Di- vine blessing on our enterprise, and protec- tion from the dangers that surrounded us, we laid ourselves down to sleep-husband, wife and little daughter, Mary. The wolves en- tered their protest in decidedly terrific tones during the night against the encroachment on their hunting grounds. I might here speculate on our dreams, but such a sound and healthy sleep knows no dreams. But
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