A History of Van Buren County, Michigan: A Narrative Account of Its Historical Progress, Its., Part 11

Author: Rowland, O. W. (Oran W.), 1839-
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 671


USA > Michigan > Van Buren County > A History of Van Buren County, Michigan: A Narrative Account of Its Historical Progress, Its. > Part 11


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63


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HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY


the county of Allegan which adjoins Van Buren county on the north, was a typical institution of the kind. The writer has a bill of that bank in his possession that was issued in 1837. By the close of the year 1839, most of these wild-cat banks had gone out of business, but more than a million dollars of worthless cur- rency, which was a total loss to the people, had been put into circulation. In 1844 the banking law was declared to be uncon- stitutional, and that decision closed out the last of the "wild-cats."


One of the first steps of interest taken by Governor Mason, after the admission of Michigan into the Union, was the appointment of a superintendent of public instruction. Rev. John D. Pierce was selected for this important office. He was the founder of the Michigan primary school system, a system that is acknowledged to be second to that of no other one of the states of the Union.


Father Pierce, as he is affectionately termed, wished to place the primary school within the reach of every child of school age in the state, and also to establish a state university for the higher cul- ture of the more advanced students. How well he succeeded in his efforts along these lines the present admirable Michigan system of educating her children bears ample testimony. The plan which he developed contained most of the essential features of the pres- ent school system, and when it is remembered that he was the first superintendent of public instruction in the United States, and that he had to formulate the entire educational plan, we are better prepared to appreciate the wisdom and foresight displayed by this founder of the justly celebrated Michigan school system.


A majority of the pioneers who settled in the interior of Michi- gan came from the New England states, New York and Ohio. Some of them came from the very birthplace of the town meeting, and all of them took an active and earnest interest in the good govern- ment of the state of their adoption. They were an intelligent and public spirited people, prudent and industrious, desirable citizens in any community. Their style of living was unavoidably plain; their dwellings were structures built of logs from the forests, primitive, but comfortable; their clothing cheap and coarse, but that mattered not to the hardy settlers, so long as it possessed the qualities of wear and comfort. Hard work was the order of the day and while neighbors were few and far between, genuine friend- ship and hospitality were marked characteristics of the "path- finders" of the vast Michigan wilderness.


From 1701, when Cadillac first occupied Fort Pontchartrain, until 1847, Detroit had been the seat of government, but in the latter part of that year, the legislature located the capital at Lansing, which was then an unbroken forest forty miles distant from any railroad, but which is now a flourishing city of upwards


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HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY


of 30,000 inhabitants. This action of the legislature met with much ridicule and opposition, but the event justified the location, which has proved to be satisfactory to the people of the state. The township of Lansing, in which the capital city is situated, was organized by an act of the legislature of 1842, as follows: "That all that part of the county of Ingham designated by the United States survey as township number four north, of range number two west, be set off and organized into a separate township, by the name of Lansing, and the first township meeting shall be held at the shantee near the cedar bridge in said township."


After an experience of more than a dozen years under the con- stitution of 1835, it became manifest that some radical changes were needed in the fundamental law of the state, and a convention was called to meet at Lansing in June, 1850, for the purpose of preparing and submitting a new constitution. This duty was performed and the work of the convention submitted to the peo- ple at the general election held on the 5th day of November, 1850 .* Hon. Isaac W. Willard, a man prominent in the development of Van Buren county, was a delegate to this convention. The con- stitution of 1850 remained as the supreme law of the state until 1908, when it was superseded by the present constitution which was adopted by a vote of the people at the general election of November in that year. The present constitution was framed by a convention that met at Lansing, October 22, 1907, and re- mained in session until March 3, 1908. At this convention, Hon. Benjamin F. Heckert and Hon. Guy J. Wicksall were delegates from Van Buren county.


At the time of the admission of Michigan into the Union, the Democratic party was in power and the first governor of the state was affiliated with that party. He was succeeded by Governor Woodbridge, a Whig, for a single term, after which the Democrats again came into control of the state and remained as the dominant party until the organization of the Republican party in 1854, since which date that party has, with the exception of two terms, been in full control of the state government.


During the Civil war the state was fortunate in having Hon. Austin Blair, known as her great "war governor," as her chief executive. No state was more earnest in supporting the general government and in upholding the hands of the immortal Lincoln, than was Michigan. None made greater sacrifice for the suppres- sion of the Rebellion and none sent better or braver soldiers into the field. Altogether, Michigan furnished 93,700 men, of whom


* Among other changes, this constitution made judges of the supreme court and state officers, heads of departments, elective instead of appointive.


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74 HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY


14,855 died in the service of their country. Upwards of 4,000 Michigan men were enlisted in the more recent Spanish-American war.


The first half century of the history of Michigan witnessed many wonderful changes. In 1837 the interior of the state was almost wholly an unbroken wilderness, inhabited only by the In- dian tribes and the beasts of the forest, and there were very few signs of civilization to be seen. Postal arrangements were of the crudest character and correspondence was an expensive luxury. The entire population of the state at that time was but 174,467, and that largely along the borders of the state next the great lakes. The census of 1910 places Michigan, in point of numbers, as the eighth state in the Union, giving to her a population of 2,810,173, an increase of sixteen-fold in seventy-three years. De- troit, the metropolis of the state, is now the ninth American city, having by the last census a population of 465,766.


The following table shows the population of the state at each decennial year, for the past century, and of the county of Van Buren at each decennial census since the admission of Michigan as a state.


MICHIGAN


Date.


Population.


Increase.


1810


4,762


1820


8,896


4,134


1830


31,639


22,743


1840


212,267


180,628


1850


397,654


185,387


1860


749,113


351,497


1870


1,184,282


435,869


1880


1,636,937


452,655


1890


2,093,889


456,952


1900


2,420,982


327,093


1910


2,810,873


389,191


VAN BUREN COUNTY


Date.


Population.


1840


1,910


1850


5,800


1860


15,224


1870


28,829


1880


30,807


1890


30,541


1900


34,965


1910


33,185


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.....


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HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY


While there has been the above remarkable increase in the popu- lation of the state, there has been a corresponding increase in its financial prosperity, as may be seen by the following tabulation, showing the valuation of the state and also of Van Buren county for the past sixty years, as fixed by the state board of equalization.


Date


State.


County.


1851


$ 30,976,270


541,663


1853


120,362,470


1,683,561


1856


137,663,009


2,132,374


1861


172,055,805


2,591,490


1866


307,965,842


4,926,238


1871


630,000,000


11,550,000


1876


630,000,000


11,000,000


1881


810,000,000


14,000,000


1886


945,459,000


14,000,000


1891


1,130,000,000


15,000,000


1896


1,105,100,000


14.500,000


1901


1,578,100,000


16,000,000


1906


1,734,100,000


17,000,000


1911


2,390,000,000


27,300,000


A glance at the foregoing tables will show that during the past sixty years the state of Michigan has increased in wealth seventy- seven fold and, that during the same length of time. from 1850 to 1910, its population has been multiplied nearly eight times, while Van Buren county during the same period increased in wealth fifty- two fold, probably as great an increase as would be shown by any other rural county in the entire state; its population during the same time has increased nearly six-fold.


When we realize something of the greatness of our state and take cognizance of its various industrial interests, its mines of iron, copper and coal, its beds of cement, its magnificent orchards, vine- yards and farms, its unsurpassed manufacturing industries, its salt and its sugar, its beautiful cities and villages, its great transporta- tion facilities, both by land and by water, its fisheries around the great lakes that lave its borders, its beautiful inland lakes and streams, its thousands upon thousands of handsome and commo- dious dwellings, in country as well as in city, and a thousand and one other attractions, it would seem that there is no other state in the Union that can excel it, or that can bestow upon its fortunate inhabitants more of the comforts and luxuries of life. If Michigan were to be cut off from all communication with the rest of the world, her people would still be a prosperous people and would lack none of the real necessities and few of the luxuries to which they have been accustomed. It was indeed a happy thought when her pioneer statesmen chose for her motto, that most appropriate legend Si Quaeris Peninsulam Amoenam Circumspice.


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HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY


make van Buren County as originally


organized


allegan county


Lake michigan


South Haven.


Clinch


Terrien county,


Lawrence.


Lafayette,


Antwerp.d


Covington


Decatur


cass county.


Map of Van Buren County .


RIT W


THREW


Slou


Geneva


Columbia Blagnacdat


Hal


Cover


Benges


Arlington


And


County


KIEW


pourrence


-


Kicker


Hamilton


Porter


County


THE COUNTY OF TODAY


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Kalamazoo county


CHAPTER III


CIVIL AND EARLY HISTORY


FIRST MICHIGAN COUNTY-VAN BUREN COUNTY CREATED-CIVIL AND JUDICIAL ORGANIZATION-TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION-PIONEER PICTURES-VAN BUREN COUNTY PIONEER ASSOCIATION-EDWIN BARNUM'S POEM-OSLERISM REVIEWED.


I hear the tread of pioneers, Of nations yet to be, The first low wash of waves where soon Shall wave a human sea. The rudiments of empire here Are plastic yet and warm, The chaos of a mighty world Is rounding into form.


It is popularly supposed that Van Buren county once formed a part of the county of Wayne, but this supposition, strictly speak- ing, is incorrect. It is true, however, that on the 15th day of July, 1796, General Arthur St. Clair, at that time governor of the Northwest territory, issued an executive proclamation by which he assumed to organize the county of Wayne, and in which he in- cluded the northwestern part of Ohio, the northeastern part of Indiana and the whole of Michigan, which at that time included a part of the state of Wisconsin, truly a magnificent extent of ter- ritory to be included within the boundaries of a single county. But at that time the county of Van Buren had not been named or thought of as a distinct entity, and the Indian title to a large portion of the widely extended county thus attempted to be created had not been extinguished, so that the proclamation of Governor St. Clair, in-so-far as the territory which subsequently became Van Buren county was involved, was a mere nullity, it being then, as it has always since been, the policy of the general government to rec- ognize the title of the Indian tribes to the lands occupied by them and not to attempt to exercise jurisdiction therein until such time as their title should be extinguished and vested in the United States.


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HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY


FIRST MICHIGAN COUNTY


The first actual county organization within the territory of Michigan was created by proclamation of General Lewis Cass, governor of the territory, dated November 21st, 1815, as follows : "To all to whom these presents may come, greeting : Know ye, that I do hereby lay out that part of the territory of Michigan to which the Indian title has been extinguished into a county to be called the County of Wayne, and the seat of justice of said county shall be at the City of Detroit." (Territorial Laws, Vol. I. p. 323).


The proclamation of Governor Cass, above quoted, makes the new county cover all the territory to which the "Indian title has been extinguished," and as the title to the territory included with- in the boundaries of Van Buren county remained in the Pot- tawattamies until what is called the Chicago treaty of 1821, some six years after the proclamation creating the county of Wayne, such proclamation did not affect the territory now included within boundaries of this county.


This treaty was signed by General Cass and Solomon Sibley, as commissioners of the United States, and had attached to it the totemic signatures of Topinabee, Wesaw and fifty-three other chiefs of the Pottawattamies. By this treaty the Indian title was extinguished to all the present county of Van Buren, as well as to certain other lands, being nearly all of Berrien county; nine entire counties and a part of five others, all in southwest Michi- gan, and also a strip of land ten miles in width south of the state line between Michigan and Indiana.


By executive proclamation, dated September 10, 1822, made by Governor Cass, it was ordered that "All the country within this territory to which the Indian title was extinguished by the treaty of Chicago shall be attached to, and compose a part of the coun- ty of Monroe," so that for municipal purposes the territory after- ward organized as the county of Van Buren was first within the jurisdiction of Monroe county. (Territorial Laws, Vol. I. p. 335-336).


VAN BUREN COUNTY CREATED


The first act of the legislature of the territory affecting Van Buren county was placed upon the statute books in 1829 and was as follows: "That so much of the territory included within the following limits-viz., beginning where the line between ranges twelve and thirteen west of the meridian intersects the base line, thence west to the shore of Lake Michigan, thence southerly along the shore of said lake to the intersection of the line between town- ships two and three south of the base line, thence east on the line between said townships to the intersection of the line between


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HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY


ranges sixteen and seventeen west of the meridian, thence south on the line between said ranges to the intersection of the line between townships four and five south of the base line, thence east on the line between said townships to the intersection of the line between ranges twelve and thirteen west of the meridian, thence north on the line between said ranges to the base line be and the same is hereby set off into a separate county and the name thereof shall be Van Buren." (Territorial Laws, Vol. II. p. 736).


This act embraced the territory included within the present coun- ty of Van Buren.


In the same year, the legislature passed an act organizing the county of Cass, establishing a county court therein and provid- ing for the holding of two terms of court in said county each year. Section four of the same act provided "that the counties of Ber- rien and Van Buren and all the country lying north of the same to Lake Michigan, shall be attached to and form a part of the county of Cass." (Territorial Laws, Vol. II. p. 745). By this act Van Buren, still unable to stand alone, found her second municipal copartner.


By the same act of the legislature the counties of Calhoun and Jackson came into existence, thus placing with others, in the two southern tiers of counties, Van Buren, Cass, Calhoun, Jackson and Monroe, the names of these noted Democratic statesmen plainly indicating the prevailing political sentiment in the territory. Just why Michigan was not, at the same time, honored by having a county named Jefferson, as well as after these other distiguished statesmen, is a little singular.


CIVIL AND JUDICIAL ORGANIZATION


In 1835 the legislative council of the territory ordained "that the county of Van Buren shall be a township by the name of La Fayette, and the first township meeting shall be held at the school- house near Paw Paw mills, in said township." (Territorial Laws, Vol. III. p. 1403).


However, it was not until Michigan had been admitted as a state that the county was fully organized and endowed with the necessary political machinery for the management of her own municipal affairs.


In 1837 the first legislature of the newly admitted state en- acted a law providing, among other things "that the county of Van Buren be. and the same is hereby organized, and the inhabit- ants thereof entitled to all the rights and privileges to which by law the inhabitants of the other counties are entitled.


"All suits. prosecutions and other matters now pending before


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HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY


any court, or before any justice of the peace of the county to which said county of Van Buren is now attached for judicial purposes, shall be prosecuted to final judgment and execution, and all taxes heretofore levied shall be collected in the same manner as though this act had not passed.


"The circuit court for the county of Van Buren shall be held for one year from the first day of November next, at such place as the supervisors of said county shall provide in said county, on the first Monday in June and December in each year, and after the first day of November, 1838, at the seat of justice in said county.


"There shall be elected in said county of Van Buren, on the second Monday of April next, all the several county officers to which by law the said county is entitled, and whose terms of office shall expire at the time the same would have expired, had they been elected on the first Monday and the next succeeding day of November last, and said election shall in all respects be conducted and held in the manner prescribed by law for holding elections for county and state officers.


"In case the election for county officers shall not be held on the second Monday of April, as provided by the eighth section of this act, the same may be held on the first Monday of May next." (Laws of Michigan, 1837, pp. 97-98.)


In those early days, it will be observed, it was the practice to hold elections on two successive days and should they not be so held the statute gave the people another opportunity to exercise their right of franchise. Just imagine, if such a thing be pos- sible, the voters of the present day neglecting an opportunity to hold an election. And they do not need two days for it at that.


The election was held at the appointed date, to-wit, on the 11th day of April, 1837, and resulted in the choice of the following named officers: First county judge, Wolcott H. Keeler, of Cov- ington; second county judge, Jay R. Monroe, of South Haven; county treasurer, Daniel O. Dodge, of Lafayette; judge of probate, Jeremiah H. Simmons, of Lafayette; sheriff Samuel Gunton; reg- ister of deeds, Jeremiah H. Simmons, of Lafayette; county clerk, Nathaniel B. Starkweather; county surveyor, Humphrey P. Bar- num, of Lafayette; coroners, John R. Haynes, of Lawrence, and Junia Warner, Jr., of Antwerp.


The highest number of votes cast for any candidate was ninety and the least number was sixty-two.


At that date the county consisted of seven townships, viz., South Haven, Clinch, Lawrence, Lafayette, Antwerp, Covington and Decatur. The vote by townships, as returned and canvassed,


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HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY


was as follows: South Haven, 10; Lawrence, 13; Lafayette, 23; Antwerp, 17; Covington, 27.


No returns were received from the townships of Decatur and Clinch, and the presumption is that no election was held in those townships.


Pursuant to the requirements of the statute above quoted the board of supervisors of the newly organized county convened on the 27th day of May, 1837, for the purpose of designating the place where the circuit court in and for said county should be held.


This was the first meeting of that august body, which is some- times designated as the county legislature. The record of this meeting is very brief and reads as follows: "The supervisors of the towns of Van Buren County met at the village of Paw Paw, on the 27th day of May, A. D. 1837, and organized by appointing D. O. Dodge clerk.


"The business of said meeting being for locating the place for the circuit courts of said county : Whereupon, it is decided that the courts of said county be held at the schoolhouse in the village of Paw Paw.


"D. O. DODGE, Clerk."


This action of the board of supervisors, while having no special reference to the final location of the county seat of the county, may well be considered as the entering wedge to a long and more or less bitter and hard fought contest over that matter which eventually resulted in the permanent location of the county build- ings at Paw Paw, where they are likely to remain indefinitely. This matter is presented at length in its proper place in this work.


TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION


To further provide for the complete organization of the coun- ty, the legislature of 1837 enacted as follows: "All that portion of the county of Van Buren known as township number three south of range number thirteen west, be, and the same is hereby set off and organized into a separate township by the name of Antwerp; and the first township meeting therein shall be held at the house of Philip Williams, in said township. (This is the only town in the county that has undergone neither change of name nor territory since the organization of the county.)


"All that portion of the county of Van Buren designated by the United States survey as townships one and two south of range thirteen and fourteen west, be, and the same is hereby set off and organized into a separate township by the name of Clinch, and the first township meeting therein shall be held at the house of Charles Vol. I-6


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HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY


Townsend, in said township. (The township of Clinch disap- peared from the map of Van Buren county so many years ago that very few of its citizens are aware that there ever was a township by that name. The territory embraced within the boundaries of this ancient township now constitutes the townships of Pine Grove, Bloomingdale, Waverly and Almena).


"All that portion of the county of Van Buren, designated by the United States survey as township three south of range four- teen west, be and the same is hereby set off and organized into a separate township, by the name of Lafayette; and the first town- ship meeting therein shall be held at the house of D. O. Dodge, in said township. (This township, as above designated, is now the township of Paw Paw. Few people are aware that Berrien county first had a township named Paw Paw, but such is the fact.) (Laws of Michigan, 1837, p. 38.)


"All that portion of the county of Van Buren designated by the United States survey as townships four south in ranges thirteen and fourteen west, be, and the same is hereby set off and organized into a separate township by the name of Decatur, and the first township meeting, shall be held at the schoolhouse near Little Prairie Ronde in said township. (The west half of the territory so organized into a township still remains as the township of Decatur, while the east half of the same constitutes the present township of Porter).


"All that portion of the county of Van Buren designated in the United States survey as township one south in ranges fifteen, six- teen and seventeen west, and township two south in ranges sixteen and seventeen west, be, and the same is hereby set off and organ- ized into a separate township by the name of South Haven; and the first township meeting therein shall be held at the house of J. R. Monroe, in said township. (The territory so organized into a single township now comprises the townships of South Haven, Geneva, Columbia, Bangor and Covert).


"All that portion of the county of Van Buren, designated by the United States survey as township two south in range fifteen west, and township three south in ranges fifteen and sixteen west, be, and the same is hereby set off and organized into a separate township by the name of Lawrence; and the first township meet- ing therein shall be held at the house of Horace Stimpson in said township. (The territory so organized now comprises the present townships of Lawrence, Arlington, and Hartford).


"All that portion of the county of Van Buren designated by the United States survey as township four south in ranges fifteen and sixteen west, be, and the same is hereby set off and organized into a separate township by the name of Covington; and the first town-




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