A History of Van Buren County, Michigan: A Narrative Account of Its Historical Progress, Its., Part 42

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 42


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).


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About thirty-five years ago there were only four veterinary sur- geons in this county of whom we have any record: Dr. George Brown of Lawrence, who continued his practice until about ten years ago when he gave up his business to his son, Dr. E. W. Brown, who is now one of the County's leading veterinarians ; Dr. Bartram who practiced in Paw Paw until the time of his death; Dr. Wilkinson settled in Decatur about 1865 practicing there until about 1880 when he moved to Indiana; the late Capt. G. H. Prentice of Lawton was a veterinary surgeon in the Civil War and afterwards resumed his practice in Lawton. Dr. Pren- tice was a man of ready wit, quick perception and natural ability, and in those days his practice extended over the greater portion of this county. Dr. W. J. Johnson, of Paw Paw, is also a scientific and skilful veterinarian. Other registered veterinarians are Dr. A. Elgas of Hartford, and Dr. H. T. Creagan of Decatur.


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CHAPTER XVIII


TOWNSHIP OF ALMENA


GENERAL DESCRIPTION-PIONEER SETTLERS AND INSTITUTIONS- BUSY PERIOD (1836-42)-SETTLEMENT IN THE NORTHERN SEC- TIONS-CHURCHES-SCHOOLS, SUPERVISORS, ETC.


The township of Almena is officially designated by the United States survey as township number two south, of range number thirteen west. It was originally the southeast quarter of the town- ship of Clinch. The name "Clinch" was conferred in honor of Judge Clinch of the state of Georgia. This township was divided by act of the legislature, in 1842, the east half being named Al- mena and the west half, Waverly. In 1849 the township of Al- mena was again cut in half, the northern portion taking the name of Pine Grove. while the southern retained the name of Almena. It forms one of the eastern tier of the townships of the county. Its boundaries are Pine Grove on the north, Kalamazoo County on the east, Antwerp on the south and Waverly on the west.


GENERAL DESCRIPTION


Originally there was a large swamp covering nearly one-third of the township extending from the northeast to the southwest along the river valley, but this has been practically reclaimed and converted into valuable pasturage and grass land.


The township is one of the three within the county that is not touched by a railroad. The nearest railroad stations are Paw Paw on the Fruit Belt line; Mattawan and Lawton on the main line of the Michigan Central; and Kendall, Pine Grove and Goble- ville on the line of the South Haven division of the latter road.


There is no postoffice in the township, it being thoroughly covered by the free delivery system. Neither does it boast of any incorporated village, the nearest approach thereto being a small hamlet on section twenty-eight called Almena, the same as the township, where there are two stores, a flouring mill, a black- smith-shop, a creamery, a church, a town hall and a Maccabees hall. The assessed valuation of the township for 1849, the first year


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Pine Grove was separated from it, was $27,985, and the total of taxes for that year was the sum of $530.60. The assessed valuation of the township for the year 1911 was $479,025 and the total taxes levied was the sum of $9,965.93.


The Federal census of 1910 gave Almena a population of 868, the smallest number of inhabitants of any township in the county.


At the general election held in 1850, the first after the present organization of the township, there were sixty-two votes cast, thirty-eight Democratic and twenty-four Whig. At the presi- dential election of 1908, the total vote of the township was 153, of which 112 were cast for Taft, Republican; thirty-seven for Bryan, Democrat; two for Debs, Socialist; and one each for Chafin, Prohibitionist and Hisgen, Independent party.


The township possesses a variety of soil. ranging from compar- atively light sand to heavy clay loam and on the whole is fertile and productive.


Several small streams in the northeastern part unite to form the west branch of the Paw Paw river, which flows in a south- westerly direction across the township. Some of these streams are very clear and pure and are stocked with speckled trout, affording rare sport to many enthusiastic disciples of Izaak Walton during the open season, which is from the first day of May to the first day of September. There are not as many lakes in Almena as there are in some of the other townships of the county. The principal ones are called West, North, Fish and Wolf lakes.


PIONEER SETTLERS AND INSTITUTIONS


The first white man who became an inhabitant of the township was a Frenchman named Joseph Derosier. His wife was an Ot- tawa squaw. Derosier came into the township about the year 1833. He followed the occupation of an Indian trader, trapper, guide and interpreter. He could speak the English, French and Indian languages with equal facility. He died in the township of Wa- verly in 1854. The great Indian trail from Chicago to Grand Rapids passed through Almena and it was on this route that Derosier lived. In the vicinity of his place, until as late as 1845, considerable numbers of Indians of the Pottawattamie and Ottawa tribes encamped from time to time.


The first laid-out highway was called the Kalamazoo road and it is yet one of the principal highways of the township; it crosses the southern part of the township from east to west.


Mr. Jonas Barber built the first saw-mill in the township not long after the advent of Derosier, and in 1834 Elder Junia War- ner, Horace Bonfoey and Willard Newcomb located lands in the


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township. Warner and Bonfoey made a settlement on their lands and began their improvements in the spring of the following year. Warner had entered a tract of two hundred and forty acres, partly in the township of Antwerp and partly in Almena. Bonfoey lo- cated on section twenty-nine in the latter township.


Warner and his father, who was also named Junia, purchased a few boards at Barber's mill, put up a cabin on section thirty-one and began at once to clear a portion of the land and put in some crops. Having built a substantial log house, Junia, the younger, returned to the state of New York for his family, while the father concluded to stop in Kalamazoo, where for a time he worked at his trade as a mason. When the son returned with his family in the fall of the same year, the father joined them and they were all speedily and comfortably located in their pioneer home.


The younger Warner had been a Methodist preacher before com- ing to Michigan and he continued to follow his sacred calling to a considerable extent until his death which occurred in 1847. His health was such that he did not always feel able to preach the Gospel, in addition to his arduous labors in clearing up and cul- tivating his farm, but the demands made upon him were so fre- quent and so urgent that he was said to be almost as busy in ministerial work as he was as a farmer. He officiated at many of the weddings and funerals that occurred around the county and in the adjoining county of Kalamazoo. He was the first minister in the township, if not in the county. His father and mother continued to live with him until the father's death in 1840. His mother died at Paw Paw in January, 1880, at the ripe age of ninety-six years.


In the fall of 1834 a company of seven land-lookers, William Ranney and his son John, Campbell Waldo, Frederick Krull, Alvin Hall, Russell Palmer and Freeman Hall, came to Almena. Ran- ney purchased land on sections fourteen, twenty-three, twenty-five and twenty-six, Palmer and Krull on section twenty-four : Freeman and Alvin Hall on section twenty-six. Returning east with the rest of the company after having located their land, John Ranney re- turned alone the next year and settled on the land that his father had located the previous year. He lived a bachelor all his life and died on his Almena farm in 1863. Willard Newcomb settled in the township in 1835, and put up a blacksmith-shop on section twenty-nine. Freeman Hall returned in 1836 and made a per- manent home on the land he had previously located.


Fernando C. Annable, with his family, became a resident of the township in the fall of 1835. Mr. Annable became a person of in- fluence, not only in his township, but in the county at large. Pol- itically, he was a strong Democrat and was regarded as a leader


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in his party. He lived and died a resident of the township. His son, Edward R. Annable, became a prominent attorney and was at one time prosecuting attorney of the county. He emigrated to California where he died in the prime of his manhood.


Asahel S. Downing, with his family and his father-in-law, Isaac Barnum, came from Cayuga county, New York, in 1836, and purchased a tract of land of Messrs. Newcomb and Bonfoey. There was a water power on the property, subsequently occupied by a saw-mill called Brewer's mill. It was the intention of Mr. Bar- num to erect a grist-mill, but he was stricken with apoplexy and died the next year after settling in the township. Henry Barnum, his son, after his father's death settled on section twenty-nine, where he lived until his death in 1856. Downing established a black- smith-shop on his place and operated it for many years. Asa Crofoot made a visit to Almena in 1835 and entered one hundred and sixty acres of land on sections twenty-five and twenty-six. He made a small improvement and then went to Schoolcraft, in Kala- mazoo county, where he obtained employment, improving his Al- mena farm from time to time as best he could. He did not be- come a permanent resident until 1844, when he married and lo- cated on his farm permanently.


BUSY PERIOD (1836-42)


Between 1836 and 1842 the settlers became quite numerous. Among them were John Campbell, Harvey Fauzdik, Bridget Fin- ley, Nahum Eager, Chauncey Abbott, Louis and Benjamin Eager, Thomas Roland, Blakelee Burns, Abel Burns, Jacob Plank, T. C. Benton, Samuel Turner and others.


Chauncey Abbott settled on section twenty-three in 1840. Bridget Finley, with her six children, located on section twelve in 1839. Messrs. Fauzdik and Campbell settled in the same neigh- borhood at about the same time. S. B. Fisk, a millwright. located in the town in 1844. Amasa Tenney came in 1840, buying a farm of A. S. Downing. Samuel Mills purchased land on section thirty- four, in 1843, where he lived until his death in 1860.


Alva T. Stevens was a settler in 1837, afterward removing to Kalamazoo, but eventually returned and made his home on lands he had entered during that year in Almena and Antwerp, where he continued to reside until his decease in 1865. The early settle- ments above mentioned were all on the south side of the "big swamp."


The pioneers of this township did not meet with the trials and hardships that were incident to the settlement of some other parts of the county. The lands were not so heavily timbered, consist-


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ing largely of "oak openings" through which it was comparatively easy to travel, even before there were any laid-out highways. Paw Paw was close at hand, and even at that early day there were to be found there many of the conveniences of a new civilization.


The year 1838 was noted for being a very sickly year. Fever and ague, that then prevalent disease throughout the entire state, was more than usually in evidence. It is said that at one time there were but three persons in the town who were in their ac- customed good health; Mrs. Isaac Barnum, Horace Bonfoey and a colored man named Henderson. These looked after the sick and it may well be believed that they had little spare time for anything else.


SETTLEMENT IN THE NORTHERN SECTIONS


In the northern part of the township the first settlement was made by Nathan Williams and his son-in-law, John Condon. They first located on section twelve, in 1836. The next year they crossed what was then the "big swamp" and located on section four, where they remained for nearly thirty years when they re- moved to the state of Iowa. David Showerman and Jacob Cur- rier came soon after Mr. Williams. Showerman worked in a Paw Paw saw-mill for a couple of years and then settled on section seven, in Almena, on what is still known as the Allegan road, and there, after a time, he opened a tavern. He died in 1863. Currier was a machinist by trade. He also settled on section seven, built a small shop and lived there until his decease in 1843. His widow married the late William Markillie, who came to Waverly in 1843 and to Almena in 1845. They occupied the Currier farm, which, under Mr. Markillie's skilful management, became one of the finest pieces of property in the entire county.


James Ketchum came to the township in 1843; Henry Campbell, from the state of New York, arrived in 1838, but settled in Waverly where he remained until 1844, when he located on section eight, in Almena, where he spent the remainder of his days. He died in 1872. Thomas Clark came to the town in 1846 and the next year settled on section eighteen. Silas Breed, who first settled in the township of Columbia and after whom the village of Breeds- ville was named, became a resident of Almena in 1851, having purchased a place on section seven of John Crowell, a settler who preceded him. Mr. Breed was a man of prominence in the affairs of the township and served as its supervisor for many years. He died in 1878. One of his sons, also named Silas, is still a resident on the old farm.


J. W. Stoughton, while not among the earlier settlers of the township, was a very early inhabitant of the state. He came to


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Michigan with his father in 1824, when he was a lad of but four years. He located in Almena about 1854 and settled on a farm that had been previously occupied by Josiah Hopkins, where he lived the remainder of his life. His son, Warren M. Stoughton, is now the treasurer of Van Buren county.


The first birth in the township was a child of Elder Junia Warner, and this same child was likewise the first person that died in the township, the year of its birth and death being 1836. The second birth was that of a son to Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Currier. His fond parents named him George; he grew to manhood and spent his entire life in Almena.


The first couple that were married within the limits of the town- ship were Alonzo Cobb and Mary Newcomb, who began their hymeneal voyage on the 17th day of October, 1837, Esquire Charles M. Morrill being the party that launched them on the matrimonial sea.


The first saw-mill, that built by Jonas Barber in 1835, passed into the hands of Edwin Mears of Paw Paw, and afterward was sold to a company composed of Charles M. Morrill, Nathaniel Livermore, Jacob Currier and Thomas Brown. The property afterward came into the possession of Daniel O. Dodge of Paw Paw and was known as the Dodge mill. At a later date Walter Wise undertook to utilize the power in the manufacture of paper, but the venture did not prove a success.


The first and only grist-mill in the township was built in 1859, by Stephen W. Fisk and for a considerable number of years was owned and operated by him and was known as Fisk's mill, but its owner becoming financially embarrassed, the plant passed into other hands and is now called Miner's mill, from the name of the pres- ent proprietors. It is located at the village of Almena on a small branch of the Paw Paw river.


CHURCHES


There are three church buildings in the township-the Free- will Baptist, the Methodist Episcopal and the Brethren, com- monly called the Dunkard.


The Free Will Baptist church of Waverly, as it is called, al- though the house of worship is located across the line in the town- ship of Almena on what is called Covey Hill, was organized in 1843, with thirteen members, to-wit: Mr. and Mrs. Harviland Thayer, Mr. and Mrs. Jonah Austin, Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Brown, Mr. and Mrs. Peter Haynes, Jeptha Waterman, Lucy Herron, Lucinda Aldrich, Elizabeth Brown and Polly Marble. Rev. Peter Haynes was the first minister and for a time meetings were held at private


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houses and then at a schoolhouse until 1866, when the present meeting house was built. The present membership of the church is sixty-five. Rev. R. O. Thompson, of Gobleville, is the pastor.


The Methodist church was organized in 1853, with but five members, Mr. and Mrs. Philip N. Teed, Mr. and Mrs. James North and Ann Smith. The Almena schoolhouse was used as a place of worship until 1869, when the present church building was oc- cupied, it having been dedicated in December of that year. The church is now under the care of Rev. Alex. T. Luther, pastor of the Methodist church at Paw Paw. It has a membership of twenty- eight.


The Brethren or Dunkard church is in a state of suspension at the present time. Their church building is situated on section twenty-seven.


There was formerly another church society at the village, but it has practically disbanded and their house of worship has been sold to the Maccabees, who occupy it for their hall and who have quite a flourishing organization.


The hall of Waverly Grange, No. 37, Patrons of Husbandry, like the Free-will Baptist house of worship, is situated on Covey Hill, in the township of Almena and now has about forty members.


SCHOOLS, SUPERVISORS, ETC.


The first school taught in the township was in the Warner set- tlement and the first teacher was Elizabeth Merry, a sister-in-law of Rev. Junia Warner. The following statistics of the public schools of the township are taken from the official school reports of 1911: Number of children of school age (between the ages of five and twenty), 304; number of volumes in school libraries, 579; number of school houses, 8; value of school property, $6,050; ag- gregate number of months school taught, 66; paid for salaries of teachers, $2,855. During the year 1911, the several school districts of the township were apportioned the sum of $2,194.50 from the state primary school fund.


The first town meeting in the township was held at the New- comb school house on the first Monday in April, 1842. (At this time the township included what was afterwards set off and or- ganized as the township of Pine Grove.) The following named officers were chosen: Supervisor, Charles M. Morrill; township clerk, Junia Warner; township treasurer, Henry Barnum; high- way commissioners, John A .- Ranney, Benjamin Eager and Green H. Brown; assessors, Willard Newcomb and Freeman Hall; school inspectors, F. C. Annable, Roswell Cook and Junia Warner; con- stables, Russell Bonfoey, Asahel S. Downing, Thomas F. Brown


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and Green H. Brown; directors of poor, Horace Bonfoey and Willard Newcomb; justice of the peace, Jacob S. Currier.


The following named gentlemen have served the township in the office of supervisor: Charles M. Morrill, Samuel Turner, J. A. Ranney, Green H. Brown, Henry Barnum, J. B. Hudson, F. C. Annable, Silas Breed, Chauncey B. Palmer, Stephen W. Fisk, Warren F. French, James H. Darling, William H. Stevens, Philip N. Teed, Benton W. Hipp, Joshua B. Breed, Rufus M. Waite, Levi A. Brown, John C. Kennedy and Walter A. Brown (present in- cumbent). Of the foregoing named supervisors, Messrs. Ranney and Stevens each served three years; Supervisor Waite, four years; Supervisor L. A. Brown, five years; Supervisor Kennedy, seven years; Supervisor French, twelve years; Supervisor Silas Breed, seventeen years.


Almena is one of the three towns in the county that are not touched by a railroad. For the southern part of the township, Mattawan on the Michigan Central, and Paw Paw, on the Fruit Belt line, are the nearest stations, and for the northern part, Ken- dall and Gobleville on the Kalamazoo and South Haven line.


While there has been, according to the census figures, a mate- rial decrease in the population of the township during the past decade, there has been at the same time, quite a material increase in the assessed valuation of the property of its citizens, indicating that they are prosperous from a financial stand point. Some of the very best farms in the entire county are located in the town- ship, and while the inhabitants are not engaged in the culture of fruit to as great an extent as in some of the near-by townships, yet there are numerous fine orchards and vineyards to be found in some localities, and its citizens are as prosperous and progressive as those of any of her sister townships.


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CHAPTER XIX


TOWNSHIP OF ANTWERP


GENERAL DESCRIPTION-RAILROADS, PROPERTY AND POPULATION- EARLY SETTLEMENT-SETTLERS OF 1836-8-SETTLERS IN SOUTH- ERN ANTWERP TOWNSHIP-POST OFFICES, ROADS AND HOTELS- PIONEER MILLS-TOWNSHIP ELECTIONS AND OFFICIALS-EDUCA- TIONAL STATISTICS-GLEN SPRINGS TROUT HATCHERY-VILLAGE OF LAWTON-VILLAGE OF MATTAWAN-RETROSPECT.


The township of Antwerp is one of the seven original townships of Van Buren county, and is the only township in the entire county that remains as originally organized without having undergone either a change of territory or name, or both. It is said that it was named by Harmon Van Antwerp after the city of Antwerp in Europe, but one can hardly resist the conclusion that there was a little personal pride in the selection of the name. All he had to do was to drop the "Van." .


GENERAL DESCRIPTION


It is one of the eastern tier of the townships and is bounded north by Almena. east by Kalamazoo county, south by Porter and west hy Paw Paw. It is officially designated in the United States sur- vey as township number three south, of range number thirteen west. It is situated in the midst of the famous fruit belt of south- western Michigan, and while it was originally largely devoted to the production of the various kinds of grain indigenous to this region, its inhabitants are now more extensively engaged in horti- culture, especially in the production of grapes, there being several thousand acres of vineyards within its boundaries, and the annual production of that delicious fruit amounting to millions of baskets. Other fruits, such as peaches, apples, cherries, plums, pears and berries of various kinds are also produced in great abundance. In- deed, the business of fruit culture has very largely superseded all other kinds of husbandry.


There are two villages in the township, Lawton and Mattawan, the former only being incorporated. There are not many of the Vol. 1-26


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little gems of lakes that beautify the landscape in various sections of the county to be found in Antwerp. Its principal stream is the east branch of the Paw Paw river, which enters the township near its southeast corner and crosses it diagonally in a northwesterly direction, uniting with the east branch of the same stream in the village of Paw Paw, about a half mile west of the east line of the township. There were formerly two very good water powers on this


A GLIMPSE OF THE GRAPE INDUSTRY, NEAR LAWTON


stream, one of them on section twenty-one and the other on section eighteen, almost in sight of the village of Paw Paw. Neither of these powers is in use at the present time. The mill and dam that stood on the site of the former have entirely disappeared. The mill that occupied the site of the latter has been removed, but the dam is kept in repair and the power, most likely, will be again put to use at some future date.


RAILROADS, PROPERTY AND POPULATION


Two railroads pass through the township, the main line of the Michigan Central and the Kalamazoo, Lake Shore and Chicago line, better known as the "Fruit Belt" line. Both these roads pass en- tirely across the township, intersecting at the village of Lawton. The Central enters the town on the east one mile north of the center line and runs in a southwesterly direction, leaving the town very near its southwest corner. The Fruit Belt running in a southeast- erly course enters the township on the west line of section nineteen and reaching Lawton, changes to a northeasterly course and prac- tically parallels the Central to the city of Kalamazoo, which is the


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eastern terminus of the line. It is anticipated that this line will be electrified in the near future, in which event there will be a con- tinuous electric line across the state from Detroit to South Haven. This latter road had its beginning in the construction of what was called the Paw Paw Railroad, a four mile line between Paw Paw and Lawton, which under various names has been extended to South Haven on the west and to Kalamazoo on the east, making a line fifty-five miles in length.


The soil of Antwerp consists largely of a sandy loam, generally fertile and productive, in some localities, however, bordering on quite a light sand, and in other places clay and gravel prevail. The surface is generally level, although there are some quite con- spicuous elevations, the principal of these being south of the village of Mattawan and one in the northeast corner of the town.




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