A History of Van Buren County, Michigan: A Narrative Account of Its Historical Progress, Its., Part 43

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 43


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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On the first tax roll of the township, made in 1837, the total amount of the tax levy was $172.60. The valuation of property does not appear on the roll, but the tax levied on the lands was uniformly one and a half cents per acre. There was no assessment of personal property. In 1911 the township was assessed at the sum of $955,000, and the taxes levied were $21,653.33. According to the census of 1910, the township contained a population of 2.320 souls. It ranks fourth among the townships of the county in point of population and fifth in point of wealth.


EARLY SETTLEMENT


On account of the comparative ease with which lands in the town- ship of Antwerp could be converted into tillable farms, it was set- tled much earlier than some other portions of the county that were covered with heavy timber. Most of the lands of the town con- sisted of "oak openings." and it was practically free from low or swampy lands. Crops could be planted in many places with very little clearing away of brush or trees, and the virgin soil needed but to be tickled with the rude implements of the pioneer to pro- duce the necessities of life in abundance. Even before any roads were laid out. traveling through the town in almost any direction was a matter of no great difficulty. There was very little under- brush or other obstructions in the way and the settler could drive almost anywhere without having to cut a road before him. The woods were like orchards, in that a person could see round about for a considerable distance.


There seems to be a difference of opinion as to who was the first settler in Antwerp. It was either Joel Tomlinson or Joseph Wood- man. Mr. Tomlinson settled on section twenty-two, in the month of December, either in 1834 or 1835; the year is uncertain. There


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is no question of the date at which Mr. Woodman came. He made his home on section seven, on the 10th day of May, 1835, and there is little doubt but that to him must be ascribed the honor of having been the first settler in the township.


Mr. Woodman was a minister of the Gospel, being an ordained minister of the Methodist church. He died in the month of April, 1879. The Woodman family have borne a prominent part in the affairs of Van Buren county. The late Hon. Jonathan J. Wood- man, Elder Woodman's youngest son, was a member of the Michi- gan legislature for twelve successive years, a speaker of the house for four years of such service, and was one of the United States commissioners to the Paris exposition in 1878. He was prominent in the agricultural matters of the county and state and served as master of the State Grange, Patrons of Husbandry, and also as master of the National Grange. He died at his Antwerp home just outside the limits of the village of Paw Paw, on the 13th day of July, 1904. His widow, Rev. Olivia J. Woodman. a minister of the Universalist denomination, still occupies the homestead.


The incoming pioneers, following the route of the Territorial road, which was opened in the summer of 1835 and which crossed the northern part of Antwerp, naturally chose the line of that highway on which to plant their future homes. .


In the spring of 1835, Joshua Bangs, Silas Breed and Elder Jonathan Hinckley started from Monroe county. New York, for Michigan, on a land-looking expedition. They journeyed overland as far as Silver Creek, Ohio, and found the traveling so bad that, to use Mr. Bangs' own words, "One of us drove the team, while the other two footed behind, carrying rails with which to pry the wagon out of the mud holes." They continued their journey by way of the lake from Silver Creek to Detroit, where they again took to the road, their objective point being Grand Rapids. At Marshall they overtook Joseph Woodman and his family, who was headed for the same location. Ascertaining that the land office was located at Bronson (now Kalamazoo), they halted there and were per- suaded to change their route to Van Buren county. Woodman and Bangs visited the township of Antwerp and being pleased with the outlook concluded to locate there instead of looking farther. Bangs entered lands on sections five and seven adjoining those selected by Woodman on the latter section. Bangs settled on his new location in the fall of the same year, some months after Woodman had taken up his residence on the lands entered by him. He had been back to the state of New York after his family and on his return he was accompanied by Dr. Levi Warner, Joseph Luce, Theophilus Bangs and John Hill. Warner and Luce settled in the adjoining township of Paw Paw. Joshua Bangs resided on his Antwerp farm


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until he was elected county treasurer at a special election held on the 20th day of Setpember, 1837, when he moved to Paw Paw. He held that office for four years after which he returned to his farm. Nominally, he was the second treasurer of the county, but really the first, as Daniel O. Dodge, who was elected in the spring before, failed to assume the duties of the office. Mr. Bangs died in Feb- ruary, 1883.


Philip Moon, of New York, settled on section five in 1835. He died in 1856. His son, Horace W., who came out with Joshua Bangs, was formerly a resident on section sixteen, the present fruit farm of Messrs. Rowland & Shaefer and known as "Fairview Fruit Farm."


Peter Moon was also a settler in 1835. Elder Samuel Gilman became a resident on section five in 1838. He sold his farm to E. H. Niles and moved to a place on section six, where he lived the re- mainder of his life. His son, Joseph Gilman, who succeeded him in the ownership of the place, died in 1884.


Theophilus Bangs, who came to Antwerp with his brother, Joshua, settled on section nineteen, where he lived for about thirty years, when he moved to Paw Paw and died there.


Among the early land-lookers of Michigan was John Hunt, of Vermont, who first visited the township of Antwerp in 1835 and was so well pleased with the outlook that he entered a tract of 160 acres on section one. He returned to Vermont after making his entry and did not become a settler until 1837. Mr. Hunt and his family proceeded to Buffalo by canal and finding that they could not easily embark at that place, he engaged a man and team to carry his family and goods to Silver Creek, thirty-six miles distant, where he was told he would find a steamer for Detroit. The roads were knee deep with mud and the driver of the team was drunk and finally abandoned them in the woods when only about half way to their objective point. Finally after three days they reached Silver Creek and found the steamer. They disembarked at To- ledo, and eventually after a journey of three weeks duration, reached Kalamazoo. "When I left Vermont," said Mr. Hunt, "I had $800 in money, but when I got to Michigan I had $300 less, a pretty stiff price to pay for a journey that can now be made in thirty-six hours." As an evidence of the cost of the necessaries of life in those "good old days," Mr. Hunt paid $55 for a second hand cook stove in Kalamazoo; "and," said he, "it was about as big as a warming pan." Mr. Hunt spent the remaining years of his life on his Antwerp farm, dying some years ago at a ripe old age.


Among the more conspicuous and well known early settlers of the township were Samuel Lull ; Anthony Corey, who settled on the


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site of the present village of Lawton; Hiram and Robert Morrison, the latter of whom settled on section eight where he lived until his death which occurred on the 8th day of September, 1907; Ly- man Taylor, Patrick Johnson, Harman Harwick and Peter IIar- wick, his son; Silas F. Breed, the founder of the village of Breeds- ville; the Weldins, the Hathaways and John Mckinney, who was county treasurer from 1842 to 1846. Peter Hinckley settled on section four in 1835 and sold to E. B. Dyckman in 1838.


SETTLERS OF 1836-8


The year 1836 brought many settlers into Antwerp. Among them was Wells Gray, who located on section two. He built the usual log cabin, which had a loose board floor, and one day when a huge blacksnake crawled through between the boards, his wife was so frightened that she declared she would not live there and her husband, having to choose between the serpent and his wife, wisely chose the latter and sought a new location, selling his claim to Rea- son Holmes and taking up a new one on section seven. Mrs. Gray died not long afterward. Mr. Gray married again and spent his days on his farm where he died in 1867.


Among other settlers of 1836 were Samuel Longstreet and his brother Andrew. The latter was the second sheriff elected in the county. The first was Samuel Gunton, who was elected in the spring of 1837, but did not accept the office. Mr. Longstreet was elected at the same special election at which Joshua Bangs was chosen as county treasurer, so that he was, in point of fact, the first officer to serve as sheriff. He held the office for four years. He died in the village of Lawton in 1871.


Morgan L. Fitch was also a pioneer of 1836. He bought four eighty acre tracts on sections one, two, eleven and twelve, and also an eighty on section three for his brother, Lyman C. Fitch, who became a settler of the town the succeeding year. Morgan L. was elected and served as a member of the Michigan legislature in 1851, and Lyman C. was elected state senator in 1855. The former died in 1883, and the latter in 1900.


The elder brother, Morgan, related an incident that occurred during his trip from Western New York, his former residence, to Michigan, that shows that the science of "graft" was not wholly unknown, even at that early day. On his arrival at Detroit he found that all the seating capacity of the stages from that city to Kalamazoo had been sold for six days in advance. Not caring to make the journey of about one hundred and fifty miles on foot, he managed, after a search of three days, to purchase a horse which he rode over the route, and so at least escaped the task of carrying


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a rail with which to pry the coach out of the mud. On his arrival at the latter place he was very much surprised to see an old Quaker who had been his fellow passenger across the lake to Detroit and with whom he had parted at Detroit. "Why, my friend," said Mr. Fitch, "how did you get here so soon? They told me in Detroit that there wouldn't be a chance in the stage for a week."


"Well," said he of the broad brim and drab garments, "I waited until ye were all gone from the stage office, when I said to the clerk 'If any of thy friends conclude they will not go today, thee mayst save a seat for me; I hand thee here two dollars, not for my ticket, but for thyself; my ticket I will pay for beside,' When I came around at time for the stage to start," continued the sly Quaker, "I found the man had a seat ready for me."


Nathaniel L. Surdam and his wife came to Antwerp in 1837 and settled on section three where they lived out the remainder of their days, both living to a good old age. Mr. Surdam was a man of remarkable vitality and longevity. He died at his farm resi- dence on the 8th day of March at the unusual age of a little over one hundred years.


The pioneer blacksmith of Antwerp was William Taylor, who also came to the town in 1836 with a Rooseveltian family consisting of a wife and twelve children. He was brother-in-law of Reason Holmes and his first residence was a "rail pen" on Holmes place, which he occupied until he could secure a more permanent dwelling place. He located on section three on the Territorial road, where he established his forge and where he lived until his death. He was a very industrious man, but was possessed with the crazy notion that he could invent a "perpetual motion machine," upon which subject he became a monomaniac. He worked secretly for fear that some one would steal his plans and forestall him in procuring a patent, and on one occasion his invention was, as he inferred, actually stolen. He immediately filed an application at the patent office in order to head off the thieves ( ?). After a time his beloved machine was returned to its accustomed place as mysteriously as it had disappeared, much to the joy of its inventor. The affair was but the prank of some mischievous youngsters. Like many another who has been possessed with the same insane idea, Mr. Taylor lacked but one thing to make his machine a great success. It wouldn't go!


James Ferguson came to Antwerp in 1836 and died there a few years later. During the same year John Lyon settled on section three. He died during the sickly season of 1838. In June of the same year, Daniel Van Antwerp and family, consisting of his wife and four children, together with his father (Harmon) and his mother, came from Geneseo, New York. where he had exchanged his


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farm for twelve eighty-acre lots in township number three south, of range number thirteen west, afterward to bear the Van Antwerp name. Mr. Van Antwerp's land lay near the center of town on either side of the Paw Paw and Schoolcraft road. So well pleased was he with his location that he bought one more eighty-acre tract in the same locality. The first adult death in the township was that of his mother, who died May 4, 1837; the first death was that of a child of John Lyon's, who died the previous year. Mrs. Van Antwerp was buried in the Van Antwerp cemetery which is lo- cated on sections ten and fifteen.


The next year, 1838, was a sad time for those early pioneers, as seven new made graves in that cemetery silently testified. Chills and fever in aggravated form prevailed and four persons-John Lyon, a Mr. Whittel, John Barber and Benjamin Markle-suc- cumbed to that disease, the treatment of which, at that time, was but little understood. That same year Daniel Woodman, son of Joseph Woodman, a youth of eighteen years, died of brain fever and was buried in the same cemetery. Mrs. Wells Gray was also one of the pioneers who passed away that year. Daniel Morrison was also one of those who died that same fatal year.


It is said that the reason that this cemetery was laid out on two sections was to prevent the road from Paw Paw to Mattawan pass- ing through the Van Antwerp domain, and that in consequence of such opposition the road was laid half a mile farther south.


Another cemetery was afterward laid out on section two. Bodies that had been buried in different places were disinterred and bur- ied there. Among those who have been buried there was Elizabeth Quackenbush, who at the time of her death was one hundred and one years of age and who had one hundred and twenty-one de- scendants, to-wit: fourteen children, sixty-nine grandchildren, thirty-four great-grandchildren and four great-great-grandchildren. Harmon Van Antwerp died in 1849, and his son Daniel in 1875. His daughter, Ann, was Mrs. P. Nary Smith. Her son, John Smith, is now a resident of the village of Paw Paw.


Jacob Plank located near what is now the village of Mattawan, in 1837, and James Murray in the same locality in 1838.


Solomon Phillips, a bachelor, was one the early land owners in the township, but he did not become a resident until after it was well settled. He and his brother, Benjamin Phillips, built the first flouring mill in the township, utilizing a now dismantled water power on the Paw Paw river on section twenty-two.


E. B. Dyckman, in 1838, exchanged his farm near Syracuse, New York, for Antwerp lands on sections four and nine, taking as part of the consideration in the trade one hundred barrels of salt, at the agreed price of one dollar per barrel. He was very reluctant


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to accept the salt part of the bargain, but was finally prevailed on to do so. He shipped the salt to St. Joseph, where he realized from six to ten dollars per barrel for the same; and Michigan was fairly underlaid with salt, but nobody knew it. O! Those good old times that so many people long for! "Distance lends enchantment to the view." With Mr. Dyekman also came Philip Hinckley and P. Nary Smith, above mentioned.


Oliver Warner settled on section six in 1836 and lived there until his death. A. M. Lane came to the county the same year and lived in the vicinity of Paw Paw for a while and then became an Antwerp settler on section five.


SETTLERS IN SOUTHERN ANTWERP TOWNSHIP


Most of the parties that have been mentioned settled in the north- ern part of the township which was fairly well filled before many improvements were made in the southern portion. One of the earliest settlers in that part of the town was Levi Savage who lo- cated in 1835. on section thirty-six, but who soon afterward disposed of his land to Samuel Lull and, himself, moved to a farm in the Van Antwerp neighborhood. Lull eventually became a Mormon and went to Salt Lake City.


In 1836, John Cooper, from Ohio, located on section thirty-six, but moved away a few years afterward. The same year Daniel Bird settled on section twenty-four. He removed to Prairie Ronde where he died. J. B. Wildey was another early settler on section twenty-four. He died at the village of Lawton. Mr. Whittel set- tled on section twenty in the fall of 1837 and died the next year. The Markle family, consisting of a widow and her four sons, Jacob, Benjamin, Elias and David, settled on section twenty-two in the spring of 1837.


As in other parts of the county, game was abundant. Wolves and deer were especially so. Most of the men and the boys who were old enough to carry a gun were hunters, and as the finding of game was an easy matter, abundant returns invariably rewarded the efforts of the hunters. Venison was more plentiful than pork, and much less highly prized. Wolves were a constant menace to the farmers' stock and great vigilance was necessary for its protec- tion. It is related that young William Van Antwerp, who was given to playing the flute, used to tune up his instrument nearly every evening, and as soon as he began to play the wolves would be- gin to howl; when the music ceased, the howling stopped, only to be renewed with greater vigor when the young man resumed his playing.


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POST OFFICES, ROADS AND HOTELS


The first post office in Antwerp was at the tavern of Reason Holmes on the Territorial road and Mr. Holmes was the postmaster. He was succeeded by Philip Williams. On the completion of the Michigan Central Railroad the office was removed to Mattawan.


In April, 1837, the commissioners of highways divided the town- ship into four road districts, cutting the township into quarters in the division and putting nine sections of land into each district, which was certainly a systematic division, although it is doubtful if any other township was divided in a similar manner. Immedi- ately afterward the following roads were surveyed. The Long- street road April 11th, the Center road April 12th, the Paw Paw road April 13th, the Cooper road April 13th, the Bangs road April 14th.


The large traffic that soon began to pass over the Territorial road gave rise to the establishment of many public houses which were dignified by the name of taverns. On that portion of the road that passed through Antwerp, Jesse Abbe was the first person to open a place of public entertainment. Like most of those primitive "hotels" it was merely a log cabin and contained the kitchen and dining room on the first floor and a couple of sleeping rooms above. One of the principal things in evidence in those primitive hostelries was the whiskey bottle. There was no thought of total abstinence, local option, prohibition or other phase of the temperance question in those early days, and the travelers were generally thirsty when- ever they came to any place where liquor was to be had. Mr. Abbe kept this tavern until the construction of the railroad put the stage route out of business.


Mr. Abbe was a very eccentric man and also very religious. Nu- merous anecdotes of these traits are related of him. Calling once on Mr. Hunt and finding that gentleman hoeing his corn, he said "Mr. Hunt, this is a fine field of corn, but you don't deserve it; you don't pray enough." "Very well," replied Mr. Hunt, "you pray and I'll hoe, and we'll see who has the best corn," Calling on one occasion upon Jonathan Woodman, he remarked : "Jonathan, you are altogether too fine a fellow for the devil to have." He had at one time in his employ a youngster who preferred resting to working, and often, when the boy wanted to do a little loafing on the job, he would say to his employer "Hadn't we better go into the grove and have a season of prayer?" and, pleased beyond meas- ure at the young scapegrace's religious turn of mind, the old man would leave off work and pray for an hour or more with the lad in the grove, never dreaming that the young rascal was simply


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imposing on him in order that he might enjoy a loafing spell. Late in life Mr. Abbe embraced spiritualism and died in that faith.


Reason Holmes built a frame house on section one, the first frame house in the township, which he conducted for several years as a tavern. This place was but a short distance east of Abbe's and, just over the line in Kalamazoo county, Samuel Millard kept an- other tavern, so that within a distance of less than three miles there were three public houses. That would have been a good place for the governor of South Carolina and the governor of North Caro- lina, as it was no very "long time between drinks." Between Abbe's and Dodge's tavern in Paw Paw there was dry stretch of five long, thirsty miles.


PIONEER MILLS


The first saw mill built in the township was put up by Samuel O. Miller on section twenty-six, through which flows a tributary of the Paw Paw river. This property subsequently came into the pos- session of Cowgill, MeKeyes & Company, who put a flouring mill on the old saw-mill site. In 1838, John Bingman built the second saw-mill in the township, on section twenty-one. The site of this mill was afterwards occupied by the Rix flouring mill. Messrs. Solomon and Benjamin Phillips built the pioneer grist mill on this same stream in 1858. In 1869 Asa Landphere built quite a large flouring mill on the Paw Paw, about half a mile east of the village of Paw Paw, but this structure, like the others mentioned, has gone out of existence. None of these water powers are in use at the present time. The clearing up of the surrounding country has so affected the flow of the streams, that none of them. except the latter, is of any great value, although, perhaps, they might be used as auxiliary to some system for the development of electric power.


TOWNSHIPS ELECTIONS AND OFFICIALS


The first town meeting in the township of Antwerp was held at the house of Philip Williams on the first Monday in April. 1837, at which the following named officers were chosen: Supervisor, An- drew Longstreet ; township clerk, John K. Bingham: assessors, Theophilus Bangs, Reason Holmes, Joel Tomlinson ; commissioners of highways, Joshua Bangs, Jesse Abbe, Joel Tomlinson; con- stable and collector, John Hill; directors of the poor, Jesse Abbe, Patrick Johnson. At a special town meeting held May 4, 1837, the following additional officers were elected: Justices of the peace, Reason Holmes, Joseph Woodman, Philip Williams : school inspect- ors, John Cooper, Samuel O. Wells and John A. Lyon.


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The following named gentlemen have served the township in the capacity of supervisor : Andrew Longstreet, Morgan L. Fitch, Theophilus Bangs, Joshua Bangs, I. S. Borden, Peter Harwick, John Hunt, Lyman A. Fitch, Harman Harwick, Daniel Van Ant- werp, John Smolk, Nathan H. Bitely, Henry Fitch, Oliver H. P. Sheldon, Orrin Buck, Jonathan J. Woodman, Asa C. Glidden, Napoleon B. Mckinney, John Ihling, Juan McKeyes, Franklin B. Adams, Charles D. Lawton, William H. Stainton, George H. Rix, Harlan P. Waters, Alonzo S. Mitchell, Elmer W. Hall. Oscar J. Williams, Sheldon Coleman, J. W. Mitchell and Charles S. Shaefer.


Of the above named supervisors the following served for more than two years: Waters, ten years; Hunt, seven; McKeyes, five; Theophilus Bangs, Stainton, A. S. Mitchell, Shaefer and Coleman (the present incumbent), each four years.


At the general election held in November, 1838, there were thirty- eight votes polled in the township, which shows the rapidity with which it was being settled, the first settler coming only a little more than three years before.


At the first presidential election, held on the 2d and 3d days of November, 1840, sixty-three ballots were cast, thirty-two Demo- cratic and thirty-one Whig.


At the presidential election of 1908, 553 votes were polled, as follows: Taft, Republican, 374; Bryan, Democrat, 153: Chafin, Prohibitionist, fifteen ; Debs, Socialist, seven ; Hisgen, Independent, four.




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