USA > Michigan > Van Buren County > A History of Van Buren County, Michigan: A Narrative Account of Its Historical Progress, Its. > Part 45
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So few were the inhabitants of the new township at this time that but fourteen electors were present, viz: William N. Taylor, James G. Cochrane, Emory O. Briggs, Joseph Ives, Morrison Heath, Major Heath, James Stevens, Allen Briggs, William Bridges, Alvinsy Harris, William Dyckman, William H. Mc- George, James T. Hard and Conrad Hogmire.
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HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY
DRAINAGE, TIMBER AND PRODUCTS
Arlington is watered by the two principal rivers of the county. The Paw Paw river passes diagonally through the southwest cor- ner of the township, crossing section thirty-six and forming a part of the southern boundary of the town, that portion of such section cut off by the river having been attached to the township of Law- rence. Black river crosses section six, the northwest corner of the township. There are also several small lakes, the principal one, Scott Lake, a beautiful sheet of water, on section one, extending nearly across the section.
The township was orginally heavily timbered with whitewood, walnut, beech, maple, ash, oak and other varieties of valuable tim- ber, very much of which was cut down and burned by the early
A GLIMPSE OF THE FRUIT INDUSTRY
settlers in order to make room for the crops necessary for their livelihood. Owing to this great growth of timber the labor of clear- ing and improving the land and fitting it for the production of crops was much greater than in other portions of the county known as the "oak openings."
The surface of the township is somewhat broken, in some local- ities the elevations and depressions being quite abrupt and marked. The soil consists quite generally of a loam of sand and clay and is exceedingly rich and productive. It has been brought to a high degree of cultivation and is admirably suited to the produc- tion of wheat, corn, oats and other cereals, as well as to the grow- ing of various varieties of fruit, which is produced in great abun-
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dance. It is especially adapted to the culture of the apple and some of the finest apple orchards in the county-and that means within the state as well-are to be found within its limits.
FIRST SETTLER ARRIVES
The first settler within the limits of the township was William N. Taylor, a young man of twenty-two years, who came to Michi- gan in 1835 with a party from Monroe county, New York, who were seeking a home in what was then the territory of Michigan, and most of whom settled in the adjoining township, now Columbia. Practically the entire party, including women and children, made the journey from Detroit to Van Buren county on foot, following an Indian trail, single file, as was the custom of the red men who made the pathway. The limited possessions of the party were drawn by a yoke of mismatched, balky steers, which they pur- chased in Detroit, and it was not without much trouble and diffi- culty that they finally reached their destination.
Soon after the arrival of the party Mr. Taylor obtained one hundred and twenty acres of land on section number eight, in township number two south of range number fifteen west, which was at that time unorganized and which became a part of the township of Lawrence in 1837 and, subsequently, the township of Arlington. Being an unmarried man, Mr. Taylor did not immediately take up his residence on his new "wildwood" farm, but sought employ- ment in Kalamazoo county for a time, returning to New York in the winter of 1836-7, where, at Hinckleyville in the county of Mon- roe, he was married to Miss Philinda Kelsey. He returned to Michigan with his wife in the spring of 1837, leaving his bride at Comstock, Kalamazoo county, until he could erect a bark roofed shanty on his Arlington possessions, which, as soon as completed, was occupied by the newly married couple. It is reported that the only crop he was able to raise that season was a small lot of turnips, and that they were practically destroyed by that team of balky steers that he had driven from Detroit on his first journey to Michigan and which were owned by some of the party in the adjoining township of Columbia.
The next settler in the township was James T. Hard, who lo- cated on section number five in the fall of 1837 and who after- ward emigrated to the state of California.
MAJOR HEATH, FIRST SUPERVISOR
Major Heath was another of the first Arlington settlers. Mr. Heath was a native of Jefferson county, New York, and came to Jackson county, Michigan, in 1837, and two years later to Van
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Buren county. He entered lands on sections nineteen and thirty, selecting the latter as the place whereon he erected his first resi- dence, a primitive house of logs, but, as rendering it more aris- tocratie and pretentious than the dwellings of the other pioneers, it actually had a board door made from a sawed board which Mr. IIeath secured by a walk of six miles, carrying it home on his shoulders. Mr. Heath was very active in the affairs of the new township and was chosen as its first supervisor. When he first arrived upon the scene of his future residence, no roads led to his new possessions and they could only be reached otherwise than on foot until with his brawny arms and woodman's axe he had hewed a pathway through the dense forest. Major Heath became an influential citizen of the county and was greatly interested in all matters that concerned the welfare of the community in which he resided. He subsequently removed to the state of Iowa, but re- turned to Van Buren county and bought a farm in the adjoining township of Bangor where he lived out the remainder of his days. He was the father of the late Charles E. Heath, who was at one time clerk of Van Buren county, an office which he filled for two successive terms.
The first death in the township was that of Major Heath's wife, who passed away in the winter of 1841.
There were seven taxpayers within the boundaries of the town- ship at the assessment of 1839, viz: James T. Hard, who was taxed $2.75; R. Gillman, $2.70; William N. Taylor, $2.88; Ransom Kellogg. $3.84; Major Heath. $3.75; S. M. N. Brooks, 96 cents, and Robert Christie, $1.60.
Another of the early settlers of the township was Allen Briggs. who was a native of the state of Vermont. With his parents he removed to the state of New York where he grew to manhood. In 1838 he came west, visiting Ohio, Indiana and Michigan, spending a considerable time in the latter state prospecting for a satisfactory location. The next year (1839), in company with his two sons, he entered forty acres of land on section nineteen and began the arduous task of hewing out a home in the forest. Having com- pleted the usual pioneer log cabin he sent, the next year, for the remainder of his family, who joined him after a tedious journey by canal and lake to Detroit and overland from that city to their new wilderness home. Mr. Briggs was a man of education and ability and from the time of his coming into the county occupied a position of prominence and was of great assistance to the pio- neers, both in private and public life, filling numerous township offices and being regarded as a leader in public affairs. He died at his Arlington home in 1868, aged eighty years, beloved and re-
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spected by all with whom he had become associated during a long and useful life.
THE DANGEROUS BRIGGS BROTHERS
Two of the sons, Emory O. and Duane D. Briggs preceded their father to their new Michigan home by a few months. They left their home in New York in the month of February, 1839. One horse sufficed to carry all their worldly possessions, including pro- visions for the journey. Their route was from Orleans county, New York, to Lewiston, thence across the Niagara river and through the dominion of Canada to the city of Detroit. The "Pa- triot War" was scarcely ended and people from the United States coming into the British dominions were regarded with suspicion, and so these two beardless youths, aged respectively seventeen and nineteen years and wholly unarmed, were promptly arrested by a valiant officer in "Her Majesty's" service, as characters danger- ous to the British government. In custody of an armed guard with fixed bayonets, they were triumphantly marched through the streets of Queenstown to the headquarters of the English com- mander, by whom they were ordered to the guard house; but the order was countermanded before they were actually imprisoned and they were returned to the presence of the commander by whom they were questioned and ordered searched. After considerable delay they were permitted to continue their journey, the conclu- sion evidently being that there was no danger of the overthrow of the British empire at the hands of these two American boys. How- ever, in view of what had transpired in previous disagreements between Uncle Sam and John Bull, no blame could be attached to the Canadian authorities for exercising proper care in the prem- ises. There was no telling what the boys might do!
After a tedious and unpleasant journey these two youths finally reached their destination. The first money they earned they in- vested in forty acres of land which was entered in the name of their father, Allen Briggs.
Young Emory was a lad of superior education for those primi- tive times and at once became a more than ordinarily useful mem- ber of the community. During the winter time he was employed as a teacher and, being versed in the science of surveying, he found no difficulty in securing remunerative employment at other sea- sons of the year. He surveyed many of the roads, not only in Ar- lington, but in other townships of the county. He not only became prominent in township matters, but was looked upon as an ad- viser in county matters as well. Politically, he was a strong Demo- crat and few steps were taken by Van Buren county Democrats
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without his advice and approval. He eventually became a large landholder in the township where he first settled. He not only filled many of the local offices of his township, but was elected to the office of register of deeds in 1844, and was subsequently three times chosen county treasurer. While filling such official position, Mr. Briggs and his family became residents of Paw Paw, returning to the Arlington farm at the close of his official career. In 1866 he again took up his residence at the county seat and became one of the prominent business men of that place, being at one time cashier of the First National Bank, the first banking institution organized in the county. He died at Paw Paw, in 1885, in his sixty-fifth year. His death was the result of an accidental fall. His elder son, George Allen Briggs, a very promising young man, at one time the superintendent of the Paw Paw Union schools, preceded his father to "that bourne whence no traveler returns" by a period of about four years. His younger son, E. Stanley Briggs, is now one of the leading business men of Paw Paw.
In 1840, Alvinsy Harris located on section nineteen. He was a man of much force of character and of good judgment and was elected by his fellow citizens to numerous local official positions. His son, the late Jefferson D. Harris, succeeded to the homestead after the death of his father and added to it by the purchase of adjoining lands. He represented his township on the board of su- pervisors for a number of years and was regarded as one of its most valued citizens.
Morrison Heath was likewise one of the early pioneers of the town, coming with Mr. Harris in 1840, and locating on section thirty.
OTHER NEW YORK MEN
That same year brought several other additions to the little band of hardy pioneers that had selected homes in the primeval forests of the township. William Bridges, who came from Livingston county, New York, in 1837, and first located in the adjoining town- ship of Columbia, settled on section eight and, like those who had preceded him, built a log cabin in the midst of the forest.
James Stevens, the step-father of Allen Briggs, came from the same county in the same year and made his home with Mr. Briggs. Mr. Stevens was an old man of some four-score years and to him was accorded the honor of naming the township. He died in 1847.
Joseph Ives was another immigrant from the state of New York who settled in the same township in 1840, locating on section twenty-nine. He was one of the electors at the first town meeting held in the newly organized township and was chosen as one of its first assessors.
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James M. Bierce soon afterward settled near Mr. Ives and built the customary pioneer log cabin, which he followed in after years by a comfortable and commodious farm house. The com- piler of this work, in his younger days, was an employe of Mr. Bierce upon this same land after the proprietor had converted it into a rich, cultivated and highly productive farm. Mr. Bierce became a member of Company C, of the Fourth Michigan Cavalry, in the Civil war, giving up his life for his country. He died at Nashville, Tennessee, in the month of January, 1863, less than six months after his enlistment. For a considerable number of years his father, Norman Bierce, whom the people familiarly called "Uncle Norman," lived in the same vicinity.
James G. Cochrane was another man from Livingston county, New York, who settled in the next township north in 1838 and shortly afterward located in Arlington. A very sad incident oc- curred in the pioneer life of Mr. Cochrane. Samuel Watson, Mrs. Cochrane's father, had been to Paw Paw, and on his way home lost his way in the forest and died before he could be found by parties searching for him. Andrew M. Cochrane, son of James G., was the first white child born within the limits of the present town- ship of Arlington.
William Dyckman was another of the 1840 settlers of the town- ship. He settled on section twenty-four, where he cleared up and occupied a fine farm on which he lived for many years. He died at Bangor in the summer of 1909, at the advanced age of ninety- three.
At about the same time Evart B. D. Hicks located on section twenty-five. Mr. Hicks became one of the most successful and prosperous farmers in the township.
THE HOGMIRE FAMILY
The Hogmire family, while not among the first settlers of the township, nevertheless are entitled to be counted among the real pioneers. Daniel Hogmire left his home in western New York in 1842, coming to the Van Buren wilderness, selecting Arlington as his future dwelling place, and making an entry of forty acres on section nine. Of course he at once constructed the usual pioneer log cabin which was, without exception, the kind of architecture adopted by the first settlers. Indeed, there was little opportunity for any other style of dwelling. Mr. Hogmire was a carpenter and worked at his trade for a time, but soon returned to New York after his family. He afterward became interested in the pineries of Columbia township and engaged in the manufacture of shingles for which there was a continually increasing demand as the popu-
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lation of the county increased in numbers. He later purchased eighty acres of land on section twenty-one, where he erected a fine brick mansion which he occupied during the remainder of his life.
Conrad Hogmire, another resident of Livingston, county, New York, came to Arlington in 1842, and located on section eight, but did not long survive after coming to Michigan.
Henry Hogmire also located on section eight, cleared up the land and eventually erected a fine residence. He afterward removed to Paw Paw, at which place he died.
John, another member of the Hogmire family, came to Arling- ton considerably later, in 1850, and settled on section twenty. He purchased eighty acres, which he converted into a fine, productive farm.
The Bigelow family was also quite prominent in the annals of the township. Rufus Bigelow came in 1843 and Calvin J. and Samuel Bigelow in 1845. Calvin bought eighty acres on section twenty, and Samuel purchased an eighty on section twenty-one.
Among other early settlers of the township were George Mea- bon, Homer Adams, Ira Orton, Melancthon Gage, Daniel Gage, Henry Earl, Samuel Hoppin, Amos Hamlin and James F. Kidder.
During the earlier years there were no mills in Van Buren county and to procure a supply of provisions required a journey of upward of forty miles and return. It took seven days to go to mill and get home with the supplies.
RUGGED WORK OF THE PIONEERS
The present generation can scarcely realize the vast amount of labor that was required to convert the densely timbered lands of the township into cultivated farms. Simply to cut down those monarchs of the forest that covered an eighty-acre tract of land, or even forty acres, was no light task, but after they were laid low the work of burning them, which was all that could be done with them before the days of saw-mills, was enough to discourage any but men cast in the heroic mold of the indomitable pioneers; men who never feared any amount of hard labor and to whom there was no such word "fail." And then after the lands were cleared of the timber it was covered so thickly with the remaining stumps that it was a difficult matter to find room to cultivate sufficiently for planting any kind of a crop. But the soil was fertile and only required to be tickled with the rude implements of husbandry of those early days to respond with a bountiful return for the labor bestowed upon it. Very few horses were to be found in the pio- neer settlements, the work of breaking up the virgin soil being much
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more easily done with oxen, which in these modern days are so scarce as to be real curiosities.
The earlier religious services were held at the residences of the first settlers, Elder Knapp being the expounder of Gospel truths.
The earliest surveyed highway in the township was known as the "Monroe Road" and passed diagonally through the township, connecting South Haven and Paw Paw. Soon afterward the Bridges and the Brown and Taylor roads, with others, were sur- veyed and eventually made passable, but it was a considerable number of years before the township was possessed of really good highways.
Through the labors of those indomitable pioneers of early days, Arlington for years has been one of the best townships in the county, and it is hard to realize that three-quarters of a century ago it was an unbroken wilderness where the foot of the white man had never trod, and where the red man and the wild beasts of the forest had roamed at will from time immemorial.
The township is devoted almost wholly to agriculture and horti- culture ; it has no postoffice within its limits but is amply covered by rural mail routes. It has only a piece of a village, Monroe's ad- dition to the village of Bangor being on section seven of the town- ship.
The Pere Marquette Railroad crosses its extreme northwest cor- ner, but there is no station within its borders.
OFFICIAL RECORDS
Following is a list of the names of the gentlemen who have served at different times as supervisors from the date of the organ- ization of the township to the present time: Major Heath, Isaiah F. Hunt, Abram Lewis, Homer Adams, Alvinsy Harris, Sidney Fuller, Emory O. Briggs, Marquis Woodward, Arvin Heath, JJof- ferson D. Harris, Mitchell H. Hogmire, Hiram K. Wells, O. E. Cox. Frank H. Fuller, H. B. Smith, Levi DeHaven, S. E. Monroe and Frank G. Cleveland. The greater number of these gentlemen served more than one term, some of them several terms in succes- sion. Mr. Cleveland, the present supervisor, is now serving his seventh term.
The census of 1910 gives the number of inhabitants of Arling- ton as exactly fifteen hundred. In point of population it ranks as tenth among the townships of the county.
At the first presidential election after the organization of the township, held on the 5th day of November, 1844, twenty-four votes were polled, to-wit: twenty for James K. Polk, Democrat, and four for Henry Clay, Whig.
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At the last presidential election 282 ballots were deposited, as follows: Taft, Republican, 183; Bryan, Democrat, ninety-three; Chafin, Prohibitionist, four; Debs, Socialist, and Hisgen, Inde- pendent, each one.
The assessed valuation of the township in 1842 was $19,025 and the taxes levied were $520.80. The non-resident land, and that in- cluded by far the larger part, was assessed at $1.25 per acre. No personal property appears on the roll. The system of those early days seems to have been the much debated single-tax plan of these modern days, a tax on land values only, which tends to the verifi- cation of the adage that "there is nothing new under the sun."
The assessed valuation of the township for 1911, $824,040, places it as the eighth in rank among the townships of the county, in point of wealth.
The first school within the limits of the present township was taught by Mehitable Northrop in a log schoolhouse located on the southeast corner of section twenty-five.
The official school reports for 1910-11 give the following sta- tistics: Number of pupils of school age, 455; volumes in district libraries. 898; estimated value of school property, $11,300; num- ber of schoolhouses, ten; indebtedness, none; teachers employed, eleven ; aggregate months school taught, ninety-five and one-half ; teachers' salaries paid, $3,858.75. From the primary school fund of the state the township was apportioned the sum of $3,367.50.
M. H. HOGMIRE ON PIONEER TIMES
The following quoted paragraphs are taken by permission of the author, Mitchell H. Hogmire, from an interesting paper read by him at a meeting of the County Pioneer Association, at Bangor, in 1906: "Arlington's natural wealth could hardly be told or cal- culated. It certainly had more valuable timber than any other township in the county, such as whitewood, ash, elm, blackwalnut, birch, maple, basswood, oak, pine and sycamore. On one forty acres on section nine, one hundred and twenty-three whitewood trees could be counted that would measure from two feet up to four feet across the stump, with a body from sixty to eighty feet in length. We could boast of having the largest walnut tree in the county. It grew on section seventeen, and measured thirty-five feet and ten inches in circumference, two feet from the ground.
"In addition to this was the game with which the forests abounded, such as deer, bears, turkeys and all small game, which, with the two streams that passed through the town, and its num- erous lakes, furnished the early pioneers with an abundance of meat and fish. Vol. 1-28
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"The soil is all that could be wished, from a heavy clay loam to a black, sandy loam; also deposits of muck that have proved to be of great value. Arlington, with the rest of Van Buren county, furnishes as great a variety of products as any other county in the United States.
"The early settlers were all poor. Many of them, when they came here, owed debts in the east, and I know of many who paid them after they were outlawed, thus showing their honor.
"A large per cent of the early pioneers came from Livingston county, New York. They were the sons and daughters of the early settlers of that county, which was heavily timbered, so they were no novices at the task that was set before them. While the natural wealth of timber was great, it was a burden, for it had to be cleared away before the settlers could raise crops on which to live. Even yet there are to be seen fence rails that were split out of the best of walnut and the finest of whitewood, while the rest was burned to get it out of the way. I do not think that an acre of the heavy timbered land in Arlington was ever cleared at an expense of less than from sixteen to twenty dollars, and this did not remove the stumps. Those who came later were not so inconvenienced, for as the town developed there was a market for lumber, which helped to pay the expense of clearing. To illustrate: The first walnut log sawed at Breedsville was hauled to the mill by my father, Con- rad Hogmire. It was worth $1.25 per thousand in the log, or $2.50 as lumber. Some of this lumber was used as panels in the doors to the house he built and some of it was used to make the coffin in which he was buried. After he had been buried twenty-four years, I removed his remains to the cemetery. The coffin was in perfect condition showing the lasting qualities of the timber. The same lumber would sell for sixty dollars per thousand at this date.
"The early settlers were of a hardy class of men and women, who had come to this new country to build homes for themselves and their children, and they went at the matter with the will and the courage that win. All being poor, there was not the envy and strife that now exists. All were interested in each other's welfare. and as a whole, they were morally good, God-fearing citizens, and lived to better their neighbors as well as themselves. Let me illus- trate this old feeling and the new: I was two years old when my father came from Livingston county, New York, in 1840. Six years later he died, leaving my mother with three small boys to care for, the first orphans in our part of the town. Mother lived with my grandfather, William Briggs. When he killed his last and only shoat-and it was not corn-fed either-it was divided up and I carried portions to the neighbors three or four miles away. It was just the same when a deer was killed; but how is it now ? All
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