USA > Michigan > Van Buren County > A History of Van Buren County, Michigan: A Narrative Account of Its Historical Progress, Its. > Part 46
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we get from one who butchers his hogs, even if it be just across the way, is the squeal !
"At the first township meeting, held at the residence of Allen Briggs, on the 5th day of April, 1842, there were fifteen votes cast, of which thirteen were Democratic and two Whig. The township remained Democratic until the adoption of the fifteenth amend- ment to the constitution, which gave it thirty-three additional voters. Since which it has been Republican, but the people have always been patriotic, believing that the majority should rule.
"During the Civil war Arlington's sons responded and some of them were among the first to enlist. Some died in southern prisons ; others died of disease; some were killed in battle; others lived to return home to enjoy the fruits of the victory that was so dearly won. Your humble writer was one of the last mentioned and let me say that it took no little nerve to kiss a wife and a five- months' old babe good-bye, and bid adieu to life-long friends, and go forth to fight the battles of one's country. But we only did our duty as all loyal men should. I am thankful that the All-wise Ruler has permitted me to live in this, the most eventful period this na- tion has ever known. When I look back sixty-six years and see Ar- lington as it was at that time, and compare it with its present condition, a veritable 'Garden of Eden,' I feel that it is glory enough for us old pioneers, and that we can truly say that the world is better for our having been here.
"Arlington has never sent a president to Washington, nor a governor to Lansing, but she has furnished some very good jurists, sent some capable law-makers to the state capital and has given, according to its population, the largest vote in favor of temperance at the last two local option elections, of any township in the county. As 'Uncle Abe' said 'we are just honest,' and Arlington is on the side of the right.",
NEW TIMES BETTER THAN OLD
In a letter accompanying the foregoing sketch, Mr. Hogmire says: "Arlington has developed her resources and has demon- strated her progress by her enterprising inhabitants. We can boast of our fruits, such as apples, peaches, pears, plums, cherries, and in fact all varieties, except tropical fruits, and their flavor is not to be excelled. There are farms in our town at the present time that would pay good profit on $300 per acre, land that once sold for $1.25 per acre. We have peppermint lands that produce from sixty to seventy-five pounds of oil from a single acre, worth from $2.00 to $3.50 per pound, land that will produce 1,200 bushels of onions per acre, and celery lands that cannot be excelled. We
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have raised on some of our lands as high as sixty bushels of wheat to the acre, in a forty acre field. I myself raised last year a crop of corn on reclaimed swamp land that produced thirty tons of sil- age and 206 bushels of corn per acre. This may seem large, but we have the corn."
Accompanying this communication, was a letter written by Mr. Hogmire's mother in 1842 to her New York relatives. The follow- ing prices quoted by her are of interest in these days of the high cost of living. She says: "It is a first rate time for those who have provisions to buy. Wheat is two shillings (that would be twenty- five cents-Editor) per bushel, oats eighteen cents, corn eighteen cents and pork one and a-half cents per pound."
Ah, well, the times have changed since those good old days that so many people long for and glorify, but it is distance that lends enchantment to the view. If it were possible for those who have such love of the "old times" to be placed in the same conditions as those early pioneers were placed, they would soon be praying to be restored to these twentieth century days, the best days in the world's history. O tempora! O mores!
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CHAPTER XXI
TOWNSHIP OF BANGOR
NATURAL FEATURES-EARLY SETTLERS-PIONEER TAX PAYERS- CIVIL AND EDUCATIONAL-SKETCH BY HON. JOHN S. CROSS-IN THE CIVIL WAR-PROGRESS AND PROSPERITY-VILLAGE OF BAN- GOR-VILLAGE OF DEERFIELD.
Bangor is one of the interior towns of the county, and is des- ignated by the United States survey as township number two south of range number sixteen west. The adjoining townships are Geneva on the north, Arlington on the east, Hartford on the south and Covert on the west. The northwest corner of the town- ship approaches within four and a half miles of Lake Michigan and it has convenient railroad connection with two harbors on that body of water, St. Joseph and South Haven; with the former, via the Pere Marquette Railway, a distance of twenty-seven miles ; with the latter, via the Pere Marquette and the South Haven divi- sion of the Michigan Central, a distance of seventeen miles.
NATURAL FEATURES
The principal stream in the township is the Black river, which in its course to Lake Michigan enters the township at the east side of the village of Bangor and passes across the northeast corner of the township, diagonally through sections number one and two. There are also a number of smaller streams and numerous small lakes, those large enough to be dignified by a name being Rush, Van Auken, School Section, Pleasant and Duck. Rush and Van Auken lakes are beautiful sheets of water, each being about three quarters of a mile in length and well stocked with fish of various varieties.
The surface of the township is undulating, with few abrupt declivities, smooth and easily tilled land prevailing. It was origin- ally heavily timbered with beech, maple, whitewood, walnut, elm, ash, pine and hemlock, but these primeval forests have prac- tically yielded to the woodman's axe and comparatively little timber remains. The soil is variable, being in some places a gravelly loam,
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in others on the sandy order, elsewhere a heavy clay loam and in some localities black muck, originally the beds of swamps which have been drained and converted into rich, productive, tillable land. This muck soil is peculiarly adapted to the cultivation of peppermint, which is extensively grown in the southern part of the township in the vicinity of the village of McDonald. The grower sometimes realizes from thirty to thirty-five pounds of peppermint oil per acre, which is worth at the present time about $2.70 per pound and has sometimes been as high as $4.00, thus making it a very profitable crop to raise. Large quantities of onions and other vegetables are also produced on this kind of soil.
EARLY SETTLERS
Charles U. Cross was the first man to locate lands within the limits of the present township of Bangor. He settled on section twelve, in the month of March, 1837, although he first came to the county in 1834. At the time of his settlement in the town- ship he was its sole resident. Mr. Cross was a man of prominence in the affairs of the new settlement and did much toward the development of the township and of the village of Bangor which was subsequently founded and of which he remained a resident until his death, which occurred in 1872.
The second party to locate in the township was John Smith, a native of Orange County, New York, who settled upon section eleven in June, 1837. He remained for some time with Mr. Cross, while clearing up his land and building for himself a pioneer cabin, into which when completed he moved with his wife and son, who had joined him in their new wilderness home.
John Southard, another New Yorker from Cayuga county, was the next of Bangor's pioneer settlers. He came in November, 1837; entered a large tract of land on section twenty-five and proceeded at once with the business of preparing a home for himself and his family, for whom he returned to New York the following spring.
Caleb Northrup was another of the pioneer settlers of the township that arrived in the latter part of the year 1837. He located on section thirty-six where, after the manner of those early settlers, he proceeded to make a home for himself and family and where he resided until his death.
Mansel M. Briggs came to Michigan in 1836 and settled in Ban- gor in 1838. At first he became an employe of Mr. Southard, taking a contract to clear a tract of land for that gentleman. On the completion of his contract, he purchased a farm on section
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twenty-four and built upon it a very comfortable log house, where he and his family resided for about fifteen years.
Near the close of the year 1837 Daniel Taylor, from Monroe county, New York, located on section fourteen. Charles A., one of Mr. Taylor's sons, had previously entered a half section of land of which he had sold all but hundred and twenty acres which he reserved for himself.
Mr. Taylor, not having any near neighbors, built his pioneer cabin entirely with his own hands. Like the other early settlers, he had to go to Schoolcraft, thirty-six miles distant, for grain and then take it to Kalamazoo to be ground. Mr. Taylor was the first man in the township to start an orchard, which he did by planting seed that he brought with him from the state of New York.
Perrin M. Northrup was another pioneer who located in the township at an early date and who was prominent among the settlers of those early days.
PIONEER TAX PAYERS
The tax roll for 1839 shows that there were eight taxpaying residents in the township at that time, viz :-
Names.
Section.
Acres.
Tax.
Charles U. Cross
12
80
$ 1.35
Daniel Taylor
14
160
3.59
Charles A. Taylor
14
160
3.20
John Smith
11
40
.65
John Southard
25
467
10.02
P. M. Northrup
36
141
2.83
Caleb Northrup
36
40
.78
Mansel M. Briggs, personal estate.
.20
On the assessment roll of the township for the current year the valuation is placed at the sum of $1,062,700. The total sum of taxes assessed for the year was $21,115.81.
Other early settlers of the township were Thomas and William Kemp (brothers), Mason Wood, S. W. Bancroft, Orlando S. Brown and William Jones.
In 1845 there were twenty-two taxpaying residents in the town- ship : Thomas Kemp, William E. Kemp, S. W. Bancroft, H. Pot- ter, J. L. Northrup, Perrin M. Northrup, Mansel M. Briggs, J. Ball, John Southard, William Jones, Charles A. Taylor, Daniel Taylor, John Smith, William S. Camp, Mason Wood, William Henry, Charles U. Cross, S. Hoppin, Calvin Cross, Orlando S. Brown, William H. Hurlbut and Hial Swan. From this time for-
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ward the township continued to have a moderate growth and in 1856 it contained nearly a hundred taxpayers.
CIVIL AND EDUCATIONAL
The first town meeting was held on the third day of April, 1854, at which the following officers were elected: Mansel M. Briggs, supervisor ; Charles U. Cross, township clerk; Perrin M. North- rup, township treasurer; John Smith and Daniel Van Auken, high- way commissioners; Charles B. Hurlbut, school inspector; Man- sel M. Briggs and William H. Hurlbut, justices of the peace ; David I. Taylor, Henry Goss, John L. Northrup and Francis Burger, constables.
The following named gentlemen have served as supervisors of the township : Mansel M. Briggs, William H. Burlingame, Charles U. Cross, William H. Hurlbut, Moses S. Hawley, Daniel Van Au- ken, Samuel A. Tripp, Ephraim P. Harvey, Joel Camp, Charles E. Heath, Enoch S. Harvey, Peter J. Dillman, John Mutchler, and Frank A. Burger, the present incumbent, who is now serving his fourth term. Mr. Dillman had the honor of serving longer than any other of the gentlemen named, although he was a Democrat coming from a strong Republican precinct. He was first elected in 1883 and then served for ten successive years. He was again elected in 1897 and served until his death, twenty years altogether. He died July 28, 1907. Other somewhat lengthy terms of service were Charles E. Heath, nine years, and John Mutchler, four years.
The first general election was held in the township on the fourth day of November, 1856, at which seventy-five presidential votes were cast, fifty of them being for John C. Fremont, the Path- finder, and twenty-five of them for James Buchanan, the bachelor president. At the last presidential election held on the third day of November, 1908, there were 532 votes cast for president, as follows :: William H. Taft, Republican, 303; William Jennings Bryan, Democrat, 196; Eugene W. Chafin, Prohibitionist, eleven ; Eugene V. Debs, Socialist, twenty-one; Thomas L. Hisgen, Inde- pendence party, two; Gilhaus, Socialist Labor, one.
The first school in the township was taught by Miss Adelia Barnes, now Mrs. Allen Rice, who is one of the very few of the remaining pioneers of Van Buren county. A description of this school, written by Mrs. Rice herself, appears in the chapter of this work devoted to educational matters. Another school was opened in 1845, of which Miss Mehitable Northrup was the teacher. Neither of these teachers could have considered school teaching as a "get-rich-quick" scheme, as they received a weekly wage of eight shillings, which means in Uncle Sam's currency one dollar
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per week, or sixteen and two-thirds cents per day-truly a munifi- cent remuneration for teaching the "young idea how to shoot."
The last school census of the township shows that there were then 699 persons of school age in the township, nine school houses, 2,782 volumes in the several district libraries, estimated value of school property $32,800, district indebtedness $2,000, teachers em- ployed eighteen, aggregate number of months of school 153, paid for teachers' salaries $8,860.65. There was apportioned to the township from the primary school fund of the state, for the cur- rent year, the sum of $5,250.
SKETCH BY HON. JOHN S. CROSS
The following interesting historical sketch of the township and village of Bangor, was written by the late Hon. John S. Cross, and read by him at a meeting of the Pioneer Society of the county, at Bangor in June, 1898 :
A few days ago from my office window I saw one of the original pioneers of this county. He had been picked up along the roadside by a farmer and brought to town. He was an Indian; I do not know his name. I only know that he was poor, sick, decrepit, aged and nearly blind; that he was cared for by the authorities, fed, warmed and sent to the county poor house-a bit of driftwood on the current of civilization. There are men and women here to- day who were alive when the stately forests of pine, oak, maple and hemlock which covered this region, knew no other owner than this man, his colleagues and ancestors; when no voices but theirs and the beasts of the forests waked the echoes of our inland lakes. One generation has not wholly passed since the treaty of Chicago extinguished the Indian title to southwestern Michigan, and the strokes of the axe of the pioneer broke the primeval silence which had rested upon these gloomy forests from time immemorial.
If the mound builders developed a scheme of civilization, and it is certain that they possessed some knowledge of the arts, their work, except as indi- cated by tools and fragments of pottery in their burial places, has been over- grown and obliterated by the growth of the dense forests of later ages.
We must, perforce, begin our story where the original pioneers left off, for their records are silent and forgotten. It is fitting, too, that this meeting should be held upon this historic ground. Here was the home of Orlando Brown, the second settler to locate within the limits of the present village of Bangor. His log cabin stood yonder near the bank of the little brook, sur- rounded by trees upon which it is said the first apples were grown in this township. A little above the cabin was the first brickyard. Mr. Brown and C. A. Taylor were the joint owners of the first threshing machine and the hum of the harvesting machine was first heard upon this farm.
A half mile westward, on the bank'of Maple Creek, stood the first temple of learning, the "little red school house." There on the 3rd day of May, 1858. was organized the first church society, a class of Bible Christians con- sisting of nine members under the leadership of E. P. Harvey, the founder and first pastor.
In 1840 the only other apparent sign of civilization was the Cross homestead a half mile to the northwest, and blazed trees then marked the Monroe road,
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HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY
which was surveyed by Jay R. Monroe and Charles U. Cross in 1835 and was undoubtedly the first act toward the improvement of the township. Here Mr. Brown lived and labored for forty years. He was an enterprising man, a loyal and consistent Christian, a kind and obliging neighbor. At the time of Mr. Brown's location, there were eleven residents in the township, viz: Chas. U. Cross, Daniel T. Taylor, John Smith, John Southard, P. M. Northrup, Caleb Northrup, Samuel Bancroft, A. S. Brown, Mason Wood and William .Jones. Together they owned 1,500 acres, about six per cent of the entire township. The aggregate tax on their property for the year 1839 was $22.92. C. U. Cross' proportion on eighty acres, comprising what is now the principal business part of the village of Bangor, was $1.55. (The total amount of taxes assessed on the citizens of Bangor, including both township and village, for the year 1911, was $26,423.91 .- Editor.)
The township of Bangor has the distinction of being the first township in the county to be organized by the board of supervisors. It was first named Marion, but on October 14, 1853, five days after the passage of the original resolution, the name was changed to Bangor. The name Marion was unsatis- factory to the people of the proposed township. The name Bangor was sug- gested by a member of the board who had been a citizen of Maine, and after consultation with residents of the township was accepted and adopted by Mr. Hurlbut, who was the author of the original resolution. At this time there were less than one hundred people residing in the township, and then, as now, agriculture was their principal occupation.
The only manufacturing industry in the township at that time was a little sawmill owned by Calvin Cross and W. H. Hurlbut, with its old fashioned, single, upright, sash saw, concerning which it is said the sawyer would start it in the morning, then go to his breakfast and get back in time to wind it up for a new start.
The sole mercantile business was conducted by M. P. Watson and Albert Comstock in the front part of Watson's dwelling, afterward a part of the Sebring House.
The advent of Joseph H. Nyman, who purchased the Watson property and moved to Bangor with his family from Niles in 1856, marked a new era in the history of the town. Mr. Nyman soon made his means and influence felt in the improvement of the water power. He built a saw mill and in 1857 erected the first grist mill, followed by a woolen mill in 1865. He caused to be es- tablished the first post route and was the first postmaster.
J. D. Kingston has the distinction of having been the pioneer hotel keeper. He purchased the Watson store building and converted it into a hotel in 1862. He subsidized the stage drivers by making them "star" boarders, thus insur- ing the patronage of passengers. He did a thriving business until the death of his wife in 1864. He was followed by Russell, Breed and Palmer; in 1869 Horace Sebring became the proprietor, and in his family the property has since remained. (It has passed into other hands since the above was written .- Editor.)
Samuel P. Cross was the first white child born in the township, but John Southard is the oldest native born child who has been a continuous resident.
Among the many enterprises that have contributed to the prosperity of Bangor was the coming of the railroad in 1870, in aid of which the citizens contributed the sum of $15,000 as a bonus. This was like the dawning of a new day. The Bangor blast furnace which followed the railroad was a valu- able aid in the development of the resources of the township. In the eighteen years of its existence, nearly half a million cords of wood in the form of
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HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY
charcoal was consumed, the product of twenty sections of land. More land was brought under cultivation in those eighteen years than in all the preceding forty years of the history of the township.
The first grain elevator was erected by G. W. Smiley and O. E. Goodell in 1871. In 1872, Horace Sebring and Mitchell H. Hogmire built the Overton elevator and opened the stockyards.
The chemical works erected by H. M. Pierce for the manufacture of wood alcohol and acetic acid were at that time the largest in the world.
The first bank was established by E. M. Hipp in 1872, under the name of the Bank of Bangor.
The first blacksmith shop was conducted by Charles B. Hurlbut.
The pioneer newspaper was the Bangor Journal, established by Charles Gillett in 1872.
The Methodist Episcopal church was organized in 1865, and in 1868 the society built a church on the north side. This property was lost to the church by foreclosure of mortgage in 1868. The present building was erected and dedicated in 1873.
IN THE CIVIL WAR
Bangor was well represented in the Civil war. The first man who entered the service from this town was Sergeant Joseph War- ren Craw, who enlisted April 26, 1861, in the Lafayette Light Guard, subsequently Company C, Seventieth New York Infan- try. He was also the first Bangor soldier to give up his life for his country. He was the color bearer of his regiment and died of wounds received at the battle of Williamsburg, May 5, 1862. He was a man of splendid physique, six feet four inches in height, broad shouldered, a little awkward, and a "perfect devil in a fight." The first general enlistment of soldiers from the town- ship was on the 17th day of September, 1861, when the following Bangor boys became members of Company C, of the Third Michi- gan Cavalry : R. C. Nyman, Orrin W. Cross, James B. Travis, William Worallo, Samuel P. Harvey, Clark G. Russell, Lyman S. Russell, John P. Goss, Daniel Wood, Archibald Abbott, Lemuel C. Mallory, Benjamin F. Ewing, and Daniel S. Camp.
These names are mentioned here only because they were among the first to enlist. Before the close of the war fully one-half of the men liable for military duty, that is between the ages of eight- een and forty-five, were fighting for the "Flag and the Union." The names and service of the others will, in-so-far as the records disclose, be found in the chapters of this work devoted to the military history of the county.
PROGRESS AND PROSPERITY
Although Bangor was one of the last townships in the county to be organized, it now takes rank as one of the best and most prosperous. In point of population, it is third, being exceeded
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only by Paw Paw and Hartford, and in assessed valuation stands as fourth. The number of its inhabitants, according to the last federal census, was 2,424.
Forests have given way to magnificent orchards; swamps have been drained and reclaimed and now yield rich reward to the husbandman; forests have disappeared under the sturdy blows of the woodman's axe, for in those early days the woodman knew naught of the command that bade the "woodman spare that tree," and in their stead are, in season, beautiful fields of waving grain and the most delectable of fruits. Civilization has succeeded bar- barism, the wigwam of the Indian and the cabin of the sturdy pioneer have been replaced by the comfortable, elegant and luxuri- ous residences of those who followed after them. Marvelous, in- deed, have been the changes wrought in a period of time that is but as yesterday.
VILLAGE OF BANGOR
The village of Bangor lies partly in the township of Bangor and partly in the township of Arlington. It was first platted in No- vember, 1860, by Joseph Nyman, and surveyed by Almon J. Pierce. This original plat was wholly within the boundaries of the town- ship of Bangor and was situated in the southeast corner of sec- tion one. Since that date there have been platted six different ad- ditions to the village-Cross' addition, platted in 1867; South Ban- gor, otherwise known as Morrison's plat, in 1872; Morrison's addi- tion in 1874; Monroe's addition in 1880; Funk's addition in 1909; and Hasting's addition in 1910. All of these several additions, except Monroe's, are in the township of Bangor-that is in the township of Arlington.
Charles U. Cross, who was the first settler within the boundaries of the township, was likewise the first man to locate upon the present site of the village. A son born to Mr. and Mrs. Cross was the first white native child of the township. The site of the village was originally covered with very heavy timber of various varieties, some of the trees, especially the walnut and whitewood, being of enormous size.
Calvin Cross, a brother of Charles U. Cross, was very prominent in the development of that part of the township which subse- quently was embraced within the limits of the village. He be- came a resident of Bangor in 1844. Mr. Cross was a millwright and in 1846, in connection with his brother, Charles U., he erected a saw mill on Black river, of which he became the sole owner four years later. He operated this mill for a period of six years, when he conveyed it to M. P. Watson and in 1856 it became the prop-
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