USA > Michigan > Van Buren County > A History of Van Buren County, Michigan: A Narrative Account of Its Historical Progress, Its. > Part 49
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CIVIL AND POLITICAL
At the first township meeting, held on the first Monday of April, 1845, the following officers were elected : Supervisor, Elem- uel Sawtelle; township clerk, Jonathan N. Howard; justices of the peace, Elijah Knowles, Hervey Manley, Horace Humphrey and David Barker; township treasurer, Amos S. Brown; school inspec- tors, Hervey Manley and Elemuel Sawtelle; overseers of poor, Hervey Manley and Elijah Knowles; assessors, Lyman Loomis and Amos S. Brown; commissioners of highways, Dustin Murch, Thomas P. Page and David Barker; constables, Dustin Murch, Amos S. Brown, Wells G. Brown and Jephtha Waterman.
The following named gentlemen have served the township in the capacity of supervisor : Elemuel Sawtelle, Horace Humphrey, Joel Camp, Eusebius Mather, Amos S. Brown, Elijah Knowles, How- ard S. Allen, H. Chamberlain, Doctor H. Anderson, William H. Knowles, V. F. Randall, Norman H. Adams, Jonathan N. Howard, Amasa M. Brown, Duane D. Briggs, A. D. Enos, Eri Summy, Da- vid Anderson, James M. Gray, Levi Ackley, Elisha Abbott, A. Throop Anderson and Andrew Gaynor. Of the above named, Supervisors Camp and Doctor H. Anderson each served three years; Supervisor Gray, four years; Supervisor Amos S. Brown, ten years; Supervisor Amasa M. Brown, eleven years, and Super-
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visor Gaynor, the present incumbent, and a popular Democrat from a Republican town, is serving his thirteenth term.
At the first general election held in the township, in November, 1846, there were twenty-seven votes cast. In 1847 the number in- creased to thirty-six, the votes being equally divided between the Whigs and Democrats. At the first presidential election held in the township on November 7, 1848, forty-four votes were polled- twenty-one for Taylor, Whig; twenty-two for Cass, Democrat, and one for Van Buren, Free Soil.
At the last presidential election, November 3, 1908, 324 ballots were cast : 211 for Taft, Republican; ninety-three for Bryan, Democrat ; eight for Chafin, Prohibitionist; eight for Debs. So- cialist, and four for Hisgen, Independent party.
According to the census figures of 1910, Columbia ranks as the eleventh among the townships of the county; in point of popula- tion, the number being given as 1,475.
The first schoolhouse was built in the Breedsville settlement in 1838, and Lorenzo D. Cate taught the first school. School District No. 1, including within its limits the nine sections composing the southwest corner of the township, was formed in January, 1845. In 1847 there were twenty-three children of school age in the dis- triet and the apportionment of public school money was $7.36.
The apportionment of primary money for the current year (1911) was $2,437.50 for the township. Official reports of edu- cational matters for the school year of 1910-11 give the number of persons of school age as 344; volumes in the several district libraries, 1,336; number of schoolhouses, six; estimated value of school property, $14,800; district indebtedness, $2,500; teachers employed, ten; aggregate number of months of school. seventy- nine; sum paid for teachers' salaries, $3,605.
AS A RESORT REGION
Numbers of people from across Lake Michigan, within the past few years, have invested in Columbia real estate, attracted thither by the many pleasant locations and the numerous attractions to the city dwellers to whom life in the country seems a desirable change from the rush and turmoil that has surrounded them in their urban homes. Owing to this immigration, Columbia, like other of her sister townships, has been thinking of her opportu- nities and facilities as a resort, and quite recently two summer re- sorts have been platted into lots, one on the shore of Saddle lake and the other on the bank of Silver, or Dollar lake, as it is some- times called. Both of these are "desirable for a situation" and
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are quite likely to become popular places for those who seek sum- mer quiet and rest.
And so, by the industry and the diligence, and the labors of the hardy pioneers, and those who came after them, a township has been reclaimed from a state of nature and converted into fertile fields; the forests have disappeared; the wilderness has been re- deemed, and the highest degree of modern civilization has suc- ceeded to barbarism and savagery, and all this within the memory of living men.
PRESENT VILLAGE OF BREEDSVILLE
The village of Breedsville, which occupies the site of the oldest settlement in the northern part of Van Buren county, derives its name from Silas A. Breed, who was one of the first men to locate lands within the limits of the present township of Columbia, which, at the time, was a part of the township of South Haven. It was not platted until 1900, although it has been known as Breedsville from a very early date in the history of the county. Prior to 1900 all property in the village was described by metes and bounds. It is a station on the line of the Pere Marquette Railway, thirty miles from the city of St. Joseph on the shore of Lake Michigan. The first tavern in the place was opened and kept by Thomas P. Page and the first store was opened by Painter, Woodson & Company, who, before they began a regular mercantile business, had been engaged in bringing in goods and exchanging them with the set- tlers for shingles, which, in those early days, came very near being the only circulating medium.
The village was incorporated by act of the legislature in 1883 (Local Acts, 1883, p. 404). Its present officers are as follows : President, Charles M. Cushman; clerk, Loren D. Townsend; treas- urer, Frank A. Adams; assessor, Edwin J. Rugg; board of trus- tees, Charles G. Chamberlain, Andrew Gaynor, Jerome R. Niles, E. K. Cassada, William E. Hollister and Edson C. Stickney ; street commissioner, H. B. Johnson; Marshal, Ed. Bailey ; poundmaster, Henry J. Scringer.
The population numbered 219 souls, according to the figures as given by the census of 1910. The first officers of the village were as follows: President, Norman H. Adams; clerk, E. D. Lockard; treasurer, James M. Gray ; assessor, N. J. Cranmer ; trustees, F. E. Sherwood, E. S. Hogmire, A. D. Enos, Jay P. Gilman, William H. Wicksall, William Cushman; street commissioner, N. W. Smith ; constable, Aaron Miller ; marshal, E. Carter, Jr .; health officer, F. P. Robertson; fire warden, D. M. Miller; poundmaster, Henry
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Scrimger ; special assessors, James M. Gray, N. W. Smith and Solo- mon Snell.
The village has no public improvements, such as a lighting sys- tem, waterworks, etc.
There is one church society in the village-the Methodist Episco- pal, with a membership of about forty. They have a very good and convenient house of worship, a frame building.
Secret societies are represented in the town by the Odd Fellows and the Masons. Headley Lodge, No. 163, I. O. O. F., was insti- tuted on the 31st day of May, 1871. The charter members were Ahira G. Eastman, Abner D. Enos, Chester C. Leathers, H. C. Kel- ley, Samuel Hoppin and T. P. Bewley. The present membership of the lodge is about fifty.
Narcissus Rebekah lodge, I. O. O. F., is also a prosperous branch of the order, having about the same number of members as the sub- ordinate lodge.
Bailey lodge, No. 287, F. & A. M., was chartered on the 13th day of January, 1871. Its first officers were Duane D. Briggs, W. M .; P. C. Hathaway, S. W .; and A. P. Dulerow, J. W. The lodge now has fifty-eight members.
There is a ladies' club in the town known as the D. M. C. club.
The business places of the village consist of two general stores, one drug store, one hardware store, one grocery store, one grist- mill (water power), one steam saw-mill and one meat market.
VILLAGE OF BERLAMONT
This is a small hamlet, a station on the line of the railroad three miles east of Columbia and two miles west of the village of Bloom- ingdale. It was originally known as Bear Lake, or Bear Lake Mills, on account of its proximity to the lake of that name, but the name was subsequently changed to Berlamont. It is situated on the town line between Columbia and Bloomingdale and lies partly in each of those townships. There is no recorded plat of the place.
It was anticipated that the railroad might develop the burg into a somewhat flourishing town, but such anticipations were never realized and it is altogether unlikely that they ever will be.
D. H. Anderson, from Genessee county, New York, had settled in Breedsville in 1855. Two years later, in company with Amos S. Brown, he built a saw-mill operated by steam power on the shore of Bear Lake, about a mile south of the present village of Berla- mont, and a grist-mill near by operated by water power from the outlet of the lake. In 1866 his brother, Col. David Anderson, a veteran of the Civil war, became a partner. In 1871 they removed the plant to the village, and added to it a planing mill. The grist
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mill building was afterward taken down and removed to Fennville, in Allegan county, where it was reerected and continued in use for the same purpose for which it was originally built. About the year 1874 the property passed into the hands of Seneca B. Anderson, a son of David, who converted the entire plant into a furniture fac- tory and did a very successful business for about ten years, and until the property was destroyed by fire in the month of April, 1884. The plant was a total loss and a large quantity of finished furniture, practically ready for shipment, was also consumed. This not only put an end to the plant itself, but it was a blow to the little village from which it never recovered.
There are now two general stores on the Columbia side of the town and a feed mill on the Bloomingdale side that does a good business.
VILLAGE OF COLUMBIA
Columbia is a small hamlet one mile east of Grand Junction, on the line of the South Haven division of the Michigan Central, and like the latter place owes its existence to railroad building. It is a station on that road and was platted in the winter of 1871 by Marvin Hannahs, William F. Dickinson and Samuel Rogers. There is little else there but a stopping place for the trains passing through.
VILLAGE OF GRAND JUNCTION
The village of Grand Junction, as its name indicates, is situated at the intersection of the two railroads that pass through the township-the South Haven branch of the Michigan Central and the Pere Marquette-and came into being as the direct result of the construction of those roads. It is situated where the corners of four sections-five, six, eight and nine-come together, and lies in part on each of those sections. It is four miles north of Breeds- ville and ten miles east from the City of South Haven.
The village was platted in December, 1871, by Samuel Rogers, Marvin Hannahs, Conrad Crouse and George W. Chrouch. Al- though it has developed into a place of considerable importance, it has not yet attained the dignity of being an incorporated town.
The first settlement within the limits of the village was made in 1869 by David Young, who had been for a number of years pre- viously a resident of the adjoining township of Geneva. He pur- chased six lots in the prospective village and became its first set- tler, his nearest neighbors being at that time in the village of Breedsville. Soon afterward, being confident that there must eventually arise a town at the junction of the railroads, he began
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the erection of a structure which, when completed, became known as Young's hotel. This he opened for the accommodation of the traveling public in 1871. The second individual to become an in- habitant of the prospective village was a colored man named Hun- gerford.
There are two churches in Grand Junction-the Congregational, with a membership of twenty, and the Catholic with thirty-five members.
There are no secret societies, and no clubs or other similar or- ganizations except the Congregational Ladies' Society.
The public buildings consist of the churches and the graded school building. There are ninety children of school age residing in the village district ; 564 volumes in the district library and one schoolhouse ; value of school property, $2,500. The two teachers employed during the last school year taught an aggregate of eight- een months and $980 was paid for teachers' salaries.
The business places in the village consist of one glove factory, one meat-market, two grocery and provision stores, one hardware store, two general stores, one restaurant, one hotel; the postoffice building with stationary, notions, cigars, etc .; one blacksmith-shop, one barber-shop; one bakery and confectionery establishment; a warehouse with feed, hay, coal and farm implements on sale; one cider-mill ; one saw-mill and lumber yard carrying various kinds of building material, and one drug store. The citizens also possess that indispensable adjunct of modern life, excellent telephone ser- vice.
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CHAPTER XXIV
TOWNSHIP OF COVERT
THE ORIGINAL TOWNSHIP-PHYSICAL FEATURES-EARLIEST SET- TLERS-ROADS AND SCHOOLS-STATISTICAL AND POLITICAL-THE VILLAGE OF COVERT.
The township of Covert is officially designated by the govern- ment survey as township two south, of range seventeen west. It is situated on the west side of the county and its western border is washed by the waters of Lake Michigan. It is bounded on the north by the township of South Haven, on the east by Bangor, its southern boundary being the north line of Berrien county. The township is fractional, being only about four and one-half miles wide along its northern boundary, while on the south it is about seven miles in width. This is occasioned by the line of the lake shore. There are two fractional sections, twenty-five and thirty- six of township two south, of range eighteen west (all there is of that township) that form the southwest corner of Covert.
THE ORIGINAL TOWNSHIP
The township was first called Deerfield, but on account of there being other towns of that name in the state, the name was changed to Covert. This change was made in 1876, by an act of the legisla- ture introduced by Hon. William O. Packard, at that time a repre- sentative from Van Buren county and a resident of the township.
Covert was originally a part of the township of South Haven, from which it was separated and organized into a separate township by action of the board of supervisors at their October session in 1855. The first meeting of the new township thus formed was held at the house of Hiram Fish on the first Monday of April of the fol- lowing year. W. A. Dell was chosen supervisor at that election. The official records of the county do not disclose who were the other officials elected.
The following named gentlemen have served the township in the office of superivisor: William A. Dell, Miram Fish, George H. Barker, William F. Trafford, George Grant, Orrin S. Shaw, William
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J. Shattuck, Robert Bartley, Cyrus H. Lewis, Jacob Gunsaul, Tru- man A. Lampson, Shepard H. Shattuck and George Hale.
Those who served more than two years were Fish, Barker and Hale, each three years; Grant, five years; Lampson, six years, and Gunsaul, nine years. S. H. Shattuck, the present supervisor, is serving his sixth year.
PHYSICAL FEATURES
The surface of the township in general is comparatively level, except along the lake shore where it becomes broken and uneven. Abrupt and picturesque hills line the shores, some of them almost worthy of being called mountains. Indeed one of them bears the name of "Thunder mountain," from which, tradition has it that in an early day the strange sounds emanated resembling sub- dued thunder and about which weird tales are related. It is said that the vicinity was at one time a rendezvous for counter- feiters and other criminals, but these stories are probably all imag- inary and inspired by the weird surroundings of those early days. From the top of these hills a fine view of the lake is to be obtained, as well as of the inland landscape that is largely covered with or- chards of apples, peaches, pears and other fruit trees, as well as with large tracts of small fruits for the cultivation of which the township has long been noted, being located well within the bound- aries of the celebrated Michigan fruit belt. The soil in places is of a decidedly sandy character, while in others it is a loam, a mixture of sand and clay, much of being very fertile and a large part of it peculiarly adapted to fruit culture. Being on the shore of the great lake that forms the western boundary of the Lower Peninsula, it is, like other localities similarly situated, protected from the extreme cold of winter which constitutes one of the fac- tors that make it an ideal fruit region. There are numerous small streams, in the township, but none of importance, neither are there any inland lakes of any consequence.
EARLIEST SETTLERS
While the township has some seven miles of lake shore, it pos- sesses no harbor, although there formerly was a pier called St. Paul's near the south line of the town, at which smaller sail vessels used to stop in an early day, when the weather would permit, to load with lumber, of which there was formerly a large quantity cut in that vicinity. A large part of the township was originally cov- ered with hemlock forest with considerable pine intermingled with it, while other parts were covered with different varieties of tim- ber. A saw-mill near the pier was operated by Chicago parties,
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one R. P. Toms being the moving spirit. This was a steam mill of considerable size and containing the most up-to-date machinery of those days.
The writer has a vivid recollection of the time, considerably more than half a century ago, when he was employed as a "hand" in that mill. At that time there was a large boarding house and several other structures at the place, which was known as Paul- ville, or St. Paul, so named in honor of a member of the mill com- pany. But the forests have all been cut down, the timber has dis- appeared and so has the "town," there being no vestige of it remaining.
In-so-far as its settlement is concerned, Covert may be consid- ered as the newest township in the county. Very little progress was made in its development prior to 1860. Its heavily timbered land, some of it rather low and wet, and other portions not appear- ing as fertile as they were subsequently proven to be, were not attractive to the early pioneers. There was no spot in the entire township where tillable land could be secured without the hard- est kind of labor, and in those early days the timber was a hindrance instead of an advantage; the greatest trial of the first settlers was to get rid of it, which was accomplished by burning it in immense heaps and at the cost of the hardest kind of labor; and it was not until the demand for lumber from the city of Chicago and the denizens of the great Illinois prairies made this vast quantity of timber a source of revenue, that substantial improvements began to be made.
The first party to locate in the township was Benoni Young, who emigrated from the Pine Tree state and settled upon a quarter sec- tion of land situate on section twenty-one. Here, with his family. he lived for seven years, the solitary settler within the limits of the township. His nearest neighbors were Mason Wood, who lived in the adjoining township of Bangor, and Isaac Swain, who lived in the township of Watervliet in the adjoining county of Berrien. Mr. Young had no assistance in erecting his pioneer cabin or in clearing up his land, but by his indomitable industry he soon made matters fairly comfortable for his family and cleared up a portion of his land and proved its productiveness by the abundant crops it yielded under his skilful hands. Mr. Young remained in Covert until 1861, when he removed to Hartford, where he spent the re- maining years of his life. He died on the 16th day of August, 1885, at the age of seventy-seven years. The earliest wedding that occurred in Covert was the marriage of Mr. Young's daughter, Jane, to Allen Fish. The ceremony took place at the Young's home in 1859.
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The next settler was John Peters, who located on section thirty- two. He remained but a short time, when he removed to Berrien county and afterward enlisted in the United States army where he died.
Matthias Farnum was another early settler of the township. He settled on section seven and built a saw-mill, the first in the town- ship. The mill hereinbefore mentioned was built on the site of this primitive mill of Mr. Farnum's.
James Dobbyn, a Canadian, came to Covert in 1854 and entered 280 acres of land on section thirty-two. The Dobbyn family, which consisted of sixteen persons, was warmly welcomed by Mr. Peters, until such time as its members could construct a cabin for their own shelter.
When the Dobbyn family arrived at the new location the house- hold goods consisted solely of what each person wore or carried, so it may well be imagined that the task they had undertaken of mak- ing a home in the wilderness was no light one. However, game was plentiful and served to keep the family larder well supplied with meat and the surplus could be shipped from South Haven to Chi- cago, where it brought remunerative prices and lightened the bur- dens that had to be borne.
John Wygent arrived in 1854 and settled on section thirty-two, occupying the house that had been vacated by John Peters when he removed from the township. Mr. Wygent cultivated and im- proved his land until it became valuable, but eventually disposed of it and emigrated to Nebraska.
Hiram Fish came to the township in 1854 and located on section twenty-one, where he entered a tract of 320 acres. Mr. Fish soon became prominent in the affairs of the township, in which he was deeply interested.
Quite a number of settler's arrived during the next two years, among them being William Kelley, W. W. Lampson, Frank Beal, William and J. McConnell.
ROADS AND SCHOOLS
One of the first things that called for the attention of the early settlers was the laying out and opening up of highways. The first road cut through the forest was probably the one leading to Far- num's mill. The Dobbyns and their neighbors also cut an early road in the vicinity of their own homes. As late as 1857, the road from the south part of the township, near the lake shore, was little more than a trail along which the compiler, in company with sev- eral others, got lost in the hemlock forest one evening while "foot- ing it" from South Haven to Paulville.
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The first schoolhouse was built on section thirty-three near the Dobbyn place and Miss Geraldine Taft, herself a lass of only four- teen years, was the first teacher. Her pupils were Josephine Lee, William Lee, David Lee, Henry Wygent, Violetta Wygent, William Wygent, John Dobbyn, Jane Dobbyn, Isabella Dobbyn, Sarah Dobbyn, Emma Dell, Mary Dell, Lita Fish and Solon Ingraham.
There are now 438 persons of school age in the township, 1,842 volumes in the district libraries and six schoolhouses; the estimated value of school property is $11,100 and district indebtedness, $1,720; eleven qualified teachers were employed during the school year of 1910-11, an aggregate of ninety-five months school was taught and $4,794 was expended for teachers' salaries. The sum of $3,670 was apportioned to the township during the past year from the state primary fund.
William A. Dell, who was chosen as the first supervisor of the township, purchased an eighty-acre tract on section twenty-nine, but afterward he removed to Watervliet. Reuben Lee was another settler of the same year. J. Enlow, from Ohio, settled on section twelve in 1857. The previous settlements had practically all been in the southern part of the township, so that Mr. Enlow, while hav- ing nearer neighbors than some of those who preceded him, found himself located in a section of country equally as wild as did the first comers.
Like other towns similarly situated, Covert has an ambition, which seems likely to be achieved, to become a popular summer resort. Two places for that purpose have been surveyed and platted along the lake shore, on sections five, seven and eight, one called the Covert Resort and the other Palisades Park. The latter is a park containing 640 acres located in the west part of the township, on the sand bluffs of Lake Michigan. It is laid out with beautiful grounds, walks and drives and has a large, modern hotel with ac- commodations for about 100 guests. There are about seventy-five cottages, golf, tennis and base-ball grounds and a fine bathing beach.
The Covert Resort Association has a beautiful park about a mile south of the Palisades, improved by elegant grounds and cot- tages. It is not as large as the Palisades Park, but in other respects compares very favorably with that beauty spot.
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