USA > Michigan > Van Buren County > A History of Van Buren County, Michigan: A Narrative Account of Its Historical Progress, Its. > Part 50
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STATISTICAL AND POLITICAL
The population of the township, according to the census of 1910, was 1,522. In point of numbers Covert and Pine Grove each rank eighth among their sister townships, the last United States census giving them the same population.
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IIISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY
At the first assessment after the township was set off from South Haven, taken in the spring of 1856, its total valuation was $84,640 and taxes spread upon the roll amounted to $1,134.37. In 1911 the assessed valuation of the town was $477,925 and the tax spread was $12,366. In point of wealth the township ranks as next to the last, only the township of Columbia being assessed at a less sum.
At the first general election held in the township, the presidential election of 1856, thirty-five votes were cast, twenty-six for the Re- publican ticket and nine for the Democratic. At the presidential election of 1908, 280 votes were polled, as follows: Taft, Republi- can, 212; Bryan, Democrat, 50; Chafin, Prohibitionist, ten; Debs, Socialist, six ; Hisgen, Independent, two.
Although this township was so late in becoming improved, a stranger passing through it at the present time, looking upon its fine, modern farm residences, viewing its magnificent orchards, see- ing its up-to-date schoolhouses, beholding its beautiful parks and taking in its one thriving, prosperous little village, would hardly imagine that but little more than half a century ago it was all an unbroken wilderness, inhabited only by the red man and the beasts of the forest, a veritable terra incognita.
THE VILLAGE OF COVERT
The village of Covert is centrally located, being situated on the southwest quarter of section fourteen and the southeast quarter of section fifteen. It was surveyed by Almon J. Pierce, county sur- veyor, and platted by the Messrs. Packard & Sons and others, in December, 1875, and is the only village in the township, although there is a little hamlet on the line of the railroad three miles to the northward, called Packard.
The village is situated on the Fruit Belt line, about midway be- tween the village of Hartford and the city of South Haven, being eight miles from the latter place. While the village has been so long platted, it is not incorporated. It was about the year 1866 that the earliest indications of improvement were manifested in the locality now occupied by the village. About that time Messrs. Hawks & Lambert became interested in the outlook for lumbering in the township and began the erection of mills for its manufacture. After three years, they sold out to Packard & Company. These gentlemen at once became greatly interested in the development of the town and they are entitled to full credit for the great improve- ment that speedily became apparent. Alfred H. Packard, Jr., had, in 1868, built a saw-mill on section two and became the owner of a considerable tract of timber. Packard & Company added largely to their purchase from Hawks & Lambert and built a much larger
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mill. Eventually they became interested in sawing and planing and the grinding of coarse grain. Their mills were capable of cutting 4,000,000 feet of lumber per year, while the mills of Alfred H. Packard had even a greater capacity.
In order to be able to ship their lumber across the lake, they built substantial piers extending into the lake and constructed tram- ways operated by horse power from their mills to the piers. The Packards also carried on a general store and dealt largely in wood and in hemlock bark for tanning purposes.
One of the efficient high schools of the county is located in the village of Covert. According to the last school census there were 184 pupils in the district, 581 volumes in the school library, the school property was valued at $3,500, an aggregate of forty-five months school was taught during the school year, five teachers were employed and $2,385 were expended in teachers' salaries.
The Congregational church at Covert was organized on the 27th day of September, 1870. Its earlier membership was composed of the following named individuals: Josiah Packard, Elizabeth Packard, Perlia Packard, Pamelia Packard, Alfred Packard, Mary Packard, William O. Packard, Milan Packard, Margaret Smith, Ed- ward . Rood, Thaddeus Rood, Martha Rood, Flora Rood, Mr. and Mrs. E. P. Shaw, W. F. Trafford, Martha E. Trafford, Gordon Sin- clair, D. B. Allen and Flora Allen. The first meetings were held in a barn arranged for that purpose, then in the schoolhouse, afterward for a series of years in Packard's hall. A parsonage was built in 1873 and in 1878-9 a fine church building was erected at an ex- pense of more than $4,000, with a seating capacity of 400 people. The building was dedicated November 5, 1879. The church now has 179 members. A Sunday school was started by that enthusias- tie veteran Sunday school man, D. B. Allen, ten years prior to the organization of the church.
An Adventist church was organized in 1888. The society has a small house of worship and twenty-nine members.
The Covert postoffice was established about 1866. The first post- master was D. B. Allen. His successors have been as follows : Dr. Orley M. Vaughan, Jacob Gunsaul, Dr. Vaughan, appointed a sec- ond time; Jacob Gunsaul, a second time; and Charles Gunsaul, the present incumbent.
The business places in the village consist of one drygoods and clothing store, one drygoods and grocery store, two hardware stores, one drug store, one private bank, one grocery store, two meat mar- kets; one nursery, growing and dealing in fruit trees and vines; one hotel, one undertaking establishment, one livery, one cooper shop, one coal and ice establishment, one feed mill, one coal and lumber yard, one warehouse, one wagon shop, one shoe shop, one
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billiard hall, one barber shop, one dray line, one blacksmith shop; two pickle factories, which put up 21,000 bushels of cucumber pickles during the past season, and one fruit canning establish- ment which, in 1911, canned about 20,000 bushels of peaches, 9,000 bushels of apples, and 3,000 bushels of plums. There were shipped out of Covert and used in the cannery during the season about 32,000 bushels of peaches, 20,000 bushels of apples, 12,000 bushels of pears, 6,000 bushels of plums and 20,000 cases of strawberries.
The following secret societies are represented in the village: Covert Lodge, No. 328, of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, which was organized May 27, 1879, with nine members and now has a membership of seventy-five; and Star Rebekah Lodge, No. 61, same order, which was organized January 17, 1882, with nine members and now has a membership of sixty-nine.
A lodge of Modern Woodmen of America was instituted on the 13th day of April, 1899. Its present membership is thirty-four.
The business transacted in this little village would be creditable to a town of much larger size.
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CHAPTER XXV TOWNSHIP OF DECATUR
FIRST WHITE SETTLER OF THE COUNTY-FIRST NATIVE WHITE CHILD-FIRST GOSPEL SERMON AND PIONEER SCHOOL-A. B. COPLEY ON EARLY DAYS-VARIOUS PIONEERS-CIVIL AND POLIT- ICAL-STATISTICS-VILLAGE OF DECATUR-RETROSPECT.
By the government survey, the township of Decatur is officially designated as township number four south, of range number four- teen west. It is one of the southern tier of townships of the county. Its southern boundary is the line between the counties of Van Buren and Cass, and it is bounded on the north by the town- ship of Paw Paw, on the east by Porter, and on the west by the township of Hamilton.
FIRST WHITE SETTLER OF THE COUNTY
The first white settler within the limits of Van Buren county was Dolphin Morris, who was born in Loudon county, in the state of Virginia, where, on the 29th day of March, 1825, he was mar- ried to Miss Nancy Beaver. In the fall of 1828 he started with his family and all his personal effects in a lumber wagon, des- tined for Summerville, Cass county, Michigan. Their route lay through dense forests; many streams were to be forded and many obstacles had to be overcome. He finally arrived safely at his destination and spent the winter with his cousin, Joseph Gardner. During his stay at Gardner's he located in the south half of sec- tion 35, township of Decatur, and early in the spring of 1829 erected the first white man's residence in the county, and made the first improvement. His home was a typical pioneer cabin, built of logs notched at the corners to hold them in place; the crevices were chinked with split basswood and daubed with clay to make the cabin warm and comfortable; the roof was made of oak shakes which were held in place by weight poles; the floor was of split basswood puncheons several inches in thickness, smoothed slightly on the upper side with an adze or axe. There were three small windows below and one in the gable; the chimney was made
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of sticks and mud and thickly plastered inside; the fireplace was capacious and wide, admitting of huge logs, in front of which the cooking was done. The chamber was reached by a ladder. The door was put together with wooden pins, hung on wooden hinges and provided with a wooden latch with a latch string on the out- side. It was indeed a case of "pull on the latch string, 'twill open the door." An axe, a saw, an auger and a froe were all the tools that were required in building the pioneer residences. We won- der how many of the rising generation have ever seen a froe, or frow (as is, perhaps the more approved orthography), or know what kind of an implement it is ?
FIRST NATIVE WHITE CHILD
To Mr. and Mrs. Dolphin Morris, on the 4th day of August, 1830, was born a son, Lewis Creighton Morris, the first native white child of the county. This babe survived only until the 20th day of the next December and was the first person buried in what is known as the Morris and Anderson cemetery.
FIRST GOSPEL SERMON AND PIONEER SCHOOL
The first Gospel sermon ever preached in the county was in this Morris cabin and was delivered in 1830 by Rev. William Sprague, a young Methodist minister who afterward became a pre- siding elder and later a member of congress, defeating the Hon. Charles E. Stewart of Kalamazoo, for that office. As soon as suitable accommodations could be secured the circuit rider came, preaching wherever a place could be found, either in the Morris barn or elsewhere. The inhabitants would generally attend these services coming for miles on horseback, sometimes riding double, sometimes "riding and tieing." Buggies and carriages were not then in use among the hardy pioneers. The preaching was usu- ally extemporaneous; the singing was congregational and con- sisted in making a "joyful noise" with little regard for tune or melody. Hymn books were scarce and the preacher would "line out" the hymns, a couple of lines at a time, and when the people had sung them the process would be repeated.
The first school in the county was taught in this same pioneer residence by William Alexander. A fairly good schoolhouse was built as soon as practicable and the first school therein was taught by G. N. Copley.
The Indians who at that time inhabited the county were as a rule friendly, some of the squaws being exceptionally kind. There was, however, now and then an exception. One Indian, known as old Shavehead, who was somewhat of a terror to the community,
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was looked upon with suspicion and regarded as being a treacherous fellow. It is generally believed that he was shot by some white man as he suddenly disappeared and nothing was ever heard of him afterward. His name is borne by a lake in the southern part of Cass county, Shavehead lake.
The log cabins of the pioneers were erected without regard to section lines; in fact, such lines were not run when the first set- tlers arrived and their claims were located by guess, or "stepped off." The field notes of Decatur township say that its boundaries were surveyed by William Brookfield in 1827, and the section lines by E. H. Lytle in 1830. Roads were laid from one settler to an- other as nearly in a direct line as the conformation of the ground permitted, continually changing as new settlers arrived or as some farmer desired to extend his fields. Very few of the original roads, as at first laid out, are in existence at the present time, and but few of the original building sites are now occupied as such.
A. B. COPLEY ON EARLY DAYS
Writing of these early days, Alexander B. Copley, himself a pioneer, since deceased, says: "My father left Dayton, Ohio, on horseback, to make a trip to that part of Michigan territory called the St. Joseph country, reaching the home of Dolphin Morris, September 4, 1832. From his journal it appears that up to that time there had been entered at the land office sixteen eighty-acre lots in the township of Decatur, four in Waverly, and five in La- Fayette (now Paw Paw). There were then six families in Van Buren county, namely, Dolphin Morris, his brother, Samuel H. Morris, H. D. Swift, George Tittle, David Curry and LeGrand Anderson-but for nearly two years Mr. Morris and his wife were the only settlers in Van Buren county. The cabin erected by Mr. Morris, the one hereinbefore referred to," says Mr. Copley, "was of more than passing interest, aside from sheltering the first white family of the county. Here it was that Daniel Alexander and Margaret Tittle, the second married couple in the county, began housekeeping ; and here it was also that Elias Morris, second son of Dolphin Morris, was born, and who up to the time of his death a couple of years ago was the oldest person born in the county. This cabin where the first birth and the first death occurred, where the germ of our valued school system was planted; this cabin that served for both schoolhouse and church and where the first family altar was reared, surely deserves to be kept in remembrance and its site marked to commemorate the beginning of civilization in our beautiful county."
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VARIOUS PIONEERS
Dolphin Morris remained a resident of Decatur until his death which occurred January 7, 1870. His wife, Nancy, died October 4, 1877. Henry Morris, his youngest son and his wife, Esther Mor- ris, aged respectively thirty-two and twenty-six, were murdered; shot to death in the night of the 28th of September, 1879, while in the peaceful occupancy of the old Morris homestead. Their mur- derer was unknown and was never brought to justice, although a large reward was offered by the public authorities for his appre- hension and conviction. Strong suspicion was entertained as to the perpetrator of the dastardly deed, but his identity was never established and the whereabouts of the suspected individual, who immediately disappeared from public view, has never been made manifest.
Dolphin Morris split with his own hands the first rail and turned the first furrow in Van Buren county. His three remaining sons, Samuel, Amos and Elias are all deceased.
Coming to Michigan with Mr. Morris, H. D. Swift located a claim on section thirty-six, in the township of Decatur, which he sold to LeGrand Anderson in 1831. With the proceeds of the sale he purchased another tract near at hand where he lived the re- mainder of his life.
George Tittle, who was Mr. Morris' brother-in-law, came from the state of Ohio in 1831 and settled on section thirty-five, where he lived until his death in 1866.
Samuel Morris, a brother to Dolphin, came to Cass county in 1829, where he resided for a couple of years when he settled on sec- tion thirty-six, near his brother, and where he spent the remainder of his days.
LeGrand Anderson came from Ohio to Michigan, in the spring of 1831, and purchased a tract of more than 400 acres in Decatur township, on sections twenty-six and thirty-six. In the summer of 1832, he brought his family from Ohio and they became permanent residents of the then wilderness. Mr. Anderson remained on his Decatur farm during the remainder of his life. After his death it passed into the possession of his son LeGrand R. Anderson, who continued to own it until his death which occurred October 14, 1909.
David Curry was one of Decatur's leading pioneers. He came from Indiana in 1830, to Cass county, where he remained about two years when he entered a quarter section adjoining the Morris land, built thereon a log cabin eighteen by twenty feet-quite a sumptu- ous residence for those early days, although it was sans floor, door or window. His young wife would not permit him to lay a "punch-
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eon" floor, preferring to tread on "mother earth" until she could have something better. The next winter Mr. Curry secured some rough boards from the adjoining county of Cass, with which he laid the floor of his primitive palace, and Mrs. Curry enjoyed the distinction of having the only "sawed" floor in the settlement (even if it was rough), and that she lived in the best house on the "prairie." Mr. Curry died in 1846 while in the prime of life, be- ing killed by a fall from a wagon.
Joseph Van Hise, a native of Butler county, Ohio, located on section thirteen in 1835. A year later he returned to Ohio for his family and with them came his brother, William O., and their father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. Oakey Van Hise. One of Jo- seph's sons, William K. Van Hise, who has been a man of consid- erable prominence in township affairs, is yet living on a farm on section thirteen near where his father made his primitive home.
Another of the early settlers was John Eckenberger, who sold his farm to Jacob Charles of Cass county and removed farther west, but eventually returned to Decatur and died there as did Mr. Charles.
Thomas Scott and family located on section thirteen in 1836, afterward becoming a resident of the township of Antwerp and removing to the state of Illinois. John W. Scott, a nephew of Thomas Scott, came from Ohio to Decatur in the spring of 1837 and worked as a farm laborer until. 1842, when he returned to his native state, married, returned to Decatur in 1844 and made that township his home.
At the time that Mr. Morris settled in Decatur there were In- dian traders at Bronson (now Kalamazoo) ; at Grand Rapids, a trading post at that time and now the second city in the state; and west, a trading post at St. Joseph; nothing else east, west or north. To the south was the Carey mission, near the location of the pres- ent city of Niles, in Berrien county. This was established in 1820, in accordance with the treaty made by General Cass with the Pot- tawattamies. This mission was the means of opening up the valley of the St. Joseph to permanent settlement.
CIVIL AND POLITICAL
The township of Decatur, which was named in honor of Commo- dore Stephen Decatur, one of the nation's naval heroes, was organ- ized in 1837, by legislative enactment and embraced within its limits the present townships of Decatur and Porter-the latter having been set off and organized into a separate township in 1845. The first township meeting was held at the schoolhouse near Little Prairie Ronde. At this election John D. Compton was elected
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clerk and Joseph Van Hise, John D. Compton, George S. Freese and Tinker R. Smith were elected as justices of the peace. The of- ficial records of the county do not disclose the names of the other officers chosen at this election.
At the first general state election held on the fourth and fifth days of November, 1839, forty gubernatorial votes were cast, twenty-four of them being for William Woodbridge, Whig, and sixteen for Elon Farnsworth, Democrat. (Woodbridge was the only Whig that ever occupied the chief executive office of the state of Michigan.)
TOWN HALL, DECATUR
At the presidential election of 1908 there were 497 presidential votes cast as follows: 305 for Taft, Republican; 165 for Bryan. Democrat; seventeen for Chafin, Prohibitionist ; five for Debs, So- cialist, and five for Hisgen, Independence party.
According to the census figures of 1910, Decatur ranked fifth among the townships of the county in point of population, hav- ing 2,106 inhabitants.
George S. Freese was the first supervisor of the township, hav- ing been elected to that office at the first town meeting held on the first Monday of April, 1837. The records do not disclose the names of the supervisor for either the year 1838 or 1841. John McKin- ney was elected in 1840. With the exception of the years noted, the, following is a complete list of the names of the persons who have filled that office : George S. Freese, Joseph Van Hise, John Mckinney, Stephen Kinney, Lyman Sanford, N. Le Fevre, Wil-
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liam O. Van Hise, Jeremiah Teed, George Bennett, O. T. Welch, E. Parker Hill, C. Hollister, Eri Beebe, Ransom Nutting, Marvin Hinckley, William K. Van Hise, David A. Squier and Emory II. Squier (present incumbent). Of the earlier supervisors, Lyman Sanford held the office seven years, possibly more. E. Parker Hill served seven years; William K. Van Hise, ten years; Ransom Nut- ting, fifteen years; David A. Squier was elected nine times in suc- cession and died in 1902 while holding the office, and his son, Emory H. Squier, was appointed to fill the vacancy caused by his father's death and has been continued in the office since.
There are several small lakes in the township, the principal ones being Lake of the Woods, which is within sight of the village of Decatur on the west and lies partly in the township of Decatur and partly in the township of Hamilton. This was originally a beautiful sheet of water, but its beauty has been considerably marred by its having been partially drained in order to secure a few acres of tillable land around its shores. A small lake just south of the corporation line of the village is dignified by the un- euphonious name of Mud lake. Pickerel lake, half a mile south- east of the village, was originally well stocked with that variety of fish from which it takes its name. Swift's lake, on section 36, in the southeast corner of the township, covers about one-fourth of the section. Several small streams take rise in the northern and western part of the township and unite to form what is known as the west branch of the Paw Paw river, and in the southern part of the township other similar streams (the principal one being the outlet of Pickerel lake), form the Dowagiac creek, which flows southeasterly into Cass county.
STATISTICS
The first school in Decatur was taught by William Alexander in the humble cabin of Dolphin Morris in the winter of 1834-5. There are now seven schools in the township and eight schoolhouses. The number of persons of school age, according to the enumeration of 1911, was 613, the value of school property is estimated at $21,700; the number of teachers employed during the school year of 1910-11 was sixteen; they taught an aggregate of 145 months and received in wages $7,065.25. The district libraries contain 1,072 volumes. $4,260 state primary school money was apportioned to the schools of the township during the last year.
The total amount of taxes levied in the township in 1837, was $263.60. No assessment of personal property appears on the tax roll, but the tax spread was just four cents per acre throughout the entire township. In 1911 the amount of tax spread on the as-
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sessment roll of the township was $14,002.75. In point of wealth, according to assessment, Decatur ranks third among the townships of the county, being assessed at $1,186,350, which is exceeded only by Paw Paw and Hartford.
VILLAGE OF DECATUR
The original plat of this village was surveyed in the spring of 1850. Joseph D. Beers and Samuel Sherwood of New York had become the owners of a large tract of government land in which was included the present village site. These gentlemen donated the site of the depot buildings, which were erected in 1848, the same year that the railroad was completed to Niles, in Berrien county. When the Michigan Central Railroad Company began to push its road westward from Kalamazoo these gentlemen con- ceived the plan of laying out and platting a village along the line of that road, which they did, calling it Decatur after the name of the township in which it was situated. Since that date there have been no less than fifteen additions to the original plat. The last of these is called "Hastings' Addition" and was platted in the summer of 1910. In 1905, the common council of the village caused a resurvey and a new plat to be made covering the original plat and the major portion of the various different additions. This plat is commonly known as the Supervisors' plat.
As at present constituted, the village embraces portions of sec- tions seventeen, eighteen, nineteen and twenty, and by the census of 1910 contained a population of 1,286, being exceeded in num- bers by no village in the county except Paw Paw.
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