A History of Van Buren County, Michigan: A Narrative Account of Its Historical Progress, Its., Part 61

Author: Rowland, O. W. (Oran W.), 1839-
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 671


USA > Michigan > Van Buren County > A History of Van Buren County, Michigan: A Narrative Account of Its Historical Progress, Its. > Part 61


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A saw-mill was built by the Clements in 1852, located about a mile and a half east of the present village of Gobleville, and a schoolhouse was built in the same neighborhood the next year, Miss Mary E. Murray being the first teacher at a salary of $1.50 per week. It will be noticed that teachers' wages were advancing.


In 1854 Levi Thayer, Henry Whelpley and Philip Strong took the job of cutting out the Paw Paw and Allegan road for a fur- ther distance of three miles north and also a similar job on the road running east through what is now the village of Pine Grove. Seth Munn was killed by a falling tree while working on that job, about a mile north of what was known as Camfield's corners.


In 1864, Messrs. Kendall, Thistle and Arms bought a tract of pine land three and one half miles west of Gobleville and built a saw mill and stave mill and opened a store and the surrounding country began a rapid development. This enterprise was the beginning of the present flourishing village of Kendall, which has


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grown up around the site first occupied by these improvements of the above named firm.


KALAMAZOO AND SOUTH HAVEN RAILROAD


The Kalamazoo and South Haven Railroad, a branch of the Michigan Central, passing through the township from east to west, was completed in 1870 and has been a large factor in the prosperity and development of the township. The taxpayers con- tributed liberally to this enterprise, voting to bond the township in the sum of $12,000 to aid in the construction of the road. These bonds were issued in 1869, bearing interest at the rate of ten per cent, payable annually. One half that rate is now the legal rate in Michigan, although as high as seven per cent may be taken by special contract.


Some of these bonds becoming overdue and remaining unpaid, suit was brought in the Federal court for the western district of Michigan to recover the sum due and unpaid on certain of the bonds. The supreme court of the state had held and still holds the doctrine that statutes authorizing such aid are unconstitutional and it was thought that any tax levied for the payment of such bonds would be invalid. The court rendered judgment in favor of the bondholders and the case was appealed to the supreme court of the United States where the judgment of the lower court was affirmed, the federal courts holding exactly the opposite doctrine from that enunciated by the state court. And so the bonds were eventually all paid, together with the costs assessed against the township a tax levied to satisfy the judgment rendered by the highest court in America was entirely legal, even if a tax to pay the bonds were invalid. It was rather a costly way to "whip the devil around the stump," so to speak, but it probably could not have been avoided. The same course was adopted afterward by the township of Paw Paw, which had issued similar bonds in aid of another railroad enterprise, except that the township made no defense and permitted judgment to be rendered against it.


There are no important streams in Pine Grove, but it contains numerous small lakes, the principal ones being, Clear, Long, Musk- rat, Brandywine, Pond Lily, Story, Duck, Twin and North, the latter being partly in the township of Almena. Some of these are beautiful sheets of water, pure and clear, and are well stocked with fish of various species.


GENERAL PROGRESS


The citizens of the township have given much attention to the matter of good roads and claim to have more miles of graveled high-


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ways than any other township in the county and propose to con- tinue the good work.


As an exemplification of the great progress that has been made along educational lines, as well as in other directions, since the primitive days when teachers' salary was a dollar a week, board around, take shingles for pay and collect wages by rate bill, the following educational statistics are interesting: At the enumera- tion of pupils in 1911, there were found to be in the township 343 persons between the ages of five and twenty; 993 volumes in the district libraries; ten school houses; school property valued at $8,900; no district indebtedness; twelve teachers employed, who taught an aggregate of 102 months and received in salaries the sum of $4,821. There was paid to the township from the primary school fund of the state during the current year the sum of $2,580.


The first general election in the township was held November 6, 1849, at which sixteen votes were polled. At the presidential elec- tion of 1852, twenty-seven freemen registered their will at the ballot box, nineteen of them voting for Pierce, Democrat, and eight of them for Scott, Whig. At the last presidential election held after a lapse of fifty-six years, 330 votes were cast, 211 of them for Taft, Republican; 104 for Bryan, Democrat; thirteen for Chafin, Prohibitionist, and two for Debs, Socialist.


The majestic forests, the beautiful "pine groves" from which the township derives its name, have all disappeared, and in their stead are now to be seen highly cultivated farms, fields and or- chards, modern residences and all that pertains to the comforts and luxuries of life in this twentieth century-a period that bids fair to mark the most wonderful epoch since the fiat of the Al- mighty spoke this world of ours into existence.


The township divides honors with Covert for the eighth place among the townships of the county, each having at the last census, 1,522 inhabitants. At the assessment of 1849, the first taken after the township was organized, the valuation of the town was $16,222 and the taxes spread on the roll were $443.82. In 1911 the assess- ment was $606,635, and the township taxes were $10,512.60. The township takes rank as 12th in point of wealth.


GOBLEVILLE


The village of Gobleville, which is situated partly within the township of Pine Grove and partly within the township of Bloom- ingdale, is mentioned more particularly in the history of the latter township. The Methodist church there spoken of is on the Pine Grove side of the line, as are one of the telephone exchanges, the flouring mill, printing office, quite a number of the business


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places, etc. The principal street of the village runs through the business portion of the town, on the line between the two town- ships, dividing it into two nearly equal parts.


PINE GROVE


Pine Grove is a small hamlet (unincorporated) on the line of the railroad, one mile east of Gobleville. It contains a couple of stores and a blacksmith-shop.


KENDALL


Kendall is another station on the line of the South Haven divi- sion of the Michigan Central Railroad, about three miles east of Gobleville. It was platted in the winter of 1870, by Lucius B. Ken- dall (from whom it takes its name) and others. When the town was founded the railroad had just reached that point from Kala- mazoo, and for some time thereafter it was a place of considerable importance. At the present time it contains about 200 inhabitants. It has a fine brick town hall, and one church, the Congregational, with a membership of about thirty. The house of worship is built of brick and will seat about 200 people. There are also several secret societies-the Knights and Ladies of Maccabees, the Glean- ers and Yeomen. The Maccabees have a hall, but the Ladies meet in the town hall. The principal business places consist of two gen- eral stores, a postoffice, a feed-mill and two blacksmith shops. The town has never been incorporated.


MENTHA


Mentha, two miles east of Kendall and on the same line of rail- road, is a place of recent origin. Perhaps, as yet, it can hardly be classed as a village, although it is a regular station on the line of the road. It owes its existence, as well as its name, to the fact that it is situated in one of the greatest peppermint produc- ing regions of the world.


The country 'round about was originally a swamp, and re- mained for many years wholly unimproved. The situation at- tracted the attention of Hon. A. M. Todd, of Kalamazoo, who has acquired the well deserved title of the world's "Peppermint King." The swamp has been ditched and drained and is now one of the greatest peppermint-producing sections in existence. The oil is distilled on the premises and brings very remunerative prices. There are also raised on portions of this same swamp land im- mense quantities of onions. Once considered practically worthless, these lands are now among the most valuable in the county.


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CHAPTER XXXIII


TOWNSHIP OF PORTER


FIRST SETTLEMENTS AND SETTLERS-THE KINNEY SETTLEMENT -.- THE ADAMS FAMILY-TOWNSHIP NAMED AND ORGANIZED-EDUCA- TIONAL AND POLITICAL-A RETROSPECT.


The township of Porter is situated in the southeastern corner of Van Buren county and is officially known as township number four south, of range number fifteen west. Its boundaries are the town- ship of Antwerp on the north, Kalamazoo county on the east, Cass county on the south and the township of Decatur on the west. The township boasts of no postoffice; it has no village within its boundaries, but has one flourishing general store and two churches, both of the Protestant Methodist denomination. Its enterprising citizens are practically all engaged in agriculture and horticulture, raising hay and grain and growing large quantities of fruit of the finest quality. In these respects it is unexcelled by any town in the entire county. It is watered almost wholly by numerous small lakes, which in the spring and summer are like gems of crystal set in frames of emerald. The largest and more important of these beautiful sheets of sparkling water are Bank- son's, Huzzy, Grass, Cedar and Gravel lakes.


FIRST SETTLEMENT AND SETTLERS


The first settlement within the boundaries of Porter township was made in 1833 when Abner Mack located a portion of section 13 and built himself a cabin upon it. Mr. Mack did not long re- main a resident of the township, but made an exchange with Jonas Barber for land in the county of Kalamazoo and moved away. In 1835 James Young, his half-sister, Elizabeth Gibson, and her sons, Washington and Robert, moved from Prairie Ronde and settled on section fourteen, bordering on Bankson's lake.


THE KINNEY SETTLEMENT


The founder of that portion of the township, for many years known as the "Kinney settlement," was Elijah Kinney, who came


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from Ohio in 1835 with a large family. Nelson and Sanford Corey came in 1836 and were employed by others until 1840, when each purchased land on section twenty-six. Among the pioneers at the Kinney settlement in 1836 were George Wilson and Matthew Lewis. Stephen Kinney, brother of Elijah, came from Ohio in 1838 with a family of eight children. Another of the settlers at that time was Moses Monroe, who was considered to be the most useful man in the settlement. He was the only mechanic among them and would turn his hand to anything from carpentry to shoe-making, being exceedingly clever at any kind of mechanical work. Luke Munger came to the township in 1840 and James Maxam in 1844. Menasseh Kern located on section thirteen, in 1846. His neigh- bors at that time were the Wilsons, Longcors, Harpers and Lockes. S. V. T. Bradt came in 1848 and the same year Jacob Markle set- tled on section three. In 1852 William II. MeLain came from St. Joseph county and located on section fifteen.


Settlements in the central part of the township were made as early as 1835, when Benjamin Reynolds came from Ohio with a large family and located one hundred and sixty acres on section fifteen. Daniel Alexander, also from Ohio, bought two hundred acres of government land in 1836, on sections twenty, twenty-nine and thirty. In the summer of 1836 Roderick Bell settled near Gravel lake, whither also came the next year Nathan Cook, George Freese and John B. Compton. About 1840 came Thomas Alexan- der and the Nelsons, the latter of whom sold out to Silas Gould and moved away. In January, 1840, John Van Sickle, Elias Har- mon and Jacob Stilwell came into the town and settled there, and in the spring of 1840 L. H. Weldin located on section twenty- eight.


John Nesbitt, originally one of the pioneers of the township of Keeler where he and his brother turned the first furrow in 1834, came to Porter in 1837 and bought land on section five. In 1846 Mr. Nesbitt changed his location to section nine where he spent the remainder of his life.


As an indication of the newness of the country, even at that date, it might be noted that when Mr. Nesbitt moved to his new farm in 1846, he was compelled to make his own road, while his wife drove the ox team that was hauling his worldly goods and chattels. Isaac Hall, father of James H. Hall, came to Porter in 1842, and his brother Amos in 1846. They located near Grass and Cedar lakes. The other settlers in that neighborhood at that time were Silas Gould, L. H. Weldin and David Gilson. Thomas Fletcher, a Virginian, came into the township soon afterward. Samuel D. Harper came in 1843, and Jeremiah Barker, a New


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Yorker, came in 1845, with his family, and settled on section nine. In 1848 Mr. A. H. Hathaway settled in the township.


THE ADAMS FAMILY


Horace H. Adams and family were likewise among the earlier settlers of the township, locating on section thirteen about the year 1837. He lived but few years after coming to Porter, but during his life he took a prominent part in the affairs of the new township, being one of the first justices of the peace elected and afterwards serving as supervisor. He was the father of the late Franklin B. Adams, one of the prominent business men of Law- ton and who was at one time president of The Toledo and South Haven Railroad Company. At the time of his death in 1910, in his eighty-fourth year, he was Porter's oldest pioneer.


Mr. Adams would occasionally relate to his intimate friends in- cidents of those early days that were of great interest. Among them is the following, which is worthy of preservation: Some time about the year 1840, in pursuance with treaty stipulations the government began to gather the Indians, preparatory to removing them to then far west; that is, beyond the Mississippi River. Mr. Adams related that a stockade or corral had been constructed near his father's place in which the Indians of the region were gathered together, under the direction and charge of a young officer of the United States Army named Rosecrans. This same young officer afterward became known to the world as General W. S. Rosecrans of Civil war fame.


Harvey Barker, one of the pioneer preachers of the county, settled in the township in 1839, erected a cabin and at once began improvements on the land he had entered. His place became the head-quarters for the circuit riders of those early days. His son, Wesley T. Barker, himself a pioneer, a lad of about four years at the time he came to Michigan, is yet a resident of the township.


TOWNSHIP NAMED AND ORGANIZED


For a number of years Porter formed a part of the township of Decatur, from which it was set off in 1845. To Mrs. Harriet (Cook) Van Antwerp belongs the honor of naming the new town- ship. After it had been decided to divide the township of Deca- tur, a consultation was held at the residence of her father. Nathan Cook, to decide upon a name. At that time Miss Cook was very much interested in reading Cooper's "Naval Heroes" and, im- pressed by the career of Commodore Porter, she suggested that as Decatur had been named in honor of one naval hero, the new township should likewise honor Commodore Porter. This sug-


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gestion on the part of the young lady commended itself to those who had the matter in charge and was immediately adopted. Ad- miral Porter, who rendered such distinguished service in the Civil war, was a son of Commodore Porter from whom the township takes its name.


The first township meeting held in the newly organized town- ship was held on the first Monday of April, 1845, at the school- house near the residence of Benjamin Reynolds, at which the fol- lowing named officers were chosen: Supervisor, Harvey Barker; township clerk, Isaac Hall; school inspectors, Warren S. Corey and Harvey Barker; commissioners of highways, William L. Bar- ker, John Nesbitt and William J. Finch; justices of the peace, Harvey Barker, Samuel D. Harper and H. H. Adams; directors of the poor, Ira Harman and Benjamin Reynolds; constables, Miles Van Sickle, John Bennett and Richard Wilson.


Porter is situated in the midst of the celebrated fruit belt of western Michigan and produces large quantities of the finest quality of fruit of various kinds. It might be said that it was one of the pioneer townships in the development of grape culture, a business that has grown into enormous magnitude in Van Buren county. At present there are several thousand acres of vineyard in the township, and the production of that delectable fruit amounts annually to several hundred thousand baskets.


EDUCATIONAL AND POLITICAL


The first school teacher that anybody seems to remember was Warren S. Corey, a brother of Nelson Corey, who taught a school in the Kinney settlement.


The official returns of educational matters for the school year of 1910-11 shows the following facts relative to the township: Total number of persons of school age (between five and twenty), 171; number of schoolhouses, nine; estimated value of school property, $6,100; indebtedness, none; number of teachers employed during the year, eleven; aggregate number of months of school, seventy-four ; sum paid for teachers' salaries, $2,318.


The first general election was held in the township on the fourth day of November, 1845, at which thirty votes were cast for the office of governor of the state; nineteen Democratic, ten Whig and one Free-Soil.


At the presidential election of 1908, 219 votes were cast: 157 for Taft, Republican; fifty-nine for Bryan, Democrat; two for Chafin, Prohibitionist, and one for Debs, Socialist.


The federal census of 1910 gives the population of Porter as


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994, being the sixteenth township in point of numbers, Almena and Hamilton only having a less number of inhabitants.


The assessment of 1846, the next year after the organization of the township, gives the township a valuation of $28,600 and the total tax for that year amounted to $335.92.


For the current year the valuation of the township was $762,950 and the total tax spread upon the roll was the sum of $12,752.79. In point of wealth Porter takes rank as the tenth township of the county.


The following named gentlemen have served the township in the capacity of supervisor: Harvey Barker, Uri Kinney, John Mc- Kinney, Orrin Sisson, Menasseh Kern, Luther Kinney, W. S. Corey, Asahel Bryant, Sanford Corey, John Barker, Chauncey Hollister, William Anderson, Franklin B. Adams, Orsimus Will- iams, Charles A. Van Riper, John C. McLain, Elijah Warner, George D. Boyce, John Marshall, John H. Cornish, and Elver E. Waldron (present incumbent). Supervisors J. Barker, S. Corey and Warner, each served three years; Supervisors Mckinney, Boyce and Mclain, each four years; Supervisor Williams, five years; Supervisor Cornish, eight years; Supervisor Marshall, nine years, and the present supervisor, Waldron, is now serving his sixth successive year.


A RETROSPECT


We can scarcely realize the changes that time has wrought since the formation of this township. It seems hardly possible when we see the fine modern residences and magnificent farms, the beauti- ful orchards and the splendid vineyards which now cover the land- scape, that there are yet living people who knew the township when it was practically an unbroken wilderness; people who toiled and endured privation in order to make possible the comforts and luxuries enjoyed by the present generation. We can hardly realize that when the first settlements were made in Porter, Chicago ex- isted only in name; railroads were wholly unknown, except a few short experimental lines near the eastern seaboard ; telegraphs were undreamed of; Michigan was yet a territory, and all the inven- tions that have been brought forth during the past seventy-five years-inventions that contribute so much to the convenience and comfort of modern life-had remained undiscovered since the world began. It scarcely seems possible that those hardy pioneers who made the wilderness blossom as the rose had to come with teams from their eastern homes, weeks being required for the journey that can now be made in palatial cars in a few hours! When we think of the indomitable courage displayed and the hard- ships endured by these early settlers of our beautiful county we cannot but exclaim, "All honor to the old pioneers!"


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CHAPTER XXXIV


TOWNSHIP OF SOUTHI HAVEN


EARLY ELECTIONS AND OFFICIALS-PROPERTY AND POPULATION- JAY R. MONROE, FIRST WHITE SETTLER-CLARK AND DANIEL PIERCE-A. S. DYCKMAN'S STORY-PIONEER STEAM SAWMILLS- FIRST INSTITUTIONS AND PIONEERS-VILLAGE (NOW CITY) OF SOUTH HAVEN-THE SUMMER RESORT BUSINESS-SCHOOLS, CHURCHES AND SOCIETIES-MUNICIPAL AND BUSINESS MATTERS- POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY AND BOARD OF TRADE.


The township of South Haven, as originally organized in 1837 by an act of the first legislature after the admission of Michigan into the Union, comprised the present townships of South Haven, Geneva, Columbia, Covert and Bangor and it was not until October, 1855, when the board of supervisors adopted a resolution setting off and organizing the township of Deerfield, now Covert, that the township was made to consist only of its present territory, township number one south, of range number seventeen west.


It contains eighteen full sections and seven fractional sections along the shore of the lake. It is bounded on the north by Allegan county, on the east by the township of Geneva, on the south by Covert and on the west by Lake Michigan. Along the shore of the lake are bluffs from thirty to fifty feet in height, which were orig- inally crowned with forests of hemlock and pine. Its principal stream is Black river, which flows across the northern part of the township and empties into the lake at the city of South Haven.


EARLY ELECTIONS AND OFFICIALS


At the first town meeting held in the township as first organized, the records show that Charles U. Cross was elected clerk, Silas Breed, supervisor, and Amos S. Brown, Charles U. Cross, Jay R. Monroe and Silas Breed, justices of the peace. If any other officers were chosen, the record does not disclose their names, notwith- standing the fact that the statute in existence at that time pro- vided for assessors, highway commissioners, etc.


The names of the supervisors of the township for the years 1837


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TYPICAL SOUTH HAVEN ORCHARDS


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and 1838, are not to be found on the official records of the county. With the exception of those two years the following is the list of the names of the gentlemen who have served in that capacity : Silas Breed, William H. Hurlbut, Jesse Ball, Mansel M. Briggs, William B. Hathaway, Randolph Densmore, Aaron S. Dyckman, Barney H. Dyckman, Stephen B. Morehouse, Kirk W. Noyes, George B. Pomeroy, John Andrews, Charles J. Monroe, Albert Thompson, Samuel P. Wilson, David F. Moore, Benjamin F. Hunt, Henry E. Dewey, James H. Johnson, John S. Malbone, Milford T. French, Clarence E. Place and Orlo Westgate. Those who filled the office for more than two years were Malbone, three years; Hunt, Wilson and Dewey, each four years; Northrup, Hurlbut, Noyes and John- son, each five years, and Westgate, the present incumbent, who is now serving his fifth consecutive year.


At the first election for county officers, which was held in April, 1837, there were ten votes cast in the township. The poll list of the township at the next general election, held on Monday and Tues- day, November 5 and 6, 1837 (elections were held on two successive days at that early date), was as follows: John Smith, William Taylor, James T. Hard, Russell Gillman, Silas Breed, Amos S. Brown, Jonathan N. Howard, Charles U. Cross, Reuben L. Ackley, Cornelius Osterhout, Myron Hoskins and William N. Babbitt. The vote for governor at that election was Stevens T. Mason 4, Charles C. Trowbridge 7.


At the first presidential election, held in 1840, twenty-nine bal- lots were polled, twenty Democratic and nineteen Whig. At the general election of 1908, there were cast, including both township and city, 1,006 votes. The vote of the township was as follows: Taft, Republican, 148; Bryan, Democrat, forty-six; Chafin, Prohi- bitionist, six; Debs, Socialist, six. In the city, which is located wholly within the boundaries of the township, the vote was as fol- lows: Taft, 512; Bryan, 211; Chafin, twenty-eight ; Debs, forty- six ; Hisgen, Independent, three.




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