USA > Michigan > Van Buren County > A history of Van Buren County, Michigan a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests Volume I > Part 11
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The first half century of the history of Michigan witnessed many wonderful changes. In 1837 the interior of the state was almost wholly an unbroken wilderness, inhabited only by the In- dian tribes and the beasts of the forest, and there were very few signs of civilization to be seen. Postal arrangements were of the crudest character and correspondence was an expensive luxury. The entire population of the state at that time was but 174,467, and that largely along the borders of the state next the great lakes. The census of 1910 places Michigan, in point of numbers, as the eighth state in the Union, giving to her a population of 2,810,173, an increase of sixteen-fold in seventy-three years. De- troit, the metropolis of the state, is now the ninth American city, having by the last census a population of 465,766.
The following table shows the population of the state at each decennial year, for the past century, and of the county of Van Buren at each decennial census since the admission of Michigan as a state.
MICHIGAN
Date.
Population.
Increase.
1810
4,762
1820
8,896
4,134
1830
31,639
22,743
1840
212,267
180,628
1850
397,654
185,387
1860
749,113
351,497
1870
1,184,282
435,869
1880
1,636,937
452,655
1890
2,093,889
456,952
1900
2,420,982
327,093
1910
2,810,873
389,191
VAN BUREN COUNTY
Date.
Population.
1840
1,910
1850
5,800
1860
15,224
1870
28,829
1880
30,807
1890
30,541
1900
34,965
1910
33,185
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HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY
While there has been the above remarkable increase in the popu- lation of the state, there has been a corresponding increase in its financial prosperity, as may be seen by the following tabulation, showing the valuation of the state and also of Van Buren county for the past sixty years, as fixed by the state board of equalization.
Date
State.
County.
1851
$ 30,976,270
$ 541,663
1853
120,362,470
1,683,561
1856
137,663,009
2,132,374
1861
172,055,805
2,591,490
1866
307,965,842
4,926,238
1871
630,000,000
11,550,000
1876
630,000,000
11,000,000
1881
810,000,000
14,000,000
1886
945,459,000
14,000,000
1891
1,130,000,000
15,000,000
1896
1,105,100,000
14.500,000
1901
1,578,100,000
16,000,000
1906
1,734,100,000
17,000,000
1911
2,390,000,000
27,300,000
A glance at the foregoing tables will show that during the past sixty years the state of Michigan has increased in wealth seventy- seven fold and, that during the same length of time. from 1850 to 1910, its population has been multiplied nearly eight times, while Van Buren county during the same period increased in wealth fifty- two fold, probably as great an increase as would be shown by any other rural county in the entire state; its population during the same time has increased nearly six-fold.
When we realize something of the greatness of our state and take cognizance of its various industrial interests, its mines of iron, copper and coal, its beds of cement, its magnificent orchards, vine- yards and farms, its unsurpassed manufacturing industries, its salt and its sugar, its beautiful cities and villages, its great transporta- tion facilities, both by land and by water, its fisheries around the great lakes that lave its borders, its beautiful inland lakes and streams, its thousands upon thousands of handsome and commo- dious dwellings, in country as well as in city, and a thousand and one other attractions, it would seem that there is no other state in the Union that can excel it, or that can bestow upon its fortunate inhabitants more of the comforts and luxuries of life. If Michigan were to be cut off from all communication with the rest of the world, her people would still be a prosperous people and would lack none of the real necessities and few of the luxuries to which they have been accustomed. It was indeed a happy thought when her pioneer statesmen chose for her motto, that most appropriate legend Si Quaeris Peninsulam Amoenam Circumspice.
76
HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY
make van Buren County as originally organized.
Allegare county
Lake michigan
South Haven.
Clinch
Terrien county,
Lawrence.
Lafayette,
Antwerp. of
Kalamazoo county
Covington.
Decatur.
cass county
-
map of Van Buren County.
--
South
Geneva
Celurabia / Bloomingdale
Haver
Binger
Arlington
kind
County
laurence
-----
Tsklaw
Kicker
Hamilton
cetur
Posted
County
THE COUNTY OF TODAY
.
TISEIW
THREW
SKEW
CHAPTER III
CIVIL AND EARLY HISTORY
FIRST MICHIGAN COUNTY-VAN BUREN COUNTY CREATED-CIVIL AND JUDICIAL ORGANIZATION-TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION-PIONEER PICTURES-VAN BUREN COUNTY PIONEER ASSOCIATION-EDWIN BARNUM'S POEM-OSLERISM REVIEWED.
I hear the tread of pioneers, Of nations yet to be, The first low wash of waves where soon Shall wave a human sea. The rudiments of empire here Are plastic yet and warm, The chaos of a mighty world Is rounding into form.
It is popularly supposed that Van Buren county once formed a part of the county of Wayne, but this supposition, strictly speak- ing, is incorrect. It is true, however, that on the 15th day of July, 1796, General Arthur St. Clair, at that time governor of the Northwest territory, issued an executive proclamation by which he assumed to organize the county of Wayne, and in which he in- cluded the northwestern part of Ohio, the northeastern part of Indiana and the whole of Michigan, which at that time included a part of the state of Wisconsin, truly a magnificent extent of ter- ritory to be included within the boundaries of a single county. But at that time the county of Van Buren had not been named or thought of as a distinct entity, and the Indian title to a large portion of the widely extended county thus attempted to be created had not been extinguished, so that the proclamation of Governor St. Clair, in-so-far as the territory which subsequently became Van Buren county was involved, was a mere nullity, it being then, as it has always since been, the policy of the general government to rec- ognize the title of the Indian tribes to the lands occupied by them and not to attempt to exercise jurisdiction therein until such time as their title should be extinguished and vested in the United States.
77
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HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY
FIRST MICHIGAN COUNTY
The first actual county organization within the territory of Michigan was created by proclamation of General Lewis Cass, governor of the territory, dated November 21st, 1815, as follows : "To all to whom these presents may come, greeting : Know ye, that I do hereby lay out that part of the territory of Michigan to which the Indian title has been extinguished into a county to be called the County of Wayne, and the seat of justice of said county shall be at the City of Detroit." (Territorial Laws, Vol. I. p. 323).
The proclamation of Governor Cass, above quoted, makes the new county cover all the territory to which the "Indian title has been extinguished," and as the title to the territory included with- in the boundaries of Van Buren county remained in the Pot- tawattamies until what is called the Chicago treaty of 1821, some six years after the proclamation creating the county of Wayne, such proclamation did not affect the territory now included within boundaries of this county.
This treaty was signed by General Cass and Solomon Sibley, as commissioners of the United States, and had attached to it the totemic signatures of Topinabee, Wesaw and fifty-three other chiefs of the Pottawattamies. By this treaty the Indian title was extinguished to all the present county of Van Buren, as well as to certain other lands, being nearly all of Berrien county; nine entire counties and a part of five others, all in southwest Michi- gan, and also a strip of land ten miles in width south of the state line between Michigan and Indiana.
By executive proclamation, dated September 10, 1822, made by Governor Cass, it was ordered that "All the country within this territory to which the Indian title was extinguished by the treaty of Chicago shall be attached to, and compose a part of the coun- ty of Monroe," so that for municipal purposes the territory after- ward organized as the county of Van Buren was first within the jurisdiction of Monroe county. (Territorial Laws, Vol. I. p. 335-336).
VAN BUREN COUNTY CREATED
The first act of the legislature of the territory affecting Van Buren county was placed upon the statute books in 1829 and was as follows: "That so much of the territory included within the following limits-viz., beginning where the line between ranges twelve and thirteen west of the meridian intersects the base line, thence west to the shore of Lake Michigan, thence southerly along the shore of said lake to the intersection of the line between town- ships two and three south of the base line, thence east on the line between said townships to the intersection of the line between
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HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY
ranges sixteen and seventeen west of the meridian, thence south on the line between said ranges to the intersection of the line between townships four and five south of the base line, thence east on the line between said townships to the intersection of the line between ranges twelve and thirteen west of the meridian, thence north on the line between said ranges to the base line be and the same is hereby set off into a separate county and the name thereof shall be Van Buren." (Territorial Laws, Vol. II. p. 736).
This act embraced the territory included within the present coun- ty of Van Buren.
In the same year, the legislature passed an act organizing the county of Cass, establishing a county court therein and provid- ing for the holding of two terms of court in said county each year. Section four of the same act provided "that the counties of Ber- rien and Van Buren and all the country lying north of the same to Lake Michigan, shall be attached to and form a part of the county of Cass." (Territorial Laws, Vol. II. p. 745). By this act Van Buren, still unable to stand alone, found her second municipal copartner.
By the same act of the legislature the counties of Calhoun and Jackson came into existence, thus placing with others, in the two southern tiers of counties, Van Buren, Cass, Calhoun, Jackson and Monroe, the names of these noted Democratic statesmen plainly indicating the prevailing political sentiment in the territory. Just why Michigan was not, at the same time, honored by having a county named Jefferson, as well as after these other distiguished statesmen, is a little singular.
CIVIL AND JUDICIAL ORGANIZATION
In 1835 the legislative council of the territory ordained "that the county of Van Buren shall be a township by the name of La Fayette, and the first township meeting shall be held at the school- house near Paw Paw mills, in said township." (Territorial Laws, Vol. III. p. 1403).
However, it was not until Michigan had been admitted as a state that the county was fully organized and endowed with the necessary political machinery for the management of her own municipal affairs.
In 1837 the first legislature of the newly admitted state en- acted a law providing, among other things "that the county of Van Buren be, and the same is hereby organized, and the inhabit- ants thereof entitled to all the rights and privileges to which by law the inhabitants of the other counties are entitled.
"All suits. prosecutions and other matters now pending before
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HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY
any court, or before any justice of the peace of the county to which said county of Van Buren is now attached for judicial purposes, shall be prosecuted to final judgment and execution, and all taxes heretofore levied shall be collected in the same manner as though this act had not passed.
"The circuit court for the county of Van Buren shall be held for one year from the first day of November next, at such place as the supervisors of said county shall provide in said county, on the first Monday in June and December in each year, and after the first day of November, 1838, at the seat of justice in said county.
"There shall be elected in said county of Van Buren, on the second Monday of April next, all the several county officers to which by law the said county is entitled, and whose terms of office shall expire at the time the same would have expired, had they been elected on the first Monday and the next succeeding day of November last, and said election shall in all respects be conducted and held in the manner prescribed by law for holding elections for county and state officers.
"In case the election for county officers shall not be held on the second Monday of April, as provided by the eighth section of this act, the same may be held on the first Monday of May next." (Laws of Michigan, 1837, pp. 97-98.)
In those early days, it will be observed, it was the practice to hold elections on two successive days and should they not be so held the statute gave the people another opportunity to exercise their right of franchise. Just imagine, if such a thing be pos- sible, the voters of the present day neglecting an opportunity to hold an election. And they do not need two days for it at that.
The election was held at the appointed date, to-wit, on the 11th day of April, 1837, and resulted in the choice of the following named officers: First county judge, Wolcott H. Keeler, of Cov- ington; second county judge, Jay R. Monroe, of South Haven; county treasurer, Daniel O. Dodge, of Lafayette; judge of probate, Jeremiah H. Simmons, of Lafayette; sheriff Samuel Gunton; reg- ister of deeds, Jeremiah H. Simmons, of Lafayette; county clerk, Nathaniel B. Starkweather; county surveyor, Humphrey P. Bar- num, of Lafayette; coroners, John R. Haynes, of Lawrence, and Junia Warner, Jr., of Antwerp.
The highest number of votes cast for any candidate was ninety and the least number was sixty-two.
At that date the county consisted of seven townships, viz., South Haven, Clinch, Lawrence, Lafayette, Antwerp, Covington and Decatur. The vote by townships, as returned and canvassed,
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HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY
was as follows: South Haven, 10; Lawrence, 13; Lafayette, 23; Antwerp, 17; Covington, 27.
No returns were received from the townships of Decatur and Clinch, and the presumption is that no election was held in those townships.
Pursuant to the requirements of the statute above quoted the board of supervisors of the newly organized county convened on the 27th day of May, 1837, for the purpose of designating the place where the circuit court in and for said county should be held.
This was the first meeting of that august body, which is some- times designated as the county legislature. The record of this meeting is very brief and reads as follows: "The supervisors of the towns of Van Buren County met at the village of Paw Paw, on the 27th day of May, A. D. 1837, and organized by appointing D. O. Dodge clerk.
"The business of said meeting being for locating the place for the circuit courts of said county : Whereupon, it is decided that the courts of said county be held at the schoolhouse in the village of Paw Paw.
"D. O. DODGE, Clerk."
This action of the board of supervisors, while having no special reference to the final location of the county seat of the county, may well be considered as the entering wedge to a long and more or less bitter and hard fought contest over that matter which eventually resulted in the permanent location of the county build- ings at Paw Paw, where they are likely to remain indefinitely. This matter is presented at length in its proper place in this work.
TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION
To further provide for the complete organization of the coun- ty, the legislature of 1837 enacted as follows: "All that portion of the county of Van Buren known as township number three south of range number thirteen west, be, and the same is hereby set off and organized into a separate township by the name of Antwerp; and the first township meeting therein shall be held at the house of Philip Williams, in said township. (This is the only town in the county that has undergone neither change of name nor territory since the organization of the county.)
"All that portion of the county of Van Buren designated by the United States survey as townships one and two south of range thirteen and fourteen west, be, and the same is hereby set off and organized into a separate township by the name of Clinch, and the first township meeting therein shall be held at the house of Charles Vol. I-6
82
HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY
Townsend, in said township. (The township of Clinch disap- peared from the map of Van Buren county so many years ago that very few of its citizens are aware that there ever was a township by that name. The territory embraced within the boundaries of this ancient township now constitutes the townships of Pine Grove, Bloomingdale, Waverly and Almena).
"All that portion of the county of Van Buren, designated by the United States survey as township three south of range four- teen west, be and the same is hereby set off and organized into a separate township, by the name of Lafayette; and the first town- ship meeting therein shall be held at the house of D. O. Dodge, in said township. (This township, as above designated, is now the township of Paw Paw. Few people are aware that Berrien county first had a township named Paw Paw, but such is the fact.) (Laws of Michigan, 1837, p. 38.)
"All that portion of the county of Van Buren designated by the United States survey as townships four south in ranges thirteen and fourteen west, be, and the same is hereby set off and organized into a separate township by the name of Decatur, and the first township meeting, shall be held at the schoolhouse near Little Prairie Ronde in said township. (The west half of the territory so organized into a township still remains as the township of Decatur, while the east half of the same constitutes the present township of Porter).
"All that portion of the county of Van Buren designated in the United States survey as township one south in ranges fifteen, six- teen and seventeen west, and township two south in ranges sixteen and seventeen west, be, and the same is hereby set off and organ- ized into a separate township by the name of South Haven; and the first township meeting therein shall be held at the house of J. R. Monroe, in said township. (The territory so organized into a single township now comprises the townships of South Haven, Geneva, Columbia, Bangor and Covert).
"All that portion of the county of Van Buren, designated by the United States survey as township two south in range fifteen west, and township three south in ranges fifteen and sixteen west, be, and the same is hereby set off and organized into a separate township by the name of Lawrence; and the first township meet- ing therein shall be held at the house of Horace Stimpson in said township. (The territory so organized now comprises the present townships of Lawrence, Arlington, and Hartford).
"All that portion of the county of Van Buren designated by the United States survey as township four south in ranges fifteen and sixteen west, be, and the same is hereby set off and organized into a separate township by the name of Covington; and the first town-
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HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY
ship meeting therein shall be held at the Keelerville postoffice in said township" (Covington, which covered the present townships of Keeler and Hamilton, sank into oblivion, as did its sister township of Clinch, and is not now even a memory save only to a few of the oldest inhabitants of the county ).
The foregoing quotations are from the Laws of Michigan for 1837, pages 35, 37 and 38.
The legislature of 1839 (Laws of Michigan, 1839, p. 27) enacted that townships number three and four south, of range number six- teen west, should be set off and organized into a separate township to be called Keeler, and that the first township meeting should be held at the house of W. H. Keeler in said township. This new township comprised the present township of Hartford, then a part of Lawrence, and the west half of the then township of Cov- ington.
At the same session of the legislature (Laws of Michigan, 1839, p. 24) an act was passed organizing township number four south, of range number fifteen west, into a separate township to be known as the township of Alpena, and providing that the first township meeting should be held at the house of Henry Coleman in said township. By these two acts the township of Covington was en- tirely wiped off the map of the county.
Another law, enacted in 1840, changed the name of the town- ship of Alpena to Hamilton, and as such it still remains. (Laws of Michigan, 1840. p. 80.)
By the same legislature township number three south, of range number sixteen west, was organized into a new township to be known as Hartford. and the first township meeting was ordered to be held at the house of Smith Johnson in said township. (Laws of Michigan, 1840. p. 79.) This township comprised the north half of the township of Keeler.
The legislature of 1842 (Laws of Michigan, 1842, pp. 83 and 84) passed an act organizing three new townships in the county of Van Buren; to-wit. townships number one and two south, of range number fourteen west, then a part of the township of Clinch, were set off and organized into a township to be called Waverly, the first township meeting to be held at the schoolhouse near Ash- bel Herring's, in said township. (The name should have been Her- ron, instead of Herring.)
Townships number one and two south, of range number thir- teen west, also a part of the township of Clinch, were set off and organized into a township to be called Almena, the first town meeting to be held at the schoolhouse near Willard Newcomb's in said township. By the organization of these two townships,
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HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY
the township of Clinch ceased to exist and has been practically for- gotten.
By the same act of the legislature township number two south, of range number fifteen west, at that time a part of the township of Lawrence, was set off and organized into a separate township under the name of Arlington, the first town meeting to be held at the house of Allen Briggs in said township.
In 1845 (Laws of Michigan, 1845, pp. 50 and 51) the following township organizations were effected, viz .: Township number one south, of range number fourteen west, then constituting the north half of the township of Waverly, was set off and organized into a township to be known as and called the township of Bloomingdale, the first town meeting to be held at the house of Elisha C. Cox in said township.
Townships number one south, of ranges number fifteen and six- teen west, then being a part of the township of South Haven, were set off and organized into a township under the name of Colum- bia, the first township meeting to be held at the schoolhouse in district number four in said township.
Township number four south, of range number thirteen west, being the east half of the then township of Decatur, was set off and organized as the township of Porter, the first township meet- ing to be held at the schoolhouse near the residence of Benjamin Reynolds.
This same act also provided that township number two south of range number sixteen west, should be organized into a town- ship to be called South Haven, the first town meeting to be held at the house of Daniel Taylor in said township. This embraced what is now the present township of Bangor, and was already a part of the township of South Haven, as theretofore organized, which organization was left intact, except that the township of Colum- bia had been detached therefrom, as hereinbefore noted.
It is evident that there must have been some mistake in this matter. This township does not border on Lake Michigan and there was nothing in the situation that could possibly have sug- gested the name "Haven," south or in any other direction, and it has never been known as the township of South Haven, nor in any way treated as such, except as it formed a part of said town- ship as originally organized in 1837. The legislature of the next year, 1846, appears to have been informed of the error and so passed a new law, the third, for the organization of the township of South Haven. This statute provided that fractional townships number one and two south of range number seventeen west, frac- tional township number two south of range number eighteen west, and township number two south of range number sixteen west,
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HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY
should be organized into a township by the name of South Haven, and that the act of 1845, above noted, be repealed. This left the township of South Haven the same as originally organized in 1839, except that township number two south of range number eighteen west, a small triangular piece of land jutting into the lake, containing about one section, was added, and that townships number one south of ranges numbers fifteen and sixteen west had been detached and organized into the township of Columbia, as above noted. (Laws of Michigan, 1846, p. 126.)
The legislature of 1849 enacted that township number one south, of range number thirteen west, the north half of the then township of Almena, should be set off and organized into a township to be called Pine Grove, and that the first town meeting should be held at the house of Henry F. Bowen in said township. (Laws of Michigan, 1849, p. 105.)
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