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 44
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There are two incorporated companies in Lawton formed for the purpose of handling and marketing the immense fruit crop that is produced in the two townships of Antwerp and Porter-principally grapes. There are about 15,000 acres of vineyard in those two town- ships; the larger part of the fruit produced is marketed in the two villages of Lawton and Mattawan, although that grown in the northwest part of Antwerp is mostly marketed at Paw Paw.
The Southern Michigan Grape Association was organized in Vol. 1-27
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1897 by A. D. Benway, an experienced man in the marketing of fruit. The name has since been changed to the Southern Michigan Fruit Association. It was incorporated in the spring of 1899. For some years the company has been under the management of Carey Dunham of Lawton. The company loads grapes at Lawton, Matta- wan, Paw Paw and Decatur. During the past season it shipped 1,916 car-loads of grapes, approximately the equivalent of 5,750,000 eight-pound baskets.
The Michigan Fruit Exchange was organized in 1901 and in- corporated in 1904. This company has been under the management of A. D. Benway since its organization. During the season of 1911, it shipped 800 car-loads of grapes, the equivalent of 2,500,000 eight- pound baskets. The company loads at the same points as the South- ern Michigan Association.
During the season of 1911, there were shipped from Lawton 1,132 car-loads of grapes, the equivalent of nearly or quite 4,000,- 000 eight-pound baskets of that finest of fruit, besides large quan- tities of other fruits, such as cherries, pears, plums, berries, etc. In addition to this there were shipped numerous car-loads of po- tatoes, grain and live stock.
The village had, according to the census of 1910, a population of 1,042 people, being the fifth village in point of numbers, among the nine incorporated villages of the county. It has a fine brick school- house, valued at $13,000. The village district contains 228 persons of school age and has a school library of 925 volumes. The district has a bonded debt of $2,500. Eight teachers were employed dur- ing the past school year and an aggregate of sixty-three months school was taught. $3,862.88 were paid out for teachers' salaries.
There are two churches in Lawton, the Baptist and the Methodist Episcopal. The Baptist church was organized on the 11th day of November, 1865, by the late Rev. Edwin S. Dunham, with twelve members, viz: Rev. and Mrs. E. S. Dunham, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Barker, Mr. and Mrs. M. D. Williams, Mr. and Mrs. John Stearns, Mr and Mrs. Jonathan Baughman, Cynthia Smith and Helen M. Williams. The society has a good house of worship with a seating capacity of about 250. The present pastor is Rev. J. W. Pincombe.
The Methodist church is in a prosperous condition, has a com- modious house of worship, that will seat about 300 people. The spiritual welfare of this church is looked after by the Rev. F. M. Cosner, its present pastor.
The manufacturing plants of the village comprise a basket fac- tory putting out a million and one-half of fruit packages per year ; a vinegar plant, chemical works, flouring mill; grape juice factor- ies, which press from 400 to 500 tons of grapes for unfermented grape juice; saw-mill, two pickle processing establishments, and
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the Michigan Metal Works, the object of which is the manufacture of metal telephone tablets and other specialties.
The other industries of the village include a bank, clothing store, two drygoods store, two hardware stores, four groceries, two drug stores, two meat markets, two lumber-yards, variety store, furni- ture store, and an agricultural implement depot, three real estate dealers, two milliners, one newspaper and job printing office, three barber-shops, wagon repair shop, two blacksmith-shops, two physi- cians and one dental surgeon.
The Michigan Central Railroad maintains large ice houses at Lawton for the icing of refrigerator cars during the fruit shipping season, and the Standard Oil Company maintains a distributing station.
Accommodations for public meetings are excellent, there being a fine town hall that will accommodate 600 people, as well as a smaller hall owned by the Grand Army of the Republic, with a seating ca- pacity of 200.
There are two hotels in the town and one restaurant; the streets of the village are shaded with rows of beautiful maples and bor- dered with fine cement walks; there is a first class municipal elec- tric light plant and waterworks, and, taken all in all, the village is well supplied with the up-to-date improvements of modern, twen- tieth century life.
VILLAGE OF MATTAWAN
The first plat of the village of Mattawan was made on the 9th day of November, 1850, by Lyman Lawrence, and consisted of but four blocks on the north side of the Michigan Central Railroad. Since that time there have been five additions made to the town, to-wit : Scott's in 1855, twelve blocks; Kinne's in 1857, of nine blocks; Scott's 2nd, in 1870, one block ; Farr's in 1871, three blocks ; Sessions', in 1872, four blocks; so that now the little burg consists of thirty-three blocks. It is situated on sections thirteen and four- teen. It has never been incorporated.
While the Michigan Central Railway was in course of construc- tion, Nathaniel Chesebro, who was attorney for the railroad com- pany, purchased forty acres of land on which a part of the village of Mattawan is now situate. It is said that he laid out a town there and called it Mattawan, after a village of that name on the Hudson river in the state of New York. Be that as it may, if Mr. Chesebro ever platted the village, his plat was never placed on the records of the county. Mattawan is also a station on the "Fruit Belt" line.
In 1848, Charles Scott donated land to the company for depot
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purposes, on condition that Mattawan should be made a regular station and stopping place for trains. It is said that the company ignored this condition of the grant and that Scott tried, unsuc- cessfully to recover pay for the land. Whatever may have been the practice of the road as to stopping trains at the place in those early days, Mattawan has long been one of the recognized stations of the road at which all trains, except fast through trains, make regular stops.
The first building of importance in the place was a grocery store, put up by John Cronkhite in 1850. He sold the place to Rev. J. J. Bliss, a Canadian clergyman, who made his residence on the first floor and opened a store in the second story. Bliss also built a warehouse, which he sold to the late Morgan L. Fitch. He was a man of considerable versatility, a railroad switchman, a preacher as well as a trader, and occupied his time when not engaged in his railroad duties, in selling goods and preaching the gospel, at first as a Protestant Methodist, afterward as a Free-Will Baptist. He sold his business to Henry Fitch, whose successors were Morgan L. Fitch and C. D. Van Vechten.
The first hotel in the place was built on Front street, in 1855, by J. F. Parmenter, and was called the "Antwerp House," subse- quently the "Willard House." This building was destroyed by fire in 1873.
Previous to this Harry Durkee had built another hotel which was known as the "Union House." This was also burned, several years prior to the destruction of the "Willard." Durkee then put up an- other public house, which was kept by Chauncey Bonfoey.
A post office was established at Mattawan in 1850, and Rev. J. J. Bliss was appointed postmaster. His duties as a representative of "Uncle Sam" were not burdensome and a cigar box served him as a receptacle for the mail sent to his office. His successors have been John Smolk, James Murray, Raper Ward, Abel Brown, L. C. Fitch, S. S. Rascoe, Isaac Stewart, Miss Nina Goodrich, A. H. Campbell, Will C. Mosher and Miss Fannie Bockius, the present post-mistress.
At one time in the later sixties Mattawan enjoyed a brisk trade in lumber and shingles and other forest products, but the construc- tion of the Pere Marquette Railroad (it was then called the Chi- cago & West Michigan) and the Kalamazoo & South Haven (now a branch of the Michigan Central), which cross the county on the north and west, diverted this traffic to other points and interfered materially with the prosperity of the town. The subsequent devel- opment of the fruit interests have, however, restored to the place a degree of prosperity that is very gratifying. The town is sur- rounded by some of the finest vineyards to be found in the "grape
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belt" and is a lively place during the gathering and marketing of that delectable fruit.
As an indication of the progressive character of the citizens of Mattawan it should be stated that that village has the only school in the county, known as a consolidated school. The statutes of Michigan provide that when any two or more contiguous school districts have in the aggregate more than 100 pupils of school age -- between the ages of five and twenty-they may, after complying with certain conditions, unite for the purpose of forming a graded school.
The preliminary steps for the formation of such a district were taken in the early summer of 1910, the result being that four rural
MATTAWAN'S CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL
districts united with the village district, combining them all into one district, instead of five, as theretofore. The scholars are taken to and from the school in comfortable covered vehicles by men who are bonded for the faithful performance of that duty. This is one of the desirable features of the plan, as it enables the pupils from a distance to easily reach the school and insures their early return to their homes. Under this new plan, instead of each school teach- ing simply the "three R's," with, perhaps a few occasional outside frills, the course embraces twelve grades, with instruction in music, manual training and ethics. Library, laboratory and class-room facilities are being added as rapidly as possible. In view of the fact that the students are drawn from so large an area, the school is a subject of interest to a good many people. The official report for the school year of 1910-1 shows that there were 219 scholars
1
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in the consolidated district, two schoolhouses, valued at $7,000, six teachers employed during the school year, an aggregate of forty- five and one-half of months of school taught, and $2,297 expended for teachers' wages.
During the past season, there were 461 carloads of grapes shipped from Mattawan, which would be equivalent to 1,383,000 eight- pound baskets. There is a grape juice factory located in the vil- lage that pressed 1,356 tons of grapes during the past season, mak- ing about 300,000 gallons of unfermented grape juice.
Other business places are three general stores, hardware store, meat-market, undertaking establishment and real estate dealer, blacksmith-shop, wood working shop, livery, two pickle processing factories, hotel, harness and shoe shop, large railroad ice houses for icing fruit cars and two railroad depots.
There are two churches in the village, the Congregational and the Methodist Episcopal, each of which have fine brick houses of worship, that will seat about 250 people.
The Congregational church was organized July 2, 1867, at the residence of J. J. Johnson. The following members were received on that occasion : Mr. and Mrs. J. J. Johnson, Mr. and Mrs. W. O. Elmore, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kelsey, Mr. and Mrs. Josiah Hop- kins, Mr. and Mrs. William Ward, Mr. and Mrs. Oliver P. Morton, Luther J. Hopkins, Milo Ward, Samuel Ward, S. N. Mygatt, Louis Hitchcock, A. Kellogg, Mary A. Van Winkle and Stephen Morton. The present pastor is Rev. J. D. Perrin.
The Methodist church was organized about 1854, at the Fitch schoolhouse north of Mattawan, where worship was held for the first two years, when the meetings were transferred to Mattawan. At that time the class was a part of the church at Lawton. A house of worship was built by the society at Mattawan in 1866. The pul- pit of the church is at the present time supplied by the Rev. F. M. Cosner, pastor of the Lawton M. E. church.
Secret orders are represented in Mattawan by Mattawan Lodge No. 268, F. & A. M., which was instituted on the 13th day of Janu- ary, 1870, with Dr. Thos. H. Briggs, as master, C. D. Van Vechten as senior warden and Clinton Fitch as junior warden. The Macca- hees also have a lodge in the village.
RETROSPECT
Could those hardy, brave and courageous pioneers of the early thirties, who first set foot in the wilds of Antwerp, return to the scenes of their young manhood, they could not but be astonished beyond measure to see the changes that have been wrought. Or- chards have superceded the "openings," vineyards loaded with the
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most luscious of fruit in its season have taken the place of the grubs and brush that then covered the landscape; mansions, such as could hardly have existed even in the wildest dreams of the first settlers, have displaced the wigwams of the red men; domestic animals feed where once the wild beasts of the forest had their dens; automobiles have succeeded the ox teams of the pioneer, and all is most wonderfully changed. The luxuries of yesterday have become the necessities of today, and yet pessimists sigh for the "good old times."
CHAPTER XX
TOWNSHIP OF ARLINGTON
FIRST ELECTION-FIRST SETTLER ARRIVES-MAJOR HEATH, FIRST SUPERVISOR-THE DANGEROUS BRIGGS BROTHERS-OTHER NEW YORK MEN-THE HOGMIRE FAMILY -- RUGGED WORK OF THE PIONEERS-M. H. HOGMIRE ON PIONEER TIMES-NEW TIMES BET- TER THAN OLD.
When the county of Van Buren was first organized, the town- ship of Arlington constituted a part of Lawrence. It was set off from that townships and organized into a separate body by an act of the legislature of 1842. The name "Arlington" was suggested by one of the pioneers of the township, James Stevens, a Revolu- tionary soldier, in memory of his native town in the Green Moun- tain state. The township is centrally located in the county and is bounded on the north by the township of Columbia, east by Wa- verly, south by Lawrence and west by Bangor.
FIRST ELECTION
The first election in the township was held at the residence of Allen Briggs on the first Monday of April, 1842, at which the following officers were chosen: Supervisor, Major Heath; town- ship clerk, Emory O. Briggs; township treasurer, Allen Briggs; highway commissioners, Alvinsy Harris, James T. Hard and Joseph Ives ; assessors, Alvinsy Harris and William A. Taylor; justices of the peace, James T. Hard, Allen Briggs, William Dyckman and Major Heath ; constables, William A. Taylor and James G. Coch- rane.
So few were the inhabitants of the new township at this time that but fourteen electors were present, viz: William N. Taylor, James G. Cochrane, Emory O. Briggs, Joseph Ives, Morrison Heath, Major Heath, James Stevens, Allen Briggs, William Bridges, Alvinsy Harris, William Dyckman, William H. Mc- George, James T. Hard and Conrad Hogmire.
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DRAINAGE, TIMBER AND PRODUCTS
Arlington is watered by the two principal rivers of the county. The Paw Paw river passes diagonally through the southwest cor- ner of the township, crossing section thirty-six and forming a part of the southern boundary of the town, that portion of such section cut off by the river having been attached to the township of Law- renee. Black river crosses section six, the northwest corner of the township. There are also several small lakes, the principal one, Scott Lake, a beautiful sheet of water, on section one, extending nearly across the section.
The township was orginally heavily timbered with whitewood, walnut, beech, maple, ash, oak and other varieties of valuable tim- ber, very much of which was eut down and burned by the early
A GLIMPSE OF THE FRUIT INDUSTRY
settlers in order to make room for the crops necessary for their livelihood. Owing to this great growth of timber the labor of clear- ing and improving the land and fitting it for the production of erops was much greater than in other portions of the county known as the "oak openings."
The surface of the township is somewhat broken, in some local- ities the elevations and depressions being quite abrupt and marked. The soil consists quite generally of a loam of sand and clay and is exceedingly rich and productive. It has been brought to a high degree of cultivation and is admirably suited to the produc- tion of wheat, corn, oats and other cereals, as well as to the grow- ing of various varieties of fruit, which is produced in great abun-
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dance. It is especially adapted to the culture of the apple and some of the finest apple orchards in the county-and that means within the state as well-are to be found within its limits.
FIRST SETTLER ARRIVES
The first settler within the limits of the township was William N. Taylor, a young man of twenty-two years, who came to Michi- gan in 1835 with a party from Monroe county, New York, who were seeking a home in what was then the territory of Michigan, and most of whom settled in the adjoining township, now Columbia. Practically the entire party, including women and children, made the journey from Detroit to Van Buren county on foot, following an Indian trail, single file, as was the custom of the red men who made the pathway. The limited possessions of the party were drawn by a yoke of mismatched, balky steers, which they pur- chased in Detroit, and it was not without much trouble and diffi- culty that they finally reached their destination.
Soon after the arrival of the party Mr. Taylor obtained one hundred and twenty acres of land on section number eight, in township number two south of range number fifteen west, which was at that time unorganized and which became a part of the township of Lawrence in 1837 and, subsequently, the township of Arlington. Being an unmarried man, Mr. Taylor did not immediately take up his residence on his new "wildwood" farm, but sought employ- ment in Kalamazoo county for a time, returning to New York in the winter of 1836-7, where, at Hinckleyville in the county of Mon- roe, he was married to Miss Philinda Kelsey. He returned to Michigan with his wife in the spring of 1837, leaving his bride at Comstock, Kalamazoo county, until he could erect a bark roofed shanty on his Arlington possessions, which, as soon as completed, was occupied by the newly married couple. It is reported that the only crop he was able to raise that season was a small lot of turnips, and that they were practically destroyed by that team of balky steers that he had driven from Detroit on his first journey to Michigan and which were owned by some of the party in the adjoining township of Columbia.
The next settler in the township was James T. Hard, who lo- cated on section number five in the fall of 1837 and who after- ward emigrated to the state of California.
MAJOR HEATH, FIRST SUPERVISOR
Major Heath was another of the first Arlington settlers. Mr. Heath was a native of Jefferson county, New York, and came to Jackson county, Michigan, in 1837, and two years later to Van
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Buren county. He entered lands on sections nineteen and thirty, selecting the latter as the place whereon he erected his first resi- dence, a primitive house of logs, but, as rendering it more aris- tocratic and pretentious than the dwellings of the other pioneers, it actually had a board door made from a sawed board which Mr. Heath secured by a walk of six miles, carrying it home on his shoulders. Mr. Heath was very active in the affairs of the new township and was chosen as its first supervisor. When he first arrived upon the scene of his future residence, no roads led to his new possessions and they could only be reached otherwise than on foot until with his brawny arms and woodman's axe he had hewed a pathway through the dense forest. Major Heath became an influential citizen of the county and was greatly interested in all matters that concerned the welfare of the community in which he resided. He subsequently removed to the state of Iowa, but re- turned to Van Buren county and bought a farm in the adjoining township of Bangor where he lived out the remainder of his days. He was the father of the late Charles E. Heath, who was at one time clerk of Van Buren county, an office which he filled for two successive terms.
The first death in the township was that of Major Heath's wife, who passed away in the winter of 184.1.
There were seven taxpayers within the boundaries of the town- ship at the assessment of 1839, viz: James T. Hard, who was taxed $2.75; R. Gillman, $2.70; William N. Taylor, $2.88; Ransom Kellogg. $3.84; Major Heath. $3.75; S. M. N. Brooks, 96 cents, and Robert Christie, $1.60.
Another of the early settlers of the township was Allen Briggs. who was a native of the state of Vermont. With his parents he removed to the state of New York where he grew to manhood. In 1838 he came west, visiting Ohio, Indiana and Michigan, spending a considerable time in the latter state prospecting for a satisfactory location. The next year (1839), in company with his two sons, he entered forty acres of land on section nineteen and began the arduous task of hewing out a home in the forest. Having com- pleted the usual pioneer log cabin he sent, the next year, for the remainder of his family, who joined him after a tedious journey by canal and lake to Detroit and overland from that city to their new wilderness home. Mr. Briggs was a man of education and ability and from the time of his coming into the county occupied a position of prominence and was of great assistance to the pio- neers, both in private and public life, filling numerous township offices and being regarded as a leader in public affairs. He died at his Arlington home in 1868, aged eighty years, beloved and re-
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spected by all with whom he had become associated during a long and useful life.
THE DANGEROUS BRIGGS BROTHERS
Two of the sons, Emory O. and Duane D. Briggs preceded their father to their new Michigan home by a few months. They left their home in New York in the month of February, 1839. One horse sufficed to carry all their worldly possessions, including pro- visions for the journey. Their route was from Orleans county, New York, to Lewiston, thence across the Niagara river and through the dominion of Canada to the city of Detroit. The "Pa- triot War" was scarcely ended and people from the United States coming into the British dominions were regarded with suspicion, and so these two beardless youths, aged respectively seventeen and nineteen years and wholly unarmed, were promptly arrested by a valiant officer in "Her Majesty's" service, as characters danger- ous to the British government. In custody of an armed guard with fixed bayonets, they were triumphantly marched through the streets of Queenstown to the headquarters of the English com- mander, by whom they were ordered to the guard house; but the order was countermanded before they were actually imprisoned and they were returned to the presence of the commander by whom they were questioned and ordered searched. After considerable delay they were permitted to continue their journey, the conclu- sion evidently being that there was no danger of the overthrow of the British empire at the hands of these two American boys. How- ever, in view of what had transpired in previous disagreements between Uncle Sam and John Bull, no blame could be attached to the Canadian authorities for exercising proper care in the prem- ises. There was no telling what the boys might do!
After a tedious and unpleasant journey these two youths finally reached their destination. The first money they earned they in- vested in forty acres of land which was entered in the name of their father, Allen Briggs.
Young Emory was a lad of superior education for those primi- tive times and at once became a more than ordinarily useful mem- ber of the community. During the winter time he was employed as a teacher and, being versed in the science of surveying, he found no difficulty in securing remunerative employment at other sea- sons of the year. He surveyed many of the roads, not only in Ar- lington, but in other townships of the county. He not only became prominent in township matters, but was looked upon as an ad- viser in county matters as well. Politically, he was a strong Demo- crat and few steps were taken by Van Buren county Democrats
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without his advice and approval. He eventually became a large landholder in the township where he first settled. He not only filled many of the local offices of his township, but was elected to the office of register of deeds in 1844, and was subsequently three times chosen county treasurer. While filling such official position, Mr. Briggs and his family became residents of Paw Paw, returning to the Arlington farm at the close of his official career. In 1866 he again took up his residence at the county seat and became one of the prominent business men of that place, being at one time cashier of the First National Bank, the first banking institution organized in the county. He died at Paw Paw, in 1885, in his sixty-fifth year. His death was the result of an accidental fall. His elder son, George Allen Briggs, a very promising young man, at one time the superintendent of the Paw Paw Union schools, preceded his father to "that bourne whence no traveler returns" by a period of about four years. His younger son, E. Stanley Briggs, is now one of the leading business men of Paw Paw.
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