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 47
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FIRST SETTLEMENTS AND SETTLERS
During the bleak, cold days of December, 1837, the first settle- ment was made within the limits of this township by the four Myers brothers-Mallory H., William H. H., Reuben .J., and Mer- lin M., accompanied by their mother and sister, Sarah O. and Ruth Ann Myers. These first settlers of the township were from Oneida county, New York. In the spring of 1836 two of the brothers, Mal- lory and William H. H., started out on foot and walked the entire. distance from Genesee county, New York, via Canada, to Michi- gan. For six months Mallory worked in Monroe county and Will- iam at White Pigeon. The latter then returned to New York and brought the rest of the family to White Pigeon where they were all reunited. The next year they decided to locate permanently on section thirty-six, the extreme southeastern corner of the town- ship of Bloomingdale. They procured the services of Ashbel Her- ron to bring them to their new location, with his ox team, arriving at their future home on the 22d day of December, 1837, no other shelter awaiting them than that afforded by the tall monarchs of the forest. The frozen earth, after the snow had been melted away by a roaring fire, afforded them a resting place the first night. The next day a rude cabin was built, which was soon after followed by a substantial log house, and thus was commenced the first settlement of this township. now one of the best in the entire county of Van Buren.
During the next year the first schoolhouse was erected, Will- iam H. H. Myers becoming the first teacher in 1838 and 1839.
During the year 1838 Ashbel Herron, a native of Cayuga county, New York, and Daniel G. Robinson from Ohio, settled near the Myers location, and Joseph Peck, from Monroe county, New York, located on section six, in the extreme northwestern corner of the township. This locality was known for years as "Pecktown." The first marriage celebrated in the township was that of James Scott of Decatur and Ruth Ann Myers. Mr. Howard states that this marriage was solemnized by Elder Warner, but in this he- must have been in error as the official record states that the wed-
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ding took place on the 11th day of April, 1839, and that the party officiating was Ashbel Herron, Esq.
Orlando H. Newcomb located in this township in 1839, on sec- tion number thirty-six, near the Myers brothers. One of the events of the year was the preaching of the first Gospel sermon by Noah D. Sweet, the service being held in the schoolhouse. W. Brownell, a young shingle maker was the first to depart this life in the new settlement. John Wesley Herron was the first white child born within the limits of the township. During this same year two homes of the settlers, together with their contents, were burned in a mysterious manner. Suspicion pointed to the Indians who yet remained in the vicinity in considerable numbers.
Harviland Thayer, a native of New Jersey, settled in the town- ship in 1840, on section thirty-four. Other settlers of the same year were Alanson Todd, Ira S. Frary, N. Kennedy and Dennis E. Whelan. Henry Mower of Windsor County, Vermont, removed to Kalamazoo in 1832. From that date until 1843, he traversed the greater portion of southern Michigan, acting as a guide to land seekers. In the latter year he purchased land on section number twenty-three in this township, where he resided until his death some forty-five years thereafter. He was present at the first township election and was elected township clerk in 1846, an office he continued to hold for nine successive years.
Thomas Hudson settled on section number thirty in 1844. William L. Houghton came the same year and two years later was married to Hannah M. Story. Reuben H. Ward located on sec- tion number four in 1845.
The persons whose names appear on the assessment roll as resi- dent tax payers, during the year that the township was organized, were Ashbel H. Herron, William H. Myers, Joseph Brotherton, Harviland Thayer, David Loveland, H. T. Houghton, Dennis E. Whelan, Mallory Myers, Levi Thayer, Burroughs Abbott, O. H. Newcomb, Daniel Robinson, Peter Valleau, Alanson Todd, Ira Frary, Robert Moon, Elisha Cox, Jackson Lacy, Melvin Hogmire, Joseph Peck and Daniel Robinson & Co. Additional tax paying residents in 1846 were Reuben Ward, Jonathan Goodell, William Houghton, William Story, Alanson Greanes, Josiah Sweet, Daniel Jewell, Henry Whelpley and John Wait.
An early saw-mill (water power) was built by Daniel G. Robin- son on section number sixteen and later Messrs. Myers & New- comb built the first steam mill. In 1866 John Hudson built the first grist mill which was burned about three years after it was completed.
Among the other early settlers were Truman Douglas, Samuel Lane, Zenas Case, Zenas Howard, Harvey Howard, Harrison
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Cooley, John Barnard, Isaac Knapp, Chester Barber, Rufus Brown, William Merwin, O. M. Bessey, Arch Bishop, Alexander Miller, Christian Speicher, Shadrack Austin, Matthew Munn, Timothy Cooley, John Baxter, James Baxter, Milton Healy, Edmund Baughman, Augustus Haven, Warren Haven, Henry Killefer, Eg- bert Cooley, Austin Melvin, Carlos Peck, Elisha Joy, Greenwood Wait, Pliny Wait, Eli Bell, George Harvey and Eli Smith.
Previous to the coming of Dr. Barber, when in need of medical advice or the services of a physician, the people were treated by Dr. Andrews of Paw Paw. Here, as in all other newly settled re- gions, the early settlers kept open house and the weary or belated traveler always found a hearty welcome and a generous enter- tainment for both man and beast. "Hospitality to the stranger" was ever a marked characteristic of the pioneers of the Peninsular state.
Augustus Haven, from Portage county, Ohio, became a resi- dent of Bloomingdale in 1854. There were then about forty voters in the township, and Paw Paw, sixteen miles distant, was the near- est postoffice. The only religious organization at that time was the Methodist and their meetings were held in Peck's barn. Mr. Haven soon became a man of prominence in the affairs of the township, and as a farmer, merchant, business man, township official and religious leader, has always been at the front. He is yet a resident of the village of Bloomingdale, honored and re- spected by all who have the pleasure of his acquaintance.
The entire amount of the taxes spread on the first tax roll of the township was $571.75, being $245.08 for township purposes, $168.52 for schools, $91.91 for highways, and $66.24 for county and state tax.
TAXES AND TOWNSHIP GOVERNMENT .
As an illustration of the changes that time has wrought, the tax assessed on the township for the year 1911 is $11,545.96, for the following purposes: State tax, $4,025.78; county tax, $2,741.37; township tax, $1,000; school tax, $3,499.07; special taxes, $1,139.99. The valuation of the township at the last assessment was $935,725.
The following named gentlemen have served the township as supervisors, a considerable number of them for two or more terms : Elisha C. Cox, L. Jackson Lacy, Harviland Thayer, Ashbel Her- ron, Harrison Cooley, Isaac L. Knapp, Harvey H. Howard, Henry Killefer, Timothy Cooley, Pliny Wait, Augustus Haven, James M. Robertson, William Killefer, Isaac T. Robertson, David H. Smith, Robert E. Vickers and Milan D. Wiggins. Supervisor Smith served
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for nine successive terms and several of the others held the office nearly as long.
The township is traversed by the South Haven branch of the Michigan Central, commonly called the Kalamazoo and South Haven Railroad, which crosses the township diagonally from east to west dividing it into two very nearly equal parts. There are two stations on this line of road within the boundaries of the town- ship, Bloomingdale and Gobleville, both flourishing, incorporated villages.
POPULATION AND EDUCATION
The census of 1910 gives the number of inhabitants of the town- ship as 2,011, being the fourth in point of numbers of all the town- ships of the county outside of the city of South Haven.
There are nine school districts and nine schoolhouses in the township. Nineteen teachers were employed during the past school year, and their salaries amounted to the sum of $9,479.25, the largest sum paid by any township outside of the city of South Haven. The number of persons of school age, according to the school census of 1911, was 620, a number exceeded only by the townships of South Haven, Hartford and Paw Paw. There are a thousand volumes in the various district libraries. The valuation of school property in the township is $15,575. District No. 5, the Gobleville school, has a bonded indebtedness of $6,000. The other districts are free from debt. The nineteen teachers employed taught an aggregate of 156 months during the school year of 1910-11. The state primary school money apportioned to these schools during the past school year was the sum of $4,657.50.
At the first general election held in the township, November 4, 1845, there were ten votes cast, for the office of governor, as fol- lows: Five for Alpheus Felch, Democrat; four for Stephen Vick- ery. Whig, and one for James G. Birney, Liberty party.
At the last presidential election the voters of the township cast 465 electoral votes, as follows: 270 for William Howard Taft, Re- publican; 178 for William Jennings Bryan, Democrat; thirteen for Eugene W. Chafin, Prohibitionist; two each for Eugene V. Debs, Socialist, and Thomas L. Hisgen, Independent party:
The present officers of the township are as follows: Robert E. Vickers, supervisor; Emerson D. Spayde, township clerk; J. W. Brown, treasurer; Byron G. Wait, Duvis Button, Franklin Cooley and Calvin D. Myers, justices of the peace; B. S. Munn, commis- sioner of highways; Fred W. Banks and H. H. Howard, board of review ; Eber Cooley, Charles Allen and A. G. Cheney, constables.
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VILLAGE OF BLOOMINGDALE
The village of Bloomingdale was platted on the 23d day of May, 1870, by Henry Killefer, Lucius B. Kendall and J. M. Reming- ton. What is known as Haven's addition was platted and made a part of the village on the 15th day of September, 1870. The vil- lage is situated on the line of the South Haven branch of the Michigan Central Railroad and is located on sections sixteen and seventeen, within about a mile of the center of the township, and is perhaps, the most important business place between Kalamazoo and South Haven. The census of 1910 gives it a population of 501.
The occupant of the site of the town was Henry Killefer, or Kilheffer, as the name was originally spelled. About the year 1854 Davis Haven purchased a tract of land that included the present site of the village, and, as an inducement for Mr. Killefer to settle there, he conveyed to him an aere of land on which the present railroad depot is situated.
BLOOMINGDALE
MICHIGAN CENTRAL DEPOT, BLOOMINGDALE
The first mercantile establishment in the place was opened by Rufus M. Brown and Jesse Merwin, under the firm named of Brown & Merwin, but it was short lived and soon closed up and went out of business. This first effort at establishing a store was followed by Mr. Killefer, who, about the year 1857, erected a small building, the upper part of which he used for a dwelling and in the lower story of which he placed a small stock of boots, shoes and groceries. This establishment of Mr. Killefer's was the first dwelling house built within the limits of the present village.
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A postoffice was established soon afterward and Mr. Killefer be- came the first postmaster. He was succeeded in this office by William Killefer, his father, and he by John Killefer, his brother. Since that time the office has been filled by Charles Killefer (John's son), William Harrison, George D. Scofield and Gilbert H. Hud- son, the present incumbent.
The first passenger train arrived at the village on the fourth day of July, 1870, and the event was the occasion of great re- joicing among the inhabitants of the village and surrounding country.
The first saw mill, steam of course, as there is no water power in the township, was set up by Mr. A. W. Torrey in the fall of 1870.
Dr. L. A. Barber was the first resident physician. The present resident physicians are Dr. Thomas H. Ransom and Dr. William R. Scott.
The village of Bloomingdale became an incorporated town by act of the state legislature in 1881. Its present officers are Thomas H. Ransom, president; Charles E. Merrifield, clerk; Sherman D. Smith, treasurer; Edwin J. Merrifield, assessor.
MR. HAVEN'S SKETCH OF THE VILLAGE
It is with pleasure that we acknowledge our indebtedness to Augustus Haven for most of the facts contained in the following sketch.
The village of Bloomingdale was platted on the 23d day of May, 1876, by Henry Killefer, Lucius B. Kendall and J. M. Rem- ington. The village is situated on the line of the South Haven branch of the Michigan Central Railroad and is located on sec- tions sixteen and seventeen, within about a mile of the center of the township, and is, perhaps, the most important business place on that line between Kalamazoo and South Haven.
In 1853 Daniel G. Robinson built a saw-mill on the outlet of Mack's lake and erected a frame house near it. These buildings were on the east line of the present village. In the summer of 1855, Rufus M. Brown, Jesse W. Merwin and Alexander Miller each erected a frame house in the new village and Messrs. Brown and Merwin engaged in the mercantile business, principally buy- ing shingles and hauling them to Mattawan. The partnership was short-lived, being dissolved in a few months.
In 1856 Davis Haven of Portage county, Ohio, purchased the north half of section seventeen, and as inducement for Henry Killefer (or Kilheffer, as the name was at that time spelled) to settle there, he conveyed to him one acre where the railroad depot
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and new park are now located. Mr. Killefer had a frame house erected and moved his family to his new location in 1857. In November of the same year, Mr. Killefer commenced business with a small stock of groceries at Paw Paw and had a small consign- ment of boots and shoes shipped in from Ohio. This was the be- ginning of a successful mercantile business which he followed in company with his sons, John and William, for about thirteen years.
As early as 1855, there was a postoffice in Cheshire on the base line, in Allegan county, a few miles north of Bloomingdale, kept by Jonathan Howard. A man by the name of Pratt brought the mail from Allegan, going on to Paw Paw one day and back the next, but there was no postoffice at Bloomingdale at that time, all its mail coming to the Paw Paw office, sixteen miles distant. About 1859 or 1860 a mail route was established between Paw Paw and Bloomingdale, with John Caughey as mail carrier and J. P. Howard as postmaster. Mr. Caughey continued on this route until the railroad was built in 1870. Mr. Howard was post- master for some five or six years and was succeeded by John Kil- lefer, and he in turn by his sons William and John and his grand- son, Charles. Following the Killefers came Frank Hughes, William Harrison, G. D. Scofield and the present incumbent, Gilbert H. Hudson.
The line of the railroad was located through the village in 1869 and the depot site selected in May, 1870. The very day that the site was definitely decided upon, Mr. Kendall purchased sixteen acres of land on the southwest corner of the northwest quarter of section sixteen. Mr. Killefer, in the meantime, had bought a few acres on section seventeen, and on the 23d day of May. 1870, they platted the village.
The first passenger train arrived on the fourth day of July, 1870, and was the occasion of great rejoicing among the inhabitants of the village and the surrounding country. On the completion of the road, the village was imbued with new life, wide awake busi- ness men located and engaged in various pursuits, and the town has continued to prosper ever since.
The village became an incorporated town by act of the legisla- ture in 1881. The present officers are: Thomas H. Ransom, president; Charles E. Merrifield, clerk; Sherman D. Smith, treas- urer ; Edwin J. Merrifield, assessor; Edwin J. Merrifield, Roy D. Perkins, Gardner L. Stewart, Charles A. Weidenfeller, Charles E. Trim and Charles Linton, trustees.
The village schools are a credit to its enterprising citizens, rank- ing among the best in the county. The last school census shows that there was 169 persons of school age residing in the village district
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HIGH SCHOOL, BLOOMINGDALE
and that during the last school year there was an enrolment of thirty-five non-resident pupils. The district library contains 233 volumes, and the value of school property is reported at $6,500. Six teachers were employed and the amount paid for teachers' salaries was $3,703.75. The aggregate number of months taught was seventy-two and three-quarters.
CHURCHES AND SOCIETIES
There are three churches in the village, the Methodist Episcopal. the Christian and the Baptist. The Methodist society was organ- ized in the winter of 1856. The names of the original members were: A. Miller, W. C. Wait, F. Miller, H. E. Miller, J. A. Wait. E. Caughey, Wm. J. Merwin, T. Merwin, L. E. Cook, M. Cook and M. S. Miller. The church now has thirty-five members and church property worth $4,000. There are fifty persons members of the Sunday school. W. R. Kitzmiller is pastor.
The Christian church was organized in April, 1858, and held its early meetings in a schoolhouse on section fifteen. The original members were Harrison Cooley, Azubah Cooley, Austin Melvin, Frederick Melvin, Eli Bell, Margaret Bell, Russell Loomis, Re- becca Loomis, W. D. Ensminger, Polly Ensminger, George Pierce, Henrietta Pierce, Augustus Haven, William Armstrong, Abby Killefer, Corintha Strong, Lucretia Brown, Marinda Loomis, Lou- isa Loomis, Margaret Corning, M. L. Healy, Maria Healy, R. F. Loomis, Mary F. Loomis and Julia M. Paxon.
A house of worship was erected in 1871. The church now has
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a membership of 125 and a Sunday school of 120 members. The church property is valued at $4,500. G. W. Daines is the present pastor.
The Baptist church, W. A. Johnstone, pastor, has a membership of 122, with a Sunday school of 100. The church property is valued at $4,900. This church sprang from a very small begin- ning. In 1853 the Allegan Baptist church granted to A. B. Eaton, Maria Eaton, Ann E. Palmer, M. E. Eaton and L. J. Cannon, members of that society, the privilege of associating together, as a branch church. For many years they met in the dwellings of the members, and were occasionally privileged to hear ministers who happened among them. The first baptism was administered in April, 1854, when Elder H. Munger baptized his son, Harvey, and Orrit Lane in Eagle lake. From this small beginning the work has gone forward until the church has become one of the prominent religious organizations of the denomination in the county.
The following are societies that have an organization in the village : Lodge No. 221, F. & A. M. has 130 members. The lodge has about $3,000 worth of property. Its members are building a fine hall, the upper story of a fine new brick building that is in process of construction by Trim, Hodgman & Company for a store building. The expense to the lodge will be about $4,000, and will give them one of the finest lodge rooms in the county.
Bloomingdale Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star, was organized August 6, 1895, with a charter membership of twenty-seven. It now numbers 104.
Bloomingdale Lodge No. 161, Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, 140 members, has property valued at $3,000.
Bonnefoi Rebekah Lodge was organized March 25, 1902, with five charter members. It now has a membership of 102.
Encampment No. 176, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, has twenty-five members.
Bloomingdale Camp, No. 8159, Modern Woodmen of America, has seventy members.
The Maccabee Lodge has thirty-five members.
Edwin Coldwell Post, No. 23, Grand Army of Republic, has twelve members.
A Detroit firm at this place, during the past season, put up 52,793 gallon cans of fruit, plums, peaches, cherries and small fruits, made 1,083 cases of grape and currant jellies, converted 33,185 bushels of apples into cider, shipped eleven carloads of apples in bulk, made 420 Weir jars of apple preserves, salted 16,- 000 bushels of cucumbers, paying upwards of $7,000 for help and $28,000 for stock.
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NORTH VAN BUREN STREET, BLOOMINGDALE
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SPRING STREET, BLOOMINGDALE
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The Bloomingdale Creamery (successors to the Haven Cheese factory) has 225 patrons, with a yearly output of 185,000 pounds of butter, selling for $50,750.
Shipping live-stock has been a thriving business. Over $100,000 has been paid during the year for cattle, sheep and hogs shipped to outside markets; $6,000 has been paid for apples, and the farm- ers have received about $8,400 for their potato crop. The pros- perity of the place is indicated by the following list of business houses, all prosperous and each one a credit to the village: One general mercantile store; one department store; one clothing, shoes and grocery establishment ; one hardware and grocery store; two groceries; one barber-shop ; one investment company ; one gran- ite works; one meat market; one produce and lumber company ; one hardware, implement and undertaking establishment; one livery ; one hotel (the Park View) ; one blacksmithing and wood- working establishment ; one millinery shop ; one papering and deco- rating firm; one jewelry store; one milling company; two physi- cians; one newspaper (the Bloomingdale Leader) ; one photograph studio; one bank (the Peoples) ; two telephone lines (the Kibbie, with 123 members, and the Citizens, with 200 members) ; one band, a good one; and a base ball team that is noted as being one of the very best amateur clubs in the entire state.
And last, but by no means the least, is a commercial club that is interested in the prosperity of the town and that misses no op- portunity to advance the interests of its citizens-an organiza- tion that has already accomplished much and which is expected to accomplish much more.
VILLAGE OF GOBLEVILLE
The village of Globleville derives its name from the Goble family who were quite early settlers in the vicinity and the proprietors of the original plat of the village.
The hotel known as the Central Hotel, which was destroyed by fire since this chapter was first written, was the first building erected within the limits of the present village. It was built by John Goble about the year 1864, on the highway then called the Allegan state road, and being about midway between the village of Paw Paw and the village of Allegan, in Allegan county, it made a very convenient and desirable stopping place for travelers along that route, of whom there were a considerable number in those early days.
In 1867 Hiram E. Goble built a store near the hotel and Fessen- den & Hayes followed with a blacksmith shop. Dr. A. E. Bulson was the first resident physician.
The place continued to grow somewhat moderately until the
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RESIDENCE STREET SCENE IN GOBLEVILLE
BS BROST
BUSINESS STREET, GOBLEVILLE
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railroad from Kalamazoo to South Haven was built, which was completed to this point in 1870 and which gave a new impetus to the embryo village.
A postoffice was first established at "Lake Mills" and Arch W. Bishop was appointed postmaster. In 1867 the office was removed to the village and was christened "Gobleville," Hiram E. Goble becoming postmaster ; his successors in that office have been G. B. Boughton, Edward Keeler, George W. Myers, Arvin W. Myers, David D. Wise, Arthur Webster and Lewis E. Churchill (the present incumbent).
The village is situated partly in the township of Bloomingdale and partly in the township of Pine Grove. It was first laid out and platted, on the sixteenth day of April, 1870, by Hiram Goble and his wife, Susan A. Goble. This original plat was of lands on section twenty-five in the township of Bloomingdale. On March 12, 1872, an addition called Goble's was platted by Warren Goble and his wife, Cordelia E. This addition is situated on section thirty of the township of Pine Grove. Another addition on sec- tion twenty-five of Bloomingdale, called the Lewis addition, was platted on the 14th day of March, 1889, by Nathaniel Lewis and his wife, Celinda Lewis, and afterward, on the 30th day of July, 1894, William Killefer and his wife, Emily Killefer, platted a third addition called Killefer's addition, situated on section nine- teen in the township of Pine Grove.
Gobleville is entitled to be classed as one of the prosperous and thriving villages of the county. The two most important towns on the line of the South Haven division of Michigan Central Rail- road are Gobleville and Bloomingdale.
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