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 48
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According to the United States census of 1910 there were 537 inhabitants in the village of Gobleville, thirty-six more than in Bloomingdale. Gobleville is situated five miles by rail southeast of Bloomingdale. Being in the same township, of so near the same population and in such close proximity, there is quite natur- ally a considerable spirit of rivalry existing between the two vil- lages.
Gobleville is distant eighteen miles from the city of Kalamazoo on the east and twenty-one miles from the city of South Haven on the west. It became an incorporated town by act of the state legislature in 1893. Its present officers are Charles Overacker, president ; John T. Bernius, clerk ; Edward W. Howard, treasurer ; Robert E. Vickers, assessor; William Day, Othello E. Scarlett, Michael Dorgan, William Miller, Edwin Covey and H. E. Elheny, board of trustees.
One of her institutions of which the village is justly proud is the village school, which is one of the eleven high schools in the
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HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY
county. At the last enumeration of the district there were 165 persons of school age, the average daily attendance during the school year was 158. There were fifty-nine non resident pupils enrolled. There were 273 volumes in the district library. The value of the school property is $15,000 and there is a bonded in- debtedness of $6,000. Six teachers were employed and the ag- gregate number of months taught was fifty-four. There was paid for teachers' salaries the sum of $2,947.50.
A disastrous fire visited the town in 1901, destroying eighteen of the business places, but like many other instances of the same character it proved a blessing in disguise. The enterprising busi- ness men of the place proceeded at once to rebuild and in a com- paratively short period of time the burned buildings were re- placed with new ones, much better than the old.
There are two churches in the place, the Freewill Baptist and the Methodist Episcopal. The former was organized about the year 1866. They have a commodious frame house of worship which was completed in 1877, and which has a seating capacity. of 350. The present membership is 120. C. D. Thornton is the pastor.
The Methodist church was organized in 1880 and has a present membership of 122. The house of worship is a frame structure with a seating capacity of 200. G. W. Hawley is the pastor.
Hudson Lodge, No. 325, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, located in a commodious hall over the Frank Company's store, is in a flourishing condition and has a present membership of about 150. Easter Lily Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star, No. 230, is adjunct of the Masonic Lodge.
Gobleville Lodge, No. 393, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, own their hall, which is large and commodious and fitted up es- pecially for lodge purposes. Hazel Dell Rebekah Lodge, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, is another branch of the order that is in a very prosperous condition. Both of these lodges of Odd Fellows have a large and increasing membership. The Macca- bees are also represented in the village by organizations of both ladies and gentlemen. There is also a prosperous Lodge of Mod- ern Woodmen, Camp No. 9132.
The Grand Army of the Republic also has an organization and adjunct thereto is the Woman's Relief Corps.
Two telephone lines have exchanges in the town-the Kibbie and the Mutual companies.
The village contains these business establishments: One marble company; two produce dealers, shippers and coal dealers; one opera house, seating capacity 400; one grocery, drug and crockery store; one boot and shoe store; one jewelry store; one restaurant
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and soda fountain; one meat market; one general hardware and farm implement store; one hardware, carriages, wagon and imple- ment dealer; one department store; one bank, the Gobleville Ex- change; one general dry goods, boot and shoe and clothing store; one furniture and undertaking establishment ; one barber shop ; one millinery establishment; one drug store with soda fountain; one agricultural implement store; one feed store; one grocery store ; one harness shop; two blacksmith shops; three physicians ; one den- tist, and one shoe shop.
LAKE MILL, NEAR GOBLEVILLE
The Gobleville Creamery, which does a large business, manu- facturing from 1,500 to 1,700 pounds of butter per day during the summer season, besides selling a large amount of cream to Kala- mazoo ice cream dealers.
ยท The Gobleville milling establishment which is equipped with modern machinery and does a large business.
The enterprise and push of the business men of this flourishing little village is a credit not only to themselves, but to the county in which it is so pleasantly located.
CHAPTER XXIII
TOWNSHIP OF COLUMBIA
PHYSICAL FEATURES AND RAILROADS-SITE OF BREEDSVILLE SETTLED -PROPERTY HOLDERS AND TAXES (1839)-SETTLERS PRIOR TO 1845-CIVIL AND POLITICAL-PRESENT VILLAGE OF BREEDSVILLE -BERLAMONT-COLUMBIA-GRAND JUNCTION.
When the county of Van Buren was first organized, Columbia formed a part of the township of South Haven, indeed, at that time nearly all of the inhabitants of that township resided within the present boundaries of Columbia. It was not until 1845 that, by act of the legislature of the state, it was set off and organized into a separate township under its present name. It is the central one of the north tier of townships of the county and is bounded on the north by Allegan county, east by Bloomingdale township, south by Arlington and west by Geneva. It is officially designated as town- ship number one south, of range number fifteen west.
PHYSICAL FEATURES AND RAILROADS
The surface of the township is generally what would be termed rolling, being diversified by irregular ranges of low hills and also by numerous lakes, of which Saddle lake (so named from its pecul- iar shape) is the largest. This body of water lies partly on four different sections-ten, fifteen, sixteen and twenty-two. From its eastern extremity to its northern end is a distance of about a mile and a half. The other lakes that are dignified by a name are Jeptha's (commonly called Jap) lake, which is one and a half miles in length, but narrow, varying in width from a few rods to a quarter of a mile; Lakes Fourteen and Eleven, so named from the sections on which they are located; North lake, Munson, Dollar (or Silver as it is called on the later maps), Coffee, Base Line, Deer, Mud, Little Bear and Great Bear lakes, the last named ly- ing partly in the township of Bloomingdale.
The outlet of Great Bear lake forms the south branch of Black river and is the principal stream in the township. It flows diagon- ally across its southern part, forming a considerable water power
464
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HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY
at the village of Breedsville, which was utilized at a very early date in its history.
The township possesses a variety of soil, ranging from light sand to heavy clay, but in general it is fertile and productive, yielding abundant crops of hay, grain and fruits.
Like the entire northern half of the county, Columbia was orig- inally covered with a growth of heavy timber of different kinds, pine and hemlock being the predominating varieties. As a natural consequence the manufacture of lumber and shingles was the pre- vailing industry of the earlier years, but the forests have prac- tically all disappeared and in their stead are fine farms and or- chards and the usual accompaniments of prosperous modern rural life.
The township has excellent railroad facilities, the line of the Pere Marquette crossing it from south to north and the South Ha- ven division of the Michigan Central passing through its northern part from east to west. The two lines intersect at the village of Grand Junction. Both these roads were completed through the town in 1870. Breedsville and Grand Junction are stations on the Pere Marquette, and Berlamont, Columbia and Grand Junction, on the South Haven line.
SITE OF BREEDSVILLE SETTLED
In May, 1835, Rev. Jonathan N. Hinckley, in company with Barnard M. Howard, both from Monroe county, New York, vis- ited the region that afterward became a part of the township of Columbia and made entries of a considerable acreage of lands near the site of the present village of Breedsville. At this time they built a cabin on their new location, preparatory to its occupation, and then returned to New York. In the fall of the same year, a party of some twenty-five persons, all from the county of Mon- roe, New York, left their eastern homes with the intent of settling on the lands purchased by Messrs. Hinckley and Howard and of making for themselves new homes in the Michigan wilderness, which was then considered to be in the "far west." Their route was by way of the Erie canal to the city of Buffalo; thence by way of Lake Erie to Detroit. At the latter place they purchased a yoke of oxen, and a wagon upon which they loaded their house- hold goods and children, and thus equipped started for Paw Paw by way of the Territorial road, the major portion of the party making the journey on foot. Although their destination was only about eighteen miles from the last mentioned place it took them two days to reach it. The party consisted of Rev. Jonathan N. Hinckley, William N. Taylor; Mr. and Mrs. Silas Breed and their
Vol. 1-30
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HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY
four children-Stillman, Phoebe Ann, Hinckley and Joshua-and Sarah Taylor, an adopted daughter; Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Watson and his three children-Leonard, Lyman and Sarah-and a grand- son ; Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan N. Howard; and Mr. and Mrs. Amos S. Brown and their five children-Elizabeth, Amos S., Jr., Wells G., Minerva and Jesse R.
The cabin which had been erected the previous spring was soon made habitable. The next domicile was built for the Brown fam- ily and immediately afterward a cabin was constructed for the occupancy of the Watson people. These three primitive dwellings served to shelter the entire colony during the first winter, includ- ing William A. Babbitt who had joined them. About the first of January, however, Elder Hinckley returned to the state of New York and it was not until several years later that he took up his permanent residence in Van Buren county. The first death in the little colony was that of Sarah Taylor, who passed away during that first winter. The next year Mr. Howard and others erected dwellings for themselves, and Silas Breed built the first saw-mill in the new settlement.
The following season, 1837, the settlement was augmented by the arrival of Elijah Knowles, William Bridges and George Coch- rane, from Livingston county, New York; Dr. Hervey Manley from Ashtabula county, Ohio, and Myron Hoskins from Paw Paw, who had settled in that place a couple of years before. In later years Mr. Hoskins again became a resident of Paw Paw, where he died, November 7, 1900, at the ripe age of eighty-nine years. He was followed by his widow, Sarah, on the 13th day of January, 1903, who was eighty-seven years of age at the time of her decease.
The first child born in the new settlement was Nancy, a daughter of Jonathan N. Howard and wife, and during the fall of the same year the second death occurred. Samuel Watson, who was then a man of some sixty years of age, had gone on foot to Paw Paw, to obtain some needed medicine for his family. On his return journey he died alone in the forest, where after a diligent search, his body was found.
The first marriage solemnized in the little colony was that of James G. Cochrane and Miss Sarah Watson. The wedding took place on the 10th day of June, 1840. 'Squire Silas Breed was the officiating magistrate.
In 1838 Elijah Knowles and John Barrows erected a tannery, the abundance of hemlock bark making it an ideal locality for that purpose. Indeed, for many years thereafter, the traffic in hemlock bark was one of the leading industries of the township, large quan- tities being hauled to tanneries located in Lawrence, Decatur and Paw Paw, or to South Haven and shipped across Lake Michigan.
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HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY
The colony was augmented in that year by the arrival of Jeph- tha Waterman, John Barrows, Horace Humphrey and quite likely by a few others.
For quite a number of years Paw Paw was the nearest postoffice, so it may be well be believed that mails were rather irregularly received and that the pioneers knew little and probably cared less about receiving a newspaper every day, or even once a week. How- ever, a postoffice was eventually established at Breedsville and Amos S. Brown became the first postmaster, Jesse R., his son be- ing the first mail carrier between the new office and Paw Paw.
PROPERTY HOLDERS AND TAXES (1839)
The resident taxpayers of the township in 1839, the number of acres assessed to each and the sum of their taxes on both real and personal estate, were as follows:
Names
Acres
Tax
Silas Breed
80
$7.04
Elijah Knowles
160
4.65
Hervey Manley
240
4.98
J. N. Howard
240
4.56
J. M. Babbitt
160
3.33
Myron Hoskins
320
5.69
Leonard Watson
40
.91
Amos S. Brown
160
4.94
Luman Brown
80
1.55
J. Waterman
69
.79
H. Humphrey
40
.78
J. Peck
80
1.55
D. C. Ackley
80
1.55
This shows that the total amount of taxes paid by the resident taxpayers for that year was $42.32.
Of the above named parties, one-Joseph Peck-was not actu- ally a resident of the township, as he lived across the line in the township of Bloomingdale. The next year, 1840, the only changes that appear on the resident tax roll are that the name of J. M. Babbitt is left off and the names of William A. Babbitt, Henry Bab- bitt and Dustin Murch are added, making the number fifteen. The taxes paid were even less than in the previous year, being only $26.48.
For the year 1911, the valuation of the township was the sum of $453,790, and the total tax levy was $11,725.96. In point of wealth Columbia is at the foot of the list of townships of the county.
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HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY
SETTLERS PRIOR TO 1845
Thomas P. Page settled in the village of Breedsville in 1841, where he kept open house for the accommodation of travelers as did others of the early settlers. When the stage line was estab- lished between Paw Paw and South Haven, which was about the year 1848, Page opened a hotel or, as it was called in those days, a tavern. There are yet a considerable number of people living in the county who have a vivid recollection of the old Page tavern and of the hilarious scenes that occasionally-or oftener-trans- pired therein.
Charles W. Luce settled on section twenty-three the same year. Alexander Lytle, who became a man of prominence in the affairs of the township, at different times being elected as township treas- urer, settled in the township in 1842.
Other settlers prior to 1845 were Peter Smith, Lyman Loomis, Jethro Barber, Amos E. Barber, Edmund Sawtelle, David Barker, Hiram Chappell, James Richards, S. N. Pike, A. Bugsbee and James Moore.
The first grist-mill in the township was built by Mr. Heath in 1858. The northern part of the township was but slightly settled until about the time the railroads were projected and built.
CIVIL AND POLITICAL
At the first township meeting, held on the first Monday of April, 1845, the following officers were elected : Supervisor, Elem- uel Sawtelle; township clerk, Jonathan N. Howard; justices of the peace, Elijah Knowles, Hervey Manley, Horace Humphrey and David Barker; township treasurer, Amos S. Brown; school inspec- tors, Hervey Manley and Elemuel Sawtelle; overseers of poor, Hervey Manley and Elijah Knowles ; assessors, Lyman Loomis and Amos S. Brown; commissioners of highways, Dustin Murch, Thomas P. Page and David Barker; constables, Dustin Murch, Amos S. Brown, Wells G. Brown and Jephtha Waterman.
The following named gentlemen have served the township in the capacity of supervisor : Elemuel Sawtelle, Horace Humphrey, Joel Camp, Eusebius Mather, Amos S. Brown, Elijah Knowles, How- ard S. Allen, H. Chamberlain, Doctor H. Anderson, William H. Knowles, V. F. Randall, Norman H. Adams, Jonathan N. Howard, Amasa M. Brown, Duane D. Briggs, A. D. Enos, Eri Summy, Da- vid Anderson, James M. Gray, Levi Ackley, Elisha Abbott, A. Throop Anderson and Andrew Gaynor. Of the above named, Supervisors Camp and Doctor H. Anderson each served three years; Supervisor Gray, four years; Supervisor Amos S. Brown, ten years; Supervisor Amasa M. Brown, eleven years, and Super-
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HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY
visor Gaynor, the present incumbent, and a popular Democrat from a Republican town, is serving his thirteenth term.
At the first general election held in the township, in November, 1846, there were twenty-seven votes cast. In 1847 the number in- creased to thirty-six, the votes being equally divided between the Whigs and Democrats. At the first presidential election held in the township on November 7, 1848, forty-four votes were polled- twenty-one for Taylor, Whig; twenty-two for Cass, Democrat, and one for Van Buren, Free Soil.
At the last presidential election, November 3, 1908, 324 ballots were cast : 211 for Taft, Republican; ninety-three for Bryan, Democrat ; eight for Chafin, Prohibitionist ; eight for Debs. So- cialist, and four for Hisgen, Independent party.
According to the census figures of 1910, Columbia ranks as the eleventh among the townships of the county; in point of popula- tion, the number being given as 1,475.
The first schoolhouse was built in the Breedsville settlement in 1838, and Lorenzo D. Cate taught the first school. School District No. 1, including within its limits the nine sections composing the southwest corner of the township, was formed in January, 1845. In 1847 there were twenty-three children of school age in the dis- triet and the apportionment of public school money was $7.36.
The apportionment of primary money for the current year (1911) was $2,437.50 for the township. Official reports of edu- cational matters for the school year of 1910-11 give the number of persons of school age as 344; volumes in the several district libraries, 1,336; number of schoolhouses, six ; estimated value of school property, $14,800; district indebtedness, $2,500; teachers employed, ten; aggregate number of months of school. seventy- nine; sum paid for teachers' salaries, $3,605.
AS A RESORT REGION
Numbers of people from across Lake Michigan, within the past few years, have invested in Columbia real estate, attracted thither by the many pleasant locations and the numerous attractions to the city dwellers to whom life in the country seems a desirable change from the rush and turmoil that has surrounded them in their urban homes. Owing to this immigration, Columbia, like other of her sister townships, has been thinking of her opportu- nities and facilities as a resort, and quite recently two summer re- sorts have been platted into lots, one on the shore of Saddle lake and the other on the bank of Silver, or Dollar lake, as it is some- times called. Both of these are "desirable for a situation" and
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HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY
are quite likely to become popular places for those who seek sum- mer quiet and rest.
And so, by the industry and the diligence, and the labors of the hardy pioneers, and those who came after them, a township has been reclaimed from a state of nature and converted into fertile fields; the forests have disappeared; the wilderness has been re- deemed, and the highest degree of modern civilization has suc- ceeded to barbarism and savagery, and all this within the memory of living men.
PRESENT VILLAGE OF BREEDSVILLE
The village of Breedsville, which occupies the site of the oldest settlement in the northern part of Van Buren county, derives its name from Silas A. Breed, who was one of the first men to locate lands within the limits of the present township of Columbia, which, at the time, was a part of the township of South Haven. It was not platted until 1900, although it has been known as Breedsville from a very early date in the history of the county. Prior to 1900 all property in the village was described by metes and bounds. It is a station on the line of the Pere Marquette Railway, thirty miles from the city of St. Joseph on the shore of Lake Michigan. The first tavern in the place was opened and kept by Thomas P. Page and the first store was opened by Painter, Woodson & Company, who, before they began a regular mercantile business, had been engaged in bringing in goods and exchanging them with the set- tlers for shingles, which, in those early days, came very near being the only circulating medium.
The village was incorporated by act of the legislature in 1883 (Local Acts, 1883, p. 404). Its present officers are as follows : President, Charles M. Cushman; clerk, Loren D. Townsend; treas- urer, Frank A. Adams; assessor, Edwin J. Rugg; board of trus- tees, Charles G. Chamberlain, Andrew Gaynor, Jerome R. Niles, E. K. Cassada, William E. Hollister and Edson C. Stickney ; street commissioner, H. B. Johnson; Marshal, Ed. Bailey ; poundmaster, Henry J. Scringer.
The population numbered 219 souls, according to the figures as given by the census of 1910. The first officers of the village were as follows: President, Norman H. Adams; clerk, E. D. Lockard; treasurer, James M. Gray ; assessor, N. J. Cranmer ; trustees, F. E. Sherwood, E. S. Hogmire, A. D. Enos, Jay P. Gilman, William H. Wicksall, William Cushman; street commissioner, N. W. Smith; constable, Aaron Miller; marshal, E. Carter, Jr .; health officer, F. P. Robertson; fire warden, D. M. Miller; poundmaster, Henry
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HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY
Scrimger; special assessors, James M. Gray, N. W. Smith and Solo- mon Snell.
The village has no public improvements, such as a lighting sys- tem, waterworks, etc.
There is one church society in the village-the Methodist Episco- pal, with a membership of about forty. They have a very good and convenient house of worship, a frame building.
Secret societies are represented in the town by the Odd Fellows and the Masons. Headley Lodge, No. 163, I. O. O. F., was insti- tuted on the 31st day of May, 1871. The charter members were Ahira G. Eastman, Abner D. Enos, Chester C. Leathers, H. C. Kel- ley, Samuel Hoppin and T. P. Bewley. The present membership of the lodge is about fifty.
Narcissus Rebekah lodge, I. O. O. F., is also a prosperous branch of the order, having about the same number of members as the sub- ordinate lodge.
Bailey lodge, No. 287, F. & A. M., was chartered on the 13th day of January, 1871. Its first officers were Duane D. Briggs, W. M .; P. C. Hathaway, S. W .; and A. P. Dulerow, J. W. The lodge now has fifty-eight members.
There is a ladies' club in the town known as the D. M. C. club.
The business places of the village consist of two general stores, one drug store, one hardware store, one grocery store, one grist- mill (water power), one steam saw-mill and one meat market.
VILLAGE OF BERLAMONT
This is a small hamlet, a station on the line of the railroad three miles east of Columbia and two miles west of the village of Bloom- ingdale. It was originally known as Bear Lake, or Bear Lake Mills, on account of its proximity to the lake of that name, but the name was subsequently changed to Berlamont. It is situated on the town line between Columbia and Bloomingdale and lies partly in each of those townships. There is no recorded plat of the place.
It was anticipated that the railroad might develop the burg into a somewhat flourishing town, but such anticipations were never realized and it is altogether unlikely that they ever will be.
D. H. Anderson, from Genessee county, New York, had settled in Breedsville in 1855. Two years later, in company with Amos S. Brown, he built a saw-mill operated by steam power on the shore of Bear Lake, about a mile south of the present village of Berla- mont, and a grist-mill near by operated by water power from the outlet of the lake. In 1866 his brother, Col. David Anderson, a veteran of the Civil war, became a partner. In 1871 they removed the plant to the village, and added to it a planing mill. The grist
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HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY
mill building was afterward taken down and removed to Fennville, in Allegan county, where it was reerected and continued in use for the same purpose for which it was originally built. About the year 1874 the property passed into the hands of Seneca B. Anderson, a son of David, who converted the entire plant into a furniture fac- tory and did a very successful business for about ten years, and until the property was destroyed by fire in the month of April, 1884. The plant was a total loss and a large quantity of finished furniture, practically ready for shipment, was also consumed. This not only put an end to the plant itself, but it was a blow to the little village from which it never recovered.
There are now two general stores on the Columbia side of the town and a feed mill on the Bloomingdale side that does a good business.
VILLAGE OF COLUMBIA
Columbia is a small hamlet one mile east of Grand Junction, on the line of the South Haven division of the Michigan Central, and like the latter place owes its existence to railroad building. It is a station on that road and was platted in the winter of 1871 by Marvin Hannahs, William F. Dickinson and Samuel Rogers. There is little else there but a stopping place for the trains passing through.
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