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 53
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pany consisted of some half dozen ragged men and as many bare- foot boys. One of the company, John Miller, a Mohawk Dutch- man, being rather more destitute of clothing than the others, was ashamed to go among strangers so scantily arrayed, and so Humph- rey Barnum-the Barnums were all noted for being great jokers- lent the Dutchman his coat. Bent on reaching the town, the party started westward, past Mud and Sutton's lakes, through the brush and over logs, finally reaching a small stream where they halted to partake of their lunch. Mr. Barnum then informed them that he would take them to the Public Square and introduce them to the leading citizens of the place, and piloting them up the bluff bank of the creek, he said "Here they are boys, the residents of the place are all cannibals (mosquitoes). Flee for your lives." The joke was appreciated by the company and was the source of much merriment for a long time afterward.
The site of this paper village was covered by a dense forest for years thereafter. It was finally cleared off, with the expectation of converting it into a skunk farm, but skunk skins declined in value and so the place escaped being called Skunkville. Some ten or twelve years ago it was purchased by a Chicago party and con- verted into a duck and goose farm, but the venture did not prove to be a paying investment and it was abandoned.
It is said that what caused the name of the stream to be changed from "Middletown Creek" to "Hog Creek" was the following cir- cumstance : A gentleman having heard that the waters of the creek were strongly impregnated with medicinal properties decided to make an investigation and if he found the report to be true, his intention was to establish a sanitarium. He drank freely from the stream and was very much encouraged. He found that the water had a brackish taste, very like the waters he had drank at different watering places, but on looking around, he discovered a decaying hog in the stream, just above his place. He left suddenly, feeling somewhat "sea sick" and sought the aid of a doctor, and so Hart- ford lost a prospective sanitarium.
For several years, the site has been owned by Dr. Parker, who has planted several acres with different varieties of roses down to the very water's edge, and so the name of the locality has been re- deemed and it is now known as "Roseville."
The prospect is that during the coming season, the springs at the head of this creek will be piped to the village, which, if done, will supply the community with abundance of as pure spring wa- ter as can be found anywhere in the state.
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FIRST ACTUAL SETTLERS
The first actual settlers within the present limits of the town- ship of Hartford were Ferdino Olds and family who located on section twenty-nine. Mr. Olds had a family of ten children, most of them born after he came to Hartford. He departed this life in 1856. A little later two of his brothers settled in the township, Hezekiah and Orson. The Olds family have been prominent in the development of both the township and the village of Hartford.
Henry Hammond was the next settler. He located on section thirty-four and erected a cabin for temporary use in 1837. Both he and his wife bent their energies to the construction of a better and more commodious dwelling, and soon had a comfortable log house which they occupied as soon as completed. Here, on the 3d day of January, 1838, a daughter was born to them, the first white child born in the township. This was Catharine Hammond, after- ward the wife of Hiram E. Stratton. (We used to call her "Kate," when she was a schoolmate of the compiler.)
The first white male child born in the township was Luke Conk- lin, son of Thomas Conklin, born in 1838. Thomas Conklin came to Kalamazoo from New York in 1834, but did not remain. In the fall of 1836, in company with his brother James, he came back to Kalamazoo-then Bronson- and while there, in behalf of him- self, his brother, Mr. Sellick, James Spinnings and Burrill A. Olney, he entered and paid for about a thousand acres of govern- ment land. In the winter of 1837 the two brothers and Sellick built log cabins on sections five and six in the township of Keeler. Olney and Spinnings came the next spring, arriving in Hartford on the 14th day of March, 1837. Spinnings lived with Olney. He died on the 2d day of May, 1841, being the first death in the town- ship.
Mr. Olney was a man of great energy and ambition, and was possessed of a high degree of business ability. After clearing up his farm and cultivating it for twenty-five years or more he en- tered into a large lumbering business at Watervliet, in the adjoin- ing county of Berrien, the firm with which he was connected being known as Swain, Olney & Company. The business was very suc- cessful and profitable. At the time of his death, Mr. Olney was regarded as one of the wealthiest men in the county. His son, Horace M. Olney, is the president of the First National Bank of Paw Paw and also of the Olney National Bank at Hartford, the only two national banks in the county. Thomas Conklin remained a resident of Hartford until his death which occurred January 28, 1888.
Rufus Sayres located lands on section twenty-four at an early
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day, but did not become a resident. He sold his place to Horace Dowd in 1843. Mr. Dowd became a permanent resident and was active in the organization of the Baptist church in the village of Hartford. He died on the fourth day of July, 1870.
Smith Johnson was also a settler in 1843. He sold out to Will- iam Thomas, who became a man of some prominence in the com- munity. He served a term in the state legislature in 1875 and filled numerous local official positions.
Alvah DeLong was a settler of the town in 1839. He removed to California where he died. Two of his brothers, Asher and Allen, became residents of the township. Their father, a Revolu- tionary soldier, lived with his sons. He died at the extreme age of one hundred and two years.
In the fall of 1837 William Everitt and his son, Richard B., settled on section twenty-six and about the same time Alexander Newton settled on section thirteen. In 1839 Joseph Ruggles and family came from Huron county, Ohio, and located on section thirty-one.
Ira Allen, who was a soldier in the War of 1812, located in Hart- ford in 1839, having previously been a resident of Lawrence. He died about 1875. Charles P. Sheldon was also a prominent early citizen of the township and was the first settler on the north side of the Paw Paw river. He was several times elected as supervisor and was chosen as representative in the legislature in 1853.
Fabius Miles, another somewhat noted man, located three hun- dred acres on section twelve in 1844. He also served as a member of the state house of representatives for the session of 1859-60.
Adoniram J. Dyer came to Hartford about 1850 and engaged in teaching. In 1853, with a small company, he crossed the plains to California, with ox teams. They were six months in reaching the Pacific coast, but since that time, Mr. Dyer says, he has sev- eral times passed over nearly the same route in three or four days. He was instrumental in building the first store in the village of Hartford, which was afterward remodeled and fitted up for a hotel and was widely known as the Rassette House. The postoffice block now occupies the same site. Returning from California in 1855, Mr. Dyer became the manager of Cross & Andrews saw-mill, some- times shipping as much as 150,000 feet of lumber in cribs, floated down the Paw Paw river to St. Joseph, thence across the lake to Chicago. Millions of feet of lumber and logs have been thus floated down that stream. Mr. Dyer and his late brother, Andrew J., vouch for the following anecdote: On a trip to his father's place, southeast of the town, he saw a large flock of wild turkeys settle down behind a fallen tree. Young A. J. crept cautiously up to the tree, and, seeing a number of turkeys' feet on the opposite
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side, he carefully introduced his hand under the log, grasped the patriarch of the flock by the legs and held him until his brother dug a hole under the log large enough to draw the old gobbler through. When dressed, his captive bird weighed twenty-one pounds and the Dyer family and their neighbors, who were invited to partake, as was the custom in those days, enjoyed a great feast. After that, Adoniram was considered to be the family Nimrod. A few years later he caught a live deer that was being held at bay by a dog. Dyer never would admit that he failed to get any veni- son on that occasion, but those who were acquainted with the abil- ity of a wild deer as a fighter, declare that he came home nearly naked and bleeding from the numerous wounds inflicted by his quarry.
A SOLDIER OF THE REVOLUTION
Perhaps the only Revolutionary soldier who ever lived in Van Buren county was Francis DeLong, who was born in 1760 and died in 1862. at the extreme old age of one hundred and two years and eight months. He and his wife came to the township of Hartford in 1854 and lived with their children.
Mr. DeLong enlisted in the American army on the 13th day of September. 1777. He was taken prisoner by the English forces at Charleston, South Carolina, and was held as a prisoner for five months: he was then taken to the island of Jamaica, where he was held for six years, when he was transferred to Halifax and detained for a year : then sent to Montreal, and three months afterward he and his comrades in captivity were sent to the West Indies to fight the natives. but not being of the requisite stature of an English soldier, he was discharged, a stranger in a strange land, without money and without friends. He finally succeeded in working his way to Northern New York, where he was married and raised a family of eight children.
When the old veteran was told that Fort Sumter had been bom- barded and captured by the rebel forces, he wept, but when told that Lincoln had called for troops to put down the rebellion, he roused up like one from sleep and said : "Eighty-one years ago I volunteered and fought to save Charleston from being captured by the English army, and I am now ready to volunteer again and do all I can to save my country for whose liberty I fought and dragged out so many of the years of my youth in British prisons."
The old veteran was laid to rest in the Hartford cemetery, in military style, in the presence of friends, relatives and a few sol- diers, who had just been sworn into the United States service by C. H. Engle. The scene was an impressive one. "We are con- signing to his grave," says Mr. Engle, "in the presence of the
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young soldiers, one of the last of the Revolutionary heroes who fought for the liberty that was secured to us by such loyal souls as Francis DeLong."
"Soldier, Rest thee from a hundred years of toil; Rest thee: Nobly thou didst fight for Freedom's soil. We'll go forth and battle for our Country's cause, Until all traitors shall obey our union's laws."
Three grandsons of the old hero were in the Civil war-Silas, Henry and Nathan DeLong. The first two were wounded and Silas was a prisoner in Libby prison for more than a year. Free- man Stowe, a great-grandson, was also a soldier and was also wounded during his service. Numerous descendants of the old veteran, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, are residents of the townships of Hartford and Bangor.
Nathan DeLong was a great hunter, known as the "Nimrod" of the family. The following anecdote is related in his own words: "I had been out hunting one day, and as I was returning home, just south of the Jackson Hotel (now the site of the Postoffice block), a big buck jumped up within a few feet of me. I fired and he fell as if dead, but when I came to where he lay, I saw that the ball had broken off one of his horns close to his head. I com- menced to reload, but found there was not a ball in my, pouch. I grabbed a rope that I always took with me while hunting, tied it about his neck and hitched him to a staddle close by. I had no sooner done this than he recovered from the shock and sprang to his feet, and of all the pitchings, divings, and gyrations that that buck went through was a 'sin to snakes;' it beat any circus per- formance I ever did see. I ran half a mile to my home in the pinery, reloaded my gun and returned as quickly as I could. My prisoner was as quiet as a lamb, but when he saw me the circus again began in earnest. I fired. The circus was ended. When dressed, that buck weighed two hundred pounds."
TERRITORIAL AND OFFICIAL
When the county of Van Buren was organized in 1837 and di- vided into seven townships, what is now the township of Hartford was a part of Lawrence and remained so until 1839, when it was set off from that township and made a part of Keeler. The next year, 1840, the legislature enacted that township three south, of range sixteen west, should be set off and organized into a township by the name of Hartford and that the first official meeting should be held at the house of Smith Johnson.
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At the following presidential election, held November 2 and 3, 1840, eighteen votes were polled in the township, twelve Demo- cratic and six Whig. The citizens who exercised their right of franchise on that occasion were Alexander Newton, Cornelius Wil- liams, Peter Williamson, Henry Hammond, Smith Johnson, Bur- rill A. Olney, Richard B. Everitt, and Joseph Ruggles, who de- posited their ballots on the first day of the election, and Ira Allen, Fernando C. Ruggles, Caleb Johnson, Hezekiah Olds, Martin Allen, Paul Wilcox, Clark A. Lapham, Thomas Conklin, James Spinning and Ferdino Olds, on the second day.
At the presidential election of 1908 the vote of the township had increased to 583, as follows : Taft, Republican, 316; Bryan, Demo- crat, 242; Chafin, Prohibitionist, sixteen; Debs, Socialist, four; Hisgen, Independent, five.
Following is a list of the names of those who have filled the of- fice of supervisor of the township: Joseph Ruggles, Burrill A. Ol- ney, Charles P. Sheldon, Sylvester G. Easton, William Thomas, Roswell Hart, Lyman Bridges, Howland C. Taylor, Thomas J. Johns, Jesse Thomas, Stephen Doyle, Henry Spaulding, Archi- bald P. McWilliams, Howard Lobdell, John S. Thorn, Walter O. Gage, John Ryan, John McAlpine, Jasper H. Thompson and Charles E. Anderson (present incumbent ).
Of the foregoing named gentlemen the following served more than two years : Messrs. Olney and McWilliams, three years each ; Lobdell, four years; McAlpine died while serving his fifth year, and was succeeded by Thompson to fill vacancy ; Hart served eight years.
The first mail route through the township was established in 1854, between St. Joseph and Paw Paw. The mail was carried on horseback but no mail was delivered in Hartford until the next year, when a postoffice was established at Hartford Center, as it was then called, now the village of Hartford. The first school was taught in the spring of 1837 by Mrs. Martha Conklin, wife of Thomas Conklin, in their own house. The first school house, built of logs, was erected in the southeastern part of the township, and the first school therein was taught by Miss Olive Poole, who re- ceived $1.25 per week for her services.
The official educational records for 1911 are, in part, as follows : Number of pupils of school age, 681; number of volumes in dis- trict libraries, 1,995; ten schoolhouses; estimated value of school property, $24,200; district indebtedness, $2,601.72; aggregate number months of school, 167; number teachers employed, twenty ; sum paid for teachers' salaries, $8,153.50. Amount of moneys awarded to the township from the primary school fund of the state, $5,160.
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The assessed valuation of the township in 1840, the year of its organization, amounted to $31,678.75, as follows: Resident realty, $2,262.50; personal estate, $521.00; non-resident realty. $28,895.25. The sum total of taxes levied for that year was $401.52. The names of the resident taxpayers appearing on the roll were Alex- ander Newton, C. Williams, Hezekiah Olds, Ferdino Olds, Alvah DeLong, Smith Johnson, Caleb Johnson, Henry Minor, Ira Al- len, Joseph Ruggles, Fernando Ruggles, Burrill A. Olney, Thomas Conklin, Henry Hammond, Richard B. Everitt and Peter William- son.
The valuation of the township, including the village, for the year 1911, was $1,197,800, and the total of taxes levied was the sum of $19,853.97.
The population of the township, according to the census of 1910, was 2,597, only one other township in the county-Paw Paw- having a greater number, not including the city of South Haven. It also ranks second in point of wealth, Paw Paw being first.
"WHEN THE WORLD GOES WRONG WITH ME"
The following little poem written by Mrs. Mary L. Hall, one of our devoted pioneer mothers, entitled "When the World Goes Wrong with Me," voices the sentiment that actuated the heroic, self-sacrificing women who so nobly struggled in the primitive wil- derness to assist their husbands, brothers and fathers in securing a livelihood and educating their children so that they might become upright, God-fearing men and women, an honor to their parents, to the community and to themselves.
Wild birds swiftly find their nests, When the storm beats hard abreast, Honey bees spin home in haste, When black the clouds threaten waste; Oh! then I gladly fly to Thee, When the world goes wrong with me.
Tracked by hounds, the helpless fawn, Sleeping in the early dawn, Wakes to hear the cruel bay Of her foes not far away. Little fawn, I'm scared like thee, When the world goes wrong with me.
Lord, perhaps there's in thine eyes, Nothing living to despise; Love, forgiving, fond and true, Always, always dwells with you: Why should I not flee to Thee, When the world goes wrong with me?
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THE VILLAGE OF HARTFORD
The village of Hartford, the only village in the township, is lo- cated on sections fifteen and sixteen, so near to the center of the township that it was formerly called "Hartford Center." It was platted on the 3d day of March, 1859, by Truman Stratton, W. W. Shepard, Weare Hilliard, James Wolcott, Roswell Hart, J. C. Crandall and James Smith. Since the original plat was made, there have been sixteen additions to the town. It was incorporated by a special act of the legislature in 1877 (Local Acts of 1877, p. 99). It covers about one square mile of territory and has between five and six miles of streets, on either side of which are the best of cement walks, shaded by beautiful maples.
The population in 1910 was 1,268, making it third in number among the villages of the county, being exceeded only by Deca- tur and Paw Paw.
The growth of the village was quite moderate until the build- ing of the Pere Marquette railway in 1870, since which time there has been a constant, steady increase of both population and of business. The construction of the narrow gauge road from Law- ton to South Haven, intersecting the Pere Marquette at Hartford, which road has since been converted into a standard gauge, and is now known as the "Fruit Belt" line, gives the town excellent transportation facilities; none better in the entire county, except the city of South Haven, which, in addition to two railroads, has direct steamboat connection with the cities on the other side of Lake Michigan.
There are sixteen daily passenger trains passing through and stopping at the village and a greater number of passengers it is claimed, get on and off the trains there than at any other station on the Pere Marquette railway between New Buffalo and Grand Rapids. There are also twelve daily freight trains on the Pere Marquette and four on the Fruit Belt line and more than four thousand carloads of produce and merchandise are handled yearly. There are upwards of three miles of side tracks and yet they are often crowded for lack of sufficient room.
The first store in the village was built by Willard Stratton, who did a small mercantile business. He was succeeded by Henry Baird, who found the business to be neither very extensive nor profitable. C. H. Engle says that Baird told him that a mouse that he had tried in vain to catch had eaten up all his profits, and, adds Mr. Engle, "I believed it."
In 1858 Cyrus Boynton opened. a store in the Rassette House. He brought on a large number of sacks of coffee and some other goods. After he had been doing business for a while he remarked
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that where he had kept store "out west" everybody wanted coffee and not much of anything else, but in Hartford they seemed to want everything else, but not much coffee.
The following incidents related by Mr. Engle are interesting and will not be out of place here: "Along in the sixties, during the time when we had state prohibition, Harvey Tamblin ran a groc- ery store and saloon near the present site of Bennett's hardware store. One evening an old soak known as Plutarch called at his place and wanted his quart bottle filled with whiskey. Tamblin refused, saying he had twice been fined by 'Squire Engle for sell- ing liquor in violation of law and that if he were to be again con- victed, he would be sent to jail sure.' Finally he told him that if he would not take the bottle out of his pocket until he was five miles from town, he would fill it for him.
" 'Oh, Mr. Tamblin, you are a good man, I will not touch it in ten miles of Hartford,' said old Plutarch. Tamblin then filled the bottle with kerosene and blackberry juice. The old fellow put it into his pocket saying, 'and sure Mr. Tamblin, you are a good man and I'll not betray you,' and started east in the direction of the village of Lawrence.
"Tamblin, anxious to witness the result, followed him. Plu- tarch went but a short distance when he sat himself down in a fence corner. Tamblin unnoticed crawled into an adjacent cor- ner. Plutarch took out the bottle, saying 'Ah, my good friend, it is you and I for it now,' and began to guzzle down the mixture; but as he got a fair taste of the dose he began to gag and spit; then holding up the bottle in the light of the full moon, in won- der and surprise he said, 'Will the Gott of the universe tell me what that is?'
"In 1861, after our first soldiers had gone to the front, several boys from thirteen to fifteen years of age used to parade the the streets with fife and drum, as the soldiers had done before them. During the last years of the war most of these boys enlisted. I swore them into the service and I do not know one of them that lived to return home. I can never recall this sad fact without say- ing in my heart, 'Oh, the cruelty of war.' "
"During the war," continued Mr. Engle, "I was called on to marry a couple some distance north of the village. The groom ar- rived on the scene very late in the evening, and then astonished and disappointed the bridal party by refusing to marry the girl. I asked him what he meant by such action. He started for the door and beckoned me to follow. When we were on the outside he said he was engaged to the girl before the breaking out of the war, but so many had enlisted that men were getting scarce and, said he, 'I am now sure I can do better.' I was dumfounded and
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told him that there was no punishment known to the law that was adequate to his case. I learned afterward that he was drafted and hustled off to the front, but it was near the close of the war, and he soon returned home and had the cheek to again ask that girl's hand in marriage; but the plucky maiden replied, 'No, sir, the volunteer boys are now home and I can do better.' "
EDUCATIONAL AND PROFESSIONAL
The first school in what is now the village district was taught by Miss Antoinette Stoughton, in the dwelling house of Harvey Tamblin. The first schoolhouse in the district was built the next year, by William Shepard.
The present schoolhouse was erected in 1903, at a cost of $16,- 000, besides fixtures which are all modern and up-to-date. It con-
HIGH SCHOOL, HARTFORD
tains ten commodious rooms, one of which is occupied by the Nor- mal class. The building is heated by two furnaces of modern type and is centrally located in a grove of three acres. The school ranks among the best of the graded schools of the county. Its graduates are admitted to the Michigan University on presentation of diploma and without additional examination. Under the man- agement of Professor George S. Foster, who has been its efficient superintendent for the past six years, the school has been ex- ceedingly prosperous. The official figures for the school year of 1910-11 reveal the following items: Number of pupils in dis- trict between the ages of five and twenty, 341; non-resident pu- pils attending school, sixty-eight; average daily attendance, 276;
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