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 60
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HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY
V
VIEW ON MAPLE LAKE, PAW PAW
LOG CABIN, MAPLE LAKE, PAW PAW
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from this place. It has not been practicable to ascertain the num- ber of cars that have been loaded at the station during the past year, but there are very few towns of its size in the state that have done as great business along this line as has Paw Paw.
There are upwards of thirty mercantile establishments in the village, including general stores, furnishing stores, furniture and undertaking; hardware and drug stores; wholesale and retail bak- ery, merchant tailoring establishment, cigar and tobacco stores, markets, millinery store, feed store, fruit and notion stores, etc. There are two newspapers, two banks, two hotels, two garages, three barbershops, five liveries, one of them an auto livery, an opera house, two restaurants, a moving picture theater, a telephone ex- change-local and long distance-a photograph studio, three physi- cians, three dental surgeons, one osteopathie practitioner and one chiropractic. Besides these there are the usual number of shops of various kinds, soda fountains and soft drink establishments in their season-no intoxicating beverages are dispensed, as Van Buren county has been prohibition territory for more than twenty- one years. Another unique industry has recently been established- the manufacture of "stiekum," a preparation intended to put around the bodies of trees and grape vines to prevent cut-worms and other crawling enemies from reaching the buds or fruit. It is a newly invented preparation and is manufactured in large quan- tities and meets a ready sale among the fruit-growers.
Paw Paw was the first village founded in the county, and with the exception of the city of South Haven that had the advantage of being a lake port within less than eighty miles from the great city of Chicago, it has always remained at the head of the list of Van Buren county towns, both in wealth and in population. The census of 1910 gave it 1,643 inhabitants, Decatur being the second in size with 1,268.
It is no exaggeration to say that there is no handsomer town, great or small, in the entire state of Michigan. Lying as it does on either side of beautiful Maple Lake, its highways all bordered on each side with rows of magnificent maples, planted by the first settlers of the place, and which have grown to such size that, in the summer time, they completely arch the streets, so that a birds- eye view of the town, which may be had from the pinnacle of the courthouse, is like looking down upon a forest, with the clear water of the lake sparkling in the rays of sunlight. It has miles of graveled streets and cement walks, a drive around the lake, fine public buildings, modern residences and all the up-to-date con- veniences of twentieth century life. One over-enthusiastic visitor, on viewing the beauties of. the place, exclaimed "Paw Paw! Paw
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Paw! You ought to change the name. You should call it Para- dise !"
And yet there are persons still living who were born years be- fore a white man ever saw the place, before there was any such place as Paw Paw, before there was any Van Buren county ; yes, before the soil of the county was ever trod by the foot of a white man, when the Indian and the wild beasts of the primeval forest that covered the land were its only inhabitants. The changes that have been wrought are simply wonderful. And it is all owing to those indomitable old pioneers whose labors insured to us, their descendants, this beautiful heritage.
"Brave men of old, we'll surely own The greatness of your fame, We know, to you and you alone, We owe the joys we claim."
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CHAPTER XXXII
TOWNSHIP OF PINE GROVE
TOWNSHIP ORGANIZED-SHINGLES AS LEGAL TENDERS-MARITAL AND LEGAL-KALAMAZOO AND SOUTH HAVEN RAILROAD-GENERAL PROGRESS-GOBLEVILLE-PINE GROVE -- KENDALL-MENTHA.
When the ancient township of Clinch was first organized, seventy- five years ago, the territory embraced by the present township of Pine Grove was an unbroken wilderness without a single civilized inhabitant. At that time Van Buren county consisted of but seven townships, Clinch, situated in the northwest corner of the county, being twelve miles square and embracing the present town- ships of Pine Grove, Almena, Bloomingdale and Waverly. In 1842 the township was divided, the name "Clinch" passing into oblivion. The west half, after such division, was called Almena and the east half Waverly. These two newly formed townships were each six miles in width and twelve miles in length. There was quite a number of settlers in the south end of these two town- ships at the time of such division, and the non-resident owners of lands in the north part were taxed to help build schoolhouses and cut out roads in the south-end settlements. This matter of taxation came near leading to serious difficulty a few years later, when people began rapidly to settle in the territory that now comprises the township of Pine Grove. In 1849 the land owners and pioneer settlers of the "north woods," as the country was then designated, came to the conclusion that it would be preferable for them to have a township of their own so that the taxes paid by them might be expended in their own vicinity. The feeling over this question of taxation was very bitter and became so intense, just after the township of Pine Grove was organized, that a suit was threatened to be instituted against the township of Almena to recover a pro rata portion of the taxes that had been previously paid. This liti- gation was averted only because the township records of Almena mysteriously disappeared, leaving no basis upon which such action might be founded.
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TOWNSHIP ORGANIZED
By act of the legislature of 1849 township number one south of range number thirteen west was set off from Almena and or- ganized into the township of Pine Grove. The first town-meeting was directed to be held at the house of Henry F. Bowen, in said township, at which election the following named officers were chosen ; Supervisor, .Charles M. Morrill; township treasurer, Aaron S. Dyckman; township clerk, DeWitt C. Loekman; justices of the peace, Henry F. Bowen, De Witt C. Lockman, Thomas Southard and Horace H. Hadley ; highway commissioners, Evart B. D. Hicks, Peter Valleau and Uriah Stevens; school inspectors, Chauncey B. Palmer and Ephraim Taylor ; constables, John Pettibone, Benjamin P. Walcott, Robert Love and James Clark. The voters evinced their public spirit by making an appropriation of $400, one half for general purposes and the other half for the improvement of the highways. This was a very generous provision for the few voters embraced within the township at that time.
SHINGLES AS LEGAL TENDER
The first settlement within the limits of the township was made in 1836 by William Stone, the first white man who ever lived within its boundaries. Harrison Stevens visited the locality in 1837 and found Mr. Stone with his wife occupying a log house in the center of a little clearing where the village of Pine Grove is now situated. At that date there were several shingle camps in the vicinity, the manufacture of shingles being one of the in- dustries of that day. These so-called "shaved shingles" were made in the most primitive manner, the pine timber that abounded in the vicinity being split into bolts which were again split into the proper thickness with a frow and afterwards shaved to an edge with a drawing knife; a saw, an axe, a frow, a drawing knife and a shaving bench being all the tools or implements re- quired by these "shingle weavers" as they were called. The manufacture was not quite as rapid a process as by modern methods, but the finished product was of much better quality than could be turned out in any other way.
A road had been "blazed" through from Paw Paw to Allegan and each year a portion was being chopped out on the Paw Paw end of it, so that by 1844 a considerable part was cut out for the first seven miles; and that year there was a strip chopped and logged from Brandywine corners to within a mile south of the present village of Gobleville. At that time there were not more than a half a dozen clearings from Paw Paw along the entire route.
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As an illustration of the manner of life in those pioneer days, there was not a stove in the township previous to 1844 and some of the early settlers occupied their cabins for years without other floor than the surface of "mother earth."
Several families having come into the township during the year 1844, it was decided that a schoolhouse had become a necessity. Schoolhouses were about the first things considered by the pioneers after they had secured shelter for themselves and cleared a little spot of ground sufficient to produce bread and vegetables for family use. A site was selected within the boundaries of what is now the village of Gobleville, a well was dug by Henry Whelpley and Daniel G. Robinson; the next year a "bee" was made and a log schoolhouse, sixteen by twenty feet, was built near the well, and that year a two months' term of school was taught in the new house, by Miss Elizabeth Hoffman, who was paid the sum of one dollar and twenty-five cents per week for "teaching the young idea how to shoot." She also taught the winter term of 1846-7, her immediate pedagogical successors being Hiram Houghton and Julia Barber. The residents of the school district when the first school was opened were Peter T. Valleau, William Story, John Coffinger, Henry Moore, Samuel Robinson and Al. Greaves.
The first writing-school ever held in the township was held in this schoolhouse and was taught by Mr. Gale of Paw Paw. His charge was half a thousand shingles per pupil for the term, shingles at that time being practically a legal tender.
The first Sunday school was held in this same schoolhouse in 1854. It was called the "North Woods Sunday School" and was instituted by Elder Barney of Kalamazoo. Mr. Barber was the superintendent.
A saw mill was started in 1848 by Messrs. Morrill & Dyckman on section thirty-two, since known as "Old Pine Grove," and a store was opened at the same time, the first store in the township. The settlers had been doing their trading at different places, and although they needed but comparatively few supplies, it was not easy to obtain them, as shingles were practically the only circulat- ing medium. On occasion the whole neighborhood would unite in the purchase of a barrel of salt, which they could buy at St. Joseph at that time for six dollars, and a barrel of pork for forty dollars, and it required a week to drive to that town and return.
A second schoolhouse was built at "Old Pine Grove," the first school being taught there in 1849, with Miss Selina Downing as the teacher.
Vol. I-38
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MARITAL AND LEGAL
The first marriage in the township was on the 29th day of July, 1849, the contracting parties being David Barrington and Emily Gray. The ceremony was performed by Thomas Southard, justice of the peace. The boys from far and near gathered and, as was the custom of those days, gave the newly wedded pair a rousing charivari, or as it was then popularly called, a "horning." The occasion was marred by a most unfortunate accident, James Clark being wounded in the breast by a shot from a gun in the hands of Bob Ivey. The gun was heavily loaded with powder and wad and the matter was very serious. Mr. Clark, however, recovered from his wound, which was probably a good thing for the boys, as well as a great satisfaction to them. They were so frightened over the matter that they omitted the customary ceremony when De Witt C. Lockman and Miss Jane Y. Stevens were married only four days afterward.
The first law suit in the township was when Jim Hall was ar- rested on a charge of misusing his wife. He had pulled her bon- net off her head and added insult to injury by actually kicking it. Just think of a man daring to kick a woman's head gear! The case was tried before Justice Newel Nash, A. P. Conant and G. R. Palmer acted as prosecuting attorneys, while Mr. Condlin appeared for the defense. This matter was the occasion of a good deal of excitement and a large part of the community were sworn as witnesses on the trial. The magistrate found the re- spondent guilty and imposed a fine of ten dollars, but as he did not know what disposition to make of the money, he gave it to the woman in the case thus keeping the cash in the family.
A saw-mill was built by the Clements in 1852, located about a mile and a half east of the present village of Gobleville, and a schoolhouse was built in the same neighborhood the next year, Miss Mary E. Murray being the first teacher at a salary of $1.50 per week. It will be noticed that teachers' wages were advancing.
In 1854 Levi Thayer, Henry Whelpley and Philip Strong took the job of cutting out the Paw Paw and Allegan road for a fur- ther distance of three miles north and also a similar job on the road running east through what is now the village of Pine Grove. Seth Munn was killed by a falling tree while working on that job, about a mile north of what was known as Camfield's corners.
In 1864, Messrs. Kendall, Thistle and Arms bought a tract of pine land three and one half miles west of Gobleville and built a saw mill and stave mill and opened a store and the surrounding country began a rapid development. This enterprise was the beginning of the present flourishing village of Kendall, which has
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grown up around the site first occupied by these improvements of the above named firm.
KALAMAZOO AND SOUTH HAVEN RAILROAD
The Kalamazoo and South Haven Railroad, a branch of the Michigan Central, passing through the township from east to west, was completed in 1870 and has been a large factor in the prosperity and development of the township. The taxpayers con- tributed liberally to this enterprise, voting to bond the township in the sum of $12,000 to aid in the construction of the road. These bonds were issued in 1869, bearing interest at the rate of ten per cent, payable annually. One half that rate is now the legal rate in Michigan, although as high as seven per cent may be taken by special contract.
Some of these bonds becoming overdue and remaining unpaid, suit was brought in the Federal court for the western district of Michigan to recover the sum due and unpaid on certain of the bonds. The supreme court of the state had held and still holds the doctrine that statutes authorizing such aid are unconstitutional and it was thought that any tax levied for the payment of such bonds would be invalid. The court rendered judgment in favor of the bondholders and the case was appealed to the supreme court of the United States where the judgment of the lower court was affirmed, the federal courts holding exactly the opposite doctrine from that enunciated by the state court. And so the bonds were eventually all paid, together with the costs assessed against the township a tax levied to satisfy the judgment rendered by the highest court in America was entirely legal, even if a tax to pay the bonds were invalid. It was rather a costly way to "whip the devil around the stump," so to speak, but it probably could not have been avoided. The same course was adopted afterward by the township of Paw Paw, which had issued similar bonds in aid of another railroad enterprise, except that the township made no defense and permitted judgment to be rendered against it.
There are no important streams in Pine Grove, but it contains numerous small lakes, the principal ones being, Clear, Long, Musk- rat, Brandywine, Pond Lily, Story, Duck, Twin and North, the latter being partly in the township of Almena. Some of these are beautiful sheets of water, pure and clear, and are well stocked with fish of various species.
GENERAL PROGRESS
The citizens of the township have given much attention to the matter of good roads and claim to have more miles of graveled high-
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ways than any other township in the county and propose to con- tinue the good work.
As an exemplification of the great progress that has been made along educational lines, as well as in other directions, since the primitive days when teachers' salary was a dollar a week, board around, take shingles for pay and collect wages by rate bill, the following educational statistics are interesting: At the enumera- tion of pupils in 1911, there were found to be in the township 343 persons between the ages of five and twenty; 993 volumes in the district libraries; ten school houses; school property valued at $8,900; no district indebtedness; twelve teachers employed, who taught an aggregate of 102 months and received in salaries the sum of $4,821. There was paid to the township from the primary school fund of the state during the current year the sum of $2,580.
The first general election in the township was held November 6, 1849, at which sixteen votes were polled. At the presidential elec- tion of 1852, twenty-seven freemen registered their will at the ballot box, nineteen of them voting for Pierce, Democrat, and eight of them for Scott, Whig. At the last presidential election held after a lapse of fifty-six years, 330 votes were cast, 211 of them for Taft, Republican; 104 for Bryan, Democrat; thirteen for Chafin, Prohibitionist, and two for Debs, Socialist.
The majestic forests, the beautiful "pine groves" from which the township derives its name, have all disappeared, and in their stead are now to be seen highly cultivated farms, fields and or- chards, modern residences and all that pertains to the comforts and luxuries of life in this twentieth century-a period that bids fair to mark the most wonderful epoch since the fiat of the Al- mighty spoke this world of ours into existence.
The township divides honors with Covert for the eighth place among the townships of the county, each having at the last census, 1.522 inhabitants. At the assessment of 1849, the first taken after the township was organized, the valuation of the town was $16,222 and the taxes spread on the roll were $443.82. In 1911 the assess- ment was $606,635, and the township taxes were $10,512.60. The township takes rank as 12th in point of wealth.
GOBLEVILLE
The village of Gobleville, which is situated partly within the township of Pine Grove and partly within the township of Bloom- ingdale, is mentioned more particularly in the history of the latter township. The Methodist church there spoken of is on the Pine Grove side of the line, as are one of the telephone exchanges, the flouring mill, printing office, quite a number of the business
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places, etc. The principal street of the village runs through the business portion of the town, on the line between the two town- ships, dividing it into two nearly equal parts.
PINE GROVE
Pine Grove is a small hamlet (unincorporated) on the line of the railroad, one mile east of Gobleville. It contains a couple of stores and a blacksmith-shop.
KENDALL
Kendall is another station on the line of the South Haven divi- sion of the Michigan Central Railroad, about three miles east of Gobleville. It was platted in the winter of 1870, by Lucius B. Ken- dall (from whom it takes its name) and others. When the town was founded the railroad had just reached that point from Kala- mazoo, and for some time thereafter it was a place of considerable importance. At the present time it contains about 200 inhabitants. It has a fine brick town hall, and one church, the Congregational, with a membership of about thirty. The house of worship is built of brick and will seat about 200 people. There are also several secret societies-the Knights and Ladies of Maccabees, the Glean- ers and Yeomen. The Maccabees have a hall, but the Ladies meet in the town hall. The principal business places consist of two gen- eral stores, a postoffice, a feed-mill and two blacksmith shops. The town has never been incorporated.
MENTHA
Mentha, two miles east of Kendall and on the same line of rail- road, is a place of recent origin. Perhaps, as yet, it can hardly be classed as a village, although it is a regular station on the line of the road. It owes its existence, as well as its name, to the fact that it is situated in one of the greatest peppermint produc- ing regions of the world.
The country 'round about was originally a swamp, and re- mained for many years wholly unimproved. The situation at- tracted the attention of Hon. A. M. Todd, of Kalamazoo, who has acquired the well deserved title of the world's "Peppermint King." The swamp has been ditched and drained and is now one of the greatest peppermint-producing sections in existence. The oil is distilled on the premises and brings very remunerative prices. There are also raised on portions of this same swamp land im- mense quantities of onions. Once considered practically worthless, these lands are now among the most valuable in the county.
CHAPTER XXXIII
TOWNSHIP OF PORTER
FIRST SETTLEMENTS AND SETTLERS-THE KINNEY SETTLEMENT -.- THE ADAMS FAMILY-TOWNSHIP NAMED AND ORGANIZED-EDUCA- TIONAL AND POLITICAL-A RETROSPECT.
The township of Porter is situated in the southeastern corner of Van Buren county and is officially known as township number four south, of range number fifteen west. Its boundaries are the town- ship of Antwerp on the north, Kalamazoo county on the east, Cass county on the south and the township of Decatur on the west. The township boasts of no postoffice ; it has no village within its boundaries, but has one flourishing general store and two churches, both of the Protestant Methodist denomination. Its enterprising citizens are practically all engaged in agriculture and horticulture, raising hay and grain and growing large quantities of fruit of the finest quality. In these respects it is unexcelled by any town in the entire county. It is watered almost wholly by numerous small lakes, which in the spring and summer are like gems of crystal set in frames of emerald. The largest and more important of these beautiful sheets of sparkling water are Bank- son's, Huzzy, Grass, Cedar and Gravel lakes.
FIRST SETTLEMENT AND SETTLERS
The first settlement within the boundaries of Porter township was made in 1833 when Abner Mack located a portion of section 13 and built himself a cabin upon it. Mr. Mack did not long re- main a resident of the township, but made an exchange with Jonas Barber for land in the county of Kalamazoo and moved away. In 1835 James Young, his half-sister, Elizabeth Gibson, and her sons, Washington and Robert, moved from Prairie Ronde and settled on section fourteen, bordering on Bankson's lake.
THE KINNEY SETTLEMENT
The founder of that portion of the township, for many years known as the "Kinney settlement," was Elijah Kinney, who came
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from Ohio in 1835 with a large family. Nelson and Sanford Corey came in 1836 and were employed by others until 1840, when each purchased land on section twenty-six. Among the pioneers at the Kinney settlement in 1836 were George Wilson and Matthew Lewis. Stephen Kinney, brother of Elijah, came from Ohio in 1838 with a family of eight children. Another of the settlers at that time was Moses Monroe, who was considered to be the most useful man in the settlement. He was the only mechanic among them and would turn his hand to anything from carpentry to shoe-making, being exceedingly clever at any kind of mechanical work. Luke Munger came to the township in 1840 and James Maxam in 1844. Menasseh Kern located on section thirteen, in 1846. His neigh- bors at that time were the Wilsons, Longcors, Harpers and Lockes. S. V. T. Bradt came in 1848 and the same year Jacob Markle set- tled on section three. In 1852 William H. McLain came from St. Joseph county and located on section fifteen.
Settlements in the central part of the township were made as early as 1835, when Benjamin Reynolds came from Ohio with a large family and located one hundred and sixty acres on section fifteen. Daniel Alexander, also from Ohio, bought two hundred acres of government land in 1836, on sections twenty, twenty-nine and thirty. In the summer of 1836 Roderick Bell settled near Gravel lake, whither also came the next year Nathan Cook, George Freese and John B. Compton. About 1840 came Thomas Alexan- der and the Nelsons, the latter of whom sold out to Silas Gould and moved away. In January, 1840, John Van Sickle, Elias Har- mon and Jacob Stilwell came into the town and settled there, and in the spring of 1840 L. H. Weldin located on section twenty- eight.
John Nesbitt, originally one of the pioneers of the township of Keeler where he and his brother turned the first furrow in 1834, came to Porter in 1837 and bought land on section five. In 1846 Mr. Nesbitt changed his location to section nine where he spent the remainder of his life.
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