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 61
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As an indication of the newness of the country, even at that date, it might be noted that when Mr. Nesbitt moved to his new farm in 1846, he was compelled to make his own road, while his wife drove the ox team that was hauling his worldly goods and chattels. Isaac Hall, father of James H. Hall, came to Porter in 1842, and his brother Amos in 1846. They located near Grass and Cedar lakes. The other settlers in that neighborhood at that time were Silas Gould, L. H. Weldin and David Gilson. Thomas Fletcher, a Virginian, came into the township soon afterward. Samuel D. Harper came in 1843, and Jeremiah Barker, a New
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Yorker, came in 1845, with his family, and settled on section nine. In 1848 Mr. A. H. Hathaway settled in the township.
THE ADAMS FAMILY
Horace H. Adams and family were likewise among the earlier settlers of the township, locating on section thirteen about the year 1837. He lived but few years after coming to Porter, but during his life he took a prominent part in the affairs of the new township, being one of the first justices of the peace elected and afterwards serving as supervisor. He was the father of the late Franklin B. Adams, one of the prominent business men of Law- ton and who was at one time president of The Toledo and South Haven Railroad Company. At the time of his death in 1910, in his eighty-fourth year, he was Porter's oldest pioneer.
Mr. Adams would occasionally relate to his intimate friends in- cidents of those early days that were of great interest. Among them is the following, which is worthy of preservation: Some time about the year 1840, in pursuance with treaty stipulations the government began to gather the Indians, preparatory to removing them to then far west; that is, beyond the Mississippi River. Mr. Adams related that a stockade or corral had been constructed near his father's place in which the Indians of the region were gathered together, under the direction and charge of a young officer of the United States Army named Rosecrans. This same young officer afterward became known to the world as General W. S. Rosecrans of Civil war fame.
Harvey Barker, one of the pioneer preachers of the county, settled in the township in 1839, erected a cabin and at once began improvements on the land he had entered. His place became the head-quarters for the circuit riders of those early days. His son, Wesley T. Barker, himself a pioneer, a lad of about four years at the time he came to Michigan, is yet a resident of the township.
TOWNSHIP NAMED AND ORGANIZED
For a number of years Porter formed a part of the township of Decatur, from which it was set off in 1845. To Mrs. Harriet (Cook) Van Antwerp belongs the honor of naming the new town- ship. After it had been decided to divide the township of Deca- tur, a consultation was held at the residence of her father. Nathan Cook, to decide upon a name. At that time Miss Cook was very much interested in reading Cooper's "Naval Heroes" and, im- pressed by the career of Commodore Porter, she suggested that as Decatur had been named in honor of one naval hero, the new township should likewise honor Commodore Porter. This sug-
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gestion on the part of the young lady commended itself to those who had the matter in charge and was immediately adopted. Ad- miral Porter, who rendered such distinguished service in the Civil war, was a son of Commodore Porter from whom the township takes its name.
The first township meeting held in the newly organized town- ship was held on the first Monday of April, 1845, at the school- house near the residence of Benjamin Reynolds, at which the fol- lowing named officers were chosen: Supervisor, Harvey Barker ; township clerk. Isaac Hall; school inspectors, Warren S. Corey and Harvey Barker; commissioners of highways, William L. Bar- ker, John Nesbitt and William J. Finch; justices of the peace, Harvey Barker, Samuel D. Harper and H. H. Adams; directors of the poor, Ira Harman and Benjamin Reynolds; constables, Miles Van Sickle, John Bennett and Richard Wilson.
Porter is situated in the midst of the celebrated fruit belt of western Michigan and produces large quantities of the finest quality of fruit of various kinds. It might be said that it was one of the pioneer townships in the development of grape culture, a business that has grown into enormous magnitude in Van Buren county. At present there are several thousand acres of vineyard in the township, and the production of that delectable fruit amounts annually to several hundred thousand baskets.
EDUCATIONAL AND POLITICAL
The first school teacher that anybody seems to remember was Warren S. Corey, a brother of Nelson Corey, who taught a school in the Kinney settlement.
The official returns of educational matters for the school year of 1910-11 shows the following facts relative to the township : Total number of persons of school age (between five and twenty), 171; number of schoolhouses, nine; estimated value of school property, $6,100; indebtedness, none; number of teachers employed during the year, eleven; aggregate number of months of school, seventy-four ; sum paid for teachers' salaries, $2,318.
The first general election was held in the township on the fourth day of November, 1845, at which thirty votes were cast for the office of governor of the state; nineteen Democratic, ten Whig and one Free-Soil.
At the presidential election of 1908, 219 votes were cast: 157 for Taft, Republican; fifty-nine for Bryan, Democrat; two for Chafin, Prohibitionist, and one for Debs, Socialist.
The federal census of 1910 gives the population of Porter as
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994, being the sixteenth township in point of numbers, Almena and Hamilton only having a less number of inhabitants.
The assessment of 1846, the next year after the organization of the township, gives the township a valuation of $28,600 and the total tax for that year amounted to $335.92.
For the current year the valuation of the township was $762,950 and the total tax spread upon the roll was the sum of $12,752.79. In point of wealth Porter takes rank as the tenth township of the county.
The following named gentlemen have served the township in the capacity of supervisor: Harvey Barker, Uri Kinney, John Mc- Kinney, Orrin Sisson, Menasseh Kern, Luther Kinney, W. S. Corey, Asahel Bryant, Sanford Corey, John Barker, Chauncey Hollister, William Anderson, Franklin B. Adams, Orsimus Will- iams, Charles A. Van Riper, John C. McLain, Elijah Warner, George D. Boyce, John Marshall, John H. Cornish, and Elver E. Waldron (present incumbent). Supervisors J. Barker, S. Corey and Warner, each served three years; Supervisors Mckinney, Boyce and McLain, each four years; Supervisor Williams, five years; Supervisor Cornish, eight years; Supervisor Marshall, nine years, and the present supervisor, Waldron, is now serving his sixth successive year.
A RETROSPECT
We can scarcely realize the changes that time has wrought since the formation of this township. It seems hardly possible when we see the fine modern residences and magnificent farms, the beauti- ful orchards and the splendid vineyards which now cover the land- scape, that there are yet living people who knew the township when it was practically an unbroken wilderness ; people who toiled and endured privation in order to make possible the comforts and luxuries enjoyed by the present generation. We can hardly realize that when the first settlements were made in Porter, Chicago ex- isted only in name; railroads were wholly unknown, except a few short experimental lines near the eastern seaboard; telegraphs were undreamed of; Michigan was yet a territory, and all the inven- tions that have been brought forth during the past seventy-five years-inventions that contribute so much to the convenience and comfort of modern life-had remained undiscovered since the world began. It scarcely seems possible that those hardy pioneers who made the wilderness blossom as the rose had to come with teams from their eastern homes, weeks being required for the journey that can now be made in palatial cars in a few hours ! When we think of the indomitable courage displayed and the hard- `ships endured by these early settlers of our beautiful county we cannot but exclaim, "All honor to the old pioneers!"
CHAPTER XXXIV
TOWNSHIP OF SOUTHI HAVEN .
EARLY ELECTIONS AND OFFICIALS-PROPERTY AND POPULATION- JAY R. MONROE, FIRST WHITE SETTLER-CLARK AND DANIEL PIERCE-A. S. DYCKMAN'S STORY-PIONEER STEAM SAWMILLS- FIRST INSTITUTIONS AND PIONEERS-VILLAGE (NOW CITY) OF SOUTH HAVEN-THE SUMMER RESORT BUSINESS-SCHOOLS, CHURCHES AND SOCIETIES-MUNICIPAL AND BUSINESS MATTERS- POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY AND BOARD OF TRADE.
The township of South Haven, as originally organized in 1837 by an act of the first legislature after the admission of Michigan into the Union, comprised the present townships of South Haven, Geneva, Columbia, Covert and Bangor and it was not until October, 1855, when the board of supervisors adopted a resolution setting off and organizing the township of Deerfield, now Covert, that the township was made to consist only of its present territory, township number one south, of range number seventeen west.
It contains eighteen full sections and seven fractional sections along the shore of the lake. It is bounded on the north by Allegan county, on the east by the township of Geneva, on the south by Covert and on the west by Lake Michigan. Along the shore of the lake are bluffs from thirty to fifty feet in height, which were orig- inally crowned with forests of hemlock and pine. Its principal stream is Black river, which flows across the northern part of the township and empties into the lake at the city of South Haven.
EARLY ELECTIONS AND OFFICIALS
At the first town meeting held in the township as first organized, the records show that Charles U. Cross was elected clerk, Silas Breed, supervisor, and Amos S. Brown, Charles U. Cross, Jay R. Monroe and Silas Breed, justices of the peace. If any other officers were chosen, the record does not disclose their names, notwith- standing the fact that the statute in existence at that time pro- vided for assessors, highway commissioners, etc.
The names of the supervisors of the township for the years 1837
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TYPICAL SOUTH HAVEN ORCHARDS
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and 1838, are not to be found on the official records of the county. With the exception of those two years the following is the list of the names of the gentlemen who have served in that capacity : Silas Breed, William H. Hurlbut, Jesse Ball, Mansel M. Briggs, William B. Hathaway, Randolph Densmore, Aaron S. Dyckman, Barney H. Dyckman, Stephen B. Morehouse, Kirk W. Noyes, George B. Pomeroy, John Andrews, Charles J. Monroe, Albert Thompson, Samuel P. Wilson, David F. Moore, Benjamin F. Hunt, Henry E. Dewey, James H. Johnson, John S. Malbone, Milford T. French, Clarence E. Place and Orlo Westgate. Those who filled the office for more than two years were Malbone, three years; Hunt, Wilson and Dewey, each four years; Northrup, Hurlbut, Noyes and John- son, each five years, and Westgate, the present incumbent, who is now serving his fifth consecutive year.
At the first election for county officers, which was held in April, 1837, there were ten votes cast in the township. The poll list of the township at the next general election, held on Monday and Tues- day, November 5 and 6, 1837 (elections were held on two successive days at that early date), was as follows: John Smith, William Taylor, James T. Hard, Russell Gillman, Silas Breed, Amos S. Brown, Jonathan N. Howard, Charles U. Cross, Reuben L. Ackley, Cornelius Osterhout, Myron Hoskins and William N. Babbitt. The vote for governor at that election was Stevens T. Mason 4, Charles C. Trowbridge 7.
At the first presidential election, held in 1840, twenty-nine bal- lots were polled, twenty Democratic and nineteen Whig. At the general election of 1908. there were cast, including both township and city, 1,006 votes. The vote of the township was as follows: Taft, Republican, 148; Bryan, Democrat, forty-six; Chafin, Prohi- bitionist, six; Debs, Socialist, six. In the city, which is located wholly within the boundaries of the township, the vote was as fol- lows: Taft, 512; Bryan, 211; Chafin, twenty-eight; Debs, forty- six ; Hisgen, Independent, three.
PROPERTY AND POPULATION
The assessed valuation of the township in 1856. the first assess- ment taken after it was organized as at present, was $100,558, and the taxes spread on the roll for that year were $1,941.14. The assessed valuation for 1911, including the same territory (both city and township), was $2,429,359; that is, the wealth of the people has been multiplied twenty-four and one-half times in fifty- five years.
The total of taxes spread on the roll in 1856 was the sum of $1,941.14. In 1911 the tax, including town and city, was $44,-
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956.19. In point of wealth, the township of South Haven, ex- clusive of the city, ranks as fourteenth among the townships of the county ; including the city, it stands at the head of the list by more than $800,000.
The population of the township, outside the city, as given in the census of 1910, was 1,218, the thirteenth township of the county in point of numbers.
JAY R. MONROE, FIRST WHITE SETTLER
For many of the facts given in the following sketch of the pioneer history of the township the writer desires to acknowledge his obli- gation to Hon. A. S. Dyckman, who embodied them in a paper read before the Van Buren County Pioneer Association in 1894.
Father Marquette and other adventurous missionaries had coasted the eastern shore of Lake Michigan; United States sur- veyors had meandered every navigable stream, cut the land into squares and driven sectional stakes, witnessed by letters and fig- ures inscribed upon living tree bodies. Otherwise there was an unbroken forest, occupied by the red man and by wild beasts and fowls.
Into this vast wilderness came a young man, a "land looker" from the White mountains of New Hampshire, following an In- dian trail, through gulches, across fords, over the hills and through the valleys, alone, perhaps repeating to himself the words of the poet
"Oh, for a lodge in some vast wilderness, Some boundless contiguity of space;"
and, having reached his destination, looking for one inspiring mo- ment out upon the waters of the grand old lake, and then going down to the beach-the sandy, gravelly beach-to pick up speci- mens of coral, agate and shell; and then, mayhap, while the last rays of the setting sun, which was sinking to rest in the blue waves beyond, were glimmering and glancing through the leaves of the forest that bordered the beach, standing, perhaps, on the river bluff, watching the waters that eddied and foamed and swirled about the boughs of the giant hemlocks that drooped into the rippling waters beneath :- Possibly his attention was arrested by the shrill cry of the whip-poor-will, the lonesome "too-whoo" of the owl, or the dismal howl of the prowling wolf, coming to his listening ears from out of the shadowy, darkening forests through which his course had led him. Possibly he exclaimed "Here, right here, is the fair site of a future city. I will enter into this, the promised . land, and on this bluff overlooking the great waters, now kissed by the glory of the good-night sun, will I build my cabin."
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And so it was fulfilled, for this young explorer was the pioneer white settler of South Haven, afterward prominent in the history of the county and known to the people as Judge Jay R. Monroe, whose name is closely linked with the development of this part of the state and whose honored descendants yet occupy prominent positions among their fellow citizens of this great county-a county which, in many respects, is second to none in the Peninsular state.
It was in 1831, six years before the state of Michigan was born, that young Monroe arrived at the present site of the flourishing city of South Haven, now the metropolis of Van Buren county. Four years later, the "Monroe" road was located by him, in conjunction with Charles U. Cross and Rodney Hinckley. This road ran direct from South Haven to Big Prairie Ronde, the shortest thoroughfare from the fertile grain fields of the interior to the prospective South Haven harbor.
CLARK AND DANIEL PIERCE
But the advent of the Michigan Central Railroad, sweeping around the southern extremity of Lake Michigan opened up a new and more speedy line of traffic and destroyed the prospective benefit and importance of the Monroe road, a great portion of which has been taken up and relaid on the section lines.
Clark Pierce, one of the first to permanently settle in this part of Van Buren county, located on this road some seven miles out from the lake. He came in 1838, his brother Daniel, accompany- ing him. He built his cabin on section number fourteen of this township and began to clear up a farm. Daniel was a mighty hunter and coined money by shooting wolves and disposing of their scalps for the bounty of thirteen dollars each. But the wolves also hunted Daniel and would, no doubt have eaten him, but for the batten door of "shakes" securely barred. As evidence of this, it is reported that one night they devoured his boots which he had inadvertently left outside the cabin door. After this experi- ence Daniel left Michigan, tested his luck on the golden shores of the Pacific, on the rich grain lands of Kalamazoo county and on the no less fertile prairies of Wisconsin, but eventually returned to the old South Haven homestead where he spent his declining years until the final summons came for him to "go up higher." He died February 24, 1882, aged seventy-four years.
In the fall of 1838, a vessel, the "La Porte" commanded by Cap- tain Webster, was wrecked at the South Haven harbor. Clark Pierce transported their baggage to Paw Paw, while the sailors themselves, made the journey on foot.
On the 18th day of November, 1840, the two masted schooner,
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"Florida," hailing from Buffalo and bound for Milwaukee, went on the beach just north of the mouth of the river. A terrible snow storm was raging and the crew nearly perished in finding their way to Bangor. The vessel was laden with apples and hardware. W. H. Hurlbut, who lived at Bangor at that time, afterward planted an orchard of seedlings from the apples procured from this vessel. One of the trees proved to be very valuable, producing a large, yellow, fall apple, with a slight blush on the sunny side and having a pleasant, sub-acid flavor. Mr. Hurlbut named the apple the "Florida," in commemoration of the wrecked vessel.
About 1841 an attempt was made to establish a postoffice at South Haven. Mr. Harrison of Gourdneck Prairie was to bring the mail weekly and Daniel Pierce was appointed as postmaster, but refused to act in that capacity. In those early days it would seem the office sought the man instead of the man the office as is the method pursued in these modern times.
In 1845 Louis A. Booth and Clark Pierce, with his wife and two sons, A. J. and Irving, became possessed of the Monroe cabin and proceeded to erect the first frame house ever built in the town- ship. They brought the necessary lumber from Uncle Jimmie Hale's, fifteen miles down the lake and from Breedsville, and on the 18th day of July in that year, the new residence was occu- pied by Mr. Pierce and his family.
In the winter of 1845, Dr. Abbott, of the city of New York, visited the place and made preparation for building a mill near the mouth of the river, but for some unexplained reason the enterprise was a failure and the material was shipped away.
A. S. DYCKMAN'S STORY
Several different parties occupied this house for brief periods, subsequent to its occupation by Mr. Pierce. In 1847 a Hollander by the name of Shawfinch lived in it, but left at the end of the season. Mr. Dyckman says that he first visited South Haven in the month of March, 1848, in company with Frank Bowen and Evart B. D. Hicks, and found shelter in this same house, which was then vacant, for two stormy days. A yawl was driven ashore containing two passengers, so that they had a party of five weather- bound adventurers. "We found," says Mr. Dyckman, "evidence of recent occupation in the hole of potatoes in the garden, the store of unshelled beans in the chamber, the culinary utensils, in- cluding a very useful dish kettle and numerous wooden shoes scat- tered about. On the first morning, which I think quite remarkable, two prairie chickens seemed to fly out of the stormy lake and light on a large whitewood tree standing near. Evart Hicks' rifle shot,
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as he stood by the door of the house, which brought down one of the birds, was equally remarkable. Our marine companions had salt pork, which, with the prairie chicken, the potatoes and the beans which Providence seemed to bestow (our manna in the wilderness) furnished an elegant stew, and a bunch of shaved shingles, for which we could see no other use, was drawn upon for plates and spoons.
"My cousin, since known as Capt. B. H. Dyckman, had written me from Cascade, Iowa, requesting an investigation of the probable profits if two young men should come here to engage in the wood trade between this port and Chicago. When you know that after the storm was over we could walk across the channel dry-shod, I need not tell you what my report recommended. As seemed likely, from the personal property remaining, the Holland families (I think there were two of them) returned here for another season's residence. During the summer of 1848 they had severe sickness and lost two of their children, who rest in unknown graves near the lake and river bluffs. This gave occasion for the exercise of the highest Christian charity. Mrs. Charles Hamlin, who had no horse, would walk four miles to McDowell's; thence she would ride MeDowell's horse, while he walked the remaining six miles, and they returned home in the same manner. This they did every day for two weeks, to wait upon the two sick families. They were certainly neighbors to the sick in the highest and most practical Christian sense."
The year 1849 was notable for the first Fourth of July celebration ever held in the township. Clark Pierce and his family, Mr. Wood and his wife and Mr. and Mrs. C. U. Cross, on an ox sled drawn by a team of horses came to this same vacant house, and there on the shady bluff overlooking the blue waters of Lake Michigan they dedicated the land to American Independence.
PIONEER STEAM SAWMILLS
In August, 1850, Joseph Sturgis, foreman for Marvin Hannahs, of Albion, Michigan, in company with Ai Blood, Joseph Dow and Horace Thomas, came down Black river from Jericho (a locality so called, in the present township of Geneva) cutting out the numer- ous obstructions in the stream until they emerged into the open meadow at the forks. Thence they floated along leisurely between the flower-crowned, forest-lined banks, describing Hogarth's "line of beauty" until they reached their destination on the river banks near the center of the present city of South Haven. Here they erected the first steam sawmill in the township, which afterward passed into the hands of Dyckman, Sturgis & Company, and which
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was eventually town down to give place to the (Quaker) Halleck mill, which never materialized. The story of how Mr. Halleck built a firm foundation for the proposed structure, how he shipped his machinery and merchandise from New York, all the way by water, through the St. Lawrence river and around the lakes, only to have it go to wreck and ruin on the beach south of St. Joseph, is a sad reminiscence in the history of South Haven. The name of Halleck should be remembered for what he attempted to do for the place. His failure was his misfortune and not his fault.
In 1852 Messrs, Alpha and Nelson Tubbs built another steam sawmill which was located on the north side of the river. The next winter, in February, 1853, A. S. Dyckman, Joseph S. Wagner and Warren Pratt arrived in South Haven laden with supplies for building another and larger mill on the south bank of the river on the point of land near where the river bridge now rests, and which was formerly used by the Indians as a landing place, convenient for reaching the sugar bushes and pure spring water to the south- east. The first partnership name was Dyckman, Sturgis & Com- pany, afterward changed to Dyckman, Hale & Company and finally to Hale, Conger & Company.
The author has a vivid recollection of the time when he was em- ployed in this mill in the spring of 1857, beginning his labor at midnight, ending the day at noon (the mill was kept running night and day), and receiving for his work one dollar per day and pay- ing three dollars per week for his board at the old "Pacific House;" there were no eight-hour days at that time; even the ten-hour day had scarcely been heard of, and yet there was no thought of hard- ship in-so-far as the hours were concerned. No "walking dele- gates" ever came around to tell the laboring man how badly he was treated and to order a strike if conditions were not changed. and no such order would have been obeyed by the sturdy young Americans who operated the mills of those primitive days. At the time of which the writer is speaking, "Pete" Davis and "Bill" Plummer were the expert "head sawyers," and they thoroughly understood their business, they had no superiors.
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