A twentieth century history and biographical record of Branch County, Michigan, Part 13

Author: Collin, Henry P
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: New York : Lewis Publishing
Number of Pages: 1198

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Others who may have taken part in the first town meeting at the house of Horace Purdy, in May, 1838, were John Vanderhoof and Eli Gray, from section 6; Barney Smith, on section 13; Abram Ackerson, on section 20; H. Hildreth, section 25; Thomas Goodman, section 22; and Jesse Doyle, sec- tion 35.

In the vicinity of the Stiles-Crater original mill there in time grew up a little center, consisting of the postoffice, school, several churches. It was the home of the well remembered physician and public official, Dr. James A. Williams, who located there in 1854.

In the southern part of the township, in section 27, a steam sawmill was built by the Wakemans in 1854, and in 1878 a large grist mill was erected at the same place by Eli and Mortimer B. Wakeman.

HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY

NOBLE TOWNSHIP.

The fractional township of Noble was not set off from Bronson until the legislative act of March, 1845, over nine years after the first settler had lo- cated within its borders. At the first township meeting, which was held at the house of John Grove in section 9, in April, 1845, the following settlers took official part : Ambrose Hale (two of the same name). E. W. Craig, Will- iam Butts, William Rippey, Sidney Marble, I. Driggs, Thomas Shane, Cyrus Beardsley, Jared Fuller, Samuel S. Bushnell, William Shane, I. H. Foust. J. H. Smith, William Milliman, Sidney S. Matthews, John Curtis, James Anderson, David Foster, Levi M. Curtis, Andrews Watling. Walter W. Smith, Moses Strong, I. D. Hart.

In this list of active citizens can undoubtedly be found the majority of the first settlers and those most prominent in the time of beginnings for Noble township. The group of first settlers, who came in 1836, would comprise the names of Walter W. Smith, on the northwest quarter of section 10: Will- iam Rippey, William Butts ( who was a blacksmith), and John Grove. In the same year what has always been known as the "Dutch settlement" was started in the northwest corner of the township by the settlement in section 6 of Daniel Himebaugh, a family name that has been conspicuous in southwest Branch county from pioneer days to the present. Others of the Pennsylvania Dutch stock followed, bringing with them their habits of simplicity and thrift- iness and their Mennonite religion. The Mennonite church on section 2 is the visible evidence of the faith which has bound this community together in Noble township for many years.

David Foster was one of the settlers of 1837, locating half a mile east of Hickory Corners. Hickory Corners, while a well known landmark in Noble township and with historical associations running back seventy years. has never been a business center further than having been the location of the postmaster's home at one time and of the schoolhouse. The name was given and clung to this crossroads because at one time a group of hickory trees stood there. Thomas Henderson was a settler there in 1836; also Am- brose Hale, the first supervisor of the township. Joseph Smith and his son C. R. Smith were early settlers in the same locality, their land being in sec- tion 2. William Robinson settled on the same section in 1836. A settler of 1841 in the oak openings east of the Corners was John H. Lane. John Curtis, also mentioned as taking part in the first town meeting, had located in the year preceding the meeting on section 2.

James Anderson, a native of Scotland, who settled in the southeast corner of Noble in 1842, where the little lake still bears his name, was responsible for the name that was given to the township. He was an active citizen of Noble for about six years, and then moved to Coldwater and went into business.

Samuel S. Bushnell located on section 11 in 1838 and lived there until his death in 1872. He and his son Ephraim B. were both active in township affairs. Section 5 was the pioneer home of Peter Mallow, one of the best known of Noble's early settlers, who located there in 1840 and spent his life

HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY

in developing a home from the wilderness which he found. His sons Will- iam and George WV. are still living in Noble and active in business and citizen- ship.

Until rural free delivery brought postal facilities to every home, Noble township had a postoffice, located at different times with different residents in the eastern part of the town. Further than this, there has been nothing in the way of a center in the township, which from the first has been chiefly noteci for its agricultural possibilities and its thrifty farming class.

CALIFORNIA TOWNSHIP.

California township, which was not separately organized until March, 1846, began to be settled, nevertheless, about the same time as Algansee. Ovid and Kinderhook, the adjoining towns. Although there is little distinctive in the history of this town's settlement, some very interesting personalities and worthy characters are found among the pioneers.

The late James H. Lawrence, whose death occurred in 1897, wrote and published a number of reminiscences concerning his first experiences in Cali- fornia township, where he was one of the first settlers. In the latter part of 1835, in company with Samuel Beach and son William Beach, he traveled the Chicago road as far as Coldwater, and from there came by trail as best they could as far as Waterhouse Corners in Kinderhook township, where they met the Kinderhook pioneers already known to the reader-Tripp, Water- house and Lampson.

Evidently the Beach-Lawrence party had determined beforehand on a lo- cation in the fractional township that later became California, for they con- tinued on to their "destination," on section 4. where they commenced to build a house "by felling the first tree cut by a white man in California township." While engaged in this labor two other homeseekers already known to us, Asahel Brown and Nathan Austin, paid them a brief visit, but did not re- main in California, locating instead in the southwest corner of Algansee as told on a former page. The log house was soon constructed and properly chinked with mud and roofed over, and then, early in 1836, Mr. Beach came with his family and made his settlement permanent.

According to the description given by Mr. Lawrence, the isolation of this family for a time was almost complete, and of course the same was true of many other pioneer households in Branch county. Only rough and devious Indian trails led from one part of the country to another, and not even these could be relied upon since the white settlements were often situated without regard to these primitive avenues of communication.

To quote a paragraph from Mr. Lawrence's narrative: "Ira Purdy was the next settler, and the first one to build after us. He came early in the spring of 1836, and built a small log house on section 3. He too had to go into the hotel business, and declares that some nights he kept as many as forty people. The same spring we went to Quincy, ten miles north of us, to attend town meeting, when Mr. Beach was elected a justice of the peace. Our route

HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY

lay through an unbroken wilderness, and our only guide was section lines, which were followed through swamps and marsh, brush and brakes."

Many settlers came during 1836, and it is noteworthy that most of them settled in the northern part of the township and about the site of the present California village. Ira Cass, George Monlux and Alexander Odren, arrivals of that year, were founders of families that have been well and favorably known since. Alexander Odren, who died in this township in 1888, aged ninety-seven years, perhaps the oldest native of Michigan at the time, located on section I and spent over fifty years there. Ira Cass was a well known pio- neer character, about whom many anecdotes were told, and he had a large family of four sons and six daughters. Israel R. Hall was another settler of this year.

According to the census returns of 1837 the resident land owners in Cal- ifornia were located as follows: Samuel Beach lived on section 4. Israel R. Hall had land in the same section and also in sections 3 and 9. Another neighbor was Ira Purdy, in section 3. The Lawrences, comprising J. W .. J. W., Jr., and James H., lived on section 5, but James H. soon became a resi- (lent on section 10. George Monlux was on section 4, Ira Cass had his land in sections 2 and 3, while in the northeast corner of the town were Alexander Odren, on section 1, John W. Harris, section 1, and Theodore G. Holden. whose extensive landed possessions were on sections 1, 2 and 12. The other settlers were Azam Purdy, a brother of Ira. on section 23: William Thomp- son, section 12: Stillman Elwell, section 10; and Jacob B. Brown and Jonathan Hall, on section 6.

The two north tiers of sections also received most of the settlers of 1838. Some of the settlers of that year were: On section 1. Fowler Quimby and Ridgeway Craft: section 12, Justus Leuse: section II. Joseph F. Reynolds and John Vincent; section 8, Gilbert Gordinier : section 6, Asel Whitney and Isaac Withey; on sections 15 and 21, James Craig ; section 16. Rev. George Bryant.

These were the pioneers. By the time California township was organ- ized the process of settlement was fairly complete, for not a section was with- out at least one landowner, and at the first town meeting sixty male voters took part in the proceedings. Some of the pioneers above mentioned' were chosen to office, as will be seen in the list from supervisor down-George Monlux, William Beach. Ira Purdy, Samuel Beach, George D. Avery, James M. Hall. Robert Merrill, James Craig. Talcott Merwin, Isaac N. Miner. Thomas H. Reynolds, Chauncey Miles, Cephas B. Dresser, Alexander Odren, Jr., Andrew J. Critchfield, John C. Reynolds, Isaac Purdy, Hart Hazen. Sereno Gillett. Ebenezer Adams, James Hall.

We have noticed that the first settlers formed a group on sections 3. 4. 9 and 10. At the crossroads corners of these sections, about 1846, Joseph Hall opened a stock of goods and became the first merchant. From this circum- stance this locality was long known by the name of "Hall's Corners." but the present generation has been more familiar with the designation of "California" village or postoffice. This place has gone through the usual stages of growth.

HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY

A blacksmith shop was built near the store, J. W. Lawrence of pioneer fame being the blacksmith, a carpenter furnished another kind of mechanical skill. The first schoolhouse in the town had been located, about 1838, on Ira Purdy's farm, not far from the Corners, and in time it was moved to the northeast corner of section 9, making another institution that promotes community life. A postoffice was established there, the Presbyterian church had been located there since 1840. Edward and Thomas Morrow erected a steam sawmill in 1867. With these institutions and industries California has long maintained its quiet position as'an inland village, having a population of 162 at the last census. Cephas B. Dresser was the first lawyer with a home at that point, and since then several professional men have been located there. Unfor- tunately, when the Fort Wayne and Jackson branch railroad was constructed about 1870 California was left to one side, and the hamlet is three miles from the State Line station. With a railroad California would doubtless have ex- perienced similar growth to that of Sherwood in the opposite corner of the county.

County Court House and Jail, 1905

HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY

CHAPTER XIII.

THE CITY OF COLDWATER.

The origin of Coldwater has been sketched on other pages; as the of- ficial center of the county and the principal business place and the only city. it has necessarily occupied a large share of attention in the narrative. It seems fitting, however, in the following paragraphs to set down in consecu- tive order such facts as will show the progress of the city from the village state to the prosperous city which with proper pride can celebrate its existence of three quarters of a century.

From the incorporation of Coldwater village in 1837 to the incorporation of Coldwater city in 1861, there are few matters to chronicle more than the steady growth which made a city government appropriate and necessary. As elsewhere mentioned, the transfer of the county seat from Branch to the pub- lic square where it is now located was the event of pregnant importance for the early development of Coldwater. The building of the mills along Cold- water river inaugurated the manufacturing which in 1905 was represented by 34 firms.

In speaking of the growth of Coldwater one fact deserves prominence. The city has maintained an even balance, a fair proportion between the various institutions, industries and professional and commercial activities. Coldwater is not a "factory town," and yet its annual aggregate of manufactured prod- ucts is large. It is not pre-eminently a trade center, in the sense that the daily retail transactions on Chicago street are the index of the city's prosperity. Nor is it the home of retired wealth and latent capital, notwithstanding a million dollars of surplus and deposits in its three banks. Coldwater could not be called a "county seat town," meaning that the court house was the hub of its enterprise. In fact, Coldwater is all of these things, and yet in such proportion that its welfare does not depend on any one class of enterprise. Coldwater has never been "boomed," but has grown steadily and conservatively since Allen Tibbits and Joseph Hanchett platted the first site seventy-five years ago. Very few towns survive a genuine "boom," just as very few speculators ever leave the stock market with a fortune-and for the same reason. The business men of Coldwater would not welcome a flush of enterprise whose after effects might prove disastrous to the stability of the city. For fifteen years Coldwater and Branch county have been doing business on the credit side of the ledger, have ceased to be borrowers and become lenders, and this is the kind of prosperity that is worth maintaining.

The courthouse was built in Coldwater in 1848. About the same time came the telegraph, and in 1850 the Lake Shore Railroad. These were the

HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY

events of most importance during the history of the village. The stage coach ceased as an institution, and the expectant postmaster ceased to listen for the blast which announced the coming of the mail coach, and instead listened for the whistle of the locomotive on the south side of the village. Another evi- dence of growth was the organization of the first regular fire protection serv- ice, in August, 1856, when Excelsior Company No. I came into existence with its manual engine and hose cart.

These improvements led the way for the formation of a city government in 1861, by special charter from the legislature. The first mayor was the late Albert Chandler, and his fellow officials comprised such well known names as Robert F. Mockridge, John S. Youngs, Franklin D. Marsh, F. V. Smith, J. S. Barber, Isaac P. Alger, E. W. Bovee, L. D. Crippen, David N. Green, E. A. Knowlton. The principal city and village officers from 1837 to the present will be found in the official lists.

The municipal improvements and institutions of Coldwater have come into existence in keeping with its material wealth and the general spirit of progress. By looking back it is possible to date the beginning of many im- provements that now seem to be the very basis of comfort and security. We recall the frequent admonitions of the editor of the Sentinel during the forties that the citizens should give attention to the streets and sidewalks, which were in an execrable condition, calling particular attention to the many mud holes and lack of sidewalks on the business section of Chicago street. It is the faculty and privilege of "practical optimism" while realizing the much that remains to be accomplished that it yet delights in the present conditions which form so happy a contrast with the past. Since the decade of the forties, and in every subsequent decade, a constant change for the better has been going on to affect the beauty and convenience of Coldwater's thoroughfares. Some day the grateful citizens may erect a monument in honor of those whose foresight and care provided for the planting of the thousands of shade trees along the principal streets. The usefulness of the cement which is now manu- factured in such large quantities in the county finds no better evidence than in the miles of sidewalk which have taken the place of the old-time board or gravel walk and to a large extent the brick walks.

The business section, which was the special object of attack on the part of the Sentinel editor, now would certainly satisfy his ideals. About 1900 Chicago street from the public square to Jackson street was substantially paved with brick, and one or two of the intersecting streets, notably Monroe, were paved for a short distance on either side. This paving has done as much as anything else toward rendering the business section cleanly, convenient and giving it a metropolitan appearance.

This anticipates the consecutive order of municipal progress. The most valuable of all municipal works is water works. The proposition to build a system of water works in Coldwater was submitted to the citizens on April 8, 1890, and carried by a majority of 345 out of 1,199 votes cast. The first cost of the plant was seventy thousand dollars, but improvements and exten- sions since that date have cost half as much more. Municipal ownership of

HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY

these and similar public utilities is fixed by principle and long custom in Cold- water, and so we find the water works and the electric lighting plant run in conjunction. The city electric lighting plant was installed in 1891.

From the time of their establishment until 1903 these plants were under the control of an electric light and water works committee, but in the latter year the legislature created a board of public works with supervision and control over these utilities. The members of this board are appointed by the mayor with the consent of the council, and are chosen outside of the council. and after the first year one new member has been chosen each year for a term of five years. The first board of public works, with varying lengths of term, were A. A. Dorrance, J. M. Crocker, E. D. Luedders, A. A. Sherman, B. H. Calkins.

Water works is a very essential factor in fire protection, but as already stated, Coldwater had provisions in this line years before the water works were established. In 1866 the different companies were organized as " The Fire Association of Coldwater," and in 1872 this department of public service be- came " The City of Coldwater Steam Fire Engine Company," that being the' date of the purchase of the first steam fire engine. The department was or- ganized on its present basis in the nineties, consisting of a chief, and a num- ber of firemen, all of whom are paid a salary, but only two are constantly on duty at the fire station. James B. Smullen is at present chief of the depart- ment. The apparatus, consisting chiefly of engine, hose cart and hook and ladder truck, is housed in the lower story of the city hall, on South Monroe street, the second story of this building being used as council chamber and of- fices for the city officials.

Churches and schools are described on other pages, also the public li- brary, which was instituted in 1880, and the E. R. Clarke Library building, erected in 1886. A building, which, though built by private enterprise, is in every sense a public institution, is the Tibbets Opera House. It was erected by B. S. Tibbits, and was opened for the first performance on September 21, 1882, the " Maid of Arran " being given on that night. This beautiful little playhouse on South Hanchett street has been a familiar center for meetings and entertainments of many kinds through nearly a generation.

It remains to record briefly some of the more important and long estab- lished business concerns of Coldwater. The professions and the manufactur- ing interests are elsewhere described. No doubt the oldest mercantile con- cern of Coldwater is E. R. Clarke & Co., which was established in 1850 by the late Edwin R. Clarke as a drug store. The store has always been con- ducted by the Clarke family, and has grown to be one of the best known es- tablishments in Branch county, its location always having been on the north- east corner of Monroe and Chicago streets.

One who was familiar with the mercantile section of Coldwater thirty years ago but who had in the meantime been away, would find on returning at this time several of the familiar merchants and stores that he had once known. Among these would be the Sloman clothing house. The drug house

HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY

formerly conducted by A. A. Dorrance would now be found in the hands of his son, A. J. Dorrance. The Flandermeyer boot and shoe house was in bus- iness thirty-five years ago as well as to-day. The Woodward, Barber & Co. of that time, general dealers, has since become the Woodward & Son dry goods and furnishing store. Another outgrowth of this old firm is the present department store of J. B. Branch & Company. which was organized in 1877. In 1877 also was established the Conover Engraving and Printing Company, by the late J. S. Conover. Charles A. Conover now conducts the business, which covers an individual field in Coldwater and is one of the larg- est concerns of its kind in Southern Michigan.

T. A. Hilton, the clothier, is another business man who has been suc- cessfully engaged in merchandising on Chicago street for thirty years or more. Mr. A. B. Walker, proprietor of the Coldwater steam laundry, has been in that line of business since 1888. The real estate firm of R. C. Saw- dey & Son, which was founded by the late R. C. Sawdey over thirty-five years ago and is now conducted by W. S. Sawdey, has a long and enviable record in its line of business.

L. M. Bassett & Son are jewelers at 48 West Chicago St. in the same building in which Mr. Bassett, the father, began business in 1851.

The business of the Milnes Supply Company, 54-56 W. Chicago St., was begun by Mr. Henry Milnes, the grandfather of Mr. Harry L. Milnes of the present firm, in 1863.

The hardware business of the Chandler family dates back to 1841, when Hon. Albert Chandler began his long and active life as a resident of Coldwater. The family has been represented in this business ever since, the name being continued now in the firm of Chandler & Lee,; 38 W. Chicago St. V. L. Nettleton & Co., at 49 W. Chicago St., continue the hardware business begun by the father of Mr. Vernon L. in 1866. . Previous to 1889 there had been only three hardware stores in Coldwater. In that year Kerr Bros. opened the fourth in the city's history, going into the fine building which they erected and now occupy in 1891. On Dec. 30, 1889, David C. Allen began to carry on the hardware business which had been previously owned by John T. Starr. He continues the business at 9 W. Chicago St., under the firm name of D. C. Allen & Co.

The planing mill of Ball Bros. has for years shaped the lumber for the woodwork of many a building in the county. Their business was begun in 1866 with the firm of Ball & Mauger. Lewis Hedgerton has a record of thirty-four years' continuous work in the city as blacksmith and horseshoer. He began in the stone shop on W. Chicago St. in 1872, but soon came to Hanchett St., where he now is with Mr. John M. Chadsey as his partner. Plumbing is no unimportant item in the life of a modern civilized community. The firm of Mansell & Kappler, plumbers, con- tinue at 23 South Monroe St. the business begun by Mr. George Mansell in 1865, when he bought out the business of Mr. Wilder. Mr. Mansell has been continuously in the plumbing business in Coldwater for over

HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY

forty years. The first real modern plumbing in any house in the county was that in the residence of Mr. Henry C. Lewis on E. Chicago St., which was put in by Mr. Mansell in 1864. The son, Mr. Edwin Mansell, now has his father's place in the firm.

HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY

CHAPTER XIV. BRANCH COUNTY'S VILLAGES.

UNION CITY.

A brief summary of the conspicuous features of Union City's history from the time of settlement, which has already been sketched, will be given in this chapter. as also similar sketches of the other villages of the county. Union City had splendid natural advantages, especially in the way of water power for manufacturing purposes, and we already know that the site was selected for this reason. That these resources were not developed and that Union City did not become a place of first importance was due evidently to the fact that during the greater part of the last century the village had no transportation facilities. It was the building of the Air Line Rail- road in 1870 that gave the village its greatest impulse, and since then it has in large measure overcome the handicap which its sister villages of Quincy and Bronson did not have.

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A twentieth century history and biographical record of Branch County, Michigan, Part 13

Author: Collin, Henry P Publication date: 1906 Publisher: New York : Lewis Publishing Number of Pages: 1198

Author: Collin, Henry P
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: New York : Lewis Publishing
Number of Pages: 1198