A twentieth century history of Allegan County, Michigan, Part 7

Author: Thomas, Henry Franklin, 1843-1912
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 808


USA > Michigan > Allegan County > A twentieth century history of Allegan County, Michigan > Part 7


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If the limits of this history were not defined by the artificial boundaries fixed by the government surveyors and by the legislature in blocking off the county area, it would be very logical to describe the settlement of this portion of the county along with the settlement of the country immediately to the south, especially Gull Prairie, in Kalamazoo county. In fact, there is a very close connection subsisting between these localities. Most of the early settlers came to the Gun Plains and Pine Creek neighborhoods by way of Gull Prairie, and more than that, some of them had been settlers on Gull Prairie before transferring their residence to Allegan county. The accounts that have been handed down of the early settlement of Gun Plains and Otsego townships tend to bear out the statement that the first settle- ment of those localities was an extension of the Kalamazoo county settle- ments. The vast tide of immigration that flowed across southern Michigan during the thirties, having occupied the most available portions of Kala- mazoo county, was protruded across the southern border of this county, and within two or three years an enterprising population was located about the junction of the Gun and Kalamazoo rivers. The first settlements were made on the prairies of Kalamazoo county in 1829. Two years later the first settlers reached Allegan county.


This explanation of the movement of population into southeastern Allegan leads us to repeat the question, What influences directed the settlers


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HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY


to this region? If the movement of population in this state depended on overcrowding and the pressure of famine-instances of which have been numerous in older countries-it would be easy to affirm that the first settlers came to Allegan county because they were crowded from other localities and were undergoing a sort of exile in seeking homes in the wilderness in this manner. But the remarkable movement of population into southern Michigan was an entirely voluntary movement. Most of the settlers came from comfortable homes in the cast. where with less toil than was meted out to them in the west they could have continued to enjoy a fair degree of material prosperity and the advantages of a more advanced social state. But the spirit of Western expansion. the desire to take part in the building up of a new country, was a mightier and more intelligent force than that which actuates the famine-stricken hordes whose migrations have changed the history of other portions of the world. Independent. self-reliant, thrifty and enterprising, the pioneers of Michigan selected their homes according as the advantages of the locality attracted theni. and when not satisfied they passed on to exercise their choice elsewhere.


The bulk of the pioneers were seeking agricultural lands. A much smaller proportion, especially during the thirties, gave particular attention to the manufacturing and the commercial possibilities of the country. This is, indeed, but a restatement of the well known fact that trade and industry always follow the pastoral or agricultural activities. With the tilling of the soil as their chief aim, the settlers of southern Michigan naturally chose those regions where they could plant their crops with the least diffi- culty and reap their harvests with least delay. No lands were more attrac- tive for this end than the so-called "prairies" and the "oak openings" for which southern Michigan is famous. Cooper, in his romance. "Oak Openings," whose scenes are laid along the Kalamazoo river, has made those features of the landscape familiar to a world of readers.


Kalamazoo county has a number of these prairie and oak opening areas. Prairie Ronde. Grand, Gourdneck, Gull and others were eagerly sought by the first settlers. Gull prairie, lying between Kalamazoo and the county line on the north, received a considerable quota of settlers during the first years of the thirties. The advantage of settling on these spots is evident. It required little clearing to make them tillable. and if the settler arrived in the spring he could make a crop the same year and have time for other labors besides.


So. likewise, when homeseekers began exploring the country now contained in Allegan county, they very quickly picked out the lands which might be described as prairies or openings. Topography, therefore. played no small part in the first settlement of the county. When we recollect that the western part of Allegan county was to a large extent pine and other heavy timbered lands. with a light sandy or clay soil, and that the same was true to an only less extent of much of the eastern half of the county. it will be understood how favorably impressed were the pioneers with the few prairie and oak opening arcas in the southeastern part of the county.


Lying in the angle made by the junction of the Gun and Kalamazoo rivers was the most extensive and fertile clearing in the county. Gun Plains. as it has always been called, was a burr-oak opening of the finest


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HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY


quality and prairie-like in its appearance. Frequently but two or three trees were found standing upon an acre. Its soil, rich and friable in nature, yielded readily to cultivation when once broken. On the south side of the Kalamazoo, east of the present Otsego village, were other small areas of oak openings, and the southwest corner of Martin township was also characterized by similar areas. An examination of the original land entries shows that these places were the first to be purchased. With these facts in mind, it is easy to understand the first groupings of population in the county.


The area of Allegan county, with the relatively few exceptions noted above, has not easily been reduced to tillage. It has been a stupendous task to clear the land of its forest covering and make it agriculturally profitable. The small holdings of many of the agricultural settlers indicate that they realized the difficulties confronting them. While the fruits of the soil have been foremost among the resources of the county since the decline of lumbering. this condition is in itself the highest praise of the industry and thrift of the farming population, who through years of labor have wrought out homesteads and contributed to their own and the general prosperity.


These facts caused the other resources of the county to appear, by contrast, relatively important to the early settlers, and it is not strange, therefore, to find industrial activities assuming a large share of their enter- prise. While in such counties as Kalamazoo and others to the south the farming class comprised nearly the entire pioneer population, in Allegan county we find a relatively large number who were interested in milling, in the lumber business, in the promotion of villages and in trade. A great deal of money came from the east for investment in various enterprises in Allegan county, and the results may be seen in various centers of the county.


No more interesting document-and it is the earliest important historical record concerning the county-illustrating very concisely some of the observations just made, can be found than the notes appended to the original field-notes of Otsego township by Lucius Lyon, after completing the survey in January, 1831. A transcription of these notes may be found in the county surveyor's records.


"The township of which the foregoing are the field notes," says Mr. Lyon, "is a fine tract of land for a new settlement. Three families have already located themselves within it, and more are coming in the spring. So that before the close of next summer this township will probably contain thirty families.


"Sections 28, 31 and 33 contain some groves of valuable pine timber. which is much needed in the oak opening country to the south and east.


"A Mr. Turner Aldrich is now erecting a sawmill on Pine creek, in the northwest quarter of section 28, and it is understood is designing to cut off most of the pine before the land comes into market. In this, however. the inhabitants about here feel an interest in preventing the waste of this timber and hope he will be disappointed by the early sale of the land.


"Messrs. Sherwood and Scott are also making preparations to erect a sawmill and grist mill on Pine creek near its mouth, on section 21.


"There is also a mill site on Gun river, in section 24, and the south part of section 13: and another good one on the grand rapids of the Kalamazoo


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HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY


river, in the west part of section 23; and another in sections 5 and 6, on a stream running southwest into the Kalamazoo river.


"Water power is abundant. The soil of the land is generally good, the surface rolling, and in some places hilly. The timber is beech, sugar, maple, oak, ash, linn, black walnut, with ironwood, and in some places briars and vines. Everything considered, this township may well be designated first rate.


"Of its geology and mineralogy little can be said. No rock appears in sight in this township, though in many places there are deep ravines and favorable places for observation. A.deep stratum of earth covers the whole. But if an opinion may be formed from the configuration of the surface and the character of the pebbles seen, the underlying rock is probably calcareous sand rock. No metals are found, but several springs indicate the existence of iron ore.'


These notes of Mr. Lyon place us very close to the beginning of civil- ization in Allegan county. Except W. G. Butler at the mouth of the river. there was no other permanent white settlement in the county when he wrote. Who were the men he mentions, and where did the next pioneers settle and what were their first steps in the development of this wilderness?


The Sherwood family have been intimately identified with the history of Allegan county for more than three-quarters of a century. They came from Rochester, Monroe county, N. Y., as did many other pioneers, and took the lead in introducing here the spirit of enterprise and industry so typical of their home locality. Being acquainted with manufacturing and mill enterprises, they were attracted to this county largely by reason of the opportunities in that direction. Hull Sherwood was the senior member of the family. There were five sons. Eber, Hull, Royal. Lebbeus, and Edmund, all married except the last two, and one of his daughters was the wife of Giles Scott, who is accorded a place of prominence among the pioneers because he was the first actual settler in this part of the county.


Turner Aldrich, Jr., mentioned by the surveyor, was from Erie county, N. Y. Having been a practical lumberman from youth, he came to this county, as Mr. Lyon states, to establish a sawmill.


The .coming of the Foster family to Otsego has been described in another connection. Dr. Samuel Foster, the head of the family, was a physician, but also a thorough business man, and after coming to this county gave most of his attention to farming and the development of the material interests, besides taking a foremost part in civil affairs. His fam- ily consisted of himself and wife, sons Samuel D., Gould C., Benjamin W., George H., and three daughters.


Members from each of these three families had explored Allegan county in 1829-30. each one seeking the advantages of location most favor- able to his purposes. The mill sites mentioned by the surveyor attracted the Sherwoods and Mr. Aldrich, while it is probable that Dr. Foster took note of the excellent farming land of the vicinity as well as the milling possibilities, and doubtless looked forward to the time when development would make this a rich and populous region.


Giles Scott, who was the first to arrive with his family, located on the southeast corner of section 21 in Otsego township. The date of his arrival was in the early fall of 1830. A few days later Turner Aldrich came, select-


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HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY


ing as the site for his mill and residence a spot on the banks of Pine creek in the northwest corner of section 28, less than a mile from Scott's. Some of the Sherwoods must have come about the same time, though it is said most of the family came in the fall of 1831. They located about the mouth of Pine creek. Mr. Aldrich was accompanied by several other persons, among whom was Uri Baker, later of Martin township. Thus, at the begin- ning of 1831, there was a settlement along Pine creek of not less than fifteen persons, a nucleus of population with great possibilities of enterprise and growth.


Arriving in a wilderness, at the end of the year's harvest season, with limited supplies such as could be transported overland, confronted with the necessity of providing home shelter and preparing for a period of pro- cluctive labor with the beginning of spring, this pioneer community faced conditions and undertakings which it is difficult at this time to realize in accurate detail. Here, as in other parts of the county, the daily, usual life was a constant exertion against the forces of wildness, requiring fortitude and strength of a kind that the modern life knows little. Improvement was in many respects very gradual. It was a toilsome and slow process to transplant civilization to the wilderness of Allegan county. The contrasts between the present and the past of seventy-five years ago are striking and even wonderful ; none the less, we dare not suppose for that reason that the transformation was of fairy-like swiftness and ease of accomplishment.


The first thing, of course, after the newly arrived settler had made liis family as comfortable as possible temporarily, was to build the traditional log cabin. In obtaining material for his house the builder must select trees which were not too large, or they could not be handled conveniently : not too small, or the cabin would be a house of saplings. The process of felling the trees, splitting the logs, liewing them so as to have flat walls inside, notching them at the ends so as to let them down on each other. slanting the gables, riving out lapboards or shingles, putting on roof poles, binding the shingles to them, sawing out doors and windows, making the fireplace, and many other things necessary in building a log cabin-this process is yet familiar to the oldest settlers.


After the settlers had housed their families they made a shelter for their stock, which was often done by setting poles in the ground, with crotches at the upper end; poles were laid from crotch to crotch, other poles laid across, and the roof covered with marsh hay until it was thick enough to shed water. Poles were slanted against the sides, and hay piled on them in the same manner. The door could be left open or closed by any means convenient. This made an exceedingly warm shelter, though it was so dark that the animals' eyes sometimes suffered from it. Swine could be left to shelter themselves, and they usually found some sheltered nook in the groves and forests or among the thick grass, where they made themselves comfortable, though some of them ran wild.


After the primitive log cabin came the frame building. It was the sawmill which marked the first move away from pioncer life. For as soon as the sawmill was accessible to any community frame buildings were practicable. Yet, with all the wealth of lumber woods and the numerous sawmills constructed in the county, the log cabin was almost as familiar a dwelling in Allegan county as in other counties of southern Michigan. Log


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HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY


buildings are by no means an uncommon sight at this day, although most of them are unused and merely decaying landmarks of a more primitive time. As late as twenty-five years ago there was at least one log school- house in use in the county, so that many now in the prime of life can bespeak a more than passing acquaintance with the log-cabin epoch.


The sawmill brought comforts and conveniences into the pioneer existence, but it also heralded the beginning of the lumber industry, which for half a century was the chief source of wealth in the county.


Turner Aldrich's sawmill, which was completed in the spring of 1831. was the first in the county. Situated on Pine creek, from which it obtained its water power, it drew its supply of timber from the pine woods described by Mr. Lyon as lying in sections 28, 31 and 33. This was a primitive mill. as were all the early ones in the county, but its sawed product went into many of the first dwelling houses in various parts of the county. The first mill was burned in July, 1832, but was at once rebuilt by Mr. Aldrich. Cyrenius Thompson and Charles Miles were operating it at the time it burned, and Orlando Weed, another pioneer, leased the reconstructed mill.


The establishment of a mill in a remote settlement was no light under- taking. The special machinery had to be transported for long distances, since only the woodwork could be made on the spot. Aldrich brought his saw and mill irons with him when he came. The construction of a dam and race, the hewing out and setting up of the mill timbers and installing the machinery was a task requiring time, skill and labor. While Mr. Aldrich was building his mill the Sherwoods were planning the erection of both a saw and grist mill at the mouth of Pine creek. The sawmill was ready for operation during the winter of 1831-32, and was the second mill in the county. The construction of a grist mill was a more difficult matter. The various processes in the manufacture of flour required several sets of machinery, all of which had to be brought overland from Detroit. Oka Town, the county's first probate judge, and three other men, with wagons and four ox teams, drove to Detroit for this machinery. and it required three weeks to make the entire journey. The mill was put in operation in 1834, and at once began a large custom business, supplying with breadstuffs a territory whose residents up to this time had been obliged to make long journeys to mill their humble grist. This first mill was on the west side of Pine creek, and remained there till moved to the east side about thirty-five years ago.


The account of the settlement of southeastern Allegan county has so far been concerned with the Pine creek neighborhood. It is in harmony with the mutations of human affairs that this settlement, once the largest of the county in population and industries, has now little to distinguish it from the surrounding agricultural district. It was not only the first place of settlement in this part of the county, but for several years quite over- shadowed in importance the Otsego and Gun Plains settlements. It was the evident intention, especially on the part of the Sherwoods, to promote a thriving village here. Hull Sherwood in fact laid out a plat at the mouth of Pine creek and gave it the name of New Rochester. Born of a time when the enthusiasm for the founding of villages and for development enterprises of all kinds reigned supreme, New Rochester held a commanding position until the severe economic conditions following the panic of 1837


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HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY


reduced every enterprise to a struggle for mere existence. It seems that in a new country, where opportunities are everywhere equal and the only cliscriminations are those exercised by natural conditions, the efforts of men would be tested and proved by the merit of usefulness, and that the indi- viduals and institutions that survived would really be the fittest. If this holds true with regard to the settlements now in discussion, it is evident that either men of greater foresight and enterprise applied themselves to the development of Otsego, or that New Rochester was placed at some disad- vantage by reason of location and soon arrived at the point of "arrested ‹levelopment," thence declining as its rival advanced.


Anticipating the regular order of events somewhat in order to afford a brief resume of New Rochester's history, the village on section 21 vied almost equally with Otsego throughout the decade of the thirties. Giles Scott had a tavern on his place, there were the mills already mentioned, there was a store, the first schoolhouse was located in that vicinity. In 1840 there were about a dozen families residing on the village plat, while the adjacent country was quite well settled.


When Dr. Foster and family arrived in the county in the fall of 1831. he pre-empted a large part of section 23 in Otsego township and built his log house on the south bank of the river, his being the first habitation on the site of the present village. That house, as the gathering place for the pioneers at the first town meeting held in the county, as the first postoffice in the county, and the home of a man of great influence in affairs, was the nucleus around which much history was formed.


The year 1832 was marked by two important events, though for a time neutralizing in their effects. One was the Black Hawk war scare, elsewhere described, which checked immigration from the east to Michigan Territory and resulted in little progress being made for a time by the settlements. The other was the placing of lands of Allegan county on the market through the general land office. We have used the word "pre-empt" to designate the occupation of land by those who settled previous to this time. That word literally means a taking possession before buying, and that was what the first settlers had to do. At a later date, especially when the country west of the Missouri river was being settled, such settlers were called "squatters." Previous to 1832 those who came to Allegan county "squatted" on the land which they selected for a homestead, and owned it by "squatters' rights" only, not being able to obtain legal title until the opening of the general land sales. Gun Plains township, however, its section lines having been run in March, 1831, was subject to entry in that year. Sylvester Sibley. the surveyor of the section lines, made the first purchase of land in the county in June of that year, his choice being on section 30. The only other purchasers of this year were S. C. Wells, in section 18, and Hull Sherwood, in section 15. None of these became actual settlers on their purchases.


Of all the transactions with which the early settlers were concerned none were more important than the government land sales. The first public lands in Michigan disposed of under government regulations were sold at Detroit in 1818. In 1823 the Detroit land office was divided and a land office established at Monroe, at which all entries of land west of the principal meridian were made up to 1831. Lands could not be placed on sale until after the completion of the official survey, and since, as we have seen, Lucius


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HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY


Lyon did not complete the survey of Otsego township until January, 1831. and other parts of the county were not finished until after that date, it is probable that no land in Allegan was sold at the Monroe land office. From . 1831 to 1834 the land office for southwest Michigan was located at White Pigeon, in St. Joseph county, to which point all those buying lands during those years had to go to make their payments and obtain legal title to their pre-emptions. After 1834 the Allegan county settlers entered their lands at Kalamazoo, where the land office for this part of the state was continued until 1858. The United States law required that every piece of land should be put up at auction, after which, if not bid off. it was subject to private entry at one dollar and a quarter per acre. It was an unwritten law among the settlers that each pre-emptor should have the privilege of making the only bid on his land. This right was universally respected among the settlers, no one bidding on another's claim. It occasionally happened. how- ever. that an eastern man, unaccustomed to the ways of the west. essaved to bid on the home of a settler, but was soon convinced. in frontier fashion. that such action was a distinct contravention of western custom. The land speculator. in particular, was persona non grata with the settlers, and in some parts of the country associations known as "squatters' unions" were formed to protect the settler in his claims and when necessary to use force in compelling the speculator to desist from his sharp practices. It was owing to the fact that the public auction of land enabled the speculator to bid in as virgin soil and at the usual price of a dollar and a quarter an acre lands that had been settled and improved by an industrious pioneer. that the system of public sales was finally abolished.


Since so much importance has been ascribed to the events of the year 1832. it will be a matter of interest to know who were in southeastern Allegan at that time and had manifested a substantial interest in the county by entering land. An examination of the original entries reveals many familiar names, both those who have taken part in the developments described on the preceding pages and others who play large parts in the subsequent narrative.




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