USA > Michigan > Kalamazoo County > Compendium of history and biography of Kalamazoo County, Mich. > Part 7
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The winter of 1836 was marked by wonderful displays of Aurora Borealis. On one occasion the snow-covered ground presented a bright crim- son, as if tinged with blood. The night was bright moonlight. People were frightened, not compre- hending the character of the phenomenon. Weeks went by, on account of the slow circulation of news, before complete scientific authority pub- lished the true character of the strange and alarm- ing electric disturbance.
The devastating necessity of making use of forest growth for land cultivation, for warmth, utility, for the promotion of genial social con- ditions, for the backlog studies, the romances and idealism of the household, the student or philos- opher, no longer exist. The new era demands that for one tree cut down six new ones shall be planted. The pristine beauty and grandeur of country can be restored as the latest mark of true civilization. The hearths of the land can be preserved secure and honored by changing the backlog for the handsome illuminated fireplace. Wood pulp has had its day. Let other wastes furnish paper materials. The age of wood calls for a rest and a chance for growth. Winter's cold even can be abated by substitutes of gas, coal and electricity. Give the trees time to reoccupy the land.
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KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
CHAPTER VII.
CONDENSED HISTORY.
A writer in a Kalamazoo paper contributed in February, 1904, an obituary of Mrs. Charlotte Hubbard Daniels, which contained so much of interesting and valuable historical matter that we transcribe it. Mrs. Daniels was born two miles from Middletown, Vt., on February 19, 1824, and died in February, 1904. Like many of the little girls of her day, she went to district school. When about ten years of age she came to Kala- mazoo and attended a school situated where the Jewish synagogue now stands on South street. east. The late Honorable Nathaniel A. Balch, father of Mrs. John den Bleyker, and the late Silas Hubbard, father of Mrs. C. G. Klienstueck, were among the schoolmasters. Charlotte was later a pupil for three years at the school known as the Old Branch (of the University of Michi- gan), then located at the corner of Park and Walnut streets and later moved to the northwest corner of Bronson Park ..
At this school the late Volney Hascall, who at one time owned and edited the Kalamazoo Gazette, received his education. Another pupil was David Hubbard, who afterward studied law with Stewart Miller and practiced in Schoolcraft. The names of these men will recall to the pioneers of Kalamazoo county Paul Rawls, who studied law with the late Charles E. Stewart, father of Mrs. W. G. Austin, of Kalamazoo. Another name known to the early settlers was that of Samuel Rice, who studied law with Stewart & Miller. He became a soldier in the Mexican war and died in that conflict. Another of this early day was William G. Austin, uncle of Alderman Austin, of Kalamazoo, his namesake. These men, with the exception of Mr. Hascall and Mr. Aus- tin, were participants in the Mexican war. An- other pupil at this school was the late O. L. Trask, who was much younger than Mrs. Dan- iels. He was a brother of Mrs. H. L. Cornell.
It is because Mrs. Daniels was so closely iden- tified with the early history of Kalamazoo that these reminiscences appear in connection with
her life and death. The story was published just as Mrs. Danields told it to the writer one August morning in 1901. The Old Branch school had much to do with the education of Kalamazoo people who were young in its day. Among oth- er pupils later, as the old days went by, were Mrs. H. L. Cornell and Mrs. W. H. Stewart, the lat- ter of whom now resides at the corner of Lovell and Henrietta streets in this city. Among the teachers at this institution were the late Dr. and Mrs. J. A. B. Stone.
Mrs. Daniels was married January 19, 1841. Of her children, Mrs. G. T. Bruen and Joseph A. Daniels, both of Kalamazoo, survive. Three sons are dead-George Daniels, James G. Dan- iels, late of Salina, Kans., and Albert A. Daniels, at one time the city treasurer of Kalamazoo. Mrs. Daniels was associated with the Episcopal church from its establishment in this city. She was confirmed by the late Rt. Reverend Bishop McClosky as a member of one of the earliest classes to which he administered this rite in Kal- amazoo. She attended the first church services ever read from an Episcopal prayerbook in what is now the city of Kalamazoo. This service was held in the fall of 1834 in the school house stand- ing on the present site of the Jewish synagogue. In the early days, of which this bit of biography and local history tells, there was not a profes- sional nurse in Kalamazoo. The usual amount of illness occurred in the young country and Mrs. Daniels often stood at the bedside of the sick and dying, ready and willing to alleviate suffer- ing. Many are the men and women into whose eyes she looked as a sympathizing and relieving nurse when they were young.
. At no time was Mrs. Daniels more prominent in good work than during the Civil war. At that time there were one hundred and eight sick sol- diers in the upper story of the Humphrey block. The United States government made no provi- sion for delicacies in this improvised hospital, but the steward would be given dainties for a dozen sick soldiers at a time by Mrs. Daniels. It will be recalled by the old residents that at one time sev- eral regiments were camping at the national fair grounds located near the present site of the Mich-
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igan Buggy Company's plant. A Thanksgiving dinner was given to the soldiers by the Ladies' Relief Corps, of which Mrs. T. P. Shelden, of St. Luke's church, was president. Thoroughly imbued with this good work, Mrs. Daniels got six of her neighbors to join with her in providing a dinner for these men who became ill in the service of their country. These ladies were Mrs. Israel Kellogg, Mrs. James Taylor, Mrs. J. W. Winslow, Mrs. Edwin Burdick and Mrs. Tobias Johnson. The dinner was a great success. There were five or six turkeys. The tempting tables were the talk of the town, many of the promi- nent men and women of the day viewing them after the feast was ready. Such events were not every day or even yearly occurrences when Kal- amazoo was young, and there was much praise and many exclamations of admiration for the work and generosity of the ladies. It was no less an honor then than now to be invited to carve, and this honor was enjoyed by G. H. Gale, now of Detroit ; the late John Bates, of Minneapolis ; Guy Penfield, Capt. H. C. Dennison and the late J. B. Daniels. Miss Harriet Kellogg, Miss Lib- bie Taylor, later Mrs. C. R. Bates ; Miss Kate Winslow, now Mrs. W. L. Hunter, Miss Mary Daniels, now Mrs. G. T. Bruen ; G. C. Winslow and George Daniels, now deceased, all waited on the table at this famous dinner. It was said that up to that time there had never been spread such a table in Kalamazoo. "The gratitude of those soldiers was something delightful to be told to children and to children's children during long years as the history of Kalamazoo becomes old- er." Some Kalamazoo county soldiers were of the hundred invalids. Lieutenant Bedford, an officer, told Mrs. Daniels that each lady should have six men detailed to carry dishes.
There were no flags, no evergreens and no grace, as the Reverend Mr. Hurd, the Episcopal minister, who had been selected, was ill. "One soldier who was accustomed to the hard tack of the army was so impressed with a certain kind of the food that he took a breastpin he had worn for years and said it was to be given to the lady who had done that portion of the cooking. The lady proved to be Mrs. Daniels. She accepted
the gratitude, but required the soldier to take back his gift. Such was the lack of convenience at the time for serving large public dinners that the dishes were taken home to be washed. Noth- ing of the best linen, china or silver was lost, however, and nothing was broken. It was in- deed a great philanthropic and social event, and Mrs. Daniels was at the head of it all.
Some of the people residing in the more mod- ern days of the twentieth century do not know of the hardships, the privations and the lack of facilities of those who came before the days when civilization was established in this old town, many of whom now sleep in Riverside or in Mountain Home. Suppose they had not accomplished re- sults produced by willing sacrifices and had not started good work along various lines, where would we have been today, and what would we have enjoyed in these later times in Kalamazoo?
If these noble pioneer men and women had put their hands to the religious, philanthropic, intellectual and social plows merely in a half- hearted way and only to look backwards and give up, to what end would it have all been done ? So are we today grateful to those pioneer men and women who gave the town its start and con- tinued their interest day by day and year by year. Are we telling the old stories and traditions to each succeeding generation, thus preserving the spirit of the free life of the early days ?
During the early life of Mrs. Daniels there were no such mail facilities as at present. The mail was brought at short intervals by pony ex- press from Detroit. There were no such oppor- tunities for reading then as now. Dickens' "Pick- wick Papers" were being printed by installments in an eastern newspaper and the days were count- ed red-letter days when the weekly paper came and Mrs. Daniels read the story aloud to Mr. and Mrs. Caleb Sherman, G. W. Winslow and others.
There were not many books in the place eith- er. but Mrs. Daniels read such authors as Robert Burns, Thackeray and J. Fenimore Cooper. There were the "Leather Stocking" tales, "The Deerslayer," "The Pathfinder," "The Last of the Mohicans" and histories of local coloring-"The Oak Openings" or "The Bee Hunter."
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FIRST COUNTY COURT HELD AT THE CITY OF KALAMAZOO, IN A LOG CABIN, OCTOBER, 1832.
In the rear are seated the Judges, Titus Bronson, Bazel Harrison and Stephen Hoyt. In front of the Judges' bench at a rude table, the Clerk, Stephen Vickery, is keeping the record. Sheriff, H. B. Huston. Attorneys, John Hascall, Cyrus Lovell and L. I. Daniels. Jury, James Smith, Jr., A. I. Shafer, John Brown, Jesse Abby, A. Cooley, Resen Holmes, Ebenezer Walter, Augustus Mills, Erastus Smith, and oth- ers. Parties to first suit, Robert Frakes vs. Isaac Brown.
From a large oil painting by Anthony Cooley, a resident of the place at that time.
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KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Mrs. Horace H. Comstock lived in Kalama- zoo, and for a time in Comstock Hall, and Mrs. Daniels was her guest while Mrs. Comstock was entertaining her distinguished uncle. Mrs. Com- stock was lovely in person and in manner and entertained very handsomely. She and her hus- band acted often as host and hostess to the men who were the leaders in public affairs. For while the place was yet young it did have part in af- fairs of public importance. Among these affairs was the location of the county seat of Kalamazoo county. Comstock, Galesburg, Schoolcraft and Kalamazoo all aspired for that honor. The con- test was very spirited, but Kalamazoo "won out." The men to whom Kalamazoo is indebted for the county seat are General Burdick, T. C. Shelden, Epaphroditus Ransom, later governor of Michi- gan; Lucius Lyon and others.
It is stated in a pioneer history in the public library that the late Judge H. G. Wells and Mrs. J. B. Daniels were the referees to decide whether Judge Basil Harrison was the original character of the "bee hunter" in Cooper's novel of that name. The claim had been made that a Mr. Walker, a hunter, who brought game to sell to the pioneers, was the original. Mrs. Daniels gave Mr. Cooper much information which appeared in this book. At the time there was no market in Kalamazoo, neither were there any cattle to kill.
Another old landmark was the old Indian trading-post which was located about where is now the gate of Riverside cemetery. At this spot was the only ford in the river. Many are the old Indian traditions, legends and blood-curdling stories that were related in the early days of this fair city.
Mrs. Daniels told us of a deed done by the Indians-the burial of a dead chief in something that resembled an open corncrib, so constructed that the logs almost came together. The aper- tures were, however, sufficiently large to admit the air. About a year after arriving in Kalama- zoo she herself saw a chief so disposed of. She saw the skull, the bones of the face and legs, the teeth and one arm. This dead chief was thus placed to rest near the old trading house where a Frenchman bargained for furs. Let us hope
the Indian still dreams of his happy hunting grounds.
The primitive and painted warrior who stood upon the bank of what is now Kalamazoo river, a quarter of a century ago, could not have imag- ined in his wildest dreams that if a child of his could live to see a stately city rise from the prairie and point its hundreds of factory chimneys to- ward the azure sky. But such a vision became palpable-and he himself bore reluctant evidence of this first step toward this wondrous trans- formation. The white man came, and the red brother abandoned his tepee and disappeared be- fore the wave of civilization.
Kalamazoo is now a progressive city of thou- sands of progressive people full of business and bustle and toiling tirelessly. Her citizens are pleased with her past, proud of her present and confident of her future. The fleeting years have made much of her and she stands today a queen amid queens and destined for great ends. Men come and go; clouds form and burst; stars rise and fade; but fair Kalamazoo came to stay. Her pulse beats with enduring vigor and the chill of decrepitude can never reach her heart. Kala- mazoo was settled by sturdy men from New Eng- land and their descendants are here today. They are not rainbow chasers, but citizens with a world of faith in their own right arms. Unaided, they have established a wonderful manufacturing mu- nicipality. Without soliciting outside capital, they have built hundreds of industries whose product foots many millions every year, and constantly growing. They have created a city with broad paved streets, luxurious homes, unequalled water and sewer systems and perfect fire and police protection ; a city where good government and enterprise march hand in hand. The early settler, Titus Bronson, who located here in 1829, is spoken of elsewhere. Following him as a resi- dent, William Harris built his cabin in the spring of 1830, on a trail leading from Kalamazoo to Grand Prairie, in the valley, very near what is now the corner of West and Water streets. Here he was visited late in the season by Rodney Sey- mour. Lot M. and Noah North, who had been at work at Ypsilanti during the summer. Mrs.
4
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COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY OF
D. S. Dillie, then living on Gull prairie, was a sister of Mr. Seymour. He and his companions made a short stop on Gull Prairie, and then pro- ceeded to the crossing of the Kalamazoo, near the site of the future village. They crossed the river, possibly by Harrison's ferry, and following up the stream, now dignified by the name of Arcadia creek, finally found their friend Harris and his rude domicile. It would be deemed a sorry affair in these days of invention and luxury, but, as it was (with the exception of Bronson's claim shanty, unoccupied, and the trading-house across the river ) the only building in all the broad val- ley. it might well put on airs.
It was built in true pioneer style, and was as primitive a structure as has been seen since the days when "prehistoric man" disputed his rights with the cave bear and the gigantic hyena of "ancient days." It was built of logs, laid flat upon the ground, and carried high enough to allow the dwellers to stand upright under its "shed roof," which all slanted one way, and was composed of poles covered with marsh grass, mak- ing a very humid shelter in "falling" weather. Its floor was of earth, leveled and packed down solid and smooth, and it had only openings for door and windows, against which were hung blankets and shawls in cold or damp weather. A fire was kindled outside in pleasant weather, and in stormy days in the center of the wigwam, from which the smoke escaped through a square hole in the roof. The furniture consisted of a campkettle, a frying pan, a few knives and forks and iron spoons, a couple of three-legged stools, a few tin plates, a table, made by splitting a bass- wood log, hewing it down with a common axe, and putting three legs on it. and a bedstead, made by inserting the ends of two poles into the wall of the cabin, and supporting the other ends by crotched sticks driven into the ground; over this frame were laid small poles, or stretched strips of elm or basswood-bark, and these were covered . with the scanty bedding of the family. A few wooden pegs driven in the logs served for a ward- robe and a shelf made of a split pole laid upon other wooden pins answered the purpose of a cupboard and pantry.
In 1830 Colonel Huston, who already had a store in Prairie Ronde, built a store on what is now the corner of Main and Rose streets, and filled it with goods for the settlers' accommoda- tion ; no doubt, "taking the wind out of the sails," to a greater or less extent, of the French trader across the river. In 1869 Nathan Harrison erect- ed a cabin on the site of the old River House, on "Harrison's half-acre," at the confluence of the Portage creek and the river, which was then only a few rods above the site of the present bridge on Main street. Mead took up his abode with Harris, his brother-in-law, and Hall erected a dwelling on Arcadia creek, near the river, below the railroad bridge.
A daughter of Rev. Henry J. Hall said in a published article that "Thomas Merrill and Henry J. Hall were among the first who blabbed the gospel way through the timber to the wigwam of the Indian and the cabin of the first settler, the man whose gun and axe were his trusty and vet always silent comrades. The first picture of Bronson (Kalamazoo), two or three traders' huts with 'Uncle Tommy' Merrill (as he was called) on his little Indian pony and my father standing a few steps away. They were sent off as home missionaries from Boston, Mass., and made this city their first halting place. I believe the first sermon ever preached in this locality was under a big oak by one of these two co-laborers in those pioneer days. Later on, 'Uncle Tommy' Merrill built himself a little cabin on the farther hilltop from the old college building, and I have often been there in former years. In passing, may mention that Prof. Olney had a cottage in the early '6os on the left as you went up through the woods, and Prof. Anderson a more pretentious house on the right-hand side; this all before the war of the Rebellion. For many years my father kept up his circuit riding from Fort Wayne up to Bronson, as it was then.
"It took him between two and three months to make the trip. At different places we set up the household altar, at the fort on the Maumee, Ontario, Ind., and later in Lagrange county. and finally back to Kalamazoo, in the last years of Dr. and Mrs. Stone's residence on the hill. Here, at
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KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
a ripe old age, full of love to his fellow men, Elder Hall rounded out an almost perfect life and was not, for God took him. Father Lebet and the elders and the ministers of the Presbyterian and all the other churches sat side by side to hear the last words said over the coffin lid, so did they honor his life among them all. 'Uncle Tommy' Merrill was followed by Rev. T. Z. R. Jomes, who worked many years for the Baptist college. Luther Robe and others were of his day and generation."
'Following Harris came Nathan Harrison, Wil- liam Mead and Elisha Hall, who, with Titus Bronson, surveyed and laid out the nucleus of what was afterwards called Bronson village. From this time on the village saw many of the usual changes natural to the growth of any locality and nothing of importance transpired until 1832, when a town election was held at Titus Bronson's cabin, at which time there were elected one supervisor, four highway commissioners and three assessors, one collector, two constables, two overseers of the poor, two pound masters, seven overseers of high- way, and five school commissioners. In the year 1832 Dr. Abbott was appointed postmaster and the mail was carried weekly by Mr. Lucius Barnes in a covered wagon, his being the first stage line. The first marriage to be performed here was contracted in 1833, between Ethan French and Matilda Houndson, and later, in Feb- ruary of the same year, James M. Parker and Tamar Walter, and on February 17th, John Smith and Jemima Edginton, Squire Lovell performing the ceremony in each instance. The first term of the Kalamazoo circuit court was held in the school house on South street, the grand jury hold- ing their deliberations under the trees contiguous. The "bar" of Kalamazoo county, if not equal in all respects to that of the Queen's bench, was nevertheless as wise in its own conceit and regard- ed as equal to any emergency by their numerous clients. The Hon. Charles F. Stewart occupied a prominent position as an attorney, sharing hon- ors very closely with Elisha Belcher, who was also considered a formidable pleader at the bar. Perhaps the leading event in the year 1836 was the establishment of the first newspaper here. In
October the Michigan Statesman, published at White Pigeon, was removed and its publication begun at this place by Messrs. Gilbert and Chandler, and from that day to the present time Kalamazoo has not been wanting in an intelligent and faithful press to champion her cause, to defend and improve her interests and to advocate her claims.
Mrs. Jack Hudson, a daughter of that sterling pioneer. Frederick Booher, writes very interest- ingly of her recollections of Kalamazoo since 1834 in the Gazette of 1880. We make generous clippings from her recollections : "In June, 1834, my father, mother and brothers George and John and myself arrived at the ferry near the site of Riverside, seated in a one-horse wagon. Fourother teams were ahead of us and we waited until dark before we could cross. We began pioneer life in the Kalamazoo House, kept by Ira and Cyren Burdick. The next morning both landladies were shaking with the ague. Our goods soon arrived and we rented and commenced keeping the hotel.
"Then the hamlet of Bronson contained seven frame houses, six log houses with shingle roofs, two block houses and a number of board shantiės. Main street was at that time grassgrown on either side and famous for its clusters of wild strawberries. Several times that summer I gath- ered a quart of those delicious berries on Main street between the Kalamazoo House and the present site of the court house.
"Such was the rush of people buying land that all the floors were nightly covered with weary travelers. We would give up our own beds and many times I would be sent to pass the night at the residence of Mrs. John Parker's mother on the corner of Main and Rose streets, where Mr. Parker had a store fronting on Main street. His mother, his sister Ann and himself lived in the rear of the building.
"The mud was so deep that I was carried in the arms of our cook, Jim Donelson, to hear Rev. Mr. Robe, the first minister, preach.
"Other early preachers were Rev. Jeremiah Hall, Baptist; Rev. Mr. Woodbury, Presby- terian ; O. F. Hoyt, Fenton, Stout, Foote, Kelly and George Cole, early Episcopalians. The early
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COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY OF
physicians were Drs. Abbott, Barrett, Stark- Grand Rapids Railroad, which was opened for weather and Starkey. Dr. Starkey lived in a building on East Main street, near where Mr. Jannesch's gunshop stood at a later date. He was an excellent chemist and kept a drug store in the front part of his house.
"Dr. Starkweather boarded with my parents in the Kalamazoo House. He later resided on Main street near the location of the Burdick House. Dr. Stuart and Dr. Axtell were of the later date. Dr. Stuart resided for many years at the present residence of Emil Friedman, on Main street, and he cultivated rare medical plants. Dr. J. B. Cor- nell and Dr. Edwin Altee were other physicians."
The United States land office stood on the main street and after the lands were all sold it was used by Sweetland & Company as a lumber office. The land officers in 1834 were Thomas C. Shelden, receiver ; Thomas P. Shelden, deputy receiver ; Major Abram Edwards, register; Al- exander Edwards, deputy collector.
Railroads .- The first railroad proposition to which the prominent people of this county gave their support was the Kalamazoo & Lake Michigan Railroad. Corporators of this road were Hon. Epaphroditus Ransom, Charles E. Stuart, Edwin H. Lothrop, Horace H. Comstock and Isaac W. Willard. The road was incorporated by legislative action . on March 28, 1836, the route of the road being specified as "from the mouth of the South Black river in the county of Van Buren to the county of Kalamazoo." The country was much too new to render the building of such a road pos- sible by the people and foreign capitalists wisely refused to advance funds to build it. The Kala- mazoo & White Pigeon Railroad was constructed from White Pigeon to Constantine in 1852, on to Three Rivers in 1855 and completed to Kala- mazoo in May, 1867. This road of thirty-eight miles was an important aid to the settlers along its route, having stations at Schoolcraft, Portage and Kalamazoo. It was later consolidated with the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad, of which it now forms one of its important branches. The Kalamazoo division of the Lake Shore road also includes the road originally char- tered and built as the Kalamazoo, Allegan &
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