USA > Michigan > Kent County > Grand Rapids > Grand Rapids and Kent County, Michigan: History and Account of Their Progress from First. Vol. I > Part 28
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HISTORY OF KENT COUNTY, MICHIGAN
axe, had never been laid on nature's beautiful forest that crowned the hills and shaded the vales. As the God of nature created it so the grand old forest stood. But the axe, the pioneer's great weapon, as honored as his rifle, was soon destined to be heard in its depths. The first settler of the township was Nathan Boynton, who, in the sum- mer of 1836, located a farm on Section 5 and selected a place to build a house on a little knoll near the banks of Rush Creek. Mr. Boynton returned to Grandville and was taken ill, but in August or September sent his brothers, William and Jerry Boynton, to build a house for him. All the guide they had was the section line. This they followed until they came to the line between the present townships of Byron and Wyoming, where they, not knowing that there was a variation of the section lines of the different ranges of townships, lost the line and were some time finding the place Nathan had selected for his dwelling. Having found the spot they went to work to erect a house. Here is the description of the house as given to a former writer by William Boynton: It was built of small logs, such as they could car- ry and put up; the roof was of small basswood, split in two parts and gutters cut, with an axe, in the flat side. One tier of these was laid with the flat side up and the other with the flat side down, so that the outside edge of the upper tier fitted into the gutter of the lower. The floor and door of the house were made of plank, or as woodsmen usually call them, "puncheons," split from basswood trees. The fireplace was built of clay, which Mr. Boynton related he mixed by treading with his bare feet, and it was built up with small twigs, while the chimney was built of split sticks laid up in the same kind of mortar. This fireplace and chimney were used and did good service for a goodly number of years. Such was the first house erected in the township of Byron.
Jerry and William Boynton soon located farms on Sections 9 and 8, respectively, and commenced improving their homesteads, which by their skill and energy were rendered both attractive and pro- ductive. The Boyntons were uncles of James A. Garfield, late Presi- dent of the United States, and they came from St. Lawrence County, New York. Jerry added to his landed possessions until, at the time of his death, Nov. 24, 1871, he owned 320 acres. On his arrival in the township he had only $50, sufficient to buy forty acres of land, which he at once began to reclaim from its original condition, and he worked by the day as opportunity offered. His wife taught the first school in the township, in 1840. The building was constructed temporarily of boards for the purpose and it was located in the northwest quarter of Section 5. She had fourteen pupils. William Boynton was eight- een years of age when he came here, in 1836, and he walked from De- troit to the home of his brother Nathan. He arrived, worn out with fatigue, and with one shilling in his possession. As a pioneer he met courageously all the exigencies common to that condition. He was at one time obliged to go eight miles to cradle grain and split rails at 25 cents or one pound of pork per hundred. Once when returning homeward with some pork, he was followed by wolves. Arriving within a mile of home, he was completely exhausted and threw the meat to his pursuers. His wife heard the cries of the animals and, coming to his aid, succeeded in getting him home. At another time
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he had a single-handed encounter with three bears, and fortunately was victorious.
In 1837 John Harmon settled on Section 9, and during the same year Harmon Kellogg settled on Section 3 and James B. Jewell on Section 9. Harmon Kellogg was born in Watertown, Litchfield Coun- ty, Connecticut, Feb. 7, 1808. In 1812 his parents removed to Flor- ence, N. Y., where he remained until he came to Michigan to be a pioneer of Byron township.
It seems that there were no new settlers in the township in 1838, except Edla Judson, who in that year settled on Section 8. Mr. Jud- son was born near Cleveland, Ohio, about 1809. He was a very in- dustrious youth and began his business life as a poor boy in Cuyahoga County, from whence in early manhood he walked to Michigan. He reached Grand Rapids when it was an insignificant hamlet, with but one log house. He worked for Jonathan F. Chubb on a farm for some time, and in 1837 located eighty acres of government land in Byron township, upon which he took up his residence the following year. The land was purely virgin, as not a stick of timber had ever been cut from it, and the first habitation occupied there by Mr. Jud- son was a primitive log cabin, usual in those days. When he built this log cabin he had to go a distance of four miles for men to help "raise" and he only had eight men at that. He resided on this home- stead until his death, Oct. 22, 1873.
In 1839 Larkin Ball settled on Section 20, at which time he was the only man south of the center of the township. Soon afterward, Peter Goldin settled on the same section. It is said that four men cut the logs, carried them, and raised Mr. Goldin's house, and this house was standing as late as 1859. In this year Eli Crossett settled on Section 17; also Amelek Taylor on the same section, Alden Co- burn on Section 7, and Benjamin Robinson on Section 6. In 1840 there was but one new settler in the township, William Olmstead, who settled on Section 8. The year 1841 went by without any aug- mentation of the numbers of this sturdy band of pioneers, but in 1842 Samuel Hubbel settled on Section 28, Joseph Gallup on Section 32, and Henry A. Vannest on Section 5. It is said that when they "raised" a house for one of these gentlemen they did not get it up the first day, and it was so far to go home that they stayed and camped out over night, and finished "raising" the next day. And all they had for supper and breakfast was roast potatoes.
In the year 1843 a Mr. Fox was the only man who settled in the "South Woods." Oliver Harris settled on Section 14 about this time, but the exact date is uncertain.
In 1844 Ezekiel Cook settled on Section 35, a Mr. Tuft on Sec- tion 23, and E. R. Ide and James K. McKenney on Section 20. Mrs. Cook told an earlier writer that when they moved into the woods they had no neighbors nearer than four miles, they being the first to settle in the southeast part of the township. And their nearest postoffice was at Grand Rapids, a distance of fourteen miles through an un- broken wilderness. The Tufts moved on their place, Dec. 31, 1843, and all the signs of a house they had was a small sled load of lumber.
James K. McKenney was born Aug. 6, 1806, four miles from the mouth of the Niagara River, in Canada. In 1811 his family removed
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to Niagara, N. Y., and ten years later to Monroe County, that State. At the age of twenty-one years Mr. McKenney purchased seventy- five acres of land in the town of Greece, Monroe County, New York, and after paying for it engaged in the mercantile business, which proved a fatal disaster to his finances. He again turned his attention to agriculture, and in the fall of 1844 came to Byron township. Ar- riving at Grand Rapids, with his wife and four children and $115, he purchased through John Ball eighty acres for $60 and forty more for $22. Mr. McKenney experienced all the exigencies of pioneer life. He carried his grists of corn and wheat two miles on his back, and single-handed cleared eighty-seven acres of land. His first work was to build a small log house, and when it was near completion, with the spaces cut for doors and windows, a fall of two feet of snow occurred. At the time he was crippled by an enormous carbuncle on his knee, and in the unfinished abode he lived with his wife and four children, scarcely able to procure the necessary fuel; and meantime the cook- ing was done out of doors. In six or seven years he bought a team and hauled the first load of timothy hay ever drawn to Grand Rapids, also the first green peas. Mr. McKenney served his township some five years as highway commissioner.
In the year 1845 Corkins Barney, Clark S. Wilson, and William Davidson settled within the limits of the township. Among the early settlers whose names have been procured are Josiah R. Holden, Brad- ley Weaver, Daniel Prindle, Carlos Weaver, and Prentiss Weaver, who settled in Byron from 1846 to 1849.
Josiah Rhodes Holden was born in New Hampshire in 1797. In early manhood he took up his residence in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, later moved from there to Illinois, and after various shiftings, inci- dent to "wild-cat" times and business failures, finally became a set- tler in the "South Woods," as Byron township was familiarly called, the date of his settlement being Nov. 18, 1845. He continued to reside there until his death, in 1887. He was the father of Ebenezer G. D. Holden, long a prominent attorney in Grand Rapids and twice secre- tary of the State of Michigan.
Prentiss Weaver was born in Tolland, Conn., March 16, 1825. His father purchased a farm in Geneseo County, New York, when Prentiss was three years old, and there he remained until the age of twenty-two. In the fall of 1847 he located eighty acres of land on Section 34, in Byron township, then went back to New York and re- turned to Byron in the spring of 1849. His land was covered with the unbroken forest and he cleared a place for a log house. He re- mained an honored citizen of Byron until his death.
In 1850-51 Eli Young and James M. Barney settled on Section 32. About this time was long famous among the old settlers as the "wolf year." Mr. Young killed one within four rods of his door, with his dog and corn cutter. William Boynton told an earlier writer that frequently, before this time, however, when he was obliged to work at Grandville to get provision for the support of his family, he would work all day, get the proceeds of labor in provisions, and at dark start for home, a distance of about five miles, through the woods, while the wolves were howling all around him and sometimes coming al- most within reach of the good, stout cudgel which he carried.
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James M. Barney was a native of Scotland, born about 1820. He was a brick-maker by trade, and for a number of years after com- ing to America ยท lived in Wayne County, Michigan, where, when a young man, he manufactured all the bricks used in the construction of the court house. He later became a farmer and, in 1852, located in Byron township, where he spent the remainder of his life. During the first summer that he lived on his place he had to keep his cow and calf in a high log pen near his house, nights, to keep them from the wolves. One night, after being kept awake until almost morning, he took his gun just at daylight and sallied forth, determined on ven- geance. When he went out the wolves retreated for a short distance. But when he came into a thicket of bushes they surrounded him, and he backed up against a tree, where they kept him for about two hours, until broad daylight. He shot at them several times, but the bushes were so thick that he did not kill any, although they would come so near that he could hear them snap at each other. The wolves were never very thick after this season, and as they decreased, until about 1856, deer increased and became very thick. Mr. Barney has left on record the fact that he had during one winter from forty to fifty deer hung up in the woods at one time.
For the first few years the settlement of Byron progressed very slowly. It required a brave heart and a strong arm to encounter the dangers and hardships consequent to the opening up of a new and heavily timbered country. But gradually the forest yielded to the axe of the pioneer; beautiful fields, thrifty orchards, comfortable dwell- ings, and well filled barns took the place of the little log cabin and unbroken forest. Byron is now one of the foremost agricultural town- ships in Kent County. With a varied soil, adapted to nearly all of the different branches of husbandry, and especially to fruit growing, and the very best facilities for marketing its produce, its farmers stand among the best.
The first township meeting (the township of Byron then em- bracing Wyoming also) was held at the house of Charles H. Oaks, in Grandville, on Monday, May 2, 1836. The following officers were chosen: Supervisor, Gideon H. Gordon; township clerk, Isaac A. Allen; assessors, Eli Yeomans, Ephraim P. Walker and Justin Brooks; justices of the peace, Gideon H. Gordon, Robert Howlett and Ephraim P. Walker; collector, Lorenzo French; commissioners of highways, Gideon H. Gordon, Eli Yeomans and H. Pitts ; commis- sioners of schools, Joseph B. Copeland, Sanford Buskirk and James Lockwood; school inspectors, Gideon H. Gordon, Isaac A. Allen and Eli Yeomans; overseers of the poor, Ephraim P. Walker and Justin Brooks; constables, Lorenzo French and Sanford Buskirk. As this election was held on May 2, 1836, and the first settlement in the pres- ent township of Byron was not made until August of that year, it fol- lows that these first township officers had their residence in what is now the township of Wyoming. The complete list of supervisors of Byron township down to the date of this publication is as follows: 1836, Gideon H. Gordon; 1837, George W. Scranton; 1838, Julius C. Abel; 1839, Robert Howlett; 1842, W. R. Godwin; 1844, Eli P. Cros- sett ; 1845, W. R. Godwin; 1848, Elijah McKenney ; 1850, Jerry Boyn- ton; 1851, James M. Pelton; 1855, Amos B. Smith; 1856, James M. Pelton; 1861, S. S. Towner ; 1862, James M. Pelton; 1864, Loval Pal-
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mer ; 1867, William P. Whitney ; 1875, Samuel Tobey ; 1878, William P. Whitney ; 1879, Samuel Tobey ; 1883, Byron McNeal; 1888, James S. Toland; 1889, Moses Rosenberg; 1894, James Toland; 1897, Wal- lace C. Weaver; 1901, Washington Judson; 1903, Wallace C. Wea- ver ; 1904, Charles Ball; 1907, Washington Judson; 1908, Wallace C. Weaver; 1912, Jerome Weaver ; 1913, Charles H. Gilbert; 1915, Wal- lace C. Weaver, present incumbent.
Elijah McKenney was born at Newfane, Niagara County, New York, Sept. 4, 1812. In the spring of 1846 he came to Byron township and purchased eighty acres of land in Section 20. He arrived in By- ron with his household furniture and $65 in money. Seventy dollars being the price of the land, he disposed of an extra pair of boots for $5 and paid the amount demanded. He cut a small clearing for a log house, in which he commenced pioneer life. He traded his overcoat for a cow and a hog that weighed 200 pounds when fatted. The next spring he purchased a pair of calves and raised his first team. He cleared fifteen acres, unaided. He served as supervisor of Byron town- ship two years and as justice of the peace one year.
Samuel S. Towner was born at Willsborough, Essex County, New York, March 4, 1821. He was reared on a farm and at twenty- three years of age went to Cleveland, Ohio, where he engaged four seasons as a ship carpenter. In the fall of 1852 he came to Byron Center and acquired by purchase 160 acres of land in Section 21, giv- ing his personal attention to its improvement. In the fall of 1871 he built a steam saw-mill at Byron Center, with an engine of 30 horse- power and upright saw, and engaged in the manufacture of lumber for the Widdicomb Furniture Company of Grand Rapids. In the fall of 1880 he built a grist mill with four sets of burr stones. He did a considerable amount of custom work and manufactured his own brand of flour for the Grand Rapids market. Mr. Towner enlisted for serv- ice in the Civil War, March 6, 1865, joining Company C, Tenth Michi- gan cavalry. He served in the Army of the Cumberland and was dis- charged Nov. 21, 1865, at Jackson, Tennessee. He served as super- visor and also filled other local offices.
Byron McNeal was born in Ridgeville, Lorain County, Ohio, Oct. 13, 1838. He continued in the vocation of his father (farming) until Aug. 3, 1862, when he enlisted at Elyria in Company H, One Hundred and Third Ohio infantry, and served in the Twenty-third army corps, Army of the Tennessee, until July 4, 1865. He was engaged in the siege of Knoxville and the battle of Resaca, Ga., where he was wound- ed in the left foot, May 14, 1864. He was sent to the field hospital, thence to Chattanooga, Nashville, Louisville, and finally to Camp Den- ison, where he was detailed to transfer prisoners. On being dis- charged, he returned to Ridgeville and engaged in farming two years, and then went to Elyria and prosecuted mercantile business five years. In 1876 he came to Byron Center and purchased the store of William B. Crabtree, a general stock of merchandise, including groceries, drugs, dry goods, agricultural implements, etc. He lost the stock and building by fire, Jan. 2, 1878, but the following year he erected a new building and continued the business. In January, 1881, he was ap- pointed postmaster and filled that position a number of years, and also served as supervisor.
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Moses Rosenberg was born in Oxford County, Ontario, Canada, Feb. 12, 1847. He was but four years of age when brought to Kent County by his parents, and he did much toward clearing away the forests and in fitting the land for civilized life. He was educated in the common schools and began the task of making a livelihood for himself at the early age of fourteen years, at a compensation of $72 per annum. On Feb. 5, 1864, he enlisted at Grand Rapids in Company G, Twenty-first Michigan infantry, and was assigned to the Army of the Tennessee. At the siege of Savannah he was taken ill and was confined in hospital two months, then rejoined his regiment at Golds- boro, N. C., and was present at the surrender of Johnston. He served his country faithfully for eighteen months, and was mustered out at Detroit, receiving an honorable discharge Aug. 28, 1865, and then re- turned home to resume the peaceful pursuit of agriculture. In 1888 he was elected supervisor of Byron township and was re-elected to that position consecutively five times.
Washington Judson was born in Byron township Dec. 14, 1844. He received his education in the little frame schoolhouse, known as No. 2. The first log schoolhouse, No. 1, in the township of Byron, had a row of windows in one end, and the seats were slabs, with pegs for legs. No. 2 was the pride of the township, yet its methods were primitive, and the birchen rod and dunce-block were among its appli- ances. Some of the early pioneer amusements consisted of taffy- pulling, apple parings, log rollings, etc., and concluded with a dance, such as the Virginia reel, fisher's horn-pipe, and so on. Mr. Judson began working out at the age of fourteen years at $7 per month. He became an expert shingle packer and spent about seven years in the shingle and lumber mills of Ottawa County. He was elected super- visor of Byron township in 1901, was re-elected in 1902 and again in 1907, serving three terms.
CHAPTER XI. ADA TOWNSHIP
LOCATION AND BOUNDARIES-PHYSICAL FEATURES-VILLAGE OF ADA- FIRST SETTLER-RIX ROBINSON-ORGANIZATION-FIRST OFFICERS -LIST OF SUPERVISERS.
This is one of the four most centrally located townships in Kent County, the townships of Cannon, Grand Rapids and Plainfield being the others. It is bounded on the north by Cannon, on the east by Vergennes, on the south by Cascade, and on the west by Grand Rap- ids. It is said that it was named in honor of a highly respected young lady, Ada Smith, who then resided in the township. The records of the township are not in existence previously to the year 1838, and this must have been about the date of its organization. Its boundaries are four straight lines, and territorially it is an exact Congressional township, containing thirty-six sections of land. The land is what is usually termed "oak openings" and as fertile perhaps as any other portion of the county, being generally very productive. It was origi- nally a fair alternation of openings and heavy timber, and the soil is
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sandy, being well adapted to fruit culture. The valleys of the Grand and Thornapple Rivers are not extremely wide, and the general topog- raphy of other portions of the township might be described as level or gently undulating. There is some excellent land, with fine farms and improvements, and it can be said that Ada is a specially rich and valuable territory. The Grand River divides the township into un- equal parts, following from southeast to northwest, and Thornapple River comes up from the south to deposit its water into the main channel of the Grand. In the pioneer days Thornapple was consid- ered of sufficient magnitude to afford water power for the early mills, and it probably derives its name from the plentiful supply of thorn- apples which grew upon its banks. There are a number of spring brooks which are tributaries of the two rivers, and these afford the drainage and water supply of the township.
The Grand Trunk Railroad traverses Ada, and besides being within a reasonable distance of the city of Grand Rapids, there is the village of Ada. Ample shipping facilities are thus afforded, and the railroad accommodations are superior to most other rural districts in the county. The country is traversed by well kept roads, which add to the comfort and convenience of interior travel. The village of Ada is a shipping and trading point of importance and convenience to a large farming community. The agricultural interests of the town- ship are varied and extensive, stock raising and fruit culture being profitable accessories to the raising of grain and vegetables. Much land is devoted to grazing uses, to which it is admirably adapted, by reason of the abundance of pure water, and successful growing of all kinds of grasses. In an early day this locality was especially val- ued as a hunting ground, game of all kinds being found here in great abundance.
The first settler of this township was Rix Robinson. For a long time he was engaged in the fur trade with the Indians on Grand Riv- er. Alone he traversed the forests, and "paddled his own canoe," sur- rounded with savages by nature-and sometimes by deed-but he re- mained unmolested by them. The spirit of the natives had already been somewhat subdued by the influence of Christianity, and itiner- ant missionaries were then laboring among them. A tribe of these Indians remained on Sections 6 and 7 of the present township of Ada until about the year 1860, when they sold their lands and removed to Pentwater. During the latter years of their residence on these lands they cultivated the soil, built comfortable dwellings, had well organ- ized schools and very good churches. They were of the Roman Cath- olic faith. Mr. Robinson, or "Uncle Rix," as he was familiarly called, during his sojourn and life among the Indians, became quite attached to them ; so much so that he chose one of their daughters as his part- ner for life. A son was born to them, and he became well known throughout Grand River Valley and western Michigan as an energetic business man.
The experience of the pioneers of Ada was similar to that of oth- er townships; they worked hard, they endured much, and they en- joyed much. They lived a noble life, although it was a life perhaps few of us would choose. And they did a good work. Every stroke of their pioneer axe sounded a note in the song of a "thousand years."
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Among the early settlers of Ada, in addition to the one we have already mentioned, may be named Edward Robinson, who settled in 1830; Tory Smith, Jedediah Riggs and Edward Pettis, in 1836-7; Pe- ter McLean, R. G. Chaffee, Hezekiah Howell, E. McCormick, P. Fin- gleton, Gurden Chapel, John Findlay and J. S. Schenck, 1840 to 1845.
Tory Smith, one of that noble band of pioneers who were among the founders of Kent County, was born in Burlington, Vt., Nov. 12, 1798. In 1832 he removed to near Rochester, N. Y., where he fol- lowed farming, and for two years carried the mail from Rochester over the noted Ridge road. In the autumn of 1837 he came with his brother, Sydney Smith, to Ada, Kent County. He entered fifty acres on Section 35 and subsequently forty acres more. He owned an in- terest in and conducted a ferry across the Thornapple until the bridge was built. Mr. Smith died Oct. 6, 1870, after a long life of usefulness.
Jedediah Riggs was a native of Connecticut, born July 8, 1776. He came to Michigan in 1835 and entered 160 acres of land in Jack- son County. In April, 1837, he came to Ada and entered eighty acres of land, his being the fifth family to settle in Ada, east of the Grand River. He died in August, 1868.
Edward Pettis was born in Pittsfield, Berkshire County, Massa- chusetts, Jan. 5, 1818. In 1826 he came with his brother-in-law, Hor- ace Lathrop, to Oakland County, and in 1836 to Ionia County. In April, 1837, he pre-empted 104 acres on Section 6. He disposed of this tract in 1842 and in June of that year purchased 105 acres, which he increased by subsequent purchases to nearly 400 acres of well im- proved land. At this period there were no roads and no bridges, and the only available grist-mill was at Grand Rapids. One notable occa- sion is related. Mr. Pettis left home with his wife, mother-in-law and twenty-five bushels of buckwheat, and drove his ox-team to Grand River, where he kept a canoe. He ferried the women and buckwheat across, compelled the oxen to swim over, and, returning, dissected his wagon and carried the pieces in his canoe to the opposite shore, where he reconstructed his train and proceeded. The return process was the same and three days were consumed in the trip. Mr. Pettis aided in building the first church and schoolhouse and roads; he piloted the first boat from Grand Rapids to Grand Haven and, in 1847-8, assisted in the subdivision of twenty-two townships in Oceana, Newaygo and Manistee Counties. He also lumbered on the Flat River about fif- teen years.
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