USA > Michigan > Kent County > Grand Rapids > Grand Rapids and Kent County, Michigan: History and Account of Their Progress from First. Vol. I > Part 35
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The first permanent improvement which was made in the town- ship of Sparta is credited to Lewis W. Purdy, who located there in 1844. He came from Genesee County, moved his family into the township and was one of the first tillers of the soil. In the same year, and a little before the advent of Mr. Purdy, Lyman Smith set- tled on Section 25, near the southeast part of the township, and fol- lowing him came Norman and Edwin Cummings, who located on Section 34. But they built no houses worthy of the name, living in small shanties, and it remained for Mr. Purdy, who settled on the southwest corner of Section 28, to erect the first log house in the now thickly settled township of Sparta. Mrs. Purdy was the first white woman in the township. In January, 1845, Joseph English and fam- ily came direct from England and went just over the line in Section 36, in the southeast part of the township. Mr. English, although un- able to read or write when he came to Sparta, was a man of great perseverance and succeeded, in the course of a few years, in erecting a large steam saw-mill, which drew quite a number of men, who bought lots and erected small houses, thereby making a little village which was called Englishville. This mill being destroyed by fire, Mr. English moved to Laphamville, now known as Rockford, where he continued his activities. By buying some of the mills and renting others, he succeeded in getting control of nearly all of the mills on Rouge River, from which he shipped a large quantity of lumber to Chicago, but owing to a decline in prices he failed to make it pay and was obliged to suspend business, yet not until he had-by his great energy and venturesome spirit-infused new life into the whole lumber district of Rouge River. He afterward, with his sons, erected a water mill on the north part of his farm. A little hamlet, still known as Englishville, is about all that remains to remind one of the once flourishing little village; the construction of the Pere Marquette- Railroad not being able to revive it. In the spring of 1845, Mr. Cum- mings-the father of Norman, Edwin and Nelson Cummings-came
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with his family to the place where the sons had previously begun. Lyman Smith and Mr. Purdy did not long remain residents of Spar- ta, but they left their impress as pioneers upon the locality.
In June, 1845, John Symes, Elihu Rice, and Anthony Chapman met in Alpine, while on their way to settle in Sparta. They were strangers to one another, but soon found, by comparing descriptions, that the lands which they had respectively bought or pre-empted, all lay adjoining and, going on the principle that "in union is strength," they, after consultation, decided on the course they would take, and the next morning Rice and Symes started from the house of Joseph English to underbrush a road from there west along the present town line of Alpine and Sparta. Meanwhile Chapman had returned to Mill Creek for provisions. After cutting west to the section corner, after- ward known as Rouse's Corners, they turned north and followed the line between Sections 34 and 35. Toward night they were beginning to think of returning to the house of Mr. English, but at that mo- ment they heard a wagon approaching, and on waiting for it to come up found it was Chapman, who had come with supplies. They now built a fire by the side of a log and camped for the night, with the wolves howling around them while they slept. In the morning they completed the road to what was to be their homes. Mr. Rice's land was on Section 27 and Mr. Symes' and Mr. Chapman's on 26. Three trees were found on the line of Symes' and Chapman's land which would do for three corner posts of a shanty, and by putting in one post and the use of a few boards which had been brought along from Mill Creek, a shelter was soon formed to which the fami- lies were taken the next day, and there they lived together until houses were erected.
John Symes was a native of England, born in 1817. He came to Massachusetts in 1836 and resided three years on what is known as Indian Hill farm. He traveled a year afterward and went to work in Ohio, and three years afterward went to Canada, where he worked the same length of time on a canal, serving one year as foreman of the stone delivery. When he came to Sparta he purchased 120 acres of land. He held the position of township clerk two years and also served as highway commissioner. His wife, whose maiden name was Harriet Abbott, a native of Steuben County, New York, taught the first school in Sparta township.
About this time David B. Martindale settled on Section 36. Dur- ing the following fall and winter Hiram H. Meyers settled east of Rouge River, on Section 24, and was soon followed by his father and family from Canada. This family took a large tract of land in the east part of Sparta, where they engaged quite extensively in lum- bering, especially Hiram and John and Myron Balcom, near the cen- ter of the township, and William Blackall and family southwest of the center. Clark Brown, who came from the State of New York, early in 1845, settled on the south line of Section 33. In 1846, J. E. Nash, from Massachusetts, settled one mile east of the center of the township.
Jonathan E. Nash was born at Greenfield, Mass., May 28, 1820, and was brought up on a farm. His father died when Jonathan was, but five years old and the family affairs were managed by the moth-
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er, with whom the son remained until 26 years of age. In 1846 he came to the portion of Kent County now known as Sparta, then a wilderness, comparatively unknown to white men, and located 200 acres on Sections 23 and 14. He cut the first tree where the village of Sparta now stands and his first abode was a log house, where he kept bachelor's hall for a number of years and improved his land. In 1848 he built a saw-mill on Nash's Creek, on Section 14, the first saw- mill in the township. He sold the mill in 1865 and after that devoted himself to clearing and managing his farm, which included 160 acres adjoining the village of Sparta. He served as supervisor of Sparta township eleven years, highway commissioner several terms, and held most of the minor township offices.
Among other settlers who were pioneers in various parts of the township were the Spangenburgs, Amidons, Bradfords, Hinmans, McNitts, Taylors, Stebbinses, R. D. Hastings and Ira Blanchard. Ly- man Murray settled in Sparta in an early day, but soon removed to Alpine, and in 1879 returned and spent the remainder of his days in Sparta village.
Sparta township was organized April 6, 1846, nine years after Michigan was admitted to the Union as a State. The township then included the present townships of Sparta and Tyrone. Those that stood around the ballot box at this first election were Caleb Ami- don, Benjamin Blackall, Clark Brown, John M. Balcom, William Blackall, Myron H. Balcom, Wyman M. Bartlett, Newell Barker, My- ron H. Bird, Jacob A. Bradford, Anthony Chapman, Joel French, James Huff, Charles B. Hatch, Jacob Hiles, Minor Letts, David B. Martindale, Benjamin Myers, Parsly Otis, Berry D. Pearl, Lewis W. Purdy, Elihu Rice, William Rodgers, John A. Simmons, Jacob Span- genburg, James V. Simmons, George Spangenburg, Philip Slaght, Lyman Smith, Luther Van Horn, Harvey Van Horn, and Edward H. Wylie-thirty-two in all-and there were twenty offices to fill, so nearly every voter was destined to fill some office and possibly some were elected to two or three. The records of the township were de- stroyed by fire in 1876 and the full list of officers elected was thereby lost, but it is certain that Lewis W. Purdy was chosen supervisor ; John M. Balcom, clerk; Myron H. Balcom, township treasurer, and William Rodgers, Charles B. Hatch, Edward H. Wylie and Elihu Rice, justices of the peace. This little band of pioneers who then laid the foundation of the township have all long since passed away. At the ensuing state election thirty-nine votes were cast in Sparta township.
The village of Sparta, which had a precarious existence for the first years of its life, gradually assumed the importance of a thrifty center of population. Prior to the construction of the present Pere Marquette railroad to that point it was scarcely a business center and had but a small population, though there were successful busi- ness enterprises located in the village. But with the building of the railroad, and the establishment of a station there, the village began to take on more active life and in 1883 it was incorporated. It is supported by a rich agricultural district, remote from considerable towns, and is an extensive shipping point, being probably the larg- est shipping point for fat live stock on the line of the Pere Mar-
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quette Railroad, north of Grand Rapids. The business men of the place are progressive and enterprising people, who command ample capital and first-class facilities for the transaction of the large vol- ume of business. Though it has not made rapid strides in growth, its population is mainly of that solid, permanent character which adds financial strength and stability. According to the United States cen- sus of 1910 the population is 1,203. The village has well built resi- dences and business blocks, and good educational advantages and church facilities.
The village of Lisbon, on the west line of the township, is six- teen miles from Grand Rapids, on the old Grand Rapids & Newaygo State Road. It was first settled by John Pintler, who came here from the State of New York in 1846. In 1848 a mail route was estab- lished from Grand Rapids to Newaygo, with a postoffice at this point under the name of Pintler's Corners, Mr. Pintler being the first post- master. In 1859 the name of the office was changed to Lisbon. The first goods sold from a store in this place were by Miner Atherton, in 1855. In March, 1869, it was regularly incorporated as a village, including half a mile each way from the northwest corner post of Section 30. It will be noticed that this includes half a section-or, more properly, two quarter sections-from Ottawa County. It be- came a place of considerable importance, but as it was not so fortu- nate as to get on the line of a railroad it began to decay and now has but one general store and a wagon repair shop.
The Baptist and the Methodist Episcopal denominations were the pioneer religious organizations in the township of Sparta. As early as the late forties, itinerant ministers of these sects held re- ligious services in the settlers' cabins and invaded the school houses for the same purposes as soon as they were established. Church or- ganizations were formed at the village of Sparta. The congregations at first worshiped in the dwellings of members and in the small frame school house which had been erected in 1849, and each of the denomi- nations had erected a church edifice by 1866. Other religious socie- ties have since been organized in the village and contribute to the spiritual welfare of the people.
Sparta township is well supplied with district schools now, in striking contrast with the log houses and antiquated means of con- struction of former days. It is said that among the early teachers in the township there were a number of sturdy "wielders of the birch."
Reference has been made to the first school house, from which arose two of the prosperous religious organizations of the village of Sparta. But that was not its only mission, nor in fact the principal one. While serving in the capacity of town hall, a voting place, a general receptacle for itinerant shows, and all classes of public meet- ings, it was also the birthplace of educational ambitions, which cul- minated in some of the colleges of the day. The old school house has been superseded by fine structures, with a systematic arrange- ment for the instruction of pupils in all grades of advancement, each of the various departments being in charge of a teacher especially adapted to the class of instruction required, and the whole under the direct supervision of an educator of known ability and success. The schools of Sparta are second to none of like grade in the county or
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country, and they reflect, in a marked degree, the intelligent and public-spirited enterprise of those who sustain them.
The soil of the township of Sparta is generally fertile and well adapted to the raising of all kinds of grains, grasses and fruits. The valleys of the River Rouge and its various branches are especially rich and productive; while the upland is not so desirable for farming purposes, yet the soil there is of better quality than much of the land of similar character in other localities. The township was originally covered with a fine growth of timber, in which the hardwood varie- ties predominated. There is much valuable timber still in the town- ship.
The following is a list of the supervisors of Sparta township from its organization in 1846 down to the present time: 1846, Lewis W. Purdy ; 1848, Jonathan E. Nash; 1849, Lewis W. Purdy; 1850, Horace McNitt ; 1851, Jonathan E. Nash; 1853, Caleb Amidon ; 1854, Jonathan E. Nash; 1857, Sidney McNitt; 1858, Jonathan E. Nash; 1859, Ira Blanchard; 1861, Jacob Spangenburg ; 1863, Ira Blanchard ; 1864, Christopher C. Hinman ; 1865, Rufus Payne; 1866, Sidney Mc- Nitt; 1868, Volney W. Caukin; 1872, Christopher C. Hinman ; 1875, Jonathan E. Nash; 1877, John Manchester ; 1878, Jonathan E. Nash ; 1879, Christopher C. Hinman; 1881, Rezin A. Maynard; 1883, James B. Taylor ; 1884, Christopher C. Hinman; 1885, Avonley E. Roberts ; 1889, Leslie E. Paige; 1890, Avonley E. Roberts; 1892, Leslie E. Paige; 1893, Avonley E. Roberts; 1894, Norton Fitch ; 1896, Henry Myers ; 1901, Vernon H. Billings; 1908, Charles J. Rice; 1917, G. E. Jacobs, present incumbent.
Christopher C. Hinman was born May 13, 1830, in the State of New York, Madison County. In 1852 he settled in Sparta township, on Section 32, buying eighty acres of land with what means he had and involved himself in debt to the extent of $300. But he was suc- cessful from the start and became one of the leading citizens of the township, filling the office of supervisor seven years.
Rezin A. Maynard was born in Seneca County, New York, Sept. 21, 1853. He took a literary course of study at Hillsdale, Mich., and in 1879 entered the law department at Ann Arbor. He was admitted to the bar in 1880 and located at Sparta, where he held the office of justice of the peace and in the spring of 1881 was elected supervisor, being re-elected in 1882 and serving two terms. In 1890 he was ap- pointed surveyor of customs at the port of Grand Rapids and held the position until 1893. He then gave up the law, entered the Chris- tian ministry and accepted a charge in Denver, Colo.
CHAPTER XXI. ALPINE TOWNSHIP 1
DATE OF ORGANIZATION-PHYSICAL FEATURES-VILLAGE OF ALPINE- EARLY SETTLERS-FIRST OFFICERS-WATER COURSES-SOIL-LIST OF SUPERVISORS.
Previous to April 5, 1847, the territory of this township was a part of the township of Walker. It was then organized as a separate township, in conformity with the prayer of certain petitioners, and given the name of Alpine. It retains its original form and size, con-
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taining thirty-six square miles, a full Congressional township. A por- tion of the township is embraced in the valley of Grand River and is very rich and valuable territory. The northern portion of the town- ship is traversed by two small streams, the valleys of which are also fertile lands and embrace a considerable area. Numerous spring runs increase the volume of water in the creeks mentioned, and at the same time enhance the value of the lands traversed; rendering them available for grazing purposes.
The general surface of the township of Alpine is level, and the soil is very productive, producing excellent crops of wheat, oats, and other cereals. Fine farms and excellent improvements attest the fer- tility of the land. The surface of the township was originally cov- ered with a heavy growth of excellent timber, and the varieties were those usually found in this section of the State. While some valuable timber is still preserved, by far the greater part of it was destroyed in fitting the land for cultivation. That which survived the pioneer log-heaps has submitted to oft-repeated cullings for market purposes, or the personal needs of the owners, until at this time the territory where it grew thickest more resembles the treeless prairies of the West than the original home of a dense forest.
The village of Alpine, located in the eastern part of the town- ship, is one of the most prosperous trading centers of its size in the county. It is a small hamlet of about 125 inhabitants, but consider- able trade is carried on there in merchandise, live stock and farm products. It has two churches-Catholic and Union-two general stores, one of which also deals in coal, shingles and cement; a cider and feed mill, and a resident physician is located there. The little hamlet is situated on the Newaygo branch of the Pere Marquette rail- road.
The territory now embraced within Alpine township was visited by prospective settlers at about as early a period as any of the north- ern townships of the county, with a very few exceptions. The first man to make an actual settlement in the township was Solomon Wright, who, with his family, came from Wayne County, New York, in the year 1837, and located on the south line, near Indian Creek. The family consisted of the old gentleman and wife and five sons- Benjamin, Solomon, Noadiah, Andrew, and Jeremiah. One of these sons lost his life in the Civil War.
In the year 1840 John Coffee and Richmond Gooding came from Ohio, penetrated the forest nearly five miles beyond the Wright neighborhood and settled on Section 20, near the west line of the township. John Coffee was a native of Enniskillen, County Ferma- nagh, Ireland, and was born May 12, 1812. He came from Ireland to America with his parents in the year 1815, and they first located in Pennsylvania, where they remained for some time prior to their removal to Marion County, Ohio. After living in Ohio for some time, and after considerable moving, Mr. Coffee finally came to Michi- gan, where he purchased his farm in Section 20, and immediately commenced cutting the timber, disposing of the same and buying more'land and timber until he became independently rich, at the time of his death being considered one of Alpine's richest farmers. His death occurred April 6, 1887.
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For years Messrs. Coffee and Gooding called their location the "jumping off place," as there were no settlements north of them, and in fact no house in any direction nearer than three or four miles. About the same time. Jacob Snyder-a German-settled on Section 35, and another German by the name of John Platte on Section 36, in the southeast corner of the township.
John Platte was a native of Helden, Germany, and was born in the year 1822. He emigrated from Germany to America with his par- ents when but a boy, in the year 1838. Upon their arrival in Kent County, they at once purchased from the government a tract of land in Sections 35 and 36, Alpine township, where Mr. Platte made his home until his death, which occurred Aug. 18, 1870.
A short time before the arrival of these excellent German citi- zens, Turner Hills and family came from Vermont and located in the east part of the township, on Section 13, where for several years they were the northernmost settlers. Among other pioneers who settled in various parts of the township were Noel Hopkins, Baltas Schaffer, Peter Schlick, James Snowden, Sherman M. Pearsall, John B. Colton; A. B. Toms, Thompson Kasson, Joseph Hipler, John Ellis, Edward Wheeler, Hervey Wilder, Joseph Bullen, Moses Ramsdell, John J. Downer, Hiram Stevenson, Artemus Hilton, Henry S. Church, Charles Anderson, Francis Greenley, and the Boyds, Denisons, Meads, Brew- ers, Davenports, and Cordes, all of whom came before 1850.
Sherman M. Pearsall was born in Cayuga County, New York, Dec. 11, 1817. He was a teacher at Troy, N. Y., and came to Kent County in 1844, locating on the line between Alpine and Walker townships, where he resided one year, and then, in 1845, removed to Section 28, Alpine township, where he remained until the spring of 1876. He then removed to Grand Rapids, where he resided the re- mainder of his life. He was the original temperance man in Alpine, refusing to have liquor at his barn raising.
As stated in the beginning of this chapter, Alpine was united with the township of Walker until the year 1847. Its first independ- ent township meeting was held at the school house in the southeast corner of the township, April 5, 1847, and it resulted in the election of the following named persons as officers: Supervisor, Edward Wheeler ; clerk, C. D. Shenich; treasurer, Casper Cordes; justices, William H. Withey, John Coffee, John Colton, and John Tuxbury. The next annual meeting was held at the house of Edward Wheeler, near the center of the township. Soon after this a small log school house was erected on the corner of Mr. Wheeler's farm, one-half mile east of the center, and was used as a place of holding township meet- ings, until about the year 1860, when a nice frame town hall building was erected on the northeast corner of Section 21, the location of the present town hall.
William H. Withey came from Vermont and built a saw-mill on the northeast corner of Section 25, in 1838, and for twenty-eight years was prominent in business enterprises, including a line of stages to Battle Creek and Kalamazoo and the work of constructing the Kala- mazoo & Grand Rapids plank road.
Alpine-which is said to have derived its name from the suppo- sition of many of the early settlers, who were near the streams and I-18
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in the eastern part of the township, that it was chiefly timbered with pine-is very different from what its name would indicate to a stranger. There was, originally, considerable pine along the larger streams and in the northeasterly corner of the township. At one time seven saw-mills were situated on Mill Creek and were doing quite a business. The source of Mill Creek is Cranberry Lake, which is situated on the line between Kent and Ottawa Counties, extending into Section 6 of Alpine. From there to Pickerel Lake, on Section 10, Mill Creek is but a small rivulet. We mention this as the main stream, but there is another branch about the same size which comes in from Sparta and unites with the former near the north line of Section 9. From Pickerel Lake to its mouth Mill Creek is fed by several small streams, one of which comes from Downer Lake on the southeast quarter of Section 10. The main stream passes about one and one-half miles north of the center of the township, thence southeasterly until it unites with Grand River in the southwest cor- ner of Plainfield. For a distance of five or six miles from its mouth the water power is sufficiently good for manufacturing purposes. Along this stream originally there was a series of small swamps, ex- tending nearly the whole width of the township from east to west and bordered on either side by clay bluffs, rising in some places to a height of 60 or 70 feet. North of this, and extending into Sparta, is a ridge of high, rolling, and originally timbered land, which is as good as can be found in the county for farming purposes, fruit growing, etc. On the south is a similar ridge which divides Mill Creek on one side from Indian and Sand Creeks on the other. One branch of In- dian Creek rises near the center of the township and the other in the western part. These branches unite in the north part of Section 28, and thence the stream flows south into Walker, crossing the south line of Alpine near the center. One branch of Sand Creek rises in the western part of Alpine and flows south into Walker and thence west into Ottawa County. Another branch of the same stream has its source in a small lake covering about ten acres, situated on the line between Sections 28 and 29. Mead Lake is situated on the east line of Section 12 and extends east into Plainfield. The lake and sur- rounding swamp cover about forty acres. In the early days a saw- mill was erected on the north side of this lake and an effort was made to build up a town, which was christened New Boston, but, like many other such enterprises, it never went much beyond the paper plat.
The soil of the beech and maple-timbered portions of Alpine- which comprise about two-thirds of the township-is generally clay or loam. Indeed Alpine is a township of good land, well adapted to the production of both grain and fruit. The good looking orchards and the loads of nice apples, peaches, plums, pears, etc., as well as the excellent yields of wheat and other grain, speak for themselves. The soil of the pine-timbered portions is sandy, but it grows fair crops when properly cultivated and improved. With great natural advan- tages the township has attracted to its confines an excellent class of citizens, and from the small beginning, the particulars of which we have attempted to relate in this chapter, the township has grown in population until in 1910 the United States census gave the number of inhabitants of the township as 1,436.
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