USA > Michigan > Kent County > Grand Rapids > Grand Rapids and Kent County, Michigan: History and Account of Their Progress from First. Vol. I > Part 36
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The following is a list of the supervisors of Alpine township from its organization down to the present time: 1847, Edward Whee- ler ; 1848, William H. Withey; 1851, Alonzo Brewer; 1852, Charles T. Hills ; 1853, John B. Colton ; 1856, Reuben H. Smith ; 1857, Lyman Murray ; 1858, Reuben H. Smith; 1859, Lyman Murray ; 1866, Isaac Haynes; 1873, Henry D. Wedge; 1874, Lyman Murray; 1875, Henry D. Wedge; 1876, Lyman Murray ; 1877, Norton Fitch; 1883, James Hill; 1893, Aaron H. Hills; 1896, John F. Klenk; 1900, Nicholas B. Creveling ; 1903, J. A. Burch ; 1904, Charles H. Chase; 1910, George Albert ; 1913, Louis F. Cordes; 1916, Charles H. Chase, present in- cumbent.
Norton Fitch was born in Orleans County, New York, Nov. 17, 1833, and came to this county in 1848, when fifteen years of age. He became one of the most enterprising and substantial citizens and farmers of Alpine township and served in most of its local offices. He held school offices for ten years consecutively, was treasurer five years and officiated as supervisor six years. On the breaking out of the Civil War he felt impelled to respond to the call of the nation and enlisted Aug. 17, 1861, at Grand Rapids, in Company C, First United States sharpshooters, for three years, or during the war. He was sworn into the service in Detroit and soon afterward was appointed corporal. He was engaged in the Siege of Yorktown and the battles of Williamsburg, Hanover Court House, Mechanicsville, Gaines' Mill, Charles City Cross Roads, Malvern Hill, and the second battle of Bull Run. In the last named engagement his left arm was shot off by a shell, and he received his honorable discharge Oct. 18, 1862.
John F. Klenk was born in Maryland in 1837, and came to this county in 1860. In 1861 he enlisted in Company C, Third Michigan infantry, and was in the service two years and four months. He was in the battle of Bull Run, in the seven days' fight at Richmond and in all the Peninsula campaign. In civil life he was equally faithful and served four years as supervisor of Alpine township.
George Albert was a native of Otisco, Ionia County. born Sept. 15, 1852. He began life for himself when forty years of age, previous to that time having conducted the business of his father. He pur- chased 120 acres of land in Section 15, Alpine township, and soon be- came recognized as a sterling citizen. He served the people of that township as justice of the peace and also as supervisor.
CHAPTER XXII. CASCADE TOWNSHIP
LOCATION AND WATER COURSES-FIRST SETTLERS-WHITNEYVILLE- DISEASE AMONG INDIANS - FIRST TOWNSHIP MEETING - FIRST OFFICERS-REV. ERIE PRINCE-FIRST POSTOFFICE-LIST OF SU- PERVISORS.
That part of Kent County which is known as the township of Cascade comprises Congressional township 6, range 10 west, and contains, of course, thirty-six sections of land. It is bounded on the north by Ada township, on the east by Lowell township, on the south by Caledonia township, and on the west by the township of Paris.
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HISTORY OF KENT COUNTY, MICHIGAN
This township is watered by Thornapple River and its branches, the main stream flowing in a northerly direction. The surface of the township is greatly diversified by hills, valleys, streams, lakes, springs and marshes. Grand River flows northwest through Sections 12, 1 and 2, into Ada. On the east of the Thornapple a creek rises in Sec- tion 11 and enters that stream on Section 10. Another, one branch of which rises in Section 30, Lowell, and the other in Section 1, of Cale- donia, forms a junction on Section 26, in Cascade, and carries its united currents to the Thornapple on Section 27. On the west side of the river a creek, rising on Section 29, forms a junction with it on Section 34. Another having its head on Section 19 enters the river on Section 16. Another, whose source is a large boiling spring on Section 6, in its course of two and a half miles attains considerable size and empties its waters into the Thornapple at Section 9. Re- mains of an old beaver dam were to be seen on this creek in the early days of settlement. The soil is a sandy loam, occasionally gravelly, and the township originally consisted of oak openings, with a soil admirably suited for grain and grass. On the southeast quarter of Section 14 is probably one of the most remarkable lakes of Kent County or Michigan. It is said to have a greater depth of water than Lake Erie. The aborigines of the country had a singular supersti- tion in regard to this lake, never floating their canoes on its bosom or eating the fish of its waters. They asserted that it was inhabited by an "evil spirit" or, as they termed it, a "Great Snake." But the cause of any phenomenon in connection with this lake is a question for the scientist, rather than the historian. Another lake is found on the line of Sections 4 and 5, and also one in the northwest corner of Section 8, matched by some forty rods directly north.
Lewis Cook, a native of New Jersey, is said to have been the first settler within the limits of Cascade. He removed from that State to Seneca County, New York, and from thence to Washtenaw County, in this State, from which he came as a pioneer settler to Cascade in 1836. At or near this time also came Hiram Laraway, from New York, his wife being a sister of Mrs. Cook. But, discouraged by the hardships of the wilderness, and dismayed by the prospects occa- sioned by the panic of 1837, he returned to Eastern Michigan. In 1839 or 1840 he started back to Cascade, but lost his way in the woods of Ada township and was frozen to death. His widow bravely met the heavy burdens of pioneer life and trained up three sons and a daughter to lives of usefulness, while the name of Aunt Mary Lara- way became a household word in the community and a synonym of virtue and piety. She lived to see her children settled in life. She was fatally injured by a fall from a cherry tree on the homestead, her death occurring in 1869.
In 1837, Edward Lennon, a native of Ireland-whose shores he left for America in 1836-settled in Cascade, where he became a use- ful, industrious citizen. He was born in County Wicklow, Ireland, in 1819. When he came to America he landed at Quebec and made his way soon thereafter to Cascade township, where he took up eighty acres of government land. There were no roads when he came in and he cut the highway from the Cascade & Grand Rapids road to his place. The Catholic Church of the township was organized in his house.
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In the year 1838, and the subsequent year, Mr. Lennon was fol- lowed by James May, David Petted, John Farrell, James and Wil- liam Annis, Michael Matthews, Patrick, Christopher and Michael Eardley, all natives of the same country. In 1838, Frederick A. Marsh, of New York, united in marriage with Olive Guild, a daugh- ter of Joel Guild, one of the pioneer settlers of Grand Rapids, and began domestic life in the unbroken wilderness, one mile north and west of where the little hamlet of Cascade is located. Mr. Marsh lived to see the forest yield to cultivated fields and comfortable dwellings, and to have a school house erected on his own land. He was killed by a fall from his wagon in 1856. Mrs. Marsh, afterward Mrs. Walden, survived her husband eleven years, and often spoke of those days when her nearest neighbors were miles away and for three months at a time she did not see the face of a white man, ex- cept her husband, and a human being passing over the newly cut road was a relief to her intense loneliness. She died at the old homestead in 1867.
Peter and George Teeple came to Cascade in these early years, joining the settlers on the west side of the Thornapple, while the east- ern side was as yet unmarked by civilization, but inhabited on and near Sections 23 and 26 by a colony of about 350 natives, known, through the adoption of the name of their missionary, as the Slater Indians. The Teeples were born in Essex, N. J., sons of Jonas Tee- ple, who, with his entire family of grown sons and daughters, came to Michigan and settled where the village of Plymouth, Wayne Coun- ty, now stands. Jonas made several visits to Kent County, but died in Wayne County when past eighty years old. His three sons-Pe- ter, George and James-all settled in Kent County, Peter and George coming in 1836 and James some years later, settling at Sparta. Peter Teeple was the father of seven children when he came to Kent Coun- ty. He had sold a large farm at Plymouth, and in Cascade township bought 700 acres of government land at $1.25 per acre-all prac- tically in one tract. He built a little log house on Section 18 and there passed the remainder of his life, the little log house, however, giving place to a fine dwelling in 1855. Mr. Teeple was for many years agent for speculators who owned large tracts of land in the county, and of these he sold many acres to settlers, doing much to people this region. Although he was but eight miles from Grand Rapids, then nick-named "Bob-o-link," it took him two days to make the trip. For five years he was supervisor of his township, and he kept up his interest in public affairs until he had attained an advanced age. He died in 1875 at the age of eighty-two years. George W. Teeple came to Cascade with his wife and two children. This was soon after Lewis Cook, who was a maternal uncle of the Teeples, had arrived, and soon afterward came Edward Cook, a veteran of the War of 1812, who likewise took up his residence in Cascade. In 1848 George W. Teeple removed his family to Section 18, on the line of Paris township, settling on a tract of 150 acres, and there he died, in 1884, at the age of seventy-four years.
In the year 1841, Peter Whitney, of Ohio, moved his family into that part of Cascade which was long known as Whitneyville, and E. D. Gove, of Massachusetts, selected a site for his future home near the center of the township on Sections 22, 15 and 14, to which he
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brought his family in the summer of 1842. Horace Sears, from New York, and Zerah and Ezra Whitney (father and brother to Peter) accompanied them in their journey and settled in Whitneyville. In the spring of 1845, Asa W. Denison and family, of Massachusetts, ac- companied by a brother, Gideon H. Denison, looking for a homestead (to which he brought his family the following year), came to join the settlers on the west side of the Thornapple. Coming in on the State road, from Battle Creek to Grand Rapids, the teams, women and children of the company were obliged to wait at Ezra Whitney's public house for the road to be "chopped out" between that point and the river, theirs being the first teams that passed over the road. At Cascade they forded the Thornapple with their household goods and found timbers on the ground for the erection of the old Ferry House (afterward Cascade Hotel), which was at that time owned by D. S. T. Weller. During that year the house was so far completed as to admit of occupancy, and the first ferry-boat commenced its trips just above where the bridge across the stream was afterward con- structed. Mr. Weller then owned the plat of land afterward occupied by the little hamlet of Cascade, although first purchased by Joel Guild, and it was at that time staked out into lots of one acre each, as the fine fall on the river gave hopes for the speedy erection of mills at that place, some of the most sanguine settlers prophesying that Cas- cade would outstrip Grand Rapids in the strife for precedence. Mr. Weller sold out his property there to W. S. Gunn, in 1846, and that gentleman held it until after the organization of the township. MI Weller ultimately settled in Grand Rapids, where he remained until he transferred his home to Detroit in 1869. Mr. Gunn remained un- til 1849, when he removed to Grand Rapids and for many years was prominent in the financial and mercantile life of that city.
In the year 1845, a disease, which at the time was denominated the black tongue, broke out among the Indians near Whitneyville, reducing their number in a few weeks to about 200 persons. The band now slowly wasted by disease and removal until less than fifty remained at the time of their removal to the Indian Reservation in 1856. In the year 1846, another family was added to the few set- tlers on the east side of the river-Jared Strong, the first settler in the forest between E. D. Gove and Ada. The following year a school was opened in a little log house on the river bank, Section 27, for the few pupils of that vicinity. Who the young woman was to whom be- longs the rank of pioneer teacher seems to have been lost to history, and it is not decided whether this was the first school taught in the township. It was certainly the first on the east side of the river, and the lumber sawn for the Whitneyville school house, erected in 1848, was among the first work done by the old saw-mill on Sucker Creek, then owned by Peter Whitney. About this time, also, the Kalama- zoo stage made its trips through Whitneyville, via Ada, for Grand Rapids.
The first township meeting was held at Whitneyville, April 3, 1848. Peter Teeple was elected supervisor ; John R. Stewart, clerk; Asa W. Denison, treasurer ; James H. Woodworth and Thomas I. See- ley, school inspectors ; Ezra Whitney, Fred A. Marsh and William De- golia, commissioners of highways; Leonard Stewart and Zerah Whit- ney, justices of the peace; Thomas I. Seeley and Harry Clark, asses-
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sors; Morris Denison, O. P. Corson, William Cook and Peter J. Whitney, constables.
About the year 1848, W. H. Chillson came to Cascade and erected a small dwelling house near the hotel; also a log house just across the river, to which, in 1849, Rev. Erie Prince, of Ohio, brought a small stock of Yankee notions and opened a store, or grocery, for those whose nearest trading point was Grand Rapids. Another writ- er speaks of Elder Prince as follows: "He soon identified himself with the religious and educational needs of the young community. He held at one time the office of school inspector and, up to the time of his death, worked actively in the Sunday School cause, as superintend- ent in the different neighborhoods, now grown around the first nucle- us of settlers. Was a picnic or temperance meeting to be looked after, or were chastened hearts called to lay their treasures in the dust, Elder P. was ever ready to speak the kindly word, pour forth the earnest appeal, or-with tender thought of sympathy-lead the sor- rowing mourner to Him who is the 'resurrection and the life.' The fathers and mothers of the little ones of today remember with affec- tionate respect the tall, slightly bowed form, the kind face, the search- ing, yet mild gray eye, and the hand lightly laid on the head, as he passed them with some friendly question, or brief admonition-seed sown in life's morning time! In the autumn of 1853 he was called upon to speak before the Kent County Agricultural & Horticultural Society, at Grand Rapids, Oct. 6, and his address will be found in the records of the society for that year. About the year 1856, he do- nated to the township of Cascade the land occupied by the Cascade cemetery, and there his body lies buried. His grave is shadowed by a young oak, and unmarked-by an explicit clause in his will-by a headstone. He died Aug. 7, 1862, aged 65. In church connection he was a Presbyterian."
It is not altogether certain just when a postoffice was given this township. It is quite probable, however, that it was established at Whitneyville, soon after the organization of the township. The first postmaster was Clement White, who held that position, with only an intermission of one or two years, until the office was discontinued, in 1868. A postoffice was also established in Cascade in 1854, Dr. M. W. Alfred, the first resident physician, being appointed postmaster. A store was opened the same year at Cascade by Seymour Sage and William Gardner. The village of Cascade at one time had bright prospects, but it was left to one side by the railroads, other towns more favored drew the trade and Cascade consequently declined. It has several residences, Catholic, Christian and Methodist Church buildings, but its mercantile life is confined to one general store.
The records of the United States land office show that Erie Prince entered the first land, making his selection on Section 9 in 1832. The second lot was purchased in the year 1833 by John Van Fleet, and the third lot was taken by Thomas H. Hubbard, Oct. 28, 1834.
The following are the names of the gentlemen who have officiat- ed as supervisor of Cascade township from the time of its organiza- tion down to the present time: 1848, Peter Teeple; 1850, Asa Deni- son ; 1851, Frederick A. Marsh; 1852, Peter Teeple; 1854, Asa Deni- son; 1855, Gideon H. Denison; 1858, Peter Teeple; 1859, Gideon H. Denison ; 1860, Edgar R. Johnson; 1862, Horace Henshaw; 1864,
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Edgar R. Johnson ; 1865, Henry Holt ; 1866, Henry C. Denison ; 1868, Alfred Stow ; 1869, Edgar R. Johnson ; 1873, Horace Henshaw ; 1874, Edgar R. Johnson; 1878, Henry C. Denison; 1879, Edgar R. John- son; 1882, William C. Denison; 1883, George P. Stark; 1885, Edgar R. Johnson ; 1886, George P. Stark; 1887, Edgar R. Johnson; 1888, George P. Stark, 1889, John H. Withey; 1890, Henry B. Proctor ; 1897, E. R. Johnson; 1898, William J. Watterson; 1903, J. Martin Schenck; 1911, William J. Watterson, present incumbent.
Edgar R. Johnson was born in Ashland, Green County, New York, Dec. 29, 1832. He removed with his parents from New York to Ohio in 1851, and in the spring of 1852 came to Cascade township and located on Section 17, where the parents died. At the age of twenty-one Mr. Johnson purchased eighty acres of land on Section 18. He taught school several terms and was married May 21, 1861, to Marion, daughter of Henry Holt, of Cascade township. He served as supervisor, being the incumbent of the office seventeen years, and he also served as town clerk four years and school inspector four years.
Horace Henshaw was born Oct. 12, 1811, in Erie County, New York. He left his native state in 1837 for Ohio, and in 1857 located on Section 17 in Cascade township, purchasing eighty acres of land. He held the position of supervisor three terms and was justice of the peace sixteen years.
Henry Holt was born April 6, 1803, at Hampton, Conn. He went from the Nutmeg State to Oneida County, New York, and thence to Herkimer County, in the same State, moving, in 1852, to Section 3, Cascade township. His eldest son, Henry H. Holt, became eminent for ability and served as Lieutenant-Governor of Michigan from 1873 to 1877.
Henry C. Denison was born Dec. 22, 1834, in Oneida County, New York, and came to Kent County with his parents, his father, Gideon H. Denison, being among the early settlers of Cascade town- ship, and also served as supervisor. Henry C. served as supervisor three years, school inspector three years, and also as justice of the peace and superintendent of schools.
George P. Stark was born Aug. 19, 1832, in Summit County, Ohio. During the early years of his life he was engaged in agricul- tural pursuits, but in 1866 he engaged in the drug business in Pales- tine, Crawford County. He returned to his former vocation and oc- cupation a year later. In 1871 he engaged in mercantile business in Cascade township, keeping an assorted stock of dry goods, groceries, hardware, etc., and continued the business for a number of years.
CHAPTER XXIII. GAINES TOWNSHIP
LOCATION AND BOUNDARIES-PHYSICAL FEATURES-EARLY SETTLERS -PETER VAN LEW-FIRST ELECTION-FIRST OFFICERS-TROUBLE WITH WOLVES-SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES-LIST OF SUPERVISORS.
This township, like that of Cascade, is six miles square, compris- ing township 5 north, range 11 west. It is bounded on the north by the township of Paris, on the east by the township of Caledonia, on
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GAINES TOWNSHIP
the south by Allegan County, and on the west by the township of By- ron. The township is watered with springs and small streams. Plas- ter and Buck Creeks rise near the center of the township, but they are so small they do not afford much water power. The north half of the township is gently rolling, the soil is good and of almost every variety, and when fully cultivated produces bountiful crops. The southern portion comprises a range of beautiful hills and table lands, admirably adapted to fruit and vine culture, and there are to be found some of the best orchards in the county. Gaines is distinctly an agri- cultural and horticultural township, and it derives its name from Gaines, N. Y., the place of nativity of some of its pioneer settlers. The soil is mostly sandy loam, easily cultivated and very productive. Those who saw the country in its natural state have left their testi- mony that it presented to the eye a very beautiful appearance. As al- ready stated, the northern part was rolling with scattering timber, the ground clear from underbrush, and in the spring covered with flowers in an almost endless variety. The southern part was a ma- jestic forest, standing in all its glory, and as yet the woodman's axe had not been heard. The variety of soil and general appearance of the country offered many inducements to those seeking a home in what was then called the Far West. Nature had not been sparing in her gifts, and hill, valley and plain had been waiting for ages for the industry of man to develop them into productive farms.
It is said that Alexander Clark settled in the township, cleared some land, and built a log cabin on Section 8, in the spring of 1837, thus becoming the first settler. He was joined the following autumn by Alexander L. Bouck, who located on Section 5, and Andrew and his son, Rensselaer Mesnard, who located on Section 17; and soon afterward by Orson Cook, Foster Kelley, Charles Kelley, and Joseph Blain, who located on Sections 4 and 5.
Orson Cook, the fourth settler in Gaines township, was born in Seneca County, New York, July 6, 1814. He served a long appren- ticeship as a carpenter under his father, learning every detail of the trade and fitting himself carefully as a first-class craftsman. In Octo- ber, 1829, his parents settled in Wayne County, Michigan, and he worked at his trade in Washtenaw County until August, 1836, when he came to Grand Rapids, and a short time afterward entered 240 acres of land in Gaines township and also eighty acres in Paris, near the old county fair grounds. He returned to Washtenaw County and, in 1837, made a second trip to Kent County. In January, 1838, he came back for a permanent stay. At that time Grand Rapids was but a little village, composed of a few inferior log houses, and Mr. Cook built the Bronson Tavern and belonged to the corps of builders engaged in the erection of the court house, a huge and altogether re- markable structure for the time in which it was built. He built a log house, 16x24 feet, for his family in the wilderness where he fixed his location ; he trafficked with the Indians and became expert in the hunt; he cleared with his own hands and under his supervision 150 acres of land and, while striving to place his family in comfort, still remembered the needs that were incident to the community forming around him, and gave his thoughts and energies to the permanent welfare of the public. He aided in the construction of the "Old Gull"
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road, built the first school house in Gaines township, locating it on Section 5, and assisted in organizing the townships of Grand Rapids, Paris and Gaines. He was one of the earliest supporters of the Grand Rapids "Enquirer," the first journalistic enterprise in the county. He held the offices of justice of the peace and township treasurer.
Charles Kelley was born in Vermont in 1812, and died in 1870. His parents removed to New York when he was a small boy and re- sided in that State until he had attained his majority. He received a common school education, and after arriving at the age of twenty-one years located in Southern Michigan, ere the state was admitted to the Union. There for many years he, with much success, pursued agriculture; there his brother located in 1839, and there the father had settled some years before. At the time of his location in Gaines township, which name he was instrumental in selecting, there were only four families in it, whose representatives were Alexander Clark, Alexander L. Bouck, Andrew Mesnard, and Orson Cook; Grand Rap- ids was as yet only a trading post with a few stores. For about forty years Mr. Kelley was a resident of Kent County, where he lived in his little log cabin, enjoying the frequent visits of the red men who passed his dwelling in groups of twenty-five or thirty, on their way to Grand Rapids, and oft engaging in the chase and slaughter of the deer, which, during his early residence in this section, was a promi- nent element in their diet. In the official line he served as supervisor of his township during the Civil War, executed the duties of such station with credit to himself and township, and secured for himself the high esteem and respect of his fellow-citizens.
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