USA > Michigan > Kent County > Grand Rapids > Grand Rapids and Kent County, Michigan: History and Account of Their Progress from First. Vol. I > Part 37
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Joseph Blain, a pioneer of Gaines township, was born in Gaines, Orleans County, New York, July 11, 1811. He came to Ionia County in 1835, and to Kent County in December, 1836. He stayed for a time in Grand Rapids. He entered a claim of 160 acres of land in Section 5, then in its original condition. He cut the roads to his farm, roved at will, and became a skilled hunter by his almost daily practice in shooting wild animals for food and self-protection. Mr. Blain was the first justice of the peace in Gaines township.
At the time of which we write, Gaines had little of apparent value to recommend it to the eyes of civilization, being nothing more or less than thirty-six square miles of wilderness. Yet to the hardy, enterprising, foresighted pioneers the heavy forests of beech and ma- ple, and in some localities pine and oak, the abundant supply of fresh water, with an average supply of bear, wolves, deer, wild turkeys, etc., possessed a charm that was irresistible. And the ice once broken the development of its resources was only a question of time. At this time the only thoroughfare within the limits of the territory of Gaines township was a road known as the "Old Gull" road, running a zig-zag course from north to south. And the first settlers seemed for evident reasons to strike for the vicinity of this road. And we now find some of the richest farms in the county near its line. It was afterward straightened as the township became settled, to corre- spond with the section lines, and became a part of the stage route from Grand Rapids to Kalamazoo, until the completion of the plank road, in 1854. Among the other early settlers, who were identified with the organization, growth and prosperity of the township, were
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Daniel Woodward, Stephen A. Hammond, John E. Woods, Charles B. Keefer, Benjamin Colburn, R. C. Sessions, James Reynolds, Wil- liam Kelley, John Wolcott, R. R. Jones, William Hendrick, Aaron Brewer, Thomas and Wilmot H. Blain, William Budlong, James M. Pelton, Peter Van Lew, Eseck Burlingame, James T. Crumback and Bryan Greenman.
Rodney C. Sessions was born in Windsor County, Vermont, Feb. 17, 1824. His father died when Rodney was but seven years old, and in 1834 he came with his mother to Oakland County, and soon there- after to Shiawassee County, returning seven years later to Oakland. In November, 1846, he went to Allegan County, and in November, 1847, removed to Gaines township and located on Sections 28 and 29. He taught school in the township three years in that early day, and could well be named the "pioneer schoolmaster."
William Hendrick was born in Chenango County, New York, May 5, 1801. He came with his family to Kent County in 1852, and celebrated the election of President Pierce by moving into their new log cabin on their farm on Section 5. The cabin was 16x28 feet, in the midst of a wilderness, and was more to that family than a palace would be today. The forest that surrounded that home gave place to fair, fertile fields, golden with grain and emerald with waving corn, and an unbroken family circle lived for years to rejoice in a well earned prosperity.
Wilmot H. Blain was born in Gaines, Orleans County, New York, Jan. 23, 1821. He grew to manhood on his father's farm, where he remained until twenty-five years old, going to school winters until he was seventeen. In September, 1842, he came to this county and en- tered 160 acres of land on Section 19, Gaines township, and in 1846 removed here with his family, consisting of himself, wife and one child. With his own hands he chopped and cleared seventy-five acres of land on the northwest and northeast quarters of Section 19. No white man had cut a tree in the forest where he made a clearing and built a log house. It was 20x24 feet, and the family occupied it in cheerful content for twenty years.
Peter Van Lew was born in Seneca County, New York, Feb. 18, 1803. He began an apprenticeship to the clothier's trade in Lodi, N. Y., at the age of fourteen, served seven years and worked at the business ten years, after which he kept a "tavern" about three and one-half years. He subsequently rented a fulling mill, carding ma- chine and oil mill, which he operated four years and then purchased them. Meantime he had signed as security for three men to the amount of $9,000, and by their failure was reduced to poverty. In November, 1845, he came to this county and settled on Section 31, Gaines township, where he "took up" 311 acres of Uncle Sam's terri- tory, still in its primitive state, and no road nearer than the "old Kalamazoo stage route." He began anew in the unbroken Michigan forest with little available means. He went to Battle Creek and worked through the harvest season, and with the proceeds of his arduous toil bought three cows, a yoke of oxen, ten bushels of wheat, a grain cradle and a dress for his wife. He returned with his riches to his home and family, who had spent the time of his absence in the woods, two miles from their nearest neighbors. He worked three
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harvest seasons at Battle Creek, devoting the remainder of the years to the improvement of his farm. In 1854 he built a tavern, 40 feet wide by 65 feet long and two stories high, and this he continued to run as a hotel until 1876. In the early days Indians were numerous, and Pete, a famous deer hunter, spent one winter with Mr. Van Lew and kept him supplied with venison. The copper-colored ramblers frequently camped on his farm. He was one of the organizers of the township and was elected its first supervisor, which office he held six successive terms and one term afterward.
James T. Crumback was a native of Wayne County, New York, born Jan. 31, 1808. In 1811 his parents removed to Ontario, Cana- da, and in 1824, at the age of sixteen, he came to this county with a band of Indians on a hunting and trapping expedition. In 1853 he located land in Gaines township, on Section 26, and the following year took possession as a landholder. The country was still largely in its original condition, infested with plenty of Indians and wild animals. He won wide renown as a deer hunter, and had a supply of adven- tures and anecdotes of his experiences and those of others, sufficient to fill a respectable volume. The first year of his residence in the township he killed 158 deer, and, from first to last, the aggregate of his successes with that kind of game alone numbered 2,997, besides other varieties. Mr. Crumback was a physician of the Thompsonian school. He studied the best authorities on herb medication and prac- ticed fifty years.
Aside from its agricultural prospects, the township offered but little inducement to business men. Plaster and Buck Creeks both rise near the center of the township, but they were too small during most of the year for mill sites. There was, however, a small water mill erected on the latter stream about the year 1852, by Eseck Burling- ame, on Section 18, and this mill cut the lumber for some of the first frame buildings in the township. Most of the pioneers, as is usual, were poor, having hardly means enough to enable them to purchase their land of the government at $1.25 an acre, get their families and household goods transported through the wilderness and gain a foot- hold on their farms. But with persistent energy they set to work and the heavy forests began to disappear. It was soon found to be one of the richest tracts in the vicinity for agricultural purposes and is still considered one of the best in the county.
The first township election was held at the old red school house, on the northeast corner of Section 8, April 3, 1848, and the following officers were elected: Peter Van Lew, supervisor ; James M. Pelton, clerk; Foster Kelley and Abraham T. Andrews, assessors; Charles Kelley, treasurer; Orson Cook and Levi Cheney, directors of the poor ; Daniel Rice, Levi M. Dewey and William Kelley, road commis- sioners ; Lorenzo W. Sandford, John E. Guild, Foster Kelley and Daniel Williams, constables; Rensselaer Mesnard and A. T. An- drews, school inspectors; Joseph Blain, Josiah Drake and Robert R. Jones, justices of the peace.
Among the resolutions passed at this first meeting was one of- fered by Orson Cook, providing that "a tax of $2.50 be raised for every wolf killed in the township." Wolves were rather troublesome neighbors in those days and the author of the resolution probably
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owed them a grudge for their former depredations. Wolves made frequent visits to the early settlers and would make the very earth tremble with their howlings and complaints to the intruders in their time-honored home; and they usually levied a tax before morning. And they were only satisfied with the best quality of mutton. One occupation of the boys and larger girls of that day was to fire the old stumps about the place in the evening to scare away the wolves. About the year 1846, there was a wolf who had her beat from the vicinity of Gaines to Gull Prairie, in Barry County, and was known as the "Gull Prairie wolf," and she usually made the round trip once a week. The dogs would not molest her and she seemed to fear nei- ther man nor beast. She had been caught once in a steel trap and all efforts to entrap her again were for a long time unsuccessful. Even the children, in time, learned to distinguish her voice from other wolves and were in the habit of listening for her on certain nights. She seldom disappointed them, and made night hideous with her dis- mal howls. She finally killed four sheep in one night on the premises of Mr. Mesnard, the sheep, however, belonging to Mr. Rice. R. R. Jones, who lived near, requested the owner to leave one of the car- casses which madame wolf had partially devoured, and he did so. Mr. Jones and Orson Cook then held a council of war. It was de- termined to make one more effort to entrap her. Accordingly, two traps were set about the carcass. But on her next visit she contrived to remove the carcass several rods, taking care to avoid the traps. Another council resulted in some more traps. Four were set-placing in the intermediate spaces small pieces of iron, which were left in sight, while the traps were carefully concealed. This time they out- witted her. For, after visiting two barns in the neighborhood and trying to obtain a fresh quarter of mutton, she went and put her identical game foot into one of the traps. Early on the following morning, Messrs. Jones and Cook took the trail in pursuit. They ob- tained a glimpse of their victim on Section 15 and, after following her to the vicinity of Duncan Lake, in Barry County, succeeded in getting her headed toward home. They followed and overtook her on Section 25. She surrendered and submitted to being bound with bark and slung to a pole, the two hunters resolving to carry her back alive to the scene of her recent murders. But they were soon satisfied to leave all but the pelt, for which they received one dollar, and ten and a half dollars in the shape of county and state bounties. Soon afterward they caught a neighbor's boy by the heel in one of the same traps. A large, good-natured specimen of the "Genus Yan- kee," about twenty years of age, who, anxious to become versed in all the mysteries of woodcraft, was peering about to see how a wolf trap was set. He found out, and also ascertained how one was sprung. His cries soon brought his father to his assistance and gave the wolf- hunters no further trouble.
A log school house was built on the northeast corner of Section 8, about the year 1842. It was a rude structure, with a large fire- place in one end of it. The seats were made of slabs with the flat side up, supported by legs resting upon the floor, and the few desks it contained were made by driving pins into the logs and laying boards on them. In that uncouth and uncomfortable building many
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who went from there to other parts of the country secured the rudi- ments of an education. The first United Brethren Church of Gaines was founded and erected a building in 1867. The inhabitants of the settlements having provided rude habitations for themselves and their families, began to think of something further. A bond of union had been cemented among those who together had struggled through the difficulties of pioneer life. They had learned the value of asso- ciation in temporal things, and found that united efforts accomplished more than the efforts of single individuals. Reasoning thus in regard to spiritual things, they resolved to organize a church, and thus se- cure for themselves, their families, and the whole community, the advantages which can be obtained in no other way.
Many and varied were the scenes through which the fathers passed in their pioneer days, and those who now live in Gaines town- ship can hardly realize the changes which have taken place during the past three-quarters of a century. The log cabins have been re- placed by more comfortable dwellings, and these again in many in- stances by fine mansions. The log school houses and also the modest frame school houses are gone, and their places are occupied by beau- tiful and commodious edifices. The inhabitants today are enjoying good homes, surrounded by every advantage necessary to make them comfortable and happy.
The following is a list of the supervisors of Gaines township from its organization to the present time: 1848, Peter Van Lew; 1854, Alexander Clark; 1856, Peter Van Lew; 1857, Aaron Brewer ; 1861, Charles Kelley; 1863, Aaron Brewer; 1864, Charles Kelley ; 1866, James M. Pelton ; 1867, Charles Kelley ; 1868, Henry L. Wise; 1869, James M. Pelton ; 1871, Aaron Brewer ; 1872, William J. Hardy ; 1873, Aaron Brewer ; 1877, Valentine Geib; 1878, Lewis A. Solomon ; 1880, Nelson Kelley; 1886, Lewis A. Solomon ; 1887, Nelson Kelley ; 1888, Lewis A. Solomon ; 1889, Valentine Geib ; 1890, Lewis A. Solo- mon; 1893, Nelson Kelley; 1897, L. A. Solomon; 1900, Horace T. Barnaby ; 1901, Leroy D. Allen ; 1903, Charles F. Parker ; 1908, Jesse W. Pickett; 1911, Wilson Plants; 1913, Valentine Geib; 1914, Frank King ; 1916, Samuel J. Hanna, present incumbent.
CHAPTER XXIV. LOWELL TOWNSHIP
PHYSICAL FEATURES - EARLY HISTORY - THE ROBINSON FAMILY - PHIILANDER TRACY-INDIANS-LUTHER LINCOLN-SCHOOL RO- MANCE-RELIGIOUS EFFORTS-HISTORY OF THE VILLAGE OF LO- WELL-ORGANIZATION OF TOWNSHIP-FIRST OFFICERS-LIST OF SUPERVISORS.
This subdivision contains the territory of a regular Congressional township, and it is one of the wealthiest and best improved sections of the county. It has, perhaps, as much tillable land per acre as any other township in the eastern tier, and it contains some of the choic- est farms within the county. The soil is rich in the bottom lands of
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the Grand River, which flows through the township, and much of it is of unsurpassed fertility. The higher lands, of course, though good grazing fields and reasonably productive in the growth of grains and fruits, are less fertile than the valleys.
Lowell was organized by an act of the Legislature, approved March 9, 1848. The act creating it provided that "town No. 6 north, of range 9 west, in the county of Kent, be, and the same is hereby set off from the township of Vergennes, and organized into a separate township, by the name of Lowell, and the first township meeting therein shall be held at the house of D. A. Marvin, in said township."
The early history of this township has much to do with that of the county and will be found under that head. Its first settlement was made in the year 1829, when Daniel Marsac came from Detroit and went among the Indians in the vicinity of the present village of Low- ell, as a trader, although a regular trading post was not established until 1831, when Mr. Marsac built a log hut on the south side of Grand River, near the present site of the railroad station. At that time Kent County was an almost unbroken wilderness, the only roads were the Indian trails and the only means of navigation was the canoe, or "dugout," as it is sometimes called; or, for more extensive trans- portation, a raft made of poles, or small logs, fastened together. In the spring of 1835, a family (or families all related) by the name of Robinson, numbering in all forty-four persons, set out from the State of New York and, arriving at Detroit, embarked on a small vessel for Grand Haven via Mackinaw. On June 7 of that year they reached the mouth of Grand River and, putting their household goods, etc., on rafts, and "paddling their own canoes," made their way up the river and settled in Kent and Ottawa Counties, principally the latter, in the vicinity of Blendon. These were only a part of the Robinsons. Rix Robinson had been trading with the Indians at Thornapple-now called Ada-for several years previous to this, and had one son by the squaw whom he had taken for a wife soon after he came there. A year later, in 1836, another brother, named Lewis, came with his family and settled on the west bank of Flat River, in the south part of what is now the village of Lowell. He was soon followed by Rodney, a brother from the Blendon settlement, who re- mained one year with Lewis and then removed up the river into the present township of Vergennes, where he and another brother, Lucas, made good farms. Philander Tracy, a relative of the Robinson fami- ly, who later came to be known as Judge Tracy, also came from the State of New York and was for some time with Lewis Robinson.
Philander Tracy was a native of Cayuga County, New York, and began active life as a sailor on the lakes, between Buffalo and Chi- cago. With his schooner he visited Grand Haven as early as 1824. He came to Grand Rapids in 1836. Two years later he moved to Lowell, returned to Grand Rapids in 1845 and resided there until he died, in 1873, at the age of seventy-two years. His principal occupa- tion was that of lumberman, in which he was moderately successful. In 1840, under the old county court system, he was elected associate judge and served one term. Hence his title of "Judge."
The timber for Lewis Robinson's first log hut was cut two or three miles up Flat River and was floated down by the help of Indi-
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ans, who were always friendly to those who used them well. There were good and bad Indians, as well as good and bad whites. One Indian, named Negake, who was not, however, a member of either of the tribes then occupying this portion of the State, but a renegade from some Eastern tribe, and who had taken up his abode with the Pottawotomies, caused the whites some trouble, and was reported to have killed one of the government surveyors some years previous, when an attempt was made to survey and throw into market all lands up to the forty-third degree of latitude, which parallel cut across a bend in the river in this township, and took a strip about a mile in width on the north side, to which survey the Indians objected. Sub- sequently the river was made the frontier line, and no lands north of the river were put into market until August, 1839. A tract of land lying on the east side of Flat River was set apart as University lands. In 1836, Luther Lincoln, from Grand Rapids, formerly from the south part of the State, where he had been quite a wealthy man, came and settled on a small lot of this University land and built a log house, which was afterward used by Don A. Marvin as a tavern.
Luther Lincoln came to the valley in 1832, was a moving and somewhat eccentric character ; first in Grandville, then in Grand Rap- ids building a mill, then up Flat River, where he was called "Trapper Lincoln." His longest residence was at or near Greenville, toward the close of his life. He is accredited with doing the first plowing of lands along Grand River, and raising corn in 1833, where the village of Grandville now stands.
Mr. Lincoln and Rodney and Lucas Robinson helped the Indians to fence in a tract of about 100 acres on the east side of Flat River and about one mile from Grand River, for a planting ground, to pre- vent any trouble on account of their letting their cattle run at large on "Uncle Sam's domain," as the cattle would have been likely to destroy their crops, and this would naturally have led to hostilities. Rodney Robinson gave the statement that the Indians were usually good neighbors, and even Mr. Lincoln, whose mind was somewhat wandering, which fact constantly led him into some trouble with the early white settlers, always got along finely with the Indians; and when, on account of some unpleasantness with the whites, he was obliged to leave this point, he went up the river a long distance and erected a saw-mill, right in the midst of the Indian country. They were often employed to work for the early white settlers, and were generally well paid, although it was usually best to pay them in pro- visions and other necessaries, rather than in money, for, if they got money, many of them would go off to places where they could get liquor and come home drunk, when they would be quarrelsome and dangerous neighbors, or even to their Indian friends, until the fire- water and its effects were gone. No liquor was allowed to be sold to them in this vicinity if the settlers could prevent it, but itinerant trad- ers would sometimes undertake to sell it to them in order to make it easier to cheat them in their trades.
In 1837, Charles Newton, Matthew Patrick, Samuel P. Wolf, Ira A. Danes, William Vandeusen and Mr. Francisco-nearly all of whom were from New York-settled along the north side of Grand River on the old Grand River road, from two to five miles west of Flat
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River. This road came from Ionia, by the way of Fallassburg-at which point the first bridge was built across Flat River in 1840, pre- vious to which the river was forded-and passed about two miles west of the mouth of the river, thence along down Grand River, near the side of the bluffs.
The following bit of school romance is handed down and taken from another and much earlier publication: In 1837, the people of this vicinity organized a school district, including all the settlers on Flat River, and it was the only school dsitrict at that time between Grand Rapids and Ionia. They erected a log school house, in 1838, in the north part of the present village of Lowell, on the west side of Flat River, and employed Miss Caroline Beard, from New York State, to teach the first school that summer. The following winter the district furnished a cook stove and provisions, and Miss Beard lived in the school house and kept the school. Caleb D. Page, who had taken up a piece of land near the Fallassburg of later days, took matrimony into his head and Miss Beard to his heart, and the bonds of wedlock were entered into by this couple in the school house.
In 1839, William B. Lyon and Ransom Rolf, also from New York, settled on the same road, near those previously mentioned. At the time of the sale of lands in this tract-August, 1839, as before stated -the Indians attempted to enter and hold the lands they had been tilling, under the pre-emption laws, but, as the agent knew nothing about whether the Red Man could hold land by those laws, the mat- ter was referred to the general land office and, while waiting the deci- sion, Philander Tracy attempted to gain possession by erecting a small hut on it and sowing the field to oats, but the results of his ef- forts were destroyed by the Indians. His papers which had been granted were afterward revoked and, although the decision was that Indians could not enter lands in their own name, they loaned money to a Frenchman by the name of Nontah, and he bought the land, and afterward, failing to pay back the money, he gave them a deed of it. The lands were afterward found to be a part of the "University Grant," and so also was the land taken by Lincoln. When Mr. Lin- coln left, he sold his claim to Daniel Marsac, who, in 1847, platted it under the name of "the village of Dansville," which name it retained until about the year 1855. In 1850, Mr. Marsac sold his claims to Edwin Avery, of Ionia, who then paid the State and obtained a com- plete title to the same. John B. Shear and some others came in about the year 1844 and settled in or near the present village of Lowell. In December, 1846, Cyprian S. Hooker, formerly from Connecticut, came from Saranac, Ionia County, where he had been a pioneer and almost the only settler. Mr. Hooker erected the first frame house in the township, which was also the first in the village. His lumber was brought from Saranac. He commenced his house on Dec. 18, 1846, and on the ensuing Christmas moved into it with his family. In 1847, Mr. Hooker erected the grist mill on the east side of Flat River, afterward owned and enlarged by William W. Hatch, who erected another large mill on the west side of the river in 1867. When Mr. Hooker first erected his mill it was run by an over-shot water- wheel-water being brought by means of a race, a distance of about forty rods from the island in Flat River. In 1849 Mr. Hooker con- structed a dam across the river, just below Bridge street.
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