USA > Michigan > Kent County > Grand Rapids > Grand Rapids and Kent County, Michigan: History and Account of Their Progress from First. Vol. I > Part 38
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The Congregationalists were the pioneers in religious effort in the township of Lowell, they having held meetings at a very early date. The first religious service held was in 1849, and was conducted by Rev. S. S. Brown, a minister of that denomination. The meet- ing was held at the house of C. S. Hooker, and Mr. Brown preached the sermon. A Methodist Episcopal Church was organized later, and the first church building for that denomination in Lowell was erected in 1859. In the same year a neat and unpretending building was erected for purposes of worship by those of the Baptist faith.
The first burial places in the township were usually private grounds, established on the farms, as necessity required. The Lowell village cemetery is the oldest public burying ground in the township, and this sacred spot contains the remains of many of the early pio- neers of Lowell.
The history of the village of Lowell is inseparably connected with that of the township, and it was platted in 1848 by Daniel Mar- sac, who named the place Dansville. The first postmaster was Phi- lander Tracy. In 1854 the village was again platted with the same name, by Abel Avery, as the record shows, but on Feb. 4, 1857, by Legislative act the name was changed to Lowell. An act to legalize an incorporation previously made by the supervisors was passed in 1859. The village was incorporated anew in March, 1861, and under this authority the first charter election was held. The charter has been several times amended, and several additions to the original plat had been made prior to the final incorporation of the village. In 1850 Abel Avery purchased the Marsac plat, and he added some ter- ritory, making upward of 100 acres on the east side of Flat River. In 1854 Wickham & Richards platted ninety-three acres on the west side. In July, 1868, Fox's addition of fifty-two acres, north of Wick- ham & Richards, was surveyed. Peter Lee's addition, north of Avery's, forty-eight acres, was platted in March, 1870. In the same year were platted Snell's addition, fifty acres, and the Ellsworth plat of sixty acres, of which twenty acres was within the village limits and the rest in the town of Vergennes. In 1863 a plat was made on the south side of the river, on the line of the railroad, and the place was named Segwun.
In April, 1869, under the authority of a Legislative act, a re- survey of the village was made by direction of the village board. Lowell soon came to be a place of importance. With the construc- tion of the first railroad to the village in 1858, a new impetus was given to the flourishing business of the place, and through all the years of its existence it has been a place of considerable importance and a very popular trading point, sustained by an excellent farming country. The population of Lowell in 1910 was 1,761. In writing of churches, schools, and other public enterprises, the village has been frequently mentioned. It is located on the Grand Trunk and a branch of the Pere Marquette Railways, and thus has excellent means of communication with the outside world. Lowell is one of the hand- somest and most desirable places of residence of its class in Michi- gan. As a business center it is an influential factor in Kent County. Many important manufacturing industries are located there. The va- rious industries incident to villages of this size, together with the so-
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cial, religious, educational and political functions, are all represented, while the mercantile and other business interests are quite extensive. The business places, many of which are filled with most desirable and varied assortments, are mostly located in substantial brick buildings of good style and architecture. The streets are wide and shaded by deciduous trees, bordered by beautiful lawns and fine residences. There is an efficient system of water works, and water of the best quality is supplied. The village also has a good electric light plant, and the public places are all nicely lighted, while most of the stores and many residences enjoy this most brilliant and cleanly illuminator.
Among the pioneers in that part of Lowell township which lies south of Grand River was George Post, who came from Connecticut in 1842 and settled on the northwest corner of Section 23, at the crossing of the Territorial Road, from Portland to Grand Rapids, and the one from Battle Creek via Hastings to the trading post then established by Daniel Marsac, at Lowell. He was the first, and for three years the only settler south of the present line of the Grand Trunk Railroad, within the township. In 1843, Mainard Chaterdon, with his wife and family of three sons and three daughters, came from Calhoun County, Michigan (formerly from the State of New York), and went nearly to the southwest corner of the township, on Section 31. In 1848-9, Harrison Wickham, Peter Hornbrook, Charles Gordon, George Monk and W. H. Montague settled in the south and southwest part of the township, followed in 1850 to 1854 by John Brannan, William Pratt, John Yeiter, Jacob and Christian Loyer, George Acker, Jacob Yeiter, James Easterby, James Wallace and William Proctor, most of whom were from Ohio and of German and English descent.
John Yeiter was a native of Germany, born June 5, 1825. With his parents he came to America in 1832 and located in Crawford County, Ohio, where the parents died. In 1850 Mr. Yeiter came to Lowell and bought 160 acres of wild land at sixty-two cents an acre, and to this tract he afterward added 120 acres. Jacob Yeiter, his brother, was born in 1827. The early years of his life were spent in carpentry, but later his occupation was that of a farmer. He came to Kent County in 1849 and settled in Lowell in 1853.
James Easterby was born in Yorkshire, England, Feb. 1, 1829, and lived in his native country until 1853, at which time he came to the United States and located about fourteen miles from the city of Detroit. There he remained until the fall of 1855, when he came to Kent County, where for several months he found employment as a common laborer, husbanding his scanty earnings the meantime, for the purpose of investing in land when a favorable opportunity pre- sented itself. Upon the land which he purchased, and which at the time was an unbroken woodland, he erected a small log cabin con- sisting of a single room, and then took jobs of chopping wood and clearing land, in order to meet the payments on his home when they became due. In order to procure the furniture for his house, he worked some months for a firm in Grand Rapids, taking his pay in such articles as were needed to make home comfortable. Mr. Easter- by became a very successful man of affairs, and in addition to general farming he paid considerable attention to the breeding of live stock,
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especially cattle, of which he possessed some superior breeds, rear- ing and marketing a large number each year.
William Proctor was born in Ingleton, County of York, England, Nov. 20, 1808, and died Dec. 22, 1895. In 1853 he came with his fam- ily to Michigan and purchased 320 acres of land in Section 27 of Lowell township. His subsequent life was devoted to the improve- ment of his farm and he attended to the affairs himself until he was more than eighty years of age.
Rural postoffices for the accommodation of the people were early established, some of which were kept in the farm houses. These have been discontinued on the adoption of the admirable system of "rural free delivery," which brings almost every farmer in daily con- tact with the outside world, and his mail is left at his door. Add to this the convenience of the modern telephone and the isolation of country life is reduced to the minimum.
The township of Lowell was organized, as already stated, in 1848, being previously a part of the township of Vergennes, which origi- nally included all of the east part of Kent County. The first town- ship meeting was held at the house of Timothy White, contrary it seems to the provisions of the Legislative enactment, which named the house of D. A. Marvin. The first township officers were as fol- lows: Supervisor, Cyprian S. Hooker ; clerk, Timothy White; treas- urer, Henry Church; justices, C. S. Hooker, Daniel McEwen, Samuel P. Rolf and Ira A. Danes. From that beginning until the present year the following named gentlemen have filled the position of super- visor: 1848, Cyprian S. Hooker; 1849, Harrison Wickham; 1852, Cyprian S. Hooker; 1854, John Brown; 1857, Cyprian S. Hooker; 1858, Jacob Chapman; 1859, Arvine Peck; 1860, Charles B. Carter ; 1864, Almon M. Elsworth; 1870, Robert Hunter, Jr .; 1871, Edmund Lee; 1872, Simeon Hunt ; 1873, Charles R. Hine; 1874, Robert Hun- ter, Jr .; 1878, Almon M. Elsworth; 1879, Leonard Hunt; 1881, Jar- vis C. Train; 1883, Milton C. Barber; 1884, Henry Mitchell; 1885, Leonard H. Hunt ; 1886, Henry Mitchell; 1888, Augustus W. Weeks ; 1891, Christopher Bergin; 1892, Augustus W. Weeks; 1893, Chris- topher Bergin; 1896, Frank N. White; 1904, Leonard H. Hunt; 1906, Christopher Bergin, present incumbent.
Charles B. Carter was born in Lowville, Lewis County, New York, Sept. 21, 1816. He assisted his father on the farm and worked at lumbering until twenty-one years of age, when he purchased a part of the paternal homestead near Savannah, N. Y., and began life for himself as a tiller of the soil. He remained in his native State until 1853, when he came to Kent County and bought a farm in Lowell township. For some years he added to his income by taking con- tracts to cut and deliver pine timber, and he frequently employed from twenty to forty men to assist in floating the logs to their destination in the spring seasons.
Edmund Lee was born in England in 1827, and was educated in the State of New York. In 1853 he went to California, and after a stay of a few months proceeded to Australia, where he accumu- lated a sum of money in the gold mines sufficient to give him a re- spectable start in the world. He came to Kent County in 1859, and
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was engaged fourteen years in the village of Lowell in mercantile pursuits. He then turned his attention to farming and followed that occupation the remainder of his active career.
CHAPTER XXV. WYOMING TOWNSHIP
DATE OF ORGANIZATION - PRESENT BOUNDARIES - NATURAL ADVAN- TAGES-EARLY SETTLERS - LETTER OF LUTHER LINCOLN - WIL- LIAM R. GODWIN-JUSTUS C. ROGERS-DESTRUCTIVE CYCLONE- GRANDVILLE-EARLY DAY INCIDENTS-FIRST TOWNSHIP MEETING AND OFFICERS-LIST OF SUPERVISORS.
This township was organized by an act of the State Legislature, approved March 9, 1848, with the boundaries to include all of town 6 north, range 12 west, but the encroachment of the city of Grand Rapids has taken away from its territory three and one-half sections of land, and it has been deemed proper, also, to detach from it all that portion which lies north of Grand River, and this has been at- tached to Walker township, so that now the township of Wyoming contains only about twenty-eight sections of land.
The township is traversed by Buck Creek, a stream of consid- erable size, on each side of which are broad, level tracts of land of the rich black loam variety, which is exceptionally fertile as corn and grain land. The higher lands are strong and fertile clay soil, which yield abundant returns under proper cultivation. Being abundantly watered from the many springs and small creeks or branches which abound, these lands are especially valuable for grazing purposes, the stock-raising industry being a source of profit as well as pleasure. Buck Creek, with the many spring branches, or runs, constitutes the drainage of the township, as well as the water supply, and Grand River forms the northwestern boundary of the township. With these enumerated advantages, it is not strange that a large majority of the farmers are extensively engaged in the stock business, and many of them feed the entire grain product of their farms to stock, raised by themselves, while others are buyers and shippers. The yearly growth of this industry is a feature which distinguishes the township from a really agricultural community.
Extensive fruit growing is another profitable industry which commands large investment and correspondingly large returns. There are those who have kept abreast of the onward march of horticul- tural development, and in the scientific propagation and culture of the varieties best adapted to the soil and climate have realized abund- ant returns.
Traditional history at best is unreliable, but becomes especially so when transmitted to the third or fourth generation. However, it is not necessary to depend upon tradition to learn of the early resi- dents of the township of Wyoming. The first efforts toward the set- tlement of the township were made by David Tucker, who settled at Grandville in 1832. In the same year Gideon H. Gordon settled at
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Grandville. In 1833, Luther Lincoln, Joseph B. Copeland, Hiram Jenison, and William R. Godwin settled at Grandville, Jonathan F. Chubb on Section 4, Myron Roys on Section 9, and Henry West on Section 20. Some idea of this portion of the valley can be gleaned from the following letter from the eccentric Luther Lincoln. It was written to his parents and we think we are safe in saying that it has never before been published :
"Grand River, 4th mo. 22d, 1833.
"Dear Father and Mother :
"I take this opertunity to inform you that I and children are well and hope you are all enjoying the same Blessing. I received a letter from you 2 weeks ago asking some questions Respecting the country and other affairs which I expect are Sufitently answered in my last letter.
"If you want to know town and county that I live in a town without inhabitance without name in the County of Kent 6 miles be- low the rapids on the united States Road from Detroit to the mouth of the river laid last Faul.
"I have been up the grand River to get my flour and potatoes 60 miles on the big fork 25 miles from Gull Prairiey. It runs through an excelent country of timber on one side with many rapids which was hard to acend with an empy boat but we went down quick. Struck a few times on the rocks. We went down 30 mile in half a day. A grate mill Stream; a grate Spring Brook; 6 rood wide. it is said not to freeze over. Here the land is for Sale a man can have his choice. It has jest come into the office. Whare I am thare is a prareia good timber land good opening good pine some good grass. I have on 2 lots a peice of medow the best that I ever saw. It is dry enough.
"This country will Settle and must. I have ben to see my cat- tle today in all 28. They look well. Thare coats are about half off. In about 1 week I shall put 5 yoak on 1 Plow and Plow as long as it will do to Plant. It has ben a modrate open winter and open. It is begun to be warm. My hogs I have not herd of for 1 month tell to- day. I see an Indian looking after horses. He said they near the head of a certain Crick. (Signed) LUTHER LINCOLN."
Hiram Jenison settled near Grandville, just west of the county line, in 1836, and soon afterward came his brothers, Luman and Lucius (twins). They were natives of St. Lawrence County, New York. Though some miles out, the Jenisons were always actively associated with Grand Rapids people in society and business, and they seemed almost identical in citizenship. The twins never mar- ried, though they passed the middle of the last decade of the length of life usually allotted to man.
William R. Godwin came to Kent County in 1833, and his par- ents with their family followed in 1834, all settling in Grandville. Shortly after locating a farm in the new country Mr. Godwin suf- fered the loss of nearly all of his earthly effects by fire, which de- stroyed, among other things, a stock of general merchandise, which he brought with him for the purpose of opening a trading post. This unfortunate occurrence served effectually to change the plans of the pioneer settler, as he soon afterward purchased land from the gov- ernment, and to which he removed, about 1835, and began clearing a
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farm in what is now Wyoming township, about two miles south of Grand Rapids. He prospered as an agriculturist, made many sub- stantial improvements upon his purchase, and at the time of his death, in 1861, was in possession of a comfortable competence, in- cluding a beautiful farm of 120 acres, besides other properties of various kinds. For a number of years he was proprietor of the God- win House on the old plank road leading from Grand Rapids to Kala- mazoo, a favorite resort of the traveling public in pioneer times and stage coach days, and he also assisted in the construction of that highway, as a contractor. He continued to accommodate such trav- elers as saw fit to patronize his house as long as he lived, and he earned the reputation of a most popular and genial host. He enjoyed the distinction of having been the first person elected to the office of supervisor in Wyoming township, in 1848. Up to that time Wy- oming had been included in Byron township.
Jonathan F. Chubb, soon after his arrival, took a farm in Wy- oming, where he lived nearly twenty years, and then moved into Grand Rapids and built him a stone residence on Front, near Leonard street, where he spent the remainder of his life. He took an interest in manufacturing farming implements.
Myron Roys was born in Sheffield, Berkshire County, Massachu- setts, Dec. 1, 1808. On reaching his majority he went out into the world to help himself, and in 1833 came to Grandville, and in Decem- ber of the same year located his farm. He then went to St. Joseph County, where his brother had located one year previously, and re- turned in February. He built a small log house and managed his own domestic affairs while clearing his land. He held various offices of trust, such as supervisor, treasurer and constable.
In 1834, Roswell Britton, Julius C. Abel, Ephraim P. Walker, Abraham Bryant, and Josiah McCarthy settled at Grandville, Robert Howlett and George Thomson on Section 9, and Alvin H. Wansey on Section 1.
Julius C. Abel was born at Granville, Washington County, New York, Sept. 13, 1793. He was a lawyer by profession and came to Wyoming, June 1, 1834, locating on Section 8. He built a home and improved his land, but practiced his profession many years, and died July 1, 1871, in the city of Grand Rapids.
Charles H. Oaks, Joseph A. Brooks, Thomas H. Buxton, and Manly Patchen settled at Grandville in 1835, and in the same year Ransom Sawyer and Richard Moore settled on Section 19, and Justus C. Rogers on Section 14, and Eli and Erastus Yeomans also came to Grandville.
Justus C. Rogers was born in Middletown, Rutland County, Ver- mont, Feb. 28, 1813, and died Jan. 29, 1883. He immigrated to Michi- gan in 1837, and purchased government land four miles east of the present site of Grandville, and upon which he erected a small frame house-one of the first habitations of the kind in that section of the country. After putting the finishing touches to his dwelling, Mr. Rogers went to Grand Rapids to get his wife, who was staying in that town until the house could be gotten in readiness for occupancy, but imagine his surprise and consternation to find upon his return the entire structure a mass of broken, twisted timbers, scattered about in
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every direction, a cyclone having swept through the country in his absence and left dire destruction in its wake. Nothing daunted, Mr. Rogers at once went to work with redoubled diligence and in due time a comfortable log house was erected and made ready to receive the family. Mr. Rogers became a prosperous farmer and large land owner, obtaining by government entry and other purchase a tract of 240 acres, fertile and well timbered. He was a prime mover in the organization of the Park Congregational Church of Grand Rapids, contributing largely to its support and ministering to its prosperity in many other ways.
In 1836 Hiram Osgood, Orrey Hill, Nathan White, Charles Wheeler, Dwight Rankin, James Lockwood, Jacob Rogers, Charles J. Rogers, Leonard Stoneburner, and Mr. Fetterman located at Grand- ville and in different parts of the township.
Jacob Rogers came from Rutland County, Vermont, in 1836. He was a sturdy farmer and lived a little way south of the city of Grand Rapids upward of thirty years.
Leonard Stoneburner was born in Canada, Jan. 15, 1801, and his parents removed to Rochester, N. Y., in his infancy. In 1836 he came to Grandville and bought forty acres of land, thus becoming one of the early pioneers of Wyoming township. He died Aug. 5, 1872.
Among the settlers of 1837 and 1838 are found the names of Lewis Moody, Chase Edgerly, Col. Hathaway, William Butts, James P. Scott, Jotham Hall, Savoy R. Beals, Cyrus Jones, Cyrus Marsh, Horace Wilder, and James McCray. Edward Feakins was also one of the earliest settlers.
Cyrus Jones was born in Plattsburgh, Clinton County, New York, in 1803. Exciting rumors of the opportunities for making money with teams in Kent County, Michigan, reached the ambitious citizens of the Empire State, and under their inspiration Mr. Jones purchased two teams and, in 1834, started for the land of promise with his family and possessions. They came from Buffalo to Detroit by water and remained at the latter place ten days; then started for Grand Rapids with a sick child, who died on the route. Mr. Jones had 25 cents in cash when he arrived at Gull Prairie, fifty miles from Grand Rapids. He exchanged his horses for oxen and followed an Indian trail. Going down a hill, Mrs. Jones fell from the wagon and narrowly escaped being crushed to death under the wheels. They settled on a farm which is now in the city of Grand Rapids, and there they remained two years, after which they bought forty acres in Paris township and built a house. Six months afterward it was completely wrecked by the cyclone which also played havoc with Justus C. Rog- ers' place of habitation, and they then moved to Grandville, where Mr. Jones was engaged in a saw-mill two and one-half years, in the employ of Louis Campau. In 1840 he purchased 120 acres of land in Wyoming township and lived thereon until his death, Jan. 2, 1881.
Horace Wilder was born in Onondaga County, New York, in 1816, and came to Grandville in 1838. He had learned the business of a moulder in a foundry and worked at his trade after reaching Michigan, doing the first moulding on the Grand River. He and his only son both enlisted at Grand Rapids in Company C, First Regular Michigan Engineers and Mechanics, and served in the Army of the
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Cumberland three years and three months. Mr. Wilder rose to the rank of corporal and the son to that of sergeant major.
James McCray came to Grandville in 1838 and settled in Grand Rapids about five years later. He was one of the early iron founders and machinists, a skilled workman, and for uprightness and integrity had the golden opinions of all who knew him. He died suddenly while sitting in his chair, in 1851.
Edward Feakins was born in Newnham, Parish of East Kent, England, in 1796. He came to the United States in 1830 and worked two years in the lumber woods of Pennsylvania, saving his earnings to buy land, which he did, in Grand Rapids, in 1834-120 acres at $1.25 per acre, establishing his residence on Section 12, Wyoming township, now included within the limits of the city of Grand Rap- ids. He was thus one of the primal settlers in the county and assisted in raising the fourth building erected in Grand Rapids. Mr. Fea- kins had an extraordinary experience, even for a pioneer, struggling with disease and suffering from privations which his enfeebled health involved, for in those days a man needed all his powers of mind and body to aid him in securing even the common necessaries of life; but he lived to see the results of some of his conflicts in the prosperity and fame of the Grand River Valley.
Grandville was one of the first settlements in Kent County and, for a number of years, one of the largest places. One of the first saw mills, if not the first (except one built on Indian Mill Creek for the Indians), was built at Grandville by Messrs. Ball & Wright, in 1834. This mill, after passing through various hands, was destroyed by fire. In 1834, Gideon H. Gordon built a saw-mill on Section 17. This mill afterward fell into other hands, and finally rotted down. In the same year Messrs. Britton & Brown also built a saw-mill on Section 21. It was afterward torn down. In 1835, a Mr. Fetterman com- menced to build a saw-mill at the mouth of Rush Creek, just within the limits of Wyoming, and afterward sold it to George Ketchum, who completed it and also put in a run of mill stones for grinding grain. They were the first ever run in Kent County and were twenty or twenty-two inches in diameter. In the same year Gideon H. Gor- don built a saw-mill on Section 27; it was afterward burned. Ketch- um & McCray built the first furnace and machine shop on Grand River, at Grandville, in 1837. It was in this year that Horace Wilder, under the direction of Mr. McCray, melted and cast the first iron ever cast in Kent County. In 1837-8 George Ketchum built and put in op- eration the first flouring mill at Grandville. This mill was burned in 1843 and was never rebuilt. In 1838, the State authorities com- menced to bore a salt well at the marsh on Section 3, about where the railroad bridge of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad now crosses Grand River. The work was under the charge of Dr. Doug- las Houghton, State geologist. In this year a dwelling house, board- ing house, blacksmith shop, and stables were erected, a dock built, tower erected, and curb sunk to the rock, and a steam engine set and made ready for the next year's operations. The next year the job of boring the well was let to Hon. Lucius Lyon, who bored to the depth of 700 feet, when the shaft broke and the drill, with a portion of the shaft, was left at the bottom of the well. The work was then abandoned and the buildings left to decay.
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