USA > Michigan > Ionia County > History and directory of Ionia County, Michigan: containing a history of each township: the name, occupation, location, and post-office address of every man in the county, 1872 > Part 7
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INCIDENTS OF EARLY SETTLEMENT.
Hiram Brown, better known as Judge Brown, and Hector Hayes came to Detroit together. Each had a yoke of oxen and wagon. They came across Lake Erie, and when they got to Detroit they found the road so bad that they each bought another yoke of oxen and came on with their loads of provisions and their families, sending their goods around by the lake to Grand Haven. They started out of Detroit by the way of Detroit Turnpike to Nolton's Tavern, a place eighteen miles north of Pontiac, left the turnpike there, came to Lyons on the trail, fording all the streams, there being no bridges after leaving the turnpike, and camping out when they could not get to the next house. Mr. Brown arrived at Lyons October 3d. He says, when he got up the next morning and found four inches of snow on the ground, he was homesick, and wished he was back in York State. The snow went off in a few days and they had good weather afterwards. They camped out until they each built a log house, but got settled before winter. They had no neighbors north. There was one man living south about three-quarters of a mile, by the name of Soule, living on section six in the town of Lyons. Judge Brown says he brought pork and provision all that he needed but flour from the east with him, and was told that could buy plenty of wheat, and that there would be a mill in Ionia by the time he got herc. But there was no mill there. He bought two barrels of flour, and some wheat which he could not get ground. He fed all but two bushels to his oxen. On opening one of the barrels of flour he found it spoiled at each end, all in a chunk, and as nasty as it could be. He then went to Lyons to buy flour. He could get it for $16 per barrel, but his friends told him to wait,-it would be cheaper. He did wait until it was all gone, then left $20 at Lyons and $20 he sent to Ionia, but no flour came to either place. With the one barrel and by breaking up the lumps they had called spoiled, and sifting it, they man- aged to get along till the Ionia mill was built ; and with the one bushel of wheat got along till harvest. Judge Brown says there were several families that did not lay in a stock of flour and did not have a mouthful of bread for three months. Most of them had plenty of meat, but how they lived he can hardly tell.
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HISTORY AND DIRECTORY OF IONIA COUNTY.
In the spring of 1838 Nathaniel Sessions settled on section twenty-three, in 1837 cut- ting his own road from East Plains. He was on his farm at the time the Glass family were killed, and for protection against the Indians split out timbers three or four inches thick and made shutters for his doors and windows, fastening them nights with bars and bolts. Mr. Sessions relates many interesting anecdotes of those early days, and says that though pretty snug they were the best he ever saw. At that time the settlers were an excellent class of people and generally very industrious. To know that a family had come to stay was generally sufficient evidence that they were all right. Mr. Sessions, now eighty-two years of age, still lives on his farm and enjoys talking over his pioneer experience.
Major Mills relates the following adventure with a bear : One night, about 12 o'clock, he heard a squealing among a drove of twenty-three hogs owned by himself and Jay Olmstead, and got up and started out with his axe in his hand. He found a large bear in the midst of the drove, about twenty rods from Olmstead's house and eighty rods from his home. The bear had one hog down, and sat there cuffing the others off as they came up to fight him. Mills got as near the bear as he could on account of the hogs, and threw the axe at him, a distance of some six feet. Bruin put up his paw and warded off the blow as though it were a feather, still hanging to his prize. Mills next got a stone about the size of his fist and threw it at the bear, hitting him on the under jaw and evidently hurting him considerable. The bear then left the hog and jumped at Mills, who dodged and let him pass by. The hogs at once attacked the bear who sought safety in flight, Mills continuing to pursue him after the hogs had stopped.
In May, 1838, while Mills and his family were out gathering cowslips for greens, a wind storm blew his house flat to the ground.
Major Mills frequently had to leave home on business, and Mrs. Mills on several occa- sions exhibited great bravery in protecting their stock from the wolves, one night leav- ing the house with her little boy, only five years old, and driving the hogs into the pen to save them all from sharing the fate of one that was caught and devoured.
Samuel Stoughton settled on section ten in 1838, bringing with him quite a sum of wild-cat money. His last $75 he paid out for a nail-hammer. Mr. William Edmister set tled on section fifteen, and having some bad luck, losing his corn, etc., had to work out till he could get to raising crops. He says he has worked for fifty cents a day, and walked seven miles to his work in the morning and then back again at night. Yet, with the others, he says these were the best days of his life.
ORGANIZATION.
The township was organized April 1, 1844, comprising at that time the present town- ship of North Plains, Bloomer, and Crystal, excepting the part of North Plains south- east of Maple River, which was left attached to Lyons. At the first election the whole number of votes cast was thirty-seven.
PRESENT TOWNSHIP OFFICERS.
Supervisor, William Reynolds ; Clerk, Bernard McMullen ; Treasurer, John Caha- lan ; Justices of the Peace, Asaph Mather, D. Allen Bangs, Albert G. Russell, and Seneca Woolford; Commissioners of Highways, George D. Kellogg, John R. Abbott, and David Anderson.
A MURDER AND A MYSTERY.
We have previously mentioned the name of Ansel D. Glass, who, with his wife and two children, settled on section five, four miles from the nearest neighbor, in the fall or early winter of 1837. During the winter Glass made frequent trips out and back. Major
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HISTORY AND DIRECTORY OF IONIA COUNTY.
Mills says that he was frequently in the habit of staying away when he had plenty of time to get back the same day. In the spring of 1838, Glass got Mr. Mills to carry in a load of potatoes for him. Some time in March Mills and Glass went over to Widow Barker's farm and got each of them about twelve bushels of wheat, which they took to the mill at Ionia the next day, coming back in the night and getting to Mills' about four o'clock in the morning. Glass told Mills he had done enough; he need not take the grist in for him, as he could just as well take some in in a bag. He took about half a bushel and started. Mrs. Glass came out in about a week and said that Glass had cut his foot very bad, and that they were out of flour, and wanted Mills to carry the grist in for them. Mills and his wife went back with her and stayed all night. Mills dressed Glass's foot, which was cut very badly on the instep. Next day Mills and his wife went home. This was about the middle of March.
On the 28th of March, Judge Brown went to Glass's house, while out hunting becs, and found there only the charred embers of the house and the corpses of the family. He thought them to be Glass, his wife and child,-forgetting that Glass had two chil- dren. He at once came back and told the story, which spread rapidly, and the next day the woods were alive with crowds of curious and excited men, coming from far and near to witness the scene of the tragedy. A jury was formed who investigated the case to the best of their ability, and found a verdict that the family had been murdered by some person or persons unknown to the jury. The murdered persons proved to be Mrs. Glass and the two children. Glass could nowhere be found.
Great excitement prevailed for a long time after this occurrence. Some thought Glass had murdered his family and then left the country ; others laid it to the Indians and were in constant fear that they might share the same fate. For a number of months after this, the people of North Plains congregated together every night for mutual protection, so great was their fear of the Indians.
ODESSA.
O DESSA is one of the southern tier of townships, having Berlin on the north, Sebewa on the cast, Woodland, in Barry County, on the south, and Campbell on the west.
The first settler in this township was Myron Tupper, who came in May, 1839, accom- panied by Harvey Kibby, and chopped down the timber on five acres, put in a little corn and potatoes, went back to New York State, and moved in with his wife the first of October of the same year, and found his corn and potatoes all right, not disturbed at all by his neighbors' cattle, though they were not fenced.
Harvey Kibby and Wellington Russell, then single men, came and staid with them that winter. Russell afterwards married and still resides on land he then owned, it being the east half of the northwest quarter of section twenty-seven, and cornering on that of Mr. Tupper, his being the southeast quarter of the same section, where he also still resides. Kibby owned eighty acres joining Tupper on the west, but never mar- ried, and afterward went to Bellevue and there died. Hiram Lce next came and set- tled on the northeast quarter of section thirty-three. He now lives in the town of Keene and is quite wealthy, having been a hard- working and very energetic man. Soon after Lee came Emery Russell, and settled on the west half of the northwest quarter of section twenty-seven, where he lived till he ended his carthly pilgrimage, between two and three years ago. Benjamin R. Tupper, brother of Myron, came in October, 1840, and settled on the southwest part of section twenty-seven, where he still resides.
Esteven Russell came in the fall of 1842, and settled on the east half of the south- west quarter of section twenty-seven, the land formerly owned by H. Kibby, where he still lives. Among others who came in soon after this may be mentioned John D. Hite, Reuben Haight, who is said to have been a very exemplary man, his neighbors bearing witness that there would be no lawsuits if all men were like him ; George E. Kelley, James A. Galloway, Asa Houghton, Daniel Hetter, and Joseph Hetter. The last two built a saw-mill on a small stream a little south of the center of section twenty-seven, which was afterward owned by William Kibby, who put in a steam engine and a run of stones for grinding breadstuff and feed, but the engines and machinery were taken out on a chattel mortgage, and the mill and dam are now a wreck, and Kibby, wrecked as to property, enlisted in the army and soon after died. There is, also, the wreck of the frame of what was a steam saw-mill on the northeast corner of section thirty-four, the machinery being taken out. Another, built by John Cox and Martin Cox, in the spring of 1866, at the southeast corner of section sixteen, was burnt May 18, 1871 ; and another, on the west part of section seven, is about to be removed to Sebewa, the owner living in that town. When removed it will leave the town for the time being destitute of mill property. But the first settlers had many other trials and hardships to encounter aside from want of mills, railroads, etc., among which were want of medical aid and nurses in sickness, and the first child born of parents residing here went over into Woodland, in Barry County, to be born, and mother and child were absent two weeks on this excursion before returning to their home on section twenty-seven. The
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HISTORY AND DIRECTORY OF IONIA COUNTY.
child was named Rosetta, being the oldest child of Myron Tupper, and afterward wife of Esteven Russell, till her death, which occurred some over two years ago. In another case of sickness in the family of Hiram Lee, Mr. Tupper and Harvey Kibby went in the night to Ionia on foot after Dr. Cornell ; and Kibby had to swim the Grand River, the boat being on the north side. The distance to Ionia was about sixteen miles.
The first death of a white person in this town was that of a daughter of Hiram Lee, and afterward his only surviving one was killed by the discharge of a gun knocked out of place by a bushel of corn on the shoulder of her father, as he was carrying it into the chamber. This town was organized in April, 1846, and the first officers chosen were as follows : Supervisor, Myron Tupper ; Clerk, Esteven Russell ; Treasurer, John D. Hite; Justices, Hiram S. Lee, Reuben Haight, Benjamin R. Tupper, and George E. Kibby ; School Inspectors, James A. Galloway and Reuben Haight ; Commissioners of Highways, Wellington Russell, Asa Houghton, and Daniel Heter ; Overseer of Poor, George E. Kibby ; Constable, Asa Houghton, Daniel Heter, James A. Galloway, and Esteven Russell. The whole number of votes polled at this election was thirteen. Pity Uncle Sam hadn't as many officers in proportion to the number of voters.
The present township officers are; Supervisor, Sumner Russell; Clerk, Henry Bever ; Treasurer, James C. Wright ; Justices, Enos E. Barkdell, Horace F. Miner, Gor- don H. Shepherd, and Henry Culp ; School Inspectors, Elijah L. Shepherd and John C. Hackett ; Highway Commissioners, Enos E. Barkdell, Samuel O. Hosford, and John Schneider; Constables, Michael Horrigan, Samuel O. Hosford ; Drain Commis- sioner, John Ripply ; present number of voters, 210.
The town of Odessa is destined to be one of the best for agricultural purposes in the county, being composed of a rich sandy loam for the most part, but sometimes inclin- ing a little more to clay in the north and east, and there are many swails or small swamps interspersed, while the north part especially is quite swampy. But the swamps are generally so situated as to be easily drained. Perhaps we would give a more correct idea of the face of the country in this section by saying that the north part of Campbell and Odessa and the northwest part of Sebewa form the divide between Grand River and the Thornapple, and constitute what might be called a wet table land, though not entirely level, the higher parts being capable of profitable cultiva- tion, while the descent from the lower portions to the rivers is so slight that the water does not run off rapidly, and consequently needs draining.
There is but one stream in the town of sufficient size to furnish a water power, and that affords but little, it being the one on section twenty-seven, heretofore mentioned.
There are three post-offices in this town : one called South Cass, located near the northeast corner of section twenty-one, Martin Cox, P. M. ; one near the west line of the town, on section seven, called Algodon, Caleb C. Vantasel, P. M. ; and one near the east line called West Sebawa; Charles Stewart, P. M. We noticed but seven school-houses in this town ; one a very nice new one on the southeast corner of section seven ; a log school-house on the southeast corner of section nineteen ; another, appar- ently the first frame school-house built in town, on the west part of section twenty-seven ; and another built more recently on the southwest corner of section fifteen ; one at the northeast corner of section thirty-five; one at the northwest corner of section twenty- four ; one on the southeast corner of section twenty-five, and one on the east part of section four.
There are three small lakes in this town, the largest one extending across the line of sections thirty-three and thirty-four into Woodland, in Barry County. Another one at the corners 26, 27, 34, and 35, and another at the northeast corner of section twenty- six ; and still another very small one on.section twenty-four, the whole lying nearly on .a straight line from northeast to southwest. The first and largest of the above lakes
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HISTORY AND DIRECTORY OF IONIA COUNTY.
is a reminder to some sad hearts of the death of friends, who-five in number-went for a pleasure ride on its waters in a small boat, and for sport, and perhaps to frighten one another, went to rocking the boat, which capsized, and all were drowned save one. Those drowned were two young ladies by the name of Otto, one by the name of Simons, and one young man by the name of Spaulding.
In the vicinity of these lakes are two wells, one of which became dry in a dry time, and the owner, Mr. Cramer, took an auger and bored down a few feet to water, which came up and filled the well and has run over the top ever since. The other being dug down about forty feet, the workmen noticed that there was a hollow sound as they struck with their picks, and dug a ditch around the outside, in order to commence stoning it up when they came to water, and to have a place in the middle to stand on ; but all at once the water broke in with such force that they shouted for the bucket to be let down that they might get out before drowning. The well filled up about twenty-eight feet. They then went to work and filled the well with stone to the depth of seventeen feet, and then dipped out the water and stoned the well up the rest of the way to the top. The water stands now eleven feet deep in the well, good and cold. The ques- tions naturally arising in regard to these wells are, Where does the water come from? Or where is the fountain that throws the water over the top of one and so near the top in the other? And we think the answer must be found in the high, wet lands heretofore mentioned, in connection with an underground current, struck by the wells.
We had hoped to obtain information so as to be able to give something of the reli- gious history of this township, but have been unable to obtain exact dates. Myron Tupper is a preacher of the Freewill Baptist persuasion, and has preached in his own town and more or less in other places ; he has also represented his district in the State Legislature one or two terms; but the first man who preached in Odessa was Riley Hess, a very kind-hearted and devoted Christian, who was formerly a Freewill Baptist, but who for several years before his death worshipped with the Congregationalists. He formerly lived in Boston, near Saranac, but spent the closing years of his life in Grand Rapids. We mention him because his life and preaching undoubtedly left its impress on the people of Odessa.
There are many fine farms in this town in process of improvement, among which are those of the Bevers, the Anways, the Russell's, the two Mrs. Tupper's, and A. J. Clark. Daniel Leopard is evidently one of the most thorough farmers of the town, and if a man gets on his place he has got to go through the gate or climb. There is no such thing as stepping over his fences, and he isn't afraid to set his peach-trees next the road for fear some passer will get a peach. Noticing this, we were reminded of some gratuitous advice we received when a younger man than now, to set our peach- trees back from the road lest people when passing get our peaches.
The people of Odessa are on the highway of prosperity, but will progress much faster when their long-cherished hopes are realized in the construction of a railroad through their town.
ORANGE.
THE township of Orange is situated near the geographical center of the county,-in fact its northwest corner marks that point. It is bounded on the north by Ionia, on the east by Portland, on the south by Sebawa, and on the west by Berlin.
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
As near as we can learn, Mr. Seely Arms was the first white settler who located a farm in Orange. Mr. Arms selected a place on section twenty-five, in the year 1835, and was a resident of the township until his death, which occurred in 1865.
Mr. Benjamin Brand came to Orange in 1836, and erected, we are informed, the first house in the township. This house was constructed entirely of wood, not a nail being used, and the door was made of bark. It was standing until recently where it was erected, on section eight. Scott Brand, son of Benjamin Brand, was but four years of age when his father came into the township. At this time the whole township was one unbroken forest, without roads, marked trecs being the only guide for the settler. Wild animals abounded, and some of them were very annoying, especially the wolves, which were numerous and fierce.
In 1837 Mr. Thomas Marsh located on section five. In the month of February of that year he left the village of Marshall for his new home, bringing with him all his worldly possessions, which consisted of an ox team, a sled, and a few tools. His way for forty miles was through an unbroken wilderness, with only one lonely cabin to cheer his sight. Arriving on the spot which he had chosen for his future home, he set about building his "seven by nine" cabin, and the leveling of the primeval forest which surrounded him, its unbroken walls stretching miles away on either hand. With the sanguine expectation of the young and ambitious pioneer, Mr. Marsh worked away till, unaided and alone, he had cleared away four acres of dense timber. Sowing this clearing to wheat, he awaited patiently the coming harvest with the expectation of a good crop ; but this crop, when harvested, yielded only one bag of wheat, from which he got fifty-two pounds of flour,-the sole fruit of his first year's labor. Then followed a year of privation and suffering for the necessaries of life. Mr. Marsh is now a man in the decline of life, but he has lived to see the "wilderness blossom as the rose," and has accumulated a handsome property for the support of his declining years.
Mr. Jared F. Long also came in 1837, and located on section three. Mr. Arvis Kinney moved into the town in 1838, and Mr. Samuel W. Badger and Ira F. Levally came about the same time.
Mr. Isaac Tyler, who located on section twenty-four in 1838, says that at that time the settlers had to fan their wheat by hand, there being no fanning-mills in the town. In those days the wheat was usually smutty, making dark flour and poor bread. Fever and ague prevailed almost universally. For the first ten years of Mr. Tyler's pioneer life it took all he could raise to pay his doctor bills and taxes and provide the bare nec- essaries of life for his family.
Mr. George Jourdan came into Orange in November 1839, locating on section thirteen. There were at that time four settlers within five miles of Mr. Jourdan, viz : D. M. Tyler,
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HISTORY AND DIRECTORY OF IONIA COUNTY.
George, Jason, and John Housemand, and Seely Arms. Mr. Jourdan trapped wolves and bears, catching one bear that weighed four hundred pounds. These animals were so numerous and bold that they often came to his very door, and his wife has been known to drive them off with the common weapon of her sex-the broomstick. But the reader shall have a genuine "bear story," as related by Mr. Jourdan. One night a bear came to the pig-pen near the house, in search of prey. Springing from his bed he gave chase, gun in hand, not even stopping to dress, and tearing the only garment he had on into shreds among the bushes. He finally succeeded in treeing the bear, and shot him through the body without bringing him down. It was then between two and three o'clock in the morning. Without leaving the spot he succeeded in arousing his nearest neighbors by his shouts, who soon surrounded the tree and killed the bear, dividing the meat among them. In these early years of his pioneer life Mr. Jourdan wore a pair of buckskin pantaloons sowed up with deer sinews. He has raised a family of ten children who are now settled around him. ITis beautiful homestead where he now resides, with its fertile fields and broad meadow lands, free from all obstructions, when he first looked upon it, thirty-three years ago, was a dense forest, sheltering beasts of prey. That forest he has swept away by his own toil, often working by the light of the moon, late into the night. At first he had to go to Pontiac or Jackson for his milling, and was sometimes reduced down to two pancakes a day. So, also, have his neighbors toiled, and his is a common story,-a youth of pioneer toil and an old age of competence and peace. We should like thus to sketch each of them, but it would swell this volume far beyond the size that people could afford to pay for.
In 1843 Mr. James Humphreys located on section thirty-one, and Mr. Charles Math - ews on section twenty five. Two years later Mr. Humphreys was killed by a falling tree.
Mr. Austin Penfield located on section twelve in 1847, and has improved a large farm, on which he now resides. He has not allowed the influenes of pioneer life to dwarf him either intellectually or socially, but is one of the men who give character to a community.
SURFACE AND SOIL.
The surface of Orange is very level, there being scarcely a knoll or hillock in the township. The southern part is somewhat swampy, especially sections twenty-nine, thirty, and thirty-two. Some other parts are quite low and wet, but the township is being rapidly improved in this respect by a system of drainage which is being vigor- ously prosecuted. The soil is as uniform as the surface, being mostly a clay loam, in some parts gravelly, and well adapted to both wheat and grass.
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