USA > Michigan > Kent County > History and directory of Kent County, Michigan > Part 13
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HISTORY AND DIRECTORY OF KENT COUNTY.
now quarried is 12 feet in thickness, and is overlaid with from 12 to 16 feet of earth, and in places by a stratum of partially decomposed plaster, known as the " seven foot course." The following is the estimated product of these works from 1852 to the present time :
From 1842 to 1850
500 tons yearly
66 1850 “ 1860
2,000
1860 “ 1864
3,000
1864 “ 1868
8,000
During the year 1869
12,000 tons.
1870 probably 12,000 tons.
They have a water mill with one run of stone capable of grinding two tons per hour, and a steam mill with two run of stone that grind four tons per hour, and storage for 4,000 tons of ground plaster. Their capital is sufficient to supply all the present or future demands of the trade. The works are located half a mile south of the city limits, on the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad, having easy access to all other railroads leading to the city, and also to Grand River.
SAW MILLS.
The Saw Mill of David Fisher is located on section twenty-seven. It contains two saws, one upright and one circular, and cuts about two and one-half million feet per annum. Egbert Dewey carries on the manufacture of lumber and lath at his saw mill on section twenty-one. The mill contains six saws, and cuts about one million two hundred thousand feet per annum.
H. O. Weston carries on the manufacture of flour at the Wyoming Mills, at Grandville. This mill has three runs of stone, and has a capacity of about fifty barrels of flour per day. It was erected by Egbert Dewey, about the year 1856.
These mills are all driven by water power, and are located on Buck Creek.
David Fisher carries on the manufacture of lime, from marl, or bog lime, near his saw mill, affording an excellent lime for mason work, and a good fertilizer. Mr Carpenter also carries on the manufacture of the same kind of lime on section three.
RAIL ROADS.
Wyoming is traversed by three railroads. The Grand River Valley Railroad crosses the northeast corner of the township. The Grand Rapids & Indiana runs across the township, from north to south, near the center line of the eastern tier of sections, and has a station near the center of section thirty-six. The northern branch of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad runs north and south through this township, very near its center line, and has a station near the center, called Grandville Station.
EARLY SETTLERS.
As near as we can learn from the memory of the early settlers, Mr. David Tucker was the first settler in Wyoming, he having settled at Grandville in 1832. During the same year Gideon H. Gordon settled at Grandville. In 1833 Luther Lincoln, Joseph B. Copeland, Hiram Jenison, and William R. Godwin settled at Grandville, Jonathan F. Chubb on section four, Myron Roys on section nine, and Henry West on section twenty. During 1834 Roswell Britton, Julius C. Abel,
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HISTORY AND DIRECTORY OF KENT COUNTY.
Ephraim P. Walker, Abraham Bryant, and Josiah McCarthy settled at Grand- ville, Robert Howlett, and George Thomson on section nine, and Alvali Wanzy on section one. Charles H. Oaks, Joseph A Brooks, Thomas H. Buxton, and Manly Patchen settled at Grandville in 1835, and during the same year, Ransom Sawyer, and Richard Moore on section nineteen, and Justus C. Rogers on section fourteen, and Eli. and Erastus Yeomans also came to Grandville. In 1836 Hiram Osgood, Orrey Hill, Nathan White, Charles Wheeler, Dwight Rankin, James Lockwood, Jacob Rogers, Charles J. Rogers, Leonard Stoneburner, and MIr. Fet- terman located at Grandville, and in different parts of the township. Among the settlers of 1837 and 1838, we find 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 Fekin was also one of the earliest settlers. Of these, the first settlers of this township, forty seven in number, only thirteen are now living in Wyoming, viz: Myron Roys, Joseph B. Copeland, Thomas H. Buxton, Richard Moore, Justus C. Rogers, Dwight Ran- kin, Erastus Yeomans, Eli Yeomans, Charles J. Rogers, Leonard Stoneburner, Lewis Moody, Horace Wilder, and Edward Fekin. Of the others, some few have removed, but the greater part are deceased. Savoy R. Beals and Cyrus Jones had resided in this county some time before settling in Wyoming.
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, (ex- cept one built on Indian Mill Creek for the Indians,) was built near the site of the Wyoming Mills, by Messrs. Ball and Wright, in 1834. This mill, after passing through various hands, was destroyed by fire many years ago.
In 1834 Gideon H. Gordon built a saw mill on section seventeen. This mill afterwards fell into other hands, and finally rotted down. During this year Messrs. Britton and Brown also built a saw mill on the site of Dewey's mill, on section twenty-one. It was afterwards torn down to make room for the mill which now occupies the site.
In 1835 Mr. Fetterman commenced to build a saw mill at the mouth of Ruslı Creek, just within the limits of Wyoming, and afterwards sold it to Geo. 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.
Mr. Gideon H. Gordon, during the same year, built a saw mill on section twen- ty-seven, on the site of Fisher's Mill. It was afterwards burned. Josialı Burton also built a saw mill on the site of Rumsey's Plaster Mill, in 1836.
Ketchum and McCray built the first furnace and machine shop on Grand River, at Grandville, in 1837. Horace Wilder says that in 1837, under the direction of Mr. McCray, he melted and cast the first iron ever cast in Kent county.
During 1837-S George Ketchum built, and put in operation, the first flouring mill at Grandville. This mill was burned in 1843, and was never rebuilt. In 1838 the State authorities commenced to bore a salt well at the marsh, on section tliree, about where the railroad bridge of the L. S. & M. S. R. R. now crosses Grand River. The work was under the charge of Dr. Douglas Houghton, State Geolo- gist. During this year a dwelling house, boarding house, blacksmith shop, aud
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HISTORY AND DIRECTORY OF KENT COUNTY.
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, of Detroit, 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.
George Ketchum also built a Gang Saw Mill, at an early day, in what is now Georgetown, Ottawa county, on the site of Jenison's flouring mills.
INCIDENTS OF EARLY SETTLEMENT.
Justus C. Rogers came to Kent county in 1835. He walked from Detroit to Chicago, and from there back to Grand Rapids. At that time the only public conveyance across Michigan was a lumber wagon stage, and walking was prefera- ble to riding in it over the roads as they were then. In the spring of 1836, Mr. Rogers built a small frame house on the site of his present residence, on section fourteen, and in September of the same year there came a tornado which took it up from the foundation and carried it about one rod. When it struck it ended over, so that the south end of the frame lay to the north, and the whole building a wreck. Some of the roof boards and shingles were carried more than a mile, and the woods were strewed with them for quite a distance. Mr. Roger's family had not yet arrived, and he was absent from home at the time. The course of the tornado was from southwest to northeast, and the next building in its course was a log house, on section six, of Paris, which was occupied by Cyrus Jones and family. This it blew down, to within three or four logs of the ground, but luckily none of the inmates were seriously injured, although none of them escaped with- out some bruises.
Erastus and Eli Yeomans came to Grandville in 1835. They came from Pon- tiac on foot, via the Shiawassee trail, and had to ford all the streams. Dwight Rankin came with a wagon in 1836, by way of Gull Prairie, and was nine days coming from Detroit to Grand Rapids. When they forded the Coldwater they got " set," and were an hour or two getting through.
A pole boat called the Cinderella, was launched at Grandville in June, 1837, and Mrs. Rankin says the occasion was made one of general rejoicing. All the people around were invited, and the boat was poled up and down the river, while they had music and dancing on board. Mr. Lewis Moody came to Grandville in the spring of 1837, but did not bring his family until November. They, with others, came by Green Lake, and were six days getting through. They had four ox teams, and four wagons, and were frequently obliged to put the four teams on one wagon. Just at dark of the fourth day, they came to the outlet of Green Lake, and found the poles that composed the bridge afloat, and were about two hours getting across ; and it was raining all of the time. When they reached the Green Lake house, they found some three or four others there before them, but they had none of them had any supper, and all they could muster towards it were some potatoes and onions that the people who kept the house had, and some venison that one of the travelers had. Mrs. Moody told them she could furnish bread, and they made out a supper that relished well, tired and hungry
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HISTORY AND DIRECTORY OF KENT COUNTY.
as they were. The next night for supper they had nothing but bread ; and the same, in a very limited quantity, for breakfast. Mr. Moody says the Fourth of July, 1837, was the " liveliest" Fourth he ever saw. The steamboat, " Gov. Mason," made her trial trip from Grand Rapids to Grandville. Dr. Scranton was to deliver an address on board of the boat at Grandville, but, as it was very lengthy, when he was but partly through, some one blowed the whistle, and the crowd cheered and broke up. There were four liberty poles raised at Grandville that day, but at night none of them were standing. Mr. M. says that when they first began to carry the United States mail from Grandville to Grand Haven, they used to tie it up in a pocket handkerchief. Mr. Leonard Stoneburner relates the following story, which Mr. E. B. Bostwick told of one of the mail-carriers, an Irishman. He started from Grandville late, and did not get to the lumber camp, where he was to stay all night, until after dark. Just before he got through, Mr. Bostwick, who was but a short distance behind him, heard an owl cry out, " Tu who-o, who-o," and the Irishman answered, " Me name is Jemmy O'Nale, sure, and I carry the mail."
Ebenezer Davis, now of Wyoming, was one of the early settlers of Kent county, having settled at Grand Rapids in 1836. Mr. Davis says that in the spring of 1837, there was a scarcity of flour; and for three weeks there was none to be had at Grand Rapids, and almost everybody lived on sturgeon. The first supply of flour came from Jackson, down Grand River, on a flat boat. Mr. Wilder, and others at Grandville, say that in 1838, they liad no flour at Grandville, except some which was said to have been sunk in Lake Michigan.
After knocking the hoops and staves off, the flour retained the shape of the barrel, and had to be cut to pieces with an axe, and pounded up. That sum- mer was very sickly, and most of the time this was all that could be had for sick or well. Mrs. McCray says she made bread for her husband, of the same flour, when he was very sick, and for a long time they could get no butter ; but finally Mr. Myron Roys, who kept bachelor's hall on his place, and had two cows, made some for them. Mrs. McCray says that, when she hears people complain of hard times and hard fare, now, she always feels like seeing them have a slight trial of those times.
Hiram Jenison says, that, when he came to Grandville in 1834, there was no settlement between Grandville and Grand Haven, and but two families at Grand Haven : Messrs. Ferry and Throop. Ottawa was at that time a part of Kent county. IIc went to Grand Rapids once to attend an election.
At the time Mr. Roys settled in Wyoming all of the opening lands were entirely free from bushes, and, except the trees, were almost like the prairies. Mr. Roys says that, the first summer he was in Michigan, he worked for Mr. Wright, at the mill, and the woman who was there to cook for them became homesick, and went back to the settlements, and they put him in cook. He would cook meat, beans, etc., as well as any of them, but making biscuit and bread puzzled him. He used to put saleratus into sweet milk, until one night his cow laid out, and the milk soured. He was in trouble ; but, finally, concluded to put his saleratus into the sour milk, mixed it up and baked it, and found that he had learned to make biscuit.
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HISTORY AND DIRECTORY OF KENT COUNTY.
FIRST TOWNSHIP OFFICERS.
The township of Wyoming was organized in 1848. Wm. R. Godwin was the first Supervisor ; Joseph Blake, Clerk ; Chase Edgerly, Treasurer; Erastus Yeo- mans and Roswell Britton, Justices of the Peace; Nicholas Shoemaker, Dwight Rankin, and James B. Jewell, Commissioners of Highways; Luther D. Abbott and Justus C. Rogers, School Inspectors; L. D. Abbott and J. C. Rogers, Over- seers of the Poor ; Wmn. Richardson, J. A. Britton, C. J. Rogers, and II. N. Roberts, Constables.
At the general election, Nov. 1st, 1848, the whole number of votes cast was 101. At the general election in 1868, there were 344 votes cast.
PRESENT TOWNSHIP OFFICERS.
Supervisor-William K. Emmons. Clerk-Adelbert H. Weston. Treasurer- John V. D. Haven. Justices of the Peace -- William II. Galloway, Alexander Mc- Inroy, Cyrus Freeman, Augustine Godwin. Highway Commissioners-Daniel Stewart, Augustine Godwin, Cyrus Freeman. School Inspectors-W. K. Em- mons, W. H. Galloway. Overseers of the Poor-Cyrus Freeman, James Jewell. Constables-Charles L. Moody, W. L. Galloway.
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HISTORY AND DIRECTORY OF KENT COUNTY.
CITY OF GRAND RAPIDS.
Grand Rapids is located on Grand River -- the largest inland stream in the state -about forty miles from its mouth, and at the head of navigation. Its site is one of great natural beauty, lying on both sides of the river, between the high bluffs that stand nearly two miles apart, and from whose summits the eye takes in a beautiful panorama of hill, vale and river, with all the streets of the busy city laid ont like a map at the feet of the beholder.
Grand River at this point runs nearly south, but soon after leaving the city resumes its general westerly direction. On the west side of the river, the ground is nearly level back to the bluffs ; on the east side, there were smaller hills between the bank and the bluffs, the leveling of which has cost, and is yet to cost, large sums of money. The east side bluffs, once an ornament to the town, are now marred with deep cuts and unsightly excavations, which may be likened to con- stantly open sores on the face of nature. But the sores are likely, we must add, to be soon healed, and covered by a crown of comfortable homes, with church spires shooting up from their midst to point the way to the home above.
In writing this sketch, we are not compelled to go to ancient books and dusty files for the record of how the town has grown ; for its founder is still alive, and a large proportion of its early settlers. What we write is derived from their lips, and if we fail to mould it into the symmetrical form of legitimate history, we beg some allowance to be made to the live elements that compose it, which will per- sist in sticking out like the hands and feet of a class of vigorous boys, and will not easily be folded smoothly down like a " preserved specimen."
We have no knowledge of the first white man who visited the rapids on Grand River, called by the Indians the Owashtenong. An Indian village had long ex- isted here-of the Ottawa tribe-before any white men came here to reside. The history of this village, of its chiefs and warriors, of its forays and defences, its councils and treaties, is lost in oblivion from human knowledge, and only writ- ten in the books of the Recording Angel.
In 1821, Isaac McCoy-who was appointed by the Board of Managers of the Baptist Missionary convention for the United States, to labor in Illinois and In- diana-visited Gen. Lewis Cass at Detroit, to lay before him the claims of that society, and the needs of Indian tribes of Michigan Territory. The general rc- ceived him cordially and gave him $450, in goods, for the benefit of his mission at Fort Wayne.
At the Chicago treaty of the same year, through the influence of Col. Trimble, of Ohio, the Pottawattomies agreed to give one mile square of land, to be located by the President, in consideration of the promise of the government to locate thereon a teacher, and a blacksmith, for the instruction and aid of the Indians ; the government agreeing to appropriate $1,000 each year for that object. A similar arrangement was afterwards made with the Ottawas, the government agreeing to maintain a teacher, a blacksmith and a farmer, at an expense of $1,500 per year.
Detroit at that time contained only a few hundred inhabitants, and the whole territory of Michigan was a vast wilderness, with only here and there an oasis of
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HISTORY AND DIRECTORY OF KENT COUNTY.
a fort or trading post. On the west side of Grand River, and on what is now the Fifth Ward of the city of Grand Rapids, stood, at that time, a collection of 50 or 60 huts, Kewkishkam being the village chief, acknowledging the control of Noon - day, chief of the Ottawas.
On the 28th of June, 1822, Mr. McCoy went from Fort Wayne to Detroit, for the purpose of securing the privileges of the Chicago treaty, the war department having placed the matter under the control of Gen. Cass. Gen. Cass commis- sioned Charles C. Trowbridge to make definite arrangements with the Indians for the sites of the missionary stations. The site for the Pottawattomie station was established on the St. Joseph River, and that of the Ottawas on the Rapids of Grand River. Mr. McCoy visited Grand Rapids in 1823, accompanied by a Frenchman named Paget, and one of his Indian pupils, for the purpose of put- ting matters into operation at the contemplated station among the Ottawas ; bnt was unable to make any satisfactery arrangement, and soon returned to Carey, as the Pottawattomie station was called. In the fall of the same year he had a blacksmith shop set up at Kalamazoo, but only a little was done with it, so far as we can learn, and it was afterwards removed to Grand Rapids.
Some time in 1824, as near as we can learn, Rev. L. Slater, Baptist missionary, and a blacksmith, and one or two other white workmen, came to Grand Rapids and commenced work. The winter proved a very hard one, and supplies had to be sent them on horseback before spring. Mr. Slater erected a log house for him- self, and a log school house-the first buildings ever put up in the county.
Religion having let a ray of light into the wilderness, Commerce, her necessary handmaid, was not long in following. The first white settler of Grand Rapids, who came here to found a business and make himself a home, was Louis Campau, an Indian trader. Mr. Campau is still alive, and well known to all the older residents of the city, who honor and respect him as a venerable pioneer and true gentleman. His portrait may be found in the City Directory for 1870, thus mak- ing his face familiar to those who, from their short term of residence, had not made his acquaintance. Mr. Campau was born in Detroit, in the year 1791. His ancestors were French, and came to Detroit before the war of the Revolution. He had but few advantages of early education, but made his own career with a clear head, a strong right arm, and an honest purpose. In the fall of 1814, he went to Saginaw to trade with the Indians, at which place he remained for ten years, before removing to Grand Rapids.
Mr. Campan came to Grand Rapids at the solicitation and under the auspices of William Brewster, of Detroit, who was very extensively engaged in the fur business in rivalry with the American Fur Company, and who furnished him with all that he needed to carry on his business. Mr. Campau afterwards opened trading posts and established his agents at Muskegon, Manistee, Kalamazoo, Lowell, Hastings, and Eaton Rapids. He had no trouble with the Indians, but found them friendly and peaceable. They were nniformly honest, and could be trusted with goods, never failing to pay as soon as they had the ability. The curreney of that time was-fur. And this was all the Indian had to exchange for the products of civilization.
From 1826 to 1833, Mr. Campau's only white visitors were traders like himself,
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HISTORY AND DIRECTORY OF KENT COUNTY.
with a few occasional travelers. Hle cut down the timber from a few acres of ground to let in the sunlight, but did not attempt any extensive improvements. His brother, Toussaint, then only a youth, was with him most of the time, and helped carry on the business. Toussaint Campau is still a resident of Grand Rapids, and not much burdened with the weight of years.
In 1833, the pioneers of civilization, of whom we may call Mr. Campau the fore- runner and scout, began to find their way to Grand Rapids. A land office was opened at White Pigeon in that year, and Louis Campau and Luther Lincoln were the first purchasers. Mr. Campau bought a tract of land in what is now the city of Grand Rapids, and Mr. Lincoln took up a portion of the site of the present village of Grandville.
In the spring of 1833, Mr. Samuel Dexter came to Ionia with a colony of 63 per- sons from New York, cutting a road through the woods from Pontiac, which was afterwards known as the Dexter trail-and he laid out what is known as the Dexter Fraction in this city. Several of this company afterwards became resi- dents of Grand Rapids and vicinity. Louis Campau, who carried a quantity of goods up the river in batteaux for Mr. Dexter, brought back with him Mr. Joel Guild, carrying his household goods free. He sold Mr. Guild a lot, adjoining the one on which the City National Bank building now stands, for twenty-five dol- lars. On this lot Mr. Guild erected, during the next summer, a small frame house, which was the first frame building erected in the city, unless, possibly, we may except a building which Mr. Campau erected, just across the street, for a store, and which was completed about the same time. Mr. Guild came from Paris. Oneida county, New York, and brought with him his family, consisting of a wife and seven children. Three of those children are still living : Mrs. Baxter, Mrs. Burton, and Consider Guild ; the two former in this city, both widows, but both loved and honored by a large circle of friends, for their useful and consistent lives. The latter now carries on a farm in Ottawa county.
Joel Guild, soon after his arrival, was appointed Postmaster, and held that position for some time, being succeeded by Darins Winsor. Mail was brought once a month from Gull Prairie, on the backs of Indian ponies. Postage was two shillings on a letter, and the ties of friendship had to be pretty strong to support a regular correspondence. A gentleman who came several years later, says that the fifty cents a month required to pay postage on his letters, and the replies of his sweetheart in New York, proved a fearful drain on his pocketbook.
Grand Rapids in 1833, contained but a few acres of cleared land on either side of the river. The Indians had three or four acres cleared on the west side, just below where the bridge of the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad now stands, and about as much more on the east side, along what is now Waterloo Street. The timber in that part of the city lying between Fulton and Lyon Streets was mainly oak, and the soil light and sandy. Prospect Hill, (where are the present residences of Dr. Shepard and Deacon Haldane,) which is now nearly removed, was an elevation of remarkable beauty, but in many places so steep that a wagon could not be drawn np without much difficulty.
But the tide of emigration was now fairly set in this direction, and in the next four years Grand Rapids became quite a village.
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HISTORY AND DIRECTORY OF KENT COUNTY.
Eliphalet Turner, whose death occurred this fall, (1870), came in 1833; also Ira Jones, who survived Mr. Turner but a few days. During the same year came Jonathan F. Chubb, with his wife and two children. Mr. Chubb located and im- proved a beautiful farm between here and Grandville -- the same now occupied by Mr. A. N. Norton-but, in a few years, sold out, moved into the city and opened an agricultural store on Canal street. He died several years ago, but his son, A. L. Chubb, is now one of our most active business men.
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