History of Berrien and Van Buren counties, Michigan. With biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 134

Author: D.W. Ensign & Co. pub; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Johnson, Crisfield
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia, D. W. Ensign & Co.
Number of Pages: 821

USA > Michigan > Van Buren County > History of Berrien and Van Buren counties, Michigan. With biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 134
USA > Michigan > Berrien County > History of Berrien and Van Buren counties, Michigan. With biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 134

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

NELSON COREY.

Nelson Corey was born in Vermont, Aug. 19, 1816, and was the fourth son in a family of nine children. His father, Jacob Corey, was a native of Vermont, and was married at the age of eighteen to Miss Betsey Durham, she being but sixteen years old. In the year 1818 he moved to Ashta- bula, Ohio, where he remained until his death, which oc-

curred in 1828. Nelson was then twelve years of age, and from that time until he was twenty-one he worked by the month. In the spring of 1837 he came to Michigan, and in 1840 bought his first piece of land, on section 26, Porter township. On the 12th of May, 1842, he married Miss

NELSON COREY.

Lucina Kinney, whose people were very early settlers in the township, and lived happily until Aug. 2, 1855, when death separated them. Mr. and Mrs. Corey were the parents of seven children, as follows : Sanford, born April 8, 1843, died July 16, 1843; Edward S., born October 1, 1844; Henry J., born May 26, 1846; Martha L., born May 14, 1848; Horace H., born November 26, 1849; Almon W., born August 12, 1853; Willis N., born August 2, 1855. Mr. Corey was married, in January, 1856, to Delila Fletcher, daughter of one of the early settlers of the township, and to them were born two children,-Delcena R., November 11, 1857, and Mary U., March 3, 1859. With this wife Mr. Corey lived until July 30, 1865, when death again entered his home and left him a widower. His children are all living, except two, some being settled in Michigan and others farther west. Mr. Corey is an active member of the Protestant Methodist Church. In politics he is a Repub- lican. Since the death of his wife he has resided with his son Henry, who married Rohama Anderson, a daughter of one of the pioneers of the county. Mr. Corey is now sixty- five years of age, and has lived in Michigan forty-three years. He has witnessed the transition of a wilderness into a garden, and sees a productive and beautiful region in the place of a land covered with a mighty and unbroken forest. The history of Van Buren County would scarcely be com- plete without some account of the life of Mr. Corey.

RUSSEL V. MUNGER.

This gentleman-a view of whose home appears in this volume-was born in Ohio, August 22, 1837, and came to Van Buren County with his father, Luke Munger, in 1839. When he had reached the age of twenty-one years he went to Minnesota, with a capital of fifty dollars, and pre-empted

533

TOWNSHIP OF SOUTH HAVEN.

one hundred and sixty acres of land, upon which he re- mained about one year, and returned to Michigan to assist his father with his farm duties. In June, 1861, he sold his Minnesota land for five hundred dollars, and in August, 1862, purchased forty acres on section 34, in this township (Porter). That was disposed of in 1864, and he bought sixty acres on which he now resides, on section 28 ; to this he has added until his present farm consists of one hundred and forty-nine acres. On the 13th of August, 1865, Mr. Munger was married to Helen A., daughter and only child of Samuel and Charlotte Bartlett, who came to Michigan in 1856 from the State of New York. Her parents are residents of the township of Porter. Mr. and Mrs. Mun- ger are the parents of four children, as follows : Frank R., born November 24, 1868, died March 27, 1871 ; Charlotte E., born June 10, 1872; Berenice A., born July 23, 1874, died March 6, 1875; Alberta M., born April 20, 1878. Mrs. Munger was born February 8, 1849. Mr. Munger is a Democrat in politics, and has held various township offices ; is enthusiastic and energetic in all his undertakings, and has been blessed with prosperity.

MANASSEH KERN.

The grandfather of this gentleman came from Germany to Pennsylvania at an early day, and settled in Lehigh County. His son, John Nicholas Kern, was born in that county in 1764, and was one of a family of ten children,-

LITTLE

MANASSEH KERN.

seven sons and three daughters. He was married to Cath- arine Sager, and was a farmer by occupation. His children were ten in number, as were his father's, and divided in the same ratio, and of these the gentleman whose name appears at the head of this notice was the youngest, his birth occur- ring in the same county in Pennsylvania, Oct. 31, 1809. When he was ten years old he suffered the loss of his father, after which he remained with his mother until he was eighteen, when he commenced to learn the tobacconist's trade, at which he worked about eighteen years. In 1840 he was married to Miss Caroline Herlan, daughter of Jacob

and Caroline Herlan, she being the oldest in a family of five children, who were all girls but one. She was born in Ger- many Feb. 7, 1820, and came to America with her father in 1832, the family settling in New York. In 1836 they removed to Detroit, Mich., where the daughter was mar- ried to Mr. Kern. For five years after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Kern resided in Detroit, and in the spring of 1846 came to Van Buren County and settled upon the present home, in the township of Porter, he having pur- chased it ten years before. It was then entirely new, not a spot cleared even large enough on which to erect a house. To his first purchase of one hundred and sixty acres one hundred and twenty have since been added, aggregating two hundred and eighty acres. Mr. and Mrs. Kern are the parents of six children, as follows: Frances Albina, born Oct. 24, 1841, married John W. Alexander ; Caroline Catherine, born Jan. 22, 1844, died Feb. 21, 1852; Mary Cornelia, born Nov. 19, 1845 ; Clara Maria, born March 5, 1848, married Alfred Bayliss, who is a teacher at Ster- ling, Ill., where Mr. Alexander is also living and practicing law ; Elizabeth Warren, born Feb. 7, 1850, died Jan. 7, 1853; Julius M., born June 10, 1853, married Margia, daughter of James Young, and now living in this township. Mary C. Kern, unmarried, is living at home. Mr. Kern's education was acquired by attending the district schools during the winters, his summers being spent at hard labor. He is not a member of any religious denomination, and is liberal in his views on religious subjects, but his life has been one of uprightness. In politics he is a Republican, although not an active politician. He has held the office of supervisor one term, and has been a justice of the peace for twenty years.

CHAPTER LXVII. SOUTH HAVEN TOWNSHIP .*

Boundaries, Topography, and Soil-Settlements and Settlers-Early Roads-Township Organization-List of Township Officers-Vil- lage of South Haven-Banking-Societies and Orders-Schools- Religious Societies-Fruit Interests of South Haven.

BOUNDARIES, TOPOGRAPHY, AND SOIL.

THE township contains eighteen full sections and seven fractional sections along the lake-shore. It is the north- west corner township in the county, and is bounded on the north by Allegan County, on the east by the township of Geneva, on the south by the township of Covert, and on the west by Lake Michigan. Along the shore rise high clay bluffs, ranging from thirty to fifty feet in height, many of them crowned with the original forests of hemlock and pine. From this elevation the land rises gradually in undulating slopes for about a mile, when a plateau is reached having an altitude of about one hundred and ten feet from the surface of the lake. This table-land declines towards the lake on the north and recedes from it on the south.

It is watered by the Black River and its south branch in the north part of the township, and a small stream that

# By A. N. Hungerford.

534

HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

rises in section 27 flows northerly through sections 21 and 22, and empties into the lake. The Black River flows through a narrow valley near its mouth, and swampy, marshy lands in almost its entire course, and its dark waters are stained with the decay of the forests through which it flows. The township in its original state was heavily cov- ered with a heavy growth of pine, hemlock, walnut, oak, maple, basswood, whitewood, and other woods.

The extract given below is from an address delivered before the South Haven Pomological Society by J. E. Bidwell, and it gives a faithful description of the soil of South Haven :

" The country adjoining the village of South Haven is favored by nature with the greatest conceivable variety of soil and exposure, including light sand and heavy clay, or rich sand, gravel, and clay loam, separate or mixed in every conceivable proportion, or all combined in the most desirable compound, including all necessary vegetable or mineral properties required by the particular appetite of certain plants for their peculiarly constructed organization, or by those exacting a portion of all covering deep slopes, undulating tracts, dry, level prairie, or moist bottom-lands, which the winds and waters of past ages have separated, or mingled in different proportions, so that no kind of soil or situation could be desired without finding it readily and at a reasonable price. In fact, all departments of agriculture, from the least even to the greatest, can be successfully car- ried on here, from flourishing vegetable-gardens, prosperous wheat-fields, and verdant meadows, to permanent orchards. True, there is necessarily some poor land, but the propor- tion of good is tenfold greater, and the very good even ten- fold greater than the good."

The climate is very favorable to successful fruit-raising, and the attention of the people of the township is largely directed to that industry.

SETTLEMENT AND SETTLERS.

The territory to the southward, around St. Joseph, had been occupied by settlers years before the white man had invaded any part of this or adjoining townships. The first to explore the region was Jay R. Monroe, a native of Surrey, N. H., who, while still a boy, moved with his father's family to Hamilton, Madison Co., N. Y., whence in 1826 he came to Detroit, and in company with Mr. Campau's men made the circuit of the lakes as an employee in the fur-trade. After his return he went in the employ of Gen. Cass and Mr. Campau, locating lands for a few years, and then returned to New York. In 1830 he removed to Prairie Ronde, Mich., and was traveling through the State much of the time, examining and locating lands for others. His commissions were applied to the purchase of land for himself. He was the first to pass through what is now South Haven, and in 1833 he built the first house where South Haven now is. He was a bachelor at that time, and a family by the name of Thomas was placed in the house. While the family lived here a child was born and died, this being the first birth and death in the township. Mr. Monroe made a village plat,* and provided for a school lot. In 1836 he sold other lands for $6000 to Thomas

Sheldon, Charles E. Stuart, and others, and was to keep a family on the place for a year. A family named Fink lived there until November, 1836, when Henry Monroe, a brother of Jay R., with his wife and child, came into the house and remained till spring. Mr. Jay R Monroe, with Charles U. Cross, of Bangor, in 1835 laid out a road from South Haven to Paw Paw, and previously had laid out a road from South Haven to Prairie Ronde. After the Monroe property passed into other hands, nothing was done by way of improvement till Marvin Hannahs purchased the land laid down in the plat of 1852, which embraces all of the southwest quarter of section 10 lying south of the river. Mr. Monroe married Miss Fanny Rawson, a native of Massachusetts, Sept. 10, 1836, and lived for nearly a year at Kalamazoo. He was acting as land-agent for Eastern capitalists, and continued his agency until it was transferred to his son Charles, who still retains it, and has yet lands belonging to those early land companies. In the spring of 1837, Mr. Monroe moved to lands he had taken up in the township of Lawrence, where he remained several years, and where were born his children,-Charles J., Andrew H., Isaac, Lyman S., J. Randolph, and one daughter (Mrs. Eunice Moore, of South Haven.) He became one of the largest land-owners in this section of country, owning at one time 80 eighty-acre lots. He was commissioner of the poor for twenty-five years ; appointed judge under the Territorial government, and was the adviser and friend of the early settlers. He was one of the first organizers of the State Agricultural Society and of the Van Buren County Pioneer Society. Three of his sons are now in the banking business at South Haven, with a branch bank at Bangor. Charles J. is also engaged in fruit-raising and as a surveyor, which occupation he fol- lowed from 1860 to 1868. He is acquainted with the land and its titles in all parts of this and adjoining townships.

In 1838, Daniel Pierce came in from Schoolcraft with the first horse-team. He purchased of Mr. Monroe 160 acres of land in the northwest quarter of section 14, where he now lives, and built upon it a cabin, in which he lived at times, though he made Kalamazoo his home. He was a trapper and caught many wolves, receiving the State bounty of $13, securing in that year (1838) 13 scalps. He owned a nursery at Kalamazoo, and lived here but little, using his hut simply as a hunting cabin. Indians were plenty dur- ing the sugar season, coming up the lake in fleets of canoes carrying sail when the wind was favorable. Daniel Pierce, now living, has seen 17 bark canoes at the mouth of the river at one time. A small number of Indians remained along the lake-shore and in the valleys of the Paw Paw and St. Joseph Rivers.

A part of the sugar manufactured was sewed up with deer-sinews in birch-bark bags, called mokoks, and buried in the ground for the winter's supply. Small patches of corn were planted by them also, which was ready for the harvest on their return in the fall.

Daniel Pierce was the only man living in the territory now South Haven who voted in the spring of 1838. Twenty-two votes were cast.

In the fall of that year a three-masted schooner, the " La- porte," Captain Webster, was wrecked near to where now is the south pier. Clark Pierce carried the baggage of the

# It is now embraced in the Hannahs plat of 1852.

W. H. HURLBUT.

MRS. W. H. HURLBUT.

FOTOS , AT AUSTIN, SOUTH HAVEN.

OLD AGE

RESIDENCE OF W. H. HURLBUT, SOUTH HAVEN, MICHIGAN.

FARM TENANT HOUSE, SOUTH HAVEN, MICH.

535

TOWNSHIP OF SOUTH HAVEN.

sailors to Paw Paw, and they went on foot. In the spring she was burned by the owners for the iron fastenings.

About 1841 an effort was made to establish a mail-route from South Haven to Schoolcraft, and a Mr. Harrison, liv- ing at Gourd-Neck Prairie, took the contract to deliver the mail once a week. He made the trial once, but could not find the postmaster, and returned with his mail to School- craft. Daniel Pierce had been appointed postmaster, but refused to act.

On the road from the mouth of the river (now South Haven) there were but few inhabitants ; one settlement of lawless depredators lived on the route, at a place called Owlsville, from the nightly visits of the inhabitants to the farms, hen-roosts, and pig-pens of the country round.

In August, 1843, Edwin Forrest, the famous tragedian, purchased an interest in part of what is now known as the Dyckman & Woodman Plat, and Isaac Willard, about the same time, bought where the Tubbs & Wells Mill afterwards stood, also in the land north of Phoenix Street, in the south- east fractional quarter of section 3.

The land that formerly belonged to Mr. Monroe had passed into the hands of William A. Booth, Dr. Abbott, and others, of New York City. In June of 1845, Louis A. Booth, brother of William A., and agent of the company, Clark Pierce, with his wife and two boys,-Almon and Irving,-came to the mouth of the Black River, and took possession of Mr. Monroe's cabin, on the bank. Mr. Booth and Pierce made a plan for a house, and went north about twenty miles to Uncle Jimmy Hall for their lumber, spend- ing one night in the woods. The remainder of the lumber needed was drawn from Breedsville. In due time the house was finished, and July 18, 1845, Clark Pierce and his family moved into it. This was the first frame house west of Bangor. Mr. Pierce remained here till April, and was then succeeded in the house by a Mr. White, with his wife and child. Dr. Camp, of Bangor, whose wife was a sister of Mrs. White, joined them. A Mr. Branch and son also came on from the East in the interest of the company.

In the winter of 1845-46, Dr. Abbott, one of the part- ners, visited the place, and preparations were made to build a mill near the mouth of the river. Workmen were em- ployed getting out timber, but for some reason the opera- tions ceased, and the timber was shipped to St. Joseph. Afterwards a German family by the name of Shawfinch occupied the house, and his wife and child died there. From that time the house became the resort only of a few stragglers through the country.

In 1849, Clark Pierce with his family, and Mr. Wood and wife, C. B. Gross and wife, living in what is now Geneva, started on horseback and with an ox-sled drawn by horses to the house on the lake, and there celebrated the Fourth of July of that year.

In August, 1850, Mr. Joseph Sturgis, foreman of Mar- vin Hannahs, with a corps of assistants, consisting of Ai Blood, Joseph Dow, and Horace Thomas, came down the river from Jericho and commenced the erection of a steam mill on the site of what is now known as the Quaker Dock. Other houses were erected, which were soon occupied by Horace Thomas, S. B. Morehouse, and others, Mr. Sturgis living in the house previously built by Mr. Pierce.

Marvin Hannahs was a native of Litchfield, Conn., and a tanner. He moved to Utica, N. Y., in 1831, and in 1837 to Albion, Calhoun Co., Mich., where he was largely engaged in lumbering and other pursuits. He purchased land in Jericho, Geneva township, and erected the first frame house at that place, and built a tannery. Land was purchased at this place about 1850, and Capt. J. H. Hen- dryx, now of Decatur, and Joseph Sturgis were sent to South Haven, the former as business manager. Mr. Han- nahs platted the village in 1852. His son, George Han- nahs, became interested with his father, and came to South Haven in 1864 to reside and take charge of the property. He was elected the first president of Albion, and also of South Haven. He was in the mercantile and milling busi- ness for eight years, and opened a branch in Albion, which was carried on for a few years.

Hon. George Hannahs was elected to the State Senate November, 1870 ; delegate to the Cincinnati National Re- publican Convention. He is a trustee of the Eastern Asy- lum at Pontiac. His father, Marvin Hannahs, died Feb. 7, 1866, at Albion, where he settled in 1835.

After Mr. Sturgis had moved to South Haven and com- menced operations, others soon came in. Mr. Hannahs had a house built, and Horace Thompson and his wife occupied it. In the same year Ai Blood built a large double house, which is still standing. He lived in Chicago, and did not come in until the September following. He was a carpenter, and was engaged afterwards in building lighters for Dyckman, Hall & Co., to load vessels in the lake outside the mouth of the river. Joseph Sturgis built a saw-mill, with one upright saw, on what is now Quaker Dock. Upon the commencement of Dyckman, Hall & Co.'s operations, Mr. Sturgis became one of the partners, his property becoming a part of the stock. Mr. Sturgis died in 1855.

Stephen B. Morehouse, a native of New Jersey, came to South Haven in January, 1852, with wife and two daugh- ters, and moved first into the unoccupied house built by Ai Blood in the previous year. Frank Gray came a few days after with his wife and one child, and lived in a shanty, where he remained three years.

Alpha Tubbs, with wife and daughter, and Nelson Tubbs, with wife and three children, came in the spring of 1852, and built a house and mill on the north side of the river. This year the Fourth of July was observed. Notice had been sent out to all the settlers, and about 100 gathered in to the feast and to celebrate the birthday of the nation. The exercises were held in front of Joseph Sturgis' house. A fawn had been shot by the young men, and was roasted for the occasion. The tables were set out-of-doors, and the day passed off pleasantly.

A frame school-house about 18 by 24 feet was built near the lake in the summer of 1852, and was taught by Miss Ella Barnes, an adopted daughter of S. B. Morehouse. The pupils were seven,-Joseph Sturgis, Jr. (nicknamed the Judge), Julia and Harriet Morehouse, three children of Nelson Tubbs, and " Tip" Ormsby.

Joseph Sturgis was appointed postmaster about 1855. His deputy was S. B. Morehouse, who soon succeeded to the postmastership.

536

HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

The first religious services were held at the house of Joseph Sturgis, in April, 1852, by a Baptist minister, and a few weeks later the Rev. Mr. Doughty, a Methodist min- ister, preached in the dining-room of S. B. Morehouse. Notices were sent out to the people, and these services were well attended.

December 25, 1852, a Christmas party was given at the house of Mr. Morehouse, at which every man, woman, and child in the settlement was invited.

Mr. S. B. Morehouse purchased 80 acres on the north- west quarter of the northeast quarter of section 10, and in 1854 set out three acres in fruit (mostly apples), purchasing his trees in Kalamazoo. During the season of 1853 he was out of corn, and the roads were bad and provisions scarce. During this state of affairs he was awakened early one Sunday morning by a rap at his door, and on answering it he found a man there, who said he had a boat-load of corn (100 bushels) that he wanted to exchange for wood. The exchange was soon effected. The vessel was the " Petrel," with capacity for carrying 12 cords. Mr. More- house thus became the first to ship cord-wood from South Haven to Chicago. Soon after the advent of the " Petrel," the little schooner " Lapwing" came to this port, in com- mand of Capt. Mitchell, who was for several years the only navigator from the port of South Haven.

July 1, 1854, the woods caught fire on Mr. Morehouse's farm, and in fighting it he overworked, and produced a sickness by which he was confined eight months, and from which he never entirely recovered.

Dr. Hathaway, of Breedsville, was the first physician who practiced in this region, and while here on a profes- sional visit in 1854 was so much pleased with the country that he purchased two acres of Mr. Morehouse, and soon after erected a house and lived here, following his profession.

The first wedding in the township was that of Leland Spencer and Ella Barnes, at the house of Mr. Morehouse, who, being a justice of the peace, performed the ceremony. Mr. Morehouse was supervisor of the town in 1861, and filled at various times other positions. He died in 1862, leaving a widow and two daughters,-Mrs. Charles J. Mon- roe and Mrs. A. B. Chase, now of Bangor. Mrs. More- house is still living, and resides at Bangor. Alpha and Nelson Tubbs, from Climax Prairie, commenced operations in the spring of 1852, on the north side of the river, build- ing a mill and boarding-house. This mill remained till 1861, and was destroyed by fire. The land is known as Tubbs' addition. About 1860 the mill was sold, and Nelson moved away. Alpha remained a few years longer, and in 1866 sold the remainder of his land and removed to Illinois. Clark and Samuel G. Sheffer came in the fall of this year, and settled north of the village, where they still live.

Evert B. Dyckman, of Schoolcraft, Mich., visited the townships of Columbia and Pine Plains before 1852, and located about 1000 acres in those townships, attracted by the excellence of their pine timber. In the fall of 1852 his son, A. S. Dyckman, was sent out to make a further examination of the lands, and to decide upon the most feasible way to market the lumber. He came on foot down the north side of the middle branch of South Black

River. His only companion was a hunter known as " Lop Horn Loomis." Except a few Indians, no inhabitants were on the line between Humphreysburg and the mouth of the river. At the mouth of Barber Creek they passed one night with the Indians, and breakfasted next morning on venison. From there Mr. Dyckman traveled alone to the mouth of the river, arriving about midnight. Here he remained a few days, and returned to Schoolcraft, when arrangements were made by Evert and A. S. Dyckman, of Schoolcraft, and A. V. Pantland and C. H. Morrill, of Paw Paw, for the purchase of lands owned by James B. Murray, of New York City. The lands located were the west half of the northeast quarter of section 10, and all of the north half of section 2 lying south of the river, and the north half of the north half of section 1.

February 1, 1853, A. S. Dyckman and Joseph S. Wagoner arrived at South Haven with two wagons loaded with sup- plies. Mr. Wagoner was a carpenter, and the first work was to haul lumber from Hannahs & Sturgis' mill, and to erect houses. They also built a company store and a build- ing which became the Forest House. In March, 1853, Mr. Morrill retired from the firm and Mr. Sturgis became a partner. A large lumber business was carried on, and the village numbered about 200 inhabitants, mostly em- ployees of the different mills at the mouth of the river. An operation called snagging was commenced in the fall of 1853, and was continued till about the 1st of January ; this consisted in clearing the middle branch of the river for a distance of about twenty miles, to the pine lands of Dyckman & Co., and was a work of great labor.

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History of Berrien and Van Buren counties, Michigan. With biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 134

Author: D.W. Ensign & Co. pub; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Johnson, Crisfield Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Philadelphia, D. W. Ensign & Co. Number of Pages: 821

Author: D.W. Ensign & Co. pub; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Johnson, Crisfield
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia, D. W. Ensign & Co.
Number of Pages: 821