History of Berrien and Van Buren counties, Michigan. With biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 95

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 95
USA > Michigan > Berrien County > History of Berrien and Van Buren counties, Michigan. With biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 95

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).

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TOWNSHIP OF ANTWERP.

ground. Many of them had been thrashing their wheat in open lots. When they saw how great an improvement Mr. Hunt had effected in the premises by barn-thrashing, they quickly changed their tones of derision for those of admira- tion, and for a while Hunt was besieged by farmers request- ing permission to thrash in his barn.

Among the more conspicuous early settlers were also Samuel Lull, a famous dairyman ; Anthony Corey, a noted timber-hewer, who settled on the spot where Lawton village is now located ; Hiram and Robert Morrison; Lyman Tay- lor, a brickmaker; Patrick Johnson; Harman Harwick and his son Peter ; John Mckinney; the Hathaways ; Weldens; Silas F. Breed (the founder of Breedsville), and Isaac Borden. Peter Hinckley, a son of Elder Jona- than Hinckley, settled on section 4 in 1835, and sold to E. B. Dyckman in 1838.

The year 1836 brought many settlers to Antwerp. Among them was Wells Gray, who located upon section 2. He put up a log cabin with a loose board floor, and one day when a black-snake reared his ugly front through one of the floor cracks and glared at Mrs. Gray, that good woman was so alarmed and disgusted that when her husband came home that night she declared he must get a farm some- where else, for she would not live in a place where snakes were liable to drop in on her at any time. So Gray sold his farm to Reason Holmes, and bought one on section 7, where his wife died in 1838. He married again, and lived on the same farm until his death, in 1867.

Ezra Gates, who was a son-in-law of Jesse Abbe, lived with the old gentleman a while, and then located upon sec- tion 2, where he still resides. Mr. Gates came from Ohio, and in explanation of the fact that his early school education had been neglected, used to say that when he was young he lived on the wrong side of the river,-that is, the river was between him and the school-house.

Samuel Longstreet, who came to Antwerp in 1836, located upon a farm near his brother Andrew, and from there went to Lawton, where he died. He held the office of justice of the peace at the time of his death, and for several years previously. In 1836 there came also Morgan L. Fitch, from Western New York, and in June of that year he bought of Thomas I. Daniels four 80-acre lots on sections 1, 2, 11, and 12, in Antwerp. Besides these he bought 80 acres on section 3, in Antwerp, for his brother, Lyman Fitch. He had to buy his land from a second hand because just at that time the land-office was temporarily closed by reason of being flooded with applications for land, and as a new order of things was contemplated, it was resolved to receive no more land-entries until matters in hand could be properly disposed of. In regard to the rush of land- lookers to Michigan at that time, Mr. Fitch says that when he reached Detroit, on his way to Kalamazoo, he found that all seats in the stages were engaged for six days in advance. Not caring to foot it, he managed to buy a horse after a three days' search, and so rode to Kalamazoo. Upon reaching there he was surprised to see an old Quaker (the then recorder of the city of Philadelphia) who was his fellow-passenger on the lake to Detroit, and whom he had left in the latter place, waiting for a chance to proceed westward by stage. " Why, my friend," exclaimed Fitch,

" how did you happen to get here so soon ? They told me at Detroit there wouldn't be a chance in the stage for a week." " Well, I'll tell thee," replied Broadbrim. "I waited until ye were all gone from the stage-office, when I quietly approached the clerk, saying, 'if any of thy friends conclude they won't go to-day, thou mayst save a seat for me; I hand thee here two dollars, not for my ticket, but for thee : my ticket I will pay for beside.' When I came around at stage-time," continued the Quaker, "the young man had a seat ready for me."

After Mr. Fitch bought his land he went back to New York for his family, and in the spring of 1837 he came again to Michigan. He hired a young man named T. C. Benton- to go West and work for him three years, and traveling by wagon to Huron, Ohio, whence they journeyed via lake to Detroit, the little party was six weeks making the trip from their New York home to Grand Prairie, in Michigan. At the latter place Mr. Fitch stopped with Lovett Eames, while engaged in building a frame house on section 2. Ezra Gates dug the cellar in half a day, and Eames, Fitch, and Benton built the house (that is, made it habitable) in a day and a half. Mr. Fitch lived on that place until 1876, when he moved to Mattawan, where he is now engaged in the warehouse business. Lyman Fitch came to Antwerp in the fall of 1837, lived with his brother Morgan until 1839, and then settled upon his own farm, where he resided until 1878, removing then to Paw Paw, his present home. After serving the allotted three years with Morgan Fitch, young Benton bought a farm on sec- tion 2, and lived upon it until his death.

The pioneer blacksmith of Antwerp was William Taylor, who brought a family, consisting of his wife and twelve children, from Ohio into the township in 1836, and located on the Territorial road, on section 3, where he set up his forge, and where he lived until his death. Taylor was a brother-in-law of Reason Holmes, and when he entered Antwerp put up a " rail-pen" on Holmes' place, where he lived until he could arrange matters for locating land and securing a permanent habitation. Taylor was an exceed- ingly industrious man, but thoroughly given over at one time to a conviction that he could invent a machine that would produce perpetual motion. He worked at this ma- chine long and secretly, and became so absorbed in his work and in his belief that he had at last discovered the great secret that his conviction seems to have developed into a mania. He was satisfied that designing persons would seek to rob him of his discovery and his treasure, and when one day he learned that his machine had actually been stolen his distress was appalling. Conjecturing at once that some person had captured it for the purpose of securing a patent on it, Taylor managed to raise $10, and engaged Philip Williams to dispatch it straightway to Washington for a caveat, so that the designing robbers of the machine might be forestalled. After he received his caveat he was over- come with delight to find that his beloved machine had been restored to his shop during his temporary absence. It transpired afterwards that certain mischievous boys, desiring to annoy the old man, had stolen the concern and hid it in a barn. Taylor was sanguine that his machine was a great

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HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

success. He spoke enthusiastically to every one he en- countered of the brilliant prospects in store for him, how he would be a great and a rich man, how future generations would rise up and call him blessed, and went so far even as to promise a few of his friends that he would make it his especial care to see that they were handsomely provided for just as soon as he should come into his great fortune. Taylor's marvelous machine of course proved a failure when, amid the breathless interest of a multitude, he es- sayed to give an exhibition of his great invention. Some- how one of the wheels flew into pieces, the whole affair was a disastrous fiasco, and the crestfallen Taylor returned, with a broken heart, to the prosaic details of blacksmithing, nor ever more tried to learn the secret of perpetual motion.

Among those who came from New York State westward in 1833 was James Ferguson, of Livingston County, who, with his wife and two children, traveled as far as Ypsilanti, Mich., and there rested a while to visit his brothers. He concluded to buy a farm in Calhoun County, and there he lived until 1836. Being then persuaded by Daniel Van Antwerp (the brother of Ferguson's wife), then with his father living in Antwerp township, to locate in the latter place, Ferguson struck his tent once more and continued westward. He bought 40 acres of land of Daniel Van Antwerp, on the road between Schoolcraft and Paw Paw, and put up a frame house. Ferguson lived but a few years after coming into the township, dying upon his 40-acre. farm.

John Lyon, who was a settler upon a farm in sections 3 and 10 in 1836, died there during the sickly season of 1838. One of his children dying in 1836, it was buried in a spot over which the Territorial road passed, and under the roadway the bones of the little one are still reposing. Mrs. E. B. Wright, one of Mr. Lyon's daughters, now lives on the farm her father formerly owned.

In June, 1836, a little band of eight people came into the township, and by that number swelled the list of struggling pioneers, who were yet but a handful. In this company were Daniel Van Antwerp, his father (Harmon) and mother, his wife, and his four children. They came from Geneseo, N. Y., where Daniel Van Antwerp exchanged his farm with James Wadsworth (a member of the large land-hold- ing family of that name) for twelve 80-acre lots in town 3 south, range 13 west, afterwards to be called by the name of these very settlers. Mr. Van Antwerp's land lay near the centre of the town, on both sides the Paw Paw and Schoolcraft road. So well pleased was he with the land, that upon his arrival he bought one more 80-acre lot in the same neighborhood. Daniel Van Antwerp's mother, who died May 4, 1837, was the first adult person who died in the township (John Lyon's child having died in 1836). She was buried in the Van Antwerp burying-ground, on sections 10 and 15, where seven or more people were buried in 1838, which was known as a fatal year among the set- tlers of Antwerp. Chills and fever prevailed in an aggra- vated form, and so little was understood about the treat- ment of the disease that four persons in the township suc- cumbed to it. These four were John Lyon, John Barber, Whittel, and Benjamin Markle. They were all buried in the Van Antwerp burying-ground, which became

afterwards a township cemetery, and as such is still used. Two other deaths occurred in the township that year. Daniel Woodman, a promising son of Joseph Woodman, aged eighteen years, died of brain fever on the 21st of Sep- tember, and Mrs. Wells Gray about the same time in child- birth. Daniel Morrison, father of Robert Morrison, who came from Vermont in the fall of 1835, with a large family, and lived on the Agard place, in Lafayette, died the same year. The three latter were buried in the Paw Paw cem- etery, but afterwards moved to the cemetery on section 7 of Antwerp. The widow of Daniel Morrison is now living in Paw Paw, at the advanced age of eighty-five years. It is said that Mr. Van Antwerp laid out the township cem- etery on both sides the section line, so that a proposed road from Mattawan to Paw Paw should not pass through his property, and it was in consequence of his opposition that the road was run a half-mile south of the cemetery. There was afterwards laid out a second cemetery, on section 2, to the purchase of which sixteen men contributed. Bodies which had been interred promiscuously here and there were taken up and re-interred in this yard, which continues to serve its original purpose. Among its graves may be seen one of Elizabeth Quackenbush, the mother of Mrs. Rose, of Mat- tawan, whose age is recorded as having been one hundred and one years at the time of her death, in 1867. She had then 121 descendants, to wit: 14 children, 69 grand- children, 34 great-grandchildren, and 4 great-great-grand- children.

It appears strange now that chills and fever should have proved fatal, for at this day that disease is readily treated ; but in those days they knew less about medicine than is known now, nor could they readily obtain quinine. Dr. Levi Warner, of Paw Paw, was the medical main stay, but al- though he was esteemed skillful, he failed to grapple suc- cessfully with the disease until six persons in Antwerp and adjoining townships had been carried off. After he mastered the disease he had no difficulty in curing his patients. The disorder was so wide-spread that at one time in 1838 there were more sick than well persons among the settlers.

Harmon Van Antwerp lived with his daughter, Mrs. Ferguson, until his death, in 1849. Daniel Van Antwerp died on his old farm, in section 9, in 1875. Two of his sisters are still living,-Mrs. Andrew Longstreet, of Ant- werp, and Mrs. Philip Williams, of Kalamazoo County. His widow lives in Paw Paw. His daughter Ann, who taught Antwerp's first school, is Mrs. P. N. Smith, and lives on the farm her father occupied in his lifetime.

Andrew Longstreet, who came into Michigan from Lyons, N. Y., with his family, in June, 1833, located in Jackson County, and in 1836 entered 120 acres of land, just north of the present village site of Lawton. He was chosen, at a special election in 1837, sheriff of Van Buren County, and was the first active incumbent of that office, Samuel Gunton, of Lawrence, who had been elected at the regular election, declining to serve. In 1841 he married the widow of James Ferguson, and in 1843, having completed his official term, he re-settled in Antwerp, and in 1850, mov- ing to the then newly-started village of Lawton, opened a shoemaker's shop there, and in 1851 was appointed the first postmaster of the place. In 1853 he moved out of the

RESIDENCE OF JAMES M. LULL, ANTWERP TP., VAN BUREN CO., MICH.

RESIDENCE OF HENRY WAITE, ANTWERP TP., VAN BUREN CO., MICH.

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TOWNSHIP OF ANTWERP.

township, and remaining away five years, returned to Law- ton in 1858, where he lived until his death, in 1871. Col. Longstreet was a much-esteemed citizen, and took a prominent part in the local affairs of his day.

Jacob Plank located in 1837, north of what is now Mat- tawan, whence he soon passed farther west. Near there also, in 1838, settled James Murray, now a resident of Mat- tawan.

N. L. Surdam, a native of Sharon, Conn., was a settler in 1837 upon section 3, where he has continued to live to this day. Philip Williams located upon section 10 in 1836, and there lived until his death. It was at Mr. Williams' house that the first township-meeting in Antwerp was held.

Although Solomon Phillips, of Broome Co., N. Y., lo- cated a farm on sections 4 and 9 early in 1835, he did not occupy it until some years afterwards, for the reason, doubt- less, that, being a bachelor, he preferred roving to settling. When he did marry, however, he was fortunate enough to marry a rich widow. His farm was always esteemed one of the most desirable pieces of land in the township. He moved, some years after his first settlement, to section 22, where he built, in 1858, with his brother Benjamin, the first grist-mill in Antwerp. He died a resident of the town- ship

In 1838, E. B. Dyckman, a widower with four children, living near Syracuse, N. Y., exchanged his farm there for one on sections 4 and 9, in Antwerp township, Michigan, and proceeding westward joined the noble band of Ant- werp settlers. When he traded his New York farm, he was importuned to take one hundred barrels of salt, at one dollar per barrel, in part payment of the difference, but he was exceedingly unwilling to do so, although he did event- ually consent to the proposition quite reluctantly. The salt was shipped to him at St. Joseph, and arriving at a time when salt was very scarce, Mr. Dyckman realized from six to ten dollars per barrel, and received through that lucky, accidental salt shipment an excellent start upon the road to future fortune. After remaining a few years in Antwerp, Mr. Dyckman removed to Schoolcraft, his pres- ent home.

Philip Hinckley, who came to Michigan with Mr. Dyck- man, settled upon section 4, where he died, and where his son now lives. Philander N. Smith, who also came to Michigan with Mr. Dyckman, married one of Deacon Daniel Van Antwerp's daughters, and now lives on a portion of the old Van Antwerp farm.

Oliver Warner, who settled on section 6, in Antwerp, in 1836, lived there until his death, in 1879. A. M. Lane came West in 1836, and lived in the vicinity of Paw Paw until 1838, when he traded a house in that village to Jo- seph Butler for some land upon section 18, north of the river, in Antwerp. Butler, who had a large farm south of the river, sold out and went back to New York. Lane sold his land to Wells Gray, bought on section 5, and became one of Antwerp's settlers. He lived there until a few years ago, when he moved to Bloomingdale, his present home.

One of the earliest settlers in the southern part of the township was Levi Savage, who settled in 1835 upon sec- tion 36, but selling his place soon afterwards to Samuel Lull, he moved to a farm east of Daniel Van Antwerp's.

In 1842 he removed with his family to the far West and located eventually at Salt Lake City, where at latest ac- counts he was still living, a member of the Mormon Church. Samuel Lull's widow and son James still live on the old Savage place, in section 36.

John Cooper, of Ohio, who located upon section 36 in 1836, moved out of the township a few years afterwards. Daniel Bird settled on section 24 during the same year. He moved to Prairie Ronde, where he died. Nicholas Thompson, who lived also on section 24 about that time, went afterwards to Lawton village, where he died. On section 24 also J. B. Wildey was an early settler. He died a resident of Lawton village. J. K. Bingham, who built a saw-mill on section 21 in 1837, moved to Kalamazoo, where he died.

A Mr. Whittet settled on section 20 in the fall of 1837, and died in 1838, when his family returned to New York. Whittet began to " grub" his land before it was surveyed, and when he called in John Hunt, the surveyor, Whittet was much provoked with himself to find that he had grubbed quite a large piece on a lot adjoining his own.

The Markle family, consisting of the widow and her four sons,-Jacob, Benjamin, Elias, and David, -located on section 22 in the spring of 1837. Jacob and David live now in Porter. Elias lives in Antwerp.

Wolves and deer were abundant in Antwerp in the pio- neer days, and the mighty hunters of the time found plen- tiful exercise for their sportive tastes, although indeed about everybody able to bear arms was at that period a hunter, since the finding of game was an easy business, and bountiful returns invariably marked the result of a few days' shooting. Mrs. Longstreet, of Lawton, says her brother, Daniel Van Antwerp (known as a famous deer- slayer), often went out after deer in the evening, and in an hour would return with a half-dozen or so. Wolves had a habit of approaching settlers' cabins as the day darkened into night, seeking the chance of carrying off small stock, and many were the raids the settlers used to make upon them at such times. Young William Van Antwerp, who was much given to playing upon the flute, used to tune his instrument regularly every evening. As soon as the melody commenced, the howls of wolves would resound from every side; when the flute stopped the howls would cease, but return with renewed vigor as soon as the music was recom- menced.

ANTWERP POST-OFFICE.

About 1840, there being imminent danger of the stage- route being diverted farther north, Mr. John Hunt suc- ceeded in having a post-office established in Antwerp, on the Territorial road, and Reason Holmes, who was the first incumbent of the office, kept it at his tavern. Philip Wil- liams was the next postmaster, and upon the completion of the Michigan Central Railroad to Mattawan the office was removed thither, and the name changed to Mattawan.

EARLY ROADS.

The commissioners of highways met in Antwerp, April 11, 1837, and divided the township into road districts as follows :

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HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

No. 1 .- Sections 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 16, 17, 18; Philip Moon, Overseer.

No. 2 .- Sections 1, 2, 3, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15; John A. Lyon, Overseer.

No. 3 .- Sections 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 34, 35, 36; Joel Tomlinson, Overseer.

No. 4 .- Sections 19, 20, 21, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33; Andrew Longstreet, Overseer.

The Paw Paw road was surveyed April 13, 1837 ; the Bangs road April 14th ; the Longstreet road April 11th ; the Centre road April 12th ; and Cooper's road April 13th ; H. P. Barnum being the surveyor.

WAYSIDE TAVERNS.

The Territorial road, which passed between Detroit and St. Joseph, was constructed in 1835, and the considerable traffic upon that highway gave occasion, of course, for the creation of numerous roadside taverns, many of which, in the prosperous coaching days, were places of some note. That portion of the road passing through Antwerp town- ship in a straight line east and west was laid out and con- structed by Cyren Burdick, of Kalamazoo, who owned also land on section 1, in Antwerp. On the Antwerp road Jesse Abbe was the first to open a tavern. His place was on section 2, and consisted simply of a log cabin, with a couple of sleeping-rooms in the second story and below a kitchen and eating-room. The chief element in his enter- tainment was a bottle of whisky, and a much-prized ele- ment it was, too, for, as a rule, stage-coach passengers became thirsty every time they reached a stopping-place, and the whisky-bottle came in for a large amount of attention. Mr. Abbe kept his tavern until the stage-route was abandoned, and lived there afterwards as a farmer until his death.

A story still current is, that a traveler stopping one even- ing at Abbe's tavern told the landlord that he wanted to remain all night but had no money. He would promise, however, that if he were kept he would return some day and pay. "Stay ?" exclaimed Mr. Abbe, " of course you can stay, and pay me when you can. I've had lots of cus- tomers, but I've never turned one away yet." The stranger stopped, and some days afterwards, passing again that way, called at Abbe's and said to the old man, " Do you re- member that you kept me one night, and I didn't pay you ?" " I don't remember," returned Abbe, " but lots of folks have done that thing here; maybe you did stop." He told the man to pay him what he pleased, and upon re- ceiving his money grew suddenly animated with joy, ex- claiming, " Hurrah for an honest man ! Such a thing has never happened since I've kept this tavern, and I've trusted hundreds of people. If there was a paper anywhere near here, I'd put it in, sure."

Mr. Abbe was a man much given to eccentricity, al- though a man of piety, and a citizen whom his fellow- townsmen highly respected. Of the many stories yet told of Mr. Abbe, the following will show how devotedly at- tached he was to prayer and religious demonstrations.

One day while riding with John Hunt, the latter said to him, " Uncle Abbe, I'll be glad when I can get a com- fortable place to sleep and six weeks' provisions ahead." " Neighbor Hunt," responded Mr. Abbe, with much seri-

ous earnestness, " if you don't pray more you'll never have anything of the sort." On another occasion a neighbor came to borrow Abbe's oxen. " Haven't any oxen," said Mr. Abbe, in reply to the application. " Haven't any oxen ? Why, there they stand." "Oh !" exclaimed the old man, " those are not my oxen, they belong to the Lord ; but I suppose if you want to borrow them the Lord will have no objection." Calling once upon Mr. Hunt, and seeing him at work in a field of fine corn, he cried out, " Neighbor Hunt, this is a fine field of corn, but you don't deserve it, for you don't pray enough." " Very well," replied Hunt, " you pray and I'll hoe, and we'll see who will raise the best corn." He once called upon Jonathan Woodman, and after a brief conversation patted Woodman upon the shoul- der, saying, " Jonathan, you are altogether too fine a fellow for the devil to have."

The old gentleman had in his employ a lad who pre- ferred resting to working, and frequently, when he wearied of labor, he would say to Mr. Abbe, " Shan't we go into the grove for a season of prayer ?" and old Uncle Abbe, pleased beyond measure to note the pious growth of the youth's mind, would leave off work and pray an hour or so with the boy in the grove. The old man, thoroughly honest and trusting, never dreamed that the young sinner simply imposed upon him, so that he might indulge his lazy dis- position. So strong was this desire for prayer upon him, that Mr. Abbe has often been seen by travelers praying upon the open highway, while his horse stood patiently by, waiting his master's readiness to go forward. Wherever he might be going, he would stop his horse when the prayerful spirit overtook him, dismount and pray zealously for half an hour or more. At a revival meeting a girl, happening to be moved by the spirit, arose and cried out, " Oh ! I feel as if I were in the devil's iron chest, and that it was locked." " Yes, yes," shouted old Uncle Abbe, jumping suddenly up and gesticulating vigorously ; " yes, brethren, she's in the devil's iron chest, and we've all got keys to it." He was devotedly sincere, and was esteemed a truly good man. Late in life he became a confirmed Spiritualist, and died a believer in that doctrine.

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History of Berrien and Van Buren counties, Michigan. With biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 95

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