USA > Michigan > Branch County > History of Branch county, Michigan, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 55
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" The justices, litigants, pettifoggers, and jurors were the actors. The pettifoggers personated the tragedian and comedian in the same play, and often performed their parts admirably well, amid tumultuous applause. Justices' courts, therefore, were formerly places of resort for all classes of people. The clamor of one suit scarcely died away before another was commenced more interesting than the former, which had the happy effect of keeping the inhabitants in a constant state of excitement, thereby rendering them con- tented, however straitened may have been their pecuniary condition. In a community where there were a score or more of male adults, generally two or three of their number assumed to be advocates. Although at that time they knew little about law or common sense, yet they had learned sev- cral law terms, which they used with fluency on all occa- sions, whether they were adapted to the points at issue or not. The incomprehensible language and ostentatious man- ver in which they were quoted had a tremendous and tell- ing effect upon the court and audience.
" The Territorial law of Michigan would not permit a tavern-keeper to hold the office of justice of the peace, nor would it allow a justice to hold his court in a bar-room.
220
HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
But justices of the peace found little or no difficulty in evading this law when occasion required. 'Squire Bronson was manifestly a tavern-keeper, a justice of the peace, a postmaster, and he invariably held his court in a bar-room ; but never, according to his construction, in the slightest degree violated the law. Abiel Potter, who lived with Bronson and was his step-son, claimed to be landlord. When the time arrived for a suit to commence, the bottles, glasses, and toddy-sticks were removed from the bar to the kitchen, and when all was clear Bronson would exclaim, in a loud and distinet voiee, ' Abiel Potter, is this a bar-room we now occupy ?' Abiel Potter answered, unequivocally, ' No, sir; it is not.' Bronson would then call the suit and proceed to trial. When the court adjourned the bottles were replaced, and the hall of justice was instanter con- verted into a bar-room. Justices' courts were held in Bronson Prairie more than a year anterior to any other place in Branch County, and they were rigorously con- tinued. Consequently the inhabitants of that vicinity, in the course of time, became familiar with all the nice in- tricacies of law. Bronson's Prairie, for more than a dozen years after the days of 'Squire Bronson, was emphatically the law focus for the county of Branch, during which time several men of acknowledged genins had made the practice of law in justices' courts their principal business, and bad become notorious advocates. Their fame extended beyond the precinets of Branch County. They relied, however, more upon innate knowledge of the fundamental principles of law and common justice than upon laborious research in voluminous and antiquated books. Many of the sharpest lawyers in Coldwater, who plumed themselves upon their pre-eminent sagacity and depth of legal knowledge, occasion- ally attended the Bronson sessions. They went full of assurance ; returned humiliated and crestfallen. They could not successfully face a Bronson Cicero. Every point they attempted to make was met with logic and unanswerable arguments, condensed and beautiful, and unless pecuniary considerations had a controlling influence, scarcely a lawyer in Coldwater could be found who had the audacity to hazard a second effort. The law focus was finally removed to Quincy, where the sessions have been kept up with tolerable zeal."
When Mr. Bronson came to the Prairie he built a good- sized log house, and in it kept tavern. Jeremiah Tillotson followed the same business, as, in fact, did nearly every man who located here,-not from choice alone, but from necessity.
An amusing anecdote is related of 'Squire Bronson, which occurred during his residence and official term here. lle was at one time called upon to marry a man named Hunt and the widow of Moses Allen, of Alleu's Prairie, and, proceeding the twenty miles to that place, performed the ceremony to the satisfaction of all concerned. In the mean time, Esquire Benaiah Jones, of Jonesville, heard of the affair, and it caused him much uneasiness and excited him not a little. Mounting his Indian pony, he rode over to see about it. The newly-married couple had retired when he arrived, and he found Bronson sitting by the fire drinking hot punch and making himself generally comfort- able. He burst forth excitedly in speech with " Bronson,
what have you been about ? You are out of your juris- diction ; this is Lenawee County ! I am the magistrate. Mrs. Allen is not legally married, and I will contest it !"
The anxious bride overheard Jones' remarks, and soon made her appearance en deshabille in the bar-room, crying, "O dear ! 'Squire Jones, what shall I do? My reputa- tion is ruined ! Can it be possible that I ain't legally married ?"
Jones pacified her, however, by replying, " Never mind, Mrs. Allen ; just stand up here, and for ten dollars I will marry you over again and make it all right."
By this time Hunt appeared on the scene; the pair stood up, and Jones soon performed the ceremony, pocketed his fee, took a " nip" of " something warming," and departed with satisfaction beaming in his countenance. The repu- tation of the widow was preserved, her lord was twenty dollars out of pocket, and two worthy magistrates were made happy by the acquisition of fees and the draught of hot punch.
The hervine of that occasion - whose first husband, Moses Allen, had been one of the surveying party which traced the route of the Chicago road, and afterwards (in 1827) beeame the first settler in Hillsdale County, lo- eating on the prairie which bears his name-was, at the date of the latest information,-January, 1879,-living on her husband's old farm near Brownstown, below Detroit, aged over ninety years.
" Dr. Alvah Randall, the first physician in the town- ship, came to Bronson in 1835. He was a graduate of Castleton, Vt., College, from which State he came to Bron- son. He was a fine scholar in general matters, especially history. lle had a retentive memory, and read history from boyhood up. Hle died in the year 1851, at the age of fifty-one. He was a very ardent Methodist, and one of the most straightforward and conscientious men that could be found. He was a man of strong physical constitution, and really died from overwork. His ride was immense, there being no other physician within ten miles of Bron- son either way.
" There was a great amount of sickness in those early days, -ague, fevers, etc.,-and the care of patients, combined with the responsibility of having the charge of the clear- ing up of a large farm, undermined his constitution at that early age. He belonged to a long-lived race, his mother living to the age of eighty-seven. Ilis wife still survives him, having reached the advanced age of seventy-six years. He was the father of Hon. C. D. Randall, who was only four years of age when they moved to Bronson.
" He was always identified with the old Whig party, and was once a candidate for the Legislature on their ticket. His farm was just. east of Bronson village, where Stephen Reed and some other parties now live. The old house in which they lived in that early day is still standing."*
Michael Smith, from the State of New York, settled on the farm where he now. lives, in 1835.
Hon. Wales Adams, one of the wheel-horses of the Branch County Democracy, served twenty years as super- visor of Bronson, took the census of ten townships in 1860,
# Sketch in Coldwater Republican.
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HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
was county treasurer one term, represented his district in the Legislature two terms, and was a member of the Con- stitutional Convention of 1850. He is elsewhere mentioned as holding the office of ensign in the company which was raised in this town for the famous Black Hawk war. Of this company Seth Dunham was captain and Jeremiah Til- lotsou lieutenant.
Levi Calhoun settled in Bronson in 1837, and in 1810-41 worked in a saw-mill at Coldwater, which stood on the present site of Coombs' grist-mill. Upon his farm in Bronson have been disinterred the remains of five persons of gigantie stature, undoubtedly belonging to that almost mythical race called " prehistoric," whose mounds and occasional fortifications are found in this interesting region.
Nelson Russell settled in the township in 1836, when Indians were yet numerous, locating on his present farm.
Enos Gregg was one of the earliest settlers of Bronson township, coming in 1832. The family was accustomed to trade with the Indians for venison, sugar, and buckskin. Mr. Gregg died in 1856, aged sixty-eight years. His sons James and Charles still reside in the township.
David Taggart and Jonathan Holmes passed through some exciting experiences during their first year in Bronson. On one occasion they were returning from the village with a quarter of beer' on a pole, and a noisy pack of wolves kept up a none too melodious serenade, while the feet of the men beat quick time to the music until they had reached home.
Ephraim Lindley has lived in the county since 1836. llis father was one of the pioneers of Matteson township, and cut the road leading north from Bronson village to Swan Creek,-two and one-half' miles. Mr. Lindley moved into Bronson township in 1865. Before Holmes' grist-mill was built, milling was done at Three Rivers.
J. E. Pulman came to the township with his father in June, 1842, and even at that day deer and wolves were exceedingly plenty. J. II. Green came with his father in 1813, and settled where he at present resides. His father built a saw-mill, but died before the farm was cleared.
D. J. Sprague arrived with his family in 1843. They were accompanied by three other families, and for some time all suffered severely from sickness, several dying. Mr. Sprague and his brother-in-law were kept busy making coffins and burying the dead. Mr. Sprague's wife died in 1848.
D. S. Lockwood, now of Bronson, settled in Ovid in 1836, and removed to this township in 187 4.
Isaac Holbrook moved to Bronson in 1833, and settled in the heavy timber two miles from any human habitation. Ilis first house was a temporary log hut covered with bark, and but little better than no shelter at all. He cleared 300 acres of land.
Jonathan Burch first settled in Sherwood in 1835, and at the time the Indians were removed (1840) he went with them as far as Sturgis, St. Joseph Co. Mr. Burch is now a resident of Bronson.
Stephen Reed, living on a part of the old farm of Dr. Randall, settled with his father in Bethel township in 1838. Mr. Reed's present residence was built by Hon. C. D. Ran- dall, and, as a remarkable circumstance, was raised withont
the aid of whisky, to the chagrin of the topers and the triumph of the temperance men who aided in the work. It had been said that his timber would lie and rot before it would be raised, unless whisky was plenty, but the result proved the contrary. Mr. Reed helped raise the frame.
Morgan Thompson settled in Bronson in 1834, and, in common with many others, suffered privations of serious nature. One winter he was forced to cut the dry marsh- grass over the top of the ice, in order to obtain fodder for his stock ; and his wife lived three days on water-gruel on one occasion, while he was away hunting employment. Her four small children were taken as good care of as possible at the time, the mother depriving herself that they might not suffer.
Daniel Tice settled with his parents at Fawn River in 1843, and is now living in Bronson. His wife is a daughter of Morgan Thompson, now of Nebraska.
Asa Milliman settled in the southwest part of the town- ship in 1835, purchasing his land of a Mr. Stewart. He was accompanied by his wife and one child. Hle paid twelve dollars for the first barrel of flour which he bought, and the first wheat he sold brought him but thirty-seven and a half cents per bushel.
Hon. Wales Adams is now the oldest living settler of Branch County, and is a native of Medway, Norfolk Co., Mass. In 1828, when twenty-four years of age, he went to the city of New York, where he remained two years. On the second day of September, 1830, he left New York, and arrived in what is now Bronson the same month. He and his partner, Willard Pierce, came together and entered the west-half of the northwest quarter of' section 29, npon which their saw-mill was built. This saw-mill was the second one in the county (the first being at " Black Hawk," or Branch, west of Coldwater), and did quite an extensive business for some years, but was finally abandoned on account of the overflow caused by the dam. Nothing now remains of it, but a portion of the old dam is yet to be seen.
William A. Kent, who purchased the interest of Pierce in the saw-mill, came here in the spring of 1831, with Mr. Adams, who had been East at that time on business.
Alfred L. Driggs, from the State of New York, came to Michigan at an early day, and in the winter of 1831-32 made his appearance at Mr. Adams', and was hired as a sawyer, and commenced work in the mill. He was a man of much energy, but possessed no means with which to enter into business of' any nature. Ile finally conceived the idea of building a saw-mill, and was aided in his plans by Mr. Adams, who signed a note with him in order that he might procure mill-irons at Detroit. They were shipped around the lakes to the month of St. Joseph River ; thence boated up to Mottville, from which place Mr. Adams brought them up for him with a yoke of oxen. Driggs built the frame of his mill ou Swan Creek, where Holmes' mill now stands, and went to White Pigeon for nails to be used in roofing. The merchants at that place refused to trust him, and in high dudgeon he walked back, bored holes in the timbers, and fastened the roof on with wooden pins. He was chosen justice of the peace for the township of Prairie River, and afterwards represented his district once or twice in the Legislature. Ile finally sold his mill to Jonathan
222
IHISTORY OF BRANCHI COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Holmes, and removed to Constantine, St. Joseph Co., where he now resides.
The following, from the county records, explains itself:
" TERRITORY OF MICHIGAN, 88. RANCH. COUNTY OF BRANCH.
" I do hereby certify that on the 12th day of August, 1833, Wales Adams and Polly Waterman, both of Branch County, Prairie River township, eame before me, Alfred L. Driggs, one of the justices of the peace in and for the county of Branch, and were lawfully joined in marriage.
"ALFRED L. DRIGGS."
This was the first marriage which occurred in the town- ship, and is the first recorded in the county. The next in Prairie River was that of Abiel Potter and Clarissa J. Booth, July 3, 1834. Joseph D. Fields and Eliza Streeter were married July 31, 1834.
In the fall of 1831 a man named Judson arrived in the township with his family, and was finally engaged by Wales Adams. Before leaving the State of New York he had been employed as teacher and clerk, and was pos- sessed of a good education, but no means. Ile came into Bronson with one horse, his wife, and several children. Ile boarded Messrs. Adams and Pierce and the men employed by them around the saw-mill. During the memorable " Black Hawk war," in 1832, he enlisted as a volunteer, and soon after was taken sick with the eholera and died. Ile was buried in the woods close by his home, and as no stone was ever erected at his grave its location is at present an uneertainty.
Wales Adams, who received in the spring of 1831 the appointment of ensign in the Bronson militia,-the officers of which were appointed by Governor Cass,-was too sick to go with his company when the Black Hawk war broke out. 1Je had then lived here a year and a half, and was utterly prostrated with the ague. He thought when he first came and worked in water up to his waist, helping build the dam and doing other necessary work around the mill, that the ordeal was too severe for him to survive; but he was fortunate enough to bear up safely under it, and now, at the age seventy-five years, can look back upon the experiences of his younger days and wonder that he had a sufficiently strong constitution to weather the necessary hardships of a pioneer life.
In the spring of 1832, Bishop Chase, of Ohio, in eom- pany with Mr. Wells, an extensive manufacturer of the same State, and father of Hon. Hezekiah G. Wells, then of Prairie Ronde, called one Saturday at the house of Mr. Adams, and stayed over Sunday. On the morning of the following Monday the three, together with Tom Holmes, started on a journey into what is now the township of Gilead. The bishop was in search for land, and finally selected a section in that town, entered it at the land-office at White Pigeon, built a log cabin upon it, contracted for having 80 aeres broken, and moved upon it with his family in the fall. To Bishop Chase does Gilead owe its name also, as will be seen by reference to the history of that township.
The first white child born in Bronson was one in the family of John G. Richardson, some time in the year 1829. Mr. Richardson was the first collector for the township of Prairie River, in 1832.
A man named Crawford squatted early on the place where James Ruggles now lives, and one of his children was the first white person who died in the township; this was previous to 1830.
On the 8th of June, 1836, the property of Alfred L. Driggs, including the saw-mill and 400 acres of land, was purchased by Jonathan and Samuel Holmes, from Peter- borough, N. 11. The elder brother (Samnel) never settled here, but Jonathan returned for his family and brought them back with him, arriving at the new home Sept. 19, 1837. David Taggart had been left in charge of the mill during Mr. Holmes' absence, and had come here in June, 1836, from Dublin, N. H. His wife, who came with him, was a sister of Jonathan Holmes. Ile is now living south of Mr. Holmes' place, on the Chicago road.
In the fall of 1837 timbers for a grist-mill were made ready, and a raceway commenced, but sickness in the family necessitated the abandonment of the work until the next year. The raceway was finally finished, and in the month of August, 1838, the frame of the mill was raised. Two runs of stone were set in place, and in 1839 it was ready for use. It was extensively patronized, as there was no other custom-mill for many miles. People came from near Coldwater, and from all the surrounding towns, to get their grinding done, and the mill proved profitable. After being run about thirty years the machinery was taken out and the grist-mill was transformed into a planing and turn- ing-mill and chair-factory. At the present time it is not in use for any manufacturing purposes. The saw-mill now standing is the third one on the ground, the original strue- ture and one other having been worn out by much use. The present mill cuts an annual average of 300,000 feet, manufacturing oak, whitewood, ash, black walnut, maple, beech, and lynn (basswood) lumber, of which the greater part is of whitewood. A very heavy growth of timber extended through this portion of the township, and a large part of the trees consisted of whitewood (tulip) and black walnut. Heavy inroads have been made in the succeeding years, and although there is yet considerable left, the supply is limited.
Mr. Holmes' brother, Samuel Holmes, was for some time interested in a machine-shop and cotton-factory at Springfield, Windsor Co., Vt., but subsequently returned to Peterborough, N. II., where he died. Ile left his son, David A. Holmes, in charge of his interest in the saw-mill property in Bronson upon his return to New England. Jonathan Holmes is yet living on the old place, and has been a man of much prominence in the township. When he came to the farm but 2 acres had been cleared upon it. The nearest neighbor on the north was Amos Matteson, Esq., on the west shore of Matteson Lake, in the township of the same name. Between him (Mr. Holmes) and Burr Oak not a house had been ereeted, and the forest was here in its virgin beauty. The nearest house south or south- west was that of Wales Adams, near the spot where the Chieago turnpike crossed Prairie River.
The first persons to settle between Holmes' mill and Matteson Lake were Robert Smith and a man named Cor- nell, who located on the north line of the township about 1837. Smith died many years ago, and his place is now
PHOTOS BY KINOMARK,
ARK, COLDWATER
JONATHAN HOLMES
MRS.JONATHAN HOLMES.
RESIDENCE OF JONATHAN HOLMES . BRONSON. MICH.
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HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
occupied by Christopher Shaffmaster. Cornell moved out of the township. The first to locate nearer the mill was Robert Thompson, who settled three-fourths of a mile north about 1841, and afterward removed from the township.
Considerable parties of Indians were wont to encamp on the banks of Swan Creek, near the mill, and hunt and fish for a number of days in the neighborhood. They were always peaccable and friendly, and upon their removal, in 1840, were greatly missed by the settlers.
Solomon Haight settled one and a half' miles west of the village of Bronson in 1812, and for several years owned part of the old French farm and hotel.
William Lamoreux came to Detroit in 1828, and while a resident of that county ( Wayne) was a portion of the time deputy-sheriff and constable. He removed to Branch County in 1844.
The records of Prairie River township, and those of Bronson up to 1867, were destroyed by fire in the latter year when the store of Messrs. Powers & Gillam was burned. Gillam was at the time township clerk. It is therefore im- possible to give a list of officers previons to this date, or any items of interest which would undoubtedly have been found in the early records could they have been preserved. The first supervisor of Prairie River township was Jeremiah Tillotson. The following are the principal officers of the township of Bronson from 1868 :
Supervisor .- 1868-77, Christopher G. Babcock.
Township Clerks .- 1868, R. Van Ness; 1869, B. F. Trigg; 1870, no record; 1871-72, Lucien J. Driggs; 1873-77, W. 11. Compton.
Justices of the Peace .- 1868, II. Williams, M. Clark ; 1869, J. Holmes; 1870, no record; 1871, Smith Wood ; 1872, Wales Adams; 1873, Marshall Morrill ; 1874, Jona- than Holmes; 1875, Smith Wood, Henry Brooks; 1876, M. D. Wolff, David Taggart ; 1877, David Taggart, C. L. Fitch.
Treasurers .- 1868-69, Leonard D. Clark ; 1870, no record ; 1871-74, Cyrus J. Keyes; 1875-77, Spencer E. Bennett.
School Inspectors .- 1868, John T. Ilolmes; 1869, B. P. Taggart ; 1870, no record ; 1871, B. P. Taggart ; 1872, Xenophon Gilson ; 1873, John T. Holmes; 1874, Ben- jamin Taggart ; 1875-77, John T. Holmes.
Township Superintendents of Schools .- 1875-76, Ben- jamin P. Taggart ; 1877, John Taggart.
Commissioners of Highways .- 1868, J. G. Sheffield, C. Ilinebaugh ; 1869, M. Bloss; 1870, no record; 1871, Allen Turner, James G. Sheffield ; 1872, Michael Bloss; 1873, George Carpenter; 1874, Allen Turner; 1875, Al- bert Russell; 1876, Amos J. Anderson ; 1877, same.
Drain Commissioners .- 1872, Henry Brooks; 1873, Christopher G. Babcock ; 1874-76, Allen Turner; 1877, Benjamin P. Taggart.
Officers for 1878 .- Supervisor, Christopher G. Bab- cock ; Town Clerk, W. H. Compton; Treasurer, S. E. Bennett ; Justice of the Peace, J. Kline; Commissioner of Highways, Henry Brown ; Drain Commissioner, Charles Moase ; Superintendent of Schools, J. Taggart ; School Inspector, C. A. Gay ; Constables, D. HFinebaugh, G. Ellis, William Ide, D. Post.
SCHOOLS.
The first school in the township, as well as in Branch County, or in the entire distance between Clinton and White Pigeon, was taught at Bronson Prairie in the win- ter of 1830-31, by Columbia Lancaster. It was supported by the six families then living at the Prairie, and some 15 pupils attended,-among them three young lady daughters of Mrs. Bronson and Mr. Tillotson, and a son of Benaiah Jones, Esq., of Jonesville. The school was taught in a log tenement which stood near the present residence of James Ruggles. Mr. Lancaster was here three months, and officiated as pedagogne, lawyer, physician, and theologian. In 1830 he practiced law at White Pigeon, and in the fall of 1831 built the first log house at Centreville, St. Joseph Co. Hle afterwards became a prominent lawyer, and Presi- dent of the St. Joseph County Bank. In 1838 he was elected to the Legislature, and about 1840 sold out and started overland for Oregon Territory. While in the Rocky Mountains his child died, and the party of emi- grants with whom he was traveling deserted him, or left him to the tender merey of the Indians. Very fortunately for him, they proved friendly, and aided him in returning to the settlements. He located for a time in Pennsylvania, but finally came back to Michigan, and about 1845 went through to Oregon, and settled on the shore of the Colum- bia River. In 1856 he was a delegate in Congress from Oregon, and became prominently identified with the inter- ests of his adopted State.
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