USA > Michigan > Branch County > History of Branch county, Michigan, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 70
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The Marshes had come on with him, intending to settle in Indiana, their goods being brought by two ox-teams, one of them belonging to the man from Jackson Prairie. These two teams Mr. Freeman engaged to go and bring his house- hold and effects, and the journey to Ypsilanti and back was made without adventure or mishap. They reached their destination November 1, and moved with the Marshes into a vacant house they found on seetion 5, in Gilead, about one-half mile south of the town line. There was another vacant house in the vicinity, which was left in charge of Bishop Chase. Mr. Freeman tried to hire this house for the winter, but the bishop, who, it would seem, was some- what given to proselyting, made it a condition of the lease that the tenant should-as he phrased it-" read service with him." Freeman retorted that, " he never had been a slave to any man, and he would be plagued if he would be
now," and the bargain fell through. For five or six weeks the cabin occupied by Mr. Freeman and the Marshes pre- sented something like the appearance usually credited to the tenement-houses of the great cities of the world. It swarmed with life, for twenty persons would fill to over- flowing a much larger mansion than the first settlers of this country usually indulged in. Mr. Freeman selected a site on the Bronson road, in section 30, and immediately began building a cabin, which was completed sufficiently to allow of the family's moving into it in December. In that winter he purchased the northwest quarter of the northwest quarter of section 5, in Gilead, and the southwest quarter of the sonthwest quarter of section 32, in Bethel, of a man who had previously entered the land. He gave him $150 for the 80 acres. In June he entered 40 acres adjoining it on the north, and a year later traded his Lenawee County land for the 80 acres on which he had built his house, which had been entered, meantime, by another person. Mr. Free- man lived in this town about two years, and then moved on to his land in Gilead. Some seventeen years ago he removed to the town of Quincy, and died there in March, 1870. Two of his children are now residing in this county,-Cor- nelius, in Bethel, and Mrs. Hannah Adams, in Coldwater. Another son, John, who was a respected citizen of this town, died in 1877, from the effects of a kick from a horse. Five of the ten children are still living in different parts of the country.
Albert Dudley lived on section 8, near the place where the highway crosses Swan Creek, and the bridge across the creek has always been called Dudley's Bridge on that account. Ile removed to the adjoining town of Batavia, and kept the publie-house known as the Dudley stand for several years.
David M. Clark was one of the most peculiar men of the town, and was also one of its most prominent citizens. Being a man of fair educational attainments, he was thereby fitted for the posts he held among them : being school- teacher, clerk, magistrate, and surveyor. By nature he was quick-tempered, imperious, and irascible, and many stories are told of him that illustrate these traits of his character. Among them the following : a man named Isaac Adams purchased a farm in Indiana, and hired Clark to survey it for him. Some time afterwards Adams and Clark hap- pened to meet at the York Honse, where Samuel II. Cary was then keeping tavern. Adams, in the course of the conversation that ensued, said to Clark, in a bantering tone,-
" Well, Clark, do you remember the time I saved your life ?"
" No," said Clark. " When and where was it? I should like to know."
" Why," said Adams, "it was the time you came down to Indiana to survey my farm for me. Don't you recollect it now ?"
" Oh, yes," said the unsuspicious surveyor, " I remember that perfectly well; but what has that to do with your saving my life?"
" Why, can it be possible," replied the incorrigible joker, as he east a sly look over his interested audience, and winked to some of his cronies, "can it be possible that you have forgotten how you, with all your compasses and other
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HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
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apparatus, got lost in the woods, and would have starved to death if I hadn't piloted you out ?"
The crowd burst into a loud laugh at this original sally, which so irritated Clark that he seized a billet of wood from the wood-box, and rushed at his tormentor, intent upon sudden vengeance. Cary sprang from behind the bar, and interfered in time to prevent a collision, and the commotion was soon quieted down.
Mr. Clark came from Grosse Isle, near Detroit, and was the county surveyor for several years. He did a great deal of surveying for the inhabitants of this region during his life-time. The land he entered was on the northwest quarter of section 7, and there he lived, died, and was buried.
Milton Beesmer settled on the east half of the northeast quarter of section 16. It being school-land he could not enter it, but had to wait till the lands were offered for sale before getting a title. He built a small log house on it and lived there till his death, which occurred some ten years later.
On the fifth day of September, 1835, a party of emigrants, consisting of eleven persons,-Daniel Smead and his wife (father and mother of the others), Morgan L. Smead and wife and one child, Lyman Smead and wife and two chil- dren, and Lauriston Smead and wife,-left their former home in Middletown, Delaware Co., N. Y., and started on an overland journey to the West, intending to locate at Rock River, in the State of Illinois. They traveled by leisurely stages, stopping frequently at the homes of friends living at different places along their route, and reached Taylor's Tavern, in Batavia, about the 20th of November. Here the progress of the party was checked by the sudden prostration of Daniel Smead, who was attacked by a dis- case that prohibited any further travel, and seriously threat- ened his life. So the party made themselves as comfortable as possible under the circumstances, and settled down for the winter. Of course, the sons spent a good portion of their time in looking about the country, and they grew to like it pretty well,-enough so, at least, as to lead them to think of abandoning the idea of going on to Illinois, and settling here instead.
As soon as the old gentleman had sufficiently recovered from his sickness they took him to see some of the land they had selected, and he, too, was pleased with its appear- ance. They then determined to stop here, and sent Morgan to Bronson (now Kalamazoo) to enter the land. He went early in January, 1836, and entered 446 acres lying in sections 3, 4, and 9. This was divided up, Lyman and Lauriston having 63 aeres each, and Morgan living with the old folks on the east half of section 4. The party remained at Taylor's through the winter and George Dunham and John Masters were hired to build a house, which they got finished about the 7th of March, but the family did not move into it until the 5th of April. After it was finished and before the family moved in, the an- nual burning of the marshes and openings took place, and the new house was endangered. Daniel Smead and David Worden luckily happened to visit it at this juncture, and started a counter-fire that saved the dwelling. As soon as the family had got settled in their new home, Lyman and Lauriston set at work to prepare homes of their own. Ly-
man moved into his house during the succeeding summer, but Lauriston did not get to living in his until the spring of 1837. Daniel Smead died March 9, 1847 ; his wife, Lucy, died Oct. 9, 1818; and Lauriston died April 2, 1815. Morgan 1. and Lyman are still living on their original farms in this town. They are the two oflest surviving settlers of the town.
Ebenezer Green was the father of Amos and Silas S. Green. He came in company with them, bringing his wife and a younger son. Hle settled on the south half of the northeast quarter of section 30, and died in this town a few years later. Amos Green and his wife located on the north half of the same quarter-section, and subsequently returned to Ohio, from which State the Greens all came. Silas S. Green, with his wife and two children, took up the northwest quarter of section 30. He lived here until about twenty years ago, when he removed to Cass County in this State.
In the year 1828 a vessel crossed the Atlantic, which brought from Glasgow to New York a Scotch emigrant named James Bennie. Upon landing in this country he at once went to Amsterdam, on the Mohawk River, in Central New York, and engaged in doing farm work. He remained there for about five years, and then, having accumulated a sufficient amount of money to pay the expenses of their passage, sent to Scotland for his mother and an unmarried sister, who, as soon as possible, joined him at Amsterdam, and then all came on to this State, where a married sister, Mrs. Jeanette Mckinley, was then living, in the town of Gilead.
They arrived in this locality in 1833, and Mr. Bennie hired out to work for Bishop Chase, his mother and sister going to live with Mrs. MeKinley. Mr. Bennie arrived in this vicinity without a dollar, having expended all his earn- ings to get here. He became quite an important member of the bishop's household, and was intrusted with the manage- ment of a large part of his business affairs. While Bennie lived with him, the bishop went on a visit to England, and during his absence the residence was destroyed by fire. A large part of the furniture and household effects were saved from the conflagration. The news went across the sea that Bishop Chase's mansion had been destroyed, and he was presented with large amounts of money (aggregat- ing several thousand dollars) by his English friends and acquaintances, who seemed to have no definite knowledge of the intrinsic value of a mansion in the " wilds of Michi- gan." In this fire Mr. Bennie lost all the property he pos- sessed except the clothes he was wearing. He continued working for the bishop till he had saved enough to pur- chase an eighty-acre lot of the government, and then, in June, 1836, he went to the land-office and entered the east half of the southeast quarter of section 31, and became a resident of Bethel, his unmarried sister Christiana keeping house for him. In 1852 he was married to Mrs. Susan Robinson, formerly of Syracuse, N. Y., who still survives him and resides on the homestead. He was a very indus- trions and energetic man, careful and thorough in business, kind and considerate to all with whom he came in contact, and benevolent to a fault. During his life he acquired a competency of worldly goods, and added to his landed pos-
36
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IHISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
sessions until he owned 160 acres of the choicest lands in this part of the county. Ile was often intrusted with the management of public business in the town, and discharged his duties with careful fidelity. While on a visit to rela- tives in Utah he was taken siek, and died there May 1, 1872.
Moses Paine came from Batavia, N. Y., in the early summer of 1830, and went as far West as Pigeon Prairie (now White Pigeon), where he bought a farm. He grew dissatisfied with it in a few months, and, instead of bring- ing his family West, he returned to the East and remained at his former home for the space of six years. At the expira- tion of that time he had once more made up his mind to come to Michigan, had completed his preparations for re- moving his family, and having performed the journey in safety and without any unusual incident, arrived in October on the place his son Thomas had entered for him during the preceding winter. Mr. Paine's family consisted of a wife and six children. Thomas had preceded him ; Eph- raim, Moses, Jr., and Catharine accompanied him ; and his wife and daughters Jane and Sophia followed them a year later. The land on which he settled was on the north part of section 5, adjoining the Chicago road, and consisted of SO acres of timbered opening land. As soon as the land was got in proper condition Mr. Paine planted some apple- seeds he had brought from the East. The orchard thus commenced was one of the earliest raised in the township and is now a fine and fruitful one. Moses Paine died in this town in August, 1871, at the ripe age of ninety-one years. Of his children, Ephraim lives on the homestead, Thomas in Batavia, Moses in California, Jane in Girard, Sophia in Plymouth, Ind., and Catharine in Nebraska.
Ileman Lake, Origin Bingham, Adam Bower, and Lem- uel Bingham, with their respective families, traveled in company from their homes in Erie Co., N. Y., till they arrived at Coldwater, when Lemuel Bingham left the party. The others came on along the State road till they reached this town.
lleman Lake entered the northeast quarter of the south- west quarter of section 13. In the summer of 1839 Mr. Lake was taken with a severe attack of the bilious fever, and was attended by Dr. Corwin. He took an emetic pre- scribed by the physician which it is thought hastened his death, which occurred in the latter part of Angust.
Origin Bingham located on the west half of the south- east quarter of section 25, and died there some six years later. His widow, his son Origin, and a daughter are now residents of Coldwater.
Adam Bower took up 40 acres in the northeast corner of the southeast quarter of section 25. He died there about the year 1847. His family of ten children have all died or removed from the town.
Lemuel Bingham remained in Coldwater through the winter of 1836-37, while his son, Matthew HI., was build- ing a log house on the land they had entered on the north- east quarter of section 25. They owned in addition to this a 40-acre lot in section 30 in Ovid. The lake on that seetion was called Bingham Lake on that account. The family moved on to their place in the spring of 1837. Matthew married a daughter of Heman Lake, and about
two years afterwards died. Lemuel then sold the farm and went to live with his son, Seymour, in Coldwater.
During the same fall (1836), Thomas Judson, Lyman Seymour, Timothy Colby, Job Devol, and Otis Davis came from the town of Collins, Erie Co., N. Y., and settled in this town.
Thomas Jndson settled on section 25, and remained about seven years, when he returned to his former home, and is now living there. Otis Davis, who located on section 24, sold his farm to Peleg Brownell, Jan. 1, 1846, and then he, too, returned to New York to live.
Lyman Seymour took up the southeast quarter of sec- tion 23, and lived there till the summer of 1839, when he died.
Timothy Colby entered the east half of the northeast quarter of section 26, and lived there till about 1850-51. He became somewhat prominent in town matters, and was treasurer of the town for three years before he removed to Ottawa County. At the time of leaving he was indebted to the town to a considerable extent. A few years ago he left this State and settled in Oregon.
Caleb N. Bates came to Michigan in 1835, and bought five and a half 80-acre lots, located on sections 2, 13, 14, and 23 in this town, and then went back to prepare his family for removal. The next fall (1836) he, with his wife and five children, his son Peleg, with a wife and two children, and his'son-in-law, Hiram G. Wiser, with his wife and three children, all embarked on a steamboat on Lake Erie, at Buffalo, with all their household goods, three wagons, two horses, and two yokes of oxen. When the vessel had arrived within sight of the Toledo lighthouse, a heavy head wind sprung up, which rapidly increased to a gale, and drove the vessel back down the lake. While the furious storm was at its height, the rudder of the vessel gave way, and the boat was driven helplessly at the mercy and will of the winds and waves. After many hours of anxiety and terror to the crew and passengers, the vessel drifted ashore at Port Clinton, near Sandusky, O. The passengers were taken ashore in boats, and the cattle and horses, being thrown overboard, swam ashore. The wagons, too, were thrown into the water and towed ashore by means of ropes. Our company of emigrants hitched up their teams, and leaving their goods to be carried to Toledo by the boat after the storm should have subsided, pressed on by land toward their destination, where they arrived in due time, having expe- rienced all the pleasures of a passage through the Black Swamp in the muddy season. They came from the town of Newstead (then a part of the town of Clarence), Eric Co., N. Y. Caleb was a veteran of the war of 1812, and drew a pension for his services. He died in this town Sept. 5, 1867. Peleg lives on the farm on which he first settled. Benjamin, another son, lives in the town, and Hiram G. Wiser and his wife are still living, though well advanced in years, on a farm on section 14.
Mrs. Margaret McMillan, with her sons Stephen and James, and her daughter Margaret, came from Batavia, Genesce Co., N. Y., and arrived in Bethel early in the fall, stopping temporarily with Silas S. Green, while they were preparing a home for themselves. They bought their land (the southwest quarter of section 29 and the southeast
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IIISTORY OF BRANCHI COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
quarter of section 30) of a Mr. Tuttle, who lived in Batavia, N. Y., and had purchased it from the govern- ment. The MeMillans built a house on the Brouson road about forty rods north of the section line. The house was 18 by 22 feet in size, and was ready for its occu- pants in the latter part of October. In the latter part of the season, Philander Olds (a son-in-law of Mrs. McMillan) with his wife and four children, joined the party, and in January, 1837, Ebenezer McWilliams and his wife came also. During the winter the little cabin teemed with life, for, in addition to those already mentioned, William and Andrew Reed, Anson Vaughn, and Joseph Campbell occu- pied it, making in all a family of 16 persons. The land cost them $1 per acre, and it was divided through the centre, Ebenezer taking the north half and Stephen the south half. Ebenezer built a house about eighty rods north of the first one, and moved into it some time in March.
Philander Olds purchased a couple of acres on section 29, and built a dwelling and cooper-shop there. Here he worked at his trade for a couple of years, and then, his wife having died, he removed to Union City, and is now living there. James, some time about 1840, moved on to a farm on section 17, in Batavia, and lived there till he went on a visit to some relatives in Washington Co., N. Y., about nineteen years ago, and while there was taken sick and died. Ebenezer sold his land in 1850 and bought 255 acres on section 31, where he is now living, at the age of sixty-eight years. Stephen still lives on the place where he first settled. His mother died about thirty years ago, and he was married about the same time to Miss Jeanette Grover. Hle was the second supervisor of the town, and held the office four successive years. Hle is now nearly eighty years of age.
Of the others mentioned as members of this party, An- drew Reed and Anson Vaughn returned to the State of New York, and Joseph Campbell went farther West. Only one, William Reed, settled here permanently. In the spring of 1837 he bought the west half of the southeast quarter of section 29. Ile went East, was married, and returned with his wife in the fall of that year. About four years later he sold his property here and moved to Lansing, where he is now living.
David Cummings came from Niagara Co., N. Y., to Ypsilanti in the fall of 1832. In December, 1835, he came to Bronson, and kept a tavern there on the Pierce place. About a year later he moved to this town, and lived on the Van Alstine place, on Snow Prairie. In 1838 he went to Indiana, and remained about fourteen years, then returned here for a short time, and then moved to Masonville, where he kept the Sellick tavern for about three years. Ile then removed to Quincy, and died there upwards of twenty years ago. Several of his children, among them his son William, removed to California; one is living at La Grange, Ind., and another, Mrs. Gideon Lease, is residing in this town.
Charles M., George, and James Gallap, three brothers, came from Clarence, Erie Co., N. Y., the first in the fall of 1838, and the two latter in the fall of 1812. Soon after his arrival here, Charles married Miss Olive Bates, of Ovid, a daughter of Francis Bates, and settled on the west
half of the southwest quarter of section 23. Hle is now living in the northeast part of the town. George returned to Erie County, N. Y., and is now living there. James married a daughter of Roswell Larabee, in 1816, and is now living at Bethel Centre. He has been intimately con- nected with the conducting of town affairs, having held several of the most important town offices, among them that of town clerk for ten years.
Levi Thompson, formerly a citizen of Canaseraga, Madison Co., N. Y., came to this town from Rome Centre, Lenawee Co., in 1838, and settled on 120 acres on the southeast quarter of section 13, where he lived till his death in 1863. He has two sons and one daughter still living in this town.
Walter Roe, in the fall of 1839, settled in the south west part of the town. He died in 1850. Ilis wife survived him many years and died in 1873, at the age of eighty-four years. A son, David, is now living on the homestead.
Willard Cranson came from Parma, Monroe Co., N. Y., in 1831, and settled in Lenawee County, near the present city of Adrian, where he remained five years, removing, at the expiration of that time, to Moscow Plains, in Hillsdale County. In the spring of 1840 he again changed his loca- tion, and settled on a farm of 240 acres lying on sections 32 and 33 in this town, which he purchased of Uriah Mal- lory, who had bought it of the government about two years previous. Ilis family at that time consisted of his wife, two sons, and one daughter. Mr. Cranson is still living on the farm he then bought, has reached the age of ninety years (on the 7th of April, 1879), and is the oldest citizen of the township. His wife died April 24, 1855. His sons, Parmenio A. and Asa, and his daughter, Mrs. Cor- nelius Freeman, are still living in this town. Another daughter, who married before the family left Lenawee County, is now living in Wisconsin.
Charles W. Weatherby settled in the adjoining town of Batavia, as early as 1835-36, and after living there a few years removed into this town. He lived here until about fifteen years ago, when he removed to Shelbina, Shelby Co., Mo. During his residence here he was frequently elected to official positions, and is the only person who, while living in Bethel, was honored with official position outside of the town offices. He was elected a representative in the State Legislature in 1860, and served two terms.
Roswell Larabee was a settler in Lenawee County at an carly day, and came from there to this town in 1844, locating on section 13. In 1850 he returned to Lenawee County. He brought to this town a wife, four sons, and three daughters. Of these sous, Roswell P., Horatio B., and Austin settled in this town, and Erastus in Ovid. Roswell enlisted in the Union army during the war, and died of typhoid pneumonia at Cumberland Gap on the 23d of April, 1861. Horatio was killed by the cars while crossing the railroad at Branch. Austin and Mrs. James Gallap are still residents of Bethel.
During the first five or six years of the experience of the pioneers in this town, they were called upon to suffer many privations and to endure many hardships. But the lands were soon brought to produce an abundance of material for food, and the settlers grew into casier circumstances, though they had to make long journeys to reach a mill, where their corn and wheat could be made into meal and flour, and
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HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
thus fitted for their use. Hogs, which were allowed to roam the woods at will, fatted upon the acorns and other nuts, and the settlers, to secure their supply of pork. had but to go into the forest and shoot what hogs they needed.
There were numerous families of Indians living about the town, who were friendly towards the whites, always ready to go with them upon fishing or hunting excursions, and ever open to trade. One morning Lyman Ohinstead arose very early and went out to a runway to watch for deer, leaving his wife in bed. She neglected to get up and fasten the door after him, and soon fell asleep. About sun- rise she again awoke, and was very much startled at seeing a formidable and repulsive-looking Indian standing at the bedside. Without betraying her fears, she inquired what be wanted ? He said he wanted to get warm, and she told him to go to the fireplace, then. and not be standing there to frighten her. He obeyed, and her husband returning soon after, relieved her fears. Upon another occasion her husband had gone away in company with a young Indian with whom he was on very friendly terms, and did not return. Bed-time came, and Mrs. Ohinstead retired with a female friend who had come to spend the night with her. Some time in the night there was a rap at the door, and Mrs. Olmstead, arising, went to the door and asked what was wanted. A voice, which she thought was her husband's, replied in the Indian language (which he could talk quite fluently, and often used in conversing with her) that he wanted her to open the door. She did so, and the door was scarcely opened, when the Indian who had gone out with her husband glided in, and, closing the door behind him, went to the fireplace to warm. Being questioned as to Olmstead's whereabouts, he replied that he did not know. The women were frightened at his strange behavior, and made preparations to leave the house on pretext of going for water, intending to go to some of the neighbors for protection. Before they left, however, the door again opened, and Olmstead, who had been standing outside all the time, stepped in, and he and the Indian enjoyed a hearty laugh over the effect their ruse had produced upon the women.
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