USA > Michigan > Calhoun County > History of Calhoun county, Michigan, With Illustrations descriptive of its scenery > Part 25
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At the election of 1841 one hundred and twenty-six votes were polled, and Joseph C. Frink re-elected president, and Edward Butler chosen recorder. The shinplasters were redeemed by J. C. Frink, Edward Butler, and C. M. Brewer (treasurer), with funds arising from their issue.
In 1842 two hundred and forty-four votes were polled, Joseph Chedsey being elected president and Geo. Woodruff recorder. The village was divided into two wards, and the name of the board changed to "Common Council," and a new code of ordinances adopted. August 9 of this year the menagerie of June, Titus, Angevine & Co. exhibited in the village, paying ten dollars for the privilege into the corporation treasury. New streets were opened and named March 14, 1843.
The following gentlemen filled the position of president from 1842 until the city of Marshall was incorporated : Ira Tillotson, 1843 and 1846; Ira Wood, 1844; Geo. Ketchum, 1845; Chas. Dickey, 1847; Lansing Kingsbury, 1848; Randall Watson, 1849; Zenas Tillotson, 1850; James A. Hahn, 1851 ; J. E. Crary, 1854; Nathan H. Humphrey, 1855; H. A. Noyes, 1856; E. O. Crit- tenden, 1857; Lucius G. Noyes, 1858. The recorders were as follows during the same period : C. M. Brewer, 1843, '45, '46; B. Banks, 1844; A. O. Hyde, 1847 ; Edward Butler, George N. Smith, W. R. McCall, Henry A. Woodruff, W. P. Sutton, C. H. Beach, George Johnson, Seth Lewis, John J. Bardwell, and C. P. Dibble each held the position one year in the order they are named, with the exception of Bardwell, who held it two years, 1856-57. In 1859 the boundaries of the village were enlarged to two miles square, and the same erected into a city government, and the following officials were chosen : Chas. P. Dibble, mayor ; Elias Hewitt, recorder ; Jonas B. Conkling, treasurer ; and Henry Z. Williams, marshal. School Inspectors, Geo. Woodruff, two years; Elisha Gil- bert, one year. Justices of the Peace, Amos Hewitt, one year ; Martin D. Strong, two years ; Isaac W. Wilder, three years; Francis W. Shearman, four years. Directors of the Poor, James Winters and Seth Lewis. Aldermen, first ward, Harvey M. Dixon, one year ; Claudius B. Webster, two years ; Horace A. Noyes, three years ; second ward, Preston Mitchell, one year ; Jonah J. Martin, two years ; Frederick A. Kingsbury, three years. Constables, Charles E. Harvey, Wm. Prindle, Loren Wing, and Peter Kocher.
Mayor Dibble was inaugurated March 17, 1859, and delivered a ringing in- augural, in which he made a strong and earnest plea for a systematic, efficient, and economical administration of the city government, and for a water-supply and protection against fires, and commended to the council the cemetery and its needs. Isaac W. Wilder was appointed city attorney, and John H. Wells chief engineer of the fire department. The total expenses of the first year of the city government amounted to five thousand two hundred and twelve dollars and seventy-two cents.
In April, 1865, the council passed severe condemnatory resolutions upon the assassination of President Lincoln, expressing sorrow for his loss, and detestation of the crime and the perpetrators thereof.
The following gentlemen have held the position of mayor of the city since 1859: D. Darwin Hughes, 1860-61 ; Preston Mitchell, 1862; Abner Pratt, deceased, and Chas. Cameron, 1863 ; Joseph C. Frink, 1864; Justin D. Wooley, 1865-68 ; A. O. Hyde, 1869 ; F. Karstaedt, 1870; John Adams, 1871; David S. Beach, 1872 ; S. J. Burpee, 1873; W. H. Porter, 1874-75; Wm. Powell, 1876. The recorders during the same period have been Nicholas K. Maniates,
1860; W. H. Humphrey, 1861; F. W. Shearman, 1862-63; C. P. Dibble, 1864; James A. Miner, 1865 ; Willis S. Geer, 1866-67 ; James R. Ferguson, 1868; John S. Evans, 1869; Bernard McHugh, 1870-72; David Cunningham, 1873-74, '76; W. N. Wilder, 1875. The justices of the peace who have held more than a single term of four years are F. W. Shearman, fifteen years (dead) ; E. H. Lawrence, eight years ; Jas. A. Robinson, eight years ; Francis A. Stace, eight years ; Nelson A. Brooks, five years. Present incumbents, S. S. Lacey, 1874-77 ; M. D. Strong, 1875-79; Herbert A. Reed, 1876-80; Charles M. Whiting, 1877-81.
The following-named gentlemen have filled the position of supervisor of the city, as follows : Harvey M. Dixon, 1865-66; Robert Huston, 1867-74; Jas. T. Downs, 1875-77.
The city government for 1877 is as follows : Mayor, Dr. H. L. Joy ; Recorder, David Cunningham ; Treasurer, Jno. Cronin ; Aldermen, first ward, Jno. Adams, Geo. T. Phelps; second ward, Nathan Humphrey, J. M. Laberteaux; third ward, Wm. Bodell, Wm. Bedford ; fourth ward, Charles Boynton, Chas. Walter ; Mar- shal, H. H. Tillotson ; City Attorney, W. H. Porter; President Board of Health, his honor the mayor ; Chief Engineer, Daniel Ross.
The revenue of the city for 1876-77 was as follows: taxes levied and col- lected in the winter of 1877, general fund, $3200.84 ; mill tax, $1752.36; street and bridge tax, $3276.45 ; school tax, $15,520.57 ; fire department, $3134.24; for payment of bonds, $5000; total taxes levied, $31,884.46; add to this liquor tax received (1876), $2927.92 ; total revenue, $34,812.38.
The present bonded indebtedness of the city is, for school-houses, $40,000; general, $12,500. Total, $52,500.
THE FIRE DEPARTMENT.
The first fire company formed in Marshall was organized in 1840, before any means of putting out fires were owned by the corporation, and pails were the only available vehicles for the transportation and utilization of water on the occasions of service of the company. On the 5th of August, 1845, the question of the purchase of a fire-engine was submitted to the people, who voted for the im- mediate purchase of one, and on December 10, 1845, the common council bought one of Peaslee, ordered it painted scarlet, christened it the "Phoenix," and directed the manufacturer to put a proper design on it. In 1846 the council bought hooks and ladders, and built some reservoirs about the business portion of the village. In 1847, the fire-engine, proving unsatisfactory, had been returned, and another meeting of the people voted five hundred dollars additional to the sum already appropriated to buy a new and better machine. The council appointed Dr. Comstock as its agent to buy an engine not to exceed seven hundred dollars in the cost thereof. April 8, 1847, a Britton machine was bought, and an engine- house temporarily obtained. The new machine was named "The Deluge," and when it arrived, the fire company then in existence and known as Deluge Fire Company No. 1 had to house it, buy their own uniforms, and pay all the ex- penses of running their company and keeping the engine in order. The old "Deluge" was a second-class engine, but a very powerful one of that class, and in many contests at the firemen's tournaments in the State won the first prize. She has been known to throw a stream two hundred and nineteen feet, but her usual record was two hundred feet. In Jackson, in competition with twenty engines, but four machines, and they all first-class, beat her record, and she was decorated with the champion trumpet. The Deluge fire company dissolved its organization when the steamer came, October 9, 1871 ; but the old machine is brought out on parade days and in emergencies, and, manned by volunteers, shows how her old triumphs were won by the " spirts" she can yet make upon a " pinch."
In 1863 the council bought the " Liberty," No. 8. This engine was built by William Jeffers & Son, of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, for the Continental Fire Com- pany No. 8, of Detroit, and sold to Liberty No. 3, of Jackson, in 1857. While in the hands of the Jacksonians the engine carried the champion banner at three tournaments. A company called the " Germania" was organized to run with the " Liberty," but was subsequently changed to the Liberty, as it is now known. The department was reorganized in March, 1871, at which time the Rescue Hook and Ladder Company was organized, with thirteen members originally, the first officers being James W. Powell, foreman (now deceased, and the only member the company has lost) ; Charles D. Clarke, first assistant; W. H. H. Minot, second assistant ; W. A. Coles, secretary ; George Perrett, treasurer. The truck was received on Monday, May 15, 1871, and was received by the company and a parade of the entire department and city government. It was built by John Lower, of Charlestown, Massachusetts, and is thirty-eight feet eight inches in length over all, and is now fully equipped with two hundred and fifty feet of ladders, and hooks, axes, etc., the weight of truck and its equipment being two thousand four hundred pounds. The cost of the truck alone was eleven hundred
68
HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
dollars. The first fire the company was called to and in which the truck did service was that of July 17, 1871, when Spring's store was burned.
On the 18th day of July, 1871, the steamer " Wolverine" was ordered by council on the recommendation of his honor, Mayor Adams, and on October 9, 1871, the same arrived in Marshall. It was built by the Amoskeag Company of Manchester, New York, and is a second-class machine, numbered 375, and cost with the hose cart four thousand five hundred dollars. In 1874 a patent heater was attached to the steamer, since which time it has been con- stantly kept under steam, and the horses, two fine heavy bays, which were bought at the same time the steamer was purchased, are kept harnessed ready at a moment's warning to start on the run for the scene of destruction. At the reception of the steamer a hose company was organized called the Wolverine Hose Company, which is still attached to the department. At the last review of the department, May 17, 1877, a test of efficiency and speed was made by loca- ting the steamer, truck, Liberty No. 8, and the hose cart at a distance of a square from a central cistern and well, and at a given signal each leaving the station as- signed and charging for the common centre, and getting ready for the duties in- cumbent upon each in time of actual service. The results were very complimen- tary to the companies.
The Rescue Hook and Ladder Company is the only exclusively volunteer company in the city, and they are now holding the champion trumpet of the State for efficiency and celerity of movement. The uniform of the Rescue was bought at a cost of three hundred and seventy-five dollars, and consists of the New York regulation fire hat, eight cones, red shirt, black belt, and black pants. When originally organized it had forty members, but now numbers fifty. The department numbers one hundred and twenty-seven men and officers, and one chief and two assistant engineers.
John Ross, the chief engineer, has been in the city volunteer department for twenty-one consecutive years. The assistant engineers are O. C. Tompkins, first, and J. F. Gans, second.
Rescue Hook and Ladder Company has fifty men, and is officered as follows : John Smythe, foreman ; Charles A. Dibble, first assistant; H. W. Raymond, second assistant ; Z. S. Denison, secretary ; W. R. Lewis, treasurer. W. A. Coles was foreman and secretary three years.
Liberty Company has sixty men, and its officers are as follows: Antoine Egler, foreman ; John Hetkorn, assistant; Fred. Schneidman, secretary ; Fred. Karstaedt, treasurer.
Wolverine Hose Company has twelve men : Ed. Butler, foreman. W. H. Wells, its late secretary and treasurer, was accidentally injured after the close of the review, May 17, 1877, and died in consequence thereof, and was buried by the department and the Masonic fraternity on Sunday, June 3. The steamer has a driver and engineer.
The city built an engine-house in 1867, on State street, between Eagle and Jefferson, which is thirty by eighty feet and two stories high, surmounted by a bell-tower and look-out station. The engines are kept on the first floor, and the second one is occupied by the council-room and city recorder's office and the fire- man's hall. It cost six thousand nine hundred dollars, including the lower, which was built in 1874.
THE WATER-SYSTEM
of Marshall is as unique as it is exhaustive. In 1856 the council negotiated with Arthur M. Odell for a water-supply, either by logs or pipes, but nothing came of the proposed system. In 1859, Mayor Dibble, in his inaugural as the first mayor of the city, among other recommendations urged upon the council the pressing necessity for an adequate water-supply, and the council, in 1860, proceeded to ex- periment on artesian wells, paying seven hundred and forty-six dollars and ninety- seven cents for one three hundred feet deep. At his second inaugural, in 1861, Mayor Hughes called the attention of the council to the question of the practi- cability of the artesian system, and suggested the nature of the underlying rock to be such that it was of very doubtful propriety to expend further money in the experiment. But the experiment was carried on at considerable cost, until it was demonstrated that the deep boring was a useless and unprofitable expenditure. In 1872 a system of artesian wells, of shallow depth, was believed to be practi- cable, and to be secured by driving stand-pipes through the soil and rock to what were hoped to be inexhaustible natural reservoirs. The experiment was tried, and the theory demonstrated to be according to the facts, and contracts were accordingly made on the 15th of April, 1872, for more wells, distributed in various parts of the city. These proving to be successful in operation and in- exhaustible in supply, more have been driven about the city, until, at the present time, there are thirty-three of these wells owned by the city, and named in honor of the aldermen of the same. The cost of the same has been six thousand dol- lars. They are simple in construction, being merely an iron pipe driven to the
depth of from eighteen to seventy feet, at which depth it seems to reach an immense reservoir of water underlying the whole city. In these pipes the water rises to a certain height, varying from three feet upward to twenty-eight feet from the surface of the ground. The head of the pipe is fitted with a hydrant-pipe, to which the hose of the steamer is attached, and when the air in the pipe above the water-level is exhausted the water flows up, the pipe forming simply a con- tinuation of the hose, the water being lifted by the suction of the engine. These wells have been drawn from in this manner by the steamer for many hours con- tinuously without any perceptible diminution of the supply of water therein.
THE POLICE DEPARTMENT
is in charge of the city marshal, who is the chief. There is but one patrolman, who is on duty every night ; but a reserve force of five men in each ward are sub- ject to orders in case of emergency. The police magistrates are the regularly chosen justices of the peace, the present incumbents being Hon. S. S. Lacey, Charles M. Whiting, Esq., M. D. Strong, Esq., and H. A. Reed, Esq. The county jail serves the city for a lock-up.
The streets are lighted by forty-two gas-burners located at the corners of the streets in the business portion of the city, and elsewhere about the residence portion as required, the gas being supplied by the Marshall Gas Company.
THE BRIDGES.
In 1864 the stone (arched) bridge over Rice creek was constructed at a cost of four thousand five hundred dollars, and in 1867 the iron bridge was built, at an expense of three thousand one hundred and fifty dollars, over the Kalamazoo.
THE MARSHALL CEMETERY
was first opened to the public in 1839. Previous to this date the dead were sepultured in a little plat of ground in the village selected by John D. Pierce and Isaac E. Crary on land belonging to Isaac N. Hurd, and in which plat Mr. Hurd was himself the first burial within a week after the plat was selected, he being the first victim of the cholera. Mrs. John D. Pierce was the second burial, and was interred July 25, 1832, less than a week after Mr. Hurd's death. After the new cemetery was opened the old plat fell into disuse, and the remains already resting there were, many of them at least, taken up and reinterred in the new grounds. The Marshall Cemetery Company was incorporated in 1840; Jabez S. Fitch, Daniel Hudson, and James P. Greeves being the incorporators. The grounds originally contained 11.44 acres, and form a portion of the present ceme- tery, which contains thirty acres. The common council of the city, in conformity with an enabling act passed by the legislature in 1850 for the purpose, in 1852 assumed control of the cemetery, and added, in 1859, fourteen and a half acres, and more subsequently. The cost of the city's improvements has been one thou- sand and thirty-six dollars. There have been two thousand three hundred and fifty-five interments in the grounds since its opening to March 19, 1877. The cemetery is very pleasantly and eligibly situated on the high grounds south of the river and east of Marshall avenue, and overlook the city and country round about for some distance. Grading has been done to some extent, but the greater part of the ornamentation of the grounds has been done by individuals, whose loved ones are sleeping quietly beneath the grass and flowery sod.
POPULATION.
In 1860 the census returns revealed a population in the first ward of the city of 1536 souls, and 2044 in the second ward, total 3580, and who dwelt in 793 houses. In 1870 the total population amounted to 4925 persons, constituting 1115 families with 1085 domiciles. They were divided among the different wards as follows : First ward, 797; second, 1006; third, 1610; fourth, 1512. 2369 were males, and 2556 were of the opposite sex. In 1874 the population was not returned by wards. The total number of inhabitants as shown by the census of that year was 4623; 2224 being males and 2399 females. Of males of the mili- tary age, between twenty-one and forty-five years, there were 724; 447 were exempt from draft by reason of age, 27 of the latter being over seventy-five years of age. Of ladies of marriageable age there were 830, while those who exceeded the limit of the professor of social statistics-forty years-numbered 577, 28 being beyond the age of seventy-five years. The benedicts exceeded the bach- elors largely, there being 877 of the former to 224 of the latter over twenty-one years of age. The same disparity, too, was noticable among the ladies; the matrons numbering 886, and their maiden sisters over eighteen years tallying but 315.
THE POLITICAL BIAS
of the voters of the city of Marshall it shown by the balloting at the Presiden- tial elections. In 1860 the vote stood thus : first ward-Republican, 184,
..
.
BENJAMIN F. CURTIS.
SEE BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH, PAGE 73.
RESIDENCE OF BENJAMIN F. CURTIS, MARSHALL, MICHIGAN.
DANIEL WOOLSEY.
The subject of this sketch, Daniel Woolsey, is one of the sterling, reliable citizens of Mar- shall township, of which he has been a resi- dent upon his present location for more than forty years. He was born in Colchester, Dela- ware county, New York, March 5, 1808, and removed with his father to Covert, Seneca county, in the same State, in 1828, where he resided until 1836, when he came to Calhoun County, and located upon his present farm, which he had purchased from the Government the fall previous. He was married February 15, 1832, to Juliana Shaver, of Colchester, New York, who died September 2, 1862, leav- ing five children, all married and well settled in Calhoun County, viz .: Sarah G., now Mrs. Benjamin M. Templeton ; Richard H., George S., Mary E., now Mrs. A. G. Rowley; and Clarinda M., now Mrs. James R. Huggett. On the 26th day of September, 1863, Mr. Woolsey took to himself another wife in the person of Susan Sniffin, of Seneca county, New York, who died October 15, 1865, leaving him again alone and desolate ; and finding his lonely condition unbearable, he married again, on September 19, 1866, Mrs. Samantha L. Perci-
DANIEL WOOLSEY.
val, of Galesburg, Kalamazoo county, Michigan. Mr. Woolsey began his political partisanship by espousing the anti-Masonic cause, and then joined the Whig ranks, and has been identified with the Republican party since its first organi- zation. He was elected supervisor of Marshall township in 1861, and held the position eight years continuously, and was treasurer of the township bounty fund during the war of the Rebellion. He united with the Baptist church at the age of twenty-two years, and has ever since been an active and zealous member thereof, officiating for several years as a deacon therein. When he first purchased his land it was wild and unimproved, but by his labors he has brought it forward to its present excellent state of cultivation and improvement. The third year of his residence thereon he was attacked with sickness, and was confined to the house for two years, during which time he lost his harvest, and endured the severest hardships and priva- tions; but the principle which has actuated him through life was not forsaken even under those most trying circumstances, and to-day, at the age of almost threescore years and ten, he can say, as he does say with just pride, he never owed a debt he could not pay at sight.
RESIDENCE OF DANIEL WOOLSEY, MARSHALL, MICHIGAN.
69
HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Democratic, 166; second ward-Republican, 252, Democratic, 221. Total, Re- publican, 436 ; Democratic, 387.
In 1864 the voting lists wore a different complexion, standing as follows : Republican-first ward, 150, second ward, 202; Democratic-first ward, 167; second ward, 258. Total, Republican, 352; Democratic, 425.
In 1868 the tally-lists revealed a Democratic ascendency of 93 majority, the vote being thus: Democratic-first ward, 66 ; second ward, 102; third ward, 183; fourth ward, 207. Total Democratic, 558. Republican-first ward, 101; second ward, 124; third ward, 145; fourth ward, 105. Total Republican, 475.
In 1872 the Democratic majority fell to 21, the vote being as follows : Re- publican-first ward, 103; second ward, 118; third ward, 130; fourth ward, 114; Total, 465. Democratic-first ward, 72 ; second ward, 83 ; third ward, 153; fourth ward, 178. Total, 486.
In 1876 the Democratic majority was 95, the balloting being as follows : Democratic-first ward, 87; second ward, 103; third ward, 166; fourth ward, 194. Total, 550. Republican-first ward, 100; second ward, 120; third ward, 141; fourth ward, 94. Total, 455. Peter Cooper and General Carey, the " Green- back" candidates, received none. This last vote, 1005, would indicate a popula- tion of 5000.
On the reception of the news of the assassination of President Lincoln the common council passed strong condemnatory resolutions, expressing utter detes- tation for the crime and criminals.
During the war for the Union, Marshall was prompt in filling her quotas, and offered large bounties to encourage enlistments. Her citizens responded at the first call for troops, and sent a company composed largely of residents of the city, who participated in the first Bull Run battle ; one of her citizens being the first Michigan man to fall in the war. Calvin Colegrove, color-bearer of the gallant First Infantry of Michigan, Hubbard Crittenton, Buck, Dickey, and Com- stock, and others as brave, bore upon many bloody fields the name of Marshall forward to distinguished honor, and gave to it imperishable fame.
We are under obligations to Hon. Charles T. Gorham, late United States min- ister to the Hague, Hon. Charles P. Dibble, George S. Wright, Esq., James A. Way, Esq., C. M. Brewer, Esq., Seth Lewis, Esq., and Morgan Bates, Esq. (for files of the Statesman from 1839 to 1877), Z. H. Denison (for files of the Ex- pounder), William R. McCall, Hon. Preston Mitchell, David Cunningham, Esq., city recorder, W. R. Lewis, Esq., assistant postmaster, and W. A. Coles, Esq., for valuable information given and assistance rendered in the compilation of the his- tory of Marshall city.
THE TOWNSHIP OF MARSHALL.
LEGAL CONSTITUTION.
ORIGINALLY the township included in its limits the entire territory of Cal- houn County, and was a constituent of Kalamazoo county. It was so declared to be by the legislative council of the Territory of Michigan, in 1832, but no election was ever held under that law for a representation in the county board of supervisors of Kalamazoo. The name was spelled "Marshal" then, but on its reorganization, March 29, 1833, when it became one of the three constituent townships of Calhoun County, organized at the same time, the name was spelled Marshall, as at present, and the township was so named in honor of Hon. S. S. Marshall, then chief-justice of the supreme bench of the United States. At its reorganization, the township included townships numbered on the United States public surveys 3 and 4, in ranges 4 and 5, and 1, 2, 3, and 4, in range 6 west. In 1834 Homer was organized, and included the first-named townships (3 and 4, ranges 4 and 5). Tekonsha in 1836, Convis in 1837, and Fredonia in 1838 drew from the territory of Marshall townships 4, 1, and 3, range 6, respectively, leaving it but a single surveyed township. In 1859 two miles square, including sections 25 and 26, south half of sections 23 and 24, and north half of sections 35 and 36, were set off and included in the corporate limits of the city of Mar- shall, leaving the township as it is at present constituted.
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