USA > Michigan > Calhoun County > History of Calhoun county, Michigan, With Illustrations descriptive of its scenery > Part 40
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ALBION FIRE DEPARTMENT.
To guard against the ravages of the fiery element has been the aim of every community, and few indeed are the villages to whom the necessity has not been taught by dire experience. Prior to the incorporation of the village the town had purchased and was owner of a small fire-engine, but practically it was of slight utility. In 1856 the corporation purchased an excellent hand-engine, at a cost of sixteen hundred dollars. A fire department was organized, with the following- named officers: George Hannas, foreman ; W. H. Bidwell, assistant secretary ; and C. W. Dalrymple, treasurer. The present officers are F. W. Sheldon, fore- man ; Augustus Gale, assistant; John Phipps, secretary ; and John Fanning,
treasurer. The department include among their fixtures hooks and ladders, truck, and hose carriage. The whole is in charge of a chief engineer.
TOWN-MEETINGS AND OFFICIALS.
Natives of New England, or sprung from New England families, the pioneers of Albion brought with them and planted here the same customs and enjoyed the same privileges common at the old homes. Officers were needed, and the ques- tion of an election being mooted, a caucus was convened in the road opposite the residence of Charles D. Holmes, who, it may be stated, still occupies his original entry, and is the only one in the township so situated. At this caucus about a score of voters were present. During the meeting they sat upon a rail fence, and put in nomination officers to serve during the year 1838. The meeting was one- sided and thoroughly democratic. The first annual town-meeting was held in April, 1837, at the house of A. Becker. William M. Pearl was chosen moderator, and Stephen Blodgett secretary. The following-named persons were duly de- clared elected : For Supervisor, James Sheldon ; Clerk, William Farley ; Asses- sors, Cyrus Robertson and Ashbell Hewell; Commissioners of Highways, Charles D. Holmes and David Peabody ; Justices, A. W. Walker, L. D. Collimer, and James Henderson ; Collector, George Bass; Constables, Clark Knowles, William Grimes, George Bass, and J. Harris; School Commissioners, Cato Millington, George Bass, and James Sheldon ; Inspectors of the Poor, Seth Knowles and Levy Peabody ; Path-masters, L. B. Ring, Zenas Phelps, Stephen Willis, John Bennett, Charles D. Holmes, William Knickerbocker, Perry Armstrong, Ashley Harris, and W. Hopkins.
The present township officers are-Supervisor, Martin C. Benham ; Clerk, Wil- liam S. Marsh ; Treasurer, John A. Tompkins; Commissioner of Highways, Charles M. Snyder; Drain Commissioner, Alexander Cunningham ; Justices, A. B. Hare, William Howard, William P. Morrison, and Willis P. Gardner ; Super- intendent of Schools, S. E. Blashfield ; School Inspector, C. T. Smith ; Constables, H. W. Crittenden, George Derning, W. A. Cunningham, and Ira J. Lambson.
The following is a list of the supervisors of the town of Albion from its organ- ization to the present time, together with the time of each official's service : James W. Sheldon, 1837; William Farley, 1838-39; Jesse Crowell, 1840; William Farley, 1841-42; Cyrus Robertson, 1843; Frederick Wheelock, 1844 and 1846 ; Henry W. Harris, 1845, 1848-49; Charles D. Holmes, 1847, 1850-51, 1864- 71; Samuel Hexford, 1852; William Farley, 1853, 1856; David F. Farley, 1857 and 1860; Henry Drake, 1861-62; William M. Knickerbocker, 1863, 1873-74; Osman Rice, 1870 (resigned); Abram Gridley, 1872; Anthony B. Hays, 1875; and Martin C. Benham, 1876.
The assessment of 1876 for revenue purposes for the current fiscal year, 1876- 77, was fixed by the board of supervisors as follows : Real estate, $564,141 ; per- sonal property, $95,200 ; total, $659,341. On this valuation the following taxes were levied : For State purposes, $2196.71 ; for county purposes, $3899.50 ; for township expenses, $518.10; the mill-tax, $1189.90; roads, $252.70; schools, $7367.16 ; other purposes, $434.49 ; total taxes, $15,858.56; liquor taxes, 1876, $676.50 ; total revenue, $16,535.06.
POPULATION.
The census returns of 1860 place the population of Albion township at 939 persons, composing 166 families, and of Albion village at 1720 persons, composing 329 families. In 1870 the returns gave Albion, including that portion of the village lying in Albion township (the village proper not being returned separately) 2409 persons residing therein. In 1874 the village was not returned separately from the township, and the whole population of the latter was given as 2614, 1304 of the persons being males and 1310 females. Of the 737 males over twenty-one years of age, 458 were liable to military duty, and 279 were past such burden in time of need, unless voluntarily in the ranks. Of 830 females over eighteen years, 523 were of the age designated by the social statistician the maternal age, being under forty years of age, and 307 had passed beyond that age. Of the males over twenty-one years of age, 536 were or had been heads of families, and 170 had not enjoyed that honorable distinction. Of the females over eighteen years, 537 had promised to love and honor, if not to obey, a liege lord, and 195 had never submitted to any such loss of independence.
THE POLITICAL BIAS
of the people of Albion is best shown by the balloting at the presidential elections, which resulted as follows : in 1840 the Democratic vote was 124, and the Whigs polled 40 ; in 1844 the pendulum began to swing to the other end of its arc, the Democrats polling 152 votes, the Whigs 143, and the Liberty men numbering a half-dozen ; in 1848 the Democratic vote was 173, the Whig 157, and the Freesoilers were 15 ; in 1852 the Democrats polled 183 votes, the Whigs 181, and
JACOB ANDERSON
L. H. EVERTS & CO. LITH . 716 FILBERT ST. PHILA.
RESIDENCE AND FARM OF JACOB AND
MRS. JACOB ANDERSON
JACOB ANDERSON, ALBION TP, CALHOUN CO., MICH.
GILBERT , DEL.
109
HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
the Abolitionists 9 ; in 1856 the young Republican party polled 271 votes, and the Democratic vote was 192; in 1860 Lincoln received 313 votes, Douglas, 191, Breckenridge, 9, and Bell, 4 ; in 1864 the Republican vote was 295, and the Democratic 219; in 1868 the same parties cast 349 and 264 votes respectively ; in 1872 the Republicans cast 328 votes, and the Democrats gave Mr. Greeley 229, O'Conor 2, and Jere. Black received 15 votes; in 1876 Governor Hayes, the Republican candidate, received 402 votes, Governor Tilden received 321, and Peter Cooper had a single friend.
In the rebellion Albion sent her citizens to the front to support the flag and defend the integrity of the Union against its armed foes promptly and numerously. She had a company in the celebrated Mechanics' and Engineers' regiment, Captain John B. Yates, one in the Sixth Michigan Infantry, Captain Harrison Soules, besides detachments in every other regiment in which Calhoun County was repre- sented. The reputation of her soldiers was second to none in the field, and they gave to their township, their county, their State, and the Union their bravest efforts and their best blood.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
JACOB ANDERSON.
The subject of the present sketch is of German and Dutch extraction, the ancestors of his father and mother coming from Germany and Holland respect- ively, in the early part of the seventeenth century, to America. His parents, William and Margaret (Demott) Anderson, were natives of New Jersey, where Jacob was born, in Reading, Hunterdon county, October 5, 1818. He resided with them until he was twenty-four years of age, at which time he married Eliza Flumerfelt, daughter of George and Margaret (Henry) Flumerfelt, natives of New Jersey also and of Dutch descent. The young people at once began to carve out a home for themselves, working to that end on the farm of the husband's father in Oxford, Warren county, New Jersey, until 1853, when, in April of that year, they came to Macomb county, Michigan, where Mr. Anderson left his family for six months, and spent the time himself principally in traveling through Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan, seeking a location, and ended his search most satisfactorily by selecting his present location on sections 15 and 16, in the township of Albion, purchasing two hundred acres, to which he has added subsequently two hundred acres, three hundred and fifty acres of which are under the plow. The only improvements there were on the farm at the date of his pur- chase were a log house and a stone stable, from which condition Mr. Anderson has brought it to its present rank among the best, highest cultivated, and most productive farms in Calhoun County. He has been one of the few prominent wool-growers of the county, his clip running from two thousand to two thousand four hundred pounds per year, an average of six pounds per sheep of washed wool. He has always kept a flock of sheep, more or less numerous, since he began farming, and has now a fine one of some three hundred and fifty graded animals, whose wool is noted for its staple and weight per fleece. Mr. Anderson also raises from two thousand to two thousand five hundred bushels of wheat each year, the soil of his farm being excellently adapted to the culture of that cereal. On another page may be seen a view of the really elegant farm-house and capacious barns of Mr. Anderson, together with the portraits of himself and his worthy helpmeet. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Anderson are as follows : George F., now engaged as a commercial traveler, with headquarters at Topeka, Kansas; William A., who is now occupying the second purchase of the home- stead ; Margaret, now Mrs. J. H. Houck ; and Clark, unmarried and at home with his father. In politics, Mr. Anderson belongs to the Democratic school. He has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church since 1836, and Mrs. Anderson has been connected with the same church since 1840.
EDWIN H. JOHNSON.
The subject of the present sketch, Edwin H. Johnson, has been prominently known throughout Calhoun County for forty years, though for the most part he has held the post of honor, that of the private citizen. Until 1860 he was not known officially to the people of Calhoun, but since then he has been honorably connected with their most beneficent charity-the county almshouse. He has seen it expand from the expenditure of a few hundred dollars per annum doled
out, grudgingly and reluctantly, to a few needy persons absolutely, or nearly so, starving, scattered through the county, to the disbursement of over twenty thousand dollars yearly in cash, in addition to the products of a fine farm, which are consumed by the inmates of a comfortable and commodious almshouse, cared for humanely, and plentifully fed and clothed.
Mr. Johnson was born in Granville, Washington county, New York, October 4, 1811, his father, Daniel Johnson, being a native of Massachusetts, and his mother, Lovina (Parsons) Johnson, a native of Connecticut. His parents removed to Herkimer county, New York, when he was two years old, and he continued to reside with them until he was twelve, up to which time he had attended the dis- trict schools of the township in which he resided, wherein he gained all of the school education he ever had the opportunity of obtaining. At twelve years of age he was apprenticed to his father's brother to learn the hatter's trade, and re- mained with him till he was sixteen years old. From that time till he was twenty- one years old he worked at farming in Herkimer county, and then turned his attention to the millwright business, and followed it for three years in New York State, and in the spring of 1836 came to Michigan, and pursued his calling for eight years, until 1844, locating in Albion in 1839. In 1844, in company with Marvin Hannahs, he built a flouring-mill in Albion, and continued in the flouring business with Hannahs twenty years. In 1864 he disposed of his milling interest and engaged in farming and selling drugs and medicines, the latter branch of business being carried on in the village of Albion. These lines continued to engage his atten- tion until 1876, when he retired from active business, and is now quietly enjoying his otium cum dignitate in Albion, surrounded by his children, of whom he has four living.
On the 31st day of January, 1839, Mr. Johnson met his fate, and was united in marriage to an estimable lady, Miss Sophronia Thayer, a native of Romulus, Seneca county, New York, born in September, 1818, but at the time of her mar- riage a resident of Albion. She has borne to Mr. Johnson eight children, those now living being Edwin H., now of Rock Island, Illinois, Carrie G., Ida E., and Ada L., the latter two being twin sisters. Mr. Johnson was a Whig formerly when that party was in existence, but joined the Republican party on its rise, and has been connected therewith to the present time.
In 1860 he was elected by the board of supervisors of the county one of the county superintendents of the poor for a term of three years, and re-elected in 1867, and has held the position continuously ever since by re-election at each succeeding term.
Mr. and Mrs. Johnson are leading members of the Presbyterian church of Albion, Mr. Johnson having been one of its trustees for twenty-five years past.
Mr. Johnson's continued re-election to the responsible position of county su- perintendent of the poor-where judgment to discriminate between real merit and imposition, firmness to do what is right regardless of clamor, and delicacy in ministering to the wants of the unfortunate, are essential to full success-is the best proof of the estimation in which he is held by his fellow-citizens of Calhoun.
On another page of our work, in connection with the history of the noble charity of Calhoun with which Mr. Johnson has so long and honorably been connected, we present his portrait, with those of his coadjutors for the past nine years,-Judge Tolman W. Hall, of Battle Creek, and A. O. Hyde, of Marshall, -as also a view of the almshouse and its worthy and humane keeper, H. L. White.
110
HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
CHARLES D. HOLMES.
The pioneer whose name forms the caption of our sketch, Charles D. Holmes, comes of Scotch-Irish parentage. His ancestor numbering fourth from him, Abraham Holmes, emigrated from the north of Ireland to America in 1717, and located in Londonderry, New Hampshire. His son, John, had nine children, one of whom, Thomas, was the grandfather of Charles D. He married Margaret Patterson, by whom he had twelve children, the second son being Peter, born October 10, 1783, and who married Olive Graves, December 26, 1809, by whom nine children were born to him, the second son being the subject of our sketch, Charles D. Holmes, who was born in the town of West Boylston, Worcester county, Massachusetts, July 20, 1814, and resided there until 1825, when he removed with his father to Amherst, Hampshire county, in the same State, where he re- sided until 1833, attending the Amherst academy, and assisting in his father's business of the manufacture of fanning-mills. In the spring of the last-named year, the father and older brother and himself located the present farm of Mr. Holmes, on sections 22 and 23 in Albion township, purchasing one hundred and twenty acres, adding other lands subsequently, until, at one time, the family owned eight hundred acres. Mr. Holmes' present farm contains one hundred and fifty acres, and is most excellently tilled, with improvements of the best character and quality. He has been given to travel somewhat, having made two trips to Cal- ifornia, and also to Colorado, and was a member of the first convention to frame a constitution for the State. In 1851 Mr. Holmes' mother died, and the father followed July 14, 1860.
Mr. Holmes was married on the 16th day of October, 1836, to Nancy Young, daughter of Peter Young, a native of New Jersey. She was born in that State, December 1, 1812, and removed therefrom, with her parents, to Cayuga county, New York ; and from thence, in 1835, to Michigan. Mr. Holmes keeps up the reputation of his ancestors in raising large families, having had borne to him the following children : Olive H., now Mrs. Daniel Taylor, of Marshall; Henry C., of Muskegon county, Michigan ; Sarah J., now Mrs. Chauncey Saunders, of Union City, Branch county ; Franklin G., now a prominent lawyer of Grand Rapids ; Caroline E., now Mrs. Waldron Foster, of Coldwater ; George W., of Muskegon ; Mary A., now Mrs. Henry Webb, of Medina, New York ; Charles L., of Mar- shall ; Eva E., now Mrs. Manly Houston, of Fredonia; Edwin P., on the home- stead with his parents ; and Harriet P., who was born in 1857, and died in 1864.
In politics, Mr. Holmes is a Republican, being formerly a member of the Whig party, and cast his first vote in 1836 for General Harrison. He was the first commissioner of highways of Albion, and has held the position of supervisor of his township for fifteen years, besides other town offices from time to time. He was elected register of deeds of Calhoun County in 1872, and re-elected in 1874, holding the office four years, and was a member of the constitutional convention of Michigan in 1867. He has been a member of the Presbyterian church for thirty-eight years, and his most estimable companion for forty years has been a communicant of the same denomination. He has been liberal towards all public institutions, and the church of his preference has ever found in him a stanch supporter and generous friend.
THOMAS HOLMES.
A fine specimen of vigorous age, combining the freshness and elasticity of youth with the ripeness and wisdom of mature years, is Thomas Holmes, of Albion township. He was born March 12, 1817, and has never been confined to his bed by illness to the present time. Well preserved, at peace with himself and the rest of mankind, he is apparently destined to pass many years of quiet enjoyment yet to come among his children and children's children. He was the fifth in a family of nine children born to his parents, Colonel Peter and Olive (Graves) Holmes, natives of New Hampshire. He was born in West Boylston, Worcester county, Massachusetts. His father, who was born in Londonderry, New Hamp- shire, in October, 1783, was a manufacturer and merchant, and largely interested in building and operating one of the first cotton-mills in that part of New Eng- land. At the close of the War of 1812 this enterprise became involved in the general disaster that befell the entire manufacturing interests of the country, and Colonel Holmes lost his entire investment, a misfortune from which he did not find it easy to recover. In 1833 he resolved to seek a home in Michigan, and in the spring of that year, accompanied by his two eldest sons, he came to Calhoun County, and located on the northeast quarter, section 23, in Albion, and built the fourth log house in the township, the remainder of the family coming on in the fall of the same year. At this time there was not a store, school-house, post- office, or church within fifteen miles ; no bridges, and the roads were but trails. The family were ten days in getting from Detroit to Albion, and in coming through what is now known as Main street in the city of Jackson they were mired in a black-ash swamp.
The subject of our sketch received a common school education, and lived with his father until twenty-five years of age, when he purchased the east half, section 14, in Albion, upon which he now resides. In the fall of 1842 he put in one hundred and twenty acres of wheat, from which he harvested the succeeding year three thousand bushels of grain. His land was wild oak openings when he pur- chased, and is now, after the lapse of thirty-five years, one of the most excellent farms in the county,-the transformation being effected by Mr. Holmes's own efforts, ably seconded by his admirable wife and children. A view of his fine buildings may be seen on another page. On the 25th day of March, 1847, Mr. Holmes was united in marriage to Miss Caroline S. Luce, who has borne to him six children, all of whom are now living. She was born in Gaines, Orleans county, New York, April 9, 1822. In 1851 Mr. Holmes went to California, where he remained three years. He is a member of the Presbyterian church.
SAMUEL E. DOUGLASS.
The subject of this sketch came to the town of Albion November 19, 1832, from Parma, Monroe county, New York. His family consisted of himself, wife, and three children. They came by water to Detroit, thence by team to Ypsilanti,
WM. A. WARNER.
MRS. WM. A. WARNER.
RESIDENCE OF WM. A. WARNER, ALBION, CALHOUN CO., MICH.
CHANDLER M. CHURCH.
MRS. LURA CHURCH.
( GILBERT, DEL. )
( FIRST FRAMEHOUSE IN ALBION, ERECTED BYWAREHAM WARNER IN 1835.) RESIDENCE OF MRS. LURA CHURCH, AND RESIDENCE OF THE LATE WAREHAM WARNER., ALBION, MICHIGAN.
111
HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
and from there mostly on foot, an ox-team carrying their possessions. They arrived at their destination in a driving storm of snow and sleet, with garments frozen stiff, and without house to shelter or fire to warm them. No lumber could be had nearer than Jackson, so they were compelled to put up a log house, with a " shake" roof and white-ash floor. While it was building they stayed with some friends in the town of Homer, and when finished they moved in and com- menced to erect for themselves a home, as other pioneers had done elsewhere; by toil and privation, economy and perseverance, they made the inert forces of nature succumb to the animate powers of man-the wilderness was turned into fertile fields of grain and fruit-teeming orchards.
Samuel E. Douglass is deceased, but his widow, Mrs. Lucretia Douglass, sur- vives, and is residing in Albion. Their eldest son, Delos, is also dead; their remaining children, Lee P. and Daniel R., are living respectively in Jackson, Michigan, and Pioche, Nevada.
Among other reminiscences kindly furnished us by Mrs. Douglass, we excerpt the following: "The first school taught in the township was in the fall of 1833, in one room of Samuel Douglass' log house, by Violetta Leach. The first few years we were in Michigan we had a good many encounters with the Indians, but I soon gained their friendship, and then did not fear them so much. During the winter of 1834-35 the settlers had much trouble with them, but we, fortunately, escaped persecution, as they considered my brother the chief, and so called him. I had considerable influence with them on account of being the chief's sister. They encamped in the woods all about us, and would frequently go to Bellevue and Marshall and get intoxicated, at which times they were very hostile. I have stayed all alone with my children, seven miles from any white persons, and my husband away, when the Indians would come at night, intoxicated, and try to crawl down the chimney, but never happened to effect an entrance. Often they would come fifty at a time, and hang about the house for two or three hours. During the Black Hawk war a party went by, and soon after two young savages came back all painted up, seeing which my fears were greatly aroused, but I knew it would not do to let them know I was afraid. One asked for a drink of bish (water); I told him there was none in the house, gave him a pail, and told him to go and get some. They refused, and demanded I should get it. I replied, ' I will not.' They responded that I must, whereupon I picked up my baby and said I would go and tell schmokeman (white chief), when they looked at each other, laughed, conferred together for a few moments, and went off in an opposite direction from the main party. My husband being absent, and not returning until ten o'clock that night, I think I underwent more torture than at any other time during all our pioneer life."
WILLIAM A. WARNER.
Prominent among the thrifty and prosperous yeomanry of Calhoun County stands the subject of our present sketch, William A. Warner, who, though some- what of a rover in his earlier days, is at present located on one of the best farms of Albion township, which he purchased in 1840, and has resided thereon for the greater portion of the time since. He was a non-commissioned officer in the patriot army of General Sam. Houston, in the war of independence in Texas, for two years, and was engaged in trade in California during the first rush to that El Dorado in 1849. He came to Michigan in 1834 with his father, Wareham Warner, and his family, settling with them in South Albion, Calhoun County. He bought his first location for himself in 1838, and sold the same in 1840, pur- chasing the same year his present one of three hundred acres, to which he has added sixty-five more subsequently, which is situated on section 6, in Albion township. He owns, besides, other tracts in Marengo township. On his present farm there was no house, and but little improvement when he bought it, and by his own industry and management he has brought it to its present excellent state of cultivation. A view of his comfortable dwelling and capacious barns will be seen on another page of our work. He has paid considerable attention to stock- raising. Mr. Warner was born in the township of Gorham, Ontario connty, New York, and was united in marriage, April 9, 1839, to Mary J., daughter of Asahel and Julia ( Wilcox) Finch, natives of the State of New York.
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