USA > Michigan > Calhoun County > History of Calhoun county, Michigan, With Illustrations descriptive of its scenery > Part 51
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The first school-house in district No. 6 was built after the one in No. 5, and stood on the northeast corner of the Vroman farm. It was a frame building, and was afterwards removed, the district having been changed. The present building stands on the farm of G. W. Hayes, on section 26.
In district No. 7 the first school-house was probably built much later, as this is mostly a timbered district yet, and but thinly settled.
CHURCHES.
The second religious society in the township was organized by the Presbyterians, July 1, 1839, at the house of Edward L. Rogers, with about ten members, which increased to twenty within a few days. Rev. Dr. Cleveland, of Marshall, and Rev. Elias Child, of Albion, organized the church. Rev. Mr. Johnson, a student under Mr. Cleveland, and at that time not ordained, gave them half his time for one year, and was their first pastor. The first elders were Edward L. Rogers and William C. Pringle ; the latter was also deacon. Medad Bordwell was soon after elected elder and deacon. The first sermon preached in Eckford by a Presbyte- rian minister was by Rev. Calvin Clark, now residing in Marshall, who was then a missionary preacher, having his field of labor over the entire State. He occa- sionally preached for this congregation after it was organized.
The second pastor was Rev. Mr. Mason, then living in Marshall. He was a man about sixty years of age, and preached for them three years and a half. Following him came Revs. Lewis Mill, three years ; Justin Marsh, three (possi- bly four) years ; Samuel Sessions, three years ; Hosea Kittredge, three years;
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HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
James Walker, four years; Mr. McCreary, from New York, about a year ; Mr. Shope, two years ; Calvin Clark, one year ; Mr. Fancher, of Homer, one year ; James Donaldson, two years. The church is now without a regular pastor, and the congregation is few in numbers. Edward L. Rogers was sessions clerk for over twenty years, and in 1863 left and came to Marshall. When he parted from the congregation there were seventy-five members, while at present there are only about thirty-five. This church has been one of the most influential in the county. Many of the older members have moved away or deceased, and in that way the congregation has been greatly reduced. The first meetings were held at the " yellow school-house." The present neat frame church was built in 1868, and is surmounted with a spire. It is thirty-six by sixty feet in dimensions, and will seat about three hundred persons. For a long time the congregation possessed a very fine choir, but many of the members are gone. At present an organ is used. The Methodists occupy the church a portion of the time. A Presbyterian Sabbath-school was organized early, and with a large number of members was kept in a flourishing condition until recently. Its first superintendent was Charles Bordwell, who held the position until his death, which occurred in September, 1864. He was a man much respected by those who knew him. The Sabbath- school had at one time a very good library of over a hundred volumes. The church stands on the northeast corner of section 15, on rising ground, command- ing a fine view of the beautiful plain to the south and east, and showing promi- nently from a distance.
The oldest church organization in the township is that of the Free-Will Bap- tists, which was organized by Elder Samuel Whitcomb, in the fall of 1835. Mr. Whitcomb became its first pastor, and had charge a number of years. The other original officers of the congregation were Elijah Cook, clerk, and Chester Smith, .deacon. The latter afterwards went away with the Mormons. Jolin Blake, of Clarendon, was one of the early deacons. Elder H. S. Limbocker followed Mr. Whitcomb as second pastor, and also stayed a number of years. The third regular pastor was Elder Cyrus Coltran. Elder John Thomas preached occasionally, but was never installed as pastor. The fourth pastor was Elder Daniel M. Graham, a graduate of the college at Oberlin, Ohio, and principal of the Michigan Central college, at Spring Arbor, Michigan. After him came Elder Horace Wellington, who stayed a year or two. Elder Schuyler Aldrich came next, and preached ten winters. After him the pastors were Elders F. P. Auger, who stayed about two and a half years, during which time the church was built; O. D. Auger, one year and a half; G. R. Holt, three years ; John Ashley, six years ; A. W. Ensign, two years ; A. J. Marshall, a year and a half; John S. Copp; and G. H. Chap- pell, who is the present pastor.
The church is a neat and substantial frame building, surmounted with a spire, and cost, when built, about twenty-two hundred dollars. By using the gallery it will seat about four hundred people.
Some time before the church was built, a Sabbath-school was started and kept up part of the time. Since the erection of the church it has been held regularly. It is not strictly a sectarian school, but is made up of all denominations, although under the control of the Free-Will Baptist society. H. R. Cook was probably the first superintendent, when meetings were held in the school-house, before the
church was built. The present superintendent is Charles E. Darrow. At one time the school was possessed of a library, but the volumes were donated to poorer societies "in the north woods" of the State, and at present Sunday-school papers are used instead of books. The first Sabbath-school in the neighborhood was organized by the Methodists.
A Methodist Episcopal class was organized in 1839, which consisted of a small number of persons, among them probably William Herrick, Merines Brown, and others. Until 1855 no regular meetings were held, but about that time the con- gregation began to have preaching in the Olin district, and afterwards in the "yellow school-house." The first trustees were elected at a conference held at. Burlington, March 11, 1865, for the Tekonsha circuit, and were as follows : N. L.' Brockway, president ; Horace J. Smith, secretary ; Arzah C. Robinson, Daniel Budlong, John Skinner, William N. Hill, Robert Sackett, John C. Richfield, John Rogers. One of the early leaders was John Skinner. Robert Sackett was appointed leader about 1855-56. September 15, 1865, a piece of land contain- ing one hundred and five rods was purchased of Darius Bickford and wife, and the fine frame church now standing built upon it. The building was completed and dedicated in the spring of 1837. It has a tasty spire, and stands on a beau- tiful spot on section 17. The class was first on the Burlington circuit, then on the Tekonsha circuit, and is now an appointment on the Marengo circuit, at present under the charge of Rev. Mr. Young. A portion of the time the con- gregation holds its meetings in the building belonging to the Presbyterian society.
The Evangelical church was organized about 1860-62* by the Albright Methodists. Its first pastor was Rev. Joseph Fisher. The church organized with between thirty and forty members, and now has a membership of about sixty. The second pastor was Rev. Mr. Nicklawa, and he was followed by Revs. Michael Miller, James Shireman, Samuel Copley, and Mr. Kimmerling, who is the present pastor and resides at Ceresco. The frame church now standing was built about 1863-64.1 The Albright Methodists had meetings in the township as early as 1848, and were from Pennsylvania.
A Free Methodist society was organized in the southern part of the township about 1871-72, and its members are now constructing a frame church on section 33, to cost one thousand dollars. The building-lot is taken from the farm of S. Dennison.
Eckford has two cemeteries, one on section 17 and the other on section 13, both of them occupying beautiful sites, and being fitting resting-places for the remains of those who have passed forever away from among her inhabitants. Each con- tains the mortal clay which was once the bodies of many of her influential citizens and early settlers. The cemetery in Clarendon township, opposite the Free-Will Baptist church, also contains the remains of many of the earlier settlers, among them the Cooks, Daniel Dunakin, Elder Samuel Whitcomb, and others. The first burial in this yard was that of the body of Mr. Hayes, father of George W. Hayes, Esq., of Eckford. Those who lie in the different cemeteries lived long and useful lives, and now that their troubles are ended and they are no longer weary, let those who still remain unite in saying, Requiescat in pace !
* Authority of Abraham Giltner.
t By another authority, in 1869.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
DANIEL DUNAKIN.
DANIEL DUNAKIN.
The subject of our sketch was, in his lifetime, one of the most energetic and enterprising men in the community. Born in Niagara county, New York, April 19, 1810, he removed to Monroe county, in the same State, when but five years of age, with Mr. Henry Ketcham, with whom he remained in Monroe county until he attained his majority. He learned the mason's trade, which he followed until the winter of 1834, when he removed to Calhoun County, Michigan, and located the farm in the township of Eckford, now occupied by his widow. In July, 1833, he married Eliza Cook, in Clarkson, Monroe county, New York. By indomitable energy and perseverance, he cleared up and improved a farm of five hundred and forty-eight acres, which is one of the finest-improved tracts in Cal- houn County. He and his estimable wife together reared a comfortable home upon the old homestead, which, though darkened by the shadow of the Reaper who comes noiselessly and unbidden, has, nevertheless, been filled with a full share of life's joys and pleasures. Children came to bless the home with their bright, gladdening presence, and though their stay around the family hearth-stone was, in many instances, but a brief one, yet was their coming welcomed with joy. They were born in Calhoun County, and were as follows : Samuel Edward, died when six years old ; Myron W., died at two years ; Lotas A., died at five years ; Daniel D., when an infant ; Alice E., at four years ; and Albert H., at twenty- three years. Alma Sophia, now Mrs. Edward Owen, lives near the old farm ; Ada Catharine, now Mrs. Edward Cunningham, lives in Albion township; and Mary Frances, unmarried, is attending school at Hillsdale college.
In politics, Mr. Dunakin was a Whig and Republican, and was the supervisor of his township for several years. He also served one term in the State legislature in the years 1855-56, and while attending the session proposed the bill and ad- vocated its passage for the charter of the Hillsdale college, and was largely instru- mental in procuring its final enrollment as a law. He was a stanch friend of that institution from its inception till his death; was one of its directors from its founding during his life, and even in death did not cease his interest in it, leaving two thousand dollars of his estate for its benefit. His religious affiliations were with the Free-Will Baptists. He was of Irish descent, and died May 16, 1875, loved and respected by a large circle of friends, who highly esteemed him for him- self, as well as for his work's sake. He built the Marshall House, following his trade for several years subsequent to his first settlement in the county.
Mrs. Dunakin's parents were Elijah and Catharine (Rotherick ) Cook.
MRS. DANIEL DUNAKIN.
SOLON E. ROBINSON.
Among the many worthy citizens of Calhoun County, none stand higher in the estimation of their fellows than does Solon E. Robinson, of Eckford township. Upright in business, genial in manner, of sound judgment and irreproachable morals, Mr. Robinson enjoys the confidence and esteem of his fellow-citizens, that is a constant source of pleasure and satisfaction in his ripened years, when the frosts of fifty-seven winters have left their impress upon his head, visible in the silver which crowns it honorably and becomingly. His father, Chauncey Robinson, who was born in Dunham, Connecticut, December 5, 1794, and emigrated with his father, Nathan Robinson, therefrom to Sauquoit, Oneida county, New York, the same year, was a remarkable man. Though a pioneer in the heavily-timbered regions of western New York, and compelled to endure the arduous toil conse- quent upon clearing farms in that section of the country, this self-made son of the soil not only labored all day in the fields, and at the heavy work of the farm for years, but when nightfall closed the labors of the day he worked ofttimes far into the night, giving to his fellow-men the benefit of his vigorous mind through the press of the day. He gave his freshest and most advanced thought to the people on agriculture, politics, temperance, and religion ; giving his most trenchant and vigorous blows against slavery. They fell like sledge-hammers upon the cold iron, and though the sparks sometimes followed, yet, slowly and surely, they as- sisted to mould public sentiment, and he lived to see his beloved country free from end to end, and the taint of the gigantic crime wiped clean from the proud es- cutcheon of the nation. This done, one would think the old veteran would have rested upon his laurels ; but no rest is for such as he while there is a wrong to be redressed or a principle to be defended or advanced, and therefore his power was turned against the twin curse of the republic, intemperance, and his blows fell unceasingly again, as long as he had strength for the work. In 1812, he was married to Miss Anna Lewis, daughter of Ebenezer Lewis, of Oneida county, New York, who was a soldier in the Revolutionary army, serving in the cavalry. In 1813 the young couple removed to Clarendon, Orleans county, in the same
. State, then designated as the town of Murray, but subsequently divided into eight townships. He enlisted in the United States service about this time, in the war of 1812, and received an honorable discharge after the battle of Fort Erie, Sep- tember 14, 1814, in which he was a participant. In 1823 his wife died, leaving six small children, and the year following he married Mrs. Damaris Walker, who bore to him seven other children, having given birth to four by her former hus-
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HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
band. He removed to Holly, in the same State, in 1852, where he died in 1867. As a last and most precious legacy, he compiled from his voluminous writings a selection of his best thoughts on all the varied subjects which he discussed, and published them in a neat little volume, dedicating it to the seventeen living chil- dren who had gathered around his fireside in the days gone by. One of his daughters, now the wife of Andrew Jackson Davis, the Poughkeepsie seer, on behalf of the children paid the aged father and mother a most graceful, eloquent, and touching tribute, which forms the preface to the work.
Solon Eckford Robinson, the subject of our sketch, was born in the town of Clarendon, Orleans county, New York, August 17, 1820. His mother died in 1823, leaving himself and five brothers and sisters, he the fifth child, bereft of a mother's care. He remained with his father, going to the district school after he was fourteen years old, from two to three months in the winter, and working on the farm in the summer, until he attained his majority. During the year 1839 he attended the Clarkson academy, in Monroe county, New York, and taught school the winter of that year in Green Centre, in the last-named county. In the fall of 1841, in company with his father and others, he made a prospecting tour through portions of Ohio and Michigan, looking for a location for a future home. His father and one of his companions returned home from Ohio, and he and the other, Joseph C. Walker, continued their journey on foot, a distance of three hundred miles or more, through the heavily-timbered regions of the Maumee and northeastern Indiana, selecting at last twenty acres on sections 28 and 29, in Tekonsha township, on the river St. Joseph, which he bought of Peter Chisholm, in October. Mr. Robinson returned home and spent the winters of 1841-42 with his father, and in the spring following bade adieu to his much-loved friends, and turned his face to his western location, whither he went alone. The first crop he sowed was forty acres of wheat, doing the plowing, harrowing, and sow- ing himself, with the aid of a boy eight days and one yoke of oxen ; plowing the ground twice and harrowing it three times, and completing the work between June 1 and October 8. He worked some time in the harvest of that year, besides, to pay for his seed. He harvested from this seeding, in 1843, six hundred bushels, drawing it to market with his oxen to Homer and Marshall. In 1844, before he
was married, he built himself a log house, eighteen by twenty-four feet, and in 1846 set out an orchard of fifty trees. In 1845, January 22, Mr. Robinson was united in marriage to Miss Mary Jane Granger, daughter of Ithamar Granger, of Tekonsha, and formerly of Sweden, Monroe county, New York. Mr. Granger was born in Sheffield, Massachusetts, February 14, 1796, and removed with his parents to Oswego, Tioga county, New York, when quite young, and was married in 1817 to Cornelia Westfall, of the latter place. In 1819 he removed to western New York, and settled in Sweden, and in 1841, with his family of seven children, came to Michigan, locating in Tekonsha, Calhoun County, where he died December 3, 1849. Mrs. Granger was born January 17, 1800. Mrs. Robinson was born in Sweden, Monroe county, New York, January 29, 1824, and has borne to her husband five sons, viz., James C., Francis L., Ardwin D., Chauncey, and Velorus C. James enlisted in the Union ranks in the war of the Rebellion in 1864, when nineteen years of age, being a member of Company H, Merrill Horse, Captain George W. Rowell, and received an honorable discharge at the termination of the war.
In 1854, Mr. Robinson removed to Battle Creek ; in 1866, from thence to Le Roy, and from thence, in 1867, to his present location in Eckford. In politics, Mr .. Robinson is a Republican, having been connected formerly with the Whig party. He has held positions of trust and honor in the several townships in which he has resided, and from 1849 to 1867 was one of the county superintendents of the poor, and served one term in the State legislature of Michigan, in 1873. In 1855 he united with the Baptist church of Battle Creek, and was soon after chosen a deacon of the same, which position he held until his removal to Eckford, and is at present a member of the Baptist church of Marshall. His brother, Charles J. Robinson, removed to California, being sent there by Secretary Chase in charge of a large amount of greenbacks. He was a member of the First Wisconsin Infantry during the war, and afterwards assayer of the mint at Vir- ginia City, Nevada. He resided twelve years in California, holding the position of professor of physical culture in the public schools of San Francisco, and, at the time of his death, March 6, 1877, was deputy clerk and treasurer of the city of Oakland.
SHERIDAN TOWNSHIP.
THE township is situated in the east part of the county. Its designation on the maps of the old United States survey is "town 2, south ; range 4, west." Prior to, and at the period of settlement, it was a favorite Indian resort. Game abounded. Deer were most plentiful, and found rich pasturage upon the grasses, luxuriantly cropping from the borders of stream and lake. The coward wolf gave forth his diabolic howl at night, and the bear, like some spy, perched upon a huge tall tree, surveyed the landscape. Partridge, grouse, and turkeys flew in flocks, and in the streams were fish, choice and many. In such localities the Pottawato- mie found a home in consonance with his mode of life, and saw it occupied with helpless regret by a dominant race. Yet there was friendship and a certain degree of dependence. To the one his hunter life made the supply of meat easy of access, and to the other the exchange for other food was made with relish.
GEOGRAPHICAL.
The township is well watered. The Kalamazoo crosses the southwest portion. Rice creek flows from the east, through the centre to the west, while a branch of the latter stream, having its source in the lakes of Clarence, flows through the northwest portion. Hall's lake, near the centre, Winnipeg in the west, Montcalm in the southwest, and one of the Sister lakes in the northeast, are of the bodies of fresh water which diversify and beautify the landscape. The surface of Sheri- dan is rolling, and in parts hilly. The soil, a gravelly loam, is adapted to grain cultivation, especially wheat, the staple product. The average yield to the acre is twelve bushels. Corn is cultivated, and potatoes bring a large return. The creek marshes when drained make excellent meadows, and the natural grass is held in good repute for the manufacture of hay. Grazing, especially for sheep, is an interest for which the country is well calculated. Stimulated by high prices, wool-growing at one time was a leading feature of husbandry. The low rates succeeding discour- aged effort. Elijah Green was the first farmer of Sheridan to introduce sheep-hus- bandry. He brought in a drove of ninety purchased in Ohio, and exchanged his first clip in Buffalo for cloth, giving two pounds of wool for each yard of cloth, which he sold at one dollar and fifty cents per yard. In the early day, before a crop was raised, provisions were deficient in quantity and high-priced, and, to add to the difficulty, the settlers had neither money nor its equivalent to make pur- chases The old expression that " man wants but little" was verified, and with better times necessaries, comforts, and luxuries came.
FIRST SETTLERS.
Reuben Abbott, of Erie, New York, was the pioneer of Sheridan, to which he came with his family, September, 1831, and, entering eighty acres on sections 29 and 30, built a log house sixteen by twenty-two feet, and later, kept therein a house of entertainment for travelers. In time, the structure enlarged was known as " Abbott's Tavern," and as Waterbury post-office on Abbott's appointment as postmaster. Orris Clapp came in and settled on land now owned by H. C. Baker, on section 31, shortly after Abbott. In 1833 Chandler Church made permanent location on section 33, and at the first town election was chosen super- visor. M. J. Lathrop the same year settled on land now the property of D. Bil- linghurst. In 1835 Martin Tichnor entered two hundred acres on sections 26 and 35. Joel Doolittle, Phineas Spaulding, and John P. Coonrad were settlers of the same year. The year 1836 was marked by the influx of many settlers. Among these were Elijah Green and William C. White, purchasers on section 26, Daniel Rosseter, Seth Dean, Benjamin Harding, James Hicks, M. C. Wiles, Wil- liam M. Pearl, John Gay, H. Stevens, Enos Dutton, Chauncey Viets, Levi and John E. Wiles, Caleb Lewis, and Mark Crane. In October, 1838, Rufus Burr and family settled on the west half of the northwest quarter of section 21, and the north half of the southwest quarter of the same section. This farm is still the possession of the original purchaser, and is the only one in Sheridan which has not changed hands. His experience on arrival was calculated to dispel the idea of a " land flowing with milk and honey," as a pound of meat or butter were not to be purchased in the town. He had secured groceries at Plymouth, Wayne county, Michigan, from which place, distant seventy-five miles, his wife, Mrs. Burr, walked. During the fall of 1838 Cyrus Dutton and James Nichols moved in; the latter settled on section 22. Robert B. Shipman settled in 1839, on land entered by his father in 1835. A log house was built, and improvements made during the
year, and in 1840 he went as far as Plymouth to meet his mother and two sisters.
The land, now constituting one of the finest farms in Sheridan, had been sold for taxes, pending its occupation, and Shipman's first care was its redemption. These pioneers brought provisions from long distances by team, and much of trading was simply barter. One old resident relates that a letter for him lay in the post- office six weeks before he could pay the twenty-five cents of postage. On another occasion, his taxes, seven dollars in amount, were due, and he had no money to pay them. Luckily, a settler had just arrived in Marengo, and to him Shipman went with a dressed pig and a few bushels of oats. The pork was sold for one and a half cents per pound, and the oats for a shilling a bushel, and the trouble tided over. The new settler had no occasion to feel discouraged when his wants were thus cheaply supplied.
While there was a semi-famine respecting some articles, there was a profusion of others. Charles Blanchard, while mowing in a lot, observed many bees winging their flight uniformly in the same direction. That evening he discovered their treasury to be the hollow of a white oak, from which he obtained sufficient honey to fill two wash-tubs besides other vessels.
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