USA > Michigan > Calhoun County > History of Calhoun county, Michigan, With Illustrations descriptive of its scenery > Part 67
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About 1834 Aserryl Flint came from Somerset, Windham county, Vermont, with his wife and two children, Jane and Samuel A., and located on a farm on
# One authority states that this marriage was in 1834, and another that it occurred in 1837. The latter date is probably correct.
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HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Cook's prairie, in Eckford township, where Hutchinson Cook now lives. The family lived on this place eighteen or twenty years, when Mr. Flint removed to Kinderhook, Branch county, where he afterwards died. In 1854, Samuel A. Flint purchased the farm upon which he now resides, on section 8. In Novem- ber of the same year he married Miss Laura D. Cooper, whose father, William Cooper, settled the place in 1836, and lived on it till his death, which occurred in 1852, when he had reached the age of nearly sixty-seven years. Mr. Cooper brought his wife and eight children with him from Clarkson, Monroe county, New York, and two other children stayed behind. Ozro H. Cooper, one of the sons, is now living in Clarendon, and has been a prominent man among her citizens.
John Ballentine, now living on the old " Territorial road," on section 11, came from Onondaga county, New York, and on the 25th day of January, 1834, arrived at the village of Homer, then very diminutive in size. For four years after Mr. Ballentine came he hauled goods for the Homer merchants from Detroit, distant a hundred miles. The round trip occupied about six days, with good going. A store was at that time carried on by Milton Barney at Homer, and he owned the team with which Mr. Ballentine transported the goods. Mr. Ballen- tine was married April 24, 1838, to Axy Ann Burns, at Homer, by Rev. Benjamin Sabin, a Methodist minister, then living in the village. He (Ballentine) lived in Homer about twenty years, and then removed to the fine farm in Clarendon upon which he now resides. His brother, George Ballentine, came to the county in 1836, and lived for a time also in Homer. Is now a resident of the village of Albion. The farm now owned by John Ballentine was settled in 1835 by Samuel Blair, and part of the old farm is also owned by Franklin Mead.
Samuel Blair came in the fall of 1835, from Orleans county, New York, with his daughter and his wife, and her three children,-two sons and one daughter. Mrs. B. had been previously married to a man named Mead, and her son, Frank- lin Mead, was at the time they immigrated a mere boy. The same season they arrived, the front part of the frame house now standing was built. It was origi- nally painted red, and the siding on the east end yet retains the color. The old house is occupied by Mr. Mead, and is one of two houses yet standing which were among the first built and still occupied. Mr. Blair located two hundred acres of government land on section 11, and lived on the place two years and a half, and died at an advanced age. Mrs. Blair died in September, 1862, aged seventy-three years.
In 1835, J. W. Vandeburg came from Clyde, Wayne county, New York, and bought one hundred and sixty acres on section 8, it being the east half of the northeast quarter and the west half of the northeast quarter. At that time he made no improvements on the place, and returned home. In the fall of 1838 he came back, and between that time and the next spring made numerous improve- ments-built a log house, then the best one in the township, cleared a small piece of ground, and then went back after his family. In the fall of the same year (1839) he returned with his wife and one child, a daughter. A son was born some time afterwards, and is now living near Rochester, Minnesota. The daughter was married to Simeon Swartwout, of Eckford township, and is since deceased. The only one of her children now alive has his home with his grandfather, Van- deburg, who lives in Homer. Mr. Vandeburg built his log house in the spring of 1839. It was made of logs hewn smooth on the inside and left round on the outside. Since he came to the township he has purchased considerable additional land, and now owns three hundred and twenty acres within its limits. He has lived for some time in the village of Homer.
Elijah Cook* located on section 35, Eckford township, in the spring of 1835, and afterwards purchased one hundred and sixty acres on section 36. He died in January, 1872. His son, Henry R. Cook, living on section 2 in Clarendon, is one of a family of eight children.
Ozro J. Gordon came from Murray, Orleans county, New York, in September, 1835. His father, John J. Gordon, had come west in April of the same year, and located in Franklin, Lenawee county, where he lived ten or twelve years, and removed to Clarendon, Calhoun County. John J. Gordon was born in 1800, and died April 4, 1875. When O. J. Gordon first came to Michigan he stayed with his parents in Lenawee county. His sister was married and removed to Calhoun County, and he followed her about two years before his parents did. He is now living in the township.
In 1836, Elijah Andrus came from Clarendon, Orleans county, New York, with his wife and two sons, and settled on the farm where he now resides, the west half of the southwest quarter of section 2-eighty acres. He was the first set- tler on the place. His son, Albert, was born on the place in 1839.
Jonathan, Samuel, and Gilbert Budd came to the township about 1836. Jona- than died in 1839. Samuel removed to some other place, and is since deceased. Gilbert Budd is the only one of the family now living in the township, and his
brother, Alexander Budd, resides in Eckford. He has had his home out of the county for a number of years, and for some time lived in Wisconsin.
Daniel Cumming came from Delaware county, New York, in 1836, and settled in Clarendon, where he has resided most of the time since. He brought his family with him, then consisting of his wife and seven children,-three sons and four daughters ; four of the children are now living, one son, Hezekiah, east of Clarendon Centre, and another, Alexander, in Quincy, Branch county, Michigan. Two daughters are living, one the wife of Andrew Church, and the other of Elihu Clark. Daniel Cumming lives with his son at Quincy, Branch county, and has reached the age of about eighty-six years, being the oldest living of the original settlers of the township. When the family first came they located on Cook's prairie, in the northeast part of the township. There they lived four or five years, afterwards removing to a farm on section 23, just north of Clarendon Centre.
John S. Knapp settled early on section 10, probably about 1835-36, and is still living on the place. He was a carpenter by trade, and worked most of his time in Marshall. He had a log house on his claim, and made other early im- provements.
Samuel Knapp came from the town of Parma, Monroe county, New York, in 1837, and brought his son Jonas with him, on a land-hunting tour. They went back to New York, and afterwards bought three eighty-acre lots, on section 6, of the man who had located it. One of the lots was fractional, containing but fifty- three acres. When Mr. Knapp and his son Jonas came, they drove through Ohio with a span of horses and a lumber-wagon, and in crossing the " Black swamp" made very slow progress, sometimes being unable to advance more than a single mile in a day, so terribly bad was the road. Mr. Knapp came back with his family-eight children, five sons and three daughters, and a girl who was living with them-in June, 1837. His wife died before he left New York, and he never married again. Four of his children are now living,-three sons and one daughter, the latter in Branch county, and the sons, Jonas, Jared, and David, all near each other on section 6, Clarendon. When the family came from New York they took the canal from Brockport to Buffalo, thence to Toledo by way of Lake Erie, and from Toledo through by team. They stopped in John Knapp's log house at first, until they could get up a shelter of their own. Samuel Knapp built a small log shanty, and moved his family into it, where they lived until he erected a more commodious structure. The second house he built was also of logs, and is yet standing, occupied by Chester Beebe. After Mr. Knapp settled he bought eighty acres of government land and two other eighty-acre lots, all on section 6 except forty acres of the government land. He lived on his place until September, 1867, and died aged nearly eighty-three years.
Newman Enos came in 1835, and located land on section 20, where he still resides, his farm being one of the finest in the neighborhood. He was married in 1837, and has passed forty years of his life in a state of " double-blessedness."
Lewis Benham, since removed to Albion, located land in 1835, and settled in the township with his family in 1837.
Peter Blashfield came in 1835, and Iddo Blashfield in the fall of 1836. The latter had five sons living in the township, all of whom were located in the imme- diate neighborhood of each other in the western part of the township, in the valley of the "St. Jo."
Ira Burley came to the township in 1836, but afterwards removed to Tekonsha. Benjamin Doolittle came from Delaware county, New York, in 1837,* with his wife and six children, and settled in September of that year on the farm now owned by his son, Augustus Doolittle. They came by team to Buffalo, thence by boat to Detroit, and thence by team again to their wilderness home. Mr. Doolittle purchased two eighties on section 30, from the person who had entered the land. He also made the first improvements, and was the first settler. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. D., after they came west, and of the eight there are six now living. Mr. Doolittle died in March, 1871, in his seventy-eighth year. His wife is living with her son on the old place.
John Main came from Bergen, Genesee county, New York, and located land in Clarendon in 1835, including the northwest quarter of section 29. He went back again. and came and made a settlement in 1837, living on his place until 1869, when he removed to the village of Tekonsha. Mr. Main taught school during the winter of 1837-38, and in June, 1838, went back to New York, and married, returning with his wife soon after. He has been connected with the Presbyterian church of Tekonsha (originally organized in Clarendon) since its establishment.
William Doolittle, a brother of Benjamin Doolittle, came about a year after his brother had settled.
James Humeston came from Clyde, Wayne county, New York, and located on
* See history of Eckford.
* Possibly in 1836.
FARM AND RESIDENCE OF PRITCHARD CLARENDON, CALHOUN CO. MICH
7
ISAAC H. DOOLITTLE
MRS. RHODA E. DOOLITTLE.
RESIDENCE OF ISAAC H. DOOLITTLE, CLARENDON, MICH.
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HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
section 19 in 1838. His brother, Artemas Humeston, had been to the township and located land on the same section in 1834, and afterwards settled upon it. James Humeston died May 20, 1872, aged seventy-five years, and Artemas died in 1874. Their farms are among the well-cultivated and highly-improved tracts which are found in the southwestern part of the township, and their location and advantages bear testimony to the good taste of the persons who chose them for their future homes.
Eber W. Shepard, living at Clarendon Centre, is also numbered among the early settlers of the township, having resided in it nearly forty years.
John Harmon, now living in the village of Homer, was among the early comers to Clarendon, though not one of the first. He was born in Ontario county, New York, and lived in both Wayne and Seneca counties, most of the time in Wayne, in the town of Lyons. In 1843 he came to Michigan and settled on the farm he now owns, on section 27. He first purchased one hundred and sixty acres on 27 of John Burt, who lived near Homer. Some squatter had been on the place and built a small log cabin, but left on account of having no title to the land. Mr. Harmon became the first actual settler on the tract. He brought his wife and four children-two sons and two daughters, the children all small-with him. They moved into the squatter's cabin, and lived in it for about ten years, when Mr. Harmon built the frame house which is now standing. The farm is finely improved and in good condition, and Mr. H. is justly proud of the results of his years of hard labor in fitting it up comfortably and conveniently. He arrived with his family on the 5th day of June, 1843, and immediately cleared a piece of ground and prepared one and one-fourth acres of garden, upon which he says he raised eighty bushels of potatoes, and some corn, turnips, etc. He had sufficient corn from it to fatten a hog to the weight of over four hundred pounds the first year. The first season he cleared five acres and sowed it to wheat, and raised corn upon the same ground in 1845. In 1846 he set out an orchard upon it, which is yet standing, having borne for nearly thirty years.
CLARENDON CENTRE.
The first entry of lands at the corners was made by William Mills, probably as early as 1832, on section 26. Mills was from Geneseo, Livingston county, New York.
In 1833, Samuel N. Bently came from Livonia, Livingston county, New York, and in April of that year arrived at Concord, Jackson county, Michigan. He afterwards removed to Calhoun County, and lived for a considerable period in Albion township, where he carried on a shoe-shop. In October, 1851, he came to Clar- endon Centre, and located on section 26, where he now lives. He was but twenty- three years old when he came from New York, and made the trip alone. After removing to the " Centre" he opened a grocery-store about 1857-58, and has been in the business most of the time since. The building he now occupies was erected in 1863.
Some time during either Pierce's or Buchanan's administration a post-office was established at the corners, and W. L. Deming was appointed first postmaster. Deming appointed Mr. Bently deputy. The post-office was called Clarendon Centre. Most of the time after Deming had the office it was under the charge of Mr. Bently, until 1874, when it was removed to Clarendon station, on the Air- Line railway, and Rockwell Hazen appointed postmaster. In 1876, the office not paying, it was abolished, and at present there is none in the township.
A blacksmith-shop was opened by a Mr. Sylvester several years previous to the breaking out of the Southern Rebellion, and Mr. Bently also started one very soon after Sylvester began work.
There have also been a saw-mill, other wagon- and blacksmith-shops, etc., at the corners, and at one time the prospect was good for a considerable village to spring up on the site; but the location of the railway nearly two miles north of it effect- ually nipped in the bud any such enterprise, laudable though it may have been. The situation is high and commanding, and in the midst of a fine agricultural region.
John Prior came from Erie county, New York, in August, 1837, and located on the farm where he now lives, on section 26. He brought his wife with him. His first purchase was that of forty acres of land from a man named Wood, who had settled it, built a log house, and made a small clearing before Mr. Prior came.
THE FIRST TOWN-MEETING
in Clarendon township was held on the first Monday in April, 1838. Aaron B. Bartlett was chosen moderator, and Timothy Hamlin clerk. The following offi- cers were elected: Supervisor, Truman Rathbun; Town Clerk, Timothy Hamlin; Assessors, Horace B. Hayes, John Main, Ira Sumner; Collector, Charles B. White; Directors of the Poor, Samuel Blair, Cornelius Putnam; Commissioners of Highways, Alonzo H. Rogers, George W. Hayes, Elijah Andrus; School In- spectors, John Main, Ira Sumner, Horace B. Hayes; Justices of the Peace, Tru-
man Rathbun, William Cooper, John Main, Ira Sumner. The town was divided into eight road districts, and the following persons appointed their overseers: number one, John Kennedy; number two, Elijah Andrus; number three, William Cooper; number four, David L. Hutchison; number five, Jacob Rosecrantz; number six, Horace B. Hayes; number seven, Iddo Blashfield; number eight, Ebenezer Jones. The following is a list of the township supervisors from 1838 to 1876, inclusive: 1839 and 1840, George W. Hayes; 1841, Anthony Doolittle; 1842, James Humeston; 1843, Devereux S. Harrington; 1844, James Humes- ton; 1845-46, D. S. Harrington; 1847 to 1851, Timothy Hamlin; 1852, Henry R. Cook; 1853-54, James Humeston; 1855-56, Elisha H. Cook; 1857 to 1863, William Cook; 1864, H. R. Cook; 1865, William Cook; 1866-69, Peter Mitchell; 1870-74, William Cook; 1875, Reuben Drinkwater; 1876, William Cook.
The town clerks for the same period have been as follows: 1839-41, Ira Sum- ner; 1842-43, William Cook; 1844-45, Timothy Hamlin; 1846, Ira Wilkins ; 1847, Milo Cagin; 1848, Ira J. Wilkins; 1849, William Cook; 1850-51, Frank- lin Mead; 1852-54, William Cook; 1855, Marcius L. Clark; 1856-73, Spencer Humeston; 1874-76, Samuel A. Flint.
Justices of the Peace .- 1839, John Main, Horace B. Hayes, Loren Keep; 1840, John Main, Timothy Hamlin; 1841, Ira Sumner; 1842, Horace B. Hayes; 1843, Timothy Hamlin, Timothy Cook; 1844, James Humeston, Nathaniel Knowles; 1845, Timothy Hamlin; 1846, Horace B. Hayes; 1847, Henry R. Cook; 1848, Erastus B. Enos; 1849, John Main, D. S. Harrington, Harvey Kennedy; 1850, Loren Keep; 1851, H. R. Cook, A. C. Clark; 1852, A. C. Clark; 1853, Chauncey Brown; 1854, M. N. Moulthrop; 1855, Franklin Mead; 1856, A. C. Clark, William Cook; 1857, William Rosecrantz, Charles Doolittle; 1858, Samuel A. Flint, H. R. Cook; 1859, H. R. Cook; 1860, Samuel N. Bently ; 1861, A. C. Clark ; 1862, S. A. Flint; 1863, H. R. Cook; 1864, Spencer Humeston; 1865, A. C. Clark, Franklin Mead; 1866, S. A. Flint; 1867, Frank- lin Mead; 1868, S. Humeston, Win. Cook; 1869, A. C. Clark; 1870, S. A. Flint; 1871, Lafayette Andrus; 1872, S. Humeston; 1873, Edwin G. Rose- crantz; 1874, William B. Blashfield, John Woolever; 1875, L. Andrus, A. C. Clark; 1876, S. Humeston, Reuben Drinkwater.
Constables .- 1839, Orlen Putnam, John Prior, Barnes Kennedy, Green Wells ; 1840, Franklin Wells, John Prior, Green Wells ; 1841, Charles Doolittle, Michael Gregg, Alvin Blashfield; 1842, Charles Doolittle, Thurston Wells, Lewis Ben- ham (2d), George W. Shepherd; 1843, Green Wells, Isaac Rogers, Barnes Ken- nedy, Warren L. Deming; 1844, David Cooper, Thurston Wells; 1845, Alonzo E. Hayes, Barnes Kennedy ; 1846, W. L. Deming, A. S. Church, John Keith ; 1847, Barnes Kennedy, Harvey Kennedy, Isaac Rogers, B. F. Wells; 1848, Alonzo E. Hayes, A. C. Clark, Isaac Rogers, T. K. Wells; 1849, E. G. Rose- crantz, Charles Smith, Chauncey Williams, Isaac Doolittle ; 1850, David Knapp, Benjamin Rosecrantz, Charles Smith, Edwin Rosecrantz; 1851, Calvin Mitchell, Ozro Cooper, J. A. Doolittle, A. C. Clark ; 1852, J. H. Cook, E. G. Rosecrantz, Franklin Mead, J. S. Knapp; 1853, E. G. Rosecrantz, Green Wells, Smith Nevins, Letsom Benham ; 1854, G. M. Clark, D. Knapp, D. M. Cooper, W. L. Deming ; 1855, Augustus Doolittle, Henry Failing, Riley Hilliard, John Bush ; 1856, J. Woolever, J. H. Cook, J. Brainard, L. Andrus ; 1857, S. Nevins, O. P. Vandeburg, A. Doolittle, B. Kennedy ; 1858, James Clark, O. H. Cooper, M. Blashfield, Joseph Ladow ; 1859, Green Wells, O. H. Cooper, J. S. Nevins, Thos. Hartley ; 1860, E. J. Sherman, E. G. Rosecrantz, O. H. Cooper, G. Wells ; 1861, C. B. Kennedy, O. H. Cooper, E. J. Sherman, Marsena Kennedy ; 1862, D. J. Willson, .O. H. Cooper, Charles Vandebogart, E. G. Rosecrantz; 1863, William Rosecrantz, Alexander A. Clark, D. J. Willson, O. H. Cooper ; 1864, E. G. Rosecrantz, D. J. Willson, A. A. Clark, J. A. Clark ; 1865, George Bal- lentine, E. G. Rosecrantz, E. D. Lum, Norman Powers; 1866, William Shep- herd, Theron Phelps, William B. Janes, O. H. Cooper; 1867, G. H. Ballentine, W. R. Shepherd, S. T. Bates, Charles Doolittle ; 1868, O. H. Cooper, S. T. Bates, Levi Smith, E. G. Rosecrantz; 1869, O. J. Gordon, J. W. Woolever, O. H. Cooper, S. T. Bates ; 1870, William Shepherd, Alvin Hopkins, David Jones, Geo. Ballentine; 1871, W. R. Shepherd, J. H. Eldred, A. Hopkins, Horace Andrus ; 1872, J. H. Eldred, Merritt Andrews, John P. Woolever, D. J. Willson ; 1873, D. J. Willson, Charles Doolittle, Henry Enos, Alvin Hopkins; 1874, Joseph Pixley, G. P. Smith, O. J. Gordon, Henry Enos; 1875, O. J. Gordon, J. Pixley, Henry Enos, O. H. Cooper ; 1876, O. H. Cooper, Joseph Pixley, David Janes, Palmer Blashfield.
During the war of the Rebellion the township of Clarendon came nobly to the front, and not once was the draft enforced in her limits, bounties being raised by tax to pay to volunteers. Her sons went bravely forth to battle for the right, and to preserve the Union, and many never returned, while others bear sad proofs that they were in the bloody conflict between man and man, in their empty sleeves, and by the crutch which supports their maimed bodies. They descended from a hardy race, who had been pioneers in every part of the country as it was explored
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HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
and settled, and were not afraid to shoulder arms and march away to meet a most ungrateful brotherhood in deadly battle. The voices of freemen sleeping lowly on southern fields, by mountain, river, bayou, and marsh, and in the confines of the prison pen, constantly remind those left behind of their loss and their country's gain, and recall to mind the events of fifteen years ago, when
The valiant lines of the blue and the gray Stood ranked in proud and stern array, All eager, all ready, for deadly affray.
The land of the palmetto and orange is hallowed by the best blood of the country's brave sons; those who are left, and who hold precious the memory of the fallen, join in a fervent anthem to their worth and chant a solemn dirge over their ashes, to accompany the sighing requiem breathed by the pine forests and taken up and swelled into an undying strain by the citizens of this broad land, who thank them for their services and earnestly hope to meet them
-among the good and true, When robes of white are given for their faded coats of blue."
SCHOOLS.
The first school in the township was taught on Cook's prairie as early as 1833, in a log school-house which stood near the town line, in the northeast corner of the township. The first teacher was Timothy Hamlin. School was held in this building for two winters, when it accidentally caught fire and was burned down. After the school-house was burned, school was kept in a log house on the Cook place, in Eckford township. This house was the one the family of Henry Cook first lived in, and was built in six days. After this, a frame house was built on the southwest quarter of section 1, Clarendon, nearly opposite Mr. Rogers' resi- dence. This building was used some time and was finally purchased by parties in Homer village, who removed it to that place. The next school-house in the district (fractional district No. 1) was the brick one now standing on the north- west corner of section 1, opposite the Free-Will Baptist church, on land taken from the farm of William Cook.
In district No. 2, a school was taught in 1839, in a log house built for a dwell- ing by Levi Scobie. A small number of pupils attended, and were taught by Irena Hayes, who is now the wife of Richard Rosecrantz, living in Butler, Branch county. In 1841 or '42, a log school-house was built in this district, and stood until about 1852, when a frame building was erected, which was finally removed and the frame structure now standing put up in its place, on the same lot the old log school-house stood on. When the latter was built, the land was owned by John Keith, but has since been leased for school purposes. Among the early teachers were Alvira Southard, Ellen Debow, and Martha Prior, the latter prob- ably the first one who taught in the log school-house.
District No. 3 was originally a part of district No. 1. The first school-house in the new district was built of logs, in 1849, although a school had been kept in a private house a year or two before. The log building was used about fifteen years, and the frame school-house now standing was built afterwards, occupying the same site the old one stood upon, which was taken from the Mitchell farm.
In fractional district No. 4, the first school-house was a small log structure built in 1837, on Mr. Doolittle's land, on the northwest corner of the northeast quarter of section 30. The first teacher in it was John Main, who is now living in Te- konsha village. The log building was used a number of years, and finally torn away, being succeeded by the frame school-house now standing on the north west corner of section 29, half a mile east of the old site.
The first school-house in what is now district No. 5 was built of logs, about 1845, chiefly through the efforts of John Harmon. It stood on land owned by William Mills, just opposite Mr. Harmon's house, on the east side of the road. Horace B. Hayes probably taught the first winter school in this building. He now lives in Eckford. This school-house, built of oak and maple logs, hewn on the inside and round outside, was used for fourteen or fifteen years, and finally torn away. The present. frame edifice stands on the southwest corner of the northwest quarter of section 23, north of Clarendon Centre.
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