USA > Michigan > Calhoun County > History of Calhoun county, Michigan, With Illustrations descriptive of its scenery > Part 7
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tions deemed necessary therein. The loan was effected at seven per cent., Eaton county being exempted from the payment of interest on the same. The building was constructed of brick, on the Marshall sandstone foundations, and was a pre- tentious structure, but was one of the examples where men " pay too much for the whistle," the cost before its entire completion being between twenty-five thou- sand and thirty thousand dollars. It was ready for occupancy in 1838, and the board of supervisors charged the treasurer and register of deeds fifty dollars per annum rent for their offices, the first year at least. The foundation walls proved insufficient to support the walls properly, and it became unsightly if not actually unsafe. The county jail was for many years maintained in the basement of the building.
NEW COURT-HOUSE.
On October 24, 1872, the board of supervisors adopted a resolution submitting to the decision of the people the question of a new court-house, to cost fifty thou- sand dollars, which question was decided in the affirmative at the April town- meetings in 1873, there being twenty-eight hundred and ninety-nine yeas and twenty-four hundred and eighteen nays on the same. Messrs. Robert Huston, A. E. Preston, and S. J. Burpee were appointed a committee on plans and specifications May 2, and July 1 the plans presented by E. E. Myers, of Detroit, were adopted, and supervisors Huston, Preston, Loomis, Hutchinson, William Cook, and James Graves appointed a building committee. The building was completed in 1875, and cost, ready for occupancy, with furnaces, furniture, carpet- ing, site, superintendence, and labors of building committee, fifty-four thousand six hundred and eighty-eight dollars and twenty-five cents, and is an ornament to. the city of Marshall and a credit to the county at large. The outside basement walls are most strongly and admirably built of boulder stone, from the concrete bottom to the grade-line; above the grade-line and between the base-course and water-table Marshall sandstone; and all other cut stone-work is of Ohio sandstone. The outside face walls are all pressed brick. The building is rectangular in form, with projections on the north front and rear, and has an area of about forty-five hundred square feet. The corners, antes, window-caps, and sills are cut stone, and the whole surmounted by a neat cupola. The offices of the county clerk, register of deeds, and probate judge are light, roomy, and airy, and those of the sheriff and treasurer are smaller, but equally eligible and convenient. The building is finished in ash, butternut, and black walnut, and has a very neat and tasteful appearance. The court-room occupies the upper floor, with the necessary and ample rooms for consultation purposes, and is fitted up in good taste, and with an eye to comfort, but its acoustic properties are not of the best. The building is heated with hot-air furnaces. Fire-proof vaults are provided for the county clerk, register, treasurer, and probate judge, in their respective offices, but their size is hardly adequate for the future wants of the county, and that, too, at no distant day. A view of the court-house forms the frontispiece of our work.
THE COUNTY JAIL
is maintained in a brick building, which stands on the court-house square, and which the county purchased in or about 1850, and converted to such purposes. The sheriff resides in the same building. The old jail was built of squared tiniber, built up inside of one of the basement-rooms of the first court-house. A grand jail delivery took place therefrom when the present judge of probate, Colonel Dickey, was sheriff, the prisoners, nine in number, effecting their escape by burn- ing through the logs with a hot iron. They managed to heat the iron at a stove that stood in the corridor, and burned off the lock-fastenings, and also burned out the staples in an oak log to which one of their number was confined.
THE COUNTY ALMSHOUSE.
In the year 1849 (December 20) the board of supervisors bought of Thomas Chisholm the northwest one-quarter, section 9, township of Marengo, for two thousand dollars, for a county poor-farm, and abolished the distinction between county and township poor and made them all a county charge. The original building was erected in the year 1850-51, to which additions have been made from time to time until at present the building consists of a central part of one hundred and ten feet front and thirty feet deep, two stories; a wing to the north, the insane ward, twenty-four by forty feet basement and one story ; and a similar wing to the north, twenty by thirty feet, two stories, which contains the ยท lodging-rooms and the sitting-rooms of the inmates. The lower story of the central building has the office of the keeper and the general dining-room, the upper floor being occupied by the keeper and family. The buildings are of wood, and are heated by hot-air furnaces located in the basement of the insane wards. The buildings are thoroughly ventilated through the walls of the same, and the barns and out-buildings are capacious and convenient. The real estate is valued at eighteen thousand dollars.
The report of the county superintendents of the poor for the year ending Sep-
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HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
tember 30, 1876, shows receipts as follows : General appropriation for poor pur- poses made by supervisors, $15,000; products of farm sold, $101.32 ; other receipts, $76.65 ; total, $15,177.97. They disbursed for all purposes connected with the charge of the poor in the county, $17,014.09; and for the insane poor at the State institution, $3338.74; for which an appropriation was made of $3500, and an amount of $484.59 was received from friends of insane persons cared for; making a total of expenditure for sweet charity's sake of $20,352.83, in the cen- tennial year of the republic, by the county of Calhoun, one of the soulless corpo- rations of the country. Ten children were taken from the almshouse to the State school at Coldwater, twenty-five in all having been so disposed of since the estab- lishment of the school. For this expenditure two thousand six hundred and five weeks of board were furnished for the poor at the county house, and two hundred and fifty weeks for the keeper of the house and his family and hired help; besides a large amount of relief afforded outside of the farm in the towns. There were fifty poor persons in the house at the close of the fiscal year, and one hun- dred and four had been admitted during the year. Five deaths occurred during the year. The products of the farm for the year were four hundred and seventy- four bushels wheat, two hundred bushels oats, one thousand four hundred bushels corn (in the ear), three hundred and thirty-five bushels potatoes, fifteen bushels apples, fifty-five bushels garden vegetables, six hundred heads cabbage, twenty-four tons hay, corn fodder from eighteen acres, two tons of pork, and fifteen and one- half acres wheat on the ground. The farm was well stocked with live-stock and farming implements, and improvements, permanent and valuable, had been made during the year.
The county superintendents of the poor are elected by the board of supervisors, and hold their office for a term of three years. Owing to the non-transference of the old records from the preceding board of superintendents to the present incum- bents, we are unable to give a complete list of the superintendents and keepers of the house since the establishment of the farm, but, as far as we have been able to ascertain, the superintendents have been as follows: William Farley, Moses Hall, and Thomas Holmes were the incumbents when the farm was bought and the first house built; Seth Lewis, J. M. Parsons, Solon E. Robinson, 1859-67; Elias Hewitt, whose term expired 1865; George E. Johnson, 1865-68; Rev. J. P. Averill, 1857-60; E. H. Johnson, 1860-63; Benjamin Clark, 1863-67 ; E. H. Johnson, 1866-77 ; Judge T. W. Hall, 1867-77 ; A. O. Hyde, 1868-77. The keepers have been as follows : S. H. Bunker, whose connection expired 1862 ; Henry Drake, 1862-66; W. D. Chappell, 1866-71 ; H. L. White, 1871-77.
We present to our readers in connection herewith a view of the almshouse, surrounded with the portraits of the present superintendents and keeper.
CHAPTER VIII.
OFFICIAL ROSTER : FIRST JUSTICES, COUNTY OFFICERS, NATIONAL AND STATE OFFICIALS IN CALHOUN-POLITICS-UNDERGROUND RAILROAD- ATTEMPTED KIDNAPPING-PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS-A CURIOUS BALLOT -POPULATION.
THE first public officials who exercised authority over the people of Calhoun County were appointed by Governor Porter, Michigan yet being under territorial tutelage. They were as follows: Justices of the Peace, Isaac E. Crary and Sidney Ketchum in 1832; Calvin Smith and John Allen, 1832; Seeley Neale, Benjamin T. Dwinell, and Pollidore Hudson, 1833. Register of Probate and of Deeds, Randall Hobart, 1833-35. Judge of Probate, James P. Greeves, 1834-36. Associate Judges of Circuit Court, Eleazar McCamley and John V. Henry, 1833- 36. Sheriff, H. C. Goodrich, 1833-36. Clerk of the Courts, Charles D. Smith, .1833-36. In 1833, when the county was organized, a treasurer and coroner were elected ; but the election records prior to 1840 are missing, and the names cannot definitely be ascertained of all of the officials between 1833-40.
In 1835, a register of deeds was elected ; the office of register of probate, who was, theretofore, register of deeds ex officio, being abolished, and Randall Hobart . was elected. Since the election of 1835, the first under the State constitution, the county officers have been as follows: Associate Judges, Tolman W. Hall and Charles Olin, 1837-40; Henry Hewitt and Tolman W. Hall, 1841-42; Sid- ney Ketchum and Francis W. Shearman, 1843-44; George Ketchum and Horace Bidwell, 1845-46.
The probate and county judges are named in connection with those courts. Delegates to Constitutional Conventions .- Isaac E. Crary, 1835 and 1850; Milo
Soule, William V. Morrison, John D. Pierce, and Nathan Pierce, 1850; Charles D. Holmes, Eden T. Henderson, and George Willard, 1867-68.
Senators .- J. Wright Gordon, 1839, afterwards lieutenant-governor and acting governor ; Sands McCamley, 1839 and 1840 ; Henry Hewitt, 1842, died in De- troit; Edward Bradley, 1843; Abner Pratt, 1844-45; Loren Maynard, 1846-47 ; Charles Dickey, 1850-54; Erastus Hussey and W. H. Brockway, 1855-56 ; Nathan Pierce, 1852-53, 1857-58; Charles T. Gorham, 1859-60; George H. French, 1861-64; Victory P. Collier, 1865-68; John C. Fitzgerald, 1869-70; Philip H. Emerson, 1871-74; William Cook, 1875-78; William F. Hewitt, 1874.
Representatives .- Hon. Ezra Convis, 1836-37, was speaker of the house at the session of 1836, and died at Detroit, while the legislature was in session, in February, 1837 ; Andrew Dorsey, 1838; and George C. Gibbs and Justus Goodwin, 1839 ; Hervey Cook and Jonathan Hart, 1840 ; Charles Olin and Michael Spencer, 1841 . Isaac E. Crary, 1842; Justus Goodwin, 1842-43; Sands McCamley, 1843; Moses Hall and James Sheldon, 1844; Andrew L. Hays and Eli Stillson, 1845 ; Isaac E. Crary, speaker, and John Barber, 1846 ; J. D. Pierce, Justus Goodwin, and Henry W. Taylor, 1847 ; J. D. Peirce, Hiram Smith, and Abner E. Campbell, 1848; Fenner Fergerson, Orlando Moffat, and Norton P. Hobart, 1849 ; Erastus Hussey, Hovey K. Clarke, and Nathan Pierce, 1850; Darius Clarke, Nathan Peirce, and John L. Balcombe, 1851-52; John R. Palmer, Bradley P. Hudson, and James Winters, 1853-54; Daniel Dunakin, Homer C. Hurd, and Tolman W. Hall, 1855-56; James Monroe, Asa B. Cook, and Chester Buckley, 1857-58; James Monroe, Charles Dickey, and W. W. Woolnough, 1859-60; William Cook, Homer C. Hurd, and Eden T. Henderson, 1861-62 ; William Cook, Abner Pratt, Chester Buckley, and Isaac C. Abbott, 1863-64 ; W. H. Brockway, George R. McCay, Joseph P. Beach, and Rodolphus Sanderson, 1865-66 ; Martin Haven, Harvey Randall, and George Willard, 1867-68; Benjamin Clark, Loomis Hutchin- son, and John Wagner, 1869-70 ; William H. Brockway, Preston Mitchell, and George I. Brown, 1871-72; Solon E. Robinson, Preston Mitchell, and Rodolphus Sanderson, 1873-74; Philo H. Budlong, John Houston, and Almon E. Preston, 1875-76; John W. Fletcher, Richard Keeler, and James Walkinshaw, 1877-78.
Sheriff's .- H. C. Goodrich, 1837-38; Loren Maynard, 1839-42; Charles A. Church, 1843-44; Charles Dickey, 1845-48; Joseph Hollon, 1849-50; James Monroe, 1851-52; Artemas Doane, 1853-54; Harvey M. Dixon, 1855-58; Marcus H. Crane, 1859-62; John Houston, Jr., 1863-66; William C. Rich- field, 1867-68, and 1871-72; William L. Buck, 1869-70; David R. Smiley, 1873-76; John C. Barber, 1877-79.
County Clerks .- Marvin Preston, 1837-38; John A. Van Horne, 1839-44; Edwin A. Hayden, 1845-46 ; John Meacham, 1847-50; Erastus Hussey, 1851- 54; Samuel S. Lacey, 1855-60; Levi Mosher, 1861-64; William Howard, 1865-68; S. P. Brockway, 1869-72; John C. Stetson, 1873-76; Charles C. McDermid, 1877-78.
Registers of Deeds .- Randall Hobart, 1836-38; Ira Tillotson, 1839-46 ; Joseph C. Frink, 1847-48, and 1851-52; Robert B. Porter, 1849-50; Stephen Gilbert, 1853-54; George Ingersoll, 1855-56; F. S. Clark, 1857-60 ; John T. Ellis, 1861-64; Henry R. Cook, 1865-68; William F. Neale, 1869-72; Charles D. Holmes, 1873-76 ; Stephen F. Snyder, 1877-78.
Treasurers .- Marvin Preston, 1833-35; Sidney S. Alcott, 1836-42; Milo Soule, 1843-48; Preston Mitchell, 1849-52, and 1855-56; J. B. Cook, 1853- 54; Silas W. Dodge, 1857-62; Eden T. Henderson, 1863-66; Henry M. Hempstead, 1867-72 ; Earl Smith, 1873-78.
County Surveyors .- Edwin A. Hayden, 1841-42; Cyrus Hewitt, 1843-44, 1847-48, 1851-52, 1855-58; Cyrus Robertson, 1845-46, 1849-50, 1853-54; Glode D. Lewis, 1859-60; Loren Wing, 1861-62; John Meacham, 1863-64; David H. Miller, 1865-66 ; William A. Sweet, 1867-72; David A. Tichenor, 1873-76; Benjamin F. Wells, 1877-78.
Coroners .- Granville Stow and James Winters, 1841-42; Wright I. Esmond and Stow, 1843-44; Esmond and H. B. Tud, 1845-46; James D. Potts and Charles Harkins, 1847-48; Nathan Davis and Aaron Ismond, 1849-50; John Houston and Silas Sheffield, 1851-52; John Barbour and Nathan Chidester, 1853-54; David H. Miller and Benjamin Chamberlain, 1855-56; Tracy H. Swarthout and Reuben B. Waldo, 1857-58; John F. Hinman and Isaac Beers, 1859-60; Alanson Graham and George McAllister, 1861-62; Isaac Beers and Charles M. Bardwell, 1863-64; Thomas Knight and Ira Nash, 1865-66 ; Moses B. Russell and Willoughby O'Donoghue, 1867-68; John S. Evans and Alanson Graham, 1869-70; Sylvester S. Granger and Zeno Gould, 1871-72; Peter Kocher and Willoughby O'Donoghue, 1873-74; W. O'Donoghue and Tracy C. Southworth, 1875-76; Morgan J. Alexander and Tolman W. Hall, 1877-78.
Prosecuting Attorneys .- From the organization of the county to 1851 the pros- ecuting attorneys were appointed by the governor or the judges of the court, and were as follows: Cephas A. Smith, 1833-35; S. H. Preston, 1836-38; D. L.
8, 76 Johnson PHOTO. BY CRISPELL
A. O.Ngay
CALHOUN
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HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Johns, 1840-41 ; Edward Bradley, 1842 ; George C. Gibbs, 1838-39, and 1843- 45 ; William C. Rowley, 1846-48; Abner Pratt, 1849-50. In 1850 the prose- cuting attorneys were first elected, and since that time the office has been filled as follows : Hovey K. Clarke, 1851-52; Charles S. May, 1853-54; W. H. Brown, 1855-58; Levant C. Rhines, 1859-62; John C. Fitzgerald, 1863-66; Joseph G. Lodge, 1867-70; James A. Miner, 1871-74 ; Frank W. Clapp, 1875-78.
Circuit Court Commissioners .- These officials were provided for by the legis- lature after the adoption of the constitution of 1850, to take the place of the masters in chancery, which that instrument abolished. They have chancery powers of the judges of the circuit courts, in vacation. The first commissioner was elected in 1852, and was George C. Gibbs, who held the position one term of two years. George Woodruff succeeded him from 1855 to 1860, six years. Sidney Thomas succeeded Judge Woodruff for a single term, ending December 31, 1862, and then two commissioners were elected, Judge Woodruff coming in again ; and James B. Greenough and Judge Woodruff held the position four years, but Mr. Greenough was succeeded by Joseph G. Lodge for 1865-66. Since then the commissioners have been as follows : James A. Miner and Philip H. Emerson, 1867-68; Miner and Rienzi Loud, 1869-70; Moses D. Russell and William D. Adams, 1871-76; and Mr. Adams and Herbert E. Winsor, 1877-78.
County Superintendent of Schools .- This office was created in 1869 and con- tinued to exist until 1874, when it was abolished, and the superintendency of education remanded to the townships. Bela Fancher filled the position in 1870 to 1873 inclusive, and Bertrand F. Welch the balance of the time.
Drain Commissioner .- This office was created also in 1869, for drainage pur- poses of the counties, but was abolished in 1872-73, and the drainage left with the several townships. George Johnson filled the position for 1870-71, and William A. Sweet for 1872-73.
Calhoun has also been represented in the councils of the nation and in the chief offices of the State, and her citizens have maintained the dignity and honor of the republic in foreign lands, before crowned heads of Europe and quasi-presi- dents of the South American republics.
She has been represented in the lower house of the Congress of the United States as follows : Hon. Isaac E. Crary, as delegate from the Territory, in 1835, and its sole representative from 1836 to 1841 inclusive ; Edward Bradley was elected in November, 1846, to represent the district when there were but two members from the State, but he died before he took his seat and while on his way to do so, his death occurring in New York city. Hon. George Willard, of Battle Creek, was elected from the third congressional district, composed of Jackson, Calhoun, Branch, Barry, and Eaton counties, in 1872, and re-elected in 1874. In 1839, J. Wright Gordon, a prominent member of the Calhoun bar, was elected lieutenant-governor, and upon Governor Woodbridge's election to the United States Senate, succeeded to the gubernatorial chair, which he occupied until 1842. Victory P. Collier was elected state treasurer in 1870, and held the position four years. Rev. John D. Pierce was appointed by Governor Mason the first State superintendent of public instruction in the State in 1836, which position he held for several years. He was also the first official of that class in the United States. J. Wright Gordon was consul of the United States at Pernambuco, for a time, where he died, and Judge Pratt served the nation similarly at Honolulu. Hon. Charles T. Gorham was minister at the Hague for several years, and afterwards assistant secretary of the interior at Washington, and acting secretary for a time, under Presidents Grant and Hayes. Preston Mitchell was elected one of the presidential electors of Michigan in 1876. Hovey K. Clarke, the first prosecuting attorney elected in the county, has been for several years register of bankruptcy at Detroit. Colonel Charles Dickey, now judge of probate, was appointed United States marshal for the State of Michigan in 1861, by President Lincoln, and held the position until the fall of 1866. Ira Mayhew was collector of internal revenue for the third congressional district, from the creation of the office for some three or more years. Preston Mitchell was United States deputy assessor for Calhoun County for six years. Dr. O. C. Comstock was appointed State superintendent of public instruction in 1843, by Governor John S. Barry, and Thomas W. Wells received his second appointment as commissioner of internal improvements of the State, the same year. Hon. Isaac E. Crary and Henry C. Bunce were recorders, and Hon. Digby V. Bell, commissioner of the land-office, previous to 1846, Judge Bell being also auditor-general under Governor Felch. Hon. S. S. Lacey was land commissioner of the State four years, and Ira Mayhew superintendent of public instruction for two years or more. Hon. W. F. Shearman was superintendent of public instruction several years.
THE POLITICAL SENTIMENTS
of the people of Calhoun County are best shown by the votes they gave the presi- dential candidates from first to last, which are exhibited below. The first general
election they participated in was that of 1840, when the feeling engendered between the partisans of the rival parties, Whigs and Democrats, was, to use an expression more forcible than elegant, "red hot." The hard-cider Whigs built their log cabins and sang and hurrahed for " Tippecanoe and Tyler too," and the Democrats worked early and late for Van Buren, the "young hickory," as they were proud to call him. The Patriot and the Statesman, rival publications at the county-seat, were vigorous in their editorials, and were not at all choice in the language they used towards one another. But the campaign in the county ended in favor of the Democratic candidate, by a majority of sixteen votes only. In 1844, the abolition vote first showed its strength when two hundred and twenty-six votes were polled for Birney, just enough being given in the Union to defeat the Whig's idol, Harry Clay, a thing the old lovers of that party never forgave. The " underground railroad" had a most efficiently worked line through the county, with depots in Leroy and Battle Creek, Erastus Hussey being one of its best and safest con- ductors. Many a dark-skinned fugitive passed over the line, beneath a load of wheat, or boxed up as freight, on his way to freedom. This corporation, chartered by the " higher law," paid no dividends in cash to stockholders or employees ; but in the sense of satisfaction received from the successful discharge of their self-imposed duties, the returns from the investment were most flattering. There were no syn- dicates, credits mobilier, or rings to " float" their stock, no mortgage bonds, first or second or preferred, and it was not worth quoting in Wall street or the bourse, but nevertheless it did,a flourishing business from 1840, or thereabouts, until the slaves of the south, in whose behalf it had been initiated and managed, oftentimes with imminent danger of conflict with the power of the government, heard the fire of the first hostile cannon on Sumter, which struck the knell of African slavery in the republic of the United States.
AN ATTEMPT AT KIDNAPPING.
A family of former slaves named Crosswhite, who had escaped from Kentucky and had been residents of Marshall for some years, in 1847 created an intense excitement, not only in Marshall and Calhoun County, but throughout the State and Union, and was one of the leading exciting causes for the passage of the infa- mous fugitive slave law of 1850. An outline of the facts, as recorded in the Marshall Statesman at the time, is as follows: On the morning of January 28, 1847, before daylight, four Kentuckians appeared in Marshall unannounced, and, with Harvey M. Dixon, deputy sheriff of Calhoun County, went to the house of Adam Crosswhite, which they found closed, and demanded admission, which being refused, the door was broken in. In the mean time the town had been alarmed by Patterson, a colored man, who, mounted on a horse and with sword and bell, had traversed the village warning the people of the attempted outrage. The excite- ment spread like a prairie fire, and in a few moments nearly all the male citizens were assembled, without regard to political sympathy, at the dwelling of the Crosswhites, where the Kentuckians were endeavoring to accomplish the arrest of the whole family, some of whom were born in Marshall. The news had gone out that the kidnappers were heavily armed, and a more determined set of men proba- bly never assembled in the defense of justice and right than those who told the slave-owners in plain and unmistakable language that they never could take the Crosswhites back to slavery. After several hours of fruitless endeavor to arrest the fugitives, during which the excitement boiled and raged at fever heat, the Kentuckians were arrested for breaking in the door of a citizen of Marshall, and one, Francis Troutman, who drew his pistol on a colored man, was also arrested for an assault with a deadly weapon and taken before Esquire Randall Hobart, who mulcted the quartette in the sum of one hundred dollars damages, and held Troutman to answer before the circuit court under one hundred dollars bonds for his assault. The colored men, of whom there were then living in Marshall some forty or more, were all spoiling for a fight in defense of their neighbor and his family, and were armed with clubs and guns, but were restrained by the cooler but no less determined whites, among whom Hon. Charles T. Gorham, Dr. O. C. Comstock, Asa B. Cook, Jarvis Hurd, and J. M. Easterly were prominent and leading spirits. The family were spirited away the night following the attempted kidnapping by George Ingersoll and William W. Smith, who took them to Jack- son in a wagon, from whence they went to Canada by rail, where they remained for several years, until after the emancipation proclamation was issued, when Adam Crosswhite returned with some of his family to Marshall, where he still resides. The discomfited Troutman, or rather Giltner, for whom he alleged he was acting as agent in the recapture of the fugitives,-the same being former slaves of Giltner, -brought suit in the United States court at Detroit against Mr. Gorham, Dr. Comstock, Mr. Hurd, Mr. Cook, and several others for alleged interference with the execution of the laws of the United States, laying heavy damages for the value of the lost chattels. Troutman and his companions and Dixon were the principal witnesses for the prosecution, and the evidence was published throughout
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