USA > Michigan > Calhoun County > History of Calhoun county, Michigan, With Illustrations descriptive of its scenery > Part 9
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Pennfield had one stone and eight frame school-houses, with four hundred and sixty-seven sittings, valued at $9050. Of three hundred and eighty-three children, three hundred and twenty-two attended the schools, whose sessions averaged eight
months. Five male teachers received $767 for twenty-two months' work, and thirteen females for forty-seven and a half months received $1075.30 ; the total expenditures being $3064.10, including $740 on buildings.
Sheridan had one stone, one brick, and five frame school-houses, with three hundred and twenty-five sittings, valued at $3800. Of two hundred and eighty- six children, two hundred and thirty-seven attended the schools, whose sessions averaged eight months each. Four male teachers received $575 for sixteen months' services, and ten females for thirty-eight months received $684; the total expen- ditures being $1818.43.
Tekonsha had one brick and seven frame school-houses, with four hundred and seventy-five sittings, valued at $15,400. Of five hundred and thirty-five children, four hundred and seventy attended the schools, whose sessions averaged eight months each. Five male teachers received $1014 for twenty-four months' services, and fourteen females for fifty-eight months received $1191 ; the total expenditures being $3684.86. One graded school in the township.
The grand aggregate of the county, outside of the cities of Battle Creek and Marshall, which manage their schools independently of the county, is as follows : there are in the county, with the exceptions above noted, 168 school-houses, in- cluding 2 of logs, 6 of stone, 25 of brick, and 135 of wood, framed, capable of furnishing 9771 sittings, and valued at $198,162. Of 8608 children of the requisite school age, resident in the county, 7205 attended the schools, whose sessions averaged about eight months each. 105 male teachers were employed 437 months, and paid $17,039 for their services; and 266 females taught 1023 months and received $20,482 for their wages. The total expenditures of the year amounted to $59,656.85, including $6200 paid on bonded indebtedness and repairs on buildings, etc. The outstanding bonded indebtedness was $34,200. There are five graded schools included in the above list.
Battle Creek city has four brick school-houses, including one high school in which the higher classics are taught, valued at $150,000. Of fifteen hundred and ninety-one children of the requisite age, thirteen hundred and ninety-nine were enrolled as attendants on the sessions of the schools, which were of ten months' duration. The cost of instruction and superintendence for the year was $12,250, and other expenses incidental, $4427.48; amount paid on bonded indebtedness $10,500 ; on permanent improvements $153.23; the total expenditures amounting to $27,330.71 ; tuition fees from non-resident pupils were received amounting to $905.31 ; and the total receipts for the year amounted to $32,681.47.
Marshall city has five brick school-houses, including one high school, with twelve hundred sittings, valued at $140,000. Of twelve hundred and seventy- six children in the city of the requisite age, nine hundred and sixty attended the schools, which were in session ten months. The cost of superintendence and instruction was $10,225; incidental expenses $2096.82; paid on bonded in- debtedness $7300 ; and for repairs $241.45 ; the total expenditures being $19,- 863.27; tuition fees were received from non-resident pupils amounting to $426.21 ; the total receipts for the year being $21,203.30; the bonded indebtedness, out- standing and unpaid, amounts to $40,000. Adding the statistics of these two cities to those of the balance of the county, we have the magnificent exhibit of 9564 scholars attendant on the public schools, which are maintained at the cost of $59,996 per annum for instruction, with a total expenditure for the year ending September 1, 1876, of $106,850.83, the value of the one hundred and seventy- seven school-houses being $488,162.
What nobler record can be written than this ?
THE CHURCH.
Wherever the Jesuit, without whose previous presence " no cape was turned or river entered" in the northwest by the explorers of the French or English rulers of the soil, found an Indian village, he proclaimed to its inhabitants the cross under whose symbol he penetrated the wilderness amid wild and savage tribes ; and like- wise the missionaries of Wesley and of Knox, wherever they found a settler's cabin, proclaimed the glad tidings of salvation, free to all. Sleeping under the trees, the blue vaulted heavens for their canopy and the stars for their watchers, these self-sacrificing men rode their circuits for weeks at a time, swimming rivers, floundering through marshes, following the trails of the red man, guided by the stars or by the instinct of woodcraft, gained by long familiarity with nature in her wildest aspect, trusting to find the cabin of some pioneer, where they might break their many times long-enforced fast. And wherever or whenever they found such a cabin, no matter how humble, or to what straits of necessity its inmates were reduced, the humble fare was shared, even to the last handful of meal, though the supply must be brought only by a wearisome journey of miles in length and weeks in duration. One of these Methodist itinerants, named Walker, had a cir- cuit of six hundred miles, through Ohio, Indiana, and southern Michigan, which he rode every six weeks, swimming the Maumee river on each trip. As late as
ALBION COLLEGE, ALBION, MICHIGAN.
H A. MILLS, DEL.
27
HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
1838, Rev. A. M. Fitch's circuit was bounded only by the Indiana line on the south, Augusta on the west, Lansing on the north, and Grass lake on the east.
The Rev. John D. Pierce, a Presbyterian missionary from Madison county, New York, has been generally accredited with preaching the first sermon and or- ganizing the first church in Calhoun County ; but we find, after laborious investi- gation, that Wesley's itinerants were the first in the field, antedating Mr. Pierce's first sermon by some three or four hours, and the organization of his church a few months. We have had the pleasure of examining the journal of Elijah H. Pilcher, the first Methodist Episcopal minister of Calhoun, and find the following entries therein written at the dates given :
" Tuesday, October 4, 1831 .- Rode to Marshall. No other minister has as yet visited this place to preach except Randall Hobart, a Methodist local preacher." " Monday, October 10 .- Preached at Marshall yesterday." Mr. Pilcher says, during the previous week, while he was at Marshall, Rev. Mr. Pierce arrived and preached in the afternoon of the 9th October, he, Pilcher, having preached in the morning of the same day .* Mr. Hobart came in August, 1831, and held religious services every Sabbath in his house. In September Mr. Pilcher was appointed to the circuit which included Marshall in its charges, and on the day named above, October 9, preached in the morning at the house of Sidney Ketchum, Mr. Pierce preaching in the double log house that he afterwards occupied as a resi- dence, Mr. Pilcher being one of his auditors. Mr. Pierce arrived on the Saturday before, according to the testimony of O. C. Thompson, of Ann Arbor, a Presby- terian minister, who was then traveling through the country in the interest of the Home Missionary Society of that church. Mr. Thompson also gives Mr. Pilcher the preference of preaching the first sermon on the same day. On the 6th of November, at Mr. Pilcher's second visit to Marshall, he organized a Methodist class, the first church organization in the county, with Randall Hobart (leader), Ruth Hobart, Sidney Ketchum, Catharine Ketchum, Seth Ketchum, and Eliza Ketchum, as members. The first communion, or Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, was celebrated in Calhoun County on an occasion of a two days' meeting held by Rev. Mr. Pilcher, assisted by Rev. William Fowler, from the State of New York. This meeting was held at the new school-house, on the 6th and 7th June, 1832, the sacrament being administered on Sunday the 7th. The class in- creased to fifteen members during the year.
Both of these pioneers are yet living ; Mr. Pierce, at Ypsilanti, too enfeebled by the infirmities of age to follow his sacred calling, and Mr. Pilcher still in the harness, being a much younger man than his pioneer colleague. Mr. Pierce at- tended the pioneer gathering at Marshall, January 26, 1874, where he addressed his old-time friends as follows : " It is now nearly forty-three years since I first arrived in Marshall, where I held the first (Presbyterian) meeting and organized the first (Presbyterian) church in the county, in a double log building, with thirty persons for a congregation. I held the first meeting and organized the first church also in both of the counties of Branch and Eaton, and married the first pair and preached the first funeral sermon in Calhoun and Eaton counties. I have traveled a hundred miles to marry a pair and preach a funeral sermon. It
is my pride to have been one to help lay the foundations of our present grand school system. I want no better monument to my name than this. I settled in Marshall when the white population of Michigan and Wisconsin (then one terri- torial organization) did not number more than thirty-two thousand all told. I have lived, thank God, to see it multiplied till it reaches two million seven hundred thousand ! I have seen the little handful of children become an army numbering five hundred thousand. Our university has now become the first institution of the country, and it is our boast that there is no child so humble or poor that it cannot get a good sound common school education. Let us thank God and press on !" As stated previously, Mr. Pierce was the first State superintendent of public instruction in Michigan, as well as in the nation. He was a Congregation- alist, and, as intimated in his remarks above quoted, organized the first churches of that denomination in Calhoun and the contiguous counties. He was ever a most excellent man, whether as neighbor, educator, or minister of the gospel, and the feeling with which he is regarded by the surviving pioneers of Calhoun, who have known him long and intimately, is akin to veneration and closely allied to love. His fame, however, is as wide as the borders of the " beautiful peninsula" wherein his best works have been performed, and which indeed form his highest and grandest memorials. Mr. Pilcher has been prominently connected with the Methodist church during the whole of his useful life. He rode the circuit for years as an itinerant and presiding elder, and is still connected with the Michigan conference in some important capacity. His works have followed, and will con- tinue to follow him, as long as life lasts, and then, though he rest from his labors, the assurance is given that his works shall yet follow him. The first meetings
were held in the dwelling-house of Mr. Pierce on one Sunday, and the next at the house of Sidney Ketchum ; Randall Hobart, a local Methodist preacher, and Mr. Pilcher, alternating with Mr. Pierce at the latter place, until the school-house was built in May, 1832, and after that the meetings were held in that house until the Congregational session house was built in the summer of 1837. It was built of wood, framed, and was forty feet by twenty-six feet on the ground, and would seat about one hundred and forty persons comfortably, and cost twelve hundred dollars. The society was organized May 20, 1832, with seven persons, Stephen Kimball being the first deacon and Mr. Pierce the first pastor. Two of the little band fell victims to the cholera the same summer. The first brick church was also built in Marshall, and by a layman, Jabez S. Fitch, in 1843, and cost some seven thousand to eight thousand dollars, and was afterwards purchased by the Presbyterian church, an offshoot of the first Congregational church before named. A Methodist church was built in 1837, by Sidney Ketchum, and given to the society in Marshall by him, which was the first Methodist Episcopal church edifice erected in the county. The first Episcopal church parish in the county was or- ganized in Marshall in the spring of 1837, and a church edifice completed the fol- lowing autumn, the first service of the ritual in that denomination being held in the summer of 1836, by Rev. Charles B. Stout. Rev. Samuel Buel was the first rector.
The present church statistics make the following exhibit of the religious stand- ing of the county : There are some fifty-five to sixty organizations, with about as many houses of worship, capable of seating eighteen thousand persons, and which, with the parsonages and other property attached, are valued at nearly four hundred and fifty thousand dollars. These organizations are distributed among the different denominations as follows : fifteen Baptist, thirteen Methodist Episcopal, five Presbyterian, three Lutheran, three Adventist (Seventh-Day), two Congregational, four Evangelical Association, three Episcopal, two Methodist Protestant, two Methodist (African), one Christian, one Friends, one Free Methodist, one United Presbyterian, three Roman Catholic.
The Methodist Episcopal church have the control of the Albion College, a most excellent institution of learning, the foundation of which was laid in the Wesleyan Academy, in 1841, the corner-stone of the first building being laid July 6 of that year, the Rev. Mr. Grant being the projector of the same. It was completed in 1842, and school began in the fall of that year. The building was one hundred feet by forty feet on the ground, and four stories in height. The Adventist denomi- nation have under their management a college, at Battle Creek, and an extensive publishing department, from which weekly and monthly papers are issued in three different languages, and a very large amount of denominational literature scattered broadcast throughout the world.
ALBION COLLEGE .*
Like the river on whose banks it stands, this institution has its remotest sources in adjoining counties eastward, and in the somewhat distant past. As early as 1833, while southern Michigan was yet an almost unbroken forest, the project of planting a seminary of learning, under Methodist patronage, in the midst of our scattered population, was frequently discussed. Dr. Benjamin H. Packard, Rev. H. Colclazer, both of Ann Arbor, and Rev. E. H. Pilcher, of Monroe, were prominent in taking the initiative.
In 1834 the enterprise received the sanction of the Ohio Conference, which at that time held ecclesiastical jurisdiction over Methodism in Michigan ; and on March 23, 1835, "an act to incorporate the trustees of Spring Arbor Seminary" was approved by the legislative council of the Territory.
The first session of the " body corporate" was held on October 29, 1835, at the house of Dr. Sampson Stoddard, in the village of Jacksonburg. Adjourning to the counting-room of Hon. George B. Cooper, the following persons were elected officers of the board : Benjamin H. Packard, M.D., President; David Colman, first Vice-President ; Sampson Stoddard, M.D., second Vice-President; Deacon William Smith, Secretary ; Colonel Moses Benedict, Treasurer. Rev. Elijah Crane was subsequently elected the first financial agent. Deeds of lands to the amount of two hundred and ten acres were executed by William Smith and M. Benedict in favor of the seminary. Numerous subscriptions were obtained, and one hun- dred thousand brick engaged for the seminary edifice. But the financial pressure of 1836-37 coming on, it was judged prudent to delay the work of building. Meanwhile, many friends of the enterprise, regarding the location of Spring Arbor ineligible, proposed to remove it to whatever town should offer the most favorable inducements. The citizens of Albion agreeing to donate beautiful and extensive grounds for seminary purposes, and subscribing several thousand dollars to aid in the erection of suitable buildings, it was deemed expedient to make the transfer.
# Since writing the above we learn from Mr. Pierce that the meeting of October 9 was not the first preaching in the village of Marshall, but that on the first Sunday in July previously (1831), he preached in Marshall, being then on a tour of observation through the country.
# By W. H. Perrine, D.D.
28
HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Accordingly, on the 12th of April, 1839, an amendment of the original act of incorporation was secured from the legislature of the State, changing the name and location from "Spring Arbor Seminary" to " The Wesleyan Seminary of Albion," and the number of the trustees from twenty one to thirteen. The first trustees under the amended charter were the following : Elijah Crane (President), Alvan Billings (first Vice-President), Marvin Hannahs (second Vice-President), Jesse Crowell (Treasurer), E. H. Pilcher (Secretary), Benjamin H. Packard, Almon Herrick, Thomas H. Pray, Jesse Gardiner, Peter Williamson, and Arza C. Robin- son. Rev. Loring Grant was appointed general agent.
The corner-stone of the central edifice was laid July 6, 1841, Hon. Henry W. Taylor, of Marshall, delivering " an able and eloquent address." On October 27, 1842, a preparatory department was opened, under the supervision of Rev. G. P. Tyndall, in a temporary building erected for that purpose. In November, 1843, the seminary proper began its sessions in the edifice of the Methodist church, and in January, 1844, in the central building, under the following faculty : Rev. Chas. F. Stockwell, A.B., Principal and Professor of Languages and Mathematics ; Jesse Vose, Professor of Natural and Moral Science and English Literature; William W. Clark and Nelson Valentine, Assistant Teachers; Miss Octavia Gardiner, Preceptress.
The whole number of students at the institution during the year was three hundred.
The next organic change in the structure of the institution occurred in 1850, when, by an amendment of the previous charter, the following board were incor- porated under the name of " Albion Female Collegiate Institute and Wesleyan Seminary" : A. M. Fitch (President), Edward McClure (first Vice-President), Worcester Dean (second Vice-President), C. M. Cobb (Secretary), Joseph French (Treasurer), G. L. Foster, E. H. Pilcher, R. Sapp, H. Packard, O. C. Comstock, Benjamin Faxon, E. J. House, and L. D. Crippen. The faculty, at the begin- ning of this new epoch, consisted of the following :
Rev. Clark T. Hinman, A.M., President and Professor of Moral and Intellec- tual Philosophy ; Rev. E. W. Merrill, A.M., Professor of Ancient Languages and Elocution ; Rev. Norman Abbott, A.M., Professor of Mathematics ; Rev. L. R. Fisk, A.B., Professor of Natural Science; I. C. Cochran, Teacher of Primary English Literature ; Miss Sarah Hunt, Principal of Female Department and Teacher of Belles-Lettres ; Miss Mary Adams, Teacher of Modern Languages and Fine Arts; Mrs. Mary E. Church, Teacher of Music; and Joseph Chamberlain, Teacher of Indian Department. Joseph French was steward, and Rev. W. H. Brockway was general agent. The whole number of students in all departments was three hundred and fifty-five.
The next change in the organic status of the institution occurred by act of the legislature February 16, 1861, by which George Smith (President), Samuel W. Walker (first Vice-President), Manasseh Hickey (second Vice-President), Wil- liam Farley (Treasurer), E. Holstock, E. H. Pilcher, W. E. Bigelow, Andrew M. Fitch, Wm. Bort, John C. Blanchard, Wm. H. Johnson, and Clinton B. Fisk were constituted a corporate body, under the name of Albion College. The Faculty was as follows : Rev. T. H. Sinex, D.D., President and Professor of Moral and Intellectual Philosophy and Political Economy ; Rev. C. C. Olds, A.M., Professor of Natural Science; John Richards, Professor of Ancient Lan- guages ; Miss Julia F. Robinson, Principal of Female Department and Teacher of French and Fine Arts; Miss Charlotte Imus, Assistant Teacher ; and Henry Meakin, Professor of Music. The number of students for the year was two hun- dred and ninety.
The last change in the charter of the institution took place by legislative act on February 25, 1865. Hon. John Owen and E. G. Merrick, Esq., both of Detroit, together with E. J. Connable, Esq., of Jackson, were constituted " an endowment fund committee" to receive, hold in trust, and invest all moneys contributed for the endowment of the college, and to pay over to the board of trustees semi- annually all the interest accruing thereon.
The board of trustees at this epoch of development was constituted as follows : Jas. W. Sheldon, President ; Martin Haven, First Vice-President ; S. W. Walker, Second Vice-President ; A. M. Fitch, Treasurer ; Geo. Smith, Julius D. Morton, S. Clement, David Preston, Alvan Billings, Wm. Bort, W. H. Brockway, and J. S. Tuttle. Rev. Israel Coggshall was agent. The faculty was constituted as follows :
Rev. Geo. B. Jocelyn, D.D., President and Professor of Moral and Mental Science; Rev. W. H. Perrine, A.M., Professor of Natural Science and the Fine Arts ; W. H. Shelly, A.M., Professor of Latin and Greek Languages and Litera- ture ; Mrs. Livonia B. Perrine, A.M., Professor of Mathematics; Miss Rachel Carney, M.S., Preceptress and Professor of Modern Languages; Miss Juliet Bradbury, M.S.A., and Miss Elizabeth Hollingsworth, Teachers of Instrumental and Vocal Music.
The present status of the college is as follows :
Corporation. Elected by the Detroit Conference.
Name.
Residence.
Time Expires.
Rev. J. Bigelow
Romeo ..
1878.
Rev. Seth Reed
Ann Arbor
.. 1878.
John C. Clark
St. Clair
1877.
Rev. J. S. Smart
Port Huron.
1877.
David Preston, First Vice-President .Detroit
1879.
Otis A. Critchett, A.M.
Monroe.
1879.
Elected by the Michigan Conference.
Rev. Wm. H. Brockway, President.
Albion
1878.
James W. Sheldon, Treasurer.
Albion
1878.
Hon. C. R. Brown
Port Huron.
1877.
Rev. T. F. Hildreth, A.M
Grand Rapids .1877.
Geo. S. Clapp
.St. Joseph
1879.
Hon. Hampton Rich, Second Vice-President .. Ionia.
1879.
#Pres't Geo. B. Jocelyn, Secretary ... Albion, ex officio.
Endowment Fund Committee.
Hon. John Owen
Detroit January 1, 1883.
E. J. Connable, Esq
.Jackson
1, 1880.
E. G. Merrick, Esq.
. Detroit
1, 1877.
Albion Provisional Board of Control.
Rev. A. M. Fitch.
Chairman.
James W. Sheldon Secretary and Treasurer.
Martin Haven, Esq. Jacob Anderson, Esq.
Rev. Wm. H. Brockway.
Orlando C. Gale, Esq.
Martin B. Wood, Esq.
Board of Visitors and Examiners.
Appointed by the Detroit Conference .- Rev. L. R. Fiske, D.D., Rev. J. C. Wortley, A.M., Prof. Sallie A. Rulison, M.S.
Appointed by the Michigan Conference .- Rev. A. R. Boggs, Rev. Geo. S. Barnes, Rev. H. F. Spencer.
Appointed by the Alumni Association .- Elmer D. North, M.S., Franc M. Sanders Nichols, M.S., Alvah W. Bradley, A.B.
Faculty.
Geo. B. Jocelyn, President ; Jas. H. Hopkins, Vice-President; Lucy A. Osband, Precept- ress; Rev. Geo. B. Jocelyn, D.D., Moral and Intellectual Philosophy ; Rev. Jas. H. Hopkins, D.D., Latin Language and Literature; Wm. M. Osband, A.M., Natural Science ; Mrs. Lucy A. Osband, A.M., Modern Languages ; Rev. Rollin C. Welch, A.M., Greek and Hebrew Languages and Literature; Wm. Havemann, Vocal and Instrumental Music ; George B. Merriman, A.M., Mathematics ; Rev. Lewis F. Stearns, A.M., History and Belles Lettres ; H. A. Mills, Instructor in Painting, Drawing, and Perspective; Mrs. Julia E. W. Havemann, Teacher of Guitar; Jno. M. Roach, Chas. H. Chase, Geo. L. Bailey, Tutors in Mathematics ; P. Della Pierce, Tutor in Latin ; Bertha F. Aldrich, Tutor in English ; Rollin C. Welch, Secretary ; Geo. B. Merriman, Librarian ; Chas. H. Chase, Statistical Secretary.
Standing Committees for 1876-77.
Executive Committee .- Wm. H. Brockway, David Preston, H. Rich, Jas. W. Sheldon, Geo. B. Jocelyn.
Auditing Committee .- Jas. W. Sheldon, George B. Jocelyn, Wm. H. Brockway.
Committee on Finance .- H. Rich, Wm. Allman, A. J. Bigelow.
Committee on Faculty .- Otis A. Critchett, C. R. Brown, T. F. Hildreth.
Committee on Rules and Regulations .- Geo. B. Jocelyn, T. F. Hildreth, David Preston.
Committee on Courses of Study .- Geo. B. Jocelyn, A. J. Bigelow, J. S. Smart.
Committee on Library and Apparatus .-- J. S. Smart, S. Reed, Wm. Allman.
Committee on Buildings and Grounds .- Wm. H. Brockway, R. C. Welch, Jas. W. Sheldon.
Financial Exhibit.
Buildings, Grounds, and Furniture
$65,000.00
Library, Apparatus, and Cabinet.
5,000.00
President's House 2,000.00
$72,000.00
Funds in hands of Endowment Fund Committee :
Bonds and Mortgages.
$131,004.00 12,550.00
Notes.
143,554.00
In hands of Albion Board of Control.
25,000.00
Notes
23,896.26
$192,450.26
Income on the above for the years 1875 and 1876.
11,864.00
from other sources 4,078.97
$15,942.97
The present indebtedness of the college is $19,200, to provide for which a sinking fund has been created.
BATTLE CREEK COLLEGE.
The pressing need of a college under the special control of Seventh-Day Ad- ventists was first recognized by Elder James White and wife, several years before the establishment of this institution.
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