USA > Michigan > Calhoun County > History of Calhoun county, Michigan : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 5
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All of these men, so closely identified with Jackson and his ad- ministration, filled to a greater or lesser degree the public eye during the first half of the nineteenth century. Except Jackson only, no one was so long conspicuous and no one exercised so great an influence upon the republic as John Caldwell Calhoun, South Carolina's most eminent son, after whom Calhoun County was named. The son of an Irish im- migrant, whose mother, Mary Caldwell, was the daughter of a Pres- byterian clergyman also from Ireland, the future statesman, was born in South Carolina in 1782, the same year as Webster and Cass, two of his distinguished contemporaries. Calhoun graduated with honor from Yale in 1804 and after three years devoted to the study of the law, was admitted to the bar of his native State. Soon after his admission he was elected a member of the South Carolina legislature; at 29 years of age he became a member of Congress; at 35, Secretary of War under President Monroe; at 42, Vice President during John Quincy Adams' administration and held the same office during the first four years of Jackson's. He was for a short time Secretary of State under Ty- ler. At 51 he entered the Senate, the arena on which he won his most enduring fame. His name will be forever linked with those of Webster and Clay as one of the "Great Triumvirate."
Calhoun was the leader, if not the originator, of the nullification school of statesmen. He was the most conspicuous advocate of his time, of the proposition that the Constitution of the United States was a compact, an agreement and that secession is a constitutional right inherent in the states. Of a very high order of intellect, of great purity of character and from his standpoint of view, an ardent patriot, many still believe that he exercised a baneful influence upon the Republic.
On the 29th day of October, 1829, the Legislative Council of the Ter- ritory of Michigan enacted that so much of the country as lies south of the base line and north of the line between townships four and five,
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HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY
south of the base line and west of the line between ranges three and four, west of the meridian and east of the line between ranges eight and nine west, 'be and the same is hereby set off into a seperate county and the name thereof shall be Calhoun.
Settlers soon followed the setting apart of the county. Once the white man having looked upon the beautiful "oak openings," the fertile soil, the clear running streams with their natural water power sites, the numerous crystal water lakes already alive with fish, and the magnificent forests abounding with game, he not only coveted for him- self a part of this inheritance but everywhere he went he advertised its beauty and its advantages.
The first white man to settle, permanently, in Calhoun County was Sidney Ketchum. Ile came from Clinton County, New York, in August, 1830, and located land at the "forks" of the Kalamazoo River, now the site of the City of Albion, and also at the junction of Rice Creek with the Kalamazoo, at what is now the City of Marshall. At that time the United States Land Office for this section was at Monroe and there in the month of October, 1830, Noble Mckinstry and Ephraim Hanson entered lands covering respectively the water power at Marshall and Albion. Mr. Ketchum subsequently bought the land at both locations. These were the only entries made in Calhoun County in 1830. In the early days a good dam site was regarded as exceedingly important, for by it power could be conserved that would grind the corn into meal or the wheat into flour or saw the logs into boards. The first two would feed and the last house and shelter the pioneer and his family, hence dam sites were everywhere sought and seized upon by the early comers.
The year 1831 found the entries in Calhoun County increased fifty- fold over the preceeding. Among the new comers were George Ketchum, Lucious Lyon, Isaac N. Hurd, H. HI. Comstock, John Bertram, A. L. Hayes, Rev. John D. Pierce, Rev. Hohart Randall, Isaac E. Crary and H. P. Wisner, who located land in or near what is now the city of Marshall. It is worthy of note that in this little group of immigrants standing on the verge of civilization were a future United States Senator, a member of Congress and a State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Jonathan Wood entered the 160 acres which became the original village site on which the county seat was subsequently located. In the same year, Sands MeCamley, George Redfield, John J. and Daniel G. Gurnsey settled in or very near what is now Battle Creek. Goguac prairie was a strong competitor with Marshall and Battle Creek for settlers, for in 1831, David, Jonathan and Isaac Thomas and Isaiah Goddard located in that promising section. In 1832, Samuel Convis, Moses Hall with others found their way to Battle Creek. A little later came Ezra Con- vis, Polydore Hudson, who became Battle Creek's first Postmaster. Each succeding year there were additions to the little settlements at Marshall and Battle Creek.
Albion shares with Marshall the distinction of having one of the two first land entries made in Calhoun County. Both entries were made October 16, 1830. In 1831, Darius Pierce entered a quarter section on which the main part of Albion now stands. Sidney Ketchum's holdings in Sheridan township, now a part of Albion City, with those of Pierce
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HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY
and Harrison were bought by Tenney Peabody of the State of New York. In the early spring of 1832, Peabody arrived with his family, accom- panied by Charles Blanchard.
While the pioneers were coming in considerable numbers to Marshall, Battle Creek and Albion, other parts of the county were by no means passed by. In 1832, Henry and Richard McMurtrie, Powell Grover and William Wintersteen, all from Pennsylvania, settled within the limits of the present township of Homer. In the same year last named, Henry Cook located on what is now known as Cook's Plains, northwest of Ho- mer Village but in the present township of Eckford. The same year also, Anthony Doolittle, coming direct from Ohio, though originally from the State of New York, settled in what is now the township of Claren- don. In 1832, there came to Homer, Milton Barney, a most enter- prising and useful citizen. He entered a large tract of land on a part of which the beautiful Village of Homer now stands and which also em- braced the valuable water-power still in use, on which he built a saw till and a grist mill; he built the first store building and ran the first store ; put up and ran the first hotel and served as the first Justice of the Peace. The settlement for which he had done so much was originally called Barneyville. Timothy Hamilton, Henry Stanchell, Richard Nor- ris, Frederich R. Hatch, Samuel W. Hamilton, James Parsons, Chauncey Lewis, Cornelius Fish, and others made their way to Homer and vicinity and that section of the County improved rapidly.
The southwestern part of the County received its first influx of pio- neers in 1831. It was in this year that Alfred Holeum, Benjamin F. Ferris, Warren Nichols, and his brothers Ambrose and Orthorial, Asahel Stone and Isaac Crassett settled in the township first called Berlin, now Athens. At that time it embraced the present townships of Athens, Burlington and LeRoy. Others soon followed and shared with these hardy pioneers the privilege of building up what is today one of the finest sections of Calhoun County.
Marengo township enjoys, with others above named, the distinction of being among the first settled. Seeley Neal, whose land entry dates June 16, 1831, built the first log house put up in the township. It was located on the south side of the territorial road on Section 37. Col. John Ainsley, Erastus Kimball, Joseph Ames, Thomas Chisholm, Alfred D. Wright, Elijah A. Bigelow, and Nathan Pierce all came the same year. The fine water-power at Marengo was utilized in running a saw mill as early as 1835 .. A grist mill was put in commission in 1839. The timber being gone, there was no longer use for a saw mill, but the grist mill, though not the original, is still grinding wheat and corn for the customer who waits for his grist as in the early days. In 1831, Reuben Abbott, from Erie, New York, became the first white settler in the township of Sheridan. He was soon followed by Orris Clapp, Chandler Church and M. J. Lathrop. The first land entered in what is now Eckford Town- ship was by Osheo Wilder in the winter of 1831. Mr. Wilder, who was a native of Massachusetts, came direct from Rochester, New York, with his family in 1832. In Lower Eckford a dam was constructed across Wilder Creek-named in honor of the first settler-and a saw mill was built, which served the people of that section for many years.
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HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY
The first settler in Fredonia township was Thomas Burland. Mr. Burland was born and reared in Yorkshire, England, and in 1831 came from there with several other families and settled a year later in the township above named. John Huston, Sr., who came with his family from New Hampshire in 1833, was the second settler in Fredonia. Ile was followed by Ezekial Blue from the State of New York.
Similar conditions prevailed in several other townships. From 1830, when Sidney Ketehum first came, to 1835, large numbers of pioneers came into the county and located lands and built homes, scattering it is true, in nearly every section of the county. Lands were cleared, homes were built, fields were feneed, erops were raised, orchards were set, mills were put in, roads were surveyed and the first rongh work done to make them passable. An industrions, contented and happy people saw with pride and satisfaction the increasing results of their toil and sacrifice.
IMPORTANT YEAR FOR THE COUNTY AND MARSHALL
The first settlement of the whites in Calhoun County was made at what is now the city of Marshall, in the spring of 1831. On the 29th of Angust of the same year, the village plot of Marshall was received for record in the Register's office in Kalamazoo and on October 17, 1831, by proclamation of Governor Porter attested by Stevens T. Mason, Secretary, Marshall was officially declared to be the County Seat of Calhoun County.
The exact location was at a point in the line deviding sections twen- ty-five and twenty-six in township two South, range six West, on or very near the centre of the west half of the northwest quarter of Section twenty-five, and the east half of the northeast quarter of Section twenty- six, being northeast distant about three miles from the geographical centre of the County. Streets and alleys were dedicated for publie use; a square for the Court House: a lot for a jail; another for a seminary and four church lots, one of which was for the Presbyterian, one for the Episcopal, one for the Methodist Episcopal and one for the Baptist, were designated and set apart for the purposes named.
RAPID GROWTH OF COUNTY AND COUNTY SEAT
The County of Calhoun, according to the United States survey, em- braces twenty townships; each township, thirty-six sections and each section, six hundred and forty aeres of land, consequently there are 460,800 aeres in the county. Of all this acreage there remained unsold on July 1, 1837, less than seven years after the first entry was made and but six years from the coming of the first permanent settlers, 44,000 peres. In the meantime, the townships of Marshall, Milton, now Battle Creek, Convis, Marengo, Sheridan, Albion, Homer, Eekford, Te- konsha, Athens and Burlington had been organized. A number of villages, notably Battle Creek. Homer, Albion and Marengo, were giving promise of a future. A dozen Hlouring mills were in operation or being built, and twenty-one saw mills completed or in process of construction.
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HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY
Bridges were being built and roads laid out and improved. Farms were being rapidly cleared up and comfortable dwellings for the people and barns for the stock were being put up in nearly all parts of the county. Enterprise and enthusiasm characterized the people of that period. At the November election of 1836, there were 704 votes polled for a re- presentative to the State Legislature. This of itself indicates a remark- able influx of settlers, when the distance from the older and settled portions of the country and the difficulties of transportation are con- sidered.
Marshall was the best advertised town west of Detroit. Resourceful and resolute men of means were staking their fortunes here and the evidence of their faith and enterprise were everywhere visible. Brainy and educated young men saw here a promising future. Cultured and refined women gave an unwonted social atmosphere to a place so new and so remote from the centers of civilization. Speculators, trafficking in promises and predictions never to be fulfilled, boomed the place beyond any possibility of realization. Marshall was, on paper, made the head of navigation on the Kalamazoo. Lithographs were sent broad cast, portraying steamboats moored at her wharves or arriving and de- parting laden with cargoes and passengers. There was a general belief, and with very good ground for it, that when the capitol was removed from Detroit, as it was sure to be at no distant day, Marshall was the heir apparent. It was located by the enterprising and visionary specu- Iators long before the members of the legislature had taken final action. "Capitol Hill" was plotted and the lots thereabout sold at fabulous prices, when it is recalled that but a short time before land was bought in the same locality at one dollar and a half per acre.
A college was projected; a Board of Trustees chosen; money so- licited locally and in the East; a building erected and furnished; a fa- culty selected and the school opened and classes instructed, and Mar- shall would probably today be an important seat of learning had not the institution in its infancy been killed in the house of its supposed friends.
Manufacturing interests of various kinds located at Marshall in an early day, using the valuable water-power whenever it could be done to advantage. Aside from the saw mill put up in the summer of 1831 by Mr. George Ketchum, and the grist mill erected by the same gentleman in 1832, there was started in 1833, by II. W. Pendleton, a plant for the manufacture of furniture, chairs and Cabinet work. In 1835, F. A. Kingsbury succeeded to this line and did an extensive business. A faxseed oil mill, the first of the kind in the State, was built in 1835 at a cost, with its equipment, of six thousand dollars. In 1836, Charles and W. C. Dickey began the manufacture of fanning mills and carried on the business for many years. In the same year, Lansing Kingsbury and Josiah Lepper built, at Marshall, the first foundry in Calhoun County. In 1839 Nathan Church began the manufacture of sash doors . and blinds. Some ten years later he greatly enlarged the plant, using steam power. A factory for wool carding and cloth dressing was among the early enterprises. There were two foundries for the making of stoves, mill gearing and hollow plows. Threshing machines were made
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IHISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY
in Marshall at an early date. Among those engaged in this line of business was Mr. John Nichols, one of the founders of the well known Nichols and Sheperd concern at Battle Creek. As early as 1840, the manufacture of wagons was extensively carried on by Holland, Adams and Rymes
' PUBLIC AND PRIVATE BUILDINGS
in Marshall kept pace with, if they did not lead in, the general ad- vaneement of the town and county. In the spring of 1833 the "Ex- change Hotel", a two story frame building which stood upon the corner of State Street and Marshall House Square, took the place of the double log house which had previously served as a public hostelry. In 1835, the National House was built, the first brick structure erected in the county, and opened on January 1, 1836. The opening by mine host, Andrew Mann was long remembered as, up to that time, the most pretentious social event in the history of the County. This was in the days of rivalry between "Upper" and "Lower" town, as the two sections of the village were designated. Not to be outdone by "Lower" town, the Marshall House Company, under the lead of Sidney Ketchum, built the Marshall House in 1838. The house cost thirty thousand dollars. It was elaborately finished and finely equipped. At the time it was opened, it is said to have surpassed any hotel in the State and, indeed, in the whole northwest. It was for many years a noted resort by the traveling public. It was rather an inspiring sight, before the days of railroads, to see the coach with six foaming steeds, advancing on the canter under the erack of the driver's whip, dash up to its portals and discharge its heavy load of passengers. In the days when party feeling ran high, when the fires were unconsciously being kindled that in later years flamed up in civil war, the Marshall House was head- quarters for Whigs from all parts of the State and the National served the Democrats for a like purpose. They were also the rallying points for the rival east and west end factions, as long as that feeling of rivalry survived. Churches and private residences were built that were not surpassed, if equaled, between Detroit and Chicago.
It is not surprising that a town of such promise in a new and growing State and on one of the main lines of travel to the developing west, should arrest and hold more than its full share of enterprising spirits of all professions and lines of business, and that the place, all things con- sidered, should have a phenomenal growth. In the summer of 1837, only six years after the first rude shaek was put up at the confluence of Rice Creek and the Kalamazoo, there were in the village of Marshall "two printing offices, seven lawyers, seven physicians, four clergymen, two surveyors and civil engineers, three churches, viz., a Methodist Epis- copal, an Episcopal and a Presbyterian, three hotels, seven dry goods stores, four grocery and provision stores, one drug store, two bakeries, two watch and jewelry shops, one chair factory, one fanning mill factory, one cabinet factory, one tin and cooper shop, one furnace, four blacksmiths, two wagon and carriage factories, two tailors, one millinery, two shoemaker shops. one livery stable, one flouring mill and one saw
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HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY
mill and two more of each kind erecting." The inhabitants of Marshall at this time numbered about twelve hundred.
THE FIRST COUNTY COURT HOUSE
It is not surprising that a county growing so fast in wealth and po- pulation should feel the need of a Court House and jail. Accordingly, "At the first session of the State Legislature, convened in the winter of 1836-37, an act was passed authorizing the Board of Supervisors to borrow twelve thousand dollars with which to put up county buildings." Previous to this, the Courts were held in the school house or at any of the hotels. The Board of Supervisors at their annual meeting in October, 1836 voted to erect county buildings and instructed their clerks to ascertain what terms could be had for a loan of the authorized amount. In January, 1837, the Board met again and the clerk reported no loan could be had, as the county was restricted by the act of the Legislature; whereupon the supervisors petitioned the assembly to extend their powers and allow them to negotiate the loan upon such terms and rate of interest as the Board should deem advisable. In March, the super- visors applied to the Superintendent of Public Instruction for the loan, and S. S. Alcott was appointed superintendent of the construction of the county buildings and given full power to contract for material and labor and adopt a plan in outline for the building as presented by Supervisor Wright. The loan, however, was not effected until July, when it was obtained of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and Henry J. Phelps, Moses Hall and Charles Olin appointed a building committee. Another draft of the proposed building was adopted and the bar and the bench invited to appear before the Board and make suggestions as to any alterations deemed desirable. The loan was se- cured at seven per cent. The building was to be constructed of Marshall sandstone for the foundation and of brick for the superstructure.
The corner-stone was laid on the 22nd day of July, 1837. The address attending the ceremonies of the corner-stone laying was delivered by Mr. S. H. Preston. We subjoin herewith a brief extract in which he said: "The rapid progress which Calhoun County has made in popu- lation, in cultivating the soil, in improving its extensive water power, in affording encouragement to the mercantile and mechanical interests, in fostering religion and learning by establishing churches and schools. is truly flattering to the enterprise of the first settlers of the county. To the mind of the stranger, when he takes into consideration its recent settlement, it must afford perfect astonishment."
The building was ready for occupancy in 1838, but instead of twelve thousand as was originally intended, it cost between twenty-five and thirty thousand dollars.
The county having secured a new and comparatively expensive Court House, it proved not so easy to get a jail and sheriff's house. In Homer. the sentiment was so strong against it, that at a public meeting called. pursuant to notice, to consider the propriety of remonstrating against the project of building a jail and jailor's house for the county, the following resolutions were passed as the judgment of the meeting :
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HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY
"Resolved; That, whereas the County of Calhoun having raised a large sum of money for building a Court House, and having partly finished cells for eriminals, it would be unjust to lay further burdens on the inhabitants, at this time, for building a jail and jailor's house. "Resolved; That it is the opinion of this meeting that the true policy would be to finish the cells already commenced for criminals and if necessary a room for debtors and not let them out for any other purposes. "Resolved; That while we recognize the doctrine that the majority should govern, we also elain the privilege of being heard when our in- terest or the interest of the County is at issue.
"Resolved; That Messrs. Thornton, Dorsey, Smith and Stevens be a committee to learn the amount of taxes assessed for County purposes in the years 1837 and 1838 and the amount of money loaned to the County, also the cost of the court house and report these facts at a future meeting." The above proceedings were published on January 16, 1839.
Marshall, alive to what it conceived to be the interest and welfare of the City and County, was proclaiming the importance of building a jail and a jailor's house, and at an adjourned meeting of its citizens at the National Hotel, with Philo Dibble in the chair and Sidney S. Alcott acting as Secretary, adopted the following action :
"Resolved ; As the sense of this meeting, that a good, permanent and secure County jail is an indispensable auxiliary to the Courts of Justice and that without it one of our most valuable and cherished rights and privileges as citizens of a free government is lamentably depreciated.
"Resolved; That we discard the opinions of those who think it more economical to pay taxes to thieves, house breakers and conterfeiters, than to lawfully constituted collectors of the assessments, which have the common protection and safety of the community for their object.
"Resolved; That we deem it the duty of the County Commissioners to proceed forthwith to mature a plan for such jail and to take the neces- sary steps to raise the funds for building one the approaching season, and proceed to put the same under contract to be completed as soon as may be."
The last of the above set of resolutions was published January 18, 1839. The outcome of the agitation for and against was, that provision was made to care for prisoners in the basement of the Court House, which for many years served as a jail. This jail was built of squared tim- ber, put up inside of one of the rooms in the basement. During the term of the late Colonel Charles W. Dickey as Sheriff, there was a general escape of the prisoners, nine in number. They managed, by heating the iron at a stove that stood in the corridor, to burn through the logs and burn off the lock-fastenings. They also burned out the staples in an oak log to which one of their number was confined.
A NEW COURT HOUSE NEEDED
The foundations of the old Court House proved too weak to support the walls. The structure became very defective and unsightly. It was furthermore regarded as unsafe. On the 24th day of October, 1872,
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HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY
the Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution submitting to the people the question of building a new Court House to cost $50,000.00. The question was passed upon by the people at the spring election in 1873. The total number of ballots cast was 5,311, of which a majority of 475 was in favor of the proposition. On the second day of May, Robert Huston, A. E. Preston and S. J. Burpee were appointed a committee on plans and specifications, and on the first day of July, plans were presented by E. E. Myers, an architect of Detroit. These plans were adopted and a building committee consisting of Supervisors Huston, Preston, Loomis, Hutchinson, Cook and Graves was appointed.
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