History of Cass county, Michigan, Part 14

Author: Waterman, Watkins & co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago, Waterman, Watkins & co.
Number of Pages: 670

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These and a few other simple artieles formed the furniture and furnishings of the pioneer's cabin. In contrast with the rude furniture fashioned by the pioneer with his poor tools there was occasionally to be seen a few souvenirs of the "old home."

The utensils for cooking and the dishes for table use were few. The best of the latter were made of pewter, and the careful housewife of the olden time kept them shining as brightly as the most pretentious plate to be found in our later-day fine houses. Knives and forks were few, crockery scarce and tinware by no means abundant.

Corn was frequently ground or pounded into coarse meal at home by the family of the pioneer. Going to mill was considerable of a task when a man had to journey ten or twenty miles over a bad road or a mere trail with his grist loaded upon a horse. The first mill to which the pioneers of Cass County went, was one built at Dowagiac Creek, near Niles, by Eli Ford, in the year 1827. In the following year was built the first grist-mill in Cass County. It was a very primitive affair indeed, but was a great conven- ience to the people. It was located near the site of the village of Vandalia, upon Christiana Creek, and was built and operated by a Mr. Carpenter. The buhrs and irons of this mill were brought from Ohio.

Bread was commonly baked in a " reflector"-a huge tin receptacle which was placed before the fire- or in a bake kettle. Sometimes when these conven- ienees were not at hand, corn-cake was baked in the ashes or upon a board or large chip. Wild fruits were made use of when they could be procured. If the pioneer was a hunter, as was usually the ease, he kept the larder supplied with venison, wild turkeys, squirrels, and the many varieties of small game. Oc- casionally bear meat varied the bill of fare. Salt pork was a greater rarity and luxury however than the choicest game. The food of the pioneers was simply cooked and served, but it was almost always of the most substantial and wholesome kind.

The men were engaged constantly in the varied avocations of pioneer life-cutting away the forest,

burning the brush and debris, preparing the soil, planting, harvesting, and caring for the few animals they brought with them or soon procured.

" Breaking" was a distinctive feature of the pio- neer's labor, and probably the most exhausting work that a man could perform. The turf on the prairies was very tough, and the ground in most places was filled with a network of the wire-like red-root. The most difficult plowing, however, was in the openings and timber land, where, although the underbrush had been kept down by annual fires, the roots had grown to great size. These were called "stools." An ordinary plow-team would have been worthless among the stools and grubs, and a common plow would have been quickly demolished. The plow used was a massive construction of wood and iron, and was known as the "bull plow." The share and coulter were of iron, and made very heavy and strong. The beam was long and of huge proportions, to resist the enor- mous strain brought to bear upon it. Usually the weight of one of these ponderous bull plows was about three hundred pounds, and there was one in use in Cass County which weighed 500 pounds. To the bull plow were attached ordinarily six or seven yoke of oxen ; but instances have been known where twelve and even fourteen yoke have been used to advantage. With such a team, grubs as large around as a man's arm or leg were cut off as if they were so many straws. The breaking-team and the bull plow was managed by two men, one holding the plow and the other moving backward and forward along the line of the team, administering stimulative blows, and shouting the loud "gee, whoa, haw, to guide his oxen as they draw."

" Breaking" was a regular business with some of the pioneers for several years, and was followed as threshing now is. The sum of $5 per acre was the customary price for breaking land.

While the men were engaged in the heavy work of the field or forest, their helpmeets were busied with a multiplicity of household duties-providing for the day and for the year, cooking, making and mending clothes, spinning and weaving. . They were heroic in their endurance of hardship and privation and loneli- ness. They were, as a rule, admirably fitted by nature and experience to be the consorts of the brave, strong, industrious men who first came into the West- ern wilderness. Their cheerful industry was well directed and unceasing. Woman's work, like man's, in pioneer times, was performed under many disad- vantages, which have been removed by modern skill and science, and the growth of new conditions. The pioneer woman had not only to perform what are now- a-days known as common household duties, but many

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

others. It was frequently the case that she had not only to make the clothing for the family, but the fabric for it. Money was scarce, and the markets in which satisfactory purchases might be made were far away. It was the policy of the pioneer (urged by necessity), to buy nothing which could be profitably produced by home industry ; and so it happened that in many of the cabins of the earliest settlers was heard the sound of the softly-whirring wheel and the rhythmnic thud of the loom, and that women were there engaged in that old, old occupation of spinning and weaving-an occupation which has been associated with woman's name in all history, but one of which the modern world knows little except what it has heard from the lips of those who are grandmothers now-an occupation which seems surrounded with the glamour of romance as we look back upon it through tradition and poetry, and which conjures up thoughts of the graces and virtues of a generation of dames and damsels which is gone. The woman of pioneer times was like the woman described by Solomon : "She seeketh wool and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands; she layeth her hands to the spindle and her hands hold the distaff."

The earliest pioneers of Cass County suffered much from apprehension of Indian hostilities. The alarm which was felt at the time of the Sauk war has been spoken of in the preceding chapter. There were many other occasions when the occupants of lonely log cabins, with their nearest neighbors miles away, were fearful that some roving band of savages might inflict atrocities upon them. The women especially were filled with a feeling of insecurity. Wild animals caused much annoyance and created great damage by their ravages. Wolves were very numerous for the first fifteen or twenty years, and it was only by exer- cise of the utmost care that the settlers were able to raise sheep. The Board of Supervisors at their Octo- ber meeting in 1834 resolved to give a bounty of $2 for scalps of the large species of wolves, and $1.50 for the scalps of " pups and prairie wolves." In 1835, the bounty was raised to $5 and later to $10. The State also offered a bounty, and wolf-killing being made profitable the animals were finally exterminated. The great liability to sickness which always exists in a new country was another source of dread. Still another trial which was endured by the men and women who first dwelt in the Western country, and one that was greater than is generally imagined, was the sense of loneliness which could not be dispelled. In the midst of all the loveliness of their surround- ings, and in spite of the active life they led, the early settlers experienced a deep-seated, constantly recur- ring feeling of isolation, which made many stout hearts

turn longingly back to the older settlements, the homes and friends, the companionship and the sociability they had abandoned to take up their new life in the wilderness. This feeling was perhaps in the majority of cases harder to bear than the privations and toil and hardship and rude living which were inseparable from pioneer life.

As the settlements increased, the sense of loneliness and isolation was dispelled ; the asperities of life were softened, its amenities multiplied. Social gatherings became more numerous and more enjoyable. The log rolling, harvesting and husking bees for the men and the apple-butter making and quilting parties for the women furnished frequent opportunities for social in- tercourse. A wedding was the event of most impor- tance in the sparsely settled new country, and when- ever one was celebrated the whole neighborhood turned out to make merry. The young people had every in- ducement to marry, and usually did so as soon as they were able to provide for themselves.

The first social gathering in the county, which was distinctively a meeting of the pioneers and intended to be such, was held in the year 1837 at Elijah Goble's, in the village of Charlestown, Volinia Town- ship. The occasion was the completion by Mr. Goble of a tavern building. He resolved to have a house warming and so extended a general invitation to his fellow-pioneers to be present upon a certain day with their wives and families. The day designated was a pleasant one and from seventy-five to one hun- dred people, mostly residents of the north part of the county, assembled and passed a most enjoyable season of social converse, related their experiences during the first years of settlement, sang old-time songs and par- took of a bountiful and substantial repast. A wandering fiddler, happening opportunely to make his appearance, was pressed into service, and the pioneer party ended with a merry dance.

In the period between 1836 and 1840, immigration seemed to receive a new and powerful impetus and the country rapidly filled up with settlers. The era of prosperity was fairly begun ; progress was slowly but surely made ; the log houses became more numer- ous in the clearings ; the forest shrank away before the woodman's ax. Soon more commodious structures took the places of the old log cabins ; frame houses and barns appeared. The pioneers laid better plans for the future, enlarged their possessions, improved the means of cultivation, and resorted to new methods and new industries. Society had begun to form itself, the schoolhouse and the church had appeared and ad- vancement was noticeable in a score of ways. Still there remained a vast work to perform. The brunt of the struggle, however, was past, and a way made in

ISAAC SHURTE,

MR AND MRS. ISAAC SHURTE.

There is on earth no spectacle more beautiful than that of two old people who have passed with honor through storm and contest and retain to the last the freshness of feeling which adorned their youth. Such is a true green old age, and such are a pleasure to know. There is a Southern winter in declining years when the sunlight warms although the heat is gone. There are still living in La Grange two of the town- ship's first settlers. For over a half century they have observed the momentous changes which have culminated in the present stage of advancement. When they came to Cass County they found a wilder- ness, with here and there a clearing. Detroit had hardly reached the distinction of a village, and Cassop- olis and Dowagiac had not an existence. Beneath their observation in a grand life panorama, Cass County has been organized and developed into one of the foremost agricultural regions in Michigan. It is in keeping with the self-abnegation of such people that they have retired to the background and quietly look on as the great and varied interests of which they helped lay the foundation are seen to rise and extend in prominence and utility. The father of Isaac Shurte was of Dutch descent, and a soldier of the Revolution. He was a staid and industrious man, and reared a large family, Isaac being one of the younger members. At the time of Isaac's birth (July 11, 1796), the family were living in New Jersey.

MRS. ISAAC SHURTE.

When a young man, he emigrated to Butler County, Ohio, where he married Miss Mary Wright. She was born in New Jersey, about thirty miles from New York City, June 11, 1801 ; her father was a farmer and soldier in the war of 1812. From Ohio Mr. and Mrs. Shurte came to Cass County, where they have since resided. By reference to history of La Grange, it will be seen that Mr. Shurte took a conspicuous part in the early affairs of the county ; the first town meeting in La Grange was held at his house. When the little settlement had reason to believe their homes were to be despoiled and the lives of there families placed in jeopardy by the Indians, Mr. Shurte took command of a company of men and reported for duty. Mr. and Mrs. Shurte have had ten children-Sally M. Mary A., Elizabeth, Margaret, Francis M., Susan, William, Sarepta, Henry and Cynthia E. Of the above Sarepta (now Mrs. Fletcher), Margaret (Mrs. Hardenbrook), Francis M., William and Henry are now living, the latter on the old homestead. It is questioned what recourse is left to the aged when no longer able to pursue an accustomed round of labor. Mr. and Mrs. Shurte are qualified to reply. They have led a quite home life. They have marked out and pursued a line of action whose goal has proved a satisfaction. They have enjoyed the quiet of home and the retirement of the farm, and their long lives affords a marked contrast to the brief existence of the votaries of pleasure.

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY. MICHIGAN.

the wilderness by the pioneers for the army of occu- pation that was to come.

The pioneers of Cass County and of all the West- ern country were of two classes. The greater class was made up of those earnest, strong, sturdy charac- acters who came into the wilderness with the settled and definite purpose of hewing out homes by dint of patient toil and of securing for their families the best possible condition in life. As a rule, they were a pious, God-fearing class of men. Their habits of in- dustry, frugality and sobriety, their patience, steadfast- ness and determination to succeed made them in time. however humble their beginnings might have been, substantial citizens. The memory of hundreds who were of this class is preserved in this volume.

But there was another class of men among the early settlers well known in their day and generation, con- cerning whom little information is now obtainable, although some of their names have been made by legend and tradition almost as familiar as household words. We allude to those restless, migratory char- acters who formed what may be called the floating population of the frontier who were the human flot- sam and jetsam of the ocean of life, borne onward, and stranded here and there by the waves and surges of emigration.

Among these wandering, transient pioneers there were many strange, interesting characters who im- pressed themselves strongly on the minds of the steadier and more solid denizens of the new country. A marked type of this element was the eccentric Job Wright, who lived for a number of years upon Dia- mond Lake Island, and closed his strange existence in Cass County.

As it would perhaps not be elsewhere presented, we make a place here for what little is definitely known about the apparently purposeless life of this erratic pioneer.

From the history of Ross and Highland Counties, Ohio, we learn that Job Wright was the first settler at Greenfield, in the latter-named county, in the year 1799. We quote from the work mentioned. " He was a native of North Carolina and had emigrated with his father's family to Ross County, and settled at the High Bank a few miles south of Chillicothe, but not liking that locality he removed to Greenfield, while as yet that town had no existence save on paper. He made the first improvement in the village, build- ing a log cabin where the Harper House now stands. HIe was a hair sieve-maker, and as wire sieves were then unknown

* he derived quite an income from his trade.

* Mak- ing hair sieves, however, did not monopolize Job's time or talent. His principal occupation was fishing,

and he followed it with a perseverance and patience worthy of his Biblical protonym and with a degree of success of which even Isaak Walton might be proud. His little cabin * *

* became too public a place to suit Job's fancy, after a few families had removed to the town plat and he built another in an isolated locality near his favorite fishing place in Paint Creek, which is known to this day as 'Job's Hole.'

* It was not long before civilization crowded Job farther west."

He probably left Greenfield before 1807 or 1808. He is known to have taken part in the war of 1812. Wandering from one place to another, but always going westward, keeping upon the outposts of civiliza- tion, he made his appearance in Cass County in 1829. Very naturally he selected as the place of his loca- tion the island in Diamond Lak e, that being the most secluded situation he could find. He built a small log cabin near the north end of the island, and for some time lived there as a "squatter," but finally entered the land, when there appeared to be danger that it might pass into the possession of some one else.

At his island home, Job led, the greater part of the time, a hermit's life. During a portion of the years he spent upon his little domain, however, his mother, son and son's wife, whom he brought from Ohio, lived with him. Job Wright was tall and gaunt, but power- ful, red headed and long bearded. Upon one hand he had two thumbs, and claimed that this peculiar forma- tion was the badge and token of the gift of prophecy and other endowments of occult-power. ITis strange appearance and habits, secluded life, remarkable reti- cence, and, the mystery in which his past was shrouded all combined to produce the impression that he was possessed of abilities not bestowed on common mortals. By many persons he was said to have a knowledge of witchcraft, and some people tell impressively at this day how he could stop the flowing of blood by simply learning the name and age of the person whose life was endangered, and pronouncing a brief incanta- tion. Most of his time was spent in hunting and fishing, but he cultivated a small part of the island, raising a little corn and a few vegetables for his own use.

As the country became more thickly settled, Job grew uneasy and sought the still farther west. After several years of wandering, he returned to Diamond Lake Island, which was probably the home of the recluse pioneer for a greater period than any other locality. His sturdy constitution had begun to fail under the weight of years, when he returned to the island and he died not very long after, at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Cornelius Huff.

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

A few friends and acquaintances among the settlers of the neighborhood, not more than a dozen in all, followed the remains of the old recluse to the Cas- sopolis burying-ground. George B. Turner, passing, and happening to notice the little knot of men gathered about an open grave, was led by curiosity to join them. There was no minister present. The prepara- tions were all made and the rude whitewood coffin was about to be lowered into the ground when one of the men, a rough spoken but tender-hearted and humane old farmer uttered a suggestion to the effect that some remarks ought to be made before the remains of a fellow-mortal were laid away to rest. He called upon Mr. Turner, who, after a moment's hesitation, stepping upon the little mound of fresh earth at the side of the grave, delivered Job Wright's funeral ser- mon.

The secret of the cause which had driven the eccen- tric pioneer to his life of seclusion was buried with him.

CHAPTER XI.

ERECTION AND ORGANIZATION OF CASS COUNTY.

The Earliest Counties Established-St. Joseph Township-Cass County Erected in 1829-Berrien Attached under the name of Niles Town- ship-Political Divisions-County Seat Contest-Early Meelings of the Supervisors-Valuations of the Townships and Taxes Levied- The Courts-Public Buildings-Roster of Civil Officers.

THE first county erected within the territory now included in the boundaries of Michigan was the county of Wayne. It comprised a vast extent of ter- ritory-the whole of the Lower Peninsula and also portions of the present States of Ohio and Indiana. It was established in 1796, and named after Gen. Anthony Wayne. Detroit was the county seat. Other counties were erected as follows: Monroe, in 1817; Mackinac, in 1818; Oakland, in 1820; Wash- tenaw, in 1826; Chippewa, in 1826; Lenawee (from Monroe), in 1826. On the 20th of November in the year last named, the Legislative Council of the Terri- tory of Michigan attached to Lenawee County all of the territory, the Indian title to which had been ex- tinguished by the treaty of Chicago in 1821. All of this territory, including from seven to eight thousand square miles of land, is now embraced in the counties of Cass, St. Joseph, Branch, Hillsdale, Calhoun, Kala- mazoo, Van Buren, Allegan, Barry and Eaton, and constitutes nearly all of Berrien and Ottawa, and parts of Ionia, Ingham, Jackson and Kent.

Upon April 12, 1827, the whole of this territory was constituted and organized the township of St. Joseph, and the first town meeting was ordered to be held at the house of Timothy S. Smith, which stood very near the site of the village of Niles. On Sep-

tember 22, 1828, the lands, of which the title was ceded by the Indians at the Carey Mission treaty of the same year, were attached to Lenawee County, and added to the enormous township of St. Joseph. It does not appear that Government had any other than a merely nominal existence in St. Joseph Township, and it is probable that no legal acts were performed in or by it.

ERECTION AND ORGANIZATION OF CASS COUNTY.

The county of Cass was constituted very nearly as it now exists by an act of the Legislative Council of the Territory of Michigan, approved October 29, 1829. By the same act were erected the counties of Ingham, Eaton, Barry, Jackson, Calhoun, Kalamazoo, Van Buren, Hillsdale, Brauch, Berrien and St. Jo- seph. The section defining the boundaries of Cass County provided " That so much of the country as lies west of the line between Ranges 12 and 13 west of the meridian and east of the line between Ranges 16 and 17 west, and south of the line between Town- ships 4 and 5 south of the base line and north of the boundary line between this Territory and the State of Indiana, be, and the same is hereby set off into a separate county and the name thereof shall be Cass."

The boundaries remained unchanged until March 3, 1831, when that portion of the country lying east of the St. Joseph River (consisting of one whole sec- tion and fractions of four others) was by act of the Legislative Council made a portion of St. Joseph County. Since that time no alteration whatever has been made in the territory of Cass County.

Cass County was organized under an act passed November 4, 1829, entitled “ An act to organize the counties of Cass and St. Joseph, and for establishing courts therein." Of this act, we reproduce the por- tions having reference to Cass County.

ACT OF ORGANIZATION.

Be it enacted by the Legislative Council of the Territory of Mich- igan, That the countiea of Cass and St. Joseph shall be organized from and after the taking effect of this act, and the inhabitants thereof entitled to all the rights and privilegea to which by law the inhabitants of the other counties of thia Territory are entitled.

SEC. 2. That there shall be a County Court established in each of said counliea; and the County Court of the county of Cass shall be held on the last Tuesday of May and on the last Tuesday of November in each year. * * *

SEC. 3. That all suits, prosecutions and other matters now depending before the County Court of Lenawee County, or before any Justice of the Peace of said county of Lenawee, shall be prosecuted to final judgment and execution ; and all taxes here- tofore levied and now due shall be collected in the same manner as though said counties of Cass and St. Joseph had not been or- ganized.

SEC. 4. That the couties of Berrien and Van Buren, and all the country lying north of the aame to Lake Michigan, ahall be at- tached to and compose a part of the county of Cass.

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

* *

SEC. 8. That there shall be Circuit Courts, to be held in the counties of Cass and St. Joseph, and that the several acts concerning the Supreme, Circuit and County Courts of the Ter- ritory of Michigan, defining their jurisdiction and powers, and directing the pleadings and practice therein in certain cases, be and the same are hereby made applicable to the Circuit Courts in said counties.

SEC. 9. That the said Circuit Court shall be held at the re- spective county seats in said counties, at the respective court houses or other usual places of holding courts therein ; provided, that the first term of said court in the county of Cass shall be holden at the schoolhouse near the house of Ezra Beardsley, in said county. * * *

SEC. 10. That the county of Cass shall be one circuit, and the court for the same shall be held hereafter on the second Tuesday of August in each year. .

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History of Cass county, Michigan, Part 14

Author: Waterman, Watkins & co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago, Waterman, Watkins & co. Number of Pages: 670

Author: Waterman, Watkins & co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago, Waterman, Watkins & co.
Number of Pages: 670