USA > Michigan > Cass County > History of Cass county, Michigan > Part 16
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72
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY. MICHIGAN.
and lined with plank. This was subsequently done, and the logs under the plank were driven full of nails and bound with strap iron to make it still more diffi- cult for transgressors of the law to make their exit. The lock upon this log jail is one of the relics, which has lodgement in the museum of the Cass County Pio- neer Society. It is a massive and curious piece of mechanism. Its maker was George Fosdick, of Bar- ren Lake, who had a great reputation in early days for the construction of jail locks, and furnished many that were used in Southwestern Michigan and North ern Indiana. The old jail stood until very recent years in its original location, just south of the Lind- say planing-mill. It was used until a larger struct- ure was built in 1853.
Steps were taken toward the building of a court house in the fall of 1835. The first definite action was the passage of the following resolution on the 23d of October by the Board of Supervisors.
" Resolred, That a wooden building be erected on Lot 4, in Block 2 north, Range I west, in Cassopolis, 34 feet long by 24 feet wide, and to be for a court house, cost not to exceed $450, and to contain desks for the Judges and bar."
The lot designated in this resolution is the one on the west side of Broadway, where John Boyd now resides. The contract for building was awarded to Joseph Harper, and he had the building in readiness for occupancy by May 1, 1835. It was used as a place for holding courts and for various county purposes until 1841, when the present court house was com- pleted.
The structure now and for the past forty years in use was built by a number of men who associated themselves together under the name of "the Court House Company." Upon the 7th of August, 1839, David Hopkins, Henry Jones and James W. Griffin, County Commissioners, who had succeeded to the rights and powers of the Supervisors, entered into a contract with Darius Shaw, Joseph Harper, Jacob Sil- ver, Asa Kingsbury and A. H. Redfield (“ the Court House Company") to build according to specifications a court house. The terms were $6,000, of which sum one-third was to be paid in cash and the remainder in village lots, which had been donated to the county by the proprietors of the village in consideration of the location of the seat of justice at Cassopolis. The pub- lic square was also included in the consideration, the Commissioners only reserving that portion (the north- east quarter) on which it was proposed to build the court house. The Commissioners made a deed of bargain and sale to Messrs. Shaw, Harper and their associates, and the grantees simultaneously gave to the Commissioners their bond in the sum of $12,000 for the proper performance of their undertaking.
Following is the full text of the instrument, which contains the specifications upon which the present court house was built :
Know all men by these presents, that we, Alexander H. Redfield, Darius Shaw, Joseph Harper, Jacob Silver and Asa Kingsbury, all of Cassopolis, Cass County, Michigan, are held and firmly bound nnto David Hopkins, Henry Jones and James W. Griffin, Commissioners of said county of Cass, and to their suc- cessors in office, in the penal sum of $12,000, which sum well and truly be paid we bind ourselves, our heirs, executors and admin- istrators, firmly by these presents. In witness whereof we have hereto set our hands and seals this 7th day of August, A. D. eighteen hundred and thirty-nine.
The condition of the above bond is as follows : Whereas, certain village lots in said village of Cassopolis, and certain sums of money were formerly given to said county of Cass by the original proprietors of said village and by others for the purpose of erecting public buildings in said village for the use of the county ; and whereas, the said Commissioners have this day given to us a warranty deed for a certain part of said village lots and property, and also one order upon the treasury of said county for the sum of $2,000. Now, if we, the said Darius Shaw, Asa Kingsbury, Jacob Silver, Joseph Harper and Alexander H. Redfield shall erect or cause to be erected in said village within two years from the date hereof, on such ground as the said Commissioners shall select, a court house fifty-four feet in length and forty-six feet in width and I wenty-four feet high from sills to the eaves ; of the following general description, to wit: It shall be a wood building. the frame shall be good and strong, made of timber of good size and quality, the building shall be placed on good and sufficient stone wall foundations, sufficiently sunk into the earth not to be affected by the frost. Said building shall have built in it a brick safe sixteen (16 by seventeen (17) feet, with two apartments therein ; the walls of said safe shall be eighteen inches in thickness ; it shall be completely arched over with brick, one arch over each apartment ; the partition wall shall be a brick ; the said safe shall have two iron doors, and two windows with iron shutters on the inside and a brick floor, and shall be furnished with cases and shelving for the public books and papers ; the said house shall be inclosed with good pine siding neatly dressed, and covered with a good roof of pine shingles, with a suitable and proper cornice, principally of pine ; the whole house shall be well and neatly painted on the outside white, and lighled with at least six hundred and twenty- four lights of 10 by 12 glass; there shall be two good entrance doors ; there shall be a hall length wise of the building 12 feet wide ; all the floors in the basement and second story shall be neatly dressed and matched and laid down ; there shall be five rooms partitioned off and lathed and plastered and furnished with doors on basement story. In the second story, the court room shall be lathed and plastered, and there shall also be two small rooms cut off, aud also lathed and plastered for jury rooms. The aforesaid safe shall be plastered ; the whole work shall be done in a good and workmanlike manner, and of suitable and proper materials. Then this obligation to be void, otherwise to be and remain in full force and virtue.
Signed, sealed and delivered the day and year first above written, in presence of H. C. Lybrook and J. Barnum.
A. H. REDFIELD. [L. S.]
DARIUS SHAW. [L. 8.]
JOSEPH HARPER.
[L. S.]
ASA KINGSBURY. [L. S.]
JACOB SILVER. [L. s.]
The building erected in accordance with the speci- fications included in the above document, was finished
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
and used in 1841, but not formally accepted until the following year.
In 1851, the Board of Supervisors took steps to- ward the building of the second jail, and appointed James Taylor as Commissioner for carrying out their plans. The jail was built by him and finished in the fall of 1852. It stood upon ground just north of the present court house until the present jail was built, when it was removed.
The county officers' building was erected in 1860, by Joseph Smith. It was designed to be and is a fire- proof structure.
In 1852, the matter of making systematic and ade- quate provision for the poor was first effectually agi- tated. Up to this time there had been upon the county poor farm in Jefferson Township, bought of Asa Kingsbury, only a small log house. Upon the 12th of October, 1853, the Board of Supervisors re- solved "to build a good, sufficient and convenient house on the poor farm owned by the county, the ex- pense of which should not exceed $1,200." The resolution was afterward amended to read $2,000 in place of $1,200. Pleasant Norton was appointed agent to cause the erection of the building. Upon the 7th of January, 1854, the contract for building a brick structure was awarded to Lewis Clisbee & Son, at $1,795. The work was completed by them in No- vember of the same year, under the direction and to the satisfaction of W. G. Beckwith and Joshua Lof- land, who were appointed as a building committee. In 1868, the committee of the Board of Supervisors, appointed to examine public buildings, reported that the poor house was entirely inadequate for the purpose designed, and " an utterly unfit habitation for the panpers of the county," and the board recommended the raising of $15,000 in three equal annual assess- ments for the building of a new house. The matter being put to vote before the people, it was found that there was an overwhelming popular majority against the levying of the special tax. The need of a new house, however, was urgent, and the Board being ad- vised that they had the right to appropriate the sum of $1,000 for improvements, resorted to that course for securing the desired end. This was the begin- ning of the measures which resulted in the erection of the present fine home of the poor. The house was built in 1869 and 1870, by P. W. Silver, of Goshen, Ind., who took the contract for $6,300. He was subsequently allowed between $1,100 and $1,200 extra remuneration, and even then lost money upon the job. The work was performed under the direc- tion of D. M. Howell, James Boyd and Gideon Gibbs, Superintendents of the Poor, who were constituted by the Supervisors as a building committee, and they
deserve great credit for the thorough provisions they have made for the unfortunate. In 1871, an additional building was erected for the insane. This is called the asylum. It is two stories in height, and well adapted for the purpose intended. The brick work was done by D. W. Smith, of Niles, and almost all of the other work by or under the direction of Daniel B. Smith, of Cassopolis. Gideon Gibbs was the Super- intendant of construction. The asylum, with the other improvements and the addition made to the farm, cost as much, or perhaps a little more, than the poor house built in 1870. The whole outlay, within a period of about four years, was not less than $15,000. The county has now, upon a good farm of 280 acres, as fine accommodations for its pauper and insane popu- lation as can be found in any county of equal size and wealth in the West. There are but three or four finer or more convenient county houses in Michi- gan, and those are in counties of much greater popu- lation than Cass possesses.
In 1878-79 was erected the present jail and Sheriff's residence, the newest, costliest and best of the public buildings in Cass County. The old jail had been found an unsafe place for the confinement of criminals several years previous to 1877. One report of an ex- amining committee stated that "the back door was shrunk and could be opened from the outside with a shingle." In 1877, the Supervisors spent much time in planning the erection of a new building. Upon December 14, they appointed William P. Bennett, Jo- seph Smith and Charles L. Morton as a committee, and authorized them to advertise for bids for building a jail in accordance with the plans of T. J. Tolan & Son, of Fort Wayne, Ind., which had been accepted. On January, 1878, the bids were opened, and that of W. H. Myers, of Fort Wayne, for $17,770, was ac- cepted. Mr. Myers entered into contract for the per- formance of the work and furnishing of materials. The erection of the jail was begun in the early spring and completed in February, 1879. The building com- mittee consisted of C. G. Banks, Charles L. Morton and Joseph Smith. Daniel B. Smith was local superin- tendent. When completed, the jail was formally accepted by the building committee, acting in con- junction with H. R. Bement, J. II. East and R. II. Wiley, of the Board of Supervisors. The structure is one of the strongest and most substantial to be found in the State.
CIVIL ROSTER OF CASS COUNTY.
Following is a list of the civil officials of Cass County, and of men from the county holding at different periods State offices :
State Senators-1846, Alexander II. Redfield; I
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
1852, Jessee G. Beeson ; 1854, James Sullivan; 1856, Alonzo Garwood ; 1858, George Meacham ; 1860, Gil- man C. Jones ; 1862, Emmons Buell ; 1864, Levi Al- drich; 1866, Charles W. Clisbee; 1868, Amos Smith ; 1870, Uzziel Putnam, Jr .; 1874, Matthew T. Garvey ; 1878, James M. Shepard.
Representatives-James O'Dell, Joseph Smith ; 1836-38, James O'Dell, William Burk; 1839-40, James Newton, Henry Coleman; 1840-41, Myron Strong, George Redfield; 1841-42, S. F. Anderson ; 1842-43, S. F. Anderson; 1843-44, James W. Griffin; 1844-45, James Shaw; 1845-46, James L. Glenn ; 1846-47, James L. Glenn, James Shaw ; 1847-49, George B. Turner, Milo Powell; 1849-50, Cyrus Bacon, George B. Turner; 1850-52, George Sherwood, William L. Clyborne; 1852-54, E. J. Bonine, Pleasant Norton ; 1854-56, Franklin Brow- nell, Uriel Enos ; 1856-58, B. W. Schermerhorn, Ed- win Sutton; 1858-60, George Newton, E. W. Rey- nolds ; 1860-62, Edward H. Jones, Edward Shanahan; 1862-64, H. B. Denman, Levi Aldrich; 1864-66, Lucius Keeler, Alexander B. Copley; 1866-68, Henry B. Wells, Leander D. Osborn; 1868-70, Uzziel Put- nam, Jr., James Ashley ; 1870-72, Alexander B.Cop- ley, John F. Coulter; 1872-74, Alexander Robertson, Thomas O'Dell; 1874-76, John Struble, John B. Sweetland; 1878, Samuel Johnson, Hiram S. Chap- man ; 1880, James H. Hitchcox.
Members of Constitutional Convention-Detroit, May 11, 1835, James Newton, James O'Dell, Bald- win Jenkins; First Convention of Assent, Ann Arbor, September 26, 1836, James Newton, James O'Dell; Second Convention of Assent, Ann Ar- bor, December 14, 1836, Edwin N. Bridge, Jacob Silver, Joseph Smith, Abiel Silver ; Lansing, June 3, 1850, George Redfield, Mitchell Robinson, James Sullivan ; Lansing, May 15, 1867, Levi Aldrich, Jacob J. Van Riper.
Attorney General-1875-77, Andrew J. Smith. State Treasurer-1845-46, George Redfield.
Commissioner of State Land Office-February, 1846-50, Abiel Silver.
County Court Judges-1831, Joseph S. Barnard, Chief Justice ; William Burke and John Agard, As- sociate Justices ; 1834, William A. Fletcher, Chief Justice ; Abiel Silver and William Burke, Associate Justices ; 1846, Joseph N. Chipman, first ; Mitchell Robinson, second ; 1849, Ezekiel S. Smith, vice Chip- man, resigned ; 1850, Cyrus Bacon, first ; Ezckiel S. Smith, second.
Circuit Court Judges-1837, Epaphroditus Ran- som, Presiding Judge; James Cavanaugh and Richard V. V. Crane. Associate Judges; 1839, Myron Strong, vice James Cavanaugh, resigned ; 1841, Epaphroditus
Ransom, Presiding Judge; John Barney and Thomas T. Glenn, Associate Judges ; 1845, Epaphroditus Ransom, Chief Justice ; Samuel F. · Anderson and William H. Bacon, Associate Justices ; 1848, Charles W. Whipple, Circuit Judge ; 1856, Nathaniel Bacon, Circuit Judge ; 1864, Perrin W. Smith, Circuit Judge; 1866, Nathaniel Bacon, Circuit Judge ; 1870, Daniel Blackman, Circuit Judge ; 1875, Henry H. Coolidge, Circuit Judge; 1878, Charles W. Clisbee, Circuit Judge, vice H. H. Coolidge, resigned ; 1878, Andrew J. Smith, present incumbent.
Judges of Probate-1831, Elias B. Sherman ; 1837-40, Horace B. Dunning; 1841-64, Clifford Shannahan ; 1864-68, Matthew T. Garvey ; 1868- 83, William P. Bennett.
County Clerks-1830 (appointed by Governor), Joseph L. Jacks; 1833, Martin C. Whitman ; 1835- 40, Henley C. Lybrook ; 1840-41, H. B. Dunning ; 1842-43, H. C. Lybrook ; 1844-49, George Sher- wood; 1850-51, William Sears ; 1852-55, E. B. Warner; 1856-57, Benj. F. Rutter; 1858-61, Charles G. Lewis; 1862-65, Ira Brownell; 1866- 77, Charles L. Morton ; 1878-82, Joseph R. Edwards.
Circuit Court Commissioners-1852, Elias B. Sher- man ; 1854, Henry H. Coolidge; 1856, James M. Spencer; 1858-60, Charles W. Clisbee; 1862-64, Uzziel Putnam, Jr .; 1866, George Miller; 1868, Joseph B. Clarke; 1870, John R. Carr and N. B. Hollister ; 1872, Joseph B. Clarke and George L. Linder; 1874-78, George Ketcham and Joseph B. Clarke; 1880, George Ketcham and John F. Tryon.
Prosecuting Attorneys-1831, Elias B. Sherman ; 1840-42, Ezekiel S. Smith; 1842-52. James Sulli- van; 1852-54, H. H. Coolidge ; 1854-61, Andrew J. Smith ; 1862-64, Charles W. Clisbee; 1864-68, Andrew J. Smith ; 1868-70, George Miller ; 1870- 72, William G. Howard ; 1872-74, Spafford Tryon ; 1874-76, Marshall L. Howell : 1876-80, Harsen D. Smith ; 1880-82, Joseph B. Clarke.
Sheriffs-1830-32, George Meacham ; 1832-34, Henry Fowler; 1835-36, Eber Root; 1836-40, M. V. Hunter ; 1840-42, Walter G. Beckwith; 1842- 44, James L. Glenn ; 1844-46, Walter G. Beckwith ; 1846-49, Barak Mead; 1850-52, Andrew Wood; 1852-54, Walter G. Beckwith; 1854-56, Joseph Harper ; 1856-1860, Joseph N. Marshall ; 1860-62, B. W. Schermerhorn ; 1862-66, William K. Palmer ; 1866-70, Zacheus Aldrich ; 1870-72, Levi J. Rey- nolds ; 1872-74, William J. Merwin ; 1874-76, J. Boyd Thomas ; 1877-80, James H. Stamp; 1881, John A. Jones (present incumbent).
County Commissioners-1838, David Hopkins, Henry Jones, James W. Griffin ; 1840, William Burk, James O'Dell ; 1841, William H. Bacon.
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
County Treasurers-1831, Andrew Grubb (appoint- ed); 1833, Jacob Silver (appointed) ; 1836, Eber Root; 1837, Joseph Harper; 1838, Isaac Sears; 1839, Joseph Harper; 1840-43, Amos Fuller ; 1843- 45, Asa Kingsbury ; 1846-49, Joshua Lofland; 1850 -51, Henry R. Close; 1852-53, Henry Tietsort ; 1854-57, Jefferson Osborn ; 1858-59, William W. Peck ; 1860-61, Ira Brownell ; 1862-65, J. K. Ritter ; 1866-69, Isaac Z. Edwards ; 1870-73, Anson L. Dunn ; 1874-77, Hiram S. Hadsell ; 1878-82, R. L. Vanness.
Register of Deeds-1833, T. H. Edwards; 1835, Alex H. Redfield ; 1836-37, William Arrison ; 1838 -42, Joseph Harper ; 1842-54, David M. Howell ; 1854-64, Ariel E. Peck ; 1864-67, William L. Jak- ways: 1868-71, Joel Cowgill; 1872-76, Henry L. Barney ; 1876-82, Stephen L. George.
County Surveyors-1831, E. B. Sherman ; 1834, John Woolman ; 1838, J. C. Saxton; 1840, Henry Walton ; 1842-48, David P. Ward; 1848-50, Charles G. Banks; 1850-54, David P. Ward; 1854-56, Amos Smith ; 1856-60, Amos Smith; 1860-62, H. O. Banks; 1862-64, Amos Smith ; 1864-70, H. 0. Banks; 1870-74, John C. Bradt ; 1874-76, Aus- tin A. Bramer; 1876-82, Amos Smith.
County Superintendents of Schools-April 1867, Chauncey L. Whitney (elected). He resigned in Oc- tober, of the same year, and the vacancy was filled by the appointment of Albert H. Gaston, who held the office during 1868; 1869-70, Irvin Clendenen ; 1871-72, Lewis R. Rinehart; 1873-74, Samuel Johnson.
County School Examiners-1881, E. M. Stephen- son, Michael Pemberton, Daniel B. Ferris (elected for terms of one, two and three years respectively).
CHAPTER VII.
INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.
Indlan Trails-The Chicago Road-The Territorial Legislative Council -Fostering Internal Improvements-Roads Ordered to be Opened -Stage Routes-The Old Stage Coach-A Canal or Railroad Pro- ject-Rallroads.
EARLY ROADS.
THE earliest roads in the territory to which this work has especial reference were the Indian trails, and the chief of these was the Chicago trail, from that point to Detroit. It was over this path that for time immemorial the tribes of the Northwest had passed eastward and returned to their homes. The Sauks, the Outagamies and the Winnebagoes coming down the western shore of Lake Michigan and rounding its head, had for ages traveled this great path. After 1815, they passed over it annually upon their way to
Malden, Canada, where they received their annuities from the British.
Another Indian trail led from the Ottawa villages in the region of Little Traverse Bay, southward to the place where the city of Grand Rapids now is, and thence to the center of the Pottawatomie settlements of the St. Joseph. Still another connected these vil- lages with the Shiawassee and Saginaw Rivers. Lesser trails crossed the country in all directions.
It was along the great Chicago trail that the Chi- cago road was laid out, the first important thorough- fare of the whites through Southern Michigan. The Indians seemed almost by instinct to select the most direct routes that were compatible with the topogra- phy of the county, and they always forded the streams at the best places of crossing. Hence it was natural that the whites when they opened roads should follow in their footsteps.
When the Chicago treaty of 1821 was made, a clause was inserted especially stipulating that the United States should have the privilege of making and using a road through the Indian country from Detroit and Fort Wayne, respectively, to Chicago.
The first of the Congressional acts which led toward the construction of the Chicago road was passed April 30, 1824. It authorized the President of the United States " to cause the necessary surveys, plans and estimates to be made of the routes of such roads and canals as he may deem of national importance in a commercial or military point of view, or necessary for the transportation of the public mail."
The sum of $30,000 was appropriated for the surveys and the President was anthorized to appoint two competent engineers.
The ronte from Detroit to Chicago was one of those which the Executive "deemed of national impor- tance," and the sum of $10,000 was set apart from the appropriation for the survey.
In 1825, work was commenced at the eastern end of the road. The surveyor began on the plan of run- ning on nearly straight lines, but had progressed only a few miles when he came to the conclusion that if he carried out his original intention, the money apor- tioned for the work would be exhausted long before he could reach the western terminus. He then re- solved to follow the old path of the Sauks and Foxes, and in fact did so to the end. The road was never straightened, and the thousands of white men who have traveled over it have turned at every angle and bend of the ancient trail. The flagmen were sent in advance as far as they could be seen, the bear- ings taken by the compass and the distance chained and marked. The trees were blazed fifty feet on each side of the trails, the requirement being that the road should
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
measure one hundred feet in width. It was surveyed through Cass County in 1832, by Daniel G. Garnsey. The road was not worked through St. Joseph, Cass and Berrien Counties by the Government until after the Sauk or Black Hawk war. Immigrants made such improvements as they found necessary, and the stage companies worked the road sufficiently to get their coaches through, and built some bridges. In 1833, the Government made thorough work of build- ing the road through Branch County, and in 1834, through St. Joseph and Cass Counties. It was grubbed out and leveled for a width of thirty feet, and the timber was cut away on each side. The first bridge over the St. Joseph was built in 1834, at Mottville, which crossing was designated as “the Grand Traverse."
The Chicago road enters Cass County opposite Mottville, follows a generally southwesterly course through South Porter, and nearly reaches the Indiana line in Mason Township. It thence follows a north- westerly direction through Adamsville to Edwards- burg, and from the latter point passes southwesterly to the county line, and thence to Bertrand. Five and a half miles west of the second crossing of the St. Joseph River it crosses the State line into Indiana.
This road was the great thoroughfare from East to West until about 1850, when its usefulness was super- seded by the railroads. It still remains as originally laid, but is only used for local travel.
From the year 1829 (when Cass County was erected) until Michigan became a State, the Territorial Legislative Council seduously fostered internal im- provements. Acts authorizing the laying-out of roads and appointing Commissioners to superintend the work were passed at every session, and sometimes this business equaled in importance as well as bulk all other legislation.
By act approved July 30, 1830, authority was granted for the laying-out of a road " commencing where the township road laid out by the Commis- sioners of Ontwa Township, Cass County, from Pleas- ant Lake, in a direction to Pulaski, in Indiana, inter- sects the southern boundary line between the Terri- tory of Michigan and the State of Indiana; thence on the road laid out as aforesaid until it intersects the Chicago road a few rods west of the post office, near the house of Ezra Beardsley, running thence on the most eligible and practicable route to the entrance of the St. Joseph River into Lake Michigan." George Meacham, John Bogart and Squire Thompson were the Commissioners appointed to lay out and establish this road.
By act of the Council in June, 1832, another Ter- ritorial road was authorized which was to pass through
Cass County, viz., a road "commencing at the county seat of Branch County, running westerly on the most direct and eligible route through the seats of justice of St. Joseph and Cass Counties to the mouth of the St. Joseph River." The Commissioners ap- pointed to lay out the road were Squire Thompson, C. K. Green and Alexander H. Redfield, Esq.
During the same season, an act was passed author- izing the establishment of a road from White Pigeon by Prairie Ronde and Kalamazoo to Grand Rapids, and E. B. Sherman, Isaac N. Hurd and John S. Barry (afterward Governor of the State), werc appointed as Commissioners to lay it out.
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