USA > Michigan > Cass County > History of Cass county, Michigan > Part 67
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In the early settlement of this country, the Rine- harts played quite an important part : John Rinehart, the progenitor of the family, was born in the Shenan- doah Valley, Va., in 1779, and, in 1823, emigrated to Ohio, when his wife. 'Christina (Hashbaurgher), deceased, and having married again February 8, 1829, he, with his worldly goods and wife and ten children stowed away in two wagons, drawn by four yoke of oxen and two span of horses, started, in company with a Mr. Donalds and his family, for Cass County. They passed but one house between Elkhart and Edwards- burg, there then being but two between these inter- mediate points. They reached Young's Prairie, their destination, the 27th of this month, and purchased. for 825, the betterments of a Mr. Hinkley, the farm now owned by J. E. Bonine, and moved into a log-house sixteen feet square, which boasted of a puncheon floor, while the room was lighted by six diminutive panes of glass. But eight families resided on the prairie at this time.
Not long after their arrival, a premium having been offered for wolf pelts. they constructed a pen, and captured one, which was bound, and then carried alive on horseback to their home by Samuel Rinehart. Ile was chamed to a tree, and when attacked by two pow- erful dogs belonging to Charles Jones, fought them so
valiantly that they were completely routed, and only when re-enforced by two others did they vanquish this animal, which is usually considered cowardly and in- offensive. After this episode, Mr. Rinehart was taken very sick, and in compliance with the sage prescription given by David Shaffer, who denominated it " wolf-sickness," took a copious dose of spider- web tea, which marvelously (?) effected a cure. Mr. Samuel Rinehart is the hero of another encounter. After becoming a resident of Porter, he saw what at first appeared like a dog, but closer inspection re- vealed that it was an immense wild-cat, and, picking up a hand-spike, he attacked and killed this most treacherous and active of wild animals, from which most men would flee with all possible celerity. In a few years, Mr. Rinehart disposed of his farm of five lots, which he had entered June 27, 1829, and fol- lowed his sons into Porter Township, where he re- mained until his death, in 1856. His family consisted of Jacob, who is a farmer in Porter ; Catharine, now Mrs. George Meacham : Lewis, now deceased ; Samuel ; John : Christina, now Mrs. W. Stevens. in Mason ; Abraham : Ann (Mrs. M. Hall, and afterward Mrs. D. Sullivan) ; Susan, deceased ; and Simon, a farmer in this township.
While residents of Penn, Jacob and Lewis be- came dissatisfied with the prospects in this new country, and being mechanics, sought and obtained work in the construction of a steamboat in Cincinnati, but receiving information concerning the immense emigration to this section, which, coupled with the fact that their father had been offered $2,000 for five lots of land, they concluded to come back, and reached their old place in Ohio in time to return with their father, and Samuel, who had returned after supplies and to obtain an " outfit " for his daughter, just mar- ried to George Meacham, which "outfit " would hardly be accepted by the young people of to-day as worthy any consideration. The roads at this time were in an execrable condition, and seven yoke of cattle were found necessary to pull their load through some of the soft, yielding and almost liquid mud, which was at times rendered doubly treacherous by reason of a frozen surface.
In 1831, Lewis, Samuel and Jacob Rinehart pur- chased of Othni Beardsley the site and his interest in a saw-mill he had commenced in Section 32, and completed it the year following. This was the first mill in Porter, and was an important factor in the set- tlement of this portion of the township. Samuel has been a résident of Porter since 1831, and during all this time has not missed a township election. He is one of the prosperous farmers, having resided on his present farm since 1847, and he and his wife Eliza-
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
beth (Hunt) are the parents of ten daughters, and all Wellington C., the eldest, is a blacksmith at Will- but one, who is too young, having taught school. Of iamsville. four sons born to them, only one is living. Lewis Rinehart, when a resident of Penn, raised 100 acres of wheat, and there being no machine extant in that section for thrashing wheat, horses and cattle were used to tramp it out on an earthen floor, after the manner of the ancient Egyptians.
Abraham Rinehart has been a farmer in Section 17, Town 8, since 1840. Mrs. Rinehart nee Ann E. Denton, is the daughter of Cornelius W. Denton, who emigrated to Ontwa from Chautauqua County, N. Y., and in 1856 to Porter, where he deceased in 1878. He had a local prominence as an anti-slavery man, and, in the homely but appropriate aphorism, was "honest to a penny."
The pluck and true heroism of many of the pioneer women was worthy of admiration, and among this number must be included Parthena (Lawson), wife of John Rinehart, who, when but sixteen years of age, settled in the woods, in Section 19, with no neighbors nearer than two miles. As her husband was head sawyer in his brother's saw-mill, he was away from early morn until late at night, and the care of the farm principally devolved on her, and as she, in common with others, manufactured cloth for ordinary use, her life was no idle, holiday affair. The cows were brought by her from the fenceless woods, when wolves were plenty, with an Indian pony. Mr. Rinehart manufactured considerable maple sugar near where Williamsville now stands, and, not returning home one night, Mrs. Rinehart became very much frightened regarding his safety, as a lynx was heard crying through the wood. His brother Abraham, and Joshua Kerk, who were present, would not consent to go in search of him until she expressed her determination of going if they did not. They found him busily engaged in boiling down sap which had run profusely during the day. One of them climbed on the shanty he was in, and imitated the cry of the lynx so nearly that had it not have been for the word of warning from the other, he would have been shot by Mr. Rine- hart.
While returning home from religious services in Newberg. Mr. and Mrs. Rinehart were followed for several miles by a panther, who encircled them while emitting his blood-curdling cries, which frightened their horse so that he was almost uncontrollable, and they were momentarily in fear of an attack, but he left them when near Birch Lake. These episodes, although termi- nating harmlessly, show, in a measure, the opposite side of the pleasures of pioneering. Mr. Rinehart deceased in 1881, and his widow still resides on the old farm. They were the parents of six children, of whom
Among the prominent settlers of South Porter was James Hitchcock, who, in 1830, came here, selected and entered eighty acres of land, and moved in his family the year following, arriving May 10, 1831, the journey from their home in Erie County, N. Y., being by schooner to Detroit, and from there by team. Their family at this time consisted of Harriet, Eliza (both now deceased); James H., who resides on the old homestead ; Caroline, now Mrs. Charles, in Iowa ; and Thomas A., a farmer in Porter. After their ar- rival, five more children were born, as follows : Ann M. and Henry W., now deceased; William, now a res- ident of Kansas; and Loana. now Mrs. French, in Illinois ; and Lucius Q., a farmer in Section 16, and who, during the late war, as will be seen by the mili- tary record, served in the union army. Soon after erecting his log cabin, being a stone and brick mason by trade, he went to White Pigeon to obtain employ- ment, and subsequently built many of the brick houses in this vicinity, building the John Miller house, the first brick one erected in Mason Township. At the time of their settlement, wolves were very nu- merous and destructive of sheep, and the settlers were obliged to exercise great care in protecting their small flocks to prevent their annihilation.
Mr. Hitchcock, who deceased April 14, 1850, was prominent in township affairs, and served as Justice of the Peace for many years. His wife, Loana (Blake- ley), deceased July 4, 1870. James H. Hitchcock, ever since attaining his majority, has been the recipi- ent of various township offices, which attest his popu- larity where best known, and in addition, represented his district in the State Legislature in 1881, and is always ready to advocate and sustain measures promot- ing the interests of his people. His first wife, Louisa (Baldwin), by whom he had one child, having deceased in January, 1862, he united in marriage with Emorett (Thompson).
Porter was principally settled by people from Ohio and the Eastern States, yet among the pioneers can he found some who emigrated from the thickly-settled countries of Europe, plunged into the wilderness, and adapted themselves to an entirely new order of exist- ence. Among this number was William Hebron, who emigrated from Westerdale, Yorkshire Co., England, and landed in Buffalo. In the spring of 1832, he emigrated to Porter, and successfully coped with his neighbors in clearing the land and bringing it under a state of cultivation. He added at various times to his original purchase acre after acre, until he at one time possessed between seven and eight hundred acres of land. He resided here until his death, October 27,
304
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY. MICHIGAN.
1857, in his sixty-ninth year. Mr. Hebron was mar- ried three times, and was the father of a large family, one of whom, Gideon, resides in Section 22, on land formerly owned by his father, but on which he and his wife Elizabeth (Trattles) moved when in a state of nat- ure, and where once stood the monarchs of the forest can now be found fertile fields that respond nobly to the skilled husbandman. Mr. Hebron is present Mas- ter of the Grange of his township.
Like many other enterprising young men, William Nutting, who was a native of Vermont, started West, and in 1834 reached this county and commenced working for Mr. Sage at Adamsville. After a time, he purchased the land in Section 17, on which he moved in 1852, and where his son, Moses J., now resides.
In 1834, John King located in the now defunct vil- lage of Geneva. on the banks of Diamond Lake, and there plied the tailor's trade, while this busy little mart was flourishing. Whitmanville was his next lo- cation, and from there he went to Iowa, from which State he returned about one year since, and now re- sides in Section 15, near his brother Samuel.
In 1836, George Meacham, who came to Ontwa in 1827, purchased the original John Baldwin farm.
As Mr. Meacham's settlement extends over two townships a more extended sketch appears elsewhere.
Although coming to Cass County in 1837, Ga- briel Eby did not permanently locate on his present farm until 1848, and, simultaneous with the lahor of elearing and improving it, conducted a distillery which he ran for eighteen years. This was the only distil- lery erected in the township. Mr. Eby now possesses a good farm which contrasts strongly with his finan- cial condition when first coming in the township, he then having but 50 cents. Peter Eby, brother of Ga- briel, purchased his present farm, in 1847, when but fifteen acres were but partially improved, and since that time has applied himself strictly to farming, and the results of his industry are visible to all passers by.
From 1835 to 1845, this township was principally settled. there then being an immense emigration to and through it. During this period, the Chicago road, which was practically the only thoroughfare, was lined with white-covered wagons, so that, were one standing on an elevated position, at no time during the day would there be less than from one to three in sight, while it was nothing uncommon to count from ten to twenty. These pioneers well knew what they had to encounter. They foresaw hard work and hard times, baekache and heart-ache, blue days and weary nights; but they saw, too, in the dim future, the town, the vil- lage, the county, the State an empire of itself ; they saw thousands of happy homes and as many happy
owners ; they saw schools; churches, fertile fields, in- stitutions of science and learning ; they saw capital and labor, brain and body, mind and muscle, all employed in the advancement of civilization and the permanent improvement of mankind. They realized that what had been accomplished in the East could be reproduced in the West, and it is no wonder that they were buoyed up to be brave, cheer- ful, faithful and industrious. Others never expected to see these almost magical transformations in their lifetime, but were seeking out new homes for their families to whom they were devotedly attached, and who are now deeply indebted to their fathers for what they enjoy. It is doubtful, however, if very many expected to witness such wonderful alterations in the face of nature as have been accomplished in the last fifty years just passed. It is true, they expected homes, and comfortable ones, but not the elegant resi- dences that dot this township from one end to the other, with all their appurtenances and appointments so perfect. All of this is the handiwork of the pioneer, the ripened crop of the white-covered wagon, and no mnead of praise is too great for these people who have created in this county alone a kingdom larger than many European potentates have spent millions of treasure and rivers of blood to conquer. This country could never have been settled so rapidly but for the marshes and numerous prairies, where sustenance could be procured for stock on the one, and both hay and cereals raised on the other, with but little more incon- venience than is found in old settled countries.
When O. N. Long came into Porter Township in 1835, and purchased land, on part of which he now resides. It was emphatically a new country, for the tim- bered land in the northern portion had been shunned by emigrants as long as prairie and openings remained unclaimed. Franklin County, Mass., was the place of his nativity, and from which State he removed to New York State, when seventeen years of age, and seven years later moved on the farm he had selected, arriving in June, 1837. He performed the journey to Detroit by boat, and there met two of his brothers Benjamin N. and F. A., who had driven through Canada, and they made the balance of the journey to- gether. The log house erected on arrival was used for thirty years, and then gave place to a modern farm- house. In 1840, he built a frame barn, the first in this section, and it was constructed without the use of money. His farm supplied the lumber, and the carpen- ter work was paid for by breaking up land, he doing much of the work on the building. The nails used were to be paid for after harvest. Dicker and trade and exchange of one product for another was in a great measure the way business was then conducted.
LEWIS RINEHART.
SAMUEL RINEHART.
JACOB RINEHART.
JOHN RINEHART.
ABRAM RINEHART.
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
The ague at times prostrated whole families, and were it not for the kindly assistance of neighbors their suf- ferings would have been intense.
Mr. Long, not seeing Albert Kennicutt for several davs, went to his house with true pioneer solicitude to learn of his welfare, and found the family all sick in bed, the house destitute of provisions, and they with- out money. Mr. Kennicutt started to hunt up his cow while still ill, so as to have some milk for family use, and was taken so much worse that he with difficulty reached home. His immediate wants were provided for and a liberal supply of groceries furnished by Mr. Long, who had no money himself but obtained credit for them, expecting that, should his neighbor recover, he would repay him, and this he did, for, being a cooper by trade, Mr. Long helped him to get out staves, and he was thus enabled to manufacture barrels which com- manded a remunerative price. This is but one case of hundreds that might be related of acts of kindness such as are almost unknown now, and, in fact, in a measure unnecessary, because of the better condition of the people.
Educated in the grand old State of Massachusetts, Mr. Long imbibed a love for education which ripened and bore fruit in his Western home. for he has been first and foremost in establishing and promoting schools. Mr. Long and his wife Phebe A. (Monroe) are the parents of six children, of whom Henry D., the eldest, is a merchant in Jones, of Newberg Township.
Moses Robbins, who deceased January, 1849, came into the county when a young man and purchased land, on a portion of which his son George W. now resides. At the time of his death, his wife Elizabeth (Davidson) was left with five children, the eldest being fourteen years of age, but, being possessed of a true pioneer instinct, she kept the family all together until they reached manhood's estate, and she now lives on a portion of the old farm.
Jonas Hartman came from Union County, Penn., in 1831, and located in St. Joseph County, near Mottville, and there ran a brewery very successfully until 1838, when he came to Porter and purchased the farm now owned by his sons, Clerkner and Charles, the former of whom is quite a horse fancier and drover. He has always taken much interest in the introduction of improved stock in his neighborhood. The elder Hartman, who deceased in 1845, purchased largely of real estate and owned 1,300 acres at one time. He kept tavern on the Chicago road on the farm now owned by Mr. Talbott, for many years, and in 1838 built a saw-mill on the farm now owned by his son, J. H. Hartman, who ran it for many years, supplying much lumber for " arks" that were used by farmers to convey their wheat down
the St. Joseph River. Although but fifteen years of age when coming to Michigan, J. H. was the hunter of the family and supplied them liberally with game, then so abundant in the woods. He recalls the first winter they were in the country very vividly, for the Constantine Mill, being frozen up, he and his father went to the Carpenter Mill, in Penn Township, and experienced considerable trouble in fording some of the streams. During their absence, the family sub- sisted on pancakes made of flour sifted from bran.
E. C. Doane, who resides in Section 5, North Porter, is son of the pioneer, William H., who settled in Howard in 1836.
R. Beardsley came from New York State and settled in St. Joseph County in 1836. His son, H. Beardsley, who formerly carried on the harness busi- ness in Cassopolis, and his wife Ann (Beebe) now reside on Section 26, and take an active interest in the Baptist Church of their neighborhood.
When Joseph Bowen reached Constantine from New York State in 1835, he had a family of three children and an exhibit of his finances revealed the fact that he had just $1 for each child, and this sun) was reduced to $1.50 when reaching Porter. He first made it his home with a man named Jones until pur- chasing forty acres of Daniel Harvey, which was duly cleared up. Having procured an ox team, th'e first in the neighborhood, one of them was accidentally killed by a falling tree, which loss was then felt very sensibly by this pioneer family. Having succeeded admirably in securing a competency, Mr. Bowen removed to Bristol, Ind., where he now resides, while J. Frank and Henry H., two of his sons, reside on their father's old farm in this township, and are enterprising young farmers.
Milo Powell, now a resident of Constantine, was among the most successful agriculturists of this town - ship, and was the first one to introduce superior breeds of stock, including Merino sheep and Durham cattle, and thus helped educate the farmers in what was for their mutual interest.
He was a native of Massachusetts, where he was born in 1808, and moved to New York State, with his parents, and, in 1836, moved to the farm now occu- pied by his sons, Hiram and Curtis, which he had selected and purchased the year previous. Being a man of liberal education, he was accorded important positions in township affairs, and filled the offices of Justice of the Peace, School Inspector, etc., and in addition represented his district in the Legislature. Milo Powell, Jr., occupies one of his father's old farms in this township, while Gardner Powell, another son. is a thriving, energetic and intelligent farmer in Section 20, Town 7.
306
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
William R. Merritt can be accounted among those farmers who have done much for this township. A native of New York, he removed to Toledo in 1828, and engaged in keeping tavern until 1834, when the malaria drove him to Bertrand, where he engaged in land speculation until the crash in this species of prop- erty in 1837, when he removed to this township, on the farm now owned by Joshua Brown, and, in 1854, to the farm now occupied by his son Samuel K., which at that time was thickly covered with timber, and remained there until it was brought under a good state of cultivation, and crowned with fine buildings. Ready to lend his assistance to public enterprises, he gave the Methodist denomination not only a site for their church building, but, a very liberal donation of $500, which was afterward largely increased. In 1869, he removed to Bristol, Ind., and is now actively engaged in mercantile affairs. He and his wife, A. J. (Keeler), who deceased June 10, 1881, are the parents of one daughter, Charlotte A., who is deceased, and nine boys, all living, as follows : William R., Jr., a a merchant in Williamsville; Samuel K., farmer, on the old homestead; Robert D., also a farmer; Charles C., in Minneapolis ; James S., in Kansas ; J. Fred, a miller in Williamsville; Albert C., also a resident of Kansas ; Byron E., with his father in Bristol, while the youngest, George D., lives in Minneapolis.
Abel Beebe, when coming to this country from De- Kalb County, Ind., in 1840, in the month of Novem- her, passed through the famous Black Swamp of Ohio, and there being a frozen crust, their horses' legs became terribly lacerated, and, owing to a broken wagon tongue, Mrs. Beebe walked eighteen miles of the way. This swamp, before it was causewayed, was the slough of despend in the way of the emigrant, for it became cut up by the loaded trains passing over it into an immense quagmire of black muck of almost limitless depth. The progress was sometimes so slow that one camping-ground was used for three nights. Horses would sometimes mire in it, and instances are related where they were compelled to roll them over and pry them out with long poles while this process with a load of goods was a daily, and, sometimes, an hourly occurrence. Mr. Beebe, who died in May, 1881, settled on the farm where his widow, Mary, and son, Lafayette, now live. After their removal, prod- uce became very much depressed in price, and Mrs. Beebe remembers when they received 10 cents per bushel for potatoes, 3 shillings for wheat, 5 cents per dozen for eggs, $1.50 per hundred for pork ; and she, in order to help along in the household economy, would go to the whortleberry marsh, now the property of Levi J. Reynolds, in Calvin, and pick one bushel of berries, pack in a pillow case and carry to
Constantine, many miles distant, at times earning more money than her husband who was engaged in harvesting. At this time, they were paying 15 cents per yard for factory and 25 cents per yard for calico. The first year of their residence in Ohio, she spun and wove seventy pounds of wool into cloth, and it was customary for them to raise flax which she wove into cloth. Surely the pioneer mothers did their full share in the struggle for life.
Ralph C. Morton was one of the early settlers in the northern portion of Porter. He came from Cat- taraugus County, N. Y., and stopped for six months on the farm now owned by Nathan Skinner, and then moved on to the one where his son, F. C. Morton, now resides. They rolled up the logs for their house on Thursday, and moved in the following day, before it was "chinked," and when the roof consisted of a single course of boards, through which the snow could easily penetrate. Although this was in November, the snow was eight inches, and as the chilling blasts blew into their new home, their pioneer experiences were anything but pleasurable. For a time, they pounded corn on a stump for family use. Mr. Mor- ton deceased in September, 1866, and he and his wife, Jane ( Ralston), were the parents of seven children, as follows : Caroline, Samantha, Mary, Harriet, Charles, Julia and Fernando C., who is one of the leading agriculturists of this section, and who is united in marriage with Miss M. J. Easton, daughter of Will- iam J. Easton, one of the pioneers of Newberg.
In 1830, James Motley emigrated from England, and one year later settled in Rochester, N. Y., but becoming desirous of trying his fortunes in the still farther West, moved to Sylvan, Washtenaw Co., in 1836, and two years later engaged in his trade, shoe- making, in Constantine, where he remained until April, 1840, when he moved on his present farm, to which they cut their way through the heavy tim - ber, there being at this time no roads, and no clearing from Milo Powell's to the Shavehead Schoolhouse. It was here Mrs. Bethseda (McNeil) Motley utilized a large maple tree for a fire-place, which was nearly consumed while preparing the family meals, which were cooked in a bake-oven. They manufactured large quantities of maple sugar, which helped along in the household economy. Logging bees were com- mon, and it was not an unfrequent occurrence for thirty or forty men to assist at these gatherings, and, in addition to hard work, they passed many jokes and enjoyed themselves very much. Much valuable tim- ber, including walnut, was destroyed on these occa- sions, which would now be more valuable than the -- land on which it stood. They are the parents of eight children, six of whom survive, and one of whoin,
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