USA > Michigan > Genesee County > History of Genesee County, Michigan, Her People, Industries and Institutions, Volume I > Part 21
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GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
FLINT TOWNSHIP.
Much that is of interest to the early settlement of the township has been given in the history of Flint, with which the township is very closely allied. The earliest land entries were made in 1833, by Nathan M. Miles, Levi Gilkey and Nathaniel Nelson. Most of the lands of the county were taken up in the year 1836 and scarcely an acre was left in the hands of the government after that year. To the families of Elijah Carmen and Jesse Torrey belongs the honor of first breaking the forests of the township. Mr. Carmen, who was slightly earlier than Mr. Torrey, settled in 1835 on section 25. He died there in 1840. Mr. Torrey settled in 1836 on section 24, with his wife, daughter and four sons, and their neighborhood became known as the Torrey settlement. At this settlement were cut the first logs ever floated down the Flint river, about one thousand, for which a compensation of fifty cents a log was received.
Other early neighborhood settlements in the township were the Dye, Utley, Cronk, Bristol, Stanard, Carter and Crocker settlements, all originally founded by the gentlemen whose names they bear, who were leading spirits in these localities. One of the earliest of these was the Stanard settlement, on section 35, founded in 1836 by William N. Stanard and sons, of Genesee county, New York. The Cronk settlement, originally on sections 7 and 8, was founded by James W. Cronk in 1837. The Dye settlement was founded by James W. Cronk in 1837. The Dye settlement was founded by Ruben Dye, who located in 1843 on section 20; his sons established themselves around him and populated the settlement-hence the name.
Among other leading settlers of the township in the earliest period were Lysander Phillips, Daniel O'Sullivan, Andrew Hyslop, George Crocker, Jeremiah Kelsey, Dewitt C. Curtis, Capt. Benjamin Boomer, Horace Bristol, Marvin B. Persons, William Van Slyke, Philip Beltsworth, J. D. Eggleston, John Thorne, Jabez Blackinton, F. A. Begole, Anson Gilbert, Edward Tup- per, A. Herrick, Robert P. Aitkin, Morgan Chapman, Alfred Gifford, Cor- nelius Lane, Thomas Daly, Stephen Crocker, Robert Dullam and others.
The first school house in the township was built in 1838, on the bank of Swartz creek, on the corner of section 23. The teacher who disciplined the youth of this early period was Miss Louisa Kimball, who afterwards became Mrs. Joseph Freeman and, later, Mrs. Horace Bristol. The second teacher was Miss Jane Watkins, whose brief career there was terminated by the burning of the log school house. Thereupon Mrs. Alonzo Torrey opened her own house for the school and for three months the pupils were taught
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GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
by her, while a frame building of more extended proportions was being con- structed. The new building was opposite the old site on section 24.
It was in this building that the early religious services of the township were held. Previous to this, however, in 1836, Rev. James McAlester, of the Methodist denomination, formed a class and held service at the house of Alonzo Torrey. The class embraced members of the Torrey, Kelsey and Bristol families. The first circuit preacher who ministered to the spiritual wants of the little flock was Rev. Luther D. Whitney, who held services there during the years 1838 and 1839.
We are happy to say that by the aid of Ernest Neff, clerk of Flint town- ship, the early records of the township have been found and their valuable contents are now accessible to the historian. These records consist of various books : Book of Road Records; Book of Estrays and Marks; Record of the School Inspectors; Record of Town Libraries; Minutes of Surveys of Roads of Town of Flint. These books probably contain the earliest records in the county, except the records of the town of Grand Blanc, which are earlier by two or three years.
Among the curios of these records are the records of marks, by which each owner of stock identified his property, and which suggests the time before fences were in order among the settlers. The first entry was made on the 4th day of April, 1836, as follow :
"Lyman Stow's mark, A slit in the right Ear. Recorded this 4th day of April, 1836."
Then follow: "Alanson Dickinson's Mark, A Square Crop off the left ear. Apr. 8, 1836."
"Ezekiel R. Ewing's Mark, A Swallow tail in the end of the right ear. May 2, 1836."
"Lewis Buckingham's Mark, A hole in the right ear, square left. Aug. 25, 1836."
"John Patton's Mark, A square crop off the right ear. Oct. 11, 1836."
"Grover Vinton's Mark, A Half Crop off the under side of the Right Ear and a Half crop off the upper side of the left Ear. Oct. 10th, 1836."
"Sherman Stanley's, Mark A Crop off the right ear and half penny under the Left. January 25th, 1837."
"Ephraim S. Walker's Mark a crop off the left ear and a slit in the right. April 12, 1837."
"Asa Torrey's Mark, A Crop and a slit off the Right Ear. April 17, 1837."
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GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
"James W. Cronk's Mark, A Swallow tail in the end of the left ear. April 20th, 1837."
"Jeremiah Kelley's Mark, A slit in the left ear. May 5, 1837."
"John P. Kelley's Mark, A slit in the end of both ears. June 2, 1837."
"Alonzo Torry's Mark, A hole in the right ear. June 12, 1837."
"Lysander Phillips' Mark. A Crop off the right Ear and A Slit in the Left. July Ist, 1837."
"Jessee Torrey's Mark. A Crop and a Slit off the Left Ear. July 6, 1837."
An interlineation says "deceased 1865."
"Rufus W. Stevens' Mark, A crop and a half Crop of the right ear. July 8, 1837."
"Philo Fairchild's Mark. A Half crop of the underside of the right ear. Jany. 14, 1839."
"Plinny A. Skinner's Mark A Swallow tail in the left ear and a slit in the right. May 22, 1839."
"Eben Storer's Mark A Slit in the end of the right ear and a slit on the under side of the same. Oct. 26, 1839."
"Shubal Atherton's Mark A Square crop off the left ear. April 17, 1840."
"Adonijah Atherton, Mark A Swallow tail in the end of the left ear. April 17, 1840."
"Perus Atherton Mark a hole through the left ear. May 2, 1840."
"James Ingalls Mark a square crop off the left Ear and a happenny under the right."
"Albert Storer's Mark A Slit in the end of the right Ear and a slit on the upper side of the same. January 22, 1842."
"Nathan J. Rublee's Mark a Square Crop of the Wright ear. "Flint, January 29, 1842."
"Stewart H. Webster's Mark a Slit in the Point of each ear.
"Flint, Oct. 27, 1842."
From this time on the entries of marks are less frequent, as probably the fences were beginning to hold the stock and make the ear-mark record of less utility.
Charles G. Curtis, Asahel Curtis, Asahel Robinson, O. Parker, Lewis Colby, Jesse Whitcomb, George R. Sprague and William Barnhart had entered their respective marks before 1850, and on January 21, 1851, the firm
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GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
of Hazleton & McFarlan recorded their mark for logs, it being the letters, "H. M. T. B." This was the only mark for logs entered.
The first entry of strays was in the month of December, 1839, and is as follow: "Came into the enclosure of the subscriber one yearling heifer on or about the fourth of December; 1839. Said heifer is red, with one white star in her forehead and the end of her tail white; also said heifer is very small in size. Flint Dec. 17, 1839." Another similar finding of estray is entered in December of same year by John P. Kellogg, and thereafter from time to time strays were so reported by those who took them up.
In the middle fifties the stock evidently had become more numerous and many entries are made of strays in 1855 and 1856. Later on they were less proportionately and the last is entered on November 21, 1896.
The record of libraries is a valuable index to the literary tastes of the earliest settlers of the county. From it we have taken. some interesting data in "Res Literaria." After the formation of the Ladies' Library Association, in 1851, the activity of the school district libraries was not so pronounced. It was, however, kept up for many years more and the high standing of the books bought was maintained to the last. Many of the older people of the county can remember of school libraries and the educational work they did among the hungry minds of the patrons. The entries of the old book come down to 1859, among the last entries being a list of books bought in 1858.
The record of school inspectors opens with the records of a meeting of the board of school inspectors held at the town clerk's office, April II, 1837, at which Ephraim Walker was elected chairman. Orrin Stafford, town clerk, signed the minutes of the meeting. At this meeting the inspectors divided the town into ten school districts, number one of which covered the territory of the present city south of the river and number two, that north of the river. The growth of the region rendered it necessary to create three more districts during the year. For the year ending with September, 1838, the report from district number one shows the attendance of pupils between five and seventeen years of age to have been thirty-nine in all; over seventeen, twenty-one; making the total number of scholars, sixty. The term of school was nine months. Most of the districts made no report. The amount of money raised in the first school district was ninety dollars for a school building and four hundred ninety-nine dollars for current school expenses. School district number five had school for six months, and raised seventy dollars for school purposes. School in the sixth district was kept seven months, and one hundred and ninety dollars was raised for expenses.
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After paying therefrom one hundred dollars for a school house. No other district made report of any school supported in the districts.
It appears that Lyman Stow, E. S. Walker and J. L. Gage were inspect- ors of schools for Flint township, and Josiah Alger, W. D. Morton and Dudley Brainerd, of Mundy township, in 1839. In 1839 districts numbers one, three, four and five reported schools, and an attendance in all of the four reporting, one hundred forty-seven pupils. The text books were Kirkham's Grammar, Blake's Philosophy, Webster's Spelling-book, Hale's United States History, Cobb's Reader, as standards; while in some, the report shows a number of text-books, including Peter Parley's Geography, Olney's Grammar, Emerson's Arithmetic, Smith's Arithmetic, Botham's Arithmetic, Adams' Arithmetic, all in the same school.
In 1840 the inspectors of the county, E. Drake and I .. Stow, reported district number one as having the same number of pupils as in 1838, namely, sixty; district number two, however, reported thirty-three, making the num- ber within the territory of the present city of Flint, ninety-three. District number four had twenty-nine pupils; district five had twenty-five; number six had forty-two, and number eight, thirty-six.
The record shows the reports of 1841, 1842, 1843, 1844, and so on, down to the organization of the city, and then continues until the year 1869. This old volume contains a mass of information as to the early schools of the county, and as such is invaluable.
GRAND BLANC TOWNSHIP.
The oldest land entries in the present Grand Blanc township were made, July 17, 1824, by parties from Livingston and Ontario counties, New York. From Livingston were William Thompson and Charles Little; from Ontario, Samuel B. Perkins. The purchases were made on sections 9, 10 and 15, amounting in all to five hundred acres. Section 15 was the first section to be entirely bought up, the last purchase being made prior to July 4, 1829. The lands of the entire township had been taken up by 1836, excepting, of course, section 16, which was school land.
The first white settlers in Grand Blanc were Jacob Stevens and his family who came to the township in the spring of 1823. Besides Mr. Stevens and his wife, the family consisted of two sons and five daughters. They had arrived in Detroit from New York in August, 1822, and first settled in Oak- land county, on the Saginaw trail, where they made some improvements; but finding their land title defective, they sold out and removed to Grand Blanc.
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A letter written by Mr. Stevens in 1825 may be given as typical of the experi- ences of a settler removing with his family from "York State" to Genesee county in these early days :
Granblaw, July, A. D. 1825.
Honored Parents-The period since I wrote you I acknowledge is a long one; and I have not sufficient reasons to offer to justify so shameful a neglect. Various, indeed, have been the changes and vicissitudes of my life since that time. An attempt to describe them in a single letter would be unavailing. No family, perhaps, the size of mine can have enjoyed better health, say for twenty years past. Our doctors' bills have scarcely exceeded that number of dollars.
I sold my farm in Lima, soon after the close of the war, for four thousand dollars. I was some in debt, and my intention was to have waited a few years to see what the turn of the times might be, and then purchase somewhere quite within the bounds of my capital; but fate or fortune determined otherwise. The family soon became uneasy at having no permanent home of their own. Indeed, I disliked a state so inactive myself, and determined to purchase, and did, to nearly the amount of my money. It was well laid out, but at a bad time.
I was sensible a depreciation on property must take place, but put it off till by and by, and some way or other was blind to its approach. The farm admitted of great improvements being made, and a good house among the rest would be very convenient, and, accordingly, the best means we had were taken to procure materials, viz: stone, brick, lumber, etc. About this time the amazing fall in the value of real estate, as well as of all other property, and the many complaints from other people, whom I thought forehanded, but in debt to me, was alarming. I told Rufus (who seemed the boy destined to live at home) my fears, and I thought we had better sell off our lumber, etc., and endeavor to back out. Naturally ambitious, this idea he could not brook. He preferred to drive the building and risk the consequences. We finally did, and it is only necessary to observe that it flung us completely in the background in bad times. Since that we have had many shifts and but few shirts. Too proud to be poor among my old friends, I determined to try a new country again. Michigan seemed the most proper, being about the same latitude and easiest of access. We arrived in Detroit the latter part of August, 1822, with about eight hundred in cash and some other property. Misfortune, however, seemed unwilling to quit us at this point. Rufus had been in the country one year previous to this and had contracted for a piece of land, second-handed, and had done considerable labor on the same. I did not altogether like the land, but concluded to make a stand and go to work. We built a good log house, dug a well, and made some other improvements, but before one year had passed we found we could get no title to the land. This place was about twenty-five miles northwest of Detroit [probably in the vicinity of Pontiac], and what to do in this case was a material question. Our expenses drew hard upon our little capital, and to spend more money and more time there was preposterous. Eventually, we agreed to try another venture. At this time there were troops stationed at Saginaw, a place about seventy-five miles northwest of Detroit, and on our route. A settlement had been commenced there and the spirit of settlement seemed bent for the northwest. We sold our improvements to Mr. Oliver Williams, and took his note for thirty-five dollars a year, for five years, reserving the use of the house for one year. In March, 1823, Rufus and I started to explore to the northwest. We were much pleased with the country and prospects at this place. The road thus far had no obstacles to impede a team with a reasonable load for any country, and at this
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time was. considerably traveled by officers, Indians, traders and settlers at Saginaw. We believed that an establishment here might not only be beneficial for ourselves, but convenient for travelers and emigrants.
It is an old Indian settlement, situated about twenty miles from our first place, and about the same distance from the farthest white settlement northwest of Detroit. There are some French families seven miles northwest of us [Flint], and no more until we reach Saginaw. Rufus and I flung up a small log house, and on the 23d of May, 1823, Eunice, myself, two youngest children, Rufus and Sherman, with a good team, and as many goods as would make us comfortable, arrived here. We cleared, plowed and sowed with wheat and oats about ten acres, completing the same June 10th.
Mrs. Stevens and the children then returned, and one of the girls kept house, and so through the season. At this time we felt morally certain of having neighbors the next spring; but here, sir, I must inform you that the government saw fit the winter following to evacuate the post at Saginaw, which measure has, so far, completely paralyzed all settlements to the northwest, turning the tide of emigration, which has been very great, to the south and west. This was, indeed, very discouraging, but for us there was no fair retreat. * * *
After speaking of his Indian neighbors, who were very friendly, he concludes as follow :
Several purchases have lately been made of premises adjoining us, and, we have little doubt, will be settled next spring, and preparations seem to be making once more for a settlement at Saginaw. We have this year one hundred and seventy shocks of wheat and about nine acres of corn, the stoutest growth of corn I ever raised. If nothing befalls, I anticipate fifty bushels to the acre. We have two yoke of oxen, two horses, five cows, plenty of hogs, and a number of young cattle, and such is the country that they keep fat summer and winter. The winters are surprisingly mild. Last winter, in fact, was no winter at all. We did not spend three tons of hay with all our stock. A large portion of the country is openings, and the cattle get their living in old fog and basswood sprouts in the swales. The greatest country for wild feed and hay I ever saw. We can summer and winter any number of cattle if we had them. Blue joint is the principal grass in the low meadows. On the higher parts is found considerable red-top and foul meadow grass. Jemima has a family, and lives in the state of New York. Horatio and Augustus are merchants in that state. Horatio, I understand, is quite forehanded. Augustus is also doing well. Eunice and Charlotte are there at present on a visit. Patty keeps school this summer in the territory. The rest of the family are in the woods.
Jacob Stevens was then a man of fine proportions, about sixty years of age. As is said by one who knew, "He was a true type of the gentlemen of the old school, to whose moral and physical courage as a pioneer was united a rare intelligence marked by a literary taste, showing itself conspicuously even in the few scattered remnants of his correspondence which have come down to this day." About 1831 he returned to New York, with the majority of his family, where he passed the remaining portion of his life.
Rufus W. Stevens, his son, traded with the Indians in a log house situ- ated on the site of the later Grand Blanc Hotel. He became the first post-
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GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
master of Grand Blanc. In 1830 he commenced a saw-mill, and soon after a grist-mill, on what became known as the Thread Mill property. These mills performed a most important function, for years supplying all the people living between Pontiac and Saginaw. In the early thirties Stevens moved to Flint and became identified with the milling interests there ..
In October, 1825, Edmund and Rowland B. Perry entered lands situ- ated upon sections II and 14. In the following February, Edmund removed some of his family here from Avon, Livingston county, New York, and the rest of the family in 1826. He was a native of Rhode Island, an educated Quaker, possessed of great energy and force of character, a respected citizen and a kind friend who believed in doing good without ostentation. His granddaughter, Isabella, was the first white child born in Genesee county.
Other settlers of Grand Blanc prior to the winter of 1830-31 were, Edward H. Spencer, William Roberts, George E. Perry, Judge Jeremiah Riggs and sons, Joseph McFarlen, Jeremiah Ketchum, Caleb S. Thompson, Jonathan Dayton, Caleb Embury, Ezekiel R. Ewing, Washington Thompson, Phineas Thompson, Judge Jeremiah R. Smith, Silas Smith, R. T. Winchell, Clark Dibble, Jonathan Davison and Pearson Farrar.
Caleb S. Thompson relates that at the time of his arrival in 1829 there were about forty-five persons in Grand Blanc, all of whom, with one or two exceptions, were Avon, Livingston county, New York. Edward H. Spencer had a rough log house, and about one acre cleared and planted to corn, pota- toes, etc. The Stevenses had some forty acres under cultivation and there were some fifty or sixty acres in cultivation in the Perry settlement. Judge Riggs and his sons had also made a good beginning. Thirteen lots lying along the Saginaw road and seven lots on Perry street had already been pur- chased and ten more eighty-acre lots were entered during the remaining part of the year 1829. The Saginaw road was laid out and staked so that it was easy to find it, but no work had been done upon it. The traveled highway, which followed the Indian trail, went rambling around through the woods, avoiding hills and swamps, and was quite a comfortable wagon road. The streams and low places had been bridged some time previous by the United States soldiers stationed in garrison at Saginaw.
After 1830 settlers began to come in rapidly, mainly from western New York. In 1833 the township was organized, and the first election, which was held at the house of Rufus W. Stevens resulted in the choice of the following' officers: Supervisor, Norman Davison; clerk, Jeremiah R. Smith; assessors, Rufus W. Stevens, Lyman Stow and Charles Butler; justices of the peace, Norman Davison, Lyman Stow and Jeremiah R. Smith; constable and col-
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lector, Augustus C. Riggs; highway commissioners, John Todd, Edmund Perry and Jonathan Dayton; constable, Elijah N. Davenport; trustees of school lands, Loren P. Riggs, Clark Dibble and James W. Cronk; commis- sioners of schools, Jeremiah Riggs, Jeremiah R. Smith and Norman Davison; school inspectors, David Mather, Paul G. Davison and Caleb S. Thompson; director of the poor, Edmund Perry; overseers of highways, District I, George Oliver; District 2, Jonathan Davison; District 3, Norman Davison; District 4, Ira Dayton.
The village of Grand Blanc was one of the earliest village centers in the county. As early as 1826 a postoffice was established, with Rufus W. Stevens as postmaster. His house was also the first public tavern in the place. The first regular store was opened by Robert F. Stage and Ira D. Wright in 1835, with a stock valued at twenty thousand dollars, though this was moved to Flint in 1836. The first school was a small frame build- ing built by Edmund Perry, Sr., about 1830, and Miss Sarah Dayton taught the first school there. The earliest church societies were the Baptist, Congre- gational and Methodist, all organized by 1835, with goodly congregations.
FENTON TOWNSHIP.
The first land entered in the township of Fenton was taken in March, 1834, by Clark Dibble, on section 34. In April of that year Dustin Cheney and family came from Grand Blanc township and settled where now is the village of Fenton. The years immediately following witnessed the growth of a considerable settlement in the southern part of the township, settlers coming in from neighboring counties and from New York. A settlement was made at the site of Linden in 1836. Very little land of the township remained in the hands of the government by the end of that year and by the following year settlement was reached up into the northern sections.
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