USA > Michigan > Genesee County > History of Genesee County, Michigan, Her People, Industries and Institutions, Volume I > Part 26
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By 1840 Thetford township numbered among its citizens Benoni and Quartus W. Clapp, Crawford Barkley, Charles M. Bouttell, Richard Buell, Ezra H. Martin, Thomas Alpin, Leonard Beckwith, William Rice, William W. Boughton, Reuben J. Dye and Nahum N. Wilson.
In 1842 the township was organized. The first meeting was held April 4, in the Fay school house, when the following officers were elected : Supervisor, Isaac Van Tuyl; town clerk, Corydon E. Fay; treasurer, Simeon Simmons; justice of the peace, one year, Isaac Van Tuyl, two years, Rich- ard Buell, three years, William Rice, four years, Ezra H. Martin; highway commissioners, Benoni Clapp, Crawford Barkley and Thomas Aplin; asses- sors, Albert Castle and Nelson S. Van Tuyl; school inspectors, Richard Buell, Isaac Van Tuyl and Nelson S. Van Tuyl; overseers of the poor, Benoni Clapp and Grovener Vinton; constables, William W. Boughton, Quartus W. Clapp and Uzial Boutwell.
DAVISON TOWNSHIP.
Davison township became a part of Genesee county March 9, 1843, six years after receiving its first settler. Since its organization in 1840 it had been a township of Lapeer county. Its settlement began in the year Michi- gan was admitted to the Union, when Andrew and Alson Seelye and their sister, Debby, settled on section 31. They came from Charleston, Saratoga (16)
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county, New York. In September, 1837, the father, Abel Seelye, accom- panied by his wife and four sons, came from Saratoga and settled near the other children. Miss Debby Seelye married Seth J. Wicker, who, in 1852, erected the first hotel in the township and sold the first goods in the same building.
About a mile from the Seelyes, on section 35, settled Christopher Miller in 1837. Mr. Miller later claimed to have settled first. He and his sons came in from Chautauqua county, New York. He built the first frame house in the township in 1839 and the first school was taught in his vacated shanty about the same time by Miss Sabrina Barnes. In 1838 Ira Potter, a native of Vermont, later residing at Rochester, New York, and near Port Huron, Michigan, brought his family to Davison township, set- tling on section I.
Mr. Potter's family did not suffer the wants and privations so common to the lot of many pioneers, as he purchased in Detroit and brought here with him sufficient flour and pork to last one year. Still for many years they were far from markets, Pontiac being the principal point and but little money comparatively was received from farm products. Ira W. Potter recalls the fact that he very frequently made the journey to the latter city, hauling with an ox-team thirty bushels of wheat, for which he received five shillings per bushel, the journey occupying three days' time. All other early residents here can relate the same experince and recall with great animation the terrible condition of early roads and the consequent struggle to obtain a few dollars in money at far-away markets.
In the years immediately following Mr. Potter's arrival came Justice Henry and William Sheldon, from Erie county, New York; Abelino Bah- cock, from Oakland county, Michigan; Jacob Teachout, Harrison G. Con- ger, Samuel Crandall and Goodenough Townsend. Mr. Townsend was a native of Wheelock, Caledonia county, New York. His ancestors served in the American Revolution. He was the first supervisor of Davison town- ship and later served in many official capacities. He was the first post- master, from 1849 to 1852, and established the first Sabbath school in 1842.
Previous to 1844 the following additional settlers were residents : Calvin Cartwright, James A. Kline, Almeron Perry, William Phillips, Henry Hast- ings, Thomas Park, William Thomas, Clark Potter, Eleazer Thurston, Samuel Johnson, Abraham Hotchkiss, Samuel J. Ashley, Abner Hotchkiss, Robert Knowles, John Austin, David Casler, John Casler, Daniel Dayton, Hart W. Cummins, Silas S. Kitchen, Iddo H. Carley, S. M. Fisk, Ira Cobb, Elias Bush and Thomas O. Townsend.
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The first township meeting was held April 6 at the house of Goodenough Townsend, when fourteen legal votes were cast. The following officers were chosen : Supervisor, Goodenough Townsend; town clerk, Jacob Teachout; treasurer, Justin Sheldon; collector, Abel Seeley, Jr .; assessors, Jacob Teach- out, Robert E. Potter and Alson Seeley; school inspectors, Jacob Teachout, Robert E. Potter and Goodenough Townsend; directors of the poor, Justin Sheldon and Abel Seeley; highway commissioners, Abelino Babcock, Good- enough Townsend and Harrison G. Conger; justices of the peace, Jacob Teachout, Goodenough Townsend, Abel Seeley and Justin Sheldon; con- stables, Ira W. Potter and Abel Seeley, Jr .; pound-master, Samuel Crandall; overseers of highways, Harrison G. Conger, Jacob Teachout, Justin Sheldon, John C. Miller and Abel Seeley, Jr.
One of the earliest game laws in Michigan was that enacted at the annual meeting in 1841, when it was voted, "That no person or persons shall kill any deer in the limits of this township between the 10th day of January and the Ioth day of July of each year, and all persons killing deer contrary to this law shall forfeit the sum of five dollars for every deer killed in said township, and such offenders may be prosecuted before any justice in said township or county."
RICHFIELD TOWNSHIP.
Richfield was originally a part of Lapeer county. It was organized in 1837, embracing within its limits also the present towns of Forest and Davison. It was added to Genesee county in 1843. The earliest settlers of what is now Richfield were received only a little previous to its organ- ization. In the year 1836 nearly all the land in the town was bought up, a very good recommendation of its land for the purpose of settlement. One of the most extensive buyers was Thomas L. L. Brent, a Virginian, who explained as the reason for his extensive purchases that he wished to keep the land out of the hands of speculators.
The first settlement was made in 1836 by Rial Irish, of Pontiac, who cut his way through from there over a route known from that time as "the Irish road," over which many other settlers came into this township. He settled on section 19, in the midst of considerable pine, and in 1837 com- menced building a mill on Belden Brook to convert it into lumber. This mill property was afterwards sold to David L. Belden for seven thousand dollars; he began operations in 1839, but, owing to his inexperience and the extremely moderate price at which lumber had to be sold, he was unsuc- cessful.
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Shortly after the arrival of Rial Irish came George Oliver and family, who settled on section 21. During the several years of his residence in the town he made shingles and acted as guide to newcomers who were looking for land. His daughter was the first white child born in the town. With Mr. Oliver came Samuel Johnson, who worked for him awhile, but did not become a permanent settler in the town. Thomas Clark was the third set- tler. He was a native of Rutland county, Vermont. Early in life he had removed with his parents to Saratoga county, New York, and lived later in Otsego and Jefferson counties in that state. It was from the village of Lyme, in the latter county, that he came to Michigan in 1836 and settled on section 22. A little later the same year came Orsimus Cooley, from Oak- land county, to section 20. The next family was that of William Teachout, in 1837, who settled on section 30. In the spring of 1839 Elias Van Schaick and family settled on section 39. A few weeks later came Jeremiah R. Stanard and Argalus Matthews to section 6.
Some of the difficulties to be overcome by the pioneers are shown by what Mr. Matthews had to go through with to get a small quantity of wheat prepared for use. He had no team or wagon, and to get them, had to work one day for the wagon and two and one-half days for the oxen. Then it took him one day to get the oxen, go after the wagon and get to his home ready for a start to the mill. All the next day was spent in getting to the mill with his grist and then he found that he could not get it ground under two or three weeks. So home he returned and took his wagon and oxen to their respective owners. Three weeks later the performance had to be repeated to get the flour home. Each night that he remained in Flint he had to pay one dollar for his entertainment, so that when he finally cast up accounts, he found that he had given thirteen days' work and two dollars in money to get seven and one-half bushels of wheat ground into flour.
Among others who settled in the town at an early day were Asa Davis, William Draper, F. B. Witherbee, Isaac and Phineas J. Tucker, Zebulon Dickinson, Andrew Chappell, John Van Buskirk, Joseph French, Frederick Olds, Francis Davis, Amherst W. Matthews, Alanson Munger, Jephtha Stimpson, Nathaniel Hart, Joseph Morford, William Throop, John, Sr., John, Jr., and Leander L. Hill, Garrett Zufelt, Stephen Cady, Caleb Lank- ton, Henry F. Shepard, Nelson Warren, Samuel Elmore, Thomas Dibble, William Munger, Noah Hull, William W., Cyrus, and Isaac L. Matthews, Laban and Alvah Rogers and Andrew Cook.
The "first things" in the early settlement of a locality always have a
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special interest. In this town the first saw-mill was completed by William Draper and F. B. Witherbee in 1838 on section 17. It was the largest and best mill built in the town for a score of years. The Belden mill was second. The first bridge over the Flint in this town was built in 1848 at the crossing of the Irish road.
As was frequently the case in this part of Michigan, the Methodists were the first denomination to enter the field of religious labor in Richfield, holding services here as early as 1839 or 1840; among the members of the first class organized were Asa and Martha Davis, Nelson and Elizabeth Warren, and Joseph and Julia Morford. The first school house was built in 1838, in the southwest part of the town. The second was built on the school section, in, 1839, and the third in 1843 on section 6.
The first couple married in Richfield were R. E. Potter and Abigail Clark. They were married on the 5th of January, 1840, at the residence of the bride's father, Thomas Clark. The ceremony was performed by Nathaniel Smith of the town of Forest, then a part of this town. The company present on the happy occasion consisted of the families of the parties, George Oliver and wife and Elias Van Schaick and wife. Mrs. Potter died August 19, 1845, leaving three children, the eldest of whom was the first white male child born in the town. The second marriage was that of Caleb Lankton and Maria Teachout, which took place about two years later.
Village centers in this town developed late. Not until 1855, when V. Maxfield and E. R. Goodrich built their saw-mill near the place where the state road crosses the Flint, did the first symptoms appear. A tavern and store followed. Much later began the village of Richfield Center, though the first postoffice in the town was established there in the early forties, with Phineas J. Tucker as postmaster.
Of the first town meeting. and of all the proceedings of the town from 1837 to 1857, no records can now be found. From tradition it is learned that the first town meeting was held in a small shanty at Draper and Wither- bee's saw-mill. Less than a dozen voters were present. The following is a list of the first officers, as near as can be determined :
Supervisor, William Draper; town clerk, E. B. Witherbee; collector, George Oliver; justices of the peace, Orsimus Cooley, Thomas Clark, George Oliver and Nathaniel Smith; assessors and school inspectors, George Oliver and Thomas Clark; commissioners of highways, George Oliver, William Draper and Thomas Clark; constable, William Rettan.
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FOREST TOWNSHIP.
The name of this township, as might be supposed, was derived from its heavy growth of timber. About three-fourths of it was covered with pine, which stood in its natural state for many years. Speculators, who bought up the land for the pine timber, let the trees stand till lumber was worth a price which would warrant them in cutting the timber. At the time the act was passed by the Legislature organizing the township there was some difficulty in fixing upon a name, until a facetious member of the House said, "As it is all woods, and nobody lives there, I think we had better call it Forest," and Forest it was called.
James Seymour entered the first land in this township, March 1, 1836, on section 36. The first land entered by an actual settler was that by Henry Hiester (or Heister), November 9, of the same year, on section 19. Mr. Hiester brought his family here from Livingston county, New York, early in the spring of 1837. For about two months the Hiesters were the only white residents of the town. Then the Smith family came. The head of the family was Nathaniel Smith, a man of a religious turn of mind, steady and industrious habits and upright, straight-forward, irreproachable char- acter. The first religious meetings in Forest were held at the houses of Mr. Smith and Mr. Hiester. The members of the Smith family grew up in this community and were numbered among the most influential citizens of the town. Next after the Smiths in 1837 came the Begel family, from the town of Howard, Steuben county, New York, at whose head was Stephen Begel. The site of their settlement became later the village of Otisville, on section 21, about which grew up this numerous and useful family of four- teen children.
Other early settlers were Matthew McCormick (1839), an Irish immi- grant who had for some time lived in Washtenaw county; Stephen, J. Seeley (1841) ; John Nixon; John Crawford (1842), a native of the county of Antrim, Ireland; James Crawford, John's father (1844); Jeremiah Olds, William H. Diamond, John H. Fry and John Darling.
Forest township grew slowly for some fifteen years after its first settle- ment, on account of the heavy timber and the great quantities of the best lands held by speculators. About 1845-50 the trade in Michigan pine lumber began. In 1851 the Hayes saw-mill was built near the Begel settlement. A boarding-house, store and several dwellings for the mill hands were built. This was the first impulse to the future village of Otisville. John Hayes was from Cleveland, Ohio.
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In April, 1843, the first town meeting was held at the house of Stephen Begel. Thirteen votes were cast, with the following result, so far as can be ascertained: Supervisor, Nathaniel Smith; town clerk, Chauncey W. Seeley; treasurer, William R. Smith; justices of the peace, John Crawford, Nathaniel Smith, William R. Smith, Amos Begel; commissioners of high- ways, John Crawford, Nathaniel Smith and Amos Smith; overseers of the poor, Amos Begel and Nathaniel Smith.
The act detaching Forest from Lapeer county and adding it to Genesee took effect on March 31, 1843, a few days previous to the first town meet- ing. The reasons for this change of county relations were principally busi- ness convenience and ease of communication. The main business of the people of the town centered at Flint, and Flint river formed the principal means of transporting their produce and manufactures to their principal market.
MONTROSE TOWNSHIP.
The original name of Montrose was Pewanigawink; a portion of the Pewanigawink reservation of the Saginaw Chippewas extended into this township. The new name was given by an act of the state Legislature in 1848. The township was organized in 1846 and the first meeting was held at the house of George Wilcox, April 5, 1847. The following officers were chosen : Supervisor, John Farquharson; town clerk, John R. Farquharson; treasurer, John McKenzie; justices of the peace, George Wilcox, Charles Hartshorn, Benjamin H. Morse and Asahel Townsend; assessors, Seymour W. Ensign, Sr., and Archibald Morse; highway commissioners, John Farqu- harson, Benjamin H. Morse and Seymour W. Ensign, Jr .; school inspector, George Wilcox; directors of the poor, John Mckenzie and Benjamin H. Morse; constables, William Wilcox and Seymour W. Ensign, Sr .; overseers of highways, Charles Hartshorn and John McKenzie.
Seymour W. Ensign, who was chosen at this meeting assessor and constable, was the first settler of the township. He came originally from Stafford, Genesee county, New York, in 1832, and first settled at Grand Blanc. Later he removed to Saginaw county. In the spring of 1843 he brought his family to section 22. The same season came George Wilcox and Richard Travis.
The most prominent man in the township during his lifetime was John Farquharson, who came from Scotland to America in 1830. After a resi- dence in Albany, New York, and Saginaw county, Michigan, he came to the township in 1845. He was the first supervisor. To him is accredited the
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change of the name of the town from Pewanigawink to the Scottish name of Montrose. His reason probably was to attract his friends in Scotland and others of that nativity to the settlement. Among other early Scotch settlers was John Mckenzie, from Aberdeen, who came in 1847. In later years a considerable number of Scotch families of sterling worth made Montrose their home.
Owing to the lumbering interests and its interior situation, the early growth of Montrose was slow. The first mill was put in operation in 1849, on Woodruff's creek, and was built by a colored man, James Sisco. A few months later Russell Wells erected a saw-mill on Brent's run. The first tavern was not opened until 1866 or 1867, by William H. Ried, and in the latter year Thomas W. Pettee established the first store. The number of voters in this township in 1859 was less than fifty.
THE WINTER OF WANT.
Any historical record of the early days in the townships of Genesee would be incomplete without reference to the hard winter of 1842 and 1843. This was a record breaker in the annals of the old inhabitants, and we may judge something of its severity from the fact that snow fell on the 18th day of November, 1842; as late as April Ist the depth of snow was recorded as three and a half feet on the level, while snow squalls were noted on the 17th of that month. Over one hundred and fifty days of sleighing were had during the year. It is difficult at this time to realize that want could come to the people of this fruitful county, with its bountiful harvests of wheat now being garnered and its crops of all kinds that make for plenty. But then the land had been but recently taken up. The great tide of immigra- tion that poured into Michigan and into Genesee county came in 1836, and the swamps and forests had hardly been opened in most favorable localities when the winter of '42 and '43 set in. Cattle, hogs, horses, sheep and poultry had become rather plentiful, and the hay of the swales and scanty grain that could be raised in the small clearings were all the fodder. Hay in the fall of 1842 was six dollars a ton. In April, 1843, it was twenty dollars, and twenty dollars represented a big sum at that time. When the early spring came, even the best provided for of the settlers were coming to be without fodder and with little or no grain. Silas D. Halsey, then liv- ing in Grand Blanc, and one of the most prosperous farmers of the time, records in his diary these hard times and the fact of fodder being exhausted and cattle starving. Wheat in the fall had been three shillings and oats a
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shilling per bushel; in the spring the prices were one dollar and three shill- ings, respectively.
These prices nominally as stated do not, however, represent their real value, as their scarcity made them cash articles and only a very few of the settlers had any money, so the prices asked and the cash payment exacted made them utterly unobtainable by the great majority of the people of the county. Add to this the fact that the market was at Pontiac, and that the transportation to Flint involved a three or four days trip, with a team which must be fed by the way, and the difficulties appear.
On March 18, 1843, Mr. Halsey in his diary says: "A very gloomy time. Fodder almost all gone and many cattle already dead and dying. Some have had to browse their cattle for six weeks already, and many people are destitute, and no prospect of winter breaking yet. What we are going to do I do not know. It looks gloomy. The only hope we have is that it will soon come around warm. If not, we are all gone." Later he records the continuance of the cold, and even as late as March 24, the coldest day of the year is recorded, and the freezing of the well twenty-four feet deep, and potatoes in the cellar lost by the cold. He goes out in to the woods around, and with his son cuts down the bass woods; the cattle eat their twigs, and by this process of "browsing" they ward off starvation after the hay has been all consumed. A neighbor comes to report that his family are reduced to the point of starvation. Potatoes are all that is left; flour has been gone for a considerable time. He asks that his better pro- vided neighbor, who has some money, shall go to Pontiac and get flour to save the lives of himself and others similarly situated. These appeals are not to be turned aside. Mr. Halsey takes his team and cash and after four days returns from Pontiac with five barrels of flour, and men and women come from the surrounding region with pillow cases and other improvised receptacles, and the five barrels are distributed among the needy according to their wants and as near as may be; so famine is averted in the town of Grand Blanc and many children live to bless the benefactor. All uncon- scious of any merit, he had done his pioneer duty and, although he religiously kept a diary of the events of each day, yet he modestly refrained from any mention of this act, leaving it to be told by those who had been saved. Add to the fears of loss of their cattle, upon whose preservation so much depended, the religious excitement caused by the "Millerite" prophecy of the coming end of the world which was devoutly believed in by many and which was cause of anxiety to many who doubted, and the extreme condition of the men and women of this county may be imagined. Not only did the people
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of this county face want, but the people of the entire state were similarly situated. In Washtenaw county, Mr. Halsey records, the same conditions prevailed, and even those who had money and wanted to buy, went out with their teams throughout the state and came back to report failure, as there was no wheat to be bought. "Help, Lord, or we perish," records the pious man. The middle of April saw a changed condition of weather and the songs of the birds cheered the people; the snow melted away; the grass, springing before its usual time, for the snow had kept the ground from freezing, soon brought back the pioneer hope, and the hard winter became a reminiscence.
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CHAPTER VI.
FIRST COUNTY COURT.
All or portions of the lands now in Genesee county have at different times been included in Wayne, Macomb, Oakland, Lapeer, Saginaw and Shiawassee counties. Genesee was set off as a separate county by an act of the territorial Legislature approved March 28, 1835, but for judicial pur- poses remained attached to Oakland. About a year later, on March 8, 1836, Genesee became an organized county.
The first county officers were elected for Genesee on August 22, 1836, as follow: Associate judges, Jeremiah R. Smith and Asa Bishop; judge of probate, Samuel Rice; sheriff, Lewis Buckingham; clerk, Robert F. Stage; treasurer, Charles D. W. Gibson; register of deeds, Oliver Wesson; coroners, Chauncey Chapin and Rufus W. Stevens; county surveyor, Ogden Clarke.
On October 4, 1836, the supervisors from the three townships then organized held the first board meeting in the tailorshop of Daniel H. Seeley, in Flint. These members were Samuel Rice, of Grand Blanc, Lyman Stowe, of Flint, and Samuel W. Pattison, of Argentine. But on finding that no books or stationery for their use had been provided, the board adjourned to October 17. Again adjournment was necessary, because of the absence of Mr. Pattison, but he was present on the 18th. The first important action of the county board of supervisors was therefore taken on October 18, which was a resolution to raise a tax of $2,000 assessed and apportioned as follows :
Flint
Assessment. County. Town. $203,973 $231.52 146.20
Collector.
Grand Blanc 117,896
$1,267.43 732.57
John Todd Caleb S. Thompson
Some idea of relative values is given when it is understood that the assessment and apportionment of Argentine was included with that of Grand Blanc, together making only a little over half of Flint's assessment, which doubtless reflects the property values in Flint village.
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