USA > Michigan > Genesee County > History of Genesee County, Michigan, Her People, Industries and Institutions, Volume I > Part 27
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The county seat for Genesee was located by an act of the territorial Legislature, August 25, 1835, "on the west side of the Saginaw turnpike, on lands recently deeded by John Todd and wife to one Wait Beach, known
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as the Todd Farm, at Flint river, at a point commencing at or within twenty rods of the center of said described land on said turnpike." It was pro- vided, however, that the owner of the land should deed to the county two acres of land for a court house and public square, an acre for a burial ground, and two church and two school lots "of common size," which was done. A building for the county jail and court room was begun in the fall of 1838 and completed in the fall of 1839 at a cost of about five thousand dollars. It was a solid, rectangular building of oak logs. The lower and stronger part was the jail; the upper part was the court room. The persons appointed as a building committee to superintend the construction were Charles Seymour, Robert F. Stage and John Pratt.
Temporarily, for the holding of the circuit court of Genesee for 1837 and 1838, the sheriff provided, first, the upper story of Stage & Wright's store, and afterwards the hall over Benjamin Pearson's store. At the former place the first term of court was held in February, 1837, by the Hon. George Morell, one of the justices of the state supreme court. The first case tried and decided appears to have been that of Andrew Cox vs. Goshen Olmsted, which was an appeal from Justice Lyman Stowe's decision in justice's court, in which judgment was rendered for the plaintiff for the sum of five dollars and sixty-three cents, together with costs taxed at seven dollars and sixty-three cents. The attorney for the plaintiff was Thomas J. Drake. Barton and Thomson were attorneys for the defendant. The case was appealed and a verdict returned for the defendant of sixteen dol- lars damages; the judgment of the justice of the peace was "reversed, vacated and annulled, and altogether held for nothing," and Goshen Olm- sted was directed to recover from Andrew Cox the damages and also the sum of eighty-eight dollars and forty-two cents for costs of the appeal. This judgment was given February 12, 1841, nearly five years after the commencement of the case.
The other cases on this first calendar were:
I. Chauncey Bogue vs. Timothy J. Walling. Action for attachment. Thomas J. Drake, attorney for plaintiff.
2. Jason L. Austin vs. Daniel R. Williams. Action, an appeal. Attorney for plaintiff, P. H. McOmber. Attorney for defendant, Thomas J. Drake.
3. Charles McLean vs. Theodore P. Dean. Action, an appeal. Attorney for the plaintiff, T. J. Drake. Attorney for defendant, George Wisner.
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The first circuit court held in the new log building was the January term for 1840. In reference to the first case tried there, Alvah Brainard, for many years a loved and respected citizen of Grand Blanc, who was one of the jurors on the case, relates the following amusing anecdote :
"The difference between the parties was trifling. One of the parties had shut up one of the other's hogs and was going to fat it. There was no place prepared for the jurors to deliberate in. Mr. Hascall was building a dwelling house on the opposite side of the turnpike from the court house, so the arrangements were made for the jurors to go over to this place in the cellar part. The house was set upon blocks about two feet from the ground and the dirt had been thrown partially out, so that we had a shady, airy and rustic place, with plenty of shavings under foot which had fallen down through the loose floor above. There were no seats, but we could change positions very readily, by lying down, or standing or sitting upon our feet. It was a pleasant and secluded place-we could look out on all sides and see what was going on upon the outside. Being so open, the wind would blow through and fill our eyes with sawdust, and it was a very warm day; so, under all circumstances, we were not in a very urgent hurry and we could not agree upon a verdict. The constable would look under often : 'Gentlemen, have you agreed?' Our answer would be, 'More water, more water.' So along toward night we ventured out of the den or pen, and went before the court without having agreed on a verdict, for or against."
Judge Marell presided at this meeting. His term as justice of the supreme court began in 1832 and he was chief justice in 1843. His suc- . cessors in the circuit court of Genesee county have been as follow : William A. Fletcher, Charles W. Whipple, Sanford M. Green, Josiah Turner, William Newton, Charles H. Wisner and Mark W. Stevens.
In the proceedings of the board of supervisors for a meeting held December 5, 1836, is found the earliest official reference to the county poor. The sum of seventy-two dollars and fifty cents was allowed to Jason L. Austin for care of county paupers, and sixty-three dollars and fourteen cents to the township of Flint for care and removal of a family of county paupers. On January 8, 1839, county superintendents of the poor were appointed; they were Benjamin Rockwell, of Flushing, Lyman Stowe, of Flint, and John Pratt, of Genesee. The following day the board of county commis- sioners abolished the distinction between town and county paupers; all paup- ers in the county were thereafter to be considered a county charge. It was nearly a decade, however, before a county farm was purchased and still longer before the first county poor house was built.
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CHAPTER VII.
INDIAN TRAILS AND PUBLIC HIGHWAYS.
It is well known that the degree of civilization to which a nation has attained may be judged by the number and quality of her means of com- munication and transportation. In the zenith of her power, ancient Rome built a superb system of communication for the empire, radiating from the "city of the seven hills" to all important points in the provinces. In the sixteenth century the Spaniards found in Central and South America an admirable system of solid and durable roads, which were built centuries before the coming of the invaders; almost equaling the famous Roman roads were those built by the Incas in Peru and by the Aztecs in Mexico and Yucatan.
The earliest roads of the United States in historic times are the Indian trails. In large measure, these primitive lines have been followed as settle- ment has advanced from the Atlantic seaboard westward. The early turn- pike built through New York, the Erie canal opened in 1825 and the great New York Central railway follow closely the ancient war-trail connecting the confederate nations of the Iroquois from the Hudson to the foot of Lake Erie. Michigan was traversed in all directions by the trails of the Indians and their numerous paths in Genesee county bear witness that here was a region important before the advent of the white man. In press- ing their way through the lands of the county from one township to another, the settlers constantly found the lines marked out by the Indians the most expeditious and, later, many of them were made the lines of township roads.
Among the chief Indian trails of Genesee county was the great trunk line for travel north and south, having its terminals at Saginaw and Detroit. It came into the county on section 35, township of Grand Blanc, from Holly in Oakland county, passed through the township of Grand Blanc where the Saginaw road now is, and entered the township of Burton on section 32. Thence it crossed sections 30 and 19, passed through the pres- ent city of Flint and crossed the river at the Grand Traverse of the Flint. It divided into two trails north of the river, one running along the eastern bank of the river to Saginaw, and the other towards Mt. Morris, following the highlands, thence to Pine Run and Farrandville and left the county
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from section 3, township of Vienna. The swampy nature of the lands of the county in early times made the ridges and highlands the natural lines for the minor trails.
By an early writer the trails of the valley of the Saginaw river have been likened to a fan spreading out in various directions from the lower valley and reaching the headwaters of various affluent streams. There is now great uncertainty as to the exact location of these trails, but one ran from a place up the river near Geneseeville southward on the watershed between Kearsley creek and the stream that enters the river on section 18, of Richfield. This trail passed across near the springs on section 35 of Genesee, and crossed Kearsley creek on section 2 of Burton, circling east- ward on the watershed between Kearsley creek and Gilkey creek, coming into Grand Blanc on section I, and crossing the main trail at Grand Blanc; thence it ran through sections 16 and 21 nearly along the state road to Oakland county, thence into Fenton, terminating at Long lake. Another trail followed the watershed between the two streams that enter the river, one on section 27 and the other on section 36 in Flushing township, and, fol- lowing the watershed through Flushing, Clayton and Gaines townships, it crossed the Shiawassee river where the road now crosses on section 26, coursed around Lobdell's lake into Argentine township and thence across the corner of section thirty of Fenton.
These were probably the principal trails across the county of Genesee during the time of the Sauks and down to the time of the coming of the whites. Of these, the Abbott history says :
"The present county of Genesee was crossed in various directions by Indian trails, which by being traveled for years by themselves and their ponies had become hard-beaten paths worn into the soft soil in some places to the depth of more than a foot. The principal of these was the "Saginaw trail," which was the Indian road from Saginaw to Detroit. Its' route lay through Genesee county from Pewonigowink up the Flint river to its south- ern bend, thence south by way of Grand Blanc and the Big Springs (Oak- land county ) to Detroit. The place where it crossed the Flint was known as the Grand Traverse, or great crossing place, a name probably given to it by Bolieu, the French trader. A beautiful open plain lying in the bend of the river, on the north side and contiguous to the crossing, was named, in Indian, Mus-cat-a-wing, meaning 'the plain burned over.' This is now in the first ward of the city of Flint. A part of it had formerly been used by the Indians as a corn field, and it was always a favorite camping ground, as many as fifteen hundred of them having been seen encamped on it at
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one time by people who are still living. Over this trail, too, for years after the first settlers came to Genesee county, thousands of Indians passed and repassed annually, the throng always being particularly large at the time when they went down to receive their annuities. These yearly payments were made in the early times by both the United States and the British governments ; the latter was usually paid at Malden. The amount paid there was fifty cents a head to Indians for all ages from the red patriarch of ninety years to the papoose upon its mother's back. On these occasions, therefore, every member of the tribe took the trail to be present at the muster for pay. After a time the British payments ceased and the United States adopted a plan of paying at inland points to avoid the demoralization which resulted from vast collections of Indians at Detroit. These interior payments were oftenest made at Saginaw, but on one or two occasions they were made at Pewonigowink. The money was silver coin and this was brought up from Detroit on pack horses. Two boxes of one thousand dollars each, weighing one hundred and twenty pounds, slung on each side, were a load for a pack horse. The party (generally consisting of an interpreter and sub-agent) made its way twenty miles per day and slept out in the woods without fear, though without firearms. The journey occupied four days from Detroit to Saginaw."
The good roads movement, which has assumed such proportions in recent years, may be said to have begun in 1822. The old Indian trail from Detroit to Saginaw, by way of Royal Oak, Birmingham, Pontiac, Water- ford, Holly, Grand Blanc and the Grand Traverse of the Flint, had served for the traffic of the Indians and the early traders and as bridle path for the earliest white explorers, who followed it in their explorations.
In 1822, the unrest of the Indians growing out of their dissatisfaction with the treaty of 1819, and their divided allegiance between the English and the Americans, caused the government to establish a military post at Saginaw. Two companies of the third United States Infantry, under Major Baker, were transferred from Green Bay, Wisconsin, to Saginaw, and the necessity of supplying this post made it imperative to improve the old trail. This was done by detachments of the soldiers, under the command of Lieu- tenants Brooks and Bainbridge. When their work was completed, it was so cut out and leveled that horseback travel in summer and sleighs in winter were possible. The old trail then ceased to be a trail and took upon itself the dignity of a road. It is said by one of the old chroniclers, that the soldiers built a bridge across the Flint, but if they did it was temporary and soon ceased to be usable for the purpose intended.
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The garrison, notwithstanding the skillful attendance of the post sur- geon, Doctor Pitcher, found the place so unhealthy that it was withdrawn in the fall of 1823, and with its departure the needs that had caused the betterment of the road ceased and it fell into decay.
While the garrison was at Saginaw, a contract was let to John Hamil- ton and one Harvey Williams to transport the supplies for the troops from Detroit to Saginaw. These two, with Ephraim S. Williams and Schuyler Hodges, went over the new road in the winter of 1822-3 with three sleigh loads of supplies. They had to put all three teams of oxen to one sled to get it across the river and up the banks.
With the coming of settlers the need for road repair being imperative. The terminus at Saginaw was a place of importance as the Indians there were expert fishermen and the trout they took were in demand by the set- tlers. In 1831 the sum of one hundred dollars was raised by popular sub- scription for the purpose of cutting out the road from Flint to the Cass river.
On November 15, 1831, John Todd, tavern keeper at Flint, Phinneas Thompson, and Albert Miller, school teacher of Grand Blanc, started out with axes, a tent and supplies for two weeks on their backs, to do the work. They moved out northward a few miles and camped, cutting back a day and then ahead a day, and then moving their camp again. At night, as Miller afterwards related, they were serenaded by wolves that gathered in large bands about the tent at night. While at Birch Run, Miller thought- lessly left his leather mittens outside the tent and in the morning they were not to be found; the wolves had eaten them. Reaching the Cass river they made a raft of ash logs cut out of trees on the river bank and crossed.
The section of the road south from the Flint was not so well treated, for in 1832 Mr. William McCormick, who came over it from Detroit, characterizes the road from Detroit to Royal Oak as the worst he had ever seen. He also says that the portion of the road from the old Indian trading house of Rufus W. Stevens, at Grand Blanc, to the Flint river, was only a sleigh road cut through the woods for winter use, and in many places not passable for wagons because not wide enough. Soon afterwards, he was called to go down the river as escort for a young lady who was to visit friends at Saginaw, and, with Colonel Marshall, of Flint, they accomplished the route in two days by drawing the canoe over the riffles in many places where the water was too low for free navigation.
The territorial roads built previous to the admission of Michigan as a
(17)
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state were practically all built to connect Detroit with Chicago and St. Joseph, and all of them, with the one exception of that from Rochester to Lapeer, ran south of Genesee county.
W. R. Bates, in the Golden Jubilee history, says that the road from Detroit to Saginaw by Flint was surveyed in 1826, but that it did not reach Flint until 1833. The road map of the land commissioner of the state, which gives the territorial roads, does not include this one in question; it would seem that the road became a highway de facto, by its transition from an Indian trail to a road by the work of the soldiers, and that its further betterment depended more upon the voluntary aid of the settlers along the line.
The "Emigrants and Travelers' Guide," published at Philadelphia in 1834, contains a map of Michigan territory, and only one highway is desig- nated in Genesee county, the one from Detroit to Saginaw, marked "Gov- ernment road."
The early desire of better facilities for transportation, and the lines of communication most urgently needed by the settlers of Genesee after the state was formed, are reflected in the action of the first Legislature of Michigan from 1835 to 1848, which authorized the laying out and establish- ment of a number of state roads. Among routes authorized for Genesee county, were the following: from Grand Blanc through the county seat of Lapeer to the mouth of the Black river, in St. Clair county; from Flint through Lapeer and Romeo to Mt. Clemens; from Flint to Ann Arbor; from Flint through the towns of Atlas, Groveland, Brandon and Indepen- dence, to Pontiac; from Flint through the Miller settlement, Shiawassee Town and Hartwellville, to Michigan village, in Ingham county ; from Flint through the town of Gaines to Byron; from Flint through Corunna, to Lansing; from a point on the Saginaw turnpike about fourteen miles north of Flint, through Flushing, Murray Mills and Brighton to Ann Arbor; from Fenton- ville to Brighton; from Fentonville to Byron, in Shiawassee county; from Fentonville to Springfield, in Oakland county. To authorize roads, how- ever, was not to build them; many of these roads "laid out and established" by the Legislature on paper were not for many years made ready for travel, and some of them were not built at all in the way originally intended.
Road making, other than the state roads above described, began in the activities of James W. Cronk and R. J. Gilman, road commissioners of the township of Flint, which then included the present township of Clayton, Flushing, Montrose, Vienna, Mt. Morris, Thetford, Flint, Genesee and Bur-
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ton. On June 15, 1836, these two commissioners laid out ten roads, which were numbered one to ten inclusive, and were as follows :
Road number one ran across the country from the Lapeer line on the east to the Shiawassee line on the west, its eastern terminus being the northeast corner of section 1, township 8 north, range 7 east, and its western and northwest corner of section 6, township 8 north, range 5 east. This road is now the Frances road, except the eastern six miles between Forest and Richfield towns-those towns being then a part of Lapeer county. This Frances road therefore, has the honor of being the first recorded road in the county.
Road number two ran from the northwest corner of section 6, town- ship 7 north, range 5 east, east on township line six miles and a half to quarter stake on north side section 6, township 7 north, range 6 east. This road is now the Potter road between Flushing and Clayton, extended half a mile eastward.
Road number three is described as running from southeast corner of sec- tion I, township 7 north, range 5 east, to southwest corner of section 6, same township, six miles. This is now the Beecher road, through the town of Clayton.
Road number four began at the southwest corner of section 6, town- ship 7 north, range 6 east, and ran one mile east, thence south five miles, along the section line, ending at the southeast corner of section 31 in the same township. The first mile of this road is now part of the Beecher road. One mile of the north, and the south five miles of this road, were discon- tinued by the commissioners of highways, December 17, 1850; the other four miles are not now used as a highway.
Road number five ran south five miles from the southeast corner of section 5, township 7 north, range 6 east, on section line, and is now the northern part of the Linden road, in the township of Flint.
Road number six, commencing at the southwest corner of section 7, township 8 north, range 7 east, ran thence east three miles on section line, and formed three miles of the Stanley road in the township of Genesee.
Road number seven commenced at the southwest corner of section 6, township 8 north, range 7 east (the center of the village of Mt. Morris). and ran thence six miles east along the section line, and is now the Mt. Morris road across Genesee township to the Richfield line.
Road number eight was the present Bristol road across the township of Burton.
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Road number nine was that part of the center road from Frances road south to the Stanley road and half a mile farther south, in the township of Genesee. This road now passes through Geneseeville and departs from the section line on which it was laid out to accommodate itself to the surface of the river valley.
Road number ten, the present Hemphill road, just north of the county farm, one mile and five chains long, had its western terminus in the "Sagana" turnpike, and its eastern at the quarter stake between sections 29 and 30, township 7 north, range 7 east (Burton).
On July 25, 1836, James W. Cronk and Charles McLean, road com- missioners of Flint, laid out four more roads.
Road number eleven was the present Vienna road across Thetford, running through Thetford Center and East Thetford.
Road number twelve is now the Wilson road across the township of Vienna.
Road number thirteen is now the Dodge road across the township of Vienna.
Road number fourteen runs from the center of Clio due south on the section line to the town of Mt. Morris, a part of the Clio road.
On August 3, 1836, commissioners Charles McLean and R. J. Gilman laid out road number fifteen, from a point on the "Sagana" turnpike, east to the quarter stake on the east side of section 24, township of Vienna, a distance of fifty-seven chains and sixty-seven links. This is now that part of the Smith road in the township of Vienna.
On September 20, 1836, road commissioners James W. Cronk and R. J. Gilman laid out three more roads.
Road number sixteen, from the quarter stake on the south line of section 30, township of Genesee, east forty chains, thence north on section line forty chains, and east on the subdivision line twenty chains. This is now part of Pierson street, Lewis road and a short unnamed road in the township of Genesee.
Road number seventeen was the present Calkins road across the town- ship of Clayton.
Road number eighteen is now the county line road between Genesee and Shiawassee counties, along the west bounds of Clayton.
Road number nineteen seems to have been partly recorded by the com- missioners, but the record was erased, and on September 5, 1837, the then commissioners, James W. Cronk and John L. Gage, in order to keep up the consecutive numbering of roads, laid out a road and gave it number
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nineteen, as follows: Beginning on the east line of section 12, twenty-two chains and twenty-five links south of the northeast corner of said section 12, in township 7. north, range 5 east, thence west nineteen chains and eighty- five links and ending north forty-five degrees west, thirty-two chains and fifty links. The record is attested by Orrin Safford, town clerk. This road was in north part of the city of Flint.
Road number twenty, laid out September 20, 1836, by Commissioners Clark and Gilman, is, or rather was, a road within the present city limits and in this record we find the first mention of Saginaw street. The road commenced "at the stake in the center of 'Sagina' street, from which the section corner of sections 17, 18, 19 and 20 in township 7 north, range 7 east, bears south nine degrees east, twenty-nine chains; thence south fifty- one degrees west, ten chains and fifty links on Shiawassee street, thence north thirty-nine degrees west, two chains and thirty-four links to a stake, from which a white oak eight inches diameter, bears north seventy-six degrees west, twenty links; thence south fifty-one degrees west, ten chains to a stake, from which a white oak bears north forty-five degrees west. sixty links ; thence south six degrees east four chains to a stake, from which the quarter stake standing on the south line of section 18, bears north fifty- two degrees east, four chains and ninety-two links."
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