History of Genesee County, Michigan, Her People, Industries and Institutions, Volume I, Part 34

Author: Edwin Orin Wood
Publication date: 1916
Publisher: Federal publishingcompany
Number of Pages: 861

USA > Michigan > Genesee County > History of Genesee County, Michigan, Her People, Industries and Institutions, Volume I > Part 34

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Also auxiliary to the lumbering industry was the manufacture of potash and pearl. The asheries in the village shipped great quantities to the East. The financial returns of this industry were generous and contributed to the capital that was rapidly starting Flint on its prosperous career.

In October, 1835, J. F. Alexander established a wool-carding mill on the Thread river. Ten years later John C. Griswold engaged in the same business at the Thread mills. For years these mills carded all the wool of this section and the product was taken home to the women, who spun it into yarn and wove it into the native homespun of the pioneers. Mr. Alexander advertised his carding mills in verse, as follows:

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"Wool-carding done at the Alexander carding-machine; All being new, nothing said about it being washed clean. The women's instructions are, 'Tell Mr. Alexander, please, Make me as good rolls as you can; it will my mind ease.'

"I will, if you grease the wool so and so, and be sure Then your rolls shall be nice, can't be beat, nothing truer ; And your mind will be at rest when you see that they are Made at the Carding-Mills, No. I, of J. F. Alexander."

THE OLD BRICK COURT HOUSE.

One of the earliest brick buildings erected in Flint village at this time was the new court house. At a meeting of the supervisors in 1847 a move- ment was begun for a fire-proof building; no results were obtained until 1851, when the board appointed Julian Bishop, of Grand Blanc, D. N. Mon- tague, of Vienna, and William Patterson, of Flint, as a building committee "to receive proposals, and cause to be erected a substantial fire-proof county building," for offices for the county clerk, treasurer, register of deeds and judge of probate. The building was to be erected on the court house square at an expense of not more than one thousand five hundred dollars. It was finished the same year by Enos and Reuben Goodrich at a cost of about nine hundred dollars.

EARLY LAWYERS.

Among the Flint lawyers who probably tried cases in this building was James Birdsall, who came to the village in 1839. He was a native of Chen- ango county, New York, where he had been a banker, politician, extensive lumberman on the Susquehanna river, president of the Norwich bank, and a member of the lower house of Congress; he was seventy-three years old at the time of his death in Flint in 1856. Artemas Thayer was admitted to the bar in Flint in the same year Mr. Birdsall came; he later became an extensive dealer in real estate. Alexander P. Davis, a native of Cayuga county, New York, removed to Flint in 1842 from Livingston county, Mich- igan, and for nearly thirty years was one of the most prominent lawyers in the county ; he was elected to the office of prosecuting attorney, state senator and other positions of honor. Levi Walker, a native of Washington county, New York, came to Flint in 1847. He held many positions of high honor

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and rendered signal services to his fellowmen. Of him it has been said, "As a lawyer, he stood in many respects at the head of his profession. His opinion upon any law point was considered by his professional brethren as almost conclusive." At the time of his death, while he was a member of the Legislature, the speaker of the house said, "It is no exaggeration to say that in the death of Mr. Walker the house has lost one of its best and ablest members. Shrinking from no labor, with watchful attention to every detail, he was never satisfied until he had thoroughly mastered his subject. Then, with clearness of argument and aptness of illustration he presented his views, almost invariably to receive the sanction and approval of his associates."

DOCTORS.

The medical profession in Flint village was represented by several physi- cians of considerable eminence. Dr. Robert D. Lamond, a graduate of the medical school at Castleton, Vermont, and also of the Fairfield Medical College, in Herkimer county, New York, came to Flint about 1838 from Pontiac, where he had commenced practice soon after 1830. He repre- sented Genesee county in the Legislature in 1844, and continued to reside in Flint until his death in 1871. Before 1840 Dr. Elijah Drake settled in Flint, practicing here until his death in 1875. In 1840 came Dr. George W. Fish. Doctor Fish removed to Jackson in 1848, holding subsequently many high positions of trust which kept him from Flint, to which he did not return until late in life. Dr. Daniel Clarke, a graduate of Harvard, removed from Grand Blanc to Flint in 1844, where he continued to practice for the greater portion of his life. In 1845 Dr. De Laskie Miller came to Flint from Lapeer, but after seven years removed to Chicago and was subsequently appointed professor of obstetrics in Rush Medical College. In 1848, Dr. John Willet, a graduate of Geneva (New York) Medical College, began his practice in Flint, where he continued until appointed as surgeon in the army in 1862. On his return he entered the drug business, and later was elected to the state Legislature.

In the winter of 1811-1842 there was organized at Flint the Genesee County Medical Society, the first organization of the kind in the county. Of this society the following mention was made in an address by Dr. G. W. Fish in 1876:

"About thirty-five years ago, four physicians met in an office in the little village of Flint, and, after much deliberation and consultation, organ- ized the first medical society ever formed in this part of the state. They

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were all young men, but recently from the schools, natives of the state of New York, and had all a common alma mater-the old Fairfield Medical College, in Herkimer county, New York. Of those who that day attached their signatures to the constitution and by-laws of the first Genesee County Medical Society, one, Dr. John A. Hoyes, has been dead almost a score of years; another, Dr. Robert D. Lamond, died some five years since; the third, Dr. John W. King, lies in his coffin and will soon be borne by us to his last resting-place, and the fourth is he who now addresses you."

In a letter written later by Doctor Fish he speaks of this old society as follows: "We sent to Detroit and to Pontiac for copies of the constitution and by-laws of their respective medical societies, and framed one suited to our wishes. My impression is that Doctor Hoyes was the first president and Dr. Lamond, secretary. I also think that the first annual meeting was held at Flint, the following June, at which meeting Doctors Steere and Gallup, of Fentonville, and Doctor Baldwin, of Atlas, became members, and perhaps Doctor Miller, of Flushing, may have joined at that time, or soon after. I may be mistaken one year in the date of the organization, but I think I am right. The society remained in active operation for many years, until I went south. I believe all the regular bred physicians who came into the county became members of the society, besides some from Lapeer, Shia- wassee and Saginaw counties."

VILLAGE SCHOOLS.

The schools of Flint during the period of village growth made a notable advance, as will appear from the following sketch :

"The first official report of the school inspectors was made October 20, 1838; from which report we learn that the whole number of scholars attend- ing was 60, of whom, 39 were between the ages of five and seventeen years; the number under five and over seventeen being 21. Duration of school, six months. Amount raised by tax was $586, of which $499 was for building a schoolhouse, and $87 for the support of schools. This house must have been the frame building which formerly stood at the corner of Clifford and First streets, on the site now occupied by Mr. Browning's house. Although the public school was thus legally organized, there were many and formidable obstacles to its success. Hard times soon came on and money was scarce, and the teachers often doubly earned, by delays and duns, the pittance which they received. But the greatest obstacle was want of faith in the free- school system, and hence the attempt to run the mongrel system hampered

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with rate-bills, which were often very onerous, especially in the primary department, offering a temptation to parents with large families of small children to tolerate, if not encourage, absence from school; and as each absence increased the burden on those remaining, the evil grew in a con- stantly increasing ratio, until sometimes the school was brought to a prema- ture close. After struggling thus for several years without recognizing the real impediment in the way, the friends of education made a rally on the union-school system as a sovereign remedy for all scholastic ills. That por- tion of the district lying north of Flint river having been set off as a separate district, those remaining purchased an entire block and proceeded to erect a house in the second ward. But here, at the outset, a most egregious and irreparable blunder was perpetrated. The lot at that time was covered with a fine growth of young oaks, which were most carefully exterminated; whereas, had they been left to grow, they would by this time have formed one of the finest groves in the county. This house, which was a two-story wooden building, surmounted by a cupola not remarkable for its grace or artistic effect, contained four commodious rooms. It did good service for many years.

"On the completion of the house a union school was inaugurated in the fall of 1846, under charge of N. W. Butts, with an ample corps of teachers. Years passed on and many a faithful teacher did valiant service, though often with a depressing consciousness of Egyptian taskwork to make scholars of pupils who attended at random. As an illustration of the extent of this evil of irregular attendance, we cite a report for the term ending August, 1853, as follows: Whole number enrolled, 64; average attendance, 18; average absences, 46. The total result, under this incubus of the rate-bill, was not very satisfactory ; the panacea had failed and a new remedy must be tried.

"Accordingly, we find that at the annual school-meeting held in 1855 the following resolutions were adopted, prefaced with a preamble, setting forth that the experience of ten years had demonstrated the failure of the union-school system to give any adequate return for the expense incurred, while it completely excluded four-fifths of the children of the district from any participation in its questionable benefits; and believing that the great interests of education would be advanced, the burden of taxation diminished, and the harmony of the second and third wards improved by a frank and open abandonment of the present system, and the division of the district; therefore,

" 'Resolved, that the union system as adopted, so far as it goes to estab-

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lish the academic department in said school, be and the same is hereby abandoned.

" 'Resolved, that we have ten months of school the coming year in this house. That we have one male and two female teachers qualified to teach the primary and English branches of education.

" 'Resolved, that, in the opinion of this meeting, the great interest of education in our city would be advanced by a division of Union school district No. I, so that Saginaw street should be the dividing line.'

"In accordance with this expression of public sentiment, upon petition of the parties interested, the division was made by the school inspectors, and district No. 3, embracing the then third ward, was formed. But, the disintegration having commenced, another division was called for and made, forming district No. 4, of that portion of the third ward lying north of Court street.

"The old District, No. I was now left in an anomalous position, for, as might have been expected, with the adoption of the foregoing resolutions no provision was made for sustaining a public school, the customary assess- ment of one dollar per scholar being ignored, with the following curious results : From the report of 1855-56 it appears that the whole amount of teachers' wages was $1,235, of which the amount assessed on rate-bills ($646.47) was more than one-half, while the moiety of less than one-fifth ($214.82) was derived from the primary-school fund and mill-tax, and $343.52, more than one-fourth, was received from non-residents, a propor- tion unparalleled in the history of our schools, and an evidence of the popu- larity of the teacher then in charge, Prof. M. B. Beals.

"This was certainly bringing the free public school to its lowest terms, and a continuance of the same must soon have led to the total abandonment of the whole system. But the people were not ready for such a catastrophe and ever after, at the annual meetings, voted as liberally as the law allowed for the support of schools, and would gladly have anticipated, by a decade, that release from the thraldom of rate-bills which the legislature ultimately gave."

THE FIRST NEWSPAPER.

These early years of Flint under statehood were signalized especially by the growth of the press. All of the newspapers in Genesee county up to 1854 were published in Flint. The first was published as early as January, 1839. It was a democratic sheet known as The Flint River Gazette, pub- lished by Joseph K. Averill. The press, fixtures and type with which it was

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started had previously been in use in the state of New York, and the extent of the equipment may be judged from the purchase price paid by Mr. Averill, namely, one thousand ninety-three dollars and ninety-one cents. Its publica- tion proved unsuccessful and in 1841 it ceased to exist.

The following story about this paper is told by Mr. W. R. Bates: When the population of the embryo city of Flint was well down in the hundreds, the community was somewhat startled by the appearance of a boy on the streets of the hamlet offering for sale a paper. The boy's name was Edward Todd and the name of paper was the Whip Lash. Mr. Todd informs me that nearly everyone bought a copy because, as he naively added, 'nearly everybody was mentioned in its columns.' He says that for many years no one knew who was responsible for it, but that William P. Crandall and Cornelius Roose- velt secured his services to sell it on the streets and that they were its editors. This gossiping sheet was printed on the hand press of the first paper pub- lished at Flint-The Flint River Gazette-and nearly every item had its sting. So it seems that the modern Town Topics of New York City had its proto- type in the forests on the banks of the Flint way back in the thirties."

The second newspaper in the county was The Northern Advocate, Whig in politics, published in 1840 by William Perry Joslyn; but the following year it was removed to Pontiac. In June, 1843, appeared the first number of The Genesee County Democrat, published by William B. Sherwood, who before had unsuccessfully published the Shiawassee Democrat and Clinton Express, at Corunna in Shiawassee county; he was not more successful at Flint. The Genesee Republican, a democratic paper, first appeared in April, 1845. It was understood to be owned by Gen. Charles C. Hascall. In the same year appeared The Flint Republican, published by Daniel S. Merritt. It was this paper which, in 1848, came under the proprietorship of Royal W. Jenny, who had been connected with it at least since 1840. In 1853 he ceased to publish the Republican and immediately commenced the publication of the Genesee Democrat, one of the most successful of the early newspapers. Two short-lived papers, The Western Citizen and The Genesee Whig, the first owned by O. S. Carter, the second by Francis H. Rankin, were published about 1850. In that year Mr. Rankin founded what proved to be a worthy rival of the Genesce Democrat, namely The Genesee Whig, whose name after the dissolution of the Whig party was changed first to The Wolverine Citizen and Genesee Whig and finally to The Wolverine Citizen. From the organization of the Republican party at Jackson in 1854 this paper was a distinctively Republican paper of the "stalwart" type. Its editor was actively instrumental in reorganizing the

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anti-slavery elements of the old Whig and Democratic parties of Genesee county.

EARLY RELIGIOUS INTERESTS.

The oldest religious organization in Flint is the Court Street Metho- dist Episcopal church, which began in a humble way in 1835 when Rev. William H. Brockaway established the first preaching at Flint in the bar- room of Mr. Beach's tavern. Next year the upper story of Stage & Wright's store was used and the first class was organized. The first quarterly meeting of the Michigan conference was held at Flint in 1837. The name "Flint River Mission" appears on the minutes in 1837 for the first time, with Luther D. Whitney as preacher in charge and Samuel P. Shaw, presiding elder. During the administration of Rev. F. B. Bangs, who was appointed to the Flint work in the autumn of 1841, a church edifice was built on the lot donated to the society by Wait Beach, on the southwest corner of Beach and Sixth streets. It was dedicated on the evening of December 21, 1844. The size of the building was thirty-five by fifty-five feet, with a small gallery in one end. The annual conference of 1847 made Flint village a station entirely distinct from the circuit. About this time a number of improvements were made in the church property. Among those who served on this appoint- ment previous to 1855, after Rev. Whitney, were Revs. Larman Chatfield, Ebenezer Steel, F. B. Bangs, William Mothersill, Harrison Morgan, David Burns, M. B. Camburn, Dr. B. S. Taylor, William Mahon, J. M. Arnold and George Taylor.

The first Presbyterian church of Flint had its beginning with members of another communion. In 1837 their leader, Rev. M. Dudley, organized seventeen persons into a Congregational church, at the "River House." In 1840, there being no Congregational association in this region, they placed themselves under the care of the presbytery of Detroit. At about the same time they built a church where later stood the Henderson warehouse. By 1845 this building had been enlarged and removed to the east corner of Saginaw and First streets, and not long afterwards the members entered upon the work of erecting a new house of worship, which was dedicated on January 26, 1848. The Congregationalists remained connected with this church until 1867. Previous to 1855 the principal pastors of this society were Revs. Dudley, Bates, Parker, Beach, VanNest, Atterbury and Northrop.

As early as 1837 an effort was made to organize a Baptist church in Flint, which was presently successful. An event which considerably strength- ened the movement was the disbanding of a church of fifteen members five

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miles from Flint in present Burton township, who transferred their mem- bership to the Flint church. The meetings of the new society were held in a room over the jail in the court house, but repeated disturbances in those quarters led them to take a room in the Crapo building, on the north side of the river, until a church should be built. The erection of the first meeting-house was accomplished only with great difficulty and was dedicated in 1855.

St. Paul's church, Protestant Episcopal, began in 1839. In that year the missionary, Rev. Daniel E. Brown, visited Flint and reported that "The voice of an Episcopal clergyman in celebrating the services of our church had never been heard here." In October the bishop visited Flint and reported such zeal manifested for the organization of a parish that he consented at once to the proposed measure. Rev. Mr. Brown began work here in November and in the following month a church was organized, among whose members were George M. Dewey, Grant Decker and Henry C. Walker. The wardens elected were T. D. Butler and Milton A. Case. On the original vestry were Reuben McCreery, Jonathan Dayton, Henry M. Henderson, Chauncey S. Payne and James B. Walker. The holy communion was cele- brated for the first time on Christmas day, 1839. Rev. Daniel E. Brown became the first rector. In March, 1849, the bishop visiting the new parish found that a temporary building had been neatly fitted up for the accommo- dation of the congregation, but it was forced to solicit help from the East to complete the building of a church. Rev. Mr. Brown succeeded in raising from that source about one thousand seven hundred dollars above expenses. Many difficulties, however, still attended the achievement of putting up the new church building, which was not completed until July, 1843. This was known as the "Old church," a building thirty-four by forty-eight feet, stand- ing on village lot No. 5, block No. 2. In his report to the convention in 1844, the Rev. Mr. Brown speaks of liberal donations "received from the friends of the church in New York, of an elegant set of communion plates, also a superb copy of the Bible, and the Book of Common Prayer, for the use of chancel and reading-desk." In 1846 the resignation of the Rev. Mr. Brown was accepted "with deep regret." During a period of seven years his official acts were as follows: Baptisms, 47 (infant, 33; adult, 14), con- firmations, 24; funerals, 21 ; marriages, 12. His successor was Rev. Charles Reighley, who resigned in 1850. His official acts during these three years were: Baptisms 35 (infant, 28; adult, 7) ; confirmations, 12; marriages, 3; burials, 33. In 1852 Rev. John Swan became the next rector, who still held that position when the village became a city.

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In this period also were laid the foundations of St. Michael's Roman Catholic church. Bishop P. Lefever, of the diocese of Detroit, was the impulse which placed in form of organization the material for a Roman Catholic church in Flint. The first efforts date back to September 2, 1843, though the building was several years in process of erection. The ground on which it stands was deeded by Chauncey S. Payne and George M. Dewey gave two hundred dollars towards the fund, while many leading citizens contributed more or less liberally as their means permitted. Among the friends from Detroit who rendered material aid to the struggling enterprise were Lewis Cass, Joseph Campau, Bishop P. Lefever, Peter Desnoyer, and many other names well known in olden times. Daniel O'Sullivan, whose arrival in Flint occurred in July, 1834, was largely instrumental in the con- struction of the building, having contributed both in means and labor to the enterprise. The first regularly installed pastor was Rev. Michael Mona- ghan, who remained some time after the completion of the church, and was succeeded by Rev. Joseph Kinderkins, brother of Vicar-General Kinderkins, of Detroit, who, in turn, was succeeded by Rev. C. L. Deceuninck, in 1856, who organized a school under the management of two lay teachers. His pastorate extended over a period of fifteen years, during which time he was active in many benevolent enterprises and did much for the relief of the poor of the church.

The first cemetery in Flint was a piece of ground about an acre in extent known as the "old Patterson homestead." It was bounded on the south by Fifth street, on the west by Grand Traverse, on the north by Court and on the east by Church. This acre was deeded in 1835 by Mr. and Mrs. Wait Beach to the county for a burial ground. It was in use about eight years and twenty-five interments were made in it, when it was vacated. In 184I a new location was chosen, known as the "old burial ground," situ- ated on the north side of the Richfield road on Kearsley street about half a mile east of Saginaw street. The bodies were disinterred from the original ground and reburied here. In 1842 John Beach deeded to the county an acre of ground as a first addition to this plat, which was the last addition made while Flint remained a village.

Flint village saw also the beginning of two leading benevolent associa- tions, the Masons and the Odd Fellows. The first lodge of the order of Free and Accepted Masons was convened in Flint, April 6, 1848, and was organized as Genesee Lodge No. 23. Its first officers were H. I. Higgins, worthy master; Chauncey S. Payne, senior warden; Willard Eddy, junior warden; Charles Reighley, secretary and treasurer ; Wright, senior

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deacon; Benjamin Boomer, junior deacon; Ingals, tiler. The lodge held its early meetings in the Starr building, in the first ward, owned by Chauncey S. Payne, and since burned. The first member initiated was Col. E. H. Thomson. It then moved into the Hill building, on the south side of Saginaw street. In December, 1845, it surrendered its charter and its books and papers were, by order of the grand lodge of the state, together with jurisdiction over its membership, transferred to Flint Lodge No. 23, Free and Accepted Masons.

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History of Genesee County, Michigan, Her People, Industries and Institutions, Volume I, Part 34

Author: Edwin Orin Wood Publication date: 1916 Publisher: Federal publishingcompany Number of Pages: 861

Author: Edwin Orin Wood
Publication date: 1916
Publisher: Federal publishingcompany
Number of Pages: 861