USA > Michigan > Genesee County > History of Genesee county, Michigan. With illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 104
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Receipts .- From moneys on hand Sept. 3, 1877, 2-mill tax, primary school fund, tuition of non-resident scholars, distriet taxes, and from all other sources, $2316.24.
Expenditures .- Teachers' wages, 81470; building re- pairs, $84.44 ; bonded indebtedness, $45.63 ; all other pur- poses, $388.95; on hand, Sept. 2, 1878, 8327.22; total, 82316.24.
RICHFIELD.
This town lies on the east border of the county, on the second tier of townships from the north, and is known in the records of the United States survey as township S north, range S east. It is centrally distant from Flint about ten and a quarter miles, and is bounded by Forest on the north, Oregon, Lapeer Co., on the cast, Davison on the south, and Genesee on the west. Its superficial area is 22,439,33 '18's aeres. The surface is slightly rolling, being roughest in the northeast part and along the course of Flint River. The original forest of this town was in most parts a variety of all kinds of hard-wood timber, but along the course of the river was a belt of pine of an average width of about one and a half miles, and along Hasler's and Briar Creek similar growths were found. This pine, covering about one-third of the town, was to some extent inter- spersed with other timber, and was of good quality and size. The soil of the pine lands is lighter than that of the rest of the town, which varies from a sort of marl to a black gravelly or sandy loam, fertile and easily tilled. The best part of the town for agricultural purposes lies in the south- west half, but all is productive, and well repays the toil of the husbandman with remunerative erops.
Unlike many townships in Michigan, there are none of those small lakes, so common in this State, within the borders of Richfield. The principal water-courses are the Flint River and Black Creek. Flint River enters the town near the northeast corner of section 12, and runs in a some- what tortuous but generally westerly course, passing through portions of sections 1, 2, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, and 18, passing into the town of Genesee near the southwest corner of section 7. Its course in this town is about twelve miles in length, and its current rather sluggish. At two points it has been dammed to make a water-power, but neither dam is now used. Black Creek, which is the outlet of Potter Lake, enters the town near the centre of the east line of seetion 36, runs westerly about a mile and three- quarters, turns sharply to the south, and passes into Davi- son. Hasler's Creek is the outlet of a lake of the same name lying in the town of Elba, Lapeer Co., and runs northerly along the cast border of the town through sec- tion 13, and in a northwest course across section 12 till it reaches the Flint River, and unites its waters with those of the larger stream. Briar Creek, Belden Creek, and four other small streams are tributaries to Flint River. The two first named unite with it in the eastern part of section 18, the former flowing from the north, and the latter from the south. The Flint River branch of the Flint and Père Marquette Railroad cuts across the northwest corner of the town on section 6, and has a station there called Rogers'. This company has about five-eighths of a mile of track in the town.
Many traces still remain to testify of the presence here of the aborigines,-those nomadic wanderers who have now so nearly disappeared from this country which was once one of their favorite hunting-grounds. Numerous trails led in various directions through the town, the principal ones being the Saginaw trail near the Irish road, aud one from the vicinity of Nepessing joining the Saginaw trail near the river. The Indians had a sort of village near Nepessing Lake, in Lapeer County, and in this town had a camping-place on the south bank of Flint River, in section 11. Near this place they cultivated some corn on a sort of opening, which gave to the locality the name of " the In- dian garden." On sections 20 and 21 and in other local- ities in the town they had " sugar-bushes," where they tapped the maple-trees and in their rude way manufactured an inferior kind of maple-sugar. Among these traces of former inhabitants of this section of our country none pos- sess a greater interest to the antiquary or the historian than the mysterious mounds that here and there lie scattered about throughout the State. In the pinery, on section 25, is a large mound, evidently formed by the work of human hands, as is proved by the mixed condition of the soil com- posing it. Its diameter is some twelve or fourteen feet, and its elevation above the surrounding surface about five feet. A smaller mound on the bank of Black Creek, in section 35, was opened and a skull and some other bones taken out. Upon these mounds large forest-trees were growing at the time of the first settlement, indicating that they had then reached an age of at least a hundred years since the mounds were piled up.
THE SETTLEMENT
of this town was not begun until the spring of 1836, though a little of the land had been taken up by specula- tors late in the month of December, 1835. In the year 1836 nearly all the land in the town was bought from the government and several settlements begun in different parts. The names of the original purchasers of these lands are contained in the following list. Those printed in italics became actual residents of the town at an earlier or later date. We first give the names of those who purchased land on more than one sectiou. The residence of the pur- chaser at the time of purchase is given in each case where it is known. The list is as follows, viz. :
James Seymour, of Monroe Co., N. Y., March 1, 1836, 466 acres on section 1, and 62 acres on section 10; total, 528 aeres.
Elon Farnsworth, Delos Davis, and Rufus Brown, Jr., of Wayne Co., Mich., June 9, 1836, 163 acres on section 1, 582 acres on section 2, 1334 acres on scetions 3 and 4 (the entire sections) ; total, 2079 acres.
406
407
RICHFIELD TOWNSHIP.
Orsimus Bassett, of Genesee Co., N. Y., Ang. 26, 1836, 160 acres on section 23; November 12th, SO aeres on sec- tion 6; and November 21st, 80 acres on seetion 7; total, 320 acres.
Thomas R. Roby, of Monroe Co., N. Y., March 1, 1836, 164 aeres on section 7, and 320 acres on section 17; total, 484 acres.
Rufus Brown, Jr., and Delos Davis, of Wayne Co., Mich., June 3, 1836, 160 acres on section 7, and 480 acres on section 8; total, 640 aeres.
Robert J. S. Page, of this county, Ang. 24, 1836, 80 acres on section 35; September 13th, 80 acres on section 7; total, 160 acres.
William Draper, of Pontiac, Oakland Co., Mich., Dee. 21, 1835, 151 acres on section 17, 98 acres on section 18; December 28th, 57 acres on section 18; Feb. 20, 1836, 145 acres on section 17; June 2d, 160 aeres on section 8; total, 6I1 acres.
John Todd, of Flint, Dec. 28, 1835, 50 acres on section 9, and 40 acres on section 10; total, 90 acres.
Thomas L. L. Brent, of Virginia, March 16, 1836, 197 acres on section 9, 62 acres on section 10, 552 aeres on section 11, 213 acres on section 12, 240 acres on section 13, 320 acres on section 14, 320 acres on section 15, 260 aeres on section 18, 242 acres on section 19, 160 acres on section 20, and 240 acres on section 30; total, 2806 aeres,
Lewis Godard, of Wayne Co., Mich., Feb. 9, 1836, 60 aeres on section 2, 100 acres on section 10, 80 acres on section 11, 152 acres on section 12; March 16th, 104 acres on section 9; total, 496 acres.
Sylvanus P. Jermain, of Albany Co., N. Y., April 7, 1836, 102 acres on section 9, and 86 acres on section 12; total, 188 acres.
Lot Clark and Stephen Warren, of the State of New York, Feb. 22, 1836, 51 acres on section 18; March 1st, 151 acres on section 12, and 60 acres on section 18; total, 262 acres.
Frederick B. Guenther, of New York City, Aug. 27, 1836, 160 acres on section 13, 80 acres on section 14, 80 acres on section 22, 160 acres on section 24, 160 acres on section 27, 80 acres on section 35, and 160 acres on section 36; total, 880 acres.
Joseph M. Leon, of New York City, Aug. 27, 1836, 240 acres on section 13, 160 acres on section 24, 240 acres on section 25, 80 acres on section 26, 160 acres on section 34, and 240 aeres on section 36; total, 1120 acres.
David Piffard, of Livingston Co., N. Y., July 6, 1836, 160 acres on section 14, 240 acres on section 22, 160 acres on section 27, and 160 acres on section 35; total, 720 acres.
Rial Irish, of Oakland Co., Mich., March 1, 1836, 80 acres on section 19, 160 acres on section 20; June 14th, -10 acres on section 19; total, 280 acres.
Ebenezer Larned, of New London, Conn., June 4, 1836, 80 acres on section 20, and 80 acres on section 21 ; total, 160 acres.
George Oliver, of this county, May 7, 1836, 10 acres on section 21 ; May 20th, 10 acres on the same scetion ; Jan. 17, 1837, 78 aeres on section 30; total, 158 acres.
John Newton, Jr., of this county, Aug. 26, 1836, 320
aeres on section 23, and 320 acres on section 24; total, 640 acres.
David L. Belden, of Hartford Co., Conn., July 1, 1836, 640 acres on seetion 28, 360 acres on section 29, 560 acres on section 32, and 400 acres on section 33; total, 1960 acres.
Thomas Hosmer, of Oakland Co., Mich., April 2, 1836, 40 acres on section 20, and 160 acres on section 29; total, 200 acres.
Luman Brownson, of Oakland Co., Mich., June 11, 1836, 40 aeres on section 29, and 160 acres on section 30; total, 200 acres.
George A. Shoemaker, of Ontario Co., N. Y., June 14, 1836, 80 acres on seetion 31, and 80 acres on section 32; total, 160 acres.
The other entries are classified by sections :
Section 1 : Origen D. Richardson, of Oakland Co., Mich., Feb. 16, 1836, 9 acres.
Section 5 : Charles B. Hubbell and Joseph Thompson, of Fairfield Co., Conn., May 21, 1836, the entire section, --- GSO aeres.
Section 6 : Abraham IIogan, of Wayne Co., Mich., Sept. 20, 1836, 40 acres; Ephraim W. Knight, of this county, Nov. 10 and 12, 1836, 158 aeres ; Emery Church, of Gen- esce Co., N. Y., Nov. 10, 1836, 80 acres ; Iliram Wright, of this county, Nov. 12, 1836, 91 acres ; Thomas Warren, of Genesee Co., N. Y., 226 acres; Andrew Cook, of this county, July 12, 1843, 40 acres.
Section 7: llenry Dwight, of Ontario Co., N. Y., Feb. 11, 1836, 7 acres ; Ramsey MeHenry, B. B. Kercheval, Mark Healey, and F. O. J. Smith, May 24, 1836, 160 acres.
Section 9: Apollos Smith, of Rutland Co., Vt., June 17, 1836, 160 acres.
Section 10: Albert J. Smith, of this county, Feb. 1, 1836, 110 acres; Morgan L. Schermerhorn, of Cuyahoga Co., O., April 16, 1836, 160 acres; Ogden Clark, of this county, Sept. 30, 1836, 80 acres.
Section 14: James Adams, of Monroe Co., N. Y., July 5, 1836, 80 acres.
Section 15 : Francis L. Tibbetts, of Onondaga Co., N. Y., May 7, 1836, 40 acres ; Asa Davis, of Genesee Co., N. Y., June 28, 1836, 40 acres ; Ira Donelson and Mary Donelson, of Oakland Co., Mich., July 5, 1836, 240 acres.
Section 18: Edwin Rose, of Wayne Co., Mich., March 1,1836, 106 acres.
Section 19: William Dickinson, of Monroe Co., N. Y., June 18, 1836, 160 aeres ; Thomas Reynolds, of Oakland Co., Mich., July 9, 1836, 80 acres; Isaac Voorhees, of same county, July 12, 1836, 40 acres.
Section 20: Orsamus Cooley, of Oakland Co., Mich, April 25, 1836, 40 acres ; David Johnson, of the same county, May 30, 1836, 160 acres.
Section 21 : Hiram Dodge, of Lenawee Co., Mich., May 12, 1836, 80 acres ; Harvey Dodge, of Oakland Co., Mich., same date, 40 acres ; Benjamin Huger, of the United States Army, June 4, 1836, 10 acres ; William Durkee, of Mon- roe Co., N. Y., same date, 160 aeres; William Taylor, of the same county, June 18, 1836, 160 acres.
Section 22: Levi Reynolds, of this county, May 6, 1836,
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HISTORY OF GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
40 aeres ; Thomas Clark, of Lenawee Co., Mich., June 28, 1836, 200 aeres; Jeremiah C. Thomas, of this county, July 2, 1836, 80 aeres.
Seetion 23: E. Cash and II. Wright, of Genesee Co., N. Y., Aug. 26, 1836, 160 acres.
Section 25 : Willard Tucker, of this county, August 26, 1836, 80 aeres; Jeremy Chambers, of the same county, and same date, 80 aeres.
Section 26: Jacob Snapp, of this county, Aug. 26, 1836, 80 acres ; Thomas Cooley, same county and date, 320 aeres ; Thomas J. Gillett, of Allegany Co., N. Y., Sept. 26, 1836, 80 aeres ; James Greer, of this county, same date, 80 acres.
Section 27: Levi Newton, of Genesee Co., N. Y., Aug. 26, 1836, 320 aeres.
Section 29: George B. Durkee, of Monroe Co., N. Y. June 18, 1836, 80 acres.
Section 30: Lyman Curtis, of Wayne Co., Mich., June 20, 1836, 78 acres ; Jacob Teachout, same county and date, 80 acres.
Section 31 : David S. Crandall, of Genesee Co., N. Y., June 14, 1836, 80 aeres; Edwin Taylor, of Monroe Co., N. Y., June 18, 1836, 158 aeres; M. Langley, of Wayne Co., N. Y., June 20, 1836, 80 acres ; Samuel Bassett, of Oakland Co., Mich., June 21, 1836, 155 aeres ; David Brown, of this county, July 5, 1836, 80 acres.
Section 33 : Ifenry Mead, of Oakland Co., Mich., July 11, 1836, 160 aeres ; John Rettan, same county and date, 80 aeres.
Section 34: Nelson G. Parmelee, of Ontario Co., N. Y., July 11, 1836, 160 acres ; Henry and Van Rensselaer Hawkins, of Genesee Co., N. Y., same date, 320 acres.
Section 35 : Charles Wright, of this county, Aug. 24, 1836, 160 acres ; Daniel Le Roy, of Oakland Co., Mich., same date, 160 aeres.
Section 36: James Davis, of Oakland Co., Mich., Aug. 27, 1836, 80 aeres ; Arthur Davis, same county and date, 160 aeres.
From this list we see that the first entry of land in this town was made by William Draper on the 21st of Decem- ber, 1835, and that with a single exception-that of An- drew Cook on section 6-all the land was taken up within thirteen months afterwards,-certainly a very expeditious sale. Among the most extensive purchasers of land was Thomas L. L. Brent, who came here from Virginia with considerable money, and made large purchases of land in different parts of the county. He lived in the western part of the county, and, in explanation of his buying so much land, told his neighbors (for all the settlers were neighbors in those days) that he and his wife had a little money that they did not want to use, and they thought they would put it into land " to keep the lund out of the hands of the d-d speculators !" It is said that after holding some of this land for several years, and meantime paying considerable taxes upon it, he was finally forced to sell it for just what he paid the government for it.
As a matter of course the foregoing list does not embrace any of the land on section 16, which, being school-land, was held for some time, and sold to settlers at a higher rate than the government price.
The first settlement in the town was made in the early
spring of the year 1836. There was at that time a man living at Pontiae whose name was Rial Irish, and who for some reason-probably to secure a larger farm-decided to settle in this then unbroken wilderness. So, getting to- gether his family and household goods, he struck out for his new home, following the Saginaw road north until he reached Stony Run, in the town of Groveland. There he branched off from the main road and followed an old dis- used Indian trail that led north very nearly along the see- tion line one mile east of range 7. Traveling along this trail, cutting his way through the underbrush and traveling slowly because of the many obstructions to be removed, he at last reached his land on sections 19 and 20 of the pres- ent town of Richfield, some time "in March. Ile was ae- companied in his pilgrimage by his wife and three small children and his younger brother Raphael. The road they thus made was some twenty miles long, and formed a route by which many other settlers came into this region. It has always been, and is now, known as " the Irish road."
Mr. Irish came here with the intention of following the occupation of a farmer, and immediately went at work and built a log shanty on section 19, about eighty rods south of the northeast corner of the seetion, and near the bank of a small creek. Upon the completion of this habitation, the work of clearing was begun, and two aeres of spring wheat were sown in a rude manner among the stumps and logs. This was the first wheat sown in the town, and was har- vested by George Oliver, who eradled it, and Pheroras Clark, who raked and bound it.
A short time after his settlement here he found that there was considerable excellent pine in the town, some of it on his land, and he conceived the project of building a saw-mill to convert it into lumber. The work of building this mill was not begun until the spring of 1837. He then began work by digging a race from a point some one hun- dred rods up Belden Brook, from the section corner to the site seleeted for the mill, about fifty rods farther down the stream. At the head of this race a dam was built across the brook. It was made by driving erotehed sticks into the bed of the stream, from each of which a long basswood pole was laid, with one end buried in the bottom of the brook. On these transverse poles were laid, and then the whole structure was covered with brush, leaves, and dirt to form a dam. After the dam and raee were completed, and the frame to the mill had been raised, he decided to leave the town, and sold out to a man by the name of Church, who soon afterwards sold it to David L. Belden for $7000. Mr. Belden had come here as the agent for a colony of Connecti- cut people, and had entered a large amount of land for them. This land he mortgaged to secure the payment of the $7000, which was to be paid in lumber in annual installments, The obligation was held by a man named Darrow, who lived in Pontiae. Mr. Belden employed Church to complete the mill, which was done so that it began operations in the spring of 1839. Owing to his inexperience and the ex- tremely moderate price at which lumber had to be sold, Mr. Belden was unsuccessful, and, being unable to meet his payments, was forced to turn out a traet of land in pay- ment of his matured obligations. This operation was re- peated from time to time until not only the lands owned by
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RICHFIELD TOWNSHIP.
him, but also those owned by the colony, had been swal- lowed up. Ile then gave up and removed to Chautauqua Co., N. Y. Of the colony, ouly one beside Belden ever came here. That one was John Judd, who came at the same time with Belden, and who is now living at Corunna, Shiawassee Co., Mich.
Rial Irish and Church both returned to Pontiac when they sold out here.
Following closely upon the heels of the first settler came George Oliver, with his wife, three sons, and oue daughter. Ile had been a resident of this State for several years, and was the first white man married in Flint. Ilis wife's name was Keziah Tobey. Before coming to Richfield he was a resident of the town of Genesce, where he owned an in- terest in the saw-mill near the mouth of Kearsley Creek, known as the Harger or Pearson mill. Hle built a small house on section 21, about one hundred rods south of the centre of the town. It was a small log house roofed with elm-bark. Ile, that spring, cleared a small piece of ground and planted a few potatoes. During the seven or eight years of his residence here, his principal occupations were shingle-making and acting as guide to new-comers who were looking for land. He also cleared some land and farmed it to a limited extent. While living on this place a daughter was born to them, which was the first birth of a white child in the town. Mr. Oliver removed to East Saginaw in 1843-44, where he had purchased some land within the present city limits, and where he engaged in working the highways under contraet, and in fitting his land for cultiva- tion. Ile became quite wealthy, through the rise in value of his Saginaw property, and returned to this county, set- thing at Clio, where he died some four or five years ago.
Mr. Oliver was accompanied to this town by a man named Samuel Johnson, who worked for him a while and then went off to some other locality. Ile came with Oliver more for company's sake than with an idea of settling in Rich- field. Ilis possessions consisted of a horse and wagon,- both rather dilapidated and showing the effects of age and hard usage,-a boy, a pig. and a tame bear. For convenience in transportation the pig was put into the wagon, the bear (which was not full grown ) was carried in his arms, and the boy trudged along on foot. The journey was not totally devoid of incident, for the road was rough and the wagon was jolted and bounced about, much to the discomfort of its porcine occupant, who vented his displeasure in diseon- solate grunts and heart-rending squeals. The bear, too, rest- less because of the tiresome journey, gave tokens of his displeasure by various uneasy movements and struggles to free himself from the enfolding arms of his master. At last the wagon, in passing over a larger log than usual, re- ecived such a shock that the board on which the pig's weight rested was broken, and the pig fell to the ground in such a manner as to break his neck. And then, while Johnson was engaged in the twofold task of holding the bear and try- ing to assist the pig, Bruin took it into his head to test the sharpness of his teeth, and sank them into the flesh of his owner, who was thereby so greatly exasperated that he seized the offender by the legs and attempted to repeat pig- gie's fate by striking the bear against a tree. In the strug- gle that ensued the bear made his escape, and Johnson and
the boy were left to pursue their journey with the careass of the defunct pig.
Thomas Clark was the third settler. He was a native of Rutland Co., Vt., and removed from that place with his parents to Saratoga Co., N. Y., where he subsequently mar- ried Miss Rebecca Wing, and with her removed to the town of Butternuts, in Otsego County, in that State. IIe after- wards removed to the town of Lorraine, in Jefferson County, and four years later to the town of Lyme, in the same county, where he lived fourteen years, the first seven of them on Grenadier Island. From the town of Lyme he came to Michigan in the spring of 1836, starting for his new location in the then far West on the 4th day of May. The company, consisting of Mr. Clark, his wife, Rebecca, two sous, and two daughters, embarked on a schooner, and, sailing the length of Lake Ontario, disembarked at the mouth of Ni- agara River, and continued the journey with their own con- voyance, traveling by way of Buffalo, Cleveland, Toledo, Adrian, and Clinton to a small settlement near the latter place, known by the euphonious appellation of Slab City. Ilere the family remained until the month of August. In the mean time Mr. Clark went to Detroit to get from the land-office the plat of a township in the southern part of the State, where he was intending. to settle. That depart- went of the office was closed at the time of his arrival, and he had to wait until the next day before he could obtain the desired plat. While he was waiting he met a man named Asa Davis (of whom we shall speak hereafter), who had come there to locate some land. Entering into conver- sation with him, he questioned him about the land in this part of the State, and was well pleased with the description given of it. Davis offered for $7 to give him the descrip- tion of two hundred acres of what he considered as good land as there was in the township. The offer was accepted, the description given, and, trusting to the honesty as well as the judgment of his new acquaintance, Mr. Clark entered the west half of the northeast quarter, the east half of the northwest quarter, and the southwest quarter of the north- west quarter of section 22, and decided to make Genesce County his future home. In August he brought his family, and they, the third family in the town, became the first per- manent residents. Their house was construeted of logs. Two apartments were built eighteen feet square, with a space of about eight feet between them. Basswood poles of the proper length were split, hollowed into troughs, and made into a roof that covered both apartments and converted the space between into a sort of hall. A puncheon floor, also made of basswood, was laid down, and the family began living in their new domicile, having the satisfaction of know- ing that they were living in the best house in town. The work of moving was performed with a team of horses, and several trips had to be made to get the goods, nearly all of which had been shipped by way of the lakes from Sackett's llarbor to Detroit, and had to be brought here by team from the latter place. The work of moving necessarily occupied considerable time. On the last trip the horses were traded for a yoke of oxen. During the time which had thus elapsed between the arrival of the family and the setting in of winter the two oldest sons, Pheroras and Sulli- van, had cleared about one and a half acres of ground, and
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HISTORY OF GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
sowed it to wheat. This was the first winter wheat sown in Richfield. Pheroras had brought some apple-seeds with him from the East, and these he sowed that fall and from them raised a few apple-trees, which he set out as soon as they had attained a suitable size. This was certainly the first orchard set out in Richfield, and, with the possible ex- eeption of a few trees brought in by Rial Irish, were the first apple-trees brought into town. Some of these trees may still be seen on Mr. Clark's farm, where they are still furnishing their supply of fruit in its season.
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