USA > Michigan > Genesee County > History of Genesee county, Michigan. With illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 72
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work-oxen, 1874.
milch-eows, 1874.
676
neat cattle, one year old and uver, other than oxen and cows, 1874.
50]
2,482
sheep sheared in 1873.
2,008 1
Number of flouring-mills in township
Number of persons employed in same.
Amount of capital invested ...
Number of barrels of flour made ..
Value of products
$35,000
Number of saw-mills.
Number of persons employed ...
Capital invested.
$6,500
Feet of lumber sawed.
615.000141
Value of lumber
$6,150
46 all other grain raised in 1873 36,503 potatoes raised in 1873. 11,683 2.088 8.852 80,668 83,270 191 6,339 420 18.713
17 bush. melons and garden vegetables, 1872 44 1873
Value of all fruit and garden vegetables, 1872 ..
1873.
3
$6 swine over six months old, 1874.
sheep over six months old, 1874.
1 $7.000 5,000
$6 land exempt from taxation 11.25 $1.255 3.25 church and parsonage sites 3 burying-grounds. 5 1,558
-
-
FARM & RESIDENCE OF A.F. SUTTON, FLUSHING, MICHIGAN.
273
FLUSHING TOWNSHIP.
Number of planing-mills .
1
Perous employed
5
Capital investe l
$3.400
Value of products.
$1.400
Number of agricultural implement shops and foun- drie. ..
1
Persons employe.l
Capital invested.
$1.300
Value of products
$1,000
VILLAGE OF FLUSHING
Horace Jerome, from St. Clair, Mich., purchased the water-power at what is now Flushing village, in 1836. Iu the previous fall (1835) Charles Seymour, of Litchfield Co .. Coun., had been to the State and purchased lands up the Flint River. Hle afterwards employed Jerome to look up. pine-lands for him, and finally entered into partnership with him. The original bargain between them was that Jerome should build a saw-mill and Seymour should furnish the logs to ent. In the winter of 1836-37 a large amount of timber was prepared with which to construet the mill and dam, and the frame of the mill was put up in the summer of 1837, on the east side of the river, at the village. The circular had been issued by President Jackson author- izing land-agents to receive nothing but specie for govern- ment lands, owing to the extensive circulation of " wild- cat" money, and Mr. Seymour returned to the East in the winter of 1837-38, bringing with him when he came back a quantity of good money .* He bought 42 lots of pine- land (all on shares), and had altogether over 18,000 acres. On this land he thinks grew the best pine the region afforded, and he was so fortunate as to have first choice.
The original plan had been to have a saw-mill and grist-mill combined,-two saws and a run of stone. The saw-mill part was completed, but the other project was abandoned. The saw-mill irons were made at Brockport. N. Y., where Mr. Seymour had lived a few years before coming to Michigan. In the winter of 1538 a portion of the dam was washed away. One saw was then in operation. Jerome soon after left, and Seymour repaired the mill and carried it on until 1843, when he sold the property to his brother. James Seymour. Charles Seymour did not move to the county to make it his permanent home until Febru- ary, 1843. On the first Monday in April of that year, election day, the snow lay on the ground to the depth of three feet. This was at the close of the memorable " hard winter." Charles Seymour afterwards built a mill with a single saw on the west side of the river. In the year 1840, after the completion of the first saw-mill. he. in company with Benjamin Bowers, built the first grist-mill in the place. It stood on the site of the present " Flushing Mills," contained two runs of stone, and was finally de- stroyed by fire.
When James Seymour purchased the property at Flush- ing he lived at Brockport, N. Y., and it was not until some time later that he moved out. Hle subsequently re- moved to Lansing. where he died. He was one of the ablest men of his time in the State.
Ilorace Jerome, who had been Charles Seymour's partner, conceived the idea of establishing a " wild-cat bank" at Flushing, and in company with Rufus Brown and Delos
Davis, of Detroit. started the institution in the fall of 1838. Each man gave his note for $30,000; a building was erected and preparations made for carrying on the business according to the fashion of the day. Whatever business was done was transacted at Flint. The concern soon broke down, Jerome lost repute and left the country, and the notes of the three men were sold at anetion for $5 each ! The builling erected for a bank is now used as a barn. Jerome died within recent years somewhere in the Saginaw Bay region. The bank was known as the " Flint Rapids Bank." The failure of this institution resulted in considerable loss to its stockholders and others.
A village plat, bearing the name of Finshing, after the township in which it was located, was laid out Dec. 3, 1840, on sections 26 and 27,-both sides of the river,-by Charles Seymour. Sufficient allowance was not made in the survey for variation from the true meridian, and in 1847, after the property had passed into the hands of James Seymour, the second plat of the village was laid by him, surveyed by Eber G. Langdon. This was not properly recorded, and it was not until July, 1855, that a full de- seription was placed on record. James Seymour laid out an addition Feb. 22. 1850. and block 31 was subdivided by Charles Seymour June 1, 1857.
The mills finally became the property of Judge Ogden Clarke, who settled at the village in 1846. He had located as early, probably. as 1-34 on Kearsley Creek, above Flint, in Genesee township, where he owned a farm, and was also the proprietor of a store and a mill. The original mill was burned in 1864, and Messrs. Hart and Clarke-the owners of the present structure-built another one, which burned in 1872. The present uew mill contains five runs of stone, and manufactures in prosperous times about 8000 barrels of flour annually. The same firin owns a mill a few rods below, which is not now in operation. It was built for a sash, blind, and door factory, by Benjamin F. Warner and William F. Cull. and afterwards converted into a grist-mill, being finally purchased by the present owners. Oscar F. Clarke, one of the firm, came here with his uncle. Ogden Clarke, in 1846; he was born in 1837, in Genesee town- ship. Orrin Hart, the other member of the firm. settled in Genesee township in 1836.
Probably the first person who sold goods in the village was Eber G. Langdon, although he had no regular store. One of the lendersons, from Flint, afterwards brought in a stock of goods and sold them out, and Ogden Clarke established the first permanent store in the place upon his arrival in 1846. lle owned also an ashery. Messrs. Rogers and Payson established the next store of any account.
Daniel Cotcher is at present the oldest merchant in the village; that is, he has been in business here longer than any other now in the place. He came here in 1855.
Daniel O'Sullivan lived early on the site of what is now the " Half-way House," on the river road, between Flint and Flushing, and worked at the latter place on the carly mills. He is now engaged in the mercantile business at Flint.
Robert Parsell, from the town of Newstead. Eric Co., N. Y., came with his wife and one child to Flushing town-
ยท Mr. S., now of Flint, says he never ownet a " wild-cat" bill in hi- life.
35
274
HISTORY OF GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
ship in September, 1837. For one season he cleared land for Thomas L. L. Brent, and in the spring of 1838 moved upon a farm of his own on section 36,-that now owned by C. L. Fuller. Upon it he resided until Jannary, 1865, when he purchased and moved into the hotel in the village known as the "Fishing Exchange," of which he is still the proprietor. This hotel was built by Eber G. Langdon as carly perhaps as 1840; it was the first and long the only one in the village. Langdon kept it for a considerable period, and became one of the prominent men of the village and township. Mr. Parsell purchased the building of Asahel Fuller (since deceased), who had kept it six years. Langdon removed to Bay City, where he died. The house was kept by numerous other parties before it passed into the hands of Fuller.
The " Lyons House," originally a store, was converted into a hotel by D. B. Lyon, now a prominent merchant of Flint. It stood on the opposite (north) side of the street from the " Exchange," and was finally torn away by Mr. Lyon, who has the present season-1879-erected a sub- stantial brick hotel on the same site.
A building which stood on the ground now occupied by the " Laurel House" was converted into a hotel, and, in 1878, was destroyed by fire. The " Laurel House" is a three-story brick building, with French roof, since erected by Mrs. Passmore, its present proprietress.
Mr. Parsell keeps a livery in connection with his hotel, and is also proprietor of a blacksmith-shop. The first insti- tution of the latter kind in the place is said to have been opened in 1842, by Isaac Lyons, Esq., of Clayton. His was but a temporary shop, and in the same year Messrs. Sharp and Van Wormer established the first permanent one.
Mr. Parsell's father, Robert Parsell, Sr., settled in the township of Clayton several years after his son had located in Finshing,-probably about 1842,-and died in the first- mentioned township. His son, Harry Parsell, settled in Flint in 1840, and another son, Iliram, came in 1848. These two are both residents of Flint.
Walter and Porter Cronk, brothers-in-law to Robert Parsell, came with the latter to Flushing in 1837. Mr. Par- sell's oldest son, Eugene, recently sheriff of Genesee County, was a year old when his father's family came. A danghter, Olive Parsell, now the wife of Robert McGlinchy, of Clayton, was born in Flushing township, Feb. 21, 1839, and is there- fore one of the oldest white natives thereof. Mr. Parsell is the father of 14 children, 11 by his first wife, who died in 1868, and 3 by his second. He was first married in 1835.
James Ingham, from Onondaga Co., N. Y. (a native of Sharon, Sehoharie Co.), visited Flushing in the summer of 1838, looking for land. His wife's half-brother, Calvin Clark, also related to the Penoyers, purchased for Mr. Ing- ham 50 aeres off from an 80 owned by James Penoyer. Mr. Clark lived in Medina Co., Ohio, and he and Mr. Ing- ham came from there together. The population of Flush- ing at that time was very meagre. Mr. Ingham visited the locality once afterwards, on his way back from lowa, where his parents were living. In 1845 he removed with his family to this place, having but seventy-five cents left on his arrival. He had given the landlord of a Grand
Blane hotel, where he stopped on the way, a due-bill for $2.50, and this he paid several years afterwards. He never moved upon the place which had been bought from Pen- oyer, but lived farther up the river until 1849, when he purchased and moved upon the one he now owns in the village. When he came he had nine children, and the entire family experienced the hardships of a pioneer life. Mr. Ingham worked on a farm and in the pineries for $10 a month, and the family lived on " bagas" and " johnny- cake." Mr. Ingham was one of the first abolitionists in the place, and always fearlessly advocated his principles.
The first post-office in the neighborhood of Flushing was kept by Ezekiel R. Ewing, two miles up the river from the village, in what is now Mount Morris township, as early as 1839-40. The first one at the village was kept at the store of Messrs. Green & Langdon, with Loren Green as first post- master. The mail was brought from Flint, and was at one time carried by Samuel Paine. A stage at present plies between Flushing and Flint, carrying the mail. The pres- ent incumbent of the office at Flushing is Mrs. Mary Hills, who, upon the death of her husband, was appointed to suc- eeed him.
The village was incorporated March 21, 1877, by the following " Aet to Incorporate the Village of Finshing:"
"Sec. 1. The People of the State of Michigan enact, That the fol- lowing lands and territory in the township of Flushing, county of Genesee, and described as follows, to wit : The southeast quarter of sec- tion 27, and all that part of the southwest quarter of section 26 as lies northerly of Flint River, and all the land on said section 26 lying between Flint River and Chamberlain Street, as said street is laid out, and extending easterly to Flint River, the same being in township S north, of range 5 cast, be and the same is hereby constituted a village corporate, by the name of the village of Flushing.
"Sec. 2. The first election of officers of said village shall be held on the second Tuesday in May, in the year of oor Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven, at Flushing Hall, in the said village.
"Sec. 3. A. N. Niles and William Hosie are hereby constituted a. board of registration, for the purpose of registering votes for the first election to be held in said village ; and said board of registration are hereby required to meet on tho Saturday preceding the second Tues- day of May, eighteen hundred and seventy-seven aforesaid, and reg- ister all persons presenting themselves for registration, and having the qualifications of voters at annual township-meetings.
"Sec. 4. Notice of said first election of officers of said village shall be posted in three of the most public places in said village, at least ten days before the time of said election, which notice may be signed by any five freeholders in said village.
" See. 5. The bridge or bridges now built, or that may ercafter be huilt, across Flint River, within the territory described in section one of this act, shall be built and maintained, as heretofore, by the town- ship of Flushing at large.
" Sec. 6. The said village of Flushing shall in all things not berein otherwise provided be governed by, and its powers and duties defined by, an act entitled ' an act granting and defining the powers and duties of incorporated villages,' approved April first, eighteen hundred and seventy-five.
"Sec. 7. In ease the said officers are not elected at the time desig- nated in section two of this act, an election for officers inny he had at any time within one year from the time designated in said section two of this act, on notice being given as provided in section four of this act.
" Sec. S. This act shall take immediate effect."
The first village election was held May 8, 1877, when 82 votes were polled. The following officers were chosen, viz. : President, Oscar F. Clarke; Trustees (1 year), William J. Ottaway, Daniel Cotcher, Corydon Crouk ; (2 years),
FREDERICK GRAHAM.
JAMES W. GRAHAM.
MRS. JAMES W. GRAHAM.
HATTIE GRAHAM .
RESIDENCE OF JAMES W. GRAHAM, FLUSHING, MICH .
275
FLUSHING TOWNSHIP.
Henry French, Jacob Kimmell, Hiram P. Ransom ; Village Clerk, William Hosie; Treasurer, Hiram A. Packard ; Street Commissioner, Samuel E. Ottaway ; Assessor, Aza- riah S. Partridge ; Constable, Joseph Topham. Samuel E. Ottaway was subsequently chosen marshal.
1878 .- President, Arthur C. Andrus; Trustees (2 years ), James W. Brown, George W. Button, Mortimer N. Park ; Clerk, William Hosie; Assessor, Carlos Packard ; Treas- urer, Nelson Talbot ; Street Commissioner, S. E. Ottaway ; Constable, George W. Parmelec.
1879 .- President, Arthur C. Andrus; Trustees (2 years), Nelson Talbot, Jacob Kimmel, Elisha B. Coddington ; Clerk, Wesson G. Sprague ; Treasurer, Hiram A. Packard; As- sessor, M. M. Bliss ; Street Commissioner, S. E. Ottaway ; Constable. George Ball.
The " Wolverine Fire Company" was organized about the year 1874, with about 35 members. Arza N. Niles was chosen first chief engineer. A subscription was raised, and a small hand-engine, bell, buckets, etc., were purchased. These were turned over to the village after its incorpora- tion. The engine was made by Capt. Haas, of Flint, and is of his own model and patent. It is an excellent one for a small engine, and in 1878 was the means of saving the business portion of the village from entire destruction by fire. A saloon and hotel were at that time burned on the corner where the " Laurel House" now stands.
NEWSPAPERS.
The Flushing Patrol, a seven-column folio sheet, was established October 18, 1878, by D. C. Ashmun, the pres- ent editor and proprietor. A small job-office is operated in eonueetion. The subscription list of the paper numbers 700 or 800. A small amateur paper had been previously printed for a time by a young man named Burton Smith, a nephew of O. S. Pond.
BRIDGES.
The present wooden bridge across the river at the village is about 200 feet in length, and was built in the neighbor- hood of 1872. Its predecessor, also a wooden structure, stood some sixteen years, and the first one-wood-about the same length of time, having been built about 1839-40.
MANUFACTORIES.
A woolen-factory, carding-machine, ete., was operated here at one time. - It was finally discontinued in that ca- pacity and moved up and made part of a flouring-mill, which stood below the present one, and was afterwards burned. The saw-mill now standing on the west side of the river was originally built by Messrs. Cull & Warner (the same who owned the present lower grist-mill) for a sash-factory. The furnace now owned by Mr. Somers, near the west end of the bridge, was originally built for an ashery by Mr. Henderson, of Flint, and converted into a furnace by Ogden Clarke. Green & Langdon used it for a time as an ashery. A shingle-factory on the north side of the street, west of the bridge, belongs to Mr. Willett, and a saw-mill and rake-factory near it is owned by Mrs. Henry French, and managed by Smith & Martin. An old steam saw-mill stands on the flat above the grist-mill, but is not now in use.
In June, 1879, the village contained ten or twelve stores of various kinds, and the usual number of mechanic-shops found in a place of its size.
SOCIETIES.
The seeret orders are Flushing Lodge, No. 223, F. and A. M .; Rankin Lodge, No. 139, I. O. O. F .; Valley Lodge, No. 693, Knights of Honor; The Royal Templars' Lodge, a temperance organization ; Flushing Grange, No. 387, Patrons of Husbandry.
TIIE FLUSHING CORNET BAND
is a fine organization, numbering sixteen members. It is under the leadership of U. L. Smith. A neat uniform of gray is worn on parade. As early as about 1849 a band was formed in the village, having nine members, and at first without drums. After a year or two a teacher was hired aud music procured. Upon the breaking out of the Rebellion in 1861 some of the members of the band entered the army, and the organization was nearly broken up, but after the war it started again in better shape. The first leader was William Reed, who is playing again with the present band. He is the oldest player among the number. Henry French joined soon after the original band was formed, and, with the exception of a couple of years, has belonged to it until the present. This baud is much better than the average of those found in places of equal size.
FLUSHING PUBLIC SCIIOOL.
District No. 2, including the village, was organized as a union district previous to 1866. The present fine two- story brick school-house was built in 1871, at a cost of $5000. The present trustees of this district are A. S. Partridge, Director ; M. N. Park, Daniel Cotcher, J. Paton, Jr., O. F. Clarke, J. B. Gallup. The teachers are: Prin- cipal, James Spencer; Assistant, Hattie Chipman ; Inter- mediate Department, Hattie L. Collar; Primary Department, Prudie E. Andrews.
CHURCHES.
Methodist Episcopal Church .- The Methodists have the honor of having organized the first religious society in the village, as a class was formed previous to 1840. But two of those who were members at that time are now living; of these, one is Mrs. David Penoyer, of the village. Meet- ings were held for some time in the old school-house, and afterwards in a building which stood on the south side of the main street, east of the bridge. In 1845 the society began getting material together for the purpose of building a church, but, through some misfortune, it was not com- pleted for two or three years. It is a frame edifice, stand- ing in the eastern part of the village. A portion of the original spire has been taken down. This church has been prosperous from the beginning. Among the early preachers were Revs. Bigelow, Barnes, Seth Reed, T. J. Joslin, Syl- vester Calkins, and others. Eller William JJ. Kent became a member of the church when he first came to the town- ship, in 1843, and is still connected with it. Ile was one of the most steadfast supporters of the early church, as were also Columbus Chilson, William Lockyer, and Ogden Clarke. The first circuit embraced a large number of ap-
276
HISTORY OF GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
pointments, and the work of the pastor was by no means light.
First Baptist Church .- The Baptists organized the see- ond society in the village, and at first had services as a branch of the Flint Church, but in time became an inde- pendent organization. The members of the Deland family were early influential members, and Elder Deland, father of Charles F. Deland, was for a long time the pastor. The present frame building occupied by the society stands in the western part of the village, and was erected for a union church by the Baptists and others. It subsequently be- came the property of the Baptist society alone. Among the more recent pastors have been Rev. P. Reynolds, in 1868; succeeded in 1870 by Rev. A. Tilden, and he by Rev. Edward Selleck. The church was then supplied for a time, but had no settled pastor until Rev. Edward Blan- chard came, in August, 1876. The latter is still in charge. The membership of this church is about 150. A Sabbath- school is sustained, with a good attendance, and has for its superintendent Eugene Herriman.
The Presbyterians organized the third society and also built a frame church, the Seymours being among the most influential members. The organization has become greatly depleted in numbers, has no pastor and does not hold meet- ings, and practically does not at present exist.
FLUSHING CEMETERY.
A cemetery association was incorporated in 1847, land purehased from Barney Chamberlain, and the "Central Burying-Ground" laid out upon it. Adjoining land was subsequently purchased and added by the township, to which it still belongs, while the cemetery corporation owns the original purchase. The first meeting of the association was held March 6, 1847. The original members were eighteen in number, viz .: William Contant, Seth S. C. Caldwell, Asahel A. Martin, Columbus C. Chillson, E. R. Ewing, William L. Delbridge, Richard Bowman, John Paton, Thomas J. Packard, H. S. Penoyer, Joseph Dunbar, R. IF. Green, James E. Brown, E. B. Smith, Ebenezer French, William J. Kent, Alexander Barber, A. M. Wood- ruff. . The present officers are : President, Elenry French, since May, 1872; Secretary, Samuel J. Paine; Treasurer, Ebenezer French ; Sexton, John Caldwell.
Among the societies of Flushing village is the " Flush- ing Ladies' Library Association," which was organized at the house of Mrs. James A. Button, July 30, 1873, when Mrs. George Button was chosen President and Mrs. E. G. Bryant, Secretary. Fifty-two persons beeame members at. the organization, and a fund of $67.60 was the amount in the treasury. Mrs. T. V. Rogers was chosen as first per- manent president. The first order for books, 41 volumes, amounted to $63. The number of volumes in 1876 was 480, and the membership was 102.
Sincere thanks are tendered to those who have aided in the compilation of the foregoing sketch of this township and village. Among the number who have kindly rendered valuable services are Henry Freneh, Mr. and Mrs. John Paton, Sr., James Ingham, Robert Parsell, Messrs. Ilart & Clarke, Daniel Cotcher, and numerous others in the village ;
Elder William J. Kent, William D. Penoyer, James Wood, Mrs. Samuel Wood, and others in the township; and vari- ous manufacturers, members of churches, the town and vil- lage clerks, beside many whose names are not recollected.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
HENRY FRENCHE.
Henry French was born in Woodstock, Windsor Co., Vt., in the year 1813. His father, Apollos French, came from Taunton, Conn., at an early date, and settled in the place where our subject was born, where he married Miss Abigail Carpenter. The fruit of this union was as follows : Robert, Rhoda, Betsy E., Ira, Ebenezer, Henry, George,
Photo, by J. P. Rhodes.
HENRY FRENCII.
and Joseph,-all living except George and Rhoda. Mr. Apollos French died at his son's residence in Finshing, and was buried in Flint. Mrs. French died in Vermont, and was buried there, previous to her husband's coming to Michigan.
At the age of fifteen, Henry French was bound to Tracy Bingham, in Woodstock, Vt., and lived with him until he attained the age of twenty-one. He subsequently worked for Mathew Cushing and Seth Brewster, and until he started for what was then considered the " Far West," the State of Michigan, with his brother Fra. They traveled by wagon and canal to Albany, rail to Schenectady, thenee by canal to Buffalo, and by steamer to Detroit. Remain- ing in Detroit but a single night, he started out (in com- pany with his brother and two young men) on a prospeeting tour in the new country, arriving at the village of Flint (consisting at that time of a few frame houses) about the 18th of October, 1835. HIe located on section 36, town- ship 8, since called Flint and Flushing, taking up one hun- dred and nine and a half aeres of land. Constructing a log house, he commenced his labors, fully prepared for the hardships and privations which all early settlers had to un- dergo.
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