History of Genesee county, Michigan. With illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 74

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Everts & Abbott, Philadelphia, pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Abbott
Number of Pages: 683


USA > Michigan > Genesee County > History of Genesee county, Michigan. With illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 74


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Stephen Sherwood, Livingston Co., N. Y., June, 1836.


SECTION 27.


Morgan Baldwin, Tioga Co., N. Y., March, 1834. 160 James Houghton, "


Wa be-he-nease, Shiawassee Co., Mich., January, 1835.


Lois d. H. Conant, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, February, 1535. 80


Chester Reynolds, Genesee Co .. N. Y., Jone, 1835. 80 Cyrenius Simmons, Oakland Co., Mich., August, 1835 160 Wa be-be-nes-se, Shiawassee Co., Mich., December, 1835 411


SECTION 28.


Hornee Wetmore, Oakland Co., Mich., August, 1835 .. 80 Calvin Nelson, Ir., Ontario Co., N. Y., September, 1835 10 Josinh Alger, Oakland Co., Mich., April, 1836 Hester Valentine, Oaklan ! Co., Mich., April. 1536


Cornelius Valentine, " ..


May, 1836.


Stephen S. Durkee, 40 March, 1836 80 William Evans. .. July,


36


Robert Covel, Jr., Tioga Co., N. Y., July, 1836


Ritel W. Scovel, Oneida Co., N. Y., October. 1836. 40 John F. Durkee, Oakland Co., Mich., March, 1837 10


SECTION 29.


George W. Paul, Ontario Co., N. Y., September, 1835 160 Asa T. Pierce, =


October, SO


Abijah B. Dunlap, Seneca Co., N. Y., April, 1836 SO Josiah H. Alger, Oakland Co., Mich., April, 1836.


Newbold Lawrence, New York City, May, 1536 SO


Nelson Il. Sanders, Niagora Co., N. Y., May, 1836. 160


SECTION 20.


Sally Pierce, Ontario Co., N. Y., October, 1835 40 Charles Smith, Genesee Co., N. Y., April, 1836 .. 212.80 Josiah 11. Alger. Oakland Co., Mich., April, 1836. 210


William Evans, = ..


10


Spragoe Wilkerson, Genesee Co., Mich., October, 1836. S2


SECTION 31.


Oliver Phelps, Ontario Co., N. Y., September, 1835. 480.80 Betsey Evans, Oakland Co., Mich., April, 1836. 82.10 David Shunk, Cayuga Co., N. Y., June, 1836


SECTION 32.


George W. Paul, Ontario Co., N. Y., September, 1835 160


Maxwell Bray,


October, 160


Asa Pierer,


Newbold Lawrence, New York City, May, 1836


John B. Shunk, Cayuga Co., N. Y., June, 1836 160


SECTION 33.


William Baldwin, Tioga Co., N. Y., June, 1834 160


Saannel Bassett, Oakland Co., Mich., July, 1835 .. IGO


Calvin Nelson, Jr., Ontario Co., N. Y., September, 1835. So Thomas B. Remington, Ontario Co., N. Y., October, 1835 80 Nathan W. Sheldon, Genesee Co., N Y., October, 1835 ..


Samoel Bassett, Oakland Co., Mich., June, 1836 80


SEITION 31.


Thomas Clover, Wayne Co., Mich., November, 1834 40 David Gibson, .4 40 =


William Odell. Oakland Co., Mich., December, 1831. 160 Peter Y. Heury, Seneca Co., N. Y .. June, 1835 .. 120 Noah L. Whitmore, Oakland Co., Mich., November, 1835. 40


David Gibson, Genesce Co., Mich., December, 1835.


Hiram Marsh, Ontario Co., N. Y., May, 1836 ..


Reuben Bingham, Upper Canada, August, 1836.


Noah L. Whitmore, Oakland Co., Mich., June, 1536. 40


.4


=


March, 1836.


10


SECTION 35.


George Judson, Oakland Co., Mich., March, 1834. SO


William Stewart, Wayne Co., N. Y., September, 1835 10


Reuben Wright, Wayne Co., Mich., 10


Abigail Dunning, Cayuga Co., N. Y., October, 1835


George Judson, Genesee Co., Mich., 44


10


Moses Odell, April. 1836 10


Thomas Hubbard, Ontario Co., N. Y., April, 1836.


Asa Sprague, Wayne Co., N. Y., May, 1836. 120 Newbald Lawrence, New York City, May, 1836 .. 120


SECTION 36.


David Hume, Monroe Co., N. Y .. June, 1835. 80 Eber Handy. Shiawassee Co., Mich., August, 1835 160 Newbold Lawrence, New York City, May, 1836 320


David Shunk, Cayuga Co., N. Y., June, 1836. 80


EARLY SETTLEMENTS.


Regarding the first early settler in what is now the town- ship of Mundy there is some dispute, but the dates which will here be given must settle the matter conclusively, as they are all authentic. It has been generally accepted as a fact that Morgan Baldwin and George Judson were the first to settle in this town, and even those gentlemen them- selves still believe such to be the case. It is undoubtedly true that. in the then existing condition of the country, covered as it was with timber, it must have been difficult to learn at once who the inhabitants of the neighborhood were, and this probably accounts for the mistaken opinion regarding the first settlement.


Stephen F. Durkco,


Acres.


A. E. Mather, Wayne Co.,


282


HISTORY OF GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.


On the 17th day of May, 1833, Daniel Williams pur- chased the west half of the northwest quarter of section 13,-eighty aeres,-which he divided equally between Eli Gilbert and Jason L. Austin, who had come with him, and who settled on the portions assigned to them at the same time. Mr. Williams returned to the State of New York, and in October of the same year (1833) came back to Mundy in company with Volney Stiles. The latter, in November following,* entered the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section 11, and settled upon it imme- diately. Mr. Stiles is yet living at Mundy Centre, and beyond a doubt came into the township earlier than any person now numbered among its residents. He and Lester Williams built a shanty and lived in it together,} neither of them being at the time married.


Morgan Baldwin, a native of Elmira, Chemung Co., N. Y., started from that place for Michigan on the 6th of Septem- ber, 1833, and on the 10th arrived at Put-in-Bay, where the passengers cheered themselves hoarse in honor of the gallant commodore and the men who had aided him to win so signal a victory just twenty years before. After his arrival at Detroit, Mr. Baldwin pushed on immediately for Bloomfield, Oakland Co., where his uncle, Wilkes Durkee, was then living. In December following he went back to Elmira, sold his property, and returned to Bloomfield, ar- riving in that town early in February. During the same month (St. Valentine's Day) he married a second time, his first wife having died some time previously. In the spring of 1834, Mr. Baldwin and George Judson started together on a land-hunting expedition, and, after ranging over the counties of Livingston and Shiawassee, finally selected loca- tions in what is now Mundy, the entries being made in March, 1834. Mr. Baldwin still lives on the place he then purchased. Mr. Judson first chose the next lot west of Baldwin's, but soon changed it for the place he uow occu- pies.


Mr. Baldwin the same month built a log house 16 by 24 feet in dimensions, with a puncheon-floor, blankets hung up to answer for doors, ete. In this work he was helped by George Judson, and by Stephen Durkee, of Oakland County, a carpenter by trade. Some Indian traders who lived fifteen miles away, in Shiawassee County, and who were passing over the trail near which Mr. Baldwin located, also helped raise, and the favor was returned two or three years later by the two gentlemen going to some place in Shiawassee County and helping raise a barn. Mr. Baldwin moved into his house April 5, 1834, the same day Dustin Cheney settled at what is now Fenton, and was one of the party who a few days later aided in the search for Mr. Cheney's little girl, who had been lost in the woods.]


Four years after Mr. Baldwin settled his wife died, and he is now living with his third wife. When he came bere with his family he eleared five aeres. One day an Indian trader from the West came by, and Baldwin told him if he knew of any one who wanted to hire out to send him along. Soon afterward Nelson Meaker made his appearance at the place, and Mr. B. hired him. He squatted on a piece of


# Record of entry, November, 1833, in tract-book for Genesee County.


t Information by T. P. Stiles. # See history of Fenton.


land near by, afterwards selling his " chance" for it to David Gibson. Meaker lived in the township many years, and is now a resident of the township of Argentine.


George Judson, who had helped Mr. Baldwin build his house, went back to Oakland County to make preparations for coming on to his own land and clearing up a portion of it. When Baldwin went after his family he met Judson on his way to begin chopping. The latter eleared a tract on his place and put in some wheat and potatoes, in order to have something to live on. He did not move upon his farm, however, until November, 1834. He had also built during the same summer. Mr. Judson is a native of Ot- sego Co., N. Y., and his parents were from Connecticut. He lived in Elmira, Chemung Co., N. Y., until 1832, in which year he came to Michigan, locating in Bloomfield, Oakland Co., where he remained until his removal to Mundy at the date above given.


Thomas Glover, from Birmingham, England, and a Seotehman named David Gibson, entered land in Novem- ber, 1834, on section 34, aud settled upon it the same fall. The two men arranged for their wives to remain in Detroit until they could come on and prepare a shelter for them, but Mrs. Glover thought herself as well able to stand the jour- ney as her husband, and accompanied him, living with Mr. Baldwin's family until her future home-the proverbial log shanty-was ready for occupation. Mrs. Gibson stayed in Detroit until everything was ready for her, and then moved on and occupied the shanty her husband had prepared.


Seth Kitchen and family settled in the fall of 1835. Several members of the household were consumptive, and all who were afflicted finally died with that dread disease. The first one to go-and the first death in the township, so far as is now recollected-was Mrs. Kitchen herself, who died in the spring of 1836. Her children-Thomas, Wil- liam, and Mary-followed her within the year, also the wife of her son John. The first burials were in what is still used as a cemetery near the school-house in District No. 1. Among those buried here are the following :


Daniel Odell, died April 9, 1872, aged 69 years.


Reuben Winget, died May 27, 1859, aged 53 years.


Thomas Glover, died Feb. 14, 1855, aged 50 years. Robert Cox, died July 16, 1868, aged 52 years.


John Hollowell, "born at Ravensthorp, Northamptonshire, Eng- land, October 16, 1794; died September 11. 1859."


John Judson, lied March 24, 1865, aged 70 years. Eber Ilandy, died Oet. 15, 1846, aged 52 years. Ebenezer Conant, died Dec. 31, 1833 (in the East), aged 36 years. Lois, his wifo, died Sept. 26, 1843, aged 42 years.


Abigail, wife of Ilenry Borst, died April 6, 1841, aged 33 years. Ilarrict, wife of J. Meaker, died Nov. 13, 1843, aged 22 years. Susannah, wife of George Jadson, died Aug. 14, 1836, aged 24 years. Emily, wife of George Judson, died Mareb 29, 1874, aged &t years. Delilah P. Sage, died Feb. 10, 1857, aged 62 years. Mary Jane, wife of M. Baldwin, died March 31, 1838, aged 22 years.


Besides these, there are numerous other old settlers, at whose graves headstones have never been placed.


Ebenezer Bishop, from Lima, Livingston Co., N. Y., came to Michigan in 1833, and stopped at Springfield, Oak- land Co., through that fall and winter, with his father's cousin, Giles Bishop. In the spring of 1834, Mr. Bishop came on into Grand Blane, where he remained until the fall of 1836, when he returned to New York, married, and


283


MUNDY TOWNSHIP.


in June, 1837, settled in Mundy, on the place he still oc- cupies. Jason L. Anstin and Randall Williams were then living near him. The former, who has been previously mentioned, lived in a log house. His wife died within a year or two, and he sold out and removed to Saginaw County, locating near the Tittibawassee River. Williams soon sold to C. D. W. Gibson, who lived at Whigville, in Grand Blane township, and went away with the Mormons.


Chauncey Cogrdell, now of the township of Flint, came to Mundy when a boy, in company with Ebenezer Bishop. Hle had worked for the latter's father and father-in-law in New York, and was allowed to come to Michigan with Mr. Bishop. Ile stayed with him until he became of age, working with him also afterwards.


When Mr. Bishop came (1837 ), there were living near him-besides those mentioned-Harvey Parks and Gilbert Phelps, the latter just over the line in Grand Blanc. Parks lived on section 13, on what was afterwards the Daniel Mason, now the Todd, farm. He removed not long after to the township of Occola, Livingston Co., where he died.


"The region of "oak-openings" extended north into Mundy as far as the farm of Mr. Bishop, or a little beyond, his place being close on the edge of the heavy timber. Swartz Creck was the division between the timber and the openings.


After numerous attempts in this town to hear of some hairbreadth escape from wild animals, or desperate struggle in a swamp, or other of the tales so often told, the follow- ing incident was the only one related which could be safely called an adventure. Mr. Bishop was on one occasion " packing" home some fresh meat, and while yet some dis- tance away from home, and in the township of Grand Blanc, the howl of a wolf broke upon his car, causing him to quicken his pace. It was answered by others, and finally he imagined he saw one of the savage brutes standing in the pathway ahead of him. Making up his mind that it would be worse for him to run than to advance boldly for- ward, he took out his jack-knife and opened it, and prepared to manufacture an excellent article of mince-meat from the carcass of the wolf. Upon arriving at. the object, he was agrecably surprised at finding it to be nothing more dan- gerous than an ook bush, which in the moonlight he had taken for a wolf. Mr. Bishop thinks many of the won- derful adventures related have no more foundation in fact than this of his own.


Josiah Alger, a native of Massachusetts, and afterwards a resident of Bloomfield, Ontario Co., N. Y., settled in Troy, Oakland Co., Mich., in 1823, and removed to Mundy in May, 1836, with his family. At that time the town- ship was thinly populated, but the same season witnessed the arrival of several families. Mr. Alger was one of the organizers of Mundy township, and became its first super- visor, holding the position a number of years. He located a large amount of land in the township, and lived on section 21. His family consisted of ten children,-seven sons and three daughters ; and of these two are now living,-Josiah 11. Alger, at Birmingham, Oakland Co., and Lewis Alger, now of the township of Fenton. Mr. Alger gave 80) acres to each of his children. He was by profession a physician, and the first who practiced in the township.


Ilis journeys were always performed on foot, and he is re- membered as a kind neighbor and an excellent nurse. In connection with other offices, he held that of justice of the peace for many years. He was a man of great general information, a Universalist in religious matters, and ex- ceedingly well posted in Scripture. He died in Mundy, on the 6th of March, 1852.


Josiah HI. Alger, son of the above, located the farm where his son, William R. Alger ( present supervisor of Mundy), now lives. He did not settle until 1841, but in that year made the first improvements on the place,-built a log house with split stuff for doors, a stick chimney, etc. In 1857 he moved back to Oakland County, and since about 1870 has resided at Birmingham. He was also for some years supervisor of the township of Mundy, besides holding other positions.


William R. Alger, aside from his farming operations, is engaged to some extent in dealing in stock, as was also his father while living here, and has at present a few head of improved stock,-horses, cattle, and sheep. He is one of a family of eight children, six of whom are living. His only brother, John F. Alger, is now in Colorado.


One of the carly settlers in the Alger neighborhood was Mr. Barnum, father of Daniel P. Barnum, who now lives ou the old farm.


The first white male child born in the township of Mun- dy was Thomas Glover's son, Henry Glover, and the first white female child was Hannah Baldwin, daughter of Mor- gan Baldwin, her birth occurring March 30, 1835.


What is known as the " Baldwin road" was the first one laid out in the town, and follows in places nearly the route of an old Indian trail which extended from Springfield, Oakland Co., to Shiawassee. This was the main traveled route through the township.


Asa Pierce, a native of Massachusetts, and afterwards a resident of Ontario Co., N. Y., came to Mundy with his family in 1835. His son, Asa T. Pierce, still living in town, came in the fall of the same year, and settled on the place he yet occupies, about a hundred rods cast of the spot on which his father resided. The latter died Feb. 11, 1853, aged sixty-three years, but his widow is yet living at the old place, and is now eighty-five years of age. Asa T. Pierce is also a native of Massachusetts (town of Reho- both ), his father moving into the State of New York while his son was a small boy, or not long subsequent to the year 1814. Ilis wife, Mrs. A. T. Pierce, is a native of the town of De Kalb, St. Lawrence Co., N. Y., in the famous " Black River Country," and came with her husband to Michigan in 1835, settling on section 32. The nearest house east of them was that of Morgan Baldwin, two miles away, and beyond that there were but two or three families in a dis- tance of ten miles. Mr. Pierce and his wife, then both young, were much impressed with the gaudy trappings of the Indians, and their manners and customs, which were so novel to them, and their monotonous chant, as they passed by in single file, walking or riding, is vividly remembered.


Among the carlier settlers on the " Baldwin road" were the Odells and Leach's, and the following items, fur- nished by Mrs. William Odell, a daughter of Jeshurun beach, will prove interesting :


JOSIAH ALGER.


JOSIAH II. ALGER.


JOSIAH ALGER AND FAMILY.


The family of Algers, which are widely scattered over the States, sprang, according to the best genealogieal records, from three brothers who came to this eonotry from Wales during the seventeenth century, settling in Massa- chusetts,-the home of the Pilgrim Fathers. Josiah Alger, the subject of this sketch, and Ira Alger, twins, were horn in Massachusetts, June 3, 1782, coming with their parents to Bloomfield. Ontario Co., N. Y., in 1,93, then a wild and unbroken wilderness,-their sister being the first white woman married in that vicinity.


--


Mr. Alger was married, in 1803, to Esther, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Scovel, of Vermont. They reared a family of ten children, of whom but two are now living, Josiah Il. and Lewis. Ile emigrated to Troy, Oakland Co., Mich , November. 1823, where he located lands, clearing up a large farm. Selliog out in 1835, he, in company with others, took a ramble through Livingston, Shiawassee, and Genesee Counties, loeating eleven lots of land in the town of Mundy, Genesee Co., and moved on to it in May, 1836. lle was one of the first settlers, being one of the organizers of the township then comprising the townships of Gaines and Mundy, with but eighteen voters in both. The first town-meeting was held at his house in 1837, and he was the first supervisor, which office he heltl for several years.


--


In profession Mr. Alger was a physician ; in politics, a Democrat; and in religion, a strong Universalist to the last. Ile suffered the change called death. March 6, 1852, but from information gleaned of old residents, and ineidents recited by their children. he died not out of the memory of any who were so fortunate as to have made his acquaintance. Ile is accredited by the remaining pioncers-Mr. Glover, Thompson, Baldwin, and others -as being a man without an enemy, and they relate many incidents of his benefaction : amoug which was sending a team to Pontiac several times for flour and meat to feed those in destitution, refusing to sell to the above relators and others because of their having the means of purchase. Mr. Alger was most truly a benefactor to his countrymen, always dispensing justice, and where most necded. Ile was a soldier in the war of 1812, as was his father, Josiah, io the Revolution, of whom there still remain among the relatives mementos of his chivalry and art.


Mrs. Alger was a most estimable woman. Was born in Vermont, Ang. 19, 1785, and died in Mundy, of consumption, Jan. 21, 1843. Ira Alger, the twin brother, settled near Ilolly, Oakland Co., and died there about 1848.


Josiah Il. Alger, son of Josiah, was boru in Ontario Co., N. Y., Dec. 3, 1809. Came to Michigan with his parents in 1823; he remained at home, helping to clear up the farm, until the age of twenty-two. He then started out for himself with a fair education, mostly self-acquired, and an abuti- dant capital of physical strength and energy, which have made their record all along his line of march. He commenced by taking jobs of chopping, rail-splitting, ete., until he acquired the means to buy one hundred and sixty aeres of land in Maeomh County. In the spring of 1836 he lveated four lots of land ou sections 29 and 30, in Mundy, Genesee Co.


lle was married, April, 1837, to Mary A., daughter of Wm. and Susan F. (Ilowland) Stanley, of Troy, Oakland Co. Worked his father-in-law's farm for four years. Selling his Macomb lands, he moved on his own lands iu Mundy, in March, 1841, being compelled to cut a road one and a half miles in order to reach it; but, by dint of persevering energy and the im- petus of a strong will, he soon had a trail to his land, a log house staked, chinked, a stone and mud fireplace, to whieb he improvised a mud aud stick chimney, a floor of split-stuff, doors, etc., after occupaney. The first year he grew of potatoes, roots, corn, and oat fodder sufficient for self-use, and some to spare. In the fall he sowed some twenty acres of wheat, which, when harvested, be threshed with a flail on a ground-floor, taking it to Pontiac and Detroit, and exchanging it for store pay at three shillings and sixpence per bushel. Those were the times that tried the souls of men, even of iron nerve, to meet the demands of nature aud taxation,-the latter of which often perilel all. As but little of the wild-cat money had an ex- change value, and nearly all business was conducted by barter and exchange of produced commodities, the pioneers experienced trials which only an indomitable courage and an abiding faith in the future enabled them to meet, and to persevere until the dawn of " better times."


lu those days there was no social ostracism. The erotoh dray and ox-


sled were the principal means of traosit, and with these neighbors used to get together, winding their way through the woods to each other's homes on winter evenings to dance, serape a turnip, exchange huoting tales, and other life-scenes; speculate on new projects, public and private, and after the midnight banquet of biscuit (baked in a tin-oven-there being no stoves) and wild honey, with a bit of dried venison, or perchanee hear, they repaired to their several homes, without biekering, happy and con- tent with each other and their surroundings. The men and women then wore homespun for common and nice, with factory, colored with butternut and oak-bark, for a change. Calico then filled the place that silks and worsteds do now, with from ten to twenty less yards in a pattero. They had no use for hippodromes and other paraphernalia, simply the naked requisites. Their boots and shoes were made of cowhide, aod of home manufacture, as nearly every pioneer was a cobbler.


Thus Mr. and Mrs. Alger, by dint of their united efforts, perseverance, and economy, soon had cleared a large farm, and had otherwise given to that which but a few years before was a wilderness and Indian hunting- ground the appearance of a home of plenty. They are spoken of as very estimable neighbors, and universally esteemed by all in their old home, where they resided for sixteen years, during which time Mr. Alger filled the office of supervisor and that of commissioner for several years. Hlaving, in 1849, by beirship and purchase, become owner of the Wm. Stanley farm, in Troy, two hundred and fifty acres, he rented his Mundy farm, four hundred and forty acres, and removed there in 1857, where he remained until 1870, when he purchased a fine residence in Birming- ham,-three miles from his farm,-where he intends to spend his days.


Mrs. Alger was born Feb. 29, 1820, in Richmond, Ontario Co., and died Nov. 26, 1874, of heart-disease, leaving many bright oases along the path- way of ber busy life, as lasting memorials to her relatives and numberless friends who still miss and mourn ber demise.


Mr. Alger, for his second wife, married Mrs. Clarissa Armstrong, Nov. 1, 1875, a most estimable widow lady, with whom he nowl ives, surrounded by a host of friends, and with every needful comfort in their declining years.


WILLIAM R. ALGER, son of Josiah H., was born May 10. 1838, in Troy, Oakland Co., Mich. He came with his parents to Mundy in 1841, and re- turned with them to Troy in 1857. Having obtained a good academie education, he commeneed teaching in 1859. During 1860 be roamed over the South and West, traveling through nine States. Returning in January, 1861, he taught school in the village of Big Beaver, Oakland Co., three mouths. During the summer he worked his farm of forty acres and a part of the homestead, teaching the same school the following winter. In the fall of 1861 he exchanged his farm with his father for eighty acres of his Mundy farm, and rented the balance for five years. On the 8th day of March he was married, at the Antisdale House in Detroit, to Miss Julia Jenette, daughter of John and Rachel Bookham. The next April he moved to Mundy. In 1866 be purchased the eighty-aere meadow adjoin- ing his farm for two thousand five hundred dollars. The following year he sold the one huudred and sixty acres to J. M. Peck for five hundred dollars, and the same day purchased the old homestead. On this farm Mr. Alger has built an elegant residence, repaired the outbuildings, cleared twenty-five acres, and put in six miles of underdrain. making his farm one of the finest in the county.




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