USA > Michigan > Genesee County > History of Genesee county, Michigan. With illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 9
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" STATE OF MICHIGAN, } 1 RX.
COUNTY OF GENESEE. J
" ANDREW Cox, Before Lyman Stew, Esq., one of the Justices of the Peace for snid County.
GOSHEN OLMSTED.
"Summons issued in the nhove suit June 4, 1836, and returnable on the 11th of the same month nt one o'clock r.s., and was served by John Todd, one of the constables of the town of Flint. Court opened on the return day, parties present, nt which time the parties joined issue. The plaintiff' filed his declaration and the defendant his reply, und the court adjourned hy consent of parties to July 2, then next, at one o'clock r.M. At which time the court again opened, and on hearing and examining the testimony, judgment was rendered for PI'ff for the sum of five dollars and sixty-three cents, and his costs taxed nt seven dollars und sixty-three cents.
Judgment.
$5.63
Costs of suit 7.03
Fees for this return
44
$13.70
" Witnesses : Lemuel Johnson, Peter Stiles, Eli Bishop, Mr. Jones, Russell MeManners, Elijah Smith, Reuben Tupfer.
" The plaintiff gave notice of an appeal, and entered an appeal hond, which is transmitted herewith together with other papers be- longing to the suit.
" I hereby certify the above to be a true copy of record from the enuse on my docket.
" I .. STOw, Justice of the Peace."
The proceedings as entered in the Circuit Court calendar, and relating to this case, were as follows :
" April 20, 1837 .- Transcript filed and case entered.
" April 19, 1838 .- Case continued.
" July 9, 1839 .- Case entered, with leave to plead de voro.
" Feb'y 12, 1810 .- Pl'ff's affidavit filed.
" Fch'y 13, 1840 .- Case continued.
" July 15, 1840 .- Pl'ff enters a non-suit."
The non-suit entered by the plaintiff was set aside by the court, and the case was brought to trial on the 10th of February, 1841.
" At which day, before the judges nforesnid, at the court-house in the village of Flint, in said county, eatne the parties aforesaid, by their attorneys aforesaid, whereopon the return of the said Justice of the Peace of the records and proceedings before him, and of the judg- ment rendered by him, the said justice, being seen and by the said Circuit Court before the aforesaid judges thereof now here fully under- stood, etc. A jury was called, who, being duly sworn to well and truly determine the said matter between the parties nforesaid, after hearing the evidence, and upon mature deliberation, come into court and find a verdict for the defendant of sixteen dollars damages.
" Thereupon it is considered that the judgment of the said Justice of the Pelee, the errors aforesaid appearing before the said Cirenit Court be wholly and in all things reversed, vacated, and annulled, and nltogether held for nothing, and that the said Goshen Olinsted, defendant ns aforesaid, do recover against the said plaintiff. Andrew Cox, the sum of sixteen dollars damages, and also eighty-eight dollars and forty-two cents for his costs and charges, which the said defend- ant, Goshen Olmsted, has sustained and expended in and nbout the defense of this said appeal.
" Recorded March 4, 1841.
"W. A. MORRISON, ('lerk."
Final judgment, as above, was entered, Feb. 12, 1841, and so the case was concluded, nearly five years after its commencement.
The two next judges who presided in the Circuit Court of Genesee County, after Judge Morell, were Hon. Wil- liam A. Fletcher, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (who held court in Flint in February, 1839), and the Hon. Charles W. Whipple, Associate Judge of the Supreme Court. Judge Whipple was succeeded by the Hon. Sanford M. Green, who was succeeded by Hon. Josiah Turner, the present judge.
COUNTY SITE, COURT-HOUSES AND JAILS.
The county site of Genesce was located and established under an act passed by the Legislative Council of the Terri- tory of Michigan (approved Aug. 25, 1835), which pro- vided " That the seat of justice for the county of Genesee shall be located on the west side of the Saginaw turnpike, on lands recently deeded by John Todd and wife to one Wait Beach, known as the Todd farm, at Flint River, at a point commencing at or within twenty rods of the centre of said described land on said turnpike; Provided, the pro- prietor or proprietors of said land shall, within six months of the passage of this act, execute to the supervisors and their successors in office, for the use of said county, a good and sufficient deed of two acres of land for a court-house and public square, one acre of ground for a burialground, two church and two school lots of common size." In com-
38
HISTORY OF GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
pliance with the requirements of this aet, Wait Beach and wife, proprietors of the tract selected, conveyed to the county, by deed (dated Dec. 31, 1835), two acres of land on the west side of the Saginaw road, at Flint River, for a county site. The tract so conveyed is the northeast corner of the court-house square, which has been increased to its present dimensions by subsequent conveyances of adjoining lands to the county, as follows : By II. M. Henderson and wife, Jan. 10, 1856, lots 1, 2, 3, and 4; and by John H. Browning and wife, May 3, 1869, lots 5 and 6, all of the same block ; thus extending the grounds, upon the southern and western sides, of the traet conveyed by Beach.
The places provided by the sheriff for the holding of the Circuit Court of Genesce during the years 1837 and 1838 were, first, the upper story of Stage & Wright's store, as before mentioned, and afterwards the hall over Benjamin Pearson's store in Flint .* These places were, of course, in- tended only to serve as temporary accommodations for the court until the erection of a permanent building, the first steps towards which were taken in the spring of 1838. At the towuship clections in April of that year, a majority of seven votes was given to authorize the Board of Supervisors to erect a county jail ; the plan being to include also an upper story, for use as a court-room. Under this authority the board voted the sum of four thousand dollars for the purpose, which sum was borrowed from the State super- intendent of public instruction. The persons appointed as a building committee to superintend the construction were Charles Seymour, Robert F. Stage, and John Pratt.
The building was commenced iu the fall of 1838, and completed in the fall of 1839, at a total cost of about five thousand dollars. It was a solid rectangular building of oak logs, hewn twelve inches square, laid one upon another to the requisite height. The lower and stronger part was the jail, the upper story being designed and used for a court-room.t The location of this building was on or near the site of the present jail and sheriff's residence.
# The January term of 1838 was held in that hall, as is shown by the record of the Board of Supervisors, in which, under date of March 6, 1838, is an entry to the effect that "The Board met at the hall of Benjamin Pearson's store, being the place where the Cirenit Court for said county of Genesee was last held ;" and on the 23d of October, in the same year, the board allowed the bill of Benjamin Pearson (twenty-five dollars) "for the use of his hall as a court-room." At a meeting of the hoard in October, 1837, they "allowed Thomas J. Drake for room for grand jury purposes, October term, $5."
t In a small pamphlet containing pioncer reminiscences of Genesce County, Mr. Alvah Brainard, an old and respected citizen of Grand Blane, recently deceased, related the following, in reference to the first case tried in this old court-house : " I was one of the jurors on tho first ease tried in it. The difference between the parties was trifling. Ono of the parties had shut up one of the other's hogs, and was going to fat it. There was no placo prepared for the jurors to deliberate in. Mr. Hascall was building a dwelling-house on the opposite side of the turnpike from the court-house, so the arrangements were made for the jurors to go over to this place in the cellar part. The house was set upon blocks about two feet from the ground, and the dirt beiog thrown partially out, so that we had a shady, airy, and rustic place, with plenty of shavings under foot which had fallen down through the louse floor above, without any seats, but we could change positions very readily, by lying down, or standing or sitting upon our feet. It being so pleasant and secluded a place,-we could look out on all sides and see what was going on upon the outside, and being so open the wind would blow through and fill our eyes with sawdust, and it was a very warm day. Su, under all circumstances, we were not in
FIRE-PROOF OFFICES.
For more than fifteen years after the organization of the county no suitable building was provided for the use of the clerk and other county officers. At a meeting of the super- visors in January, 1847, the board took into consideration the question of erecting a fire-proof building for that usc, and William Patterson, of Flint, E. Walkley, of Genesce, and Jeremiah R. Smith, of Grand Blanc, were appointed a committee to receive estimates for the construction of such a building. No results followed this action, but on the 10th of January, 1851, the board appointed Julian Bishop, of Grand Blanc, D. N. Montague, of Vienna, and Williaru Patterson, of Flint, a building committee " to receive pro- posals, and cause to be erected a substantial fire-proof county building," for offices for the county clerk, treasurer, register of decds, and judge of probate; to be built on the court- house square, at an expense not exceeding fifteen hundred dollars. The building was completed during the same year, by Enos and Reuben Goodrich, at a cost of about nine hundred dollars. It was a brick structure, one story in height, and was occupied by the county officers for about fifteen years.
The old court-house and jail building erected in 1839 was destroyed by fire (the work of an incendiary), which was first discovered by Sheriff John A. Kline at about three o'clock in the morning of Feb. 21, 1866. The progress already made by the fire when discovered, and the scarcity of water, rendered it impossible to save the building, but the sheriff, with the aid of Mr. Howard, the prosecuting attorney, succeeded in saving all documents and official papers of value. Six prisoners were confined in the jail at the time, and these the sheriff placed under guard in the clerk's office until they could be otherwise secured. An insurance of two thousand five hundred dollars was on the building when destroyed.
On the 1st of March, eight days after the fire, the Board of Supervisors met, and "resolved to submit to the people of the county at the next annual township-meeting the proposition to raise on the credit of the county the sum of twenty thousand dollars to build a new court-house and jail." S. N. Warren, David Schram, and David Smith, members of the board, were appointed a committee to visit Pontiac and the county buildings of Oakland, and "to perfect plans for the immediate construction of a new court-house and jail." And they were also authorized and instructed to contract with the sheriff of Oakland for the keeping of the prisoners of Genesee County. Josiah WV. Begole and David Case were afterwards added to the committee. Fenton Hall was hired by the county as a place for holding the courts, and for the meetings of the super- visors until new buildings should be completed.
At its meeting, April 13, the Board of Supervisors ac- cepted the plans for a court-house, jail, and sheriff's residence presented by Pierce F. Cleveland and David Sehram; and on the following day a committee was appointed to super-
a very urgent hurry, and we could not agreo upon a verdict. The constable would look under often: 'Gentlemen, have you agreed ?' Oor answer would be, ' More water, more water.' So along towards night. we ventured out of the den or pen, and went before the court without having agreed on a verdiet, for or against."
39
INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.
intend the erection of the buildings, and empowered "to let the work by contraet if in their opinion the interests of the county be best promoted thereby, or otherwise, if for the benefit of the county." The persons composing this committee were James E. Brown, Clayton ; Samuel N. Warren, Flint ; Chandler II. Rockwood, Genesee; David Schram, Burton ; James B. Mosher, Fenton.
A strong effort was made to locate the new buildings on the north side of the river, but this did not prevail, and their site was selected and established on the " court-house square." The wood-work of the court-house was let by contract to Pierce F. Cleveland and Reuben Van Tifflin ; the wood-work of the jail and sheriff's residence to P. F. Cleveland ; and the mason-work of all to William Foule, the amount of all these contracts being $31,639. The iron- work of the jail was contracted to M. Clement, of Cincin- nati, Ohio, for $10,107,-making the total of the contracts $41,746. The jail and residence was completed in the fall of 1866, at a cost of $20,244.90. The court-house, including the necessary rooms for the county officers, was finished in the summer of 1867, its cost being $29,997.39, -making the total cost of the buildings $50,244.29, an excess of 88498.29 over the contracts; caused by changes from the original plans.
COUNTY POOR-HOUSE AND FARM.
The earliest official reference to the county poor is found in the proceedings of the Board of Supervisors at a meeting of that body held on the 5th of December, 1836, when the sum of seventy-two dollars and fifty cents was allowed to Jason L. Austin for care of county panpers, and sixty- three dollars and fourteen cents to the township of Flint for care and removal of a family of county paupers. By a resolution of the board of county commissioners, adopted Jan. 8, 1839, Benjamin Rockwell, of Flushing, Lyman Stow, of Flint, and John Pratt, of Genesee, were appointed superintendents of the poor for the county of Genesce ; and at a meeting of the same board, held January 9, the subject of abolishing the distinction between town and county pau- pers was considered, and it was " resolved, that this dis- tinction be now abolished, and that hereafter all paupers in Genesee County be considered a county charge."
In the year 1845 the Board of Supervisors (having re- sumed the functions which had been exercised by the county commissioners during the years 1839, 1840, and 1841) met on the 17th of October, and " resolved that a committee of three be appointed to make inquiries regard- ing the purchase of a farm on which to keep the county poor ;" and Jeremiah R. Smith, of Grand Blane, William Patterson, of Flint, and Reuben McCreery, of Genesee, were appointed such committee. Under authority after- wards conferred, they purchased, Oct. 16, 1846, of Andrew Cox, for the sum of twelve hundred dollars, a farm of one hundred and three acres, being part of the southwest quar- ter of section 29, in the township of Burton.
In January, 1853, the board voted the sum of four hun- dred and fifty dollars for the erection of a county poor- house, to be built under the direction of the superintend- ents of the poor. This was merely an addition to the old farm-house in which the poor were quartered. At the
meeting of the board held Jan. 10, 1857, it was " re- solved to see about raising three thousand dollars for build- ing a county poor-house." The project, however, was not immediately carried into effect, but in 1860 and 1861 the necessary sums were raised, and the present brick building occupied as the poor-house of the county was completed in 1861, at a cost of five thousand dollars. The building commissioners under whose supervision it was erected were Josiah W. Begole, Lyman G. Buckingham, aud Wil- liam Patterson.
The following items in reference to the county poor and poor-house are from the report for 1878 of the superin- tendents of the poor to the Board of Supervisors of Genesee County :
" For the year commencing the 14th day of October, 1877, and end- ing Oct. 14, 1878, the whole number of persons who have received aid from us are one thousand and five.
" The whole number of persous entirely supported at the county poor- house has been seventy-eight. Number of deaths, two. Number of births, two. Dischargedl at different intervals, forty-one, and still now remaining under our care, thirty-five."
CHAPTER VIII.
INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.
Early . Roads-Plank-Roads-Projects for the Navigation of Flint River-Northern Railroad and other Projects-Northern Wagon- Road-Detroit and Milwaukee Railroad-Flint and Pere Mar- quette Railway-The Flint and Holly Link in the Flint and Père Marquette Line-Completion and Consolidation of the Roads com- posiug the Flint and Pere Marquette-Port Huron and Lake Michi- gan Railroad-Chicago and Northeastern Railroad-Chicago and Lake Huron Line.
Ir is a rule, which may be regarded as of universal appli- cation in all newly-settled regions, that the first public work of improvement is the building of roads ; and to this gen- eral rule the region which is now Genesee County fur- nished no exception. The first road which entered its limits was " opened" before any white man had built his cabin here, with the exception of Jacob Smith, Corbin, and per- haps George Lyons. It was a track eut out from Saginaw to the Grand Traverse of the Flint, by detachments of the Third United States Infantry, under command of Lieuts. Brooks and Bainbridge, in the winter of 1822-23. It was sometimes called the "Saginaw military road," though it was little more than a bridle-path, formed by cutting through the thickets and " wind-falls" sufficiently to allow the passage of horses to and from Saginaw. Southward from the Grand Traverse, the old Indian trail, winding through the openings, was in most places practicable for pack-horses until they reached the swampy lands between Royal Oak and Detroit ; and through these a road had previously been cut and partially corduroyed by soldiers from the Detroit garrison, under command of Col. Leaven- worth. So the clearing of the track through the woods between the Grand Traverse of the Flint and Saginaw opened a communication (such as it was) between the last- named point and Detroit .* But the part which was cut
$ In the fall of 1822, Mr. E. S. Williams (now of Flint), Rufus W. Stevens, and Schuyler Hodges, of Pontiac, went through to Saginaw
40
HISTORY OF GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
through by the Saginaw troops was well-nigh impassable for a good part of the year, and after the abandonment of the military post of Saginaw by the government it became once more overgrown and nearly obliterated.
In June, 1824, the Legislative Council of the Territory passed an act authorizing the Governor to appoint three commissioners to lay out and establish a Territorial road from Detroit, by way of Pontiac, to Saginaw, on the Sagi- naw River. This was surveyed and located in 1826 by George W. Dole, but the construction of the road did not reach as far northward as Genesee County until 1830, though the settlers who came to the connty before that time passed over it as far as its northern terminus in Oak- land, and from thence reached their journey's end by " pick- ing their way" through the oak openings, which interposed but few impediments to the passage of their teams. In 1832 the road was "worked" in an indifferent manner nearly to the Flint River settlement, and by the first of May, 1833, it had reached as far as the present line of Kearsley Street, in the city of Flint. From that point to the place where the Saginaw Street bridge now crosses the river, was a swamp of alder and black ash, so that emigrants arriving about that time and wishing to pass on beyond the river (Addison Stewart, Lewis Buckingham, and Benjamin Pierson were among these) were obliged to pass to the left of the morass, and cross the stream a short distance below the present bridge (not using the ancient Indian crossing- place, which was above the bridge, and near the location of the old dam built by Stage & Wright). The bridge across the river was built and the southern approach to it com- pletcd (by filling the swamp above mentioned) in 1834, and in the same year, or in the spring of 1835, the road was finished to a point about five miles north of the river, which was the end of the work ever done by government upon it. It was afterwards completed to Saginaw, and became the " Detroit and Saginaw Turnpike," over which for many years the travel was very great. When first laid out as a Territorial road its width was ninety-nine feet (six rods) through its entire length. The specified width of its graded part was eighty feet, but this requirement was not rigidly enforced in the construction. But it was, for those times, a noble and serviceable road, and over it a large pro- portion of the earlier settlers came to their new homes in Genesee County.
The first Legislature of Michigan, at its session of 1835- 36, authorized the laying out and establishment of a number of State roads, among which were the following, viz. : "A State road from the mouth of Black River, in the county of St. Clair, on the most eligible route to the county site of Lapeer County, and thence to Grand Blanc, in Genesee County ;" to be laid out by John Ryan, Joel M. Palmer, and Ralph Wadhams, commissioners. Also " a State road from Mount Clemens, Macomb County, by way of Romeo,
in said county ; thence to Lapeer, the county site of Lapcer County ; thence by the most eligible route to the county site of Genesee County, to intersect the United States road leading from Detroit to Saginaw." The commissioners ap- pointed to lay out and establish this road were Silas D. McKeen, James Andrews, and Alexander Tacles. Both the above roads were authorized by act approved March 26, 1836.
In 1837 an act of the Legislature (approved March 17th) authorized the laying out of a State road " from the county scat of Gencsec to the county seat of Washtenaw County ;" Ira D. Wright, Philip II. McOmber, and Jesse Pinney being appointed commissioners for the purpose. At the session of 1839 a State road was authorized to be laid out by Norman Davison, Charles C. Waldo, and Lemuel M. Part- ridge, commissioners, " commencing at or near the county seat of Genesee County, thence on the most direct and eligible route for a road through the townships of Atlas, Groveland, Brandon, and Independence, to the village of Pontiac."
The " Northern Wagon-Road," for the construction of which an appropriation of thirty thousand dollars was made by the Legislature in 1841, will be found mentioned in the succeeding pages, in connection with the account of the old " Northern Railroad."
For several years after 1839 very little appears to have been done in the laying out of State roads in Genesee County. In 1844 the Legislature authorized Albert Stevens, John Keinyan, Isaac Pennoyer, and James H. Murray, commissioners, to lay out and establish a road from Ann Arbor, " by the way of the village of Brighton, Livingston Co., Murray Mills, and the village of Flushing, in Genesce County, to the Saginaw turnpike, at a point about fourteen miles north of the village of Flint." In 1845 a State road was authorized to run from Brighton, Livingston Co., to Fentonville, in Genesee, with Hervey T. Lec, Alonzo Slay- ton, and Elisha Holmes as commissioners to lay out and establish it. In 1848 acts were passed authorizing the es- tablishment of State roads in this county as follows : From Flint, by way of Miller settlement, Shiawasseetown, and Hartwellville, to Michigan village, in Ingham County ; from Fentonville to Byron, in Shiawassee County ; from Flint, through the township of Gaines, to Byron ; from Flint, by way of Corunna, to the capital of the State ; from Corunna, on the most eligible route, to the village of Flush- ing, in the county of Genesee ; and " from the village of Fentonville, in Genesee County, to Springfield, in Oakland County."
It should be borne in mind, however, that to " lay out and establish" a road-particularly in earlier years-was not equivalent to opening and making it ready for travel ; but that in many cases, years intervened between the time when a highway was laid out by the commissioners and the time when it was made passable for vehicles, and that in some instances roads authorized and laid out were never opened.
PLANK-ROADS.
About the year 1847 projects for the construction of plank-roads began to come into general favor in Michigan ; and it was in that year that the first of these companies,
on this route, but before the road was completed. And in the winter of 1823-24, Col. John Hamilton and Harvey Williams contracted to transport government stores from Detroit to Saginaw, over the mili- tary road. Their animals be'ng found to be overloaded, they seenred the assistance of E. S. Williams and Schuyler Hodges, who joined the train at Maj. Oliver Williams' farm near Pontiac, and accompanied it from that point through to the Saginaw post.
41
INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.
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