USA > Michigan > Hillsdale County > History of Hillsdale county. Michigan, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 38
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Jonesville Cotton- Mill .- A company was formed here in 1871, for the purpose of entering into the manufacture of cotton cloth. Work was soon begun on a building, and the present brick factory was completed and dedicated Feb. 20, 1873. Operations were begun on a small scale in May following, but it was not extensively worked until the spring of 1875, when its management was assumed by H. R. Gardner and J. M. Mumford, men of large experi-
PHOTO. BY CARSON & GRAHAM .
J. J. DEAL.
CLAUS CARRIAGES.
J. J. DEAL, MANUFACTURER OF CARRIAGES, WAGONS, CUTTERS, SLEIGHS &9 JONESVILLE, MICH.
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HISTORY OF HILLSDALE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
ence in the business, who at once put on a force of about 50 employees, and with 80 looms and a proportionate num- ber of spindles, nearly 85,000 yards per month were manu- factured, from cotton procured at St. Louis, Cincinnati, Nashville, Memphis, and Rome, Ga. The venture not proving remunerative business was finally suspended, and this, like the woolen-factory, is now lying idle, a monument of unrequited enterprise.
Foundry and Machine-Shop .- The first foundry in the village of Jonesville was established by Isaac B. Taylor and George C. Munro, about 1836-37, and at its outset was decidedly a primitive affair. It occupied a frame building, which is possibly yet standing in the rear of the present foundry. The fan was operated by horse-power, a huge equine which belonged to the firm being placed inside a ponderous "tread-wheel," where he worked, ate, and slept. A small engine was afterwards substituted, and this foundry soon became an institution of great importance to the place. The old "Michigan Plow" was principally manufactured, other articles being made on a smaller scale. One ton per day was the average product of the furnace. Pig-iron was hauled by teams from Mishawaka, Ind. So large an amount of scrap-iron was used,-coming in from various parts of the country,-that a small quantity of pig-iron sufficed for a long time. Mr. Munro was connected with the establishment a number of years. It has changed hands many times, the present proprietors being Leonard and R. T. Miller, the latter having immediate charge. The manufactures are plows and agricultural implements, -a specialty being " Miller's Chilled Plow." Since during the summer of 1878 the foundry has not been in opera- tion, but the intention is to start again soon. Fourteen hands were employed previous to this suspension.
Planing-Mill .- This institution, owned by Messrs. Sel- fridge, Baxter & Co., at present employing three hands, manufactures sash, doors, and blinds, and does general planing. The date of its establishment is not satisfactorily known.
Carriage- and Wagon-Shop of J. J. Deal .- Mr. Deal came to this village from the State of New York, in 1858, and purchased from Seeley Blatchley the shop on the west side of West Street, now owned by Tiffany & Brother. Here he conducted a custom business until 1865 or 1866, when he bought the lot opposite, upon which his present buildings stand, erected his shops, and established himself in the business in which he still continues. His manufac- tures are wagons, carriages, sleighs, etc., of excellent quality. From eight to twelve experienced hands are employed, and work turned out annually of an average value of $10,000. During the season just passed, he has been unusually busy, and has had a very large custom. He has two local agents in Nebraska. By strict attention to business and a rigid adherence to the duty of supplying, in the best manner, the needs of the people, Mr. Deal has built a prosperous trade, and his success may well be a source of self-gratulation.
An extensive carriage-shop is managed on Mr. Deal's old site by Messrs. Tiffany & Brother, who also own one of the hardware establishments of the village. This shop was built by George W. Bullock, the present sheriff of the county, the Messrs. Tiffany having owned it since 1872. The man-
ufactures are carriages, wagons, sleighs, etc., reaching an annual value of some $10,000. The average number of hands employed is seven. Mr. Bullock carried on the busi- ness for several years, and sold to the present proprietors.
Other manufacturing establishments of greater or less importance have existed here, but those described are the principal ones at this time. Aside from them there are numerous mechanic shops, giving employment to a consid- erable number of persons. The mercantile houses of the village number about twenty-five, of all descriptions, some of them being among the heaviest in the county, and occu- pying commodious and finely-finished rooms. The business blocks of the place are not surpassed by those of any village of the same size in the State.
THE FOURTH OF JULY IN JONESVILLE IN 1833.
The anniversary of our national independence was not forgotten by the early dwellers here, and although at the above date no very extensive " celebration" could be held, yet the scattering population met for a royal good time at the then infant village, and enjoyed themselves to the utmost. A dance was held at Jones' tavern-the old " Fayette House,"-and from far and near came the patriotic settlers to indulge in the pleasures of the occasion. A certain man, who lived eleven miles away, was there with " his girl," an- ticipating a rare treat in measuring time with their feet to the tones of dulcet music which was to be furnished by parties who had been especially engaged to play here on that night. To the disappointment of everybody, the expected musicians failed to put in an appearance, and " gloom was depicted on every countenance." By some mysterious leger- demain, however, a violin was unearthed, and it was known that our eleven-mile man could play it. Then the faces in the assemblage brightened ; the hero of the bow and rosin mounted a chair-back in order to have plenty of elbow room, and the fun began. The well-known notes of " Money Musk," "Scotch reel," " French four," and other lively airs, swelled forth upon the summer air as with magic touch the musician plied his bow, and "joy was unconfined." The feet of the dancers were light, their hearts ditto, and with the passing hours the assemblage continued their evolutions till the gray dawn bade them desist and seek their homes.
INCIDENTS.
A disposition to perpetrate practical jokes seems to have been possessed by the pioneers of the village, and no one was exempt from being the object of their fun. The side- splitting " yarns" which the survivors " of those days" re- late are scarcely to be numbered, and they apparently enjoy telling them nearly as well as they must have enjoyed par- ticipating in the sport. Ah, ye graybeards ! Well that memory exists, else in your age but little pleasure would ye know ! With the scenes of your earlier years still fresh in your minds, your declining days pass so lightly that your race is run ere yet your youth seems to have worn off. Blessed be memory, if for nothing else than its advantages to the aged !
During the days of stage-coach travel the boys of the village were wont to climb upon the lumbering vehicles and
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HISTORY OF HILLSDALE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
4
ride to the barn as they came in. The driver of one stage resolved to break them of this propensity, and the first time occasion offered he made free use of his " blacksnake" among them. Now the aforesaid boys deemed themselves possessed of certain "inalienable rights," of which the privilege of riding a few rods on the incoming stage was one. Vengeance dire was threatened, and knowing the time when the same driver would arrive again, they repaired to a spot nearly opposite the present site of the school- house, where the road was a little siding, threw up an em- bankment on the opposite side, and concealed themselves in the bushes to await the dénouement. Darkness fell upon the scene, and ere long the expected stage was heard rum- bling along in the distance. The calculations of the boys were made to a nicety, and the result attested to their en- gineering skill, for the stage was overturned with a crash, baggage was spilled, and the noses of some of the passengers were severely bumped! History saith not whether the boys were further molested in their practice. The names of the conspirators in this affair were unknown, and it was not until forty years later that one of them divulged the secret. The mystery is how they could have curbed their feelings to such a degree as to keep the people in ignorance as to the names of the perpetrators, and the one who finally made the facts known could undoubtedly restrain himself no longer.
During the palmy days when the county-seat was located at Jonesville, the Presbyterian session-house was used for a court-house, while the jail was a log building which stood near the centre of the north park. Winslow Ralph was long the jailer. A frame addition to the jail was afterwards erected, and is still standing some distance north of Chicago Street, near the Fort Wayne, Railway, and is at present occupied as a residence by Samuel Baker. The old session- house occupied very nearly the present site of the Presby- terian church. Near by was the log school-house which has been mentioned, and to which the juries retired for deliberation.
While the Lake Shore Railway was being constructed a crowd of Irish laborers indulged in a general jollification over the success of their ticket at an election, and became involved in a serious fracas at Osseo, in Jefferson township. The turmoil finally culminated in the general ransacking of the tavern at that place, kept by W. W. Green, bottles and furniture being broken and Mr. Green himself severely handled. The parties to the affair were indicted and brought before the grand jury at Jonesville, Judge Lewis T. Miller presiding. Mr. Green, in giving evidence, as- serted under oath that in the row the Irishmen gave him three mortal wounds! The judge thought he must be mistaken, but he adhered to his statement, to the no small amusement of the jury and spectators. His ideas upon the nature of wounds and the meaning of certain adjectives were sadly mixed. James K. Kinman, who at that time owned the most of Osseo, promised to remunerate Green for his losses by giving him a quit-claim deed for the property, and that document was subsequently executed by Jonathan B. Graham, who had been one of the members of the aforesaid grand jury.
On another occasion, about 1842, a great strife came up
between the proprietors of the various stage-lines. As fast as the vehicles arrived in Jonesville, from any direction, they were attached and run to the rear (north) of the busi- ness blocks on Chicago Street, while the disgusted and im- patient passengers were forced to wait three days, or until the ensuing trial was over, before they could go on. Judge Fletcher, of Ann Arbor, was the presiding genius of the courts at that time. He lived so far away, however, that it was impossible to secure his services in time, and Heman Pratt, of Somerset, one of the side judges, was called upon instead. Nearly every lawyer in the county was employed upon one side or the other, and the array of legal talent was of no mean quantity nor quality. Judge Pratt, however, was not well versed in the mazes of the law, and the attor- neys had it pretty much their own way. The judge was a very temperate man. Occasionally when a knotty point was to be decided he would be taken with a sudden griping in the abdominal portion of his anatomy, and for relief would repair to the St. Charles Hotel, kept by Simon Gay, and swallow a dose of peppermint, mixed with a little brandy to make it more palatable. These visits became more fre- quent ; finally James K. Kinman wanted him to decide a certain point and he replied, " The counsel don't expect me to travel outside of the statute to do it, does he ?" Swiftly then the answer came, " By G -! if the court would go down and take about another tumblerful of Gay's pep- permint, he couldn't travel in a ten-acre lot !" The court threatened to commit Kinman for contempt, but was told that " he didn't know how to go to work to do it, and there wasn't a lawyer who would help him !" The matter finally ended, the trial proceeded and reached a close, and the weary-of-waiting passengers once more took their seats in the stages, which bowled away in the distance as if no trouble had occurred.
During the "wild-cat" days of 1837 an attempt was made to start a bank in Jonesville. Among those inter- ested were George C. Munro, Cook & Ferris, Jonathan B. Graham, and others. Mr. Graham was fresh from the land of wooden nutmegs, and was to take $20,000 of stock in the " bank," and had 10 per cent. of the amount in Spanish doubloons, ready to deposit. Some one had been to Homer, Calhoun Co., and borrowed several hundred dollars in doub- loons, and on the day the stockholders met to deposit passed them out on the counter, and they were swept into a can- vas bag and slyly passed along so that each man could take a handful out of the bag and make his deposit. Mr. Gra- ham saw that something was wrong, and resolved to wait until the morrow before passing over his supply of doub- loons. The next morning he came down, and found that the "stockholders" had held a general jollification the night before with the money borrowed at Homer. A respectable and temperate farmer had been elected president of the prospective bank, and as a matter of course was wil- . ling to partake of a little cider in appreciation of his good luck. The cider was champagne, and the worthy tiller of the soil became somewhat befogged from frequent libations, still asserting that it was very good cider. He was made quite sick from too frequent drams, and together with the others made considerable of a " muss" in the effort to dis- gorge. After the spree nothing further was done towards
RESIDENCE OF COL. F. M. HOLLOWAY, FAYETTE, MICH.
COL. F. M. HOLLOWAY.
MRS. F.M. HOLLOWAY.
0
WITTER J. BAXTER .
.
LEVI BAXTER.
PHOTOS. BY CARSON & CRAHAM.
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HISTORY OF HILLSDALE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
establishing a bank, however, and Mr. Graham was saved the temporary loss of his money.
After the election of 1840 the male portion of the com- munity indulged in a grand frolic, and liquor flowed freely. E. O. Grosvenor had his sleeping apartment over the store in which he was clerking, and ere yet the fun had become very exciting was roused from his slumbers, and told to come down and join the " crowd." He answered the sum- mons, but did not go down as requested, retiring instead. Before many minutes (he had barred the door) a window over his head was crashed in, and the noisy throng soon captured him and carried him along. He barely had time to draw on his pantaloons when he was seized. They took him down to a bar, held his arms, opened his mouth, and poured liquor down him until, as he expresses it, he " didn't care whether he was there or somewhere else." The uproar was tremendous, and none were allowed to escape partici- pation.
Certain mischief-loving citizens formed themselves, at one time, into an organization for the purpose of giving inebriates lessons which should teach them the error of their ways and frighten them into good conduct for the future, if possible. Each case was taken before Dr. Still- man Ralph, and a "post-mortem" examination held, or something that answered all necessary purposes. One in- corrigible drunkard, known as "Tommy," was, on one oc- casion, taken before the doctor, and the examination was about to proceed, when Wolcott G. Branch, then practicing law here, entered. Tommy saw and recognized him, and appealed to him for help, saying, they were " going to hold a (hic) post-mort- (hic) ise examination" on him, and he didn't want them to! A pound which had been con- structed in the south part of the village served as a jail, to which these fun-loving tormentors carried their victims. The gate was off the hinges, but the pound answered every purpose. A poor inebriated individual was taken to it at one time and pushed in, and he fell flat on his back after staggering a minute. Finally, after gazing upward for some time, he exclaimed, " Boys, for (hic) God's sake, don't leave me in this old jail without any roof on !"
Many more laughable incidents than these could be re- lated, but a few will serve to show the spirit of the pioneers, and the ways they invented for general enjoyment in the primitive days of the settlement. With no greater privi- leges than they possessed, it was necessary that some way of venting their emotions should be devised.
Of the many to whom we are under obligations for in- formation furnished while compiling the foregoing history, we mention Harley J. Olds, George C. Munro, E. O. Gros- venor, Witter J. Baxter, Jonathan B. Graham, William W. Murphy, John T. Blois, James W. Button, Henry Packer, Miles St. John, Frederick M. Holloway, Mrs. H. O. Clark (daughter of Benaiah Jones, Jr.), Mrs. L. L. Southworth, of Allen (daughter of Thaddeus Wight), and others of the same family, Mr. and Mrs. A. E. Babcock, the proprietors of newspapers and manufactories, the pastors and various members of the churches, beside others whose names are not now recalled. A hearty thank you is returned to each one who has aided us.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
COL. FREDERICK M. HOLLOWAY.
Among the representative men in the county in all that pertains to a high and progressive standard of agriculture, is Col. F. M. Holloway, whose likeness we present, and who was born in Bristol, Ontario Co., N. Y., Jan. 18, 1815. He came to Hillsdale County and located in Jonesville in 1840, remaining there till 1851, when he removed to Hills- dale, having been elected county registrar. He made this place his residence for a period of ten years, after which he removed to his farm, located midway between Hillsdale and Jonesville.
Col. Holloway is a man of very marked character in the county. A staunch advocate of religion, a firm and fast friend to the educational interests of the young, a ready writer, and enthusiastic in his devotion to agricultural pursuits as the best means of conveying the greatest good to the greatest number, he finds an ample field for the development of the various philanthropic schemes in which he is interested.
Frank and generous, he lives more for others than him- self. The part he has taken in erecting churches, in the rebuilding of Hillsdale College, in the common-school sys- tem, and the Hillsdale County Agricultural Society, with many other enterprises in which he has been engaged in the past, speak well for his versatile and active mind, and will be recalled in the future as mementoes to his worth.
Mrs. Sybil B. Holloway, whose likeness we also present, was born Sept. 10, 1815, in Gorham, N. Y., her parents being Fortunatus and Sybil Barrett. She was left an orphan in her first year, and adopted by Mrs. Lovina Goodrich, of Naples, N. Y., and by her reared to womanhood. She was married Feb. 5, 1837, to F. M. Holloway, at Nottowa, St. Joseph's Co., Mich. They have three sons and one daughter, and fifteen grandchildren. All are living away from the paternal home, as follows :
George A., who resides in Chicago, Ill .; Leroy F., living at Janesville, Wis .; Cyrus C., who is at Hillsdale; and Ella, who is the wife of H. E. Reed, and resides in Green- wich, Ohio.
A fine view of Col. Holloway's pleasant home and its surroundings may be seen on the opposite page.
HON. LEVI BAXTER.
Hon. Levi Baxter was a native of Connecticut, being born at East Windsor, in that State, on the 5th of October, 1788. His father, whose name was also Levi, was one of the heroes of the Revolution, and retired from his military service with the well-earned rank of captain. While he was still a child the family removed to Delhi, Delaware Co., N. Y., and remained there until the year 1803, when they removed to Sidney Plains, a village in the western part of the same county, situated on the eastern bank of the Sus- quehanna River. Here Mr. Baxter first entered upon the active business of life, engaging in farming, lumbering, and mercantile pursuits, and here he was married, in 1814, to Miss Lois Johnson, daughter of Col. Witter Johnson, of the Revolutionary army. In 1831 he decided to try his
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HISTORY OF HILLSDALE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
fortunes in the new country then being opened to settle- ment in the West, and removed with his family to the Ter- ritory of Michigan, locating at Tecumseh, where he soon after built the first mills of any size west of Monroe, which were then called and, for a long time after, widely known as the " Red Mills." These mills furnished the only facili- ties for grinding to a large extent of sparsely-settled country, and people came to mill from points thirty, forty, and even fifty miles distant. During his residence in Tecumseh he was appointed chief-justice of the court for the county of Lenawee, and thus obtained his familiar title of "judge." In 1834, in connection with Cook Sisson, of Lenawee County, he built a mill at Jonesville, and two years later removed to White Pigeon and there erected other and more extensive mills.
While living at this place, in 1840, in conjunction with Mr. H. L. Hewitt, he made large additions to his mills at Jonesville, and during the progress of the work received an injury, by a stick of timber falling upon and crushing one of his limbs, from the effects of which he never fully recovered. Previous to this, in 1834, his wife died, and a year later he was married to Miss Elizabeth M. Orton, of Albany, N. Y. He removed from White Pigeon to Jones- ville in 1848, and made that place his permanent home.
Mr. Baxter was prominently connected with the Whig party until the organization of the Free-Soil party, in 1848, when he enlisted in that movement, and was made their party candidate for the office of State senator. Receiving the endorsement of the Whigs, he was triumphantly elected over his Democratic competitor, Salmon Sharp, and earned in the Legislature the name of being one of its most ready and able debaters and most thorough parliamentarians. He was in reality one of the leaders of the Senate, and by his weight of influence and untiring zeal succeeded, in the face of strong opposition, in securing the passage of the Michi- gan Southern Railroad through Jonesville, and in this way secured to the village benefits that told largely on its sub- sequent growth, prosperity, and business importance.
By his first wife he had ten children, five of whom are still living, and by his second wife seven, six of whom still survive. Two of his sons, Hon. Witter J. and Hon. Ben- jamin L. Baxter, are well known as men of prominence in State affairs ; and another, Henry, served with distinction in the Union army during the rebellion, rose to the rank of brigadier-general, was made a brevet major-general for meritorious services, and died in Jonesville, Dec. 30, 1873, of pneumonia.
Mr. Baxter continued to live at Jonesville up to the time of his death, in 1862, and was widely known as a man of large discernment, great energy and resolution, and excel- lent judgment. In his opinions he was always decided, in carrying out his projects bold and unyielding. By these qualities he attained the social, political, and industrial in- fluence which he possessed to so great a degree.
SETH D. McNEAL.
The subject of this sketch was born on the 11th day of February, 1838, on the south bank of the Little St. Joseph River, in the then township of Florida, now Jefferson, Hills-
dale Co., Mich. He was the first child of a family of six children, and the son of William McNeal and Jane Decker, his girl-wife, who was but sixteen years old when he, her first son, was born, they having been married nearly two years previous by Rev. Jacob Ambler, one of the early preachers in the county. The country being then very new
Setsmonreal
and there being no schools, much of the early training and education of the new-comer devolved upon his girl-mother, from books furnished by his boy-father ; and as stoves were then unknown in this part of the country and every house was supplied with a broad, open fireplace, many lessons were earned after the day's work was done,-helping his father clear up the farm,-by no other light than that of the fire on the hearth. This young backwoodsman early evinced a desire for education, and was much benefited by having access to the township library, which in the years of his boyhood was by him well patronized; and at the early age of seventeen he graduated at Log College, not far from Osseo, under Lewis Hagadorn, who comprised the entire faculty, and began teaching district school the winter he was eigh- teen years old, in district No. 9, Jefferson. He continued to teach in winter and work on his father's farm in summer until he became of age, when he commenced as a book- agent ; traveled in Michigan, selling school-books; then went to Western Missouri in 1859, selling religious histories and Bibles by subscription. In 1862, April 1, he married R. Elizabeth Van, with whom he had been acquainted from boyhood, she being the third daughter of Marcus Van, also an old settler of Jefferson. When a boy young McNeal read the speeches of Wm. H. Seward during the Kansas troubles, and became an ardent Republican, and when the 18th Michigan Regiment was raised he enlisted in Company F, under Capt. Hill, and went into camp at Camp Wood- bury, on the Emery farm, east of Hillsdale City; volunteered
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