USA > Michigan > Hillsdale County > History of Hillsdale county. Michigan, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 44
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It was about this time that Charles Ames and his brothers and brothers-in-law were contemplating emigrating to Michi- gan. Charles, William B., and Ezra Ames were from Geneva, Ontario Co., N. Y., Henry Ames and Alpheus Pratt from Rochester, N. Y. They had arranged to come to the house of a friend in the vicinity of Detroit, and to explore the country from there until they found a location and land that suited them. Previous to this, in 1831, Hiram Kid- der had settled in the valley of the river Raisin, and had visited the Bean Creek Valley in the spring of 1833, en- tering land on sections 6 and 7 of the present town of Hudson. This land he entered in the names of Daniel Hudson, Nathan B. Kidder, and William Young, all of whom were residents of Ontario Co., N. Y. They were induced to make this purchase, for purposes of speculation, by the fact that, in April, 1833, the Legislative Council of the Territory had, by a special act, authorized the building of a railroad from Port Lawrence (Toledo) to some point on the Kalamazoo River, passing through or near Adrian, and that they expected this road to follow the section line
west from Adrian, which would bring it to pass through the lands they had taken up. Nathan B. Kidder, upon learning the intention of the Ames brothers to settle in Michigan, went to them and described in glowing terms the wealth and beauty of the lands in the Bean Creek Val- ley, as he had learned them from his brother Hiram, and advised Mr. Charles Ames and Thomas Pennock, who had been selected to look up the lands for the party, to proceed to the house of his brother Hiram, who would, he said, show them the loveliest country the sun ever shone upon. Acting upon his advice, they came to Lenawee County in May, 1833, and under the leadership of Hiram Kidder explored the Bean Creek country. Mr. Kidder was a prac- tical surveyor, and thoroughly well acquainted with the country. He had selected his land deliberately, after care- ful examination, and secured what he deemed the most eligible part of the country. Intending to locate there, he was naturally desirous of having neighbors, and did his best to convince these land-lookers that their best interests would be subserved by settling in his vicinity. So success- ful was he in convincing them of the desirability and proba- ble future rapid rise in value of these lands that, on the 20th of May, 1833, they together entered the southwest quarter of section 7, in the present town of Hudson. This land was entered, not because it was their first choice, but because the lands of Hillsdale County had not yet been opened for settlement. As soon as they were placed in the market, Ames and Pennock, on the 7th day of June, entered lands within the present town of Pittsford ; Ames entering the southeast quarter of section 1 and the north- east quarter of section 12, and Pennock entering the south- east quarter of the southeast quarter of section 12. Hav- ing made these purchases, they returned to the East to prepare their families for removal.
Some time in the month of October following they had all concluded their arrangements, and were met together at Rochester, ready to begin the pilgrimage to their new home in the Western wilderness.
Embarking on a canal-boat, the party reached Buffalo in due time, and took passage for Detroit, on a sailing vessel about to start up the lake. Two days were consumed at Buffalo in vexatious delays before the vessel started on its voyage, and while on its passage was met by a fierce storm which forced the vessel to lie at anchor for two days more, so that the journey to Detroit was not only long but tedious. However, our party of emigrants survived it all, and upon their arrival at Detroit immediately, with undiminished courage, pressed forward into the wilderness. At about sunset on the 1st day of November, they arrived at the still unfinished log house of Hiram Kidder, which he had erected in the latter part of August.
* Prepared by C. W. Brown.
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RESIDENCE OF J. B. LINSDAY, LITCHFIELD, MICH .
RESIDENCE OF J. H. MINER, PITTSFORD, MICHIGAN .
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HISTORY OF HILLSDALE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
The party then consisted of Charles Ames and his wife, Mrs. Ames' sister, Louisa Ball, Elizabeth Ames, since Mrs. James Sprague, Henry, William B., and Ezra Ames, and Alpheus Pratt. Mr. Pratt's wife and child had been over- come by the hardships and fatigue of the long journey, and had been left at the house of Mr. Lyman Pease, about one mile west of Adrian, where they remained about a week resting and regaining strength before they came on and re- joined their friends. The night before most of the party had lodged at the house of Stephen Perkins, about four miles west of Adrian, and had spent the entire day from early morning till the hour of sunset in the wilderness, traversing the 12 miles of distance that had separated them from their destination in the Bean Creek Valley. There was a light covering of damp snow lying upon the ground, which served to conceal the wagon-road that had previously been underbrushed, and the party was obliged to be guided on its way by the "blazed" trees that marked its course. Mrs. Charles Ames had a babe but seven weeks old, and being in rather poor health was compelled to ride, but the rest of the party, including Miss Elizabeth Ames and Miss Ball, walked nearly the entire distance. They were frequently compelled to sit down upon some con- venient log by the roadside, remove their stockings and wring the water from them, and then, after replacing them, proceed upon their journey until a repetition of the opera- tion became necessary. Thus they proceeded until the shades of night found them at Mr. Kidder's house, where they were heartily welcomed and treated to the best fare the house afforded,-a supper, and a bed upon the floor. Mr. Kidder had arrived with his family only three days before, and here our pioneers of Pittsford spent their first night in the vicinity of their future homes in a log house having neither floor, windows, or doors, and with 17 per- sons in the only room, which was but 25 feet square.
The long hours of the night slowly wore away, and at last morning dawned upon the infant settlement. Before breakfast could be prepared it was found to be necessary to unload a barrel of pork from the wagon, and in the process it slipped from their hands and went rolling away down the hill for a distance of several rods. Charles Ames, worn out by the toils and hardships of the journey, worried because of the illness of his wife and child, and discouraged by the evident hardships involved in subduing the frowning forest that shut them so closely in from all the world, sat down upon the refractory pork-barrel at the foot of the hill and gave way to his despondent feelings by wishing himself and family back in their Eastern home. The wish was vain and futile. Separated from him by more than four hundred miles of distance, and still more completely isolated by the miles upon miles of practically impassable forest-roads and the frozen surface of Lake Erie, and with none of the more modern facilities of travel that practically annihilate the distance, how could he change the circumstances of the sit- uation ? Sitting on and standing around that pork-barrel, a council was held, and though its deliberations might not weigh heavily in the fates and affairs of nations, they were of supreme importance as regarded the future prospects and progress of the little colony. At last an agreement was reached by which they pledged themselves to remain to-
gether five years, and then, if their prospects were no better, they should be at liberty to separate and try their fortunes elsewhere. It is not a matter of wonder that they all felt discouraged and disheartened. They were in the midst of a wilderness, twelve miles from the nearest habitation ; win- ter was setting in, and already had made his presence mani- fest by the presence of snow and ice and raw, cold winds ; they were dependent for their subsistence upon the store of provisions they had brought with them, eked out with what food their rifles might furnish from the animals that roamed the forest, and were also without any means of securing help from their friends. It certainly was a trying situation, and well calculated to draw out the fortitude and courage of the members of the colony, and to their praise be it said, their firmness of purpose and resolution of spirit made them masters of the situation. The first step was to finish the Kid- der house, which was to furnish them all with a temporary home until they could get houses of their own completed. As Henry was a carpenter and joiner, to him was intrusted the work of making the doors and windows, while the rest of the party, under the supervision of Mr. Kidder, prepared the chinks and sticks for the chimney. In a few days the house was made quite comfortable ; but, as the party was a large one, it was necessary to do a considerable share of the cooking out-of-doors, a fact which, on account of the cold weather, caused the ladies of the party many cold fingers, and proved to be a disagreeable business.
As soon as the Kidder house was completed the Ames family began to look about them for a site for their own dwelling, and finally selected a spot on the bank of Hills- dale Creek, when the clearing of the ground and cutting of logs was immediately commenced.
Before the work had made much progress the stock of provisions began to run low, and it became necessary to send to Adrian for a fresh supply. For the performance of this duty Alpheus Pratt and Ezra Ames were selected, and made the round trip of thirty-six miles in five days, having spent one night in the " twelve-mile woods," sleeping under their wagon, while the wolves enlivened the watches of the night with a howling chorus that, as one of the party said, made their hair stand on end. However, they escaped all the perils of the forest, and finally reached home in safety with their load, which consisted of about eight hundred pounds of provisions. By the time of their return the logs for the house were prepared, and the work of drawing in and laying them up commenced immediately, but, as it was a new kind of work, progressed but slowly. In about five weeks, however, the house was so far com- pleted as to allow of its being occupied, and the Ames family and their friends moved in. This was the first dwelling-house erected in the town of Pittsford, and stood on the south line of the east half of the southeast quarter of section 1, the site now being occupied by a small frame house owned by E. and L. Childs. Upon the completion of this house Alpheus Pratt and Henry Ames looked about to find suitable locations for houses of their own. Pratt selected land on the northeast quarter of section 13, since known as the Bush farm, and Henry Ames selected land in the town of Hudson, which has since been the home of the venerable Clark Ames. They entered their lands at
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HISTORY OF HILLSDALE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
the Monroe land-office, Dec. 5, 1833, and before the 1st of January, Pratt's house, the second one erected in the town, was ready for occupancy. This house has since been re- placed by a frame dwelling, and is now owned and occupied by Mr. E. D. Pierson. While the Ames party were on their way in, they were accosted, near Clinton, by a hunter and trapper, who inquired where they were going. They replied "to the Bean Creek country," and gave him a glowing description of the country and the abundance of all kinds of game. Struck by their description, Jesse Smith, for that was the hunter's name, said he was looking for land, and that if there was any good country out there he was going to see it, tossed his traps into one of the wagons, shouldered his rifle, and marched on with them. He skirmished around the party, frequently making them calls, until they reached the house of Stephen Perkins, on the last day of October. From there he went on a hunt- ing excursion, and a few days after the arrival of the party at Kidder's rejoined them there. Believing that he had found the land for which he was looking, he at once started for Monroe, taking, as was usual with him, a free course through the woods, and the first night encamped alone in the woods near Devil's Lake. The next morning, after visiting an Indian camp near by, he called at the house of a Mr. Thompson, who had settled near the lake, and breakfasted with him. That night he lodged at the house of a Mr. Taylor, on the east side of Round Lake. In the morning he sent his baggage on to Adrian by a teamster, who was traveling thither, and proceeded on foot towards the same place. In the vicinity of the Raisin he met a party of land-lookers, who were on their way to the lakes. He described to them the many advantages of the Bean Creek country, and induced them to visit it, they engaging him to act as their guide. As soon as this party had been guided to their destination, Smith, in company with Oliver Purchase, who had selected land in the town of Hudson, started for Monroe, and arrived at the land-office on the 6th of November. Both made their entries of land on that day, but Smith's, for some unexplained reason, was not placed on the records until the 15th of the month,- about the time that he reached his home in Albion, N. Y., whither he had gone to prepare his family for removal in the spring, and to settle up his business matters there.
Thus the winter of 1833-34 found the little colony. Several other persons had entered land during the months of September, October, November, and December, but none had made any settlement in this town except the Ameses and Alpheus Pratt. The names of these purchasers, and the date of their purchases, were as follows: Curren White, September 24; William Flowers and Thomas Hurdsman, October 30; Stephen Wilcox, November 20; William B. and Elizabeth Ames, December 5; John Gustin, December 5 and 6; and Isaac French, December 10.
During the winter Charles and William Ames, who were shoemakers, were absent from the settlement working at their trade in Detroit. Ezra remained at Charles'.
Though winter had now fairly settled down upon the valley, practically isolating the settlers from the busy world, they were not idle. Plenty of work was ready to their hands, and they varied the regular business of chopping
with occasional deer-hunts, or with trips into the adjacent country with land-lookers. These latter were present in profusion, and the settlers had plenty of company and gen- erally a new lot for each succeeding night. They were wel- comed warmly, sheltered and fed, and given lodgings on what was a very common thing in those days, a " shake- down," or bed on the floor. Then, too, they received fre- quent visits from the Indians, who had two villages near by, one in the southern part of the present town of Som- erset, and the other in the southern part of this town. The latter was called Squawfield, and Baw Beese was the chief. An Indian trail left the principal trail (leading from Detroit to Chicago) near Silver Lake, and skirting Devil's Lake on the northwest, passed near the Kidder Settlement, and terminated at Squawfield. These Indians were of the Pottawattamie nation, and very friendly and inoffensive un- less the white men, through lax principles or greed of gain, supplied them with that fruitful cause of discord in many other than savage breasts,-whisky,-when they sometimes became ugly and quarrelsome. They would willingly trade with the whites, but recognized nothing but silver as a me- dium of exchange or a measure of values. This they des- ignated as " shuniah."
On the 23d of January, Alpheus Pratt was chopping in the woods but a short distance from his house, and Mrs. Pratt sent her little six-year-old son, Charley, to call him to his supper. Soon after Mr. Pratt came to the house alone, and being asked where Charley was, said he had not seen him. Fears that the boy was lost were entertained, and Mr. Pratt returned to the woods and searched till dark for him, but without success. Returning to the house for his lantern, he told of his failure to find the boy, and Mrs. Pratt at once started alone and on foot through the woods to the house of Charles Ames, and informed them of the affair. Henry and Ezra Ames, Hiram Kidder, and a man named Tabor at once repaired to Pratt's house and joined in the search. The father had already discovered the boy's track, which they followed as rapidly as possible, but, as there was quite a crust on the snow, with considerable difficulty. After several hours' search they all became cold, tired, and discouraged, and concluding that the boy could not be found, the assistants gave up the search, and built a rousing fire to warm their benumbed limbs and to scare away wolves, if any were prowling about. But the father's heart recognized neither chill nor fatigue, and the father's love kept him at the search, regardless of the doings of his companions. His loud and frequent calls of "Charley ! Charley !" were soon answered by the lad's weak voice, and clasped in his father's arms, the boy, with body benumbed and both feet frozen, was carried to the fire. He told of having seen dogs in the woods, and undoubtedly had seen wolves in his wanderings, and had been protected from them by what, if not by the merciful hand of a divine Provi- dence ? Taking a northeasterly course, being guided by the stars, they finally struck the Indian trail about three miles west of Charles Ames' house, and following it, reached. home about sunrise, and restored the boy to the arms of his distracted and almost despairing mother. They were never able to tell just where the boy was found, but supposed it to have been a little south of the village of Pittsford.
FARM RESIDENCE OF HON. J. M. OSBORN , (SEC. 13.) PITTSFORD, MICHIGAN.
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HISTORY OF HILLSDALE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
In the month of February, Thomas Pennock came the second time to the Kidder settlement. He was at Jackson, and reaching a settlement on the Chicago road, since called Gambleville, hired a man to pilot him through the woods to his destination. They were caught in a snow-storm, and the guide becoming confused, they wandered about all day, and were obliged to spend the night in the woods, and that, too, without a fire, as they were without any means of kindling one. Their situation was both unpleasant and perilous, and the guide gave up, and would have lain down and frozen to death, had not Pennock cut a switch, and by its frequent and vigorous use kept him upon his feet, and by so doing saved his life. The next morning dawned clear and pleasant, and they soon discovered the trail, and returned to Gambleville, where they arrived about three o'clock in the afternoon, tired, faint, and hungry. The next morning, having procured an Indian guide, who said he knew where the white chemkeman, or white black-haired man (Kidder), lived, Pennock recommenced his journey, and following the Indian trail from Devil's Lake towards Squawfield, soon came to the road leading to Kidder's. Giving his guide a silver dollar, he pursued his way alone, and reached the settlement about the middle of the after- noon, sick and weary from the effects of travel and exposure. He afterwards became satisfied that the night he was lost in the woods was spent somewhere in the vicinity of the present village of Rollin.
In the month of March, 1834, Sylvanus Estes came to this town, and on the 15th day of the month entered land on section 10 in the name of his wife, Ruth Estes. During the same month his brother Rufus came, and assisted him in the work of clearing a piece of ground for spring crops. Rufus Estes was a mighty hunter, and receives the honor of having been considered the crack shot of the Bean Creek Valley.
In the latter part of April, Jesse Smith, accompanied by his wife and five children, started from their home in Albion for their possessions in this town. At Buffalo they shipped on board the steamboat " William Penn," one of the clumsy affairs of that period, and as it was also early in the season, after a somewhat prolonged voyage were landed in due time at Monroe, where two teams were hired to transport them and their goods to Adrian. Arrived there, it was found necessary to dispose of a new wagon and some boots and shoes that he was bringing into the country, and from their sale he realized 27 bushels of wheat and $10 in money. With the money Mr. Smith hired two other teams to take his family and goods to Kidder's, and, with his wife and three children, resumed their journey. The two older boys had gone on in advance, in company with William Pur- chase. The first day they traveled four miles. The next day, about noon, one of the teams gave out, and the goods were unloaded, piled beside the road, and the team sent back. With the remaining team they toiled on through the afternoon, and at dark were compelled to camp near Posey Lake. Two of the children were put to bed in the wagon, and the youngest Mrs. Smith held in her arms all night. In the morning they resumed their journey, and soon met their sons, Lorenzo and William, who had been to the settlement and were returning to meet them with Mr.
Van Gauder and a yoke of oxen. Doubling teams, they were able to progress more rapidly, and reached Kidder's about noon, where they found dinner and a hearty welcome awaiting them.
The house built by Messrs. Purchase and Van Gauder, who were both bachelors, was by them tendered to the Smiths as a temporary residence, and was occupied by them until the 20th of August, when they moved into a house of their own. Mr. Purchase had chopped quite a piece of ground around his house, and this he offered to Smith for a corn-field. It was accepted, and Smith, assisted by his sons, logged and burned it, and planted it to corn and potatoes. The crops realized-50 bushels of corn and 40 bushels of potatoes,-were important factors in their next winter's subsistence. Supplemented by fish from the streams and lakes, game from the forest, and honey from the convenient receptacles where it had been placed by the " busy bees," they sufficed for the sustenance of the family and the entertainment of travelers and adventurers, who were both quite numerous, and none of whom were ever turned hungry from his door. Mr. Smith was accounted a great hunter, and one of the best shots in the valley. He was very successful in the pursuit of game, and spent con- siderable of his time roaming the woods with his faithful rifle. He is still living, a resident of this town, but has been blind for several years.
In the latter part of May, Robert and Dudley Worden and Samuel Day, with their respective families, arrived at the creek, Robert Worden and Day settling in Pittsford, and Dudley Worden in Hudson. The two Wordens left their homes in Fairport, Monroe Co, N. Y., in a covered wagon about the 1st of April, 1834. They each had a wife and one child with them, making a party of six. On the way they fell in with the family of Samuel Day, travel- ing in the same way, and intending to settle in Ohio. They traveled along in company, and after a little Day decided to abandon his original plan and come on to Michigan with the others. Their last day's journey was from Adrian to the creek, a distance of eighteen miles, twelve of which, from Bart. White's west, were in a dense wilderness. Night overtook the party while still five miles from their place of destination,-Kidder's,-and it was soon found to be im- possible to proceed farther with the wagons, and to camp in the woods was not practicable, as they had no means of starting a fire. The horses were unhitched, and the party started forward on foot, Mrs. Worden, who wore a white skirt, walking in the rear of the rest to guide the driver of the horses. Marching in this way they finally reached Kidder's late in the evening. The next day they found their land, and commenced their log houses. Mr. Robert Worden thus describes the house he built : "I built me a house without a single board, except what was made with an axe. I split logs for a floor. The chamber floor was bark peeled from elm-logs. Our roof was bark, as were also the gables or ends. Our door was plank, made with an axe, two inches thick, pinned to wooden hinges, and fas- tened to the logs so it would swing inside. With an auger a hole was made in the logs, so it could be pinned on the inside to protect us from the bears and wolves, of which there were a plenty. We had a window-hole cut out for a
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HISTORY OF HILLSDALE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
six-lighted window, but had no window to put in it. The principal light came down the chimney-hole. One night the wolves commenced to howl. There was so many of them and so near I became frightened. We were sleeping on the floor, not having even a Michigan bedstead. We got up, went up the ladder with our bed, pulled the ladder after us, made our bed on the bark, and should have con- sidered ourselves secure from the wolves, only that we were fearful that the bark would give way and let us fall. And all this fear within two miles of two villages. One village had double the number of houses the other had, and that had two."
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