USA > Michigan > Hillsdale County > History of Hillsdale county. Michigan, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 82
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A. D. SOUTHWORTH.
The subject of this sketch was born Nov. 25, 1834, in the town of Perrinton, Monroe Co., N. Y. He was a son of J. B. Southworth. He moved with his parents to Michigan in 1844, where his father bought a farm, and he helped his father on the same until he was twenty-four years old. He then bought fifty-eight acres of wild land adjoin- ing his father's place and commenced to improve it. In 1866 he was married to Sophia A. Crin, and built a house on his place and moved into it the same year. They have a family of two children,-Anna Adell, born May 20, 1867, and Charles Augustus, born Feb. 3, 1869, having lost one child in infancy. By industry and perseverance Mr. South- worth, with the aid of his good wife, has improved his place and added to his farm, and now owns one of the good farms of Reading, a picture of which will be found on another leaf of this book. He has always taken an active part in church matters and is a member of the Free-Will Baptist Church.
HENRY K. ABBOTT.
George Abbott, the venerable ancestor of a numerous progeny, emigrated from Yorkshire, England, about the year 1640, and settled at Andover, Mass. Here he lived and reared a large family, and died at an advanced age, on the same farm now owned by John Abbott, one of the sev- enth generation from George. William, one of the sons of George, was born in 1657 and died in 1713. His son Philip was born in 1699 and died in 1748. Next in de-
scent was one of his sons, Joseph, who was born in 1735 and died in 1814. He was a man of distinction in his generation,-widely known and distinguished for his patri- otism and moral virtues. He was a wealthy farmer, and during the ever-memorable struggle for independence was a colonel of militia in the rebel forces.
Delano, one of his sons, and the father of our subject, was born in 1774. He was a farmer, and was also engaged in the manufacture of woolens at the town of Vernon, Conn., and in 1829 removed to Ira, N. Y. He reared a family of four sons and four daughters, and died, at the age of sixty-four years, in 1838.
Henry K. Abbott was born near Hartford, Conn., on the 25th day of December, 1816. He attended the common schools of that day until seventeen years of age, when he went to learn the carpenter's trade. After serving his ap- prenticeship he worked at his trade for ten years, and, hav- ing during this time by industry and economy accumulated a little money, he came West in quest of a farm.
In 1842 he purchased one hundred and twenty acres of wild land in the township of Reading, about ten miles south west of Hillsdale, which has been his permanent home ever since. After his purchase he returned to the State of New York and again went to work at his trade, which he continued for two years. During this time he became ac- quainted with and married Miss Olive P. Grinell, of Jeffer- son Co., N. Y., and in the fall of 1844 they came on to settle permanently on their new farm in Reading.
They resided for a short time with his brother, until they could erect a small frame house on their own land. For the next few years he was engaged in chopping, log- ging, and clearing off his lands,-and, by untiring industry and perseverance, in a very short time became one of the leading solid farmers of Hillsdale County. As the years rolled on, the inherent sagacity and business shrewdness of Mr. Abbott began to tell favorably in his finances. He, in fact, became known as one of the most successful farmers in the county, and as one of the most extensive wool-growers, -and it is entirely due to his sound judgment in regard to all that pertains to the routine of wool-growing, fruit- growing, and cropping generally, that has made him a man of wealth and consideration where so many have failed. He at one time owned farms amounting to four hundred and seventy-five acres, but he has recently sold off some, so that his present farm consists of two hundred and eighty acres, beautifully situated, on which, a few years since, he erected one of the finest farm-residences in Hillsdale County.
Mr. Abbott and his excellent wife are the parents of six children,-five sons and one daughter. Eugenia, the eldest, is the wife of W. J. Meader, and resides at Elkhart, Ind. Jerome, who for several years has been an extensive wool- grower in Colorado, is a single man. Angus H. has been married and his wife is deceased ; he resides on a farm in Reading, near his old home. Walter C. is engaged in the commission business in the city of New York. Horace C. is a partner with his brother in Colorado, and Charlie W., who is a young man, is still at home with his parents.
The reader will be pleased to find a beautiful view-on another page of this work-of the farm-home of one of the esteemed citizens and solid men of Hillsdale County.
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HISTORY OF HILLSDALE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
FREDERICK FOWLER.
Conspicuous among the old residents and active business men of Hillsdale County is Colonel Frederick Fowler, of Reading. His parents, Richard and Anna Fowler, were natives of Massachusetts. They reared a family of nine children,-Henry, Frederick, Franklin, Louisa, Horace, Sophia, Emily, Timna, and Melissa. In 1814, Mr. Rich- ard Fowler emigrated to Ohio with his family. He re- mained there engaged in farming until 1834, when he removed to this county. Having reached Jonesville by the Chicago turnpike, he and his sons cut their own road through the woods to their destination, on section 30, in the present township of Adams. There they cleared up a good farm, and there Richard Fowler died in 1847, at the age of fifty-six years. His widow passed away in 1873, aged seventy-eight years.
Frederick Fowler was born at Perry, Geauga Co., Ohio, on the 5th day of February, 1815. He remained with his parents until twenty-one years old, assisting in the labors of the farm, and acquiring a fair English education. Soon after reaching his majority he took and carried out several large contracts for clearing off and grading the Michigan Southern Railroad immediately east of Hillsdale, besides partially clearing up a farm in Hillsdale township. About 1837, his brother Henry and himself bought seventy-six acres of land, known as Fowler's addition to Hillsdale City, on which they erected sixteen dwellings. They also en- gaged in the dry-goods trade in Hillsdale; but as Henry died at sea, on a voyage to Havana for his health, Fred- erick closed the business, having obtained two hundred and forty acres of wild land in Reading, and built a log house upon it. He moved thither in 1846, and there he has re- sided, engaged in farming, to the present time. By pur- chase this tract now contains four hundred and forty acres of land beautifully situated, with fine buildings, and all the accessories of a first-class farm. Colonel Fowler is also the owner of several other farms, besides considerable village
property, etc. Notwithstanding his numerous agricultural and business enterprises, he has been very active in all mat- ters relating to the public welfare. He was one of the principal agents in procuring the location of Hillsdale Col- lege at Hillsdale, and has been one of its trustees from the beginning to the present time.
Always an ardent Republican, Frederick Fowler was one of the foremost to take up arms when his country's life was assailed. In the summer of 1861 he raised a company of horsemen, of which he was commissioned as captain, and which became Company G of the 2d Michigan Cavalry (Phil. Sheridan's regiment). In the fall of 1861 the regiment went to the front. Capt. Fowler was with it at New Madrid, Corinth, Chaplain Hills, and numerous other conflicts, as well as in raiding through Virginia and East Tennessee, burning bridges, tearing up railways, and other- wise crippling the enemy. Being promoted to the position of lieutenant-colonel in June, 1863, he resigned and returned home. Colonel Fowler was also supervisor and magistrate of his town ; was elected a representative in the Legislature in 1857, and in 1864 was chosen to represent Hillsdale County in the State Senate. He was married on the 13th day of January, 1842, to Miss Phebe L. Willits, of Lock- port, N. Y., and they have been the parents of six children : Helen, wife of J. C. Merriman, of Reading; two who died young; Henry M., of Jasper Co., Mo .; and Fremont and Frederick, Jr., still at home. In this brief sketch we have confined ourselves to the barest facts, which show the character of Frederick Fowler, one of the very earliest pioneers of Hillsdale County, more clearly than we could do by any labored eulogy. He is a type of the active workers who have made the wilderness change to fruitful fields, and as his energy has added to his own possessions, it has at the same time benefited the community in which he lived. The example he has set has borne its fruit. As a farmer, soldier, legislator, and neighbor, he may be well satisfied with the record he has made.
WOODBRIDGE.
THE township of Woodbridge, lying in the interior of the county, a little southwest of the centre, was formed from Fayette in 1840. Its original territory embraced within its boundaries the present townships of Woodbridge, Cambria, and the west half of Amboy. Cambria was set off in 1841, and part of Amboy in 1850.
It now contains a total area of thirty sections, and is bounded on the north by Cambria; east, by Ransom ; south, by Amboy ; and west, by Camden township.
The general surface is elevated and rolling, quite regular in its character, except along the water-courses and in the northern part, where the bluffs and knolls rise almost to the dignity of hills. The entire township was covered, origi- nally, with a heavy growth of timber, chiefly beech, maple,
linn, poplar, black and white ash, with considerable oak, hickory, and black walnut. A few acres of the primeval forests are still found scattered here and there over the township, giving evidence of its former wealth and magnifi- cence in the grand deciduous trees once so common to this section. The soil is of a clay and gravelly loam, very fertile, producing corn, potatoes, fruits, and the various cereals in the greatest abundance and perfection. As a grazing and stock-raising township, it has few superiors in the county.
St. Joseph's River, its principal water-course, enters the township from the north, and flows southwest through the central part. Silver Creek, flowing southeast, intersects the northeast part. These streams, and their numerous small tributaries, afford good water-power privileges, and excel-
RESIDENCE OF COL. F. FOWLER, READING, MICH.
329
HISTORY OF HILLSDALE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
lent drainage, rendering possible the tillage of nearly the entire township. Cub Lake, lying partly in this town and partly in Cambria, is found near the centre of the north border.
The township has a total area of 19,228 acres, of which 6000 acres are improved, and in 1874 contained a popula- tion of 1386 inhabitants, of whom a large majority are agri- culturists.
FIRST ENTRIES OF PUBLIC LANDS.
The following are the names* of those who purchased land of the United States prior to April 27, 1838, and whose lands were situated within the present boundaries of Woodbridge.
These lands were all situated in township 8 south, range 3 west.
Section 1 .- Wilder & Hastings, Barnett Wightman, Elisha Brown, A. S. & Stephen Clark, John R. Willis.
Section 2 .- John B. Norris, Celesta Goodrich, Elisha McNeill, Joseph True.
Section 3 .- H. P. Sartwell, Joseph R. Williams, John Morgan, Celesta Goodrich, Francis Nelson, Schuyler W. Cotton.
Section 4 .- A. J. Comstock, A. S. & Stephen Clark, Dwight Woodbury, Russell Forsyth, John Morgan.
Section 5 .- Henry Forman, Dwight Woodbury, Rus- sell Forsyth.
Section 6 .- David W. Whitford, Henry Forman, Wil- der & Hastings.
Section 7 .- Andrew Taylor, George W. Jermain, Amos Bigelow, Wilder & Hastings, Dwight Woodbury.
Section 8 .- George W. Strong, Ezekiel Lamphere, Green Hubbard, A. S. & Stephen Clark, Russell Forsyth.
Section 9 .- P. H. Sartwell, Burton H. Lamphere, Green, Hubbard & Lyster, William N. Green, Dwight Woodbury.
Section 10 .- H. P. Sartwell, A. F. Oliver, Lothrop & Buck, Dwight Woodbury, Stiles Stanton, Edwin Randall.
Section 11 .- Jesse Chapman, Abram Andrews, Dwight Woodbury, Stiles Stanton.
Section 12 .- William Saxton, Wilder & Hastings, Stiles Stanton, August Ford.
Section 13 .- Jacob Clark, William Sherman, William P. Green, Elleferrouno Elraseo Maxon, John Stuck, Irwin Camp, John Mc Vickar.
Section 14 .- Lothrop & Buck, Ralph Pratt, Dwight Woodbury, William Sherman, Stiles Stanton, John Mc- Vickar.
Section 15 .- Sartwell & Oliver, Joseph R. Williams, Lothrop & Buck, A. S. & Stephen Clark, William P. Green.
Section 17 .- Samuel McCourtney, B. Harrington, Wil- der & Hastings, Dwight Woodbury, A. Forman.
Section 18 .- Ira Barton, Wilder & Hastings, Dwight Woodbury.
Section 19 .- Ebenezer C. Aiken, Wilder & Hastings, Dwight Woodbury, John W. Johnson, William P. Green.
Section 20 .- E. C. Aiken, Green, Hubbard & Lester, A. S. & Stephen Clark.
Section 21 .- Joseph R. Williams, William O. Wood, E. C. Aiken.
Section 22 .- Lothrop & Buck, Wilder & Hastings, E.
C. Aiken, George W. Jermain.
Section 23 .- Wilder & Hastings, John McVickar, C. H. & William T. Carroll.
Section 24 .- William Greenleaf, I. C. Voorhees.
Section 25 .- Green, Hubbard & Lester, Stiles Stanton,
C. H. & William T. Carroll, John R. Willis.
Section 26 .- Green, Hubbard & Lester, Stiles Stanton, John R. Willis.
Section 27 .- C. Pratt, C. L. Grant, P. Bronson, William P. Grant, Wilder & Hastings, Green, Hubbard & Lester, Sally Ann Falkner.
Section 28 .- Joseph R. Williams, C. Pratt, C. L. Grant, P. Bronson, William G. Grant, Thomas Burt, William P. Green.
Section 29 .- Joseph R. Williams, A. S. & Stephen Clark.
Section 30 .- William P. Green, Stiles Stanton, and Sally Ann Falkner.
Of those named in the foregoing list, William Saxton, Jacob Clark, Burton H. Lamphere, John B. Norris, and John W. Johnson seem to have been the only ones who became actual settlers. The remainder were speculators, who had purchased these lands of the government for $1.25 per acre.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
The first permanent settlementt within the present bounds of Woodbridge was made by William Saxton, who came from Raisin, Lenawee Co., Mich., and settled on the northeast quarter of section 12, in the winter of 1834-35. Mr. Saxton came from Canandaigua, Ontario Co., N. Y., originally, and had been a resident of Lenawee County since 1830. He purchased his land-160 acres-of the government, in 1834, and during the fall of the same year came on and built a log cabin. He was accompanied by his wife and four sons,-then small children,-viz .: Wallace, James, Stephen, and John. During the last nine miles of his journey, he was obliged to cut out his own road for the passage of his ox-team and sled. Mr. Saxton served as a soldier during the Black Hawk war, and is now a resident of the State of Iowa.
The next settler in the township was Jacob Clark, who came from Andover, Allegany Co., N. Y., and settled first in Monroe Co., Mich., where he remained two years. In December, 1836, he located upon the north part of section 13, the present site of the village of Frontier. Mr. Clark had also purchased of the government, visited his land the fall previously, and erected a small log cabin. His sons Robert W. and Sylvester, and daughters Rebecca, Sarah, and Eliza, came with him. Mr. Clark drove in, and owned
* At the time this list was compiled (1838) by Hon. I. P. Chris- tiancy, the ownership of nearly the entire township was vested in the men whose names are here represented.
t It is claimed by some old residents that a man named Story was the first settler in Woodbridge. He came from the East, had aban- doned his wife, and, in company with another woman, settled down in the wilderness, on the line between sections 7 and 8. He built a cabin, and cleared some four or five acres, cutting in on both sections. After
a brief period his place of concealment was discovered by his wife, or her friends, when he again fled to parts unknown.
As early as 1838 the ground cleared by Story was covered with a luxuriant growth of red raspberry bushes.
42
330
HISTORY OF HILLSDALE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
the first span of horses in the township. One of them, with its mate, had been driven by him from Allegany Co., N. Y., to Monroe Co., Mich., in 1834.
Daniel Saxton, a brother of William, came from Canan- daigua, N. Y., and settled here in 1837. He is a resident of the town at the present time, and assures us that at the time of his arrival the only families living in what is now Woodbridge were those of his brother William Saxton and Jacob Clark.
Samuel Wheeler came from Benton, Yates Co., N. Y., . and settled in Woodbridge,-then Fayette township,-on section 10, in December, 1838. He had purchased five 80- acre lots, and paid for his land before coming. He was possessed of considerable means, and was the first to open a farm to cultivation to any considerable extent.
In September of the same year Richard Bryan and his family came in from Cheshire, Berkshire Co., Mass., and settled upon section 5. He had served as a soldier during the war of 1812, and was accompanied here by his sons William, Richard, Jr., John, and Ezra, all of whom are residents of the township at the present time. When the elder Bryan built his first log cabin, the lumber which he found it necessary to use in the construction of gables, floors, doors, etc., was carried from Cambria Mills on his back. The elder son, William Bryan, built the first framed house in 1841. It was a small structure, and stood on the west half of the northeast quarter of section 5. John Bryan built the second framed dwelling, some four.or five years later. This was a more pretentious edifice. Worthy neigh- bors, who still resided in log dwellings, when called upon to express their opinion of neighbor John's enterprise and taste, replied that they " preferred log houses, they were warmer."
Harvey Fish, a native of New York, came in from Ohio, and settled upon the farm now owned by John Bryan, late in the fall of 1838. . Romanta and Luther Phinney, bro- thers, settled upon section 10-the Harrington place-at about the same time.
In January, 1839, the settlement was increased in num- bers by the arrival of the families of Burton H. Lamphere and Patrick McCartney, who, though originally from On- tario Co., N. Y., came in from Plymouth, Wayne Co., Mich. Messrs. Lamphere and McCartney had visited the township the fall previously, purchased their land, and, together, had erected a log cabin for Mr. Lamphere on the northeast corner of section 9. McCartney's lot was situated one mile west of his neighbor's (Lamphere's), being the northeast corner of section 8.
Mr. McCartney, who is now a resident of the village of Cambria Mills, relates that when he settled in Woodbridge, with his wife and two small children, his possessions consisted of a small load of household goods (which he had hired a man from Plymouth to bring in for him), a cow, a yoke of steers, and a pig. In midwinter his family occupied the cabin before it was completed. The surrounding country for miles was heavily timbered with forests of beech, maple, linn, whitewood, white and black ash, with considerable oak and black walnut. He remembers that the timber growing upon sections 4 and 5 was especially handsome. Deer, wild turkeys, wolves, bears, and cats, and many other
species of wild fowls and animals, abounded on every hand. As an instance of the abundance of deer, he mentions that some two or three years after his settlement here he was engaged by two well-known hunters, named Pulaski Fraker and Leonard Swiger, to take into Hillsdale deer, killed by them, and that at one load he hauled 20 deer from the residence of James H. Fullerton to the small store kept by Henry and Fred Fowler, in Hillsdale.
Ephraim Hoisington also became a resident in 1839.
Cyrus Patterson came from St. Lawrence Co., N. Y., and located in Toledo, O., in 1837. He afterwards re- moved to Lenawee Co., Mich., where he remained until January, 1840, when, having purchased land in township 8, range 3, he settled upon the premises where he now re- sides. Mr. Patterson was elected supervisor in 1844, 1845, 1846, and again in 1851, and has honorably served his town in various other official capacities.
John W. Johnson, another well-known pioneer, beca me a resident during the same month and year. He came from Broome, Schoharie Co., N. Y., and settled in Oakland Co., Mich., in 1835. While a resident of the latter county he purchased his present homestead in Woodbridge, and the deed for his land bears the bold signature of Andrew Jack- son. His sons, Orrin B. and John L. Johnson, came in with him. His nearest neighbor was Patrick McCartney, who lived to the north of him, about four miles distant. James H. Fullerton lived to the southeast, at about the same dis- tance. The nearest grist-mill was at Jonesville, and it occu- pied three days' time to go there with an ox-team and return.
Mr. Johnson's log cabin was not built until after his ar- rival on the ground of his future home. It was occupied by his family before completion. But a good rousing fire was kept burning continuously in the wide, old-fashioned fireplace, and the generous heat imparted from it made ample amends for the unchinked crevices in the outer walls. During the remainder of the first winter, assisted by a man whom he had hired, he cut down the timber on ten acres, and in the spring planted one-half of it with corn and po- tatoes, from which he obtained a good crop. The following fall the whole ten acres were seeded with wheat, which he bought at Jonesville for 37 2 cents per bushel. This crop also yielded well. He relates that when the wheat had begun to ripen he was obliged to keep his children out around the field during the daytime, to drive and frighten away count- less numbers of wild turkeys that he doubts not would have destroyed his crop unless this precaution had been taken. Deer also were so plentiful that, during the first winter, they came up and browsed on the tree-tops, while the wood- chopper was at work on the trunk of the same tree.
Lemuel Blount, with his sons Albert and Amasa, came from the town of German, Genesee Co., N. Y., and settled on the premises where he now resides in March, 1840.
Asa L. and Joseph Divine, Jr., brothers, came from Springfield, Lucas Co, Ohio, in 1841, and settled on sec- tion 6. Two years later their father, Joseph, Sr., and brothers, William and James, became residents of the township. Representatives of these families are now very numerous in the northwest part of Woodbridge. The Divines came from Cayuga Co., N. Y., and during the war of 1812, Joseph, Sr., served as captain with the New York
331
HISTORY OF HILLSDALE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
State troops on the Canadian frontier. Among other set- tlers who came in during the winter of 1840-41 were Orrin Cobb, Urias Hoyt, a Methodist preacher, Jacob Sumner, and Chester Stoddart, the first supervisor of the township.
Previous to 1838, John B. Norris, a resident of Canan- daigua, N. Y., had purchased of the government the south half of section 2 and north half of section 11. In the fall of 1840, accompanied by his son, Joel B., he visited his purchase, and erected a log cabin on section 2. This house was occupied in May, 1841, by Jared B. Norris and his wife. A few years later the father and sons, viz., John B., Jared B., Joel B., James B., Jason B., and Jackson B. Norris, all became residents of the township.
Calvin Young and sons, Francis D., Milton, Ebenezer, Job, and Jeremiah, from Monroe Co., N. Y., settled upon section 19 in 1842.
Other settlers of the years 1842 and 1843 were Dennis D. Wright, Curtis and Obadiah Seeley, John Ashley, Chauncey Ashley, Isaac P. Hoag, Robinson S. Lockwood, a prominent township officer, and who built the first saw- mill on section 10 about 1845, Lewis Sprague, who has creditably served his townsmen in many official capacities, Jeremiah I. Sabin, Horace Starkweather, and Silas P. Thomas.
Cornelius Fuller and sons, Orson, Sidney, and David, from Sodus, Wayne Co., N. Y., settled on the farm now owned by David Hatch, in 1844.
The residents of 1850, other than those already named, were as follows : William Goodwin, Rufus Wyllys, William Bell, Daniel Campbell, Adolphus Randall, Danford Fish, Thomas Finch, Samuel Purches, William Burgess, Mer- ritt J. Chappell, Theodore P. Carbine, William Purches, Truman Sampson, Edmond Van Vlack, Seth Tubbs, Chas. S. Billings, Nelson Kellogg, Fernando C. Horton, Warren Stevens, William Vickers, Orlando H. Avery, Levi Weston, Albert Weston, Lewis Beck, Levi Hill, Alanson Van Vlack, Benona Samson, William H. Clark, Jonathan B. Abbott, Mr. Brown, Daniel P. Whitney, Orrin Vanakin, William Luke, S. W. Farr, Aaron Steele, John A. Beard, George Lee, Mathew Fairfield, Simeon Steele, William Osborn, Josiah Jenkins, Edwin Hungerford, Stephen and Elias Hungerford, Henry Alverson, Walter Baker, Chauncey Mayfield, Thomas Braman, Martin H. Roe, Cornelius Acker, John Sanderson, and Peter Perry.
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