History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan, Part 112

Author: Durant, Samuel W. cn
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia : D.W. Ensign & Co.
Number of Pages: 772

USA > Michigan > Eaton County > History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan > Part 112
USA > Michigan > Ingham County > History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan > Part 112

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Section 32 .- 1836, J. R. Williams; 1856, Valentine Wright; I851, L. C. Holly ; 1865, F. M. Cowles and M. A. Howell.

Seetion 33 .- 1836, J. R. Williams ; 1850, L. M. Lanphere.

Seetion 34 .- 1836, J. R. Williams (entire).

Seetions 35 and 36 .- 1836, R. G. L. De Peyster (entire).

Many of those entering land in this township did so for purposes of speculation, as was the case in most of the town- ships in the West, and the actual settlers among the fore- going names were comparatively few.

EARLY SETTLEMENT.

The first settler in the township of Delta was Erastus Ingersoll, and his son, Erastus S. Ingersoll,* Esq., wrote as follows of the circumstances in 1869 :

"The first settlement in the township of Delta was made on sec- tion 3, at the point now and long known as ' Delta Mills.' Erastus Ingersoll was the first settler. He purchased of the United States government ten lots, embracing in the aggregate 800 acres of land, lying on both sides of Grand River, and extending northward into the adjoining township of Watertown, in Clinton County. This por- chase was made in the summer of 1835. In the spring of 1836, Mr. Ingersoll employed Anthony Niles and Heman Thomas, residing in the township of Eagle, to build a log cabin on his newly-purchased lands. Tbis cabin was located on the north bank of Grand River, and upon the east division of section 3. In the month of August or September, 1836, Mr. Ingersoll, in company with Clinton Burnet (now of Windsor, Eaton Co.) and a man hy the name of Avery, went on to the tract of land, taking with him his family. Mr. Burnet was the first hired man in the township of Delta. Mr. Ingersoll's outfit left Farmington, in the county of Oakland, and followed the Grand River Turnpike to 1Iowell. From Howell be turned north to Shiawassee County, thence down the Looking-Glass River to Capt. Scott's tavern, now the site of the village of De Witt. From this point he cut bis way in a southwesterly direction, without section-line, trail, or any other guide, to the log cabin above mentioned, a distance of ten or more miles. No adequate idea of the labor and trial of such an under- taking can well he formed from any other standpoint than that of actual experience.

" Ilaving established himself at bis new home on Grand River, the first work was to erect a dam preparatory to building a saw-mill. Formidable as was this undertaking, in the midst of a great wilder- ness, it was accomplisbed, a mill was built, and one board duly sawed on the last day of December, 1836. Not that the mill was fully com- pleted at this time. 'Gigging back,' as it was termed, had still to be performed by the use of crowhars and handspikes. But notwithstand- ing this triumphant feat, he had yet to learn that in hoppling the proud current of Grand River he had a more formidable task than was at

first anticipated. Fancy might say that the free waters of this noble stream has so long reveled in their own wayward course that they would hence be indisposed towards the unusual restraint to be put upon them. Be this as it may, the succeeding spring fresbet swept away the frail dam, undermined the mill, and thus greatly augmented the lahor of making reparation of this disparaging loss. Addison Hay- den was the principal artifeer of this first mill.

" The next settlers after Mr. Ingersoll were a Mr. Lewis and his son-in-law, Ezra Billings. They came from Ohio, and in passing through the wilderness from Eaton Rapids to Delta Mills, a distance of some twenty miles, withont path or line, these people encountered perils and endured much suffering. Mrs. Lewis, a very aged lady, fell sick on the way, probably from trials and extreme exposure cxpe- rienced on the journey, and died soon after their arrival. A rough coffin being made from a wagon-box, she was buried on the brink of Grand River. No monument or other evidence exists to mark her last resting-place.f Thus pass the lowly away.

"On the 27th day of February, 1837, I moved my own family to Delta, having contracted to work for my father, Erastus Ingersoll. We came in from Farmington by way of Shiawassee and De Witt with sleigh and horses. We occupied the log house, Mrs. Erastus S. Ingersoll being duly installed 'mistress of the mansion' and maid of all work. Our supplies were transported by ox-teams from Detroit. The price of provisions necessarily ruled high, pork being worth forty and flour fourteen dollars per hundred. We were totally deprived of all vegetable supplies until the opening of the ensuing spring. For- tunately for us, a Mr. Butterfield came down the river in the early spring with a boat laden with the much-needed article of potatoes. My father purchased both the cargo and vessel, paying forty dollars for the boat and two dollars per bushel for the potatoes-seventy bushels in all.

" About the first of June, 1837, my father, his brother, the Rev. E. P. Ingersoll, Dr. Jennings, of Oberlin, Ohio, two Messrs. Bradley, their two sons, a Mr. Lyman and son, from Massachusetts, and two hired men, all came through from flowell, bringing with them two yokes of oxen and four cows. In this journey of forty miles through the dense forest they cut their own roads, built bridges, dug down hillsides, and removed numerous obstructions, experiencing many em- barrassments, and encountering many trying delays. At the approach of Saturday night the party encamped on the bank of Cedar River, spending the Sabbath as a day of rest and religious worship. On the arrival of this party Mr. Ingersoll's family was increased to eighteen in number.

" Two weeks after the arrival of the above-named party, myself and Edward Ingersoll, with two wagons, two yokes of oxen, and a span of horses, freighted with the household goods of Thomas Chad- wick, followed the aforementioned winding path from Howell to Delta. In our company were Samnel Chadwick, brother of Thomas and Daniel Chadwick, Thomas Chadwick and wife, Sally Chadwick, afterwards the wife of D. S. Ingersoll, and my brother Egbert. To- wards night of the first day after entering this new and tortnous route we came to an open marsh, and, having carefully examined the strength of its turf, it was decided that the horses should be the first to test its capabilities. But when a little more than half-way over away went the treacherous covering, and down the borses plunged in the mire. By prompt and well-applied efforts we at length released the sinking animals from the wagon, when they went ashore on the opposite side of this mischievous slough of despond. After selecting a new route we put our good oxen un their trial for a crossing. Bot before reaching even the middle of this soft meadow our second wagon was resting its axles squarely upon the unstable surface. So, loosing our oxen, they also went to the opposite shore, leaving both wagons fully installed, far out in this untrodden sea of mire, with Mrs. Chadwick, an aged lady of unusual Justiness, occupying the last one of our intrenched vehicles. 'Now,' exclaimed this lady, 'how am

t This party had been lost in " Old Maid's Swamp," and wandered for several days before they finally found relief, and that only after some of their number had hunted for it. Mr Lewis built a shanty on the north bank of the river, just helow where the bridge now stands. When his wife died their daughter, Mrs. Billings, with her own hands prepared her for burial. The bighway now passes over the spot where her remains were deposited, "and passers-by are as unconscious of the presence of death as the river that rolls at her feet."

* Erastus S. Ingersoll died July 26, 1880, aged seventy-two years. The Ingersolls were originally from Victor, Ontario Co., N. Y., and settled in Oakland Co., Mich., in 1826.

452

HISTORY OF EATON COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

I to get asbere ?' a question we thought far more easily asked than answered. This aged matron dared aot trust her weight upon the flimsy turf, and here we were, surrounded by a dreary, inhospitable wilderness, deeply involved in an implacable morass, and not a little puzzled with a dilemma which seemed likely to prove too much either for our patience, our ingenuity, or our endurance. Our sympathies for good Mrs. Chadwick were at their highest pitch, and we were not a little perplexed by our novel and distressing coaditien. At length Edmund said, ' Mother, let me carry you ashore on my back.' . All right,' said the old lady ; ' back up here, boy.' No sooner said than donc, and thereupen we bad the ludicrous but gratifying scene of seeing what good service a strong and resolute young man could do fur age and helplessness. Trying as our condition was, we were wholly unable to repress the power of mirth while watching our hero as he staggered through the deep mire, bearing his precious, ponder- ous charge safely to the welcome shore. We soon had evidence that this trial had not wholly dissipated the ready stock of Mother Chad- wick's characteristio humor, exclaiming as she did on alighting from ber bearer's back, 'There, that is the first time I ever rode a jackass !' Having finished our langh over Mother Chadwick's comical transit, our attention was brought to the more serious business of extricating our wagons from their miry beds. Having carried everything we could handle to the acarest shore, we ent several long poles, and hav- ing united them with a few ropes and chains, and attached this hetero- geneous hawser successfully to the end of each wagon-tongue, apply- ing our teams we finally brought them both again to a staad on terra firma. This toilsome job lasted to the setting in of night, and we were compelled to make our beds in the presence of this now leathseme slough, amid the roar of rollicking frogs and marauding gallinippers. The next day, one of our horses giving out, we were compelled to leave a portion of our lading in the wilderness aad drag along with impaired teams as best we could, cncamping for the second time on the banks of Cedar River. While at dinuer on this day we were unex- pectedly visited by Mr. John Stanley, of Canada settlement, in the township of Oneida, looking for lost oxen. By him we sent advice of our necessity fur more provisions, and were happy to find, through the faithfulness of this kind messenger, a goodly supply of pork and beaas sent va the next day, brought through on the back of a man dispatched by Mrs. Ingersoll for the express purpose. We got through to Delta Mills at night of the third day after leaving llowell, and all found room in the spacious log house to ent aad lie down. The log cabins of these days possessed a wonderful capacity for sheltering and feeding huagry adventurers.

" Our family now antubered twenty-six persons, besides occasional companies of land-lookers and other rambling adventurers, and such as had decided to make their homes ia this new region. About the 20th day of March of this year, as our large family was at supper, we were aroused by the sound of several voices down at the river side, and soon heard the call of some person at our door. Prompt to give our attention to this unexpected visit, we were much surprised, as well as interested, on hearing the ery of a child and much lond talk dewa at the river. Hastening down to the shore as fast as we could by the twilight, we there found a company of men, women, and children, with

teams standing upon the ice some distance from the river-bank, in anxious fecling about their seeming perilvos situation, the ice having melted away from the north shore of the river, leaving an open space of deep water, some ten feet in extent, between the main body of the ice and land, making it wholly impracticable for teams to cross. With characteristic promptitode all hands set to work building a bridge freia the ice to the shore, und, having effected our purpose, we very soon had the satisfuction of leading the two imperiled teams from their critical situation on the dissolving ice to a safer standing on the solid earth, and found by so doing we had rescued the persons and property of two worthy emigrants, a Mr. Compton and a Mr. Cronkite, and their families from imminent danger, if not from actual destruction. This company had traveled from Eaton Rapids on the ice, and they related to us their trials and many hairbreadth escapes previous to that from which we had here the gratification of having aided them to escape. They afterwards settled in the township of Eagle, near Grand River. " One morning in April following the above-mentioned vecurrenco we heard a loud call from the south side of the river. A boat was immediately dispatched and soon returned bringing over four young inca who had remained out all night in the woods without food, fire, or covering, throughout a violent storm and upon a heavy depth of snow. So thoroughly drenched were they that when they reached our

fireside the water was freely wrung from every part of their several garments. . Two of these men. John Iloaston and James Wright, tar- ried and worked several months in the employ of my father.

" Not long after the foregoing incident, we were again saluted with a loud halloe immediately at our door. The frequency of these evening surprises had served to increase rather than dituinish our interest ia them ; so rushing in a body to the door, we there found a boy on horseback, around whom our eager company crowded somewhat un- ceremoniously near, as our visitant thought, for be presented his pistol, vociferating, 'Stand back! I'm in Uncle Sam's empley!' We then discovered that he had a tiny mail-bag strapped upon the rear of his saddle, thus verifying what he had so arrogantly asserted, that he was really an employee of the United States of America. By this enterprising youth we got intelligence that a mail-route had been established from Jacksonburg to Fonia; but ewing te the extremely bad condition of the roads it failed to he continued after a few trials.

" Among our early settlers in Delta at this time I caa joyfully enumerate Thomas Chadwick and Samuel Chadwick, Addison Wood- ruff, Ansel Masche, George Smith, John Reed, Genet Browa, Richard Lewis, Moses fagersoll, aad several others, some of whom are de- ceased, while others have been scattered abroad over other fields of actiea. Aasel Mascho went to California about 1849, and was not afterwards heard frem.

" I will bere state that metives other than those of mere pecuniary acquirement seem to lie at the foundation of the first settlement in Delta. A higher iaterest than the bare acquisition of houses and Isads seemed to have actuated the adventurous few in pushing so far back iato aa uabroken and greatly isolated regioa, as was the general territory hereabonts at so early a period of western enterprise. Some few men, among whem was my father, Erastus Ingersoll, having a desire to form a self-sustaining literary institution, and proposing to build upon the manual-labor principle, similar to that of Oberlin, sought fer a location abounding in the article of cheap and ample lands for its fundamental dependence. Accordingly, the Rev. Joha Shepherd, the enterprising founder of Oberlin and Olivet, in company with Rev. E. P. Ingersoll, brother of Erastus Ingersoll, came oa with my father, as before related, to visit the laad be had purchased in 1835. Mr. Shepherd, being sanguine that the site was a good one for the purpose coutemplated, to some extent entered upoa aa agreement with my father sad his brother Edward to commence work at once; whereupon the Rev. Mr. lagersoll visited the Eastern States in the fall and wiater of 1836 for the purpose of soliciting fuads in support of the undertaking. The object of his mission received so much favor in the form of large subscriptions to the fuad, that a large building for the accommodation of pupils was formally commenced, and the object seemed for a time to be ia a fair way to bo speedily and thoroughly accomplished. But the general crash that fell so heavily upon the financial world in 1837-38 rendered the collection of the funds pledged at the East wholly impracticable, and the work of building, and eventually the whole undertaking, saak gradually iato decay. Mr. Ingersoll persisted ia his attempt, opening a school ia 1841, which he continued about a year. But the work seeming to have lost its prestige, he beesme disheartened, finally abandoned it and left the woods of Delta for some more genial fate.

" As way-marks of social and political improvement, I will bere mention the following statistical occurrences in the order of their successioa :

" I. The first settler was Erastus Ingersoll.

"2. The first employee was Miltou Burnet.

"3. The first dwelling, tho log cabin of Erastus Ingersoll.

" 4. The first improvements, Ingersoll'a dam and saw-mill.

" 5. The first public-house kept by E. S. Ingersoll.

" 6. The first postmaster was E. S. Ingersoll.

"7. The first pulitical meeting, fall election in 1838.

" 8. The first minister of the gospel, Rev. E. P. Ingersoll.

#9. The first child born (a female) in 1838.

" 10. The first church erganized ia 1851.

" 11. The first permanent pastor, Rev. William P. Ealer.

" 12. The first school-house heilt in 1839.

" 13. The first school-tencher, Miss Sally Chadwick."

" Religious meetings were commenced at the oarlicat date of settle- ment, and have beca continued without interruption to the present

" In the spring of 1838 a private school had been taught by Lydia Ingersoll, daughter of Moses Ingersoll.

453

DELTA.

time. The first Sunday-school was organized in our log cabin in 1838, and has continued with very few interruptions to the present date."

During the summer of 1837 a grist-mill, a frame barn, and two frame houses were built, the latter belonging to A. Hayden and E. S. Ingersoll. Thomas Chadwick died in October of that year. The first marriage occurred in the summer of 1838, when Addison Hayden and Miss Mary Chadwick were united in matrimonial bonds at Grand River City, by Samuel Preston, Esq., at the house of the bride's father. An incident occurred in connection with this event which is worth preserving, and is related by the wife of Esquire Preston, as follows: " Mr. Hayden called and inquired for the 'Squire. I told him he was gone to Mr. Nichols'. By and by he came home and told me that Mr. Hayden wanted him to marry him. 'Well,' I said, 'you can't go, for your clothes are too ragged.' But the boys came to the rescue and brought out their clothes, and Mr. Preston tried them on. One could supply a coat, another pants, another a vest, and the outfit was complete excepting a hat. Jason was a pretty spruce young man, and had a fur hat which he kindly loaned. This put on the finishing touch. On his way to the house Mr. Preston thought of a second dilemma, worse than the first. He was not a pray- ing man, and how could he perform the marriage ceremony without prayer ? After a while he hit upon a plan ; he would invite E. S. Ingersoll to assist in the services. All passed off pleasantly, no one suspecting the perplexities the justice had labored under."

On the 11th of June, 1841, a village plat was laid out by E. S. Ingersoll, O. B. Ingersoll, D. S. Ingersoll, Eliel Ingersoll, and Alexander Ingersoll, and given the eupho- nious title of the " City of Grand River," destined, how- ever, never to become the important mart which its found- ers hoped for. Whitney Jones* established a store at the place quite early, but finally removed to Lansing. The survey of the village was made by John Thayer, frour Farmington, Oakland Co. The plat extended from the river to the turnpike.

In that portion of Delta township south of Grand River Genet Brown was the first settler. In January, 1835, he left Worcester, Mass., with his wife and two children, and came to Michigan, settling in Lenawee County, where he remained four years. Desiring a more favorable location, he purchased 240 acres of land in Delta, Eaton Co., on sec- tions 21 and 22, and on the 8th of February, 1839, started to make an inspection of his purchase. His route lay via

Jacksonburg (now the city of Jackson) and Eaton Rapids. He stopped at the houses of John D. Skinner and Mr. Towslee, in Windsor, and finally reached " Delta Mills," where he was kindly received and himself and horse cared for. Mr. Brown wrote iu 1869: " The Rev. E. P. Inger- soll, formerly from my own native Uxbridge, gave me a cordial welcome to the use of his cabin home for my per- sonal accommodation. Here I made myself at home dur- ing my exploring tour, having the entire margin of my own luncheon to myself, Mr. Ingersoll being a rigid Grahamite, of the bran-bread and cold-bean school."

Mr. Brown had been employed in factories before leaving Massachusetts and knew very little of other life, and the various kinds of forest-trees, methods of farming, etc., were a confusing mixture in his understanding. He says, "On taking the kind advice of Mr. Surveyor Hayden, I found I had passed my land some three or four miles back. At least it was probable that I had been somewhere in the vi- cinity of it. So, with a description of some of Nature's ' finger-boards' on the route to the spot, I proceeded the next morning in search of those 'beautiful, sloping wood- lands,' so vividly described by my good salesman, Mr. Ful- ler. Not being yet accustomed to such guides as were given me, I mistook another kind of tree for cherry, and soon brought up in the middle of an alder swamp of rather for- midable dimensions,-an article not found in my code of instruction. I deemed it the better part of valor to back down, believing that I must have switched off from the main track. Having at length found that 'certain cherry- tree,' I soon reached the 'old half-burned log-heap' that marked the veritable centre of the township of Delta, and about half a mile farther on came plump upon the corner of Mr. Brown's future home, certainly beautiful enough as a first moulding from the hand of Nature. Earth enough, enough of wood and water, brambles, boughs, and bushes in luxuriant abundance,-but how different from dear old Uxbridge. No lofty, symmetrical hills, no busy hum of industry,-alas ! no pleasant cottage homes. No reverent towering spires ; all solitude,-noonday stillness,- dreary, unvarying solitude of silence and inactivity. But the die was cast, and as this was neither the place nor the time for sentimentalizing, and recollecting the kind act that had furnished me with an axe, I resolved to use it; and ere the night fell poor Brown had laid the foundation for a ten by fourteen cabin, and was again safely back with his good Grahamite friend at Delta Mills. After a few days' further labor the enterprise was found to be in a sufficient state of forwardness for a ' raising ;' so, with the only yoke of oxen in Delta, one ox-sled, five slabs from the saw-mill, and some five or six good-hearted and strong hands, Brown's house went up, with the roof and floor as far completed as five basswood troughs and five good slabs would make them."

The highway commissioners laid out a road from Grand River to Brown's shanty on the same day the latter was raised, and this was the first public highway established in the township.

After erecting his shanty, Mr. Brown returned home via Marshall, and in the latter part of March set out, with his family, Mr. John Reed, and an additional team of horses, for the new home in the wilderness of Delta. At Eaton

# Col. Whitney Jones came to Detroit in the summer of 1839, with a stock of cloths he had brought from Jamestown, N. Y., having taken them in trade. He afterwards traded a portion of them for land in Michigan. He remained in Detroit but a short time, and in August, 1839, removed to Marshall, Calhoun Co. In the early part of March, 1842, he left Marshall with a stock of goods, and transported them by team to Eaton Rapids. At that place he huilt two hoats, twelve feet wide and sixteen feet long, and floated his goods down to Ingersoll's Mills (Grand River City), where he opened the first store. His second stock was boated all the way from Jackson. The colonel purchased part of the plat of Grand River City before locatiog there. He re- mained in husiness at the place until 1846, having in the mean while been elected township supervisor and representative in the Legisla- ture. In 1846 he removed to Detroit with his family, but immedi- ately after the capital was located at Lansing he removed to the latter place, where he yet resides.

454

IIISTORY OF EATON COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

Rapids they changed their horses for ox-teams, and, after several days of most trying experience, arrived at their destination. Reed slept that night in a large box, which was emptied of its contents especially for his benefit. The family arranged a bed on the slab floor. An Indian named Jackson visited them that night, being the first one Mr. Brown had ever seen, and became a frequent caller after- wards. Mr. Brown had numerous adventures in his forest home, being once nearly caught by a large pack of wolves while on his way home in the evening after a day's duty as highway commissioner. At the end of his race he gave his wife a sudden surprise by falling at full length upon the floor of his cabin. He was safe, however, and by examin- ing the tracks the next morning he was satisfied that " forty such Browns" as he would not have been sufficient to appease the appetites of that awful pack of wolves !

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History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan, Part 112

Author: Durant, Samuel W. cn Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Philadelphia : D.W. Ensign & Co. Number of Pages: 772

Author: Durant, Samuel W. cn
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia : D.W. Ensign & Co.
Number of Pages: 772