History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan, Part 120

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 120
USA > Michigan > Ingham County > History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan > Part 120

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

"On the following morning the party started for Jackson, and late at night they reached William Lyons', about two miles this side of Tompkins Centre. P. E. Spicer got foot-sore and brought up the rear about ten o'clock at night, and after taking some pork and beans for supper they retired for the night. One moro hard day's march brought them to Jackson, and the next day father and Mr. Bateman started for Kalamazoo to locate the lands they had selected before the speculator should get ahead of them and jump their elaims, which in those days was often done by a set of hawk-eyed fellows whe hung around the land-office. But I believe they seeured all the land they selected, and got hack to Jackson the next day, which was then about the Ist of December, 1835. The next day father, P. E. Spicer, and D. Bateman started for homo in Ohio. On arriving home father sceured thirteen pounds of pork to take to Michigan in the spring, for he found it quite a scarco article, and worth twenty-five dollars

" Mr. Darling died iu Lansing, Muy 20, 1880.

479

IIAMLIN.

per hundred in the hog. He ordered a large, strong wagon for the trip, bought four yoke of oxen te draw it to Michigan, and employed Daniel Bateman and Charles Hanchett to drive the team through with a lead of household goods such as he thought would be needed in a new country. About the 10th of May, 1836, he started the ox- teams with P. E. Spicer and old Gray, with the one-horse wagon, two cows, and a calf for the escort. They reached Jackson about the 25th of May. Father and the family and Benjamin Knight and family started about two weeks after the ox-team, coming by canal-beat to Cleveland, steamboat to Detroit, and lumber-wagon from Detroit to Jacksoo, following the old Territorial road to Jackson, making the trip from Detroit to Jackson in three days, and arriving at Jackson the next day after the ox-teams. We found Uncle Bateman and Mr. Hanchett all in good spirits, with many interesting accounts of their journey, having to milk the cows and drink the milk for food. Some days the teams and cows fed on the roadside.

"The next day they started for the woods to build the old cabin in Spieerville, which (I have heretofore mentioned) we reached on the 3d day of June, A.D. 1836, and as soon as possible father commenced to buildl a saw-mill on the same site where my saw-mill now stands, it being the third frame the old site bas worn out in thirty-nine years.

"Our family consisted then of father, mother, Benjamin Knight and wife, one ehild, Amos Knight, E. J. Spicer, and myself, with P. E. Spicer, Daniel Bateman, C. C. Darling, Charles ITanchett, and George Allyn, and about fourteen new hired men. So you see my dear old mother and sisters did not have much time to play in those days between meal- time. And above all this, we kept from two to four land-lookers every night, for they had nowhere else to stay. With this small party of men and women father commenced the building of a saw-mill, with none of the improvements of to-day to help them ; with only the ma- terial which nature's God had placed here in its native wildness. With broad-axe, plumb, and square he commenced the task, having to hew every plank and timber from the water-wheel to the rafters, and after a long summer's work, fighting mosquitoes by night and working hard hy day, in October the mill began to roll its water-whcel around, and you could hear the saw go erash, crash, by night and by day. P. E. Spicer and Benjamin Knight were boss sawyers. They found ready sale for all the lumber they could spare at $10 per thousand, but used a great deal of it in preparing for the building of the grist-mill that now stands in the lower part of Eaton Rapids, and the house opposite David Stirling's springs, the grocery-store of Mrs. N. C. Merritt, near Morgan Vaughan's bank, and one other building (a tavern) that stood on the grounds where the Mitchell House now stands. Those three houses were framed in Spicerville of plank, and drawn and raised in the village, being the first rude cottages that ever broke the monotony of nature's wilds, and told people there was a village sprouting in Eaton County. The town was laid out carly in the spring of 1836," and well do I remember the first time I saw the grounds Eaton Rapids now stands on. It was in January, 1836. Chas. Hanchett, Daniel Bateman, father, and some others, besides myself, with two ox-sleds and four yoke of oxen, drew the two run of millstones that have ground flour for the bread for almost forty years. We left them on some poles about where David Stirling's house now stands, and they remained there till September Ist, and long before father had got the grist-inill ready to bolt flour we got out of flour, and there was no mill nearer than Clinton; so we lived on johnny-cake until we got tired of it. One day my mother told me to go down to the mill and have father grind some wheat as he did corn (Graham we would call it now), and she would make some biscuit of it; and I shall never forget how good they tasted,-to me at least.

"When we raised the mill, people came twenty miles to help. Daniel Bateman and Benjamin Knight spent over two days inviting men to the raising. They came the day before; helped raise the next day ; had a dance that night, and went home the third day.

" It might be interesting to some to know how we found we had neighbors. The first we kaew we had neighbors on Montgomery's plains, one of our cows strayed away, and Daniel Bateman, while looking after it, came to the river, and hearing some cow-bells on the east side, pulled off his hoots and pants and crossed over,

and followed on until he found the cattle, and hearing some one pounding a little farther on went on to where he found John Mont- gomery splitting poles on the farm where the stone house now stands ; and we would meet a stranger in the woods while out hunting, and after asking a few questions and answering a few, would find we were neighbors, gettiog at facts by learning the section, number of scetion, and range of the lots they lived on, and from that acquaintance they became neighbors, brothers, and sisters, tried and true, who felt for each other's interests and comforts next to their own homes and fami- lies; helping cach other in divers ways by making logging-bees for those who had nothing, and thus aiding to hew ont happy homes in the wilderness, all of which had a tendency to bind them together as one family. But I am sorry to say it is fast fading out in these days. And when I look over this country and the many sow who people the lands, I sce but very few of those old veterans' landmarks in fathers and mothers left. My dear old mother left us one year ago last October, at the ripe old age of seventy-eight years, and has gone to reap her happy reward in Heaven. And I trust there are many of the yet surviving pioneers who often ate at her table, and shared her hospitality in divers ways, who will ever cherish her memory for those early days of our country's history. And we, their sons and daughters, when we look around over the happy homes we enjoy, don't let us forget what it cost our dear parents in the hardships and deprivations they endured to make our homes so pleasant, with fine orchards and wide fields, all of which took patience and great toil to procure for our benefit and enjoyment. No, let us cherish their memories and tell them to our children, so that their noble traits of character, their benevolent and virtuous brotherly love, may live in the hearts of our children to pattern from long after we are gone to that land to which we are all fast hastening.

" Truly yours, " FRED. SPICEn."

Ilarvey L. Boorn, from Genesee Co., N. Y., purchased land in this township in 1836, and settled upon it in 1841 with his family. His son, George W. Boorn, was but a babe at that time. Mr. Boorn died May 29, 1877, after an eventful and successful life. His children were George W., Schuyler S., and Ellen A. Schuyler was a member of Company F of the Thirteenth Michigan Infantry, and was wounded in the service.

Parker Taylor, from Niagara Co., N. Y., settled with his family in Eaton County in 1843.

James Rice, from Genesee Co., N. Y., purchased land in this township in 1836, and settled upon it in 1839.

Henry Perrine, from Wayne Co., N. Y., emigrated to Michigan with a family of eleven children-eight sons and three daughters-in 1833, and located in Jackson County. Ile is now deceased. His children are all living, except one (Jacob) who died in Kansas. Sol. C. Perrine, another son, settled in Ingham County in 1840, and in Eaton County. He is living at present in the township of Hamlin, but owns land in both counties.

Truman Fuller, from Orleans Co., N. Y., on first coming to Michigan made a location in Jackson County, but in 1839 removed to Eaton.

Reuben Swift, from Monroe Co., N. Y., settled in Wash- tenaw Co., Mich., in 1835, and in Eaton County, in 1837. One season he raised a good crop of pumpkins. A squaw rode along one day begging for aid. Mr. Swift told her she might have a pumpkin if she liked. She took some strips of wood and strung them with the golden beauties and hung them around her horse like a string of beads. Mr. Swift thus discovered a very novel and effectual manner of disposing of his pumpkins.

Charles P. Rice, a native of Seneca Co., N. Y., removed here in 1839, when the wilderness was scarcely broken.

* The recorded plat was made Nov. 1, 1854, on the north half of sec- tien 8, in town I north, range 3 west; Lucretia Spicer, proprietress. Description says Spicerville is "located where the State road from Marshall to Lansing crosses Spring Brook, two and a half miles from Eaton Rapids and nineteen from Lansing."

480

IIISTORY OF EATON COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

Allen Conklin, who was born in Allegany Co., N. Y., lived for some time in Iluron Co., Ohio, and in 1843 came to Hamlin. He aided in building the first bridge aeross Grand River, at the county-line. His neighbor, a Mr. Houck, had a dog, which one night treed a bear, and the two men went out in the darkness and put a damper to Bruin's aspirations, doubtless saving their stock of pork from being largely diminished before morning. The bear is a well-known lover of fresh pork, and will run almost as great risks to get it as he will to place his nose in a deposit of wild honey.

Rev. William W. Crane, who has been previously men- tioned, was the first resident minister in the township, and is said to have " married all the people and preached all the sermons." The first death was that of Simeon Fowler, and it is thought Mr. Crane preached the funeral sermon.

Tyler and Luther Blodgett, from Genesee Co, N. Y., settled in this township in 1838.

H. P. Onderdonk, from Rockland Co., N. Y., purchased land in Hamlin in 1836, and settled in 1838.

Thomas II. Cowan, a native of Caynga Co., N. Y., set- tled in 1838, aod Andrew Winn, from Jefferson Co., N. Y., came the same year.

Jacob Gilman, from Livingston Co., N. Y., removed to Washtenaw Co., Mich., in 1834, and in 1849 to Hamlin, bringing his family in 1852. Michael Gilman, who also lived in Washtenaw County, removed here in 1848.

I. M. Allyn, from Summit Co., Ohio, settled in 1840 ; A. B. Munn, from Yates Co., N. Y., in 1838 ; John Ki- kendall, from Wayne Co., N. Y., with his family, in 1838, -one son, James P., being at the time but nine years old ; HI. Wilber, from Wayne Co., N. Y., in 1849 ; J. D. No- bles, fron: Ohio, in 1845.

Hon. Amos Spiecr, a sketch of whose settlement is else- where given, as prepared by his son, Frederick Spicer, was a native of Groton, Mass. Ile had purchased his land some time before coming to the township. His children, who came with him, were Eunice, Frederick, and Althea. Mr. Spieer was one of the most prominent and respected citizens of the township.

ITEMS FROM THE RECORDS OF THE PIONEER SOCIETY.

The following names of early settlers are taken from the above-mentioned records :

George W. Bentley, a native of Petersburg (now Smith- field), Madison Co., N. Y., first came to Michigan March 1, 1830, and lived four months in Jackson County. Re- turned to New York; was married Oet. 16, 1834, and came with his wife to Michigan, locating again in Jackson, where he remained until Jan. 14, 1837, when he removed to a farm in Hamlin township, Eaton Co. In the fall of 187f he located in the village of Eaton Rapids. Two of Mr. Bentley's sons were killed in the service during the war of the Rebellion.

Jacob Gilman, a native of Sparta, Livingston Co., N. Y., first settled in Michigan in October, 1833. Came to Eaton County in January, 1839, and in 1840 was present at the crection of the Harrison " log cabin" at Eaton Rapids. Ile first lived in Lyndon, Washtenaw Co .; on

the 5th of May, 1852, moved his family to Hamlin town- ship, Eaton Co.

Thornton N. Stringham, a native of Ulster Co., N. Y., settled in Manchester, Mich., in June, 1836; in March, 1840, eame to what is now Hamlin township; removed to Tompkins, Jackson Co., in February, 1856 ; and from there to Onondaga, Ingham Co., in May, 1867.

LIST OF RESIDENTS IN 1844.

The following list from the assessment-roll of the town- ship of Tyler (now Hamlin) for the year 1844 includes those who were at that time residents of and taxpayers in the township : Andrew Houpt, James Rice, Charles Rice, Truman Fuller, John Smith, Samuel Sherman, Stephen Farnam, Philip Gilman, Jocl Latson, Robert Montgomery, Josiah J. Williams, Luke Emerson, Moses Piper, Parker Taylor, Sheldon Pierson, John T. Pierson, Josiah D. Pier- son, John Goodspeed, Ransom Goodspeed, Calvin Hale, Andrew N. De Witt, John Montgomery, John Gallery, John S. Fifield, John S. Fifield & Co. (saw-mill and lot on section 1), Joshua Jenne, David Jenne, Ira Turney, George Fowler, Allen Conklin, Peter Wagner, Asa Fish, Azariah Willis, Truman B. Barr, Harvey L. Boorn, Timothy Whit- comb, David Osborn, Luther Whitcomb, Caleb Tilford, Benjamin Austin, Tyler Blodgett, Stephen Mills, Luther Blodgett, Isaac C. Cochran, Israel M. Allyn, Edmund Rix, Bird Norton, Thornton M. Stringham, David Curtis, John Winn, George W. Bentley, Andrew Winn, Charles Han- chett, Aaron B. Munn, Daniel Bateman, Russell Loomis, Silas Loomis, Ira Jewett, Joseph Knight, David B. Ilam- lin, Rufus H. King, Cheekly S. Palmer, Samnel Ilamlin, Hamlin & Co. (saw-mill and lot on seetion 8), Amos Spieer, Paschal P. Darling, Christopher C. Darling, Nelson Wood, John M. Hatch, Thomas Wells, John Booth, Barney Well- man, Jacob Keepit, Nathan Sayres, Erastus Sisson, William W. Wolcott, Theodosius Swift, Henry Wolcott, Henry Petty, David Dunham, William W. Crane, Calvin H. Don- ham, George Y. Cowan, John Kikendall, John W. Cowan, David B. Bradford, John Corby, Felix Hess, James H. Wheeler, Nicholas Haynes, William Cowan, Francis Cham- plin, Jonathan B. Snyder, Thomas H. Cowan, Thompson E. Kenyon, Iliram Hammond, Jonathan Ariss, Stephen Reynolds, Henry Weldon, Edgar and Reuben Swift.

VILLAGE OF EATON RAPIDS.

John B. Sage, Barney Wellman, R. II. Jeffreys, Alan- son Harwood, Andrew N. De Witt, J. W. Smith, C. C. Darling, Daniel Boody, Ezra Higby, Osmyn Childs, Ben- jamin Knight, Amos Spieer, P. E. Spicer, Spicer & Co.

TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION, ETC.

The territory now included in Hamlin township was originally a part of Bellevue and afterwards of Eaton. An act of the Legislature approved March 20, 1841, provided that

" All that part of the county of Eaton designated by the United States survey as township one north, of three west, be and the same is hereby set off and organized into a township by the name of Tyler, and the first township-meeting shall be held at the house of Freeman B. Barr in said township."

S.S. BOORN.

MRS: S, S. POORN.

MRS. ELIZABETH BOORN.

H.L. 800RN,

RESIDENCE OF THE LATE HARVEY L.BOORN. HAMLIN TP. EATON CO. MICH.

481

HAMLIN.

This aet was in force until March 14, 1850, when the following was passed :

" An act to unite the townships of Tyler and Eaton Rapids, in the county of Eaton.

"SECTION 1 .- Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- tives of the State of Michigan, That the act heretoforc passed setting off and organizing the township of Tyler, in the county of Eatun, he and the same is herehy repcaled; and the said township of Tyler, being town one north, of range three west, is herehy joined and united to the township of Eaton Rapids, in said county, by which name they shall be hereafter known and designated ; and the first township-meet- ing shall be held at the Eaton Rapids Hotel, in the village of Eaton Rapids, on the first Monday of April, A.n. 1850."

. This act provided that the officers of the united town- ships should decide by lot who should be continued in office. The following was approved March 26, 1869 :

" The people of-the State of Michigan enact, That township num- ber one north, of range number three west, be and the same is hereby set off from the township of Eaton Rapids, and organized into a separate township by the name of Hamlin; and the arst township election thereof shall he held at the house of Duty Gorton ; and David B. Bradford, Solomon C. Perrine, and George A. Armstrong are hereby authorized to act as inspectors of election at said meeting, which meeting shall be held on the first Monday in April, in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-nine."

The records of the old township of Tyler cannot be found, and it is possible only to give a list of the officers of the township of Hamlin, which is as follows:

1869 .- Supervisor, Daniel Scott; Town Clerk, Hiram Smoke; Treas- urer, F. A. Long ; Justices of the Peace, G. A. Armstrong, L. A. Giddings, A. O. Stone, S. C. Perrine; Commissioners of Highways, Calvin Hale, Truman Fuller, Daniel Bate- man; School Inspectors, L. B. Iluntoon, W. F. Holmes; Constables, Frank Hamlin, David Stewart, Azariah Hurlbut, Andrew Munn.

SUPERVISORS.

1870-71, G. W. Knight; 1872-74, David B. Hale; 1875-79, C. M. Jennings.

TOWN CLERKS.

1870, Hiram Smoke; 1871, L. B. Huntoon ; 1872-73, Birney E. Shaw ; 1874, John H. York; 1875, J. Warren Smith; 1876-78, C. H. Cowan ; 1879, Alanson Harwood.

TREASURERS.

1870-71; Emerson Blodgett; 1872-73, Alanson Osborn; 1874-75, George E. Lake; 1876, G. D. Scott; 1877-78, W. S. Henderson ; 1879, C. H. Cowan.

JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.

1870, James Rice; 187], Lucius A. Giddings, Stephen Farnum; 1872, G. A. Armstrong, Truman Fuller; 1873, Solomon C. Per- rine, John Scott; 1874, D. B. Hamlin, J. C. Scott ; 1875, Alan- son Osborn; 1876, Alfred Barber; 1877, John Wood; 1878, Solo- mon C. Perrine; 1879, Alanson Osborn.

1880 .- Supervisor, C. M. Jennings; Town Clerk, Alanson Harwood ; Treasurer, C. H. Cowan ; Justice of the Peacc, F. S. Leigh- ton ; School Superintendent, L. R. Swift; School Inspector, Heber Hamlin; Commissioner of Highways, A. Rogers ; Drain Commissioner, Samuel Miller; Constables, M. F. Hamlin, E. C. Waldron, O. F. Rose, Alva Smith.

SCHOOLS.

The first school in the township was taught in the sum- mer of 1837, in a log shanty belonging to George Y. Cowan, located on section 35. The school was continued six or eight weeks, and the teacher was Mrs. Ruth Horn. In 1838 the school was taught by Miss Luciua Emerson. 61

The following is a list of those who were licensed to teach in this township during the years from 1843 to 1849, in- elusive :

Julia A. Piper, Sebra Piper, Calista P. Adams, Sally Ann Whitman, Sarah Burgess, Bird Norton, Isaac C. Cochran, Daniel Palmer, C. S. Armstrong, William W. Crane, Abel S. Dunham, Harriet N. Dixon, David B. Hale, Naomi A. W. Cochran, Fanny V. Nobles, Sarah C. Coleman, Horatio A. Barker, Loretta M. Matthews, Betsy Ann Hall, Celestia Whitcomb, Charity A. Cowan, Mary A. Gallery, Samuel Dubois, L. Anson Stone, Alonzo Barr, Mary Gurley, R. P. Riddle, David W. Kenyon, James A. Anderson, Jane Gallery, Fidelia Cowan, Harriet Crane, Mariette Beebe, Arminda Gilman, Julia A. llarris, Mercy Holcomb.

The report of the school inspectors for the year ending Sept. 1, 1879, contains the following facts regarding the schools of Hamlin township :

Number of districts in township ..... 6

" school-children .. 258

in attendance for year 207

of days school taught. 8044

" school-houses (brick, 3 ; frame, 3) .. 6

" " seatings in same.

339

Value of school property $1950.00

14 No. teachers employed (males, 4 ; females, 10) ... Wages paid same (males, $282.25 ; females, $418.99) $701.24

Total resources for year 1879. 1325.51

Amount on hand Sept. 1, 1879. 137.37

Total expenditures, less amount oo hand 1188.14

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

HARVEY L. BOORN.

The subject of this sketch was a native of the Green Mountain State, as were his parents, Stephen and Polly (Hyde) Boorn. His birth occurred on the 26th of Febru- ary, 1813. When he was quite young the family removed to Lewis Co., N. Y., where Harvey remained until the age of seventeen. Being the eldest of a family of six, he re- solved to strike out for himself, and going to Genesee County, built and ran one of the first threshing-machines in that part of the State. In 1836 he married Miss Elizabeth Jones, a native of Cayuga Co., N. Y., and the youngest in a family of three, born Oct. 10, 1812. Her father, Stacy Jones, and mother, Sallie (Wolverton) Jones, were both natives of New Jersey. Mr. Jones died in New York when Elizabeth was quite young; Mrs. Jones surviving him a number of years, coming to Michigan with Mrs. Boorn, and making her home with them and another daughter, until her death, in November, 1849. For the first three years after their marriage Mr. Boorn followed threshing, and the manufacture of rakes in winter. In 1839 he came to Michigan, locating one hundred and sixty acres government land, where Mrs. Boorn now resides, on section 15. Their first home was a small log cabin in the woods; and as they were limited in means, Mr. Boorn worked out by the day, improving his farm at such times as not so employed. He purchased his first team of Dr. Williams, paying for it in carpenter-work, at seventy-five

482

HISTORY OF EATON COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

cents per day. To Mr. and Mrs. Boorn were given three children, viz. : George, bern Ang. 25, 1839 ; Schuyler S., born Jan. 15. 1843 ; and Ellen A., born June 6, -. Mr. and Mrs. Boorn were noted for kindness and liberality, always lending a ready hand to the sick and destitute, dona- ting liberally towards all public enterprises. In the lan- guage of those days, the latch-string always hung out, no one ever being turned from their door.

In politics Mr. Boorn was formerly a Whig, but upon the formation of the Republican party united with it, casting his last vote for President Hayes, having to be helped to the polls. Both himself and wife were members of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church for over forty years. Hle departed this life May 29, 1877, but lived to see the farm which he had located a wilderness changed to fertile fields with fine improvements, a view of which may be scen upon an adjoining page. His widow still survives, residing at the old home with her son Schuyler, who also owns a farm of one hundred and five acres across the road, which he works in connection with a lease of the homestead, raising besides

N. T. TAYLOR.

N. T. Taylor was the fifth in a family of eight children, of whom six are living. His father, Parker Taylor, was a native of Vermont, and his mother, Olive (Jenny) Taylor, also of that State, where they were married, removing soon after to New York, where the subject of our sketch was born, Dec. 15, 1833. When he was about two years of age the family removed to Michigan, locating in Jackson County, where they remained one year, and then removed to and settled on the farm where Mr. Taylor now lives. A dense forest then covered this section, and a small log shanty formed their first home. Mr. Taylor thinks his father located this farm in 1836, the first tract comprising some two hundred acres. He remained on this farm until his death, which occurred in September, 1874, Mrs. Taylor

all kinds of farm-products, improved stock, especially horses, in which he takes considerable pride. He was a member of the Thirteenth Michigan Infantry, culisting Sept. 1, 1862. He served nearly three years, most of the time as a non- commissioned officer; received two wounds, one at Chicka- mauga, one at Bentonville, N. C., and accompanied Sher- man in his famous " March to the Sea." He was married Jan. 1, 1867, to Miss Marietta Knapp, daughter of Ezekiel Knapp, a native of Vermont, as was also her mother, whose maiden name was Ford. Mr. Knapp was a pioneer of Jackson County, where Mrs. Boorn was born, Sept. 22, 1846, being the eldest in a family of five children. Mrs. Knapp died in 1866, and Mr. Knapp in 1877, making his home with his daughter, Mrs. Boorn, after the death of his wife.

Schuyler Boorn and his wife have been members of the Methodist Episcopal Church for the past six years, are also carnest advocates of the cause of temperance, and are in favor of the passage of a law prohibiting the traffic in intoxicating liquors.

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History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan, Part 120

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