History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan, Part 126

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 126
USA > Michigan > Ingham County > History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan > Part 126


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).


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The Presbyterians also organized a society at one time, and erected a chapel in which to bold services, but, after


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several years, discontinued their meetings in favor of the Congregationalists, who were first in the field.


Emanuel German Lutheran Church, Grand Ledge .-- This church was organized about 1872, by Rev. Mr. Wilson, who became its first pastor. The present frame building used as a house of worship was built about the same time, on the north side of the river. The membership is in the neighborhood of twenty. Rev. Mr. Adam, of Woodland, Barry Co., holds services once in two or three weeks.


A Presbyterian Church was organized in the southern part of the township, in the Preston neighborhood, May 22, 1846, by Rev. William U. Benedict, of Vermontville, and consisted of seven members,-viz. : Samnel Preston and wife, Ephraim Stockwell, John Strange and wife, Emannel De Groff and wife. Mr. Benediet became the first pastor. Some years later a franie house of worship was erected on section 34, and meetings have been continued to the present. The membership in June, 1880, was thirty-one, and the pastor Rev. Mr. Goodell, of the Congregational Church at Grand Ledge.


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.


J. L. McPEEK.


J. L. McPEEK.


J. L. McPeek is a native of Madison, Guernsey Co., Ohio, where he was born on the 4th of May, 1848. He was the fourth child in a family of six children ; his father, Samuel McPeek, being a native of the same State, and of Belmont County, where he was born in 1809 ; his mother, nee Miss Mary Gartrall, being a native of Maryland, where she was born in 1816.


In 1853, the subject of our sketch being then a mere lad, the family removed to Michigan and located at Grand


Ledge. The country being new, the usual experience of pioneers was theirs, and all the attending privations, with the many pleasures, known only to those who have seen the change from the home in the woods, crude and rough, to one surrounded with all the advantages of civilization.


Mr. McPeek passed the first nineteen years of his exist- ence at his father's house and on the farm. He then went to school at Lansing one term, and the following winter at the Leoni Institute one term, and in 1871 began the study of law. After a few months he opened a real-estate office in Grand Ledge, and prosecuted this business in connection with his studies until 1875, when he was admitted to the bar. Since that time he has made the law a profession, and has also been quite actively engaged in political matters. He was the second recorder elected in the village of Grand Ledge, which office he filled for two years. He has also been village trustee, justice of the peace, etc.


In 1878 he was elected State senator from his district (the Fifteenth Senatorial), which position he fills with ability.


He married, in 1874, Miss Inez De Groff, a native of Huron Co., Ohio.


Mr. McPeek is young in years, congenial, cultured, and refined,-possessing the confidence of the community in which he lives. The future is full of promise for him.


EDMUND LAMSON.


Edmund Lamson, son of Edmund and Lucy (Howe) Lamson, was born in Poultney, Vt., Nov. 18, 1802. His father was a native of Connectient, his mother a daughter of Deacon Silas Howe, of Revolutionary fame.


The subject of this sketch, up to his twenty-first year, worked at the trade of chair-making and painting, attend- ing school a small portion of his time. Upon arriving of age, he determined to go to Michigan, and drove an ox- team to Buffalo, then by boat journeyed to Detroit, thence on foot to Pontiac, Mich., where he resided eleven years. In 1827 he married Annie Hedges of that place ; after- wards removed to Farmington, Oakland Co., and for twelve years ran a saw-mill. In 1848 he removed to Oneida town- ship, Eaton Co., being the first permanent settler in what is now the village of Grand Ledge. It was then dense forest. In 1861 he suffered the loss of his wife, by whom he had eleven children. In 1863 he married Mrs. Diantha Hubbard, a native of Burlington, Otsego Co., N. Y., born in 1824.


Mr. Lamson was the first president of the village council, and from 1853 to 1861 held the office of justice of the peace ; he also erected the steam saw-mill in Grand Ledge. He has been for several years notary public ; has given largely to the support of the churches and schools, in which he takes great interest, and is very highly esteemed in the village, of which he is justly termed the father, and for which he has labored with all his energy and ability, no one accom- plishing more in bringing about its present prosperity.


ROXAND.


NATURAL FEATURES. GEOGRAPHY, TOPOGRAPHY, ETC.


THE township of Roxand, including congressional town- ship number 4 north, in range number 5 west of the principal meridian of Michigan, occupies a position on the northern border of Eaton County, and is bounded north by Ionia County, east by the township of Oneida, south by Chester, and west by Sunfield. The township-lines were surveyed by Lucius Lyon, in 1825, and the subdivisions by Orange Risdon, in 1827.


A great portion of the surface of this township is quite level, and the soil is everywhere excellent. Large crops of grain and fruit are raised, and their proceeds have enabled the inhabitants, who are mostly agriculturists, to make finc improvements and live in comfort. This township was very heavily timbered when first settled, and a large area of it yet remains untouched.


There are no considerable streams, and but a compara- tively small area of waste land, in this township. A mile north of the Centre is the village of Hoytville, the growth of a few years, and near the southeast corner, partly in Chester township, is a settlement known as Maxson's Cor- ners, which dates back lo the pioneer days.


LAND ENTRIES.


The following are the entries of public land in the town- ship of Roxand (town 4 north, range 5 west), as shown on the tract-book for Eaton County :


Section 1 .- 1836, S. Perkins, P. T. Voorheis; 1837, T. Mosier, R. A. Simpson; 1841, D. Cleveland; 1851-54, 11. Clark ; 1852, G. Niles.


Section 2 .- 1836, C. Lawrence; 1837, W. A. Andereon, D. Libbey, G. S. Shoul, S. Curtis.


Section 3 .- 1836, W. Cryderman; 1837, W. Smith, J. Cryderman, T. Mosier, Robert Brown, A. French, J. A. Woulvin.


Section 4 .- 1836, B. French ; 1837, C. Killam, C. Olin, E. Bisbee, William llenry ; 1847, J. A. Woolvin; 1853, G. S. Allen.


Section 5 .- 1837, E. Bisbec, J. Clark, C. Killam, A. Goddard, S. W. Drake, L. Webster; 1847, T. II. Gridley ; 1849, A. Shudduck. Section 6 .- 1836, A. Sumner; 1837, D. M. Burnham; 1854, N. Gates ; 1855, J. M. Dunbam.


Section 7 .- 1836, A. Somner; 1837, L. Cotand; 1849, Zetus N. Spaul- ding; 1850, C. Spaulding; 1851, J. Mille.


Section 8 .- 1837, Charles Killam, Caleb Rice.


Section 9 .- 1837, R. Brown, C. Olin, C. Rice; 1849, Thos. F. Moul- ton, A. Thomas; 1850, J. Eshpaugh.


Section 10 .- 1837, Robert Brown, E. Hungerford, A. Nickle; 1847, S. D. Farrand, Jay Curtie ; 1858, Samuel D. Farrand.


Section 11 .- 1837, S. Monroe, H. Whitney, A. Nickle; 1849, David Greer; 1851, J. Osman ; 1852, D. Osman.


Section 12 .- 1836, O. Rowland, 11. Clark ; 1837, 11. Whitney ; 1849, 11. Clark, J. W. Moore; 1850, Eli T. Wild; 1852, Mary Barnea, P. Moore ; 1853, J. W. Moure.


Section 13 .- 1836, D. Murray, S. Perkins ; 1848, Eli T. Weld, S. Wor- den ; 1849, J. Savage, S. Wall; 1851, R. Green, Sophia Bodley ; 1864, Isaac Wall; no date, 1 .. Jenne.


Section 14 .- 18 36, W. Deits ; 1837, S. Armstrong ; 1841, J. Fuller- ton ; 1848, L. Whitney ; 1850, J. S. Hazleton ; 1851, B. Holmes ; 1852, L. Cole; 1853, J. Cleveland ; 1854, J. Curtis, A. Savage ; 1860, Wm. II. Spore.


Section 15 .- 1836, T. Beach ; 1837, A. Parker, J. Chapman, R. Brown, David Parker, S. Hungerford.


Section 16 .- 1853, G. A. Allen, J. J. Cannon, G. Quackenbosa ; 1854, A. Quackenboss, R. Wm. Lyon, M. Elder, A. G. Hinkley ; no date, O. Story ; 1861, R. Wm. Lyoo, Susan Hammond.


Section 17 .- 1837, C. Rice, A. Backus; 1849, H. De Witt, Stephen Lee; 1853, E. Baldwin.


Section 18 .- 1837, A. Backus; 1839, P. C. Van Houten; 1849, Wm. S. Manville, J. W. Ramey ; 1854, D. Stevens.


Section 19 .- 1837, A. Backns, 11. Beekman, J. Dow; 1838, Wm. Tuni- son ; 1853, J. J. Wilcott; 1854, P. C. Van Houten.


Section 20 .- 1837, H. Backus, R. W. Craig, J. Laidler, W. ITilson ; 1850, Ilenry llalladay ; 1865, A. P. Redfield.


Section 21 .- 1837, G. Almy, II. Allen ; 1841, 1844, 1850, B. F. Gar- field ; 1848, Wm. Greenwood; 1850, Henry Haladay ; 1853, J. S. Cameron.


Section 22 .- 1836, S. MeCally, II. Wood ; 1837, E. Pennell; 1848, D. Griffin; 1849, P. Boyer.


Section 23 .- 1837, W. Densmore, C. Olin, W. S. Crittenden ; 1847, J. Isbaugh ; 1848, T. T. Arnold, E. Williams; 1852, Lemuel Cole.


Section 24 .- 1837, T. 11. Austin, O. Ilart, D. Newman, J. Monroe; 1839, J. B. Chapman


Section 25 .- 1837, Lemuel Cole ; 1852, J. Head, Amos Stanton ; 1858, Juhn Potts, Peter Simnot ; 1859, A. Stanton, P. Simot.


Section 26 .- 1837, C. Olin; 1850, O. Field; 1851, W. Moore, M. Alleo ; 1858, Nelson F. Rice; 1854-61, A. A. Jenno; 1865, Ebenezer G Landen, Johannes Boyer; 1866, Alden A. Jenne.


Section 27 .- 1837, C. Ingalls ; 1838, Caleb Rice; 1841, H. H. Boyer; 1848, Jusiah Boyer, W. Boyer.


Section 28 .- 1837, C. T. Moffitt, H. Allen, A. Huckins, T. W. Nichole; 1836, G. If. Hazleton ; 1847-52, J. Boyer.


Section 29 .- 1837, F. Allen, T. Smith, George Smith ; 1836, G. W. Bentley ; 1851, P. Whitmack; 1852-53, Andrew J. Barrow.


Section 30 .- 1836, G. Eagel; 1837, George Smith, HI. Backus, II. V. Prentice; 1849, Oliver Brant.


Section 31 .- 1836, James Hitchinson, John Hitchinson, J. T. Hayt, D. Clark.


Section 32 .- 1836, G. W. Bentley, James Hitebinson, Z. Tillotson; 1839, S. Cramer; 1852, T. Clock.


Section 33 .- 1836, A. Whaley, T. Beach; 1837, Charles T. Moffitt.


Section 34 .- 1837, J. W. McCargar, II. A. Moyer, Caleb Rice; 1841- 47, A. Boyer.


Section 35 .- 1836, S. and E. Blies; 1838, Caleb Rioe ; 1840, A. Boyer; 1848, D. C. Carr, S. Jenne; 1849, James 11. Davia; 1850, Peleg G. Olin ; 1854, M. A. Granger.


Section 36 .- 1837, A. Cuats, R. R. Maxson, T. Gray ; 1844, D. O. Carr; 1847, S. A. Jeone; 1848, F. Hathaway; 1849, Samuel Lamb, Jamca If. Davis.


A great proportion of the foregoing names are those of land-speculators, who did not become actual residents of the township.


EARLY SETTLEMENT.


Andrew Nickle, who had come from Ireland in the fall of 1828 and located in New York City, came to Roxand in 1837 and purchased land, upon which he commenced im- provercuts Jan. 1, 1838. When he bought there was not a white person residing in the township, but about ten


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ROXAND.


days before he returned to begin his improvements, Orrin Rowland and Henry Clark had settled, being the first actual settlers in the township. Aaron and Benjamin French and William Cryderman followed soon afterwards,- spring of 1838,-and located in the north part of the town- ship, on adjoining farms.


During the summer of 1838, Mr. Niekle made a clearing, built a shanty, and raised some corn and potatoes. In the fall his wife and sister joined him, there being no ehildren at that time. His eldest son, John Niekle, was one of the first white children born in the township, his birth occurring in 1840. When Mr. Nickle first eame in there was but one house between his place and Grand River, and that was in Ionia County, near to the river.


Lemuel Cole entered land on section 25 in 1837, and it has been stated by some that he settled upon it the follow- ing winter, but the recollection of others is that he did not locate until the fall of 1838, at which time parties eame from the Canada Settlement, in Oneida township, to assist in raising his first log cabin.


John W. McCargar, from Auburn, Cayuga Co., N. Y., came to Roxand in the spring of 1837 and purehased 200 acres of land on the south line of the township. He was then young and unmarried. He had visited several por- tions of the county in his search for land, and was finally shown that which be selected by Samuel Preston, of Oneida. He says it was a beautiful tract in a state of nature, without a foot of waste land. He walked to Ionia to enter it, and missed the trail on the way and stayed over-night in a swamp. This was in April, 1837. He had matches in his pocket, of the old-fashioned kind, but they were so damp they would not ignite, and he was therefore obliged to remain all night without a fire and listen to the varied sounds of the swamp and forest. He reached Ionia safely the next day. In his exploring tour he had met with settlers in Benton, Wind- sor, and Oneida, and passed westward through the Canada Settlement, becoming acquainted with Robert Rix and Sam- uel Preston, then both of Oneida. He found excellent land in most localities, but none that suited him entirely until his eye fell upon that which he finally purchased and which he still occupies. In the spring of 1838 he eom- meneed improving his place, but for about three years lived most of the time in Ionia. Mr. McCargar's location is one of the finest in the townsbip. For about ten weeks, in the spring of 1838, he lived alone on his place, in a small shanty he had built, cooking his meals and having no help with his work. Henry A. Moyer settled next west of him in 1839, and with him Mr. McCargar boarded a por- tion of the time while clearing. In 1842 the latter's brother-in-law, John Ludowick, lived with his family on the place, but in 1843 he located in Benton township. He has since sold out and removed to Pewamo, Clinton Co., where he now resides. In 1843, Mr. McCargar was married and settled permanently on his farm.


John Fullerton, from Portage Co., Ohio, moved to Lena- wee Co., Mich., about 1840, and on the 4th of July, 1843, settled in Roxand, with his wife and two children, -- a son and a daughter,-on the farm where he now lives.


John Dow, a native of Bridgewater, Somerset Co., N. J., and afterwards a resident of the State of New York, came to


Eaton County in October, 1837, and after spending some weeks in what is now Sunfield, settled on section 19, in Roxand, on land purchased from the government. He was the first in the locality, having no neighbors in the township within several miles. Roxand was then a part of Vermont- ville and from 1839 to 1843 a part of Chester, of which latter township Mr. Dow was one of the first justicees of the peace and the first supervisor by appointment, in place of Robert Wheaton, who had been elected and afterwards found to be ineligible to the office. Mr. Dow was subsequently supervisor of Roxand for several years, and sinee his removal to Sunfield, in 1851, has been supervisor of the latter town- ship until now, with the exception of one year. He is, without doubt, the veteran supervisor of the State, and it is improbable that any State in the Union ean produce a man who has held that office an equal length of time. He has several times represented the board of supervisors on the State Board of Equalization. In February, 1845, his wife died, and in November, 1846, he was married to a sis- ter of Jonathan and Samnel Searls, the pioneers of Char- lotte.


Henry A. Moyer, who settled in December, 1839, on land he had purchased the year previous, moved here from Saline, Washtenaw Co., Mich. He was a native of Herki- mer Co., N. Y., but lived afterwards in and emigrated to Michigan from Cayuga County, of which his wife was a native. When a young man Mr. Moyer employed consid- erable of his time in teaching school, and after moving to Roxand became one of its most prominent citizens, serving as supervisor several terms and holding various other town- ship offices. He is now deeeased.


Robert Rix, from Orleans Co., N. Y., arrived in Michi- gan in the fall of 1835, and found his way to Portland, Ionia Co., where he remained until January, 1836, hiring out in the mean time to Solomon Russell, who became the first settler in Oneida township, Eaton Co. In January, 1836, Mr. Rix went into Oneida and built a shanty for Mr. Russell. He had previously been to Detroit after a load of provisions, and while he was away Russell eut a road through to his place in Oneida and commenced to get out logs for a shanty. While cntting the second log he fell upon his axe and eut his hand nearly off, disabling him for work, and the responsibility of building and overseeing matters devolved upon Mr. Rix, who completed the work. The family moved in from Portland and oceupied the shanty before it was entirely finished. The weather was intensely cold.


Mr. Rix at that time owned no land in Oneida, but during the same spring (1836) he entered forty acres on section 21, where Mr. Guilford now lives. Two years later be sold out to Peter Kent and removed to the township of Ada, Kent Co., where he remained a year and a half. He then came to Roxand and purchased from Henry Earl the farm he now occupies, on seetion 35. About three acres had been chopped where Mr. Rix's buildings now stand, and a small shanty had been ereeted by David Brezee, who boarded with Mr. Earl and sold the place to him. Mr. Brezee, who had occupied the cabin a short time, was an ambi- tions, hard-working young man, but his industry proved the cause of his death, for he was taken sick while at work,


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HISTORY OF EATON COUNTY, MICIIIGAN.


and died at the house of Samuel Preston, in Oneida, his burial expenses being borne by the township. Hard work had broken him completely down, and he finally sue- eumbed. He was a strietly honest young man, and was greatly esteemed by those who knew him. He had come to the county in company with Henry Earl, Henry A. Moyer, and others, from the State of New York.


In November, 1835, when Mr. Ris, Mr. Hixson, and others started from Portland to go with teams to Detroit after provisions, they were caught out in the night in a severe rainstorm when within a few miles of De Witt, Clinton Co. The night was extremely dark, and it was absolutely impossible to see anything. Their teams became fast in a mudhole and vainly endeavored to extricate themselves. The two men (Rix and Hixson) found their way through the inky darkness to Deacon Marvin's, whither they had repaired to get a light or some fire. They found the house full of land-lookers, who were piled in all shapes on the floor, and who growled erossly at being disturbed. Mr. Rix finally pushed the door open, and, stepping over the forms on the floor, groped his way to the fireplace, where he found a large brand with a little fire left on one side. Taking this in his hands he left the house, and he and Mr. Hixson swung it rapidly by turns to keep the fire burning, until they at last reached their teams. Taking an end board from one of the wagons, they split it up and succeeded in starting a fire, by which they remained through the night, their elothing saturated by the storm and their spirits con- siderably below their normal condition. They proceeded on their journey the next day, finding the roads in the worst possible condition, and experiencing much trouble and delay in crossing the difficult places. The brush in the roads was cut down to about a foot in height. Except for a few miles out of Detroit there were no erossways at swamps and streams, and the roads were badly ent up by constant travel. Their trip lasted from November 7th until December 25th, and they stayed in the open air eleven nights during the time. As Mr. Rix rightly re- marks, no one can appreciate the difficulties and hard- ships of such trips unless he has had a similar experi- ence. The history of such journeys in the life of almost every one of the pioneers would fill a goodly volume if given in detail.


The following information is from the records of the County Pioneer Society :


Adam Boyer, a native of the town of Manheim, Herki- mer Co., N. Y., removed to Michigan in 1839, and settled in the township of Roxand, Eaton Co., where he lived until 1874, when he removed to Vermontville. Phebe M. Boyer came to Michigan in 1846, and lived first in Cal- houn, then in lonia County, and came to Eaton County in 1869.


Peter C. Vanhouten, a native of Paterson, N. J., and a soldier in the war of 1812, in which he took part in several engagements, removed, with four children (having lost his wife), to Michigan, in 1838, and settled in the township of Roxand, where he was again married. His death occurred Jan. 20, 1808 .*


Several stories are told regarding the origin of the name of this township (Roxand), but the following is believed to be the correct one,-at least it is too good to be lost, and since it has been found we shall " make a minute of it."


Among the early residents of the old township of Ches- ter were William Crother and wife, or a woman who passed for his wife, it having become known that he had left his lawful wife somewhere in New York and fled to Canada with the other woman, to whom he was there married, coming afterwards to Michigan. Her son-in-law, William Cummings, complained of the parties before Henry A. Moyer, Esq., and they employed a lawyer named Bradley to defend them. Esquire Moyer admitted some evidence in the ease which was not strictly admissible, and Bradley was much displeased. Ile was subsequently elected to the Legislature, where he was serving when the township of Chester was divided. The inhabitants in the north half (now Roxand) wished to retain the name of Chester ; but as the south part contained the post-office of that name, its inhabitants sent a petition to Mr. Bradley to use his influ- ence in their behalf and allow them to retain the name. Bradley had not forgotten his defeat before Esquire Moyer, who lived in the north part, and when the division was made the south half remained as Chester, while to the north half, at Mr. Bradley's instanee, was given the name Roxuna,-that of the woman in the aforementioned ease. The elerk, by some means, made a mistake and wrote it Roxand, and Bradley's revenge was not all he had intended it to be.


Another account says that when the name was handed in it could not all be made ont. It was Rox- and some- thing else, and so was put down as Roxand to save further study.


RESIDENTS IN 1844.


The following list of resident taxpayers in Roxand town- ship in 1844 is taken from the assessment-roll for that year :


Adam Boyer, Henry Clark, G. W. Codding, Lemuel Cole, Nathan Croff, Stephen Cramer, Wm. Credoman, John Ewing, Aaron French, Benjamin French, John MeCargar, E. J. Mills, Ilenry A. Moyer, Andrew Nickle, Orin Row- land, William Tunnison, John Vanhouten, P. C. Van- houten, R. T. Winchell, John Fullerton, Robert Rix, Reu- ben Hoag, S. Ilodges, D. Cleaveland, Jonathan Thomas, Oliver Thomas, Hobson Sinclair, George Edgel, Aaron French, Alvin Thomas, - Hicks, Henry H. Boyer, Franklin Garfield, N. Carr, D. Carr.


Roxana post-office was established in the spring of 1849, on a mail-route extending from Lansing to Allegan, and Henry A. Moyer is thought to have been appointed the first postmaster. Ile died while holding that position, and the office was then transferred to the house of John W. McCargar, who was appointed postmaster. Those who have sinee held the office have been Irving Moyer, Theo- dore Maxson, David Hollenbeck, Henry Vanness, and the present incumbent, Roswell Maxson. The office is located at Maxson's Corners, or " Needmore," as it is familiarly called,-the place being situated partly in Roxand and partly in Chester.


" From obituary in Charlotte Republican.


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ROXAND.


TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION .- LIST OF OFFICERS.


The following act of the Legislature was approved March 19, 1843 : " All that part of the county of Eaton desig- nated by the United States survey as township number four north, of range number five west, now a part of the township of Chester, be and the same is hereby set off and organized into a separate township by the name of Roxand ; and that the first township-meeting in both the respective townships of three north and four north, of range five west, shall be held at a place to be designated by a majority of the justices of the peace in the organized township of Chester."


The first township-meeting in Roxand was held April 17, 1843. Eighteen votes were cast and the following officers elected, viz. : Supervisor, John Dow; Township Clerk, John Ewing; Treasurer, Henry H. Boyer; School Inspectors, Peter C. Vanhouten, John Dow ; Commissioners of Highways, John Ewing, John Vanhouten, Adam Boyer ; Directors of the Poor, Peter C. Vanhouten, Henry Clark ; Justices of the Peace, Andrew Nickle, Lemnel Cole, Henry F. Garfield, Benjamin F. Garfield ; Constables, John Van- houten, Stephen Cramer, Benjamin F. Garfield, Adam Boyer.


From a poll of eighteen votes in 1843 the number has increased to several hundred in 1880, and questions in politics are divided more nearly equal by a party vote than then. The following have been the principal officers of the township since the next year after its organization :


SUPERVISORS.


1844, Robert Rix;# 1845-50, John Dow; 1851, Carlos Spalding; 1852-56, llenry A. Moyer; 1857-71, Jobn Vanhouten ; 1872-74, O. S. Barnes ; 1875-79, Theron E. Moyer.




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