USA > Michigan > Eaton County > History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan > Part 27
USA > Michigan > Ingham County > History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan > Part 27
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At the October meeting in 1878, it was resolved to sell the old farm and proceed in some way to the erection of the necessary buildings. Plans for new buildings were fur- nished by Mason & Rice, of Detroit, and a contract for construction was let to Seth A. Paddock and John W.
McRobert, in June, 1879, for the sum of $9715.88, in part payment of which Messrs. Paddock & McRobert took the remaining 120 acres of the old county farm at $3000. The total cost of the building, including interest and the pay of the building committee, was, according to the books of the treasurer, $10,355.59.
The total length of the building on the proper front is 121 feet. The main building in the centre is thirty-four feet front and fifty feet deep, and consists of three stories and basement; the wings are thirty-three feet deep, with two stories and basement. It is finished complete, with the exception of the attic story. The material of the walls is brick, and the whole structure is substantially con- strueted throughout. The heating apparatus cost over $400, which is not included in the above estimate. The new building presents a fine and commanding appearance, and affords accommodations for 100 persons, which will probably be ample for years to come. The outbuildings include good barns, a granary, etc., and are in good condi- tion. The farm is located about one and a half miles east by south from Okemos Station, and about seven miles from the Capitol in Lansing on a direct line. The Detroit, Lan- sing and Northern Railway crosses the northeastern corner of the farm. Altogether the county has an approximate of $20,000 invested in the property. The value of the products of the farm for 1879 was $1373.57. The amounts appropriated in various years since the organi- zation of the county for the maintenance of the poor have been about as follows :
1839
$50.00
1858
$900.00
1843
434.48
1860
510.00
1844 ..
400.00
1861
2500.00
1846
550.00
1865.
3500.00
1850
910.00
1873
5000.00
1856
800.00
1879 8650.00
Appropriations have been made from time to time for the support of insane poor at the Kalamazoo Asylum.
Among the earlier superintendents of the poor were H. H. Smith, Caleb Carr, Joseph II. Kilbourne, E. E. Cochrane, and others. The total number of persons admitted in 1875 was forty-eight. Number remaining September 30th, same year, thirty-one. Average, thirty-six.
VALUATION, TAXATION, SALARIES, ETC.
The valuation of property in the county in 1839 has been given. The following tables will show it at different periods to the present time :
IS50.
Real Estate.
Personal Property.
Meridian
$32,822
$1,426
Ingham .
36,200
6,047
Onondaga
39,810
5,534
Locke ..
27,880
1,021
Aurelius
32,079
803
Wheatfield
30,352
1,294
Bunker Hill.
29,51₺
Leslie
38,509
3,583
Alaiedon.
34,830
2,93₺
White Oak
32,882
3,112
Delhi.
37,667
2,919
Stockbridge
38,703
5,87[
Vevay.
43,217
5,434
Lansing.
117,302
18,175
Totals
$630,433
$65,633
3,813
Leroy
27,687
900
Phelpstown.
30,982
2,770
110
HISTORY OF INGIIAM COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
IS60.
Total Valuation.
Alniedon.
$132,000
.
Aurelius.
145,000
Bunker Hill
127,000
Delhi
165,000
Ingham
185,000
Lansing (township)
135,000
Lansing (city)
415,000
Leroy.
135,000
Leslie ..
180,000
Locke ..
115,000
Meridian
142,000
Onondaga
185,000
Stockbridge
160,000
Veray.
215,000
Wheatheld
110,000
White Oak
127,000
Williamstown
148,000
Total.
$2,821,000
State tax.
$3,599.79
County tax
12,645.00
Total.
$16,244.79
1870.
Alaiedon.
$212,000
Aurelius.
229,000
Bunker Hill
168,000
Delhi.
250,000
Ingham
280,000
Leslie
295,000
Leroy.
166,000
Locke.
194,000
Lansing township.
200,000
Lansing City
S27,000
Meridian.
229,000
Onoodaga
275,000
Stoekbridge
183,000
Wheat feld
173,000
White Oak
163,000
Williamstown
202,000
V'eray
340,000
Total
$4,386,000
State tax.
$5,737.06
County tax
20,000.00
Total
$25,737.06
The sum voted to be raised in 1875 was $52,677.15, of which $20,000 was by loan. The equalized valuation of the county in 1875 was $5,218,000.
1880.
Alaiedon .....
$527,500
Aurelius.
549,800
Bunker Hill.
374,200
Delhi
520,300
Ingham
580,000
Leslie.
792,500
Lansing township ..
455,000
Leroy ..
417,500
Loeke.
407,500
Meridian
465,000
Onondaga.
580,000
Stockbridge
390,000
Vevay ..
559,100
Wheatfield.
490,400
White Oak
368,400
Williamstown.
578,600
City of Lansing.
2,377,200
City of Mason
450,000
Total
$10,883,000
Total tax for 1880, 872,319.81. County indebtedness to State (nominally), $24,275.61. The real indebtedness was $18,009.28.
These valuations do not necessarily indicate the true value of property. The valuation of 1880 probably approaches nearer to it than any other.
SALARIES, ETC.
In 1839 the board fixed the salary of the prosecuting attorney at $150 per annum, and of the treasurer at $200.
In 1850 the salary of prosecuting attorney was fixed at $300, of the county judge at $225, and county clerk at $225. In 1855 they were allowed as follows: county treasurer, $550; prosecuting attorney, $450 ; county clerk, $350. In 1861 the total of officers' salaries amounted to $2650. In 1874 the amounts had increased to, county treasurer, $1000; county clerk, $S00 ; prosecuting attorney, $1000; judge of probate, $1025; county superintendent of schools, $4.50 per day.
RAILROAD INDEBTEDNESS.
The county, by a vote taken in November, 1863, was bonded for $40,000 in aid of railways. The remaining stock in the Jackson, Lansing and Saginaw road was sold in 1867 to O. M. Barnes for $10,000, and the proceeds set aside as a sinking-fund to meet outstanding bonds.
STATE LIQUOR LAW.
The amount collected under this law in 1879 was $4975.97, which is paid to the county treasurer, and by him to the various cities and corporate villages of the county, less his commissions. The receipts for 1880 will considerably exceed this amount.
CHAPTER IV.
THE PROFESSIONS.
Early Bar of Ingham County-Early Physicians.
THE following brief notices of the early attorneys of Ingham County have been collected and compiled from a variety of sources,-a considerable moiety from the columns of the Lansing Republican, and a few from other papers. Many have been picked up by correspondence, and Hon. Daniel L. Case has aided materially in furnishing informa- tion. We have also consulted Judges Chapman and Pinck- ney, Ephraim Longyear, W. W. Upton, and others. It would have been much more satisfactory to the writer in charge of the work and to the public, undoubtedly, had some member of the profession furnished a more elaborate and comprehensive chapter. Under the circumstances the compiler has done the best possible. If any of the earlier ones have been omitted, it has been rather for lack of infor- mation than of disposition on the part of the writer. Notices of others not included in this chapter may be found among city and township biographies.
COL. JOHN WOOLSEY BURCHARD was one of the first practitioners of law in Ingham County. He was born in Scipio, Cayuga Co., N. Y., in 1814, and com- meneed the study of law at Rochester about 1836. In 1839 he removed to Lenawee Co., Mich., where he was admitted to practice, and in the same year settled at Mason, Ingham Co., where he continued until 1843, when he partly gave up the profession to engage in other business at Lan- sing. Ile purchased land and a portion of the water- power of James Seymour in 1841, and erected a dam across Grand River in 1943, but was unfortunately drowned in
111
THE PROFESSIONS.
April, 1844, while inspecting his dam, which had been in- jured by high water .*
He was treasurer of the county in 1841-42, succeeding Hiram 11. Smith, the first incumbent, and was also prosc- cuting attorney previous to his removal to Lansing. He was elected supervisor of Lansing township in the spring of 1844, a few days before his death.
Among the earliest lawyers was JASON PACKARD, a son of Dr. Packard, of Ann Arbor, Mich. He came to the county probably soon after its organization, and was county treasurer in 1843-44. Soon after the expiration of his term of office he returned to Jackson, where he had been previously located.
HON. DANIEL L. CASE, another early settler and attorney, was born near Three Rivers, in Canada, where his father's family was temporarily stopping, in 1811. His father had purchased land in Canada, but the breaking out of the war of 1812 brought him under the ban of the British govern- ment, his property was confiscated, and he returned to the United States.
Mr. Case began the study of law with Wm. J. Moody, of Penfield, near Rochester, N. Y., about 1833. He visited Michigan when a boy in 1829; went back to New York in 1832, and again visited Michigan in 1834. Mr. Moody removed to Jackson, Mich., at the last-mentioned date, and Mr. Case accompanied him. In 1836 he went to Louisiana and Texas, and practiced law for a time in both States. In 1842 he returned to New York, and in March, 1843, came a third time to Michigan, and settled at Mason, Ingham Co., where he opened a law office. He was appointed by the Governor prosecuting attorney in 1844, and held during a part or all of three terms. In 1847 he removed to Lan- sing. He had entered into the mercantile business in 1845 at Mason, and in 1847 transferred it to Lansing, which was just beginning to attract the attention of traders and capi- talists. From the last-mentioned date he virtually aban- doned the practice of law. While temporarily residing in Fonia County, at Portland, in 1850, he was elected a mem- ber of the State House of Representatives. In 1858 he was elected auditor-general of the State, and served through 1859 and 1860. Mr. Case married a sister of Mrs. James Turner and Mrs. John W. Longyear. In 1864 he was commissioned major and paymaster in the United States army, which office he resigned a short time before the close of the war. He was prominently engaged in the work of enlisting troops at the outbreak of the Re- bellion, and continued active during the war.
Mr. Case has a fine residence on Washington Avenue, in Lansing.
HON. JOHN W. LONGYEAR + was a native of Shandaken, Ulster Co., N. Y., where he was born Oct. 22, 1820. He graduated at Lima Seminary, New York, and commenced the study of law soon after. In 1844 he removed to Michigan, and settled at Mason, where he completed his studies with his brother-in-law, Daniel L. Case, teaching a district school during the winter while pursuing his studies.
In the spring of 1847, upon the removal of the State Capitol, he came to Lansing, having been admitted to prac- tice in 1846. At Lansing he practiced in connection with Ephraim Longyear, his brother, and ranked high in his profession. In 1862 he was elected to Congress from the Third District, then composed of Calhoun, Eaton, Ingham, Jackson, and Washtenaw Counties, and was re-elected in 1864. In 1867 he was a member of the Constitutional Convention, and took an influential part in its deliberations.
He was appointed judge of the United States District Court in May, 1870, and in 1871 removed to Detroit, where he remained until his death, which took place on the 11th of March, 1875.
Judge Longyear was one of the soundest lawyers in the State, and ranked among the ablest members of the judicial bench. His decisions gave almost universal satisfaction, and are regarded as the standard in bankruptcy. They were prepared with great care, and were remarkable for clearness and vigor.
While residing at Mason he married Miss Monroe, a sister of Mrs. D. L. Case and of Mrs. James Turner, of Lansing. His wife and their children survive him.
" We knew Judge Longyear intimately. We beartily indorse what a contemporary says of him, 'that he was a man of sterling integrity of character, firm in his convictions, affable and courteous, and on the best of terms with all who knew him.'"
GEORGE W. PECK was born in the city of New York, where he passed his early years. He began the study of the law in 1837, and in 1839 emigrated to Michigan, in- tending to commence the practice of his profession, but unforeseen circumstances prevented this intention from being carried into execution, and he engaged in mercantile pursuits in Oakland and Livingston Counties until 1841, when he resumed the study of the law. He was admitted to prac- tice in 1842, and opened an office in the town of Brighton in the same year. During the succeeding three years he devoted himself to practice, but the country was too new to admit of any remarkable advance in the profession or the accumulation of any great amount of pecuniary profits.
In 1845 he was elected a member of the Michigan House of Representatives, where he immediately distinguished himself as a prominent debater and active member. He was returned in the following year, and was elected Speaker of the House. Among the distinguished men who com- peted for the position were Jobn J. Adam and A. Noble.
In the spring of 1847, Mr. Peck removed to Lansing, the new State capital, where he continued to reside until about 1864, when he removed to East Saginaw, and from the latter place to St. Louis, Mo., abont 1875. He is now located at the Hot Springs, Ark., where he has an extensive practice. He holds the position of attorney for the St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railway Company.
Mr. Peck was the first postmaster at Lansing, and in 1848 was appointed secretary of state, in which capacity he served for two years. In 1852 he became proprietor of the Michigan State Journal, and was appointed State printer. In 1854 he was elected to Congress. He was a prominent member of the Masonic order, and filled many positions of trust.
See History of Lansing.
+ This sketch of Judge Longyear is compiled mostly from an obituary written soon after bis death by Hon. D. C. Leach.
112
HISTORY OF INGHAM COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
HON. W. W. UPTON .*- Among the lawyers carliest settled at Lansing was Ifon. W. W. Upton, the present second comptroller of the United States Treasury Depart- ment.
Mr. Upton was born in the town of Victor, Ontario Co., N. Y. Ile received an academical education at the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, of Lima, N. Y. During the summer half of his last two years at the seminary he was engaged with a corps of engineers in making surveys of the Auburn and Rochester Railroad, now a part of the New York Ceu- tral road ; and, although his name was recorded as a stu- dent-at-law in the office of John C. Spencer, at Canandaigua, N. Y., before receiving much instruction at this office he was induced to survey and lay out a canal in Northern Indiana ; and, being thus brought in contact with the nat- ural beauties of the then unsettled West, he, while still a minor, made a settlement at Victor, Clinton Co., Mich., where he cleared up a farm, in the mean time continuing his law studies, his name having been eutered as a student- at-law with Levi Townsend, Esq., of De Witt, at which place he was admitted to practice about 1845.
He represented Clinton County in the last session of the Legislature that convened at Detroit, during which he in- troduced the bill, which finally became a law, permanently locating the State Capitol at Lansing. At the close of that session, in the spring of 1847, he removed to Lansing, where, in partnership with Henry Jipson, he built the first house that was erected on the west side of the river in Lansing, and engaged actively in the construction of the old State Capitol and other prominent buildings, which were erected ou contract.
In the fall of 1847, Mr. Upton resumed the practice of law, and continued to devote his attention to it in Lansing until the spring of 1852, when he removed to California.
Hle married at Victor, N. Y., in 1840, Miss Amanda Ilollister, and was again married, at East Avon, N. Y., in 1860, to Miss Marietta Bryan. His first wife and three children accompanied him, overland, on his trip to Cali- fornia, which was begun April 1 and ended Sept. 18, 1852.
For twelve years he devoted his time to the practice of law in California, serving in the mean time, in 1856, as a member of the Legislature, and as district attorney of Sac- ramento County from 1861 to 1863. In the fall of 1864 he removed from Sacramento to Portland, Oregon, where he practiced his profession until February, 1868, when he was appointed a justice of the Supreme Court of the State to fill a vacancy. In the following June he was elected by the people to the same position for a term of six years. On the Ist of September, 1872, he became chief justice of the State of Oregon, and continued in that position until Sep- tember, 1874.
On the 1st of October, 1877, he was appointed by Presi- dent Hayes to fill the very important position which he now occupies,-a position in which it becomes his duty to revise all the work of the second, third, and fourth auditors of the Treasury, and to make the final decision as to the
amount due to every claimant, on account of expenditures in the army, the navy, and in the transaction of Indian affairs.
ORANGE BUTLER was born in Pompey, Onondaga Co., N. Y., March 5, 1794. IIe graduated at Union College, Schenectady, and studied law with the celebrated Victor Birdseye, of Pompey. During the period of his studies he also taught the classical languages.
Ile commenced the practice of law at Vienna, a village of Ontario Co., N. Y., but subsequently removed to Gaines, Orleans Co., where he built up an extensive practice, being prominent in the famous Morgan trials during the Anti-Masonic excitement. He was elected prosecuting attorney for the county.
About the year 1835 he removed from Orleans County to Adrian, Mich., and was a member of the House of Rep- resentatives in the State Legislature in 1837. He removed to Delta, Eaton Co., Mich., in April, 1847, where he pur- chased the Ingersoll Mills, and remained until 1849, when he sold the property and removed to Lansing. He prae- ticed law and was a justice of the peace for a long period.
Mr. Butler died at Lansing, on the 11th day of June, 1870, at the age of seventy-six years and three months. Mrs. Butler survived him until 1875. Her maiden name was Wealthy S. Handy. She was born in Connecticut, Sept. 1, 1800, but early emigrated with her parents to Pompey, N. Y. She married Orange Butler Dec. 4, 1821.
At the time of Mr. Butler's death he left five children, -A. S. Butler, of Allegan, Charles W. Butler, of Lansing, Mrs. O. A. Jenison and Mrs. C. M. Beebe, both also of Lansing, and Mrs. C. D. Smith, of Milwaukee. Both Mr. and Mrs. Butler were among the most respected and prom- inent citizens of Lansing.
RUFUS HOSMER was born in the town of Stowe, Wor- cester Co., Mass., July 19, 1819. His father, who was also named Rufus, was an eminent lawyer and a distin- guished citizen, and his grandfather was an officer of the American army in the war of the Revolution.
On the maternal side the family name was Payne, and his grandfather on that side was also an officer in the Revo- lutionary army.
Rufus Hosmer entered Harvard University in 1830, one of the youngest students ever admitted, and graduated with honor in 1834, at eighteen years of age. He immediately thereafter entered upon the study of the law in his father's offiec, and attended a regular course of lectures at the Dana Law School in Cambridge.
In 1838 he removed to Michigan and was admitted to practice in the courts of law and chancery. Ile was at first a partner of Charles Draper, an eminent attorney of Pontiac, with whom he continued for three years. In November, 1840, he married Miss Sarah Chamberlain, daughter of Dr. Chamberlain, of Pontiac. He soon after, for a brief season, engaged in mercantile business. Subsequently, he was a law partner of Hon. George W. Wisner for several years, during which he won a fine reputation and marked success.
At a somewhat later date he abandoned the practice of his profession, and turned his attention into literary and political channels, in which he won distinction as an able writer, standing among the foremost in the State. From
* From information furnished by Mr. Upton.
113
THE PROFESSIONS.
the time he gave up law practice he was connected with the press until his death.
About 1857 he settled in Lansing, and from thence was connected with the Republican during the remaining years of his life, furnishing a leading editorial for its columns only a few days before his death, which occurred on the 20th of April, 1861, at the age of forty-two years.
Soon after the inauguration of President Lincoln he was appointed consul-general to Frankfort-on-the-Main, but died a few days subsequently. He left a widow and three children.
EPHRAIM LONGYEAR .- This gentleman was born in Shandaken, Ulster Co., N. Y., Feb. 7, 1827. On the father's side the family was originally from Holland. The mother's ancestors were English. His father, Peter Long- year, was a farmer, and removed with his family to the township of Alaiedon, Ingham Co., Mich., in the autumn of 1843. He was killed by the fall of a tree in 1845.
The son, Ephraim, came to Michigan in the spring of 1843. In the following winter he taught school in the town of Unadilla, Livingston Co., and for about six years taught during the winter and worked on his father's farm in the summer. When he was twenty-one years of age he was elected township clerk, and served two years. He taught the district school in North Lansing for two terms, and the first public school in the central district, south of where the new Capitol stands.
Mr. Longyear read law more or less from the time he was a boy in the State of New York. After his removal to Michigan he studied in the office of his brother, John W., at Mason, with whom he was subsequently associated. He was admitted to practice at Mason in 1847, and located in the same year at Lansing. He practiced from that time to 1860 in company with his brother, with the exception of the years 1852-53, during which he was in California, where he also practiced his profession.
In 1861 he was appointed postmaster under Mr. Lincoln, and held the office for a period of five years, when he en- gaged in the banking business, and has since virtually given up the practice of law. He was the first recorder of Lansing, serving two years, and was also first president of the city board of education.
DAVID ELWOOD CORBIN* was born in the town of Lin- coln, Addison Co., Vt., March 11, 1814. When he was thirteen years of age the family removed to Lockport, Niag- ara Co., N. Y. He attended such schools as were then afforded in Western New York, and completed his educa- tion at the Lewiston Academy, in Niagara County. Ile received a thorough English education, and obtained a partial knowledge of the Latin langnage, reading Virgil and other Latin authors. His favorite study was mathe- matics, and he gave considerable attention to practical sur- veying and civil engineering, devoting his attention for a considerable time after he became of age to the latter calling.
At the age of about twenty-six years he entered the law office of Woods & Bowen, at Lockport, N. Y., as a stu-
dent. At that period, under the statutes of that State, before a student could be admitted to practice in all the courts, he must produce certificates from respectable attor- neys that he had studied law for a period of seven years, besides submitting to a rigid examination in open court upon the principles of the common law, and upon the rules and practice of the courts, both in law and equity. If a party was a regular collegiate, four years were deducted ; if he was not, but had studied the classics and higher Eng- lish branches, upon proof thereof such time was deducted from the seven years; provided, however, in the last-men- tioned cases, that no more than three years could be de- dueted from the seven years of the law study.
In due time he was examined in the city of Buffalo and admitted to practice in all the courts of the State. He practiced his profession for a time in Niagara Co., N. Y., and in the spring of 1848 removed to the (then) village of Lansing, Mich., where he formed a partnership in the prac- tice of law with W. W. Upton, a prominent attorney, who had settled in Lansing in 1847.
He continned in Lansing until about the middle of July, 1850, when he went on a visit to his father's family in New York, where he was taken suddenly ill, and died on the 3d of August in that year. He had been married, but at the time of his death was a widower, his wife having died about five years previously. He had two children, one of whom died a year before his demise; the other is still living.
Mr. Corbin held no official positions, so far as known, though he was tendered a nomination for the Legislature while a resident of New York. This he positively de- clined, preferring " to devote his time and energy to the profession of his choice rather than enter the arena in the struggle for political emolument and honors."
He was a man who ranked high in the profession, and but for his untimely decease would have been distinguished in his chosen calling.
HON. WILLIAM H. PINCKNEY .- The Pinckney family is of English extraction. Three brothers came to America in an early day and settled, one in West Chester Co., N. Y., one (a bachelor) on the Harlem River, and one in Nova Scotia.
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