History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan, Part 49

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 49
USA > Michigan > Ingham County > History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan > Part 49

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).

At that time the township was divided into six road districts. Smith Tooker was elected poundmaster. The town voted to raise $250 for township purposes. A bounty of two dollars and fifty cents was authorized for cach wolf- scalp taken within the town.

At a meeting of the township board, April 29, 1848, the following was passed :

" Resolved, That license as retailers of ardent spirits and tavern- keepers he allowed them for the sums set opposite their names re- speetively,-viz .: Sylvester Thompson, $7.75; William Sweet, 6.75; William T. Gilkey, $6.25; Ford & Gould, $6.50; E. Firtch, $6.25 ; Levi Ilunt, $7.25; Peter J. Weller & Son, $7.75; Henry Jipson, $7.75.

" On motion of Joab Page, Esq., Resolved, That each person receiv- ing lycense be required to pay 50 ets. for the use of the township board."

On the 10th of June, 1848, license was granted to Daniel

* The population of the township in 1815 was eighty-eight souls.

t Colil within a few years these were designated respectively as

" Upper," " Middle," and " Lower" town.

# Mr. Upton is now in the Treasury Department at Washington.

¿ The house kept by Daniel Chupsaddle was called the " National House," and stood on the east side of the river.

|| Mr. Kinney probably kept the "Seymour House," at the lower town.

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LANSING TOWNSHIP.

McGilvrey and a man named Berry to " keep tavern," at seven dollars and fifty cents each, and a fce to the town clerk of thirty cents.

On the 14th of August, in the same year, license was granted to Henry H. Bloss to retail ardent spirits on lot 1, block 227, for the remainder of the year at five dollars. T. B. Faxon was also licensed as a retailer and common vietualer on lot 8, block 114, for the sum of eight dollars. The moral scruples of the board seem to have been at length set aside.

It would appear that the rivers were greatly obstructed by drift-wood, for we find in 1849 an account of six dol- lars and fifty cents, presented by John Thomas, " for work done on flood-wood above Cedar bridge and Grand River bridge."

Liberal allowances were made for schools, and the taxes raised from year to year were quite large, as the following statement of C. T. Allen, township treasurer, will exhibit :

Amount of State and county tax levied in 1848

$1387.42

Amount of highway taxed voted 250.00

Amount of town contingent voted. 250.00

Amount of school and library tax voted 112.64

Amount levied in Fractional District No. 2. 13.12

Amount levied in District No. 2 90.00

Amount levied in District No. 4. 1000.00

Amount of tax of 1847 reassessed and highway tax levied by commissioner highways.

527.76

Four per cent. for collection

145.23

Amount of primary school funds received from county treasurer, 1848.

26.69

Amount received from cemetery lots .. ... ..

8.12

$3810.98

At the annual town-meeting, April 2, 1849, the question of license was acted upon, when sixty-one voted in favor, and sixty-six against it. The total vote at this meeting was 251, but on the license question only 127 votes were cast. In this year there appear to have been twelve road districts in the township.

A " board of health" was established, a burying-ground purchased and laid out, and the board of health was di- rected to appoint a suitable person to take charge of the same, under its direction.

"On motion, it was resolved that fifty cents on the scholar be raised by tax on the Township at large for each child in the Township be- tween the ages of four and eighteen years."

On the 28th of August, 1850, the circus and museum of E. F. and J. Mabic visited Lansing. The license paid was ten dollars, and this was probably the first circus that ever visited the place.

Under the new law of 1850 every dealer in ardent spirits was obliged to give bonds in $2000, with two sureties.

The total taxes levied in the township for the year 1851 were as follows :

State, county, and township tax. $2521.46

Delinquent highway tax

405.20

School tax ......

3345.14

$6271.80

The following item appears of record under date of Nov. 29, 1851 :

"On motion, The Board agreed to forbid, in writing, under their hands, all Tavern-Keepers, Common Victualers, and retailers of Spirituous or intoxicating liquors, of this Township, selling any spir-

ituous or intoxicating liquors to Joseph Moon and William Balch for the space of one year.

(Signed) " WM. II. CHAPMAN, " A. WARD, " J. PALMER THOMPSON, " JAMES A. BASCOM, " Township Board."

In 1852 the road districts were increased to thirteen.

At the Presidential election of Nov. 2, 1852, the whole number of votes polled was 239. Of these the electoral ticket headed by John S. Barry received 153. The voting was remarkably uniform, and there were few scratched tickets.

The people of the township, whenever an expression was given, seem to have been opposed to the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors. At an election held on the 20th day of June, 1853, on the question of prohibiting the manufacture of intoxicating liquors, the number of votes in favor of such prohibition was 183; against it, 48.

From the record :

" At a meeting of the Townsbip Board, held on the 22d day of October, A.D. 1853. Present, Charles W. Hedges, Supervisor ; Joseph E. North, Justice; James A. Bascom, Clerk. The object of said meeting being stated,-viz., Appointing some suitable person to sell intoxicating liquors for Medicinal and Mechanical purposes, in said Township; whereupon the Board organized, and on motion of Joseph E. North proceeded, by written ballot, to the election of a person. Abram M. Crawford receiving all the votes was declared appointed.

" The Board adopted the following rules and regulations :

" Ist. That a duplicate of the Bills bought hy said Crawford (of liquors) should be presented to the Township Clerk, and filed in his office.

" 2d. That 50 per cent. might be added from the original cost on bis sales."

The sureties for Mr. Crawford were Charles W. Butler, George W. Peck, and J. C. Bailey.

In 1853 or 1854 the number of road districts was in- creased to fourteen.

It would appear that the town was visited by the small- pox in the winter of 1853-54, for we find bills presented by physicians, nurses, and other parties, on account of the disease, amounting to an aggregate of more than $450.

The following, taken from the records, reminds one of the quaint old records of the Connecticut Valley :

" Come into the enclosure of Frank Foster on or about the 10. day of Nov., One Read Cow about seven years oald, one Broken HIorn. "J. J. JEFFRES, Depty. Clerk.

" Dec. 31st, 1855."

At the annual town-meeting, held at the Lansing House, April 2, 1855, there was a considerable increase in the voters, there being 339 votes polled, or 103 in excess of the number cast in 1854. The road districts were in- creased at this meeting to fifteen. J. J. Jeffres, notwith- standing his peculiar chirography, was elected town clerk by a handsome majority.

The amount of tax levied for 1855 was $10,000.98, of which the school tax for the four districts was $4574.50, and of this last item $3223 was levied in District No. 4.

The number of voters had increased in the spring of 1856 to 523, and the town was evidently growing very rapidly, not only in the village, but in the township as well. The road districts were increased this year to twenty. The

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HISTORY OF INGHAM COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

license for shows was fixed at ten dollars for circus and caravans, and at five dollars for all others.

At the November election of 1856 the number of votes polled was 605, of which Kinsley S. Bingham, for Governor, received 327, and Alpheus Felch, 278.

At a meeting of the township board, held March 26, 1857, the sum of fifty dollars was appropriated for the purpose of pursuing and arresting two desperadoes who seem to have escaped from the hands of the officers of the law. As near as can be made out from the some- what obscure wording of the record their names were Henry Bessy and Frank Dutton.

At the annual town-meeting in April, 1857, $1000 was voted for the purpose of building a bridge in the upper towo, " at or within twenty rods of the old site."*

The township taxation for 1857 was as follows :

Township tax proper ... $2767.55

School fax.

3507.25

Raised by highway commissioners.

688.17

Total

$6962.97

The number of road districts was increased to twenty-five.

At the last annual town-meeting held before the city of Lansing was chartered, on the 5th of April, 1858, the whole number of votes cast was 649.

The vote for supervisor stood : for Franklin La Rue, 333; John G. Darling, 305.

The erection of the city took away all but about 100 votes from the township, and these were scattered on all sides of the city.

When the village was erected into a city it contained at least 600 voters, which would indicate a population of nearly 3000, though the proportion of voters may have been very large. Perhaps no town in the State ever possessed so large a village population without a village organization.

For several years after the city was set off from the township the annual elections and town-meetings were beld in the city at various places, wherever most convenient. The first meeting held in the township outside the city limits, according to the township record, was in the spring of 1865, but the place is not specified. In 1866 the meet- ing was held at the dwelling of Adam Foster, near the west line of section 14. The November election in the same year was held at the house of " Mr. Johnson," prob- ably William Johnson, on the same section.

The first mention of a " town-house" is in connection with the annual town-meeting in April, 1870, since which the township seems to have possessed a building of its own.

The building now used for town-meetings and other township purposes, and known as the " town-house," was erected in the summer of 1870 on land leased of Adam Foster, on the west line of section 14, at a cost of $300. The land was leased in 1870 for ten years, and the lease was renewed in 1880 for ten additional years.

At a township-meeting held in the city of Lansing, Feb. 25, 1864, it was

* This was undoubtedly to replace the one built by Messrs. Bush & Thomas, which had been destroyed or carried away. It was en Main Street, over Grand River.

Resolved, That the township of Lansing will subscribe $3300 of the stock of the Lansing and Jackson Railroad Company.

Messrs. Wm. A. Dryer, O. D. Skinner, and Wm. John- son were appointed a committee, and empowered to sub- scribe the stock for the township.

At the time of the draft, Jan. 5, 1864, John Nugent was appointed an agent to procure volunteers to fill the quota of the township, and $1900 were paid in bounties. The total tax of the township for that year was about $4800. In 1867 the tax amounted to $7800. During the war the number of voters in the township varied from seventy to eighty-five. It has since gradually increased, and the present number of voters is something more than 200.

For several years previous to 1879 there had been con- siderable effort made by the people living in the south west part of Lansing and the southeast part of Delta townships to have a new bridge erected over Grand River, on section 30 of Lansing township. There was a warm discussion between the various interests of the different sections of the township, but an arrangement was finally entered into with Delta township to divide the cost between the two, and a bridge was built in the summer of 1879. The contract was let to Mr. Smith Tooker, of North Lansing, on the 23d of June, and the bridge was completed and opened on the 31st of August following. It is a substantial frame structure, and cost $000. Among those chiefly instru- mental in procuring it were Jacob F. Cooley and George W. Parks.t

There are two considerable bridges over Sycamore Creek. The one near the cemetery was built by the city and town- ship jointly in 1878, and cost $450, or $530 including the approaches. There is one traffic bridge over Cedar River outside the city limits, on section 13.

MANUFACTURES.

BRICK.

The manufacture of brick was begun on the farm of Thomas Foster, on section 14, as early as 1860, by P. Con- nerty, who carried on the business only about one year, when John E. Wood succeeded him for another year, and then removed to North Lansing. Subsequently, in com- pany with Benjamin Buck, he made brick near where John Jordan is now located. In 1871, Mr. Wood removed his business to the farm of William Foster, where he has since continued. The brick for the new Lansing House were made by Mr. Wood on Wm. Foster's place.

After Wood left the land of Thomas Foster, the latter hired a man from the East, named Bessy, to superintend the work of making brick for a year, which were mostly used in the construction of a new dwelling for Mr. Foster.

James Russell and George Smith carried on the business one year, about 1875, when Russell sold to Mr. Welch, and he and Smith have continued the business to the pres- ent time. They are employing ten or twelve hands, and making from 800,000 to 1,000,000 brick per annum. Mr.

t This is the only bridge over Grand River in the township outside the city. Within the limits of the township and city, and including railway bridges, there aro seventeen bridges over the three principal streams, seven within the city being of iron.

201

LANSING TOWNSHIP.

Wood, on Mr. Foster's land, is making about 2,000,000 per annum, and employs twenty-five hands. The two firms burn altogether about 3,000,000 annually, and consume about 1200 cords of wood. The amount of capital in- vested in the two yards is probably about $6000. Mr. Wood has in use two of the Swoard brick-machines, and Smith & Welch use one of a different manufacture.

The clay at these yards is similar to that found on sec- tion 22, except that it is claimed to be more even and pure in quality, and as good as has been found in the State. The upper stratum is about three feet in thickness, and burns red in the kiln, while the lower stratum, which is ten to twenty feet in thickness, burns nearly white, and the deeper it is taken out the whiter it is. About one-fourth of the brick produced are red, and the remaining three- fourths white. The market is in Lansing and the country around generally ; but the demand is small in Lansing the present year, and large quantities are being shipped to Battle Creek and other points. The brick for the exten- sion of the Bement Agricultural Works were made partly in these yards and partly by Jordan. In the excavations made by taking out the clay on Wm. Foster's land water stands some four or five feet in depth, and fish are taken in considerable numbers, thongh it is not easy to discover how they get there unless they come through a small tile- drain.

The clay in this neighborhood is practically inexhaustible, but the necessary sand is not so plentiful, though it can be procured near by. Water is found in abundance. Steam-power for grinding and moulding is used in both yards.

DRAIN-TILE AND BRICK.

The Lansing Tile-Works, which are situated on the southeast quarter of section 11, on the old turnpike road from North Lansing to Howell and Detroit, were first put in operation by James Hall and Robert Barker in the spring of 1872. In 1873, Barker purchased Hall's interest, and has since conducted the enterprise in his own name. The land is leased of Albert Anthony.

Both brick and tile were manufactured until 1878, since which time only tile have been made. The business is principally confined to the manufacture of drain-tile for farm purposes, and of this all descriptions are made. One pecu- liarity of this clay is that glazed tile cannot be made from it, there being something in the chemical condition which prevents. The clay is the same as that used in the brick- yards of Messrs. Jordan, Wood, and Russell & Welch. Both red and white tile are made.

A " Tiffany" combined tile- and brick-machine is in use, which is capable of turning out daily about 10,000 pieces of two-inch tile, 3000 pieces of larger size, or 12,000 brick. The bed of clay at this point is forty feet in thick- ness, and below this, in a bed of gravel, is abundance of water.

Mr. Barker has about $5000 invested, and gives em- ployment to about ten hands, though he has employed, when making brick, as many as twenty. The product of his kilns is about 300,000 pieces per annum, equivalent to fifteen kilns of 20,000 each. A steam-engine of fifteen borse-power is employed. About 350 cords of wood are

consumed annually. The tile are marketed mostly in Michigan.

CHEESE-FACTORY.

A cheese-factory was built on the Harrison farm, on sec- tion 24, and kept in operation for two or three years, about 1870-72; but the business not proving profitable was abandoned.

CHARCOAL.

In the spring of 1880, Messrs. Smith & Brainerd, of the city of Flint, Mich., leased a piece of land of James M. Turner, situated at the Chicago junction of the Grand Trunk and Chicago and Detroit, Lansing and Northern Railways, on the southwest quarter of section No. 24, in Lansing township, and erected eleven patent kilns for the manufacture of charcoal. They are of brick, in the form of ovens, banded with iron, and having a capacity of fifty cords cach. The intention is to build another, and run the twelve until the timber in the neighborhood is exhausted. James M. Turner at present furnishes the wood, of which all varieties are used. The capacity of the twelve kilns will be 6000 cords annually, which at forty bushels to the cord will make an aggregate of 240,000 bushels of coal, which is shipped over the two lines of railway crossing at the kilns to Detroit, Chicago, and other points.

These are the only manufacturing enterprises carried on in the township.

SCHOOLS.

Previous to 1845 the township appears to have been in- cluded in one district, or at least there had been no sub- division made. From information derived from the North family it appears that there was a log school-house erected on the land of Joseph E. North, Sr., on section 33, as early as 1842 or 1843, and this was a few years later superseded by a frame building erected within a half-mile of the first mentioned. Among the early teachers, as remembered by Mrs. Alexander McKibbin, formerly Mrs. Joseph E. North, Jr., were Hannah Jane Young, Adelia Weller, Mary Lob- dell, Sarah and Caroline Rice, and Sabina and Caroline Lee.

A frame school building was erected on section 5, near the De Witt road and not far from the Grand River road, as early as 1844. It was near the house of Justus Gilkey. Among the first teachers was Mary Ann Shear, daughter of John Shear, who lived on the west side of section 6, near the county-line.

On the 3d day of May, 1845, School District No. 2 was formed by the board of school inspectors, composed of Elihu Elwood, Justus Gilkey, and Isaac C. Page. It in- cluded the north half of the township, leaving the south hall' in District No. 1. On the 10th of February, 1846, No. 2 was reduced to sections 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and the north half of sections 17 and 18 .* On the 4th of May, 1846, a new district, called Fractional District No. 1, of De Witt and Lansing, was formed, including in Lansing township

# Joseph E. North, Sr., is credited with the honor of having pre- sented the first petition for the formation of fractional school districts. Living as he did on the township-line, in the midst of a settlement which covered portions of both Lansing and Delhi townships, the thought very naturally suggested itself to have districts formed to suit the circumstances.

202

HISTORY OF INGHAM COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

the west half of section 1, sections 2, 3, 10, and 11, and the north half of sections 14 and 15. In De Witt, Clinton Co., it included seetions 34 and 35, and the south half of sections 26 and 27. At the same time District No. 2 was made Fractional Distriet No. 2, of De Witt and Lan- sing, and considerable additions were made to it in De Witt. Fractional District No. I was to draw books from the De Witt library for 1847, and from the Lansing library for 1848, and to alternate thereafter. Fractional Distriet No. 2 was to draw from the De Witt library every fourth year, commencing with 1847.

On the 1st day of May, 1847, a new distriet was formed, and called District No. 2, of Lansing. It was made to in- clude sections 8, 9, the south half of 10, seetions 14, 15, 16, and the north half of 21 and 22. District No. I was always in the sonth part of the township. At a meeting of the inspectors, held May 1, 1847, it was ordered that Distriet No. 1 should embrace sections 19, 20, the south half of 21, and sections 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, and 33.

On the 18th of May, in the same year, Distriet No. 3 was formed, to include the south half of sections 15, 16, and 17, and sections 20, 21, and 22.

On the 3d of March, 1848, District No. 4 was formed, embracing all that part of section No. 16 lying on the west side of Grand River.

On the 28th of the same month District No. 5 was formed from the west part of No. 2, comprising all the parts of seetions 8 and 9 lying west and south of Grand River. These were the earliest districts.

In May, 1846, Mary Jane Welch was licensed to teach in District No. 1, and on the 30th of December, in the same year, Melinda Wells was granted a certificate to teach in the same district for one year.

The city of Lansing forms a single school district, which is entirely independent of the township schools. The present number of whole districts in the township is five, and they are numbered 3, 5, 6, 7, and 8, and the fractional ones also number five, named and numbered as follows:

Fractional Distriet No. I, Lansing and De Witt ; Frae- tional District No. 1, Lansing, De Witt, and Delta; Frac- tional District No. 1, Lansing and Delta; Fractional District No. 1, Lansing, Meridian, Alaiedon, and Delhi ; Fractional District No. 2, Lansing and Delta.

According to the last school report the total number of children in the township (outside the city) between the ages of five and twenty years is 387. The amount of money distributed to the different distriets from the State primary school fund, and from fines for the year 1879, was 8197.40, of which amount $181.89 was from the primary fund.

The total value of school property for 1879-80 was ... $4950.00 Number of school-buildings, all frame .. y Total taxes for school purposes $1056.14

Total resources 1849.04

Wages paid to male teachers 581.55

Wages paid to female teachers .. 711.85

There are no villages, post-offices, churches, or railway stations in the township outside the city except the Chicago junction, at the crossing of the Grand Trunk and Detroit, Lansing and Northern Railways, where there has been a station since 1877. A new station-house was built the

present year (1880), and there are one dwelling and the charcoal works of Messrs. Smith & Brainerd. All trains stop at this station.

Thanks for services rendered are tendered to G. W. Parks, town elerk ; Mrs. Alexander MeKibben, J. F. Cooley, G. L. Dingman and wife, Benjamin B. Baker, Adam and William Foster, and others.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

WILLIAM ALLEN DRYER.

William Allen Dryer was the son of Allen Dryer, who emigrated from Stockbridge Mass., and settled at Cazenovia, N. Y., at an early day, raised a family of thirteen chil- dren, who grew to be men and women. He was a leading,

WILLIAM ALLEN DRYER.

man in that part of the country, and held some important office the greater part of the time he resided there. He died Sept. 10, 1842.

William Allen Dryer was born at Cazenovia, N. Y., Marelı 9, 1813. When sixteen years of age he was ap- prentieed to learn the carriage-making business, which he followed until he was twenty-four years of age. Oct. 21, 1834, he was married to Betsy H. Newell, of Madison Co., N. Y. October, 1836, he moved with his wife and one child to White Oak, Ingham Co., and settled on eighty acres of land he had previously located. That fall he built a log house, and the following winter a small clearing was made. To procure the necessaries of life he was obliged to seck employment in the older-settled portions of the State ; and to show the extremities to which the early pioneers were driven, we state that Mr. Dryer walked twenty-five miles and worked for Henry Warner, of Dexter, seven and

203

CITY OF MASON.

a half days in harvest for a hundred pounds of flour, which it took him two days to get home. Mr. Dryer struggled along for nine years, when he moved to Pinckney and en- gaged in the carriage business for three years, and removed to Lansing in the fall of 1848. He built the first wagon in Lansing, and was agent for Smith, Turner & Seymour, who built the Howell and Lansing plank-road. After the com- pletion of the road, Mr. Dryer engaged in mercantile busi- ness, which he continued until 1856, when he purchased one hundred and twenty-five aeres near the city of Lansing. This was heavily timbered. Mr. Dryer has had it put under a good state of cultivation and erected a fine brick residence.

Mrs. Dryer died in March, 1861, leaving seven children (two having died): Mary, wife of Joseph E. Warner ; Newell, a physician at Bath, Clinton Co .; Elbridge, a farmer in Lansing; Esther, wife of George W. Christopher; Adelaide died August, 1880 ; William F. lives in Lansing ; and Betsy at home.

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History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan, Part 49

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