USA > Michigan > Eaton County > History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan > Part 66
USA > Michigan > Ingham County > History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan > Part 66
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121 | Part 122 | Part 123 | Part 124 | Part 125 | Part 126 | Part 127 | Part 128 | Part 129 | Part 130 | Part 131 | Part 132 | Part 133 | Part 134 | Part 135 | Part 136 | Part 137 | Part 138 | Part 139 | Part 140 | Part 141 | Part 142 | Part 143 | Part 144 | Part 145 | Part 146
JAMES ROYSTON.
James Royston was born in Somerset Co., N. J., April 14, 1800. His father, Thomas Royston, also a native of New Jersey, was born in 1773, and was the son of James Royston, the progenitor of the family in this country. He was of English birth and parentage, and came to America shortly before the Revolution. He immediately espoused the cause of the patriots, and upon the breaking out of the war joined the American forces. For this act he was disinherited and disowned by his family. After the war he joined a colony who proposed to settle in Georgia. They were massacred by Indians, and as he was never again heard from it is supposed he shared the fate of the others. Thomas Royston, son of James, just mentioned, and father of the subject of this memoir, was left an orphan at an early age, and was reared by a lady by the name of Rachel Ove. In 1820 he emigrated to Seneca Co., N. Y., with his family, wife and five children,-Robert, James, Rachel, William, and Maria. He was a farmer, and purchased a new farm in the town of Seneca, where he resided until his death, which occurred in 1865. He acquired a com- peteney, and was highly esteemed. James was a lad of twelve years at the time the family emigrated to New York. He received a good common-school education, and in 1830 was married to Miss Phebe, daughter of William Fox, one
PHEBEG. ROYSTON.
JAMES I ROYSTON.
OLD HOME.
STOVER
RESIDENCE OF L. A. ROYSTON, LESLIE TP, INGHAM Co., MICH.
MRS. JANE EDWARDS.
OGDEN EDWARDS.
269
LOCKE.
of the early settlers of Seneca, and at one time a prominent wholesale merchant in New York City. Shortly after his marriage he purchased a farm in Seneca, on which he re- sided until 1836, when he sold and came to Michigan. The year previous he had visited Ingham County in com- pany with his brother-in-law, S. O. Russell, and had located nine hundred and sixty acres of land in the town of Leslie. In June, 1836, the two families came on and made a per- manent settlement,-Mr. Royston building his cabin upon the farm now owned by his son Lemuel A. At this time there was but one other family within the present limits of the town of Leslie, that of Elijah Woodworth. The family suffered many privations and hardships, but a detailed his- tory cannot be here given of their pioneer days. Mr. Royston was of invincible determination, full of pluck and energy, hands inured to habits of industry, and with the assistance of his worthy wife ultimate success was assured. Mr. Royston may be appropriately called one of the founders of the town. He aided in its organization, and was elected one of its first officers. He has represented the town upon the board of supervisors, and for many years was justice of the peace. As a magistrate he was highly popular, usually succeeding in getting the litigants to settle their differences without resort to law. He reared a family of six children : Thomas, Lemuel A., William, Mary Ann, Sarah, and Cor- nelia. Five of the children are living. William was a member of the Loomis Battery; he received a sunstroke at the battle of Resaca, which caused his death. Thomas died in 1846. Lemuel A. resides on the old homestead.
OGDEN EDWARDS.
The birth of Mr. Edwards occurred in Mexico township, Oswego Co., N. Y., Aug. 8, 1822. He was the son of
Calvin Edwards, an early pioneer of that township. The family were originally residents of Newark, N. J., from whence they removed to New York State in 1800. Calvin Edwards married Miss Phebe Tuttle, and was the father of six children, the third in order of birth having been Ogden. The father plied the mason's craft at an early day, and in 1837 removed to Michigan with a wife and six children, locating in the township of Leslie, where he pur- chased one hundred acres of land on section 6. He was an energetic man, of great public spirit, and did much, until his death, in 1860, to advance the interests of the township of his adoption. Mrs. Edwards, whose birth occurred in Newark, N. J., in 1795, was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and survived her husband but a brief time. On the arrival of the family in Leslie, Ogden Edwards was a lad of seventeen, and devoted his time. until twenty-one years of age to labor on the farm, varied by such opportunities of study as the district school afforded.
In 1843 he purchased a farm of forty acres on section 18, and in October of the following year married Miss Jane Austin, who was born in Orleans Co., N. Y., in 1821, and became an emigrant to Michigan with her parents in 1837. After a residence of six years upon their original purchase, Mr. Edwards sold and located upon another farm of eighty acres. In 1866 he removed to his present estate in Leslie. Mr. Edwards had the misfortune, in 1878, to lose his wife,-a most estimable lady, possessing all the qualities that constitute an exemplary mother and Christian woman. To her wise counsel and excellent judgment much of his success is attributed. They had four children, all of whom are now dead.
Mr. Edwards, by industry, has gained a competency, though dependent at the beginning of his career entirely upon the labor of his hands, guided by sound discretion and sterling common sense:
LOCKE. $
NATURAL FEATURES.
THE exterior lines of this township were surveyed by Joseph Wampler in 1824, and the subdivision lines by the same hand two years later. It was designated as township No. 4 north, of range No. 2 east. A description of its boundaries may be given as follows : North by Shia- wassee County, south by the township of Leroy, east by Livingston County, and west by Williamstown, it being the northeast township of Ingham County.
The township was formerly embraced in Phelpstown, and on becoming an independent organization was given its present cognomen by one of the oldest settlers. No special
significance attaches to the name, which seems to have been chosen principally from its euphonious sound.t
The surface of the township is generally level, though some variations are occasionally found, which impart to it a rolling aspect. No precipitous hills appear, and the farmer meets with little opposition from stubborn or in- accessible soil.
The ingredients of the soil are clay, gravel, sand, and muck. A moderate amount of clay is found in the north, with a considerable portion of sand and gravel in the north- west. The centre and southern lands abound equally in
t It may have been named for the township of Locke, in Cayuga Co., N. Y.
# By E. O. Wagner.
270
HISTORY OF INGHAM COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
sand, gravel, and clay. and there is considerable marshy land. On sections 1, 4, 12, and in the centre, extending east and west, are extensive swamps. These are being drained, and will eventually contribute greatly to the value of the lands of Locke. The soil is well adapted to the raising of all kinds of grain, wheat and corn being in some localities especially prolific. The average crop of wheat during the present year was seventeen bushels to the acre.
The township produces bcech, ash, maple, basswood, hickory, and black-walnut timber in abundance, while tama- rack flourishes in the swamps. Black-walnut has been much sought after, and is now greatly diminished in quantity. Fruit finds both soil and climate congenial, and is especially luxuriant in growth the present season. No finer specimens of the apple are found in the State than are produced in this lownship.
Locke has no lakes or large bodies of water. Two streams, named respectively Sullivan Creek and Squaw Brook, meander through its boundaries. The first rises in a marsh on section 12, and flows south into Leroy, while the latter also, finding its source in a marsh on section 20, pours its waters into Cedar River. The latter stream flows through the southwest corner of the township.
LAND ENTRIES.
The lands of township No. 4 north, of range No 2 east, were entered by the following parties :
Section 1 .- Thomas Dudley, Aug. 2, 1836; J. B. and E. T. Stansell, Jan. 10, 1837; L. T. and E. Knapp, Jan. 20, 1837 ; Levi Harmon, Trowbridge S. Harmon, Nov. 18, 1837; Gaius Fuller, May 16, 1836.
Section 2 .- David M. Jewett, Dec. 15, 1836 ; ITiram Weeks, John Man- ning, Hiram Weeks, Jan. 9, 1837; Israel II. Lovejoy, Dec. 5, 1837; Israel II. Lovejoy, Jan. 29, 1838.
Section 3 .- Gaius B. Rich, Ang. 3, 1836; John Myers, Oct. 24, 1836; D. M. Jewett, Doc. 15, 1836 ; Richard D. Brown, Jan. 25, 1836. Section 4 .- Gaius B. Rich, Aug. 3, 1836 ; John Myers, Sept. 20, 1836; Joseph Cole, Sept. 24, 1836; R. D. Brower, Jr., Jan. 25, 1836.
Section 5 .- If. and Van R. Hawkins, July 5, 1836 ; R. D. Brower, Jr., Jan. 25, 1837 ; Willis Newman, Dec. 9, 1836.
Section 6 .- If. and Van R. Hawkins, July 5, 1836; Lorenzo and Daniel Hferriek, July 16, 1837.
Section 7 (Fractional) .- Joseph M. Murphy, June 18, 1836.
Section 8 .- Abraham Demott, Aug. 3, 4, 1836; Richard D. Brower, Jr., Jan. 25, 1837.
Section 9,-John Myers, Sept. 20, 23, 1836 ; William Ilarper, Jr., Dco. 8, 1836.
Section 10 .- John Church and David M. Jewett, Dec. 15, 1836; Milan Glover and James T. Morton, Jan. 25, 1837 ; Jefferson Pearce, May 8, 1837.
Section 11 .- David M. Jewett and Almon Whipple, Dec. 15, 1836.
Section 12 .- Robert Campbell, Thomas Dudley, Aug. 2, 1836; Henry Meccb, June 23, 1837; Abner Davis, Feb. 2, 1839.
Section 13 .- Robert Campbell, Aug. 2, 1836 ; Moses Roberts, Sept. 21, 1836; Jefferson l'earce, May 8, 1837; James Nichols, May 23, 18.12.
Section 14 .- Almon Whipple (no date).
Section 15 .- Alfred E. Camphell, John W. TunDicliff, Jobn Church,
John S. Hurd, Dec. 15, 1846; Jefferson Pearco, May 8, 1837.
Section 16 .- School section.
Section 17 .- Joseph W. Murphy, June 18, 1836; L. B. Worden, Aug.
2, 1836; John Countryman, Aug. 2, 1836 ; Abraham Demott, Aug. 4, 1836.
Section 18 .- Joseph M. Murphy, June 18, 1836.
Section 19 .- Daniel Foster, June 18, 1836; Elon Farnsworth, June 27, 1836; Joseph Ward, July 13, 1836 ; Joseph S. Rogers, Sept. 24, 1836.
Section 20 .-- Joseph Ward, July 13, 1836; Ziba Woods, Aug. 2, 1836 ; Pardon Barnard, Aug. 3, 1836 ; B. B. Kercheval, Feb. 21, 1837. Section 21 .- Gardner Wheeler, Socrates Smith, Ang. 5, 1836; H. W. Delevan, Sept. 23, 1836.
Section 22 .- Moses Roberts, Sept. 21, 1836; 11. W. Delevan, Sept. 23, 1836; Wm. Tunnicliff, Henry S. Orendorff, John W. Tunni- cliff, Dee. 15, 1836.
Section 23 .- Moses Roberts, Wm. R. Macao, Sept. 21, 1836; David Phelps, Sept. 24, 1836; If. S. Orendorff, May 29, 1837 ; Lewis F. Olds, Jan. 4, 1838.
Section 24 .- Reuben Robie, Aug. 4, 1836; Wm. R. Macao, Sept. 21, 1836 ; Henry Fralick, Sept. 24, 1836 ; Rebecca Pitts, April 10, 1837 ; William F. Wallace, June 11, 1847.
Section 25 .- Reuben Robie, Ang. 4, 1836; M. M. Gillespie, Sept. 24, 1836 ; Polly Cargill, John Fuller, Sept. 21, 1836; M. M. Gilles- pie, Dec. 6, 1836.
Section 26 .- R. S. Starkweather, Aug. 1, 1836; Sally Hull, William Storms, Aug. 2, 1836 ; David Phelps, Sept. 24, 1836; W. L. Board- man, Jan. 18, 1842.
Section 27 .- R. G. Starkweather, Aug. 1, 1836; Edward D. Hall, Aug. 2, 1836.
Section 28 .- Rufus Starkweather, Joel C. Thornton, J. T. Andrews, Robert Campbell, R. Robie, Aug. I, 1836; Rogers Heath, June 18, 1839 ; William Fulton, March 27, 1841.
Section 29 .- Robert Campbell, Ang. 3, 1836; Charles S. Boughton, Aug. 3, 1836 ; Isaac W. Fuller, Milo N. Mann, Sept. 21, 1836 ; II. W. Delevan, Sept. 23, 1836 ; Leah M. Fredrick, March 27, 1841. Section 30 .- J. M. Murphy, June 18, 1836 ; Robert Campbell, Aug. 2, 1836; Dewitt C. Olds, Jan. 4, 1838.
Section 31 .- John M. Berrien, Jan. 28, 1836 ; E. Jessup, Jr., June 4, 1836; Noah Madison, Aug. 3, 1836.
Section 32 .- Stiles Perry, March 15, 1834; John G. Peterson, May 16, 1836; E. Jessup, Jr., June 4, 1836; Noab Madison, Aug. 3, 1836 ; 11. W. Delevan, Sept. 23, 1836; David Phelps, Sept. 24, 1836.
Section 33 .- E. Jessup, Jr., June 4, 1836 ; John Raynor, July 9, 1836 ; Rufus Starkweather, Aug. 1, 1836.
Section 34 .- Cyrus B. Wheeler, Wm. Bosworth, Juno 15, 1836; Rufus Stark weather, Hugh McCreery, Aug. 1, 1836; Samuel Sayers, Aug. 2, 1836.
Section 35 .- Matthew C. Patterson, July 12, 1836 ; William Storms, Aug. 2, 1836.
Section 36 .- Charles Butler, April 2, 1836.
TAX-LIST FOR THE YEAR 1844.
The following list embraces the resident taxpayers in the township of Locke for the year 1844:
Acres. 60
Isane Colburn,
2
40
I. 11. Lovejoy,
2
174
Stephen Scofeld,
3
87
Widow Atkins 3
119
William T. Johnson, section 4.
240
D. J. Tower, 7
508
Mosca Melvin,
10
80
William M. Barney
"
10
80
Jefferson Pearce,
10, 13.
80
Albert Avery,
11
40
Stephen Avery,
11
40
Benjamin Pettingill
11
40
Henry Pettingill
14.
40
William Carlton
14
40
Leopard Cole =
14
80
Cornelius Colo
=
14
60
= John Countryman, 17
160
O. P. Worden,
17
80
A. T. Ten Eyck,
21
160
David Phelps,
23, 25, 27
240
Joshua March,
24
80
Solomon Pettingill,
24
160
W. L. Boardman,
26
160
Arnold Payne,
27, 28, 33.
40
William Salter, = N. F. Dunck, 27
27
80
Itiram Starkweather, 27
=
27,28
160
Nicholas Fulton,
28
40
Isaac W. Fulton,
= 29
80
Henry Frederick,
29
40
80
80
J. C. Townsend,
60
Charles Marsh,
Joseph Brooks, section 2
271
LOCKE.
TAX-LIST FOR 1844 .- Continued.
Acres.
A. M. Olds,
Section 30
80
Levi Rowley,
32
80
Z. and W. Leary,
34
160
Trowbridge Harmon,
1
80
Jamos Denio
66
3
40
W. W. Irons,
10
80
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
Land was purchased in the township of Locke in 1834, but no attempt at settlement was made until 1838. The following account of the first settlement in the township is from the records of the Pioneer Society :
" In February, 1838, David Phelps, a resident of New York City, located land on section 26. Mr. Phelps, with- out a road or trail, guided only by the marked trees of the surveyor, was enabled to find his land, but many were the misgivings he had as he stood alone in that deep forest, twenty miles from a post-office, thirty-four miles from a mill, and neighbors quite remote ;* but he had a stout heart and a strong will, and finally overcame his doubts. Pro- curing the assistance of six men from Livingston County, soon the ringing of axes and the crash of falling trees broke the stillness of the forest, and Mr. Phelps in a few days erected the first white man's shelter in the township. Several months later, Watson L. Boardman, brother-in-law of Mr. Phelps, with his family, occupied the house lately erected by Mr. Phelps, he having no family save one son, who lived with the Boardman family. The first female set- tler was a widow named Pitts, who, with one son, dared to face the hardships of pioneer life. With the help of her small boy she cleared a pateh for corn and potatoes, working bare-headed and bare-armed, piling up the black and smok- ing brands of the newly-cut fallow. For the first year she had hard work to drive the wolf from the door, but the wants of her little one nerved her to overcome all obstacles."
The first birth of a white child in the township, Eme- line Carlton, occurred in 1839, in the family of William Carlton, and four years later one of the family died .; The first marriage was that of Dean Phillips and Harriet Carr, in 1839, the ceremony occurring at the house of Caleb Carr, on seetion 32. Mr. Carr was the first postmaster, his office being on the route from Howell to Grand Rapids, and the mail was carried over this route once a week, on horseback, on the " Grand River trail."
The first religious services were held at the school-house known as the Brown Eagle, by the Christians, most of the inhabitants for miles around attending. Many carried their rifles along, and left them standing against a trec during service, guarded by a dog. These services were conducted by Seneca H. Pettus and Elder Winans. The first sermon was preached by a clergyman named George Alexander, in a log cabin. Harvey Gratton and Lewis Butler were among the early exhorters.
At a general election, held in the township in the fall of
1840, there was no ballot-box. The inspectors of election procured a stand-drawer of David J. Tower, at whose house the election was held, pinned a newspaper over the top, and deposited thie ballots in the drawer by lifting a corner of the paper. The next spring (1841) Mr. Tower was au- thorized by the town board to make a ballot-box. Hc accordingly split some boards from a basswood log, and with axe and plane completed his ballot-box ; it had six com- partments, and the lid was fastened with a hasp and padlock.
In the fall of 1840, David Phelps and a man named Johnson started with a yoke of oxen and a sled to spend a week or two hunting bees and camping out in the woods. After some time they returned with three barrels of honey, just as it came from the trees. Their own appearance was ludicrous in the extreme. Their buckskin breeches were so shrunken and shriveled with dews and rains and from fording streams that they scarcely reached below the knce. The men were smeared and their clothing saturated with honey ; smoke and soot had aided in making up the picture ; their boots were bound together with strips of bark, and their hats had the appearance of having been through a hard sicge, and when they came home, following the team with its load of honey, they created a sensation, and those who saw them are not likely to forget the occasion.
Orson Chamberlain was a former resident of Gencsce County, who removed to the township in 1839 and located upon section 26, where he purchased 164 acres of Edmund H. Hall. Upon this land stood a log house, but no other indication of improvement. Mr. Chamberlain began at once, after establishing his family in their limited quarters, the labor of chopping and clearing. He had at the end of the year rendered six acres productive, the larger share of which was sown with wheat. Other improvements fol- lowed as time passed, until a well-cultivated farm had super- seded the wilderness found on his arrival. In 1870 a sub- stantial frame residence took the place of the primitive abode formerly occupied, in which the family now resides.
Leonard Cole arrived the same year, having purchased and settled upon land on section 14 which was entirely un- improved. He began the clearing of this land, and even- tually rendered it very productive. Neighbors were neither numerous nor easily reached at this early day, and the set- tlers were obliged to depend upon their own exertions. Only on occasions of raisings did the community appear in full force to offer assistance, more frequently lured by the social pleasures of the occasion and the good cheer which inevitably accompanied such a gathering. Mr. Cole occupied the farm until his death, when his sons, the present oecupants, inherited the land. His widow survived until the year 1878.
David J. Tower settled in the township soon after the advent of Mr. Cole, and was one of the inspeetors of elec- tion at the first township-meeting held in Locke. He was a public-spirited citizen, and did mueh to advance the in- terests of the community.
On one occasion the settlers at an early day were totally destitute of flour. Mr. Tower took $100 and purchased the necessary artiele, which he distributed among the in- habitants, allowing them to work out their indebtedness on the public highways.
Mr. Phelps' son, David B. Phelps, states that when his father settled (which was on the 9th of April, 1838), he was six miles from any other house, the only one in that distance being that of Mr. Grant, in the township of Conway, Livingston Co. Mr. Phelps was from Deep River, Conn., where the son was born.
The little one was buried on the farm of Stephen Avery, and the funeral sermon was preached hy George L. Boardman.
272
HISTORY OF INGHAM COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Among the early pioneers who manifested much enter- prise on their arrival was Stephen Avery, who removed from Ontario, Canada, in 1837, and settled in Livingston County. In 1840 he sought a home in the present town- ship of Locke,-then Phelpstown,-and located on section 17, where he purchased 120 acres of unimproved land. The Jog house he built is still standing, though Mr. Avery survived his advent but a short time, having died in Sep- tember, 1844. Two sons and a daughter are still residents of the township.
Nicholas F. Dunckel was born in the beautiful Mohawk Valley, in New York State, and removed to Canada, where he resided for nine years. In 1834 he emigrated to Wayne County, and in 1842 removed to Locke. He here purchased of Rufus Stark weather 160 acres on section 27, which he found unimproved, and upon which he immediately began the erection of a Jog house. After removing his family here, Mr. Dunckel turned his attention to the clearing of a portion of the land, which, as early as practicable, was sown with wheat. He was assisted in his labors by his sons, four of whom accompanied him to the township. Plymouth, Wayne Co., afforded a point for marketing, while Brighton was the milling centre. The nearest saw- mill was at Williamston. Indians were still numerons, but not hostile. They were constant and untiring beggars, and rapacious in their appetite for bread, pork, and other articles of the settlers' cuisine. No school afforded advantages on Mr. Dunckel's arrival, though one was opened soon after. Mr. Dunckel survived until 1872, and died at the house of his son George, on section 28. Another son, Oliver G., resides at Belle Oak.
Levi Rowley removed from Saratoga Co., N. Y., to Al- bion, Mich., where he remained a brief time and removed to Leroy, and in 1842 became a resident of the township of Locke, where he located upon section 32, on a farm embra- cing eighty aeres, for which he effected an exchange of prop- erty with Henry Rix, the former owner. It had been par- tially improved by Caleb Carr. Mr. Rowley continued these improvements, and remained upon the place until his death, in 1870, when it came into the possession of his son. Levi Rowley was one of the most active and public-spirited of the early pioneers, and did much to promote the growth of the township.
Henry Rix, the previous occupant of this farm, was a resident of New Jersey. His stay was brief, Leroy town- ship having soon after offered superior attractions.
Walter Leary, a gentleman of English extraction, re- moved from Ann Arbor to the township, and settled upon eighty acres on section 34, which had been entered by R. G Stark weather, and purchased from him by Mr. Leary. Ile improved the land and remained upon it until his death.
Arnold Payne removed at the same period from the county of Livingston, and settled upon eighty acres pur- chased also of Starkweather, which was unimproved on his advent in Locke. Ile erected a log house and a frame barn, and remained ten years, during which time sixty acres bore witness to his labor in its improved condition. Ile later sold to James Sullivan, and removed to Maple Rapids, where he died. Ile had in his family circle eight sons, all of whom departed with him.
Dr. H. A. Atkins removed from his former home at Elba, N. Y., to the township in 1842, and settled upon the northwest quarter of section 3, where he became the earliest resident practitioner in the township. Ile left for a brief period, but retained his land, and on his return resumed his practice. He is now a resident of Belle Oak, where, in addition to his professional labors, he devotes much time to the study of ornithology and the pursuits of literature. He is a man of wide research, and takes much interest in the compilation of facts regarding the early history of the county.
James MeCreary, a former resident of Herkimer Co., N. Y., located, in 1844, upon eighty acr s which he en- tered in 1839. The township, at the time of his purchase, was almost unpopulated, but on his arrival he found many neighbors, among whom were Messrs. Leary, Rowley, and l'ayne, the former of whom offered him a home during the first two years of his residence. With the assistance of Mr. Dunckel he erected a frame house, to which his father and mother removed. The first year ten acres were cleared, and steady improvement was made after that time.
Dr. Randall, of Livingston County, was among the earliest physicians, and Dr. Leasia, of Williamston, was fre- quently called. Mr. MeCreary continued to improve his land, and succeeded in making it one of the most valuable farms in Locke.
Israel Lovejoy came from New York State in 1843, having entered land in December, 1837, and again in January, 1838, on section 2. On this section he settled and remained nearly twenty years, when he chose a resi- dence elsewhere.
Trowbridge Ilarmon removed from Clyde, N. Y., at the same time, and selected eighty acres on section 1, which hie improved. He was a bachelor on his arrival, but sub- sequently married. The land was entirely cleared by him- self. He experienced many deprivations, but overcame all obstacles, and was able to add to his possessions until he now has 180 acres, mostly improved.
Iliram Lovejoy, another pioneer from the Empire State, settled, in 1845, upon eighty acres on section 3. This land, all uncleared on his arrival, he rendered productive by hard labor, and converted into a valuable estate, upon which he continued improvements until his life was sud- denly ended by a stroke of lightning, in 1874. His sons now occupy the farm.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.