History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan, Part 85

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 85
USA > Michigan > Ingham County > History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan > Part 85

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).

343

WILLIAMSTOWN.

neutral in politics. Mr. Andrews has refitted and stocked the office, and has a capital of about $2000 invested in the business, which gives employment to four hands, in- cluding the proprietor and his wife.

The present business-list of the village comprises 4 phy- sicians, 1 dentist, 3 attorneys-at-law, 1 banking-office, 1 loan-office, 3 grain and produce dealers, 2 merchant- and custom-mills, 2 lumber firms, 1 plaping-mill, 1 saw-mill, 1 extensive stave- and barrel-factory, 2 foundries, 3 carriage- works, 1 printing establishment and newspaper, + clergy- men, 3 hotels, 2 jewelers, 1 merchant tailor, 5 general mer- chants, 6 grocers, 3 druggists, 2 barbers, 1 furniture-dealer and undertaker, 2 hardware-stores, 2 millinery establish- ments, 3 boot- and shoe-makers, 2 harness and saddlery, 3 blacksmiths, 1 tinsmith, 1 bakery, 1 pump-factory, 2 livery-stables, 1 marble-works, and 2 meat-markets. It is a remarkably lively point for the trade of the surrounding country and presents quite a busy appearance.

The population of the village by the census of 1880 is about 1100.

PHYSICIANS.$

Among the earliest physicians who practiced in Wil- liamston were Dr. Joseph Watkins and Dr. Wells, neither of whom was regularly educated for the profession. They settled in the place previous to 1844, and were attempting to practice when Dr. Leasia settled here. Both soon after- wards removed from the place.

Dr. Charles Winne, a regular physician and an able man, also practiced at an early day.

Quite a large number of physicians, principally young men, have practiced or studied with Dr. Leasia at various periods. We have room to mention a portion of them in this connection : Dr. William A. Davis was associated with him for four or five years, commencing about 1860. Ile was from the neighborhood of Chelsea, Jackson Co., Mich., where his father resided. IIe removed at a later date to Grand Ledge, Eaton Co., where he is now in practice.

Dr. Charles Hill, from Dansville, was in practice with Dr. Leasia for about a year after Dr. Davis removed. He subsequently went to Perry Centre, Shiawassee Co., from there to Owosso, and later to Cheboygan, Mich., where he now resides.

A Dr. Gray was also with him about six months. He was a graduate of Ann Arbor, and removed to Marshall, where he soon after dicd.

Another partner of Dr. Leasia was Dr. John Houston, who was in Williamston about one year. He went into the army during the Rebellion and served with distinction as commander of a Michigan regiment. He is now a farmer in Leroy township.

The practicing physicians at present residing in Wil- liamston, besides Dr. Leasia, are Dr. Mathias Coad, Dr. J. J. Defendorf, and Dr. J. F. Campbell.

Dr. Coad was born in Eastport, Me., in 1836. He studied medicine with Dr. Mark R. Woodbury, now of Chicago, and graduated at the Berkshire Medical College, at Pitts- field, Mass., in 1866. Previons to the war of the Rebellion

he attended one course of lectures at Long Island College Hospital. He served as assistant surgeon of the Fifty- Second Massachusetts Infantry for nine months, and subse- quently with the Seventy-Sixth United States Colored In- fantry, and was mustered out Jan. I, 1866.

After the war he attended two courses of lectures at Long Island College Hospital and one at Pittsfield, Mass. He commenced practice at Fentonville, Gencsee Co., Mich., in May, 1866, and in 1868 removed to Williamston, where he has since been in practice in the regular school.

Dr. Defendorf is a member of the Homeopathie school of medicine, and was born in Onondaga Co., N. Y., in 1850. He studied medicine at Auburn, N. Y., and grad- uated at the Detroit Homoeopathic College in 1873, and located in Williamston the same year, where he has since continued in the enjoyment of a good practice.

Dr. Campbell was born in Elgin County, near London, Province of Ontario, Dominion of Canada, in 1854. He studied medicine at the University of Michigan, and grad- uated from that institution in 1876. IIe came to Williams- ton in November of the same year, and is building up a satisfactory practice among his fellow-laborers. He belongs to the allopathic or regular school, as it is generally desig- nated.

ATTORNEYS.

The resident attorneys are E. Dayton Lewis, Quincy A. Smith, and B. D. York.

SCHOOLS.

The first action concerning public schools appears of record in 1840, when it was voted to raise a fund of $150 for their support.

The first items entered in the regular school record were in 1844, February 10th, when the first school district was formed as follows : District No. 1 to consist of sections 34, 35, and 36, the west half of the southeast quarter of 25, the east half of the southeast quarter of 26, the southeast quarter of 27, the southwest quarter of 24, and the south- east quarter of 23, to be called District No. 1, of the town- ship of Phelpstown.

At that time Jesse P. Hall, O. B. Williams, and J. H. Lounsbury were inspectors of schools.

On the 26th of April following District No. 2 was formed, to be composed as follows: Sections 36, and the south half of 25, in the town of Bath, Clinton Co., and sections 4, 5, 8, and 9, in Phelpstown, to be known as District No. 2, of Phelpstown, and Distriet No. 3, of Bath.

On the 3d, of May, 1845, District No. 3 was formed as follows : Sections No. 21, 22, 23, 15, 14, 13, 12, and the east half and southwest quarter of seetion 11. H. B. Williams, H. C. Grattan, and Aaron Durand were then school inspectors.

In the spring of 1845 the inspectors purchased 185 volumes of books, established a library, and appointed H. B. Williams librarian.

EARLY TEACHERS.

On the 8th of April, 1845, the inspectors certify that they have examined Miss Mary Farrand " in respect to her

# For notice of Dr. Leasia and others, see Chapter IV. General History Ingham County.

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HISTORY OF INGHAM COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

moral character, learning, and ability to teach a primary school, and consider her well qualified for the discharge of that duty." A certificate was issued her to teach in Dis- triet No. 1, then comprising the nucleus of the present village of Williamston.

Among others who were examined and licensed to teach from 1845 to 1850, we find the names of the following : Gilman Warren, Oct. 15, 1845; Miss Elizabeth L. Alver- son, May 1, 1847; Miss M. Demarry, June 19, 1847 ; Miss Mary H. Stillman, July 14, 1847 ; Harry Gleason, Nov. 19, 1847; Miss Jane Watson, Nov. 19, 1847 ; Miss Armena Pitts, May 1, 1848; Miss Lovina P. Alverson, June 7, 1848; Miss Sarah Jane Macomber, Sept. 23, 1848; Jesse P. Hall, Dec. 30, 1848 ; Catherine C. Corn- well, May 22, 1849; Edward W. Alverson, Nov. 7, 1849 ; Alfred B. Kinne, Jan. 28, 1850; Emeline Epley, May 27, 1850; Sarah Ann Fletcher, June 29, 1850; Lodema To- bias, Sept. 16, 1850; Henry Lane, Nov. 2, 1850 ; Clorinda J. George, Dec. 27, 1850.

At a meeting in Distriet No. 2, Oct. 6, 1845, it was voted to have nine months' school, that it should be kept by " a woman-teacher;" the school to commence on the first Mon- day in November.

At a meeting of the inspectors, held March 16, 1847, a new district was formed from sections 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, and 10, and numbered 2, though what was done with the original district is not stated. The inference is that the portion of the old Distriet No. 2 lying in the township of Bath was disconnected, leaving the whole district in Phelpstown.

A new district, No. 4, was formed May 1, 1847, from sections 25, 26, and a part of 35 and 36.

At the last-named date Gilman Warren, Harry Gleason, and David Currier were school inspectors. In the same year the record shows an apportionment of moneys to a portion of the schools as follows : Distriet No. 1, $16.55; No. 3, $13.03. Gilman Warren was appointed a committee to visit the schools during the year 1847.

On the 3d of July, 1847, Fractional District No. 4, of Locke, and No. 6, of Phelpstown, were set off in the uortli- east part of the last-named and the northwest part of the first-named townships.

Also on the same day a new district, called No. 5, was formed in the eastern central portion of Phelpstown, and on the 19th of the same month the number, for some unex- plained reason, was changed to No. 3.

Another new district, lying in the northeast part of the township, was formed April 1, 1848, and numbered 5.

On the 6th of July, 1849, the township treasurer reported the following number of children in three of the districts : District No. 2, twenty ; No. 3, thirty five ; No. 4, twenty-five.

On the 6th of April, 1850, Fractional District No. 4, of Phelpstown, and No. 6, of Locke, were disorganized, and the territory set back to its respective townships.

At this date James A. Leasia, Harry Gleason, and S. V. R. Church were school inspectors.

In 1853 there were seven school districts in the town- ship. At the present time it is divided into nine districts, of which Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 9 are whole, and Nos. I, 7, and 8 fractional.

The contingent fund distributed among the several dis- triets in December, 1879, was as follows :

Fractionat District, No. 1

$2020.00

Fractional

49.44

Fractional

45.71

Whole

104.93

Whole

182.50

Whole

200.64

Whole

60.17

Whole

138.37

Whole

136.00

Total. $2937.76

Of the various school buildings six are frame and one log. Two of the fractional districts have their buildings in the adjoining township, leaving seven in Williamstown. The unmber of school-children between the ages of five and twenty years, exclusive of the Williamston village distriet which is reported in Wheatfield, for 1880 is 303.

The value of school property, also excluding the fine building in the village, is $2600. * Total expended for year IS79-80, $1408.65.

School Inspectors, 1880 .- Wm. L. Brown, superintend- ent ; George Porter, inspector ; E. P. Loranger, town-clerk.

Village Schools .- The first school in what is now the vil- lage was taught in a building situated on the land of J. M. Williams, and erected by private subscription in 1844. The earliest teachers were the Misses Mann and Farren, but which was first is not now recollected. The first district school building was also on the north side of the river, and erected about 1846. This was subsequently sold, and a building, which had formerly been an addition to the Lom- bard House, purchased and used for several years. It was afterwards moved to Middle Street, and occupied for various purposes,-as a dwelling, wagon-shop, place for holding Baptist meetings, etc. It is now in use as a livery-stable.

The fine new school building now in use by the village district was erected in 1875, at a cost of $15,000. The lot on which it stands, which is in the township of Wheat- field, was presented to the district by Col. R. W. Owens. The father of Col. Owens was formerly a member of Cou- gress from the State of Georgia, and owned an extensive plantation in Habersham County. Ile was one of a com- pany which purchased lands in Michigan at an early date, and when a division was subsequently made became owner of the traet at Williamston. The colonel fell heir to this property and visited it occasionally, but his ownership was no advantage to the village, for the land remained vacant, and stood as a barrier in the way of improvements. During the war of the Rebellion he was an outspoken rebel, and served with some distinction in the Confederate army. This fact was very nearly the cause of the confiscation of all his property in the North. The matter was carried before the United States Court at Detroit, but after considerable delay was finally dismissed. The colonel visits Williamston occa- sionally, and during one of these visits made a present of the land to the district. It is finely situated, and the build- ing erected upon it is at once an honor to the village and a commentary upon the condition of schools in the State where the colonel resides. But the apparently generous act

# The school building in the village of Williamston cost $15,000. Seo history of village.

345

WILLIAMSTOWN.

of the wealthy Southerner was not without sufficient eause. Parties on the north side of the river had offered to give a site and $200 in money if the building were erected on that side, and the prospect of rapid improvement in that direction, and the loss of a corresponding growth on the south side, touched a sympathetic chord in the colonel's bosom, and the result was the gift in question.

The building is of briek, three stories and basement in height, and contains for school-rooms, two recitation-rooms, and a publie hall on the third floor. The school is divided into four departments,-primary, intermediate, grammar, and high,-making it a graded school. It is under the con- trol of a male principal and three female teachers, whose salaries are $650 per annum for the principal and $320 for the female teachers, making a total of $1610 paid the four.

The number of children drawing school-money in the district, which is a fractional district of Williamstown and Wheatfield, is 329. The total receipts of the district for 1879-80, for all purposes, were $4066.99, and the total expenditures, $3690.32. The building stands a few rods south of the township-line in Wheatfield, and the district is reported in the latter township, though probably nine- tenths of the population are in Williamstown.

The people of the village are justly proud of their fine school building and the high standing of their sehools.

The board of trustees for the year 1880 is composed of the following gentlemen : M. Coad, M.D., President; D. L. Crossman, Director; M. V. Jessop, Assessor; J. M. Williams, J. F. Krumbeek, William L. Brown.

RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES.

First Baptist .- This society, which is the oldest in the village, was organized in Wheatfield township, June 4, 1841, as the " First Baptist Conference of Wheatfield," with the following members: H. T. Fero, Henry Lee, William Drown, Elijah Hammond, William Tompkins, Amanda F. Fero, Elizabeth Lee, Orra Drown, Mary Ann Hammond, Margaret Tompkins. H. T. Fero, William Tompkins, and Elijah Hammond were appointed at the same meeting to draft articles and covenant. Henry Lee acted as elerk of the meeting.

In the same month Rev. H. T. Fero was called to the pastoral charge. At a council composed of delegates from the churches of Ingham, Mason, Howell, Unadilla, and Leslie, held Jan. 26, 1842, the society was received into fellowship, and Rev. H. T. Fero was ordained over it as pastor. Of this council D. Hendee was moderator and E. K. Grout elerk.

In May, 1842, it was "voted that the covenant meet- ings be held half the time at the Martin school-house, and half at the usual place."

Elder Fero continued to officiate until Angust, 1845, and from that time until January, 1848, there does not appear, from the record, to have been any settled pastor. At the last-mentioned date a resolution was passed to change the name of the church to " First Baptist Church of Williamston," at which time it is probable they began to hold their regular meetings in the village, though there was no church edifice erected until 1867-68. Meetings

were held previons to that time in dwellings, sehool-houses, and various places.

A Bible-elass was formed in October, 1844, of which the pastor was made superintendent.

On the 23d of March, 1848, Elder Alfred B. Kinne was ordained as pastor, and dismissed in May, 1850. In 1852 and 1853 meetings were held in the Whitcomb school-house. Elder Kinne was again pastor from Jan- uary, 1857, to December, 1861. It was voted to pay him fifty dollars for his services, exclusive of donations. In 1862 the elder was again engaged to labor one-half the time for $100, and he seems to have continued until De- cember, 1863.

Elder William White was engaged for the year 1864 at $150 per annum, and for 1865 at $160. In July, 1865, preliminary steps were taken towards effecting a legal or- ganization, and building a church edifice in the village. For the year 1866, Elder White was engaged to preach one-half the time, at a salary of $160, "and a donation that shall at least amount to fifty dollars." In 1867, Elder A. B. Kinne was once more engaged at an annual salary of $200, and for 1868 the Rev. J. C. Armstrong was hired and paid, according to the church record, $204.

The church building in the village of Williamston, still occupied by the society, appears to have been erected during the years 1867-68, at an original cost of about $3000. It was dedicated on the 19th of May, 1868, at which time delegations were present from Lansing, Howell, Mason, Dansville, and Okemos. The dedication sermon was preached by Rev. J. S. Boyden.

In 1869, Rev. A. M. Parmenter was stationed here, and continued until April 30, 1871. Rev. C. E. B. Armstrong preached occasionally for the society about this time. In 1872-73, Rev. Marshall Dunbar was the pastor, and Rev. M. Hayden occupied the pulpit from the fall of 1874 until September, 1876. The present pastor, Rev. J. W. Henry, began his labors on the 1st of December, 1876.

During 1880 a chapel was built in the rear of the church edifice, at a cost of $350. The house is surmounted by a tower, and is furnished with a bell and organ. The present membership is about seventy-five, and the Sabbath-school has an average attendance of fifty scholars, with nine teachers and a library of about 150 volumes.

St. Mary's, Catholic .*- There had been a few Catholics in and around Williamston perhaps as early as 1850-55, and priests of the church had visited them occasionally previous to the gathering of an organized church in the vil- lage. Among these families may be mentioned Owen Ben- nam's, John Grimes', the Lorangers, and others, and among the visiting priests were Fathers Monahan, Kelly, Van Gennipe, Van Paemel, Van Driss, and others.

The first resident pastor is the present one, Father J. F. Lovett, a young man of fine attainments and good promise, who was settled here in August, 1879. The church edifice now occupied was ereeted in 1869, upon a lot donated to the society by the Waldo brothers, who also gave a considerable sum of money in aid of the church. It is a plain frame structure, costing about $1100. The

# From data furnished by Father Lovett.

346

HISTORY OF INGHAM COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

parsonage and lot were purchased in September, 1879, at a cost of $1150, of W. II. Cochran. There are about forty families connected with the church in Williamston, and in addition to this Father Lovett has under his charge the flocks at Bunker Hill, in Ingham County, and at Wood- hull, in Shiawassee County. His jurisdiction extends from Laingsburg on the north to Leslie on the south. He makes his residence at Williamston.

First Congregational .*- The First Congregational Church of Williamston was organized in October, 1878. Its orig- inal members were Nathan C. Branch, Laura M. Branch, Mrs. Sarah B. Mcad, Miss Emma Mead, Mrs. W. L. Rob- son, Mrs. Aroline A. Church, Daniel Miller, Mrs. Ann Jane Miller, Mrs. Floretta Watkins. The present mem- bership is seventeen.

Articles of association were adopted about Aug. 20, 1878, and subsequently filed with the county clerk. Rev. J. W. Dawson was principally instrumental in gathering the so- ciety, but did not remain to complete the organization. The work has been continued by his successor, Rev. Casimir B. Ludwig, tbe present pastor, who was settled over the church on the 16th of November, 1878, and who has been iudefatigable in his efforts to build up a prosperous organ- ization. Rev. Ludwig's first sermon was delivered in the Baptist church of Williamston, at the date last above mentioned.

Under his energetic administration a fine church edifice is now (September, 1880) in process of construction, which will be, when completed, a tasteful and convenient house of worship. It is in the Pointed Gothic style, with tower and spire, and trimmed with artificial stone from the works at Lansing. The building is a frame structure, bricked up on the outside by a process known as " veneering," which gives it all the solid appearance of a brick structure. The main portion of the edifice is thirty-two by fifty feet, exclusive of the tower at the northeast angle, and has a chapel in the rear, eighteen by twenty-four, connected with the audience- room by folding doors. The basement is to be occupied as a kitchen. The floor in the body of the house is raised after the manner of a theatre, and the windows are to be furnished with elegant stained glass. The inside finish is to be in oak and walnut, and the seating capacity will be 300. The building is to be heated by a furnace in the basement. The chapel will be seated with chairs.

The total cost of the building is expected to reach some- thing over $3000, of which amount a considerable portion is contributed by the Congregational Building Union. The society is also largely aided by the American Home Mis- sionary Society, which contributes from $300 to $400 an- nually towards the pastor's salary.

. A flourishing Sunday-school is connected with the church, the regular attendance of which is about forty. The school has a very choice library of 200 volumes, which was pur- chased from a church library in Boston, Mass.

It is the intention of Mr. Ludwig to have a course of lectures during the coming winter, for the purpose of aid- ing the society to furnish the new church building. IIc intends to procure the services of eminent, lecturers, and

will make the course a decided success, if energy and ability can accomplish it.

The present trustees of the church are N. C. Branch, Daniel Miller, and E. Dayton Lewis.

Methodist Episcopal.t-The Methodist Episcopal Society of Williamston village was formerly embraced in a large four weeks' circuit, including portions of three counties. The church edifice belonging to the society was erected in 1867-68, at a probable cost of over $2000.

Since 1859 the preachers who have officiated here have been Revs. T. C. Wright, J. T. Hankinson, F. Brit- ton, J. H. Curnalia, J. J. Kern, L. L. Houghton, Janies Balls, J. B. Varnum, R. C. Lanning, A. Allen, H. T. Evans, N. W. Pierce, and L. C. York, the present pastor. The present membership numbers ninety.

The present board of trustees is composed as follows : James C. Webber, Charles Thoms, I. E. Higbce, Wm. L. Murphy, C. E. Lockwood, T. J. Parsons, Frederick Davis. The church has a Sabbath-school connected with it which is in a flourishing statc.

A class held meetings for a number of years at Williams- town Centre, in the school-house. In 1879 a neat frame church was erected at a cost of over $1500. It stands on section 15, about five miles north-northwest of Williamstou village. Rev. L. C. York, the pastor of the village, offi- ciates. This society supports a flourishing Sabbath-school.

CEMETERIES.

The earliest burial-places in the township were at Wil- liamston village, one a private onc, a little west of Steele's foundry, near the river, where a few interments were made at an early day, and another a little north of the present corporation-line, on lands formerly belonging to Stephen Olds. This land, so far as we have been able to ascertain, was given by Mr. Olds (subsequently confirmed by J. M. Williams) for burial-purposes, but no title passed, and, owing to this fact, steps were taken to establish a new ground, and the remains interred here were exhumed and reinterred in the cemetery on section 26.

Summit Cemetery .- This ground belongs to a company incorporated under a State law of 1855. Among the in- corporators were J. M. Williams, Nelson Loranger, J. B. Taylor, George B. Fuller, Horatio Pratt, and John S. Vanneter. The incorporators organized Feb. 7, 1860, and, on the 1st day of May of that year, purchased of Webster Ilarvey and wife 3 acres and 152 rods of land on the east half of the southwest quarter of section 26, in Williamstown, for the sum of $100 cash. The lot is elegibly situated on rolling ground, with a soil composed mainly of sand and gravel, and admirably adapted for burial-purposes. The corporators have expended several hundred dollars in lay- ing out, ornamenting, and improving it, and it is kept in good condition.

There is another private burial-ground, situated on the west half of the southwest quarter of section 21, which was opened for use about 1860. There have been only a limited number of burials within it. The "Summit Ceme- tery" is principally used by the inhabitants of Williamston village.

* Compiled from information furnished by Rev. C. B. Ludwig.

t Principally from information furnished by Rov. L. C. York.

RESIDENCE OF ROSEELL SHAW, WILLIAMSTON, INGHAM CO., MICH.

RESIDENCE OF WILLIAM Z. SECORD, WILLIAMSTON, INGHAM CO, MICH.

347

WILLIAMSTOWN.

We are under obligations to the following persons in Williamstown for information furnished and assistance ren- dered : J. M. Williams, Daniel L. Crossman, E. P. Loran- ger, W. H. McEnally, William L. Brown, William P. Ainsley, Drs. Leasia, Coad, Defendorf, and Campbell, Revs. Henry, Ludwig, Lovett, and York, C. E. Lockwood, John M. Crossman, Mr. Waldo, J. H. Steel, D. F. P. Bur- nett, Messrs. Wilson & Clark, J. H. Crostick, H. Ham- mond, E. S. Andrews, and C. F. Andrews. To all not here enumerated we also return sincere thanks.

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History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan, Part 85

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