USA > Michigan > Ionia County > History of Ionia County, Michigan : her people, industries and institutions, Volume I > Part 12
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
134
IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
sixty rods north of the south line of section 24, township 7 north, range 6 west ; thence east to the place of beginning."
The first village election under the new charter was held at the town hall the first Monday in March, 1867. William Merrill and Edward L. Perkins were chosen inspectors of election, and Samuel J. Scott, clerk. The whole number of votes cast reached seventy-four, and the officers chosen were as follows: President, James W. Burns; clerk, J. W. Hagadorn; treasurer, Henry Hitchcock; trustees, D. C. Spaulding, Jonathan J. Little- field, Peter Coon, John Toan, Walter Halstead and Charles Staley ; assessor, William Z. Blanchard; marshal, David Kelly.
The village of Lyons bears the distinction of being the largest of the three towns in Lyons township. It is a very flourishing village and has the services of the two railroads of lonia county. The business men in Lyons are progressive and are not only interested in their own interests, but also the interests of the town. There are several business blocks and also some private residences which would do credit to towns with a much greater population.
MUIR.
The village now known as Muir covers a tract of land first improved by W. Z. and J. C. Blanchard, who there cleared a farm, built a farm- house and barn, and installed a farmer as a tenant. In 1856, when the Detroit & Milwaukee railroad was building westward, A. L. Soule, R. H. Robinson, A. B. Robinson and Isaac Everett, extensive owners of Michigan pine lands, bought the Blanchard farm, proposing, first, to establish a steam saw-mill at that point of the river, and, secondly, to secure the construction of the railway through that neighborhood and the location of a station upon their property. Lyons village had counted upon the coming of the line that way, and, indeed, had considered the fixing of a station there as a foregone conclusion, but there was some delay in the furnishing of the promised ten thousand dollars bonus demanded by the railway company from the village, and while the project lagged, A. I .. Soule, one of the owners of the Blanch- ard farm, hurried away to Detroit and offered to subscribe the ten thousand dollars aid at once, conditional upon the railway traversing his property. The company, out of patience with the Lyons people for their lack of energy. accepted Soule's proposition and thus Lyons was left out in the cold.
This important matter settled, Soule & Company built a steam saw-mill. capable of cutting about twenty thousand feet of lumber daily, and platted
135
JONIAA COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
a village on sections 17 and 18, which they called Montrose. The first busi- ness improvement was a hotel, put up in June, 1856, by George French, on the site of the Denison House. The hotel was opened by Smith & Barnard in the fall of 1856, and at the same time French & Chamberlain built and opened a store on the corner. That autumn, two small grocery stores were started by Marvin Geenwood and William Smith, and Vincent Palmer opened a blacksmith shop. Darwin Lyons was appointed railway agent at Montrose, and for a while the depot was in the old Blanchard barn, improved for that purpose.
In the spring of 1857 Montrose began to look up and, the milling interest developing, the population multiplied at a good sharp pace. A. B. Robinson built a store across the way from French & Chamberlain and leased it to Dr. W. Z. Blanchard, who retained it one season and sold out to Staley. Brothers. The second saw-mill was built by Armstrong, Fox & Dibble, and carried on by Aaron, Abby & Son. After that the saw-mill interest expanded into important proportions and pushed the town rapidly along. Between the years 1870 and 1873, that interest was at its best in Muir. Then the amount of lumber cut aggregated fifteen million feet annually. The mills were those of the Wagar Lumber Company, started by Wagar, Fox, Armstrong & Company, cutting about sixty thousand daily; Marvin & Smith, twenty- five thousand: J. & J. Begole & Company, thirty-five thousand, and Abbey, French & Company, thirty-five thousand. There were also W. P. llewitt's shingle-mill and James Smith's sash, blind and door manufactory, where a heavy business was done.
In 1863, when H. R. Wagar opened a drug store, there were but two other stores, J. Soule's and Staley, Robinson & Company's. The next store was that of Wagar & French. in 1866.
In 1860 the name of the village, postoffice and station was changed from Montrose to Muir. The existence in the state of another postoffice called Montrose occasioned some confusion in the transmission of the mails, and, as 11. K. Muir, the then superintendent of the Detroit & Milwaukee railroad, had favored the town, it was decided to honor him by naming it after him.
On January 15. 1860. Benjamin Soule. A. B. Robinson and others, executors, of the estates of .A. L. Soule and R. L. Robinson, platted addi- tion No. I to the village of Muir, on the west fractional half of the north- west fractional quarter of section 17, commencing at a point on the north side of the Detroit & Milwaukee railroad where the east line of Blanchard street crossed the railroad: thence running along the east line of said street
136
IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
to the south line of land owned by Patrick Sullivan: thence east along the south line of said Sullivan's land to the west eight line, running north and south of section 17; thence south along said line to the railroad; thence west along the railroad to the place of beginning.
On May 28, 1869, Jay Olmstead platted an addition, commencing at the section post at the southeast corner of section 7; running thence north along the east line of section 7 a distance of twenty rods to a point in said section line; thence due west at right angles with said section line ninety- two rods and one and a quarter feet ; thence due south twenty rods and one and a quarter feet ; thence due south twenty rods to the south line of said section ; thence east along said section line ninety-two rods and one and a quarter feet to the place of beginning.
George French was appointed the first postmaster and served from 1856 to 1861. C. W. Stanley succeeded French and continued in the office from 1861 to 1869, when A. B. Robinson came in and remained until 1877.
PEWAMO.
The gradual progress of the line of the Detroit & Milwaukee railroad westward in 1857 called villages into existence along its course wherever the chief engineer of the road chose to locate stations. Higham, having fixed a site for a depot where the village of Pewamo now stands, purchased, with Dr. W. C. Blanchard. J. C. Blanchard, A. F. Bell and Amos Gould. a village site of J. C. Blanchard. who had himself bought it of Cuyler Deitz. Ben Mosher and Mrs. Bissell in contemplation of the location of a station there. The village tract included the south half of section 12 and north half of sce- tion 13.
Upon the completion of their purchase the proprietors proceeded to found a village, which, at the suggestion of J. C. Blanchard, they called Pewamo. Mr. Blanchard remembered an Indian chief of that name with whom he used to hunt and fish a good deal in the pioneer days and thus chose to honor him. Mr. Blanchard met Pewamo while traveling through Canada in 1877, and the chief, learning then for the first time that his nande had been given to a Michigan village, was excessive in his demonstrations of delight over the fact that his memory would be perpetuated in his much- loved native home of the Grand river valley.
The village was surveyed by A. F. Bell in 1857. but the plat was not recorded until July 25, 1859. It was described as being situated on sections
137
JONIN COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
12 and 13, and commencing at the quarter-post on the north line of section 13, the streets being platted sixty-six feet in width. The recorded village proprietors were J. C. Blanchard and W. Z. Blanchard. On July 20, 1874. Sherwood and Loomis platted an addition which embraced the western fifty acres of the south half of the northeast quarter of section 13. It com- menced at the center of section 13, ran thence north twenty chains east twenty-five chains, and west to the place of beginning.
The pioneer trader of the place was Hiram Blanchard, who came from Canada in the spring of 1857 and erected a store and dwelling on the corner later occupied by William Triphagen's store. At that time Daniel Shepard was living in a log house that stood upon the site of Mr. Taft's house, Ben Mosher was in a log house upon the American House lot, Daniel Shepard died in 1857, his being the first death in the village. The second trader was E. L. Morse, who, having tried unsuccessfully to start a village of his own, called Woodville. two miles to the eastward on the line of the railway, car- ried his stock of goods to Pewamo in the spring of 1857. Then Ira Fisher bought Benjamin Marsh's log house and converted it into a house of enter- tainment, although he never entertained many people therein. chiefly because the house was too small. Later, the widow Stokes added a frame structure to the log cabin. and gradually there was evolved out of the affair the American Hotel.
In the fall of 1857, E. 1 .. Morse built a blacksmith shop in the village and hired Hugh Robertson, a Canadian, to carry it on for him. When Koh- ertson came to the town, late in 1857, he found six families, all told. Fisher was keeping a tavern and Morse and Blanchard were keeping stores. There were also in the town Robinson, a carpenter. Franklin Gilbert, of the same trade, and Cuyler Deitz, a farmer.
The spot selected for the village was an exceedingly unsuitable one, for it was in the midst of a low tract. and for the greater part of the year the roads were so bad that it was almost impossible for people to get to town. This condition of things kept trade away and the village thrived but feebly, with a fair promise that it would ultimately die of inanition. For a time, however, there was considerable done there in the way of supplying wood to the railway company and thus the storekeepers managed to eke out a thin existence. When Hiram Blanchard came to the town he was led to remark that it looked as if it had ought to be given over to the control of the frogs. which had wellnigh absolute possession.
Even up to the year 1870 Pewamo was a desolate-looking place and was
I38
IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
pretty closely hemmed in by woods. It had, however, began to move for- ward as a consequence of the improved conditions of the roads leading to it. the township having bestirred itself actively in the premises.
Morse, having failed in his mercantile enterprise, was succeeded by Snell & Hungerford, and in 1866, when John Pennington came in and built a store. Lewis Hugerford and Hiram Blanchard were the only traders in the place.
In 1867 the village received its first resident physician and in 1868 Helm & Mattern established a wagon and carriage manufactory which they carried on with more or less success until 1875. when the business was discontinued.
Up to 1870 there had been neither saw-mill nor grist-mill at Pewano In that year Rice & Jilliker built the grist-mill. Previous to 1870 lumber was obtained at Gee's saw-mill. on Stony creek, and grists were carried to Matherton, Ilubbardston or Lyons. AAfter passing through various pro- prietorship. the mill fell to the possession of Ilugh Robertson, of Otisco. in 1879.
In 1869, O. W. Holley established a stave-factory at Pewamo and did a large business for several years. The first physician resident in Pewamo. already referred to, was Dr. Lafayette Jones, who came in 1867 and remained until 1876.
Neither Muir nor Pewamo has ever reached the heights which the founders of the town had anticipated. Muir is somewhat larger than Pewamo. but both are still in the class of villages. The chief business interest of the village of Pewamo is the elevator, while the village of Muir has a larger country trade.
CHAPTER XI.
NORTH PLAINS TOWNSHIP.
North Plains was given its name by reason of its territory occupying a broad stretch of level country north of the Maple river. The township was organized under an act approved February 29. 1844, and included townships 8, 9 and ro north, in range 5 west, except that portion of township 8 lying southeast of Maple river. Townships 9 and 10 remained as a portion of North Plains until the organization of Montcalm county, to which they belonged. That portion of the town lying southeast of the Maple river was included within the limits of Lyons until January 9. 1867, when it was apportioned to North Plains, which contained then, for the first time, an area of six square miles.
The township name was suggested from the designation given years before to that part of the township lying in the southwestern corner, where the earliest settlements were effected. Nathaniel Sessions put forward the name of Ashland as appropriate because of the presence in his portion of the town of considerable ash-timber. That name was rejected because it was said that one Ashland already existed in the state. Some one wanted the town called Cocoosh, but an inquiry into the meaning of that Indian word develop- ing the information that it was synonymous with "Old Hog." the sug- gestion was promptly smothered. At this juncture H. V. Libhart said North Plains would be a good name, and everybody seemed suited.
The first township meeting was held at the house of Bartley Dunn. April 1, 1844. Nathaniel Sessions was chosen moderator. Hector Hayes, George D. Kellogg. Chauncey Conkey and Hiram Brown, inspectors, and George D. Kellogg, clerk. It was resolved that town officers should be allowed six shillings per day, "no more, no less": that ninety dollars should be raised for the ensuing year's contingent expenses, and ten dollars for the support of the poor.
At the election of officers, thirty-seven votes were polled. and, except for the office of supervisor ( for which Nathaniel Sessions and Hiram Brown were candidates ). there was no contest. The result of the canvass was reported by the inspectors as follows: Supervisor, Nathaniel Sessions ;
140
IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
clerk, George W. Germain; treasurer, Silas Crippen; highway commission- ers, Major D. Mills, William Sessions and John Jennings; school inspectors, John Jennings and Hector Hayes: directors of the poor, Hiram Brown and Nathaniel Sessions: constables, Samuel E. Stoughton and Bartley Dunn ; justices of the peace. Chauncey Conkey, Henry L. Libhart and William E. Edminister; overseers of highways, Caleb Bundy, Samuel E. Stoughton. Silas Crippen and Lyman Williams. During the year Nathaniel Sessions resigned the office of supervisor, because of illness, and his son, William, was chosen to fill the vacancy.
The township of North Plains enjoyed the distinction of containing within its borders, residing upon the places of their early settlement until their deaths, two pioneers who were the first to invade the then wilderness of township 8 north, in range 5 west. They were known as Hector Hayes and Hiram Brown. In 1836 they set up their backwoods cabins upon sec- tion 31. where white men had never tarried before, and upon that section they later lived. They first knew the country when it was an unbroken waste, grew and prospered as it grew and prospered, and today it is a hand- some. fruitful region, dotted with attractive homes and rich farms and thickly populated with a prosperous people.
As a matter of fact. Brown reached North Plains four days in advance of Hayes (although both started from New York state in company ) and was the actual first settler. In May, 1836, Brown and Hayes, living in Bristol, New York, concluded to visit Michigan in search of land locations. and together journeyed to Lyons where, encountering H. V. Libhart, they were piloted by him over to what was then known as the North Plain, in township 8 north, range 5 west, where, although they did not over much fancy the lay of the land. each selected a tract of land without much delay. for Michigan lands were much in demand just then, and they feared that by waiting to be better suited they might not get even as desirable places. Haves took two hundred and eighty acres on sections 31 and 32 ( buying the following winter a sugar-bush on section 22), and Brown, three hundred and twenty acres on section 31 in North Plains and across the line in what is now Ronald township. Their purchases completed. they returned to Lyons. where they made provisions for the future by planting a patch of potatoes on Libhart's land, and engaging Dean Delap, of Lyons, to put up a log house on Brown's place and ent some marsh-hay for their live stock.
Having thuis made satisfactory arrangements against their coming out for permanent settlement. Brown and Hayes returned to New York state to
IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
gather their families and goods, and in early autumn started for their Mich- igan location. They traveled by water to Detroit and from that point journeyed by teams, Hayes having two yoke of cattle and two wagons and Brown, two yoke of cattle and a wagon. En route. Hayes's cattle gave out under the pressure of extraordinarily hot weather and. he himself falling sick, the party made progress so slowly that Brown grew impatient and, at Hayes's suggestion, pushed on alone.
Brown reached Lyons on October 3 and there hired one Burgess to get his goods and family across the Grand river on a raft. On the same day Hayes arrived at Captain Scott's, at DeWitt, and that night there came on a snow storin that covered the ground to the depth of nearly a foot. By morn- ing, when Hayes found himself ready to continue his journey, he found also that the snow had obliterated traces of the path over which Brown had pre- ceded him. He hired a man named Proctor to assist him in clearing a road and so laborious and tedious was the progress that the first day out from DeWitt they covered but six miles. The trip to Lyons was a painful one and during its continuance the party camped two nights in the woods. Mrs. Hayes had two children, George, then five years old, and a nursing babe, now known as N. B. Hayes, of North Plains. Ilunger troubled them likewise on that trip and the sorest trial Mrs. Hayes was called upon to endure was when her little boy George said to her one night, "Ma, why didn't you leave me at grandpa's, where I could get something to eat?" At Muir (or where Muir now is) Hayes engaged H. V. Libhart to assist him over. and as the stream was so risen that fording was out of the question. their goods, and even their wagons had to be conveyed across the river piecemeal in canoes.
On the 12th of October, 1836, they reached their destination and they were heartily greeted by Brown, who had got there on the 8th. Delap had not got the cabin done and both families temporarily occupied the tent in which Delap had been living.
Shortly after their arrival. Hayes and Brown, accompanied by their two hired men, went over to Libhart's to gather the crop of potatoes the two pioneers had provided for during the previous spring, but, although they got there all right. they capsized their canoe while crossing the Maple on the return trip and into the water everybody, including the potatoes, went. Luckily, they hung onto the precious potatoes and got them and themselves ashore in safety. but. as neither man possessed a change of clothing, the subsequent hours of night passed in dripping wet garments, in a chilly atitos-
I42
IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. .
phere, were not particularly delightful. although by morning they felt but little worse for their adventure.
When Hayes and Brown got in. they found they had a neighbor in Abner Soule, who had just made a commencement on section 6 in Lyons. In a little while they greeted many more new-comers in their own settle- ment,
Mr. Brown related how he brought with him an ample supply of things eatable, except flour, and would have brought that, only he was told that he would be able to buy plenty of wheat in the neighborhood of his proposed settlement and that he would. moreover, find a mill at lonia. That he had good cause to regret having followed that advice the sequel will show. True, he brought two barrels of flour and some wheat, but the Hour was almost worthless, and, as there was no mill in which to get his wheat ground, he fed nearly the whole of it to the cattle. Then he went to Lyons to buy Hour, bunt, on being asked sixteen dollars a barrel, concluided to wait until it got cheaper. Instead of cheaper, it grew dearer and when Brown concluded to pay twenty dollars a barrel he could not buy a pound either in Lyons or in Ionia. Meanwhile, he and his family made shift to live on the two barrels of spoiled Hour until Samuel Dexter set his red mill in motion at Ionia, Mr. Brown says he was luckier than some of his neighbors. many of whom did not see a mouthful of bread for three months at a time.
ITector Hayes is said to have the honor of providing the citizens of Grand Rapids with the first fat beef known to the good people of that town. He owned an ox so large and ungainly that he could not be matched and. despairing of doing anything else with him, he fatted him and took him to Grand Rapids. The fatted ox was a sensation there and awakened popular enthusiasm and desire. llaves did not find the speculation a very profitable one, but he got rid of unpleasant property and made lots of folks happy, a consolation doubtless quite sufficient to satisfy him.
In February, 1837. Jay Olmstead, a bachelor, came to the North Plains with a string of six pairs of breaking cattle, wagons loaded with provisions and two hired hands, Joel C. Green and Alvin Smith. Olmstead had bought land on section 31 and proposed to pitch right in with his breaking-team and hired men and do some big work. They did accomplish considerable by the next summer, and then Olmstead concluded to go back to New York after a wife. Ile sokl his cattle and provisions, went to New York and got married, came out as soon as he could with fresh supplies and remained as a permanent settler. Green, one of his hands, himself became a settler on section 7 in 1838, but Smith remained in Olmstead's employ several years.
143
IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Major D. Mitis, said to have effected the first land entry in the town- ship, settled upon a quarter section in section 19 in May, 1837, and about the same time Silas Crippen moved to a place on section 30. Crippen had been on the East Plain since the spring of 1837, but he did not get over the iine until early in the summer.
Major Mills was the hero of an adventure in which he made a midnight sally upon a bear which he discovered playing havoc with the family pig- pen. Mr. Mills attacked him with an axe, which, being thrown at the beast with fruitless results, was followed with a bombardment of bowlders. The hogs, thus emboldened by assistance, also showed a belligerent front, and between hogs and bowlders the bear found the fight growing so hot that he took leg-bail despite Mills's heroic efforts to capture him.
The settlement of Nathaniel Sessions in the eastern portion of the town- ship. in May, 1837, was the pioneer undertaking thereabout, for until that time new comers had gathered about the Hayes and Brown settlement. Sessions came to Michigan in the fall of 1836 and, visiting Alonzo and Amasa Sessions in Berlin township, found there a man named Lodi, who, upon learning that Nathaniel was in search of land, agreed to pilot him to a choice tract. He pointed out what he called a desirable piece of property. Sessions must have agreed with him, for he lost no time in making pur- chase of the northern half of the section, and, returning eastward, came to North Plains in May. 1837, with three of his sons. With them, he put up a cabin and otherwise prepared for the reception of the rest of the family. who came in the fall.
Nathaniel Sessions was a man of mark in his day and generation and in matters secular and religious was a churchman and a revered Methodist class-leader. He was not without a humorous appreciation of the ridiculous. Apropos of that feature in his character, there runs a story that, being much in need of an ox-sled, he essaved to make one himself. The result of his labors must have been an extraordinary spectacle, for, in alluding to it to a neighbor, he observed that, orthodox as he was, he felt bound to confess that there could be no sin in worshipping that sled, since it was like nothing upon earth, in the heavens above or in the waters under the earth.
In 1837 Moses Dean and William Vance settled on section 36 and the same year the first settlement in the northwestern portion of the town was effected by Ansel B. Glass, a New Yorker, who, in the fall, made a com- mencement on section 5. He lived in a pretty lonesome place, for his cabin
144
IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
was four miles from the nearest habitation. He was conspicuous in current history, not for that, but for the occurrence of a tragic episode in which his family and his home were destroyed by a fire in the spring of 1838 and which not only made a commotion in Ionia county, but caused fear and consternation to prevail in all the neighboring newly-populated communities.
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.