USA > Michigan > Ionia County > History of Ionia County, Michigan : her people, industries and institutions, Volume I > Part 14
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The full list of officials chosen is given as follows: Supervisor. Myron Tupper; clerk, Esteven Russell; treasurer. John D. Hight: justices of the peace, Iliram S. Lee, Reuben Haight, Benjamin R. Tupper and George E. Kibbey: school inspectors. James \. Galloway and Reuben Haight : high- . way commissioners, Asa Houghton, James A. Galloway and Wellington Russell; overseers of the poor, Esteven Russell and George Kibbey; con- stables, Myron Tupper, Asa Houghton and James A. Galloway; overseers of the highways, John D. Hight, Esteven Russell and Hiram S. Lee. Myron Tupper was moderator of the meeting. Esteven Russell. clerk. and Asa
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Houghton. George 1. Kibbey and Benjamin R. Tupper, inspectors of elec- tion.
At the same meeting thirty dollars were voted for township purposes and there was also a resolution passed to hold the next town meeting at "the school house in this town."
Odessa, named after a city in Russia, is one of the southern border townships of lonia county, lying on the Barry county line, and in the United States survey is known as township 5 north, range 7 west. having Berlin township on the north, Barry county on the south, Sebewa township on the east and Campbell township on the west. Agriculture has always been its main interest, since there is within the township neither railway, village nor water power. There are, however, postoffices to the number of four, named, respectively. Algodon. South Cass, Lake City and Bonanza, at the latter only of which is there even a semblance of a village. There is some waste land in the township, but, generally considered, Odessa is a good farming region and its inhabitants are a thrifty, industrious and comfortably-circumstanced people.
In June, 1839. Myron Tupper. of Monroe county, New York, was in Michigan looking for land. At Jackson he learned from Kirthemthal, the mail-carrier over the Clinton trail between Jackson and Grand Rapids, that there was government land to be had in the locality now inchided in Odessa, Tupper proceeded at once to enter the southeast quarter of section 27. through which flowed a small stream and upon which rested the waters of a small lake. lle returned eastward at once and, securing the companionship of Harvey Kibbey, moved westward once more, and made no halt until the Odessa land was reached. As soon as he could. Tupper gathered his house- hold goods and. with his family and Wellington Russell, an unmarried young man, started at once for Michigan.
This, then, was the pioneer settlement in Odessa. The Tuppers and Russell moved into the hovel previously occupied by Tupper and Kibbey and happily found their potatoes and corn crops in shape to give them a good start for a larder. Without delay. Tupper and Russell rolled up a cabin, and upon the heels of that event along came Kibbey for the purpose of permanently occupying the land on section 27. He was unmarried and subsequent to his arrival divided his time between working on his own place and upon those of others, as he happened to feel the need of earning a few dollars. During one of his excursions south of Odessa. in 1840, he died.
Wellington Russell was without landed possessions when he came with Mr. Tupper, but, boy as he was, he saw no reason why he should not be a
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settler, and consequently bought the east half of the northwest quarter of section 27.
Hiram S. Lee was a settler in the spring of 1840 upon section 33, where he built the first frame barn in the township. Benjamin R. Tupper, brother of Myron Tupper, located in the fall of 1840 on section 27, where his brother had entered land for him. Emory Russell, who had come with Myron Tupper and Wellington Russell, in 1839, to lend his assistance in their undertakings, returned after a brief sojourn, but soon came back as a settler.
As the Russells were, first and last, quite numerous as pioneers in Odessa and gave to the place of their location the designation of "Russell Settlement," it will be of interest to note that settling members of the fam- ily (all brothers ) were Wellington, Emory. Esteven, Summer and H. ... The order of their coming was that above given.
Esteven Russell married Rosetta, daughter of Myron Tupper, and theirs was the first child born to Odessa parents, although, as a matter of fact. she was born in Woodland, Barry county, in 1840, whither her mother went on that occasion to obtain the necessary aid, not easily obtainable in her own home. Mrs. Russell died in 1870.
The first death in the town is said to have been that of "Granny Hall." mother-in-law to John light, with whom she lived. She was buried in the woods, but afterwards taken to the Woodland cemetery. Early burials were made wherever convenience served. The first burial in the Lake ceme- tery, in section 34, was that of Mr. Boynton, whose death occurred in 1854. The first marriage was probably that of B. R. Tupper and Harriet Ayer -. stepdaughter of George Kibbey. The first saw-mill in the town was put up on Tupper creek, near Tupper lake, in 1848, by Joseph and Daniel Hec- tor, who came to the town shortly after 1842. Before the erection of the Heeter saw-mill there was no frame house in Odessa and after that the first one was built by Emory Russell. About 1855 William Kibbey placed a small run of stone in the mill and provided what proved to be the first and last grist-mill Odessa ever had.
An early settler in section 20 was a Mr. Cady, after whom the small lake on that section was called. He remained but a short time, and but little is remembered concerning him. Other early settlers in and near the Russell neighborhood were Nelson Merrill, Emanuel Cramer, S. B. Chapman, .1. . 1. Haskins, A. J. Clark, P. S. Lapham, David Crapo, Johh D. Hight. Reuben Haught, George E. Kelly, James N. Galloway and Asa Houghton.
Concerning David Crapo comes a story which will be found worthy of
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preservation. In 1868 he went over into Monteahn county with Samuel F. Alderman, on a land-looking expedition. They were on foot and. succumb- ing to the rigors of the journey, Crapo gave out when they were a score or more miles from any human habitation. Seeing that his companion was utterly exhausted and badly lamed in the bargain, Alderman started for help towards a lumber camp supposed to be about twenty miles distant to the southward. Alderman lost his way and for six days and nights wandered about in a hopeless maze. He suffered terribly from cold, hunger and fatigue, and more than once felt himself upon the verge of making up his mind that he had got to die. Pluck carried him through, however, and eventually, more (lead than alive, he reached the lumber camp, told his story and fainted on the spot. Looking after Alderman and straightway getting him into good shape, a delegation from the camp lost no time in putting off to the rescue of Crapo, who they found just alive. He had concluded that Alderman's failure to return meant that he had perished, and so, unable to move and out of provisions, he looked upon the period of his dissolution as a question of only a brief space of time. So hopeless was he that, while strength still lasted, he carved his name upon the stock of his gun that he might be sure of identification when his dead body should be found. As it proved, how- ever, he was not destined to die that way. His rescuers recalled him to life and never before did he behokl so welcome a sight as the troop of strong- armed lumbermen who had come to carry him to a place of comfort and safety.
. For some year the settlements in Odessa concentrated about the Rits- sell neighborhood. In the year 1852 there were hut four settlers in the western half of the township. These four were Solomon Foght, S. B. Chapman, Joseph Houseman and Eher Rush. The northern half of the township was then untenanted, although directly afterwards James Mc- Laughlin moved to section 3. Settlements in the northern portion were slow, because the swamps thereabouts made road-making an expensive and difficult business, into which the hardiest of the pioneers hesitated to enter except under the most favorable circumstances.
Simeon Buxton came to the Fight neighborhood in 1853 and, follow- ing him. Aaron Shellenbarger, Richard Baker, Thomas H. Cooley and John Swarthout. In 1855 Isaac Mower located on section 19, near where were already Elisha Rush and Henry Short, a short distance to the eastward. At the center of the township George Sickles made a settlement in 1851, and then came Horace L. Miner, Stephen, Henry and Charles Sexton. Jasper Wright, G. H. Shepard and Charles and James Wright. The Anways set-
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tled in 1854 on section 17. and about the same time Daniel Unger made a commencement near at hand.
The pioneer stories dealing with early life in Odessa are like all pioneer stories in which the struggles, hardships and denials of those who launched themselves into the wilderness and experienced the customary vicissitudes of such an existence are recorded. Still, the first comers to Odessa were a little more fortunate, perhaps, than the pioneers of older towns, for when they came upon the scene the country was pretty well along in the matter of settlement. Half a day's travel at the most would carry them to points where the elements of civilization were to be found; where they could find a mill, buy and sell. and supply themselves with necessities without much trouble. The first wheat marketed brought only fifty cents per bushel and, at that, would fetch only store pay. Nothing but furs would sell for money. and many a man falling short on the money earned in working out non- resident taxes, was forced to trap furs so that he might raise money enough to pay his own taxes.
Wellington Russell said: "To look back upon the early times is to wonder we didn't get discouraged at what we were called upon to endure ; but, although we had some tough experiences, we had some good times, after all. We were sociable, because we had to be, and we often enjoyed many sociable reunions, albeit some of us did have to travel many miles. and ride on an ov-sled at that. We were ambitious, and our ambition, more than anything else, kept us up: for we looked forward to better and easier times and knew they would come if we stuck to our tasks faithfully." .
Hugh 1 .. Hunt was the first blacksmith, as well as the first storekeeper in the town, his shop and store being at the locality known as Bonanza.
The first span of horses in the town were owned by Wellington Rus- sell, and were brought in. it is said. in 1850. Deer hunters were as numer- ous as the settlers while the town was but an infant. There were some who were successful and won considerable local reputation as deer slayers. Ash- ley Russell, Sumner Russell and Eber Rush were considered great deer hunters and would average, per man, something like thirty deer during the season. Eber Rush was. moreover, noted as a busy hunter, and in his time bagged great quantities of all kinds of game.
Indians abounded in the vicinities of Tupper and Jourdan lakes and along Tupper creek, for there were capital fishing and hunting grounds in those parts, and, of course, the savages gravitated towards them with con- siderable eagerness and in great numbers.
The whites got along peacefully with the redskins, but there were times
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when the Indians waxed indignant at fancied injuries and became threaten- ing. although nothing very serious ever resulted. A case in point, was a charge brought by the Indians against one John Nead, a settler, to the effect that he had stolen some of their coons. Nead became incensed at what he called on unrighteous accusation and, in a fit of rage, shot at an Indian. without injuring him. MMlarmed at the consequences of his action when he found the savages in an uproar about the attempt to kill one of their nun- ber. he secreted himself. Meanwhile, the Indians met in council, with war- paint on, and, after a dance on the banks of Tupper lake. discussed, with many threatening mutterings, the advisability of inflicting summary ven- geance upon Nead. Fortunately for the latter, he kept out of the way, or it might have gone hard for him.
SUPERVISORS.
1847. Joseph Heeter: 1848-49, E. Russell: 1850, M. Tupper ; 1851, J. Myers: 1852. Samuel B. Chapman: 1853, John Myers; 1854, D. Crapo; 1855. S. Russell: 1856-57. S. B. Chapman; 1858, E. Russell. 1859. D. Crapo: 1860, S. Russell: 1861, D. Crapo: 1862-64, E. Russell; 1865, J. T. Cahoon: 1866. S. Russell: 1867, D. Crapo: 1868-73, S. Russell: 1874. D. Crapo; 1875-78. V. Bretz: 1870. S. Snyder; 1880. V. Bretz: 1881-83, Sum- ner Russell: 1884. K. K. Olmstead: 1885. Sumner Russell: 1886-87-88. Marcus L. Foght: 1889. Samuel Blair: 1890-91-92-93-94-95, Marcus L. Foght: 1806. Henry E. Curtiss: 1897, John Seybok: 1898-99-100. Marcus L. Foght; 1901. Henry J. Shilton; 1902-03-04-10. George W. Schneider : 1911-12. Harley H. Lyon: 1913-14, John Seybold; 1915-16, J. E. Peacock.
LAKE ODESSA.
Before the Detroit. Lansing & Northern railroad pushed its line west from Grand Ledge to Grand Rapids, what now is the prosperous village of Lake Odessa was a broad expanse of fertile farm land and the typical coun- try "cross-roads." about a mile north of the village, was for that period, a bustling industrial center.
Before the advent of the railway no one had dreamed of Lake Odessa. Bonanza then was the big settlement of this district. It is one of the queer vagaries of fate and broadening civilization that in the space of a few years practically a whole village should move, creating a corporate village in the midst of meadow lands, leaving the original settlement to revert to corn fields.
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Railways have and will make many corporate changes in the map of a new country, but there are few parallels in Michigan for the condition existing at Lake Odessa. One-time bustling, successful villages have been left to decay, while new settlements sprang up on the line of new railways. But here is an instance where a village actually moved. Even the buildings were moved. The principal merchants of the old village simply moved buildings, stock and all to the new location. The old hotel was moved to the new village site. Only one or two of the old guard remain and they are left as isolated as if they had settled in the wilderness instead of having chosen a home in the very center of a promising and growing industrial center.
Lake Odessa was not platted until 1887, but its beginning really dates back to the early seventies, when the village of Bonanza, at the cross-roads, came into being. None of the old settlers can explain why they called it Bonanza. It is the general impression that the optimistic pioneers sau great promises for the place and gave it a title in keeping with its then glowing prospects. It was a place typical of all small villages of that period. There was a hotel, a general store, a blacksmith shop and quite a cluster of resi- dences. Until a railway came through it registered a normal growth from year to year and its increasing prosperity, due to a surrounding agricultural district of unexcelled fertility. for a time seemed to have warranted the early settlers in calling it Bonanza.
It was the railway that made the title a misnomer. Perhaps behind this was the secret juggling by real estate financiers of that period. At any rate. 11. R. Wagar, of lonja, suddenly appeared at what is now Lake Odessa and negotiated with Sammel Chapman for the purchase of his farm on the banks of Jourdan lake. There was no reason why Chapman should hold his land at a price so much above any of the other productive agricultural lands of the district. Wagar got it cheap, considering its rapid value increase. Next it became general knowledge that the new railway was going to overlook Bonanza. Wagar platted the farm in 1867 and named it Lake Odessa. after Jourdan lake and Odessa township. lle gave yard facilities and a depot site to the railway and, by using his influence, brought the steel through his new village.
For a time Bonanza stood off the competition of the new village. But the rail shipping and transportation facilities offered too serious a handicap. Gradually, Bonanza citizens began moving to the new setlement and soon the movement became a stampede. Horace F. Miner, who had the general store at Bonanza and was its leading citizen and merchant, hung on until he
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recognized that to stay meant financial ruin. When he left, the industrial backbone of Bonanza was broken. From the beginning Mr. Miner had been the chief merchant. His store was the gathering point for the countryside. Before its big cast-iron heater. governmental and international questions were fought out and solved. Some idea of the popularity of the place may be gained from a little passage-at-arms between an old settler and a pros- pective farm-buyer. The settler was asked to name a price on his acreage. The prospective purchaser allowed it was pretty high. "Well," said the owner of the farm. "there's a seat down at Aliner's goes with it at that price."
Late in the year 1887 Mr. Miner built the brick building which was later the Hotel Burke, in Lake Odessa, and moved his general merchandise business to that place. By that time they were not only moving business and stock, but buildings were being towed along over the mile of highway. to be set up on new foundations in the new village. The old hin, so-called, was the biggest of these and the only one of the structures which was moved from Bonanza to Lake Odessa that stood in active service. It stood just north of the depot and was known later as Hotel Odessa.
Horace Miner assumed the same position in the new village that he had held in the old and his modern store building is conspicuous as one of the best in the village. Mr. Miner left this business to his son, Otis, who was Lake Odessa's postmaster, in addition to being one of its public-spirited citizens. Many of Lake Odessa's other residents and business men had been identified with Bonanza, which is now part of the corporation, being spoken of as a sectional part of the village.
The foundation was laid for the present town of Lake Odessa in 1886, when it was first ascertained that a railroad was to be built from Grand Ledge to Lansing. That railroad, now the Detroit. Grand Rapids & Mil- waukee branch of the Pere Marquette system, was built the following year and a quickly-constructed village had sprung up to greet it. Two years later, in 1880. the village was incorporated. It is built nearly on the shores of two beautiful small lakes, Jourdan and Tupper. It is just eighteen miles south of lonia, seventeen miles north of Hastings and only one-half mile from the Barry county line.
Within the corporate limits of the village is maintained a popular sum- mer resort, which is visited annually by a large number of people who have become attached to the beauty and picturesqueness of the town and lake in summer. It has a splendid system of waterworks, under the direct pressure
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system, the water being pumped directly from large flowing wells. Elec- tricity for the town is furnished by the Thornapple Electric Light Company. which has a power dam on the Thornapple river, twenty-two miles away. Lake Odessa has also a well-equipped fire department, including fire house and apparatus. The town has continued to grow since its founding and bids fair to be of considerable consequence within a few years.
CHAPTER XIII.
ORANGE TOWNSHIP.
Until March 19, 18445, the east half of township 6 north, range 6 west, was a portion of Portland, and the west half a portion of Berlin township. At the date mentioned, the entire township was given an organization of its own, and called Orange. The name was bestowed by Dean M. Tyler, but why cannot be ascertained. It was not in remembrance of any place in which he had ever lived, but in all likelihood suggested itself merely because it was a name of pleasant sound, without especial local application.
The first township meeting was held at the house of Dean M. Tyler. April 7. 1845. where Dean M. Tyler was chosen moderator. Alexander Dalziel, Adam A. Lewis, Myron J. King and Henry Bush, Jr., inspectors of election, and John Brown, clerk. Thirty votes were cast, and in each case they were given for every candidate presented. The returns of the inspec- tors of election certified that the officials chosen were as follows: Super- visor, Alexander K. Hall; clerk, John Brown; treasurer, Myron J. King; justices of the peace. Adam A. Lewis, Peter Hacket, Dean M. Tyler and Alexander Dalziel: highway commissioners, Arza H. King, Benjamin D. Brand and Alexander K. Hall ; school inspectors, Alexander K. Hall and Alexander Dalziel; overseers of the poor, Dean M. Tyler and Thomas J. Marsh: constables, Henry Bush, Jr., George Lewis, George Jourdan and Morris Woodruff : highway overseers, Henry Bush, Jr., Samuel Utter, Thomas J. Marsh, Nathan Nichols, Gideon O. Holcomb, Isaac E. Tyler, Adam A. Lewis, James Humphreys, Z. G. Grinnells and Charles Matthews. Twenty dollars was raised for the support of the poor. seventy-five dollars for contingent expenses, and five dollars allowed as bounty for each wolf killed.
The first white settler in Orange township was Selah Arms, though some think Benjamin D. Brand should be given that distinction. As a mat- ter of fact, however, Arms settled on section 25 late in 1835, while Brand, who came to Berlin as a farm hand for Philo Bates and William Babcock, did not reach Michigan until late in 1835 or early in 1836, and certainly worked for Bates and Babcock in Berlin awhile before he became a settler
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in Orange. He was, therefore, the second settler, but the first to build a house in Orange township. Arms was a bachelor and camped out awhile before effecting any building improvement, although he did build the first frame barn. Brand's house was constructed entirely out of wood and bark and was put together without the use of nails.
At that time the township contained no road, save, perhaps, an Indian trail: was densely timbered in every part, and was. in short, a wilderness, inhabited by wild beasts and resounding with the eries of wolves by night and by day. This was by no means an inviting prospect to the hardy settler who counted upon making a home there, but it was a common prospect in Michigan at that period, and, what was more, it had to be faced as one of the features of the situation, and subdued, too, before the conquering advance-guard of the army of civilization could proclaim a victory over the forces of Nature and plant homes of plenty and comfort where forests stood before.
In 1837 there came a bevy of settlers, including Dean M. Tyler, from Oakland county, Michigan, Thomas J. Marsh, from eastern Michigan, and Peter and Barnard Hackett. Mr. Tyler was accompanied by his son, Dean M. Tyler, Jr., and with him made a settlement on section 24. He found a decent road from Portland to Wadsworth's sugar-bush, only three-quarters of a mile from his destination, and esteemed himself especially fortunate in having to cut a road only three-quarters of a mile. .
Thomas J. Marsh came from Marshall, in February, 1837. with an ox- team, a sled and a few farm tools as the sum total of his worldly posses- sions, aside from his land. However, he was young and ambitious and. although he had to make his way through a forest stretch of forty miles, in which he saw but one human habitation, he felt. doubtless, quite eager and ready for the pioneer fight when he landed upon the patch of woods he had purchased and of which he proposed to make a fruitful farm. He cleared, unaided, four acres, and, sowing it to wheat, awaited the harvest with fer- vent expectation. Sad enough for him, however, was the realization, for his crop was a failure and yielded him just one bag of wheat, from which he got fifty-two pounds of four. It was not much, to be sure, as the fruit of a year's labor, and likely enough he thought he had reason to feel dis- conraged, but he stuck to his faith and energy, and in due season Dame Fortune smiled upon him with gladsome encouragement.
The Hacketts located in the southwest corner of the town. In 1838 Isaac E. Tyler, son of Dean M. Tyler, and John Brown came to the Tyler settlement and directly afterwards Mr. Whittaker came to the same neigh-
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borhood. Brown, the Whittakers and the Tylers, numbering. all told, six- teen persons, lived for two weeks in the cabin of Dean M. Tyler, Sr., and occupied in common the cabin's only room, measuring sixteen feet square. While they struggled to exist in these close quarters, all hands were hard at work cutting out roads to the places where Brown and Whittaker had . proposed to settle.
Whittaker did not fancy the country very much, or perhaps found the job of pioneering more than he bargained for. At all events, he remained only a year, and then sold out to Adam Lewis and Alexander Hall.
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