USA > Michigan > Ionia County > History of Ionia County, Michigan : her people, industries and institutions, Volume I > Part 17
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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
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of Robert Toan. His family lived a little while at Henry Bartow's in Lyons, while a cabin was being put up on the Webster place. Ira Webster soon died. Henry March was a settler late in 1836 or early in 1837, locat- ing in section 2. Nellis Van Alstyne, who came with March, made a settle- ment soon afterward. Henry March's child was the first to be buried in the cemetery. George Marcy was one of the early comers to that region, stop- ping on section t, where D. L. Burgess settled in 1841.
In the Webster neighborhood there was no district school until about 1847, the children going to school on section 35 in Lyons. J. M. Webster built the school house, which was a log affair and in it a Miss Terrill was the first teacher.
A good share of the provisions was sent around by water to DeWitt and from there poled down the Looking Glass. Reference to DeWitt sug- gests that when the Websters started from that place they struck a miry, swampy country and had as much as they could do to get from De Witt to Welch's tavern.
Maple postoffice was established in Lyons township about 1837. when Zina Lloyd was appointed postmaster. When Lloyd removed his residence to Portland he carried the office with him. The successive postmasters after Lloyd have been Hopkins Roe, Fayette Shook, Robert Toan, Mr. Wooster and B. M. Goodwin.
On section 12 and 13 moderately early settlements were made by Ger- mans from Clinton county. West of there the early settlers included Gard- ner Maynard, Josiah Dilley, John Adams, H. E. Safford, James White, a chairmaker, O. F. Hamlin and, in 1849, in the Maple neighborhood, S. K. Welch. Early comers also to the vicinity were the Gilletts, Lloyds, Can- fields, Smith and others.
Upon sections 8, 17 and 20, the Grand river makes a great bend and there one Barnaby made perhaps the first clearing, his location being on sec- tion 20, east of the river. Barnaby had cleared but a few acres when the land passed into the possession of Stephen Pilkinton in 1844. Mr. Pilkin- ton bought land in Sebewa in 1830, while still a bachelor, and, although he lived on the Sebewa place more or less and did some work on it, he did not make a permanent settlement until 1842, when he married. In 1844 he bought the Barnaby farm. Rowley Reid was in that neighborhood in 1844 and in 1847 William Martin moved to that place. He did considerable clearing on it but did not bring his family to it until 1850.
Alvah Hopkins, who made his first appearance in Portland township in 1837, made a settlement in Lyons in 1847 and in April, 1850, made his home
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in section 17. Upon his coming he found his brother, W. B., and his father. Alvah, living on farms west of him.
West of the village of Portland a man by the name of Bates was remem- bered as an early settler on section 29 and northwest of there Benjamin Brown. Stephen Lindley, an early settler in Sebewa, lived in section 30. upon a place owned at an early day by Stephen Bunker who was an early settler in both Lyons and Portland. Albert Thompson, on section 31, was a pioneer in Danby and in the early days was known far and near as a Uni- versalist preacher of much energy. On the Scofield place, about 1839. Ezekiel Green plied his axe and remained some years.
John P. and Warren Miner were settlers in 1836 on section 18 and in 1837 John Probart located on section 19. Likely enough they were the first to make improvements in that locality. East of Portland village, Napoleon Bonaparte Barnes lived on a place in section 26 where his father made a settlement in 1841. East of Barnes was one Darius Fox, whose son, Samuel 1., married Matilda Gardner in 1838 and figured afterwards as one of the principals in an Indian story.
A. F. Morehouse came to the township in 1843 and locating a place on section 27, divided his time between clearing his land and working in the village at his trade as carpenter. Like other pioneers, he saw some tough times, in 1816, when the fever and ague raged through the neighborhood. The doctors were few and were kept busy day and night and Sundays. Doctor Beers was about the only physician to be had and he was driven well-nigh to distraction without even being able to look after all the cases he was called upon for. J. L. Whitelock settled in section 25 in 1846, near neighbor to John Terril. Darius Fox and others already mentioned.
SUPERVISORS.
1838, Ira Webster; 1839. Charles Gott: 1840-41. T. G. Frost : 1842-43. D. C. Moore: 1844. L. B. Barnum: 1845-49, William Dinsmore: 1850. A. Newman: 1851-52. H. Bartow: 1853-54, A. F. Morehouse: 1855. H. Bar- tow; 1856-58, W. Dinsmore: 1859-60. M. B. Beers; 1841. J. E. Smith; 1802-64. B. D. Weld: 1865. William Dinsmore; 1866. H. Bartow; 1867. no record: 1868-60. M. B. Beers: 1870, S. K. Gates: 1871. S. K. Welch ; 1872, S. K. Gates: 1873-74. J. M. Benedict : 1875-78, L. A. Smith: 1879-85. 1 .. Shotwell: 1886-87, William F. Selleck: 1888-89-94. George Dinsmore ; 1895-06, Jason D. Woodbury; 1807-00, William Hixson; 1901-02, Charles
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C. Rice; 1903, Oscar N. Jenkins: 1904, Bert B. Badgley; 1905-07, Hozial Horner: 1908-13, Henry Probert ; 1914-16, Del Packard.
EARLY HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
By Mrs. N. B. Rice.
The first land taken up from the government in what is now Portland was secured by Elisha Newman, in June, 1833. It was at the mouth of the Looking Glass river. About that time he was visiting some friends in Ann Arbor where the subject of unlocated lands lying west of Ann Arbor became the subject of conversation. One of the company told of having been with the engineers when they surveyed lonia county and of having encamped for several days at the mouth of the Looking Glass. He remembered one of the engineers having remarked : "Here is a good water power and there will be a village here sometime."
Elisha Newman proposed that they get up a company and go out and see the point. l'he same night. Elisha Newman, my grandfather, Joseph Wood, and James Newman, my father, agreed upon a plan and started with- out delay on the enterprise, with pony, blankets and provisions. The route lay past Whitmore lake, through an unbroken wilderness, except as cut up by Indian trails, to the place of their destination.
Finding the place met their expectations, the party went to Portage lake, twelve miles north of Jackson, where they hired an Indian to pilot Elisha Newman to Jackson. From there he went to White Pigeon by stage, located his land, and returned to Ann Arbor.
Philo Bogue located here with his family in November, 1833. He com- menced trading with the Indians on a small scale and followed this occupa- tion until his death, which was on July 25. 1839.
John Milne came in December, 1833, directly from England. Thomas Shepherd, also an Englishman, and a bachelor, located here at the same time but did not tarry long. Ezra I. Perrin came in July, 1834.
A man named John Friend located at Friend brook and commenced getting out timber for a saw-mill. He lived in a tent and was so badly frightened by bears and wolves that he pulled out for Lyons and eventually left the county, but the brook still bears his name.
John Knox, wife and two sons, Alanson and Harvey, came in 1834. The first settlement in the north part of the township was by Robert Toan, Sr .. and family in 1837, and Gardner Maynard and family in the same year.
On the 24th of May, 1836, the Newmans arrived to take possession of
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the lands purchased in 1833. In the party were Elisha Newman. Samuel B. Smith, Lyman Bennett, Almeron and James Newman. The latter two were accompanied by their families, as was also Mr. Bennett. Mr. Bennett brought two yokes of oxen and a wagon and James Newman brought a span of horses and a wagon. A few supplies had been brought in at the same time, but most of their household goods were sent by way of the lakes to Grand Haven, thence up the river to Lyons on a pole boat called the "Napoleon."
When the Newmans arrived they found the coast clear. The Indians, a small tribe in charge of Squagen, their chief, had their home at the point where the Looking Glass enters the Grand, but the tribe had gone down the river to Bogue's flats and the wigwam at the point afforded a very comfort- able shelter for the women until a house could be built. This was of logs. with bark roof. Split logs furnished the floor in one half of the house. while the bare ground served as a floor in the other half, until timber could be brought from Libhart mill, on Libhart creek near Lyons. A hole in the roof let out the smoke until a mud and stick chimney could be built, while blankets served for a time as doors and windows. It was in this house that Mary E. Newman ( the writer ) was born, October 23, 1837. the first white child born on the east side of Grand river in Portland.
Time passed and provisions grew less. Nothing had been heard from the goods which had been shipped via lake and river, so a square-toed, white man's build of canoe was secured and Almeron Newman and Lyman Ben- nett started down stream with a Chicago merchant, who had been to New York after goods In due course of time they arrived at Grand Haven. There they found a man who was running a boat on Lake Michigan and he told them that goods answering the description of those belonging to Mr. Newman were in Chicago and likely to stay there for some time unless sent for. They instructed this man to get the goods and forward them by boat to Lyons, then hired their passage and that of their canoe on the "Napoleon" as far as Grand Rapids, where they purchased a barrel of flour, a barrel of pork, a small piece of iron, a cow bell, and other necessities. Then they bought a piece of bedeord. fastening it to the canoe, canal boat fashion. Ben- nett pulling the boat, while Newman poled it. By the time they reached lonia they were so exhausted that they tied it there, footed it home and sent a new recruit for it.
The next task was the damming of the Looking Glass and digging a race. It was an expensive job, but it was put through without a halt, as was also the building of a saw-mill. The latter was started in December, 1836. and in January, 1837. a small run of stone, with a bolt attached. was put in.
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The first flour made in that milf is supposed to have been the first bolted flour made west of Pontiac. The mill did all the grinding for this section of the county until 1842, when James Newman and Peter M. Kent built the mill which was burned on February 9. 1893. Peter M. Kent was a mill- wright and came to the settlement in June, 1836, for the purpose of building Newman's saw-mill.
The first glorious Fourth of July celebration was held in Portland in 1836 by a patriotic band of about one dozen pioneers. Mrs. Bogue, seeing the display on the east bank of the Grand, caught the spirit, and. not to be outdone, procured a pole and attached a white cloth to it, placing it in a hollow stump on the west bank, in front of her house.
This was before the day of matches and it was a common occurrence to see people going to the neighbor's after a shovel of coals, for great care had to be taken lest the fire go out. A flint stone, a jacknife and a bunch of tow were kept on hand by some for fear the fire would fail them entirely. This was also a day of crude cooking utensils. The iron bake kettle, tin oven, iron kettles suitable for hanging on the crane in the great fireplace, and then the brick oven, which would holl a week's baking for a good sized family, were all in evidence those days.
The manner of crossing the rivers before the advent of bridges was varied and at some times dangerous. In times of low water fording the river was the usual method. The ford on the Grand was where the lower bridge is now located. Here a foot-bridge was built later. It was on benches, covered with planks and was all right until the river got on a ram- page. Then there was great hustling to save the plank and benches. The ferry was a flat boat, capable of carrying some four or five men and a span of horses, one man to hold the horses and two or three to do the ferrying. The wagon had to go in the second load and when that was taken over the team was hitched to the wagon and proceeded on its way.
Canoes were abundant, but not very safe, except in the hands of an expert, especially in times of high water. The first bridge was built in 1837 or 1838. where the upper bridge now stands.
When Mr. Shepherd left the county his land passed into the hands of A. S. Wadsworth, who, in 1838, divided his land into village lots and com- menced building a dam on Grand river, as well as the erection of a grist- mill, where the factory now stands. He also undertook to build a saw-mill on the Grand. Ilis mills he never finished and his dam was twice carried away by floods. Becoming discouraged, he soll his mill machinery to the Newmans and departed to other fields. A. Newman put this machinery into
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a carding machine on the Looking Glass. Newman had been by occupation a clothier and his little factory at Portland was the first establishment of the kind put into operation west of Pontiac.
The Indians, when sober, were of great service in the early days in Portland. They furnished the early settlers with venison, fish, berries, sugar and baskets, all of the best quality, exchanging them for pork, flour or money. Occasionally one would get drunk and become quarrelsome. At one time some five or six came to father's house when he was away and wanted some- thing to eat. Mother set lunch on the table for them. While they were eating two of the party got to quarrelling and drew knives. Mother spoke sharply to them, commanding them to go out doors to do their fighting, as they scared her papooses. They went as directed, and the door was bolted against them. Their food was then passed out of the window to them, which they took and departed.
One day an Indian got pretty drunk and wanted more whisky, which was refused him. He then attempted to stab the trader, but the knife was knocked out of his hand. The trader complained to the chief, who had the offending Indian severely whipped. When he recovered from the whipping he returned and demanded more whisky, saying that he had been whipped "two quarts too much."
Another incident which Mrs. Maynard used to tell was that one day she saw some squaws dipping some Indians in the river and then hauling them out again. She went home and told her mother that the squaws were drown- ing the Indians. Mrs. Churchill went to see what they were doing and chided them for their treatment of their spouses, but when one of the squaws told her "White man make my man drunk, me make him sober." she left them to complete the work so well begun.
The Indian cemetery was located on the point at the confluence of the Looking Glass and Grand rivers. Elisha Newman had the point fenced in so that the cattle and hogs could not injure the graves. When the Indians discovered what had been done they went up to Mr. Newman and kissed his hand in token of their appreciation of the kindness shown:
The early roads wandered here and there, according to the make-up of the ground. For example, the road from Bogue's and Milne's Hats used to wind around the hill, passing between the barn and the house on the farm now owned by Charles Culver, and when the road over the hill was estab- lished some of the buildings on the flats were left in the midst of the fields.
Wild game abounded. Will pigeons were so thick that the wheat fields suffered from their depredations and it was customary to catch them with
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nets. Elisha Newman was an expert at that game and I have witnessed the springing of many a net in my girlhood days.
Fish were abundant and of first quality. Sturgeon of immense size were often caught, to the delight of the small boy who wanted a piece of sturgeon's nose for the center of his ball, to bake it bound. At such times the village shoemaker, William Dinsmore, who always delighted to please the boys, was kept busy cutting ball covers from old boot tops and mothers were instructed how to stitch them on.
In the fall of 1836 my maternal grandfather, Abner Hixson, came to the settlement. bringing his wife and eight of his twelve children, they occupying a part of the double log house with father's family. Shortly after their arrival the settlers were called together for the purpose of naming the village, so that letters might reach them more readily. My father asked my uncle, Abram Hixson, to go with him to the meeting, which he did. When it came to handing in the names there were so many that it staggered the assembly. The names suggested were Johnstown, Jamestown, Bogue- town. Boyerville and Newmanville. During the silence which followed Abram Hixson said to father: "Why not call it Portland? I think that a nice name." "Suggest it," said father, but he declined. Father then said the name of "Portland" had been suggested to him and he thought it very appropriate, as there certainly was a fine landing, where all the passing boats stopped. All present were pleased with the name and so Portland it was named. My uncle always felt proud that he had suggested the name and kept a warm place in his heart for our village.
In the spring of 1837 W. R. Churchill came to the village. He bought the land where Mr. Crane's drug store now stands and put up a building to be used as a tavern or store as circumstances should direct. At this juncture came one David Sturgis, a Canadian, looking for an opening. He bought a half interest with Mr. Churchill in the building then being erected. with the agreement that when it was finished they should as partners open it as a store. When it was completed they were besought by Joshua Boyer to rent it to him for a tavern. Agreeing to let him have it, Churchill & Sturgis opened their store near where A. F. Morehouse's old office building stands, and for some time they carried on a flourishing business. Boyer opened the tavern and called it the "Mansion House."
Portland became a postoffice in 1837, with Joshua Boyer as postmaster. The office was on the route between Detroit and Grand Rapids, and mail
(13)
.
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was received once a week by horseback mail carriers. About 1846 stage coaches took the place of the horseback riders and then there was daily mail.
In the early days of the postoffice, when the mail receipts were little more than nothing, the opening of the mail bag was a ceremony upon which all of the villagers felt morally obliged to attend. At such times Mr. Churchill, who was Mr. Bogue's deputy after he succeeded to the office, would call out the addresses on the letters as fast as he would run them over and the eager expectants would step forward and take what was for them, provided the required twenty-five cents was handy, which was not always the case. At one time one William H. Turner, living three miles from the village, was informed that there was a letter for him at the post- office. Turner cast about him for the necessary two shillings, but neither having it himself nor being able to borrow it from others, he threw a bushel of wheat over his shoulder and trudged away to town for his letter. Much to his surprise, the postmaster could not think of taking anything but two shillings in coin, for, said he: "As much as I would like to accommodate you, I couldn't get anybody to give me money for the wheat, and it is money I must have when I settle with the postoffice department." Nor could Mr. Turner find anybody willing to give him anything but store pay for his wheat, so he left his letter at the office and carried his wheat home again. there to bide the time when he might be able to raise the two shillings in cash.
This reminds me of a similar incident at the little mill. One day Willard Brooks came to my father and said: "Mr. Newman, we are out of flour and have no money with which to buy more. Can you loan me some until harvest." Father went to the mill and found he had just two bushels of wheat that he had taken in as toll. He ground the wheat, divided it in two equal portions, letting Mr. Brooks have half, while he took the other half home for his own family use. These are but samples of the many depriva- tions of early pioneer life.
Mr. Boyer was postmaster until 1842: C. W. Ingalls, until 1849: Hez- ekiah Smith, until 1850: W. W. Bogue, until 1852: Dr. F. G. Lee, until 1861. Others have followed in the order printed. up to the present day : Doctor Root, F. M. Cutcheon. W. W. Bogue. Frank E. Doremus. Fred J. Mauren, Grant M. Morse, Arthur L. Francis.
The first wedding in Portland was that of Susan Moore to Joshua Boyer, September 4. 1836, 'Squire Dexter, of lonia, performing the ceremony.
One of the first entries upon the township records is that in which the
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clerk, Alemeron Newman, set forth the issuance, August 16, 1838, of a marriage license to Samuel Fox and Matilda Gardner, who came to the town in 1836 with the Newmans. The marriage ceremony was performed by 'Squire A. Newman, at his house.
The first brick building erected in Portland was that now occupied by Barton Brothers as a meat market. This was built by W. R. Churchill about 1850. During the year 1880 eleven brick blocks were erected at an aggregate cost of seventy-five thousand dollars.
In an early day the method of obtaining goods by the merchants was to have them brought in wagons from Detroit, which took from seven to eight days at first or until the plank road was built from Lansing to Detroit.
CHAPTER XVII.
RONALD TOWNSHIP.
Lyons and lonia townships possessed each one-half of the territory occupied by township 8 north, range 6 west, until March 19. 1845. when the township was given a separate organization and named Ronald. A. L. Roof was a representative in the Legislature at that time, and when the petition for organization came to him he observed that the name of Northport, as suggested for the township, was already owned by one other town in the state and being therefore himself called upon to name it, hit upon "Ronald" from the fact that he was just then engaged in reading a novel whose hero was named Ronald: and it happened, too, that Mr. Roof admired the char- acter so heartily that he conceived the idea of thus honoring him.
The first township meeting was held at the house of William J. Clark. April 7. 1845. when Parley Eaton was chosen moderator. Royal Howell, William Jennings, William J. Clark and Chauncey E. Shepard, inspectors of election, and W. J. Clark, clerk. The meeting then adjourned to Chauncey Goodwin's house and proceeded to the election of township officials. Thirty-two votes were cast and officials were chosen as follows : Supervisor, William Jennings; clerk, William J. Clark: treasurer, Royal Howell; justices of the peace. John Ransom, Parley Eaton, Chauncey Good- win and Joseph L. Freeman ; highway commissioners, Phineas C. Hutchins. Stephen F. Page and Alanson Snow ; directors of the poor, Parley Eaton and Mathew Van Vleek: school inspectors. William Jennings and John Van Vleck; constables, Julius Jennings, Ambrose Frederick, S. C. Barnes and Joel Smith ; poundmaster. William Wood.
On motion, it was voted that officers doing town business receive seventy-five cents per day for services in town and when on business out of town they were to be paid according to law.
In the spring of 1837 on section 33. the first settlement was made in Ronald township. The pioneers were George Younger and Joshua Shepard, who came together, and together entered upon the mission of opening the tangled forest to the light of day and the influences of civilization. Shepard wore himself out and died soon after reaching the woods, but his widow
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and sons. Chauncey, William and Norman, carried on the work the father had begun and made a handsome farm of the property, which became sub- sequently the county poor farm. There are now, in Ronald township, no descendants of Younger or Shepard, and, although they won a distinction of some importance in the pioneer history of the township, the heritage they left in that respect remains as an honor equally with every citizen of the township.
Before Younger and Shepard happened along, there was a bit of a farm location in Ronald, two years or more old, on section 34, but as it was simply a portion of a farm lying in Ionia, where the settler, Samuel Yates, lived and made his improvements, it can scarcely be assigned a place in Ronald township history.
It was not until the fall of 1837 that the tide of incoming settlers set toward Ronald with anything like healthful vigor. It was then that Joseph and William Wood settled on section 19 and then, too, that John Van Vleck came on and founded the Van Vleck settlement, in the northeastern corner of the township, a settlement that pushed the township's interest forward with constantly-hastening steps, and created a local influence which from the beginning has been felt in a very marked degree, and always in a ben- eficial way. Mr. Van Vleck came from his home in Delaware county, New York, to Michigan in 1836 for the purpose of prospecting for land locations on behalf of his father, Mathew, as well as for himself. llis uncle, John T. Van Vleck, was then living at White Pigeon, employed as an agent for a company of New York land speculators, for whom he had purchased and had on sale several thousands of acres of Michigan lands. To White Pigeon, therefore, John Van Vleck bent his steps and, with his uncle, went over into Ionia county, where some of the latter's lands lay.
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