USA > Michigan > Ionia County > History of Ionia County, Michigan : her people, industries and institutions, Volume I > Part 39
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PORTLAND SEVENTHI-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH.
The Seventh-Day AAdventist church at Portland is the outgrowth of the old Seventh-Day Adventist church in Orange. The Orange church was organized by Elder Joseph Bates on June 21. 1862, at the residence of Franklin House, in school district No. 1, in the township of Orange. There were twelve charter members. as follow: Franklin House, Rhoda House, Elsie House. Clarinda House, Adaline House, Joseph Kellogg, Elizabeth Kellogg, Justus Moushunt, Catharine ( Moushunt ) Wilkinson, Evan M. Davis, William A. Spencer and Harriet E. Spencer. The members met together the next day, June 22, in the Pierce school house for the election of officers. Franklin House was elected and ordained elder. Evan M. Davis was elected clerk. By the end of the first year the membership was twenty- two. The meetings were held for about thirty-five years in the Pierce school house.
The members became widely scattered, so in a few years they were divided into several companies, which met separately for the weekly meet- ings. These companies held meetings at Lake Odessa, at the Traverse school house in Sebewa, in Portland, and in Orange. Once in three months the companies all met together for quarterly meeting. In the year 1898, as the majority of the members lived in and near Portland. the advisability of changing the name of the church from Orange to Portland was discussed. At this time the membership was over fifty. At the West Michigan confer- ence held at Otsego in January, 1906, the necessary steps for the change in name were taken and the name became Portland Seventh-Day Adventist church. It retains the same name today.
For a few years the meetings were held in the Universalist church build- ing at Portland. This building was torn down in the summer of 1915. A church school, consisting of the first eight grades, was conducted by the
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organization for two years, 1906 to 1908. In the last few years a large number of the members have moved to other localities and have joined churches near them. The present membership is fourteen. The meetings are held in a room in the Webber bank building. A Sabbath school has been conducted weekly ever since the date of organization. For a number of years a Young People's Society was also held. The elders up to the present time are: Franklin House, Nicholas Outwater, Adolph Schaupp. W. D. Lakin, Otis Palmiter and Hugh Peake.
DUNKARD CHURCHES IN IONIA COUNTY.
The First Brethren, or Dunkard, church was organized at Swartzenan, Germany, in the year 1708, with eight charter members. Soon after their organization persecution became so severe that in 1719 a greater part of them emigrated to Germantown, near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and in this free country they flourished and improved and spread fast and in a short time they had churches in many parts. In order to be comprehensive it is necessary to state that the Brethren church (like many others) had their troubles, and in 1882, at their annual conference at Ashland, Ohio, came the uncalled for inimical division and since that time there are three Brethren churches, named as follow: Old Brethren, Conservative Brethren and Pro- gressive Brethren, but at the time of the first organization here all were Brethren.
The first organization in lonia county was in the year 1867, first char- ter members, eighteen; first minister, Darvin M. Wood; first church built about 1870, which is still standing, made of cherry plank; the structure is worth $100 From this organization two more churches sprung up-one is called Thorn Apple, the other Elindale. The original church, located in section 34, has a membership of one hundred eleven and church property valued at $400, in the name Old Brethren. They have no Sunday school.
The Conservative Brethren have two church houses, both frame build- ings, valued at about $2,000 each, the present elder of the Thorn Apple district is Peter B. Mesner, membership of about thirty-seven.
The Conservative Brethren church at Elmdale is a frame structure, value about $2,000: Mr. Deardorf is the elder, with a membership of some fifty. They have a Sunday school.
The Progressive Brethren church is just eighty rods west of the Old Brethren church on the other side of the road in Barry county, but a good " majority of the members live in lonia county. They have about one lun-
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(red members and have an average attendance at Sunday school of about fifty. The church property is valued at about $1,600. C. C. Grisso is the present pastor and eller.
UNION CHURCH OF NORTH PLAINS AND RONALD TOWNSHIPS.
This organization supports a church in which any evangelical denomina- tion may hold services at any time it is not in actual use by another-funerals being given precedence.
It is controlled by five trustees, who must be not all of one denomina- tion. They have an excellent building on the east side of Ronald township, with ample sheds for shelter of conveyances around three sides of the grounds. It was organized in 1877. Judge Brown gave the ground and Iliram M. Brown headed a subscription list for a fund to build and equip the church, and he and James F. Dalzell circulated the list. A very large number contributed generously, some at considerable sacrifice, many of them not professed Christians, either.
The church has been used by various denominations, now chiefly by the Methodists and the Disciples, and has never suffered any serious clashes nor divisions.
CHAPTER XXIX.
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
Dr. W. B. Lincoln came to the lonia settlement with the Dexter colony in 1833 and was the first physician known to lonia county. Remaining the only one for several years he came to be known far and wide, for he was called to almost every portion of the country, and rode over a circuit so broad that his time was mainly passed in the saddle and the demands for his services were so continuous and urgent that day and night saw him almost constantly upon the go.
The next physician to occupy the local field was Dr. Alanson Cornell, who came to the town in 1838, and in connection with his medical practice carried on a drug store. He remained in continuons practice from the date of his arrival, in 1838, to the date of his death, in 1873. Next after Doctor Cornell came Dr. Norton Beckwith ( first a settler in Lyons township), who joined with Doctor Richardson in practicing medicine in Ionia. Doctors came in pretty rapidly after that, and many of those who came did not remain long enough to call for a place in current history. Mention may be made of Doctors Williams, D. W. Bliss, Avery, Zenas Bliss. Typer, H. B. Barnes, W. B. Thomas, S. M. Bayard, T. B. Benedict. Frederick Gundrum, Mbert Corey, Thomas R. Ganey. O. R. Long, Allen Lodge and Little.
The physicians later in practice in fonia (.August, 1880), were Thomas & Logan, O. 11. Hammond, Fuller, Bailey, W. B. Barnes, S. V. Romig. and Best, all of the allopathic school: Allen. Long and Ford, homeopaths; Tre- mayne, Bayard and Joslin, eclectics. Those longest in practice in Ionia were W. B. Barnes and S. M. Bayard, both of whom came in 1861.
About the year 1842 a Doctor Rose, known as a Thompsonian, made a location at Saranac, and practicing upon the neighboring inhabitants with feeble success until 1845. withdrew to more promising fields. Upon the heels of his departure came Doctor Taylor, an eclectic, who remained three or four years. After him there was a blank in local medical history until 1849, when Drs. John Brandt and Cyrenus Kelsey occupied the fiekl. Kel- sey left for California in 1850 and Brandt for unknown regions in 1852 From 1852 until 1855 there was no resident physician.
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In 1855 Dr. Wilbur Fisher opened an office and after practicing until 1858 removed to a place a mile and one-half east from the village, where he died. Doctor Pompery was here about 1855 and removing after a short stay, returned in 1866 and remained until his death. Dr. 11. H. Power, the oldest in point of service of all of the village doctors, had been in Saranac since 1856. William Dowlman followed Doctor Power in 1863 and moved away about 1870. Doctor Kimberly came in 1863. and remained until 1866. Besides Doctor Power, allopath, there were in village practice Drs. A. P. C. Jones and Dennis Dreskell. allopaths; Doctor Munch, eclectic, and Dr. . \. Gesler. homeopath.
The first physician to venture upon a residence in the new village of Orleans was Dr. S. C. Lacey, later a practitioner at Greenville. The village doctor for some time was Dr. E. O. Smith.
The first resident physician in Odessa township, Doctor Kilpatrick, later of Woodland. remained for some time. Also Doctors Cornell, M. Crane and Horace F. Miner. B. E. Hess at the center of the township, and R. B. Rawson, east and south of Bonanza.
Dr. William Mather came to the village of Matherton in 1849 and began practice of medicine. Later he embarked in trade at Matherton with his brother. Asaph.
Doctor Baird, who was practicing in Smyrna in 1856, was succeeded in 1857 by Dr. C. W. Dolley, who practiced at the village for some time.
OTHER EARLY PRACTITIONERS.
About 1841 or 1842 Portland village received its first resident physi- cian in the person of Dr. Moses B. Beers, who continued after that to practice in the village uninterruptedly until 1876, when he moved to Hersey, in O-ceola county, and there died in 1877. Dr. Charles Singer practiced from 1845 to 1847. and Doctor Gillespie about the same time. Dr. F. G. Lee became a resident and practicing physician in the village in 18448. Doctor Root entered upon practice in Michigan in 1836 and in Portland in 1855. until 1861. Among other early physicians in Portland may also be men- tioned C. A. Peters and John E. Smith. Later were Doctors Lee. Spencer, Willey, Bellenbangh, Hugg, Allen. McDonald, Massey. Aton and Smith.
Doctor Typer was the first physician in Ronald township. He came in 1858 and later was postmaster.
The village of Lyons received its first resident physician in 1837. when Dr. John Jewett made a permanent location in the fall of that year, and
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opened an office near William Hunt's cabin. Doctor Jewett visited the country in the fall of 1832, in company with Samuel Dexter, who was then looking for a land location for his Herkimer colony. At that time Doctor Jewett stopped awhile at William Hunt's, but simply in the character of a prospector. Dr. W. Z. Blanchard, the second physician in the village, came first in 1837. to look about him, and in 1838 for a permanent residence. After Doctor Jewett and Blanchard, came Dr. David Kelley. in 1850 Dr. D. C. Spaulding, in 1858; Dr. B. M. Hutchinson, in 1867. and Dr. W. W. Walker, at a later date, and were in practice in the village. Among the doctors who have passed over the village practice were Dr. William M. Hugg, from 1850 to 1865: Doctor Gilbert. in 1856, and Dr. W. Wilson, from 1857 to 1863.
The first physician in Pewamo was Dr. Lafayette Jones, who came in 1867, and remained until 1876. Meanwhile. Dr. William H. Chaddock came to the town in 1868, from Clinton county, and was continuously in practice in Pewamo. Other physicians flitted across the surface of local history, but tarried only briefly and left scarcely an impression. Among those were Doctors Herman, Outwater, Ward, May and Carpenter. The physicians besides Doctor Chaddock in practice in the village were Drs. George B. Gregory and Dennis Sunderlin.
Dr. W. H. Thomas, later of lonia, was the first resident physician at Mnir, and practiced from 1858 to 1859. Subsequently there came to the place a number of physicians, but none remained more than a moderate length of time. Among them were Doctors Lindsley, Hollywood, Halstead. Lane and Ives. Other village doctors were B. E. Terrill and L. S. Stevens.
REGISTRATION.
The following is a list of the physicians of lonia county as registered in accordance with an act passed by the Michigan state Legislature and approved on September 23, 1899:
Oscar R. Long, February 22, 1900; lonia: C. S. Cope, March 9, 1900. lonia: E. F. Beckwith, March 10, 1900. lonia: John J. Defendorf, March 17, 1900, lonia ; Frank W. Braley. March 21, 1900. Saranac; W. W. Flint, March 27, 1900, Clarksville; Charles E. Bailey. March 20, 1000, Orange : John T. Bird, April 10. 1900, Ionia; Marian Crane, April 14. 1900, Lake Odessa: C. G. Johnson, April 23. 1900, Saranac: Thomas R. Allen, April 25, 1900, lonia: Harrison H. Power, April 25. 1900, Saranac: David Il. Strahan, April 26. 1900, Pewamo: W. E. Ogden, April 30, 1900. Lyons :
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Michael Sweeney, Hubbardston; John W. Kiblinger, Clarksville: William 1 .. Barnes, May 7. 1900, lonia; Charles N. Snyder, May 7, 1900: Clarence P. Lathrop, May 11, 1900, lonia; Edward M. Spaulding. May 14, 1900, lonia: Harriet F. Spaukling, May 14, 1900, lonia: Frederick M. Johnson, May 16, 1900, Muir; O. R. Russ, May 19, 1900, Lake Odessa; Henry Tre- mayne, May 25, 1900, Ionia : Josiah Black, May 30, 1900. Belding: William Northrop, June 12, 1900, Clarksville; Israel Ohlinger, June 15, 1900, Beld- ing: Benjamin F. Horner. June 18. 1900, Lake Odessa: Albert E. Gesler. June 25. 1900, Saranac: George A. Stanton, June 27, 1900, Bekling ; George W. Snyder, June 20, 1900, Sebewa; Byron E. Hess, June 28, 1900, Clarks- ville: Vesta C. A. Gesler. July 10, 1900, Saranac; Charles C. Dillenbaugh, July 11. 1900, Portland ; George D. Allen, July 11, 1900, Portland; Frank W. Martin, July 11, 1900. Portland; David McClurg. July 11, 1900, Port- land : Robert W. Alton, July 11, 1900, Portland : Alfred B. Penton, July 11, 1900, Smyrna; Henry Cook, July 10, 1900, Pewamo: Charles T. Bennett. June 22, 1900. Detroit : Theodore R. McDonakl, July 27. 1900, Orleans ; Harriet M. S. Carbongh, July 27, 1900, Portland ; Chester Smith, August 1, 1000, Portland: James E. Ferguson. August 15, 1900, Belding: William Bell. August 25, 1900, Smyrna; Charles M. Wilson, August 17, 1900, Belding: John N. Day. September 7. 1900, Lake Odessa: Henry F. Tre- mayne. September 15. 1900, Lambton Mills, Ontario: Joseph F. Pinkhan, September 16. 1900, Belding: Thomas Weston, October 9, 1900, Muir; Frederick L. Morse, November 1, 1900, Sebewa; Fay M. Marsh, November 2, 1900. Saginaw: LeRoy Wilkinson, November 15, 1900, Portland; Will- iam Wilkinson, November 15. 1900, Orleans: James C. Conner, November 15. 1900. lonia; Franklin Slocum, November 16, 1900, Jonia; Richard .1. Clark, November 16, 1900, lonia : Frances .A. Hargrave. December 31, 1900, Palo: William S. Hart, December 27. 1900, Lake Odessa: W. Andrew Dutt, February 8. 1900, Belding.
Palmer Covill. March 30, 1901, Belding; John R. Hay, May 3, 1901. Grand Rapids: Robert Logan, May 22, 1001, lonia: John F. James, July 8, 1001. Woodbury Eaton : John W. Fleming, July 10, 1901, Hart; Andrew M. Martin, July 15. 1901. Lake Odessa: Elmer William Little, July 27. 1001. Grand Rapids: Henry Cook, October 16. 1900, Pewamo: Delta Kerr Andrews. December 10. 1901, Saginaw; Marsh Melville Fay, December 1. 1901, lonia: Morris Isaiah. December 31. 1901, Belding.
Lewis F. Rice. March 4, 1902. Chester: William A. Grant, May 20. 1002, Saginaw: Chauncey S. Kenny, June 7, 1902, Saranac: Arthur S. Moore, June 23, 1002, Ann Arbor; Marion E. Blair, August 9, 1902, Cold-
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water: Charles Wunch, August 19. 1902, Saranac; Marjory M. Orr, Octo- ber 2, 1902, Grand Rapids; Thomas C. Buskirk, December 10, 1902, White Pigeon.
Harley A. Haynes, February 10, 1903, Ann Arbor ; Eugene L. Robert- son, March 4, 1903. Lansing; Ray T. Fuller, May 20, 1903. Belding; Henry C. Carpenter. June 19, 1903. Woodland : Minna Lophia Lorrnsen, August 24, 1903, Grand Rapids; Melvin D. Roberts, September 10, 1903, Charlotte : Leo R. Kenney, November 17, 1903, Charlotte.
William B. Thomas, January 18. 1904, lonia; John Durwood Brad- field, February 12, 1904, Grand Rapids; James H. Gauntlett, May 8, 1904, Clarksville: William Don Brook, April 27, 1904, Ionia ; Cyrus B. Gardner. August 2, 1004. Pinckney: William B. Grant, September 8. 1904. Lyons ; George P. Winchell, October 10, 1904, lonia: Charles 1. Taylor, November II, 1904, Linden : Frank Lindley Hogg. November 21, 1904, Grand Rapids ; F. M. Foreman, November 20, 1904, Gladstone: Charles Reid Sawson. December 8, 1904, Detroit.
Clifford Lombard Crittenden, July 3. 1905, Detroit; James C. Valen- tine, July 7. 1905, Ypsilanti; John Joseph McCann. November 15, 1905. Mt. Pleasant: George Richardson Stark, November 25, 1905, Grand Rapids : Edward A. Robertson, December 12, 1905. Hubbardston.
William Frank Maxwell. January 24, 1906, Ann Arbor ; S. M. Gleason, March 29, 1906, Greenville; Fred J. Shulz, April 27, 1906, Jonia: Beva Otto Ericsson, July 21, 1906, New Buffalo: A. B. Spinney, August 6, 1900. Reed City ; George W. Moore, August 21, 1906, Ionia ; Hans O. Gotfredsen, August 24, 1906, Ann Arbor: George Baker, June 4. 1906. Holland; ller- bert Mason Maynard, Orange: H. W. Brown, Hubbardston; T. K. Brown, Portland; A. J. Crunican, Hubbardston; Frank W. Dorr, Belding: John (. Fleming, Pewamo ; Charles B. Gauss, Palo; Joseph Johns, lonia ; R. H. Hlas- kell, Asylum, Jonia; V. I. Kitson, lonia; H. B. Knapp, lonia ; Isaiah S. Morris, Belding: Nelson MeLaughlin, Lake Odessa; C. H. Peabody. Lake Odessa; E. M. Snyder, Lake Odessa: Thomas Weston, Muir: W. W. Ster- enson, Asylum, Ionia; John A. Warner, Clarksville; R. R. Whitten, lonia ; George W. Washburne, Asylum, Tonia; Leland S. Weaver, Saranac; (). P. Gieb, Hubbardston.
IONIA'S PIONEER DOCTORS.
The following excerpts are from an interesting paper read by Dr. C. S. Cope before the lonia County Medical Society on Thursday evening, October 17, 1907, and are considered worthy of preservation :
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The year 1907 has witnessed the passing of two of Ionia county's old- est physicians. Dr. William B. Thomas and Dr. Henry Tremayne. For more than forty years they rode the hills and valleys in and about Ionia and had. after a long and arduous contest with those things that beset the life of the county physician, passed onward to their reward.
Like a shock of corn fully ripe, each was garnered by the stroke of that scythe whose edge is ever keen. Not far apart in Highland Park, they lie in dreamless sleep, while pressing closely to each casket's lid affection's precious roses guard well the doctor's rest. "Time is long, and art is fleet- ing." wrote the poet. but the history of medicine in a measure reverses or modifies this statement. for the time of the physician in lonia county is less than seventy-five years, while the arts of medicine and surgery are of even a shorter period. Anesthesia, which renders surgery painless, and antisepsia, which renders it safe. are but the children of a day, both coming into use during the lifetime of some now present.
Seventy-five years ago the physician of this geographical location was the "medicine man" of the Indian.
The head chief of the Ottowas, or, as they were called by the first settlers. "The Flat River Indians," lived at Lowell. at the mouth of Flat river. The second chief resided at the confluence of the Maple and the Grand. The physicians in waiting to these chiefs and to their dependent tribes were those who used the "simples" of the forest, and the fetishes and incanta- tions of "The Great Medicine." The head chief. Keewacoosheun, was he who. at the treaty of Chicago in 1821, ceded all the lands along and south of the Grand river. Another chief. Wabsis, or "The White Swan," was taken to Washington to see the "Great White Father," the President, and at that time ceded all of Otisco, Orleans, Keene. Montcalm counties and nearly all of the western part of the Southern peninsula. When these chiefs returned to the tribes and it was found what was done, summary vengeance was dealt. Tragedy followed these acts. The red man, always an unre- strained homicide, had no compunction in dealing with those unfaithful to the tribes. Both chiefs were murdered or executed in Indian fashion and both are buried in Plainfield township in Kent county.
The chief who lived at, or near Lyons, was a man of a different stamp. His name was Combosa. Of him it is said that he was a full blooded negro, stolen when a child from a Virginia plantation during an Indian foray and brought to this region as a trophy. He was adopted into the tribe, and when he grew to maturity was of a gigantic size and lordly walk, and be- cause of his proud bearing was called Combosa, "the big walker."
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The Ottawas were a fierce tribe, designated by Father Marquette as almost beyond the persuasive powers of the church, second only to the Hur- ons, who Parkman tell us were cannibals.
Sailing the shoreline of the Great lakes in their invincible Mackinaw war boats, they entered the mouth of the Grand, which they named "The Washtenong," and, proceeding up the stream, drove out the Sauks, who had held this land since the time immemorial.
Later came the white man, who defeated the Indian in battle, and by . trick and chicanery deprived him of his holdings, till at the beginning of the second quarter of the last century these tribes were decimated and im- poverished.
Yet history relates that at that time the Chippewas, Ottawas and Potto- watomies did, out of their scant residue of lands, give to the territory of Michigan a large tract towards the founding of what was then called the Catholepistemiad of Michigania, or as we now know it, the University of Michigan. So that the doctor or citizen who attends that seat of learning is in part a beneficiary of this pagan gift to a Christian institution.
The first white man to practice medicine in the locality was Dr. William B. Lincoln, grand-sire to Dr. W. L. Barnes, of our society. He came about 1833.
For the assistance of the secretaries who are to follow me, 1 have placed the foregoing on the society's books; in addition 1 have added the following necrology that will prove of interest and be of inestimable value as time goes by. The names appear as to seniority as nearly as I have been able to gather them. Some must have been omitted because of lack of data.
List of physicians ( deceased ) who have practiced in lonia city and county :
lonia City-William B. Lincoln, Norton Beckwith, Alanson Cornell, T. B. Benedict, David Arndt, Caleb H. Hammond, Mr. Ranney, Mr. Andrews, Fred K. Gundrum, Stanley Dolan, S. V. Romig, 11. B. Barnes, S. F. Bayard. L. Joslin, Dr. James, Robert Logan, Chas. Bailey, J. G. Connor. W. B. Thomas, Henry Tremayne.
Portland=No record.
Belding -- Dr. Romig was the first to practice there, followed later by Dr. Albert Conner.
Odessa-Dr. Kilpatrick was the pioneer physician.
Matherton-Dr. William Mather, 1849.
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Muir-Besides W. B. Thomas, who practiced there before removing to Ionia, Drs. Lindsley, Lain, Ives, Halsstead and Hollywood.
Lyons-Drs. John Jewett, David Kelley. B. M. Hutchinson, W. W. Walker, W. Z. Blanchard. Wm. Hugg. W. Webster, and Dr. Spaulding, who but recently passed away after many years in practice there. For a long time Lyons contested with fonia for the county seat, which may account for so many names of physicians at so early a period.
At Saranac in 1842 were Drs. Rose and Taylor. Later John Brandt, Win. Fisher in 1855 and Cyreneus Kelsey, 1858. About 1855 came Dr. Powers, who but recently passed away: Pomeroy, Kimberley. A. P. (. Jones, Dreskell and Minch.
Of Dr. George Pray, of Woodward Lake, it was truly said, "\ good man has gone," when he, not a decade since, was called from his long and useful labors in the northern part of this county. This necrological record is placed on your books "lest we forget" those who have preceded us and in whose foot-steps we are surely following. Dr. Laertus Comor, of De- ttoit, is now engaged in gathering the history of the deceased of Michigan's physicians and where any physician has been found to have made any ad- vancement in science, either medical or otherwise or has in any way dis- tinguished himself above his fellows, to gather up these facts together with short biography and photo where possible and to have these published in book form intended for the library of every physician in the state of Mich- igan. If any one to whom this statement may come is in possession of knowledge along these lines who can relate anything of importance con- cerning our deceased brothers of the medical profession, he will confer a favor by sending a statement of the same to Dr. Conner, or if such facts be placed in my hand or in those of my successors in office we will take pleasure in forwarding the same.
CHAPTER XXX.
BENCH AND BAR OF IONIA COUNTY.
No history of Ionia county would be complete without at least a brief reference to the courts and the judges and attorneys of said courts. The act organizing Ionia county took effect on the first Monday of April, 1837. and county officers were duly elected on the second Monday of the same month. In accordance with the provisions of section 4, the first term of the circuit court of Ionia county was hekl in the school house at lonia County Seat, the Hon. Epaphroditus Ranson presiding, on the last Monday in May. 1837. Unfortunately, the circuit court journal and records have disappeared from the county offices, therefore reliance has to be placed upon a sketch written by Mason Hearsey, one of the pioneer business men of lonia, and is as follows:
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