USA > Michigan > Jackson County > History of Jackson County, Michigan > Part 20
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" The Indians were all around and often came for something to eat. When they were through eating they always took all the food from the table, away in their blankets. Mother was often frightened at night when alone, by some old Indian looking at her through the window. The young Indians used to steal corn for roasting, then hide it (as they supposed) under their blankets; eyery now and then an ear would drop; they would conceal it again as soon as they could.
"The wolves used to howl terribly at night. In the winter of 1837 they killed and ate an Indian, near the corner of Tompkins, Eaton Rapids, Springport and Onondaga townships.
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He backed up against a tree and fought with his hatchet until he killed seven wolves; then he was overpowered. His hatchet, some of his elothing and part of his body and the wolves were soon found. Many others made very narrow escapes.
"Once father went to Detroit with a load of wheat. He sold it and bought five barrels of vinegar. He started home; but a storm set in and he was obliged to leave his vinegar with an 'honest' farmer, who was to sell it for him and send him the money. He sold it, but never yet sent the money. This was a great loss. I suppose that man will say, on the day of judgment, . Here is your vinegar. '
"Twenty-three years ago last fall our atmosphere was so smoky that it was very difficult to see any distance. Travelers used bells on their teams to avoid collisions. It made tears come in the eyes, the fish large and small died in the streams, etc. It was caused by fires in the forests of Michigan and Canada.
"Jan. 1, 1864, 17 years ago, was the coldest day on record in our State. The night before we attended a war meeting, and on going home at 11 o'clock it was raining; by daylight it was exceedingly cold. Some people froze to death. Cattle, sheep and poultry were also found dead. Very little work was done, except to feed and run the stock to keep them from freezing.
"In March, 1868, we had one of the heaviest snow falls in the remembrance of our settlers. It came on Sunday night. I will relate an instance of interest to many of our young people and some who are older. Eleven of our young Americas left Rives in a sleighi for Jackson, to attend service at the Baptist church and see some friends baptized. When we got our load gathered and were about two miles from our community, the snow began to come down by measure. It was not very cold. We stopped to debate whether we would go on or not. The majority said, 'Go.' So go it was. I had my team. The storm raged so that we were very late in town. We went to the Marion House, and warmed, put the team in the barn, then went to the church just as the last candidate came 'up ont of the water.' We went back to the hotel and waited for the storm to abate, but it raged terribly. We staid all night. In the morning there was six feet of snow on a level. We got breakfast and started for Rives. We got in the community, a distance of eight miles, just at sunset. We were a hugry set, tired and forlorn. We fed our team and had supper at Rev. Mr. Osborn's. We then commenced to distribute our load, and we finally got to my mother's about 11 o'elock at night, having driven over fences, ete .; but I could not get near the house; so I got my brother-in-law to carry 'my girl' to the house in his arms. The next day I took her home on horse-back. We got into a gravel pit, climbed fences, etc., but I landed her safe at home, her parents fancying that we were all buried in the snow.
"During the Civil war a great many of my cousins and some uncles enlisted. In one family of eight boys, five were soldiers. They were the sons of Charles and Lucy Smith, of North Plains,
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Ionia Co. Uncle Charles went to Memphis, Tenn., to care for three of them. Ile died about two weeks after his arrival there. I had three consins, sons of Horace S. and Lucinda Cole, who served all through the Rebellion. Again, two cousins, sons of John H. and Amanda King, were among the first to enlist. They came home after re-enlisting. One of them, David Marion King, was Sergeant in Co. E., 3rd. Michigan Cavalry. He went back, and soon after, while going through a piece of woods with a small squad of men, they were attacked by 'bushwhackers,' and as they ran down a hill, my cousin's horse fell in a miry place called a bayou; the last ever seen of him by our 'boys in blue,' he was under his horse, struggling to extricate himself. Soon after our boys returned and seached diligently for him, but he was gone; we have never heard from him since. He is the only cousin out of many but that came home at the close of the war. 'Any information concern- ing him would be gladly received by the relatives. I think he died as a prisoner in Libby or Andersonville prisons."
EARLY TIMES IN RIVEN.
BY MRS RANNEY.
"In November, 1834, my parents moved to Jackson county, and composed one of the 11 families who settled in Rives township that year.
"In January. 1835, my father moved into the log house which he had then erected. The flooring was sawed from frozen logs, and the boards laid down loose and rough, with a rough partition forming a room. One of the windows of this house served as a chimney, as the stove-pipe passed through it. . Having been thus far established in the land, my father took a journey east to pro- cure a breaking-up team, as it required three or four yoke of oxen to do the first plowing. He returned in April with his team, and also four cows. On his arrival we had the chimney built, and the laying down of the floor completed, together with many other little improvements which render the log cabin at least comfortable. All were happy in this home in the wilderness except mother, who suffered sometimes from home-sickness. She had to return to look again at the old homestead in Monroe county, N. Y., after which visit she returned to her new home, and was ever afterward con- tent to dwell here.
"Our. nearest school-house was about three miles distant, and for three years the children had to walk thereto, before a school was provided for this district. At that time the whole district was called Jacksonburgh. We could walk through the country then with as much ease and pleasure as we can drive through it now.
"Our farm produced good flax, and we made our own cloth. Mother wove a piece for grain-bags, and disposed of each bag for seven shillings. We manufactured starch from green corn or potatoes; band boxes we made from elm bark, and indulged in many branches of domestic economy.
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"The Indians visited us from time to time, and frequently brought venison to trade for bread and potatoes.
"In 1842 I taught school in what was called the . Draper neigh- borhood,' a distriet extending about four miles. My pupils were Harriet Draper, Ann Phelps, Cordelia Cook, Sarah Hatten, Eliza- beth Hatten, Charlotte Draper, Eunice Tingley, Josephine Snyder, Mary Draper, Violet Anderson, Andrew Phelps, Wm. Bates, Edwin Smith, Austin Draper, Frank Quigley, Quigley, Edward Draper, John Anderson and James Anderson.
"In January, 1842, I made a visit to Ohio, and became ac- quainted with D. H. Ranney, who subsequently came out here, where in 1844 we were married by Rev. Mr. Harrison, of Jackson.
" When settlers first entered on their locations it was thought by some that tame grass would never grow here. My father, Alva True, said he thought it would, and very soon afterward discovered a blade of plantain; clover followed plantain, and in a short time we had a pleasant green. When father moved into the township there was neither of these herbs. Now all the grasses and cereals are prodneed, and wild berries are abundant.
.. The first orchard was planted in the spring of 1835, on the farm now known as the 'Wilbur farm," then owned by Mr. Elmer. The following year it prodneed two apples, which I picked; as the owner did not live there. As recently as 1847 a man from Ohio was out prospecting for a location; but he formed such a strange opinion of the country that he said: . This country will soon be deserted; the log houses will soon be left tenantless; people cannot live here; it is a barren waste!' What would that man say now were he to visit us? The contrary, --- we think it is one of the richest countries on the continent."
MARVIN DARRILL'S REMINISCENCES.
" I left Herkimer county, N. Y., in company with Allen Bennett, Sen., in March, 1833. Mr. Bennett came as far as Buffalo, went aboard a steamboat, but suddenly changed his mind and returned. I came on to Detroit and there met an acquaintance, who traveled with me west. We took the stage and reached Ann Arbor the first day, Jackson the second, and Marshall the third day. We then took our knapsacks, traveling westward to Gull Prairie. At Battle Creek there was. but one house. We reached Gull Prairie the fourth day, and started thence to Grand Rapids, in company with a pioneer who was moving thither with his family, and who carried our luggage. We stopped the first day long enough be- fore night to build a bough house of brush, having brush without leaves for our bed and covering.
"On the morning of the second day our pioncer, whose team was a yoke of oxen and a single horse, found his horse missing. I started out with him to search for the horse, but not finding him, went on to Grand Rapids, and from thence to Ionia. On our way to Ionia we came across our friend who had lost the horse, who
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had himself been lost, and had wandered in the woods seven days.
"During our travels we camped in the woods or open prairie wherever night overtook us. My valise was my pillow, and a camlet eloak my covering, and in the absence of water, we washed our hands in the dew on the grass. During our travels looking for land on which to make a home, we were often for long distances without water, and one time dug with our hands a hollow place on the border of the marsh, which filled with water, and muddy as it was, it tasted sweet. We used an egg-shell for a goblet. We traveled through Ionia, Clinton, Shiawassee and Oakland counties to Detroit, occupying on our trip through the State over four weeks. I located some Government land near Lyons, Tonia county, and returned to Herkimer county, N. Y.
" In the spring of 1837 I started with my family and effects for Michigan, to make a permanent settlement. I drove a team through Canada and reached Jackson April 12, having been four weeks on the journey. We remained in Jackson a few weeks, and then went on to my farm in Rives, about ten miles north of the city. For the next ten years we went through all the hardships and privations of a pioneer life. We then moved to the city and resided four years, again upon the farm a few years, and for the last 15 years in the city.
" In the retrospect I have found a great source of enjoyment, whether as a pioneer or otherwise, in an active, busy life.
REMINISCENCES OF MRS. M. W. CLAPP.
" In May, 1837, we left my native place, Farmington, Ontario Co., N. Y., in company with Azariah Mallory and family, of Mace- don, Wayne Co., who were also bound for the same destination, the then far West, the State of Michigan, my husband having purchased three-eighties in the north-west portion of Hanover town- ship the year previous, where we now reside. Emigration in those days was less expeditious than in these modern times. We went aboard the canal boat, and jogged along at a slow rate : but as it ran both night and day, we made considerable progress. Arrived at Buffalo, we took the steamboat for Toledo, not much of a vil- lage at that time, there being but a few houses. We made out to climb the bank, and then started by team for Adrian, Mr. Mallory having transported his wagon and horses across the lake. We found the roads rough passing through the cottonwood swamp, through mud and muck, where many a wagon had been stuck, Mrs. Mallory and myself walking four miles on logs and rails. We saw the first locomotive with ears making their first trip in Michi- gan. My unele, Darius Comstock, and Geo. Crane, from Farm- ington, N. Y., who were stockholders, were on board. When the train stopped at Blissfield the old gentlemen alighted with buckets in hand, and descended the bank of the River Raisin, and up again as sprightly as young men, with their buckets of water to
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supply the tender. Both men are now dead. We arrived at Moscow Plains, and put up with an old acquaintance of ours for six weeks, who made our stay very pleasant until our houses were finished, which, of course, were built of logs. We then began keeping house. We experienced many privations. having to go thirty miles to mill with an ox-team, taking two days for the jour- ney. Our neighbors were few and far between. No roads at that time except the main traveled road, three miles south, known as the Chicago turnpike. Now and then we came across an Indian trail, though only one Indian called on us. Though our mode of conveyance for a few years was by ox-teams, we could expedite by taking a bee line nearly to the different points, as there was no nn- derbrush, the Indians having kept it burned down. Afterward, by chipping the trees, or blazing the lines, the tracks were followed by others until they became established roads.
" Jonesville had only one store at that time. Immigration was very great in 1837. It made very hard times, on account of the scarcity of provisions. Many were afflicted with ague, for which Michigan became proverbial. The first fall my husband had 49 'shakes' in 49 days: our daughter suffered from it at the same time, and none of us escaped it entirely. Mr. Mallory's people seemed like relatives, though living three miles away. On Sun- day the old gray horse would bring the wife and youngest child, while he and one or two others trudged on foot; then we ap- preciated the face of a friend. and the attachment thus formed has ever since existed. In the spring the fire would run through the woods, which warmed up the ground and caused vegetation to spring up, beautiful to behold. The flowers covered the earth and yielded a fragrant perfume. The wild deer would gambol over the plains. and the turkey was also seen. Now and then a massasauga put in an appearance, and the wolves and screech-owls would some- times make night hideous.
" We soon had a flock of sheep, from which we spun and wove our own cloth, and had to be tailoress and dressmaker too; but clothes were made in plainer style then than now-a-days.
" Where the village of Hanover is located were only two or three residences, and one log school-house, a few rods northeast of where the M. E. church now stands, where we used to attend meetings.
"The first tombstone in the cemetery marked the grave of our son. It was a brown sandstone, taken from the quarry at Stony Point, some ten years before its inexhaustible stones were de veloped.
" And thus we might extend our view of pioneer life; but perhaps enough has been said. The improvements sinee those days that tried men's souls are before us; our State being traversed by the numerous railroads, and the facilities we enjoy for com- munication, enable us to see the progress in civilization; that which 50 years ago was an unbroken wilderness is now dotted with cities
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and villages, with the advantages of modern improvements, and we truly ean sit under our own vine and fig tree.
REMINISCENCES OF W. W. WOLCOTT.
South and west from the little village of Onondaga the land gradually rises until you reach the county line, about a mile and one-half directly west; then turning south about half a mile you find yourself traveling along a summit level which divides the waters that flow into Grand river on the one hand, from those that flow into Spring brook on the other. Without being hilly, the land has those long undulations that make it not only easy of drainage and enltivation, but attractive to the lover of rural scenery. To the east and north the view is extensive, as the eye ranges across the valley of the river. Here, on the corner, where the east and west roads meet, the county line road at right angles, is situated the residence of Wm. W. Woleott, the first settler in this part of the county. The house is attractive. being built in the Italian style and having a tower, and is situated on a natural building spot, well back from the road, in a handsome grove ofoaks. Just back of the house Mr. Wolcott has a fine grapery, and one of the finest peach orchards in this part of the country, and when we were there tree and vine were laden with luscious fruit. The barns are across the way from the house, and near by there is a water-hole with no source of supply but the rainfall, yet which furnishes water for his stock throughout the year. . The farm consists of 174 acres, all but 30 acres of which are under improvements. It is one of the finest in this part of the country. Ile owns besides 150 aeres in Jackson county, about one mile southı.
Mr. Wolcott's forefathers lived at Weathersfield, Conn. The old building is still standing in which his great-grandfather used to do business, and it may be that some of his relatives took part in the celebrated Union war, so graphically narrated by that prince of historians, Dedrich Knickerbocker.
Wm. W. Wolcott was born in Austerlitz, Columbia Co., N. Y .. 1807. He lived there until 1823, when his father moved to Gen- esee county, and it was on the hunting ground of the Senecas that he acquired that love for hunting which has been one of his diversions through life. June 29, 1832, he was married to Miss Elizabeth Baldwin, who was born Nov. 4, 1808, at Dorrest, Ben- nington Co., Vt.
He first came to Michigan in 1834, and having formed a travel- ing acquaintance with an old gentleman by the name of Daniels. they footed it out from Detroit to Ann Arbor. The cholera was raging in Detroit at that time.
On arriving at Ann Arbor, the old gentlemen found themselves so foot-sore that they concluded to try the stage, which proved to be a peddler's wagon "altered over" for the accommodation of travelers. They came in by the way of the Washtenaw trail, the
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road along which was laid out by Firmferin in 1834, and extended west to St. Joseph. This trail entered and crossed the river not far from where the State's prison now stands, and Dr. Russell's brother kept tavern there on or near the site of that popular board- ing establishment. The land now occupied for that purpose could then be bought for $300.
Since then it is safe to say that Jacksonburgh has grown. John M. Dwight was then the only dealer in goods and notions; Bill Bothwell kept the Thompson House, which sported Indian blan- kets at the windows in lieu of a more transparent medium. Black- man kept the rival establishment across the street. The Hamlins, since of Eaton Rapids, lived there then. Bailey was justice of the peace. There were Moody, Durand, Russey and Allen, the last of whom was the first dealer, aspiring to dispense groceries and provisions to his fellow sojourners; and this constituted about the entire nuclens, around which has grown up one of the most prom- ising inland cities of Michigan.
The surveyors were at that time employed in running out the line of the old Clinton road. Their contract specified that they were to lay out a road, following generally a northwest course between the villages of Clinton and Grand Rapids. In those days it would seem that Clinton was one of the prospective points in the territory. In looking out the line of road, the surveyors sent out two men, who, taking opposite directions, prospected for the most eligible lines of communication and worried their way around swamps, or plunged through them according to circumstances. Mr. Wolcott and his friend, Geo. Woodworth, were the first men, after the surveyors, over the newly laid out road west of Jackson. When he came there the surveyors were encamped on the hill not far from the site of ex-Gov. Blair's residence. The friends re- solved to take time by the forelock, and having procured some ponies they started out but a day behind the gentlemen of the com- pass and chain. They followed the line to where it struck Sand- stone creek, near where the bridge now spans the stream at the head of the pond at Tompkin's Center. Not being able to cross at that point, they went down the creek and felled a tree to serve as a bridge. They spent a part of the day on the section of land where Marcus Wade now lives, and returned the same night to Jackson. The next morning, starting before daylight, they set out for Tompkin's again, and when about two miles on the route it began to snow, and kept it up until 12 o'clock the following night. On the way up they crossed a number of fresh bear tracks in the snow; plenty of deer, but got nothing, as their guns were wet.
Mr. Wolcott resolved to locate a mill-site at Tompkins, and visited the land office at Monroe with that intention, but found that the land had long been taken. Becoming discouraged, he concluded that the whole country was a succession of tamarack swamps, and returned to the East. In the fall of 1835, he returned to Michigan and located on the land where he now lives.
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At that time a man by the name of Booth, living near Onondaga, was said to be the only white man in Ingham county.
This time he visited the land office at Kalamazoo, and he gives a graphie account of the journey through the wilderness at that date. A party of 14 set out from Jackson on foot; but when they reached Graham's Tavern, a little west of Albion, they concluded to wait for the stage, and they changed con- veyances six times between there and Kalamazoo. Then, if there was a settler along the route, the stage went to his door, and every shanty was a publie house. In taking passengers it was part of the contract that they should walk up hill, and even push a little at times, and the party had more than one laugh over paying fares and going a-foot. At Searles' Tavern, eight miles this side of Kalamazoo, while the party was there, the landlord's son went out and shot two noble bucks, which had got their horns clinched in fighting. On the way back Mr. Wolcott put up at Birneg's Tavern, at Battle Creek, and was strongly urged by that gentleman to invest in town lots at $25 each; but Mr. Wolcott had no faith, and responded that he would not give 25 cents.
Returning to Detroit, he visited a cider mill on the river Rouge, and washed out a bushel of apple-seeds, with which to start a nursery near Jackson. This was done in company with his friend Woodworth; but from a variety of reasons the project was not a success, though it furnished the new county with many trees. The large and thrifty trees in Mr. Wolcott's orchard are from those seeds. The grafts were brought by Thomas Baldwin from Ohio.
In the fall of 1835 he returned to New York State, stopping over winter in Ohio, and in the spring of 1837 he came back to Michigan to build a house and get ready for his family. While doing so he boarded at Lyon's Tavern, then located where Mr. Ford now lives. It was three or four miles away, yet he went to and from his labors night and morning. and paid $5 per week for board. This, in the new country, was something seanty; but the hungry could always find two essentials at every public house, however poor, milk and whisky. Returning again to New York State he worked through harvest for 10 shillings per day,-75 cents for haying.
In the fall of the same year he purchased the best horses and wagon he could find, to please his wife, who dreaded the journey by water, and they started for their home, through Canada ; but, after 17 days in the mud, they were glad to embark at Chat- ham. Having arrived, he was not able to keep his team and wagon, and they were sold at Jackson, to Paul B. King, for $377. They were, perhaps, at that time, the best span of horses ever driven into the place, and were purchased for the use of Dan Hib- bard in carrying the mail. At home in the wilderness, the ques- tion of provisions made itself felt, and Mr. W. started to spy out the fatness of the land, and, if possible, bring some of it home with him. He visited Spring Arbor, but the farmers wanted 25
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cents per pound for pork. Mr. W. contented himself with flour and a somewhat antiquated ox, which he purchased for beef. Being out of meat, in the spring he purchased 12 hens from Gartner Gould, for three shillings apiece, and carried them home on his back. Forty- two years have passed since then, and Mr. W. has still the same breed of fowls, and has never been out of eggs or fat chiekens. Yet it would not do to begin too rashly on the poultry ; and, after getting terribly hungry, Mr. W. started out with a pillow-case, in pursuit of pork and butter. He purchased a small hog at $15.00 per hun- dred, but butter was not to be had, though he visited all the farm- ers in the vicinity of Parma. Strong in his determination to have some butter, he returned to Jackson, but was dismayed, on arriv- ing, by the intelligence that there was none in the city. However, the dealer said that he had sent his team for some, and that he ex- pected it in that night. The team came, with butter from Ohio. Peace was restored to the households of Jackson, and Mr. W. turned his steps homeward with gladness in his heart and 25 pounds of butter in his pillow-case ; and after his 20 miles march through slush and mud, he felt no disposition to accuse that gro- cery man of light weight.
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