History of Kalamazoo county, Michigan, Part 105

Author: Durant, Samuel W. comp
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia. Everts & Abbott
Number of Pages: 761

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The present membership is 76. Regular communications are held on Saturday evening on or next preceding each full moon.

Galesburg Chapter of Royal Arch Masons .- The first regular convocation was held May 27, 1868. The follow- ing have been the officers :

1868, M. W. Alfred, H. P .; O. R. Smith, K .; J. L. Wheeler, S. 1869, M. W. Alfred, H. P .; O. F. Burroughs, K. ; I. N. Carson, S. 1870, M. W. Alfred, H. P .; O. F. Burroughs, K. ; Charles Heine, S. - 1871, M. W. Alfred, H. P .; William Schroder, K .; Charles Heine, S. 1872, M. W. Alfred, H. P .; William Schroder, K .; Charles Heine, S. 1873, William Schroder, H. P .; O. F. Bur- roughs, K .; Arvin Olin, S. 1874, William Schroder, H. P .; W. W. Olin, K .; George W. Miller, S. 1875, William Schroder, H. P .; W. W. Olin, K. ; George W. Miller, S. 1876, William Schro- der, H. P .; David Carson, K .; George W. Miller, S. 1877, William Schroder, H. P .; George W. Miller, K .; L. H. Chese- brough, S. 1878, George W. Miller, H. P .; O. F. Burroughs, K .; Henry E. Storms, S. 1879, O. F. Burroughs, H. P .; D. J. Hart, K .; L. H. Chesebrough, S.

Present number of members, 53. Regular convocation on Tuesday evening on or next preceding the full of the moon in each month.

Galesburg Grange, No. 18, P. of H., was organized April 14, 1873, with the names of 31 persons as charter members. The officers elected were as follows : David B. Hull, Master; Oscar F. Campbell, Overseer; Truman B. Hill, Chaplain ; Frank B. Austin, Lecturer; Frank S. Sleeper, Steward ; Zerah C. Durkee, Assistant Steward ; Ira Joy, Treas. ; James H. Hopkins, Sec. ; Charles G. Jud- son, Gate-Keeper ; Mrs. David B. Hull, Ceres ; Mrs. Jennie Joy, Pomona ; Mrs. M. C. Sherwood, Flora; Mrs. O. F. Campbell, Lady Assistant Steward.

The present officers are H. Dale Adams, Master; Ira

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TOWNSHIP OF COMSTOCK.

Joy, Overseer ; George R. C. Adams, Lecturer ; Oreb A. Williams, Steward ; Charles G. Judson, Assistant Steward ; Truman B. Hill, Chaplain ; Mrs. F. B. Austin, Treas. ; Zerah C. Durkee, Sec .; Edgar Judson, Gate-Keeper; Mrs. Ira Joy, Ceres ; Mrs. T. R. Hill, Pomona ; Mrs. Charles G. Judson, Flora.

The Galesburg Cornet Band .- The old cornet band was organized Aug. 4, 1870, with the following members : Chas. Harris, leader, with E-flat cornet ; Ethan Keith, 2d E-flat cornet ; L. A. Austin, 1st B-flat cornet ; Augustus Chase, 1st alto ; Chas. Corey, 2d alto; Geo. P. Youmans, 1st tenor ; A. J. Hoag, E-flat tuba ; Daniel Hunting, tenor drum ; Joseph Gilfus, bass drum. Geo. P. Youmans was leader after the second year.

The second and present organization, with full uniform, was effected in 1876, Mr. Stacy, of Richland, teacher ; Geo. P. Youmans, leader, with 1st E-flat cornet ; F. A. Wing, 2d E-flat cornet ; L. A. Austin, 1st B-flat cornet ; W. W. Youmans, 2d B-flat cornet ; Seymour Minor, 1st alto; S. A. Loveland, 2d alto ; Richard Vosburg, 1st tenor ; James Leach, B-flat baritone ; Eugene Pawlison, B-flat bass ; P. L. Burdick, tuba ; E. J. Lockhart, tenor-drum ; W. Burrell, bass-drum.

Galesburg Protection Society .- This society was or- ganized in 1851 with the following officers : George Davis, President ; John C. Blake, Secretary; Joseph Whitford, Treasurer ; John C. Blake, Captain.

The present officers are H. Dale Adams, President ; W. M. Hamilton, Jarvis D. Adams, Samuel Carson, A. Olin, Thomas B. Lord, Vice-Presidents ; John C. Blake, Secre- tary and Treasurer ; Burnard Vosburg, captain.

This society has been of great benefit to this entire com- munity, so much so that they have succeeded in catching every thief who has stolen a horse, with the exception of one, since its organization. They have also sent two or three grave offenders to the State-prison.

Galesburg Driving-Park .- This society was organized in 1868. The following were its first officers : Jarvis D. Adams, President ; Ralph S. Van Vleet, Secretary ; Wm. Blass, Treasurer.

A fine half-mile track had been made on their grounds in Galesburg and good buildings erected, and for several years the driving-park afforded rare sport for men of the turf and the large crowds of people who attended the races. The best trotters in the State, and some from other States, and the fleetest runners were entered here to contend for the prizes. Mr. J. D. Adams, after acting as president a year or more, retired, and Capt. Burnard Vosburg became presi- dent, and continued till the organization was abandoned. Under Capt. Vosburg's successful management the races be- came popular, and for several seasons the driving-park had its little " Derby day," that drew throngs of people from various parts of the State to witness the sports of the turf. There was also an agricultural fair held here for two sea- sons. J. D. Adams was president of this organization, which held its first session in 1869. As the county society had about died out, this fair took its place and was a successful one. This fair, no doubt, was the cause of reviving the county fair.

Temperance .- Galesburg Lodge, No. 303, was chartered

with 33 members, Jan. 11, 1866. This was a flourishing institution for a few years, performed its mission for the good of the temperance cause, and is now "among the things that were."

The Red Ribbon Reform Club .- On the evening of Jan. 31, 1877, a Red Ribbon Reform Club was organized in Galesburg. Through the influence of Joseph Keen a num- ber of citizens had assembled in Abel Hoag's store. When Mr. Keen moved that they proceed to organize a red ribbon club, Abel Hoag was made chairman and called the meeting to order, and the following officers were elected : President, Joseph Keen ; First Vice-President, E. M. Clapp, Jr. ; Second Vice-President, Wm. Crittenden ; Third Vice- President, Wesley Haight; Secretary, Stewart L. Boom ; Financial Secretary, R. G. Smith ; Treasurer, N. B. Wheeler; Steward, A. Rikey ; Marshals, M. Culver, J. Rellis; Ser- geant-at-Arms, J. McGinnis. This has been an active tem- perance club, has done great good, but is now suspended.

The Ladies' Christian Temperance Union .- This society was organized in 1878. The officers were : President, Mrs. H. P. Henderson ; Secretary, Mrs. R. G. Smith : Treasurer, Mrs. E. B. Ford.

It has the same officers yet, except president. Mrs. H. D. Adams now fills that office. This is a zealous temperance organization.

THE GALESBURG LYCEUM.

" He was in logic a great critic, Profoundly skilled in analytic, He could distinguish and divide A hair 'twixt south and southwest side."

This lyceum dates as far back as " the old log school- house on Toland Prairie." And those old log walls, were they in existence and able to report, could tell of the Chathams and Foxes, the Burkes and Sheridans in this little parliamentary arena of discussion, who stoutly argued, pro and con., the mooted questions of their day in many a learned "bout." The early settlers, like the old Greeks in their Olympic games, were accustomed to meet and con- tend for a prize; the former going into the contest on their mental, as the latter once did on their muscular strength. And as the Greek athlete from his exercise became stronger physically, so the pioneer debater from his exercise, no doubt, became stronger intellectually. At any rate, the arena of debate is one of the best training-schools for any class of men who wish to develop intellectual power. Had we more of them in our common-school districts and higher schools, we would have more farmers qualified for the duties of the halls of State and national legislation. Get the boy or the man anxious to discuss a question in the school-house lyceum, and you have aroused in him a desire for moral and intellectual things which will lead him on to higher mental attainments day by day. An awakened, hearty interest in the varied topics of the times is not only essential to make an intelligent voter but to make more useful men. A man may know a great many things, but none of them well. It is by discussion that we become well informed on a subject,-that we get accurate knowledge.

Of the old lyceum we have no record. From the recol- lections of some of its members we have gathered the fol- lowing facts : Among the disputants were Dr. James Har-

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HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

ris, Deacon Philip Gray, E. M. Clapp, Rufus S. Clapp, Roswell Ransom, Sherman Comings, Ephraim S. Whipple, A. R. Brown, P. H. Whitford, Nathaniel Cothren and his son Morris, with others whose names are forgotten. Some of these members were men of decided talent. Dr. Harris, whose varied attainments in the three learned professions, and his familiarity with politics and the topics of the day, and withal being a ready talker, made him " a free lance" in any controversy. Deacon Philip Gray, a man of strong intellect, born and reared in New England,-the home of orthodoxy and modern logic,-which, with his religious training and accurate speech, made him an able disputant. The Clapps, men of close observation, good memory, and common-sense logic, discussed a question well. Roswell Ransom was the readiest and most fluent speaker of the old lyceum. A. R. Brown was a fine speaker and good de- bater. Ephraim S. Whipple, a Universalist minister, was the member of ready speech ; though not so fruitful in ex- pedients, he could make a good use of what resources he had, and could always talk his time out. P. H. Whitford was the disputant who watched for the enemy to expose his weak side, or get into difficulty, or off his guard before he attacked him. In discussing religious topics he always used the flinty Genevan logic ; hence the Universalist, Whipple, with his plausible Hosea-Ballou reasoning, was a foe he loved to encounter. They have broken many a lance over " future rewards and punishments." Morris Cothren was a young though spirited debater.

One of the debaters became so excited at one time over the discussion of the subject of giving firearms to the In - dians that in the frenzy of his feelings he exclaimed, " What, put guns in their hands to cut their throats !"

The old club has never really been abandoned ; it has from time to time been revived by some of its old members, who with new disputants have discussed the questions of their time. The club now is composed of P. H. Whitford, one of the pioneer set of forty years ago; Wm. A. Blake, Dr. O. F. Burroughs, Ezra Beckwith, A. D. P. Van Buren, John Powers, A. H. Proctor, E. M. Clapp, Jr., and others. For the last ten years the club has held its usual sessions. It has been an excellent training-school, one in which its members have been greatly benefited. The thousand-and- one discussions have resulted in mental and literary cul- ture, breadth of reasoning, and broader and more thorough acquaintance with history and the practical questions and topics of the day.

VILLAGE OF COMSTOCK.

The site of the village is on the north bank of the Kala- mazoo River, and is based nearly at the centre of sections 17, 18, 19, and 20, and extends northward on the western border of section 17. Comstock Creek runs southward through the village, and the Michigan Central Railroad east and west through it. The village was surveyed in 183- by direction of Gen. H. H. Comstock, but there is no evi- dence that it was ever platted or recorded. It has never had a village organization, and what few streets it has are parts of the township highway.

The first white man who visited the present site of Com- stock village for the purpose of locating land and a home

: there was Judge Caleb Eldred, in the summer of 1830. Having done this, he then engaged Ralph Tuttle, of Toland Prairie, to erect a log house on the land he had selected, and he returned East to make arrangements for removing his family to this place. Mr. Tuttle, during the following season, " put up" the body of a log house on Mr. Eldred's land, but did not put on the roof. From Judge Eldred the writer learned what transpired next. It was substan- tially as follows :

" After I left, Hiram Moore and E. A. Jackson came, and, putting a roof on my log building, occupied it as their own." Mr. Moore afterwards excused the matter to Judge Eldred by saying, " I did not believe he would ever re- turn to this township." Mr. Eldred does not state that Mr. Tuttle built his house in the fall, or where he built. The following facts I have obtained from Mrs. Linus Elli- son (who was at the time referred to Mrs. George Town- send). They are the most direct evidence I have been able to get; are from one who was here, and now distinctly re- members what transpired at Comstock, or the " Creek," in the fall of 1830 and the following year.

These facts are in a letter dated Lowell, Mich., Jan. 18, 1880, to J. R. Comings, Mrs. Ellison's brother, and in substance as follows :

" We left Detroit the 1st of November, 1830, and the last of the month arrived at Toland, and got into our house near Christmas. Judge Eldred had been here, made his selection of land at Comstock, engaged Tuttle to build him a house, and had left before we came. In the mean time Moore and Jackson came, liked the location, and bought what they called a ' floating claim,' and put it on the land. This was, as I recollect, in January of 1831. They wanted George and I (Mrs. George Townsend's husband) to go there and board them till Messrs. Lane and Ellison should get here with their families, as Mrs. Lane was to keep their house. We went. There were neither doors nor windows in the house. We stayed three weeks, and in that time the commis- sioners came from Ann Arbor to locate the county- seat of Kalamazoo. The inhabitants met them there, and a number of them on coming back stayed with us all night. The weather was cold with a good deal of snow. The old judge came on very early in the spring, with his family, and built on the west side of the creek, south side of the road. The first house, the one Tuttle built, was on the east side of the creek, north side of the road. Father went twice to Detroit with oxen for our goods, sometimes camping out. Mr. and Mrs. Lane and two chil- dren slept on their sled four nights, on the way from Ann Arbor, where they had come in the fall of 1830, a little earlier than we got here. This makes Mr. Lane's arrival here in the spring of 1831."

This concludes Mrs. Ellison's letter, and it establishes what Ralph Tuttle and J. R. Comings have always main- tained, that no one lived at Comstock in the fall of 1830. They were here at that time and ought to know. Now Mrs. Ellison, who was here also (and her family the first to occupy a house at Comstock ), corroborates what her brother and Mr. Tuttle have claimed in regard to the time of the first settlement at Comstock.

We give below Mr. Henry Little's view on this subject. He claims that Leland Lane and his family were there in the fall of 1830, " and boarded Hiram Moore till late in the summer of 1831." But, as we have said, Mrs. Elli- son's letter and the opinions of Ralph Tuttle and J. R. Comings, all of whom were here at the time, contradict this. Finally, Mr. Tuttle says, in a late letter to the writer, that he did not " put up" the log house at Comstock in the fall of 1830. With this we leave the subject.

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TOWNSHIP OF COMSTOCK.

The following is from Mr. Little's letter :

"Hiram Moore came here in the fall of 1830, and Lovell came in the spring of 1831. They plowed and planted corn and potatoes, etc., and entered several tracts of land at the land-sale at White Pigeon, in June, when Lovell went East for his family, and returned with his family in the fall of 1831. John Moore, who had been residing several years in Savannah, Ga., came here the last of September, 1831. Lovell remained on the Prairie until in the fall of 1833, when he built a house at the creek, in which he lived until in the fall of 1836, when he re- moved to Grand Rapids. Hiram Moore for several years was not per- manently located at any place. In 1834 he was married to Mrs. Har- riet West Fogg. While he was arranging and perfecting his harvest- ing machine, he lived some time at the creek, and some of the time at Schoolcraft, and some of the time at Climax ; his farm at that place he sold to D. C. Reed, about twenty years ago, and went to Wisconsin. John Moore remained on the old homestead many years. Cyrus Lovell within one year went to Bronson. Linus Ellison within two years sold his place and bought and improved the place long since occupied by Eli B. Anderson. Wm. Earle went to live on the Prairie in the spring of 1832. After a few weeks' sojourn with Tuttle, I removed, with my family, into a log cabin with Leland Lane at the creek, which was on section 17, in what is now the township of Comstock. That cabin was on land belonging to Moore and Jackson. Not one nail or spike or any sawed lumber had been used in the construction of that edifice. The chamber floor was of bark peeled from large trees. A large fireplace was at one end of the room, and I placed my cooking- stove at the other end. My stove and the one used by Wm. Jones, on Gull Prairie, were the only stoves in the north half of this county at this time, but subsequently, when Dr. Abbott moved in, he brought a cooking-stove with him. Caleb Eldred, Samuel Percival, Leland Lane, and my family were at the Creek, with the seven families on the Prairie, making eleven families in what is now known as the township of Comstock. To feed that vast multitude the wheat- stacks of Prairie Ronde were laid under contribution, the hungry ap- plicant sometimes waiting several days while the wheat was being thrashed on the bare ground, and then taking it to Vicksburg to be ground. John Moore, in the fall of 1831, brought in a drove of steers from Indiana, and Jackson and Town brought in a drove of hogs. Some months later Win. R. Thompson passed here with a drove of hogs for Jacksonburg. Caleb Eldred's saw-mill, several rods south of the road, was in operation in the early part of the fall. Andrew McCarty had put up the frame and begun the running-gear of a saw- mill, several rods north of the road, for Moore and Jackson, which machinery I finished. Religious meetings were held every Sabbath, sometimes at Eldred's and sometimes at Cummins's, on the Prairie, Wm. Jones preaching occasionally. During the winter of 1831-32 a Baptist church was organized ; the ceremony took place at Eldred's. Eldred and wife, their hired man, named Aldrich, and Isaac Briggs and wife, of Gull Prairie, were the members. Lane worked most of the time at his trade (coopering), but in the spring of 1832 he moved into the new house he had built on section 18, half a mile west of the Creek. About the same time Guy C. Merrill built a house and black- smith-shop on the west bank of the Creek, a few rods north of the road, where he commenced as the first blacksmith in all Arcadia. In the fall of that year Percival's grist-mill was finished and in suc- cessful operation, Comstock assisting him some with money. Eldred transported the millstones and iron-work from Detroit the winter before on ox-sleds. In the summer of 1833, Comstock's store was built, close to the west end of the bridge, on the north side of the road. In the fall it was filled with a good stock of goods, J. C. Fuller (my brother-in-law) being clerk. The post-office was in that store. From the fall of 1833 to the spring of 1836, Comstock, as then called, had quite a business-like aspect. During that time, besides the business places already enumerated, there was the hotel, that was built and kept by Jackson ; John Webb, the doctor ; Lovell Moore, the lawyer, the Englishman ; Ashley, the tailor; a wagon-shop and shoe-shop.

" In the mean time many new settlers had come in, and had opened up new farms in all directions. Early in the summer of 1833 the celebrated T. W. Merrill came to my log cabin, bringing with him an old Eastern acquaintance, whom we had known as Sarah Oaks, but then Mrs. Merrill. She boarded with us while he was building his house, about two miles east of Comstock village. From that time the elder preached here occasionally. Mason Knappen, who came to Gull Prairie in 1833, also preached here sometimes. At an early day H. H.

Comstock began to improve his lands at the village, and soon he had a splendid farm, with elegant buildings, with all the desirable appoint- ment for his luxurious, happy home, where he lived for many years. In the early part of 1831, Comstock promised the people here that he would build for them a good, nice school- house whenever they might need it, if they would name the town Comstock. Between the spring of 1833 and that of 1834 the town was organized by the name of Comstock, and he redeemed his pledge by building that school- house on the high ground north of the village. Comstock was ex- actly the right man for this place and the times. He knew his father had a vast amount of money, and the warm, generous nature of Horace prompted him to bring that money from the place where it was not needed, and bring it to Michigan and sow it broadcast, where it would do more good. He invested in lands very extensively, and in various business operations at many places in the West, especially at Detroit and Chicago. He built a hotel and flouring-mill at Ot- sego, both of which structures were of mammoth proportions, and better suited to the business demands of to-day than of that time. But of all the places on this earthly ball, the Creek was to be his darling, favorite pet, the object of his special, fostering care, and place of his abode. Nothing was to be feared from the pretended rivalship of that half-crazy, eccentric Bronson, way down there by the river. Bronsou's place was geographically wrong; it was low and wet, and would be unhealthy ; and, besides all that, Bronson was entirely alone, and without money, and friends, and influence. But Comstock had the right location, and money, and friends, and influ- ence, and would have the county-seat. Here would be manifested all that money, skill, influence, and energetic action could accomplish. The city would be built upon the most liberal and magnificent plan that could be desired. Liberal grants of land would be made for school- houses, churches, and other public buildings, public squares, parks, and wide streets and avenues. I had been tolerably well apprised of all the sayings and doings and movements in regard to this great prospective city during the time between the fall of 1830 and the summer of 183.1. When I started for Michigan (as I knew nothing about farming), it was my expectation and belief that I would be a permanent resi- dent of this great city. Very soon after my arrival here I entered 105 acres of land on the plain, one and one-half miles east of the Creek, with the intention of entering as much more adjoining it as soon as the prospects of the city would warrant it. I remained here month after month without being able to obtain a city lot on which to build my house, because the city had never been surveyed and platted. Finally, after a long time, the surveyor came with his compass and chain. That was a glorious day, a time long to be remembered. That great event would make an important epoch in the history of the world. All the Creekites were astir, and now, while I am chronicling these facts, my bosom swells with inexpressible emotions. I was so anxious to witness the operations of surveying a large city, that I volunteered to go and assist in any capacity in which I could be most serviceable. In the prosecution of the work we clambered over old logs, and over and under tree-tops, and among brush. During that campaign of several days I learned very much of what I was ignorant of before. A few days after the completion of the survey of the city, one of the denizens of the Creek became the owner of a good slice of Gull Prairie, whither he went with his family early in the spring of 1832. The Comstock flat, on which we surveyed that city, has since remained one entire, unbroken tract of land, without diminution of quantity and without the lines being changed by the interference of one single city or village lot, but it has most of the time to this day been used as farming-land. Long may it and its owner live and prosper !"

The village enjoyed quite a lively trade for a while. Its store, its mills, and its mechanics' shops, gave it the stir and aspect of a busy little town for a number of years. It had first-class men to start it ; no better could be found in any early settlement in the county. But losing the county- seat killed it.

GEN. HORACE H. COMSTOCK.

The facts of his life are these: He came here from Cooperstown, Otsego Co., N. Y., in 1831, an ambitious young man with plenty of money .* "Emigration always

# It is said he came here with $60,000.

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HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

advanced a man several degrees." " New neighbors, in their uncertainty about a man's rank, are prone to give him the benefit of all doubts, and exalt as far as possible the lustre which the late comer confers upon the settlement." It was always interesting to find out a stranger. He brought new history, and as books were scarce, he was a biography which each settler eagerly perused. Consequently when Horace H. Comstock came to the young settlement in the west part of the township, some attention was given him on account of his title of general. He was a courteous gentleman, which made him popular ; he was a lawyer, which gave him stand- ing; he was a politician, which gave him party influence; he was considered wealthy, which raised him still higher ; but he took the highest rank of all from being the husband of a lovely woman, a lady of refinement and niece of James Fen- imore Cooper, the celebrated novelist. His defects were prominent. "Paint me warts and all," Cromwell said to the artist. That was essential to a good portrait of the man. In what many have heretofore said about H. H. Comstock too much time has been wasted on the " warts." We have nothing to do with them in his case. But in what he has done to benefit this township we have. Says an old settler, who knew Mr. Comstock well, " His kindness and generos- ity to the early settlers were proverbial. He had a word of encouragement or material aid to all that were in trouble or want ; and the lapse of forty-five years has not staled the memory of his generous deeds. The money that Com- stock has given away would be a fortune now. He helped everybody that needed help, whether he knew he would get his money back or not." He furnished the money to build the mill at Comstock ; associated Judge Eldred with him, who furnished the millstones ; made the millwright, Samuel Percival, a partner, and set him to building the mill; built a school-house and gave it to the people, who in turn named the township after him. The little village could justly be proud of so munificent a founder ; a patron who so lavishly supplied her wants and so chivalrously guarded her interests. He built a beautiful residence on the banks of the stream that flowed through the village. Here his wife, a lady of culture and high social worth, presided. The best society in Kalamazoo were guests at his table. "Comstock Hall" was noted for its fine social and intellectual entertainments.

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History of Kalamazoo county, Michigan, Part 105

Author: Durant, Samuel W. comp Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Philadelphia. Everts & Abbott Number of Pages: 761

Author: Durant, Samuel W. comp
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia. Everts & Abbott
Number of Pages: 761