History of Kalamazoo county, Michigan, Part 124

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

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" When iny father's family arrived at the prairie, there had already preceded him and settled there Col. Isaac Barnes and family, John Barnes and family, Selden Norton and family, Orville Barnes and family ; and during the summer came Hazael Hoag and family, also Orlando Weed and family, Daniel A. Plummer, A. S. Parker, John F. Gilkey, and either Cornelius Northrop or some of his family, who set- tled on what was afterwards known as the Porter farm. About the 1st of January, John F. Gilkey went to Young's Prairie after my oldest brother, who was teaching school at that place, and got him home just in time to attend the funeral of my father, who died on the 8th of January, 1831.

" I can give the names of not less than 40 persons who settled on Gull Prairie in 1830. Mr. E. P. Mills had never seen Gull Prairie in January, 1831, the time he said he went to White Pigeon to mill, while the people at home fed on bran, but he may have been there in January of 1832. I well remember the events of those days, and have the written data. Besides, I was a sort of scout and runner-boy to go for the physicians, Dr. E. Brown, of Big Prairie Ronde, and Dr. Ab- bott, of Kalamazoo, and to purchase grain at White Pigeon Prairie and in Cass County, get it ground at Sage's mill, in Indiana, and return the grists to Gull Prairie; and for some years I knew person- ally nearly every person within twenty-five miles of home, and the events and dates are as well known to me as those of the last ten years. It was in 1831 that Deacon S. Mills and family and Deacon Samuel Brown and many others came to the settlement.

" But I fear I have already made this communication too long. Let us begin right in our history, for in a few years there will be no- body able to correct it.

" Truly yours, "MARSH GIDDINGS."

Among other settlers who came in during the year 1830, and not mentioned by Governor Giddings, were James and Dr. James Porter, Jr., Rev. William Jones, Mumford Eldred, Jr., Levi S. White, and Samuel Woodruff. Several of those last mentioned did not winter here, but locating their claim went back to their Eastern homes, returning to Gull Prairie a year or so later.

The accessions during the spring and summer of 1831 were numerous. The lands were first offered for sale in June of the same year, and before the 1st of January, 1832, several thousand acres had been entered, and were in the possession of bona fide settlers, as will be shown by our accompanying list of original entries. The settlers of 1831 were Samuel Boyles, from Cass Co., Mich .; Isaac

* His son, Selden, Jr., whose birth occurred in October, 1830, was the first white child born in the settlement; Capt. Wm. S. Logan being the second.

459

TOWNSHIP OF RICHLAND.

Briggs, from Cheshire Co., N. H .; Philip Gray, from Newport, R. I .; Philip Corey and family; Benjamin Cum- mings and son Benjamin ; Samuel Brown and sons Dau- phin, Samuel T., Joseph, Russell, and Charles, from Hampden Co., Mass .; William Logan, Jonathan Russell, and Simeon Mills and family.

The same year witnessed several events of marked im- portance : Deacon Simeon Mills erected the first framed dwelling in Kalamazoo County. Mumford Eldred, Jr., was married to Miss Phebe Hoag, May 22, 1831, by the Rev. William Jones. This was the second marriage celebrated in the county ; that of John B. Umens to Miss Anna Aldrich, March 1, 1831, by Stevens Hoyt, Esq., having been the first .*

On the 27th of October, 1831, Isaac Barnes, Esq., jus- tice of the peace for the township of Arcadia, presided at the second marriage ceremony ; the contracting parties being his son Carlos Barnes and Miss Louisa Giddings. The third event of this kind occurred Jan. 5, 1832, when Levi S. White was married to Miss Eliza Ockford, by Rev. William Jones.

Mr. Jones also taught the first school in his own house during the same winter.

Among the settlers of 1832 were Tillotson Barnes, brother of Col. Barnes, who built the saw-mill at York- ville, in 1833, and the grist-mill one year later ; David H. Daniels, from Massachusetts, who brought in for Samuel Brown the first one-horse wagon; William Y. Gilkey, brother of John F .; Asa and Loyal H. Jones, the former of whom built an early saw-mill on the outlet of Long Lake; Henry Little, at present a prominent resident of the village of Kalamazoo ; Augustus, Timothy, Elihu, Sylvester, and Willard Mills; Edwin Mason, who still survives, and is a resident of Richland; Joseph Miller, a lawyer, from Massachusetts ; George M. Murray ; Rock- well May, from Berkshire Co., Mass .; Dr. Henry White, the first physician ; and Rev. Levi White and family, from Massachusetts.

The year 1832 was to the inhabitants of Gull Prairie an eminently busy one, in respect to population, schools, post- routes, religious matters, and general progress.

Breaking-teams of from six to ten yoke of oxen, hitched to strong plows, were seen in different directions, turning over the virgin soil.

The village of Geloster, situated upon lands owned by Isaac Barnes and James Porter, was platted. The post- office of Geloster, Isaac Barnes, postmaster, was estab- lished ; also a post-route extending from Jacksonburg, t via Gull Prairie, to Prairie Ronde. The completion of the grist-mill in Comstock also caused great rejoicing, as pre- viously there was no mill nearer than White Pigeon, fifty miles away.

During the same summer, too, occurred the memorable Black Hawk war. The most extravagant reports were circulated among the settlers' families regarding that fa- mous chieftain, and many then residing in the southern portion of the Territory really believed that their feeble

settlements were to be invaded, and the friendly Pottawatto- mies residing in their midst incited to apply the torch, tom- ahawk, and scalping-knife. In the month of May, 1832, messengers in breathless haste summoned every able-bodied citizen to report to Col. Barnes, ready for instant duty, with ten days' rations. The settlers responded with alacrity, and under command of their respective officers proceeded as far as Niles. But the war soon closed with the capture of Black Hawk, and the men of Michigan returned to their homes, only lamenting the loss of time during the busiest season of the year.

Among those who came in and made permanent settle- ments during the year 1833 were Mitchell and Myron Hinsdill, from Chittenden Co., Vt .; George Wingert, George Torrey, Thomas Stancliff, R. H. Stone, William A. Ward, and Josiah Buell.

The most notable events of this year were the first elec- tion in the new township of Richland; the building of the new hotel by Timothy Mills, the one at present stand- ing in the village of Richland; the erection of a church edifice ; the passage by the Legislative Council of an act authorizing Caleb Eldred, Samuel Brown, Asa Jones, Sam- uel Woodruff, and John F. Gilkey to establish the Rich- land Academy, naming them as trustees thereof, with power to hold property not to exceed $20,000 ; the first Fourth of July celebration ; and the platting of the village of Richland by Willard and Sylvester Mills, upon lands situ- ated on the southeast quarter of section 23, where they sold the first goods and kept the first store in the same year.

Gull Prairie was at this time the most populous and im- portant settlement in Kalamazoo County, for we find that of thirty-two grand and petit jurors summoned at the No- vember term, twelve were residents of Richland, viz. : Philip Gray, John F. Gilkey, Daniel A. Plummer, Simeon Mills, David H. Daniels, Samuel F. Brown, Willard Mills, Samuel Brown, Samuel Woodruff, Levi S. White, Corne- lius Northrop, and Loyal H. Jones.

From 1833 to 1839 the increase of population and material wealth was marked. During the latter year Ross was set off as an independent township, and the number of resident tax-payers remaining was 81.

Among other pioneers who settled prior to 1839 were Merritt and Marvin Barrett (these were sons of Hildah Barrett, who came with his family about 1832. The old gentleman accumulated a handsome property. His death occurred about 1861), D. D. Brockway, John D. Batchel- der (who, with Mumford Eldred, Jr., as principal partner, opened the first store in the present village of Richland in 1835), Abner Goodrich, H. B. Hayes, Alvin Hood, D. W. Hooker, Edward Judson, Elnathan Judson, Hugh Kirk- land, Rev. Mason Knappen (1833, from Chittenden Co., Vt.), Rev. Calvin Clark, John McAllister, T. B. Pierce, Morgan Curtis, Ira Peake, William Cummings (1832), William Wingert, Willard Butterfield, George Clark, Ira Hoyt, William Stone, Stephen Fairbanks, David Blanchard, Theodore S. Hoyt, Ashbel Shepard, Asa Turner, Harvey Gould, Silas Gould, Alexander Philow, P. C. Rowley, Rev. William Danbury, H. P. Hoyt, Francis Holden, Daniel Jackson, William Dana, John Van Vleck, Daniel Deal,

* These statements do not fully accord with others regarding similar occurrences in Prairie Ronde and Schoolcraft .- En.

t Now the city of Jackson.

460

HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

Henry Hicks, Phineas Cook, Garret Daly, Nehemiah Pope, Charles Parker, Samuel Whitlock, Daniel Macon, John Walker, Seymour Hoyt, Jr., S. P. Graves, and Hezekiah Doolittle, from Jefferson Co., N. Y., who settled here in 1836. During the war of 1812 he served as a volunteer with a Sacket's Harbor company.

For the names of many other early settlers and incidents connected with their lives the reader is referred to bio- graphical sketches, township civil history, list of original land-entries, church and village histories, etc.

The history of this township would be very incomplete without reference to the five deacons of " Gull Prairie," who settled there in 1830-31.

These deacons were all men of strength, character, and good influence. They were all leading men in the church and in business ; nor did they ever dishonor their profes- sion. Sometimes they have been referred to reproachfully, but only by those who did not know their worth, nor understand what their influence had done in favor of good order, morality, intelligence, and the material prosperity of the people. Why is it that the liquor traffic, horse-racing, and gambling never gained an abiding-place here ? The influence of such men as these deacons. Why is it that property has been held firm and sold to better advantage than in most country places ? The conservative power of character has done it.

We place the following names on record.

1. Deacon Samuel Brown, who came from Brimfield, Mass., in 1831. He was an earnest, decided man, capable and prompt in all business transactions, and faithful in his religious obligations. He was neither a bigot, nor in any sense loose and unreliable in his character and life. He died at the age of eighty-four, honored and respected by the people. His sons, S. T. and C. B. Brown, are respected citizens in this place. His children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren are with us to honor his memory and imitate his virtues.

2. Deacon Briggs came from Massachusetts in 1831. He was a member of the Baptist Church, and is remembered for his consistent and true Christian life. No good cause ever suffered from his waywardness. He remained only a few years in the place.

3. Deacon Philip Grey was from Rhode Island, and lived here about ten years. He was a capable business man, and held a place of influence for good in his church and in society. He built the second frame barn on the prairie.

4. Deacon James Porter was from Ohio. He was a man of decided influence, and a leader in all the plans and en- terprises for establishing the people in a new country. He was among the first members of the church in 1831, and was elected an officer in the church at the first election. His son, Dr. James Porter, was a good physician, and a good preacher of the gospel. He died early. The late Secretary of State, Hon. Joseph B. Porter, was of the family.

5. Deacon Simeon Mills makes the fifth on the list,- faithful, pure, intelligent, and always reliable. He continued longest in the place, dying in 1879, at the age of eighty- four. No stain rests upon his life. The cause of temper- ance, freedom, missions, and an open, fearless defense of

. Christianity, found in him a most efficient and ready advo- cate.

Thus these five deacons lived and built upon sure foun- dations. They live still in the power of their influence. Other names ought to have a place in our record.

Rev. Samuel Boyles came from Pennsylvania first to Cass County, then, in 1831, to " Gull Prairie." He was a strong and vigorous man, and able to take the lead in all the labors of a new country. He drove a breaking-team on the prairie and in the " openings." He could lead with the cradle in the wheat-field, and has been known to cut forty acres in six days. When he became a Christian, he iden- tified himself with the Methodist Church, became a min- ister, and for more than forty years has held religious services in many places in Kalamazoo and Barry Counties. He is decided and fearless in defending his views, and his integrity is unquestioned.

Seymour Hoyt came from New Haven, Vt., in 1833, with four sons. He was a Christian citizen, and lived to more than fourscore years, deserving the respect and confidence of the people. Branches of the family still reside here.

Mumford Eldred was here in 1830. He was the first man married in the township. His wife was Miss Phebe Hoag. Rev. William Jones performed the ceremony. His marriage had been advertised, according to Territorial law, and he left to purchase cattle in Southern Indiana, expect- ing to return in two weeks. But he was detained much longer, and his absence began to be seriously spoken of, when he finally appeared, and the marriage was effected. He brought the first general stock of goods into the place, and for years was the only merchant in the town. He was capable and active, and became identified with the business interests of the place. He removed to California about the year 1857, and became interested in mining enterprises. There Mrs. Eldred died. His two daughters are married and settled in that State.

John S. Porter was here in 1835. He came from Ver- mont, and earlier from Connecticut, where he had been a member of Dr. Lyman Beecher's congregation. He was well educated for the times, and intelligently discussed po- litical and religious subjects. His family consisted of three sons,-Fred. B. Porter, now a lawyer and artist in Detroit ; George Porter, a young man of great promise, died early in Port Huron ; and Charles Porter, who went into the army, and died from the accidental discharge of a revolver. Mr. Porter went to Kansas to reside for a time and there died. He was an artist of no mean ability, and some of his oil- portraits are witnesses of his talents. He was a man of real worth, and was highly esteemed by his friends.

Samuel Woodruff came from Washington, Conn., in 1831, with his family. He had been here in 1829-30, to explore the country and fix upon a location. He continued to reside here till in his eighty-fifth year he was removed. He was very intelligent in Bible studies, decided as a Chris- tian, unbending as the hills when once established in his opinions. But he was kind and true, faithful to his friends, and to what he believed to be right,-a worthy representa- tive of the olden time New England character.

Dr. Cyrenius Thompson was here in 1831, a member when the Presbyterian Church was first organized. After

BARNA L. BRIGHAM.

Barna L., Jr., son of Barna Brigham, was one of a family of twelve children (six sons and six daugh- ters), and was born in Prescott, Hampshire Co., Mass., Feb. 2, 1813. Although a farmer and mechanic by occupation, he acquired a liberal ed- ucation. In 1832 he was employed as a cutter in the Brooklyn (N. Y.) stone yards. In 1835 he erected a store in his native town, but soon after sold it, and removed to Verona, Michigan, in October, 1836; taking with him a span of horses and a shin- gle machine, and occupying three weeks in the journey. He engaged in the mercantile business at Verona, in company with Samuel T. Brown, and in 1838 the firm removed their goods to Richland. The portrait accompanying this notice was taken in that year, while Mr. Brigham was in business at Richland. During the winters of 1844 and 1845 Mr. Brigham was engaged in lumbering, on pine- lands which he had purchased near the mouth of Grand River. He returned to Richland July 2, 1846, and on the 1st of January, 1847, was married to Adelia L. Granger, of this township. Removing with his wife to Prairieville, he entered upon the business of hotel-keeping, which he continued one year, after which he purchased and moved upon a farm of eighty acres. In 1849 he was chosen to the

o ce of supervisor of Prairieville township, which he creditably filled. In the spring of 1851 he again removed to Richland, and worked at the carpenter's trade. In 1855 he purchased a partly improved farm, upon which he spent the remaining years of his life. By earnest and diligent labor he succeeded in making his farm a source of prosperity and pride. In 1876, after purchasing forty acres of land in addition to that which he already owned, he was the possessor of two hundred and one acres. During the last four years of his life his health gradually failed, and the last six weeks marked his rapid decline. He died of disease of the heart Sept. 21, 1876, leaving a wife and seven children to mourn the loss of an affectionate husband and father. The following are the children of Mr. and Mrs. Brigham : Gordon B., born in Prairieville, Barry Co., Mich., Oct. 14, 1847, married Mary L. Jickling Jan. 1, 1874; Charles H., born in Prairieville July 31, 1850, married Nellie M. Dewaters April 25, 1878; Wil- liam L., born in Richland Dec. 1, 1852; Frances E., born in Richland June 29, 1855; Janette J., born in Richland Aug. 28, 1859 ; Adelia L., born in Richland March 13, 1863; Anna May, born in Richland March 19, 1868. These children are all living.

461

TOWNSHIP OF RICHLAND.

a few years he removed to Gun Plain, where, a few years since, he died. He gave his time mostly to farming inter- ests, and did not follow his profession. He led an active and useful life, and was foremost in sustaining religious interests.

Chauncey W. Calkins, here in 1833, a most worthy citizen, became a successful merchant, and removed to Allegan, where he now resides. For years he has been in- trusted with county business there, and is highly esteemed by all who know him.

The brothers Asa and Loyal Jones were early leading men here in the church and in civil life. They went to Wisconsin thirty years since. Ephraim Jones, their brother, who came several years later, died here in 1878. He had lived with his son, Charles W. Jones, who still holds the old Jones farm, and is one of our most successful busi- ness men.

It will be seen from what has been written that a large number of men of ability, intelligence, and real worth set- tled here in 1830-33. They held the controlling influence ; gave character to society in business, schools, and churches.

Largely as a result of their influence, this people have always been decided and successful in the temperance reformation. The old form of the temperance pledge and organization was adopted from the first. It entered into the laws of the church. The temperance people have always held the social and political power. The Washing- tonian movement was recognized during its brief trial. Afterwards, the Good Templars and the Red Ribbon organ- izations were established here, with results more or less favorable. But in the temperance work the chief reliance in this locality has been upon the known temperance prin- ciples of the people. Whenever the friends of the liquor interest have sought to establish their business here, they have been met by the people in such a way that they have never been able to keep open a place for a single day for the free sale of intoxicating liquors. In all votes upon the question of legal prohibition, the affirmative has always carried by a decided majority, and often a nearly unanimous vote.

This all tells upon the morals, thrift, and general pros- perity of the people. When it is understood that at one time in our early history there were six Mills brothers and their families, the two Jones brothers, the two Barnes brothers, Orville and John B., Josiah Buell, and many others of like spirit, all fully committed to what they be- lieved to be the best interests of the people, in education and morals, it will be seen by what power society was held and guided. Other names are referred to in other parts of our history more at length.

Mr. Benjamin Cummings, with his son, B. F. Cummings, from the State of New York, came to Richland, in Decem- ber, 1831. Mr. Cummings had been largely engaged in manufacturing in the State of New York. A person of a great amount of energy of character, a natural mechanic, who at one time possessed a large amount of property, but misfortune had overtaken him, and he came West to seek a home for a large family of children. He located on the northeast corner of section 28. In the spring of 1832 he built the bridge across the Battle Creek, at or near

where Main Street now crosses that stream in the city of Battle Creek, the citizens of Gull Prairie furnishing the pay. Early in the season he built a barn for Mr. John F. Gilkey, it being the first barn erected in the town, which he soon followed by one for Mr. Hoag, on what is now the Doolittle place. The next winter he put up the old house now standing on the Cummings farm. Soon after he built the saw-mill on Spring Brook, on section 19, and started the village of Bridgewater, which soon reached its maturity, and, like many of our early villages, when the timber was gone that furnished the saw-mill it was abandoned. Mr. Cummings was twice married, his last wife surviving him over thirty years, and died, in 1879, at the age of nearly ninety years. The subjoined article, published a few years ago in a Chicago paper, shows something of the character and energy of the man :

" In a lonely, secluded position in the northwest corner of the ceme- tery near the ever-beautiful little village of Richland, Kalamazoo Co., Mich., the historian can find (on a pure white marble slab, nearly concealed from view by a large cluster of lilac bushes) engraved the simple name of 'Benjamin Cummings, born A.D. 1772, died A.D. 1848.' And who was Benjamin Cummings ? He was the inventor of the circular saw now in use in this country and Europe. Nearly sixty years ago, at Burtonsville, N. Y., near Amsterdam, this man ham- mered out at his own blacksmith's anvil the first circular saw known to mankind. He was a noted pioneer in Michigan, a first cousin to one of the Presidents of the United States, a slave-owner in New York State, a leading Mason in the days of Morgan, and at whose table the very élite of the then great State of New York feasted and drank freely of his choice liquors and wines; a vessel-owner on the North River before the days of steamboats; a captain in the war of 1812, where, after having three horses shot under him, with one stroke of his broadsword he brought his superior officer to the ground for an insult, and because he was a traitor and a coward, and after having been court-martialed, instead of having been shot, he was appointed a colonel in his place. And in this lowly grave are the ashes of the man who, nearly seventy years ago, at Albany, N. Y., took up and moved bodily a large block of brick buildings, and to the then wonder and astonishment of the world, and who also subsequently constructed a mile and a half of the Erie Canal through a bed of rock, and who also built per contract those first low bridges over the same. He also aided in the construction of the first ten miles of railroad built in the United States, and founded both the villages of Esperance and Burtons- ville, on the old Schoharie, near Amsterdam. Now, therefore, if any one should hereafter feel inclined to erect a monument to the memory of the inventor of the circular saw, they will know exactly where to erect it, and it would not be in Vermont either. The study and aim of the man's life appeared to be to accomplish that which no other man could accomplish, and when the object sought was secured, or over- come, he passed it as quietly by as we would the pebbles on the sea- shore. He was twice married, and the father of twenty-two children ; the last wife is still surviving him, and his posterity are scattered over the entire Northwest, he having emigrated to Michigan in 1831, when that State was a wilderness ; therefore his life was not a failure.

" ORLANDO."

PIONEER INCIDENTS.

Illustrative of life in Richland during the third decade of the present century, we insert the following extracts from an historical paper prepared by William Doolittle, of Richland, in 1877 :

" There was at this time (1830) no newspaper west of Detroit, and no post-office west of Jacksonburg. The number of horses owned in the town did not exceed five or six, all told, and, strange as it may appear to the young people of our day, there was really much of enjoyment in those pleasure excursions where the only means of con- veyance was on a sled or a good farm-cart, or, with the more favored, on a lumber-wagon drawn by a thrifty yoke of oxen. You smile ; one of our citizens declares we have fallen upon extravagant times, and I am not so sure but he is right. Allow me to repeat an incident

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History of Kalamazoo county, Michigan, Part 124

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