History of Kalamazoo county, Michigan, Part 143

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

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eastern," etc., and during the present year (1879) has been purchased by the Grand Trunk Railway Company and given the name of the " Northwestern Grand Trunk Railway." Its Chicago connection is made at Valparaiso, Ind., with the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Road. As yet no substantial depot building has been erected at Schoolcraft.

NEWSPAPERS.

The first number of a paper called the Schoolcraft Dis- patch, a seven-column folio sheet, was issued July 10, 1869, by V. C. Smith, editor and proprietor. The po- litical views of its editor were stated to be "neutral," but it soon changed to an "independent" sheet. Its ap- pearance was good, and it soon had a fine subscription-list and a fair advertising patronage. Sept. 24, 1870, its pub- lication was begun in connection with with the Kalamazoo News, which latter was edited by Volney Hascall, of Kala- mazoo, and had been in existence a short time before the combination, being then in the beginning of its second volume. One-half of the consolidated sheet was called the Schoolcraft Dispatch, and the other half the Kalamazoo News. On the 1st of January, 1871, the size of the paper was increased, and an eight-column folio was issued. Jan. 4, 1873, the name was changed to the Dispatch and News, Mr. Hascall retiring from connectiont with it, and Mr. Smith continuing the publication. April 3, 1875, the issue of a six-column quarto was commenced in place of the former size, and has been continued to the present. Nov. 30, 1878, the establishment passed into the hands of J. Robertson, the present proprietor. The political status of the paper remains the same. Its subscription-list, which at one time had fallen to a low figure, has since increased at such a rate that in November, 1879, the edition num- bered 864 copies. The office is furnished with a good power-press, although the muscles of the employees of the office are brought into requisition to operate it, in lieu of steam. It has an extensive jobbing custom, and the insti- tution appears prosperous. The office is in a brick building owned by E. Troxel, north of the " Troxel House."

VILLAGE OF VICKSBURG.

The name of the first settler upon the site now occupied by Vicksburg was John Vickers, in whose honor the place was named. He had previously lived on the western border of Big Prairie Ronde, and built the first grist-mill in the county, about three and half miles southwest of the village of Schoolcraft.} Owing to some dispute concerning his mill, subsequently built on the Portage, where Vicks- burg now is, the following extracts from an article furnished by William Bair relating to the subject are given :

"In the spring of 1831, Mr. Vickers found a better location for mill purposes on Portage Creek, where the village of Vicksburg now stands. He soon went to Logan Co., Ohio, and on his return to this place he brought a small pair of millstones, said to be about ten or eleven inches in diameter. On this new site he erected a log building, and put in these new stones. They were made to run perpendicular, as were also those in the first mill. I here confidently assert that there was no bolt for bolting flour in either of these mills in the year 1831 or 1832. To corroborate this fact I have obtained statements in writing from several old settlers, which are as follows :

* From Mr. Brown's History of Schoolcraft, 1869. The road is now running to Grand Rapids, and is one of the best-paying branches belonging to the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway Com- pany.

+ Mr. Hascall severed his connection with the paper Dec. 14, 1872.

# See history of Prairie Ronde township.

524

HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

"' BRADY, February 16, 1876.

"'This is to certify that I came to Michigan, county of Kalamazoo, and township of Schoolcraft, in the year 1831, and was well acquainted with John Vickers, and I am sure that he never had any bolt in his mill at Vicksburg, nor bolted any grain whatever, until the year 1835. "'BENJAMIN TUTTLE.'

"""This is to certify that I came to Schoolcraft in the year 1830, and knew John Vickers well; and that he did not have a bolt for bolting flour in his mill in the year 1831 I am positive.

"' PELICK STEVENS.'

"' MR. BAIR,-In reply to yours with regard to the Vickers mill, I will say that I came to Gourd-Neck Prairie in 1830; knew John Vickers well; lived less than one mile and a half from his mill ; drew the first logs for the dam; got grinding done at his mill; there was no bolt for flour in the mill in the winter of 1831 and '32; my wife says she sifted all the flour in that winter in a hand-sieve. "'JOSEPH FRAKES.'

""' I came to Prairie Ronde in the year 1831; I knew John Vickers well; got grinding done at his mill at Vicksburg in the year 1831 ; there was no bolt for bolting flour in the mill at that time.

"' ELIAS RAWSON.'

"I here also assert that the bolted flour that was used in our family during those years was obtained from Judge Meek's mill, near where the village of Constantine now stands, on what was called Crooked Creek.

"WILLIAM BAIR."

The millstones described by Mr. Bair were brought from Ohio on horseback in a pair of saddle-bags. The old mill was a small log building, about fourteen feet square, and stood very nearly on the ground now occupied by Edmund Briggs' planing-mill (the latter built in recent years by Briggs & Anderson). He-Vickers-afterwards built a larger log mill on the same site (probably tearing down the original one), roofed it with " shakes," put in a bolt, and also fitted up part of the building for a distillery .* This was done about 1832-33, according to the recollection of Mr. Bair. The grist-mill was operated several years, possibly until after the distillery was discontinued .; Vickers died about 1842-43. The old building was torn down, and a large flouring-mill was built a year or two later by George Stuart and Elias Cooley, farther south, below the present location of the saw-mill, a raceway having been cut through from the western arm of the mill-pond. This latter mill stood until about 1855-56, when it was destroyed by fire. The present one was built a year or two later by Isaac A. Briggs and Asa S. Briggs. A son of the latter, Edmund Briggs, is the present proprietor, and was at one time asso- ciated in the business with D. P. Anderson, who was the millwright and purchased the interest of Isaac A. Briggs. John Vickers was the first to improve the water-power in the township of Schoolcraft, as well as in the county.

The following are extracts from an address delivered be-

fore the Pioneer Society at Vicksburg, at their meeting in August, 1875, by Hon. Hezekiah G. Wells :

". . . My friends, I had no idea when I came upon the present site of this village in December, 1833, to get a bushel and a peck of corn ground into meal, to be worked into mush and johnny-cake, that I should be called upon, during the longest life allotted to man in this age, to preside over such an assemblage as this. You must remember that those of us who came here in the first settlement of this county were then unpretending people; that our desires were simple; that we were content with our surroundings, such as they were; that we were ready and willing to thank an overruling Providence that John Vickers, that simple pioneer mill-man, had been placed among us with the requisite skill and ability to improve this water-power at your village-which wears his name-by checking the current of the stream with a brush dam, and putting up a framework that sustained a pair of stones sixteen inches in diameter ..

" Waiting my turn with a grist in December, 1833, I enjoyed the hospitality of honest John Vickers in his log house on the bank of this creek,-the invitation in his blunt way by an order to his wife, 'Tildy,' to give the young man some supper. The bread, pork, and potatoes of this pioneer miller, and their cooking, I complimented, not in words, but with a sharpened appetite. The table from which the simple meal was partaken was a board, split from timber, and dressed pretty smooth with a shave or drawing-knife, and supported in its position by two pins driven into a log constituting a part of the wall. It was the best kind of a table, for when not in use it could readily be removed, and the space in the small and only room in the house be occupied for other purposes. Before this simple meal under the hos- pitable roof of honest John Vickers was brought to a close, the latch- string was drawn, and the door, swinging wide on its wooden hinges, gave us the company of a man of fine stature and good appearance, clothed in a light-blue blanket coat, and girt about with a red sash,- ' Uncle Robert Frakes,' known in all the then settled portions of Michigan as the owner of the fastest nag for six hundred yards. With him also entered ' Billy' Robinson, James Dycus, and William P. Hlunt, and half a dozen hound dogs. Their business for the morn- ing of that day had been a fox-hunt, and Reynard led them a long run to the east, all the details of which were given minutely over some not very old whisky, furnished by John Vickers. They drank from tin-cups, seemed very thirsty, and the whisky, or the water with which it was mixed, or both, was well relished, for they all seemed happy, and each one made a hero of himself in his wild ride that day through forest, stream, and marsh. They had with them the trophy of the chase,-a fox-skin with its tail or brush. Robert Frakes had some of the rough peculiarities of the pioneer, with many of the most estimable qualities. He was generous, liberal to the needy, hospitable, and always disposed to make good his contracts. It is told of him (I don't vouch for the truth of the story) that he once at a horse-race on Prairie Ronde took up a contribution for a Methodist minister whose circuit was a hard ride, and by way of pre- liminary stated that he could whip any man on the ground who was not disposed to contribute. It is said that the contribution was lib- eral, and that Uncle Robert did not undertake to chastise any one. When he was over eighty years of age-more than twenty years since -he found the country here too thickly settled for him, and he emi- grated to the wilder portions of Missouri.

"There were several men who lived within a short range of where Vicksburg now stands who ought not to be forgotten this day. John MeComsey, a brave old Kentuckian, who was captured in the war of 1812, at the battle of the river Raisin, and only escaped the scalping knife of the Indian by his indomitable pluck. Then there was 'old man Allen,' who took contracts for breaking up prairie, and aided the first settlers greatly, for he turned over the sod of many thousand acres. He was not worth $100,000, but still, in the first settlement of the country, he might have been considered a capitalist, for he owned five yokes of cattle, a breaking-up plow, a tent that he set up wher- ever his work was, and a wife who bore him I know not how many children. There was Moses Austin, the first settler on the lake next north of this place ; the lake and station bear his name. He was always ready to aid the new settler. IIe had a host of friends, and his home was an attractive place for the boys and girls from every. neighborhood in Kalamazoo and St. Joseph Counties. Over east of this village was a primitive saw-mill, owned by William B. Wandell, that had a very moderate amount of motion, cutting 300 or 400 feet

# The testimony of Joseph Frakes is that Vickers made an excellent article of whisky, finding ready sale for it among the settlers. Mr. Frakes also states that in his own case liquor has not been used since the time of Henry Clay, who is remembered by the venerable pioneer as the " smartest man he ever heard speak."

+ Some authority states that Isaac Sumner became a partner of Mr. Vickers about the time the distillery was fitted up, and the two built a saw-mill. Among early settlers at the place were Owen Gerald, Gerald Rice, and George Stuart. The latter was, at a later day, the owner of the old saw-mill .- Correspondence in Schoolcraft Dispatch and News.

PHOTO'S BY PACKARD

WM BAIR.

MRS WM BAIR.

WILLIAM BAIR

was born in Stark Co., Ohio, Jan. 23, 1815. When a boy his father moved with his family to Western Ohio, where they remained until 1828, when they came to St. Joseph Co., Mich., and in 1829 to Kala- mazoo County, settling on Prairie Ronde, making. .the third claim for land in the county. Here the father died Nov. 13, 1834, leaving William as the main support of the family, which consisted of his mother and two younger sisters. At this time little progress had been made on the farm; their only team was a pair of steers. With these William was able to put in some crops which grew bountifully. The tide of emigration soon flowed in upon them, and paid them large prices for what they had to spare. From five acres of oats were realized one hundred dollars, with which was entered eighty acres of land. This was the nucleus of the present large estate.

Mr. Bair married, April 21, 1841, Fanny M. Wallace, from Pennsylvania. Her parents came to

Kalamazoo County in 1838. Mr. and Mrs. Bair have been active and consistent members of the Bap- tist Church for more than thirty years, and he has contributed liberally to the erection and support of the Baptist Church in Schoolcraft. Politically Mr. Bair was originally a Democrat: He was a delegate to the convention at Jackson, when the Republican party was organized, and since that time has been a zealous worker of that party. In 1873, Mr. Bair, in company with his wife, made a visit to the Pacific coast for his health; visited Oregon, took a three- hundred-mile ride over the mountains, and returned to his pleasant home in Schoolcraft much improved in health.

In social relations he is genial and companion- able; in business matters prompt and reliable, and as a citizen respected and influential. At home cordial and hospitable, at church an acknowledged leader.

525

TOWNSHIP OF SCHOOLCRAFT.

of lumber in twelve hours. In this mill was a rude lathe, which in its day was considered by some of us as a very ingenious piece of machinery. It could turn out a bowl or a pitcher from the hardest kind of a knot, and many a good housewife in those days thought she had a prize if she possessed one of Wandell's bowls. There was another man in this locality by the name of Hull, commonly called ' General Hull,'-not the General Hull who surrendered Detroit to the British ; he was a more useful citizen, for he made a better splint-bottom chair for fifty cents than you can buy in the shops now for three times that amount. He was as slim as a ramrod, not weigh- ing over 90 pounds, and yet I once saw a man on Gourd-Neck-Mr. Steele-sitting comfortably in one of Hull's chairs, and he weighed 360 pounds.

"Solon Bingham and his partner, Mr. French, with their squad of Irishmen, were useful men in the southern part of this county. At an early day they dug a ditch from the 16th section, in Schoolcraft town- ship, to Rawson's mill-pond, which drained a large quantity of land, aided the health of the county, and cost a large sum of money and some whisky.

"Selleck Longwell had a blacksmith-shop on the south side of Prairie Ronde, about the first established in this county. I was a customer of his, and attempted to give directions as to how he should shoe my horse. He listened attentively, carefully surveying my per- son, and finally, after rolling over a quid of tobacco in his mouth, he ended the interview by giving an equivocal compliment in saying that I wore a good hat and pair of boots, but that I was not smart enough to shoe a horse.

"Stephen Barnaby, at the southeast corner of Prairie Ronde, re- paired wagons, and could also wood a plow. He was a very useful man in his vocation, but somewhat venturesome, as was evidenced by the fact that he once did a job amounting to about a dollar, and trusted me for the pay till after harvest.

" Elisha Doan, a pioneer, built a mill in Brady and one at Mendon. He supposed he had inventive ability; he had an idea in his head that a cannon for military purposes could be made of wood and hooped to prevent an explosion ; his project was, I think, a failure. I made up my mind that he never should explode one of them in my presence. He had another favorite project, and that was to get great speed on railroads by increasing the diameter of the driving-wheel so as to carry you over a mile with very few revolutions. I never rode behind one of his locomotives, nor ever wanted to. I could go on until I had wearied you, my friends, with the mention of names and peculiarities of character of pioneers who were on this ground long before the village of Vicksburg had more than a mill and one house within its limits, but I must close.

"Who of us old residents will be likely to forget assemblages of people at a horse-race, election time, or the public occasion here in the south part of this county ? We all enjoyed ourselves on such occasions, and, considering our surroundings and the general make- up of society, behaved pretty well. At such times we indulged in story-telling, feats of activity and strength, with occasional intem- perate discussions, and now and then, by way of variety, a quarrel, which always made the antagonist a friend when the question of man- hood was settled. All the men whose names I have mentioned, I be- lieve, are now numbered with the dead. With some faults they had many excellencies of character, and filled well the positions assigned them in life.

" . . . Some of us here to-day remember two Indians, who, with others of the Pottowattomie tribe, had their corn dances and other festivities hereabouts long before Gurdon S. Hubbard had his trading- post at the crossing of the Kalamazoo River,-'Shavehead' and ' Pea- cock.' The former, it is said, carried on his person, by way of orna- ment, the scalps of several white men that he obtained while serving against our people at the battle of the river Raisin. I was told that Shavehead was taken sick and died over on the ' reservation' accident- ally, but the nature of the accident never was determined by a coro- ner's jury. Peacock was a genial, pleasant red man, always a favor- ite, and welcomed by his white neighbor, promptly paying with his hunting and trapping effects all the debts he contracted with the trader. He was a good man, except as he was tainted with the white man's vice : he would get drunk ! He died from a singular accident : mounted on his pony, in galloping on the trail he approached a lean- ing tree ; he intended to pass on one side, and the pony made an effort to go the other; the Indian's head was brought in contact with the tree's trunk ; the result, a fractured skull and death."

VILLAGE PLAT AND ADDITIONS.

It is said that John Vickers at one time caused a village plat to be made here, and gave it the name of Vicksburg, but no record was ever made of it, and the statement is not authenticated. However, lots were sold to various parties, and the owners, when a survey was finally made and recorded, became nominally proprietors. The origi- nal plat of the village of Brady-Hugh Finlay proprie- tor-was acknowledged Sept. 17, 1849, the following ad- ditional names appearing on the acknowledgment : Brad- ley S. Williams, Nathaniel J. Kimber, T. W. Kimber, Samuel Hawkins, Jabez G. Rice (by John J. Rice, attor- ney). This portion of the village is located on the south- east quarter of section 13, town 4 south, range 11 west. Additions have been made to the village as follows :

Briggs' Addition, not described on the plat.

Parkhurst's Addition, ten chains square, in the northeast corner of section 24; laid out by James W. and Amelia M Parkhurst, Sept. 15, 1868.

Wolverton's Addition, forty rods square, in the southwest corner of the north half of section 18; laid out by Nathaniel S. Wolverton, Dec. 15, 1868.

Smith's Addition, located in southwest quarter of section 18, town 4 south, range 10 west ; laid out by Leonard L. Smith, April 23, 1869.

Wolverton's Revised Addition, on section 18, by Nathaniel S. Wol- verton, Dec. 18, 1871.

PIONEER STORES-HOTELS, EARLY AND LATE.

The first store in the village was built about 1836, by Clark Briggs and John Noyes, on the corner north of the present McElvain House. Three-fourths of an acre of land had been given them by the proprietors of the village, and a frame building, planked up and down, was erected, and a small stock of merchandise placed in it. It was carried on by these men but a short time. The property in a little while passed into the hands of a blacksmith named Matthew Wilson,* who used the building as a dwelling, and while living in it furnished entertainment for travelers, though not keeping a regular licensed tavern.

In the fall of 1844, Samuel Hawkins came to the State from Ashtabula Co., Ohio, stopping first for a few months in the township of Fawn River, St. Joseph Co. Early in the spring of 1845 he removed to Vicksburg, and has since lived for a time on a farm. He purchased the property just described, moved into the house, and continued to entertain travelers for three or four years. Much teaming was then done over the road passing north and south through the village, and a demand for tavern accommodations was thus created at the place.

Mr. Wilson, who owned the property before Mr. Haw- kins came, was one of the first blacksmiths in the village, and had a shop on the corner immediately west of the Mc- Elvain House, where Miller's store now is. A log black- smith-shop had previously stood on the same spot, but the name of the person who built and operated it is not recol- lected by the man who gave this information.

The first store of any importance in the village was es- tablished about 1845-46 by Hugh Finlay, now deceased. He had previously been a merchant in Schoolcraft, and kept

* Mr. Wilson removed to Wisconsin in June, 1845, and died in that State in the summer.of 1879.

526

HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

a general stock. Some time later he built a low, two-story structure on the corner now occupied by the McElvain House, and for a short period used it as a store. It was subsequently enlarged by the additions of wings, etc., and converted into a hotel, being the first regular one in the place ; Finlay kept it for a longer or shorter period. A portion of it is now standing south of the old site, in use as a store-house for agricultural implements.

The building now known as the " Occidental Hotel," a large frame edifice, was erected by Elijah Chard, and stood originally a block south and a little west from its present location, on the edge of the marsh. It was first known as the " Chard House," and later as the " Western Hotel," etc. It was finally purchased by one Dr. De Lap, to whom it still belongs, although he is at present residing at Muskegon. The doctor associated with him a relative,-Dr. Frost,-and it was proposed to make of the building a medical institute, or resort for invalids. It was extensively advertised and tales of wondrous cures were circulated, but the plan was a failure, and in a few weeks the attempt was abandoned.

The " Junction House," a frame hotel and restaurant at the station, was built after the advent of the railway, for the purposes of a saloon, and was subsequently purchased and moved to its present location by Isaac M. Flint. He afterwards sold it to Mr. Norton, whose widow and son-in- law, Daniel Franklin, are now the proprietors.

The " Temperance House," a frame building on the street leading south from the depot, which at one time had a fine custom, is not now kept as a hotel. It was built by Solon Bingham, who had returned to the village after a prolonged absence, and its first landlord was Frank Jenkinson. The time of its greatest prosperity was after the completion of the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railway.

The " McElvain House," a large, two-story brick edifice, stands on the ground originally occupied by Finlay's hotel, and is the principal establishment of the kind in the vil- lage. It was built in 1872 by its present proprietor, Joseph W. McElvain.

William Bair recollects that when he came to his present farm, in 1844, Vicksburg contained a saw-mill, built by Isaac Sumner, and owned afterwards by Austin Briggs and Elias Cooley, Sr .; a post-office; a log school-house, in which meetings were also held ; a blacksmith-shop, owned by Matthew Wilson ; and a few dwellings.

THE VICKSBURG POST-OFFICE.

The first post-office in the vicinity was kept a little more than a quarter of a mile south of its present location, at the house of Rufus A. Royce, who was postmaster ; he had settled here in 1836 or 1837. The office was origi- nally kept on Gourd-Neck Prairie, west of the village, by Russell Brown, and was known as " Holland Post-office," which name it retained under Mr. Royce's administration. The latter held the office until about 1846, having been appointed previous to 1844, and was succeeded by Hugh Finlay, at which time it was moved to the village and the name changed to Brady, through the endeavors of Mr. Finlay. About 1848 the latter was succeeded by Samuel Hawkins, who held the office some two years. Having removed to a farm in Pavilion township, he resigned in

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History of Kalamazoo county, Michigan, Part 143

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