History of Kalamazoo county, Michigan, Part 87

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

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In October, 1838, reports were received from the direc- tors of districts 2, 3, 6, and 7, but the statistics regarding the same have not been preserved.

Mr. William McClary is of the opinion that a small log school-house was built near Dr. James Harris' residence in 1837, where Mr. Rogers, now of Galesburg, was one of the early teachers, and that the old frame school-house now standing near the line between sections 18 and 19 was built in 1838, Miss Tuttle teaching the first school in the same.

In 1840* reports were received from districts 1, 2, 5, 6, and 7, as follows :

No. 1 .- C. M. Nichols, director ; scholars, 42.

No. 2 .- Joseph Whitford, director ; scholars, 29; attend- ing school, 45; time school has been taught, 6 months ; amount raised, $59.50.

No. 5 .- Alpha Tubbs, director ; scholars, 25.

No. 6 .- Potter Eldred, director; scholars, 48; attend- ing school, 63; time school has been taught, 4 months ; amount raised, $78.

No. 7 .- Ebenezer G. Flanders, director; scholars, 38; attending school, 44; time school has been taught, 3 months; amount raised, $47.45.

The school books named as then in use were Parley's, Olney's, and Smith's Geographies, Murray's and Kirk- ham's Grammar, Daboll's Arithmetic, The Rhetorical Reader, The Old and New English Reader, the New Testament, and Webster's Elementary Spelling-Book.

The following year (1841) reports were received from seven school districts, and, as will be shown, the aggregate of children of school age then residing in the township was greater than at the present time :

District No. 1, C. M. Nichols, director, 40 scholars. No. 2, Joseph Whitford, director, 29 scholars. No. 3,

James Harris, director, 30 scholars. No. 4, Henry Clin- ton, director, 16 scholars. No. 5, Alpha Tubbs, director, 24 scholars. No. 6, L. Capron, director, 42 scholars. No. 7, Worden Wells, director, 43 scholars.

The amount received from the public school fund for the same period was $71, represented by $46 in State scrip, $20 in State bonds, and $5 in Eastern funds.

The names of persons receiving teachers' certificates are not mentioned until 1843. Those licensed during the lat- ter year were Jane Lee, Nancy Hopkins, Mary J. West, Celestia C. Tuttle, Emma J. Whitford, Franklin Whittle- sey, and Sylvanus Owen. In 1844, Sophronia Beck with, Marriette Livings, Henry D. Rogers, - Brinckerhoff, Cornelia McClary, P. H. Whitford, Harvey Bush. In 1845, C. S. Mason, Sophronia Beckwith, Elizabeth Penfield, Emma J. Whitford, Miranda Weed, Marriette Livings, Ebenezer G. Flanders, and Laura Beach.

The following statistics from the annual report of the township board of education for the year ending Sept. 1, 1879, show the present condition of schools :

Number of whole districts.

213 6

Number of children of school age in township .... " attending school during year. 180

" frame school-houses. 6

Seating capacity of school-houses. 301 $3600

Value of school property

Male teachers employed during year

Female teachers employed during year.

Months taught by male teachers

Months taught by female teachers

31}

Paid male teachers

$519

Paid female teachers

$465.50

Total resources.

$1706.75

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

JOHN W. KIRBY.

This gentleman, one of the prominent farmers of Charles- ton, was born in the town of Lebanon, Columbia Co., N. Y., Oct. 24, 1824. He was the son of John and Freelove (Lyon) Kirby, who had a family of eleven children, nine of whom grew to maturity. The elder Kirby was a man of uncompromising integrity, with strong religious procliv- ities. He was an industrious and successful farmer, and attained a prominent position, both socially and otherwise, in his locality. He was magistrate of Lebanon for over twenty years, and held many other local offices. He died in Lebanon, in 1871. John followed the footsteps of his father, and his life has been devoted to agricultural pursuits. He resided upon the old home until 1867, when he came to Charleston and purchased the farm upon which he now resides. He married, in 1852, Miss Mary Howland, of Mechanicsville, Saratoga Co., N. Y., where she was born in 1830. They have been blessed with four children,- Arzelia, Marian, Alice, and Elbert.

* Squire Giddings taught the scholars from districts 1 and 2, during the winter of 1839 and '40, in an old log house standing about forty rods west of "Cock's Corners."

CLIMAX .*

NATURAL FEATURES.

Geography .- The township of Climax-town 3 south, range 9 west-is situated in the east part of Kalamazoo County. It is bounded on the north by Charleston, east by Leroy, Calhoun Co., south by Wakeshma, and west by Pavilion. It is mostly a plain, with a gentle slope of about six feet per mile to the south and southwest. It was at the time of the first settlement covered with a heavy growth of timber, except a few open marshes and a prairie in the northeast part, containing about 300 acres, in this township. This prairie was first settled, and gave the township its name.

There are two small lakes in the township. One of them is situated on the northwest quarter of section 3, and con- tains about twenty acres. It is known by the name of Pierce's Lake. Another small lake, known as Lefever's Lake, is situated on section 9, and contains about ten acres. There are no large streams in this town. The largest is Portage River, which runs southwesterly through sections 5 and 6. This stream takes its rise in a small lake in the township of Charleston, only about three-fourths of a mile from the Climax line, and empties into the St. Joseph at Three Rivers. A branch of this stream, known near its mouth as Beaver Creek, takes its rise on section 11, and runs southwesterly across sections 11, 10, 15, 16, 21, 20, 19, 30, and a corner of section 31, and empties into Indian Lake. Another branch of the Portage rises in Lefever's Lake, and runs southwest across sections 8, 17, 18, and 19, and empties into the Portage on section 28, in Pavilion. These three streams drain all that part of the town lying northwest of a line drawn from the northeast corner of section 2 to the southeast corner of section 32. The rest of the township is drained by two streams, one of which rises on section 12, and runs southwest to the east line of section 15, and thence nearly south across the town. This stream, laid down on the map as Portage Creek, empties into the Portage River in the township of Park, St. Joseph Co. Portage seems to have been a favorite name for streams, as there are four of them bearing that name in Kalamazoo County. Bear Creek takes its rise on section 24, and runs south across sections 25 and 36. It empties into the Nottawa River at Leonidas.

Beaver Creek divides the township into two nearly equal portions, which differ widely in their soil, timber, and other natural characteristics. Much of the way this creek is the dividing line between the oak openings and what is pop- ularly known as the "timbered land" or "south woods." That portion to the north and west was mostly timbered with a heavy growth of various kinds of oak and some

hickory. Marshes are found along the streams of this tract that are generally open, with scattering bunches of willows, and are fed by copious springs of pure and wholesome water.

The marshes produce narrow-leaved sedges, small ferns, and other plants which go by the common names of " nar- row-leaved marsh-grass," " wire-grass," etc. These marshes furnished the carly settlers with the hay which for many years was a leading article used in wintering stock, and also furnished the earliest spring feed.

The soil of the upland is a loam varying from a heavy clay to a medium sandy loam, with a goodly amount of veg- etable mould on the surface. It has a subsoil of gravelly clay varying from two to ten or fifteen feet in thickness, underneath which is found sand and gravel extending to an unknown depth, which furnishes the most perfect possible under-drainage for the land. Wells sunk from fifteen to sixty feet find in this clean sand a copious supply of the best and most wholesome water.

South and east of Beaver Creek the upland is mostly a heavy clay loam, with clay subsoil of great depth, having in places strata of quicksand or gravel. It was timbered with a very heavy growth of beech, maple, whitewood, ash, black walnut, elm, basswood, cherry, hickory, and ironwood.

Along the streams are extensive swamps and marshes. In these swamps were growing tamarack, elm, black-ash, soft maple, swamp-oak, and willows. The marshes produced wide-leaved sedges and large ferns, reeds, and flags of an enormous growth. The hay from these marshes is esteemed by many to be nearly as good as " tame hay" for stock feeding. These swamps, which occupy a considerable por- tion of sections 12. 13, 14, 15, 22, 23, 26, 27, 34, and 35, have an impervious clay soil covered with muck of varying thickness, generally from six inches to two feet, but some- times much thicker. Underneath the stratum of clay, which is not usually more than two to four feet thick, is a substratum of quicksand or gravel. There are few or no permanent springs feeding these swamps,-the principal one of which is known as the Big-Willow Swamp,-hence they are easily drained, and when brought under cultiva- tion produce large crops of grass, corn, rye, buckwheat, and the various root-crops. The height of land in the town- ship is on Climax Prairie. The water from the immediate vicinity of the prairie runs, by various water-courses, to the east into the Kalamazoo, to the south into the St. Joseph, and to the southwest into the Portage, and also to the north into the Kalamazoo. This proves the prairie to be at the summit of this portion of the water-shed between the St. Joseph and Kalamazoo River valleys. What is known as the " Willow Plains" is a tract of level land on section 1, embracing an area of about 160 acres, which was formerly

* By Francis Hodgman.

324

MRS. P. C. PEARCE.

PARVIS C. PEARCE.

RES. OF P. C. PEARCE . CLIMAX, KALAMAZOO CO., MICH.

325

TOWNSHIP OF CLIMAX.

covered with a thick growth of small willows and scattering burr-oaks of small size. In and about the prairie are nu- merous groves of burr-oaks. Numerous beaver-dams are to be found on all the streams in the township. These dams have had very much to do in modifying the character of the land by making ponds and swamps of what would otherwise have been dry, hard land.

The township contains approximately 300 acres of prairie, 3000 acres of swamp and marsh-land, 10,000 acres of oak openings, and 9800 acres of beech- and maple-timbered land. The soil of the entire township is remarkably fertile, yielding large crops of wheat, grass, corn, oats, buck wheat, potatoes, apples, peaches, and the small fruits, which, with cattle, sheep, hogs, and horses, form the principal productions. The township is traversed from the northeast to the south- west by the Northwestern Grand Trunk Railway. It con- tains one small village, Climax, having a population of between 300 and 400. This village is not platted or incor- porated. A part of the village of Scotts is also in Climax.

PREHISTORIC.

The township was evidently a favorite haunt of the pre- historic races, and traces of their handiwork are still to be found in various parts of the town, but principally in the vicinity of Climax Prairie. The most noteworthy of these relics is found on the southeast quarter of section 3, about one hundred rods from the present village of Climax. It consists of an elliptical ditch inclosing one and three-tenths acres of the summit of a small hill, which is the highest land in the vicinity, and probably the highest in the town. The elliptical form is very perfect ; its greater diameter is 330 feet, and the lesser diameter 210 feet. The direction of its major axis is north 30° east. It overlooks the coun- try for several miles in each direction.

When the town was first settled this hill was covered with a growth of large oak-timber. As soon as the annual fires were stopped from running a vigorous growth of young oaks, hickories, and hazel-bushes sprang up, which soon covered it with a dense thicket. At that time the ditch was about three feet deep and ten or twelve feet wide. Large trees were growing in its bottom and along its banks, show- ing that a very long time had elapsed since its construction. The early settlers called it the old fort, and that name still clings to it. The land is now cleared and has been plowed over many times, but the line of the old ditch is still visible.

A similar " fort," but much smaller, was located on the northeast quarter of section 1, near the centre of the quarter- section. It consisted of a circular embankment about two feet high and inclosing an area of one-fourth to one-half of an acre. There was no regular ditch, but pits at intervals, from which the earth appeared to have been thrown for the embankment. It looked much like a large circus ring.

About a mile west of the " old fort," and in plain sight from it, before the timber grew up, were a number of the so-called " garden- beds," covering an area of several acres. These beds were from four to six feet wide, and from two to ten rods long. The paths between them were six or eight inches deep and from one to three feet wide. The beds were irregular in size and shape, and not laid in straight lines, as if laid out by skilled workmen. A still greater number of

these garden-beds were found a little over half a mile east of the old fort ; on land owned by Stephen Eldred, and also on section 1 on the Willow Plains. The most distinctly marked of any of these garden-beds lay about forty rods south of the fort, on T. B. Eldred's land. They lay in various direc- tions and at different angles with each other, as though the land had been parceled out and worked by different owners. The paths between were deep enough, so that the plow would run out of the ground in crossing them. Others nearly as distinct were found on D. Lawrence's land, half a mile northwest of the fort. In fact, the whole country about the prairie seems to have been parceled out and worked by those prehistoric farmers.

The ground has been cultivated for many years, so that all traces of the old garden-beds are now destroyed, and what area they occupied, their sizes and configuration, are questions for whose answer we have to depend on the some- what vague recollections of the early settlers who were fa- miliar with them.

Mounds of various sizes were found in different direc- tions from the fort. One, which stood a little more than half a mile north of it, was conical, about forty feet across the base, and from four to six feet high. From its summit grew a white-oak tree two feet in diameter. Other mounds, similar in size, stood on sections 1 and 2. Most of them have been leveled with the ground, and from some of them portions of human skeletons were removed. A few mounds in the vicinity of the prairie still remain.

INDIANS.

There were no regular Indian villages in the township at the date of its settlement by whites, although the Ottawas and Pottawattomies resorted to it as a favorite hunting- ground, and came hither every spring to their annual sugar-making. Roving bands under the chiefs Samokay, Maguága, and Nottawa continued to visit the township and encamp temporarily within its limits till their removal by the United States government. They were friendly and honest in their dealings with the whites, and rarely committed any depredations. They had several sugar- camps, the principal one of which was situated on section 21. They gathered the sap in little brass pails, and boiled it down in such iron kettles as they had been able to pro- cure of the settlers. It was said that they boiled muskrats and other animals with their sap, and strained it through their blankets. This did not much improve the market for their sugar with the whites who witnessed the operation. Three of their number died during one of their visits, and their bodies were deposited in a rude cemetery near the sugar-camp. The bodies were inclosed in logs, which they split open and hollowed out for the purpose. The logs con- taining the bodies were put on a staging about two feet from the ground. Stakes were driven at the sides, and cross-pieces put on to hold the logs down and prevent their getting open, and all were inclosed in a palisade made by driving split stakes in the ground.

A number of the Indians under Maguaga did not remove with the rest, but chose to locate land and settle on it, which they did in the township of Athens. These Indians con- tinued to visit the prairie and trade for many years after-

326

HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

wards, and a few of them are occasionally seen up to the present time.

EARLY SETTLEMENT.

The first white man to visit the township, of whom we have any definite record, was Col. John Mullett with his party, who, Nov. 18, 1825, began surveying out the town- ship lines. This hardy pioneer, who thus pushed his way forward years in advance of civilization, has left his marks from one end of Michigan to the other ; and far away in the northern wilderness the beautiful Mullett Lake remains for ever an enduring tribute to his memory. It is probable that the early hunters, trappers, and traders had visited this region before, but they have left nothing behind to preserve the memory of their visit. Col. Mullett ran the township lines in 1825, and, the following June, Robert Clark, Jr., subdivided it into sections. These two hardy men practically opened up the town for settlement, and furnished both the government and the settler with their first real knowledge of the country.

ORIGINAL LAND-ENTRIES.

The following list shows the time when and the persons by whom the land in the township was originally entered. Where a settler entered lands on different sections the names have not always been repeated.

Section 1 .- Titus Bronson, November, 1831; Daniel Eldred, Alfred Eldred, Ambrose S. Eldred, June, 1834; Isaac Davis, November, 1834.

Section 2 .- Stephen Eldred, June, 1831; Daniel B. Eldred, Moses Farnsworth, September, 1831; John F. Gilkey, Lyman J. Daniels, 1831.

Section 3 .- John F. Gilkey, Samuel Camp, Stephen Eldred, 1831; Isaac Pierce, 1836.

Section 4 .- Wesley Sherman, Willard Lovell, 1834; Dudley Glenn and Hezekiah G. Bowdish, William S. Myers, 1835; William E. Sawyer, Caleb Eldred, Jr., 1836.

Section 5 .- David Cushman, Jas. W. Norris, Levi Pierce, George Goodman, 1836.

Section 6 .- Charles Walker, Elisha Belcher, Eli Whitford, Ambrose Cock, 1836.

Section 7 .- Nelson Hubbell, John Patten, David Olin, 1836.

Section 8 .- Otis Simmons, 1835; Sarah Porter, Benjamin Porter, Auma P. Woods, J. W. Norris, 1836; Hutchins Belcher, 1837.

Section 9 .- Henry L. Ellsworth, 1832; L. S. and J. D. Pierce, Beers and Sherwood, 1835.

Section 10 .- Joshua Garrett, 1831; David Page, 1833 ; J. D. Adams, 1834; John C. Beach, Winchester Sherman, 1836.

Section 11 .- Daniel Lay, 1835; S., D., B., and C. Eldred, Jr., 1836-37. Section 12 .- Isaac Davis, 1836; Willard Lovell, Ira Case, Lysander Cole, 1837; Jones Tompkins, 1852 ; Thomas T. Halloch, Geo. W. Lovell, 1853.

Section 13 .- Heman Baker, 1835; Benjamin Harrison, 1836; Timo- thy Kelsey, Silas Kelsey, Benjamin Lay, 1837.

Section 13 .- Daniel Eldred, Charles Lay, 1837; A. V. C. Halloch, 1852; John Hooker, 1853; Harry Cole, 1854.

Section 14 .- Ansel Kelsey, 1837 ; Truman S. Cole, 1846; George Shel- don, 1847; Jacob Coe, Mary E. Peck, 1852.

Section 15 .- Nehemiah Elwell, Sr., Nehemiah Elwell, Jr., 1835; J. W. Benedict, 1836.

Section 16 .- Jacob Coe, Isaac Pierce, P. C. Pierce.

Section 17 .- John Carney, John Tanner, Hannah Keyes, John Van Wert, 1835.

Section 18 .- David Freer, T. P. Sheldon, Jacob Schramling, 1835 ; Miles Lampson, Uri Hamilton, 1836 ; Joel A. Gardiner, 1837 ; Erastus Kidder, 1853.

Section 19 .- Daniel Wheeler, 1835.

Section 20 .- Frederick Sager, Erastus Pease, 1835.

Section 21 .- William Pray, John Waterhouse, George Howland, Ma-

hala Horton, 1836 ; Chandler Pease, Johannes Le Fever, 1839; Warren Parrish, 1851.

Section 22 .- Robert Elwell, Lorenzo Jones, John M. Pierce, 1836; Myron S. Coe, Philip Peer, 1853.

Section 23 .- -. Kingsland, 1836; Samuel C. Gillet, 1853. Section 24 .- A. Cock, Thomas Wilson, D. C. Kingsland, 1836. Section 25 .- Isaac Davis, 1835; Thomas Wilson, Daniel Cock, 1836. Section 26 .- Joseph Roe, 1848; Alex. and Joseph Harrison, 1849.

Section 27 .- George Howland, Asa Jones, Newton Selbee, 1836.

Section 28 .- Philip Harris, Charles Walker, Aaron Soule, 1836; Fred- erick Sager, 1837.

Section 29 .- Thomas J. Chaffee, George Howland, 1836.

Section 30 .- Friend C. Bird, Benjamin Depue, 1835 ; Horace H. Com- stock, 1836.

Section 31 .- Frederick Sager, 1835; Tomlinson and Booth, John Van Wert, Jacob Schramling, Daniel W. Fish, 1836.

Section 32 .- John Van Wert, James Wakelee, George Howland, 1836. Section 33 .- George Howland, 1836.

Section 34 .- Benjamin Harrison, Joseph Harrison, 1837; John S. Tracy, 1838; William Lawrence, Garret Harrison, Jeremiah Harrison, 1853 ; Daniel B. Smith, 1854.

Section 35 .- Jabez Pomeroy, George Thomas, 1836 ; Wm. M. Davis, Nelson Tupper, 1851 ; Loyal C. Kellogg, 1852; Myron Farman, 1854.

Section 36 .- Jabez Pomeroy, 1835 ; Thomas Wilson, 1836; John Sager, Joseph Sager, 1837 ; Harris H. Palmer, 1854.

Many of these names are those of speculators who never occupied the lands owned by them.

The first settlements made in the township were on the prairie. After the surveyors Mullett and Clark, probably the first white man to visit the prairie was Calvin White, who crossed it early in the spring of 1831. He had been on an exploring tour from Bronson (now Kalamazoo) to the mouth of the St. Joseph River, White Pigeon, and Coldwater. He says he came across the country from Cold- water to Toland's Prairie on foot and alone, and on his way crossed Climax Prairie.

At Comstock he joined Judge Caleb Eldred, who had located at that place with his son, Daniel B. Eldred, but a short time before, and informed him of the discovery he had made.

Mr. Eldred soon after visited the prairie in company with Sherman Comings, who had settled on Toland's Prairie the previous winter. Comings and others visited the prairie several times about this time, on one occasion firing the grass, burning over the whole prairie. Some time in April or May, 1831, Judge Eldred, Daniel B. Eldred, Hiram Moore, and Calvin White visited the prairie, and made a thorough examination of it. Night overtook them and they camped on the east bank of a beautiful clear lake, which lay near the trail just west of the prairie, now known as Potter's Lake. Before leaving they proposed to name the prairie, and each in turn suggested a name. Judge Eldred, Moore, and White each suggested the name of their native place. Last came Daniel B. Eldred, who said, " This caps the climax of everything I ever saw. I propose we call it Climax." And so it was named, and the township after it.

In May, 1831, Judge Eldred located his claim by plow- ing a strip of 20 acres. It was plowed in a long strip along the quarter line of section 2 in such a way as to be partly situated on each quarter of that section. This strip of land was plowed for the Eldreds by a man named Rosencrants, and was planted to corn in that year. No land was entered by Judge Eldred, but in June, 1831, his sons Stephen and Daniel B. entered three quarter-sections on sections 2 and 3.

EAST VIEW OF RESIDENCE.

MRS. T. B. ELDRED.

THOS. B. ELDRED.

B. ELDRED, CLIMAX, KALAMAZOO Co., MICH.

RES, AND FARM OF THOMAS.

327

TOWNSHIP OF CLIMAX.

At the same time, Moses Farnsworth entered the south half of the northeast quarter of section 2, and he and his brother Joseph built cabins on it and moved upon the land. They were the first actual settlers in the township, and the Eldreds boarded with them while harvesting their first crop of corn. The Farnsworths desired to purchase the lot of land adjoining theirs on the north and gave out that they had bought it, and Joseph Farnsworth's cabin was built very near the line, so as to give the impression that it was on the north lot, and thus keep others away. But the ruse failed. It became known that the north lot was not taken, and Farnsworth heard of it and went to John F. Gilkey, of Gull Prairie, and told him if he would enter the land he would give him $150 for it at the end of a year. Gilkey agreed, and purchased the land. But Farnsworth failed to carry out his part of the agreement, and in December, 1833, Gilkey sold the lot to Willard Lovell for $150, and so got his money back. Lovell bought out Farnsworth at the same time.

In 1832, Judge Eldred built a house upon and moved to section 3. As he held property at Comstock at the same time, his family was divided, part being at one place, and part at the other, till 1834. His wife and daughter Phebe, then a young woman, took charge of the respective house- holds, going back and forth between them as occasion demanded. Phebe used to go on horseback between the two homes, fording the Kalamazoo River near Toland's Prairie on her way. On one occasion she found the water high and ice running, but she pushed bravely over, swim- ming her horse among the cakes of ice, and reached the opposite shore in safety, although her life had been in im- minent peril.

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History of Kalamazoo county, Michigan, Part 87

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