History of Kalamazoo county, Michigan, Part 93

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

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up to the time of the present writing. The presidents of the club have been William Tobey, Joseph Harrison, M. N. Lefever, and L. B. Sanders.

THE CLIMAX CORNET BAND

was organized in the fall of 1877, mainly through the efforts of N. E. Retalick. Its first members were N. E. Retalick, Ithiel Eldred, Albert Harding, George Bucklin, Evander Averill, Wallace Peckham, Clayton Peckham, James Brown, Ransom Collins, H. L. Cobb, Ira G. Wilson, Wil- liam Hoyer, and F. Hodgman. The members of the band purchased their own instruments, with about $25 assistance from outside parties, and began practice once a week, which they have kept up ever since. As was to be expected, sev- eral of the first members did not develop any special apti- tude for playing their instruments, and by the spring of 1879 about half of them had given it up and left the band. A similar band had been organized in the north part of the town of Leroy and South Battle Creek, about the same time, called the East Leroy Cornet Band. Their success had been about the same as the Climax Band, and in the spring of 1879 the two bands agreed to join forces, which they did to their mutual advantage. The members at pres- ent are F. Hodgman, Leader ; Albert York, 1st E-flat cor- net ; Barney Christie, 2d E-flat cornet ; N. E. Retalick, 1st B-flat cornet ; Alf. Miner, 2d B-flat cornet ; - - Parker, 1st E-flat alto; I. G. Wilson, 2d E-flat alto; Albert Hunt, 1st B-flat tenor; Wilbert Pierce, 2d B-flat tenor ; James H. Brown, baritone ; Will. Hoyer, 1st E-flat tuba ; Will. Miner, 2d E-flat tuba ; Lewis Pierce, snare-drum ; Hazard Pierce, bass-drum. Meetings for practice are held weekly at the village of Climax.

CEMETERIES.

There are two cemeteries in town, one at the village of Climax, and the other on section 17, near the residence of L. T. Averill. The first is situated eighty rods south of the " Corners" at the village, and contains about an acre of land. It was opened to the public by Judge Eldred, in 1836, who afterwards gave the ground to the Baptist So- ciety. The first person whom we can learn of having been buried there was Henry Schramlin, who died in the fall of 1836. The first school-house stood in one corner of the burying-ground, and in the winter the school-children used to slide down hill among the graves. When the old school- house was removed the site was added to the cemetery, and a new one purchased, adjoining it on the south. When the second school-site was given up it passed into the hands of Isaac Pierce. This has recently been fitted up by his widow for a cemetery, and a handsome monument erected to his memory.

The cemetery on section 17 consists of about an acre of ground near the quarter post on the west side of the section. It was first opened on the south side by John Carney, in 1850, and the first burial was Samuel Carney, who died in December, 1850. The next was the wife of Joel A. Gard- ner. After several years, Hollis Gilson opened another half-acre to the public for burial purposes. No deed of the ground has ever been made to the public in any way, and they occupy it by the free-will and sufferance of the owner.

ISAAC PIERCE.

Of those hardy first pioneers who came into Climax when its present farms were forests, or unbroken prairies, its homes the log shanties first built now existing only in the imaginings of the first settlers, there was no one better fitted to fill such a place than Isaac Pierce, of whom this brief sketch is written. A man of firm constitution, of great physical strength, and of indomitable will, he seemed formed by nature to be "a leader of men,"-a pioneer. He was born in Berkshire Co., Mass., July 28, 1803. His family were of English origin, having early emigrated to America.

Langworthy Pierce, Isaac's father, was born in Rhode Island, from whence he moved, after his marriage, to Berk- shire Co., Mass. In 1811 he went to New York, finally buying a farm of wild land in Livingston County, which he improved and lived upon until 1830, when he moved to Niagara County, where he lived until his death. Isaac lived with his father until his marriage, working on the farm from childhood, and receiving his education mostly in the school of observation. After his marriage, in 1831, he started in life for himself, working land on shares for a time, and then buying a farm by article, on which but little had to be paid. We next find him in Niagara County, where he bought a farm of wild land, and on which

he built a log house, and with his accustomed energy com- menced to improve and clear.

This farm he sold in 1835 and came to Climax, Mich., where he bought one hundred and sixty acres of land on which part of the village of Climax now stands. The next year he came with his family and commenced life in the new home. This farm he cleared and improved as well as several others at different times owned by him. On this farm he lived until his death, which occurred July 12, 1873. To the farm he added until he owned at different times eight hundred acres of land ; and it is said of him that few men did more hard work or contributed more toward the im- provement of the town.

In an early day he was a Whig, and at the first township meeting was elected a justice of the peace, which office he held many years. He was a leader in his party, and at the first township meeting, which was one of the most hotly contested elections ever held in the town, no one did more to earn the victory won by the Whigs than Mr. Pierce. He was at different times supervisor of the town. He died a wealthy man. For his first wife he married Miss Catherine Archer, by whom he had ten children. His second wife was Emeline E. Hadley, who was born Oct. 8, 1822. Their union was blessed with five children.

345

TOWNSHIP OF CLIMAX.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

JUDGE CALEB ELDRED.

The following sketch of the life of Judge Caleb Eldred is mostly from the pen of A. D. P. Van Buren.

Caleb Eldred was born on the 6th day of April, 1781, in Pownal, Bennington Co., Vt. His parents, of English ancestry, had removed, many years previous to his birth, from Rhode Island to Vermont. They had seven children, five of whom were sons, namely, Caleb, Thomas, Stephen, and Mumford ; and two daughters, Eunice and Amy .*

Only two of the family, beside himself, ever came to , Michigan : Daniel, who died in Climax, and who was the father of Potiphar, William, and Andrew ; and Mumford, the father of Mumford, Jr., Rev. Andrew J., of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church, and Mrs. Calkins. He settled in Allegan County, where he died a few years ago. I believe Mr. Eldred's brothers and sisters are all dead. A reference to the period of Judge Eldred's birth brings vividly to mind that stirring event in our Revolution, the battle of Benning- ton, and all its incidents.f Daniel Eldred, his father, was taken prisoner at the time of this battle, although not in service during the fight. He was captured by the enemy while traveling along the public road, and was kept prisoner until he was exchanged some time afterwards.

That important period in Caleb Eldred's life, his boy- hood, which includes all of his school days, was spent among the green hills of his native State. The common- school curriculum, at that time, embraced merely reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, and grammar. Caleb made himself the most proficient in the first three, giving espe- cial attention to arithmetic. Grammar was not made so necessary a part of common-school education at that time as it is now. A limited supply of learning and of money went much farther with a man then than now. Still, Caleb must have made some advancement in his education, for we find him ere he had attained majority teaching a country school. The next event in his life was his marriage, Oct. 3, 1802, to Miss Phoebe Brownell ; and in February, 1803, he removed to Laurens, Otsego Co., N. Y. Here he engaged in farming. He served his township as justice of the peace, and was president of the Otsego County Agricultural So- ciety for several years. During De Witt Clinton's adminis- tration as Governor of New York, Mr. Eldred was elected to the State Legislature; he was also re-elected. While a member of this body, in 1821, he was very influential in securing Martin Van Buren's election to the United States Senate, and we can put it down as a pertinent fact that he advocated with all his ability the successful prosecution of De Witt Clinton's great enterprise,-the Erie Canal.

While busied in the cultivation of his farm his health failed. It was generally thought by his friends that con- sumption, that insidious disease, had selected him as its victim. By the advice of his physicians he sought some other business, and we find him in a short time following the more active pursuit of a drover. In the saddle, riding ;

about Otsego, Chenango, and adjoining counties, he gave his time to buying cattle for the Philadelphia market. It is claimed that he sent the first drove of cattle from New York to Philadelphia.

It was while engaged in this new business that he heard flying rumors about a new Territory up among the Lakes in the far Northwest, called Michigan. He gets down his map,-probably Woodbridge's or Morse's old school Atlas, -and finds out all he can from that source, its geographical location. But those wild rumors about Michigan-the avant couriers that led to the discovery of this magnificent State-have not only arrested his attention, but they have urged him to start on a journey to this far-away region. Hence, in the summer of 1830 he sets out for the wild Western Territory, and had reached the interior as far as Jacksonburg when the " fever and ague," the foe to all frontiersmen, attacked him. Here he remained for six weeks at Blackman's tavern, and, no doubt, was each day put through the icy shakes and burning fever of this most miserable disease. Finding, at the outset, that he should be detained by sickness, he hires Ruel Starr, a chance com- panion he met in Detroit, to go on for him, and prospect farther west in this new region.

Mr. Starr gets his instructions and sets out on his tour of discovery. He prospects about the Grand Rapids country, comes back by way of Gull Prairie, and from thence takes the old trail to Kalamazoo, and returns to Jacksonburg with an interesting account of the new land, but gives the most glowing one of the country about Kala- mazoo. The judge was recovering from the ague and fever when Mr. Starr returned. He was soon able to start with his friend to see the locality he had praised so much. And here we would refer to a singular circumstance in relation to Judge Eldred's sickness at Jacksonburg. As we have said, he was supposed to be a victim to the consumption. But that six weeks' sickness in Blackman's tavern had destroyed every vestige of the consumption lurking in his system. He was renovated and made a new and healthy man. He always thought that the ague and fever cured him. From that day he dated his improved health, and, we may add, his long and useful life, devoted to the best interests of Kalamazoo County.

The judge, feeling himself again, set out with his com- panion, who now was really his guiding star through un- broken wilderness. Following the blazed trees westward, they came on to Kalamazoo and located lands or made a claim at Comstock, including the water-power. He em- ployed a man-Ralph Tuttle-to build a log house on his claim, and returned to the East to prepare for a final journey with his family to this new land. A short time after he left, Hiram Moore, Mr. Jackson, and J. F. Gilkey came to Comstock and, in old settlers' phrase, "jumped" Judge Eldred's " claim," and also located other lands so as to cover both sides of the creek at this place.

Judge Eldred returned in January, 1831, with his son, Daniel B., and spent the winter in a new house which he erected at the mouth of the creek, south of the road. He then began the erection of a saw-mill, which he finished in a short time. Hiram Moore afterwards justified his action in "jumping" this claim by saying that he, did not think

* Only four sons appear to be named. The fifth was probably Daniel.

t The battle of Bennington was fought Aug. 16, 1777.

346

HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

Eldred would ever come back again, consequently he felt at liberty to locate the land for himself. The judge after- wards located lands on the same stream at Comstock. Dur- ing the season other emigrants pitched their tents at Com- stock, or sought shelter among those who had built houses.

While this little colony was making improvements and getting ready for the winter, Judge Eldred is informed by one of the emigrants, Calvin White, of a beautiful prairie he had discovered lying off to the southeast of Toland. Being desirous of visiting this new region, a party, com- posed of himself, his son, Daniel B., Hiram Moore, and Calvin White, who went as guide, set out with staffs in hand through the forest for this reputed Eldorado. Ar- riving at the western border of the prairie, they were de- lighted with the view before them, and remarked to White that he had not done the subject justice,-the region told its own story best. After taking an extended survey of the prairie, they found they would have to seek the hospitality of this fine region for the night. They conse- quently camped on the east side of Potter's Lake. In the morning they held a council to decide what name they should give to the prairie. It was agreed that each one should present a name for it, and they would then select the best one. Judge Eldred gave Laurens, the name of his town in New York ; Hiram Moore gave the name of his native place in Vermont; Calvin White of his in New York ; and, lastly, Daniel B. Eldred, arising, said, " As this caps the climax of all prairies, I move we call it Climax." This resolution was seconded and carried unanimously.

In May, 1831, Mr. Eldred located land on this prairie, establishing his claim by conforming to the law then in vogue,-that is, he plowed some on each lot. He plowed only on one section, No. 2, and purchased three quarter- sections, which was all he had money to pay for. On arriving at White Pigeon in June, he secured three quarter- sections. He bought two more afterwards in different parts of the prairie. The surveyors had marked this spot previ- ously as a desirable location .*

Twenty acres were planted to corn. As the tough prairie sod laughed at a hoe in planting, they took a sharp spade, or more usually an axe, and cutting a hole in the turf, dropped in the corn, and put the chunk back by way of a plug. Thus they planted the twenty acres to corn, and leaving it to grow, went back to Comstock. When it came up the gophers and birds were ready to devour it. But the worst enemies were the sand-hill cranes. Stephen Eldred informed me that those cranes would stalk along the corn-rows, striding on their long spindle-legs from hill to hill, and darting down their long bills, they would pluck up and gulp down the tender corn-shoots as they strode across the entire field. One crane, he said, would thus devour an acre of young corn in a short time. The cranes never troubled them after the first season. They were very shy of the settlers, and left the young corn-fields to the gophers and other enemies. They planted this field over

again the first of June, and had a very good crop in the fall. It was not harvested until late in the season. When they came to husk it, they found another enemy secreted among the tall, rustling stalks, filling their sacks with the yellow ears,-it was "Lo, the poor Indian." But they ran, taking sacks and all, as the Eldreds came in sight.

In the winter of 1831, the judge and his son, Daniel B., went to Detroit with their horse-team to meet Stephen and the family. They found them on the opposite side of the river, which had just been closed by a heavy frost. The judge examined the ice carefully, and made up his mind that it would bear the teams. So they were hitched up and started with the loads. The ice settled beneath them at every step, but they were kept in rapid motion, and the shore was reached in safety at a time when a minute's stop on the way would have plunged them all to the bottom of the river. Stephen drove his team through to Galesburg in six days. This was fast traveling at that time. They found bridges over the large streams as far as Ann Arbor, but none this side. They forded all the streams and struggled and floundered over all the marshes. The lat- ter were more difficult to cross than the streams. They camped out only one night ; that was three miles this side of Marshall. They rolled the nail-kegs over the marshes. The square boxes were the most difficult part of their load to get over these treacherous and boggy morasses.

The next season H. H. Comstock, Caleb Eldred, and Samuel Percival built a grist-mill at Comstock. The origi- nal contract ran thus: Comstock was to furnish the money and have one-half interest; Judge and Stephen Eldred were to furnish the lumber, mill-stones, do the carpen- ter-work, and have one-quarter interest; Samuel Percival was to do the millwright work and have the other quarter interest, and the contract was thus carried out. The mill was finished before wheat-harvest in 1832. Judge El- dred, in the winter of 1831-32, hauled the mill-stones on an ox-sled from Detroit.

From 1831 to 1834 part of Judge Eldred's family re- mained at Comstock and part at the new home on Climax Prairie. During 1834 the judge sold out his entire inter- est at Comstock and removed to Climax, where he has ever since resided, giving his entire attention to farming.

He was the first postmaster at Comstock and the first at Climax. He was also the first supervisor for Kalamazoo and Comstock. He never was at a loss for a field of use- fulness ; he found it wherever he was,-in improving the country and society in all of its industrial, educational, moral, and religious enterprises.

When the time for building the school-house came, which he strove to hasten, he was the most efficient and successful promoter of education in this part of the new Territory. And we find him, as soon as the little colony at Comstock had built their rude habitations, zealously engaged in se- curing religious worship for the people. He went about calling on each one of the settlers, and conferred with them on this subject. In several instances he met with no en- couragement, and in one or two with decided opposition. One prominent settler, of commanding intellectual ability sufficient to endow a minister, or "to govern men and guide the State," informed him " that they had things of

# There is nothing of the kind in the field-notes of the surveyors relative to this locality. It is probably an error of some of the early maps, as the notes refer to a willow swamp, two miles south of the prairie .- F. H.

347

TOWNSHIP OF CLIMAX.

more importance than religious meetings to attend to at that time." But the judge, feeling conscious that he was right, went determinedly to work, and with the co-operation of many of the settlers he succeeded in his most worthy undertaking. He found Elder Thomas Merrill, who was the itinerant pioneer preacher in this new region, and se- cured his services. The old settler will yet remember him as they have seen him riding horseback through the woods on his religious missions.

The first meeting was held at Judge Eldred's house, in Comstock, and arrangements were afterwards made, as the settlement on Toland Prairie was large, to hold meetings alternately at Judge Eldred's house and at Sherman Com- ings' on the prairie. When the minister did not come they selected one of their number to read a sermon for them. The meetings thus started were continued. This was the commencement of religious meetings in this part of the country, and the origin of the first Baptist Church in West- ern Michigan.

Caleb Eldred brought the title of judge with him to Michigan. But he was appointed side-judge after he came here, and occupied the bench with Judges Bazel Harrison and William A. Fletcher, Cyren Burdick being the other side-judge. He was also elected to the Territorial Legis- lature in 1835 and 1836, and was nominated one of the commissioners in the act incorporating the Detroit and St. Joseph Railroad, June 29, 1832. He was also largely instrumental in procuring the charter of the Baptist College at Kalamazoo. He was the first president of its board of trustees, which position he retained for over thirty years, in fact, till the infirmities of age compelled him to decline the office. Until within a few years the venerable and dignified form of Judge Eldred could be seen at all of the college commencements in Kalamazoo, ascending the plat- form to take his seat by the side of the president of the in- stitution. And as he passed along the aisle he was looked upon and venerated as the founder and father of the insti- tution.

Judge Eldred was an original Jeffersonian Democrat, and acted with his party till 1848, when he went with the anti- slavery wing of the organization, and continued with it until he joined the Republican party on its formation, " under the oaks" at Jackson, in 1854. He was a zealous supporter of that great party. He never missed a vote at any im- portant election.

Judge Eldred and his wife, who died in April, 1853, were active and prominent members of the Baptist Church for about fifty-five years. He was always seen in his pew on Sunday, in the Sabbath-school, and in the evening prayer- meeting during the week. He was ever an exemplary Chris- tian man in 'his family and in the community where he lived.

Judge Eldred was, during his life, the active leader of the temperance people of Climax. He was always ready to act, and did act when others only talked. After the prohibitory liquor law was passed, he took an active part in seeing that it was enforced. The whisky men were determined, and proclaimed abroad that liquor should be sold openly in Climax. In 1858 a man named Lent hired the "old store" of Isaac Pierce, and opened a whisky-

saloon. The judge prosecuted him and had him put under heavy bonds not to sell liquor while the suits were pending. Isaac Pierce and Roswell R. Clark went his bail, and Lent kept on selling. The judge prosecuted his bondsmen and compelled them to pay the forfeited bonds. Pierce called an anti-Maine law meeting, and the whisky men came from Galesburg, with drums beating and banners flying, to defy the law-abiding people. They brought a keg of whisky with them and set it out openly for every one to drink who chose. The judge prosecuted them and compelled them to pay the penalty of the law. Thus the fight went on for several years, and the whole community was stirred up to the very bottom depths. The judge's harness was chopped to pieces. He bought a new one and told them it was ready for them, but advised them not to spoil any more of the neighbors' axes by trying to chop up the rings. He was reviled in every way, and his life threatened, but he kept on unflinchingly until the liquor traffic in Climax was effectually brought to an end. His name will ever be associated with the early history and subsequent growth and prosperity of Kalamazoo County, and we might say the same of his entire family, most of whom have occupied a prom- inent part in our early history. The entire family record is an excellent one. Of them we can truly say, " Like father, like children." His sons have done their full duty in making the county what it is to-day ; they are influential and worthy citizens ; his daughters have performed well their part, and are worthy of the highest praise among our pioneer women.

THOMAS ELDRED.

Among the old families of Climax there are none who have done more to advance the best interests of the town, or who stand higher as enterprising, thorough business men, than the Eldred family. The head of the family, Judge Caleb Eldred, came from Otsego Co., N. Y., where he had been prominent in business and politics, having been a member of the State Legislature. His wealth was made by farming and dealing in stock ; he having, it is said, in the twenty-six years of his stock-dealing, driven cattle into every seaport on the Atlantic coast from Brighton to Rhode Island. Indorsing notes for others swept away everything, not excepting his household goods, which were sold at auction by the sheriff, leaving only what little was then exempt by law. He then for a number of years worked on shares the farm he had lost. In 1831, with money borrowed from a friend, he came to Michigan and invested in land. A portion only of the family came at first, the rest remaining in New York. The judge located nine lots of land, which he bought when the proclamation of Andrew Jackson, on June 31, 1831, placed it in the market. He built a log shanty in Comstock, where he after- wards erected the first grist-mill in the county, except a small one at Vicksburg. The claim made by him in Com- stock was "jumped" in his absence by Messrs. Gilkey, Moore, Soule, and Jackson. Among the sons who first came was Thomas B., then a lad fifteen years old. He, in common with the sons of the pioneers of that day, was at once put at work helping to clear and improve the land. His oppor-

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History of Kalamazoo county, Michigan, Part 93

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