History of Kalamazoo county, Michigan, Part 99

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

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David Ford and Ira Bacon, in 1843, dug a mill-race about half a mile long, to convey the waters of Gull Creek on the east to the village of Galesburg, for the purpose of turning a saw-mill ; and soon after, Mr. Ford and S. Mills built a flouring-mill north of the saw-mill, which was driven by the same power. This is the present grist- and flouring- mill at Galesburg.

In 1847 or '48, Montgomery Percival erected a fulling- mill at Comstock, north of the other mill and on the same stream. After using it for carding wool and cloth-dressing for a year or two, he turned it into a grist-mill, and finally sold it to the Dunbar Brothers, who gave their attention to flouring wheat for the markets abroad. This mill was burned in 1878. The last grist-mill built in this township was erected by Mr. Brown, of Kalamazoo, some years since, and was also burned in 1875. The present Novelty Works of Perry A. Peer arose, not, phoenix-like, from the ashes of the grist-mill, but very soon after it was burned, and on the same spot. Their principal attention is given to casting small fancy iron and brass work.

Steam-Power .- Frank Clark built a saw-mill in Gales- burg some time near 1854 that was driven by steam-power. This mill was erected to saw the lumber that would be used for the proposed plank-road. But the plank-road was never laid, and the steam-power was turned to other use. George Stevenson in 1856 used this power in the old saw-mill building, Galesburg (chairs and bedsteads), for a year or so. A. J. Burdick and William Mills then became partners, and they carried on the same business for one year, when the Burdick Brothers bought the entire interest and con- tinued the business for one year longer. Alvan Burdick & Sons, in 1859, established (with the engine from the old saw-mill) a stave factory, and manufactured staves by steam-power for some five years, when they closed the business.

Hand-made Work .- Seaman Bristol, in 1852, had a little cabinet-shop in the rear of his justice-office, on Battle Creek Street, in Galesburg, where he manufactured chairs

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and repaired furniture for one class of customers when he was not writing deeds and contracts, or, " with spectacles on nose" and statutes by his side, administering justice to another class of customers. Almond Pond, in 1857, in a building which he erected across the street from the Michi- gan Central depot, manufactured general cabinet-work. James Brown did the same in Simmons' old paint-shop in 1864. In this same building different parties since then have sold, made, and repaired furniture.

George A. Brown established his wagon- and carriage- shop in 1868, J. P. Bristol a shop of the same kind in 1874, the former on Main Street, the latter on Mill Street, in Galesburg.

J. G. Smith established his large cooper-shop in 1864, on Mill Street. After carrying on an extensive business of the kind for some years, he sold his property here and re- moved to Kalamazoo.

Ransom E. Straight established his foundry on Mill Street in 1875. He has since added a machine-shop, a steam-power, and a planing-machine to his business.

J. P. Bristol and L. J. Wilson, in the fall of 1879, fitted a large building on Mill Street for the purpose of fruit-dry- ing, and put in it the " Alden Fruit-Dryer." They have made a good and profitable beginning.

AMUSEMENTS.

There were holiday and neighborhood frolics, and the " keen pleasure that came across the trusty rifle as the full- antlered stag, a gray wolf, old bruin, the badger, or the fox came into view." Then there was the feathered tribe,- turkey, geese, ducks, grouse, pigeons, and all the small fry to the end of the chapter. But of all sports, the rarest and best was coon-hunting. " A field of green corn in the midst of the unreclaimed forest was an earthly paradise to the whole coon tribe." And if the settler enjoyed it, his dog was not one whit behind in his keen relish for a " set- to" with this marauder on the corn-field.

A PIONEER INCIDENT.

" It was late in the fall of an eventful year that a party of four emigrants in a wagon drawn by oxen made a slow and tedious prog- ress through some half-foot of snow across Goguac Prairie to a log shanty on its western side. On reaching it, the latch-string was soon pulled by one of the emigrants, and, on going in, the settler was asked if he could entertain the party for the night. A quick answer in the affirmative sent the traveler back to the wagon, and the four were soon warming themselves by the rousing fire in the settler's shanty. Roswell Ransom, now of Galesburg, and Cyrus Lovell, of Ionia, with their young wives, were the recipients of this hospitality. And the man of quick speech and motion and splendid physique who so kindly received them and proffered, in true pioneer spirit, all the hospitality in his power to bestow, was Josiah Goddard. He had but recently erected his log shanty and got into it. Its roof was flat, sloped to the south, covered with shakes, and the crevices between the logs were yet open. There was only one room in it. Goddard and his family must have numbered seven or eight, and four guests made eleven,-rather a full hive. The supper, which was one of those frugal meals for which the early settler's table was noted, was heartily partaken of by our party.

"When the hour for retiring came the most difficult of questions arose. Goddard and his wife conferred together, and each suggested a plan or expedient by which their guests could get rest and sleep for the night. They had no bed for them. That was settled. A bed was finally improvised on the floor, of various materials, and our travelers were kindly informed that was the best their host and hostess could do for them. One bed for the four! The ladies now conferred

together, and the following plan was adopted : first, Mrs. Ransom and Mrs. Lovell laid down side by side, and then Mr. Ransom laid by the side of his wife and Mr. Lovell by the side of his wife. They declared in the morning that they never slept sounder or sweeter in their lives. After breakfast they pursued their journey to Toland. On fording the Kalamazoo River the oxen became unmanageable, and the party were likely to get soused in the river, when Roswell Ransom sprang into the water up to his arms, and, righting matters, drove the cattle safely through to the opposite shore. They reached Tuttle's in safety, but Mr. Ransom was very cold after wading through the Kalamazoo River in a cold November day and then walking a mile ere he got to a fire. They found Henry Little and family at Tuttle's. He and his party had just finished their pilgrimage. Ransom and Lovell, who had been here before and purchased the lands Toland had located, now went into the house he had built."

INDIAN MATTERS.

Old " She-moke."-An old Indian belonging to a tribe who lived south of Gull Prairie had become well known to the settlers, and had won their friendship by many a kind act. Some of his white friends had given him a new suit of clothes. It was a very amusing sight to see the old fel- low when completely dressed in a white man's costume. After scanning himself all over from head to foot he ex- tended his arm, felt of the sleeve, stuck out his foot, felt of his pantaloons, took off his hat, surveyed it, placed it on his head, and, suddenly giving a jump some three or four feet from the ground, he uttered a wild whoop, and exclaimed, " She-mo-ka-man ! M6 She-mo-ka-man !" After that he was always called " Old She-moke." Mrs. Elihu Mills had expressed a desire for some fish. "She-moke," hear- ing of it, took his spear and started for the Three Lakes, in the south part of Richland. In less than two hours he was at Mr. Elihu Mills' door, and presented Mrs. Mills with a large pickerel. How he speared it in the daytime no one could tell, but an Indian could do many things wonderful to a white man .*

One of the Indians being scantily clothed during a cold day in the winter, a settler asked him if his arms were not cold. He asked his white friend if his face was not cold. He said no. " Well," said he, "Indian face all over."

In regard to work, the Indian was the laziest of drones. He would sit on the logs while the squaws hoed the ground and made the hills for planting corn and planted it.

Deacon Joseph Cory tells the following story about his uncle, Deacon Philip Gray, and the Indian boys. Deacon Gray had placed a penny in the end of a split stick, and then, walking some seven or eight rods, stuck the stick into the ground and told the little Robin Hoods to shoot : they could have all they could hit. The pennies fell as fast as the deacon could put them in the stick. Thinking to have some greater sport with these little archers, he walked off some three times the distance, and, forcing a larger stick in the ground, he placed his new white fur hat on it, and then waved his hand to the little nitch-en-obies, which meant, Hit that if you can. If the distance was great these little Locksleys were high up in archery, and away sped four or five arrows. Rip, rip, rip they went, through the deacon's hat. This was sport for them, but the hat was ruined.

Indian Sugar-Making .- Roswell Ransom, Cyrus Lovell, and Ralph Tuttle, of Toland Prairie, in the spring of 1832, visited the Indian " sugar-bush," some three miles south-

* It's as easy as rolling off a log .- ED.

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HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

west of Galesburg. Reaching the locality, they beheld an interesting scene. Here was a hive of busy workers- " Nitch-e-naw-bees"-gathering sap from the trees and " toting" it to the camp. And they found the workers in this hive, like those of another, composed of the squaw- bees, while the males played the drones' part by idly look- ing on, which they seemed to enjoy hugely.

Long poles supported by stakes driven into the ground held a number of iron kettles filled with sap, while a small fire was blazing under each kettle. From the boiling liquid columns of smoke arose in wreaths and ringlets that floated away among the tree-tops. The fresh sap, brought from the troughs under the trees, was poured into the first kettle, while the one next to it was filled up from the first and the third from the second, and so on to the last, which was used for " sugaring off." In the second kettle our visitors noticed some strange objects bobbing up and down with the boiling sap. These they, on closer scrutiny, found to be chipmunks, squirrels, and an occasional woodchuck. The squaws were cooking them for those lazy drones loung- ing about the camp, who were called their husbands. The dusky matrons, taking the cold sap in their mouths, would spirt it over ladles filled with hot sugar to cool it off, and then present it to their white visitors to eat. But they were ungallant enough to decline eating any of it.

The Indians did not make their sugar in cakes as much as we do. Their usual process was to stir it with a stick while it was cooling, thus graining it. They put this, in quantities of one-half bushels, or less, into mococks, which were made of birch bark sewed together with thongs from slippery-elm bark.

These mococks, filled with sugar, were strung in pairs over the pony's back, making him look like an Eastern donkey loaded with panniers of oranges. Thus loading the ponies, they would bestride them and go to the she-mo-ka- man's cabin to "swap" for quas-gun (bread), sam-mock (tobacco), or any other article they wanted.

For a great while after this our friends could not eat any sugar that was made by the Indians.

A LOST CHILD.

Some time in June, 1838, Betsey, the little two-year-old daughter of Edward Coe, then living in Kalamazoo, accom- panied her older sister, Jane, as she went to milk the cows that were pasturing near the large marsh or swamp on the northern border of the village. Having milked the cows, she told Betsey to go home, and she would stay a while and pick some strawberries. As the little girl had gone home alone before, she felt no concern about her. But the child took the wrong path, and got lost. It was near nine o'clock in the morning when Jane returned, and, to her surprise, Betsey was missing. The news soon spread through the village that a child was lost ! All turned out to hunt for the little girl. The day was spent in a fruitless search in and about the swamp. At night the parties retired, agreeing to meet in the morning and renew the hunt for the child. But James Rhodes, a mason then living in Kalamazoo, and two other men, fearing that harm might come to the child from wolves, built fires in the swamp and stayed there all night. They heard a child cry

during the night, but were unable, in the dark and inac- cessible swamp, to go to her relief. They also heard wolves howl as they sat by their watch-fires. In the morning, just as the people from the village came to renew the search, Rhodes and his men found the lost child sitting on a log with her feet in the water. She had cried much, and un- doubtedly had fallen asleep where she was on the log, and remained there till morning. It was thought that, had not Rhodes and his friends kept their fires burning all night, the wolves would have devoured the little girl. The dear little lost one was received home with unspeakable joy that day. This pretty little Betsey E. Coe is now Mrs. B. E. Sellman, of Grand Rapids, Mich.

LOCKHART AND THE WOLF.

There are plenty of occasions for the display of heroic deeds all along our pathway through life. All that is lack- ing is the man to discover them. In 1840 one of these opportunities was offered at Yorkville, in this county. And as Androcles, " Old Put," or David Crockett did not chance to be there, our old pioneer townsman, George A. Lockhart, bore off the prize of valor.

Mr. Lockhart was the blacksmith at Yorkville at this time. A man by the name of Phillips was miller in J. F. Gilkey's flouring-mill at the same place. There was a deep snow on the ground, and, work not being urgent in the shop, Lockhart turned his attention to making fox-traps, as fox-tracks were seen about there. He threw out some bait, and found it was taken by a large animal. Lockhart then baited his trap, and put that out. About midnight he and Phillips started out to look after their trap, and found it missing. It was a clear, moonlight night, and they fol- lowed the track of some large animal that had dragged the trap over a mile south to a timbered hill. Here an oak- tree over seventy feet long had fallen, lying some three feet from the ground, imbedded in underbrush, the sides and top of which were covered with snow, leaving an open pas- sage under the tree its entire length. At the mouth of this passage the tracks of the animal had disappeared. Whatever it was, they knew it had gone into this covert. They examined both sides of the tree, and found no open- ing. Lockhart asked Phillips to go under and see what was in there. He refused. Lockhart then said, " If you will keep along on the outside, I will go in." To this Phillips agreed, and in he crawled, on hands and knees, some sixty or seventy feet. It was dark as Egypt, and a long and pokerish journey. He at last called out, "I have found him ; dig away the snow and brush right here, and I will come out." Phillips did so, and Lockhart emerged from the hole like a dirty bear. " It is a large wolf," said he, as he straightened up. They then conferred together. Phillips refused to pull the wolf out. Says Lockhart, " I will catch hold of his hind legs and pull him out if you will take the club and strike him over the head; and you must strike to kill."

Lockhart crawled into the hole, and, seizing the animal's hind legs, retreated, jerking back so quickly that he could not turn upon him, and called on Phillips to strike. The latter whaled away with the club, but so frightened that every blow hit the wolf's shoulder. But Phillips, goaded

Photos. by Packard, Kalamazoo.

EDWIN M. CLAPP.

MRS. EDWIN M. CLAPP.

EDWIN M. CLAPP.

In the year 1858 several members of the Clapp family in Boston, impressed with the desirableness of assembling to- gether as many of the name and lineage as could be induced to meet in one place, made an effort to bring about such a gathering in the town of Dorchester, the venerated home of their first American progenitors. Their desires were consum- mated on the 24th of July, 1870, not at Dorchester, but upon the grounds of the Hampshire Agricultural Society at North- ampton, about one thousand people being present. From the address, delivered by the Rev. Alexander Huntington, we glean the following story of the progenitor of the family. On the 30th of May, 1630, Capt. Roger Clapp arrived at Nantasket. He came in the ship " Mary and John," and was among the first settlers of the town of Dorchester. He was born at Salcombe, in Devonshire, England, in 1609. He married Johanna Ford, one of his fellow-immigrants, in her seventeenth year, he being in his twenty-fifth. As evidence of the excellence of his char- acter, it may be stated that the people of Dorchester gave him command of their militia, chose him to represent the town in the General Court, and, in 1665, he was, by appointment of the General Court, put in command of " the castle" in Boston harbor, the chief fortress of the province. He died Feb. 2, 1690.

It is not within the province of the writer to trace the genealogy of the subject of this narrative back to his worthy progenitor, a brief sketch of whose history we have here given. Thus much has been said, not that we believe that " blood is thicker than water," or that the blue blood of nobility nourishes a superior life, but merely to show that the Clapp family is one of the old and reputable families of the nation, and directly descended from good Puritan stock. From a perusal of the family history it is evident that the distinguish- ing features in the character of Roger Clapp have been trans- mitted from generation to generation. Edwin M. Clapp, son of Rufus and Elizabeth Clapp, was born in the town of Otisco, Onondaga Co., N. Y., Feb. 27, 1805. His parents were farmers, and Edwin was bred to the same occupation. He lived with his parents until he attained the age of twenty, when he started in life for himself without other resources than a strong pair

of hands and a robust constitution. At the age of twenty-two he went to Niagara County, where he rented a farm ; but finding this a slow road to success, he decided to try his for- tunes in Michigan, which was at that time considered a new El Dorado. In 1831, in company with William Earl, he prospected through different portions of the State, and being favorably impressed with the soil and natural advantages of Kalamazoo County, located two hundred and twenty acres of land in what is now the town of Charleston. He re- turned to his home in Niagara County, and in October, 1832, came back and made a permanent settlement. After a resi- dence of about ten years he sold his property in Charleston, and moved upon the farm he now owns in the town of Com- stock, which he had located in 1834.

Mr. Clapp has been prominently identified with the de- velopment of Charleston and Comstock, and has served both towns in various official capacities. In 1834 he was elected as- sessor; in 1835, town clerk, and was the first supervisor of Charleston after its organization, in 1838. In 1838 he was elected county commissioner ; re-elected in 1839, and served the county in that capacity until the office was abolished by act of the Legislature. He has represented Comstock upon the board of supervisors for four terms, and been county super- intendent of the poor seven years. Few men in the county know more of pioneer experiences ; and did our space permit, we could pen from his lips many an incident that to the present generation would sound more like fiction than fact.

He was the second permanent settler on the south side of the river, between Goguac Prairie, in Calhoun County, and Kala- mazoo village. In October, 1837, Mr. Clapp was married to Miss Mary J. Stedman, of Cambria, Niagara Co., N. Y. She was born in Livonia, Livingston Co., N. Y., in 1812. They have reared a family of five children, four of whom are now living. In his political and religious affiliations Mr. Clapp is a Republican and a Congregationalist. He is eminently a self-made man, starting in life with only his natural resources for capital. He has conquered success in various departments of life, and is an exemplar in character and reputation. Mr. Clapp has had a residence in Kalamazoo since December, 1878.

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TOWNSHIP OF COMSTOCK.

on by Lockhart's cries, finally hit the animal five or six blows on the head, which killed him, and continued to strike when he was dead. His friend exclaimed, " There ! let him alone ; you ought to have struck that way at first." The old settlers called this the largest wolf they had ever seen.

THE ALPHADELPHIA ASSOCIATION.

" History of Alphadelphia .- The theory of holding property in common was advanced by Pythagoras, and was fully advocated and given to the world by the great Plato in his ' Republic.' The idea of man's living in common with his fellows is essentially primitive. It is certain that man early sought, not only the 'elixir of life' and the 'philosopher's stone,' but the ' golden mean of life' where labor be- stowed her rewards on the true principle of merit, and health, virtue, honor, and happiness followed in her train. The earliest efforts of industry have been to eliminate the evils that beset her path, and to get rid of the ruinous effects of competition, that evil genius of so- ciety, by the substitution of a healthy emulation, that labor should ever be honored, and that wealth or capital which she creates should ever be subservient to her. Philosophers have ever striven to find the mode of life that would endow man with the most health and happi- ness ; the poet has sung :

"' He that holds fast the golden mean, And lives contentedly between The little and the great, Feels not the wants that pinch the poor, Nor plagues that haunt the rich man's door, Embittering all his state.'

"From Abraham on the plains of Mamre to the shepherds tending the flocks among the Judean hills, long before ' they hung their harps on the willows and sat down by the rivers of Babylon and wept,' all through those periods of history we find a tendency to pastoral com- munism. Coming down to the middle ages, we find the monks occa- sionally trying communistic life. And, reaching our own time, we shall have Louis Blanc, Saint-Simon, and Charles Fourier in France, Robert Owen in Scotland, and his son, Robert Dale, in America, giving to the world the theory and practice of what is commonly known as Socialism in Germany, Communism in France, and Fourier- ism in America. Among these, which essentially are one, are the Alphadelphians and the late co-operationists, with various other theories and theorists.

" Origin of Alphadelphia Association in Comstock .- On the 14th day of December, 1843, pursuant to a call for a convention published in the Primitive Expounder at Ann Arbor, 56 persons from the coun- ties of Wayne, Oakland, Washtenaw, Genesee, Jackson, Eaton, Cal- houn, and Kalamazoo, assembled in the school-house at the head of Clarke's Lake, in Columbia, Jackson Co. The object of the conven- tion was to organize and found a domestic and industrial institution. These 56 men, after a laborious session of three days, each session extending from morning to midnight, adopted the outline of a con- stitution, which was referred to a committee of three, composed of Dr. H. R. Schetterly, James Billings, and Franklin Pierce, for revision and amendment. A committee, consisting of Dr. H. R. Schetterly, John Curtis, and Wm. Grant, was also appointed to view three places designated by the convention as suitable for a domain. The conven- tion then adjourned to meet at Bellevue, Eaton Co., on the 3d day of January, 1844, when they would receive the reports of said com- mittee on location, and revise. perfect, and adopt their constitution. The committee on location went forth, like those men of old, 'to spy out the land,' to select a goodly region suitable for a domain. The adjourned convention inet on the day appointed, and, after listen- ing to the reports of the committee on location, they chose the south- east quarter of section 23, in the township of Comstock, county of Kalamazoo, as a permanent home, whose advantages the committee set forth in the following terms :

"' The Kalamazoo River is a large and and beautiful stream, 9 rods wide and 5 feet deep in the middle, flowing at the rate of about four miles per hour, and with 8 feet fall, which can be obtained with- out flowing any land worth mentioning ; by digging a race one mile and a half in length, it will propel 100 run of stone in the dryest season. The digging is easy, and may be nearly all done with scrapers and teams.' They then speak of ' the place where the man- sion and the manufactories will stand, on a beautiful plain, descend- ing gradually towards the river,-a plain 50 to 60 rods wide, skirted

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History of Kalamazoo county, Michigan, Part 99

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