History of Kent County, Michigan, together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 43

Author: Leeson, M. A. (Michael A.); Chapman, Charles C., & Co. (Chicago)
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : C.C. Chapman & Co.
Number of Pages: 1434

USA > Michigan > Kent County > History of Kent County, Michigan, together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens > Part 43

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THE LOWELL JOURNAL

was established by Webster Morris in July, 1865, as a weekly newspaper. In 1868 Captain S. B. Smith, now of Middleville, purchased an interest in the paper, and became its editor for the short period of his connection with it. In 1870 James W. Hine purchased a half interest, ultimately purchased Mr. Mor- ris' interest, and became proprietor of the office. The paper has always been Republican in politics and well conducted.

James Willson Hine, born at Meredith, Delaware Co., N. Y., April 23, 1848, son of Miles and Julia F. (Rich) Hine, of Connec- ticut and New York, respectively, settled in Kent county in 1867. Before reaching his sixteenth year he enlisted in the 144th N. Y. Vol. Inf., in which command he was appointed Corresponding Clerk at the head-quarters of the Southern Department under Gens. Foster and Gilmore,-a position he held until mustered out in June, 1865. In September, 1867, he left Meredith for Michi- gan, and arrived at Lowell the same month. On coming here he entered commercial life as a druggist, carrying on a large business, where J. Q. Look's drug store is now located, for a period of three

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HISTORY OF KENT COUNTY.

years. In December, 1870, he purchased a half-interest in the Lowell Journal, then published and edited by Webster Morris. The new partner took editorial control, which position he occupied until 1873, when he purchased Mr. Morris' interest, and became sole proprietor and editor. Since that period the Journal has made rapid progress.

Mr. Hine was appointed Recording Secretary of the Senate in January, 1873, and served through the session of that year as well as through the extra session of 1874. In January, 1875, he was re-appointed Recording Secretary and served during the session of that period. In November, 1875, he was appointed Postmaster at Lowell, under the Grant Administration, and re- appointed under the Hayes Administration in December, 1879, which position he now fills. He has been a brilliant contributor to the Post and Tribune for some time, for which journal he wrote under the peculiarly comical title of Jimcrax. The character of those contributions was as comical as the nom de plume would sug- gest, and merited for the writer a very general and complimentary notice. The various great journals of the Eastern cities and of Chi- cago did not fail to notice the pith and versatility of his descrip- tions, and all were equally earnest in their eulogy of the Lowell editor. Since Mr. Hine entered the field of journalism, he has proven a very able supporter of the Republican party, and made the columns of the Journal replete with a solid" and logical re- view of the true principles of that party. His witticisms on the blunders of the Democracy go the rounds of the Republican press.

In 1879 he became a stockholder in the Lowell National Bank, and in the same year was elected a member of the Board of Directors. He was elected member of the Board of Education in 1875, and re-elected in 1878. During the last five years he has been President of the board.

In this briefreview, just sufficient notice has been given to con- vey an idea of what may be accomplished by a man still young. Here we learn how, as a youth, he served in the war for the Union, a little later entered commercial life in a Western village, and more recently conducted a political journal with so much decent ability as to win for himself a substantial recognition at the hands of the political party to which his political faith attaches itself. His continued observance of refined and liberal social principles, and a high standard of journalistic ability, will still bring him greater honors in his private and public life.

THE CEDAR SPRINGS CLIPPER

was founded in 1869 by L. McKnight Sellers as a weekly journal devoted to news, literature and politics. It has reached a very high position among the Republican weekly papers of the State, and gives promise of still extending its influence. It was estab- lished as a 24-column four-page newspaper, and was enlarged to a 48-

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column, eight-page journal, Jan. 1, 1876. The office gives employ- ment to four mnen.

During the last half dozen years, the editor has been the chair- man of the township Republican Committee, and member of the District Committee of which he is now Chairman, vice Hon. E. C. Watkins, who has removed from the county. He is a member of the Kent County Republican Committee, and has been a dele- gate to all the county, Congressional and State conventions since 1876. In 1878 he was " delegate at large " from this district to the Congressional convention of that year.

Leonard McKnight Sellers, editor and publisher of the Clipper, was born in Franklin Co., Pa., near St. Thomas, within three miles of the birthplace of James Buchanan, July 2, 1849. His father was Leonard Sellers, who died March 13, 1864, and his mother was Elizabeth C. ( Montgomery ) Sellers, who is still living. Mr. Sellers whiled away his younger days in the township schools, and later studied at the Fayetteville Academy, near Chambersburg, in Franklin county. In 1865 he enlisted in Co. L, 21st Pennsylvania Cavalry, for one year's service, which command was discharged in June of that year. The following reference to Mr. Sellers is taken from the Public Opinion, of Chambersburg, Pa .:

" Although the people of Michigan know him as a Michigander, he is just as well and favorably known in this his native county, where he spent his boyhood days. After learning the printing trade in the office of the Sentinel, Shippensburg, he earned in the harvest field sufficient money to pay his way to Cedar Springs, where, in the fall of 1869, his industrious habits soon gained him the confidence of the community, and where, under great difficulties, he earned sufficient means to purchase a press and start his paper. His journal has proven a remarkable business success, and it is one of the largest and most influential papers published in the county. He is a writer and politician of the Zach. Chandler school, and the sledge-hammer blows of the Clipper have been no insig- nificant factor in maintaining and achieving the splendid Republi- can victories of his adopted State. Owing to the misfortunes of his father, the late Leonard Sellers, of Fayetteville, an honest and industrious farmer, who lost his all by the rebel invasion of Stuart in 1862 and Lee in 1863, and who died in 1864, L. M. Sellers has been the devoted son and main support of an aged mother. Such sterling characteristics bear excellent testimony to the worth of any man. Notwithstanding Mr. Sellers' popularity in the county, he has never sought for any office, although his name was placed among the nominees for the Legislature in 1880, when he came within five votes of receiving the nomination. The only rea- son for his defeat at that time was due to the fact that Mr. Russell, of Cedar Springs, was placed in nomination for the Senate. Cedar Springs, of course, could not govern Kent county.

It may be said with truth, that the young Pennsylvania printer selected the hamlet of Cedar Springs while it was still centered in

IM Sellers

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HISTORY OF KENT COUNTY.

the wilderness. Even then he saw the place was destined to be a village, and resolved to act his part in hastening its destiny,-to grow up with the country. He came to the small village with a smaller financial capital; but that $5 which he brought with him to his new home taught a greater lesson than $5,000 could pur- chase; taught self-reliance and respect, and with these greater qual- ities than money, lie entered on the life of a settler. His first day's work in Michigan was that of using the cross-cut saw and getting out shingle bolts,-the scene of his labors being what is now known as the William Easton farm in Solon township. The five succeeding days were devoted to similar employment, during which time he almost succeeded in working his experienced friend at the other end of the saw to death.

Subsequently he was engaged in packing shingles at the Slaw- son Mill, which occupation he followed until December, when lie entered upon the preparation of a printing office. In those prepa- rations for the publication of the Clipper, he worked day and night, in a small room in an old building, made tables, type racks, and other furniture for his office. How his perseverance and in- dustry conquered is best explained in the appointments of the office, the size and excellence of the Clipper, and the high esteem in which he is held by his fellow townsmen. As a public man few of his years have made greater strides toward prosperity. His polit- ical friends stand by him like a rampart, and even his political enemies admire him for his honesty and manliness on the public platform and in the columns of his journal. While still a boy he traveled 19 miles, over two mountains, to hear Abraham Lincoln, when he made his great speech on the field of Gettysburg in 1863. This journey was made on a " capital " of 50 cents, a small haver- sack of provisions and a stout heart. Since that time he has been present at the great gatherings of the Republican party ; was pres- ent at the convention that nominated the late President, and again at his inauguration in 1881. The editor of the Clipper is a self- made man in the true sense of the word, is broad in his views and always ready to stand by the right. We give Mr. Sellers' portrait in this volume as a representative man of the county.

THE ROCKFORD WEEKLY REGISTER

was established by C. H. Cowdin, Feb. S, 1871, as a six-column folio, which it continued to be until it had completed its tenth year, Feb. 9, 1881. On entering its eleventhi year it was made a six-col- umn quarto. It is Independent-Republican in politics, and gives the general and local news.

Charles H. Cowdin was born at Dexter, Washtenaw Co., Mich. May 1, 1833. His father died at Jackson, Mich., March 18, 1840. Attended common school at Jackson, Fort Wayne, Ind., Piqua, and Lima, Ohio, the latter place being his residence for nearly 25 years. He married Miss M. H. Underwood at Lima, Ohio, Feb.

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HISTORY OF KENT COUNTY.

24, 1862. Have two children, Charles R. and Henry E. Mr. Cow- din enlisted in Co. I, 34th Ohio Regiment, Sept. 15, 1862, and was in the service about two years and nine months, most of which time was in West Virginia. Was with Gen. Sheridan's army in the Shenandoah Valley during the fall campaign of 1864. Was capt- ured by Gen. Rosser's cavalry at Beverly, W. Va., Jan. 11, 1865, and taken to Libby prison, where he remained until Feb. 15, follow- ing, when he was one of a thousand who were that day paroled and sent to Annapolis, Md., and from that place to Camp Chase, Ohio, where he received a furlough for 30 days. Was discharged at Cumberland, Md., June 27, 1865. Removed to Rockford, Kent Co., Mich .. in January, 1871.

THE KENT COUNTY HERALD

was founded by Frank E. Ackerman at Casnovia, March 1, 1878 .. On July 2, 1880, the office was moved to Kent City. The journal was first issued as a five-column folio, and enlarged to six columns in September, 1880. The office employs two men The weekly circula- tion averages 500 copies. The policy of the journal is independence; the local and literary columns are well selected.

Frank E. Ackerman was born at Flint, Mich., Ang. 24, 1852. He entered the Grand Haven News office April 1, 1870, where he passed six years. In 1876 he entered into partnership with Hiram Potts, of the Ottawa Co. Courier, then published at Cooperville. Mr. Ackerman was part proprietor in this newspaper until March, 1878, when he sold his interest to Mr. Potts, and removed to Cas- novia, where he inaugurated the Herald, He married Miss Phoebe L. Barker, of Grand Haven, July 4, 1873. .

THE SAND LAKE WEEKLY ENTERPRISE.

This newspaper was established Oct. 14, 1880, by Austin Reed and -- Leach. These publishers remained in partnership until May, 1881, when Mr. Leach retired. Since that period the Enter- prise has been published by Austin Reed. The paper is a six- column folio, possessing a weekly circulation of 300 copies, and devoted to the interests of the Republican party in that district.

Austin Reed, born in Cayuga Co., N. Y., Aug. 30, 1839, son of Moses and Phoebe Reed, natives of Connecticut and Vermont respectively, came to Calhoun Co., Mich., in 1855, and two years later settled on a farm in Allegan Co., where he labored until December, 1878, the period of his settlement at Sand Lake. There he followed the lumber business until 1880, when he became publisher and inaugurator of the first newspaper formed there. He married Miss Ruth Tuggy, of Quebec, Dec. 31, 1866. They are the parents of four children, viz. : Leonard, Amy, Cyrus and Carrie.

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HISTORY OF KENT COUNTY.

THE SPARTA SENTINEL,

noticed in the history of Sparta township, is published by J. W. Halleck. Its news columns are devoted principally to local hap- penings. This little journal is well supported and has all the qualities which can tend to its advancement.

CHAPTER XIV.

MISCELLANEOUS.

AGRICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE.

The history of the progress of these arts is also the history of political and commercial development. In every age has the agri- culturist been civilization's pioneer.

In the settlement of this county we learn that even the French trader converted the hill- side, from his log cabin to the banks of the Grand river, into a beautiful garden, and close by cultivated both corn and cereals. Agriculture leads permanent prosperity to its side, and prepares the road for great enterprises. With it, as a main stay, the manu- facturing industries are built upon secure foundations, and that portion of humanity whose days are devoted to hard and honest labor in the mills and factories of the land, may enjoy the fruits of the agriculturist's fields at a reasonable price, where the unfortu nate denizen of a purely manufacturing city is compelled to pay fabulous prices for the necessaries of life.

It has been stated that with the progress of agriculture the en- tire State has progressed ; numberless sources of wealth in minerals, timber and fish have been brought to light; cities have sprung into existence as by the touch of an enchanter's wand, rivaling, in pop- ulation and the importance of their commerce, many on the sea- board that have been struggling forward almost from the landing of the first colonists; political communities have been foundeo possessing almost a preponderating weight in the great family of States. Persons devoted to commerce and the mechanical arts did not initiate this startling development; they, being dependent upon agriculture, do not precede it into a new country, they follow in its wake. This rapid expansion of population and this wide-spread improvement are to be ascribed to the stout-hearted enterprise of farmers. They have led and sustained the tide of emigration west- ward from over-populated districts, and drawn hither every other industrial, social and business element, and co-working has pro- duced such astonishing results. The pioneer record is peculiarly theirs. Great energy, a contempt for hardships, privations and dangers, and a fortitude to endure disease and other and countless discomforts, familiar to the early settlers of a country, distinguish them in an eminent degree. Every locality has some interesting reminiscence or tradition of these dauntless men. The impress of their plucky experience is fixed indelibly on the public mind in the towns and counties in which they were among the first to live

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HISTORY OF KENT COUNTY.

and labor. Though they may not rank with Putnam and Boone ot national' fame, in respect to the brilliant incidents and achieve- ments of their pioneer lives, still their memories are long cher- ished with affectionate and admiring interest, and honored as the Republic ever honors the brave and the deserving.

Agriculture, wherever it is practicable, is a great and enduring local interest. A district or country which admits of no profitable cultivation of the soil, and where, therefore, it is neglected, can pos- sess no attraction to a permanent population, unless, indeed, its mines, its lumber or its salt fountains may so stimulate the greed for wealth as to overcome a natural repugnance to being separated from this source of supplies, and the rural charms ever associated with the labor of the husbandman.

HORTICULTURE IN WESTERN MICHIGAN.

As the history of the county seat begins with Louis Campau, so also must we refer to him as the initiator of horticulture in the val- ley of the Grand river within the historic period. The history of the rise and progress of horticulture in Kent county is interesting and instructive. As treated by Charles W. Garfield, it is histori- cally valuable, as it deals not only with the men who were its early promoters,'but it also points out the date and species. He says:

The earliest history of horticulture in Kent county is connected with Grand Rapids as a French trading post. Louis Campau, pre- vious to 1834, had improved a piece of land extending from the present site of the Rathbun House, on the corner of Monroe and Ottawa streets, to the Eagle Hotel, and from thence to the river bank. This was a vegetable and flower garden, with shrubbery and trees scattered through it, and a few fruits. The most attract- ive thing about it was the flowers, and it was a place of resort for whites and Indians. The latter used to land from their canoes and go up a well-trodden path to Mr. Campau's house. An old canoe answered for a propagating bed in which to start things before they were planted in the garden.

About the year 1835 Mr. Abel Page moved to Grand Rapids and located on the bank of the river, near the foot of Huron street. Mr. Page and John Almy, his nearest neighbor, started gardens on the bank of the river and planted in them such things as they brought from the East and could get through the mails from friends, in the form of seeds and slips. They also made some selections from the woods. It was in Mr. Page's river garden that the first tomatoes were raised in the Grand River Valley. They were a great curiosity and grown as ornamental plants, and called " love apples." There was but one person in the county that would eat them, and that was a school-teacher. This was a matter of astonishment to the people, and at first dire consequences were expected as a result. For a good many of the first things planted in the gardens of the settlers

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HISTORY OF KENT COUNTY.

they were indebted to the kindness of Uncle Louis Campau, who grew nothing to sell but gave many things away.

In 1838 Mr. Page moved up on Bridge street hill and planted another garden with a sort of nursery attachment, the whole occu- pying perhaps three acres. This was the year of the great flood in the river, which occurred in February. It was in this second gar- den that Mr. Page grew Morus multicaulis and raised silk worms, dealing in the cocoons. It was about this time that the Rohan potato had such a great run. Mr. Page raised specimens that would weigh two pounds, and sold them for seed at the rate of from $16 to $20 per bushel. The fruit grown in this garden was grown largely from plants found in the woods. Mr. Page and his sons gathered gooseberries, currants, raspberries and blackberries, as well as plums, from the valley of the Grand river, and by careful selec- tion succeeded in growing very fine smooth gooseberries of large size; black-caps were grown that rivaled the cultivated sorts in size and quality; white blackberries were found and propagated, and plums were found, large and delicious, that ripened as early as August. All these, added to the slips of cultivated fruits and ornamental shrubs, made the nucleus of the future nursery.

The first apple-seeds planted were from fruit gathered from the old French trees about Detroit and shipped to Grand Haven around the lakes, and from thence up the river in Mackinaw boats. The apples were eaten with the understanding the seeds were to be saved, and no guest was treated to any of the fruit without this promise being put in. A quart of seeds thus obtained were sown at the same time a bushel of peach nuts were planted, producing trees that were sold readily without a budding at good prices.

Mr. Page grew the white cranberry here, and his garden was the resort for people who wished a feast of fruit. He also raised about the first melons in the county.

It might be well to speak of the nearest attempt at gardening outside of Grand Rapids. As early as 1835-'6 " Yankee " Lewis had a nice garden at Yankee Springs, on the edge of Barry county, and people coming through from Kalamazoo were delighted with his thrift and good taste. Upon the site of this garden are now located orchards containing over 1,000 trees in a prosperous condition. Really, the nursery business proper, in Kent county, was started by Abel Page and his sons in the year 1845. It was planted north of Coldbrook. and the 10,000 root grafts were purchased at Monroe, of one Hartwell, a nurseryman there. Two- thirds of these were apples, the remainder divided between pears, cherries, plumbs, etc. To these more were added rapidly, until in two or three years the number of trees in the nursery reached 250,000, and for nearly 20 years about this amount of stock was carried.

In 1850 the first mammoth pie-plant root was brought into the county by the father of John B. Colton, in a pot swung under his wagon. From this Mr. Page secured a slip for one dollar, and the

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next year sold five dollars worth of plants from it, and two years thereafter sold Judge Withey enough pie plant for Independence Day's dinner, for two dollars.

The first Lombardy poplar was brought into the county by Samuel White, and planted near the head of Stocking street. From this, slips were taken to stock the Coldbrook nursery. When getting the first nursery stock at Monroe, Mr. A. F. Page secured a quart of seed from the common yellow locust; this was planted, and from the seed, in a few years, over $2,000 worth of trees were sold.

A few trees of the very best sorts were imported from Hodge's nursery, at Buffalo, by Page, while he was starting his nursery. These were most of them sold again, but a few were retained and planted out in the nursery grounds from which to get grafts, and to use as an advertisement for the nursery as they came into bearing. The first fruit thus grown was very precious and preserved with the greatest of care. The first trees sold were seedlings, and customers asked no questions. They were glad to get anything of fruit-tree kind, but as soon as the first grafted trees bore, more anxiety was shown in getting good varieties. The root grafts bought by Page were some of them sold at three years of age, and distributed throngh Kent, Ionia and Ottawa counties.

About 1855 Hiram Rhodes established a nursery on the river front, below Ada, and H. N. Peck started about the same date in the town of Grand Rapids. The Kellogg nursery was started a little later, on the hill between Fountain and Fulton streets, and was afterward purchased by George Nelson. As soon as the Detroit & Milwaukee railroad was completed to Grand Rapids, nursery stock, the refuse of Eastern nurseries, was shipped to the Grand River country, and sold at rates far below what the stock could be grown for here, and hence the business was gradually dropped. Soon after this the Husteds started near Lowell and ran a large nursery business until 1873.

In 1836 Mr. Robert Hilton came to Grand Rapids, and the only two orchards started that were talked about then were those of Burton, in Paris, and Chubb, in Grandville. Mr. Hilton's farm was in Walker (Tallmadge?), and in 1840 he planted 50 apple-trees about 40 rods from the river. In 1845 he planted 300 more grafted apple-trees, purchased of George Barker, who had a small nursery ont on West Bridge street, near the city limits, and of a smail nursery that stood on the south of Monroe street, near where the Aldrich block now stands. The orchards are standing now, and before Mr. Hilton left them, in 1848, some of the trees bore well. From two trees of the Fameuse variety he took one year (probably 1845) 21} bushels. He grew peaches on the land near the river, and in those days this locality seemed very free from frosts, even more so than the higher ground.

The towns of Caledonia and Bowne were originally one, and the first trees taken in there had a very interesting history. Mr. Reu-

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HISTORY OF KENT COUNTY.

ben H. Smith, in 1840, was returning from a trip outside the county by way of the Grand River crossing at Lyons, and as he came to the ferry he found a man standing disconsolately with a bundle of seedling apple-trees beside him. While arranging to go across with the ferryman he inquired of the stranger what was the matter, where he was going, etc. Ascertaining that the man was entirely out of money and was on his way to Ionia, hoping there to dispose of his trees for a little cash, Mr. Smith had compassion on the man and paid his fee, taking him over the ferry. The man expressed great obligations, and as they walked on toward Ionia together they talked apple-trees, prices, etc., and finally struck up a trade, the result of which was that Mr. Smith took the bundle of seedlings into Bowne. These trees were mostly planted by Asa and Loren B. Tyler. Charles N. Foster and Win. A. Beach were then little boys and each given a nice straight seedling for his own. Foster's tree bore first, and in 1863 it was reported as bearing above 10 bushels of fine fruit. The two trees are now living and bearing regular crops.

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History of Kent County, Michigan, together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 43

Author: Leeson, M. A. (Michael A.); Chapman, Charles C., & Co. (Chicago) Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago : C.C. Chapman & Co. Number of Pages: 1434

Author: Leeson, M. A. (Michael A.); Chapman, Charles C., & Co. (Chicago)
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : C.C. Chapman & Co.
Number of Pages: 1434