History of Livingston County, Michigan, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 31

Author:
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 617

USA > Michigan > Livingston County > History of Livingston County, Michigan, with illustrations and biographical sketches > Part 31

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

" Some of the subjects of this sport were somewhat ugly; for in- stance, Levi Bristol, a square fighter, a man who would have been known as an athlete among the Thebans, but who usually got 'corned' when he came to town. He was emphatically an ugly customer, and he asserted, in all forms of forcible inelegance, that ' the first man who squirts any water onto me 'Il get his head knocked off.' I remember, as though it were but yesterday, his standing one afternoon nearly in front of Mills' dry-goods store,- present location,-and he looked like one of Dumas' ' colossal wrestlers' in the Olympic ring, as he dared the whole town to fur- nish him an antagonist who should come bearing a tin squirt-gun. Boy as I was, I had read the story of Goliath of Gath, and when I saw a single person, a stripling in size, emerge from a building on the street, with a quart tin squirt-gun at 'present arms,' and advance towards this gawk, I must confess I thought I could see a complete repetition of that historical incident. I do not know that I was certain then, or that I am entirely positive now, who the lad was who went out against him, but he had a wonderful similarity to one Leander Smith, who once lived in Howell, so similar as to puzzle people as to the question of identity. A fine stream from the youth's gun struck Bristol fair and square in the eyes ! Bristol plunged down like a kingfisher, and whirled him- self along in knots and spirals through the dirt of the street, utter- ing the most abominable yells that ever issued from human lips. He did not seem to know where he was going, or to have the least care. He burst through the front door of Elisha Hazard's grocery, knocking over the counter, and roaring like a bull of Bashan ! Well, whisky and pepper-sauce, in equal parts, is not a very pleasant eye lotion, and Bristol's visits to Howell became more and more infrequent, and of a less turbulent character. . . . The general store was the rendezvous, and its mammoth stove became somewhat of a social shrine. There the people gathered, and there they brought out their jewels, like the toads, after dark. These jewels served our purpose then, let us hope they may not be entirely unregarded now."

Another phase of the peculiar jocularity which reigned in Howell in the early days is thus de- scribed by Judge Turner :

Hosted by Google

150

HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

"There lived here, a good many years ago, a man who was familiarly called ' Old Cuff Simons,' of genial good-nature, but who was prone to take too much liquor. The boys, on certain occasions of his intoxication, would deluge the old man with water to an extent which would satisfy any reasonable Thomp- sonian. One evening they were engaged in this pastime in a hotel kept by George Curtis, in this place, and an elderly stranger, who happened to be present, thinking it to be an imposition on the old man, strongly remonstrated with the boys against what he termed ' such shameful conduct.' But what was his surprise when Simons turned upon him with an open jack. knife, saying, ' You're a transient person (hic), mind your own (hic) business; the boys are going (hic) to have their sport.' In New York or Boston such interference might have been regarded as timely by a besieged drinker, but at Livingston Centre it was resented by the victim with far more warmth than by his persecutors."

To many people of the present day it will doubt- less seem like a very questionable compliment to a village or a community to say of its people that they " forsook what little business they had for simple sport," or that they collected in numbers to witness the perpetration of that most objectionable of all forms of " fun,"-a practical joke. It might have been more profitable as well as more credit- able to the early residents of this village if, instead of assembling in force to witness the persecution of a poor unfortunate drunkard, they had devoted half the amount of time to bring about his re- formation, and the other half to attending to " what little business they had." And as to the mechanics of the place, it cannot be denied that if, instead of abandoning promising jobs for a month at a time, for the sake of "hilarity," they had continued steadily at work it would have been better for themselves, their families, their employers, and the community.

The sport-such as it was-frequently took place at the village stores, or perhaps quite as often at the public-houses; as in the case of " Cuff Simons," above narrated, and as in another instance, of a less pitiable and more ridiculous character, which is related by Hon. J. W. Turner, as follows :

" In those early days ' court week' was the occasion of the new county. Everybody was at court. The crowd that gathered at Sliter's at such times was far beyond all his limited sleeping accom- modations. His bar-room was literally covered with jurors and wit- nesses during the nights. One night, when the floor was about as densely populated as it could be with sleepers, two lawyers (rumor says from Ann Arbor) crawled out the back way, and by induce- ments, in the shape of Indian corn, succeeded in calling two large hogs to the bar-room door, and getting them inside. They then started Sliter's bull-dog after the hogs, and quietly but swiftly re- tired to their beds by a rear passage. If Sliter's dog ever had any failings they could not be urged against his persistence as a biter. Some canines you can call off, but Sliter's had to be choked off. His dental grip was in every way thorough. The scene that fol- lowed would probably baffle description. The squealing of a cap- tured porcine is always very thrilling, but when dinned into the ears of sleeping men at the dead of the night, and accompanied by various kicks and thumps on their bodies, it is alarming. It was no doubt a night of great watchfulness,-at least after this occur-

rence. It is said that the innocent causes of this nocturnal dis- turbance were George Danforth, a man of pleasant memory, and Olney Hawkins, Esq., yet living. I regard the statement, how- ever, as calumnious."

PUBLIC-HOUSES IN HOWELL.

SLITER'S.

The old Sliter Tavern, mentioned above as the scene of the swine-hunt among the sleepers, was situated about three-fourths of a mile east of the centre of the village, on the south side of the Grand River road, where Charles Wilber after- wards lived. The landlord, Shubael B. Sliter, a native of Antwerp, Jefferson Co., N. Y., emigrated from that place to Michigan as early as 1835, and located at Ann Arbor. From thence he removed, in the fall of 1839, to this place, and purchased from Simon P. Shope a tract of land which in- cluded the house which Shope had purchased from Alexander Fraser, and which the latter had built for his own occupancy. To this Sliter built a log, and afterwards a frame, addition, and made of it the well-known pioneer tavern, which, al- though located at so considerable a distance from the "Centre," and approachable only "by crossing about as bad a specimen of corduroy-road as ever was traveled," became one of the well-known " in- stitutions" of early Howell, and, as appears, was well patronized, and frequently even overcrowded, particularly during sessions of the Circuit Court, and on occasions of other public gatherings. On such occasions a free carriage of some sort was run by Sliter between his tavern and the court-room. Mr. Turner, in describing its landlord, says,-

" Shubael was a man who turned his quid of tobacco slowly in his mouth, as though a too sudden and abrupt removal would dis- turb the continuity of his ideas. To all appearances he was a slow-moving man ; it was only apparent, however. He adopted Sir Francis Bacon's maxim for his motto : ' Let us go slow, that we may get there the sooner.' He seemed to loaf, as sporting men say of a horse who lingers along the track; and yet he was the paradox of rapidity. He moved like the seemingly-spent cannon-ball, which takes off the foot, if it is reached out to stop it. Aside from his sharpness at a trade, which was universally con- ceded, he was famous as a litigant. Sliter was either plaintiff or defendant in more suits, at an early day in Howell, than all the rest of the men combined. L. K. Hewett was his attorney, and to him he went, simply asking him to write down what was neces- sary for him to prove. The result was that somebody else always paid the costs, because Sliter invariably proved it."

Mr. Sliter, however, was never a man of any prominence, and would now hardly be mentioned, or even recollected as among the pioneers of Howell, but for his proprietorship of the well-re- membered old tavern-stand. Soon after 1850 he removed to Deerfield, and afterwards to Kent Co., Mich. Recently he came to Howell to revisit the scenes of his earlier years, and he died here Octo-

Hosted by

.151

VILLAGE OF HOWELL.

ber 20, 1879. The old house which he once kept as a tavern was eventually destroyed by fire.

THE EAGLE HOTEL.

The erection of the old Eagle Hotel (or tavern) by Crane and Brooks, and its opening as a public- house by Amos Adams, in 1835, has already been mentioned. Originally it was about 20 by 40 feet in size, but was afterwards increased by additions until it became, during its day, the largest public- house in Howell. Besides its legitimate purpose as a house of entertainment, it was made to do duty in its early years as a place of holding elections, public meetings of various kinds, and religious worship, and at different times it also contained the post-office of the village, some of the county offices, and a store, the last named being kept in it by Mr. F. J. B. Crane, who put in an exceed- ingly meagre stock of goods, and, after continuing for a very short time, abandoned the project. The tavern was sold in 1837 to Joseph H. Steel, who became its landlord. His successors in the pro- prietorship were George Curtis and Hezekiah Gates; after which Gates retired, and the house was carried on by Curtis alone. After Mr. Curtis' death (Oct. 4, 1848) it was managed by Mrs. Curtis and her brother, Marvin Gaston ; then by Mr. Gas- ton alone ; then by William E. Huntley ; and later, by W. E. Huntley & Son, under whose proprietor- ship it was burned September, 1857.

THE OLD STAGE HOUSE.

The hotel known as the old "Stage House," and located on the south side of Grand River Street, about midway between East and Walnut Streets, was commenced to be built in 1840, by Allen C. Weston, who was the proprietor of a stage- line, or of some kind of public conveyance run- ning between Detroit and Howell, and which he had established in the fall of 1838. Before the completion of the house, however, Mr. Weston's eyesight had become so badly impaired as to in- capacitate him for business, and he exchanged the stage house and stand with Benjamin J. Spring, for property owned by the latter, on section 15, in Howell. Spring moved to the village in 1841, completed the house, and opened and kept it for the purpose intended by Mr. Weston. He also ran a stage-line between Howell and Detroit, mak- ing three trips per week (Weston's line had made but one trip per week). He built and put upon this line a clumsy open stage-wagon, which he named the " Red Bird," and which became well known, and somewhat famous in its day. This is described by Hon. J. W. Turner as having been "a vehicle of a bright and tawdry red color,-

compactly built, for it had to serve not only as a stage on dry land, but also to perform the office of a yawl, through what was known as 'the rapids,' in the vicinity of Detroit." His pet, " Red Bird," was often driven by Spring himself, who was not a little proud of his skill as a reinsman; though his pride in this particular received a heavy blow from a circumstance which occurred in the summer of 1844,-in this way: He was returning from Detroit on the " box" of the "Red Bird," and arriv- ing at Howell rather late in the evening, drove his horses directly into a hole which had been dug during his absence, for the reception of a flagstaff to be reared on the following day, in honor of the Democratic Presidential candidates, Polk and Dal- las. The hole, which was near the front line of the present Court-House Square, had been left un- guarded, and it was not, perhaps, through careless- ness or lack of skill in the driver that the accident occurred, but it furnished an opportunity for the perpetration of innumerable jokes at Spring's ex- pense, and much to his disgust. He finally sold his stage-line and hotel, and the latter being after- wards devoted to other purposes than that of a public-house, was burned in the great fire of Sep- tember, 1857,-the same which destroyed the Eagle Hotel.

After Mr. Spring abandoned keeping the Stage House as a hotel, he became landlord of a public- house in Novi, Oakland Co., where he remained three years, and then returned to Howell. Later, he removed to a part of the James Sage farm, which he had purchased or contracted for, and where he spent the remainder of his life. During his palmy days he was noted among the people of the village and far-famed through all the surrounding country for his inimitable wit, and as a chief promoter of the fun and jollity for which Howell was so much celebrated. And to this day the survivors of the old settlers, who knew him in his prime, warm up at the mention of his name, or of the scenes in which he was a principal actor; and they declare, with unanimous voice, that there never lived a man gifted with keener wit or more mirth-provoking qualities than Benjamin J. Spring. He died at the Sage house, west of the village, on Christmas-day, 1853. His widow married Elisha Case, and now resides in Brighton.

THIE TEMPERANCE IIOTEL AND ITS PROPRIETOR.

The next two public-houses opened in Howell were the Temperance Hotel, built by Edward F. Gay, and the Union Hotel, by Hezekiah Gates. Both these houses were built in the spring and summer, though several citizens of Howell feel confident that Mr. Gay's house (if not the other)

Hosted by

152

HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

was built earlier. But all these doubts are set at rest by a paragraph which is found in the Living- ston Courier of April 30, 1845, to this effect :

"The enterprising spirit now being exhibited by the citizens of Howell is truly commendable. Building after building is daily going up, and the clink of the mason's hammer, together with the constant thumping and sawing of the carpenter and joiner, is the music with which our ears are constantly filled. Our friends, Messrs. Gates and Gay, are each putting up large and commodious tavern-houses that would grace any of our Eastern cities. Mr. Gates' is 50 by 80 feet. Mr. Gay's will be of brick, but not quite so large on the ground. Several dwellings and stores are going up in the course of the season. All is noise and bustle in Howell."

This fixes conclusively the date of the building of the two hotels named. The location of the Temperance Hotel was on the south side of Grand River Street, adjoining the site of the present Na- tional Hotel on the west, and directly fronting the street which bounds the west side of the Court- House Square. It was the first brick building erected in the village and township of Howell, and has been mentioned as the first of that kind in the county of Livingston. It was certainly the first public-house operated on temperance princi- ples, not only in the county, but in all this section of the State. The bricks for it were burned on the farm of Mr. Gay, south of the village, and the lime for mortar was furnished from the kiln of Mr. Z. M. Drew, near the Marion line.

It seemed rather strange that Mr. Gay, who had had no experience in hotel-keeping, and who, moreover, had very little inclination towards the calling, should have suddenly commenced the erection of a public-house; but the matter has since been explained by himself (in his address before the Pioneer Society, before quoted from), and the reasons which he gave show pretty clearly that he did not regard the practical jokes and roystering which were then prevalent in Howell as being very creditable to the place. He said,-

" Perhaps at no time has our town suffered more on account of intemperance than at this period. Whisky ran riot through our streets. It was about the time of the settlement of the city of Owosso, and as many of the early settlers of that town were former residents of Ann Arbor, their tran-it to and from those places was through Howell, and they thus came in contact with our hotels, kept by Spring, Gates, and others. These passing travelers, many of whom were my former acquaintances, made bitter complaints to me of our hotels, saying that they were sometimes obliged to resort to the street for safety or quiet on account of the noisy riot within, and quite frequently would resort to my house, half a mile away, to spend the night, in order to avoid the hotels of Howell. To these old acquaintances I was indebted for the first suggestion to build a temperance hotel in Howell. I will here say that, in common with my fellow-citizens, I liked to make money and be- come rich, but I liked something else far better. I liked to have a sober and intelligent community. To help promote this object alone induced me to build, and then keep, the Temperance Hotel.

" In undertaking this, I was to meet some opposition. Secre- tiveness was never a prominent characteristic of mine, and when

I had determined upon this undertaking, and chosen my location, it was natural for me to talk the thing over among our citizens, saying I intended to go to Detroit the next morning to purchase said corner lot for the purpose of building the hotel. Neighbor Gates was soon apprised of my intention, and sprang his trap on me, for the next morning I learned he had gone in the night to Detroit and purchased the corner. The only thing for me to do then was to take the next best, and I then purchased and built upon the site of the present Weimeister block the first brick building erected in our town, if not in the county, and opened and kept it as a hotel for some eight years, until a better state of things came about. Meanwhile, Gates commenced building on his corner lot, but failed while it was yet unfinished. . . . It is a pleasure to me to say that, though never sailing under false colors, the Temperance Hotel never suffered for want of patronage. The patronage given to this hotel, though, might not in all cases be credited to temperance men; for, notwithstanding the prominence given to its character by its glaring sign, ' Liberty and Temper- ance,' still there was sometimes evidence found in the private rooms of the guests that they had made provisions for the dilemma, in the shape of a private brandy-bottle."

The builder and landlord of the Temperance Hotel was a brave and noble man. The Hon. C. C. Ellsworth,* who knew him well, mentions him as " one who, standing almost alone in the new Western life here, raised his standard of reform and nailed his flag to the mast. You will never forget his motto, for he kept it flying in the face of the wild life of this new country when the popular breeze was in the opposite direction. But he never furled his flag for friend or foe, but bravely faced the music, howe'er the winds did blow. 'Liberty and Temperance,'-grand words! Sentiments for which men have dared to die! When freedom to the slave was all unpopular, and bondage was the fate of millions in our land; when it required the pluck and bravery of a Garrison, of a Wendell Phillips, to declaim against the crime of crimes, then Howell had a man who was true to a royal nature and fearlessly proclaimed his hatred of the great national sin ; and, thank God! the brave old man lived to behold the great iron doors of the house of American bondage swing wide open and God's burning light of truth pour in upon the poor benighted creatures who had only known imprisonment and stripes before. Temperance, too, was a forbidden theme, and unpopular in our new world; and yet the banner of reform was kept steadily to the breeze, and every man, woman, and child who passed the unpretending Temper- ance House had sounded in their ears the holy truth which that sign proclaimed. The very air was laden with the silent influence of those thrill- ing words, Liberty and Temperance, and they have told for good. God would not have it otherwise ! Eternity will reveal their saving power!" Many others who were intimately acquainted with Mr.

* Now of Greenville, Mich., formerly a prominent lawyer of Howell.

Hosted by Google

153

VILLAGE OF HOWELL.

Gay have borne testimony to his admirable traits of character and sterling virtues. As an index of the high estimation in which he was held by his fellow-citizens the following incident has been re- lated. In the spring of 1838, in the course of a conversation between several persons in Howell in reference to the chances of success between the two political parties at the then-approaching town- ship election, Benjamin J. Spring remarked that he believed the Whigs would be successful, for that the votes of such men as E. F. Gay (who was an uncompromising Whig) would go a great way. He was reminded that Mr. Gay lived in Marion, and could have no vote in Howell. "But for all that," replied he, "his very shadow will carry a good deal of influence." And certainly Spring could not be suspected of any undue personal bias in favor of the man whom he thus eulogized.

Mr. Gay kept the Temperance Hotel until 1853. He resided for a short time at Grass Lake, Mich., but returned to Howell and spent the remainder of his life upon a farm which he purchased near the present residence of Alexander McPherson, Esq. He died there April 22, 1873. The Temperance House, after Mr. Gay's retirement from it, became known as the "Livingston Hotel," but was still con- ducted on temperance principles, and was kept successively by Nathaniel Smith, J. H. Peebles, and Charles Barber. After them came Elbert C. Bush, who called it the Bush House, and kept it until 1869, when it was demolished to give place to a brick block built by John Weimeister.

UNION HALL.

The public-house before mentioned as having been in the course of construction in the spring of 1845 was built by Hezekiah Gates, upon the south- east corner of East and Grand River Streets; this being the location on which Mr. Gay had intended to build the Temperance Hotel, but which Gates had purchased away from him. This house was known as Union Hall. Its first landlord was Mr. Gates. Then the house came into possession of Taylor & McPherson, and was carried on by E. B. Taylor for a short time. The next proprietor after Taylor was S. S. Glover. Those who succeeded Mr. Glover in the proprietorship were James Law- ther, 1850; George Wilber, J. Smith & Son, Smith & Marble, William E. Huntley & Son, Elisha E. Hazard, V. R. T. Angel, B. R. Smith, Jonathan Price, and Roberts & Beach. The building was burned during the occupancy of Mr. Beach, in the year 1871.

SHAFT'S HOTEL.

The hotel now known as the Rubert House, situated on the southeast corner of Court and

Grand River Streets, was built some thirty or more years ago, by William C. Shaft, who at one time ran a line of stages-such as they were-between Howell and Detroit, in opposition to Benjamin J. Spring. The writer of this has no knowledge of the standing of the house kept here by Mr. Shaft, but an allusion to it has been found in the shape of a scrap of rhyme, forming one of a series of verses, entitled " Bangle's Stroll about Town" (i.e., the village of Howell), which was printed in the year 1849, in " The B'hoys Eagle," published at Ann Arbor. It was understood that " Bangle," the author of the "Stroll," was a gentleman who was then a law student in Howell, since then a member of Congress, and now a resident of Greenville, Mich. The verse relating to Shaft's ran as follows :

" We'll begin down at Shaft's, He keeps Wilber's best ; His house is the place Where the scalawags nest. The flower of the rowdies May be seen gathered there, Week in and week out, To drink, gamble, and swear."

The next landlord of the house after Mr. Shaft was Elmer Holloway. After him came - Van- derhoof, who was its proprietor at the time of the great fire of 1857. Vanderhoof was succeeded by W. E. Huntley & Son, who had been burned out from the Eagle Hotel in that fire. After Huntley came Amos S. Adams, who was keeping the estab- lishment in 1860 as the " Adams House." Adams was succeeded by Joseph H. Steel, who was fol- lowed by the brothers Cyrus and Handel Winship, who named it the Winship House, and were keep- ing it as such in 1865. A short time afterwards the property was purchased by Benjamin H. Ru- bert, who added a third story to the building, named it the Rubert House, and has continued as its proprietor to the present time.

THE MELVIN HOUSE.

The hotel located on the northwest corner of East and Sibley Streets was opened as the Melvin House, by William R. Melvin, in 1869. The building had been erected by him in 1861, to be used for mechanic shops, and was remodeled and enlarged for hotel purposes at the time mentioned. In 1874, after Mr. Melvin's death, it came into possession of R. M. Johnston, who carried it on for a time as the Melvin House, and then changed the name to that of Johnston House. After him it was carried on under the same name by A. H. Gibbs, George Lovely, F. S. Davis, and John M. White, the present proprietor, who has recently changed the name to that of Commercial Hotel.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Livingston County, Michigan, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 31

Author: Publication date: Publisher: Number of Pages: 617

Author:
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 617