History of Livingston County, Michigan, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 40

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1843 .- Supervisor, George W. Kneeland ; Justice of the Peace, Odell J. Smith.

1844 .- Supervisor, Rial Lake; Town Clerk, Gardner Wheeler; Justice of the Peace, James H. Ackerson; Treasurer, William McPherson; School Inspector, Edward E. Gregory ; Directors of the Poor, Derastus Hinman, Victory Curtis.

1845 .- Supervisor, Odell J. Smith; Town Clerk, Gardner Whee- ler; Justices of the Peace, John W. Smith, Nelson G. Isbell (to fill vacancy caused by resignation of Josiah Turner).

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* Mr. Daniel Case.

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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

1846 .- Supervisor, Gardner Wheeler; Town Clerk, Lauren K. Hewett ; Justice of the Peace, William Lewis.

1847 .- Supervisor, Odell J. Smith ; Town Clerk, L. K. Hewett; Justices of the Peace, Richard B. Hall, Samuel M. Yerkes (to fill vacancy).

1848 .- Supervisor, Frederick C. Whipple ; Town Clerk, D. D. T. Chandler ; Justices of the Peace, Lauren K. Hewett, George W. Kneeland (to fill vacancy).

1849 .- Supervisor, William McPherson ; Town Clerk, Henry H. Harmon ; Justice of the Peace, John W. Smith.

1850 .- Supervisor, Gardner Wheeler; Clerk, Henry H. Harmon ; Treasurer, John B. Kneeland; Justice of the Peace, Henry Lake; Commissioner of Highways, Edward Thompson ; School Inspector, John A. Wheeler ; Direc- tors of the Poor, Richard P. Bush, Josiah Turner.

1851 .- Supervisor, Derastus Hinman ; Clerk, John A. Wheeler; Treasurer, John B. Kneeland; Justices of the Peace, John H. Galloway (full term), William More (to fill vacancy) ; Highway Commissioner, David Carl ; School Inspector, Gardner Wheeler; Directors of the Poor, James M. Murray, William L. Wells.

1852 .- Supervisor, Richard P. Bush ; Clerk, Mylo L. Gay ; Treas- urer, John B. Kneeland ; Justices of the Peace, Gardner Wheeler (full term), William More (to fill vacancy) ; Highway Commissioner, Elisha H. Smith; School In- spector, William A. Clark; Directors of the Poor, John D. Gifford, Josiah Turner.

1853 .- Supervisor, Richard P. Bush ; Clerk, Mylo L. Gay ; Treas- urer, John B. Kneeland; Justice of the Peace, L. K. Hewett; Highway Commissioner, Samuel M. Yerkes; School Inspector, Gardner Wheeler.

1854 .- Supervisor, Gardner Wheeler; Clerk, Mylo L. Gay; Treas- urer, John B. Kneeland; Justice of the Peace, William More; Highway Commissioner, Daniel Case ; School In- spector, William A. Clark.

1855 .- Supervisor, William C. Rumsey; Clerk, Mylo L. Gay ; Treasurer, John B. Kneeland; Justice of the Peace, Odell J. Smith; Commissioners of Highways, Dexter Filkins, Wm. Lake; School Inspector, Wm. B. Jewett. 1856 .- Supervisor, William C. Rumsey; Clerk, E. Rollin Bas- com; Justice of the Peace, Mylo L. Gay ; Treasurer, Nathan Pond; Highway Commissioner, Charles Root ; School Inspector, George P. Root.

1857 .- Supervisor, John B. Kneeland; Clerk, E. Rollin Bascom; Treasurer, Andrew Blanck; Justice of the Peace, Daniel Case; Highway Commissioner, David Lewis; School Inspector, George Huston.

1858 .- Supervisor, John H. Galloway; Clerk, Henry C. Briggs; Treasurer, John W. Richmond; Justice of the Peace, Andrew D. Waddell; Highway Commissioner, Dexter J. Filkins; School Inspector, B. Howard Lawson (full term), William B. Jewett (to vacancy).

1859 .- Supervisor, John H. Galloway; Clerk, E. Rollin Bascom; Treasurer, John W. Richmond; Justice of the Peace, John Marr; Highway Commissioners, Charles Root, Stephen S. More; School Inspector, J. A. Pond.

1860 .- Supervisor, John H. Galloway ; Clerk, E. Rollin Bascom; Treasurer, John W. Richmond; Justices of the Peace, Mylo L. Gay (full term), William Lake (to fill vacancy); Highway Commissioner, Stephen S. More; School In- spector, Andrew Blanck.

1861 .- Supervisor, William C. Rumsey; Clerk, E. Rollin Bas- com ; Treasurer, Henry C. Briggs ; Justice of the Peace, Daniel Case; School Inspector, Jabez A. Pond; High- way Commissioner, Solomon Hildebrant.

1862 .- Supervisor, William C. Rumsey; Clerk, E. Rollin Bas- com; Treasurer, Giles Tucker; Justice of the Peace, Dennis Shields; Highway Commissioner, George Wake- field; School Inspector, Henry H. Harmon (full term), J. Bruce Fishbeck (vacancy).

1863 .- Supervisor, Giles Tucker; Clerk, E. Rollin Bascom ; Treasurer, Leonard B. Wells; Justices of the Peace, William Lake (full term), William More (vacancy); Highway Commissioners, Stephen S. More, George Wakefield; School Inspectors, Ebenezer B. Bunnell (full term), George Wilber (vacancy).

1864 .- Supervisor, Giles Tucker; Clerk, E. Rollin Bascom; Treasurer, Leonard B. Wells; Justice of the Peace, Mylo L. Gay; Highway Commissioner, Solomon Hilde- brant; School Inspectors, Elijah F. Burt (full term), Dennis Shields (vacancy).

1865 .- Supervisor, Almon Whipple; Clerk, E. Rollin Bascom (died during this term, which was completed by Wal- lace W. Carpenter) ; Justice of the Peace, Daniel Case; Treasurer, Leonard B. Wells; School Inspectors, W. W. Carpenter (full term), Dennis Shields (vacancy).

1866 .- Supervisor, Isaac W. Bush ; Clerk, Royal H. Rumsey ; Treasurer, Lorenzo H. Sullivan; Justice of the Peace, Wallace W. Carpenter; Highway Commissioner, Ste- phen S. More ; School Inspector, Dennis Shields.

1867 .- Supervisor, Oren H. Winegar ; Clerk, Royal H. Rumsey ; Treasurer, Elbert C. Bush; Justice of the Peace, Fred- erick C. Whipple; Highway Commissioner, Solomon Hildebrant; School Inspector, Wallace W. Carpenter.

1868 .- Supervisor, Oren H. Winegar ; Clerk, Henry T. Clark ; Treasurer, Elbert C. Bush; Justice of the Peace, Nich- olas Lake ; Highway Commissioner, Jesse Marr ; School Inspector, Philander Bennett.

1869 .- Supervisor, O. H. Winegar; Clerk, Royal H. Rumsey; Treasurer, William B. Smith; Justice of the Peace, William More; Highway Commissioner, S. S. More ; School Inspector, Ferdinand W. Munson.

1870 .- Supervisor, William C. Rumsey; Clerk, William H. Wells; Treasurer, Edward B. Gregory ; Justice of the Peace, James H. Martin ; Highway Commissioner, Geo. B. Raymour; School Inspector, Philander Bennett.

1871 .- Supervisor, William C. Rumsey; Clerk, William H. Wells; Treasurer, Royal H. Rumsey; Justice of the Peace, Albert Riddle; Highway Commissioner, Jesse Marr; School Inspector, Rollin H. Person.

1872 .- Supervisor, Calvin Wilcox; Clerk, William H. Wells; Treasurer, Orrin J. Wells; Justice of the Peace, Charles P. Lake (full term), Edward B. Gregory (to fill vacancy) ; School Inspector, John J. McWhorter.

1873 .- Supervisor, Harry J. Haven; Clerk, Henry G. Selliman; Treasurer, Orrin J. Wells; Justices of the Peace, Wil- liam More (full term), Charles Hildebrant (three years), Ezra C. Hatton (one year); Highway Commissioner, George B. Raymond ; School Inspector, Philander Ben- nett.

1874 .- Supervisor, Benjamin H. Rubert; Clerk, Royal H. Rum- sey ; Treasurer, Orrin J. Wells ; Justices of the Peace, Ezra C. Hatton (full term), Gilbert L. Wolcott (to fill vacancy) ; Highway Commissioner, Timothy Smith ; School Inspector, Robert Smith.

1875 .- Supervisor, Albert Riddle; Clerk, Royal H. Rumsey; Treasurer, Orrin J. Wells ; Justices of the Peace, Harry J. Haven (full term), D. C. Kneeland (to fill vacancy); Highway Commissioner, James F. Moody ; School In- spector and Township Superintendent of Schools, C. Harlow Person.

1876 .- Supervisor, Albert Riddle; Clerk, Royal H. Rumsey ; Treasurer, Orrin J. Wells; Justices of the Peace, Dex- ter J. Filkins (full term), Edward B. Gregory (to fill va- cancy); Township Superintendent of Schools, C. Har- low Person; School Inspector, Orlando II. Bushnell; Highway Commissioner, John Casterton ..

1877 .- Supervisor, William B. Smith; Clerk, Edward Green- away ; Treasurer, Homer N. Beach; Justice of the Peace, C. H. Person; Township Superintendent of Beiten

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HOWELL TOWNSHIP.

Schools, Thomas Gordon, Jr .; School Inspector, Patrick Hammond; Commissioner of Highways, Orlando S. Brewer.

1878 .- Supervisor, William B. Smith; Clerk, William F. Grif- fith ; Treasurer, Homer N. Beach ; Justices of the Peace, Isaac W. Bush (full term), Neil O'Hearn (to fill va- cancy) ; Township Superintendent of Schools, Thomas Gordon, Jr .; School Inspector, Patrick Hammell; High- way Commissioner, David P. Lake.

1879 .- Supervisor, George W. Fitch ; Clerk, William F. Griffith ; Treasurer, Thomas G. Switzer; Justice of the Peace, Edward B. Gregory; Township Superintendent of Schools, Thomas Gordon, Jr .; School Inspector, Chas. A. Phillips; Highway Commissioner, William J. Wal- bran.

SETTLEMENTS SUCCEEDING THE TOWN OR- GANIZATION.

Among the first of those who came to make their homes in the township in the year 1836 were Henry Lake and Garret S. Lake, two brothers, from Mount Morris, Livingston Co., N. Y., who came with their families to settle in Howell in June of that year. It is recollected by the few who remain of those who were here at that time, that when these two families arrived at the place where the Grand River road crosses the Shiawas- see River, they found that the rude and frail log bridge which had previously been thrown across that stream had been swept away by a recent freshet, and as the river was too much swollen for fording, they were compelled to build a raft, on which their wagons and household goods were slowly and tediously ferried across, while their teams were forced to swim to the opposite shore.

Henry Lake, the elder of the two, settled on section 8, near where Isaac Henry now lives. He afterwards removed to the farm now owned by Heman Bump, on section 20. When he came to Howell in 1836, his family consisted of himself, his wife, and five children,-William, Garret, An- son, Teresa, and Malvina. Of these children, Wil- liam and Anson are now living in California, and Malvina-now Mrs. Hamilton Benedict-resides in Fowlerville. Of the children of Mr. Lake who were born after their settlement in Howell, Wesley Lake is in California; Lilian (Mrs. James P. Spen- cer), and Rosa, an unmarried daughter, are living in Fowlerville; another unmarried daughter resides in Lansing ; Adelia is the wife of Mr. John Knight, of Grass Lake, Jackson Co., Mich .; and George and Horace L. are residents of Howell.

Garret S. Lake, the younger of the two brothers who came here in 1836, settled on the Shiawassee River, on the northeast quarter of section 9; his location being the same which is now embraced in the farm of P. J. Dean. There he lived in the comfort of an independent farmer's life, and there he died. On this farm, in 1838, he manufactured

the first bricks made in Howell township. His son, Garret S. Lake, is now presiding elder in the Church of the United Brethren, and is living in Charlotte, Eaton Co., Mich. Another son, Andrew, is a farmer in Barry Co., Mich. A daughter, Hannah (now Mrs. Henry Moon), also resides in Barry County. Cornelia (Mrs. George Louk) still resides in Howell.

Daniel Case, a native of Monroe Co., N. Y., set- tled in Howell in the fall of 1836, on the east half of the northeast quarter of section 22, this tract having been purchased by him from government in the preceding March. He had come to Michi- gan in the fall of 1835, but spent the winter at To- ledo, working at his trade, which was that of car- penter and joiner. Early in the spring of 1836 he set out on a prospecting tour, and came by way of Monroe, Detroit, and Oakland County to Living- ston Centre, which was then much talked of. Here he employed Mr. James Sage to assist him in his explorations, and having made several selections he hurried back to the land-office in Detroit, where he succeeded in entering the lands on which he had fixed his preference. He then returned to To- ledo, and worked at his trade until the middle of May, when he started back to Detroit, and from there took stage to Ann Arbor, from which place he came up through the woods, by way of Pinck- ney and Livingston Centre, to the lands which he had purchased, and which on a second inspection he liked better than ever, and decided to settle upon them. About the first of June he started back on foot, by way of Ann Arbor and Detroit, bound for Livingston Co., N. Y., to make prepara- tions for removing West. On the 20th of Septem- ber following, he set out on his return to Michi- gan, bringing with him his father, Job Case, his mother, and his wife (previously Miss Jane E. Fish, of Wyoming Co., N. Y., to whom he was married August 24th, in that year). The incidents of his journey were afterwards related by Mr. Case, as follows :

" At Buffalo we went on board the steamer ' Daniel Webster.' She was loaded heavily, and just as she was ready to start out five teams with their loads, all the way from Massachusetts, sought a passage to Toledo, as they were going to the south part of the State. The captain of the steamer told them he could not take them, on account of the heavy load, but the mate said they might come on board, if we all went down together. So on board they came, horses, wagons, and all; and the steamer did come near sinking, though after many struggles with winds and waves she arrived safely at Detroit, not being able, on account of the heavy load and bad weather, to put in at Toledo. . . . We hired Mr. A. B. Markham, of Plymouth, to take a load of about fourteen hun- dred pounds and my wife and mother to Livingston Centre, for which service I .paid him thirty dollars in gold. They came by way of Plymouth. I bought a yoke of oxen in Detroit, and loaded on my wagon what we most needed, and started out on the Grand River road, which was turnpiked for ten miles, and then the

Hosted by ales, and then the

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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

timber lay thick in the road to the ' Sand Hill.' I had to drive through the woods anywhere to get my wagon through between the trees. I reached Livingston Centre on the 8th day of Octo- ber, and I drove the first team over the road from Else's Corners to William Smith's.

" Winter was approaching, and I had to build me a house, with no lumber to do it with. But I went to work with a will. I felled the trees and hewed the timber on two sides for a house 18 by 22 feet, split out ribs to shingle on, and then split oak shingles to cover it. The boards of the boxes I had brought with me fur- nished me with lumber for doors. For the lower floor I split logs and hewed them out for boards. When we had finished a place large enough to set a bedstead on we moved in, and completed the house afterwards. Mr. Thompson's mill commenced running about that time, and Morris Thompson had charge of it ; and that all the settlers might be served alike, he would let each man have just boards enough for an upper floor, and no more, till they had all procured upper floors, and then divide again. I hired Benja- min J. Spring with his oxen to go with me to Detroit for the load of goods we had left there. About the middle of November we took up our line of march with two yoke of oxen and a wagon for them. From here to New Hudson the road was not cut out, and we followed the trail around marshes and swamps till we came to the Huron River. We got to Detroit the fourth day at night. The next morning we loaded our goods, and got back to the Nine- Mile House that night. We were gone from home ten days, and I paid Spring one dollar and fifty cents per day, besides expenses. Our expenses alone were over twenty-five dollars for the trip, making forty dollars, besides my time. I mention these bills to show what it cost the first settlers to come here, and to furnish a contrast to the present cost of a trip to Detroit."

Mr. Case went energetically to work on the land where he settled, and became a prosperous farmer. He removed in 1844 to Howell village, where he remained five years, and returned in 1849 to his farm, where he died July 21, 1874. He was twice married ; first to Miss Fish, as mentioned, and the second time to Exalla A. Stebbins, of Mad- ison Co., N. Y., a sister of Mrs. B. J. Spring. He had two children by the first marriage and eight by the second. Of the latter two are living, Mrs. William Saunders, of Howell village, and Mrs. Theodore Pettibone, who resides on the farm of her father.

Benjamin J. Spring, a native of the town of Eaton, Madison Co., N. Y., and one of the most widely known of the early residents in Howell, came to this township in July, 1836, and settled on the west half of the southeast quarter of section 15, which he had purchased from government in the same year. His wife, whom he married in New York State, was Miss Sophronia Stebbins, a sister of the second Mrs. Daniel Case. The farm on which they settled is the same which is now owned by Lafayette Barnhart, of Lansing. On this farm he remained until 1840, and then ex- changed it with Allen C. Weston for the hotel property of the latter, known as the Stage House, in Howell village, to which Spring then removed. He remained in the hotel business in Howell for some years, afterwards removed to Novi, Oakland

Co., in the same business, but returned to Howell, and died on the James Sage farm in 1853.

Another of the settlers of 1836 was Victory Curtis, who came from Madison Co., N. Y., in that year in company with Benjamin J. Spring, and set- tled on section 14, owning also an adjoining eighty- acre tract in the northeast quarter of section 23. He was a good farmer, and an estimable and highly- respected man. He lived on his farm until his death, which occurred Aug. 13, 1848. Mr. Curtis' sons, George and John, were married men when they came to Howell with their father in 1836. Besides these he had four other sons,-Benjamin, Alonzo, Loyal, and Alfred,-and three daughters, who became respectively Mrs. Almon Whipple, Mrs. L. M. Glover, and Mrs. John Dewey, of Shi- awassee County. George and John Curtis both settled as farmers on section 15 ; the former having the east half of the northeast quarter, and the lat- ter the west half of the same quarter. A few years after, however, both removed to Howell village, where John became the successor of Mr. Edward F. Gay in merchandising, but continued only a short time in the business, as he died Dec. 7, 1841. George was engaged in the business of hotel-keep- ing in the village for several years, and died Oct. 4, 1848. Their brother Benjamin died some years since in the township of Handy. Alfred is now living in Saginaw, and Alonzo and Loyal reside in Genesee County.

Hiram Bennett was one of the immigrants of 1836. He came in the spring of that year, with a party of land-seekers, from Livingston Co., N. Y., and selected for himself a tract on section 6, where he settled. He was killed by an accident, which occurred in a well which he was engaged in dig- ging, June 9, 1855.

John B. La Rowe also came from Livingston Co., N. Y., and settled in the spring of 1836 in what was then the town of Howell, though the place where he located is just across the township line in the present town of Handy. He, however, re- gards himself as having been a citizen of Howell from the first, and it does not seem improper to mention him as such, among the settlers of that year, for he soon after removed to the farm on the southwest quarter of section 5 in this town, which he has occupied until the present time. At a re- cent pioneer reunion in Howell village, he narrated some of the incidents of his first trip to Michigan and subsequent settlement as follows :

" In the spring of 1836 I started, in company with six others, from the town of Mount Morris, Livingston Co., State of New York, for the Territory of Michigan. One of our company was to carry us through with his team, and we were to bear his expenses. We came to Buffalo, crossed over the river at Black Rock, on the Canada side, got as far as Niagara Falls, where the team gave out where thegame

HOWELL TOWNSHIP.

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and we had to take it afoot. . .. When we went over the river to Detroit the air seemed more genial; we breathed easier and felt more at home. We started out from Detroit afoot in search of gov- ernment land. We stopped at a farm-house five miles northeast of Ann Arbor. Here we learned there was plenty of government land in Livingston County. We came by the way of Whitmore Lake to Howell. There was but one house here then. Amos Adams was the occupant. We employed Mr. Adams to show us govern- ment land. He brought us to the corners of Howell, Handy, Con- way, and Cohoctah ; here our company located land. We slept by the side of an old log five nights, and put up the body of a log house ; then we all started out to get team and tools. Our stopping- place was at Ore Creek, now Brighton, where we stopped with Mr. Bigham, and we bought two yoke of oxen of him, a breaking-up plow, and some log-chains. Here we separated, and they all started for home (New York) except Mr. Bennett and myself I started to Kensington to get my plow-irons sharpened, and Mr. Bigham started for Ann Arbor, with the money we gave him, to buy whisky,-and I believe he has been in the whisky business ever since. I kept bachelor's hall that summer; broke up twenty- five acres of ground; went to Scio, beyond Dexter, for my seed; sowed the wheat, went back to York State in the fall, was married, and came back the same fall. The first gospel sermon that I heard was preached by Mr. Cosart. Livingston County was then a Meth- odist Episcopal missionary field. The first doctor that I employed was Dr. Fisher, he living at Ore Creek, now Brighton. The first sick man that I sat up with was Mr. Waddell, Andrew Waddell's father, he living on the farm that Sanford More now lives on. He died there. The first blacksmithing I had done in Howell was done by Mr. McPherson. William Riddle blew the bellows and Mc- Pherson heated and hammered the iron. He lived in one-half of the house and blacksmithed in the other. The first grist that I took to mill I took to Ann Arbor with an ox-team, and was gone a week, my wife staying alone while I was gone. Her nearest neighbors were the Indians, and our nearest white neighbor was a man by the name of Porter; the next was Garret S. Lake. The first white child born west of the Shiawassee was Isabel Waddell, and the next was my daughter Lydia, now Mrs. Dorrance. .. . I have raised a large family, and have ten living children. I might tell some wolf stories, and of catching a large bear, but I will not weary your patience with them."

George W. Kneeland and his brothers, Nathan T., Ichabod, and John B., were settlers in Howell, who came in the fall of 1836. Another brother, Warren, came a little later. John B. settled on section 18, and Ichabod and Nathan T. on section 13. George W. Kneeland also settled on the sec- tion last named, but afterwards removed to the vil- lage of Howell, where, in 1850 and later, he was engaged in the running of a steam saw-mill, in company with his brother-in-law, D. D. T. Chand- ler. A number of years later he owned a similar establishment in the town of Iosco, to which place he removed, and died there. He was a man of enterprise, intelligence, and public spirit, and during the years that he lived in Howell received many proofs of public confidence. He was elected judge of probate in 1840, was re-elected to the office, and also held several other public positions, among them being that of representative in the State Legislature.

Ezra Frisbee became a resident of Howell in the same year. Perhaps he should be accounted

as belonging in the village at that time, as he was then working for Moses Thompson, whose daugh- ter he married. He, however, located soon after in the township, on lands which Mr. Thompson had entered from government, on section 34. From this farm he afterwards moved to Cohoc- tah, and is now one of the wealthy men of that town.

Peter Brewer, from Niagara Co., N. Y., came to Howell in 1836, and settled on the southeast quar- ter of section 22, which, with an adjoining tract of 80 acres, he had purchased from government in the fall of 1835. Mr. Brewer and his wife were active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church in New York State before their removal West, and were among the earliest members of that church in Howell. The timber for the first Methodist house of worship in Howell was hewed by him. His first wife having died, he was married in March, 1865, to Mrs. Abigail Munger, with whom he re- moved to Shiawassee County. This second wife died in 1878, and Mr. Brewer then returned to live with his son on the farm in Howell, where he settled forty-three years ago, and where he is still living at a very advanced age.

Other settlers in Howell in 1836 were Huram Bristol, on the southeast quarter of section 34; Morgan Lyon, on section 18 ; James E. Head and Henry Pettengill, on 28; Solomon Pettengill, on 27 ; Job Case, on 22; and Clement Stebbins, on the northeast quarter of section 19, near the little hamlet now known as Fleming.

Following is a list of resident tax-payers in Howell (outside the present village limits) in 1837, with the number of acres owned or occupied by each, the section on which located, and valuation ; copied in full from the township assessment-roll made out in the spring of that year. The list, of course, does not include the settlers of 1837.

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History of Livingston County, Michigan, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 40

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

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