History of Livingston County, Michigan, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 41

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Number of Pages: 617

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Names of Possessors.

Section.

Acres. Valuation.

Huram Bristol.

$320

Peter Brewer.

[ 22

120

360

Daniel Case.

120

360

Victory Curtis.

240

720

John Curtis

240

George Curtis

240

Justin Durfee.

240

Francis Field ..

120

Daniel Hotchkiss

120

Levi M. Hotchkiss

120

360

Nathaniel Johnson

120

360

George W. Kneeland.

200

600

Nathan T. Kneeland.

240

Garret S. Lake.

200

600

Henry Lake

160

480

Morgan Lyon.

160

480

Harvey Metcalf.

160

480

Joseph Porter ...

246

Benjamin J. Spring.

240

Clement Stebbins

[ 17

I20

360

119

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1 23

$ 14

194

HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

Names of Possessors.

Section. Acres. Valuation.

John W. Smith

§ 21

240

Elisha H. Smith

240

Samuel Waddell.

80 240

The rate of taxation for the year 1837 was 3536 cents on $100.

Justus Boyd, from Genesee County, N. Y., be- came a settler in Howell in 1837. He located on section 6, the northeast quarter and three-fourths of the southeast quarter of which he had purchased from government in May of the previous year, he having been one of a party of seven who came together from New York searching for eligible lands. In the spring of 1837, he, with Sherburn Crane and Mr. Dibble (who located in Genoa), and their families, set out from "York State" and trav- eled with ox-teams through West Canada to De- troit, and thence to Livingston County. During the year of his settlement Mr. Boyd cleared a tract of a few acres and prepared it for crops, and having done this, he started for Genesee County, N. Y., to collect money which was due him there. The journey proved a fatal one for him, for he embarked at Detroit for Buffalo on the steamer "Washington," upon that trip during which she was destroyed by fire. Mr. Boyd escaped the fire by jumping over- board, and, securing a plank, floated at last to the shore near Silver Creek, but in so exhausted and perishing a condition that he died almost imme- diately after reaching the land. His widow was thus left alone to struggle for the support of a family of nine children, of whom the oldest was then but a boy of seventeen years. But the situa- tion was bravely met; the farm was cleared and brought to a state of productiveness, and the family became prosperous and highly respected. Mrs.

Boyd is still living in Howell, with her daughter, Miss Angeline M. Boyd. Another daughter is the wife of the Rev. L. H. Dean; and five sons of Justus Boyd, viz., Lewis V., John N., Norman W., Hiram, and Henry P. Boyd, are living in the town- ship, on the section where their father settled.

Alvin L. Crittenden is properly mentioned among the settlers in Howell township in 1837, though he came to Howell village in the fall of 1835, as has been before stated. The story of how he procured the means to purchase his farm in the township is told by himself, as follows: "I spent a few days very pleasantly visiting, and then hired to George T. Sage for one year, and commenced work for him on the 24th day of November, 1835. I received for that year's work $140, which bought me eighty acres of land on section 24 in the township of Howell." The tract which he so purchased was the north half of the southeast quarter of the section in question, which he entered Dec. 14, 1836, but had not occupied in time to be included in the

list of resident taxable inhabitants of the township on the assessment roll which was made up in the spring of 1837. Mr. Crittenden married a daughter of Moses Thompson. He removed to Hamburg in 1842, but soon after returned, and remained in Howell till 1854, when he commenced traveling as a preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church. He is now located at Springport, Jackson Co., Mich.

Rial Lake, of Philadelphia, Pa., purchased the southeast quarter of section 32, in August, 1835, and came to settle upon the tract in 1837. He was a man of liberal education and much intelligence, and by his enterprise and industry became wealthy. He was president of the first agricultural society in 1843, and was several times elected to township offices. He died Dec. 29, 185 1.

William Hudson was a settler upon the same section with Mr. Lake, and in the same year.

Henry Tobias came to Howell in 1837, and set- tled on section 17, where S. S. More now lives. Mr. Tobias was from Mount Morris, N. Y., where he had married a sister of Garret S. Lake. The farm on which he located in Howell was that pre- viously owned by Mr. Samuel Waddell, who had then recently died.

Abraham A. Van Nest and his brother, Chris- topher Van Nest, came from Cayuga Co., N. Y., and settled in Livingston County in 1837. Abra- ham located himself on the northwest quarter of section 17, in Howell, this land having been pur- chased by him from the government in the pre- vious year. He became a prosperous and wealthy farmer, and died in September, 1878. The farm where he settled in 1837 is still owned and occu- pied by his family. Christopher Van Nest made his first settlement in the township of Marion, but removed to Howell about 1844, and settled oppo- site his brother on the northeast quarter of section 18, where George W. Fitch now resides.

John, Aaron, James, and William La Grange became settlers in Howell in 1837. They were brothers, all unmarried, and came from Rensselaer Co., N. Y. Aaron and James took farms on sec- tion 21, and their two brothers were employed with them. Aaron died Dec. 9, 1853, and James died May 9, 1857. John La Grange married Mary Robinson, and they had one child, James, who is now living in the township. Maria La Grange, a sister of the four brothers above named, married John Lasher, who settled in the township a few years later.

Francis Monroe, from Bristol, Ontario Co., N. Y., was a settler of 1837. His location was on the southwest quarter of section 28, which he en- tered from government in November, 1834, and which he still owns. When he came on his pros-

195

HOWELL TOWNSHIP.

pecting tour, in the fall of 1834, he was accompa- nied by Perez Walker, of Salem, Mich., John Knapp, of Bristol, N. Y., and Elisha H. Smith, from East Bloomfield, N. Y. Of these Mr. Smith became a settler in Howell, as has been noticed. Mr. Monroe, after entering his farm, returned to New York and remained there two and a half years, returning here to settle, with his wife and two children, on the Ist of June in the year named. He recollects that at the time of his arrival Mr. Artemas Hosmer, of Wayne County, had just com- pleted a bridge across the Shiawassee River, where the Grand River road crosses the stream.

When Mr. Monroe settled on his land this wild tract comprised all his worldly possessions, and it was not until he had realized a revenue from boun- ties on the scalps of wolves which he had caught that he was enabled to procure (otherwise than by borrowing) the necessary implements for use upon his farm. He was for several years quite famous as a slayer of wolves, and on one occasion, in the winter of 1837-38, came near losing his life in a desperate encounter with a large old black wolf, which he found in his trap one cold morning, on the northeast quarter of section 32. This encounter took place on the ice, in the swamp, where the wolf, being brought to bay, and unable to get away on account of the trap with clog attached to it, turned upon him ferociously, and it was by a nar- row chance that Mr. Monroe came off victor. As it was, he added one more scalp to his trophies. It was not long before his farming became far more profitable than the capturing of wolf-scalps, and after some years of close attention to business he found himself a rich man. He has now retired from agriculture, and is living on his ample means in the village of Howell. His son, F. N. Monroe, is a merchant in that place, and Norton M., another son, occupies the noble farm on which his father settled in poverty forty-two years ago.

Lemuel Monroe, the father of Francis, came into the township in May, 1849, and lived with his son. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and died April 29, 1854, at the age of ninety-five years, one month, and twenty-nine days.

Odell J. Smith settled here in 1837, on section II. He was a man of enterprise and a good farmer. He was several times elected justice of the peace, and filled other township offices. He died Jan. 23, 1861.

Aaron and William Sickles were early settlers in Howell, but it cannot be stated with certainty whether they came in 1837 or the previous year.

Hezekiah Gates, from Eaton, Madison Co., N. Y., settled in Howell in 1838. His location was on section 15, in the immediate vicinity of that of his

life-long friend, Benjamin J. Spring. The wife of Mr. Gates was Caroline Clark, whom he married in the State of New York. A few years after his settlement he was elected constable, and removed to Howell village, where, in 1845, he built the public-house known as Union Hall, but continued only a short time as its proprietor. He afterwards was a contractor in the construction of the Detroit and Grand River road, and later removed to Wil- liamston, Ingham Co., where he commenced build- ing a hotel, but died before it was completed. His remains were brought to Howell village for inter- ment.

Ira Brayton came to Howell in 1838. At first he was the owner of 80 acres on section 9, but afterwards purchased where he now lives on sec- tion 22, on the Shiawassee River. He has since become owner of all the water-power and mills on that stream within the township.

Solomon C. Sly, a Canadian refugee of the Patriot war, came here in 1838, or about that year, and settled on 40 acres of land purchased from Garret S. Lake on section 7, where now is the farm of Noah Drew. He afterwards removed to the " Four Corners," on the Grand River road, where he opened a public-house. From that place he moved to Shiawassee County.

John Marr came from Canada to Howell in 1839. His first location was on section 17, but in 1841 he removed to a tract of land in the north- east quarter of section 8, which he had purchased from Henry Hubbard, of New Hampshire, a speculator. Mr. Marr was the father of seven children when he came to Michigan, and three were born to him after his settlement here. Of these children, Cyrus, the oldest son, now lives on the farm which his father purchased of Hub- bard; Harlem Marr, another son, lives on section 8; Enos lives in the township of Cohoctah; a daughter, Mrs. Dustan, lives in Sheboygan Co., Mich .; Randall, a son born after his parents came to Howell, went to Texas, and on the opening of the war of the Rebellion joined the Confederate army, and is supposed to have lost his life in that service. Another son, Thomas J. Marr, born in Howell, entered the Union service in the 5th Michigan Infantry, and while in that service was captured by the enemy, and died in one of the Southern prisons. Five of the ten children of the family are now living.

David Hight came from Steuben Co., N. Y., and built his cabin in Howell, as one of the set- tlers of 1839. He was a married man, and with him and his wife was also a family of five children, two of whom were married at the time of their settlement here. Three of these are now living.

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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

Caleb Curtis was born in Canaan, Columbia Co., N. Y., and removed thence to Steuben County, in that State, where he married Eunice Cook, of New York City. They remained in Steuben County till 1837, when they emigrated to Livingston Co., Mich., and settled in Genoa. There they remained for three years, and removed in 1840 to the town- ship of Howell. With them came four children. One of these, Philo Curtis, died on the battle-field of the Wilderness, in 1864. Two other sons, Benjamin C. and H. B. Curtis, are well-known foundrymen and machinists ; and a daughter, Mrs. Mason, is also still living.

Nathaniel Tomlinson-previously from the State of New York-came from Washtenaw Co., Mich., and settled at Brighton about 1837, but removed thence to Howell, and settled on the southwest quarter of section 7, in this township, in 1840. He was not long a resident in the township, for he died in 1845, leaving a widow and three children.

Joseph Hogle, from Linden, Cattaraugus Co., N. Y., in 1835, and later of Washtenaw Co., Mich., came to this township in the fall of 1840, and set- tled where he still lives, on section 18. Both he and his wife have always been devout and con- sistent members of the Methodist Church, in which denomination he has been at various times leader in at least three different classes. He was a poor man-it may be said a very poor man-when he came to Howell, but he was temperate, frugal, in- dustrious, and honest ; and these virtues in his case brought the reward which they usually bring, -respect and competency. He is now the owner of a good farm, three-fourths of a mile in extent, and is not only reckoned among the well-to-do farmers of the township, but also among those whose word is as good as their bond. Such, at least, is the testimony borne concerning him by his neighbors in West Howell.

Robert Hildebrant, from Niagara Co., N. Y., settled in Howell in 1842. He then had nine children, and two more were born to him after- wards. He at first rented a farm on section 15, and died while making preparations for removal to a farm which he had purchased on section 10,- the same which is now owned and occupied by his son Solomon. At the death of Mr. Hildebrant, his widow removed with her children to their own property, where she is still living with her eldest son. Ruel Hildebrant, another son, enlisted in the 9th Indiana Infantry in the war of the Rebellion, and, having been transferred to an Indiana battery, was killed while on duty with it at the battle of Chaplin Hills, Ky., Oct. 8, 1862. His brother, John, was a member of the 5th Michigan Infantry, and died while serving with that regiment in 1864.

David Carl came to Howell at the same time as Robert Hildebrant, and settled on the south part of section 10. This half-section had been entered by H. W. Phillips, of Niagara Co., N. Y., in the spring of 1836, and had been afterwards sold by Charles A. Phillips to Jonathan Burch and Silas Morse, from the latter of whom Mr. Carl made his purchase. Burch's land was purchased by Mr. Hildebrant, who was preparing to remove to it at the time of his death, as before mentioned. Mr. Carl lived about sixteen years on the farm pur- chased from Morse, and died there in September, 1858. The place is now occupied by John H. Diamon, and the widow of David Carl is still living there. Her son, John Carl, is living in . Howell. Two other sons, Henry and Andrew J., died in the United States service in the war of the Rebellion.

Dr. Gardner Mason, who had located in the village of Howell in 1838, removed a few years later to the west part of the township, and settled on the southeast quarter of section 19. Here he set out a nursery, which was perhaps the first in this part of the township. He had previously started a nursery on the Sage farm, where he first located on coming to Howell. He lived here during the remainder of his life, and died here Aug. 30, 1852, at the age of sixty-five. His son, John G. Mason, is now a resident of Howell vil- lage.

Ephraim Fowler, from the eastern part of New York State, settled about 1845 on a farm on the southeast quarter of section 20, at the point known as the " Four Corners." There he lived and died. The farm, which he made a good one, is now owned and occupied by his son.

Nicholas Lake came from Mount Morris, Liv- ingston Co., N. Y., to Howell in 1849. He cannot, therefore, be properly placed on the list of early settlers in the township, but is mentioned among them because he was a brother of two of the very early immigrants who took their families across the Shiawassee to find homes in the woods to the westward of that stream, viz., Henry and Garret S. Lake. William Lake, another brother, came at about the same time with Nicholas, and lived on the land of his brother Garret. Nicholas Lake purchased 80 acres of land of Orra La Grange at the Four Corners, and is now living there at an advanced age. Mr. La Grange, from whom he purchased in 1849, removed then to section 16.

THE FOUR CORNERS-PUBLIC-HOUSES-FLEMING- THE RAILROAD.

The " Four Corners" here mentioned is a cross- roads cluster of buildings in the western part of

197

HOWELL TOWNSHIP.

the town, where a north and south section-line road crosses the Grand River turnpike. The cluster is not large enough to be termed a village or even a hamlet, and what little importance it has or ever had is due to the existence there of a hotel, or tavern. This public-house was first opened by Solomon C. Sly-as already noticed- about the year 1851. It was afterwards kept by Mortimer Townsend, and after him by William Brundage. Its present proprietor is Thomas Gil- christ.

Another public-house in the township was opened on the south side of the Grand River road, just west of the bridge over the Shiawassee, by Amos Adams, in or about the year 1838, soon after Joseph H. Steel had succeeded him in the Eagle Tavern, in Howell village. This old tavern on the Shiawassee was kept by Mr. Adams until his death, in May, 1855, and after him it was kept by Jesse Childs. Afterwards it was removed to the north side of the plank-road, and is still stand- ing there.

The "Six Corners," more generally known at the present time as "Fleming" or West Howell, is a cluster of buildings somewhat more pretentious than the "Four Corners," which it lies to the northwest of, and is also located on the Grand River road, which is here intersected by other roads forming six angles, from which circumstance came the name of the settlement. The pioneer settler here was Clement Stebbins, and it is men- tioned by Ralph Fowler, Esq., of Fowlerville, that when he came down from there to Howell, in 1836, he found Mr. Stebbins' dwelling to be the only one on the road (then little more than a trail) between the two places. From the name of this first settler it was also known in the early years as "Stebbins' Corners," and seems to have been accounted a place of some little importance as a point of departure. In 1844, Mr. Elum M. Bailey advertised that he had "opened a new tailoring establishment on the premises of Henry Lake, one and a half miles north of Stebbins' Corners on the Grand River road, five miles west of Howell," and that he was prepared to furnish clothing fashionably cut and well made on short notice. One of his earliest jobs was the furnishing of uni- forms (or some portions of them) for the Howell Rifle Company, in that year. This fashionable tailoring establishment, however, could hardly be considered as belonging to the Corners, though its proximity to that place was evidently regarded by its proprietor as being a rather important circum- stance. The Six Corners does not appear to have been a place of any more consideration than its more easterly rival which boasts only two-thirds

its number of angles ; but since the opening of the railroad and the establishment of the Fleming Station, it has (from that circumstance more than from any increase of business or population) taken a little start ahead. It has a post-office, and a public-house is also about being opened. If it ever attains the proportions of a small village, it will probably be by settlements extending along the road between the corners and the railroad station, which is a short distance to the south, almost exactly where Dr. Gardner Mason settled when he moved to the west part of the township from Howell village.

The Detroit, Lansing and Northern Railroad, passing through Howell village, enters the town- ship in its southern part, and runs across it in a northwesterly direction, passing out at the north- west corner of section 19, into Handy. Its only station in this town west of Howell village is the flag-station of Fleming. The road was completed and opened for traffic in August, 1871. It has proved a decided advantage to the farmers of the township; sufficiently so, no doubt, to reimburse them for the taxes paid to make up the sum of about $17,000, the amount of bonds voted by Howell in aid of its construction.

MILLS IN THE TOWNSHIP.

The first manufacturing establishment in Howell outside the village limits was a saw-mill, erected in the year 1838 by Joseph Porter and Amos Adams, on the Shiawassee River, a little to the north and east of the centre of section 27. Mr. Porter was one of the earliest settlers in Howell, and was the first and for a considerable time the only millwright in the township, and had been the master-workman in the construction of Moses Thompson's mill in 1836. Mr. Adams had been the proprietor of the Eagle Tavern in the village, which establishment had then recently been sold to Joseph H. Steel, leaving Mr. Adams free to engage in this new project. The mill was never a very efficient one, but it was perhaps equal to the requirements of the region, and it did very good service to the people of the vicinity for a number of years. In 1854, Enos B. Taylor and Amos S. Adams became owners of the property and rebuilt the mill. After them the next proprietor was Joseph M. Gilbert, who established a carding and cloth-dressing mill there, in addition to the saw-mill. In 1866, Ira Brayton became owner of the water-power and mills. The location is about three-eighths of a mile below and north of the point where the Grand River road crosses the Shiawassee.

One mile north of the mills above described and lower down on the same stream is another mill-

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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

site, on which, in 1844, Luther B. Willard, of De- troit, commenced the construction of a grist-mill. In this enterprise he took in partnership with him Ezekiel H. Sabin, who had been engaged, in South- field, Oakland Co., in a similar project, which had proved disastrous to him on account of defect in title to the property on which it was located. He brought with him to this place some of the ma- chinery and fixtures which had been in his estab- lishment in Southfield. The mill building on the Shiawassee was raised in October, 1844, but Wil- lard & Sabin never got the mill in successful oper- ation, and on the 7th of May, 1845, the partner- ship between them was dissolved by mutual con- sent. Mr. Sabin afterwards emigrated to California. In 1848 the mill property was purchased by Ben- jamin Cardell and Sylvanus Lake, who built a saw-mill on the dam. In 1851 the water-power was purchased by James G. Hollis, who completed the flouring-mill. The property afterwards came into possession of Ira Brayton. About 1876 the machinery was taken out of the mill and removed to the western part of the State.

In the year 1856, William, Albert, and Aaron Dorrance built a steam saw-mill on the east part of the northeast quarter of section 17. It after- wards passed into the possession of William B. Smith and Franklin Kelly. It was never a very profitable investment, and has now ceased to be operated.

THE MILITARY RECORD OF HOWELL.

The following in regard to military matters in Howell is furnished by Mr. Elisha H. Smith, and is here given, verbatim, as furnished. It is proper to mention that it has reference to the township and village of Howell, taken together :

" A rifle-company was organized in the township of Howell in 1844. The commissioned officers of the company were William Lewis, captain; Ira Brayton, first lieutenant; and Emmet Smith, second lieutenant. The first military parade of this company was at the residence of John W. Smith, on section 28. A few years after the company was organized, military duty was not required by the State government, consequently the company was dis- banded. In the year 1861, and in the succeeding three years, the following persons of the township and village enlisted and were mustered into the United States service in the war of the Rebellion :

" Andrew J. Bishop, promoted to a captaincy.

" Solomon T. Lyon, captain.

" William Brown, captain.

" Hudson B. Blackman, first lieutenant and quartermaster.

" Andrew D. Waddell, first lieutenant.

" Harris A. Hickok, adjutant.

" Frederick T. Angel, second lieutenant.

" Everett Sargeant, second lieutenant.

" James Mulloy, second lieutenant.

" Jabesh A. Pond, sergeant ; killed.

" Bernard Ryder, sergeant; died of disease.

" Jonathan Sharp, sergeant ; taken prisoner and died.

" William Pullen, wounded.

" Sergeants returned .- George Stafford, Stephen Fishbeck, Luther Frink, James Fitzgerald, Franklin Goodrich, Charles Lake, Jared L. Cook, Edgar Noble.

" Corporals killed, wounded, or died of disease .- Joseph Pruden, Jerome Buckland, Edwin Hart, Gardner S. Smith, John Lake.

" Privates killed or died of wounds .- Jerome Phillips, Simon Dolph, Sylvanus Dolph, Thomas G. Marr, Eli Rambo, Abra- ham Swits, Jerome Barrett, George Lake, Edwin II. Smith, Chester Albright, Isaac Felter, James Canfield, Samuel Sut- ton, Merritt Pullen, Charles Smith, Peter Woll, Theodore Washburn, Amizee Axtell, Henry Carl, Philo Curtis, James Dewitt, Henry Preston.

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History of Livingston County, Michigan, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 41

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

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