USA > Michigan > Livingston County > History of Livingston County, Michigan, with illustrations and biographical sketches > Part 50
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99
" Towards night we again returned to the empty house, only to meet disappointment; being very weary and hungry, and not daring to start for Howell at so late an hour, the route being designated
only by marked trees, we concluded to go to Mr. Calvin Handy's house-the only family as yet living in the township-to try and get something to eat. Mrs. Handy said her husband had gone for provisions, and she was expecting him home at any moment ; that she had a little flour and a wild turkey, killed that day by Mr. J. E. Head, and she would divide with us. We were very glad to get a cup of tea, and returning to Mr. Metcalf's cabin, slept the second night on the ground between the sleepers. About mid- night the wolves commenced to howl around us. It seems that Mr. Metcalf, while breaking ground for his wheat, had the mis- fortune to lose an ox by death, and it seemed then as if the wolves had gathered by thousands at the spot where its carcass lay, or had lain. This was the first howling of the wolves we had yet heard. The turmoil finally ceased, and we slept on till morning. Soon after daylight we arose, and started for Howell, feeling as if we were fifty or sixty years old, and beginning to think that we already had about enough of Michigan.
" There was but one house on the road to Howell, and that at the Six Corners, occupied by Mr. Stebbins. One of the greatest difficulties encountered on this expedition was in obtaining water to drink. All the surface water was full of wigglers, and the only way we could keep them from slipping down our throats was by spreading our handkerchiefs upon the water and drinking that which came through the meshes.
" When we arrived at Howell we learned that Mr. Metcalf's oxen had strayed away, and that he had been searching for them the past two days, which accounted for his non-appearance at the cabin, and our fast. Mr. Adams soon announced breakfast. It was then about ten o'clock in the forenoon. We went in and found upon the table some coffee, bread, and butter. IIe said, 'eat this and then go to bed.' We followed his advice, and arose at supper time feeling very much refreshed. The next morning we started on our return to Detroit, not yet fully deter- mined as to the undertaking of making Michigan our home. We wanted large farms of our own, however, and as we walked through the townships of Salem and Plymouth, and saw the crops and the enterprise of the people settled there, we came to the firm conclusion, before reaching Detroit, to make Michigan our perma- nent place of residence. From the latter city we took passage on the steamer ' Sandusky' for Buffalo, arriving there in two days and three nights,-a very short trip for those days.
" Upon arriving at our home it was settled that Martin W. Ran- dall and myself, with our families, should start upon a journey to Michigan in the fall. All arrangements were completed as rapidly as possible, and, early in the morning of October 17, 1836, we bade adieu to our families in Geneseo, and with two covered wagons-two yoke of oxen hitched to one, and a span of horses to the other-began our return trip to the Peninsular State. We traveled through Canada, and had a good time. On the 9th of November we arrived in Handy,-then Howell township. Our house, which Mr. Adams had hired built for us, was only partially completed. A roof covered but one side, and there was no floor. Mr. Harvey Metcalf had got settled in his house, and we stayed with him two or three days. We moved into our house with only half of the floor laid. Except the door, the house was built with- out using a board. Oaken shakes and shingles constituted the roof, gables, and upper floor. The lower floor was made from basswood logs, split through the centre, spotted on the ends so as to rest firmly on the sleepers, and, being hewed smooth on top, made a good finish. A mud-and-stick chimney, the fireplace em- bellished with wooden crane and trammels, completed the first appointments of the cabin.
"Our goods had been shipped from Geneseo to Detroit, and we expected to find them in the latter city on our arrival, but, to our great disappointment, they had not yet arrived. After the com- pletion of our cabin, Martin W. Randall, with his horse-team,- the first ever owned in the township,-returned to Detroit, expect- ing to find the goods surely at that time, but still they were not there.
" Here we were, in the woods, sixty miles from where anything
* From an address delivered before the Livingston County Pio- neer Association, June 19, 1878.
man
238
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
could be obtained,-Mr. Randall, wife, and one child, and myself, wife, and two children,-with no cooking-utensils, or anything to sleep upon, except a quilt or two which we had brought along in our wagons. I think Mr. Randall had part of a bed. 'Necessity is the mother of invention,' and this, with kind neighbors, over. came a great many difficulties. We borrowed a few plates, knives, and forks from Mrs. Handy and Mrs. Metcalf,-the lady represen- tatives of the only families then in the township,-and from the Indians a baking-kettle. In a shanty in the west part of Howell, where some men had been chopping, we found a three-pail kettle, which we also took, and with a tin bake-oven, which we had bought in Detroit, our kitchen utensils were complete.
" Now for sleeping accommodations. We found, by way of Mr. Adams, that a young man by the name of Flavius J. B. Crane- the proprietor and original owner of part of the village plat of Howell-had a piece of factory-cloth. We bought it, made a bed- tick of the same, also some sheets, and filled the tick with marsh hay. A bedstead was made of ironwood poles and bark, and by the help of quilts, before mentioned, and a good fire, we managed to pass the winter very comfortably.
" Mr. Randall, after a few weeks, built a shanty on the east half of the southwest quarter of section eleven, on lands owned by John B. Fowler. Thus situated, with but four families in the township, viz., Messrs. Handy, Metcalf, Randall, and myself, was passed a very pleasant winter.
" We were well surrounded by Indians, there being three win- ter-camps near us,-two on section ten, and one on section two. There must have been as many as forty or fifty Indians in the three camps, and they had thirty ponies running in the woods. The question naturally arises, ' Were you not afraid of the Indians?' Never but twice. The first time was when they had all been to Detroit to transact some business with the government, and on their return came to our place, on their main trail to Grand River and the western part of the State. They came along about the middle of the afternoon, some one hundred of them, with fifty or sixty ponies and many trappings, the snow being some six inches deep. Many of their sleds were made of deer-skins, by spreading them on the snow with the hair-side down, filling them with all they could lay on, and then lashing the load fast with ropes made from basswood-bark, passing them through holes made in the edge of the skin, and then over to the other side. It was surpris- ing to see the amount they would pile upon one skin. Then they would hitch a rope to the neck of the skin, and the same again to a pony's neck, making quite a good running sled.
" Thus they came upon us. We had not seen many of them before, and were somewhat afraid as they came in, filling the house like a town-meeting. We put on a big fire and let them work. Putting bells on their ponies, they turned them out, which made the woods ring with their jingle.
" Soon they began to cut poles, peel basswood bark, and pre- pare their quarters for the night. They stuck stakes on each side of a large oak-tree that we had felled near the house, tied poles near the top of these stakes, laying others on them and back on the ground, covering all with a kind of web-cloth made from flags or rushes, for some fifty feet on each side of the log, then built a fire along the front, after which they spread down their bear and deer skins and blankets, making the whole look very warm and comfortable. After eating their supper of venison, cold boiled squirrels, and musk-rats, they went to bed.
"It was quite a sight for us to see them. Each one of full size had his blanket, which was tucked in at the edge over the head, and under the feet.
" In the morning Okemos and his tribe, or those that were with him, went on to the place now called Okemos, while the others, being a part of the old Shiawassee tribe, went into the three camps before mentioned.
" There was one very old man with the latter party, some nine- three years old as near as we could judge from marks and signs. He was sick, and had every appearance of having the consump- tion. His camp was pitched on section 2, northeast of John A.
Tanner's log house. He finally died, and the funeral ceremonies lasted for some time. He must have been one of much distinction, as other tribes came from long distances to attend his funeral. After his death they wrapped him in a clean, white blanket, and laid him in a little place divided from the main camp by hanging blankets around him. One of the old squaws sat by the body nearly all the time for each evening for four or five evenings. Others would play and beat their musical instruments all night. These instruments were of different kinds, one being made of red cedar, and resembling a clarionet. This was split in the centre, a hollow dug out the size they wanted it, curves were cut around between the finger holes, and then the whole fastened together with the sinews of animals. Another instrument was made by stretching a deer-skin over a hoop similar to a tambourine, and others still had drums very similar to our bass and tenor ones. They made a fearful noise, and could be heard a mile or more. A grave was dug to the depth of three feet, in it was placed some elm-bark, and then, when the body was deposited, the same was filled with the mould of the forest, and covered with round poles some six inches in diameter, neatly notched together at the corners. About two feet from the head of the grave, they set a post about three inches thick and three feet high, on the side of which next to the grave they cut a notch, and painted above the notch the picture of a tur- key, and below it that of a deer.
" For some three weeks after the burial, some one of the squaws kept a fire between the head of the grave and the post, made of sticks about six inches long, split fine, and set upon end in a round form. This fire was kept burning daily. After the funeral they also climbed to the top of a large beech-tree and there hung their musical instruments, where they remained four or five weeks after the funeral ceremonies.
" The second fright we had arose from the doings of a young man who brought whisky into or near their camps for the purpose of selling it to the Indians. Early the next morning the Indians caught their ponies-a thing they had not done for months-and came galloping to our houses, demanding ' Whisky ! whisky ! Shemokeman whisky! Wishicheere whisky!' Some of them, when refused and informed that we had no whisky, seemed deter- mined to search the house; but we finally satisfied them that we had none, and away they went in search of it in other directions. We soon found a keg of the young man's fire-water, to which an axe was applied, and thus ended our second fright.
" On the Ist of May, 1837, John B. Fowler and family, Ruel Randall and wife, and John A. Tanner, then a boy seventeen years of age, and in the employ of John B. Fowler, arrived in the town- ship. They came from Geneseo, N. Y., with ox-teams, through Canada. The first Sunday morning after their arrival, my brother and myself strolled through the woods and came to a cleared spot or an opening of about an acre, where we sat down under a large oak and talked of our mother, who had been a Methodist all her days. ' Right here,' my brother says, ' if we live long enough, we will have a Methodist church.' When the village plat was sur- ยท veyed, the stump of the same tree still remained there. Remem- bering the conversation of my brother and myself, I marked the lots for a Methodist church, and in about twenty years the church was built upon that site."
Charles P. Bush, Richard P. Bush, and John Bush, from Danby, Tompkins Co., N. Y., arrived June 1, 1837. The former, as before mentioned, settled upon section 11, while Richard settled upon section 1, and John upon section 2.
Stephen Avery, from Livingston Co., N. Y .; Alanson Church, from Genesee Co., N. Y .; Alan- son Knickerbocker, from Wayne Co., Mich .; Sey- mour and Jesse Norton, from Genesee Co., N. Y .; John B. La Rowe and Elijah Gaston, all settled in the spring and summer of the same year (1837).
239
The resident tax-payers in 1837, the sections upon which their lands were located, the number of acres owned, value of real and personal estate, and the amount of tax paid by each, are shown by the following table :
Names.
Section. Acres. Real Estate.
Stephen Avery.
12
80
$240
Alanson Church
28
80
240
Ralph Fowler.
.. 2, 3, 10, 11, 15, 28
800
2400
John B. Fowler.
.4, II
320
960
Elijah Gaston
I
80
240
Calvin Handy.
2
240
720
James E. Head
12
80
240
Alanson Knickerbocker
19
342
IO26
John B. La Rowe.
I
80
240
Harvey Metcalf
10, 1I
240
720
Seymour Norton and Jesse Norton ...
28
240
720
This assessment was made while Handy was still a part of Howell township. The total assessed valuation of real and personal estate in township 3 north, of range 3 east, was $55,300, and the amount of tax levied upon the same was $194.82.
Prior to the first township election, which was held April 2, 1838, the following additional settlers were already here, a majority of whom had come in before the beginning of the winter of 1837 and 1838, viz. : Samuel Conklin, Benjamin H. Briggs, Dennis Conrad, William Nash, George Austin, William Bumfrey, William Benjamin, and Almon Whipple.
The latter gentleman was a native of Hardwick, Mass. With his father he removed to Otsego Co., N. Y., in 1817, where he remained until 1837, when he came to Michigan and settled in the north- eastern part of Handy, or the Gaston neighborhood. In 1838 he purchased goods in New York, and opened the first store in the township. During the fall of the same year he was elected clerk of Livingston County. He then removed to the vil- lage of Howell, where he continued to reside until his death, which occurred Feb. 14, 1878.
At about the time that Mr. Whipple established his store, Elijah Gaston opened his house to the public as a tavern, and received the appointment of postmaster.
People in the vicinity anticipated the building up of a village. They had some reason to expect it, as the highway for general travel and the hauling of freight west from Howell led in the same direc- tion.
Among other early settlers who came in during the years from 1838 to 1844 were Hiram Mace, James W. Armstrong, Joseph S. Schofield, David C. Griswold, William I. Bowen, Eleazer C. Tucker, -the first blacksmith,-John D. Van Blaricom, David Fredericks, John M. Jones, Harley Bement, H. B. McCumber, John Everts, John Ray, Edward H. Jubb, Ira Sargent, Benjamin Curtis, Levi Bris- tol, Orson Swift, William T. Davis, Rial Hysling-
ton, Daniel Benjamin, Andrew Miller, Ezekiel Little, Perry Dorrance, James Grimes, George B. De Graff, William Marsh, Marshall Porter, A. Cook, Joel C. Choate, Philetus Brown, and Enoch H. Marble.
The resident tax-payers in 1845 were
Sec.
Sec.
Marvin Gaston ...
I
John Ray ..
26
Richard P. Bush. 1, 12
Harmon Ray.
26
John Bush .2,3
George B. Degraff. 26
Calvin Handy. 2
Joel C. Choate.
34
John A. Tanner ..... 2, 3, 13, 14 James E. Head 12
12 Alma Marble.
27
Harvey Metcalf. 10, 1I
3, 34
Ralph Fowler ... 2, 4, 10, 11, 15 II Benjamin W. Lawrence ...... George Porter 17, 18
Henry Vangorder 33,
34
Samuel Conklin. 18
Philetus Brown
33
E. H. Jubb
9
Almon S. Norton
28
Hiram Bristol
13
Seymour Norton.
28
David Bowen
25
Alanson Church.
28
Levi Bristol. 23
Orson Church
29
John M. Jones. 14, 23
Orson Swift.
William T. Davis ..
John M. Winegar
28
Alfred Woodward 20
Ezekiel King.
I
Alanson Parker 20
M. Simons
8
B. H. Briggs 19, 20
Henry North
3
Henry Telling
19
Phineas Silsby
4
Albert Knickerbocker 20
William Marsh
12
John T. Watson 20
Isaac Taylor
23
Calvin Knickerbocker. 19
Richard Hilton 35
Thurston Simons.
3
Simon Tupper.
34
Additional tax-paying inhabitants in 1846 were
Sec.
Sec.
William Alsbro.
8
Benham Knickerbocker ... 19
William R. Spafford.
18
William P. Grover. 20
Samuel B. Douglass.
35
Marshall S. Gould. 8
John Fewless.
34
William Marsh.
12
Lambert Slaughter
33
James H. Brown 12
William Walker
27
Lewis C. Sutton. 13, 14
Henry Wood
30
James Costello.
33
David Sprague
20
Timothy Hollaway ...
I
IN 1847.
Sec.
Sec.
Michael Miller
I
J. J. M. Newcomb 21
Ruel Randall.
3
Thomas Demmon.
27
Amos Barnard.
3
Freeman Page ..
28
Flora Sowle
3
William R. Ward
34
Samuel G. Palmerton
7
Job Tupper
34
William King.
12
Joseph Loree.
34
Levi Coffey
18
Richard Storms.
30
Otis Marsh
17
IN 1848.
Sec.
Sec.
Sylvester Tanner ...
2
Charles Fisk.
28
Russell Hodges.
12
Jabez Willard ... ...
28
Henry Tupper.
13
Nathan Kinney .33, 34
William H. Fowler.
22 William M. Clark . Personal
David Brown, Jr.
23
Clark & Hopkins. .Personal
Seth Pettys. 18, 19
Edwin Smith. Personal
Israel Green
35 Orra Grover. .. 21
34
Benjamin Curtis
John Loree. Ezekiel Page
33
John Brown
33
William J. Bowen 33
William Benjamin ..
14
David C. Griswold .. 22
29, 30 30
David P. Dorrance. 20
Silas B. Munsell.
Mathew Knowles 27, 33
The increase in population during the years to 1850, however, was slow, and the faces of the in- habitants were constantly changing. Many came, and after a residence of but a year or two, removed to some other locality where markets were more accessible. The soil was good, and large crops greeted the toiling husbandmen when harvest
HANDY TOWNSHIP.
Valuation of
240
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
came, but the profits were consumed in the strug- gle to reach distant avenues of commerce.
In 1842 the State appropriated a small sum for
. opening a road between Fowlerville and Lansing. It was expended under the supervision of Mr. Mullett, of Detroit, but the benefits arising from it amounted to but little, and, as it was not used as a through route of travel, it soon grew up to brush in many places and became practically closed. At last, in the spring of 1849, Messrs. Ralph Fowler, of Handy, and O. B. Williams, of Williamston, went over the line of the present Grand River road and solicited subscriptions for opening the said road west from Fowlerville. They obtained, in goods and money, subscriptions to the amount of $600. Special township-meetings were held in those towns lying along the line of the road, viz., Leroy, Wheatfield, Phelps, and Meridian, and sums varying from $200 to $250 were raised in each.
Messrs. Fowler and Williams then began anew the struggle against nature's obstacles and the noisy opposition of those who were interested in the northern route already established. Bridges were built over the two Cedars and the streams west of the Meridian line. Mr. Williams then commenced at the Meridian line with three men and two yoke of oxen, while Mr. Fowler began at Fowlerville with the same amount of help. The brush was again cleared away, and the wet and miry places corduroyed. At the expiration of three weeks' time they met at Williamston.
Then, in order to get the mail-route changed from the Howell and Okemos road to the present Grand River road, Messrs. Seymour, of Lansing, O. B. Williams, of Williamston, Ralph Fowler and George Curtis, of Fowlerville, and Hezekiah Gates, of Howell, established a stage-line, and placed upon the new road a stage to run between Howell and Lansing. The stage consisted of a lumber- wagon drawn by a span of horses. It made tri- weekly trips, or out one day and back the next, and they let no man walk for want of money. This enterprise was continued one year. The prime movers had then accomplished their object, viz., the establishment of post-offices at Fowler- ville and Williamston, and they then sold out. Mr. Fowler relates that he kept one man and a team of horses on the road during the time men- tioned, that he lost one horse valued at $125, owed the company $10 at settlement, and that he came out by far the best of any one in the company.
In 1849 the Howell and Lansing Plank-Road Company began laying planks over the same road, and completed their work in 1852 and '53. From the latter time can be dated the beginning of Handy's prosperity. The village of Fowlerville
was platted, David Lewis was appointed postmas- ter, and places of business sprang up on several corners.
But the busy life of the plank-road was of but short duration. The building and opening of the Detroit and Milwaukee and the Jackson and Sag- inaw Railroads suddenly shut off the travel from the plank-road, and then succeeded several years of dull times, and the hauling of produce from twenty-five to thirty-five miles, which, together. with the war of the Rebellion, helped to retard the growth of business and population.
In 1865 the people began discussing the ques- tion of extending aid to railroads, but it was not until the summer of 1871 that their fondest hopes were realized by witnessing the iron-steed race across the borders of their township.
Since the latter period, remarkable changes have taken place. The population has more than doubled. Acres hitherto lying waste have been brought under cultivation. The primitive log cabin, and the but little better small framed house, have given place to commodious residences, rich in finish and ar- chitectural design. Herds of blooded stock crop the rich pasturage which everywhere abounds, and large, well-stored farm-buildings inform him who would note it that the citizens of Handy of to-day are in the full enjoyment of that prosperity which is the sure reward for those who industriously and intelligently cultivate the soil.
But very few of the pioneers of 1836 and 1837 now remain, and it is not our purpose or province to individualize a few in disparagement of the many. Therefore, we believe that we but echo the best sentiments of her citizens when we assert that to the sterling worth, the broad and liberal teachings, and unswerving integrity of such pio- neers as Ralph Fowler and John A. Tanner, is due the present proud position which Handy occupies among Livingston County townships.
The latter gentleman, besides holding many other positions of trust and honor, has represented his township sixteen times as supervisor, and was one of the very few Livingston County representatives who marched under the folds of the starry banner as it waved victoriously over the plains of Mexico.
FIRST EVENTS.
Among some of the first events not already mentioned, we here add that Calvin Handy owned the first cow and oxen. The first steam saw-mill was built on section 18 by William R. Spafford in 1847; later it was owned by Conway & Wilbur. Elijah Gaston built the first framed barn on sec- tion I. Richard P. Bush erected the first framed house on section 12 in 1853.d The first log school-
Hosted by
GEORGE LOVELY.
MRS. GEORGE LOVELY.
FARM & RESIDENCE OF GEORGE LOVELY, HANDY, MICHIGAN
Hosted by
24I
HANDY TOWNSHIP.
house was built on section 11 in 1839, and the first framed school-house on the same section in 1844. Alanson Church owned the first hog, Peter Win- chell the first fowls, and Ruel Randall the first cat. Ralph Fowler, in 1839, owned the first sheep. He purchased thirteen of Losson Gordon, and soon afterwards the wolves killed all but one. Mr. Fowler also brought in the first improved cattle in 1844. They were Devons from a Clinton County herd. Lorenzo Palmerton erected the first brick building-a store-in the village of Fowlerville. The first birth was that of Charles Fowler, son of Ralph, who was born in June, 1838. Mrs. Ruel Randall, during the same year, was the first to depart this life in the township. Early marriages were those of Benjamin Curtis to Mary A. Bush and William Ferris to Amanda Miller, who were married by Ralph Fowler, Esq., in 1840.
CIVIL AND POLITICAL.
Section 4 of an act to organize certain town- ships, and approved by the State legislative body then in session, March 6, 1838, reads as follows :
" All that portion of the township of Howell as now organized in the county of Livingston, designated in the United States sur- vey as township number 3 north of range number 3 east, be, and the same is hereby, set off and organized into a separate township by the name of Handy; and the first township-meeting therein shall be held at the house of Ralph Fowler in said township."
On the 2d of April, 1838, the legal voters of the township, to the number of fourteen, assembled at the house of Ralph Fowler, and proceeded to elect the first board of township officers.
The records relating to the proceedings of the first election have been lost, yet the following is believed to be a correct list of those elected: Ralph Fowler, Supervisor; Richard P. Bush, Town- ship Clerk; John B. Fowler, Richard P. Bush, William Benjamin, Seymour Norton, Justices of the Peace; John B. Fowler, Richard P. Bush, John B. La Rowe, Assessors; Ruel Randall, Collector ; Harvey Metcalf, Richard P. Bush, Seymour Nor- ton, Highway Commissioners; John B. Fowler, Seymour Norton, Richard P. Bush, School In- spectors; Elijah Gaston, John Bush, Poormasters; Ruel Randall, John B. La Rowe, Constables.
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.