History of Livingston County, Michigan, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 63

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* See Chester Hazard's statement,-latter's frame house built in 1837.

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GENOA TOWNSHIP.

with oxen and sleds. The sleighing was good, and riding through among the trees very pleasant, oxen notwithstanding. Mr. Curtis, too, -- Mr. Barnard's father-in-law,-lived near them, and came soon after we did, One knows how to value good neighbors and pleasant intercourse with them in a new country. Before the next winter the Hon. Charles P. Bush settled near us, as I mentioned elsewhere. He was one of the first to represent our county in the Legislature, and helped to bring about the removal of the capital from Detroit to Lansing, Ingham Co., then a 'wild wood,' and very few settlers between Howell and there. A few years after, Mr. Roswell Pettibone settled and lived many years on the place now owned by Mr. Conrad Shoenhals. He now lives in Oceola, but is a near neighbor yet. Our neighbor, Rev. William Stedman, came in a few years later than we did; he settled on the place owned now by Mr. Fitch, and resided there until recently ; he lives now in the village of Howell. Mr. Brewster Carpenter came still later, and settled about one mile, I think, from what was the Buckland place, on the Ann Arbor road, and is still living on the old homestead. Mr. A. Dibble also settled on the same road in either 1836 or '37, but has left long ago ; the place is now owned by Mr. Garlock. Mr. William Shaft settled on the adjoining farm, now owned by Mr. Wesley Garlock.

" Mr. William A. Buckland, now deceased, located and resided for many years on the corner of Grand River and Ann Arbor roads, now owned by the Messrs. Hubbard. Mrs. Buckland was the daughter of Dr. Wheeler, of Howell, still well remembered by pioneers of Howell and Genoa. Mrs. Buckland resides at present with her family in the village of Howell.

" For several of the first years we all went visiting and to meet- ing (as we sometimes had preaching at our different houses), and to church at Howell,-after one was organized there,-with our own ox-teams. A horse at the church door was a rare sight. We could not boast of their speed, but they were safe, especially if a man was at their heads, and their lack of speed was only a source of merriment, as was every other annoyance from what we had not, but hoped some time to have. . .

" In the spring of 1839 we commenced our first school in Dis- trict No. 2, consisting of three families,-Lawson, Bush, and Bur- well,-nine children in all, part of them hardly old enough to go, but we must send all we could of those nine. All are still living, and heads of families, except George Lawson, who died in early manhood. Our first school-house (log, of course) was nearly op- posite Mr. Lawson's house, and on his land. Our first teacher was Miss Electa Bush, a daughter of John Bush, of Handy, and mother of Mrs. John W. Lawson. She was then a very young girl. C. W. Burwell, being director, went after her with his pony. She rode and he walked back, a distance of fourteen miles. A killing matter that would be now, but teachers were not so plenty then. District No. 2 built the second school-house in Genoa, I think, that in the Benjamin district being the first. . . "

Mr. Burwell and his family still reside on the place they settled in 1836, and he has grown old in the land of his adoption.

Chester Hazard, from Steuben Co., N. Y., came to Genoa in 1835 and purchased land, returning afterwards for his family. July 4, 1836, he left his home and started on the overland journey to Michigan, accompanied by his family. His wagon was drawn by two yokes of cattle, and nine addi- tional head were driven. The trip was made through Canada, and in the course of time Detroit was reached. Mr. Hazard's brother, Stewart Hazard, was then living in Wayne County, and with him the family stayed until some time in the month of August, when they proceeded to the

new home in the wilderness. One child had been buried before leaving New York; but four sons and three daughters accompanied their parents to Michigan, and aided in the conquest of the diffi- culties which there beset them. On the place adjoining Mr. Hazard's, at the east, a log house had been erected by Mr. Butterfield, of Kensing- ton, Oakland Co., but it had not been completed. Mr. Butterfield informed Mr. Hazard that if he chose to finish it up he was welcome to the use of it until he could build for himself, and his offer was gratefully accepted. William Wood, a car- penter and joiner by trade, who had been one of Mr. Hazard's neighbors in the State of New York, came to Genoa early in 1837. He wished for work to enable him to purchase some land, and Mr. Hazard employed him to build the frame house which is still standing on the latter's place. Mr. Hazard cut whitewood (tulip) trees on his own farm, drew the logs to Maltby's mill below Brighton, and had them sawed into lumber. This was in the winter of 1836-37, and it was princi- pally of this lumber that the house was built. Mr. Hazard is of the opinion that his was the first frame house erected in the township. When he arrived here his nearest neighbors were Thomas Pinckney and Lucius H. Peet. Manning Hatha- way came soon after. In early life Mr. Hazard learned the trade of tanner, currier, and shoemaker at Arlington, Bennington Co., Vt., and conducted a moderately extensive business in that line while living in New York, but never after coming to Michigan. In 1842 he was elected treasurer of Livingston County, which office he held two suc- cessive terms, residing during the time at Howell. While absent from the farm his son-in-law, Abram Upthegrove, kept a hotel in the house he had vacated. In 1848, Mr. Hazard was chosen to the State Legislature, and has also held other offices, having been a justice of the peace for many years, and supervisor of Genoa several terms, etc. Since 1849 he has resided upon his farm.

Lucius H. Peet for a number of years kept a tavern in the log house he had erected on his place. A frame house was subsequently built by Jacob Euler, who had purchased the property. The farm is now owned by Henry Ratz, as is also the one near, which was settled quite early by Louis Dorr.

The Manning Hathaway place was purchased by Charles and John Myers in 1837, in which year they came, and is now owned by Louis Myers. These two brothers stayed for a short time with Mr. Hazard upon their arrival. Their father followed them, and settled in town in 1838. Mr. Hathaway removed from the township.

When Chester Hazard came into town with his Hosted by

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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

family he left a portion of his household goods in Detroit. He subsequently went after them, and on the way met Patrick Bogan, who was out on a peddling tour, and expressed himself as desirous of purchasing some land. He had a description of a certain tract with him, and was quite free in showing it, and Mr. Hazard advised him to be more quiet about it, or he would run the risk of having some other person reach the land-office and locate it before him. Hazard told Bogan where he lived, and on the return of the former from Detroit the latter came to see him. Mr. H'' ard conducted him to his land, and he settled upon it, and lived there until his death, which occurred about 1876- 77. Mr. Bogan was a native of Ireland, and the father of the present postmaster at Genoa Station.

Mr. Hazard mentions the fact that upon his ar- rival in town he found the deer to be very plenty. He had never in his life killed one, but it tempted him to such an extent to live, as it were, among them, that he finally went to Ann Arbor and had a rifle made. The weapon proved an excellent one, and its owner seldom missed a shot with it at any distance. On one occasion he killed four deer inside of six hours, coming to the house twice in the time. Whenever the supply of fresh meat gave signs of failing, Mrs. Hazard mentioned the fact, and her willing lord, as soon as a leisure moment offered, took his rifle, and soon returned with an addition to the larder. On five successive occa- sions he went out, and inside of two hours returned with a deer he had slain. Mr. Hazard does not claim to have been the hunter which Charles P. Bush undoubtedly was, as he hunted from neces- sity many times, while Bush was a genuine lover of the sport, and passed more time in that way than perhaps any other man in the township.

Erastus Watrous, from Connecticut, came to the township in June, 1836. He was then a bachelor, but afterwards married a Miss Walker, of Oceola, the ceremony being performed by Chester Haz- ard, Esq., who was called upon to do the greater proportion of such business in the township during his long service as magistrate. Mr. Watrous, whose home was on the northeast shore of Long Lake, is at present residing in Howell.

Richard Behrens, from Hanover, Germany (near Bremen), emigrated to the United States in 1837, and located in New York. In 1845 he came to Genoa and settled on section 14, where he still resides. A few other German families had pre- viously settled in the township.

Henry Hartman, from the State of New York, came to Detroit in 1836, and obtained employment at his profession, that of a cook. In 1841 he re- moved to Genoa and settled on the farm he still

owns, his first house having stood on the opposite (south) side of the road from the site of the present one, or on section 23. His son, John G. Hartman, at present occupies the place, and Mr. Hartman lives in Brighton, where he is engaged in the grain trade. His father, Martin Hartman, entered the land in 1836, and settled upon it with his youngest son, John Hartman, who yet resides on the south line of the same section (23).

William Suhr, from the city of Hamburg, Ger- many, came to Michigan first in 1838, but did not settle until 1842, when he located on the place he now owns and occupies in Genoa, on the eastern and most picturesque shore of Crooked Lake. He was accompanied by his wife. Mr. Suhr, who is possessed of most excellent business tact and is a neat penman and accountant, holds the present position of secretary and treasurer of the Livingston County Mutual Fire Insurance Company, beside numerous others of greater or less responsibility. He has also held the position of town clerk of Genoa since 1850, with the exception of the three years from 1861 to 1863, inclusive; and without flattery it may be said that the township records of Genoa are the neatest, most thorough, and con- venient of any in Livingston County.

Gustav Baetcke, also from Hamburg, settled where he now lives in 1837, having previously re- sided one year in Oceola. The same year in which he located in Genoa, four other Germans settled with their families, viz .: George Ransher, Martin Hartman (who had purchased in 1836), Charles Conrad, and Jacob Euler. These, with Mr. Baetcke, were the first of the nationality to settle in the township. Jacob Euler was the pioneer, having entered his land in 1835. The others, except Mr. Baetcke, entered in 1836.

William Suhr lives in the frame house he built and moved into in 1842. Like all the dwellings of that day, it originally possessed a huge fire- place, but that has been removed and a stove sub- stituted. The early settlers suffered considerably at times from scarcity of food and clothing, yet, withal, they were sociable and happy. From the beams in the house hung festoons of dried pump- kin, known in the parlance of the day as " Michi- gan apples," and a frontiersman's house was scarcely homelike in the fall and winter without this appendage. Most of the pioneers of this township were men in the prime of life, and the heads of families.

Joseph Rider, from Oswego, N. Y., in company with his father, Joseph Rider, Sr., came to Michi- gan in 1833, and settled in what is now the town- ship of Milford, Oakland Co. In December, 1835, the son removed to the place he at present occu-

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GENOA TOWNSHIP.

pies, upon section 17, in Genoa. His mother died several years before the family left the State of New York. While building their log house on the place in Genoa, the Riders boarded with a man named Johnson, who had squatted and erected a log cabin on a piece of land to the eastward, which had been taken up by a man named Cole. John- son remained but a short time; the place is now owned by Mr. Holtforth.

As soon as the Riders completed their house they moved into it. Hay and stock were brought in from Oakland County. The senior gentleman died during the war of the Rebellion, and the son still lives on the old place. The log house stood about twenty-five rods east of the present frame residence.

Another early settler in the same neighborhood was Freeman Fishbeck, who married a sister of Joseph Rider, Jr., while living in Oakland County, to which he had come with the Rider family. He purchased in Genoa a short time previous to the date of Mr. Rider's purchase, and the latter helped him build a house, after which the elder Rider went to Ohio, and his son boarded for a time with Mr. Fishbeck. Mr. Rider, Jr., was soon afterwards married to Mr. Fishbeck's sister, Miss Isabella M. Fishbeck, and was one of the earliest residents of the township who took upon himself bonds hy- meneal. The father of Freeman Fishbeck and sister, Jacob Fishbeck, lived in the township of Marion. The son is at this date (1879) a resident of Howell.

David B. Pierce, who married a sister of Mrs. Joseph Rider, Sr., came from New York with the other two families, and when Fishbeck first located in Genoa, Mr. Pierce built a house on a portion of his (Fishbeck's) land. He was a carpenter and millwright by trade, and built the mills at Milford and aided in building one in the township of Brighton. He also aided in erecting numerous barns and other buildings. The first mill he built in Michigan was for parties at Kensington, Oakland Co. He is now deceased.

Edward Latson settled in the northwest part of the township in 1836, and still resides on the place he then located. The land was purchased from the government in 1835.

Charles P. Bush came to the township of Handy in 1836, in company with Calvin Handy and family, from Danby, Tompkins Co., N. Y.,-his native place. These were the first settlers in the township named, and Mrs. Handy was the first white woman who had ever set foot within its limits. Both men purchased land. Mr. Bush built a log house on his place, and returned to New York for his family. In the spring of 1837

he moved with them to the place he had prepared, and was also accompanied by his brother, Richard P. Bush, and their cousin, John Bush, both having families with them. The Bush's were connected with the Platts, of Oswego, N. Y., one of the prominent families of the State.

The Messrs. Bush all located in Handy. Crops had been put in, and after that of C. P. Bush's was harvested j.>. 1837, he sold out to John B. Fowler, brother of Ralph Fowler, of Fowlerville, and moved in the fall of the same year to Genoa township, in which he `purchased land on sections 8, 9, and 10, and made the first improvements upon it, although buying from second hands. He at one time owned about 1700 acres in this township. The old home in Genoa is now owned by the heirs of Newberry Sweet. Mr. Bush's house was at first half a mile or more back from the Grand River road, south of John Lawson's present place, and there his youngest son, Elbert C. Bush, now of Lansing, was born in 1838. Mr. Bush ere long moved up nearer the highway, and built one of the earliest frame houses in the township. The latter place he owned at the time of his death, which occurred in Lansing, where members of his family at present reside. The only one left in Livingston County is his son, Isaac W. Bush, Esq., of Howell.

Mr. Bush has elsewhere been mentioned as a hunter of note. So much of one was he that he would acknowledge but one superior in all this region at the time, and that was " Old Si Badgero," a professional hunter, who lived in Conway town- ship. Elias Sprague, then of Brighton, and now living in Cohoctah, was nearly the equal of Mr. Bush, but the latter always claimed superiority. But few men who ever hunted with Mr. Bush were able to follow him all day in the chase, and he always went on foot. Joel Rumsey, of Oceola, was one who claimed equal endurance. As a rifle shot Mr. Bush was unexcelled. He finally moved to Lansing, where he was frequently known to cross Grand River in the winter after a deer. His official record will be found elsewhere in this volume.

Andrew Sharp, from the town of Bennington, Genesee Co., N. Y. (now in Wyoming County), came to Michigan with his father, Andrew Sharp, Sr., in the fall of 1837. They stopped for one week at Pontiac, and then moved into Genoa, and settled on the place where the elder Sharp's widow and widowed daughter-Mrs. Melvin-now live, on the west line of town. Andrew Sharp, the son, was then but twelve years of age. He at present re- sides a mile south of the old place. His father purchased his land in Genoa, of a brother, who lived in Eaton County. Mr, Sharp, a blacksmith Hosted by

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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

by trade, built a shop on his place, and used it a number of years. The son learned the same trade, and operated a shop two years in Howell. Farm- ing was, however, the principal business of both. Mr. Sharp, Sr., has been dead about ten years.

Cyrus Hoyt, from Yates Co., N. Y. (his wife from Steuben County), and a native of Connecti- cut, came with his wife to Genoa early in June, 1846, settled on land he had previously purchased from second hands, built a log house, and is yet living in it. He first came into the township in April, but was unable to prepare a house before June. The first improvements were made upon the place by Mr. Hoyt. Mrs. Hoyt's brother, Jacob N. Switzer, a single man, came with the Hoyts, and at the same time Mr. Hoyt went to Gratiot to purchase land for himself ; he bought 80 acres also for Mr. Switzer. The latter did not settle in town, and now lives in the State of New York.

David Hight, a native of New Jersey, and for some time a resident of Steuben Co., N. Y., came to Michigan, with his wife and two children, in 1835, and settled on the place where he yet lives. Nathan and Deborah, the two children who came with their parents, were unmarried, while a second daughter, the wife of Reuben Haight, came at the same time with her husband and three children. They arrived in the fall of the year, and during the winter remained with Timothy Pettit, who lived in the edge of Hamburg township, two miles south- east of Mr. Hight's place. During the time thus spent Mr. Hight built a log house, and, in March, 1836, moved into it with his family. The lumber used inside was hauled from Redford, thirty miles away, in the direction of Detroit, and the glass and sash were brought from Detroit. The only house between their place and Howell was that built by Pardon and Ely Barnard. In the opposite direc- tion, between them and Timothy Pettit, lived. Christopher Hoagland and Nicholas Kristler, the former in Hamburg ; the latter came from Dela- ware in October, 1835. Mr. Hight is now in his ninety-ninth year. His wife died in 1864, at the age of eighty-four. Nathan Hight lives near his father, on the old place. His wife is the daughter of Elijah Bennett, who settled in Hamburg in the spring of 1835.

Among those who had settled in this immediate region at that time, and who were pioneer neighbors of those already mentioned, were Garner Carpenter and soon after Samuel Case and his sons, Joseph and Elisha, the latter at present living in Brighton. Joseph Case's son, Oren Case, owns and occupies a farm in the south part of Genoa; and Elisha Case's son, Niles N. Case, occupies his father's old farm in Hamburg.

About 1849-50, while the stage-line was yet in operation over the Grand River road, a post-office, called Genoa, was established in the township, and Chester Hazard received the first appointment as postmaster, which position he held several years. Finally, on account of the necessary care it took to see to the office, he wrote to the Department and secured the appointment of John Weimeister in his place. The latter, now of Howell, was then keep- ing a grocery in Genoa. Old Mr. Myers was his deputy. The office is now near Genoa Station, and James Bogan is the postmaster.

One of the later settlers of the township, and one who became prominent in political circles in the county and held numerous offices therein, was Daniel D. T. Chandler, who came from Buffalo, N. Y., in the fall of 1843, and settled on section 4 in Genoa, where John O'Connor now lives. He. was accompanied by two sons, George W. and John K. Chandler. The former at present resides in Lansing, Mich., and the latter at Atchison, Kan. Two sons and two daughters were born in Mr. Chandler's family after his settlement, and of these, three are now living, viz .: Lewis C., of Jack- son, Mich .; A. J., of Lafayette, Ind., treasurer and auditor of the C. C. & I. C. Railway; and an un- married sister with George W. Chandler, in Lan- sing. Mr. Chandler lived in Howell during his terms in county offices, but subsequently moved back to the farm in Genoa, where he died in December, 1857. Judge George W. Kneeland, of Howell, was the brother of Mrs. Chandler.

Among other early arrivals in the township were Charles E. Beurman, from Germany, August, 1840; H. Kellogg, 1842; G. C. Westphal, 1846; and Riley and John Earl. The wife of the latter died in the winter of 1835-36, and it is probable that this was the first death among the white popula- tion of the township. The grave was dug by Hen- son Walker, of Oceola. The Earls lived on the north line of the township, and were among its earliest settlers.

The following is an alphabetical list of the resi- dent tax-payers in the township of Genoa, for the year 1844:

Acker, Frederick D.

Benedict, Charles.

Abbey, Jerry.

Bogan, Patrick.

Benjamin, Alvin F.

Bennett, Elijah.

Brown, Richard. Britton, Richard.

Butler, Catharine. Baetcke, Gustav.

Burwell, Cornelius W.

Behrens, Richard.

Buckland, William E. Barnard, James.

Barnard, Pardon. Barnard, Ely. Burmann, William H.

Barnard, Amos.

Bush, Charles P.

Britton, John B.

Bennett, Morris. Bloodsworth, William.

Benjamin, Nelson S.

Bradner, John D.

Brown, Alben G. Hosted by

Chandler, D. D. T.

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GENOA TOWNSHIP.

Conrad, Charles.

Latson, Edward.

Crosman, Frederick G.

Lawson, John F.

Carpenter, Garner.

Latson, John.

Curtis, William B.

Lawrence, George.

Curtis, William T.

Laughlin, John.

Dean, Amasa.

Murray, James M.

Dibble, Asahel

Moore, John.

Dibble, Silas A.

Morse, Francis.

Dibble, Amos.

Morse, Isaac.

Dickerson, Alanson P.

Morse, Benjamin.

Dorr, Lewis.

Moon, George J.

Davis, John.

Orr, Joseph.

Earl, Riley.

Placeway, Joseph.

Earl, William.

Pettibone, Roswell.

Elliott, Henry.

Pless, Andrew.

Ellis, James.

Pierce, David B.

Edmunds, James.

Paddock, George W.

Euler, Jacob.

Paddock, Richard.

Euler, John.

Paddock, John.

Euler, Lawrence.

Stedman, George.

Euler & Dickerson.

Shaft, William C.

Elliott, Orson.

Steel, Joseph H.

Everetts, Sophia.

Sharp, Andrew.

Fishbeck, Jacob.

Stedman, William.

Fishbeck, Freeman.

Sutton, Richard.

Fitch, Elijah.

Snider, Isaac H. R.

Fewhey, Michael.

Suhr, William.

Hazard, Chester.

Stone, David.

Hunt, Joseph.

Tooley, Albert.

Hartman, Henry.

Terry, Stephen H.

Hinckley, Benjamin.

Timmons, Bryan.

Hause, Herman C.

Upthegrove, Abram.

Hight, David.

Vealy, Benjamin.

Jacobs, William.

Walker & Foster.

Jacobs, Mark.

Weichers, John E.

Jessop, Daniel.

Winter, Theodore.

Kristler, Nicholas.

Yawger, William B.

Many of these were enrolled among those who had a personal tax to pay only. Among the heavier tax-payers were the following :

Total Tax.

Chester Hazard $33.62

Morris Bennett .. $14.95

Charles P. Bush. 13.49

Andrew Ple-s. 11.68

William Jacobs .. 14.80

Benjamin Vealy. 10.50

John Euler. II.12

Lewis Dorr 12.79

Euler & Dickerson 22.77

Frederick D. Acker. 12.0I

The non-resident tax payers numbered at that time in the neighborhood of 100.

From some of the early records it is utterly im- possible to determine the correct orthography of certain proper names, as many as four or five differ- ent ways being often found of spelling the name of but one person. This will account for any errors in that respect which may be discovered.

TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION-LIST OF OFFICERS.

On the 26th of March, 1835, the township of Hamburg was created by the Legislative Council, including the present township of the same name, together with what is now Genoa. The latter township was formed from the north half of Ham- burg, by an act of the Legislature approved March II, 1837, and reading as follows :

" All that portion of the county of Livingston designated in the United States survey as township 2 north, range 5 east, be, and the same is, hereby set off and organized into a separate township by the name of Genoa; and the first township-meeting therein shall be held at the house of Lucius HI. Peet, in said township."

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History of Livingston County, Michigan, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 63

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

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