USA > Michigan > Livingston County > History of Livingston County, Michigan, with illustrations and biographical sketches > Part 87
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In 1838 several roads were opened. In May, Henry P. Adams surveyed what was called Daw- son's road, which extended one mile across the north side of section 34. It was recorded May 27th. Dillis Dexter surveyed a road, on the 25th of September, leading north from the southeast corner of section 21 until it reached the north part of section 15, where it turned to the northeast and crossed section's 15 and 10 till it intersected the Shiawassee road.
The Deer Creek and Fenton road was continued from the quarter-post on the west line of section 9 to the northeast corner of section 4 by two surveys, one-the part south of the four corners, on section 4-September 25th, and one-north of the four corners-December 29th. Also in September a road across the north part of sections 6 and 5 from the town line to the Shiawassee road, being a part of the Argentine and Fentonville road; a road from Isaac Cornell's-northeast corner of section 32-to the Deer Creek and Fenton road, at the west quarter-post of section 9; and another from the southwest corner of section 9 two miles west to the Deerfield line, opening a thoroughfare for the Mortons, Wolvertons, and Jacksons, and a branch from the southeast corner of section 7 one- half mile north to the Deer Creek road. On De- cember 12th a road was surveyed from James McGuire's south along the Deerfield line, starting sixty rods south of the quarter-post of section 19 and running to the section corner.
In 1839 the roads opened were as follows: March 27th, record was made of the road between Tyrone and Hartland, surveyed by Henry P. Adams, under the direction of the highway commissioners of the two towns,-Austin Wakeman, Henry P. Adams, George Cornell, and William D. Snapp; March 16th, a re-survey of the Shiawassee road, which was then called for the first time the White Lake road, describing it as commencing thirty-six rods west of the north quarter-post of section 5, running a southeast course of six and three-quarter miles, and passing into Rose a little south of the quarter- post on the east line of section 13; the Wells road, from the southeast corner of section 35 to the northeast corner of section 2, surveyed by Dillis Dexter April 24th and 25th ; the Fenton and Ty- rone town-line road, May 16th ; the Parshall and Jackson road, from the southeast corner of section 31 to the Wolverton school-house, southeast cor- ner of section 7, July 13th; the Curtis, Stevens, and Chrispell road, from the saw-mill, near the centre of section 32, to the north quarter-post, and from there to the northwest corner of the section; the Kearney and Cranston road, from the south quarter-post of section 17 to the centre of the town; and the Babcock and Conklin road, from the Cor- nell road across the south ends of sections 20 and 19 to the town line. These were the highways opened for the public use previous to the year 1840. From time to time, as the needs of the settlers demanded, new roads were opened and old ones altered to suit their convenience.
In 1845 the State road, authorized by the Legislature, was opened from Brighton to Fenton. The part running through this town was surveyed
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TYRONE TOWNSHIP.
by Morril Ripley under the direction of the com- missioners appointed by the State,-Alonzo Slay- ton and Elisha Holmes. As first surveyed it com- menced at the southeast corner of section 33, and ran north on section lines to the northeast corner of section 28; from there it ran across to the northeast corner of section 14; and then north on section lines to the county line, its whole course being a little over seven miles. May 6, 1848, under direction of Hiram Mapes, Alonzo Slayton, and Robert Leroy, the course was changed. The diagonal part of the old road was discontinued, and from the northeast corner of section 28 it was continued over its present course along the east line of sections 21 and 16, across sections 15, 10, II, and 2, to the county line of the last-named section.
SCHOOLS.
The first school in the town was kept by Alvin Cornell, in the summer of 1838, in the first school- house built in the town, which stood on Joseph M. Becker's land on section 28. Ruth Chrispell and Mary Mapes also taught early schools there.
The following extract from the record shows the first division of the town into school districts :
"TYRONE, April the 10th, 1838.
" At a Meeting of the Inspectors of common Schools for the Township of Tyrone, who Organized according to law by choos- ing Isaac Cornell chairman, and proceeded to divide Said Town- ship into districts as follows, viz : Sections I, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, II, and 12, be, and the same is made a Separate School district, to be called No. one.
" Also Sections 7, 8, 18, and 17, 15, 16, be, and the same is made a Separate district, Styled No. two.
" Also Sections 19, 30, 31, and w. 12 of 20, w. 12 of 29, and the w. 12 of 32, be, and the same is Made a Separate district, Styled No. three.
" Also e. 1/2 of section 20, e. 1/2 of 29, e. 1/2 of 32, and sections 33, 28, and 21, W. 12 of 22, w. 1/2 of 27, and the w. 12 of 34, be, and the same is Made a separate district, Styled No. four.
" And Sections 13, 14, 23, 24, 25, 26, 35, and 36, the e. 12 of 22, e. 1/2 27, and the e. 1/2 of 34, be, and the same is made a sep- arate district, Styled No. 5.
" ISAAC CORNELL, " CLARK DIBBLE, " H. R. STEVENS, " Inspectors of Schools. " By H. M. RHODES, Town Clerk."
Many changes in boundaries and many renum- berings of the districts have been made, so that it would be a difficult, as it is a practically useless, task to attempt to trace them connectedly.
The first reports of the districts were made in October, 1839, and only three districts made any reports. These were as follows: District No. I, David Colwell director, reported 16 scholars be- tween the ages of five and seventeen years, and that they had raised the following sums of money : $300 for a school-house, $70 for support of the
school, and $10 for library purposes. District No. I (fractional), Gardner L. Downer director, reported 15 scholars and $50 raised for a school-house. District No. 4, Henry A. Cornell director, reported 18 scholars, 16 of whom had attended school; $325 raised for a school-house, $30 for teachers' wages, $12 for books and a library case; that school had been kept three months; and that the books used were " Webster's Elementary Spelling- Book, Adams' Arithmetick, Woodbridge's Geog- raphy, and the English Reader."
At the present time the school system of the town embraces eleven districts, five of which are fractional, and nine of the number (having school- houses located in this town) report in Tyrone. The schools are all common district schools, making no pretensions beyond the imparting of knowledge in the common branches of an English education. They are conducted with a laudable degree of effi- ciency, but on the part of the people with none too great a spirit of liberality towards the profession of teachers. The school-houses are a credit to the town, three of them being built of brick, and the rest frame buildings.
District No. I is fractional, part of it lying in the town of Fenton. In this town it embraces section 3, and portions of sections 4, 7, and 10. The brick school-house is valued at $1000.
District No. 2 lies in the west part of the town, and embraces sections 7, 8, 17, 18, and parts of sections 9, 16, and 20. Its school-house is a neat wooden structure, known far and wide as the " Wolverton School house," is located on the southeast corner of section 7, is capable of seat- ing 60 scholars, and is valued at $900.
The first school-house in this district was built in November, 1839, the residents working out their tax, and the material being purchased with the money received from non-resident tax-payers. It remained in use until the present one was built on the same site, some twelve or fourteen years ago. Harvey R. Stevens taught the first school in the district in the winter of 1839-40, and Jane Bush and Dr. Fairbanks also taught early schools there.
District No. 3 is fractional, part of the district being in Fenton. The school-house is located on the northwest quarter of section 5 in Tyrone. This is a frame building, well built, and cost about $1100. The amount expended for schools in this district was $232.36 for the year ending Sept. 30, 1879.
District No. 4 is located in the southwest corner of the town. Its school-house is an exceedingly pretty brick building, just completed in the fall of 1879, at a cost of about $1000. It stands about forty or fifty rods south of the northeast corner of section 30.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
District No. 5 is a long, narrow district east of No. 4. The school-house is a wooden building, with accommodations for 40 scholars, is valued at $425, and stands a few rods north of the southeast corner of section 29. District No. 6 is fractional, embracing a little land in Hartland. The school- house first stood on Joseph M. Becker's land on section 28, and was built as early as the summer of 1839. Miss Olive Blood taught the first school in it, and Morgan White and Alvin Cornell also taught early schools there. The log house was soon after replaced by a frame one, which became well known as the "Love School-house." The present house is a frame building, standing on the northeast corner of section 33. It is valued at $700.
District No. 7 is the central district of the town. The school-house for many years has been known as the " Cranston School-house," and stands about sixty rods north of the southeast corner of section 15. It is a frame building, valued at $500, and fitted to receive 100 pupils.
District No. 8 is in the northeast part of the town. It was formed, in nearly its present shape, May 3, 1848, and contains sections 2 and II, the west half of sections I and 12, the greater part of sections 13 and 14, and a part of section 10. The school-house is a brick one, a little south of the west quarter-post of section 12, capable of seating 100 scholars, and valued at $1000.
District No. 9, the largest in the town, is in the southeast corner. It was first formed as a separate district Nov. 6, 1849, and was changed to very nearly its present form Sept. 16, 1850. The first school-house was erected soon after on the north- west corner of the southwest quarter of section 25, and Miss Eleanor Hodges taught the first school in it. In 1865 it was replaced by the pres- ent fine frame building, which will seat 68 scholars, and is valued at $800.
In the foregoing we have made casual mention of some of the earliest teachers, and, to give equal honor to others just as deserving of mention, we add a list of teachers licensed by the inspectors, including, as far as we are able to learn, the names of all licensed previous to the year 1850. These pioneer laborers in the school-room were : Eliza A. Leroy, Harvey R. Stevens, Melinda Hamilton, John Kenyon, Lucinda Hart, Mary J. Galloway, Elsie Tremper, D. Cranston, Dr. Fairbanks, Hicks, John Hamilton, Thomas Denton, Eliza S. Huntley, Clarissa F. Haynes, Eliza M. Hicks, James L. Topping, Charles C. Ellsworth, Abigail Royce, E. E. Jones, Sylvester Morrison, Elizabeth Morehouse, Melinda Billings, Helen M. Holmes, Almira Macomber, Mary J. Spencer, O. Rhodes,
George L. Mapes, Orlando Topping, Cordelia Ken- yon, E. W. Stevens, and Hannah Sweeney.
INDUSTRIES.
There is little to say of Tyrone under this head more than to designate it as an agricultural com- munity devoted to farming in all its branches, and making a specialty of no particular one. On ac- count of its lack of water-power, mills have never been built to any extent. The first and only mill in the town is a small saw-mill near the cen- tre of section 32. It is a water-mill, the power being furnished by Cornell Creek, on the north shore of which it is built. It was erected by Isaac Cornell in 1841. After operating it about fifteen years, he sold to Peter Cartier, who sold to the present owner, Jacob S. Griswold, in the spring of 1879. The mill has done a considerable amount of custom sawing for the accommodation of the people of this vicinity, and aside from ordinary repairs, is still standing as originally built.
Other than this and blacksmithing, but two other business enterprises have been started. Wil- liam Dawson has done considerable in the line of raising garden-seeds for market, selling largely to D. M. Ferry & Co., of Detroit, and putting up a good many in his own packages; and a little cigar- making has been done by Mr. Gardner on section 27.
No villages have ever grown up in this town, and its trade has contributed to the prosperity of villages in adjoining towns,-as Parshallville, Hart- land Centre, Holly, Fenton, and Linden. A small part of Parshallville, containing a half-dozen dwell- ings and one or two mechanic shops, lies on sec- tion 31 in this town, but most of the village, in- cluding the churches, mills, furnace, stores, etc., is on section 6 of Hartland.
An attempt was made many years ago to start a village in the northeast corner of section 31. Some time early in the forties, a man named Nor- man Hodges left his farm in Oceola and purchased some land in that part of this town. He built a saw-mill, a store, a clothiery (cloth-dressing and carding-mill), and seven dwelling-houses, and things looked quite lively for a while ; but finally his dam was found to interfere with the Parshall- ville power, a mile above on Ore Creek, and he got into trouble with the proprietor of that mill, which at last drove him from the vicinity. He left about five years after coming here, and no one knows what became of him. With his departure the growth of the village stopped, and now it presents no unusual appearance to the passer-by, although the locality still retains the name of " Hodgeburg," in honor of its former owner.
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TYRONE TOWNSHIP.
The first and only post-office in Tyrone bears the town name, and was established at the Grove House, with Jairah Hillman as postmaster, as early as 1852-53. It was kept by him for a time and then transferred to James Carmer, who kept it at his house, on section 21, till it was turned over to Alonzo Slayton and removed to the northwest corner of section 27. From Slayton it went to the present incumbent, Amilo Gardner, in 1855-56, and has been kept by him at his house on section 28 since that time, with the exception of a few months in 1861, when it was kept by Rev. John A. Sober.
Twice in its history has the town been agitated by attempts to bond it in aid of railroads, but each time the project has met with crushing defeat The first attempt was made in the winter of 1864, in the interest of the Detroit and Howell Railroad, and the proposal was voted down unanimously at the town-meeting on the 4th of April. The second attempt was made in behalf of the Toledo, Ann Arbor and Saginaw Railroad in 1866. A special town-meeting was called and held at the Cranston school-house, Sept. 13, 1866, and the question of raising the money was submitted to a vote, with the result that the proposal was defeated by a vote of 134 to 7.
During the dark days of the war of the Rebellion Tyrone remained true to the principles of liberty and equality, and sent her sons forth in defense of their country. Some of them returned to tell the stirring tale of the camp-fire, the march, and the field of battle; but some came not back, but left their blood to enrich the Southern sod on which they fell and beneath which their bones now lie, awaiting the summons of the last great day.
Several special town-meetings were held at dif- ferent times between December, 1863, and February, 1865, the result of which was the raising of a suf- ficient amount by tax and bonding to pay to each man-volunteer, drafted man, or substitute-mus- tered into the service, and accredited to this town, the sum of $100 bounty. In accordance with such action, bonds were issued as follows : Feb. 1, 1864, 17 bonds of $100 each, bearing interest at 7 per cent., and becoming due Feb. 1, 1865; Sept. I,. 1864, 12 bonds of a similar character, due Feb. I, 1866; and Jan. 16, 1865, 14 bonds, due Feb. I, 1867 ; making a total of $4300.
Several physicians have resided in Tyrone at different times, most of them at Parshallville. Among them were Dr. Daniel V. Van Syckle, now living in Tennessee; Dr. Drummond, now of La- peer; Dr. Matthews, and Dr. Steele. Another-Dr. Ryker, now of Fenton-lived several years in the north part of the town.
SOCIETIES.
At the time when the Red Ribbon movement swept over the State the wave reached this town, and aroused to activity those who had been rather negligent regarding the matter of pressing forward the car of reform. Through the efforts of Professor C. L. Van Dorn, of Fenton, principal of the Baptist Seminary at that place, the Tyrone Centre Reform Club was organized about the 15th of June, 1877, with a membership of 75. The first officers were as follows: President, Amos Wolverton; Vice- Presidents, Eugene Bly and Mrs. Lodema Arch- bold; Secretary, George . Hoffman; Treasurer, Frank Corey. These officers have been re-elected and are still serving. The club meets every other Tuesday evening, and has been quite prosperous, having reached a membership of 150.
The Wolverton Club was formed at about the same time, at the Wolverton school-house, with a goodly number of members and the following officers: President, Fred. C. Wood; Vice-Presi- dents, John H. Cox, Orlando Topping ; Secretary, Mrs. Linda Doolittle; Treasurer, Hiram Farnham. It had but a short existence, as, owing to its failure to receive the support to which it was entitled at the hands of the temperance community, it lived only a couple of months, and was then broken up.
A third club, the Grove House Reform Club, organized in District No. I, in May, 1878, occupied the field left vacant by the disruption of the Wolver- ton Club. It had a membership of about 75, which has been increased to a present active membership of about 100. Its meetings are held fortnightly on Tuesday evenings, alternating with those of the Tyrone Centre Club. The first officers were La- fayette Thompson, President; Frank Sissons, Mi- chael Kelleher, Daniel Stimson, Vice-Presidents ; Lina Stimson, Secretary ; Joseph Mount, Treas- urer. The officers are elected quarterly, and the present ones are as follows : President, Fred. C. Wood; Vice-Presidents, Frank Sissons, Daniel Berry, H. P. Van Wagoner; Secretary, Ida Sissons; Treasurer, Lina Stimson.
KINSMAN'S CORNET BAND.
This band, which has earned a splendid reputa- tion, and proved itself one of the best in this part of the State, was first organized in June, 1871. Mr. Kinsman's family were gifted with considera- ble musical talent, and though most of his children were daughters, they learned to play as well as the members of the sex who are generally allowed to monopolize the playing of band music. The band as first organized consisted of nine members, seven of whom were members of one family. Their names were Saul Kinsman, leader, William, Floyd
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Mary, Emma, Helen, and Jennie Kinsman, A. R. and J. R. Gardner. They played together for sev- eral years, and became quite famous, both on ac- count of the unusual presence of ladies and because of their really fine playing. On account of changes in the family relations of some of the members, the band was dissolved, and in March, 1878, was reorganized with twelve members, as it still re- mains. These twelve persons are as follows: Mortimer D. Gardner, president ; Saul Kinsman, leader, and E-flat clarionet ; A. R. Gardner, secre- tary, treasurer, and first B-flat cornet; J. R. Gard- ner, tuba; Amilo Gardner, second B-flat cornet ; William Kinsman, baritone; Floyd Kinsman, first E-flat cornet ; John Slayton, first B-flat tenor ; Cleman Kelly, first E-flat alto; Fred. Wright, sec- ond A-flat alto; Perry Shook, bass-drum; Calvin Gostello, side-drum. Since its reorganization it has sustained its former reputation, and wherever it has appeared in public has won applause and praise from the people and the press.
CEMETERIES.
There are three cemeteries in Tyrone, all of them owned and cared for by the town. The order in which they were bought is not known to the writer, but it seems probable that the first one would have been that known as the Tyrone Centre burying-ground, located on the north part of the west half of the southwest quarter of section 27, opposite the Methodist church. It contains one acre of ground, which was purchased of Peter Dates for the sum of $8. It is pleasantly situated, and contains many graves, some of them marked with elegant marble headstones.
The Colwell burying-ground is located on the south side of the Shiawassee road on the south- west quarter of section 4. It contains one acre of ground which was purchased of David Colwell and Isaac Ayres, one-half from each, in 1841. The first burial here was that of Olive J. Colwell, aged eleven years, a daughter of David Colwell. She was buried in 1841.
The other burying-ground is known as the Wol- verton burying-ground. It is located on the northwest corner of the southwest quarter of sec- tion 8. It was formerly a part of the Jackson farm, and was given by Mr. Jackson.to Rev. Isaac Seaman, a Protestant Methodist local preacher, who came here to find a home. He afterwards sold it to Elijah Clough, who sold it to the town, about thirty-five years ago, for a burial-ground. Previously a piece of ground near the Wolverton school-house had been bought, and several inter- ments made in it, but it was found to be unfit for the purpose, and so the site was changed, and the
remains of those buried there were removed to the new ground. Among those thus taken up were a Mrs. Thomas, John Cox, and others. The first death in the vicinity was that of Mary Dexter, a daughter of Amos Dexter, who was buried on her father's farm till the new ground was bought, when her remains were moved and reinterred in it.
RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
The first religious meetings in this town were held under the auspices of that pushing, active, and zealous denomination called Methodist Episcopals. Hardly had the first strokes of the settler's axe awoke the ringing echoes of the startled forest, and scarcely had the column of dark smoke first risen from the stick chimney of the settler's rude log cabin, ere the form of the circuit rider appeared on the scene, anxious to lay the foundation for a future tower of the temple of the Master's king- dom. As early as the summer of 1836 one of these devoted men appeared in Tyrone. This was Rev. Washington Jackson, a missionary, traveling at will through this part of the State. He came to the house of George Cornell, and preached there the first sermon delivered in the town. Not long after, regular meetings being desired, a young man in Hartland, who afterwards became well known as a preacher in this region,-Rev. J. G. Horton,-was invited to come and preach. He was then simply a local preacher or exhorter, and felt so much diffidence at this, his first attempt at preaching, that the appointment was not given out until the Saturday before the day set, in order that the news might not reach his neighbors and thus insure him an audience of strangers before whom to test his talent as a preacher. Rev. John Cosart also preached here at an early day. The first meetings were all held at George Cornell's until the school-house was built, when they were held there. At that school-house the first class was formed in 1836 by Rev. Washington Jackson, and was known as the
CORNELL CLASS.
It had but five members,-George and Elizabeth Cornell, Jacob Chrispell and wife, and Eli Conklin. Mr. Cornell was chosen or appointed class-leader, and the first Methodist Church in Tyrone was commenced. The class grew in numbers as the years rolled along, and continued to hold its meet- ings at the school-house until the appointment was taken up some twelve or fifteen years ago, and the class was transferred to Parshallville. At this point the history of this class in connection with the town of Tyrone ends, but it may not be con- sidered out of place to briefly continue it down to ifk continu itdown to
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TYRONE TOWNSHIP.
the present time, as it is an outgrowth of the town, though not now exactly within its limits. Since its removal to Parshallville the class has grown largely in numbers, and has built a fine brick church and purchased a parsonage. George Cor- nell, the present class-leader, has held that honor- able position upwards of thirty-five years.
At first the class was connected with the Farm- ington circuit, but was soon changed, and has been successively an appointment on each of the follow- ing circuits: Milford, Highland, White Lake, Rose, Fenton, Hartland, Byron, and Linden. In 1875 it was made the headquarters of a new circuit, called Parshallville circuit, and is still continued as an appointment on that circuit.
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