USA > Michigan > Mason County > History of Mason County, Michigan > Part 23
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DOG FEAST AND DANCE.
A wahana is a dance, the ceremonies attending which are understood to be offerings to the devil, after which a feast is eaten- of the flesh of a white dog is considered the choicest offering. The exercises begin in the morning by the thumping of an Indian drum, which resembles a tambourine with rattles in it, held in one hand by a string, while it is struck with a slow thump, thump, then more quickly with a kind of double stroke, accompanied with singing, the Indians seated on green boughs as near the walls of the tent as they can get. They are all silent, serious and still as if ata funeral, the drumming and singing never ceasing for an instant. Then perhaps a little girl rises and dances in the center of the circle. The dancing of the females is peculiar, never lifting their feet from the ground, but placing them close together. After the little girl, per- haps an old woman rises and dances. Then enters an unusually tall Indian with a wild and fierce countenance, dressed in skins; looks around the tent, uttering at every expiration of his breath, "Ch! ch! ch!" when another Indian enters as if to make him sur- render something. Presently they each take a drum, and going round the tent half bent and stepping to the time, they beat the drum in the faces of the Indians. After several times circling round, one of them commences an address to the devil, or Evil Spirit, imploring his compassion upon them. The delivery of the speech is attended with the most violent gesticulations and contortions of the body, so that the perspiration rolls down his face. The orator then goes round the tent as before, attended by half a dozen Indians, all singing and half bent, keeping time to the beating of the drum. These ceremonies are kept up all night, and at sunrise the feast is brought in. It is in large kettles, and it is a rule that nothing shall be left.
GRAVES.
The Indian graves are first covered over with bark. Over the grave a shelter like an Indian lodge is built; poles stuck in the
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ground, bent over and fastened at the top, and covered with bark. An opening is left like that of a lodge. Before this door a post is planted, and if the dead was a warrior, painted red. Near this post a pole ten feet long is planted; from the top of this pole is suspended the ornaments of the deceased, or the scalps he has taken. This will account for the mounds which are commonly observed where the Indians have had villages. These mounds are eight or ten feet in diameter, and from two to three feet high. In them are found human bones and skulls. Appearances indicate that the Indians put their dead in huts and covered them over with earth. There was a large Indian burying-ground on the Claybanks, on the Hanson place, and several mounds were observed near the mouth of Stony Lake. Very few of the Indians have been able to retain their farms, as they were very improvident, borrowing, like white men, and paying high rates of interest. By ways that were dark, and tricks that were vain, the Caucasian in many instances got possession of the property of these simple children of Nature for a mere song. Ahnost without exception the Indians have lost all of their farms, and those who still have them are heavily encumbered. As to their habits, they are the antipodes of the whites, and it is proverbial that while it is easy to make an Indian of a white man, it is almost impos- sible to make a white man out of an Indian.
INDIAN SIMPLICITY.
On one occasion the Indian agent, Rev. Mr. Fitch, had great trouble in settling with the Indians, at Pentwater, as they claimed they ought to have more, and after holding a big council, at which they smoked and talked without end, they informed the agent that they would not accept what he offered them. The Indians had no reason to make this ado, but were as unreasoning as children, when they took a notion. Mr. Fitch was anxious to get through his busi- ness, and get up north, as the snow was already two feet deep, and he feared greater storms yet. So he ordered of C. Mears two fat oxen, worth $150, ten bushels of potatoes, fifty head of cabbages, five bushels of onions and other " garden sass." Going out on the banks of Pentwater Lake, then covered with woods, he ordered the Indians to drive in notched stakes and put on cross poles. On these he suspended all the large sugar kettles he could find. Then he sent messengers to call all to a feast, prepared by the Great Father, at Washington. A bugler was called on to blow his horn, and the crowd assembled, provided with dishes of all sorts and sizes. Fitch then ordered the Indians to shoot and dress the cattle, and in less than half an hour the beef was cooking. With a pitchfork from the store the pieces of beef were fished out, and the feast spread on long tables of boards hastily set up. After grace, they were invited to partake of the liberal provision of the Great Father, and in a short time nothing but bones remained. The Indians, under the genial influence of a good dinner, were easily settled with, receiving without a murmur the amount originally offered, less the cost of' the dinner, and the agent went on his way rejoicing.
MUNICIPAL HISTORY OF OCEANA COUNTY.
1855.
The first entry in the Journal of the board of supervisors bears date June 1, 1855, when the board organized by appointing Alex. S. Anderson chairman, and after fixing the treasurer's bond at $1,000, and directing the clerk and register of deeds to procure suit- able books, adjourned, to meet on October 8 of the same year. Harvey Tower was clerk. The county commenced with three towns, Clay- banks, Stony Creek and Pentwater, which then extended from the lake shore to the eastern line of the county. The three supervisors
were E. R. Cobb, from Pentwater, A. S. Anderson, from Claybanks, and William Gardner, from Stony Creek.
At the meeting in October, 1855, $300 were ordered to be raised for county expenses, and the county seat was fixed, as far as a reso- lution of the board could fix it, on the southwest quarter of south- east quarter of Section 8 of Claybanks, at what was popularly known as Whisky Creek. A log jail was erected and used until the county seat was removed to Hart, in 1864. The frame dwelling of Ander- son & Rosevelt, which was used as a hotel, was also used as a court room and for county offices. The plat for the county seat was 20x40 rods, commencing on the shore of Lake Michigan, at a point twenty rods southward from the outlet of the creek, on said lot, near Ander- son & Rosevelt's dwelling house, thence east forty rods, thence south twenty rods, and thence west to the lake shore, and thence north to the place of beginning.
1856.
The next meeting of supervisors was on June 9, 1856, at Camp- bell & Wheeler's store, Stony Creek. But E. R. Cobb, of Pentwater, being absent, the board adjourned until June 18, when A. S. An- derson, of Claybanks, was absent. Although specially summoned, he had refused to attend. E. R. Cobb was chosen chairman. In 1855, 25 per cent was added to the assessment of Clay- banks, and twenty per cent to Pentwater, while Benona seems to have been left unchanged. At the meeting in June, 1856, Clay- banks was raised fifty per cent, and the others were left unchanged.
In October it was resolved to unite the offices of county clerk and register of deeds; $600 were voted for county purposes. Among the bills allowed at this session was one to the Sloop Rainbow, for conveying books from Grand Haven; also to W. Weston, N. Glover, Johnson Dexter and S. B. Hopkins, for killing wolves. It was cus- tomary in those days to bring the scalp of the wolf, and after taking testimony it was burned, and a certificate on the county given by a justice of the peace, for $8.
James Blower, S. B. Hopkins and A. S. Anderson were appointed a board of commissioners to survey a wagon road from Pentwater River to Carleton's sawmill, up White River. The road was built to Montague, and formed the first road out to the front; before this the route had been by the lake beach. The county treas- urer, A. R. Wheeler, and the county clerk, Harvey Tower, were each voted $250, as salary for eighteen months, ending January 1, 1857.
In December, the treasurer's bond was fixed at $2,000.
1857.
E. R. Cobb was elected chairman, and Malcolm Campbell clerk, and the assessed valuation of the towns was unaltered, and was as follows: Claybanks $142,635, Benona $239,547.70, Pentwater $79,180.39; $1,000 was voted for county purposes. The state tax for the county was $128.18. Wolf certificates were allowed to A. C. Randall and George M. Boyce.
On November 2, the board again met, A. S. Anderson, of Clay- banks, and L. D. Eaton, of Benona, being present; Mr. Eaton was made chairman. Campbell, Wheeler & Co. were paid $12 for county seal; Moses S. Hinds was paid $8 for wolf certificate. The debits on the treasurer's books was found to be $789.26, the credits $633.18, leaving a balance of $106.08. The annual salary of the treasurer was made $300, and of clerk $225.
On November 24, the board met at Benona, E. R. Cobb still absent. The county organization seems to have become rather shaky from the resignation or removal of officials, and a special election was ordered for the 29th of December following, for sheriff, in place of C. A. Rosevelt removed; for county clerk, in place of M. Campbell, resigned; county treasurer, in place of A. R. Wheeler,
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E. D. Richmond
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resigned; also county surveyor, and two coroners.
On December 28, the board met, with all present.
A new township, Greenwood, was ordered to be organized on petition of twelve rate payers. This town consisted of Towns 18 and 14 north, Range 15 west, forming what is now Newfield and Greenwood. This was done by taking what is now Newfield from Benona, and Greenwood from Claybanks. The first meeting was appointed for the first Monday in April, 1858, at the house of William R. Wilson, and Oliver Swain, C. B. Moe and Nelson Wright were appointed inspectors of election.
On December 28, on petition of twelve freeholders, the whole upper tier of towns forming Benona, which consisted at this time of eight whole towns and two fractional towns, was ordered to be organized under the name of Elbridge, on the first Monday of April, 1858, at the house of S. G. Rollins, and H. H. Fuller, George W. Light and Ira Jenks were appointed inspectors of election. Elbridge, therefore, at first consisted of Towns 15 north, in Ranges 15, 16, 17, 18, and a fraction of 19 west.
1858.
A special meeting was held May 4, to arrange for procuring from the United States Land Office a full and accurate abstract of the lands entered in the county.
The following supervisors were present: Benona, L. D. Eaton; Claybanks, A. S. Anderson; Greenwood, Oliver Swain; Pentwater, D. G. Weare; Elbridge, S. G. Rollins. A. S. Anderson was chosen chairman. Several wolf certificates were granted. The valuation of the several townships was, Benona, $149,949.77; Pent- water, $109,889; Elbridge, $50,625.42; Greenwood, $76,000. Total, near $500,000.
Two thousand five hundred dollars was voted for county pur- poses, and the state tax for the county was $128.13. The petition of H. C. Flagg and others for a ferry across the Pentwater River was granted, and the bond of Charles Mears for keeping the same was accepted, and the rates fixed as follows: Single person, five cents; man and horse, ten cents; team and wagon, twenty-five cents; sheep and hogs, two cents each.
The deed of land for a courthouse square, from C. A. Rosevelt and A. S. Anderson, and a contract with the same persons to build a jail, was accepted.
A special meeting was called for November 10, in consequence of an error having been discovered in the assessment of Pentwater, which was altered from $109,889 to $95,603.
Anderson and Rosevelt are allowed $25 dollars a year for the use of the southwest room in their hotel. The chairman was authorized to provide desks and book cases for the county officers, and to notify them that a room had been provided for them.
On December 28, the bond of Estes Rich, as county treasurer for two years, from January 1, 1859, was accepted and a committee was appointed to settle with Harvey Tower, the former treasurer.
On application of James Hanlon, Elmer H. Lord, Halvar H. Brady, A. Brady, T. Brady, Carl Schenck, H. Hendrickson, O. E. Gordon, E. Brich, P. Bentson, L. D. Eaton, L. N. Curtiss, Jacob Fisher and Martin Tyson,'to set off from Benona, Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, of Town 13 north, Range 18 west, to the town of Clay- banks, the board voted to comply with the request. After dinner the board, after expressing regret that they had annexed Section 6, proceed to re-annex it to Benona. A. S. Anderson voted alone against this last proposition, which is the first instance of a recorded division in the minutes. The taxes assessed upon the sections detached off to Claybanks were retained by Benona.
W. T. Howell, prosecuting attorney, is allowed $30 for his ser- vices for 1858. The jail was accepted, and an order drawn for $100.
The asssets of the county December 31, 1858, were:
County tax, 1858
$2,500.00
Due from state .. 1 530.11
In the treasury. 27.00
$4,057.11
The liabilities were:
Outstanding order.
$1,784.61
Wolf certificates.
130.00
Due Pentwater.
86.12
Benona ..
132.35
Clay Banks.
208.14
School fund fines.
27.00
State tax.
128 13
Claims outstanding .
100.00
$2,596.35
Excess of assets
.$1,460.76
1859.
Ata special a meeting on March 14, the following supervisors were present: D. G. Weare, of Pentwater; S. G. Rollins, of Elbridge; Harvey Tower, of Benona; James Sprague, of Claybanks; Oliver Swain, of Greenwood. Harvey Tower was chosen chairman. It was resolved that the petition to take Section 6 from Claybanks and attach it to Benona should not be granted. An attempt to divide Elbridge failed.
In October the supervisors were: H. C. Flagg, of Pentwater; Josiah Russell, of Elbridge; Samuel E. Knowles, of Benona; Nel- son Green, of Claybanks; Oliver Swain, of Greenwood. Nelson Green, chairman. The equalized value of the county was $490,- 968.68, apportioned as follows: Benona, $188,894; Pentwater, $82,713.65; Greenwood, $66,704; Elbridge, $64,532.87; Clay- banks, $139,124.
Two thousand dollars was voted for county purposes.
H. H. Fuller, Ephraim Knapp and C. A. Rosevelt were appointed superintendents of the poor.
A motion to procure a safe for the county prevailed.
On December 27, $200 were allowed for the services of Col. J. H. Standish as prosecuting attorney for one year. Three hun- dred and fifty dollars were paid to the clerk of the board, A. S. Anderson.
It was resolved to lay out a public highway from Flower Creek running north along the lake shore to the north line of the county near Bass Lake.
The rate of interest on county orders is lowered from 10 to 7 per cent.
1860.
At a special meeting in February, a petition was received from E. J. Reed, B. F. Reed, G. W. Franklin, Orrin Benton, John Barber, Joseph M. Haines, John F. Evans, George F. Shattuck, John W. Gillan, W. F. Barber, A. W. Putney and Andrew Decker, to set apart Towns 18 and 14 north, Range 16 west. The petition was granted and the new town named Otto. The first annual meeting was ordered for the first Monday in April, to be held at the house of George Shattuck, and Samuel Rogers, G. Shattuck and E. J. Reed were appointed inspectors of election. The annual meeting of Benona was appointed to be at Henry Hoffman's, and of Claybanks at John Barr's. The new township of Otto was composed at first of what is now Ferry, taken from Benona, and the present town of Otto taken from Claybanks.
An application was received from John Bean, Jr., Andrew Underhill, W. P. Harding, E. B. Burington, J. S. Brillhart, Harvey Tower, James G. Blowers, Nelson Rogers, William Webb, Sidney Fletcher, Albert Bemis, James S. Post and Henry Webb, for the erection of a new town from Pentwater, to be called Weare, con- sisting of Towns 16 north and Ranges 15, 16 and 17 west. The
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HISTORY OF OCEANA COUNTY.
petition was granted, and Daniel G. Weare, Jr., Myrtle B. High and Norman Rogers were appointed inspectors of election, which was held at Charles Mears' house.
In October, the following supervisors appeared: Greenwood, 0. Swain; Claybanks, N. Green; Benona, H. Hoffman; Elbridge, J. Russell; Pentwater, A. J. Underhill; Weare, M. B. High, and E. J. Reed, of Otto. Nelson Green elected chairman. L. D. Eaton was allowed $54 for services as sheriff. The salary of the treasurer was made $400; the clerk's $300. The valuation of the towns was: Elbridge, $68,009.21; Benona, $108,338.81; Otto, $52,046.50; Claybanks, $88,177.12; Pentwater, $31,883.42; Weare, $46,084.50; Greenwood, $58,554; making in all about $449,000. Two thousand five hundred dollars was voted for county expenses, and $400 for the poor. Adam Huston, E. R. Cobb and William Weston were appointed superintendents of the poor.
In December the bond of A. S. Anderson as treasurer was accepted. Josiah Russell was authorized to procure the field notes of the town of Oceana, on the best terms he could. Nelson Glover was appointed superintendent of the poor.
An application, signed by Hiram E. Russell and forty-three others to form a new town to be called Hart, was granted. Hart at first consisted of what is now Hart and Golden, and was taken from the old town of Elbridge, which was now reduced to what is Elbridge and Leavitt. The first election was held at the schoolhouse in Section 17, in April, 1861; Josiah Russell, A. Peck and Ira Jenks inspectors of election. The next annual meeting of the now reduced town of Elbridge was appointed to be at Louis Genereau's, and Seth Robinson, Louis Genereau and Joseph Elliott were ap- pointed inspectors.
Josiah Russell, O. Swain and M. B. High were appointed a committee to locate a county seat and report their decision. Josiah Russell was voted $100 a year as salary as judge of probate. The excess of assets over liabilities was $2,690.37.
1861.
A special meeting was called in February, O. Green chairman pro tem. The supervisors the same as before, except C. B. Wilson in place of J. Russell, of Elbridge; Green, of Claybanks, absent. A motion of Mr. Underhill, in favor of locating the county seat at the village of "Middlesex," was tabled. Seventy-six inhabitants of Elbridge petitioned to rescind the vote creating the town of Hart. On motion of Mr. Underhill the vote in question was rescinded, on the ground that it was "unjust and would disfranchise the Indians." A motion to take the county seat question from the table was car- ried, but on pressing the adoption of the resolution it was not carried, the vote being a tie. Edgar D. Richmond was now clerk.
On June 10, the following supervisors appeared: Claybanks, Jason Carpenter; Greenwood, O. Swain; Otto, E. J. Reed; Benona, H. Hoffman; Hart, J. Russell; Weare, N. C. Smith; Pentwater, H. C. Flagg; O. Swain, chairman. One hundred and thirty dollars were voted for a bridge at the mouth of Stony Creek. The valuation of the towns was: Claybanks, $80,506.20; Greenwood, $53,828.76; Otto, $47,237.96; Benona, $98,452.59; Hart, $68,847.20; Weare, $46,911; Pentwater, $29,660.24. A. Huston, W. Weston and S. G. Rollins were appointed superintendents of the poor. The salary of E. D. Richmond as clerk was $350; of A. S. Anderson as treasurer, $450; of C. W. Deane as prosecuting attorney, $200. Two thousand seven hundred dollars were voted for county purposes. The excess of assets over liabilities, $7,247.61.
1862.
In January, for the first time on the record, it was voted to extend the time for closing the tax roll for one month.
In February A. J. Underhill appears in place of Flagg, resigned. The application of H. Hoffman and thirty-two others to form a new town, to be called Leroy, consisting of what is now Benona, was granted, and the first meeting was ordered to be at the schoolhouse in district No. 8; H. Hoffman, H. Hendrickson and S. Merrifield inspectors of election. The next meeting of the now reduced town of Benona (now called Shelby) was ordered to be at school No. 4, and Bird Norton, James McNutt and Wellington Hart were appointed inspectors.
In October the supervisors are: Jason Carpenter, of Clay- banks; O. Swain, of Greenwood; A. R. Wheeler, of Leroy; Bird Norton, of Benona; Josiah Russell, of Hart; H. C. Flagg, of Pentwater: John Bean, Jr., of Elbridge; M. B. High, of Weare, and B. Hill, of Otto. O. Swain, chairman.
One hundred and fifty dollars was voted for support of the poor fer ensuing year. Messrs. Rollins, Weston and Huston were appointed overseers of poor. The treasurer was authorized to borrow $3,400 for military relief fund, payable in county bonds drawing 10 per cent interest. The assessed value of the county is determined at $403,452.84, of which Elbridge gave only $820. The treasurer received during the year $3,904.50, and paid out $3,849.74, leaving only $54.76 due the county. $2,650 is ordered for county purposes. The state tax was $1,016.58. The clerk's salary is $300, treasur- er's $400, prosecuting attorney $150, and for the ensuing year the clerk's salary is fixed at $150, and treasurer's at $300.
A previous motion that the bonds for volunteer relief fund, drawing 10 per cent interest, should not be sold below par, was rescinded and they were allowed to be sold as low as 95 cents on the dollar.
In December the bond of O. Swain, treasurer-elect, was accepted. Two hundred and seventy-seven dollars and eighty- seven cents was found in the treasurer's hands. The assets were $13,227.61; the liabilities were $4,548.93; balance due county, $8,678.68.
1863.
No meeting is recorded until October, when the following super- visors appeared: O. K. White, of Claybanks; Charles Camp, of Greenwood; H. Hoffman, of Leroy; W. Weston, of Benona; Robert F. Andrus, of Hart; H. C. Flagg, of Pentwater; W. H. Leach, of Elbridge; A. J. Benson, of Weare, and B. Hill, of Otto. H. C. Flagg, chairman. The assessed valuation of the county was fixed at $406,434; $2,000 were raised for county purposes, $300 for the poor, and $2,000 for military relief fund.
A division was taken on a motion to change the county seat, which was carried by six to three, the three nays being Messrs. Hill, White and Camp. The resolution was to locate the county seat either on north half of Section 17, Town 15 north, Range 17 west, or on south half of Section 8 of said town, and further, unless L. B. Corbin give sufficient bonds for $1,000 to the county if the county seat is located on northeast quarter of Section 17 of said town, the said resolution is null and void.
The board as a committee of the whole were to meet on the last Thursday in October to select said site.
A special meeting was held on December 7, to consider the necessity of raising a bounty for volunteers, so that they might escape the draft in January following. A motion was carried to appoint a committee of three to make out a statement of facts to the governor of the state, and appeal to him to use his efforts to give proper credit to the county for ninety-four white men and thirty-four Indians, for whose enlistment the county had received no credit.
After a stirring and patriotic preamble, it was resolved to issue bonds to the amount of $3,300, to be paid those who would volun-
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teer, $150 to each man, bonds to bear 7 per cent interest, payable one-half in February, 1868, and the residue in February, 1869.
1864. Board met in January; H. Hoffman, chairman, pro tem. The proceedings were ordered to be published in the Oceana Times, which was the first newspaper in the county.
It was resolved to raise the issue of bonds for volunteer bounties to $4,650, and the .Hon. Nelson Green, senator from this district, was requested to bring the matter before the senate with a view to have a law passed to have said bonds made a state tax.
The county seat was removed, as far as a vote of the supervisors could do so, to "a lot containing two acres in a square form, 30 rods south of the north line of Section 17, Town 15, north of Range 17 west, and bounded on the east by the now laid out township road," in other words, in Hart, where it now is. Messrs. Weston, Camp and Hill voted nay, and Messrs. Flagg, Leech, Benson, White, Andrus and Hoffman, yea. It was resolved to submit the county seat question to a vote of the people, at the next annual meeting. The total assets were $16,734.43; liabilities $2,184.95; excess of assets $14,599.48.
In August, 1864, a special meeting to raise a county bounty for volunteers was called, the following supervisors present: A. S. An- derson, of Claybanks; A. R. Wheeler, of Leroy; S. C. Powers, of Benona; B. F. Reed, of Otto; C. Camp, of Greenwood; J. Russell, of Hart; H. S. Sayles, of Elbridge; A. J. Smith, of Weare; H. C. Flagg, of Pentwater. The vote for removal of county seat was found to be as follows:
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