History of Mason County, Michigan, Part 27

Author: H. R. Page & Co.
Publication date: 1882
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 373

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The history of the county has not been an eventful one. It grew slowly until after the war, since which it has gradually gained in population. It passed through a serious crisis in 1857-'58, which almost brought matters to a stand-still. The county acted loyally during the war, and gave liberally, considering its population, in men and money. We give a statement of its war record in another place. In 1872 it got a railroad, which has greatly developed its resources. Since the advent of the railway; its prosperity has been rapid and sure. To-day, Oceana is rich and prosperous; in driving over it, one sees evidences of wealth and growth, and in the future there will be few richer counties in the state. She has, in the first place, great agricultural resources, even the sandy land being capable of successful cultivation. She is well watered, and high and rolling,-excellent for stock and for fruit raising. Her facilities for market by rail or water are unsurpassed. Pentwater harbor is one of the best on the lakes. Then in her fish there will be quite a source of revenue, while coal kilns bring in now much money. Altogether, the people of Oceana County have reason to feel proud of their heritage; a rich soil, a fine climate, fine forest of the best pine, crystal streams, and fine rolling fields of grain, and, above all, an enterprising and industrious population cannot fail to make a happy home for the future generations.

We have given before a record of the chief municipal events,

so that it is unnecessary to recapitulate them. We now proceed to give some of the early history in the language of the pioneers them- selves:

W. J. HAUGHEY, of Golden, says that he came, in November, 1852, to visit his mother, then living on the Claybanks, when he arrived at Flower Creek and found lodging at John Barr's for the first night. The Claybanks were old Indian clearings, where they used to plant corn, and had a grave-yard on J. Hanson's place. Some of the graves were covered with bark, with a sheet hung up inside, and tobacco, pipes, cranberries and other things placed at the head for the use of the dead. The occupation of the settlers at that time was confined to shingle making and fishing. Mr. Nash carried the mail on foot from Grand Haven to Manistee, and carried the mail in his pocket; a newspaper came in as often as once in three months. The settlers at this time were the Phillips family, Barrs, Farrells, Haggertys, Hanlons, Simmons, R. E. Cater, L. Flood, and L. D. Eaton; A. S. Anderson was at Stony Creek, and Mr. Robar and wife.

Fishing at this time was done by seines and in the Fall, some- times as many as 100 half-barrels being taken at a time. At this time there was no sending to states' prison for stealing pine; if there had there would have been few settler's left. One justice at White River used to fine the prisoners so much whisky and costs! There was no one living along the beach from Pentwater to Stony Creek, but there had been four houses built on Little Point Au Sable for mak- ing shingles. One, then, did not need to go into the woods to hunt deer, as they could be seen on the beach. There was old Indian clearing east of Stony Creek, on which were a number of bearing peach trees. This was a little northeast of the George Murch place, and if one required peaches one had to find one's way in by com- pass, as there was no road.

It was in the Spring of 1858 that the first United States mar- shal ever visited Claybanks, Bob Barr acting with him. As all had got their shingle bolts and shingles that they could ready for shipment, and few, if any, owned the land the timber was cut on, there was a rich haul to Mr. United States Marshal. One sharp old settler, Farrell, got wind of the trick, and went to the land office, securing a deed for his land, saving his stuff, but the marshal got the most of the stuff seized, leaving the inhabitants so poor that they were glad to load vessels at twelve and a half cents per hour. But it taught the old heads a trick,-they must buy forty acres and cut all around it. But there were some that did not think things should go so easy, so there was a fire one night that con- sumed 200 cords of bolts. Was this spontaneous combustion? The old trader, Woodruff Chapin, came in at this time in the old ship "War Hoss," with cheap provisions. Mr. Haughey thinks it is safe to say that Dr. Phillips and son and A. C. Haggerty were the first farmers in the county. Then followed John Fordham, A. S. Anderson, R. E. Cater and J. O'Hanlon. He claims to have him- self imported the first apple trees that bore fruit. In 1852 he brought a peck of the best Eastern peach stones, and they were planted by O'Hanlon, in Claybanks. In 1855 settlers began to move north to Sable, or Leroy, as it was called, but still did not think the county to be worth much, agriculturally. These settlers were L. D. Eaton, H. Tower, J. Simmons, E. Rich, of Barry County, M. Tyson, P. Benson, W. Olender, and L. Curtis. In the Spring of 1856 the first settlers east of Little Point came to Oakland. These were A. C. Randall, John Mettis and George Weixler.

For a time the settlers should be called the east and west settlers, the former seeking pine, the latter farms. The western men got up at this time, in 1858, a petition for a road running twelve miles east and west to accommodate those that were look- ing for land for settlement. H. Hartman and Mr. Haughey at this

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HISTORY OF OCEANA COUNTY.

time went into what is now Golden, looking up pine. J. Barnhart moved to Round Lake; A. Pringle and A. F. Bemis settled near by. As there was now a county and townships, there were needed a grave- yard and a jail,-the latter first, as a Mr. Green had been shot. Two men had been stopping at Green's house, and next day he was found dead in the woods, with a bullet hole through him. The wife and the two men were arrested and kept at L. D. Eaton's house, as he was sheriff, but they were discharged. C. A. Rosevelt wanted a jail, and so one was built at Whisky Creek, and as there were no prisoners, Andrew Rector was sent up by Squire Dexter for ninety-nine years, for shooting a hog.

Among the new settlers that came to Claybanks was George Stewart, who lived in a house in the hollow, with a small creek run- ning under it. He opened a kind of restaurant, selling whisky, etc. In the Fall of the year he laid in a stock of one barrel, and in the course of the Winter sold out five barrels and had two bar- rels left in the Spring, and as the people were foolish enough to suppose the creek had something to do with it, it got the name of Whisky Creek.

The old settlers well recollect of Euchre Bill, who lived in the Dutch settlement (called Craw Wingle), who went out hunting, with rifle and compass, but never returned. The neighbors turned out and searched for him in vain.

The first grand celebration on the Fourth of July at Point Au Sable was in 1858,-H. Tower, orator, along with B. Williams, J. Mills and H. Hoffman.

ASA M. PRINGLE left Port Huron, arriving in Pentwater, May 1, 1853, and soon took up a farm in Golden, which he still owns, although he now makes his home in Missouri. It took him a day and a half to go from Pentwater to his place,- seven miles distant.

Among the other early settlers, may be mentioned James O'Han- lon, of Claybanks, who came in September, 1849, and his wife, whose maiden name was Maria Golden, afterward Mrs. Haughey, came in 1852. Owen Farrell and wife came to Claybanks in 1852, the former meeting his death by accident in 1868. Andrew Brady came with his parents from Norway to White River in 1850, and lived for months on potatoes and salt alone, until Andrew exchanged a shot gun with an Indian for a deer. In 1856 he took up land on Section 3. B. Haggerty landed November 12, 1855. Marvin B. Lillie also came to Claybanks in 1861.

MRS. O. L. BYRNE, of Claybanks, came to Oceana, April 16, 1849, there being five in her family, who lived in an Indian shanty until a house was erected. They settled on the place now owned by R. E. Cater, her husband's name being Chauncey Clements. She was the only white woman in the county until Mrs. Dr. Phillips, with her family, came in.

JAMES GIBBS, of Benona, came to this county in December, 1855, living near what is called the old Salt Spring, close to the Muskegon County line. In March following he went to Claybanks, engaging in lumbering with Dr. T. Phillips until June, 1857, when he bought 240 acres from Mr. Stephens, not so much for the land as for the material it afforded for bolts and shingles. The place is now Black- berry Ridge, and the postoffice is only twenty rods from the old house, which was built November, 1850. In 1858, notwithstanding that he took off 2,000 cords of pine, he lost so that he was $2,000 in debt, which he has been fortunate enough to liquidate.

JOHN D. BROOKSHES, of Pentwater, gives Iris experience as fol- lows: "I landed in Pentwater in September, 1855, and began work for C. Mears, and have made my home here ever since. The entire section was then an unbroken wilderness. Cobb & Rector had a little sawmill on the site now occupied by the Pentwater Lumber Company; there were two small houses already built. I understood Cobb & Rector had been here two years. Mears had just begun his

mill, and I worked on that and helped to pile slabs on the edge of the present channel. The old channel ran back of where H. C. Flagg's house now stands, through the little pond near the bluffs, and so on to Lake Michigan. The old channel was soon dammed up by Mr. Mears, and the present channel was not more than two feet wide and two or three inches deep.

"There were at this time no settlers in the woods back from the shore. Messrs. Harding and Glover took contracts from Mr. Mears in the Fall of 1855 for putting in logs. Mrs. Cobb and Mrs. Leraux were the only women here. Robert McAllister and Jacob Schrumpf worked for Mears next Spring.

"It was difficult to get from Mears's to Cobb & Rector's for some time, on account of the water. I have seen the water so high in Cobb & Rector's mill that they could not saw.

"I have been sorry I did not take Cobb & Rector's offer to sell me twenty-five acres where the village of Pentwater now stands, for one dollar an acre, and more at the same price, but I could not see money in their stripped pine land, and so bought forty acres in Hart, at seventy-five cents an acre."

In 1862 he enlisted and was gone three years, and returning has been mainly engaged in farming and fruit raising.

J. R. MOONEY, who came in 1858, claims to have put up the first frame building in Hart, in 1860. In 1861, he built the first house in Pentwater, east of Hancock Street, and in 1862 erected the first tavern, the Walrath House.

A. F. BEMIS landed in Pentwater, April 3, 1858; H. Webb, Jr., arriving the same month.

A. HUSTON started November 16, 1852, with his family of eight persons, from Maine, and arrived on the 22nd in Grand Haven, and engaged to lumber in Otto, for Rev. Mr. Ferry; proceeded to the Salt Springs, and built shanties. He then returned to White River for his family, and continued lumbering until 1855, when he located the land he now lives on. He says all the settlers in what is now Claybanks, were, in 1855: J. Fordham, J. Barr, Dr. Phillips, 0. Farrell, A. Haggerty, M. McGulpin, J. Smith, J. Cody and A. Brady. There was not then a road in the township, and Mr. Huston helped lay out the first, which he thinks was the first in the county. The first school was taught in 1855-'56, by A. A. Lillie.

"Medard Leraux, Esq., came to this shore in September, 1850, and after residing for five years in the place now known as Lincoln, came to Pentwater in May, 1855, and has resided in this vicinity ever since.

"From what he has been told, Mr. Mears began to buy land in this vicinity in 1853, and Cobb & Rector at about the same time. In 1854 the first mill of Cobb & Rector was burned. The oldest building now standing in Pentwater is used as a kitchen in the rear of Mears' boarding house. It was built in 1855. The little dwelling house on Second Street, almost across the way from the office of the Pentwater Lumber Company, was also built at about the same time.

"Mr. Leraux helped build the mill of Mr. Mears in 1855. The wolves at this time were quite numerous, and would chase deer down on the bluffs. Men would then go and frighten them away, and take possession of their prey. The howling of the wolves at night was most dismal.

"The channel at this time was so shallow that Mr. Leraux and his wife have frequently crossed it barefoot, when going down the beach.

"In November, 1856, he made a settlement where Christian Jorgensen now lives, the last dwelling house this side of Pentwater River. In 1857, the Indians traded their lands near Grand Rapids for lands in Oceana County, and Mr. Leraux used to turn many an

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honest penny by ferrying them across the river near where the bridge is at the present time.

"At this time game was very plenty, and fish could easily be obtained in great abundance, so that there was no lack of food, although communication with the outside world was very difficult and irregular. In this same year, 1857, the first bridge was built across Pentwater River, and the mail was carried by this route instead of the beach. The nearest postoffice was now at 'Randall's,' whereas it had been at White River for several years previous.

"MR. WILLIAM JENNINGS remembers how in the early days Cobb & Rector tried to sell him village property at figures which would be considered very low now, but which he didn't feel inclined to jump at, then. James S. Post he believes to be the first man who bought of Cobb & Rector a village lot. Moses White also bought a part of a lot at one shilling a foot, a price which was considered perfectly exorbitant.

"Mr. Jennings took a homestead on the north branch of Pent- water River, a little beyond where Mr. Weaver now lives, and went onto his land without a cent in his pocket, but with a heart full of courage. His stove was carried on his back three miles through the woods, and this was not the worst of it; he lost his way, and laid out with his stove all night. His supplies and the boards for his shanty were all carried to his place in the same laborious way. He buried his supplies until he had completed his little building, and long before this was accomplished the skin was all worn from his shoulders. Soon after he had satisfactorily finished the job, he noticed that a neighboring tree looked rather threatening, and on his attempting to cut it down, it gave another practical example of the total depravity of inanimate things by falling directly across his cabin, knocking everything into the direst confusion. Disgusted, he turned his back on the wreck and started off, feeling, to use his own words, that this was 'a h-l of a country,' but after he had gone a half a mile, he cooled down a little and went back. Every attempt that he made to improve his condition while he remained in this location seemed equally unfortunate. He went South and bought six yearlings, giving Charles Dumaw one for helping him ferry them across the river, but in less than a year he had lost every one. He bought a yoke of cattle, and the second day after he got them home, he found the best one drowned in a creek. He kept the other for some time but at last he also disappeared, and at last was found mired in a bog. Mr. Jennings thinks he must have been there nearly a week, but they finally got him out, and although there was apparently nothing left of him but skin and bone, he at last got well. The very first thing the old fellow did after he was allowed to go at large, was to lose himself again, or, as Mr. Quevillon said, go to 'hunt for frogs,' and Mr. Jennings at last had to give him up.

"Such continual misfortune was rather discouraging, but at last Mr. Jennings succeeded in disposing of his land, and joyfully bade adieu to the black flies and mosquitoes, which had been his only visitants, and went a few miles further south, where he found a more desirable location, and bought 160 acres of land at 50 cents an acre, on which he still resides. We might mention that the last stroke of ill luck which befell Mr. Jennings was in crossing the river, where he managed to fall off an overhanging tree, and got a thorough wetting, but once on the other side he struck into the tide of pros- perity, and is now one of the most respected citizens of the town- ship in which he resides."

In 1861, when Newfield was almost an unbroken wilderness, the McGill family camped the first night under the shade of a tree on their farm, and next morning one of the family cast his eyes to the top of a tall tree with a limb broken off near the top, and discov- ered the head of a bear looking out of a hollow in the tree. They cut the tree down and killed his bearship with an axe. There was

bear meat for breakfast that morning. They tanned the big hide, and used a portion of it for years as a chair cover.

As illustrative of the early hardships the new settlers had to undergo, we may mention that on February 28, 1858, Woodruff Chapin put out of Stony Creek with a little yawl boat, bound for Grand Haven, to get supplies to keep Mr. Wheeler and himself with the men at the settlement from starving. Rev. Mr. Ferry had thought that he had left sufficient to support the party during the Winter, but "some one had blundered," and Chapin had to get the food or perish in the attempt. After a hazardous voyage along the ice banks on a lonely and unknown coast, in the dead of Winter, he reached the Haven, laid in provisions and started, but on his way he was forced by a strong headwind to draw up his boat on the ice, discharge and pack the cargo, and sleep in the woods for a day and a night, before the wind fell.

John Hanson, on the Claybanks, in the early days placed a hydraulic ram to raise water to his house and stable, but Indians passing heard its clicking, and regarding it with superstition, chopped it all to pieces with their hatchets.

Anson Freeman, the first settler in Colfax, did not come in until 1868. Hazen Leavitt, the first in Leavitt, did not come in until the following year.

RAILWAY.

This county has good railway service, all under one manage- ment, as the Chicago & West Michigan, which, with its branches, is about 500 miles in length. The management is excellent, and accidents are almost unknown. G. C. Kimball is general manager, F. A. Nims solicitor, and A. M. Nichols is general freight and pas- senger agent, and to the energy, and shrewd and obliging manage- ment of the latter, the success of the road is greatly due.

The road passes north from Montague through the centre of Grant and Shelby Townships, into the east of Golden, thence turning to west to Pentwater, with branch of about four miles from Mears to Hart.

For a number of years rival routes tried to reach the county- the " Gardner " road, from Kalamazoo, via Grand Rapids, and the " Joy " road from Muskegon and New Buffalo-with an ultimate triumph to the latter. Other roads from Newaygo County, via Hes- peria, were also projected, but have come to naught. In 1871, disheartened by former failures, the people of the county were quiet on railway matters, until the arrival of Samuel A. Browne, when he, as president, with others, formed a company and projected the Mon- tague, Pentwater & Manistee Road, and it was built by Thompson, Smith & Co., of Detroit, under a contract from James F. Joy, as President of the Chicago & Michigan Lake Shore Road. The road was completed in 1872, and consolidated with Joy's road. In 1881 the name was changed into Chicago & West Michigan Railway.

Hart, the county seat, being without a railway, its enterprising men went to work and paid for one by private subscriptions to the amount of $12,000, which were all honorably paid up. There were twelve citizens who backed all the notes: T. S. Gurney, W. M. Wigton, J. K. Flood, W. Coolidge, J. R. Butler, A. R. Chappell, F. J. Russell, O. W. Knox, W. E. Thorp, W. J. Sprigg, E. T. Mug- ford, Wigton & Bosworth, J. E. Reed. The road is four miles long, and is from Mears, and the citizens of Hart paid for right of way, grading, site for depot and depot building, and gave money for a water tank, which they never got.

EARLY MAILS.

The first settlers, of course, experienced great difficulty in keep- ing up their postal communication with the outer world, and as the earliest settlements were along the beach and in the south-eastern quarter, the first postoffices were at Anderson's (Whisky Creek,

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now Claybanks postoffice,) at Stony Creek, (Benona postoffice, of which Hon. A. R. Wheeler has continuously been postmaster), and then at Pentwater-the first postmaster, E. R. Cobb. Mr. Wheeler who came in the beginning of 1858, states the few settlers along the Claybanks and at the Creek, instead of going individually to Grand Haven, hired a man to go for them, giving him 25 cents for each letter he took out, and 12} cents for each letter he brought in, and as the postage was then 25 cents on an ordinary letter, it would cost in all 50 cents to send out each letter, and 37} cents for one re- ceived if the postage was not prepaid. They also paid 5 cents for the carriage of each newspaper.

The next step was to petition the Legislature to establish a weekly mail route from Grand Haven to Manistee, along the beach, which was done In 1856, Henry Pennoyer, of Crockery Creek, Ot- tawa County, being the first mail contractor, and retaining the con- tract for eight years. In 1860 the mail service became semi-weekly. The mail was at first carried on horseback, and many were the nar- row escapes in crossing rivers. One driver was drowned, another narrowly escaped, and several horses were lost-two horses being lost at Pentwater, at one time, and two at Ludington, with the driver, named " Dolph."

Pentwater was the great centre from which for many years mail matter was distributed. Until 1864, all the postoffice in Hart was a fence corner, in which letters were left, and the first postoffice was in what is now the Argus office. The postoffice at Blackberry Ridge was established twenty years ago, and was for seventeen years kept in J. Gibbs' house.

The postoffice at Pentwater was opened in 1856, with E. R Cobb as postmaster.

The postoffice was established in Shelby, December 15, 1866, previous to which the mail was got in Benona. Walter H. Churchill was appointed postmaster, and still re tains the office.

New Era postoffice was not established until 1878, P. Goble being first postmaster, followed by Joseph Zeek, and then by the present postmaster, J. M. Wilson.

POSTOFFICES.

The following is the list of postoffices in the county in 1882: Allen Creek, in Colfax, C. Woodworth, P. M .; Benona, in Benona, Hon. A. Wheeler, P. M .; Bird, in Leavitt, R. J. Carpenter, P. M .; Cob-moo-sa, in Leavitt, F. Dutton, P. M .; Claybanks, in Claybanks, William Eaton, P. M .; Crystal Valley, in Crystal, E. F. Avery, P. M .; East Golden, in Golden, H. Crossman, P. M .; Ferry, in Ferry, J. Keeney, P. M .; Flower Creek, in Claybanks, Amos H. Armitage, P. M .; Grand View, in Grant, H. Tower, P. M .; Hart, in Hart, James K. Flood, P. M .; Hesperia, in Newfield, John C. McCowen, P. M .; Marshville, in Benona, H. J. Marsh, P. M .; Mears, in Golden, C. Slaght, P. M .; New Era, in Shelby, J. M. Wilson, P. M .; Oceana, in Hart, Charles Powers, P. M .; Pentwater, in Pentwater, C. F. Lewis, P. M .; Rothbury, in Grant, Charles Brown, P. M .; Sam- mons Landing, in Benona, J. H. Sammons, P. M .; Shelby, in Shelby, W. H. Churchill, P. M .; Smith's Corners, in Weare, E. P. Gregory, P. M .; Woodburn P. O. in Crystal, Charles H. Brown, P. M.

PENTWATER ORDERS.

For a long time ready money was scarce, and at Pentwater and along the river, "Pentwater orders" passed current for money. These orders were given by the leading lumbering firms of Pentwater, and were freely given in exchange for all kinds of work. One gentleman in Hart informs us that out of over $600 he earned as a mechanic in 1864-'66 he received but $16 in cash; the rest was in "Pentwater" orders." The orders were printed, and were from five cents to one dollar. They were all redeemed.

OCEANA DURING THE REBELLION.

This county was exceedingly liberal in men and means, consid- ering it was but new and thinly settled with a class of hardy pio- neers, who had all to make in the struggle for life, very few coming in with any means. They furnished more than their quota. Among those who especially devoted themselves to arousing up the patriot- ism of the people, was Edgar D. Richmond, then of Pentwater, and for many years the efficient county clerk, who rode night and day over the whole county, over all the sidelines, in 1862, spending two months at this work. Company A, Twenty-sixth Michigan Infantry, was almost wholly formed of Oceana men, and Company F, Fifth Michigan Cavalry, raised by Maj. Noah H. Ferry, at White River, was largely made of brave and hardy lumbermen and pioneers from this county, as is evident from the company roll in the hands of James Gibbs, of Benona, one of the company.

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History of Mason County, Michigan, Part 27

Author: H. R. Page & Co. Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Number of Pages: 373

Author: H. R. Page & Co.
Publication date: 1882
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 373