USA > Michigan > Monroe County > History of Monroe County, Michigan : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests Volume I > Part 62
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY
attacked him viciously, stabbing him with their knives. Mrs. Sibley was confined to her bed by a serious illness, but arose and walked four miles through the woods to a neighbor's for assistance. In the meantime Sibley crawled away in the darkness and hid under the military bridge across Half-Way Creek, where he was found the following morning by those who had come to the family's assistance. Though badly wounded, he recovered, and finding the life in the wilderness too strenuous, the family soon left. In 1831 Silas Smith came into the township and set- tled, taking out patents at the Detroit land office and located upon the farm lately occupied by Owens and Sibley, and built a substantial log house. This farm has remained in the Smith family since that time.
Those of the early settlers who represented the township on the board of supervisors are Farley McLouth, David Hungerford, Henry Mason, Thomas F. Aldrich and many others of the staunch farmers of the township.
The physical geography of Bedford does not greatly differ from the other townships lying adjacent; the lands are well drained and under cultivation ; there have been discovered during geological research bog ore along certain ditches and irregular lumps in the soil having a dull, earthy luster. It is an impure form of iron oxide which has been located in several townships in this part of the county; when mixed with con- siderable clay it is known as yellow ochre, and has been used as a paint, though we do not learn that it has ever been utilized for this purpose to any extent even on farm buildings or fences.
TOWNSHIP OF DUNDEE
This township was organized in 1838 and the first election was held at the house of Samuel Barber in the spring of that year. It was formed out of the adjoining township of Summerfield. The first settler in the new township was Riley Ingersoll, who removed to Michigan territory in 1824 from the state of New York, and bought what was a portion of the Potter farm, but remained with his wife for a few months at the home of Richard Peters, during the building of the log house on his recently purchased land. Captain Richard P. Ingersoll, now living, a highly respected and prominent citizen of the township, son of Riley Ingersoll, was the first white child born in the township. For a few years he resided at Monroe, conducting a boy's school, afterwards en- tering commercial pursuits, finally retiring to his farm where he now resides.
In the fall of 1827 the construction of the dam across the Raisin at Dundee village was commenced, and a saw mill was finished in 1828 and 1829. At the raising, help had to be got at Monroe, Petersburg and Blissfield. The only houses at Dundee were those of Ingersoll and Wilcox. In 1825 the only road from Monroe to what was afterwards Dundee, was up the south side of the Raisin, the same as to Petersburg, where it touched the Raisin opposite Dundee, was a canoe, with which the river was crossed. On this road the settlers' houses passed were Gale, Bliss, Burchard, Farewell, Sorter, Dives, Mettez, and several Frenchmen, whose names are not now recalled. The turnpike from La Plaisance to and through Dundee was laid out in 1832, and the bridge timber across the river at the latter place was got out prior to that as work of private individuals.
A valuable limestone for building material and lime is found in Dundee, an extensive quarry once owned by the late Senator Christiancy having been operated for many years. Its marked geological formations have been noted in the geological reports by Hon. W. H. Sherzer to the
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state department. The thickness of the formation is particularly men- tioned. In Ohio the total thickness is six hundred feet; at the Dundee borings it is one thousand feet. Prof. Sherzer says: "In Michigan the Dundee forms the base of the great Devonian system, sharply separated by its fossil contents from the uppermost Silurian beds. One charac- teristic is noted, in that there are no traces in the Dundee limestones of a vertebrate, whereas in the quarries of the Sibly location the spines and teeth of fishes are not infrequently found."
[ In our chapter on the "Geology of Monroe County" much interest- ing data and information may be obtained which is entirely reliable, being based upon the exhaustive reports published by the Geological Sur- vey of Michigan, Alfred C. Lane, state geologist.]
The records show that the first land entry for a homestead was by one William H. Remington on the 23d of July, 1823, who settled there in that year. The other well-known pioneers into this hardwood forest wilderness were Samuel Jenner, Nat. Richmond, Geo. Wilcox, Samuel Barber, Riley Ingersoll, Mart. Smith, Heman Spaulding, Justus and Charles Jermain, Enos Kent, Ira Irons, Geo. Pettingill, William Verdon, Sam Rankin and Walter Burgess.
The first post office of which there is any record was named Winfield and its postmaster was William Montgomery, who also furnished the accommodations for transacting the postal business of the government at that point in his own dwelling. It is to be presumed that Mr. Mont- gomery was not obliged to work overtime nor on holidays in the dis- charge of his duties.
Alonzo Curtis was the next incumbent, who resided in the village and who promptly removed the office thither, and gave it the name it has since carried. In the stage coach days the mail was supposed to arrive weekly, but the residents found themselves fortunate if it reached them as often as that, especially in the spring, when the turnpike and less traveled roads were practically impassable. The completion of rail- roads has changed this and regular daily mails keep them in touch with the world, besides which, telegraph and telephone lines complete the facilities enjoyed.
The early schools were primitive, as they were everywhere in those far-away times. The schoolhouses were built of logs, and the first one in Dundee was built in 1834 or '35, where the Pulver wagon shop after- wards was erected. A frame building replaced the log structure after its destruction by fire, and better facilities were enjoyed by the children of the village and adjacent neighborhoods. An old resident remembers the names of some of the pedagogues and kindly furnishes them, as follows: Doctor Bassford, John Montgomery, Wm. Parker, Junius Til- den, H. Townsend, H. Watling, interspersed with those of such com- petent women as Rebecca Whitman, Emily Jenney and Mrs. Jas. White. Such is the substantial growth of this intelligent community that there are now upwards of sixteen hundred children attending the schools in the township, which number more than a dozen commodious buildings.
The churches are mentioned in a separate chapter. The Ann Arbor Railroad affords favorable transportation facilities, which will soon be supplemented by an electric line from Toledo to Lansing. A water power at Dundee is utilized for flour mills, beet sugar factory and smaller enterprises, supported by a rich and thriving farming popula- tion. The village is well paved and electrically lighted.
TOWNSHIP OF RAISINVILLE
The first supervisor elected in the township of Raisinville was Riley Ingersoll, one of its first settlers, in 1823. Since that time the bound-
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aries of the township have undergone several changes, as other town- ships have been organized out of its original territory. It has been represented on the county board of supervisors by some of its ablest and best citizens. The following names are those of officials prominent in the affairs of the township: Samuel Atkinson, Richard Metty, Cyrus Everett, Norman D. Curtis, Wm. H. Montgomery, George Younglove, John Wadsworth, Robert Talford, John B. King, Franklin Moses, Sam- uel McFetridge, Charles H. Pitts, Myron H. Frost, Geo. B. DeLong, W. H. Gibson, John L. Hunter, H. Kimerling and Goodrich Baldwin. The present supervisor is F. W. Garwick.
TOWNSHIP OF IDA
This township was organized in 1837 by taking a portion of Raisin- ville, Dundee and Summerfield, giving in geographical area a perfectly square form of thirty-six sections, there being, besides this, but six town- ships so arranged. It is watered by small streams flowing into and form- ing Otter Creek, which empties into Lake Erie in La Salle township. The first settlers were mostly from the eastern and middle states, and all farmers. The names of these were in part George Willard, Chauncy Owen, Joseph Gregory, Anthony Briggs, Mathew Fredenburg, Alonzo Durrin, Wm. Richardson, Josiah Kellogg, David Brainard, John Camp- bell, John W. Talbot, the latter being of the family of Talbots who were large manufacturers in New England, and all of them people of excellent character. Others followed rapidly and a fine community of practical agriculturists was built up.
The supervisors who represented the township in the county legisla- ture were men of sound judgment and conservative methods, such as Peter K. Zacharias, Wm. L. Riggs, Nathaniel Langdon and Wesley Conant. The first township election was held at the residence of Thomas S. Clarke, when Hiram Carney was elected the first supervisor. The name of Simeon Van Aiken often occurs in the records as a representa- tive man of the township. There are two postoffices, one at Ida village, Emma M. Snell, postmistress, and the other at Lulu, of which Andrew Schultz is postmaster. The geological features in Ida are not important, though stone quarries exist at several points from which building stone and lime are obtained, in sections 19, 20 and 21 there is, according to the geological department surveys of 1900, a deepening of the rock, elsewhere quite thin; the soil is somewhat sandy and there are belts of loam which pursue an eccentric course in a northeast and southwest direction ; in some cases the soil vanishes entirely, exposing the bedrock. In the deep well at Ida forty-five feet of sand rock was penetrated. The greater breadth of the belt of Sand Rock at Ida in the eastern portion does not seem to be due to increased thickness, but rather to the posi- tions of the beds. (Reference is made to the chapter of Geology of Mon- roe County.)
In the early days of the township it was reckoned by sportsmen and woodsmen of Monroe as one of the greatest deer hunting regions in the state, and the great woods were often the scene of many hunters' cabins, through the late fall and winter, where parties from the city would resort for weeks at a time and pack out fine specimens of "antlered buck" and not unseldom a bear or wildcat.
The village of Ida is located in the extreme northwestern portion of the township and contains a population of several hundred, with good schools and quite a respectable number of mercantile institutions, with a station of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad (branch from Monroe to Adrian), with telegraph and telephone facilities.
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY
TOWNSHIP OF MILAN
In 1836 the township of Milan was formed by appropriating a por- tion of London. Other mutations of boundaries had preceded, having been previously a part of Raisinville until Summerfield was organized and belonged to the latter until 1833, when it was attached to London. Upon its organization in 1836 it took along a portion of the London territory.
The official records of these changes and of its final organization are not to be found, nor of its elections, until 1842, when the election of John Spaulding as supervisor occurred. Other early supervisors are Daniel Kelsey, Noble S. Squires, David A. Woodward, Harmon Allen. The latter was often re-elected and his popularity as a safe man was manifested by his election to the state legislature. The post office at Cone is presided over by Mr. F. B. Raymond. The Wabash Railroad passes through the township in a northeasterly and southwesterly direc- tion and has a station in the village of Milan, which also maintains a very creditable weekly paper.
The early history of Milan begins about the year 1833, when a post office called Tolanville was established and Bethuel Hack was appointed postmaster, who was succeeded in 1834 by D. A. Woodward. In this year the name of the post office was changed to Milan, but still preserv- ing its old name of Tolanville by unanimous custom of its patrons until an official order by the postmaster general finally settled the question of nomenclature and Milan was thereby declared to be the legal name.
The first strictly denominational church was established by the lay- ing of the cornerstone of the M. E. Memorial church in 1888 by Rev. M. H. Bartram, minister at the time. Previous to this services by vari- ous denominations were held in the schoolhouses or in private dwell- ings or vacant store buildings.
The post office formerly called West Milan was changed to Cone in 1880 for the reason that the station of the Wabash Railroad was given the latter name in honor of John C. Cone, who was the postmaster.
The Macon river passes through Milan township from the extreme northwest corner to the southeast corner, through the northeast corner of the township. Touching but three sections is the Saline river ; south of the Macon is Bear creek, and between the latter two is the big Cen- tral drain, all pouring their waters into the River Raisin at points in Dundee and Raisinville townships.
THE GREAT MACON DRAIN
By far the most expensive and important drainage undertaking in which Monroe county has been even partially interested is the great Macon drain, which, however, concerns Lenawee county, north of Mon- roe county more intimately, and will require a year's time and $85,000 in money to complete. Milan is the only township touched by this drain. The contracts for construction work were divided into four par- cels and let to the lowest bidders as follows :
Section 1 of the dredging job, extending through seven-eighths of a mile of rock, back from the outlet, to Horace Pulver of Dundee; price, $24,000.
Section 2, extending through the remaining eight and three-eighth miles of soil to the head of the drain, to Ed. Bodette of Toledo; price, $34,700.
Two new bridges and abutments, to Wynkoop & McGormley of To- ledo; price, $4,000.
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY
Underpinning and pointing seven old bridges, to the Beach Manu- facturing Company of Charlotte, Mich .; price, $3,425.
The bidding was very fair, considering the fact that the court injunc- tion had made the selling of contracts an uncertainty until late Monday afternoon. Commissioner Sloan first asked for bids on the entire job. One only was forthcoming, and that at $100,000.
The next call was for bids on the entire dredging job complete. One contractor started at $90,000, and this was gradually worked down to $74,000. The final call was for bids on sections of the drain, the job being so separated as to include in the first the seven-eighths of a mile of rock ground at the outlet of the drain in Monroe, which appeared to be the biggest terror to the contractors. Section one started at $38,000 and went at $24,000, proving a big surprise, as it was thought that there would be several bids under it. Section 2 was worked down to $38,000 from the first bid of $40,000.
Bidding on the new bridge contract started at $4,400 and on the underpinning job at $3,800, and were gradually worked down to the sale price.
That the construction work will take longer than was originally esti- mated is the opinion gained from the demands of the contractors, who ask for a year in which to complete their work. Commissioner Sloan was desirous of getting the contracts to read for completion January 1, but was forced to accede to the demands for a longer period. A good share of the time will be consumed in getting the dredging machinery in operation, and it is not thought the heavy excavation work can be begun much inside of sixty days, although every effort will be made to get at it as soon as possible.
The eight miles of digging from the head of the drain will be done with a big floating dredge which will be built in at the head of the drain near the county line. It is intended at the present time to do all of the work west of the county line, which extends over some thirty rods, with teams.
The religious denominations in West Milan are represented by churches established as far back as 1846, when Rev. Pierce Smothers organized a Catholic church which was attached to the Ypsilanti parish. The church building was begun in 1848 and a large congregation wor- shipped there until an addition to it was built in 1855. The Methodist Episcopal church was organized in 1866 by Rev. Thomas Lipton and services conducted in the schoolhouse until 1867, when a church was erected and dedicated in 1868 by Elder L. H. Dean. The village of West Milan is in the two counties of Monroe and Washtenaw, the dividing line passing through the center of the village which was incorporated in March, 1855.
TOWNSHIP OF LONDON
This township was, until 1833, included within the boundaries of Summerfield, as were the present townships of Exeter and Milan. In that year a reorganization took place and London was set off as a sep- arate township. Its northern line adjoins Washtenaw county, and its eastern and western boundaries being the townships of Exeter and Milan, with Dundee and Raisinville on the south.
The first township meeting was held April 1, 1833, at the house of Abraham Hayack, when the following officers were elected: Cyrus Everett, supervisor ; Henry Chittenden, clerk ; Wm. E. Marvin, John C. Sterling and Samuel Nichols, assessors; Abram Hayack, treasurer; John C. Sterling and Samuel Nichols and Bethuel Hack, commissioners of schools and overseers of highways.
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY
One of the important transactions of this meeting was the adoption of the rule that "all swine weighing less than sixty pounds each shall not be permitted to run at large, without a good and sufficient poke."
Many prosperous and intelligent farmers were among the residents of this township, and were honored by the choice of the voters to repre- sentative offices, Cyrus Everett, Eleazer Barnes, R. E. Whiting, Wm. E. Bradford being well known and respected examples. Mr. Barnes served as supervisor in 1843, 1845, 1846, 1849 and 1850. Albert Bond, Thomas C. Howard, Michael Gramlick being supervisors for many years. At the present time F. C. Howard represents the township. The reports of the Geological Survey on Monroe county state in regard to London and contiguous territory, that is, Petersburg, Dundee and on the Macon, concerning the quaternary age, of deposits (untechnically, gravels and small stones in groups or bunches of four). "Beds of gravel are found in section 9, in Milan, about three feet in depth, over- lain by thirteen feet of clay. Eastward in London, section 20, a fifty- foot depth. In Summerfield reports of similar reports of gravel strata ; these gravel pits were often abandoned because the holes could not be kept clean. A very good supply and quality of water was obtained at the place of T. M. Taft. At John Long's place coarse gravel was reached at a depth of fifty-three feet.
WHITEFORD TOWNSHIP
This township was formerly embraced within the boundaries of Port Lawrence and Erie. In 1834 it was organized as a separate township at a meeting of the qualified voters held at the house of William Wil- son, on the 7th of April, its location being at "the forks," as it was called, now the village of Sylvania just over the present Ohio line, and which at the time of the controversy over the disputed territory, was in the midst of the excitement attending the "Toledo war," in which Gen. David White, the first settler, participated, patriotically upholding the claims and the measures of Michigan. He was elected the first supervisor of the township which was named in his honor; he was also elected to the offices of assessor, director of the poor, etc. Other promi- nent farmers who were active in promoting the interests of the township were Wm. M. White, Wm. Wilson, Frederick Leonardson, Elisha Cor- ban, Joseph Titsworth, Sam. Randall, Adam Gardner, James Egnew, P. M. Jeffers. At the first general election, in the fall of 1835, to organize a state government, thirty-two votes were cast for Stevens T. Mason for governor, this being the whole number of voters at that time.
Warren Burnham, Liba Allen, Wm. Bancroft, Sylvester R. Hath- away and Caius Candee were supervisors for several years up to 1850. The family of Mr. Candee came to the county in 1833 and settled in that portion which became Whiteford. They built a house of saplings, with elm bark for a roof, with a chimney of "mud and sticks," in which they lived for a long time in this primitive manner until better accom- modations could be secured, meanwhile planting a few potatoes and some buckwheat, contending with almost incredible difficulties and hard- ships, experiencing probably a little more than the average pioneers' trials. The present supervisor is Henry J. Beck of Ottawa Lake.
TOWNSHIP OF MONROE
When the first five townships in the county were organized under the legislative act of 1827 the boundaries of Monroe township were not
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changed, except that in the reorganization they included all that portion of the present city of Monroe, lying south of the River Raisin, and so continued until 1848, in which year the city was set off by itself, its south boundary line being at Ninth street, or what would be Ninth street if such street was opened.
Its first settlers were, of course, mainly French, and their "abita- tions" the same class of log houses that were built at that time, although some of them were clapboarded and kept neatly whitewashed. There are not now more than one or two in existence. The La Plaisance Bay settlement contained a larger number of these primitive dwellings than any other neighborhood collection, and presented a picturesque group- ing of the early homes.
The first election was held at the old court house in the village of Monroe on May 28, 1827, when there were cast for township officers fifty-two votes, Samuel Choate receiving forty-nine for supervisor, Ed- ward D. Ellis fifty for clerk, and forty-eight each for Jeremiah Law- rence, Joseph G. Navarre and Samuel Stone for assessors; Hiram Brown, Daniel Mulhollen and Samuel H. Gale, commissioners; George Alford and Wm. P. Gale, overseers of the poor; Ethel Burch and James Mc- Mannus, constables, and James McMannus, collector.
Samuel Choate was re-elected supervisor in 1828; Walter Colton in 1829 and 1830; Daniel S. Bacon in 1831; Luther Harvey in 1832 and 1833; Edward D. Ellis in 1834; Peter P. Ferry in 1836; Nathan Hubble in 1842; Gershon T. Bulkley in 1843 and 1844; Norman D. Curtis, in 1845. Gershom T. Bulkley in 1846; N. D. Curtis in 1847; Emerson Choate in 1848 and 1849, and Joseph G. Navarre in 1850.
LA SALLE TOWNSHIP
This is one of the earliest settlements in the county and contem- poraneous with Monroe, and the other settlements along the River Rai- sin. The farms were generally located along other creeks extending eastward to the lake. There were twenty-two families here in 1794, but no organization as a township took place until 1830, when a portion of Erie was set off. There were additions of several American families from Ohio and Pennsylvania during the next ten years after its organ- ization and the "Otter Creek Settlement" gradually increased, and schools were established. The soil is productive and the farmers are in good circumstances. The First Presbyterian church and Sunday school was organized in 1844, by families who had previously been members of the Presbyterian church of Monroe, who found it more convenient to have a house of worship in their own community.
At the first township election, held July 1, 1830, at the house of Antoine La Fountain, Francis Charter was elected supervisor and Charles Villette township clerk. Mr. Charter was thereafter elected supervisor for several years, and Mr. Villette as clerk each year during more than forty years. Samuel M. Bartlett, Lucien B. Miller, Dennis Sharkey, Orrin Leonard, John G. Kiehl, Peter Dusseau, Neal O'Connor, James Gilday, Chas. E. Kirby, Lewis Darrah were among residents of the township who were honored by the choice of their fellow citizens for township officers. At the present time Alfred H. Gilday is supervisor.
The geological features of this township present no marked charac- teristics, differing from those found in adjoining townships noted in the. chapter on Geology of Monroe County, printed in this volume.
TOWNSHIP OF BERLIN
This township was formerly a part of Ash, which in 1837 was organ- ized out of Frenchtown and became an independent township when it
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY
was organized out of Ash in 1867. Upon its first election in 1868, Hon. John Strong was chosen supervisor. The latter is a most public-spirited citizen whose residence and business interests of large magnitude are located in South Rockwood and comprise a large flouring mill, stave mill, extensive general store occupying a two-story brick block and filled with a very large stock of general merchandise, and in the second story a large public hall for the convenience of the public. Two steam rail- road lines pass through the village, the Lake Shore and Michigan South- ern, and Michigan Central Railroads, and the electric suburban of the Detroit United Short Line, between Detroit, Monroe and Toledo, afford- ing ample transportation facilities. A tasteful and substantial brick church (undenominational) was built by the generosity of Mr. Strong for his fellow residents in the village. Newport is a thriving village also in this township, with an enterprising community, supplied with manufacturing and mercantile houses, which have had a uniformly prosperous career, a Methodist, Congregational and Catholic church, two hotels and two railroad stations, and the station of the Detroit, Mon- roe and Toledo Electric Railroad.
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