USA > Michigan > Montcalm County > History of Montcalm County, Michigan its people, industries and institutions...with biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of many of the old families Volume I > Part 11
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On Saturday, May 16, 1885, fire broke out in McBride about five o'clock in the evening, and before it had spent its force had destroyed property valued at $57,400 and made twenty-four families homeless. The fire was started from a stove pipe which passed through the ceiling of Andrew Mar- tin's house and on account of a strong wind was soon beyond all control. Altogether fifty-seven buildings were burned. The total insurance carried on the destroyed and damaged property amounted to only $13,250.
Notwithstanding this and other lesser fires which were very disastrous, McBride has grown and is continuing to grow as fast as any other town of its size in the county. McBride is one of the large shipping points on the Pere Marquette road in this county, and has proven an excellent market for all kinds of farm produce. This makes it one of the lively towns in this
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section of the county. It is the only town in Day township and is not rivalled in this respect. It has at present a population of about six or seven hundred. Benjamin Caldwell operates the only elevator and does an exten- sive business in all feeds and grains. Neff's Bank is one of the strong financial institutions of the county, while the McBride Review takes care of the publicity for the town. The other business firms of the town consist of the two general stores of Arthur Steere and William Alberts. There are two hardware firms. D. W. Dean and Oscar Swift, and the Godfrey imple- ment store. George Pierce is the proprietor of the only drug store, while Michael Fredericks has a candy store. The Woodruff hotel caters to the commercial trade.
WESTVILLE.
The village of Westville was laid out by Daniel West, who owned one hundred and twenty acres, which included part of the west half of section 7, of Day. Upon this, in anticipation of the Detroit, Lansing & Northern rail- road, he platted a village, which naturally thereafter took his name. He gave ten acres of land for depot purposes and five hundred dollars in cash to the company as an inducement for them to extend their line to this place. The citizens also raised nine hundred dollars for the same purpose, which, as it appears, was paid to the company in full; but the road passed to the east some distance, and the village has not therefore reached the import- ance hoped by its founders. The first business place opened was a general store owned by Jordan & Allen.
Westville was platted on April 30, 1886. and with the growth of McBride, Westville gradually began to decline until nothing now remains but a cluster of residences. During the early days, however, this was a very prosperous town. Mr. Luce kept a hotel here, and it was a great stopping place for travelers through this section, but after the building of the rail- road, which ran to the east of Westville two miles, McBride became the commercial center. At present Westville is only a little hamlet with no business interests of any kind.
CUSTER.
Custer was platted on April 2, 1878, for Phipps Waldo and Leah Waldo, proprietors, by Ade F. Gardner, surveyor. To many of the readers of this book this would prove a puzzle if no explanation was given. It is a plat of that part of McBride which lies on the east side of Division street, but why a separate name was given is not for the writer to say, as in reality it was platted just six weeks before the village of McBride.
CHAPTER IX.
DOUGLASS TOWNSHIP.
Douglass township is situated in the north central part of the county and is bounded on the north by Belvidere, on the east by Day, on the south by Sidney and on the west by Pine. Until the organization of Douglass it was attached to the township of Pine.
The petition for the erection of Douglass township was presented to the board of supervisors with the following signatures: Daniel Lang. Joseph Wilcox, Alfred Wakeman, Christian Harner, Ira Hale, Emerson Hale, Emory Hale, Richard Charnley, Sylvester Rockafellow, Charles Service, David R. Hart. John J. Riley, Alphonso Brundage, Arnold Clark, A. S. Clark, S. S. Whitmer, J. S. Whitmer, Benjamin Persens, Enos Root, Aaron Hunt, Benajah Persens, Stephen Aldrich, J. V. Whitmer and George R. Hart. This petition bore the date of February 17. 1864, and consisted of the territory embraced by town 11 north, range 7 west.
The board of supervisors granted the prayer of the petitioners on Feb- ruary 17, 1864, and created the township as desired. The first election in the township was held at the house of Aaron Hunt on the first Monday of April, 1864, at nine o'clock, and at this first meeting Alphonso Brundage, S. S. Whitmer and Banajah Persens presided. The naming of this town- ship seems to have caused the greatest difficulty. In the orginal petition as first written the name of Washington was selected for the new township, but before this was presented to the board of supervisors this was scratched out and the name Lincoln written above it. Lincoln was also placed on the map which accompanied the petition and was also written in the minutes of this meeting of the supervisors. But in all three cases it was scratched out and the name Douglass inserted. The latter name was selected in honor of Stephen A. Douglas, the presidential candidate on the Democratic ticket in 1860 and for whom a majority of the electors of the township voted. At the first election Alphonso Brundage, Benajah Persens and S. L. Smith were chosen justices of the peace; S. L. Smith, supervisor: S. S. Whitmore, Aaron Hunt and Benajah Persens, highway commissioners; S. S. Whitmore and S. L. Smith, school inspectors; S. S. Whitmore and Adam Shaffer, constables.
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LAND ENTRIES.
Section 1-Luther L. Ward, Erastus P. Brown, Jonathan II. Loomis. John Brown, D. S. West, Edmund ITall. Section 2-Allen Wright, Liberty B. Britton, Darius P. Blood, Amos S. Johnson, Wood and Gilbert. Section 3 --- Aloney Rust, Hiram Ropman, Seth Holcomb, O. Wright. Section 4- Aloney Rust, Abel French, John Cook, Peter Johnson, Josiah Rupell, Eliza Hurd. Section 5-Aloney Rust, Peter Johnson, Jacob A. Dairs, Carso Crane, Lyman H. Pratt, Frederick H. Noteware, Benajah Persens, Lorenzo Buckley. Section 6 -- Oscar F. Cargill, Jacob A. Davis, Carso Crane, John J. Edly, Henry C. Byram. Section 7-Fite Rossman, Oscar F. Cargill. Hiram Rossman, S. F. Page, John Frisler, Jacob A. Davis, John J. Ely, Miller Wood. Section 8-Aloney Rust, Hiram Rossman, George Rossman, Stephen Page, John Tripler, Jacob Davis, Henry C. Bryam, Cyrees Wood- man. Section 9-Aloney Rust, Stephen Page, Jacob A. Davis, Stephen Ald- rich, John A. Brady. Section 10-Martin Shearer, Oliver P. Knox, Eras- tus P. Brown, Benjamin Persens. Thomas S. Aldrich, William A. McCloud, George Carpenter. Section 11-Erastus Brown, Henry W. Wilson, John Trisler, Carso Crane, Oliver P. Knox, Isaac M. Harris, Alphonso Brundage. Section 12-William Baker, Charles B. Wilson, William and Cornelius Van Name and Stephen McNeil, Andrew J. Clark, Enor L .. Root. Section 13 -- Charles Wilson. Henry Wilson, William Van Name, W. and C. Van Name and S. McNeil. Section 14-Henry Wilson, John Trisler, Carso Crane. David R. Chandler, John S. Whitmer, Stephen S. Whitmer. Section 15- John Trisler, Godfrey Aumaugher, Carso Crane, Aaron Hunt, Stephen S. Whitmer. Aaron Hunt, Josiah Bennett, Jacob B. Barr. Section 16-Eli Hunt. Joseph J. Carpenter, Adam Shaeffer, George W. Entrican, Albert L. Entrican, Jacob Miller, Eli Hunt, Joseph C. Vaughn, Timothy J. Scidmore, George Bellamy, Joseph Wilcox, N. H. Briggs. W. Simmons. Section 17- Aloney Rust, George Rossman, Hiram Rossman, Edward B. Edwards, Ste- phen F. Page, Timothy Scidmore. Section 18-Stephen Page, George Ross- man. Section 19-Silas Barton, Aloney Rust, George Loucks, Benjamin B. Knight. Edward B. Edwards. Larmon Chatfield, Stephen F. Page. Sec- tion 20-Daniel 1 .. Newton, Silas Barton, George Loucks, Benjamin Knight. Larmon Chatfield, Edward B. Edwards, Myndert Boose. Section 21- Aloney Rust, Edward B. Edwards, Myndert Bover, Edwin Merrifield, Jacob B. Barr. Section 22-Edwin R. Merrifield, John Shamp, Jacob B. Barr. Section 23-Charles B. Wilson, David R. Chandler, W. and C. Van Name and S. McNeil. Section 24-Charles Wilson, William and Cornelius Van Name and S. McNeil, William J. Cornell. William Armstrong. Section 25 -William J. Cornell. Section 26-William J. Cornell, David R. Chandler.
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Section 27-Edmund Hall. Section 28-Loren Curtis, Jacob B. Barr, S. Gates, Edmund Hall. Section 29-Charles Leonard, Thomas J. Bruner, Ambrose Atwood, C. Hewitt, J. B. Barr. Section 30-John Lewis, Edward B. Edwards, Carso Crane, Charles Leonard, Thomas J. Bruner. Section 31 -Stephen Page, Carso Crane. Section 32 -- James Clifford, Rheubar Whit- man. Section 33-Edwin B. Moore, John Brown, Edmund Hall. Section 34-Hiram Amsbury, Adolphus L. Skinner, Russell Ackley, Adolphus L. Skinner. Section 35-Benjamin Towle, Joseph Smith.
Clifford lake, a beautiful body of water over a mile in length, is sit- uated on sections 30 and 32. Upon its banks are several residences, and the groves are being utilized as picnic grounds and places of summer resort.
PIONEERS OF DOUGLASS.
The first settler in Douglass was Hiram Weller, but the exact date of his arrival is not definitely known. It was probably the fall of 1853, as in the following year he sold his claim and removed to Langston, where the John Green Company was erecting a saw-mill. He remained there several years working for the company, when he moved away. Peter Johnson, who purchased the claim of ITiram Weller, was the second settler in the town- ship. Soon after taking possession he built a more commodious cabin, cleared a small piece of land, and sowed the first spring crops. About the time of his arrival Uriah Stout and Messrs. Covey, Murray, Bradford and a number of other settlers pre-empted land in the vicinity, but none of these remained long enough to make any permanent improvements, and none brought families except Uriah Stout.
William Goodwater, who settled just over the line, on section 32, in Belvidere, came in about the same time. He soon after came into Douglass and built a cabin near Little Penny lake, which was named after a nick- name applied to him. He also subsequently moved to the mills below on Flat river, where he died.
James Farnsworth pre-empted eighty acres on the east half of section 9, but within a year he sold to Stephen Aldrich, who, in the summer of 1854. came into the township to look for government land. His wife, formerly Rebecca Stewart, whose parents settled in the township of Gilead, Branch county, and became permanent settlers there with the family, came to the township of Douglass in the fall of 1854. Mr. Aldrich went to work imme- diately to clear and improve his farm. The following spring he set out the first fruit trees in Douglass. In 1862 he enlisted in the Seventh Cavalry,
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continuing in the army and participating in the campaigns of that regiment during the war.
In the year 1854 Benajah Persens and his family came in and settled in the northern part. He purchased forty acres of land and lived here until his death.
David R. Hart, Alphonso Brundage and Stephen Whitmer came in soon after the settlement of Mr. Persens. Alphonso Brundage had been a resi- dent of Ann Arbor, whence he came to Douglass and bought the north half of the northeast quarter of section II, where he built a cabin. David R. Hart sold a part of his land to S. L. Smith, who, with Aaron Hunt, came to Michigan first in 1847, and lived a number of years at Jackson. He sub- sequently returned to Pennsylvania, where he lived until he came to Doug- lass, as stated above. At the first township meeting he was elected super- visor, and when justice, officiated at the first wedding after the organization of the township, being that of Jacob Miller and Mary Hunt.
Mr. Miller came to Michigan from Monroe county, New York, in 1856. Aaron Hunt entered one hundred and sixty acres, which was the south half of the northwest quarter and the east half of the southwest quarter of sec- tion 15, where he resided until his death, in the spring of 1867. His son, Eli Hunt, served in the Union army during the Rebellion.
George W. Entrican, another early resident of Douglass, was born in Oakland county, to which place his parents came in 1836, being among its first settlers. He came to Easton, lonia county, in 1847. He was among the first to enlist from Douglass, and served two years and six months in Company K, Twenty-first Regiment, Michigan Volunteer Infantry, partici- pating in the campaigns of the Army of the Cumberland under General McCook. For two years he was clerk of the township. Joseph and A. Ellsworth were the first permanent settlers in the southwest part. Clif- ford lake is named after Mr. Clifford, a feeble old man who settled near it, and who was found dead beside an oak log, having been taken sick sud- denly while at work.
Although as early as 1853 the settlement of Douglass commenced, and from this time until 1864 many additions were made, but few became per- manent settlers in the township. The great obstacle to its prosperity was the total lack of highways and the consequent inconvenience to travel. The general routes to the north had been through the township to the east and Pine and Cato to the west. A state road was carly located along the east bank of Flat river, but when the saw-mill at Langston and a bridge across the river at that place were completed, and this route to the Big Rapids
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made passable, no further attention was given the route through Douglass until many years after. As it became necessary, the settlers cach as they came underbrushed the road where it appeared the most feasible, and as a consequence, it wound about all conceivable obstacles. After the organiza- tion of the township it was considerably improved, S. L. Smith doing a large part of the work. The improvements in other parts of the township were rapid, large sums of money being raised by taxing land held by speculators.
The river road originally followed as near as possible an Indian trail which extended along the east bank of the river to the Indian settlement near the central part of Douglass. It contained about forty families under Shogwogino, who built and occupied a house located on the farm of S. L. Smith. In 1860 the entire tribe, with the exception of three families, were removed to the North by the government. It appears from the clearing made and the land which they tilled being free of stumps that they had lived here many years previous to the entry of the whites.
About three years after his settlement in Douglass, Peter Johnson, already referred to, went to Greenville to find work, as was his custom, to procure the necessary provisions for his family. It was the year so long remembered on account of the late frosts, when the little pieces of corn and garden stuffs of the settlers, so important to them, were totally destroyed. when want and suffering abounded on every hand, and had it not been for aid voted by the state and sent gratuitously from older settled districts abso- lute famine must have prevailed. Game, which to this time had been plenti- ful, suddenly became scarce and almost impossible to be secured, and when obtained was lean and unpalatable. The following spring little children barefooted scoured the banks of streams before the frost had fairly left the ground to find succulent plants to be boiled and eaten. To find work was. almost impossible; nevertheless, Peter Johnson left his family and went to Greenville, as before stated. While absent his wife, who in a recent illness had been attended by Mrs. Stephen Aldrich, who lived nearly two miles distant and who walked that distance through the forest many times to see her and administer to her wants, went to the house of Mrs. Goodwater to ask her to come and stay with her children, which she had left sleeping in a cradle near the fire, while she called on Mrs. Aldrich, who was now ill. The two women returned and found the cabin enveloped in flames and the roof just falling in. The mother was almost paralyzed but was taken away from the spot by Mrs. Goodwater, and by her conducted to the house where she had intended to call. The children, the elder of whom was two and one- half years of age, and the younger a babe, perished in the flames. Their charred remains were gathered the following morning, placed in a box and
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buried near the site upon which the cabin stood. It is said the parents did not visit the spot, but removed to the south part of the county. Olive, the elder of the two, was the first white child born in the township, and it was proposed to name it in her honor, but owing to a similarity of this name with another in the south part of the state it was abandoned.
The first marriage in Douglass was that of William Goodwater to Mrs. Julia Buckley, and took place in the house of Leonard Buckley.
The cemetery on the farm of the late Stephen Aldrich was the first public burial place in Douglass, and the first person interred here was Will- iam Entrican.
The first orchard was probably set out by Aaron Hunt, in the spring of 1864, and contained one hundred trees. James Lee built the first framed dwelling in the winter of 1865-66, and about the same time Moses Hunt built the first framed barn, on the northeast quarter of section 14.
ENTRICAN.
Entrican is the only town, or rather village, in Douglass township at the present. It lies in the south-central part of section 9, and although an old town, it was never platted. It began its existence in the lumber days, and with the exhaustion of this industry, has fought bravely to maintain an existence. Located, as it is, in the central part of the township some eight miles northwest of Stanton, it has proved a trading center. There are at present some fifty inhabitants, with two churches and a postoffice.
The business interests of the town consists of two stores, owned by ITerman Smith and Ray Pintler. There is also a small blacksmith shop for the convenience of its patrons. In the palmy days, when the lumber indus- try was at its height, millions of feet of logs passed down Flat river, which flows only a short distance to the west of Entrican, and the saw-mills at this place did a flourishing business. But those days are over and the interests of Entrican are kept alive by the farmers of this section.
POINT RICHARDS.
Point Richards, which lies in the extreme southwestern part of Doug- lass township and on the west side of Clifford lake, was platted on June II, 1881, for James W. and Nettie D. Richards, proprietors, by F. A. Palmer, surveyor. This is now the location of the Clifford lake summer resort, which is owned and managed by Ulysses G. Hayden. It is quite a resort and consists of a hotel, dancing pavilion and a few cottages. The dancing pavilion is unique and original, having been built around a large oak tree.
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CHAPTER X.
EUREKA TOWNSHIP.
Eureka township began its existence at the same time that Montcalm county was organized. The Legislature which erected this county also offi- cially organized Eureka township, under the Act No. 177, approved on March 28, 1850. This township consisted of congressional township 9 north, range 8 west, and was set off from Montcalm township, of which it was originally a part. It lies in the extreme southwestern part of the county and is bounded on the north by Montcalm township, on the east by Fair- plain township. on the south by lonia county and on the west by Kent county. The first town meeting was ordered to be held at "the district school house, near the Greenville postoffice."
.At the meeting held in the township to choose a suitable cognomen for the new born township, after a due amount of discussion, it was christened Wabasis, after the creek of that name that flows through the township. The creek itself having been named, long before this time, after Wabasis, an Indian chief, and thereby hangs a tale. The son, John, of this Indian chief, relates that his father offended his tribe by deeding certain lands to the United States, in consequence he was condemned to be banished to that part of the country lying north of Wabasis creek and west of Flat river. the understanding being that he was not to venture south of these precincts under penalty of death. Unfortunately for him he allowed designing Indians to persuade him to take part in a pow-wow at the mouth of Flat river, and during the ceremony he was set upon and killed. But returning to the name Wabasis, it seems that this did not appear to strike the fancy of A. L. Roof, the legislative representative of the district, as favorably as it did the town- people. So of his own volition he substituted the name Eureka, which means "I have found it," but just why he made this change cannot now be determined. It happened that the good people of this township were at first prone to look upon Mr. Roof's amendment as discourteous, but eventually they became reconciled to the name, and it has never been changed.
The first town meeting was held in the school house of district No. 1.
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April 1, 1850, as ordered by the act of March 28th. Stephen H. Warren was chosen moderator at this initial meeting; Ethan Satterlee, inspector; John Porter and Aaron G. Stockholm, clerks. There were sixty-six votes cast at this election, and the following officers elected: Supervisor, Rose- crans Divine; clerk, Westbrook Divine, who was the only candidate for this office; treasurer. A. W. Maynard; justices of peace, Hiram II. Slawson and John M. Sheldon; highway commissioners, John C. Stockholm, for three years, Abram Roosa, for two years, Ethan Satterlee, for one year; school inspectors, John Porter and Josiah Bradish; assessors, Nathaniel Coons and George Van Ness: constables. Henry Satterlee, Enoch R. Wilcox, J. M. Becker and Elijah Van Derhoof: overseers of the poor, Enoch R. Wilcox and Ethan Satterlee. Thus the township of Eureka, the fourth township to be organized in Montcalm county, took on a definite government.
INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF WESTBROOK DIVINE.
It seems fairly well established that the first settlement in Eureka town- ship and also in Montcalm county was made in August, 1814. Hon. West- brook Divine, who was a prominent figure in the early history of the county, has related the story of that settlement, together with mention of incidents leading thereto and following after, the substance of which is here set out :
In Angust, 1843, Stephen H. Warren and R. K. Divine, then living in central New York, started for the far West in search of land locations. After looking over the southern portion of the state where they hoped to find places to suit them, without, however, succeeding to their taste, they visited Grand Rapids. There they met John Ball, who advised them to visit Montcalm county, and acting upon the suggestion they found sure enough, in what is now Eureka township, such land tracts as they wanted. Each selected one hundred and twenty acres in section 34, and thus having finished what he had come for, Divine returned at once to the East for his family. Warren concluded to stop behind, and arranging to board at John Shaw's, in Otisco, worked during the month ensuing upon his Eureka farm, break- ing up in that time about four acres. Mr. Warren's work, as noted, may therefore be regarded as the first attempt at land clearing in Eureka, and probably in the county as well.
R. K. Divine reached his New York home in August, 1843, and on the 4th of September, following, started once more for Michigan, accompanied by his wife and brother, Westbrook. Journeying via lake to Detroit, they bought an ox team at the latter place and pushed on by way of Scott's and
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Lyons village. Ten days after leaving Detroit, and sixteen after the depar- ture from their New York home, they landed at John Shaw's, September 20. They found Warren still on the ground and assisted by him and Westbrook Divine, R. K. Divine put up a framed house on section 34, the lumber being obtained at Dickinson's mill, in Otisco. Touching Stephen Warren, it may be briefly stated that he left for New York a few days after the arrival of the Divines, married there, and returned to Eureka in July, 1844, for a permanent settlement. He remained a citizen of the town until his death, in 1878.
Mr. Divine's house, in which he moved on October 29, 1843, is said to have been the first house erected in the county. R. K. Divine lived in Eureka until 1866, when he removed to Oakland county, in Michigan.
Hon. Westbrook Divine assisted his brother, R. K., until December. 1843, when he bought sixty acres, and between work upon his own place and occasional labors for his brother he divided his time and energies until January, 1845, when, on the 27th of that month, he married Elizabeth Roosa, of Otisco, and took a place among the actual settlers of Eureka. Although Mr. Divine was the first one of Eureka's settlers to marry, he was married, as a matter of fact, out of the town. The first marriage in the town was that of Abraham Roosa, of Otisco, to Deborah, daughter of John Green, in February, 1845, at Mr. Green's house, in what is now the city of Greenville.
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