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 15
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47
Asa Buck was the second settler and came on August 11, 1853. James Tishue was the third settler and located in Ferris, August 14. 1855. Archi- bald Connor, Robert Husker, Thomas and Rodolphus Burns, and Samuel T. Burch came in the winter of 1854-55. Burch and Husker were married men, the others were single. All became residents of the township for a longer or shorter period. The Burnses were natives of Ireland. Burch settled first on section 36, but subsequently cleared and lived upon a farm on section 24. He remained in the township until 1877, when with his family he moved to Idaho. He built a large part of the village of Crystal. Archibald Connor settled the north half of the southeast quarter of sec- tion II.
Robert Husker settled on the east half of the northeast quarter of sec- tion 36. Nathan B. Scott, a native of Berkshire county, Massachusetts, moved with his father to Washtenaw county in 1830. where he lived until he came to Ferris township in 1855 and entered the northwest quarter of section 22, paying seventy-five cents per acre. He built a temporary house to which he brought his family, which consisted of a wife and four child- dren. Mr. Scott made one of the first clearings, and planted some of the first crops in the township. He was drafted and served his time during the Civil War. Peter Schlappie built the first saw-mill in the township. It stood on Schlappic creek, on section 12. Previous to this time the lumber used by the settlers had been brought from Ryder's mill in Evergreen town- :ship.
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Christopher Hare, from Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, moved to Sandusky county, Ohio, in 1835, whence he came to Michigan in 1843, and settled in Portland, Ionia county. From this place he came to Ferris and entered the southeast quarter of section 16, for which he paid four dollars per acre. In October, 1855, he brought his wife and nine children to the house previously built. He cleared the road from the cabin of Nathan Scott to this place. At the first town meeting Mr. Hare was elected clerk of the township, an office which he filled creditably many successive years. In 1880 he was the nominee on the National ticket for the office of county treasurer.
William Carpenter also reached the township in 1855. His house was made on a novel plan. Two large oak trees which stood about twelve feet apart were felled so that they lay nearly parallel. Into the trunk of each a row of holes were bored, and into these posts high enough to make the walls of the house were driven. Split shakes were nailed over them, and the roof made of the same material, his house, with a large fireplace in one end, was ready for occupancy. At one time Mr. Carpenter killed a bear, and invited two young men named H. C. Ferris and William Boody to dine with him. One of the logs, which in the meantime had been hewn to as near a flat surface as could be conveniently done with an ax, served as a table. Upon this in due time the smoking ham of a young bear was placed and the guests who sat on the outside of the house regaled themselves through the window to their entire satisfaction.
H. C. Ferris, the nephew of Elijah Ferris, came to the township with William Boody from Geauga county, Ohio. The latter, who was a splendid shot, came with only sport in view, and killed a great deal of game. He became poisoned while hunting in a swamp, and soon after left the town- ship. Ferris remained until the next May, and then returned to Eaton county, where he married Louisa Blodgett, and in about two years again returned to Ferris.
Micajah Douglas came to Ferris in the fall of 1854, and entered four eighty-acre tracts in sections 11, 12, 13 and 14. He was born and reared in Monroe county, New York, and was not married until just before com- ing to the land which he had previously entered. He married Laura Sher- man. They moved into the township on the 22d of March, 1856. Mr. Douglas was elected justice at the first town meeting. His daughter, Lydia Jane Douglas, was the first white child born in Ferris. She married Thomas J. Blair, who was in the mercantile business in Elm Hall, Gratiot county.
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In the year of 1856, Jacob Klees, a native of Germany, came to Ferris. His family consisted of his wife, two sons and one daughter. He located on section 36. It is said that in an early day, when the family had walked to Matherton for the purpose of purchasing store goods and groceries, Mrs. Klees carried a barrel of flour to her home in Ferris. The tradition. no doubt, has not suffered from repetition ; the fact which gave rise to it being that after father and son had been loaded with the flour taken from the barrel, Mrs. Klees, feeling that it would supply a want when added to the scanty furniture of her cabin, took it with what flour remained upon her shoulder and carried it the entire distance.
David Eschliman came to Ferris in 1867. He was born in Lancaster county. Pennsylvania. His ancestors purchased one thousand seven hun- dred acres of land from William Penn, and his relatives, who became numer- ous, lived in that county. In 183.1 his father moved to Stark county, Ohio.
REMINISCENCES.
In June, 1856, David Buck and Phoebe Moore were married at the house of William Moore, who had come to the township in the spring of 1855. This was the first wedding in the township. Daniel Strayer, a min- ister of the United Brethren church, officiated on this occasion. He was a resident of Elm Hall, and came on foot, with only a rifle for protection, to perform the ceremony. Mr. Strayer had occasionally preached in Ferris. previous to the wedding, at the little cabin of Hezekiah Hubbell, who had settled just east of the center of the township in the fall of 1855. This cabin was so low that when the minister stood up his head would be between the poles which served as joists. Mr. Strayer died at Elm Hall in the fall of 1864. Frank J. Scott was probably the second white person born in Ferris. The first orchard in the township was set out by Peter Schlappie. who brought trees from Ohio in 1855. He preached the first funeral ser- mon in Crystal township, and was a local minister of the United Brethren church. He settled on the northeast quarter of section 12, where he lived until his death. Elijah Ferris, the first white man to make his home in this township, was also the first to die and be buried here. He had the con- sumption when he came to Michigan but during the first year the change' seemed very beneficial, but in the spring after his arrival he died. John Maurer and Micajah Douglas made a rough coffin with boards taken from the loft of the cabin of Daniel Strayer, who at this time lived in the town- ship. The boards were nicely planed, and hot water was then poured upon
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the sides, by which means they were bent and then made into proper shape. It was then stained with a mixture of Venetian red and sweet milk. Mr. Ferris had desired to be buried on high ground, and as Nathan Scott had offered ground for a public cemetery, he was buried near where the residence of that gentleman stood. There was at that time no road, only a trail, through the swamp from the east to the west side. The remains were therefore placed upon a litter and carried by six men to the place prepared for them.
Erastus Larnard opened the first blacksmith shop in Ferris township at the center of the township. He remained several years, and his shop filled a want long felt. He subsequently purchased a farm which he supposed to be unincumbered, and paid for it in full. A number of years after, a mort- gage given by the former owner was foreclosed and he lost his entire property.
FERRIS VILLAGE.
Ferris or Ferris Center, is located in the center of the township of the same name. It was never platted and although it was once a postoffice for the convenience of the rural people, has lost this through the coming of the rural routes. Ferris began its existence in the early days and has always been the location of a school house and a town hall. At present there are two stores. Frank Hare is the proprietor of one of these.
Ferris township is rather unique in the fact that it has not a railroad and no town has ever been platted within its limits. Vestaburg draws the major percentage of the trade from this township.
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CHAPTER XIV.
HOME TOWNSHIP.
Home township is designated as town 12 north, range 6 west, and is situated in the northeastern part of the county. It is bounded on the north by Isabella county, on the east by Richland township, on the south by Day and on the west by Belvidere. This was the sixteenth township organized in the county.
The petition for the erection of a new township to be called Home was presented to the board of supervisors on October 10, 1864, and contained the following signatures: Festus F. Goldsmith, R. Jackson, J. F. Beard, R. B. Nichols, L. Roach, J. W. Haymond, H. N. Tupper, Thomas Forquor, Will- iam W. Woodard, George C. Roush, Abra Johns, F. A. Goldsmith, C. A. Packard, Egbert L. Heath, Calvin M. Woodard, Christopher ITare, Charles Stiles, N. B. Scott, David Bank, Isaac Pilnie, J. G. Garrison, Henry Crock- ford, Calvin O. Woodard, Andrew K. Zuner, David Shaffer, Samuel J. Bailey, W. B. Robbins, L. S. Garvin, John Brown, John Correll, George Elder, H. Rowland, J. Weirick. George Offiner and Joshua Fair. This petition was dated at Ferris, August 20, 1864, and comprised the territory in town 12 north, range 6 west.
The board of supervisors passed upon this petition and granted the prayer of the petitioners on October 12, 1864, and further ordered that the first election be held at the house of R. Jackson on the first Monday in April, 1865. The control of this election was placed in the hands of R. Jackson, H. N. Tupper and William W. Woodard.
The surface of Home township is generally undulating, rising gradu- ally towards the centre, where it forms a divide north and south between the Flat and Pine river systems. The streams are all small and of little importance, furnishing no water power in the township.
The lakes are few in number and inconsiderable in extent. The soil is of that peculiar mixture of sand and clay which produces both the hard and soft varieties of wood. Pine, however, predominated in fully three- fourths of the township. A large proportion of these lands were held for lumbering purposes. More particularly was this the case in the northern
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part, where a few firms early purchased the more valuable tracts. Whit- man & Highland held two thousand one hundred acres in one body, and nine hundred and sixty acres in another. Stinchfield & Whitney held four- teen hundred and eighty acres, besides a number of smaller tracts. This part of the township, although an unbroken forest for many years, developed rapidly in both its lumbering and agricultural interests. As rapidly as it was stripped of its timber, venturesome and hardy pioneers built their cabins and started on the most laborious but surest way to wealth.
The township has in general a productive soil, and the demand for all kinds of home produce was stimulated on account of its extensive lumber- ing interests; and the ready means of access to the markets of the East and South by means of its railroads, which form a junction at Edmore, rendered agriculture a lucrative employment, and to this source in no slight degree is the rapid development of this interest to be attributed.
LAND ENTRIES.
Section 1-Ambrose L. Soule, Warren A. Sherwood. Section 2-War- ren A. Sherwood, F. T. Goldsmith. Section 3-Franklin Moore, Amy Gold- smith, Peter Parmenter. Section 5 -- Levi Parkin, Michael Sullivan, Edmund IIall. Section 7-James M. Hall, Ira H. Sheldon, John Gresefant, Genesac M. Brown, E. Hall, Solomon Lapaugh, Edmund Hall. Section 8-Philander R. Howe, G. B. Isham, George Beardsley, M. Sullivan. Section 9-Edmund Hall, Jacob W. Stinchfield. Section 10-Horace P. Dean, Alonzo Par- menter, John M. Parsens. Section 11-Jacob W. Stinchfield. Section 12 -Ambrose I. Soule, Edwin B. Moore. Norman Shepard. Section 13- Ambrose L. Soule, John D. Throop, Andrew Nisenger. Section 14- Ambrose I .. Soule, Moses Pixley, James M. Hall, Fayette Beardsley, James M. Hall, George A. Baker, Phineas Carter. Section 15-James M. Hall, Oscar DeMott, William E. Rury, James M. Hall, James Alzer, Phineas Carter. Section 16-Amos Bissell, James Lascomb, George Beardsley, Edson Packard. Section 17-William W. Woodard, John N. Stock, P. R. Howe. G. B. Isham, Albert P. Laverty. Section 18-William L. Easton, James M. Soverhill, James M. Hall, Andrew J. Cory. Section 19-James M. Soverhill, Stephen F. P'age, James M. Soverhill, Chelsea Tupper, John Camp, Authur R. Price, John Camp, David Vandersen. Section 20-Stephen F. Page, Chelsea Tupper, Frederick Bishop, William W. Woodard, Albert L. Evans. Allen B. Morse, Nelson F. Latham, Philander R. Howe, G. B. Isham, William W. Woodard. Section 21-John Peoples, Hugh Peoples,
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Sage Rice, Solomon P. Rapp, Leander Cook, Alden H. Wright, 'Leander Cook. Section 22-Ambrose I. Soule, Thomas Forguer, James M. Hall. Willis Nelson, Malcom A. Dunning. Section 23-Ambrose Soule, Paul Wilkins, Thaddeus Tibbs, Michael Pollasky, Edwin Finch. Section 24 -- Edward Wells, Samuel Smith, Peter Wirick, Andrew Nisanger, Warren A. Sherwood, Solomon, Lapaugh, John McRae. Section 25-Samuel M. Leg- gett, John Correll, George T. Elder, Peter Wirick, Jesse Rhodes, Myron Howard, James K. Brown, Jesse B. Smock. Section 26-Samuel M. Leg- gett, Festus T. Goldsmith. John Brown, Lucias S. Garvin, William R. Jack- son, Correne C. Jackson. Section 27-Nathan E. Nichols, Frederick A. Aenis, Festus A. Goldsmith, Joshua Fair, Charles D. Costen. Section 28- Jacob F. Beard, R. B. Nichols, William Armstrong, John W. Haymond, James Gilson. Section 20-Chauncey Tupper, Henry N. Tupper, Mary J. Van Dusen, Henry N. Tupper, Spencer Beard, John W. Haumind, James Lowry, Samuel Muser, Jacob L. Overtz, Thomas N. Taylor. Section 30- Jonathan Green, James M. Soverhill, Jonathan Green, Arthur R. Price. Section 31-William Stevensen. Section 32-George O. Roush, Abia Johns. Section 33-Franklin Tripp. William M. B. Reed. Martin Bent. Section 34-James Woodard, Jeremiah Myers, Henry Cobb, Lucas S. Gar- vin, Martin Bent, Gilbert Wilson, William B. Chilce. Section 35-Samuel S. Woodworth, Henry R. Woodworth, W. Robbins. Section 36-Elias Hardy. Freeman Rice.
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
Edward Wolbert, who settled in the extreme southwest corner of Home township, was probably the first man to build a cabin within its boundaries, aside from the hunters who now and then penetrated its solitudes and built temporary shelters. His cabin stood near the state road, and besides being a dwelling house it made in addition, some meager preparation for the accommodation of travelers on their way from Ionia to Millbrook. This route became, as soon as properly opened, one of the favorite roads of travel to the north. Mr. Wolbert's cabin was the last one for many miles, and the road, if such it may be called, stretched through miles of forest unbroken by a single clearing. The townships of Douglass, Day, Belvidere and Rich- land also were comparatively unbroken wilderness at this time. Mr. Wolbert remained here but a short time, when, with his family-a wife and one child-he moved to the South.
About the year 1862 a party of ten, consisting of John Peoples and his
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family, and Hugh Peoples, an unmarried brother, came to the cabin of Edward Wolbert. The men had been here previously and entered land, and while preparing temporary shelters left their families here a few days. John Peoples entered the southwest quarter of section 21. upon which the railroad station at Edmore and much of this village is now situated. Frederick Bishop settled on the adjoining quarter west, on section 20. Hugh Peoples entered the adjoining quarter east. They all built cabins and commenced clearing lands. The struggles with want and privation which followed were long and severe. The nearest mill was Amsden, to which place those settlers who had no teams were obliged to carry their grain on their backs. Stanton was then a flourishing village of three houses. One was a small court house, another Roosa's log hotel. and the other a dwelling house built by Levi Camburn. After making some improvements, Bishop exchanged his farm for one near Charlotte.
One of the first marriages in Home township was that of Hugh Peoples to Maria Wysick, whose parents were among the pioneers in the east part of the township. The first white child born in Home was Anna Peoples, daughter of John Peoples, born on January 15, 1863. The first death was that of a Mrs. Rapp. She was buried on the west side of the road, and just outside the present limits of the cemetery at Edmore, where her remains still rest.
The following are names of old settlers of Home: F. A. Goldsmith, R. B. Nichols, who settled on the east half of the southeast quarter of section 28: James C. Gillson, W. W. Woodard, Oliver Aiken, 7. Rice, William Stevenson, who occupied the farm entered by Edward Wolbert; Thomas Forguer, Oscar D. Moot. Andrew Neiswanger. John Carroll, Thaddeus Tibbels, Edwin Wells, Jeremiah Myers, William S. Eaton and Paul Wilkins.
No school was taught in Home until the spring of 1865, when the people in the south part of the township met and organized a school district, and built a small log house on the southeast part of section 28. and employed Orlando Evans as teacher. He was a nephew of Josiah Fair, with whom he resided at the time.
The next summer a site for another school house was selected one and one-half miles east of the first. A house was erected, in which a school was opened by Mrs. James Brown, whose husband taught at the same time in the cabin before referred to. The first frame school house was built on the east line of section 30, in district No. 3.
In 1866 a postoffice was established at the house of Thomas Forguer, who was appointed postmaster. The office was known as New Home . post-
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office. Previous to this time the nearest office was at the village of Stanton. Doctor Jackson was the first physician to come to Home. He settled in the south part of the township, on section 26, where he remained several years, and then removed to the West. He subsequently, however, returned to Home, where he died. The next physician was Doctor White, who entered a piece of land, but, like his predecessor, remained a short time and then went west.
The following extract, taken from one of the town books, needs no explanation : "The town board met at the clerk's office on July 5, 1872. Full board present. The meeting being called on account of the clerk's office being burned on the morning of the 2d of July, 1872, the board pro- ceeded to examine the books saved and found the following: book of regis- tration, the accounts with the township treasurer, the financial accounts and school record, records of the commissioners of highways and board of health." The records of election were not saved and the town clerk's office contains no connection or definite record of the officers of the township before this time.
EDMORE.
Edmore is situated principally upon the south half of the southwest quarter of section 21, and the north half of the northwest quarter of section 28. The original plat, however, contained but one hundred and twenty acres, several additions having been made from time to time. The name is derived from Edwin B. Moore-the name of its founder-who platted it, and on the 28th of April, 1878. caused the survey to be made.
The first lot was sold to William Cronkite, who at once erected a small building and opened a shoe shop, for although few improvements had been made in this vicinity, the completion of the railroads the fall previous, form- ing a junction at this place, had marked it as an important business center for the future. There were also several families, who had settled here a number of years before, and who had made some slight improvements in agriculture. One of these, that of James Gillson, settled here in 1865. He was a native of Scotland, whence he came to America in 1828. He served in the Union army in the Civil War, and for disabilities received was awarded a pension. He built the first hotel in the village of Edmore, soon after the village was platted. On May 28. 1878, E. W. Kitchen purchased a lot, built a house, and opened a general stock of dry goods, boots, shoes, groceries, etc. These were the first business places in the village.
. About this time a portable saw-mill was secured, and the limber for
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building purposes, which heretofore had been brought from a distance, was now manufactured from the timber taken from the site of the village. After the manufacture of lumber began in Edmore its growth was exceedingly rapid. Few villages in central Michigan will compare with it in this respect. In the winter of 1878-79 the village, having a sufficient population, was incor- porated, and the first election under the charter was held on March 8, 1879, at which time the following persons were elected to the several village offices : President, F. B. Moore; trustees, R. S. Robson, H. G. Johnson, C. S. Knight, C. W. Stafford, E. S. Wagar, II. Austin; clerk, F. M. Burbank; treasurer, O. S. Tower; street commissioner, H. J. Chainey ; assessor, A. M. Wolaver. The following is a list of officers for 1880: President, E. B. Moore; trustees, H. G. Johnson, C. W. Stafford, A. V. Rowlison; clerk. F. W. Harrison; treasurer, H. C. Umbenhaur; street commissioner, J. K. Train; assessor, A. M. Wolaver.
During the month of September, 1880, the Chicago, Saginaw & Canada railroad shipped 225,491 pounds of freight, the freightage upon which was $173.19. The number of pounds received aggregated 5,207,544 and the charges collected were $1,642. The receipts for the telegraph department were $55.04.
The report of the Detroit, Lansing & Northern railroad for the same month is as follows: Total freight shipped from this station, 8,506,597 pounds; charges, $5,804.14. Freight received, 1,098,928 pounds, upon which charges were collected to the amount of $2,190.95. The tickets sold over this route amounted to $1,036.
Edmore came out of that period which followed the exhaustion of the pine timber in the county better, or rather as good, as any other town in the county. This was due partly to the fact of its location. It is truly located in one of the rich farming communities of the county. The scope of territory and rich resources which it draws from gives it the life which it has at present. Edmore and the people can truly be proud of such a busy, hustling village. Although other towns in the county may present larger buildings and longer business blocks, but few can surpass it in the amount of produce received and shipped during a year. It is the trading center for the north and eastern part of the county and the shipping point of the entire community.
Edmore has suffered two fires, which, if it were possible to wipe out. would leave it with business blocks doing credit to the volume of business done in the town. In the year 1901 one entire block on the south side of Main street was destroyed by fire. The loss was placed at $25,000, but it
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carried with it another pang. for one life was claimed by the flames. This was a small girl who, being trapped, was unable to receive assistance and perished. In this fire the town hall, bank building, and several other busi- ness houses were entirely consumed.
The second fire was just beside the first, on the north side of Main street. This disastrous fire wiped out almost the entire block. Three stores and two smaller buildings were destroyed before the flames could be checked, entailing a loss of $20,000. The Moorehead block was erected in 1885. and it is one of the largest business blocks of Edmore. At present Edmore has a population of eight hundred.
A township and village hall was erected in 1902, at a cost of $6.000. In this town hall the council rooms, jail and postoffice are located; also the fire department, which is a volunteer company of chief and six men and hook and ladder and hose-cart equipment. The water-works is a municipal plant, which was installed in the year 1880, and is fully equipped in every respect. The electric light plant is a private business, owned by J. H. Gibbs & Company. The business interests of the town consist of the L. Barber Creamery Company. This creamery is second in capacity in the county. The volume of business of this creamery amounts to approximately one-half million dollars per year. The W. R. Roach Canning Company is also one of the important industries of the town. Approximately $85,000 was paid out by this company to the help and to farmers during the year.
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