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 21
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lumber camp, rafting the logs to Saginaw by means of the Pine river, which is about two miles north of the village.
After establishing a camp and putting up buildings for his men, he applied and was commissioned postmaster under Marshall Jewell, on Septem- ber 14, 1875. This was the first postoffice in the township. In the winter of 1876-77 Mr. O'Donnell employed Eliza Andrews to teach a school, which was the second one taught south of the river and the first in the village. The railroad was completed in the fall of 1875, and the 29th of October, Mr. O'Donnell platted and laid out the village of Vestaburg. The first business house established was a shingle-mill by Starkweather & Alger, to whom Mr. O'Donnell gave a block for a location for their mill. It was burned after coming into the possession of George W. Palmer.
William Starkweather soon after opened a small stock of dry-goods and groceries in the building later occupied as a store by James W. Robinson. The postoffice was removed from the lumber camp to this place. George WV. O'Donnell, the founder of Vestaburg, was born in Rutland county, Vermont, whence he came to Saginaw in 1854. and engaged in lumbering. Later he engaged in the real estate business in Vestaburg.
After the passing of the lumber industry Vestaburg settled down to a quiet existence, but being situated, as it is, in the center of a good farming district, it has maintained its early improvements and in the last years has taken on quite a growth. Each year there are dwellings erected and it has become a trading center for this part of the township. It has a population of approximately three hundred. The business interests of the town con- sist of four grocery stores, which are owned by the following persons : Clarence Caris, John Thurlby, Howard & Bernius and Hiller's grocery. The Wallace, Orr & Company's Bank has a good patronage in this part, as also the only elevator in the town, which is owned by the same firm. Ed Hard- ing keeps a general line of hardware, and Hornbeck Brothers keep an agri- cultural store. Dr. M. C. Hubbard is the only physician in the township, and also owns a drug store.
There are two meat markets, owned by Nickerson & Son and a Mr. Gould. Earl Walker has a confectionery store and also runs a hotel. Day- ton Gorsuck operates a creamery station and poultry house. Mrs. Dewitt Murtage keeps a general line of millinery. B. B. Thorpe keeps a jewelry store. Fred Cornell a feed and livery barn. There are two blacksmith shops, owned by David Marlin and Mr. Worden. There is also a pickle salting station located here, which is owned by Albert McGuire & Company.
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Vestaburg is an excellent potato market, which business is carried on by Frank Cummings and Eugene Lane. George Peasley is railroad agent and Charles Nickerson is present postmaster. A Mr. McDowell keeps the only barber shop. The first elevator built in Vestaburg, and in fact this part of the township, was erected and owned by Dr. A. D. Ballou in 1906. There are two churches, Dunkard and Christian, located in Vestaburg. The Pere Marquette railroad passes through Vestaburg and has proved quite a stimulant to the interests of the town.
CHAPTER XXI.
SIDNEY TOWNSHIP.
The township of Sidney is situated geographically in the central part of the county. It is bounded on the north by Douglass, on the east by Evergreen, on the south by Fairplain and on the west by Montcalm. The petition for the erection of a new township was dated on November II, 1856, and comprised the territory of town 10 north, range 7 west, and bore the following names: Abner Hall, Lyman Johnson, Samuel Gillmore, Will- iam Lampman, Nathaniel Ferris, J. V. Noah, Charles Kellogg. H. Gillmore, John Byan, George F. Noah, William H. Noah, Orrin Phelps, S. Butter- worth, C. H. Miel, James Light, S. Wheeler, J. Meginley, C. E. Shepard, J. Bradish, H. Amsbury, A. Frederick, J. W. Drake, A. B. Amsbury, George Fleck, Phineas Swift and N. Towsley. This petition asked that town 10 north, range 7 west, be set off from the township of Fairplain and organized into a separate township. The petitioners asked that the name of Nelson or Bath be given to the newly-erected township. This petition was presented to the board of supervisors at their regular meeting in January, 1857.
The board of supervisors acted upon the above petition and granted the prayer of the petitioners on January 5, 1857, in respect to the official organization of said territory into a new township, but in the selection of a name for the newly-created township it seems that the supervisors had their own idea on this matter and chose the name of Sidney. Just why they should reject the names suggested by the petitioners and choose this name is not known. The first election was ordered to be held at the house of Joshua 1. Noah on the 6th of April, 1857. At this meeting Joshna V. Noah, William Lampman and Orin Phelps were appointed to act as election judges at this meeting.
Originally, as with all the townships in this part of the county, Sidney was densely timbered, pine, beech and maple being the principal varieties, and until 1855 its forests were comparatively free from underbrush. But in the latter year a terrific tornado swept through portions of the township, destroying the heavier timber on thousands of acres and causing damages to the extent of thousands of dollars. Verifying the proverb that "trou-
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ble never comes single handed," the following year a very destructive fire swept that part of the country laid waste by the storm and this raged for several months, destroying much valuable timber that had been left standing. As a result of the devastations, a second growth of timber soon made its appearance everywhere, which later became almost impenetrable and owing to the great amount of work necessary to put this land under cultivation, it impeded the settlements greatly.
Although the marks of this tornado and fire were visible for many years after, there were many large tracts of pine which were left uninjured. and in consequence Sidney ranked very high for many years in the pine-lumber industry and this was her principal resource. With the destruction and removal of the pine forests the inhabitants gradually shifted from the pur- snit of lumbering to those of agriculture, and rapid developments in this new line were soon made. The soil was naturally good, and with the advanced methods of farming and also the care taken in the building up of the land it has become well adapted to agricultural pursuits and ranks well among the other farming townships of the county.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
In the early day the fine timber of Sidney attracted the attention of shingle makers, and a number of their cabins were erected before there was any permanent settlement in the township. The persons thus engaged were generally men who paid no attention whatever to property lines, regarding as public property any timber lands which were not closely guarded. and did not scruple to pitch their tents or build their shanties where ever they considered themselves safe from interruption or discovery.
In the summer of 1854 the first regular settler. Phineas Swift, came into the township and built a cabin on the northwest part of the southwest quarter of section 27. He was a native of New York, but of him little else is known, as he removed from the township before many others came in. His son, Eugene, was the first white child born in Sidney. Swift built a shanty, in which he made shingles, and also made a small clearing and set out some fruit trees before removing from the township, which he did after a stay of seven years.
In the fall of 1854 Henry Gillmore, a native of New York, came to Sidney. His father, Joseph Gillmore, with his wife and four children, removed to Nelson, Portage county, Ohio, in 1818. where he lived until his death. He was among the pioneers in that county. Henry Gillmore was
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married to Lucy Merwin, daughter of Doctor Merwin, and remained in Ohio until he came to Sidney, in 1854, as before stated. He settled on the north half of the northwest quarter of section 28, and entered also eighty acres on the southwest quarter of section 21. He built the first permanent dwelling in the township, and during the winter and early spring, assisted by his sons, George W. and Noble H., the former being then seventeen years of age, built a large shingle shop for the purpose of making shaved shingles. They also cleared about three acres of land, which in the spring he planted to corn. potatoes and vegetables, together with a small piece of flax, the seed for which he had brought from Ohio. During the summer he cleared seven acres, which he sowed to wheat in the fall. To Henry Gilhore, therefore, must be attributed the honor of planting the first garden and sowing the first grain in the township of Sidney. The following spring he set out the first orchard.
Theodore Gillmore, one of the contracting parties of the first marriage in the township, was a member of this family. He was married to Eunice Dow. Homer Miles, a justice of the peace in Fairplain, officiated. It is said that the justice, when asked what the fee would be, replied : "About a dollar." Dollars were exceedingly scarce in those days, and the bridegroom so informed the worthy squire. But the field was full of pumpkins, and the fee was paid with a wagon load, which Mr. Gillmore hauled to Fairplain. Theodore Gillmore was killed in the Civil War. In the fall of 1854 Orin Phelps and John Flake also came to the township. The former brought a wife and three children, and settled on section o. John Flake settled near Derby lake, where he remained until his death. Calvin Mason was also an carly settler, but did not remain long.
In the fall of 1855 J. B. Noah, with his son, Josiah, and a hired man named James Jewell, came in. They cleared and underbrushed a patch for crops the following spring. Mr. Noah brought his family to the township in the month of May, 1856. William Noah, who was married, came at the same time.
On the 14th of February, 1855. Lyman Johnson, with his wife and four children, came from Trumbull county, Ohio, and stopped at the house of Nelson Townsley in Fairplain, where he remained three months. Ile then came to Sidney Center, where he pre-emptied eighty acres of land on section 10. Here Mr. Johnson built a good, comfortable log house, made a clearing and the following spring set out a number of fruit trees. He afterward purchased the place entered by Phineas Swift. The same winter, 1855-56, George Van Ness, William Fields and Edwin Lafferty came to Sidney. They
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all settled on section 20, where Van Ness lived until his death. He brought a large family. One son, Nelson, was killed at home by the accidental dis- charge of a gun. Edward was almost instantly killed in the army, being shot through the neck. William Fields remained in Sidney until 1862, when he removed to Kansas. Edwin Lafferty returned to New York.
In February, 1856, Ira Barlow settled, with his wife and two children- a son and a daughter -- on the northeast quarter of section 35. He secured this land in 1850 with a land warrant. having served in the Mexican War under General Scott. Mr. Barlow was born in Livingston county. New York, in which place his father was an early settler. They came to Wayne county, Michigan, and settled in Van Buren township in 1835. Here he was married to Ann MeIntosh. At the first town meeting he was elected supervisor and held the office seven years. At the same time he came to Sidney, his brother-in-law. John Brown, entered forty acres on the southi- east quarter of section 35. He remained in the township but a short time.
Dr. S. Derby, who came from Fairplain (in which township he was the first physician ), settled on section 10. near the southeast shore of the lake which now bears his name. He built a cabin and remained a number of years. He was one of those characters sometimes met with on the frontier -a genius in his way. Besides being a good physician for those days, he was a gunsmith, could repair a watch and clock, and was, in fact, a jack-of- all-trades. He subsequently went north, where, it is said. after having moved for the fortieth time. he settled down, and kept a hotel.
Dr. John Bradish was also one of the first physicians in Sidney. and although his methods were peculiar and strongly given to superstition, he is considered on the whole, as having been successful in his profession. He moved west, where he died.
William Lampman and Abner Hall came to Sidney in 1855. The former settled on the southwest quarter of section 36. He served in the army during the Civil War, and after its close he continued to reside in Sidney until 1880, when he returned to New York, his native state. Abner Hall came from England in the fall of 1856. He also served in the army, and was wounded at the battle of Hatcher's Run. At one time he worked for James Cheffin, of Fairplain, for fifty cents per day, when potatoes were one dollar and fifty cents to two dollars per bushel. Among the pioneers of Sidney also were Sylvester Barrett, who settled in the western part of the township, and who, joining the army, was killed in battle: Calvin Mann, Alanson Snow and West Drake. Snow entered one hundred and sixty acres
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on section 34, with a land warrant given for the military service of his son, who died in the Mexican War.
The first death in Sidney was that of Mrs. John Ryan, who, with her family, in the year 1855, settled on the east half of the southeast quarter of section 21. Here she was buried, but her remains were removed to the cemetery at the center in the spring of 1880.
Dr. Chauncey E. Shephard, who resided in Fairplain, was among the early physicians who practiced in this township. He usually made his rounds on foot. accompanied by a dog and carrying a gun. An instance is related in which he is said to have killed a large bear near the cabin of a settler in the south part of the township. Finding the family absent, and having no means of conveying it to his home, he dragged it to a wagon which stood near the rude barn. Into this he finally succeeded in placing it, where it lay as if ready to spring upon the first passer-by.
The next morning Archie Smith, then a lad of twelve years of age. with several playmates, were passing the time to the best possible advantage to themselves, when he, followed by a companion, ran up the wagon tongue into the box where Bruin had been placed the evening before. As if par- alyzed with the sight he walked straight out of the wagon, without any regard whatever as to where he placed his feet. When Doctor Shephard returned with a team to take his prize home, he found a patient who required his closest attention for several days. Doctor Shephard also subsequently lived and practiced medicine in the township of Evergreen.
Until 1862 there was no postoffice in Sidney. the one at Stanton being the nearest. On the 20th of September, of that year, Montgomery Blair, then postmaster-general, appointed Joshua V. Noah to the office, which he retained at his house for nine years.
THE FOREST FIRE.
As has been stated, in 1856 large tracts of timber were prostrated by the wind. On the 22d and 23d of August, 1857, severe frosts killed the corn and all garden stuffs, except cabbage and turnips. The grass also was killed. The leaves changed color, and soon began to fall from the trees and in a short time the ground was covered with them to a depth of several inches. Soon a fire, which spread with wonderful rapidity, broke out in the timber. The dry, crisp leaves were soon burned, but the fire did not stop here, but worked its way down into the mould and fallen timber, and day after day, during August, September, October, and part of November, the
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crash of falling trees was heard almost incessantly. At times the smoke hung like a pall over the whole land, shutting out the sun and rendering the air almost irrespirable. Nearly everything of value to the settlers was destroyed. Fences, stacks of hay, wagons, and everything prepared for winter were swept away, and it was often with the greatest difficulty that the cabins themselves were saved. The suffering that followed in many instances was intense, but was alleviated by help from abroad. The fires continued until the late rains of the fall and winter set in and checked them. M. P. Follett was appointed to distribute goods to settlers in want. These goods were secured from the government by Jacob Ferris, who introduced a bill for that purpose. Some idea can be gained of the suffering of these times when it is known that it was almost impossible to get a day's work on any terms. Abmer Hall cleared ten acres of land, laying up the underbrush ready to be burned, for ten shillings per acre. Pork at this time was twenty- five cents per pound, corn two dollars per bushel, and other things in pro- portion. Ira Barlow worked for Josiah Bradish, in Fairplain, for three shillings per day, and took as pay a small sheep valued at four dollars. Many left the township at this time Most of those who remained at last gained comfortable homes, and it is probable that, with its fertile soil and rapidly developing resources, the want and privation of carlier years will never again be known in Sidney.
ORIGINAL, LAND ENTRIES.
The original purchasers of land in Sidney township are shown in the following list :
Section 1 -- Hugh 11. Crapo, W. W. Crapo, Frederick Hall. Section 2 -Augustus Paddock, Henry Crapo, W. W. Crapo, Frederick Hall, John G. Williams. G. A. Wilcox, W. H. Trowbridge. Section 3 -- Augustus Pad- dock. David Beard. Theodore P. Hoyt. Section 4 -- II. H. Crapo, W. W. Crapo. G. F. Noah, George A. Wilcox. Martin Beebe, Albert Dorr. Edwin Dorr, Joshua V. Noah. Asa D. Sherwood, Wood and Gilbert. Section 5 --- Stephen F. Page. Jacob A. Davis, H. H. Crapo. W. W. Crapo, James M. Soverhill. Section 6-Stephen F. Page. Sarah S. Peck, David Henderson. Section 7 -- George Rossman. H. H. Crapo. W. W. Crapo, George Wilcox, Philetas Kuhn, John Henderson. W. A. Pickney. Charles Madison, Johni Green. Section 8 ---- H. H. Crapo, W. W. Crapo. George A. Wilcox, John Fleck. W. Coffey. W. R. Bates, William Messler. Section 9-Orin Phelps, 11. IT. Crapo. W. W. Crapo, Gustavus P. Hosmer, Abigail Hadley. See-
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tion 10-Augustus Paddock, George A. Pillsbury, Gustavus P'. Hosmer, S. F. Page, Sylvester Derby, Levi Camburn, E. K. Wood. Section 11-John Trisler, H. H. Crapo. W. W. Crapo, Jacob Smith. Section 12 -- Charles Merrill, II. H. Crapo. W. W. Crapo, Frederick Fall, George A. Wilcox, Edwin Cheesbro. Section 13-Charles Merrill, H. H. Crapo, W. W. Crapo, James Terwilliger. Silas Qniggle, Levi Gleason, Lyman Gray, Eliada Bab- cock, Mark Gardner, Wood and Gilbert. Royal Harrington. Section 14- William H. Chapman. George A. Pillsbury, 11. H. Crapo, W. W. Crapo, Levi Gleason, Moses Gardner, Royal Harrington. R. I. Bennett. Section 15-Benjamin F. How, C. Crane. Giles Gilbert. Section 16 -- Joshua V. Noah, Charles Kellogg. A. B. Amsburg. Richard Amsburg, Ransom D. Smith, Amos I. Frenk, B. F. Bailey, John Brown, Henry Courter, Joseph Courter. Section 17 -- David H. Elliott, Norman Hamilton, Henry Courter. Joseph H. Stearns, William Harding. W. R. Bates, Elias Steel. Elmore Fullmer. Cornelius Courter. Emma A. Ripley. Section 18-John Porter, Hiram Rossman, Sarah S. Peck. Leonard D. Huhn. John D. Smith. Philetas Kuhn. Section 19- 11. H. Crapo. W. W. Crapo. Edmund Lafferty, George Van Ness, William Thilds, P. J. Hardy, William L. Van Slyke. John H. V'an Ness. Section 20 --- William Lampman, George Meginley, Z. B. Grover, A. R. Grover. John H. Van Ness, Martin T. Tlawley, S. W. Tupper, M. M. Sanford, William R. Bates. J. B. Barr. Section 21-Sanmel Monroe, George Ditmars, John Lampman. J. V. Noah, Lyman Johnson, Henry Gillmore, 1 .. O. Smith, Ezekiel Gable. Hezekiah Fist. William Noah, William Shephard. Section 22 -- Charles Merrill. Samuel Monroe, George A. Pillsbury, John H. Van Ness .. Stephen Tucker. Isaiah Jervin. William E. Lacy, Thomas Wilson, S Spaulding. Emma Ripley. Section 23-Charles Merrill. Charles Bean. George A. Pillsbury, Erastus P. Brown. William II. Chapman, Gilbert Cook, Samuel Starr, Helen A. Ayers, W. D. Legg. Section 24 -- Charles Merrill, Charles Bean. Louis S. Lovell. Albert G. Sinclair, William H. Chapman, C. C. Darling. Erastus P. Brown, Luther Bennett. Section 25-Charles Merrill. Ilorace Bennett, Benjamin Roosa. William B. Stone. Section 26-Charles Merrill. Abner Hall, Nelson Tousley. Joseph Pitcher, John Abbott. Section 27-Adam Ackler. Jacob Ackler. Jacob Portussen. James Fox, George Spoon, John Dager, Charles Merrill, Samuel Monroe, D. Towsley, Phineas Swift, Jr., George Macomber. Chester L. Mann, William D. Brown, L. Towsley. Section 28 -- Paul Kendrick. Joseph C. Bailey, George A. Pillsbury, Charles Miel, Henry Gillmore, Albert Lobell. Section 29 -- George Rossman, Edward B. Edwards, Chester H. Miel, Daniel Swift, John- Bates. Charles J. Colt,
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George Hall. Section 30-Silas Hamilton, George Rossman, E. B. Edwards, Henry B. Tripp, Hiram Rossman, Norman Ferris, W. S. Patrick. Section 31-David Pierson. George Rossman, E. B. Edwards. Charles Baker. Asa D. Starkweather, Nathaniel Ferris. Ezra Hamilton, Lorenzo D. Palmer, Jacob Ferris. Louisa Ferris, P. R. Howe. George B. Isham, William R. Bates. Section 32 -- William R. Bates. Alden A. Jenne. John Wheeler, Joseph C. Bailey. F. B. Edwards, Samuel Gillmore. Lyman Johnson, Caleb J. Barnes. Section 33 -- Ira Davenport. Section 34 -- Franklin S. Freeman, Ira Davenport. Joseph C. Bailey, Welcome Butterworth, Christian Fox. Section 35-Welcome Butterworth, Ira W. Barlow, Edward McIntosh. Charles Merrill. Section 36 -- Roda A. Lampman. Elias Peterman, Mary Delong, Theodore Lampman, John G. Williams. Francis Smith. Leroy Forbes. Erastus P. Brown, William D. Legg. J. W. Fairfan.
COLBY.
Colby was never platted and was only the location of the Colby Broth- ers saw-mill, which at the time of the lumber industry in this section, was one of the largest mills in the county. Colby was located in Sidney town- ship. on the present location of the Colby ranch.
SIDNEY.
The village of Sidney, in Sidney township, dates from the coming of Joshua V. Noah and his two sons, Joshua, Jr., and George, to what is now Sidney township. in the fall of 1855. They had lived in Summit county, Ohio, and, seeking a desirable home in the wilderness, located land and built a cabin in the woods about a half mile west of the present village. After spending the winter in Michigan, the father returned to Ohio in the spring of 1856 and brought back with him his whole family, including his son, William Noah, and William's wife and two children. They arrived at the cabin on May 15, 1856. Lyman Johnson, who had also come from Ohio, settled with his family a few rods sonth and west of the Noah cabin in 1855. Henry Gillmore and his family had already settled one mile south and one- half mile west of the village when the Noahs arrived in 1856. The Noahs and Gillmores were related.
William Noah may be said to have been the first citizen of the present village. With his wife and two children he lived with his father until he built his own cabin on the site of property now owned by Lars Peter Han-
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sen in the village of Sidney. The venerable William Noah, who is a veteran of the Civil War, having served valiantly as a soldier in the Twenty-first Regiment, Michigan Volunteer Infantry, was born in Summit county, Ohio, August 14, 1831. In 1865. after his return from the Civil War, William Noah established the first store in his cabin in Sidney with money he had saved as a soldier. Ile purchased merchandise to the value of one hundred dollars at Jonia and ran the store for a year or two. Later, he built a store for Charles Kent. of Fairplain, who was in business for one year. Kent became discouraged and the store reverted to Mr. Noah, who next operated it for three or four years. The building erected by Mr. Noah is now the rear of the store occupied by Frank G. Hanson. Finally, Noah sold the store to his brothers, Orange and John Noah, who had a shingle-mill just thirty rods west of the village.
Ezekiel Gable established the first saw-mill at Sidney, but after his untimely death, his son and William Noah had charge of the mill, purchas- ing the interests of Mr. Gable's other heirs in the business. Subsequently, Mr. Noah took two of his own sons into the business, but one of the sons sold out to the other, and father and son, George, operated the mill as long as there was any timber, or until about 1900.
James Sibley opened the first blacksmith shop at Sidney on property owned by William Noah abont 1870. The first physician in the village was Dr. F. O. Tefft, who came to Sidney a few years ago and who is still in the active practice of his profession.
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