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 8
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FIRST EVENTS.
The first road, or rather the first opening in the forests resembling a road, led from Palo northward to the saw-mill in Evergreen township, which was owned by Myron Ryder and known as Ryder's mill. . It was completed gradually. many different persons contributing to the work. It led past the farms of Joseph Stevens and James Bacon, and was constructed the greater part of the distance through Bushnell township during the year 1849. Soon after a road was underbrushed in the east part of the township, and part of the way on the line between Bushnell and Bloomer.
The first frame building in Bushnell was a barn built by Erastus Brown for Joseph Stevens in 1849. It was completed in the month of August of that year. The first frame dwelling was built for Calvin Crippen, on the southwest quarter of section 25, in 1852. He opened a small stock of goods, but trade was not profitable and the store soon closed. The next frame buildings erected were by Joseph Stevens and James Bacon in 1855.
The first wedding was that of Charles Bacon to Rebecca Stevens. The first birth was that of a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Chauncey W. Olmstead. and the death of George Hunt, who was killed by a tree falling upon him while at work on the county line road, was probably the first in the town- ship. He was buried in Fairplain.
The first postoffice was opened at the house of William C. Griffin, about the year 1856, and was retained by him a number of years. About the year 1855, Lora C. Jenks settled in the northeast part of the township and soon after David Husker built a saw-mill at this place, after which Edward Tineby built a store room and opened a small stock of goods. The village of Vickery Corners was platted by John Vickery.
At the time of the settlement of the northwest part of the township several families of Indians, under John Wabasis, resided here. They were a remnant of the numerous bands of Chippewas who formerly inhabited
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this section. They were engaged principally in hunting and making maple sugar in the spring of the year, and also carried on a considerable traffic with their birchen- and bead-work with the inhabitants of the early settled districts. In the forest fire in 1857, which raged through Evergreen, one of their number was suffocated and perished in the intense smoke.
In 1853 a man named Stevens in the township attached for debt a rifle belonging to one Osterhouse before Justice Covey of that township. John MeKelvy. of North Plains township, Ionia county, appeared for the prose- cution and William Castel for the defense. When ready to proceed the bond given for costs was not to be found, and the counsel began at once to accuse each other of stealing it. This was a mistake, however, and the opinion now prevails that the defendant ate it, thus effectually putting an end to the suit for the time being. But Justice Covey said the law must take its course, bond or no bond, and rendered a decision in favor of the plain- tiff for seventy-five dollars, which was fifty-nine dollars more than the bill claimed. The rifle was sold at auction and bid in by the plaintiff. Oster- house, however, disposed of a cow, and with the proceeds, after the lapse of three months. replevined the gun. Again the learned counsel came face to face. The course taken to sustain the suit was that the gun had now been in the possession of said Stevens three months, and that its use was worth twenty-five dollars per month as a means of procuring provisions for the plaintiff's family. The jury returned that the position was "well taken," and that the gun belonged to Osterhouse on those grounds. But the end was not yet. The famous suit was carried on by one person or another until sixteen decisions had been rendered, at a cost of between two and three hundred dollars to the parties. Of the sixteen decisions "one only was according to law." The conclusion finally reached was, "no cause of action."
The first saw-mill in the township was built by G. L. Dean in the fall of 1865, and commenced sawing the following winter.
In 1868 John Hitchcock opened a dry-goods store near this mill, which was purchased the following year by William M. Thomas, who later built a grist-mill in the south part of Evergreen township.
VICKERYVILLE.
Vickeryville is one of the real old towns in the county, but just when the first settlements began are shrouded in mists of forgetfulness. The old part of this town lies in the south-central part of section I, but when the
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Grand Trunk railroad came through this section it ran one-half mile to the south of Vickeryville. In consequence, a new town began to spring up at the location of the depot, which was in the central part of section 12.
The business interests of Vickeryville have always consisted of several stores, a saw-mill, feed-mill, and smaller industries, such as blacksmith shops and repair shops. At present there are some four or five stores in the town, also a grain elevator, which is located opposite the depot. Vickery- ville also supports a postoffice, which is the only one in Bushnell township. Although Vickeryville lies half way between Sheridan and Carson City, in a small way it is a rather prosperous trading center.
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CHAPTER VI.
ČATO TOWNSHIP.
Cato township, as originally laid out, comprised the territory included in towns II and 12 north, ranges 7 and 8 west. The petition for the erec- tion of the township, with its first boundaries, was presented to the board of supervisors signed by the following resident freeholders of that terri- tory: Samuel Youngman, David King, E. Smith, Seth Smith, Daniel Gal- lop, Frank S. Kniffen, James Taylor, C. King, Peter Johnson, J. Aldrich, S. Pearson and Lewis Buckley. The board of supervisors acted upon this petition on January 5, 1857, and the new township was officially created and christened Cato. The first election was ordered at the house of Samuel Youngman on the 6th of April, 1857. The three presiding officers at this niceting were Samuel Youngman, David King and Edward Smith.
Upon the subsequent erection of Pine, Douglass and Belvidere town- ships, Cato township was reduced to its present limits. In the original petition therefore we find the names of men who did not reside within the present limits of Cato but were settlers in the other three townships. This township is situated upon the northern border of Montcalm county, or that portion of the county which was the northwest corner township as origi- nally formed. For its boundaries it has Mecosta county on the north, Belvidere township on the east, Pine township on the south and Winfield township on the west.
The surface of this township is generally level, and forms the divide between the Flat and Muskegon river systems, the former draining, to a slight extent. the eastern part, and the latter receiving the waters of the western portion through a branch of the Tamarack creek, the outlet of Tamarack lake. These systems prove excellent artificial and natural drain- age for the farms in this section. Tamarack lake, which upon the north and west shore, was bordered by a growth of tamarack, hence the name-a variety which also covered several small islands that dotted its surface-is situated principally upon sections 9 and 10, extending also slightly into sec- tions 15 and 16. A belt of lowland extends through the north part of sec- tion 32 and runs in a northwesterly direction. It varies from a half to
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three-quarters of a mile in width, and is mostly swampy and untillable. Although there was much swamp land in the section at an earlier date, this is gradually being reclaimed with the advent of tiling and the advanced methods of drainage. The northeastern part of the township was originally covered with a heavy growth of pine, but this has been cleared and the land makes excellent farms. The black sandy soil of the south, central and western parts is of exceeding fertility, and is cleared and highly developed by a thrifty and industrious class of people.
THE NAMING OF CATO TOWNSHIP.
Cato township, as previously mentioned and originally laid out, con- sists of four congressional townships. At the same meeting of the board of supervisors which laid out and organized the township of Cato, also organ- ized three other townships. There was a committee of four appointed in the naming of these townships. Each supervisor in this committee drew for the township which they should name. It fell to the lot of Westbrook B. Divine to draw the township of Cato, and he named it for a township in his native state, New York, which, he said, was like a garden of Eden. Thus the township was christened.
ORIGINAL LAND ENTRIES IN CATO.
Section 1 --- Allen Macomber. Section 3-A. Woodruff, G. Macomber, A Macomber. H. Garbutt. Section 4-Harry Stow, Charles II. Rose, Jerome Woodruff, Hannah F. Hartlow, John Haire, Ira Burnham. Sec- tion 5-Allen Wright, David Chase. Section 6-Allen Wright. David Gilleo, Samuel Sanborn. Samuel A. Nichols, David Chase. Section 7- George Sanborn. George Main. George Sanborn. Section 8 -- James H. Somers. John H. French. James .A. Bryant, David Chase, Reuben Whitman. John H. French. A. Macomber. Section 9-Edwin French, Reuben Whit- man, Lewis E. Smith. Albert S. French, David Chase, Albert French. Sec- tion 10 -- Elijah A. Colland. Warren Kimball, Sarah C. Diamond, A. Macom- ber, Chester H. Stebbins. Section 12-Lorenzo J. Rider. Section 13- Lorenzo J. Rider. Section 14-Cary R. Hakes. Section 15-Jonas Foster. Section 16-William Williams, Asa N. and Hiram A. Hovey. Abram Shoc- maker, Albert S. French. James M. Orcutt, Richard Chaenley. A. S. French, Asa M. Havey. Hiram Hovey. Section 17-Justin R. French, Thomas Rae, William Martin, Stephen Rossman, Thomas Rossman, Thomas Dary,
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A. Macomber. Section 18-James Stewart, George Main, James Edgar, Samuel Stewart. Section 19-Charles P. Wilcox, Gardner Mooney, Sam- ucl Kelly, George Macomber, S. C. and E. Hall. Section 20 -Thomas Wynkoop, Freeman Rice, Hiram Hull, Fite Rossman, Daniel G. Hopkins, John Smith. John Finnicano. Section 21-Ellsworth H. Stryker, Chester King. Conrad Friesh, Daniel Gallup, Freeman Rice, Daniel Gallup, John A. Wandal. Edmund Hall. Section 22-Ellsworth W. Stryker, Seth Smith, Thomas Wynkoop, Edmund Smith, Cornelius Richards, William Bassett, James A. Owen. Section 23-Harriet M. Hakes, Ellsworth Stryker, Jack- son Barr, Lord W. Ross. J. D. Brimmes, Edmund Hall. Section 24- Lorenzo J. Rider, Josiah Bailey, Ethan Satterlee, Barr and Spencer. Sec- tion 25-John J. Ely, Ethan Satterlee, Barr and Spencer, Edmund Hall. Section 26 -- Lorenzo J. Rider, Harrison Thornburgh, E. B. Gallea, Sarah (. Diamond, Elias Kent. C. M. Moore. J. B. Ball, Edmund IIall. Section 27- - John Turner, Lorenzo J. Rider. Simon J. Vedder, Patrick Nash, Luther Vanbuskirk. Harrison Thornburg. Section 28 James Taylor, John A. Ford, Henry H. Crapo, Isaac and Elisha Pearl, Philo M. Carpenter, Luther G. Vanbuskirk, Cornelius Richards. Section 29-Samuel Youngman, Otis Irish, J. B. Barr, S. R. Sanford. Section 30-Luther G. Vanbuskirk, Jason Fargo. William N. RRogers, Gardner Flint, Samuel Scudder, Charles H. Bushley, S. C. and E. Hall. Section 31-J. B. Barr. Section 32-John M. Elmendorf, Benjamin Carter. Nelson Crop, Albert French, Leonard H. Randall. Edmund Hall. Section 33-David King, Dennis O'Neil, Henry Crapo, James M. Orcutt. Section 34-David King, Daniel Tucker, Austin IT. Butler, Harrison Thornburgh, Emmerilla Butler, James S. Green, Eri S. Smith. J. H. Brimmer. Section 35-Lorenzo J. Rider, Carso Crane, John J. Ely, Benjamin Joy. John W. Fiser, James Mathews, Lydia Mathews, Edmund Hall. Charles W. Butler. Section 36-Jacob Davis, Lorenzo J. Rider. Samuel Peck, Carso Crane, Benjamin Joy, Chauncey Crowell, M. Rider. J. B. Barr, Edmund Hall, Peter Biesh.
SETTLEMENT OF CATO.
The first settler of Cato, as near as can now be determined, was Edmund Smith, from Geauga county, Ohio, a native of Connecticut. After coming to Michigan he stopped for a time near Grand Rapids, but being anxious to get a piece of land he came to Cato in the spring of 1855 and located on the east half of the southwest quarter of section 21. He did not
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bring a family at this time, but a mere shanty of logs and boughs for a tem- porary covering, and then began a small clearing, which, without a team, farming implements or the tools necessary for clearing land, rendered his task in this direction doubly difficult. A small piece at length, however, was prepared and platted to those vegetables which he deemed would be most acceptable the following winter. The yield was abundant. Edmund Smith was a minister of the Disciple church, and officiated at the first funeral in the township, being that of a child which died in the west part some months after his settlement there. IIe returned to Cedar Springs, where he died in 1873.
In the fall of 1855 his brother, Seth Smith, reached the township with his family, and settled on eighty acres adjoining on the east. He, too, determined to make a home in the wilderness, and under similar disad- vantages went to work to make an opening in the forest. Soon the supplies were nearly exhausted, and the wants of his family demanded that he should leave home and seek work. He succeeded in Greenville and at the close of the week converted his entire carnings into provisions, which he carried a distance of eighteen miles to his family.
Some years later, while at work in Greenville. two ministers came to C'ato and stopped with Avery Pool, where they remained some time. As there was no building in the township considered of sufficient dimensions and warmth in which to hold public meetings, they called at the unfinished house of Seth Smith. It had a roof on but one side, was not chinked between the logs, nor otherwise completed. But there were boards near by and shingles at a distance in the woods. With the permission of Mrs. Smith they at once began to finish the cabin. It was in the month of December, and to assist in the work Mrs. Smith hanled the shingles from the woods on a hand sled. The work was completed, and the surprise of Mr. Smith, who upon coming home on Saturday night found a cosy cabin with a shingled roof on both sides and the walls chinked and mudded, can be well imagined. The next day being Christmas, the first of a series of meetings was held there. Seventeen evenings the meetings continued, and in the spring of 1859 the first church society in the township was organized.
The next settler in Cato following the Smiths was David King, a young man from Ohio, who, with his wife-also young and with no ade- quate ideas of pioneer life-settled on the east half of the northeast quarter of section 33. He was well educated and had already made considerable progress in the study of medicine, and may, from the services which he rendered during his short stay here, be considered the pioneer physician of
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('ato. His daughter, born in the carly spring of 1855, was the first child born in the township. He exchanged farms with E. B. Gallea and returned to Ohio, where he creditably followed his profession. Mr. Gallea came to the township probably in 1857, and remained until 1876, when he moved to Indiana.
FIRST ORCHARD IN CATO.
In December. 1855. Samuel P. Youngman, a native of Pennsylvania, came to Cato. He had previously been to the township and entered the northeast quarter of section 29, and had built a cabin, into which he moved his family. Mr. Youngman cut his road through the woods from the house of Mr. King-a distance of nearly one and a half miles. ITe set out the first orchard in the town in the spring of 1856. When he came to Cato first. in the spring of 1855, in company with a man named Robins, he picked up a small quantity of potatoes which had been spilled from a wagon on its way from Greenville to Langston. Upon reaching Cato they found a small Indian clearing. They chopped through the heavy sod and planted the potatoes. In the fall Franklin French, a prominent land dealer of those days, who passed through here. found a fine crop of potatoes. Whether the Indians, of whom there were a number of families in the vicinity, cultivated them is not known.
The heavy maple groves here and the small clearings that abounded had probably been used by them many years-the former in making maple sugar. and the latter probably filled from time immemorial.
By the spring of 1857 these hardwood belts were all more or less occu- pied, and the settlement of the township may be considered as fairly bgeun. Abel French had settled on the south shore of Tamarack lake, James Owen near the center of the township on section 28, James Edgar on section 18, Flam Sanborn on section 7.
Mr. Summers, who settled on section 7. was one of the pioneers. He was killed by the limb of a tree falling upon him ; the limb had been chopped off by the Indians. His remains were the first interred in the cemetery in Winfield township. He was buried first, however, on his own farm. His was the first death of an adult in Cato.
George Sanborn entered the east half of section 7 in December, 1854, at the time being a resident of Langston, where he and his brother, Elam Sanborn, were employed at the saw-mill. In the spring of 1855 Elam came to this land and built a cabin, which was the second in the township. He also planted some garden vegetables preparatory to the entry of his
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brother's family, which came in March, 1856. George Sanborn lived in Cato until 1865, when he removed to Orleans, lonia county.
Hiram Hull, another pioneer of Cato, and at the same time advanced in years and much afflicted with rheumatism, entered the northwest quarter of section 20. Notwithstanding his physical disabilities, which at times were very severe, with no team or any farming implements, and all the difficul- ties which surrounded him, he succeeded in making a home for his family and placing his farm in a fair state of cultivation.
KNOT MAUL.
In 1855 James Taylor entered the east half of the northeast quarter of section 28. He resided here a member of years, then moved to Indiana, but subsequently returned to Greenville. Upon his land stood the first cabin used as a school house in district No. 2. He was the first settler at the corners known as Knot Maul.
The next settler here was Ellsworth H. Stryker, who entered the south- west quarter of section 21, also in the fall of 1856. Mr. Stryker was an early and earnest Abolitionist, and for years the favorite and successful candidate for the office of township clerk on the Republican ticket. From an incident in which he was the leading spirit the corners near which he lived received its singular name. During the presidential canvass of 1860. when the several political parties were extolling the virtues of their repre- sentatives, and the superiority of the Republican candidate as a rail-splitter was represented in every conceivable way, Ellsworth H. Stryker, with his brothers, Uriah and William, brought from the woods a most singular growth in the form of the body of a tree. The trunk, which at the base was scarcely more than a foot in diameter, about fifteen feet from the ground suddenly enlarged into a huge knot several feet in diameter, above which it again assumed its normal growth, and several feet above branched into limbs. The trunk was severed just above the knot, and the contrast ren- dered more striking by taking the bark from the handle of what was intended to represent a huge maul. When completed it was placed in the ground at the corners where the roads cross on section 28, and the peculiar sign was at once understood as it was intended-a declaration of principles. The people of the township, heretofore in need of a name for this place, which in the meantime had grown to be of some business importance, began to refer to it, some as the Knot, others as the Maul, and the union of these words probably being the only natural compromise, it was for years known as
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Knot Maul. The knot was subsequently chopped down by James Ward and others who represented opposite schools in politics. It was again raised and again hauled down.
In 1863 Charles Wright purchased twelve acres of land of James Tay- lor and built the public house known as Knot Maul hotel. The accommo- dations were good, and the house was well patronized until other routes took the travel. Mr. Wright also kept a small stock of dry goods and gro- ceries. The first store, however, was opened by Louisa Frederickson.
The first steam-mill in the township of Cato was built at this place by the Stryker Brothers. They also kept the hotel and a general store in connection.
THE CANAL FROM TAMARACK LAKE.
Early timbering in Cato township is related by one of the pioneers of Lakeview who had intimated an actual experience in the lumber camps of the early days. "The firm of Lee, Oak & Steel owned a very large tract of land in Cato township bordering on Tamarack lake. In the year 1867 and 1868, nine thousand feet of logs were placed in Tamarack lake preparatory to floating them down to Tamarack creek and then south to the mills. The outlet to Tamarack lake is very small and did not carry enough water to float the logs down. Consequently some artificial means had to be employed to carry the logs from Tamarack lake to the main part of the creek. It was about a mile distant. Towards this end a canal was dug, four feet deep and sixteen feet wide from the lake to the creek, and it was intended to sluice the logs down this canal and thus place them on the market, but this project proved a failure. The ground was boggy, marshy, and the fall was insufficient to carry the logs down. Consequently, when the water was turned into this canal it merely filled it up and formed a swamp but didn't prove an agent for transporting the logs. Next a scheme was put in opera- tion to build a flume of planks to sluice the logs through to the creek. Planks were drawn from Kendleville and the work of building this was soon accom- plished; but failure again awaited the devisors of this scheme. First, the fall in this instance was so great that the water in passing through it went so rapidly that it did not form great enough depth to carry the logs. Also after a certain amount of water had passed through this flume the lower end of it began to float and was raised to such a position that the entire project was made useless. The logs in the lake were finally drawn out and hauled to Tamarack creek. But the entire project lost the lumber firm a great deal of money."
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CLASSES IN THE LUMBER CAMPS.
Generally speaking, there were three classes of men employed and. found in the lumber camps of the early days, namely: The rough class, the common class, and the better class. All of the men who followed the lumber camps were rough, free hearted, at times quarrelsome; but on the whole a rather strong following of men. There could also be a classification of the men who came to the different camps for employment. These could be divided into the rough class, the farmer class, and the city class. These different men could be distinguished as soon as they alighted in the camp by their respective actions. Those of the so-called rough class, which may be a misleading term and does not necessarily mean a criminal or vocifer- ous class of men, but those used to this life, rough and rugged; they were men who had made this their life work, knew the ins and outs of the camp life, lived it and would not exchange it for any other vocation or calling. When one of this class came into camp they were very quiet. They said nothing, sat down, put their satchel beside them, but in their experienced way, taking note of the camp followers and the work at hand. They then asked some of the employees for the "push" man. Being shown the fore- man, they immediately asked for a job. On an inquiry of the foreman as to what special line of work they could do, they always reverted with the answer that they could do anything he wanted them to do. Then they would ask for their bunk, remained close mouthed all the time, making no brags. but using their ears and eyes. They did not try to push themselves forward and hastily meet the different men of the camp, but bided their time which they knew would soon come. Soon they would fit into the life and be a smooth cog in the running of this machinery.
The farmer class was that class of men who came from agricultural pursuits and only practiced this calling during the winter when nothing was to be gained on the farm. They came into camp, took everything in completely, not in one glance, but gave everything close scrutiny, talking loud, trying to be jocular, and making remarks about the camp. They would keep a running fire of conversation, talking of the country and every- thing on the farm. When questioned by the foreman as to what they could do, they, too, replied that they could do anything and did not care what it was, but in reality they could do very little. Some of these men proved good camp followers and stayed; others would get homesick in a short time and return to the farm. If this class stayed with the work they soon fitted
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