USA > Michigan > Clinton County > History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan > Part 108
USA > Michigan > Shiawassee County > History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan > Part 108
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Smith ventured one day upon a bear-hunt, accompanied by a small black dog, and had reached a cedar swamp three miles distant when Bruin came to view, but straightway took to his heels and made good his escape. Pushing on, the hunter came up directly with a second bear, at whom shooting he wounded, and saw make rapidly off, pursued by the dog. Smith hurried to the rescue, but lo ! almost in- stantly there crossed his path a third bear, and at him he discharged his weapon, with the effect of hastening his pace. Smith chased him, and three times fired at him as he ran. At that juneture, however, the programme changed. Up to that time Smith had been hunting the bear; then the bear began to hunt Smith. Smith had often thought he would he happy if he could take part in a bear-fight, but when he saw Bruin turn upon him and, with gnashing teeth as well as angry roar, threaten hint with destruction, he felt as if he would give a good deal to get out of the mess he had got into. It was, however, too late to re- treat, and so he faced the issue boldly. Quickly putting the dog hors du combat, the bear faced Smith, who, elub- bing his gun, dealt a swinging blow, which, although it felled the beast, shattered the weapon. In a trice the bear was on his feet renewing the attack, and so furiously did he press the onslaught that Smith, torn and bleeding, was about to give himself up for lost, when by a lucky chance he tore himself from Bruin's grasp and made off, with the
bear in hot chase. Grasping a heavy stick, Smith turned and dealt his enemy a powerful blow. Down went the brute, and thicker and faster rained the blows of Smith's eudgel, until the enemy lay dead before him, and then up went a shout of thankful joy from the hero of the well-won vietory.
Smith's settlement was made in November, 1849, with his family, whom he lodged temporarily with James R. Carter, who had been living on section 10 since November, 1848. When Smith built his house on section 9 there was no house, he says, between him and Mackinaw. East of him, on seetion 10, was John I. Tinkelpaugh, of whom it is said that when he was a workman in Owosso for B. O. Williams, in 1839, he persisted in denying himself and family the comforts of life so that he might save money enough to buy forty aeres of land. He saved the neces- sary amount of money, bought forty acres in Greenbush, and was probably made happy. When Smith came to his place he traveled cia De Witt and Gardner's Corners, and thence by trail along the river to within three miles of his land.
William Thomas entered in 1850 a piece of land upon section 17, then a wild tract, and the same year made a settlement. IFis son, Philip Thomas, and George Adleman were living on the same section, to which they had come in 1849 and made a small clearing. The road now known as the State road was then laid out as a town road, but scarcely any work had been done upon it. Oscar George was a close neighbor on the north, and on the south was James Stiles.
On the north town line Nathan Russell, son of Joseph Russell, made probably the first location. He put up a shanty on section 5, but effected no clearing of any con- sequenee. Ile sold the place in 1852 to Benjamin Doty, who moved right in with his family. Hle had to cut a road to the shanty put up by Russell, and when the women-folks got a look at the building, its dreary, deso- late appearance, lacking floor, door, and window, they were so oppressed and disheartened at the miserable pros- peet before them that they sat down upon a log and eried bitterly. Philosophy, however, soon came to their aid, and they faced the situation with a renewed hope that gave them courage and patience. They bore it all heroic- ally after that until better times greeted and cheered them ; " but many's the time," says Mrs. Doty in speaking of their experiences, " that we were awfully, pitifully home- sick for the comforts of civilization we had left in exchange for the wild woods of Michigan."
The Russells, a mile south, were the Dotys' nearest neighbors. Their milling-point was at the Colony or Fish Creek, and whenever Mr. Doty set out for a journey with his team an axe to ent out his road was an absolutely indis- pensable necessity. "The same day that saw them make their home on section 5 saw also the arrival upon section 6 of J. W. Bryant. Farther eastward Heury Auten had settled on section 4 in 1850. Chauncey Dexter settled upon a place taken up in 1849 by Andrew E. Bryant on a Mexican war land-warrant. Addison Hulse came during the fall of 1850, and in that neighborhood later on William
462
HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Scott, William Besley, and Nathan Matthews pitched their tents, as did Thomas Jeffreys, Nelson Strong, James Pat- terson, and Miron Ellis. Among other early settlers in the town may likewise be mentioned Isaac Eagles, J. E. Power, David Blank, Peter Fleagle, Emmet Kirby, William Burke, David Nye, James Odell, and Benjamin Hawkins.
TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION.
Town 8 north, in range 2 west, was a portion of Bing- ham township until Feb. 16, 1842, when an act of the Legislature detached it and named it Greenbush. The name was suggested by Mrs. David Sevy on the occasion of a meeting of citizens at her husband's house for the purpose of christening the new township. Mrs. Sevy had a faney that the name would perpetuate the recollection of the sight of many handsome-looking green bushes which greatly refreshed her senses upon her first entrance into the town. She remembered also a place known as Green- bush in New York State, where with her father's family she spent one night while journeying in the earlier days from New England to Western New York. So, in accord- anee with her suggestion, those present at the meeting took at once favorably to the name of Greenbush, and sent it in along with the petition for organization. March 16, 1847, towns 9 and 10 north, in range 2 west, in Gratiot County, were attached to Greenbush for township purposes, and re- mained so attached until the organization of Gratiot County in 1855.
The first town-meeting in Greenbush was held April 5, 1842, at the school-house in district No. I. Marvin Green- wood was chosen moderator and John Ferdon, David Sevy, W. N. Daggett, and David Richmond inspectors of elec- tion.
The poll-list on that occasion was as follows: Thomas Russell, Henry Fisk, Joseph Russell, Samuel Rowell, Na- than Spooner, William Russell, Hosea Fletcher, John Fer- don, W. N. Daggett, David Richmond, James Stiles, Mar- vin Greenwood, O. B. Stiles, Herod Morton, Runa Morton, Alvah Richmond, Thomas Fisk, John Avery, Horace Avery, David Sevy,-twenty in all. Twenty-one dollars was voted for the support of schools; two hundred dollars for contingent expenses. David Richmond was chosen poundmaster. A pound six feet square, of logs fourteen feet long, was ordered to be built, and the contraet therefor given to Willard N. Daggett for five dollars and seventy- five eents, the bargain being that the pound should be fin- ished by June 1, 1842. The election for town officials then went forward with the following result: Supervisor, David Sevy ; Treasurer, Horace Avery ; Clerk, Alvah Richmond ; Highway Commissioners, Runa Morton, David Richmond, and William Russell; School Inspectors, Henry S. Fisk, Runa Morton, and O. B. Stiles ; Justices of the Peace, Marvin Greenwood, John Ferdon, Herod Morton, and William Russell ; Directors of the Poor, W. N. Dag- gett and Herod Morton ; Constables, H. S. Fisk and John Avery.
CIVIL LIST OF THE TOWNSHIP.
Appended is a list of the persons annually chosen from 18-13 to 1880 to be supervisors, clerks, treasurers, and jus- tices of the peace:
SUPERVISORS.
1843. 11. Avery.
1860-61. M. Ellis.
1844. D. Sevy. 1862. J. E. Power.
1845-50. S. Pearl. 1863-64. M. Ellis.
1851. I. Avery.
1865. L. Wilcox.
1852. J. C. Fox.
1866-67. M. Ellis.
1853. Il. Avery.
1868.+ J. E. Power.
1854. L. Wilcox.
1869-70. M. Ellis.
1855. II. G. Thompson.
1871-74. J. E. Power.
1856. W. N. Daggett.
1875-78. J. A. Matthews.
1857. II. Avery.
1879-80. A. Hulse.
1858-59. L. Wilcox.
CLERKS.
1843-45. L. M. Richmond.
1857-59. J. L. Curtis.
1846-51. J. Sevy.
1860. W. N. Daggett.
1852. M. A. Chappell.
1861-62. R. E. Davies.
1853. J. Coffinan.
1863-65. M. A. Chappell.
1854-56. M. A. Chappell.
IS66-80. R. E. Davies.
TREASURERS.
1843. R. Morton. 1859. C. Grey.
1844-45. II. Avery.
1860-62. J. R. Carter.
1846-51. W. N. Daggett. 1863-67. N. T. Stiles.
1852. P. Jeffreys. 186S. L. W. Ingersoll.
1853. L. Wilcox. 1869-70. D. L. Eagles.
1854-55. P. Jeffreys.
1871-74. J. J. Bowers.
1856. M. Ellis. 1875-78: A. Ilulse.
1857. L. Wilcox. 1879. C. II. Bogardus.
1858. W. N. Daggett.
1880. D. L. Eagles.
JUSTICES OF TIIE PEACE.
1843. O. B. Stiles.
1862. T. Eagles.
1844. J. Ferdon.
1863. O. Whitloek.
1845. M. Greenwood.
1864. Y. L. Miller.
1846. W. Russell.
1865. W. II. Burman.
1847. O. Whitlock.
IS66. I. Eagles.
ISIS. E. Holbrook.
IS67. G. W. Reed.
1849. A. Chappell.
1868. L. G. Loomis.
1850. 1. Eagles. 1869. L. Wilcox.
1851. O. Whitlock. 1870. T. Eagles.
1852. 11. Auten.
1871. G. W. Reed.
1853. M. Greenwood.
1872. L. G. Loomis.
1854. 1. Eagles.
1873. S. Bebec.
1855. O. Whitlock.
1874. J. J. Keiser.
1856. J. G. Thompson.
1875. T. White.
1857. E. Holbrook.
1876. L. G. Loomis.
1858. 1. Eagles. 1877. S. Bebee.
1859. O. Whitlock. 1878. J. J. Keiser.
1860. G. W. Towusend.
1879. O. Whitlock.
1861. L. Wilcox. 1880. L. G. Loomis.
LIST OF VOTERS IN THE TOWNSHIP IN 1844 AND 1850.
1844 .- Nathan Spooner, John Ferdon, James M. Stiles, L. M. Richmond, William Ingalls, O. B. Stiles, David Richmond, E. B. Stiles, John Avery, S. M. Rowell, Joseph Russell, Thomas Beach, Edwin Holbrook, Orange Whit- lock, Amos Avery, William Russell, William Bentley, Jonathan Aldrieh, James Stiles, W. N. Daggett, N. W. Aldrich, David Sevy, Marvin Greenwood, Herod Morton, Horaee Avery, John 1. Tinkelpaugh, John Manchester, Truman Watson, Alvah Richmond.
1850 .- Nathan Spooner, John Sevy, Luman Wilcox, Edwin Holbrook, A. E. Bryant, Joseph Russell, R. L. Carroll, Stephen Pearl, Lewis Richards, O. Whitloek, R. B. Crowner, James Sargent, James Russell, Amos Avery,
# One hundred and sixty-nine votes.
t Two huudred and fifty-nine votes.
463
GREENBUSHI TOWNSHIP.
Philip Thomas, Marvin Greenwood, William L. Massey, John Manchester, James H. Keunieott, II. S. Fisk, Jehiel Dunning, O. P. George, Parsons Jeffreys, Henry Smith, A. E. Olin, James M. Stiles, Erastus Tinkelpaugh, James R. Carter, Walter Hulbert, Zelotes Avery, Samuel M. Rowell, B. W. Hobert, William Besley, Addison IFulse, W. N. Daggett, John I. Tinkelpaugh, William Johnson, William Russell, Isaac Eagles, William Badgerow, O. B. Sevy, Horace Avery, D. B. Cranson, I. B. Freece, L. W. Stiles, Nathaniel Russell, I. A. Hooker, O. M. Pearl, George W. Richmond, D. F. Badgerow, Benjamin Stiles, A. II. Richmond, O. B. Stiles, Harmon Richmond, David Sevy, F. O. Richmond, Alvah Richmond, David Rich- mond, John C. Fox.
THE STATE ROAD.
The old State road, laid out between Lansing and St. Louis, was a famous highway in its day, not only for the great vol- ume of travel flowing over its surface, but for the roadside inns which dotted it at frequent intervals and refreshed as well as sustained the weary wayfarers of the time. The road is still much traveled, and boasts still numerous roadside iuns, of which there are three in Greenbush township. The pioneer tavern on the road in Greenbush was one put up by William Wyman, or Yankee Bill, as he was called, on sec- tion 8 just east of the burying-ground. Yankee Bill's tavern was a poor sort of an affair, and although it suited well enough in the absence of other places of entertain- ment, it was relegated to obscurity as soon as better taverns appeared upon the road. Presently Drake's and Coleman's taverns presented excellent claims upon the traveling public, and farther north, about 1860, Chauncey Morton moved into a house built by Stephen MePherson, at what is now McMaster's Corners, and converted it into a tavern. A post-office was established at Coleman's Corners about 1858, and named Keystone, presumably by some admirer of Pennsylvania or of Buchanan, who was then in the Presi- dential office. Horace Caster was appointed postmaster, but the business of the office proving insignificant, it was soon discontinued. Shortly afterwards the office was re- newed and located at Chauncey Morton's old tavern-stand, then being kept by George W. Miller and called the Union Home. The latter name was likewise the one bestowed upon the post-office, and that name it yet bears. The office was abolished in 1864 and restored in 1871, with James C. Barrus as postmaster, who moving away in 1876 was sneceeded by William Carns, and the latter in 1878 by the present incumbent, S. L. McMaster. A daily mail is re- ceived over the route between St. Johns and St. Louis.
SCHOOLS.
The pioneer school house in Greenbush was an aban- doned shanty that had previously served David Sevy as a residence. It stood upon the southwestern corner of section 23, and in it the first school was taught by Lucinda, daughter to David Richmond. Miss Richmond taught also the second school, and continued to teach in the town and vicinity several years.
The board of school inspectors met for organization in the school house of district No. 1 on the 13th of April,
1842, and chose Runa Morton chairman. District No. 1 was apportioned to contain the north half of section 26, the whole of sections 23, 14, 11, 2, 3, 10, 15, the east half of section 22, aud the east half of the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 22. No. 2 was ordained to contain the south half of section 26, the whole of sections 27, 28, 29, 20, and 21, the west half of the southwest quarter of section 22, the west half of the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter, and the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter and northwest quarter of 22. No. 3 (fractional) composed of portions of Ovid and Duplain, and the south half of section 25; the east half of section 35, and the whole of section 36 in Greenbush, was formed April 9, 1847, as was district No. 4, composed of sections 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, and II. No. 5 was organized May 6, 1850, and contained sections 30, 31, 32, and 33, with the south halves of 28 and 29. No. 6 was organized Oct. 25, 1852, and included sections 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20, the west half of section 21, and the north half of section 29. The same day No. 7 was formed with sections 3, 4, 9, and 10. No. 8 was formed April 15, 1856.
A report dated 1847, touching the township library, sets forth that Feb. 1, 1846, L. M. Richmond bought books to the amount of fifty dollars and twenty-eight cents; that September, 1846, Zelotes Avery bought books in the sum of forty-one dollars and twelve cents ; that June, 1847, the school inspector bought a book-ease for twelve dollars; and that in July, 1847, John Sevy bought books for twenty- one dollars and sixty eents. Oct. 18, 1843, an annual re- port testified that there were twenty-two school children in district No. 1, that school had been taught three months by Nancy Richmond, that she had been paid two dollars per week for her services, and that nine children had attended private school. The annual report dated Oct. 15, 1844, gave out that in district No. 1 were twenty-four school children, that in fractional 1 there were twenty-seven, that the attendance in both districts was forty-four, and that seven children attended private school.
The list of teachers appointed between 1843 and 1860 follows here :
Jan. 20, 1843 .- Nancy Richmond.
July 1, 1843 .- Orpha Tinkelpaugh.
Nov. 4, 1843 .- L. M. Richmond.
May 8, 1844 .- Amelia F. Richmond, Celestia F. Sevy.
May 3, 1845 .- Sophia Stark.
Nov. 25, 1845 .- John Avery, Jr.
May 2, 1846 .- Caroline M. Richmond, Mary E. Sevy.
Nov. 22, 1847 .- Byron Hollister.
April 28, 1849 .- Mary E. Sevy, Harriet Eagle.
April 26, 1851 .- Elvira A. Sevy.
May 10, 1851 .- Albina S. Chapman.
May 17, 1851 .- Catherine E. Beebe. Oct. 17, 1851 .- Nancy M. Gunsally, Mary P. Richmond.
April 10, 1852 .- Frances A. Chappell.
Nov. 27, 1852 .- Mary M. Hill, Ann S. Avery. April 9, 1853 .- Albina S. and Maria S. Chapman.
May 28, 1853 .- Matilda Besley.
Nov. 5, 1853 .- Mary A. Collier.
Dee. 1, 1854 .- Henrietta L. Richmond, Mary E. Thomp- son, D. A. Clark, and Orrin Bierec.
464
HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
April 14, 1855 .- Melinda M. Richmond, Mary C. Rich- mond, Catherine E. Bebee.
June 2, 1855 .- Adelia Smith.
Nov. 3, 1855 .- Arozina P. W. Chapman.
April 12, 1856 -Mary Cole.
April 24, 1856 .- Rebecca V. Young.
May 6, 1856 .- Mary L. Lane.
June 7, 1856 .- Mary Jane Corwin.
Nov. 12, 1856 .- Sanford H. Baker.
Dec. 2, 1856 .- Henry M. Harrison.
Dec. 10, 1856 .- Lorenzo D. Cole.
April 11, 1857 .- Nancy E. Budd, Ellen Bachelder, Lu- cinda M. Manchester.
May 13, 1857 .- Harriet A. Mattoon.
Nov. 28, 1857 .- William W. Wyman.
Nov. 7, 1857 .- Myron Ellis, Mr. Hamlin.
Jan. 23, 1858 .- Nancy Richmond.
Dec. 14, 1857 .- Harriet Crow.
April 10, 1858 .- Miss R. N. Young.
April 24, 1858 .- Lucy A. Baldwin.
May 15, 1858 .- Charlotte Smith, Augusta Chappell, Fannie Chappell.
May 28, 1858 .- Emma Pearl.
Nov. 6, 1858 .- J. L. Hamiel, J. C. Jewett, Anthony Swarthout, Myron A. Dunning, Hattie A. Stiles.
March 19, 1859 .- Mary Ann Bryant.
April 9, 1859 .- Sarah Nickerson, Harriet Jewett.
June 13, 1859 .- Lois Mudge.
The annual report for 1879 gave the subjoined details :
Number of districts (whole, 7 ; fractional 1) ..... 8
Number of scholars of school age ... 446
Teachers' wages $1074.80
The school directors for 1879 were C. L. Putt, C. H. Bogardus, W. J. Havens, D. K. Greenwood, J. W. Besley, H. H. Van Sickle, W. N. Daggett, and J. J. Bishop.
TOWN ROADS.
Highways were to the early settlers among the most im- portant of requirements, and among their earliest efforts after getting located they made the chopping-out of roads a prominent business. Road-bees, at which all hands as- sembled, usually on Saturdays, pushed matters briskly forward in that direction, while the working upon high- ways for the non-resident tax was almost the sole means by which settlers could obtain ready cash. In April, 1842, the town was divided into six road districts, and for the year 1842 the report was to the effect that one hundred and ninety-two and a half days' labor were assessed, that ninety-nine and a half days were worked, and that Joseph Russell and John Avery were paid twenty-eight dollars for repairing highways.
In 1844 the assessment of highway labor in days was as follows :
Distriet No. 1.
51}
44
2 .. 16
39A
4. 234
.4
5.
THE VILLAGE OF EUREKA.
During the year 1855, J. A. Barrington, the proprietor of a mill in Knox Co., Ohio, was compelled in course of a
business transaction to take one hundred and sixty acres of wild land on section 15 in the township of Greenbush, and while wondering what he would do about it he met John Power, then just returned home from a land-looking tour through Michigan. When Power learned that Bar- rington had bought some timber-land in Greenbush, he advised him to take his mill-right out there as an invest- ment that would pay him well. Barrington acted upon the advice so far as to leave at once upon a tour of inspec- tion, and in looking through the neighborhood of his land for a mill-site came upon a spot in section 2, upon Mill Creek, which suited him, and putting down a stake declared that he would bring his mill out and put it up there. His guide over the territory was Isaac Eagles, then living on section 11, and afterwards one of a company of three who platted Greenbush village in 1857.
Barrington bought what land he needed, engaged Par- sons Jeffreys to build a log house, George Brewbaker to put in the under-frame for the mill, and went back to Ohio. When he got there and told what he had done, Clark Wil- liams (one of his mill-hands) and a Dr. Rigdon Potter bought each an interest with him as partners, and in Feb- ruary, 1856, Barrington and Potter made a trip to Green- bush. They found matters progressing favorably, and upon their return to Ohio made such preparations for a perma- nent transfer of the mill that in May following they were en route. Williams and Jacob Zullman, a mill-hand, had their families with them, and moved into the doorless and windowless log house built by Jeffreys, then the only house upon the site now occupied by the village, which was then simply a forest. All hands set in to complete the mill, and got on so well that on the Ist day of July, 1856, the mill-wheel was started.
The saw-mill being accordingly in active operation, Bar- rington returned to Ohio in October. In January, 1857, he came back to Greenbush with a small run of stones, and directly a grist-mill added its music to the buzz of the saw. Meanwhile the starting of the mill had suggested the idea of a village, and as the place began to draw considerable business, the village idea took shape. Barrington, Potter, and Williams laid out a few lots in the vicinity of the mill, and presently along came James H. Morrison with half a wagon-load of goods, and opened a store on the lot now oc- cupied by O. R. Baker's hardware-store. The building was used also by Morrison as a residence, and was the first framed house the village boasted. It was afterwards en- larged by David Sturgis, and serves, as related, as Mr. Ba- ker's store. About this time Parsons Jeffreys, Isaac Eagles, G. P. Moore, and M. E. Burroughs, owners of land there- about, laid out the plat of the present village, and recorded it Dec. 17, 1857, as follows : "That part of the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 2 commencing at the quarter post on the south side of said section ; thence north on the quarter line of said section thirty-one rods ; thence west forty-four rods so as to include a portion of the stream marked Mill Creek, on the plat of said village ; thence south twenty-two rods ; thence east three rods eighteen links ; thence south to the section line ; thence east to the place of beginning. Also that part of section 11 commencing at the quarter post on the north
465
GREENBUSH TOWNSHIP.
side of said section, running west twenty-one rods and one link ; thence south thirty-eight rods and ten links; thence east twenty-one rods one link to the quarter line ; thence north to the place of beginning. Also that part of section 11 com- meneing at the quarter post aforesaid, thence south on the quarter line thirty-eight rods ten links ; thence east forty-four rods ; thence north thirty-eight rods ten links to the section- line ; thence west on the section-line to the place of begin- ning." The village was named Greenbush by the pro- prietors, although before the platting the place had been variously known by the names of Williamsport, Barrington, and Swizzletown. Iudeed, the latter designation clung to the place even after Greenbush became the formally-adopted appellation. It was a name applied in derision, because of a conceived notion that the villagers were in the main given overmuch to a taste for strong drink. Despite the coun- teracting influence of those who blushed to hear the name, Swizzletown was spread far and near, and by that mark alone was the village known to many.
When the village was platted Avery Chappell, who had been keeping a small store and the Greenbush post-office, about a mile to the westward, removed the store and post- office to the town. This post-office was established as Greenbush as far back as 1843 at David Richmond's house, and his son Lyman appointed postmaster. Mail was re- ceived from Owosso by way of the Colony. Lyman Rich- mond was the postmaster until 1846, when David Sevy re- ceived the office, and after holding it a year relinquished it to Alvah Richmoud. The latter was in possession from 1851 to about 1856, when Avery Chappell came in. E. R. Hayden succeeded Chappell in 1861, aud to Hayden succeeded Edward Stark. During Stark's time the name of the office as well as that of the village was changed to Eureka. There being a post-office in Alcona County called Greenbush there was some confusion in the mails, and thus a change was demanded. Edward Stark being called upon to suggest a name declared at once in favor of Eureka, on the ground that he thought he had found in the village a most excellent opening for business, together with the promise of greater things to come. The time seemed also appropriate to make a change in the village name, since Swizzletown kept right on disputing the honors with Greenbush. Stephen Pearl, determined to do what he could to impress the general publie with the truth that the village was not Swizzletown, plaecd a great sign over against his store adorned with the letters E-u-r-e-k-a.
Continuing the post-office history, W. N. Daggett suc- ceeded Stark in 1868, and in 1875 gave way to William Bowles, who, in 1878, was followed by Daniel Turner, the present incumbent.
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