History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan, Part 118

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia, D.W. Ensign & co.
Number of Pages: 716

USA > Michigan > Clinton County > History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan > Part 118
USA > Michigan > Shiawassee County > History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan > Part 118

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The Baptist Church of Riley and Bengal was formed June 8, 1878, by Loren Benton, Alvin Winegar, John S. Sturgis, Charles W. Benton, and Jonathan Walker. They met at the school-house in Bengal (fractional No. 1), and chose E. M. Ney chairman, Loren Benton secretary, and James M. Chapman, L. Benton, and A. Winegar trustees.

SCHOOLS.

The first school in the township was taught by Mary Smith in a log house which had been occupied by Wash- ington Cronkhite. The second school was taught by Mary Ann Shears in the log dwelling which J. J. Cronkhite erected after his first house was burned, July 1, 1841. There was a school just over the line in Watertown, taught by Mrs. Betsey Macomber, in 1842; it was located in the Thornton and Ferris neighborhood. There have been so many changes in districts that it is difficult to fol- low or designate their boundaries with any certainty.

Distriet No. 1 (Boughton school) has a frame school- house situated on the northeast quarter of seetion 7. The report for 1878-79 gives 41 children of school age, 34 in attendance ; frame school-house, value $400, will scat 50 pupils ; 1 male teacher (winter term), pay $112; 1 female teacher (for summer term), pay $64; resources for year, $312.46.

Distriet No. 2 (Jason school) has quite a handsome frame school-house, built in 1872 (finished with a bell, eupola, and blinds to the windows), situated on the south- east quarter of section 10. The report for 1878-79 is as follows: 45 children, 38 attending school ; frame school-

house, seating 60 pupils, value $1300; 1 male teacher (winter term), pay $120; female teacher (summer term), pay $36; resources, $267.79.

District No. 4 (Jones school) has the only brick school- house in the town. It was built in 1878, and is valued at $1000 ; seating capacity, 60 scholars; children in dis- drict, 57 ; attending school, 35; pay of male teacher for winter term, $100; female teacher, summer term, received $44; resources for the year 1878-79, 8492.61 ; school- house situated on seetion 34.

Distriet No. 5 (Kincaid school) has a small frame house situated on the northeast corner of seetion 32; seating ca- pacity, 40 pupils ; in attendance, 50 ; value of school-house, $500; 1 male teacher employed; pay, $213; resources for 1878-79, 8376.15.

District No. 6 ( Wilcox school) has a handsome frame school-house (similar in finish and appearance to the Jason school), erected in 1878 and situated on section 17. The report for 1878-79 gives the following : children, 78; at- tending school, 65; 1 frame school-house; value, $1000; will seat 60 scholars; 1 female teacher employed ; pay, $136 ; resources, $546.31.

Fractional district No. 1 (Riley and Olive) has a small old frame school-house situated a short distance west of Atwell Simmons' residence. The report for 1878-79 gives 69 children ; 30 attending school ; value of house, $100; seats 50; 1 male teacher; pay, $140 ; 1 female teacher ; pay, $64; resources, 8254.50.

District (fractional) No. 2 (Riley and Olive) has a neat frame school-house situated on the southeast corner of see- tion 13. School report for 1878-79 shows 52 children ; 46 attending school; frame school-house, value, $600; seats 60; 1 male teacher; pay, $84; 1 female teacher ; pay, $42 ; resources, $266.27.

The following names appear on the records as teachers in this township to 1860 : Martha Lowell, Hannah J. Young, Dorr K. Stowell, Addis E. Lloyd, Indiana Walton, Mary Ann Shear, Betsey Macomber, Charlotte Ferguson, Miss T. Alexander, Eleanor S. Macomber, Ann Cain, Mr. Mon- tague, Mary Daniels, Frances E. Lloyd, Cyrus Pratt, Cor- nelia N. Daniels, Elizabeth Tueker, Joseph Berry, Smith Hildreth, Mary J. Partridge, Rebecca Burk, Mary Moore, Mary Weber, William E. Barber, William H. 11. Knapp, Harvey C. Nutting, Helen Humphrey, Lucy M. Whitaker, Emma D. Badger, Mary Austin, Emeline Heacox, Miss Kincaid, Arminda Bartow, Mary Ann Hayes, Catharine Il. Stevens, Martha Howard, Rhoda B. Wilber, Byron H1. Pratt, Augusta Fink, Leonard Travis, Clinton J. Hill, Mary Reynolds, Martha Cokeland, Angeline Reynolds.

POST-OFFICES.

The Riley post-office was established about 1855. Jon- athan Owen was the first postmaster. His successors have been Philip P. Peek, John N. Hildreth, and the present ineumbent, S. N. Hildreth.

The South Riley post-office was established about 1857, with Nathan E. Jones, Sr., postmaster, succeeded by Au- gustus Robinson, Nathan E. Jones, Jr., and the present postmaster, Adulphus E. Jones.

506

HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

SAW-MILL.

The first stationary saw-mill in Riley was built on section 25 about 1875 by Henry Harlow & Co. The partner was killed by being accidentally thrown upon the saw. The machinery was removed to Woodhull, Shiawassee Co., and set up in a mill built on the Chicago and Lake Iluron Railroad.

PATRONS OF HUSBANDRY.

NORTH RILEY GRANGE, No. 342,

was organized March 19, 1874, Col. Richard Baylis being the first Master; Morris Boughton, Overseer; Cyrus B. Pratt, Lecturer ; George H. Peck, Steward ; S. N. Ilil- dreth, Chaplain ; Cory Owen, Treasurer ; H. L. Pratt, Sec- retary ; John Pingel, Gate-keeper ; Mrs. Eunice E. Baylis, Ceres ; Miss Lucretia Temple, Pomona; Miss Hattie Boughton, Flora ; Mrs. Adelia Walters, Lady Assistaut Steward.

SOUTH RILEY GRANGE, No. 456,

was organized under dispensation, June 11, 1874. They have a grange hall adjoining the brick school-house on the east side.

FOREST HILL CHEESE-FACTORY,

owned and operated by a stock company, was organized in the spring of 1874, and the factory erected. The building is in size thirty by eighty, and cost, with machinery, twenty- four hundred dollars. It stands on the northeast corner of section 17.

The stockholders are D. P. Wilcox, Horatio S. Bliss, Ilenry L. Bliss, Sidney J. Bliss, David P. Bliss, Stebbins C. Bliss, Bliss Temple, J. M. Dane, Ilenry Jones, Chris- tian Jacobs, Andrew J. Chapman, Frederick Oding, John Pingel, Charles Walters, and A. R. Boss; President of the company, D. P. Wilcox ; A. R. Boss, Secretary.

AGRICULTURE AND POPULATION.

The United States census of 1860 gives the following exhibit. There were owned in the town 94 horses, 248 milch cows, 110 work-oxen, 617 sheep, and 485 swine. The yield of grain, etc., was 3653 bushels of wheat, 7536 bushels of corn, 4367 bushels of oats, 2758 bushels of po- tatoes, 2469 pounds of wool, 26,900 pounds of butter, 2430 pounds of cheese, S76 tons of hay, 41,486 pounds of maple-sugar.

The United States census of 1870 shows the increase of the products of the township over the census of 1860. Of horses there were 222; cows, 302; oxen, 60; sheep, 1830 ; swine, 355; pounds of wool, 8935 ; pounds of butter, 41,345 ; bushels of wheat, 17,382; bushels of corn, 9985 ; bushels of potatoes, 7340; bushels of oats, 16,245; tons of hay, 1410; pounds of maple-sugar, 9505.

The State census of 1874 exhibits the gain over the census of 1870. Wheat on ground, 2249 acres ; wheat cut in 1873, 1741 acres, which yielded 29,239 bushels ; corn; 20,073 bushels ; potatoes, 3634 bushels ; tons of hay, 1651; pounds of wool, 7793; pounds of butter, 53,373 ; pounds of cheese, 6500 ; pounds of maple-sugar, 19,247 ; horses, 375; oxen, 152; cows, 636; swine, 604; sheep, 2149. The census of cereals for 1877 shows 2452 acres of wheat cut, which produced 61,747 bushels. The wheat on the ground in 1878 was 3306 acres, which would give (as estimated) an average yield of 83,245 bushels.

In 1847, Riley had a population of 134, which had in- creased in 1854 to 400. In 1860 the enumeration gave 607 souls in 122 families. There were 142 dwelling-houses and 106 farms occupied. The State census in 1864 showed 641, showing a gain of only 34 in four years. The census of 1870 gave 1139, an increase in six years of 498. The next four years only 24 were added to the population, mak- ing for 1874, 1163. The United States census for 1880, just completed, gives the number of inhabitants at 1469, a gain in six years of 306.

RILEY TOWNSHIP.

507

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

LYMAN HUNGERFORD.

Lyman Hungerford was born in the town of Paris, Oneida Co., N. Y., Aug. 1, 1812. Ilis father, Orin Hungerford, was a native of the Green Mountain State, and was born in the town of Pownal, Bennington Co., in 1790. He was a blacksmith by trade, and removed to Oneida County about 1808, where he resided until 1816, when he removed to Jefferson County and purchased a farm in the town of Henderson, where he resided until his death, which occurred in 1868. He married Miss Abigail Morgan in 1811. She was born in the town of Pownal, in 1789. They reared a family of nine children,-six boys and three girls,-Lyman being the eldest of the family. The elder Ilungerford was an energetic and successful farmer of liberal and progressive ideas, and in all respects a valuable citizen. Ilis wife was one of those thrifty housewives of the olden time. She spun and wove the cloth from which the family clothing was made, and reared her children to habits of industry and thrift. Lyman acquired what was at that time considered a good educa- tion. His life up to the age of twenty-one was spent upon his father's farm. On attaining his majority he started for himself, working as a farm hand during the summer, and teaching during the winter. In 1836 he purchased from the government the northeast quarter of section 34.

In 1838 he was married to Miss Sarah Nutting, of Ilenderson. She was born in 1815. In 1843, Mr. Ilun-

gerford eame West with his family, and settled upon the farm which he had previously purchased. Riley was at this time ao almost unbroken wilderness; his purchase was heavily timbered, and the construction of a farm was an undertaking involving years of hard labor and privation. The life of Mr. Ilungerford has been a sueeess in all that the word implies. He has secured a well-won competency, and has attained an enviable position among his fellow- citizens, by whom he is fully appreciated for his integrity and ability. Ile has been placed in various positions of trust, notably among the number that of supervisor and magistrate. The office of supervisor he filled acceptably for over eleven years. In all matters of county legislation he took broad and liberal positions, and among his brother supervisors he was esteemed, not only for his gentlemanly deportment, but for sterling common sense and sound judg- ment. As a magistrate his decisions were always impartial, and evidenced much legal acumen. Mr. Hungerford reared a family of three children, only one of whom is now living, William W., who was born in the town of Riley, in 1844, and is living on a place which was presented to him by his father.

Accompanying this biography may be seen the portrait of Mr. Hungerford, which is indicative of generosity and hospitality, and is evidence of a positive character and a well-balanced mind.

508

HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

PHILIP P. PECK.

If the future generations are asked the question, " Who has done the most for America, the pioneer or the inventor of the telegraph, the locomotive, the steamboat, or the many great inventors of the present or any other age ?" we believe the answer will be, " The Pioncer." Without him there would have been no need of locomotives or steam- boats, no citics to connect with the telegraph-wire, and no use for the labor-saving machinery we see on every hand. Of the pioneers of Clinton County there are none deserving of more credit than Philip P. Peck, of whom this is a brief history. Ile was one of a family of six children, and was born in Danbury, Conn., Nov. 23, 1802. When he was fourteen years old his father, who was a shoemaker, moved to Seneca Co., N. Y., where the family resided fourteen years, and where young Philip learned his father's trade. Arrived at his majority he started out in life for himself, locating first at Lodi, in Seneca County. But having no means with which to start, he found a hard road to travel. Ile then became an itinerant shoemaker, going from farm to farm and making up the yearly supply of shoes for the families where he stopped, as was the custom. After several years spent in wandering he married, and then emigrated to Huron Co., Ohio. where he bought fifty acres of nnimproved land, on which he did but little clearing, as his trade engrossed the most of his time. Soon after his arrival in Ohio, his brother joined him and opened a cooper-shop. Philip's health becoming impaired by too close application to the bench he quit his trade, and then for four years worked at the cooper's trade. Becoming dissatisfied with the progress he was making he sold his fifty acres, and with two ox-teams started for Michigan, locating in Tecumseh, Lenawee Co., where he bought forty acres of land,

but did not work it, as his recovered health made it possible for him to again work at his trade, which he followed four years; then sold out and again wended his way westward, this time locating in Riley township, Clinton Co. There were then but few families, and Mr. Peck's arrival was hailed with great pleasure by Mr. Boughton, who was living a bachelor on his farm, which was near Mr. Peck's. He had previously built a small house near Mr. Peck's farm, into which he at once invited Mr. Peek and his family, and where they resided many years. The honse, though small, was always the home of any new-comer, and families of eight and ten were often entertained for weeks until their own houses could be built. The Indians, too, always found a welcome beneath his roof and at his table, and were always warm friends of the family. Years have passed, and the wild land he then bought is now a well-improved farm, which is surrounded by the homes of the many thrifty farmers of Riley, all of which Mr. Peck has lived to sce, and towards which he has contributed more than his share. And now in the seventy-eighth year of his age he is enjoying the comforts his life of toil has brought him. Hle has always stood high in the estimation of his fellow-citizens, and has nearly always held some office in his town, having been justice of the peace thirty years in succession, and town clerk five years; also county superin- tendent of the poor two years. He was in early life converted to the Methodist faith, and is now a member of that church. There have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Peck the following children : William B., born Oct. 14, 1825; Emma J., March 12, 1827; and Amanda M., June 23, 1833, who married David P. Bliss, July 30, 1853; their children are Eva, boru July 6, 1854, and Huron S., April 22, 1861.

JONATHAN OWEN.

MRS. JONATHAN OWEN.

JONATHAN OWEN.

Among the patriots of the Revolution was C'ol. Jesse Owen, father of the subject of this memoir. He was a brave soldier and an intrepid commander. He served with distinction throughout that sanguin- ary struggle, and at the close of the war settled in Orange C'o., N. Y., where Jonathan was born, April 1, 1805. He lived with his father, who was a farmer, until he was twenty-two years of age, when he mar- ried Miss Lydia Bennet, who was born in New Jer- sey in 1804. In 1805 the family removed to Tomp- kins Co., N. Y., where the mother died.

In 1845, Mr. Owen emigrated with his family to Michigan, and settled in the town of Riley, where he purchased one hundred and twenty acres of new land on section 18. The pioneer life of Mr. Owen was one of peculiar privation and hardship; he was poor and was obliged to work for three shillings per day to support his family, but being a man of in- domitable perseverance and energy he overcame the obstacles that beset his way, and not only accumulated a competency, but established a valuable record as a citizen.

In his religious belief he was a Baptist, and carried his religion into his everyday life, and its precepts were his guide in all transactions. Politi- cally, he was a Republican.

He died April 10, 1866, at his home in Riley, in the sixty-first year of his age. He had been closely identified with the best interests of the town for over twenty-one years. He owned at the time of his death a fine farm of four hundred acres, over two hundred of which were improved. He had erected commodious buildings, and possessed all the appoint- ments of a well-conducted farm. He was the father of a family of nine children, viz. : Betsey, born Sept. 1, 1827 ; William B., born June 22, 1829; Mary, born July 27, 1831; Jane, born Aug. 24, 1833; Joseph B., born Sept. 17, 1835; John, born May 5, 1837; Jesse C., born Aug. 18, 1839; Rebecca A., born March 19, 1811; Caroline C., boru Nov. 21, 1847. Of the above all are living, with the excep- tion of Betsey, Mary, and Johm. The latter enlisted in Co. A, Twenty-third Michigan Volunteer In- fantry, and died in hospital at Bowling Green, Ky., Dec. 1, 1862. Jesse C, was a member of Co. G, same regiment.

Accompanying this brief biography may be seen the portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Owen, placed in this volume by their children as a monument for the per- petuation of their memory, and as a slight acknowl- edgment of what they did in the development of the town.

509

VICTOR TOWNSHIP.

CHAPTER LXIV.

VICTOR TOWNSHIP .*

General Description-The Pioneers of the Township and its Settle- ment-The Indian Chief Chippewa-Lists of Early Tax-Payers and Voters-Township Organization-List of Township Officers- Post-Offices-Highways-Religious History-Schools.

TOWN 6 north, in range 1 west, named Victor, is one of the eastern border towns of Clinton County. North it has Ovid, south is Bath, east Shiawassee County, and west the township of Olive.

Originally the town consisted of oak-openings, with some marsh-lands ou the west, and a generally even surface except on the east, where the country is inclined to be hilly. The soil is exceedingly productive, and, illustrative of the esteen in which it is held, the language of one of Victor's most prosperous farmers testifies that the soil of the town "will produce just what you put the crop in for." Much of the acreage is given over to the cultivation of wheat, of which the average yield in the best portions reaches twenty-five bushels to the acre, while in some instances forty bushels have been yielded. Victor is moreover an excellent sheep- raising town. In 1879 the sheep sheared numbered four thousand three hundred and eighty-six, and the wool-elip twenty-five thousand eight hundred and forty-seven pounds. The number of sheep reported in 1880 aggregated four thousand nine hundred and sixty six.

The Looking-Glass River, an exceedingly crooked stream, passes through the southern part of the town from cast to west, but affords no power that can be utilized to profitable advantage. Round Lake, a handsome sheet of water, covering about one hundred and fifty acres upon see- tions 28 and 29, was at one time a very popular resort for anglers, picnic-parties, and pleasure-seekers in general, but latterly its attractive features have faded by neglect, although there is still much thereabout that iuvites the attention of the rambler.

The town has no village, nor has it yet any business interests save those of agriculture. The line of the Jack- sou, Lansing and Saginaw Railroad crosses the southeast corner of Victor, but has no station therein.

THE PIONEERS OF THE TOWNSHIP AND ITS SETTLEMENT.

Until the summer of 1836 the township now called Victor contained no white settlers. At that time one Welcome J. Partelo effected on the southwest quarter of section 31 the pioncer elearing. Although he did not discover his error until some years afterwards, he settled upon land belonging to other parties, but adjoining his own. Unconscious of his mistake he worked and im- proved that place, set out an orchard, and very materially enhanced its value, when there came to him the knowledge one day that he had been improving another man's land while his own had all that time been suffered to lie ne- glected. l'artelo was of course chagrined and much dis- gusted when the revelation fell upon him, but as he was fortunately permitted to purchase the property at the price

of unimproved land, he escaped from the dilemma with considerable satisfaction, and continued to make his home where he had begun. Mr. Partelo was chosen the first supervisor of the township of De Witt in 1836, and oceu- pied for some time a prominent place as a county official.

Victor's second settler was Robert G. McKee, now and sinee 1860 a resident of Laingsburg, in Sciota. Mr. McKee located land in 1836 upon sections 25, 35, and 36, and in the spring of 1837 began to make an improvement thereon. Ile was then a bachelor, and devoted himself chiefly to the business of surveying, but engaging a family to live on his place and clear it up, he " made a commencement" just as if he had himself taken literally hold of the pioneer busi- ness. Indeed, he did do considerable work in that direc- tion, although, as before remarked, he was dashing through the country much of his time with his surveying-party. Mr. McKee's mode of life brought him naturally into familiar contact with the roving Indians of that section, and he became in time their well-known and esteemed patron.

The most important of the early settlements in the town- ship were made, however, in June, 1837, when there came to Victor a company of three families, whose respective heads were William Swarthout, John Parker, and Jesse Jamison, of whom the last named, still living in the town, is the only surviving member. William Swarthout. who was a man of means, had instructed his brother-in-law, Van Vleet, of Ann Arbor, to locate for him six eighty- acre lots in Victor, his purpose being to start a large farm, so that he might eventually apportion it to his sons, of whom he had six. Instead of locating the lots together, Van Vleet scattered them cast, west, and north, much to Swarthout's aggravation, but the mischief being done he made the best of it. The land location was made in 1836 aud the settlement in 1837, Swarthout's selection being made in section 23.

The three families journeyed together from Sencca Co., N. Y., to Detroit, and there leaving the women and chil- dreu, William Swarthout, Jesse Jamison, John Parker, and Swarthout's two sons, Isaac V. and Layton, pushed on westward for Swarthout's land in Victor. In short order they put up a shanty, and then William Swarthout returning to Detroit for their families, brought them out without much delay, and into the completed shanty all hands bunked until a house was built for Parker on section 14. Then Jamison was provided with a habitation on section 22, and so all had in due season roofs over their separate heads. Jamison, the oldest living settler now in the town, abides still on the spot where he put up his rude cabin. Parker's widow lives on the old Parker place. Swarthout tarried in Victor only two years, when he removed to Ovid and there died.

Jamison, a blacksmith by trade, set up a smithy in pretty quick order, and although he was not equipped to do much skillful work, his presence and business becoming straightway known for miles around, he was abundantly besieged by settlers needing his services, and in many cases these needy ones came many miles to him for plow-points or such work as he could furnish. Soon afterwards Moses Smith settling upon section 2, opened a smithy there, and not long afterwards John Runciman started a similar shop near Round Lake, on the Grand River road, but to Jami-

* By David Schwartz.

510

HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

son belongs the distinction of "pioncer blacksmith of Victor."

Returning to mention of Welcome J. Partelo, it is of interest to mention that he raised the pioneer crop of wheat in the town and set out the first orchard, and that De Witt (". Partelo, his son, born in 1837, was the first born in Victor. William Swarthout, supposed generally to have been the first, was the second, the date of his birth being August, 1838.

The first death in the town was that of the mother of John Parker. She died in the summer of 1839, and was buried upon John Parker's farm. D. S. Cotes dug the grave, and D. II. Blood delivered a prayer as the only funeral service, a minister being not readily obtainable.

Nothing was done towards procuring a public burial- ground until the town-meeting of April 1, 1844, when the town board was authorized to purchase three suitable sites for burying-grounds ; and to pay for the land and breaking and fencing it fifty dollars were appropriated, eight dollars being also voted to build a pound on ground bought of Joseph Hollister. From the town records it appears that William Brunson and Joseph Hollister each received five dollars for half an acre of land to be used as a cemetery. Of these the one now on section 13 was laid out first.

In February, 1839, D. II. Blood, a New Yorker, entered the town with his family-having already located land on section 13-and took possession temporarily of a log house body put up in the fall of 1838 on section 10 by William W. and James Upton, who, at the time mentioned, had broken four acres on the place, put it into wheat, and re- turned to the East. Later on William W. came back to Victor, and resided in the township many years. He became subsequently an occupant of the supreme bench of Oregon, and now holds an important place in the treasury depart- ment at Washington.

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History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan, Part 118

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885 Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Philadelphia, D.W. Ensign & co. Number of Pages: 716

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia, D.W. Ensign & co.
Number of Pages: 716