USA > Michigan > Clinton County > History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan > Part 119
USA > Michigan > Shiawassee County > History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan > Part 119
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When Blood made his settlement there were already in the town W. J. Partelo, Jesse Jamison, R. G. McKee, Joseph Simpson, John Parker, Hugh Haggerty, William Swarthout, and Thomas Cross. When Blood came in there was no grist-mill available short of Shiawasseetown, and during the first year of his stay he had to go to Capt. Scott's, of De Witt, to buy a grist, consuming a day to do it in, and after that using two days more to get his grist to mill and his flour home.
Joseph Simpson, alluded to above, came with his family to Vietor in 1838, to work some land on section 14 be- longing to his brother-in-law, D. S. Cotes, who came also with him, but returned eastward after lending Simpson a hand in clearing about three acres. Cotes came back in 1841 for a permanent stay, and remained a resident of Victor until 1866, when he removed to his present home in Ovid township, to land first settled by one Zewick. Cotes found in 1841 that Victor had quite a hevy of settlers, including Thomas Cross, Hugh Haggerty, John Parker, Jesse Jami- son, Ainsworth Reed, W. J. Partelo, R. G. McKee, John Collister, Joseph Hollister, James and Wentworth Calkins, Joseph Simpson, Daniel Blood, and Cyrus Robinson, who was on section 6, where Ephraim Trumbull had previously made a settlement. Samuel Treat boarded with Cotes a year, and then occupied a place on the southwest.
About that time John Runciman, already spoken of, pitched his tent in section 28, near Round Lake, on the Grand River road, and opened business as a blacksmith. A brief experience in that field satisfied him that the busi- ness was neither profitable, pleasant, nor suited to his taste, and in disgust he gave up the veuturc and returned to New York. There he sold the Victor place to John Miller, who came out in 1844 expecting to find a clearing of fifteen aeres on his new purchase, but found instead that some one had turned simply a couple of furrows, and as to clearing there was not sufficient to speak of. When Miller reached the spot with his family the old log house body built by Runeiman was uninhabitable, and pending its restoration Miller moved into the house of Walter Laing, then owning a place one mile east, but just at that time working a farm in Bath for the widow Cushman. Walter Laing was a son of Dr. Peter Laing, of Laingsburg, and kept on the Grand River road in section 27 a house of public entertainment, where he dispensed whisky as the chief stock in trade. A house of public entertainment was also kept by Oliver B. Westcott in 1845. Previous to that time he kept tavern at Laingsburg. Miller's nearest neighbors were Jesse Jamison, two and a half miles northeast, and R. G. McKee, three miles east. There were at that time no lucifer matches, and on two or three occasions Miller had made trips to Jamison's and McKee's in search of firebrands to restore his own expired fire. The business of walking five or six miles every time his fire went out, and made the job necessary, set young John contemplating the possibility of obtaining fire by an easier method. Contemplation merged into determination soon afterwards when one Sunday morn- ing the family fire was out and a trip to McKee's stared him in the face. Ransacking the cabin he stumbled upon a piece of flint, and lo ! in a trice he had a fire, nor was he afterward called to repeat his former tiresome experiences. Robert McKee was the only man in the neighborhood who had a horse-team, and to him the people frequently turned for a lift when they wanted milling done. It was nothing uncommon for a settler to use four days in going to Shia- wassee to mill with ox-teams, and when the ground was frozen hard their oxen were of course valueless as motive- power. On such occasions McKee and his horse-team came in the guise of timely blessings.
Mr. Miller recalls a bear-hunting incident in which he, McKee, and an Indian took part. They treed the bear, cut the tree down, and then, as his bearship was about to make off, Miller mounted him. Bruin struggled and en- deavored to Innch on his captor, who was, however, deter- mined to stick to him until assisted by his companions, but McKee, enjoying the l'un too much to stop, yelled, " Ilang to him, Miller, or he'll kill you !" Miller fretted and fumed and struggled with the bear until his apparent ex- haustion warned MeKee to render assistance. With the aid of the others McKee got the bear down and tied, and took him up on his horse, the intention all along having been to convey the beast home alive. McKee had not gone far with his prize before the prize managed to offer a show of fight, and that time it was the gallant McKee who was frightened. The more frightened he got and the more he called to Miller and the Indian to help himu the more Mil-
BARNS ON CONER, SOUTH EAST OF HOUSE.
AINSWORTH REED.
MRS A. REED.
MAH
R
RESIDENCE OF AINSWORTH REED VICTOR, MICH.
JAMES UPTON.
MAS JAMES UPTON.
RESIDENCE OF JAMES UPTON, VICTOR MICH.
511
VICTOR TOWNSHIP.
ler cried out, "Stick to him, Mac, or he'll kill you !" Presently the situation began to look serious, and then, to Mac's great relief, his comrades mastered the bear and got the alarmed McKee out of his trouble.
When the Millers landed in the town they were very poor in provisions, and what few they did have were soon consumed. New Year's Day was at hand, and although they were bound to have a feast they hadn't a thing save a little corn upon which to found it. Foraging about the country, John managed to borrow a peek of potatoes, which, although not much by way of a dinner, furnished at least a start towards one. There was no bread in the house, and a thirty-mile journey to mill wasn't to be thought of. The corn was, however, at hand, and that accordingly pounded was soon resolved into johnny-cake. Johnny-cake and potatoes comprised, however, the sum total of the coul- ponent parts of the proposed New Year banquet, and as philosophy was just then one of the cardinal virtues and high in favor, they sat down gladly to a feast of potatoes and johnny-cake, and thanked heaven, no doubt, that their condition was no worse. Apropos of a scarcity of pro- visions, the year 1843, following upon what is still keenly remembered as " the hard winter," was an especially hard year for many pioneers. Many too poor to buy adequate supplies of food subsisted for days at a time upon berries and milk, while those who were considered exceedingly for- tunate struggled along on a diet of potatoes and salt. D. S. Cotes says he recolleets a time when, there being a relig- ious gathering at his house and no flour in the larder, he set off on a cruise among the neighbors in search of a loan, and that he walked seven miles before he found a house- hold supplied with sufficient flour to spare enough for a baking.
During the period between 1836 and 1839, Ainsworth Reed traveled through Clinton, Shiawassee, and other Michigan counties selling goods, and made not only the acquaintance of about every pioneer on his beat, but pur- sued a profitable industry. In 1839 he concluded he had had enough of' wandering, and he therefore bought some land on section 13 in Victor, upon which he at once set- tled. In 1858 he bought on sections 21 and 22 a tract of land measuring one mile square, and to its improvement he addressed himself so earnestly that although he paid but three thousand three hundred and sixty dollars for the land in 1858, he was offered thirteen thousand dollars for it in 1870. Upon that tract he cultivated two acres of cran- berries, and from the yield in twelve years he realized up- wards of five thousand dollars. There was not a stick cut upon his mile square in 1858, and when he built his house. that year he had to go to Flint to get seasoned lumber for it.
Among other of the earliest settlers in Victor not heretofore mentioned were William Kennedy and John Collister, who came in 1838, and Joseph Hollister, who became a settler in 1841. Thomas Jamison, brother to Jesse, made his home in Victor in 1843, and died in 1861. llis widow lives now in Laingsburg. Dr. Isaac T. Hollister, brother ol' Joseph, visited Victor in 1847, and there being then no physician in the town, he determined to settle there and
engage in the practice of medicine. For seventeen years he pursued his professional duties in Victor and the adjacent country, taking in a large circuit of territory and bending his efforts in an energetic way to the flood of demands which beset him from far and near. Doctors were rather rare in Michigan when he entered the field in Victor, and as he was the first physician to locate in the town, he was a privilege and a luxury to the community, as well as almost constantly in demand. 1Ie was in almost constant practice to 1861, when he removed to Laingsburg, where he now lives in retirement. Dr. Aaron McKee came to Victor about 1860, and practiced in the town until his death. Victor's doctors have been, as noted, but the two named, --- Hollister and MeKee. As to the settlers who came to Vic- tor after the town began to be pretty well populated, a gen- eral allusion embraces the names of J. Y. Perkins, C. R. McKee, Warren Ives, Loyal Starr, Erastus Spragne, R. C. Grothy, John Hibbard, John Beach, R. C. Arthur, J. D. Sleight, W. F. l'otter, H. Cuddeback, and W. Montague.
THE INDIAN CHIEF CHIPPEWA.
Upon the farm of Hugh Swarthout in Victor the eu- riously inclined may observe the grave of an Indian chief, known as Chippewa, who was at his death at the head of the roving savages who infested the townships of Sciota and Vietor much of the time during the pioneer era. Chippewa died of the smallpox, which in 1838 raged among the Indians thereabout as an epidemic. It is said that Chippewa, maintaining that he had discovered a new eure for the disorder, proceeded while severely ill to put his remedial measure into effect by leaping into a cask of cold water. Unfortunately for his theory, his remedy simply hastened his death, for alnost directly after applying it he expired. His burial-place is regarded with considerable re- spect, and there has latterly been talk of inclosing it within a paling, so that the spot may be not only preserved from in- trusion but more conspicuously marked as an object of in- terest. Chippewa's son, Jackson, died also of the smallpox during the epidemic of 1838, and was buried on Daniel H. Blood's farm, where his bones still repose.
LISTS OF EARLY TAX-PAYERS AND VOTERS.
The resident tax-payers of town 6 north, in range 1 west (now Victor), in 1839 were the following-named persons :
Acres.
Thomas M. Cross, section 2 117
llugh Haggerty, section 11 160
R. J. Mckee, sections 25, 26, 35, 36 -75
John Collister, sections 35, 36.
160
C. Davis, section 27 80
R. Finch, section 36
Jesse Jamison, section 22.
John Parker, section 11
W. J. Partelo, section 31 ... 215
Joseph Simpson, sections 13, 14. 100
The jurors of 1846 were as follows :
Grand .- William Brunson, Henry Post, Ilugh Hag- gerty, D. H. Blood, Ainsworth Reed, John Parker.
Petit .- Samuel Millard, D. S. Cotes, Thomas M. Cross, John Collister, Thomas Jamison, Heury Buell.
At the elections of 1844 and 1846 the voters were as below named :
512
HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
1844.
Thomas M. Cross.
David B. Cranson.
W. Calkins.
Isaac Parks.
Hugh Haggerty.
S. A. Mitchell.
Moses Smith.
Joseph Simpson.
Henry Buell.
David S. Cotes.
Jesse Jamison.
Ainsworth Reed.
Ransley Sutliff.
Samuel Treat.
William Letts.
Philo Fineh.
Samuel Millard.
Joseph Hildreth.
Jos. Ilollister.
Henry Post.
David Groom.
R. G. McKee.
How Covert.
John Parker.
P. B. Aldrich.
John Collister.
Alonzo Groom.
John Groom.
Phineas Partelo.
W. J. Partelo.
John Miller.
W. W. Upton.
William Brunson.
D. H. Blood.
James Calkins.
W. Laing.
Reuben Rogers.
Thomas Jamison.
J. II. Adams.
1846.
Henry Buell.
John Groom.
Henry Post.
Ainsworth Reed.
R. G. McKee.
Samuel Millard.
Willard Richards.
P. B. Aldrich.
John Parker.
Samuel Calkins.
Thomas Jamison.
Wentworth Calkins.
Reuben Rogers.
D. II. Blood.
Jesse Jamison.
Hugh Haggerty.
Jacob Miller. Samuel Treat.
Martin Heathington.
John Collister.
S. A. Mitchell.
W. J. Partelo.
Joseph Hollister. David S. Cotes.
Christopher Heathington.
Stephen Duzenberry.
TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION.
Towns 5 and 6 north, in range 1 west, now known as Victor and Bath, were until March 9, 1843, joined under the township name of Ossowa. Legislative act, approved on the date mentioned, organized town 6 as Victor town- ship, and provided that the first town-meeting should be held at " the school-house near Daniel Blood's." The town name was bestowed in accordance with a suggestion from William W. Upton and D. H. Blood, who came to Mich- igan from Victor in New York State.
The first election for township officials was held April 15, 1843, Jesse Jamison, D. H. Blood, and William W. Upton being inspectors of election. The voters were twenty-six in number, as follows: William Letts, Isaac Parks, Aaron Groom, P. P. Peck, Robert Finch, John Groom, Jr., Thomas M. Cross, Joseph Simpson, Reuben Rogers, W. Calkins, James Calkins, John Groom, W. J. Partelo, David B. Cranson, Samuel Millard, How Covert, David S. Cotes, John Parker, Daniel H. Blood, David Groom, Ainsworth Reed, Ilenry Buell, John Collister, W. P. Partelo, Jesse Jamison, Ilugh Haggerty.
A caucus was held at " J. M. Blood's old place," and the candidates then selected were subsequently clected with-
out opposition, since there was but one ticket in the field. The officers elected were : Supervisor, Samuel Treat ; Clerk, Henry Buell; Treasurer, Ainsworth Reed; Justices of the Peace, John Collister, Hugh Haggerty, W. J. Par- telo, John Groom ; Highway Commissioners, William Letts, Thomas M. Cross, John Parker; Constables, David Cran- son, P. P. Peck, Aaron Groom, W. P. Partelo; Poor- masters, Hugh Haggerty, William W. Upton; School Inspectors, John Groom, Ilugh Haggerty, William W. Upton ; Pathmasters, How Covert in district No. 8, David Cranson in No. 13, James Calkins in No. 7, David S. Cotes in No. 12, Jesse Jamison in No. 5, W. J. Partelo in No. 4, John Collister in No. 6.
Seventy-five dollars was voted for a town library; one dollar each on scholars between the ages of four and eight- een was ordered to be raised, and two hundred dollars were voted for contingent expenses.
LIST OF TOWNSHIP OFFICERS.
Beginning with 1844 and closing with 1880, the annual town elections in Victor have designated as supervisors, clerks, treasurers, and justices of the peace the following persons :
SUPERVISORS.
1844. S. Treat. 1869. C. E. Hollister.
1845-48. R. G. McKee.
1870. R. Il. llollister.
1849-50. T. Jamison. IST1. A. Reed.
1851. R. G. McKee. 1872. R. Il. Hollister.
1852-56. T. Jamison. 1873-75. S. E. Jones.
1857. William Brunson.
1876-77. J. C. Brunson.
1858-63. I. V. Swarthout.
1878. R. Richmond.
1864-65. J. W. Beckwith. 1879. J. C. Brunson.
1866-68. I. V. Swarthont.
1880. I. V. Swarthout.
CLERKS.
1844. W. W. Upton.
1864. C. E. Ilollister.
1845. J. Il. Adams.
1865. I. V. Swarthout.
1846. S. Treat.
1866-67. A. Reed.
18-17. T. Jamison.
1868. 11. F. Alderton.
1848. J. M. Blood.
1869. A. Reed.
1849. I. T. Hollister.
1870. C. E. Hollister.
1850. A. Reed.
1871-72. F. W. Upton.
1851. D. 11. Blood.
1873. L. Reed.
1852. Il. llaggerty.
1874. Il. Sprague.
1853-54. 1. T. Hollister.
1875. L. Reed.
1855-61. T. L. Swarthout. 1876-77. R. Richmond.
1862. A. Reed.
1878-79. C. B. Giffols.
1863. J. Berry.
1880. H. P. Barker.
TREASURERS.
1844-46. A. Reed.
1868. J. Y. Perkins.
1847-48. N. Bixby.
1869-70. S. B. Upton.
1849. P. R. Aldrich. 1871-72. P. Taylor.
1850. J. Jamison. 1873. L. Starr.
1851-61. A. Reed. 1874. A. Reed.
1862-63. T. L. Swartbout. 1875. J. D. Sleight.
IS64-65. J. Upton. 1876-77. W. F. Sleight.
1866. J. Gibbard. 1878-79. William S. Parker.
1867. J. Upton.
1880. James Upton.
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.
1844. H. Haggerty.
1851. William Brunson.
1845. J. Collister.
1852. A. Post.
1846. T. Jamison.
1853. A. McKee.
1847. William Brunson.
1854. I. T. Hollister.
1848. 11. Ilaggerty. 1855. II. Haggerty.
1849. J. Collister. 1856. S. Moon.
1850. P. B. Aldrich. 1857. C. R. McKee.
ยท EPSON PARKER ,
MAS JULIA A. PARKER.
RESIDENCE OF EPSON PARKER, VICTOR, MICH.
RESIDENCE OF CHARLES E . HOLLISTER, VICTOR TP. CLINTON CO. MICH.
513
VICTOR TOWNSHIP.
1858. I. T. Hollister.
. 1870. I. T. Hollister.
1859. J. C. Brunson.
1871. J. W. Beckwith.
1860. W. Ballentine.
1872. D. J. Ilill.
1861. C. R. McKee. 1873. J. C. Brunson.
1862. I. T. Ilollister.
1874. I. T. Hollister.
1863. 1). P. Miner.
1875. J. W. Beckwith.
1864. I. V. Swarthout.
1876. J. H. Green.
1865. G. C. Fox.
1877. J. C. Brunson.
1866. E. Parker.
1878. I. T. llollister.
1867. I. T. Ifollister.
1879. J. W. Beekwith.
1868. R. Van Velsor.
1880. G. A. Keller.
1869. J. C. Brunson.
POST OFFICES.
In the winter of 1846, Henry Post prepared and eireu- lated a petition asking the general government to establish a mail-route between Owosso and Ionia ria the State road, and the creation of a post-office on that road in Vietor, the people of the town having been compelled previously to go to Laingsburg for their mail. July 1, 1847, the mail- route was opened and Vietor post-office established, with Hugh Haggerty as postmaster. At a publie meeting pre- vious to that it was deeided to urge Henry Buell for post- master, but his polities did not suit at Washington and the publie request was ignored.
The mail-service gave Vietor a weekly mail which was never great enough to worry the brain of the postmaster, although small enough to put to rout any attempt at system in the internal arrangement of the office. Apropos of that declaration, Henry Post says that going one day to the office for a letter that Mr. Haggerty had informed him was awaiting his demand, he found only Mrs. Haggerty at home. Responding to his request, she began to hunt over the log cabin for the desired letter, and failing to find it either on the floor, behind the stove, or on the cupboard, impatiently exclaimed, " I should think Ilaggerty would keep the mail where it could be found !" Post emphatically agreed with her, and then joining her in a renewal of the search, finally unearthed the letter and bore it away in triumph.
After Heury Buell the office passed in regular succession to Henry Post, J. C. Brunson, Ira Richards, Ilenry Post (second term), Thomas Beach, Jesse Woodhams, and J. C. Brunson (second term). Mr. Brunson, the present ineum- bent, has held the office continuously since 1861. Mail is received twice a week over the route from Shepardsville to Geary.
GEARY POST-OFFICE
was established in 1857, through the efforts of John Miller, who was appointed postmaster. At a town discussion as to a name for the office, an admirer of Governor Geary, of Kansas, suggested Geary, and Geary it was called. Jesse Jamison succeeded Miller, and in 1861 Ainsworth Reed receiving the appointment has held it ever since.
IHIGHWAYS.
The Grand River road between Pontiac and Grand Rap- ids was the first highway that Victor had, and existed for several years before the town was organized. It was a thoroughfare of considerable travel as early as 1837, and maintains now in the town about its original course,-almost a direct line between east and west through sections 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, and 30.
Upon and near the State road traversing the northern portion of the town between east and west there were in 1844 a considerable number of settlers. Indeed, upon that thoroughfare some of the earliest comers into the town made their homes.
When Henry Post made his commencement upon that highway in seetion 10 in 1844,-having come to Michigan as early as 1831,-he found living thereon William W. Upton, Hugh Ilaggerty, Henry Adams, David and JJohn Groom, Reuben Rogers, Henry Buell, Samuel Millard, and Jesse and Thomas Woodham. William Brunson was on section 9, and the next season R. Sutliff and J. C. Brun- son settled,-the latter upon the place earlier occupied by Henry Buell. In 1856, Elias Upton, with his sons James, Josiah, and II. L., settled upon the old William Upton place, and about then came J. W. Beckwith and Jacob Gibbard,-the latter to a place on section 3 occupied in 1866 by Henry Mulder.
While town G was yet a portion of Owosso roads were laid out therein as follows :
Nov. 6, 1839 .- " Beginning at the quarter post on the west side of seetion 25, and running north on the seetion-line seven chains; thenee north forty degrees west six chains on said west line of section 25; thence north on the section-line to the northwest corner of scetion 25; thence north on the west line of section 24 for twenty- five chains; thenee north on section-lines to the north line of the town."
Nov. 20, 1839 .- Beginning at the corners of seetions 35 and 36 on the south town line; thenee north sixty-seven chains, seventy links ; thence north to a stake on the seetion- line between seetions 25 and 26; thence north to the quarter post between the last numbered sections. Begin- ning at the quarter post on the west line of section 11; thenee east forty chains; thenee south and east to the section-line.
Dee. 28, 1839 .- Beginning at the northeast corner of seetion 6 in Ossowa and the southeast corner of section 36 in Bingham, and running thence to the northwest corner of said section 6.
Jan. 8, 1810 .- Beginning at the northwest corner of section 2, and running thenee on the section line " to a point on the State road where said road is interseeted by a road leading from William Swarthout's."
Nov. 21, 1840 .- Beginning at the northwest corner of town 6, and running south on the town-line to the sonth- west corner of section 6. Beginning at the quarter post between seetions 23 and 24, and running thenee west and south " to a stake in the Round Lake road." Beginning at a point in the State road four and a half chains south of the corners of sections 4, 5, 8, and 9, and running thence north on the section-line to the corners of sections 5 and 6.
March 3, 1841 .- Beginning at the southeast corner of section 35, and running thenee to a stake on the section- line between sections 25 and 26.
March 24, 1842 .- " Beginning eighteen and a half chains west of the twenty-seventh mile post in the State road leading from the village of Byron to the village of Lyons; thence west forty-six and seventy-five hundredths
65
514
HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
chains ; thence north to an angle-post in said State road." Beginning at a stake three and sixty-one hundredths chains north of the quarter post on the west side of section 36, and thence north fourteen and a half chains ; thence north and east to a bridge over the Looking-Glass River. Be- ginning at a point sixty-one and thirty-two hundredths chains north of the southeast corner of section 31; thence north and east to the principal meridian.
Dec. 27, 1844 .- Beginning at the centre of the State road at the northeast corner of section 9, and thence ruu- ning south and west to the Grand River road.
RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
In the fall of 1837 the disciples of Methodism sought the infant settlement in Victor near William Swarthout's, and at that period, in Mr. Swarthout's house, Bennett and Jackson, Methodist Episcopal missionaries, preached the first sermon heard in the town. They came to the town about once a month after that, and held public services wherever an available place could be found. In 1839 they were succeeded in the work by Rev. Mr. Blowers, who in that year organized the Blood Methodist Episcopal class at Mr. D. II. Blood's then residence, a log cabin owned by W. W. Upton. The organizing members numbered four : D. H. Blood, Susan Blood, Lydia A. Blood, aud Ada Hag- gerty, D. II. Blood being class-leader. When Mr. Blood moved to the present " Blood neighborhood," the locatiou of the class was also changed, and iu his house services were held about once in two weeks until the completion of the school-house. The latter place served as a house of worship until the erection of the Blood church in 1863 on section 14.
Since 1839 the Blood class has had a continuous exist- ence and has enjoyed publie worship constantly. D. H. Blood and John Parker have been the class-leaders during nearly the entire period, D. II. Blood being now the leader. The first board of trustees chosen in 1863 was composed of D. IT. Blood, T. L. Swarthout, Ralph Swarthout, and George Ilibbard. The trustees serving in 1880 were Isaac V. Swarthout, Charles W. Blood, T. L. Swarthout, Ralph Swarthout, and George Hibbard. The class, which has a membership of forty-two, is on the Victor Circuit, in charge of Rev. Mr. Gray, who preaches at Blood's once in two weeks.
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCII.
The first entry in the records of this church reads as follows : " I, Noah Cressy, of Portland, Me., minister of the gospel and missionary of the American Home Mission- ary Society, hereby certify that on Saturday, May 24, 1845, at the house of Ilenry Post, by the aid and advice of Rev. O. Parker, of Flint, Mich., I organized a Congregational church consisting of the following persons, who adopted the covenant and confession of faith : Henry Post, William Brunson, Eliza D. Post, Hoyt G. Post, Thomas Jenison, Mary Ann Brunson, and Porter B. Pierce." IIenry Post was appointed moderator, Henry Post and Thomas Jenison deacons, and William Brunson stated clerk.
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