USA > Michigan > Clinton County > History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan > Part 32
USA > Michigan > Shiawassee County > History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan > Part 32
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* It will be seen that in this ercetion of Caledonia upon the terri- tory of survey-township 7 north, of range 3 east, sections Nos. 6, 7, 18, 19, and 30 were not ineluded, but remained a part of the township of Owosso. By an act approved Feb. 16, 1842, however, these seetions were taken from Owosso and annexed to Caledonia, thus making its limits coextensive with those of the survey-township.
+ The townships of Bennington and Antrim were organized in March, 1838, and Woodhull in April of the same year. Wandaugon (now Lebanon), Clinton Co., was organized also in March, 1838.
123
ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY.
to each and the location of the bridges are here given : Owosso (at the village), three hundred dollars; Burns (near John Knaggs), two hundred dollars; Shiawassee, fifty dollars ; De Witt (Looking-Glass River, near Welcome J. Partelo), one hundred dollars ; Watertown (Looking- Glass River on town line between ranges 3 and 4), one hundred dollars; Wandaugon (Heywood Creek on State road), one hundred dollars ; Mapleton (on Maple River), one hundred dollars.
The committee on equalization of assessment rolls re- ported that " the assessment appears to be equal." The aggregate amount of the several towns was as follows :
1838.
Owosso.
$297,681
Bennington
$96,224
De Witt ...
297,087
Vernon
66,856
Burns ..
66,643
Shiawassee
66,037
Watertown
194,350
Antrim
64,095
Woodhull
81,025
Wandangon
186,028
It was resolved that the sum of $2076 be levied upon the county as a State tax, and the sum of $4924 for county purposes. Elias Comstock and James Rutan were appointed a committee to apportion the amount upon the several towns, which was reported as follows :
Assessment.
State and County Tax.
Town Tax. Poor Tax. Total Tax.
Owosso
$290,681.00
$1430.00
$283.50
$1714.00
De Witt ...
297,087.00
1470.00
212.50
$50.00
1733.00
Watertown ....
194,350.00
954.20)
217.80
30.00
1202.00
Burns.
66,643.00
323.20
138.80
25,00
487.00
Woodhull
$1,025.00
393.00
160.00
50.00
603.00
Bennington ...
96,224.00
471.90
128.10
600.00
Vernou .
66,856.00
322.00
210.00
532.00
Shiawassee ...
66,037.00
299.10
456.90
50,00
926.00
Antrim
61,095.00
305.20
142.80
448.00
Wandaugou ..
186,028.00
915.50
157.50
1073.00
$1,409,026.00 $6885.10 $2170.90 $205.00
$9318.00
The board was in session several days, closing on the 6th of October.
By the provisions of a law passed by the Legislature in 1838, the powers and duties of the Board of Supervisors were transferred to a Board of County Commissioners, to be composed of three members. The first election of County Commissioners was held early in November. The Board of Canvassers met on the 13th of the samemonth, and was composed as follows :
Antrim, Allen Beard.
Bennington, Ira B. Howard.
Burns, Francis J. Prevost.
Owosso, Elias Comstock.
Shiawassee, Peter Turner.
Woodhull, Peter Laing.
De Witt, Ephraim II. Utley.
Watertown, Charles R. Spieer.
The canvasser who represented Wandangon was not present, and the canvass proceeded without him.
The three county commissioners elected were Lemuel Castle, Ransom W. Holley, and Ephraim H. Utley. The board met and organized on the 20th of November, 1838, in Shiawasseetown, at the hotel of Lucius W. Beach. Lemuel Castle was chosen chairman.
After organization wolf-certificates were andited to the amount of $100.84, but little other business was brought before them. The board convened at Corunna on the Sth of July, 1839, and on September 23d of the same year at the
Shiawassee Exchange ; the latter meeting being held for the purpose of adjusting accounts between Clinton and Shia- wassee Counties, the former having been organized March 12, 1839. An agreement giving a balance of $202.91 to Shiawassee County was signed by Lemuel Castle, R. W. Ilolley, L. Rowe, Commissioners of Shiawassee County ; E. H. Utley, Calvin Marvin, Commissioners of Clinton County ; and John Gould, Treasurer of Clinton County.
On the 7th of October, in the same year, the commis- sioners convened at Corunna, and accepted a block of land three hundred feet square donated by the County-Seat Company, designated on the recorded płat of Corunna as the " public square."
Dec. 31, 1839, a statement of the appropriations for 1838 and 1839 was made, viz .:
1838.
For bridges.
$1000.00
Bounties on wolf-sealps ...
117.50
Expenses of county canvass.
86.02
Sheriff's fees.
186.76
Expenses of criminal prosecutions.
52.55
County elerk's fees
97.37
Expenses of circuit court
7.75
Contingent expenses of Clinton and Sbiawas- see Counties.
479.88
Total
$2009.81
1839.
For bounties on wolf-scalps.
$49.00
Criminal prosecutions ..
49,91
Expenses of circuit court.
23.25
Sheriff's fees .....
58.13
Prosecuting attorney's salary
150.00
County clerk's fees.
127.33
Contingent expenses of county
212.70
County building
345.00
Total.
$1015.32
The business of the county was transaeted by the com- missioners until the office was abolished by act of Legisla- ture, approved Feb. 10, 1842. The powers which had been exercised by the commissioners were then resumed by the . supervisors of the county.
The Board of Supervisors convened at the court-house in the village of Corunna on the 4th of July, 1842, when the following-named members were present: M. B. Martin, David Bush, Jr., Sanford M. Green, Lyman Bennett, Lem- uel Castle, R. W. Holley, Andrew Parsons, John Palmer, Allen Smith, John K. Tyler, John Woodhull, and Hum- phrey Wheeler. This was the first meeting held by the board under the law of 1842, and from that time to the present the supervisors have continued to exercise their functions as financial managers of the county.
WOLF RECORD.
An act was passed by the Legislature of the State for the destruction of wolves Dec. 28, 1837, and Feb. 9, 1838, another act was adopted. The last section, repealing the act of the previous December, provided " That every per- son, being an inhabitant of this State, as well Indians as others, who shall kill a full-grown wolf, or wolf's whelp under the age of three months, in any organized township, shall be entitled to a bounty of $8 for each full-grown wolf, and $4 for each wolf's whelp ;" the person claiming such bounty to take either the wolf or the head thereof, with the ears and skin entire thereon, to a justice of the peace, and make oath before him as to the facts and circumstances of
124
HISTORY OF SHIAWASSEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
the killing. It was thereupon the duty of the justice, if satisfied with the statement, to certify the same and burn the cars and scalp of such wolf. The certificate, in turn, was to be presented, with the affidavit, to a supervisor or commissioner within fifteen days, and if by either of them found to be correct, it was to be presented to the next county board, and if then found all right by that body, the bounty was to be allowed and paid out of the county treas- ury, one-half of which was to be charged over to and paid out of the State treasury. By one provision of the act a Board of Supervisors, or of Commissioners, had " au- thority to award and allow, at the expense of their respee- tive counties, such other and further bounties for the de- struction of wolves and panthers as they might deem proper." This act, approved Feb. 9, 1838, was " to remain in force three years and no longer," although the law was afterwards extended to Feb. 10, 1844, and the records show bounties paid for that purpose several years after that time.
The first business of the Board of Supervisors of the county at the session commencing Oct. 2, 1838, was the examination of wolf-certificates. An additional bounty of $1 appears to have been added to the State bounty, making the bounty for wolves $9 and whelps $5, as the first items, appended, show :
" The board then voted to allow a bounty of $9 each on five wolves, killed as described in certificate No. 1, $45.
" Also on three wolves, $9 each, as described in certifi- cate No. 2, $27.
" Also on two wolves, $9 each, as described in certificate No. 3, $18.
" Also on one wolf [whelp], $5, as described in certifi- cate No. 4, $5."
Twenty-five certificates were examined and allowed in the same manner as above, embracing a total of twenty six wolves and eleven whelps. On the 4th of October, the third day of the session, the board rescinded a resolution " that was passed in October last," allowing a county bounty of $5 for the destruction of wolves. No attention seems to have been paid to the action of the Board of Su- pervisors of the year previous in the examination of the twenty-five certificates, but they evidently considered it of sufficient importance to rescind it. At the meeting of the county commissioners on the 18th of November (the month following), 1838, the State bounty only was allowed. They also recorded the names of those to whom bounties were granted. Below are given the names of persons, date of eer- tificate, and amount of bounty allowed from that time.
Nov. 20, 1838 .- Iliram Stowell,* $8; Silas W. Rose, $S. Jan. 7, 1839 .- Rufus C. Rathbone, $16; Enoch Willis, $16; George Nichols, $8; Benjamin Morton, $4. The last is a further allowance on wolf-certificate No. 21 in the twenty-five certificates passed in October, 1838. .
March 4, 1839 .- Morris Cushman, $8; Lewis Hart, $1.50 (whelps).
July 17, 1839 .- Allen Baird, $5. Sept. 20, 1839 .- George Campau, $32.
Nov. 20, 1839 .- Rufus C. Rathbone, $44.
Jan. 10, 1842 .- Ezra L. Mason, $10 ; Albert B. Mason, $8; William Sladden, $8.
Feb. 24, 1842 .- John F. Swain, $10; Ezra L. Mason, $10.
March 28, 1842 .- A. MeArthur, $10; Jesse Whitford, $8.
Dec. 21, 1843 .- Jacob Esty, $13; Ambrose Baker, $13; Wellman Castle, $26; George W. Slocum, $13; Robert G. McKec, $13 ; George Rowell, $13; Jesse Whitford, $13.
Nov. 12, 1844 .- Clark D. Castle, $13; Hiram Haight, $16; Amasa Rowell, $13; George Bibbins, $13 ; Nicholas Woolman, $13; Apollos Dewey, $26.
Jan. 4, 1845 .- Joel B. Goss, $6; William Placeway, $13; Marvin Secord, $13.
Oct. 16, 1845 .- Jocl A. Hart, $30; Nathaniel Kimball, $15; Apollos Dewey, $15; E. P. Mason, $13; Ambrose Baker, $13; Hiram Haight, $13; Rial B. Chase, $15.
Oct. 15, 1846 .- Ezra L. Mason, $45; Daniel D. Slo- cum, $15.
Wolf-certificates were granted for several years, the last account on the records being Jan. 5, 1869, when Mr. Rush presented a elaim for a bounty for killing a wolf in favor of B. W. Steer, and moved that the same be allowed. The certifieate, however, was referred back to claimant for fur- ther proof, and as it is not again brought up it is fair to presume it was not again presented.
ESTABLISHMENT OF COURTS IN SIHIAWASSEE COUNTY.
By the aet under which Shiawassee County was organ- ized it was provided that " The Circuit Court of the county of Shiawassee shall be held at the county-seat if practica- ble, and if not, at such other place as the sheriff of said county shall provide until county buildings shall be erected.
" The county of Shiawassee shall belong to the second judicial circuit, and the terms of the Circuit Court shall commence on the first Monday of June and Deeember in each year."
The first term of the Circuit Courtt of Shiawassee County was, in accordance with the provisions of the above act, held at the office of the county clerk on the 4th day of December, 1837. There were present the Hon. Alfred L. Williams and the Hon. James Rutan, associate judges. No circuit judge was present. Levi Rowe was appointed crier for the term. The sheriff was ordered to appoint four constables to attend during the term, and he appointed Noah Bovier and Mason Phelps (only two), and they and Aaron Swain, the under-sheriff, were ordered to attend.
Application was then made by Sanford M. Green (now circuit judge of the eighteenth judicial circuit) to be ad- mitted as an attorney and counselor-at-law. After exam- ination he was admitted. There being no prosecuting attorney in the county, the court appointed Mr. Green to act in that capacity for the term. The following are the names of the grand jurors in attendance at that term : Daniel Ball, Daniel Gould, Horace Hart, Robert Crawford,
$ Mr. Stowell and several others in the list were residents of Clin- tou County, which was then a part of Shiawassee.
f This sketch of the Circuit Court of Shiawassee County is fur- nished by the Hon. Josiah Turner, judge of the seventh judicial circuit.
125
FIRST COURTS.
Thomas P. Green, Elisha Brewster, Stephen Post, Samuel Brown, M. Bradley Martin, Ira B. Howard, Ephraim Wright, Cornelius W. Miller, James Van Ankin, Joseph Parmeter, Josiah Pierce, John Smedley, Samuel W. Hard- ing, and S. N. Whitcomb. Daniel Ball was appointed foreman. A few of these gentlemen are still living in the county, honored and respected by all, but the large majority of them are believed to be dead. The grand jury found one indictment, charging a man with perjury, and they were theu discharged.
The records show the following entry : "John Knaggs es. Phillis, his wife. On motion of Sanford M. Green, counsel for said Knaggs, the conrt ordered that said Knaggs have leave to present a petition for a divorce from Phillis, his said wife, at the next term of the court; and that said Knaggs shall cause a written notice to be served upon his said wife at least thirty days before the said term of the court of his intention to present such petition and of the hearing thereof."
This was the first proeceding in the county to obtain a divorce, and it would be a novel way to get a party into court at this day.
The court adjourned on the second day of its session.
The next term of the court was held on the 4th day of June, 1838, by Hon. James Rutan, one of the associate judges. The grand jury were impannelled, but soon re- ported to the court that they had no business before them, and the court at once adjourned without day, no other business having been transacted.
The next term commenced on the 25th day of Novem- ber, 1838, and was held by the associate judge, the cirenit judge not being present.
The first petit jury ever summoned in the county was present at this term, and their names were as follows : Harvey Harmon, David T. Tyler, Stephen Post, Samuel W. Harding, Francis F. Manu, John Smedley, William P. Laing, George Harrington, John B. Clark, Ichabod Knee- land, Eli Shattuck, Calvin Sweet, Rufus Collier, Nicholas P. Harder, Samuel N. Whitcomb, Samuel Millard, and Ephraim Wright, very few of whom are now living. The grand jury at this term found five bills of indictment, but no further business was transacted. The next term of the court was held on the 7th day of May, 1839, when the Hon. Charles W. Whipple,* circuit judge, and Hon. James Rutan, associate judge, presided. This was the first term in the county at which a circuit judge was present. At this term George W. Wisner and Alfred II. Hanscomb were admitted to the bar, and were for many years there- after distinguished lawyers at Pontiac. Both are now dead. The first trial ever had in this court was at this term. It was a criminal case, and the jury did not agree.
At the May term, 1840, the case of Robert Crawford vs. Liberty Lyman was tried by a jury, and a verdict was ren-
dered for the plaintiff for $17.55 damages, being the first civil case ever tried in this court. At this term the late Gov- ernor Moses Wisner made application for admission to the bar, and the court appointed as examining committee Wil- liam L. Mosely, Edward H. Thomson, and Artemas Thayer, and after examination Mr. Wisner was admitted.
On the 3d day of May, 1843, a term was held, at which the Hon. George Morrell, then chief justice of the Su- preme Court, presided.
The next circuit judge of the county was the IIon. Ed- ward Mundy, who held his first term commencing on the 2d day of August, 1848, and his last term was held in June, 1850.
Judge Mundy was among the earlier emigrants to the Territory of Michigan. He was the first Lieutenant-Gov- ernor of the State, under the first State constitution, in 1835 and 1836, and again held the same office from 1837 to 1840. In 1847 he was appointed attorney-general, which office he held until 1848, when he was appointed a justice of the Supreme Court, and from 1844 to 1848 he was a regent of the State University. He died in 1851.
The next circuit judge of the county was the Hon. Sanford M. Green, who held his first term in the county in May, 1852, and continued to so preside until May, 1857, when he was succeeded by Judge Josiah Turner, the pres- ent incumbent.
Judge Green was born May 30, 1807, in Grafton, N. Y., and was admitted to the bar in New York in 1832; re- moved to Michigan in 1837 and settled in Owosso; elected to the State Senate in 1812; appointed commissioner to revise the statutes in 1844, and reported to the Legislature of 1846; elceted to the Senate again in the fall of 1845, and served two years ; was appointed judge of the Supreme Court by Governor Ransom in 1848, and held that office until May, 1857, and was chief justice two years of that time. From Jan. 1, 1858, to April, 1867, and from June, 1872, to the present time he has held the office of circuit judge,-now of the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit.
PROBATE COURT.
The first session of this court of which any record is ex- tant was held at the village of Owosso, Feb. 13, 1838, Elias Comstock, probate judge, presiding. The first proceedings were " in the matter of the estate of Samuel Carpenter, deceased." Application was made by Alvin S. McDowell for letters of administration upon the above estate, which were granted upon giving bond in the sum of two thousand five hundred dollars, the bond being signed by A. S. Me- Dowell, William Phelps, and John Runciman. John Hill, Jordan Holcomb, and Aaron Hutchins were appointed ap- praisers of the property, with orders to report on the 10th of March, 1838.
On the same day application was made by Isaac Thomp- son, of Ionia County, for letters of administration on the estate of Daniel Barker, of the county of Clinton. Bond was given in the sum of three thousand dollars, and signed by Isaac Thompson, Frederick Hall, and Joseph Letanker. The appraisers were Nathan Benjamin, Thaddeus O. War- ren, and Silas Crippen. The first will (that of Orrin Perry) was offered for probate on the 12th of June, 1838, bearing
# Judge Whipple was born in New York, and removed with his father lo Detroit when a boy. Ife was educated at West Point. Ite was several times elected to the State Legislature, and in 1836 and 1837 was speaker of the House of Representatives. In 1838 he was appointed a justice of the Supreme Court, which office he held for many years. fle wns a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1850. He was a man of great dignity and an eminent jurist. Ite died Oct. 23, 1856
126
HISTORY OF SHIAWASSEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
date April 30th of the same year. Elizabeth Perry was appointed executrix, and Washington Z. Blanchard and Ilorace B. Flint executors. Letters were issued April 25, 1839, to Ralph Williams as guardian of Violetta Car- penter, a minor under the age of fourteen years and a daughter of Samuel Carpenter. Lewis Lindley was ap- pointed, April 1, 1839, guardian of Lucinda Phidelia Be- dell, a minor, daughter of Kilburn Bedell. The will of Moses Kimball, one of the proprietors of the Shiawassee Company, was presented for probate. It was dated Nor- wich, Huron Co., Ohio, Sept. 18, 1837, and recorded in the county of Shiawassee in 1838, as part of the property mentioned in the will was in this county.
Judge Comstock served as probate judge until 1841, when he was succeeded by Ira B. Howard, whose first busi- ness was the division of the cstate of Samuel Carpenter.
COUNTY COURT.
The county courts which had existed in Michigan prior to April, 1833, were abolished by law at that time, but were re established by an act of the Legislature in 1846. Under the law last named the first session of the county court of Shiawassee was held at Corunna on the 5th of April, 1847, Judge Robert R. Thompson presiding. During the continuance of the county court Judge Thomp- son presided until June 3, 1851, from which time A. B. Chipman, the Second Judge, presided till the end of the year, when, by a limitation embodied in the constitution of 1850, the county courts ceased to exist, and their business was transferred to the circuit courts.
CHAPTER XXIV.
COUNTY-SITES AND COUNTY PROPERTY.
Establishment and Vacation of the County-Site at Byron-Location of the Seat of Justice at Corunna-Erection of Court-House and Jail-Fire-Proof Offices-Poor-House and Poor-Farm.
Ov the 4th of August, 1824, the Governor of Michigan Territory approved an act providing for the appointment of commissioners to locate the seat of justice of Shiawassee County. Under this act James McCloskey, Frederick A. Sprague, and William Meldrum were appointed such com- missioners, and were instructed to report their action to the Legislative Council at its next session. They proceeded to perform the duty assigned them, and duly made report to the council, in accordance with their instructions, that they had selected the village of Byron, and had there established the county site. Shiawassee County then embraced, in ad- dition to its present territory, eight townships that now belong to Genesee County, eight townships that are now included in Livingston, and four townships of the present territory of Ingham County,-in all twenty townships, forming a belt two townships wide, along and outside of the entire south and east border of this county as it now stands. So the county-site determined on by the commis- sioners was then near the territorial centre of the county ; but, in addition to the fact of its geographical position, it was said that the influence of Judge Samuel W. Dexter, of
.
Washtenaw County, was potent in securing the selection of that site, which was probably the fact ; for it is certain that he was then the proprietor of a large amount of land at that place, that the site was established on a part of his tract, and that the expenses of location were paid by him from his private means. It is proper to mention, however, that this payment by him was in conformity with the pro- visions of the law directing the appointment of the com- missioners, which required that they should receive their compensation (two' dollars per day for time necessarily employed) from the proprietor of the land on which they should decide to locate the county-site.
But the erection of Ingham County in 1829, of Living- ston in 1833, and of Genesee in 1835, reduced Shiawassee to its present limits, leaving Byron, the county-site, within one mile of its eastern, and within two and a half miles of its southern boundary, making apparent the necessity for the selection of a new seat of justice nearer the centre of the reduced territory of the county. This cansed the passage by the Legislature of " An act to vacate the seat of justice of Shiawassee County" (approved February 26, 1836), embodying the following preamble and provisions, viz. :
" Whereas, the county of Shiawassee has been so divided since the seat of justice was established therein as to leave the same in the southeast corner of said county and within one mile of the east line thereof; and whereas no public buildings or improvements have as yet been erected or made at said seat of justice ; therefore,
"Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the State of Michigan, that the seat of justice for the county of Shiawassee as now established be and the same is hereby vacated, any law to the contrary notwithstanding.'
The county-site being thus vacated, the Governor (under a law then in force authorizing him to appoint commissioners to establish county-sites in counties having none) appointed John Greenfield and Col. Garry Spencer, of Detroit, and Samuel Axford, of' Macomb County, as commissioners to locate a county-site for Shiawassee. This appointment was made on the 12th of March, 1836, and on the 1st of April of the same year the commissioners' report was filed locating the county-site on the west half of the northeast quarter of section 28, in township 7 north, of range 3 east,-the present site of Corunna. Proclamation was issued by the Governor confirming the location on the Ist of July, 1836.
The commissioners while examining the different loca- tions made their headquarters at the Exchange (the Williams trading-post ). They were accompanied by the Hon. Jacob M. Howard, B. O. Williams, and others. Three days were spent in examining the different locations, visiting the Big Rapids (Owosso) and other points, and after consultation, decided upon the present site. The organizing aet provided that the courts should be held in such place as the sheriff of the county should select, and the first court was held at the place known as the Shiawassee Exchange, in the school- house, on the 4th day of December, IS37. The October term of 1838 was held at the house of Lucius W. Beach, at Shiawasseetown, and adjournment was made to November of the same year, at the " Exchange." For some reason not
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