History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan, Part 40

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 40
USA > Michigan > Shiawassee County > History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan > Part 40

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).

In November, 1869, the lot occupied by the present church edifice was purchased, and in September, 1870, the church building was removed upon it. Rev. C. E. Hul- burt began his labors in April, 1871, and remained until June, 1873. Rev. Joel Lyon then supplied until March 1, 1874, when Rev. Welcome L. Farnum, the present pastor, settled.

The present church edifice, a brick structure forty by seventy feet, was commenced in May, 1875, and dedicated May 17, 1877. It has sittings for four hundred people, and cost ten thousand dollars. Present membership of the church, two hundred and sixty-three. The Sabbath- school connected with it was organized in 1860. Welling- ton White and Gilbert L. Osborn were chosen deaeons in December, 1877. They with Elias Comstock compose the present diaconate officers. The present elerk, Erastus E. White, has served in that capacity sinee the organization of the church, in 1856.

THE FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF OWOSSO

was organized Jan. 18, 1853. The first meeting, and other subsequent ones until the building of their church edifice, was held in the school-house, the building now ocenpied by the German Lutherans.

Among the early members were Amos Gould, Charles L. Goodhue, Anson B. Chipman, D. Lyon Thorpe, Erastus Barnes, John B. Barnes, B. W. Davis, and Alfred L. Wil- liams. The first board of trustees was composed of Amos Gould, Charles L. Goodhue, D. Lyon Thorpe, Anson B. Chipman, and Erastus Barnes. Rev. O. M. Goodale was

# Ile was married to Wealthy Irons, by Rev. Benjamin B. Brig- ham, Deo. 22, 1837. Another early marriage was that of Walter R. Seymour to Nancy Ann Findley, by Samuel N. Warren, J. P., July 2. 1837. These are the earliest marriages of which we have obtained any authentic data.

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CITY OF OWOSSO.

chosen chairman of the second meeting of the society, but whether he was the first pastor the records do not show.

A church edifice was erected in 1854-55. Rev. A. Il. Fletcher became pastor in 1858, and served during the succeeding year. Other pastors were James R. Griffis in 1860; A. Sanderson, 1862; Henry Cherry, 1863; John Patchin, 1864 to 1868 inclusive ; Charles H. Bissell, 1869- 70; D. W. Sharts, 1871 to 1874 inclusive; D. A. More- house, 1875; Rev. L. O. Lee, July, 1875, to May, 1880.

In the summer of 1871 the work of enlarging the church building was completed, and it was then reded- icated. The society now numbers two hundred and eighteen members.

CHRIST CHURCH (PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL) OF OWOSSO.

This parish was organized under the ministrations of the Rev. Thomas B. Dooley and the Rev. Henry Banwell, May 10, 1858. For some two years previously, however, Revs. Messrs. Dooley, Banwell, and Brown, representing the Pon- tiac, Lansing, and Flint Churches, had visited the people here, and held occasional services in the school-house and in a public hall.

The corner-stone of the church edifice was laid Sept. 26, 1859, and the building was consecrated by the bishop of the diocese Nov. 18, 1871. The structure is of brick, with tower, spire, nave, and chancel. Its dimensions are eighty by thirty-six feet, and its interior decorations are most beautiful. Complete, it cost ten thousand dollars. Not the least among the attractions of this handsome edifice is a sweet-toned bell of two thousand pounds from the foundry of Meneeley & Kimberly, Troy, N. Y., bearing the following inscription :

" D. O. M. 1879. Christ Church Owosso. S S Ifarris Bishop L B Stimson Rector Et Spiritus Et Spousa Dieunt Veni."

Since its organization the following clergymen have of- ficiated as reetors of the parish : Revs. Henry Banwell, Thomas B. Dooley, Augustus Bush, George A. Whitney, and Levi B. Stiuson.

ST. PAUL'S (ROMAN CATHOLIC) CHURCH

was organized in the fall of 1871, the original members being Peter Connelly, Michael Dwyer, John Connelly, John Murphy, John Wade, Patrick Downey, William Dwyer, Michael Grady, Michael Howard, Phil Kavanagh, Frank Hurst, Charles Hagan, Martin Clary, Lawrence Doyle, Michael Rourke, Thomas Grady, Jerry King, Michael Carmody, Joseph Constein, Patrick Rourke, Wil- liam Cook, Patrick Carmody, James Laffin, John Tracey, Tim Conroy, Michael Toole, John Hogan, Richard Haley, Patrick Cavanaugh, Daniel Sweeney, William Tracy, Mrs. John Huntington, Edward Marony, John Ilollerau, James McCarty, Mrs. William Ellis, Richard Grace, Maurice Mack, Philip Butler, James Evans, David Burns, John O'Neil, Michael Doyle, Patrick Hamberry, William Marrah, James Tobin, Patrick Gorman, John Haley, Patrick Koyn, Richard Walsh, and Michael Keyes.

Their church edifice was commenced in 1872, and roofed in December, 1874. It is of brick, as yet unfinished, costing so far over twenty-three thousand dollars, and has sittings at the present time for five hundred people. One hundred and nine families constitute the present member- ship.

Rev. J. J. Kraemer served as pastor until the spring of 1877, when he was succeeded by the present incumbent, Rev. James Wheeler.

THE FIRST METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH

of Owosso was organized about the year 1856. Its records are meagre, and not much can be learned from them con- cerning the history of this organization. Their first house of worship is now owned and occupied by the Lutherans. A second church edifice was built in 1865 at a cost of nearly five thousand dollars. It has about three hundred sittings. Among those who have served as pastors have been Revs. Seth Reed, James T. Ilankinson, J. C. Coch- rane, James Venning, Elijah H. Pilcher, J. S. Joslin, T. Wilkinson, D. Whitely, W. J. Clack, H. IIodlekiss, C. R. Kellerman, and W. H. Osborne.

SALEM'S (GERMAN) CHURCH OF OWOSSO,

of the Evangelical Association, was organized by the Rev. John M. Houk, April 22, 1862. The first services were held in the dining-room of the building now known as the Exchange Hotel, of which, at that time, Jacob Aberly was proprietor, and among the original members were Christiau Moesner, Frederick Gutekunst, Frederick Launstein, John Miller, Christian Kurrle, Frederick Kurrle, John Storrer, Michael Strehl, Philip Schnabel, Hermann Schmidgall, and Mrs. Caroline Moore.

In the year 1864, under the management of Rev. John Meck, a house of worship, with sittings for two hundred people, was built at a cost of twelve hundred dollars.

The work of building up a church here commenced, however, in 1858, when the Ohio Conference of the Evan- gelical Association sent as missionaries to this region the Revs. Frederick Zeller and Christopher Roehm.

Mr. Houk was succeeded by Rev. John Meck, and be in turn by Mr. Houk again. Subsequent pastors have been Revs. C. Ude, two years; Christopher Roehm, two years ; J. M. Fuchs, two years ; S. Henne, two years ; John Orth, one year; Frederick Schweizer, two years; and Lewis Brumm, the present incumbent.

Meantime, churches of this denomination have been es- tablished in the townships of New Ilaven and Bennington. In 1875 each of them erected houses of worship, and in 1877 the church in Chesaning, Saginaw Co.,-which is also in this district,-erected a church edifice. Two hun- dred members of this denomination now reside in the county of Shiawassee.

Rev. John M. Houk, who has served as the presiding elder of this district for the past seven years, relates that nineteen years ago he traveled through six different coun- ties to preach to the Germans. Then they were poor, and but few in numbers; now they are wealthy, and greatly multiplied.

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HISTORY OF SHIAWASSEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

ALFRED L. WILLIAMS.

BENJAMIN O. WILLIAMS.

The gentleman whose name heads this biographical sketch, and his brother, Alfred L. Williams, were the first two white settlers in Shiawassee County, forty-nine years ago; and both have been residents in, and among the most prominent citizens of Owosso, for a period of forty-three years,-with the exception of temporary absences in the prosecution of their extended business enterprises elsewhere. Their father, Maj. Oliver Williams, was also a well-known and universally respected citizen of Michigan (a resident of Detroit and of Oakland County) for more than a quarter of a century.

In the year 1638, Robert Williams emigrated from Wales to America, and settled in Roxbury, Mass. For more than two hundred years his descendants lived in that place, from which most of the families of the name in this country have sprung. Oliver Williams, one of the sixth generation from his ancestor, Robert, was born in Roxbury, on the 27th of August, 1774. Ile was early apprenticed, and learned the trade of hatter, which business he carried on at Con- cord, Mass., for several years. In 1796 he married Miss Mary Lee, a native of Concord (born July 11, 1777), and continued to live in that town until 1808, when he came to Michigan, and established a general mercantile business in connection with the fur trade, making his headquarters at Detroit. He purchased his goods in Boston, Mass., carried them in covered wagons to Buffalo, N. Y., and transported them thence by water carriage on Lake Erie to Detroit, generally making two trips in a year to and from Boston, and traveling on horseback between that city and Buffalo. During the year 1811 his purchases of goods in Boston amounted to more than sixty-four thousand dollars.

BENJAMIN O. WILLIAMS.

In the winter of 1810-11, Maj. Williams had built, at the mouth of the Rouge River, a large sloop, which he named " Friends Good Will," designed to be used for the transportation of goods upon the lakes, in the prosecution of his business. In the summer of 1812 the sloop (with Maj. Williams on board as supercargo) visited the port of Michilimackinac, where she was chartered by the United States authorities to transport military supplies thence to Fort Dearborn, Chicago, and to bring back furs and other merchandise from the government factor there to Detroit. Before the return of the vessel to Michilimackinac that post had fallen into the hands of the enemy, and upon her entrance into the harbor ou her way back to Detroit sbe was seized by the British commandant as a prize of war. Maj. Williams was made a prisoner, but was paroled and sent to Detroit, and was there when the town was afterwards dis- gracefully surrendered by Gen. Hull. The sloop " Friends Good Will" was renamed by her British captors the " Little Belt," and being armed with a battery of three guns, took part in the naval battle of Lake Erie, in 1813. There she was recaptured by Commodore Perry, and in the following winter was destroyed by fire at Buffalo.

In the fall of 1815, Maj. Williams removed his family, consisting of his wife and nine children,-six sons and three daughters,-to Detroit. They traveled in a carriage and a four-horse covered wagon from Concord, Mass., to Buffalo, taking passage at the latter place on the schooner " Mink" for Detroit, where they arrived on the 5th of November, and where the family made their home for about four years.

Maj. Williams had lost very heavily by the capture of his vessel and other disasters during the war of 1812-15, and finding it impossible to obtain reimbursement from the

RESIDENCE OF B. O. WILLIAMS. OWOSSO, MICH.

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CITY OF OWOSSO.

United States, or in any manner to recover the property lost, determined to leave Detroit and become a farmer. Having that object in view, he purchased, in 1818, three hundred and twenty aeres in Waterford township, Oakland Co., a short distance northwest of Pontiac, and to this traet he removed his family in 1819. Here, upon the homestead which became widely known as the " Silver Lake farm," he passed the remainder of his life in quiet and in enjoyment of the respeet and esteem of his numerous friends and ac- quaintances. His death occurred on the 7th of October, 1834, at the age of sixty years.

The children of Maj. Oliver and Mrs. Mary Williams were fourteen in number, twelve of them being born in Massachusetts and two in Detroit. Of the latter, one died in infancy, and of the former, four died young. Those who lived to maturity were the following, viz. :

1. Ephraim S. Williams, born at Concord, Mass., Feb. 7, 1802. He was an early settler in Saginaw County, and is now living in the city of Flint, Genesee Co.

2. Gardner D. Williams, born in Concord, Sept. 9, 1804. Ile was an early settler at Saginaw, and died there in 1858.

3. Caroline Lee Williams, born at Concord, Feb. 11, 1806. Married Rufus W. Stevens, of Grand Blane, Gene- see Co., and lived there and at the city of Flint. She died in 1850.

4. Mary Ann Williams, born at Concord, May 9, 1807. Married Schuyler Hodges, of Pontiac, Oakland Co., and is still residing there.

5. Alfred L. Williams, born at Concord, July 18, 1808. Settled in Shiawassee Co., Mich., in 1831. His residence is at Owosso, though temporarily living in Virginia, in charge of a railroad enterprise.

6. Benjamin Oliver Williams, born iu Concord, Nov. 18, 1810. Settled in Shiawassee County in 1831. Came to Owosso in 1837, and still resides there.

7. Alpheus F. Williams, born in Concord, Nov. 12, 1812. An early settler in Saginaw. Removed to Califor- nia, and now resides at Oakland in that State.

8. Harriet L. Williams, born at Concord, Mass., Feb. 10, 1814. Married George W. Rodgers, at Pontiac, Oakland Co., and now resides in California.

9. James Monroe Williams, born at Detroit, Mich., on the day (Aug. 14, 1817) when his excelleney James Mon- roe, President of the United States, arrived in that city. Maj. Oliver Williams was marshal of the day on the ocea- sion of the publie reception of the President, and named his infant son in honor of the city's distinguished guest. James M. Williams is now living in Santa Rosa, Cal.

Alfred L. and Benjamin O. Williams were, as has been mentioned, the first two settlers in Shiawassee County. In August, 1831, they set out from Pontiae with two assist- ants and a double team loaded with goods, and passing through the intervening wilderness, came to the Shiawassee River at the point where that stream is now crossed by the Chicago and Lake Huron Railroad, and where A. L. Wil- liams had entered an eighty-acre traet of government land. Here they opened a trading-post, and soon after built the building which later became known as the "Shiawassee Exchange," a double house one and a half stories high,

used as a dwelling and store-house and afterwards as a tavern.

In July or August, 1833, the brothers Williams pur- chased lands at Che-boc-wa-ting, or the Big Rapids of the Shiawassee (Owosso), this being the first purchase of lands in the north half of the county. In 1835 the younger brother, B. O. Williams, established a mercantile business at Pontiac, and remained there two years.

In the spring of 1836, B. O. Williams, with his elder brother, Gardner D. Williams, of Saginaw, went to the city of Washington in charge of a party of thirteen Saginaw- Chippewa chiefs for the purpose of coneluding a treaty by which the Indians should sell to the United States the tribal reservatious granted them by the treaty of Saginaw in 1819. This negotiation was ultimately successful. The deputation remained about three weeks in Washington, and the whole journey consumed about two months,-the means of traveling at that time being by stage and canal.

In the spring of 1837, B. O. Williams returned from Pontiac to Shiawassee County, and with his brother, A. L., located permanently on their lands at Owosso, where they at once commenced extending and adding to the improve- ments which had been begun there under their direction in the fall of 1835. In this removal from their old trad- ing-post above, on the Shiawassee, they retained the " Shia- wassee Exchange" property, but this they sold the next year to the American Fur Company.

In 1838, B. O. Williams married Miss Sophia A. Smith, of Canandaigua, N. Y. His first dwelling-house was ereeted in Owosso, near the present residenee of A. L. Williams. He afterwards built a house ou the lot adjoin- ing Judge Gould's. The residence which he now occupies was built in or about 1869.

A contract for grubbing and clearing about forty miles of the line of the old " Northern Railroad" (from the centre of Shiawassee County westward to Lyons, Ionia Co.) was taken by A. L. and B. O. Williams, at $248.50 per mile, and one-half of the distance was sub-let by them to Messrs. Kipp and Moore, of Ionia. The work was com- meneed in November, 1838, and was completed in the summer of 1839, but resulted in loss to the contractors. In 1839, B. O. Williams and Daniel Ball took the contract to grade ten miles of the same road, eastward from Lyons, but only a part of this work was completed before the definite failure and abandonment of the project by the State.

Soon after the commencement of the California gold excitement, the brothers A. L. and B. O. Williams re- solved to try the experiment of mining on the Paeifie slope, and in the year 1850 they migrated thither, took up a elaim in Nevada County, and commenced operations. They named their claim " Pontiac Hill," and theirs were the first hill-diggings opened in California. The history of Nevada Co., Cal., gives to them the credit of finishing the first water-race for gold-washing in the county. It ran from Nevada City to Rough and Ready. Gold was found within thirty feet of where they commenced work, and ten feet below the surface they took out a ten-quart pan of earth which yielded one hundred and twenty-six penny- weights of gold. They remained at this place for two

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HISTORY OF SHIAWASSEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

years, then sold their claim and returned to Owosso. In May, 1852, they again went to California-sending a party of men with horses by the overland route-and purchased a water-right in Sierra County, which they worked suc- cessfully, and on which over half a million dollars has since been expended. Accompanying them were their brothers, Alpheus F. and James M. Williams, who re- mained in charge of the mining operations while the elder two returned to Michigan.

In 1863-64, B. O. Williams accompanied Col. Hayden, of Ohio, on a tour for the discovery and working of gold and silver mines in Honduras, Central America. They made a very thorough exploration of the region in question, but no extensive operations resulted from the discoveries made.

Alfred L. Williams was prominently identified with the project of the Amboy, Lansing and Traverse Bay Railroad, which was chartered in 1857. He became the first presi- dent of the company, and was chiefly instrumental in ob- taining for the road its proportion of the lands granted to the State of Michigan in aid of railroads by act of Con- gress passed in 1856. Mr. Williams continued to be one of the most prominent men in the management of this railroad until its sale, in 1864. In 1876 he, with several associates, obtained from the State of Virginia a grant giving them the use of the tow-path of the James River Canal as a bed for a railway to run from the city of Rich- mond westwardly to Clifton Forge, in Allegany County, there to intersect the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad at the latter point. The enterprise is a most promising one, and Mr. Williams is now in Virginia engaged in its prosecution.

Benjamin O. Williams has always acted with the Demo- cratic party from the casting of his first vote, in 1832, until the present time. He has frequently served the party as delegate to State conventions and in other similar ways, but has never had any political aspirations. Ile has held the offices of justice of the peace, mayor of the city of which he was one of the founders, and has been elected to a number of minor positions, but he has never held an office which was the result of his own seeking. His family have resided in Owosso from 1838 until the present time. Ile has three children living, viz. : James A. and Charles S., who are engaged in business at Owosso, and Benjamin O., Jr., who is freight-agent of the Great Western Railroad at Detroit.

TION. AMOS GOULD.

The life-work of few men illustrates more graphically a series of struggles and triumphs than does that of Judge Amos Gould, of Owosso. An honored and successful coun- selor, a faithful and industrious practitioner, he has ever maintained that reputation for fidelity to duty which is the general characteristic of the American lawyer. His ac- quirements were not attained as light and idle pastimes. Each advance step was taken after due deliberation, and was then laboriously maintained. Years added to his strength,

and untiring industry greatly increased his stock of knowl- edge, until in the full and complete man we scarcely discern the feeble beginning.

The knowledge of Mr. Gould's ancestry begins with his grandfather, Capt. Ebenezer Gould, of Killingly ( Windham Co.), Conn. He was a young married man of good repute, by occupation a farmer, who attained the rank of captain of militia during the Revolutionary war, and later removed to Granville, Washington Co., N. Y. He purchased a large farm, which he improved and lived upon until his death, which occurred about 1808. Mrs. Gould. his wife, was a Miss Robbins, of Connecticut, and became the mother of eighteen children, who were at one time all residing under the parental roof. The father of Amos Gould, after his marriage, about the year 1805, to Miss Polly Simmons, removed from Granville to the old town of Aurelius, south of Auburn, N. Y., where their son Amos was born, Dec. 3, 1808. The father there purchased a farm and began the work of clearing, to which he devoted himself with vigor until called again to the early home to participate in the settlement of the estate of his parent. In 1813 he re- turned to his purchase in Cayuga Co., N. Y.

Amos has a vivid recollection of those early days, and recalls distinctly the war of 1812. On their return from the East troops were seen encamped along the Mohawk River. Farther west, in Onondaga County, the camp-fires were burning, and a regiment of cavalry overtook the emi- grants on the route to their home, and having divided. rode swiftly past and disappeared in the distance.

The son remained on the farm with his father assisting in the labors of the husbandman, and devoting the winter to such study as was afforded by the public school of the neighborhood.

From the age of ten years Amos developed a fondness for reading, and eagerly availed himself of such material as was afforded by the ladies' library established in the vi- cinity. One or two private collections were also accessible to him.

In 1824 an opportunity occurred of enjoying the supe- rior advantages of a school in Auburn, where the languages were taught, and where he added greatly to the limited knowledge of Latin he had previously acquired. This con- tinued with interruptions for two years, after which the academy at Aurora, Cayuga Co., opened its doors to him, and in 1827 he entered the sophomore class at Hamilton College, Clinton, N. Y.

Mr. Gould pursued his studies until an unfortunate cir- cumstance caused the temporary suspension of the institu- tion, when, lacking means to enter another seat of learning, he engaged in teaching in Auburn, N. Y. Ile also en- tered at this time the office of William H1. Seward as a student of law.

Later he became associated with Theodore Spencer, son of Chief Justice Spencer, of New York, and received as clerk a compensation which materially aided him in his early struggles. Itis admission to the bar of the Supreme Court and the Court of Chancery of New York occurred in the fall of 1832.

He soon after opened an office, and at once found himself' in rivalry with the leading talent of Western New York,

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161

including Judge F. J. Jewett, of Skaneateles, James R. Lawrence, Judge B. D. Noxon, of Syracuse, and other noted lawyers. Ile ultimately formed a copartnership with George Rathbun and continued it several years, the firm having enjoyed an extensive practice throughout the State.

The partnership was dissolved in 1840, and Mr. Gould, having become involved and rendered liable for debts of his brother and brother-in-law, who were merchants in Owosso, Mich., and unsuccessful in business, coneluded to go to that place, and, if possible, close up the matter by the payment of the debts. He was also influenced by a desire to enjoy a change of climate, and thereby regain his health, which was much impaired by elose application to profes- sional duties. He therefore made Owosso his residence in 1843, and has remained there since that time. Two years later he resumed the practice of his profession in Shia- wassee and adjoining counties, and engaged actively in its duties until the year 1865, when he surrendered its eares and profits to his brother and former partner, Col. E. Gould, for whom he had retained the business during his service in the army. While in practice in New York Mr. Gould was appointed master in chaneery by his friend Wil- liam H. Seward, then Governor of the State, and later made by Chancellor Walworth injunetion master for the Seventh Judicial Circuit, the courts having been held at Auburn, N. Y. These offices he held till his removal to Michigan. In the fall of 1844 he was elected probate judge for Shiawassee County, and in the year 1852 to the Senate of the State of Michigan. He was also prosecuting attor- ney of the county, and was supervisor of the township of Owosso from 1844 to 1850. Mr. Gould has, since the Rebellion, affiliated with the Republican party, but has ever made principle a stronger motive than party in the casting of his ballot. He has even been induced to change his relations with one great party when its platform and measures did not accord with his views of right. The State election of 1855 found him a candidate of the Demo- cratic party for the office of attorney-general, but when cir- cumstances arising from the late war witnessed the with. drawal of many of the strongest supporters of the party, Mr. Gould was among them. He organized, in 1865, the First National Bank of Owosso, and has been since that time its president, owning a majority of the stock. He is also engaged in the superintendence of his large farm of twelve hundred aeres, and the management of extensive land and lumber speeulations, which, at the advanced age of seventy-two years, make him still an active man, and one immersed in business enterprises.

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History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan, Part 40

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