History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan, Part 48

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 48
USA > Michigan > Shiawassee County > History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan > Part 48

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).

$549.27

Paid women teachers 364.00

Total resources for the year

2066.80

RELIGIOUS.

THE FIRST METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF BEN- NINGTON,

whose church edifice is situated in the village of Benuing- ton Station, was organized about the year 1869, when Rev. John Maywood came here as the preacher in charge of the Bennington Circuit. Previously the members of this denomination living here had been included in the Owosso Cireuit.

The early meetings were held in the school-house; but very soon after this became a regular appointment the building of a house of worship was agitated, and the mat- ter received such favorable consideration that the present structure was commenced in 1869, completed and dedicated in February, 1871, at a cost, including bell, organ, etc., of two thousand eight hundred dollars.

Among the carly members were Apollos Dewey, Mr. Ilalstead and wife, Nelson Waugh and wife, Orra Waugh and wife, William and Nellie Waugh. But a short time subsequently, James Byerly and wife, Mrs. Mary Thorpe, Mrs. William Byerly, Mrs. Juliet Rowell, and others joined the organization.

The Sabbath-sehool antedates the church by about one year, Mr. Gould, a superannuated minister, assisted by James Byerly and Mrs. Juliet Rowell, having established a Sabbath-school in the school-house in June, 1868. The schools have had an uninterrupted continuance to the pres- ent, and have ever formed one of the prominent features of this church. To Mrs. Rowell, who, during the superintend- ency of Messrs. Gould and Byerly, assumed full charge in the absence of either, great credit is due for the success which has hitherto attended their sessions.

Rev. Mr. Wilkinson succeeded Mr. Maywood. Other pastors have been Revs. Whitley, Clack, Thompson, Laing,

District.

$36.80

District.

fractional districts.

children of school age residing in

24.42

Paid men teachers.

194

HISTORY OF SHIAWASSEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

and Frederick Strong, the latter being the present incum- bent. Number of present members, sixty. In this charge is included the Newburg class ; also one at Pittsburg of forty members.

EMMANUEL CHURCH OF THE EVANGELICAL ASSOCIA- TION IN BENNINGTON.

The members of this church crected a house of worship in 1875, and the society was incorporated June 26, 1876. Those named as corporators were Gottlieb Reuss, Henry Wentz, Christian Berrick, Henry Merkler, John Hortman, Michael Bower, Frederick Schuknecht, Jacob Schmidtgall, Christian Kock, Frederick Hinspader, Simon Salisbury, George Merkler. F. Klein, John Crutts, and C. Crutts. This church belongs to the district of which Rev. John M. Houk is presiding elder, and includes churches at Owosso, Bennington, New Haven, and Chesaning.

THE PITTSBURG CHURCH OF BENNINGTON,

of which Joseph Place, Mary M. Place, Mary J. Gardner, Sarah Hutchings, Hiram Pierson, B. C. Chittenden, and Josephine Chittenden were named as members, was incor- porated April 2, 1877. At a meeting held in the school- house in Pittsburg, May 15, 1877, Rev. M. Hayden chairman, Joseph Place, D. P. Austin, and Albert Gillett were elected trustees. This church has erected a house of worship in the small village of Pittsburg, which structure is also occupied by the Pittsburg Methodist Episcopal class.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

ISAAC GALE.

Isaac Gale was born at Berne, Albany Co., N. Y., on the 4th of December, 1808. His parents were Roger and Anna (Sherburne) Gale. The Gale family came to America some time in the seventeenth century and settled in the Eastern States. The Sherburne family were originally from Germany, emigrating from that country to England in the sixteenth century, and from the latter country to America at a somewhat later date.

The young man remained at home, working on his father's farm until he was twenty-one years of age, in the mean time availing himself of such means of education as were afforded by the ordinary district schools of the day.

Soon after his arrival at manhood, and after careful con- sideratiou, he determined to follow, as the principal avoca- tion of his life, the pursuit of agriculture, considering it the most independent, and the safest and surest road to a reasonable competence, and one that would afford the most ample time for reading and contemplation, as well as a safe asylum from the cares and perplexities of ordinary business pursuits.

With this determination he bravely pushed out alone, without an acquaintance or companion, and came to the then wilderness and Territory of Michigan ; traveling by

the Erie Canal to Lake Erie, and thence by the steamer " Niagara," commanded by the famous seaman, Captaiu Blake,-eccentric and rough, but as kind of heart as a woman. On the 15th day of May, 1830, he landed at De- troit, then but an inferior frontier village. From there he went to Superior township, in the eastern part of Washte- naw County, near Ypsilanti, where he commenced improving one hundred and sixty acres of timbered land; cleared a few acres, which he planted with wheat, and returned to New York, where, on the 4th day of September, 1831, he married Miss M. A. Wilbur, and came back to his farm in Washtenaw County, where he continued to reside until April, 1840.

Miss Wilbur was a daughter of Henry and Lydia Shelden Wilbur, of Dutchess County, N. Y., where she was born September 4, 1813.

During his stay upon his new farm Mr. Gale made many improvements, and also served the people as township clerk and school inspector. Previous to 1840 he exchanged his farm for a larger tract of new land in Bennington, Shiawassee County, to which he removed in April, 1840, and where he has continued to reside to the present time. His property has grown till it embraces three hundred and eighty acres, the greater portion of which is well improved, and on which are good buildings and the necessary conveniences of a well-conducted farm.

After many years devoted to agricultural pursuits, Mr. Gale can look back with satisfaction and truly say, " If I were again young, with the experience and observatiou I have had, I should certainly choose the same occupation."

In addition to his labors upon the farm, Mr. Gale has been called to officiate in another sphere as a servant of the people, and as a prominent business man in various positions. In the spring of 1841 he was elected to the office of justice of the peace, which he has held for a period of thirty-six years, a fact of itself sufficient to prove his character and standing. He has also held the office of supervisor of the township for fifteen years, and served four years as second judge of the county court before that tribunal was superseded by the Circuit Court. He was an industrious student, and upon his election as justice began a systematic study of statute and common law by utilizing the long winter evenings, rainy days, aud other leisure time. In the early days of Michigan an extensive business, both civil and criminal, came before the justices of the peace. Mr. Gale remembers with gratitude the timely advice and valuable assistance tendered him by the late Governor Parsons, and Hon. Amos Gould, of Owosso, hoth then practicing before the justices' courts. In his capacity as a justice of the peace, Mr. Gale considered it his duty to advise a settlement of all difficulties withont litigation if it were possible.

During a period of ten years he was engaged in the bank- ing business at Corunna, under the firm-name of J. B. Wheeler & Co. The firm did a private business, in which they were reasonably successful. At the end of ten years they sold the business to other parties who have since closed it up.

Mr. Gale has also been a prominent railroad man. In connection with W. L. Bancroft and others, commencing

ISAAC GALE

MRS ISAAC GALE .

195

BENNINGTON TOWNSHIP.

about 1868-70, he took an active part in the construction of a road from Port Huron to Lansing. Between Port Huron and Fliut this road was known as the Port Huron and Lake Michigan road, and between Flint and Lansing as the Chicago and Northeastern road. These now form a part of the Chicago and Grand Trunk line. He was one of the directors of the company, and worked through the trying times when the company, like many others, was poor, and the work progressed very slowly. When this road and the one building at the same time between Lansing and South Bend, Ind., were consolidated under the name of the Chicago and Lake Huron Railroad, he was elected a diree- tor in the new company. When the Chicago and North- eastern Company was organized for the purpose of con- strueting the link lying between Lansing and Flint, Mr. Gale resigued his position, and was elected to the office of vice-president of the last-named company, which position' he occupied until the final sale of the entire line to the Canada Grand Truuk Company, in September, 1879.

Mr. Gale spent a considerable portion of twelve years in the interests of the various segments of what now eonsti- tute a great international line of railway, during which period the profits and losses about balanced each other, leaving to him as the only valuable acquisition an extensive experience and the knowledge gained by contact with an able and energetic class of business men, of whom he con- siders Hon. W. L. Bancroft, of Port Huron, the prominent representative, and the one to whom, above all others, the credit is due for pushing to completion a great and valuable line of railway.

The subject of this memoir is now living with his wife on his farm, which is managed by his son ; and his conclu- sion, after a busy life, is that, were he to commence anew, he would set aside all business except that pertaining to the occupation of farming, and bend all his energies to the cultivation of the soil and its kindred pursuits. He con- siders a sand bank more valuable to the farmer than any other, and has come to the conclusion that "Short-horn" and " Alderney stock" is much better than railway stock as an investment.

Politically Mr. Gale favored the election of John Quincy Adams in 1828. During the existence of the Whig party he was a strong advocate of its principles, and on the for- mation of the present Republican party, in 1854, he asso- ciated himself with the Democracy, with which party he has since affiliated. He believes it the duty of all Ameri- can citizens to abide by and faithfully carry out every provision of the constitution until annulled or amended, not only by act of the general government, but by every State in the Union.

In religious opinion and belief Mr. Gale has been a member and supporter of the Methodist Church for a period of thirty-six years. Ile claims to be free from see- tarian or bigoted views and feelings, and totally ignores the doctrines of election and reprobation as taught by Johu Calvin and his followers.

NEWCOMB MITCHELL.

Among the prominent farmers and early settlers of Ben- nington the subject of this biography is entitled to special mention. Although he is not a pioneer he has done much pioneer work. He has perfected a valuable record, and demonstrated his general worth as a eitizen. He was born in Bennington, Vt., Sept. 21, 1821. He was the son of Newcomb and Polly (Hone) Mitchell, who reared a family of eleven children,-six boys and five girls.

The elder Mitchell was a blacksmith, a sturdy, industrious man, but devoid of the faculty of money-getting, and his children were deprived of educational advantages, and their learning was obtained more from the bitter school of ex- perience than from books. When Newcomb, Jr., was a babe the family removed to New York, where his father followed his vocation, changing his residence from Syracuse, where he first located, to Lyons, and from there to Wyo- ming County. In 1844 he removed to Michigan, and set- tled in the town of Salem, Washtenaw Co. He returned to the State of New York, however, and died near Attiea, at an advanced age. At the age of ten years Newcomb was thrown upon his own resources. He first obtained employ- ment on a farm at a sixpence a day. His boyhood days were devoid of pleasure, and toil and privation seemed his lot ; but by reason of his surroundings he developed in youth many traits of character that might otherwise have remained dormant, and which have had an influence upon his future. He worked as a farm-laborer until he was twenty years of age, when he went to Buffalo and apprenticed himself to the trade of a mason, which avocation he followed many years. In 1844 he came to Michigan, where his brother Calvin, now one of the prominent farmers of Washtenaw County, had settled the year previous in the town of Salem. Soon after his arrival the two brothers made a trip of obser- vation to Wisconsin Upon their return Newcomb purchased eighty acres of wild land in Salem, which he afterwards sold.

In the fall of 1847 he came to Lansing and engaged in the grocery trade. This venture, owing to the perfidy of his partner, proved disastrous. In the winter of 1849 he came to Beunington, and the following summer built the octagonal school building near Corunna. 1852 found him in the employ of the Michigan Central Railroad. In 1852 he returned to Bennington, and the following year commenced the improvement of his farm, which he had purchased in 1846. Here he has since resided, and to the original purchase of eighty acres has added one hundred and ninety acres. The farm is one of the best in the town- ship, and his commodious buildings aud finely-cultivated fields attest his thrift and success. In 1866, Mr. Mitchell married Miss Eliza, daughter of Dyer Phelps, one of the early settlers of the town of Shiawassee. She was born in Springfield, Pa., Christmas-day, 1835. Eight children have been born to them,-three boys and five girls.

Mr. Mitchell is emphatically a self-made man. Starting in life with only his strong pair of hands and a robust consti- tution, he has attained success in all departments of life.

In his political and religious affiliations he is a Republican and a Methodist, and among the representative men of Bennington he occupies a foremost position.

196

HISTORY OF SHIAWASSEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

Pioneer biographies are usually devoid of romantie incidents and startling events, but are always replete with recitals of hardships and privations that to the present generation sound more like fiction than fact. Many lessons of in- dustry, indomitable perseverance, and rigid economy can be gleaned from them; and while all are of historical importance, special in- terest is felt in the life of that adventurous individual who made the first permanent settlement. To Samuel Nichols belongs the honor not only of being the first white settler, but of building the

MRS. LYMAN HICKEY.

first house, felling the first tree, and plowing the first furrow within the present limits of the town of Bennington. Ile was born in the town of Hinsdale, Vt., in 1804. But little is known of his early history further than that he was left an orphan at the age of four years, and was reared by a gentle- man by the name of Philander Glover, in whose family he lived until he was fifteen years of age. He then started in life as a farm- laborer ; was industrious and ener- getic, and, by carefully husbanding his earnings, acquired a sum suf- ficient to purchase a home of his

SAMUEL NICHOLS.

MRS. SAMUEL NICHOLS.

own. In 1832 he bought a new farm near Jamestown, N. Y., on which he remained four years, when he sold his property and came to Bennington, where he made the first purchase of govern- ment land in the township as at present organized, it being the southwest quarter of the south- west quarter of seetion 24, town- ship 6 north, range 2 east. Upon this farm he resided until his de- cease, which occurred March 30, 1869, in the sixty-fifth year of his age.

In 1831 he married Miss Mi- randa Kathan. She was also a

LYMAN HICKEY.

native of Vermont, and was born in 1808. Although advanced in years, her recollections of the early days are still vivid, and she recalls many incidents in her pio- neer life that prove eonelusively that she was possessed of perse- veranec, energy, and remarkable fortitude, and that she is worthy of a conspicuous position among the pioneer women of Shiawassee County. She has been the mother of ten children, six of whom died in infaney. Of the four others, two only are living, Samuel and Mary M. The latter was married, in 1858, to L. Ilickey, who was

RESIDENCE OF L. HICKEY, BENNINGTON, MICH.

MRS N MITCHELL.

N. MITCHELL .

RESIDENCE OF NEWCOMB MITCHELL, BENNINGTON, MICH.

197

BENNINGTON TOWNSHIP.

born in Genesee County, N. Y., in 1824. His father came to Michigan with his family in 1824, and settled in the town of Commerce, Oakland Co., where Lemuel resided until 1840, when he came to Bennington, where he has since resided. He is also a pioneer, having been a resi- dent of the town for forty years. He is the owner of the Nichols farm, on which he resides, a view of which appears on another page.

JOHN INNES.

The gentleman whose name heads this brief notice is one of the early settlers of Shiawassee, and was born in the city of Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, July 7, 1815. His father, also named John, was born in the parish of Mathlick. He was a manufacturer of linen and cotton goods, but in the later part of his life, owing to ill health, became a farmer. lIe married Miss Jane Frasier, and reared a family of four children,-two boys and two girls, -John being the eldest. In 1825 he removed from Peterhead to the place of his nativity, and leased a farm of Lord Aber- deen, on which he remained until his decease, which oc- curred at the ripe old age of eighty-seven years. He was an upright, honorable man, and highly esteemed by all who knew him. John assisted his father on the farm until he was sixteen years of age. He attended a parochial school, and obtained a good education.

Peterhead, the place of his birth, is a seaport town, and the most easterly city in Scotland, and the dream of his boyhood days was " a life on the ocean wave," and he deter- mined to follow the sea as the principal avocation of his life, but his plans were opposed by his parents, and he de- cided to come to America. June 18, 1836, he bade good- by to friends and relatives, and after a tedious voyage of seven weeks arrived in New York. He immediately started for the West, and first stopped at Huron, Ohio, where he found an organization known as the Ohio Com- pany, having for its object the development of lands in what is now the town of Shiawassee, Shiawassee Co. He engaged himself to this company, and with others started for Michigan. They arrived at Detroit in August, 1836, and the journey from that point to their destination was a tedious one. From Feuton there was nothing but an In- dian trail, and one week was consumed in their journey from that place to Shiawasseetown. He remained in the employ of this company until the autumn of 1837, and during that time assisted in the construction of the first saw-mill, grist-mill, and bridge within the present limits of the county.

This enterprise proved unsuccessful both to the company and Mr. Innes, and in the fall of 1837 he returned to Ohio, where he remained one year. IIe then started on an extended trip through the Southern States, stopping at Natchez, Vicksburg, New Orleans, and other important towns.

In June, 1838, he went into the northern part of Wis- consin, where he engaged in lumbering until the fall of 1840, when he again went South with the intention of making it his home. He remained, however, but four years,

during which time he was engaged in rafting lumber, cord- wood, and pickets to the New Orleans market. On his return North he stopped in the town of Perry, where he met his destiny in the person of Miss Orissa Howard, whom he married in April, 1845. Shortly after his mar- riage he leased a large farm at East Plains, Ionia Co., and commeneed farming. About one month after his marriage

JOHN INNES.

Mrs. Innes died, and in the January following he was again married to Mrs. Elizabeth Dean, who died thirteen months after. Just previous to the death of his wife he had purchased eighty aeres of land in Bennington, to which he subsequently added eighty acres more, and upon which he resided until his removal to Owosso in 1880. In October, 1849, Mr. Innes was married to Miss Margaret Yeats. She is a Scotch lady, and was born in the parish of New Deer, Aberdeenshire, Sept. 8, 1828. When she was ten years of age the family came to the United States and settled in Livingston Co., N. Y., where they resided until 1841, when they emigrated to Livingston Co., Mich. Mr. and Mrs. Innes have been blessed with three daughters, all of whom are living.

In his religious belief Mr. Innes is a Presbyterian. He is a man of positive character, tenacious of his opinions, which are formed by mature deliberation and investigation. He believes that "an honest man is the noblest work of God," and his practice is in accordance with his belief, and wherever he is known his word is considered as good as his bond. In his domestic relations he is a kind husband and an indulgent father. In his dealings with his fellow-men he is dignified and courteous, and possessed of much suavity of manner. His life has been an eventful one, and the early part was one of rough experiences and replete with hardship and privations; but notwithstanding the obstacles that beset his path his life has been a success, and now in the evening of his days, with his family around him and

198

HISTORY OF SHIAWASSEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

knowing that he has the respect and esteem of all, and that his success in all departments of life is due wholly to his own efforts, he feels that he has been rewarded.

JONATHAN M. HARTWELL.

This venerable pioneer was born in Norwich, Chenango Co., N. Y., July 29, 1801. Ilis father, Ebenezer Hart- well, was a native of Dutchess County, and was one of the early settlers of Chenango County. Ile married Rachel Mead, and reared a family of twelve children,-six boys and six girls. His father, Oliver llartwell, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and served during its continuance, par- ticipating in many decisive battles. He died at the advanced age of ninety-seven years.

Ebenezer Hartwell, or Deacon Ilartwell, as he was , familiarly known, was an energetic and successful farmer, and a man of undoubted integrity. He was a prominent member of the Baptist Church, and was closely identified with the history of Norwich and Chenango County. His wife was one of those good women of the olden time; she spun and wove, and reared her children to habits of indus- try and thrift. She died in Bennington in 1845.

Jonathan, as was the custom in those days, acknowledged obligation to his father in his labor until he attained his majority ; he acquired such au education as the district school of that day afforded. In 1822 he married Miss Eliza, daughter of Laban Crandall. She was a native of Dutchess County, and was born in the town of Amenia, Nov. 4, 1806. In his youth Mr. Hartwell evineed mueh enterprise and energy, and shortly after his marriage he purchased sixty acres of land near his father's farm, in- curring au indebtedness of one thousand dollars for the same. He remained upon this farm ten years; making sub- stantial improvements and freeing himself from debt. In 1832 he sold his farm and engaged in trade in North Nor- wich. Merchandising proved an uncongenial occupation, and he resolved to seek his fortune in the then Territory of Michigan. In the spring of 1837, in company with his brother-in-law, Ilorace Green, he came to Michigan on a tour of observation ; he was favorably impressed with the soil and natural advantages, and decided to make this State his home. lle returned East, and the following year (1838) again came to Michigan, and purchased eighty acres in section 24. He cleared, fenced, and plowed ten acres, built a log house, and went back to the State of New York, where he closed up his business, and November 10th of that year started for Michigan with his family, which consisted of his wife and five children. lle brought with him a stock of boots and leather, which found a ready sale among the settlers. The following summer he broke forty acres. He entered into the improvement of his farm with his usual energy, and the third year after his arrival sowed one hundred aeres of wheat. In 1849 he established a store near his present residence, and for a long time did an extensive business. lle also kept a house of entertainment for many years, and the " Hartwell Tavern" was known far and wide.

Mr. llartwell's record as a citizen and neighbor is an enviable one. llis word, whether given in a business trans- action or in ordinary conversation, is as good as his bond ; he has never sought political honors ; his aim in life has been to accumulate a competency and to win an unspotted reputation, and well has he succeeded. Socially he is genial and courteous, winning the regard and esteem of all with whom he comes in contaet. We should prove recreant to our duty did we not speak of the many virtues of his noble wife, who shared the hardships of early days, and to whose thrift, industry, and sage counsel he attributes much of his success ; her portrait, so full of character, in connection with his own and a view of the old home, may be seen elsewhere in this volume.

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History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan, Part 48

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