History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan, Part 57

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 57
USA > Michigan > Shiawassee County > History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan > Part 57

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

The business interests of the place may be summed up as follows :

A. N. Niles & Co. and C. K. Runnells, dry goods, gro- ceries, etc.

John Hart, groceries and clothing.

A. Krebs, harness, etc.

David Krebs, shoe-shop.

William Hill, blacksmith-shop.

N. Fenner, blacksmith-shop.

W. Il. Reid, blacksmith-shop.

E. P. Beam, wagon-shop.

John Sharp, restaurant and livery-stable.

James Berry, harness-shop.

Runnells & Craig, saw- and grist-mills.

N. Colby, hotel.

Dr. O. W. Tock is the active physician and surgeon of the place, and C. K. Runnells the postmaster.

By order. of the Post-Office Department the office has been changed to New Lothrop, though no change of a corresponding nature has been recorded with regard to the name of the village.

Flouring- Mill and Saw-Mill .- The flouring-mill of Run- nells & Craig, which has the reputation of being one of the most complete in the county in all its appointments, was constructed by the present proprietors in 1877. It is pro- pelled by an engine of thirty-five horse-power, and has three run of stones. It is devoted exclusively to custom- work, and has a capacity for grinding one hundred bushels of wheat and two hundred bushels of corn per day. The average custom-work done per day is eighty bushels, though at times this is greatly increased. The most approved moderu machinery for manufacturing flour by the patent process has been introduced.

The saw-mill owned by the same firm is also propelled by steam. It has an upright saw and an edger, and has a capacity for sawing five thousand feet of hard timber per day. The market is found in Owosso and East Saginaw.

HAZELTONVILLE.

A portion of the land upon which the village of Hazel- tonville is located was originally entered by Gen. James Wadsworth, of Geneseo, N. Y., in 1836, eighty acres of which was purchased by Eliakim Wood of the Wadsworth estate. That part which borders on section 14 was for- merly in possession of Hiram A. Fenner, while that on 22 -also a part of the Wadsworth purchase-was subse- quently controlled by H. J. Patterson. In the year 1872, Erastus Call and B. F. Duulap each erected a store, the former having also built a house and a cooper-shop. His residenee was brief, the same year having witnessed both his arrival and departure. During the year 1874, Almoud Kimball erected a saw-mill and a grist-mill on the Misteau- guay Creek, the power having been supplied by the stream upon which it is located. The latter was furnished with two run of stones and was devoted exclusively to custom- work. Dean Hartshorn had arrived some time before and opened a blacksmith-shop, which monopolized most of the work of the neighborhood. Soon after, Lewis Elliott

opened a similar shop, and shared the patronage with his predecessor. Several houses had meanwhile been erected, and in 1878 another blacksmith- and wagon-shop was opened. In 1879, Dana Bros. built a store, which was filled with a stock of goods adapted to the wants of their country trade ; and Thomas Aekerson and Benjamin San- born each established a wagon-shop. John Thompson also opened a boot- and shoe-shop, the only one in the place.

The Post-Office Department has established here an office, known as Hazelton, of which William Gage is post- master. There is no hotel in the hamlet, but travelers are entertained at the house of B. F. Dunlap.

JUDD'S CORNERS.

This point in the township was first settled by John Judd, who came from Connecticut to Genesce County in - 1836, and removed to Hazelton in 1853. Ile purchased of the Hazelton brothers four hundred acres of land on scetions 33 and 34 in the township, and section 3 in Venice. Ile settled at once on this land, erected a cabin, and elcared ten aeres. The following year fourteen acres were added to the former improvement and much of it sown with wheat, though the exceeding richness of the ground rendered the crop a poor one. Leeks were prolific in their growth, and the most formidable antagonist with which the settler con- tended.

In 1854 a school-house was created on seetion 34, in which Miss Jane Judd was the earliest teacher. George Pangborn bought a portion of section 34, upon which he soon after made a small clearing. It was not until many years later that any actual growth was apparent at the Cor- ners.

In 1877 a blacksmith-shop was opened by A. Babcock, and H. A. Brickwell built a saw-mill. In 1879 a spacious store was erected by Wellington Cameron, who placed in it a general stock of goods. His health failed soon afterwards and the business was assumed by John Judd, who now conducts the store. The saw-mill is at present operated by John Fitch & Son, and a shoe-shop has also been opened at the Corners. Dr. C. J. Annis is the physician and surgeon of the neighborhood.

The Methodist Episcopal church and the Grangers' hall are both located at Judd's Coruers. A post-office was established in 1879, with E. D. Babcock as postmaster.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

JOHN JUDD.

The genealogy of the Judd family traces their ancestry back to the puritanical times of 1633-34. Thomas Judd emigrated to this country, aud settled at Cambridge, Mass., being eight generations removed from the present subject of this sketch. John Judd, the father, married Abigail Palmer, a descendant of Governor Carver, first Governor of the State of Massachusetts. John Judd, the present, was the eldest of a family of seven children, and born at Hart- ford, Conn., June 15, 1809, where he continued uutil about

HAZELTON TOWNSHIP:

235

MRS. MATILDA JUDD, DEC'D.

twenty-one years of age, following the occupation of cooper. In that capacity he shipped aboard an outward-bound whaler, and for three years followed the sea, visiting the Portuguese island St. Helena, the burial-place of Napoleon, doubled Cape Good Hope, and fished in the Straits of Mozambique and Madagascar, visited the coast of Africa, and was twice shipwrecked, barely escaping a watery grave. He turned his face homeward, and on his arrival, July 27, 1834, married Matilda Leach,-whose parents were Thomas and Temper- ance Leach, descendants of the old Puritanical emigrants of that name who settled at Norwich, Conn.,-and without the tour which is considered so essential to the happiness of the newly wedded they immediately started a home at Hartford, Conn., where they resided until 1836, when a colony of the Methodist Church was organized for emigra- tion. Michigan was chosen as the future home. D. L. Belden was appointed agent, and came to Michigan, visited several localities, finally decided to locate in Genesce County, and purchased nineteen hundred aeres in the town of Rich- field. As the time for departure drew near one after another gave notice of their abandoning the enterprise, preferring the comforts of a home by name instead of one in reality in a new and unimproved country. At the day appointed but two, D. L. Belden and John Judd and family, departed, and, after the usual fatigue and hardships incident to a journey overland and by lake, they arrived at their destina- tion fatigued and sore, but not disheartened. Mr. Judd purchased eighty acres of Mr. Belden, to be paid for in work, and for a period of five years the struggle to meet his payments, improve his land, and maintain his constantly- inereasing family continued, when he was obliged to ex-

JOHN JUDD.

MRS. JOHN JUDD.

change his improved farm for wild land, necessitated by the non-payment of county orders, which he had received in payment for contract highway work. A journey half across the continent and we find them at Norwich, Conu. Broken and despondent, they turned back to seek rest. Five years later, with renewed strength and energy, they returned to begin anew the pioncer life, their past experi- ence being turned to good account. Mr. Judd invested their accumulations in merchandise, and connecting with it the manufacturing of black salts and potash, he was enabled to carry forward improvements more rapidly and with less physical labor to himself. In 1854 an exchange was made for four hundred acres in Hazelton township, Shiawassee Co., and for a third time he began the subduing of the wilderness. Since that time improvements have gone rapidly forward, resulting in a finely-improved farm-home. Not alone have men subdued the wilderness, but by their side come her upon whom no purer, holier appellation than that of wife can be bestowed. Sondering the ties that bind them to home and its hallowed influences, they go forth to do and endure for the sake of those who call them wife and mother. Such a one was Mrs. Judd, and when home comforts were provided, and while carefully instructing her own in the path of rectitude and virtue, she found time and opportunity to aid others. Originally she was a Con- gregationalist, but finding the majority of new-comers favoring Methodism Mr. and Mrs. Judd united their efforts in building up the cause, and to-day all join in acknowledg- ing the present advancement in church interest largely dne to their efforts. On April 18, 1869, Mrs. Judd passed away, aged sixty-six, having lived to see her family of five

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HISTORY OF SHIAWASSEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

children grown to men and women, and all within the ark of safety for which end she had so untiringly labored. Thomas, born April 30, 1835, at Hartford, Conn., resides at Macosta, Mo .; Jane M., born Sept. 19, 1838, at Rich- field, Genesec Co., Mich., wife of John Boman ; Edwin and Edward, born Sept. 1, 1840, at Richfield, each reside upon part of the old homestead ; John, born Dee. 14, 1841, at Norwich, Conn., also resides on part of the old homestead. All the male members of the family served during the Rebellion for a period of three years each. Edwin was taken prisoner at Gettysburg, John was wounded at Fall-

ing Waters, and Thomas at Murfreesboro', Tenn. All lived to return home.

In 1879, Mr. Judd married Mrs. Nancy Reed, who resided in Montrose township, Genesee Co., an active mem- ber of society and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, an early pioneer, and together they are journeying down the hill of life, surrounded by many friends. Mrs. Nancy Judd was born in 1816 in Lockport, Niagara Co., N. Y. Her maiden name was Nancy Perry. She was previously married to Willard Pettie, and reared a large family, now all grown to man and womanhood.

MRS. W. W. WARNER.

W. W. WARNER.

The family of Mr. Warner dates back to the early settle- ment of the English colonies. In this country his grand- father, Samuel Warner, resided at Hartford, Conn., follow- ing the occupation of miller, and was the father of five childreu. William II., a son, was born July 5, 1762, followed his father's occupation until of age, when he came as far West as Cortland Co., N. Y., and found employment at farming. Sept. 7, 1819, he married Polly Gill, by whom he had four children. Five years after this marriage they removed to Potter Co., Pa., where they spent the residue of their lives. W. W. Warner, whose portrait appears in this work, was born Aug. 11, 1824, at the first home, and after his boyhood days followed the oeeupation of millwright, carpenter, and joiner. In 1850 he married Susan Latta, a native of Steuben Co., N. Y., whose family had removed to Potter Co., Pa., as early as 1836. In the fall of 1852 he with his family journeyed West and located upon his present farm in Hazelton, then a wilderness, with but eight families residing in the township. From Flushing, Genesee Co., nothing but an Indian trail marked the way.

Turning from this, they ent a passage for the ox-team which he had hired to haul material for a shanty ; this completed he returned to Flushing, where Mrs. Warner had tarried, and on Nov. 24, 1852, built their first fire upon their hearth, which has ever during the pioneer life burned bright in welcome to others seeking a home in the wilderness. But years have passed, and by their industry the forests have disappeared and blooming orchards and smiling fields of grain are the results. Years of hard labor are reealled by many pleasant recollections and few regrets. To Mr. War- ner is attributed having sunk the first well and erected the second frame house in town. Not only in his own interests has he been a faithful worker, but at the first town-meeting was elected to office, served as supervisor, and nearly all the years of his residence in the township has held some office of public trust with honor to himself and satisfaction to his townsmen. Their family consists of two sons, William L., born Aug. 10, 1854; George W., born Feb. 8, 1859, who studiously endeavor to assume the burden of labor endured by their parents to rear them to manhood.

HAZELTON TOWNSHIP.

237

JESSE RHOADES.

MRS. JESSE RHOADES.

JESSE RHOADES.

In the carly settlement of Shiawassee County came Jesse Rhoades and wife. A year previous he had pur- chased of R. Ewings (a brother of Mrs. Rhoades, residing in Flushing), eighty acres on section 25, llazelton township. The facilities for obtaining the early history of the family are very meagre. They were natives of Vermont, removed to the State of New York, sojourned for a time, then with the tide of emigration came West to Geanga Co., Ohio, thence to their purchase as above, in the fall of 1852. The family consisted of nine children. The eldest, Allen, had married previous to his coming, locating on section 26, where he lived until 1862, when he enlisted in the Sixth Michigan Cavalry, participated in many engagements, was taken prisoner, and died in a rebel prison ; Clark, resides in llazelton ; Sarah, wife of John HIarle, of Flushing, Genesee Co .; Ransom, proprietor of the homestead ; Marshal, resides in Hazelton ; Harriet, wife of J. St. Johns, resides in Clayton, Genesce Co .; Martha, wife of J. Gillett, of Saginaw ; Haskall, re-

moved to Missouri, and enlisted in 1862 in the United States Army, and was killed in battle; Asa, when last heard from, was in California. Mr. Rhoades being in feeble health, the management of affairs devolved upon Ransom, and to him is due the peace and comfort of their declining days. The father died in the fall of 1868. The mother survived to the good old age of eighty-four, departing this life March 24, 1876.

Ransom, having the care of his aged parents resting upon him, did not enlist at the breaking out of the Rebel- lion, but feeling it his duty upon the last call of 1864, en- listed in the Ninth Michigan Infantry, and served till the close of the war. Soon after his return he married Miss Almira Sharp, whose parents lived in Hazelton. Two chil- dren have been born to them. In politics Mr. Rhoades is a Democrat, but is not a politician. In his domestic rela- tions he is a good husband, father, and friend, and in every sense a worthy citizen.

JOHN BOMAN.

John Boman was born April 18, 1831, in Bavaria, Germany, and traces his ancestry among the wealthy rep- resentative people of their time, and is the only member of that family who has adopted this country as a home, except- ing a nephew, Godfritz Happ, who accompanied Mr. Bow- man on his return to America from a visit to his native land. At the breaking out of the German Rebellion, in 1848, Mr. Boman was drafted to serve in King Ludwig's army of Bavaria for a period of six years. Soon after joining the command to which he was assigned, the entire regiment forsook the king's cause and joined the revolu- tionists. After a brief struggle they were compelled to seek safety in another land. Still following the fortunes of his leaders, Hecker, Carl Schurz, Sigel, and others more prominently known in this country, he came to America,

arriving in New York, Aug. 1, 1850, a stranger in a strange land, with only one dollar, one-half the sum of his available possession. lle came to Buffalo, N. Y., where he succeeded in finding employment at four dollars per month, and con- tinned in that vicinity for a period of four years, when with his accumulated wages he purchased eighty acres of his present property.

The following year he came to Michigan, working at lumbering and also making some small improvements upon his farm. On July 19, 1857, he married Miss Jane M. Judd, the history of whose family is given in this work. Together they began the labor of subdning the forest and establishing a home. We need not comment upon their success further than by calling attention to the view of their home presented in this work. In politics Mr. Bowman

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HISTORY OF SHIAWASSEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

was Democratic, but at the breaking out of the Rebellion eulisted in the Second Michigan Cavalry, participating in several small engagements, and was discharged with the regiment, thoroughly convinced that the party and principle that had so successfully closed the struggle should be sus- tained, and when elections occur a straight ticket can be counted upon from him.

Mr. Boman is not a church member, but favors the Methodist Episcopal Society, of which Mrs. Boman is a member, and has been since her girlhood days. Together they have contributed largely to the building up and sus- taining that institution in their vicinity. The family con- sists of six children,-Louisa and Alice, dying in infancy ; Matilda, born Oct. 2, 1858, wife of A. Campbell, and re- sides in Saginaw ; Charles, born Sept. 23, 1867; Ida A., born April 9, 1869; Jamie, born Dec. 8, 1877.

CHAPTER XXXV.

MIDDLEBURY TOWNSHIP .*

Description-The Pioneers of Middlebury-Additions to the Settle- ment-Township Organization and List of Officers-Township Ronds-Mail Service in Middlebury - Burial-places - Religious History of tho Township -- Schools-Middlebury Cheese-Factory.

THE township of Middlebury, lying upon the western border of Shiawassee Conuty, contains but twenty-four full sections and six fractional sections. Fairfield township bounds it on the north, Sciota on the south, Owosso on the east, and the Clinton County line on the west.

Middlebury has always been entirely an agricultural town, and as such ranks high. The soil is very produc- tive, and the gently-rolling surface of the country, liberally embellished with fine farms and elegant farm-houses, is very attractive. Indeed, especial emphasis may justly be laid upon the subject of the homes of Middlebury, for they are upon every hand charming pictures in the land- scape, adorned in many cases at great expense and with refined taste.

Six schools provide for the educational wants of the community ; but in the matter of churches the supply is confined to one church cdificc, although that fact bespeaks by no means a lack of religious privileges, since places of public worship are conveniently at hand in adjacent towns.

THE PIONEERS OF MIDDLEBURY.

In June, 1837, a pioneer family of six persons, com- prising Obed Hathaway, his wife, and four children, travel- ing in a lumber-wagou drawn by oxen, reached the house of Henry Leach, in Sciota, and bargaining with him to mark a road for them through the woods to section 21 in the next town north, pushed on. Ilathaway, a New Yorker, had bought a tract of land in that town in 1836, and was going now with his family to make a settlement. No white man had preceded him into the territory whither

he was bound, and he proposed accordingly to make his home in the wide stretch of forest,-a solitary settler in a howling wilderness.

Mr. Leach went forward and "blazed" the route, and the elder Hathaway followed, cutting out the road for his team. A trip of five miles brought them to their destina- tion, and then their pioneer work began at once. Until he could build a cabin, Hathaway lodged his family in the wagon four weeks. When they came to the town they brought provisions enough to last them, as they supposed, until harvest. The supply gave out, however, before that time, and Hathaway set out to obtain a fresh supply, in- tending moreover to stop awhile elsewhere and work long enough to earn what money would be required for the purchase. He was absent six weeks, and during that time the folks at home rested their hopes upon a larder so lean that salt and dry bread was their principal diet for more than four weeks.

The Hathaways struggled on as best they could until the approach of winter, when (no other settlers having come to town) they concluded to return to Washtenaw County and stop there until spring, since in their new home. there was no chance to winter their cattle, and al- most as poor a chance to winter themselves without serious discomfort, if not distress. Returning from Washtenaw County in the spring of 1838 they found the Slocums ou section 35, where they had been since the preceding Jan- uary. When the Hathaways left the town the fall before they had put by a good supply of vegetables, so that when they came back in the spring of 1838 they counted upon finding a good stock of provisions to start on. Unhappily for their calculations, some person or persons had raided the cabin and carried off everything to be found in the way of eatables. The little they had brought with them of food soon disappeared, and for weeks they lived on pota- toes and leeks.

The Slocums, to whom reference has been made, were, as remarked, the second family to settle in the town. George W. Slocum came from New York to Michigan in 1836 in search of land, and in the spring of that year located one hundred and sixty acres on section 35 in town 7 north, range 1 east. This was the first land-entry in that town, and in the same year-the year of the great emigration to Michigan-was followed by numerous others. Upon en- tering the land, Slocum went into Oakland County and there awaited the coming from New York of his father and family, and in that county they remained until the closing days of 1837, when it was decided to make a start for the new land-purchase in town 7, with a view to a permanent location.

On the way they stopped at Leach's, in Sciota township, and while the women folks made shift to live there the elder Slocum and his sons George, Daniel, and John went over into Middlebury and put up a cabin, walking back and forth from Leach's each uight and morning. It took them two weeks to get the cabin up, and then it boasted neither door nor window ; but time and needs were pressing, and as it was they moved into it. Their first night in that primitive structure was anything but a peaceful one, for wolves, at- tracted by the presence of human beings, gathered iu packs

# By David Sebwartz.

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MIDDLEBURY TOWNSHIP.

about the shanty and howled through all the night, much to the terror of the women, who were morally certain the vile beasts would tear through the blanketed openings and devour every member of the family.

When the Slocums came to make their home in the woods there was no other family in the town now known as Middlebury, although the Hathaways had been in, and came back again directly afterwards, Of course, there were no roads in the Slocum neighborhood ; but roads were a vital necessity, especially in such a heavily-timbered coun- try, and among their first labors after housing the family the Slocums cut out a thoroughfare. During the first year of' their residence in the town they underbrushed a road from Leach's to their place, another one three miles east- ward from the latter point, and still another four miles towards the northwest to the Hathaway settlement.

No more fortunate in that particular than the Hathaways (who, when they first came, had to journey eighteen miles to mill and make a two days' trip of it ), the Slocums could find no mill conveniences nearer than the Rochester colony, which, although by no means so far distant in a straight line, required a twenty-mile jaunt over a zigzag course through the woods to reach, and forty-eight hours to do it in. The woods were full of bears, wolves, and deer, and bear hunts were as common as the ravages made by the bears them- selves upon the small stock of the settlers. Small pigs were the morsels towards which their inclination turned constantly. To preserve the inmates of pig-pens from the bears at night fires were built in the pens, and sometimes, indeed, bed-sheets were fastened over the pen as a protest against the raids of the aggressive hog-stealers. One night Daniel Slocum was awakened from his slumbers by the cry of a hog, and knowing at once that a bear was at work in the pen, he sprang out of bed, snatched a gun, and in his bare feet ran over the frozen ground towards the pen just in time to see an immense bear leap over a rail-fence with a pig in his paws. When Bruin saw Daniel and the gun he dropped the pig and ran away so rapidly that the bullet missed him, and although Daniel and George (his brother) searched long and faithfully, they fouud no dead or disabled bear.

George Slocum went out one morning before breakfast to hunt the cows, and straying from the beaten path eame suddenly upon two bears. They, startled quite as much as he, climbled up a tree as quickly as they could, and he, hastening home for a gun and a companion, returned with both speedily, but the bears had meanwhile left the tree and disappeared, and although the youths hunted for hours they found them not. Daniel Slocum remembers distinctly that when he went to school in Sciota, to O. B. Westcott, he was more than once followed by wolves all the way from home to school.

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History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan, Part 57

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