History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan, Part 71

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 71
USA > Michigan > Shiawassee County > History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan > Part 71

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 settlement at Laingsburg moved ouward at an ex- ceedingly slow pace. Mason Phelps changed his residence

៛ Laingsburg.

Fraetionat.

297

SCIOTA TOWNSHIP.

in December, 1836, to his forest-farm on the Grand River road, and for a few years Dr. Laing was the only resident in the prospective village. About 1840, Oliver B. West- cott opened a tavern " on the hill," and near there Cyrus and Heury Wright located land and put up a log house. Meanwhile, Ephraim Trumbull had made a clearing at what is now known as MeClintock's Corners. In 1841, Henry Smith came and set up a store near Westcott's tavern, and one Gillilan, who afterwards took Westcott's tavern-stand, started a blacksmith's shop. Subsequently, Moses Smith was hired by Phelps & McClintock to carry on a smithy. Patrick McGannis, now a merchant in Detroit, built the first framed structure in Laingsburg about 1844, having hauled the lumber for it from Lewitt's mill in Bath. In the spring of 1846 the village contained the Laing tavern (then a stage-house), MeGannis' store, E. B. Smith's store (Smith having bought out his son Henry), and the West- cott tavern-stand. In that year E. B. Smith sold out to Walter Laing, Mason Phelps, Freeman McClintock, and Josephus Woodhull, and moved his store to the place now known as Mcclintock's Corners. Laing & Co. enlarged the trade, established an ashery and blacksmith's shop, and made a considerable stir as merchants. By and by Hollis- ter & Kellogg built a grist- and saw-mill, which was, how- ever, burned after being used but one season. A new grist-mill was built by Hosley & Holmes in 1863, and in 1870 the property passed from White & Bartholomew to Place & Bros., and in July, 1879, to A. F. Place, the present owner.

Laingsburg was platted in 1860 (when it was seareely more than a cross-roads village), by Freeman Mcclintock and Amos Gould. Charles Weeks platted two additions, known respectively as Weeks' First and Second Additions. Dr. Laing platted an addition, but it was never recorded. After the village was laid out in 1860, the completion of the railway caused it to grow rapidly.

VILLAGE INCORPORATION.

During the session of the Legislature in 1871 an act was passed (and approved April 8th ) incorporating the village of Laingsburg. There was some objection to the incor- poration, but Dr. E. B. Ward, representative in the State Legislature, was determined to see the aet carried into effect, and took steps to have a village election held. Just then it was discovered that the act of incorporation failed, through some oversight, to designate inspectors of election or a place for holding said election. Robert G. McKee, thinking he had as much right as anybody to appoint in- spectors and a polling-place, did so, and so also did Ward. It happened that MeKee's inspectors were sworn in first, and they claimed, therefore, under that circumstance, a slight advantage in the matter of legality for their election. Ward's inspectors were at first unmoved at this, and so both parties went on and opened the polls.

Although there were but a half-dozen or so of votes in the McKee party, the Wardites began presently to fear that McKee's election might be ultimately adjudged the legal one by reason of precedence in the matter of swearing in the inspectors, and so they, seeure in their overwhelming majority, abandoned their election and marched over to the

MeKee polls to east their votes, not doubting for a moment that they could in that way cleet their ticket. Much to their dismay, however, no sooner had they exceuted that intention than the MeKee inspectors declared their election to be illegal ; and so not only was there no election but no further steps towards one that year, as the Wardites, seeing they were hopelessly beaten, deferred further agitation of the matter.

But upon the assembling of the next Legislature the Ward party caused a new act of incorporation to be passed, and properly fortified this time, called the election at the American House, April 8, 1872. Upon that occasion EI. P. Dodge and George L. Gibbs, inspectors of election, con - vened at the American House, and in the absence of G. J. MeClintock (the third inspector) chose Miles Burt to aet in his place. At this stage the hotel landlord declined to allow the election to be held in his house, and adjournment was accordingly made to Burt's Hall. One hundred and twenty-nine votes were east, with the appended result :

PRESIDENT.

Votes.

II. S. Partridge*

E. B. Ward

D. Ward

TRUSTEES ( Two Years).

L. W. Fraine.

Daniel Lebor. 5-1

James Mcleod# 77

Philo Bacon?

( One Year.)

S. Il. Manzer. 60

C. Il. Hartwell* 63

J. A. Crippeus. 69

P. C. Sprague. 59

CLERK.

G. J. MeClintock* 59

11. P. Dodge ... 59

TREASURER.

Charles Weeks

A. F. Place*

A. Placc

MARSHAL.

William D. Gardner 57

ltenry Winslow# 65

William Gardner 1

ASSESSOR.

J. W. Scoutten

George Culon **

After the election it was discovered that under the act no election could be held save at the American llotel, and as the election had not been held at that place, it followed that the officials had not been legally elected. Nevertheless, the officials qualified and had one session, at which they passed one ordinance; but after-consideration seemed to point so clearly to the conclusion that the alleged village government could have no legal existence that the affair was by common consent abandoned. At the following Legis- lative session there was some effort looking to a renewal of the act, but there had meanwhile arisen a strong anti-incor- poration party, and so sturdily did they work against incor- poration that they succeeded in having the act repealedl.

* Elected.

298

HISTORY OF SHIAWASSEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

Nothing further was done in the premises until the legis- lative session of 1877, when, the signs being propitious, Laingsburg was reincorporated (by act of March 9th) to in- clude " all those tracts of land situate in Sciota township, Shiawassee Co., commencing at the northeast corner of the southeast quarter of section 21, running thence west to the meridian line ; thence south on the meridian line three hundred and twenty rods ; thence east to the southeast cor- ner of the northeast quarter of section 28; thence north three hundred and twenty rods to the place of beginning."

The names of the chief village officers chosen from 1877 to 1880 are here given :

1877 .- President, II. S. Partridge; Trustees (for two years), Miles Burt, John Crum, R. G. McKee (for one year), S. H. Manzer, Charles Weeks, F. MeClin- tock ; Clerk, H. P. Dodge; Treasurer, Charles H. Fraine; Assessor, Philo Bacon.

1878 .- President, J. S. Lord ; Trustees, F. MeClintock, J. H. Rohrabacher, and James Lawler ; Clerk, H. P. Dodge ; Treasurer, C. H. Fraine ; Assessor, S. H. Manzer.

1879 .- J. S. Lord ; Trustees, H. S. Partridge, William Fraine, A. F. Peace; Clerk, H. P. Dodge; Treasurer, C. H. Fraine ; Assessor, Miles Burt. 1880 .- President, F. MeClintock ; Trustees, S. H. Manzer, Philo Bacon, Wm. J. Tillotson ; Clerk, H. P. Dodge; Treasurer, C. II. Fraine; Assessor, James Lawler.

CHURCHES.

LAINGSBURG METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

The settlement of Sciota township was less than two years advanced when the voice of the Methodist missionary was heard in the neighborhood where Leach and Cross and Smith had built their rude cabins. Rev. Mr. Blowers preached there in 1838, in the houses of the settlers, about once a month, and the next year Rev. Washington Jack- son, with another minister, made periodical visits. Blowers had organized a class in 1838 consisting of six persons, viz. : John Slocum and wife, Cornelius Putnam and wife, and Gideon Cross and wife. In 1839, Wm. Palmer, John Palmer, and Allen Smith, with their wives, joined the class, Wm. Palmer being the first class-leader. In that year, too, Isaac Bennett, the presiding elder of the district, visited Sciota settlement and preached to the class. As soon as a district school-house was built it was occupied by the class, and in that locality worship was continued about twenty years. At the end of that time the class was divided, a part going to Blood's in Victor, and the residue to the P'ntnam school-honse in Sciota, whence they were transferred to the Middlebury Methodist Episcopal Church.

There was Methodist Episcopal preaching at Laings- burg as early as 1842 by the Revs. Bigelow and Cole, and after them by Rev. Mr. Hall. The Sciota class, organized in 1857, was a point on the Middlebury Circuit which in- eluded the Ovid, Warren, Mungerville, Howard, Sciota, and Middlebury classes. Rev. Elisha Wright was appointed to the charge in 1857, when it contained fifty-seven mem- bers and twenty-three probationers. When the parsonage

at Laingsburg was completed, October, 1866, the charge embraced one hundred members and twenty probationers.

The name of the circuit was changed in 1868 to Laings- burg, and in 187 I the church at Laingsburg was built. The pastor is Rev. J. H. McIntosh, who preaches to the Laings- burg class every Sunday. The class membership is forty, and the attendance at Sunday-school (in charge of F. Thompson) thirty. The society trustces are Charles Weeks, Williamu Fraine, M. Deitrich, and C. S. Noyes.

FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF LAINGSBURG.

Elder Barnes, who organized a Baptist Church in Wood- hnll about 1840, preached also at Laingsburg, and after him Baptist worship was conducted with more or less reg- ularity at the latter point for some years by Elders Martin and McLeod. After a time Baptist worship ceased in that locality, and was not revived in anything like a permanent form until the autumn of 1864. October 15th of that year a few Baptists met at the house of J. M. McLeod for conference and prayer. After consultation it was agreed to meet again October 29th, to consider the expediency of forming a church, public services having previously been held October 16th, by Elder G. M. Reynolds. October 29th a covenant was adopted and signed by Moses Smith, William I'lace, Josephus Woodhull, M. A. Phelps, Charles R. Mc- Kee, Frances Phelps, Catherine Hudson, Fanny McKee, Catherine Carnahan, and Mary A. McKee. Josephus Woodhull and Moses Smith were chosen deacons, and Charles R. McKee clerk. The first communion was held March 26, 1865, and May 20, 1865, a church society was organized, with Moses T. Headley, M. A. Phelps, Josephus Woodhull, Charles R. McKee, Henry Osterhout, and Ma- son Phelps as trustees. Directly after that the society be- gan the erection of a church edifice, which was not, however, completed until 1868. Elder Reynolds, who organized the church, was the first pastor, and preached some years, after which Elder James McLeod entered upon the charge. The present pastor is Elder Hicks, of Bath, who preaches every Sunday. The deacons are C. L. Kinney and Moses Smith. The Sunday-school, which is in charge of the pastor, has an average attendance of about thirty scholars, while the church membership is fifty.

FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.

At a meeting held in Laingsburg, July 24, 1864, the First Congregational Church of Laingsburg was organized by the following-named thirteen persons : Rev. James Ross, Mrs. Frances Ross, Isaac T. Hollister, Ellen C. Hollister, Rev. George C. Fox, Cynthia B. Fox, Nancy Clark, Emne- line Partridge, Elizabeth A. Ward, Mary L. Drake, Zylpha I. Trowbridge, Nellie P. MeClintock, Phoebe A. Hudson. Ang. 7, 1864, at a second meeting, Rev. H. A. Reed, general agent of the American Home Missionary Society, was present, and after delivering an address formally re- cognized the church, being assisted in council by the First Congregational Church of Victor. Rev. G. C. Fox was chosen the pastor and I. T. Hollister the deacon. Mr. Fox served the church until his death, May 29, 1866. Ilis successor, Rev. William P. Mulder, began his labors in July, 1866, and was succeeded by Rev. J. R. Stevenson,

MAŞ NELLIE MCCLINTOCK.

MISS. ALTA . B. MCCLINTOCK.

RESIDENCE OF MAS NELLIE P. MCCLINTOCK. LAINGSBURG SHIAWASSEE CO MICH.

299

SCIOTA TOWNSHIP.

who took charge in July, 1875. Rev. J. C. Thompson became the pastor in 1877, and after him came Rev. Fayette Hurd, the present pastor.

Since the organization the church has received eighty- five members, of whom sixty-three yet remain. Meetings are now held in a fine church edifice at Laingsburg, first occupied in the fall of 1871. The deacons are now Wil- liam Ballentine and I. T. Hollister; the trustees are Philo Bacon, Sydney Manzer, and Charles E. Hollister. The Sunday-school, which has an average attendance of seventy, is in charge of Sydney Manzer.

LAINGSBURG POST-OFFICE.

The only post-office in Sciota is at Laingsburg, although there was for a time, about 1846, a post-office called Sciota, at Mitchell Blood's tavern on the Grand River road. The Laingsburg post-office was established in 1837 or 1838 through the efforts of Dr. Peter Laing, who was appointed postmaster. He retained the office until about 1851, when he gave way to Henry Smith and he to Loren Smith, who caused the name of the office to be changed to Nebraska. That name it retained through the succeeding administra- tions of E. B. Smith and Freeman Mcclintock, the latter beginning in 1857 and continuing to 186I. M. T. Headley followed MeClintock, and during his term the name of the office was changed in 1863 back to Laingsburg, which it has since retained. J. M. C. Bennett was for a short time the incumbent after Headley, and after him Horace P. Dodge from 1863 to 1865, Samuel Treat to 1866, G. J. McClintock to 1869, and Philo Bacon from 1869 to the present time. The business of the Laingsburg post-office during the three months ending April 1, 1880, represented sales of stamps, stamped envelopes, etc., to the amount of two hundred and forty-six dollars and forty cents, money- orders issued in the sum of twelve hundred and ten dol- lars and sixty cents, and money-orders paid to the amount of four hundred and fifty-uine dollars and thirty-two cents.

LAINGSBURG'S LAWYERS.

Laingsburg has had but three lawyers. About 1860, J. M. Pulver set up in practice at the village as the pioneer lawyer, and after his departure came Il. H. Pulver. The third to be named is J. B. Wilkins, who has been prac- tieing in the village since 1877.

BANK.

The Exchange Bank of Laingsburg, a private banking corporation now doing business in the village, was estab- lished by W. II. Card in 1875, and by him the business is still continued.

SECRET ORDERS.

LAINGSBURG LODGE, No. 230, F. AND A. M.,

was organized Jan. 9, 1868, in the second story of M. T. Headley's store. The organizing members were E. B. Ward, W. M .; J. M. Short, S. W. ; G. J. Mcclintock, J. W .; M. T. Headley, M. Burt, J. G. Marsh, B. J. Putnam, Rev. J. G. Morgan. E. B. Ward has been Master of the lodge every year since 1868, except for the year 1877, when G. J. McClintock served. The membership is now fifty. The official list is E. B. Ward, W. M .; H. P. Dodge, S.

W .; Philo Bacon, J. W .; G. J. MeClintock, Sec. ; L. B. Huntington, Treas. ; E. K. Burke, S. D .; N. N. Phillips, J. D .; W. O. Furey, Tiler.

LAINGSBURG LODGE, No. 110, I. O. O. F.,

was organized Jan. 17, 1868. The charter members were named R. L. Case, R. Williams, G. B. Pitts, H. P. Martin, J. B. Case, W. H. Martin, W. J. Armitage, L. L. Tuller, J. W. Scoutten, W. N. Lewis, A. Holmes. The lodge has a membership of forty, and officers as follows : William H. Martin, N. G. ; William Taylor, V. G .; N. P. Phillips, P. Sec. ; H. Howe, Rec. Sec .; L. B. Huntington, Treas.

LAINGSBURG GRANGE, No. 228,

was organized June, 1873, with a membership of about thirty. Norman Tucker was chosen Master, L. J. Taylor, Overseer, and George M. Kinney, See. In January, 1874, A. F. Place was chosen Master, and served four years. The next Master was F. M. Randall, who, in 1879, was succeeded by D. D. Culver. Culver resigned, and F. M. Randall was chosen in his stead. G. M. Kinney has been the grange secretary continuously since the grange organ- ization. The grange has continued to flourish from the outset, and has now a membership of sixty. Weekly Saturday meetings are held, and upon these occasions in- teresting and profitable discussions engage much earnest attention at the hands of the members. The officers of the grange are now F. M. Randall, M .; S. T. Headley, O .; A. F. Place, L .; P. Taylor, Chaplain ; George M. Kiuney, Sec. ; Mrs. George M. Kinney, Treas.

SCIOTA LODGE, No. 1581, KNIGHTS OF HONOR,

was instituted April 25, 1879, with twenty members, and has at present that number increased by eight. The officers for 1880 are L. J. Taylor, D .; V. A. James, V. D .; E. B. Ward, P. D .; James Kyte, A. D .; L. B. Huntington, Treas. ; D. D. Shannon, F. R. ; Rev. J. H. McIntosh, Chaplain.

BABCOCKS' MILLS.

One of the most important industries of the town is carried on at Babeoeks' steam saw-will, on the Jackson, Lansing and Saginaw Railroad, about two miles east of Laingsburg. E. F. & N. Babcock established the mill in 1866, and directly afterwards purchased tracts of timber land aggregating seven hundred acres. The mill employs from ten to twenty men, has a capacity of ten thousand feet daily, and is confined almost exclusively to the manu- facture of car and railway timber for Easteru shipment.

TRAGIC INCIDENTS.

The first fatal accident recorded in the history of Seiota resulted in Francis Scoutten's death, in 1816. Scoutten was employed at the time in breaking land for Allen Smith. Failing to return from his labors at the accustomed hour, he was searched for, and was found lying dead upon the ground beside his team. How he came to his death was, and has always remained, a mystery. In 1856 a young Englishman was accidentally killed at a raising on the Jones place, and about 1870 a Canadian, while logging for D. L. Warren, was crushed by a log and instantly killed.

300

HISTORY OF SHIAWASSEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

In 1872 a young man employed upon W. R. Putnam's farm committed suicide by throwing himself beneath a train on the Jackson, Lansing and Saginaw road The cause of this suicide was never satisfactorily understood.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

MRS. NELLIE P. MCCLINTOCK.

Mrs. Nellie P. McClintock, daughter of Dr. Peter Laing, the founder of Laingsburg, and one of the earliest settlers in Sciota township, was born in the town of Wil- ton, Saratoga Co., N. Y., March 1, 1824. Her mother, Mary (Calkins) Laing, was born in Saratoga Co., N. Y., 1791. Her father, Dr. Peter Laing, was born in Saratoga County, 1789, and in 1833 joined the army of pioneers who were populating Washtenaw Co., Mich. Dr. Laing pursued the practice of the medical profession at Ann Arbor until 1836, where Mrs. Laing died in 1835, when, coming farther westward, he made a new location in Sciota township, Shiawassce Co., and called into existence the present thriving village of Laingsburg. Ile was a man of mark, and for many years kept one of the most famous of roadside taverns on the Grand River road. He was, more- over, an extensive land-owner, and a man of wide influence upon the time and the community in which he lived. Nellie, his daughter, came westward with her father in 1833, and in Ann Arbor spent the ensuing seven years at school. In 1840 she joined her father's family at Laings- burg, and in 1844, on the 11th of April, she was married at the house of William Laing, her brother, to John Le- witt, of Woodhull, where he was among the early settlers, having come to America from Leicester, England. From 1844 to 1846, Mr. and Mrs. Lewitt lived on a farm in Woodhull. October, 1846, they moved to Ann Arbor, where Mr. Lewitt was called to take the position of taxi- dermist in the University museum. While engaged in that work, he died Jan. 21, 1847. Upon her husband's death his widow returned to Laingsburg, where in June, 1851, she was married to Dr. Freeman Mcclintock. Leaving the following November for California, Mr. and Mrs. McClin- tock remained there until 1856, when they returned east- ward, and in that year resumed their residence in Sciota. In 1870, Mr. and Mrs. McClintock agreed to a mutual separation, and since that period Mrs. McClintock has been living in Laingsburg upon the estate left her by her first hnsband, John Lewitt. Her living children are three in number: Alfred L., born April 20, 1852, now a resident of Laingsburg ; Elva A., born Oct. 21, 1854, and now Mrs. Oren Phelps, of California ; Alta Belle, born Sept. 16, 1862, and now residing with her mother.

WILLARD RYON.

Willard Ryon, the eldest in a family embracing eight children, was born in Monroe Co., N. Y., in 1836. Ilis father, also a native of the same county, was of Irish de-

scent, and by trade a cooper. His mother, formerly Miss Mahala Stanhope, was a native of Wyoming County, New York. At the age of ten years, Willard, with his parents, emigrated to the wilds of Michigan, where a farm in Calhoun County afforded them a home for ten years, when with their earnings they were able to purchase a small farm in Middlebury. Willard meanwhile sought employ- ment with his neighbor, George H. Warren, with whom he remained two years and then became an inmate of the family of Nathan Herrick. He in 1861 enlisted in Company D of the First Michigan Cavalry, was taken prisoner, paroled, and discharged. In the meanwhile with the proceeds of his earnings he anthorized his father to purchase for him the farm of one hundred acres which he now occupies. On the 3d of July, 1866, he was married to Miss Marian C. IIer- rick, danghter of Nathan Herrick, one of the early settlers in Middlebury, where her birth occurred. Mr. and Mrs. Ryon have one child, Sylva, born March 10, 1872. Their home, represented in the accompanying sketch, was a score of years since wholly unimproved, but has since, by their industry, been brought to a high degree of cultivation. In politics Mr. Ryon is a staunch Republican. Both himself and wife are exemplary members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

CHAPTER XLII.

VERNON TOWNSHIP .*

Location and Topography-Original Land-Entries-Settlements and Settlers-Township Organization and Civil List-Early Highways -Early Schools-Village of Durand-Vernon Village-Church History-Greenwood Cemetery.

THE township of Vernon lies on the eastern county-line of Shiawassee County, and is bounded on the north by Venice, south by Burns, east by the county of Genesee, and west by Shiawassee. It was in point of settlement the second of the townships of the county, having been entered by pioneers as early as 1833. It has other claims to prece- dence in that its lands, which were originally superior in quality, have by careful and judicious tillage been brought to an unusual degree of productiveness, and that within its borders is one of the oldest and most thriving of the vil- lages of the county.

The Shiawassee River flows across the southwest corner of the township, and following a tortuous course through Shiawassce township, returns again to Vernon to water sec- tious 6 and 7. It is here fed by a considerable stream which rises in the south and flowing north through the centre of the township diverges to the west and joins the river on section 7. Other smaller water-courses, of no special importance, are found elsewhere in the township.

The surface of Vernon is varied. A pleasing variation is apparent without sudden or abrupt changes, and the pre- dominance of level land renders it easy of tillage. The composition of the soil embraces clay and sandy loam. Clay prevails on the timbered land and in the openings, which

# By E. O. Wagnor.

301

VERNON TOWNSHIP.

are found principally on the southern border. Sand is quite generally distributed and is not excessive in any locality. The land is not all drained, though great improvement has been witnessed in this particular within recent years. Wheat and corn are the staple products of Vernon, the average yield of the former being at least twenty bushels to the acre, though some localities produce a crop greatly in excess of this.

The prevailing timber of the township is oak, maple, beech, ash, and walnut, maple being especially thrifty in its growth and prolific in its yield of sap. The Chicago and Lake Huron Railroad and the Detroit and Milwaukee Rail- road traverse the township, the latter having a station at Vernon and one at Durand. The former road has a station at Durand only.

ORIGINAL LAND-ENTRIES.

Following is a list of those persons who entered from government, or purchased of the State, the lands composing the township of Vernon :

SECTION 1.

Acres.

L. G. Gordon and J. Cook, 1836

185.24

Jasper Parish, 1836.

346.63

Joel C. Sawyer, 1854. 160

SECTION 2.

Joseph L. Peters, 1836 94.34

L. G. Gordon and J. Cook, 1836. 160

John Rheinfrank, 1836. 80

Jasper Parish, 1836. 80

Samuel E. Peters, 1836. 80

Williamu HT. Sessions, 1837. 40

William S. Clark, 1839. 53

SECTION 3.

William E. Peters, 1836 160

John Cook, Alexander MeArthur, and Chauncey Ilurlbut, 1836 ..

190.99

Edwin B. Gregory and John Cook, 1836 160

Joseph L. Peters, 1836 .. 190.47

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History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan, Part 71

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