History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan, Part 78

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 78
USA > Michigan > Shiawassee County > History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan > Part 78

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 the same year that the Methodist class was formed Eller B. B. Brigham organized a Baptist Church. The place of holding its meetings was afterwards changed to Laingsburg.

In the month of May, 1879, a meeting was called at Shaftsburg, for the purpose of taking action in regard to building a church. The following persons were appointed a building committee : James Ilarper, J. V. D Wyckoff, Sr., Joshua G. Marsh, and Rev. James Whitford, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, as chairman. With the un- derstanding that the various societies should be allowed to worship in the new house, the members of all denomina- tions subscribed liberally, and about two thousand two hun- dred dollars was pledged for that purpose. The building was erected during the summer of that year. It is now, however, under the exclusive control of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

SHAFTSBURG.

This station on the Grand Trunk Railroad contains four stores, a hotel, a post-office, two blacksmith-shops, a saw- mill, a flouring-mill, and a meeting-house. The village is platted on the land of John P. Shaft, from whom it is named. The post-office at this place was established in 1878, and Newton Bacon, who had opened the first dry- goods store, was appointed postmaster.

The flouring-mill, the first and only one built in the township, was erected by Jacob Stabler in 1877. It has two run of stones. Just previous to its completion, Stabler & Harlow built the saw-mill. The hotel was built by John P. Shaft.

RESIDENCE DF ANDREW J.VAN RIPER. WOODHULL. SHIAWASSEE. CO. MICH.

WOODHULL TOWNSHIP.

329

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

Liff

ANDREW J. VAN RIPER.

MRS. ANDREW J. VAN RIPER.

ANDREW J. VAN RIPER.

This venerable pioneer was born in Paterson, N. J., Jan. 9, 1806. His father, Jeremiah Van Riper, was born in Lodi, Essex Co., N. J. He married Miss Elizabeth Blarcom, and reared a family of seven children. The elder Van Riper was a thrifty, industrious, and successful farmer, a man of undoubted integrity, and one of Michigan's car- liest settlers, and universally beloved for his kindness of heart. He had a large circle of friends, and was perhaps without an enemy. Andrew lived with his father until he was fifteen years of age, when he went to the city of New York and apprenticed himself' to the trade of a shoemaker. lle remained in New York two years, at the expiration of which time he returned to Paterson and commenced business for himself. In 1824 he removed to Seneca Co., N. Y., whither his father had removed the year previous. llere he followed his trade, and in 1827 was married to Miss Catherine Dubois. In May, 1831, he started for Michigan with his family, which consisted of his wife and two chil- dren. He settled in the town of Lodi, Washtenaw Co., where he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land from the government, receiving his deed from Martin Van Buren. In 1834 his father followed him, and purchased a farm near the home of his son, where he resided until his death, which occurred in 1858. In 1848, Mr. Van Riper removed to the town of Woodhull, where he had previously

purchased four hundred and eighty aeres of government land. Here he has since resided, and during the thirty- two years that he has been a resident of Woodhull no man has been more closely identified with its development than he. Energy, industry, and economy are the salient points in the character of Mr. Van Riper. He has perfeeted a valuable record as a citizen, and no one stands higher in the estimation of the people of Woodhull than he. His word, whether given in a business transaction or in ordinary con- versation, is considered to be as good as his bond. He has been highly successful in business, and has accumulated a fine competeney, and at the same time has been a generous giver, a friend to the poor and distressed, and a liberal sup- porter of all publie and charitable enterprises. In his relig- ious belief he is a Presbyterian. Ile was one of the founders of the Presbyterian Church of Lodi, and identified himself largely with the building of the Methodist church of Shafts- burg. Socially he is genial and courteous; he loves a good joke, and his frank, open countenance is indicative of good- nature and generosity. In his domestic relations he is a kind father and a valued friend. He has settled his children around him, to each of whom he has given good homes. lle is now in his seventy-fifth year, and still retains much of his former vigor and energy. He has made a name and reputation that will live as long as the history of Woodhull.

330

HISTORY OF SHIAWASSEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

V.I: AN.S

PHAv.s

FRANCIS F. MANN.

MRS. FRANCIS F. MANN.

FRANCIS F. MANN.

The family traditions of Francis F. Mann reach back to a time before the French and Indian war, when two broth- ers, named respectively William and Samuel Mann, came to America. They went back to England, their native land, in a few years, but soon returned to America. Which of these was the ancestor of the subject of this sketch it is impossible to say. Ilis grandfather, Jacob Mann, who was born in 1744, and lived in Wenham, Mass., married Miss Susan Richardson.

While a young man, being afflicted with the rheumatism, he left the farm where he had lived and went to Harvard College, from which he graduated. He was then admitted to the Congregational Church as minister, and was the first located pastor of that denomination in the town of Alstead, N. 11. In this place Jacob Mann, Jr., the father of Fran- cis F. Mann, was born in August, 1782. Ilis wife, Miss Phoebe Fisher, was born Sept. 2, 1787.

Francis F. Mann was born in the town of Alstead, N. H., Dec. 12, 1808. When he was about three years old his father died, and his mother subsequently married again. He remained at home until he was fourteen, and then went to live with his uncle, Samuel Mann. He subsequently left Alstead and went to Walpole, where he met Laura Robinson, to whom he was married June 29, 1836.

The ancestors of Mrs. Mann are traced back to the time when the Pilgrims left England and went to Leyden. She is the descendant of John Robinson, formerly a preacher in the Established Church near Yarmouth, Norfolk, Eng- land, and whose sons came to Plymouth in the " May- flower." John Robinson, the great-grandfather of Mrs. Mann, lived in Connecticut, where Isaiah Robinson, her

grandfather, a deacon in the First Baptist Church of Ches- ter, Vt., was born. In 1750 he married Sarah Robins, the daughter of Colonel Robins, who served in the French and Indian war. They lived in Killingly, where, while he was in the Continental Army, her father, Daniel Robinson, was born, Oct. 29, 1776. At the age of sixteen her father moved to Springfield, Windsor Co., where he married Naney McElroy, Oct. 30, 1798. At this place Laura, the fourth daughter, was born June 9, 1809. She subsequently resided with her uncle's family, at Walpole, N. H., where she met F. F. Mann and was married to him, as already stated:

They came to Washtenaw Co., Mich., in October, 1837. Their settlement in Michigan is more fully spoken of in the history of Woodhull township. The following is the record of their children : Mary Omenda, born April 24, 1839; Helen L., born Dce. 20, 1841; Harriet L., born Sept. 25, 1851. Adopted children : Amasa F. Chadwick, born Sept. 17, 1846; James O. McClintock, born Oct. 28, 1850 ; Albert J. Wilcox, born July 14, 1865. Amasa F. Chadwick died in the hospital at Chattanooga, Tenn., June 12, 1864, and was buried in the Soldiers' National Ceme- tery at that place.

Mr. and Mrs. Mann are kind and hospitable, respected by all who know them, and eminently deserving the brief mention given them in this sketch. They are not members of any church in the township, Mrs. Mann having never severed her connection with the society to which she be- longed in the East. They both encourage and favor all societies of Christians the lives of whose members comply with their professions.

JOHN P. SHAFT.

The Shaft family are of German and French ex- traction. The maternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch was an officer under Napoleon. Nothing is now known regarding his history or the date of his emigration to America. The paternal grand- father emigrated from Germany previous to the Revo- lution, and npon the breaking out of the war enlisted and served during its continuance. Soon after peace was declared he settled in Rensselaer Co., N. Y., where Peter Shaft, father of John P., was born. From Rensselaer County a portion of the family re- moved to Saratoga County, where the father of our subject purchased a farm, and where John P. was born Sept. 16, 1805. His parents, Peter and Eliza- beth (Loop) Shaft, reared a family of seven children, and when John was a babe removed to Madison Co., N. Y., where they resided until 1838, when they emigrated to Perry, Shiawassee Co., Mich.

John remained with his father until he was twenty- one years of age. He received a good common-school education, and shortly after he attained his majority apprenticed himself to the trade of a shoemaker, which he followed until he came to Michigan, in 1839. He brought with him a stock of boots, shoes, !

and leather, and settled in the town of Perry, where he purchased two hundred and eighty acres of land on sections 19, 20, and 29. About 1846 he removed to Woodhull and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land where he now resides. To this purchase he made repeated additions, until he owned at one time two thousand three hundred and eighty acres. He now owns one thousand and eighty aeres, most of which is in the town of Woodhull.

Mr. Shaft has identified himself largely with the interests of Woodhull. He laid out the thriving village which bears his name, and was prominent in the location and construction of the railroad which passes through it. He is a liberal supporter of edu- cational and religious enterprises, and has done his part to advance the best interests of the town. He has been married five times, first to Christiana Olsaver in 1829; she was a fine type of the pioneer woman, and was highly esteemed. His present wife, née Julia E. Parks, is a lady of much culture and refinement. Mr. Shaft is now in his seventy-fifth year, and is still hale and hearty. His name is prominent in the history of Woodhull, and he will always be remembered as a valuable citizen.

CLINTON COUNTY COURT HOUSE . ST. JOHNS, MICHIGAN ,

CLINTON COUNTY.

CHAPTER XLV.

BOUNDARIES-TOPOGRAPHY-MINERAL RE- SOURCES.

Location and Natural Features-The Coal-Measures-Salt Springs- Results of Explorations for Coal and Salt.

CLINTON County lies directly west of Shiawassee, the principal meridian of the State forming the boundary- line between them. On the north Clinton is bounded by Gratiot County, on the west by Ionia, and on the south by the conuties of Ingham and Eaton. The Grand River, flowing northwestwardly from the latter county, enters Clin- ton, and, traversing the extreme southwestern corner of its territory for a few miles, passes across its west boundary into Ionia. The other principal streams are the Maple and Looking-Glass Rivers, both of which enter the county across its eastern border, from Shiawassee. The former, crossing the northeast corner of Clinton in a general course towards the northwest, passes out into Gratiot County, through the southern part of which it meanders for some twenty miles, and then returns to Clinton across its north boundary (about three miles west of the centre), and flows in a general southwesterly course through the northwest corner of this county into Ionia.

The Looking-Glass River, coming into the county across the east line, at a point about seven and a half miles north of its southeast corner, flows in a general course a little south of west across Clinton into Ionia County, passing ont of the former about six miles north of its southwest corner. The Looking-Glass receives tributaries of consider- able size within this county, as does also the Maple. The projected improvements on both these streams for purposes of navigation in early years have already been mentioned in preceding pages.

The surface of Clinton County is properly described as undulating, for the swells of ground are not sufficiently lofty or abrupt to be termed hills, and there are in the county but very few places where entirely level upland traets of much extent are found, though in the original field-notes of the government surveys a great number of places are mentioned where the surveyors, in traversing this county, passed through " prairies," and " prairie lands." They also note the existence of " floating prairie" in some localities, and continually mention " marsh," " cranberry marsh," and "tamarack swamp." The aggregate of all these, however, forms but a very small part of the area of the county.

The kinds of timber noted in the surveys of this county are oak (white, red, yellow. black, and burr), elm, beech, maple (hard and soft), white and black ash, aspen, tama-

rack, linn, birch, cedar, black-walnut, iron-wood, cotton- wood, hickory, cherry, and spruce, with a very general undergrowth of prickly ash and willow. The greater part of the county was embraced in the heavily-timbered lands and timbered openings, the open lands or " prairies" being generally of small extent. The lands from which heavy timber has been cleared are generally strongest and best, but a really poor soil is scarcely known in any part of the county.

In geological formation and development, Clinton County presents but little that is of much interest. Explorations have been made here in past years for salt springs, and also for veins of coal, the search for the latter being encouraged by the fact that the entire country is known to be under- laid by the " coal-measures" of the lower peninsula, the location and limits of which are described by Professor C. Rominger, the State geologist, as follows :

" The approximate limits of the coal-measures on the peninsula are within a line drawn from Sebawing, on Sag- inaw Bay, towards IFolly, in the south part of Genesee County,* and from there, prolongated in a southwesterly eurve, to Jackson. From Jackson the line goes west, pass- ing a few miles north of Albion ; it then strikes northwest, passing some distance east of Bellevue to Hastings, whence, northward, the extent of the formation is only guessed at. The western edge of the coal-measures is supposed to inter- sect the Detroit and Milwaukee Railroad line near Lowell, thence to go north, tonching Big Rapids, and from there to run in a northeastern curve diagonally through Osceola County and the northwest corner of Clare County. The line does not seem to transgress the second correction line ; it goes parallel with it along the northern end of Gladwin County, from which point the formation is again known through actual outerops. It enters the northwest corner of Bay County, and extends in a southeast direction towards the month of Rifle River, striking the shore of Saginaw Bay. The rim of the formation is a few miles north of Rifle River." It will be seen that this description places the county of Clinton entirely within and not far from the centre of the great coal-basin.

In his report of 1876, on the geological survey of the State, Prof. Rominger makes mention of the outerop of the coal formation and other geological developments at Grand Ledge, and along the Grand River below that place. As the point first mentioned is within a short distance of the south boundary of Clinton, and as his description follows the river in its course of several miles through this county, it is

* The professor here makes a mistake in locating Itolly, which is in the northwest eurner of Oakland County.

331

332

HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

thought appropriate in this connection to extraet that por- tion of his report which has reference to this region. Ile says, "The most instructive natural section through the coal formations which we have in this State is seen at Grand Ledge in the valley of Grand River, ten miles below Lan- sing. The river has carved its bed there to a depth of about sixty feet below the general surface level of the country. The upper part of the hills bordering the valley is formed of drift ; the lower presents a section through the rock-beds of the coal -measures. The village of Grand Ledge is located nearly in the centre of the outerops, which continue up and down the river for about a mile. The strata rise and sink in undulations, which bring the higher and lower beds to repeated onterops on the same level. The order of stratification, often visible in sections of large horizontal extent, gives a fair opportunity for observing the changes to which a stratum in its horizontal extension is often subject with regard to thickness and quality of mate- rial. The observed variability explains why, in the numer- ous sections seen within the limited space of a few miles, no one exactly corresponds with the other, although many of them represent about the same horizon.

" The upper part of the formation is a coarse-grained sand-rock from twenty-five to thirty feet in thickness. In the locality where I saw it best exposed the rock occupies one of the depressed curves of an undulation such as has been alluded to, and at both ends of the exposure lower rock strata come up alongside the upper beds on the same level. The sand-rock ledges form a compact body with only insignificant intermediate seams of shale, or with an occa- sional coal-seam of a few inches thickness wedged in. Calamites and other vegetable imprints, besides concretions of kidney-ore and of iron pyrites and conglomerated seams, are usually found inclosed within the rock mass. In grain and hardness it fully resembles the upper sandstones of Jackson ; its color, however, is a somewhat darker, yellow- ish shade. Locally, the rock becomes very hard, and has a dark chocolate-brown color from containing an abundance of ferruginous cement ; a part of this brown rock is coarsely conglomeratic. Next below this sand-rock, which borders the river in vertical cliffs for nearly the length of a mile, we find blue shales of arenaceous character, interlaminated with thin layers of sand-rock, all amounting to a thickness of about fifteen or twenty feet. Under these is a coal-seam two and a half feet in thickness, and of very good bitumi- nous quality. It wedges out in places, or changes into a black, carbonaceous shale. This seam is worked at times by single workmen as a temporary occupation when they have little else to do. The coal-seam rests on a gray, argil- laceous, laminated sand-rock, with softer shaly seams, which both inclose a large quantity of coaly vegetable remains,- Lepidodendron, similar to Lepid. Wortheni, Stigmaria ficoides, trunks and leaves. The thickness of the beds is about five feet. Lower comes a fine-grained, whitish sand- rock, in even, compact beds eight feet in thickness. Di- rectly under this sand-rock is a fifteen-inch bed of good bitu- minous coal. Lowest in the outerop are about twenty-five feet of additional strata, principally sand-rock ledges, with some intermediate shale-seams. In the bed of the river at this spot large, hard sand-roek slabs of very even bedding, and

from two to three inches in thickness, are laid open, which would make excellent flag-stones for paving sidewalks. The aggregate thickness of the given section is about ninety feet ; it begins with the centre of the synclinal depression, and is followed down the stream.

" A good section through the formation can be observed in the ravines of a creek entering Grand River from the south, a short distance west of the village, and another in the bluffs just below it, and opposite the section last described. Highest in this latter, under a few feet of drift, are fifteen feet of arenaceous shales, with nodular seams of' sand-rock and kidney-ore concretions, and a band of carbonaceous . shale with seams of coal ; below follow eight feet of a fine- grained greenish-white sandstone, in thick, even beds, iden- tical with the sand-rock found in the first section, interme- diate between the two coal-seams. This roek is quarried and worked into cut stone, window- and door-sills ; it is of fine quality, better than any of the coal-measure sand-rocks I have before seen. The beds at one end of the quarry are much thicker than at the other, and seem to wedge out. Under the quarry-stone, a foot or two of arenaceous shales, laminated by black, coaly seams, follow, and then a eoal- bed fifteen inches thick. The coal is of very good quality even for blacksmiths' use, and is occasionally obtained by working the quarry for its sand-rock. The coal-seam rests on bluish, arenaceous shales, and lower beds of sand-rock form the base of the bluff and the bed of the river. The banks of the river, at intervals for the distance of eight miles, present more limited outcrops than those near Grand Ledge, but after that no more rock is denuded in the river- bed until Ionia township is reached, where, in section 23, the upper sand-rock of the coal-measures comes to the sur- face, or is only covered by a thin coating of drift. The quality of this sand-rock is superior to the equivalent beds at Grand Ledge or at Jackson ; it can be quarried in blocks of large dimension, and is of proper durability for building purposes. . . . West and north of Ionia, the coal-forma- tion disappears under the drift, and no other borings have been made in these directions by which we could ascertain the extent of its distribution as the surface-rock. To en- counter the coal-formation again, we have to return east- ward."

Several borings for coal have been made at different times in the southwest part of the county, in the vicinity of the region to which the professor refers in the extract given above. One of these borings, made at Eagle, in 1873, showed the following section :

Drift 8 feet.

Sand-rock 23

Coal. A thin vein. 3

Fire-clay

Light slate.

Black slate. 11 «

Sand-rock

2 .

Coal

35 inches.

Sand-rock

21 feet.

The other borings in the same township showed strata passed through similar to this. A boring made at Ovid, on the east line of the county, in 1878, showed a vein of coal about one foot in thickness at a depth of fifty eight feet below the surface. Another, sunk in the same year in Du- plain, in the northeast corner of the county (but not for the

GEOLOGICAL MAP OF THE LOWER PENINSULA OF MICHIGAN.

MEGULPIN PI

Explanation of Colors

WAUGOSHANCE DE

Helderberg Group

Hamilton

Cheboygan.

Black Shale

HAMMOND'S BAY

Waverly Group

EM'MET Little Trat ge

ICarboniferous Limestone

Rogers Cibul PRESQUE

PRESQUEISLE

Patosky

NORTH MANITOU

USLE

FALSE PRESQUE ISLE

CHARLEVOIX Norwood

MIDOIĆ ID.

SOUTH MANITOU

BAY

OTSEGO

MONTMORENÓI

ALPENA

KUNDEN

BAY

SOUTH POINT

Kalkn ska

cond.

Traverse City 7

Frankford BEN ZIE

UGRAND TRAVERSE

KALKASKA

CRAWFORD Crawford

OSCODA

· ALCONA

Morrisville

Walton'

Wexford

Suble City

IOSCO

MANISTEE WEX FORD

MISSAUKEE | ROSCOMMON

·Ogeman O GEM AW

TawasCity

Minister

WHITESTONE PT

Lake

. Falmouth.

GRAVELEY

GRINDSTONE QUARRIES

MASON

LAKE

OCEOLA

CLARE

GLADWIN

ÉRTES

·Caseville

Chase

Lake

Reed City

. Famu'ell

Pontwater

Mirte

HURON

MIDLAND

· Sebewuing

White Rock

Sanford

Morgansville

Bog City

NEWAGO

Saginaw'

St.Louis

fast Sayıran

Sunilac

MONTCALM

SANILAC

Stanton

si Charles

·Muskegon

Greenville

Rockford

GENESEE Fant

LAPEER

Lake Fort

Grand Howen

KENT

Owosso

Grand Rapids

IONIA Ionia.

St Johns CLINTON

· Sorunun

Port Huron

Fontan

LANSING

Holle

MACOMB

Hastings

EATON

LIVINGSTON

UBARRY

Charlotte

INGHAM

Howett!

Pentlot

Allegan

Eaton Rapids

Son th. Haien

LAKE

KALAMAZOO

· Battle Creek

DETROIT

VAN BUREN

Marshall Jackson,

KALAMAZOO

WAYNE

Porw l'aw

CALHOUN

St Joseph

· Schoolerfurt

nuon City

Tecumseh.

BER RIEN

CASS Cassopolis

BRANCH Coldwater

LENAWEE

HILLSDALE

Monroe

Wiles

LAKE ERIE

N A

1 / 0

TOLEDO

ZABAY

'PT DE BARQUES

HAT-PT.

Port

Ludington

Ao stano Port Crescent

PZOF BAAQUES AIGHT

WILD FOND

Sand Beach Rock Falls

OCEANA

. Big Rapids DECOSTA ISAB

·Whitehall MUSKEGON

SAGINAW

TUSCOLA .Missar

GRATIOF

Perrysburg A

ST. CLAIR

OTTAWA

SHIAWASSEE

OAKLAND

ALLEGAN

M! Centers

ST. CLAIR

JACKSON

Ypsilanti . WASHTENAW

MONROE

JOSEPH

· Jonesville

nyte System

·Centrale

CHEBOYGAN

BOIS BLANC ID.

OMACHINAM

SOUTH. CHANNEL

LITTLE TRAVERSE BAY-

GRAND TRAVERSE

dipen&

STHUNDER BAY 10

SLEEPINGBERAPT.

SULAND

ANTRIM

LEÉLEN AU

INAW"

SAGINAWOMÁ

Coal Measures

New Buffalo

Adrian

En Arbor

333

BOUNDARIES, TOPOGRAPHY, AND MINERAL RESOURCES.

purpose of discovering coal), reached a depth of one hnu- dred and sixty-seven feet, disclosing no coal-vein.

From the time when the territory of Clinton County first became known by white men, it was believed that val- uable salt-springs existed along the valley of the Maple River, and this belief resulted in explorations, with a view to their discovery and development. The principal exami- nation of the country to this end was made by the State geologist, Dr. Douglass Houghton, in 1837, a report of which was made by him in January, 1838, from which re- port an extract, having reference to his examinations in the northwest township of Clinton County, is here given, viz. :

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History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan, Part 78

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