USA > Michigan > St Joseph County > History of St. Joseph county, Michigan, with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, palatial residences, public buildings, fine blocks, and important manufactories > Part 12
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The first county surveyor elected was James Cowen, in November, 1836. There had been other surveyors previously ; among them Robert Clark, Jr., Orange Risdon, Musgrove Evans and W. H. Adams, but no regularly appointed county surveyors till Mr. Cowen's election. The next one was Hiram Dresser in 1838, who was succeeded in 1840 by Hiram Draper. Simeon Gilbert carried the compass for two years, and James Hutchinson and Josiah Knauer each for four years, Mr. Knauer being sandwiched be- tween Hutchinson's first and second terms. A. F. Watkins then shouldered the " Jacob's staff" for one term, and was succeeded by Norman L. An- drews, who set the bounds of the people for the period of six years, ending December 31, 1861. Hiram Hutchinson held the office from 1862 to 1864, and James H. Gardner followed in his footsteps among the ancient land- marks till 1870, when he surrendered the position to John S. Rose for a single term, and re-entered it again for two years more. In 1874 Norman L. Andrews was elected again, and still holds the. position, in 1876.
Prosecuting attorneys were appointed by the governor until the consti- tution of 1850 was adopted, and the first appointee was E. B. Sherman in 1830. He was succeeded by Columbia Lancaster in 1835, and Lancaster by J. Eastman Johnson in 1838. Judge Johnson attended to the pleas of the people until the March term of the circuit court in 1839, at which term Neal McGaffey appeared for the people, and E. B. Mitchell at the Septem- ber term the same year. From and after this term of the court, until the March term, 1846, Chester Gurney and Judge Johnson prosecuted criminals for the State, the larger portion of that time falling to the judge. Hon. H. H. Riley appeared for the people from and including the March term, 1846, to November, 1849, when W. C. Pease filled the situation till the first election under the new constitution.
The first prosecuting attorney elected in the county was E. B. Turner, in 1850, Charles Upson succeeding him in 1852. From 1854 to 1858 William L. Stoughton drew the indictments against evil-doers, and William Saddler followed suit for a like term of four years. After him came Henry F. Sev- ernes for a single term, and then Germain H. Mason led the attack on male- factors for two terms. Talcott H. Carpenter continued the warfare against the same class who were so unfortunate as to fall into his clutches, until 1872, and then E. W. Keightley and R. R. Pealer held a tight reign on the viola- tors of the public morals and peace for a single term each, Orlando J. Fast being elected in 1876.
In 1852 the county judges' office being defunct, their place was taken by the circuit court commissioners, who had the same power as the judges in vacation, and also of the masters in chancery, who were also prohibited in the new constitution. The first commissioner was William L. Stoughton, who was elected in 1852, and was succeeded by Chester Gurney in 1854. Gurney held the position till 1828, and was succeeded by James H. Lyon, who in turn gave way to G. H. Mason in 1860. Two commissioners were elected in 1862, namely, Paul James Eaton and Talcott H. Carpenter. The latter held the position six years, James H. Lyon being.his associate during his second term, and Mr. Eaton again in his last one. In 1868 R. W. Melendy and Samuel Chadwick were elected, Mr. Melendy being re-elected in 1870 with R. R. Pealer. Mr. Pealer held the position four years, O. J. Fast serving with him during his second term. The present incumbents are Daniel E. Thomas and David Knox, Jr., who were re-elected in 1876.
The county commissioners, who had charge of the financial affairs during their short lease of power, from April, 1838, to July 4, 1842, were as follows : The first ones elected were John G. Cathcart, of Constantine; James Hutch- inson, of Park, and John Sturgis, of Sherman (Sturgis now); those gentle- men drawing terms of one, three and two years, respectively. Judge Con- ner, of Nottawa, was elected for three years to take the place vacated by Mr. Cathcart in 1839. In 1840 Giles Thompson came on the board in place of Judge Sturgis, from Bucks, and Mr. Hutchinson was re-elected in 1841, which was the last election of commissioners, the board of supervisors tak- ing the reins of government again in 1842.
34
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
The people of St. Joseph township, while yet under the jurisdiction of Lenawee county, were first represented in the councils of the territory by delegates, who were elected in 1829 as members of the legislative council. St. Joseph county, with the counties of Cass and Kalamazoo, sent their first delegate to the council in 1831, which was the fifth council, and met in De- troit, May, 1832. In 1833 Calvin Brittain was elected to the council from St. Joseph, Kalamazoo, Berrien, Calhoun and Branch counties-732 votes being polled in the district. In 1835 Isaac I. Ullman was elected to repre- sent the county in the State legislature, and in 1836 Neal McGaffey and Martin G. Schellhous were chosen. In 1838 Samuel A. Chafin and Fred- erick Shurtz were elected, and in 1839 Isaac G. Bailey and John G. Cath- cart succeeded to the dignity. In 1840 Comfort Tyler and A. R. Metcalf lifted up their voices in the general assembly, and gave way in 1841 for Otis Preston and John L. Chipman. In 1843 P. E. Runyan and Frederick Shurtz went to the capitol to legislate for the people, and in 1844 Washing- ton Pitcher and John H. Bowman made the same journey for the same pur- pose. From 1845 to 1851 inclusive, the county was represented successively by Ezra S. Cole and Isaac D. Toll, Alfred S. Driggs and Patrick Marantette, William Morris and Levi Patchin, L. C. Mathews and P. H. Buck, Edwin Kellogg and Asher Bonham, and Alexander H. Moore and J. G. Wait. In 1852 Charles L. Miller and John Frey were elected, Judge Miller being re- elected in 1854 with John Lomison. William Allman and Hezekiah Weatherbee, Harrison Kelley and Thomas Mitchell, and Edward Stewart and William Wheeler were sent successively to make laws from 1856 to 1862 inclusive. In 1863 there were three members sent from the county, to wit : Edward Stewart from the first district, William Wheeler from the second, and Charles Betts from the third. In 1864 Mr. Stewart was re-elected in his district, and Orrin F. Howard and W. T. Smith went from the second and third, respectively.
In 1866 Messrs. Wm. R. Eck, O. F. Howard and Lafayette Parsons were the tribunes of the people, whose terms of office were extended to two years; and in 1868, William R. Eck, Charles Millington and James W. Mandigo spoke among the rulers.
In 1870 Andrew Climie, Millington and Bracey were elected.
In 1872 the representation of the county was reduced and the county re-districted, and Parsons and Clemie were sent as legislators.
In 1874 Frank S. Packard and William Hull were elected, and William Allman and G. B. Markham in 1876. The present districts divide the county north and south, each district taking eight townships.
John S. Barry, Calvin Brittain and William H. Comstock represented, in the first State Senate, the counties of St. Joseph, Berrien, Branch, Hillsdale, Kalamazoo, Cass and Calhoun, composing the third district, the election being held in the fall of 1836, at which 1,875 votes were cast.
In 1838 Samuel Etheridge, of Coldwater, was the senator for Branch, Hillsdale and St. Joseph; and in 1840 John S. Barry, of Constantine, again succeeded to the senatorial toga for St. Joseph, VanBuren, Cass and Branch.
In 1841, Mr. Barry having been elected governor, Digby V. Bell was elected to fill the vacancy. George Redfield was elected in 1843, and Wm. H. Richmond and George Martin in 1844; Joseph N. Chipman and Flavius I. Littlejohn in 1845, and Rix Robinson in 1846. Isaac D. Toll and Jerome R. Fitzgerald were in the Senate in 1847, Alex. H. Redfield in 1848, John McKinney and Philetus Hayden in 1849, and H. H. Riley, of Con- stantine, in 1850. William McCumber and Philetus Haydon were elected in 1852, Edward S. Moore, of Three Rivers, in 1854, and Charles Upson, of Centreville, in 1856; Comfort Tyler, of Sherman, in 1858; J. R. Williams, of Constantine, in 1860.
In 1862 J. G. Wait, of Sturgis, was elected, and held the position for six years, giving way, in 1868, to A. C. Prutzman, of Three Rivers, who also held the office for six years. In 1874 Matthew T. Garvey, of Branch county, was elected for the district composed of St. Joseph and Branch counties, and still occupies the honorable position.
In 1867 county superintendents of schools were provided for by the leg- islature, and Charles M. Temple was the first incumbent of the office in St. Joseph county. In 1869 L. B. Antisdale was elected, and again in 1871. In 1873 J. W. Beardslee was elected, after which the office was abolished, and town superintendents substituted.
In 1869 the office of drain commissioner was established, and Jeremiah H. Gardner was the first commissioner. He was succeeded by A. C. Van Vlack in 1871, when the office was vacated, and town commissioners sub- situted therefor.
In 1835 the county of St. Joseph and the territory south of it to the boundary line, as established by the ordinance of 1787, was, by the legisla- tive council of Michigan, constituted the thirteenth district, and authorized
to elect three delegates to the convention called to frame a constitution, and John S. Barry, Hubbel Loomis and Martin G. Schellhous were elected.
In September, 1836, the people of the county sent Columbia Lancaster and Dr. Watson Sumner as delegates to the convention at Ann Arbor, called to accept the terms of admission into the Union, imposed by Congress upon the people of Michigan, but which acceptance or assent was not given. Of the four hundred and fifteen votes cast for the delegates, two hundred and twenty-one were in favor of giving assent to the conditions, one hundred and eighty were opposed to it, and fourteen did not care enough about the matter to express their desire either way.
The people sent to the second convention, held in December, 1836, for the same purpose as the first one, Aaron B. Watkins, Philip R. Toll, Stephen W. Truesdell and W. H. Adams, one hundred and twenty-six votes only being cast, and all for the above-named delegates.
The delegates to the constitutional convention of 1850, were Judge Wil- liam Connor, Hon. Joseph R. Williams and Edward S. Moore.
Hon. Henry H. Riley, of Constantine, was selected by the governor to represent St. Joseph county in the constitutional convention of 1867, the labors of which came to naught when submitted to the people for ratifi- cation.
St. Joseph county has bean represented in the United States Congress by her own citizens, as follows: Hon. John S. Chipman, for the term of 1845-47 ; Charles Upson, from 1863 to 1869; General William L. Stough- ton, for two terms, 1869-73. Hon. E. W. Keightley was elected in 1876 for a term of two years, beginning March 4, 1877.
The old county has also furnished a fair proportion of the State officers since its organization. Governor Barry was elected, while yet a resident of the county, for two successive terms, 1842-44, and again in 1850. Governor Bagley, though not a St. Joseph citizen at the time of his election, began his business life in Constantine. He has held the position of chief magistrate of the State for four years, ending with 1876.
Leverett A. Clapp was elected commissioner of the land-office in 1872, and re-elected in the year 1874, his term just expiring. He has been the most efficient officer the State has ever had in that position, and by his energy and watchfulness has saved the school fund thousands of dollars by a vigorous prosecution of trespasses on the public domain of the State school and university lands.
Hon. J. Eastman Johnson was a regent of the university at Ann Arbor from 1858 to 1870, and Andrew Climie, Esq., is on the board of regents at present. Frank Wells, of Constantine, is one of the directors of the agri- cultural college. Charles H. Knox was United States marshal for the western district of Michigan, under President Taylor.
CHAPTER XII.
FIRST MARRIAGES-PIONEER WEDDING TOUR AND BRIDAL COSTUMES UNIQUE WEDDING GUESTS-EARLY BIRTHS-FIRST DEATH-THE DI- VORCE COURTS-A COMPROMISE-NOTABLE INSTANCES OF LONGEVITY -FIRST CEMETERY.
Not only does " love laugh at locksmiths," but no vicissitudes of time or place debar the rosy little god from leading willing captives amid the priva- tions of the border, as well as in the centres of affluence and ease. The first parties who sought the aid of St. Joseph officials to launch their bark upon the untried sea of matrimony, were James Knapp and Martha Winchell, both residents of the then township of St. Josephs, Lenawee county, now the township of Mottville, St. Joseph county. The groom located the tract of land on which tradition says the old Indian chief, White Pigeon, was buried, and the bride was a daughter of Judge John Winchell, the only magistrate in all southwestern Michigan at the time-1828, during the summer or fall -the ceremony was celebrated by him. This couple resided on White Pigeon prairie several years, having several children born to them, and removed thence to Indiana, and subsequently to Texas, where they both died.
The next wedding was that of Abel Olds and Ann Thurston, who rode from Jonesville, Hillsdale county, to White Pigeon, fifty miles, to find a magistrate to ratify the contract for a life partnership they themselves had previously made. Judge Winchell was the official the contracting parties found, for the very good reason there was no other to find. He soon made the twain one flesh, without much ceremony, in the month of May, 1829. The newly-wedded pair rode back to Jonesville, via Oxbow prairie, where the relatives of the bride had made ready the nuptial feast. In after-years they returned and took up their residence in St. Joseph county.
35
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
On the 15th day-of August following, William Locke, who came on horse- back from Wayne county, Ohio, and Rachel Gardner, who had preceded him from the same place a few weeks before, came to Judge Luther Newton's cabin, on Crooked creek, the judge having married a sister of Miss Gardner, on Pokagon prairie, the spring before-and sending for the second magis- trate in the township, Neal McGaffey, were by him united in the holy bands of wedlock. The horse which had brought the groom to the bride was now required to carry both groom and bride back to the Ohio home of the ormer, which he did safely, in about two weeks' time, which journey is the first extended wedding-tour recorded in the county. It was unattended with luxury or display, and love was the sole attendant. From Oxbow to Fort Defi- ance, with the exception of a single night, when they had the hospitalities of a wayside cabin extended to them, the wedded pair couched in the woods, canopied by the stars alone and the blue ether.
In October, 1829, Valentine Shultz and Susan Hartman, the latter a daugh- ter of Solomon Hartman, who settled in Mottville township a short time previously, were married. This couple settled on section five in that town- ship, at first, and afterwards removed to Coldwater, in Branch county, and finally went to Iowa, where the lady died in 1870.
The Winchell family furnished one of the parties to the next marriage in the county-David, the eldest son, who married Mary Ann MeEnterfer, a daughter of the first white settler in Lockport township. The wedding was celebrated in the first house built north of White Pigeon and Sturgis prairies, with one exception, that of Judge Week's, at Constantine; the happy affair being consummated in the month of February, 1830-Rev. Erastus Felton probably officiating. Mr. Winchell is dead, but his widow still survives, and resides in Indiana, near Laporte.
The next bride came from the same family, and was Sarah McEnterfer, who surrendered her legal individuality to William McIntosh in November following. McIntosh lived on Young's prairie, and on his journey for his bride lost his way and became bewildered, and did not arrive until long after the hour appointed for the ceremony, which was not performed till midnight. This couple are still living on Young's prairie, in Cass county, whither they went the next day after their marriage. The next marriage was probably that of John W. Fletcher, of Nottawa prairie, and Sarah Knox, a daughter of Jacob Knox and sister of David Knox, of Sturgis prairie, which was celebrated by Samuel Stewart, a justice of the peace, on the 18th day of September, 1831. After the wedding festivities were over, Mr. Fletcher brought his bride to his home, where they have ever since re- sided. The original house has of course given way to one more ample and elegant, and in which their children and children's children-a goodly num- ber-are wont to gather, and listen to the tales of the long ago, as they fall from the lips of the first white man who fixed upon Nottawa prairie for a home. About the same time, William Stewart and Mary Cade, a daughter of the oldest man now living in the county, Thomas Cade, of Sturgis, were married, but whether before or after Mr. Fletcher, we have been unable defi- nitely to determine. It was in the same fall, however, and not far from the same day.
The bridal costume of the pioneer times was not so elaborate as that of the brides of 1877. We give a description of one of the former, which was neat but not gaudy, nor could it be said to be inexpensive, if rated at the price of wheat at the time. The dress was of calico, and the only attempt at ornament was a long pink silk sash, tied around the waist, the ends of which depended to the hem of the skirt, which was somewhat scant in the pattern, both longitudinally and latitudinally. The groom was gor- geously arrayed in yellow pantaloons, crimson vest and blue coat with shining buttons, and had an immense brazen chain about his neck, at the lower extremity of which a "bull's-eye " watch was concealed by his vest pocket.
Probably Mrs. Dr. Isaac Adams, of White Pigeon, had the least fastidi- ous company of wedding-guests that ever sat down to a nuptial feast in the settler's cabin in old St. Joe. The doctor bought the farm of Arba Heald, who, in 1830, finding that neighbors were getting too near to be comfortable, sold out his fine location on Pigeon prairie, and moved west. One day, in the summer of 1833, a young Pottawatomie Indian, from the Nottawa-seepe reservation, on his way to Indian prairie, in Indiana, to claim a bride, stopped at the doctor's place, and one of the younger Adams' getting in con- versation with him found out his business, and, with the consent of Mrs. Adams, invited him to call with his wife on his way back and take dinner. The invitation was accepted, and a few days afterwards the young brave and his dusky mate rode up to the door, but not alone. The invitation had been amplified in its transmission to the bride, and a company, numbering some dozens or more, of the young male and female friends of the parties, were es- corting the newly-wedded pair to their home on the reservation. They were
all trinketed out in a fine array of calicos, beads and buckskin leggings and breeches, and were a jolly, rollicking crowd. . Mrs. Adams, though a little taken aback at the array of guests before her, was not dismayed, and bid- ding them dismount and make themselves comfortable, she set about getting up a dinner for the party, and soon had it smoking-hot before them. The menu was not as elaborate and varied, doubtless, as that of many a wedding- feast in St. Joe since, but it was plentiful and wholesome, and was most thoroughly enjoyed by the partakers thereof, who showed their appreciation of it by dispatching the entire bill of fare in a wonderfully short period of time. After profuse thanks from the groom and protestations of undying gratitude from the bride, the gayly-bedecked party mounted their ponies, and galloped off over the prairie towards the home of the Nottawa.
EARLY BIRTHS.
To whom the honor attaches of being the first white person "to the manor born," in St. Joseph county, has not been definitely ascertained, but it lies between two individuals, Selinda Reichert, a daughter of Abraham Reichert; who was born in what is now known as Mottville township, in May, 1829, and a child which was born the same year in Leonard Cutler's family; on the eastern side of the prairie of White Pigeon, the probabilities lying with the latter.
On the 10th day of August, the same year, Eleanor Heald, a daughter of Arba Heald, was born, and the same season the first child of the first mar- ried couple of the actual settlers in the county, James and Mary Knapp, was born. In the fall of the same year Leonard Rickart had a son born to him, but which did not survive many months. The first-named child is still living. Constantine next came into notice, Henry Bonebright, a son of Jacob Bone- bright deceased, being born February 3, 1830. Nottawa prairie came next, John Foreman, now of Leonidas, being born thereon on the 6th day of February. Sturgis prairie next followed with its work, David Sturgis being the representative, who was born February 11, and then Nottawa came again to the front, in the person of William Hazzard, Jr., who was born March 10, 1830. In "the merry month of May," a little daughter came to gladden the hearts of John B. Clarke and his worthy spouse, in Sherman village- now Sturgis. The little lady made it extremely lively for the neighbors to attend to her requirements, and at an unseasonable hour in the morning, too. Peter Buck and his gray mare were forced into requisition to go for nurses five miles off, and another neighbor was sent for Doctor Loomis, at White Pigeon, twelve miles away. In June Joseph C. Meek was announced at Constantine, and made his debut while the roses were blooming.' Mottville closed the record of the year with the birth of Sophronia Burns, on the 30th day of October.
DEATH'S RECORD.
"Man has but a common doom, And from the cradle to the tomb A common destiny."
Long before a permanent burial-place had been selected, or a cemetery laid off, the reaper-death-had begun his harvest, and tender buds, opening flowers, and ripened fruit had been garnered beneath the flowery sod of prairie and opening, and moistened by the tears of affection of mourners who dropped the thread of busy life for a moment to lay their treasures.in the dust, and turned again to resume their duties under the imperious demands of the active present in which they lived.
White Pigeon prairie leads the column in the joy of matrimony and the gladness of childhood, and Sturgis stands first on the brink of the grave.
Death came suddenly and without warning in his first assault on the set- tlers of St. Joseph ; George Buck and Levi Waterman being the first vic- tims, August 8, 1829. They were buried in a well they were digging in the village of Sherman (then composed of about three houses), on the east side of Nottawa street, as now laid out. The funeral services held for their ob- sequies was the first religious service ever held on Sturgis prairie by the settlers.
In the winter of 1829-30, a man named Sawyer, who was at work for George W. Dille, of Nottawa, was killed by a tree falling upon him. He was buried in the school section, on which a cemetery has since been laid out. Also in that year, 1830, a Mr. Hartman died in Mottville. In 1832 Oliver Raymond buried two little girls in Sturgis prairie.
THE DIVORCE COURTS
are almost as insatiable, in these days, as death himself, but in the early days of the pioneers they had little business. It was not until there had been five terms of the court held, that a married couple in St. Joseph county resorted to the law to do what death had alone done previous thereto.
36
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
The first party who applied for a legal separation evidently " kissed and made up," for no decree was ever entered.
The first decree of divorce was entered in the circuit court, at the October term thereof, 1835, on the petition of Aurora Amulet Gilbert, filed against her husband, David Gilbert, on a plea of cruelty and desertion, most pite- ously expressed by Neal McGaffey, Esq.
The following incident, related by Hon. E. H. Lothrop, late of Three Rivers, now deceased, is apropos here. One day a lady came to Mr. Loth- rop complaining bitterly of the cruel treatment of, and desiring Mr. Loth- rop to effect a legal separation from, her tyrannical lord. Mr. Lothrop ex- postulated with her, declaring it would scandalize the community if such an old and worthy couple should, after so long a wedded life as theirs, sepa- rate ; but the lady was immovable in her determination. Thinking to con- ciliate the parties, Mr. Lothrop went to the house occupied by them, accom- panied by the lady, where they found the husband fortifying his position with an array of scriptural texts, and the upshot of the matter was that a separation was agreed upon. The wife was to retain the farm for her sup- port, and the husband was to take the team and wagon, and go out from the homestead and begin anew. The arrangement was consummated, but after the clean linen was soiled which the old gentleman took with him, he came to the lady and engaged her to do his washing. Not long afterwards he came and engaged board with her, and the result was soon manifest in her taking him back altogether, and no further mention was made of disagree- ments or separations.
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