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 22
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Private Horatio C. Failing, Company C; died at Murfreesboro.
Private Warren Ellis, Company E; discharged for wounds.
Private Frederick Blackman, Company H; died at Alexandria.
Private Charles W. Hutchins, Company H; died at Newbern, North Carolina.
THIRTIETH INFANTRY.
Private Lawrence Gassnel, Company H; died at Detroit.
Private Samuel T. Lindley, Company K; drowned at Jackson, Michigan.
FIRST MECHANICS AND ENGINEERS.
Private Charles Spalding, Company H; died February 8, 1864.
FIRST CAVALRY.
Private Albert Chittenden, Company G; killed at Gettysburg, July 3, 1863. THIRD CAVALRY.
Private George B. Williams, Company A; died at St. Louis, October 16, 1864.
Private Edward M. Richardson, Company F; died at Duvall's Bluff, Arkansas.
Private Lorenzo Seger, Company M; died. SEVENTH CAVALRY.
Private Charles C. Knapp, Company A; died in Salisbury prison-pen. NINTH CAVALRY.
Private W. H. Van Brunt, Company E; died in Andersonville.
Private Augustus Butler, Company K; killed at Stone Mountain, Geor- gia, October 2, 1864.
Private John Kemple, Company K ; killed at Stone Mountain, Georgia, October 2, 1864. BATTERY D-FIRST LIGHT ARTILLERY.
Private Geo. W. Swift ; died at Camp Gilbert, Kentucky, June 20, 1862. Private Floran Aufrance ; died at Murfreesboro.
BATTERY H.
Private Edward D. Rowley ; died of wounds received August 10, 1863. Private John Sensibe, Battery L; died at Knoxville, September 18, 1863. Private Edgar A. Sherwood ; died at Knoxville.
FIRST MICHIGAN SHARP-SHOOTERS.
Private Emanuel J. Stiffler, Company F ; died at Washington. FIRST UNITED STATES SHARP-SHOOTERS.
Private Edward S. Hamblin, Company I; died near Falmouth, Virginia, January 27, 1863.
Private Warner Houghtating; died near Suffolk, Virginia, May 12, 1863.
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
CONCLUSION.
And now, dear reader, our pleasant task is done. We have rambled with you by the stream of history as for fifty years it has meandered through the superb county of St. Joseph. We have seen the fleet deer bounding through the glades or over the billowy prairies, followed by the scarcely less agile red man, or the no less untiring pale-faced borderer. We have looked upon the pioneer as, with the slow and toilsome pace of the patient oxen, he has moved his household goods into the Indian's country, and with brawny arms has rolled up the rude logs for a shelter for his domestic treasures. We have joined the merry throng and congratulated the newly-wedded bride on her new-found happiness; have rejoiced with the mother when she has felt the dewy breath of the babe upon her breast; and we have stood by the open grave and shed tears of sympathy with the stricken ones as they laid their treasures in the dust, and no healer was nigh but Him who has ordered all things for the best. We have seen the old Pennsylvania wagon, with its broad tires and broader-backed horses toiling through the marshes and swimming rivers, give way to the "coach and four " as it rattled over the Chicago trail and up to the door of the old log hostelry, at the crack of the driver's whip and the echoing notes of his horn. We have seen the awk- ward flat-boat and clumsy ark, carrying the produce of the sturdy yeomanry of old St. Joe to a market, as they floated lazily down the noble river that for twenty years and more was the main artery of commerce in the county ; and we have seen, at length, the ark and the flat-boat, together with the rumb- ling, swaying " Concord," give way to that steed whose iron stomach craves no lighter diet than coal and water, and under whose tireless impetus the world has been revolutionized. We have seen, as the result of these changes, the beautiful lawns, open vistas, and free wild prairies transformed from their unexcelled natural loveliness to broad well-tilled farms; the log cabins dis- appear and elegant mansions come into view; and the dotted landscape be- come villages; and the villages, thriving cities. We have seen the rude mills of the pioneers with their primitive wheels and imperfect boulder
stones, whose product, like the figs of the prophet's vision, was so bad it could scarcely be eaten for badness, fall away, and on their sites rise the three-storied structures of the present, with their Leffels and polished and ironed "burrs," whose product ("prime super extra white winter ") com- mands the markets of the world. We have beheld, and the log school- houses, with their rough benches and simple elements of education, have faded, and in their places magnificent buildings rise, wherein reign the best systems of instruction in literature and science. We have worshiped in the settler's cabin and in the groves-"God's first temples"-when the Boanerges of the early days launched the judgments of Heaven at our de- fenseless heads, or melted us to tears as they told of the love of a merciful Father ; and we have seated ourselves on the luxuriously upholstered sofas
in the costly and capacious tabernacles that now lift their towers to the skies, and have listened to the swelling tones of the organ and the story of the Man of Nazareth delivered to us in the well-turned periods of rhetoric and display. And-prouder sight than these-we have seen, when the banner of treason floated the air and the armed hosts beneath its folds struck at the nation, the old, the middle-aged, and the young leave the homestead gar- landed with love and affection, and with brave hearts and determined wills go forth to beat back the foes of freedom and union ; and we have seen-a grander, nobler sight than all-the shattered regiments come back with colors proudly flying, though tattered by shot and shell, and the veteran soldiers-heroes all-settle back into their accustomed places, and take up again the arts of peace without disturbance or unusual commotion.
And now, standing face to face with all these evidences before us, shall we not say that, link by link, here and there over the whole earth, the testimony accumulates that the march of progress is ever onward and upward ? Over the gory trail of war, it may be, as well as by the pleasant paths of peace, the Divine purpose is being developed-a pledge, though much tribulation, toil and pain may intervene before the grand consummation shall be reached, that humanity shall yet attain unto god-like perfection and knowledge, and " the wilderness shall blossom like the rose."
RESIDENCE OF J. BROWN, FLORENCE TP, ST JOSEPH CO, MICH.
RESIDENCE OF A. C. ZIMMER, FAWN RIVER TP. ST. JOSEPH CO., MICH.
TOWNSHIP HISTORIES.
WHITE PIGEON.
IN A county so rich in Indian reminiscence as is St. Joseph, it is somewhat singular that but two towns in its borders should commemorate its aboriginal inhabitants, and especially when the Pottawatomie dialect abounds with characteristic nomenclature, liquid in accent, and beautiful in signification. Nottawa perpetuates the band of warriors who lived thereon, and White Pigeon a noted chief of the nation. Tradition says the old chief, who died before any white man ever lived on the prairie, was buried on a knoll just outside the village boundaries, on a farm once owned by James Knapp, and now owned by Martin L. Gortner. Tradition goes on to say that a cabin was once built over the chief's remains, against the earnest remonstrance of his clansmen, who believed such an act was a desecration of the (to them) sacred spot, and that they told the builder of the cabin that it would not stand there long,-and it did not, being burned shortly afterwards ; since which time the site has been respected. Trees have been planted thereon several times, but they have hitherto failed to thrive, and have finally died. There has been some talk about erecting a monument on the spot to com- memorate the old-time warrior and sachem of the red men, but nothing has as yet been done towards such a reasonable and commendable work. But his name is preserved, and has been spread throughout the land by the fame of the settlement of white men, who could find no more appropriate or beautiful name for their colony (and, afterwards, township) than that of the leading war-chief, of his day, of the Pottawatomie nation. Long before the settlement around Fort Dearborn became a fact generally known, White Pigeon prairie was a noted spot in New England, New York and Pennsyl- vania. White Pigeon was for years the distributing point of emigration into the west, and all southwestern Michigan and northwestern Indiana was settled by emigrants who made their first stop at this point.
TOPOGRAPHY.
The surface of the township of White Pigeon is a level plain, slightly un- dulating in portions, and originally covered with light burr- and white-oak openings, with the exception of about one thousand acres of its area, which was a portion of the far-famed White Pigeon prairie. Its entire area includes, as at present limited, about eighteen thousand acres, of which some twelve hundred and sixty-five are water surface. The soil is of the same general character of that throughout the county, and is very fertile and productive.
THE DRAINAGE
of the township is ample, and it is watered by the Pigeon and Fawn rivers, and Pickerel, Klinger's, Aldrich, Marl and Fish lakes. The Pigeon enters the township from Indiana, on the south line of the southwest quarter of the northwest quarter of section twenty-two, and runs north- erly and westerly, passing out on the west line of the southwest quarter of the northwest quarter of section twelve, township eight, range twelve. The Fawn enters the township by Aldridge lake, on sections thirteen and twenty- four, and passes through Pickerel lake, running thence nearly due north, passing out of the township on the northwest quarter of the northwest quarter of section twenty-seven, township seven, range eleven west. Klinger's lake -so named from a pioneer who settled on its shores in 1829-is the largest body of water in the township, having an area of about seven hundred acres, and lies on sections one and two, township eight, and thirty-five and thirty- six, township seven, range eleven. Marl lake, a long, narrow sheet of water, lies on the southwest quarter of section seventeen, and has an area of about eighty acres. A portion of Fish lake, about eighty acres, covers a part of the southwest quarter of section nineteen.
THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS
in White Pigeon were made in the spring of 1827, the first one by John Winchell, from Wayne county, Michigan, on the 10th of April. He located with his family on the west end of the prairie. The second location was by Leonard Cutler, from Indiana, who came with his family to the east end of the prairie in May of that year. After these two pioneers came a third, Arba Heald, from Wayne county, who also located at the eastern end of the prairie.
Winchell and Heald came first to the prairie in the fall or winter of 1826, and made their selections, and returned to Monroe for Winchell's family,- Heald returning with Winchell in April, and remaining a portion of the summer, bringing on his own family in January, 1828.
The land was not then in the market, not having as yet, previous to the ar- rival of Winchell and Cutler, been subdivided into sections,-the townships and ranges only being determined. The subdivision into sections was per- fected during the summer of 1827.
These three pioneers divided the prairie between them, or a certain portion thereof, by striking two furrows across the same, to mark the respective bounds of their claims. Winchell built himself a cabin, as did also the other two as soon after their arrival as it was possible to do so, the same being in the edge of the timber which flanked their prairie land.
The families of these first pioneers of St. Joseph county were as follows : Mr. Winchell had nine children, viz .: Elizabeth, who afterwards married Samuel Markham ; David Winchell, who married Mary Ann McInterfer, the daughter of the first settler in Lockport township; Lyman Winchell, William Winchell, Martha, who married James Knapp in 1828, the first marriage in the county ; John, Cynthia, Angelina, and James. In the fall of 1833 Judge Winchell removed to Door prairie, in Laporte county, where he died December 20, 1836. Of his children but three are living,-Mrs. Markham and John in California, and Mrs. G. W. Reynolds (Cynthia) in Kingsbury, Indiana, within half a mile of the mill her father built after leaving St. Joseph county, and where he died. Mr. Winchell was the first postmaster in the county, and also first justice of the peace, being appointed while all of southwestern Michigan was but one township (St. Joseph) in Lenawee county. The post-office was called Millville, and was established in 1828. Mr. Winchell was also the first mail contractor on the Chicago road between Coldwater and Niles, and carried the mail once a week each way in summer, and once in two weeks in winter, on horseback. His log cabin was built on the north side of the Chicago trail, and his blacksmith- shop on the south side, just in the edge of the timber. He was an Eastern man, his wife being a native of the same section of the country. He was very accurate and prompt in his business transactions, and was a " Christian in precept and example," as is testified to by those who knew him best.
Leonard Cutler was a native of Bennington, Vermont, and shortly after his marriage, in 1811, emigrated to Canada; but when the war broke out between Great Britain and the United States he left the Canadas and moved into New York, joining an artillery company in the United States army, and doing good service therein. He moved into Jennings county, Indiana, after the close of the war, then an unbroken wilderness, where he remained five or six years, in the mean time clearing up, mostly with his own hands, a heavily timbered farm. In May, 1827, as before stated, he came to St. Jo- seph county, arriving on White Pigeon prairie on the 18th day of that month. His family consisted of his wife Mercy and several children, three only of whom are living : Morice D., the oldest son, at Waukesha, Wisconsin, of which he was and is one of the principal proprietors ; John, a physician, who emigrated to California in 1849, where he served with distinction in the
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62
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
State legislature, and held the position of county judge for several years ; Alonzo R., who now resides at Laporte, Indiana.
Mr. Cutler left St. Joseph county in the spring of 1831, and settled on Door prairie, in Indiana, selling the lands he had bought at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre at a large advance,-the entire sale bringing three thousand dollars. He lived on his second location for several years, and then moved again "into the west," and settled at Decorah, Iowa, where he still resides, at the advanced age of ninety-seven years. A single incident in the journey of Mr. Cutler to White Pigeon prairie will illustrate his tenacity of purpose. He was stricken down with fever on the road, and, after journey- ing as long as possible, the wagon was drawn up beside the trail and the sick man lifted out and laid upon an improvised bed to die, as his family feared. As soon as the sons could command their feelings sufficiently to ask the ques- tion, they inquired what they should do with him in the event of his death,- where they should bury him ? He replied, "Not here, but on White Pigeon prairie ; there is where I started to go, and there I am going, dead or alive. If I die, put me in the wagon and take me to that prairie and there bury me. But I'm not going to die now,"-and he did not. They came to the spot they afterwards selected for a home, and Mr. Cutler was soon himself again. He was ministered to by an Indian, who gave him some medicament he had himself prepared after the Indian formula, preceding its administration by an offering of tobacco to the Great Spirit by burning the same in the fire, and praying to the Manitou. A Dutchman named Kimball, who was sick at Cutler's cabin, and was cared for by him and his wife, loaned Cutler the money to enter his claim, and shared with the latter in the purchase. He bought eight hundred acres.
While on the trail from Tecumseh they were mired-down in the marshes several times, and had to cut down the banks of the streams to get in and out of the same, and cut the trees down sometimes to get through the thicker part of the woods. One night, just before sunset, the wagon, which was drawn by two yoke of oxen and two yoke of cows, mired in the middle of a wet marsh, and there was not time enough to drag it out before dark, and therefore the boys unhooked the cattle from the wagon, and putting their mother and father on one team-the children taking such things as were needed for camping-out and supper-rode the other yoke of oxen, and, like St. Paul and his companions at Melita, " so they all got safely to (dry) land." The boys, however, concluded to get the wagon out that night, and not have the disagreeable job disturbing their dreams, and so, cutting poles, they pried up the wheels out of the mud, and the team dragged the wagon out ready for a fresh start in the morning. The Cutlers' daughter Mary was the first white child born in the county.
Arba Heald was a native of Maine, and came to White Pigeon in 1828, as before stated, with his family, consisting of his wife and five children, viz. : Sarepta E., William, John V., Jane C., and Norris McK., of whom but two are living at the present time,-Jane, now Mrs. D. Kimball, of Door village, Laporte county, Indiana, and Sarepta, now Mrs. Samuel D. Hall, of Roxbury, McPherson county, Kansas. Two children were born in White Pigeon to him,-Eleanor, August 10, 1829, now Mrs. Griffin Drone, of Roxbury, Kansas, and Eldredge, December 30, 1831, now deceased.
The only son now living, Edwin C., of Roxbury, Kansas, was born in Laporte county, Indiana. Mrs. Heald was a native of Essex county, New York, where she and Mr. Heald were married in 1818. In 1820 they re- moved to Pennsylvania, thence to Ohio, and from thence, in 1825, to Mon- roe, Michigan, and from thence to White Pigeon.
Mr. Heald removed to Door prairie in June, 1832, having disposed of his location to Dr. Isaac O. Adams. He built a saw-mill, and was a most use- ful man in his day, dying in 1853.
.
Mrs. Heald died in Door village in 1869. When Winchell and Heald had reached the western edge of the White Pigeon prairie, in the latter part of the year 1826, Heald said, "Winchell, right about face! We have gone far .enough! This location is good enough for anybody!" And thereupon the two retraced their way to Monroe, Winchell coming back in April of 1827, accompanied by Heald, and Heald returning for his family, whom he brought back with him in January, 1828, arriving near the last days of the month.
The next comer to the prairie after the tripartite division of the land was Dr. David Page, who was the first physician in the county. He was an un- married man, of an extremely youthful appearance, and was accompa- nied by a brother, Reed Page ; they built themselves a house of logs, not far from the present site of the village of White Pigeon, westerly therefrom.
Joseph Olds came in the same fall (1827), and located on the north bank of the Pigeon, on what is now included in the White farm.
Asahel Savery came to the prairie in December of that year, and built the east wing of the "Old Diggins," as it was afterwards known, in 1828, and opened the first house for public entertainment in the county.
From that time onward the settlement increased rapidly. Including the little village, the following were among the early settlers on the prairie: James Knapp, Beckwith and family, Luther Newton, and Peter Klinger and family, and Billy Naggs, a trader on Indian prairie, one mile south and west from the village,-all came in 1828. The three brothers Phelps, who first began Newville, came in 1828-9.
Samuel Pratt and Philander A. Paine came in May, 1829, and when they came they found, besides those before mentioned, the following here before them: John W. Anderson, register of probate and deeds; Duncan and David Clark, brothers ; and Robert Clark, Jr., United States surveyor. Orrin Rhoades and his family came in September of the same year; when they arrived, Lewis Rhoades, who has resided in the same township nearly fifty years, says there were, besides those already mentioned, Hart L. and Alan- son C. Stewart, D. Keyes, - Crawford, - Selden, and Joseph Martin, William Rowen, - Lawrence. Robb and Murray were on the prairie or vicinity, and John Coates came in the same fall, as did Neal McGaffey, the first lawyer, who was soon after followed by his brother-in-law, Joshua Gale.
Dr. Hubbel Loomis, the first probate judge of the county, came in the summer of 1829. Between Rhoades' advent and Kelloggs, April 30, 1830, the following came in : Robert Wade, a Yorkshireman,-as were Coates and Rowen,-Orrin Thompson, a brother-in-law of Savery; Benjamin, or as he was sometimes facetiously called, " Dr." Franklin, and Mr. Neal, father of McGaffey's and Gale's wives. Samuel A. Chapin, C. B. Fitch, Erastus Thurber, Daniel Robinson, Lewis B. Judson, J. W. Coffinberry, Rev. William Jones,-the latter the first Presbyterian minister in the county,-Thomas, and his nephew Armstrong, a tanner; Crippen, a shoemaker, and Roberts, a blacksmith, all came in 1830. Dr. Isaac O. Adams and his family of boys, Isaac, Wm. H., George, and Washington, came in 1831, and the doctor bought out Arba Heald, who went to Indiana. Mr. Bull also came in 1830, and went into trade with the Kelloggs, and was followed in 1831 by Elias S. Swan, John S. Barry, and I. W. Willard in the mercantile line-Niles F. Smith having had the precedence over all in that line, and was in trade when Kellogg came in April, 1830, and had. as Kellogg writes, " a one-horse store with a wheelbarrow full of goods;" but Mr. K. probably speaks satirically as to the quantity of stock on hand, for P. A. Paine, in 1830, finds it valua- ble enough to trade land for it. S. P. Williams, now of Lima, Indiana, was a resident-merchant of White Pigeon in 1831-2, and subsequently formed a co-partnership with David or Duncan Clark. Dr. W. N. Elliott came to the village in 1832, in the spring of the year, and Peter and George W. Beisel in 1831.
Of these old pioneers but two are still living in White Pigeon,-Dr. Elliott and George Beisel. Mr. Willard, who was subsequently the clerk of the courts until they were held in Centreville, is now residing at Pawpaw, Van Buren county. A. Savery, when last heard from, was in Texas; Robert Clark, Jr., died in Monroe in March, 1837, aged only twenty-eight years, and David Clark died at White Pigeon on the 19th of the same month. Lewis B. Judson resides in Oswego, Kendall county, Illinois, and the sons of Dr. Adams are in Chicago. Whether any of the others are living we do not know, while on the contrary we do know that the greater portion of them are dead. The first emigrants previous to 1830 were mostly from Wayne county, Michigan.
THE FIRST FARMS
opened on the prairie were those of Winchell and Cutler, who broke up the new sod and planted corn, potatoes and buckwheat, sowing wheat in the fall. Cutler had a strong team-three yoke of oxen and two of cows-and he broke up several acres.
The first entries of public lands in the present limits of the township were as follows: The east half of the southwest quarter of section five, Arba Heald ; the west half of the southwest quarter of section five, and the east half of the southeast quarter of section six, Robert Clark, Jr .; the west half of the southeast quarter of section six, John W. Anderson and Duncan R. Clark; the south- west quarter of section six, and the north west fractional quarter of section seven, -three hundred and seventy-one acres,- Asahel Savery ; all on the 24th day of October, 1828. The east half of the southeast quarter of section nine, Luther Newton and John Winchell, November 29; and the east half of the north- east quarter of section six, Leonard Cutler, December 11, 1828; which were all there were in 1828, there being nineteen made in 1829. Judge Winch- ell's entries at the west end of the prairie were made on January 25, 1829, and were the east half of the southeast quarter of section three, township
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
eight, range twelve-those first named being in township eight, range eleven.
In 1873 three thousand and thirty-three acres in wheat produced twenty-four thousand six hundred and sixty-eight bushels, and two thousand one hun- dred and eleven acres of corn, forty-nine thousand six hundred and eighty bushels. The crop of 1873 also yielded one thousand six hundred and five bushels of other grain, six thousand one hundred and sixty-one bushels of potatoes, one thousand four hundred and thirty-three tons hay, five thousand six hundred and sixty-six pounds wool, fourteen thousand four hundred and eighty-five pounds pork, thirty-two thousand four hundred and twenty pounds butter, three thousand four hundred and eighty-six pounds dried fruit, six hundred and ninety-nine barrels cider, and ten thousand six hundred and sixty-five bushels of apples and other fruit. There were owned in the town- ship at the same time three hundred and sixty-nine horses, four mules, three hundred and thirty-six cows, two hundred and ninety-three head of other cattle, eight hundred and seventy-two hogs, and one thousand one hundred and eighty-five sheep. One flour-mill employed three persons, twenty thousand dollars capital, four run of stone, and made eight thousand two hundred and ninety-three barrels of flour, valued at sixty thousand five hundred and thirty-eight dollars.
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