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 31
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THE FIRST ROAD
was surveyed through what was afterwards the township, in 1825, and was the national military road between Detroit and Chicago, being the first ripple of the incoming tide of civilization, ante-dating by two years the first settlement in the county. The first road surveyed by township authority was the Bristol and Mottville river road, surveyed July 7, 1831, by Mathew Rowen.
THE FIRST STAGE LINE
was run over the Chicago road by Savery, in 1831-32, ten miles.
An accident occurred in 1852, by which Dr. Joseph M. Chase, an eminent physician and estimable citizen, met his death, being killed instantly by being thrown from his buggy.
EDUCATIONAL.
The primitive educational facilities of Mottville were limited. A school was taught in the log-house of John Bear as early as 1830, at which the Hartman and Davidson children were attendants. Some two or three years subsequent a school-house was erected at Mottville, but regular school dis- tricts were not organized until 1837. We quote the subjoined extract from the first records of the proceedings, as defining the locality of the five original school districts :
" At a meeting of the inspectors of schools of the township of Mottville, in the school-house at the village of Mottville, May 1, 1837, the township was divided and numbered into school districts as follows :
"District No. 1 to commence at the northeast corner of said township, and running from thence west on the township line to the northeast corner of section four, from thence south on the section line to the north side of Pigeon creek, from thence following up the said creek to the township line, thence north to the place of beginning.
" District No. 2 to commence at the northeast corner of section four, thence running west on the township line to the river St. Joseph, thence down the river to the line of section six, thence south to the north side of Pigeon creek, thence up the creek to the west line of section ten, thence north to the place of beginning.
"District No. 3 to commence on the township line on the northwest side of the river St. Joseph, thence running west on said line to the line of Cass county, thence running south on said county line to the south side of the river St. Joseph, thence down the river to the north side of Pigeon creek, thence up the creek to the southwest corner of section eight, thence north following the section line to the river, thence up said river.to the place of beginning.
"District No. 4 to commence on the south side of Pigeon creek, thence south to the south line of the State of Michigan, thence running east on said line to the quarter-post of section twenty-one, thence north to Pigeon creek, thence following down the creek to beginning.
"District No. 5 commencing at the quarter-post of section twenty-one, on the State line, and running thence east on said line to the east line of the township of Mottville, thence north on the township line to Pigeon creek, thence down the creek to the centre of section sixteen, thence south to the place of beginning. To which is added all that part of District No. 4, of the township of White Pigeon, south of the Pigeon creek, and west of section sixteen."
John F. Johnston, W. A. Sanger and Francis Nixon are the present school inspectors.
In 1876, there were taught five schools in as many school-houses in the township, which were in session an average of eight and three-tenths
months each during the year ending September 1. There were two hun- dred children in the township of the requisite school-age, between five and twenty years ; and one hundred and eighty-one of them attended the schools. Four male teachers were employed, and paid five hundred and seventy-two dollars and fifty cents for their services, and five females, who received four hundred and eighty-seven dollars for their work. There are two hundred and fourteen volumes in the district libraries ; and the school-houses, which can supply two hundred and eighty-nine sittings, were valued at four thou- sand five hundred dollars. The total expenses of the districts were one thousand one hundred and seventy-eight dollars and thirty cents, and a balance was left on hand, for the current year, of three hundred and twenty- three dollars and forty-eight cents.
THE FIRST TOWNSHIP MEETING.
At a meeting of the electors of the township of Mottville, convened at the school-house in the village of Mottville on the 3d of April, 1837, the or- ganization was effected by choosing Thomas Odell moderator and Lot Gage clerk-Chauncey May, William Barnes and John Sixby inspectors of said meeting.
After the board had declared the polls open, they proceeded to ballot, and the following officers were elected :
Supervisor, Andrew Thompson ; Town Clerk, Joseph F. Johnston ; Jus- tices of the Peace, John Sixby, Chauncey May, Peter Buck and Daniel Osborn ; Collector, Jonas Hartman; Constables, James Knapp, John C. G. Roach and Henry Kurton ; Assessors, Daniel Osborne, Thomas Finney and William Barnes; Highway Commissioners, Nicholas I. Sixby, Thomas Finney and Abraham Rickart; Inspectors of Schools, William A. Sawyer, Joseph F. Johnston and Francis Nixon; Overseers of the Poor, Charles McCollister and Calvin P. May.
" Voted, That seed-horses over eighteen months old should not be free commoners." (?)
" Voted, That twenty-five hundred dollars be raised for the support of the poor." Adjourned.
The township officers have been as follows :
SUPERVISORS .- Andrew Thompson, 1837 ; Daniel Osborne, Harvey Cook, two years ; Hiram Holabird, S. C. Abbott, two years; Asahel Clapp, three years ; George G. Gilbert, Daniel Schurtz, two years; Nicholas I. Sixby, two years ; William Ferguson, Joseph M. Chase, Edward Gray, fifteen years ; John Waltham, Aaron Nash, twelve years ; Stephen N. Nash, four years ; J. A. Hertzler, present incumbent, 1876.
CLERKS .- Joseph F. Johnston, 1837 ; O. E. Thompson, two years; Ly- man Loomis, Rufus Ingersoll, two years ; Hiram Holabird, James G. Smith, four years; James H. Voorhies, two years; A. H. Moore, Warren Miller, William Ferguson, three years; Jacob L. Rathbun, six years ; Rufus In- gersoll, George B. Kapp, William Waltham, Samuel Taylor, four years; John P. Madden, D. C. Fuller, present incumbent, 1876, and three years previously.
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE .- Edmund Davis, John Sixby, Chauncey May, eight years ; Harvey Cook, six years; E. C. Abbott, Hiram Holabird, Abraham Goble, James Hutchinson, O. E. Thompson, Aaron Brooks, Ralph Markham, A. H. Moore, A. Markham, John Chase, sixteen years ; James Kellogg, Stephen Walter, Jacob Gortner, eight years; Joseph M. Chase, F. A. Long, William Ferguson, eight years ; Samuel R. Wiley, J. C. Caul, Solomon Rote, John Rickart, John Smith, eight years; Edward Gray, ten years, and present incumbent, 1877 ; John P. Hackenburg, Stephen N. Nash, eight years ; Dr. D. L. I. Flanders, Perry S. Bower, George Smith, Eleazar Crouch, seven years (and present incumbent) ; John P. Madden, William Wolfinger, J. L. Rathbun, twenty years (and present incumbent); Daniel Kleckner, Joseph Clouse, 1876 (and present incumbent).
POPULATION.
In 1838 the inhabitants of Mottville township numbered four hundred and ninety-seven souls. In 1850 they had increased to six hundred and eleven, and in 1860 to seven hundred and thirty-five. The next decade showed a loss of fourteen, there being three hundred and fifty males and three hun- dred and seventy-one females. They lived in one hundred and fifty-three houses, and there was not a vacant one in the township, each family having one to themselves. During the next four years the township gained three inhabitants, having seven hundred and twenty-four in all; of these three hundred and forty-seven were males and three hundred and seventy-seven females-the ladies still retaining the numerical superiority, if they could not vote. Of the males one hundred and eleven were of the military age- over twenty one and under forty-five. Seventy-one were beyond any
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
fear of a draft, but not over seventy-five years, and nine had passed the three-quarter score and were coming down the "home-stretch," but had not marked the ninth decade of the century. Of the females one hundred and forty-four were over eighteen and under forty years ; 'seventy-six had passed the heyday of life, but had not reached the threescore and fifteen-as six of their sisters had done, and passed it. One hundred and fifty-six boys were under twenty-one years, and one hundred and fifty-one girls were under eighteen years of age.
THE POLITICAL SENTIMENT
of the township has been Democratic by a fair majority ever since the first presidential election in 1840, with the exception of 1860. In 1840 the Whigs polled sixty-one votes, and the Democrats forty-two. In 1844 the Whig vote was forty-nine, and the Democrats sixty-three, with a single, solitary Liberty man. In 1848 the Whig candidates received fifty-four votes, the Democratic ones sixty-four, and the Free Soilers ten. In 1852 the Whigs polled forty-one votes, the Democrats sixty-seven, and the Aboli- tionists, though they had a remarkable increase in percentage, cast but eleven votes. In 1856 the Republicans cast seventy-five votes, and the Democrats eighty-eight, but in 1860 "old Abe" found more friends than his fellow-citizen of Illinois (Douglas), receiving ninety-five votes to eighty-six for the latter. In 1864 the pendulum swung back across the whole arc and the Democrats polled one hundred and one, while the Republicans cast but sixty-three votes. In 1868 each party increased their votes by sixteen tallies, leaving their relative strength the same. In 1872 there was a loss on both sides, the Democrats polling eighty-two votes, and their opponents fifty- three-O'Connor and Black each having a single friend. In 1876 Mr. Tilden received eighty-eight votes, Mr. Hayes sixty-seven, and Mr. Cooper twenty-six, which would indicate a population in the township of about nine hundred.
MOTTVILLE VILLAGE.
This village, at one time the most important village in the county, is situ- ated on the south side of the St. Joseph river, and was first settled by Joseph Quimby, who took up his permanent residence on its present site in the year 1828. He remained for some months the only white resident of the place, until Joel Stevenson and Elias Taylor came in the spring of the following year (1829). The village, or rather the site of the village, was visited by several, of whom some subsequently became settlers of the adjoining country,-before the settlement of any one except Quimby,-nota- bly Mr. Aaron Brooks and James Odell, who passed through there by stage in the summer of 1828, their business being to select a good location for settlement. The site of the village was known for years as the grand traverse of the St. Joseph river, the Chicago trail crossing the river at this point. The plat was first surveyed May 31, 1830, by Orange Risdon and John R. Williams, proprietors of section six of township eight, range twelve, on which the original plat is located.
THE FIRST HOUSE
erected here was a log-hut, built by Quimby immediately after his arrival. In 1830 this solitary habitation was followed by one of a more pretentious kind-a frame house, built by Elias Taylor, which served as the first store in the place, also as the first tavern, and likewise as the first post-office, of which various conglomerated establishments Taylor was the first proprietor. The store answered the purposes for which it was intended for some years, while the tavern was succeeded by the present structure in 1833. It was built by Hart L. Stewart, and has been kept by various persons-notably Joseph Knorr, who was a genial host, and a very successful tavern-keeper. The present proprietor is Samuel Earley, No. 2.
THE FIRST FRAME HOUSE
was erected by Elias Taylor as above stated. He was the old Indian trader at the grand traverse, and also the first sheriff of the county, receiving his appointment from Governor Cass in 1829.
THE FIRST BRICK HOUSE
was built by Abraham Goble in 1844, of brick furnished by Messrs. John Hartman and Thomas Burns-the former now a resident of Cass county (living about a mile from the county line) ; the latter a resident of Mott- ville. It is now owned and occupied by George Bostock.
One of the principal features which led to the early importance of Mottville, was the erection of a bridge spanning the St. Joseph river there. The first structure was built in 1833, by Hart L. Stewart, as a military crossing, under the territorial laws. The timber was furnished by Solomon and John Hart- man, of which sixteen thousand feet were required, including some of the best
ever used for the purpose. There were some pieces used in its construction sixty feet in length, and eighteen inches square. It cost about five thousand dollars. It stood until 1845, when a piled bridge was built, Thomas Burns driving the piles. This bridge was built at a cost of about three thousand dollars, and lasted until superseded by the present structure in 1867. The latter is an arched bridge, built of wood, and stands on stone abutments, with a central pier, also of stone. The contractors were Mahlon Thompson and Joseph Miller, and the cost of construction was about seven thousand dollars.
The original owners of the site of the village were John R. Williams, of Detroit, and Hart L. Stewart, the former retarding the growth of the place by asking an exorbitant price for his part of it. At one time he offered to sell his interest for three thousand dollars, but when Messrs. Hart L. and A. C. Stewart offered that sum, he declined to accept, and also refused two suc- cessive advances, each of one thousand dollars-asking six thousand where he had formerly agreed to take three. The self-same property was subse- quently sold for taxes.
A great and creditable feature of the former prosperity of the village was its facilities for transportation, it being the depot for freight dispatched by water. The keel-boats used to run up to the village from its mouth; they were propelled by poles, manual labor being the force used. Finally small steam-boats were employed, and then it looked as though, with the stage route between Detroit and Chicago passing through the village, and its increased advantages for transportation, the prosperity of the place was assured.
At one time, it is stated on excellent authority, there accumulated at Mottville fourteen thousand barrels of flour, to be shipped on the opening of navigation in the spring. The chief era of its prosperity was from 1840 to 1850 ; from the latter date gradually declining from the most important village in the county to one of comparatively no commercial account.
In 1851 a tannery was erected at Mottville by Messrs. Hoag & Buck, and was continued by them till 1841, when it ceased operations. A second enterprise of a similar nature was started by Horace Reynolds in 1855, which underwent many changes of proprietors, and finally wound up in 1874.
One of the earliest enterprises in the village was a distillery, which was established by Henry Heywood in 1829. He conducted it for about fifteen years, when it passed into the possession of Reuben M. Daniels. It was dis- continued in 1849.
The man Daniels, above-mentioned, was attacked with mania a potu dur- ing the Mexican war, and while laboring under that disease, he became pos- sessed of the hallucination that the Mexicans were pursuing him. He was out in the woods, and having his rifle with him, he discharged it at his phantom foes, and then ran and hid, not showing himself for several days. The rifle was subsequently found by Messrs. Burns and Field.
The father of Governor Bagley, of Michigan, was a tanner in Mottville at an early day, going from thence to Constantine to follow his trade.
The Stewarts built the first warehouse in the village, and the second store, and brought in the second stock of goods.
Kellogg & Paine also were in trade in the flush days before 1835, and Stewart kept the hotel in 1835, and John Newells after 1840.
Jacob Lutz built a woolen factory in Mottville after 1860.
THE FIRST PHYSICIAN
in the township was Dr. L. S. Lillibridge, who settled there in 1836. Pre- vious to that date Dr. Loomis, of White Pigeon, served the people medici- nally. Dr. Joseph M. Chase succeeded Dr. Lillibridge, and was killed acci- dentally in 1852, as related elsewhere.
A post-office was established in Mottville in 1830, Hart L. Stewart post- master. The greater part of the people are accommodated at the present time at White Pigeon and Constantine, although there is yet a post-office at Mottville.
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF MOTTVILLE.
The first preaching in Mottville was according to the doctrine of the Meth- odist Episcopal church, by the Rev. Erastus Felton, in 1829. Brother Thomas Burns, who still resides in the village, heard him preach in 1830. The first preaching was in Conrad Cook's dwelling-house and in Stewart's hotel. Rev. Thomas Odell, a local preacher, came from Ohio in the spring of 1829, and settled here; he was among the first to preach the Gospel to the scat- tered settlers in this vicinity. He had been an itinerant minister in Ohio . for eighteen years. He subsequently moved to Fort Scott, Kansas, where he died in 1872.
.
JOHN HARTMAN.
MARY HARTMAN.
RESIDENCE OF JOHN HARTMAN, PORTER TP., CASS CO., MICH. ONE MILE WEST OF MOTTVILLE, S. JOE CO
89
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
The first class was organized at Mottville, in the summer of 1832, by Rev. L. B. Gurley. The members were George B. Gilbert, who was the leader, and his wife, Conrad Cook and wife, Mrs. Caskey, Mrs. Hull, Mrs. A. Globe, Rev. Thomas Odell and wife, Orin E. Thompson and wife, William Cook and wife, both of whom are still residing in the village. Mrs. Hull is in California; Mr. Gilbert is supposed to be still living. Conrad Cook died in 1838; Rev. Erastus Kellogg preached his funeral sermon. Meetings were held in dwellings, hotels and school-houses until 1846, when a church edifice was built. The dedication was conducted by Rev. William Sprague, during the pastorate of Rev. Franklin Gage, now located at North Adams, Michi- gan. The old building is still doing service, but, in the words of Brother Robinson, of the Niles District Record: "It ought to be released. A new house is greatly needed. And we mistake greatly if there are not ample means in that old and wealthy community to build one. Shall it be done ?"
The present membership of the church is twenty ; the pastor is Rev. Z. G. Boynton. The church officers are Hiram Hutton, class-leader; Lavinia Burns and Mary Ann Cook, stewards; William Cook, Hiram Hutton, William Shoemaker, Harvey Field and Joseph Knorr, trustees.
TRINITY EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH OF MOTTVILLE
was organized on the 5th day of July, 1857. At the first church-meeting, on the day and date above mentioned, a committee was appointed to prepare a suitable constitution for the government and discipline of the church. The following members of the committee were present : Pastor pro tem., Rev. A. S. Bartholomew, Joseph Bittenbender, J. R. Jones, Conrad Bittenbender, Jacob Doctor.
At a second meeting, on the 10th day of August, 1857, the committee re- ported that they had framed a constitution, and presented the same, which was unanimously adopted, and signed by a number of brethren. And they pro- ceeded immediately to the election of church-officers, which resulted in choos- ing J. R. Jones, deacon (for two years); Jacob Doctor, elder (for two years). On the 11th day of October following, a second election was held, at which James Kleckner was chosen elder (for one year), and Joseph Bittenbender, deacon (for one year). The council being thus elected, according to the constitution, chose out of their number Joseph Doctor, president ; James Kleckner, secretary; Joseph Bittenbender, treasurer; and the church council was inducted into office on the 19th day of November, 1857.
The first regular congregational meeting after organization was held at the Methodist Episcopal church at Mottville, on the 5th day of March, 1858, for the purpose of calling a pastor, and the Rev. A. S. Bartholomew received and accepted the call.
The meetings of the church organization were held in the Methodist Epis- copal church edifice until 1869, when they erected their present church build- ing at Mottville. The succession of pastors has been: A. S. Bartholomew, Peter Bergstrasser, J. N. Barnett and Alexander McLaughlin, the present incumbent.
The present church officers are: Jacob Bittenbender and William E. Cook, elders ; Jacob L. Rathfon, William G. Bittenbender and Amos Clark, deacons ; Charles Schall, Ellis Artley and Joseph Clouse, trustees ; J. L. Rathfon, secretary ; Joseph Bittenbender, treasurer.
The original roll of membership contained the names of seventy-four per- sons, among whom were all the above-named first officers and their families. The present membership is about eighty. The church is in a generally flourishing condition.
INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD-FELLOWS.
St. Joseph Valley Lodge, No. 56, I. O. O. F., was instituted about 1857-58, with F. Gruneway, N. G .; A. C. Williams, V. G .; William Cook, P. S .; L. W. Schall, R. S .; but it ceased to work several years ago.
AMUSEMENTS.
The first celebration of the Fourth of July, of any pretensions, in the county, was held in Mottville in 1830, the same being held in the upper room of the Stewart warehouse, just above the bridge. Neal McGaffey was the orator of the occasion. John Morse, of Coldwater, furnished the music with his clarionet. Edwin Kellogg and Hunt, of White Pigeon, sang the "Ode to Science," and the distinguished guests were Major-General Brown, and Inspector-General Hoag of the Michigan militia.
Near Sheriff Taylor's residence there was a sapling that used to serve as a "lock-up" for his prisoners while in transitu to the county jail, and the sheriff had more pressing duties to attend to at his hostelry. The sheriff was the only legalized trader with the Indians, and, being conservator of the peace, he saw to it that no whisky was sold to his customers except what
went over his counters. He was an efficient executive in that respect, at least.
THE RECORD OF PATRIOTISM,
written up by the citizens thereof, reflects credit upon the township. They cheerfully bore the burdens imposed by war, when secession madly referred its cause to the arbitrament of the sword, and filled the quotas of the town- ship with alacrity,-maintaining its honor and that of the State and nation on many well-fought fields. We here append a list of the names of those who, forsaking home and its endearments, shouldered their muskets in defense of the government, by whose upholding against treason such homes as are found in St. Joseph county only are possible to acquire.
FOURTH MICHIGAN INFANTRY. Private Jacob M. Gragg, Company F; mustered-out.
FIFTH INFANTRY.
Private James Luft, Company D; missing near Southside railroad, Virginia.
Private William Avery, Company D; mustered-out.
Private James Ketchum, Company D; mustered-out.
Private Asher D. Artley, Company F; killed at Gettysburg, July 2, 1863.
Private Cyrus Luft, Company F; died at Camp Pitcher, Virginia, Janu- ary 11, 1863.
Private Wilson Gibson, Company F; discharged.
EIGHTH INFANTRY.
Private Adam Snook, Company D; mustered-out.
ELEVENTH INFANTRY.
Private W. H. Smith, Company C; discharged at expiration of service. Private Jacob Rathbun, Company C; discharged at expiration of service. Private Henry B. Smith, Company E; died at Murfreesboro, January 19, 1862.
Corporal Samuel Haas, Company G; died at Grayville, April 4, 1864. Private James P. Haas, Company G; discharged at expiration of service. Private George M. Nash, Company G; died of wounds received at Stone River, January 4, 1863. SIXTEENTH INFANTRY.
Private John Haas, Company D; killed at Gaines' Mill, Virginia.
Private Jesse N. Brooks, Company E; mustered-out.
Private David B. Perry, Company E; mustered-out. NINETEENTH INFANTRY.
Private John Gee, Company D; mustered-out.
Private Edward Gear, Company D; mustered-out.
Private William Hendrickson, Company D ; mustered-out.
Private David Sadorius, Company D; discharged.
Private Michael Voltz, Company D; mustered-out.
Private William H. Huff, Company E; enlisted in regular army.
Private Robert Watterson, Company E; died at Annapolis, Maryland, April 25, 1863.
TWENTY-FIFTH INFANTRY.
Private Charles Smith, Company G; died October 19, 1863. Private George B. Harker, Company G ; mustered-out.
Private Wellington Smith, Company G ; mustered-out. SECOND CAVALRY.
Private Charles W. Baker, Company A; mustered-out.
THIRD CAVALRY.
Private Thomas Leinbach, Company I; mustered-out. EIGHTH CAVALRY.
Private William H. Wagner, Company G ; mustered-out. Private Allen F. Chase, Company H; mustered-out. FIRST LIGHT ARTILLERY. Private Hiram L. Hartman, Battery G; died November 20, 1864. Private John Koon, Battery G.
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