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 36
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The road to Constantine was surveyed by Robert Clark, Jr., on horseback, and Captain Alvin Calhoon followed Clark as axeman, also mounted, and blazed the road through among the higher limbs, and the line has never been changed to the present time.
THE FIRST STAGE LINE
that was operated through Centreville, was under the management of Har- vey Hunt, of Constantine, and Moses Austin, of Kalamazoo; in 1836 they ran their wagons between these points. Langley & Stockwell carried the mail and passengers between Coldwater and Centreville afterwards, but the first coaches that came into Centreville were those of Amos Spafford, in 1840, on his line from Bronson to Mottville. Louis A. Leland carried the mail on horseback from Centreville to Niles in 1838; it being taken by another party from the last point, and carried to the mouth of the St. Joseph.
THE FIRST LAWYER
was Columbia Lancaster, who was also the first man to build a human habi- tation on the village plat; his clients at the time being skipping over the prairies and through the woods in droves. He emphatically made their interests his own, as many a fine pair of antlers which graced his cabin tes- tified. Subsequently his brother Elizur (now a resident of Burr Oak), and two sisters came to Centreville and resided with him ; the latter subsequently marrying Marlin Hazzard and Jacob Kline. The attorneys who subse- quently located in the village were L. F. Stevens, - Crary, G. H. Mason, D. V. Bell, S. C. Coffinberry, J. Eastman Johnson, William Sadler, George A. Key, S. J. Mills, - Hammond, - Dresser, P. M. Smith, William Allason, John S. Chipman, Aaron E. Wait, Chester Gurney, Charles Upson, Alfred A. Key and S. M. Sadler. The present bar of the village is named in the general history of the bar, elsewhere in the work.
THE FIRST PHYSICIAN
who located in the village was Dr. S. W. Truesdell, who also kept the first drug-store opened in the place. He came to the village in January, 1833. Soon after he came, Dr. Johnston, the mercantile partner of Charles H. Stewart, located in 1833, and next came Dr. Cyrus Ingerson, the same year, who was afterwards elected judge of probate, and died in office in 1844. Dr. A. T. Woodworth located in the village in 1837, and Dr. Richardson about 1839 or 1840. John Bennett read medicine with Dr. R., and subse- quently practiced his profession in the village. Dr. Greene came in 1840. Dr. Van Buren, of the homeopathic school, came in 1836, and Dr. Anthony, a botanic physician, was an early-comer to the village. The present medical staff of the village is as follows: Drs. F. C. Bateman, G. M. Trowbridge and - Sabin, allopathic ; Dr. E. Clarke, homeopathic, and Dr. Whit- man. The first doctor of dental surgery was J. A. Russell, who was suc- ceeded by his brother, Dean Russell, the present practitioner in that line. William Fitzsimmons is a skilful veterinary surgeon, and the only one of his profession in the vicinity.
THE FIRST CEMETERY
was laid out in the village in 1833, the lots for the same being donated by the county on the condition that the people of the town, or village, put up a picket-fence around them. The first burial in the same was that of Mr.
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OLIVER W. WILCOX
MRS. OLIVER W. WILCOX.
RESIDENCE OF OLIVER W. WILCOX, NOTTAWA TP, ST JOSEPH Co., MICH.
103
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Cooley, father-in-law of H. W. Foster. The second burial was the child of Peter Cox, which died in January, 1834. A new cemetery was purchased by the board of health, in 1869-70, northeast of the village, which is very eligibly located, and susceptible of very fine adornment, being elevated and undulating. Several monuments and slabs attest its occupancy.
THE FIRST SCHOOL
taught in Centreville was a private one, by Mrs. Hartley, in the family of Mr. Langley, in 1832. In the winter of 1833-34, H. R. Lamb taught the first public school in the court-house building, a Mr. Stoddard succeeding to the birch the winter following. Dr. Cyrus Ingerson taught the school in its early days. Rev. W. B. Brown, a Baptist minister, taught in 1838, and his daughter also; and a Mrs. Briar taught a school in the Trowbridge house.
THE FIRST SCHOOL-HOUSE
was built in 1841. Harvey Cady made the shingles for the same. It was in district No. 1, fractional, Lockport and Nottawa. Deacon H. W. Hamp- son, one of the Centreville early settlers, built the house for about five hun- dred dollars. The site, lot eight, block twenty-nine, cost fifty dollars. There was no school taught in it the winter of 1841-42, but a select school was taught the following winter, by a Mr. Pople. The first public school was taught in it by Mrs. Mary Chapin, the summer of 1843,-she receiving two dollars per week for her services. There were eighty-three pupils in the district at the time. H. L. Hare taught the winter of 1844-45. In 1848, a new school-house was built on the same location, two other lots being added. The house cost one thousand two hundred and ten dollars, eight hundred dollars cash, and lot ten and the old building for the balance. The contractors were Deacon Hampson and William Laffry. Four hundred dollars were paid for the additional lots. The building was thirty-four by fifty-six feet on the ground, two stories, the lower one eleven feet in the clear, and upper one thirteen feet.
Hon. Charles Upson was the last teacher in the old building, and Hiram Hamilton the first in the new one, and he received four hundred dollars for ten months' work. His wife, Guinevra Hinsdell, and Mrs. McMarter were his assistants. In 1850 the district elected four additional trustees, the board being Charles Upson, C. H. Starr, Samuel Chipman, Alexander Stewart, A. E. Massey, moderator, P. M. Smith, director, and H. W. Hampson, assessor. John W. McMath was the first principal under the new regime, and teachers' wages amounted to five hundred and thirty-two dollars. In 1853 the school was graded into senior and junior classes.
In 1870, at the annual meeting of the district, September 5, the question of a new site for a school-house began to be agitated, and after much ballot- ing the lots owned by C. H. Starr, known as " the Grove," were purchased for one thousand dollars. It is a beautiful location, none more so in the village. The annual meeting of 1873 decided to build a new house, and one was completed in 1874, and dedicated formally with interesting exercises, Judge J. Eastman Johnson officiating as orator on the occasion.
The building is constructed most substantially of stone, and is commodi- ous and comfortable and conveniently arranged. It cost twenty-two thou- sand dollars. L. B. Antisdale has been the principal since 1873,-George C. Bannon holding that position in 1870-71, and Frank A. Minor in 1872. The board of education for 1876 is as follows : D. D. Antes, moderator, G. M. Trowbridge, director, Marder Sabine, Edward Talbot, F. Beerstecher and John C. Joss.
The cost of the school and the resources of the district for the year end- ing September 1, 1876, were as follows: There were ten months of school taught, two hundred and seventy-four pupils being in attendance. One male teacher was paid one thousand dollars, and four females one thousand four hundred dollars for their services ; two thousand nine hundred and fifty-four dollars were paid on bonded indebtedness, and one thousand one hundred and twenty-seven dollars and thirty-seven cents on repairs, insurance, &c. The total resources of the district amounted to eight thousand one hundred and thirty-six dollars and sixty-six cents, including one hundred and fifty-three dollars and fifty-two cents tuition fees received from non-resident pupils. The school property is valued at twenty-four thousand five hundred dollars, and the house contains three hundred and eight sittings, and has a small library and some apparatus.
THE PEOPLE'S SEMINARY.
In 1836-37 the Centrevillians struck for a higher institution of learning than they had previously possessed, and issued a prospectus to the people of the county of a proposed People's seminary, to be governed by twenty-four trustees, six to go out of office each year, who were to be elected by the patrons of the school. To keep the school out of the control of any one
man or set of men, no person could have more than three votes, no matter how much he subscribed and did for the school. Everything was pictured out in roseate hues of the advantage to the people the proposed school would be ; the cheapness of board being particularly enlarged upon ; the same to be furnished by the parents of the prospective pupils to a common boarding- house ; by which co-operative arrangement, it was declared, solemnly, that a saving of expense would be effected " sufficient to offer inducements to bring a professor from London to them."
The proposers expressed themselves forcibly on this point. " There is no fiction in this," says the prospectus, and proceeds to eliminate the theory : " The farmers' boys could work in the summer and eat up in the winter, at their own school, a portion only of what they had raised, the ware and tare of clothing would be less by sending their own bedding," &c., &c. But the branch of the University was located at White Pigeon, and the proposed People's seminary became a thing of naught.
RELIGIOUS SERVICES
were held regularly during the summer of 1833, and as early as January of that year, by the ministers of the different denominations who passed that way on their missionary tours. The early itinerants of the Methodist Episcopal church, Gurley and Kellogg, came, and others; and Bishops Chase, of Ohio, McCrosky, of Detroit, of the Episcopal church, Reverends Whitesides of the same church, from Philadelphia, and Schuyler and Rev. P. W. Warriner, of White Pigeon, a Presbyterian, and Rev. Mr. Sweet, a Universalist, occupied the court-house at different times up to 1837. The first religious society or- ganized in the village was
THE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS SOCIETY,
an association formed June 7, 1835; its first officers being Philip R. Toll, president; Peter Cox, vice-president ; Charles H. Stewart, secretary ; Cyrus Ingerson, treasurer; Digby V. Bell, Thomas W. Langley and Henry W. Hampson, trustees.
The preamble to the original constitution adopted by the society (in the handwriting of Digby B. Bell) sets forth that " believing an association for religious and moral purposes will tend to the general promotion of indi- vidual happiness by securing more permanently to the public the regular means of religious worship, with all its invaluable privileges; the better adoption and practice of genuine moral virtues, and the consequent benefi- cent influence on public morals ;" and therefore the members did form an association in accordance with the spirit of the preamble, and adopted the constitution which provided for the membership of "any male or female person over fourteen years of age, who should be of good moral habits, and believe in a Supreme Being, in a future state of rewards and punishments, and in the forgiveness of sins through the great Redeemer alone." The male members only had the right of voting for the officers; the women-and they were worthy mates-being silent partners. The trustees and president fixed times of meeting, and invited ministers of the Gospel to preach, and were to "make arrangements for worship on all Sabbaths," -- the expenses to be liquidated by voluntary subscriptions alone. The members of this society, at its organization, were Peter Cox, John Craden, C. H. Stewart, Michael Hewes, Dr. Ingerson, Lloyd Childs, William Major, H. W. Hamp- son, D. V. Bell, Columbia Lancaster, T. W. Langley, Philip R. Toll, Mrs. C. H. Stewart, Miss Van Patten, Mrs. Childs, Miss Lancaster, Miss N. O. Van Patten and Mrs Cox. The sum of sixteen dollars was subscribed for a donation to Rev. P. W. Warriner for his services as preacher previous to the organization of the society, and fifteen dollars of the amount paid over to him,-Charles H. Stewart, Philip R. Toll, Thomas W. Langley and James and Robert Cowen paying twelve dollars of the same.
THE FIRST SUNDAY-SCHOOL
was organized at the same time as the above-named society, though a move- ment for one began a year before. Four dollars and seventy-eight cents were subscribed for books, and the school began, but suspended until June 7, 1835, when it was permanently organized in connection with the society, with the following officers and corps of teachers : Peter Cox, president; C. H. Stewart, secretary ; T. W. Langley, treasurer ; H. W. Hampson, libra- rian. Teachers : Dr. Ingerson, William Hazzard, Columbia Lancaster, Mrs. Stewart, Mrs. Hartley, Miss Van Patten and Miss Vrinon. There were twenty-three pupils. Twenty dollars and sixty-one cents were expended for books, the same being selected and purchased by Mrs. Stewart, from the Michigan Sunday-school Union, of which the school was made an auxiliary. Among the books were " Lives" of Daniel, David and Moses, at "three shill- ings" each ; two short discourses were listed at fifteen cents each ; "An Only
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Son" was bought for forty cents, and " Frankie's Memoirs" were rated at the same figure. One " story" book was valued at fifteen cents, and "Sel- emuel, or a Visit to Jerusalem," was marked "three shillings." "Leigh Richmond" was invoiced at thirty cents.
THE FIRST CHURCH EDIFICE .
built in the village was that of the Methodist Episcopal society in 1841. The society or class was first organized in the spring of 1830 at the house of William Hazzard, on the prairie, by Revs. Erastus Felton and Lyman B. Gurly,-Mr. Hazzard and his wife Cassandra and William Fletcher and his wife Hannah being the only members. Amos Howe joined the class afterwards, and was the first regularly-appointed class-leader. Preaching services were held fortnightly,-first at private houses, afterwards in school- houses, and afterwards in the court-house in Centreville.
In 1836 Erastus Kellogg was the preacher in charge, and movements were soon after made towards the erection of a church building. The tim- ber was prepared and the building framed in 1837 or 8, but was not raised and completed until 1841, and was dedicated by Mr. Kellogg.
The present church edifice of this society was built in 1856, during the pastorate of Reverend J. I. Buell, the dedicatory services being conducted by Reverend J. K. Gillett, September 20 of the last-named year.
In 1871 the building received material improvements with the addition of lecture and class-rooms, and has four hundred and twenty sittings. The present membership is two hundred and twenty-five; its Sabbath-school, which was organized soon after the church-edifice was erected in 1841, has one hundred and ninety-six scholars on its roll, and its present pastor is Reverend G. W. Tuthill.
The church property is valued at twelve thousand dollars, and there are four hundred books in the Sunday-school library. The old church-building is now Dr. Bateman's barn, and was twenty-four by forty feet on the ground.
THE REFORMED CHURCH OF NORTH AMERICA,
or as it was originally, and until within a few years called, " The Dutch Re- formed Church," was first organized April 8, 1839 ; though services had been held by Reverend Isaac S. Ketchum as early as the winter of 1835-6. Mr. Ketchum was a missionary sent out by the New York missionary society of the Reformed Dutch church. and after his family removed to Centreville from the Mohawk valley in 1836, he continued to preach to the people until 1839, when the society was organized, as before stated, by electing a board of trustees, consisting of Philip R. Toll, Isaac S. Ketchum, John W. Talbot, Jacob D. Kline and Solomon Cummings.
On the 25th of May a consistory was held at the court-house, composed of Reverend Asa Bennett, president ; Dr. S. Cummings, Peter Cox and Jacob D. Kline, elders; and Alfred Todd and William Van Deusen, deacons ; who formed the church as the " First Protestant Reformed Dutch Church of Centreville," and admitted to membership therein the following persons : William Van Deusen and Matilda his wife, Alfred Todd and Mary his wife, John Pierce, Jacob D. Kline and Elizabeth his wife, Solomon Cummings, Sally Bennett, P. R. Toll and Nancy D. his wife, Peter Cox and Mary his wife, and Mrs. Huldah Dunbar ; and, on confession, Miss Mary Eliza Dor- chester and Miss Sarah M. Cox.
Mr. Ketchum was subsequently the Indian agent for a time, and his widow now resides in Centreville with her daughter, Mrs. Talbot, a hale, hearty, active and intelligent old lady, with whom it is a rare pleasure to converse of the olden time,
" When life seemed sweet as the poet's rhyme."
On October 5, 1841, it was resolved by the consistory to build a church, and Harvey Cady, J. A. Clarke and Cyrus Ingerson were appointed a build- ing committee. Joseph I. Dunbar drew the plans and made the estimates for the building, which was erected at a cost of about one thousand one hun- dred dollars,-of which amount six hundred and fifty dollars was given by eastern parties.
Mr. Bennett's pastorate ended September, 1843,-B. C. Taylor succeeding him on the 30th of the month, and remaining but a year, when he resigned, and David MeNeish succeeded to the desk.
The church was finished in 1845. Mr. McNeish continued his pastorate until January, 1847, and was succeeded then by Reverend Safrenus Seeber. Since then the following pastors have cared for this flock : Reverend John Minor, 1848-52 ; Reverend J. N. Shultz, June 28, 1852, to October 27, 1855; Reverend J. H. Kershaw, 1855-1865; Reverend A. H. Van Vrauken, 1865 until the present time.
The bell was bought for the church in 1853, for one hundred and seventy- five dollars, and the parsonage in 1855, in the spring of that year.
The church has been greatly improved and enlarged, having an area on the ground of fifty-four by seventy-two feet, with lecture-room and dining- hall in lower or basement story. The building is warmed by furnaces, and its sheds for the accommodation and comfortable housing of the horses of those who attend upon the worship are conveniently and amply arranged, and the presence of one or more occupants of each stall, on almost every Sunday, evinces the interest of the people in the preaching they hear in the church.
There are, at the present writing (December, 1876), one hundred and sixty- six members of the church, and one hundred and fifteen scholars in its Sun- day-school, which was organized early in the history of the society. There are five hundred volumes in the library, and Alexander Sharpe is the present superintendent. The church has six hundred sittings, and is valued, together with the parsonage, at eight thousand dollars.
In 1867 the name was changed to its present one, the Reformed Church of North America. During that year a noted revival was conducted by the present pastor, forty-three uniting with the church by confession and baptism. There have been three hundred and twenty-five members on its roll since its organization.
Reverend Asa Bennett was a settler in the county, near Centreville, in 1839-40. He was the pastor of the Reformed church at Constantine after his pastorate at Centreville ceased, and was a good man and highly re- spected. John Bennett, one of his sons, became an eminent physician ; and Cornelius D. Bennett, a successful merchant in Centreville for several years, and previously a clerk of the courts of St. Joseph for some years, is also a son. Mr. Bennett died January 16, 1858.
THE BAPTIST CHURCH
of Centreville was not organized until 1852, though preaching had been secured as early as 1838, by Rev. W. B. Brown. In February, 1852, Perrin M. Smith, Henry W. Hampson and Henry J. Cushman, in behalf of sev- eral communicants of the Baptist faith, addressed a letter of invitation to Rev. G. N. TenBrook to settle with them as pastor, which was accepted by the latter, who began his labors among them July 1, 1852.
On the 28th of August following, there met at the house of Mr. Smith, and formed the Baptist church of Centreville, the following-named persons, all communicants: Rev. G. N. TenBrook and wife, Joel Redway and wife, Henry J. Cushman and wife, Norman Rawson, S. G. Antes, P. M. Smith and wife, H. W. Hampson, Frederick Sailer and wife, Mrs. Flowers and Maria Weld. Mr. TenBrook acted as chairman ; P. M. Smith, secretary, and Joel Redway was appointed deacon. During 1852, Mrs. Chester Gurney, Mrs. John Major, Mrs. Norman Rawson, Mrs. Dwight Stebbins, Oliver Wilcox and Warren Collins were received into the church.
On November 27, 1852, the society voted to build a church, and appointed brethren Wilcox, Redway and Hampson a building committee. The society met in the court-house for worship. P. M. Smith, the secretary, entered on the records the following explanation : " In the reception of members up to January 1, 1853, the brethren and sisters of the church, consisting of a few scattered and homeless wanderers, have fellowshipped one another as Chris- tians of the Baptist denomination, known to each other, some with and some without letters, but of good Christian character."
The church was erected in 1853, of brick, on the spot where it now stands, east of the public square. The first communion was observed on the Sunday succeeding the last Saturday in December, 1852. The first missionary-collec- tion was taken up April 30, 1853, and amounted to two dollars and sixty- eight cents.
In May, 1853, the church was admitted to the St. Joseph Baptist associa- tion, which met at Niles that year, but which held its session in June, 1854, at Centreville. Rev. Mr. TenBrook died in the service of his church, April 3, 1857, and was buried the following day, Rev. Mr. Fish and Elder Sage officiating.
Rev. Aaron Potter succeeded Mr. TenBrook in August, 1857, remaining till October, 1858, and Elder Stanwood supplied the desk from that date until November 27, 1859, when Rev. C. R. Nichols was installed as pastor, and remained till March 27, 1862, when he resigned on account of ill-health. March 30, 1861, one of the members, John Barnes, was commended for his " piety and ability to preach, and authorized to improve upon his gift."
The desk was supplied by different ministers, a stated pastor occasionally coming to the charge and remaining but a short time, until March 31, 1867, when Rev. William Pack began the supply of the desk, which he continued until February 22, 1860, and was then installed as pastor, and remained thus until April 1, 1870. From that date to April 1, 1876, Elder Dunnett, Rev. C. T. Chaffee and Rev. C. A. Clarke, respectively, were pastors ; at
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foarte buddy
TheCuddy
RESIDENCE OF THOMAS CUDDY, NOTTAWA TP., ST JOSEPH CO., MICH.
105
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
which last-named date Rev. J. C. Burkholder, the present pastor, assumed charge of the flock on the call of the same.
Deacon Henry W. Hampson, long and actively a member of the church, died April 14, 1873, sincerely regretted. Hon. P. M. Smith was the clerk of the church from its organization till his death, which occurred in March, 1866. Dr. Marden Sabin was elected clerk June 27, 1868, and is still in the position. Chester Gurney and John Bennett were the first baptisms in the church, April 25, 1855. One hundred and forty-six members have been en- rolled on the church-records, eighty-three of whom have been baptized, and sixty-three received by letter and experience ; ten have died, thirty-five have been dismissed by letter, and nine dropped from church-membership or ex- cluded, leaving the present number eighty-seven. The bapistry was built under the church in May, 1872, and the bell bought in October, weighing one thousand one hundred pounds. The parsonage was built in 1867. The church has three hundred sittings, is heated with furnaces, and, with the parsonage, is valued at eight thousand dollars.
A Sunday-school was organized about the time the church was built, and has been continued ever since. It numbers now one hundred and ten scholars; has one hundred and twenty-five volumes in library, and Dr. Trowbridge is the superintendent.
THE ASSOCIATE REFORMED SOCIETY
(Scotch) of Centreville was organized March 9, 1839, by electing the fol- lowing trustees : John McKee, William Gilchrist and Robert Campbell. The first pastor was the Rev. Mr. Hotchkiss ; the second, the Rev. Mr. Baldridge, and the third, and last, Rev. Mr. Blair. The society built a church in 1846, or thereabout, but it has been closed for several years.
SOCIETIES .- MASONIC.
Mount Hermon Lodge, No. 24, A. F. M., was instituted under dispensation in 1848, and chartered January 10, 1849. The first master was Benjamin Osgood ; Ezra Cole, S. W .; S. C. Coffinberry, J. W. The charter-members are given in the county history. The office of worthy master has been filled as follows : S. C. Coffinberry, 1852; F. C. Bateman, 1857-8; Nathan S. Johnson, 1859; James J. Dresler, 1860-61 and '65; Peter M. Gray, 1862-4; L. A. Clapp, 1866-70; William Fitzsimmons, 1871-3; William M. Antes, 1874-6.
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