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 48
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THE FIRST DEATH
in the township. The first death of an adult person that occurred in the town- ship was that of this little child's grandfather, Jacob McInterfer, the first settler, which event took place in 1831.
This family also furnished the bride of the first marriage in the township; she being Mary McInterfer, and the groom David Winchell, a son of the first settler in the county. This marriage was celebrated in February, 1830.
In November of the same year another bride from the same family, Sarah by name, formed the " better half" of the second wedded pair in the town- ship, the groom being William McIntosh, of Young's prairie, in Cass county.
The first white male child born in the township was Asa Bear, a son of John Bear, in 1830, while the parents were on a journey to Prairie Ronde, or on their return therefrom.
THE FIRST RELIGIOUS SERVICES
held in the township were at the funeral obsequies of Mr. McInterfer, which were held in his own house in 1831; but who officiated is not known. It was probably one of the Methodist missionaries of those days.
THE FIRST SCHOOL
in the township, was taught in the winter of 1834-5, in "Canada," in the old MeInterfer cabin, by "Father " Arny, who had thirty pupils under his charge.
There are (in 1876) six school-houses, two of brick and four of wood, containing one thousand and forty-eight seatings, and valued at twenty-three thousand eight hundred and fifty dollars. Two of the schools taught therein are graded schools. There are one thousand one hundred and twenty-nine children between five and twenty years of age, and nine hundred and eighty- two attended school during the year. There was an average of eight and two-thirds months school, taught in the different districts, and five male teachers were employed, who were paid two thousand six hundred and fifty dollars for their services, and eighteen females, who received four thousand two hundred and sixty-one dollars. The total expenditures of the year ending September 1, 1876, were twelve thousand six hundred and three dollars and sixty-one cents, including payments on bonded indebtedness and repairs.
THE ONLY CHURCH-EDIFICE
in the township, outside of Three Rivers, is that of the Lockport society of the Evangelical Association, which was built in 1875. It is situated three and a half miles east of the city of Three Rivers, and is a neat frame structure, thirty-four by forty-eight feet on the ground, seating from two hundred and fifty to three hundred persons, and cost two thousand dollars.
The society was organized in 1871, under the pastorate of Rev. Peter Weist. The first members were Jacob Godshalk and wife, Emanuel Walz and wife, and Edward Walz and wife. Jacob Godshalk, Emanuel Walz and Roland Hinebach were the building-committee to erect the church, and Jacob Godshalk, Edward Walz and James Engel were the first, and are the present, trustees. The church was named the "First Evangelical Church of Lockport," and was formally dedicated to the service and worship of the Triune God, by the Rev. Bishop J. J. Escher, December 23, 1875, the follow- ing ministers officiating also in the services : Rev. S. Copley, presiding elder ; Rev. B. F. Wade, preacher in Chicago, and Rev. J. H. Keeler, missionary in Jackson, Michigan. A union Sunday-school was organized in 1876, with Edward Walz as superintendent. The school numbered about seventy-five scholars. The present membership of the church is twenty-six. The names of the ministers who have had charge of this, as well as the other societies of the association in St. Joseph county, since the date of the organization of this society, are as follows : Reverends Peter Weist, S. Copley, J. W. Loose, Alonzo Russell, P. Swille, E. B. Miller, B. F. Wade and J. H. Keeler, the present pastor of the circuit.
CIVIL ORGANIZATION.
The first organization for township government, which included the present territory of the township of Lockport within its jurisdiction, was that of White Pigeon, October 29, 1829, which said township included the entire western half of the county, except its two northern townships.
On March 29, 1833, township six of ranges eleven and twelve, were set off from White Pigeon township, and constituted a separate and distinct township under the name of Bucks, in honor of the first, and only hotel- keeper in the township.
The first town-meeting was called at Buck's tavern, which was known and ad- vertised as the " Half-Way House," between White Pigeon and Prairie Ronde, but the meeting was not organized until the 11th of April, and then only by special act of the legislature; sufficient time not having elapsed between the passage of the act constituting the township, and the regular day of holding town-meetings in the territory. George Buck, Esq., a justice of the peace, appointed by Governor Porter, April 3, 1833, was the conductor of the election ; Columbia Lancaster was moderator, and J. W. Coffinberry, clerk. Both of the latter gentlemen were citizens of Centreville, but resided in the Lockport part thereof. The electors decided that no person should vote or hold office but such only as were legally entitled to do so, and then proceeded to cast seventeen votes as the entire poll of the day. The follow- ing officers were elected : Mishael Beadle, supervisor; Heman Harvey, clerk ; C. B. Fitch, James Whited, Alanson C. Stewart, assessors; David Beadle, Jr., constable and collector ; Elizur Lancaster, constable; Garrett Sickles, James Whited, Thomas H. Fitch, commissioners of highways; C. B. Fitch, poormaster; Thomas Knapp and George Buck, fence-viewers ; Gideon Ball, Hiram Harwood, Levi Griswold and J. W. Coffinberry, path- masters.
Rams and stallions were prohibited from running at large, and one dollar was offered for each wolf's scalp taken in the township.
Thirty dollars was raised to pay town officials in 1834, and one hundred and twenty-two dollars and fourteen cents audited for the year's expenses.
The town-meeting in 1835 was held in the school-house near Schnable's mills, the old McInterfer cabin. This meeting appropriated ten dollars for pauper relief.
In 1840 the government townships number six, south of ranges eleven and twelve west, forming the township of Bucks, were divided, and the latter was constituted the township of Lockport, the former retaining the original name of Bucks,-for a short time only.
The settlement with the township treasurer in March, 1842, was recorded on the township books in this manner: "Settled with Henry W. Hampson, treasurer of Lockport township, and find that we come out square and even, March 26, 1842." This entry was signed by the town board, and the deacon was re-elected.
May 6, 1871, the people of the township voted seven thousand five hun- dred dollars to build a bridge over the St. Joseph at Three Rivers.
THE OFFICIAL ROSTER
of the township since its organization in 1833, is as follows :
Supervisors-Mishael Beadle, 1833-4; C. B. Fitch, 1835-1843; John Arney, 1836-8; John Baum, 1842, and 1846-8, 1852-3, 1855-7; Eli H. Bristol, 1844-5; Ezra Cole, 1854 ; W. F. Arnold, 1858-62, 1864-71, 1873-6; William Hutchinson, 1849-50; Charles H. Thoms, 1851.
Town Clerks-Heman Harvey, 1833-4; Burroughs Moore, 1835-6; B. Osgood, 1838-9-44; Solomon Cummings, 1845, 1849-51; Harvey Cady, 1852-4; H. H. Cole, 1855-62; E. H. Lothrop, 1865-6; John S. Mowry, 1868-9; J. M. Kirby, 1876.
Justices of the Peace-George Buck, 1833-40; Cyrus Ingerson, 1836-44; B. Osgood, 1840-51 ; Ezra Cole, 1840-49, and 1857-61; J. E. Johnson, 1846-54; H. N. Spencer, 1846-1856; W. D. Pettit, 1849-58; Charles H. Thoms, 1853-66 ; W. F. Arnold, 1856-67 ; Samuel Chadwick, 1863-70 ; E. H. Lothrop, 1864-74 ; Joseph W. French, 1874-7 ; J. M. Kirby, 1875-7; John W. Schnaylor, 1876-7. Those justices and clerks who have served but a single term, or part of a term, are not named in the above list.
THE FIRST ROAD
laid out in the township by township authority, was one from the north boundary of White Pigeon township, to the north boundary of Bucks, six miles, which was surveyed by Mathew Rowen, June 7, 1833. Another was surveyed from the St. Joseph river, opposite Eschol, to the one-quarter post between sections twenty-six and thirty-five.
THE FIRST TAVERN,
or hotel, was kept by Mr. George Buck, as before stated, in what is now known as the second ward of Three Rivers. Here, too, was the
FIRST POST-OFFICE,
established and kept by Mr. Buck, postmaster, for some years. The first stage-line that traveled through on the route from White Pigeon to Kala- mazoo, or, as it was then called, Bronson, was Harvey Hunt's, of Constan- tine.
140
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
THE FIRST BRIDGE
built over the St. Joseph in the township, was at Three Rivers, on or near the site of the present one. It was built in 1838 by Asa Weatherbee, who lately died in the State Insane Asylum of Michigan. The present bridge was built in 1875, and cost seven thousand five hundred dollars.
THE HEAVIEST LAND-OWNERS,
who cultivate the soil in the township, are J. H. Gardner, who owns four hundred and seventy-seven acres ; the Major brothers, six hundred, and the Wolf Brothers, who own together seven hundred acres. The senior Majors came to Lockport township, settling on the eastern side of the same, near Centreville, where they have lived side by side until last December (1876), when William departed from the busy scenes of this life and passed to his rest. The John M. Leland tract remains intact in the family, the widow and two sons succeeding to the estate. The sons inherit the genius of their father for mechanics, and are both practical workmen. The younger one, Samuel G., is agent for the manufacturers of the Leffel water-wheels, his me- chanical ingenuity making him a competent person to set the wheels, or show what the trouble is when improperly set.
POPULATION.
In 1838 the population of Bucks township, as then organized, numbered seven hundred and eighty-two. In 1850 Lockport township contained one thousand one hundred and forty-two inhabitants. In 1870 the population had increased to three thousand four hundred and fifty-five-six hundred and eighty-three families-one thousand seven hundred and eighty males and one thousand six hundred and seventy-five females. In 1874 the State census showed the population to be three thousand eight hundred and ninety- two-males, one thousand nine hundred and forty-seven ; females, one thou- sand nine hundred and forty-five. There were seven hundred and sixty-seven males between the ages of twenty-one and forty-five; three hundred and twenty-two between forty-five and seventy-five, and fourteen who had passed three-fourths of a century and had not turned the last decade stake. Seven hundred and ninety-three females were between eighteen and forty years ; three hundred and thirty-six between forty and seventy-five, and twelve over the latter age. There were eight hundred and forty-four boys under twenty- one years of age, and eight hundred and four girls under the age of eighteen years. The married females exceeded by a single individual the males in that condition, they numbering eight hundred and sixteen and eight hundred and fifteen respectively.
The single men over twenty-one years were two hundred and fifty-six, and the females with whom they could properly mate were two hundred and ten; thirty-two of the gentlemen were widowed or divorced, and one hundred and sixteen of the ladies were in the same sad and solitary condition.
THE WAY THE PEOPLE VOTED
on the national issues, since 1840, will be seen by the following exhibit of the tally-lists of the Presidential elections :
In 1840 Bucks township gave the Democratic ticket one hundred and two votes, and that of the Whigs seventy-two. In 1844 Lockport township voted eighty-five Democratic; eighty-two Whig, and seven Liberty. In 1848 the Whigs had ninety-three votes; the Democrats eighty-three, and the Free-soilers thirty-two. In 1852 the Whigs polled one hundred and ten; the Democrats one hundred and forty-one, and the Abolitionists thirteen. In 1856 the Republicans gave Fremont two hundred and twenty-nine votes ; the Democrats gave Buchanan one hundred and eighteen, and the Prohibi- tionists had not enough votes to make a plural, there being but one cast. In 1860 Lincoln received two hundred and seventy-four votes, and Douglas two hundred and seventy-one. In 1864 Lincoln received two hundred and seventy-five, and Mcclellan two hundred and forty-three votes. In 1868 Grant polled three hundred and ninety, and Seymour three hundred and forty-two. In 1872 Grant received four hundred and eight votes ; Greeley two hundred and sixty-six ; O'Conor twelve, and Jeremiah Black one. 1876 Peter Cooper, the greenbacker, received three hundred and seven votes; Hayes two hundred and sixty-nine, and Tilden two hun- dred and fifty-eight.
THE TAXES THE PEOPLE PAID
in 1834 were as follows : The assessment of the property owned in the town- ship of Bucks amounted to thirty-three thousand one hundred and thirty- three dollars, and on this amount there was levied one hundred and thirty seven dollars for county and town taxes. The first State tax amounted to one hundred and ninety-one dollars and forty-six cents, and was levied, in 1836, no an assessment of seventy-six thousand five hundred and eighty-four
dollars, the total taxes of that year amounting to four hundred and eighty dollars and forty-six cents. The first assessment of Lockport was that of 1841, and amounted to seventy-nine thousand two hundred and thirty-five dollars, and the taxes of the year aggregated one thousand and sixty-eight dollars. The assessment of 1876 of real estate was returned by the super- visor at one million nineteen thousand one hundred and thirty dollars, and reduced by the county equalizing-board to one million fourteen thousand two hundred and twenty-nine dollars. The personal assessment was two hundred and eighty-six thousand four hundred and forty dollars, making a total of one million three hundred thousand six hundred and sixty-nine dollars on which was levied for State and county purposes only six thousand six hundred and forty-four dollars and thirty-eight cents, equally divided between the two governments.
THE CITY OF THREE RIVERS.
The present city of Three Rivers covers no less than three original plats whose names have passed away, two of them being of a very brief exist- ence. July 28, 1830, Christopher Shinnaman laid out a village plat on the south half of the northwest quarter of section nineteen, township six, range eleven, and named it Moab, and recorded his plat as such. On the 30th of June following, George Buck and Jacob McInterfer laid out a village plat in the northeast corner of the northeast fraction quarter section nineteen, township six, range eleven, and called it St. Joseph.
There was a strife between the several parts of the county as to the loca- tion of the county-seat at that time, and several parties who owned land at or near the village plat of St. Joseph, were anxious to offer inducements to the county authorities sufficiently convincing to effect the location of the county-seat at that place ; but the proprietor could not see the wisdom of giving away so much for so little in return, as nature had done so much for a court-house site ; but nevertheless the proprietors did enter into bonds to give the commissioners for the county, eight lots adjoining the public square on the east side, and two other lots if they would locate the county seat on the square.
The seat of justice was first located on the plat of St. Joseph, but subse- quently the action was reconsidered, and the county-seat finally located at Centreville, the proprietors of which offered more liberal inducements in aid of the erection of county buildings. The relocation of the county-seat gave the quietus to Mcab's aspirations, and it became, not a waste howling wilderness like its ancient prototype, but smiling corn-fields occupied its site.
In December, 1836, George Buck, Jonathan Brown, Benjamin Sherman, Edward Pierson, and L. B. Brown laid out a new plat on sections nineteen and twenty, township six, range eleven, and named the village Lockport, and projected a canal and immense water-power. They had been preceded a month by John H. Bowman, who laid out the plat of Three Rivers on section eighteen, on the 25th of November.
In 1871 the corporation limits of Three Rivers were 'extended and em- braced Lockport as the second ward, "Canada" as the third ward, lying on the west side of the Rocky river, and a tract on the east side of the Portage lying between it and the St. Joseph, as the fourth ward, -- the original village being the first ward.
FIRST SETTLEMENTS.
The first settlers of the territory included in the second and third wards of the city, were as before stated : Jacob McInterfer, in 1829, and George Buck, in 1830. The first settler on the original site of the first ward was John H. Bowman, who came in 1833, and located between the Portage and the Rocky. He was followed that year by Burroughs Moore. In the summer of 1834 the village contained six families, Burroughs Moore's, Mr. Dawley's, Mr. Weatherbee's, John H. Bowman's, Lewis Frost's and John M. Leland's. Moore, Dawley and Weatherbee (Asa) were the only ones who had houses. Bowman's and Leland's family lived in their wagons, as described elsewhere, and Frost's in a shanty of boards. On the Lockport side Mr. Buck's log-house was the only one, and on the "Canada " side Mr. Beadle had a small saw- and grist-mill, and there were one frame and two log-houses there.
THE FIRST FRAME HOUSE
built in what is now the city of Three Rivers, was erected by Mishael Beadle, in 1832, in "Canada," now the third ward of the city. There, too, was the first log-house built by McInterfer, in 1829. The first house built in the original village of Three Rivers was that of Burroughs Moore, who afterwards kept a hotel therein.
Elisha and Thomas Millard came to the village in 1835, but took up a farm soon after and moved upon it. The Captain, Elisha, however returned in 1837. Joseph A. Smith came to the place in 1836, and entered into part-
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RESIDENCE . OF J. W. HOFFMAN, THREE RIVERS, MICH.
HOFFMAN MILLS, PROPERTY OF J. W. HOFFMAN, THREE RIVERS, MICH.
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
nership with J. H. Bowman in manufacturing and mercantile lines. Wil- liam R. Eck came to the village in 1833, and remained there several years, removing finally to Colon where he now resides. Joseph Sterling came to Lockport in 1834. C. B. Hoffman came to the village in 1833-34, and re- turned to Colon, 1863, where he died in 1875. Ezra Cole came to the place in 1838, and lives there yet with the wife he married in Benton, Yates county, New York, January 14, 1818. The first frame house of any pre- tensions was built by John H. Bowman, in 1834, and is still a well-preserved mansion.
MANUFACTURES.
Jacob McInterfer began the erection of a saw-mill in 1830, on the west side of the Rocky, but before completing it he died, and the property passed into the hands of Mishael Beadle, who completed the mill and put in a pair of rude bowlder stones, and ground grists. It was a simple affair; but, like Mercutio's wound, it served its purpose. Beadle afterwards disposed of his mill and privilege to Schnabel, who sold the same to Smith & Bowman in the spring of 1836, who proceeded to make more extensive use of their power, and the present Three Rivers mill was raised in July following, and flouring began in February, 1837.
Moore & Prutzman succeeded to the mill, as lessees, in 1838-9, and bought it a short time afterwards, operating the same for twenty years. Since then (1859) it has passed through several changes, being at present owned by Lewis Emery, of Titusville, Pennsylvania, and operated by Griffiths & Dunham, lessees. It had at first but two run of stones, but has now six, with first-class appointments. Its product in 1876 was forty thousand barrels of flour. These lessees also bought and shipped a surplus of one hundred thousand bushels of wheat, besides the amount floured. In the Lockport mills, also leased and operated by these gentlemen, the product from August to December 31, 1876, was eight thousand barrels of flour and one hundred car-loads of feed. The Lockport mills are owned by Milo Powell, and were built by William Fulkerson and - Shaler, after 1857, and have three run of stones.
George Buck built a saw-mill on the Lockport side in 1836. Himself, S. B. Brown, Edward Pierson, and Benjamin Sherman formed the St. Joseph Canal and Lockport Manufacturing Company, and began an extensive im- provement of the water-power of the St. Joseph, at their village. In the Peninsular, published at Centreville, May 4, 1837, Sherman, as the agent of the company, advertised for proposals for the construction of a tree dam, a bridge, a canal, and a lock; and would accommodate parties with large or small contracts. But the panic and crash of 1837 came, and all of their schemes for the building up of their village and putting money in their pockets, vanished, leaving a wreck behind ; Sherman being cleaned out of everything he had. The land reverted to Mr. Buck, who had sold it to the company for sixty-six dollars per acre, in 1836, and J. B. Millard bought some of it in 1843 for six dollars per acre.
In 1836-7 Mishael Beadle built another saw-mill, farther up the Rocky, which passed successively through the hands of Samuel Salsig, Philip Lantz and C. S. Wheeler, and the latter built a large distillery near it in 1850, which burned down in 1853-4, when he built a smaller affair, but was not successful in operating it.
Luther Carlton built, in 1839-40, a woolen factory, where wool-carding and cloth-dressing were also done by Carlton & Bonfoy, which Cox & Throp bought finally, raised up the building for a furnace, and built a brick building for a moulding-shop. They stand on the west side of the Rocky, at the end of the bridge, on either side of the street. The frame building is now used by John Hutchinson in the manufacture of corn-shellers.
Joseph B. Millard commenced the first wagon manufacturing in the vil- lage in 1837, which he continued one year, having a widely-extended patron- age, but which brought him little money, and more experience. He sold out his shop to W. D. Pettit, who was succeeded by Z. Ruggles, the present owner and manufacturer.
Brigham & Warren have been twenty years in the carriage-making line, in the village.
In 1845 Luther Carlton and Mrs. Hoskins began the erection of a flouring- mill on the Portage, on the present site of the Hoffman mill, which passed to J. B. Millard and William Hutchinson, who completed it and commenced flouring. They subsequently disposed of it to Philip H. Hoffman and John H. Bowman, in whose possession it was burned in the fall of 1851, and rebuilt by them the year following.
They continued to operate it till Bowman's death. John Hoffman, son of Philip H., is the present owner. It has seven run of stones, is forty by sixty-five feet on the ground, three stories in height, with a warehouse twenty-
eight by forty-eight feet. Its product in 1876 was twenty thousand barrels of flour, besides doing an extensive custom work of fifty bushels per day.
Mr. John Hoffman has been thirty-one years in the business of milling, beginning, as he tersely puts it, "when mill-picks were like grubbing-hoes, and living to see all work about a mill done with neatness and dispatch, by machinery."
In the spring of 1851 the Lockport Hydraulic Company, composed of Joseph H. Mather, of Deep River, Connecticut ; Stephen R. Weeden, Prov- idence, Rhode Island, and George Merriam, of Springfield, Massachusetts, with Joseph B. Millard as superintendent and manager, began its operations.
That year the dam across the St. Joseph was put in, and the race dug. The first use of the water-power created by this improvement was made by J. B. Millard and George Troy, who built a furnace on the. present site of Robert & Throp's extensive works, which was operated by the builders for two years, then by Troy alone, and was finally bought by Roberts & Cox, in 1855.
The next manufactory on the canal was an axe-handle and spoke-factory, built by one Clark, who operated it a few years, and sold it to J. W. French, and he, to the Three Rivers Pulp Company, who now operate it in the man- ufacture of pulp for the making of paper,-J. W. French being the presi- dent ; J. B. Millard, treasurer, and Charles W. Millard, secretary and superintendent. Its capital stock is seventy-two thousand dollars, of which thirty-five thousand dollars are paid in. The company ships pulp to Massa- chusetts, and elsewhere largely.
The Rosette paper-mill was built in 1853-4, by Shaler, Becker & White, and is now manufacturing a very fine quality of stock. The president of the company, which is known as the J. W. French Manufacturing Company, is J. W. French.
The saw-mill now owned by George A. Jackson & Co. was built by Charles Twichell, in 1853. A sash, blind and planing factory was built by George Troy, 1853-54, and sold by him in 1855 to Caldwell & Co., who enlarged the same to its present dimensions and business, and sold to Shurtz, Greene & Co., and they to Judge Dikeman, of Schoolcraft, who is the present owner,-C. E. Dexter being the lessee and operator thereof. Wilcox, Arnold & Co., built in 1863 the sash and blind factory now owned and operated by Arnold & Caldwell. Smith, Lafferty & Bliss built the large brick pump-works in 1871-72, and manufactured wooden pumps for two and a half years, and did a good business ; but nothing is being done in it now-the same parties still owning it.
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