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 62
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Mrs. Purdy is now an old lady of seventy-two years, living on the old homestead with her son John A. She, too, is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. She is one of the good mothers of Leonidas, and to-day, as ever, has a tender motherly care over her children, in whose hearts she occupies a warm place.
JOHN A. was born in Westchester county, New York, October 15, 1833; came to Michigan with his parents in 1836; has followed farming for his living, and is to-day one of the best farmers and growers of fine stock in the county. He was married to Mary Galloway, November 10, 1862. She died June 20, 1864, and he was married the second time to Miss Emily C. Davis, Dec. 28, 1865. An idea of Mr. Purdy's fine farm-buildings and stock may be seen by looking at a fine double-page view found elsewhere in this work.
LONCACRE-CO.
IRA MILLARD.
The subject of our sketch, Ira Millard, son of Solomon and Anna Millard, was born in Lenox, Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, September 5, 1798; followed farming, blacksmithing, and carpentering for a living, working with his father till he was twenty-four years of age, and before he left old Penn- sylvania he had cleared up some fifty acres of heavy timber. July 29, 1822, he was married to Miss Emmila McDanold. She was born in Blakely, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, September 10, 1803. As a result of this happy union twelve children have been born, namely :
WILLIAM A., died at the age of nine.
MINERVA, died at the age of twenty-five, leaving a son, Charles Woods. MARTHA ANN, now in Oregon.
NOAH SHAW, died at the age of two.
IRA DOLPHUS, living on the west half of the old homestead.
JEHOIADA, with his parents at home, and the generous donor of this por- trait and biography. .
ASENATH, now in California.
LOUIS JANE, in Cass county, Michigan.
GEORGE W., died at the age of two.
HULDAH, died at the age of two.
PHEBE JANE, died an infant.
ROBY G., in California.
Mr. Millard settled in Leonidas, October 17, 1835; lived with Hamilton Watkins for a month or so; removed thence to Bailey's Mills, remained a a year, thence on to the farm where he now resides. Mr. Millard com- menced life a poor boy, but by industry and economy has gained a compe- tency. September, 1858, Mr. Millard visited the "Golden State," remaining there nearly three years. On his return he came very near losing his life. His son Jehoiada was with him. They started on their homeward voyage in the steamboat "Moses Taylor," and after five days of terrible gale, the steamer became unseaworthy, and returned to San Francisco. They then took passage on the " Hermon " to Panama, then on the " America " to New York, being twenty-nine days on their way. Mr. Millard is a strong believer in the fundamental principles of the Democratic party as taught by Jeffer- son. In religion he is a believer in Universalism. Mr. Millard is now an old man of seventy-nine years, and still enjoys a fair degree of health. His faithful wife still lives. This noble couple have walked life's journey to- gether for nearly fifty-five years. These years have brought sunshine, and sorrow to their home, but during them all no discordant sound has been heard, and to-day, more than ever, they enjoy each other's society. They have reared a large and intelligent family to industry and economy. They review the past with serene satisfaction, and look into the future with no ap- prehension.
CHANDLER KINGSLEY.
CHANDLER KINGSLEY was born in Canaan, Columbia county, New York, in the year 1818, where he spent his earlier days and received his education.
He was married March 17, 1847, and moved to Bethany, Genesee county, in the spring of 1849, living there until December, 1853, when he and his family moved to St. Joseph County, Michigan, and located on Seminary land two miles south of Leonidas Centre. There, with axe in hand, a strong arm, and a purpose to hew out for himself a home, he felled the first trees to make room for a small house. The surroundings were then comparatively wild; the privations of the early settlers were fully realized, and the chill of the ague stood ready to greet him ere he had a few acres cleared to repay his toil.
But a kind Providence has smiled on his untiring efforts and years of hard labor, until he has lived to see the tall oaks give place to the fruit orchards, and fields of waving grain, which are seen in their season, yielding their increase to the husbandman. An humble home has been erected, which he and his family occupy at the date hereof.
CHANDLER KINGSLEY.
RESIDENCE OF CHANDLER KINGSLEY, LEONIDAS TP, ST JOE CO, MICH.
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
181
LONCACRE-CO.'
GEORGE J. CLARK.
George Jefferson Clark was born August 18, 1810, in the town of Naples, county of Ontario, New York; was son of Calvin Clark and grandson of Elijah Clark; he lived in Naples until 1830, when he went to Albany and
enlisted in the United States army, which was then quartered at Sault de St. Marie. He went with an expedition to explore the copper-mines, pass- ing the picture-rocks, which the Indians held in great reverence, as being the home of the Great Spirit; went the entire length of Lake Superior ; crossed to the Mississippi river, then back to Green Bay. His discharge was procured for him by an uncle, Levi Parish, who was an influential man at Washington, on account of minority, in 1831. He then returned to Naples, New York, and stayed all winter, telling wonderful stories of the western States, which caused many to sell their homes and emigrate to this part of Michigan.
1832 found him again here, working as a builder in Detroit, Monroe and Whiteford. He, the same year, bought at government price four eighty- acre lots, or three hundred and twenty acres of land, in the northeast portion of St. Joseph county. He worked at carpenter work in this and adjoining counties until 1836, when he went up the Missouri river to Chariton, Mis- souri, and spent one year.
In 1838 he was married in the village of Lima, Indiana, to Nancy Alex- ander, of Canandaigua, New York, and moved to Constantine, where they lived two years, then moved to Missouri, by the way of Illinois, living three months in Ottawa, and was in Missouri until 1840; then lived in Constan- tine until 1854, working as a carpenter and architect. He drafted the plan for the county buildings and did much nice work, as many buildings in the various towns of the county still show. In 1854 he moved on to his wild land and cleared a farm. Then, in 1862, he moved to the village of Leonidas and lived nine years, when he moved back to his farm, where he died after a distressing illness of five years, of a cancer in the stomach, the 11th of Sep- tember, 1871.
BURR OAK.
Almost half a century ago was erected the first white man's habitation,- a log cabin,-in the territory now comprised within the limits of Burr Oak township. In 1831 Samuel Haslet and family, together with George Miller, a bachelor, settled upon the land that afterwards became and has long familiarly been known as the Elder Farley farm. Haslet is not only accred- ited as being one of the first settlers, but he has also the honor of having
THE FIRST WHITE CHILD
born in the now township of Burr Oak. This was in the year 1832.
Towards the close of the year 1831, a man by the name of Snow came over from Snow prairie (from whom the prairie was named), in Branch county, and settled on the farm long since owned by Hiram Lockwood. Sometime afterwards Snow sold out and again settled within a stone's throw of the present village of Burr Oak. Haslet also sold out and settled near where Frank Williams now lives. Miller also settled on the banks of Prairie river, or Hog creek, as it is generally called, on the opposite corner, west of where Daniel Livermore now lives, and which land afterwards became the property of Marshall Liver more, now owned by John Ultz.
Hon. Wales Adams, a gentleman long and honorably known as one of the pioneers of Branch county,-from whence came Haslet and Snow,-gives the following brief description of these individuals:
" Haslet was an easy body, with whom the world in which he moved gen- erally wagged well. His wife was the presiding genius, and the more posi- tive character of the two."
Of the other original settler (Snow) Mr. Adams writes: " He was appar- ently forty or fifty years of age, of a taciturn cast of mind. His figure was
rather tall and spare. His sloping shoulders, compressed lips and black, evasive eye, gave to him a repulsive appearance. He was from one of the New England States,-had been married; but being a man possessed of keen sensibilities and a fondness for variety, he became disgusted with the restraints and annoyances of conjugal life, abruptly left his family to the mercy of the world, and sought repose for himself amid the wilds of the west."
About the year 1833, and thence onward, settlers of a more permanent character began to come in, some of whom remain to this day. In that year Reuben Trussell settled on the road leading to Centreville, where he lived and died, and his family long lived afterwards.
The premises are now owned by E. C. Campany. About cotemporary with him were the Eldreds, from Vermont, brothers and sisters, who settled on the farm where James Worden now lives. A man by the name of Spur- geon came about the year 1834, and settled where the descendants of John Start now reside. Cephus A. Smith settled on the farm afterwards the property of Isaac Slocum, now owned by his son-in-law, William Woodman. There came, also, about this time a negro by the name of Lewis, who settled on land a little east of where Henry S. Wheeler and his sons now reside. It was long known as Negro prairie.
We quote the subjoined incident from the oration delivered by S. Kibbe, Esq., on the Fourth of July, 1876:
" Smith became sick with the fever incident to the climate, his garden became overgrown with weeds, and the negro in passing by observed its forlorn condition, and offered to hoe it out. And consent being given, he went to work, hanging up his coat not far from the house. When the negro
182
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
got well-nigh the farther end of the garden Smith goes out to talk with the negro awhile, and then returns to the house. In going back he halts near the coat, finally steps up to it, and passes on to the house. After the negro had finished his hoeing, and reaching for his coat, he discovered that his pocket- book, in which was about twenty dollars, was missing. Lewis did not know what to do; at length, seeing one of Haslet's sons passing along the road, he tells him the story and sends him for his father. Haslet, thinking it nothing but a joke, treated it as such. Lewis got tired of waiting and goes up to Haslet's ; after consultation, it was thought too late to search Smith's house, so the negro waited till court-sitting, goes to Centreville before the Grand Jury, tells his story, and is unceremoniously ordered from the court-room. Lewis came home disgusted with the treatment he had received, and finally left the country, never coming back to claim his property."
About 1834 came Josiah and Marshall Livermore. The same year Gid- eon Sanburn settled on the farm where his family now reside.
In 1835 James C. Stowell; the same year Henry S. Weaver and his father, Daniel, came and entered their land, taking up their permanent residence the year following. Soon after, in 1837, Ervin K. Weaver came in. In 1836 came James L. Bishop and Sidney Carpenter.
In 1834 Reuben Trussell built the
FIRST FRAME HOUSE
in the now township of Burr Oak. He purchased his lumber at Dugg's saw-mill, located not far from where Jonathan Holmes' mill now stands. The lumber was rafted down Swan creek to a point at or near where Nathan- iel Houston now lives, from whence it was taken by teams to the building site. Five dollars per thousand feet would command the best white-wood lumber, to-day worth from thirty to forty dollars per thousand. Nails were worth then thirteen cents per pound by the keg, to-day worth from three to four cents per pound. Salt only cost the small sum of ten dollars per barrel, -to-day worth a dollar and three-quarters.
THE FIRST BRICK HOUSE
was built by H. S. Williams in 1855, and now stands in the village of Burr Oak.
In 1838 the question of a new township began to be talked of, as the parent township, Sherman, was considered too large in extent for judicial and electoral purposes. Accordingly, in the spring of that year, we find the following legislative act recorded, viz. :
That " all that part of the county of St. Joseph designated in the United States survey as township number seven, south of range number nine west, be, and the same is hereby set off and organized into a separate township by the name of BURR OAK.
" And the first township meeting shall be held at the house of Julius A. Thompson, in said township. " RANDOLPH MANNING, Secretary of State.
" Approved March 6, 1838."
Pursuant to the above-recited act of the legislature the meeting was held April 2, 1838, and organized by appointing Alvin Gates, Esq., moderator ; Oliver Raymond, Esq., was present as acting justice of the peace ; James L. Bishop and Hiram Draper were chosen clerks.
The following men were elected to fill the offices of the newly-made town- ship : Supervisor, Marshall Livermore; Township Clerk, James L. Bishop ; Assessors, Alvin Gates, Daniel Weaver and Hiram Draper; Commissioners of Highways, Oliver Raymond, Hiram Draper and Daniel Weaver; Super- visors of Primary Schools, Norman Allen, Oliver Raymond and Sidney Carpenter; Constables, John S. Sickles, Sidney Carpenter and Norman Allen; Collector, Norman Allen ; Directors of the Poor, Cyrus Benedict, Phineas H. Sheldon ; Justices of the Peace, Alvin Gates, Marshall Livermore, Hiram Draper and Oliver Raymond; Fence-Viewers and Pound-Masters, Julius A. Thompson, Warren Norton and Benjamin Stocking; Overseers of High- way : District No. 1, Josiah T. Livermore; District, No. 2, Samuel Need- ham ; No. 3, Ervin K. Weaver ; No. 4, Nathaniel Leavitt; No. 5, Casper Reed.
September 25, 1830, the township board audited the town accounts, amount- ing to seventy-seven dollars and twenty-five cents, of which sum the super- visors' account was two dollars. At the same meeting of the board it was resolved to raise the sum of twenty-two dollars and twenty-five cents as a contingent fund for the township.
The following have been elected to the offices over their names from 1839 to 1876, inclusive :
Supervisors-Marshall Livermore (three years), Josiah T. Livermore, James L. Bishop (seven years), Sidney Carpenter (seven years), William
Morris (two years), Samuel Needham, Harrison Kelley, Elizur Lancaster (three years), William C. Bryant, William H. Cross, J. Clinton Bishop, pres- ent incumbent (ten years).
Clerks-Sidney Carpenter, four years; William Clark, eight years; Charles E. Kibbe, two years; John H. Clewes, John S. Tyler, Hiram Betts, Allen C. Arnold, Lyman F. Hopkins, Charles Thornton, two years ; Bliss N. Stone, two years; Walter W. Stone, Chester A. Ward, James Mills, two years; N. H. Soule, John H. Phelps, two years ; N. G. Cooper, three years ; L. S. Benjamin, F. F. Betts (present incumbent), three years.
Justices of the Peace-Norman Allen, four years; James L. Bishop, seven years ; James P. Allen, two years; Alvin Gates, Richard Houston, eight years; Harrison Kelley, James Sickles, eight years ; Samuel Needham, James H. Tisdell, twenty-eight years (and present incumbent, 1877); Hiram Betts, sixteen years ; Sidney Carpenter, Ira C. Abbott, Bracy Toby, William Morris, Oscar L. Cowles, eight years ; J. Clinton Bishop, Hiram Parker, William H. Cross, J. A. J. Metzer, Joseph Annis (to fill vacancy), Bliss N. Stone, eight years, 1877 ; B. B. Benedict, Elizur Lancaster, A. B. Mills, 1875-77, Reuben W. Trussell (present incumbent).
THE FIRST ROADS.
We quote the annexed extract from the Road Docket, on file in the town- ship clerk's office :
" At a meeting of the commissioners of highways of the township of Sherman, in the county of St. Joseph, at the house of Julius A. Thompson (in said township), on the 27th day of March, 1837, it was ordered and de- termined by the said commissioners that a highway be laid out in the said township of the width of four rods, on the application and consent of Richard Houston and Phineas H. Sheldon, through whose improved land the highway is to pass a part of the distance, the residue being through lands not inclosed, improved, or cultivated. And the said commissioners have caused a survey thereof to be made as follows, viz .: The center line is to begin on the town- ship line, between Colon and Sherman, at the corner of sections one and two, and running thence south on section-line sixty-seven chains; south thirty-seven degrees, east eleven chains; south five and a half degrees, east five chains and fifty-seven links ; south sixty-six degrees, east eight chains ; south on section-line thirty-three chains to quarter-post on east side of section eleven in township seven, south of range nine west.
"HIRAM DRAPER, Surveyor.
" Also that another road be laid out as follows: The center line is to begin at a point on the east and west quarter-line of section twelve, in town- ship seven, south range nine west, at twenty-nine chains and forty links east from quarter-post on the west side of said twelfth section, and to run thence south twenty-eight degrees, east seven chains and fifty links; south thirty- five and a half degrees, east thirty-seven chains and forty-four links; south twenty-five and a half degrees, east eleven chains and seventy-five links; south eighty-four and a half degrees, east fourteen chains and forty links to the east line of section thirteen, in township seven south, range nine west, nine chains and fifty links south of the corner of sections twelve and thir- teen, in the township aforesaid.
"HIRAM DRAPER, Surveyor.
" In witness whereof, we, the undersigned commissioners of highways, have hereunto subscribed our hands this 27th day of March, 1837.
" MARSHALL LIVERMORE, "O. RAYMOND, "Commissioners of Highways."
THE FIRST MARRIAGE
in the township was probably the one described by Hon. Wales Adams, of Branch county, thus:
"A man by the name of Miller, a chubby, grizzle-headed Dutchman, who had weathered the pelting storms of at least a half century, moved into the town of Burr Oak with the family of Mr. Haslet, in the year 1831. Mr. Miller had, from his infancy, lived upon the extreme borders of civilization, consequently had received no book education,-knew nothing about social en- joyments, except such as pertained to rugged prairie life. He had never been married. Soon after the advent of Mr. Miller into Burr Oak, two bachelor brothers, named Eldred, from Vermont, entered one hundred and sixty acres of land where Mr. Worden now lives, erected a log house, and commenced improvements. At length a maiden sister of theirs-probably forty years of age-came on to take charge of their domestic affairs; her plainness of countenance and form amounted to repulsiveness. Mr. Miller met Miss Eldred, and became violently enamored. He fancied that
"'Plato himself had not surveyed unmoved Such charms as she displayed.'
183
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
"After Miss Eldred had played the prude the usual time, she reciprocated his amatorial advances, and after a few months of billing and cooing, like younger lovers, these ancients were married."
THE FIRST DEATH
that occurred was that of a Mr. Sheldon, from Vermont. He was a bach- elor, about thirty-five years of age, well educated, and of high moral char- acter. He purchased, at an early day, one hundred and sixty acres of land two miles north of Burr Oak village, now occupied by William Miller. He boarded with Mr. Smith, and commenced to work on his land, but in the fall of 1833 he died. Hon. Wales Adams supplied a rough coffin for his remains, and taking it to his residence with oxen,-the same being four miles distant,-Mr. Adams and two of the neighbors dug a grave, and buried the deceased on his own land.
THE FIRST BURYING-GROUND
was located near the residence of Gideon Sanborn, on the farm now owned by his widow, the property of Joseph Graves, as early as 1838. Prior to this the pioneers buried their dead on their own premises; after the incor- poration of the ground, these were taken up and re-interred in the present cemetery.
The first interment of an adult person was that of Mrs. Israel I. Stiles, who died in 1838. The first trustees of the cemetery were Cyrus Bene- dict, Israel I. Stiles and Samuel Needham.
EDUCATION.
But all this time the educational facilities of the township were being developed. From the most authentic information obtained we learn that school-houses were erected and schools taught prior to the organization of the township. Julius A. Thompson's father is accredited with having taught the first school in what now constitutes the township of Burr Oak, in district number one.
In 1837 or 1838 Miss Sarah Washburn-since Mrs. Nathan Hackett- taught school in a new building with a loose floor above and below, a little east of the Thompson and Farley corners, in the same district.
On the 9th of May, 1838, the inspectors of primary schools organized the township into four school-districts. Number one was by the aforesaid corners, including sections numbers one, two, three, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen and fifteen ; number two, by Esquire Needham's, comprising sections four, six, seven, eight, nine, sixteen, seventeen and eighteen ; num- ber three, long known as the Foley and Bishop district, composed of sections nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-one, thirty-two and thirty-three ; number four, over south, near Harrison Plants', of sections twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven, thirty-four, thirty-five and thirty-eight.
Mrs. Chapin taught the first summer term in district number three, and Sidney the first winter school in the same district.
Sidney Carpenter and Norman Allen were the first school-inspectors, by whom reports were received from districts one and three, and by them filed with the county clerk, October 5, 1838.
In 1876 there were seven school-houses, six frames and one brick,-the graded school of the village,-valued at twenty-one thousand four hundred dollars, which afforded six hundred and fifty sittings, and in which schools were taught on an average of seven and two-seventh months during the year ending September 1. There were five hundred and seven children in the township of the requisite school-age, between five and twenty years, and four hundred and forty-seven pupils attended the sessions of the schools. There were one hundred and thirty-eight volumes in the district libraries. Six male teachers were employed, who received for compensation one thousand seven hundred and thirty-five dollars, and twelve females, who received one thousand and thirty-two dollars. The total income of the districts footed up six thousand six hundred and sixty-six dollars and sixty-one cents, of which five thousand four hundred and twenty-seven dollars and sixty-four cents were expended, including payments on bonded and other indebtedness.
THE RELIGIOUS HISTORY
of Burr Oak will be found in the history of the village, where it has been principally made, although, of course, meetings were held in various parts of the township prior to the settlement of the village.
A DISTILLERY
was built in 1840, or thereabouts, by Hopper, in the northwest part of the township, and was operated by him for about five years, when it was abandoned.
TOPOGRAPHY.
In the original constitution of the county, Burr Oak, which is known on the surveys of the public lands of the United States as township seven, south of range nine, west of the principal meridian, was included in the township of Sherman, which arrangement remained intact from November 5, 1829, until 1838, when Burr Oak was set off into a separate township, as recorded elsewhere.
The township is one of the best in the county, agriculturally considered. The surface, which is a general level, was originally covered with burr-oak timber-hence its name. The openings were superb, and only excelled, if at all, by Florence in its natural beauty. The soil is fertile and productive, yielding heavy crops of the cereals, corn and fruit. It is fairly watered and drained by Big Swan creek, Prairie river, and five small lakes.
The Big Swan creek enters the township on the east line of the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section twelve, and runs northeastwardly, passing out of the township near the northwest corner of the northeast quar- ter of section four. Prairie river makes its entry into the township near the southeast corner of section four, and runs northeast into the southwest quar- ter of section nine, then reverses its course, and runs southwestwardly into Hog Creek lake, on the southeast quarter of section eighteen, and passing out therefrom, reverses its course again, as though loath to leave the beautiful township, and runs almost due north through the west half of sections seven and eighteen, making its exit on the east line of the southwest quarter of section six.
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