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 65
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191
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
One flour-mill and one grist-mill were in operation in the township in the year 1873, employing two persons and a capital of three thousand dollars, and produced four thousand barrels of flour and ninety thousand feet of lumber, valued at seven thousand three hundred and fifty dollars.
THE CULTIVATION OF MINT
was first introduced into Sherman, in 1846-47, by Eric Jones, who settled in the township in 1838, coming thereto from the State of New York. His son, Charles W., now a resident, is the heaviest distiller, and has been in former years the chief and only buyer of the entire crop in the township. The roots of peppermint were first brought from a farm owned at that date, by William Jones, now of Centreville, and planted on the location of Mr. Eric Jones, which has been his residence since 1838, till his decease a short time since. The first peppermint-distillery in the township was built by Mr. Jones, two years later, 1848-49, and which has been the leading one therein from that time to the present. Mr. Jones and his son Charles W., have distilled in this distillery, from one to two thousand pounds of oil per year, for twenty years past. The crop of 1876 was about five thousand pounds. There are some seven or eight distilleries in the township.
THE FIRST TOWNSHIP MEETING
was held at the house of John B. Clarke, in the village of Sherman, (now Sturgis), in April, 1830, Amos Howe being the moderator.
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We quote the subjoined extract from the "township minutes," for the year 1841, as being explanatory of the reason why we are debarred from giving a complete list of the township officers from the organization of the township to the present, as is our custom :
" Also the clerk was then ordered to record the names of those persons who were elected on the 5th day of April, A.D. 1841, at the annual town- meeting held at the house of Betsy Douglass, in West Sherman, as township officers for the present year of 1841, there being no records of said township- meeting, in consequence of the loss of said records by fire, they having been destroyed on the night of the 7th day of May, 1841."
The supervisors have been as follows : John Sturgis, 1830; Jason Thurs- ton, 1831-33; John Parker, 1834-41; Philip H. Buck, William Henry, Harry H. Brezee, Levi E. Thompson, Salathial C. Coffinbury, George Buck, George Keech, George W. Warren, David Oakes, Stephen W. Cade (seven years), Samuel Tyler, Beers Wilson, D. C. Gee, Samuel Tyler, H. C. Hop- kins (five years), present incumbent.
Clerks-William Fletcher, 1830; John Parker, 1831-33; Philip N. Buck, 1834-36; Levi Holmes, 1841; J. G. Waite, Jeremiah H. Jones, Theodore A. Jones, Erastus Chapin, S. W. P. Hadden, George Taylor, George W. Warren, Thomas Wing, George W. Richards, A. C. Van Vleck, N. H. Gurney, Henry W. Pearsall, James Douglass, Thomas Perrin, Josiah Metzgar, John A. Bancker, James H. Fonda, Gaston Everett, J. A. P. Mason (three years), present incumbent.
John Sturgis, Amos Howe and William Hazzard were the first highway commissioners, 1830.
Justices of the Peace-James Rolfe, 1836 (six years), Andrew Perrin, Harry H. Brezee (twelve years), Levi E. Thompson, Wilson D. Oviatt, Nathan H. Gurney (eight years), S. S. Johnson, George Keech (fourteen years), George Buck, Erastus Chapin, S. C. Coffinbury, David Oakes (eight years), Stephen W. Cade, A. C. Van Vleck (six years), John H. Millard, Joseph A. Millard, Daniel N. Thompson, Darius Gee (eight years), Gilson Everton, Harvey Avery, Thomas Wing, Floris Bancker, Warren Palmer, Joseph Weber, Julius E. Fenn, William T. North, James M. White, Josiah Metzgar, Theron Wilson (three years), John A. Bancker, Beers Wilson, Reuben J. Miller, John Kasdorf, Joseph Sweetland (three years), present incumbent. Philip H. Buck was elected a justice of the peace in 1837, and held his office in the village of Sturgis until that township was set off in 1845, and was the leading justice of his day in the township. In 1838 he had two hundred and sixty-three cases on his docket. His first suit, dated November 10, 1837, was one of Isaac Tyler vs. Elisha Bennett, which was called for trial November 20, and judgment entered by confession for thirty- four dollars and forty-four cents damages, and one dollar and seventy-seven and a half cents costs, on which execution was issued January 22, 1838, to C. H. Knox, deputy sheriff, and returned satisfied, with the plaintiff's receipt fully endorsed thereon April 6, 1838. Oliver Raymond and Hiram Hum- phrey were appointed justices by Governor Porter April 17, 1833, for Sher- man township.
THE FIRST ROAD LAID OUT
in the township was one ordered by the highway commissioners in 1830, from the Indiana line running north through Oxbow and Sturgis prairies to the
north line of township six, range ten, now Nottawa. This route was subse- quently adopted by the commissioners for the territorial road from the same point to Grand Rapids, which was surveyed in 1833. Robert Clark, Jr., surveyed the first-named road, and received six dollars therefor, the road being over fifteen miles in length. On January 18, 1831, the town authori- ties granted a license to Benjamin Sherman to keep a tavern on this road.
A POST-OFFICE
was established in the northeast part of the township in 1837, Julius A. Thompson being the first postmaster.
A SIGNAL STATION
of the United States signal service has been established on the highest hill in Sherman for two or more years, and dispatches are sent daily to "Old Prob." of the state of the weather in that "neck o' woods," which help to swell the average from which the prognostications of the weather-bureau are made.
RAILROAD.
The Grand Rapids and Indiana railroad, which traverses Sherman town- ship north and south, was constructed in 1870. There is a small building, which the company substituted for a depot, on the farm of Amos Perrin, who gave the right of way through his premises, with the understanding that a respectable depot should be erected.
FIRST FRAME HOUSE.
The first frame house erected in Sherman township was built by Thomas Cade on the present site of the residence of his son, Stephen W. Cade, in 1836.
FIRST SAW-MILL
was erected in 1860 by David P. Robinson. It is located on section twenty- eight, and adjoins Mr. Robinson's farm of ninety-eight acres on the same section.
FIRST GRIST-MILL
was also built by D. P. Robinson, and started in 1871. It is exclusively used for custom work. It is now owned by his son, Reuben Robinson.
FIRST MARRIAGE.
The first marriage in Sherman township was that of William Stewart, Jr., to Mary Cade, in the fall of 1831. They removed to Madison, Wisconsin, immediately after getting married, and afterwards to Chicago, where Mrs. Stewart died in 1838.
FIRST BIRTH.
was William, son of David and Fanny Petty, in 1833. He died quite young.
FIRST DEATH.
of which we can glean any definite information was that of William Leonard, who died in 1838.
THE FIRST BURYING-GROUND
was the one now in Sturgis, which was used as a family burying-place as early as 1833, although not regularly surveyed and laid out as a cemetery until 1839. It was surveyed by John Kumer. The first interment in it was a Mr. Johnson, an early settler, who lived on the shore of the lake which now bears his name.
FIRST PREACHER.
The first preaching in this township (and Sturgis) was in private houses by Rev. Christopher Corey, of the Presbyterian persuasion. Meetings were frequently held at the residence of George Buck.
EDUCATIONAL.
The first school-house erected in Sherman township was in the present dis- trict number one. It was first taught by Harriet Foot in 1843, she having thirteen scholars and receiving thirteen dollars for her work.
The following records show the first division into school districts of the township of Sherman, as divided and numbered on the 29th day of May, 1841 :
" District number one shall contain sections numbers eighteen, seventeen, seven, eight, six, five, and the west half of sections numbers four, nine, six- teen, in township eight, south of range ten west. Also, the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter, and the north half of the southeast quarter, and the east half of the southwest quarter of section thirty-two.
" District number two shall contain sections two, three, ten, eleven and the north half of section fifteen and the east half of sections four and nine, and the northeast quarter of section sixteen.
" District number three shall contain sections one and twelve in township eight, south of range ten west, and also the west half of section number six, township eight, south of range nine west.
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192
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
"District number four shall contain sections thirteen, fourteen and the south half of section fifteen, and the southeast quarter of section sixteen, and the northeast quarter of section twenty-one, and the north half of sec- tions twenty-two, twenty-three and twenty-four.
" District number five shall contain sections twenty-four, twenty-five, thirty- six and the northeast quarter of section twenty-six, in township seven, south of range ten west ; also, sections nineteen, twenty, twenty-nine, thirty, thirty- one and the north half of the northeast quarter of section thirty-two, in the township of Burr Oak."
In 1876 there were four hundred and fifteen children of the requisite school-age-between five and twenty years-three hundred and twenty of whom attended the different schools taught in the township, eight in number, in as many school-houses, two being built of brick, and six of wood, and valued at six thousand one hundred and seventy-five dollars, and affording four hundred and seven sittings. The schools were in session an average of eight months during the year ending September 1, 1876, and cost two thou- sand four hundred and sixty-three dollars and forty-six cents, including three hundred and ninety dollars paid three male teachers, and one thou- sand three hundred and forty-four dollars to fifteen females. There are no graded schools in the township.
TRAGEDIES.
In 1846 the suicidal mania first presented itself in Sherman township, since which time several have " shuffled off this mortal coil " by their own hands. The first instance was that of Babe Wells, who hung himself in a barn on the bank of Thompson's lake, section twenty-eight, in the above year.
John Carl hung himself in his barn on section twenty-one, in 1872. Mental derangement, superinduced by an excessive use of alcoholic stimu- lants, was the cause in both of the above cases.
In 1871 Floris Bancker, an old and highly respected farmer, committed suicide by poisoning. Domestic trouble was the incentive to the rash act.
On September 30, 1859, John Dice was found dead near a stump in a field. The justice's inquest showed that copious hemorrhage of the lungs led to his untimely death.
POPULATION.
In 1838 the population of Sherman, which then included Sturgis only, numbered one thousand and forty-three souls. In 1850, in the present area of the township, there were three hundred and sixty-four people. In 1860 there were eight hundred and sixty-seven inhabitants, two of them "Amer- ican citizens of African descent." In 1870 these people had increased to one thousand one hundred and sixty, comprising two hundred and thirty- seven families dwelling in as many houses,-five hundred and ninety-one of them (the people) being males, and five hundred and sixty-nine females. In 1874 the State census showed one thousand two hundred and fifteen inhabitants, of whom six hundred and six were males, and six hundred and nine of the opposite sex. Of two hundred and ninety-seven males over twenty-one years, one hundred and eighty-four were subject to military duty, and one hundred and thirteen exempted,-three of the latter being over seventy-five years of age, but less than ninety. Of three hundred and six females over eighteen years, one hundred and seventy-three were under forty years, and one hundred and thirty-three over that age,-three of the latter being over seventy-five years. There were three hundred and nine boys under twenty-one years, and three hundred and three girls under eighteen years.
THE POLITICAL BIAS
of the public sentiment of the people will be readily seen by the following exhibit of the tally-lists of the presidential elections held in the township : In 1840 the Whigs voted one hundred ballots for "Tippecanoe and Tyler too," beating " Little Van" by forty-eight majority. In 1844 the party gave Harry Clay ("the Mill-boy of the Slashes") one hundred and three votes, the Democrats gave Polk and Dallas fifty-eight, and the Liberty men numbered five. In 1848, when Sherman was left to herself, she gave "Old Zach" twenty-five votes, Governor Cass thirty-one, and Van Buren, the Free-soiler, nine. In 1852 her people paired on the leading candidates, giving thirty-two to each,-the Abolitionists holding the balance of power with ten votes. In 1856 the Republicans drew to their candidate, " the Pathfinder," one hundred and three supporters, while the Sage of Wheatland had but thirty-three faithful followers. In 1860 the Republicans gave "Old Abe" one hundred and twenty-nine, and the " Little Giant" received fifty-three votes. In 1864 the Republican and Democratic votes were one hundred and thirteen and forty-four respectively. In 1868 the same votes stood one hundred and fifty-five and ninety-five, and in 1872 they were one hundred and four and sixty-seven. In 1876 Mr. Hayes received one hun- dred votes, Mr. Tilden one hundred and forty-two, and Mr. Cooper twelve.
This last vote would indicate a population of one thousand two hundred and seventy. SHERMAN IN THE REBELLION,
in proportion to her population, bore as conspicuous and honorable a part as any of her sister-towns. Her quotas were filled as promptly, and with as good material, and she has just cause for pride in the conduct of her heroic citizens. We here give a list of those who "rallied round the flag" once and again, as often as the calls were made, from the first seventy-five thou- sand to put down the rebellion in thirty days, to the last five hundred thou- sand men at the end of four years of bloody and relentless fratricidal strife.
FOURTH REGIMENT MICHIGAN INFANTRY.
Private William Cherry, Company C; discharged for disability. Private James Persons, Company C; mustered-out ; deceased.
SIXTH INFANTRY.
Corporal James G. Oakes, Company C; re-enlisted, and mustered-out.
Private Lewis Bawker, Company C; mustered-out.
TENTH INFANTRY.
Private Zenas H. Underwood, Company A; mustered-out.
Private Alonzo West, Company A ; mustered-out.
ELEVENTH INFANTRY.
Private Royal M. Carlisle, Company A; died at Bardstown, Kentucky, January 2, 1862.
Private George W. Wetmore, Company B; mustered-out.
Private Charles V. Forbes, Company B; discharged at expiration of service.
Private Jerome Morehouse, Company B; discharged at expiration of service.
Private Eugene P. Willard, Company C; discharged at expiration of service.
Private Edward P. Willard, Company C; discharged at expiration of service. Private W. H. Fress, Company E; mustered-out.
Private Peter Fress, Company E; mustered-out.
Private Robert H. Ives, Company E; mustered-out.
Private Reuben Walls, Company E; mustered-out.
Private Stephen Gilkerson, Company G; mustered-out.
TWELFTH INFANTRY.
. Private Lewis H. Sackett, Company E; accidentally killed, at Duvall's Bluff, Arkansas.
Private John Rommell, Company E; mustered-out.
THIRTEENTH INFANTRY.
Private Stephen Cherry, Company B; died October 31, 1862.
Private Moses L. Jordan, Company B; mustered-out.
Private Ira S. Nickerson, Company D; discharged for disability.
Private Marcus Daniels, Company F; mustered-out.
NINETEENTH INFANTRY.
Private Julius N. Carlisle, Company D; veteran reserve corps, and mus- tered-out.
Private Isaac Driese, Company D; mustered-out.
Private Charles La Clear, Company D; killed at Chattanooga.
Private William G. Oakes, Company D; mustered-out.
Private Albert C. Wilson, Company D; mustered-out.
Private H. Hackstaff, Company D; mustered-out.
Private Moses Hibberlee, Company E; mustered-out.
Private Robert H. Hermance, Company E; discharged.
Private James Robertson, Company E; killed at Thompson's Station,
Tennessee, March 24, 1863. Private Washington Sprague, Company E; mustered-out.
Private James K. Sackett, Company E; mustered-out. NINTH CAVALRY.
Private Purdy Hoard, Company E; died at Detroit, August 19, 1863.
Private Samuel Hibberlee, Company E; mustered-out. ELEVENTH CAVALRY.
Private James A. Nickerson, Company I; mustered-out. FIRST LIGHT ARTILLERY. Private Michael Helwig, Battery F; mustered-out. FIRST UNITED STATES SHARP-SHOOTERS.
Private Martin L. Wetmore, Company I; killed at Chancellorsville.
Private Reuben Walls, Company I; mustered-out.
PROVOST GUARD.
Private Myron Ingersoll ; mustered-out.
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0
S. W. CADE.
MRS. S . W. CADE.
RESIDENCE OF S. W. CADE, SHERMAN TP. . ST. JOSEPH, CO. MICH.
193
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
The foregoing names are all we have been able to locate in Sherman, but would refer the reader to the other township histories, especially those of Sturgis, Burr Oak and Nottawa, where names of men properly belonging to Sherman may possibly be found.
We are under obligations, and tender our thanks therefor, to Dr. Ira Packard, of Sturgis, Stephen W. Cade, H. C. Hopkins and Mr. Burch, of Sherman, for information given and assistance rendered in the compilation of the history of Sherman.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.
STEPHEN W. CADE.
Stephen W., son of Thomas and Elizabeth Cade, was born in Yorkshire, England, April 7, 1826. He emigrated to America with his parents in 1830, and came directly to the farm on which he now resides. There they erected their hewn-log-house, in which the first festivities in all that settle- ment were held, on the occasion of the marriage of his sister Mary to W. W. Stewart, when a good old-fashioned dance was indulged in, and the lively tune and the merry song were heard echoing in the neighboring forest.
Thomas Cade, the father of the subject of this sketch, still survives, being in his ninety-third year, and resides in Sturgis. He raised a family of five children, who were all more or less identified with the history of the neigh- borhood in which they first settled : MARY, who consummated the first mar- riage in Sherman township; THOMAS, who now resides in Wisconsin ; JOSEPH, now a well-to-do resident of Sherman ; SAMUEL, who died June 3, 1876, in Indiana ; and he of whom we write, now residing within a few rods of where he arrived an infant nearly half a century ago. He received a limited edu- cation at the public-schools of Sturgis, attending them in the winter, and working on the farm during the summer months. He has followed agricul- tural pursuits all his life, and is generally considered a good practical farmer.
December 25, 1849, he married Phebe M., daughter of Charles Adams, a native of Cattaraugus county, New York, and for many years a much re- spected citizen of Burr Oak township, this county, where he settled in 1843. This union has been blessed with two children, namely :
ADELINE E., born November 1, 1851 ; married Edward S. Murdock, April 15, 1874.
CHARLES E., born December 7, 1874; married Miss Dillie Sturgis, August 10, 1876.
Mr. Cade has always taken a commendable interest in the affairs of his township, and has accomplished much towards its development and pros- perity.
In 1862 he was elected supervisor, which office he filled satisfactorily dur- ing the greater part of the war. He also lent much of his time in assisting the cause of the government, by acting as a recruiter, at which he was emi- nently successful in helping to fill the quota of the township at various times. He also gave liberally of his means, having donated at different periods nearly one thousand dollars.
He was a justice of the peace seven years, and cheerfully converted a room in his house into a justice's court, thereby imperilling the furniture of said room, for the motley crowds that generally attend the trials before a justice, will smoke, you know, and consequently must expectorate, regardless of the consequences to carpets, etc. But this, and more in the cause of justice.
He also furnished a fair criterion of his enterprise by purchasing largely of the bonds of the railroad, which cannot be considered as a paying invest- ment, at least to him. But if it assisted in the prosperity of the town, he is satisfied,-though minus the collateral that said bonds were supposed to represent.
It politics Mr. Cade is a Republican ; in religion a Methodist. He is genial and pleasant in manners; an enterprising and intelligent farmer, and a good citizen. (See portrait and illustration.)
.
,
FLOWERFIELD.
THE township of Flowerfield had but a single white inhabitant when it was first organized, or at least but a single family, Mishael Beadle, and then its territory was four times the area of the present township, comprising the four northern townships of St. Joseph county in November, 1829.
ITS PRESENT AREA
includes twenty-two thousand six hundred and seventy-six acres of land, and about thirty-five acres of water-surface.
ITS DRAINAGE
is effected principally by the Rocky river, which, rising in the township of Penn, Cass county, enters the township of Flowerfield on the east line of section nineteen, running eastward through sections nineteen, twenty, twenty-one and twenty-two, southwesterly through section twenty-three, and southerly through sections twenty-five and thirty-six, and passes out of the township at its south line. The north branch of the Rocky rises near the village of Flowerfield, and runs southerly through sections one, twelve, thirteen and twenty-four, uniting with the main stream on the south line of the last-named section. A little creek runs north through sections thirty-five and twenty-six, and empties into the Rocky near the north line of section twenty-six.
TOPOGRAPHICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE.
Flowerfield originally consisted of what was known among the early set- tlers as "oak-openings," and "timbered lands." The southern and eastern portions of the township were of the former description, the northern and western parts of the latter. The central and southwestern parts of the town- ship are hilly, and in some places also very stony. The rest of the township is level and slightly undulating. The soil is generally of a good sandy loam, and admirably adapted to the purposes of agriculture.
As indicated by its name, Flowerfield, the township oftentimes, in the days of its earlier settlement, presented a lovely appearance. Every fall the In- dians were accustomed to burn the superfluous brush and scrub timber, and in the spring an abundance of wild flowers sprang up; hence the early sur- veyors gave the township and surrounding country the present name, which, on the erection of the township in 1829, was conferred upon it exclusively.
EARLY SETTLERS.
The first white settler who took up a permanent residence in Flowerfield was Mishael Beadle, who settled near where the village of Flowerfield now stands, in 1829. He came from the State of Ohio, accompanied by his family. The year following James Valentine, Henry Whited and Henry Garver, also from Ohio. In 1831 M. John Nichols, William Mead and
194
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Challenge S. Wheeler came in, followed, in 1832, by Aaron H. Foot and Robert Gill. All these, except Mead, came from the State of New York. The only one of these old pioneers now remaining is M. John Nichols, who, enjoying an excellent memory, has become a walking cyclopædia of his- torical information concerning local events.
An interesting episode in the history of one of the above-named pioneers, Robert Gill, is related by one who knows him well. Mr. Gill came from Canada as a British soldier in 1812. Not liking the principles involved in the struggle, he quietly moved to the State of New York, where he remained until 1832. He married a German woman of the Mohawk settlement, Naomi Angle by name, and with her removed to Flowerfield and first set- tled on the present site of Howardsville, and afterwards on the west half of the southwest quarter of section twenty-six. Their children were Jane, Eleanor, Eliza, John and William, the latter of whom now occupies the old homestead. He married Christiana Weinberg, a daughter of one of the earliest German settlers in the township. Robert Gill died in 1870 in the seventy-seventh year of his age.
H. Spaulding was also an early settler-the oldest now living-who set- tled in this part of the township. He came in with his wife and family in 1841, from Madison county, New York. He took up his permanent resi- dence on section twenty-six, where he has lived for more than thirty years.
In 1836 Horatio N. Monroe entered the southeast quarter of section twenty-six, but no evidence exists that he ever settled on it. R. F. Breese purchased it of him in 1838, while a resident of Kalamazoo. He did not take up his permanent residence until the spring of 1848. He has since lived on it, and now has a good farm.
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