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 70
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the mystery. That, however, after a time was explained and quieted by the fact appearing that the body was that of an unfortunate lunatic who had escaped from his keepers, and had fallen into the river accidentally or other- wise.
VILLAGE OF FREEDOM.
Judging from the elaborate geographical definition written on the plat of this little hamlet, it once indulged in "great expectations." Located on the Chicago road, the great artery along which beat the pulses of commerce in ante-railroad days, the proprietor wrought out exceedingly pretty ærial castles, but which, alas ! have all vanished, like the " baseless fabric of a vision," along with the rumbling stage-coaches on which this atmospheric joiner-work was based.
F. A. Tisdel built a handsome and commodious frame-tavern here in 1836, and caused a village to be laid out, the surveyor's plat of which, looking at it from the standpoint of to-day, is a curiosity worth preserving. One D. M. Cook, civil engineer, was the artist who drew the document, in September, 1836, and he thus historizes: "The plat of the village of Freedom is located on section three, township eight, range south nine west; latitude forty-one degrees and forty-eight seconds, and longitude eight degrees and seventeen seconds, on the Chicago road, one hundred and thirty miles from Detroit, and situate on high-rolling burr-oak, white-oak and hickory land."
Its streets were named Maple, Pine, Hickory, Chestnut, Pearl, Branch, Minerva, Van Buren, Jefferson and Madison. The first post-office for the accommodation of Fawn River people was located here in 1836-7, and Mr. Tisdel was the first postmaster. The mails came as regularly as did the well-filled stage coaches which rattled up to the door at six miles an hour, heralded by the "tan-ta-ra" of the driver's horn,-at first once, then twice, then three times, and finally six times each week, each way between Detroit and Chicago.
Mr. Tisdel had a stock of goods here for a time, and was succeeded by Hewit & Randall, but no store or other business is carried on there now. Rev. Mr. Farley, a Christian minister, and J. H. Hard, a Baptist, preached occasionally at the school-house here, but no church was ever organized. Mr. Latta succeeded Tisdel ; Latta's was as famous as a place of resort, and as well kept as Tisdel's or Sweet's,-Mrs. Latta being an excellent hostess.
Here, in the triangle formed by the intersection of the highways, Colonel I. D. Toll drilled his recruits for Mexico in March, 1847,-facing poor Ter- williger right, left and front, much to the discomposure of his two hundred and fifty pounds of adipocere; demonstrating at last that his physical con- formation was an insuperable bar to the exercise of his patriotism, and remanding him to civic life to hammer glory out of the anvil rather than seek it in the "deadly imminent breach" on the plains of Mexico.
Here, too, was enacted the tragedy which cost poor Fanning his life, through the inefficiency of an Indiana sheriff. The following, clipped from a La Grange paper of November 2, 1840, will partly tell the story : "Last Saturday a horse-thief, with two valuable bay horses, having stopped at Latta's hotel, on the Chicago turnpike, in Fawn River, killed Gamaliel Fanning, a constable, who, with three others, was attempting to arrest him. He was, half an hour afterward, captured in the woods, one half mile north of the .tavern, through the intrepidity of General I. D. Toll, who was a mile distant when Fanning was killed, and Sheriff Knox has him in jail. Toll has the knife now (an ugly-looking weapon) with which the bloody deed was done. The murderer proved to be a Mississippi desperado, named Ward, who he was convicted and sentenced to fifteen years to the State prison at Jackson, and died there six years afterwards. His body was nearly cov- ered with soar's, from knife-wounds principally. Had the sheriff, who pur- sued the thief from Indiana, been possessed of the courage of a man fit for his position, the man could have been arrested without harm to any one; but he had not, and the pursuit being organized from the hotel in three parties (Fanning's being the largest party), he came up unsupported, closed in upon the thief, and lost his life by several desperate thrusts of the knife."
And here, too, in later years, fell the foul blot of disgrace upon the fair fame of Latta, which stripped him of his farm, and drove him forth a fugi- tive from deserved justice, and gave to the county their present farm and asylum for their indigent, which is the only point of interest now remaining in this once famous hamlet.
A little cemetery adjoins the school-house site, laid out in or about the year 1839. The stone bearing the oldest inscription is one standing at the grave of William Hoagland, who died August 20, 1839.
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
CAPTAIN PHILIP R. TOLL.
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The subject of this sketch was born May 10, 1793, in an ancient stone mansion on a farm, a part of an extensive tract of land which had belonged to his first ancestor in America, Carl H. Toll, two centuries ago, situated nearly three miles northwest of Schenectady, New York. It is now the property of his nephew of the same name, Philip Ryley Toll. (The family name is variously written in the old records, as Toll, Tol, Van Toll, Van Tholl and Tollius. )
Carl H. Toll, a very large land-owner, represented all of New York west of Albany in the colonial legislature, from 1715 to 1724. His son, Captain Daniel Toll, great-grandfather of Philip R. Toll, was born July 1, 1691, and was killed by the Indians in the Boekindale (Peach valley) battle, in Au- gust, 1748.
Heinrich Toll, surnamed in the original documents " the valiant," com- manded the Dutch ship in which he bore the order for the surrender of New Netherlands to the English, July 7, 1674.
John, a son of Daniel Toll, and grandfather of Phillip R., was born Au- gust 13, 1719, and Charles H., his son, and the father of Philip R., was born February 10, 1745. He married Elizabeth Ryley, January 11, 1767. She was the daughter of Philip Ryley, who gave his name to her son Philip R. She was also a sister of Judge James V. S. Ryley, prominently known in the Mohawk valley.
Captain Toll was educated as a physician, but practiced as such only oc- casionally and gratuitously. He served in the war of 1812 in the United States army in its operations in Canada, as captain of a company of mounted artillery, which, owing to its fine discipline, was selected as guard at head- quarters under General Wade Hampton, and was in several engagements.
In 1825 Captain Toll removed with his family to Ovid, Seneca county, New York, where he engaged in a general mercantile and produce business, and the manufacture of hats, boots and potash.
In 1834 he removed to Centreville, in St. Joseph county, Michigan, and engaged in a general mercantile business in company with a nephew, Charles H. Toll-Philip Ryley Toll, another nephew, being a clerk in the business. He also leased and operated the Centreville mills for a time.
In the fall of 1836 he built a saw-mill at Fawn River, and the next year a grist-mill, and removed to that place with his family in 1838. Afterwards he added facilities for flouring or merchant work, and had an extensive pat-
ronage. He held about thirteen hundred acres of land adjoining the mills, nearly all of it in a body, and much of it improved, besides large tracts in various parts of the State. In 1852 he removed to Monroe, Michigan, where he prepared a fine mansion and elegant grounds, and where he died August 17, 1862.
In 1817 he married Nancy, a daughter of Judge Isaac DeGraff, a citizen of Schenectady, and prominently known in the Mohawk valley. The fruits of this union, which was a most happy one and lasted forty-five years, were: Isaac D., Elizabeth (wife of Rev. E. S. Lane, and who died January 18, 1861, leaving three children), Susan D., Jane Anna, Charles, Alfred, and Sarah G., wife of Dr. A. I. Sawyer, of Monroe, Michigan, all of whom, except Elizabeth, are now living. Charles is a prominent citizen of Monroe, having in several ways received evidences of the partiality of the electors of the city and county of Monroe. Alfred is a successful lumber merchant of Hannibal, Missouri, and treasurer of the Lumberman's Bank of that city.
Captain Philip R. Toll was elected president of the village council of Ovid, and one of the trustees of the academy there while a resident of the place.
He united with the Dutch Reformed church in Schenectady previous to his marriage, and continued a member of that society until his residence in Fawn River, when, to assist in building up a church in that place, he, with his wife, united with the Presbyterian church, of which he was the chief pillar and main support. Notwithstanding his own predilections, he was liberally inclined toward all orthodox faiths, and assisted in maintaining the preaching of those doctrines, irrespective of creed. He was a man of sim- ple tastes, pure life and most domestic in his habits ; in short, a thorough gentleman of the old school. He was a man of great energy and decided convictions.
In politics a Democrat from early life. When President Jackson issued the famous specie circular, which threatened him with bankruptcy, he re- marked, "This is ruinous, but it is right." The good that he did lives, and precious are the memories he has left behind him.
NANCY DEGRAFF TOLL,
LONCA.CRE-CO-
Norway 2.Fel
the wife of Captain Philip R. Toll, was born in Schenectady, New York, on the 18th day of September, 1798. Her father, Judge Isaac DeGraff, was a most zealous patriot, and served as major during the Revolutionary war. The oath of office prescribed by Congress in February, 1788, was adminis- tered to him by General La Fayette. His accounts of the Revolutionary times are embodied in history. After peace was declared, he served a long
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
207
time as judge of the court of common pleas of the county of Schenectady, and died at the ripe age of eighty-eight years, preserving his faculties to the last. His son, John I. DeGraff, in the war of 1812,-as appears in a letter from Commodore McDonough,-when the government was out of funds and its credit impaired by the capture of Washington, furnished the commodore with means to prepare his fleet on Lake Champlain to meet the enemy ; with- out which, the gallant old hero acknowledged he would have been powerless.
John I. DeGraff served two terms in Congress, was one of the proprietors and builders of the first railroad in the United States-the Mohawk and Hudson,-and declined the portfolio of the secretary of the treasury, offered him by President Van Buren, his own large estate (which he bequeathed at his death to his brothers and sister), requiring his whole attention.
The Dutch governor of the island of St. Eustatius, of the same name (John De Graff) and family, was the first foreign official who saluted the American flag. For this act he was recalled by his government, at the in- stance of Great Britain ; but the liberty-loving Hollanders sympathized with him, and he grew in favor rather than diminished in their regard.
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Mrs. Toll was ever characterized by great generosity. Her charities, like her vigilance over her household, like her industry and patience, were with- out stint or limit. The helpmeet of a pioneer in all the vicissitudes of a new country, in its sickness and wants, she was always ready for any demand, any emergency. Still residing at Monroe, at the head of her family, at a ripe age, and actively benevolent, she is gently and serenely passing down life's western declivity, to blend, by and by, in the full glories of its latest autumnal sunset. " Her children rise up and call her blessed."
HON. ISAAC D. TOLL. .
9
LONGAORE-CO
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Among the honored names of St. Joseph county, none stand higher on the roll thereof than that of the subject of our sketch, Isaac DeGraff Toll. Possessing the entire confidence of his fellow-citizens, without distinction of party or creed, he moves among them as one of the few public men upon whose garments clings no taint of corruption, and whose integrity runs par- allel to his ability. Affable, courteous, hospitable, generous, his lines are bounded by no partisanship, and his charities know no sect.
Mr. Toll was the oldest son of Philip R. and Nancy D. Toll, who were of the first families of the old Knickerbockers of the Mohawk valley, and was born December 1, 1818, in Glenville, three miles from Schenectady, New York, on the family homestead of two centuries. With his parents he removed to Ovid, in the same State, in 1825, where he received an
academic education, and was admitted to the sophomore class of Union College (the school of his uncles on both sides of the family), but was imme- diately withdrawn from the college to accompany his father, who, in 1834, removed to St. Joseph county, and located in Centreville, and engaged in a mercantile and manufacturing business. Isaac assisted in the extensive business carried on by his father, both at Centreville, and subsequently at Fawn River, until 1846, and again, after the Mexican war, until 1853. He commenced his public life at the age of twenty-one years, as assessor of the township of Fawn River, and then as supervisor. This position he has held for fifteen years.
In 1846 he was elected to represent St. Joseph county in the lower house of the State legislature, by which body-of which he was the youngest member-he was made chairman of the committee on militia, he holding then a commission as major-general of the Michigan State troops. He was also on the committee of internal improvements, and was foremost in pre- venting the diversion of the Michigan Southern railroad, south of Coldwater, and its sale to Toledo parties, although a larger sum, by one hundred thousand dollars, was offered for it by such parties than by any in his own State. His State pride was aroused, and he worked successfully with it, as appears from newspapers of that day. As chairman of the former committee he framed what was said by the Detroit press to be the best bill for the organization of the State militia that Michigan ever had, by which bill-which subsequently became a law-the organization of the State forces was placed at once upon a sound financial basis by commutation fees in lieu of service, the commutation being applied for the benefit of inde- pendent companies. At a subsequent session of the assembly, the commuta- tion clause was stricken out, and the law thereby shorn of its vital force. In the terse manner which characterizes his speeches, he lashed those who were opposed to the small commutation, as deserving of banishment to a "clime where patriotism is unknown, and Mammon is commander-in-chief."
In 1847 he was elected to the State senate, and while in that body was instrumental in promoting the educational interests of his county, and also the interests of his district and western part of the State, by obtaining an appropriation for the improvement of the navigation of the St. Joseph river.
At the close of the session he accepted a captaincy in the Fifteenth United States Infantry, in the war with Mexico, and returned home, and with the aid of Lieutenants Goodman, Titus, and Freelon raised a company, and went through the campaign with General Scott, in General (afterwards President) Pierce's brigade, from Vera Cruz to the city of Mexico, distin- guishing himself at Riconada Pass, Contreras, Churubusco, and Molino del Rey, and with his regiment garrisoned Chepultepec. For the part taken by him at Churubusco, where he was wounded (and the loss was most severe), including his first lieutenant and sergeant, reference is made to the general history of the county.
In 1849, as a candidate for the constitutional convention of the State, he received every vote in his own township but three.
In 1854 he received the appointment of examiner of patents at Wash- ington from President Pierce, between whom and himself there existed a strong personal friendship, engendered while campaigning together in Mexico. In this position he passed decisions upon applications in hydraulics, pneumatics, and electricity, with some minor subjects, some of which were published in the newspapers at that time. He held this position until 1861. As is well known, there was well-grounded cause for alarm at Washington in the early part of April of that year, and distrust was the rule. The departments of the government contained a large infusion of disloyal ele- ments, and a number of officials resigned, went home, and took positions in the insurgent army. At a meeting held in the patent-office building, of which Mr. Toll was chairman, it was decided to enroll those of the interior department who might volunteer, for the purpose of defense, and, if occasion demanded, of offensive operations, as the city was deemed an object of attack. Mr. Toll was elected commandant of the volunteers, and meetings were held nightly for drill in the patent-office building square, and arms issued. This organization was kept up until the arrival of troops, and the military situation made Washington secure. He was elected at the time an honorary member of the National Rifles of Washington,-one of the best- drilled companies in the country.
His energetic course in the Union cause, no less than the promptness and · ability with which he discharged the duties of examiner, caused a strong pressure for his retention in the department ; but the demands of party were insatiable, and he was succeeded by one of the dominant party in the summer of 1861.
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208
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Since then he has been in the walks of private life from choice, except so far as to serve his township and county in the office of supervisor, where his efficiency and influence were ever apparent, guarding the interests of the people with watchfulness, and discharging his trusts with a liberal economy. He was once unanimously chosen chairman of the board of supervisors, though a majority of the members were of the opposite political party to himself,-and in 1876 was elected by a large non-partisan vote to represent the county before the State board of equalization, where, by his thorough knowledge of the values of property in his own and adjoining counties, he was able to convince the board that injustice had been done his county in the equalization of 1871, and therefore obtained a reduction of six million dollars on the valuation of the property of the county for State-levies of taxes, which, standing unchanged for five years to come, gives an aggregate reduction of thirty million dollars from the equalization of the five years previously.
On January 9, 1849, Mr. Toll was united in marriage to Julia V., daugh- ter of Hon. Charles Moran, of Detroit. Judge Moran was for several terms a member of the old territorial council and of the State legislature. He shouldered a rusket in the war of 1812, when scarcely fifteen years old, and was present in the army at Hull's surrender. He died October 13, 1876, at the ripe age of seventy-eight years, leaving an excellent reputation for uprightness and cardinal Christian virtues. His most kindly heart gave the unaffected cordial manners, characteristic of the old pioneer families of Detroit and of his race. He left a very large estate.
Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Toll : ANNA J., who died in infancy ; CHARLES PHILIP, who is now a teller in the First National Bank of Detroit, and JULIA JOSEPHINE, now attending school in that city.
Mrs. Toll was a niece of the gallant Major Antoine DeQuindre of the war of 1812. She died at Fawn River, April 14, 1865, after a short illness of only three weeks, in the thirty-sixth year of her age, and in the com- munion of the Catholic church. The Washington Chronicle, in which city she had formerly resided, thus speaks of her : "The memory of Mrs. Toll will long be cherished in this community by the friends who so well knew the influence of her kind and gentle nature and the spirit of truth and de- votion to duty that marked her brief pathway through life. Ardent in her friendship, unselfish in her purposes, and unostentatious in her charities, she unconsciously won the respect and affection of all who knew her."
Isaac D. Toll is as good a specimen of the old-school gentlemen as can be found in this present year of grace, and his prospects to hold his fair fame among his fellow-citizens for many years yet to come are flattering, as he carries his burdens lightly, and keeps his business most systematically in hand.
In politics Mr. Toll has ever been a Democrat ; and his religious creed is the golden rule : " Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them."
FRANCIS FLANDERS.
Francis Flanders was one of the early settlers of the town of Fawn River. He was the second son of Ezekiel Flanders, a soldier of the Revolution, and under the command of General Sullivan. He was born at Sutton, Ver- mont, April 5, 1792, and was a volunteer soldier in the war of 1812, and
was stationed at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. After receiving a common- school education he was apprenticed to Oliver Hunt, woolen manufacturer at Bath, New Hampshire.
After the war of 1812 he became associated in business with Captain John Smith, a trader to the West Indies, and they established a woolen- factory at Colebrook, New Hampshire.
He removed from Colebrook to Bristol, Ontario county, New York, in the winter of 1829, and afterwards settled in the town of Canandaigua, where he lived until September, 1841, and removed from there to Fawn River, in this county, where he arrived October 10 of that year. He immediately proceeded to the establishment of his business of wool-carding and cloth- dressing, which was a success and drew custom from a distance of forty miles. (I find upon examination of his books for June, 1842, wheat cred- ited at thirty-seven and a half cents per bushel; butter, six cents; eggs, three cents; ham, five cents; pork, four cents. October, 1842, quarter of beef, one hundred and twelve pounds at one and a half cents.) The business grew into the manufacturing of woolen goods, which was established by F. Flanders & Sons in 1852. He retained his interest in this business until nearly the time of his death, September 14, 1861.
He held the office of justice of the peace for a long series of years, and his house was the "Gretna Green" for a large scope of country, situated just across the State line in Indiana. It was of frequent occurrence to see a strong-muscled Hoosier, dressed in blue jean, and leading a bronzed and blushing Hoosier girl, arrayed in bark-colored muslin and calico bonnet, inquiring the way to Esquire Flanders, where, they said, they were " going to git spliced !"
He was married January 18, 1818, to Elizabeth S. Chandler, of Cole- brook, New Hampshire, who is still living at the age of seventy-nine. Their oldest son, FRANCIS FLANDERS, JR., was a school-teacher and medical stu- dent; but this being too tame a life for him, at the age of eighteen years he enlisted in the United States service. Three years of his term of enlistment was spent in the Florida war, and at the expiration of his term he returned. When war was declared against Mexico, and a call made for volunteers under the ten-regiment act, he enlisted under command of Captain I. D. Toll, but was transferred to the office of chief musician of a regiment, which gave him the title of major. Since the Mexican war he has resided in Cal- ifornia and Mexico until the summer of 1876, when he returned to Sturgis, where his home is at present. He was the leading musician of the first brass-band organized in St. Joseph county, in 1845, organized at Sturgis, and called the St. Joseph County Democratic Brass Band, commanded by Captain A. S. Drake.
Their second son, JONATHAN W. FLANDERS, is a lawyer, located at Sturgis, St. Joseph county.
Their third son, DAVID L. I. FLANDERS, is a physician, located at the same place. They had four daughters, ANN B., ELIZABETH C., LYDIA L., and JENNIE, two of whom are living : Mrs. Ann B. Lewis, of Canaan, Wayne county, Ohio, and Mrs. Jennie Madden, of Champaign city, Illinois.
Mr. Flanders was made a Mason at Bath, New Hampshire, in 1813, and remained firmly attached to the order during his life. He was a charter- member of Mt. Hermon lodge, at Centreville, the first lodge established in the county, and was the first worshipful master of Meridian Sun lodge, of Sturgis.
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FABIUS.
FABIUS is noted for its lakes and knobs. The former lie scattered through- out its area, reflecting from their quiet limpid water the rays of light, like so many polished mirrors, or, rippled with the passing zephyr, break into a thousand silvery bars that scintillate in the moonbeams like the stars in the blue depths above them. The principal ones are named Corry, from a settler, -Joshua Corry,-who located near its shores; Mohney, from Abraham Mohney, upon whose farm it is situated ; Boot, from its peculiar boot-like
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