USA > Michigan > Wexford County > History of Wexford County, Michigan, embracing a concise review of its early settlement, industrial development and present conditions > Part 29
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71
At the next township meeting there was also a "bolt" from the nominees of the Re- publican caucus. The "old" settlers had planned to nominate Gibbs Dodge, a bright young man who lived on section 29 in Wex- ford township, as it now exists, for super- visor, while the "new" settlers who had re- cently settled in the township now known as Colfax wished to nominate E. C. Dayhuff, one of their neighbors, to that office. This feeling in favor of Mr. Dayhuff was un- known to the friends of Mr. Dodge, con- sequently no effort was made to get the vot- ers out to the caucus. But when cancus day arrived it proved that Mr. Dayhuff's friends outnumbered those of Mr. Dodge and the nomination went to Mr. Dayhuff. This so exasperated the "old" settlers that they went to work and put up a Union ticket in oppo- sition to what they called the Dayhuff ticket. Between the time of holding the caucus and the first Monday in April there was a very heavy fall of snow and when election day dawned it was found that the roads leading to the eastern settlements were impassible and no one from that direction got to the polls. The result was that Mr. Dayhuff
234
WVEXFORD COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
was defeated and Mr. Dunham was re- elected supervisor. So sure was Mr. Day- huff that he would be elected that he had written his friends "outside" to direct their letters to him as supervisor, and letters ac- tually came to the postoffice directed to "E. C. Dayhuff, Supervisor of Wexford Town- ship."
In the Manistee county convention in 1868, called for the selection of delegates to the state convention, which chose dele- gates to the presidential convention, Gibbs Dodge was chosen to represent Wexford, which thus contributed its mite to that over- whelming tide of popular sentiment which resulted in placing the hero of Appomattox in the presidential chair.
During this political campaign it be- came apparent to the settlers in the new county that the time had come when we were entitled to a county organization. Accord- ingly at the next session of the legislature, which convened in January, an act for the organization of the county was passed. The terms of this act disclose the handiwork of Mr. Bryant, and show why he had put up his store building and made a little clear- ing on the bank of the Manistee river near the state road bridge. After providing for time and manner of organization, the act provided for the location of a county seat. It stipulated that the county seat should be located on section 36, in town 24, north of range 12 west, " At or near the Manistee bridge," and appointing HI. I. Devoe. I. N. Davis and E. C. Dayhuff as commissioners to decide the particular spot where it should be. After looking the situation over care- fully and learning something of Mr. Bry- ant's parsimony, and fearing that a village
would not thrive where he owned all the available building sites, they determined to exercise all the discretion given them by the act and accordingly located the county seat within four hundred feet of the southeast corner of section 36, nearly three-fourths of a mile from Mr. Bryant's intended site on the bank of the Manistee river.
The act of organization divided the county into four townships, and attached Missaukee county to Wexford county for judicial purposes. The names and dimen- sions of the townships were as follows: Wexford, comprising the same territory as now, viz: six miles square; Springville, comprised of six surveyed townships, viz : towns 21, 22 and 23 north of ranges II and 12 west : Hanover, of seven surveyed town- ships, viz : Township 24 north of ranges 5. 6, 7. 8. 9. 10 and II west, and Colfax, of townships 21, 22 and 23 north of ranges 5. 6. 7. 8. 9 and io west, or eighteen sur- veyed townships.
The Republicans and Democrats each nominated candidates for the different of- fices and the Republicans carried the day on their entire ticket with the exception of judge of probate. This candidate's name was Solomon C. Worth and in one town the tickets were written S. C. Worth and by throwing this town out, or in other words, counting it as if for a different person, gave the Democratic candidate, I. N. Carpenter, more votes than for either Solomon C. Worth or S. C. Worth. The new officers were as follows : Sheriff. Harrison II. Skin- ner; treasurer, John II. Wheeler; county clerk and register of deeds, Leroy P. Cham- penois; judge of probate, Isaac N. Carpen- ter ; superintendent of schools, C. L. North-
235
WEXFORD COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
rup ; surveyor, R. S. McClain. The highest number of votes cast for any candidate was one hundred and twenty-nine.
At this election, which was held on the day designated by law for holding the annit- al township meetings, a full set of town- ship officers for each of the new townships were elected, the supervisors of the several towns being as follows: Colfax, R. S. Mc- Clain; Hanover, L. C. Northrup; Spring- ville, William Thomas; Wexford, H. I. De- voe. The first meeting of the board of s11- pervisors of Wexford county was a special meeting held on the first day of May, 1869. at the home of Sylvester Clark, at which meeting H. I. Devoe was elected chairman of the board. The board at this meeting appointed Lewis Cornell, William Thomas and Erasmus Abbott as superintendents of poor and took action looking to a settle- ment with Manistee county. It also fixed the salaries of the new county officers, giv- ing the sheriff and treasurer each four 111111- dred dollars per year, the clerk three hun- dred dollars and the judge of probate .two hundred dollars .*
There being no newspaper printed in the county, the Traverse Bay Eagle was selected to do the county printing. The board also authorized its chairman to select a suitable place for holding the circuit court for the county. As there was no lawyer in the county, a petition for the appointment of O. H. Mills, of Traverse City, as prosecuit- ing attorney was forwarded to Hon. J. G. Ramsdell, judge of the circuit to which Wex- ford county belonged, and Mr. Mills was
accordingly made the first prosecuting at- torney of Wexford county.
At the annual meeting of the board of supervisors, in October, 1869, the county treasurer's report showed the total receipts to have been six hundred and fourteen dol- lars and twenty-nine cents and the expen- ditures four hundred and forty dollars and nineteen cents, leaving a balance in the treas- ury of one hundred and seventy-four dol- lars and ten cents. At this first annual meeting of the board, the valuation of the several townships was as follows:
TOWNSHIPS.
REAL EST.
PERSONAL.
TOTAL.
Colfax.
.$538,839.72
8 8,071.67
$566,911.39
Hanover
216,751.00
10,528.68
227,279.68
Springville
97,468.29
8,225.00
105,693.29
Wexford.
22,304.60
19,090.00
41,394.60
Total
$895,363.61
$45,915,35
$941,278.96
It must not be forgotten that this total covers the valuation of the entire county of Missaukee as well as Wexford county, and it should also be remembered that the tax law at that time exempted homesteads from taxation, but provided that the improve- ments on homesteads should be assessed as personal property. This accounts for the comparatively large proportion of personal property on the tax rolls.
.At a special meeting of the board of su- pervisors held in January, 1870, the matter" of building a court house was decided upon, and a building committee appointed whose duty it was to advertise for sealed bids for the erection of a court house in accordance with plans and specifications prepared by William Holdsworth, Sr., of Traverse City, the cost not to exceed five thousand dollars, exclusive of the foundation, which was im- der a separate contract. J. H. Wheeler was the successful bidder for the court house
* At a subsequent meeting the resolution fixing these salaries as above stated was rescinded and the salaries fixed at one hun- dred dollars for the sheriff, seventy-five dollars for the treasurer, one hundred and fifty dollars for the clerk and one hundred dollars for the judge of probate.
14
236
IL'EXFORD COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
job and the preparatory work was entered upon at once. One great reason why the work of building a court house was begun so soon after the county was organized was the fact that the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad was pushing its road northward which it was feared that when it went through Wexford county there would be some point on its line where a town would spring up and would be desirous of having the county seat. and it was thought that the building of a court house would tend to prevent the removal of the county seat. To further strengthen this feature of the situation, when the deed was drawn to the county for the site of the court house it was made for so long as the property was used for county seat purposes. Surely this, it was thought, would hold the county seat, for when the voters understood that by a removal of the county seat the county would lose five or six thousand dollars which it had put into a court house and jail. it would cause them to vote against removal. How little such reasoning amounted to will be seen later when the fight over the county seat really got warmed up.
As there were no rooms that could be rented for county offices, the officers held their respective offices at their residences. The first session of the circuit court was held in the little log hotel kept by Sylvester Clark. The only thing for the "court" to do was to give suggestions to the new sheriff and oth- er officers regarding the duties they might be called upon to perform, and to instruct the county clerk as to what books it would be necessary to have for court work.
When the location of the county seat had been definitely settled Mr. Henry Clark.
who had been very active in securing the site for the county buildings, contributing four hundred dollars in cash for that pur- pose, besides donating about three acres of land, induced E. G. Maqueston. of Big Rapids, to come to Sherman and build a store building and engage in a general mer- cantile business. Mr. Maqueston had never done anything in that line, but his brother, I. H. Maqueston, of New York, was some- what familiar with the mercantile business and it was not long before the two brothers had decided to embark in business in the new county of Wexford. They commenced at once the construction of a large store building, twenty-two by sixty feet in size and two stories high. This was completed about the first of September. 1869. and was quite an imposing structure, being the sec- ond frame building put up in what is now- known as the village of Sherman. The build- ing still stands and during all these years has been used as a general store. The second story of this building was left for a hall which could be used for court room, danc- ing hall or church services, and, as a matter of fact, it was used at different times for all these purposes. It was in this hall that the first preaching services were held in Sher- man, and, so far as any record can be found, in the county, except one or two funeral services which had been previously held. This first preaching service was on the last Sunday in December, 1869. conducted by Rev. A. K. Herrington, who had settled on a homestead in Wexford township.
In the fall of 1869 T. A. Ferguson, a recent graduate from the law department of the university at Ann Arbor, having seen a notice of the organization of the new county of Wexford. made a visit to the county seat
237
WEXFORD COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
with a view of getting the position of prose- cutting attorney for the county. He found the prospect so favorable that he decided to remain and at once began building a house in the village and before winter set in he with his young wife commenced their first housekeeping at the new county seat. The county now having a resident lawyer, there was no trouble in having the circuit judge appoint him as prosecuting attorney and he thus became the county's first resi- clent prosecuting attorney. Later in the fall came H. B. Sturtevant, a brother-in-law of Mr. Ferguson, and commenced that business career which made him one of the most in- fluential residents in the county until his very recent removal to Owasso. He was not only active and influential in business, but was a natural politician and for thirty- five years has had an active interest in the political affairs of the county.
Mr. Ferguson and Mr. Sturtevant, com- ing fresh from the constant political strife which ever holds sway in old settled com- munities, began at once to lay plans for their own political advancement, and when the time approached for a convention to nomi- nate candidates for the second county elec- tion, they had done their work so quietly and so well that they secured control of the Republican county convention. As there were only five townships to send dele- gates, the work was not so very difficult. In one township the caucus was called to order an hour before the time named in the notice, delegates elected, and caucus ad- journed before the proper time had arrived for calling it and before the majority of the voters reached the voting place. In another town enough Democrats attended and voted
to out-vote the Republicans who were op- posed to a change in the county officers.
Contesting delegates were elected in the towns which were so grossly manipulated, but the managers of the scheme knew some- thing of the science of politics, while the "other fellows" were as green as pumpkins in that line. It was therefore an easy matter to get the right chairman, and an easy thing to have the chairman appoint the right com- mittee on credentials, and the contesting del- egates were disposed of in short order, and the convention did the work laid out for it by nominating an entire new set of officers, except surveyor and judge of probate. I. N. Carpenter, a Democrat, being renomi- nated, the reason therefor having been gen- erally believed to have been in recognition of the help given by the Democrats in the caucuses. The officers as nominated by that convention were as follows: Sheriff, Jos- eph Sturr ; clerk and register, H. B. Sturte- vant; treasurer, William Masters; prose- cuting attorney and circuit court commis- sioner. T. A. Ferguson; judge of probate, 1. N. Carpenter : surveyor, R. S. McClain. The new treasurer was not selected because of his fitness, but because it would be nec- essary to have a deputy to do the work, and Mr. Ferguson wanted to be deputy. After election this was done, and Mr. Ferguson in addition to his duties as prosecuting at- torney, transacted the entire business of the treasurer's office during the term for which Mr. Masters was elected. The total vote at this second county election was one hunderd and ninety-one.
At the annual meeting of the board of supervisors, in October, 1870, surveyed township 22, north of range 10, west, was
238
IL'EXFORD COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
organized under the name of Thorp, in hon- or of Col. T. J. Thorp, one of its early set- tlers. This name was afterwards changed to Selma, which it has retained ever since. This was the first town organized by the board of supervisors and the fifth in the county. AAnother new township was organ- ized a few months later consisting of town 21, north of ranges 11 and 12 west, and given the name of Henderson, also after one of its earliest settlers.
During the summer of 1870 the frame of the court house was put up and enclosed. and L. P. Champenois, H. B. Sturtevant, J. H. Wheeler and two or three others erected houses in the new village, and L. J. Clarke, whose little store building stood on the corner now occupied by E. Gilbert's large two-story store, moved his building to the lot now occupied by the Sherman bank and built a large addition thereto.
In January, 1870, the first effort looking to the organization of a church society was made. Presiding Elder Boynton, of the Methodist Episcopal church, visited Sher- man, accompanied by Rev. Mr. Cayton, a Methodist minister living in Grand Trav- erse county, and perfected arrangements for preaching services every alternate Sunday, which were to be conducted by Mr. Cayton. At first these meetings were held at the home of L. P. Champenois, and later at the Ma- queston hall until the school house was built in the fall of 1871. when that was used for church purposes. Soon after Mr Cay- ton entered upon his work the first sacra- mental service in Wexford county was held
at the home of H. B. Sturtevant, the only communicants being Mr. Sturtevant, his wife Rhoda and T. A. Ferguson. At the Methodist Episcopal conference held in the fall of 1870, Rev. A. L. Thurston, who had located a homestead in Thorp (now Selma) township, was designated as "supply" for the church work at Sherman and held regu- lar meetings there, unless prevented by the inclemency of the weather. His home was about sixteen miles from Sherman and it was no easy task to cover the distance upon such roads or trails as existed at that time, especially in the winter months.
It almost seems like a stretch of the im- agination to recall those early religious gatherings. There was not a church bell or even school house bell to call the people .to- gether, not a piano, organ or any kind of in- strument to assist in the singing, and not even a choir to take charge of it. Sometimes some one with a "tuning fork" might be present to "pitch" the tunes in the proper key, but more generally the tunes would be started by some one bold enough to take the initiatory, often so high that the soprano voices could hardly reach the high strains, and sometimes necessitating an absolute breaking down and starting over again. And yet, through the distance, it seems as if there was far more reverence, more con- scientious worship in those primitive gath- erings than in the present up-to-date churches with their upholstered chairs, their pipe-organs, their paid choirs and their chiming church bells.
CHAPTER V.
FIRST RAILROAD.
In the closing days of 1870 the "iron horse" made its first appearance in Wex- ford county, the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad having completed its line as far as Little Clam lake, some six miles north- ward from the southern boundary of the county. The original survey contemplated having the line pass between Big Clam lake and Little Clam lake,* but through the efforts of George A. Mitchell, who had pur- chased quite a large tract of pine timber on the east shore of the little lake, and whose sagacious eye foresaw the advantages of having mills at the eastern end of a body of water where the prevailing west- erly winds would very materially assist in floating timber to them, the railroad com- pany was induced to swing eastward from its orignal survey and pass around the east end of the lake. The advantages that have resulted from this change of course cau hardly be realized by one not familiar with lumbering operations, but it is not too much to say that there would have been no city of Cadillac in Wexford county if the rail-
road had passed, as first intended, between the lakes.
With the advent of railroads came a complete change in the base of business for the whole county. As soon as regular trains could be run the mail route was changed and the daily stage coaches, which had been running over the old state road, first to Cedar Springs, then to Morley, and then to Big Rapids, from Traverse City, were started on the new route to Clam Lake, as it was then called. Merchants began to have their goods shipped to the new rail- road terminal, and business with Traverse City from that day almost entirely ceased.
During the winter of 1871 fire destroyed the saw-mill of J. H. Wheeler. causing much inconvenience and delay in getting out the material with which to con- plete the court house. The work of re- building was begun at once and when spring opened it was again in running order. Another `serious difficulty encountered in the building of the court house, as well as all matters of public nature, was the slow process of getting returns from taxes ley- ied. Far the larger share of the real estate in the county was owned by non-residents,
* These lakes have just been re-christened, and the smaller one will hereafter be known as Lake Cadillac, and the larger one as Lake Mitchell.
240
IL'EXFORD COUNTY, MICHIG.IN.
who had been in the habit of paying their taxes at the auditor general's office in Lan- sing and who for several years after the organization of the county followed the same practice. In those days there was only a yearly settlement with the state, in- stead of quarterly as at present, and so the taxes assessed in any given year were re- turned to the county treasurer in March of the next year, if not paid, and in the Oc- tober following the county treasurer would have to make a trip to the capital to settle with the auditor-general and bring back the money that belonged to the county and the townships. As a result of this process all public improvements were paid for with orders drawn on the proper township or county funds and the jobber would sell them at the stores for whatever price he could get. So low had the county's credit got before the court house was completed that the contractor sold a one thousand dol- lar county order for eight hundred dollars and had to take half of that amount in "store pay." Township and highway or- ders were often sold at still greater dis- counts.
During the summer of 1871 the con- tinued expansion of the lumbering interests of Manistee had pushed their way up the Manistee river until they had invaded Wex- ford county. Before logs could be floated to Manistee it became necessary to cut off the great number of sweepers ( fallen trees projecting into the river) and clear away the many jams of food wood reaching en- tirely across the river. This required a large force of men, with axes and saws, and long lines of rope, with heavy two, three and four-shieve tackle blocks, and even
with all the necessary appliances the work at times progressed very slowly.
The county of Missaukee, which had up to this time been a part of Wexford coun- ty since its organization in 1869. was or- ganized into a separate county by the leg- islature of 1871, and held its first election on the first Monday in April of that year. This greatly reduced the aggregate value of taxable property in the county, as shown by the equalization as fixed by the board of supervisors at their annual session in that year, the total valuation of the county for that year having been fixed at $498.861.86. including $35.826.00 of personal property.
In the fall of 1871 Mr. Ferguson started to remove his home. which occupied the present site of the Sherman House. pre- paratory to erecting a commodious hotel. It was during the very dry time in the fall of that year, which witnessed such vast, de- structive forest fires in Michigan and Wis- consin, as well as the great Chicago fire. After the first day's efforts in the work of moving the task was but half accomplished. and the house was left in the street when night came on. About midnight a cry of "Fire" awoke the villagers and this house was found to be in flames. Forest fires were raging not more than one hundred rods away, but whether sparks from these fires or the hand of an incendiary caused the destruction of this house was never known. Many believed it was the latter. as Mr. Ferguson, in his capacity of pros- ecuting attorney, had in several cases been instrumental in causing just punishment to be meted out to violators of the prohibitory liquor law which was then upon the statute books of Michigan, and it was thought that
241
IL'EXFORD COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
the building was set on fire as an act of re- venge, but if so, the guilty party was never known.
In November, 1871, Mr. Ferguson com- menced the work of building a hotel. the lit- tle log hotel-the only hotel then at the county seat -- not being sufficient to accom- modate the growing needs of the public. The work was pushed along as rapidly as possible, but in those days every foot of flooring, ceiling, siding or finishing lumber had to be dressed by hand, there being no planing-mill nearer than Traverse City, and it would cost as much to draw the lumber there and back as it would to hire the work done by hand. The hotel was finished some time in January, 1872, and E. Gilbert. now a prosperous merehant at Sherman, was in- stalled as its first landlord. A large school house was also put up in the county seat town during the fall of 1871 and was ready for use in December of that year. Previ- ous to this there had been no public school in the new village, although a private school had been taught a part of the time, Mrs. Gilbert and H. B. Sturtevant having at different times been in charge as teacher.
At the annual meeting of the board of supervisors in 1871 a resolution was passed authorizing the superintendents of poor to purchase a poor farm on section 16, in what is now Antioch township. This was done and the following summer a large two-story building was erected in which to care for such unfortunates as might be- come a county charge.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.