USA > Michigan > Wexford County > History of Wexford County, Michigan, embracing a concise review of its early settlement, industrial development and present conditions > Part 33
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During the summer of 1887 the road was completed as far as Harietta and graded some distance west of that place, and the following year it passed on through Wex- ford county, reaching Frankfort in the fall of 1899. The Ashleys bought a piece of land and platted the village of Harietta iu 1888, the name being a combination made from Harry Ashley and the name of his in- tended wife, Henrietta Burt. The village of Boon was platted about the same time, and the next year witnessed the platting of the village of Mesick. A year or two after this the village of Yuma was platted, mak- ing four villages as the direct result of the building of the Toledo, Ann Arbor & North- ern Michigan Railroad, as it was called, but now known as the Ann Arbor Railroad. This road, penetrating as it did one of the best farming sections of the county, gave a
new impetus to the farming industry, and since its coming a marked and steady growth of that industry has been noticeable. Not only did it open up a more direct and less expensive market for the shipment of farm products but it stimulated the lumber- ing business to such an extent that the de- mand for the products of the farm for the mills and camps greatly increased the home market and correspondingly the prices re- ceived for such products. The lumbering operations growing out of the building of this road being largely confined to the hard- wood of the county, resulted in causing the clearing of thousands of acres of land and transforming them into productive farms, as every acre of hardwood land, when once cleared, makes good farming land.
In taking up the political history we find that quite a change occurred in political supremacy in the county in 1884. The re- verses to the Republican party in that elec- tion were not entirely political but were more the result of personal and sectional matters than of party feelings. The Wex- ford County Pioneer, owned by J. H. Wheeler, had always been very strenuous in its efforts to prevent the removal of the county seat from Sherman, but when it was taken to Manton by a combination between Manton and Cadillac, it declined to further fight against what it deemed to be the in- evitable sequence-its final removal to Cad- illac. For this reason its editor stood in great disfavor among the people who wished to have the county seat always remain in Manton. The editor's position, that the removal to Manton was only a stepping stone on the way to Cadillac, was amply proven by subsequent events as narrated in the county-seat chapter elsewhere herein,
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but nevertheless it cost him several hundred votes in the fall election of 1884, causing his defeat for the office of county treasurer.
Personal reasons also entered into the defeat of Col. T. J. Thorp for clerk and register. It was largely through his leader- ship that the county seat went to Manton, and it was under his generalship that the records and property of the county were re. moved from Manton the morning after the vote on the question of removal to Cadillac had been taken, thus preventing injunction proceedings. This was enough to cause party allegiance to give way to personal prejudice, and it thus transpired that the Republicans only elected one candidate on their entire county ticket by an actual ma- jority, though some others were elected by pluralities. The following is a list of candi- dates, with the vote given for each: Judge of probate, HI. M. Dunham, Rep., 835; W. P. Smith, Dem., 740; J. Crowley, Ind., 682. Sheriff, C. C. Dunham, Rep., 1,034; E. I. Bowen, Dem., 716; E. George, Ind., 487. County clerk, T. J. Thorp, Rep., 1,075; G A. Cummer, Dem., 1,160. Register of deeds, T. J. Thorp, Rep., 1,048; G. A. Cum- mer, Dem., 1,160. Treasurer, J. H. Wheeler, Rep .. 778; James Haynes, Dem .. 1,470. Prosecuting attorney, D. A. Rice, Rep., 810: J. B. Rosevelt, Dem., 678; D. Mclntyre, Ind., 726. Circuit court com- missioner, C. C. Chittenden. Rep., 1,576; J. R. Bishop, Dem., 639.
During the two years which succeeded this election sectional feeling had become somewhat allayed, and in consequence the Republican ticket, with one exception, was elected at the November election of 1886. This exception was for the office of clerk and register, the incumbent, George A.
Cummer, defeating the Republican nomi- nee, S. J. Wall, by one hundred and forty- nine votes. The election was confined entirely to the two parties, Republican and Democratic, though the Democrats had placed a Republican on their ticket for prosecuting attorney. The candidates of each party and vote received by each were as follows: Sheriff, C. C. Dunham, Rep., 1,318; W. Geibert, Dem., 578. County clerk, S. J. Wall, Rep., 888; George A. Cummer, Dem .. 1,029. Register of deeds, S. J. Wali, Rep., 884: George A. Cummer, Dem., I,O10. Treasurer, E. Ilarger, Rep .. 1,045: E. J. Haynes, Dem., 874. Prose- cuting attorney, C. C. Chittenden, Rep., 1,051 ; D. A. Rice, Dem., 904. Circuit court commissioner, C. S. Marr, Rep., 1,049: J. R. Bishop, Dem., 839.
A much larger vote was polled in 1888, it being a presidential election, and great efforts were put forth by both parties to win, if possible. The Republicans went outside of the city for the first time in six years for a candidate for sheriff, nominating W. L. Sturtevant, of Sherman, and the Democrats, to checkmate this move to solidify the rural vote for a rural candidate, nominated B. Woods, also of Sherman, and a boon com- panion of the Republican nominee, as their candidate for that office. The vote was large, as the canvass had been waged with great spirit on both sides, but the Republi- cans came out victors on their entire ticket, as follows . Judge of probate, H. M. Dun- ham, Rep., 1,460; H. B. Sturtevant, Dem., 1,035. Sheriff, W. L. Sturtevant, Rep .. 1,392; B. Woods, Dem., 1, 140. Clerk and register, S. J. Wall, Rep., 1,283 ; George .1. Cummer, Dem., 1,266. Treasurer, E. Har- ger, Rep., 1,501; C. E. Haynes, Dem.,
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1,038. Prosecuting attorney, C. C. Chit- tenden, Rep., 1,588; D. A. Rice, Dem., 598. Circuit court commissioner, E. E. Haskins, Rep., 1,526; J. R. Bishop, Dem., 1.085.
After the county seat was removed to Cadillac efforts were soon made to have the county buy a lot and build a jail, and twice had the matter been brought before the elect- ors in the form of a proposition to bond the county for that purpose, but the bitterness resulting from the two removals of the county seat was for a time so great that the matter was finally compromised by the county agreeing to rent a jail and sheriff's residence if one was erected according to plans and specifications to be furnished by the county. That was done and the matter remained in statu quo until the annual meet- ing of the board of supervisors in 1887, when a resolution was adopted by the board providing for the purchase of the jail prop- erty and providing for submitting to the electors of the county at the annual town- ship meeting in April, 1888, the question of raising by tax the forty-two hundred and fifty dollars agreed upon as the purchase price. The vote on this proposition was ten hundred and fifty-one in favor of it and eight hundred and forty-six against. So the question was carried and the county soon after became the owner of a jail and sher- iff's residence.
The coming of the Toledo, Ann Arbor & Northern Michigan Railroad gave such an impetus to the settlement of the county that the census of 1800 disclosed the fact that the population of the county had more than doubled since 1880, the total being sixteen thousand, eight hundred and forty-five as compared with sixty-eight hundred and fif - tcen in 1880, the increase thus being a little
more than ten thousand in ten years, or an average of over a thousand a year. Few new counties in the state could show such a wonderful growth at a corresponding period of its history. The growth was also of a permanent character, as the transient humbering operations along the Manistee river had moved on up the river until they had passed the limits of the county.
The Republican party, having made a clear sweep with its county ticket in 1888, has carried the elections for every county office since that year except the office of treasurer in 1890, when J. W. Ransom, Democrat, defeated Rinaldo Fuller, Repub- lican, by a plurality of forty-nine votes. The candidates of the parties that year and votes cast for each were as follows: Sheriff, W. L. Sturtevant. Rep., 1.020; F. D. Seeley, Dem., 817. Clerk and register, S. J. Wall, Rep., 1,005; L. M. Patterson, Dem., 842. Treasurer, R. Fuller, Rep., 905 ; J. W. Ran- som, Dem .. 944. Prosecuting attorney, C. C. Chittenden, Rep., 1.777; no Democratic candidate. Circuit court commissioner, R. F. Tinkham, Rep., 1,810; no Democratic candidate.
The following tables will show who were nominated by the leading parties, Republi- can and Democratic, and the vote given for the several candidates of each party cover- ing the period from 1892 to 1902 inclusive :
1892-Judge of probate, John Mans- field, Rep .. 1.365 ; C. E. Cooper, Dem .. 1, 199. Sheriff --- C. C. Dunham, Rep., 1.377; J. P. Kundsen, Dem., 1,192. County clerk, S. J. Wall, Rep .. 1,400; Lewis R. Bishop, Dem .. 1,165. Register of deeds, S. J. Wall, Rep., 1,400; Lewis R. Bishop, Dem., 1,165. Treasurer, E. Harger, Rep., 1.342; J. W. Ronsom, Dem., 1,207. Prosecuting
16
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attorney, D. A. Rice, Rep., 1,413; no Demo- cratic candidate. Circuit court commis- sioner, Fred S. Lamb, Rep., 1,408; 10 Democratic candidate.
1894-Sheriff, C. C. Dunham, Rep., 1,443; Barton Colvin, Dem .. 744. County clerk, S. J. Wall, Rep., 1.411; Charles H. Bostick, Dem., 801. Register of deeds, S. J. Wall, Rep., 1.442; J. B. Yarnell, Dem .. 767. Treasurer, E. W. Wheeler, Rep., 1.423; William E. Dean, Dem., 442; Will- iam Hoag. Ind .. 338. Prosecuting attorney. D. A. Rice, Rep., 1,489; I. C. Wheeler, Dem .. 516. Circuit court commissioner, Fred S. Lamb, Rep., 1,510; H. B. Sturte- vant, Dem., 470.
1896-Judge of probate, John Mans- field, Rep., 2.019; E. F. Sawyer. Dem., 1401. Sheriff, George A. Troy, Rep., 1.774; James Mather, Dem., 1.648. County clerk. llenry Hansen, Rep., 2.036; George S. Stanley, Dem., 1.383. Register of deeds, 1'. W. Hinman, Rep., 1,995: C. D. Phelps, Dem., 1,436. Treasurer, E. W. Wheeler, Rep., 2,074 ; William E. Dean, Dem., 1,350. Prosecuting attorney, Fred S. Lamb, Rep., 2,032: I. C. Wheeler, Dem., 1.394. Circuit conrt commissioner, Elwood Peck, Rep .. 2,044; H. B. Sturtevant, Dem., 1.374.
1898-Sheriff, George A. Troy, Rep., 1.326; James Mather, Dem., 924. County clerk, Henry Hansen, Rep., 1.376; George S. Stanley, Dem .. 869. Register of deeds. P. W. Hinman, Rep .. 1.496; C. H. Bos- tick, Dem., 727. Treasurer, J. H. Wheeler, Rep., 1.401; James Whaley, Dem .. 842. Prosecuting attorney, Fred S. Lamb, Rep .. 1,481; J. R. Bishop, Dem., 748; Circuit count commissioner, Elwood Peck, Rep .. 1.195; I. C. Wheeler, Dem .. 726.
1900-Judge of probate. FFred S. Lamb.
Rep., 2.183: James R. Bishop, Dem .. 1,226. Sheriff, Silas W. Iluckleberry, Dem., 2,232 ; llerbert Kellogg. Dem .. 1,132. County clerk, David F. Garver. Rep., 2,162; W. S. Randall. Dem., 1,186. Register of deeds, Ilenry Hansen, Rep., 2,204; William H. Gray, Dem., 1,139. Treasurer, J. H. Wheeler. Rep., 2,069; J. A. Gustafson, Dem., 1,277. Prosecuting attorney, Fred C. Wetmore, Rep., 2,515; no Democratic can- didate. Circuit court commissioner, D. A. Rice, Rep., 2,504 ; no Democratic candidate.
1902-Sheriff, S. W. Huckleberry, Rep., 1.379: M. J. Compton, Dem., 470. County clerk. D. F. Garver, Rep., 1,315; B. C. Dean, Dem., 537. Register of deeds, Hen- ry Hansen, Rep .. 1.346; G. A. Frederick, Dem., 504. Treasurer, C. C. Daugherty, Rep .. 1,226; J. A. Gustafson, Dem., 433- Prosecuting attorney. F. C. Wetmore, Rep., 1.397; no Democratic candidate. Circuit court commissioner, J. R. Bishop, Rep., 1.374; no Democratic candidate.
By an amendment to act No. 147, of session laws of 1891, made at the legisla- tive session of 1893, the office of county commissioner of schools was made elective, the first election to take place on the first Monday of April. 1893. and every two years thereafter, and term of office to begin July first following the election and continue for two years. At the first election under this law George E. Herrick, of Cadillac, was elected by a vote of 1,108 to 787 for J. F. Wood, at that time principal of the Sherman schools.
In 1895 H. C. Foxworthy was elected to this office over L. A. Tibbitts, the vote being 1.076 for Mr. Foxworthy to 446 for Mr. Tibbitts. Mr. Foxworthy was re- elected in. 1897. his opponent being Charles
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D. Phelps and the vote being 1,418 for Fox- worthy and 898 for Mr. Phelps. He was also a candidate for a third term in 1899, but was defeated in the convention by C. C. Slemons, of Sherman, who received the nomination and was elected by a majority of 528 over Genette E. Chick, his Demo- cratic opponent. Mr. Slemons was renomi- nated in 1901 and elected by a vote of 1,664 to 372 for his opponent, Miss Renie Torry, of Cadillac.
At the Republican county convention in 1903 William A. Faunce received the nomi- nation for this office and at the Democratic county convention Miss Renie Torry, who had a few days previously been nominated by the Prohibition county convention, was endorsed for this office and a strong effort made throughout the county to secure her election. The result was 1,204 votes for Mr. Faunce and 1,123 for Miss Torry, giving the former a majority of 81.
CHAPTER X.
CITY AND VILLAGE ORGANIZATIONS.
S11ERMAN.
Sherman, being the oldest village in the county, naturally comes first in historical order. In 1869 Sanford Gasser had that portion of the south half of the southeast quarter of section 36, in town 24, north of range 12 west, lying east of the Manistee river, platted and gave it the name of the village of Sherman. The place at that time contained but one house and one business place, a grocery kept by Lewis J. Clark. The village being at the corner of four townships, though situated in only one of them, there was one other house near the corner of the village, owned and occupied
by Dr. John Perry, as he was familiarly called, though it was a mystery how he came to be called doctor, unless it was because he owned a set of "turn-keys" (the usual in- strument for pulling teeth in those days) and occasionally pulled a tooth for an af- flicted pioneer. At all events he was the first "doctor" in the county and also the first postmaster at Sherman. He also built the second saw-mill in the county on the stream now known as Cole's creek, one mile east of the village. This he operated for about a year, after which he sold it to H. B. Sturt- evant.
When Sherman was made the county seat by the act organizing the county, quite
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a building boom was inaugurated. L. P. Champenour, the first county clerk, J. H. Wheeler, the first county treasurer, and T. A. Ferguson, the first resident prosecuting attorney, each erected houses in the summer of 1869. Maqueston Brothers also had a large store building erected, as elsewhere noted. There were several other buildings erected during that summer, and there began to be quite a village in fact as well as in name.
A change of postmasters took place in 1860, L. J. Clark succeeding Mr. Perry, since which time the following persons have had the office in the order named: E. W. Stewart, J. S. Walling, C. E. Cooper, H. B. Sturtevant, H. F. Campbell, J. 11. Wheel- er, I. N. Carpenter, E. W. Wheeler, Mabel Ramsey, L. P. Champenois and the present incumbent, R. D. Frederick, pro- prietor of the Sherman Pioneer. The office is now the third in point of business in the county, Cadillac and Manton being the first and second in the order named.
It soon developed that locations on lands adjoining the village plat were more desir- able for residence purposes than those plat- ted, and the larger portion of the village has been built upon unplatted lands. In 1882 a tract of land in the northeast corner of sec- tion I in Springville township was platted as Crippin's addition to Sherman and nearly all of these lots are now occupied. The vil- lage was situated on the Newaygo and Northport State Road and near the Manis- tee river, the distance to the river being less than half a mile in a western direction and a little more than three-fourths of a mile to the north. When the work of clearing the river for running logs had been completed and lumbering operations were extended up
the river to the extensive pine forests a lit- tle east of the village, Sherman was on the direct line between Manistee and the lumber camps, and this fact, coupled with the fact that it was almost impossible to haul supplies all the way from Manistee, gave the merchants of Sherman a very large and lu- crative trade. Occasionally some jobber would run behind and leave the store- keepers with bad debts on their hands, but these failures were very few and not of a serious nature.
Sherman had the honor of having the first newspaper published in the county, the Wexford County Pioneer, owned and edited by C. E. Cooper and A. W. Tucker. After running the paper together a few years Mr. Tucker sold out his interest to Mr. Cooper, who continued in control until 1877, when he sold it to C. S. Marr, who conducted it for a little more than a year. It then went into the hands of H. F. Campbell and J. H. Wheeler, where it remained until January, 1880, when Mr. Campbell sold his interest to Mr. Wheeler, who thus became the sole owner. Mr. Wheeler published the paper for twelve years, at the end of which time he sold it to R. D. Frederick, who still retains it. In politics it has always been Re- publican, though efforts were made at one time to make it a Greenback paper, and at another to purchase it and make it Demo- cratic.
The first business venture where Sher- man now stands was made by Lewis J. Clark, who built a small frame building and put in a small stock of goods suitable for a new country trade. This building was erected in the summer of 1868, and was the first frame structure of any kind built on the south side of the Manistee river in the coun-
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ty. The first hotel was started by Sylvester Clerk in a log building that was orignally put up by the man who homesteaded the land on which the village was platted. When this land was first located as a home- stead there was not even a highway south of the river. The state road had been chopped out, but not cleared for travel and the roads made by the few settlers on the south side of the river wound around through the woods wherever they could be made passi- ble. It was not until after the organization of the county that the work of stumping and grading the state road was completed. It is not much wonder, therefore, that the first man to settle on this piece of land should have got homesick and abandoned it. Soon after the hotel was started a frame addition was put up and for at least two years it was the only hotel in the village. The original log part of this relic of pioneer days still stands, though long since enclosed with lum- ber to give it the appearance of a frame building. The first term of the circuit court for the county was held in this same building, as was also the first meeting of the board of supervisors.
Redeoff was pastor of the church until 1877. when he removed to Rockford. Michigan, remaining there several years. Returning to Sherman in 1880, he resumed his pas- toral work and continued to serve the church for seventeen years, making twenty- one years' service in all. During his ab- sence the pulpit was filled by Rev. William P. Esler the first year and by Rev. J. W. Young the next two years. Mr. Young was ordained at Sherman July 2, 1878. The present pastor is Rev. A. Bentall, whose work commenced in October, 1899. Mr. Bentall was also ordained in the Sherman church in May, 1902.
The Methodist Episcopal church socie- ty was organized in 1870 and preaching ser- vices were held once in two weeks by Rev. Thomas Cayton. At the conference held that year Rev. A. L. Thurston was assigned this work, often traveling sixteen miles through rain and snow, heat and cold, from his homestead in Selma township, to fill his appointments. The next year Rev. John Hall was designated as "supply" for the Sherman charge, and in 1872 the socie- ty secured its first resident minister. Rev. W. R. Stinchcomb. Preaching services were held each alternate Sunday in conjunc- tion with the Congregational society, first in the school house until the Congregational church was built, then in the church part of the time and a part of the time in the court house until the year 1881, when they built a house of worship. This was enlarged and somewhat remodeled in 1897, giving it a much greater seating capacity and greatly improving its appearance.
The first lawyer to locate in Sherman, aside from T. A. Ferguson, who was ap- pointed prosecuting attorney soon after the county was organized, was E. W. Stewart, who located in the village in 1870. The first resident preacher was Jonas Denton, who arrived in 1871. The first practicing physician was H. D. Griswold, who located in the village in 1872. Mr. Denton organ- ized the First Congregational church in 1872 and his work was taken up by Rev. R. Redeoff in 1873, through whose efforts When the village of Sherman was plat- ted there was no road to the west leading to a church edifice was erected in 1874 and dedicated October 11, of that year. Mr. the Fletcher grist-mill, as such a road
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would require the bridging of the Manistee river, consequently those living on the south side of the river were obliged to come to Sherman and follow the state road nearly two miles north and then go west and south to the mill, making the trip nearly four miles longer than it would be if they could go directly west from Sherman. In 1872 the board of supervisors made an appropria- tion to aid the construction of a bridge over the river west of the village and the new' route to the grist-mill was opened up, much to the gratification of the settlers living south and east of Sherman.
The constant increase of settlers in the county and the ever-increasing area of cul- tivated lands soon taxed the capacity of the little grist-mill on the Fletcher creek beyond its limit, and large quantities of grain had to be sent to Traverse City for milling. Several efforts were made by the people of Sherman to induce some one to put up a good gristing mill near that village, and finally a couple of gentlemen of Clam Lake, named Shackleton and Bennett, were in- duced to undertake the work. A suitable building was to be erected by the citizens of Sherman and donated to these gentlemen on condition that they would put in the nec- essary machinery and operate it. The mill was built in the fall of 1876, J. H. Wheeler having the contract for the building and the (am being put in by W. E. Dean and Daniel Baldwin. The machinery was furnished and placed in position by Butterworth & Lowe, of Grand Rapids. The mill was forty by fifty feet in size and three stories high, with a capacity of two hundred and fifty or three hundred bushels of grain per day. Under charge of Mr. Bennett, who was a practical miller, having learned his trade in Scotland,
the mill proved of inestimable value to the farmers, not only a large share of those in Wexford county, but a goodly number of those living in the southern tier of town- ships of Grand Traverse county and in the northeastern part of Manistee county.
Early in 1878 the mill burned down. which so discouraged the proprietors that they sold the property to I. H. Maqueston, who was just then closing out his mercantile business in the village preparatory to re- moving to the city of New York. This pur- chase changed his whole business career, as he commenced at once to build the mill, putting up a better and more commodious structure than the one burned down and equipping it with the most improved appli- ances for a custom and merchant mill. He re-stocked his large store and was active and liberal in everything that tended to the development of the village and the farming interests surrounding it. One of the monu- ments to his memory and generosity swings in the belfry of the Congregational church in Sherman, being a fine bell, costing two hundred and fifty dollars, donated by him to the church. An untimely death overtook him in March, 1886. It was on Sunday and an alarm of fire had called out the villagers, the fire being in a house near the center of the village. Mr. Maqueston energetically joined in the efforts to subdue the flames, which attempt in a short time proved suc- cessful. He then went to his hotel for din- ner, after which he went to his store, as was his custom Sunday afternoons, for a nap. An hour or so later some one wishing to see him went to the store door and called to him, but without response. At length the door was forced open and he was found lying on one of the counters dead. The sad news
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