USA > Michigan > Kalamazoo County > Kalamazoo County, Michigan city directory 1869-70 > Part 9
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The first birth in the township was that of Elizabeth, daugh- ter of Roswell Ransom, Esq., born on Tolland's prairie, on the 2nd day of December, A. D., 1832. ( She is now Mrs. Sutton, wife of Joseph Sutton, of Kalamazoo.) The first marriage was in the summer of 1833, the parties to which were Charles Whit- comb and Catherine Earl, the ceremony being performed by the
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Rev. Thomas W. Merrill, the pioneer Baptist missionary of Kalamazoo county. The first religious meetings were held at the house of Caleb Eldred in Comstock village, in 1831 ; subse- quently, meetings were held, in the fall of 1833, at the house of Lovell Moore. The first death was that of Ethan Bradley, who died in the fall of 1836.
The township was organized in 1834. Previous to the organ- ization of the town pursuant to the act of the Territorial Legis- lature, it had been, since 1830, included within the limits of the township of Arcadia, then embracing the whole of the north half of the county. In 1830, Horace H. Comstock, Caleb El- dred and Samuel Percival settled at the junction of Comstock creek with the Kalamazoo river, and endeavored to make at that point a village and place of importance. Here one of the very first saw mills in this county was built and put into operation, in 1831, by Caleb Eldred; and, soon afterwards, Mr. Comstock and Mr. Samuel Percival built a grist mill, near by-supplying a need which the settlers in this section of country were begin- ning sorely to feel. In the first pages of the history of Kala- mazoo will be found the record of a township meeting, and in the list of officers chosen will be found the names of several of the Comstock settlers.
Few villages have had more active, liberal and devoted pat- rons-more munificent founders, than was Horace H. Comstock ( though there may have been wiser ones ) to the village of his name. Mr. Comstock first came here in 1831, made large pur- chases of land, and returned to his home in Cooperstown, N. Y. He was engaged in the Detroit and Chicago trade ( Indian and traders', and military supplies, etc.), and while on his way from the East, in 1832, he was attacked in Detroit with cholera, from which, however, he recovered after a very severe illness, and came again to Comstock. He seems to have been determined from the first, to have his place made the county-seat, though he was aware that it had already been established at "Bronson," and to this end he directed every effort, devoting to that project his abilities and no small amount of his considerable wealth. One of the first things he did was to make a point against Bron-
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son village by making it appear that the river was navigable to his place for large boats, and in 1832 he built a warehouse and landing on the river at Comstock, and, soon after, he erected at the mouth of the Kalamazoo river, a storehouse for the protec- tion of goods which were to be shipped to and from the future city of Comstock. This warehouse was the first one built at Saugatuck, and must have felt lonely in that wild place so long alone. The next season he brought a stock of goods to Com- stock, and established the first store in the town. The same year he erected a school house at his own expense, simply ask- ing in return that the people should call the village and town- ship, "Comstock," a name which had already become attached, to the village by popular consent; and, really, the prospects of the little town in that year were quite auspicious. In April, 1833, the second " legal " annual meeting in the wide town- ship of Arcadia was held at the house of Caleb Eldred. In sev- eral ways "Comstock " was a formidable rival to " Bronson," and there is little doubt but that, had the latter place remained under the exclusive control of Titus Bronson a few years longer, the untiring energy and influence of Mr. Comstock would have se- cured, for a time at least, a very prominent position for his vil- lage and township. Mr. Comstock enjoyed a very fair trade with the settlers in the surrounding country, who made the lit- tle village quite lively by their frequent calls for lumber, for store supplies, and with grists to grind. He erected a very fine resi- dence there, with handsome grounds, which gave the place an air of refinement that left a pleasant impression of the whole place upon the beholder. Mr. Comstock also found time for a great deal of land speculation in Kalamazoo and other towns. In 1835 he was elected to the Legislative Council, being the first Senator from this county, and it was he, who, at the organization of the township of Cooper, gave it that name in memory of his wife, who was a neice and bore the name of the great novelist, author of the " Leatherstocking Tales."
But the effort to make the village of Comstock a larger town than Kalamazoo soon failed. The removal of the Land Offices to Kalamazoo in 1834, and the influx of strangers to attend the
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land sales : the influence and shrewdness of the proprietors of " Bronson," Messrs. Burdick, Sheldon & Lyon, and its natural advantages, gave this place a start which soon put all its rivals to rout. In 1838, we find Comstock described as a village and post office, pleasantly located on the north bank of the Kalama- zoo river, with a flouring mill, two saw-mills, a store, physician and two lawyers. The physician was Dr. King, who came to that place, from Oxford, Canada, in 1834, and took up considera- ble land in the township. The "Marshall and Allegan Railroad" was located ( on paper ) through the village about that time- but the hopes it raised were never realized. In 1837, Mr. Com, stock bought a one-quarter interest in the plat of the village of Kalamazoo, from Justus Burdick, paying for the same $17,000, In 1844, he moved to Kalamazoo, and in 1845 purchased of Col. Edwards the property now owned and occupied by Stephen S. Cobb, Esq., and which that gentleman has so greatly beautified. In February, 1846, Mrs. Comstock, a most estimable woman, died ( while at her tea table apparently in good health ), and not long after, Mr. Comstock disappears from the scenes of our his- tory, and but a few years since, saw the last of earth, far away from the fields of his ambition, his hopes and his projects.
The first meeting of the electors of the township of Comstock after being set off from Arcadia township, was at the house of James Burnett, on the 7th day of April, 1834, the township at that time embracing " all that part of Kalamazoo county com- prised in townships 2 south, in ranges 9 and ten west, and town 3 south, range 9 west." At this meeting, Lovell Moore was chosen Moderator, and Leland Lane, Clerk. The following officers were elected : Supervisor, William Earl; Assessors, Charles W. Spaulding, Daniel O. Dodge, Edwin M. Clapp; Clerk and Collector, Leland Lane; Highway Commissioners C. W. Spaulding, Charles Andrews, George Townsend; Con- stable, E. A. Jackson; School Commissioners, Stephen Eldred, Sherman Cummings, Samuel Percival; Directors of the Poor ( an office that must have been a sinecure in those days ), Jabez Rodgers, James Burnett ; School Inspectors, Daniel O. Dodge, Thomas W. Merrill, C. W. Andrews, Lovell Moore, and Leland
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Lane. For Overseers of Highways and Fence Viewers, the fol. lowing persons were appointed : Leland Lane, District No. 1; John Moore, District No. 2; Jabez Rodgers, No. 3; Joseph Flanders, District No. 4; A. A. Smith, District No. 5; Alva Earl, District No. 6. The compensation voted to these last named officers was 75 cents for each day while employed in the discharge of their official duties. Leland Lane, Ralph Tuttle, and Stephen Eldred were clothed with the dignity attached to the position of pound-master, though there seems to have been no pound or appropriation for one. It was also voted at this meeting "that all fences in this township shall be five feet high, and sufficiently tight to stop hogs weighing 20 pounds."
The first bridge built over the Kalamazoo river was the low- er bridge, so-called, below Galesburg. It was built on the 4th day of July 1834, the timbers of which were elm logs cut upon the banks of the river above, hauled to the river and floated down. It was a concerted affair, or as it was then termed, " a bridge-building bee," to which all the yeomanry of the town had been invited to attend. The call was very liberally responded to, and a merrier and more memorable celebration of our Na- tional birthday, never since occurred in that township. Men came with teams, with axes, ropes and other needed articles; while many worked upon the land, others stripped off clothing and worked in the water catching the logs as they came down and, notching the ends, then lifting them into place, the piers being formed by cribs of logs. The work was so far completed that day that a few men could finish it speedily. The "creature comforts" were by no means wanting on this occasion, every comer bringing his basket of contributions to the general stock. The upper bridge was built in 1836.
The first school house in the east part of the town was one com- posed of logs, and stood on the wa of the s. w} of section 13; was 12 x 14 feet, and 8 feet high. The first school teacher was & daughter of the Rev. Mr. White, in 1834; the first male teacher was Ebenezer Flanders. The school of Miss White in the old log honse referred to consisted of twelve pupils. The school 14
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at Comstock village was nearly a year earlier, and was taught, the writer thinks, by one of Mr. Percival's daughters.
A few years after, a very good school building was erected near the corners west of the village, which also served the pur- poses of church, town hall etc., for many years.
The following are among the early mechanics of Galesburg: Samuel Wilkerson, blacksmith ; S. Bliss, carpenter; - Spring- stead, shoemaker; Charles L. Keith, wagon maker; R. Black- ett, tailor. Dr. Ezra Stetson was one of the early physicians; Philip Gray built the first tavern, in 1835, and was landlord of the same. The first store in Galesburg was opened in the sum- mer of 1837 by this same Gray: he seems to have been an ex- tensive dealer, with a touch of the sensational in his nature-for it was his wont to purchase a whole wagon-load of goods at one time, and when they came, he would put out a bulletin in front of his little store with these words: "This store will be closed for three days to enable the proprietor to mark and arrange his very large stock of new goods !"
We have spoken of events as transpiring in Galesburg before it had a name, and was merely a hamlet of very modest preten- sions. But very suddenly, in the fall of 1836, its peaceful rest was broken by wild dreams of greatness and its waking moments filled with gorgeous imaginings-like some rustic sleeper, who has heard, faintly told, a tale of the glories of some far off city, but deeming it an idle story, hears in his slumbers the din and bustle, the music and the ear-delighting sounds, sees the splen- dors and tastes the delights of a great metropolis, till his heart is stirred with a strange joy and his soul filled with wonder and the emotions of a new existence that make his past life seem an unworthy, dispicable and hideous thing. He is aroused from his entranced slumbers by the voice of a strange man, who an- nounces himself as a magician, to whom is given the power of converting the waste places into precious " corner lots," the hum- ble cottages into " brown stone fronts," the little shops into immense manufactories, the highways into thronged avenues of commerce, the river into a stream of gold ; in short, he will make the rustic's dream a literal reality. The listener hears and be-
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lieves! In plain prose, Mr. George L. Gale, an erratic genius, with some money and much assurance, purchases considerable land at Galesburg, and proceeds to lay out the "city" to which he affixes his name. The ground is surveyed, streets staked out, lots numbered, a mill race partly dug across a bend of the river, - and the erection of a mill commenced, as the initiatory steps in the formation of the "city." It appears from the plat on record in the Register's office, bearing date January 9th, 1837, that the original proprietors of Galesburg were George L. Gale, Wm. Har- ris, Nathan Cothren, Gideon Matthews, James Reynolds and Alonzo Matthews; surveyor, F. J. Littlejohn. Mr. Gale expended considerable money, but after a year or two he abandoned the project; what there was of the mill was removed to Kalamazoo and converted into a distillery, ( adjoining Whitcomb's mill ). In 1839, he came to Kalamazoo and practiced law for a time; then he went to Paw Paw. It is said that, when he took the benefit of the bankrupt act, his liabilities were upwards of one hundred thousand dollars. Mr. Gale left Paw Paw for Califor- nia, about the time so many from Michigan went thither.
The growth of Galesburg has been steadily advancing since the Michigan Central Railroad was finished to Kalamazoo. For a long time it has held the rank of being the largest village in the county with the exception of Kalamazoo; but since the completion of the railroad to Schoolcraft, that village has taken a start forward and puts in a claim for pre-eminence. The rela- tive size and population of these growing villages may be ascer- tained by reference to the directory of each. Galesburg has a fine water-power made by carrying the water of Gull Creek through a long canal into and through the village. It was com- pleted in 1843, by David Ford and Ira Bacon, who, the same year, erected a saw mill, and soon after a grist mill. The flouring mill of Wing & Mason is a large and excellent one ; the situa- tion of the river there, is such, that an extensive water-power can be obtained by a judicious improvement of that stream. Galesburg was incorporated by an order of the Board of Su pervisors, January 5th, 1861, and Wm. A. Blake, Roswell Ran- som and John Flint were appointed inspectors of election. The
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first election for village officers was held at the Galesburg House, on the first Tuesday of March of the same year. In 1867 the boundaries of the village were enlarged by an act of the Legislature, January 22d.
Galesburg lies within two townships, Comstock and Charles- ton, though only a small portion is within the latter township. It has several dry goods stores, five groceries, a hardware store, drug stores, two cabinet stores, two hotels, three saloons, and a good number of tradesmen. A driving park, with a half mile track, has been opened during the past year near the village. In another place we give a history of the churches and leading benevolent societies. The schools are excellent. The profess- sions are also well represented. Galesburgh has a very pretty railroad depot and telegraph office.
In 1843, one of those moral philosophers, who occasionally come to the surface and inflict their vagaries or " reforms " upon a community, came to Galesburg. His name was Shetterly and Dr. was his professional title. Fourierism was his hobby and the people of Tolland's Prairie and other parts of the county were the victims. The story of this bubble is too long for these pages. The large building that was erected, and the farm that was purchased, for the " Alphadelphia Society," are the same now owned by the county and used as the Poor-House and Farm, the property having been purchased in 1849, after the society aforesaid had " gone to the dogs." It is on the south- west part of Tolland's Prairie.
On the farm of Mr. James Hopkins, many years ago stood an Indian village, in the midst of which grew an immense apple- tree, still thrifty and bearing an unfailing crop of really choice fruit for a number of years after the first settlers came; but the Indians destroyed it before they were removed West. It was from this village on the edge of the prairie that, many and many a year ago, the incident occurred that gave the beautiful name to our river. We have not space for the tradition in full, . but the point of it is, that a wager was made that an Indian could not run to a certain place upon the river bank and return before the water then boiling in a little kettle upon the fire should have
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boiled away. The race was successfully accomplished, after a a great many trials by the fleetest runners in the tribe, and hence the name commemorating the event, KE-KALAMAZOO, " The Boil- ing Pot," or, " where water boils in the pot."
In the great crisis of our nation's fate the town of Comstock was true to the last requirements of patriotism. The first call for troops found her brave sons ready and responsive, exchang- ing the pleasures and comforts of home for the perilous scenes of the battle-field, the hardships of the weary march and the discomforts of the bivouac; the pains of the hospitals, the hor- rors of rebel prisons, and all the evils of grim-visaged War-and the last rallying cry in the gloomy winter of 1864, found the yoemanry of the town undaunted and as determined as ever to flock to the standard of the Union ; while the aid societies were ever busy in their work of providing comforts for the soldier. Under the various calls Comstock contributed nearly two hun- dred and fifty men to the armies of the Union.
CHURCHES AND SOCIETIES.
THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.
The Congregational Church of Galesburg was formed from a previously existing Presbyterian Church. Rev. Thomas Jones was its first pastor, and so continuing for a number of years. Under his ministry the church acquired a numerous membership. On the 18th of March, 1860, the church building was burned by incendiaries ; the torch was lighted by rum.
In October, 1861, the present sightly church building-valued at $10,000-was finished, through the indefatigable efforts of both pastor and people. In August, 1862, Rev. Thomas Jones resigned, since which time the Church has been served by Rev. Mr. Doz and others. The present pastor ( 1868) is Rev. J. W. Allen. Membership, 207.
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THE BAPTIST CHURCH.
The Baptist Church of Galesburg was organized in April, 1832, with the name of the " First Baptist Church of Arcadia," composed of eight members, three males and five females, one of whom, the venerable Judge Eldred, of Climax, is the only surviving individual. In 1833, the name was changed for the " First Baptist Church of Comstock," and in February, 1846, the name was again changed for the "Galesburg Baptist Church." At the time of its organization it was the first Baptist Church west of Ann Arbor in Michigan. Its field of operations em- braced the territory now occupied by the Kalamazoo, Plainwell, Otsego, Climax, Battle Creek and South Battle Creek Churches. Their meetings were holden at Plainwell, Gull Prairie and Cli- max, as well as in the town of Comstock. Since that time there has been received into their fellowship, by letter and baptism, 400 members; 230 have been honorably dismissed, and removed to other places, and to form other churches; 76 have been ex- cluded or have died.
At the present time it is a weak church of less than a hundred members, but still maintains a regular ministration of the gospel. During the time, this church has had 13 pastors, viz .: Adams, Munger, Bly, J. Gilbert, Dunham, P. F. Jones, Bingham, Rob- erts, Cell, N. J. Gilbert, Everts, Beals, and H. B. Fuller, the present incumbent.
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
The Methodist Episcopal Church, at Galesburg, was organ- ized in 1835, by the Rev. R. Williams. The Church building was erected in 1851, Rev. J. Abbott, pastor. In 1868, the Church was repaired and enlarged, under the labors of the pres. ent pastor, Geo. W. Sherman. The number of members when the Church was organized. 5; number in 1868, 1,016. Rev. P. Potts is Superintendent of the Sabbath School. Number of offi- cers and teachers, 17; number of scholars, 100.
The following are the names of pastors appointed by the Michigan Conference since 1834: Revs. R. Williams, J. Colela- sier, E. Kellogg, H. Bears, -Hudson, R. Richards, H. Parker,
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- Bush, - Bryer, R. B. Young, V. G. Boynton, F. Farns- worth, C. Mosier, A Wakefield, A. A. Dunton, J. Abbott, F. Gage, R. Sapp, S. Steele, A. Billings. II. M. Joy, W. W. John- son, A. J. Van Wyck, S. C. Woodard, G. W. Sherman.
MASONIC.
PRAIRIE LODGE NO. 92, F. & A. Masons. Held its first session U. D., January 11th, A. D. 1856. The first officers were :- Wm. P. Sutton, W. M .; Joseph M. Kidd, S. W .; E. R. Billings, J. W .; J. C. Blake, Treas .; W. A. Blake, Secretary; E. C. Sterne, S. D .; D. L. Johnson, J. D .; D. E. McClelland, Tyler.
At their next regular session, Feb. 20th, 1856, three gentle- men were initiated in the following order : L. J. Barber, E. W. Gale and P. S. Carmer.
Since that time the Lodge has been presided over by the fol- lowing officers :
1856. E C Sterne, W. M. J. S. Kenyon, S. W. C. E Dean, J. W.
1837, W. P. Sutton,
D. L. Johnson, I. Corey, .6
1858, D. L Johnson, G. B. Peters, I. Corey, ..
1859, Geo. B. Peters, W. A. Blake. E. W. Gale,
1860, W. A. Blake,
Job H. Aldrich.
A. Bartholomew,“
1861, W. A Blake,
O. F. Burroughs, "
U. W. Cole,
1862, O. F. Burroughs, " Isaac Corey, C. W. Cole, "
1863, D. L. Johnson,
A. B. Sumner, 66 A. Bartholomew,“
1864, W. A Blake, A. B. Sumner,
S. C. Wilkinson,“
1865, M. W. Alfred,
A. B. Sumner, R. S. Vanvleet, “
1866, M. W. Alfred, = R. S. Vanvleet, L. J. Barber,
1867, M. W. Alfred,
Wm Schroder,
E. S. Cogswell, "
Present membership is 69.
Regular Communications are held on Saturday evening on or next preceeding each full moon.
GALESBURGH CHAPTER OF ROYAL ARCH MASONS. The First Regular Convocation was held May 27th, 1868. Officers: M. W. Alfred, H. P .; O. R. Smith, K .; J. L. Wheeler, S.
Present number of members thirty.
Regular Convocations on Friday evening, on or next preceed- ing the full of the moon in each month.
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GOOD TEMPLARS.
Galesburgh Lodge No. 303, chartered with thirty-three mem- bers, January 11th, 1866.
PRESENT OFFICERS-A. D. Beckwith, W. C. T .; Mary J. War- ren, W. V. T .; Mary Batt, W. S .; Mrs. Geo. Smith, W. T .; William H. Hunting, W. M .; Sarah Dunning, W. I. G .; Mrs. R. Barber, R. H. S .; Henrietta Imus, L. H. S .; Frank Warren, W. C .; J. H. Imus, W. A. S .; L. C. Minor, W. F. S .; Arthusa Dunning, W. D. M.
Present membership 75.
Meets on Monday evening, each week, at 7 o'clock.
ALAMO.
The township of Alamo is in the northwest corner of Kala- mazoo county. The land is elevated, slightly rolling, timbered with oak, beech, maple, hickory, etc., well watered, having sev- eral streams, and some ten lakes, large and small. On the west line of the township is a portion of a large swamp that extends into Allegan and Van Buren counties, and through which into Alamo runs a branch of Pine creek. The soil is a sandy loam, very fertile and easily worked, and is admirably adapted for fruit- raising as well as for the cereals. Alamo embraces no village within its boundaries. At Alamo Centre are two churches. ( Presbyterian and Methodist,) built during 1868. The post- office was removed to Otsego in September last because there was no one that wanted the office. The township was organ- ized in 1838, and was named in honor of the heroic Texans who made the battle-field of Alamo so renowned in story and song.
The first sttlers in Alamo were: Solomon Case, Wm. Finch, Julius Hackley, the Whitlocks, Robert Densmore, Mahlon Eve- rett, George Kirtland, in 1835; R. D. Hill, John Hawkins, Dan-
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iel Pomeroy, Hiram Doan, Ephraim Lee, A. Rood, 1836; O. H. Gregory, O. Bebee, G. W. Reynolds, 1837. A great many descriptions of land were taken up at an early day by non-resi- dents and speculators. The progress in the settlement was slow until 1842-3, since which time it has found favor in the sight of those seeking desirable lands for new farms. In 1860, the town contained 187 dwellings, and 943 inhabitants; it had 81 farms, with 5,271 acres improved, and 8,523 unimproved; raised 23,845 bushels of wheat; 31,402 of corn; 9,818 of potatoes; 1,818 of buckwheat; 3,703 of oats, and some barley and rye; 4,739 lbs. of wool; 15,890 lbs. of butter; 2,479 lbs. of cheese; 5,087 lbs. of maple sugar, some fruit and other products; it had two saw mills, and $20,773 worth of farming implements and machinery. Estimates at this time would show a large in- crease in the population, wealth and development of Alamo.
Alamo, equally in proportion with her sister towns, contrib- uted men and means to put down the Rebellion.
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