USA > Michigan > Ionia County > Memorials of the Grand River Valley > Part 5
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Their first expression, in blank dismay, was, "Who would have supposed it was hollow?"
" Then there was running to and fro Of the panic-stricken crowd, And speculators' tears fell fast, And merchants swore aloud."
But why dwell on the dismal picture? It is all black; there is no use in coloring it. Land and lots would not sell for any- thing. Debts alone were undiminished. As a consequence, about all failed. So general was this the rule, that the man who had not failed was almost ashamed to walk the streets, so wofully was he out of fashion.
When stricken down, a man will either die, live a cripple, or get well. It is so with a community. The Grand River Valley recovered, after being crippled long. The year 1842 showed hopeful signs; the convalescence continued until 1846, when, in full health, it entered on a career of rational prosper- ity.
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GRAND RIVER VALLEY.
IONIA COUNTY.
IONIA.
Ionia was one of the points of earliest settlement, and is the center from which the settlement of Ionia county radiated. To all intents and purposes, Ionia and Lyons were but one; and in pioneer history are to be treated as such.
It is scarcely proper to consider the trader, who has taken up his abode among the Indians, as-a settler, or the bogus manufacturer, who has sought the wilds for purposes of concealment. There were the Indian Trader, Louis Generan. and the bogus maker, Belcher, who had their places of busi- ness in Ionia county before 1833. Still, the spring of 1833 is the era of civilized occupation. Then a company, consisting Samuel Dexter, Erastus Yeomans, Oliver Arnold, Joel Guild. Edward Guild and Darins Winsor, all with their families, and William B. Lincoln, a single man, came on in company, and located themselves at Ionia. With the exception of Winsor, who joined them at Buffalo, they started together from Ger- man Flats, N. Y., April 25th, left Buffalo May 7th, came on steamer to Detroit; left Pontiac May 14th, were at Fuller's, Oakland county, the 15th, at Saline the 19th. At that point they had before them the unbroken wilderness. From the 20th to the 28th, they journeyed and camped in the woods. They were obliged to cut roads to get along through Clinton county. A child of Dexter died on the way.
They brought with them some means, and they complain of no great hardship. True, the journey through the wilder- ness was fatiguing, but they had their families with them, and. camped around the bivouac fire at night, they could enjoy the novelty of their situation, and they enjoyed the romance of their situation. The pathless wild was new to them; and there was novelty in the wolf-serenade. Young men, love to
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combat and conquer. They had to conquer fallen trees, and and deep ravines; but there was a hearty " Yo-he! " as they rolled the one from the track, and a pride of conscious man- liness as they wiped their sweaty brows, having crossed the other. But how was it with the women and children? Wo- man is not such a frail, delicate being as the poets represent her. When she nerves herself for serious action, she will shame the men by her resolute and cheerful endurance. Be- sides, she likes rustic life as well as a man. She tires of con- ventionalities, and delights for a time in an adventurous, semi- savage way of living. And the young folks-it is their glory.
The old survivors of that expedition will tell you they eu- joyed the journey. They had the spirit of youth, or middle life, and that likes adventure. They felt that each day was creating a memory. They have lived over that season a thou- sand times. They have since battled with the forest; but the individual trees they cut down, have left no memory; but that big oak which lay in their way, and with which they joined issue, that is remembered. They have since eaten many a good dinner, now forgotten; but they still gloat over that sup- per by the spring in Clinton county. And how those who were boys enjoy the recollection of the way they used to chase and scare those sneaking loafers of the forest-the wolves. Perhaps they met a bear, lean from his winter's fasting and sluggard rest, who stolidly passes hy with his "you let me alone, and I'll let you alone" air; and who, if politely invited to turn out, will rise upon his haunches, double his fists. and say, " turn out yourself: I'm a bear." Whether this company met Bruin or not, tradition does not tell; but he has met others, and such is his way.
There were banks of streams to dig down, so that the wagons could be got across. But it was " hurrah, boys!" and the road was made. There were bushes and trees in the way, but this "hurrah, boys!" put both aside. Swamps must be got over or around, but " hurrah, boys!" found the means and the way.
The exciting day's work done; the camp pitched-it was then "Molly, put the kettle on." The mysterious "Black Betty," that had been concealed all day, appears, and receives
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the hearty kiss of the tired, but cheerful group. Soon, supper comes smoking to the table-no, log. That dispatched, the male scions, each with his back against a tree, lights his pipe. and philosophically contemplates the wreathing smoke, while the more youthful ones get up a dance to extempore castanets.
Not so bad after all, this journeying in the woods, with enough to eat, a little of something else, and congenial com- pany. But we will throw imagination aside. We talk and live prose most of our lives. Poetry comes in as a luxury, not as everyday fare.
The 28th of May brought our pilgrims to Ionia. It was too late for putting in crops by clearing the land, so they bought an Indian plantation, plowed and planted five acres with corn and potatoes. They paid the Indians $25 for their crops and improvements.
They had come in prepared with articles for traffic, which they exchanged for venison, fish, etc. They lived mostly from the Indians, and nearly in Indian fashion, and on the most friendly terms with their Indian neighbors.
The company mostly located on Sec. 19. They had some spare means; had two span of horses; about ten head of cat- tle. They got a few boards from the Indian mill, at Grand Rapids. Dexter, Yeomans and Winsor built them log houses. The rest lived in Indian huts. Before their goods came round the lakes, they were rather straitened. These did not arrive until the middle of the summer. In the winter they had a large coffee mill with which they ground their corn. This mill for a considerable time was of great service to them and other settlers. They had some flour brought around with their goods, and they had Indian sugar.
The Indian settlement was where the city of Ionia now is. Some five hundred Indians, who were under the Flat River chief, stopped there, for making sugar, fishing, etc. They also raised some corn. As friends, the Indians and settlers lived together, with mutual benefit. The first winter passed, the Indians knowing they had sold their rights, cheerfully gave up their cherished homes to the whites. They knew that they occupied only by the sufferance of the Government.
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There was some scarcity of provisions the first winter, reme- died by laboriously transporting them from Gull Prairie. Otherwise, as this company had come prepared, they tell of little hardship or suffering.
It is proper here to state that the colony consisted of the Dex- ter family, nine persons; Mr. Yeomans' family, nine persons; Winsor's family, seven persons; Arnold's family, ten persons; Joel Guild's family, seven or eight persons; Edward Guild's family, - persons. In addition to these families, as single men, Dr. W. B. Lincoh, a young physician just commencing practice, two unmarried brothers of Dexter-Winsor Dexter and Warner Dexter-P. M. Fox and Abram Decker. The fortunes of these pioneers of Ionia county, it is proper here briefly to state:
A. Decker did not stay long
Patrick M. Fox now resides at Muir.
Samnel Dexter spent his life at Ionia, where he died in 1856.
Judge Yeomans, in a good old age, is still living at Ionia.
Oliver Arnold, a blacksmith, is dead. His sons are at Ionia.
Edward and Joel Guild soon went to Grand Rapids, and are dead.
Darins Winsor also moved to Grand Rapids, and is dead.
Dr. Lincoln, in a green old age, is still at Ionia.
Warner and Winsor Dexter were but transient residents.
Further particulars of these individuals may be gathered from the biographical articles.
In November, 1833, an addition was made to the little col- ony; Alfred Cornell arriving with a family, consisting of four men, six women and two children. The whole force of the settlement was voluntarily directed to showing them how the pioneer welcomes a new-comer. In two weeks a house had been built for them; of course not a palatial mansion, but a snug log house, built without boards, glass or nails; in which blankets and sheets did duty as doors and windows, but after all, as it was the best house in the settlement, they might have put on airs; and doubtless would, had they been made of such material as constitutes fashionable society. As souls were a
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part of their personal outfit, they let their children play with the children of those who spent their first winter in Indian hnts, and acknowledged fraternity with those who lived in Inmubler dwellings. There are people now, living in princely residences, and blessed with all the appliances of wealth, who welcome others according to their mental and moral worth; and do not measure them by the accidents of fortune. God bless the whole lot of them! A rich man with a soul in him is a person worth bowing to. We see women, too, ( I didn't say "ladies," as "women" is a much nobler word,) who, abounding in all that wealth can give. still place themselves on the level with common humanity, and prove their nobility by their noble sympathy with all that is good, and pure, and holy, whether found in a palace or a hovel. Unworthy is he whose hat ean stay on when he meets such a woman.
Were it not for this morbid propensity to preach, when events furnish a text. the history would advance much more rapidly. Descended from a long line of deacons, and destined in youth for the pulpit, the propensity was ground into the historian's nature. Well for the world that a lack of ortho- doxy induced the conservators of the church to discourage his ambition, otherwise, his interminable preaching would have been terrible.
But coming back to the colony: They gave a heart-warm welcome to Cornell and his family group. Cornell had, as he supposed, made provision for the coming season, having laid in a stock at Detroit. But the open character of the winter, and the swollen streams rendered it impossible to get them to lonia, and in consegnence there was, not linger, but little variety. and rather short commons. They learned to live upon little; that eating was not the business of life, but that we eat to live. Corn cake and maple sugar, with a piece of smoked sturgeon, or a venison steak occasionally, is not so very terri- ble. They had plenty of corn and Indian sugar, which is fully equal to the " hog and hominy " of old Kentucky. What are you growling about? In the writer's humble opinion, old Par- son Jennings was about right. He (God rest his pions, jovial old soul) was pastor long ago of a church in Western Massa-
4
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MEMORIALS OF THE
chusetts. One day, visiting at the house of one of his parish- oners, the good lady complained of hard times. He took her to task for her unchristian grumbling; telling her that if we had potatoes and salt enough to eat, we should be content, and thankful to God for our blessings. Of course, in deference to the dictum of the "minister, " she shut up, but had a thought or two, notwithstanding. In due time the dominie (no, minis- ter) was invited into another room for supper. On the table were a fine lot of baked potatoes and some salt-nothing more. IIe reverently, and with full expression of thankfulness, in- voked a blessing, and with the rest sat down. Looking at the table, and then at the woman, he said: "Potatoes and salt are good, and we ought to be thankful to God that he has bounti- fully supplied them to us. But it does seem to me, that since I am a minister, I ought to have a little butter."
Now these settlers had corn and sugar, with fish and veni- son, and they were not ministers, and had no business to grum- ble; and historic truth compels the writer to say, there is not even a tradition that they did grumble.
In March the "victuals " came on from Detroit, and we are afraid that young Doctor Lincoln had some practice in conse- quence, but concerning that, contemporary history is reticent.
At this point we will briefly sketch the history of those who, in 1833, formed the nucleus of civilized settlement in Ionia county.
THIE YEOMANS FAMILY.
It has already been stated that the old pioneer is still, in feeble old age, a resident of Ionia. A long, useful and honor- able life is drawing to a close. He waits to be gathered to his fathers. the last of those who brought their families with them in 1833. His son, Sanford, has always lived in Ionia. Amanda married the Rev. Alfred Cornell, and, as a mother in Israel, has passed from earth.
Alanson and Iliram died as young men. Maria lives in Ionia as the wife of J. K. Sandford. Mary is the wife of G. II. McMullen.
The Guild and Winsor families are, in their history, identified with Grand Rapids.
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TIIE CORNELL FAMILY.
The father is elsewhere more particularly noticed in a bio- graphical article.
His sons were Alfred, Daniel and Thomas, the last of whom came to Ionia with a wife and two children.
There were four daughters:
Mary married Asa Spencer (now of Otisco). She died in 1853.
Lydia died single, in 1835.
Caroline is the wife of Mason Hearsey.
Sarah married Ezra Spencer, and resides at Saranac.
1834 brought as accessions, Geo. Case, wife and two chil- dren. Ile was drowned, 1836, at the month of the Thornap- ple, which he was crossing on horseback.
William Doty, then a single man, brother-in-law of Case, came with them and still remains.
John E. Morrison, with wife and one child. There is a fine residence across the river from Ionia, where Morrison, not much the worse for wear, is now to be found.
The next year, 1835, brought more accessions:
Mason Hearsey, who has been a part of Ionia ever since.
Alonzo Sessions-" May his shadow never be less." Job Sessions-always a part of Ionia history.
Gilbert Caswell, with wife and five children. He lived in Ionia some fourteen years. With him came-
Joseph Hadsall, wife and three children. He stayed bnt about two years.
Elisha Doty, an old man, having with him a wife two daughters and a son. The son, Charles Doty, died a few years since. One daughter, Maria, married James Crofford. She is dead. The other daughter soon went East.
Dexter Arnold, brother of the blacksmith, with wife, and four children. He has always remained.
Benjamin C. Barber came with Caswell, and still remains.
Lyman Webster bought out Joel Guild, but did not stay long.
Samuel II. Yates, with wife and son. He is dead. ITis son, J. Lockwood Yates, is still a resident of Ionia.
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MEMORIALS OF THE
Osmond Tower (a single man). He who, in Ionia county, has not known Tower, is himself unknown.
Julius C. Abel, the first lawyer in the Valley, first stopped at Grandville; next tried Ionia awhile, where he took a leading part. He then went to Grand Rapids, and was long a noted personage there. IIe died in 1873.
John P. Plaice; he died at Prairie Creek.
William McCosland, stayed several years; kept a hotel; moved to Wisconsin.
So far as known. these are all who settled at or near Ionia before 1836. The organization of towns, placed some of these in Easton and Berlin. But, identified in interest, and consti- tuting a neighborhood, they have been considered as one. The three points in the county, from which settlement radiated, were Ionia. Lyons and Portland.
The same principle will be adhered to in marking the pro- gress of settlement, which. after 1835, was rapid for a time. It has been found impossible to give the names and history of but a portion of those who came in 1836.
During that year settlers were pushing into almost all the towns in the county. Of those who, in '36, settled at or near Ionia, we have gathered the names of :
Dan. D. Broekway, who was bnt a transient resident.
Sylvester Thompson, now a worthy farmer in Easton.
Daniel Clapsaddle: he was killed at a raising.
Mrs. Mary Smith, a widowed sister of S. Dexter. She had one son, Samnel E. Smith, and a daughter Jane, who married Sylvester Thompson.
Jeremiah Eaton, stayed one year, and his courage gave out.
George W. Dickinson, soon removed to Otisco; is now a resident of Grand Rapids.
There is little historic value in a further specification of in- dividuals. 1833-4 5 had opened the way, and it is dne to those who were the pioneers, that their names should be a part of the traditions. The reports sent back by these, caused others to come, and it was comparatively an easy thing for them to get along.
The colony did not neglect the wants of the young. As
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early as the winter of 1834-5, Dr. Lincoln taught a school for three months in a little building which he had for an office. The next fall, Mason Hearsey taught the first public school. Amanda Yeomans kept the first summer school in 1836. She was the first wife of Elder Cornell. She died in 1865, leaving the impress of a godly life.
The Christian people early began to hold public worship at private houses, reading sermons, etc., before the advent of the one who, to use his own words, "had taken his life in his hands, and come all the way from Ohio, to go into the back- woods and preach the Gospel to the heathen."
This devoted luminary we will not here name. He was a Methodist circuit preacher, and came to teach the heathen at Ionia in 1835. He was a genuine specimen of the now ex- tinet class-"the roaring Methodist," with a voice like the . " bulls of Bashan." He had zeal enough for a dozen preach- ers, and lacked only brains and culture to have made him an acceptable preacher to the aforesaid heathen. At one time this missionary was roaring a hymn at a house where he was stopping. Having exploded it through, he asked a young wo- man present, if she sang. She told him she could sing, but did not. IIe said to her, "Those who can sing, and don't, should be made to sing." She snappishly replied, that those who could not sing without braying like a donkey, should be made to hold their noise. He sighed at the display of human depravity, and, in her presence, was afterwards unmusical.
Soon appeared, as herald of the gospel, Larmon Chatfield, then a young man. He was the pioneer preacher in many of the towns around; has always been identified with Ionia county, and the region around about it. Though not very old, Mr. Chatfield is superannuated and broken, a wreck of what he once was. As preacher and presiding elder, he spent his years of active life with a people that now honor him as the good man who did his best by example and precept to lead others to a higher life. What is left of Chatfield is at Port- land. He is not what he once was-a man of vigor and mental strength-but he is still the Christian gentleman, genial and interesting when talking of scenes and events of long ago, but
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.
to whom the present is a blank, leaving no trace on his memory.
Thy work is well done, Chatfield, and thy Master is calling thee !*
A postoffice was established in Ionia in 1835; Mr. Winsor, postmaster.
STEPPING BACK A LITTLE.
In 1835, Ionia-what is now the whole county-first appears in the political world as a town attached to Kent county. The first town meeting was held at the house of Antoine Campan, April 6th, 1835; Alfred Cornell, Moderator: William B. Lincoln, Clerk. (Sworn by S. Dexter, Esq.) Elected:
Erastus Yeomans, Supervisor; William B. Lincoln, Clerk; Franklin Chubb, Gilbert Caswell, II. B. Libhart, Assessors; Philo Bogue, John E. Morrison, Nathan Benjamin, Commis- sioners of Highways; Samuel Dexter, John McKelvy, Direc- tors of Poor; Asa Spencer, Constable and Collector; Daniel McKelvy, Constable.
At a special election, May 12th, called for that purpose, A. Cornell, George Case, and John McKelvy were elected Com- missioners of Common Schools; and William D. Moore, A. Cornell, Jr., Nathaniel Sonles, and William B. Lincoln were elected Inspectors of Schools. This started the common school system in Ionia county.
At the second township meeting-the last when Ionia was attached to Kent county-the following officers were elected:
J. C. Abel, Supervisor; J. E. Morrison, Clerk; J. Boyer, Asa Bunnell, E. Yeomans, Assessors; Nathanial Soules, Con- stable and Collector; I. Boyer, W. D. Moore, S. Dexter, Thos. Cornell, Justices; Wm. S. Bogue, Lorenzo Dexter, Consta- bles.
This meeting was held April 4th, 1836, the records say at Ionia; but tradition says at Generanville. Joshua Boyer was Moderator.
In 1837, when Ionia consisted of two and a half tiers of townships, the first year after the establishment of the county,
*Chatfield died in 1876.
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Cyrus Lovell was elected Supervisor. Voted $50 to encourage killing wolves; also $50 for the poor.
Skipping the special records of the succeeding elections, we will simply give the Supervisors for a few years: 1838, Asa Spencer; 1839, Cyrus Lovell; 1840, E. Yeomans.
In 1834, Mr. Dexter, much to the joy of the people, put in a run of stones for grinding in his saw-mill. Before that, the people had either availed themselves of the aforesaid big coffee- mill, or had gone to Pontiac or Gull Prairie, to mill; some- times even carrying the grain on their shoulders. Incredible as the last may appear, it is nevertheless true, that in some in- stances it was done. In one instance, a man who had his grist on his back, returning from Gull Prairie, was out in a snow- storm, in which more than a foot of snow fell. He, however, persevered, camped in the woods, and on the fifth day arrived at his home, in the last stage of exhaustion. His wife had given him up as dead, thinking he had perished in the storm, and set out to find him, following the trail. Thrilled with joy, she met him some miles from home. But so strong was the revulsion of feeling that she could not eat of that flour, pur- chased at so terrible a price.
But in 1834, late in the season, they had a mill of their own. The day when the first grist was ground, was observed as a holiday. Everybody, his wife and all his children, were there, to witness the great event, which showed them they were re- lieved from the dread necessity of going forty miles to mill. The first grist ground belonged to Asa Spencer. It is reported that it was tolled three times-first, by Dexter, then by Mather, the miller, and last by John Dexter, because he thought the tolling had not been done. Be this true or not, the story has so floated down on the tide of time, and was long used to illus- trate the fact that, while the mill was a God-send to the people, it bid fair to be a good thing for the owner. This mill did service for a number of years, and is remembered with grati- tude by every old pioneer.
To Ionia-town and county-1836 was a memorable year in more senses than one. An element of Ionia's prosperity wrought almost starvation. This year a Land Office was loca-
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ted there, and the fever for buying western lands on specula- tion was running high. The rush of those greedy for lands was immense, so that applicants were often obliged to wait weeks before their turn would come. The office was fairly be- sieged by an elbowing crowd, each with his bag of specie, elamorous for his chance. These must be fed and lodged somehow. They ate the people out of their small stores of provisions, and teams were dispatched to Pontiac for food. A killing frost had destroyed the corn-crop and injured the pota- toes. Ilow the people wished the land-seekers had not such appetites! As potato after potato disappeared down their throats, the money looked mean, which they liberally paid. Ox teams were dispatched to Detroit, and some of the earliest sent were fortunate in their journey. But in the winter the trip was terrible. Rivers must be crossed, with the anchor ice running; and the ground was in such a state as to render the transporting of a load, not impossible, but terribly difficult. Thirty days would be consumed in a trip to Detroit. But pro- visions must be had, and with almost incredible labor they got them ; and no one starved, though they ate what was obtained by the sweat of their brows.
Notwithstanding what has been said. 1836 was the big year; for settlers, too numerous to particularize, came pouring in, and of the right sort, too. To individnalize would be invidions, as this year closed with probably a thousand people in Ionia county. But it must be recollected that Ionia was then the whole of what was the next year the county.
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