Past and present of Shiawassee County, Michigan, historically; with biographical sketches, Part 17

Author:
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Lansing, Mich. : Hist. Pub.
Number of Pages: 580

USA > Michigan > Shiawassee County > Past and present of Shiawassee County, Michigan, historically; with biographical sketches > Part 17

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settlers of that year. Mr. Clark was a member of the first board of highway com- missioners and assisted in laying out many of the early roads of the township. He removed to Shiawassee and later to Vernon, where he died. Prominent among those who settled in Caledonia in 1840 were Benjamin M. Waterman, who located eighty acres on section 4, and Norman L. Jennings, who settled at the opposite side of the township, on section 31.

Caledonia was formerly a portion of the township of Owosso, and was separately organized by an act of the legislature, ap- proved March 22, 1839, its boundaries in- cluding all of township 7, north of range 3 east, except sections 6, 7, 18, 19 and 30, which remained attached to Owosso. After much opposition these were embraced in Caledonia by another act, approved Febru- ary 16, 1842. By the incorporation of the city of Owosso, the west half of sections 18 and 19 were made a part of that city, leav- ing Caledonia as it at present exists.

The first township election was held April 29, 1839, at the house of Alexander McAr- thur. Mr. McArthur was elected super- visor and also to three other offices. Samuel N. Warren was chosen treasurer, clerk, school inspector and justice of the peace. At this meeting Stephen Hawkins, John Davids, and Ninion Clark were elected high- way commissioners, and they proceeded to divide the town into three road districts. They also established two roads that year, both beginning at the south line of the town- ship and running toward the central part. In June of 1840 a road was surveyed running north of Corunna, and in August a highway was opened on the south side of the township.

-No definite information can be obtained regarding the early schools of the township. The earliest school house was built in 1842; and a school opened in it by Miss Drusilla Cook, a daughter of Ezekiel Cook of Ben- nington. Miss Cook instructed the youth of Caledonia a number of terms and her suc- cessor is not remembered.

Coal Mining .- Among the natural re- sources of Caledonia township are the coal deposits which are believed to exist under a large portion of its surface. In 1837 a geological survey of the state was authorized and Dr. Douglas Houghton was placed in charge of it. During the progress of the survey Corunna was visited. The examina- tion made by the corps along the Shiawassee river satisfied them of the existence of coal, though none was discovered at the time. Two years later, in 1839, Alexander McAr- thur discovered coal on his land, on the bank of Coal creek, in the southeast quarter of section 22. It was first taken out in small quantities, and as it became known that coal could be obtained, purchasers (mostly black- smiths) came from long distances, and trade increased to quite an extent. The coal was delivered on wagons to purchasers for ten cents per bushel.

It was not, however, until many years after that any organized effort was made to mine coal extensively. About 1864 some parties from New York city organized a company known as the McArthur Mining Company, with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars. In April, 1865, Mr. Mc- Arthur sold to the company one hundred and twenty acres of land on section 22. A large amount of money was expended in the erec- tion of engine rooms, coal houses, offices ·

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and tramways. In addition to machinery and buildings at the mines, an extensive wharf was built on the Detroit river, and an agency established at Detroit. Then the cost of transportation from the coal beds to the depot proved so great that labor was suspended, and in 1866 the company dis- banded.

The Briar Hill Iron & Coal Company, of Ohio, about 1870 purchased land on section 23, having previously tested the land for coal. This company operated a mine about a year, when the work was abandoned, ninety. thousand dollars having been ex- pended in various efforts, without success.

February 26, 1873, the Corunna Coal Com- pany was organized. The incorporators were George F. Perkins, of Akron, Ohio; George Todd, of Youngstown, Ohio; Henry Gilbert and Harry R. Gilbert, of Corunna. In 1874 the lands previously worked on sec- tion 23 were purchased and adjoining lands leased. The company began operating the · mines in June, 1877, the necessary works for mining and shipping having been completed by that time. Difficulty was at first experi- enced in obtaining miners, but this obstacle was finally overcome by bringing them from Ohio. A' branch railroad was constructed from Corunna to the mines and this greatly decreased the labor and expense of trans- portation.

Mr. Tod Kincaid, who was secretary and treasurer of the company, became the resi- dent manager as well. Under his super- vision the coal mines opened at different places on the company's holdings became steady producers and for many years they furnished Corunna and the surrounding neighborhood with their most important in-

dustry. The first shaft opened was two miles east of Corunna, and this was operated for five years. A second shaft was sunk in 1881 one mile northeast on the Kerby farm, and was successfully mined for ten years, when a third shaft was opened which was mined for twelve years. Mr. Kincaid is now operating a mine one mile east of Cor- unna.

The Owosso Coal Company was formed about 1895, R. E. & C. F. Travis purchas- ing a small mine near Kerby. They devel- oped the mine and operated it for several years, disposing of the property finally to Chicago parties. Carl Pickert has been the resident manager for five years.

FAIRFIELD TOWNSHIP

The township which occupies the north- western corner of Shiawassee county is but a fractional town, as are all of those lying along the meridian line. It contains twenty- four full sections and six fractional sections, equal in the aggregate to twenty-five full sections.

The surface of Fairfield is in the main level, but it has a distinguishing feature in a ridge running north and south through the town and causing its water courses to flow eastward and westward. In numerous lo- calities there are cold-water springs, which are so marked a feature that the name of Cold Springs was first proposed for the new township upon its organization.

The tide of immigration which struck Shiawassee in the early. '30s came from the southwest. After slowly moving to about the center of the county it appeared to have spent its force and spread out toward the south and west, but did not continue north-

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ward until a few years later. Fairfield, be- ing in the extreme northwest, was the latest to receive settlers and consequently the last to be organized.

Previously to 1850 the township was un- tenanted by white inhabitants, and not until 1854 was any noticeable impression made upon its solitude by the presence of settlers. At that time it was densely timbered with the usual variety of hardwood found in other portions of the county, except along the northern border, where there was a strip of pine woods.

A majority of Fairfield's settlers came from Ohio. The first of these who had the courage to pass the settlements of the neigh- boring townships and push into the heavy forests of town 8 north, of range 1 east, was Lewis Lockwood, and even he did not care to settle north of section 35. From the spring of 1850 until the fall of that year Lockwood was the solitary settler. Aaron S. Braley then moved into the town and lo- cated six miles farther north in the wilder- ness, on section 2. For about one year these two settlers, with their families, were the only residents of the township. Henrietta Lockwood, born in 1851, was the first white child born in Fairfield, and Mrs. Lockwood, who died in 1854, was the first white person to die there. Her husband died in 1858. The third settler was James E. Rouse, who came in 1851 and located on section 11. Rouse cut a road from his place to that of Hiram Bennett, in Clinton county, a distance of two miles and a half. Carrying water from a place a mile away was among the experiences of life in the woods, for the Rouse family. And the case of Braley seems to have been even harder, for he was often

compelled to make a journey of twenty miles on foot to St. Charles, where he sometimes got a chance to work for a supply of flour or other provisions.

In the spring of 1853 George B. Munson made a location on section 32. At that time the population of the town included six other families. Beside the three previously men- tioned there were the families of Henry Higgins, on section 17, and of Henry Wool and Moses Wool, on section S. A few oth- ers came at different times in 1853, but of all the settlers mentioned George B. Munson was the only one to become really a per- manent resident, although Henry Wool owned his farm for a number of years and occasionally resided upon it. At the time Mr. Munson came he owned the only pair of horses in the town. As late as 1862 the supervisor, in making the assessment, found only three horse-teams in the township and about fifty sheep.

Other settlers who came in 1853 were Alfred Veltman, John Myers, Henry Steb- bins, Abadillah Borden and Uriah Squiers. In the following year a number of settlers came, including two other members of the Munson family, I. L. and G. C. Munson. Another was B. W. Darling who, as one of the early town constables, had some inter- esting experiences with law breakers; also Oscar Darling and one of the Van Deusen brothers, Ralph; Roe G. Van Deusen came a few years later. Among the other settlers of 1854 were Dory Castle, Moses Leavitt, C. J. Austin, Charles Wait, William Peck, John W. Curtis, Orrin Wetherbee, Merrick Rockwell, and the Brainard and Perkins families.

E. F. Bennett, also a pioneer of that year,

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brought his family from Ohio and settled on one hundred and twenty acres of heavily timbered land. An underbrushed road was the only highway in the neighborhood, but this condition of things was soon improved by the introduction of "road bees", which were weekly meetings at which the settlers of a neighborhood gathered for the purpose of cutting roads through the brush, and doing such other work as was necessary to make them passable. The road question was one of absorbing interest to the early settlers of Fairfield, and by the first of the year 1856 they had no fewer than eight roads laid out through the township.

E. S. Hambleton came from Ohio in May, 1855, and settled on section 28. He was fol- lowed shortly by two of his brothers-in-law, who settled on neighboring farms. They were C. D. Searl and William Oakes, the latter of whom subsequently became reg- ister of deeds.

In 1856 Elder Ira Allen moved to a farm on section 17, coming from Clinton county. While living in Fairfield he served for many years as pastor of the Baptist church of Elsie. Among the residents upon the Mer- idian line at that time there were, besides several already mentioned, E. J. Harrington, who built the first frame house in the town, and David Bates. W. C. Dunham settled on section 15, in 1861 and his father, 'W. H. Dunham on the same section, in 1862. Asa Burbank was then -living on a place in sec- tion 10, which was soon afterward purchased by Andrew Williams. He, however, did not come to remain permanently until 1865, when his nephew, Thomas Williams, came with him and afterward located on section 15. On section 3, in 1861, were James Corp

and Enos Gay, and on section 1 was W. L. Arnold, on a place that had been settled earlier by Edward Smith. Among those who located in Fairfield somewhat later, but who may nevertheless be called early settlers, were William Warner, William Peck, Eli Chamberlain, Chester Fox, H. W. Fuller, S. G. Main, C. B. Loynes, J. B. White, and E. W. Washburn.

Fairfield's first assessment roll, made in the year 1854, has in the list of resident tax- payers twelve names; in 1855, the number had increased to twenty-six. January 4, .1854, the board of supervisors set off the northern half of Middlebury township and gave it a separate jurisdiction, under the name of Fairfield. Besides the name of Cold Springs and others, the name of Bruns- wick was sent to the board as one desired by many residents of the town,-Brunswick, Ohio, having been the former home of a majority of the early settlers. For some reason of their own, however, the super- visors set aside all the names suggested and gave the new town a name of their own choosing.

The first town meeting was held April 3, 1854, at the home of Henry Stebbins. Twelve electors were present and John A. Borden was chosen supervisor. The first school in Fairfield was taught by Elizabeth Borden, in 1855. She began the term in Henry Stebbins's house and finished it in the school house built that year. Among the twelve scholars there was only one boy, Edwin R., the son of E. F. Bennett. In that year the township was divided into three school districts. A town library .sys- tem was established and rules for its govern- ment adopted as follows :

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1. For a grease spot on a book, a fine of twelve and a half cents. If more than one, in the same ratio.

2. A torn leaf, if not torn bad, ten cents.

3. Torn out leaf, twenty-five cents.

4. If more than one torn out, the price of the book.

5. Corner of leaf turned over, six cents.

6. Ink spots and pencil marks, each six cents.

7. A broken or torn off cover, fifty cents.

Although organized only in 1854, Fairfield furnished forty soldiers for the national army in the war of the Rebellion. None of these were drafted, and ten of the forty lost their lives in the service.

HAZELTON TOWNSHIP

In the list of those persons who made the original purchases of lands in Hazleton, from the general government or from the state of Michigan, the name of Porter Hazelton ap- pears a greater number of times than that of any other individual. In each of nine- teen sections he is recorded as having pur- chased tracts varying in size from eighty acres to seven hundred and thirty-five acres, and the date of nearly every purchase is 1849.

Porter Hazelton, it appears, was never a resident of the township that bears his name, nor yet a land speculator in the ordinary meaning of the term. The tracts of land in town 8 north, of range 4 east, which came into his possession, were given by the state of Michigan in payment for services performed in the construction of a bridge across the Flint river. Hazelton was a resi- dent of Genesee county ; his brothers, George H., Homer, and Edward were engaged with him in the enterprise and became part own-

ers of the land in Shiawassee, as did also Ezekial R. Ewing, another partner in the work. ' Mr. Hazelton offered many induce- ments to settlers and ultimately disposed of his property in the township.

The surface of Hazelton is generally level, except in the south and east, where rolling ground is occasionally found.

Several streams water the township and give variety to the landscape. Chief among these is the Misteauquay creek, which rises in Venice and flows northward through the eastern part of Hazelton. Numerous small tribu- taries feed this stream, Onion creek and Porter creek being the most important. When the first settlers came to Hazelton, in 1848, they found the township well tim- bered with beech, maple, elm and bass- wood, and some other woods in smaller quan- tities.

The earliest two settlers were Stanton S. Latham and Eli E. Fowles, who came from Genesee county and together located on eighty acres on section 27. They at once built a cabin and began a small clearing. Their limited quarters afforded shelter for many of the settlers who followed, while erecting homes of their own, the hospitality of the pioneers being in no wise governed by the dimensions of their primitive dwellings. In the family of Mr. Latham was born the first white child in the township, in 1849. In his home also occurred the first death, -- that of Mrs. Latham, in 1852. His second marriage, which followed shortly, was also the first in the township. Mr. Latham ulti- mately removed to Oregon.

Porter Hazelton, in 1849, gave to a num- ber of persons tracts of forty acres under an agreement to effect certain improvements

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within a specified time and also to purchase an additional forty acres each to be paid for as they were able. Among those who came to the township under these conditions was John Willis, whose eighty acres were located on section 22. He made considerable improvement but finally wearied of the monotonous life in the new town, and in 1858 removed to Missouri. Solomon Mc- Intire was another who secured eighty acres in the same way and located on section 15. He devoted some time to the cultivation of his land, but after a few years removed to Grand Traverse.

Otis Burpee was a settler in 1849, coming from Genesee county with horses and wagon, over an Indian trail which was a somewhat difficult road for a wheeled vehicle to fol- low. He camped three nights on the way to section 10 of Hazelton, where he had eighty acres, procured from George H. Haz- elton by an agreement similar to that de- scribed in the cases of his neighbors. He, however, was more persevering in his efforts to reclaim the wilderness and in time devel- oped his purchase into a productive farm.

J. L. Richardson, another person whose advent is associated with the Hazelton con- tracts, arrived in 1850. He also had the courage to remain until his wild land was converted into a farm. He was prominent in public enterprises and did much during his official career as highway commissioner toward making various portions of the town- ships accessible by the laying out of high- ways. J. C. Smith, in the same year, settled on section 27, where he had eighty acres under contract from Porter Hazelton. He remained several years and the result of his industry was twenty acres of improved land,

but he ultimately found a more attractive home, in Wisconsin.

The farm first occupied by John Willis was sold . in 1850 to Daniel L. Patterson, who came from New York to the township, in that year. He added much to the lim- ited clearing made by his predecessor, though there were many obstacles to overcome. He was an early justice of the peace, and held his court in the log cabin where he lived. His death occurred in 1859.

In 1850 there were ten resident tax payers in the township, only one of whom had acquired more than eighty acres of land. This affluent citizen was Stanton S. Latham, who paid taxes that year on two "eighties." Among other pioneers of 1850 was H. S. Allen, whose land lay in section 15. He, however, accomplished less at farming than at his trade, which was that of a cabinet- maker. After a few years he removed to Corunna, and later to Newburg, in Shia- wassee township, where he is still remem- bered for his eccentricities as well as his skill as a wood-worker. Jesse Rhodes, a former resident of Ohio, also came in that year. He found deer, wolves, and other wild creatures still numerous in the forests, and Indians were frequent callers at his cabin. Mr. Rhodes died in 1869. Two of his sons, Ransom and Marshall, remained permanent residents of the section where their father had settled.

During the following ten or twelve years settlements in the township progressed slowly, only one or two a year being added to the number of those who established per- manent homes. W. W. Warner came from Pennsylvania in 1852, and located on section 34; C. S. Gillett came in 1853, but later

MAIN STREET, NEW LOTHROP

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removed to Flushing; John Bowman, a na- tive of Germany, came to Hazelton in 1855, and engaged quite extensively in the lumber business, after purchasing a farm in section 26; in the same year Henry St. John set- tled on section 35. About this time the Brown brothers, James and Jacob C., came from Livingston county. Some years later Jacob removed to Corunna and James sold his farm to William Eames and went to Grand Blanc to reside.

In 1856 John Decker, Amos Lewis and Elijah Coons settled in the southern part of the township. The following year section ? received three new residents, George Ja- cobs, Eli H. Day, and R. J. Holmes. They found a neighbor, B. Dutcher, already living in a rather isolated spot, in section 6. Levi Morse came from New York in 1858 and purchased eighty acres of land on section 30. Emery Lewis, originally from the same state, bought considerable land on sections 29 and 31, in 1859. These tracts in time de- veloped into fine farms. F. F. Brewer and L. H. Barrett were among the settlers of the early sixties.

Hazelton was organized a separate town- ship, March 25, 1850, and the first township meeting was held at the house of Stanton S. Latham, on April 30. Orrin Smith was the township's first supervisor.

The earliest school in Hazelton was taught in 1851, by Mrs. Daniel L. Patterson, in a log cabin standing on her husband's farm, the second teacher in that district being Mary Gillett. The earliest school in the Judd neighborhood was taught in 1854, by Miss Jane Judd. Her father, John Judd, settled in the southern part of the township in 1853 and was influential in pushing the

development of his immediate neighborhood, which is known far and wide as Judd's Cor- ners. When the first Methodist church and the Granger hall were built, both were located there. A postoffice was established in 1879.

VILLAGE OF NEW LOTHROP

In the northeast corner of the county is located the thriving little village of New Lothrop, which dates its settlement from 1850. It now has a population of four hun- dred and fifty, with a postoffice and tele- phone connection with all points in the county.

MIDDLEBURY TOWNSHIP

Middlebury is one of the fractional town- ships of the western tier lying along the principal meridian, but what it lacks in size is more than made up by the excellence of its soil and the beauty of its farms and farm houses.

In 1836 Obed Hathaway, a resident of New York, bought a tract of land in town 7 north, of range 1 east, in the county of Shia- wassee. In June of the following year, Hathaway, with his wife and four children, arrived at Henry Leach's place, on the Col- ony road, in Sciota. They were traveling in a lumber wagon drawn by oxen. They bar- gained with Leach to guide them to section 21, of the next town north.

Mr. Leach went forward "blazing" the route, and Hathaway followed, cutting out the road for his team. A trip of five miles brought them to their destination. Four weeks were required for the building of a cabin, and during that time the family lodged in the wagon. When winter came on, the Hathaways concluded that they

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would better return to Washtenaw county until the following spring, seeing that there was no chance to winter their cattle and a poor chance to winter themselves.

The first land entry in Middlebury had been made by George W. Slocum, also a New Yorker, in the spring of 1836. This was one hundred and sixty acres on sec- tion 35. Slocum, however, awaited the ar- rival of other members of his family from New York, until the closing days of 1837, when his party, also, made their way to Leach's place. The women of the family remained there two weeks, while the men walked to and from their location, spending the scant hours of daylight in building a cabin. With George Slocum came his father and his brothers, Daniel and John. When they moved into the cabin it had neither door nor window. At night wolves gath- ered near the house in packs and howled dismally, much to the terror of the women.

During that winter and until the Hatha- ways returned, in the spring, the Slocums were the only settlers in the township. But the four men working together accomplished a great improvement. Roads were, of course, of prime importance in that timbered coun- try. In the first year of their residence they underbrushed a road to Leach's place, an- other three miles east, and still another four miles northwest, toward the Hathaway set- tlement.

These two families went through all the usual experiences of pioneers, making twenty-mile trips on foot in quest of pro- visions, longer trips to mill, interspersed with bear hunts and deer hunts, with the object of replenishing the larder, in addition to their labor of clearing land. "Going for the

doctor" generally meant a night trip on horseback through the darkness of the forest, over most uncertain roads, to Owosso, eleven miles away. Getting to market at Pontiac or Detroit was a week's journey, at the least, and selling wheat for fifty cents a bushel was one of the disheartening experi- ences of pioneer life.

The next accession to the settlement was the family of John Palmer, on section 21, and of William Palmer, on section 22. They had come from Middlebury, New York, and when the new town received its name they had the honor of christening it, just as their father had named the town in New York, in honor of his earlier home in Middlebury, Vermont. The Palmers arrived in the spring of 1838 and about the same time Moses Clark, Jr., made a settlement on section 34. Two brothers, Elijah and Silas Potter, also located on section 25. Moses Clark was afterward joined by his father, who was a Baptist minister and who in that office per- formed effective service.

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Past and present of Shiawassee County, Michigan, historically; with biographical sketches, Part 17

Author: Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Lansing, Mich. : Hist. Pub. Number of Pages: 580

Author:
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Lansing, Mich. : Hist. Pub.
Number of Pages: 580