USA > Michigan > Shiawassee County > Past and present of Shiawassee County, Michigan, historically; with biographical sketches > Part 6
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The land purchased by Mr. Baker lay on both sides of the river, principally in sections 14 and 23 of Shiawassee township. To each of his five children he gave eighty acres, re- quiring only that they should themselves pay . the taxes. On the portion given his youngest daughter the taxes for the first year were only . two dollars and fifty cents, which does not ap- pear a burdensome sum, and, yet, in that first year it may have been difficult to realize that amount as a profit on the investment. With- out a market for the timber and with no por- tion of the soil yet available for raising crops, taxes may have been as much a problem then as in this year of grace, 1906. The eighty acres mentioned in connection with the tax is now that part of Mr. Frank M. Whelan's large and splendidly tilled farm where his resi- dence stands. The land Mr. Baker gave to another daughter is now part of "Riverview,"
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SHIAWASSEE COUNTY
the beautiful farm owned by Charles A. Whe- lan. The farm given to Mrs. Swain was "Roselawn," now owned by Mr. N. A. Harder, and there, on October 28, 1833, was born Julia Swain, the first white child born in Shi- awassee county.
This land along the river is now among the most fertile and picturesque farming land to be found in the state, but the clearing of such land with the facilities then at hand was work calculated to wear out the strongest of those engaged in it. Nine years of such labor brought the end to Hosea Baker, at the early age of fifty-three. He died January 22, 1842, his wife surviving him only two years.
After the timber had been cleared from the higher ground lying west of the meadow found in the bend of the river, the Bakers built a substantial and commodious frame dwelling. This was the northermost house in what after- ward grew into the village of Newberg. This portion of the farm was inherited by Ambrose Baker, who made his home there until the winter of 1854-5, when he sold it to John Carruthers, who with his wife and two sons, Cameron and George, came to Michigan from Bath, Steuben County, New York. Of that family, George Carruthers still lives at New- berg. The meadow on which was the first land plowed in the county is now included in the farm of John C. Carruthers ; it lies directly northwest of the iron bridge which crosses the river at Newberg. North of the former home of the Bakers is the burial ground called the Newberg cemetery. At its extreme eastern end stands a magnificent specimen of the forest trees, so many of which were unavoid- ably wasted in the clearing of the land. It is an oak of immense girth and as symmetrical proportions as it seems possible for a tree to
attain. This beautiful oak had been spared by Hosea Baker because of his love for nature's masterpieces, and when he gave the ground to be used as a cemetery, it was with the request that he be buried in its shade. Close by the tree stands a moss-grown slab of marble on which is an inscription in memory of "Hosea Baker and his wife Sally." Beneath its spreading branches their children and grandchildren lie sleeping, and near by many of their pioneer neighbors are resting in well earned repose.
The settlements made in the county in 1834 were but few, though entries of land and prep- arations for permanent occupancy were numerous. In 1835, however, the number of actual settlers was considerably increased, and their settlements were extended northward and westward into Caledonia township, and to the Big Rapids of the Shiawassee, now Owosso. Among those who came in and made permanent location in the two years named were Isaac M. Banks, in Shiawassee; John Swain, in Caledonia, Samuel N. Whitcomb, Josiah Pierce and James Rutan, in Vernon ; Zachariahı R. Webb, in Venice, and Louis Findley, Kilburn Bedell, David Van Wormer. John D. Overton, and Henry S. Smith, at the Rapids. Overton and Van Wormer came as tenants of Judge Elias Comstock, who had purchased land at the Rapids and had made some improvements in 1835, in preparation for permanent settlements there. In the same manner Henry S. Smith, who had made a tem- porary halt near Shiawasseetown, moved to the new settlement at the Rapids and occupied a log house erected by A. L. and B. O. Will- iams.
In this year, 1835, the first settlement in the township of Burns was made by Dyer Rath-
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PAST AND PRESENT OF
burn, from New York state. Naturally, it would seem that this part of the county should have been the first settled, for not only was it nearest to the older settlements in the counties south and east and traversed by the old thoroughfare from Pontiac to the Grand river, but it also contained the county-site as then established, and the region contiguous to the confluence of the east and south branches of the Shiawassee was one of great natural ad- vantages. The reason why these causes did not induce the first settlers to locate in this township was undoubtedly because the lands in the most favored localities had been secured ' many years before by Judge Samuel W. Dex- ter, and were held by him for purposes of spec- ulation. ·
The year 1836 saw the greatest influx of im- migrants into Shiawassee, as was also the case in most other counties of the Lower Penin- sula. In that year settlements spread through the county with great rapidity, particularly along the line of the Grand River road (or trail) and contiguous country. The list of those who came in that season is too numerous to be given at length, but mention may be made of a few in several of the townships em- bracing different sections of the county. In Burns township there came along the settlers of that year, Major Francis J. Prevost, Robert Crawford, John Burgess, Wallace Goodin, John P. Barnum, P. L. Smith, and S. S. Derby, several of whom were members of the Byron Company.
Passing westward in the townships of the same tier, there were among the settlers of 1836, Allen Beard, Lyman Melvin, Peter Cook, Alanson Alling, and others in Antrim ; Josiah Purdy, in Perry; and Josephus and John Woodhull, in the township which was
afterward named for them. Peter Laing came in the same year and founded the village of Laingsburg, in what is now the township of Sciota, and Samuel Carpenter, Mason Phelps and Milton Phelps also made settlements in the same township. Bennington received its first settlers in the persons of Samuel Nichols and his brother James, who had en- tered their lands in the previous year and came to locate permanently in the spring of 1836. In the fall of that year Jordan Hol- comb and Aaron Hutchings came to the same township, and Lemuel Castle and several others came there on prospecting tours and made preparation for settlement in the follow- ing spring.
In 1836 William Newberry, Ephriam Wright, William M. Warren, and many others located in what is now the township of Shia- wassee. John Smedley, Noah Bovier. William K. Reed, and Joseph Parmenter were among the immigrants of this year in Vernon; Cap- tain John Davids in Caledonia (on the present site of the city of Corunna) ; and Judge Com- stock at Owosso. Settlements were also made in Middlebury, on the west border of the county, by Obed Hathway, George W. Slocum, and some others, and in New Haven by Horace Hart and Richard Free- man. The other townships of the northern tier remained unsettled until a later date.
The above brief mention of a very few of the pioneers of Shiawassee is made here merely for the purpose of showing the manner in which the settlements spread from the point where they commenced, on the Shiawassee river to other points of the county. More ex- tended and detailed accounts of the early set- tlements and settlers will be given in the sep- arate histories of the several townships.
1
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SHIAWASSEE COUNTY
The rapid immigration of 1836 brought with it a fever of speculation in wild lands. It was not long before hundreds of speculators from the east were swarming here, eager to select and purchase the best tracts of government land, and this, of course, resulted unfavorably for the progress of the county. Numerous projects of "improvement" were conceived and villages were started, which apparently prospered for a time, but some of which af- terward decayed and went down as rapidly as they had sprung into existence, and by the close of the year 1837 the prospect of material progress in Shiawassee county began to as- sume a less roseate hue than it had worn only a short time before. The situation of affairs at that time at some of the principal points in the county was noticed by Bela Hubbard (who made a tour through this section in the fall of 1837, as an assistant to Douglas Houghton in his geological explorations), as follows :
"Byron, in the southeast corner of Shia- wassee county was the termination of our wagon journey. The name had long occupied a prominent place on all the old maps of Mich- igan,-at that time a decade was antiquity,- and held out to the new-comer the promise of a large and thriving village. The reality was disappointing. It possessed, all told, but a mill and two houses. At Byron we exchanged our wagon for a canoe, and commenced a des- cent of Shiawassee river.
"From Byron to Owosso, about twenty miles direct, but many more by the course of the stream, our way lay mostly through lands more heavily timbered, but varied with open- ings and occasional plains. Through this part of the country roads had been opened and set- tlements had made rapid progress. * Shiawasseetown at this time contained a dozen
log cabins and as many frames unfinished. One of these was of quite a superior construc- tion, and indicative of the era of speculation through which the country had passed. It was three stories in height and designed for a hotel. The whole village was under mortgage and was advertised to be sold at public vendue.
"Corunna, the county-seat, we found to con- sist of one log house situated on the bank of the river, and occupied by a Mr. Davids, who a year before, and soon after the organization of the county, had made an entry here. A steam mill was in process of erection. About twenty acres of land had been cleared and planted, and never did crystal stream lave a more fertile soil.
"Three miles below was 'located' the village of Owosso, already a thriving settlement, con- taining a dozen log buildings, a frame one and a saw mill. With the exception of a few scattered settlers upon the plain south of the line of the present Detroit & Milwaukee Rail- way, such constituted the entire white popula- tion of Shiawassee county."
The Williams brothers, when they made their first visit to the county in 1829 were young men, the older of the two not yet hav- ing attained his majority. "We concluded," said Mr. B. O. Williams, "that when we be- came of age we would settle in this new and beautiful virgin forest;" and this intention was carried out two years later, while he was still a minor, the Exchange farm being entered in the name of Alfred L. Williams. Estab- lishing their residence thus early, and living to a ripe age, they remained for more than half a century the seniors among the resi- dents of Shiawassee county. Alfred L. Will- iams died January 5, 1886, and Benjamin O. Williams March 25, 1887.
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PAST AND PRESENT OF
CIVIL ORGANIZATION
Shiawassee, which is one of the counties in the fourth tier,-counting northward from the southern line of the state,-has for its western boundary the principal meridian. It is bound- ed on the north by Saginaw, east by Genesee, south by Livingston and Ingham, and on the west by Clinton. It is now one of the smallest counties in the state, for although it contains the same number of townships (sixteen) which are embraced in each one of several other counties, the western range of townships in this has only about two-thirds the usual width, -this being the result of a mistake or miscal- culation in the making of the original sur- veys.
The story of Shiawassee county's civil for- mation and growth begins in the last decade of the eighteenth century, while Michigan was yet only an ill defined section of that great new part of the United States called the Northwest Territory. The first of the counties of Mich- igan, as also the first which was laid out to contain any part of the territory afterward included in Shiawassee, was the county of Wayne. This county was first proclaimed by the executive of the Northwest Territory, Au- gust 18, 1796, to embrace all of lower Michi- gan and portions of Indiana and Ohio. But although Wayne, as then laid out, contained a considerable number of inhabitants and sent its representatives to the general assembly of the territory at Chillicothe, its white popula- tion was nearly all clustered at its county-seat, Detroit, and along or near the waters of its southeastern border, and its jurisdiction ex- tending scarcely a half dozen miles back from the lakes and navigable streams had no exis-
tence in all the vast wilderness of the inte- rior.
The county was again laid out by proclama- tion of the executive of the Territory of Mich- igan, Governor Cass, dated November 21, 1815, this time with a greatly reduced area and with more definite limits. It was then made to include all "that part of the Territory of Michigan to which the Indian title has been extinguished," thus embracing within its boundaries all of the present territory of Shia- wassee county, except a small portion (about one-sixth of its area) which had not been ceded by the treaty of 1807; this portion was that northwest corner to which the Indian title was not extinguished until the treaty of Sagi- naw in 1819.
Out of this great county of Wayne other counties were successively carved, the first being Macomb. While Shiawassee was not included within its boundaries, it was, with other territory, attached to the new county for purposes of government. The second county taken from Wayne was Oakland, which was organized, by executive proclamation, March 28, 1820. At that time, and for two years af- terward, the lands which now form the south half of Shiawassee county were included as a part of Oakland; about two-thirds of the north half still remained attached to Macomb, the other third being the northwest corner ceded by the Indians in the previous year and not within the limits of any county.
Shiawassee was proclaimed a separate county by Governor Cass September 10, 1822, its boundaries embracing, in addition to its present area, the northeast quarter of Ingham
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SHIAWASSEE COUNTY
county, the north half of Livingston county and eight townships from the western side of the county of Genesee. The subsequent crea- tion of these three counties cut off those por- tions of the original territory of Shiawassee and reduced it to its present limits. The or- ganization of the county of Genesee was ef- fected about a year prior to that of Shiawassee, and within that year, Shiawassee was attach- ed to the former county "for judicial pur- poses," it having been attached to Oakland up to that time.
It had also been made a part of the town- ship of Grand Blanc, in Genesee county, "for the purposes of township government." This township jurisdiction continued until March 23, 1836, when the Governor approved an act which provided "that the county of Shiawassee be, and the same is, hereby set off and organi- zed into a separate township by the name of Shiawassee." This township continued to em- brace all the territory of the county until March 11, 1837, when an act was approved providing that the north half of the county "be organized into a separate township by the name of Owosso." By the same act the town- ships of Burns and Vernon were set off, em- bracing respectively the same territory as at present. The remainder of the county formed the township of Shiawassee. These were the township subdivisions existing within the county at the time of its separate organization, and the above account exhibits the changes of jurisdiction through which the territory had passed prior to that time.
The organization of the county was effected under authority of an act of the legislature. approved March 13, 1837, which provided "that the county of Shiawassee be, and the same is, hereby organized for county purposes :
and the inhabitants thereof shall be entitled to
· all the rights and privileges to which, by law. the inhabitants of other counties of this state, organized since the adoption of the constitu- tion, are entitled."
Under this act a special election was held in May, 1837, resulting in the election of Levi Rowe as sheriff, Andrew Parson as county clerk, Josiah Pierce as treasurer, James Rutan and Alfred L. Williams as associate judges. Elias Comstock as judge of probate, and Daniel Gould as county surveyor. Sanford M. Green was made prosecuting attorney, by ap- pointment. By this election the organization of Shiawassee county was made complete.
The next subdivision was made by an act approved March 6, 1838, which provided for the organization of the township of Antrim, its territory being the same then as at present : also of the township of Bennington which in- cluded, in addition to its own present terri- tory, that of the township of Perry.
By act approved April 2, 1838, the township of Woodhull was created, comprising the pres- ent towns of Woodhull and Sciota. By the organization of Woodhull the territory of the old township of Shiawassee was diminished to its present size.
The first reduction of the area of Owosso township was made by an act approved March 21, 1839, which formed the township of Mid- dlebury, including in its limits the present townships of Middlebury and Fairfield. The same act also took from the territory of Owos- so survey-township 7 north, of range 4 east, (which is now Venice), and attached it to the township of Vernon. On the following day, March 22, 1839, the Governor approved an act in which it was provided that township 7 north, of range 3 east, except sections 6, 8, 18,
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PAST AND PRESENT OF
19 and 30, "be set off and organized into a township by the name of Caledonia; and the first township meeting shall be held at the house of Alexander McArthur, in said town- ship." By an act approved February 16, 1842, the five sections omitted were taken from Owosso and annexed to Caledonia, thus mak- ing its limits coextensive with those of the survey-township.
The reduction of Bennington township to its present size was effected March 15, 1841, by an act. which provided that township 5 north, of range 2 east, be "set off and organized as a separate township by the name of Perry."
New Haven township was organized by an act of March 20, 1848, and took from Owosso two more townships, being composed of the present towns of New Haven and Hazelton.
By an act approved February 16, 1842, Woodhull township was reduced to its pres- ent size, township 6 north, of range 1 east, being taken from its original territory. The new township was organized under the name of Sciota.
An act of the legislature approved March 9, 1843, provided that township 7 north, of range + east, which in 1839 had been taken from Owosso and attached to Vernon, should be "organized as a separate township by the name of Venice, and the first township meet- ing thereof shall be held at the house of Neely Sawtell."
By an act of March 25, 1850, the township of New Haven was divided, the western of the two towns of which it was composed retaining the original name, and the eastern being or- ganized as a separate township by the name of Hazelton.
The last township taken from the territory of Owosso was that of Rush, which was or-
ganized March 28, 1850. By the formation of Rush the area of Owosso was reduced to a single one of the eight townships which it orig- inally embraced.
The youngest township in the county is that of Fairfield, which was established with its present territory by action of the board of su- pervisors on the 4th of January, 1854.
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
Shortly after the act was approved (March 23, 1836) which provided that the county be organized into a "separate township by the name of Shiawassee," a township meeting was held at the house of Hosea Baker, who was elected supervisor for that year, and repre- sented the board of supervisors of Genesee county, to which this county was attached.
At the time of the organization of the county, one year later, the townships entitled to a representation were Shiawassee, Owosso, Burns, and Vernon; also two townships of Clinton county, which was then attached to Shiawassee. No record is preserved of a meet- ing in the fall of that year, 1837, but the fact that such meeting was held is proved by the action of the board at the session of October, 1838, when that body rescinded a resolution "passed in October last," in reference to wolf bounties. The first session recorded as held within the limits of the county commenced on Tuesday, October 2, 1838, at the Shiawassee Exchange, where Lemuel Castle was chosen chairman, and Francis J. Prevost clerk pro tem. At the close of that meeting the board adjourned to meet the next day at the hotel at Shiawasseetown, kept by Lucius W. Beach. The supervisors present were Lemuel Castle, of Bennington; Elias Comstock, of Owosso; H. B. Flint, of Antrim ; Francis J. Prevost, of
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SHIAWASSEE COUNTY
Burns; Thomas Beal, of Shiawassee ; James Rutan, of Vernon; Jonathan Woodhull, of Woodhull; and three supervisors representing townships in Clinton county.
The first business was the examination of wolf certificates, and twenty-five of these were audited, covering an amount of three hundred and seventy-five dollars. The townships of Owosso, Burns, and Shiawassee had made re- quests to the supervisors for money to build bridges. It was decided to levy the tax for the construction of the bridges upon the county instead of the several townships. The amount to each and the location of the bridges are here given : Owosso (at the village), three hundred dollars ; Burns (near John Knaggs), two hun- dred dollars ; Shiawassee, fifty dollars.
It is interesting to note that the committee on equalization of the assessment rolls re- ported, and a comparison of their report for 1838 with the report of the Board of Super- visors for 1905 is as follows :
1838
Assessment.
Total Tax.
Owosso
$297,681
$1,714
Burns
66,643
487
Woodhull.
81,025
603
Bennington
96,224
603
Vernon
66,856
532
Shiawassee
66,037
926
Antrim
64,095
448
$738,561
$5,310
1905
Assessment.
Total Tax.
Antrim
$ 718,000
$ 8,118.26
Bennington
961,000
21,270.14
Burns
1,048,000
17,503.84
Caledonia
890,000
12,067.85
Fairfield .
561,000
7,981.62
Hazelton
1,039,000
14,147.37
Middlebury
693,000
14,821.68
New Haven
930,000
11,153.38
Owosso
930,000
17,896.07
1905-Continued
Assessment.
Total Tax.
Perry.
$1,186,000
$ 19,517.46
Rush
800,000
9,692.83
Sciota
885,000
10,281.06
Shiawassee.
1,025,000
19,504.95
Venice
1,045,000
17,005.38
Vernon
1,703,000
37,249.69
Woodhull.
500,000
6,220.08
Owosso City
4,430,000
104,529.88
Corunna City
649,000
22,728.30
$19,993,000
$371,689.84
The board was in session several days, clos- ing on the 6th of October.
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
By the provisions of a law passed by the legislature in 1838, the powers and duties of the board of supervisors were transferred to a board of county commissioners, to be com- posed of three members.' The three commis- sioners elected in November of that year were Lemuel Castle, Ransom W. Holley, and Ephriam H. Utley (of Clinton county). The board met and organized on the 20th of No- vember, 1838, at the hotel of Lucius W. Beach, in Shiawasseetown, which seems practically to have been the first county-seat, though it was never officially recognized as such.
The board convened at Corunna in July, and at Shiawassee Exchange in September of the year 1839, the latter meeting being held for the purpose of adjusting accounts between Clinton and Shiawassee counties, the former having been organized March 12, 1839. On the 7th of October, in the same year, the com- missioners convened at Corunna, and accepted a block of land three hundred feet square do- nated by the County Seat Company, designated on the recorded plat of Corunna as the "public square."
The business of the county was transacted
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PAST AND PRESENT OF
by the commissioners until the office was abol- ished by act of legislature, February 10, 1842. The powers which had been exercised by the commissioners were then resumed by the su- pervisors of the county. The first meeting of
the board of supervisors, under the law of 1842, convened on July 4th of that year at the court house in the village of Corunna, and since that time the government of the county has been under the control of such a board.
ESTABLISHMENT OF COURTS
CIRCUIT COURT
By the act under which Shiawassee county was organized it was provided that "The cir- cuit court of the county of Shiawassee shall be held at the county-seat, if practicable, and if not, at such other place as the sheriff of said county shall provide until county buildings shall be erected.
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