USA > Michigan > Washtenaw County > Past and present of Washtenaw County, Michigan > Part 100
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"The boys had taken from the farm of John Williams, the schoolmaster, a persuader in the shape of a big lever, thirty or forty feet long. The fulcrum was adjusted, the boys were in position, and the whistle of the lad who stood sentinel at the open door, just as the moderator put the ques- tion, one corner of the first school edifice in Sharon creaked and went up about two feet. The vote for a new one was nearly unanimous. The ayes and ohs were all counted in the affirmative. These schoolhouses were also used in those days for houses of worship, and every one of them had what was called an 'amen corner.' On the night I speak of the amen corner of this house spoke up loud and prompt."
780
PAST AND PRESENT OF WASHTENAW COUNTY.
Sharon was particularly free from the fever and ague which was prevalent in most of the townships of the county at an early date, and while there were some cases of the ague in the township there were neither so many nor so se- vere as those of the adjoining townships.
The township had, however, its wild cat bank, the Bank of Sharon, with Ruell Ambrose as presi- dent and S. Baldwin as cashier, being known far and wide from the large amount of wild cat cur- rency that it put in circulation.
In 1832 the settlers of the township assembled at the house of Porter C. Lathrop and resolved to defend their settlement against Black Hawk's warriors, who happily never came within miles of the township. In the Toledo war, however, Sharon furnished a number of soldiers as well as Colonel James Harley Fellows, who for a time commanded the advance guard of southern Michi- gan. The pioneers who took part in this Toledo war were as much in earnest as those who went out to any other war. Several of the wives of soldiers, who volunteered, refused to permit them to go, and in one case where the Toledo veteran insisted on his departure the wife, as her husband marched off, cried, "I shall never see you any more," and fainted dead away. They lived to- gether happily, however, for many years after- wards.
In the Civil war Sharon was represented by many brave soldiers, and after the conclusion of the war the township, at a cost of $1.500, erected a monument to the twenty-four soldiers from Sharon, who died in the war for the Union.
The first church in Sharon was called the Gillett church, after Amasa Gillett, who donated a beautiful burr oak grove for its site in 1831. the church, however, not being built until fifteen years later. The church, however, never got a deed of the land, and as the church society was afterwards dissolved, the land reverted to the Rev. J. K. Gillett, a son of Amasa, who, in 1891, sold to Jesse P. Gillett, of Marshall.
The Sharon Center church was built by the Congregationalists in 1848, with Oliver Kellogg, Micah Porter and Harvey Annabil as trustees. It soon became a Methodist church, and its first pastor was the Rev. Magee Bardwell.
Among the prominent men in the township was Hon. Andrew Robison and his son, the Hon. John J. Robison. Both represented the county in the state legislature at different times, although of opposite politics. They came into the town- ship in 1843 from Ontario county, New York. The father was a member of the legislature in 1851, was several times supervisor of the town- ship, and was appointed by Governor Blair to receive the soldiers' votes in the south during the war. He died January 27, 1879. Hon. John J. Robison was born in Ontario county, New York, August 13. 1824. He represented the county in the state senate in 1863 and 1864, and in the house in 1879. He was elected county clerk four times-1868, 1870, 1882 and 1884. He rep- resented his township as supervisor for a number of terms and was the democratic candidate for speaker in the house at Lansing. He was a dele- gate to the democratic national convention in 1872, and was the democratic candidate for con- gress in 1874 and 1876. Sharon also furnished to the state legislature Senator David G. Rose, who was state senator in 1881 and 1882. He also rep- resented his township as supervisor on various occasions.
In 1837 Sharon had a population of 782, two sawmills and two merchants. Its farmers owned 130 horses, 59 sheep, 1,030 hogs and 1,818 head of neat stock, and raised during that year 34.423 bushels of wheat, 10.340 bushels of corn and 20,- 055 bushels of oats.
The supervisors of the township have been : Oliver Kellogg 1835
Ebenezer H. Conklin 1836
Lazarus Hull 1837
Lewis Allen 1838
Micah Porter 1839-40
Henry Rowe 1841
Micah Porter 1842-43
Lewis Allen 1844
James H. Fellows 1845
Amasa Gillett 1846-48
Lewis Allen 1849
Charles Kingsley 1850
Andrew Robison 1851-52
Hull Goodyear 1853-54
Cyrus Raymond 1855
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PAST AND PRESENT OF WASHTENAW COUNTY.
Harvey E. Osborn 1856
Andrew Robison 1857-60
Cyrus Raymond 1861
Jay Everett 1862-64
George Dorr 1865
John W. Rice 1866
John J. Robison 1867
John J. Robison 1868
Andrew Robison, vice J. J. R. 1868
Andrew Robison
1869
Emerson Annabil
1870
William B. Osborn 1871
Emerson Annabil
1872-74
John J. Robison
1875
J. Everett
1876
G. Edwin States
1877
J. J. Robison
1878
David G. Rose
1879
John J. Robison
1881-82
William B. Osborn
1883-88
Albert H. Perry .1889-90
William B. Osborn 1891-94
William F. Hall
1895-0I
Morton L. Raymond
.1902-03
John W. Dresselhouse 1904
SUPERIOR.
Superior was separated from Salem in 1831. when it ceased to be part of the township of Panama. The township of Panama had been organized in 1828 the first township meeting be- ing held at the house of John McCormick. When the township of Superior was organized, Augus- tus Root became supervisor.
In 1845 Superior was the scene of considerable excitement through the strange appearance of a ghost, the story of which was told in the Ypsi- lanti Sentinel of January 14, 1846, as follows:
"For some weeks past Dixboro, in this county, has been the theatre of an excitement so strange, and giving rise to so many diverse reports, that we have thought a full account of its origin might prove acceptable to the public, while so far from doing injustice to the parties concerned, it would correct a vast number of unfounded reports with which the public ear is filled.
"The circumstances are briefly these: Some
time last summer, the subject of the following affidavit, Mrs. M-, a widow, died in Dixboro, under circumstances which gave occasion to re- ports in the immediate neighborhood, that foul play had been shown her. The matter, however, was suffered to fall into oblivion, without any attempt to ascertain the truth of these reports until the date of the affidavit below, when the deponent voluntarily appeared before a justice of the peace and made the deposition, a verbatim copy of which we give :
"The deponent, it is said by those who have called on him, is a man of good character-ap- pears well on the most strict examination-and seems to be fully aware of the singularity of his position-a position which he would most gladly evade if regard for truth would permit him.
"Another evidence of his sincerity is found in the fact he left the house in obedience to the wishes of the apparition.
"But the subject would doubtless have been little regarded had not the intimation of the appa- rition, most singularly coincided with facts, which the deponent, being a stranger from another state necessarily ignorant of the circumstances he so clearly stated, except he had previously learned them from some unknown source. This induced the community about the scene of the transaction, to cause the body to be disinterred, and a coroner's inquest to be held, which, irrespective of the apparition, found a verdict that the deceased came to her death by poison 'administered by some person to them unknown.'
"The testimony, given on the inquest, is sup- pressed : what the end will be remains to be seen ; the affidavit is as follows :
".I, Isaac Van Woert left Livingston county, New York, about the middle of September, 1845. for the purpose of moving to Michigan with my family, and arrived on Wednesday the 24th day of September and took lodgings the same night in a vacant house, pointed out to me by Jackson Hawkins.
"'On Saturday night the 27th of September between 7 and 8 o'clock I was standing in front of the window of said house and my wife had stepped into Mrs. Hammond's about two rods dis- tant, my two little boys were in the back yard, for
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PAST AND PRESENT OF WASHTENAW COUNTY.
I had just passed through the house, and was combing my hair, when I saw a light through the window ; I put my hand on the window sill and looked in. I saw a woman with a candlestick in her hand in which a candle was burning : she held it in her left hand; she was a middle sized woman, wore a loose gown, had a white cloth around her head, her right hand clasped in her clothes near the waist ; she was a little bent for- ward, her eye large and much sunken, very pale indecd, her lips projected and her teeth showed some; she moved slowly across the floor until she entered the bedroom and the door closed; I then went up and opened the bed-room door, and all was dark; I stepped forward and lighted a candle with a match, looked forward but saw no one, nor heard any noise except just before I opened the bed-room door I thought I heard one of the bureau drawers open and shut.
"'I spoke of what I had seen several days after, and then I learned for the first time that the house in which I then lived had been previously occu- pied by a widow MI-, and that she died there. The second time I saw her was in October about I o'clock in the morning. I got up, started to go out of the back door; as I opened the bed-room door it was light in the outer room: I saw no candle but I saw the same woman that I had seen before; I was about five feet from her: she said. "Don't, touch me not." I stepped back a little and asked her what she wanted, and she said, "He has got it. He robbed me little by little, until they kilt me! They kilt me! now he has got all." I then asked her who had it all? She said, "J- J-, yes J- has got it at last, but it won't do him long. Joseph ! oh! Joseph ; I wish Joseph would come away." Then all was dark and still.
"'October-The third time I saw her I awoke in the night, know not what hour, the bed-room was entirely light ; I saw no candle but saw the same woman : she said "J- can't hurt me any more. No! he can't. I am out of his reach. Why don't they get Joseph away! Oh! my boy! Why not come away." And all was dark and still.
"'October-The fourth time I saw her was about eleven o'clock p. m. I was sitting with my feet on the stove hearth. My family had retired and I was eating a lunch when all at once the
front door stood open, and I saw the same woman in the door, supported in the arms of a man whom I knew : she was stretched back and looked as if she was in the agonies of death ; she said nothing but the man said, "She is dying! She will die," etc., and all disappeared and the door was closed without noise.
"'October-The fifth time I saw her was a little after sunrise, I came out of the house to go to my work, I saw the same woman in the front yard. She said, "I want Joseph to keep my papers but they are"-here something seemed to stop her utterance. Then she said "Joseph! Joseph! I fear something will befall my boy ;" and all was gone.'
"`October -- The sixth time I saw her was near midnight, and it was the same woman standing in the bed-room. The room was again light as before, no candle visible. I looked at my wife fearing she might awake. She then raised her hand and said, "She will not awake:" she seemed to be in great pain, she then leaned over grasp- ing her bowels in one hand and in the other held a phial containing a liquid. I asked her what it was. "The doctor said it was Balm of Gilead." she replied ; and all disappeared.
"'October-The seventh time I saw her. I was working at a little bench, which was standing in the room, and which I worked on evenings. I saw the same woman. "I wanted to tell James something, but I could not, I could not ;" I asked what she wanted to tell: "Oh! he did an awful thing to me." I asked her who did? "The man they would not let me have." she answered. I asked her what he did? "Oh! he gave me a great deal of trouble in my mind." she replied "Oh! they kilt me; they kilt me!" She repeated this several times over. I walked forward and tried to reach her but she kept the same distance from me. I asked her if she had taken anything that had killed her? She answered. "Oh! I don't- Oh! I don't,"- the froth in her mouth seemed to stop her utterance. Then she said "Oh, they kilt me! they kilt me!" This she repeated a num- ber of times. I asked her, who killed you? "I will show you." she said. Then she went out of the back door near the fence and I followed her. There I saw two men whom I knew standing.
792
PAST AND PRESENT OF WASHTENAW COUNTY.
They looked cast down and dejected. I saw them begin at their feet and melt down like lead melting, until they were entirely melted; then a blue blaze two inches thick burned over the sur- face of the melted mass, then all began bubbling up like lime slacking. I turned to see where the woman was, but she was gone. I looked back again and all was gone and dark.
"'The next time I saw the woman was in the back yard, about five o'clock p. m. She said, "I want you to tell J- to repent. Oh! if he would repent. But he won't, he can't. John was a bad man :" and muttered something I could not un- derstand. She then said, "Do you know where Frain's Lake is?" She then asked another ques- tion of much importance and said, "Don't tell of that. I asked her if I should inform the public on the two men that she said had killed her. She replied, "There will be a time. The time is com- ing. The time will come," etc., several times. "But, oh! their end! Their end! their wicked end! and muttered something about Joseph, and all was dark.
" 'The next time I saw her was on the sixth of November, about midnight, in the bed-room. She was dressed in white; her hands hung down by her side-stood very straight, and looked very pale. She said, "I don't want anybody here. I want nobody here ;" and muttered over something I did not understand, except now and then the word Joseph. She then said, "I wanted to tell a secret and I thought I had." And all was gone and dark.
"'In all her conversation she used the Irish accent ; intermixed in all her conversation was the expression very often repeated, "They have kilt me, oh they have kilt me;" and also the name of Joseph.'"
Many of the people of the neighborhood placed implicit belief in the testimony of the ghosts and Frayne's Lake and the well were searched for the supposed victims of the murders but, of course, none were discovered. Many others believed that the story was a part of a well-laid conspiracy to secure the removal of a certain man from the community, and if this were so, they are said to have been successful.
The boiler in Cornwell's mill at Lowell ex-
ploded October 19, 1888, badly wrecking the building, killing one man and fatally injuring another.
James Richards. an eccentric seventy-year-old Englishman, who lived alone three miles from Dixboro, was murdered Saturday night, January 31, 1807. He had been shot through the body with a large revolver. He was not instantly killed and was not discovered until 3 o'clock Sun- day afternoon. He was alive when found but so badly frightened that he was afraid of every one and no account of the tragedy could be obtained from him. He died at 3 o'clock Monday morn- ing. But the appearance of the freshly fallen snow, the condition of the door, the room and the surroundings told the tale as plainly as words could have done. He was a miser and ten years before had been robbed of over $1,000 after being tortured to make him tell the hiding place for his money without success. He became insane from this torture and had been sent to an asylum and recovered and was living a lonely but harmless life in one of the few log houses remaining in Washtenaw. The murder grew out of another attempted robbery. Three men had driven up with a cutter from the direction of Frayne's Lake. One man stayed with the horse by the roadside, while two went across the field to the log house. They had forced in the door of the house and been met by the old man with a pitchfork. They had made use of the door to protect themselves against the lunges with the pitchfork Richards had made and the door was badly scarred with marks of the fork. One of them had procured a pole and had struck the old man across the shoulder; the pole bore marks of the fork tines. But they did not succeed in disarming the old man. Finally they shot him through the body and stole his money. How much they took is not known, but it is not probable that they got much, as the bulk of his money had been in a bank since the previous robbery. It was a brave battle that Richards had put up and a desperate one and probably lasted for some time. William Larkins, Rupert Jones and Edward Lyons, three Plymouth men, were arrested and charged with the crime, but were acquitted. No further efforts were made to discover the murderers of James Richards.
793
PAST AND PRESENT OF WASHTENAW COUNTY.
Not less than eight sawmills have been in op- eration at various periods in Superior, seven of which were run by water power, and one by steam power. Two were located at Dixboro, two at Lowell, one on section 25. one on section 26, and one on section 36, as well as one on section 12. Three flouring mills, two built at Dixboro and one at Lowell, have disappeared. At Lowell existed at one time the Bank of Lowell, one of those wildcat banks which did a great business. At Lowell in more recent years has been estab- lished a large paper mill.
The Methodist Episcopal church was built in 1858 and a free church, intended for all denom- inations, was built by Col. Brewer and Abel Park- hurst in 1855.
Superior, at the present writing, has within its borders only the Michigan Central Railroad at its extreme southwest corner, so that most of the township is some distance from a railroad. Within the last two or three years the Superior farmers have anticipated with great pleasure the building of an electric line between Ann Arbor and De- troit by way of Plymouth, passing through Su- perior, and known as the Boland line ; but unfor- tunately at this writing, although much of the right of way for the road has been secured, it seems hardly probable that the line will be built.
In 1837 Superior had a population of 1.378, two gristmills, six sawmills and two merchants. This is a larger population than any town contains to-day.
The supervisors of Superior have been :
Augustus Root 1829
Geo. Renwick 1830-32
Augustus Root 1833-34
Joseph Howe 1835-36
Rob. T. Wheelock 1837-40
Joseph Howe .1841
Silas Wheelock 1842
E. R. Murray 1843
Frederick Andrews 1844
Elijah R. Murray 1845
Daniel Tibbetts 1846
Daniel Crippen 18.47
John Brewer 1848-49
Smith W. Bowers . 1850
George Douglass . 1851-53
I. L. Kimmell 1854
L. W. Bowers 1855-56
Edward Goodspeed 1857
John Brewer 1858
Ira Crippen 1859
E. M. Cole 1960
William Hiscock 1861
E. M. Cole 860
Warren Babcock 1867-68
William Geer 1869
. Ira Crippen 1870
William Geer 1871-72
Freeman P. Galpin 1873-81
George McDougal 1882-3
William C. Murray
1884-5
Peter T. Gill
1886-7
George D. Grippen 1888-9
William Geer
1889
Michael J. Howard
1890-2
Peter Gill
1893
Philo E. Galpin 1894
Walter Voorheis 1895-00
Robert Shanklin
1901-3
Ennis R. Twist
. 1904-
SYLVAN.
Although when the pioneers first visited Sylvan township, in the words of an early settler "They beheld a beautiful undulating country gemmed in part with clear lakes, and diversified by a range of romantic hills, the surface covered with oak openings that did not stand too thickly to prevent the growth of the luxurious blue grass beneath. Owing to all these natural advantages the hard- ships of the pioneers were ameliorated and the early settlers of the township were provided with feed for their stock and other necessaries, which very much lessened the hazard of beginning life in a new country. Game and fish were abundant, herds of deer were constantly seen cropping the rich herbage of the hills, and they made a novel and beautiful picture as they were seen amid the orchards of oaks, feeding leisurely or careering swiftly among the trees." Although this was all true, when Michigan was admitted into the Union Sylvan township had a smaller number of inhab- itants than any other township in Washtenaw ex-
794
PAST AND PRESENT OF WASHTENAW COUNTY.
cepting Lyndon. The village of Chelsea had not yet been heard of when Washtenaw county had half as many people within its borders as it has to-day. Owing largely to the growth and enter- prise of Chelsea, to-day the township of Sylvan has the largest population of any township in the county, and the village of Chelsea is the largest village in Washtenaw.
The township of Sylvan was organized in 1834. and the first town meeting was held at the house of Samuel Dunham, on the first Monday in April, 1834. Edmund E. Conklin was moderator of the meeting, and Stephen J. Chase clerk. The fol- lowing township ticket was elected : Supervisor- Nathan Pierce: Town Clerk-Elisha Congdon ; Assessors-Stephen Chase, Orlo Fenn and Ed- ward E. Conklin : Constable and Collector-Cal- vin Hicox: Overseers of the Poor-Daniel Fenn and Samuel Dunham ; Commissioners of High- ways and Fence Viewers-Truman Lawrence. M. Medcalf and Asahel Backus: Road Masters- Nathan Pierce and Edmund E. Conklin; Com- missioners of Schools-Thomas H. Godfred. Samuel Dunham and Edmund E. Conklin; In- spectors of Common Schools-Nathan Pierce, John R. Jewett, Truman Lawrence, John C. Wi- nans and Edmund E. Conklin. Sylvan early showed its recognition of the country's soldiers by electing as its first supervisor a veteran of the War of 1812.
When Michigan was admitted as a state, there was but one merchant in the township of Sylvan. Stephen Winans, who was located at Pierceville. a hamlet which has long since passed away. Pierceville was at the junction of the north and south territorial roads, south of Chelsea, on the land of Elisha Congdon. Pierceville was a postoffice and Albert C. Holt was post- master. A physician was located here, a Dr. Stewart. Israel Bailey ran a blacksmith shop, while postmaster Holt had a sash and door factory. Pierceville might have been what Chel- sea is to-day if it had been lucky enough to gain the enterprising inhabitants that Chelsea has had. When the Michigan Central railroad was built it did not strike Pierceville, but a station was erected called Davidson's Station, after Hugh Davidson,
and Davidson's Station soon absorbed Pierceville .. Mr. Congdon bought out the Holt property, Dr. Stewart's property, and one by one the buildings were moved to new locations. The little business center which grew up around Davidson's Station was known throughout the country as "Gun- town," because an old man whom the boys called "Old Gunn" lived there. The station was merely a stopping place for trains, having no depot until a rough station house was built in 1848, and a station agent, who was also a track repairer and wood sawyer for the road, was placed there. Elisha Congdon bought land at Davidson's Sta- tion and James Seeley established a store there. In the fall of 1848 the newly erected station was burned and the fire was believed to have been started by an incendiary but it was never rebuilt as the road believed that it could accommodate the people of Manchester better at the point now called Chelsea, and decided to build their new station at this place which was then called Ke- dron, which was because, we are told, a creek ran near the locality. The first building located in Chelsea was a blacksmith shop which was built by Lewis L. Randall, who died in Lima, Novem- ber 24. 1887, at the age of 85. This blacksmith shop stood until 1884, when it was removed to make room for the Chelsea creamery.
Chelsea is located on land which was owned by the two brothers, Elisha and James Congdon. Both of these brothers represented Washtenaw county in the Michigan legislature, Elisha Cong- don in the legislatures of 1863 and 1864. and James M. in the legislatures of 1871 and 1872. They came to Michigan in 1832, James M. Cong- don, buying 300 acres of land, the eastern limit of which is now Main street, Chelsea, and Elisha Congdon buying 160 acres of land on the eastern side of what is now Main street. They were na- tives of Connecticut. Elisha Congdon built a frame house on his land about 1849 where the Congdon family mansion, afterwards the McKone House, was later erected, and this was the first dwelling house in what became Chelsea. This house was afterwards moved to the corner of Main and Church streets. The Chelsea station of the Michigan Central Railroad was built in 1850,
795
PAST AND PRESENT OF WASHTENAW COUNTY.
and in the fall of that year Elisha Congdon built the first store in Chelsea on the east side of Main street, near the railroad.
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