USA > Michigan > Washtenaw County > Past and present of Washtenaw County, Michigan > Part 86
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A picture of Ann Arbor and Washtenaw county at about the time Ann Arbor was incorporated as a village is found in the "Travelers' Pocket Di- rectory and Strangers' Guide," published in 1832. It says : "Washtenaw county contains about 4,000 inhabitants who are with few exceptions Ameri- cans. Its seat of justice is Ann Arbor, a village of five years' growth, situated on the river Huron. forty miles west of Detroit, containing about ninety dwelling houses. Ypsilanti, the second village in the county as to population. is likewise situated on the Huron, about ten miles below Ann Arbor at the place where the United States turn- pike from Detroit to Chicago crosses the same.
42
702
PAST AND PRESENT OF WASHTENAW COUNTY.
This county shows twelve mercantile establish- ments, three distilleries, one fanning mill factory, one pail factory, one gunsmith, one wagonmaker, five flouring mills, thirteen sawmills, and a ma- chine for carding and dressing wool. It abounds. in select and common schools and has many me- chanics. Its surface is gently undulating and beautiful, and its soil prolific, consisting of a deep black sandy loam and some clay. It exhibits in succession beautiful prairies, oak openings, and heavy groves of timber, consisting of a white, red and black oak, becch, walnut, white bass, elm. maple and butternut, interspersed with almost all other kinds that usually grow in 42 degrees north latitude, evergreen excepted. The River Huron of Lake Erie meanders through the center of it. north and south, is navigable for boats and rafts to the lake, and with its several branches waters the middle : the headwaters of the Shiawassee of the north, and the Rivers Raisin and Saline, and their branches, the south part of said county. It has numerous and extensive water privileges for facilitating manufacturing."
The village of Ann Arbor was incorporated on April 23. 1833. and within the village limits was included only the original village plat as laid down by Allen and Rumsey. The first election for village officers was held on July 7, 1834. at the inn of Chauncey S. Goodrich, and at this election 55 votes were cast. John Allen, the real founder of the village, was elected its first presi- clent, and David Page. Edward Mundy, C. S. Goodrich, Anson Brown, Elisha W. Morgan and Chandler Carter were the first trustees elected. James Kingsley was elected the following day by the council as treasurer, Dwight Kellogg as asses- sor, and David Carrier as marshal. In August. 1834, the council voted to raise $300 for village expenses during the coming year, of which $200 was to be raised on the south side of the Huron river and $too on the north. The first ordinance to be passed by the new council was one to pre- vent swine from running at large, and the early ordinances relating to dogs, shooting within the village limits, running horses, and exhibiting cattle and hogs. The business of the new village government was carried on with considerable care, but in time the inhabitants seemed to lose
interest in village affairs, and in 1841 and 1842 the village election went by default, none being held, and the officers elected in 1840 held over until 1843. Up to 1846 the elections had been held in July, but in that year they were changed to May and a new village charter was adopted. The last meeting of the village board of trustees was held December 5. 1850. During the life of the village of Ann Arbor the following had been village officers :
TRUSTEES.
John Allen, president 1834
David Page 1834
Edward Mundy 1834
Chauncey S. Goodrich 1834
Anson Brown 1834
E. W. Morgan 1834
Chandler Carter 1834
George W. Jewett, president. 1835
William S. Maynard 1835
Dwight Kellogg 1835
Samuel Doty 1835
William S. Maynard, president 836
William R. Thompson 1836
Chester Ingalls 1836
Caleb N. Ormsby 1836
William S. Maynard, president 1837
Volney Chapin 1837
Edward Clark 1837-40
Daniel W. Kellogg 1837
Edward R. Everett, president 1838
Horace Moore 1838
James Jones 1838
William S. Maynard, president 1839
Volney Chapin 1839
Cyrus Backns 1839
Volney Chapin, president 1840
Chauncey S. Goodrich 1840
Jonathan H. Lund 1840
Randall Schuyler 1840
William R. Thompson, president 1843
Chauncey S. Goodrich 1843
George Sedgwick 1843
Norton R. Ramsdell 1843
Chester Ingalls 1843
Horace Church 1843
J. H. Lund 1843
703
PAST AND PRESENT OF WASHTENAW COUNTY.
Olney Hawkins, president 1844
George W. Armstrong 1844
George H. Cavell 1844
George Sedgwick, president 18.45
Flavius J. B. Crane 1845
Caleb N. Ormsby 18.45
George Sedgwick, president 1847
Hiram Becker 1847
Charles Tripp 1847
Charles Spoor 1847
George Sedgwick, president 1848
John C. Mundy 1848
George Grenville 1848-9
Caleb B. Thompson 1848-50
William Finley, president 1849
Emanuel Mann
.1849
William C. Voorhees 1850
William L. Loomis 1850
RECORDERS.
Jonathan E. Field 1834
Charles Thayer 1834
E. W. Morgan
1835-7
Norton R. Ramsdell 1838
David T. McCollum 1839-40
Daniel W. Kellogg 1843
Elijah W. Morgan 1844
Norton R. Ramsdell 1845
David S. Hickox
1847-8
David S. Hickox 1849
William Kinsley 1850
TREASURERS.
James Kingsley 1834-7
Samuel W. Warner 1838-9
David T. McCollum
1840
Volney Chapin
1845
Emanuel Mann 1847
Moses Rogers 1848-50
ASSESSORS.
Dwight Kellogg 1834
William R. Thompson 1835
David T. McCollum 1836
C. N. Ormsby 1837
Chester Ingalls 1838
David T. McCollum 1839
Chester Ingalls 1839
Leander Stillson 1840
Chauncey S. Goodrich
1843
James Gibson 1843
Jonathan K. Wallace 1844
Flavius J. B. Crane
1844
Hiram Becker 1845
Elisha Donmee
18.45
COLLECTORS.
Emanuel Mann 1847
Stephen B. McCracken
1847
John R. Wilcoxson 1848-9
Moses Rogers
1850
MARSIIALS.
David Carrier 1834
John Horton 1835
Solon Cook 1836
Peter Slingerland
1837-8
Stephen Slingerland 1839
Peter Slingerland 1840
Eli Snyder 1843
Jeremiah Peek
1844
William A. Hatch
1845
H. K. Stanley 1847
Samuel G. Sutherland
1848-9
Nelson B. Nye
1850
STREET COMMISSIONERS.
S. G. Sutherland. 1847
James Weeks 1847
Moses Rogers 1847
Ezra Platt 1848
Howell B. Norton 1848
Clements Hathaway 1848
Edward Clark 1849
Charles Cairle
1849
James Weeks
1849
E. G. Wildt .1850
Baihew
1850
Thomas J. Hoskinson . 1850
704
PAST AND PRESENT OF WASHTENAW COUNTY.
ATTORNEYS.
Thomas C. Cutler 1847
James M. Walker 18.48
Olney Hawkins .1849
Tracy W. Root 1850
The city of Ann Arbor was incorporated by an act of the legislature passed April 4, 1851. It did not at first include what is now the fifth ward, and indeed has grown in all directions. What is now the fifth ward was a thriving village and was known as Lower Ann Arbor. The city when first incorporated was divided into four wards. the division between the wards being made by Main and Huron streets The occasion of the incorporation of the new city was made a subject for much rejoicing at Ann Arbor.
The city was enlarged and the charter amended in 1861, and the fifth ward taken into the city limits. In 1867 the charter was again amended and the first ward divided, creating the sixth ward. The number of wards remained the same until 1895. when the seventh ward was formed out of portions of the first and sixth wards.
While a city in name, Ann Arbor was really running under a charter midway between the village charter and the city charter, which limited the activities largely to those of a village. This charter answered its purpose well and some wise provisions in it prevented the city from being like most of its sister cities, overloaded with bonded indebtedness. In 1889 a new charter was adopted for the city, the city being reincorporated. This charter wisely retained most of the financial pro- visions of the old charter which had kept the city from incurring a heavy floating indebtedness, and which made it impossible to incur a bonded in- debtedness without taking time to consider the projects and to also obtain the consent of the peo- ple at the ballot box. But under the new charter an attempt was made to separate the legislative and executive functions which had been practi- cally united in the city council under the old charter. The mayor, under the charter of 1851 as it remained until 1889. was practically only an alderman at large. He presided over the council. voted on all questions, was supposed to execute
the law, but had no veto power and was directed by the members of the council to execute this pro- vision of the law and not to execute that. In 1889 the mayor was taken from the council and made an executive officer. He was given the veto power and it was required of him by a wise charter provision that all communications from him to the council should be made in writing. To take the place of the mayor on the council a new official was created, novel at that time but since adopted by such cities as New York. A presi- dent of the council was elected by the people as an alderman at large, and it was believed, and experience has shown the belief to have been cor- rect, that the president of the council would be usually chosen of the same material as the mayor of the city. In 1889, the city, for the first time, was assessed as a whole and City Assessor O'Hearn elected. Before this time there had been no uniformity of taxation in the various wards of the city, or equality of assessment. Each ward was, for most purposes, a separate entity, and in some wards the taxes were nearly double what they were in others. For the first time the city was molded into a compact whole, the ward divi- sions being retained simply for purposes of elec- tion precincts, and to make sure that the various parts of the city would have representation upon the council. The carrying on of public improve- ments was made possible by the creation of a board of public works to do the executive work which the council had hitherto done. The line of division between the executive and legislative powers was sought to be strictly drawn. The council was to decide what should be done; the mayor, and the various boards which he ap- pointed, should do that which the council decided. There have been attempts at various times to go back to some of the provisions of the old charter, but none of them have ever possessed much ap- parent chance of succeeding and the city to-day is running under the charter of 1889, with minor amendments.
The city officers of Ann Arbor from 1851 down to the present time have been as follows :
MAYORS.
George Sedgwick 1851-52
705
PAST AND PRESENT OF WASHTENAW COUNTY.
Edwin B. Tremain 1853-4
James Kingsley . 1855
William S. Maynard 1856-57
Philip Bach 1858
Charles N. Fox
1853
William Lewitt
1854
Nelson B. Nye 1855-57
Robert J. Barry 1858
Norvel E. Welch 1859
Daniel D. Twitchell
1860
Oliver M. Martin 1866-67
Stephen M. Webster
1861
Christian Eberbach
1868
Edward P. Pitkin
1862
Alfred H. Partridge 1869
Nelson B. Cole
1863
William D. Harriman . 1870
Charles A. Chapin
1864
Silas H. Douglass 1871-72
Densmore Cramer
1865
Claudius B. Grant
1866
Edward D. Kinne 1875-76
Densmore Cramer
1877
Willard B. Smith 1877-79
John Kapp
1880-82
William D. Harriman 1883-4
John Kapp 1885
John J. Robison 1886
Willard B. Smith 1887
Samuel W. Beakes
1888-9
Charles H. Manly 1890
William G. Doty 1891-2
Cyrenus G. Darling 1893
Bradley M. Thompson 1894
Warren E. Walker 1895-6
Charles E. Hiscock 1897-8
Gottlob Luick 1899-00
Royal S. Copeland
1901-03
Arthur Brown
1903-05
Francis M. Hamilton 1905-
PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL.
Frederick H. Belser 1889
Frederick A. Howlett 1890
Mortimer E. Cooley 1891-2
William W. Watts 1893
Levi D. Wines
1894
Charles E. Hiscock 1895-6 Gottlob Luick 1897-9 Walter T. Seabolt 1899-01
John Haarer
1901-03
John Walz . 1903-05 Eugene S. Gilmore 1905-
CITY CLERK.
James R. Bach 1889-91
William J. Miller 1891-3
Glen V. Mills 1893-9
James L. Harkins 1899-03
Ross Granger
. 1903-
CITY TREASURER.
Peter Slingerland . 1851-52
Alonzo Healy 1853-55
David Henning .1856
Peter Slingerland . 1857
Charles Spoor 1858
Lewis C. Risdon
1859
Orange Webster
1860
1867-68
Edward D. Kinne 1869
Charles H. Manly 1870
Stephen M. Webster .1871
Leonhard Gruner 1872
Adam D. Seyler 1873
William A. Lovejoy 1874-75
Charles J. Kintner 1876
Adam D. Seyler 1877
William A. Clark 1878-79
William W. Douglas 1880-I
Myron H. French 1882
Charles J. Durheim 1883
George H. Pond
1885-7
James R. Bach
1888-9
RECORDER.
Henry W. Welles 1851-52
Robert J. Barry 1859-60
John F. Miller 1861
Charles Spoor 1862
Ebenezer Wells 1863-64
William S. Maynard 1865
Hiram J. Beakes 1873-74
Zina P. King
706
PAST AND PRESENT OF WASHTENAW COUNTY.
Horace A. Moore 1861
Dorr Kellogg 1862
Asher A. Terry 1863
Elias J. Johnson 1864
Oscar G. Spafford 1865
Charles H. Manly 1866
John Harris 1867
George H. Ford
1868
Morris S. Gregg
1868-69
John C. Mott
1868
Frederick Sorg 1869
Eli S. Manly 1869
Oliver M. Martin
1861-63
John Schumacher 1870-71
Erastus N. Gilbert 1870
Eli S. Manly
1870
Luke Coyle 1871
Nathan H. Pierce
1867
Charles S. McOmber 1871
Stephen W. Webster
1872
Joseph C. Watts
1873
Dorr Kellogg
1874
Moses Rogers
1875
Asher A. Terry 1876-7
John Schumacher 1878
Peter D. Woodruff 1879
O. F. Webster 1880
Jacob F. Schuh
1881-83
Benjamin F. Watts
1884-85
Albert Sorg
1886-87
John Moore 1888
William W. Watts 1889-90
Samuel W. Beakes 1891-92
William Walsh
1889-90
James R. Murray 1891-2
Paris S. Banfield 1893-4
M. C. Peterson 1895-6
Zenus Sweet 1897-8
William Gerstner 1899-00
Frank H. Warren
1901-2
Samuel W. Beakes 1903-04
Orton M. Kelsey
. 1903-4
Charles B. Masten 1905-
CITY ASSESSORS.
CHIEF OF FIRE DEPARTMENT.
Patrick O'Hearn
1889-98
. .
1889-06
Edward L. Seyler 1898-06
CITY ENGINEERS.
Joseph B. Davis
1885-89
Smith Motley
1890-91
George F. Key . 1892-99
Edwin W. Groves . 1900
CITY MARSHALS.
Joseph Godfrey . 1851-52
Roger Mathews 1853-57
Oliver M. Martin 1858
Stephen Webster
1859
Jerome B. Garrison 1860
Richard C. Dillon
1864
Oliver M. Martin 1865
Dudley J. Loomis 1866
George W. Efner 1868
Nathan Pierce 1869
Ambrose V. Robison 1870
I. H. Peebles 1871
Erastus Leseur 1872
James J. Parshall 1873
John W. Loveland 1874
Edward Sterling 1875
A. H. Herron 1876
John J. Johnson 1877-80
Thomas Clarken 1881
John S. Nowland
1882-83
Charles S. Fall
1884-85
Fred Sipley 1886-9
George H. Pond 1893-94
Charles H. Manly
1895-96
Edward L. Seyler 1897-98
Oscar Luick 1899-00
George Vanderwarker 1901
H. Wirt Newkirk 1901-02
George W. Sample 1895-
Fred Sipley
CITY ATTORNEYS.
Edward D. Kinne 1886
Chauncey Joslyn
. 1887
707
PAST AND PRESENT OF WASHTENAW COUNTY.
Zina P. King 1888
Thomas D. Kearney 1889-90
Ezra B. Norris 1891-93
Thomas A. Bogle 1894
Jolın W. Bennett
1894
Charles H. Kline 1895
Thomas D. Kearney 1896-97
O. E. Butterfield 1898
Ezra B. Norris 1899-00
Andrew J. Sawyer
1901-02
Thomas D. Kearney 1903-04
Frank A. Stivers 1905-
STREET COMMISSIONERS.
Nelson Sutherland 1889-94
Charles A. Ward 1895
Leonard Bassett 1895
Daniel J. Ross 1896-04
John Wisner
1905-
SUPERVISORS.
Until 1858 Ann Arbor city had one supervisor. From 1859 to 1867 it had two; from 1868 to 1888, three: from 1889 to 1894. six; and since 1895 seven, as follows :
John C. Mundy 1851
John A. Wells 1852
John C. Mundy 1853
Edwin Lawrence
1854
John C. Mundy 1855
Edwin Lawrence
1856
James MeMahon 1857
Charles Tripp 1858
Conrad Krapf 1859-66
James H. Morris 1859
Richard Beahan 1860-61
James H. Morris 1862-63
Richard Beahan 1864
James McMahon 1865
Samuel Grisson 1866-67
Philip Winegar 1867
Sumner Hicks 1867
First District-
Samuel Grisson
. 1868
Robert P. Leonard
1869-71
Conrad Kript 872-83
Charles H. Richmond 1881
Henry D. Bennett
1884-85
Albert Gardner
1886-88
Second District-
Richard Beahan 1868
James McMahon 1869
Patrick ('Hearn 1870-71
Alonzo A. Gregory 1872
Anton Eisele
1873
Patrick O'Hearn 1874
Anton Eisele
1875
Alonzo .A. Gregory
1876-81
Patrick O'Hearn
1882-88
Third District-
Sumner Hicks 1868
Marion V. K. Jones 1869
Horace Carpenter 1870
David T. McCollum 1871
J. Austin Scott 1872
George H. Rhodes 1873
Benjamin Brown 1874-75
Randall Schuyler 1876-79
George H. Rhodes 1880-81
Benjamin Brown 1882-83
C. A. Matthewson
1884
Noah G. Butts
1885-88
First Ward-
John R. Miner 1889-94
William K. Childs 1895
John R. Miner 1896
J. Rice Miner
1897
Henry S. Dean
1898
William K. Childs 1899
John R. Miner
1900-05
Second Ward-
Eugene Oesterlin 1889-95
John M. Feiner 1896
Sid W. Millard 1897-98
Emanuel Schneider 1899
Eugene Oesterlin
1900-05
Third Ward-
Chase Dow
.1889
708
PAST AND PRESENT OF WASHTENAW COUNTY.
James Kearns 1890-2
Robert Shannon 1893
John J. Fischer 1894-99
John Naylor 1900
Wesley E. Howe
1901
John C. Fischer
1902-03
Walter H. Dancer
. 1904
Michael C. Ryan .1905
Fourth Ward-
Ambrose Kearney 1889-90
John Baumgardner 1891-92
George H. Pond 1893-94
Joseph Donnelly 1895
Herman Krapf 1896-02
Joseph Donnelly 1903-04
Herman Krapf . 1905-
Fifth Ward-
Amos Corey 1889-90
Thomas Speechley 1891-94
James Boyle 1895-98
John Shadford 1899-00
John Boylan 1901-02
George W. Weeks 1903-05
Sixth Ward-
John W. Bennett 1889-92
Evart H. Scott 1893-94
Arthur J. Kitson 1895-98
William Biggs 1899
William D. Harriman I900
Horace G. Prettyman 1901
William D. Harriman . 1902
Arthur J. Kitson 1903-05
Seventh Ward-
Evart H. Scott 1895
F. E. Eberbach 1896
G. Frank Allmendinger 1897-00
C. Homer Cady IQOI
Bert F. Schumacher 1902-05
A REMINISCENCE.
Mr. and Mrs. Lewis S. Anderson celebrated the sixty-first anniversary of their marriage in Ann Arbor in November, 1893, on which occa-
sion a friend wrote down their reminiscences of Ann Arbor as follows :
"Mr. and Mrs. Anderson, born in New York in 1821 and 1822, respectively, came to Michi- gan when about ten years of age, and their fathers each owned a farm not far from the old stone schoolhouse on the Ypsilanti electric line. They were married in 1842. They have witnessed the entire growth of Ann Arbor. They knew per- sonnally its founders, Henry Rumsey and John Allen, and the two Anns, their wives, who gave its name to the city. Rumsey was a commonplace man, both in ability and appearance, but Allen was a tall, stately Virginian, had a fine presence and considerable ability. He was a lawyer and a favorite of the ladies, and if all the stories told of him are true he would have been a great suc- cess as a Mormon elder. Allen gave the school- house square to the city. When Mr. and Mrs. Anderson first knew Ann Arbor most of its present territory was farm land and open com- mons. The campus was a wheat field, Michigan was a territory, and the University unthought of. Deer and wild turkeys were abundant in the woods about the town, and wild Indians were often seen upon the streets of the village. The Indians of Michigan sided with Great Britain in the war of 1812, and for many years after the war they used to go annually to Malden, across the De- troit river, to receive supplies given them by the British government for assistance rendered dur- ing the war. While on their way to and from Malden they often encamped in large numbers on the premises now owned by Mr. Morton, on the left hand side of the Ypsilanti road between Ann Arbor and the old stone schoolhouse in Pitts- field.
"A brick schoolhouse stood on the corner of Fourth avenue and Packard street with a steep outside stairs leading to the second story, a build- ing in which the Methodists held services before building a church. An academy stood on Fourth street in front of the residence of the late Chris- tian Mack. The building was finally removed to Detroit street and still stands there, being now used as a carriage storage house. \ school- house was subsequently built on the corner of Huron and Division streets where the Presbyte-
709
PAST AND PRESENT OF WASHTENAW COUNTY.
rian church now stands. The church stood in the center of the block below where Heusel's bakery is. The building was later moved to the south side of the block, facing Washington street, where it is now used for a saloon and storehouse. A log hotel stood on the Ann Arbor Savings Bank Block. and the fine residence of Dr. Samuel Denton. painted white. with green blinds, the first painted house in the city, was located, with a fine yard and fence, where the Opera House now stands. Mr. Anderson often drank cider in the famous log cabin, during the 'Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too' campaign of 1840. which stood on the site of the Y. M. C. A. Building. Supporters of Harrison were called 'coons' by the democrats, and a coon skin was nailed on the outside of the log cabin, and a barrel of hard cider kept on the inside which was free to all. During that famous can- paign Mr. Anderson, with a crowd of 'coons' went to Detroit to hear Henry Clay speak. The "coons' were so numerous in Detroit on the day of the meeting that they could not get accommoda- tions at the hotels, and Mr. Anderson and many others took possession of the Free Press office and slept on its floor.
"Mrs. Anderson is a native of Batavia. New York, and remembers the circumstances of the abduction of Morgan from that town, who had made an exposure of Masonry. A stage driver of Batavia, by the name of W. R. Thompson, was suspected of having had a hand in the abduction : but he left that place and afterward came to Ann Arbor and built a house where Judge Kinne now resides. Thompson and John Allen went to Cali- fornia when gold was discovered there in 1849. and both died there.
"The Misses Clark's Ladies' School was quite famous in its day. It was the first female school in this part of the country west of Detroit. It was located near the Hawkins' House, now stand- ing on the corner of Liberty and Fourth streets, then moved to the lot where Michael J. Martin now resides, and afterward to the large brick building, which is now used as a tene- ment house. One of the studies taught in this school, upon which the Misses Clark took special pride themselves, was 'Heraldry,' a subject which must have been very interesting and profitable for
the young ladies of Ann Arbor of seventy years ago. A private school was located on Mr. Eber- bach's place on the electric line, where the pupils paid their tuition, room rent and board by work- ing on a farm belonging to the school. This ex- periment was the first of its kind started in the county, but turned out a failure after being car- ried on a few years. Mr. Anderson was county school inspector for sixteen years and was him- self a teacher and taught seventeen successive winters. Seven of these were in the old stone schoolhouse in Pittsfield. He taught several terms for $13 per month and boarded himself. The best female teachers of the time did not re- ceive to exceed $1.25 per week. Girls for domes- tic service received from seventy-five cents to a dollar a week, but they were treated as mem- bers of the family. In the schools taught by Mr. Anderson the scholars occupied rude plank benches without desks. There was usually a shelf against the wall around three sides of the room, and when the pupils practiced writing they turned around with their faces to the wall and used this shelf. There were no steel pens in those days, and the pens were made from goose quills by the teacher. In the early days the country school in the winter was a place for much fun and happiness on the part of the young people. as well as a place of learning. The scholars, both girls and boys, were often full grown and some- times older than the teacher. The spelling bees between different districts, and singing schools in the evenings, were occasions of much social enjoyment and love making.
The first Methodist church was built on the corner of Ann and Fourth streets, now the Unity Block. For two years services were held in the basement before the church was completed and dedicated sixty-six years ago. But three families remain on the south Ypsilanti road who occupy the premises owned by their ancestors, the An- dersons, the Ticknors and Henry C. P'latt."
WASHTENAW MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY.
The Washtenaw Mutual Fire Insurance Com- pany was the first company of its kind organized in Michigan. Munnis Kenny, of Webster town-
710
PAST AND PRESENT OF WASHTENAW COUNTY
ship, was the father of the company. In 1858 he organized the company and for two years was its president, secretary, treasurer and board of di- rectors, all in one. He carried the records of the company in his hat. The people at this time were so honest that he allowed each member to insure his property at what he thought it was worth and the amount on which he was willing to be assessed.
In 1860 the company was reorganized and pro- cured a charter for thirty years under the new state insurance laws then passed. providing for the organization of mutual insurance companies within the state. The company did a large busi- ness in the whole county for the ensuing thirty years and January 1. 1890, renewed its charter for thirty years more. Some of the men who held office as directors of this company and who are now dead are: Munnis Kenny, Stearns Kim- berly, J. D. Williams, W. R. Waldron, of Web- ster : Allen Crittenden, of Pittsfield ; Horace Car- penter, of Pittsfield; John J. Robison and Stephen Fairchilds, of Sharon: Newton Sheldon, of Lodi ; M. S. White and B. W. Waite, of Scio: Joshua G. Leland, of Northfield ; H. M. Lowry and T. B. Goodspeed, of Superior: C. H. Wines and John Cook, of Sylvan ; E. M. Cole, of Superior ; Samp- son Parker, of Lima: Fred B. Braun, of Ann Arbor ; and E. A. Nordman and John H. Wade, of Lima. The ex-directors now living are : J. W. Wing, George A. Peters and A. T. Hughes, of Scio: W. E. Stocking, of Lima; Andrew Camp- bell and H. D. Platt, of Pittsfield ; William Camp- bell. of Ypsilanti ; R. L. Reeve, of Dexter ; Robert McCall and Edwin Ball, of Webster; Emory E. Leland, of Northfield, and Peter Cook, of York. The present officers and directors are: A. R. Graves, of Ypsilanti, president : directors, John F. Spafard, of Manchester; O. C. Burkhardt, of Lima : J. B. Laraway, of Webster ; G. L. Hoyt. of Lodi; and William K. Childs, of Ann Arbor. who is also secretary-treasurer.
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