USA > Michigan > Washtenaw County > Past and present of Washtenaw County, Michigan > Part 98
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A claim has been made that a school had been taught at a schoolhouse on section 31 at a pre- vious date. The schoolhouse at Bullock's Cor- ners was built of unhewn logs and was hardly six feet from the floor to ceiling with a six-light win- dow on each of three sides. The seats were slabs set up on wooden pins. It was heated by a small box stove which was considered a vast improve- ment upon the old fireplaces common in most of the other schoolhouses. Another school was built in 1832 on section 15 and was first taught by Miss Jane Jessups.
Rev. Eben Carpenter was the first Baptist min- ister to settle in Salem. He located here in 1832
and took part in the organization of the First Baptist church at the house of Wheaton Bullock on January 7, 1833, and preached a sermon on that occasion. The Rev. Moses Clark was the first pastor of the church and the first trustees were John Bennett and Eliphalet Lewis. Alexis Pack- ard and John Bennett were the first deacons, and L. C. Goodrich the first clerk. The first member to be baptized was Mrs. Elmira Wheeler who was baptized in 1833 by Rev. J. L. Twiss. A church was erected in 1852 which was moved to a new location in 1877. A new Baptist church was dedicated February 6, 1888, on which occasion $1.200, the balance due on it, was subscribed. The Freewill Baptist church was organized in the northeast part of Salem township on July 7, 1839, with Rev. C. B. Goodrich as pastor. Manly Smith as clerk, and Michael Thompson and James Filer as trustees.
In 1833 a Presbyterian church was organized with Isaac Hamilton and Nathaniel as the first deacons, and a church was built in 1850 at a cost of $1,000.
The Congregational church was organized in 1839 with Jebedee Waldron, Adam Spence, S. G. Haywood. Parlay Crowell, Harvey Hubbard and Joseph H. Peebles as the first trustees and Rev. Hiram S. Hamilton as the first pastor. A church was built in 1849.
The First Wesleyan Methodist church was or- ganized in 1841 with David Norton as class leader and Joseph Lapham as steward. Their church was built in 1851 at Lapham's Corners. A Methodist church was organized in 1864 with about 25 members. J. B. Van Etta and William Hollingshead were the first trustees; and A. M. Farley and L. D. Perkins the first class leaders.
Salem Grange was organized in 1834 with 30 charter members. The Salem Farmers' Club is one of the largest and most successful of the farmers' clubs in Washtenaw county. Its meet- ings are always well attended and have proven of great value to its members.
The Pere Marquette is the only railroad now running through Salem township. This road was formerly known as the Detroit. Lansing and Northern. and quite a little village has sprung up around its depot known as Salem Station. For-
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PAST AND PRESENT OF WASHTENAW COUNTY.
merly a second road ran through Salem, the To- ledo & Ann Arbor, with a depot at Werden near Peebles' Corners. This was when the Ann Arbor road terminated at South Lyon, the Ann Arbor road at first going wherever it could get donations of land or money. In later years when South Lyon was found to be out of the way, the track from that place to Ann Arbor which ran through Salem was torn up.
Lapham's Corners is two miles south of Salem Station, and, like Peebles' Corners is in posses- sion of a store and a number of houses.
Salem, by the route the earliest settlers took to come into Washtenaw county, was the nearest township to Detroit. It was through Salem that the first settlers of Ann Arbor and Northfield reached the county, and at an early date Salem was one of the most populous townships in the county. In 1837 it contained as many people as it has now. Its population then was 1.354; and, according to the census returns in that year the inhabitants had 226 horses, 1,000 head of neat stock, 875 sheep and 1.927 hogs, and produced during the year 1,264 bushels of wheat, 455 bushels of rye. 15,865 bushels of corn, 16,530 bushels of oats and 1,000 bushels of buckwheat. The township also had two sawmills at that time.
The supervisors of the township have been :
George Renwick . 1834
L. C. Goodale 1835-6
George Renwick 1837
John Dickenson 1838
Royal Wheelock 1839
Robert Purdy 1840
Lawrence Noble 1841
Robert Purdy 1842
Henry T. Walker 1843-4
Lawrence Noble 1845
Daniel Pomeroy 1846-47
Henry T. Walker 1848
John Dickenson 1849
Ira Rider
1850
Lawrence Noble
1851
Ira Rider 1852
Lawrence Noble 1853-4
Thomas D. Lane 1855
Daniel Pomeroy 1856
Isaac Wynkup 1857-8
John Peebles 1859
John Peebles 1860
Roval Wheelock 1861-2
Rufus Babbitt 1863-4
Calvin Wheeler 1865-6
John Peebles 1867
Thomas D. Lane 1868
J. B. Palmer 1869
Isaac Wynkup 1870-I
Isaac Wynkup 1872-3
Jolın Crandall 1874
Geo. S. Wheeler 1875-6
Geo. S. Wheeler 1877-8
Thos. D. Lane 1879-81
George S. Wheeler
1882-5
Hiram P. Thompson
1886
Thomas D. Lane
1887
Hiram P. Thompson
1888
George S. Wheeler 1889
Arthur C. Van Sickle 1890-2
Fred C. Wheeler
. 1893-5
Myron F. Bailey 1896-7
Arthur C. Van Sickle 1898
Charles Kingsley 1809-00
John Munn
1901-04
William Naylor . 1905-
SALINE.
Saline was organized as a township in 1830 and the first town meeting was held in April of that vear at the house of Orange Risdon. The name of the township was selected in Risdon's house. It had for some years been applied to the salt springs where the Chicago road crosses the Saline river. The name Saline had been given to the river by the French at some indefinite date pre- vious to this. Boaz Lamson acted as moderator of the first meeting and Barnabas Holmes as clerk. The following town officers were elected : Supervisor-Alfred Davis: Town Clerk-Smith Lapham: Assessors-Apollos Severance. Boaz Lamson and Evelyn Scranton ; Commissioners of Highways-Timothy W. Hunt, James Maybee and Ira Bonner ; Overseers of the Poor-Isaac Brown, Allyn Williams, Silas Lewis, Aretus Bel- den and Luke Gillett: Constable-Horace Wil- liams: Commissioners of Common Schools-
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PAST AND PRESENT OF WASHTENAW COUNTY.
Apollos Severance, Aretus Belden, Evelyn Seran- ton. Asahel Sawyer, and Smith Lapham; Treas- urer of the Poor Fund-Arba Lamson : Path Masters-Timothy W. Hunt, John G. Joslin, Or- rin Parsons, Ely Gray, Boaz Lamson, Jeremiah Post, Arba Lamson, Isaac Brown, John Parsons, Thomas Wood and Anthony Doolittle; Trustees of School Lands-Orange Risdon, Timothy W. Hunt and James Maybee; and Treasurer of School Funds-Orrin Parsons.
The village of Saline is one of the largest villages in the county. When Michigan was ad- mitted as a state, in 1837. the villages of Washte- naw county were put down as four in number. Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, Dexter and Saline; and in the State Gazateer of 1838, Saline is described as "A village and postoffice in the township of the same name, pleasantly situated on the east bank of the Saline river, on the Chicago road, in the county of Washtenaw. There is a church for Methodists, a banking association, three stores, two physicians. Within the village is a flouring mill and a sawmill. Valuable salt springs have been discovered in the vicinity. It is in the midst of a farming country, distant nine miles from Ann Arbor and forty from Detroit." The first store building in Saline had been erected in 1832 on the corner of Chicago and Adrian streets, by a Mr. Finch, who came from New York. Pre- vious to this he had rented the parlor in the house of Orange Risdon, where he displayed his goods and conducted his business. Caleb Van Husen was an early rival of Mr. Finch in the mercantile trade. It was in September. 1832. that Orange Risdon surveyed, platted and named the village in pursuance of a plan that he had formed as early as 1826, when he believed that the Detroit and Chicago road would pass through what is now Saline, and that this point was one of the best in the state for the growth of a large town. The only addition which was required to the original plat previous to the building of the railroad now known as the Ypsilanti & Hillsdale branch of the Lake Shore, was an addition made in January, 1848, by David S. Haywood. The first house built upon the site of the village was erected in 1829 by Orange Risdon, and was run as a tavern, and it was at this house that the first
township meeting was held. In 1845 Schuyler Haywood, of New Jersey, built the Schuyler mills, about half a mile west of Saline village, and for ten years these mills turned out an average of 25 barrels of flour a day. A grist mill had been built nine years previous by Orrin Par- sons, which was enlarged in 1842 with a capacity of 30 barrels of flour a day. In 1853 a tannery was started by James C. Seeley, which was pur- chased in 1857 by Christian Helber, who greatly enlarged it.
The First Baptist church of Saline was or- ganized in 1831 at the house of Jesse Stevens, the first members being Rev. and Mrs. Thomas Bod- ley. Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Stevens, John Smith, Lorin Edmunds and Anna Ford, and a church was erected in 1837. The first pastor of the church was the Rev. Thomas Bodley and the first deacons were Jesse Stevens and John Smith. The present well-built church building was com- pleted and dedicated in February, 1905.
The Presbyterian church came into Saline as an organized body from Newark, Wayne county, New York, bringing with them the following cer- tificate : "The following persons, members of the Presbyterian church at Newark, Wayne county, New York, are about to leave this part of the country and settle in Michigan: Peter Cook, Jacob Cook, Rachel Cook, Betsey Cook. David Hathaway, Phoebe Hathaway. Ira Hathaway, John Kanouse, Jr., Sally An Hathaway and Nellie Kanouse. They were dismissed from said church on the 22d day of May, 1831, and were organized into a church at Newark aforesaid on said 22d day of May. Theodore Partridge, clerk of the session of the church at Newark." The members of this Michigan church thus formed in New York emigrated on the 23d day of May, 1831. and landed in Detroit on the 20th of the same monthi. They all settled in Saline and on the 18th of July. 1831, they assembled together. took the name of the Presbyterian Church of Saline. Rev. Reuben Sears was present at this meeting and officiated for the five succeeding Sundays. Be- fore leaving New York David Hathaway. Jacob Cook and Peter Cook had been chosen elders. Meetings were held in private houses, school- houses and other church buildings until 1842,
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PAST AND PRESENT OF WASHTENAW COUNTY.
when a church was built. This building con- tinned to serve this congregation until about 1805. when a new and handsome church was built.
The Methodist Episcopal church was organized February 12, 1833, by Rev. J. F. Davidson. The first member of the new church was Mrs. Ansyl Ford. Conrad Dubois was the only other mem- ber for a short period when he left the township. Mr. Ansyl Ford was converted in March, 1833. and with several others joined the church. A class was organized in Saline village by Rev. Bradford Frazee early in 1834 and in the latter part of that year Ansyl Ford bought a lot and log building for $400 of a Major Keates, which the Major had built for a prospective church. A board of trus- tees was organized consisting of Ansyl Ford. Henry A. Francisco, Allen Burnham, John P. Marvin, Salmon S. Haight. David I. Gilbert and Samuel Kellogg. A parsonage was purchased in 1839. The Second Methodist Episcopal church in Saline was built of badly burned brick, which soon crumbled and was succeeded by a frame church, which was torn down to make room for the present church of field boulders and brick. the cornerstone of which was laid June 14, 1899. during the ministry of Rev. F. E. Dodds. The present church building cost $7,000.
A Lutheran church was organized in the village in 1865 by the Rev. Mr. Wolf, who held services in the village for three years, part of the time in the Baptist church. He was succeeded by Rev. J. Doefler in 1868, during whose administration a brick church was built at a cost of $5.600. Rev. Frederick Mlneller was the first pastor of this new church and he was succeeded in 1878 by the Rev. K. Lederer.
In 1833 Smith Lapham built a hotel which was known in later years as the American House. In it a great many township meetings were held. Another old pioneer public house was erected in 1834 by Daniel D. Wallace, which for over half a century, was known as the Saline Exchange. In 1870 the Detroit, Hillsdale & Southwestern Railroad was built to Saline. This is what is now known as the Ypsilanti & Hillsdale branch of the Lake Shore Railroad. An electric line has been built from Saline to Ypsilanti, and upon its completion, contrary to the predictions of some of
the inhabitants of Saline, the village again began to grow and a number of handsome new resi- dences were at once erected
The village was incorporated by the board of supervisors October 18, 1866, and an election was held at the American House, December 10, 1866, for village officers. Charles H. Wallace was elected president ; George Sherman, William Rheinfrank, James F. Draper. Henry J. Miller, Samuel D. Van Dusen and James F. Seeley, trus- tees ; George W. Hall, clerk; J. Forbes street commissioner and marshal: Myron Wells, asses- sor: William H. Davenport, treasurer, and Charles O. Rogers, constable.
The Union school building in Saline was built in 1868 and cost $25,000. For many years Saline has been in posession of a good bank run by William H. Davenport, who has lived in Saline since he was twelve years of age. In the early days of the village a wild cat bank was established there by Abel Goddard & Company. as a bank of issue which ran for two years, and some of its bills are still in existence signed by S. French, president, and W. Cunnutt, cashier.
The township of Saline in 1837 had a popula- tion of 1.130. It had within its borders also, a grist mill, three saw mills and four merchants. Its people owned 124 horses, 177 sheep, 174 hogs, 778 head of neat stock, and had produced in the year previous 9,130 bushels of wheat, 8,640 bushels of corn. 15,921 bushels of oats and 55 bushels of buckwheat.
Fred Shooles, aged sixteen, who was teaching the German parochial school in Saline, dived into four feet of water in the Saline mill pond on the night of July 18. 1887, and broke his neck. The water at this point was usually eight feet deep. John Schletch, aged seventeen, was drowned while bathing in the mill race at Saline, June 15. 1890.
Two men were suffocated in a well near Saline, December 26, 1888. They were bricking up the well and had gotten within forty-five feet of the top when Gottlieb Buehler gave way to the damp. Jacob Kuebler went down and endeavored to resuscitate him and succumbed himself. Ef- forts to get the men out alive were unavailing.
780
PAST AND PRESENT OF WASHTENAW COUNTY.
The supervisors of Saline from the beginning have been :
Alfred Davis 1830
Orrin Parsons 1831-33
Alfred Davis
1834
Orrin Parsons
1835
Ansyl Ford 1836
Orrin Parsons 1837-40
Salmon L. Haight 1841
Julius Cruttenden 1842
Orrin Parsons
18.42
Orrin Parsons
1843-44
David S. Haywood
1845-46
Salmon L. Haight 1847
Joshına Forbes
1848
Amos Miller 1849
Salmon L. Haight 1850
Thomas H. Marsh
1851
William M. Gregory 1852
Aaron H. Goodrich
1853
Salmon L. Haight
1854-55
William M. Gregory
1856
David A Post 1857
Salmon L. Haight 1858-59
Augustus Bond 1860-62
Martin Gray 1863
Salmon L. Haight 1864
Roswell M. Parsons
1865
Martin Gray
Myron Webb
1866
1867-68
Augustus Bond
1869
Myron Webb
1870
Joshua Forbes
1871
Wilson H. Berdan
1872
Myron Webb
1873-74
Wilson H. Berdan 1875-76
Myron Webb
1877
Everett B. Clark 1878
Edwin W. Wallace 1879-80
J. Manly Young 1881
Matthew Seeger 1882-86
Michael Burkhardt 1887
Edward Depew 1887-93
Edward A. Houser
1894-97
Willis M. Fowler 1898-00 John Luce 1901
SCIO.
The township of Scio was organized by an
act of the legislature, aproved March 25, 1833, and the first township meeting was held at the house of Horace Leek, on section 9. The early township records have been destroyed by fire so that the first township officers can not be given. Dexter village, which is within this township, was platted in 1830, although the land on which it is located was purchased in 1824 by Judge Dexter and there were a number of families in the village at the time it was platted. Among them was that of Judge Alexander D. Crane, who thus describes the village of Dexter in 1830: "March I, 1830, I came here with my wife, to whom I had been married but a few days, and have re- sided here ever since. When I came I found here as residents of this village Hon. Samuel W. Dex- ter, Dr. Cyril Nichols and Samuel W. Foster, who, with their families, constituted the whole of the village and their dwellings were the only dwellings upon the village plat at that time. Judge Dexter had been here a few years, and then owned a large tract of land, and had erected a grist and sawmill on Mill creek. The grist mill stood where J. H. Everett & Co.'s flouring mill afterwards stood, and the sawmill stood on the opposite side of the creek. John A. Conaway and his father then lived in a log house on the rise of ground beyond the sawmill where Dennis Warner's farmhouse afterwards stood. They kept a tavern there and that was the only tavern west of Ann Arbor anywhere in the region. Dr. Cyril Nichols built his house on the west side of the river, near the bridge. He had come to Michigan from Vermont and had settled in what had be- come Dexter village, in 1826. He was a man of intelligence, and had a very extensive practice for many miles around Dexter. He afterwards laid out the village of Scio, erected a mill there, and on selling this out erected another mill at Fos- ter's Station, in Ann Arbor town. This in turn he sold and went to California in search of gold, dying just as he neared California.
The first store in Dexter was opened by Charles P. Cowden, in 1830, followed in 1831 by Nelson H. Wing. William C. Pease and Robert Brower soon located here, and in 1838 Dexter had grown to be quite a flourishing village and is thus described in the Michigan Gazateer of that year : "A village and postoffice in the county
781
PAST AND PRESENT OF WASHTENAW COUNTY.
of Washtenaw and township of Scio. Has an elevated and healthy location, and is pleasantly situated on Mill creek at its confluence with the Huron river. Here is a flouring mill with two run of stone, a sawmill and tannery, five stores, one grocery, one druggist, one lawyer, three phy- sicians. It is on the territorial road from Monroe to Grand river. The Detroit & St. Joseph Rail- road is to pass through it. There is hydraulic power in its vicinity that might be used to any extent. Dexter is very thriving, many build- ings were erected during the two seasons past, and many are now being erected. Distant nine miles from Ann Arbor and fifty miles west of Detroit, 576 miles northwest of Washington city."
Judge Dexter evidently expected that through his influence Dexter village would grow into a large place. The streets on his plat are wider than those of any other village or city in Wash- tenaw and they are arranged somewhat like the spokes of a wheel, coming to a common center. Their width has been utilized in later days to make extensive grass plots between the sidewalk and the roadway, the grass growing down through the gutters up to the beaten track of the road. and the lawns thus created are kept neatly mown. This adds greatly to the beauty of the village.
Among the doctors who settled early in the village was the second physician, Dr. Philip Brigham, who came in 1832, and after three years moved to Ann Arbor. Dr. Amos Gray arrived in the same year from Vermont, where he was born in 1804, and here he remained in ac- tive practice until 1875, living some years after he had retired from active practice. Dr. John H. Cardell practiced in Dexter from 1836 until his death in 1842. Dr. C. A. Jeffreys was the next physician to arrive and was followed by Dr. Ewing, who died in 1879, Dr. Hollywood, Dr. Dolman, Dr. Clark, Dr. Howell, Dr. E. F. Chase, Dr. John Lee, Dr. W. E. Ziegenfuss and others.
The lawyer mentioned in the Michigan Gaza- teer of 1838 was Calvin Smith, who moved to the village in 1830, but did not become a lawyer until two years later. He was the first justice of the peace of the township and in 1839 was elected a
member of the legislature, but died before tak- ing his seat. The second lawyer in Dexter was Judge Alexander D. Crane, who came to the county in 1827 from Cayuga county, New York. He commenced the study of law in 1832, when he was elected constable. He kept a store for about a year and a half, and in 1843 was ad- mitted to the bar. He was elected justice of the peace, in 1849 was postmaster of Dexter, in 1853 was made prosecuting attorney and in 1873 judge of the circuit court. He served for three months in 1861 as captain in the old Fourth Infantry. He died in Dexter. James T. Honey was the next attorney at Dexter. where he commenced the practice of law, which he still continues.
For many years the only bank in Dexter was that of C. S. Gregory & Son, a private bank, originally established by Rice A. Beal as a broker's office, who sold the office to George E. Southwick & Co., who in turn sold to C. S. Greg- ory & Co. Mr. Gregory purchased the interest of his partner and admitted his son into partner- ship under the firm name of C. S. Gregory & Son. The bank continued for some time after Mr. Gregory's death, which followed that of his son, but was discontinued after the starting of the Dexter Savings Bank. A state bank was es- tablished in which for some years Thomas Birkett owned a controlling interest, which he has recently sold to Frank P. Glazier. Charles S. Gregory was born in Cayuga county, New York, in 1816, and came to Scio in 1834. He represented Wash- tenaw county in the state legislature in 1861 and 1862, and again in 1883. He died June 4, 1893. His son, John V. N. Gregory, also represented the county in the state legislature from 1889 to 1892.
The first hotel in Dexter village was built for Judge Dexter in 1831 by Edward Torrey. John .A. Conaway, however, kept a tavern in a log house on the west side of Mill creek. Joseph Arnold was the landlord in the hotel built by Torrey, and was succeeded in turn by Richard Brower and Captain James B. Arms, and for many years this was the only hotel in the village. It was finally destroyed by fire in 1860. The second hotel was built by Nathaniel Goss, but was destroyed by fire in 1836. Then came the
47
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PAST AND PRESENT OF WASHTENAW COUNTY.
Goodrich House, which was also destroyed by fire in 1848. A fourth hotel was destroyed by fire in 1863, the hotel being known as the Bent- ley House.
The first blacksmith in the village was Judge Alexander D. Crane, who opened his shop in 1830: Edward Torrey was the first carpenter who resided in the village, coming in 1831 ; Erastus Ranney was the first wagonmaker, com- ing in 1830: George C. Page, the first tailor, came in 1832; Orrin J. Field, the first shoemaker, in 1832: Henry Winkle, the first cabinet-maker, in 1832, and Julius Ranney, the first tanner, in 1834. Mr. Page was justice of the peace for nearly a quarter of a century and died in Dexter at a very old age.
The first grist mill, which had been erected by Judge Dexter, after passing through a num- ber of hands, was destroyed by fire November 28, 1845, the mill at this time being owned by Thomas Martin. The fire originated at 3 o'clock in the morning in a smut machine and the mill was a total loss. It carried $9,000 worth of in- surance which, however, did not cover the loss. The mill site was purchased by Thomas Peatt and Alva Aldrich, who rebuilt the mill. selling out ultimately to Ebarts and Costello. The mill finally passed into the hands of Thomas Birkett. The Peninsular mills were built in 1836 by Millard. Matthews and Bond. In 1855 they were purchased by Beal, Marble and Southwick. After passing through a number of owners, they finally wound up in the hands of Thomas Birkett. In 1838 Jesse Millard and son erected a woolen mill, which ran for many years and did quite a flourishing business. A cider and planing mill was erected in 1881 by Phelps and Still Bros., but was burned four years later, and a new plan- ing mill was built by B. B. Williams. A blast furnace was erected in 1850 by Isaac V. Wake- man, and did a flourishing business. Afterwards, in connection with this furnace, an agricultural implement factory was started, which employed a number of people. until it was destroyed by fire in the early '70s. Other factories, such as wagon factories, sash and door factories, boats, etc., have been at various times run in the village.
Dexter has been may times visited by fire.
About 1838 its first visitation occurred when the house built by Calvin Smith, and then owned by Thomas Martin, was burned. Dexter's first big fire was on Sunday, November 24. 1844, when twelve buildings on the north side of Main street were destroyed, at a loss estimated at $30,000. The fire originated in Heury Vinkle's cabinet shop, and a singular fact, noted in the Ann Ar- bor papers of this date, is that a rumor of this block being burned was current in Ann Arbor the night before the fire took place. and the rumor even named the buildings in which the fire actually originated. In 1848 this same block of stores, which had been rebuilt, was burned with a loss even heavier than in the fire three years previous. Again, in April, 1877, five brick buildings in this block were destroyed by fire at a loss of $20,000. On the south side of Main street, in 1847. fire destroyed three buildings, and in February, 1860, two more buildings, including the old Dexter Hotel. On Christmas day, 1866, a still more destructive fire occurred on the south side of the street.
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