USA > Michigan > Kent County > R.L. Polk & Co.'s illustrated historical atlas of Kent County, Michigan > Part 7
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SECTION 16, OR WHY SECTION 16 IS CALLED THE SCHOOL SECTION.
That there may be no misunderstanding of the source and use of the Primary School Fund, we quote from the laws of the State and the State Constitution. A careful reading of the parts quoted will fully answer the questions that may occur:
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That section numbered sixteen in every township of the public lands, and where such section has been sold or otherwise disposed of, other lands equivalent thereto, and as contiguous as may be, shall be granted to the State for the use of schools. (Howell I, p. 37.)
ARTICLE XIII. EDUCATION.
SEC. 2. School Fund.
The proceeds from the sales of all lands that have been or hereafter may be granted by the United States to the State, for educational purposes, and the proceeds of all lands or other property given by individuals, or appropriated by the State for
like purposes, shall be and remain a perpetual fund, the interest and income of which, together with the rents of all such lands as may remain unsold, shall be inviolably appropriated and annually applied to the specific objects of the original gift, grant or appro- priation.
SEC. 3. All lands, the titles to which shall fail from a defect of heirs, shall escheat to the State; and the interest on the clear proceeds from the sales thereof, shall be appropriated exclusively to the support of primary schools.
SEC. 4. The Legislature shall, within five years from the adoption of this Constitution, provide for and establish a system of primary schools, whereby a school shall be kept, without charge for tuition, at least three months in each year, in every school district in the State; and all instruction in said schools shall be conducted in the English language.
SEC. 5. A school shall be maintained in each school district at least three months in each year. Any school district neglect- ing to maintain such school, shall be deprived for the ensuing year of its proportion of the income of the primary school fund, and of all funds arising from taxes for the support of schools.
March 10, 1875. Act 22. Sec. I:
The People of the State of Michigan enact, That all money received into the State Treasury from the sale of lands, and placed to the credit of the University fund, the Agricultural Col- lege fund, the Normal School fund, the Primary School fund, or the 5 per cent. Primary School fund, on and after the first day of March, eighteen hundred and seventy five, shall be used in defraying the expenses of the State government.
RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF LOST CORNERS.
By reason of fires in the newer portions of the State, and carelessness in the matter of permanently marking the corners when the lands were cleared up in the older portions of the State, large numbers of the corners established by the government sur- veyors, had been lost, and much litigation resulted owing to the difficulty owners had in establishing their lines; so in 1881 the Legislature passed the following law. Comparatively few town- ships have availed themselves of the benefits of the law, however:
1881. April I. Sept. 10. Act 73. Sec. I.
The People of the State of Michigan enact, That the boards of supervisors of the several counties, are hereby_authorized to establish and perpetuate any government section corners or quarter-posts in their respective counties, which they may have good reason to believe are lost, or are in danger of being lost, by the employment of a surveyor therefor, who shall keep a full and complete record of his work, giving in detail the evidences by which any corner is identified; also the manner in which any lost corner is identified; also the manner in which lost corners are re-established; which record shall be kept in the same book pro- vided by the county for surveyors' records, and kept in the office of the county surveyor, and the record so made and entered by the surveyor aforesaid shall be received as evidence in all the courts in this State wherein any question may arise as to the identification of such corner or corners: Provided, that such work shall be done only in such townships where a majority of the voters, voting, shall vote to raise such sum as is required, not exceeding $250 for any one township, for such work, by any surveyor authorized to do such work, as provided in section one of this act: And provided further, that nothing in this act shall apply to lands where section and quarter section lines are already properly established. Such sum to be assessed upon the real estate of such township according to its cash value. Such assessment to be levied and the taxes therefrom collected in the same manner as other assessments and collection of taxes are made.
SEC. 2. The surveyor as above employed shall sink into the earth at all section and quarter-post corners from the surface to a depth of at least three feet, a column of broken brick, charcoal, broken stones, or other easily distinguishable substance, of a diameter of at least three inches, and carefully describe the same in the record of his survey, and also to mark and record new witness trees wherever possible to do so.
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Biographical Sketches.
MARY E. BELLAMY was born in Vergennes, Chittenden county, Vermont, May 20, 1823. Her parents moved to Oswego, N. Y., in 1831, and to Tiffin, Ohio, in 1839. In this latter place Mary was married to Abraham Wolf. Three years later Mr. and Mrs. Wolf came to Michigan, settling in Grattan township, Kent county, on the property where Mrs. Wolf now resides. Mr. Wolf died in the Union army, at Chattanooga, Tenn., in April, 1864, leaving Mrs. Wolf, in her widowhood, to rear a family of five children. Nobly has she borne the care and priva- tions incident to pioneer life, and has reared her children to useful manhood and womanhood, and is enjoying in the evening of her days the fruits of a well spent life.
JOHN W. COOPER, M. D., son of William and Zada Cooper, was born in Oneida county, N. Y., September 19, 1842. At the age of sixteen he entered the Whitestown Seminary, remaining four years. While there he began the study of med- icine, graduating at the Albany Medical College at the age of twenty-three. He then entered upon the practice of his profes- sion at North Bay, N. Y., and remained there two years. In April, 1868, he was married to Miss Lucy Whitehead. They came to Michigan and located in the southern part of the State. In the spring of 1870 they went to Jamestown, Ottawa county. In 1873 he came to Grandville, Kent county, where he has built up a large and remunerative practice.
NICHOLAS B CREVLING was born in Livingston county, N. Y., in 1847. At the age of seven years he removed with his parents to Michigan, settling in the townsnip of Plainfield. When he was 21 years old he engaged in the lumbering business; was very successful. He purchased the farm on which he now resides, one of the finest in Alpine. In 1875 he married Olive Wilson. They have one child, a daughter. In the spring of 1892 Mr. Crevling was elected to the office of Township Clerk. He is a pleasant gentleman, very popular among his townspeople.
FRANK L. FULLER was born at Belding, Ionia county, Michigan, October 11, 1858. After many experiences, filled with stirring incidents, he began his business life as a book-keeper at the age of 12 years. At 21 years of age he became railroad postal clerk between Detroit and Howard City and Toledo and Luding- ton. He remained in this service four years. He was employed in the lumbering business, and in the First National Bank at Greenville, Mich. He was associated with E. R. Chandler in the bank at Frankfort, Mich., from 1886 to 1888, when he came to Cedar Springs, in this county, and founded the Northern Kent Bank. He has been very successful in the banking business. Mr. Fuller is a young man of magnificent business qualifications and of exemplary character. His business, owing to his careful management and well-known integrity, is rapidly increasing. He is also an extensive dealer in real estate, and is agent for the leading fire insurance companies.
MAX M. GAIS was born in Newkirch, Germany, October 12, 1841. He came to America with his parents in 1853, and settled in Steuben county, New York. From that place they moved to Caledonia, New York, in 1854, and in 1856 they came to Grattan, Michigan. At the age of twenty-three he married Caroline Dumbart, of Grand Rapids. In the fall of 1864 he entered the army, quitted it in June, 1865, when he settled on section 25, Grattan. He lived successively in Rockford, Plain-
field, Harrison county, Indiana, and Ionia, Michigan, and now lives on the old homestead in Grattan. Mr. Gais is a gentle- man of intelligence and pleasing address.
JAMES HILL, son of John and Mary Hill, was born in England, August 31, 1835. At the age of 16 years he came to Canada, landing in Quebec. He came to Michigan in 1859, set- tling first in the city of Grand Rapids, and afterwards in Alpine, in 1862, where he still resides. The following year, 1863, he was united in marriage to Mary A. Snowden, by whom he has had three children, two daughters and a son. One of his daughters died in 1891. Mr. Hill has been supervisor of Alpine for ten years. He is still in the prime of life, with apparently many years of usefulness before him. He is a genial, pleasant gentleman, well worthy of the success he has achieved.
AARON H. HILLS was born in Bennington, Vermont, in 1823. In 1838 he came to Grand Rapids with his parents, and in the fall of the same year settled in Alpine township. In 1852 he married Miss Nellie C. Caton. They have been blessed with five children, four daughters and one son. In 1840 Mr. Hills bought a fine farm near Alpine Station, where he still lives. He is a stockholder and director of the Alpine graveled road.
NELSON HOLMES, son of Abraham and Sally Holmes, was born in New Berlin, Chenango county, N. Y., April 17, 1817. At the age of 19 he came to Michigan, then a Territory, and settled in Macomb county, from whence, in 1846, he came to Grattan township, Kent county, and located the land now occupied by him as a home. In February, 1842, he married Harriet Colton, who died April 17, 1843. They had one son, Edgar. In October, 1844, he married Lucy Button, who par- took with him the toils and privations incident to pioneer life in the wilds of Michigan. Death again visited his fireside August 31, 1882. March 26, 1884, he again entered the wedded state, this time with Abby S. Lamberton, with whom he lives in what is considered the finest farm dwelling in the county. Mr. Holmes was the founder and first president of the First National Bank of Greenville, and as a business man and financier ranks high.
EDWARD H. JONES was born in Summit township, Jack- son county, Michigan, April 12, 1847. In the fall of 1849 his parents removed to Oakfield township, Kent county, and settled on section 21. At the age of 17 Edward joined the "boys in blue," serving his country until June, 1866. He then returned home and followed the occupation of farming and milling. His mill at Oakfield Center was one of the best in the country. He was twice married.
GIBSON D. RIED was born in Grand Rapids township, July 31, 1838. He lived at home until the breaking out of the rebellion, when he entered the Northern army at the age of 22 years. After many seemingly miraculous escapes from death, he quitted the army and returned to his old home in 1864. In 1866 he removed to Grattan and settled on section 13, where he now resides. In April, 1859, he married Miss Emma M. Wait. They have seven children.
S. BOARDMAN SCRANTON was born in Covington, N. Y., May 31, 1820. At the age of 10 years he came with his parents to Macomb county, Michigan, where he lived until he reached
manhood, when he came to Grattan. He was married to Mahala Squires, of Courtland, May 13, 1849, and settled on section 6 of Grattan. In the spring of 1866 he removed to section 17, residing there until his death, which occurred May 6, 1886. His widow still resides at the old home. Mr. Scranton was the father of two sons, George W. and Clark M., the first of whom is still living.
CHESTER M. SLAYTON was born in Middlesex, Yates county, N. Y., December 26, 1835. His parents lived succes- sively in Middlesex, Perinton and Victor, N. Y. In 1847 the family removed to Grattan, Kent county, Mich. When Chester was 19 years of age he became owner of forty acres of land on section 14 of Grattan, on which he resided until the spring of 1891, when he removed to his present home on the same section. In 1857 he wedded Sarah Ann Purdy, of Grattan. They have had eight children, seven of whom are now living. Mr. Slayton served his country "on the tented field" from 1862 to 1865. His present lovely home is pleasantly situated on the bank of one of the numerous lakes of Grattan.
LYMAN SPAULDING, son of Hiram and Marinda Spaul- ding, was born in Steuben county, N. Y., September 23, 1833. He remained at home until of age, after which he taught school until he was 24 years old. May 23, 1858, he married Hester A. Adams, and settled at Nunda, Livingston county, N. Y., remain- ing there two years. He returned to Steuben county and lived there six years. He removed to Michigan in 1866, and settled in Otsego, Allegan county. He went to Plainwell in 1867, and in 1869 moved to Kent county, settling on section 15, Oakfield township, where he resides with his family. Mr. Spaulding is an honored minister of the U. B. Church. Mr. Spaulding and his estimable wife occupy a pleasant home, and are enjoying in the evening of their days the fruits of well spent lives.
G. M. SPENCER was born in Vergennes, Michigan, Sep- tember 2, 1844. After passing through the common schools at home, he attended school at Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor. He studied medicine, and settled in Grattan in 1869, as a physician, where he has since remained. In 1870 he was married to Eliza Nobles, and has two children, Noble and Ambrose. Dr. Spencer has, by close application to his profession, achieved an honorable success, and sustains a reputation for skill and integrity.
MARGARET TURNBULL was born in Wheatland, N. Y., January 22, 1838. While in her infancy her parents moved to Waterloo, Ontario, where Margaret resided until her marriage to Mr. Robert Turnbull, in February, 1862. She and her hus- band located in Michigan, coming by team to Ada, where they settled on the farm which she now occupies, on section 5, her husband having died in 1888. Mrs. Turnbull is the mother of three children, one dying in infancy, two, William R. and Mar- garet A., now living with her.
GEORGE D. WARWICK was born in Hillsdale, Michigan, in 1846. Iu 1856 he went to Brookfield, Missouri, where he remained until 1876. During this time he traveled extensively through the South. In 1876 he returned to Michigan. His present home is pleasantly situated on the north side of Grand River, in Ada township, where he lives with his mother.
Historical Sketch of Kent County.
What is now known as Kent county, State of Michigan, was formally detached from Kalamazoo county and formally organ- ized in 1836, and included what are now Ottawa, Ionia and Clin- ton counties; these were detached in 1837, and the county, composed as it now is of twenty-four townships, has remained unchanged in territory since. It is the second county in the State in population, and one of the largest geographically, con- taining as it does 864 square miles of land, in one of the fairest, most fertile and fruitful valleys of the Peninsular State, the valley of Grand River, the most considerable river in Michigan. There is but one county between Kent and Lake Michigan, the western boundary of the state. It is in the fourth tier of counties from the southern boundary of the State. According to the United States census of 1890 it had 109,922 inhabitants, a growth for the entire county of fifty per cent. during the preceding decade. There can be no doubt that at this writing, (September, 1893), the population closely approximates 140,000. The county has an assessed valuation, as equalized by the State Board in 1891, of $50,000,000, having increased $5,000,000 in the preceding five years, and so is the second county in wealth in the State. It comprises a superior agricultural and horticultural region, a very large proportion of which is under cultivation, as will readily be judged from the contents of this volume-outside the many beau- tiful lakes with bold banks and the watercourses which so plenti- fully abound-and its farmers and fruit growers are among the
most successful and prosperous in the Peninsular State, with good buildings, choice live stock (much of it blooded or thorough- bred), good school houses, good roads and bridges, and excellent facilities by railroad for reaching the county seat, and the bal- ance of mankind by rail. The county contains, as its capital, the city of Grand Rapids, which is now estimated to have fully 100,000 population, and is one of the important manufacturing centers of the United States, being foremost in the making of furniture. Its superior water power, its railway facilities, and the high character of the product of its factories have con- tributed to a very rapid, almost a phenomenal, growth of its industries, thus adding largely to the wealth of the county seat, and of the outlying farming regions, which thus have an excellent and near market for produce of all kinds. In Grand Rapids are located one of the most substantial and largest Court Houses in the State, recently built at a cost of more than $200,000, the county jail and other usual public structures. Among these should be mentioned the United States building, for the city is the loca- tion of the United States Courts and other offices for the Western District of Michigan. Near the city, also, are located the Michigan Soldiers' Home and the Michigan Masonic Home, institutions whose names indicate their purposes and uses. The county has the usual compliment of officials, including two Cir- cuit Courts. It elects two members of the State Senate and five members of the State House of Representatives. It
will be observed that in the several incorporated villages and in the rural regions, school houses are numerous, about 250 in all, and their buildings, as heretofore asserted, are of a high character. The first white man who came into what is now Kent county to remain, to engage in business, was the Hon. Rix Robinson, who began trading with the Indians, locating at the mouth of the Thornapple River in Ada township, in 1821. He could hardly be called a settler, though as soon as he could acquire lands in a region which was long an Indian reservation, he did so. Louis Campau, another Indian trader, came to what is now Grand Rapids, in 1826, and about that time a mission station among the Indians was established. But no deliberate, permanent settlement may be said to have actually begun here until the arrival of Joel Guild and his family, June 23, 1833. So the whole growth of Kent county, which has had no other name since it was first organized, has been within sixty years. The statistics of its population, of its taxable wealth, the suggestion of the character of its soil and productions, of its importance in the state, of its chief city and that city's industries, of the insti- tutions incident to a busy life with a high degree of the comforts of an enlightened community, will all be enhanced by a study of the contents of the preceding pages, which will need no further elucidation or explanation.
PLATE 70
Shoring North Western portion of MICHIGAN
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CHART OF THE WORLD
ON MERCATORS PROJECTION Showing the direction of the Ocean Currents, with the Routes and Distances between the Principal Forts.
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THIS SHOWS THE INTERIOR OF
AMERICAN STEAM LAUNDRY
OFFICE AND WORKS
They are the Leaders in their Line of Business.
CARPET CLEANING WORKS
IN CONNECTION WITH THEIR LAUNDRY
AMERICAN
LAUNDRY OFTE BRO5 PROPRIETORS
GRAND RAPIDS
9 MICH.
OFFICE:
186
EAST
FULTON
STREET
BRANCH
OFFICE:
75
CANAL
STREET
LUMBER
ARD
RESIDENCE OF JOHN DREGGE, ESQ.
JOHN DREGGE & CO.'S LUMBER YARD.
L. M. KRAMER
PHOTOGRAPHER
PORTRAITS, GROUPS, COPIES, VIEWS, INTERIORS, FLASHLIGHTS, FUNERAL FLOWERS.
Enlargements in Crayon Sepia . India Ink . Pastel Water Color
Bromide and Platinum Prints for the trade at Chicago prices, and where desired will finish work ready for delivery. . Special process of copy- ing architects' plans, line drawings, etc., or, enlarging to. any extent.
Negatives and Prints for Engravers, Photo-etchers and Lithographers. Developing, Retouching and Finishing for Amateurs.
ALL WORK GUARANTEED THE BEST AT LOWEST PRICES.
By recent purchase we have come into possession of all the portrait negatives taken by Mr. Bayne, formerly of Fountain street; also those of his predecessors and successors, and are prepared to accept duplicate orders of the same.
THE CUTS IN THIS ATLAS WERE MADE FROM PHOTOS BY KRAMER.
..
L. M. KRAMER
334 South Division Street, GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.
D. AND F. E. SKEELS, SURVEYORS,
Civil Engineers and Landscape Gardeners ****** Laying Out and Improving Parks, Cemeteries and Lawns. Grades Established.
ESTIMATES GIVEN.
Platting, Looking Timber and General Surveying.
Room 1015, Michigan Trust Building, GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. TELEPHONE 390.
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