Fennville City (part 4 of 6)

The subject of this biography, by all that can be learned from his associates in life, was a man of more than ordinary ability ; he was emphatically a man of affairs, industrious, sagacious, enterprising, and public-spirited. He was born in Sheffield, Berkshire Co., Mass., March 4, 1808. His father, William Bull, was of English descent, a Quaker profession of a civil engineer, and shortly after he attained his majority he went to Florida, where he was employed by the government in the survey of government lands. In 1832 he came to Michigan and located at " Insley's Corners,' on Prairie Ronde, Kalamazoo Co. Here he was engaged in mercantile pursuits in company with a Mr. Kellogg. In the latter part of that year he dissolved partnership with Mr. Kellogg and removed his stock of goods to what is now Schoolcraft, then known as the " Tsland," and prosecuted a successful business in merchandising for many years. Sept. 7, 1832, he purchased and received a deed of conveyance from Col. Lyman D. Daniels for forty acres of land, being the south half of the west half of the southeast quarter of section 18, in township 4 south, of range 11 west, in Kalamazoo County. This land he surveyed and platted as '"' Bull's addition" to the village substantial buildings erected oe it, and constitutes the larger and better portion of the village. Up to the time of his removal to Barry County, Mr. Bull was closely identified with the development of Schoolcraft and vicinity ; his education in civil engineering and suryeying made his services of great value to the people. His reading had been extensive, and his library, consisting of more books than those in the possession of any of his neighbors, was a source of REE much knowledge among the early settlers. Mr. Bull was one-of the pioneers of the town of Rutland, where he purchased a large tract of land, and where he was extensively engaged in agricultural operations up to the time of his death, which occurred in March, 1865, at Great Barrington, Mass. He is spoken of by those who knew him best as man of superior business capacity, public-spirited in the extreme, and one whose sympathy in behalf of the unfortunate and destitute was always readily enlisted. Hon. H. G. Wells, of Kalamazoo, who knew him intimately, says, "He was a valuable citizen and a In 1846 he was married to Miss Lydia A. Shaw, of Volina, Cass Co., Mich. Mrs. Bull was born in Fairfield Co., Conn., Oct. 24, 1826, and came to Michigan with her father's family in 1830. In 1866 Mrs. Bull was again married, to Albert E. Bull, a nephew the air of Indian villages. There was an Indian buryingground there in which the graves were numerous. They are now no more to be seen, even by faint indication. The plow has leveled the mounds and turned up many a bone once a member of a savage frame. Indian relics, such as stone arrow-heads, tomahawks, and various implemenis, have been unearthed from time to time and carried away by relic-hunters.

Among the foremost pioneers in Rutland was David Rork, a New Yorker, who made his appearance in 1843. He moved from New York to Wisconsin in 1841, and after an unsatisfactory two-years' experience in that country concluded to turn his face eastward, and, as he had a sister in Michigan, - Mrs. Estes Rich, of Rutland, - called there en route to pay her a visit. While in Rutland he was persuaded by Rich to locate there, and, being rather pleased with the country, he did locate there, buying 80 acres of Rich on section 10. He put up a log cabin, and, with his family, moved into it March 29,1844, That house was the fifth one built in the township, and stood about opposite the present residence of A. D. Rork. David Rork died of

In June, 1843, Finch Mead, of Dutchess Co., N. Y., _ came to Rutland alone to look at 160 acres of land on section 15 that he had bought of one Bennett Chambers, a Dutchess County school-teacher and Western land speculator. Mead had paid $500 for the land upon Chambers' representations, and finding, upon inspection, that the investment was a good one, made all haste back to New York, and in June, 1844, returned with his family, in which were 11 children. While resting during his journey at Hastings, Mead was lucky enough to encounter a man from Yankee Springs with a load of pine lumber. He bought it on the spot, took it with him to Rutland, and " put up a shanty without delay. Clearing land was an unfamiliar occupation to Mr. Mead. He and his married son Charles, who came West with him, had been wagon-makers in New York, and when they began to pioneer in Rutland they found themselves somewhat at loss to know how to get on according to the most approved frontier methods. For example, instead of disposing of their timber as fast as they felled it, they deferred the work of cutting up until they had leveled a score or so of trees. David Rork, happening over one day while Mead and his sons were chopping, laughed at them as he explained how they created a good deal of unnecessary labor for themselves by a failure to understand how to do the work properly. He offered a few wise suggestions, and they found, by adopting them, that they had learned something which helped them on very much, Charles Mead didn't fancy a pioncer's life, and after giving it a fair trial went to Hastings, where he opened a wagon-shop, and followed that business until his death, in 1866.

In the spring of 1845, Finch Mead made a move to section 10, where he now lives, and put up a log house. For the shingles he used on it he went into Allegan County, and made a two days' journey of it. For the windowsash he had to go to Grand Rapids, and altogether he experienced no little trouble in the construction of a home,

When he first came to Rutland, Mr. Mead set off a corner of his house as a workshop, and as he was the only mechanic in the township he was soon in liberal demand among the settlers. Since his location in the township, in 1844, he has done a good deal work at his old trade, and: in that time has made upwards of 30 complete farm-wagons for his neighbors.

North Of The River

When Mead came into the town, there were on the north side of the river Edwin and Asa Rice, two brothers, who on that side of the stream were the pioneer settlers in Rutland. Edwin Rice lived on section 2, but in 1851 he sold his place to Marble Bates, then just come in, and moved to IIlinois, in which State both he and his brother Asa now live. Edwin M. and A. H. Bates, sons of Marble, came West also in 1851, but did not settle there until somewhat later. The pioneers in that portion of the township then included Benajah Dowd, Isaac Crowell, Lyman Newton (living now on section 22), Samuel McMurray, J. W. Stebbins, John K. Lothridge, James Lothridge, Manning Dowd, and R. Smith, the latter's farm being now occupied by B. Kurtz. Settlements in that vicinity were caused quite early by the completion of the stage-road between Battle Creek and Grand Rapids, which passed through the northeastern corner of Rutland, and over which there was considerable lively traffic.

W. W. Ralph lived, in 1844, on section 13, and Lewis Ensign on section 11, both, however, south of the river. On section 11 also lived Henry Standish, who moved after-. wards to Hastings. Lewis Ensign lives now in Detroit,

Mr. Mead remembers that in 1844 it was no uncommon thing to sec deer in his door-yard, and to sce them frequently, too, feeding among the cattle, quite as unconcerned as the cattle themselves. Indians roaming in squads of a score or more often diversified the landscape, and on the river their canoes were familiar sights. By river they chose most frequently to travel on their trading-journeys to Hastings, and many is the time that the stream bore them and their craft in throngs as they pushed on to market.

Benajah Dowd, a New Yorker, who settled on section 12, in 1850, after a year's residence in Hastings, died there in 1851. His son Solon made a settlement in Hope township in 1850, and from there moved to Rutland, where he now lives, on section 26. J. R. Robinson, a settler likewise in Hope in 1851 with his father, became a resident of Rut- Yand in 1866, upon the place he now occupies, first improved by Henry Pickle. One Dow was a moderately early settler on the Hastings road, and put up a log house upon David Rork's place, in which he made shoes. He remained, however, but a short time, and after his departure his house came into renewed service, as a school-house. 8. C. Prindle, who located on section 4 in 1848, had come with his father to Michigan in 1836, In 1864 he removed to Hastings, and for sixteen consecutive years filled the office of probate judge.

where he now lives. Then it was wild land, and upon it Mr. Williams cut the first stick. Among his neighbors were Isaac Cowell, Marble Bates, Elva Cross, Manning Dowd, Lyman Newton, James Olner, Martin Smith, Isaac Hendershott, and others. In June, 1854, James McNutt came from Irving, where he had been living since 1845, and made a location on section 9, whence he removed in 1872 to his present home, on section 17. In the neighborhood of section 17, and in the northwestern corner of the township, there was scarcely any attempt at settlement before 1854 or 1855. Maj. Mott, and after him Chauncey H. Brewer, were the earliest in that quarter. About 1854 there came, as the next reinforcements, Alexander. Corning and his two sons, Alexander and Benjamin, and his son-inlaw, one Leavenworth. They occupied six 80-acre lots on section 8, which the elder Corning had 'entered; but their stay was brief. Before leaving they leased the land to

Huron Healy moved with his father, Samuel, from New York in 1836 to Washtenaw County, where he lived until his settlement in Rutland. Straight south the nearest neighbor he had was Ira Shipman. West there were Chauncey H. Brewer, Thomas Slater, and Moses Campbell, while on the north was R. H. Wilcox on section 5 (where he had been since 1855), Lafayette Dongias, Roswell Holden, and Jjah Marshall.

In the southern half of the township, the only settlement made previous to 1850 was that by Ira Shipman, on section 20. Somehow the desire for Jands in the south was not very ardent, and in that district, even after the northern portion 'was fairly populated, there was still unbroken wilderness. The earliest to penetrate into the eastern portion of the south half of Rutland were Joshua Peck and Reuben Dunham, who, in 1850, made settlements upon adjoining places in section 23. Peck lived there until 1873, when, in a fit of mental aberration, he committed suicide, He was found lying dead in his house, the upper-portion of his head blown off and a discharged shotgun close by, showing that, after lying down, he had placed the muzzle against his head, discharged the weapon with his foot, and straightway passed into eternity.

Reuben Durham lived with his wife and child in a framed shanty 14 by 20, upon 80 acres of land acquired under a soldier's warrant by right of his services in the war of 1812. In 1852, Durham's cabin received within its hospitable walls the family of George W. Crosby, consisting of six persons, Crosby, whe had martied a sister of Mrs. Durham, had moved from New York to Illinois, intending to scttle there, but, not liking the country, con- took up on a soldier's warrant 160 acres in Rutland township, upon section 26. From Kalamazoo he came: out to Rutland in December, 1852, and, as related, lodged In the Durham shanty, containing but one room, the two families, comprising nine persons, lived after a fashion for the space of the six weeks which it took Crosby and his sons to build their own shanty. .

When Crosby got fairly located he found himself a mile or so from his nearest neighbors, Peck and Durham, while south, east, and west of him to the town-lines there was not a solitary settler. Upon his place Mr. Crosby lived until May, 1879, when he was buried upon. a spot on his farm which, directly after his arrival, twenty-seven years before, he had chosen as the ground in which he desired to be laid away to rest. Upon the old farm still lives C. R. Crosby, who came with his father in aa and who has there had his home ever since:

Previous to Crosby's location a hay-road had been cut out by David Rork, from his place to a marsh south of Crosby's, for the purpose of obtaining the hay, which grew luxuriantly upon the marsh, and which was, moreover, of excellent quality. This hay-road was a decided convenience to the new settlers, and, as such, was duly appreciated.

The next to settle in the neighborhood was Henry Pickle, an ex-soldier of the war of 1812, who took up, on a soldier's warrant, the land now occupied by J. R. Robinson, in seetion 26. Mr. Pickle now lives in the township of Yankee Springs, and, although upwards of ninety years of age, is quite hearty and active. Of the-settlers herein named, Durham, Peck, and Pickle were -ex-soldiers, Peck of the Mexican war and the other two of the war of 1812. Durham died in Rutland in 1860.

A Rush For Land

The years 1854 and 1855 witnessed an important accession to the settlements in the Crosby district, and for a time the new recruits were quite a multitude. Indeed, the new-comers were so many, and so besieged the ones already on the ground for flour, potatoes, and other necessary commodities, that the prices of those articles rose, under the spirited demand, to a high figure, while it was with difficulty that lumber could be obtained fast enough tg meet the needs of those desirous of building framed houses. A reason for this animated condition of affairs may be easily found in the fact that there was considerable. government land in that neighborhood, and that it was to be had at $1.25 the acre. For some reason, land speculators who had greedily absorbed the northern portion of the township had not cared to invest in the south, and so for some time the lands lay uncalled for until emigrants carried the facts, when, as has been told, there came a rapid demand for places. Farms then bought at government price. are to-day easily worth more than twenty times that price, - that is to say, 160 acres bought then for $200 would sell to-day for $5000.

West of Crosby, near Cooley Lake, A. D. Rork, William Munger, M.S. Cooley, John R. Cooley, Harmon Munger, and James Van Wagnen were among the first comers in 1854 and 1855. Of these the only one still living there is James Vau Wagnen, on section 26, where he settled in on section 27, in the heart of a wilderness of heavy timber, and reared the home which has sheltered him from that day to this. On the north was C. H. Bowen; west of him, Isaac Powell and Horace Hull, who had been there a year; and still farther west, at Pine Lake, were John O. Riley, Philander and Ferrell Otis, and Walter and Joseph Barrett, all of whom had just moved in. Walter Barrett's place is now occupied by C. A. Newland, whose father was an early settler in Kalamazoo County, and lives now in Haton County. At Mr. Newland's house lives his wife's mother, the widow of J. K. Bingham, who came.to Michigan as a pioneer in 1827, since which time Mrs. Bingham has lived in the State, herself a Michigan pioneer of fifty-three years' standing.

Upon section 21, Isaac Diamond, a settler in Lenawee County in 1840, made a location in 1854. In 1870 he died at the house of his son, Isaac L., on section 16. Isaac L. joined his father in Rutland in 1855, and divided his time between his father's house and that of his brother-inlaw, E. T. Hun, near by, until 1862, when he moved to his present home, on section 16. Until 1854 section 16 was a forest without a human inhabitant. The first settler to locate upon it was Elijah Rogers, who in the year mentioned made a clearing there, and directly after that Daniel

Oakes settled near him, followed in turn by his brother Christopher Oakes. Rogers died in 1866, Daniel Oakes in 1857, and Christopher Oakes in 1856.

Among other settlers in the southern half of Rutland may be mentioned B. R. Blanchard (who claims to be the first person who made a permanent white settlement in the township of Baltimore), Henry H. Wood, and H. N. Monroe, who moved with his father, H. G. Monroe, to Paw Paw, in Van Buren County, in 1838, where they lived until 1846. The elder Monroe moved then to Calhoun County, where he now lives. H.N. Monroe came to Rutland in

* 1865, and occupied a place first settled by Elmer Johnson, and afterwards by Charles Tillotson. There were also A. B. Smith (an early settler in Orangeville), Philip W. Burgess, Edward Gorham, C. W. Biggs, J. W. Tanner (a settler in Washtenaw County in 1844), Thomas Kelley, John Dawson, G. W. Loehr, Norman Johnson, Daniel Dean, and George Williams (whose father settled in Irving upon the Ingraham place in 1848).

Podunk

There is a place on the Rutland map called Podunk, although the visitor to that locality expecting to find a village there would probably pass through the place quite unconscious of the fact that Podunk was before and round about him. The locality was named, it appears, by J. 8. Van Wagnen, twenty or more years ago, when, at a casual meeting of some of the residents of the vicinity, the suggestion was started that the settlement ought to be called Cooleyville, since the Cooleys were among the first to come in there. Other names were suggested, when Van Wagnen abruptly exclaimed, " Pshaw! call it Podunk, and be done with it," Podunk being the name of a cross-roads village in Ohio, where Van Wagnen had lived, to whom it seemed that the name would fit excellently well on the present occasion. Upon a sudden impulse the name was adopted by those present, but when an attempt was made to introduce it generally there was a strong protest against the measure, and many declared that so ugly a name should not be applied to so fine a neighborhood.

This spirit of opposition,aroused within the promoters of the project a strong determination to make the name stick in spite of everything. They took especial pains to sound the fame of Podunk far and wide, called the attention of casual visitors to the fact that they were in Podunk, erected signboards in various portions of the township certifying that it was so many miles to Podunk (as the case might be), and eventually caused the name to be inscribed on the townmap; so stamping and hammering, as it were, the name of Podunk upon the face of passing events that Podunk the neighborhood remains, and will, doubtless, remain for all time, to all of which the neighborhood has long since become resigned as to the inevitable.

Pioneer Highways

One of the first roads laid out in the township was one from Hastings along the south bank of the river to beyond Hstes Rich's place, and so on across Glass Creek by Maj. Mott's to the Grand Rapids and Battle Creek road through Yankee Springs. The present Yankee Springs road from Hastings through Rutland was at first a mere path, and, although it was a much more dircct route to Yankee Springs than the one used, it was considered too rough a road to be easily utilized, and was but little followed save now and then by some venturesome being who preferred a short cut to a longer and smoother thoroughfare. The highway now known as the Yankee Springs road was surveyed by George B. Manchester, September 20, 21, and 22, 1847, and commenced sixty rods west of the quarter-post on the south line of section 11, whence it was run west and south road formerly run from Yankee Springs to Ira Shipman's. Sept. 22, 1847, Manchester suryeyed a road commencing forty-five rods east of the quarter-post on the south line of section 10, and thence running east and north to the road running from Rich's to Hastings. Dec. 25, 1847, a road was laid from the corners of sections 4, 5, 8, and 9 westward, to intersect "the old road." Jan. 11, 1848, a road was laid from the west town-line, at the corners of sections 7 and 18 east and south, to intersect the road running from Hastings to Yankee Springs w/@ Shipman's. No less than eleven highways were constructed in Rutland in 1848.

On the 10th of May, 1847, Commissioners Ira Shipman, Edwin Rice, and David Rork divided the township into three road districts, as follows: District No. 1 to contain sections 1, 2,3, and 12, all that part of the east half of section 10 north of the river, and all those portions of sections 11 and 13 north of the river. District No. 2 to contain section 4, the east half of section 5, the east half of section 8, all of section 9, the west half of section 10, that part of the east half of section 10 south of the river, the part of section 11 south of the river, all of section 13 eu of the river, and all of sections 14, 15, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 34, 35, and 36. District No. 3 to contain the west half of section 5, all of sections 6 and 7, the west half of section 8, and all of sections 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, and 33.

The report of the highway commissioners for the year 1847 recited the labor assessment to be forty-two and a quarter days in district No. 1, of which twenty-eight and a half days were paid; one hundred and a quarter days in No. 2, of which thirty-three and a half days were paid; and eighty-seven days in No. 3, of which fifteen and a half days were paid. The report further specified that 'jobs were let to the amount specified before, to wit: No. 1 for $104.25, No. 2 for $135.75, No. 3 for $162.50. Included in the above is $40 for old jobs in district No. 3, also $24 to procure a new scraper for each district, leaving $62 as the amount of unfinished jobs. The above gives a sum- "mary of the sear ncted made on roads for the past year."

The report for the year 1848 shows the following assessment of labor: Sixty-six and a half days in No. 1, of which forty-eight and three-quarters were paid; fifty-four days in No. 2, of which ten and a quarter days were paid ; 'eightyeight and three-quarters days in No: 3, of which twentyone and a half days were paid; and seventy and a half days in No. 4, of which forty-one and three-quarters days were paid. Jobs were let as follows: In No, 1 for $68, in No. 2 for $47.44, in No. 3 for $66, and in No. 4 for $15.94.

In the winter of 1844 there was a school on Bull's Prairie, in Irving, where Chloe Benson taught, and to that school the children of Rutland's settlers were sent. In the summer of 1845, Maria Lacey taught school in a log shanty built on section 9 by James Lothridge, who had bought a piece of land of Hstes Rich and put up a cabin, but, finding himsclf unable to pay the purchase-money, had moved away.

Upon the separation of Rutland from Irving, the former township was allowed the sum of $7.04 in school money and $33.90 in library money. Sept. 11, 1847, School Inspectors John W. Stebbins and W. W. Ralph met at the house of W. W. Ralph, and organized school district No. 2, to which was apportioned the entire northwestern quarter of the town, consisting of sections 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 16,17, and 18. July 15, 1848, school district No. 1 was organized, and included the northeastern quarter of the town, or sections 1, 2, 3,10, 11,12, 13, 14,and 15. The apparent organization of No, 2 before No. 1 was established and contained sections 22, 27, 28, 33, and 34. No. 8 was organized Web. 4, 1867, and included section 18, the west three-fourths of section 17, and the northwestern quarter of section 20. No. 9 was organized Feb. 27, 1869. The first annual report recorded appears under date of 1854, and sets forth that during that year the number of scholars in attendance upon the town-schools was 84 in three district', having, respectively, 32, 29, and 22. The amount of public money received that year was $36.45.

The school inspectors' records Siri that school-teachers' certificates were granted, from. June 7, 1848, to April 14, 1860, inclusive, to the following persons:

Township 3, range 9, was, on the 22d of March, 1839, made a portion of Yankee Springs township. ~ On the 16th of March, 1847, it was given an independent organization as Rutland; the name being bestowed at the suggestion of Winslow W. Ralph, who came from Rutland, Vt., to Michigan, and became an early settler in the township mentioned. The first meeting was held at the house of David Rork, April 5, 1847. J. W. Stebbins was chosen chairman, W. W. Ralph clerk, and John K. Lothridge and Estes Rich inspectors of election. The voters on that occasion numbered 17, as follows: David Rork, John W. Stebbins, Samucl McMurray, Winslow W. Ralph, Abel Rice, George B, Manchester, Chauncey H. Brewer, Ira Shipman, Edwin Rice, John K. Lothridge, Asa Rice,

The full list of township officials is here given: John K. Lothridge, Supervisor; George B. Manchester, Clerk ; Chauncey H. Brewer, Treasurer; Winslow W. Ralph, John W. Stebbins, and Samuel McMurray, Justices of the Peace; W. W. Ralph and John W. Stebbins, School Inspectors; Edwin Rice, David Rork, and Ira Shipman, Highway Commissioners; Frederick Gun, Abel Rice, Directors of the Poor; O. L. Ingraham and William Gun, Constables. The pathmasters were George B. Manchester, in district No. 1; David Rork, in No. 2; John K. Lothrige, in No. 3; Orrin L. Ingraham, in No. 4. It was resolved to dispense with assessors, to forego also a tax on dogs, and to raise but $100 for current expenses that year.

Appended will be found the names of those annually chosen from 1848 to 1880 to serve as supervisors, clerks, treasurers, and justices of the peace:

At the general election in November, 1847, the poll-list was as follows: John W. Stebbins, Frederick Gun, William Gun, Ira Hunter, Edwin Rice, Asa Riee, Abel Rice, Samuel MeMurray, Jr., Chauncey H. Brewer, Cornelius Limington, O. L. Ingraham, Samuel McMurray, Istes Rich, J. K. Lothridge, G. B. Manchester, David Rork, Wm. Kenfield, Winslow W. Ralph, Ira Shipman, - nineteen in all.

In April, 1848, the voters numbered twenty-one, as follows: J. K. Lothridge, Winslow. W. Ralph, Samuel Mc- Murray, Stephen Riggs, Ira Shipman, Frederick Gun, James Lothridge, Wm. Kenfield, C. H. Brewer, O. L. Ingraham, Samuel McMurray, Jr., Harvey Tower, Abel Rice, Asa Rice, David Rork, A. F. Corning, L. H. Ensign, John Burdick, Henry Standish, John W. Stebbins, Ira Hunter.

Post-Offices

The first post-office in Rutland was established at C. H. Brewer's, on Glass Creek, in 1858, and called Glass Creek Post-Office. Mr. Brewer was the first postmaster, and upon his removal from town the office was transferred to Moses Campbell. After enduring a year longer it was discontinued.

The stage-route from Kalamazoo to Grand Rapids passed Ira Shipman's, and in 1862 a post-office was established at his house, and called Rutland Centre. Within less than a week afterwards the stage-route was changed and the postoffice abolished. Mr. Shipman enjoyed the distinction of being postmaster long enough to handle about a half-dozen letters. Since the days of Glass Creek and Rutland Centre,

Religion In Rutland

The early settlers in Rutland found conveniences for religious worship close at hand in Hastings, and for that reason there was no attempt to provide .services nearer home previous to 1850, and then the experiment proved a failure, since the general opinion appeared to be that there was no especial occasion for forming a religious organization while the village churches were so easily reached. From that day to this, mainly for the same reason, church organizations in Rutland have been few and far between, while as to church buildings the township has never had one, and has now but two religious societies, both Methodist.

The pioneer religious organization was a Methodist Episcopal class formed in the school-house, on section 11,in 1852, with 12 members, and attached to the Irving Circuit as the North Rutland class. The members were Wm. Rork,S. C. Prindle and wife, Lorin Rich, Finch Mead and wife, Daniel Wilcox and wife, Mr.and Mrs. Geo. W. Crosby and their two sons. Jinch Mead was chosen class-leader, and for the space of five years the class continued to have services with more or less regularity. In 1857 meetings were discontinued ; and, although periodical efforts looking to a revival have been made since, the results have been only transitory in their character. The last attempt at a restoration of interest occurred in 1879, and since that time preaching has been enjoyed once a fortnight, Rev. J. J. McAllister, of Irving, being the pastor. There are at present 13 members, of whom Finch Mead is leader ; and there is also a Sundayschool, of which D. Sceels is the superintendent.

The Rutland Methodist Hpiscopal class was organized in 1864 in the school-house on section 16, with Mr. and Mrs. Ira Nye, Mrs. Freyer, and Mrs. I. L. Diamond as members, Ira Nye being class-leader. In 1866 the class was transferred to the log school-house on section 17, and was reorganized, with 25 members, as follows : Hiram Nichols, class-leader ; Susan Nichols, R. B. Blanchard and wife, Sarak Diamond, Lorin Rich, Sherman and Ellen Rich, ' Horace and Harriet Cowell, Isaac L. and Lydia Diamond, Tra and Emma Shipman, Sylvester and Ravila Dean, Daniel and. Mary Wilcox, Marilla Munger, Daniel EK. and Maria Nichols, Emma Martin, KE. R. French, Anna M. French, Finch Mead.

The class was at first attached to the Hastings Circuit, but in November, 1869,.was transferred to the Irving Circuit, where it still remains. Sueceeding Mr. Nichols, J. M. Whittemore was chosen class-leader Oct. 2, 1870, and yet fills the office. Rev. A. P. Moors,'the preacher in charge, was followed in 1869 by N. D. Marsh, and after him Revs. H. H. Parker, H. Hayes, M. Browning, O. B. Whitmore, and J. J. McAllister have been the preachers. The membership is now 33, and that of the Union Sundayschool, held at the same place, from 50 to 60. -Mrs. J. M. Whittemore is the superintendent, and has 48 assistants four teachers.

There have been in times past various religious organizations in the township, especially a Methodist Kpiscopal class and Free-Will Baptist Church at Podunk, and a close-communion Baptist Church north of there, but. they have all passed out of existence. There is, however, still at Podunk a flourishing Union Sunday-school, whereof C. H.

This was formed in the Chidester school-house, Feb. 20, 1880. 'The officers chosen on that occasion were Mrs. A. H. Bates, President; Mrs. H. N. Monroe, Vice-President; Mrs. David Eycleshimer, Secretary ; and Mrs. Wm. Perry, Treasurer. Rutland encourages also, through the efforts of Red Ribbon clubs, the good work of temperance, and with results to this time of an especially gratifying character.

This body was formed in December, 1873, in the log school-house on section 17, with 30 charter members. The officers then chosen were William Dudley, M.; Asahel Luther, O.; Martin Blanchard, L.; William R. Blanchard, Steward; A. S. Dean, Chaplain; Thomas Kelly, Sec. ; U. I. Baldwin, Treas. After Mr. Dudley, Asahel Luther served as Master in 1875, 1876, 1877, and 1878. Harry Healy, who was chosen Master'in December, 1878, was re-elected in December, 1879. Mectings were held in members' houses until the summer of 1875, when a hall was built near the schoolhouse, on section 17. In 1878 it was moved due west, just over the line, into Yankee Springs township. The membership is now about 50. The officers are Harry Healy, M.; A. G. Culver, O.; Chauncey Noyes, L.; John Whittemore, Chaplain; Asahel Luther, Sec. ; Huron Healy, Treas. ; Hlkanah Morford, Steward ; K. P. Whit-

Ilealy, Ceres; Mrs. Harry Healy, Pomona; Mrs. James Matthews, Flora; Mrs. KH. P. Whitmore, Stewardess. Regular sessions are held on the second and fourth Saturday of each month.

THORNAPPLE township, so named from Thornapple River, which received its designation from the bountiful growth of thornapple-trees upon its banks, is designated on the United States survey as township 4 north, in range

The surface of the. country is undulating, and in many places hilly. The township was originally covered by oakopenings, except in the northwest, where heavy timber prevailed. It is agriculturally rich, and contains not only numerous fine farms, but many elegant rural homes. The Thornapple River flows from south to north, and along its course passes the Grand Rapids branch of the Michigan

The earliest white settler in Thornapple, and the founder of the village of Middleville, was Calvin G. Hill, widely known in his lifetime as "'Squire" Hill. He was a native of New York, and in the fall of 1834 purchased from the government £00 acres lying on both sides of Thornapple River, within the present limits of the village of Middleville. He began at once to make improvements on section 27, where he put up a log cabin on the hill, directly opposite the place now oceupicd by Leonard's hotel. Mr. Hill found an attractive country of oak-openings and a good strong water-power on the river, which doubtless helped to induce him to make that selection of land. In 1835, Mr. Hill, having made a clearing and prepared a comfortable habitation, brought out his family and became a permanent resident.

Elias Hill, his brother, also came at this time with his family, and located upon section 28, now esteemed one of the most fruitful in the county. Elias Hill had two grown sons, of whom Hugh M. settled near by, while Collins lived with his father several years.

Calvin G. Hill's two grown sons were Alpheus M. and Albert C. The latter made a settlement on section 27, but sold the place to Ashbel Beach, who came in 1836. Albert then turned his attention to the business of breaking land for others, and achieved much local fame as a land-breaker. He constructed an enormous plow, before which he drove six or more pairs of cattle, and went about the country doing excellent service. Alpheus M., the second son of Calvin G. Hill, became identified with the milling business at Middleville, and was a prominent man until his death in the military service during the war for the Union.

Ashbel Beach, to whom Albert C. Hill sold his place in 1836, was a hardy pioneer, and was locally celebrated as the man who plastered his house with potato plaster because he happened to take an eccentric notion that he would have no other kind. It turned out, however, that the material was excellent and still serves its original purpose faithfully.

In the fall of 1835 Henry Leonard entered the new settlement with his family and located upon a farm on section 22, which he had bought of Calvin G. Hill, and upon which his son Orrin Leonard now lives. With Henry Leonard came his stepson, Charles Paull, a carpenter, who was then a young bachelor. Mr. Paull was the pioncer carpenter in the settlement, and from the date of his first appearance there until the present time he has followed the same trade in the same neighborhood with but little interruption. :

Although there was excellent water-power near at hand, on Thornapple River, Mr. Ilill concluded, doubtless, that the construction of a dam at that point would be too great an undertaking, and so, when he determined to build a sawmill, he went over to Duncan Lake, in the northwest, and erected a mill upon a ereek in that locality. The timbers of the structure were hewn logs. One Ebenezer Duncan, who had made a settlement hard by, was the first white resident of that locality, and he took part in the building of the mill, as did also Henry Leonard. Both these gentlemen were subsequently concerned with the management of the enterprise. This mill was crected in the fall of 1836, and was, of course, the pioneer mill of Thornapple. It was used, however, but a few years, when it became dilapidated and worthless.

The first emigrants into Duncan's neighborhood directly after his settlement were Newton and Bainbridge Gage, and there was also one Freeman, who was interested with Calvin G. Hill in the mill, at the outset. Mr. Duncan afterwards settled upon section 28, but eventually removed to Oregon, his present home.

death, in 1863, was prominently concerned in township affairs. Philip Leonard, now living in Middleville, was a brother of Henry, and at the solicitation of the latter came out to Thornapple in the fall of 1836. He worked in Mr. Hill's saw-mill a year or so, then went north, and, after a few months' absence, settled in Yankee Springs township, whence he removed to Middleville in 1865. Mr. Leonard tells the story of his going to mill for his brother in the early days, and how he drove thirty-six miles to Kalamazoo, only to be told, when he got there, that he couldn't have his grist ground under two days, at least, by reason of the numerous applications ahead of him. Determined not to wait so long, young Philip went on to Comstock's, four miles east, found the miller abed, aroused him, persuaded him to grind the grist that night, and by daybreak turned his team towards home. Mr. Leonard recalls, likewise, how he used to go to Kent (now Grand Rapids) after provisions, and how he was once obliged to pay $40 in gold for a barrel of pork.

Squire Hill was well known, not only by the settlers in his own neighborhood, but to the county at large. He was the first county surveyor, and his services were in demand all over the county. As a surveyor he was doubtless energetic, but he used to return some very curious and vague bills of survey; as, for example, he would describe the boundaries of a certain tract of land as "running north to a certain plowage, east to a certain wood-pile," forgetting apparently that both plowage and wood-pile were landmarks of an exceedingly uncertain character. Mr. Hill was widely respected, and lived upon the spot of his early settlement until his death, in 1867.

James Moreau, a Frenchman, established a trading-post on Scales' Prairie as early as 1835 or before, and traded with the Indians to some extent. He tried also to accommodate travelers, but his house could hardly be termed a tavern. Henry Leonard, farther north, was likewise frequently called upon to lodge wayfarers, and at one time his house was regarded as a place of popular resort for travelers. Moreau left his place on the prairie early in 1837, and moved to Grand Rapids, where he kept a hotel for some years. Robert Scales, a young man who had been at work for Moreau on the prairie, and from whom the locality took its name, remained on Moreau's place, and was counted among the settlers until he removed to Kalamazoo, where he died.

One James Anderson, at one time a clerk in a government land-office, located some land on section 15 in a bend of the river, and in company with a Capt..Kdward Macy laid out there in 1837 a village, which they called Thornapple. They published a large number of highly-colored maps, and evidently expected Thornapple to be a remarkable town. Such it might have become, perhaps, had not Anderson been compelled to fly to New Orleans on account of some unfortunate business entanglements which threatened him with criminal prosecution. As it was, the proposed village of Thornapple never had.any existence except on the aforesaid maps.

In the year 1839, Huston Cisler moyed into the township from Irving, where he had worked two years for A, KE. Bull. Mr. Cisler made a settlement on section 33, in

Thornapple, and remained a resident of the township until his death, in 1867. He found on section 21 William H. Brown, who afterwards went to Kent County and founded Brownyille, and on section 28 Robert Scales, of whom mention has already been made. In 1840 came George and Joseph, two sons of Huston Cisler, who were then young men, and who, after working for some time as farmhands, became farmers themselves, and have ever since resided in the township, George being now on section 27, and Joseph on section 33. In that neighborhood, also, David Mattison, John Cook, George Stokoe, and Thomas Cranson were among the early settlers, and there they still reside.

Shortly after 1840, J. B. Freeman, living now on section 12, came from Flint and made his home at Middleville, and there also, at an early period, George W. Cline took up his residence. In 1844, Robert Harper penetrated the forest and located upon section 20, where he now lives. The road passing north and south through his farm was then chopped out, but-not a highway of much travel. Kast, his nearest neighbor was C. V. Patrick; south, Elias Hill; but neither west nor north had he a neighbor in the township, except Ebenezer Duncan; Newton Gage, and Bainbridge Gage, over at Duncan Lake. Samuel Davis came with Harper, and still lives on section 20, where he then located. Soon after that Rawson White made a settlement upon section 15, and found on section 14 Asa G. and Leonard Stimson, who had been there some little time. The Colbys and John Brink were early settlers near there.

Kast of the village Charles McQueen and John A. Robertson made settlements in 1846. They had worked together as farm-hands in New York State, and together came to Michigan in search of new homes. McQueen located on section 24, and Robertson on section 25, where they still live. While they were preparing their own places for habitation, they boarded with Ebenezer Rathbun, who had been living on section 25 since 1843, and who subsequently lost his life in the military service.

West of McQueen a settlement was made by Thomas Riggs, now living on section 26, and in that neighborhood early settlements were also made by Jefferson Lee, Archibald McQueen, and Dunean Campbell, the latter of whom came from Prairieville, where his father was a pioneer.

In 1851, when Franklin Bliss settled on section 24, where Leonard Wilcox, now of Irving, had made a clearing of 2 acres, he had no neighbor on the north except an Indian called " Chippewa," who owned 40 acres on section 1 and lived in a log cabin. At that time a well-traveled stage-road crossed Bliss' farm, - the one which ran between Grand Rapids and Hastings. Farther north Solomon Clark settled on section 12 in 1854, and beyond that C. I. Klock located in 1858, on section 2. Mr. Klock now lives on section 2, with John Moxon, who came with him into the township. Klock's neighbors on the south were Cornelius Walrath and his sons; on the north, John Klock and Henry Smith; on the west, the Forbes family; and on the east, John Moe and a Mr. Badgrow. That same spring, Simeon Lawrence settled on section 11. At that day the northeastern portion of the township was a new country, for until then the land-owners had chosen to dis- courage settlements by holding the property out of the market. After 1858, however, the population began to multiply rapidly, and that locality is now well peopled, containing, moreover, many valuable farms.

Upon section 3, B. F. Hungerford made a location in 1848, when there were in that vicinity only Michael Wood and E. H. Searles (whose son, G. W., now lives in Middleville). Soon afterwards came H. W. Burch, still resident of section 3. Proceeding westward, near Duncan Lake the chronicler finds that the Kilmers-were the early settlers after Ebenezer Duncan and the Gages. John Kilmer was on section 7, and near there was his brother William. That neighborhood was by common consent known for some time as Kilmertown. Dilman Bechtel bought John Kilmer's place in 1859. William Kilmer's son George resides now on section 7. _ Richard Benjamin, an early settler, married one of William Kilmer's daughters.

Bainbridge Gage's place is now occupied by Valentine Adam, who came soon after Bechtel, and upon the place of first settlement in that vicinity, made by Ebenezer Duncan, Mrs. William Woolgar now resides.

John Latimer, a pioneer in Allegan County, lives on section 18, and there, too, lives the widow of Henry Colvin, one of Michigan's early settlers, who died in 1879. O. T. Whitcomb, on section 8, located in Eaton County in 1838. @G. M. Mitchell, on section 21, made his home in Middleville in 1853, having then been in the State ten years. " George Cook, who came to Michigan in 1847, made a permanent settlement in Thornapple in 1857. F. W. Collins, on section 28, has resided in Michigan since 1835, when he became a resident of Washtenaw County.

township in 1850, and lived a while on section 35 with his father, John, who had come in 1848, and who died in 1858. His son settled, in 1850, in Yankee Springs, and in 1856 removed to his present home. J. R. Russell came to Middleville in 1853, when the village was yet hardly perceptible, and located on the west side of the river, where he now lives. Among the early settlers may be named also the De Golias, the Prindles, George C. Lewis, and William Coman, and among the later ones Joseph T. Crumback, J. C. Bray, Charles Spreen, J. B. Pumfrey, Samuel Carlisle, and J. C. Smith. =

The stage-route from Battle Creek through Yankee Springs, and so on to Grand Rapids, passed through Middleville; and on the road near there James Moreau kept a house of entertainment on Scales' Prairie, as did Henry Leonard on section 22. A great deal of travel, exclusive of the stages, passed over that road, and Moreau's, as well as Leonard's, was often so full of travelers that a bed on the floor was esteemed a luxury by late comers. Roadside inns in those days were popular affairs, and, however humble, were so liberally patronized that their landlords were among the favored ones of the land.

Indian Villages Avha Od T' Guy

Chippewa, Ottawas, and Pottawattamie tribes used to gather yearly to the number of from fifty to a hundred families, and make their tented homes for months at a time. Indian dances or pow-pows were common, and were sure to attract the curious and interested attention of the white settlers, between whom and the savages the relations were pleasant and harmonious. Dr. Parkhurst relates that the redskins used to have periodical jollifications upon the ground now occupied by the Johnson House, and that the exhibitions were exceedingly entertaining to civilized observers. Once he was called to the spot to prescribe for a sick squaw who had been given over ¢o die, and, as he happened to cure her, he was afterwards held in such esteem by the members of her tribe that, even after their removal to the far north, they sent to him for advice and medicine when any of their number fell sick.

Indian encampments were frequent along the river, and at the location of the two villages above alluded to there were burial-grounds, the graves in which - once numerous - have been long since leveled by the plowshare, although to this day the farmers in those localities often turn up the red man's bones in plowing the soil.

The first cemetery laid out for the white settlers was located on section 27, upon land donated by Calvin G. Hill. The village cemetery is now upon the east side of the river, and occupies a picturesque elevation, whence one may gain a fine view of the neighboring village and the surrounding

Thornapple township was organized under a. legislative act approved March 6, 1838, and then included the northwest quarter of the county, now occupied by the townships of Thornapple, Yankee Springs, Rutland, and Irving. Yankee Springs was set off in March, 1839, and Irving in April, 1839 (the latter then including Rutland).

The first annual meeting in Thornapple was held at the house of B. 8. Dibble, April 2, 1838; Calvin G. Hill and Henry Leonard were inspectors of election, and Aarad Freeman and Cyrus HE. Turner clerks. The officials elected on that occasion were: Supervisor, Calvin G. Hill; Clerk, Henry Leonard; Assessors, Benjamin Cummings, Estes Rich, and John Miles; Commissioners of Highways, Calvin G. Hill, William Lewis, and Chester Field; Justices of the Peace, Hiram Lewis, Aaron Freeman, and Lorenzo Cooley; Overscers of the Poor, Henry Leonard and Benjamin Cummings; Inspector of Primary Schools, C. G. Hill, John Miles, and Estes Rich ; Collector, William H. Whitney ; Constables, Ashbel Beach, Robert Scales, B. S. Dibble, and William H. Whitney; Highway Overseers, Calvin Lewis, in district No. 1; Robert Scales, in district No. 2; Lorenzo Cooley, in district No. 3.

There is no record showing the number of votes cast at the first election, but at the second one, in April, 1839, the voters were 16. 'The names of these even cannot now be told, since the early poll-lists, together with other town records, were destroyed by fire. 'The supervisors, clerks, treasurers, and justices of the peace from 1839 to 1879 were:

At the election held in 1840 there were cast but 13 votes; in 1845 the number had increased to 31; in 1847 to 60; and in 1853 to 98. In 1858 there was a material advance to 196, and in 1868 to 341. In 1843 the jurors drawn were as follows: Grand jurors, A. C. Hill, William B. Gage, William H. Brown, Chester Field, Elias Hill, Charles Paull; petit jurors, William P. Scofield, John Page, C. V. Patrick, Robert Scales, Adolphus Harwood, George C. Freeman.

May 3, 1845, the jurors drawn were Adolphus Harwood, C. V. Patrick, J. D. Wilcox, Ashbel Beach, 8. H. Beach, A. M. Hill, William H. Brown, Charles Williams.

The first meeting of the school inspectors was held April 12, 1838. Calvin G. Hill was chosen chairman, and the township divided into five school districts, the present township of Thornapple constituting district No.1. This was subdivided the next year into four districts, but these were soon after again united as one.

attending over eighteen and under four years of age, at 10. The report also states that school was kept seven months, that J. H. Ware and Jane Hill were the teachers, that Hare received $43 for three months' service, and that for four mouths Jane Hill received but $16.

In May, 1843, Jane Hill and Amanda Harwood were appointed teachers. In November, 1843, George B. Manchester and A. C. Hill received appointments, and in that year $40 were raised fora township library. - May 4, 1844, Jane Hill was appointed to teach in district No. 2, and Noy. 2, 1844, Samuel C. Sprague became a teacher in the same district. Mary A. Bugbee was appointed to teach in June, 1845, and Joshua C. Goodrich in October, 1845.

District No. 3 was organized Nov. 29, 1845, and the first meeting in the district was held Jan. 17, 1846, at the house of Robert Scales. In 1846, Caroline Leonard and W. B. Goodrich were appointed teachers.

District No. 4 was organized in September, 1849; No. 5, in 1853; No. 6, in 1857; and No. 7, in 1868. The condition of the seven township schools, as set forth in the official report for 1879, appears in the following abstract :

The school directors for 1879 were John Moe, P. C. Freeman, J. 8. Johnson, J. C. Slyter, James Carlisle, C. Rosenberger, and A. A. Thompson. vi

Early Events

Calvin G. Hill was the early proprietor of the site upon which Middleville village was first laid out, and probably surveyed it a few ycars previous to 1850, although the village was not formally recorded until April 12, 1859, when, the record says, Calvin G. Hill, A. C. Bruen, and W. W. Paull were the village proprictors. Since then additions have been made as follows: Keeler's addition, April 27, 1869; Johnson's addition, June 14, 1869; Braddock's addition, Jan. 21,1870; Shupe's addition, April 23, 1870. Previous to 1843 the place - what there was of it - was commonly known as Thornapple, but when the Middleville post-office was removed thither in the year mentioned, the village assumed the name it now bears. The first bridge over the river at that point was built in 1843, the contractor being W. W. Paull, who came to the town in 1841. Up to 1850 the growth of the village was painfully slow, and for even some years after that gave no very brilliant promise.

In 1846, Denison Bugbee built a saw-mill on the east side of the river, and in 1850 disposed of it to Alpheus M. Hill, who materially enlarged it. In 1849 there was a strongly expressed desire for a grist-mill, and, A. C. Bruen offering to build one if he were given some assistance, the residents thereabout turned out and gave such aid that Mr. Bruen finished the structure at a comparatively small expense. river led the way to the location of other business enterprises on that side the stream, a store being opened in 1850 by I. N. Keeler, and a hotel in 1852 by Ralph

Bugbee. In 1843, Hiram Dennison set up a blacksmith's shop on the west side of the river, but although he was the first blacksmith to locate for any length of time, there was one before him, - name now unknown, - who hada shop on the hill for a very limited period. Dr. Parkhurst opened the pioneer drug-store in the village, - the location being where Parkhurst & Freeman's drug-store now stands. A. A..Mead enjoyed the distinction of being the pioneer tailor, while John Slocum was the pioneer shoemaker and a pettifogger in the bargain.

Middleville Merchants

I. N. Keeler, still a resident of Middleville, but retired from active trade since 1860, was the pioneer merchant of the village. He came hither from Prairieville in 1850, bringing a stock of goods which he put into a room of A. C. Brucn's house, which stood -where Parkhurst & Freeman's drug-store now is. .John Slocum, the village shoemaker, did, previous to Kecler's advent, pretend to do a little trading with the Indians, but his business was of an exceedingly limited capacity, and scarcely gave him the right to call himself a, trader. Indians were also liberal customers with Keeler; supplying that pioneer merchant with the major portion of his business for some time.

When Mr. Keeler became a member of the village community he found there a grist-mill, carried on by A. C, Bruen, who had built it in 1849. It occupied the site upon which French's.mill now stands. Alpheus Hill was carrying on the saw-mill (across the way from the gristmill) which had-been built-by Denison Bugbee in 1846. B. F. Hungerford was the proprietor. of the blacksmith's shop (and had been since 1848) which was opened in 1843 by Hiram Dennison, the pioneer smith of the village. Newton Gage, a shingle-maker, was there, as were William W. Paull and his brother Charles, carpenters. Calvin G. Hill was living on the west sidé of the ~ - as were his two sons, Albert and Alpheus.

Mr. Keeler sold goods from Bruen's house a few months, when, having completed a store building across the way, he moved into his new quarters. Until 1860 he was actively engaged in business in Middleville as a merchant, but since that time has lived the easier life of a capitalist.

Mr, Keeler monopolized the trade of the town until 1851, when Theodore D. Nelson entered the field. That gentleman, however, retired at the close ofi the year. Among the merchants who came in after that were a Mr. Eaton, John Bruen, Parkhurst & Sprague, M. & H. Wright, De Riemer & Jordan, and many others, whose order of coming cannot be recalled. M. & H. Wright erected the first brick store or block, now called the Wright Block. De Riemer & Jordan began. business in 1854 in the old store of T. D. Nelson, who had been bought out by Ralph & Jordan, this latter firm being succeeded by De Riemer & Jordan. T. A. De Riemer, a member of the latter firm, still does business in Middleville. His residence in Michigan dates from 1835, when, with his father, he came to Haton County.

Middleville to-day enjoys a fine country trade and boasts upwards of a dozen excellent stores. I. N. Keeler & Son and Geo. Luther & Son are leading dry-goods merchants; J. B. Kessler, E. M. Shufelt, R. W. Young, and

Mrs.1

C. D. Barrell leading grocers; Charles Pitman, B. A. Almy, and S. B. Smith hardware merchants; R. B. Messer, dealer in agricultural machinery; Parkhurst & Freeman, J. B. Kessler, and T. Mears, druggists; Kessler & Moore, clothiers. Aside from the mills, the only manufactory is the foundry of Chas. A. French, who makes plows, cultivators, ete. The village contains an estimated population of 1000, and boasts as much trade as any place of its size in Western Michigan.

The first village tavern was a framed house, built in 1852 by Chas. V. Patrick, a farmer, upon the site of the Johnson house. Ralph Bugbee rented the house and was the first landlord; but he remained the Boniface only a short time, when Patrick himself took possession. After him W. W. Ralph and John F. Emory were the landlords.

The house on the west side of the river, known as Leonard's hotel, was built by Calvin G. Hill, about 1840, for a store, but was never devoted to that purpose. It held a school at first, was then used as a residence, and finally being purchased by C. V. Patrick, was by him converted into a hotel. He kept it a while, and sold it to C. P. Dow, from whom it passed into the possession of Philip Leonard.

Middleville Post-Office

In the spring of 1839, B. S. Dibble, then living on section 2, in Yankee Springs township, was called upon by Lucius Lyon, Congressman, of Kent County, then on his way to Washington, who incidentally remarked that Mr. Dibble ought to have a post-office at his house by reason of his distinction as a pioneer. Upon Dibble's agreeing to take the postmastership, - although there was an office at Yankee Springs, five miles distant, - Lyon wanted to call ' the office Dibbleville, but Dibble wouldn't have it, as he didn't like the name, although it wus his family-name. Somebody suggested that an Indian village near there on the river was called " Middle Village," by reason of being midway between Kalamazoo and Kent, and so the name of Middleville was adopted for the proposed post-office. Dibble received his appointment as postmaster July 3, 1839, and kept the office at his house until 1842, when he resigned to take a contract for carrying the mail between Kalamazoo and Kent. Middleville post-office was on that routé, and received a mail twice a week each way, Orson Withey being mail-carrier when it was established.

After Mr. Dibble resigned the office, it passed to John W. Bradley, who continued, however, to keep it at Dibble's house until 1843, when a change of location was effected to the site of the village of Middleville, where Calvin G. Hill was living. The place thereabout was commonly known as Thornapple, but upon the transfer of the postoffice to that locality it became known as Middleville, and that name it has ever since retained. Upon the transfer, Calvin G. Hill was appointed postmaster. Following him the incumbents of the office have been A. C. Bruen, W. W. Ralph, John F. Emory, Abraham A. Mead, Milton Mead, and M. F. Dowling. During the three months ending Dec. 31, 1879, the Middleville office made sales of stamps, envelopes, etc., to the amount of $415.95, and

Middleville Union School

The first school-house built in the township stood in what is now Middleville, upon the west side of the river, and just north of where Leonard's hotel stands. The structure was of logs, and Charles Paull, the carpenter, "finished it off" in as high a style of art as circumstances permitted. Sarah Paull was the first teacher, and Mr. Coman the second. Rev. Mr. Wilcox, a Disciple minister, taught the school, and preached also to a church organization which met in the school-house, and which was the pioneer religious society of the township. About 1840 a frame school-house replaced the log building. Near the same time one of C. G. Hill's daughters opened a select school in a framed building which her father had erected, but carried it on only a short time. The village school was kept on the west side of the river until 1854, when a brick house was put up on the lot now occupied by the Union school, the lot being donated by Calvin G. Hill, and thereupon the school on the west side was abandoned. In 1871 the present fine Union school building was erected at a cost of $15,000. It contains four departments, - primary, intermediate, grammar, and high school, - in which the attendance of pupils in March, 1880, was 288. The principal is Charles W. Pickell.

The Bar Of Middleville

Middleville's first lawyer, B. H. Fuller, came to the village in 1856, and practiced from that time to 1860, when he left town for an absence of four years. He returned in 1864, and resumed practice, but died in 1865. Meanwhile, Harvey Wright opened a law-office in 1861, and remained

Asa Leonard began to practice in the village in 1861, but not long afterwards entered the army, and was killed in action. W. L. Cobb, who became a Middleville lawyer in 1865, is still one, having in the interim been a justice of the peace twelve years, and Circuit Court commissioner six years. George C. Worth practiced from 1867 to 1869; John Carveth from 1869 to the present time; A. H. Ellis from 1871 to 1878; and Aaron Clark (now in Grand Rapids) from 1874 to 1879. P.W. Niskern, now practicing in Hastings, was a lawyer in Middleville from 1871 to 1877, as well as a newspaper publisher. M. F. Jordan and A. P. Cady, still in village practice, began in 1879.

Middleville Physicians

Previous to 1848 the country around Middleville depended for medical attendance upon Hastings, and chiefly upon Dr. Upjohn. There was in the northern portion of Thornapple township one James Beil, who called himself an herb-doctor, and who used indeed to be called frequently to preseribe for the sick, but until Dr. S. S. Parkhurst came to the village, in 1848, the neighborhood boasted no resident regular medical practitioner. Dr. Parkhurst was, however, but a student when he became a resident in Middleville and simultaneously undertook to teach the village school, with the understanding, however, that if his medical practice required it he would give up the school. Al- though he was frequently called to see patients, and sometimes had even to dismiss his scholars so that he might respond to a call, he taught through the term. He returned thereupon to college, graduated in 1850, and then resuming his practice in Middleville, has been one of the village physicians ever since.

Following Dr. Parkhurst came Dr. Johnson, who remained but two years. Dr. John Sweezey, who began to practivte in 1858, removed to Indiana in 1860, and is yet there. Dr. Henderson came in 1861, stopped a year, and then sailed for England, his early home. Dr. Carroll remained from 1863 to 1864; Dr. Negley, from 1864 to 1867; Dr. Scott, from 1866 to 1867; Dr. Ellis, from 1868 to 1869; and Dr. Barnard, from 1871 to 1872. Besides Dr. Parkhurst, the practicing physicians in Middleville are G. W. Mattison, who came in 1867; Amos Hanlon, in 1869; S.C. Rich, in 1870; A. Billington, in 1871 ; J. B. Ferguson, in 1876; and P. J. Fullerton, in 1879.

The private bank of Bowne & Combs, now doing business inthe village under the State banking laws, is the only banking" institution Middleville has ever had. The firm was formed in March, 1873, has an available capital of $150,000, an average deposit account:of $15,000, and an average loan account of $45,000. The managing partner is R. E. Combs.

The Gibbs Tragedy

In August, 1879, James Gibbs, marshal of the village of Middleville, while conveying one James Jansen (or Johnson) and his brother to the lock-up on some trifling charge, was fatally stabbed by James Jansen, who at once fled. Gibbs died within twelve hours, and a search for Jansen discovered him in Chicago (whence he had written a letter to Middleville and thus disclosed his whereabouts), He was captured within a week after the murder, and, being tried in February, 1880, was promptly convicted of murder in the second degree, and sentenced to the State prison for fifteen years.

The village of Middleville was incorporated under an act of the Legislature approved March 27, 1867; and embraced 'all that tract of Thornapple township lying in the southeast quarter, the east half of the southwest quarter, the south half of the northeast quarter, and the southeast quarter of the northwest quarter of section 22 ; the southwest quarter, the south half of the northwest quarter of section 23; the northwest quarter of section 26; the northeast quarter and the east half of the northwest quarter of section 27."

1880. - President, Marcenas Wright; Recorder, @. W. Mattison; Treasurer, Thomas D. French; Trustees, Isaac Trone, I. N. Keeler, Charles Annison. (Hyland De Golia was elected to fill the vacancy caused by resignation of I. N. Keeler.)

The Old Disciple Church

The first public religious services in 'Thornapple township were held according to the faith of those known as Disciples or Campbellites. Calvin G@. Hill and Henry Leonard were members of that denomination, and soon after their settlement in Thornapple took measures to afford the infant community the privilege of public worship. An old church-record relates that "The congregation of Disciples as associated at Thornapple first had its existence in the families of Calvin G. HWl and Henry Leonard, who, in the fall of the year 1835, emigrated to this place from the county of Monroe, N. Y., and who were the first families settled in the surveyed township for agricultural purposes, who agrced immediately after their settlement to meet together on Lord's day at each other's houses to keep the ordinances, and for social worship and edification. Appointed Calyin G. Hill as moderator and to officiate in the administration of the ordinances, which practice has continued. The Disciples, having multiplied, deem it necessary in the order of events now to perfect a more complete organization. Do this 12th day of February, 1843, appoint C. G. Hill and Henry Leonard to pre-

On the same day (Feb. 12, 1843) Luther Goodrich was elected to the office of bishop, or overseer, of the congregation, and A. C. Hill to the office of clerk.

On the 18th of June, 1843, Luther Goodrich and C. G. Hill were made overseers of the congregation, and Charles Paull deacon, and from the record it would appear that on that day the church organization was completed. In January, 1845, W. W. Paull was appointed clerk in the place of A. C. Hill, who had removed from the township, and in Septem-

_ ber, 1845, J. C. Goodrich was chosen bishop of the congregation. Meetings were held in a log school-house near Squire Hill's house, and under its overseers the church flourished four or five years. Afterwards there came one Wilcox, who combined with the business of preaching that of teaching school. He was a person of a convivial turn of mind, and strongly inclined to freedom in religious belief. He was doubtless a man of honest convictions and possessed many excellent traits of character, but somehow he caused dissensions in the church, and himself fell into disfavor.

The First Congregational Churcil

On the 5th of April, 1846, a meeting was held at the house of A. A. Mead, in Yankce Springs, for the purpose of organizing a Congregational Church. Rev. Z. T. Hoyt was chosen moderator, '. W. Webber and G. B. Manchester deacons, and A. A. Mead stated clerk; whereupon it was. resolved "that the persons present organize themselves into the First Congregational Church of Yellow Springs." The organizing members were eleven in number, and included T. W. Webber and Maria, his wife, C. H. Brewer and Amelia, his wife, G. B. Manchester, Mr. and Mrs. A. A. Mead, Nathan Barlow and Sarah, his wife, and Mrs. Mary C. Lewis. December 6th the sacrament of the Lord's Supper was administered for the first time, Rev. Z. T. Hoyt officiating, on which occasion Jane Stokoe and Mrs. Indiana I'. Corning were united by letter.

In December, 1853, the church joined the Grand River Congregational Association. In December, 1854, the place of worship was removed from Yankee Springs to the village of Middleville, and the church name changed to that of the First Congregational Church of Middleville, worship being held in the village school-house. Sept. 21, 1856, it was voted to leave the Grand River Association and join the Kalamazoo Presbytery, and April 5, 1863, it was resolved to join the Grand Rapids Association, of which the church is still a member.

The village school-house was used for worship until 1863, when Charles Paull's hall was occupied. In 1866 this was vacated for Swift's hall, which served until the completion of the present church edifice, in the spring of 1871. There was at first some litigation over the church property, which was productive of discouragement and loss of membership for two or three years. These difficulties were at length happily settled, and the period of prosperity which then began has continued to the present time. From 1846 to 1880 the accessions to the church have aggregated 170. The membership now numbers 64.

The first pastor, Rev. Mr. Hoyt, preached from 1846 to 1852; Rev. O. F. Waldo from 1852 to 1854; Rey. D. B. Campbell from 1854 to 1856; and Rev. Mr. Wheelock in 1857. During Mr. Wheelock's pastorate, Rev. T. Jones assisted in a protracted meeting at which 19 persons were added to the membership. Feb. 1, 1858, Rev. J. W. Kidder began his labors, and continued them until Nov. 22, 1868. Early in 1869 Rev. Mr. Raymond became the pastor, and was succeeded in March, 1872, by Rev. D. B. Campbell. Rev. J. J. Bunnell preached from July, 1874, to November, 1875, and Rev. Benjamin Moore from that time until June, 1878. In October, of the latter year, Rev. W. 8. Bugbee, the present pastor, began his term of service.

The church trustees are George Luther, Charles Pitman, and Richard Watkins; the deacons, William C. Pratt, A. F. Gillett, and Richard Watkins, Mr. Pratt having been one of the deacons since 1854. Charles Pitman is superintendent of the Sabbath-school, which has an average attendance of 75.

First Baptist Church

On the 23d of April, 1853, a few Baptists met in the old ' Prairie" school-house on Scales' Prairie, and organized the First Baptist Church of Thornapple. The members numbered nine, as follows: A. Harwood, J. J. Mattison, J. Sprague, Rev. F. Donaldson, Mary Harper, Emily Mattison, Marian Harwood, Theresa Pratt, and Lufannie Donaldson. An attempt had previously been made to organize a church in that vicinity, but the enterprise was short-lived.

living are Mrs. William H. Brown, of Alaska (formerly Mrs. Donaldson), Mary Harper (yet a~member of the church), and Theresa Pratt. July 3d the Lord's Supper was commemorated for the first time, and August 14th the ordinance of baptism was administered to John Griffith. June 21, 1854, the church united with the Kalamazoo Association, and, in April, 1855, the organization indicated its adhesion to the cause of total abstinence by expelling a member for violating the temperance pledge.

On the 12th of April, 1856, a church society was organized, Nelson Coman, Robert Harper, and William -aull being chosen trustees. Rev. Mr. Donaldson was the pastor till his deatk, in May, 1857, and was followed by Rev. B. H. Sheppard, who terminated his labors in September,

1859. In August, 1860, Rev. D. Osborn became the pastor, and in August of that year the Prairie school-house was exchanged as a place of worship for the Methodist Episcopal church at Middleville, the agreement being to pay $30 per month for its use at such times as the Methodists could spare it. Rev. Mr. Osborn retired in February, 1863, and was followed by Rev. O. W. Wade. In September, 1863, the church withdrew from the Kalamazoo Association to join the Grand River Association. In September, 1865, Mr. Wade closed his labors, and Rev. Mr. Osborn was resettled in April, 1866. In August of that year the name of the church was changed to that of the First Baptist Church of Middleville.

In 1867 the fine church edifice now in use was completed, being dedicated in January, 1868. The building cost about $4000, which was promptly subscribed before work was begun. Previous to April 12, 1868, the church was _ represented as to its Sunday-school interest in a Union school, but on the date. named a Baptist Sabbath-school was organized. In the full of that year the church joined the Thornapple River Association, which disbanded, however, almost immediately, whereupon this.society united with the Grand Rapids Association, in which it still remains.

Rev. G. N. Annis followed Mr. Osborn in December, 1868, and was succeeded in November, 1871, by Rev. William Rees, who remained but a year. 2 was no settled pastor until July, 1874, when Rev. C. E. Conley began his pastorate, and continued therein until early if°1878. His successors have been Revs. O. F. A. Spinning and 8. L. Trumbull, the latter being now in charge.

The trustees are Clark Kenyon, HE. D. Sprague, T. C. Wilkins, Robert McArthur, and Wm. H. Severance; the deacons, Robert Harper, T. C. Wilkins, Robert McArthur, and James V. Whitney. Charles W. Pickell is superintendent of the Sunday-school, which has twelve officers and teachers, and an average attendance of 85.

First Methodist Episcopal Church

Late in 1854, or early in 1855, Rev. Aaron Bradley organized a Methodist Kpiscopal class in the village schoolhouse, and of that class memory now recalls C. W. Bassett and wife, J. R. Russell, William Fenton and wife, and Stephen Walrath and wife as members. J. R. Russell was the first class-leader, and Mr. Bradley, who organized the class, supplied the preaching two years, preaching also at Caledonia. The list of the church's ministers since Mr. Bradley's time includes Rev. Messrs. Stafford, Gee, Jenkins, Wakefield, Van Wyck, Marble, Master, Hulen, Wigle, and I. B. Tallman, the latter being the present pastor.

The lee record now obtainable reports the " first Quarterly Conference for Middleville Circuit, Kalamazoo district," as being held at Middleville, Nov. 19, 1865, when those present were Rev. HE. Marble, preacher in charge, A. Wakefield, C. W. Bassett, J. Sweet, M. Vincent, D. Olmstead, R. G. Culver, J. R. Russell, J. W. Bradley, and H. W. Burch.

In 1859 a church edifice was erected, 'the school-house having been used till that time. The church now owns a parsonage also, and has a flourishing membership of about 70. The trustees are IT. D. Buck, Amos Hanlon, P. W. Niskern, G. H. Johnson, J. R. Russell, Joseph Barrell, and A. H. Stanford. 'The class-leader is A. H. Stanford.

This lodge was chartered Jan. 10, 1868, when Henry Cogshall was appointed M.; H. I. Whitney, 8. W.; and M.F. Dowling, J.W. The organizing members of the lodge were Henry Cogshall, H. I. Whitney, Harvey Wright, Henry Colvin, George Brink, L. W. Payne, Samuel Littlefield, and William Wolgar. From 1868 to 1880 the Masters have been Henry Cogshall, Horace I. Whitney, Harvey Wright, 8. C. Rich, A. H. Ellis, G@: W. Mattison, and William H. Severance. The lodge has now a membership of 80, and has occupied fincly-appointed apartments in the Wright Block since 1873. The officers are now William H. Severance, W. M.; George W. Searles, S. W.; J. J. MeAllister, J. W.; G. W. Mattison, Sec.; J. C. Smith, Treas. ; L. W. Payns} S: Das: C. Wilkin, J. D.; J. R. Russell, Tyler. :

This chapter was chartered Oct. 4, 1876, with 12 members. George W. Mattison was V. P.; Mrs. I. A. Morgan, Sec.; Mrs. Frank De Golia, Treas. The officers at present are Mrs. George W. Mattison, W. M.; G. W. Searles, W: P.; Mrs. William H. Severance, A. M.; Mrs. G. W. Searles, Conductress; Miss Jennie Combs, A. C.; G. W. Mattison, Sec.; Mrs. Jefferson Lee, Treas.

On the 7th of September, 1875, this lodge was chartered with the following members: Amos~Hanlon, P. H. Horner, Herbert Olmstead, Edwin Fallas, Dwight Johnson, and T. A. De Riemer, Since July, 1878, the lodge has occupied commodious quarters in Grange Hall. The membership is now 55, and the officers as follows: Charles Anderson, N. G.; Amos Hanlon, V. G.; L. E. Moore, Ree. Sec.; T. A. De Riemer, P. Sec.; W. Moe, Treas.

This lodge was organized April 19, 1879, with 12 members. Present officers are Mrs. Charles Deitrich, N. G.; Mrs. M. M. Hodge, V. G.; Mrs. G. W. Ickes, Ree. Sec. ; T, A. De Riemer, Fin. See.

THORNAPPLE GRANGE, No. 38. This grange was organized July 22, 1873, in Middleville, with 28 members. J. U1. Lane was the first Master ; J. Damoth, O.; Aaron Clark, L.; William C. Pratt, Chapey owes ba lain; J. C. Crumback, Treas.; T. A. De Riemer, See. Regular sessions are held in Grange Hall, at Middleville. The chief officers are now J. C. Bray, M.; H. Searles, O.; HK. H. Lent, L.; Mrs. J. ©. Bray, Chaplain; J. A. Robertson, Sec.; J. CO. Russell, Treas.

Middleville Reform Club

This temperance organization was called into existence in January, 1877, and commenced its career amid much popular enthusiasm. TF'ully one hundred and fifty people signed the pledge at the first meeting of the club, and the good work thus auspiciously begun has continued since then to thrive under the same ministrations. The club has now an active membership of 40, and has regular Wednesday evening assemblies at Red Ribbon Hall.

The Women's. Christian Temperance Union was organized in January, 1877, and received at once a large number of members, who have labored energetically for the cause of temperance and accomplished much good. Mrs. Mary Pinney is the President, Mrs. Charles Pitman, Sec., and Mrs. James Fenton, Treas.

Parmelee Station

North of Middleville is Parmelee Station, on the Michigan Central Railroad, so named in honor of E. K. Parmelee, who, after pioneering in Lenawee and Hillsdale Counties from 1836 to 1860, came in the latter year to Thornapple, and located on section 10. In August, 1874, the railway company established Parmelee Station, Mr. Parmelee donating land for that and other railway purposes, and the neighborhood residents paying for the erection of a depot building. Mr. Parmelee was appointed station agent, and in 1878 was made postmaster, upon the creation of Parme- . lee post-office. He still holds both those offices.

Sherk & Cline's elevator at the station gives farmers a convenient grain-market, and there is moreover a brisk shipment at Parmelee of railway-ties. Seven thousand ties were received during Nebruary, 1880, and the estimate then was that the receipts of ties between January and September would aggregate fully 50,000. , Frederick Alexander carries on a store, B. F. Hungerford has a blacksmith-shop ; there is also a saw-mill and turning-lathe, while a '" bending"- factory is about to be established, so that Parmelee is positively looking up. Two religious organizations - a Methodist Episcopal class, of which H. W. Burch is leader, and a United Brethren class, of which Mrs. George Cline is leader - worship at a neighboring school-house on alternate Sundays, and enjoy encouraging support.

R. Harper

Among the resident farmers of Thornapple township none occupy a higher place than R. Harper. Suffolkshire, in England, gave him birth in the year 1813, and, although his parents were of the poorer class, they were accounted among the most industrious and esteemed members of the community in which they lived. At the age of about fifty the father, Charles Harper, determined to make an effort towards bettering his prospects, and with his family set sail, in 1829, for Canada. His family consisted of himself, wife, and ten children, and of these latter was R. Harper, who, from the age of eleven, had managed to eke out his own livelihood. His first year's labor on his own behalf yielded him but one pound, and upon his arrival in Canada - Quebee being the place chosen by the elder Harper as a location - the lad obtained employment with a farmer at seven dollars a month. Thus he labored a year or more, and then, learning that the " States'' offered better inducements, proceeded thither with an elder brother and resumed his farming experience upon a place near Ogdensburg, in St. Lawrence Co.,N. Y. There he tarried two years, and in 1834 took service as a laborer with Silas Ball, of Rochester, N. Y., for whom he worked at first for eight dollars a month, and so faithfully did he attend to his duties and increase his value that he remained with Mr. Ball nine years, and was receiving at the close of his term the then excellent pay of one dollar a day. Having saved a snug sum, he bought forty acres near Rochester, and after materially improving the property exchanged it for one hundred and sixty acres in Thornapple township, Barry Co., upon which he has ever since made his home. In 1837 he married Mary Colby (born in Heniker, Cheshire Co., N. H., in 1809, and successively a resident, with her parents, of Schoharie County and Rochester, N. Y.), and in the spring of 1844 they moved westward to take possession of their Michigan wilderness, upon which not a single axe-stroke had been delivered. In the midst of the dense forest they set up their rude log cabin, labored heroically and energetically in the work of winning a comfortable home, slowly but surely progressing in the task as' the years moved on, and in their declining years enjoy the well-earned satisfaction of knowing that for the toils of early life they are now reaping the reward of happy ease. The Harper farm is one of the best in the county, and the Harper residence - of which a view may be scen in this work - an ornament to the town.

Mr. and Mrs. Harper have been active members of the Baptist Church of Middleville since that church was organized, and during that extended period they have ever been regarded as exemplary exponents of that faith, contributing, moreover, with generous liberality to the support of the organization, and especially towards the erection of a house of worship. Four children have been born to them, but of these four only one has been spared> Eliza A., who was born Feb. 11, 1838, died Jan. 17, 1860; Laura J., born June 25, 1843, died Oct. 1, 1846; George A., born Feb. 22, 1849, died March 27, 1877; Charles E., born Sept. 16, 1853, still lives to cheer the evening of his parents' lives, and even as he prizes and appreciates the privilege of staying and comforting them, so they, rejoicing in the possession of a son's devotion, are calmly grateful to Heaven and content to descend the hill of life by easy and pleasant paths.

William Colby

William Colby was born in Roxbury, N. Y., Dec. 18, 1822, and was one of twelve children vouchsafed as blessings to the union of his parents. When William was a lad of but seven his futher removed to Western New York, in Monroe County, and in the town of Grace, William remained until reaching his sixteenth year, when for fifty dollars he purchased his "time" of his father,-and agreed to pay the purchase-money out of the first funds he should a life of earnest action, working upon a farm in the summer at ten dollars and a half a month, and in a cooper's shop in Salem in the winter season. In that locality he remained thus employed until the summer-of 1841, having meanwhile canceled his father's claim of fifty dollars out of his first year's earnings, when he passed on to Mason, in Cass County, Mich., and there, taking service with a cooper, continued with him. until his marriage, March 4, 1843, to Elizabeth, daughter of Peter Williams. The young couple settled in Mason, and for the next year Mr. Colby divided his time between coopering, farming, and trafficking in real estate. In the autumn of 1844 they moved to Northfield, in Washtenaw County, where Mr. Colby pursucd hisaccustomed avocations until June, 1847, when he changed his residence to Marshall, and, purchasing an eighty-acre farm of John Weller, lived upon it until the following November, when, again moving, they made their home-in Bristol, Ind., until the fall of 1852, Mr. Colby having continued to that time to labor at his trade. Then they took possession of a purchase in Thornapple township of eighty acres of wild land, and engaged in earnest in the work of pioneering. Their pioneers' log cabin, a sketch of which is embodied in this work, was a primitive and homely affair, but a source of much comfort after all. They cleared their land with rapid strokes and energetic will, and, living upon it until the spring of 1861, sold it for two thousand dollars, and with the proceeds purchased a fine farm containing sixty-five acres of improved land two miles eastward. To that purchase they made additions until 1865, when the farm comprised no less than three hundred and forty acres. In 1865, Mr. Colby began his preparations for the erection of a new brick residence, and in 1870 completed the beautiful home he now occupies, illustrated, as will be scen, in an accompanying sketch.

Klizabeth (Williams) Colby is the daughter of Peter Williams, a Virginian, a veteran of the war of 1812, and an early resident in Shenandoah County, where he followed the business of gunmaking, dealt also in cattle and horses, and owned moreover a farm of six hundred acres. Strongly anti-slavery in his principles, he declined to remain in Virginia beyond 1837, when, with his family of eleven children, he migrated to Yorktown, Mlkhart Co., Ind., where William Colby met and married Mr. Williams' daughter Elizabeth.

R. B. Messer

R. B. Messer, now a Icading merchant in Middleville, was born in Carlton, Barry Co, Aug. 28; 1844. His parents, Isaac and Hannah (Benson), were natives respectively of New Hampshire.and New York, and were married in Jackson Co., Mich., in 1836. 'They settled directly afterwards in Orangeville, Barry Co., and in 1839: became residents of Carlton, where they made their home upon eighty acres on section 20, and experienced in common with all early comers the vicissitudes, hardships, and trials of pioneers.

R. B. Messer remained upon his fathér's farm until he reached the age of eighteen, when, desirous of viewing more of the world in which he lived, he set out upon a tour to California, and journeyed wid .the Isthmus of Panama. He tarried upon the Pacific Slope four years, passing his time chiefly in farming in Marine and Sonoma Counties, Cal., and when he returned éastward passed again vid Central America. Domiciled once more in Michigan, he attended Parsons' College, at Sturgis, and in the winter of 1868, purchasing five hundred acres of land in Mason County, moved upon the place in 1869. A year spent thereon was quite sufficient to satisfy him, and at the end thereof he returned to Carlton and bought one hundred and eighty acres of the old Messer homestead. There he resumed the life of an agriculturist, and in May, 1871, married Mary A., daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James L. Sisson, who at the age. of nine removed with her parents from Huron Co., Ohio, to Irving, Barry Co. Her father is now a resident of Hastings. ae

In 1876, by reason of his wife's failing health, Mr. Messer concluded to give up the arduous duties of the husbandman, and, removing to Middleville with his family, engaged in the business of selling agricultural implements. This trade he has steadily.pursued since 1876, and with constantly expanding success. f

I. N. Keeler

To I. N. Keeler belongs the distinction of having been the pioneer merchant in Middleville, and the further distinction of having been closely and vigorously associated with the general progress of that village since its foundation. He was born in Saratoga Co., N. Y., Sept. 17, 1822, his father, Isaac, being of American birth, and his mother, Clarissa (Althouse), of German nativity, and was fourth in a family of six children. Young Isaac lost his father at the age of nine, and soon thereafter he went to live with Nathanicl Mead, of Saratoga County, and with him removed to Ontario Co., N. Y., where he gained a livelihood until sixteen years of age as a farm-hand. After that, for five years, he lived in Saratoga County, and by laboring during the summers and attending school in the winters he laid the foundation of a substantial practical education that served him to excellent purpose in after-years. After attaining his majority he continued to reside in Saratoga County until the fall of 1849, industriously pursuing the

F. W. Collins

F. W. Collins comes of Revolutionary stock, and was born in Wayne Co., N. Y., Feb. 16, 1826. His father, Moores F. Collins, was a native of Windsor, Vt., and in early childhood removed with his parents to Wayne Co., N. Y. Life upon his father's farm was the familiar feature of his early manhood, but, more fortunate than many of his fellows, he received the benefits of an excellent education, and among his classmates was one who became afterwards Governor De Witt Clinton. In after-years Collins 'received from Governor Clinton a commission as colonel in the State militia, and was with Gen. Winfield Scott at the battle of Lundy's Lane. At the time of his death in Ann Arbor, in 1878, at the age of eighty-four, he was supposed to be the last of the valiant band that fought under Scott in that memorable engagement. Incidental to his experience as colonel of the militia, it is related that at a general muster he had a controversy with his adjutant, and, as an outcome, it was arranged to settle the difference by a duel. One of Collins' seconds was his uncle, who, seeking to avert bloodshed and give a harmonious ending to the proposed tragedy, contrived to have the dueling ground fixed upon a hill-top. The principals were placed back to back, with pistols in hands, and instructions to march ten paces forward, wheel and fire. Marching forward the required distance, they wheeled, and lo! the hill-top intervened between them, and to each the circumstance presented itself in such a ridiculous light that they forswore their

Col. Collins migrated in 1835 from New York to Washtenaw Co., Mich., and there F. W. Collins passed the years until he reached his majority, dividing his time meanwhile between attending school, working upon his father's farm, and teaching the village school. At the age of twenty-one he located a piece of school land in Pulaski township, Jackson Co., and two years later married Mary McDowell, of Washtenaw County, to which place ber parents had come in 1824, among the first of the pioneers in that county. In 1854 Mr. Collins changed his residence to Allegan County, where, in the town of Leighton, he occupied a farm until 1868, when he settled upon a one hundred and twenty acre tract in Thornapple township, and to that has since added two hundred and twenty acres, so that he has now an extensive and handsomely appointed farm. Republicanism is his political faith, and on numerous occasions he has been called upon to serve his fellow-citizens in an official capacity. He sat in the State Legislature during the session of 1873, and again in 1874, during the extra session called for a revision of the State Constitution. gregate of seventeen years in the counties in which he has re-

As supervisor he has served an agsided. He has reared a family of four children - two boys and two girls, - and, surrounded by the comforts of an elegant home, pursues the even tenor of his life-long industrious experience.

occupations of farmer and carpenter. Then he determined to venture into broader fields, and, casting about for a promising location, fixed upon the State of Michigan. He tarried for a while in Prairieville, where his brother was in trade as a merchant, and in the spring of 1850 pushed over to the then infant village of Middleville, in Barry County, and there opened the first store known in Middleville history. His first stock of goods, purchased on a capital of three hundred dollars, was brought from New York to Galesburg, wid luke and railroad, and thence transported by wagons to Middleville, a distance of thirty-three miles, through a new country and over bad roads or at times no roads at all; Mr. Keeler, keeping pace in his enterprise with the growth of the village, continued to be its leading merchant until 1858, when he retired from active trade participation to an eighty-acre farm, just north of the village, which he enlarged to three hundred and eighty acres, of which he sold one hundred and five acres, including his buildings, and rebuilt at his present location, at the head of Grand Rapids Street. He continued after his retirement, and continues to this day, to retain business interests in the village. He purchased a part proprietorship in Wright's block, upon the erection thereof, and later he bought the entire property. Since 1858 he has trafficked extensively in real estate, and pursued, in short, business enterprises of

" yarious kinds with such success that he occupies at this time a prominent place among the wealthy capitalists of the county. From the position of an humble trader, in 1850, with barely capital enough to give him a start in the forest hamlet, he has risen by the sheer force of energy and persevering industry to independent wealth, and to each of his sons, as he has come of age, he has been easily enabled to give abundant worldly goods to insure a prosperous business career. In June, 1851, Mr. Keeler married Harriet HE. Ellsworth, born in Windsor, Vt., Jan. 19, 1832, orphaned