Fennville City (part 6 of 6)

The spot in Yankee Springs township now pointed out as the place where once stood the famous roadside inn of " Yankee Bill Lewis" was the location of the first white settlement in Yankee Springs. The settlement was made early in the year 1836, by Calvin Lewis, a New Yorker, who had bought land on section 35. The great Indian trail between Kalamazoo and. Kent passed that way, and, as considerable travel moved over the route, it occurred to Lewis that a tavern at that point would supply a serious need and bring him in some money. So, with the assistance of his brother-in-law, one Tryon, he put up, near some cool springs, a house of tamarack and oak logs, This was in the spring of 1836, and before he got his log tavern finished along came William Lewis, his brother, who on his way to Indiana had turned aside to visit Calvin. So pleased was William with the country, and especially with the opening, at that particular point, for an energetic pioneer and tavernkeeper, that he bargained successfully with Calvin for the purchase of the property, promptly relinquished his Indiana project, and set himself at once to the completion of the business that Calvin had begun.

William Lewis called his log tavern the '"' Mansion House," and hung a sign bearing that name on a tree near his door. Some travelers, however, had- in 1835 cut the name of "Yankee Springs'? on a tree standing there,t and the locality soon became generally known by that name. The hotel also was called the " Yankee Springs House" instead of the " Mansion House," becoming celebrated throughout the State by the former name.

In 1837 a stage-route was established between Battle Creek and Grand Rapids, or Kent, and, as it followed the old Indian trail, Lewis' tavern was of course a point on the. route, and a famous one, too, as shall presently appear. In its course through Yankee Springs township, the road passed over a country of light oak-openings, which gave a natural and easy highway. he course was essentially that now pursued by the route between Yankee Springs and Middleville, and varied only as the increasing travel cut up the path and caused new parallel roads to be made by the stages, for it must be borne in mind that these vehicles could pass through the open woods almost anywhere, and pick out such road as best suited.

By and by travel over this road grew extremely active, and in the same degree Lewis' tavern gained importance, and by degrees, to accommodate increasing business, he expanded its proportions by adding new structures, until there were of the tavern-stand, six buildings, each a story in height, and all, save one, constructed of logs. Jumbled together in a confused mass, these six edifices presented neither an imposing nor a graceful appearance, but they were the hurried creations of backwoods life, and were built when there 'was no time to waste over architectural symmetry or beauty. 'Travelers that way, struck by the odd collection of log cabins, and struck more by the delightful entertainment found there, used to mention, in their letters to Eastern newspapers, their pleasant experiences at the "little huts at Yankee Springs." It was a standing joke of the time that Lewis' tavern was a six-story building, but that the six stories were all on the ground.

When Lewis became a popular landlord, and his tavern grew in fame, he came also to be known far and wide as Yankee Bill or Yankee Lewis, and by one or the other of these names he was spoken of until the day of his death. He was known all along the road, and the hospitable and entertaining character of his tavern was such that travelers would make urgent efforts to reach Yankee Bill's so they could pass the night there, while stage-coach passengers, bowling along towards the old tavern, felt renewed cheerfulness and satisfaction at the thought of the good things . sure to be awaiting them there.

So brisk was business at the Yankee Springs House that it was a common thing for 100 people to tarry there of a night, while on one occasion no less than 60 teams were stabled there between sunset and sunrise. Landlord Lewis was a skillful caterer, noted for the inviting and wholesome fare of his table, and was, morapver, so attentive to business that he rarely failed to receive in person every traveler who tarricd with him. hard by his tavern, and, having a gardener expert at his trade, took an inordinate pride in making that department a great success, since upon it he depended greatly in providing his guests with toothsome delicacies and palatable luxuries. This garden he delighted in, and never tired of displaying its attractive features to passing wayfarers.

Lewis was a jovial, good-natured landlord, given to conviviality, and sociable to an extraordinary degree. He had a coterie of chums, who paid him frequent visits, and with them he often engaged in such entertaining sport as foot-racing and similar pastimes. One Saturday evening, a . half-dozen or more of his cronies being at the tavern for a Sunday visit, Lewis arranged a foot-race, and down the hill the entire party ran in great spirits. Who won, who lost, what the stakes were, or what time the racers made, tradition fails to disclose, but it does tell how one of the contestants so exercised himself that he shook three false teeth out of his head into the sand, and, although all hands joined subsequently in a determined search for the missing molars, they were never found, and, according to popular belief, they are to this day in the sand where they fell.

Lewis was at his best, however, when the stage-horn announced from the top of the neighboring hill the near approach of the welcome stage. Four stage-coaches loaded down and drawn by four horses passed daily for a time over the road each way, and it may be believed that Lewis' tavern, the only stage-house upon a stretch of nearly twenty miles of road either way, was like an oasis in the desert. Landlord Lewis was in his most gracious and graceful mood when the stage rolled up to his door, and he did the honors in approved style.

He made a good deal of money at the tavern-stand and owned considerable land, but always frankly confessed that he couldn't save money as his brothers did. He was, however, a man of some influence, and went for one term to the State Legislature.

About 1850 there was an attempt towards the construction of a plank-road from Augusta to Grand Rapids, vad Yankee Springs, and in anticipation of the renewal of traffic Lewis not only made preparations to replace his log huts with a fine tavern-building, but at his own expense built two miles of the proposed road. The whole project failed, however, and the new tavern never came into existence. 'Travel over the old road continued, however, to be considerable until the completion, in 1855, of a plank-road from Kalamazoo to Grand Rapids through Allegan County caused a diversion of traffic to that route, and then the glory as well as the usefulness of the Yankee Springs House departed. Lewis leased the stand to Solomon Burch and retired to a farm, where he died in 1860. His widow still

Winchester Dodge kept the place, and after that young Calvin Lewis, but the tavern was not of much consequence after the stage-route was changed, and all traces of it have long since disappeared.

Mr. Tryon, already spoken of as having assisted Calvin Lewis in making a settlement, returned eastward soon after William Lewis came West. Calvin Lewis, after selling out to William, bought a farm hard by and became a pioneer in earnest. During the latter portion of his life he kept a tavern on his place, on section 27. Hiram Lewis, also a brother of William, settled in Yankee Springs in 1837, but afterwards moved to Prairieville, and died in 1879 in Kalamazoo.

Other Pioneer Taverns

On the same Battle Creek and Grand Rapids stage-road were two other taverns in Yankee Springs, locally famous as roadside inns, and kept respectively by Benjamin S. Dibble and Philip Leonard. Mr. Dibble was the third settler in the township, Calvin and William Lewis having (as has been seen) been the first two. His first visit was in May, 1836, on a land-looking tour. He immediately purchased 320 acres on section 2, and returned to New York for his family, and in October, 1836, he became a settler in Yankee Springs. Until the following February the home in which he and his family set up their domestic altar was a rude shanty, with neither floor, door, window, nor chimney. For the latter a hole in the roof answered, although; when the rains of heaven made their way through it to the family beneath, it must have answered but poorly. A blanket served as a door, and thus comfortless, but sustained by the hope of something better, the family endured existence until February, when they moved into a newly-erected log house. ©

Mr. Dibble was appointed postmaster at the newly-established office of Middleville in 1839. In 1842 he took a contract for carrying the mail between Kalamazoo and Kent, and after that was mail-contractor and tavern-keeper for _ twenty years. The tavern he opened shortly after he settled, ana called it the Silver Creek House. It was about five miles north of Yankee Bill's tavern, and was freely patronized. In 1840 Dibble sold the stand to Philip Leonard, who removed the old sign and announced to the traveling public by a new one that the house was the " Middleville Cottage, by P. Leonard." It was known, too, as the Half- Way House, for it was at'first thought to stand,just mid-way between Battle Creek and Grand Rapids, whereas subsequent surveys disclosed the "half-way" point to be about two miles south of the tavern. Shortly after selling out to Leonard, Mr. Dibble moved about a mile southward, on the same road, and became the landlord of a second tavern, which he named "' The Washington"' and dedicated to the cause of temperance. When he raised his sign he had quite a company at hand to celebrate the event. Of the speeches made on that occasion the one best remembered was made by Mr. George B. Manchester, who said, " We raise here to-day this cold-water sign: may it hang triumphantly in the heavens until it brings down all the hotwater signs in the land."

In parting with the history of the stage-road and the roadside inns, passing reference may be made to Bill Van De Walker and John Crampton, two famous stage-drivers on the line. Wan De Walker was considered a great " whip," and was popular all along the route as a jovial character, and one withal who would put his passengers through on time, or - to use his expression - " bust a trace." Among other things, Crampton was more especially distinguished as the possessor of a very much extended horn, which some reckless chronicler has described as " nine feet long,'' but which was in reality a very important instrument, with which he delighted to awaken the musical echoes and to flourish in all the pride of professional dignity.

Settlers And Anecdotes

The settlement of the township was carried forward in the autumn of 1836 by Luther Hill, who then located on section 12, and, following him, by his son, Calvin Hill, who, in the same fall, made a settlement on section 11, he having lived for a year previous in Prairieville. Calvin Hill (still living on section 11) remembers that when he came to the town first the country struck him as one of the prettiest he had ever seen. The oak-timber was light and open, while the ground was profusely decked with wild-flowers, and, although there was a prospect of tough pioneer work and perhaps of privations, nature seemed to offer a beautiful consolation for anticipated hardships.

Those hardships, however, did not realize in every respect the settler's apprehensions. Ready communication with the outside world by: the stage-road gave to the pioneers in Yankee Springs advantages which-those in other quarters sorely missed, and placed them within reach of the comforts of life, provided they were possessed of the financial means to obtain them, - means which, be it observed, were not always at hand in the daily routine of frontier existence. 'Asjn many other localities, there were frequent troublesome incursions by- wolves and bears upon the small stock of the settlers, while animated experiences with wolves on the part of the settlers themselves broke, if they did not embellish, the somewhat prosaic monotony of pioneer pursuits. Calvin Hill recalls how, in the year 1840, he went one night, across lots through the snow, to visit his father, and how, upon returning, he was chased by a pack of wolves. Grievous was his dismay and great was his haste as he.fled towards home before his ferocious pursuers, but fortune favored him in giving him but a short distance to cover before reaching his house, else he might not have been spared.to tell the story. As it was, he reached his door-yard just-as the leader of the hungry horde was close upon him. With a loud ery Hill leaped the fence; at that instant-his wife appeared at the doorway with a light, and the wolves, suddenly appalled by the ery and the light, stopped 'short, when in a trice their intended victim was safe within the walls of his cabin.

On the west the early settlements were near Barlow Lake, and were made. by Nathan Barlow, John Miles, Nelson Coman, and C. W. Bassett, in-1837. Mr. Barlow, who located on section 7, built thé first saw-mill in the

'township. He was a man of mark, was one of the associate judges chosen upon the organization of the county, and was a resident of Yankee Springs until his death, in 1855.

C..W. Bassett, now living on section 4, bought his present farm in 1836, and, in the fall of 1837, brought his family to the place. His cabin had an opening, but no door, and a blanket was the best available substitute to be found for that article. He went to mill to Battle Creek (where all the early settlers had tego for a similar purpose) shortly after coming in, and was, of course, compelled to leave his wife and child behind to endure as best they could the distress of their lonely situation. Mr. Bassett was gone nearly a week, and when he returned he found the family without provisions and long anxiously awaiting relief, but more especially glad at his coming back because of the terrible frights they had endured through the howling of the wolves. These, Mrs. Bassett declared, had kept her company early and late, and had made the week's existence a continued terror, as she was in constant fear lest they should dash upon her through the unprotected doorway of the cabin and fall murderously upon herself and little one.

Mr. Bassett tells a story which shows the misfortunes that attended the poor pioneer in need of a doctor. Urged on by a rebellious tooth, he started afoot for Prairieville to get relief from a German physician living there. When he arrived there, however, it was to learn that the doctor had been engaged in the business of passing counterfeit money, and had fled the country to avoid arrest. Pushing on to Gun Marsh to find another physician, he reached there only to be told that the doctor had gone to Pine Creek to mill. Desperate and determined, Bassett continued on to Gun Plain, but, alas! the practitioner there had gone to Kalamazoo. Nerving himself for a final effort, he set out for Otsego to find Dr. Coats, but en route thither he met the Gun Marsh doctor coming back from mill. He rode home with him, and then, as if in mockery of the victim's suffering experience, the man of medicine broke the tooth upon his first attempt to extract it.

Bassett would have no more of such butchering, and he waded home through the snow, having been gone two days, traveled forty-five miles, and come back with a worse tooth than he had when he started. "I went to Middleville," he says, "had the tooth cut out with a jack-knife and dug out with a shoemaker's awl, and so got rid of it at last."

Nelson Coman, now living on section 4, tarried with Bassett a while, and in 1838 married and settled upon the farm he now occupies. He was one of the early schoolteachers in the county, and, having a school at. Middleville one winter, used to make the trip over there, a-distance of eight miles, in the morning and back again in the evening to do his "' chores," the snow being sometimes four feet deep. In 1839 he threshed out some wheat upon the frozen ground, took it over to Judge Barlow's, cleaned it in the judge's fanning-mill, and carried it to Battle Creek to mill. When he got the flour home he had been just a week at the job. For letters he and others resident in the neighborhood had to go to " Yankee Lewis'," a round trip of ten miles, and also enjoyed the privilege of paying a postage of twenty-five cents per letter.

cows, and, in the darkness losing his way, he concluded to camp out for the night, but, not fancying a bed on the ground while the wolves were howling about him, he took lodgement in a tree, and in this lofty perch passed what must have been a wearisome time until daylight.

John Miles and James Hoskinson had just preceded Bassett into the settlement, but the latter was not aware of their presence, or the presence indeed of any neighbors in that direction, until one day when he and his wife went over to Coman marsh after hay. While there Mrs. Bassett suddenly cried, " Oh, I hear a cow-bell, and I know we've got neighbors." Similarly, Miles didn't know that Bassett or anybody else was in the vicinity until, seeing wagontracks in the marsh, he knew fe had new neighbors.

In that vicinity also Shaftoe and William Lowry, two brothers, settled in 1838, but their stay was limited to a few years. T. P. Johnson, one of the hardiest and heartiest of pioneers, bought land on section 12, in March, 1836, but did not occupy it as a settler until 1841. Meanwhile he worked at Squire Calvin Hill's, in Thornapple, and took an active part in the pioneer work of that region. Although still a land-owner in Yankee Springs, his home is in Middleville. A. Stokoe, on section 5, was a settler in 1840, William and James Thorne made locations on section 10 in 1839, and in the northeast Charles Kellogg, John W. Bradley, and A. H. Bradléy, his brother, were among the Yankee

In the year 1839 there came from New York John Stewart, who made a settlement on section 34, and lived there until about 1864, when he removed_from the town, and. died in 1873, in Mississippi. Edwin Naylor, with his family, had come in shortly before Stewart, and made a home on section 34. The Naylor farm was occupied in 1851 by James Campbell, who kept store near Lewis' tavern. Edwin Naylor, after being joined by his father, William Naylor, remained in town a few years, and then moved to Port Huron. James Norris was a settler in the winter of 1838 upon section 26. He came from Washtenaw County, where he had been living four years, and had with him, besides his own family, a hired man named Watts, who himself became subsequently a resident on section 25. Darby Doyle settled on section 35, in the spring of 1839, and soon thereafter came James Watson to the same neighborhood, where he bought some land of Hiram Lewis. Following close upon Watson the new-comers included Moses Doyle, Alexander Stewart, John Dnuffee, and a Mr. Hardee, and later still George H. Ford, Daniel Brows, Samuel Potter, and William Ellsworth.

The first birth ia Yankee Springs was that of James T., a son of Benjamin 8. Dibble. He was born March 27, 1837, and now lives in Thornapple township. The first marriage was that of Wiliiam Whitney, a shoemaker, living near the Lewis tavern, to a Miss Rogers, in 1840, Hiram Lewis performing the marriage ceremony. The first death was that of a man named Thomas, who worked for landlord Lewis. Thomas was out on Deep Lake on a fishing excursion, and by some mischance fell into the water and was drowned. His body was recovered, and buried in the graveyard south of the tavern, where William Lewis had given the town a piece of land for burial purposes. Thomas was the first person to be buried therein, and Mrs. William Coffin, of Orangeville, the second.

Nathan Barlow, who settled near Barlow Lake, in 1837, built there, with his son Nathan, in 1840, the first sawmill. He disposed of it to Timothy Miles, who transferred it to O. C. Bates, and he to EK. H. Bowen. The latter took possession of the property in 1864, and in 1871 built also a grist-mill, whence the locality has been known from that day as Bowen's Mills. William Lewis owned a saw-mill, on section 9, about 1850, having bought it when he purposed building a new tavern. Later, Silas Headley built a small grist-mill there.

William Lewis put up about 1840, near his tavern-stand, a store building, which was, however, first used for a school. A store was opened in it a few years later.by Seth Lewis, and after him it was kept by James Campbell, who was its last proprietor.

Mails And Post-Offices

About 1837 a post-office was established in Yankee Springs, and, as Yankee Bill Lewis was appointed postmaster, of course the post-office was at the tavern. In those early days it was the rule for mail-carriers to allow each postmaster seven minutes and a half to pick from the mail-bag the letters intended for his office, and, as that business was done by going over the entire contents of the mail-bag, the time limit forced postmasters to use the utmost diligence. Yankee Bill, with an eye to dispatch, would dump the contents of the mail-bag upon the bar-room floor, and then he and the members of his household would fall to and pick out the Yankee Springs letters. Sorting the mail in that fashion was doubtless an interesting performance, but a post-office agent happening along that way one day, and observing it, ordered a stop put to that method of procedure, - that is, he did so as soon a8 he had recovered from his amazement. During Mr. Lewis' term the name of the post-office was changed to Gates, just as the township name was, but restored almost immediately to the old one. Lewis was the postmaster until his death, and was succeeded in order by John Crump, Stephen Potter, and Albert Springer, the latter, who is now the incumbent, having been appointed in the autumn of 1878.

In 1839 an office called Middleville was established in the northern part of the town, and B. 8. Dibble appointed postmaster. J. W. Bradley was appointed in 1842, and in 1843 the office was removed to the village of Middleville.

Gun Lake post-office, in the western part of the township, was established about 1850. The first postmaster was Nathan Barlow, and the second John Miles, who was likewise the mail-carrier, bringing the mail from Wayland to Gun Lake on horseback. At times his daughter Fanny (now Mrs. Chappell) relieved her father as mait-carrier, and report says that Miss Fanny, being fond of reading, would so devote herself to the contemplation of her book while riding along on old Dobbin that the mail-bag would, unknown to her, slip from the horse on the way ; the fair rider being so interested in her story that not until her arrival at her destination would she discover the loss of the mail. This is said to have happened more than once, but, as luck would have it, the mail-bag was always recovered.

John A. Miles succeeded John Miles as postmaster, and in 1865 EK. H. Bowen was appointed. In 1871 he caused the name of the office to be changed to Bowen's Mills. Mr. Bowen retired in 1877, and was followed by C. H. Armstrong, the present incumbent.

Road Districts

James Watson, section 34......... 75 John Stewart, section 34.0......0ccesccee coves cneeees sepa 280 W. Il. Whitney..... Poll tax Nelson Watson.. 5

Religious

Yankee Springs has never had a church edifice within its limits, nor yet many religious organizations. Of the latter there are to-day perhaps two or three. There was preaching as early as 1837 at Lewis' tavern-stand, and afterward in the building used as a school-house, where Methodist, Presbyterian, and Baptist preachers held forth, as they happened to travel that way. A Methodist class was formed at that point quite early, but its subsequent progress was far from vigorous. It is now somewhat disorganized, and, although efforts have been made. to resume worship, thaks have been Rev. Daniel E. Stocking, now living near there, took charge of the circuit in 1867, and at that time preached at no less than nine different points. About 1850 there was in the southwest portion of Yankee Springs, and in the northern part of Orangeville, a community of Catholics, who bought Lewis McCloud's residence and.converted it into a house of worship. They obtained the occasional services of priests from Grand Rapids, and for several years had regular services. They laid out a cemetery near by, and prospered as a church until the removal from the neighborhood of a major portion of its members caused its dissolution. The church edifice and cemetery, both in. Yankee Springs township, are yet observed as landmarks, although long since dut of service.

The first preaching in the western portion of the town was by Rev. Mr. Daubney, at the residence of C. W. Bassett, in 1839. A Methodist Episcopal class was organized at J. W. Bradley's house by Rev. Mr. Worthington in 1842, but its life was not extended.

The first mecting of the school inspectors was held April 29, 1839, at the Yankee Springs tavern, the officials being John Miles, Seth Lewis, and Nelson Coman. Ata mecting held May 8th following, nine school districts were organized, as follows: District No. 1, commencing at the northeast corner of section 1, running thence west on the south on the section-line to the southwest corner of section 10; thence east on the section-line to the southeast corner of section 12; thence north on the section-line to the place of beginning. District No. 2, to include sections 13, 14, 15, 22, 23, and 24. District No. 3, to include sections 25, 26, 27, 34, 35, and 36. District No. 4, to commence at the northeast corner of section 16, and run west on the section-line to the quarter-post on the north line of section 17; thence south to the middle of section 17 ; thence west to the quarter-post on the west line of section 17; thence north to the northwest corner of section 17; thence west to the northwest corner of section 18;. thence south on the section-line to the corner of town 3 north, range 10 west; thence east on the town-line to the southeast corner of section 33, in said town; thence north on the section-line to the northeast corner of section 16. District No. 5, to commence on the' northeast corner of section 4, to run thence west on the town-line to the northwest corner of section 6 ; thence south to the southwest corner of section 7; thence east to the northeast corner of section 18; thence south on the section-line to the quarter-post on the west line on section 17; thence east to the middle of section 17 ; thence north to the quarter-post on the north line of section 17; thence east to the southeast corner of section 9; thence north to the place of beginning. District No. 6, to include sections 1, 2, 3, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15, in town 3 north, range 9 west. District No. 7, to include sections 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 34, 35, and 36, in town 3. District No. 8, to include sections 19, 20, 21, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, and 33, in town 3. District No. 9, to include sections 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 16, 17, and 18, in town 3.

The first school in the township was taught, in 1840, by Mary, daughter of Nathan Barlow, in a framed building put up by Yankee Lewis near the tavern for a residence, 'but used first as a school-house, and subsequently as a store: being later remodeled as a barn, and still used as such. A log school-house was built in that district the next summer, in which the early teachers were Eliza Hoskinson, a Mr. Dixon, and Rachel Bowne.

Number of districts (whole, 6; fractional, 4)...... 10 oh children of school age........ssseseseseee Average altendance ......cccsesscores Value of property..... Teachers' Wages.......-0+6

The school directors for 1879 were A. T. Sylvester, G. W. Spaulding, A. Springer, J. A. Beebe, B. P. Burpee, J. W. Briggs, F. L. Noyes, Daniel Duffy, William Gordon, and Edwin Brink.

The Beach Homicide

Some time in 1868 Maton Beach and Leonard Stockdale, two farmers of Yankee Springs, had some trouble concerning the breaking of a piece of land, which Beach had agreed to look after, but negle@ted. Arraigned by Stockdale for his default, Beach, a very violent man, grew furiously angry, and assaulted Stgckdale with an oxwhip. The latter, happening to have an open penknife in his hand at that juncture, closed with his assailant, and in the ensuing struggle Beach was stabbed. He was carried home, and, despite skillful surgical attention, died within a week. Stockdale was tried on the charge of murder, but acquitted on the plea of self-defense.

The year 1877 furnished another local tragedy in the suicide of Mrs. Charles Turner, who lived on section 23. The cause of her desperate taking off was not clearly defined, but was generally charged to mental depression.

was organized Feb. 5, 1874, with 30 members and officers, as follows: J. W. Briggs, M.; Buel Bradley, O.; James Robbins, L.; H. E. Buxton, Sec.; E. H. Bowen, Treas. ; Robert Misner, Steward. Except during the year 1878, when Bradley Leek held the office, J. W. Briggs has been the Master since the organization of the grange. The present membership is 40. The officers are J. W. Briggs, M.; Robert Misner, O.; Bradley Leek, L.; 8 O. Smith, Chaplain; J. A. Martin, Sec.; James Partridge, Treas. ; Benjamin B. Burpee, Steward ; Culver, Gate-Keeper. Meetings are held at the residence, but by the close of the year the grange will probably have a hall.

A legislative act approved March 22, 1839, detached townships 3 north, in ranges 9 and 10 west, from Thornapple, and called them Yankee Springs. An act approved March 16, 1847, set off township 3, in range 9, and called it Rutland. The name of Yankee Springs was not palatable to all the residents therein, and as the result of, the efforts of Calvin Hill and others, in 1848, the Legislature substituted Gates for Yankee Springs, Gates being the town in New York State whence the Hills came. William Lewis, who had given the township its first name, refused to see it crowded out by Gates. and by determined exertions succeeded, during the session of 1848-49, in having the old appellation restored, since when it has been undisturbed.

The township was of course named from the springs, and the origin of the name of the latter will be found on page 33 of the general history.

The first town-meeting was held at the Yankee Springs Mansion House, April 1, 1839. Hiram Lewis was chosen chairman, T. L. Thorn secretary, and Shaftoe Lowry, Estes Rich, Nathan Barlow, and James L. Thorn inspectors. The voters at that meeting numbered 30, as follows: Gustin Watson, William Lewis, James L. Thorn, Nathan Barlow, Calvin Lewis, Hiram Lewis, John Stewart, William Olmstead, William Watts, Francis Mitavier, B. S. Dibble, Alexander St. John, H. D. Tisdale, W. B. Thorn, J. W. Bradley, Nelson Coman, Abraham Bradley, Calvin Hill, James Norris, Ira Shipman, Orlando Pierce, Shaftoe Lowry, John Miles, John A. Miles, James Hoskinson, Estes Rich, Jobn Farr, C. W. Bassett, Zechariah Ward, Harrison Bradley.

A full list of the persons chosen as officers is as follows: Supervisor, Nathan Barlow; Clerk, Seth Lewis; Treasurer, Hiram Lewis; Justices of the Peace, J. W. Bradley, Nelson Coman, Shaftoe Lowry; Highway Commissioners, William Lewis, Nathan Barlow, J. W. Bradley; Assessors, John Miles, Charles W. Bassett, J. L. Thorn; School Commissioners, John Miles, Nelson Coman,; Seth Lewis ; Overseers of the Poor, James Norris, James Hoskinson,

Estes Rich; Collector, B. 8. Dibble; Constables, B. S. Dibble, W. B. Thorn, George Yowler; Sealer of Weights, William Lewis; Road Supervisors: in district No. 1, Harrison Bradley ; in No. 2, Nathan Barlow; in No. 3, James Hoskinson; in No. 4, Hiram Lewis; in No. 5, Estes Rich.

At the same meeting it was voted to raise $200 for town expenses the ensuing year, to allow town officers $1.50 per day for transacting town' business, and to pay.a bounty of $5 on all wolves taken in the town.

Appended is a list of the persons-who have been elected annually as supervisors, clerks, treasurers, and justices of the peace from 1840 to 1879:

The jury-list for 1840 was composed of John Miles, Nelson Coman, W. B. Thorn, J. L. Thorn, J. W. Bradley, Calvin Hill, and James Hoskinson, as grand jurors, and John W. Barton, John Stewart, Hiram Lewis, James Norris, A. H. Bradley, Philip Leonard, and Seth Lewis, as petit jurors.

Henry D. Norris

James Norris was born in 1799, near Montpelier, Vt., and until he was nineteen years of age passed his life upon a farm, save for a period during the war of 1812, when he was employed as a mail-carrier in the military service. Reaching his twentieth year, he determined to become the architect of his own fortune, and so he penetrated into the then wilderness of Genesee Co., N. Y., where he lived until the spring of 1834, and where he married Miss Cla- rinda Kinner. In 1834 he moved to Ypsilanti, Mich., and rented a farm of his brother. There he lived until December, 1838, when he moved with his family to Yankee Springs township, in Barry County, where, on section 26, he had located in 1835, through Mr. Angell, of Marshall, one hundred and three acres. Mr. Norris reached Yankee Springs on Christmas Eve, in 1838, and occupied a portion of the house of Hiram Lewis. Without loss of time he set about the erection of a log cabin upon his place, and the following spring moved into it. He died in Yankee Springs, Nov. 19, 1875, and at the time of his death owned, in addition to his original purchase, eighty acres on section 27. He was during his residence in Yankee Springs a respected and honored citizen, and at his death was generally lamented. Henry D. Norris, his son, was born in New York, Aug. 30, 1832, and was but six years of age when his father came to Yankee Springs. Reared from his youth to be a farmer, he chose to follow in his father's footsteps, and, marrying Sarah J., daughter of Kdward and Angelina Ford (who removed to Michigan from Saratoga County in 1850), he settled himself in life as an agriculturist, Inheriting the old homestead of one hundred and three acres on section 26, he has developed and expanded his enterprise as a farmer to such good purpose that to that one hundred and three acres he has added upwards of three hundred. He has, furthermore, put into execution liberal and progressive theories in the management of his farm, as for example the introduction of windpower and machinery for the cutting of feed, grinding grain, etc., upon his place. Still following new and untried fields, he has undertaken an experiment in peach-culture, and, believing that peaches can be profitably grown in Yankee Springs, has set out an orchard of two hundred and fifty trees. Should the venture prove a success, he will turn his attention and devote his land wholly to that branch of agriculture. Mr. Norris is a quiet, unassuming gentleman, endowed, however, with much energy of character and a shrewd foresight in matters of business. In politics his faith lies with the Republican party, but in the pool of politics he does not care to dabble, since the more engrossing affairs of business are exclusively the study of his life. His family consists of his wife and two children, - Minnie, aged five, and John, aged one.