Pioneers of Bean Creek Country, Lenawee Co, Michigan; James J. Hagaoam; published by Jas. M. Scarritt, Hudson, MI, 1876 Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Mary Teeter ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgenwebarchives.org *********************************************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm Pages 121 Through 130 Page 121 president of the day, Samuel Gregg; chaplain, Rev. Mr. Bacon; orator, Wheeler M. Dewey; readers, Philo Wilson and John M. Bird. They had militia companies in those days, and Capt. Drown and his Bean Creek Rangers did the escort duty of the day. The dinner was free, and of course ended with regular and volunteer toasts. Here is a specimen of the volunteer kind, and is given as tending to show the humble bearing of the men of those times: "We, the citizens of Bean Creek, unrivalled in industry, unsurpassed in virtue and morality, and unremitting in our efforts to fulfull the Divine command to multrply and replenish the earth." August 28th, 1839, one of the settlers of 1834 died. It was Cook Hotchkiss, the founder of the Baptist church of Medina, the first blacksmith and the first justice of the peace in the township. One of his neighbors said of him, "He was a consistent christian, a kind neighbor and a true friend." In 1839, Mr. Hutchinson built another addition to the Canandaigua mill, and put in one run of stones. Penniman and Ashley bought thrs property about 1844, and in that and the following year bui lt a new mill three stories high, 40 by 60 feet, costing $10,000. It was burned Nov. 19, 1856, and a few years since a small mill was built. In 1840, to Ô44, the villages of Medina and Canandaigua were at the height of their power, grandeur and glory. The two villages did the most extensive milling business in the Valley, if not in the county. The Medina mill alone, in 1840, floured 40,000 bushels of wheat, besides custom work, and the store of Allen Daniels & Co. was the most complete in Lenawee county, outside of the village of Adrian. The original merchant of the township of Medina was a Mr. Saulsbury, at Canandaigua, in 1835. He was succeeded by Green in 1836, also at Canandaigua, and Allen Daniels & Co., at Medina, were the third in the mercantile succession. In 1841 or Ô42, the people of Medina township had another evidence of the advance of the country from infancy to maturer growth in the establishment of a distillery at Canandaigua by Franklin Smith, then lately of the village of Hudson. The distillery continued in operation for several years, and, it is said, made a very poor article of corn whisky. Mr. Smith, while there, was made Colonel in the Michigan militia, and hence derived his military title. He returned to Hudson about 1853, and for a while run the Wirts steam mill, and suddenly developed into a temperance man; and as he formerly aided in the manufacture of drunkards, so now his temperance views were of the strictest and most uncompromising kind. After the death of his wife, a daughter of the Rev. David Pratt, he went West and engaged in building railroads, and became very wealthy. He has since lost his only daughter, helped to bury every member of his father-in-law's family, except the old lady, and he now makes frequent visits to Hudson to care for her. His only hate seems to be against dealers in, and drinkers of intoxicating drinks, and those who aid or encourage them. In the manifestation of this hate, he sometimes seems unreasonable. About 1845 or '46, Mr. and Mrs. Barrows opened a select school in the central part of the township. They boarded their pupils who came from a distance, and exercised parental care over them. The school was rather under the auspices of the Congregational church, was largely patronized by members of that church abroad, and was a good school. The Congregational society at that point built a church building on section twenty-six. It was dedicated in 1849. The Rev. George Barnum was its pastor for nine years, and under his ministrations the church prospered. In 1858 and '59, many of its most substantial supporters removed from the township, others transferred their membership to the new churches at Canandaigua and Morenci, and the church became extinct. The building was afterwards taken down, rebuilt at Page 122 Prattville, Hillsdale county, and re-dedicated as a Congregational church. About the year 1844 a Methodist class was organized near the southwest corner of the township, and built a church on the west side of section thirty, but afterwards it became the property of the United Brethren. In the year 1844, Dr. Hamilton removed from Medina to Adrian. He afterwards removed to Tecumseh, where he still resides. Dr. David Brown succeeded him. Dr. Brown was a son of father Elisha Brown, of Hudson. He read medicine with Dr. Hamilton in Medina, and graduated at a Massachusetts college in the spring of 1843. He returned to Medina and commenced practice with his preceptor, whose removal in 1844 left him a large practice. He died in Medina in 1858. About this time, also, (1844), Judson R. Hyde came to Medina, where he lived until about 1850. He married the daughter of Mr. Cornelius DeMott. Miss DeMott should have been mentioned as bringing, in 1839, the first piano into the township of Medina. On leaving Medina, Mr. Hyde and family went to Hudson. He afterwards resided in New York, then in Omaha, again in Medina and Hudson, and finally again in Omaha, where he became the land agent of the Union Pacific Rai Iway Co., and there Mrs. Hyde died. In 1846, a new Baptist church was built in the village of Medina. It was remodeled and re-finished in 1875. In 1848, a Dutch Reformed church was organized at Canandaigua. The Rev. Mr. Hermans preached there two years as a missionary. The church is extinct. In 1848 or '49, Chester Savage built a saw-mill on Bean Creek, in the south- eastern part of the town. Medina has had several steam saw-mills, mention of which will be made in this connection. Benjamin Durffe built a mill in the western part of the town, about the time under consideration, 1848; John Johnson built a mill near the residence of his father-in-law, Orville Woodworth, eeq.; Orris R. Baker, a mill on section seven, in town eight south; C. H. Baldwin, a mill in Canandaigua, and George Beach a mill in Medina village. As before stated, a postoffice was established in Medina village in the spring of 1837. A weekly mail was received until 1840, and subsequent to that date a semi-weekly mail. In 1850 the postoffice was removed to Canandaigua, and Samuel Gregg appointed postmaster. A petition was sent to Washington to have the office returned to Medina. No action was taken, however, until 1851, when a new postoffice was established at Medina, and Ebenezer Daniels appointed postmaster, and the two offices have existed within a mile and a half of each other until the present time. Since 1854 there hag been a daily mail run between Clayton and Morenci, by the way of Medina and Canandaigua. In 1853, the inhabitants of Medina, feeling the need of better school facilities than could be obtained in the district schools, organized a joint stock company and built an academy building, 30 by 50 feet, two stories high. Alonzo M. Carson and wife, of Hudson, taught the first year, and were succeeded by Mr. 0. L. Spaulding, since Gen 0. L. Spaulding, of St. Johns, in this State. Among the instructors employed at the Oak Grove Academy, as it was named, were Prof. Edwin Cook, of Chicago; Gen. Byron Cutcheon, of Manistee; Prof. Swan, of Exeter, N. H.; Prof. John Drake, New York; B. F. Boughton, Wis.; Edwin B. Sayers and Henry W. Norton, of this county. The Academy was incorporated in 1872. Its students adorn every path of life, from the honorable Congressman to the independent farmer. The Hon. Page 123 John Baker, member of Congress from Indiana, was one of its earliest students. Eleven of its students have graduated at the various State colleges, and more then seventy-five were officers or soldiers in the war of the rebellion. In 1853 or '54, Dr. Rufus Kibbie left Canandaigua and went to Coldwater, in this State. Dr. Todd, now of the city of Adrian, settled in Canandaigua in 1853, and remained four years, when he removal to Adrian. Dr. Chappell came in 1844, and is still in practice there. Dr. Brown died in Medina, in 1858, and was succeeded by Dr. Weeds, who remained until, in 1861, he was commissioned a surgeon in the United States army. Dr. Jas. S. Power succeeded Dr. Weeds, and remained until 1866. Dr. Ely, an eclectic, and Dr. Dodge, an allopath, are the present practitioners in the village of Medina. In addition to the physicians already named, Drs. Titus, Hampton and Kendall, have practiced medicine in Medina. Dr. Titus came to Medina about 1845, and for a time was a partner of Dr. Brown. He removed to the State of New York, thence to Missouri, returned to Medina in 1862, and staid one year. He was a skillful practitioner, but his intemperate habits unmanned him for business. Dr. Carlos G. Hampton practiced in company with Dr. Brown two or three years, and afterwards, for some time, lived on a farm near the village. He removed to Texas about 1859 or Ô60, but on account of Union sentiments, was driven out of the South in 1861 or Ô62. After his return, he practiced medicine in Hudson for a time, and then removed to Muir, in this State. He married a daughter of Capt. Drown, of Medina. His oldest son enlisted in the 18th Michigan Infantry, was taken prisoner at Athens, Ala., confined in a rebel prison, and, after exchange, was killed by the explosion on the steamer Sultana, in April, 1865. Dr. Kendall lived on a farm in the south part of the township, and practiced medicine for many years. He is now selling drugs in Fayette, Ohio. About 1858 or Ô59, the Methodist societies at Medina and Canandaigua built churches. In 1858, a Congregationalist society was organized in Canandaigua, and the Rev. Geo. A. Nichols, a Presbyterian clergyman, preached to them one year. In 1859 the church was organized, and a church building erected, which was dedicated in July, 1860. The Rev. Mr. Hyde was the first pastor; he remained two years, and was succeeded by the Rev. Herman Bross. In the summer of 1870 the society built a brick parsonage. No township in the Valley has furnished the State so many legislators as Medina. She has furnished one Senator, Dr. Rufus Kibbie; five Representatives, who served an aggregate of eight terms, as follows: Lauren Hotchkiss, Ebenezer Daniels and Charles A. Jewell, one term each; Philo Wilson two, and Noah K. Green three terms. Ebenezer Daniels was a member of the constitutional convention of 1850, and Jacob C. Sawyer of that of 1867. Philo Wilson served one term as county judge. Supervisors: 1837 and Ô38, Rollin R. Hill; 1839, Rufus Kibbie; 1840 and Ô4l, Geo. W. Brower; 1842 to 1849, both inclusive, Noah K. Green; 1850 and '51, Edward C. Perkins; 1852, Noah K. Green; 1853, Edward C. Perkins; 1854, Jacob C. Sawyer; 1855, John Dawes; 1856, Carlos D. Hampton; 1857, Joseph Hagaman; 1858, '59 and Ô60, Noah K. Green; 1861 to 1869, both inclusive, Charles A. Jewell; 1870, Ô71 and '72, Chas. C. Morse; 1873, Edwin Haff; 1874, Chas. C. Morse; 1875, Chester R. Lyon; 1876, Chas. C. Morse. By the kindness of Mr. George W. Moore, the following list of officers and soldiers furnished by Medina to the armies of the Republic during the war of the rebellion, is given: Old First Infantry.--Returned, James Donaldson, Louis Heath, Wm. C. Moore. New First Infantry.--Returned, Thomas Hannan; killed, Edward P. Brown, at second battle of Bull Run, Va., Aug. 30th, 1862. Page 124 Second Intantry.--Returned, Benj. F. Heydenberk, Lester Culver. Third Infantry.--Died, J. S Weeds, at St. Louis, Mo., Jan. 15th, 1862. Fourth Infantry.--Returned, Harrison Hamlin, Royal Hamlin, Albert Wilbur, James Brogan, Geo. Donivan, Irwin P. Perry, Cyrus Millins, Chauncey Heath, Edgar Heath, Thos. C. Williams, Jonathan Fink, John Townsend, Alfred Townsend, Sterling Chatfield, John C. Hotchkiss,. Killed, J. S. Bailey, Malvern Hill, Va., June 29th, 1862; L. L. Kenyon, Malvern Hill, Va., July 1, 1862; W. H. Palmer, Petersburg, Va., June 14th, 1864; Henry S. Lawrence, Chancellorsville, Va., May 5th, 1863. Died, L. Cox, Huntsville, Ala., Feb. 22d, 1865; E. H. Wheeler, Georgetown, D.C., Aug. 29th, 1861; Geo. W. Millins, of starvation, Andersonville, Ga., May 16th, 1864; Peter Gahagan, of wounds received at Gettysburg, Pa.; Chas. Heath, New York city, March, 1863; Moses Rose, at Fredricksburg, Va., May 9th, 1864; Hiram Rose, at Washington, D.C., July 9th, 1864; Harvey Warn, at Libby prison, 1864. Seventh Infantry.--Returned, Lieut. James Donaldson, Horace Rice; died, Geo. Knapp, Washington, D.C., 1863. Eleventh Infantry.--Returned, *Capt. Lewis Heath, Andrew McFarland, Peter Malarny, Levi Manning, Sumner Manning, Henry Lawrence, John Osborn, Alonzo Kinney, Henry Spring, Ira Baker, Leroy Coats, Oliver Converse, James Culver, Geo. Savage, Marvin Wood, Henry Lewis. Ki lled, David Edwards, Stone River, Tenn.; L. P. Wilkins, near Atlanta, Ga., Aug. 16th, 1864. Died, Horace Osborn and William Sutton, in Kentucky, 1862; Geo. Peters, Nashville, Tenn., 1863. Fifteenth Infantry.--Returned, Thomas Rooney, Timothy Creeden, John O'Connor. Seventeenth Infantry.--Returned, John Moriarty; died, Thos. McKenney, Knoxville, Tenn., Nov. 16th, 1864. Eighteenth Infantry.--Returned, *Capt. W. C. Moore, Lieut. C. A. Jewell, John Creen, Andrew J. H. Gove, jr., Ira L. Forbes, Nelson Rice, Hope Welch, Jas. Holmes, William Gunderman, Henry Clark, Freeman Gould, Benson Gray, Harlow S. Hilliker, Wm. H. Hawkins, Wm. Hughes, Frank Drown, Emmons Hyde, Samuel Bothwell, Jas. Bothwell, Wm. Bennett, Lewis Converse, Geo. J. Johnson, Andrew J. Jewel I , Warren Bennett, Wm. McCarty, Cyrus Baldwin, AlIen Paulding, Chas. Barber, Chas. Wheeler, Alvin Wi Ibur, DeWitt Garlick, Henry Emmons, Ephraim Sloan, Geo. Bebee (deserted); Mark Goss (now in U.S. Insane Asylum, Washington, D.C.), Killed, Henry C. Foster and Fernando Wheeler, Athens, Ala., Sept. 24th, 1864; Henry Chatfield, near Huntsville, Ala., Nov. 28th, 1864. Died, N. Bailey, Lexington, Ky., April 22d, 1863; Orrin S. Upton, Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 1st, 1864; George W. Proper, Camp Chase, Ohio, June 20th, 1865; A. W. Gould, Danville, Ky., March 7th, 1863; H. Ogden, Nashville, Tenn., May 13th, 1864; Peter Hoyt and Henry Baker, Nashville, Tenn., Nov. 20th, 1864; John Bennett and Joseph Bennett, Nashvi lIe, Tenn., 1864; Herman Higley, Stevenson, Ala., November, 1864; Joshua Kinne, Stevenson, Ala., Dec. 27th, 1864; Milford Graham, Nashville, Tenn., Jan. 19th, 1864; Charles E. Greer, 1867; James H. Main, 1865, at Medina, of disease contracted in the army; Jeremiah Spring, H. H. Vancourt, James W. Bradish, Warren Upton, Frank Hampton and Seymour H. Main, April 27th, 1865, on the steamer Sultana. Twenty-Third Infantry.--Died, Edward M. Spaulding, Bowling Green, Ky., Feb. l0th, 1863. Sixty-Eighth Ohio.--Returned, Martin V. Palmer, David Palmer and Lewis Smith. Fifty-Second Ohio Infantry.--Killed, Horace B. Jewell, near Atlanta, Ala., July 19th, 1864. Ninth Cavalry.--Died, Robert W. Campbell, at Medina, of injuries received in the army. Eleventh Cavalry.--Returned *Benj. F. Heydenberk, David Stuck, Henry Lawrence, Marvin Rogers. Killed, Samuel F. Smith, supposed at Saltville, Va., Oct. 2d, 1864. Died, Charles Wood, in Kentucky, 1864. *Re-enlisted . Page 125 Fourth Battery.--Charles Lewis (deserted) . Sixth Battery.--Died, Geo. A. Graham, Grand Rapids, June 9th, 1864. Eighth Battery (DeGolyer's)--Returned, Lieut. Edward Luce, Laban Shaw, Isaac Rose, Orrin Smith, Decatur Belden. Died, David Farewell, Vicksburg; J. Joughin, Memphis, Tenn., Feb. 14th, 1865; A. Dutcher, Marietta, Tenn., Aug. 28th, 1863. Ninth Battery.--Killed, G. L. Baker, Atlanta, Ga., Aug. 7th, 1864. Died, Eli Bennet, Detroit, 1864. Berdan's Sharpshooters.--Returned, E. C. Farnsworth, Edwin Cramer, Albert Jewell, Edwin Walton, Andrew Walton, Estel Hoag. Killed, Elbridge Jewell, at Kelley's Ford, Va., Nov. 8th, 1863; Otis Higley Gettysburg, Pa., July 2d, 1863. Died, Simon Rose, Philadelphia, Aug. 25th, 1863; Eugene Smith, Virginia, February, 1863. First Mechanics and Engineers.--Returned, Martin Johnson. Killed, William Johnson, on steamer Sultana, April 27th, 1865.

XI. SENECA. Notwithstanding the many purchases of land in 1834 and 1835, in Seneca, considerable of her domain was Government property in the spring of 1836. During that year, purchases of Government land were made, as follows: Ira L. Mills, March 28th; William Camp, May 20th; James Mather, Nov. 7th; Jacob L. Roy, Sept. 26th; Nelson Camp and John Camp, May 20th; Augustus Ford and Robert Furman, June 1st; John R. Willis, July 4th; Henry V. Mann, June 16th; George Packard, May 14th; Oliver Furman, June 20th; Samuel Jordan, February 19th; John B. Norvis, July 24th; Josiah Randolph, May 28th; Lois Morey, January 18th; Japheth Cross, March 17th; John McVicker, June 1st; Gedatha Cross, June 18th; Moses Legon, April 25th; Stephen W. Powell, March 16th; William Service and Warner Wing, March 17th; Asa Arnold, February 18th; George Dunlap, March 2lst; George L. Church, March 24th; Edward Rice, April 19th; William Bancroft, Jan. 19th; Jedediah Jessep, Jan. 25th; Elkanah Briggs, Jan. 25th; Daniel Tuttle, Feb. 6th; Edward Willis, Feb. 24th. Work had been commenced on the territorial road in the winter of 1834-5, and in 1836 was passable, but never was a good road. In the spring of 1836, Japheth Whitman settled in, or where Morenci now is, built a log building and opened a frontier store, the stock consisting of articles in the dry goods, hardware, grocery, drug and saloon line. Some time afterwards, Wm. Sutton kept a tavern in a log building, the first hotel in Seneca township. Franklin Cawley came to Morenci in 1836. He bought his land in 1850, of James Armitage, of Monroe, and a large part of the village of Morenci is on the land thus bought. In 1838 a postoffice was established, and Mr. Whitman made postmaster. Its name, Morenci, was given by Mr. Simon D. Wilson. In 1841, David M. Haight came here and opened the second store within the territory denominated Seneca. Morenci, however, was but little more than a country postoffice until about the year 1850, when it took a new growth. Almost immediately after his coming here, in 1836, Mr. Franklin Cawley purchased the pioneer saw-mill on the Bean, about one and a half miles above the site of Morenci .It had been built in 1835, by Jacob Baker and Horace Garlick. About the year 1850, Franklin Cawley purchased the land on which Morenci is principally built, and himself, Dennis Wakefield and George W. Wilson built the saw-mill, and Page 126 afterward the grist-mill, and also opened a store. In 1852, there were four stores in Morenci. The original store had ceased to exist. Mr. Haight was still selling a few goods. Asa A. Kennedy and Moses S. Worth had each little stores, and the store of the mill company made the fourth. In the fall of that year, Silas A. Scofield came to Morenci , built a building, with steam power, and commenced the manufacture of furniture. He afterwards, the community seeming to demand it, added planeing machinery, and extended his business in any direction the need of the place seemed to demand, sometimes to his own detriment financially. Mr. Scofield has been one of those useful men which every new village needs, who work hard and disinterestedly to build up the place, but who fail to amass fortunes. They are of more use in building up a place than money- lenders; while they fail, their work remains to enrich others. But Mr. Scofield is yet a young man; he has acquired a respectable fortune which, it is to be hoped, will develop into wealth. In 1854, the Hon. James P. Cawley bought the store of the mill company and commenced business on his own account. He continued in business until 1860, by himself; at that time he formed a copartnership with Messrs. Rothrock & Green. In 1873, having become involved by reason of his connection with the Morenci Woolen Mill Co., he was declared a bankrupt, and his estate wound up. He afterwards removed to Detroit, and is now interested in the house of L. H. Dean & Co., commission merchants. Mr. Cawley is a very competent business man, a prominent member of the Methodist church, and a useful member of society. For one term he represented Lenawee county in the State Senate. About the same time, Pegg & Swindle built the tannery. It afterwards became the property of Wilson & Swindle. It was burned in 1874, but has been rebuilt. About 1855, the Rev. John Crabbs came to Morenci and established himself here as a tailor. He remained in that business, preaching on Sunday a part of the time, until the war of the rebellion. He was commissioned chaplain in an Ohio regiment, and was stationed the most of the time with Gilmore, on the Island before Charleston, South Carolina. Since the war, he engaged for a time in the life insurance business, but latterly has resumed his old business. David M. Blair came to Morenci about the same time, and engaged in blacksmithing. This business he has developed, until he now has one of the finest carriage manufactories in Southern Michigan. The village of Morenci now has four churches, in which the Methodists, the Baptists, the Congregationalists and the United Brethren, worship. Since 1860, the village has made rapid progress, more especially since the completion of the Chicago & Canada Southern Railway gave them railroad communication with the rest of the world. The village sensibly feels the pressure of hard times, especially in the loss of her woolen mills, and the consequent embarrassment of some of her best business men. The village, a few years since, became incorporated, but the hard times have prevented any great municipal improvements. The township has sufficient milling privileges. Besides its original water-mill, and the Morenci mills already spoken of, it has a steam mill in the northeastern part, and the Canandaigua mill, near its northwestern boundary, are easily accessible to its inhabitants. Its official list is not large. It has furnished one sheriff to the county, Col. S. B. Smith, and one Senator to the State, the Hon. James P. Cawley. Page 127 Besides its religious organizations, the township has a lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, a Masonic Lodge and Chapter, and a Farmers' Grange. The old men and women are fast passing away. Baker, Cawley, Dr. Swaney, Mrs. Wilson and others, are gone. Simon D. Wilson and Elias J. Baldwin linger in feeble health. Coomer, Wakefield and a few others, perhaps, of the settlers of 1834, are yet strong, but a few more years will have removed them all. How important, then, that some willing and competent hand, living in the township, collect more of the facts of the history of the early settlements of the township, that they may be preserved to posterity. XI,. WRIGHT. The family of Mr. Russell Coman spent the winter of-1835-6 in the midst of an American forest, miles from any neighbors. The nearest neighbor to the north ward was Mr. Whitbeck, on the town line between Medina and Hudson, and the next, east of him still, the Rev. Mr. Warner. On the Hudson, or county line road, there was none nearer than Lowers mill, and it is believed none nearer than Samuel Davis, northwest corner of section thirty, Hudson. It was a lonely winter--not even Indians for neighbors. Mr. Michael Lickley and family settled in the northwest corner of the town in May, 1836. As soon as spring opened, Mr. Samuel Coman put his family in motion towards the wilds of Michigan. The party consisted of himself and wife, his son, Curtis Coman, and wife, his daughters, Lydia and Orpha, and sons, Samuel P., Stephen W., Francis H. and William E. The journey from Toledo was made by team, the women of the party walking nearly the entire distance. From Canandaigua they were directed to Hudson; arrived there, they took the south road and encamped at its end, on the top of the hill south of Lowe's mill. A family had lately arrived there and built a shanty. The boys from here went to look for Russell, and having found him the family was piloted in. They arrived on the twenty-third day of June, and for a time that little cabin buzzed with life, for until another cabin could be built fifteen persons lived in and around that one. The covered wagon was backed up close by the cabin and the boys lodged there. But so many hands made light work, and soon a second cabin was ready. Curtis Coman and wife took possession, and divided the large family. Between the arrival of Russell's family, in December, 1835, and the arrival of the other Comans, it is believed that the following named families settled in town eight south, one west, forming a part of the township of Wheatland before April the fifth, and of the township of Pittsford subsequent to that date: Royal Raymond, Joseph Pixley and Truman Bown. Raymond settled on the farm William Bradley now owns, Joseph Pixley where the widow Root lives, and Bown where the late Timothy Johnson so long lived. About that time, or soon after, James Wilson commenced a settlement in town nine south, and the country filled up rapidly. That is to say, the purchasers of 1835 for the most part came in and built cabins on their lands. The town was densely timbered, and each cabin was in the woods, no other house in view, and before neighbors could be in sight acres of timber must be felled. At it they went, and before winter set in, the most of them had their door-yards clear of logs. The Comans sowed one acre of wheat that fall, and from it in 1837 reaped fourteen bushels of wheat. Before leaving the East, Curtis had purchased a small patent mill, for which he paid twenty-five dollars. He now built a frame for it. In this mill he ground the wheat he had raised, and the old man assured the writer he never felt so independent iin his life. The frame of the mill is still in existence, and is kept as a souvenir of the days of 1836. Page 128 The settlers of towns eight and nine south, one west, experienced great hardships during 1836, '37 and '38. When they came there in 1836 their towns were one vast wilderness, broken only by the door-yard of Russell Coman. These trees had to be chopped and the timber burned before a crop could be raised. The Comans raised a little corn among the logs, and perhaps a few others did also, but the winter of 1836 set in with gloomy prospects. The settlements to the north of them had not raised sufficient for their own subsistence, and imported food was both dear and of poor quality. The most of the farmers exhausted their means in the purchase of that winter's provisions, and in the spring of 1837 were entirely destitute. The most of them had cows, and the pasturage was excellent, the only drawback being that sometimes the cows would stray and be gone several days. As illustrating the peculiar hardships of pioneer life, the following incident is given. Its truthfulness is vouched for by a prominent member of the first family. The exact date of the occurrence is not known, and it matters not, for such a thing could have occurred in any summer from 1836 to 1840. Do doubt, however, it occurred soon after the advent of the family to the settlement. Mr. Farnham's family, at the time of its arrival in the Valley, consisted of himself and wife, two daughters and his mother. They brought two cows, and those cows were the main dependence for nourishing the family. These cows, like other cows of the settlement, strayed off occasionally, and to use the peculiar language of the frontier, "laid out." At one time Mr. Farnham's cows were gone several days, until, indeed, the family were reduced to the verge of starvation. Farnham had traveled miles through the wilderness, looking in vain for his cows. At last Farnham and his wife started out for another look. After several hours search, they had lost themselves and were unable to find their way out. They sat down and talked the matter over. They were lost in the woods, but they might as well die there as at home. They would die of starvation in either place, for they had not a mouthful of food, and gaunt starvation stared them in the face; and talking the matter over, they cried. Reader, pardon the tears; none can sympathize with them but those who know something of pioneer life. But the thought of that aged mother and those loved daughters induced them to make another effort to find, not the cows, but themselves. While they were in the woods, hunger impelled the grandmother of the family to look about for a crust, "that she might eat it and die." Rummaging the contents of an old trunk, she found the string ends of several pieces of dried beef. While the beef was drying it had been suspended by strings down through the flesh at the small end or corner of the strips. When sufficiently dried it had been packed in this old trunk for transportation. In using the beef it had been sliced off, until but little was left but the string, or as the historic Irishman would say, nothing but the string and hole, and these strings and fag ends were allowed to remain in the trunk. The old lady gathered the pieces, chopped them very fine, soaked them soft, and then with a little salt and wild herbs she succeeded in making a very savory dish of pottage, and had it just ready for the table when the lost cow hunters appeared at the door. April the twelfth, 1837, the first child was born in the township,--Marion, daughter of Russell and Ann Coman. Marion grew to womanhood in the township, was educated in its public schools, and after teaching several years went to California, whither an elder sister had preceded her, married Mr. Harrison Dayton, and died February 28th, 1870, leaving three children. The Rev. William E. Warner preached the first sermon in the township on the occasion of a funeral in the family of Mr. Pixley. For the early ministrations of the Word the pioneers were chiefly indebted to the Rev. Peter Foote, a preacher of the Protestant Methodist church. At the township meeting of the township of Pittsford, held in the spring of Page 129 1837, Russell Coman was elected a justice of the peace, and Royal Raymond was elected assessor, and Calvin Pixley constable. In the winter of 1837-8 the inhabitants met to take the preliminary action looking to the organization of a township. They were unanimously of the opinion that it would be for the interest of the people to have towns eight and nine south organized into a separate township, and then the question naturally came up what it should be called. The Comans and their relatives formed a large part of the voting population, and these and some others were in favor of calling the township after the first family settled in the town. Some were in favor of calling it Comansfield, and others simply Coman, but a vote decided in favor of Coman. The petition was drawn up and signed, ready for transmittal to the Honorable Legislature, then in session in Detroit. William K. Johnson, a man living near Lime Lake, and commonly called "Bill Johnson," was entrusted to carry the packet as far as Ypsilanti, and there mail it. At the township meeting held in the township of Pittsford in April, 1838, Timothy Johnson and Calvin Pixley, of town eight south, were elected assessors; but a few days after, they learned that the Legislature had, on the sixth day of March, organized their township and called it Canaan. The Comans were surprised and chagrined. Some of the others laughed over the change of name. Poor Bill Johnson was charged with forgery, but he stoutly denied the impeachment. In after years it was found out that his asseveration was only partly true. A niece of his did the mischief by converting the o of Coman into an a, and forming another a on the last stroke of the m, with his guilty knowledge, if not by his direction. But Coman or Canaan, it was best to accept the situation; so the inhabitants were notified, and a township meeting held on the 24th day of April, 1838, at the house of Samuel Coman. Joseph Pixley was moderator, and Samuel Coman clerk. Officers elected: Timothy Johnson, supervisor; Arthur Lucas, town clerk; John M. Lickley, Calvin Pixley and Ransom T. Crofford, justices of the peace; Royal Raymond and William K. Johnson, assessors; Ebenezer Pixley, collector; Evat Barber and Ebenezer Pixley, constables; Calvin Pixley, William Bennett and Michael Lickley, commissioners of highways; W. W. Johnson, Curtis Coman and Russell Coman, school inspectors; Joseph Pixley and Samuel Coman, directors of the poor. The justices were allotted terms as follows: Calvin Pixley, one year; Ransom T. Crofford, two years, and John M. Lickley, four years. Russell Coman was elected justice of the peace at the Pittsford town meeting in 1837, and as he had served one year and had three more to serve, but three justices were elected, none of them allotted the three year term. The first school in the township was in the Coman neighborhood, afterwards designated the Black school house, now Prattville. The township now has excellent schools and school buildings. The forests have disappeared, and the township is fast developing into one of the finest in Hillsdale county. A large part of the township has a heavy clay soil, which only needs a generous system of underdrains to make it the most desirable wheat land in Southern Michigan. It has before been remarked that the people of this township were largely indebted to the Rev. Peter Foote for ministerial services. His earnest representations made to the Protestant Methodist conference induced the sending of Father Milligan, in 1843, to organize a permanent work. Under his ministration many persons were converted, and a church organized. He was succeeded by the Rev. D. C. Oaks, and then other ministers followed until, for some cause, the Protestant Methodists withdrew from the field. Page 130 By act of the Legislature approved February 24th, 1844, Canaan became Wright. On the 11th day of March, 1855, a Wesleyan Methodist church was organized at the school house in district number four. The persons participating in the organization were Hiram N. Barstow, Philo H. Stroud, J. N. Wilcox, J. L. Farnham, Rev. J. B. Hart, Rev. C. M. Preston, Stephen W. Coman, Matilda Barstow, Amelia Coman, Rebecca Hart, Ann Eliza Preston, Hiram N. Barstow was appointed leader, and J. N. Wilcox and S. W. Coman stewards. From this beginning the Wesleyan Methodist denomination has grown into a numerous body. They have a church at South Wright, and still keep up their appointments in district number four. But earlier than this Wesleyan organization, the Baptists organized a church in the northwestern part of the township, at what is known as Lickley's Corners, and about 1855 they erected a church building. The other churches of the township are the Disciples, or Campbellites, the United Brethren, at South Wright, and the Congregationalists,at Prattville. South Wright is the elder village of the township, and has besides the three churches mentioned, a mill, two stores and a hotel. The farmers of the township have a grange organization which holds its meetings at South Wright. Prattville is quite a modern village and has one mill, a store and a church. The township has furnished the county a county clerk, W. W. Brewster, and has' given the State two legislators, Hon. Russell Coman and Hon. Leonidas Hubbard. Its list of supervisors has the following names: 1838, Timothy Johnson; 1839, Russell Coman; 1840 and '41, John M. Lickley; 1842, Thomas C. Sawyer; 1843, Russell Coman; 1844, Timothy Johnson; 1845, '46 and Ô47, Russell Coman; 1848, Thomas C. Sawyer; 1849, Timothy Johnson; 1850, '51 and Ô52, Sawyer B. Downer; 1853, Russell Coman; 1854, William W. Brewster; 1855, Ira C. Smith; 1856, Lawrence Rheubottom; 1857 and '58, William W. Brewster; 1859, Lawrence Rheubottom; 1860 and '61, Edward C. Brewster; 1862 and '63, Leonidas Hubbard; 1864 and '65, Amos W. Clark; 1866, Edwin Johnson; 1867 and '68, Leonidas Hubbard; 1869 and '70, Edward C. Brewster; 1871, Ambrose M. Burroughs; 1872, Jacob Shaneour; 1873, Ambrose M. Burroughs; 1874, Jacob Shaneour; 1875, Hial Johnson; 1876, Edward C. Brewster.

XIII RANGE TWO WEST. As announced in the introduction, sketches of the townships of Moscow, Adams, Jefferson, Ransom and Amboy will now be given. They are only sketches, however, and do not pretend to exhaust the subject--the history of the early settlements: MOSCOW. The first settler in the township was Peter Benson, in 1831. The second was Judge Lyman Blackmar, 1832; he lived in the township until his death. Next followed Benjamin Fowle, Charles Fowle, Aaron Spencer, Daniel Aiken, etc. Mrs. Brown, mother of Mrs. Daniel Aiken, died in 1834. That summer Delilah Blackmar taught a school in a private house. That fall a school house was built, and Seth Kempton taught the winter school. Thus much by way of resume of what has preceded. RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES.--The Rev. Mr. Colclazer is said to have been the first preacher of the gospel in the township of Moscow. But previous to this, however, Judge Lyman Blackmar, then a licensed Methodist exhorter, had gathered a class on Moscow Plains and held services in a small frame barn. This class was organized