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 11 Through 20 buy another, but his new neighbor, a Mr. Harrison, being about to return to Massachusetts for his wife, loaned him a pair of young steers. With these he managed to log and drag a small field for spring crops. He had to go to Monroe to mill, and had no team he could drive on the road. He drove his ox to the township of Raisinville, yoked him with a borrowed ox, hitched the pair to a borrowed cart, returned to his residence, took in sixteen bushels of corn, and drove to Monroe. The grist ground, the whole distance had to be again traveled over in reverse order. To get that grist ground it cost him eight days' time and one hundred and forty miles travel. He found this milling so expensive that he burned a hollow in the top of a stump, of sufficient size to contain a half bushel of grain, and with a pestle attached ,to a spring pole, he pounded his corn for bread until he was enabled to procure another team. With the opening of the spring of 1825 busy scenes recured, and before autumn large accessions had been made to the population of Lenawee county. In that year the people of the Tecumseh settlement were principally engaged in making sure the progress of the preceding eventful year, in preparing dwellings for those on the ground and those arriving, and in clearing off ground for cultivation. Mr. Brown built a frame building and opened it as a public house, the first and then the only public house west of the village of Monroe. Mr. Jesse Osburn, in the fall of that year, sowed the first wheat in Lenawee county, on the ground a little north of the present residence of Judge Stacy, and James Knoggs built and openeda store. The elder Osburn spelled his name with a u; his son uses an o instead. In the summer of 1825 Mr. Darius Comstock, of Niagara county, N. Y., purchased a tract of land in the present township of Raisin, in what is known as "The Valley," about midway between Tecumseh and Adrian. His son, Addison J. Comstock, purchased of the government, on the seventh day of September, 1825, four hundred and eighty acres of land, on which he afterwards laid out the village of Adrian. Of the elder Comstock we quote the eulogistic words of Francis A. Dewey, esq.: "Of the early pioneers no one is more worthy of special notice than our late friend, Darius Comstock, with his ample means and generous ways. He located his lands in the valley four miles south of Tecumseh; there he made himself and family a beautiful home, where his declining years were spent with good will to all. For many years past these lands and stately buildings have been in the hands of trustees, and have become one of the best literary institutions in the country. It was largely through the efforts of Darius Comstock that the first meeting house in the county was erected, and it now stands a monument to his memory. Thousands of the Friends persuasion yearly assemble in it to worship the true and only God." The younger Comstock, after entering his lands, returned to the State of New York, where he remained during the winter of 1825-6. In the spring of 1826 Wing, Evans & Brown built a grist mill at Tecumseh, the settlers having agreed to pay two hundred dollars towards the cost of its erection. Turner Stetson was the builder. The dam was ready built, the building and water-wheel easily built, but it was extremely difficult to provide the millstones. A pair of French burr stones would cost a large sum at the east, and then it would have been difficult, not to say impossible, to transport them over Michigan mud, through Michigan forests, to the metropolis of Lenawee county. It has been said "necessity is the mother of invention," and these pioneer mill builders were not to be discouraged by difficulties. A granite rock was found lying on the ground about two miles from the mill building. It had been broken into two pieces by the falling of a tree across it. The services of Sylvester Blackmar, a practical miller, were called into requisition, and the pieces prepared, the smaller for the upper and the larger for the nether mill-stone, and with them for several years the grain of Lenawee county was ground. The people had determined to celebrate Independence Day this year, and great preparation was made for the first Fourth of July celebration in Lenawee county. The mill was ready for business, the wheat sowed by Jesse Osburn the fall before had ripened, been harvested and threshed, and on this auspicious Fourth of July morning Jesse Osburn carried some wheat to the mill, Sylvester Blackmar ground it into flour, and Mrs. Brown made the cake and biscuit for the celebration of that day. The performance of this feat is vouched for by living witnesses. On the fourteenth day of February, 1826, Addison J. Comstock was married to Miss Sarah S. Dean, of Phelps, Ontario county, N. Y., and in the early spring returned, with his bride, to Lenawee county, accompanied also by Mr. John Gifford and wife. Mr. Gifford had been employed by Mr. Comstock to assist him in the clearing of his land and the erection of suitable buildings. The women were left at the Valley until suitable houses could be erected on the Comstock tract. While the houses were being built, that is to say on the twenty-eighth day of June, 1826, John Gifford purchased of the United States eighty acres of land, now constituting a portion of the second ward of the city of Adrian. Mr. Gifford occupied the house built for him on the tenth day of August, and Mr. Comstock moved into his a few days later, and thus Mrs. Gifford became the first white woman inhabitant of the future Adrian. Mr. Comstock's house was situated in an oak grove on the bank of the river, south side of Maumee street, nearly opposite the Gibson House. Mr. Comstock built a saw mill this year, and had it completed in the month of November. It was the second saw mill in the county. December 26th, 1826, Elias Dennis purchased of the United States eighty acres of land, now known as L. G. & A. S. Berry's Southern Addition to the city of Adrian. In October of this year Mr. William Kedzie, who as before stated, purchased land in Blissfield in May, 1824, settled on his land. The winter was spent in cutting down, with the help of two brothers, Nathan and Benjamin Tibbits, the timber on about thirty acres of land, and in the following spring ten acres were logged and planted to corn. November 2Oth of this year (1826) the Legislative Council passed an act organizing the county of Lenawee, to take effect from and after the 31st day of December of that year. The terms of the County Court were fixed on the first Mondays of June and January in each year, and by this act, "All the country within this territory to which the Indian title was extinguished by the treaty of Chicago shall be attached to and compose a part of the county of Lenawee." The territory thus attached to Lenawee county comprised a belt of country extending from the meridian line, the west line of the county, to Lake Michigan, including the present counties of Hillsdale, Branch, St. Joseph, Cass, and Berrien. November 23d the first wedding, orrather pair of weddings, occured in the township of Blissfield--Mr. Samuel Buck and Miss Margaret Frary and Mr. George Stout and Miss Delight Bliss. Loren Marsh, a Monroe county justice, was imported to perform the ceremony. In the fall of 1826 Musgrove Evans was employed by the United States government to superintend the construction of the Chicago Road from Detroit to Clinton. It had been surveyed by the United States in 1825, and established as a military road between Detroit and Chicago. It is two hundred and fifty-four miles long, extends from Detroit through Ypsilanti and Saline, enters Lenawee county a little to the northeast of Clinton village, passes through the village of Clinton and along the northern boundary of Lenawee county", through Hillsdale, Branch and St. Joseph counties, and crosses the corner of Berrien into the State of Indiana. It was the thoroughfare to other states along which emigrants flocked in almost countless numbers. Blois' Gazetteer of the State of Michigan, published in 1838, speaking of the Chicago Road, said: "The travel on this road is immense, equal to, if not more, than on any other in the United States of the same length." By an act of the Legislative Council, approved April 12th, 1827, it was provided that all that port of the county of Lenawee containing the surveyed townships numbered five south of the base line, in ranges one, two, three, four and five east of the principal meridian, be a township by the name of Tecumseh: all that part of said county containing the surveyed township numbered six, in ranges one, two, three, four and five, be a township by the name of Logan; and that all that part of the country containing the surveyed townships seven, eight and nine, in ranges one, two, three, four and five, be a township by the name of Blissfield. But by another act of the Legislative Council, approved the same day, all the foregoing was repealed, and the county was divided into townships as follows: Township numbered five and the north half of township numbered six south, in ranges one, two, three, four and five east, to be a township named Tecumseh, first township meeting to be held at the house of Joseph W. Brown; the south half of townships numbered six and townships numbered seven south, in ranges numbered one, two and three east, to be a township by the name of Logan, the first township meeting to be held at the house of Darius Comstock; and townships numbered seven, in ranges four and five, and townships numbered eight and nine south, in ranges numbered one, two, three, four and five east, to be a township named Blissfield, the first township meeting to be held at the house of Hervey Bliss. According to the division which became and remained the law, Tecumseh township comprised the present townships of Macon, Tecumseh, Clinton, Franklin, Cambridge, Woodstock, and the north half of the townships of Rollin, Rome, Adrian, Raisin and Ridgeway. The township of Logan comprised the south half of the present townships of Ridgeway, Raisin, Adrian, Rome and Rollin, and all of the townships of Hudson, Dover and Madison--an odd shaped township, truly; the township of Blissfield comprised the present townships of Palmyra, Blissfield, Deerfield, Riga, Ogden, Fairfield, Seneca and Medina. By the same Legislative Act, "All that district of country situated west of the said county of Lenawee, and which is attached to said county, and to which the Indian title was extinguished by the treaty of Chicago," was formed into a township named St. Joseph, the first township meeting to be held at the house of Timothy S. Smith. The first township meeting in the township of Logan was held on the 28th day of May. Elias Dennis was Moderator of the meeting; Darius Comstock was elected Supervisor; Addison J. Comstock, Town Clerk; Noah Norton, Warner Ellsworth and Cornelius A. Stout, Commissioners of Highways; Patrick Hamilton and Abram West, Overseers of the Poor. The first township meeting in the township of Blissfield was held on the 28th day of May. William Kedzie was elected Supervisor, and Ezra Goff Town Clerk. That the county had settled rapidly since the advent of its first family, in 1824, may be seen by the following extract from a letter, written by Mr. Brown, under date of January 14th, 1827: "The Legislative Council have organized three new counties this winter, and in none of them was there a white inhabitant in the year 1823, and in ours not till June, 1824. This is the youngest and smallest of the three, and we have more than six hundred inhabitants." This year, 1827, Dr. Caleb N. Ormsby erected the first dwelling within what is now the city of Adrian. The first birth and death in the A. J. Comstock settlement occured this year--Leander, infant son of A. J. and Sarah L. Comstock. He was born August 9th, and died October 8th. October 23d, Mr. James Whitney purchased of the United States four hundred acres of land, on the west side of the river, Adrian. The original plat of the village of Adrian was laid out by Addison J. Comstock, and recorded April 1st, 1828. It consisted of two streets only, Main and Maumee, of equal length, crossing each other at right angles. There were forty-nine lots in all. In June, 1828, James Whitney returned to Adrian with his family, and built a log house on his farm. He resided here until 1833, when the place becoming too thickly settled for him, he sold his land and removed to a newer country. July 4th, 1828, Independence Day was celebrated in the village of Adrian. The stand was erected under a white oak tree, near where W. S. Wilcox's store now stands. A national salute was fired, a blacksmith's anvil having been prepared for that purpose. Amidst the booming of the extemporized cannon the people assembled. Addison J. Comstock read the Declaration of Independence, and Dr. C. N. Ormsby delivered the oration, which ended, the Marshal of the Day, Noah Norton, formed the procession and marched through streets fringed with hazel brush, to the residence of A. J Comstock, where the ladies of the village had prepared dinner. Mr. Norton and Eleazer Baker had one pair of shoes between them, and they belonged to Baker. A bare-footed marshal would never do, so Norton wore the shoes and Baker remained at home. In the summer of 1828 Isaac Dean commenced building the "Exchange", a public house which for many years occupied the site of the Lawrence house, and was the principal hotel of the village. In the winter of 1828-9 Miss Dorcas Dean taught the first school in Adrian, in the house of Noah Norton. During the year 1829 a frame school house was built on the west side of South Main street. The subject of religion was not forgotten by the busy pioneers of Lenawee county. The Rev. Noah M. Wells preached at Tecumseh in 1825. In 1827 the Rev. John Janes preached at the house of Noah Norton, in Adrian. In April, 1828, the Rev. Alanson Darwin organized the Presbyterian church in Tecumseh. Daniel Smith and Elijah Brownell often preached the word to the Friends of the Valley. In August, 1828, the Rev. John A. Baughman, of Monroe, preached the first sermon in the township of Blissfield. August 5th, this year, William Kedzie, of Blissfield township, died. Mr. Kedzie purchased the first land sold by the Government in the township of Blissfield, settled on it in October, 1826, and was elected first Supervisor of the township in 1827. He possessed a robust constitution, was seldom sick, and was always a hard-working man. He had sowed a crop of wheat in the fall of 1827, and in July, 1828, he harvested it; but while it still stood in shock, he was prostrated on a bed of sickness, and died in a few days. He left a widow, five boys and two girls, to grapple unaided with the hardships of pioneer life. On the marble slab at the head of his grave is chiseled the story of his life:--'WILLIAM KEDZIE. A native of Roxboroshire, Scotland, who departed this life Aug. 5, 1828, aged 47 years, 6 mo. and 5 days. A useful citizen; a true friend; a loving and faithful husband; an affectionate parent; and a sincere christian." In June of this year, the Legislative Council laid out a Territorial road from "Port Lawrence," (Toledo) "in the county of Monroe," through "Blissfield and Logan, and also through the village of Adrian, in the county of Lenawee, to intersect the Chicago road on the most direct and eligible route; and Anthony M'Kee, of said county of Lenawee, and Eli Hubbard and Seneca Allen, of the county of Monroe, are hereby appointed commissioners to layout said road." The act was approved June 23d, 1828, and the reader will perceive that at this time the Territory of Michigan was exercising jurisdiction over the region bordering on the Maumee, and that the site of the city of Toledo was then considered a part of the county of Monroe. In 1829 Governor Cass organized the militia of Lenawee county, and appointed the following officers: Col., John W. Brown; Lieut. Col., Wi lliam McNair; Maj., Davis Smith. In December, 1828, or early in January, 1829, a post-office was established at the village, and Addison J. Comstock was commissioned post-master. Of this post-office Mr. Comstock, in a document prepared by him several years since, says: "The conditions of establishing the office were that the contractor should take the net revenue of the office for transporting the mail from Adrian to Monroe. The whole receipts of the first quarter, ending March 31, 1829, was $8.60-3/4. The net revenue to the contractor, after paying expense of office, 90-3/4 cents. It should be remarked that the carrying of the mail was not expensive, as the post- master took advantage of the ox teams that made regular trips to Monroe, and so obtained the mail about every week, as a trip to Monroe and back could be performed in about five days when they had good luck." It was during this year Dr. E. Conant Winter settled in Adrian. He opened a dry goods store on the southwest corner of Maumee and Winter streets, and Addison J. Comstock and Isaac Dean built the red flouring mill. June 2d, 1829, Abijah Russell purchased of the general government about thirty-five acres of land within the present limits of the city of Adrian. During the year 1829 Cornelius Millspaw settled in Woodstock, and Silas Benson entered land in the township of Moscow. In October, 1829, the Legislative Council laid out the township of St. Joseph into the counties of Hillsdale, Branch, St. Joseph, Cass, and Berrien; and by act of the Council, approved November 4th, 1829, the counties of St. Joseph and Cass were organized; Hillsdale was attached to Lenawee; the counties of Branch, Kalamazoo, Calhoun, Barry and Eaton were attached to the county of St. Joseph; and the counties of Berrien and Van Buren were attached to the county of Cass. By an act approved November 5th, the townships of White Pigeon, Sherman and Flowerfield, in the county of St. Joseph, and the townships of Pokagon, LaGrange and Ontwa, in the county of Cass, were organized. These townships, as then organized, comprised several surveyed townships; and from them, from time to time, other townships have been organized, until each only comprised one surveyed township. In 1830 the United States census was taken, and for the purpose of taking that census within Lenawee county, Musgrove Evans, of Tecumseh, was made assistant United States marshal. Hillsdale county was at that time attached to Lenawee county, and Mr. Evans' returns show the population to be as follows: Hillsdale, 75; Tecumseh, 771; Logan, 500; Blissfield, 145. Total, 1,491. It will be remembered that Logan, as then constituted, embraced the south half of Ridgeway, Raisin, Adrian, Rome and Rollin, and the townships of Madison, Dover and Hudson. The following is said to be a complete list of heads of families in Logan township: Darius Comstock, Catharine Fay, Alpheus Hill, Cornelius A. Stout, George Scott, Allen Chaffee, Jonathan Harnard, Elijah Brownell, Anson Howell , Samuel Todd, Cary Rogers, James Whitney, John Wood, Pliney Field, Addison J. Comstock, Charles Morris, Hannah Fifford, Robert Smith, Josiah Shumway, Patrick Hamilton, John Walsworth, Danial Smith, Milo Comstock, D. Torrey, Davis D. Bennett, John Powers, Anson Jackson, Lyman Pease, Silas Simmons, Lewis Nickerson, Nelson Bradish, William Edmonds, Curren Bradish, Levi Shumway, Daniel Gleason, Samuel Davis, Stephen Fitch, Aaron S. Baker, William Foster, Elias Dennis, Nathan Pelton, Turner Stetson, William Jackson, John Arnold, Nathan Comstock, Betsy Mapes, Joseph Pratt, Abram West, Thomas Sachrider, Daniel Odell, William H. Rowe, Moses Bugby, Samuel Weldon, Jeremiah Stone, David Wiley, Noah Norton, Asher Stevens, Samuel Burton, John Comstock, Joseph Beals, John Murphy, Samuel S. L. Maples, David Bixby, Charles Haviland, Benjamin Mather, John Chapman, Jacob Brown, Jacob Jackson, Job S. Comstock, Elijah Johnson, Samuel Carpenter, Cassander Peters, William Brooks, Josiah Baker, Seth Lammon, N. W. Cole, Reuben Davis, John Fitch, Daniel Walsworth, Nehemiah Bassett, Ephriam Dunbar, Isaac Dean and C. N. Ormsby. In the fall of l830 Isaac French came to Adrian and built a hotel on the corner now occupied by Crane & Mason. In l836 he sold it to Pomeroy Stone. In the year l83l Turner Stetson built the Hotel now known as the Gibson House, but for many years kept by Sampson Sammons as the Mansion House. Hiram Kidder, of Ontario county, New York, settled in what is now known as the Valley, midway between Tecumseh and Adrian, where he entered land for his brother, Nathan B. Kidder. Dr. Bebee settled in Adrian, and the next year died of small-pox. Joseph H. Cleveland opened a store on the north side of Maumee street, near the river. During l83l James D. Van Hoevenburgh and Charles Blackmar entered, and soon afterwards Van Hoevenburgh settled on lands within the limits of the township of Somerset as at present organized; and Samuel Aiden, Peter Benson and Pontius Hooper entered lands within the limits of Moscow. Charles Blackmar settled in the township of Cambridge in l829 and died of cholera in August, l834. The year l832 was a stirring year in the annals of our young county. In the spring, Black Hawk, with a band of warriors, crossed the Mississippi river and advanced through the settlements. He was attached by a body of Illinois militia, and then the Indians broke up into small parties and began an indiscriminate massacre of the inhabitants, still constantly advancing toward Chicago, which seemed their common objective point. Chicago was then an insignificant trading post, protected by a fort; but the probabilities were, if that post should fall, the Indians, encouraged by its fall, would advance through the infant settlements of Northern Indiana and Southern Michigan to the Canada line. Word came to the infant settlements of the southern tier of counties that the Indians were advancing, and along with it the call of the Indian Agent at Chicago for military assistance. There were enough Indians within these counties to cut the throats of the white inhabitants, if aroused, and perhaps the best way to defend their own homes was to meet the enemy beyond the borders of the Territory. Col. John W. Brown had been promoted to the command of the third brigade of Michigan militia, and without waiting for orders from the Governor, he ordered his brigade to rendezvous at the village of Niles. The eighth (Lenawee) regiment, then commanded by Col. William McNair, responded nobly to the call, and was in the shortest possible time ready for the order to march. The regiment was composed of two companies from Tecumseh, one from Adrian, and one from the village of Clinton, which had sprung into existence since the completion of the Chicago road. Gen. Brown's order required Col. McNair to take only volunteers. Said the order: "Take no man with you who is not a volunteer. Let the timid return to their homes" When the regiment was drawn up into line, the order was read, and all who desired to return home were ordered to step four paces to the front; but not a man advanced. The regiment took up its line of march by the way of the Chicago road for Niles, the place appointed for the brigade rendezvous. The reader can hardly appreciate the feelings of mothers and children as they saw every able bodied man move off to battle with the Indians foe, hundreds of miles away. It is true the danger was then distant, but their minds were keenly alive to the terrors of Indian warfare. It was then not twenty years since the horrible massacre at the river Raisin, only a few miles off, the details of which were all too well remembered to beget a feeling of security. The Indians living in their midst were friendly, it is true, but such was the known treachery of the Indian character that they lived in dread lest even these friendly Indians should suddenly go upon the war path, and fall upon them in their unprotected condition. But the Indians remained friendly, and before the brigade left Niles, the regular army, under Gen. Atkinson, defeated the hostile Indians and captured Black Hawk. The troops were sent home with the thanks of the commanding general for the spirit displayed in their prompt response to the call of their country. In the winter of 1831-2 Congress made an appropriation to build a turnpike road from LaPlaisance bay to the Chicago road, through Tecumseh, and in the fall of 1832 Musgrove Evans, of Tecumseh, was employed to survey the route. The jobs were let in the spring of 1833, and the road was completed during the summer of 1835. Mr. A. C. Osborn says Cornelius Millspaw was the first settler in township five south, of range one east, now called Woodstock, and he thinks Millspaw settled there in 1829; but a reference to the tract book shows that Millspaw entered his land October 27th, 1832. He may, however, have "squatted" on his land, and been unable to enter it sooner than l832; but however that may be, Mr. Jesse Osburn was either the first or second settler, and his family award the post of honor to Millspaw. Jesse Osburn sold his land in Tecumseh, and August 27th, 1832, entered land in Woodstock, and probably moved on it that fall. John Gilbert located land in that township in 1825, but tradition says he was only a speculator and held his land for that purpose only. In June, l832, the Legislative Council organized two townships in Branch county--Coldwater and Prairie River,--and in March, l833, organized township five south, in ranges one, two and three east, Lenawee county, into a new township, and named it Franklin. The first township meeting was held at the house of Hiram Reynolds. By act approved March 7th, 1834, townships eight and nine and fractional township ten south, in ranges one, two and three east, were erected into the township of Fairfield. It will be observed that in this act also the Territorial Legislature asserted its authority over the strip of territory which afterwards was casus belli of the Toledo war. Township seven south, in range one, two and three east, were erected into a new township and named Lenawee. The first township meeting was held at the school house one mile east of William Edmonds, in said township. Township six south, in range four east, was organized into a township and named Raisin. The first township meeting was held at the house of Amos Hoeg. Townships seven, eight, nine, and fractional township ten, in range four, east, were organized into a township and named Palmyra, first township meeting to be held at the house of Caius C. Robinson; and townships five and six south, in range five east, were made into a township named Macon, first township meeting to be held at the house of Henry Graves. All that part of Tecumseh comprised in the north half of township six south, in ranges one, two and three east, being the north half of the present townships of Rollin, Rome and Adrain, was detached from Tecumseh and attached to the township of Logan. This statement of the organization of townships in 1834 is here made out of its chronological order because with this chapter this historical sketch of the settlement of eastern Lenawee will close. For the same reason another enterprise which had its inception in 1833, but was carried out leter, which exerted a large influence in the settlement of the western part of the county, deserves to be noticed here. By an act of the Legislative Council of the Territory of Michigan, approved April 22nd, 1833, the Erie and Kalamazoo Railroad Company was incorporated, with a nominal capital stock of one million dollars, in shares of fifty dollars each, and when one thousand shares were subscribed for, the corporators thereby and thenceforth became a "body corporate and politic." Stephen B. Comstock, Benjamin F. Stickney, David White, Caius C. Robinson, Darius Comstock, Asahel Finch, E. Conant Winter, Seth Dunham, Silas Holbrook, Stephen Vickery and Edwin H. Lothrop were the corporators, and were authorized to build a railroad, with single or double track, from Port Lawrence through or as near as practicable to the village of Adrian, and thence on the most eligible route to such point on the Kalamazoo river as they may deem most proper and useful. The corporators were to begin the road within three years, finish it to Adrian in six years, one-half of it in fifteen years, and the whole road within thirty years. That part of the road beyond Adrian was afterwards abandoned. At the time of the inception of this project there not only was no railway west of Lake Erie, but none in New England. There was a railroad between Albany and Schenectady operated with horse power and stationary engines, and a few short routes in Pennsylvania, but American railroad building had just begun. The subscription books for the Erie and Kalamazoo Railroad Company were opened March, 1834, and the first $50,000 of stock was subscribed and the Company fully organized before the end of May. The work was immediately commenced. It was designed to use horse power only on the road, and therefore the road was built with wooden rails. It was so far finished that cars commenced to run in 1836. It was run by horse power until June, 1837, when the road was ironed with strap rail and a locomotive was purchased. The seccessful completion of this enterprize shortened routes and cheapened fares and freight so materially as to mark a new epoch in the history of the county. III. BEAN CREEK VALLEY 1833 to 1836 The beginning of the year 1833 found the Bean Creek country an unbroken wilderness. Nine years had elapsed since the first settlement was made within the county limits, and although considerable encroachments had been made on the dense forests, yet comparatively but little had been done. From Tecumseh, as a center, settlers had made their way through the township of Franklin and some settlements had been made in Cambridge. The principal part of the settlers were in the region of country between the two principal points, Tecumseh and Adrian. From Adrian settlers had ventured as far west in Dover as Robert and Bart White's, who lived on either side of the road where the Raisin crosses the line between sections two and eleven. Settlers had occupied the most eligible lots in Madison, and commenced on the two northerly tier of sections in Fairfield, but the southern part of Dover, the townships of Seneca, Medina, Hudson and Rollin were yet untouched by the pioneer hand, and but one or two families had settled in Woodstock. The Government had made a military road,--the Chicago,--leading from Detroit to Chicago, which passed through the extreme north part of the county. It was surveyed in 1825 and built in the succeeding years, probably before 1830, but for years it was but little better than a quagmire. The road followed the old Indian trail along the highest lands, but a single belt six rods in width, through interminable forests, afforded the sun but little opportunity to dry the soil, and it required but little travel to make the newly plowed road almost impassible. But there are some men possessed of such adventurous spirits that their courage seems to rise with increased and increasing difficulties. A few such men as these had scattered themselves along the Chicago road, built themselves log cabins, and commenced keeping hotel, ministering to the wants of adventurous emigrants and thirsty savages. There were perhaps two such within the limits of Woodstock, one such in Somerset, and one in Moscow; but none of these were properly within the valley of Bean Creek. In 1832 the General Government surveyed another military road, from La Pleasance Bay to the Chicago road in the township of Cambridge. This road was not finished until 1835, but its completion afforded a valuable route to the westward bound emigrants. In 1828 the Legislative Council appointed commissioners to layout a territorial road "from Port Lawrence (Toledo) in the county of Monroe, running in the most direct and eligible route through Blissfield and Logan, and also through the village of Adrian, to intersect the Chicago road on the most direct and eligible route." This road was surveyed soon after to pass through the townships of Rome and Woodstock, just touching the corner of Rollin, but the westerly portion of it was not completed until 1835. This road passed to the north-eastward of Devil's Lake, and thus it will be seen all the northerly lines of travel led the emigrant by and around the Bean Creek country. In the year 1832 the Legislative Council of the territory established a road commencing at Vistula, (Toledo,) in the town of Port Lawrence, running on the most eligible route to the forks of the Ottawa river, thence westerly in towns nine, south on the most eligible route to the eastern boundary line of the State of Indiana. There was but little done on this road until 1834 and 1835, and there was not then enough done on it to make it in any sense a thoroughfare. Thus matters stood in 1833. The valley of the Raisin had been sparsely settled, while beyond to the westward, half of Lenawee and all of Hillsdale counties was an interminable forest. On the 4th of June, 1831, Ira Alma, of Seneca county, New York, had entered the west half of the northwest quarter of section twenty in the township of Rollin, and on the tenth day of May, 1832, Addison J. Comstock entered the east half of the northeast quarter of section thirty-two, in the same township, but nothing was done towards effecting a settlement in either of those years. Hiram Kidder settled in "the valley" in 1831, and early in the year 1833 visited the Bean Creek country, and on the sixth day of February entered the southwest quarter and west half of the southeast quarter of section six and the northwest fractional quarter of section seven, town seven south, range one east, now the township of Hudson. This land he entered in the names of Daniel Hudson, Nathan B. Kidder and William Young, all of Ontario county, New York. About the first day of April, 1833, Joseph Beal and his son William, equipped for a land hunt, departed from the village of Adrian, and taking a southwesterly course, reached Bean Creek in the vicinity of where Morenci now stands. They then proceeded up the creek until they reached the bend in the southerly part of town seven south (Hudson), and then taking their bearings by the aid of a pocket compass, they proceeded through the wilderness on a straight line as near as possible for Devil 's Lake, the headwaters of the Bean. They came out on the banks of Round Lake. After considerable explorations thereabouts they returned to Adrian through town six south, range two west (Rome) .At that time, April, 1833, the north half of towns seven south in ranges one and two east (Rollin and Rome) formed a part of the township of Tecumseh, and the south half of those towns formed a part of the township of Logan. Several other exploring parties visited the region of the lakes during that month, and the result of such explorations was that May 1st David Steer entered seven or eight lots, and on May 3d William Beal and Erastus Aldrich entered their land, all in the township of Rollin, as now constituted. During the early part of May, say about the sixth, seventh or eighth days, the Hon. Orson Green visited Devil's Lake, and slept under the blue vault of heaven on the land he afterwards entered and now owns. At that time, says Mr. Green, there were no inhabitants save Indians in all this country, from the Chicago road to and into the States of Ohio and Indiana. At this time Charles Ames and his brothers and brothers-in-law were comtemplating emigrating to Michigan. They had arranged to come to the house of a friend living in the vicinity of Detroit, and to explore the country from there. Nathan B. Kidder, Esq., learning of their intentions, described to them in glowing terms the advantages of the Bean creek country, as he had learned them from his brother Hiram, then already an inhabitant of Lenawee county, and advised Mr. Charles Ames and Thomas Pennock, whom it had been arranged should look land for the party, to proceed at once to the house of his brother Hiram who would, he said, show them the loveliest county under the sun. They acted on his advice, and in the month of May, 1833, visited Lenawee county and under the lead of Mr. Hiram Kidder explored the Bean creek country. He had deliberately selected land in what he deemed the most eligible part of the country. He intended to locate there and desired neighbors, and it is not strange, therefore, that he should convince the land lookers sent by his brother that their best interests would be subserved by locating in his neighborhood. Charles Ames, on the 2Oth day of May, 1833, entered the east half of the southwest quarter of section seven. His brother-in-law, Thomas Pennock, entered the west half of the southwest quarter of section seven. On the 7th day of June Charles Ames entered the southeast quarter of section one and the northeast quarter of section twelve, in town seven south of range one west, now the township of Pittsford, and Thomas Pennock the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of the same section and township. Having made these purchases, Ames and Pennock returned to the East to prepare their families for removal.