Oceana County MI Archives History - Books .....Township Of Pentwater 1882
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Book Title: HISTORY OF OCEANA CO., CHICAGO, H.R. PAGE & COMPANY, 1882

This is Town 16 north, Range 18 west, and is only about one-third of the size 
of those towns which are six miles square.  It is but a mile and a half from 
east to west on its northern boundary, and three and a half miles on its 
southern boundary.  It is divided in twain by Pentwater Lake, which comes 
close to Lake Michigan, from which it is separated by a narrow range of sand 
bluffs, and here the C. & W. M. R.R. depot is built, the village being reached 
by a ferry across the channel of the harbor.  The village is situated on the 
northeast corner of the lake, and was originally two villages, that of 
Pentwater started by Cobb & Rector, which extended to Hancock Street, and that 
of Middlesex, originated by C. Mears, and named from his native county in 
Massachusetts.  The town of Pentwater has been well covered with pine, now cut 
off by the lumberers, and the soil is generally sandy, although fruit culture 
is now being successfully engaged in.



SCHOOLS.

For the school year ending September 5, 1881, it appears that Pentwater school 
No. 1, in the village, had 377 pupils; school property valued at $7,000; and 
one male teacher, at $800, and five females at $1,200 were employed; W. E. 
Dickry, director; Prof. Borst, principal.  No. 3 Pentwater had forty-seven 
pupils, under a female teacher, paid $206.


The board was:  C. W. Cramer, chairman; E. Ri Wright, insector, and W. H. 
Tuller, clerk.

District No. 1 includes all north of Pentwater Lake; No. 3 all south.  The 
village school is a handsome white painted structure, on the old cemetery 
ground.



EARLY SETTLEMENT.

The first actual settlers were Cobb & Rector - Edwin R. Cobb, who died some 
years ago at Grand Rapids, and Andrew Rector, shot, in 1864, by one Fuller, in 
Hart, whom he was attempting to "regulate."  This same Rector was the same man 
who shot a neighbor's hog, in his hot wrath, but which was cooled down when he 
was tried before "Jimmy Dexter," the primitive justice of the peace of the 
west shore, who sent Rector ninety-nine years to jail, at Whisky Creek, for 
the heinous offense.  Many are the quaint stories told of "Jimmy," who still 
lives a few miles north of Pentwater.  Rector might have been in jail yet, had 
it not been for a writ of habeus corpus.

They had a steam mill with an upright circular saw, and employed about thirty 
men.  Mears employed about three times as many men.  Many of the early 
pioneers commenced to work for Mears.  Among these were:  S. G. Rollins, 
Daniel Wentworth, John Spoor, E. D. Richmond, H. C. Flagg, W. P. Harding, Mr. 
Jennings, Charles Blenick, Nelson Glover, Elbridge Farmer, etc.  The latter 
was Mears' first foreman, in 1856, and H. C. Flagg took his place in 1857.  G. 
Smith, the saloon keeper, was at this time Mears' head sawyer.  Mears built a 
store and boarding house where the ferry now is.  The first store was in a bed-
room of the boarding house; the second was a little further west, and the 
third was a large store, now burned, on the bank of the river.  Mears built a 
large hall (Middlesex Hall) where people came from Lincoln on the north, and 
Muskegon in the south, to the old, fashioned balls.

Cobb & Rector were lumberers, but not very successful.  they built a little 
sawmill, which was burned down in 1856.  They probably came in 1853.  Charles 
Mears, of Chicago, came in 1856, and erected a sawmill, and proceeded to 
improve the channel.  Cobb & Rector made an assignment to C. A. Rosevelt, in 
1857 or 1858.  Cobb had before this homesteaded "Cobb's Addition."  He 
purchased 160 acres and laid out eighty acres to village lots.  He enlisted in 
the Sixth Michigan Cavalry, and after the war made his home in Grand Rapids 
until his death.  Cobb was of an easy-going disposition, and calculated to be 
straight, but there was some difficulty with his heirs as to land titles.  He 
deeded his property to his wife, and his heirs had a quit-claim.  Rector is 
described as a very honorable man, but of a violent temper; "he would fly all 
to pieces in a moment."  The first opposition to Mears' store was by Chapin & 
Richmond, in 1862.

The land on which Pentwater is mainly situated was in the hands of Rosevelt, 
as assignee of Cobb & Rector; was purchased by Wm. Brillhart, and fell finally 
into the hands of Hart & Maxwell.  This included much pine land besides the 
village lot.  In 1865 Richmond & Bean purchased what is now the property of 
the Pentwater Lumber Company.



ORGANIZATION.

The town was organized by act of the Legislature, February 13, 1855, and the 
first meeting was held at the house of Cobb & Rector, April 7, 1856, the 
following officers being elected:  E. R. Cobb, supervisor; James Dexter, 
clerk; Norman Rogers, treasurer; A. Rector, J. D. Green and N. Rogers, highway 
commissioners; J. G. Blowers, school inspector; E. R. Cobb, A. Rector and N. 
Rogers, inspectors of election; $150 voted for town expenses.

The following is a list of suervisors, clerks and treasurers to date:

SUPERVISORS. - E. R. Cobb, 1856-'57; D. G. Weare, 1858; H. C. Flagg, 1859-'61-
2-3-4-5-6; A. J. Underhill, 1860-73; E. D. Richmond, 1867-'68; Sewall Moulton, 
1869; F. W. Ratzel, 1870; Stillman Parks, 1871; G. W. Imus, 1872-'75-6; E. 
Nickerson, 1874; John Fegan, 1877-'78; A. Brillhart, 1879; S. W. Bunyea, 1879-
'80-1-2.

CLERKS.	- James Dexter, 1856-'57; E. R. Cobb, 1858; E. D. Richmond, 1859-'60-
'75-6; Charles W. Deane, 1861; Andrew M. Dahl, 1862; F. W. Ratzel, 1863-'65-6; 
E. C. Hildreth, 1864; Henry H. Woods, 1867; E. F. Edwards, 1868-'69-70; R. L. 
Rice, 1871-'72; Henry F. Kind, 1873; John S. Reynolds, 1874; A. J. Underhill, 
1877; E. B. Clark, 1878-'80; W. P. Lee, 1879; W. H. Tuller, 1881; H. A. Cross, 
1882.

TREASURERS. - Norman Rogers, 1856-'57; W. P. Harding, 1858; James G. Blowers, 
1859; Wm. Webb, 1860-'61-2; W. H. Merritt, 1863; B. R. Hall, 1864; Thomas 
Crane, 1865-66; W. B. O. Sands, 1867-'68; E. W. Bovee, 1869-'70; W. A. Rounds, 
1871-'72-3; Mark Rice, 1874-'75-6; H. H. Bunyea, 1877-'78-80; A. Sorensen, 
1879; A. W. Newark, 1881; John H. Bouton, 1882.



LOG BOOMING.

The present is the first season that logs have been floated down the south 
branch to any extent, and this has been done by J. Bean, Jr.

The north branch has been partly used since 1802.

The Pentwater Booming Company was organized in 1880, with S. A. Browne, 
president, W. E. Ambler, secretary, and W. H. Browne, treasurer.  It was 
organized for the purpose of protecting the interests of the leading lumber 
manufacturers, and to give them legal control of certain improvements on the 
stream for making it navigable for logs.

Additional Comments:
HISTORY OF OCEANA CO., CHICAGO, H.R. PAGE & COMPANY, 1882


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