History of the Town of Arbela, Arbela, Tuscola County, Michigan Copyright © 1998 by Bonnie Petee. This copy contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives. USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. _____________________________________________________________________ TOWN OF ARBELA In the southwest corner of the county, with the county lines as its western and southern boundaries, with Millington on the east and Tuscola on the north, lies the town of Arbela. It has a generally level surface, originally well wooded with maple, elm, beech, basswood, with bodies of pine of excellent quality. The largest body of pine was in the southwestern part of the town. The soil is generally a sandy loam, with clay loam in portions of the town. The actual and active settlement of the town dates in 1850, though Milton Whitney had at that time been several years a resident, his entry of land in section five, dating December 10, 1845. In November 1849, Simeon Newton and William Allen came from Livingston County, on foot, to explore the northern wilds in search of a location. Having made a selection they returned here again the following January, Mr. Allen making an entry on the way, of northeast quarter of northeast quarter of section 17. On this tract they worked for two seasons, making shingles. These were sent out by the team which brought them in supplies, and by teams passing in and out. In this enterprise their success was indifferent, the end of the first year finding them nine dollars in debt, to say nothing of the next to starvation they had endured, and the second, but forty dollars ahead; upon which they gave it up and turned their attention to farming. Mr. Newton, in March 1850, built a loghouse in section 16, on the site opposite where he now resides. To this he brought his family, consisting of his wife, two boys and a girl, during the same month. They began keeping a hotel, and the rapidly increasing travel, both of lumbermen, and settlers, gave them frequently an over full house. They brought in, with three cows, several head of young cattle, one and a half bushels of ears of corn, a barrel of buckwheat flour, and fifty cents with which to run a shingle camp, farm, and hotel. Mr. Newton says the hotel could not but pay, as by the time a traveler reached it he was so exhausted, by reason of the length and character of the road, that he could get no farther. He must have viewed the promised land of rest long before he reached it, for with two miles there were twenty-seven bends in the road, which wound hither and thither to escape the low places. And at the best the State road, which was cut through in 1849, was but a place for a road. Mr. Newton being well acquainted with the county, and informed as to what desirable lands were subject to entry, was frequently called on to guide new comers to suitable locations, and as he did not fail to point out the desirableness of his own neighborhood, he undoubtedly aided largely in forwarding the settlement of the town. He also brought in flour and other groceries to supply the neighboring country. Shortly after Newton and Allen, came Alanson Calkins, James Brophy, and others. Indeed, after the first settlers others came in rapidly. For several years the mail was obtained from Tuscola; but in 1858 or 1859 a mail route was opened and a post office established in the southwest part of the town. The first schoolhouse was built by Mr. Newton in 1853 or 1854, in section 9, and the first school was taught in it by Mr. Hodges, who boarded at Newton's. Among the first buildings in the town was a road shanty, belonging to Mr. Wilson, who had the contract of cutting out the state road, and which was occupied at first by Allen and Newton before their own shanty was ready for occupancy. Religion, with rites and services, is ever the attendant of advancing civilization, and in Arbela, as early as 1855, preachers of the Methodist Episcopal Church found their way here. Elders Klump and Andrews being among the pioneers, preaching in school-houses and in the narrow cabins of the settlers. In 1851 a saw-mill was built by Hinckley & McLean, on section 32. Another mill followed, and in a short time the present village of Pine Grove grew to considerable prominence. A large amount of trade was done, hotel business was lively, and the roads were lined with teams, hauling the product of the mills to Saginaw and elsewhere. On the opening of the mail route a postoffice was established, and Samuel Evans appointed postmaster, who, however, did not serve. Nathan Hinckley, of Pine Run, being appointed, put a deputy, Truman Curtis, in charge. The next postmaster was Roger R. Rathburn, who was succeeded by Clark Powell, and he by John Jacobs, the present incumbent. About 1872 a post office was established nearer the center of the town, with H. H. Crosby as postmaster. He was succeeded by R. L. Merrick, and he by William Allen. The present postmaster is James Spears. The office is called Elva. dz