BRANCH COUNTY

SKETCHES OF THE EARLY HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY

BY HON, HARVEY HAYNES

Read June 13, 1883

Branch county, the central one of the southern tier, is essentially an agricultural county. It was named after John Branch, who was for several years a member of President Jackson's cabinet. Indeed it would be no easy task to find a county organized during the presidency of the "old hero" that was not named after some one of his ardent supporters.

Only an occasional hunter or trapper had ever followed its Indian trails prior to 1828. Previous to that time the Pottawattomie Indians were its only occupants. As about one-half of this county was at that time a heavy, dense forest, while the other half was oak openings or burr-oak plains--with only a very few small open prairies; the former affording them excellent winter camping-ground, while the openings and plains gave them fine chances for their summer sports, is it any wonder that in 1840, when they were forced to leave their beloved camping-ground, the braves were indignant and sullen, while the women and children dropped a filial tear, as they cast a last lingering, longing look back towards their native land-the place of their childish and youthful sports? When we remember that the forests abounded with deer, turkeys, and other game, and the numerous lakes and creeks throughout the county were alive with fish; thus easily supplying their every want, we have often wondered the primitive occupants did not wage as long and bloody war as did their Seminole brethern in the swamps and forests of the sunny south, before leaving their earthly paradise for the arid and unknown lands in the west.

Those dusky sons of the forest were evidently kind, generous, and affectionate. In matters of deal, all they desired was even exchange. That is, all they wanted was an equal swap. They would gather cranberries and whortleberries in the swamps many miles away, and give a pail full of either for a pail full of potatoes. But if they wanted flour or salt, though the latter was worth ten dollars per barrel; the exchange must be measure for measure. "Equal measure" was their motto.

In affection, I have sometimes thought they equaled at least, their white brethren, and trust I shall be excused if I give one example.

In the winter of 1836, one of their huntsmen died; and as the ground was frozen very hard, and digging a grave could hardly be done with a small hatchet-that being all the tool they could use for that purpose, they went back about a mile in the forest and cut down a large whitewood tree; split off a slab, and then dug out a beautiful trough or casket, and there deposited the remains of their noble comrade. In June, 1836, I visited the grave, removed the slab; there lay the warrior chieftain wrapped in a nice government blanket; on his right side lay his gun, and on his left a huge powder horn, such as all huntsmen carried in those days. I could but think of the burial of Sir John Moore, for he

"Lay like a warrior taking his rest,
With his martial cloak around him."

In the following August, I visited the sacred place again, removed the covering, there still lay the remains of the son of the forest, and on each side from waist to head were strewed from four to eight quarts of fresh whortleberries which his comrades had brought many miles to nourish and sustain him as he passed on to their ideal hunting grounds. I looked on with wonder and astonishment; while my poetic reading of England's gifted bard rushed into my mind:

"Lo, the poor Indian! whose untutor'd mind

Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind;
His soul proud science never taught to stray
Far as the solar walk or milky way;
Yet simple Nature to his hope has given,
Behind the cloud-topt hill a humbler heaven,
Some safer world in depth of woods embraced,
Some happier island in the wat'ry waste;
Where slaves once more their native land behold,
No fiends torment, no Christians thirst for gold.
To be, contents his natural desire;

He asks no angel's wing, no seraph's fire;

But thinks, admitted to that equal sky,

His faithful dog shall bear him company."

I have no doubt but in the minds of his comrades he had been a warrior chieftain, capable of scaling the Alps, or crossing the Hellespont; or an orator equaling in eloquence a Cicero or a Demosthenes. Here I leave our savage brethren of Branch county, for since 1840 we have known them not.

FIRST SETTLEMENT

The first white person known to have made a permanent home within the limits of Branch county, was one Jabez Bronson, who in the spring of 1828 located with his family on Bronson's Prairie, a small opening lying in the southwestern part of the county.

This was on the great Indian trail running nearly east and west through the county, and which, in after years, became the line of the famed Chicago. turnpike. Here he built a small log house, and soon a rude sign notified the weary, wandering adventurer that entertainment could there be had for a moderate price. In fact, all the first houses built on this thoroughfare were christened taverns. Soon after, a few others wended their way into this locality, so that in the winter of 1829-30 some five or six families claimed Bronson as their home. During this winter a man by the name of John Toole gathered all the children in a log shanty and commenced the first school ever taught in the county.

Mr. Bronson had, in 1827, raised a crop of corn on Pigeon Prairie, and with a good crib of corn, was well provided with the means of living; for with a good rifle, plenty of venison could be killed; and plenty of wild honey could be found in the woods, and these three articles were considered an epicurean dish in those early times.

This little log tavern of Mr. Bronson's was a place of no small consequence among the pioneers, for soon after, its owner was appointed postmaster, and a little later, a justice of the peace by the governor. This was the first postoffice in the county, as well as the first justice's office, and as a matter of course, a great place of resort for the first settlers.

Very near the same time of Bronson's settlement there came a man by the name of Phineas Bonner who, with his family, settled in what is now the

township of Batavia. He was an Indian trader, farmer, trapper, and was a man of considerable intelligence, having in his younger years been a sailor. He used to talk of his coasting on the Mediterranean, and of his visiting the city of Constantinople. His stay in Branch county was short, for his roving disposition still clung to him, and he soon left for parts unknown.

In 1829, Richard W. Corbus came to what is now the town of Girard, and for some time was the only white resident in the township. His residence was in the north part of the county, and some eighteen miles from Bronson's hotel, hence not troubled with white neighbors. In this lonely way the family lived over a year before any other white people ventured to intrude upon their domain. In the spring of 1829, Jeremiah Tillotson located near Bronson and opened a hotel. It was during this year that a mail route was established west of Lenawee county. The contractor was John Mitchell, who was to carry the mail on horseback from Tecumseh to White Pigeon. He was to carry the mail each way once a week in summer, and once in two weeks in the winter time. Up to this time the territory now comprising Branch county, was called St. Joseph township, and belonged to Lenawee county.

On the 29th of October, 1829, however, a law was passed by the Legislative Council of Michigan forming several new counties, among them Branch. One section reads thus: "That so much of the county that lies west of the line between ranges four and five, west of the meridian, and east of the line between ranges eight and nine west, and south of the line between townships four and five, south of the base-line, and north of the boundary line between this territory and the State of Indiana be, and the same is hereby set off into a separate county, and the name thereof shall be Branch."

Nov. 5, 1829, another act was passed by the Legislative Council which reads as follows: "That the counties of Branch, Calhoun, and Eaton, and all the country lying north of the county of Eaton, which are attached to, and form a part of the county of St. Joseph, shall form a township of the name of Green, and the first township meeting shall be held at the house of Jabez Bronson, in said township." It will be seen by this, that the town of Green not only comprised the present county of Branch; but other territory north; even to the straits of Mackinaw. Indeed the log hotel of Jabez Bronson was the capitol of quite an empire. The whole of the county of Branch was known as one township, and Green was its name for several years after the act passed by the Legislative council.

There is no record extant to show whether the first town meeting was held at the house of Jabez Bronson or not; but from certain accounts found in the record, it is quite probable that some form of an election was held soon after that date. The first election of which there is any record, was held on the third day of April, 1832. This was held at a little mill that was then being built on the west branch of Coldwater river, and very near the geographical center of the county. The mill being built at that time was called "Black Hawk mill" in honor of the famed Indian warrior whose deeds are recorded in history, and spread terror among the settlers in that wilderness country, during 1831 and 1832.

All who attended this first meeting rode in one two-horse wagon, and I have been informed by one of the number that there was room in the same vehicle for at least two or three more. Doubtless this was a very quiet election, and conducted on business principles, having an eye to the future.

Among the resolutions passed was one offering a dollar bounty for wolf

scalps, and another that the rails in the fences should not be over four inches apart for the four lower rails.

Three pounds were established-one on Bronson's Prairie, ten miles west; one on Cocoosh Prairie, ten miles north; and the third in the vicinity where the election was held. At the first of these, Samuel Smith was elected to preside as pound master; at the second, John Corbus; and at the last, Harvey Warner. One can hardly suppose that these gentlemen had very much to do in an official capacity, or that their offices were very lucrative, for we find by the record that the whole expense of the town during that year was only $59.00.

The officers elected were: Supervisor, Seth Dunham; town clerk. John Morse; collector, Seymour L. Bingham; commissioners of highways, Robert J. Cross. David Parsons, and James B. Tompkins; assessors, Allen Tibbits, ' John Corbus, and Wales Adams; constables, Seymour L. Bingham, and James N. Gale; overseer of the poor, Samuel Bingham. The above, together with the poundmasters, constituted not far from one-fourth of the entire voters of the county at that time, and were men capable of filling almost any position in the gift of the people.

From 1830 to 1832 several very worthy men located in the county. Among them were Wales Adams, James B. Tompkins, Allen Tibbits, Joseph Hanchett, Harvey Warner, who, being a carpenter and joiner, built the first frame house ever built in the county.

Abram Aldrich, a noble, sturdy Quaker, with his two sons-in-law, Benjamin H. Smith and Martin Barnhart, settled on West Cocoosh Prairie, in what is now Girard township; and soon after commenced building a saw-mill, and a little later a grist-mill. These mills were located on Coldwater river, some seven miles northwest of Coldwater city. As the Black Hawk mill was a small affair, and entirely inadequate to the wants of the increasing population. you may be sure this latter was very much needed, and was patronized by almost all the inhabitants for from 20 to 40 miles; and great was their joy when they found they could get a grist ground the same day and for only one toll. Mr. Tibbits and Mr. Joseph Hanchett purchased land where the city of Coldwater now is, laid out the village, and called it Lyons, after Mr. Tibbits' native town.

The beautiful public square in the center of the city was a gift to the county by these two liberal and kind-hearted gentlemen. Judge William H. Cross, now of St. Joseph county, and his brother Robert, came in 1830 and located on the east part of Coldwater prairie, and within the limits of the city of Coldwater. Several other families came; so that in 1832, when all were summoned to the Black Hawk war, there were in the whole county between forty and fifty males between the ages of 18 and 45, liable to do military duty. All were called on to go to meet the great Indian chieftain, and responded with great promptness; leaving their loved ones behind to look after matters as well as they could. As the whole country round was full of Indians, who might in one short day, have killed every soul in the county without receiving any harm themselves, you may rest assured some apprehension was felt for the safety of the loved ones at home.

The following is a list of the men who left their families in the county to take care of themselves and work the garden, while they went forth at the call of their country:

FIRST COMPANY

Commissioned officers.-May 22, 1832.-Major B. Jones received orders from Gen. Joseph W. Brown to muster his battalion in the third brigade, second division, M. M. May 25, present on duty: Major Beniah Jones, jr.; Adjt... Enoch Chase; Q. M., Edmund Jones; Surgeon, Enoch Chase, M. D.; Q. M. S.. Abiel Potter, Ambrose Nicholson.

Staff officers.-John Morse, fife major; Abram F. Bolton, captain of 1st company; John Allen, lieutenant; Harvey Warner, ensign.

Non-commissioned officers.-E. S. Hanchett, 1st sergeant; James McCarty, Isaac Eslow.

Privates.-Seymour Bingham, Jonas Tilapan, George Hanchett, Moses Herrick, William H. Cross, John Wilson, Philip Ledyard, Henry Johnson, James Craig, Martin Barnhart, Benjamin H. Smith, Robert J. Cross, Hervey Van Hyning, John Parkinson, James B. Tompkins, Joseph C. Corbus, Phineas Bonner, John Cornish, Hugh Alexander, Chauncy Morgan, Mr. Decrow, Marvin Hill, Joseph H. Fowler.

This company was mustered into service May 24th, and dismissed June 3d, 1832.

THIRD COMPANY

Commissioned officers.-Seth Dunham, captain; Jeremiah Tillotson, lieutenant; Wales Adams, ensign.

Non-commissioned officers.-James M. Guile, 1st sergeant; Thomas Holmes, 2d sergeant; George W. Gamble, 3d sergeant; Philip Omsted, 1st corporal; Frederick Lyons, 2d corporal.

Privates. Horace D. Judson, Daupheneus Holmes, Elizer Lancaster, Isaac Smith, Daniel Smith, David J. Parsons, David Clark, Moses Omsted, Joseph Edwards, Joshua Ransdell, John G. Richardson, John Rose, Alfred S. Riggs. Sylvester Brockway.

This company was mustered into service May 26, and dismissed June 3, 1832.

From the above official list it will be seen that in 1832, some sixty men over 18 years of age and under 45, were found scattered over the county, and I have been informed that, so far as known, not one of proper age, but that went forth to face the great Indian chieftain, and if need be, to lay down his life in defense of their forest homes.

Although the speedy termination of the war enabled them to return in one week, yet it showed with what unity and heroism the people were endowed.

This year was the first the cholera made its appearance in the United States, and, in the west, almost every one died who was attacked with it. You will see that with the cholera coming from the east, and Black Hawk with his forces from the west, great was the consternation of the emigrants.

This year it was deemed advisable to divide the town of Green, which till this time, comprised the whole county. Accordingly, June 29, 1832, a bill was passed by the Legislative Council, dividing the town north and south through the center, forming two townships; the east one to be called Coldwater, the west one was given the name of Prairie River.

Some surprise was expressed that the west township was not named Bronson, after the veritable Jabez, its first settler, but after a time this oversight was made right by changing the name to "Bronson," thus making people all satisfied, which name it bears to this time.