SYLVESTER Just isn't what it used to be By John Raffel, Staff Writer Pioneer Newspaper 1980

 

HINTON TOWNSHIP - The town of Sylvester just isn't what it used to be. That's what A.J. and Meryl Luxon who live 1-1/2 miles of this small rural community in Hinton Township in the southeastern portion of Mecosta County would tell anyone. I can remember the board sidewalks there. Meryl, now 82 and formerly Meryl Steimer before she became Mrs. A.J. Luxon, Jan. 2, 1918, said "There used to be a store in Sylvester." And the Luxons can remember when Sylvester was occupied by a shingle mill, a post office, a motel, more houses than there are now and two blacksmith shops, plus a sawmill which A.J/'s uncle, John Rieter used to run. Of course, things change. Sylvester might be the community it once was. But the fondness the A.J. Luxon's maintained for their life-long home in Hinton Township hasn't altered a bit. Why live in a small rural community all your life? No sooner had the question been completed that Mrs. Luxon replied, "because we like it. Then, looking at her 84 year old husband sitting nearby, she asks, "Isn't that right daddy? Because we liked it." "I liked to farm," A.J. who did so just about all his adult ife, said, "We figured these are the best farms around." Mrs. Luxon smiles, "And we've like the neighborhood. We never had any neighbors we didn't like." Almost all of the neighbors they knew as they were growing up are no longer around, particularoly in the northern part of the township. There's a few left, like Mrs. Ray Flynn who lives between the Luxon home and Sylvester; Mrs. Paul Warren, who resides about a half mile southeast of the Luxon residence; Meryl's 86 year old aunt, Mrs. Lee VanAntwerp and Mr. and Mrs. John Leupp. Even some of the one room schoolhouses around Hinton Township are no longer standing. There was the Palmer School from which A.J. was an eighth grade graduate before going to Ferris Institute for three winter terms where he said he took cources in bookkeeping and "mental Arithmetric." And there were schoolhouses in Sylvester, Halls Corner, and also Dan Lee School, Mooffett School, Brockway School and Schafer School. All were within a single radius of two or three miles. The Luxon house has been immune from change. A.J.'s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wilson Luxon, moved into that home when he was four. When A.J. and Meryl tied the knot on the first Wednesday of 1918. "Wednesday is a very good day to get married on," Mrs. Luxon will say), they moved to a different house a quarter of a mile south. They maved over to the Wilson Luxon hiome after A.J.;s mother died. ''A.J. and Meryl had two children, Mrs. Lanor Marshall of Hinton Township and Violet Bunker of Lansing. They also have eight grandchildren and 12 greatgrandchildren. Children weren't the only thing A.J. raised. As a farmer, he grew potatoes, corn, cattle, pigs and even at one time raised sheep. He started farming, at age 15, with his dad. "He never did anything else but farming," Maryl said. And why not? Years ago, "Everybody farmed," she said, although it's not that way anymore. "People work in town, Big Rapids, Grand Rapids, Edmore, Greenville. It's been several years A.J. has actively farmed. When he did, he worked on 60 acres including the 80 on which they're living now and 80 acres south of that. "This was one of the first farms in this townshiop," A.J. said. "It belonged to Hinton." Name sound familiar? John Hinton was the first white settler there in 1855, according to Meryl Luxon, five years before the township organized. The first fram barn in the township was built in 1856 and the frame is still standing behind the Luxon home. For a good many years while he farmed, A.J. kept aound ten horses and about that many cows. He recalls when his dad used an iron wheel tractor. Overall, he found the job of farming much to his liking. "It was a way of life," Meryl said, "And we liked it." That's why we stuck with it. His brother moved to Flint and worked in an automobile factory." But A.J. remained a farmer ahd his wife remained a farmer's wife. "I always had the meals on time," she grinned. "We were a part pf community life. There used to be much more of it than there is now. When the schools went, that took away a lot of the social part of the community." "When I was a small kid, this was all timber," A.J. said, pointing across the road through his living room window. I can remember when they cut timber. This was solid maple clean from here (back to his place) to the next corner. A.J.'s grandfather, James Decker, shipped out the first train-car load of wheat from Hinton Township. In his younger years, A.J. was on the county Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Committee board for over 20 years. Also involved in township politics, he was a county welfare board member for around 25 years. There might have been some changes within the township since the Luxon's have lived there, but the number of residents hasn't changed much. Whatever changes there might have been probably have all been detailed in Meryl's diary which she has kept for 60 years without missing a day. "It was mostly a personal diary of what we did from day to day, where we went and who went with us," she said. Her "Dear Diary" entries would frequently mention how A.J. had to repair his Model-T-Ford or any other vehicles he owned. "Back then, they could repair the car by themselves," Meryl said. "Now you have to have somebody who knows something about it." In northern Hinton Township, A.J.'s father and George Johnson were among the first in the area to own cars. Although A.J. still drives, "ww don't go where the traffic is heacy." Meryl said, pointing out that they haven't been in the bigger cities of Big Rapids or Greenville in nearly three years, going to communities like Mecosta, Morley, Six Lakes or Remus instead. But spending most of their time in Hinton Township is just fine with A.J. and Meryl. They remain active, even in their 80's, visiting friends, relatives, reading, "patching clothes," mowing the yard and keeping up their garden. "Time doesn't hang heavy on our hands," Mrs. Luxon said, "It never did. We were always involved in community affairs. With or without board sidewalks, blacksmith shops or hotels, the Luxons were indeed always involved.

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