1884 Portrait & Bio Album
| 1884 Portrait & Bio Album | |
| This township was granted an organization by the Board of Supervisors of Mecosta County April 6, 1868, and was attached to this county. Its organization was perfected a year before the county in which it is situated was formally organized. P.S. Holdridge, A.J. Johnson and Nathan Pettibone were appointed Inspectors of election.John A. Gamage was chosen as Clerk of the Board. They met at the residence of D.A. Blodgett, where they organized the meeting, and then adjourned to the house of S.P. Gamage. The polls were opened and the citizens of Hersey exercised their rights of suffrage here for the first time. It did not take as long then to count the vote as it does now, yet they might have had as much weight in shaping the destinies of this township as the more numerous vote of later days. When the ballot-box was opened, there were found to be 35 votes, which determined the election of the following officers: Edwin F. French, Supervisor; John A. Gamage, Clerk; George L. Laughlin, Treasurer; Nathan Pettibone, A.J. Johnson and Frank Evart, Highway Commissioners; Nathan Pettibone and J.B. Smith, School Inspectors; P.S. Holdridge, JOhn Smith, S.P. Gamage and L.O. Schofield, Justices of the Peace, and Anthony Sample, John Hoover, C.J. Graham and Wm. Rose, Constables. Hersey lies in the southern rown of townships, and is numbered 17 north, of range 9 west. Its boundary lines are Cedar on the north, Evart on the east, Mecosta County on the south and Richmond Township on the west. It has four school districts, with the school-houses located respectively on sections 32, 23, 18, 4. Nos. 1,2 and 3 have frame buildings, and No. 4 is a log house. Values of these school-houses are as follows: In district No. 1, $500; No. 2, $700; No. 3, $450, and No. 4, $190. The pupils on the rolls in No. 1, 26; No. 2, 62; No. 3, 72 and No. 4, 20. The pupils living in and about Hersey village, the site of which is taken from Richmond and Hersey townships, attend the graded school at Hersey, which is in District No. 5, section 24 of Richmond Township. The first settler in this township was D.A. Blodgett, who located on section 17 in the spring of 1851. Though Mr. Blodgett was the first settler in the county and was in the first organization of Richmond Township, which at the time embraced the entire county, the first settlement was given to Mr. Gooch, as he located in the territory now embraced by Richmond; and Mr. Blodgett is given the first settlement in Hersey, as his location was made in the territory now embraced by it. Following D.A. Blodgett as pioneers, came Edwin F. French, John A. Gamage, L.O. Schofield, Nathan Pettibone, George L. Laughlin, Frank Evart, J.B. Smith, P.S. Holdridge, JOhn Hoover, C.J. Graham and Wm. Rose. The land in general is undulating. Along the north side of Muskegon River there is a great deal of level land. It was originally heavily timbered with pine and the hard-woods, with some grand elm and maple forests. The principal business for many years after the first settlement was lumbering. The soil is very well adapted for agriculture, the bottom lands being rich and fertile. Hersey is exceedingly well watered, having the Muskegon, which runs diagonally, with circuitous courses, through it. Big Stone, Cat, Two Mile and several other creeks, which head in this and adjoining townships, empty into the Muskegon. This river was, and is still, of great advantage to the lumbermen of this township. Special attention has been given by the people of this township to public roads. Nearly all sections of the township can now be reached by good graded roads. It is also crossed by the Flint & Pere Marquette Railroad, which enters from the east between sections 1 and 12 and goes out westward on section 19. Hersey Township ranks the second in improved lands and in production. The best stock and agricultural farm in the township and the best in the county is D.A Blodgett's, which lies along the banks of the Muskegon in the suburbs of the village of Hersey. But there are many other fine farms in the township, under good cultivation and with good buildings. It is estimated that there are nearly 4,500 acres underimprovement, with about 145 farms. The production of wheat in 1882 was 11,590 bushels from 860 acres. In 1883 the stock statistics of the township showed 194 horses, 214 milch cows, 157 hogs and 141 sheep. The population, according to the census of 1884, was 920. It had no increased as rapidly as some of the townships, owing somewhat to a change in lumber camps. The trading town for most of the people in the township is Hersey village, which is also their postoffice. Hersey Township was named after Nathan Hersey, a trapper, who before 1843 came along up the Muskegon into this territory looking after his trapping interests. Something more of this township will be found in the history of Hersey village. Hersey Township has honored the following named citizens with the office of Supervisor: SUPERVISORS. Edwin F. French 1868 L.D. Reynols 1869 P.S. Holdridge 1870-1 C.T. Derevage 1872-3 P.S. Holdridge 1874 Jacob Fenning 1875-7 Serah Whitney 1878 H.D. Francisco 1879 Jacob Fenning 1880 A.O. Temple 1881 Fred Temple 1882 A.O. Temple 1883 J.F. Proctor 1884 |