HISTORY OF TUSCOLA COUNTY
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COUNTY SOCIETIES
TUSCOLA COUNTY
PIONEER SOCIETY
Tuscola County
has an unusually large number of enterprising and intelligent pioneers who have
a true conception of their duty to posterity in transmitting the story of early
settlement experience and development.
For purposes of mutual enjoyment and co-operation in this work, it was
decided to organize a county pioneer society.
On the 4th day of
December 1873, a few gentlemen met at the office of Hon. B. W. Huston, in
Vassar, pursuant to notice, inviting the early settlers of Tuscola County who
had been residents of the county twenty years or more to be present and
consider the propriety of forming a pioneer society. A committee was appointed on permanent
organization, consisting of William H. Harrison, f. Bourns, P. McGlone, Sabin Gibbs, David June and Samuel Atwood; also a
committee on by-laws, consisting of W. A. Heartt, T.
North, D. G. Slafter, L. D. Haines, C. R. Selden, D.
P. Hinson.
The next meeting was held at Vassar,
January 15, 1874, when the society was fully formed. The constitution adopted was in part as
follows:
ART. 1. The name shall be the
Tuscola County Pioneer Society.
ART. 2. The object of this society shall be to retain
and hand down to those that come after us, incidents and matters of interest in
the early settlement of our county and to re-unite in social and friendly
association as many as possible of the early settlers, who in their zeal or
judgment saw in the location, soil, timber and other natural advantages
sufficient to hope for the building up of a rich and prosperous county. And now, after twenty years or more since
some of us pitched our tents here, we desire to form this union for the object
above expressed.
ART. 3. The officers of this society shall be a
president, a vice-president from each town in the county, a secretary and
treasurer, with an executive committee composed of the above named officers, of
which committee seven may constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.
ART. 4. Every person who subscribes
or may subscribe to this constitution, and has been a resident of this county
twenty years or more, and pays to the treasurer of this society the sum of
fifty cents per annum in advance, will be entitled to membership, unless
otherwise ordered at a meeting of this society.
The fee of life membership shall be $5.
The constitution was adopted
unanimously and signed by the following persons, with the year in which they
became residents of this county: 1835, Edwin Ellis; 1837, Lovira
Hart; 1837, W. H. Harrison; 1840, John L. Miller; 1849, T. North; 1849, John
Popp; 1850, J. D. Smith, Chancey Firman,
George H. Smith, C. R. Selden, Sylvester Black, T. H. Lake, E. E. Brainerd;
1851, William Johnson, A. N. Rowland, William Butler, M. D. North, P. McGlone, Thomas Martin; 1853, James Gould, F. Bourns.
The officers elected were as
follows: President, Townsend North. Vice-presidents: Lovira
Hart, Tuscola; H. G. Hinkley Arbela; F. Bourns,
Vassar; P. McGlone, Juniata; William A. Heartt, Indian Fields; David June, Almer;
Samuel Atwood, Millington; Lovias Hinson, Fair Grove;
C.R. Selden, Denmark; Abraham Vandemarrk, Akron; H.
C. Marvin, Columbia; T. W. Briggs, Watertown; William Turner, Fremont; Lorenzo Hurd, Dayton; John D. Hays, Gilford; S. S. Carson, Wisner;
D. W. Leonard, Geneva; James Wright, Wells; Joseph Dodge, Ellington; E. S.
White, Elmwood; J C. Laing, Elkland; William S. Brown, Novesta;
A. R. King, Kingston; Alexander Hunter, Koylton. Secretary, William Johnson,
Vassar. Treasurer,
W. H. Harrison, Tuscola.
Subsequently other names were added
among which were those of John V. Harrison, E. Davis, James H. Davis, Dennis
Harrison, Sarah Harrison, Electas B. Harrison, Daniel
W. Harrison, Martin L. Miller, E. W. Perry; all of whom settled in the county
prior to the year 1840.
The first reunion was held at the
village of Tuscola, August 19, 1874.
These reunions are held every year and are uniformly well attended.
The officers in 1883 are as
follows: President, Lovira
Hart; secretary, Dr. William Johnson; treasurer, John Baker.
There are about two hundred and
fifty members. The death roll, however,
is being lengthened and the time is not distant when the fathers and mothers of
Tuscola will have passed away and the story of their pioneer life can then no
longer be gathered from their lips.
The following persons have been
president of the society: Townsend
North, J. H. Richardson, W. H. Heartt, W. H.
Harrison, W. M. Rogers, Lovira
Hart. Dr. William Johnson has held the
office of secretary since the organization of society.
Annual reunions have been held at
Tuscola, Vassar, Watrousville, Wahjamega,
Caro, Millington.
The death roll contains the
following names: Edwin Ellis, William
Butler, Thomas Martin, C. C. Stoddard, Calvin Lee, Samuel P. Sherman, Jacob Winchel, Rev. I. J. B. McKinney, J. A. Hamilton, Ebenezer
Davis, David Atwood, Dennis Harrison, Orville Gillett, E. B. Harrison, Paschal
Richardson, Daniel D. Dopking, E.W. Perry, James
Johnson of Vassar, Owen Pierce, William Fenner,
Andrew McFarlin, J. G. Belknap, J. H. Hopkins, Daniel
Kenyon, Alva Andrews, Lucinda Gorton Parsis G. Slafter, John A. Hayes, Hervey Harrington Henry S. Russell,
John Walton, A. J. Rogers, J. D. Smith, A. Cottrell, James Johnson of Tuscola,
Mrs. Parsis Slafter, Hugh
Maxwell, King Allen, Ezra Tripp, D. P. Hinson, Joseph Hall, Mrs. Henry Goff,
Willard Honsinger, Mrs. John Miller, Mrs. Ebenezer
Davis, Mrs. Alfred Tivey, Horace Parsell,
William Wilcox, Mrs. Sarah Allen, Mrs. James Luce, John Chamberlain, Robert
Wilmot, William Ward.
COUNTY AGRICULTURAL
SOCIETY
January 27, 1866,
were filed in the office of the county clerk the articles of association of
“The Tuscola County Agricultural Society.”
The objects of the association as therin
stated were “the encouragement and advancement of agriculture, manufactures and
the mechanic arts, by means of annual fairs, and the distribution of useful
knowledge upon these subjects. These
articles were acknowledged January 8, 1866, and were signed by thirty-one
citizens of Tuscola County. The meeting
to effect an organization, had been held January 8th at Vassar, at
which forty-five persons were present, and the following officers had been
elected: William King, president; J. D.
Lewis, secretary; A. P. Cooper, treasurer.
Executive Committee. – Price Camprell, Fair Grove; B. A. Wood, Juniata; William McPhail, Almer; T. North, Vassar;
E. E. Godfrey, Fremont.
Auditors.- B. W. Huston, Jr., Vassar; Joseph Gamble, Indian Fields.
Vice-Presidents.
– R. S. Weaver, Juniata; C. C. Stoddard, Fair Grove; J. Sanders, Denmark; D. M.
Orr, Almer; S. R. Cross, Indian Fields; H. Hobert, Gilford; M. V. Kellogg, Vassar.
The executive committee held a
meeting at Watrousville in April and decided to hold
the annual fair at that place for the term of five years, on the condition that
the citizens of the place super-intended the fitting up of the grounds and
donated to the society the sum of $250, which together with a like sum from the
society, should be expended in preparing the grounds for the fair. This
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proposition was accepted. A lot containing eight acres was leased of P.
McGlone, and the work of making the necessary
improvements begun at once.
The first fair was held October 4th
and 5th, 1866, and was considered a pronounced success, although
preceded by several weeks of wet weather.
The number of entries was 280, and the receipts $522.35.
The second fair was held October 1st,
2nd and 3d, 1867. The total
receipts were $668.50, and the list of members had increased to 500. The receipts from all sources during the year
were 819.49, and the total amount paid out was $784.80. The secretary’s report for
1867 states that 156,000 bushels of wheat were raised in the county from 10,000
acres of ground. Of corn it was
estimated that 210,000 bushels were harvested from 6,000 acres. The manufacturing interests of the county
were reviewed as follows:
“The manufacture
of our county are lumber, shingles, farm implements and leather, to
which we shall soon add woolen. There
are upwards of twenty sawmills in the
county, producing 10,000,000 feet of lumber annually, and perhaps as
many shingle mills, producing as many million shingle, besides a large amount
manufactured by hand. At Smith &
Graham’s basket factory, Vassar, 14,000 baskets have been made during the past
year, besides a large quantity of woolen bowls, patent grain sowers, clothes reels, bed springs, etc. This establishment in the busy season employs
eight men. There are two foundries in
the county, Meehan’s, at Vassar, and Parker’s, at Centeville. These are employed chiefly making plows, cultivators scrapers, and some of the simpler kinds of
machinery. The manufacture of new work
and repairing at the Vassar foundry has amounted to $6,000 during the past
season. One of the most successful
establishments in the county is the tannery of Barker, Ripley & Co. This firm have
tanned during the past season 400 sheep skins, 400 kips, 1,000 calf skins and
3,000 cows hides. They peeled for use
350 cords of bark, and constantly employ one team and six men. The capital invested is supposed to be not
far from $10,000. This business is
undoubtedly one of the most remunerative that can be prosecuted in the
county. The immense quantities of bark
and other facilities which our county offers ought to induce others to embark
in this business. There is a tannery at
Centerville and another at Tuscola which does a good deal of business, but we
are not apprised of its full extent.
“During the past season Townsend
North commenced the establishment of a woolen factory at Vassar. The immediate desideratum aimed at was to
furnish the people of the county wool carding facilities, without the expense
and trouble of going abroad. This was
accomplished and about 11,000 pounds of wool carded.
“Machinery has also been imported
and set up for coloring fulling, dressing and
pressing cloth, and considerable work of this kind has
been very satisfactorily accomplished.”
The third fair was held September 29th
and 30th and October 1st, 1868. Number of entries, 353, and
total receipts for the year, $866.37.
Total expenditures, $702.57. The wheat crop for 1868 was estimated to
average twenty bushels per acre, corn forty bushels, and oats forty
bushels. The season as a whole was
considered favorable.
The season of 1869 was reported as
being unfavorable to farming. Wheat
averaged about eighteen bushels per acre, corn was a partial failure, but oats good,
averaging thirty-eight bushels per acre.
The annual fair was held October 7th and 8th. Number of entries. 538: receipts for the year, $970.55, and
balance of cash on hand, $154.70.
In 1870 the society purchased twelve
acres of ground one mile north of Watrousville, for
which seven hundred dollars was paid.
The fair was attended with good success.
The principal feature of the season was the prevailing drouth.
The season of 1871 was reported by the secretary as being favorable for
farmers. The average yield of wheat was
estimated at twenty bushels to the acre.
A new cheese factory at Unionville and a foundry at Watrousville
were reported. Of the loss to farmers by
forest fires he said:
“A few buildings were burned, but
aside from the timber the greatest loss to the farmer is undoubtedly in the
destruction of fences. Buildings and
fences will soon be replaced, and we may hope that the loss of timber may
eventually result in bringing a greater of acres of our rich soil into
cultivation, confirming in some degree the truth of the old adage, that ‘ there
is no great loss without some small gain.’”
The annual fair was held on the new
grounds at Watrousville, October 3d, 4th
and 5th. The receipts were
about the same as the year previous.
The season of 1872 was
diversified. Wheat in the northern part
of the county was nearly a failure, but fair in the southern towns. The average yield was about fifteen bushels
per acre, though of inferior quality.
Corn was good, averaging forty bushels per acre, and oats about the
same. The fair was held September 25th,
26th and 27th, with usually good success.
The season of 1873 was reported as
void of any unusual feature. The spring
was late and the summer dry, followed by a wet and stormy autumn. Wheat was of
uncommonly fine quality, and the average yield about
twenty bushels per acre. Oats were below
the average and potatoes a poor crop. A
new hall was built on the fair grounds at a cost of nine hundred dollars. The annual fair was reported as one of the
most successful ever held. The entries
numbered 587.
The report of the year 1874 states
that the season was one of unusual dryness.
Water became so scarce as to cause great inconvenience. The average yield of wheat did not exceed
fifteen bushels per acre. Oats yielded
about forty bushels per acre. Hay was an
average crop. The annual fair was
reported successful.
The fair in 1875 was held late in September, and with respect to receipts and number of
entries was in advance of the previous year.
The season generally was more favorable to farming than that of 1874.
The season of 1876 was not
favorable. Wheat averaged about fourteen
bushels per acre, corn about thirty bushels, and oats were below the
average. The fair was held September 27th,
28th and 29th.
Number of entries, 677; total receipts during the year, $1,008.76;
members of the society, 434.
Secretary Hayes, in his report for
1877, said:
“The year 1877 commenced with a cod
January, followed by a warm, dry February.
March, as usual, was cold and stormy, and April warm and pleasant. The first half of May was cool and dry; the
latter part of May and first of June dry, and changeable from cool to unusually
warm. July and August were favorable to
the growth of nearly all kinds of grain.
All products were an average or large crop. Our people are awakening to the fact that
poor farming don’t pay. Wheat is being
more extensively cultivated than all other grain crops combined. The average yield per acre was about
twenty-five bushels, and of good quality.
Tuscola County harvested the past season 21, 400 acres of wheat. If we are correct in our estimate of the
average yield per acre, it gives us a total for the county of 535,000
bushels. We cannot compete with the
older settled portion of the State, in number of acres sown or bushels raised,
but north of the four southern tiers of counties, Tuscola County stands at the
head.
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“There are only
two cheese factories in the county; one at or near Mayville, and the other at
Unionville.”
The fair of 1877 was held September
26th, 27th and 28th. Number of entries, 826; premiums awarded to
the amount of $547.10; number of members of the society, 701.
In his report for the year 1878 the
secretary estimated the average yield of wheat to be about fifteen bushels per
acre; oats and corn below the average.
With reference to the society he said:
“During the past year we have added to the number of horse stalls,
extended the cattle sheds, and constructed comfortable seats near to and facing
the ring for exhibition of stock.
“We are free from debt, with a small
surplus on hand.”
The fair was held on the first three
days of October, with unusually fine weather throughout. The sale at the treasurer’s office of 700
family tickets, makes a good showing and a grand
record of the Tuscola County Agricultural Society.
The annual fair for 1879 was held
the 1st, 2d and 3d of October.
The attendance was large and the entries numbered about twelve hundred,
far exceeding any previous year. The
society expended about $175 in improvements on the grounds. The secretary in his report says that the
spring was early and about the 10th of May a severe drouth began. Fires
spread over the forests but the damage was not general. June ran to extremes in heat and cold,
mercury being at freezing on the 7th, and up to ninety-two degrees
on the 29th. July was
changeable, and a frost the 17th of August killed buckwheat, corn
and vines in several localities. Wheat
averaged about twenty bushels per acre of fine quality; corn was below the average, and oats a fair crop.
The season of 1880 was not marked by
any remarkable features. The crop of
wheat was fair in quantity, but rains during harvest time reduced the average
in quality. Oats and corn were good.
The fair in 1881 was held on the 5th,
6th and 7th of October, being nearly a week later than
usual on account of the district fair at Saginaw. The weather, with the exception of being cool
in the morning, was remarkable fine throughout.
Nearly 1,200 entries were made.
790 membership tickets and 2,500 gate tickets were sold.
In speaking of the season of 1881
the secretary said:
“The past year will long be
remembered as one of unusual dryness. At
first the growing crops and vegetation of all kinds warned the farmer that it
was getting dry. And it continued,
bringing to our minds the language of the young grammarian-dry, dryer, driest. This was followed by streams, wells, and
springs giving out that had never failed before, occasioning great
inconvenience on account of the scarcity of water for stock and other purposes. Many have deepened their wells, and some
obtained flowing wells which will undoubtedly be a lasting blessing, especially
in seasons like the past.”
Wheat was reported a poor crop, the yield
being not more than ten bushels per acre.
Corn was also poor; oats were about an average crop.
The fair of 1882 was held on the 4th
5th and 6th of October, with weather more like July or
August than October. The entries in
Division A were 250, in Division B, 171, in Division C, 1,123, and in Division
D, 77, making a total of 1,621.
The wheat crop was reported as being
above the average: corn and oats good, though oats and wheat were damaged by
excessive rains in August.
The question of location has been
one of annoyance to the society, and its prosperity has been endangered by the
organization of district societies. The
secretary alludes to this matter in his report of January, 1883, as
follows: “There are some very good
reasons why the fair cannot be successfully kept up in its present
locality. When we think of the many
county and district societies that have met with failures within the last few
years, and others that are struggling under a heavy indebtedness, we are
inclined to think Tuscola County cannot sustain more than two fairs, and we
have at the present time three organizations of this kind, with good prospects
for another, if the old society retains its present locality. Caro, only seven miles above us, having convenient
grounds, well fenced, with commodious buildings, is in good shape for holding
fairs; and Vassar, only a few miles below us, will soon be prepared to vie with
Caro. The question then will be, or now
is, can the old society stand between and compete with the two new organizations?”
The treasurer’s report for the year
1882 show a balance of cash on hand amounting to $264.41.
It was decided to remove the fair to
Vassar. Favorable arrangements were made
for the use of Recreation Park, and the work of fitting up buildings, etc., is
in progress during the summer of 1883.
OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY.
YEAR. PRESIDENT. SECRETARY. TREASURER
1883 Wm Johnson. E.B. Hayes. John M. Cole.
1882 Wm. Johnson. E. B. Hayes John M. Cole
1881 Wm. Johnson. B.B. Hayes John M. Cole
1880 Wm. Johnson. E. B. Hayes John Walton
1879 Wm. Johnson. E. B. Hayes. John
Walton
1878 Wm. Johnson. E. B. Hayes John Walton
1877 Wm. Johnson E. B. Hayes John Walton
1876 Wm. Johnson. E. B. Hayes R. C. Burtis
1875 Wm. Johnson. C. C.
Stoddard R. C. Burtis
1874 Wm. Johnson C. C. Stoddard R. C. Burtis
1873 J.Q. A. Burrington C. C. Stoddard R.
C. Burtis
1872 C. R. Selden. C. C. Stoddard R.C. Burtis
1871 Townsend North C. C. Stoddard R. C. Burtis
1870 Asa
B. Weaver C. C. Stoddard R. C. Burtis
1869 Asa
B. Weaver C. C. Stoddard R. C. Burtis
1868 B. A. Wood J. D. Lewis R. C. Burtis
1867 Wm. King J. D. Lewis R. C. Burtis
1866 Wm. King J. D. Lewis A. P. Cooper
COUNTY TEMPERANCE ALLIANCE.
The Michigan State Temperance
Alliance, on the 31st of August, 1881, appointed Rev. E. B. Sutton
its county agent. On his invitation,
Capt. J. C. Bauticue visited the county in January,
1882, organizing the first branch on the 9th, at Ellington, with
twenty-three charter members. He visited
Caro on the 10th, Watrousville the 11th,
and Vassar the 12th. Some
twenty township organizations were rapidly formed by him, after which a county
convention was called, to meet at Caro.
At this convention Rev. E. P. Clark was elected president of the County
Alliance; John Staley, Jr. secretary, and Rev. E. B. Sutton, treasurer. A vice president was elected from each
township in the county. The organization
at present numbers some six hundred members, and is a powerful factor in
temperance work through the county.
SOLDIERS ASSOCIATION.
May 26th, 1882, about
seventy ex-soldiers met at the courthouse, in the village of Caro, and arranged
preliminaries for the organization of a society to be known as the Tuscola
County Association of the Soldiers of the War of 1861. At a subsequent meeting, an organization was
completed by the adopion of by-lows and the election
of officers. The by-lows provided that
any honorably discharged soldier could become a member of this association by
subscribing the roster, giving age, rank, company, regiment, and residence, and
paying to the secretary the annual due of twenty-five
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cents. The time
for holding meetings to be the last Tuesday in April, in each year. The officers elected were a
follows:
President, Col. J. H.
Richardson.
Vice President, Capt. J.
J. Wilder
Treasurer, Maj. B. W.
Huston.
Secretary,
Sergt. N. M. Richardson
Chaplain, Private J. M. Getchel.
Surgeon,
Capt. D. S. Stevens.
The association has a membership of
about one hundred. The officers in 1883
are the same as those first elected.