FIRST SETTLEMENT AND EARLY SETTLERS

     The first actual settlements within what is now the village of Howell were made by George T. Sage, John D. Pinckney, James Sage, and David Austin, in the year 1834.

     John D. Pinckney was a native of Dutchess Co., N.Y., and remained a resident of that county until 136. the year 1833, being then located with a wife and two children, at the village of Hughsonville, engaged in the business of his trade, which was that of butcher. Having determined to emigrate to the West, he started in the year named, and came by the Erie Canal and Lake Erie to Detroit, and thence to Salem, Washtenaw Co., where his father and brothers were then living. At that place he also found George T. Sage, who was, like himself, desirous of purchasing eligible government lands on which to establish a farm and a home. With that object in view, these two men, accompanied by Mr. Pinckney's brothers, struck but towards the northwest, over the Indian trail, into the wilderness of Livingston, which had then recently been erected a county, though not yet organized as such.

     Whether they were in any degree influenced in their explorations by the prospect of future advantages to arise from the probable location of the county-seat is not known, but it is certain that about the end of the second day's journey they found themselves at the geographical centre of the county, as shown by the surveyors' marks and numbers, and were soon engaged in prospecting among the inviting oak-openings which stretched away from the shores of the little lake, over and beyond the present site of Howell village. On or near the spot now occupied by the residence of Hon. Mylo L. Gay, in the western part of the village, they hastily built a rude, temporary shelter --a bark-roofed cabin in which they slept, and made their headquarters for about a week, while engaged in exploring the neighboring region and choosing the lands for location. It was almost wholly a matter of choice with them, for all the lands in the vicinity were open for entry (except the two eighty-acre tracts which had previously, in the same year, been entered by C. C. Trowbridge and John J. Eaman, on sections 35 and 36, respectively), and nowhere in all the region was there any sign of clearing or settler, nor any traces of the work of human hands, except the blazings and marks left by the government surveyors.

     Having made and noted their selections of lands the party returned to Salem, and thence Pinckney and Sage proceeded without delay to the land-office in Detroit, where they entered and purchased the tracts, as above noticed, on sections 35 and 36. Mr. Pinckney, then went to his home in the East (where he arrived after an absence of nearly two months), and Mr. Sage returned to Salem; and both began their preparations for removal and settlement on their new lands in Livingston County.

     In the, month of May, 1834, George T. Sage and his father, James Sage with their families, came up from Salem and settled upon the lands purchased by the former in the previous year, -- James Sage building his log house on or near the spot where the mansion of William McPherson, Jr., now stands, and opposite this, on the south side of the Grand River road (which was then but a mere trail), stood the primitive dwelling of George T. Sage. Its location is said to have been directly in the present track of Grand River Street, which, by straightening, was afterwards made to pass over the site of the old Sage cabin. These two families were the pioneer settlers in what afterwards became the village of Howell, as they were also the earliest in the township. The date of their arrival here was May 14th, in the year named. The sons of James Sage were George T., James R., and Chester A. The last two were but boys at that time. Chester is now dead, and James R. is living in Ann Arbor. James Sage, the father of the family, died June 29, 1839.

     George T. Sage died in Marion township Aug. 21, 1852. At the time of his settlement here he was but recently married to Miss Louisa Austin. Their son, George L. Sage, was the first person born in the village or township of Howell. The date of his birth was Jan. 23, 1835. He became a printer, and carried on that business for some time in Howell. he is now living in Albion, Mich.

     On the 1st of June following the arrival of the Sage families, David Austin, from Salem, Washtenaw Co. (but previously from East Bloomfield, Ontario Co., N.Y.), came in with his family and settled about half a mile west of Sage's, on the west half of the northwest quarter of section 35, a tract which had been entered by his son-in-law, George T. Sage; the place where Mr. Austin located being the same where Mr. Fishbeck now lives. On that farm he spent the remainder of his life, and died there Feb. 1, 1847, at the age of sixty-seven years. His wife survived him about one year. Their children were five in number, viz., David (who never came to settle in Michigan), Jonathan, Louisa, Malvina, and Sally T. The last named became the wife of Merritt S. Havens; Malvina became Mrs. George Sewell; Louisa was the wife of George T. Sage, and after his death was married to the Rev. George Jenks. She is now living in Brighton.

     Jonathan Austin, who had reached the years of manhood when he came with his father to Howell, purchased and settled on the northwest part of section 35, the land which is now the farm of Mr. Gilk. His name appears frequently as an officer in the records of school district No. 1, of Howell and Marion. He remained here for many years, but finally removed to the Lake Superior region of the State.

     137. During the winter and spring of 1834 Mr. John D. Pinckney had completed his preparations for, emigrating, and in May of that year he left his old home in New York, with his family, and again turned his face towards the West. They came by the Erie Canal to Buffalo, then by steamer on Lake Erie to Detroit, and thence by wagon to Salem, where Mr. Pinckney left his family at the house of his father, and then came on to Livingston County, to clear and prepare his lands and build a house. Not having come into the new country empty-handed, as was the case with many of the pioneers, he brought with him from Salem two men (one of whom was his brother Thomas, who afterwards settled in Genoa) to assist in the heavy preliminary labor on the land, and in the erection of his house. He also brought with him four yoke of oxen and a team of horses, with harnesses and a wagon; all of which he had purchased in Detroit. These horses were the first which were brought into the township of Howell.* Mr. Pinckney had, of course, no trouble in keeping his cattle, during the summer, on the abundant feed and browse of the openings, and in anticipation of the coming winter, he cut an ample supply of the rank grasses growing along the margin of the lake, and stacked the hay thus easily obtained for use in the season of frost and snow.

     From the several entries of lands made by him in 1833, he selected the eighty-acre tract in the southeast corner of section 36 for the location of his farm and home, and built his house at a point near the east line of the township, a considerable distance to the north of the present Grand River road, and between it and the southern end of the sheet of water now called Thompson Lake; the spot being directly east of the Livingston County Agricultural Society's fair-grounds, and a part of what was known in later years as the "Wilber farm." The trail, at that time, bending north from, the present line of the road, passed directly by the house. In the December next following their arrival in Michigan he moved his family up from Salem and occupied the dwelling which he had prepared for them. It was similar to other homes of pioneers at that time,--a log house of a single room,--and was without floor, door, or window when they first took possession, blankets being hung over the apertures, and a fire being lighted before the cabin at night to keep away wolves. The boxes in which their household articles had been brought from the East were used as tables and a bedstead was made of tamarack-poles. The family of Mr. Pinckney at that time were: his wife, Margaret (daughter of Alexander Fraser, of whom further mention will be made), and two daughters,--Alice, aged seven years, and Gertrude, aged three years; also Seaman Fraser, Mrs. Pinckney's brother, a sickly youth of about eighteen years of age, who remained here a few years and returned to die in New York City. After Mr. Pinckney's settlement here his family was increased by the birth of three daughters, two of whom (now Mrs. Knapp and Mrs. Goodrich) are living in Howell, and the third (unmarried) is living in Jackson, Mich., with her elder sister Alice (now Mrs. Elmore Dennis). The daughter Gertrude died unmarried in Howell. Mr. Pinckney died Feb. 11, 1861, in Howell village, where he had removed from his farm in 1842. Mrs. Pinckney is still living in Howell, being the only resident in the village or township who came here prior to 1835.

LIVINGSTON CENTRE SETTLERS OF 1835

      When the families of Sage, Austin, and Pinckney made their settlement here, the locality became quite extensively and generally known as "Livingston Centre," though (until the arrival in the following year of other immigrants, who settled on the west part of section 36) the name seems to have had more particular reference to the farm and house of Mr. Pinckney, not only because it was very nearly on the actual centre of the territory of Livingston, where it was believed by many that the county-seat would be established, but because he was in a manner compelled (much against his inclination) to furnish. shelter and accommodation to the rapidly increasing swarm of land-seekers, to whom his house thus became an objective point from which they pushed their explorations on towards the west and north.

     The year 1835 brought important accessions to the settlement of Livingston Centre; not so much on account of the number of the immigrants (though the population of the two sections and two half-sections was fully trebled during that season) 138 as because they included among their numbers those who came prepared to establish a mill and other necessary enterprises, and others who took the first steps towards the founding of the village which was to become the county-seat of Livingston.

     The first of the settlers who arrived here in that year was Moses Thompson, with his numerous family. His previous home had been in Herkimer Co., N. Y., from which place he came to Michigan, in 1833, prospecting for lands, but from, some cause made no purchases in this region, and returned East for the winter. He again came West in 1834, and purchased on sections 25, 35, and 36 in this township, as has been noticed. He also purchased other lands in the township outside the limits of the present village. In the following year (1835), in the month of April, he set out from Herkimer County with his son, Lewis Thompson, and his daughters, -- Rachel and Lucinda, on their way to a home in Michigan; it being arranged that the remainder of the family should follow a few weeks later. Crossing the Niagara River, Mr. Thompson, with his son and daughters, made the remainder of the journey to Detroit through Canada, traveling in a lumber wagon drawn by a pair of large, strong horses, and reaching Detroit on the 25th of May.

     The remainder of Mr. Thompson's family, consisting of his wife, their sons, Morris and Edward, their daughters, Maria, Elizabeth, and Jane, with Mr. Thompson's nephew, Ezra J. Mundy, left Herkimer County for Michigan on the 29th of May, traveling by the Erie Canal and steamer on Lake Eric, and on the 7th of June arrived at Detroit, where they found and rejoined the family party who had preceded them by the land route. On the 10th of June they started out from Detroit with the horse and ox-teams (Mr. Thompson having purchased five yoke of oxen in Detroit) and went to Lyon, in Oakland County, where the family remained several days, and then came on to Livingston Centre, arriving on the 23d of June. Mr. Thompson had preceded them by several days, and commenced the construction of a log house on his land, in section 25. A part or all of the family lived at George T. Sage's while their house was being built, but it was soon completed, and, they moved into it between the 1st and the 4th of July, 1835. The location of this house was where Mr. E. J. Mundy now lives, and a part of the log structure is still standing there.

     Moses Thompson was a man of energy and enterprise, the projector and owner of the first mill in the village and township. He was honorable, upright, and generous, and was always, held in high esteem by his fellow-townsmen. He lived only about seven years after his settlement here, and died Dec. 2, 1842. His son Edward was also a man of enterprise, and the proprietor of one of the additional plats in the village of Howell. He died April 16, 1852. His brother, Lewis Thompson, was the first mail-messenger between Howell and Detroit, and served in that capacity through several of the earlier years of the existence of the village. He was never married, but lived a bachelor at the homestead, with his mother, after his father's death. Hon. Jerome W. Turner, who, from the days of his boyhood in Howell, remembers Lewis Thompson and his mother, mentioned them in a recent address, as follows: "And there, too, was Lewis Thompson, an old bachelor, who had the Thompson farm, by right of primogeniture; a strange, silent, unfashionable old man, who did not say much to little boys, or they to him, for he left them with the impression that he belonged to the family of Elisha, and possibly had fourteen bears nearby to devour too familiar children. There, too, was his old mother, a large and fleshy woman, kind and motherly, and I remember that, after passing Lewis in the lane, and getting into the kitchen where she was, I felt perfectly safe, and I knew instinctively that she would guard me from all the bears in the world. . . .Shortly after I left the county, I learned that Lewis Thompson was found dead on a seat under a tree near the old farm-house, and somehow his death in that special way did not seem to me to be unexpected, and I listened to it as though I had been familiar with it beforehand. He died right out in one of the ways and attitudes of the living, and his death made no more sign than his quiet, unostentatious, life. His mother fell from a chair in the garden, and, by reason of her great weight, injured herself so that she died. The two seemed inseparable, and I have often thought that, while sitting on his seat in the yard, he caught sight of her, and finally went to join her, as he would have moved through the soft grass of his pastures to milk his cows. "Morris Thompson, the other son of Moses, became engaged in milling. He was for a time the sawyer in the mill which his father built, and afterwards, with others he erected a flour-mill above, on the same stream. He lived many years in Howell, and died there recently.

     Of the daughters of Moses Thompson, one married Alvin L. Crittenden, another became Mrs. Ezra Frisbee.

     Alexander Fraser, the father of Mrs. John D. Pinckney, came to Livingston Centre in December, 1835. He was a native of Scotland, but emigrated early to America, and went into business as a coal 139. merchant in the city of New York. As early as 1824 he bought a country-seat seven miles from Poughkeepsie, N. Y., where he was accustomed to spend the summer season with his family, and where his daughter Margaret became the wife of Mr. Pinckney. When Mr. Fraser came to Livingston County, in 1835, he first lived with his daughter and son-in-law in their house near the south end of the lake. He afterwards built a good house of hewn logs, on the south side of the road, near the southeast corner of section 36, but never occupied it, as it had been his intention to do. This house afterwards became known as the Shope house, and later was kept as a tavern by S. B. Sliter. Mr. Fraser had an interest in, and in fact was understood to be the owner of, most of the lands entered by John D. Pinckney in 1833. He liked the country at and around Livingston Centre, but never made his permanent residence here on account of his wife's disinclination to leave her Eastern home. He remained in Michigan some four or five years, and then returned to the city of New York, where he died, at the age of sixty-six years.

     Another who came to Livingston Centre in 1835 was Alvin L. Crittenden, though he did not permanently settle here, but after a stay of about a year purchased and located upon lands in the township of Howell, a short distance north of the village. He is still living, a widely-known and respected preacher of the Gospel. In a short address made by him before the Livingston County Pioneer Society, at its latest meeting (June 18, 1879), he related the incidents of that first journey of his to Livingston Centre, and how the place appeared to him in 1835. He said,

     "In the fall of 1835 I left the State of New York to seek a home in the West, wending my way to the then Territory of Michigan, and on the 16th of November I passed through the village of Ann Arbor, and that night put up at a log tavern six miles north of it. Having some acquaintances in Livingston County, I left the hotel on the morning of the 17th for Livingston Centre, the county-site of Livingston County. I was afoot and alone. Passing north, in the course of a few hours I came to the Huron River, but there was neither bridge or boat, and it was necessary for me to gain the opposite shore. I suited myself to the situation as well as I could. I pulled off my boots and socks, rolled up my pants as far as possible, and waded in. I succeeded in reaching the north shore of the river without getting my clothes wet. Readjusting my clothes, I walked on and called at a house some miles from the river to inquire the way; received directions that when I got to a certain place I was to take an Indian trail; and on inquiry found it was nine miles to the next house. There was but one incident that occurred during the nine miles' travel that made any particular impression on my mind that I now recollect. When I had traveled a long time, or so it seemed to me, I began to look at every turn of the trail for the house. I saw a man coming towards me, and when he came within hailing distance he called out and said, "Hallo, friend, it looks good to see a man! How far is it to a house?" I replied, I think it must be nine miles, for they told me at the last house I passed that it was nine miles to a house, and I think I have traveled that distance; how far is it the other way to a house?" He answered, I I think it must be about nine miles.' After talking with each other for a few minutes we concluded that we must be about half-way through, and I thought afterwards that we were. We separated, and each of us traveled on. Arriving within about a mile of the present village of Howell, I came to a wagon-track, --it could hardly be called a road, for it went crooking around the trees and swamp. I soon came to a log house, which I afterwards learned was occupied by Mr. John D. Pinckney and family. Here I was directed to take the left-hand road near the lake. Traveling about a mile, I came to a house in the midst of the woods, several large trees standing near enough to have fallen on the house if they had fallen in the right direction. [This was Amos Adams' tavern-house, mentioned below.] I went to the place for a door, and shoved aside some boards that were set up for a door, and inquired of some mechanics at work on the inside of the building for the county-seat of Livingston County, and received the reply that it was right here. I inquired for some old friends who had settled near there, and was informed of their whereabouts; but the men thought I would find them half a mile west raising a barn.

     "Going out of the house, I looked around, and there was not another building in the village. There were plenty or stakes standing in the woods in every direction to designate the several blocks, lots, and streets of the village, which was afterwards named Howell, for as yet the town was not organized or the village named. Leaving the village, I traveled westward about half a mile, and found nearly all of the men of the region round about busily engaged in raising a log building [at Sage's]. Finding my old acquaintance, I spent a few days very pleasantly visiting, and then hired to George T. Sage for one year, and commenced work for him on the 24th day of November, 1835."

THE CRANE AND BROOKS PURCHASE HOWELL VILLAGE

     On the 2d of July, 1835, the west half of the southwest quarter and the southwest quarter of the northwest quarter of section 36, in township 3 north, of range 4 east (Howell), were sold and conveyed by Alexander Fraser (the lands having been entered by John D. Pinckney for Fraser, to whom the duplicates were assigned) to David Wetmore and Edward Brooks, of Detroit. On the 17th of September, in the same year, Edward Brooks and wife and David Wetmore (the latter by Charles G. Hammond, his attorney) sold and conveyed one undivided third of both the above tracts to Flavius J. B. Crane, of Detroit; and on the 29th of October following, David Wetmore, by his attorney, Hammond, conveyed his remaining interest to Edward Brooks.

     By these transfers, ¥ Crane and Brooks became joint proprietors --the former having a one-third, and the latter a two-thirds, interest in the above described tracts, upon which they proceeded to survey and lay out a village plat, --the original plat of the village of Howell,--and to file the same in the office of the Register of Oakland County.

     € The acknowledgment upon the plat is as follows:

     140.  MICHIGAN, WAYNE COUNTY,

     "On this 10th day of November, 1835, personally appeared before me Edward Brooks and Flavius J. B. Crane, proprietors of the west half of the southwest quarter and the southwest quarter of the northwest quarter of section 36, in township 3 north, of range No. 4 east, and acknowledged that they had signed the annexed or above map or plat of a part of said land lying north and south of the Grand River Road, so-called, which is designated on said plat as Grand River Street, and declare that the said streets and square shall be and remain open for the use of The public as laid out on said map.
 

     The territory embraced in this original plat of the village was bounded as follows: on the west by the west line of section 36; on the east by a north and south line drawn through the Centre of the southwest and northwest quarters of the same section ; on the north by Higgins Street and the north line of the southwest quarter of the northwest quarter of the same section; and on the south by Livingston Street. The "public square," which was laid out by the proprietors (doubtless with the expectation that the county buildings of Livingston would be located upon it) to "be and remain open for the use of the public," ∞ was the square or block of land bounded by Grand River, Walnut, Sibley, and Centre Streets.

     The prospective village thus laid out by Crane and Brooks was named by them HOWELL, in honor of Thomas Howell, a friend of Mr. Crane, and a son of Judge Howell, of Canandaigua, N. Y. The name, however, did not immediately come into general use, and the place continued to be known as Livingston Centre for a considerable time afterwards. The first building erected within the limits of the village plat was a two-story frame house built by the proprietors in the fall of 1835, the lumber for its construction being hauled through the openings from Evert Woodruff's mill in the township of Green Oak. At the time of their purchase of the land from Fraser and Pinckney (the latter being understood to be a party interested in the sale), they had agreed to erect a tavern-house upon their tract, to relieve Mr. Pinckney's family from the necessity of furnishing food and lodging (as they had in a manner been compelled to do) for the ever-increasing throngs of land-seekers. It was in pursuance of this agreement -- though probably quite as much for the purpose of giving a start to their village--that Crane and Brooks built the frame building above mentioned on the southeast corner of Grand River and Walnut Streets, and caused it to be opened as a public-house. This was the "house in the midst of the woods" mentioned by Mr. Crittenden, where he found the mechanics engaged upon its inside work on his first arrival at Livingston Centre. The first boarders in the "Eagle Tavern," as it was called, were F. J. B. Crane and Alexander Fraser, and its lodgers and transient customers were the crowds of men who came to Livingston in search of government lands.

     The landlord who opened this house about December 1, 1835 (who was also the first settler within the boundaries of the village plat), was Amos Adams who came here in the autumn of that year from Geneseo, Livingston Co., N.Y. On the organization of the town and county he was elected one of the first justices of the peace, and also county treasurer and surveyor. The last mentioned office he held in the county for a number of years, having several times been re-elected. Judge Turner makes mention of him as "our old surveyor who made for us these imaginary yet impassable lines in the wilderness, which bounded our property, and divided all the untilled soil,--a brave man and true, who took upon himself such labors here in our young county as perhaps no one else would have been adapted to perform." He kept the "Eagle" for only about two years, it being sold to Joseph H. Steel in 1837. Mr. Adams afterwards became proprietor, with Joseph Porter, of a saw-mill on the Shiawassee River, on section 27 in Howell township, and also built a frame house, which he opened as a tavern on the south side of the Grand River road, near the bridge which crosses the Shiawassee, and on the west side of that stream. In this house he died, May 14, 1855. His son, Amos S. Adams, also became a hotel keeper in the village, and at one time held the office of Register of Deeds of Livingston County. Another son, John Q. Adams, is now living in California. Of the daughters of Amos Adams, Abigail, who was the first school teacher in Howell, married Enos B. Taylor, and removed with him to California, where she is still living. Angeline, another daughter, is also living in California, unmarried; and Eveline, their sister,--now Mrs. Metcalf,--is living in the village of Fowlerville.

     An important and most interesting event, occurring in the year 1835, at Howell (or Livingston Centre, as the place was still called), was the commencement of religious. worship,--the first public religious observance, not only in the village, but 141. in the township. It was brought about by the efforts of Deacon Israel Branch, a pious man, who had settled on the northeast quarter of section 2, in Marion, on the town line, about half a mile south of the centre. The story of that first gathering for divine worship is thus told by the Rev. A. L. Crittenden:

    "Deacon Branch thought he could not live without religious meetings even in the wilderness, and hence he took it upon him self to commence them. He went to Esquire Adams, our noble landlord, who kept the hotel in the village,--for by this time the house was nearly finished, and Amos Adams occupied it for a hotel, -- and obtained consent to have religious meetings held in the sitting-room, the only building in the village. Notice was accordingly given, and on Sabbath morning (I cannot give the date, but I think it was in the month of December, 1835) the people assembled, some coming four or five miles, and the sitting-room was pretty well filled. Deacon Branch conducted the meeting, reading one of Dr. Payson's sermons. At the close of the services, he called for a volunteer to close by prayer. No one came to his help, but the deacon was not discouraged. He gave notice for a meeting the next Sabbath. On the second Sabbath I volunteered to close the meeting with prayer. Thus it happened that I was the second person who took a part in a religious meeting in Howell. After that, if the deacon had to be away from the meeting any Sabbath, be brought to me a volume of Dr. Payson's sermons, with a request that I should conduct the services, which I did several times that year."

     And so the close of that year saw Howell village established at Livingston Centre, with defined streets, a public square, a hotel, and a number of settlers enjoying the privilege of religious worship; the observance of which has been continued from that time without interruption.

PROGRESS IN 1836

     The spring of 1836 opened auspiciously for the village of Howell. Its dignity was greatly augmented by the establishment, on the 15th of January in that year, of the Howell post-office, with Flavius J. B. Crane as its first postmaster, who located the office in the tavern of Amos Adams. About the 20th of March a mail-route was established between this village and Kensington, on the west border of Oakland County, and soon after the route was extended westward from Howell to Grand Rapids. The mail-contractor for the former route was Lewis Thompson, who carried the mails on horseback. The first mail-carrier between Howell and Grand Rapids was James R. Sage, then a youth of about seventeen years, who on his first trip lost his way (there being only a bridle-path or trail to guide him), and was compelled to, pass the night in the woods. The mail-service between Howell and Kensington was weekly; that over the western route was bi-weekly; but even this was a vast improvement on the transient and uncertain manner in which the settlers had previously received and forwarded their letters.

    Nearly simultaneously with the establishment of the post-office and the mail-routes the Legislature had passed. (March 24th) an act to organize the county of Livingston, and there could be no reasonable doubt that the county-site would be permanently located at Howell, though the claim to its location was vigorously advanced by the people of Brighton, and was never wholly relinquished by them until the county buildings had been actually erected in this village, twelve years later. But notwithstanding all opposing claims, Howell at once assumed the dignity of the county-seat. The election of county officers was held in May, 1836, and resulted in the choice of Justus J. Bennett for sheriff, F. J. B. Crane for county clerk, Ely Barnard for register of deeds, and Amos Adams treasurer and Surveyor. Of these offices, three were held by residents of the village, and Mr. Barnard, the newly-elected register of deeds, immediately became a citizen of Howell by removal here from Genoa. The election of township officers was also held at the same time, and, although Howell then comprised three-eighths of the territory of the county, a majority of the officers elected were residents within the present corporation limits.

     The erection of the first mill and the opening of the first store and the first blacksmith-shop in Howell, in 1836, were events of no small consequence to the settlers at the county-seat and in its vicinity. A saw-mill, to supply building lumber, was an indispensable adjunct to the projected village, and a store is considered almost a necessity in such places, while the first blacksmith-shop always an important establishment in new settlements-proved doubly so in this place, from the fact that one of the two blacksmiths who opened the shop in that year (and who may properly be termed the first of the trade in the town, because he was the first who permanently located here) became a leading citizen of Howell,--one who, during a subsequent honorable career of forty-three years in this place, has benefited the village in a hundred ways, and placed himself at the head of her wealthiest and most respected men. This pioneer blacksmith of Howell was William McPherson, a native of Scotland, who emigrated to America in 1836, and soon after his arrival in the country came to Howell, with his wife, their daughter, Isabella (now Mrs. H. H. Mills), and their two sons, William and Alexander, these being all of his family at that time. They arrived on the 17th of September, and boarded with the family of James Sage, while Mr. McPherson and his sons built a dwelling for their use. This house (a log structure) was built on a lot in the west part of the village plat, where William Cooper 142. now resides, and was finished and occupied by the family before the closing of winter.

     On the same lot and adjoining Mr. McPherson's house, the blacksmith-shop before alluded to had been built, during the summer of the same year, by Andrew Riddle, who was also a Scotchman and a blacksmith, and was the father of Mrs. McPherson. After having settled his family in their new house, Mr. McPherson commenced work in this shop with his father-in-law, and continued to do so until the following spring, when Mr. Riddle removed from Howell to settle upon lands which he had purchased in Byron (now Oceola. His son, William, remained in Howell, being employed in the Register's office. He was afterwards one of the principal merchants of Howell, and is now a merchant in Detroit. After the removal of Andrew Riddle and family, Mr. McPherson occupied the shop alone and carried on the blacksmithing business for a time; but his health became poor, and he removed temporarily to Oceola, but soon after returned to Howell. In 1841 he, in partnership with Josiah Turner, opened a small mercantile business, and continued in it for nearly a year. After this he carried on blacksmithing for a short time, and again embarked in merchandising,--this time in partnership with Enos B. Taylor. At the end of about two years Taylor withdrew, and Mr. McPherson, alone at first, afterwards with Mr. Riddle, for four years under the style of McPherson & Riddle, and lastly in partnership with his sons,--has continued in the business until the present time, the firm being now known as William McPherson & Sons. He has been uniformly successful, and as uniformly honest, honorable, liberal, and public spirited. Howell has every, reason to be proud of her pioneer blacksmith.

     The store referred to above as having been opened in Howell in this year was hardly entitled to be called such. Mr. F. J. B. Crane had brought in a small lot of goods and opened them in a room of Mr. Adams' tavern, but the business was too small to support itself, and after two or three months it was closed, and the remnant of the "stock" was stored in the attic.

     The saw-mill above mentioned as having been put in operation- in 1836 was built by Moses Thompson, on the northwest quarter of the southeast quarter of section 25, on the stream which forms the outlet of that body of water which is now called Thompson Lake in his honor. Originally here were three small lakes or ponds, connected by a marsh and stream, but the building of the dam across the outlet by Mr. Thompson raised the water, submerged the marsh, and formed the present lake. He had purchased the adjacent land with the intention of building a mill here and having that object in view, had brought with him the necessary mill-irons and gearing when he came from Herkimer Co., N. Y., in the previous year. He dug the raceway and finished the dam during the spring and summer, but the mill was not completed until some months later. The millwright employed was Joseph Porter, who had entered lands in section 7, Howell township, in July, 1834, and came into Livingston from Washtenaw County. He received from Mr. Thompson for his services as millwright the sum of $3 per day, which in those times was regarded as a very large if not an extravagant price. He finished the mill and put it in successful operation about the beginning of winter, and the very first boards sawed were purchased by Mr. William McPherson for the purpose of laying a floor in his new log house. Mr. Thompson, when entering his lands in 1834, had the foresight to secure not only a mill-seat, but also a considerable quantity of lands in section 34, which were covered with pine-timber of excellent quality. He well understood that when he should get his saw-mill in operation, these tracts, being the only pine-lands in this region, and located near the county-seat, must prove convenient and valuable. The result showed the soundness of his calculations; the pine-lands, besides being profitable to their owners, facilitated building operations in Howell village, by furnishing large quantities of lumber of a kind and quality which before the days of railroads was an exceedingly scarce article in nearly all parts of Livingston County.

     An event of some interest, if not of any great importance, to the few inhabitants of Howell at that time, was a wedding,--the first which occurred in the village or township. This was the marriage of Merritt S. Havens to Sally T. Austin, daughter of David Austin, which took place at the house of Mr. Austin, in the evening of the 15th of January, 1836; the ceremony being, performed by Kinsley S. Bingham, J.P., afterwards Governor of Michigan. It will be noticed that this wedding was not celebrated in what was then known as the village of Howell; and it is proper to mention here that this history of the village is intended to be a narrative of past events within all the territory now embraced in the corporation limits, and not merely to apply to the compactly-settled portion of it.

     Among the immigrants of 1836, besides those already named, were Enos B. Taylor, Sherburn Crane, Joseph H. Steel, Peter B. Johnson (located on village lot No. 116), John Russell, Watson G. Thomas, Oliver Reed (section 35), Simon P. Shope, Gottlieb Schraft, Jacob Schraft, Giles Tucker, and

142a.a.

Image of
Residence of Solomon Hildebrant
Howell, Livingston County Mich

Image of
Residence of Wm. McPherson, Jr. 142b.
Howell, Michigan

143. Joseph Tucker. The last two here named were carpenters by trade, and on that account were very useful accessions to the village population. Giles Tucker afterwards became a merchant in Howell, and sheriff of the county of Livingston. He is now (or was recently) living in Eaton Co., Mich. Joseph Tucker died in 1862. Simon P. Shope located on section 36, on land purchased from Alexander Fraser, and lived in the house which Mr. Fraser had built for his own use. The two Schrafts were unfortunate Germans who paid to Shope their small savings in the expectation of becoming proprietors of lots in an imaginary village which the latter pretended to be about to lay out in the southeast corner of the section. They soon became objects of charity, and were assisted by Moses Thompson and others until they were able to leave the place. W. G. Thomas contracted for village lots, but did not become a permanent settler, and is said to have left the village in a discreditable manner soon after. Mr. Steel made permanent settlement here, and in the following year became proprietor of the hotel built by Crane and Brooks. He was afterwards landlord of one or more of the other public-houses of the village. He died here more than a quarter of a century after his first arrival, having been constantly a resident of Howell, excepting some five or six years, during which he lived in Oceola. E. B. Taylor married Abigail, daughter of Amos Adams, and became a merchant and somewhat prominent man in the village. Afterwards he removed to California, and died there.

     David H. Austin, who had come into the township in 1835, and made some preparation to settle on section 20, removed to the village in 1836, and took a small tract of land on section 35. He was not a relative of David and Jonathan Austin, near whom he located. He remained here for several years, held some public offices, and was quite a prominent man in early school matters. From Howell he afterwards removed to Farmington, Oakland Co. His son, George Austin, lives in the southwest part of Howell township.

SETTLEMENTS AND OTHER MATTERS 1837 to 1840

     By the township assessment roll of 1837 the tax-payers then resident within the present boundaries of the corporation are shown to have been the following:

     Besides these there were 137 village lots assessed to non-residents, showing that at least that number, in addition to those held by residents, had been sold by the proprietors of the plat. These lots were assessed at a uniform price of $25 each. The other lands included in the above list were assessed at $4 per acre, where not otherwise specified. The list above given, having been made in the spring of 1837, does not, of course, include the immigrants who settled here during that year.

     Mr. Edward F. Gay, a native of Connecticut, who had emigrated thence to Michigan, and settled at Ann Arbor in 1831, left the latter place early in the spring of 1837, and on the 1st of April, in that year, arrived and located with his family on a farm which he had purchased of the heirs of Deacon Israel Branch, then recently deceased; this farm being about half a mile south of the Crane and Brooks settlement. It was the same property which was afterwards known as the "Isbell farm," and located south of the Howell line, in the township of Marion; but as Mr. Gay was from the first entirely identified with Howell, and afterwards removed here, and lived and died in the village, it seems proper to include him in the mention of the early settlers of the place. How he came here on his first prospecting tour in the previous autumn, and what and who he found here, when he removed with his family, was narrated by him in an address before the Pioneer Society in 1872, in these words;

     "I entered the county at Hamburg. From thence I was to proceed on horseback upon the "Strawberry Point Trail' to Howell. But I soon lost the trail, and after wandering for some time among the bluffs, I brought up at Brighton. After spending the night with mine host, Ben Cushing, at his log hotel, situated on the hill, I again started for Livingston Centre, on a plainer path. The old adage 'there is no great loss without some small gain' was here verified; for I soon came upon two former residents of Ann Arbor, who had left there in my debt. To their honor I would say that each paid me; one being the venerable Robert Bigham, the other, Dr. Fisher, who had studied medicine with Dr. Denton, and wish to get married, I had trusted him for a wedding-suit, but had not till now learned his location.

     "But one house now intervened between Uncle Robert's and 144. my destination, to wit, 'Peet's Log Hotel' in Genoa, some seven miles east of Howell. At sundown I had arrived within three miles of that place. . . . About dark I approached a log house, situated on the plain some distance east of the Wilber residence, towards the lake, and inquired for the renowned Livingston Centre. This house was occupied by John Pinckney, and was owned by old Mr. Fraser (then recently from New York), together with the farm known as the Fraser farm, alias the Shope farm, afterwards the Wilber farm.

     "Though now becoming anxious to reach the 'Centre' I was doomed still to wander on the verge. I was on the trail, though among brush, and meandering the lake. Beholding a light, hope revived, but to be again extinguished, for before it was reached, the light disappeared, for the very good reason that Mr. Moses Thompson and family had retired to bed. Not being willing to be thwarted in  this, my second day's attempt to reach Livingston Centre, I hallooed for light under difficulties. The old gentleman soon put me upon the right trail again, saying that after crossing a ravine and again rising the bluff I would behold the light at the Centre, which had so often guided the lost and weary traveler. I found it as he had said, and soon beheld Livingston Centre, in the person of that noble landlord and life-long hotel-keeper, Amos Adams. One single frame building as a hotel, without a barn, together with three or four log houses, constituted Livingston Centre. My horse was fastened to a small oak tree, against which a log was lying, with troughs cut in the side to feed the grain . . . The only families which I now recollect, then residing in Howell or vicinity, besides the Adams family, were Mr. McPherson, Watson G. Thomas, Mr. Sage and son, David Austin and son, Mr. Fraser, Mr. Pinckney, David H. Austin, Sardis Davis, Huram Bristol, and Moses Thompson. The single men were Lewis, Morris, and Edward Thompson, Mr. Crittenden, Mr. Frisbee, Ely Barnard, John Russell, and Conrad Woll."

     Some of these, mentioned by Mr. Gay, although living within what might be termed the neighborhood, were outside the limits of the present village; as, for instance, Huram Bristol, who lived on section 34, Sardis Davis, whose location was across the township line in Marion, and Conrad Woll, who also lived on the south side of the Marion town line. Ely Barnard first settled in the township of Genoa, but having been elected register of deeds at the first election of county officers (1836) had removed to the county-seat immediately afterwards. While residing in Howell he purchased village lots, and on one of these (at the northwest corner of Grand River and East Streets) built a small house. Afterwards he returned to his farm in Genoa.

     Mr. Gay had been a merchant in Ann Arbor from the time of his settlement there until 1836. He commenced in the same business in Howell in 1837, immediately after his arrival here, and his was the pioneer store of the village, though he did not bring in the first lot of goods. In the address, before referred to, he said,--

     "It has been believed that I opened the first goods at Howell, and that I had the honor of being the first merchant here. This is not so. I found $300 or $400 worth of dry-goods in the garret, at the tavern, brought here by Mr. F. J. B. Crane, I afterwards purchased these, together with $1600 worth more of Messrs. Ward & Jewett, making a stock of $2000 worth, fresh from New York, inasmuch as they had not been opened since they were packed, as their remnant, in Western New York. I found it easy, with such an ample stock, to take frequently $100 a day, but I was not so easily sure that the ['wild cat'] money would be worth one dollar the next morning, and was quite sure it would not be when Lewis Thompson arrived with our weekly horseback mail from Detroit. The store I built was the second frame building put up in Howell, and is now [1872] standing, and occupied by Mr. Samuel Balcom as a dwelling. It has done good service, having served at one time as store, lawyer's office, post-office, and shoe-shop, and at another time as store, minister's residence, place for holding religious meeting, etc.; no school-house being yet built."

     This first store in Howell, referred to as having been built by Mr. Gay, stood (and still stands in a changed form) on the south side of Sibley Street, a little west of Centre Street, and nearly opposite --diagonally--to the southwest corner of the old "public square." John T. Watson, who was one of the settlers who came to Howell in that year, was employed by Mr. Gay is clerk in the establishment. He was a good citizen and a resident of this village for some years. He afterwards moved to Hartland and died there.

     Richard Fishbeck, a shoemaker by trade, came to Howell in 1837, and was the first to establish that business in the village. James White, a cabinet maker, also came in that year, and built a shop in which he worked at his trade. He built the dwelling-house on Clinton Street, which was afterwards owned by Abram Rorabacher, and is now the property of Mrs. Margaret Pinckney.

     Orrin J. Field and Josiah P. Jewett were among the settlers who came to the village in 1837, as was also George W. Jewett, who became one of the leading citizens of Howell. Mr. Jewett was a native of Durham, Conn. The family, whom he brought with him to Michigan, were his wife and three children, one of whom died at Ann Arbor before reaching their place of destination. The two who survived and came with their father to Howell were Sarah (now Mrs. Z. F. Crosman) and William B. Jewett, both of whom are still residing in the village. Mr. George W. Jewett was elected to the office of county treasurer in 1838, and to that of register of deeds in 1840, and filled other positions of honor and trust in county and township. He died in Howell, Feb. 12, 1851, at the age of fifty years.

     Ebenezer West and Matthew West were among those who came to Howell in 1837, they settling on the southeast quarter of section 26, now the place of Mr. A. V. Holt. The name of Matthew West is found frequently among the township and school district officers of Howell, -- particularly among the latter. He died Jan. 9, 1849. Ebenezer West died a few months later in the same year.

     Howell's-first school-house was built, and first district school opened, in 1837. The school-house 145. was erected on a lot (No. 36 of the plat) which had been donated by Mr. Crane for the purpose. In this school was opened in the summer of that year by Amos Adams' daughter, Abigail. She was succeeded in the teacher's office by Justin Durfee. It is not, however, improbable that Miss Adams had taught a few scholars in her father's house before the building of the school-house.

     The first term of the court in Howell was held in the new school-house of the village on the 8th of November in the same year. This was regarded as quite an important event, and a step towards the firm establishment of Howell as the county-seat of Livingston. The school-house became not only the usual place for the holding of the courts, but also for the religious services of all denominations, and for elections and other public meetings of every kind.

     After 1837 the settlers became too numerous for all to be mentioned here individually and in detail, especially as many of them were transient persons, not heads of families, and did not remain here permanently.

     In the early part of 1838 two church organizations -- the Presbyterian and the Baptist -- were formed, in addition to the one (Methodist) which had been formed in the spring or summer of 1836. All these small congregations held their worship in the frame school-house built in the preceding year.

     The village gained additional consequence, and assumed more of the appearance of a county-seat, by the arrival and settlement here of its first attorney, Wellington A. Glover, who opened his office in Mr. E. F. Gay's store building in 1838. The court for the county, which had first convened here in the school-house in the previous year, now held its terms regularly in the village.

     Another event of considerable importance to the people of Howell and vicinity was the settlement among them of their first resident physician, Dr. Gardner Wheeler, who also came in 1838. Before this they were compelled to go to Oakland, or Washtenaw County, or at least to Brighton, where Dr. Fisher had then recently located, to obtain medical attendance when it became necessary. The second physician of Howell, Dr. Charles A. Jeffries, came in the following year. Both these gentlemen are mentioned more fully in the account, elsewhere given, of the early physicians of Livingston County. Dr. Gardner Mason also came here from Salem, Washtenaw Co., in 1838, and made his first location in the village, living near where is now the residence of William McPherson, Jr. His health was poor, and he did not practice, his profession. After a comparatively short residence here he removed to the "Six Corners," in Howell township. During all his residence in the village and township he was one of the most prominent and useful members of the Baptist Church.

     The Rev. Henry Root, from Ann Arbor, became pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Howell, and settled here in 1838. The Rev. Thomas Baker, from Highland, Oakland Co., became pastor of the Baptist Church here in the same year.

     Almon Whipple afterwards, for nearly forty years, a well-known and highly respected citizen of Howell removed to this village from the township of Handy in 1839, he having been elected in the preceding autumn to the office of county clerk. He was born in Hardwick, Mass., in the year 1800, and remained in that State until the year 1825, when he removed to Otsego Co., N. Y. There he carried on a mercantile business from 1828 till 1835, when his health became poor, and he emigrated to Handy, in this county, in 1837. In 1838 he opened a store in that town, and in the following year removed to Howell, as mentioned above. On the 14th of January, 1840, he married Mary Curtis (daughter of Victory Curtis), with whom he lived for nearly thirty-seven years. Upon his settlement in Howell, he engaged in mercantile business in partnership with John Curtis, under the firm-name of Curtis & Whipple. They purchased the business of Edward F. Gay, and became his successors in the store built by the latter, near the southwest corner of the old public square. His partner died in 1841, and Mr. Whipple afterwards removed to the main street of the village, and remained in the business of merchandising until 1860, when he retired from it, but continued to engage in real estate and other operations during the remainder of his life, and was successful in amassing a comfortable fortune. Besides the office of county clerk he also held that of county treasurer, and was for some years postmaster of Howell. He died Feb. 14, 1878. "He was one of the early settlers of Livingston County, and ever manifested an active interest in the welfare of his adopted State. His record was honorable, and he enjoyed the confidence and esteem of all who associated with him. He was ever the poor man's friend. Honesty, generosity, and charity were his marked characteristics."

     Rev. Edward E. Gregory became a resident in this village in 1839. He says he lived at first in Rev. Henry Root's unfinished house, "and cooked by a stump in the street," and he adds, "I farmed it at arms' length three miles away, but found old Nature in her soil more stubborn than I anticipated. So 'what I know about farming' is quick 146. told, and yet deficient; as it is, it may allow me to rank among the pioneer farmers as doing the best I could, though I never got rich by it." Mr. Gregory became pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Howell in 1844, and remained in that charge for a term during that year and 1845, he has lived in Howell since his first settlement here, except an interval spent at Owosso. He is now among the oldest, as he is also among the most respected, of the citizens of Howell village.

     Joseph B. Skilbeck, an Englishman by birth, is another of the residents of Howell who came here to settle in 1839. He was by trade a shoemaker, and followed that business here for several years. Afterwards he became one of the merchants of the place, and finally retired from business on a competency. One of his daughters is Mrs. Andrew D. Waddell. Mr. Skilbeck, although the owner of a good farm, is still residing in the village, which has been his home for the past forty years.

     John R. Neely and Joseph Rowe became settlers in Howell in the same year as Mr. Skilbeck. Mr. Neely was a mason, and the first of his trade who settled here. Mr. Rowe was a tailor, and immediately after his arrival commenced business in that line, his being the first tailor-shop opened in the village.

     Early in the year 1840, Josiah Turner, then a young and aspiring lawyer, now well known to nearly every adult citizen of Livingston County as judge of the Seventh Judicial Circuit, came to Howell to establish himself in the business of his profession. At first he lived, with his family, at the public house of Shubael B. Sliter, on the Grand River road, east of the village, and had his office in the wooden building that stood on the northeast corner of the old public square, but soon after he occupied a log house near the present Methodist church, and later built a dwelling-house and office, the latter being a small building which stands on the west side of East Street, a little north of Grand River Street, near the engine-house. In this and in the former office on the square he did so flourishing a law business that he still speaks of the first eight or ten years of his practice in Howell as being, pecuniarily, the most prosperous period of his professional life. Besides the practice of his profession in those years, he was at different times engaged in mercantile business; first in partnership with William McPherson, and afterwards with Nelson G. Isbell. But these merchandising enterprises were of comparatively short duration, and he finally relinquished that business altogether. Of the official positions which he has since filled, and of the evidences of their respect and confidence which his fellow-citizens have shown him during nearly forty years of public life in Livingston County and adjoining portions of the State, a more full account is to be found in a short biographical sketch on another page of this history.

     Judge Turner recollects that when he first came to Howell, the village-- by which term was then meant only the cluster of buildings on Crane & Brooks' plat and in its immediate vicinity--was spoken of as containing but thirteen families; and he enumerates the heads of these families as follows: Dr. Gardner Wheeler, George W. Jewett, William McPherson, Joseph B. Skilbeck, Dr. Charles A. Jeffries, Richard Fishbeck, Orrin J. Field, Wellington A. Glover, John Curtis, Edward E. Gregory, Rev. Henry Root, Enos B. Taylor, Allen C. Weston. This recollection of the judge, however, doubtless has reference to the time when he came here (probably in the last days of 1839 or very early in 1840) on a prospecting visit, preliminary to bringing his family here from Ann Arbor; and this will account for the omission of the name of Almon Whipple, who, prior to the 14th of January, 1840, was not the head of a family, but became such at that time (the date of his marriage), and certainly a merchant in the village of Howell at that time. There were also during that year a very considerable number of other persons living in the village (though probably not all, or nearly all, householders), as appears by the following transcript front the township assessment roll for 1840, which was probably made out considerably later in the year than the time when judge Turner arrived here:

     "Owners and residents β of village lots in the village of Howell--Charles A. Jeffries, Wellington A. Glover, Ely Barnard, Allen C. Weston, Richard Fishbeck, Joseph Rowe, Enos B. Taylor, Orrin J. Field, Elijah Coffren, Curtis & Whipple, John Curtis, Abram Rorabacher, Mary Curtis, Edward F. Gay and Henry Root, Brown & Clark, William Butler, Joshua Boyer, Richard Carlton, Augustus Chastion, Joseph H. Cobb, Robert W. Dunn, Harriet W. Elwell, Francis Eldridge, Peries Ellis,
Alfred Tanner, Augustus Goodell, Samuel Goodell, Edward E. Gregory, Willis S. Garrison, Charles Holder, James M. Hawley, Daniel O. Hager, Robert Hilton, John Habercorn, Walter Hubbell, Jason G. Jackson, William M. Johnson, John R. Kellogg, Henry Leroy, Thomas M. Ladd, H. McLaughlin, Henry M. Miller, Chauncey Morse, David Prindle, William Phillips, Gideon Paul, Carl Pollard, Nathaniel Prouty, Patrick Pierce, John J. Peterson, Theobald Ungerer, Cornelius Rierson, Frederick Reuble, Samuel Reed, Thomas Shally, John Scott, Samuel Smith, R. Emerson, Silas Titus, George B. Turner, David Thorn, William Waycott, Joseph Ward, Alpheus White, Comelius Ward,"

     146a-a   Image of
Seymour E. Howe Residence
Howell, Livingston County, Mich.

146a-b Image of
M. L. Gay Residence
Howell, Livingston County, Mich.