History of Howell, Michigan - Chapters 1-5



Chapter 1
Before the Settlement

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   That portion of the history of Howell township which is of interest to
us is mainly included in the years which have elapsed since the white man
found a home here, still no history would be complete without at least a
passing glance at the territory when under the domain of the red man
alone. This township was border territory between the domains of the
Pottawattamies and Saginaw Chippewas although more especially within the
territory of the latter tribe. No special feuds seem to have existed
between these nations and in fact this territory was little more than
their summer hunting ground where temporary villages were erected near
which the squaws raised their corn, maize, beans and pumpkins. As fall
came on they mostly left this section for their more permanent villages in
the vicinity or Flint and Shiawesseetown.

   The tribe was scattered and badly broken up as a result of their
alliance with the English in the war of 1812, and early settlers found
only roving bands of the tribe who had been the principal occupants of
this territory. According to traditions of the Chippewas, this section was
occupied previous to their ownership, by the Sauks, a warlike tribe which
was

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much hated by them and who were completely destroyed by an alliance of the
Chippewas, Pottawattamies and Ottawas, by a series of massacres following
a great massacre of their principal village on the Saginaw river, from
which only twelve women were spared. The only warriors to escape the
tomahawk were a few who fled to their canoes and paddled across the lake.
An Indian burying ground on the farm of Ira Brayton, probably used by the
Sauks was thus described by Elisha H. Smith, in 1868: "On the north-west
quarter of section twenty-two there are several places of burial. Judging
from the appearance of the mounds where they were interred, they commenced
burying their dead at the top of the ground, covering the corpse with
earth. They then placed other bodies above this one, until the mound was
several feet high. Several of these mounds have been opened for
phrenological observation. Their traits of character were found similar to
those who lived here at the time of the settlement by the whites. They
were buried with their heads in a south-easterly direction. The Indians
who lived here at the time the mounds were opened, had no knowledge of
them. On the exposure of the bones to the atmosphere, they would soon
decompose." The poor Chippewas were in constant dread of the spirits of
the exterminated Sauks. If misfortune befel them, if their traps failed to
hold the game or if their rifles failed to shoot accurately, it was the
spirits of the Sauks and nothing

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could they accomplish until the medicine men had been brought and the poor
spirits either set at rest or otherwise quieted.

   Several Indian trails ran in this section, the most important of which
was the Grand River trail which took much the general direction of the
gravel road in after years, except that north of this place it bore a
little more northerly. A fork of the trail joined it near the present
village of Howell, running in from the Indian village near Shiawasseetown.
It was mostly along the trail from Detroit that the early pioneers found
their way to Howell and neighboring points.

   Early claim to this section passed back and fourth with the claims of
French and English to Detroit and Michilmackinac. At the close of the
Revolution, English officers were instrumental in securing an alliance of
most of the Indians of the north west and an effort was made to hold the
territory under English rule. General Anthony Wayne was sent with a body
of troops, into what is now Ohio and after a few victories, he succeeded
in bringing the Indians to terms.

   His treaty of Greenville, in 1695, was the first agreement between the
United States and Indians, relative to the land which now forms Howell. By
this treaty the Indians simply became subjects of the United States,
acknowledged their territory a part of the United States, and placed
themselves under the protection of this government. In June, 1796, the
forts of Detroit and Mackinaw were surrendered and

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English rule over this territory ceased except for a short time during the
war of 1812. The Northwest Territory embraced this section from that time
until 1800 when it became part of the new territory of Indiana. In 1805
the territory of Michigan was organized and William Hull was made its
first governor.

   The township of Howell, with all the land in this section of Michigan,
was embraced in the territory ceded by the Indians to the United States
government by a treaty at Detroit; on November 17th, 1807, and its
remaining so long without settlement is no doubt owing to the fact that a
government surveyor sent to Michigan in 1815, with an idea of giving one
hundred and sixty acres of land to each soldier of the Revolution,
reported that "not one acre out of a hundred, if there would be one out of
a thousand, that would in any case admit of cultivation." Governor Lewis
Cass failed to believe this report and having secured the proper
assistance, in 1819 made an exploration which largely quieted the bad
impression which prevailed.

    Several townships of this county had white settlers before Howell;
Putnam leading with the man whose name it bears, in 1828.

   This township formed a part of Wayne county, after its organization
until January 15, 1818, when it became a part of Macomb county. It was a
part of Oakland county from January 12, 1819 until September 10, 1822,
when it was placed with Shiawassee county where it remained until the
laying out of Livingston county, March 21, 1834, but the organization of
this county was not perfected until March 24, 1836.



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Chapter Two
The Settlement

   The year 1833 may almost be set down in this township as a period of
exploration. The recently erected but unorganized county drew many parties
who went over this township in search of homes. Among these were John D.
Pinckney, S. N. Warren, George T. Sage, Moses Thompson, Orman Coe, Checkly
S. Palmer, C. C. Trobridge and John J. Eaman. The four last named have the
honor of being the first to locate land in the township, the last two
selecting eighty acres on section thirty-five and thirty-six respectively,
or a part of the present village of Howell. It is in the exploration of
Messrs. Pinckney and Sage and their party however that we are most
interested as the first settlements in the township resulted from their
trip. Mr. Pinckney was an energetic butcher of Hughsonville, N.Y. Not
being entirely satisfied with his advantages he determined to emigrate to
the then undeveloped west to which his father and brothers had preceded
him. A trip by the Erie canal and Lake Erie landed him in Detroit, from
where he went to Salem, Washtenaw County, which was then the home of his
people. George S. Sage who was upon the same errand as Mr. Pinckney,
joined him at his

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father's and in company with Mr. Pinckney's brothers they set out together
along the Grand River trail, for the new unorganized county of Livingston,
as the most promising government territory upon which to build a home.
They built a temporary hut with a bark roof, about where the palatial home
of Thorne & Farnsworth now stands, and spent a week prospecting. The
timber was mostly oak openings and the soil although not so strong as that
of heavy timberd land, was of good quality and because of the lighter
timber, was quicker available to the pioneers for homes. Along the creeks
and low places coarse grass grew more luxuriantly than after fire had
burned over the ground in early day. Often growing to the height of a
man's head, to these marshes seeming blemishes upon the face of the
country, the pioneers were glad to go for sustenance for their stock,
finding them truly blessings in disguise. The beautiful lakes and complete
wildness of their surroundings made up a series of picturesque scenery for
those early pioneers over which the artists of Howell to-day would go
completely wild.

   Mr. Sage selected a homestead a little west of their prospector's cabin
and Mr. Pinckney one near Thompson's lake at its southeast extremity.
After making their minutes of the land selected for themselves and several
other tracts, they returned to Salem and Messrs. Pinckney and Sage went at
once to the land-office at Detroit, and located their land, after which

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they returned to their homes and began active preparations to move to
their new land. On May 14th, 1834, Mr. Sage and his father James Sage came
with their families and settled upon the land selected by Geo. T. Sage as
noted above. James Sage's log house was erected upon the site now occupied
by the elegant residence of Wm. McPherson Jr., while George T. Sage's was
across the Grand River trail to the south, or nearly in the center of what
is now Grand River street. This was the first settlement in the township.

   Mr. Sage Sr. only lived about five years after settling here. He died
June 29th, 1839. The children of James Sage were George T., James R. and
Chester A. George T. Sage died in Marion township, August 21, 1852. He was
married to Miss Louisa Austin (later Mrs. Rev. G. W. Genks of Brighton,) a
short time before settling in Howell. Mrs. Sage's father, David Austin,
and family came from Salem and settled on section 35, on land selected by
his son-in-law, in June of 1834. Mr. Austin lived upon his farm until
February 1, 1847, when he died. His wife followed her husband about a year
afterwards. The oldest son of David Austin, David Jr., did not come to
Michigan. Mr. Austin's other children were Johnathan, Louisa, wife of Geo.
T. Sage, Melvina, afterwards Mrs. George Sewell, and Sally T., afterwards
Mrs. Merritt S. Havens. Johnathan Austin who came with his father, located
what is now the Gilks farm and lived there for a long time, but afterwards

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moved to the Upper Peninsula, he was very prominent in school and other
local matters.

   John D. Pinckney settled business matters in the east and bringing his
family as far as Salem left them with his people there while he came with
two men he had employed, to erect a house for them, and arrived here soon
after the others. He was in much better shape financially than most of his
contemporaries In Howell, and his capital soon made him very comfortable
as compared with those about him although his house was the regulation one
room cabin of pioneer days. He brought with him a team of horses, the
first to come to this section. His family came on in December of that
year. In 1842 Mr. Pinckney moved to the Village of Howell, from his farm,
and died here, Feb. 11, 1861.

   The trials to be met and difficulties to be overcome by these first
settlers are not to be estimated by us. Occasional trips into new sections
of our country at the present day may furnish the basis of in estimate.
With ox teams, little capital and very few conveniences of life, they
commenced the work of civilizing this wilderness, Elisha H. Smith
described the situation in the following words. "The nearest inhabitants
from the center of the township, at the settlement of this place, were
eighteen miles away. In a westerly direction, it was about forty miles to
the nearest settlement. The nearest mills were eighteen miles distant."

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   As the year 1833 could be set-down as a period of exploration for
Howell township, so the year 1835 should be classed as the year of
settlement. The rush for homes in the new county was fairly on by opening
of spring and the township was full of prospectors and the settlers coming
to the land located in the previous two years.

   The first new settler was a bouncing boy who came into the home of
George T. Sage on January 23, 1835 announcing himself to be the first
white child born in the township of Howell. A pointer of the hardships in
the life of these early pioneers is a little remembrance of Mrs. John D.
Pinckney in connection with the event of Mr. Sage's birth as told by her
in after years. Johnathan Austin, a brother of Mrs. Sage, was sent to
Kensington, after a doctor for the event. Mr. Austin stopped at Mr.
Pinckney's to borrow a horse to make the journey but the team were away
and he was obliged to go afoot to secure the services of Dr. F. Curtiss.
of that place, who was physician to every family in Livingston County at
that time. It would take a good walker about half a day to make the
journey through the January snow, over the Grand River trail, and the
doctor nearly the same time to return.

   Among the earliest settlers of 1835, to arrive in the township from the
east, were Villeroy E., John W. and Elisha H. Smith, three brothers who
came from Ontario county, New York, in May of that year. The

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last named lived here until quite an old man. For many years he was active
in the county pioneer society and took great delight in recounting his
experiences in the early days here. He wrote a history of Howell which had
quite a local circulation, about the time of its publication.

   Probably the next to arrive in 1835 was Moses Thompson and Ezra J.
Munday. Mr. Thompson with his son Lewis and daughters Rachel, (afterwards
Mrs. Houghtaling, later Mrs. Preston) and Lucinda, (Mrs. Ezra Frisbee),
left Herkimer County in April, traveled through Canada in a double buggy
drawn by the second team of horses brought to Howell, and reached Detroit,
on May 25th. The remainder of the family, Mrs. Thompson, Morris, Edward
and Maria, Elizabeth and Jane, afterwards Mrs. Clark, Mrs. Slader and Mrs.
Crittenden, respectively, with Mr. Munday, left Herkimer County about a
month later and after a trip of over a week by the Erie Canal and lake
Erie, landed in Detroit, on the 7th of June. Three days later the entire
party left Detroit, with their horse team and five yokes of oxen which Mr.
Thompson had bought in Detroit. The family stopped several days at Lyon
while Mr. Thompson came on and commenced his house. Part of them arrived
on June 23 and stopped at Geo. T. Sage's until their own house which stood
just up from the bank at the north end of what is now known as Thompson's

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Lake, was ready for them, which was about July 4th. The rest of the family
came about that time.

   By this time the settlement inside of what is now the village of
Howell, or rather the home of John D. Pinckney, had come to be called
Livingston Center, and as a matter of almost necessity, Mr. Pinckney's
house had come to be almost a hotel for prospectors.

   On the 2nd of July 1835, Alexander Fraser the the father of Mrs.
Pinckney, sold from the land located by Mr. Pinckney for him, the west
half of the southwest quarter and the southwest quarter of the northwest
quarter of section 36, to David Wetmore and Edward Brooks of Detroit.
Later in the same year, after two or three deeds, the title to these
tracts rested one-third in Flavius J. B. Crane and two-thirds in Edward
Brooks. These gentlemen proceeded at once to plat this 120 acres into the
village of Howell The old public square was reserved in their plat for
public use, it being the idea of the founders of the village to have the
county buildings located upon it. The prospective village was named
Howell. Mr. Crane cited as his idea for the name, his friend Thomas
Howell, son of Judge Howell of Canandaigua, N.Y., but his most intimate
friends were sure that Mr. Howell's pretty sister was the real person
whose name the town bore. The name of Livingston Center was applied to the
village for some years afterward. As noted above, the house of John D.
Pinckney had become almost the primitive hotel and Mr. Pinckney

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secured a contract from Crane & Brooks that they would erect a hotel upon
their plot. Consequently they commenced drawing lumber from Woodruff's saw
mill in Green Oak, soon after their plot was recorded, in November, 1835,
and erected a two story frame house, 20x40 feet, in size, the first in the
township, on the site now occupied by the Opera House. On December 1,
1835, Amos Adams came in from Geneseo, N.Y., and opened the hotel under
the name of the "Eagle Tavern." F. J. B. Crane, and Alexander Fraser at
once became boarders at the tavern who with Mr. Adams' family became the
first settlers within the original village plot as it existed before
the additions were made.

   The Eagle Tavern at once became the center of population for all
business matters of the pioneer settlement. It was there that religious
services in the township commenced. Alvin Crittenden, a young man afoot
and alone, arrived in Howell before a door was hung in the village and on
Nov. 24, 1835, hired to Geo. T. Sage for a year. It is largely to
remembrances of this pioneer, father or the author of this history, as he
was wont to tell them in his latter days and to copious notes of a series
of most interesting visits with the late William McPherson sr. that the
events herein contained are due. Among others of these remembrances was
the story of the first religious services which my father told as follows:

   "Deacon Branch who had settled in Marion, thought

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he could not live without religious meetings, even in the wilderness, and
hence he took it upon himself, 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. At
that time the hotel was 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 come to his help but the deacon was not discouraged and 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 part in a religious meeting in Howell. After that, if the
deacon had to be away from the meeting any Sabbath, he brought to me a
volume of Payson's sermons with a request that I should conduct the
services which I did several times that year. On one of these occasions I
read a sermon from Wesley instead of the one Deacon Branch had selected
and he never called upon me to perform the service again.

   Several others who afterwards became prominent in

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local matters, arrived during that year. Elisha H. Smith in his History of
Howell published in 1869, summed up the settlement at the close of 1835,
as follows:

     Section               Section
Joseph Porter 7        Francis Field 23
Samuel Waddel 17       Moses Thompson 25
Whitely Woodruff  17   Lewis Thompson 25
David, H. Austin 20    Morris Thompson 25
Villeroy E. Smith 21   Edward Thompson 25
Elisha H. Smith 21     Ezra J. Munday 25
Nathaniel Johnson 23   Amos Adams 36
Alvin Crittenden 23    F. J. B. Crane 36
Merrit S. Havens 23    Alexander Fraser 36

   All of these earliest pioneers rest from their labors, and to-day enjoy
the blessings which their hardships have secured to us.



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Chapter 3
Early Developments

   No sooner had Crane & Brooks secured an occupant for their Eagle
Tavern, the only building in their new plot of 120 acres for their town of
Howell, than they began work to secure a post office which was located
here on January 15, 1836 and Flavius J. B. Crane appointed post master.
His office was in the Eagle Tavern as a matter of necessity for there was
no other place. Previous to the location of the office, the few settlers
in this vicinity received their mail at Detroit, Ann Arbor, Plymouth and
Kensington and in fact continued to do so for some time afterwards, as no
provisions were made for carrying mail to and from the new office, until
March 20, when Lewis Thompson took the contract to make weekly trips to
Kensington, on horseback, for that purpose. Soon after that date a mail
route was established from Howell to Grand Rapids, and James R. Sage
undertook to find his way over the Indian trails, through the wilderness,
to carry the mail, a feat that he accomplished successfully after his
first trip when he got completely lost and and was obliged to spend the
night in the woods.

   An event occurred on the same date with the

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location of the post office, which must not be forgotten. While they were
surrounded with the hardships and privations of pioneer life, cupid was a
pioneer too. His first victory was the celebration of the marriage of
Merritt S. Havens, the first carpenter in the township, to Sally T.
Austin. The marriage ceremony was performed by Esq. Bingham, afterward
Governor of Michigan. The second wedding was that of Alvin L. Crittenden
and Jane Thompson which occurred August 27 of that same year. Their
wedding was made a social event, They were the first couple in the county
to be married by a minister, Rev. John Cosart performing the ceremony. Mr.
Crittenden borrowed a rig and drove to South Lyon the next day for a
wedding trip, the first taken by any couple from Howell. Their wedding
feast was right up to the very highest point of luxury in those days. Its
central dish was a young pig nicely roasted and standing on a platter.

   That following winter Mr. Crittenden got out the lumber and built a
house on a farm bought with the savings from his year's work at Sage's. He
would get out a hardwood log at home, draw it to the saw mill at the foot
of the lake just east of the head of the present flume, and go on to the
pinery west of what is now the town, where he would cut a pine log to be
left at the mill on his return. By the time the oxen had made the round
trip it was night, During the evening he would saw the two logs into
lumber and

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get ready to repeat the round trip the next day. The old house stood up
the bank from the little lake on the McPherson farm in the north part of
this township and was torn down only a year or two ago. Mr. and Mrs.
Crittenden only lived in it a year or two when they bought the farm which
has been in the family since and is now owned by W. W. Crittenden and Mr.
and Mrs. H. D. Kirtland. They lived there until 1854 when Mr. Crittenden
joined the M. E. conference, He served regular pastorates for twenty-six
years when he and his wife returned to Howell to live.

   The meetings commenced by Deacon Branch in 1835, at Eagle Hotel, were
soon held from house to house. Some time in January, 1836, a Presbyterian
clergyman named Wm. Page, stopped at Deacon Branch's and word was sent out
for services which were held at the Deacon's house in Marion. This was the
first sermon in this vicinity but it remained for Rev. Johnathan Post a
Baptist clergyman to preach the first sermon in this township, which he
did sometime in February at the home of George T. Sage. In April or May of
the same year the second sermon in this township was preached at Moses
Thompson's and was by Rev. Mr. Kanouse, a Presbyterian clergyman. Some
time in April or May A. L. Crittenden walked to Ore Creek, (now Brighton)
to attend a Methodist meeting which he heard was to be held there. While
at this meeting he arranged for Rev. John Cosart to come to Howell in four
weeks and

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preach and form a class. By some mistake the notice was given a week to
soon, The people assembled but as no preacher came they decided, after a
prayer meeting, to organize, and elected Pardon Barnard chairman and A. L.
Crittenden secretary of the meeting. No class book was to be had so A. L.
Crittenden who was elected leader, folded a sheet of writing paper to make
a book, ruled it and entered the names of members therein. The original
book is now a keepsake of the family and contained the following names as
the original class: "Alvin L. Crittenden, Pardon Barnard, Eliza Ann
Barnard, Peter Brewer, Dorcas Brewer. Sylvester Rounds, Polly Rounds,
Asahel Rounds, Mary Sage, Nathaniel Johnson," Rev. Cosart came the next
Sunday, probably early in June, and preached the third sermon in the
township, the first by a Methodist minister. He acknowledged the
proceedings of organization and reported it to the Ohio conference who
sent Rev. Washington Jackson as a missionary to Livingston County, during
that fall. This was the first church organization in the township. Pardon
Barnard and A. L. Crittenden were licensed as exorters by this class,
November 4, 1836.

   Although Livingston County was laid out in 1833, the act to organize it
was not passed until March 24, 1836. The act erecting the township of
Howell, was approved the day previous. The territory included in the
township by that act was the present townships of f Howell, Oceola,
Deerfield, Handy,

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Cohoctah and Conway. The first town meeting was held in April, 1836. A
caucus was called of which A. L. Crittenden was clerk and he was therefore
given the work of writing the tickets, in which he was assisted by John W.
Smith. On the evening before the election someone suggested that there
would be no fun without two tickets and so another was nominated nearly
like the first, except that F. J. B. Crane was nominated for constable.
The last nominated ticket was also written by the same two gentlemen and
was victorious in the election. Nearly if not all the white voters in the
township as organized turned out to the election which was held at the
Eagle Tavern. The board consisted of Amos Adams, F. J. B. Crane, John W.
Smith and Johnathan Austin, with A. L. Crittenden as clerk. A tea pot and
sugar bowl were borrowed from the Iandlady, to serve as ballot boxes and
thirty-six votes were cast. Officers elected were as follows: Supervisor
Philester Jessup; Township Clerk,  F. J. B. Crane; Justices of the Peace,
Ezra Sanford, Harleigh H. Graves, John W. Smith; Collector, Francis Field;
Assessors, Justin Durfee, David Austin, George T. Sage; School Inspectors,
Joseph Porter, F. J. B. Crane, Johnathan Austin; Highway Commissioners,
John Sanford, Justin Durfee, George T. Sage; Constables, John D. Pinckney,
F. J. B. Crane, Francis Field, Elisha H. Smith. Some of the work of these
township officers was very crude. The assessment was written upon

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half sheets of writing paper which were fastened together at the ends with
wafers. When completed, it was fifteen feet long. Justice John W. Smith
had a case commenced before him but after the points of  law were argued,
the case was discontinued by the plaintiff withdrawing his suit and paying
costs. This was the first law suit in the township.

   At the time the county was organized a strong effort was made to locate
the county site at Ore Creek, (now Brighton) and the adherents to this
project did not give up entirely until the county buildings were built in
the present location. This opposition delayed the county election a few
weeks until the three commissioners appointed by the Governor, to locate
county sites in counties where there were none, could be brought to this
county when they located it on the old public square of the Crane & Brooks
plat now occupied by Schroeder's hardware, the Episcopal church, etc. The
first county election was held on the first Monday in May, 1836, and
resulted in the election of the following officers: Sheriff, Justice J.
Bennett; County Clerk, F. J. B. Crane; Register of Deeds, Ely Barnard;
Treasurer, Amos Adams; Coroners, John W. Peavy, John Drake; Associate
Judges, Elisha W. Brockway, Elnathan Noble. Only a part of the county
officers were residents of Howell and that fact made little difference.
Even the judge of probate did no office business during his entire term.
The board of supervisors held their first meeting in

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Howell, October 4, 1836, and organized by election of Eli Lee of Hartland,
moderator. The Democrats received 142 votes in Livingston County, at the
election in November, 1836, and the Whigs, 73. This was the, first
division along party lines in the county and many of the pioneers feared
that it would break up the good feeling which prevailed. The democrats
held a meeting and raised a pole near the Eagle Tavern. The whigs were
much incensed at this and shortly after the close of the campaign, someone
bored it down with an auger, on a dark night.

   In June of I836 a heavy freshet swelled the Shiawassee River beyond
what it has ever been known at any time. Among other damage done was the
washing away of the log bridge at the Grand River Road crossing, This item
is noticed only as a sample of how lumber was secured before the date of
mills. To rebuild the bridge two men sawed the lumber with a pit saw, one
standing above the logs which were rolled upon the buttments and the other
below, the one below wearing a veil. Wm. McPherson and family arrived on
September 17, while this bridge was being rebuilt, and he bought the slabs
from the bridge for the floor to his house.

    Originally what is now Thompson's lake was three little lakes with a
tamarack swamp, between Mr. Thompson noticed the excellent mill site when
he prospected in 1833, and located at the foot of the lake to secure it.
His original log house stood just back

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of the old house near the foot of the lake and was connected with it for
years. The old house was one of the first frame houses in this county. It
is now quite a ways back from the road, When it was built the road ran by
it. The place is now owned by Mrs. Sherman. He also located the tract of
pine in the western part of the town, to work in his prospective mill. A
dam was accordingly built and by its influence the water raised to about
its present level, thus uniting the three lakes. The saw mill was finished
and commenced running in September, 1836, the first logs sawed being made
into a chamber floor for Wm. McPherson's house. So many of the settlers
were in need of chamber floors that Morris Thompson who had charge of the
mill, would not saw more lumber for any one man than enough for his
chamber floor, until all the settlers had had a chance to avail themselves
of those much needed conveniences for their homes.

   The first store in the village was opened by F. J. B. Crane, in a room
in the Eagle Tavern, but it was not a success after two or three months,
the goods were packed up and stored in the attic of the building. The
first blacksmith shop was rather more successful. Andrew Riddle, father of
Mrs. McPherson, came from Scotland in the spring of 1836 and built the
shop before the arrival of his family who came with Wm. McPherson's family
in September. Mr. McPherson's house was built adjoining the shop and

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he and Mr. Riddle commenced work in the shop soon after his arrival. Mr.
Riddle moved to Oceola, during the next year and Mr. McPherson continued
the business until 1841 when he engaged in mercantile business in
partnership with Judge Turner with whom he continued but a short time. In
1845 he bought a half interest in business with E. B. Taylor, the firm
doing business under the name of Taylor & McPherson for about two years
when he bought Mr.Taylor's interests, and continued the business in his
own name until 1852 when he formed a partnership with Wm. Riddle, which
continued until 1856. when Wm. McPherson Jr. bought Mr. Riddle's interest
and the business was continued until 1864 under the firm name of Wm.
McPherson & Co., it being changed to the present name at that time, and as
his sons were becoming men he took them one by one into the firm. What is
now the front portion of the main store was erected in 1857. As the old
building grew to small, additions were built upon its rear from time to
time until it is now 120 feet deep with two additional stores west of the
old one. With little change the firm continued until the close of 1887
when Wm. McPherson, Sr. retired and a new firm was organized composed of
M. J. McPherson, E. G. McPherson and H. T. Browning, who continue the
business under the old name. Mr. Browning retired January 1, 1898.

   The McPherson bank was started in April, 1865, with Alexander McPherson
in charge. He remained

Page 30

in that position until 1890 when he engaged in banking business in
Detroit. William McPherson jr. took charge of the bank here at that time,
and is still in that position. There have been some changes in the firm
among members of the family, but the name has always remained as it
started, Alexander McPherson & Co.

   Preparations were made for a school in the fall of 1836 and a building
was commenced but no record remains to show positively whether it was
occupied that year or early in 1837. Justin Durfee was the first teacher.

   The wolves which infested country were among the terrors of pioneer
life and many are the stories of narrow escapes from these dreaded
terrors. When young fellows went to see their best girls the young ladies
were often called upon to listen with beating hearts, to the howling of
the wolves which beset their beaus on their way home after bidding them
adieu. The girls learned the direction of their fellow's homes and guessed
them safely there when the sound of the wolves' howling reached that
direction.

Two Germans by the name of Shrafts came to Howell in 1836. A little before
night they broke their wagon. One stayed to guard the load while the other
went to Moses Thompson's with the team, to stay all night. When he
returned in the morning with two of Mr. Thompson's sons, Shrafts was
nearly tired to death and complained bitterly of the settlers'

Page 31

said he, "the big burley big burley dogs. "Why." said he, "the big burley
dogs were so saucy. They would their put their paws clear up on the wagon
and snap and snarl at me, and I could hardly drive them off with my club."
The mystery was soon solved by the Thompson boys as part of the load was
some fresh meat. The poor German was nearly scared to death when he found
that he had been fighting wolves all night.

   The village as it appeared about this time was nicely described by
Edward F. Gay who prospected here in the fall of 1836 and settled with his
family in 1837. After detailing his attempt to reach Livingston Center as
the village was then called, and losing the trail two or three times, he
described his success in an address to the pioneer society in 1872, as
follows: "Though now becoming anxious to reach the Center 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 it was 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 Center, I hallooed for light under difficulties. The old
gentleman soon put me on the right trail again, saying that after crossing
a ravine and again rising the bluff I would behold the light at the
Center, which had so often guided the lost and weary traveler. I found it
as he

Page 32

had said. and soon beheld Livingston Center, 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 Center. 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, Sardis Davis, Herman Bristol, and
Moses Thompson. The single men were Lewis, Morris, and Edward Thompson,
Mr. Crittenden, Mr. Frisbee, Ely Barnard, John Russle and Conrad Woll."

   Immediately after settling here in the spring of 1837, Mr. Gay hunted
out the remnant of F. J. B. Crane's stock of goods from the attic of the
Eagle Tavern, and with about $1,600 worth of goods from New York, opened
the pioneer store of the village which maintained an existence for any
great length of time. His store building was the second frame building in
the town, being preceded only by the Eagle Tavern. At various times in its
existence this building was used for a store, lawyer's office, post
office, shoe shop, place for holding meetings, minister's residence and
family residence, and in its earlier history it often did duty for two or
three of these purposes at once.

   The old building, modeled over, was for years the

Page 33

upright of a tenant house on Sybley St., owned by J. I. VanDeusen and some
of the material is now part of the newly erected tenant house of W. W.
Kenyon on the old site at the corner of Sybley and East streets occupied
by Glen Brown and family.

   Probably the third frame building to be erected in Howell was the
school house. This building was erected on a lot donated to the village by
F. J. B. Crane, for that purpose. Some provisions were made for it in the
previous year but as Moses Thompson's saw mill was soon to be set in
motion, the building was left until lumber could be secured from that
source. It was occupied early in the summer, probably some time in June,
and Miss Abigal Adams, daughter of the landlord, was the first teacher in
a regular school building. The building was never satisfactory to the
district and numerous resolutions to build new ones are found upon the
records. It was finally sold in 1848, and a room rented for school
purposes for several years. This old building served as the frame part of
the old Curtis foundry for some years. It has been occupied by Snedicor's
poultry and egg business for several years past. The original site of the
old building was about midway between Chris Schaffer's cement residence
and Bernard Walker's barn.

   The friends of Howell as the county seat of the new county, felt that
quite a victory had been achieved when Judge Fletcher held the first term
of court here,

Page 34

commencing November 8, 1837. It was held in the old school house which was
used for that purpose for some time afterward, also for holding church
services and other public meetings.

   Richard Fishbeck who came to Genoa with his family in 1835, moved to
Howell the following year and opened the first shoe shop in the town. He
continued in that business until his death in 1875. The business descended
to his sons, S. G. and L. N. who are still conducting it under the firm
name of Fishbeck Brothers, on the same site where their father started it
in 1836. Mr. Fishbeck built the third frame dwelling house in Howell. It
is still standing on Walnut street near the Ann Arbor depot. Their old
furniture yet remains there just as Mrs. Fishbeck left it, probably the
only case of that kind now in the county.

   James White, the first cabinet maker in Howell, also arrived in 1836.

   In the spring of 1837, Esq. Adams arranged to build a log barn for his
Eagle Tavern, which was raised in May of that year. Samuel Waddell, father
of the late Andrew D. Waddell, was injured during the raising of this
barn, so that he died from the result of these injuries, on May 30, 1837,
the first death in the township.

   The food of the pioneers in addition to what they raised on their
farms, was largely venison and honey both of which could be had in
abundance by hunting. Francis Monroe sr. used to laugh about how, in his

Page 35

younger years, the pioneers used to flock to each other's houses to visit,
if anyone had been to the outside world, that they might get a taste of
salt pork, dried apples or other similar luxuries. Among the pioneer
stories which C. G. Jewett remembers from his parents, is the fact that
they brought with them when they came to Howell in 1837, a quantity of
salt pork and that neighbors used to send in for a piece when anyone was
sick and needed some little delicacy to tempt their appetite. Another
early pioneer food was a flour made by grinding sweet acorns which had
been gathered and dried, and it wasn't at all bad to eat either.

   With the organization of the state, county and township, each offered a
bounty for killing wolves and several pioneers made that enterprise almost
their entire business for a time, the $17 for the scalp of each, proving
quite a fortune in those times. Prominent among these was Francis Monroe
who earned quite a reputation in the winter of 1837, for a fight with a
big black wolf which he had caught in his trap and in the killing of which
he nearly lost his own life.

   The board of supervisors at its fall meeting in 1837 submitted a
proposition to the county to borrow $1,000 to build a jail, but it was
voted down as was a similar proposition in 1838, and prisoners from this
county were confined at Ann Arbor.

   On the 14th of April 1838, Rev. Thomas Baker of Highland, met at the
village school house with

Page 36

Silas Dibble, Gardner Mason, Justin Durfee, Joseph A. Dibble, Sardis
Davis, Sarah Field, Sarah Durfee, Lydia Austin and Hannah Austin all of
whom held letters from or were members of Baptist churches in the east,
and after religious services, they proceeded to plan for the organization
of a Baptist church in Howell. Silas Dibble, Gardner Mason and Justin
Durfee were appointed a committee to prepare Articles of Faith and
Practice and Church Covenant. This committee reported at a meeting held in
the same place May 12, their report being adopted, Rev. Thomas Baker, the
founder of the church, was called to the pastorate at this meeting, a
position which he filled until the close of the year when he was succeeded
by Rev. E. Mosher. It was arranged to call a council of recognition which
met at the school house, June 21. It was organized by the choice of Rev.
E. Weaver as Moderator, and A. Kemis, Clerk. The records of this council
show a representation of four churches by delegates; Highland, E. Lee, J.
Tenny; Hartland, A. Lamb; Walled Lake, Rev. E. Weaver, J. Coe, N. Daniels;
Kensington, Rev. A. P. Mather, D. Seely, E. Cole, A. N. Kemis.

   The church records show the following names received by letter on that
date, and organized into a regular Baptist church: Silas Dibble, Aaron
Sickles, Fanny Dibble, Hannah Austin, Joseph Dibble, Justin Durfee, Rachel
Dibble, Lydia Austin, Daniel Case, Anna Dibble, Sarah Durfee, Laura
Monroe. The

Page 37

usual service of recognition was held on the same day. The sermon was
preached by Rev. Weaver, from Psalms XXVI, 8. The address to the church
and hand of fellowship were given by Rev. Lamb.

   During its first year eleven were added to the church membership by
letter. At the close of the second year the membership numbered thirty-
two. Of the nine who joined during that year, six were by letter and three
by profession of faith. The first person received by baptism was Harriet
M. Sickles who was baptized April 14, 1839. During that year the church
was attached to the Michigan Association.

   Hon. Milo L. Gay described the organization of the Presbyterian church
as follows: "My first recollections of attending meeting in the then new
town date to a year and three months prior to the foundation of this
church. In the spring of 1837, I remember following along after my father
in a winding path which led through the woods from the farm known as the
Reed farm, down to the Center, then winding northward by another path
through the woods to the Thompson log house on the bank of the pond, where
meetings were held once in four weeks, by Elder Post who came on
horseback, I think from Plymouth. Also in a fortnight thereafter we
followed another trail westward to the small log house of James Sage,
situated on the identical spot where William McPherson jr's. house now
stands. There I think we occasionally listened to a Methodist preacher;
and the

Page 38

particular impression there made upon my mind was the peculiar and quaint
style of starting the tune by old Mr. Sage. who, although himself a
Universalist, consented to act in the capacity of choirister, and also to
accommodate the neighbors with a place in which to hold meetings. Another
impression was in regard to the peculiar bent position required to be
maintained by the taller persons when standing, to prevent their heads
coming in contact with the crossbeams above.

   The sixteenth and seventeenth days of June, 1838, are still fresh in my
memory, as they were memorable days in the history of the little hamlet
then known as Livingston Center. Those days fell on Saturday and Sunday
and the meetings were held in the loft of a one-and-a-half story building
which my father had recently erected for a store. The floor of the room
above was of rough boards and the ceiling was nothing but the roof-boards
and shingles, in close proximity to the heads of the adults; and the rough
tamarack rafters, with their knotty projections, were a constant reminder
that all should humble themselves in the business in which they were about
to engage."

   The main portion of the old building described by Mr. Gay, is now the
upright of Mrs. Burbank's residence. Some of it's material is in W. W.
Kenyon's tenant house, as stated elsewhere.

   The business of the meeting referred to by Mr. Gay, was the
organization of the Presbyterian church by Rev. Henry Root. The following
were the original

Page 39

members: David H.. Austin, Josiah P. Jewett, Horace Griffith, Artemas
Mahan, John T, Watson, George W. Jewett, Edward F. Gay, Price Morse,
Andrew Riddle, William McPherson, Charles Clark, Lucretia Jewett,
Catherine Griffith, Polly Ann Mahan, Hila Mahan, Julia Mahan, Sarah Mahan,
Harriet L. Watson, Anise P. Jewett, Clarissa L. Gay, Elvira Morse,
Elizabeth McPherson, Margaret Thompson, Matilda Clark, Mary Clark. Three
ruling elders were elected who also held the office of deacon. They were
as follows: For one year, George W. Jewett; for two years, John T. Watson;
for three years, Edward F. Gay. The legal organization was effected on the
7th of July following. Meetings were held in the school house during t he
following year.

   Garrett. S. Lake having worked at brick-making in New York, commenced
the manufacture of brick near Fleming, in 1838, and it is from his yard
that the brick in many of the oldest chimneys in town came. About this
time Amos Adams ceased to be proprietor of the Eagle tavern, it having
been sold. He formed a partnership with Joseph Porter and built a saw mill
on the Shiawassee river on section 27. This site was afterwards used for a
carding mill and cloth factory by Joseph M. Gilbert. Soon after starting
his saw mill Mr. Adams built a hotel on the south side of the Grand River
road, west of the river. This building was afterwards moved across the
road and was torn down about twenty years ago. Among a large

Page 40

collection of pioneer relics owned by Fishbeck Brothers, is the old dinner
bell brought from New York and used by Mr. Adams at the Eagle tavern.

   The first horses, cattle, hogs and fowls came with the earliest
pioneers but the first sheep were brought here in 1838, by Ira Brayton.

   The "wild cat banking" scheme of those early days affected Howell with
the other towns of the young state. Messrs. Gay and Whipple enjoyed a very
large trade. Money was plenty and everyone bought all they wanted.
Sometime afterward, in describing these times, Mr. Gay said: "I found it
easy to take $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."
At one time Mr. Gay paid $40 to a hotel between here and Detroit. The
amount of the bill in good money would have been $2.50. A proposition was
made to organize a wildcat bank in Howell and the initiatory steps were
taken but before it was perfected those institutions in other places began
to crack and Howell therefore escaped.

   In the fall of 1836 William Riddle was taken very sick and lay
apparently at the point of death, for some time. This led the settlers to
think of a burying ground and land was given for the purpose by Alexander
Fraser, John D. Pinckney and Moses Thompson. It was located near the south-
east part of the lake.

Page 41

Mr. Riddle recovered and the first burial there was that of Miss Davis, a
sister of Mrs. Johnathan Austin. The site of this burying ground was never
satisfactory to the people. After it had been used for some time it was
abandoned and a new burying ground was laid out where the Ann Arbor
railroad crosses Bernard street. The swing of the town to the east by the
location of Court House square, sent the settlement clear around this
burying ground. When it was filled a new one was secured on the bank of
Thompson's lake.

   In moving from the first burying ground to the second, everyone did the
work for their own friends. The ground was soon dug over in such a way
that it was impossible to find several graves. The oldest daughters of
Rev. and Mrs. A. L. Crittenden and Mr. and Mrs. Richard Fishbeck were
among those which could never be located to transfer.

   The first lawyer Wellington A. Glover, settled in Howell  in 1838 and
opened his office in the store of E. F. Gay. He was an ardent Whig and
that fact no doubt injured his practice somewhat in this stronghold of
Democracy, but it helped him to the office of postmaster to which he was
appointed in 1841. In a few weeks after the lawyer came a doctor in the
person of Dr. Gardner Wheeler who at once commenced the practice of his
profession and continued to do so in this vicinity for more than twenty
years, during which time he was generally respected by all who knew him.

Page 42

His office which stood where the Sabin block now stands, was moved in
later years and is now a part of the first house south of Parshall's mill.
His residence which occupied the site of M. J. McPherson's home, was moved
up the Byron road and is now owned by John Owen.

   The first land located in Howell township was the east halt of the
south-west quarter of section 27, on May 20, 1833. It was where the Grand
River road crosses the Shiawassee river. Amos Adams flowed this land when
he erected his saw mill a little further down the stream, and considerable
of it was in a mill pond for years.

   The old home of John D. Pinckney which was torn down to grade Library
park, was built about this time and was one of the most pretentious houses
in the village. It had a brick oven built in the side of the fireplace, a
decided luxury which Mrs. Pinckney used to take great delight in loaning
to her neighbors who had no such convenience, to use for their baking.

   When Mr. Pinckney's family were coming to Howell they were given some
apples where they stopped at Ann Arbor. The seeds were planted and
produced the old apple trees which were cut when the house was torn down.
While not in this township, Wm. C. Rumsey's saw mill in Oceola, furnished
so much of the lumber in Howell buildings that it should be noticed.

   There has been considerable change too in the

Page 43

topography of the village. C. G. Jewett remembers sneaking around a pond
for ducks, is, about where William Whitacre is now building a home, and
many of the boys and girls of other days remember a favorite place to
slide down hill a little ways this side of the P. M. depot which has all
been graded away.

   In these early days pigeons were so thick that it was no fun to hunt
them. A big tree which stands in Mrs. Dollie Butler's yard was one of
their favorite haunts. If anyone wanted a mess of pigeons to eat they
would go over there and shoot what they wanted and leave the rest.

   There are so many things of interest for this period of our history
that we are loth to leave them. It would be wrong however for us to pass
to a new period without a word of that sturdy class who settled here to
create homes, the real foundation of any good civilization, but who, while
backing every worthy enterprise, were more quiet in their way of doing
things. Two representatives of this class will always be remembered for
their honesty of purpose and solid worth. They were Rev. E. E. Gregory and
William Smith.

   During previous years the scanty crops which the pioneers had been able
to gather had only sufficed to keep them during the severest of
privations. By the harvest of 1838 sufficient land had been put to crops
to secure enough and to spare and the ingathering that season marked an
advance of no little importance.



Page 44

Chapter 4
Hotels & Fun

   In his first address to the county pioneer, society Judge Turner
discussed the first settlers in a social way. He could not remember any
extensive colonization but said that "there were to be found among the
early settlers men from Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales, New England,
New York, Ohio and the Canadas. They had never seen or heard of each other
before. This sort of mixed settlement was as pleasant as any. The mormon
is doomed to see the hated gentile climb his fence ere it is scarcely
built. The most carefully consorted communities can scarcely preserve
their exclusiveness for an hour. I conclude therefore that Livingston
county made as much progress and had really as much amusement as any
other."

   Hon. Jerome W. Turner once said: "Howell was a town from the start with
a grin on its conntenence, which never relaxed but continually flowed into
guffaws." In 1839 Shubael B. Slitter emigrated to Howell from Ann Arbor,
where he had moved from New York four years before, and bought of Simon P.
Shope the tract east of the village on the Grand River road as it was by
this time called, about where it is crossed by the Ann Arbor railway. On
this land there

Page 45

was a house built by Alexander Fraser for a residence to which Sliter
added a log and a frame addition and opened a hotel. To this hotel and its
proprietor is largely due the reputation for fun which Howell soon gained
abroad.

   In an impromptu address to the pioneer society in 1873 Judge Turner
told this story: In these early days court week was the great occasion of
the new county. Everybody was at court. The crowd that gathered at
Sliter's at such time, was far beyond all his limited sleeping
accommodations. His bar room floor was literally covered with jurors and
witnesses during the nights.

   One night when the floor was about as densely populated as it could be
with sleepers two lawyers named George Danforth and Olney Hawkins from Ann
Arbor, crawled out the back way, and by inducements in the shape of Indian
corn, succeeded in calling two large hogs to the bar room door and getting
them inside. Then they started a bulldog Slitter owned after the hogs and
quietly but swiftly retired to their beds in a rear passage. It Slitter's
dog ever had any failings they could not be urged against his persistency
as a biter. The scene that followed would baffle description. The
squealing of a captured hog is always very thrilling but when dinned into
the ears of sleeping men at the dead of night, and it is accompanied by
vicious kicks and thumps on their bodies it is alarming.

Page 46

The condition of affairs in these days is best described by two gentlemen
who were here at the time. We quote from Judge Turner and his son above
quoted.

   "Men from the east who had no design of settling here, staged it out
from Detroit, or over from Dexter, to spend a few days in laughing. One
man I know, who resided in the city of New York, who has since told me
that he was accustomed to travel through almost every town in the United
States large enough to hold a meeting house without finding one that could
equal Howell for fun. There was an abandonment about it, too, that gave it
zest, men laughed in hearty deep-chested tones here in the back woods, and
assembled to see the perpetration of a practical joke in more numerical
strength than they did at a funeral. Nobody was in a hurry, no one was
careful or troubled about many things, we had actors and an audience. Men
forsook what little business they had for simple sport. One man I knew--
Elijah Coffren, a carpenter and joiner by trade,--who would come down from
the roof of a promising job to join in a little hilarity, and not be able
to get away from it so that he could return in a month. The super-urgent
business was fun; that was a complete plea to any declaration for damages
on account of any delay in work. Even shows which were supposed to carry
about with them a sort of stereotyped humor which can make an hour
passable, were tame concerns here in those early days and it was two to
one that

Page 47

something laughable would happen to them before they left the place.
Subjects of mesmerism underwent copious inundations of cold water; the
magic lantern cuirass suddenly grew cloudy with ink, and the return of
pewter and tin sixpences astonished the showman when he counted up after
the performance. Apropos of this there were at an early day, organized in
Howell, companies of squirters who were armed with pint and quart squirt
guns with which they deluged all bibulous individuals. A man could get on
a drunk in the daytime but he had need to watch the sun very closely and
not be seen around after nightfall.

    "Some of the subjects of this sport were somewhat ugly; for instance
Levi Bristol, a square fighter, a man who would have been known as an
athlete among the Thebians, but who usually got cornered when he came to
town. He was emphatically an ugly customer and he asserted in all sorts of
forcible inelegance, that 'the first man who squirts any water onto me'll
get his head knocked off,' I remember as though it were but yesterday, his
standing one afternoon nearly in front of Kellogg & Austin's store--
present location --and he looked like one of Dumas' 'colossal wrestlers'
in the Olympic ring, as he dared the whole town to furnish him an
antagonist who should come bearing a tin squirt gun. Boy as I was I had
read the story of Goliath of Gath, and when I saw a single person, a
stripling in size emerge from a building on the street with a quart squirt
gun at 'present arms' and advance

Page 48

toward this gawk, I I must confess I thought I could see a complete
repetition of that historical incident. I do not know that I was, certain
then or that I am entirely positive now who the lad was who went out
against him but he had a wonderful similarity to one Leander Smith, who
once lived in Howell, so similar as to puzzle people as to the question of
identity. A fine stream from the youth's gun struck Bristol fair and
square in the eyes! Bristol plunged down like a kingfisher, and whirled
himself along in knots and spirals through the dirt of the street uttering
the most abominable yells that ever issued from human lips. He did not
seem to know where he was going or to have the least care. He burst
through the front door of Elisha Hazard's grocery, knocking over a counter
and roaring like a bull of Bashan! Well, whisky and pepper-sauce, in equal
parts is not a very pleasant eye lotion, and Bristol's visits to Howell
became more and more infrequent and of a less turbulent character.

   "The general store was a rendezvous and its mammoth stove became
somewhat of a social shrine. There the people gathered and there they
brought out their jewels, like the toads, after dark. These jewels served
our purpose then, let us hope that they may not be entirely unregarded
now."

   "There lived here, a good many years ago, a man who was familiarly
called 'Old Cuff Simons,' of genial good-nature, but he was prone to take
to much liquor.

Page 49

The boys, on certain occasions of his intoxication, would deluge the old
man with water to an extent which would satisfy any reasonable
Thompsonian. One evening they were engaged in this pastime in a hotel kept
by George Curtis in this place, and an elderly stranger, who happened to
be present thinking it to be an imposition on the old man, strongly
remonstrated with the boys against what he termed 'such shameful
conduct.'  But what was his surprise when Simons turned upon him with open
jack-knife saying: 'You're a transient person (hic) mind your own (hic)
business; the boys are going (hic) to have their sport.' In New York or
Boston such interference might have been regarded as timely by a besieged
drinker, but at Livingston Center it was resented by the victim with far
more warmth than by his persecutors."

   One day the boys secured an old crate in which dishes had been shipped,
and got it ready for Simons when he should get on a drunk. It wasn't a
great while before they had use for their cage. "Old Cuff" thought the
joke a good one when they coaxed him out on the public square and got him
into the trap. He roared and bellowed for awhile, imitating a wild animal.
After awhile he tired of it and wanted to get out but the old crate war,
fixed up too strong and it was half a day or more before he was released.

   About 1840 the land was full of prospectors and adventurers and these
numerous hotels did a much larger

Page 50

business proportionately than they would today. Although Sliter's was some
distance from town and a long stretch of corduroy road lay between the
village and the hotel it was a popular resort. It came to be understood
however that the man who stopped there must expect to become the victim of
some joke before he left and few got away without an experience more or
less funny.

   Sliter afterwards settled in Deerfield where his wife died. After that
he went to Kent county and started another hotel but lost it in a trade
for land which only existed in the mind of the speculator who beat him out
of his property.

    Allen C. Weston started some kind of a stage line between Howell and
Detroit in 1838 and in 1840 began the erection of a hotel. Before it was
finished his eyesight failed and he traded the property and stage line to
Benjamine Spring for land on section 15. Spring completed the hotel and
built a new stage which was probably as odd as the odd character who ran
the line. It was painted red and named the "Red Bird." It was not only a
vehicle for land traffic but carried passengers safely through the rapids
near Detroit where it served as a boat.

   Spring was a worthy contemporary of Sliter. It is said that be had a
boarder who was more prompt to meals than he was to pay his bill. Spring
met him at the dining room door as he was coming out with several boarders
one day, and handing him some

Page 51

money, told him "for pity sakes when you come next time, stop and pay for
what you eat." Spring acknowledged himself beaten when the boarder took
his cash and calling the crowd with him, went over to the bar of another
hotel and set-em-up.

   Spring was a great admirer of General Cass. The old veteran stopped at
his hotel when campaigning here and Spring went into the dining room
himself to see that his noted guest was properly cared for. Judge of his
consternation when he saw the general pull a hair out of the butter. But
Spring was not to be daunted and called out to his wife, in a voice which
could be heard all over the room, telling her to go over to Gay's store
and see if she couldn't find some butter in which the hairs were better
rotted.

   One summer night in 1844, when a party of men were busy with cards at
Spring's hotel their bottle was left so near the window that some boys
reached in and stole it. The effect upon them was as a live coal which had
roused Edward F. Gay who had decided to try and better the condition by
building a temperance hotel. Accordingly he talked the matter over with
his neighbors and decided to buy the lot where the Goodnow block now
stands, at the corner of Grand River and Division streets. Unfortunately
he told some of his neighbors of this decision and the opposition
attempted to head off his temperance movement. Hezekiah Gates hurried off
to Detroit the day before Gay was to go, and bought the lot. As soon as

Page 52

he returned he began arranging for the erection of a hotel which
afterwards became Union Hall and was prominent here for years.

   Mr. Gay learned of the Gates scheme just before leaving for Detroit,
and selected another site which was the lot upon which stands the
buildings occupied by the First State and Savings Bank and Barron & Wine's
drug store. This hotel was the first brick building in Howell, and the
first temperance hotel for miles around. The brick for its erection were
burned on Mr. Gay's own farm in Marion, now occupied by Eastman's dairy
farm. Z. M. Drew furnished the lime from a kiln he had established near
the Marion town line. Hon. C. C. Ellsworth afterwards a prominent lawyer
here, was the first landlord. Mr. Ellsworth surely was Daniel like for he
opened the hotel with a flag flying to the breeze upon which was inscribed
"Liberty and Temperance." Mr. Gay kept the hotel for many years and then
sold it. It was purchased after a while by Mr. Pebbles and its name
changed to Livingston Hotel. It remained a temperance hotel until torn
down when John Weimeister built the present block in 1869.

   Superstitious ones were not at all surprised at the fate of Hezekiah
Gates and his project. The building of his hotel proved too great a
project for his financial resources. Before its completion he was obliged
to go into bankruptcy. The property was acquired by Taylor & McPherson and
changed hands a number of

Page 53

times until 1871, when Union Hall as it was then known, was burned.

   Shaft's hotel which was built a little later than the others mentioned,
really belonged to this period. It's first owner was William C. Shaft who
was Spring's opposition in the stage business to Detroit. It changed hands
several times until 1865, when it was purchased by Benjamine H. Rubert who
added a third story and ran the house successfully until his death. His
son Seth B. Rubert ran the house a number of years. It has changed hands
two or three times since Mr. Rubert died but still bears his name.



Chapter 5
Not All Fun

   In 1838 the Legislature created a board of county commissioners. But
little is left of their records. Emery Beal, Charles P. Bush and Orman
Holmes constituted the board.

   The County Commissioners ceased to have authority after the Legislature
of 1842 and the board of supervisors was reorganized. It has met regularly
ever since that time.

   Judge Kingsley S. Bingham the first Probate Judge of this county, had
no official business to perform. His office was, at his residence in Green
Oak. The next, Judge James W. Stanbury, lived in Pinckney and held his
court there. The first will he admitted to probate was that of James Sage,
the first white settler of Howell, who died June 29, 1839. His will was
dated January 15 of that year and was officially witnessed by Dr.
Wellington A. Glover and wife and O. J. Pinckney. Mr. Sage's son-in-law,
Joseph H. Pinckney was appointed executor. The legatees were Mrs. Sage
widow of the deceased, and her children, George T. Sage, James R. Sage,
Chester A. Sage, Mary A. W. Pinckney and Hannah A. Walker. The date of
record is quite badly faded but it was sometime in July, 1839.

Page 55

   Judge George W. Kneeland who was elected in 1810, moved the office to
Howell. His first business was on February 8, 1841, when letters of
administration were granted in the estate of Josiah P. Jewett.

   The Presbyterian society held most of its meetings in the village
school house, as did both the other denominations, until the year 1840. In
1839 the society began the erection of a church building which was
completed the following year. This church originally stood a little north
of the Central School House square and fronted to the south, amidst what
was then a growth of underbrush. The site proved to be a bad one as in
muddy weather, the church was almost inaccessible, and it was moved to
nearly the present site of the Knapp shops. Sometime afterward the society
became involved by too extensive repairs to the building and it was sold
at forced sale, to the highest bidder. It was afterwards moved to Division
street and occupied by Staley's wagon shop for a good many years. Its old
ruins, about twenty feet from the first school house, still remain.

   When the church was first organized it adopted the union plan but on
September 21, 1839, by resolution it became Presbyterian and remained so
until July 29, 1843 when it changed to Congregational, but returned to
Presbyterian October 27, 1845 and has been in that connection since that
date.

   As before referred to there was a determined effort made to move the
county site to Brighton and the

Page 56

matter was brought before the Legislature, in 1837 but was defeated by the
determined efforts of F. J. B. Crane and others. This agitation however
had the effect to defeat all projects to build suitable buildings when
presented to the people as heretofore detailed in these pages. The arliest
officers who had office in Howell, all made their offices at the Eagle
Tavern. F. J. B. Crane built a one story building of two rooms near the
site of Mrs. Amos T. Slader's present residence, in 1837 and the county
offices were soon moved to it, the building being rented by the county. It
was afterwards purchased as will be noted further on. In 1842, the board
of supervisors contracted with Benjamin Spring, for the use of his ball
room in his hotel in which to hold court, for fifteen dollars, he to
furnish wood. This arrangement, only lasted for a short time and the
Presbyterian church was leased for holding court and all county meetings.
The rental was twenty five dollars per term of court for a time, and
later, forty dollars per year, for all county purposes. This latter
arrangement continued for about three years, until what, is now known as
the old court house, was completed In the spring of 1845, a vote was taken
at each town meeting, to build a court house and jail, and the board of
Supervisors elected a building committee who advertised for the receival
of plans and specifications. By the time the board met in October of that
year, they had taken legal counsel and decided that they had not a legal

Page 57

right to levy a tax for the same and so resolved.

   In the following year the Legislature passed an enabling act and the
board at a special meeting in June, 1846, arranged for the building of the
old court house. After some delay, the contract was let to Emos B. Taylor
who completed the building late in the fall of 1847. The total cost
including extras, was $5,928.

   By a resolution of the Board, the belfry was erected upon condition
that the people of Howell should raise a suitable sum to purchase a bell.
When the old court house was torn down, the bell was saved by Fishbeck
Brothers and others. It has since been properly mounted and stands just
inside the bar railing in the circuit court room.

   When it came to building the court house, the location became an
important issue. No one had cared particularly where the commissioners
should locate the county site except that it should be in Howell but when
the buildings were to be commenced that was another question and
especially so to Peter Cowdry and Edward Thompson who had platted
additions to the village and were sure that if they could get the
buildings located upon their land it would prove a boom to their
additions. After a proper effort they succeeded in so doing and the county
site was changed from the old public square south of Grand River street
and west of Walnut street, to its present location, the front part of the
present square being donated to the county by Mr. Cowdry and the north
half by

Page 58

Mr. Thompson, the land presented including the streets clear around the
present square. The lots of the original portion of town had many of them
been purchased by speculators who were non residents and this fact with
the moving of the county site, had much to do with changing the principal
part of the town to the new additions. With the procuring of the new site,
the old county office building was moved to the new square in a position
about midway between the Present front of the court house and the West
side of the square. When the brick Office building was erected on that
site it was moved to the north side of the square and was later sold to
William B. Smith who moved it a block east on the South side of Grand
River street West of Bernard street, where it became part of the residence
recently purchased by Oscar Hesse. It has been rebuilt several times.

   Immediately after the court house was finished the board of supervisors
passed a resolution to allow all religious denominations to hold services
there and the proposition was accepted by all but the Presbyterians who
already had their church built.

   The jail and sheriff's residence occupied the ground floor of the old
court house and the court and jury rooms the second story.

   In 1849 a contract was let to George W. and Frederick J. Lee to build
an office building West of the court house on the site occupied by the
wooden office building. This building was completed that year and

Page 59

accepted by the supervisors at their January meeting. It cost $545.20.
This building served its purpose until 1873 when it was demolished and a
better one took its place for the County Clerk and Register of Deeds
offices.

   In 1853 a building was erected for use of the Judge of Probate and
County Treasurer, east of the court house, and similar to the one then
standing west of the court house, which became County Clerk and Register
of Deeds offices after this building was completed.

   When the square was cleared to make room for the new court house, much
of the material in the three buildings went into the walls of the present
court house. Rail roads were a big thing in those days as well as now and
about this time a line was projected from Detroit to Kensington, thence to
Howell and thence to Shiawassee village, a line which would scarcely be
urged as exceedingly promising today.

   As before referred to a cemetery was located near the southeast part of
the lake but the site was not entirely satisfactory to all and another was
located nearer town but this proved no more satisfactory than the other.
The matter was finally settled by the purchase of the old cemetery, of
Edward Thompson in 1840. The first burial was that of Henry Wheeler, a
young man who was just entering manhood. The site of the old cemetery is
now part of the Toledo Ann Arbor and North Michigan Railway grounds where
they are crossed by Barnard street and run a little east of the

Page 60

street where S. B. Rubert's lumber and coal yard is now located.

   About this time or a little before, the village acquired its first
resident pastor. Rev. Henry Root who had been employed by the Presbyterian
church, moved to Howell as its pioneer in that profession. The people of
this county were of a literary taste and in 1843 organized a Union Lyceum
which became very popular in those early days.

   About this time the Fleming post office was established. J. W. Smith
was its first postmaster and the office was located in his residence which
stood nearly opposite to the present farm residence of Frank Hecox, on the
Grand River road. It was afterwards moved to six corners where it was
maintained until some time after free rural delivery was established.

   The Marr burying ground was also established in the early '40s.

   The old general training days were seasons of revelry more or less
important from the first, but their amount in this county were of a
comparatively small importance before 1843. As far back as the days of
Amos Adams there were some things accomplished in this line and that
gentleman painted a flag for use on these occasions, which is still in
existence, a treasured relic in the home of George W. Monroe. In 1843 a
regiment was organized in this county with Col. Timothy R. Allison of
Pinckney, in command. By an order dated Feb. 7, 1843, he divided the
county into company beats, Handy and Howell being assigned to

Page 61

one beat. The company from this beat was comparatively well organized with
Ralph Fowler of Fowlerville, as captain. The troops were mustered in on
old public square, but a portion of the forty sold to M. J. and Alexander
McPherson, by Mrs. A. L. Crittenden soon after her husband's death was
prepared for training purposes. The general poor success of trainings of
this character, to secure the desired results, caused the repeal of the
law soon after the above date and ended all extensive efforts of that
character in Howell.

   The early pioneers were patriots as strong as many who have come after
them. The first Fourth of July celebration in this city was held under
temperance auspices, in 1844, in the grove where the Presbyterian church
now stands. No attempt was made at fireworks or other evening
demonstration.

   Manufacturing in a pioneer way, took quite a boom about this time.
Andrew L. Hill opened a wagon shop in 1842. Mr. Hill made the first cutter
in town for Philander Glover. It was afterwards purchased by Judge Turner
who located here in 1840. In 1846 W. K. Melvin and James Lawther opened
the "Arcade shops" and put up the building which years after, was built
over into the Commercial Hotel. In 1844, Hickey and Galloway erected a
foundry on the site of Mrs. L. V. D. Cook's residence south of the tunnel.
They not only manufactured all kinds of agricultural implements, but all
kinds of stoves, kettles, etc. The shops were successively owned by

Page 62

Lemuel Spooner and Edward Thompson, W. O. Archer and lastly by Abigal W.
Smith and Dexter Filkins, They were burned while the latter gentlemen
owned them. Dr. Z. H. Marsh settled here in I847.

   The shores of time in this vicinity are lined with wrecks of select
schools and other private educational institutions. The earliest of these
was by Theodore Bridgeman who opened his Howell Select School in 1845, in
the old Presbyterian church. The school lived only a little while and died
in time to make room for the Classical Select School which was started in
December of that year by Rev. G. F. McEwen, but this enterprise soon kept
company with its predecessor. Mrs. Mariah L. Charles was the next and her
select school was quite an institution in the summer of 1846. The Howell
Academy was opened April 1, 1846, and promised to be quite an institution
but the promises were never realized. The failure of the academy led to
the organization of a stock company of $10,000, composed of Josiah Turner.
F. C. Whipple, Elijah F. Burt, Alvan Isbell, Gardner Wheeler, George W.
Lee, John Kenyon Jr., Almon Whipple and Edward E. Gregory. This firm never
did anything beyond the procurement of its charter.

   The old frame school house proved entirely inadequate for the growth of
the town and early in the forties agitation for a new one began to grow.
An appropriation for anew building was made in 1845, but was reconsidered.
A fight between sections north and south of Grand River street was fully
developed

Page 63

and lasted several years. The north side was never strong enough to secure
the location although they managed to secure south-siders enough to change
every location decided upon from 1845 to 1849, and kept the ball rolling
from the old public square, the present site of the M. E. Church, and
others, until its final location on the present site of the building,
December 15, 1848. The question of location would no doubt have continued
much longer had not a resolution been passed in September, 1848,
instructing the district board to sell the school house which they did and
rented rooms in the Stage House for school purposes, John Dickson being
employed to teach there. The first proposition was to build a two story
brick school house, thirty-eight by forty-eight feet in size but a
resolution to this effect created considerable opposition as the
proposition to build a "castle". The size was changed to twenty-six by
thirty-six feet and the building built for $10,000, by Elijah Coffren.
Willis Wills was the first teacher in the new building,

   In I849, a dissolution arose in the Presbyterian church and Charles
Clark, Mrs. Mariah Clark, Zebulon M. Drew, Edward F. Gay, Mrs. Clarissa L.
Gay, Beniamine W. Cardell and wife drew out of that church and organized a
Congregational church.

   The Bible society was organized in 1842 and did considerable work until
1846. A new society was organized in 1849 which has been allowed to lapse

Page 64

although a small stock of Bibles still remained in the care of J. L.
Pettibone Esq. until his health failed a few years ago.

   About this time the prevailing epidemic of fun making took a setback.
The wife of a blacksmith named Rorabacher died. Her bereaved husband
failed to wait a sufficient time after her funeral, to suit his neighbors
ideas of propriety, before he married his second wife. One result of this
condition of affairs was the arrangement for a regular old fashioned
horning. The late Dr. Huntington who was always ready for fun was
solicited to captain the horning party but he declined the honor and
decided to present a counter attraction. Accordingly he arranged with a
couple of confederates and the three crawled up near Rorabacher's house
unobserved by its occupants who were all unconscious of what awaited them.
In time the horning party arrived, led by Benjamin Spring who was
literally covered with sleighbells, As he approached at the head of his
crowd, the doctor and his party opened upon them with double barreled shot
guns. Spring cut and run, nor would he go back. Some little noise was
started however, but word came from the house that the bride had been
seared into hysterics and the doctor had a patient on his hands. It took
very little coaxing to send the crowd away for the joke was so badly on
Spring because of his scare, that everyone pulled him back to his hotel to
liquor up at his expense. The

Page 65

whole thing figured out so hard against him that he was never anxious to
lead again in anything of that kind and as Sliter moved to Deerfield the
two leaders were out of it and things quieted down a bit.

   There were great tracts of land all around, which were unfenced and
cattle were allowed to run at large during the days. Occasionally one
would come up missing and the theory usually was that it had wandered into
some of the marshes and mired out of sight. Johnathan Austin lost a cow
and after awhile, gave it up as lost. Some months later a neighbor told
him that he had seen his cow pasturing on the public square. Mr. Austin
went to the square and finding a cow which looked like his, drove her
home. Then Z. M. Drew's cow was reported lost. In time it was reported to
Mr. Drew that Johnathan Austin had his cow and he went to claim it. Both
men were sure the cow was theirs and a law suit was the result.

   Both were leading members of the Presbyterian church and there was
quite a little row kicked up in church circles over the matter. The trial
created no end of interest. Both sides presented leading citizens who
positively identified the cow and everything looked like an even strength
for both sides of the case. Shortly before time for adjournment for
supper, Dr. Huntington who was one of the jurors casually asked witnesses
on both sides as to the milking qualities. Austin's witnesses agreed that
his cow was a hard milker, while Drew's witnesses testified that his cow
was a very

Page 66

easy milker. The case went to the jury in the evening and they returned a
verdict in a few minutes, unanimous for Drew. During the intermission the
doctor quietly went and milked the cow. As soon as they reached the jury
room he told his companions what he had done. The fact that she was an
easy milker settled the case. In those early days however, it didn't
settle the row.

   Another case about that time will remain a standing joke of the county
as long as the pioneers remain. A man had been arrested for stealing and
was taken into Circuit Court where he stated that he had no money and
Attorney Hawkins was appointed to defend him. Mr. Hawkins told the court
that he did not want to go to trial without talking with his client and
was allowed to go into a room alone with, him. He is said to have asked
the fellow if he was guilty and was answered that he was. To his enquiry
as to whether they could prove it his client said that he guessed that
they could for they found the stolen property with him. Hawkins asked him
how much money he had and took half of it. He then pointed to a window and
told the prisoner to "git." He "got" and Hawkins went off over town. After
awhile the sheriff hunted him up and told him the judge wanted to see him,
Hawkins is said to have sauntered leisurely into the court room. When he
entered alone the judge enquired where the, prisoner was. Mr. Hawkins
replied courteously that he was not the prisoner's keeper and finally said
that

Page 67

the last he saw of him he went through a window. The judge hurried
officers after him but he was free.

   Another law suit which is still told of by the old citizens was one in
which Ira Brayton was defendant. He had become indebted to one of the
early pioneers in the sum of twenty dollars and had given a mortgage on
three fine yokes of cattle worth several times that amount, but was not
able to raise the money and his creditor expected to take the cattle. So
sure was he of securing them that he solicited jobs of "breaking up" new
land expecting to do the work with these cattle. Ezra Frisbee finally
decided to help Mr. Brayton out. Constable Durfee who was long remembered
because he always went barefooted, was the officer in the case and learned
of Mr. Frisbee's intentions. As soon as the bidding reached the amount of
the debt and costs, he struck the cattle off to Mr. Frisbee who left them
with Mr. Brayton. In his efforts to save himself Mr. Brayton had acquired
a judgment which another man held against his creditor, and had placed
this with Constable Durfee for collection. As soon as Mr. Frisbee placed
the money on a table to pay for the cattle the constable levied upon
enough to satisfy this judgment and the grinding creditor got out of the
whole transaction considerably in the hole.

   While most of the pioneers made the best of things and put up with
privations, there were those who missed the luxuries of the outside world.
Among these was a man named Betts who settled in the north

Page 68

west part of town in the early forties. He came from New York and was
always lamenting the fact that he could not enjoy what his neighbors put
up with. One morning it was found that he had taken poison and was dead.
This was the first experience of this character and was quite a shock for
the pioneer settlers.

   Dr. Gardner Wheeler's location in Howell as the first physician here
was noted in a previous chapter. He was followed in 1839, by Dr. Charles
A. Jeffries who remained here until 1843 when he moved to Washtenaw
county. Dr. William Huntington succeeded to his practice when he left
Howell and remained here until his death. His son Dr. Wm. C. Huntington
practiced with his father for many years and succeeded to the extensive
practice which he built.

   Dr. Nichols Hard located here in 1841 and remained for two years. Dr.
E. F. Olds moved here in 1843 but never practiced a great deal. He was a
fine penman and taught writing school while here. Dr. William Dowlman came
here from England in 1846, but never practiced a great deal. He was a
Methodist local preacher and did considerable work in that line in the
western part of the county. He served as regular pastor at Stevenson in
the upper peninsula in the latter' 70s and as far as known never came back
here. Dr. Thomas R. Spence located in Howell in 1846 and had an extensive
practice for about six years, when he moved to Detroit.

Page 69

Dr. Andrew Balance settled here in 1848 and held a leading place in his
profession for a good many years. Dr. Wm. L. Wells settled in Howell in
1849 and enjoyed a very extensive practice for the rest of his life.

   Attorney Wellington A Glover, Howell's first lawyer, was about two
years alone in his profession here and then Josiah W. Turner came in 1840.
Soon after settling here Judge Turner was appointed master in chancery. He
also became deputy county clerk under Jesse Mapes who held the office at
that time, and did the work of the office. Mr. Mapes resigned in February,
1842, and the young lawyer was appointed to the position. That coining
fall he was elected to the office and again in 1844. In November 1846, he
was elected county judge and re-elected in 1850. In 1856 he was elected
Judge of Probate. In May, 1857 he was appointed, Judge of the Supreme
Court. In the November election of that, year he was elected Circuit Judge
to which he was re-elected three times. In 1860 Judge Turner moved to
Owosso, to be nearer the center of his circuit. He continued to make that
his home until his death in 1907. He held several important governmental
positions after moving to Owosso. In his early years in Howell. he
attended to the duties of his official positions, engaged in other lines
of business, and built up a nice law practice. Soon after coming here he
built the office building just south of the city building, and a residence
on the lot now vacant, opposite Fishbeck

Page 70

Bros. shoe shop. He afterward built the house at the corner of Fleming and
Hubbell streets, now occupied by R. C. Reed, which was his home for a good
many years.

   Fredrick C. Whipple who settled in Brighton in 1841 and was the founder
of the Livingston Courier, moved to Howell with the paper, in 1846 and
practiced law here for twenty-two years. He served the county as Circuit
Court Commissioner, Prosecuting Attorney and Judge of Probate at various
times. He was a brilliant lawyer and was recognized as a leading jury
lawyer of the state.

   Lauren K. Hewett settled here in 1842 and practiced law for about
fifteen years. His brother Lewis H. Hewett was associated with him here
for some years. Richard B. Hall practiced law here from 1843 to 1848. He
afterwards went to California where he became a detective of some
considerable note.

   James H. Ackerson became a lawyer here in 1843. His practice has the
reputation of sharp dodging rather than profound law. A story is told that
he was employed to defend a man who was guilty of larceny. Ackerson saw
defects in the papers and arranged with his man to break them and then run
him off while they were drawing new ones. For this purpose he rode one
horse and led another when he went out to the country justice's for the
examination. The scheme worked and the prisoner got safely away on the
extra horse.

Page 71

   John B. Dillingham commenced the practice of law here about 1845, and
had a good business for about fourteen years. He moved to Saginaw in 1859.
While here on a visit and business trip sometime later, he was taken
suddenly sick and died.

   Justin Lawyer settled here to practice law in 1846 but only remained a
few years, moving from here to Union City, Branch county, from where he
afterwards moved to Coldwater. He died very suddenly a few years ago,
leaving a handsome property. His widow who is remembered here as a most
eccentric character, never admits anyone inside the door of her palacial
home and never leaves it in the daytime if she can possibly avoid doing
so. Practically all her connection with the outside world is done with her
telephone.

   Charles C. Ellsworth, first landlord of Gay's temperance hotel, studied
law with Judge Turner and was admitted to the bar here in 1848. He married
a daughter of Mr. Gay and moved to Greenville in 1851, where he became
prominent in his profession and in politics. He served that district in
Congress with some little distinction. Another of Judge Turner's students
was John F. Farnsworth who afterwards became a Congressman from an
Illinois district,

   William A Clark moved here from Brighton, while prosecuting attorney,
about 1851. In the early 1860's he moved to Saginaw.

   As noted previously Rev. Edward E. Gregory settled in Howell in 1839.
He lived for some time in

Page 72

Rev. Henry Root's unfinished house and as he used to say, "Cooked by a
stump in the street," at that time be tried farming, on his farm three
miles away. In 1845 he became pastor of the Presbyterian church here and
served faithfully in that position for two years. With the exception of a
short time in Owosso, Mr. Gregory continued to reside in Howell until his
death in 1884. He was of a quiet and unassuming nature but of sterling
Christian character. His name was associated with all the organizations
for moral uplift in the early days of this community.

   Joseph B. Skilbeck opened a shoe shop in Howell about 1840. His
business was gradually developed into a general store which he carried on
for a number of years, acquiring a good property which kept him in plenty
in his declining years.

   John R. Neely came here about the same time as Mr. Skilbeck. He was a
mason by trade, the pioneer in that line of business to live here. Several
of the older buildings are monuments of his labor.

   Joseph Howe the pioneer tailor was another to arrive about that time.

   The Livingston Courier, a five column folio paper, was the first
published in the county. Its first issue was at Brighton on January 10,
1843. Nicholas Sullivan was its first publisher and Frederick C. Whipple
was its first editor. Early in October, 1843, it was moved to Howell by
its publisher and Lewis H. Hewett was employed as editor. Its first issue
in

Page 73

Howell was October 11. About three years after moving to Howell, Mr.
Sullivan sold the Courier to E. R. Powell and it was afterwards owned by
William B. Smith and George P. Root. Under Mr. Root's management the paper
died in 1856. A few advertisements from the Courier of May 10, 1848, may
be of interest:

   "The Livingston Courier will be issued every Wednesday morning, at the
village of Howell, Livingston County, Michigan, E. R. Powell editor and
proprietor. Terms: One dollar and fifty cents per annum in advance
otherwise two dollars will be required in every case."

   "Hewett & Hall, Attorneys and Counselors at Law and Solicitors in
Chancery, office over Lee's, store, Howell, Livingston county, Mich. L. H.
Hewett, Prosecuting Attorney. R. B. Hall, Notary Public."

   "L. K. Hewett, Attorney and Counselor, Circuit, Court Commissioner.
Office opposite the Public Square, Howell."

   "Z. H. Marsh, M. D., Physician and Surgeon, Office one door east of the
Post Office, Howell, Liv., Co. Mich."

   "A. S. Hollister, Watch Maker, Clocks, Watches, Jewelry, &c., of every
description, cleaned, repaired and warranted. Shop one door east of the
Livingston Hotel."

   "John W. Smith, Justice of the Peace, Office one door west of the Post
Office, over W. Riddle's store, Howell, Mich."

Page 74

     "Livingston Hotel, by N. Sullivan, Howell, Livingston County,
Michigan."

   "Union Hall, by N. Smith, Howell, Mich."

   "New Harness Shop, Opposite the Court House kept by A. Hiscock."

   "Physic & Surgery. The undersigned having formed a partnership for the
purpose of practicing the above profession, will be ready at all times,
(unless engaged in professional business) to attend such as may require
their services. Gardner Wheeler, Thomas R. Spence.''

   Advertisements also appeared for Clark & Hopkins and W. A. Buckland,
general merchants; Bush & Co. grocers, and L. K. Hewett, wheat buyer. The
only item of local news in the whole paper read as follows: "Going Ahead.
Our village is progressing with rapid strides; building after building is
arising on either hand, while the hand-saw and hammer of the carpenters
almost deafen one. Tearing down, drawing off and rebuilding, is the order
of the day. Messrs. Hinman & Bush and Hewett & Huntley have commenced the
cellar for a large two-story brick block to be occupied as stores and
offices. Onward is the march of empire. We are creditably informed that
the entire stock of the Plank road from Detroit through this place to the
capitol, will soon be taken and finished to this place. We opine such good
luck for the present."