CALVIN TOWNSHIP.

From this nucleus of settlers in Jefferson in the spring of 1829 departed Abner Tharp to a suitable spot in Calvin township, where he erected a log cabin, plowed ten acres on the opening, and by reason of these improvements and the crop of corn and potatoes which he raised that year is entitled to the place of first actual settler in that township. It is said that he was the sole occupant of the township throughout the first summer. He was not a permanent settler, however, for in 1830 he returned to Jefferson, and in subsequent years lived in various parts of the west, only returning to pass his last years in Calvin township at the village of Brownsville.

PORTER TOWNSHIP.

Only a few more names can be mentioned among those of the first comers to Cass county. In Porter township there located in 1828 a settler who varied considerably from the regular type of pioneer, both as to personal character and the events of his career. John Baldwin was a southerner; averse to hard labor; never made improvements on the tract which he took up as the first settler in Porter; but, for income, relied upon a tavern which he kept for the accommodation of the travelers through that section, and also on his genius for traffic and dicker. He had hardly made settlement when his wife died, her death being the first in the township. It appears that Baldwin carried to extreme that unfortunate trade principle of giving the least possible for the largest value obtainable. In one such transaction with his neighbors the Indians, he bargained for the substantial possession of certain oxen by the offer of a definite volume of fire water. There were no internal revenue officers in those days to determine the grade and quality of frontier liquor, and the strength of the potation was regulated by individual taste or the exigencies of supply and demand. Certainly in this case the customers of Mr. Baldwin were somewhat exacting. Having consumed an amount of their favorite beverage sufficient, as they judged from former experiments, to transport them temporarily to the happy hunting grounds, and waiting a reasonable time for the desired effect with no results, they at once waited upon Mr. Baldwin with the laconic explanation that the liquor contained "heap too much bish" (water). Evidently this deputation of protest proved ineffectual, for a few nights later the aggrieved former owners of the oxen repaired to the Baldwin tavern, and, arming themselves with shakes pulled from the door, forced

an entrance, and, pulling the unfortunate landlord out of bed, proceeded to beat him about the head and shoulders in a most merciless manner, not leaving off their fearful punishment until they thought life was extinct. Mr. Baldwin finally recovered, however, but not for a long time was he able to resume business. This event was the subject of much comment among the settlers for many years, and was one of the very few Indian atrocities to be found on the annals of the county. No arrests were made, but the Pottawottomie tribe paid dearly for the assault, for Mr. Baldwin filed a bill with the government, claiming and eventually receiving several thousand dollars in damages, which was retained from the Indians' annuities.

A number of settlers arrived in Porter in 1829, among them William Tibbetts, Daniel Shellhammer, Caleb Calkins (who was a carpenter and joiner by trade), Nathan G. O'Dell, George P. Schultz. With Mr. Schultz came his step-son, Samuel King, then fourteen years old, but who became one of the most successful men in Porter township and at one time its largest land owner.

VOLINIA TOWNSHIP.

The rather remarkable history of Volinia township had also begun previously to organization. During the twelvemonth of 1829 many people located in this portion of northern Cass county, among those named as first settlers being Samuel Morris, Sr., J. Morelan, H. D. Swift and Dolphin Morris. One does not go far in the history of this township, either in pioneer times or the present, without meeting the name Gard. With some special mention of the family of this name we shall close this chapter on early settlement.

Jonathan Gard was born in New Jersey in 1799, was taken to Ohio in 1801, and spent his youth and early manhood in the vicinity of Cincinnati and in Union county, Indiana. He was well fitted by nature and training to be a pioneer, possessing the rugged qualities of mind and body that are needed to make a new civilization. While prospecting about southern Michigan in the fall of 1828, in search of a place for a new home, chance brought him together with a party who were bound on a like mission, consisting of Elijah Goble, Jesse and Nathaniel Winchell and James Toney. They stopped a few days at the home of their old friend, Squire Thompson, on Pokagon prairie, and then proceeded to the region that is now comprised in Volinia township. Little Prairie Ronde was the spot that most attracted them, and there Mr. Goble and

Mr. Gard selected farms, while Mr. Toney chose a tract on what later became known as Gard's prairie. In the following spring Mr. Gard, Mr. Goble and Samuel Rich came to take possesion of their new homes. Because of the fact that Mr. Toney had been unable to leave his former home, Mr. Gard took the claim that had been chosen by Mr. Toney, and thus it came about that he was the original settler on Gard's prairie and gave it its name. Jonathan Gard spent the remainder of his life at this spot, until his death in 1854. He was the founder of the family which has included so many well known men of Cass county, a grandson of this pioneer being the present treasurer of Cass county.

It is very remarkable that this beautiful region of country should remain absolutely unsettled until the late twenties, and that settlers from different parts of the United States, without any preconcerted action or communication with each other, should begin to pour in at just this time; but so it was. Here different families for the first time met each other, and here their lives were first united in the same community, and in many cases by marriage in the same home.

None of those early settlers whom we have named remain. On the long and weary march they have been dropping out one by one until of the pioneer warfare not a veteran is left. It would be impossible, in a work like this, to trace the life history and describe the end of each one of them, and for this there would not be sufficient space.

CHAPTER V.

"PIONEERS OF CASS COUNTY."

"All members of the society who came into or resided in Cass county prior to 1840 shall be deemed 'Pioneers of Cass County.'"

This extract from the constitution of the Pioneer Society has suggested an appropriate record of the pioneers, in such a form as to supplement the preceding pages and to add many details of personal chronology such as the narrative could not present. Therefore it has been determined to bring together, in alphabetical order, a very brief and matter-of-fact mention of the deceased pioneers, considering under that designation only those who became identified by birth or settlement with the county not later than the year 1840.

Completeness of the record is quite beyond the limits of possibility and has not been attempted. Yet it is believed that the pioneers of the county are well represented here, and in a form for easy reference.

Moreover, a study of the following records is extremely instructive, as documents on the early history of the county. Records of dates and localities though they are, they suggest entire stories of immigration and settlement. The sources of the county's early citizenship, and the character of the stocks which determined in large measure the institutions and social conditions in the county, are indicated in these annals almost at a glance.

The first deduction to be drawn is the overwhelming preponderance of New York's quota among the pioneers. Some few well known families, notably the Silvers from New Hampshire, were native to the strictly New England states. Delaware furnished several worthy families, Vermont is honorably represented, but either directly or as the original source New York state was the alma mater to more pioneers than any other state. New York was the recruiting ground, as is well known, for the western expansion which began early in the nineteenth century. That was true, in large measure, when the practicable route of that immigration was through the gateway of the Alleghanies at Pittsburg and down the valley of the Ohio. But New York did not reach its full

pre-eminence in the westward movement until the opening of the Erie canal in 1825, after which the full tide of homeseekers was rolled along that highway into the untried wilderness of the west.

For a long time Ohio was an intermediate place of settlement between the east and the far west. Also, it was a focal ground upon which lines of migration from New England, from the middle Atlantic and from southern states converged. Ohio occupies a position only second to New York in furnishing pioneers to Cass county. And of Ohio's counties, Logan, Butler and Preble seem foremost in this respect. Here the uncompromising abolitionists from North Carolina first settled before Cass county became a goal for many.

Carefully studied, these records tell many other things about the pioneer beginnings of Cass county. The stages by which many families gradually reached this point in their westward migration are marked by children's births at various intervening points. And sometimes the bonds of marriage united families from widely sundered localities, the community of residence which brought this about being now in Ohio, now in Indiana, and perhaps more often here in Cass county.

These are but a few of the inferences and conclusions that may be found in the annals which follow, and besides the historical value they thus possess, this is a means of preserving permanently many individual records which have a personal interest to hundreds in Cass county. Ashley, Thompson-Born in Penn township in 1831; in 1853 went to California, where he died June 8, 1906.

Abbott, Joseph H.-Born near Toronto, Canada, January 12, 1812; came to Howard township in 1834, where he died November 1, 1878. Alexander, Ephraim-Born in Pennsylvania November 6, 1819; came to Cass county in 1831; died in Dakota December 9, 1885.

Allen, Mrs. Demarias-Born in 1799; came to Ontwa township in 1835; died in Jefferson township August 5, 1887.

Arnold, Henry-Born in Sheffield, Massachusetts, July 25, 1807; came to Cass county in 1835; died August 25, 1889.

Andrus, Mrs. Fanny-Born in Cayuga county, New York, November 4, 1808; came to Ontwa township in 1835; died in Mason township January 29, 1894.

Andrus, Hazard-Born in New York in 1789; came to Ontwa in 1834; died March 3, 1862.

Anderson, Lemuel H.-Born in Warren county, Ohio, July 20, 1829; came to Cass county in 1833; died in South Bend August 5, 1895.