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My father was the first settler
in Caledonia, Kent County. We settled there in the fall of 1839 on section 35 on what was called
“Gull Trail," an Indian trail from Gull Prairie to Grand Rapids. At that time all the southern part of Kent county was called Ada, so called
after Ada Smith, the first white child born in that township. Her parents lived
very near where the
Thornapple
River
empties into the Grand River
.
Sometimes
during the winter of 1840 the stage road from
Grand Rapids
to
Kalamazoo, by way of
Ada, was surveyed by Mr. Slawson. They were at our house several days during which
time father helped them. They were helped in that way by all the settlers along
the route.
In the spring of 1840 the two townships of Caledonia and Bowne were
organized as one and called
Caledonia. Every voter had an office and some had two. There were no political parties
and no man was slighted, but every man must do his part.
At this time
Coldwater River, or Chick-see-na-bish as it was called by the Indians, was crossed by a long
bridge. For the building of this bridge a day was appointed by the settlers and
every man and every boy old enough to use an axe, came and worked on the bridge.
Mr. William Lewis of Yankee Springs came a distance of fourteen miles to help at
this bridge building. The
Thornapple
River
at
Ada
was crossed by ferry. In the summer of 1840 the first frame bridge across these
streams was built by Mr. McCullum of Yankee Springs. The men were at work on the
one that crossed the Coldwater at the time of father’s death.
As
soon as Mr. McCullum heard of our sorrow he started for home, stopping at all
the houses and telling the sad news. At the first house, Squire Leonard’s a
distance of five miles, a Methodist minister, who was on his way to
Grand Rapids, had stopped for the night. Mr. Leonard kindly asked him to remain and preach
the funeral sermon, which he did. It was seldom that we had divine service even
at a funeral and kind neighbors came eighteen miles to attend.
The
burying ground was at what is now Bowne
Center and contained but one grave, a child of Mr. Wm. Wooley having been buried there
the previous winter. The place was surrounded by woods except a swamp on one
side; not a dwelling in sight, although two houses occupied by Mr. Tyler and son
were not far away. Their clearings were small, the forest very dense, and heavy
timber land. This was a school section which would bring it in the center of the
township and that was why that location was chosen for the burying ground.
The road from our house to the burying ground was very new, not much but
a trail; a man went ahead of the teams with an ax to cut and clear any
obstructions that might be in the way. There was but one horse team which was my
father’s and that drew his remains to its last resting place; all the rest
were ox teams. Those were sad days for my mother; she did not despair but did
the best she could to make a home and everyone was very kind to the widow and
one child left alone in the wilderness.
About this time the parents of our mutual friend, Mrs. Duncan Campbell,
settled in what is now the town of Bowne
.
Our
house was situated at the forks of the road, one leading to the mouth of
Flat
River, or Lowell, 14 miles distant, Saranac and Ionia, and the other to
Grand Rapids
by way of
Ada. The stage ran from
Kalamazoo
to
Grand Rapids
once a week, the nearest post office Yankee Springs, fourteen miles away and
letter postage 25 cents. The stamps were good large ones and very choice at that
price. The stage driver would deliver all mail along the route as far as our
house.
The
stage was a large wagon drawn by two horses; as travel increased the wagon was
made better and had an oil cloth cover and four horses. The roads were better,
not so many grubs, ruts and stumps, swamps were drained or crossed by corduroy
bridges covered with dirt and gravel. The road ran from
Battle Creek
, intersecting the
Kalamazoo
road at Gull Prairie; the stage came twice a week now.
In
March 1842 my mother was married to Peter D. McNaughton and our place became
known as McNaughton’s tavern.
Mr.
Amos Rathbun, who afterwards settled in Caledonia, came through with a drove of
cattle and horses, driving them from
Ohio
and
Indiana
and selling them to the settlers. Every man could keep quite a drove of cattle,
his land was worked by oxen and he must have one or two yoke and sometimes more.
He could raise good corn and potatoes, rutabagas, and as much hay for winter use
as he had a mind to cut, in the summer he had the woods for a pasture let of
many miles in extent.
About
this time, perhaps 1843, my step-father was appointed post master.
In
1845 or ’46 the stage road from Battle Creek by the way of Hastings was
opened, intersecting the Kalamazoo road on the county line between Kent and
Barry counties, about a mile south of our place, and a daily stage ran from
Battle Creek to Grand Rapids. The road from
Battle Creek
to
Hastings
was through heavy timbered land, and at times was very muddy. Passengers used
to carry rails to pry the stage out of the mud. The cars were now running to
Battle Creek. The stage would leave there for
Grand Rapids
soon after the cars came in, perhaps four or five o’clock p.m., arriving the
next morning, and would leave
Grand Rapids
at four o’clock a.m. daily, one day by the way of Yankee Springs to Kalamazoo
and the next by the way of Hastings to Battle Creek. The people now began to
think they were in touch with the outside world.
In the
winter, when the sleighing was good, a great deal of plaster was hauled from
Grand Rapids
by farmers from Marshall,
Battle Creek, Sturgis, Kalamazoo
and intervening places. They would go in companies of from five to twenty or
thirty teams from one vicinity, taking loads of pork or beef, or some kind of
farm produce to sell. (Grand Rapids
at that time was supplied, in a great measure, by the southern part of the
state. We raised no fruit that was all brought in from the southern part of the
state.)
These farmers would buy a warm supper and breakfast but carry a cold
lunch from home for dinner, drive into Grand Rapids, sell their load, for which they would find a ready market, and load up with
plaster for home. Often times we would have the same company two nights in
succession. They were up early in the morning and had a good start on the road
by daylight.
This
little sketch covers a period of about ten years and shows the rapid growth and
development of a new country.
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