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F 574.R35B755 1876 C.1 Histo  o
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-OF THE
TOWNSHIP OF RANSOM,
MillsCale Comty,
MICHIG AN.
July 4-th, A. ID., 1876,
-BYSAMUEL B. BROWN.

HILLSDALE:
Standard Steam Primting House,
1Sz6.




MICHIGAN STATE LIBRARY
LANSING 13




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2, 36

HISTORY OF RANSOM.

Its Fornuttion-Early         Settlem    ent-Early    SettlersPopulation-Statistics, cc., 4c.
In compliance with the act of Congress, requesting that a historical oration of each township be delivered in each township July 4th, 1876, and by
request of the Governor, the following historical sketch of the township of
Ransom was compiled and delivered at the celebration at Ransom, July 4th,

by Samuel B. Brown, of that township:
PERIOD FIRST,
Extended from the creation of the
world-to the discovery of America by
Columbus, A. D., 1492.
"In the beginning, God created the
Heavens and the Earth-"
Geologists and Moses may settle the
time, included in this period of our history. Our object is accomplished when
we record the fact that Ransom was a
portion of this earth.
PERIOD SECOND,
Extends from the discovery of America
a by Columbus unto the settlement of
this country by the Pilgrims, at Plimmouth, Massachusetts, A. D., 1620.
During the time included in this
second period of our history, various
Sand numerous expeditions for the exploration and settlement of the continent of North America, sailed from
different countries of Europe. The expedition that sailed in the May Flower,
and landed on Plymouth rock, became
a success, and North America was settled by the race of men that now inhabit it, in Latitude 41 0 50' north and in
Longitude 7 o 30' west from Washington, and you will be in Ransom, thus
showing Ransom to be included in and
forming a part of North America.

PERIOD THIRD,
Extends from the settlement of the
country, A. D., 1620, until the Declaration of the Independence of the United
of America July 4, A. D. 1776.
Thesuccess attending the settlement
in Massachusetts, stimulated settlements in other portions of the country,
and by other countries.   England,
France and Germany, vied with each
other in their efforts to get possession
of the countiy and effect settlements,
the English occupied New England and
the Atlantic coast generally as far
south as Georgia. The Dutch discovered the Hudson river, and effected
settlement at New York, and as far up
the river as Albany. The French discovered the St. Lawrence river and effected settlement at various points and
on tie upper lakes, and established a
line of trading posts from Lake Erie to
the Ohioi river and the Mississippi river to New Orleans, and were in possession of the country in the region of the
lakes and the valleys of the Ohio and
Mississippi rivers, as early as the fore
part of the eighteenth century. Previous to July 4,1776, England by treaty
stipulations and wars, had got possession, and exercised jurisdiction over
the St. Lawrence and the great lakes,




4
the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and previously lived in Wayne county New
the lands adjoining the same. The York; in the year 1832, in October,
various colonies of Great Britain that moved into Michigan,and located in the
took part in the Declaration of Inde- town of Sylvania, now in the State of
pendence, claimed as their territory all Ohio. From Sylvania he came to Ranthe country south and west of the St. som, where he arrived March 8, 1836.
Lawrence and the great lakes-thus With him     came his wife and seven
Ransom was included in the Declara- children, four daughters and three
tion of Independence.               sons; also a young man, by the name
of Leander Candee, as a man of all
PERIOD FOTRTH,             all work; what his wages were, or for
Extends from the Declaration of Inde- what he served, the only record we
pendence in 1776, unto the admission have is, that four years after, to-wit.,
of Michigan as a State into the Union, March 1840, he took to wife Lorinda
in January 1837.                    Bird, and no doubt considered himself
During the first ten years following amply repaid for all the privations and
the Declaration of Independence, no hardships he had endured.
mention is made of our immediate lo-  For one or two years Mr. Birds famcality, but on the 13th day of July 17 7, ilys only neighbors were the wild anian ordinance for the government of the mals, with which the forests abounded,
territory of the United States north- and an occasional traveler in search of
west of the river Ohio, was passed in a location to settle. The next 'family
Congress. In Congress, Aug. 7, 1789, in town was Orrin Cobb's, on the west
an act was passed regulating the inter- town line; he was soon followed by a
course between the territorial officers number of families, and in the spring
and the general government. In Con- of 1840 the inhabitants of the town
gress, May 8, 1792, an act conferring numbered about one hundred, and
additional powers upon territorial offi- measures were taken to organize the
cers was passed. In Congress, Jan. 11, town. On the sixth day of April 1840,
1805, an act to divide the Indian ter- an election of township officers was
ritory into two separate governments held at the house of Alexander Palmer,
was passed, this act set off from  the on section four in town eight south of
other Indian territory, the land north range two west, and the town was
of the southern extremity of lake Mich- named Rowland. and included town
igan, and lying between lake Michigan eight and fraction nine, running south
and lake Erie, and extending north to to the State line.
the northern boundary of the United   The township record furnish the folStates into a separate territory and lowing particulars.
called it Michigan, with the seat of  Inspectors of  election--Rowland
government, at Detroit.  Settlements Bird, Orin Cobb, Rufus Rathburn, and
of the territory of Michigan progressed Joseph Howe.
slowly for many years; an unfavorable  Clerk--Thomas Burt.
impression that  the   country  was   Number of votes polled was eighteen.
swampy and unfit for cultivation pre-  For Supervisor, Leander Candee revailed to a large extent. At the date ceived 18. For Town Clerk, Israel S.
of the admission of Michigan to the Hodges received 18.  For Treasurer,
Union as a State, tho population did Rowland Bird received 18. For Asnot exceed, according theU. S. census, Assessor, Matthew Armstrong. Row40,000, and among them was Rowland land Bird and     Orin  Cobb receivBird and family of Ransom, the first ed each 18.   For Collector, Alexand only white inhabitant of this town. ander Palmer received 18. For School
Inspectors, Matthew Armstrong, Israel
PERIOD FIFTH,            S. Hodges and James H. Babcock reExtends from January 1837, the date ceived 18. For Directors of the Poor,
of the admission of Michigan into the Joseph Howe and William Phillips reUnion until July 4, A. D. 1876.     ceived each 18 votes. For CommisWith the present period of our his- sioners of Highways, James H. Babtory commenced active operation in the cock, Alexander Palmer, and Henry
settement of Ransom. Rowland Bird, Cornell received 18. For Justice of
a native of Massachusetts, who had the Peace, Rowland Bird, James H.




5

Babcock, Matthew   Armstrong    and
Henry Cornell received each 18. For
Constables, Alexander Palmer, Joseph
Phillips, Amos S. Drake and Alexander Findiey received 18 votes.
There were twenty-eight officers and
eighteen voters, there being more officers than voters; but one ticket was
put in the field. In 1841 there being
more voters than officers, two tickets
were run, and the parties were very
evenly divided; for Supervisor Nelson
Doty received 17 votes, and Leander
Candee received 16 votes; the candidates for Clerk received 16 votes each.
In 1848, the record reads-the township of Ransom, formerly Rowland,
June 4, 1849, recorded as Bird, formerly Ransom. April 13, 1850, the record reads-township of Bird. April
26, 1850 it feads-township of Ransom.
We have seen maps of Michigan in
which this town is called Fenton, but
it appears nowhere on the records of
the town. The name of Ransom has
continued uninterupted since 1850, and
now holds the town by right of possession. The first town meeting voted
to raise $25 to be used as a bounty for
killing wolves, and the same sum  as
bounty money for killing bears. $125
was voted for township expenses. Of
the twenty-eight names mentioned in
connection with the first township
meeting but two are living in town at
present, viz., Thomas Burt and Alexander Palmer. The first framed building in town was a barn built by Rowland Bird, in 1838, men coming as far
as from Jonesville to the raising. The
first school taught in town was by Lucinda Bird, in a shanty on the north
west quarter of section eight, on the
land now owned by Geo. W. Boothe,
in the summer of 1838; three families
sent to school, Mr. Cobb, Mr. Hodges
and Mr. Bird. The first school house
was built in district No. 2, near the
sight of the present house, in 1839 or
1840. The first frame school house
was built in 1844, in district No. 7, on
the site now occupied by the brick one
in said district. There are eight school
houses in town at present, three brick
and five frame buildings. The first
birth that occurred in this town was a
child of Mr. and Mrs. James H. Babcock, in 1839. The first death was Allen Bird, March 8, 1839, just three
years from the day Mr. Bird arrived in

town; his age was sixteen.  The first
sermon preached was at the funeral of
Allen Bird, and was preached by the
Rev. Mr. Ambler, of Osseo. The first
marriage was Jane Drake, daughter of
Deacon Drake, in the south part of
the town (now Amboy) in 1839.
The organization of Ransom in comparison of other towns in the county,
it was one of the last, the first town organization affecting this town was Mosco in 1835; it included towns 5, 6, 7, 8,
and fraction 9, south of range 2 west.
In 1837 Jefferson was organized as
Florida, and for three years Florida
exercised a fatherly care over this
town, laying out roads, collecting taxes
etc. Woodbridge was organized the
same year this town was, and in 1841
Cambria was oiganized; Wright, in
1838 was organized as Canaan, and the
first settlers in Ransom lived not far
from the land of Canaan. In 1850 Amboy was organized as a town made up
of one tier of sections from town 8,
south 2 west, and one tier from 8 south
3 west, and fractionals 9 south 2 west,
and 9 south 3 west, which leaves Ransom a fractional town with 30 sections
instead of 36.
In 1839, we have already mentioned
that one son of Mr.Bird's died. In April
1840; within two months of the time
she was married, Mrs. Candee, his
eldest daughter, died April 9th, the
same day Eunice Bird, his youngest
daughter, died, both of scarlet fever.
September 18, 1840, Mr. Bird's youngest son died, aged six years. September 22, four days after the death of his
son, Rowland Bird died, aged 47 years.
Of the remainder of the family two are
now living, Mrs. Nelson Doty, of Ransom, and her sister in Sylvania, Ohio.
The spiritual wants of the inhabitants of Ransom have not wholly been
neglected; churches have been organized, meeting houses built, and the
gospel brought within the reach of all
the inhabitants. There are five meeting houses in town, the First Congregational, erected in 1855; the next the
Methodist Episcopal; the Seventh Day
Advents have a house, and the United
Brethren have two houses in town,
with arrangements made for building
a third.  There is no place in town
where intoxicating liquors are sold as
a beverage, and never has been, except
it was sold clandestinely.  The first
A.




6
church organization was the Congrega- bushels of corn; Ransom in 1873 protional church, organized May 19, 1848. duced 99,660 bushels of corn.  The
In this history it will be impossible dairy product of Hillsdale County in
to specify year by year the improve- 1810 was worth $5,626; the dairy proments made, or the increase of popula- duct of Ransom in 1873 was $21,152,75.
tion; but by a comparison of the pres-  The earlier settlers were all on an
ent with forty years ago, we shall arrive equal footing, all lived in log houses,
at the facts in the case. In 1836, forty all choped and cleared land; all shot
years ago, Ransom was an unbroken wild animals; all had their axe and
forest, not one acre of cleared land, but gun, the strife among them was who
all heavy timber. Of the 19,185 acres should make the largest clearing.  It
of land in Ransom, 12,074 acres are im- is said that history repeats itself, and I
proved, 2,111 acres are iacluded in the shall state the situation correctly if I
highways and partial improvements, quote from Sacred History:  "A man
and 5,000 acres are wood.  The im- was famous according as he had lifted
provements including highways aver- up his axe against the thick trees."
age nine acres to every inhabitant of Ransom abounded in men of fame. It
the town.   Forty years ago people is within the recollection of the grown
traveling in Ransom with a team had up boys and girls to-day, who had the
to cut and clear a road, to-day there first carpet on their floor; who had the
are in Ransom seventy miles of high- first framed house; who had the first,way, occupying 560 acres of land. The buggy; who had the first mowing mainhabitants of Ransom have invested chine; the first swing machine, or the
in their highways a capital of $70,400, first melodeon. But not one of them
and are expending annually $2,000 in can tell how many of these articles
repairing their highways.  (It is no there are in town to-day, for they have
part of this history to state whether ceased numbering them.  Those early
the roads are as good as the investment days were not without their recreations.
ought to furnish.)  Forty years ago Raisings, logings, huskings, and quiltthere was not a rod of fence in Ran- ings were recreations, and the fiddle
som; to-day there are 420 miles of the only musical instrument, in town
fence, at 50 cents a rod is $160 a mile, was available in every house as occamaking $67,200, the cost of fences, not sion required. When they got married
including any repairs.  Forty years some paid the justice in money, some
ago there was one dwelling house in in work, some got trusted, and some
Ransom, to-day there are 341; then paid a broom.
there was one family, to-day there are  The genious of our people was al346; then there were ten inhabitants in ways equal to all emergencies, many a
town. latest statistics give us 1,539. family has wintered in a house without
The census of 1874 furnish us with a door, or window, or lower floor; the
items of interest, some of which we way they managed, they put the stove
will record.  In 1873 1,962 acres of and bed in the chambei and lived up
wheat were harvestedin Ransom, yield- there. The bear and wolf were kept
ing 24,871 bushels, 13 bushels per acre; from the door in the day time with the
1,852 acres of corn were harvested, rifile; and from the bed side in the
yealding 99,660 bushels of ears, 54 night by drawing the ladder into the
bushels an acre.  In 1874 there were chamber.  When one of our first set522 acres of apple orchards in Ran- tlers wanted sash for the windows of
som; sheep 1,848; hogs 1,138; horses his new log house he got up in the
577; mules 5; oxen 46: cows 886; wool morning and started for Jonesville, folsheared in 1873, 16,079 tbs; pork sold lowing Indian trails, and blazed trees,
183,504 lbs; cheese made 49,882 lbs; arrived at his destination he bought
butter made 89,580 lbs. In comparing his sash for five windows, paid for
the productions of Ransom in 1873 them every cent of money he had,
with the productions of Hillsdale coun- strung them on his arms and turned
tv in 1840, we have the following re- his steps homeward where he arrived
sults in 1840: H[illsdale county produc- late in the evening, not having eaten a
ed 80,250 bushels of wheat; Ransom in mouthful since he left home in the
1873 produced 24,871 bushels cf wheat; morning. Another man wanting some
in 1840 the county produced 82,757 oats for seed took with him his boy




thirteen years old and started; he got
his oats two or three miles this side of
Hudson; he took two bushels his boy
one, putting them on their shoulders
they started for home; between two
and three o'clock they came ih sight of
the house, and that boy laid his bag on
the ground and laid down on it the
tiredest he ever was. When those oats
were sown they were.not wild oats.
These incidents show how the first settlers lived.  Some of the first settlers
bought their land of the government,
but most of them bought second hand.
Only three or four now living in town
received their deeds from the government, two are Gilbert Howland, and
Thomas Burt.
This town has had sixteen different
supervisors, nine served one year-each,
four served two years each, two served
five years, and one served ten years.
There has been levied upon the town
for incidental expenses an average of
$190.00 a year since its organization;;
the largest sum was $300., the smallest
was $25.   The town of Ransom is
square with the world owing no one,
and no one owing them. At the organization of the town, 23 officers served
the town, now 16 officers fill the bill.
The duties formerly performed by six
officers are now executed by the supervisor, and one man does the duties of
Commissioner of Highways.
The first resident Physician in Ransom, was Dr. Lee.  The first store in
Ransom, was kept by Dr. Lee, in 1851.
The first store in Ransom village,
was kept by Ichabod Stedman, in 1855.
A Post Office was first established in
Ransom in 1847; A. T. Kimball as
Post master, residence on Section 9;
mail once a week. The first sawmill in
town was built by Mr. Gay, in south
part of town, now in Amboy.   Grist
mills, the town has never had but a
short time, not long enough to get used
to it. The inhabitants of this town go
to Amboy, Pioneer, Cambria, Jefferson, Wright or Hillsdale to mill. The
first settlers used to go to Tecumseh
with their grists.
Ransom has had her share of fires.
Some ten or twelve families have lost
their dwellings, and all or part of their
household goods and provisions. C.
B. Shepard met with the first loss of
this kind in the fall of 1841 in Oct.;
with the lumber he had drawn from

Keene, north of Hudson, for floors and
doors to his house.  He had built a
shanty in which he slept, cooked his
meat and potatoes, and stored his effects. He left Saturday afternoon for
Adams, to spend the Sabbath, and on
his return to bring a load of goods.
On Monday when he returned his lumber for his new house was gone, and he
mistrusted it was burned; from what
he could discover he suspected the
powder he left in the bottom of the
boiler, that was full of tin pans and
cooking utensils, had exploded for the
woods about there was full of tin twisted and torn in all manner of shapes.
And his suspicions were confirmed by
folks living within five or six miles
having heard an explosion in that direction about sundown Saturday. He
never sees a piece of crooked tin but
he thinks of the powder he lost.  He
kept on in the even tenor of his way as
best he could after what had happened,
and on the 14th day of December, 1841
moved his family into his new house,
and for the want of lower floor, doors
and windows, he lived up stairs the
first winter.
Death by accident has occurred in
a number of instances. In 1851 Mr.
Featherly was killed by a falling limb,
while in the woods east of Danforth
Bugbees Corners. In 1860 Mr. Joles
was killed by lightening; not far from
that time old Mr. Siddle was killed
while falling a tree, in the southwest
part of the town.  A young man by
the name of Ward was killed by falling
onto a pitch fork, in the south part of
the town.  The explosion of a steam
boiler in a saw mill on the farm of
Charles Burt, in the southeast part of
the town in 1872 killed four and injured a number of others.  In the northeast part of the town, violent death by
premeditated violence, occurred Feb.
6th, 1876; Horace A. Burnett was the
victim, Jacob Stevick the criminal.
The great event, the one that most
effected Ransom of any that ever occurred, was the rebellion.  Ransom
with a population in 1860 of 1,159, and
with possibly 300 liable to military duty, furnished for the army during the
war, for the preservation of the union,
one hundred and forty-three (143.)
These one hundred and forty-three
men, in the language of Jeptha, "put
their lives in their hands and passed




8

over against the enemy."   Forty of
this number laid down their lives for
their country.  Many of them lay in
far off and unknown graves.  In the
Fourth Michigan Infantry, the first
regiment that went from this vicinity,
enlisted as three months men, and
which took part in the first Bull Run,
five went from this town; their names
were James Tarsney, Riley Ainsworth,
Hiram Hartson,Ira Williams and Avery
Randall.  April 15, 1861, the day the
call was made for 75,000 men, James
Tarsney was in Hillsdale, from Ransom, and' enlisted.  April 16 Riley
Ainsworth, Hiram   L. Hartson, Ira
Williams and Avery Randell, enlisted,
being the first from Ransom. Of this
number Hiram Hartson only came back,
'the others died in the service of the
country.  Eleven years have passed
away, thd great openings made by the
war are closed up, and we have almost
forgotten that there was a war, but for
the record kept by our war supervisor,
the late Warren McCutcheon,we should
have had no account of many of Ransoms citizens who went into the war.
We have no data from which we can
ascertain the number of births or
deaths that have occurred in Ransom
since the settlement of the town, but
from statistics taken of late years we
learn that one birth occurs to every
thirty-one inhabitants; and that one
death occurs to every seventy inhabitants annually.
How many trees were planted on the
fifteenth of April last, in response to
the proclamation of Governor Bagley,
I am not able to state, but that many
trees were planted on that day is a part
of this history.
On this one hundredth anniversary
of our Nations existence, while Uncle

Samuel with representatives of all the
families of this nation and with invited
guests from every nation on the earth,
is holding a celebration at the old
homested in Philadelphia, in the very
room where his existence began, or in
the language of another, "where he is
holding his second Golden Wedding at
the old homested," we in Ransom are
celebrating the Fortieth Anniversary
since the settlement of Ransom, and
the Fortieth Anniversary since the admission of Michigan into the Union, or
in other words are clebrating our 'Woolen Wedding.'
When I shall have recorded the programme of the proceedings of this day
my work as historian will be finished.
CELEBRATION IN RANSOM JULY 4, 1876.
President of the   Day-Napoleon
Clark.
Vice Presidents-William H. H. Pettit,of Ransom; C. D  Luce, of Jefferson; Edward Carroll, of Pittsford;
George Likely and Leonidus Hubbard,
of Wright; William Drake, of Amboy;
Peter Hewitt, of Woodbridge.
Field Marshal-Richard Hart.
Ground Marshal-T. C. Baker.
Chaplain-Rev. Mr. Stout.
Reader of the Declaration-Alfred
Hart.
Orator-Rev. D. A. Ide.
Historiau-Samuel B. Brown.
Music by Marshal Band from   Pioneer.
Procession to form and march to the
grove at ten o'clock a. m., after literary exercises refreshments, the afternoon to be devoted to various sports;
in the evening grand torch-light procession and fire works.  The fifth period of our history is closed.
SAMUEL B. BROWN,
Historian.







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