out into the yard and closed the door. A little parleying settled the matter. Joseph Back tells a laughable incident of Metea, the Pattawatomie chief. This fine old fellow came one day to Back's cabin, and was invited to dine with the family. He seated himself at the table with the others, and after a few minutes took out a big bottle of whisky and passed it around the table, all taking a hearty drink of the fiery liquid. This soon served to warm and mellow all hearts, especially that of Metea, who repassed the bottle till all the liquor had disappeared. As soon as the last had been swallowed, Metea took from his clothing a deer bladder filled with a fresh supply of whisky, and raising the nozzle to his lips, filled his capacious mouth, and then squirted its contents into the bottle, repeating the performance to the intense amusement of those around him, until the glass vessel was again full. He then, nothing daunted by the mirth of his companions, handed the bottle out to be again passed around, but this was refused; all had had enough.

ORGANIZATION OF THE TOWNSHIP.

The following is quoted from the records of the County Commissioners of March, 1839: "Upon application made by W. H. B. Smith and others, the board order that there be a new township created and organized, to be known and designated by the name of Bridgewater Township, to be composed of the following territory: All the original surveyed townships of Ranges 3 and 4 west, Townships 9 and 10 south, and the west tier of sections in Townships 9 and 10 south, Range 2 west, of the Michigan Meridian. Election to be held at the house of Daniel Smith on the first Monday in April, 1839." All the men then living in the township except, perhaps, some two or three, met to effect the organization of the township. It will be noticed that, at this time, Northwest was attached to Bridgewater. From the township record of this election, which is yet in existence, it seems that this first election was held on the 1st day of April. The Judges of Election were Daniel Smith, Miles Putnam and Robert Follett; and the Clerks, Nathaniel S. Dewey and Curtis Cogswell. The following officers were elected: Trustees, Hiram Covell, Asa Church and Chandler Holt; Clerk, Anson Smith; Overseers of the Poor, Robert Follett and Miles Putnam; Superintendent of Roads, Asa Smith; Fence Viewers, N. S. Dewey, Erastus G. Back and Asa Smith; Constables, Erastus G. Back and Asa Smith; School Inspectors, N. S. Dewey, Curtis Cogswell and Robert Follett. On the 16th of April, the same year, the Trustees appointed Asa Smith, TreasAll these officers-elect qualified except Erastus G. Back, as Constable. In October, 1839, Asa Church ran off with a woman living in the neighborhood, and Curtis Cogswell was appointed Trustee to fill his

urer.

unexpired term. On the 28th of September, 1839, Daniel Smith and Chandler Holt were elected Justices of the Peace. It will be noticed that, at this election, no officer was elected from the attached township of Northwest. On the 2d of March, 1840, the township was laid off into the following school districts: 1-To commence at the southeast corner of the township, thence north to the quarter-post of Section 30, thence west to the quarter-post on the west side of Section 26, thence south to the old State line, thence east to the place of beginning. 2-To commence at the quarter-post on the east side of Section 30, thence north to the State line, thence west on said line to the west side of Section 7, Township 9, Range 3, thence south until directly west of the quarter-post of Section 30, thence east to the place of beginning. 3-To commence at the southeast corner of Section 10, Township 10 south, thence north to the quarter-post on the east side of Section 27, thence west on the quarter-line to the west side of Section 30, thence south to the southwest corner of Section 7, thence east to the place of beginning. 4-To comcommence at the southeast corner of Section 12, Township 10 south, Range 4 west, thence north to the State line, thence west on the Michigan line to the Indiana line, thence south on this line to the southwest corner of Section 8, Township 10 south, Range 4 west, thence east to the place of beginning. At the same time, three road districts were established: No. 1, coinciding with School District No. 1; No. 2, with School District No. 2, and No. 3 including the remainder of the present Bridgewater Township, and all of the present Northwest Township.

THE SECOND GENERAL ELECTION.

This was held on the 6th of April, 1840. Chandler Holt, Hiram Covell and Curtis Cogswell were Judges of Election, and Anson Smith and Ozias M. Billings, of Northwest, Clerks. The following officers were elected: Trustees, Hiram Covell, Owen McCarty and Robert Follett; Clerk, Chandler Holt; Treasurer, Miles Putnam; Overseers of the Poor, Erastus Back and David P. Wilcox; Constables, D. P. Wilcox and William P. Back; Supervisor of Road District, No. 1, Chandler Holt; No. 2, Miles Putnam; No. 3, Hiram Covell; Fence Viewers, E. G. Back, Miles Putnam and D. P. Wilcox; Trustees of School Land, Robert Follett, Hiram Covell and E. G. Back; Treasurer of School Land, Curtis Cogswell; Inspectors of Schools, Robert Follett, Chandler Holt and Curtis Cogswell. On the 16th of April, 1840, David P. Wilcox was elected Justice of the Peace. About this time, nearly all the old settlers began to record their ear marks. That of Erastus Back was a square crop off the end of the right ear, and a haping under the same. That of Chandler Holt, a haping under both ears. On the 1st of March,

1841, the school districts were reduced to three, or rather, they remained the same, for Northwest then had a separate township organization. Another road district was created at this time. As time went on, the road districts and school districts were constantly altered to meet new demands and conditions. The first highway was the Angola road. In 1842, the Trustees ordered paid to Simeon Cobb, as relief fund, the sum of $8. Some time later, the following appears upon the record: "Proceeded to examine Owen McCarty's account for milling seven bushels of grain for Simeon Cobb, and ordered him paid $1.75. Proceeded to examine Miles Putnam's account of provisions for Simeon Cobb, and gave him an order of $6 for the same." In April, 1858, there were fiftyeight men in the township liable for military duty.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES.

In 1839, Curtis Cogswell planted the first orchard in the township, and several of the trees are yet standing, the top of one measuring fifty feet in diameter. The trunk of another is about seven and a half feet in circumference. George H. Smith, son of Asa Smith, was born in the township March 5, 1838. This was the first birth. The death of Mrs. Adams, in 1842, was the first. The marriage of E. G. Back and Lucy Sumner, in October, 1839, was the first. A post office was established at the house of Chandler Holt April 14, 1846, he being the Postmaster. The name of the office was Bridgewater. Dr. William D. Stout, who came to the township in about the year 1846, was the first resident practicing physician. He was a noted deer hunter and was notoriously lazy, an indispensable constitutional element in the "make up" of a successful hunter. If an early settler sent in the morning, in great haste, for him, for the relief of some member of his family, the good doctor would take his rifle, hunt all day and reach the sick person about night. It is humorously stated, that he was so inordinately lazy that when he accidentally fell down while hunting in the woods, he would remain down until he had killed four or five deer. There is truth as well as humor in this statement. The best way in the world to hunt deer is to find a spot where they are likely to pass, and then sit down and patiently wait for their appearance. The most patient hunter would kill the most deer. The doctor was most patient. In the meantime, his patients suffered by his neglect. Much of the wheat raised in the township very early was conveyed to Adrian, Mich., and not a little was carted to Toledo. Defiance was also a market often visited. Its streets were often lined with wagons loaded with wheat, the teams being one, two and three yoke of oxen. In 1840, there was not a horse in the township and only fifty-one cattle, but in 1842 there were six horses and sixty-two cattle. The total

value of personal property the latter year was $736, the tax on the same being $14.35. A man named Brown killed a bear in the township many years ago; under what circumstances could not be learned. The severest obstacle for the earliest settlers to contend with was the utter absence of money. This forced all the earliest families to be almost wholly selfsupporting. They fed themselves, clothed themselves, paid their taxes with coon skins, worked hard and finally came "out of the woods." Whalon Lindsay says, with the greatest sincerity, in a figurative way, that "silver dollars were as big as wagon wheels." The figure needs no explanation. Men dressed largely in buckskin, and, if not in that, in linseywoolsey, colored with bark or leaves from the woods. Ready-made clothing could not be obtained in those days, even in the older settlements. The wives and mothers did all such work, buying the cloth by the yard and having a "sewing bee" when the winter or summer suits were to be made for the family. Ordinary dress goods for the women was common factory cloth, colored a grayish brown with maple bark. When robed in a clean, new suit of this colored cloth, the pioneer girl or woman looked as handsome as need be, and when her head was surmounted with one of those sun-bonnets whose limits knew no bounds, and whose countless colors surpassed anything ever dreamed of by Dolly Varden or Oscar Wilde, the picture was too intensely supreme for any use. Many of the able-bodied male residents of the township between 1840 and 1850 belonged to the militia company of Capt. Cressey, of Montpelier. As early as 1840, this company met at the very new village of Bryan, where they were introduced to the rudiments of military maneuvering. Training day was an important event in that early time that is unknown to the present generation. In a very early day, Clark Backus and one of the Sumners, while hunting in the southern part of the township, discovered, on fractional Section 12, two large mounds, some six or seven feet in height and fifty or sixty feet in diameter. They afterward went back and opened one of the mounds, and took therefrom two skeletons, one very large and the other of ordinary size. Mr. Sumner had some conscientious scruples in thus invading the sanctuary of the dead, and refused to open any others, and insisted on placing the skeletons already taken out back in their resting place. This was accordingly done. The bones belonged to members of the race of Mound-Builders (not the Indians), which inhabited this country, the majority of authorities say, long before the Indians appeared, and thousands of years ago.

EARLY TAVERNS, STORES, ASHERIES, MILLS, ETC.

Curtis Cogswell kept one of the first public houses in the township, opening his doors to the public not far from the year 1848. He hung

Several

out a sign with "Traveler's Home" emblazoned thereon. pettifogers were suffered to live in the township in early times. A man named Thompson was one of them. Mr. Back's barn, raised on the 4th of July, 1840, was the first frame building in the township. A large crowd of men and boys assembled, and all were served with a splendid picnic dinner. The first attempt in the township to build a sawmill or a grist-mill, was that made by Tucker, as narrated in the beginning of this chapter. The second attempt-a successful one-was made in 1844, by Riley W. Parker, Benjamin B. Van Court and Richard Wittington. A dam was constructed across the Little St. Joseph, at Bridgewater Centre (the remains of which are yet in existence, about a hundred feet west of the bridge), and a rude frame structure was erected, in which was placed the machinery. The mill in its time was an excellent one, and was a blessing to the settlers for miles around. It attracted immigration, many locating there almost wholly on account of the mill. When it is recollected that the prime object in a new colony is the rapid settlement and improvement of the country by honest, industrious and intelligent new-comers, and when it is known that this saw-mill attracted such men, its vast benefit to the township will be partially understood. In a short time, a small set of "niggerhead" buhrs were placed in an apartment of the mill, and used for about eight years. How well the settlers appreciated this rude grist-mill will never be thoroughly understood, for it is practically impossible to realize the extent of the hardships and privations to be encountered by the pioneers. The stones were about two feet in diameter, and the bolt was made of muslin. The saw-mill saw its best days from 1845 to 1850. Wittington did not long continue a partner, and Parker sold out to Thomas Hodson and Nathaniel Pettinger, and finally David Iler bought the entire mill about 1855. The mill was discontinued many years ago. In about the year 1848, Elias Depew erected a very large, three-storied frame grist-mill in the southeastern part, on the St. Joseph's River. The structure was about 40x60 feet, containing three or more run of stone, and required the united labor of over one hundred men three days to erect the heavy frame work. A sawmill was built near it, and after both mills had done an excellent work for the township, until about the commencement of the last war, they were destroyed by fire under somewhat suspicious circumstances. Nathaniel Pettinger and Clark Backus erected a saw-mill at the Centre about 1856. Chandler Holt devised a new motor, which he called the "lever power." A horse was to turn a sweep, and then, by means of a mysterious system of levers, a power was to be generated that was to do wonderful things. The owners had considerable faith in the "lever power," but when it came to be tested, it proved a lamentable failure, as it was an utter viola