Vanlieu, Cornelius 6th C. Co. F. Andersonville prison., July 14, 1864. Bowling Green, Nov. 16. 1862. Van Wie George, 3d C., Co. L. Jackson, Tenn., April 25, 1863. C. Nashville, Nov. 19, 1862 H. Savannah, Dec. 20, 1864. Whitfield, Thomas, 16th I., Co. H. Baltimore, Dec 18, 1864. Wirtz, John E., & M., Co. B. Louisville, Dec. 12, 1882. C. H Williams, Geo. W., 6th C., Co. A. Winchester, Va., Jan. 8, 1865. Benton Barracks, Dec. 12, 1862. BURIED IN THIS COUNTY. The names of the soldiers buried in Fulton-street Cemetery, with the number of lot and block, are given as follows: The names of the soldiers buried in Greenwood Cemetery are as follows; The patriotism of the people was living in every emergency. They halted not for official aid, but with a proverbial promptitude came forward to espouse a cause that was second to that of the Republic, the sustenance of the soldiers' families. In addition to individual donations, the county, realizing its duty, entered on the good work. The war should be carried to a successful issue; the wives and children of the soldiers should be provided for; the widows of the Union defenders should be cared for. The aggregate expenditure of Kent county for the purposes of carrying on the war, up to 1866, was $167,550.50, while the amount expended up to 1867, under the Soldiers' Relief Law of May 10, 1861, in relieving the families of the soldiers, was $76,311. The expenditures caused indirectly by the war added many thousand dollars more to the expense of the county; so that it is not too much to estimate the amount of money paid out on account of the war at a half million dollars. The total indirect losses, resulting from that effort of treason to sustain a State within a State, slavery with freedom, and falling heavily on this county, can never be estimated. Those sacrifices of life and money were not made in vain: the magnificence of the military record of Kent county would alone compensate for many losses; but the material compensation exceeds even this. It shows what a rare recuperative power was in existence, and teaches a never-to-be-forgotten lesson,-that the Republic will conquer every foeman from without, every traitor from within its confines. Though the soldiers who fell in guarding our liberties can never be restored to this world, their memories will live on forever to inspire the future with a full sense of all that liberty is worth, and to teach the American people of other days to guard it as nobly and faithfully as they did. CHAPTER XIII. THE COUNTY PRESS. The newspaper is one of the truest evidences of civilized life. It is the chief proposer of great enterprises. It is the exponent of the American mind, with very few exceptions, and these occur only where ignorance or viciousness leads the freeman of our soil to become a convert to the savage opinions of theoretical Europeans. Happily the newspaper men of the country do not claim many professors who indulge in nonsensical praise of the slaveholding monarchies of the world. Such stuff takes root only in the minds of the more imbecile of our citizens. The press and people understand their duties to the Republic, and appreciate the blessings which a federal government confers. So long as these indefatigable framers of opinion stand faithfully by the pen and pressjust so long will liberty trample on all treason from within, all treachery from without. Kent county entered upon its newspaper era within a year after its organization. Since that time the press has grown in extent and influence, until now it boasts of four daily and eight weekly journals. Looking back over a period of 44 years since the Grand Rapids Times was first published, one must be forcibly reminded of all the newspaper men, past and present, have done in the interest of the county, the State and the Republic. Every evidence points out the journalists of the past as equal to those of our day. Flunkeyism was not the attribute of one of them. They labored late and early in training the minds of their constituents, and in most cases so philosophically that they conferred inestimable good on the district, and won the confidence of the people. They opposed whatever seemed dangerous in proposed innovations, and while supporting law and order, were always among the first denouncers of whatever seemed tyrannical or arbitrary. They stigmatized moral cowardice, and insisted that, from the village council room to the chambers of the National Government, virtue should be doubly cherished and vice subjected to rebuke and punishment. A reader may possibly imagine that the idea is too farfetched; but let him claim the confidence of the newspaper man, or venture to act his part for even a brief space of time, a full realization of his labors and his sacrifices will break upon the mind, he will learn a little of his studies and anxieties, and join in the opinion which must ever be entertained of the honest journalist. Proscribe the liberty of the press and the nation suffers just in such proportion as the press suffers. Proscribe the liberty of the press and the cause of human freedom is checked for a time; trade, the health of nations, rolls languidly on; man looks around him in alarm; the safeguard of progress is enchained. Therefore, let us regard, cherish and support the honest journalist, stigmatize what may be really corrupt in the newspaper, and be always ready to co-operate with justice and to applaud her holy work. THE GRAND RIVER TIMES. The The pioneer journal of Kent county was inaugurated under the editorial management of Geo. W. Pattison, assisted by Noble H. Finney, April 18, 1837, when the first number issued from the press. The first impression was taken on a sheet of cotton, and presented to Louis Campau, in presence of many citizens. succeeding issue of the journal was not struck off until April 29, of the same year. The press on which this paper was printed was drawn up the river from Grand Haven, on the ice, by a team of dogs. It was purchased the winter previous at Buffalo by Judge Almy. At Detroit it was shipped for Grand Haven on the steamer "Don Quixote," which was wrecked off Thunder Bay. After many delays, the precious traveler was placed on board a schooner, taken around the lakes in the fall of 1836, landed at Grand Haven, and thence sent to Grand Rapids. On lifting it from the sleigh it fell through the ice to the bottom of the river. On fishing it out some days later, it was cleaned and dried by Jacob Barnes, then a settler here. The Times subsequently became the property of James H. Morse, who managed it in such a peculiar manner as to insure for it the reputation of thorough neutrality. The political columns were equally at the disposal of Democrats and Whigs. Charles H. Taylor, C. I. Walker, Simeon M. Johnson and S. Granger were the principal "old party" contributors; while Whig principles were ably expounded by Geo. Martin, E. B. Bostwick, Wm. G. Henry, T. W. Higginson and others. In 1841 Simeon M. Johnson became editor, and with this change in the editorial management the title of the pioneer journal was changed to Grand Rapids Enquirer. From 1841 to 1843 the journal progressed favorably: during this year E. D. Burr purchased an interest, abolished its independent features, and espoused the cause of John C. Calhoun's Democracy. A year later it adopted for its motto: "James K. Polk and the Union." From this to 1856, when it was resolved into the Daily Enquirer and Herald, it was published by Jacob Barnes and edited by Thomas B. Church. Charles H. Taylor purchased an interest in 1855 with Jacob Barnes, and started "the Daily Enquirer, with John P. Thompson as editor. The proprietors disposed of their interests to A. E. Gordon, who inaugurated the first daily paper at Grand Rapids, and henceforth the names of both papers formed the title of Enquirer and Herald, with A. E. Gordon and John P. Thompson publisher and editor respectively. |