THE LIBERATOR. This journal, published in the interest of the Greenback party, was projected in the spring of 1880. W. H. Clute holds the editorial chair, and makes the Liberator a fair exponent of his party. THE SATURDAY EVENING STAR. The Star is edited by M. W. Tarbox, who purchased the office of the Sunday Morning, from Geo. M. Jamieson, in 1880. The mechanical work of this weekly is excellent; the local and selected columns well arranged and entertaining. The Star is the most recent journalistic venture. It has become a favorite in the homes of the people, and evidently gives promise of a prosperous career. MICHIGAN DEMOCRAT. March 8, 1838, George W. Raney commenced the publication of the Michigan Democrat, a weekly paper of which they said: "This paper will be a firm supporter of Democratic principles." In August the Democrat was owned and edited by George W. Raney. In November, 1839, it was published by Raney & Cheney. In 1839 there were two semi-monthly publications in Jackson the American Freeman, and Michigan Temperance Herald. MICHIGAN FARMER. The Farmer was established and published in Jackson as a monthly, by D. D. T. Moore, and sold to Mr. Hurlbut in 1844, by whom it was edited two years, and then by Hurlbut & Williams, by whom it was sold to Warren Isham. In the latter part of 1846, or early in 1847, the Farmer was removed to Detroit, when, in 1853, it passed into the hands of R. F. Johnstone, under whose control it has since remained, having been published weekly since 1858. VOLKSFREUND. The publication of the Volksfreund, a weekly paper in the German language, was commenced in January, 1872, at Fort Wayne, Ind. In 1876 this paper was removed to Jackson, and the seventh volume is now being published by Rudolph Worch, under the name of Michigan Volksfreund, and receives, as it deserves, a cordial support from all familiar with the language of the fatherland. In December, 1877, the first number of the Michigan Sun, a paper devoted to the principles of the National Greenback party, was issued, The Public Sentiment was published at Grass Lake by Dr. Bouton. The idea was suggested by the terrible treatment meted out by the first owners of the Central railroad to the people of Leoni and Grass Lake. The Grass Lake News was inaugurated in 1878-'9 by Mr. Collier, who disposed of his interest to Mr. Lusk in December, 1880. SCHOOLS. Although a full account of all the schools in the county is given in the township histories on subsequent pages of this volume, the symmetry of the general history of the county in this department of the work would not be complete without at least an outline of the educational field. Blackman.--Sylvanus Hemans, School Superintendent; Lewis D. Van Horn, Inspector; Myron Raymond, Clerk; R. C. Kerr, Alva True, L. C. Hoyt, C. H. Beebe, B. F. Green, J. J. Bryant, J. F. McConnell, John J. Daniels and P. O'Brien, Directors. There are 375 children enumerated in the census returns, all of school age, 19 teachers, and one brick and eight frame school buildings. School property is valued at $8,350. Columbia.-John A. Payne, School Superintendent; John L. De Lamater, Clerk. Edgar Pratt, C. F. Vining, Byron Crary, C. M. Hess, M. H. Hawley, Geo. W. Green, and Daniel Every are the school directors for the present year. There are 490 children of school age in the township, 20 teachers, five brick and two frame school buildings. The school property is valued at $8,400. Concord.-Wm. J. Bigelow, School Superintendent; Nathan Shotwell, Inspector; A. M. Gamard, Clerk. J. W. Townsend, Henry C. Nowlin, D. S. Main, A. H. Hancock, E. G. Knapp, M. H. Ray, and W. H. Findley, Directors. There are 442 children of school age in the township, 18 teachers employed, two brick and five frame school-houses. The school property of the township is valued at $3,950. Grass Lake.-E. B. Chapin, School Superintendent; W. H. Curtis, Inspector; D. W. Clark, Clerk; M. Kalmbach, W. H. Taylor, S. Bunker, Ó. S. Watkins, C. H. Nicolls, W. Freeman, A. A. Corwin, W. H. Smith, P. S. Ray, A. P. Burch, and H. Lammers, Directors. There are 568 children of school age, 23 teachers, three brick and eight frame school buildings, valued at $12,650. The total indebtedness of the township schools at date of last report was $113.34. Hanover.-David E. Haskins, School Superintendent; Alonzo Snow, Clerk; E. R. Moore, H. D. Allen, N. H. Cochran, Edwin J. Sprague, O. S. Tripp, S. E. Layton, Day Conkling and Seth Snyder, Directors. There are 468 children named on the school roll of the township; 24 teachers; two brick and six frame school buildings. The value of school property is estimated at $14,050. Henrietta.-John E. Conlan, School Superintendent; Arthur Holling, Inspector; Amasa Hall, Clerk. Thomas Leece, F. P. Gibbins, G. V. Welch, J. A. Suzlandt, H. L. Wooster, Samuel Bailey and J. M. Weston are the directors for this year. There are 302 children on the township school roll; 17 teachers; seven frame schools, and the school property is valued at $4,300. Leoni.-S. E. St. John, School Superintendent; D. S. Underwood, Inspector; H. P. Gardner, Clerk. M. W. Kimball; Geo. R. Parks, H. Schofield, J. C. Plumb, Frank Cooley, James Hayhoe, D. H. Lockwood, A. A. Sullivan and T. W. Sutton are directors for 1880-'81. There are 437 children of school age in the township, 21 teachers, six frame and three brick school buildings. The school property is valued at $7,275, without incumbrance. Liberty.-A. W. Foot, School Superintendent; J. H. Loomis, Inspector; D. W. Alverson, Clerk. W. R. Fuller, Wm. McGraw, C. T. Orvis, C. Alvord, Benj. Patch, J. J. Palmer, A. W. Foot, and N. P. Houghtalin are directors. There are 257 children of school age in the township; 22 teachers are employed; two brick and six frame buildings are devoted to school purposes. The value of property is $3,800. The total indebtedness equals $455.50 Napoleon.-John C. Covert, School Superintendent; Geo. O. Payne, School Inspector; G. E. Curtis, Clerk. The directors are C. R. Palmer, R. D. M. Edwards, R. H. Brunk, C. Hoyer, P. A. Cady and J. C. Covert. There are 354 pupils in the township, and 20 teachers; four brick and two frame buildings are devoted to the purposes of the school. The property is valued at $8,475. Norvell. Charles E. Fay is superintendent of schools in this township, Don E. Palmer, school inspector, and Albert A. Wheaton clerk. The directors include C. F. Parker, E. B. Slocum, Enoch Ashley, Henry Poucher, J. M. Harning, E. D. Main and Josiah Bettis. There are 238 children of school age in the eight districts of the township, three brick school-houses and four frame ones, and 14 teachers. The total indebtedness of the schools is $107.09; the value of school property, $5,400. Parma. The school officers of the township are W. H. Helmer, School Superintendent; Caleb T. Tulla, Inspector, and Henry Hiller, Clerk. The directors are Geo. B. King, Frank Elmer, Geo. C. Godfrey, Geo. W. Kocher and O. O. Meade. There are 337 children of school age in the township and eight frame school buildings, valued at $6,300; 20 teachers are employed. Pulaski.-The officers include Heydon S. Dixon, School Superintendent; E. B. Potter, Inspector; with Hiram L. Mason, Clerk. The directory is composed as follows: E. B. Potter, L. Nowlin, H. L. Mason, Samuel Gilmer, Albert E. Carr, Wm. Hamlin and Simon King. There are 306 school children in the township, seven frame school buildings and 15 teachers. The school property is valued at $5,600. Rives.-The officers of the township are: E. Guy Lyman, School Superintendent; W. S. Grandy, School Inspector; and Rankin Young, Clerk. The directors for 1880-'81 are T. G. Hunt, T. W. Spencer, Wm. Harwood, F. C. Hall, E. S. Wilber, E. Van Horn, T. D. Whitney, H. K. Wood and Orrin True. The number of children of school age is enumerated at 505. Three brick and six frame buildings are devoted to school purposes, capable of seating 538 pupils, and giving employment to 21 teachers. There is no debt due by the township on account of schools. Sandstone. The directory comprises Ben Trumbull, Sam Chappel, A. M. Petrie, O. S. Moe, H. C. Richardson, Varnum Brown, Charles Boyle and D. C. Tompkins. Fred C. Sackrider is school inspector; T. F. Berkham, township clerk. The number of children enrolled is 624, taught by a corps of 21 teachers. There are one brick and seven frame school-houses in the township, capable of seating 535 children. The school property is valued at $16,650 and the total indebtedness estimated at $6,000. The Spring Arbor school directors are A. D. Spencer, James Videtto, Jr., W. S. Crowl, M. A. Brown, Anthony Carter and D. O. Tannar. A. D. Spencer is school superintendent and W. S. Crawl, inspector. There are 257 children of school age in the township; four frame, one brick and one stone school building; all the property being valued at $2,450. Fourteen teachers are employed in the district. Springport. The school returns for year ending Sept. 30, 1880, cannot be found at date of writing, consequently the report of 1879 is taken. L. A. Joy, School Superintendent; C. D. Carter, Inspector; Dallas Carter, Clerk. John Deyoe, M. L. Day, E. M. Winclove, H. J. Sibley, C. R. Doak, J. J. Hayden, Geo. Burgess, Geo. A. Rogers, H. D. Griffith, Directors. There were 428 names of children of school age on the roll of the township; 20 teachers, one brick and eight frame school buildings. The school property was valued at $4,600. Summit.-R. E. Gallup, School Superintendent; Leander McCain, School Inspector; D. H. Goldsmith, Clerk. L. Rowan, John Creech, D. H. Goldsmith, Francis Hawley, Dennis Badgeley, D. Merriman, John O'Brien and Wellington Moulton, Directors. There are 275 children on the roll of the township, 13 teachers, two brick, one stone, four frame and one grout school buildings. The school property is valued at $4,550. Tompkins. The directors of the township schools signing reports for 1880 are Wm. H. Adams, B. Ferguson, W. M. Botsford, F. W. Westren, Walter Wright, Louis Pommercnicke, J. F. Towers, Edwin Curtis and H. W. Darling. The township comprises nine school districts and fractional districts, with one brick, one log, and seven frame school buildings, attended by a staff of 23 teachers. The school property is valued at $5,950. There are 419 children in the township, all over five years old. W. E. Goold, School Superintendent, and Edwin Curtis, Township Clerk, sign the affidavit. Waterloo. The officers for 1880 comprised F. McGreffie, School Superintendent; J. H. Hubbard, School Inspector, and Elmer E. Armstrong, Township Clerk. The directors for 1880-'81 are Wm. Green, G. Hegdelauff, J. Walz, F. Beeman, R. Radford, S. Williams, Jos. Baldwin, F. D. Maxon, F. Landis and Emanuel Hawley. Number of school children in township, 516. There are six brick buildings and four frame devoted to school purposes, and 24 teachers employed. The history of this road, in its connection with Jackson county, offers a subject more interesting and perhaps more instructive than that which any of the great iron highways of the Union can give. From its beginning in 1836 to Dec. 29, 1841, the date of its completion to Jackson, and on still to 1851, it proved a most expensive and troublesome adjunct of State and private property. will here notice its history from 1846, the period of its sale by the State, to the present time. We This sale was made to Eastern capitalists, among whom were Erastus Corning, J. W. Brooks and others. The purchase price equaled $2,000,000, which, together with the old strap-rail route, seemed to be the price for the creation of a State within the State, since the purchasing corporation secured so many privileges as to almost render themselves or their employes unamenable to justice itself. A brief space of time elapsed until the ancient strap rail was uplifted, and the T rail laid down, the road completed through Northwestern Indiana to Chicago, and a railroad treaty formed with the Illinois Central and New Albany & Salem roads. Stores and offices were erected along the line from Detroit to Chicago, the curves between Dexter and Ypsilanti dispensed with, and a course of general improvement pursued. The cost of all those changes and additions amounted to about $2,000,000,-all expended between the year of purchase from the State to 1848. Four years later the 61-lb rail was laid, and within the few succeeding years the permanent way was much improved, and a double line of fence erected. In 1867 the "Blue Line" was established via Canada to New York, a great ferry-boat was built for crossing the Detroit river, so that within the twelve months ending December, 1868, 1,870 passenger coaches, 53,267 freight cars, 2,261 baggage and express cars, and 174 locomotives were transferred by this ferry-boat. From 1841 to 1844, when the line was completed to Albion, Jackson was its terminus, and consequently controlled much of the business of the surrounding counties. It has been authoritatively stated that the prosperous citizens of Jackson at present are those who in 1841-24 commenced their commercial career in the village. Most of them, it is said, possessed only a limited capital, but yet sufficient confidence in themselves and their adopted village. The interests of the road were henceforward identified with those of Jackson, in consequence of the leasing to that company of the Jackson, Lansing & Saginaw, the Grand River Valley, and the Air Line railroads. This concentration of roads at Jackson necessitated the establishment of railroad workshops and official headquarters here, and thus led to the employment of the thousands of men who took part in building up the prosperity of the city. |