Pioneer history of Ingham County, compiled and arranged by Mrs. Franc L. Adams, secretary of the Ingham County pioneer and historical society.

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PIONEER IIISTORY OF INGIIAM COUNTY

road was built. It gave us an outlet, and we had a great many
comforts.
Now, in conclusion, I am sorry, in a way, to have to say I was
a pioneer; I would rather have lived where I could have gone to
school and where there were good roads, as we now have in Leroy.
Fifty-six years has made a great change in the looks of the woods
and families that were here when I came. Of the families of the
first ten years only a few are living. There are just two who were
present at the chopping and clearing of the Meech cemetery.
Capt. Alonzo Cheney showed a Gazetteer of Michigan published
in 1838, which had been handed down to him from his father.
The county was not assessed a dollar in 1836.
C. N. Branch, of Williamston, told of a schoolboy fight in which
one of them prayed for strength to lick the other.
June 5, 1894. The day proved too cold for the pioneers to sit
in the opera house without any fire, so the crowd moved over to
the Baptist church to hold the twenty-second annual meeting of
the county society.
President J. R. Price called the meeting to order. Col. L. H.
Ives had the music in charge, and Rev. H. W. Powell, of Mason,
and Rev. Edmonds, of Leslie, were asked to lead the devotionals.
The treasurer's books showed $19.63 on hand, the largest fund
ever carried over by the society.
Pot-luck dinner was served in the basement of the church. The
afternoon session began with the election of officers as follows:
President, J. J. Tuttle, of Leslie; Secretary, Geo. W. Bristol;
Treasurer, J. T. Campbell, both of Mason.
The memorial list contains the names of many familiar to those
who have followed the history of Ingham county from the time it
was organized. They are as follows:
Alaiedon-Bradley Baker, Mrs. O. Rathbone, Mrs. Phebe
Wilkins, Mrs. Martin Laycock, Mrs. Fritz, Mrs. Kay, Mrs.
Jonathan Stratton, Mrs. Tobias Holden, Truman Rolfe.
Aurelius-Theodore Stratton, Robert Bell (Civil War veteran), Mrs. O. H. Ranney, Mrs. Irons, Mrs. Timothy Strong,
Alonzo Meacham, Mrs. Eliza Claflin, Wilson Davis, Mrs.
Evarts, Mrs. Marie Hazelton, Erastus Ranney.