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

INGIIAM COUNTY HISTORY

121

his efforts were rewarded by having the county seat moved to
Mason in 1840.
At the first meeting of the board of supervisors in Ingham
county in October, 1838, there were but seven townships in the
county, Aurelius including the entire west half of the county.
Until that time the county belonged to Jackson county for all
judicial purposes, all officers qualifying there, and all criminals
were tried there. Many amusing stories are told of those early
day criminals, some being sent alone to Jackson for trial, while
others, according to one chronicler, were taken there by force,
one being "hog-tiel" and dragged there on a sled in the summer
time.
Where the county business was carried on in the interval between 1840, when Mason became the county seat, and when the
first court house was completed in 1843, no one seems able to tell.
When the time came to erect a new court house at the county seat,
it was voted by the board of supervisors on December 28, 1842,
"that there be an appropriation of $800 to build a court house,
$200 of real estate and $600 of State bonds." It was also resolved, "That the committee appointed to receive proposals and
make a contract for the building of a court house be instructed
that if they cannot let the job for $800 or less, for a building
twenty-eight feet by thirty-four, with eighteen foot posts, that
they make a proposal and contract for a house as large as can be
built for $800," and they were successful in getting a building of
the desired size, for the money they were authorized to pay.
This building is now a dwelling house on South B street, and is in
a good state of preservation.
The first bill allowed in the county was to Dr. Minos McRobert,
the clerk, for transcribing the records from Jackson county, for
which he received $19.05.
Wolf bounties formed a large part of the expense at that time,
the State paying $8.00 for each scalp, and the supervisors adding
a county bounty of $2.50 per head. Thllis meeting of 1838 was the
last meeting of the supervisors until 1842, the county commissioners doing the work in the meantime.
In 1839 the total valuation of the county property was given as
$867,702, with a State tax of $2,074 and a county tax of $2,600.02,
which presents a strong contrast to the figures of the present day.