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 HISTORY OF INGHAMI COUNTY

cents from said county agreeable to a vote of the supervisors
making provision for the destruction of wolves. It being certificate No. 4.
Given under our hands in White Oak this 2nd day of May, 1839.
Cyrus Post, J. P.
John McKernan, Assessor.
The first mail from Jackson to Lansing was carried by S. H.
Worden.
Hank Donnelly, owner and proprietor of the Donnelly House in
Mason, was the first man in the city to take a daily paper. He
came in 1861 and his Detroit daily followed him and made him
an oracle in the village.
1874.
The county papers of November, 1874, state that a large wild
cat was killed two miles north of Williamston during that month.
It was started out by some dogs and shot by John Kiel. It
weighed 21 pounds.
In the Ingham County News for November 26 is found the following: "The Capitol Index is to be the name of a new daily
paper that S. B. McCracken, of Detroit, proposes to publish at
Lansing during the next session of Legislature. It is claimed that
an independent and free criticism of legislative doings will be the
leading feature of the publication."
It might be of interest to Ingham county residents to know
that as late as June 11, 1874, cows were allowed to roam the streets
of the county seat village, and the following petition was presented at that date to the Common Council: "The undersigned
request that an ordinance be passed prohibiting the owners of
cows from suffering them to wear cow bells in the village," signed
by twenty-three men and women of Mason. The editor added
that it would be a good idea for them to add a clause requesting
the council to prevent owners of cattle from using our streets and
sidewalks for a barnyard.
In June, 1874, we find it recorded that Ingham county sent four
convicts to Jackson prison in May of that year, the largest number sent from any county in the State.
The Soldiers and Sailors of Ingham county held their first reunion in Mason on Oct. 8, 1874.