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

180

PIONEER HISTORY OF INGTIAM COUNTY

down in a grove and the dormitory looks lonely among the oak
trees. A field of stumps between them and the road will try the
muscle of the students when they plow the same. Down in a dip
in the road east is a saw mill operated by a prosperous farmer
named Marble. This same man was ruined and his family scattered by a domestic tragedy a few years later. With a rattle and
bang we cross a bridge and just beyond the four corners we come
to a large two-story-and-half farm house. This house was and is
today a type of what a prosperous farmer can build. Its size and
many windows foretell hospitality and the porch and doors invite
you to enter and partake of same. This building reminded me of
the colonial country homes we see in pictures. The architecture
is of that type. This is the old Judge Chatterton home and for
years the home of the Sturgis family.
One-half mile east we pass Gate No. 2 and the road crosses over
the bridge of Pine Lake outlet, climbs the hill by Okemos Cemetery and turns to the southeast, along the bank of the Cedar
river, and we see the spires of the Presbyterian church in Okemos.
The small one-story house on our right as we enter the village is
the home of Farmer Bray, an uncle of Hon. Sam Kilbourne. Mr.
Bray is an up-to-date farmer and his farm shows the methods and
principles he learned on a Canadian farm.
Past the hotel we go, not stopping, as there are no passengers
for this place and the driver don't stop for the men to wet their
whistles. The driver pulls up to Walker's store on the north side
and throws off the mail for Okemos. P. M. Walker has been
postmaster for years and shows by his erect bearing, politeness,
gray hair and careful old-fashioned dress, Eastern culture and
training.
One mile east we pass the corner-Young's Corners-it is called,
and then for a mile or two we have hills galore, clay knolls and catholes, until we come to the log house on the south side of the
road, in a flourishing orchard, the home of Hon. Sam Kilbourne's
father, Joseph Kilbourne. Joseph Kilbourne was in the Legislature in Detroit when the bill to change the location of the Capitol
to some inland town was up for passage. After the members had
come to a deadlock he arose and moved to locate it at Lansing
on the Grand river, and it was done.
From the Kilbourne farm we go east and in the edge of an oak