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 INGHAM COUNTY

With Abbie Stokes as teacher, the pupils at the Isham School,
as it was then called, were not slow to sense a romance. A new
house took shape on Amos Mattison's eighty. A wonderful house
for those days. The porches enclosed with lattice work, each
gable decorated with a quaint design in wood work. It boasted of
porcelain door knobs brought up from Ohio, the first seen in this
part of the country. There were two white ones for the front
door and two brown ones for the side door. In the year 1855, at
the close of school, Miss Abbie Stokes went to the new house to
dwell, as Mrs. Amos Mattison.
Of the old red school house and the activities of its patrons,
brief mention at least needs be made of the Sabbath school, the
devout men who preached there, men who labored, not for compensation or praise, but for the privilege that they deemed greater,
that of pointing the way to the higher life.
Among these men the names of Gueber, Swift and Tallman
stand prominent. One lady of the community relates how her
mother used to tell of attending a watch meeting, and how, when
the old year was all but past and all was still as death, as the hour
of midnight passed, one young man sprung to his feet, then to the
top of a desk, and shouted, "Happy New Year all!" This young
man was J. W. Freeman, and the happening more than sixty
years ago.
In 1855 there still remained government land in plenty. Wm.
Hopkins with his wife and a family of five children came up from
Ohio, made choice of 80 acres of land at $1.25 an acre. He proceeded to make a clearing and build the traditional log house. As
soon as possible a small patch of corn was growing among the
stumps. Then came trying times. There was no flour, no meal
and no money in the log cabin, and the appetites of five husky
boys and girls growing keener as the supply of flour and meal grew
less. Mr. Hopkins was equal to the situation. I-e procured a
length of stovepipe and by aid of a hammer and nails, a grater was
soon constructed. Each morning he would rise before the sun
and gather a quantity of the ripening corn, then grate, grate, grate
until enough meal was made for the day's needs. Then he would
commence the real labor of the day, that of making barrel hoops.
In the course of time enough hoops were made to purchase a
barrel of flour when they were taken to Jackson, the nearest mar