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

AURELIUS TOWNSHIP AND ITS HISTORY

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new, to the now. I see, though only in memory, who were here,
how they did and what they had to do with.
"Let us for a few minutes get away from the hurrying, rushing,
throbbing, pulsing present, and go back to pod auger days, to tin
oven days, bake kettle, swinging crane, oaken bucket, ox cart,
linchpin wagons, flint lock guns, goosequill pens, the old tin dinner
horn, the crotch tree harrow, the swingle flail, the harvesting sickle
and a hundred other things that had their day; these were reckoned as conveniences and answered their time well, for we knew
not of aught that was better.
"We were satisfied, happy and contented to ride in an ox cart
at two miles an hour, while now to whiz along in an auto at forty
miles an hour marks the change along one line in my day. To
follow each of the things I have mentioned would mark a change
almost as wonderful, but I will take only one, the harvesting of
grain. Until I was seven years old the sickle cut all the grain in
the neighborhood; then the turkey-wing cradle, the grape-vine,
the mully, the man rake-off reaper, the self raking reaper, the
dropper, the marsh harvester, the wire binder, then the twine
binder-ten jumps, or to make the term more modern, we'll call
them improvements instead of 'jumps.'
"Mr. Reuben R. Bullen was the first man to settle in Aurelius.
He came in November, 1836. At that time there was no resident
west of Mason, and only two there. The Wilcox brothers and
A. D. Olmstead came a few days later. The Hayward brothers
came in March, 1837, and my father, G. B. Webb, in April, 1837.
The Barnes' and Wm. Isham in June, 1837, also Erastus Ranney.
These and many others, 68 in all, located their land in 1836, and
settled on it later. In 1837 there were 48 more who located land
in Aurelius. The first man to take up land in the township was
Nathaniel Silsby, in October, 1835, and the next Col. John Montgomery in December of the same year.
"The first township meeting was held at the home of the Hayward brothers on section 31, on the 20th day of April, 1838, when
15 votes were cast, and 21 officers elected. I can follow the career
of all of them except F. Robinson and Sanford D. Morse.
"The ballots were all written by Zaccheus Barnes, with a cigar
box for a ballot box, and this was still in existence a few years ago.
The township meetings were held for some 25 years at different