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

398

PIONEER HISTORY OF INGHIAM COUNTY

comes the Buckeye, who insists that the county treasurer takes
the assessment, and so on until arguments had been brought from
all the men representing different states.
"The discussion had now become very exciting and somewhat
personal. The township of Stockbridge had been organized the
year before. Ingham county was not yet organized, so Stockbridge was attached to Jackson county for all judicial purposes.
"I had the pleasure of being acquainted with P. Lowe, Esq.,
afterward of Mason, but then a resident of Stockbridge and holding an office in that township. I had learned from him what
officers were necessary for a township organization in Michigan.
They were presented to the meeting, and having urged the correctness of the authority amid a pandemonium of excitement, a compromise was finally effected.
"We agreed to elect men to the same offices that were held in
Stockbridge, and we now came to the question of who should be
the honored ones. Having had very little intercourse with each
other, we knew still less of each other's ability or qualifications.
The discussion, as may be imagined, became quite personal.
It was a delicate question for one man to ask another how much he
knew, and for the questioned man, having the prosperity and
welfare of the newly organized township at heart, to say that he
was capable of discharging the duties that he knew nothing
about, without example, precept or law to guide him, was most
assuredly a delicate matter.
"It will be understood of course that we knew no politics. The
subject was not mentioned. It was the earnest desire of each
and every man to use the very best material in our possession, and
to run the ship of state so that she might be launched safely and
successfully. That we might bring order out of chaos and inaugurate a system of organization in the wilds and wilderness,
such questions of course were indirectly asked, but there was an
effort made to learn something of each other's qualifications.
"About three o'clock we had agreed on a ticket. Now came
the interesting question of who shall receive the votes, and who
shall have the authority to declare the election and administer
the oath of office? These were questions that no one could answer.
Several suggestions were made representative of the different
states, but none seemed to help us out of the dilemma. No