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

day were inclined to be superstitious, as in a storm one night her
uncle's people saw a strange light, which they called a spirit light,
but when one brave soul investigated he found it to be a piece of
tin on an apple tree, which the lightning had shone on.
Rev. Hall told of the hardships endured by the pioneers, as he
had heard it when a boy in Macomb county.
Dr. G. N. Fuller, of the Michigan Historical Commission, told
a funny story, and said "the spirit of this meeting is fine, and I
am glad to see this line of work done in the county. It is a simple
matter of justice to the pioneers to gather this history, and it is
our duty to see that it is preserved for the generations to come.
He then gave a part of an address he has prepared on the "Relalations Between Great Britain and America," which was just a
little bit foreign to the trend of the day's program.
Mr. Barnard, an old-timer, came from Ann Arbor to attend the
meeting.
His people came into this section in 1845 with an ox team from
south of Jackson. He described the first school house built in
Leslie Township, primitive of course, as everything was in those
days. There he was taught the three R's. At one time there
were 106 pupils and one teacher. Friday was "speaking" day,
and this the scholars all enjoyed. Chipmunks and squirrels often
came into the school house and got into the dinner pails, to the
consternation of the girls and the delight of the boys. He described the old-fashioned games they played, and said the present
day model school system owed much to those early day teachers
who built the foundation on which it stands.
MRS. ROBERT WRIGHT.
Read by MARGARET BLACKMORE.
The curtain of Time rolls back.
A picture comes to my thought today of a young man, Mathias
Housel, and his young wife, formerly Miss Elizabeth Bevier, of
Seneca county, N. Y., as they are planning to move to the west,
and, like Horace Greely advised, to grow up with the country.