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

VEVAY TOWNSIP' AND ITS HISTORY

727

THE WOICOTT FAMILY.
By One of Its Members, MRS. HOGAN, 1918.
Jasper Wolcott, a young surveyor from Connecticut, came to
Michigan in 1834 to survey the land that is now Ingham and
Jackson counties.
His brother, William Wolcott, came too, and took up a farm in
Onondaga. While Jasper Wolcott was laying out farms near
Mason he met Harriet Sargeant, a young girl from Vermont, who
was staying with her sister, Mrs. Henry Fifield. They were
married soon after at the home of Win. Wolcott in Onondaga.
The minister rode out from Jackson on horseback to perform the
ceremony, and the family claim that was the first wedding in
Onondaga. (A piece of cloth like the bridegroom's waistcoat
accompanied the sketch.)
They had already taken up a farm extending from within one
block of the court house in Mason south to the Walter's school
house. They built a cabin across from the Robert Young home
in Vevay Township, under the tall clm trees there, and began
life in the wilderness. (One huge elm tree still marks the spot,
and this is a landmark for miles around, being on the highest
elevation of land in that vicinity, it is plainly seen.)
It was necessary for them to wait for the Grand river to freeze
over before they could go to Jackson after lumber with which to
make their doors and furniture. Grandmother said that bears
often at night sniffed at the blanket curtains in the doorway.
On November 9, 1836, a son, Isaac Nelson, was born to these
pioneers, and he was the first white child born in Vevay Township. On the day before a son, Grove Wolcott, was born to Mr.
and Mrs. Wm. Wolcott in Onondaga. He died in 1917 in Jackson.
When Isaac Nelson Wolcott was but two days old the father
(only 26 years old himself) lay down to rest and when they called
him he was dead. They supposed he had caught cold and malaria from sleeping in camp when on his surveying trips, and
drinking poor water had poisoned his system.
Grandmother, with her tiny babe, made her home with Mr. and
Mrs. Fifield for several years and then married Edwin Hubbard,