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

tavern of Wm. I-opkins, I made a dish of toast for Gen. Lewis
Cass. I thought him desperately homely. To finish the day for
him, the stage in which he was riding upset and his wig went
flying into the mud. The rough, uneven roads was the cause of
this mishap.
Bears and wolves had become scarce before we came here, and I
never saw any of those animals, though I have seen quantities of
deer.
Children have changed very much in manners since I was
young. Then if we met a team the boys removed their hats and
made a bow and greeted the people with a courteous "Good
morning" or "Good evening," as the case night be, while the
girls always made a curtesy. On leaving the school room at night
the same decorum was observed.
One looks back on those pioneer scenes with delight and pleasure, at the thought of the true neighborly interest all took in those
living near them. When one was sick all were nurses and assisted
in their care. At funerals all were truly mourners, at a wedding
all were invited, at a donation all went. Sympathy was earnest
and true, together we rejoiced and together sorrowed. What
affected one affected all."
The father of A. R. Miller was a Prebsyterian minister, and
during the last of the seventeenth century taught in a seminary in
Albany, N. Y. He was a fine Greek scholar, and was for fiftyeight years a member of the Presbyterian church. At that time
he entered into a discussion with a Baptist friend, expecting to
prove to him by the original Greek that there were other modes of
baptism sanctioned, but was himself converted to a belief in immersion as the true symbol, and from that time on he was an active
worker in that church. When he moved to Mason, as previously
told, there was no church building and he was one of those instrumental in the erection of the first Baptist church in this city.
Mrs. May, the oldest sister of Mrs. Stillman, donated $50 to help
build the church, money she had earned by teaching school at
the munificent sum of $1.50 per week. This church was organized
in 1839, and not a charter member is now living. It was said of
Mrs. May that she had taught in every school house between
Lansing and Jackson. It is claimed by her friends that she taught
the first select school ever taught in Lansing, and her picture graces