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

Then loudly shall swell the pean
Wrought with a loving art
From the true appreciation
Of many a loyal heart.
"And sweeter to such tribute
Than a statelier epic read,
For love shall strengthen the living
As honor hallows the dead."
The next sentiment:
"Our first trip from civilization to the wilds of Michigan"T. W. Huntoon: Made the trip 52 years ago. Started one Saturday afternoon from Clarendon, N. Y., joined my brothers and
drove a team as far as Buffalo. Took the steamboat Rochester
and reached Detroit in three days. Took the cars for Ann Arbor,
and walked from there to Jackson and Leslie. We didn't know
when we had reached Leslie, but a man on a log told us we were
then in the village. Many a time I laid down by the side of a
log and had it out with the ague. Bears were thick. At a
funeral one day we conveyed the corpse to the burying ground on
a sled drawn by an ox team, in the summer.
"Which were the happier days, now or then? "-Hiram Rix, Jr.:
I did not enjoy the solitudes, snakes or mosquitos. Did not enjoy waiting for the fruit to grow on the apple trees we brought
with us. The causeways were not sources of happiness. But
then we did not worry about dress. We enjoyed a geniality and
common feeling that were good.
"Recollections of the days of pot hooks and bake ovens."Reuben Tryon: This is my first toast in my long life, but I lived
in the days of pot hooks, and back logs and Dutch fireplaces. I
always enjoyed the dinner pot when it was boiling the dinner. I
peddled ovens, but to secure a purchaser always had to wait for
bread to rise and then bake it for customers, who were very
incredulous.
"U. S. Mail regulations in the forties."-J. A. Barnes: In
1837 mail came from Dexter, winding through the woods to Mason,
carried by a man on foot or horseback. There were few offices