History of Saginaw County, Michigan; historical, commercial, biographical, profusely illustrated with portraits of early pioneers, rare pictures and scenes of olden times, and portraits of representative citizens of today, [Vol. 2]

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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY

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On the Sunday preceding the election of 1852, a few of the settlers
of East Saginaw assembled in a grove near the residence of Mrs. T. F.
Thompson, and nominated Alfred M. Hoyt as representative to the State
legislature. The tickets were written out and a vigilance committee was
organized to further his election. Mr. Hoyt was elected.
Sixty-seven years ago Charles W. Grant and Aaron K. Penny, highway
commissioners, laid out and recorded every road in the township of Buena
Vista, including what is now the townships of Buena Vista, Spaulding and
Blumfield.
T. W. Babcock came to East Saginaw in 1854. He walked from Flint
arriving ahead of the stage on which he had paid his fare, but owing to
muddy roads was compelled to walk. He died in 1918.
Sanford M. Green was circuit judge of the Saginaw District in 1849.
P. C. Andre was register of deeds in 1850. John Moore was prosecuting
attorney in 1854, and Charles W. Grant was sheriff the same year. John
S. Estabrook and George W. Merrill were aldermen in 1859; William J.
Bartow was city controller in the same year, and mayor in 1860.
The school census of East Saginaw in 1851 was only 118; and the
first library was opened April 27, 1858.
Jerome K. Stevens came to Saginaw City in 1847, Myron Butman in
1856, W. H. Cambrey in 1862 and Lorenzo T. Durand a year later.
Byron B. Buckhout located in East Saginaw on August 17, 1853, and
James F. Brown, the first bank cashier, on August 20 of the same year.
John J. Rupp came in 1855 and Dr. A. Farnsworth in 1857. J. J. Mumford
came in 1861.
In 1844 the old Indian chief Nau-qua-chic-a-ming killed seven wolves
in Saginaw County.
John L. Jackson was born in Saginaw City in August, 1855; and Frank
A. Ferguson was born in 1858 in a house on the site of the Federal Building.
Norman Little brought the first type and printing press to Saginaw
in 1836 and started a weekly newspaper, the Pioneer-Journal, with John
P. Hosmer as editor.
W. R. McCormick came to Michigan in 1832 and soon after bought
the land on the Flint River known to the Indians as the "corn fields,"
where he lived for several years. Later he removed to Bay City and
engaged in lumbering.
A wild cat, measuring seven feet six inches, was killed on February 1,
1864, on one of the business streets of Saginaw City.
The F. & P. M. R. R. was organized January 21, 1857, and work of
grading was completed in August 1858, but track laying was not begun
until a year later. The first shipment of freight, 32,000 feet of lumber,
was made on August 11, 1860.
Erastus T. Judd, for many years president of the First National Bank
of East Saginaw, the first national bank chartered in Saginaw Valley, came
here in 1864. He was born at Geneva, New York, May 31, 1822, and
attended school there until seventeen years old. He then worked on a
farm until twenty-three when he learned the carpenter's trade; and soon
after went to Canada where he contracted with the Great Western Railway
to supply wood for their locomotives. In later years he engaged in lumbering and filled the office of treasurer of the Saginaw, Tuscola & Huron Railroad, and was president of the board of public works of East Saginaw.
Andrew Eymer, 85 years old, came to Saginaw in 1863. He had only
twenty-one birthdays, having been born February 29, 1832.