History of Hillsdale county. Michigan, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers.

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HISTORY OF HILLSDALE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

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District No. 2.-T. 5 S., R. 3 W., sections 23, 24, 25,
26, 35, 36; and in T. 6 S., R. 3 W., sections 1, 2, 11, 12,
13, and 14. Districts 1 and 2 were formed April 27,
1835.
District No. 3.-T. 6 S., R. 3 W., sections 6 and 7, and
7, and west half sections 5 and 8; formed October 31, 1835.
District No. 4.-T. 5 S., R. 3 W., sections 15, 16, 17,
18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 27, 28, 29, and 30; formed December
10, 1835.
District No. 5.-T. 5 S., R. 3 W., sections 4, 5, 6, 7,
8, 9, 16, 17, and 18; date of formation not given. The
early schools of the township were taught in the village of
Jonesville, and a history of them, with a list of teachers,
will be found by referring to the article relating to that
place.
THE FAYETTE CHEESE-FACTORY,
located two miles south of Jonesville, was established by a
stock company in 1870. Cheese-making was begun on the
28th of June following, under the management of Miss
Ella Day, a lady of experience in that line, from Medina
Co., Ohio. The first board of directors consisted of John
Corey, F. M. Holloway, W. A. Barber, L. L. Tucker, and
G. W. Woodruff, of Fayette, and Ransom Gardner, of
Kalamazoo, with Mr. Corey as President, Mr. Holloway,
Secretary and Business Manager, and Mr. Barber, Treasurer.
FAYETTE CEMETERY.*
When Benaiah Jones, Jr., laid out the village of Jonesville, he selected a site for a burying-ground on the north
half of the northeast quarter of section 4, and on the north
side of the Chicago road, where John T. Blois in later years
owned a nursery. The site was afterwards changed to the
hill in the southern part of the village, west of the centre
of the section, on land owned by Jedediah H. Dorwin.t
In this a few persons were buried, but the ground proved
too stony for cemetery purposes, and it became necessary
to look up still another site. A subscription was started,
and two acres purchased in the northeast corner of section
4, being 16 rods east and west by 20 north and south. A
deed for the same was executed by John Lytle and wife to
the township of Fayette, Feb. 8, 1839, the ground to be
used for burial purposes only. It had been in use a short
time before the deed was given. The first person buried
at the place was a son of Benaiah Jones, who died in the
fall of 1831, as mentioned. The remains of those buried
in the two places were removed to the new cemetery, which
was bought and paid for by subscription in different sums
by the settlers residing in and near the village. It was used
as a free burial-ground by the citizens, and the consequence
was some trouble in future years. An addition of 2 acres
on the south and west was purchased of Jonathan B. Graham and wife, March 11, 1853. A second addition of 5
acres, irregular in shape, and extending to the Chicago road,
was purchased in 1867, making the entire amount now in
use 9 acres. The cemetery in its present condition is tastily
laid out with walks and drives, finely shaded, and is an ap*Items principally derived front an article published by John T.

Blois, Esq., in Jonesville Independent, Aug. 24, 1867.
fIt is possible that the latter-mentioned ground was the first one
used.

propriate and beautiful resting-place for the remains of the
pioneers and their descendants whose spirits have flown
"To that far better land of glory and light."
It is at present in charge of the township board of health,
which is composed of the supervisor, town clerk, and the
two senior justices of the peace.
VILLAGE OF JONESVILLE.
The village of Jonesville is the home of many of the
prominent men of Hillsdale County. It is the oldest village in the county; was from Feb. 18, 1831, to Jan. 30,
1843, its seat of justice, and long the most important place,
ranking high among the early settlements of the State.
Hillsdale, being nearer the centre of the county, finally
became the county-seat, and has since reached the position
of greatest importance. However, around Jonesville and
vicinity still clings the memory of olden times, and its citizens take a just pride in its varied beauties and its associations of the past.
A list of the early settlers of this village includes many
men of excellent character and great capabilities, and among
the public officers of the State and country will be found
names of those who took up their abode here in the pioneer days, and have since won honor and fame and a national reputation.
The first white woman who located at Jonesville was
Benaiah Jones' wife, Mrs. Lois Jones, who was only preceded in the county by one other,-the wife of Moses Allen,
of Allen Prairie. Mrs. Jones was a native of Peru, Berkshire Co., Mass., where she was born in 1790. In 1812
she came with her father's family to Painesville, Ohio, and
was there soon afterwards married to Mr. Jones, with whom,
in the summer of 1828, she came to a new home beside the
waters of the St. Joseph, where she died March 18, 1875,
in her eighty-fifth year.
When Mr. Jones settled here he built a log house on
the west side of the river, in which he kept the first tavern
in the village. When James Olds came in 1830, Mr.
Jones sold this building to him, and the following year
(1831) built the " block " portion of the " Fayette House,"
adding the frame part to it in 1832. This structure stood
on the northwest corner of Chicago and Water (or West)
Streets, where now is the meat-market and agricultural
implement store. Mr. Jones was also proprietor of a stageline running over the Detroit and Chicago route, probably
between Tecumseh and Coldwater.
Hon. Jonathan B. Graham, now of Jonesville, and originally from Hartford, Conn., visited this county in 1836,
and in October, 1837, arrived here with his wife, having
come from Connecticut in a carriage the entire distance,
except from Cleveland to Toledo; arriving at the former
place, they shipped their horse and buggy, and engaged
passage for themselves on a steamer, and came as far as
Toledo, in order to avoid the "black swamp," which they
had heard was then in a terrible condition. The remaining
distance, from Toledo to Jonesville, was traversed in the

buggy. Mr. Graham located in the township of Scipio,
and lived there until 1849, when he removed to Jonesville,
where he has since resided. The first Connecticut clocks