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.

Section 32.-Daniel Peck, James B. Murray, G. L. Crane,
John Bradish, Thomas Denny,-640 acres.
Section 33.-B. B. Moore, James B. Murray, John
Moore, Lewis M. Jones, William Plimpton, Peter Gates,640 acres.
Section 34.-David Capont, Joseph W. Atard, B. B.
Moore, Marshall Huntington, Howard Weaver, Elihu L.
Clark,-640 acres.
Section 35.-David Capont, entire section,-640 acres.
Section 36.-E. Wilder, Jr., and Seth Hastings, Henry
Howe, H. B. Scovell,-640 acres.
From this list it is seen that only 120 acres of land remained in the hands of the government in this township at
the date given. The same year (1838) it contained a
population of 279. There were also owned 217 head of
neat stock, 12 horses, 40 sheep, and 276 hogs. For purposes of comparison, we give the following figures from the
State census of 1874, to show to what proportions the township has developed:
Population (830 males, 844 females)..................... 1674
Total acres of taxable land............................... 22,816
Lands owned by inhabitants and companies.......... 22,916
Number of acres of improved land...................... 14,790
" "' land exempt from taxation...... 100
Value of same, including improvements............... $20,250
Number of acres in school-house sites................ 7
" "t church and parsonage sites..... 5
'ft " burying-grounds................... 6
" " railroad right of way and depot
grounds......................... 38
" farms in township.......................... 303
" acrts in same................................... 21,528
Average number of acres in farms....................... 71.04
Number of acres of wheat sown in 1874................ 3,413
" " " harvested in 1873.......... 3,090
" " corn " ".......... 1,962
Bushels of wheat raised in 1873........................... 42,430
corn 8f............................ 81,628
all other grain raised in 1873............... 22,770
" potatoes raised in 1873....................... 8,642
Tons of hay cut in 1873.................................... 2,325
Pounds of wool sheared in 1873........................... 20,464
" of pork marketed in 1873.................. 311,630
" cheese made in 1873........................... 6,490
<" butter made in 1873.......................... 89,639
" fruit dried for market in 1873........... 32,257
Barrels of cider made in 1873.............................. 603
Pounds of maple-sugar made in 1874................... 5,445
Number of acres in orchards in 1874.................... 642
Bushels of apples raised in 1872....................... 26,357
" t" * in 1873......................... 24,449
peaches raised in 1872........................ 60
" pearsraised in 1872.....................6...... 67
" " " 1873.......................... 71
" plums raised in 1872......................... 8
"t cherries raised in 1872........................ 1,099
" " " 1873........................ 919
grapes raised in 1872......................... 42." " 1873......................... 43
" strawberries raised in 1872.................. 41
" " W " 1873.................. 37
" currants and gooseberries raised in 1872 208
" " " " 1873 167
" melons and garden vegetables raised in
1872......................................... 342
t" melons and garden vegetables raised in
1873.......................................... 3,179
Value of all such fruit and garden vegetables for
1873........................................................... $1 1,281
VaJue of all such fruit and garden vegetables for
1874........................................................ $10,772
Number of horses owned in township in 1874........ 675
it mules "i " "...... 7
" work-oxen " "..... 14
" milch-cows........ 824

'" neat cattle, one year old and over, other
than oxen and cows...............689
" swine, over six months old............ 1,376
sheep " ".............. 4,431
" sheep sheared in 1873................. 3,04
saw-mills in township in 1874............. 3
" persons employed in sarie.................. 9
Amount of capital invested in same................... $4,700

Feet of lumber sawed........................................ 275,000
Value of lumber sawed....................................... $3,200
Egg-carrier factories.................................. 1
Persons employed in same............................ 3
Capital invested in same.................................... $2,000
Value of products............................................. $3,000
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
The township of Adams was not settled as early as those
along the Chicago turnpike, yet it was but a few years
after they had begun to fill with a white population before
the woods of Adams rang to the blows of the pioneer's axe,
and the typical log cabins were reared where now are the
tasty dwellings and excellent improvements of her citizens.
When once the work of developing her resources had
begun it was rapidly pushed along, and the foregoing
figures show that in the lapse of years the township has
become one of the foremost in the county in the amount
of many of its productions.
A period of forty-four years has rolled over the country
since the stillness of the forest was broken by the sound of
the pioneer's voice,-forty-four years fraught at first with
great toil and many privations, and since with mingled joy
and anxiety, until at present the outlook is cheerful and the
times are prosperous.
The first settler in what is now the township of Adams
was Salmon Sharp, who came with his son, Norman S.
Sharp, from Auburn, Cayuga Co., N. Y., in the spring of
1835. He selected his land in the month of April of that
year, and while his son stayed upon it he went on foot to
Monroe, recorded his entry at the land-office, and returned
in the same way. While Mr. Sharp, Sr., returned to New
York for his family, the son and Samuel Healey, who had
also come, kept " bachelors' hall" in a log house which was
erected by Salmon Sharp and son, and his brother, Sheldon
W. Sharp, with the aid of George Omens, who was at that
time stopping at the " Scipio House" in Moscow, on the
Chicago road, at the west line of the township, where Lorenzo Benson now lives. Mr. Omens made the shingles for
Mr. Sharp's house, and afterwards for others in the vicinity.
This rude dwelling was 10 logs high, and 18 by 24 feet in
dimensions, and was the first one erected in the township
for the use of a white family.
Salmon Sharp is now residing in Wayne Co., Ia., aged
eighty-six years, and his brother, Sheldon W. Sharp, in California. Norman S. Sharp, who is still living in Adams,
is consequently its oldest resident settler, and occupies land
entered by his father, on section 2, west of the old farm.
His wife is a daughter of Sylvester Twogood, who settled a
mile farther north, in Moscow, in June, 1836. He was
from Dryden, Tompkins Co., N. Y., and has been dead over
thirty years. His widow is still living.
At the same time Salmon Sharp selected his land in
Adams, his brother, Sheldon W. Sharp, S. A. Whittaker,
and Samuel Healey located close by in Moscow. They
were conducted to it by Zachariah Van Duzar, of Moscow.
Lot Fulkerson also settled in Moscow, in the same neighborhood (section 35), at about the same time. In the fall of

the same year (1835) the families of S. A. Whittaker,
James Fitten, and Anthony Ingham came to their new
homes in the forest, from near Lawrence, Mass. They
all located on the tract taken up by Mr. Whittaker.