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

HISTORY OF HILLSDALE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

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Hopkins, Alonzo Bailey, Edward S. Baker, R. T. Davis,
James Bellows.
Section 4.-John Allen, Gershom Willmarth, Lothrop
& Buck, Wilder & Hastings.
Section 5.-John Palmer, Rowland Bird, Lothrop &
Buck, James Guion.
Section 6.-Samuel Young, Wilder & Hastings, William
P. Green, James Guion.
Section 7.-Lothrop & Buck, Wilder & Hastings, A. S.
& Stephen Clark, Orrin Cobb, Charles J. Manning, Watson
Childs, Hiram Darrow.
Section 8.-Asahel Kimball, Lothrop & Buck, William
Burnham, Henry Fowler, Erastus Gaylord.
Section 9.-Stephen F. Warner, Asahel Kimball, A. &
E. Willis.
Section 10.-Franklin Lakey, Joseph R. Williams.
Section 11.-William H. Chilson, Christopher Perkins,
William B. Bristol.
Section 12.-Henry Cornell, David Short, Parley J.
Spalding, Aaron D. Carroll, William H. Chilson, A. W.
Nichols.
Section 13.-Gabriel H. Todd, A. McCow, David Short,
Ransom Ferris, Otis Johnson, Elizabeth Sprague.
Section 14.-Lyman Doolittle, Ransom Ferris, Joseph
R. Williams, Wilder & Hastings.
Section 15.-Gabriel H. Todd, Franklin Lakey, Joseph
R. Williams.
Section 17.-Benajah Barker, Lothrop & Buck, W. P.
Green, George L. Perkins, Erastus Gaylord.
Section 18.-Theron Skeel, Lothrop & Buck, Green,
Hubbard & Lester, Charles Darrow, Charles H. and William Harroll.
Section 19.-Joseph R. Williams, T. B. Van Brant,
Isaac Knapp, Jr., B. F. Van Dake, Charles Helm, Leonard
Carlton.
Section 20.-Seth Brewster, Lothrop & Buck, M. L.
and Aaron Lincoln, Ira R. Grosvenor.
Section 21.-Henry Jessup, Jr., Lothrop & Buck, M.
L. and A. Lincoln, C. Howell, Deborah D. Field, George
Crane.
Section 22.-J. E. Fletcher, Isaac French, Russell
Whitney, Joseph R. Williams, Center Lamb, John R.
Willis.
Section 23.-Gilbert Sherman, Sylvanus Rowles, Thomas
Burt, Wilder & Hastings, John R. Willis.
Section 24.-Hiram Doolittle, Salmon Laird, Joseph R.
Williams, Benjamin Harrington, Archibald McVickar.
Section 25.-Charles H. Carroll, Epenetus Howell, A.
S. Clapp.
Section 26.-Salmon Laird, Green, Hubbard & Lester,
William P. Green, Harvey Cobb, Isaac A. Calvin.
Section 27.-Isaac French, Russell Whitney, Noram C.
Baldwin, J. D. Huntington, N. Bassett, Jr., Ama B. Cobb,
Harvey Cobb.
Section 28.-J. J. Snidecor, Irwin Camp, William P.
Green, Robert Parker, James Bellows.
Section 29.-Asa D. Reed, John Babcock, Samuel S.

Brown, Ira R. Grosvenor.
Section 30.-James H. Babcock, Green, Hubbard &
Lester, Edward L. Baker, William P. Green.

EARLY SETTLEMENT.
From a historical sketch of this town by Samuel B.
Brown (at present occupying a seat in the State Legislature), read July 4, 1876, the following extract is made regarding the first white settler of what is now Ransom:
"Rowland Bird, a native of Massachusetts, who had
previously lived in Wayne Co., N. Y., in the year 1832, in
October, moved into Michigan and located in the town of
Sylvania, now in the State of Ohio. From Sylvania he
came to Ransom, where he arrived March 8, 1836. With
him came his wife and seven children, four daughters and
three sons; also a young man by the name of Leander
Candee, as a man-of-all-work. What his wages were, or
for what he served, the only record we have is that, four
years after, to wit, March, 1840, he took to wife Lorinda
Bird, and no doubt considered himself amply repaid for all
the privations and hardships he had endured."
The marriage of Mr. Candee and Miss Bird was the first
which took place within the present limits of Ransom. The
first death was that of Allen Bird, a sixteen-year-old son
of Rowland Bird, who died March 8, 1839, just three
years after the family settled in the township, and a year
before his sister was married to Mr. Candee. The funeral
sermon was preached by Rev. Jacob Ambler, of Osseo,
and was the first sermon delivered in town. The first
birth was that of a child of Mr. and Mrs. James H. Babcock, and occurred also in 1839.
For one or two years after his settlement Mr. Bird's
family had no neighbors save the prowling beasts of the
wilderness, and the only occasions when they were permitted
to gaze on one of their own color were the visits of parties
looking for land upon which to locate at some future time.
The second family which settled in Ransom was that of
Orrin Cobb, who made a home on the western border.
Mr. Cobb became prominent in town, and held numerous
offices, among them that of assessor, to which position he
was elected at the first town-meeting.
The first frame barn in the township was built by Rowland Bird, in 1838, and among those who were present to
assist in raising it were a few Indians, and several persons
from Jonesville, who had come purposely to aid in the
work. This was but one of many instances of the same
character, and it was often found necessary to go even
farther for help.; Indeed, the settlers of the town know
what hardships and privations mean. One of them, desiring sash for the windows of his new log house, walked
to Jonesville, bought five sash, paid all his money, lashed
the sash to his back, and returned without having a mouthful to eat. Another man, desiring some seed-oats, started
out, accompanied by his thirteen-year-old boy, in search of
some. He bought three bushels three miles west of Hudson. Two bushels were put in one bag, and one bushel in
the other. The bags were shouldered respectively by
father and son, and carried the whole distance home."*
A wonderful mortality developed itself in the Bird
family in the year 1840. Mrs. Candee, the bride of only

a month, sickened and died on the 9th day of April, and
the grave which was dug to receive her remains was the
* Hogaboam's History of the Bean Creek Valley.