History of Ottawa County, Michigan with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers.

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JAMESTOWN TOWNSHIP.

This is the most southeasterly township of the county, and
contains perhaps a larger proportion of agricultural lands than any
other, being chiefly hardwood producing, with but little pine. It is
essentially a farming community, without large villages or business
centers or railroad communication. It has three post offices, Hanley
in the northeast, Jamestown Center, and Forest Grove in the southeast. % It is noted for its fine farms with orchards, and a great increase in value of marsh lands has been made by the " long ditch "
of the drain commissioners. Food was first brought in from Grandville, and deer was plentiful, a Mr. Hermit one winter killing eightysix. The first teacher in 1851 was Elizabeth Bates. First preacher,
Elder A. B. Toms, Free Will Baptist. There is a church building
for the Dutch Reformed, and organizations of Baptists, Methodists
and Disciples, In 1873-4 the treasurer of the town, C. C. Pratt,
disappeared. The mystery has not been cleared up, whether he
was murdered or ran away.
The Holland element is strong and increasing. It has about
2,100 inhabitants. It has nearly 9,000 acres under improvement,
for richness of soil ranks among the best in the county, and is not
excelled for general farming purposes, and for the production of
wheat excels any township in the county. Its yield of corn
and other grains, and potatoes, butter and maple sugar, is very
large. There is some pine, but the timber is mostly hard wood of
the very best quality. It has no village of importance, but it is a
beautiful township, with soil very productive, and will always be a
wealthy and influential township.
Jamestown was surveyed as early as 1831, but not till
about 1844 did it receive any permanent settlers. In that year
James Conkwright settled on Sec. 11, built the first house, and
commenced clearing. He was joined in 1846 by S. L. Gitchel, Mansur Brown and James Brown. Soon after Charles Richardson,
James Donnelly, Andrew Friz, Fitch Hill and others settled in the
township. The first, birth which occurred was Josiah F. Richardson, Sept. 27, 1848. Among the early marriages may be mentioned
Jarvis Lane to Mary Dinsmore, Orzina Clark to Delia Ann Conkwright, Van Buren Snmith to Ella Bender, James M. Conkwright to
Adelia Bender. The first post office was established in 18157, S. L.
Gitchel, Post Master, and Thaddeus Skeels, Deputy. There are
now two other post offices in the township, viz.: Hanley and Forest
Grove. In early days the people received their mail from Grandville.
Jamestown was formerly attached to Georgetown, where it remained till 1849, when it became a separate organization having
within its limits twelve voters. The first town meeting was in
April, 1849, and held at the house of James Conkwright. James
M. Conkwright and Nathan W. Richardson acted as Inspectors of
Election, George W. Donnelly, Moderator, and James M. Brown,
Secretary, at which time the following were elected to fill the several offices for the ensuing year:
James Skeels, Supervisor; James M. Brown, Township Clerk;
James M. Conkwright, Treasurer; Geo. G. Donnelly, Chas. Richardson, James Conkwright, N. W. Richardson, Justices; S. L.

Gitchel, D. S. Richardson, Andrew Friz, Sen., Commissioners;
D. O. Richardson, A. Donnelly, Andrew Friz, Jr., Constables; N.
W. Richardson, Andrew Friz, Jr., School Inspectors; Andrew Friz,
Jr., James Conkwright, Overseers of the Poor.
The following named persons have been elected as Supervisors,
Township Clerks and Township Treasurers since its first organization:
SUPERVISORS.
S. L. Gitchel, 1850-1-4-60; James Skeels, 1849-52-3; Wm. Arnold, 1855; R. S. Arnold, 1856-7-8; F. P. Stilwell, 1859; Wm. D.
Kirby, 1861-2-3-4-7; Robt. R. Wilkinson, 1865-6-73-4; Owen R.
L. Crozier, 1868-9; Wm. H. Curtis, 1870-1-2-5-6-7; Sidney M.
Seize, 1878; Gardner Avery, 1879-80-1.
TOWNSHIP CLERKS.
James M. Brown, 1850-3; Andrew Friz, Jr., 1851; N.W. Richardson, 1852; Thaddeus Skeels, 1854-5-6-7-8-9-60-1; Hiram R.
Lovejoy, 1862-3-4-5; Wm. D. Kirby, 1866; Benj. F. Sandford,
1867; David S. Spencer, 1868; John Jackson, Sen., 1869-70-1-2-3 -4-5-6-7-8-9-80; Franklin H. Peet, 1875; George F. Richardson,
1881.
TREASURERS.
James M. Conkwright, 1850-2-3-4-5; Clark Yemmens, 1851;
F. P. Stilwell, 1856; Datus Dean, 1857; Joseph T. Brown, 1858;
Richard S. Arnold, 1859; Judson A. Boice, 1860-1-2; Norman
Chamberlain, 1863-4-5; S. S. Chamberlain, 1866-7-8; Albert Whitney, 1869-70; Chas. C. Pratt, 1871-2-3; Nicholus DeFries, 1874 -5-6-8; Robt. R. Wilkinson, 1877; Henry H. Chamberlain, 1879-80;
Franklin H. Peet, 1881.
Whole number of votes in 1881, 302.
THE REFORMED CHURCH OF JAMESTOWN
has sprung up among the settlers who came into the township from
Holland in the year 1867 and afterward, the country then Bleing
still, for a great part, covered with the original forest. These Holland settlers were at first members of the Reformed Church of
Drenthe, but the distance being too great for them regularly to attend religious services there,.the President of Hope College, Dr. P.
Phelps, and the Theological students, offered to visit them and
preach for them from time to time, both in the English and Holland
languages to accommodate both Hollanders and Americans living in
the neighborhood. This proposal was accepted and acted upon,
and on intervening Sundays, when there was no preaching, some
one appointed by the people read to them a sermon.
In 1869 the congregation was organized under the jurisdiction of
the Classis of Holland, there being originally sixteen members, the
first Elders elected being Hendrik Van de Bunte and William Veenboer, under whose supervision the congregation grew till the year
1872, when the present church edifice was erected, with a seating
capacity for about 200 persons. About two years afterwards the
church sustained a severe blow in the deaths of two of their Elders
and prominent men, W. Veenboer and D. DeKleine, who, together

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