History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan, with illustrations and biographical sketches of their prominent men and pioneers.

ORGANIZATION OF TIlE COUNTY.

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In the northeast corner of the county a number of immigrants from Western New York, composing what was
known as the " Rochester Colony," located in the valley of
the Maple River in the year 1836. This settlement, which
has retained the above name until the present time, will be
found mentioned at length in the history of the township
of Duplain, in which it is situated. The earliest settlements
in all the other parts of the county will also be similarly
noticed in detail in the separate histories of the several
townships.
The progress made in the settlement of the county
during a period of about fifteen years from the date of the
first land-entry, is shown by the following statement of the
total valuation of real and personal estate in the different
townships of the county in 1847, viz.:

Bath......................................................
Bengal...................................................
Bingham.................................................
Duplain...................................................
Dallas....................................................
De Witt...................................................
Eagle.......................................................
Essex.......................................................
Greenbush...............................................
Lebanon..................................................
O vid........................................................
O live.......................................................
Riley......................................................
Victor.....................................................
Westphalia...............................................
Watertown................................................

$16,705
21,602
20,358
23,923
26,111
52,215
49,067
43,078
12,000
24,204
23,221
30,041
23,156
23,321
26,769
42,403

Total................................................ $458,175
ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY.
The organization of Clinton County was effected in 1839,
by an act of the Legislature (approved March 12th of that
year) which provided " That the county of Clinton be and
the same is hereby organized.... There shall be elected
in the county of Clinton, on the first Monday of April next,
all the several county officers to which, by law, the said
county is entitled, and whose term of office shall severally
expire at the time the same would have expired had
they been elected on the first Monday and Tuesday of
November last; said election shall be held in the several
townships at the same place where by law such annual
township-meeting is to be held." Under the provisions of
this organizing act the election was held at the time (April
1, 1839) and places designated, resulting in the election of
the following-named officers for the county of Clinton, viz.:
Sheriff, William F. Jenison; Clerk, Seth P. Marvin;
Register of Deeds, Milo H. Turner; Treasurer, John
Gould; Judge of Probate, Hiram W. Stowell; Associate
Judges, Hiram Wilcox, Joseph Sever; County Commissioners, Calvin Marvin, Ephraim H. Utley, Robert E.
Craven.
The office of county commisioner was created in Michigan by a law passed in May, 1818, giving to each organized
county a board of three of these officers, to be appointed
by the Governor, and to receive a salary of thirty dollars
each per annum. The office was discontinued by an act
passed in April, 1827, and the powers before held by that
board were given to a Board of Supervisors, composed of
one supervisor from each township. The Board of Commissioners was revived by a law passed by the Legislature
in 1838; and this law being in force at the time of

the organization of Clinton County, there were included
among its first officers the three gentlemen above named as
composing its Board of County Commissioners, their powers
and duties being the same as those which now pertain to
the Board of Supervisors.
EARLY PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMISSIONERS
AND SUPERVISORS.
The earliest public business of the county was that
which came before the Board of Commissioners at their first
meeting, which was held in the village of De Witt on the
10th of April, 1839. Ephraim H. Utley was chosen
chairman and Seth P. Marvin (the county clerk) was made
clerk of the board. Their first action was the appointment
of the 21st of April, 1839, to meet the Board of Commissioners of Shiawassee for the purpose of making a settlement between the two counties. The board then adjourned
to meet on the 10th of June, 1839, at the house of
Ephraim H. Utley in the village of De Witt.
At the adjourned meeting of the board the following
demands against the county were audited and ordered paid:
Wolf-certificate to No-wab-a-no........................ $8.00
" " Ash-ha-be.......................... 8.00
" " Alonzo D. Brewster............... 8.00
" " Alonzo Vaughn..................... 48.00
Account of David Watson.......................... 7.50
" Timothy H. Petit............................ 7.50
" John Berry.................................... 5.00
" E. H. Utley................................ 5.50
" Seth P. M arvin.............................. 9.50
The following is a copy of the abstract of the assessmentrolls of the several townships of Clinton County for the
year 1839, as equalized by the board:
Towns. Number of Amount of Amount of Per- Aggregate.
Acres. Real Estats. sonal Property.
Ossowa.......... 24,501 $73,503 $1,105 $74,608
De Witt........... 33,919 103,833 4,753 108,586
Watertown...... 55,690 169,817 3,130 172,947
Westphalia...... 14,529 43,587 150 43,737
Lebanon.......... 67,713 203,139 2,300 205,439
Bingham......... 49,191 147,946 1,250 149,196
Total......... 245,543 $741,825 $12,688 $754,513
The following is the amount of tax levied in the several
townships in the same year:
Town. County. State. Road. Poor. Total.
Ossowa.............. $259.83 $146.57 $154.81 $143.05..... $1,304.26
De Witt............ 162.96 205.05 216.89 82193..... 1,406.83
Watertown........ 314.46 353.54 377.07 1289.88.... 2,334.95
Bingham.......... 302.03 284.56 300.43 1418.51..... 2,305.53
Lebanon........... 430.00 1377.79 436.20 1720.37 $25 3,989.36
Westphalia....... 106.40 82.23 93.57 326.19..... 614.39
Total......... $1575.68 $2455.74 $1578.97 $6319.93 $25 $11,955.32
The meeting that was called for the 21st of April, 1839,
for the purpose of adjusting accounts between the two
counties was not held until the 23d day of September of
the same year, at which time the accounts were examined,
and on the 24th of December, 1840, the following statement was agreed upon as a basis of settlement:
' STATE OF MICHIGAN, )
SHIAWASSEE COUNTY. S S
"It is hereby agreed and concluded by the undersigned,
county commissioners of the counties of Shiawassee and
Clinton on an adjustment and settlement of the accounts of

the two counties, that the county of Clinton is justly indebted to Shiawassee County in the sum of three hundred
and five dollars and ninety-seven cents, as follows: