Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1914-03-25
FIRST WHITE CHILD
OF OT|SCO TOWN.
SHIP STILL LIVES

Continued from page one)
structed, II being only fourteen feet
square. The house had neither chimney.
floor, window or door, and when the
occupants wanted to go to bed the fur
niture had TO be moved outside to
make room for the bedding. The Rus
sell family came to the new home in
February and Eliza was born on April
End. This was the day of the first
town meeting in the township.
The meeting was held in a house be-
longing 10 Mr.. Cook and was common
ly known as the Cook house. There
were not enough men i'm the township
10 supply the offices and some OF them
were obliged to hold two
AS the children in the neighborhood
became old enough 10 go to school a
frame building was built just north
of the main road leading to Cooks
Corners about half way out from Beld-
ing where the first road turns off to
the south. one of the first teachers,
but not the one that opened the school,
was Miss Martha Davis. Some of the
early pupils, attending the school there
that are now living are Mrs. Sarah Ann
Knapp, mother of Chas. Knapp; Frank
X. Chase and Charles Russell, who
is said to be the first white child born
in the town OF Belding. Russell now
lives north OF Cooks Corners. Only
the plain fundamentals necessary to
the education of the youths of that
time were taught at the first schools.
Reading and spelling twice day with
writing and arithmetic taking up the
time between recitations was the pro-
gram. The terms were short and the
time of the larger pupils could not be
taken from the work on the farm.
At that time there were no roads and
all traffic was carried over the old In
dian trails. The nearest stores were
at Ionia and the trail to that town ran
by the way OF Flat and Grand Rivers.
At one time the Otiseo settlers thought
they could save time by going directly
across country. They knew that there
was another settlement, known as the
Welch settlement near the corner Of
Easton township and they expected TO
find passage across the river TO il and
then go on to the village of Ionia. 1t
was high water time and there were
men succeeded in signaling to some
Indians on the other shore until they
understood what was wanted. one OF
the Indians came over in frail birch
bark canoe, all that they had The
canoe seemed entirely too light for
more than one person. but Russell who
was most anxious to take this route
got into the canoe and the Indian
9 Il .l,, A
half way across the canoe sunk and
Russell and the Indian found them
selves in the middle Of the stream with
no boat. Cook and Morse who were
with him tried to persuade Russell to
return TO the near bank but he was de-
termined To find the Welch settlement
and made his way to the other shore.
After repairing the boat the Indian
returned to the men and told Cook to
get in, but indicated to him that he
must lie flat down in the bottom and
fold his arms. The weight was so
much that the water came within
half an inch Of the top of the canoe,
but they reached the shore in safety.
Morse being the lightest Of the three
he was taken across with out Difficult
ty. The delay in crossing the river
CAUSED lneIn 10 DtCOHle lOSl III the
wilderness at night fall. Wet, tired
and hungry they wandered about in
the thickets halooing occasionally in
hopes that they would find some sign
of the settlement. Toward morning
they stumbled upon the camp they
were seeking and were given food and
shelter. After a short rest they re-
sumed their journey.
The morning was bright and clear
and when they neared the prairie at
Ionia they found the entire flats COW
cred with the overflow of Grand river.
In a few minutes they heard the clear
cut sound Of a bugle coming over the
waters, and soon they saw the Gov
ernor Mason" the first river steamer on
her maiden trip up the Grand. She was
luxuriantly draped with flying coiors
and displayed a picture of beauty and
grandeur such as they had never seen
before. Witnessing this scene so soon
after the hardships of the previous
day made such an impression on them
that the men never forgot it,