Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1914-12-02
GRATTAN'S OLDEST
PIONEER TELLS Of
EARLY HAPPENINGS
Continued from Page u


When the Watkins family came into
the township OF Grattan it was unor-
ganized, but was held by Vergennes
township for township purposes"
There were no roads and from the
time the settlers reached the present
site Of Moseley they had To make
their own way through the forest, a
distance OF about four miles.
The second year after the Watkins
family came into the country the
township was organized and became
known as Grattan township. Milton
G. Watkins (not a relative OF Oliver)
became the first township supervisor
and Converse Close, father of Mrs.
Chas. Eddy was elected township
clerk.
When the Watkins family came in
to the new district they found that
they had neighbors to the south of
them and also to the southwest. The
senior Mr.. Watkins was always an
early riser. After he had lived
on the new farm about six months he
was working around the house about
four o'clock one morning when he
heard a rooster crow out in the woods
to the northeast. With a surprised
look on his face Mr.. Watkins ran in
to the house and informed his wife
that he believed there were neighbors
northeast of them. After breakfast
he shouldered his gun and started in
"a northeasterly direction to find the
neighbors. About two miles out in
the woods he came upon the home of
another settler. His name was Luth-
er b. Cook, and he was the father of
Elmer Il. Cook now of Belding. Jess
Brown was a neighbor of Mr.. Cook.
Directly off to the north of the Wat
kins home were the homes Of Milton
G. Watkins, Anthony King and his
son Alonson King.
The post office for the township
was twelve miles to the south at Yer
gennes station. The mail was brought
in there from Grand Rapids, by boat,
about once a month Letter postage
was twenty-five cents then. After a
years residence in the new country
Mr.. Watkins decided TO make more
improvements in his property. He
had become acquainted with William
H. Murray, who lived south of him
and to the west of the Barto school
house. Murray had done some build
ing a short time before and had a few
nails left. Mr.. Watkins sent his
young son, Oliver, over to the neigh
boris to buy the nails. While over
there he met Miranda Murray, who
afterwards became his wife, in Feb
ruary 1852.
The Murray's had come into the
settlement the year previous to the
Watkins They had made the trip
from Detroit with horses and
wagons To the east of Murray's
lived the Russell Slayton family. Rus
sell was the grandfather of Austin W.
Slayton.
oliver Watkins attended school for
three years at the Barto school, which
was located a half mile west of Nose
ley. He boarded at the home of the
nearby settlers. Later a school house
was built one-half mile south of his
fathers home. 1t became known as
the Mason school. Off to the south
Of the Watkins Peter Aldrich, who
came to the settlement with them,
had taken up his strip Of land. One
half mile east of Moseley the family
Of Ira Ford lived The Ford family
was the first one to come into the
township. They had settled in 1889.
The first autumn Mr. Watkins as
sisted his father in ''girdling" the
trees on five acres of the land near
the house. They planted this to corn
in the spring. and also planted four
acres on a similar clearing on the
Henry Green farm. Henry Green
was the father OF Clinton Green.
The Watkins had brought a liberal
supply of edibles with them. Two
tubs of maple sugar furnished them
with plenty Of "sweetening" for several
months until they could make more.
When the supply of flour ran out Mr..
Watkins yoked the oxen to the wagon
and drove through the woods to a
farm north of Ionia where he bought
a load of wheat, at thirty-eight cents
a bushel, and took il to Ionia where
he had it made into -four. This was
a years supply
While oliver Watkins was, gener
ally speaking, brave lad he had a
very great fear of Indians. Only a
few days after he came to the settle
ment with his parents he was playing
in the opening near the house when
he saw objects moving in the bushes
just beyond the edge of the clearing.
He took them to be Indians dogs.
Very cautiously he edged up to his
fathers side and told him that he saw