Early Settlers

Early Settlers. .

"These were the days of dense forests, of small beginnings, when a few acres of cleared land was considered a farm; of log cabins with stick chimneys, of huge fireplaces, of corduroy mads over warships, when the neighbors turned out to help the newcomer put up his house, when a yoke of oxen, an axe, a rifle, a seethe and a cradle was fair equipment." , W. W. Gambia, born in Otsego Township 1839

, In 1835, the land around Hamilton became available for settlement. John Fee and his wife, Mary, arrived from Ohio in March of 1835. At age 25, he claimed 120 acres near Ball Lake. By the time he died in 1873, he owned 1400 acres in Steuben and DeKalb Counties., Other Settlers , Elias O. Rose, July 1835. His purchase was southwest of Hamilton Lake., Gideon Ball was from New York. Gideon would purchase the land that included Ball Lake in September 1835., George Swift arrived from Massachusetts in an oxen pulled wagon in 1836. His land "started on the south at the Corbin school corner and went north on the east side of State Road I., The lake (Ball Lake) lies near the Old Defiance Trail and there was spring water nearby. Mrs. John Fee said it was a common sight to see campfires of homesteaders and covered wagons clustered thickly around the shores of the lake at night. , Hamilton Retrospectives, John Fee house, photographed in 1903, was built in 1840, Frank Fee, son of John Fee, with team of oxen, about 1900 , The early settlers left behind the comforts of homes and families. They entered a region about which little was known. The first few years involved back-breaking work, hunger, and death from accidents and illness. , 1896: McCool School , 1898 Sozvenir Otsego Township School , 1924: District School # 6 , 1920: Linninger School The early settlers of Otsego Township were education conscious. They planned the school locations so that no student had more than two and one half miles to walk. ,

"Also it was a time when a regular epidemic of fever and ague, typhoid, bloody flux and Michigan scratches was not unusual." , W. W. Gambia, "Most of the houses had but one room, and generally not very commodious at that. Some of them had a chamber, which was reached by means of a ladder." , E. O. Rose, "…August 1839, when Mora was taken sick with canker rash and died suddenly. Aunt Mary Ann, after having prepared little Mora's remains for the grave, went home and found her little daughter Elizabeth sick… and she died that night. On December 11, 1839, Uncle Calvin 's little boy Lorenzo, died with the same disease." , Powers Family recollections, "The cooking was done by open fireplaces; and, it being prior to the introduction of Lucifer matches, the keeping of fire from one day to another was no easy matter. It frequently "went out” and "borrowing” fire was a common occurrence. The neighbors being some distance apart, the job was sometimes a little perplexing." , E. O. Rose

, Area of Enterprise (later Hamilton) ,

"Upon one occasion Stephen Powers left Angola for home just before sunset, carrying a piece of fresh meat. The wolves scented the blood, and before reaching Pigeon Creek, darkness was upon him and a pack of hungry animals at his heels. He halted to cut a cudgel with which to beat them off, and while doing so placed one foot apon his meat to prevent their getting it from him. Then he proceeded homeward, occasionally swinging his cub in the rear, to keep safe distance between him and the wolves." , E. O. Rose

, By the end of 1836, most of the land in Otsego Township had been purchased. Within the span of a few decades, the region went from wilderness to being dotted with farms and small communities. , Historical Hamilton , 1835: John Fee, Gideon Bail, Elias Rose arrive , 1836: George Swift, James Clark, James Johnson arrive , 1837: Steuben County set off from LaGrange County , 1840: 27 more families had arrived in Otsego Township , 1880: Otsego Township has ten schools