some one proposed to have a marriage ceremony to enliven the occasion. To this all agreed, and Mr. Smith and the blushing Sarah took their places, and Nathaniel Smith, being the oldest man present, performed the ceremony amidst great enthusiasm. The actors in the scene had all been chosen with reference to the event, for Nathaniel was a justice of the peace, and the company were astonished when, after the joke had been fully enjoyed, they were told that they had witnessed a bona fide marriage. It proved a happy one, and both parties lived many years to multiply their mutual pleasures and divide their mutual woes.

The first school-house was built about the year 1845, and stood on the west side of the State road, near the northeast corner of section 33. It was a small frame building, and was known as the Smith school house. William R. Smith was the first teacher. In order to obtain their proportion of the school-money it was necessary to have a school taught for a certain length of time, and Mr. Smith, though not an educated man, was the only one willing to undertake the task. Anna Johnson, of Mount Morris; Caroline Stanley and Jane Devinney, of Genesee; Melissa Scott, of Thetford; and Ruth Begel and Esther Crowell, of Forest, were among the earliest teachers.

The first frame house in town was erected on his farm by W. R. Smith soon after his second marriage, and is yet standing, though not occupied as a dwelling for some time past. The first blacksmith shop was the one attached to the saw-mill of John Hays. James McGinnis was the first blacksmith who worked in it while the mill was building, and a man named Stanley also worked there some. Mr. Crowl was made the agent here, Charles E. Kingsbury occupied the shop, and may be said to be the first resident blacksmith.

After

The first wheat sown in Forest was in the fall of 1837, when Henry Hiester, Nathaniel Smith, Stephen Begel, and Amos Begel each sowed a small piece. Hiester's contained about two acres.

The Flint River Railroad was built in the summer of 1872,-work in this town being commenced in April,and the first regular trains began running about the 15th of August. The first agent of the company had charge of all the stations on the line, and used to go with the train, which stopped at each station long enough to enable him to sell tickets, bill freight, and transact the business connected therewith. His name was T. J. Slafter. The agents at Otisville have been T. J. Slafter, W. L. Laing, A. F. Blake, F. E. Palmer, and Gilbert R. Chandler, who has held the position since September, 1874.

The town was erected in 1843, in accordance with the wishes of its people. In the petition no name had been mentioned, and the representative sent to have some name selected. The name of Paris was presented by Nathaniel Smith, was agreed to, and was forwarded to the Legisla ture; but, upon examination, it was found that this name had already been used; so a facetious member of the House said, "As it is all woods, and nobody lives there, I think we had better call it Forest," and Forest it was called.

The first town-meeting was held at the house of Stephen Begel, on the first Monday in April, 1843, and it is said. there were only 13 voters present. From the fact that the

records of the town previous to 1861 were so carelessly kept that they were, practically, not kept at all, we are left very much to imagination to supply points in the civil history which recollection leaves unsupplied. So it is that we have no record of this first meeting. So far as can be ascertained, the following officers were chosen, viz.: Supervisor, Nathaniel Smith; Town Clerk, Chauncey W. Seeley; Treasurer, Wm. R. Smith; Justices of the Peace, John Crawford, Nathaniel Smith, William R. Smith, Amos Begel; Commissioners of Highways, John Crawford, Nathaniel Smith, Amos Begel; Overseers of the Poor, Amos Begel, Nathaniel Smith.

The following list of officers of the town is necessarily very imperfect previous to 1861, but is the best we have been able to make from the data at hand:

1843-44. John Crawford.

Nathaniel Smith. Amos Begel., 1850. William Davison. Quartus W. Clapp. 1853. Amos Begel.

John R. Begel. 1854. David Crawford. William Van Slyck. 1855. Amos Begel.

John R. Begel. 1858. Richard A. Gossler.

William Crawford. William Van Slyck. 1860. Enoch B. Woodman. Ransom G. Root. John Crawford. 1861. Levi G. Alexander. 1862. Westel Mudge.

1863. John Crawford (f. t.). Lanson Webster (v.). Uriah Beach (app'd, died).

1863-64. William Van Slyck. Salvin F. Kellogg (v.). 1865. David Crawford. 1866. Christian E. Osborne. 1867. William Van Slyck. 1868. William Crawford. 1869. Thomas Branch. 1870. William H. Begel. 1871. William Crawford. 1872. William Van Slyck. 1873. William II. Begel. 1874. William Crawford. 1875-76. Alfred M. Benedict. 1877. Henry Warren. 1878-79. Willard P. Ranney.

JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.

SCHOOL INSPECTORS.

Olmstead (appt'd), 1866; Alva B. Powelson, 1866-68; William H. Wilson, 1867; Willard Ranney, 1867-69; Thomas Branch, 1867-70; Theron Woodruff, 1868; Peter McClue, 1868-69; Oscar F. Swift. Charles P. Slack, 1869; Samuel Fuller, 1870; Abram D. Van Gordon, 1870-79; James Williams, 1870-75; Henry Hurd, 1871; Edward Salisbury, Daniel Stockwell, 1872; Charles Olds, 1872-73; Frank Branch, Noble Ingell, 1873; John T. Alexander, 1873-76; Jesse Warren, Charles Amy, 1874; Jeremiah Osborne, 1874-78-79; William Sanford, 1874-76-78; Andrew J. Whaling, 1875; William W. Burnett, 1875-76; Ozias C. Swift, 1876-77; George Webster, Horace Warren, 1877; Robert Beemer, 187778; William J. Gillett, 1878; Edgar B. Olds, George Hiscock, 1879.

In the early years the questions of partisanship did not enter to any great extent into the politics of the town. At the town-meetings, which were usually held at the house of Stephen Begel until the school-house was built, the questions considered were those of the fitness of the candidates for the different offices, and a union ticket was usually formed, which was elected by a unanimous vote, or at least without serious opposition. At the general elections party lines were more strictly drawn. The town was first strongly Democratic, but was afterwards controlled by the Free-Soilers, and lastly by the Republicans, who are still in the ascendant, and have a majority of about 80 votes.

Previous to the active commencement of the lumbering business the town had but few roads. Paths through the woods, following the easiest and most direct route from one settlement to another, were the commonest thoroughfares opened previous to 1855. In that year the State Legislature authorized the laying out of a State road, passing through this town from north to south. The act was approved Feb. 13, 1855, and the survey was made in that year under the supervision of Enos Goodrich and Townsend North, commissioners appointed by Governor Kingsley S. Bingham for the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of the act. The survey-bill was filed in the town clerk's office, Nov. 20, 1855, and describes the road as running north nearly on the section lines, commencing at the south corner between sections 33 and 34, and leaving the town a few rods west of the corner between sections 3 and 4.

Two years later, in 1857, a large number of highways were laid out by the town commissioners, the surveys being made by Julian Bishop, of Grand Blanc.

The first post-office, and the only one ever established in Forest, was brought into existence in the spring or early summer of 1855. The people felt the need of better mail facilities, and had been petitioning for the appointment of different persons, among them Amos Begel, Ira S. Begel, and Lyman Crowl, but for some reason the petitions were ineffective to accomplish the purpose. At last, through the influence of ex-Governor Fenton, E. S. Williams, and Russell Bishop, an office was created with John Crawford as postmaster. This office was then at his residence on section 24, and remained there till 1859, when it was removed to Otisville, and Robert D. Shaw appointed deputy-postmaster to take charge of it. He was afterwards postmaster, and has been succeeded by George Reed, Ellis S. Swayze, Asher Look, and John W. Nicholson, the present incumbent. The office was called "Forest" until about 1861, when the name was changed to Otisville. It was at first on route No.

13,074, running from Lapeer to Pine Run, the mail being carried once a week each way by Luther Scott, of Thetford. It is now supplied with two mails a day by way of the Flint River division of the Flint and Père Marquette Railroad.

Previous to 1858-59 the medical business of this town was principally done by two non-resident physicians. They were Dr. Congdon, of Marathon, Lapeer Co., and Dr. Lamond, of Flint. Lamond was first in the field, but Congdon, who commenced practicing about 1856, rather took the lead after that time. Among the other physicians were Drs. Drake and Willett, of Flint; Orr and Goodell, of Genesee; and Lathrop, of Pine Run, who was the leading physician for several years. The first resident physician was Dr. Griswold, who owned a farm about two miles east of Otisville, and began practicing medicine here about twenty years ago. He lived here a number of years, and then removed to Grand Blanc. Next, some four or five years later, Dr. Rich came and stayed a year or two. Then, in 1863, Dr. Luke N. Begel came, and remained for a period of ten years, being very successful, and receiving the confidence as well as the custom of his patients. Since 1874 he has been located at Pine Run. After Begel came Drs. Bardwell, Hanson, Henderson, two Rogerses, A. W. Nicholson, J. B. Laing, and E. D. Lewis, the three last named being still in business at Otisville.

On Tuesday, May 15, 1855, this town was visited by a mighty hurricane, one of those resistless tempests whose power, derived from some-to us-mysterious source, is so painfully manifest. It was late in the afternoon of an almost preternaturally beautiful, clear day that a dark cloud appeared, seeming to form in the clear sky, and the wind. blew with an ever-increasing force. Torrents of rain began to fall as the storm gathered strength and fury and began moving eastward at a comparatively slow rate of speed. The diameter of the whirlwind was apparently about 40 rods, but the great force was spent within a space of 20 rods along the line its axis passed over. Its course lay along the north line of sections 28, 27, 26, and 25, and then leaving this town it entered Marathon, and passed nearly half-way across the town before its force was spent. During its duration, which was but a few minutes at any given point, the air was filled with boards, rails, limbs of trees, and all kinds of movable things that were situated in its path. Poultry, especially, suffered greatly from its rude transportation. Within the space of 20 rods of the central part of the tornado the trees were mowed down like grass before the scythe of a strong-armed mower, and piled this way and that in the most inextricable confusion. Outside of this, for ten rods on either side, the trees less deeply rooted than their companions were overthrown, but the more sturdy ones withstood the tempest, though many limbs were twisted and torn from them. The Crawford school-house, on the northeast corner of section 26, was completely demolished. The roof and some of the top logs of the house of Daniel Cummings was torn off, much to the amazement of Mr. Cummings, who was within the building, but escaped injury. Some of these logs were thrown to a great distance, one of them being found fully 40 rods south of the house. The roof of Mr. John Crawford's barn was

east.

half torn off, and portions of it carried a mile and a half When the storm passed over Crawford's Lake the water was caught up by the wind and a waterspout formed by it. From this fact a rumor spread over the surrounding country that the lake had been entirely emptied, and people came the next day from some distance, bringing baskets in which to carry away the fish they expected to find floundering in the mud. They were, however, disappointed, for at the time of their arrival the lake had resumed its normal appearance, and presented no trace of its recent violent agitation.

During the war of the Rebellion, Forest did its full share to sustain the government in its struggle for existence, and by men and money upheld the administration until the sword of Lee was surrendered beneath the historical appletree of Appomattox. A special town-meeting was held Feb. 20, 1864, at which it was voted to issue bonds of the town to the amount necessary to pay $100 each to every volunteer accredited to this town, till the quota under the pending calls was filled, or a draft took place. A second special meeting was held on the 18th of August following, and the bounty was raised to $300, to be paid to each volunteer credited to the town on any call as long as the war should last.

THE VILLAGE OF OTISVILLE

had no existence until the building of the Hayes saw-mill brought to this place the necessary force of men to run the mill, and to cut the timber and get the logs to the mill. At that time there were three houses within the present incorporation, viz.: Stephen Begel's, Amos Begel's, and Matthew McCormick's. The mill was built in 1851, and Hayes built a house for his own occupancy on the site of Mrs. Freeman's present residence. The mill company also built a boarding-house and a store, and several of the mill hands built small houses for themselves. This store was the first one kept in the township. It stood a little south of Hayes' house. The boarding-house was near the present site of Robert Alexander's house. About the same time Ira S. Begel built a house, the one now owned by James Moshier.

In 1852 a change was made in the management of the mill, and Lyman Crowl was placed in charge of the business. He then built a house on the southwest corner, where the road coming from the west intersected the State road, and George Reed built the first hotel in town-the American House-on the opposite or northwest corner. The corner room of this building he fitted up for a store, and rented it to Robert B. Shaw, who put a stock of goods in it and kept store there for a while, and then sold out to E. C. Freeman. In 1859, Ira S. Sanders built a store on the north end of the public square, and occupied it for a few years. Then Ira S. and John R. Begel, in 1860-61, built a store about two rods east of the present post-office. Ira was considerable of a surveyor, and resurveyed the east-andwest road through the village. He then found that the line of the road ran a couple of rods farther north than had been supposed, and thus a strip of ground on the south part of Main Street, and north of Crowl's line, was found to still belong to the Begels. On to the east end of this strip

they moved their store, where it still stands, having been afterwards sold to Mr. E. C. Freeman.

During this time a number of dwelling-houses had been erected by new-comers, and the village had attained a considerable size. A foundry, devoted to plow and customwork, and employing four or five hands, had been built by Salvin F. Kellogg and R. W. Woodruff, on the north side of the outlet of the lakes. Woodruff sold out to Kellogg in 1859. A room had been built as an addition to the saw-mill and fitted with one run of stone, bolts, etc., necessary for a grist-mill, and had done considerable grinding. In 1860, Otis & Crocker built the present grist-mill, which was fitted with two run of stone and corresponding machinery. This mill is now owned by John H. McCormick.

June 6, 1863, William F. Otis and T. D. Crocker made a village plat, and placed it on record in the register's office at Flint. Dr. Rogers recorded an addition Sept. 3, 1866, Ira. S. Begel and Robert B. Shaw another one Aug. 5, 1867, Freeman and Crowl another March 19, 1868, and Mr. Beecher another June 22, 1872.

In 1864, Ira S. Begel built a saw-mill, and in 1867 another one, both of which are mentioned elsewhere. In the latter year he also built a hotel, which has always been known as the Lake House, and of which he was the host for a time. In 1868 he enlarged this hotel. He also built a store on the corner where the post-office now stands, which, together with the drug-store of Ellis S. Swayze, standing just east of it, was destroyed by fire. On its site the present Hunton Block was built by Hunton Bros., in 1875.

The foundry was traded by Mr. Kellogg to M. S. Prescott, in 1875, and was by him converted into a furniturefactory. It was then sold to Silas Patten, who made broomhandles there until a year ago, since which time it has been used for storage purposes.

A steam saw-mill and sash-and-blind factory were also built by George Reed, near the depot, and run by him for a time, but are now dismantled and idle.

School district No. 5, which is the largest district in the town, includes the village of Otisville, and was formed in its present shape about twenty-five or thirty years ago. The school-house then used stood about one-half mile south of Otisville, on the State road. The present school-house, which is a commodious, convenient, and well-proportioned frame building, was erected in 1867, on land reserved for the purpose by Dr. Rogers when his plat was laid out the year before, and at that time the school was divided into a primary and a grammar department, with William H. Begel as principal. Since that time the primary department has been supplemented by an intermediate department. The cost of the building was about $4000. The principals in charge of the school, succeeding Mr. Begel, have been Mr. Van Vleet, Jefferson Lewis, A. D. Metz, William L. Laing, and Wm. H. Begel, who has now nearly finished his third year of continuous service.

The present number of scholars enrolled is 130, and the average attendance about 100. A branch primary school is kept at Hunton's mill for the accommodation of the smaller children in that part of the district. Though claiming no special merit, this school claims to average well with similar ones in the State, and points with pride

and satisfaction to the list of teachers who have gone out from among its pupils.

The present statistics of the village show about as follows: There are ten stores, including one drug and two general stores, and the usual variety of the different branches of trade. There are seven or eight mechanics' shops of the usual kinds. In the line of manufactories there are two establishments. The first is the stave-factory of Silas Patten, which is run under the supervision of Joseph Myles. It was first built by J. W. Hinman, in 1872, on section 32, two and a quarter miles southwest of its present location. In 1874, having been sold to Messrs. Norris & Hinkle, it was moved to its present location; it was then manufacturing sawed staves and headings. In October, 1875, it was sold to Silas Patten, who then introduced the manufacture of cut staves. Since 1878 the manufacturing of broom-handles has also been carried on. The mill uses a twenty-five-horse-power engine, employs fifteen hands for about four or five months in the year, and turns off an annual product of about $7000 in value. The second establishment mentioned is the grist-mill of John N. McCormick, which has two runs of stones operated by steam-power, and does considerable flouring in addition to its extensive run of custom grinding. There are also two hotels in Otisville, the American House, recently rebuilt, and running under the management of Branch Brothers (Thomas and Frank Branch), and the Lake House, which is kept as a temperance hotel by Eugene Ostrander. There is one church belonging to the Methodist Episcopal denomination; also the fine school-building already spoken of, the depot of the Flint River Railroad, and about 75 dwelling-houses, some of them quite large and tasty modern houses, and all indicative of a thrifty, progressive spirit on the part of the inhabitants. The population is about 375.

The village was incorporated by an act of the Legislature, approved by Governor Charles M. Crosswell on the 21st day of March, 1877. The territory included in the corporation limits is one mile square, and is distributed on four different sections,-on sections 21 and 28 three-eighths each, and on sections 22 and 27 one-eighth each.

The charter limited the powers of taxation for general purposes to one per cent. per annum of the assessed valuation of all the taxable property in the corporation.

The first election was designated to be held on the first Monday of May, 1877, at the public hall in said village. This was understood to mean the hall at the Lake House; but when the election came to be held the board gave a liberal construction to the act, and the election was held at the office of John S. Elwell, Esq. As a step preparatory to the election, George Reed, Matthew T. McCormick, and Christian E. Osborne were appointed as a board of registration, and met on the Saturday preceding the election for the purpose of registering the voters.

At the election officers were chosen, whose names and also those of their successors down to the present time will be found in the following list of

OFFICERS OF OTISVILLE VILLA GE.

PRESIDENTS.

1877, George Reed; 1878, Salvin F. Kellogg; 1879, John H. McCormick.

CLERKS.

1877, Anthony D. Burnell; 1878-79, Frank C. Trowbridge.

TREASURERS.

1877-78, Albert K. Hunton; 1879, F. W. Nicholson.

TRUSTEES.

1877, George E. Hunton, John H. McCormick, Christian E. Osborne, Ozias C. Swift, Salvin F. Kellogg, Eugene Ostrander; 1878, John W. Nicholson, Allen B. Clark, Charles Moon, Silas Patten (v.); 1879, Robert B. D. Alexander, John B. Laing, Silas Patten.

STREET COMMISSIONERS.

1877, H. O. Cheney; 1878-79, Edgar Rawling.

ASSESSORS.

1877, Allen B. Clark; 1878, Anthony D. Burnell; 1879, John S. Elwell.

MARSHALS.

1877, Abram D. Van Gordon; 1878-79, John S. Decker.

CONSTABLES.

1877, Alexander A. Dingman; 1878, Charles Wesley; 1879, William Gott.

The village has been greatly improved in many respects since this act of incorporation went into effect. Throughout the thickly-settled part fine, broad plank walks have been built, which very greatly facilitates and adds to the pleasure of traveling the streets. A basement in the Crawford Block has been fitted up for a "lock-up," and in it refractory violators of the laws of the commonwealth are sometimes restrained from the enjoyment of their personal liberty. A small hand fire-engine has been provided as a protection against fires, and the work of building reservoirs to store water for use at such times is now about to be undertaken. The village rents a room in the Hunton Block, and there the trustees meet, on the first Monday evening in each month, to transact the business connected with the management of the affairs of the corporation.

A volunteer fire department was organized Nov. 6, 1878, with the following members: F. W. Nicholson, J. Ostrander, A. M. Smith, Eugene Alexander, John E. Smith, E. R. Freeman, M. L. Eckler, M. A. Bentley, William Gott. The trustees of the village then placed the management of this department in the hands of a chief-engineer, and appointed Charles Moon to fill that position. The other officers were chosen as follows: Foreman, William Gott; First Assistant Foreman, Eugene Alexander; Second Assistant Foreman, J. Ostrander; Engineers, F. W. Nicholson, A. M. Smith; Secretary, F. W. Nicholson; Treasurer, E. L. Freeman. The company now numbers twenty members.

The charter elections are held on the first Monday in March in each year.

It is a

The village also boasts one paper, The Otisville Observer, published monthly, by Rev. A. G. Blood. small folio, devoted to home news, and forms an excellent medium for advertising the wares of the business men of the town. It was started in October, 1878, and is a very readable publication.

THE SOCIETIES OF FOREST.

The first society organized in this town, of which we have any account, was

:

OTISVILLE LODGE, I. O. G. T.

It was instituted on the 14th day of August, 1876, by Charles P. Russell, with twenty-eight charter members. There had been a lecture at the church the evening before, and the preliminary steps were then taken to organize the Lodge. The following officers were chosen at the organization, viz. W. C. T., John S. Elwell; W. V. T., Mrs. Amanda M. Burnell; W. Sec., Joseph Myles; W. F. S., A. J. Kellogg; W. Treas., Charles Moon; W. Chap., William Birdsall; W. M., John S. Decker; P. W. C. T., Charles Hanchett; W. I. G., Mary E. Lansfield; W. O. G., Sylvester Fuller; R. H. S., Mrs. Irvilla Myles; L. II. S., Elsie Cheney; W. A. S., Susan Reed; W. D. M., Mrs. Mary E. Hanchett; L. D., A. J. Kellogg; Trustees, H. O. Cheney, C. H. Hanchett, Charles Moon.

it

The Lodge hired a room above Freeman's store, and fitted up for their use at an expense of about $75 for furniture and regalia. After holding their meetings there for a year or two they rented, and moved to, a hall owned by John H. Fuller. A few months later they removed one and three-fourths miles west of Otisville, to a hall furnished by William H. Butler, where the meetings are now held.

Commencing with 28 members, the list was rapidly enlarged until within a year they numbered 100. Since then the membership has grown smaller, but is now again on the gain, and is at present 30. The lodge has been more than usually successful in promoting temperance work, and points to the reformation that in certain cases has been worked by the strong influence, the pure principles, and the effective teachings of the order.

The present officers are as follows: W. C. T., George Webster; W. V. T., Mrs. Lucia Webster; W. Sec., Charles Weeks; W. F. S., William H. Butler; W. Treas., Mary Begel; W. Chap., Mrs. Mary J. Butler; W. M., E. Begel; W. I. G, Charles Branch; W. O. G., Harley Butler; P. W. C. T., Joseph Gillett; R. H. S., Margaret Butler; L. H. S., Jennie Butler; W. A. S., Mrs. Angeline Gillett.

The red-ribbon movement was first inaugurated here by Charles Johnson, of Flint, in the spring of 1877. He delivered an address on that phase of the temperance reform at the Methodist church, and organized a club with about 100 members. He was followed by other speakers, and the interest of the movement was well sustained for a few months, when it began to decline. In November, Mrs. Gertrude Barnes, of Detroit, came and aroused the enthusiasm of the temperance community by an able, eloquent, and effective address, which infused new life into the moveShe came twice afterwards, at intervals of about one month, and by her efforts succeeded in increasing the membership of the club to 211. The club at that time. held weekly meetings at the church. After a while the meetings were held semi-monthly, then monthly, and at last were discontinued entirely.

ment.

Another Lodge of Good Templars was organized in the Dimond neighborhood, which was called

EUREKA LODGE, I. O. G. T.

It was instituted by Mr. Andrews, of Flint, in the early part of November, 1877, with 20 charter members. There