The earliest mass of settlers in Marshall County found their home a wilderness. Even in the mid 1830’s the forests of the Yellow River valley still abounded with wild cats, wolves, an abundance of deer, and even the occasional elk or bison. The very earliest of settlers settled near modern day Plymouth and to its south. Wolf Creek, now nothing more than a bridge over a small creek near Muckshaw road was one of the first centers of activity on the then frontier boasting a couple of houses and a grist mill. The parcels of land nearest the planned route for the Michigan Road were surveyed and sold first. At the same time a great many acres were set aside by congress for the purposes of school lands and as swamp lands. These swamp lands especially would remain largely undisturbed and undistributed for settlement until the early 1850’s when they were finally released for sale.T
his was then the situation when Jonathan Miller, his son Jesse, and his other children purchased their first acreage from the federal government in 1853. Of this land forty acres yet remains in the hands of their descendants. In many ways Jonathan Miller would likely have been a man difficult to distinguish from his contemporaries. He was no doubt a man accustomed to hard labor and the sting of sweat upon his brow. Few today can appreciate how incredibly backbreaking the labor was in those earliest of days on the farm. Trees had to be hewn, fields plowed out of forests. The plows of the farmers all forced to struggle through the soils tearing the roots and pushing aside the rocks. The first twenty years of settlement were no doubt chalked full of both affliction and disappointments. One may imagine though that after a solid seventeen years of labor that things might have been beginning to shape up by 1860 and 1861. Yet it was in these days that the some of the greatest trials were found.None would experience the trials of the great Civil War more closely than Jesse Miller, the already mentioned son of Jonathan. He would, as so many other men, go and serve the Union cause. Yes, just as the farms of the region began to take shape many of those farms’ finest young men would be called to the field of battle. The smell of the soil and fresh cut hay would no longer dance in their nostrils. To the contrary it was the smell of gunpowder that would now stain their sense of smell forever. Little remains of the military record of Jesse Miller. Yet for the purposes of our brief history it should suffice to comment that he did serve and that those days of uncertainty must have been challenging to say the least.About the same time, he wed Miss Serena Wade, daughter of William Wade, a neighboring farmer. He too set his hand to the plow and multiplied the number of acres under the family name. In the years to come Jonathan would go on to his rest, to be buried less than two miles from his homestead. From the hill where his grave lies the farm may nearly be seen. Jesse then continued to set about the business of making a family as well, and in this he excelled for to his union with Serena several children were added. Among these children was a daughter, Florence Ada.To think what she must have been like as a child or a youth would strain the imagination. Yet from the record that remains of her adult life we may assume this: she was independent, thrifty, and a sharp businesswoman. Even more than this, however, way may be certain that above all she loved the farm. Even into her last years it would be her great joy to walk out across the fields and pastures of the home forty acres to sit and fish on the bank of the marsh. No doubt her mind must have wandered beck to those times when, as a child, she must have sat there with her brothers or father or mother and done the same. Seasons had come and gone by those late years. Many harvests, many plantings, and many cuttings of hay had come and gone. Yet her love of home and the land, one must guess, surely never ceased. In those early years, however, long before she entered the memory of those now still living she wed the son of John Seltenright, a prosperous neighboring sawmill owner and farmer. The name of this son was Elmer Seltenright, and this is where our next chapter begins.
his was then the situation when Jonathan Miller, his son Jesse, and his other children purchased their first acreage from the federal government in 1853. Of this land forty acres yet remains in the hands of their descendants. In many ways Jonathan Miller would likely have been a man difficult to distinguish from his contemporaries. He was no doubt a man accustomed to hard labor and the sting of sweat upon his brow. Few today can appreciate how incredibly backbreaking the labor was in those earliest of days on the farm. Trees had to be hewn, fields plowed out of forests. The plows of the farmers all forced to struggle through the soils tearing the roots and pushing aside the rocks. The first twenty years of settlement were no doubt chalked full of both affliction and disappointments. One may imagine though that after a solid seventeen years of labor that things might have been beginning to shape up by 1860 and 1861. Yet it was in these days that the some of the greatest trials were found.None would experience the trials of the great Civil War more closely than Jesse Miller, the already mentioned son of Jonathan. He would, as so many other men, go and serve the Union cause. Yes, just as the farms of the region began to take shape many of those farms’ finest young men would be called to the field of battle. The smell of the soil and fresh cut hay would no longer dance in their nostrils. To the contrary it was the smell of gunpowder that would now stain their sense of smell forever. Little remains of the military record of Jesse Miller. Yet for the purposes of our brief history it should suffice to comment that he did serve and that those days of uncertainty must have been challenging to say the least.About the same time, he wed Miss Serena Wade, daughter of William Wade, a neighboring farmer. He too set his hand to the plow and multiplied the number of acres under the family name. In the years to come Jonathan would go on to his rest, to be buried less than two miles from his homestead. From the hill where his grave lies the farm may nearly be seen. Jesse then continued to set about the business of making a family as well, and in this he excelled for to his union with Serena several children were added. Among these children was a daughter, Florence Ada.To think what she must have been like as a child or a youth would strain the imagination. Yet from the record that remains of her adult life we may assume this: she was independent, thrifty, and a sharp businesswoman. Even more than this, however, way may be certain that above all she loved the farm. Even into her last years it would be her great joy to walk out across the fields and pastures of the home forty acres to sit and fish on the bank of the marsh. No doubt her mind must have wandered beck to those times when, as a child, she must have sat there with her brothers or father or mother and done the same. Seasons had come and gone by those late years. Many harvests, many plantings, and many cuttings of hay had come and gone. Yet her love of home and the land, one must guess, surely never ceased. In those early years, however, long before she entered the memory of those now still living she wed the son of John Seltenright, a prosperous neighboring sawmill owner and farmer. The name of this son was Elmer Seltenright, and this is where our next chapter begins.
No comments:
Post a Comment