In Memoriam: Jeanne Temple
The ‘First Lady’ of Rochester Colony

By Rhonda Westfall

She may not have not the official title, but Jeanne Temple surely was the First Lady of Rochester Colony. The well-loved, native resident of Duplain Township passed away Dec. 22, 2004. She was 84.

A mutual love of history in general and local lore in particular afforded me an opportunity to become acquainted with Jeanne – a quick-witted lady whose sharp mind and thirst for knowledge made every visit memorable.

Although I had no way of knowing it at the time, my final visit with Jeanne came several months ago. I had the good fortune of being seated at the same table with her at the Silver Anniversary Tea for the Paine-Gillam-Scott Museum – "high tea with the ladies," so to speak.

Jeanne provided instructions on the proper use of the lovely tea service pieces – with a bit of mischievous wit and abundant good humor. I will hold that picture of her in my mind.

An event from the turn of the most recent century also holds a special memory of the lady who loved Rochester Colony. As 1999 drew to a close, Jeanne phoned me at the newspaper office to provide a bit of local trivia and issue a challenge of sorts. She noted that at the end of the previous century it was recorded that "church bells everywhere rang at the stroke of midnight in 1900."

Jeanne asked if I would include the information in a column, and ask readers to welcome 2000 in the same manner. I was happy to oblige, and a follow-up column included a report on bell-ringing activities.

"We know of several people who took Jeanne’s message to heart," I wrote at that time. "Mary Hiler and Helen Wakefield rang the bell at Greenbush United Methodist Church, and the Kam Washburn family rang in the New Year at the old Duplain Church in Rochester Colony."

If she could have, I know Jeanne would have rung that Duplain church bell herself.

Memorials for Jeanne may be made to The Friends of the Historic Church of Duplain or the Colony School Association, P.O. Box 520, Elsie, Mich., 48831.

As a tribute to the First Lady of Rochester Colony, the Indy is pleased to reprint an abbreviated version of an article that Jeanne penned for the 1980 History of Clinton County. Thankfully, her words remain – a wonderful legacy for an equally wonderful lady.

History of Rochester Colony

Inspired by the certainty that theirs was a nation going places, Americans in the first half of the 19^th century looked to improving their lot. This was a time to seek the "perfect" life.

In Rochester, New York, on Feb. 29, 1836, a group called "The Rochester Colony Association" met to plan colonization "in the far west" and the kind of life they would have.

This colony was to be a planned community with town lots to be drawn equal to the number of shares owned. Farm lots could be purchased from the original claim. The association planned for both farmer and tradesman.

W. G. Russell, Joseph Sever, and E.R. Everest were appointed to act as agents to select and purchase the land. Direction for promising locations had come from friends in Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan.

By the middle of May the work was completed. Russell wrote, "We found all the important places taken except for one which lies on the Maple. We think that the water privileges are good and the land first best. Sever and myself are much pleased with it."

In July of 1836 John Ferdon, Samuel Barker, and Oliver Beebe with their families and Ellen Lowe came to take possession of their colony lots. They journeyed to Detroit by water and then followed the Grand River Trail to a point where Laingsburg now stands. From there, they struck north "through trackless forest," cutting a trail as they went. The 20-mile trip took nine days to complete.

By the mid-1800s, the Colony boasted stores, a grist and sawmill, a casket and furniture company, two churches, doctors, a blacksmith, and a school.

A canal to link the Shiawassee and Maple Rivers never materialized and the railroad which residents had hoped would come, did come, but farther to the south. Their dreams were somewhat tarnished by these events and gradually, after the turn of the century, business left and the area became mostly residential.

It is by no means a forgotten community or ghost town. The area had some rebirth in the 1950s when a new development of homes came about. The school has become a community center and Friendship Park, which dates to the original plat, is now owned in common by all the residents.