Memories of bygone times in Duplain Township

The following article was originally published in June 1925 in the Clinton County Republican News. Catherine Rumbaugh, director of the Clinton County Historical Museum Paine-Gillam-Scott House, notes that it provides a unique view into the past.

What settlers who came to Clinton County nearly 80 years ago had to endure and the sort of a life they led is interestingly pictured by Mrs. Melinda Hulse of Mt. Pleasant to Mrs. Mary E. Jeffereys of Eureka. Mrs. Hulse, who is 82 years old, came to Duplain Township with her parents at the age of three and has lived in this county all her life up to the last few years. Her letter follows:

"Well, sister, I don’t know what to write that will be interesting to you unless I write about some of my childhood days, so I will tell you some of the things that I can remember way back.

"In 1849, my father and Mr. Eagle decided to come to Michigan, so each one had a team of horses, a covered wagon, loaded in their bedding, clothing, dishes and families and started. Mr. Eagle had seven children. Father had three, myself, brother Jim, and Mary was a baby.

"Mr. Eagle had two cows behind his wagon. Father had one cow and a two-year-old heifer. They did not get started until afternoon. They stopped at a farm house for the night. One of Mr. Eagle's cows got out in the night and started back home. In the morning, Mr. Eagle and father went back on horseback after her when they found she got back home.

"They started with her, but she got past them. They started back after her, when they got in front of Aunt Rachel Schenck's house. Aunt Rachel was out in the road. They told her to head the cow off, so she picked up a stone, threw it at the cow and knocked her down. Then they got a rope on her and brought her back, but it took all that day. Mrs. Eagle and mother were worried so while they were gone.

"I can't remember much about the rest of the journey, only I would get tired of riding and want to walk.

"The first place we landed was at John Tinklepaugh's in the woods. All the family that was there were John Tinklepaugh, his son Rastus, and on the farm that was Uncle Add Hulse's afterward, a family lived in a little shanty by the name of Chappell.

"There was an empty log house across the road from Tinklepaugh's and we moved into that and stayed there that winter while father built a log house and cleared a piece of land for a garden, some potatoes and corn to be planted in the spring. Mother taught the Tinklepaugh boys and girls their ABSs that winter.

"In the spring we moved in our own house. Father had to go to Ionia to get flour and groceries. Sometimes we would get out of flour so father made a grater out of a tin pan. Then he would take ears of corn, grate them up into meal. Sometimes we would get out of soda, so mother would take coals, cover them with a bowl and they would be white ashes when she lifted the bowl. She used that for soda.

"We always had plenty of maple sugar. There was lots of wild game. Father was a great hunter, so we had meat of some kind when we wanted it. The deer had a runway just west of our house. They had a hard beaten path like sheep make. I have seen 10 deer at a time running one behind the other in that path. Many a time I stood outdoors and listened to the wolves howling, not far from where you now live.

"As settlers came later, they built a school house on the corner of Mr. Eagle's farm, the corner south of Eureka now. They had benches for seats, and boards along the walls to lay our books on so we had to sit with our backs to the teacher.

"There was a fireplace built out of sticks and stone where the fire was. The chimney was built out of sticks plastered with mud. When we got cold, we could sit on a bench by the fire to get warm. Sometimes the fire would send out sparks and burn holes in our dresses.

"Our teacher was Harriet Eagle. One day she fainted and fell on the floor. We didn't have any water pail so we carried the water in a coffee pot. Her brother grabbed that and upset it on her face. There wasn't much water in it, but it brought her to. We carried water from that spring on my place - all a solid wilderness then, just a path through the woods."

"No Eureka there then. There was a woods from our house to the school house. I have seen deer beside the road as I was going to school. They did not seem afraid.

"Later on, a minister came, so we had preaching at the school house. His name was McKnight. Then a Mr. Besely organized a Sunday School. He was the superintendent. He taught the children to sing. I think that is where Mrs. Beck lives now.

"Mr. Besely's daughter took a piece of white cloth and made a banner. She put the letters Sunday School on it and in the corners sat a yellow bird. She had it on a standard to carry it with a string at the bottom corners to keep it steady.

We met at the school house and marched to the woods.

"She and two other big scholars carried the banner. They went ahead and the rest followed, a lot of little barefoot girls and boys. The girls with calico sunbonnets, the boys with straw hats that their mothers had braided out of straw. Everyone seemed to feel so happy. None were dressed better than others to make them feel bad.

"They all had a piece to speak. My, I was scared. Mother said my face was red as a beet, but I did not forget any of my piece.

"Then came the Fourth of July. They had a celebration in the woods at the west end of father's land. They had two speakers come from some place. They built a platform and covered it with branches and wild roses to keep out the sun, had two chairs put there for them to sit in. I thought they must be some wonderful beings to have things fixed so nice for them.

"Everyone brought something to eat. They had long tables fixed to eat on. In the center of the table was a roast deer with a wreath of those wild lilies around his neck. Then at night, they all met at father's house and danced all night. Bill Hobart was there. He was a big tall fellow and made his legs fly around so that I thought he was a funny dancer.

"Then more settlers first came there, lots lived in houses without any floors. They split logs into slabs and called it Punchon. They had that laid down for their bedsteads to sit on. The rest would be dirt packed hard. Their bedsteads were made out of poles with elm bark woven in the bottom for the straw ticks to lay on.

"They had their stick fireplaces, had a crane that swung out and in to hang kettles on to cook in. They had round flat kettles with long legs and iron covers. They put their bread in that and sat it in a bed of coals and covered the lid with coals. That is the way they baked their bread.