Sparta Township

Skeletons
of the Sand Plains

Sensationalized headlines proclaimed: "REMAINS OF FOUR--Mysterious Find Is Made Under a House Near Sparta", "CROWDS AID SEARCH--Physicians Say Bodies Were Buried In Recent Years." It continued down the page with: "Section Was Once a Desperate Place, and There Was Much Robbing and Outlawry" breathlessly reported on Monday, October 3, 1907, by The Evening Press, special edition to The Grand Rapids Press. "About a hundred persons aided in the search yesterday for skeletons under a house on the sand plains three miles east of this village."

"On Friday some young men from this village were hunting near the house, which until recently was occupied by Mr Burlosok. The soil is very sandy and shifts with the wind. The boys found one place under a corner of the house where the wind had blown the sand entirely away."

"Here they discovered two well preserved human skeletons, evidently of adults. The news quickly spread and Sunday a large crowd of people went to the scene and begun to dig. They soon unearthed two more skeletons. Physicians who have examined the four skeletons have decided that they have not been buried many years and there is a mystery as to the identity of the persons."

"Search is being made for more skeletons but none has yet been found. This section was, a few years ago, a wild place, where outlawry was rampant and it is thought possible that the four persons whose remains have been found were victims of bandits. There is no burying ground near the place where the remains were found and never has been one."

A second updated report in the same paper was given front-page prominence, "MURDER OF EIGHT--Revealed by a Ghastly Find in Cellar of a House.--SPARTA HAS MYSTERY..." New details were relayed, "Excitement has been at a fever heat here since the discovery of the first four skeletons under the Burleson house, on the sand plains three miles east of here, as told in another column in this paper," as they found four more skeletons. "The first four skeletons were brought to this village, where they are now on view." Oh my!

Speculations swirled in print under Tuesday's banners: "NEVER SEEN AGAIN--Many Travelers Met Death on Sand Plain," wherein the staff corespondent submitted a report. "Further aroused over the skeleton mystery by the presence of Deputy Sheriffs Greenley and Pettis, the people of Sparta are today discussing little but the strange discovery, and offering theories to account for it. Many believe these bones are the grim evidence of terrible and wholesale crimes. Chief among these are the medical practitioners of the town, including Dr. Charles G. Pratt and Dr. Gillet, as well as Dr. S.W. Haines, the dentist..."

The medical experts determined all but two of the skeletons were adults and met their demise by a bullet to the head. Some visitors to the site were said to have carted off skulls and bones. "To account for the find, many stories of disappearances and outlawry in the olden days are revived. All agree that the neighborhood of the sand plains, about three miles northeast of Sparta, has an unsavory reputation, and that years ago some of the people who lived there were exceedingly dangerous characters. Years ago, so the old settlers say, a woman of unsavory reputation kept a tough resort in the neighborhood and there were many ugly stories afloat concerning it. This woman afterwards moved to Sparta then went to parts unknown. This character was known as "Queen of the Plains." Others said to have disappeared included a peddler and a cattle merchant.

George Wesley Burleson

Eli & Betsey (Helsel) Burleson were George's parents--his birth occurred in 1873 at Allegan. When he was twenty-one, George married Dora Agnes Palmateer on December 4, 1894, at Sparta. Just started out in life together, the young couple worked to make the hut on the sand plains their home. It was a coincidental misfortune that the disturbing find was made at the small house where George once lived. By then, he had already left the area for a teamster job at Mancelona in Antrim county, Michigan several years prior. By 1910, the Federal census recorded him as a policeman in Grand Rapids.

George Spaulding

A "well to do and respected farmer, who lives near the hut where the bones were found," George Spaulding remembered a man--maybe more--who were believed to have met with foul play at a house on the sand plains. Farmer Spaulding's home and 80 acres was located at the southwest corner of Long Lake and Indian Lakes.

George was born on September 19, 1862, in Ontario, Canada, to Joseph Lovell & Sarah (Hoparotall) Spaulding. When he was eighteen, the family migrated to Sparta where in 1884, he wed Rosetta H. Mapes, a daughter of Nehemiah Myron & Syrena (Scaddin) Mapes. The Spauldings were blessed with three children: Bertha (who became the wife of Otis G. Hanna of Cedar Springs), Clarence, and Laverna A. (who married Milburn H. Traxler) both Sparta residents.

Myron was a Sparta pioneer, who in his younger years was considered to be an excellent ox teamster "and was able to split 100 rails in a day. He was an expert axeman and tells of cutting pine trees more than four feet in diameter," according to a 1926 Grand Rapids Press feature. In his latter years Mr. Mapes was affectionately known as "Father Time".

In October of 1912, an interesting three-way trade involved Mr. Spaulding's 85 acre farm which was transferred to G.E. Spicer for his "house and lot in the Stebbins addition" of the village. Spicer then split 40 acres and the house off the Spaulding parcel for Arthur Hazelton in exchange for his lot and house near the schoolhouse (north across the street from the Spaulding farm) with the three family house shuffle being completed by the 15th of November The Sparta Sentinel-Leader reported.

William S. Bass

Mr. Bass resided "within a quarter of a mile of the hut, has been a resident of the neighborhood for about forty-nine years. He cannot recall that there has been any one killed to the definite knowledge of any person, pointing out the fact that all the stories of disappearance, with the exception of that referred to in the affidavit in Mr Beebe's possession, are indefinite. In his opinion, further digging would reveal more skeletons."

A native of Greenfield, Massachusetts born in 1835, Mr. Bass settled at Sparta in 1868. Here he "purchased 154 acres of unbroken wilderness, which he has brought to a highly credible condition of improvement and profit; has increased it to 218 acres," stated his profile in Polk's 1881 Atlas. William's 1875 marriage to Charlotte, daughter of Lovell & Sarah (Hoparotall) Spaulding, also made George his brother-in-law. The couple had two children, Theodore L. and Mary S.

Charles William Traxler

Another neighbor, just over the line in Algoma township was "Charles Traxler, who also lives near at hand, declares that five other skeletons were found a few years ago not far from this locality. He states that the skeletons were at that time supposed to be the remains of Indians. He also relates that two skeletons were found by George Burleson when he began to build the hut at the side of which these bones were found."

"Deputies Greenley and Pettis returned to this city this noon. They are mystified, although they do not think that there is a crime which it is at all possible for them to ferret out."

On Wednesday, more details emerged in print under the title "PLACE IS SPOOKY--Sand Plains Are Desolate and Almost Uninhabited.--CRIME IS IN THE AIR--Skeleton Mystery Has a Very Good Stage Setting.--Tumble-Down Huts Were Nearly All Deserted Years Ago-No Crops of Value." The Evening Press correspondent continued: "The sand plains in which the skeleton mystery has developed is the most desolate and forsaken of country districts. Even now, after the civilizing influences of half a century. It still remains bleak and forlorn. Its fields, if they may be called fields at all, are stretches of sand diversified by old stumps and are productive of sand berries and poverty. The houses in the neighborhood do not, almost without exception, deserve to be called houses at all. On either side of the sandy road are plain board huts, unpainted, and even these are quite far apart. They are one-story affairs, with boards running straight up and down and untouched by lath and plaster. As one drives along the road he passes an occasional hut which has apparently been long deserted, its old inhabitants having died in the midst of their poverty or having forsaken the spot."

"In the light of its present condition, what this dreary place may have been long years ago when the bones were first buried is left for the oldest settlers to tell, if their traditions run back so far, and for those younger to conjecture. Certain it is that those who lived there could have had little means of livelihood that was honest, and any one who was so foolish as to tarry there took his life in his own hands."

Monday, a week after the initial discovery was reported, Sparta's Justice Oscar Beeby traveled to Grand Rapids to meet with Prosecuting Attorney Brown to present an "affidavit which tells of a murder in the Sand Plain neighborhood." The document was dated about twelve years prior.

Justice Oscar Nathan Beeby

Oscar was born at Central Square in Oswego county, New York on September 20, 1835, the son of Jacob & Electa (Snow) Beeby. In 1854, he graduated from Falley Seminary at Fulton, New York. When the call for soldiers came in the war of the states, he served in the New York militia and was able to remain at home to tend the farm as he raised hops and tobacco. Married life began in 1863 when Josephine Elizabeth Gardner caught his eye and captured his heart. She was the daughter of Daniel C. & Melissa (Harwood) Gardner whose family arrived at Sparta in the 1860s. Josephine's siblings included sisters Carrie G. (married Allen Martindale), Leta Adelle (wed Jonathan Edward Nash), and Emma S. (wife of Cary E. Buck) along with a brother, Frank.

In his thirties, an interest in public service took root when Oscar served as inspector of elections at Hastings before his own election as a town supervisor in 1869, 1870, and 1876.

In 1882, he came to Sparta and settled on a farm of 160 acres just east of the village limits which extended just to the edge of the Rogue River in one corner. Sparta creek, which was later renamed 'Nash' meandered through part of his pasture. In May of 1891 he filed a lawsuit in circuit court "to restrain the Chicago and West Michigan railway company from constructing a sewer leading from outbuildings on the company's premises at Sparta and conduct impurities into a stream of pure spring-water running through the pasture lands of the complainant." The Grand Rapids Herald reported, "He is in the dairy business and sells milk in Sparta and vicinity and the spring brook is the only source of water for his stock." In 1912, when Oscar was 77, he relocated to the village.

Remarkably, the judge lived to the age of ninety-three and his Grand Rapids Press obituary (14 Nov 1927) stated he was not only Michigan's "oldest justice of the peace" but also "the oldest resident of this place". It went on to say, "For more than 35 years he was justice of the peace in Sparta township, was active in community development, and was a member of the Baptist church and Sunday school." At the time of his demise, Oscar was a widow and with the exception of a daughter, Grace, who was a Sparta librarian, the rest of his children: Adeline, Daniel, Robert, and Edwin lived in other locations.

Location Clues

With details gleaned from various news accounts, the old Burleson house was on the south side of a small road headed back towards the river, west of what is now Long Lake Drive and south of 15 Mile Road. The hut was said to have been built on a mound, about forty feet from the road.

Captain Charles E. Belknap

The Captain "believes that the skeletons found at the Burleson house near Sparta are the relics of victims of a smallpox outbreak in a Rogue river lumbering camp back in the winter of 1866. He was connected with the lumbering operations in that country, and was familiar with the circumstances surrounding the outbreak."

"Some Canadians came to a camp on the Rogue river in the winter of 1865-66," said Captain Belknap. "Along in January smallpox broke out among them. The victims were taken to an isolated house near the site of the Burleson house. There some of them died. They were buried near the house, and the graves must have been shallow, as it was winter time and the ground was hard. There were women and children in the camp, and some of them were undoubtedly victims."

I am firmly convinced that it is the skeletons of these smallpox victims that are now being unearthed. If this is a fact, the finders had better be careful how they handle the bones as smallpox germs are notoriously long-lived."

"The theory that the skeletons are the remnants of victims of an Indian massacre does not seem logical. The Indians around here in the early days were not of the massacring kind."

Mystery solved?

Lumberjack
Tavern on the Rogue

While Sparta's pioneer families arrived to settle the township, lumberjacks toiled to harvest forests along the nearby Rogue River. Winter's ice gave way to warm spring breezes, as a hearty breed of woodsmen drove logs on the swollen river to sawmills downstream. Balanced on top of the floating logs, men wore spiked boots and were armed with long cant hook poles to grip and move logs. Shallows and bends in the river could cause log jams where the men had to move logs by hand or blast them loose with dynamite. The risky job of a river driver was, perhaps, the most dangerous in bringing lumber from forest to market. Most cheated death--but some did not.

Men who rode the logs were often farmers who felled and stacked trees at remote lumber camps during winter months then wrangled logs down wild rivers in spring before their fields were planted--for pay or sometimes in exchange for lumber to build their farms.

In 1904, The Evening Press, which was published from 1893-1913 and became the forerunner to The Grand Rapids Press, ran the following feature article:

OLD BLOCK TAVERN
Landmark of the Neighborhood of Sparta.
RIVER MEN USED IT
Relic of the Day of the Lumber Jack.
Well-known Men of Today Knew the Place as a Rough One in Lumbering Days.

If certain old beams out Sparta way could be equipped with tongues and memories, they would tell a story which for historical interest would put many an old settler's yarn to the blush. These beams are old now. Some of them are rotting in Kent county soil, while other are serving their appointed purpose in the framework of houses and barns. But they once made up that one-time celebrated hostelry, the Block tavern.

Have you never heard of the old Block tavern? Quite likely; no one has seen it in its old glory for these twelve or fifteen years. It passed away with the good old log-driving days. Having once been a thriving hostelry, it degenerated into a respectable but uninteresting farmhouse, and then was torn down. Some of the very oldest men living up in the Sparta neighborhood may remember something of the early history of the old place, but there are few. If, indeed, a single one, who can remember when those old square timbers were piled upon one another to make a shelter for the rough woodsmen.

Men who are active in this generation, like Supervisors Billings and Holmes, and Charles D. Stebbins, cashier of the city water works department, know of its interesting early days only through tradition. While they were yet boys it had become marvelously staid and dignified as compared to its old self...

Who were Billings, Holmes, and Stebbins and what was their connections to Sparta?

Charles D. Stebbins

Born on August 3, 1838, to Gaius Partridge & Eliza (Ladd) Stebbins, Charles and his family migrated west in October 1846 from Georgetown, in Madison county, New York, to a farm near Sparta. The grandparents, Gaius & Mariam (Orcutt) Stebbins, joined their family and made the trek to resettle. The elder Gaius, born in 1781, served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the War of 1812 then was later Colonel of the Militia for the state of New York. The younger Gaius was a Major in the New York state troop. In 1848, Gaius P. Stebbins was appointed Postmaster for a tiny settlement called 'Somerville' two miles south of Sparta where he handled the duties from his home. After that post office was closed, he was appointed Postmaster for Sparta Centre in 1854 and in 1859 became a Justice of the Peace in Kent county.

The boy grew to manhood on his father's 160 acre farm in Section 26 at the northeast corner of what is now 11 Mile Road and Sparta Avenue. In addition to farming, Charles worked in the sawmill and lumber business as a young man. Quite likely it was at the 'Stebbins' mills' on an 110 acre wooded parcel of land owned and operated by his brothers, William G. and Andrew Jackson Stebbins in Section 1, which is the far northeast corner of Sparta township between Long Lake Drive, Squaw and Indian Lakes.

In 1865, Charles wed Sarah, a daughter of Joseph & Eliza (Holliday) Fitch of Laphamville (now Rockford) in Algoma township. The newlyweds began their family as they cared for his elderly parents on the family farm--which he would later own.

Charles was well-known and well-liked as a well-to-do farmer who took an interest in township affairs and invested in local furniture manufacturing companies. He entered politics in 1884, won the race for Sparta township highway commissioner, and afterwards, served as Kent county treasurer. A decision was made to pursue public service and Charles was elected to the offices of Grand Rapids city treasurer, then, in 1894, became Mayor.

On 22 Jan 1908, Charles passed away. Newspapers remembered him as "a man of strong character and kindly disposition" and those who served with him in politics noted he was "an upright and capable official, a good citizen, and a man loving his home and family".

Vernon Hubert Billings

A son of Sparta, Vernon was born on January 25, 1860, to Calvin Isaiah & Mary Melinda (King) Billings. The boy was raised on his father's 160 acre farm in Section 8 on the southeast corner of Peach Ridge and 15 Mile Road near Manchester schoolhouse.

At twenty-two, Vern took Cora J. Johnson as his wife--the daughter of Minor Titus & Caroline M. (Reynolds) Johnson and they made their home on an 140 acre farm situated on the north side of what is now 15 Mile Road between M-37 and Sparta Avenue. A farmer by trade, Vernon became interested in politics and was elected to the Sparta Township board of supervisors and later as a county supervisor, a position he held for fifteen years.

Vernon possessed a genuine concern for the less fortunate members of society. By 1910, the Billings had relocated to Grand Rapids as he was named the County Superintendent of the Poor.

An article, "Moonshine Patients Have Slight Chance", that appeared in the Detroit Free Press (29 Mar 1921) quoted him as saying "Moonshine patients" at the Kent county infirmary are there to stay... in contrast to the old type of habitual drunkards who went to the farm and remained until they were well and then were discharged. Those who go there now because of drink are generally so thoroughly demoralized due to moonshine and other homemade concoctions that they become permanent residents."

William Oscar Holmes

Life began in 1861 at Pittston, in Luzerne county, Pennsylvania for William, the son of Albert Newberry & Julia C. (Dershimer) Holmes. Seeking new opportunities, in 1869, Albert brought his family to an 120 acre farm on Crockery Creek in Tyrone township, about a mile southwest of Kent City. In 1886, as construction of a new home to replace the original log cabin was completed, Albert passed away. William took the reins of the family farm. For seventeen years, he also served as a supervisor at the county level and for Tyrone township.

Was the reputation of the Block tavern more fact--or fiction?

Was a Rough Place.

The old "block" was a rough place. There is no question about that. Every one will tell you so, whether you are up in its neighborhood chasing an elusive skeleton mystery upon the sand plains, or whether you are there on a more peaceful mission. It couldn't help but be rough and tough in the great, good-natured, uncouth way of the old river days. Thither the log drivers came with their spiked boots and tremendous thirst, and whiskey flowed like--not like water, for water never flowed so cheerfully and so swiftly down human throats. Then followed fist fights, and other kinds of fights, so tradition says, and interspersed with the drinking and fighting there was dancing of the rollicking backwoods sort.

Yes, the rough river men were the chief patrons of the hostelry, but occasionally there mingled with them the immigrants who had stopped their white schooners there for a little respite. Sometimes there came, too, the outlaws, so Deputy Sheriff Pettis insists--men who were fleeing from the sterner justice further south and east...

Deputy Sheriff Edwin Pettis

"Ed has a story for every minute of the day regardless of the length of the day," quipped The Grand Rapids Press. "To spend a few minutes with Ed means a sure cure for the blues and is just as restful and refreshing to a tired piece of humanity as is a check from father." Undersheriff Pettis was famed for his storytelling.

While still a wilderness, Edwin was born at Ada, Michigan, in 1856, on the family homestead next to a flowing spring which traveling Indians would frequently visit.

His early career life began expertly navigating rivers with log rafts to transport produce to Grand Rapids. Later, he earned a living as a brakeman on the Chicago & West Michigan railroad at Newaygo and in Grand Rapids as a trolley car driver. Eventually he became undersheriff, then police captain for the Pere Marquette Railway Co. for thirteen years. Under Edwin's leadership in the role of chief special agent for the railroad, he cleaned house as his corps of officers investigated and exposed employee larceny. After retirement at 70 years, Edwin was a safety vault officer for the Michigan Trust Co.

So, where was this boozy brawling bar of barbarian lumberjacks actually located? Is it even possible to determine where? With a little 'detective' effort... yes!

The article provided some useful clues...

On the State Road.

Convenient to the river bank, and not more than fifty or sixty rods away was the old tavern. It faced, too, the old state road leading to Muskegon. It was a building about thirty feet wide by about fifty feet long, and was named for its peculiar construction. Here again, Deputy Pettis gets in his good work, stating that the hotel was named because it was a block house in the old sense, having openings in the rough walls through which the besieged inmates shot... Others make the more prosaic explanation that the house was named because of the beams used in its construction. All of the walls were made of great log "blocks", made by hewing logs until they were square.

"Fifty or sixty rods" translates to less than 1,000 feet distance from the banks of the Rogue River and the "state road" is known as 13 Mile Road today. Viewing early plat maps of the area from 1855, 1863, 1876, 1894, and 1907 the placement of the old tavern was most likely on the south side of the road, just east of the river. In 1855, the east bank property abutting the river on both the north and south sides of the road appears to be owned by "C. Myers"--Charles Myers and suggests it was the Myers men who built the log building. By 1863, the parcel of land was owned by his son, Hiram Myers, with a structure identified close to the river. He sold it by 1876 to his widowed sister, Caroline Wallace. It was the residence of Frank Miller in 1894 who operated his blacksmith shop and a cider mill at the location. He still owned the property in 1907, but by then the building near the river had been torn down.

Another "clue" as to the origin of the infamous Block tavern was gleaned from the writings of Henry M. Sleeper, an old timer who penned letters of his reminiscences published in the Sentinel-Leader during the 1930s. A man by the name of "O. Hoag" ran a large hotel at Sextonville, but then moved up to the banks of the Rogue River one mile east of Sparta to run the Block tavern. "Here he conducted a refreshing business. Those were the old license days, and of logging and river drives." Henry reflected, "I am quite sure Hoag would not insist on his patrons going to the river to drink. The floors of that old hotel will always remain as a witness to those days of rivermen's spiked boots. Some might ask how I know. Anyone familiar with the history of those days will know. And those who don't are at liberty to draw their own inference."

Style of the Building.

The building was a scant two stories in height in the main part. After the first part was erected, a little lean-to was put on. The lower part of the building was used for the tavern living rooms, the chief part of which was the bar. Upstairs were the sleeping rooms.

So far as can be learned, the upstairs part was not used much. When the log-drivers went to the old tavern they did not go for sleep, and they did not give others much chance to sleep, either. When they gathered here they began with drinking and dancing, and wound up with a jolly good fight, during the course of which the spiked soles of their shoes came into play upon one another's faces. Mr. Stebbins, who spent his boyhood in the neighborhood, stopped at the tavern during one of these "parties", when about seventy-five log-drivers were pretty well "liquored up" and ready for business. At another time he drove past the "Block" after one of the fights, and declares that the snow was red with blood, looking very like the snow upon which there had been a hog killing.

Was a Wild Neighborhood.

The wilderness and ferocity of the place is well illustrated by a story of the adventure of a man who now lives in Grand Rapids. Having journeyed beyond the "Block" on business, he was nearing it again on his return trip. The night was dark, and the snow was three or four feet deep, obscuring the road and making travel most difficult. Suddenly from out of the darkness ahead there came a blood-curdling shout, which frightened the youth to a sense of his danger. There he was alone in that dangerous spot, with a ruffian in front of him, with no opportunity to escape, and with no weapon. The ruffian drove nearer, muttering as he came. His sleigh came up to the sleigh in which the youth was trembling. When the drivers were opposite each other, the villain could almost have reached over and struck his victim. But he had a better weapon than his fist, and at this deadly range he ruthlessly prepared to use it. He reached around to his hip pocket and pulled out--a bottle of whiskey.--The Evening Press, Grand Rapids, Mich. (12 Nov 1904)

Capt. Charles E. Belknap
the Blacksmith Congressman

Editor's note: Arzie Pinckney wrote a story about his memories of hitching a ride on the back of a horse-drawn sleigh at Christmastime on the streets of Sparta when he was young. While searching for a photo of a sleigh, I happened upon not only the story of the sleigh, but of the man who built them.

Reading through old Sparta newspaper advertisements and auction notices, it is clear that one of the most popular sleighs--if not the most popular--sold in the village was a 'Belknap'. Interestingly, the patented sleighs were built nearby in Grand Rapids at the Belknap Wagon and Sleigh Company, a large four-story factory on the west bank of the Grand River at First Street and Front Avenue founded by Charles Eugene Belknap. Does the name ring a bell?

It should if you're familiar with Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Born on October 17th, 1846, at Massena in St Lawrence County, New York, Charles traveled to Michigan in 1854 with his parents, James Albert & Mary Ann (Butler) Belknap, and family. "We came to Michigan because the government had given my grandfather a quarter-section of timber land as a reward for his services in the war of 1812," Charles later wrote in The Yesterdays of Grand Rapids. The Scottish grandfather, John Joshua, served in Captain Flanders' Company of New Hampshire Volunteers and his bounty land was located on the Ottawa County side of Kenowa Avenue at Jamestown (Section 6).

"Father came to do the iron work on the boats being built in the shipyard." The family's arduous journey "by stage, river, canal, lake, and railroad" led to Chicago, "then known to the Indians as Chi-cog--"skunk water." In the getaway from this rightly named place we secured passage on a lumber schooner for Grand Haven, sleeping on the deck without blankets; then by steamer to Grand Rapids." Upon their arrival, the father, a master blacksmith, forged his trade near where the Pantlind Hotel would later stand sentinel alongside the Grand River. A few years later, James relocated his business across the river.

The son apprenticed with his father and learned the trade. The first volume of Williams' Grand Rapids Directory, City Guide, and Business Mirror compiled by C.S. Williams in 1859 listed the thirteen year-old as a "blacksmith". At the outbreak of the Civil War, James closed his forge and enlisted into Company H of the 8th Michigan Infantry. "Too young," was the response when Charles attempted to join, so he reopened his father's business and pressed on.

Unwilling to give up, Charles convinced his mother to grant her permission for him to join the Army in exchange for a promise he would avoid tobacco, whiskey, and card playing. On August 12, 1862, just two months short of his sixteenth birthday, Charles mustered in at Ionia to serve with Co H of the 21st Michigan Volunteer Infantry as a Private. Over the next thirty-four months, he was in no less than sixty-three skirmishes and received seven wounds: three at Stone River where he rescued his regiment flag when the color bearer was shot; and four additional times at the Battle of Chickamauga--"where the bullets fell thickly". Recognized for courage, Charles swiftly rose to the rank of Captain by the spring of 1864, at just seventeen years of age. He was mustered out in June of 1865 after the war ended and planned to make a career in the military. Weeks later, he passed an exam and was offered the position of first Lieutenant in the cavalry, but with a change of heart he decided to turn it down.

Charles was needed at home.

James also survived the war but suffered multiple severe battle injuries. Captain Belknap returned to west Michigan and rejoined his father in the smithy profession. From raw material to finished product, Charles was a skilled tradesman. Business listings for "Belknap Capt. Charles E., blacksmith" with a second in his name as an "iron forger" and "Belknap, James A., blacksmith" appeared alongside Charles' brother, "Belknap, John J., printer" in the 1865 Grand Rapids City Directory, all at "17 Water". However, it soon became apparent the father's afflictions would necessitate his retirement.

A decision was made to sell the Water Street property and a farm was purchased from Andrew Myers in Sparta Township. At Christmastime in 1866, Charles, a resident of Sparta, married Miss Chloe Mabel Caswell. The 1867 Holland's Grand Rapids Directory confirmed James and Charles had left the city where John remained and worked as a pressman at the Daily Eagle while he boarded at 16 Turner Street.

The newlyweds soon began their family with three of their four daughters born at Sparta: Bertha in October 1867, Helen in August 1869, and Jennie in August 1870. Birth records stated Charles was a farmer and blacksmith. The youngest daughter, Grace, joined the family in July 1872 at Grand Rapids.

According to the Dillenbeck & Leavitt 1870 Kent County History and Directory, the Belknap farm was located in Section 24 of Sparta Township. It was the 80 acre parcel on what is now 250 13 Mile Road just west of Hiram Myers' farm and Myers Schoolhouse. On August 27th, 1870, the enumeration of the Federal Census valued Charles' farm at $4,500 and his personal property as an additional $1,300. He raised 225 bushels of winter wheat, 100 bushels each of Indian corn and oats. The Belknap farm produced 13 bushels of peas and beans, 100 bushels of Irish potatoes, fruit, 400 lbs of butter, and 20 tons of hay. His parents and youngest brother, Herbert Pengally Belknap, also resided on the Sparta Township farm. With the help of a brother-in-law, Hiram Caswell, Charles farmed while his father had "no occupation".

Three days later, James passed away.

In the following year, after his father's death, Charles exchanged his plow for a full-time forge as the Belknap family returned to Grand Rapids, but it took another year for their farm to pass into the hands of new owners. From a copy of the deed dated 23 Apr 1873, Charles and Chloe sold their 80 acre Sparta farm for $3,000 to Edgar S. Dart of Farmington in Oakland County, Michigan. Mr. Dart increased the size of the farm to encompass 120 acres and remained there until shortly after 1900. The next owner was John G. & Carrie (Anderson) Johnson--and the family owned the farm for the next 100 years.

While at Sparta, the Belknap neighbors included: Thomas Myers, James Shangle, Abram Tufflemire, Joseph Clackner, Levious Withey, brothers Frederick and Marcene Cummings--most of whom were also Civil War veterans. Tufflemire, Shangle, and Fred Cummings were in the 1st Michigan Engineers Co., a unit with which Charles spent time assisting early on in his tour. Sabra, the wife of Marcene Cummings, was the sister of Lieut. Amherst B. Cheney, also of the 21st Michigan Infantry. (See the Civil War Letters written by Cheney.) Joseph Clackner Jr. was a Sergeant in the same company of the 21st as Charles.

Even though Charles made the decision to leave, a life-long fondness for Sparta and friendships remained.

Establishment of his rightful place among the iconic manufacturing companies positioned along the banks of the Grand River came about quickly. "In 1871 we find Charles E. Belknap blowing the bellows at the forge and shoeing horses. Shortly afterwards wagons are made at this smithy," Albert Baxter wrote in History of Grand Rapids Michigan (1891). "In 1884 we find the Belknap Wagon and Sleigh Company organized, with an authorized capital of $100,000, for the manufacture of Farm, Freight and Express Wagons; Lumber, Mill and Farm Carts, and Logging Carts and Trucks, with Chas. E. Belknap, President and Manager, and H.P. Belknap, Secretary and Treasurer. The present works on North Front street, give employment to about 50 men."

His successful firm expanded to include structures on both sides of Front Avenue while the number of employees increased to more than 100 men.

In addition to his industrial pursuits, Mr. Belknap was a founder of the Grand Rapids Fire Department and rose to prominence in politics: the board of Education, Alderman, Mayor, board member of the School for the Deaf at Flint, and he served two terms as the Michigan 5th District United States Congressman.

Wheeler's Order to Shoot Mr. Belknap
published on 16 Jul 1892 in the Cheboygan Democrat

There was a strange incident in the room of the house committee on military affairs the other day, when General Wheeler of Alabama, brought out an old order book to show to Mr. Belknap, of Michigan, in which was the copy of the standing order that one Charles Belknap, of the Twenty-first Michigan infantry, be shot if captured. It was the sequel to a war time story. Mr. Belknap enlisted at sixteen. He doesn't look thirty now, with his straight figure, bright eyes and military brown mustache, but in war time he was as dashing a daredevil as ever lived. One night, just for the fun of it, he mounted his horse and rode boldly through the Confederate lines to the headquarters of General Wheeler, who was commander of the western Confederate cavalry. The tent was empty.

Young Belknap threw his lines to an orderly, strode boldly in and deliberately pocketed all the dispatches and papers on the table. His very audacity saved him, and not a man in all the Confederate camp even thought to question him. Back he rode with the dispatches, to unlimited applause and a captain's commission at seventeen. Then it was that General Wheeler turned green and blue and white and red for rage, and for six months his soldiers had orders to shoot Belknap if ever he came within range again. Wheeler and Belknap are the best of friends, they serve on the same committee and delight in growing reminiscent of war times together.--St. Paul Globe.

Beyond his years in Congress, Charles continued at the helm of his business until retirement in 1916, amid a variety of appointments to serve in various civic and government capacities.

The Captain was generous with his time and became a popular keynote speaker primarily on the topics of history and patriotism for a variety of audiences of all ages such as: the American Legion, Boy Scouts, and school children, to name a few and he returned to Sparta for banquets or other events. In 1952, Carol Holmes-Kurtz fondly recalled him in her Sentinel-Leader column "Seeing Life" when she wrote: "As a child we remember Captain Belknap coming to school to talk to us in assemblies. He was one of our heroes as youngsters."

His knowledge and passion for history inspired him to pen a series of articles which were part memoir blended with local history that appeared in newspapers--and later in book form as The Yesteryears of Grand Rapids, published in 1922. Not exclusive to the city, the author included vivid tales and insight into the early days on the Rouge River--and even mentioned some of his Sparta Township friends:

"Following the winding river it was a long paddle to the home of that good man, Dr. Sexton, who was an angel of mercy to all the inhabitants of cabins and mill shacks of northern Kent. A "God bless you" often paid the bill. It was all the pioneer could offer."

"At the last mill site on the river sprang up the town of Gougeburg," in Algoma Township's Section 28 where a dam once crossed the Rouge and a sawmill was erected by C.C. Comstock of Grand Rapids. "It never had or needed any other name. Besides its logging crews there were two lawyers, said by the lumberjacks to be hiding from the sheriff. When not tipping the jug they wove shingles and in public spirited way helped the town live up to its name."

"If a man succeeded in escaping from Gougeburg he reached beyond to the Meyers settlement, lying between the river and Camp lake; Hiram, Tom, Ben and Andrew, four brothers, three of them with large families, had come to stay and were making farms," all of whom were former neighbors Charles knew well. (The family is featured in the story of Meyers Schoolhouse.) "It was often said that no man ever went away from Hiram Meyers' homestead hungry and that Auntie Nicholas Emmons in their cabin on Camp lake served the most delicious fritters and maple syrup that man or boy ever tasted."

"At the far end of Camp lake was Snow's tavern. From here crows flying north carried haversacks with frogs for rations, for it was the jumping off place until the trail reached the Muskegon river."

On the 16th of January, 1929, Charles Belknap passed away--a greatly admired man that once called Sparta his home who left his mark on history. A bronze statue was dedicated to his memory in 1931 which is currently located at the intersection of Coit Avenue and Hastings Street in Grand Rapids. The memorial was Erected by friends who admired Captain Belknap's patriotic public services, his winsome friendliness, and simplicity, and the practical Christianity of his exemplary life.

One family's encounter with the Captain left a lasting impression--spanning a century--which truly speaks to the quality of Charles' character. "My father told me, as a young lad, he met Capt. Belknap. It was about 1920 when my father was with his grandfather, James B. Page (a Civil War veteran)," Michael Page related the memory handed down from his father, Charles P. Page. "Capt. Belkap said something to the effect of: Wow. You are the grandson of Jim Page? It's an honor to meet you. My father said Capt. Belknap made him feel important, special... something he remembered for the rest of his life. With all of his accomplishments (Civil War dare-devil, skilled businessman, farmer, politician, etc.) Capt. Belknap took the time to show kindness to a young boy and his grandfather. That is the kind of man Capt. Belknap was."

The Incredible
Dr. Sexton

What does the War of 1812, a doctor, a shipwreck, and a ghost town all have in common? At Sparta Township, the answer is a man named Dr. Isaiah Bliss Sexton.

Bliss greeted his parents, Charles and Abigail (Butler) Sexton, for the first time on July 18th in 1805 at the tiny town of Lowville, Lewis County, New York.

Shortly after the War of 1812 broke out, Charles entered Captain Moses Water's Company in Z. Carter's 101st Regiment of the New York Militia in March of 1813. Six months later, eight-year old Bliss joined his father as he enlisted to serve as a waterboy in September at Putnam, New York. Charles attained the rank of an "Orderly Sergeant" while Private Isaiah's pension declaration indicated he was a "Waiter". But I'm getting ahead of myself.

As a young man, Bliss lived at Otsego County, then a year later in 1825, he removed to Onondaga County, New York, where he wed Abigail North. He first came to Michigan in 1833 to Washtenaw County where he sought a new life. Sorrow cast a shadow on their home at Ypsilanti as Bliss' wife and two children died.

Back in New York, he married Eliza A. Everett, but Bliss was drawn to the mitten state. A sister, Phyla, and her husband, Simeon Rouse, lived at Alpine Township in Kent County. In 1847, Bliss appeared at Grand Rapids where he practiced medicine. The couple returned to New York where family still lived, and in 1850, he was enumerated as a "Physician" at Orleans in Jefferson County. His father, a "Miller", was nearby.

Charles' record as an officer during the war provided him with multiple parcels of bounty land in Michigan. He and Bliss, along with another sister and brother-in-law, Wealtha and Ichabod Gaylord Field, made the journey to Sparta. On the first of April, 1851, the elder Sexton patented a choice parcel provided for his service in the War of 1812; 40 acres fronting Pine Island Drive and Scott Lake.

Bliss took a job in 1852 herding cattle north on the "Newaygo trail" to Grand Traverse after which, "I embarked on the schooner J.Y. Scammon for Chicago," Bliss recounted in an 1896 interview with The Grand Rapids Press. "The schooner was wrecked in a storm and driven on the beach of South Manitou island. The vessel was driven so far up on the shore that we were eventually able to get on dry land without wetting our feet. The day after the wreck I got my baggage into a row boat and hired an Indian and a white man to row me around into the harbor. From there a passing steamer was hailed and I eventually reached Chicago safe and sound."

Bliss soon re-established his medical practice and became the Sparta Township tax collector. He acquired two-and-a-half quarter sections at what is now the intersection of Twelve Mile Road and Alpine Avenue, where he made his home. In May of 1855, the doctor purchased 120 acres of land north of what is now 20 Mile Road between Sparta Avenue and Tyrone, at a time just prior to when the townships were separated.

Time moves slowly in Congress. Forty-five years after the start of the "War with Great Britain, declared by the United States on the 18th day of June, 1812," Washington DC approved a "Certificate of Allowance" for his expenses incurred during the war, which included: clothing items, blanket, a musket, bayonet, sword and belt, boots, and transportation. Charles Sexton appeared before L.S. Ballard, Justice of the Peace, on the 5th of November 1857, to certify his claim in the amount of $68.50. On the same day, the son, Isaiah B. Sexton, also filed his declaration for "Twenty one dollars". Charles died several months later.

As the 1860 Federal Census was enumerated at Sparta, Bliss gave his occupation as a "Botanist Physician". In addition to his career in the healing arts, Bliss played a key role in putting Sparta on the map, literally. The doctor envisioned the establishment of roads through the Northern Kent County wilderness; east to west from Muskegon to Cedar Springs, as well as north and south, from Englishville to Croton. During the 1860s, he organized people in favor of the proposal and successfully petitioned the state legislature to get the roadways built.

As Arzie Pinckney wrote in his I Remember column from a 1964 issue of The Sentinel-Leader, "The good Dr. Sexton got angry at some of the businessmen in Sparta and vowed that he would build a town that would take all the business away from Sparta and that the grass would grow on Sparta's Main Street." Exactly what led to the falling out, I cannot say. But Bliss did his best to make good on his threat.

Since he already owned about 400 acres at 12 Mile and Alpine, on both sides of the streets that abutted the Pere Marquette Railroad, he platted it out for development. "He built several small store buildings and houses on the north side of the road beginning at Alpine (where the Gerhardt Seelman and Gene Dancer residences were located in 1964). Some of the buildings were still standing until not too many years ago, but they were left to deteriorate and finally fell down while Sparta continued to do business as usual."

Arzie continued, "The Doctor had given his town a real name... Sextonville. He even had arrangements made with the railroad and they put Sextonville on their time table as a flag station. For a few pennies, you could flag the morning train coming north, to Sparta, do your trading, and catch the 10:30 AM train back home. Or you could flag the 10:30 AM train, go down to Grand Rapids and do your trading, catch the 6:00 PM train at Union Depot or Bridge St. Station and come back home. The railroad even built a small platform where you could wait for the trains."

From the Sentinel-Leader Letter-box:
When Eight Buildings Constituted Importance of Village
Editor, Sentinel-Leader:
"Life's fair illusions,
One by One without a trace
Have come and gone
Like vapors in the air.--Halse

I am not a student of psychology, but I have heard of it. It's a wonderful ology to hear its results explained by its advocates. I experienced a little of its working at one time, (verbally).

Take the road from Sparta southeast down through Sextonville. The doctor's little office with its window-full of bottles and dried herbs. "But meet Dr. Bliss Sexton." He is past the age for active work or visits. But he could pull teeth. He pulled one for me once. It doesn't quite express it to say extracted. He used that old inquisitorial instrument called turn-key on cant-hook power. There is not a fraction of doubt as to their efficiency. The tooth came and I looked up expecting to see the jaw bone with it. But long since then I have become satisfied that I lost none of my jaw bone. I believe that experience was even worse than listening to his lecture of treatment of diseases.

Seven or eight buildings and we are through the city. A large building on the northeast corner was occupied by O. Hoag as a hotel...

...Old Dr. B. Sexton, the good old homeopath, the founder of Sextonville, two miles away, but his ambition for a city never materialized."--H.M. Sleeper

On April 5, 1889, it was widely reported that "Lieut. Sexton served through the war of 1812, and had enrolled as his servant Bliss Sexton, his son. Bliss Sexton is now 84 years old, and a resident of Sparta, Kent county, and his name has just been placed on the pension rolls."--Alma Record

Dr. Sexton passed away at his home on November 20, 1897. His obituary stated Bliss was one of only twelve survivors and pensioners of the War of 1812 on the rolls in Washington, and he was the youngest. He lived an adventuresome life. He lived life with determination. He lived life well.

Contact

Our History Center is conveniently located at 71 North Union Street in downtown Sparta. Please join us for coffee and lively conversation on Monday mornings. Visits to the History Center can also be scheduled by appointment, for your convenience.

We do not receive mail at the History Center, instead, please use our mailing address, which is:

attn: Sparta Township Historical Commission
Sparta Township
160 E. Division St.
Sparta MI 49345

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For other inquiries, the Sparta Township Historical Commission can be reached by phone at: (616)606-0765 or via email at the following address: