Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2013, All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Data Repository Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ ========================================================================= USGenNet Data Repository NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization. Non-commercial organizations desiring to use this material must obtain the consent of the transcriber prior to use. Individuals desiring to use this material in their own research may do so. ========================================================================= Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== Portrait and Biographical Album of Huron County Chicago: Chapman Bros., 1884 [page 437] COLFAX TOWNSHIP COLFAX Township is located very near the center of the county, and is numbered 16 north and 12 east. It is bounded on the north by Meade, on the east by Verona, on the south by Sheridan, and on the west by Oliver. This township was organized November, 1868, by [page 438] COLFAX TOWNSHIP an order of the Board of Supervisors, made in October, 1868. The election was held on the third day of November, 1868, at the house of Mrs. PEACOCK, on section 24. MELZER GRANGER was elected Super- visor, OLIVER HEALY, Treasurer, and CHARLES E. BROWN, Clerk. ELIJAH BROWN, who, with his family, located on section 21, was the first settler. About the same time came FRANCIS NASH, M. W. FARNSWORTH and JOHN PEACOCK, with their families. The first school was opened in 1869, with fifteen scholars. ELIJAH BROWN brought the first mail into the township. The soil is a rich clay loam, and its production for the acre is above average. The County Poor Farm is located in this township, near its east- ern line, and about one mile west of Bad Axe. The people of this township suffered severely from the fires of 1871 and 1881. Aside from the sad history and terrible suffering, some peculiar phases of character and strange incidents were brought out. One narrative given by farmer FRANCIS NASH, who lives about three miles north of Bad Axe, may be of interest. He had seen the smoke coming up from the south, but at first thought nothing of it. Soon the fire was within a mile of his farm, coming up toward the back end. In less than half an hour the trees in the woods not far from his house were falling, to use his expression, "faster than his clock could tick!" When asked how he saved his buildings, he said he "fought the fire for life and home." The open field in front favored him, and the fire passed around on its devouring way. When his own home was out of danger, he started off to look after his neighbors. Not far from them lived a family consisting of a wife and three small children, one in the arms of its mother. Near this place there were two openings, or cleared ground, of several acres, and lying between was a small place covered with timber of a very combustible nature. The dwelling-house stood in one of these clearings, and in the rear of the timber toward which the fire with furious force was leaping. As Mr. NASH approached the house, he saw the man walking frantically back and forth on the ridge of his house, swinging an empty pail and calling for help. The wife was bringing the household goods out and piling them up a little way from the house. He called for the man in vain to come down, and tried to induce the woman to put the goods back in the dwell- ing, as it was the safest place. This she refused to do, and then he put them back. He then took the two oldest children and start- ed for the other clearing, bidding the mother to follow. She went on a few yards, and when they approached the fire line she stopped and could not be forced to go any further. He put down the two children, snatched the baby from its mother's arms and ran off, ordering her to follow. When he arrived at the open field and out of danger, he turned about, and there stood the mother with her two children just where he had left her, and surrounded by the fire. He laid the baby down in the field, and, returning through smoke and flame, took a child under each arm, shook the mother and bade her follow him. True to the character of the mother, she could not bear the separation from her children, and she rushed after them and was saved. As soon as the fire abated, they re- turned over the burnt field to the place. The house was in ashes. At a short distance was the husband and father, seated on a pile of household goods, and close at his feet were his pigs, all safe. A part of the history of this township will be embraced in that of the village of Bad Axe. SUPERVISORS MELZER GRANGER-------1868-72 FRANCIS MURPHY-------1873-4 JAMES HAILEY---------1875 JAMES D. RUSSELL-----1876-7 MELZER GRANGER-------1878 GEORGE H. ROGERS-----1879 HENRY DAWSON---------1880 MELZER GRANGER-------1881 J. W. CARPENTER------1882 JAMES HAILEY---------1883-4 =========================================================================== If you've reached this file through a SEARCH, you can access more of our growing collection of FREE online information by going to the following URL: http://www.us-data.org/ ===========================================================================