Lenawee County
    where it all began......

 

  Daniel J. Quackenboss came from the State of New York and settled in Tecumseh. He was a representative from Lenawee County in 1848, 1850, 1853-4. At the expiration of his term he left Tecumseh, and was reported as dead before 1888; place and time unknown. (NOTE: This is the only information that could be found about Mr. Quackenboss. The Public Act lists his name as H.J. Quackenboss. Is this the same person
     
Joseph H. Cleveland was born in New York in 1809, came to Adrian, Michigan in October 1831, and engaged in merchandising which he relinquished in the spring of 1835. He was one of the early settlers who took a lively interesting in making Adrian a business and prosperous town, and giving personal effort in opening roads, and building bridges in order to make Adrian a point for the emigrant travel. Mr. Cleveland was the town clerk of "Logan", which is now known as Adrian township and city, Palmyra, Ogden, Rome, Rollin, Hudson, Dover, Madison, Fairfield, Seneca and Medina in 1833. Hid did considerable work in obtaining the location of the county seat at Adrian and also locating the Michigan Southern railroad through Adrian. Mr. Cleveland was elected Sheriff of Lenawee County, in 1836, the year the stated was admitted to the Union, and again in 1838. In 1842 he was chosen superintendent of the Michigan Southern Railroad, which position he held until 1846. It was at this time he was appointed a commissioner by the State of Michigan to superintend the draining of marshes and other low lands in Lenawee county.  
     
  Francis H. Hagaman came from the State of New York and settled as a farmer in Medina, Michigan about 1834. In politics he was a Democrat and a representative from Lenawee County in 1843. He died at Medina about 1845 (?) (NOTE: This is the only information that could be found about Mr. Hagaman. The date of death can not be correct if he was appointed by the State in 1847)


 

March18, 1847

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ACT No. 104 of the Legislature
of the State of Michigan
was approved as follows

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AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE DRAINING OF SWAMPS, MARSHES AND OTHER LOW LANDS.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the State of Michigan, That Francis H. Hagaman, of the township of Dover, Joseph H. Cleveland, of the village of Adrian, and H.J. Quackenboss, of the Village of Tecumseh, all of the county of Lenawee, are hereby appointed commissioners to superintend the draining of all such marshes and other low lands in the townships of Ogden, Riga, Blissfield and Ridgeway in the County of Lenawee according to the provisions of this act, as do in their judgment affect injuriously the health of the inhabitants.
Section 2. Before entering upon their duties as such commissioners, they shall severally make oath before some person duly authorized to administer oaths, that they will justly and impartially discharge the duties assigned them by this act, which oath shall be by them filed in the county clerk’s office.
Section 3. It shall be the duty of said commissioners to examine personally the marshes and other low lands in the townships aforesaid; to determine the route, line and dimensions of the several ditches or drains required to be cut in or from the same, together wither length, breadth and depth.
Section 4. Said commissioners shall also make an estimate of the sum necessary to be raised to pay the expenses of making such ditches or drains, including all incidental expenses. They shall also make and estimate of the sum that ought to be levied upon each section or part of a section of land lying in such marshes or other low lands, in such proportions as they shall deem just, according to the benefit that will accrue to each by making an such ditches or drains; and they shall cause maps of said lands to be made, designating thereon the length, depth, width, position and direction of every ditch or drain by them laid out or contemplated; said map shall also contain a description of every section or part of a section upon which estimates have been made, with the amount of such estimate, also the aggregate amount to be collected in each township.
Section 5. Said commissioners shall contract for the performance of the work and materials required to complete such ditches and drains; but contracts shall be upon reasonable public notice published not less than three weeks in some newspaper printed in Lenawee county, and such other notices as to them shall seem proper, and shall be subject to the action and judgment of the county court as hereinafter specified.
Section 6. Said commissioners shall make a full report to the county court of Lenawee, of all their doings in the premises, accompanied by the maps, estimates, statement of contracts and all other matters necessary to a full exhibition and understanding of their action. Such report shall be filed in the office of the county clerk of Lenawee, and a copy thereof with each of the supervisors of the aforesaid townships at least three weeks before it be acted upon by said court; and the commissioners shall give notice at least three weeks by publication in a newspaper printed in Lenawee county, that they will on some date, to be by them specified, present said report to the county court and apply for its confirmation, and also for the appointment of appraisers under this ace, and on such day or some other day thereafter as may be appointed by said court, any person interested may appear and object to the confirmation of said report, and the court, for good cause shown, may amend or set aside said report, direct new examinations or surveys when in the opinion of the court, justice or equity requires it, but if no good cause be shown against it, the court shall confirm the report; and when a report shall be confirmed, the said court may then appoint three disinterested persons appraisers, being freeholders in said county, not residing in either of said townships, and not interested in the lands to be drained. Said commissioners or any of them, may be such appraisers if the county court shall so appoint them.
Section 7. The said appraisers shall after having taken and filed an oath, as is hereinbefore provided for, in regard to the commissioners, review the estimates of said commissioners, and may alter the proportion of the sums to be assessed upon the respective parts of the lands to be drained, and apportion the aggregate assessments o the expenses as ascertained by the contracts, they may act either from personal examination, or evidence, if they make any alteration in the proportional assessment upon any tract of land, then their report shall be filed and confirmed, or rejected by the County court, in like manner as is before provided in regards to the report of the commissioners.
Section 8. The commissioners and appraisers shall each be entitled to receive one dollar and fifty cents per day, for the time actually spent by them in performing their duties under this act; but before they shall receive any pay, their respective accounts shall be sworn to by them and taxed by the first judge of Lenawee county, and the bills filed in the office of the treasurer of said county, who shall pay them out of the moneys collected by virtue of this act.
Section 9. The commissioners shall cause a notice to be published in a newspaper printed in Lenawee county, also in the state paper, for six weeks, commencing immediately after the confirmation the report of the appraisers, (if any be had) by the county court, (if not) then of the commissioners informing all persons that assessments have been made, with the sum apportioned upon each; and that such sum will be levied and collected in like manner with county taxes; a copy of which printed notice shall be filed in the office of the auditor general and in the office of the treasurer of Lenawee county, at the time of publication.
Section 10. The commissioners shall also cause a copy of the report confirmed by the county court, to be laid before the board of supervisors in the county of Lenawee, at their annual session, on the second Monday in October following. And said board shall charge the aggregate sums, as they are apportioned, against the proper townships, and shall direct the several supervisors of Ogden, Riga, Blissfield and Ridgeway to levy the sums upon the several sections or parts of sections described as being in their respective townships, and collect and pay said sups to the county treasurer, in like manner, and at the same time with other county taxes.
Section 11. All claims arising under the preceding sections of this act whether on contract, labor performed or any other services, shall be audited by the commissioners and paid on their order by the county treasurer of Lenawee county, out of any funds in his hands created by this act and not otherwise.
Section 12. That all the provisions and benefits and privileges contained in the act, shall extend to all the counties of this state in which the supervisor of the county shall appoint three commissioners to discharge the duties under said law; the supervisors of the several counties in the state are hereby authorized, in their discretion, to appoint three commissioners who shall have an exercise in their respective counties all the powers in reference to the draining of swamps, marshes and other low lands in any township in their counties, which by this act are conferred upon the commissioners names in the first section.
Section 13. If any of said commissioners or appraisers shall die, resign or refuse to act, it shall be the duty of the county court of said county to fill any vacancy in their number, which appointment shall have the same validity as if such person had been named in and appointed by this act

Approved March 17, 1847.

 

 

 

Copied from “ACTS of the Legislature of the State of Michigan, passed at the annual session of 1846: with an Appendix, Containing the Treasurer’s Annual Report. By Authority”.

 


 

Joel Carpenter was born in Potsdam, New York in 1818, earned his education there and came to Blissfield in 1838. In 1839, he became a student at law in Adrian, and was admitted to the bar April 9, 1842. He married his first wife October 12, 1842 and opened a law office in Blissfield in the winter of 1842-3. He buried his first wife December 7, 1843 and married his second wife December 25, 1844. In 1850 he went into the mercantile business with his brother, David Carpenter, two years later buying him out formed a co-partnership with his brother-in-law. He carried on this business after his brother-in-law’s death in 1854 until he sold out in 1858 and again opened a law office. His second wife died in 1852, and in 1859 he married his third wife who later died in 1861. In 1864 he married his fourth and final wife. During his long life he held the positions of supervisor and postmaster of Blissfield, enrolling officer and deputy United States assessor during the Rebellion, and was a State Senator for two terms beginning January, 1859. During his term, he introduced and secured passage of the first general insurance law ever adopted in the state. Prior to this, he was instrumental in assisting his brother, Guy and henry Wyman in passing the first Drainage law in the State.
     
Dr. Henry Wyman was born in New Hampshire in 1803, and was a distant relative of John Quincy Adams. After Being educated in New York, practicing medicine for a short time in Ohio, he located in Indiana in 1832 and was a member of the Indiana legislature for two years. In 1841 he settled in Mississippi where he remained until he came north and located in Blissfield, Michigan on August 15, 1843. In 1844 he was elected to the State Legislature where, with help from Guy Carpenter and Joel Carpenter both of Blissfield, he introduced a bill establishing a law for the purpose of draining low lands, and spend much time and money in his efforts until it was made law in 1846.  
     
Hon. Guy Carpenter was born in Potsdam, New York in 1809, acquired a knowledge of higher mathematics and civil engineering, then came to Michigan, taught school in Saline township, worked on a farm in Monroe County, then purchased his own farm in Blissfield in 1832. After returning to New York to marry, he came back to Blissfield with his wife and went into the mercantile business in 1835 until 1838 when he went into business with his brother, David Carpenter, until his death in 1849. During his years in Blissfield, he held the office of Supervisor of Blissfield, many times was a justice of the peace, a county commissioner, and was a member of the Lower House of the State Legislature in 1843. He was the first man to see the necessity for drainage law, and assisted by Henry Wyman, his brother-in-law, and Joel Carpenter, his brother, drafted the first drain law that ever passed the State. Dr. Wyman was able to secure passage of the law in 1845-6, which only applied to four townships in Lenawee County.


 

May 18, 1846

~

Chapter 131 of the
Revised Statues of the
State of Michigan


“OF THE DRAINING OF SWAMPS
AND OTHER LOW LANDS”

 

Section 1. Any person owning or possessing any swamp, marsh or other low land, who shall desire to drain such land, and who shall deem it necessary, in order thereto, that a ditch or ditches should be opened though lands belonging to other persons, in case the owners of any such lands shall refuse to permit the opening of such ditch or ditches through the same, he may make application in writing to the township board of the township where such marsh, swamp or other low lands shall be situated, to inquire and determine whether such marsh, swamp or other lands are a source of disease to the inhabitants and whether the public health will be promoted by draining the same.
Section 2. Upon such application being made to the township board, they or a majority of them shall inquire and determine and certify under their hands, whether the marsh, swamp or other low lands are a source of disease, and whether the public health will be promoted by draining the same, and if they shall certify that the same are a source of disease, and that the public health will be promoted by draining the same, the person or persons making such application may file such certificate with any justice of the peace of the township in which the lands are situated, through which any such ditch is proposed to be opened, and apply for such summons as is hereinafter specified.
Section 3. The justice to whom such application shall be made, shall thereupon issue a summons, directed to the Sheriff of any constable of the same county, requiring him to summon nine reputable freeholders of such county who are not interested in the said lands, nor in any of them, nor in any wise of kin to either of the parties, to be and appear on the premises, at a certain time to be specified in such summons, not less than ten, or more than twenty days from the date thereof.
Section 4. Such summons shall also direct the sheriff or constable to give at least six days’ notice to the owner of such lands, of the time at which such jury is to appear.
Section 5. The officer to whom such summons shall be delivered, shall execute the same by summoning such jurors, in the same manner, and with the like authority, as upon venires issued in cases pending before justices of the peace, and shall, in the like manner make return thereof and of the fact of his having given the notice therein require.
Section 6. The justice shall attend at the time and place specified in the summons, and if it appear that due notice has been given, as required in the summons, and if six or more of the nine freeholders as above specified, shall then and there appear, he shall administer to each of them an oath or affirmation, well and truly to examine and certify, in regard to the benefits or damages which will result from the opening of such ditch or ditches.
Section 7. The person applying to have such ditch or ditches opened, shall then deliver to the jury a map of the land through which the same are proposed to be opened, on which map the plan, length, width and depth of such ditch or ditches shall be particularly designated; and thereupon the jury shall personally examine the premises, and here any reason that may be offered in regard to the question submitted to them; and they may, if they think proper, vary the dimensions of any ditch so proposed to be opened; but in each (such) case they shall designate on the said map the alterations made by them,
Section 8. If, after taking all the circumstances into consideration, the jury shall be satisfied that the opening of such ditch or ditches is necessary and proper, they shall so certify by inquisition in writing; and if so satisfied, they shall further certify by such inquisition, that the benefits which will accrue to the owner of the lands, from the opening of such ditch or ditches, will or will not be equal to any damages that he will sustain thereby; and if such benefits shall be certified not to be equal to the damages, the jury shall assess the damages which, in their judgment, will be sustained by such owner, and certify the same in like manner.
Section 9. Every such inquisition shall be signed by all the jurors, and delivered to the justice; and the justice, jurors, and officer serving the summons, shall be entitled to receive the same fees for their services under the provisions of the chapter as are allowed by law for similar services in causes tried before justices of the peace.
Section 10. Upon payment or tender of the damages assessed by the jury, and the costs of such assessment, or if no damages shall have been found by them, upon payment of the costs of the proceedings, and the delivery of the certificate of the jury to the justice, it shall be lawful for the person applying for such summons, to enter, with his servants, teams, carriages, and necessary implements, upon such lands, and then and there to cut and open such ditch or ditches as were designated on the said map, according to the plan dimensions therein specified and adopted by the jury , not deviating materially from such dimensions.
Section 11. After such ditch or ditches shall have been opened, it shall be lawful for the said applicant, his heirs or assigns forever thereafter, from the time to time, as it shall be necessary, to enter upon the lands through which such ditch or ditches shall have been opened, for the purpose of clearing out and scouring the same, and then and there to clear and scour such ditch or ditches, in such manner as to preserve the original length, depth, and width thereof.
Section 12. Any person who shall dam up, obstruct or in any way injure any ditch or ditches so opened, shall be liable to pay to the person owning or possessing the swamp, marsh or other low land for the draining of which such ditch or ditches shall have been opened, double the damages that shall be assessed by the jury for such injury, and in case of a second or other subsequent offence by the same person, treble such damages.
Section 13. The justice before whom proceedings shall be had under this chapter, shall cause the map delivered by the applicant, and the inquisition of the jury, which he shall certify to have taken before him, to be filed in the office of the clerk of the township wherein the premises shall be situated, to be kept in his office, as a record of the proceedings between the parties

 

 

Copied from “The Revised Statues of the State of Michigan

passes and approved a May 18, 1846".

 

 

Images
  A group Shot of the January 1946 meeting of the Drain Commissioners of Michigan, the Lenawee Countys Drain Commissioner is #35, A. Bruce  
The 1874 map of Riga Township The 1874 map of Ridgeway Township The 1874 map of Ogden Township The 1874 map of Blissfield and Deerfield Townships