“The first settlement in the two counties entirely unconnected with the Indian trade was made by Giles Scott, who came from Rochester, N.Y., with his wife and two children, in autumn of 1830, and began the erection of a log house at the mouth of Pine Creek, in township 1, range 12, now the township of Otsego, Allegan Co. He had been through this region during the previous year (1829) in company with Dr. Samuel Foster and a Mr. Percival, looking for mill-sites and other points desirable for a new settler. He was accompanied in the fall of 1830 by Uri Baker, Sloan Eaton, a Mr. Hill, and John B Yeomans.
As soon as his house was complete Mr. Scott moved into it, and was joined during the following winter by the other members of his family. The house, as was usually the case with the settlers who proceeded the erection fo sawmills, had a floor made of “puncheons” or split logs, yet it was afterwards found sufficiently smooth to dance on, and, as Mr. Scott was quite an adept with the fiddle, it was frequently utilized for that purpose, the house being probably the first temple of Terpsichore in the two counties.” (Page 31).
“Among those men who traversed and looked over a large portion of this county prior to the first settlement were Giles Scott and the Sherwoods, of Rochester, N. Y., Samuel Foster, from Vermont, and Turner Aldrich, Jr., from Cattaraugus Co., N.Y.
They were here during the winter of 1829 and 1830, and explored the Kalamazoo River and its tributaries, looking for mill-sites, and for pine tracts in their immediate vicinity; likewise for good farming-lands. Of all the region examined, this locality suited them best. They returned to their homes early in the spring of 1830 and we may believe that during the intervening months all due preparations were made for the removal of themselves and families, and their permanent settlement in the then wild Territory of Michigan.
Giles Scott,* the son-in-law of Hull Sherwood, Sr., seems to have eclipsed all others in his preparations, for we find that, accompanied by his wife and one or two small children, he arrived at the mouth of Pine Creek early in the fall of 1830, and constructed a small log house, described by Lucius Lyon in January, 1831, as situated “on the bottom-lands, about ten chains back from the river.” Edmund Sherwood, son of Hull, Sr., then a boy of fourteen years, came with Mr. Scott, and probably some other members of the Sherwood family. Their place of settlement was on the north part of the southwest quarter of section 21, and was held by right of pre-emption until the lands of this township came into the market, in September, 1832. Mr. Scott was a genial spirit among the early pioneers, an excellent fiddler, and many “hoe-downs” were tripped o’er his puncheon floor by the lads and lasses of early times. He built a tavern at Pine Creek in 1836, over which he presided until his death. ” (Page 294).
Taken from:
History of Allegan and Barry counties, Michigan, with illustrations and biographical sketches of their prominent men and pioneers.
