Page 4 - An Early History of Paw Paw Township-Final-R

With his oxen he used to break a great deal of land for new settlers, and
boasted of breaking several hundred acres in a year.

Capt. Barrett built on a village lot in Paw Paw what is said to have been the
first frame house in the county. He sold it to a man who moved it away, and
while he was building another his family lived two weeks in the horsestable.
He drove the first team from Paw Paw to Little Prairie Ronde, and upon his
return experienced the exciting sensation of being chased by a panther and a
pack of wolves. His first mercantile venture was the purchase of a barrel of
whisky, at five "York shillings" a gallon, and the sale of it to thirsty settlers at
fifty cents a pint, at which business he would have made a fortune in quick
time could he have continued it extensively. He drove the first team from Paw
Paw to Breedsville, when he moved thither the family of Mr. Brown, the father
of Smith Brown. After living a few years in the village, during which time he
logged and broke land, Mr. Barrett located permanently on his farm, north of
the village, removing subsequently to a place on section 36, where he has
since lived.

John Agard located in 1833 upon a place on section 1, cast of Paw Paw River,
and established a trading post at which he did a large business with the
Indians, trading for furs, sugar, etc. He had on his place a dozen or more log
huts, in which he stored his goods, and until his death his post was a famous
resort for Indians, and usually presented a very busy scene. After his death,
his family moving away, it was abandoned. Mr. Agard died suddenly of heart'
disease, in October, 1835, and was buried on his place; his coffin being made
by Williamson Mason, who still lives in Paw Paw village.

William Gunn settled upon section 1, and was about the only settler who in
1833 and 1834 did much at farming. He removed in after years to Iowa. South
of Agard's post was William Acklcy, who, with Enos L. Barrett, dug the race
for Willard & Grenips' grist mill, in 1838. He moved to Indiana.

In June, 1835, John Lyle and John K. Pugsley (the latter a bachelor), living
near Utica, N. Y., started in company for the West, intending to look for land in
Illinois. Journeying by way of the lake to Detroit, they traveled on foot over
the Territorial road to Paw Paw, and just before reaching Jesse Abbe's tavern,
on that road, in Antwerp, they overtook Edwin Barnum, who was bound for
Paw Paw. When they reached the site of Paw Paw village, they found there, on
the east side of the river, but two houses, one of which was Daniel O. Dodge's
tavern, where they stopped for the night. Barnum remained in Paw Paw, and
after a while settled on a farm a mile and a half west of the village, where he
built a cabin 10 feet by 16 and went to keeping "bachelor's hull."

-2-