RAISIN TOWNSHIP

Raisin, an agricultural town, derives its name from the river which flows midway through it. Its soil is mostly a sandy loam, easily cultivated, and very productive. The census report of 1870 gave it as the most productive Township in Michigan for that year. It is settled principally by Eastern people, a majority of whom belong to the Society of Friends. It is a very peaceable, moral, and intelligent community, as is obvious from the facts that no litigated suit has ever been carried through in it; that constables are no more elected at town-meetings; that neither drunkards nor rum-shops are found within her borders. On the contrary, it has the finest of school-houses, and churches. The Friends were the first to hold religious services, and their meeting-house was the first church edifice in the Township. The Congregational Society was organized in 1835, a brick church erected in 1843; in 1868 it was changed to Presbyterian; this church is a very superb edifice. Noah Norton settled in “the valley,” cleared some land, and built a log cabin in 1825. H was followed next by Darius Comstock, and his son Milo, in 1829. Mr. Comstock soon gathered around him some thirty or more families of the Society of Friends, and after that the Township was rapidly settled, it being a “land of promise.” Among the early settlers we may name Joseph Gray, Thomas Sisson, William Tilton, Benjamin McRea, J. H. Patterson, Thomas Chandler, Daniel and William Kidder, D. M. Clapp, John Lovett, Aaron Comfort, A. Doty, Rufus Raymond, Samuel Conklin, John Pennington, William Camburn, Reuben Satterthwaite, O. Rogers, P. C. Haviland, and others. The Township was christened in 1832. At the first annual meeting of the electors of the Township, held at the house of Amos Hoag, April 7, 1834, the following officers were elected: Gabriel Wells – Supervisor; Amos Hoag – Clerk, Joseph Southworth, Richard Horton, Reuben Satterthwaite – Assessors, Sidney Derbeshire – Collector, Darius Comstock, Thomas Sisson – Directors of the Poor, Ephriam Reelen, J. B. McRay, Sylvanus Westgate – Road Commissioners, S. Derbeshire, David P. Hannah, William Saxton – Constables, James Wheeler, Coroner, Thomas Chandler, Timothy Mitchell, Wm. Gray – School Commissioners, Joseph Gibbons, R. L. Hall, W. Wimple, T. L. Chandler, Joseph Southworth – School Inspectors.

A list of the successive supervisors since 1834 will be found in another section of this atlas. One of the most prominent manufacturing establishments of the Township is the Raisin flouring, grist, and saw-mills, Woolston Comfort, proprietor. The sawmill was built in 1838, by Samuel Satterhwaite and Tilton Curtis, and the grist-mills in 1847, by Satterhwaite and Aaron Comfort, all of which the present proprietor purchased in January, 1864. He at once thoroughly repaired both mills, replacing the old machinery by the very best that could be procured, placing them in the front rank for doing good work. Mr. Comforthas followed his avocation in these mills continuously since 1852, and is now carrying on a large business, with a determination to excel in his branch. Another enterprise worthy of note is the Union Cheese-Factory, an extensive undertaking, and a successful one so far as we can learn. H. M. Bailey has recently established a jelly manufactory. The Town-House is situated in the center of the Township. We have already referred to their fine schools, but we must not overlook the “Raisin Valley Seminary,” located in the western central part of the town, on Section 19. It is controlled by the Friends, and is in a flourishing condition.

Chase’s is a station on the Jackson branch of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad, three and a half miles north of its junction with the main line, and five miles northeast of Adrian.

Raisin Centre Post-Office, the only one in the Township, is located at the common corner of Sections 27, 28, 33 and 34.

Little Hope is a small hamlet, about equidistant from the river, Chase’s, and Raisin Center.