and to address you as "fellow members," for I may be allowed to boast that at one time I was a county officer of this county. For several years, and by the favor of two successive governors of the State, and by commission from them, I held the high office of circuit court commissioner. This was many years since under the old constitution, when these officers were appointed by the governor and before the office became elective as it is now. I take satisfaction and pride as any one might, in numbering myself among such a body of men as the county officers of this county from the organization of the county to the present time. I have been among you for over fifty years, coming here as a resident in early manhood, in 1841, and having been engaged in the practice of my profession here ever since; and being thereby in constant and intimate relations with the county officers, I have had good opportunity of knowing them, their character and habits, and their ability, and I feel no hesitation in saying that no county can boast a better class of men-more intelligent, upright, and honorable, and faithful in the discharge of their official duties, during all this period, than the county of Lenawee. During all this half century, so far as I can recollect (and I believe my recollection is not at fault), there has not been a single instance of defalcation or official misconduct on the part of any one of this long list and numerous body of office holders; at least none where such a charge was established. I doubt if many counties can make so good a showing as that, confident that none can make a better, and I cannot recall more than one instance in which there has been such a charge or suspicion against any one.

I have been requested to occupy a few moments on this occasion with historic reminiscences and with pleasure I comply.

The general facts of our history as a county, and of our chief city, are well known. Its organization as a county in 1826, under an act of the legislative council of the territory of Michigan-being then detached from Monroe county, of which it had previously formed a part. The county seat then being established at Tecumseh, and so continued until 1838, when after a severe contest between the towns it was moved to Adrian (then the village of Adrian), which had the advantage of being near the center of the county, while Tecumseh was far to the northeast of that center-the location and erection of a court house and jail soon thereafter on a lot on the east side of Clinton street, the burning of the court house, evidently the work of an incendiary, and with it the records of the county clerk's office in 1852,

leaving the county without any court house for many years and until the erection of the present one in 1884, being thus without a court house for about thirty years, the courts being held in the meantime in different halls and temporary places, but being succeeded at last by the present commodious and goodly edifice, an ornament to the city and a credit to the county.

Adrian though an inland town in a new region which was in a large measure surrounded by its primeval forests even at that early day had its railroad and thereby communication with navigable waters to Lake Erie and the outside world. The Erie and Kalamazoo railroad running from Adrian to Toledo (then Port Lawrence), and now being a part of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern railroad. This was a rare distinction, as at the time of its construction (under a charter granted by the legislative council of the territory in 1833), it was the first and only railroad either in Michigan or Ohio, or any state or territory west of New York. It was a pioneer road, run by horse power from the time it commenced running in 1836 until June 1838, after which it was run by steam. The track ran down through Railroad street, and its depot then being near the site of the present court house and continuing there until 1849 when the Michigan Southern railroad company acquired the same by a perpetual lease and connected it with its own. road. The work on the Erie and Kalamazoo railroad was projected and carried through by private enterprise without aid from the government, by a few enterprising and far-seeing men at Port Lawrence and Adrian, among the latter being Darius Comstock, Addison J. Comstock, Geo. Crane (the father of our respected Adrian fellow citizen, Calvin Crane), Dr. Caleb N. Ormsby, E. C. Winter and Joseph Gibbon and it proved a success and of great value to the new settlements in the country.

I will devote the few minutes of my time more particularly to some personal reminiscences and matters that have fallen under my own observation during the time I have been here. My associations have been of course more particularly with the courts and the officers connected with the courts. It will be a pleasant reminiscence for me, and I trust not without interest to those who hear me to whom many of the names will be familiar, just to recall the names of those who, during these fifty years have held and discharged the duties of these offices.

When I came here in 1841 we had in addition to the circuit court, a county court. This was subsequently abolished. Alex. R. Tiffany was the judge of probate at that time and afterwards of the county

court, and at one time prosecutor, a worthy man and valuable public officer. Joseph H. Cleveland was sheriff, Wm. R. Powers county clerk and Daniel Hicks, Jr., register of deeds. Since 1852 (not to go back more than forty years) these offices have been filled by the following named individuals, most of the names being familiar to those of us who have lived here during that time:

County Clerk-John Miller, William Kingsley, A. L. Bliss, Leander Kimball, Geo. W. Westerman, Henry C. Conkling, Wm. L. Church, Thos. M. Hunter, David A. Bixby, David A. Bixby, Geo. W. Fleming, and Ira Waterman.

Sheriff-Joseph R. Bennett, Geo. W. Ketcham, Flavius J. Hough, Sylvester B. Smith, Wm. R. Tayer, John C. Mason, Nathaniel B. Eldridge, James R. Cairnes, Charles Bidwell, Ancel K. Whitmore, and Edward C. Baldwin.

Judge of Probate-Consider A. Stacy, F. C. Beaman, R. R. Beecher, Norman Geddes, and Richard B. Robbins.

Register of Deeds-Charles M. Croswell, Charles Chandler, Benjamin Turner, William A. Whitney, Morton Eddy, Myron E. Knight, Edwin Hough, Michael P. Long, Avery A. Dolbar, Stillman Bennett, and Alfred W. Smith.

County Treasurer-James Geddes, John I. Knapp, Wm. H. Kimball, Sylvester B. Smith, George R. Allis, George R. Cochran, Jay Hoag, Wm. C. Moran, and Wm. H. Wiggins. Another well known and honored citizen, who is still with us and with whose name and fame. we are familiar, held this office for three terms in all, as well as other important offices in the early times of the county, reaching back a time commencing earlier even than forty years, or fifty years of which we have spoken; I refer to Daniel D. Sinclair, whose first term as county treasurer commenced in 1839.

Prosecuting Attorney-Smith S. Wilkinson, R. R. Beecher, A. C. Mercer, C. E. Weaver, C. R. Miller, Edmund B. Sayer, Seth Bean, Wm. A. Underwood, Q. A. Watts, L. H. Salsbury, A. Dayton, D. B. Morgan, and F. B. Wood. A considerable number of these having by reëlection served two terms, in two or three instances three terms each.

The members of the bar in practice at the time I came here in 1841, so far as I now recall them were the following:

At Adrian, A. R. Tiffany, M. N. Halsey, Wm. L. Groenly, Lorenzo Tabor, Josiah Ward, E. B. Fairfield, A. M. Baker, A. C. Harris, and A. G. Eastman. At Tecumseh, Peter R. Adams and C. A. Stacy. At Clinton, F. C. Beeman, who afterwards removed to Tecumseh and

subsequently to Adrian. Not one of them is now living, all have passed away.

Not at that time, but a few years later, one who has since risen to a.high degree of eminence in the profession and as a jurist and legal author, Hon. Thomas M. Cooley, entered the law office of A. C. Harris at Adrian, as a student, and after the usual career of study was admitted to the bar and entered upon the practice of his profession there, in which he continued successfully for quite a number of years, being afterwards from about the year 1858 to 1869 the reporter of the supreme court, and then elected a judge of that court, in which high position he remained and by his industry, ability and learning achieved a high distinction and national and more than national reputation as a jurist, and as the author of several valuable treatises on the law. He was also for several years a professor in the law school at the University of Michigan and was highly esteemed and distinguished as such. After his retirement from the bench of the supreme court, he was appointed by the president of the United States a member of the inter-state commerce commission, which position he has recently resigned, it is understood, on account of ill health. In all these positions he has been eminently successful and acquired an honorable and exalted reputation. He was preeminently a self-made man, without means or influential relations, with only a common school education to assist him, dependent entirely on his own efforts, and his eminent success is due mainly no doubt to his integrity and indomitable industry in the study of his profession. As an illustration of which I remember when he was a student at law, of hearing that he was in the habit not only of studying during the day, but taking his book with him when he retired at night and studying in bed. We are gratified at the success and distinction which he has won, and take pride in pointing to him as a Lenawee county boy.

Did time permit it would be pleasant to speak of others of our own number, of the honorable and successful achievement and career of some of those whose names have been unmentioned, whom we hold in high esteem, but I must forbear.

HISTORY OF THE HASTINGS M. E. CHURCH.

BY HON. DANIEL STRIKER.

[An historical address delivered at the semi-centennial celebration of the organization of the First M. E. Society of Hastings, Mich., Nov. 6. 1891.]

INTRODUCTION.

BRETHREN AND NEIGHBORS-I come to this task with many misgivings. When this duty was assigned to me I thought it would not be a difficult task to crowd the record of fifty years into a paper of sixty minutes in length. I had not proceeded very far, however, before I found I had undertaken a pretty large contract, that it was no easier to crowd fifty years into sixty minutes than to spread sixty minutes over fifty years, that like many others I failed to comprehend the length of time of fifty years. I failed to take into my thought that fifty years meant 18,262 days, and that if only one act for each day was recorded and that act expressed by a single word and the record read at the rate of sixty words in a minute that it would require more than five hours time to deliver it. Fifty years is a lifetime for many of us.

I am responsible for what the paper may lack in general interest, but the length of time attempted to be traversed is my apology for its seeming unnecessary length. I, therefore, ask your indulgence while I attempt to present the items as I have gathered them by the way. You have my sympathy, I cannot ask for yours, but I invoke your forbearance.

"As antiquity adds interest to things so age adds interest to occasions and times, and in proportion to their age does the interest increase."

No one until they have tried it can fully appreciate the embarrassment attending the collection and compilation of facts by one who was not connected with, nor personally cognizant of the events.

In September, 1877, a movement was inaugurated looking towards the gathering together of the facts and incidents connected with the