We are continuing with our huge project of Pine Lake Cemetery
burials. This will take us a few to several months to complete.
I added a several donated obituaries, especially for Low and
Pine Lake Cemeteries. You can find them by looking under our obituary files.
There were a few corrections made to the site for burial
information, contributed by our readers and descendants of those buried within
those sacred burial areas.
A portion of my month was filled with family obigations and
responsibilities. Hope everyone is enjoying their summer.
Old
Villages That Disappeared - continued from previous months - In the
1970's Jim Landing wrote some wonderful articles for the News Dispatch
concerning many of the "Lost and Vanishing" County Villages.
When
the county was established in 1832, there were villages and hamlets dotting the
landscape. A few survived but other remain only as a vague memory.
We
break these down into categories.
1. Indian villages that
were here during the early pioneers days.
2. Rural villages had their day
when they were along well travel routes. And example would be Door Village on
the old Sauk Trail. Many of these prospered for a period of time but then
disappeared and no longer exist.
3. Commercial villages, who were
established by proprietors who sold lots. A prime example of this would be
Michigan City.
4. Villages come into existence from the Railroad. The
railroads were good and bad for the smaller villages. Those lucky enough to
have a rail station in their village fared much better than those on old foot
trails or wagon routes.
So what were some of the Villages that came and
then all but vanished?
Holmesville - was a railroad village in New Durham Township
and was platted in 1855 by Hiram Holmes. Legal description states it was 22
lots in the southeast corner of section 4 of New Durham Twp. just south of the
Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad (Penn Central). The small village was
just one block in a north-south direction, but was intersected by three
streets, High, Walnut and Beech.
The village was associated
with the coming of the railroad but had been occupied previously. A sawmill had
been erected there in 1833 by Jacob Bryant and another one at a later date by
Henry Larray. Bryant built the first home which was later occupied by John
Moorman. A post office was establish in 1852 with a Mr. Prosser as the
postmaster. Holmesville also had a grocery store and a tavern.
Most noted citizen of Holmesville was Samuel S. Davis, born in New
York State in 1825. The family moved to Indiana in 1835 and Mr. Davis was
primarily a merchant in his early years. Once settled in the Holmesville area
he became a successful farmer and acquired of 200 acres and also served as the
area postmaster.
Holmesville, even with the rail depot and a
post office did not prosper as much as Otis, two miles to the West. Holmesville
was never more than a small cluster of homes and stores.
There
are few traces of Holmesville today which is on the east side of Holmesville
Road just south of its intersection with Snyder Road. Holmesville remains only
a memory.
Hoyville Station - A railroad stop on the New York, Chicago
and St. Louis Railroad and situated in section 29 of Prairie Twp. Although in
the 1890's it looked like an ideal spot for a village in the area where the
Kankakee marshes were being drained, but no village ever developed and it soon
vanished. Area old timers remember the area for the Nickel Plate railroad going
through.
Hudson- a number of communities bearing the name Hudson in
them have been established at one time or another. In Hudson Township, Hudson
Lake (known in the old days as La du Chemin) the largest inland water body in
the county. Settlement of Hudson Lake was first officially founded as the
village of Lakeport in June of 1834 by John Egbert. Although it was settled
much earlier and used by the French, British and many Indians. Similar to the
area east of Westville it was the earliest of the focal settlement points in
the county. For a short time Lakeport, soon after known only as Hudson was a
rival of all other settlements in the county and had a post office as early as
1834. The village was laid out on the east edge of the lake with the business
district arranged around a powerful steam mill erected by Garrett Bias. But
1835 there were two taverns catering to the daily coach trace and the village
was one of the major marketing center for farm goods in the area.
In 1837 the town almost died during the panic, not only because
of the financial crisis but also because local residents had been caught up in
the speculative fever of a proposed canal that was to be dug from Toledo to New
Buffalo and was to pass through Hudson Lake. Because of the speculation and
rumor, the lots became too costly, therefore settlers chose elsewhere to plant
their roots. Even many of the villages prominent citizens left and the village
was doomed to remain a small rural hamlet.
The present Hudson
Lake came to be because of a number of subdivisions which now surround the
Lake. The first of these was Hudson Lake Villa and it was platted in 1926 with
259 lots plotted. In May, 1927, Henry Holling filed a plat for Hudson Heights
with 83 lots on the southern edge of Husdon Lake and in October of that year
George M Illges founded Hudson Lake Beach on the northeastern margin of the
Lake. Hudson Meadows was platted by Mary Danielson and Eli Enos 92 lots were
laid out in 1950 east of Hudson near county line. All of these subdivisions
combined today are known as residents of Hudson Lake.
Disappearing
Villages to be continued next month....
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