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Kalamazoo County Directory, Michigan
The ensuing pages are respectfully presented to the public with this exordium.
Upham in his preface to the history of tho Salem Witchcraft (involving, to a large extent, the history of the town,) says: "It is one of the distinguishing characteristics of the human being that he loves to contemplate the scenes of the past, and desires to have his own history borne down to the future." The character, actions, and. fortunes of our predecessors in the stage of life, not only prove interesting to those who come after them, but serve a very important purpose in the way of instruction, experience and encouragement. "We have found, in our efforts to rescue from oblivion and place permanently upon record the scenes and incidents of pioneer life, much that we have been obliged to omit for want of room; hut ever as we progressed the field has grown wider and more attractive, the interest has increased, and the view become more extended. In the history of tho several townships we have presented an array of names and incidents which cannot fail to be of interest to the residents thereof, and, we trust, to those who live in other places ; and in the descriptions of tho soil, surface, the resources improvements, wealth, &c,, will serve to make the different towns better known generally.
In beginning this work we proposed to give only a Directory of Kalamazoo Village, but as the work of canvassing progressed, we were convinced of the importance of adding a Directory of Schoolcraft. The business connection between Kalamazoo and Galesburg, so intimate and extensive, suggested the need and value of including, also, a Directory of Galesburg, and its citizens desiring to be assigned a "local habitation and a name" — we concluded a careful canvass of these two enterprising villages.
We have also made a careful Directory of other villages, and here present the name of every householder living in villages within the county, with a description and history of the township in which they are situated. This will explain the delay which has attended the publication of the work. Of the labor, expense, difficulties and perplexities attending the preparation and publication of such a work as the one now presented, none but those who have had experience in such a task can form any correct idea. In respect to its comprehensiveness, we believe this to be the first work of the kind ever attempted, and we were induced to undertake the enterprise not for profit only but for the purpose of providing a work at once useful and profitable to the people of this entire county. We have endeavored to make this Directory correct in all essential particulars, and to that end have used every precaution; trusting that we have achieved success, we leave it with confidence to our patrons to decide this point. The worth of this book, we believe, will increase from year to year, and in time, become invaluable to the descendants of the hardy pioneers who swept away the forest and made glad the waste places, and to all those who would know the beginning of the history and progress of this prosperous and favored County.
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The chroniclers of the growth and prosperity of Kalamazoo have neither been many nor voluminous — those who have dilated, upon its natural beauty, its rapid development, from an obscure settlement, to a large and important city, — its advantages as a home, and a place for all legitimate business enterprises — have, for the most part, contented themselves with general statements and propositions, leaving little details — the woof of his- tory — to be guessed at, or neglected. Two years ago an effort was made {in the first Directory) to collect facts relating to the settlement and growth of this village and arrange them in some- thing like chronological order. The appreciation with which that attempt was received, by our citizens, encourages the writer to undertake another chronicle, in which not only the village but the different towns of the county shall have recorded "the story of their lives from year to year."
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