Atlas

Atlas Local History

Norman Davison built a sawmill here in 1833 and grist mill in 1836 here. The village, then known as Davisonville, was organized in 1836 and give a P.O. with Mr. Davison, the first postmaster. In 1854 the office was renamed Atlas after its township.

Atlas township was originally a part of Lapeer County, being detached from Lapeer and added to Genesee County in 1843. It was organized in 1836 and was one of the earliest townships in this region to receive settlers. The first settler was Asa Farrar, who purchased land on section 18 and built a log house in September, 1830. He was a brother of Pearson Farrar, who settled the same year in Grand Blanc on an adjacent section. They came from Monroe County New York. The first birth (1834) and the first marriage (1833) in Atlas township occurred in Asa Farrar’s family.

The second settlement, as well as land purchase, was made by Judge Norman Davison in 1831 on the banks of Kearsley creek in section 8. Mr. Davison and family were from Avon, Livingston County, NY. Soon after his settlement he built a two-story frame house from lumber obtained from Rowland B. Perry’s mill. This was the nucleus of Davisonville, originally known as Atlas Post Office. Here were situated the first post office, merchants, mills, workshops and schools. The saw-mill was built in 1833 and the grist0mill in 1836. Mr. Davison was the first postmaster. Elias Rockafellow established here the first blacksmith shop in 1837, and in 1838 Fitch R. Track opened the first store. In 1840, William Thomas opened a tavern, and in the next year Oliver Palmer first began wool-carding and stock-dressing. The first school in the township was taught here by Sarah Barnes, in a lean-to adjoining Davison’s house, as early as 1836, the earliest religious services in the township. Judge Davison was a member of the first constitutional convention of 1835, the first supervisor of the old town of Grand Blanc in 1833, and while Atlas was still attached to Lapeer County he was one of the judges of that county. He held various other offices and in the discharge of his official duties gave general satisfaction, securing the respect and esteem of a wide circle of friends.

In 1833, John and Aaron Brigham, brothers came from Lewis County, NY, settling upon section 5; but in 1836, they removed to Hadley. Nehemiah S. Burpee and Samuel Lason settled in 1834. In 1835, came Alexander and James Lobban, James McCraith and two sons, Ezra K. Paschall, Noah and William Owen, Joseph R. Johnson and son, James G. Horton, Talford and Daniel Powell and Lewis Mentor.

In September, 1835, was founded the nucleus of the village of Goodrich. In that month Moses and Enos Goodrich, brothers, from Clarence, Erie County, NY, purchased more than one thousand acres on sections near the center of the township. After building a log house on section 20, they returned to Clarence, and in the following year brought out a number of relatives to the new home. The father, Levi H. Goodrich, a native of Hampshire County, MA, joined the family here in the fall of the same year. From this time the name of Goodrich has been intimately connected with all the social, commercial and political history of Atlas township. Shortly after the father’s arrival a frame house was built on the corner of what was later Main and Clarence streets, directly east from the later Bushaw Hotel. Here was kept a general store and the “Goodrich Bank.” A saw-mill was put in operation in April, 1837. The Goodrich mill, built and equipped by the Goodrich brothers at a cost of eight thousand five hundred dollars, began merchant work in 1845. The first frame dwelling was built in 1838 by Enos Goodrich, which later became part of the home of William H. Putnam. Hon. E. H. Thomson, the first attorney and later a prominent lawyer in Flint, first settled here in 1837. For many years Moses Goodrich continued to reside upon the fine farm, which was included in the purchase of 1835, surrounded by an affectionate family and all the comforts which are the reward of an honorable and industrious life.

During the year 1836, many families took up their residence in Atlas township. Among these were Daniel and Manley Swears (brothers), Hiram Fillmore (a cousin of President Fillmore), Albert Demaree and his sons, David, Cornelius, Jacob and Garrett, Daniel Swears, Sr., James Black, James Kipp, Peter Lane, John Mancour, James Burden, Jacob and Thomas Vantine, John Hosler, William Carpenter, Joseph Russell, Hiram Husted, John L. McNiel, Jacob Thomas, Levi Preston and Lewis Cummings. In 1837, Dr. Cyrus Baldwin, the first resident physician, Lewis Van Cleve, his son, Lewis, Jr. Samuel Winship, Elias Rockafellow, the first blacksmith and iron founder in the township; Fitch R. Tracy, the first merchant; Samuel Walker, John K. Pearsons, William Goodrich, Moses Wisner and Michael Bowers. Other settlers who became residents in the early period were Bradley Cartwright, Freeman Coolage, John Vantine, Julius Barnes, Amos H. Fisk, Stephen Horton, William Surryhne, Moses Frost, William Roberts, Joseph Tyler, Edward Fortune, Albert Vantine, Charles Vantine, Jonathan Frost, Ephraim S. Frost, Ralph C. Atkins, Albert J. Bates, Ira G. Hooton, Peter Vantine, Paul Liscomb, James Vantine, John Perritt, Mathew P. Thomas, Jacob H. Howe, Isaac Carmer, Elijah Carmer, Oliver Palmer, Nathaniel Fairchild, Clark Hutchins, Hiram Maxfield, Marlin Davison and Thomas P. Wood.

The first town-meeting was held in Atlas on April 4, 1836, at “Davison’s Mills.” Twenty-two voters were present, and the result of the election of officers was as follows: Supervisor, Ezra K. Parshall; township clerk, Norman Davison; assessors, John Brigham, Asa Farrar and James G. Horton; collector, James Lobban; directors of the poor, Moses Goodrich and Aaron Brigham; commissioners of highways, Moses Goodrich, Paul G. Davison and Asa Farrar; constable, James Lobban; school commissioners for three years, Oliver P. Davison, Levi W. Goodrich and Ezra K. Parshall; justices of the peace, Norman Davison, Ezra K. Parshall, Moses Goodrich and Alexander Lobban; fence-viewers, Moses Goodrich, Oliver P. Davison, Alexander Lobban and Samuel Lason; pound keeper, Norman Davison; overseer, road district No. 1, Oliver P. Davison, road district No. 2, John Brigham, road district No. 3, Samuel Lason, road district No. 4, Moses Goodrich; school inspectors, Ezra K. Parshall, Oliver P. Davison, James G. Horton, Paul G. Davison and Levi W. Goodrich.