Vienna
Vienna
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Vienna Township Local History In July, 1833, Charles McLean came to Vienna township from Saginaw County, where he had emigrated about 1826 from “York State.” His house became one of the earliest hostelries in this township, on the Saginaw turnpike. He also built the first frame school house in the township, about opposite the later village school house; in this house was kept the post office, established in 1836 or 1837, for all the region lying between Flint and Saginaw, and there also was held the first township election. Prominent among the early settlers of this township were Sylvester Vibbard, Hiram Benjamin, Joseph C. Winters, Humphrey McLean, George Sparks, Waterman W. Neff, Clark Abbey, George Hyck, Theodore P. Dean, Reuben and Daniel Warner, Russell G. Hurd, William Hotchkiss, Isaiah Merriman, Edward Maybee, Christopher Hughes, William Sissins, Joshua Pattee, George T. Bingham, Samuel Rone, John R. Whittemore, Ormond and Joel Booth, Marcus Goodrich, Nahum N. Wilson, Lemuel Johnson, John Jackson, Charles Montle, Justin S. W. Porter, Nicholas Sigsby, Daniel N. Montague, Capt. Robert L. Hurd, Grovener Vinton and Seth N. Beden. Among the “first things” in the township, to Hiram Benjamin is ascribed the honor of being the father of the first white child born in the new settlement – a daughter – her birth occurring early in 1836. Theodore P. Dean, from Saginaw county, built the first saw-mill in the township, in 1838, at the site of the present Clio. By the same act as Mundy township, Vienna was organized March 11, 1837, and the first township meeting was held April 3 at the house of Charles McLean. Officers were chosen as follows: Moderator, William Hotchkiss; inspectors of election, Hiram Benjamin, Grovener Vinton, Josiah C. Winters; clerk, Thomas J. Drake; supervisor, William Hotchkiss; town clerk, Hiram Benjamin; assessor, Clark Abbey, Isaac Van Tuyl and George Sparks; collector, Edward Maybee; directors of the poor, Charles McLean and Theodore P. Dean; highway commissioners, Grovener Vinton, Hiram Benjamin and Waterman W. Neff; constables, Edward Maybee and Charles McLean; school inspectors, Russell G. Hurd, William Hotchkiss and I. Merriman; justices of the peace, Russell G. Hurd, Hiram Benjamin, George Sparks and Isaiah Merriman; fence-viewers, Grovener Vinton, Hiram Benjamin and Russell G. Hurd; overseer of Highways, Russell G. Hurd; pound master, Charles McLean. Vienna Township of which record is preserved was a frame building, situated in the “Pine Run settlement.” Josiah W. Begole, later a prominent resident of Flint and governor of Michigan, taught the first school there, in the winter of 1837-38. The Methodists were the first to hold religious meetings in the township. Their circuit preachers came to Pine Run as early as 1836. A class was formed here in 1837 or 1838, the leader being Isaiah Merriman. A Congregational society was organized her in 1845, by Rev. Orson Parker, an evangelist.
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