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Caledonia Charter Township Population: 2000() 1990() Change()
Caledonia is one of the southern tier of townships of Kent County. The surface of most of this part of the town is high and somewhat rolling, with a clayey loam soil, that is well adapted to all kinds of farming purposes, especially to grazing. All kinds of fruits grow almost to perfection in this soil. There are a great many fine farms in this township, and its agricultural resources are being developed very fast.
Mr. Asahel Kent was the first settler in the township, settling on section thirty-five in 1838. Mr. Kent, and after his death, Mrs. Kent, kept a public house, which became famous for its good cheer, all over the surrounding country. Among the earlier settlers were Orsemus Rathbun, Eber Moffitt, Hiram McNiel, Peter McNaughton, Levi Tobey, John Sinclair, O. B. Barber, John Pattison, Henry Jackson, Wm. H. Brown, and Warren S. Hale. Mr. Lyman Gerrald was the first settler on the west side of the river.
At the mouth of the Coldwater was a great Indian camping ground and burial place. They did not leave here entirely until within a very few years. One of them, old Soh-na-go, �Squirrel,� has been since seen visiting the burial places and the hunting grounds of this fathers, but the �White man�s axe� had been there, and it was no longer a home for him.
The township of Caledonia was organized in 1840. |
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