Huyckstown

Lately I’ve been jumping back and forth between two topics: 1) The Nichols children who survived the 1832 cholera outbreak in Athens, and 2) The 1832 militia veterans in Volinia Township, Cass County. I didn’t realize until today that the two topics would merge, at least geographically.

Raymond T. Wing provided  some additional information about the Jonathan Nichols who married into his family tree (twice, as it turns out). His first wife is buried, not in Leonidas where I had been looking for their gravestones, but in Volinia Township in Cass County. The Nichols had operated a mill there. In fact, one place in the Cass County histories refers to the Nichols brothers, so maybe two of the children ended up here. There was a village at the place, called Nicholsville (duh).

I knew about Nicholsville. It’s only a couple of miles from Charleston, the village which has completely disappeared except for the cemetery. In August 2006 I rode through Nicholsville. Just north of it, I took the above photo of an old brick barn, hoping to learn more about it later.

Judging by plat maps, the barn appears to have been on property owned by Richard J. Huyck. Huyck had been a volunteer in the militia, though not in the company that was raised in Volinia Township. He didn’t move here until several years after the Black Hawk war. His militia company was from Schoolcraft, south of Kalamazoo. This barn is located at what was a stopping place on the stagecoach road between Niles and Kalamazoo. (But contrary to what I wrote earlier, it was probably not the route that the militia from Schoolcraft took to get to Niles.)

Walter Romig’s book, “Michigan Place Names” has the following information about it the settlement:

HUYCKSTOWN, Cass County: platted about a store in 1836 and named for John Huyck; it was first called Volinia (after its township) and, about 1859, Little Prairie Ronde (after the prairie on whose edge it stood); Richard J. Huyck became the first postmaster of its post office, named Little Prairie Ronde, on Nov. 1, 1837, but the office and what was left of the village were later moved to Nicholsville, a half mile south.

In his 1875 book, Howard S. Rogers wrote:

Richard J., came to Volinia Township in 1838, and for a number of years sold goods there, but for several years past has followed the life of a farmer.

It looks like he had a better barn than the average farmer would have had.

The same maps that show R.J. Huyck as the owner of this land show Jonathan Nichols owning land a half mile south or so, at Nicholsville. And there is a cemetery at that place that I haven’t yet visited. I must ignored it on that 2006 ride on my way to the Charleston cemetery.

View larger map

The marker shows the location of Nicholsville.  The Huyck barn is a little further north.

YTD mileage: 1783.