This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/QFB.2ACE/760.2.2 Message Board Post: I found this info on William P. Bristol fyi if you have not read it before now. William P. Bristol and Deborah Marshall The neighbors were not close enough for the chickens to scratch up each other's grain. It could have been considered a bad omen when William P. Bristol's covered wagon tipped over and dumped part of its load while fording Wabascon Creek near Battle Creek. William and his wife Deborah Marshall were undaunted, however ,although that region of the Michigan Territory in 1837 was far more remote and challenging than New York. They continued on to a sparsely settled part of Barry County. As one account described the area: "The neighbors were not close enough for the chickens to scratch up each other's grain so there were no neighborhood quarrels." Before moving permanently to the frontier, William had hired an uncle to build a house and clear a field for corn, but the uncle abandoned the task after his only plow was smashed - the nearest replacement being 26 miles away in Marshall - and after a brush fire destroyed a load of hay and the hay wagon, according to local history. The couple therefore arrived to find no home ready. With winter fast approaching, William "hastily cut the logs, went to the neighbors and got help". One of their lasting legacies is M-37, the main road linking Hastings with Battle Creek. William was influential in getting what was then called the Western Road built. The new road passed through Johnstown Township, which he helped organize, and, not surprisingly, ran right by his property. There he opened a tavern, first in a log house and then in a 2-1/2 story Greek revival-style building with curved rafters, a dining room, ladies' parlor and sleeping quarters. The Bristols' tavern and inn became a popular breakfast stop for the Good Intent Stagecoach Line, which traveled along the Western Road. He also maintained the local post office in his home to service nearby settlers, and opened a blacksmith shop that could be used by the stagecoach drivers. In 1862, high liquor taxes and competition from a newer neighboring tavern, the Robinson House, forced William out of the tavernkeeping business, but he became a successful farmer. For many years the former inn remained a landmark in the now-defunct community of Bristolville, 15 miles south of Hastings. William's brother Elias also settled in Michigan before statehood. Elias originally chose Lenawee County, where he ran a tavern and fished commercially before joining William in Johnstown Township. On the political front, William helped form the township government. The first municipal election was held in his house, where 12 of the 13 initial voters present were chosen for public office. Over the years he served as justice of the peace, supervisor and "path master", a job that involved staking out new roads. He also hosted the inaugural meeting of the local Grange. From "Pioneering Michigan" by Eric Freedman, ISBN 1878005-23-5, pages 252-6