and one daughter Allie, who married Frank Ives of Tilden. She died as a young woman.

There came also from Virginia, John A. Wright. Mrs. Wright, Nannie, was the Dufphey brothers' sister. Mr. Wright taught school in School District 10 for three months in the spring term of 1888. John then engaged in the real estate business and continued in this occupation the rest of his life. The Wrights had two children. A son whom his parents called "Joe dee" and his friends called "Cub-o-read-estate." His sister Ruth became a teacher in the vicinity for a few years until her parents passed away. She then migrated east and married. She is now living in the state of Pennsylvania.

Thomas Dufphey, another brother, homesteaded in South Dakota near Sturgis. He never married and spent his last years with his sister, Mrs. Wright.

Richard Dufphey married Creed Phipps' daughter, Lillie, and moved to Halley, Idaho.

Then came the Mussers, Youngs, Gambills, Lovelaces, and Carricos and others from Virginia. Many stories can be told about the early settlers.

The following story is perhaps not based on facts but bears retelling as it used to be told: In the early days, our Depot Street and Main Street would become a sea of mud in the spring or a rainy season. The passenger train from the east came in about 8:20 p.m. One night a number of Virginians, fresh from "back yonder," got off the train and started up the middle of the street. Finally, when travel became nearly impossible because of the mud, one noticed the side walk. "Hey, do you reckon folks will care if we walk on their porches?"

How many remember the town's "Pest house" as a rest haven for folks without a home who took down with a contagious disease? This writer has a faint recollection of the home having one occupant with Frank Flood as nurse. Frank was an early day town marshall. Who remembers that Troy Hale shot his initials in the front wall of the building with his six shooter? The Pest house was removed when several homes were erected in that part of town and people did not like the neighbors when tramps started moving in.

Up to this point we have dealt mostly with settlements in Schoolcraft and the south portion of Highland Precincts. First settlers in Battle Creek Precinct were:

In Section 1, we find Samuel Kent, Sr., who when he retired, came to Battle Creek to build the house where the Hubert Grossrode family now lives. It was the Kent home until the parents died and afterwards, for a time, home for Mrs. Jack Barnes who was a widow, a Kent daughter, caring for her parents. His son, Sam Kent, Jr., took over the farm on the retirement of his father, Margaret Kent married Arthur Gardels.

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