The first meeting of the board of township school inspectors was held May 21, 1837, at the house of E. T. Critchett, but no business was transacted, and they adjourned to meet August 12th, at the house of William Page. The meeting was held at the place and on the day given, when the south half of what is now Leslie township was organized as District No. 1; the north half of the same town as District No. 2; that portion of what is now Onondaga township lying east of Garnd River as District No. 3; that portion of the same township west of Grand River as District No. 4; the south half of what are now Vevay and Aurelius as District No. 5; and the north half of the same township as District No. 6. Nov. 6, 1837, the southwest portion of what is now Alaiedon was organized as District No. 7; on the seme day District No. 8 was formed, including sections 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, and 17, in what is now the township of Vevay. Various other changes were made as the population increased and the township was divided. In 1843 the various districts in Aurelius contained pupils as follows: No. 1, 73; No. 3, 17; No. 4, 22; fractional No. 6, 20. A new school-house was built in that year in No. 1, at a cost of $100. In No. 1, seven and a half months of school were taught by John E. Smith, at ten dollars a month, and four and a half months by Julia A. Smith at a dollar a week. In No. 3, Jane Austin taught for a dollar a week and in Fractional District No. 6, Daniel Palmer taught four and a half months at thirteen dollars a month, and Elizabeth Noyes four months at a dollar and a quarter per week. Other teachers were employed in the years named, in the various districts, as follows: 1843, Luther B. Huntoon; 1844, Martha Smith (certificate given June 22, 1844, for one year), Zaccheus Barnes, Maria S. Howland; 1845, Matilda L. Montgomery, Hannah Miller, Susan Miller; 1846, Lucretia Cochran, Hannah Converse, Mary Ann Rolfe, Mary Hill, James C. Butts.
The first school in the township was taught in the southwest corner thereof, in the summer or winter of 1837, in a small log building which stood in the extreme corner of town at the county-line. The name of the teacher is not recollected. When the family of Joseph L. Huntinton arrived in the township, in the spring of 1838, they occupied this building until they could prepare a dwelling on their own place, a mile north.
In the north part of town a log school-house was built on the farm of George B. Webb in 1844, and a summer term of school was taught in that year by Martha Smithy. That was the first in the neighborhood. Among those who sent children were Reuben R. Bullen, George B. Webb, John and Ezekiel Niles, John Wright, and others.
From the report of the towhship school inspectors, for the year ending Sept. 1, 1879, the following items are taken:
Number of districts in township (whole, 6; fractional, 4) 10
Number of children of school age in township 510
Number of children in attendance during year 466
Number o school-houses (brick, 1: frame, 8) 9
Number of seatings in same 506
Value of school property $ 4800
Number of teachers employed (males, 7; females, 20) 27
Wages paid same (males, $625; females, $632.90) $ 1257.90
Total expenditures for year $ 2281.80
Taken from:
"History of Ingham and Eaton Counties Michigan, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Their Prominent Men and Pioneers", by Samuel W. Durant.
Published by D. W. Ensign & Co., 1880.
Page 222-223