EARLIEST ANTRIM COUNTY RECORDS:

Records of very early proceedings did not usually receive very tender care. Now and then they are unearthed, as also are the pottery and other relics of the Mound Builders. Not long ago, Mr. John A. Harriman, the county clerk of Antrim County, found an old book with a few of the first leaves fastened together. Upon removing the fastenings, the sealed pages were found to contain the earliest records of the township of Antrim, afterward  Megesee, and now Elk Rapids. From the book we copy below the records of the first township meeting held at Elk Rapids. The record is as follows:

April 25th, 1853  "Agreeable to notice by three electors of the town of Antrim, to wit: John B. Spencer, John S. Barker and William H. Case, the first town election of said town was held at the house of A. S. Wadsworth in said town, April 25, 1853, and at said election the following officers were elected, viz: John S. Barker, supervisor; Samuel Northam, treasurer; William H. Case, town clerk; John S. Barker, William H. Case. Samuel Northam, Orselas Evans, justices of the peace; commissioners of highways-William Slawson, three years, James McLaughlin, two years, William Wells, one year; school inspectors-William Slawson, two years, John B. Spencer, one year; constables-Enoch Wood, Jerome B. Stocking, Charles Walker; directors of the poor-Enoch Wood, John B. Spencer; overseer of highways-John B. Spencer; pound master-Amos Wood.

"It was voted at said town election that the sum of twenty-five dollars be raised to defray the expenses of said town. Voted that one mill on a dollar shall be raised on the taxable property of said town for library purposes. It was voted that swine shall not be permitted to run at large from the first day of May until the twentieth day of October, A. D. 1853.

The above is a true statement.
WILLIAM H. CASE, Town Clerk

"May 2rd, 1853. - The persons elected justices of the peace of the town of Antrim met at the house of A. S. Wadsworth, the place designated by the supervisor, and there proceeded to draw for the term of years they shall serve, and they drew as follows: Orselas Evans, one year; John S. Barker, two years; Samuel Northam, three years; William H. Case, four years."

The above is a true statement.
WILLIAM H. CASE, Town Clerk

"The following persons elected to the following offices have filed their oaths of office with the town clerk, namely:-John S.Barker, supervisor; William H. Case, town clerk; William Slawson, William Wells, James McLaughlin, commissioners of highways; John B. Spencer, William Slawson, school inspectors; Jerome B. Stocking, Enoch Wood, Charles Walker, constables; John B. Spencer, overseer of highways, filed his acceptance of office; Amos Wood filed acceptance as pound master."

WILLIAM H. CASE, Town Clerk

May 7, 1853 - "The following is a list of persons selected as grand and petit jurors and returned as such to the county clerk of the county of Grand Traverse by the supervisor and clerk of the town of Antrim, May 7, 1853:-Grand jurors-John B. Spencer, James McLaughin, William H. Case, Orselas Evans, William Slawson, John S.Barker. Petit jurors-Jared Stocking, Samuel Northam, William Wells, Chancy Hall, Amos Wood, Enoch M. Wood."

WILLIAM H. CASE, Town Clerk.

May 17, A. D. 1858 - "We, the undersigned school inspectors for the township of
Antrim, Grand Traverse County Mich., hereby set off and form into one district, all that part of Township No. 29 north of. Range No. 9 west, lying north of the south boundary of said township, east of Grand Traverse Bay, west of Elk Lake, and south of Elk River, and that part of Sections Nos. 20 and 21, lying north of Elk River, and designate the same as School District No. 1. Elk Rapids, May 17, A. D. 1858.

WILLIAM SLAWSON, JOHN B. SPENCER, School Inspectors."

(A& true copy) WILLIAM H. CASE, Town Clerk."