First Baptist Mission

The road below along the north river bank led to what is believed to be the first permanent white settlement in franklin county. Although the exact location has not been determined, the mission was probably located one-half mile to the east. In June, 1837, the Rev. and Mrs. Jotham Meeker and infant daughter moved into a rough log hut and established a mission there to serve the Ottawa Indians. Meeker enlarged the cabin and then built a school house and a large mission house. The Great Flood of 1844 destroyed all but the mission house which Meeker moved in 1845 to a second mission site two miles to the north. The rocky bluff on the north or left is where the Meekers fled to safety during the flood. Mrs. Meeker wrote a detailed description of the devastation of the mission while viewing it from "a cleft in the rocks."