Kalamazoo County Directory on Alphadelphia

I suppose I should look up the author, James M. Thomas, and see who he was.

KALAMAZOO
COUNTY DIRECTORY
— WITH A —
HISTORY OF THE COUNTY
FROM ITS EARLIEST SETTLEMENT.

CONTAINING DESCRIPTIONS OF EACH TOWN AND VILLAGE WITHIN THE
COUNTY, ALSO, THE NAMES OF ALL PERSONS RESIDING IN THE
SEVERAL VILLAGES IN THE COUNTY. WITH A
NEW CENSUS OF KALAMAZOO VILLAGE,
AND ALL THE VILLAGES IN THE COUNTY

1869 and 1870.
JAMES M. THOMAS,
KALAMAZOO, MICHIGAN,

STORE BROTHERS, BOOK AND JOB PRINTERS.
1869.

…In 1843, one of those moral philosophers, who occasionally come to the surface and inflict their vagaries or “reforms” upon a community, came to Galesburg. His name was Shetterly and Dr. was his professional title. Fourierism was his hobby and the people of Tolland’s Prairie and other parts of the county were the victims. The story of this bubble is too long for these pages. The large building that was erected, and the farm that was purchased, for the ” Alphadelphia Society,” are the same now owned by the county and used as the Poor-House and Farm, the property having been purchased in 1849, after the society aforesaid had ” gone to the dogs.” It is on the southwest part of Tolland’s Prairie.