USA > Indiana > St Joseph County > A history of St. Joseph County, Indiana, Volume 1 > Part 24
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Addendum, February. 1907. The greater part of the preceding was published in the Indianapolis News of Ang. 23 and 30. 1902. Afterwards I rewrote and enlarged it. Since
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
then there have appeared two publications which threw some additional light on the subjeet. One of these is an account of Col. Lehmanowsky, purporting to be autobio- graphical, published under the title, "Under Two Captains," by Rev. W. A. Sadtler, Ph.D., of Philadelphia. This demonstrates that Lehmanowsky believed he originated the word, for he gives the following account of it : "In this connection I may mention an amusing incident that occurred somewhat later in a town in Kentucky, where I hap- pened for a day or two. There was a drunk- en brawl in progress on the street, and as quite a number were involved in it, the people with whom I was speaking began to he alarmed. I remarked just then that a few hussars would soon quiet them. My remark was caught up by some bystander, and the word hussar construed to mean the men of the State of Indiana (from which I had just come), and thus the word 'Hoosier' came into existence. Sneh is the irony of fate! Learned men have labored long to introduce some favored word of the most approved classic derivation, and as a rule have failed. Here a chance word of mine, misealled by an ignorant loafer, catches the popular fancy and passes into Literature."a
At the same time he furnishes conclusive evidence that he did not originate it, for he says that he did not leave Washington for the West until the spring of 1833; that he went as far as Ohio with his family and passed the winter of 1833-4 in the state, reaching Indiana the next spring, or more than a year after "The Hoosier's Nest" had appeared in print. His story, as given above, loeates the incident at a still later date.
The other publication is the third volume of The English Dialect Dictionary, in which appears the following :
"HOOZER, Cum. 4 (hu-zer) said of any- thing unusually large."
The "Cum 4" is a reference to "A Glos- sary of the Words and Phrases pertaining to the Dialeet of Cumberland": edition of 1899.
Although I had long been convinced that "hoosier." or some word closely resembling it, must be an old English dialect or slang word, I had never found any trace of a similar substantive with this ending until in this publication. and, in my opinion, this word "hoozer" is the original form of our
a. Pages 188-9.
b . Pages 182-5.
"hoosier." It evidently harks back to the Anglo-Saxon "hoo" for its derivation. It might naturally signify a hill-dweller or highlander as well as something large, but either would easily give rise to the derivative idea of uncouthness and rusticity.
There is a suggestiveness in the fact that it is Cumberland dialect. The very center of hoosierdom in the South is the Cumber- land platean with its associated Cumberland mountains, Cumberland river, Cumberland gap, and Cumberland Presbyterianism. The name Cumberland in these, however, is hon- orary in origin, the river and mountains hav- ing been named for that Duke of Cumber- land who is known to the Scotch as "The Butcher of Culloden." But many of the set- tlers of this region, or their immediate fore- bears, were from Cumberland county, Eng- land, and so "hoozer" was a natural importa- tion to the region. Thenee it was probably brought to us by their migratory descendants, many of whom settled in the upper White- water valley-the home of John Finley.
Since the publication of the foregoing pa- per, Mr. Dunn has written the following sup- plementary statement, which appeared in the Indianapolis Star, under date of June 2, 1907 :
"The recent publication by the Indiana ITistorical Society of a pamphlet on the origin of the word 'Hoosier' has caused a revival of interest in that mysterious subject, and several noteworthy points have been brought to light. One writer calls attention to the fact that in the early book descriptive of Indiana. entitled "The New Purchase,' the word 'Hoosierina' is used for a female resident of the State. This is evidently a coinage of the author of the book, and one that did not meet with popular favor, as it is not known to have been used elsewhere.
"Another writer suggests that the word comes from the French 'huissier' meaning an usher or bailiff. This suggestion has been made before (Indiana Quarterly Magazine of History, Vol. 1, p. 94), but it is hardly with- in the bounds of possibility. The transition would have to come through pronunciation, and the pronunciation of 'huissier' is prac-
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
tieally wees-se-ay, which has no resemblance to 'Hoosier.'
"The most interesting fact is brought for- ward by Judge Timothy E. Howard of South Bend, who has been engaged in preparing a local history, and has found a use of the word ' in print earlier than the publication of Fin- ley's 'Hoosier's Nest.' It oceurs in a South Bend newspaper ealled the Northwestern Pio- neer and St. Joseph's Intelligencer, in the is- sne of April 4, 1832. and is as follows:
"'A REAL HOOSIER. A sturgeon, who, no doubt, left Lake Michigan on a trip of pleasure, with a view of spending a few days in the pure waters of the St. Joseph, had his joyous anticipations unexpectedly marred by running foul of a fisherman's spear near this place-being brought on terra firma and east into a balance he was found to weigh 83 pounds.'
"This paper was published at the time by John D. Defrees and his brother Joseph H. Defrees, both prominent in early Indiana his- tory, and both natives of Tennessee. The use of the word here confirms the theory of the pamphlet that 'Hoosier' was not coined to designate a native or resident of Indiana, but was a slang word in common use at the time in the South, signifying a rough, uncouth countryman ; and that it was probably used verbally as a nickname for Indianians for several years before it was put in print, but not so universally as afterwards.
"The Defrees brothers were presumably familiar with the Southern use as well as its nickname application: and what did they mean by calling a sturgeon a 'real' Hoosier ? Certainly not a 'real' resident of Indiana, for they speak of him as a visitor from Lake Michigan. The obvious idea is that he is a 'real' big, rough fellow; and that therefore the name is appropriate to be applied to him. So far as now known this is the earliest ap- pearanee of the word in print, and Judge Howard holds the record for successful origi- nal research in this line."
Two distinguished Indianians have done much to give dignity and honor to the name
of Hoosier-James Whitcomb Riley, by ae- cepting and gracefully wearing the title of "The Hoosier Poet"; and Governor Claude Matthews, by everywhere and always pro- claiming his love for and pride in the name. In the dedieation of the Indiana building. at the Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893, the governor introduced Mr. Riley to that world audience in the following noble words :
"If there be one characteristic above an- other for which the citizen of Indiana may be noted. it is his love of home-whether that may be the splendid mansion in the busy center-the farm house mid the smiling fields of grain and shaded pasture, or the eabins of our fathers in the deep umbrageons forest. It comes to us an inheritance from the 'Hoo- sier' pioneer who braved the unknown dan- gers of the forest, not with the greed of gain his sole absorbing thought, but with his soul filled with the noblest inspiration of our raee, to build a home that he might leave a goodly inheritance to his children. I mentioned to you the name of 'Hoosier' by which the citi- zen of Indiana is known far and near. I re- gret there are a few whose ears have grown so fastidious, that the name offends, but as for me I love the name and honor it. It is the synonym of sturdy manhood, untiring energy. sterling integrity, unflinching conr- age and a hospitality so broad and generous that has not its superior in all the world. It was the strong right arm of the 'Hoosier' that felled the forest, bridged the rivers, pushed forward roads over hill, through prairie and marsh, and laid the foundation of an empire in the grandeur of their state. We love him who can paint the picture of the humble life; find a poem in 'the simple an- nals of the poor,' and sing the sacred home songs of his people. None other has ever done this better than the Hoosier poet, James Whiteomb Riley of Indiana."
NOTE .- The foregoing chapter, giving a brief outline of the history of Indiana, pre- vious to and including the organization of the state government. seemed a necessary intro- dnetion to the history of St. Joseph county. The relations of the county to the state are ' exceedingly intimate, and an adequate knowl- edge of the county, as a political organiza- tion. and in its historieal relations could hardly be had without a preliminary knowl- edge of the commonwealth of which the eounty forms so important a subdivision.
CHAPTER IV.
THE ST. JOSEPH COUNTY PIONEERS.
1
THE FUR TRADE.
Sec. 1 .- SOURCES OF OUR CIVILIZATION .- Civilization, as we have seen in the preceding chapter, came to Indiana by way of the South and Southeast, from Kentucky, Vir- ginia, Pennsylvania and the Carolinas. To St. Joseph county, however, civilization came rather from the North and Northeast, from the same sources, indeed. as it came to south- western Michigan, to which the greater part of our county was so long attached. Our earliest traditions run back to France; at first, by way of the St. Joseph river, Lake Michigan and the Straits of Mackinaw, and afterwards through the interior of Michigan, from Detroit, and on through Canada from Montreal and Quebec. Later, and when our first permanent population began to arrive, our connections were chiefly with Fort Wayne and Detroit, both also French settlements.
By the treaty of Greenville. August 3, 1795. almost the whole of Indiana, including all the north part of the state, except a tract six miles square at Fort Wayne, one two miles square at the portage between the Wabash and Maumee, and another six miles square at Ouiatanon, near Lafayette, was con- firmed to the various Indian tribes then oecu- pying the same. By successive treaties, ex- tending down as late as the year 1840, those Indian titles, as related in the last chapter, were extinguished. Settlers pushed in from the east, the south and the north, and also from Europe, as fast as the Indians retired. Sec. 2 .- THE FRENCH TRADERS .- But in
advance of the settlers, and while the Indians still remained, the hunters and fur traders penetrated into the wilderness. Those hunt- ers and traders, as we have seen, were at first French. Many of the early adventurers had their headquarters at Detroit and Mackinaw; others mingled with the Indians and rambled over the whole northwest. These last were a famous class of hunters and traders, known to the French as coureurs des bois (forest rangers), and penetrated to the most secret recesses of the wilderness. As in other cases, there were enterprising and ambitious men among those adventurers, men who sought their fortunes in the fur trade with the In- dians, as in succeeding generations others sought wealth in the mines of California. This trade, says Dillon", was carried on by means of men hired to manage small vessels on the lakes, and canoes along the shores of the lakes and on the rivers, and to carry burdens of merchandise from the different trading posts to the principal villages of the Indians who were on friendly terms with French. At those places the traders ex- changed their wares for valuable furs, with which they returned to their trading posts. The articles used in trade by the French were chiefly coarse blue and red cloths, fine scarlet, guns, powder, balls, knives, hatchets, traps. kettles, hoes, blankets, cottons, ribbons, beads, vermilion, tobacco and liquors. The poorer traders sometimes carried their packs of mer- chandise by means of leather straps attached a. Hist. Indiana, pp. 20, 21.
125
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
to their shoulders, or with the straps resting against their foreheads. It is probable that some of the Indian villages on the St. Joseph and the Wabash were visited by this class of traders before the founding of Kaskaskia or Vincennes. The learned Bishop Brute has expressed the opinion that missionaries and traders, before the close of the seven- teenth century. passed to the south from the St. Joseph river, leaving the Kankakee to the west, "and visited the Tippecanoe, the Eel river, and the upper parts of the Wabash."
"It was the fur trade, in fact," says Washington Irving," "which gave early sus- tenance and vitality to the great Canadian provinces. Being destitute of the precious metals, at that time the leading objects of American enterprise, they were long neglected by the parent country. The French adven- turers, however, who had settled on the banks of the St. Lawrence, soon found that in the rich peltries of the interior, they had sources of wealth that might almost rival the mines of Mexico and Peru. The Indians, as yet un- acquainted with the artificial value given to some descriptions of furs, in civilized life, brought quantities of the most precious kinds and bartered them away for European trink- ets and cheap commodities. Immense profits were thus made by the early traders, and the traffic was pursued with avidity."
Sec. 3 .- THE BRITISH POLICY IN RELATION TO THE FUR TRADE .- So valuable had become the fur trade of the northwest that after the treaty of Paris, February 10, 1763, and the transfer of this immense region from France to England. the British government declined to organize any form of government for the territory, or to allow any settlers within its limits, but determined to leave it wholly to the Indians, so as to protect the fur bearing animals and make of the country a vast hunt- ing reservation.
On October 7. 1763, George III issued a proclamation, providing for colonial govern- ments for the countries acquired from a. Irving's Astoria, p. 2.
France ; but making no provision for the gov- ernment of the northwest. Nor was this omis- sion an oversight, but intentional. "The purpose," says Poole in his history of the west,a "was to reserve as crown lands the northwest territory, the region north of the great lakes, and the country between the Alleghenies and the Mississippi, and to ex- clude them from settlement by the American colonies. They were left, for the time being, to the undisputed possession of the savage tribes. The King's 'loving subjects' were forbidden making purchases of land from the Indians, or forming any settlements west- ward of the sources of the rivers which fall into the sea from the west and northwest; 'and all persons who have wilfully or inad- vertently seated themselves upon any lands west of the limit' were warned forthwith to remove themselves from such settlements." The government declared its purpose to be, to confine the colonies to the region along the Atlantic coast, so that they should be within easy reach of "the trade and com- merce of this kingdom"; and also in order that they might be subject to "the exercise of that authority and jurisdiction which was conceived to be necessary for the preserva- tion of the colonies in a due subordination to and dependence upon the mother country." The further extraordinary statement was made in this royal declaration : "The great object of colonizing upon the continent of North America has been to improve and ex- tend the commerce, navigation and manufac- tures of this kingdom. . . . It does appear to us that the extension of the fur trade de- pends entirely upon the Indians being undis- turbed in the possession of their hunting- grounds ; and that all colonizing does in its nature, and must in its consequences, operate to the prejudice of that branch of commerce.
a. W. F. Poole, The West, from 1763 to 1783 (Hist. Am., Vol VI, Chap. 9).
b. Report of the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, in 1772, on the petition of Thomas Walpole and others for a grant of land on the Ohio.
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
Let the savages enjoy their deserts in quiet. Were they driven from their for- ests the peltry trade .would decrease." Such was the cold and selfish policy which the British erown and its ministers habitually pursued towards the American colonies; and in a few years this policy changed loyalty into hate, and brought on the American Rev- olution.a
However reprehensible the motive of the British government, in thus preventing the settlement of the fertile lands of the north- west, it is nevertheless plain from this action that the value of the fur trade to the com- merce of the mother country must have been exceedingly great. Such an extensive hunting preserve as this northwest territory and the vast countries north and west of Lake Supe- rior was perhaps never since or before de- liberately set apart by any government. Ac- eording to the records of the custom house at Quebec, the value of the furs and peltries exported from Canada, in the year 1786, was estimated at the sum of two hundred and twenty-five thousand, nine hundred and sev- enty-seven pounds sterling, or nearly a mil- lion and a quarter dollars.b
Sec. 4 .- THE GREAT FUR COMPANIES .- TO control this profitable industry various pow- erful companies were organized in England and Canada, and afterwards in the United States. In 1670, the Hudson Bay Company was chartered by Charles II, and the com- pany has continued to our own day. Until the acquisition of Canada by Great Britain, in 1763, there were almost constant disputes between the agents of the Hudson Bay Com- pany and the French merchants and coureurs des bois. In 1783, some merchants of Mon- treal began the formation of a like company, which. in 1787, became merged with a rival company, 'and thus formed the famous North- west Company, which for years held bound- less sway over the fur trade of the west. This company for many years held its gorgeous
a. Poole. Ib.
b. Dillon, Hist. Indiana, p. 397.
annual conferences at Fort William, near the Grand Portage. on Lake Superior; where the merchants from Montreal met the hunters and traders from all the northwest. These conferences are said to have been the ocea- sion of magnificent winter entertainments, of almost regal splendor. Another company of like character was the Mackinaw Company, which took in the country to the south of that controlled by the Hudson Bay and the North- west Companies.
After the establishment of American in- dependenee, our government sought to check the operations of those British and Canadian companies within the territory of the United States. But it would seem that governmental supervision was no match for the skillful, persistent personal activity of the members and agents of the companies. It was during this time, in 1783. that John Jacob Astor, a young German, emigrated from Europe. Here he met a countryman, a furrier by trade: and then and there began the great Astor fur industry. In 1809, Mr. Astor ob- tained a charter from the legislature of New York, incorporating the American Fur Com- pany. In his enterprise he had the good will and active co-operation of the American gov- ernment. In 1811, the interests of the Mack- inaw Company, within United States terri- tory, were practically absorbed by the Ameri- can Fur Company : and thereafter, for many years, this company eontrolled the fur trade of the northwest, and became a potent factor in the development of that territory.ª To the American Fur Company and its agents St. Joseph county is directly indebted for its first permanent settlement.
The fur trade with the Indians of this vicinity, while in the early days carried on by way of Lake Michigan and the Straits of Mackinaw was, after the establishment of the American Fur Company, conducted chiefly by agents from Detroit and Fort Wayne. The furs and peltries which were obtained from the Indians were generally transported to De- a. Irving's Astoria, pp. 1-23.
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
troit. The skins were dried, compressed and secured in packs. Each pack weighed about one hundred pounds. A pirogue, or boat, that was sufficiently large to carry forty packs, required the labor of four men to manage it on its voyage. In favorable stages of the Wabash river, such a vessel, under the man- agement of skillful boatmen, was propelled fifteen or twenty miles a day against the cur- rent. After ascending the river Wabash and the Little river to the portage near Fort Wayne, the traders carried their packs over the portage to the head of the river Maumee, where they were again placed in pirogues, or in keel boats, to be transported to De- troit. At that place the furs and skins were exchanged for blankets, guns, knives, pow- der, bullets, intoxicating liquors, etc., with which the traders returned to their several posts. The Indian hunter had long before exchanged his bow and arrows for the white man's fire arms. Bullets were valued at four dollars per hundred and powder at one dollar a pint.ª
II. THREE MERCHANTS OF THE WILDERNESS.
After the destruction of Fort St. Joseph's by the Spaniards, in 1781, and before any settlement was made in St. Joseph county, three traders of more than usual enterprise established themselves at points on the river below the limits of this county. Mr. George A. Baker, the industrious secretary of the Northern Indiana Historical Society, has gleaned many interesting facts in the history of these worthies, some of which may appro- priately find a place in this connection.b
Sec. 1 .- LECLARE .- Antoine Leclare, a native of Montreal, was the blacksmith en- ploved by the English government, in 1780. at Fort St. Joseph's, and was at the fort, in 1781. at the time of its capture by the Span- iards. He was mustered out of service at De- troit, with the garrison and other employes.
a. Dillon, Hist. Indiana, p. 397.
b. In the South Bend Sunday News, October 13, 1901.
in the fall of that year. Afterwards he re- turned to the vieinity of the old fort, and located in the Parkovash, a few miles up the river from the site of the fort. Here he built a cabin, bought furs of the Indians and worked at his trade. Ile was married to an Indian woman : and a son of his, Fran- eis Leclare, was one of the most trusted in- terpreters in the service of the United States. Antoine Leclare removed to Milwaukee in 1800, and there devoted himself exclusively to the fur trade, in which he became very successful. In the spring of each year he went to Detroit in a small sailing vessel, tak- ing his load of furs, and also carrying furs for William Burnett, located near the mouth of the St. Joseph, and for John Kinzie and Robert Forsyth. Chicago traders. In 1813, he removed to Missouri, where he died in 1821.
See. 2 .- BURNETT .- William Burnett seems to have been the first successful trader, not of French descent, who located on the St. Joseph. He was of a prominent New Jer- sey family, well educated. and a man of means, with an established credit in Detroit and Montreal. He was tempted to come into the wilderness, by reason of the fabu- lous fortunes to be made here in the fur trade. The exact date when Burnett locate:l on the St. Joseph is not known, but is be- lieved not to be earlier than 1791. He built a warehouse for storing furs, maple sugar, grain and salt, at a point near the mouth of the river; which is said to have been not far from the site of La Salle's old storehouse, where the city of St. Joseph now stands. One mile up the river, at the big gap, he built another house, which served as a resi- denee and storeroom for merchandise used by him in the Indian fur trade. Apple trees and asparagus beds planted by him have served to mark this spot up to within a few years. Some of Burnett's books of account are among the treasures of the Northern In- diana Historical Society. His accounts were kept in what is known as Halifax currency ;
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
livres, deniers and sols. A livre was worth eighteen and one-half cents. It would appear from certain entries on the books that Bur- nett operated at first from Mackinaw, which was at that time the center of trade; then traded all along the coast of Lake Michigan, and finally located permanently at the month of the St. Joseph river. It is believed that his first venture up the St. Joseph was made October 15, 1791, to the Kankakee.
Burnett's account books are particularly interesting as they have to do with many of the noted characters connected with the early history of the St. Joseph river, as well as with that of Chicago and Milwaukee. Many entries are found showing accounts with Jean Baptiste Point Au Sable, the earliest non- Indian settler of Chicago, who at about the time of the Declaration of Independence built a house at what is now the corner of Cass and Kinzie streets, Chicago, which in later years was so well known as the Kinzie mansion.
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