History of Detroit and Wayne County and early Michigan: A Chronological Cyclopedia of the Past and Present, Vol. I, Part 1

Author: Farmer, Silas, 1839-1902
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Detroit, Pub. by S. Farmer & co., for Munsell & co., New York
Number of Pages: 1094

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HISTORY OF DETROIT AND MICHIGAN SILAS FARMER

VOL. I

GENERAL

Che Metropolis of Michigan DETROIT

DELINEATED WITH

NOTICES AND TESTIMONIALS

CONCERNING

Farmer's History of Detroit and Michigan.

From the Detroit Free Press.

"A MONUMENT OF INDUSTRY. AN UNRIVALED CYCLO- PEDIA OF DETROIT. SILAS FARMER'S WONDERFUL HISTORY. A MOST REMARKABLE WORK OF RESEARCH. MICROSCOPIC MINUTENESS .- ONE THOUSAND PAGES .- OVER 600 PICTURES, AND AN INDEX OF 8,000 SEPARATE REFERENCES.

"This 'History of Detroit and Michigan' demonstrates the antiquity and the importance of the city, not merely in its 1,000 pages of handsome paper and clear imprint, or its 648 engravings, but in the length of time spent in its composi- tion, its thorough research, and the untiring energy of its * compiler. * * * * * *

"The work is divided into parts: I. Locality; comprising a history of its names and surroundings-the river, the islands, the streams, the mills, the game, grain, fruits, the French farms, the Park lots, the 10,000 acre tract, etc. 2. Hygienic ; its climate, a history of its diseases and doctors, its cemeteries and coroners, its health officers, its sewerage, its water, parks, boulevard, pastures and pounds. 3. Governmental; the French and English, its legislatures and laws, its officials, its political campaigns and local government. 4. Judicial ; its courts and legal machinery. 5. Military; its forts, defenses, conspiracy of Pontiac, the revolutionary war, war of 1812, Hull's surrender, the Black Hawk and patriot war, the war with the South. 6. Social ; Indian agents and early visitors, manners and customs, marriage laws, slavery, recreations and amusements, music and the drama, artists and inventors. 7. Architecture- houses and homes ; lighting and heating, public edifices, old taverns and hotels, fires and fire departments, etc. 8. Religious ; early missionaries, preachers and priests, churches and denominations, benevolent societies, etc. 9. Literary ; newspapers, books, citizen and visiting au- thors, literary, historical and scientific societies, schools, colleges, libraries. 10. Commercial. 11. Communication ; navigation, railroads, postal facilities, streets, street rail- ways, etc .; making a total of eighty-eight chapters, and embodying a mass of information, facts, names and dates, microscopic in their character, but often relieved by live- liness of narrative, and novelty of treatment."

From the Evening News, Detroit.

The following extracts are from a series of articles extending through eight numbers of the paper and covering ten columns.

"After ten years of work in which laborious care and minuteness of research have been joined to patience, dis- crimination and a genuine love of the subject, Mr. Farmer has told the tale of his native city and county. So fully and clearly has the task been done, and with such genuine literary ability, that Mr. Farmer's name in the future will always be associated with the history of the City of the Straits. * * *

* It is a monument to the author's skill and research and it is extremely probable that a cen- tury will pass before any work on the subject will equal or

surpass it. * * * The subject is well worthy of the greatest pen. * * * * A valuable feature of the department entitled 'locality' in Mr. Farmer's work is a description of the old French farms or 'private claims.' Only real estate men and lawyers can appreciate the intricate and exhaustive work here accomplished. * * * * This work contains the first detailed evidence of the date (of the original occupation of Detroit by American troops) all previous historians having given up the attempt to find it in despair. * * * * * *

Mr. Farmer devotes ten pages of his work to an examina- tion of the conduct of Gen. Hull on surrendering Detroit. It is a careful, discriminating analysis of the evidence pro and con, and the reader after perusing it becomes satisfied that Hull was a cowardly, inefficient commander. Extracts from Gen. Hull's 'memoirs'; the testimony given at his court-martial at Albany, where he was acquitted of treason, but found guilty of cowardice; quotations from 'Dear- born's defense' of his father, Gen. Dearborn ; and copies of original letters from Jefferson, Madison and others have all been analyzed by the author, with the result already quoted. In his researches on this point he has shown that diligence of research and judicial balancing of evidence which marks the true historian. * * * * *

* It is a local and general history in 1,000 pages, which no work of its kind has ever equalled or surpassed. The reviewer has had such an absolute embarrassment of riches that selection seems difficult and even invidious, where so many choice pieces of information have to be sacrificed because of the space imperiously needed to chronicle the news of the day."

From the Detroit Post.

* * " As our readers know, Mr. Farmer has had this work in hand for the last ten years or more, and he has pursued his investigations with great industry and thorough- ness. A list of the persons and authorities consulted would fill several columns in this paper. *

* * * The ap- pearance of a work of such magnitude is itself an important event in the annals of the city, and especially so since it is the first of its kind ; for it is a noteworthy fact that though the City of the Straits has had a most eventful history, ex- tending back over two centuries, yet that history has never before been written. * * * * The narrative covers not only the events of the city proper but also of the territory and State, of which it has been at different times the capital. The multifarious materials which have rewarded Mr. Farmer's long and painstaking search he has classified under twelve different heads and arranged in eighty chapters." * * *

From the Army and Navy Register, Washington. * * "Any city in the United States might well be proud of such a historical work as this. It is indeed a won- derful specimen of book making. * * * Detroit has al-

ways been a point of military interest, and the chapter devo- ted to its military history contains accounts of the French and English war, the conspiracy of Pontiac, the Revolutionary war, the British and Indian wars, the surrender of 1812, the conflict with Mexico, and the war of the rebellion, valuable for their elaboration and accuracy. A highly interesting list is published of the French commandants from 1701 to 1760, the English commanding officers from 1760 to 1796, and the American commanding officers from 1796 to the present time The War Department was not able to furnish a list of these commanding officers prior to 1815. The author is enabled to supply them from old records, and a list of the commanders of Fort Shelby is furnished from 1815 to 1823, of those at Detroit Barracks from 1836 to 1856, and at Fort Wayne, first occupied in 1861, down to 1877. The author has ransacked all the historical collections of the country to obtain facts bearing upon the history of Detroit. He has even had recourse to foreign collections. Some idea of the amount of labor he has put into his book may be gained from his statement that he has received 2, 166 letters from correspondents on historical points connected with his work His preface, giving an account of the authorities selected and the manner in which he has obtained his facts, is, in itself, a remarkable story. It would be impossible to exceed the fullness of the table of contents and the indexes covering every fact and name introduced in the work. The para- graphic annals of Detroit form one of the final chapters of the work, and this chapter by itself gives a complete history of the events in the life of the city. We sincerely trust there is possible a proper remuneration for the author of such a remarkable municipal history as this. We suppose that only a very live, flourishing, and public-spirited city could produce such a work, which must conduce greatly tc the honor and advantage of the city wherever it is seen."

From the Magazine of American History, N.Y.

"The history of a city two hundred years old, or nearly, that has twice been besieged by savages, once captured in war, once destroyed by fire, whose allegiance has been claimed by three different sovereignties, and whose flag has changed five times, cannot otherwise than possess a charmed interest for the American people. Mr. Farmer's work seems to have been undertaken in the true historical spirit, and executed with painstaking and conscientious care. The author tells us, in his preface, that he found it impossible to carry along in one narrative all the various themes per- taing to the history of the city of Detroit and its surround- ing territory, therefore he classified the different branches of the subject and treated each in a special manner by itself. This method, with its many objections, has a decided ad- vantage in respect to the result as a work of reference, as some matters are amplified, which could not otherwise have been done with propriety. One notable chapter of thirty pages is devoted to the British and Indian wars, the French and Spanish intrigues, and the war of the Revolution. Another chapter treats of Indian from 1790 to 1812; and two chapters (XLI.) and (XLII.) contain the history of the war of 1812. Mr. Farmer has written this portion of the work admirably, bringing forward fresh information of priceless value. The 'Conspiracy of Pontiac,' and the ' Biography of Cadillac,' also form chapters of peculiar attractions. * * * * One third of the work is occu- pied with matters appertaining to Michigan in general, owing to the close relation of the city to the territorial government. A novel feature of this history is nearly one hundred pages of continuous city -the homes of the citi-

zens of Detroit -illustrated. There are not less than one hundred and seventy houses thus pictorially presented in well executed engravings. Following these, the chapters of ecclesiastical history are also illustrated with seventy or more churches. * *

* * The preparation of the work has involved more than ten years of persistent and faithful labor, and it is one of those productions which no library in the country can afford to miss from its shelves. It is printed on extra fine paper, and elegantly bound in genuine Turkey morocco with cloth sides."

From Magazine of Western History, Cleveland.

"No other local historical work we have ever seen equals Mr. Farmer's ' History of Detroit,' in comprehensiveness of scope, thoroughness of treatment and conscientious regard for accuracy. Undertaking the work as long ago as 1874 with the view of having it ready for issue in the centennial year of 1876, he soon found the time entirely inadequate for the completion of the history with any degree of satis- faction. His ambition was to produce a work of perman- ent value. He had to deal with a city nearly two hun- dred years old. To write the history properly he soon saw that years of patient indefatigable industry would be required. He therefore abandoned the plan of its appear- ance in the year of the national centenary, and gave himself up to the production of such a history of his native city as would be a standard work for all time to come. For ten years Mr. Farmer toiled on with earnest, patient industry, with a love and enthusiasm for his work, and now has the satisfaction of knowing that the result of all this fidelity to his undertaking has brought him a reward which is of priceless value-the approval of a good conscience, the gratitude of his fellow-townsmen, and the thanks of stud- ents of history the country over." * * *

From the Chicago Legal News.

* * * * "The style of Mr. Farmer is pleas- ing, concise and accurate, all necessary requisites for a historian. As exhibiting the history of the city and state from which emanated the laws that formerly governed our city, the volume should be especially interesting to the legal fraternity of Chicago and Illinois. The chapters on 'Legislatures and Laws,' ' Justice in the Olden Time,' and on the 'Supreme Courts of the Territory,' show phases of legal affairs in the early day that are duplicated in the his- tory of no other locality, and shown in no other volume. Owing to the relations which Detroit held to the old north- west, everything that relates to her early history is import- ant, and of interest to the people of the northwestern states. * * * In the small space allotted to this review, we are not able to convey an accurate idea of the merits of this valuable work. It should be in every library in the United States."

From the Christian Advocate, New York.

" A work has recently been issued in Michigan, which deserves unqualified commendation, and is suitable as a model of works of the kind. * * * Its author is Mr. Silas Farmer, a native and life-long resident of the city of Detroit. The plan is exhaustive. * * * There is more about the early history of Michigan in the work than in all other published volumes, besides a large amount of hitherto unpublished material, of the greatest value to all persons interested in the old northwest territory and the states formed therefrom. Let it not be supposed that we would give so much space even to a history so admirable, if its

interest was confined solely to the 'City of the Straits.' Mr. Farmer has produced a work worthy of a place in every library in the United States, and in every historical library where the English language is understood. We know of no thousand pages more crowded with valuable matter no plan more comprehensive and at the same time inter- esting."

From the Dial of Chicago.

* * "The work is a rich repository of facts and incidents pertaining to the development of a thriving com- monwealth and its capital city. It has been accumulated at the expense of years of enthusiastic and diligent research. Its parallel in the amount of material presented, and in the fullness and minuteness of detail, has seldom if ever been produced in a merely local memoir. The contribution it makes to the general history of the United States is quite considerable, and therefore its interest is not restricted to the limits of the scene in which the narrative centres." * *

From " The Book Buyer," Chas. Scribner Sons.

"It is a large octavo volume of nearly a thousand pages, luxuriously illustrated by pictures of all events and places of local interest. The author informs us in his preface that the preparation of the work has occupied more than ten years. The enormous amount of care and labor that has been spent upon the book is evident everywhere ; nothing which concerns the history of Michigan has been over- looked, and there is much in addition which pertains to a broader historical interest."

From the Central Law Journal at St. Louis.

" This book seems to be a very considerable advance upon the ordinary town and county histories, which are too often gotten up, not for the purpose of placing in perman- ent form matters of local history which are worthy of pre- serving, but rather for the purpose of making money by ministering to local vanity. This work has peculiar interest for the legal profession, on account of its chapters on ' Legis- latures and Laws,' 'Justice in the Olden Time,' and 'The Supreme Courts of the Territory.' These chapters exhibit phases of legal affairs that are exhibited in the history of no other locality."

From Letter of Hon. C. I. Walker, of Detroit.

" My expectations were very high ; for I had known some- thing of the time and labor you had given to the work and the indefatigable zeal with which you had pursued your his- torical researches and the passion for accuracy even in the minutest details, which has animated you. But the book far surpasses my highest expectations. I have seen and some- what carefully examined many local histories, but I have never seen its equal. I congratulate you most heartily on its great excellence, and I congratulate the City and our State, that this great metropolis has had such a historian. Your chapters upon the 'Judicial History' are especially valuable and will make the book of great interest to the legal profession as well as to the general reader.

The manner of getting up the book is in keeping with its marvelous excellence in other respects.

" Very truly yours, "C. I. WALKER."

From Letter of C. W. Butterfield, of Madison, Wis.

Author of "Crawford's Campaign against Sandusky." "Wash- ington-Irvine Correspondence," and several other works.

"I have been thinking for some time about writing to you to congratulate you upon your great achievement the 'History of Detroit and Michigan.' It is grand. No book of the kind west of the Alleghanies is its equal."

Letter from Judge James V. Campbell, of the Supreme Court of Michigan.

"SILAS FARMER, Esq .:

"Dear Sir :- I have been examining with some care your chapters bearing on judicial matters in Detroit and Michi- gan, and have been much struck, not only with the accuracy of your work, but still more with the labor and research evident throughout. Even since the American occupation there have always been matters little known, and hard to search out. You have not only, so far as I can see, ex- hausted this branch of the subject, but you have discovered very interesting facts concerning legal administration under both French and British rule, which have never seen the light before, at least in this region. All who are connected with legal affairs-and most people are either occasional actors or sufferers-owe you greatly for your complete and thorough treatment of a very important branch of historical knowledge. Your book is always full and trustworthy, but this is a peculiarly difficult subject. Yours very truly,

"JAMES V. CAMPBELL."

Letter from C. H. Borgess, Bishop of Detroit.

"We take pleasure in recommending to the public the History of the City of Detroit, published by Mr. Silas Farmer of this city, as the successful result of years of painstaking labors. The author is thoroughly conscientious and free from bias in all his statements concerning the Catholic church in this city, which he submitted before pub- lication to the revision of a Rev. gentleman of our diocese .* We hope Mr. Farmer will meet with the financial success he deserves.

"C. H. BORGESS,

"Bishop of Detroit."

Letter from Geo. V. N. Lothrop, of Detroit.

"SILAS FARMER, Esq .:

"My Dear Sir : - I have found your History of Detroit a mine of most interesting information. It exhibits proof of the most patient and thorough research in every quarter where the real facts could be elicited. Hereafter, whoever would know the true history of Detroit, which at one time represented a great part of the great northwest, must go to your volume. * * * Every lawyer who desires full information of the early matters which concern his profes- sion at Detroit, will make himself familiar with the ‘Judi- cial ' chapters of your book.

" Very Truly, &c., "GEO. V. N. LOTHROP."

* He only suggested a change in a single word. - S. F.

Boston Evening Transcript.

"If Boston, New York, Philadelphia or Baltimore had such a history of its earlier years, a treasure would they have. * * "The local information in this book is simply immense, and the manner in which all this information is "boiled down," and the method by which it is put together, is truly a marvel. * * *

" The relation which Detroit held to the great Northwest of a half-century ago makes this book of large interest to all who are studying the formation of the western cities and States, and the growth of the laws peculiar to their re- spective localities. It has much unpublished and fresh information. * * *

" The history of Detroit will never have to be written a second time."

Harper's Magazine, June, 1887.

"Since our national centennial especial attention has been given by many writers in different parts of the country to the development of local history, and their researches have led to numerous publications of more or less value according to the temper and industry of the writers. Among the most important as well as the most interesting of these publica- tions is the superb volume prepared by Silas Farmer, en- titled The History of Detroit and Michigan. The author has brought to his subject not only a mind of rare intelli- gence, but a soul in love with the Queen City of the Straits. We have here the result of many years' patient, diligent, and painstaking industry; and this is not more admirable than the taste and judgment which have shaped the materials drawn from so many sources into a harmonious whole. The style is simple, direct, and elegant, worthy of a more ambitious work. The scope of the volume is not narrow. In the writer's mind his narrative ' epitomizes the history of half a continent.' Only here can be found any adequate view of the early history of Michigan. * * *

* The completeness of the work is astonishing. The author has not only exhausted the rich materials to be found in pub- lished works; he has gathered much that is interesting from an extensive personal correspondence with men who pos- sessed in one shape or another unpublished materials; he has not only utilized numerous old French letters, docu- ments, and manuscripts, but has instituted special inquiries in France, especially in connection with the career of Cadil- lac; and he has ransacked not only all the documentary reports and correspondence bearing upon his subject, but also the old files of local newspapers in various parts of the country. *

* * * It need not be said that such a work is not only a history but a cyclopædia of Detroit and of the Territorial history of Michigan. It can be said of no fact relating to the subject to be found in any other work that it is not found here, and it contains a rich store of material that cannot be found elsewhere. Every writer upon the subject, since Mr. Farmer's book was published, not only could find here everything he might wish to know, but, if he would be assured of his accuracy as to details and dates he must consult this book. * * * * A work that must stand forever as the most complete book of reference on all matters concerning the early history of Detroit and Michigan,"

Detroit Evening Journal.

* * * " Mr. Farmer has made his work so thorough, so complete, so exact that there seems to be little opportunity for critical carping. There is nothing in

local history which the student might require that may not be found in the volume. Every topic is treated fully, satisfac- torily, impartially, and the preparation has been made with a care that indicates the good judgment displayed in select- ing Mr. Farmer as historiographer. In the limited space of a newspaper article it is impossible to give in detail the merits possessed by the history. Its every chapter in every department; its excellent arrangement; its careful, painstak- ing compilation are all worthy of commendation, and the interested student, as well as the business man and mechanic, can con its pages with pleasure and profit. In this history the dryness and drudgery, so frequently noted in works of like character, seem to be entirely wanting, owing to the fact. that all details are presented in an entertaining manner and are interspersed at frequent intervals with lively narrative,. novel and interesting. * * * * * *

From the New England Historical and Genealogical Register.

* *

* "It is not the least wonder that the book has received commendations from leading news- papers, since no editorial room of a Michigan periodical is complete without it. * *

* * This book is a history, and not a historical study, though many of its chapters will come as near the last named as works boasting it. * * * * This work of Mr. Farmer's is unique and condensed. It is full of particulars and yet not redundant in statement. It is orderly and well arranged."

The Preston Bank of Detroit.

"SILAS FARMER, Esq .:

"Dear Sir :- I have read, with great interest, in your 'History of Detroit and Michigan,' your article on Banks and Currency. I am glad that their history, so full and complete from 1717 to 1885, has been put in this permanent form. * * As a citizen of Detroit and Michigan I am proud of this full and complete History of Detroit, which will surely last as long as Detroit is known in history. I would rather be the author of this work than to be the suc- cessful manager of the largest bank in the world, or to be the governor of Michigan, 'Our Michigan.'

"DAVID PRESTON,

"President."

Farmer's "Detroit."-From The Critic, New York.

" It would be well if every growing city would appoint an official whose duty should be to keep its archives in order, and commit to the press such memorials as its citizens might desire to preserve. Taking this judicious view of the mat- ter, the City Council of Detroit in 1842 wisely established the office of City Historiographer. With less evident wis- dom they made the office 'purely honorary.' The result was that, as usual, they got as much as they gave. At length, however, with better fortune than this parsimony deserved, the office fell to a public-spirited holder, Mr. Silas Farmer, who has performed its duties as well as if it had been accompanied by a salary-and possibly better. In a handsome octavo volume of a thousand pages he has given * * * us a ' History of Detroit and Michigan.' *

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History of Detroit and Wayne County and early Michigan: A Chronological Cyclopedia of the Past and Present, Vol. I, Part 1

Author: Farmer, Silas, 1839-1902 Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Detroit, Pub. by S. Farmer & co., for Munsell & co., New York Number of Pages: 1094

Author: Farmer, Silas, 1839-1902
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Detroit, Pub. by S. Farmer & co., for Munsell & co., New York
Number of Pages: 1094