USA > Michigan > Saginaw County > History of Saginaw County, Michigan; historical, commercial, biographical, Volume I > Part 1
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HISTORY
OF
SAGINAW COUNTY
MICHIGAN;
TOGETHER WITH SKETCHES OF ITS CITIES, VILLAGES AND TOWNSHIPS, EDU- CATIONAL, RELIGIOUS, CIVIL, MILITARY, AND POLITICAL HISTORY; PORTRAITS OF PROMINENT PERSONS, AND BIOGRAPHIES OF REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.
HISTORY OF MICHIGAN,
EMBRACING ACCOUNTS OF THE PRE-HISTORIC RACES, ABORIGINES, FRENCH, ENGLISH AND AMERICAN CONQUESTS, AND A GENERAL REVIEW OF ITS CIVIL, POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY.
ILLUSTRATED.
-
222480
CHICAGO: CHAS. C. CHAPMAN & CO., 3 1881.
BLAKELY, BROWN & MARSH, PRINTERS, $55 & 157 DEARBORN ST., CHICAGO.
DONOHUE & HENNEBERRY, BOOKBINDERS, 1So & 182 MONROE STREET., CHICAGO.
811 HATU,OVO94
PREFACE.
The period has passed away forever when the once philosophic sentence -- " A thousand years scarce serve to form a State "-could be used with propriety. The same may now be said of history. The busy activities of our days, the march of progress, the wonderful advances of science and art, contribute to the realization of ideas, and crowd into a period of fifty years a greater number of remarkable and important events than fifty decades of olden times in the Old World could offer to the chronicler. Therefore the compilation of history is not only justi- fiable, but also essentially necessary. It is the enduring record of years that can only through it be recalled, of men who will be honored by the American manhood of this and coming generations.
This work is devoted to the people of Saginaw county, with the exception of the first part, the history of Michigan. It is distinctively local, and as such must be considered a magnificent record of an enterprising people. The work of the American Pioneers of the county extends over only half a century. Within that time they have raised it from its primitive condition to the rank of one of the first divisions of the State-cultivated its wild lands, built its villages and towns, and brought into existence two beautiful cities, of which the Union may be proud. They transmuted the valley marsh into firm earth, and decorated the river banks with factories-each a hive of human industry, a monument to earnest and well directed labor. It is difficult to point out precisely the names of those who have contributed most to this result: all share in the prosperity of the county, and take a special pride in its advancement; each one has experienced the luxury of doing good, and feels that life is not now a mere shadow or a dream. The anxieties and alarms attendant on the life of the pio- neers have been changed to certainties and happy greetings. Those who saw the primeval forest waving over the land, lived on through the days of its destruction to see the clearings covered with the houses of merchants and manufacturers, or the fields and homes of a pros- perous people. They wear the honors which justly belong to them; while those who died are not forgotten in their long sleep. They beheld the budding desires of younger days expand into the flower, and, secing, went to the undiscovered land beyond the grave, leaving their memories and their acts to be carried down the stream of time.
In these pages an effort has been made to treat the history of the county in a full and impartial manner. Doubtless a few inaccuracies may have crept in; but such must be attributed to other causes than the carelessness of the compilers. In regard to the pages devoted to personal history, the publishers expended a large sum of money in having each biographical sketch submitted to him of whom it was
PREFACE.
written, for addition, abridgment or correction; so that if errors occur in this section of the work the party immediately concerned must attach all blame to himself. It will be evident throughout that the writer of the county history as well as the gentlemen who collated the personal sketches, have realized the simple fact of undeserved praise being disguised satire. In some instances this realization may have led to a too brief notice of many highly deserving men; but where praise was manifestly due it is given regardless of ideal character.
The plan of the work is specially adapted to a great record book. All things pertaining in general to the State are dealt with in the in- troductory pages; the county history is carried down from the first Otchipwe invasion of the Valley, and treats very fairly every subject of general interest to the people; so with the two cities, they have been very liberally sketched, while each township has just sufficient notice given it to render its history up to the present time a most valuable heirloom for the futurc.
The cooperation extended to the writers was certainly not so general as it should have been. Conceding that the business interests claim almost all the attention of these citizens, whose connection with the county extends over many years, and who are fully qualified to be authority on many historical matters, they should not forget that other duties attach to their positions, nor neglect to contribute their knowl- edge of the past to pages intended for the instruction of the present and future.
Of the number who assisted in rendering the labors of the writers comparatively light, are Geo. F. Lewis, Col. C. V. DeLand, Edward Cowles, Dr. M. C. T. Plessner, W. R. McCormick, Dan P. Foote, Mrs. Eleazer Jewett and Mrs. N. D. Lee. To Charles Doughty, United States Land Register; Frederick B. Sweet, County Clerk; Thos. M. Busby, Deputy Co. Clerk; Alex. Ferguson, Co. Treasurer; and A. Zwerk, Registrar of Deeds, our thanks are offered for the manner in which the valuable and well-kept records of their offices were placed at our disposal, as well as for official courtesies extended on every occasion. Prof. M. A. Leeson, the historian, and his assistant, Damon Clarke, deserve special mention for the faithful and energetic labor put forth in the writing and compilation of this work.
In this, as in other counties, we are conscious that our promises to the people have been honorably observed in every respect. We have brought out into sunlight many gems of local history which were sleep- ing previously in oblivion; we have snatched fugitive thoughts from the brink of their tombs; brought before the people, as a mirror, men and events long since passed away, and succeeded beyond measure in doing justice to Father Time in his half century's transactions with the settlers of the Saginaw, as well as to the settlers themselves, and the people of the present. Conscious of all this, we ask only a full, earnest, and impartial review of all the chapters of this work, before your criticism.
CHICAGO, August, ISS1.
C. C. CHAPMAN & Co.
.
Administrations of the State Governors .. War of the Rebellion. 88
82
State Officers
108
Topography.
119
A Retrospect.
111
HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY.
CHAPTER I.
THE INDIANS.
115
Early Explorers ...
116
Battle of Skull Island. 117
Winnebago War .... 120 Legion of the Lone Tree 121 Indian Payment Day in
Old Times ..
122
Sentence and Execu- tion 123
The White Captives ..
124
O - ke - maw- ke- ke-to
and the Factors.
125
Wah-be-man-i-to
126
Kish-kau-ko and the Soldiers .. 128
The Indlan Murderer .. 129 O-ke-mos, or O-kl-mo .. 129
Neh-way-go 129
Other Indians ..
134-8
A Summer Visit to the
Indian Camp
138
The Emigrants.
139
CHAPTER II.
THE TREATIES WITH
THE SAGINAWS. 141
Treaty of Detroit .... 141
Thirst Dance Before the Treaty. 141
The Dog Feast.
143
Treaty of Saginaw.
144
Second Treaty
with
Store Prices in 1831-2 .. 236 Season of Sickness 236 the Saginaws. 155
Treaty of 1838 ..
156
Treaty of 1855.
156
Schoolcraft's Trickery. 157
CHAPTER III.
AFTER THE TREATY .. 158
The Garrison of Fort
Saginaw. 164 naw. 246
The American Fur Co .. 165
Public Economy Revo- lutlonized 166 Couriers des Bois ... .. 170 CHAPTER IV.
PIONEER SOCIETY OF
THE SAGINAW VAL- LEY ..
172
First Annual Meeting. 173
Reminiscences by Hon. W. R. McCormick ... 180
Sketch of Capt.Swarth-
out.
192
Records,Mementos,etc. 199
The Pioneers of the Saginaw 208
The Land-Buyers.
214
A Retrospect.
216
CHAPTER V.
GERMAN SETTLE-
MENT 218
CIIAPTER VI.
SKETCHES OF HIS-
TORY
231
Era of Territorial Roads. 231
Early Milling
233
First Ferry. 234
First Things 234
Black Hawk War.
235
Reign of Small-pox 237 Tornado 243
Dies Infaustus 243
The Big SHOW 244
A Meteor.
245
The Comet.
245
Eclipse of the Moon ... 246
Wolf-Slayers of Sagi-
Clearing the River 248 Frozen to Death. 248
Forest Fires .. 248
First Celebration In the
Valley.
249
Celebration of the Cen- tennial. 250
First Happenings In the County 255 The Local Fishermen .. 260 The Surrogugeon Court 262 The Lawyer and the Minister 226
Reminiscence of 1845. .. 263
The Doctor's Man. . 264 A Bear Story. 264
A Stout Old Farmer. 265
'Squire Conning's Mouth ... 265
Making a Level. 266
A Bad Jury
266
A Big Tomato.
267
From Saginaw to " Masho's " House ... 267 School Sleigh-Ride. ... 267 The Tramp of 1880 .... . 268
A Trader on the Mexi- can War 268
...
A Sleigh-Ride in 1854 .. 269
The Indian's Whisky
Bottle.
269
CHAPPER VII.
SCIENTIFIC
270
Geological
270
The Flora of the Coun-
ty.
273
Zoological. 273
Birds. 274
Mammalia 281
Archæology
282
Physical Characteris-
tics
287
Mound-Bullders.
17
State University 89
Large Cities.
20
State Normal School .. 90
Indlans ..
21
Agricultural College 90
Manners and Customs. 22 Other Colleges. 92
European Possession. 24
Charitable Institutions 94
Detrolt. 27
State Public School. 94
State Reform School.
95
Ordinance of 1787. 34
French and Indian War
39
Massacre at Michllimackinac
41
Siege of Detroit.
44 46
Penal Institutions.
97 98 98
Hull's Surrender.
57
State Firemen's Association 99
Close of the War. 60
State Board of Public Health 99
Polltica !.
62
State Land Office. 100
Administration of Gen. Cass .. 65
State Library 101
" Geo. B. Porter. 74
Banks. 101
The "Toledo War.".
76
Geology 107
Administration of Gov. Horner.
79
Newspapers.
108
Michigan as a State.
80
Population.
108
96 96
Asylum for the Insane, at Kalamazoo. .. 6.
" Pontiac. 97
American Revolution.
Tecumseh
50
State Agricultural Society
Okemos.
56
Pomological Society State Fisheries 98
Perry's Victory
58
Public School System 88
CONTENTS.
HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.
National Policles 30
Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, and the Blind.
CONTENTS.
The Water Courses .. 288 Saginaw Valley. 290
CHAPTER VIII.
ORGANIC. 300
Saginaw Co. Boundar- ies In 1822 300 Locating the Co. Seat .. 301 Saginaw Township Or- ganized .. 302
Change of Boundary .. 302 Organization of the Co. 302 Early Record of Super- visors' Court .... 303
The Little Proposition 306 Municipal Brieflets ... 307 Town hip Organization 307 Townships of the Past. 308 County Commissioners 1835-42. 310
Supervisors 1842-60 ... 310
Present Board of Su-
pervisors. .
313
The County Buildings. 314
Co. Officers, 1835-81
..
315
CHAPTER IX.
THE COURTS AND THE BAR. 317
CHAPTER X.
POLITICAL
322
Election Returns ...... 327
CHAPTER XI.
THE CONQUERERS OF
REBELLION 338
Historical Brieflets .... 341
East Saginaw Light
Guards. . 342
The Hoyt Light Guards 344
Military Resources of the County in 1862 ... 347
Recruiting in 1863 ...... 317
Military
Organization
in 1864.
348
Close of the Drama .... 348
Regimental Historles 349-379
The Soldlers and Sail- ors of the County .... 379 Second Reunion ....... 380 CHAPTER XII.
First County Falr ...... 444 Saginaw Institute. . . 444
CHAPTER XV.
RAILROADS AND NAV- IGATION. 445
Railroads
445
Navigation.
451
CHAPTER XVI.
MISCELLANEOUS .. 153
County Finances and
Statistics of 1863-66. .
Summary
Statistics of 1880.
391
390
389
Statistics
Logs
392,394
453
Progress as Marked by
Valuation.
453
Thirty Years' Taxes ..
455
Recapitulation.
393
Shingles
395
Staves
395
Oak and Square Tim-
ber.
396
Commercial Ilistory ... 396
The Region of Illimita- bie Possibilities 404 Life in the Lumber Woods .. 408
CHAPTER XIII.
SALT MANUFACTURE. 410 The Governed Govern. 411
Organization of the
East
Saginaw Salt
Manufacturing Co ... 412
First Salt Well ..
412
Subsequent Enter- prises. 413
Statistics for 1865 414
Statistics for 1870 415
Statistics for 1877-S .. .. 416
Summary.
418
The Salt Wells of the
Valley, Methods of
Manufacture, Etc .. 418-439 CHAPTER XIV.
AGRICULTURAL.
440
Saginaw Agricultural
Society
443
CHIRONOLOGY
474
CITY AND TOWNSHIP HISTORIES. AND BIOGRAPHIES.
City of East Saginaw 493
Saginaw Townshlp 591 Saginaw City. 596
Albee 715
723
Blumfield.
734
James 849
Taymouth 917
Brady. 739
Brant. 751
Bridgeport .. 758
Buena Vista 772
Maple Grove 865
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Map of Saginaw County.14 & 15| Gen. Arthur St. Clair.
Hieroglyphics of the Mound-Builders ...
Trapping.
19 Tecumseh
Pontlac .
25 Hunting Prairie Wolves in
an Early Day ..
67
Saginaw City in 1851 .. 611
73
PORTRAITS.
Barker, Rev. H. A.
257| Darling, Mrs. Ilarriet ..
713[O'Donnell, John 513
Barter, John ..
693 Holmes, Alfred ..
239| Potter, Chandler E. 149
131
Roeser. William 911
Bow, Dennis ..
811 Leidlein, Michael .. 363 Savage, Isaac .. 275
Chapman, George W
397 Miller, Arnold W. 293 Shattuck. Samuel .. 203
Chapman, Wellington 431
Northwood, John.
877 Smith, William. 811
Cook, Lilly.
345 O'Donnell, Edward
185 Spaeth, John 221
Darling, James 712
Carrollton. 786
Chapin 791
Richland. 887
Chesaning. 795
Spalding 896
Frankenmutlı. 835
St. Charles 901
Fremont . 846
Swan Creek 915
Jonesfield 851
Thomastown. 938
Kochville 853
Tittabawassee
944
Lakefield ..
863
Zilwaukee
957
43| State Public School, at
49 Coldwater.
La Salle Landing at the
Mouth of St. Joseph River
Indlans Attacking Fron- tiersmen 31 Eastern Asylum for the In- sane at Pontlac ...
Marion 885
Chesaning Papers
471
Oakley Cyclone ..
472
St. Charles Papers
473
CHAPTER XVIII.
Birth and Death Statis- tles .. 460
CHIAPTER XVII.
TIIE COUNTY PRESS .. 461 Saginaw Journal 463
The North Star 463 Saginaw Enterprise 464 Saginaw Republican. 464 Saginaw Herald .. 465
The Courier 466
Evening Express 467
Saginaw Valley News
468
Saginawian
468
Saginaw Zeitung
470
Tagliche Saginaw Abend Zeitung .. 471
Population
457
Indians
458
School Census
458
Marriage Record.
459
Receipts and Expendi- tures 455
Land Under Cultivation and Crops. 456
LUMBER INDUSTRY ... 382 The Emerson Mill ...... 383 Saw Mills of the Sagi- naw and Tributarles in 1853. 385
Milling Interests in '57. 388
Benjamin, D. E. 167 Jerome, Hon. David 11.
55 The Capitol, at Lansing ... 91 61 University of Michigan ... 102-3 Present Court House .... 114
Gen. George Rogers Clark. 37
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HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.
Michigan! If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look around you, in Michigan. Every visitor at St. Paul's church, London, is over- awed with the magnificence of that structure, the work of Sir Chris- topher Wren. He wants to know where the remains of Wren are HOW; in the crypt of the church they lie, where the following is engraved upon the headstone: Si monumentum requiris, circum- spice,-If you seek a monument [of Wren], look around [and behold tlie work of his brain in this mighty building]. The State of Mich- igan has appropriately adopted for her motto tliis expression, with a slight alteration, thus: Si quæris peninsulam amænam, cir- cumspice,-If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look around you. And indeed Michigan may as justly feel proud of its resources as Great Britain, of St. Paul's church,-yea, and infinitely more. What with hier substantial foundation in agriculture throughout the. southern counties, in horticulture throughout the lower peninsula, and especially the fruit belt along her western boundary, in piner- ies in the central portion of the State, and with her crown of iron and copper in the upper peninsula, tipped with silver, she stands the real queen of the utilitarian world.
It is a pleasure to write the liistory of such a State. Contrast this pleasant task with writing and studying the histories of States and empires which we have been taught to ponder and revere from our youth up, histories of European countries cobwebbed with intrigue, blackened with iniquity and saturated with blood. What a standing, practical reproof Michigan is to all Enrope! and what a happy future she has before her, even as compared with all ler sister States!
Now let's to our chosen task, and say first a few words concern- ing the prehistoric races, observing, by the way, that the name " Michigan " is said to be derived from the Indian Mitchi-sang- yegan, a great lake.
MOUND-BUILDERS.
The numerous and well-authenticated accounts of antiquities found in various parts of our country clearly demonstrate that a people civilized, and even highly cultivated, occupied the broad sur- face of our continent before its possession by the present Indians;
2
18
HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.
bnt the date of their rule of the Western World is so remote that all traces of their history, their progress and decay, lie buried in deepest obscurity. Nature, at the time the first Europeans came, liad asserted her original dominion over the earth; the forests were all in their full luxuriance, the growth of many centuries; and nanght existed to point out who and what they were who formerly lived, and loved, and labored, and died, on the continent of America. This pre-historic race is known as the Mound-Builders, from the numerous large mounds of earth-works left by them. The remains of the works of this people form the most interesting class of antiquities discovered in the United States. Their character can be but partially gleaned from the internal evidences and the peculiarities of the only remains left, the mounds. They consist of remains of what were apparently villages, altars, temples, idols, cemeteries, monuments, camps, fortifications, pleasure grounds, etc., etc. Their habitations minst have been tents, structures of wood, or other perishable material; otherwise their remains would be unmerons. If the Mound-Builders were not the ancestors of the Indians, who were they? The oblivion which has closed over them is so complete that only conjecture can be given in answer to the question. Those who do not believe in the common parentage of mankind contend that they were an indigenous race of the West- ern hemisphere; others, with more plansibility, think they came from the East, and imagine they can see coincidences in the religion of the Hindoos and Southern Tartars and the supposed theology of the Mound-Builders. They were, no doubt, idolators, and it has been conjectured that the sun was the object of their adoration. The inonnds were generally built in a situation affording a view of the rising sun; when enclosed in walls their gateways were toward the east; the caves in which their dead were occasionally buried always opened in the same direction; whenever a mound was partially enclosed by a semi-circular pavement, it was on the east side; when bodies were buried in graves, as was frequently the case, they were laid in a direction east and west; and, finally, medals have beenl found representing the sun and his rays of light.
At what period they came to this country is likewise a matter of speculation. From the comparatively rude state of the arts among thein, it has been inferred that the time was very remote. Their axes werc of stone. Their raiment, judging from fragments which liave been discovered, consisted of the bark of trees, interwoven with feathers; and their military works were sncli as a people would erect who had just passed to the pastoral state of society from that dependent alone upon hunting and fishing.
The mounds and other ancient earth-works constructed by this people are far more abundant than generally supposed, from the fact that while some are quite large, the greater part of them are small and inconspicuous. Along nearly all our water courses that are large enough to be navigated with a canoe, the mounds are almost invariably found, covering the base points and headlands of the
19
HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.
bluffs which border the narrower valleys; so that when one finds himself in such positions as to command the grandest views for river scenery, he inay almost always discover that he is standing upon, or in close proximity to, some one or more of these traces of the labors of an ancient people.
The Mound-Builder was an early pioneer in Michigan. He was the first miner in the upper peninsula. How he worked we do not know, but he went deep down into the copper ore and dug and raised vast quantities, and probably transported it, but just how or where, we cannot say. The ancient mining at Isle Royale, in Lake Superior, has excited amazement. The pits are from 10 to 20 feet in diameter, from 20 to 60 feet in depth, and are scattered through- out the island. They follow the richest veins of ore. Quantities of stone hammers and mauls weighing from 10 to 30 pounds have
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HIEROGLYPHICS OF THE MOUND-BUILDERS.
been found, some broken from use and some in good condition. Copper chisels, knives and arrowheads have been discovered. The copper tools have been hardened by fire. Working ont the ore was doubtless done by heating and pouring on water,-a very tedious process; and yet it is said that, although 200 men in their rude way could not accomplish any more work than two skilled miners at the present day, yet at one point alone on Isle Royale the labor per- formed exceeds that of one of the oldest mines on the south shore, operated by a large force for more than 30 years. Since these ancient pits were opened, forests have grown up and fallen, and trees 400 years old stand around them to-day.
Mounds have been discovered on the Detroit river, at the head of the St. Clair, the Black, the Rouge, on the Grand, at the foot of
20
HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.
Lake Huron, and in inany other portions of the State. Those at the head of the St. Clair were discovered by Mr. Gilman, in 1872, and are said to be very remarkable.
LARGE CITIES.
Mr. Breckenridge, who examined the antiquities of the Western country in 1817, speaking of the mounds in the American Bottom, says: "The great number and extremely large size of some of them may be regarded as furnishing, with other circumstances, evidences of their antiquity. I have sometimes been induced to think that at the period when they were constructed there was a population here as numerous as that which once animated the borders of the Nile or Euphrates, or of Mexico. The most numerous, as well as con- siderable, of these remains are found in precisely those parts of the country where the traces of a numerous population might be looked for, namely, from the month of the Ohio ou the east side of the Mississippi to the Illinois river, and on the west from the St. Francis to the Missouri. I am perfectly satisfied that cities similar to those of ancient Mexico, of several hundred thousand souls, have existed in this country."
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