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جوجل
மக்கள்
M. L
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01071 6444
.
CROSSCUP&WEST PHILA.
John Ball. [For Sketch of Jije see Page 14.]
MEMORIALS
OF THE
GRAND RIVER VALLEY,
BY
FRANKLIN EVERETT, A. M.
Has Oblivion a right to the Past ?
CHICAGO : THE CHICAGO LEGAL NEWS COMPANY.
1878.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1877, BY FRANKLIN EVERETT, In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED NY THE CHICAGO LEGAL NEWS COMPANY.
-
1164519
PREFATORY NOTE.
THIS work was prosecuted under the auspices of the OLD RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION OF THE GRAND RIVER VALLEY, the members of that body having the desire that the scenes of the past should not pass into obliv- ion.
No pains have been spared to make it authentic, and to render it worthy of the kindly reception of those for whom it was undertaken.
Without the aid of those who felt an interest in the work, it never would and never could have seen the light. Knowing very well that those who have been my patrons would not choose that their names should be given, I must still be indulged in the public expression of my heartfelt thanks to them collectively and individually.
The illustrations are mostly from CROSSCUP & WEST, of Philadelphia. and challenge comparison.
For the eritieal accuraey with which the letter-press is presented. the book is indebted to the accomplished proof-reader, MISS MARY TOMLIN. of the CHICAGO LEGAL NEWS.
With this brief statement, the work is committed to the public, with the hope that it will not be idly cast aside, or lightly appreciated.
GRAND RAPIDS, Nov. 15th, 1877.
F. E.
in
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Algoma.
159
Alpine
165
Ada. .
171
Allendale.
500
Ball's Statement of Early Than s.
18
Banking (Early)
25
Berlin
88
Boston
99
Belding
131
Bowne
176 181
Byron.
Birchen Canoe
289
Banking
402
Crash, The
42
Cook's Corners
131
Campbell
140
Cascade
186
Caledonia
191
Cannon
196
Courtland
199
Cedar Springs
219
Chippewa Mythology
282
. Cobmoosa's Lament
281
Crockery
508
Danby.
150
Early Times (Ball)
13
Easton
106
Fruitport
517
Getting Extravagant
11
Grand River Valley in 1837
33
Gaines
202
Grattan
204
viii
CONTENTS
PAGE
Grand River Valley in 1846.
374
Grand Rapids
388
Topography
388
Streets
387
City Government.
389
Communication
392
Fire Department
393
Schools
396
K. S. I.
400
Banking
402
Churches
405
Societies
411
Gypsum
543
Grand Haven
413
Georgetown
496
Hubbardston
116
Harbor Improvements
526
Holland
456 45
lonia
lonia County
154
Indians
269
Of Southern Michigan
273
As found.
276
Flat River
280
Holland
282
Mckinney's Letters
285
Poetry
287
Superstition
288
Canoe
289 290
Treaties
293
Anecdotes
297
Acts concerning
298
Mission
298
Trader, First
525
Mythology
282
Jamestown 511
Keene.
132
Kiddville
131
Kent County
264
.... ...
Pipe Dance, etc.
CONTENTS. ix
PAGE
Lyons
64
Lowell
210
Long Nose.
295
Legislative Acts --
Ionia County 531
Kent County.
532
Ottawa County
534 540
Mink
75
Matherton
116
Mythology, Chippewa.
232
Mission (Slater's)
298 303
Martyrs
304
Men furnished
331
Third Infantry
Engineers' & Mechanics
337
Sixth Cavalry.
343
Seventh Cavalry
349
Twenty-First Infantry
356
Third Cavalry
364
Tenth Cavalry
363
Second Battery
372
Thirteenth Rattery
394
Muskegon County.
413.
521
Salt Well
525 423
North Plains
109
Nelson .
217
Newspaper, First.
11
Orleans
124
Otisco
126
Orange
137
Oakfield
221
Old Residents' Association
394
Ottawa County 41:3, 518
436
Ottawa Homicides 522
Odessa.
145
Lumber
Military
Mythic Joe's Address
Muskegon.
Olive.
X
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Occupation, First
1
Pewamo
78
Portland
80
Palo.
121
Paris
229
Plainfield
235
Polkton
502
Persons (High Official)
535
Population
537
Ronald
117
Robinson
494
Robinson's Proclamation
523
Smyrna.
130
Sebewa
142
Slater. L
301
Solon.
241
Sparta.
2433
Spencer
248
Salt Well (Muskegon) .
525
Senators and Representatives
Tyrone.
251
Talmadge
514
Virginius.
255
Wright.
505
Wyoming 257
Zeeland.
477
MEMORIALS
OF THE
GRAND RIVER VALLEY.
FIRST OCCUPATION.
That the Grand River Valley was explored by the French Indian Traders, we have authentic traditions. Michigan has long been known, and the two posts, Detroit and Mackinaw, have been ocenpied for a long time as the centers of the In- dian trade, and as military posts. Missionary stations and trading posts had been established before the region was open to actual settlers. So it was with the Grand River Valley. A mission station was established about 1825 on the west side of the river at Grand Rapids, under the care of the Rev. Mr. Slater; and two Indian Traders had located themselves among the Indians. Soon after the treaties had opened the land on the right bank of the river to settlement, Slater and his band moved off. Their history is of little importance here, however interesting in itself. It left no permanent impression. The Indian Traders, too, might be passed by, were it not for the fact that they both became citizens, foremost in developing the region, when the white man took possession. These traders were Rix Robinson and Louis Campau.
These Indian Traders were living on Indian sufferance; had no rights but such as were given by them, and by a license from the Government. There were until 1833, no white per- sons in the valley, except such as were connected with the Mission, or with the Indian trade.
2
MEMORIALS OF THE
By common consent Robinson and Campau are considered the pioneers; not merely as Indian Traders, but as settlers, and workers for the settlement and development of the Grand River region. As they will be more particularly spoken of in biographical articles, no more will be said of them in this connection.
The settlers of 1833 are spoken of in connection with the places where they located. The four points occupied that year were Ionia, Grand Rapids, Grandville or Wyoming and Grand Ilaven. At first there was a diversity of opinion as to where the big town would be. Louis Campan and Lucius Lyon had faith in the Rapids; secured land, and platted it; the one as "Grand Rapids " and the other as " Kent." The settlers at Grandville had faith in their location; and there platted a city. Those who came to Ionia believed in land; and thought less of founding a city than of cultivating the soil.
At and near Grand Rapids we at this time find the Cam- paus, and those in their employ.
In 1833. and while the settlement was Louis Campan and his dependents, a young physician, Dr. Willson-a man whose name is held in singularly affectionate remembrance-came to try his fortune at the Rapids. He was fresh from the schools, and brought nothing with him but his youthful wisdom and gentlemanly manner; and these were his passport to public confidence, and resulted in perhaps the deepest and most affectionate respect ever felt for any person in the Valley. All concur in pronouncing Dr. Willson a gentleman. No single voice has ever claimed for him less than that he was the ideal nobleman-gentle, agreeable, sympathizing, generous, intel- ligent, manly. Ile came poor and empty-handed, without medicines or instruments. Mr. Campan liked the young man, and took him under his wing; bought for him a complete set of instruments and a stock of medicines. When the boxes came Willson fairly danced with delight. There was the young Esculapins fairly launched into practice among a pop- ulation of fifty persons. IIe died about twelve years after- wards, leaving a great blank-a dark, vacant spot in the
3
GRAND RIVER VALLEY.
Grand River Valley. The feeling with which the early set- tlers speak of him, shows how strong a hold he-the manly physician-had on the hearts of the people. May we have many more like him, and fewer of those soulless qnacks, whose only object is to grow rich on the sufferings, or unnat- ural crime of the base, the ignorant or confiding.
It has been said that the basis of civilization is the black- smith's anvil block. This much is certain : that man can make but little advance in the arts, or anything, that distin- guishes savage from civilized life, without the labor and skill of that artisan. The superiority of the Philistines over the Jews is manifest in this : the JJews had no smiths. The Uni- ted States, in their laudable endeavors to civilize the nomadic tribes on our frontiers, do not send the cabinet maker and jeweler, but the farmer and blacksmith.
The first who placed his anvil and bellows in the Grand River Valley, was A. D. W. Stont. His shop was at Grand Rapids, at the foot of Pearl street, where now stands the Opera House. There his bellows breathed its long-drawn sighs, and there he fashioned, first a fish-spear, and afterwards the many different articles demanded by the wants of the white man or the Indian. This Mr. Stont was afterwards one of the first settlers of Cannon. At the present writing (1876), he is living in Plainfield. Mr. Campan during this year put up some buildings ; built a pole-boat-the " Young Napoleon ; " and the same year the Indian Mill was built, on the creek that enters the Grand River in the north part of the city on the west side. Its site was some 60 rods from the mouth of the stream. It was a small concern ; just the cheap mill appro- priate to the circumstances and time. It was of the old sash saw, futter-wheel pattern, capable of entting 1,500 feet of boards in a day. The creek was dammed so as to make a pond ; and the stream being insufficient to run the mill con- tinually, it was operated by the pond ; that is, when the pond was drawn down, stop until it was filled. The cheap run of stones put in that mill were a wonderful convenience to the inhabitants, as there was no chance for grinding elsewhere nearer than Gull Prairie. The, it is to be hoped, perpetual
4.
MEMORIALS OF THE
memento of that mill is the horse-block of the Hon. John Ball. May no sacrilegious hand ever break up those stones. Let them do service in their present conspicuous place, with the addition, that they be inscribed, "The first in the G. R. Val- ley." They are among the few existing mementos of olden times. The last of the pioneer buildings has given way to something better. The mill-stones may be an historical monu- ment. Perhaps they may become as noted as the " Rock of Plymonth"- the " Blarney Stones" of Grand Rapids. There is this advantage in favor of the Grand Rapids mill-stones : they are an entity, while the Rock of Plymouth is a non-entity. There is no rock at Plymouth, except some scattered boulders, but the poet had sung-
" The breaking waves dashed high On a stern and rock-bound coast; And the woods against the stormy sky Their giant branches tossed, And the heavy night hung dark The hills and waters o'er, When a band of exiles moored their bark On the wild New England's shore."
Great was the dismay, in later times, of those who came as pilgrims to the spot where the May Flower pilgrims landed, to find no " stern and rock-bound coast;" only a sandy beach. And looking for the woods, that tossed their giant branches against the sky, they saw only sand barrens, with scarcely a shrub. Still, like Beecher's dog, Noble, they concluded, as it was poetically a stern and rock-bound coast, a rock ought to be there. That so much good poetry might not be spoiled, they found a boulder, and made it poetically the rock on which the pilgrims landed.
We are under no such necessity in doing poetic justice to the Indian Mill. The chain of evidence is complete. Many can bear witness to seeing the neglected stones, before Mr. Ball, appreciating their historical importance, elevated them from their obscurity by the side of the brook, and placed them where they are seen of all. Wo to the man who shall remove them from that place, or break a fragment from those conse-
5
GRAND RIVER VALLEY.
crated stones. Such a wretch would deserve to be talked to! Let him be compelled to spend a year reading Tupper's poetry! If we knew a direr retribution, we would invoke it upon him.
The same year Mr. Barrigan, since Bishop of the Lake Sn- perior region, came on as a Catholic Missionary among the Indians. He built on the right bank of the river, for a school house and chapel, what was afterwards known on the left bank as the " Yellow Store House." Barrigau, discouraged, went off; and Mr. Campan moved the building across the river on the ice.
It will be seen that a beginning was fairly made in 1833. Five little bands of settlers were in the valley-at Lyons. Ionia, Grand Rapids. Grandville and Grand Haven.
It may not be uninteresting to record how those pioneers per- formed their journey, and how they fared after their arrival. The only roads were the Indian trails-mere foot-paths. With these for a guide, they cut the roads for their teams as they came along. They camped at night in the woods, and were serenaded by the wolves. Arrived, they lived in huts, until they could build log cabins for the winter. Winter found them almost without food. Flour was not to be thought of. Their life approximated to that of the savage. It was a strug- gle, not to enjoy life, but to lice. If one had brought on provisions for his own family, his sympathies led him to divide with those who had not; and, in turn, the common hard fare was his. But the pioneer has faith and hope. The first year struggled through, they have food in store-and they are rich.
If the incomer had located on land, he spent the winter in cutting down trees to browse his cattle, and to have a chance in the spring to put in a crop.
Provisions had to be brought around the lakes, or packed in from the southern part of the State. Pork could be bought for $40 a barrel, potatoes for $4 a bushel, and flour was worth a shilling a pound. Those who came in a year or two after- wards, although their privations were many, had not the pio- neers' hard lot, and are not entitled to the pioneers' credit. The
6
MEMORIALS OF TIIE
lips of those old settlers curl with scorn, when we grumble at our food, or apologize for the poorness of our accommodations. Years afterwards, one of them, in the full enjoyment of com- petence, called at our humble residence. Like a fool, we apologized for the humility of our house. "Yon should see," said he, " the first house I lived in. Yours is a palace com- pared with it." We meekly stood reproved, and silently de- termined never to apologize again, unless we had done wrong; at the same time comforted with the thought, that the house, lmumble as it was, would be treated with respect by a gentle- man or lady; and that what others thought, was matter of indifference.
If you find yourself cold, and without shelter, a wigwam with a fire is a beautiful thing. If tired, a heap of bonghs and a bear skin are a delightful conch. If hungry, a hoe-cake is a feast. Good Christians may now enjoy their fine houses, and the other appliances of wealth ; but with a particular thankfulness they revert to the "good old times " when they lived in a log-house, rode on an ox sled, did their own work, and beguiled their evenings with a Jew's-harp. It did them good to rough it a while. They were better men, and better women all their days from the discipline that tanght them the value of simple things.
But it must not be supposed that in this struggle for exist- ence, the pioneer wore a sober face, or moved with the air of a convicted sinner. If such is your idea, we humbly beg you to be undeceived ; for a happier set, be they saint or sinner, do not exist, than those stray denizens of the wood. "Behold a new commandment I give unto you : that ye love one all- other." Nowhere is the spirit of this so fully appreciated, as in the back-woods. The few are a community, in full frater- nity-each a sister or a brother. To the fullest extent they cultivate the social spirit. The hard work of the day done, the evening is for social enjoyment. A neighbor, perhaps several miles off, is visited. The welcome to each other's house is hearty and demonstrative. There is no aristocracy; they are all equals. They welcome with a cheer a new arrival ; and it is "Hurrah boys, to put him up a house." He soon
7
GRAND RIVER VALLEY.
finds that a neighbor is a friend, worth a hundred of the thou- sand dear friends he has left behind ; who made use of him, laughed at him behind his back, and deserted when he needed a friend. The settler in the woods is a friend just when a friend is good for something, in the day of trouble and the honr of need ; not a mere machine to help one consume his surplus provisions.
There are seasons of precious enjoyment for pious souls, and for those whose conversation is in things of this world. For the first, a stray preacher of the Gospel penetrates the wilderness, and to them "How beautiful are the feet of those who herald the Gospel of peace!" All far and near are noti- fied that there will be a meeting. At the appointed place and time, all, saint and sinner, are present, and sit around the room in earnest expectancy. The preacher conducts the ser- vices; the hungry souls are fed; and they do not criticise. Their ears and hearts are open (that is, the pious ones), and they retire with souls refreshed. Small though the preacher may be, he is welcomed as a preacher of the Gospel; and his address is to them spiritual food. Should we find ourselves a preacher of the Gospel. with talents too small to command a salary, we would scout on the frontiers of civilization, and preach to the settlers in the woods. We should be sure of being appreciated at our highest worth. We should be cer- tain no one would go to sleep while we were holding forth : that the best corner in the cabin would be given us for our re- pose, and that our coffee would be half molasses-" none too sweet for the minister."
Then, as it regards those who think more of this world than the next; they. too, have their hours of precious enjoyment. To the young man it is poetic, romantic and entrancing to yoke the oxen to the sled. and go to the jollification five miles distant, at the house of Mr. - --. There the lads and the lassies from near and far have met; "soft eyes, et cetera, and et cetera." Mr. Ellis, the fiddler is there, brought from Grand Rapids; and as his bow kisses the strings, light feet and heavy stogas respond in a hearty break-down. Did you ever dance like David, in the ecstacy of devotion ? or, without devotion, in
S
MEMORIALS OF THE
the ecstacy of enjoyment? If so, you can appreciate a back- woods dance. They have not the scientific cotillion, or the melancholy minuet. They don't know the steps, nor the calls; but they do know that there is fun for boys and girls shaking themselves to the music of the violin; and they do enjoy the moonlight ride; and the not getting home till morning. Don't pity them too much, you conventional denizens of cities. These back-woods rolliekers pity you most contemptnously. Could you have one lionr of their whole-hearted abandon, you would thereafter go to a fashionable formal party simply esteeming it a penance due to the sin of crushing out your better na- ture.
But where are we? In the Grand River Valley in the win- ter of 1833-4; ruralizing, meditating and philosophizing on the phases of humanity. Let us come back from our general- ities, to Grand Rapids in 1834. Grand Rapids will be consid- ered as a center, and not a town. The present city, made equally from two towns, cannot separate its history from them. The center of the settlement was the village.
1833 may be called the year of occupation. A few-a very few-had come in with reference to making homes for them- selves. The two years that succeeded had the effect to attract attention; people came with different designs. One of the first ideas was-make use of the water power. In 1834 Abra- ham S. Wadsworth, a capitalist, came in, and purchased a good deal of land at Grand Rapids and Grand Haven. He ex- pended his fortune in attempts to do business. Wadsworth is recollected by the pioneers, as a whole-hearted, noble fellow; too ardent for a business man, and too visionary to succeed. IIe did a good deal; but succeeded only in sinking his capital. At Grand Rapids he built the second saw-mill. The recollec- tion now is that he built it in 1834. Its site was, where now is the Hotel at the corner of Canal and Pearl streets. A wing (lam was made to turn some of the water to the left bank. An immense reaction wheel was operated by about two feet head of water. The mill never did much, and soon became only a thing of memory. The march of improvement has there filled the river. The spot, however, will ever be historical,
9
GRAND RIVER VALLEY.
as will Wadsworth's visionary schemes; his labors and his failures.
In 1835, N. O. Sargeant, who also meant business, came on, to sink capital, by doing business on a large scale. He had purchased an interest with Lyon in the Kent Plat. He came in with a posse of Irish to dig a mill-race. His entrance was an " event" in the back-woods town. They entered the place with their picks and shovels on their shoulders; Crampton, a stout Hibernian, leading the van with his bugle, playing " Hail Columbia" and the " Shamrock of Erin" in the "Erin go Unum E Pluribus Bragh" style, as a patriotic expression of Sargeant and his erew. This Crampton played the same bugle on the first steamboat that ascended above the rapids. Ile afterwards became a thriving farmer in Ada. Old Noon Day thought they were enemies, come to take " Wagoosh" (the Fox), as they called Mr. Campau; and sent to him, offering his protection, and the aid of his band to drive out the invaders. The canal was commenced by Sargeant. But he sold ont to C. C. Caroll; and died a year or two after.
The work went on under the name of the Kent Company. This company had great ideas; one of them was a monster mill, and another, a great hotel. The mill was to be a large touring concern, and a saw mill with one hundred saws. The company laid the foundation of the great hotel at the corner of Bridge and Canal streets The flouring mill was built, and the foundation of the saw mill was laid. 1 " wing dam " was built, running diagonally half way across the river, turning the water through the " guard lock " into the canal, which was to supply the mill. The canal, enlarged, is the present left bank canal. The " wing dam " was near where the present dam crosses the river. The hotel and saw mill did not go up. Their grand enterprises were never real- ized. It is not to be recorded to the reproach of the Kent Co. that they failed. Who did not fail about that time? None felt the darkness of those times more than the inhabitants of pioneer villages. The Kent Co. made a good beginning; and, though they failed to carry out their great designs, they gave Grand Rapids a start, and left as the mementos of the ex-
10
MEMORIALS OF THE
istence of the company, the canal and the flouring mill, long, and still known as the "Big Mill."
At this time there was a monthly mail to Kalamazoo.
Jefferson Morrison and James Lyman and his brother came on to do business as traders. Morrison brought the first stock of goods for " white folks"-in value about $1,500. This store was at the foot of Monroe street. Lyman's store was on Waterloo street.
In 1836, Richard Godfrey built the first steamboat, the " Gov. Mason." It was commanded by Capt. Kanonse. On its first trip down the river. Capt. Stoddard had charge of it. This Capt. Stoddard, who first run a steamboat on the Grand River, died in Barry county, in 1854. In 1838, the Gov. Mason was wrecked off the mouth of the Muskegon river.
The next year-1837-was among other things signalized by the starting of a miserable abortion of a steamboat above the Rapids. It was built by John Lloyd and others, and called the " John Almy." The Judge did not long enjoy the distin- guished honor, for the boat never lived to do honor to him or its builder. It did indeed go up the river, Crampton waking the echoes of the woods with his bugle, and causing a few squirrels to climb a little nigher the tree-tops; but she never completed her journey. When she had got as far as the month of the Flat River, it became evident that her builder had mis- taken her element; and had not. thought of fitting her for swimming in the water. She sunk, and the men waded ashore.
In 1834, Joel Guild put up a building at the foot of Pearl street, where now stands the National Bank building; and occu- pied it as a boarding house and place of entertainment. About the same time Richard Godfrey built a store house some dis- tance below Pearl Street Bridge. Mr. Guild took up land three miles north of the city. IIe died in 1855.
In 1834-5, arrived Eliphalet and Isaac Turner, Ezekiel Da- vis, Ezra, Lewis and Porter Reed, Joseph Marion (the first carpenter), Lewis Moran, the Ringnotte brothers (the first shoemakers), - North (the first millwright), Wm. God- troy (the first tavern keeper).
11
GRAND RIVER VALLEY.
1835 closed with a resident population of from 75 to 100, at and around Grand Rapids. The next year the influx of people was great; and the spirit of speculation was rife, not only at that place but along the river. For a view of the place and of the valley in general, at the time selected as the bursting of the bubble, the reader is referred to the article of Mr. Ball. Some particulars will be noticed in addition.
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