USA > Michigan > Shiawassee County > Past and present of Shiawassee County, Michigan, historically; with biographical sketches > Part 1
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Gc 977.401 Sh6p 1204371 1
M. L
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01052 4145
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018
https://archive.org/details/pastpresentofshi00unse
THE
PAST AND PRESENT
OF
SHIAWASSEE COUNTY , MICHIGAN
HISTORICALLY
TOGETHER WITH
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
OF MANY OF ITS LEADING AND PROMINENT CITIZENS AND ILLUSTRIOUS DEAD
ILLUSTRATED
THE MICHIGAN HISTORICAL PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION LANSING, MICHIGAN
HAMMOND PRESS W. B. CONKEY COMPANY CHICAOO
CONTENTS 1204371
PAGE
INTRODUCTION
1
INDIAN TREATIES
4
TRADERS . 10
THE SHIAWASSEE EXCHANGE
18
LATER INDIAN HISTORY
23
EARLY SETTLERS AND SETTLEMENTS
34
CIVIL ORGANIZATION
40
Board of Supervisors
42
Board of County Commissioners .
43
ESTABLISHMENT OF COURTS
44
Circuit Court
44
Probate Court.
46
County Court
46 46
THE SHIAWASSEE RIVER
MILITARY RECORD OF SHIAWASSEE COUNTY
51
Second Michigan Infantry
53
Third Michigan Infantry
54 55
Eighth Michigan Infantry
58
Ninth Michigan Infantry
60
Fourteenth Michigan Infantry.
65 67
Twenty-seventh Michigan Infantry .
69
Twenty-ninth Michigan Infantry
70
Thirtieth Michigan Infantry
71
First Engineers and Mechanics
72
First Michigan Cavalry
73
Second Michigan Cavalry
73 74
Fourth Michigan Cavalry
76
Sixth Michigan Cavalry
79
Tenth Michigan Cavalry
80 82
Company H, Michigan National Guard.
ROADS AND RAILROADS.
85
THE COUNTY SEAT 89
CORNER STONE LAYING
91
iii
55.00
2
4
Fifth Michigan Infantry
Twenty-third Michigan Infantry
Third Michigan Cavalry
iv
CONTENTS
PAGE
THE COUNTY FARM
98
AGRICULTURE
98
THE SHIAWASSEE COUNTY MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY . 100
THE PIONEER SOCIETY OF SHIAWASSEE COUNTY 101
SCHOOLS . . 101
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION
102
POPULATION .
105
SYNOPSIS OF FACTORY INSPECTION
105
REMINISCENCES
106
WOLF BOUNTIES
109
TOWNSHIPS AND VILLAGES
115
Antrim Township
115
Bennington Township
117
Village of Byron
123 125
Fairfield Township
127
Hazelton Township
130
Village of New Lothrop
133
Middlebury Township
133
New Haven Township
136
Owosso Township
138
Perry Township
140
Village of Morrice
143
Village of Perry
145
Rush Township
147
Sciota Township.
149
Village of Laingsburg
152
Shiawassee Township
153
Village of Bancroft
159
Venice Township
160
Vernon Township
162
Village of Vernon.
165
Village of Durand
168
Woodhull Township
170
CITY OF CORUNNA
173
Schools
181
Newspapers
183
Churches
183
Lodges
185
Banking 187
Waterworks
187
Caledonia Township
V
CONTENTS
PAGE
Manufactures
187
McCurdy Park 189
LEGAL PROFESSION
189
PRESENT COUNTY OFFICERS.
193
SUPERVISORS OF TOWNSHIPS
193
CITY OF OWOSSO
193
Early History
194
City Incorporation, etc
201
First Charter Election
201
Mills and Manufacturing
202 207
Banking
Electric Lines
209
Educational
209
Religious
211
Fraternal Associations
214
NEWSPAPERS .
217
PERSONAL AND GENEALOGICAL.
221
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
The Shiawassee Exchange
19
Chief John Okemos
29
Court House in 1864. 90
Shiawassee County Court House and Jail 92
Buildings on the County Farm.
96
Main Street Byron.
122
Main Street New Lothrop
132 142
Main Street Morrice
144
Main Street Perry.
158
Main Street Bancroft
166
Main Street Vernon
174
Shiawassee Avenue Looking North-Corunna
176
McCurdy Park-Entrance to Lagoon
178
Corunna Union Schools
182
McCurdy Park-Corunna Commandery at Drill.
184
Corunna Waterworks Plant.
186
McCurdy Park-A Picnic Party at Time of High Water
188
McCurdy Park-Looking from the Lake down the Lagoon.
190
First House in Owosso 196
Washington Street, Owosso-Looking North from Main Street. 206
210
John Appleman.
227
Catharine A. Appleman. 227
G. T. Campbell 259
291
Webster Davis 295
310
Mrs. Rhoda Dyer
311
Edwin Eveleth 315
Daniel J. Gerow 328
Mr. and Mrs. William E. Jacobs 362 Warren Jarrad 365
Col. Philip Kline and Family 374
J. D. Leland 380
vi
180
McCurdy Park-Residence of Hon. Hugh McCurdy-Casino in Distance.
Looking over the Bridge from Shiawassee Avenue
Owosso Churches
Mr. and Mrs. Milton A. Davis
John Dyer
vii
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE Hugh McCurdy
389
Dr. Joseph Marshall
394
Mrs. Joseph Marshall 395
Mr. and Mrs. Gershom W. Mattoon 401
William G. Morrice 410
John Northwood 417
Harvey J. Patterson (Four Generations)
431
Frederick W. Pearce
436
Mr. and Mrs. Rasselas Reed
458
Cassius S. Reed and Family
459
Mr. and Mrs. John M. Shaft 477
Josiah Turner 509
Mr. and Mrs. Lyman W. VanAlstine 519
H. C. Walker 530
Mrs. H. C. Walker (Four Generations) 531
PREFACE
The greatest of English historians (Macau- lay) and one of the most brilliant writers of the present century has said, "The history of a country is best told in the record of the lives of its people."
In conformity with this idea, the Past and Present of Shiawassee County has been pre- pared. Through the able assistance of George T. Campbell and Miss Mary Carruthers an ex- tensive review of the county has been written. We have also been assisted by an able and ca- pable corps of special writers, who have gone personally to the people-the men and women who have by their enterprise and industry brought the county to rank second to none among those composing the great common- wealth of Michigan. From their lips has the story of their life struggles been told. No more interesting or instructive work could be presented to an intelligent public.
In this volume will be found a record of many whose lives are worthy of emulation and imitation by future generations. It tells how many, commencing life in poverty, by industry and economy have accumulated wealth. It tells how others, with limited advantages for securing education, have become learned men and women, whose influence has been felt throughout the length and breadth of the land. It tells of men who have risen from the lower walks of life to eminence as statesmen. It tells of those in every walk of life who have striven, and records how success has crowned their efforts. It also tells of many, very many, who, not seeking the applause of the world, have pursued the even tenor of their ways, content with the thought that they have acted well their part in life. It tells how many in
the pride and strength of their young man- hood left the plow in the furrow, the anvil in the shop, the lawyer's office and the counting room, put aside trade and profession and at their country's call went forth bravely to do or die that the Union might be preserved and peace restored to a distracted country.
Coming generations will appreciate. the vol- ume and preserve it as sacred, from the fact that it contains so much that would never have found its way into public records and that would otherwise have been lost to such future generations. Great care has been taken in compiling this work, and every possible oppor- tunity has been given those represented herein to insure correctness in what has been written, in consequence of which the publishers congrat- ulate themselves that they are able to give to their readers a work with few errors.
The biographies of some will be missed in this volume; for this the publishers cannot be held accountable. Not having a proper con- ception of the work, some have refused to give the information necessary to complete a sketch, while others have been seemingly indifferent. Occasionally some member of the family would oppose the enterprise, and on account of such opposition, the support of the inter- ested party would be withheld. In a few in- stances, the assistant editors were unable to find the subjects, though making repeated calls at their residences or places of business.
In conclusion, we feel assured that our ef- forts will be appreciated by the many, and that even the skeptical will feel repaid for their co- operation.
THE PUBLISHERS.
viii
3
THE PAST AND PRESENT
OF
SHIAWASSEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN
The recorded history of any portion of our country begins with an event common to the history of all portions-the coming of the white man. That line of destiny which sep- arates the Indian occupation from the estab- lishment of our own race in the land, marks for us the beginning of history: for the red race it was the beginning of the end.
In the history of Shiawassee county the line of separation is drawn through the year 1816, and was fixed by the invasion of one man, a French trader, who was doubtless intent upon extending his business among the Indians and quite innocent of any desire to inaugurate a chapter of history.
How many races may have occupied this portion of the state of Michigan before that date we have no means of determining. All prior human events are traceable through tra- dition only. There are evidences, in the shape of earthen mounds, that a people superior to the Indians and preceding them, inhabited the country at some unknown period. These mounds, scarcely yet obliterated, were found here in considerable numbers by the early white settlers, and by those who visited them were believed to have been places of sepulture.
as nearly all of them were found to contain human bones. One, however, which was a notable exception, was discovered on the bank of the Shiawassee river about half a mile above the bridge at Newberg. This, from its loca- > tion and its peculiar construction, is supposed to have been built for purposes of defense. It was visited by the late Mr. B. O. Williams, of Owosso, in 1829. He described it as nearly circular in form and consisting of a parapet inclosing an interior space. It was surrounded by a ditch and had an opening or gateway facing the east, with detached mounds fronting this entrance. Built at the edge of a high bluff on the east bank of the river, it had been admirably situated as a stronghold for some ancient fighters. Looking westward across a broad, wooded flat, which half a mile away rises in a gentle slope, and lying at the apex of one of those characteristic, sharp curves in which the Shiawassee doubles in its course, it commanded a sweeping view of the river to the southwest and to the northwest, and of . the surrounding country in every direction. In the neighborhood it has always been called the "Indian fort," and now, after more than half a century of diligent plowing, its shape is
2
PAST AND PRESENT OF
still distinguishable. The farm on which the ruins of this mound was found is now the property of Mr. S. S. Cook.
Indians have explained to residents of the county who are still living that a well known collection of mounds in the township of An- trim, instead of being an ordinary burial place, as is generally supposed, marked the site of an ancient battlefield on which the slaughter had been terrific. The Indians knew this simply from the traditions of their tribe, for the bat- tle had taken place so long ago that great for- est trees had grown to maturity upon the graves of its victims before a white man had ever seen the spot. But the hand of the white man has since leveled those great oaks and his plow has unearthed from the mounds such an accumulation of bones that the truth of the Indians' statements has been satisfactorily proved. But speculation upon the identity of that lost race, the builders of the mounds, would be unprofitable to our present purpose.
The earliest nation of those people whom we term aborigines to occupy the present limits of Shiawassee county are known only through the traditions of the Chippewa na- tion, whose various tribes were in possession when the first white explorers ventured into the wilderness. The story handed down by many generations, was to the effect that, ages before, "all the hunting grounds bordering the streams which find their outlet in Saginaw bay, and all the forests and openings extend- ing thence west to the Grand river, were held and inhabited by the Sauks, a powerful and warlike people, who not only felt entirely able to keep their own country, but who were often in the habit of making bloody forays into the territory of other tribes, who consequently hated them and longed to exterminate them, or
at least to expel them from the region which they regarded as an Indian paradise, abound- ing as it did with fish, deer, beaver, and al- most every kind of game. This desire to sub- jugate or destroy the powerful Sauks and to seize their teeming hunting-grounds, burned nowhere more intensely than in the breasts of the Chippewa warriors, whose home at that time was far away to the north. But they dreaded the prowess of their enemies too much to venture an attack, and this consideration held them in check for many years, though their hatred constantly increased, as did their wish to possess the Sauk country.
"At last their ambitious desires could be controlled no longer, and % * they held council with the Ottawas of the north and the southern branch of the Ottawas, who then occupied what is now southeastern Mich- igan, asking them both to join in a war of invasion. Their proposition was favorably received, a league was formed, and the con- federated bands set out speedily and secretly on their bloody expedition, which was destined to result in their complete triumph."
The Sauks, anticipating no danger, were taken wholly by surprise. The carnage began on the Saginaw and Flint rivers, the northern and southern divisions attacking simultane- ously. The destruction of all the villages in the valley of the Shiawassee followed, accom- panied by the massacre of nearly all their in- habitants. The Sauks were practically ex- terminated, only a miserable remnant escaping westward through the dense forests.
The land thus speedily subjugated was not immediately occupied by the two conquering nations, and it appears that the Ottawas never settled in the Shiawassee valley, but event- ually emigrated from their northern lands to
3
SHIAWASSEE COUNTY
the southeast, where they made their homes along the shores of Lake St. Claire and the Detroit, St. Claire, and Huron rivers. The Chippewas, however, in time came into complete possession of the former Sauk coun- try.
An interesting reason for the delay of the victors in, removing their settlements to the land which had so long been the object of their envy and desire, is given by Mr. Frank- lin Ellis in his account of the conquest, pub- lished about twenty-five years ago. It is set forth as follows: "The conquered territory was for a long time held as a hunting-ground, which was roamed over in common by the bands of the two tribes, But when they found that some of their young braves who entered these forests disappeared and were never again seen or heard of, their superstitious fears were awakened, and they came to the firm be- lief that the eddies of the streams and the dark recesses of the woods were infested by evil spirits-the ghosts of the murdered Sauks-who had come back to their old do- main, and were thus mysteriously wreaking vengeance on their destroyers. The dread in- spired by this belief and the strange disap- pearance of their young men became at last so strong that they entirely abandoned the coun- try, and for years afterwardno Chippewa or Ot- tawa hunter braved the terrors of the 'haunted hunting-grounds.' But after many moons, no one can say how many, they ventured back, though still in dread and fear, and finally in favored spots there sprang up many villages of the Chippewas, while their bark canoes sped swiftly over the bright waters of the lakes and streams. And this, the tradition says, was the manner in which the tribe that became known as the Saginaw-Chippewa acquired and
occupied the domain which the Sauk chiefs and warriors had once called their own."
The subsequent history of the people who obtained the mastery of this fair land by means so foul, were it known, would probably be traceable only through an endless chain of wars. The length of time they occupied the country before it was discovered by white ex- plorers is of no consequence as a factor in its development. Their uncounted generations simply lived on nature's bounty. To-day, the land that nourished them bears as a mark of their long supremacy, only a picturesque in- fluence on its nomenclature ; it was inevitable that many of the names they gave localities should have been perpetuated by the people who supplanted them. Possibly the trails their moccasined feet had trod through the forests influenced to some extent the direction of the roads laid out by their successors, but they were only the wandering "paths of least re- sistance" and not the visible result of past efforts in surmounting difficulties.
"The Chippewas of the Lower Peninsula," says Mr. Ellis, in the same valuable account before quoted, "possessed all the fierce and sanguinary characteristics of their northern kindred. From the time when England wrested the lake country from the possession of the French, this tribe was distinguished for its aggressive disposition, cruelty and treach- ery, and during the almost continuous Indian wars and conspiracies of the succeeding half century, its chiefs showed a spirit as turbulent and untamable as that of the parent nation- the Ojibwas of Lake Superior. The story of their ravages is found in all the annals of In- dian hostilities. They were prominent actors in the Pontiac war of 1763; in the Indian alli- ance against America in the war of the Revo-
4
PAST AND PRESENT OF
lution ; in the savage rising which was quelled by 'Mad Anthony' Wayne a few years later ; and they were among the most energetic and efficient allies of Tecumseh in his prolonged warfare against the United States. They did bloody work at the Raisin, at Sandusky, and on many other fields, and finally they fought with fierce desperation in the battle of the Thames, October 5, 1813. But that day ex- tinguished forever the warlike spirit of the Chippewas, for then and there the hopes of the red men perished. Their total defeat in that battle and the death of Tecumseh anni- hilated all possibility of successful resistance to the government and all hope of holding their hunting-grounds against the advance of
settlement and civilization. So the Saginaws, like other Michigan tribes, sued for peace, gave hostages for their future good conduct, received a pardon (which they scarcely ex- pected) for their past offenses, and retired to their villages-sullen and dejected but thor- oughly subjugated-and never again made war against white men. Nearly twenty years afterward the Wisconsin chief, Black Hawk, sent emissaries among them to distribute 'war quills' and invite them to join his bands in a new war, but they made reply that the Chippewas would not again raise the hatchet against the palefaces, who were masters of the land and under the protection of the Great Spirit."
INDIAN TREATIES
The tribes inhabiting the territory drained by the Saginaw river and its tributaries where the first white explorers made their way into the wilderness, were known as the Saginaw tribes of the Chippewa nation. The Indians living in the valley of the Shiawassee river were called the Shiawassee bands of the Sagi- naws; others living along the Looking Glass and Maple rivers were sometimes designated by the names of the streams on which their villages were located, but they were all of the same tribe, the Saginaw-Chippewa. A few Ottawas and Pottawattamies were the domi- nant tribes and were recognized by the United States government in all treaties as the original owners of the country bordering the Saginaw and its tributary rivers, as well as the great wilderness to the northwest. The government has always recognized the Indians' rights of possession in the lands which they occupied,
but has held to the principle that they could dispose of those rights only to the government, and only in open council between an accredited agent of the United States and the chiefs of the tribes interested.
The treaty by which the Indians first ceded away any portion of their land now in the state of Michigan was concluded on the third of August, 1795, at Greenville, Ohio, by General Anthony Wayne, for the United States, with the chiefs of the Chippewa, Ottawa, Pottawat- tamie, and other tribes. The tract then ac- quired by the government consisted principally of a strip of land six miles wide, along the Detroit river. But not until November 17, 180%, was any considerable cession of land secured. This second treaty, concluded at Detroit, by William Hull, governor of the Ter- ritory of Michigan, with the chiefs of the sev- eral tribes concerned, ceded to the United
SHIAWASSEE COUNTY
States all of southeastern Michigan, including the present county of Shiawassee, except a triangular piece off the northwest corner. The line forming the western boundary of this tract was known for many years after as the Indian boundary line. This line prolonged northward was very nearly identical with the one after- ward adopted by the United States surveyors as the principal meridian of Michigan. The Michigan meridian was the first one located for the United States public lands, before the state was organized, and is known as the "First Principal Meridian". It is the dividing line between the counties of Shiawassee and Clin- ton.
The territory ceded by the Indians at the Detroit council embraced all of Michigan lying east of this line as far north as a point which is now the northwest corner of the township of Sciota. From that point the boundary line ran northeast to Lake Huron. The corner thus cut off the limits from present of Shiawassee county included what is now the township of Fairfield and parts - of' the townships of Middlebury, Owosso, Rush and New Haven. The Indians, it appears, never understood that that oblique boundary line running northeast towards Lake Huron was far enough north to include even the headwaters of the Shiawassee river. They had the right reserved to hunt and fish over all the land until sold to settlers ; which provision explains the freedom with which they roamed over the ceded territory years after the advent of white settlers. Twelve years after the con- clusion of the treaty, their possession of the land was still undisturbed. If any of it had been sold in those years, it had not been claimed by the purchasers. A few French traders, probably two or three at most, had
pushed their canoes up the twisting current of the beautiful river, but they assumed no authority over the land and the Saginaw-Chip- pewas lived in peaceful ignorance of the fact that they were not the sole owners of the val- ley of the Shiawassee.
The story of the treaty of Saginaw by which the northwest corner of the county,-left out by the cession of 1807 and, according to the Indians' reckoning, constituting the remainder of the county,-was acquired by the United States, is a long and interesting one, but the scope of the present work will not permit its narration in detail.
Soon after the close of the war of 1812 the tide of emigration from New York and other eastern states began to flow towards Michigan. General Lewis Cass, who was then governor of the territory, saw the new settlements mul- tiplying to the north and west of Detroit. Knowing that the region purchased from the Indians would soon become too narrow to ac- commodate the rapidly increasing numbers of those seeking homes in the new lands, he set about securing further cessions of territory. Receiving authority from the government, he convened the chiefs and head men of the Chip- pewa tribes of the Lower Peninsula in council at Saginaw on the 10th of September, 1819. Not only wishing to purchase the land, but also hoping to induce the Chippewas to agree to remove beyond the limits of the peninsula and to settle on tracts to be selected for them beyond Lake Michigan or even farther west, the Governor made elaborate preparations to that end. Expecting Indians from every band of the Saginaw-Chippewas to be present at the council, he arranged with Louis Campau, one of the best known traders in the Saginaw coun- try, to prepare some kind of a building in
6
PAST AND PRESENT OF
which the meeting could be held. This Cam- pau did by erecting on the bank of the Saginaw river a somewhat imposing structure in the form of a bower, its roof being composed of the branches of trees. Within, he constructed a speaker's platform of hewn logs and ar- ranged for seats the trunks of trees. After giving his invitation a wide circulation among the chiefs and sagamores, the Governor re- paired to the scene accompanied by a military escort, several secretaries, and a number of Indian traders who were to act as assistants and interpreters. His principal interpreter was Whitmore Knaggs, afterward well known among the early settlers in Shiawassee county.
The Indians gathered to the number of two thousand chiefs and warriors, accompanied by their squaws and pappooses. The proceedings were conducted with great formality, Governor Cass opening the council with an address, de- livered through an interpreter, in which he ex- plained to the red men what an advantage it would be to all concerned if they would sell their lands to the government at a generous price and go away to a new country where they might hunt and fish forever in happy security from encroachment by the white man. The Indians failed to see the beauties of the plan submitted for their consideration. The Saginaw valley was home to this great branch of the Chippewas ; its giant oaks had sheltered many generations of their people in rain and storm; its forests and streams had yielded them all they wished of creature comforts; it was "their own, their native land" and emigra- tion had no charms for them. Selling their lands and still remaining upon them was an attractive enough proposition, but they bitterly opposed the plan of departure.
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