USA > Michigan > A History of Northern Michigan and Its People, Volume I > Part 14
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Cheboygan county, laid out and named in 1840, was extended in 1853, to take in Wyandotte county, which was also laid out in 1840, immediately south of the former county, but was never organized and lost its identity, as stated above. It seems a pity that this latter name
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was not preserved in some county, as the Indians whose name it bears were an important element of our aboriginal population. The name Wyandotte is a corruption from Wendat, the name by which the Hurons who occupied the region in Canada around the foot of Georgian bay called themselves. They occupied this region at the time of the com- ing of Champlain in 1615 and were closely related in language and descent to the Iroquois, but were even then at deadly enmity with them. Lacking, however, the fierce and persistent fighting qualities of the latter, they were defeated and nearly exterminated in 1649. A portion of them fled to the Island of St. Joseph, then to Michilimacki- nac, then to Manitoulin island, then, still pursued by the Iroquois, to Green Bay, then, about 1657, a few leagues farther west to the Potta- watomies and a few months later still farther west to the Mississippi. From there menaced by the Sioux in 1660 they came to the region of Black river, Wisconsin, then a little later joined the Ottawas at Che- quamegon bay and about 1670 moved back to St. Ignace, and not long after down to Detroit, Sandwich and Sandusky, where they lived under the protection of the French and became known as Wyandots, uniting with the Chippewas, Ottawas and other Indians in their treaties with the United States.
Cheboygan county is named from the river of the same name and has had nearly as many meanings ascribed to it as it has letters.
Haines says it is derived from chi (abbreviation of Kitchi), meaning great, and poygan, pipe. Another derivation giving the same meaning and more in consonance with the French form of the name of the river is Kichibwagan.
Werwyst derives it from ji-bai-gan, a perforated object, hence a pipe.
Another derivation is from Chab-we-gan, place of ore, which is neither appropriate nor probable.
Hatheway, referring to Sheboygan, Wisconsin, derives the name from Shab-wa-way-kin, which expresses the tradition of a great noise coming underground from Lake Superior being heard at this river. This, however, seems doubtful, as the Wisconsin name is the same word as the Michigan, although the first letter is S instead of C, and this meaning could not be applicable to both places and, as a rule, the Indian names had more or less close applicability to the location.
Still other derivation is from Zee-bwa-gan, cane, or hollow bone. Si- bwagan, according to Baraga's Ojibwa dictionary, means sugar cane.
There is one derivation which should not be omitted, on the au- thority of Richardson's Beyond the Mississippi: An old chief who had several daughters, but no son, upon being congratulated upon the ar- rival of another daughter ejaculated with the greatest disgust, "She- boy-gin," and strode from the place. And when a town sprang up there it was called by common consent "Sheboygan."
Clare county had as its original name Kaykakee. The latter word is Chippewa, meaning pigeon hawk, and was the name of a chief from the Sault referred to in the treaty of 1826.
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Clare was another of the Irish names substituted in 1843, and was taken from a county in the western part of Ireland.
Crawford county, which must not be confounded with the Craw- ford county of 1818, was originally named Shawono, from a noted Chippewa chief who lived many years at the Sault, was doubtless per- sonally known to Schoolcraft and who, in behalf of his people, signed several of the treaties with the United States, or possibly from a Potta- watomie chief of the same name who was a party to several of the In- dian treaties with the United States. The word Shawono means south- erner and the same word is found in the name applied by others-not themselves-to the tribe known as Shawnees. It is somewhat uncertain for whom this Crawford county was named. To the legislature of 1843, which made these changes in the names, there was presented a memorial by Jonathan Lamb, of Washtenaw county, praying that if changes in name were made one of the counties should receive the name of Craw- ford and the petition was granted. The former Crawford county, by the act of congress establishing the Territory of Wisconsin in 1834, had ceased to be a part of Michigan, and whether the new county was in- tended to restore the same name or to perpetuate the name of Colonel William Crawford, who was captured by the Indians and burned at the stake near Upper Sandusky in 1782, is now rather difficult to deter- mine. The original petition has not been preserved, but evidence based upon family tradition seems to render it reasonably certain that Mr. Lamb's desire was to commemorate the Colonel Crawford of tragic fate.
Emmet county, still another of the changes to Irish names, was orig- inally named Tonedogana for an Ottawa chief who was evidently well known and of some importance, as he signed several of the treaties with the United States affecting lands in Michigan. In the treaties his name is always followed by the words "the dog," as if they were the transla- tion, but doubt is now thrown upon that meaning. The name Emmet was given in honor of the Irish patriot, Robert Emmet.
Grand Traverse county was in 1840 named Omeena, the change to the present name being made in 1851 and 1853, the first act being de- fective in leaving a small unattached and unorganized territory, as Omeena county, and this mistake was remedied at the following session, when the remainder of the county was merged into Grand Traverse. The Indian name means either "the point beyond" and would have ref- erence to the narrow peninsula jutting up into Grand Traverse bay, or, as Verwyst says, a corruption of ominau, "he gives to him." Grand Traverse county takes its name from the bay upon which it borders, which itself was so named from the fact that the early French voyageurs, who always traveled in canoes and were compeled to coast the shores of any large body of water, when they passed along the east shore of Lake Michigan, found two considerable indentations of the coast line, which under ordinary conditions they were accustomed to cross from headland to headland. The smaller crossing they called la petite trav- erse. The larger, about nine miles across, they called la grande trav- Vol. 1-7
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erse, or the long crossing, and this name was transferred to the bay. The Indian name of the bay was Gitchi Wekwetong, which means large bay.
Iosco county was first named Kanotin. The latter name was that of an Ottawa chief referred to in the treaty of 1836, as living in the Grand river district. His name may be derived from the Chippewa word meaning wind, and it is difficult to see any reason for discarding this pleasing euphonious name. Iosco was, apparently, a favorite name of Schoolcraft's. In 1838 he published Iosco, or the Vale of Norma, about fourteen printed pages reminiscent of his boyhood in Albany county, New York, and in 1839 he published Algic Researches, consisting of translations and adaptations of Indian tales, and among them is one en- titled Iosco, or a Visit to the Sun and the Moon, a tale from the Ottawa, said to have been related by Chusco, an Ottawa chief. It relates the travels and adventures of five young Indian men, the eldest of whom bears the name Iosco, and a young boy. In the Myth of Hiawatha, pub- lished in 1856, and which contains many of the same tales and legends found in Algic Researches, appears this one, but in this the boy bears the name Ioscoda. It had been said that Iosco was a word manufac- tured by Schoolcraft according to his formula, but it seems more prob- able that he found it and then worked out his derivations. In one place in his writings he says it means water of light, but in another he analyzes it into parts of three words meaning "to be," "father" and "plain."
Kalkaska county was originally named Wabassee. The latter was the name of a Pottawatomie chief who signed the treaty of 1821, and the word itself means swan. Kalkaska was spelled in the act of 1843 Kalcasca and in its present form looks like a "sure enough" Indian word, and if it is really that, its probable derivation is from the Chip- pewa and means "burned over." It is, however, possible that it is a Schoolcraft manufactured word.
Leelanau county probably had its name suggested by Schoolcraft, as in his "Algic Researches" is found Leelinau, an Ojibwa tale, the story of an Indian maid living along the south shore of Lake Superior, and in one of his volumes he gives the word as meaning delight of life. In his Hiawatha the heroine says, "From her baby name of Neenizu, my dear life, she was called Leelinau."
Lake county was first named Aishcum. The latter name was that of a well known Pottawatomie chief who was a party to all the treaties with the United States in behalf of his people from 1818 to 1836, his name being spelled in seven different ways, illustrating the difficulty of identifying some of the old Indian names, as each individual in transcrib- ing them might use different combinations in English or French in the endeavor to represent the original sound. The word in Chippewa would mean increasing, more and more, going farther. The name Lake is pecul- iarly inappropriate to this county, as it is an inland county, con- tains but few lakes and none of any size.
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Missaukee county was named for an Ottawa chief who signed the treaties of 1831 and 1833. The meaning of the word is somewhat un- certain, Verwyst saying that it is a corruption of Missisaging, meaning at large mouth of river. Another derivation is from Mississauga, an Indian tribe at one time living at the northern end of Georgian bay, the word meaning people of wide mouth river.
Montmorency county was originally named Cheonoquet for a Chip- pewa chief who was a party to the Indian treaties of 1807, 1815, 1825 and 1837, his name meaning Big Cloud. It is uncertain whom the name Montmorency was intended to commemorate, and there does not seem to be any one of that name of sufficient prominence in American or Michigan history to justify this action. It is possible some legislator of 1843 thought this a fine high sounding name, preferable to any In- dian name, however melodious or full of meaning.
There was a Duke of Montmorency, High Admiral of France, who, in 1620, bought the Lieutenant-Generalship of Canada and a few years later sold it again without ever having set foot on this continent.
There was also a de Laval-Montmorency, the first Roman Catholic Bishop, of Canada, an energetic, faithful churchman, who made great efforts to prevent the giving of ardent spirits to the Indians and who for many years during his bishopric, from 1658 to 1684, exerted a very powerful influence in New France. If a French name were to be chosen, it is unfortunate the name of some one of the early, active, energetic ex- plorers, rulers or military men who came in personal contact with this lake region was not selected.
Mason county was originally named Notipekago. The latter was the Indian name of Pere Marquette river and the county was ap- propriately named after its most prominent natural feature. The mean- ing of the Indian name was "river with heads on stocks," referring to a tradition that at an early period a band of Indians encamped at the mouth of the river was nearly exterminated by some Pottawatomies and their heads cut off and placed on stocks. The present name was to commemorate Stevens T. Mason, the first governor of the state, who came originally from Virginia and was appointed secretary of the Ter- ritory by President Jackson in July, 1831, then only 20 years of age, but who rapidly overcame the prejudices against him and acquired pop- ularity and a firm stand in the hearts of the people of Michigan.
Manistee county took its name from the river which flows through it and empties into Lake Michigan within its borders. The word is In- dian and various meanings have been ascribed to it. Among others are Vermilion river, Lost river, Island in the river. Hon. B. M. Cutch- eon, in an address at Manistee, said that one meaning given to the word was river with islands, which would not be appropriate, and that another and more poetic one was spirit of the woods. Still another interpreta- tion is river at whose mouth there are islands. It does not seem that this or similar meanings could be correct, as it does not at all correspond with the fact. Another meaning is, the river with white bushes on
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the banks, referring to the white poplar trees found there. The name is thought to be in origin identical with Manistique in the Upper Penin- sula. Charlevoix gives the name of the latter river as La Manistie. (Verwyst says that Manistique is from Manistigweia, meaning Crooked river.)
Early maps and references have the same name for the Manistee and Manistique rivers. The Franquelin map of 1684 has what appears to be this river, bearing the name Aramoni. His map of 1688 has it as La Manistre. Bellin's map, 1744, calls it Riviere d'oulamanities, while Mitchell's map of 1755 shows this river as Manistie, but the one in the Upper Peninsula as Oulemaniti. Schoolcraft in his travels of 1820 calls his river Manistie. Blois Gazetteer of Michigan, published in 1838, gives the name Monetee to both rivers. This word probably is derived from onumunitig or oulaman, meaning ochre or red powder, which the Indians used in decoration and face painting. In one of the early English maps of the Upper Peninsula a river is shown apparently to represent the Manistique river and is called Red Clay river.
The legislature of 1855 established the county of Manitou, consisting of the Manitou islands, the Beaver islands and the Fox islands, giving to the county the name of the lower islands, Manitou. At that time James J. Strang, the Mormon King of Beaver islands, was a member of the house of representatives from Newaygo county, to which all the Grand Traverse region was then attached. Beaver islands, his strong- hold, had a population of nearly 2,000, which gave him great political strength in his district. Several petitions were presented to this legisla- ture praying that these islands be detached from Emmet county, and the committee to which the matter was referred, after stating "that a feeling of deep distrust and repugnance approaching warlike hostility exists between different classes of people inhabiting the islands and the mainland in that part of the state," "respectfully but earnestly" recommended that a separate town and county organization be given to the Beaver and Fox islands. In the bill, however, which was reported, the Manitou islands were added, and the name of the new county re- ported by the committee as Beaver county was, upon motion of Strang himself, changed to Manitou. Strang's death the following year by murder and the rapid dispersal of his followers soon removed the ne- cessity of a county organization and, after being for some years at- tached to other counties, it was finally disorganized in 1895, and Manitou and Fox islands were incorporated into Leelanau county and the Beaver island into Charlevoix county. The name itself is an Algonquin word, meaning spirit, but it refers rather to the mysterious and unknown powers of life and of the universe. Tradition is that many years ago two powerful tribes, one from the Northern Peninsula and one from the Lower Peninsula north of Grand river, were at war. The northern band attacked and as they supposed annihilated the others and then retired to these islands. There were, however, seven survivors, who at night followed, attacked them while asleep and destroyed nearly all, and escaped without being seen. The few survivors thought this an act of the spirits, hence called the island Manitou.
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Otsego county was at first named Okkuddo. The earlier name is said to mean sickly, but no chief or prominent person of that name ap- pears. The latter name was taken from Otsego county and lake in New York. This would be a Mohawk Iroquois word meaning clear water. Another meaning is said to be welcome water or place where meetings are held. Schoolcraft says the first part of the word denotes a body of water, hence lake, and the term ego means beautiful, hence beautiful lake.
Osceola county was originally named Unwatin. The latter was probably the name of an Ottawa chief, as such a one is referred to in the treaty of 1836. Why such a name taken from an Indian chief of Michigan should be changed to Osceola, the name of a Seminole chief from Florida, even although the latter had a national prominence and his unfortunate experience with the whites and unhappy death in 1838 were then fresh in the mind, it is difficult to see. The name Osceola is said by some authorities to mean Black Drink, by others, the Rising Sun.
Oscoda county has a name of Schoolcraft manufacture, meaning pebbly prairie from os, for ossin, stone or pebble, and coda from Mus- koda prairie.
Ogemaw county takes its name from the Chippewa word for chief. One of the leading Saginaw chiefs for many years and who signed the treaty of 1819 was called Ogemaw-ki-keto, chief or head speaker.
Presque Isle county was so named from the narrow peninsula- Presque Isle-jutting out into Lake Huron toward the eastern end of the county and which was a well known feature to the early canoe travelers under that name. Schoolcraft speaks of it in his travels of 1820 as a place where by portaging 200 yards they saved a distance of six or eight miles.
Roscommon county was another of the Irish changes of 1843, from Mikenauk, the name the county first bore, and certainly not a change for the better. Mikenauk was an Ottawa chief, his name meaning turtle, who is referred to in the Indian treaty of 1836 as a chief of the first class. Roscommon is a county in the central part of Ireland.
Wexford county was originally named Kautawaubet and is the last of the Irish changes. The original name was that of a chief of some prominence from Sandy Lake, referred to by Schoolcraft several times, who signed the treaty of 1825, his name signifying broken tooth. Wex- ford is the name of a county in the southeastern part of Ireland.
BASIS OF STATE GOVERNMENT
The state constitution under which Michigan was admitted into the Union, by congressional act approved January 26, 1837, provided for the appointment by the governor (with the advice and consent of the senate) of the secretary of state, auditor general and attorney general.
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The joint legislature approved the gubernatorial appointment of the superintendent of public instruction. All state officers above men- tioned served for two years, the governor and lieutenant governor be- ing elected. Judges of the state supreme court were appointed by the governor, with the advice and consent of the senate, for a term of seven years.
The provisions of the constitution providing for the improvements of roads, canals and navigable waters in the interior of the state, as well as for establishment of banks of issue, had little bearing on the history of the northern portion of the Lower Peninsula. Wild speculation and inflated and unsecured issues of paper money, so fre- quent in southern Michigan and the more settled sections of the north- west, brought on the financial panic and the confusion of all permanent projects which marked the period from 1837 to 1844, and thus retarded all real development in the northern part of the state. It was not until after the adoption of the constitution of 1850 that this portion of the commonwealth evinced signs of stability. The most radical change in the second constitution was that providing for popular elec- tion of all the heads of state departments and judges of the supreme court.
In April, 1906, the people voted in favor of another revision of the state's fundamental law. The delegates comprising the constitu- tional convention assembled at Lansing in October, 1907, and com- pleted the revision in March of the following year, its work being ap- proved by vote of the people November 3, 1908. What is known as the constitution of 1909 is therefore now the basic law of the common- wealth of Michigan.
By that instrument, of course, the offices of governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, state treasurer, commissioner of the state land office, auditor general and attorney general were made elective, and the functions of government were classified as executive, judicial and legislative. The judiciary was divided into supreme, circuit and probate and justices' courts, the incumbents of which were chosen by popular vote. Provision was made for the organization and incorpora- tion of counties, townships, villages and cities and for purposes of edu- cation. The superintendent of public instruction came into being, the State university with its board of regents, the State Board of Agricul- ture with its Agricultural College, the College of Mines, the State Nor- mal College and Normal schools, with the continuation of a system of primary schools.
Section II provided: "The proceeds from the sale of all lands that have been or hereafter may be granted by the United States to the state for educational purposes and the proceeds of all lands or other property given by individuals or appropriated by the state for like purposes shall be and remain a perpetual fund, the interest and income of which together with the rents of all such lands as may re- main unsold, shall be inviolably appropriated and annually applied to the specific objects of the original gift, grant or appropriation."
Section 12: "All lands, the titles to which shall fail from a defect of heirs, shall escheat to the state, and the interest on the clear
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proceeds from the sales thereof shall be appropriated exclusively to the support of the primary schools."
Section 13: "The legislature shall appropriate all Salt Spring lands now unappropriated, or the money arising from the sale of the same, where such lands have already been sold, and any funds or lands which may hereafter be granted or appropriated for such purpose, for the support and maintenance of the Agricultural College."
Section 14: "The legislature shall provide by law for the estab- lishment of at least one library in each township and city; and all fines assessed and collected in the several counties, cities and town- ships for any breach of the penal laws shall be exclusively applied to the support of such libraries."
Section 15: "Institutions for the benefit of those inhabitants who are deaf, dumb, blind, feeble-minded or insane shall be always fostered and supported."
Under the head of "Corporations" the constitution provided that such bodies might be formed under general laws but not created, "nor shall any rights, privileges or franchises be conferred upon them by special act of the legislature."
No corporation was to be granted a franchise for a longer period than thirty years, "except for municipal, insurance, canal or ceme- tery purposes, or corporations organized without any capital stock for religious, benevolent, social or fraternal purposes; but the legislature may provide by general laws, applicable to any corporations, for one or more extensions of the term of such corporations." The different sections of the article on "Corporations" announced the individual liability of stockholders; pronounced against disrimination in trans- portation charges and against railroad consolidation or monopoly, and laid down the principle that "no general law providing for the incor- poration of trust companies or corporations for banking purposes, or regulating the business thereof, shall be adopted, amended or repealed, except by a vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the legislature. Such laws shall not authorize the issue of bank notes or paper credit to circulate as money."
SERVED IN THE LEGISLATURE
The state senators and representatives who have served their con- stituents in the territory covered by this work, most of whom have re- sided within the counties therein included, are as follows. In the list embracing the senators the subdivisions indicate name, postoffice address and sessions of service. In the list relating to representatives the names given in the third subdivision are those of counties, which were in- cluded in the various districts, and where only one is given it is to be understood that in the year designated it formed a district alone :
SENATORS
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