USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Chronography of notable events in the history of the Northwest territory and Wayne County > Part 2
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there a short time, then taking the south coast of Lake Superior, vis- ited the Indian villages of the Chippewas, among whom he established a mission in August, 1665. This was the first permanent mission on this lake. He also formed an alliance between the Chippewas, Potta- watomies, Sacs, Foxes and Illinois against the Iroquois tribes. In 1673, in company with Joseph Marquette, Fr. Dablon he explored the region south of Lake Superior and west of Lake Michigan, founding the missions of Michilmackinac and Green Bay.
He is said to have possessed great executive ability and a high order of intellectual capacity, and endowed with all the qualities of a ruler and dictator, either in matters of church or state, by both of which he was invested with such great powers as excited the fear and jealousy of the representatives of the other orders of the church. He first discovered the existence of copper in the Lake Superior region, of which he made large collections of samples, which he sent to Montreal. He died about 1683.
FR. FRANCOIS DOLLIER.
Francois Dollier de Casson was a native of France and after com- pleting his education entered the army, when a mere boy, and served as a cavalry officer, winning much distinction. Becoming tired of the soldier's life, he laid aside his sword and taking up the crosier, determined to carry it to the inhabitants of the Western continent. Abbe Brebant de Galinee, a great student versed in a knowledge of surveying and of the geo- graphy of the world, came with Dollier to Quebec in 1668, and there learning that many of the Indian tribes of the northwest had never been visited by the priests, these two associated with the determination to carry to these people the knowledge of the true God.
On the 6th of July, 1669, they left Montreal in company with La Salle and Joliet, going as far as an Indian village on Lake Ontario, where they separated, La Salle going on to Niagara, Joliet to Lake Superior and Dollier and Galinee with seven men proceeded to Long Point, on Lake Erie, where they wintered.
In the early spring of 1670, leaving their winter quarters, they pro- ceeded up Lake Erie, to the mouth of Detroit river, and landed on the present site of Detroit opposite Belle Isle. Here they remained for some time laboring among the Indians and planted a cross at the foot of the island upon which they affixed the coat of arms of France with the following inscription :
"In the year of grace 1670, Clement IX being seated in the chair of St. Peter, Louis XIV reigning in France, Monsieur de Courcelles being Governor of'New France and Monsieur Talon being the intend- ant of the King, two missionaries of the Seminary of Montreal, accom-
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panied by seven Frenchmen, arrived at this place and are the first of all the European people who wintered on the land bordering on Lake Erie, which they took possession of in the name of their King as a country unoccupied, and have affixed the arms of France at the foot of this cross.
[Signed] FRANCOIS DOLLIER,
Priest of the Diocese of Nantes, France.
DE GALINEE,
Deacon of the Diocese of Rennes, Brittany.
From this point these two explorers journeyed over Lake St. Clair, up the river of thatname and along the west shore of Lake Huron to the Straits, and from thence returned to Montreal by way of Sault Ste. Marie, Georgian Bay and the Ottawa river.
ROBERT DE LA SALLE.
In 1670 there were some who believed that a passage to China might be found through the American continent to China and the east. Among those whose thoughts and dreams were occupied in its discovery was Robert Chevalier de la Salle, who was a native of Rouen, France, and was educated in a seminary of the Jesuits, being designed for the church his father left him no property. The church, however, not being to his taste, with the consent of his superior he left the Seminary in 1667, came to Quebec and at first engaged in the fur trade. The details of this business not suiting his active mind and ambitious spirit, after the report of Marquette and Joliet he conceived a plan for the discovery of that route to the east which had not only engrossed his thoughts but those of Marquette, Talon, Allouez and other explorers. He at once laid his views and plans before Frontenac, then Governor- General of New France. His idea was to explore the country lying between Canada and the Gulf of Mexico, by way of the Mississippi, and as he progressed to erect block houses at different points and thus establish a chain of communication as well as possession. Frontenac enthusiastically indorsed his plans, and upon his advice La Salle pro- ceeded to France and submitted them to Colbert, then Minister of Finance of France, and so favorably was he impressed with La Salle and his representations that La Salle was made a chevalier and in- vested with the Seigniory of Fort Frontenac or Cataroceny, on condi- tion that he would rebuild it, and received from the princes of the king- dom assurances of aid and good will. On his return to Quebec he im- mediately accomplished the reconstruction of Fort Frontenac, and the second time returned with a report of the progress made, and was again received with favor and granted new letters patent with addi- tional privileges, and on the 14th day of July, 1678, in company with Henri de Tonti, sailed from Rochelle and reached Quebec on the 15th
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of September. His first steps were to send forward agents to trade with the Indians and to prepare the way for his coming; and November 18th, 1678, he went up the St. Lawrence river and crossed Lake Ontario to the mouth of the Niagara river, in a small brigantine of ten tons burthen, which is said to have been the first "ship" that ever sailed upon that lake. Near the Iroquois village of Niagara, La Salle began to erect a block house and magazines for supplies, but the jeal- ousy of the Iroquois being aroused, he for a time was compelled to sus- pend, and it was not until January, 1679, that he was able to complete his arrangements for laying at the mouth of Cayuga creek the keel of the first vessel built by Europeans on the Western waters. Leaving men to continue the work he returned to Frontenac to collect and for- ward the necessary supplies, stores, cables, chains, sails, anchors, for the new vessel. On the 20th of January he started with his supplies from Frontenac, but in crossing Lake Ontario his little brigantine was wrecked and most of his supplies lost. Early in the spring he made a trip to Frontenac and from the proceeds of a quantity of furs was able to purchase a new outfit, while Tonti went forward to explore the coast and make ready for the voyage into the upper waters of the lake region. August 7th, 1679, the vessel, which he had christened the "Grif- fin," was ready to sail. Crossing Lake Erie he entered the Detroit river. Stopping at Detroit he was met by two Frenchmen who had been left by Dollier and Galinee ten years previously. Against the advice of Hennepin (who urged him to establish a post here), he proceeded on his voyage across Lake St. Clair, up the river of that name and across Lake Huron, and reached Michilmackinac at the end of 20 days, August 27, 1679. He remained here until the middle of September, during which time he constructed a fort. From thence he proceeded to Green Bay, at this place finding a large quantity of furs. He loaded them on board the Griffin, and starting her on the 18th of September for Niagara under the command of a skillful pilot, he with fourteen men skirted the shore of Lake Michigan by way of the present site of Chicago and Michigan City and arrived, November Ist, 1679, at the mouth of what is now called the St. Joseph river (then known as the Miamie), where he built a fort. At the end of a month (December 2d), leaving a garrison of ten men, he started again on his explorations, following the course of the St. Joseph river to the present site of the city of South Bend, Ind. He there struck across to the portage of the The- a-Ki-Ki, since known as the Kan-Ka-Kee, making his way through its marshy waters to the Illinois river, where he arrived January 4th, 1680, at a point since known as Peoria Lake, and at which he erected a fort which he named Crevecœur (Broken Heart), for at this place he first heard of the loss of the Griffin, which occurred upon Lake Huron. Remain- ing here until the last of February, he started on his return to Canada for more men and supplies, traversing twelve hundred miles through
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the wilderness, from Illinois to Frontenac, on the borders of Lakes Michigan, Erie and Ontario .. He arrived at his destination to have the loss of the Griffin confirmed, that his agents had proven false and that his creditors had seized upon all his remaining property. Most men would have been disheartened. Not so La Salle. He proceeded to gather supplies and enlist men, and before July was on his way to rejoin those he had left in Illinois; but on his arrival in December, 1680, he found the fort at Peoria deserted and no tidings of the men he had left behind. It subsequently appeared that soon after his departure a war party of the Iroquois Indians had made their way from New York, to make war upon the Indians of the prairies. This caused Tonti, who had been left in command by La Salle, to fear being surrounded and massacred; and becoming disheartened, in September, 1680, he made his way to Michilmackinac, where he was found by La Salle in June, 168I, on his return from the deserted fort in Illinois, on his way to Canada. After La Salle met Tonti at Michilmackinac they returned to Frontenac together, where they fitted out another expedition, and by the Ist of August, 1681, were once more on their way to the Missis- sippi. On the 3d of November they reached St. Joseph, from whence, with twenty-three Frenchmen, eighteen Indians, ten squaws and three children, they skirted the southerly shore of Lake Michigan to the pres- ent site of Chicago, made the portage, thence to the head waters of the Illinois river. Passing down it, they reached Fort Crevecœur, which they found in good condition, and proceeding onward along the Illinois river struck the Mississippi February 6th, 1682, about where the city of Caro, Illinois, is situated and at a point on the Chickasaw Bluff. They erected a fort and named it Proudhomme, after one of their number who was supposed to have been lost there. Passing down the river on the 6th of April, 1682, they discovered the three openings by which this great stream discharges its waters into the sea. On the 7th they examined the coast and on the 9th erected a cross, to which was affixed the arms of France, with the inscription, " Louis Le Grand, Roi de France et de Navame Regne, Nieuvieme Avril, 1682," and took possession of all the lands watered by the great river in the name of the king of France. The ceremony ended by a salute of fire arms and cries of " Vive le Roi."
Thus did this intrepid explorer lay the foundation for France to claim a vast and fertile region, embracing the largest and most valuable area of land upon the face of the globe drained by a single river.
The expedition did not remain long in the lower Mississippi, but returned up the river to Fort Proudhomme, where La Salle was taken violently ill and compelled to stop. He sent forward Tonti with dis- patches to Count Frontenac, while he himself followed as soon as con- valescent, and arrived at St. Joseph on the 10th of September, from
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which point he sent Father Zenobe to represent him in France, while he engaged in the fur trade in the northwest.
La Salle returned to France in the autumn of 1683, when he was received and entertained with great honor by the king and his courts. In July, 1684, twenty-four vessels left the harbor of Rochelle for New France, four of which were placed under the control of La Salle, and destined for Louisiana. Through erroneous calculations of his naviga- tor, they missed the mouth of the Mississippi, and finally landed at Matagora Bay, Texas, where he built a fort out of the wrecks of his vessels, which he named "St. Louis." Here he remained until the spring of 1687, exploring the country and fighting the Indians, and on the 20th of March, 1687, while on one of his exploring expeditions, was waylaid by one of his men and brutally shot.
Thus ended the life of the boldest, most persevering and sagacious man of that or any other age. He was the first to build and explore the waters surrounding Michigan in a sail vessel, and to construct two prominent fortifications within its territory, Michilmackinac and Miamie (or St. Joseph), and in his journey from Fort Crevecœur to Fort Fron- tenac, during the winter of 1680-81, made on foot through the wilder- ness, he passed via the territory along the St. Joseph river to the head waters of Lake Erie through Michigan. For these and other reasons he is entitled to, and should receive, a prominent place in its history.
FR. LOUIS HENNEPIN.
In the year 1678 there was a Franciscan priest or friar of the order of Recollets, who, born and educated in France, imbued with a desire to extend the power and influence of his order, had emigrated to Quebec, and was quietly at work acquiring information of the country and its native inhabitants, with the view of establishing missionary stations among them. At the time La Salle returned from his second visit to France, Hennepin (the name of this priest) had also just returned from a visit among the Iroquois Indians, and had made him- self familiar with their habits, customs and dialect. He had at the same time sought, and in a degree had succeeded, in weakening their confidence in the English, so much so that some of the tribes had aban- doned the confederation and allied themselves with those tribes friendly to the French. These results made him prominent, and induced his selection to accompany La Salle on his exploring expedition to the unknown west.
Father Louis Hennepin is said to have been a man of cool, equit- able temperament, thoroughly devoted to his church and order, and in all his plans his sole object was to promote their interests.
He was the companion of La Salle from Frontenac to Niagara,
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sailed with him across Lake Erie, and on reaching Detroit, vainly urged him to establish a settlement and the erection of a fort at this point; but La Salle, in his anxiety to reach the Mississippi, would not consent to the delay.
Hennepin continued with La Salle in all his journeys to Michil- mackinac, St. Joseph, Green Bay, to Fort Crevecœur, on the Illinois river. He remained with him there until February, 1680, when he proceeded down that river and the Mississippi, and arrived at the mouth of the Wisconsin river on the IIth of April following. At this point Hennepin was taken prisoner by a band of northern Indians, who treated him and his companions kindly, and took them up the river to St. Anthony's Falls. They were so named by Hennepin in honor of his patron saint. This was on the first of May. From this point they traveled by land to a village of the Soux two hundred miles north- west of the falls. Here they remained until rescued by a band of French explorers under the command of Siur de Luth, after whom, it is said, Duluth was named, he having passed that point before in reach- ing Hennepin. With this officer, Hennepin and his fellow captives returned to Canada in November, 16So, soon after La Salle, for the second time, had returned to the wilderness ; so that they never met after their parting at Fort Crevecœur, as Hennepin proceeded at once to France, where, in 1684, he published a history of explorations and adventures.
ANTOINE DE LA MOTTE CADILLAC.
Antoine de la Motte Cadillac was born at Toulouse in 1661, and was the son of Jean and Jeanne Mal-enfant. He entered the army at the age of 16, was made a lieutenant at the age of 21, and came with his regiment in 1683 to Quebec, where the following year he married Maria Therese Guyon. Shortly after this he was sent to Acadia, where he distinguished himself so greatly that he was commissioned by the government to report the condition of the English colonies, and displayed so much knowledge and ability that he was made the commandent of Fort Buade, at Michilmackinac, in 1694, the most important point in the northwest.
In 1699 he visited France, and having himself previously passed the Straits of Detroit, strongly urged the establishment of a settlement at Detroit, and being supported by Hennepin's history of 1684, as well as by his own observation as to its importance, Count Ponchartrain, prime minister of Louis XIV, approved his plans, and, armed with the necessary authority, he returned to Quebec. Preliminary to carrying out his plans, a grand council of the Indian tribes from the St. Law- rence to the Mississippi rivers, including the Iroquois, was held at Montreal in the spring of 1701, at which the matter was fully pre-
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sented and discussed. It was strongly opposed by the Iroquois, who stated they had refused aquiescence to similar propositions from the English ; but the governor-general declared that the land belonged neither to the Indians or to the English, but to the King of France, and would at once be occupied and in force. Immediately after the council, Cadillac, who had been granted a tract of land on the site of the pro- posed post by the king, started from Montreal with one hundred men and a Jesuit priest, and arrived at the straits July 24, 1701, where he immediately began building fortifications, and to provide for a perma- nent settlement. He named the fortification Ponchartrain, in honor of the prime minister of France, the name of Detroit being from the French word d'etroit, signifying the straits. The results achieved by Cadillac at Detroit continued him in favor with the government at home, which subsequently conceded to him the island of Mount Deseret (which has since become a great watering place), also a grant on the mainland near and along the river Plantagoet, called Douaguet, from whence he took his title. From thence he removed to Louisiana as governor, and a few years after to Castle Sarasin, France, where he died. Through the intrigues of enemies, he was once arrested at Montreal on the charge of treasonable designs, and although honorably acquitted, was compelled to sell his Seigniory in Detroit to pay the expense of his trial. His children never inherited an acre of his lands.
FRENCH COMMANDERS.
The French commanders of Fort Pontchartrain were as follows : Cadillac, 1701 to 1714 ; temporary, D. Bourgmont, 1706 ; De la Ferte, 1711 ; De Buisson, 1712 ; Tonti, 1717-1724 ; Boisbert, 1725 to 1730; Pean, 1734; Courtmanche and Fleurimont, 1739 ; St. Ours, Douville de Noyan, Saberois, Celeron and Longwell to 1743 ; de May and Bellestre to 1760. Surgeons-Ist, Antoine Forestier, Jean Bapti Chapeton, 1718 to 1755 ; Gabriel Christopho Le Grand, 1755 to 1760.
JEAN BAPTI MARTIN.
Jean Bapti Martin was born at Montreal in 1689. He came to Detroit in 1709. He married Marie Louise Dogon and had five children. Jacques St. Martin married, in 1760, Mariann Navarre. He was very familiar with the Indian dialect and employed as interpeter by Major Campbell, and accompanied him to Pontiac camp. The Eng- lish suffered very much through the treachery of some of the interpre- ters employed, but they had great confidence in St. Martin. Bradstreet and Sir Wm. Johnson always made an honorable exception in favor of St. Martin, Whitmore Knaggs and Henry Conner in their strictures
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upon the Indian interpreters. St. Martin died in 1768 leaving a widow, one son, St. Martin St. Martin, who died in early manhood, and two daughters, Finon, who married Phillip Fry, and Archange, who mar- ried Angus McIntosh, who inherited the estates without the title of the earldom of May. The two sons of Angus and Archange (St. Martin) McIntosh returned to Scotland, while the two daughters, Mrs. Henry Hunt and Miss Kittie, died in Detroit. The widow of St. Martin (Marianne Navarre) married the second time, Doctor George Christian Anthon. She died in October, 1776, aged 39 years. She was the daugh- ter of Robert Navene, sub-intendent, who accompanied Cadillac to Detroit in 1701. She had no children by Dr. Anthon.
The old Cass House, which until recently stood on Larned street, near Second, was the house of Jean Bapti Martin, the site having been deeded him in 1750. Having no male heir the name, "St. Martin," figures only in the female branch of the family. The Anthon branch, which in the female line is still represented in Detroit and in the city of New York, demands a sketch of Doctor George Christian Anthon. He was born at Salzugen in 1734, studied medicine in his native town and at Gerstugen and passed his examination at Eisenbach, Germany. He then went to Amsterdam, passed two examinations before the col- lege of surgeons and was appointed surgeon in the Dutch West India trade, during which period, while on a voyage to the West Indies, he was captured by a British privateer and carried to New York. At the age of 23 he found himself in a new country and under new influences, and confident in his ability, he applied and received a position in the mili- tary hospital at Albany. Soon after he was appointed first assistant surgeon in the First Batallion, Sixteenth Regiment Royal Americans. In 1760 he was attached to the detachment under Major Rogers, who took possession of Detroit, and thus became acquainted with the widow of Jean St. Martin, Marianne Navarre, whom he married in 1768. She was the guardian of Genevieve, the daughter of her sister, Marguerite, who in 1758 married Colonel Louis Jadot, an officer in de May's regi- ment, who was killed in 1765 by the Indians ; and after the death of Mrs. Anthon (Marianne Navarre Manders) he married Genevieve, she being 15 years and he 45. In 1786 Dr. Anthon removed to New York. Three of Dr. Anthon's children were born in Detroit. George, born in 1781, died in New York in 1865 ; John, who became an eminent lawyer and author, born in 1784, died in New York in 1863 ; Rev. Henry Anthon, of St. Mark's Church in the Bowery, was born in New York in 1795. Charles Anthon, another son, was said to be the most accomplished Greek and Latin scholar in America. Dr. Anthon died in 1815.
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BABY.
Jacques Baby, the founder of the family of that name in Detroit, was born in 1673. He married Madeline Veron de Grandmisnil in 1709. He came to America with the Carignan regiment.
Jacques Duperon Baby, the son of Jacques Baby, who settled in Detroit, will be remembered as prominently associated in the siege of Detroit, in 1760, and enjoyed the respect and confidence of the French, English and Indians. He married Susanna Reaume. He died in 1796, leaving eleven children. One of his daughters married the Hon. Chas. Casgrain, grandfather of the present city attorney, Charles W. Cas- grain.
BARTHE.
Charles Barthe was the son of Theophile Barthe, armorer of the French king at Montreal, and Charlotte Alavoine, whom he married in 1718. Charles, the subject of this sketch, was born at Montreal in 1720. After receiving a commercial education, he left Montreal, and for a time engaged in trade. In 1747 he came to Detroit, and married Therese Campau, daughter of Louis Campau and Marie Louise Roberts. Father Bonaventure officiated, and among those present at their marriage were, the commandent of the fort, Joseph Lemoyne de Longueil, Jos. Douain de Bondy, Chas. Chesne, Du Messaux, Dr. Cha- poton and Pierre Chesne. They had a number of children, whose descendants became prominent, both in the United States and Canada. Their first daughter, Marie Archange, born in 1749, married John Askin, at one time governor of Michilmackinac. Adelaide, the second daughter of John Askin and Marie Archange, born May 30th, 1783, married Col. Elijah Brush in 1802. He was attorney general of the northwest territory, and commanded the legionary corps in 1812. He was the father of the late Edmund Brush. Adelaide Street in Detroit takes its name from her.
Pierre, the younger brother of Charles Barthe, followed him to Detroit, and in 1760 married Charlotte Chapoton, daughter of Dr. Jean Chapoton. Their only surviving child, Charlotte, married Louis Reaume, a lieutenant in the British army, in 1780, who, at the end of a year, died, leaving her a widow with no children. In 1784 she became the second wife of Antoine Louis Descomptes Labadie, and her descendants are Mrs. Giesse, Mrs. Alexander Chapoton, Sr., who, as well as their children, are well known in the Detroit of to-day. Therese, daughter of Charles Barthe and Marie Therese Campau, married Commodore Alexander Grant in 1774. He built a home at Grosse Pointe, which was known as the Castle, the site of which is now occupied by T. P. Hall's summer residence, which he names Townacour.
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BEAUFAIT.
Louis Beaufait was born in France and came to Detroit in 1760. In 1766 he married Therese de Mirsac, daughter of Francois and Therese Campau. Their son Louis 2d, born in 1773, afterwards Col. Beaufait, lived and owned the farm since known as the Bagg farm. Louis Beaufait was one of the judges of the Court of Common Pleas for Wayne county, as organized in 1796 by the acting governor of the northwest territory, Sergeant Winthrop. Louis 2d married Louise Saussier in 1804. His son, Louis, married in 1835 Catherine Peltier, who was the daughter of Charles and Martha Cecile Chapoton.
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