USA > Michigan > Washtenaw County > Combination atlas map of Washtenaw County, Michigan > Part 2
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" After a wearisome journey of four days, through the thick woods and marshes, -husband cutting the road before us with an ax,-we arrived at night on the beautiful Huron, October 23, 1823. We got the privilege of staying in a log cabin with another family until we could build one, into which we moved the last day of December. Eight weeks after this (February 27, 1824) my son Alpha was born. We called him Alpha Washtenaw,-the latter in honor of the County, and the former on account of his being the first child born in the County.t
"It was amusing, the first fall and winter, to hear the corn mills in operation every morning before daylight. There were two in the settlement. They were made as follows : a hole was burned in the top of a stout oak stump ; after scraping this clean from coal, a stick about six feet long and eight inches in diameter was rounded at one end, and hung by a spring-pole directly over the stump; a hole was bored through this pestle for handles; and now the mill was done. A man would pound a peck of dry corn in half an hour, so that half of it would pass through a sieve for bread ; and very little of any other kind of bread was used in the settlement for two years. Sometimes for weeks together we had nothing to cat but this sort of bread, and potatoes.
"We saw but few Indians the first year; but the next summer they came through our place by hundreds. Every morning they would go to every house, begging for something to eat. As I was much alone, and a quarter of a mile from any house, many times, when I saw them coming, I have instantly put my table out of sight,-I could not feed them without robbing my children. It was enough to make one's heart ache to see the condition of these poor Indians! Sometimes there would be six hundred in a drove, going to Detroit or Malden for presents, which they would soon part with for whisky."
Those were trying times for the pioneers! Everything in the way of provi- sions, except corn, potatoes, and game, had to be brought from Detroit at great expense, and by days of toil,-brought through by pack-horses or up the Huron River by flatboats as far as Rawsonville, then called "Snow's Landing." There were no mills nearer than Detroit, and there was no road between those places, the settlers often traveling on foot, following an Indian trail.
Speaking of the early days, Jonathan Morton says: "In August, 1824, I came to Ypsilanti from Detroit. When I arrived, there were six log houses at the grove, occupied by Benjamin Woodruff, Robert Stitt, Leonard Miller, Jason Cross, John Bryant, and John Barney. Where the city now stands there were two shanties constructed of poles, and occupied by George Hall and John Stewart.
The next day, after my arrival at Ypsilanti, I came to Ann Arbor on foot, follow- ing an Indian trail. There were then only two log houses in Ann Arbor, situated near the creek that crosses Huron Street. Walter Rumsey and John Allen occu- pied these houses. Oliver Whitmore and Mr. Maynard (father of William S. and John W.) then lived at Mallet's Creek, between Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. About that time Deacon Carpenter, Mr. Parsons, and Samuel McDowell settled there.
"The first party with dancing that occurred among the earliest settlers of Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor combined was at Mr. Rumsey's, in Ann Arbor. The young people of Ypsilanti, on or about the 1st of January, 1826, got up a sleigh- ride, for the purpose of making Ann Arbor a visit. It was good sleighing, but there was only one sleigh in the vicinity, and this had been brought from New York. The balance of the company went in "jumpers" made of poles. On ar- riving at Ann Arbor they stopped at the log house of Mr. Rumsey, who kept a public house. It was proposed to have a dance, if music could be obtained. It was soon ascertained that John Allen's father owned a violin, and could play in good style. He was an old man, with locks as white as snow. He fras induced to play for this party. Among others, there were present William and Alvin Cross, and their two sisters, Olive and Almira Gorton, Catherine and Hannah Rosencrans, Aretus Belden, Andrew Mckinstry, Jonathan G. Morton, J. Whit- more and his sister Venus, and Mr. Dexter, afterwards known as Judge Dexter. A number of the settlers of Ann Arbor were there, and a jolly time was had. Society then was a unit, and all were welcome. There were no fashionable cliques in those times.
" At this time the Indians were very numerous, comprising portions of the Huron, Tawah, and Pottawatomie tribes. There had been an Indian cornfield on the river flat a short distance below Ypsilanti. They prepared the land by forming large mounds the size of a bushel basket. There were no Indian lodges or villages in this vicinity, as they moved away after the land was surveyed, but they roamed through the country in small bands. On the 4th of July, 1826, an occurrence took place that caused much excitement among the white settlers. About five hundred Sioux came from the Mississippi valley through Ypsilanti, on their way to Malden, to receive the annual presents from the British govern- ment, in return for their services in the war of 1812. They remained at Ypsilanti several days, and had a " war-dance" where now is the central part of the city. They danced in a circle, making indescribable sounds in coarse, gutteral tones,
+ It is denied that this was the first born child; Captain Stitt claiming that a daughter of his (named Maria) was some six months older than Alpha W. Bryan.
interspersed with whoops and yells, while war-clubs were brandished over their heads in a very threatening manner. The principal music was produced on a drum made of the skin of some wild animal drawn over a large keg. The settlers furnished rations for them while they remained, believing that by this course they were purchasing the privilege of retaining their scalps. The Pottawatomies also favored Washtenaw County with several visits on similar errands (they had an eye for the British presents because of the whisky they could be bartered for)."
We cannot forbear placing reminiscences of the early days, the infancy of Washtenaw, upon record. John Geddes, of Ann Arbor, in a paper read before the County Historical Society, says : " I landed in Detroit July 12, 1824. Detroit was then an old, dilapidated place. Garrison had a sign of 'Yankee Boarding House,' and Mrs. McMillen a small sign for ' Boarders,' where she charged twelve and a half cents for a meal and six and a quarter cents for lodging. There was no water fit to drink in the city. My companion was William P. Stevens, of Steuben County, New York. He was fifty-two years of age, and I was twenty- three. Mr. Kearsely, the receiver, recommended Washtenaw County as the most favorable place to locate. We started in that direction, and arrived at Johnson's tavern, on the Rouge, where the village of Wayne now is, and stopped for the night. The next morning we started for Woodruff's Grove. The bushes were wet, the road narrow, and mosquitoes numerous, making traveling unpleasant, until we reached the Willow-run, when we got rid of the timber-land mosquitoes, shortly after arrived at Woodruff's, where we got our breakfast. While eating, I inquired of Mrs. Woodruff how long she had lived there. She said : ' On the 4th of July last it was thirteen months,' which I set down as the first settlement of Washtenaw County. The next day we went to Ann Arbor, and passed where Robert Fleming was building a saw-mill, on Fleming Creek, on the southeast quarter of section twenty-five, township of Ann Arbor, which was the first saw- mill erected in the County. It commenced running in the fall. We passed on and came to where Orrin White and his family were living, two miles west of the saw-mill. We arrived at Ann Arbor before night. Ann Arbor then had one house, a sort of frame, one story high, with an additional log block alongside, having no rafters or roof on it. There was a tent north of the house, where John Allen was putting up. Elisha W. Rumsey and wife occupied the house, and en- tertained persons who came viewing land,-one of the pioneer taverns of Wash- tenaw. It was headquarters. Rumsey settled there in February, 1824. These beginnings were near the brook, on Huron Street. On Friday we went back to Woodruff's by the ' middle trail.' There were no houses or beginnings on the trail until we came to what is now Ypsilanti, and but one house there,-the French trading-house. The north half mile of the French claim was sold to John Stewart, of Romulus, Seneca County, New York, who came on shortly after. Next year (1825), about the first of June, the Chicago road was laid out by United States Commissioners. They laid it through Ypsilanti, and Woodruff's Grove perished as a village. The Commissioners were James McCloskey, of De- troit, a Mr. Baldwin, of Indiana, and & Frenchman, of Monroe. The first-named purchased the first piece of land in what is now Ann Arbor Township, being the south part of the southwest fractional quarter of section twenty-six, containing about fourteen acres."
Alvin Cross, of Ypsilanti, whose introduction to Michigan in March, 1824, was by swimming the river at Detroit, says he found but one mettler between the Rouge and Woodruff's Grove,-they had to camp out, as they were three days reaching the settlement. The Indians were very plenty, and often troublesome. Major Woodruff went to consult Governor Cass about them. His advice was that if they misbehaved they were to tie up the offenders and whip them, as the best way of punishing them and teaching them to behave. The first occasion thereafter that offered of carrying this advice into execution was improved; and, it is said, from that time onward no further trouble was experienced from their red neighbors.
Daniel Cross, one of the oldest pioneers of Washtenaw County, in some early notes he has furnished for publication, says :-
"I left the State of New York in the fall of 1822 for Michigan. I came to Buffalo and took the steamer for Detroit,-the Superior,-and after a passage of four days, arrived at Detroit. After knocking about Detroit for three or four days to see if I could find any one to give me any information regarding the country, or land for sale, I met with a man who told me there was land for sale north of Detroit, in what he called the ' Wilderness,' about thirty miles from Detroit. I went there and looked at the land, and found three families there, but did not like the location, and came back to Detroit again. I met another man by the name of Bryant, who had been west thirty miles, at a place on the Huron River; he said there had been no one through the woods yet; they had gone up Huron River from the Lake. He wanted me to go through the woods with him, and mark the trees; so we started with a pocket-compass to guide our way through the wilderness. Bryant had been at the land office and got directions what course to take to go to Woodruff's Grove. Woodruff had newly come into the place from Sandusky, Ohio. There were two other men along with him by the names of Miller and Beverly. When they came in they came up the river in a flat boat, which they pulled up the river themselves. They all squatted. Beverly built & shanty on the flat near where the paper mill stands, and Miller built his shanty near Woodruff's, at the Grove, but neither Miller nor Beverly bought any land; Miller went to Saline, and Beverly I do not know where he went.t We took four days to make our way to what is now the city of Ypsilanti. I liked the looks of the country, and selected eighty acres, now owned by Ben Emerick.
" After selecting my land, I bought a yoke of oxen from Woodruff, who had squatted on that land now owned by Mr. Fletcher. My land was the first bought west of the River Rouge, and I built the first log house put up in this part of the country. After buying my oxen, I went to Detroit and brought my family, and Bryant went along and brought his family with mine, and we got the shelter of a shanty which had been built by Stitt, but he never occupied it. I then went to work and got up my house, and my family and Bryant's lived in the same till spring. Bryant bought the next to me,-it is now owned by J. Emerick. After getting my family settled in my new home, I started back to the State of New York. I traveled all the way on foot through Canada to Genesee County, where
: Died at Ypsilanti about 1826.
18
my father lived, and got him to sell his farm and come to Michigan. An uncle of mine sold his farm also, and another man, by the name of James Pullin, sold likewise, and we all started in the spring for Michigan. Again we arrived at Detroit with four yoke of oxen. We then came on to this place and broke up ten acres of land, the first ever broke up in this part of the country. We all shared in the proceeds of the ten acres.
" All the provisions we had to live on till the crop came off the ten acres we had to get from Detroit. I had to take my oxen and carry home for all the rest. It took most two days to go fighting among logs and brush. I have camped sometimes in the woods with nothing but the sound of wolves howling around. In the fall, after harvesting our crop, we had to look out for some way to grind our corn. We took s large white oak stump, and hollowed out the top of it so that it would hold a peck of corn, and then rigged a spring-pole with a pestle on the end of it, and with that we could bruise the corn till we could use it. It was rough stuff, but we got along with it till some time in 1825 or 1826 ; Woodruff rigged up a small mill down the river a little ways, on the land now owned by Chas. Crane. When we got our wheat ground, we carried it home and sifted it- there was no bolting of flour in those days; we thought we were well off if we got it ground anyway. Before Woodruff put up his mill I had to carry our grain to Detroit; there was a wind-mill there. I carried the first wheat to Detroit that ever was raised in this section of the country, in the fall of 1824. Our meat did not cost us anything but the killing of it. Venison was very plenty at that time ; we used likewise to get a good deal from the Indians. They were quite plenty in this part of the country. Fish were very plentiful in the Huron River; we could catch any quantity of them with very little trouble. In the fall of 1823, Hiram Tuttle came in, and settled down the river about two miles; the place is still owned by the family; he was the first settler that settled away from the Wood- ruff Grove. Mr. Goodwell was among the first settlers that came in after Tuttle. He worked for me sometime, and then settled in the town of Superior, and lived and died there.
" Harwood bought on the east side of the depot. He built the first log house and first mill. The mill was just below the present factory. The house stood about four lots above the depot, on what is now River Street. On the west side, according to my recollection, Mr. Hull built the first house. I don't remember the second, but Millington bought him out, and put up a block addition; this was on the site of the Hawkins House, and I think the original building still forms a part of this house. I do not remember the names of the builders of the next two or three. The first settlers at Ann Arbor were Rumsey and Allen. When they arrived, I spent three days in the woods with them looking for land, and that was the first spot that seemed to suit them, and they proposed to each take an eighty there. They then went to Detroit and located their land, and we all turned out and helped to build their houses. They took their women up to see their loca- tion. There was a creek there, and a grape-vine hanging over the creek. Rum- sey's wife says to Mrs. Allen, 'What a nice arbor is this!' Mrs. Allen replied, 'Yes; why can't they call it Ann Arbor, that is my name.' It was called so by the party, and when the place was. formally named, this name was adopted.
"Going to Detroit through the woods to get medicine for my wife who was very sick, on one occasion, I started early in the morning and went to Detroit and back on foot between sun and sun. When I started I expected to camp out over night, but as I came nearer and nearer home, my anxiety increased, and I pressed forward, only pausing to take a swallow of the swamp water now and then. When I came out on the plains, I lay down and took a hearty drink of water, and be- came unconscious, not knowing how I reached home, but the first I remember, my brothers were rubbing and nursing me. It was then about eleven or twelve o'clock.
"In the fall my team was the only team here, and when provisions were wanted, I had to go. It generally took about two days, and I used to put bells on my oxen and turn them loose. On one occasion they were stampeded by the wolves, and ran over five miles. In the morning I took the trail and followed. About once in a mile they had turned on the wolves, and the ground was torn up with their pawing and fighting. By these traces I was able to follow, and finally found them. I had no fire arms, matches had not yet been invented, and I had lost my punk, so that I could make no fire, and lay in the dark all night, and never slept & wink.
"On the occasion of my wife's sickness, there was but one doctor in the County, a Dr. Lord, who had settled at Ann Arbor. I lived then below Mr. Tuttle's, where I bad taken a quarter section and built a house. Mr. Lord came down once, and 'said that he could never come there and cure my wife, and I took my team, and cut a good road through the woods and carried her to the doctor's resi- dence, and left her there sick two months, while I took care of my family and farm at home. I finally sold my land down the river and looked around Saline. The land-office had been removed to Monroe. There was nothing then but a blind trail leading to Monroe, and I took a pony and started. I reached the office and did my business. On returning I did not know how to get back, and finally found a Frenchman, who thought he could put me on a trail that run up the river Huron. I gave him a dollar and started on the trail. It soon began to snow, and the trail was filled so that I could not follow it. It soon became dark, and I found myself in a black ash swamp, and without fire or light, or means to make either. Hitching my pony to a tree, I prepared to pass the night, and soon the wolves began to howl. They came boldly up to my pony and snapped him by the hind legs. He would kick and call to me as if for help, but I was unable to give him assistance. He was so badly bitten that I had hard work to cure him. This continued all night until nearly morning, when I heard the barking of a dog. As soon as there was any light, I went toward the sound, and came to the Huron River; where I found an encampment of Indians. I then came on up the river After purchasing my place near Saline, I built the second log house west of the river Huron. Miller had squatted and built a cabin there. He was not able to purchase. Risdon was located there, and was surveyor. When emigrants began to come in, he set up a tavern. I followed the woods for two years, and whenever a man came in to look for lands, we stuck to him, and, if possible, never let him go till he had bought. I got so well acquainted with the lines that every one applied to me for help. William Wilson came in 1825 or 1826, and I went with him to look for land. He was suited with the location of the farm on which he lived until a few years ago, when he moved into the city."
The settlement at Ann Arbor, by Allen and Rumsey, dates as early as February, 1824. The exact location of the camp of these pioneers was on block 1, range 1, according to the original plot of the village of Ann Arbor. "There, then, was the spot,-a very beautiful one, too: it must have been in that primeval day where Nature was in all her beauty and quietude." Mr. Asa Smith and wife, who came soon after, brought all their earthly effects upon their backs, and, in order to keep warm of nights, were forced to throw stones into the log-heap fire, and then place them heated around their impromptu beds. Of the oldest inhabi- tants now living we may name Judge James Kingsley, Mrs. Dr. Denton, Mrs. Olney Hawkins, Daniel B. Brown, Deacon Lorin Mills, and General Edward Clark, residing within the limits of the then village.
These settlements, of which we have given a detailed account, were the first in Washtenaw County, and the parties named were the pioneers who paved the way
for its future greatness. Many of the first settlers found the struggle too severe, sold their improvements, and moved elsewhere; but much the larger portion, some in middle life and many in old age, have been gathered to their fathers and are not. A few remain, and from that small remnant must the materials for the history of Washtenaw be gathered.
These feeble beginnings were strengthened by many new-comers from the East, so that, by 1830, many new openings had been made, while the older colonies had grown considerable. But during the day of "small things" was the first mercantile venture made in the County. Jonathan Morton bought some dry goods at Detroit, in 1824, and the following spring transported them to Ypsilanti. He opened a small store in company with Aretus Belden, who came to Ypsilanti with him. These goods were the first brought into Washtenaw, save such articles as were bartered to the Indians at the French trading-post.
When the County was organized, in 1827, it was the Western frontier county, and Samuel Clements, of the town of Lima, the only frontier white settler. At the election held this year for members of the Legislative Council in the three towns of the County, their respective votes were Ann Arbor, 119; Ypsilanti, 103; and Dexter, 25, an aggregate of 247.
The first session of the County Court, "in and for Washtenaw County, Terri- ยท tory of Michigan," was held at the house of Erastus Priest, in Ann Arbor, on the 3d Monday in January, 1827. "The Honorable Samuel W. Dexter, Chief Justice, and the Honorable Oliver Whitmore, associate, appeared and constituted said court." O. D. Richardson was appointed Prosecuting Attorney pro tem. The following persons were impanneled as the
FIRST GRAND JURY OF WASHTENAW COUNTY.
Thomas Sacrider,
Isaac Hall,
Willard Hall,
Samuel Camp,
. Roswell Britton,
Alva Brown,
Jonathan Kirk,
Levi Hiscock,
Josiah Rosecrants,
Jonathan Ely,
John Dix,
Joseph H. Peck,
Luke H. Whitmore,
Rufus Pomeroy,
Henry Kimmel,
Levi B. Pratt,
Anthony Case,
Jason Cross,
Cornelius Osterhout,
E. W. Rumsey,
David Hardy.
The first bill of indictment was found against Erastus Priest, but the jury re- turned "not guilty." At the same session of court was impanneled the
FIRST PETTY JURY.
Jonathan Train,
Joseph Mayo,
Isaac Sines,
Thomas Chambers,
William Eddy,
Alexander Laverty,
Eldridge Gee,
Isaac Powers,
George W. Allen,
Samuel Higgins,
I. W. Bird,
James Pooling.
Of the members of both these pioneer juries, nearly all are either dead or re- moved from the County.
From 1830 to 1840 was an important epoch in the history of the State and of the County, as embracing the era of the wild-cat speculation, the Black Hawk and Toledo wars, the so-called patriot war, the cholera panic, and the admission of the State into the Union. In 1830 the population of the whole State was less than 32,000 souls,-that of Washtenaw County 4042. In 1835 Edward Mundy was judge and Daniel R. Brown sheriff. James T. Allen performed the duties of clerk and John Allen those of register. Mark Morris handled the mails at Ypsi- Janti, Dr. Gurley dispensed physic at Saline, and Dr. Denton at the County.seat, while the Michigan Whig and Washtenaw Democrat was in its prime. It was the birth-year of the State, and a period of rejuvenation in the County. The early part of this decade was marked by the rapid settlement of Washtenaw and contiguous counties. It was also the era of internal improvements, chief among which are her
RAILROADS.
Washtenaw County figures in the first railroad ever chartered in the "Wolver- ine" State. It was the "Central" or the " Detroit and St. Joseph Railroad," char- tered in 1831. The company had expended $117,000 upon it, and had it nearly graded from Detroit to Ypsilanti, when, in 1837, it was purchased by the State. In 1838 its rolling stock comprised four locomotives, five passenger and ten freight cars.
In 1836, too, was chartered the " Palmyra and Jacksonburg Railroad." Its route lay through Tecumseh, Clinton, and Manchester to Jackson. This line after- wards passed into the hands of the " Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad," and is now operated as the "Jackson Branch" of that road.
The same year (which was a time of railway-fever) the " Monroe and Ann Arbor" and the "Ypsilanti and Tecumseh" roads were chartered; but neither were ever built.
In 1839 the "Central Railroad" was opened to Ann Arbor, and to Dexter on the 4th of July, 1841, and was immediately pushed on to Jackson. At this time the "Southern" line had not got beyond Adrian. In 1846 the "Central" road was finished to Kalamazoo, and the same year sold by the State to the " Michigan Cen- tral Railroad Company" for $2,000,000. This road is the only line in operation within the limits of the County at the present time, except the Jackson Branch of the " Michigan Southern Railroad," which crosses its southwest corner, and the " Detroit, Hillsdale and Indiana Railroad," starting from Ypsilanti and running as far west as Hillsdale, where it connects and runs in conjunction with other roads west and south.
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