USA > Michigan > Kent County > Grand Rapids > Grand Rapids and Kent County, Michigan: History and Account of Their Progress from First. Vol. I > Part 7
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In the spring of 1827, there were twenty-one Indian pupils at the Thomas mission, the buildings had been improved, fifteen acres of land was fenced and the most of this had been planted with corn, potatoes, and other vegetables. Laborers employed by the Govern- ment were recalled during the busy season owing to deficiency in the appropriation, and the missionaries, therefore, worked with the Indi- ans and aided them with their plowing. Mr. McCoy made special study of the Ottawa language, with Noonday and Gosa as instruc- tors, and was soon able to conduct religious services in the Indian tongue. These services were well attended, neighboring Indians walk- ing three-fourths of a mile to attend family prayers, both morning and evening. Mr. McCoy felt it necessary to return to Carey, and the Indians much regretted his going. In this connection, Mr. McCoy related an incident relative to Chief Noonday, which is worth preser-
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vation : "Noonday had said that he designed to put a boy, for whom he was guardian (having no children of his own) in our family. He delayed doing so four or five days longer than we had expected. The boy was frequently at our house and we wondered why the brief cere- mony of saying, 'Here he is, take him,' should be delayed. These queries were all answered on the following Sunday, when Noonday and his boy appeared at our house very early. 'I wish,' said he, 'to speak to you. I have brought hither my son for the purpose of plac- ing him in the mission family. Jesus, the Son of God, after His death, arose from the dead early on the day of prayer (Sunday). On that account we meet every day of prayer, to pray, to sing, and to talk. It is not right to work on the day of prayer. Therefore, as Jesus arose early on prayer day morning, I have brought my son early this morning, to deliver him to you, to be instructed in things that are good. I thought that if I gave him to you on the morning of the day on which Jesus arose, perhaps He would have mercy upon him.' This was a rare method of honoring the Saviour and the day on which He arose. It was an original thought and one that indicated sincerity, though not a well cultivated understanding.".
Mr. Meeker, teacher at Thomas, returned to Carey, and, on May 5, 1827, Mr. and Mrs. Slater arrived at Thomas, making it their home, and a few days later Mr. and Mrs. McCoy and their three little chil- dren, and Miss Purchase, left Thomas. Mr. McCoy left the mission in good condition, as Mr. Lykins had contrived to meet a lake vessel at the mouth of the St. Joseph and had forwarded corn and pork and seven barrels of flour which the vessel carried to the mouth of the Grand River, and the supplies were brought to the rapids by pirogue. In leaving the mission, Mr. McCoy said: "I became much attached to these people and was sorry to leave them. A malign influence, emanating from some mischievous whites, had cherished some oppo- sition to us among the Ottawas most remote from us; but. as fast as we had been able to form personal acquaintances we had the happi- ness to see their suspicions give way and the opposition constantly weakened. We took pains to extend our acquaintance to some whom we could not visit, by sending messages to them by Gosa and others and inviting them to visit us. Excepting the uncommon religious ex- citement with which we had been blessed at Carey, we had not seen a missionary station in a condition so hopeful as Thomas was at this time."
This was the last time that Mr. McCoy resided at Thomas sta- tion, and the affairs of the mission were placed in the hands of Leon- ard Slater. The latter's administration was not pleasing to the founder of the station and his comments were anything but flattering. The estimate placed upon Mr. Slater by McCoy is not, however, the one generally held by the settlers of the Grand River Valley. Mr. Ever- ett, the pioneer teacher, in his excellent work, entitled, "Memoirs of the Grand River Valley," partially coincides with him and reflects upon the value of the missionary work, saying that, "Hunting is the Indian's trade. You may make an Indian work for a week, but he has no relish for steady work. It is easy to convert Indians. The missionaries have been flattered with their success. Generally the re- sult is not good. The Catholics were more successful than the Prot-
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estants, as the Catholics allowed their converts to be Indians. The Protestants dwelt too much on converts and failed to improve the Indians' habits. The French had the Indians' confidence. They rec- ognized Indian manhood, assimilated their habits, took Indian wives, and entered into their feelings and sympathies. The Indians were vindictive and revengeful, but as friends, true and honorable. The white man was safe in the Indian cabin. They had their own division of labor ; the men hunted and the women did the home work, and the women were loyal and all were fond of their families, but there was no place in the world for an educated Indian. The mission schools were ashamed of their pupils. They soon left and no good came of it." Relative to Mr. Slater, Mr. Everett said that he was a man of "ardent temperament and strong affections, devoted to his work, of fragile constitution, an ardent Christian teacher, and a careful business man. "Leonard Slater was born in Massachusetts, in 1802, and his fa- ther, Peter Slater, was a member of the distinguished 'Boston Tea- Party,' in which, disguised as an Indian, he did his part in emptying the tea into Boston harbor. Mr. Slater was appointed a missionary, in 1826, and a few weeks later was married to Mary French Ide, who shared with him all the privations of missionary life on the frontier. They made their wedding journey to the Carey mission and soon jour- neyed to the Grand River station, crossing the Kalamazoo near the old trading post. They remained at Thomas station for nine years, or from 1827 to 1836. Mr. Slater was zealous in promoting the set- tlement of the whites and took an active part in the pioneer affairs of the community. He was justice of the peace, and was the first post- master at Grand Rapids, serving by appointment from President Jackson, for four years, from Dec. 22, 1832. The first white child born in Grand Rapids was his daughter, Sarah Emily Slater, born on Aug. 12, 1827. Her arrival was the occasion of much rejoicing among the Indians, and Chief Noonday gave her the Indian name, Som-an- o-qua. She was nursed by an Indian woman, who treated her as an Indian mother would treat her own. Slinging her across her back, she was carried in one position so long that the child's head grew im- perfect and partial paralysis ensued, bringing on a spasmodic action of the eye. Two other children, George and Francis, were born at the Thomas mission. The intellect of the first born child was not im- paired, however, and she soon learned the Indian tongue, was very helpful as a teacher and much loved by the Indians. Mr. Slater did what he could to discourage the sale of liquor to the Indians, and this was the chief reason why he desired to remove the Indians from white influences. In a biography of Mr. Slater, by Mrs. Mary M. Lewis Hoyt, published in Volume 35 of the Michigan Pioneer Collec- tions, the reasons for the removal were given as follows: "The chief reason of his removing from the Thomas mission in Grand Rapids was owing to the disturbing influences wrought by the selling and giving of liquor to the Indians. The rapid influx of white settlers into Grand Rapids, which began in the spring of 1833, and the de- moralizing effect produced upon the Indians thereby, indicated to those in charge the advisability of a removal of the mission, and, in 1833, land was purchased in Prairieville, Barry county, and the mis- sion was removed there, about fifty Indian families in all accompany-
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ing Mr. Slater to his new quarters. The sturgeon with which the Grand river had abounded were growing scarce and there was also a lack of meat, for deer will not stay in a region where guns are fired. So, in looking for a new location, it was found that one of the best fishing waters was Gull lake, in Barry county, and the rich findings of pickerel, with which the lake then abounded, gave great satisfac- tion to these expert fishermen. They built log houses and each family had a piece of ground to work, but they were not farmers and could not be made such in one generation."
According to McCoy's statement, the writer of the above was in- correct as to dates, and the purchase in Barry county was probably made with funds secured at the treaty of 1836, and the removal took place at that time. Chief Noonday was among those who accom -. panied Slater to Prairieville. One of the chief prides of the mission was the church bell which was brought from Detroit, in 1830, shipped around the lakes to Grand Haven and then to Grand Rapids by a boat ; this was removed from Grand Rapids to Prairieville. The Sla- ters devoted themselves to the mission work, and the Prairieville es- tablishment was not broken up until 1854, when the majority of the "Slater Indians," as they were called, went to the reservation at Pent- water, while others intermarried with the Pottawatamies and joined the Selkirk mission in Allegan County. Mrs. Slater died, in 1852, and Mr. Slater continued the work, with his daughter Emily, until 1854, when he removed to Kalamazoo. At the opening of the Civil War, he volunteered his services and joined the Christian commission, serving without pay at the hospital at Nashville, Tenn. This work under- mined his health and he returned to Kalamazoo, where he died, April 27, 1866. Despite the differences of opinion between him and Mr. McCoy, the verdict upon his life work was that it was good and that he labored unselfishly and with the high purpose of benefiting a poor and unfortunate people.
While the missionaries were doing their utmost to uplift, protect, and educate the Indians, there were other white men coming into the country with vastly different purposes in mind. Many of the earliest were French voyageurs and traders who held subordinate positions and who too often were lax in their morals and unscrupulous in their dealings. These men were scattered all through the Indian country, but they left but little trace, save, perhaps, in the intermingled blood of many half-breeds. The French missionaries and explorers, and the later English and American travelers, spoke of them only as "traders" or "voyageurs," and seldom paid them the honor of men- tioning their names. There were others, however, who gained the confidence and affection of the Indians by long courses of honorable dealing and, while some of these intermarried with the Indians, they were true to their new ties and their progeny became honored and re- spected citizens in many communities. There is an Indian tradition to the effect that one William Fitzgerald, a white man, stood on Pros- pect hill, and, looking down upon the rapids of Grand River, in 1754, prophesied that within another century, white men would occupy the region with their homes, and that that spot would be a center of a new civilization. Another tradition is, that as early as 1806 a French trader erected a cabin on Grand River. This was undoubtedly the
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post of Laframboise, whose cabin was described by the chiefs as hav- ing been built of logs and bark, chinked with clay and about thirty feet in length. Laframboise was said to have been killed by a Potta- watamie Indian, in 1809, his death taking place somewhere between Muskegon and Grand River, on the lake shore. His wife was an In- dian woman and the high esteem in which the family was held by the Indians, and the influence which they obtained, are shown in the many treaty stipulations made for the benefit of children of that name. After the death of her husband, Madame Laframboise established a trading post on the north side of Grand River, some two miles below the mouth of Flat river. Like the majority of traders, she was part of the great American Fur Company, through which John Jacob As- tor accumulated his millions, and it was from this company that she bought her goods and to which she sold the furs taken in trade. She made her home at Mackinaw, returning to the Grand river each trad- ing season, and, in 1821, she sold her trading post to Rix Robinson and retired, having accumulated a competency. She died at Macki- naw, in April, 1846. .
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CHAPTER IV. SETTLEMENT AND ORGANIZATION
EARLY TRADERS-RIX ROBINSON-LOUIS CAMPAU-THE CAMPAUS AND DANIEL MARSAC-CATHOLIC MISSION-FATHERS BARAGA AND VICZOCZKY-TREATY OF SAGINAW-LUCIUS LYON-LUCIUS CASS -STEVENS T. MASON-THE DEXTER COLONY-ERIE CANAL-JOEL GUILD AND FAMILY-OTHER PIONEERS-MARTIN RYERSON-FIRST ELECTIONS-FIRST PLOWING-BOOM YEARS-EVENTS OF INTER- EST.
(In this chapter, and others following, in quotations including proper names, for the purpose of more fully identifying those in which initials only were used by those quoted, parenthetic interpolations have been given of Christian names. -The Editor.)
That there were others and earlier traders is shown by the fact that McCoy mentioned stopping at a trader's house at the Grand Rap- ids post, two years before the date at which Louis Campau is sup- posed to have arrived. Pierre Constant, agent of the American Fur Company, is said to have established a post near the mouth of Grand River, in 1810, and Rudell, a French trader, is said to have had a post near the Indian village on the west side of the rapids of Grand River, but a few years later ; nevertheless, the monument erected to the mem- ory of Rix Robinson, and dedicated at Ada, in June, 1887, was a just recognition of the pioneer American of the Grand River valley. He was more identified with the Grand River valley, as a whole, than with Grand Rapids as a city ; but no history of this region would be complete without extended mention of his life and his work in this community.
Rix Robinson was the son of Edward Robinson, and was born at Richmond, Mass., Aug. 28, 1789. During his boyhood the family re- moved to the State of New York and he received an excellent aca- demic education. At nineteen he began the study of law, at Auburn, N. Y., and was admitted to the bar in 1811. This was just before the outbreak of the War of 1812, to which his father, in common with many New Englanders, was strongly opposed. Young Robinson was drafted for the army, and with the connivance of his father escaped the officers of the draft. It is related by George H. White, in his sketch of Mr. Robinson, that young Robinson purposed joining a neighbor, Samuel Phelps, who had secured an appointment as sutler with troops on the Canadian frontier. Phelps needed additional cap- ital and Robinson's father helped Rix to secure $1,000 for the ven- ture. While arranging for this business drafting took place and Rix and his brother Edward were drawn. He eluded the officers by hid- ing in the home of his sister and escaped to the West. It is said that one reason for his continued residence in the Michigan wilderness was the heavy penalty which hung over him for this evasion of the draft. Robinson was with Phelps as sutler during the war with Great Britain, and, at the close of the war, they followed the regiment to Detroit, where it was expected payment would be made to the soldiers
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and the sutlers would in turn receive the large amounts due them. The regiment was not paid, but was ordered to Mackinaw and the sutlers followed, arriving there in 1815. Detachments of the regiment were then ordered to different places and gradually became disbanded. Rob- inson and his partner followed the troops, in the vain hope of settle- ments, until they found that it would be impossible to secure their pay from the soldiers, and that not only their profits but their capital had been wiped out. During this period of wandering throughout the country in pursuit of the elusive pay-day, Robinson, who was a man of quick wit and great ability, learned much concerning the methods of Indian trading, and in his well-nigh bankrupt condition he turned to this as offering an opportunity to recoup his fortune. The first venture of this kind was in Wisconsin, in partnership with Phelps. The following spring they rendezvoused at Mackinaw, and it was found that Mr. Robinson had gained handsomely, while Mr. Phelps had been a loser. A settlement of their affairs and a dissolution of the partnership followed and Mr. Robinson determined to trade for him- self. During this time he had become acquainted with John Jacob Astor, the great magnate of the American Fur Company, which was in active and bitter rivalry with the Hudson Bay Company. Traders of the American Fur Company had been driven from the post on St. Peter's River and Mr. Astor believed that Robinson combined the qualities of strength, courage, and ability to maintain himself at this post in spite of the rival company. He, therefore, made Robinson an offer, paying him a fixed sum and advancing him capital for trading purposes. The young man gladly accepted this and went to his far- western post. The Indians were hostile and refused to trade with him, carrying their furs to the distant post of the Hudson Bay Com- pany in preference. The story is told that after many weeks of wait- ing without business, a hostile chief called and demanded whiskey, without offering any furs in trade. Robinson refused to furnish him the liquor, whereupon there was a brief encounter in which Robinson had entirely the best of it. Respect for Robinson's prowess made the chief his friend, and from that time on the post was a success. Becoming satisfied that there was large profit in the tobacco trade with the Indians, Robinson resigned the post with the American Fur Company and went to St. Louis, in 1819, and made sufficient at this venture to enable him to establish a post as an independent trader. His first post was on the Calumet River, in what is now South Chicago, and the following year he established a station on the Illinois River, and one at the present site of Milwaukee. The American Fur Com- pany recognized his success and he was admitted as a limited partner to operate on the Grand, Kalamazoo, and Muskegon Rivers, with headquarters on the Grand River. The fur company already had a post at Ada, in charge of Madam La Framboise, and Robinson, who accepted the offer made him by Mr. Astor, first took over this post, buying Madam La Framboise's interests, and then establishing him- self at the mouth of Grand River Valley, and he extended every pos- sible aid and inducement to the new settlers, and was the trusted friend and adviser of Lucius Lyon and others of the courageous and hopeful men who forwarded the first enterprises in this part of Michi- gan. While Robinson was the chief trader on the Grand River, he
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was not able to monopolize the business, and one of his competitors was Louis Campau, who came to the Grand River Valley, in 1826. He was perhaps the most lovable of the pioneers. He came of one of the most noted and highly respected French families of Detroit, where he was born in 1791. The family name is interwoven with all the his- tory of Detroit, and that his sympathies were with the Americans was shown by the fact that he was a member of the militia surrendered by General Hull when he yielded Detroit to the British, in 1812. Follow- ing this, the young man was employed as a trader in the Saginaw region by Joseph Campau, of Detroit, and while there he served as interpreter to Governor Cass in the Indian treaty of 1819. Concerning his residence at Saginaw, and his part in this treaty, Mr. Campau testified upon the hearing of a lawsuit, in 1860, that he had resided in Saginaw four years before the treaty, trading with the Indians for Joseph Campau, his uncle ; that he had a trading house in the vicinity and built a second house, in 1822, and that he also had a store. He said that he was acquainted at Detroit; that it was his custom to spend his summers in Detroit and his winters in the Saginaw district. Ac- cording to his testimony, Governor Cass requested him to precede the treaty party and make suitable provision for a store-house, dining room, and council room. In describing the treaty, Mr. Campau said most of the business was at General Cass's office. There was a long table in the dining room and the private council was held there-the office and dining room were separated only by a store-house. There were four log buildings, all together, end to end. Cass arrived in the afternoon and sent his agent for the Indians to gather, the next morn- ing, when they met at the council house. Governor Cass let the In- dians know that he was sent by the Great Father to make a treaty, and that he wanted to buy their lands, and for them to go back and smoke and think about it. In three or four days he called them to- gether again, and at this second council there was great difficulty, hard words, and the Indians threatened General Cass. A third council was held, and between nine and ten days were required for the com- pletion of the treaty. After the treaty was made it was sundown, and the Indians all got drunk, and General Cass gave the order to be off. Mr. Campau testified at this trial that he was, at that time, well ac- quainted with all the head men of the tribe and understood the Chip- pewa language. He said that he was a clerk for Joseph Campau be- fore the war, and that he left for the Grand River Valley in the spring of 1826. Mr. Campau was married to a daughter of Rene Marsac, one of the earliest and best known of French families coming to New France. Captain Marsac was the commander of the French-American militia which was with Hull at Detroit, and Louis Campau was a member of his company. Campau came to the Grand River, there- fore, fortified not only with experience as an Indian trader and with a knowledge of the Indian language, but connected by blood, mar- riage, and social ties with the best French families of the Northwest. His coming was a considerable event and he soon established himself with suitable buildings. The first winter, however, was spent with his two assistants at the Indian village, and it was in the following year that he built two log cabins-one for a dwelling and the other for a store, with a small shop for a smithy. These were of old block-
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house style, built of logs, and were located by the river bank, at what was later the foot of the east side canal. For six years these were the only buildings on this side of the river. In that year he was joined by his brother, Toussaint, and it was here a few years later that the sister of his wife, Emily Marsac, came to visit in 1832. This good woman resided in the Grand River Valley for many years, dying at Big Rapids, April 25, 1893. The story of her coming is told in the Pioneer Collections as follows :
"Mrs. Toussaint Campau came to reside with her sister, Mrs. Louis Campau, riding along the Indian trail, 200 miles between Grand River and Detroit. The whole distance, until within twenty-five miles of Detroit, was through a dense wilderness, tenanted only by wild beasts and wild Indians. Her only escort were two or three courrier du bois. She had no fears of harm and suffered only from the fatigue of riding the slow ambling pony and of camping out for several nights along the trail. At the house of Uncle Louis she met his youngest brother, Toussaint, who wooed and won her, and they were married on the 27th day of November, 1834, in the Catholic Mission church, across the river, situated a little west of where Chubb's foundry stood a few years ago."
This was the second marriage in the Grand River Valley and the wedding feast was attended by almost every white inhabitant and by the distinguished Indian chiefs. Later, two other brothers, Antoine and George, came to Grand Rapids and joined the little settlement. Daniel Marsac also came, in 1828, and later went to Lowell, where he established a trading post, in 1831. These French traders thus per- petuated the fame of the earliest licensed French traders-Louis Cha- bolier, who was licensed to transport two canoes of ammunition to the Grand River Valley, in 1778, and Pierre Chabolierre, who was licensed to proceed with one canoe to Grand River, in 1780. One of the as- sistants who came with Louis Campau was Samuel Hollaway, a boy of seventeen, who was, perhaps, the first Yankee mechanic employed at Grand Rapids. He remained until 1832, at which time, he said later, there were but nine log cabins on the present site of the city of Grand Rapids, these being, three at the Thomas mission, three at the Campau post, and three at the Indian village. Francis Bailey, a half-breed, came from Eastern Canada, in 1828, and lived at the In- dian village, where he was a prominent medicine man. Other early travelers were Caleb Eldred, who came to investigate lands, but re- ported to his employer in favor of the Kalamazoo valley. Noah Os- borne visited the Rapids, in 1829, and during a severe sickness was cared for at the wigwam of Chief Noonday. In writing of this, in 1888, Mr. Osborne said that he had laid down, hungry, sick, lost and discouraged, when he was startled by a footstep and an Indian stood at his side. He conducted the sick man to the chief by whom he was kindly received, given something to eat and furnished a bed of skins. He was given a decoction of herbs and remained several days, until his strength was recovered. He said that the camp or town was near the river, where there were falls or rapids. Chief Noonday furnished him with a guide to the nearest white settlement, which he believed was the present Kalamazoo.
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