USA > Michigan > Kent County > Grand Rapids > Grand Rapids and Kent County, Michigan: History and Account of Their Progress from First. Vol. I > Part 8
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It was doubtless the prominent French Catholics who had some- thing to do with the establishment of the Catholic mission at Grand
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Rapids. Father Frederic Baraga was one of the greatest of the later- day Catholic missionaries among the Indians. He was an Austrian, and in 1830, when 33 years of age, he came to America and devoted himself to the Indians of the Northwest. His first work was at Arbre- croche in 1831, and he first visited Grand Rapids in 1832. He made the Grand Rapids mission his headquarters, in 1833, and in sixteen months it is said that he baptized 170 Indians. In spite of opposition he soon had a church and school built, and like the Protestant mis- sionaries, McCoy and Slater, he was violently opposed to the sale of whiskey to the Indians. This aroused not only the enmity of the traders, who wished to profit by the traffic, but of the Indians, who by this time were fatally fond of fire water, and it is said that on one night his mission cabin was surrounded by a howling mob of savages who were only prevented from injuring the priest by the strong barred door of his little home. In 1834 he was succeeded here by Father Viczoczky. The Catholic mission buildings were at the lower Indian village, but at the instance of Louis Campau, the church building was removed over the river on the ice, in the spring of 1834, by Barney Burton, and was later used for other purposes. Father Andreas Vis- zoczky continued to look after the interests of the Catholic Indians at Grand Rapids for some years, but the mission was abandoned at the time of the treaty of 1836.
While civilization was thus extending feeble fingers toward the Grand River Valley; while the missionaries were struggling to up- build the character of the red man, and finding it difficult to erect a structure of Indian civilization faster than the whiskey traders tore it down; while Robinson by his prowess and Campau by his friendli- ness were establishing themselves in the confidence of the Indians, and while such men as Lasley at Muskegon and Ferry at Grand Ha- ven were making their names fireside words in every wigwam of the valley, great events were going forward in the history of Michi- igan. The Treaty of Saginaw, in 1819, added a large strip of terri- tory in east Michigan to the lands open for settlement, and the in- creasing commerce of Detroit attracted more and more American settlers. A great event for Michigan was in 1818, when the Walk-in- the-Water brought steam navigation for the first time to the upper lakes. This boat made its first trip to Mackinac, in 1819, and first steamed up Lake Michigan in 1820. This alone served to bring the Grand River Valley several days nearer to the civilization of the east. In 1818, Michigan Territory, with the French population still in the majority, had voted not to have representative government under the provisions of the Ordinance of 1787, but, by the following year, Michigan population had so increased that Congress provided for the election of a delegate, and William Woodbridge, who had been Sec- retary of the territory and acting Governor during the absence of Governor Cass, was chosen as the first representative of Michigan in the National Congress, where he had the right of speech, but not a right to vote. Upon his resignation he was succeeded by Solomon Sibley, in 1820, and through his influence the first post-roads were established leading from Detroit to Pontiac and Mt. Clemens. Sev- eral counties were organized, and at the instance of Governor Cass an effort was made to investigate the reputed wealth of the Lake Su-
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perior copper mines, which had been almost forgotten since the days of the early French missionaries. Save for the commerce at Detroit and the small settlements scattered through Southern Michigan, as far west as Pontiac, the only industry of Michigan was that of the fur trade, with its complementary barter of goods with the Indians. This trade amounted to $1,000,000 worth of goods in 1821, and 3,000 packs of furs were exported from Mackinac. Mr. Astor, as head of the American Fur Company, which had grown to be a wealthy corpora- tion, had much influence with Congress. He was able to secure the passage of a law forbidding foreigners to trade with the Indians in the territory of the United States and abolishing the system of trad- ing with Indians at military posts. This restricted British competi- tion and also opened the doors to individual traders, so that the next few years, or until game became scarce, was the very harvest time for American fur traders. Until 1823, all legislative functions for Michi- gan were vested in the Governor and three Territorial Judges, who were Witherell, Griffin and Woodward, the latter being the eccentric, but brainy man, to whom Michigan is indebted for the first steps to- wards founding its great university. Congress yielded to the desire of the people for freer and more representative government and pro- vided for a legislative council of nine members, to be appointed by the President from a list of eighteen nominated by the vote of the people. Judge Woodward was given no place in this new form of government, and, disappointed and embittered, he returned to the East, where he lived in poverty until appointed to the Federal bench in Florida by President Monroe. He died in Florida, in 1827, but he will always be remembered as one of the most picturesque figures in early Michigan history.
In a letter, written from Detroit, Nov. 10, 1822, to a friend in his old home in the state of Vermont, one of the greatest of Michigan's pioneers said :
"But a small part of the territory is yet surveyed and I have not been able to obtain a job from the United States yet, but have a fair prospect of obtaining a district of ten townships to survey on the opening of Spring, which, at three dollars per mile, will amount to $1,800, out of which I can save something pretty handsome."
This was the start of a life in the woods which led Lucius Lyon through all of Michigan and into Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa. Everywhere before him he saw the wonderful opportunities of the West, and as fast as he could accumulate funds he invested in differ- ent projects which his increasing knowledge of conditions and his wonderfully optimistic spirit prompted. Thus we find that, as early as 1825, he had purchased 700 acres of land at the point which Judge Woodward insisted upon calling Ypsilanti-after the Grecian prince who had shown such patriotism in the Greek cause but a few years before. Writing to his father at this time, he urges him to sell every- thing, except bedding, and to come to Michigan as quickly as possi- ble. In 1828, he began a lengthy journey with Governor Cass and the great Indian scholar, Henry R. Schoolcraft, which took him as far west as Prairie du Chien, down the Mississippi river to the lead mines at Galena, and to St. Louis ; returning up the Ohio river to Cin- cinnati, to Chilicothe, and thence to Detroit. It was on this trip that
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he formed an acquaintance with Gen. William Clark, who crossed the continent with the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1805. It was in 1830, at "Great Kanawha," Virginia, that he first gained personal knowledge of the salt industry, a venture into which, at Grand Rap- ids, was later to cost him a large sum. In the exploration of the northern peninsula, and in the establishment of the boundaries of the State, he was one of the most prominent figures, and he not only was interested in finding investments for his own capital, but in aiding all who wished to make homes in the Northwest Territory. His work as a surveyor, explorer, and promoter, during these nine years in which he traversed the wilderness, made him the best-known man in Michi- gan and led to his election to Congress, in 1833. In 1831, his work as surveyor carried him as far west in Michigan as the Grand River Valley, and he surveyed what is officially known as "township seven, range twelve," while John Mullett surveyed township seven, range eleven, now including nearly all the territory of the city of Grand Rapids.
In 1831 Lewis Cass was appointed Secretary of War, under Presi- dent Jackson, and John T. Mason, of Virginia, had been appointed Secretary of the Territory of Michigan. Not wishing to assume the office, Mason secured the appointment as Secretary for his son, Ste- vens T. Mason, and as no Governor had been appointed, he became the acting Governor of the Territory. There were loud complaints at the appointment of this youthful stranger. The Governorship was later filled by the appointment of George B. Porter, of Pennsylvania, who regarded his office largely as a political sinecure and gave it lit- tle attention, so that Stevens T. Mason was the acting Governor for the greater part of the time, from the resignation of Governor Cass until Michigan became a State. Governor Porter died, in 1834, during an epidemic of cholera which ravaged Detroit; and while President Jackson nominated Henry D. Gilpin, of Pennsylvania, to fill the va- cancy, the Senate failed to confirm him, and Acting Governor Mason continued as the chief executive of Michigan. The bonds of friend- ship between him and Lucius Lyon were very strong and young Ma- son disappointed his critics and proved himself to be an able gov- ernor and intensely loyal to the interests of Michigan. He has been accorded tardy recognition as one of the great men in this formative period of Michigan history.
By 1831, Kent County had a place on the map and had been giv- en a name, although the lands owned by the United States and open to settlement extended only to the south bank of the Grand River. Louis Campau, who was on the spot when the government surveys were made, and who had the intelligence to realize that this was a favorable location for a larger settlement, was the first to enter land at Grand Rapids. This tract is described by Baxter as being "now bounded by Bridge street on the north, Division street on the east, Fulton street on the south, and the river on the west." This he soon had platted as the "Village of Grand Rapids." Lucius Lyon, having surveyed in this vicinity, and being ever on the lookout for opportu- nities for investment, formed a company with Eurotus P. Hastings and Henry L. Ellsworth, and on Sept. 25, 1832, entered a tract north and south of the Campau tract and had it entered as the 'Village of
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Kent." The next entry was that of Samuel Dexter, who entered four fractional eighty-acre tracts on the east side of what is now Division street.
Lyon at this time devoted much personal attention to his interests in the lead-mining district of Illinois, and it was while he was there that he was nominated for Congress on the Democratic ticket in op- position to Augustus E. Wing; and, to the surprise of all, on account of his extended and favorable acquaintance, Mr. Lyon was elected. This had much to do with the early advancement of Grand Rapids, for Mr. Lyon had large interests here and on account of his influen- tial position was able to direct attention to this point. There was much rivalry between Campau and Lyon in the early days, and each did his utmost to secure the upbuilding of the particular tract in which he was interested. There was, however, but little addition to the pop- ulation until the coming of what will always be known in the history of the Grand River Valley as the "Dexter Colony." The law by which Kent County was established was enacted by the Legislative Council of Michigan, March 2, 1831. The boundaries were as fol- lows: West of the line between ranges eight and nine, east of the line between ranges twelve and thirteen west, south of the line between townships eight and nine, and north of the line between townships four and five, containing sixteen townships, to be set off into a sep- arate county by the name of Kent, in honor of Chancellor Kent, New York jurist, who was born in 1763, and died in 1817. This county was to be organized and its inhabitants "Entitled to all rights and privileges of other counties." All matters at law, however, were to be settled in Kalamazoo County and all taxes paid as if the act had not passed. The year 1832 saw the erection of the first sawmill at Grand Rapids, on Indian Mill Creek, near the north line of the city. This was built at government expense by Gideon H. Gordon, as an adjunct to the Thomas mission, and was capable of cutting from five to eight hundred feet of boards per day, when the water power per- mitted, and at this mill was sawed the lumber for buildings at both the Baptist and Catholic missions. The postoffice at Grand Rapids was also established in this year, with Rev. Leonard Slater as post- master. The office was at the mission station on the west bank of the river, a few rods south of Bridge street.
Late in the year 1832, Samuel Dexter, of Herkimer county, New York, heard of the wonders of the Michigan peninsula, and, journey- ing from Detroit, inspected the lands lying along the Grand River Valley. He chose a location at what is now the city of Ionia and also entered the four tracts before mentioned at Grand Rapids. Returning to his native state, with glowing accounts of the advantages of the valley, he was soon able to secure the interest of his neighbors and, on April 22, 1833, the families of Erastus Yeomans, Oliver Arnold, and Samuel Dexter set forth to conquer the West. They started in a canal boat, which they had fitted up during the previous winter to accommodate their families and household goods on the journey to Buffalo.
Right here it is proper to note that one of the greatest influences in the settlement of Michigan was the completion of the Erie Canal, in 1825. This work was a credit to any state or nation and was an
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undertaking of as much magnitude, in that day, as the building of the Panama Canal was in this century. Before that time the settlement of the West had progressed by Prairie Schooner, gradually extending westward from Ohio, or down the Ohio river, and up and down the Mississippi. The Erie Canal opened a new route by which, with com- parative comfort and little expense, the ambitious homeseeking young men and women of New England and York State had access to the great Northwest. They went by the canal to Buffalo, thence by boat to Detroit, and thus their attention was directed at once to the Terri- tory of Michigan, and a great flood of immigrants from the New Eng- land states was diverted to this region. It was for this reason that a very large percentage of the early settlers of Western Michigan had formerly dwelt in the State of New York, and were either natives of the State or of New England origin.
Mrs. Prudence Tower, a daughter of Samuel Dexter, in Volume 28 of the Pioneer Collections, tells the story of the journey of the Dexter Colony as follows: "We started from Frankfort village, Herkimer county, New York, April 22, 1833, with three families, Mr. Yeoman's, Oliver Arnold's, and Samuel Dexter's-using their own horses to draw the boat, which was named 'Walk-in-the-Water,' but some one wrote on the side of the boat with chalk, 'Michigan Cara- van.' At Utica, Joel Guild and his brother Edward and families em- barked with us. We traveled by day and at night had to go ashore to sleep at hotels. At Syracuse, Mr. Darius Winsor and family joined the party. The boat was a motley sight, as the dock was piled with wagons taken to pieces and bound on, and every conceivable thing that could be taken to use in such a country where there was nothing to be bought. From Buffalo to Detroit we came by steamer Superior. Here we procured oxen and cows and cooked provisions and started on our journey through the wilderness. On leaving Detroit the party consisted of sixty-three people, and on the first day but seven miles were made."
In a few days after this party arrived at Ionia, Joel Guild and Mr. Dexter started from that place on horseback, by way of the Rap- ids of Grand River, for the land office at White Pigeon. On reaching the Rapids they met "Uncle" Louis Campau, who wanted them to set- tle there, the lands having come into market the year before. He had taken some land and was platting it into lots; he did not "talk Yan- kee" very well, he said, and he wanted a settlement of Yankees there. So Mr. Guild took up the forty that was afterwards known as the "Kendall Addition," and also purchased some pine land a little south- east of there. When he came back from the land office, he bought, for $25, each, two village lots of Mr. Campau. Uncle Louis and some of his French help went to Ionia in bateaux for the family. At the mouth of Flat River they went ashore. Dan Marsac was there, in a log shanty. There was no clearing. Many Indians were about. They next landed at Rix Robinson's and found Indians there also. Soon afterward some Indians met them, and Uncle Louis talked with them in their own language. He said they informed him that a Catholic priest, Mr. Baraga, had just arrived. They reached the Rapids and landed that evening on the east side by the foot of Huron street, near where the Butterworth & Lowe Iron Works were afterward located.
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Two log houses and a shop were there and all about were woods. They were received with warm welcome by that good woman, Mrs. Louis Campau, who did her utmost to make them comfortable. This was Sunday, June 23, 1833. They stayed there a few days and then re- moved to Mr. Campau's fur packing house and store, where the Guild family lived till about the first of September, when they removed into the new house that Mr. Guild had built. It is with the family of Joel Guild that the history of Grand Rapids is very largely concerned as he was the only one of the Dexter colony who at once settled in this vicinity. The family consisted of himself and wife, and six daughters, and a son, and Harriet was the eldest child. As heretofore stated, the family first found lodgement with the hospitable Louis Campau and his wife, and Mr. Guild bought lots at the foot of Prospect Hill and immediately started the erection of the first frame house in Grand Rapids. This was 16x26 feet, story-and-a-half structure, and was on the site later and now occupied by the National City Bank. Much of the household work was done out of doors, near a spring not far from the river's edge, an oak log serving for backing to the out-of-door fireplace, with crane and hangers of wood and large bake-ovens of tin. Numbers of settlers and prospecters were attracted to the Grand River during this year, and perforce the little frame house became a tavern. Six months after coming to the place, Joel Guild wrote to his brother in New York, concerning the new home, as follows: "After looking about for a home, I thought best to move about fifty miles down Grand River to a place called Grand River Falls. I landed here on the thirteenth day of June-no one here then that could speak Eng- lish, excepting a French trader by the name of Campau. I bought 120 acres of first-rate land near this place, and since I bought I have had the satisfaction of going with the Commissioners and sticking the stake for the Court House in our county within twenty-five rods of my land. Direct your letters to Grand Rapids, county of Kent, Michi- gan. We have a post office here by the name of Grand Rapids." .
The location of the county seat, spoken of by Mr. Guild, was made by James Kingsley, S. V. R. Trowbridge, and Charles Lanman, commissioners appointed by the Governor under the act by which Kent County was created. This location was made, Nov. 8, 1833, and the stake was set near the center of what was later known as the Fulton Street Park.
Among the adult male members of the Dexter colony not previ- ously mentioned, were Dr. W. B. Lincoln, the first physician in the Grand River Valley ; Zenas Winsor, son of Darius; Patrick M. Fox, and M. Decker. Samuel Dexter lived to be the respected head of the Ionia colony for many years, but was never largely identified with Grand Rapids. Darius Winsor removed to Grand Rapids within a few years after coming to Michigan and was the second postmaster in the village. Under the old system of laws he had been imprisoned for debt in New York State and it was largely through the efforts of his son Zenas that he was released and enabled to make the journey to the new country, to regain his fortune. He was the first to bring goods by pole boats from the mouth of the Grand River. He died in Grand Rapids in 1855. His son, Zenas G., played an important part in the early history of the valley. He was nearly thirty years of age
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upon his arrival in Michigan and at once sought employment. He acted as an axe-man, when the county seat was located at Grand Rap- ids, and drove the stake which was to mark the site of the new Court House. He entered the employ of Rix Robinson, at the Grand Haven station, and became popular with the Indians, who gave him the name of Che-mo-kee-mames, or Young Englishman, and later he was known as No-ba-quon, which was the Indian word for ship. He did not make Grand Rapids his home, however, until 1835, when he conducted a store at the corner of Monroe and Ottawa streets, with Rix Robin- son as his backer; though this venture was not a success. Jacob W. Winsor, also a son of Darius, entered the Indian trade soon after com- ing to Ionia and learned to speak the Indian language fluently, but he also was not identified with Grand Rapids until a few years later.
Among the other pioneers of this year were Eliphalet H. Turner, who became the first clerk of Grand Rapids township ; and Ira Jones, Josiah Burton, Elijah Grant, Arthur Bronson, Walter Sprague, A. S. Wadsworth, and Henry L. Ellsworth. Another settler who was well known as a friend of every one in the Grand River Valley was ' Yan- kee" Lewis, the famous tavern keeper of Yankee Springs. He located in the edge of the oak openings, on the line that had been traveled by the very few who before then had come to the Rapids by the south route. It was on the great Indian trail which had branched from the Detroit and Chicago Indian trail and led to the Rapids and from there to the Traverse region and Mackinac. Along this trail Pontiac, Te- cumseh, the Prophet, and lesser Indian chiefs and braves had trav- eled. Lewis' brother first located in Michigan in a log house without floors, doors, or windows. "Yankee" thought the location good, if the talk of the Grand River Valley should amount to anything, with its cheap ten-shilling-an-acre land, and he bought his brother's inter- est, returning to Detroit and sending supplies by water, using pole boats from the mouth of the Grand River to what is now Grand Rap- ids and from that point to his farm tavern by horseback. This place was noted for its wonderful garden and hospitable good cheer, and was known to and was visited by almost every settler in Western Michigan. There was established a weekly horseback mail from Bat- tle Creek to Grand Rapids and, when the contractor gave this up, Lewis and John Withey continued it, putting heavy spring canvas- covered wagons on the route, even though the business did not pay. These wagons had openings at the side, opposite each seat, which seats were cushioned with sheep's pelts, wool-side up. There was no road, except a short distance north of Battle Creek. The inrush of settlers in the following years caused this tavern to grow until there were in all seven buildings, which Yankee Lewis humorously de- scribed "as his seven-story hotel, all on the ground floor."
There were no whites living on the Grand River, in 1833, except at Ionia, Grand Rapids, Grandville and Grand Haven. Antoine Can- nell, employed by Campau, was the first blacksmith and A. D. Stout was the next outside of the mission. His first work in the little shop, at the foot of Pearl street, was to fashion a fish spear for the Indians. In Paris township the Guilds, Barney Burton, and James Pool entered land, Burton's tract being 340 acres, one-half mile south of the old fair grounds-Burton street is a reminder of it. The first plowing in the
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county was done by Luther Lincoln and in the year 1833, several of the pioneers broke ground in Grand Rapids, Wyoming and Paris townships. In this year, also, Mr. Campau built the pole boat, "Young Napoleon," and added some buildings to his trading post. To the Indian mill, with its old sash saw of the flutter-wheel variety he added a cheap run of stones, which proved a great help to the community as there was no other mill nearer than Gull Prairie. These stones John Ball afterwards secured and used as a horse block in front of his residence for many years, and they are now to be seen in front of the Public Museum at Grand Rapids. Thus it will be seen that by the close of the year 1833 great impetus had been given to the settlement of the valley, and the neucleus for a village had been formed at Grand Rapids. Others who should be mentioned as coming in this year are Louis Moran, who came as a clerk for Louis Campau, then ran a tavern on the Thornapple river and later returned to Grand Rapids, where he established the Eagle Hotel ; Orson A. Withey, who was but seventeen years of age, and who was one of the first brick-makers of the valley, and Noah P. Roberts, the pioneer farmer on the west side of the river. Further impetus was given to the settlement of Western Michigan by further cessions by the Indians. The year 1833 was, therefore, the initial year of the settlement of Grand Rapids by what may be called the American population, as distinct from the Indian traders and the missionaries. Through the efforts of Lucius Lyon, who had been elected to Congress, the first petition for the admission of Michigan as a State was presented to Congress initiating the long fight as to the southern boundary, in which the harbor at Toledo and a strip of land west to the Indian line was in question, and which was ultimately settled in favor of the State of Ohio, but with Michigan receiving the great Upper Peninsula, the value of which was greatly underestimated by all, with the possible exception of Mr. Lyon. In addition to those who remained at Grand Rapids and vicinity there had been many land-seekers and explorers, a num- ber of whom returned to their Eastern homes, but became residents of Grand River Valley at later dates. With so few neighbors, dis- tances did not count and the whole valley was practically one colony with interests much in common, from Ionia to Grand Haven. Thus such a man as Martin Ryerson, who had been prospecting in Michigan since 1825, and who is said to have visited this region in 1826, and in 1833 was an employee of Rev. W. M. Ferry, at Grand Haven, was well known at Grand Rapids and practically accounted as one of its citizens. Others who were here at the beginning of the year 1834 were W. M. R. Godwin, Josiah Burton, Warner Dexter, Myron Roys, Henry West, J. R. Copeland, J. Archibald, and Jonathan F. Chubb, while Steven and Daniel Tucker had located at Grandville, not far from Luther Lincoln.
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