History of Bay County, Michigan, and representative citizens, Part 7

Author: Gansser, Augustus H., 1872-
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Chicago : Richmond & Arnold
Number of Pages: 738

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valley was still held to be haunted by evil spirits. Undoubtedly these land lookers fell victims to the treacherous waters. One party investigating the country in 1836, which they knew was soon to be opened for settlement, was caught in one of these tempestuous rains. For miles along the shore of the Saginaw River they looked in vain for a camping place. When they finally found a spot that was high and dry, they crawled ashore utterly exhausted from hours of paddling against the strong current. Some hours later the waters began to rise, and shortly after midnight they had to take to their canoe, for their camping ground was covered with several feet of water, which was still ris- ing. All night long they struggled against the current and the storm in their frail canoe, and all thanked Providence when morning broke and the storm abated. Since much drift wood was carried down stream, their escape from drowning was really miraculous.

That same winter the McCormicks suffered with hundreds of other pioneers, from the bursting of the financial bubble, and the crash of "wild-cat" banks. James McCormick sold his surplus corn to Saginaw parties for $1.50 per bushel, and the boys hauled it down in large, crude sleds on the ice. The corn was paid for in bills on the Flint Rapids Bank. When these bills were taken to Flint, it was found the "wild-cat" bank had failed the day before, and the pay for a whole year's labor had been lost! That same winter the Indians were dying by hundreds from smallpox, and as few were well enough to hunt or fish, they were actually starving. Chief Ton-dog-a-ne, sage warrior and friend of the pale faces, was among the first to cross the great river. Despite the loss of their entire crop of corn through the failure of the Flint "wild-cat" bank. the Mc- Cormicks gave liberally of all they had to the starving red men. Potatoes, corn, beans,

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CENTER AVENUE, Bay City, E. S.+-Looking East

GEO.L. MOSHER HARDWAR!

504

MIDLAND STREET, Bay City, W. S .- Looking West (Photograph taken April 15, 1904-snow 20 inches deep )

PHOENIX BLOCK, Bay City, E. S.

CRAPO BLOCK, Bay City, E. S.

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.

pumpkins and squashes were piled up at the far end of the Indian field, so that the Indians could get them without endangering the health of the settlers. When spring came and the epidemic abated, the Indians showed their ap- preciation of the settler's kindness by giving him a lease without any remuneration for 99 years on the 640 acres he occupied. Judge Devenport executed the legal documents.

In September of that year the treaty was made with the Indians for their entire reser- vation. They refused to sell their lands, unless "the white man with the big heart" would be secure on his 640 acres, which they had given him in recognition for his help in their hour of dire need. Henry R. Schoolcraft, superintend- ent of Indian affairs, drew up the treaty, prom- ising to secure McCormick's rights, but when the treaty was finally signed, sealed and deliv- ered, that clause was found missing. In 1840 the government sold the tract, and the McCor- micks were unceremoniously ejected from the land they had made productive through all those years of privation, toil and danger.

What was a loss to that pioneer family proved a blessing to Bay County, for in 1841 the McCormicks removed to their original des- tination, the banks of the Lower Saginaw. Undaunted by the vicissitudes of a long series of unfortunate events; disinherited by his father because he dared to choose his own help- meet ; defrauded out of the earnings of many years of hard work by the dishonesty of friends whom he had trusted; driven into the wilder- ness with his infant children and frail wife to begin life anew under the most trying circum- stances ; and now, after carving a farm out of the forest in his old age, driven even from that forlorn hope by the strong arm of the govern- ment, for which he had done so much as an ad- vance guard in the wilderness; such was the

fate of this sturdy pioneer! But his spirits were undaunted and his energies still keen.

Aided by his energetic sons, Mr. McCor- mick once more packed up his earthly posses- sions and moved them by river to Portsmouth, now the south end of Bay City.

With a keen eye for business, the sturdy Scotchman looked on the majestic pines tower- ing all about him, he listened to the stories of the unlimited pine supply of Northern Michi- gan, as told by the Indians and pale face trad- ers. He conversed with late arrivals from Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York and the East. He learned that a multitude were crossing the Atlantic Ocean from Eu- rope, seeking a New World, where personal liberty was established, and great opportunities awaited the industrious immigrants. Cities were building up, and the wave of immigration was spreading resistlessly Westward. The polit- ical unrest in Germany and Central Europe was sending a most desirable class of people to America, and most of these were going into the interior, determined to create homes for themselves in the virgin forests and prairies. Building homes and warehouses required lum- ber, and here was as fine timber as the sun ever shone upon. Then here was the great river, yonder the broad expanse of Saginaw Bay, an open door to the Great Lakes, opening an easy channel to the North, East and South, for the ships of commerce. With the eye of a seer he recognized the great opporutnities offered by the lumber industry to this beautiful valley.

He found an idle sawmill in the little settle- ment of Portsmouth, erected in 1837 by the selfsame Albert Miller, who had helped to bring Mrs. McCormick and the children to her husband in their first clearing on the Flint River in 1832. The boys of those years were men now, in the full vigor of hardy manhood,

HISTORY OF BAY COUNTY

and brighter days dawned for the long suffer- ing family. B. K. Hall willingly sold his in- terest in the idle mill to James McCormick, for during those years of panic following the "wild-cat" bank failures and still wilder land speculation, there was no demand for lumber in the valley or out of it. The McCormicks placed the sawmill in running order, arranged to sell their output to James Busby, brother-in- law to the late James Fraser, of Detroit, for $8 per thousand, for clear pine, one-third down, the balance on long time credits, and started the machinery. Capt. George Raby, in the old "Conneaut Packet," carried the first cargo of lumber out of the Saginaw River, contain- ing 40,000 feet of pine cut by the McCormicks' mill. They sold clear lumber at the mill to the Trombleys and others for $10 in store trade.

At such prices and under such conditions, these pioneer lumbermen could not amass for- tunes, as did their successors in that line of business in the years to follow. These pioneers merely blazed a way for the generation that was to follow them. Well has it been said of them, that they came 20 years too soon to be- come rich. But in the fullness of time they had a work to do, for by their perseverance. priva- tions, hardships and industry, this valley was opened to the world, and made to blossom as a rose.

Typical of his age and generation was James McCormick. Too brave and stout- hearted to let succeeding disasters daunt his spirits, the wilderness merely roused his best efforts. Obstacles were made only to be over- come. Life was work and work was life. Even in his declining years he was blazing the way for his children and children's children.

Ere we take up the thread of narrative and resume the story of the development of this county, it will be well to note the closing scenes in the lives of these estimable pathfinders. For

five years James McCormick assisted his sons in the sawmill, and then death hushed his ster- ling heart forever. His devoted wife, who had uncomplainingly left ease and comfort behind, who had carried her children into the wilder- ness, given life to others in the crude log cabin in the valley, and raised and educated them all to the best of her ability, survived him by 16 years. She dispensed her hospitality in the old homestead in Portsmouth until 1854. when she gave up the duties of the household and re- tired for well-merited rest and repose with her children. She died at the home of her daugh- ter, Mrs. John Malone, in Taymouth, Saginaw County, July 22, 1862. Her life was like that of a bright star, illuminating the wilderness. Pioneer husband and wife sleep side by side in Pine Ridge Cemetery. Over their sepulchre kind hands have raised a suitable monument with the following inscription : "To the Mem- ory of JAMES and ELLEN MCCORMICK, Pio- neers of the Saginaw Valley. They pitched their tent in the wilderness in 1832. and planted a vineyard; but the Master called them home ere they gathered the fruit!" An honest man is the noblest work of God!

The venerable couple had nine children who grew to maturity ; Robert is a prosperous far- mer in Illinois. Joseph went to Kentucky in 1831, and later settled in Kansas, where he died more than 20 years ago. Sarah, the third daughter, married Medor Trombley, the Ports- mouth Indian trader, on August 26, 1847, a year after her father's death. The wedding was a simple affair, in keeping with the sim- plicity of their lives and the times. They started housekeeping at once in the frame building, erected by Medor Trombley in 1835. Seven children came to bless their union, among them Mrs. L. F. Rose and Mrs. John Greening, of Bay City. Archibald L., the hero who gave his life for the Union at Kenesaw Mountain,

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.

was the fifth son. Elizabeth, the second daugh- ter, married Orrin Kinney, a prominent farmer and well-known pioneer of this county. They still reside in the family homestead on Cass ave- nue, surrounded by their children and children's children. Ann, the first daughter, married John Malone, of Taymouth township, Saginaw County, where they settled on government lands, entered in 1838. The youngest son, Andrew V. McCormick, the first white child born in Taymouth township (on December 30, 1836), went to Illinois in 1854, served in the Union Army during the Civil War, and later became a prosperous farmer in Kansas.

James J. McCormick, the third son, shared in all the hardships and toil of the family's homebuilding in the Saginaw Valley. His rifle supplied the venison for the larder in the log cabin. He it was who transported the sup- plies to and from the homestead in the wilder- ness. Equally at home on horseback as in canoe, and knowing every Indian trail for miles around, he was much sought after as a guide by the land lookers. Born in Albany, New York, in January, 1817, he early evinced sound business judgment, and at the death of his father in 1846 he carried on the sawmill busi- ness in Portsmouth. While visiting his brother Joseph in Kentucky, in 1839, he met, wooed and won Jane Sheldon, who proved a fitting helpmeet during those pioneer days. She died in 1854. Two sons and one daughter (after- ward Mrs. Edioni H. Bassett, her husband being at the head of the dry goods firm of Bassett, Seed & Company) survived her. Their eldest son also enlisted in the Union Army during the Civil War, where he contracted an ailment which caused his death in 1867.

The indomitable will and enterprise of James J. McCormick did much to develop the lumber industry of the valley. When he and his father bought the Hall mill in Portsmouth

in 1841, everything was at a standstill. Most men would have waited for something to turn up. Not so these McCormicks. They went to Detroit and sought a market for the pine they had cut. At home the settlers had neither money nor courage to erect new buildings. The McCormicks stepped in and put up buildings on long term contracts, with the lumber they cut, their early customers including Hon. James G. Birney, and the famous Indian trad- ers and interpreters, Capt. Joseph F. Marsac, Medor Trombley and Joseph Trombley. This pioneer sawmill operator bought Captain Mar- sac's cottage and a parcel of land, by furnishing the lumber for a more palatial home for the veteran Indian fighter. The friendship which sprang up between James J. McCormick and the late Judge Albert Miller on the Indian trail to Detroit back in 1832, ripened into a business partnership, when in 1848 they jointly oper- ated their little sawmill. None but the early settlers can know the ceaseless round of toil those men endured in cutting lumber in that mill. Both took their turns at the saw, and fixed up their books and other business matters when their other employees slept.

Then the gold fever swept over the land, and with thousands of others from every com- munity in the country, and from every walk of life, James J. McCormick determined to "get rich quick" in the famous gold El Dorado of California. Having provided for the care of his wife and children, and arranged his busi- ness affairs, he bade them all farewell, and once more turned his face resolutely Westward. Having procured a team of oxen and loaded a wagon with the necessities required for the trip, he ferried them across the Saginaw River on a raft of hewn timbers, in March, 1849, and started solitary and alone across the un- known continent to the gold fields of Califor- nia. An old acquaintance, Alfred Goyer, of

HISTORY OF BAY COUNTY

Genessee County, accompanied him part of the way. Later they met at a spring in California where they were watering their horses, but both had aged so, that they did not recognize one another until they spoke of their former residences. They shared each other's fortunes and misfortunes in the gold district after that, returning to the Saginaw Valley in 1851. Their experience had been identical with thous- ands of other gold seekers. Hardships and dangers were their portion and the reward fell far below expectations.

The hardy adventurer saved enough of the gold dust to begin the lumber business on a more extensive scale on his return, building a new sawmill near his residence, which he operated successfully until 1871, when he sold it to the Webster Company. In 1868 he erected the McCormick Block on Water street. He owned considerable real estate. He was a mem- ber of the first Council of Bay City and was elected mayor in 1869. He had a wide circle of devoted personal friends. He was a 33rd degree Mason.

William R. McCormick, the fourth son, was born at Albany, New York, August 16, 1822. He was 10 years old when his family made the perilous trip to the wilds of Michigan. For many years their only neighbors were In- dians, and his only playmates were these red children of the forest. Their nearest neigh- bors at that time were Charles and Humphrey McLean, who lived 15 miles away, where Pine Run is now located. He often accompanied the Indians on their periodical hunting trips, and when but 15 years old was employed as in- terpreter and trader by an independent fur trading company on the Saginaw River. Dur- ing the winter of 1837-38 he did chores for Major Mosley, who commanded the old stock- ade fort on the Saginaw, where he received such schooling as that young settlement of-

fered. In 1839 he determined to see the world, so against his father's wish he started on foot for his brother's home near Vincennes, Indiana. He took the Indian trail to Detroit, then fol- lowed the corduroy road as far as LaPorte, Indiana, and finally reached his destination, footsore, hungry and penniless. Having satis- fied his craving for travel and sightseeing, he returned to the parental roof in 1840. He ac- companied his father's family to Portsmouth in 1841, where he assisted in the work in the sawmill until 1846. He spent a few years in Albany, New York, where he married Angel- ica Wayne, and then came back to the valley he loved to call his home. In 1860 a stock com- pany was formed by Judge Albert Miller, to bore for salt. William R. McCormick was chosen secretary and general manager. He superintended the boring, and at a depth of 600 feet the flow of brine was struck, which has ever since furnished the raw material for one of the valley's leading industries. This was the first salt well in Bay County. For many years he was active in the lumber and real estate busi- ness. He shared with Judge Miller for many years the distinction of being the oldest living pioneers of Bay County. He lived to see Bay City grow from a settlement of two log cabins to a prosperous community of over 20,000 in- habitants, whose buzzing saws were heard around the world, wherever the product of forest and stream entered into the creation of homes and the construction of ships.

For many years William R. McCormick collected data and relics pertaining to the early history of Bay County. We owe much to his pen. Michigan owes much of its pioneer col- lection to his foresight and forethought. That the lives and deeds of his parents and family are so well-known and so well-preserved, is entirely due to his memorandum book, which gives to us the most exact and interesting re-

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.

view of pioneer life 70 years ago. His anec- dotes of the early settlements and the Indians as he found them furnish one of the brightest chapters in the annals of Michigan, and give to men and events in this rich valley their proper place and proportion. Space forbids recounting all of his inimitable stories and rem- iniscences. A few will bear repeating, as a fleeting glimpse into an eventful and yet almost forgotten past.

In 1833 he accompanied Colonel Marshall on an exploring trip to the mouth of the Sagi- naw River and along the west shore of Sagi- naw Bay. Starting from Flint during the hot summer months, they soon struck a shallow spot in the river. A young Indian warrior helped them in getting their canoe around the low water, and the brave was given a swig of fire-water, which every pioneer carried in those days. They paddled 12 miles down the river and landed to prepare dinner. To their utter astonishment, ere long they perceived the self- same young Indian approaching their campfire. He told them he had come 12 miles to get an- other drink of the white man's firewater! Such was the craving for liquor which consumed Poor Lo!

Paddling down the river, they passed through great swarms of wild ducks, the an- cestors of the flocks, which even now, in ever diminishing numbers, visit the shores of river and bay at certain seasons of the year. In the summer of 1833 the river was fairly black with them. A Chippewa Indian from the Wenonah village had 37 ducks, which he said he had killed with seven shots from a "squaw gun." If that old blunderbuss did such execution one can imagine what would have happened had he used a modern repeating shotgun.

The first habitation they saw, after leaving the fort stockade of Saginaw behind them, was the log cabin at Zilwaukee, known as the Mosby

House. Paddling swiftly with the current down stream, they soon passed the log cabin where the Indian squaw of the Frenchman, Louis Masho, and his half-breed children were fishing in the shade of a huge elm tree, where Bousfield's mammoth woodenware works are now located. Almost three miles further down stream they passed the log cabin of Leon Trom- bley, now the corner of Fourth avenue and Water street. They did not see another living soul until they reached the mouth of the Kaw- kawlin River, where an Indian trading shack was located, which was always a favorite meet- ing place of the redskins.

Colonel Marshall participated that night in a big powwow at an Indian village on the Kaw- kawlin, where the pipe of peace made the rounds, wise old Indians "orated" in a lan- guage their guest could not understand, and where considerable fire-water was consumed and charged against future catches of fish and game by the reckless sons of the forest. In- dian games were in order the next morning, and young McCormick enjoyed the sport and the honors with the best of the young bucks.

Among the wise men of the tribe at this camp-fire was Neh-way-go, of the Tittaba- wassee band of Hurons. His wigwam was on the shore of Saginaw Bay, where the beau- tiful summer resort, Wenona Beach, is now situated. In his younger years this warrior had killed a son of Red Bird, a chief of the Flint band of Chippewas, who immediately de- manded his life as a forfeit under the Indians' crude laws. Neh-way-go presented himself at the mourner's wigwam, and told the assembled warriors he had come to pay the penalty of his rash deed. Baring his bosom, he was thrice stabbed by the dead man's relatives, but none . of the thrusts proved immediately fatal. Cov- ered with his own blood he hurried back to his own people, when one of Red Bird's band saw

HISTORY OF BAY COUNTY

him and gave him another stab in the back. In spite of his wounds and loss of blood, his faithful young wife managed to bind up his wounds and nursed him back to life and health. Indian usage was satisfied, but Indian hate never. While still weak from his terrible wounds, he visited the Indian trading store of the Williams brothers on the Saginaw River. An Indian runner brought these tidings to O-sou-wah-bon's band camped on the Titta- bawassee, and that burly warrior at once started with concealed knives to finish Neh- way-go. Bold as ever, the wounded Indian refused to enter his canoe when ordered to do so by Ephraim S. Williams. When the aveng- ing native arrived, the Williams brothers dis- armed him, pushed Neh-way-go into his canoe and his wife paddled him home, despite his pro- tests that he was no coward, and would meet the avengers. The following year, while hunt- ing, he met the Indian who had stabbed him in the back after his summary punishment, and Neh-way-go promptly killed him. Black Beaver, a noted chief of the Chippewas, took him to task at an Indian payment-meeting at Saginaw some years after, and in the fight that followed, Black Beaver was killed. Colonel Stanard, commanding the army post, issued a warrant for Neh-way-go's arrest, but the In- dian preferred death at the hands of his own people to arrest and imprisonment by the sol- diers. He told Ephraim S. Williams, the In- dian agent, that he would present himself for such punishment as his tribe might inflict, but he never would submit to be arrested, which was a punishment fit only for cowards! The killing of Black Beaver had spread quickly through the Indian villages and from them to the few white settlements. When the day for the solemn Indian funeral rites had arrived, all the Indians and white settlers in the valley were assembled on the ridge west of the river bank.

The Indian's relatives were chanting the mournful funeral odes of their tribe, their faces streaked with black and white, symbolic of death and the life beyond in the happy hunt- ing grounds. While the several thousand silent watchers were intent on the mysterious cere- monies, Neh-way-go came strutting over from his camp ground. He was attired in all the splendor of a warrior on the war-path. His knife and tomahawk were in his belt, and a flask of whiskey hung from his girdle. He was prepared for the long journey to the same happy hunting grounds to which he had sent Black Beaver. With solemn mien and majes- tic tread he came into the circle of mourners. The white settlers had provided a coffin for the dead. On this he sat, while he filled his calu- met with kinnikinic, composedly puffing clouds of blue vapor skyward. Then he passed his pipe to the chief mourner, who scorned to take it. Next he passed his whiskey flask with the same solemn mien. This, too, was scorned. Then he sat down, opened his hunting shirt and bared his bosom. After a few moments of intense silence he addressed the mourners as follows: "You refuse my pipe of peace. You refuse to drink with me. Strike not in the back. Strike not and miss. The man who strikes and misses dies when next I meet him on the hunting grounds!" But no one stirred. No one offered to kill him. Then Neh-way-go arose, replaced knife and tomahawk and whis- key flask in his girdle, and with the same sol- emn mien passed straight through his enemies, pausing only long enough to taunt them for being cowards! When young McCormick saw him near his wigwam on the Kawkawlin, he was an old and weather-beaten warrior, of ready wit and convivial spirits. Years after, he fell a victim to the implacable hate of the relatives of Black Beaver, being shot while hunting on the Quanicassee.

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.

On this same trip, Mr. McCormick saw, for the first time, the "Lone Tree," which was for years a landmark for the old settlers, and an omen for good among the Hurons. It was a vigorous ash tree, about two feet in diameter, standing solitary and alone in the prairie, where McGraw's prairie farm is now located. Canoe- ists on the river estimated by the tree they were two miles from Portsmouth and four miles from Leon Trombley's original log cabin in Bay City. In summer, with its rich foliage, and in winter amid the great white mantle of snow, it was alike conspicuous. And be it win- ter or summer, passing travelers invariably saw a large white owl perched in the tree-top. To the Indians this owl was sacred, and a pretty legend was woven about the tree. Often did the pioneers hear the orators of the Hurons re- peat this legend, the most romantic inheritance left by them to their favorite hunting grounds of long ago. Ages ago, the exact number none could tell, a great and wise chief, Ke-wah-ke- won, ruled over the red people of this valley with love and kindness. When he felt that he would soon be treading the happy hunting grounds of the Great Spirit, he called his people together to bestow on them his last blessing, and to give them his parting admonition and advice. Amid the silent prairie, as yet un- trod by the foot of the pale face, the clans were gathered, mournful witnesses of the last fare- well of their brave and beloved chieftain. When he felt his pulse grow weaker, he lifted his voice calm and clear above the rushing waters of the stream at his feet : "My children," said he, "the Great Spirit has called me, and I must obey the summons. Even now the tomahawk is raised to sever the last chord that binds me to my children! The guide stands at the door to convey me to the hunting grounds of my father in the Spirit Land. You weep, my chil- dren, but dry your tears, for though I leave

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History of Bay County, Michigan, and representative citizens, Part 7

Author: Gansser, Augustus H., 1872- Publication date: 1905 Publisher: Chicago : Richmond & Arnold Number of Pages: 738

Author: Gansser, Augustus H., 1872-
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Chicago : Richmond & Arnold
Number of Pages: 738