History of Bay County, Michigan, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 2

Author:
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago : H. R. Page
Number of Pages: 380

USA > Michigan > Bay County > History of Bay County, Michigan, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 2

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123

Fraser, James. .

Pierce, Capt. B. F. 172

Bank Block .

Fraser House Block. 110

Barclay, J. S.

Green, S. M., Residence. 216

Ramsdell, James. .

117

. Barse, W. H. 140

Hall, J. R., Residence.

235

Ramsdell, James, Residence 162

Bay City in Fall of 1838. 65

Hogle, J. W

264

Saginaw, Bay City and Alpena Steamer. Scheurmann, R

224

Birney Block

112

McCormick, W. R.

Shearer Bros. Block

105

Birney, James G

69 McCormick, W. R., Residence

Shearer's Central Block

105

Boutell, Daniel.

156

McDonald, John N., Residence

Shearer, James.

118

Bonheur, Rosa.

237

McEwan, John ..

Simon, Mrs. Philip

Campbell House.

281

Michigan Pipe Company's Works 134 Smith, Peter.

167

Center House

Miller, Judge, Albert. 18

Smith, Capt. P. C ..

194

County Jail.

216

93 Miller, W. H., Residence and Cottages. 82-83 Mitchell & Boutell's Tugs. 135 Trombley, Job.

Supe, C., Elevator 209

266

Eddy, C. A., Residence.

216 Munger Block 111

Watson Block

102

First Baptist Church

New Denison Block

112

Wight, J. Ambrose

Fisher Block

184

O'Connor, E., Residence

216

Willson, Capt. John S

Beebe, W. A. & Co., Dredge and Boats.

226

Lount Block

126

129

Birney, Judge James

59 McDonald & Shearer's Mill.

97 Shearer, Geo. H., Residence.

Boutell, Mrs. Daniel.

156

McEwan Block

112

Simon, Philip.

Campbell, R. J.

148

Marsac, Capt. Joseph F .. .

Simon, Philip, Residence.

Campbell, S. S

Miller, Albert, Residence. 48

Smith, Capt. P. C., Tug Line 194

Central School Building

Pierce, Capt. B. F., Residence 172

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HISTORY OF BAY COUNTY.

INTRODUCTORY.

All American history, whether local or general, opens amid similar scenes, and its pictures have a common back-ground. Dense forest fills the space, and the moving figures are the savage and the brute. The lakes, the plunging rivers and the placid streams are unruffled save by the bark canoes of savage wanderers, and the storms of heaven. Then there comes a time when the rays of advancing civilization begin to penetrate the gloom. The approach- ing footsteps of the pioneer fall with equally ominous sound upon the ears of the savage and the brute. The contest that follows is sometimes brief, though oftener protracted; but the interests of civilization, the destiny of a great republic, are at stake, and in the Providence of human affairs ultimate triumph must some time come to the founders of homes, the builders of cities and of states. Then

"Toil swings the axe and forests bow, The fields break out in radiant bloom; Rich harvests smile behind the plow, And cities cluster round the loom."

The spot where civilization struggled with barbarism for the supremacy is the Mecca of the historian. Thither he repairs with hurried step, to rescue the traditions of returnless centuries and of tribes fast disappearing. In nooks and caves and scattered mounds he finds a multitude of characters that speak in a voiceless language of a past out of which no other tidings will ever come. Starting from the spot dedicated to the future by the heralds of civilization, of social refinement and civil authority, history begins to deal with characters and scenes belonging to its foreground.

A knowledge of the past is necessary to an intelligent under- standing of the present, and a wise preparation for the future. An inheritance, whatsoever its form, is most truly prized and wisely guarded by the heir who is best acquainted with its cost. Without struggle there is no triumph, without toil no harvest, without sacri- fice no blessing. Civil liberty might seem to be an inherent right; but human experience teaches that it has been purchased and pre- served at a fearful cost. Material importance and grandeur are also wrought out by severe process. Every ladder, no matter how high it may reach, has its lowly rounds which weary feet have pressed. The beautiful cities that throng and adorn this fair land to-day may each trace its genealogy to humble parentage and lowly birth; and from that spot leads a tangled path, along lowly ways, from which the early conquerors of waste places have carved out the great highway upon which the world is traveling to-day.

We stated, at the beginning, a general truth in relation to American history; but, it is also true of local history that there are degrees of interest and importance fixed by the characteristics of the locality treated; and this country has few localities more fruit- ful of inviting material for a writer's use than the far-famed Sagi- naw Valley. The romancist might revel amid its traditions and reminiscences, the scientist find a field worthy of his attention, and

the statistician grow bewildered with the results of years that have been few but fruitful.

Prior to about half a century ago, this valley in its primitive grandeur had been the habitation 'of wild beasts and wilder men. The sound of the woodman's axe had never helped to swell the music of the woods, and the solitude of the centuries was upon land and river, neither of which had ever felt the encroachments of even the rudest civilization. When, in 1831, the French traveler and savant, De Tocqueville, visited America, he sought the wilds of what was then the "Far West," and selected the lower portion of the Sag- inaw Valley from which to make observations. In his " Democ- racy in America," he wrote of this country with the pen of true prophecy when he said:

" In a few years these impenetrable forests will have fallen; the sons of civilization will break the silence of the Saginaw; the banks will be imprisoned by quays; its current, which now flows on unno- ticed and tranquil through a nameless waste, will be stemmed by the prows of vessels. We were perhaps the last travelers allowed to see the primitive grandeur of this solitude."

Charmed by the scene spread before him, and his vision ren- dered discerning by a well grounded philosophy, he might have been able to say,

" I hear the tread of pioneers Of nations yet to be, The first low wash of waves, where soon Shall roll a human sea. The rudiments of empire here Are plastic yet and warm; The chaos of a mighty world Is rounding into form."

But even the imagination of a De Tocqueville could not have forecast the changes of fifty years. The " silence of the Saginaw " has been broken by a chorus of industry that has rung in the ears of all the commercial world, and the forests of the valley have been transformed into vigorous and beautiful cities.

INDIAN TRADITIONS AND TREATIES.

The Saginaw Valley derives its name from an Indian word, O-sauk-e-non, meaning " the land of the Sauks." Three hundred and fifty years ago the Sauks were a warlike and powerful tribe of Indians who held undisputed sway throughout all the region of country now known as eastern Michigan. The Saginaw Valley was the most attractive portion of the lake region. Even as late as twenty years ago the high ground now within the limits of West Bay City was a favorite camping ground of the Indians, and was as charming a spot as the eye ever rests upon. Game of all kinds abounded in the valley. The buffalo, elk and moose roamed throughout the forests, and fish abounded in the rivers and lakes.

HISTORY OF BAY COUNTY.

THE SKULL ISLAND MASSACRE.

in which the Sauks were nearly exterminated by the Chippewas, oc- curred on an island situated a short distance above where the McGraw mill, at South Bay City, now stands. The best tradition- ary history of this event we have been able to find is from the pen of William R. McCormick, of Bay City, one of the early pioneers, and one who is considered excellent authority upon matters of early local history. Mr. McCormick writes as follows:

" My father emigrated to the valley when I was but ten years old. My associates were mostly among the Indians, which lan- guage I became almost as familiar with as my own, and for a great many years was engaged in the fur trade. During this time I used to go up the different tributaries of the Saginaw to buy furs, and on nearly all such occasions I found indications that the Saginaw Val- ley was inhabited by a different race of people prior to the present Indians. On nearly all the tributaries can be found mounds filled with human bones. I have opened those mounds for my own satis- faction, and found bones lying in all directions, showing they were thrown together without any regularity; upon which I became satis- fied they were killed in battle. This awakened in me a curiosity to find out what people they were, and where and what had become of them. I often questioned the Indians in regard to it, but they would invariably say that there were two or three very old Indians living on the bay that could tell me all about it; telling me their names. Accordingly, in one of my journeys to the bay, I sought out one of the Indians in question. I think this was in 1835. I found him a very old man. I asked him his age; he said he thought he was a great deal over one hundred years old. His facul- ties were as bright as those of a man of fifty. I told him I under- stood he could give me the tradition of his race. He said he could, as it was handed down to him by his grandfather, who, he said, was older than he was now when he told him. For fear I should not get it correct, I called to my aid an educated man, who was part Indian,-Peter Grewett, a man well known by the early settlers as an Indian trader, and who had spent his life with the Indians in the fur trade, and was for many years in the employ of the American Fur Company. The old Indian commenced as follows :- The Sauks occupied the whole of the country along the Saginaw River, and its tributaries, extending from Thunder Bay on the north to the head of the Shiawassee on the south, and from Lake Michigan on the west to Detroit on the east. The balance of Michigan was occupied by the Pottawatomies, and the Lake Superior country was occupied by the Chippewas and Ottawas, while the Menominees were at the head of Green Bay in Wisconsin, and another tribe west of the Mississippi which he called the Sioux. The main village of the Sauks stood on the west side of the Saginaw River, just below the recent residence of Mr. Frank Fitzhugh, and opposite the mill of the Hon. N. B. Bradley. The Sauks were always at war with their Chippewa neighbors on the north and the Pottawatomies on the south, and also with other nations in Canada, until at last a council was called, consisting of the Chippewas, Pottawatomies, Menominees, Ottawas and Six Nations, of New York. At an ap- pointed time they all met at the Island of Mackinaw, where they fitted out a large army and started in bark canoes and came down the west shore of Lake Huron. They then stole along the west shore of Saginaw Bay by night, and lay concealed during the day until they arrived at a place called Petobegong: Here they landed part of their army while the rest crossed the bay and landed to the east of the mouth of the Saginaw River, in the night. In the morn- ing both armies started up the river, one on each side, so as to at- tack both villages at once. The army on the west side attacked the main village first, by surprise, and massacred nearly all. The bal- ance retreated across the river to another village, which stood near

where the Center House now stands, near the old Portsmouth ferry. At this time that part of the army that had landed on the east side of the river came up and a desperate battle took place in the vicin- ity of the residence of William R. McCormick, that being the high- est land and where they had attempted to fortify themselves. At the present time by digging in this hill you will find it full of human bones, the remains of those killed in that battle. Here they were again defeated. They then crossed the river and retreated to Skull Island, which is the next island above what is now called Stone's Island. Here they considered themselves safe, as their enemies had no canoes, and they could fortify themselves. But the next night after their retreat to the island, the ice froze thick enough for the allies to cross, which they did, when another massacre ensued. Here they were all exterminated, with the exception of twelve fam- ilies. From the numbers of skulls found on it in after years, this island has received the name of Skull Island. The allies then divided, some going up the Cass, some up the Flint, others up the Shiawassee, Tittabawassee and so on, where there were different bands located. But the largest battles were fought on the Flint; one about half a mile below the present city of Flint, on the bluff. Another Indian traditionist says another re-enforcement met them here, coming through from Detroit. Here there is a large number of mounds filled with bones, which can be seen at the present day. They then came down the river and fought another battle on the bluff about a mile above the present village of Flushing, on the farm formerly owned by a Mr. Bailey. Here there is also a large num- ber of mounds yet to be seen; if you should dig them open, as I have, you will find them filled with human bones. The next battle was fought about sixteen miles below Flushing, on the farm formerly occupied by the late James McCormick. There were several battles fought on the Cass, at what is now called the Bend, or Bridgeport Center, where there was a fortification of earth-work, which was plainly to be seen fifty years ago. The next important battle was fought on the Tittabawassee, just above the farm on which the late . James Fraser first settled when he came to the Saginaw Valley. Here there is a difference, as the remains of the slain were all buried in one mound, and it is a very large one. After the extermination of the whole nation, with the exception of the twelve families before spoken of, a council of the allies was then held to know what should be done with them. Some were for torturing and killing, others for sparing their lives. Finally it was agreed they should be sent west of the Mississippi, and an arrangement was made with the Sioux that no tribe should molest them, and the Sioux should be responsible for their protection, which agreement was faithfully kept. The conquered country, of which the present Saginaw Valley is a part, was then divided among them all, as a common hunting ground. But a great many who came here to hunt never returned nor were ever heard of. It became the opinion of the Indians that the spirits of the dead Sauks still haunted their hunting grounds and were killing off their hunters, when in fact it was a few Sauks, who had escaped the massacre and still lingered around their hunting grounds, watching for straggling hunters and killing them whenever an opportunity occurred. Ton-dog-a-ne, an Indian chief who died in 1840, told me he killed a Sauk while hunting, when a boy. This must have been over one hundred years ago, and up to a few years ago the Indians still believed there was a Sauk in the vicinity. They had seen the place where he had made his fires and slept. I have known them to get together and not hunt for several days, for the reason, they said, there was a Sauk in the woods; they had seen where he had slept. I used to laugh at them, but it was of no avail; you could not make them believe otherwise. But to go back to the Indian tradition: The country was considered as haunted, and no more Indians came here to hunt, although game was abun-

HISTORY OF BAY COUNTY.

dant. Finally it was converted into what would be termed among civilized nations a 'penal colony;' every Indian who committed a crime would flee, or be banished, to the haunted hunting grounds (Saginaw Valley) to escape punishment, for the Indian laws were more severe and strict than now. 'This was long before we became degraded by coming in contact with the whites,' said the Indian. The Chippewas becoming the most numerous, finally their language predominated, and to the present time the Indians in the Saginaw Valley do not speak in all respects the same as the Chippewas on Lake Superior, from which they originally sprung; showing that the mixing of different nations in the Saginaw Valley has been the cause of the same. Put-ta-gua-sa-mine said his grandfather told it to him when he was a boy, which was ninety years before, and that it had been handed down to his grandfather from his ancestors, and it was a custom with him to repeat it often to his people, so that the tradition or history should not be lost; and a successor was always appointed in case the traditionist should die, that the history of the nation should not be lost, and be handed down from generation to generation. I have talked with two other old Indians on the same subject, and their tradition is precisely the same, word for word, with one exception: they say the battles on the Flint were fought by the army coming from Detroit. I have no doubt the above is a correct narrative-as much so as if it had been written at the time and handed down to us as a matter of history."

In confirmation of the foregoing theory regarding the Sauks, Maj. Long, in his expedition to the sources of the St. Peters River, in 1823, on an exploring expedition by order of the United States Government, when he came amongst the Sauks on that river, says of their origin that the Sauks have not always resided where they are at the present time. Their tradition is that they formerly lived upon Saginaw Bay, of Lake Huron. They consider the name of their nation to be connected with that of Saginaw Bay, and probably derived from it. They have no account of any former migration, but entertain the opinion that the Great Spirit created them in that vicinity.

It has been claimed that the Sauks were totally exterminated in this massacre, but the preponderance of evidence is in favor of the account as given by Mr. McCormick.

The Chippewas remained in undisputed possession of the Saginaw Valley until the treaty of 1819.

TREATIES WITH THE INDIANS.

The first treaty of importance, which was made for the ex- tinguishment of the Indian title to the soil of what now comprises the state of Michigan, was the one entered into by William Hull, then governor of Michigan, as a territory, and ex-officio superintendent of Indian affairs, with the natives at Detroit, in 1807, when a tract of land in the south-eastern part of the state was ceded by them to our government. Detroit and a belt of land adjacent to it, lying along the river and lake, six miles in width, were not affected by this grant, we having before that succeeded to the possessory rights of Great Britain to the District of Detroit, so called, which she had held for a series of years, co-extensive with the claims of her pre- decessor, France; and which by the treaty of Greenville, made by General Wayne, on behalf of our government, in 1795, had been re- assured to and made perfect in us. With that exception, the title to the south-easterly part of our state was obtained from the natives by the treaty of 1807.

The northerly line of this grant included only small portions of what are now the counties of Lapeer and Genesee, and was a little north of their southern boundaries, thus leaving Saginaw River and its principal affluents, the Flint, the Cass, etc., entirely unaffected by the provision of that treaty. This portion of the state remained

in Indian possession, with the rights of the natives intact and un- affected, until the treaty of Saginaw of 1819.

In that treaty the Saginaw region was particularly interested, for the cession of lands then made by the natives, with the reserva- tions therein provided for, include the rich and flourishing valleys of the Saginaw and its tributaries.

General Cass was commissioned to act as the agent of the general government in securing to it this important addition to our territory. He appeared upon the Saginaw, upon the site of what is now Saginaw City, September 10, 1819, accompanied by a staff of interpreters and assistant.

The conference lasted ten or twelve days, and witnessed many stormy scenes, but the terms of treaty were at length calmly dis- cussed, and agreed to. The harmonious adjustment of their dif- ferences was reached chiefly through the instrumentality of Stephen V. R. Riley, an Indian trader, who married a squaw, and Jacob Smith, another trader. In the treaty agreed to, the Indians ceded to the United States all but 40,000 acres of their territory, reserved for the benefit of the tribe in common.

Mr. Riley's children were regarded by the Indians as natives of the forest. During his residence among the Chippewas Mr. Riley exercised great influence over them, and such was his power over them that it was found necessary on the part of the United States to conciliate him before a favorable treaty could be made. That was done by allowing him to select six hundred and forty acres for each of his three sons, named respectively John, Peter, and James. He located his eldest and favorite son, John, on a tract one mile square, now included in the limits of Bay City. The 40,000 acres reservation for the benefit of the tribe in common was upon the west side of the river, on a portion of which West Bay City is built. From this it would seem that the region of country about the mouth of the Saginaw River was a favorite locality of the Indians. There were other reservations for the benefit of different persons, including Mr. Riley's two other sons, and the half-breed children of Jacob Smith.

In 1837 another treaty was made with the Indians, in which they ceded to the United States the 40,000 acres belonging to the tribe in common. According to the terms of this treaty the govern- ment was to cause the land to be surveyed and put into market at $5.00 per acre, and held at that price for a certain length of time, and then what remained unsold should be reduced to a minimum of $2.50 per acre, and the Indians to receive the avails of the sales after deducting the costs of survey and sale, and a large amount ad- vanced to them with which to pay their debts.

The chiefs who visited Washington to perfect this sale were O-ge-ma-ke-ga-to, Ton-dog-a-ne, Sha-e-be-no-se, Wos-so, Mose-ga- skink, Ma-sha-way and Nau-qua-chic-a-me. The white men were Henry O. Connor, Capt. Joseph F. Marsac, and Charles Rodd, a half-breed, as interpreters, and Gardner D. and Benjamin O. Williams.

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History of Bay County, Michigan, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 2

Author: Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Chicago : H. R. Page Number of Pages: 380

Author:
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago : H. R. Page
Number of Pages: 380