USA > Michigan > Branch County > History of Branch county, Michigan, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 12
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Services in the case of the People ra. David Stanton, June 14, 1833. 2.87ł
Fees, James B. Tompkins, a justice of the peace in
the above casc .. 874
Robert J. Cross, ditto. 1.00
Seymour L. Bingham, ditto. $1.37₺
Iliram B. Hunt, witness .. 2.25
Seth Dunham, Deputy Clerk, County-canvasser of
delegate election. $1.00
Making eut netiees to assessors for jury 1.00)
Drawing grand jury and issuing renirc ... 1.50
$3.50
"Ordered that all the demands against the townships of Green, and which have been audited by the said township board, be redeemed by the county of Branch, and orders drawn on the treasurer for the respective amounts.
Town order in favor of Philip Omsted $1.00
Moses Omsted, ditto .. 2.00
William Shay. 1.00
John Croy 2.25
Benjamin Booth 1.50
Philander Chase .. 1.50
David J. Pierson. 7.00
John Morse .. 1.00
Abisha Sanders. 1.50
James B. Tompkins 11.00
Robert J. Cross 1.39
Ordered that five dollars be raised to purchase a blank book for the use of the board $5.00 That there be raised twenty-five dollars for the town-
ship expenses of Coldwater, and twenty-five dol- lars for Prairie River towaship 50.00
"Ordered that one-half of 1 per centum be raised for township and county expenses for 1833.
" The board then adjourned to meet again on Monday, the 21st day of October, at the county clerk's offiee.
" The board met pursuant to adjournment, and the following ac- conats andited :
In favor of Silas A. Holbrook for services, three days
attending the board $3.00
Taking collector's bond. 1,00
$4,00
Jeremiah Tillitson, twe days attending the board and taking collector's bond. 3.00
Allowed to Seth Dunham for services as clerk of the board 5.00 Warrant isued to Seymour L. Bingham, Collector tor Coldwater. 99,63
To James M. Gile, Collector for Prairie River town- ship
97.27
" Ordered that Seth Dunham be and he is authorized to purchase a blank book for the use of the board, and the board then adjoureed without day.
" J. TILLITSON, "S. A. HOLBROOK. Supervisora. "SETH DUNHAM, Clerk."
The first Circuit Court was held by Hon. William A. Fletcher, Circuit Judge, in October, 1833. The ensuing record shows the opening of the court, with the names of the first grand jury :
" At a session of the Circuit Court of the Territory of Michigan, holden in and for the county of Branch, at the court-house in the village of Branch, in said county, on Monday, the 21st day of October, in the year of eur Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-three; present, William A. Fletcher, presiding judge ; Silas A. Holbrook and William A. Kent, assueiate judges.
" The court being duly opened, the grand jury were called, and the following persons answered to their names : Jeremiah Tillitson, Lemuel Bingham, Abisha Sanders, Elisha Warren, Benjamin II. Smith, Loren Marsh, Jehn Cornish, Joseph Hanchett, Peter Martin, John Wilson, James B. Stuart, Joseph C. Corbus, David J. Piersen, Christopher Hartsough, Allen Tibbits, Rehert J. Cross, Ellis Russell, Samuel Craig, Frederick Line. Thereupon Robert J. Cross was ap- peinted fereman. The jury were thea sword, charged by the court, and retired to consider of their presentment.
"Ordered that Neal MeGaffey be prosecuting attorney the present term.
*
" The foregeing minutes were examined and signed in open court the 21st day of October, 1833, and then the court adjourned withent day.
"WM. A. FLETCHER, Presiding Judge. " WALES ADAMS, Clerk.
"SETH DUNHAM, Deputy."
We have been at some pains to show the various official beginnings of the new county. We now turn to matters of more general interest. During the year 1833 the gov- ernment built the Chicago road through the county of Branch, forty feet of it in the middle being leveled and the stumps being " grubbed" out, while for thirty feet on each side the trees were eut as low as possible.
In September, 1833, George B. Porter, Territorial Gov- ernor of Michigan, made a treaty with Sauquett, the half- breed chief before mentioned, and several other Indians who claimed to be chiefs, by which they agreed to cede to the United States the Nottawa-seepe Reservation, the last home of the Pottawattamies in Michigan. The band was to re- main two years, and then to be removed beyond the Mis- sissippi. A majority of the band were bitterly opposed to the treaty, declaring that Sauquett and his confederates had no authority to make it, that bribery had been used to pro- cure their assent, and that they, the malcontents, would never accept the payment agreed upon nor leave the land of their ancestors.
The " big payment" for the purchased lands came off in December, 1833, at Marantelle's trading-post, in the present township of Menden, St. Joseph County. Shortly before the payment the United States officials took thither several wagon-loads of goods and several thousand dollars in silver, to make the payment agreed upon. All the Indians of the band were assembled at the designated point, and a bitter dispute was carried on among them regarding the accept- ance of the payment. A majority were in favor of reject- ing the money and goods, and making a desperate effort to remain on the reservation. Negotiations were kept up for several days. Sauquett and his friends were in a minority, but he was eloquent and influential, and used all his elo- quenee and influence to bring about the acceptance of the payment and the ratifieation of the treaty. He was finally successful, and the Indians received the goods and money, though with great dissatisfaction.
In the course of the proceedings, however, Sauquett eame very near sacrificing his life. Having imbibed an extra allowance of whisky one day (we believe it was just after the acceptance of the payment), he came upon the ground where the warriors were assembled mounted upon a fine horse, with a splendid saddle and equipments, dressed in the uniform of a military officer, with epaulettes, sash, and plumed hat, and armed with sword and pistols (these
51
HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
arins and equipments had been presented to him by Gov- ernor Porter). Swinging his sword over his head, he cried out, -
" I have sold the land, and would sell it again for two quarts of whisky."
Instantly a warrior named Quansett sprang forward, snatched one of Sauquett's pistols from its holster, cocked it, aimed it at the chief's breast, and pulled the trigger. It missed fire. Sauquett immediately struck at the assassin with his sword, cutting through his blanket and a large plug of tobacco rolled up inside of it, but not wounding him. For a short time a battle royal seemed imminent between the infuriated factions, but Mr. Marantelle, who had great influence over the Indians, took Quansett out of the way, and persuaded the others to refrain from violence.
Emigration went forward but slowly through the year, notwithstanding the opening of the Chicago road. Still, quite a number of new settlers came in. In the autumn Justus S. Goodwin made the first settlement in the present township of Union, locating at the site of Union City. Mr. Goodwin was a lawyer, and had practiced several years before coming to this county, in which he was the first member of the legal profession. As may be imagined, there being no litigants but wolves and bears around Union City, he did not at first attempt to practice there, devoting himself to the more promising employment of building a saw-mill. Afterwards he practiced there for several years ; the village which grew up there being at first known as Goodwinsville.
About the same time, or a little later, Abram Aldrich established himself at what is now known as Orangeville, in the same township, and began the erection of a grist-mill there. This was the second grist-mill in the county, and really the first of any consequence.
In the spring of 1834 a new township was formed out of the northern tier of survey-townships; two being taken from Coldwater and two from Prairie River.
The pioneers suffered in full measure all the usual hard- ship incident to the conquest of the wilderness, and were also subjected to even more than the usual quantum of sickness. The soil was extremely fertile and some of it quite wet ; when turned up by the plow, malarious gases escaped in great quantity, and the fever and ague was extremely prev- alent and very severe. As an item of evidence on this point, we may mention that in 1834 the Board of Super- visors allowed Dr. Hill sixty dollars for medical attendance on county paupers. In that sparse and poor but industri- ous and independent population, paupers were very few and professional services cheap ; all the paupers must have been sick to have involved an expenditure of sixty dollars.
Great inconvenience was also felt on account of the ex- treme fluctuation of the prices of produce. In the spring, il' there was much emigration, nearly all the grain would be consumed for food and seed; and, as all supplies had to be brought from Ohio at a heavy expense, the prices of farm produce would rule extremely high. After harvest, when the people had plenty to sell, it would sink to a quarter of the previous amounts. Harvey Warner, Esq., relates that he has paid ten dollars a barrel for flour brought from Ohio before harvest, and after harvest the same year he
sold his wheat for thirty-seven and a half cents a bushel. Transportation from Lake Erie was nine dollars a barrel.
In 1835 emigration increased very largely. The fears aroused by the Black Hawk war had passed away, and the Chicago road again teemed with white-covered wagons, filled with grave-looking women and tow-headed children, while one or two brawny men tramped by the side of each ; some with rifles on their shouklers, and some with only the peaceful ox-goad, but all intent upon making a home for themselves and families in the fertile West. Every little while a family dropped off in Branch County. Log houses went up here and there in every direction (frame ones were quite unthought of outside of two or three little villages, and even these were exceedingly scarce), and in every direction, too, at the proper season, were seen the dense clouds of smoke arising from the logging-field, where grimy men and straining cattle with infinite toil prepared the timbered land for the plow.
A few sheep began to be introduced ; but they required sharp watching and the most careful guarding at night to protect them from the gray-backed prowlers, whose howls could be heard every night in the woods. The first county bounty for wolves was offered by the Board of Supervisors on the 6th of October, 1835, in the following terms :
" Ordered by the board, that every person who shall take and kill a full-grown she wolf within the limits of the county of Branch, shall be entitled to receive as a reward the sum of $2, and to be paid out of the county treasury ; and for every whelp the sum of $1, to be paid in manner aforesaid."
It was in this year that the State constitution of Michi- gan was formed by a convention elected for the purpose and adopted by the people, whereupon application was made to Congress for admission as a State. This was postponed another year on account of the celebrated controversy with Ohio (commonly called the " Toledo war") over the possession of a narrow strip between the two States, running from To- ledo to the cast line of Indiana. This controversy affected the size of Hillsdale County, but not of Branch, the Indiana line being a little east of the cast line of the latter county.
The contest with Ohio, with its mustering of militia and its furious proclamations on either side, made a great com- motion. It is perhaps not generally known that there was a similar controversy between Michigan and Indiana which affected the limits of Branch County. By the law forming Michigan Territory, passed in 1805, its southern boundary was a line running east from the southern boundary of Lake Michigan. In 1816, when Indiana was admitted as a State, its northern boundary was by act of Congress moved ten miles farther north. Michigan objected to this on the ground that the ordinance of 1787, passed before the adoption of the Federal constitution, had designated the line through the southern extremity of the lake as the boundary between the States thereafter to be formed, and that Congress had no power to change it. But the ordi- nance of 1787 did not definitely make that the line (though it might be inferred that such was its meaning), and besides, Congress held the power to make whatever laws it saw proper regarding the Territories up to the time of their admission as States.
HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
The Indiana controversy was lost sight of in the more exciting one with Caio; but the Legislature of Michigan pissed a law making an offer to Indiana to submit the boun- dary question to the Supreme Court of the United States. Indiana paid no attention to this proposition, the influence of Congress was against interfering with the boundary it had itself established, and Michigan finally gave up the contest. Had its views prevailed, Brauch County would have been just ten miles longer north and south than it now is.
In the spring of 1836 emigration set in with redoubled volume. In the language of one of the old settlers, it semed as if the whole country was alive with emigrants. By this time all the prairie lands in the county were pur- chared from the government, and the new settlers crowded into the heavy timber and attacked the giant whitewoodis and black walnuts with dauntless energy. The present township of Noble was settled in 1536, and in fact by the close of this year then' was not a survey-township in the county in which there were not some white settlers.
Two new civil townships were formed this year, Quincy and Ratavis. The former embraced the present townships of Algansee and California, while the latter included the tract now Known as Bethel and Gilead.
The time for the removal of the Indians under the treaty of 1835 had now elapsal, but they showed no inclination to leave their old homes. The whites speedily occupied their reservation at Nottawa-expe, but there was still such an ixamens' amount of unused land in this part of Michi- sw, that they could ream around almost at will without coming into colision with their civilised neighbors. There were a few cases in St. Joseph County of serious condicts between individuais of the rival races, but there were none of any vousypence in this ovuuty.
There were, however, a number of condios among the Indians themselves, some of which ended fatally. Some of these arve out of the oid feud about the side of the reser- vation, maing'ed with whisky, and soune >; rang from whisky alone. Of the latter class was'one which coeurni in the spring of 1536, when & drunken young ladian struck his whether with a cinb and kitxi her. Roand Root. Esp .. who sott'ed a: Coldwater that year, helped tury bez. The Indians male a amu-a feartaking this out of pieces of world glut off from a tree, put the corps in it. at theu put it on two gros. Soute lliaus started to carry it to the burix' ; 'ave. But they had souayni their griet with numerous dri ks of whisky. and in a short time Saue of them fell down and the corpse few cut. Tien they fastenedi the poles ou either side of s poly. the near eu is dragging os the ground, and ou these, just behind the gruy. they fastened! the coffin with strips of tack. In this way they managed to reach the grave and buried the body. Then a dish of " bouilla" (pap) was pordd at the hetti of the grave, for the use of the departed spirit, and the Indisus recurtevi to quish their spree.
The w.wusa's husband. Topoaber (mos the aged chief of that tamme, who was probably doal x: that time, but a to meuru his loss. This koos, however, was considered to
be made good to him when the murderer (who we conclude was the son of the slain woman by another husband' gare him a pony and a gun. This settled matters with the beer- reaved husband, and as the slayer was drunk when he comunitteri the murder, the tribe considered it a case of ex- cusable homicide.
AA still more exciting event was the murder of Quansett. the same who had attempted :> kill Sau-au-quett. as before related, at the time of the payment. in 1533. in St. Joseph County. The old feud had been kept up, and one day the two men engaged in a bitter quarrel at Coldwater. Sau-au- quett had a little squaw who was at times quite amiable, but who, when her passions were aroused, or she was under the influence of liquor, was as fierve as auy of the warriors.
While San-au-quett and Quausett were calling each other all the hard names they could think of, this squaw stood behind her husband. Either thinking that Quausett was about to make an attack, or becoming incensed at his abuse. she snatched her husband's long. greu-handled hunting- knife from his belt, slid around behind Quansett, and plunged the knife inte his back, driving it entirely through him. He tell dead with sanely a struggle.
This murder, too, was condened by the presentation of a pony, saddle, and bridle by San-in-quest to the son of the wurdeneri man.
Qasuser: was buried in a very singular manner, even for Iulians to adopt. They cut down a large whitewood-tree. out notches in it, and split off a slab ou the upper side. Then they dag out aud burned out a hole large enough to held the corpse. After laying is there they replaced the slab ou the top. Then they tried to fell trees aerves the big whitewood. to hold the d'ab down ; but they had uet the white man's skill in the use of the axe, and their at- temp: was a failure. So they contented themselves by driving stakes crosswise over the slab into the ground.
Some time afterwanis [in berry-time) young Harvey Haynes went to this curious grave with a friend, pushed away the d'ab. ani lockeri in. The body lay there some- what devaveri, and at its hend were several quarts of whor- tleberries which summe friend'y haut had placed there. Whether it was really experred that the warrior's spirit could live ou whortleberries, or whether the act was merely an expression of friendship, is a point we must leave for the decision of these more thorvaghiy versed in the ludisu character than cursives.
The same autumn Dr. Conkling, a physician practicing ar Coldwater, dermine to increase his score of medical bre by staining the skeleton of pour Quansett. He is contudy took the remains of the body from its singular news peavle, and carried it over north to the banks of Mui Creek, taking aims a small kotle to icilitate his opera- Bonus. There he boiled the desh from the bones, and re- turnevi at night with the letter in a bag. If the I dians discovered the dense des were unable to and out the peryearater, otherwise it migh: have fared hari with :he
There was a count he i se Coliwater in 1538 of ISS .. à tức đượcơi để going West, în don nance with the treaty. - Little Bird, che acknowicigrd heal chie?' of the taite,
53
HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
was present, but did not take either side of the controversy. lle was seventy-five years okl, and, when called ou to speak, said he had but a little while to live, either in the East or the West, and would leave the decision of the question of cmigration to younger men, who had more interest in the matter. There was a good deal of desultory eloquence, and many denunciations of the white men who had ob- tained their land, but nothing definite was agreed upon, and the Indians still continued to wander about the country.
Mr. Marsh still carried on his trading-house west of Cold- water River. Ile was accustomed not only to trade with the Indians who came to his post, but to send out at inter- vals a number of ponies and mules loaded with cloth, calico, ammunition, and other suitable articles, probably including a supply of whisky, to make the circuit of the Indian en- campments for a wide distance around. The articles in question were traded for furs, either by Marsh himself or by a clerk in charge, and the furs were brought back to the post by the same means of transportation. This was called " running a durwin, " though we are unable to tell the signifi- cation of the last word.
Among the accounts audited by the Board of Supervisors in 1836 was one of fifty dollars, by George W. Jewett, for services as prosecuting attorney at the October and April terms, 1835 and 1836. This was twenty-five dollars per term, which was certainly reasonable enough. No per- manent prosecuting attorney had as yet been appointed for the county.
Another vote of the board allowed two dollars to Joel Burlingame, for the use of a jury-room. This gentleman came to Branch about 1835, and kept the tavern there for several years. With him came a tall. slim, tow-headed youngster, with blue eyes, light complexion, and pleasant face, apparently about fourteen years old. Twenty years later he was a prominent member of Congress from Massa- chusetts, and still ten years later he was known on three continents as the statesman and diplomatist, Anson Bur- lingame.
The boy was an ordinary-looking youth, and not especially noticed by ordinary observers for brightness of intellect. lle did chores about the taveru, ran of errands, tended bar, and performed the usual miscellaneous tasks incident to his situation. He was fond of hunting and was an excellent marksman,-an attribute which, when he became a Con- gressman, gave him exemption from the challenges and canings by which the slave-driving chivalry endeavored to carry their points.
After four or five years' stay in Branch County, young Burlingame returned to Detroit, whence the family had come. and entered the office of a friendly lawyer, who had observed his promising characteristics and desired to aid him. Thence he went to the law-school at Cambridge. Mass., the very centre of New England culture, and grad- uated there with high honor. Not only that, but the raw Branch County boy was able to begin practice in compe- tition with the able jurists of the Massachusetts bar, to achieve very speedily a decided success, to enter the arena of politics with equal good fortune, and to become, while yet comparatively a young man, one of the most prominent
.
members of the national legislature. His subsequent career as minister to China, and then as minister from China to the whole civilized world, is a part of the history of the nation, but can hardly be dwelt upon here.
To return from the field of international affairs in 1868 to the forests of Branch County in 1835, the next accounts after Joel Burlingame's, ordered paid by the supervisors, were one of two dollars to Zachariah Crook, one of three dollars to O. B. Wright, and another of the same amount to the same person, all for wolf-sealps. As this was all that was paid that year for that purpose, it is evident that the reward offered was not enough to tempt the pioneers into the wolf-business. There were certainly wolves enough to operate on, if it had been worth while.
The great increase of emigration naturally favored specu- lation, which was indeed rampant all over the country. The old site of Coldwater, formerly owned by Captain Bol- ton, was now platted as a village by the name of Mason- ville, in honor of the youthful Governor of Michigan, Stevens T. Mason. Its proprietors had not yet despaired of obtain- ing the location of the county-seat there, and a vigorous contest for that houor went on between Branch, Coldwater, and Masonville.
There was also much excitement at the mouth of the Coldwater, where the village of Goodwinsville (now Union City) had been laid out in 1835. This point was consid- ered to be at the head of navigation on the St. Joseph River, and a proper point for the connection of that naviga- tion with a canal from Lake Erie. The value of railroads not having yet been demonstrated, canal and river naviga- tion was looked on as the most reliable, and the people of Goodwinsville believed their place almost certain to become the metropolis of Southern Michigan.
The difficulties attending the admission of Michigan as a State have already been mentioned. The State govern- ment went into full operation in 1835, but Congress de- elined to admit it into the Union, except on condition that it should acknowledge the title of Ohio to the disputed territory. The Legislature called a convention, which met at Detroit in September, 1836, to decide on the acceptance or rejection of the proposition of Congress. llon. Harvey Warner was the delegate from Branch County ; he being the first member from this county of any legal State Assembly.
The proposition of Congress was rejected, but Mr. War- ner voted in its favor and signed a protest against the action of the majority. The people were believed to be in favor of accepting the proposition and entering the Union. Another convention was therefore called informally, to which delegates were elected by general cousent. James B. Tompkins, of Girard, was chosen as delegate from this county, but did not attend the convention. That body met in December. at Ann Arbor. and accepted the proposals of Congress, and in the forepart of 1837 Michigan was admitted as a State.
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