USA > Michigan > Cass County > History of Cass county, Michigan > Part 12
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The wagons with supplies which had been long ex- pected from Ohio, arrived on the 13th. Mr. John- ston Lykins, a valued assistant of Mr. McCoy's, who had been long absent, arrived on the 21st. The re- turn of this useful member of the family, the arrival of food and other supplies and the approach of spring, all combined to work an improvement at the mission, and the hearts of the people, which had been very sorrowful and full of foreboding during the winter, grew lighter. Mr. McCoy's convalescence was slow, but quite regular and assuring, and the future looked promising and bright. Encouraging news was also received about this time from an agent who had been employed to solicit aid for the Mission, and word came. from various sources that benevolent people in Ohio and the East had increased their liberality to the cause and were taking a deep interest in the labors of Mr. McCoy and his companions among the Pottawat- omies.
The school had by this time thirty six scholars. It had been opened on the 27th of January, 1823, in a building erected for the purpose, and finished at that time, with the important exceptions of laying a floor, building a chimney and hanging a door in the open- ing intended for one. It was used for some time be- fore these elements, which would now be considered as necessities, were added, and teachers and pupils sat about a fire, built on the ground in the middle of the room, suffering greatly from the cold and smoke. All was prosperous with the Carey Mission in the spring and summer of 1823, and Mr. McCoy was successful in establishing another mission, which was known as Thomas, upon the Grand River, among the Ottawas.
In June, 1823, Carey was visited by Maj. S. H. Long and his party, who were on their way to the headwaters of the Mississippi. William H. Keating, who was one of the company, gave a very interesting description of the mission in the first volume of Maj. Long's report of the expedition. Passing from Fort Wayne to Chicago, he says: " There is in this neigh- borhood an establishment which, by the philanthropic views which have led to its establishment, and by the boundless charity with which it is administered, com- pensates, in a measure, for the insult offered to the laws of God and man by the traders. * * *
The Carcy Mission House, so designated in honor of the late Mr. Carey, the indefatigable apostle of India, is situated within half a mile of the River St. Joseph. * * * The spot was covered with a very dense forest seven months before the time we visited
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY. MICHIGAN.
it; but by the great activity of the superintendent he has succeeded in the course of this short time in build- ing six good log houses, four of which afford com- fortable residence to the inmates of the establishment ; a fifth is used as a school-room, and the sixth forms a commodious blacksmith shop. In addition to this, they have cleared about fifty acres of land, which are nearly all inclosed by a substantial fence. Forty acres have already been plowed and planted with maize, and every step has been taken to place the establishment upon an independent footing. The
school consists of from forty to sixty children. The plan adopted appears to be a very judicious one. The plan adopted in the school purposes to unite a practical with an intellectual education. The boys are instructed in the English language, in reading, writing and arithmetic ; they are made to attend the usual avocations of a farm, and to perform every operation connected with it, such as plowing. planting, harrowing, etc., and in these pursuits they seem to take great delight. The system being well regulated, they find time for everything ; not only for study and labor, but also for innocent recreation, in which they are encouraged to indulge ; and the hours allotted to recreation may, perhaps, be viewed as productive of results fully as important as those accruing from more serious pursuits. The females receive in the school the same instruction which is given to the boys, and are in addition to this taught spinning, weaving and sewing, both plain and ornamental. They were just beginning to embroider ; an occupation which may, by some, be considered as unsuitable to the situation which they are destined to hold in life, but which ap- pears to us very judiciously used as a reward and a stimulus. They are likewise made to attend to the pursuits of the dairy, such as milking of cows, etc. All appear to be very happy and to make as rapid progress as white .children of the same age would make. Their principal excellence rests in works of imitation. They write astonishingly well, and many display great natural talent for drawing. The insti- tution receives the countenance of the most respecta- ble among the Indians. There are in the school two of the grandchildren of Topinabe, the great heredi- tary chief of the Pottowatomies. The Indians visit the establishment occasionally and appear pleased with it. The (mission) family have a flock of one hundred sheep, collected in Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio, and are daily expecting two hundred head of cattle from the same States. These contributions, together with the produce of their farm, will, it is thought, prevent them from being exposed to suffer as much from scarcity of provisions as they have already done." *
During a portion of this summer, the mission people were again on very short allowance. One day in June, they sent out two) men to purchase corn, if any could be found, as they had not enough to last through the day. A small quantity was obtained from an Indian and a little damaged flour from a trader. "The In- dian," says McCoy, "had not the corn to spare with - out risking his own comfort, and refused to sell it, but said: ' It is too hard to be hungry. I will give my father that sackful. I believe I will lose nothing by it. I think he will give me an equal quantity when he shall get corn.'"
Two day days after that occurrence, a herd of 121 cattle arrived, a portion of the 200 which Mr. Keat- ing, in his report, said were expected. Some had been left at Fort Wayne.
Mr. McCoy had contracted with the captain of a vessel on the lakes to bring them a load of flour to the mouth of the St. Joseph River. It was to be de- livered by the middle of June, but did not come to hand, and the missionaries learned that the captain had violated his agreement, finding that he could dis- pose of his cargo at a better price than had been con- tracted. This was a great disappointment and sub- jected the people to inconvenience and loss. Their chief reliance for breadstuffs, until they could pro- duce them at the mission, was to transport them, by wagons, 200 miles. This was very expensive, but necessity induced the immediate sending off of teams for the purpose.
During the summer, Mr. McCoy was busied, a large portion of his time, in agitating a scheme for coloniz- ing the Indians in the West, and carried on an exten- sive correspondence with Lewis Cass, Governor of the Territory of Michigan, and several members of Con- gress, as well as influential citizens of Ohio and Indi- ana. He also brought the matter to the attention of the Missionary Board.
Although the season had been one of general pros- perity, there was a scarcity of breadstuffs at the mis- sion ; 900 bushels of corn were gathered in the fall and a large quantity of vegetables, but no wheat had thus far been grown, and all the flour used was trans- ported overland from Ohio. The mission was in debt several hundred dollars. To make matters worse, a com- munication was received from the agent of the Board of Missions, saying that its funds were exhausted and that no more drafts could be drawn on the 'Treasurer.
The mission had grown and its expenses had in- creased in proportion. Miss Fanny Goodridge, of Lexington, Ky., had entered the mission as a teacher in November, and a Miss Wright and a Miss Purchase, of Ohio, and Mr. and Mrs. Polke, of Indiana, had either arrived or were soon expected.
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY. MICHIG.IN.
Toward the close of the year (1823), McCoy, urged by the growing needs of the mission and the decreas- ing flow of aid toward it, set out upon a journey East, in order to solicit contributions from the charitably disposed. He visited Washington, Philadelphia, Bos- ton and New York and other places, making repre- sentations of the conditions and wants of the inission, and everywhere received liberal donations of clothing, food supplies, books and over $2,000 ın money.
On the 25th of May, 1824, he embarked at Buffalo upon a schooner, which he had chartered for the pur- pose of taking his goods directly to the mouth of the St. Joseph. He left the vessel at Detroit, and crossed the Peninsula on horseback, arriving at Carey June 11. There were at this time no inhabitants at the mouth of the St. Joseph, and McCoy sent two young Indians there, instructing them to keep a great fire burning day and night to attract the attention of the sailors upon the schooner to the point where the cargo should be landed. The arrival of the vessel was looked forward to with very pleasant anticipations and with considerable impatience. There was no flour at Carey, and the Indians who were sent down to the shore of Lake Michigan were told to open the first barrel landed from the schooner, and hasten back with as much as they could carry. Mr. McCoy says : " All except myself were in good spirits in regard to food, hourly expecting the arrival of the vessel. I feared that contrary winds or other hindrance might cause us to suffer, but I concealed my anxiety. On the 18th (of June) we had only corn enough for one day, but our merciful God was still near us. * * * On the evening of the 18th, to our great joy, and mine in particular. one of the young men arrived with a mule packed with flour." Their ship had come in.
The goods unloaded at the mouth of the river were conveyed to Carey in pirogues (large canoes), Mr. Polke superintending the labor, which occupied a con- siderable time, the articles to be transported, includ- ing a hundred barrels of flour, twenty-four barrels of salt and thirty bushels of wheat for seed, and many boxes of miscellaneous supplies, clothing and books. " From this time forward the mission did not suffer for want of bread, nor did the pecuniary wants ever again become so great as they had been." It is fur- ther stated that "from this time until, by an arrange- ment with the Government in 1830, the affairs of the mission were wound up, the people at Carey never had occasion to draw on the Board of Missions."
During the next two years, Mr. McCoy and his as- sociates had much to be grateful for. The Superin- tendent notes in his book, in the summer of 1824, " that it was discovered that the prejudices of the Pottawatomies, with which they had to contend at
first, had almost wholly vanished from among those who were near us. We had never before seen a time when our Indian neighbors manifested so much inter- est in the mission. Applications to us to take their children into our family were frequent, and their at- tention to religious instruction appeared to increase."
One or two of the neighboring Indian villages were visited every Sunday. The number of pupils in the school was considerably augmented. Materially, as well as religiously, the affairs of the mission were prosperous. More than two hundred acres of land was inclosed with fence, and over three hundred bush - els of wheat were harvested in each of the years 1824 and 1825. A horse-power flouring-mill was also erected-the first in Michigan west of Ann Arbor or Tecumseh.
John L. Leib, Esq., of Detroit, a Government Commissioner appointed to examine the condition of affairs at the mission, spent three days there in 1824 -the last day of October and the first two of No- vember. His report to Gov. Cass was very compli- mentary to the missionaries. One sentence from this paper will convey an idea of the whole. He says : "I beheld a colony firmly settled, numerous, civilized and happy, with every attendant blessing, flowing from a well regulated, industrious and religious com- munity."
Mr. Leib made a second visit, in the latter part of August, 1826. We make liberal extracts from his report* to the Governor, describing the mission :
"On the 15th of August, I proceeded to the Carey establishment, on the St. Joseph's, where I ar- rived on the 21st, and was much gratified with its im- provement in all departments. It is a world in min- iature, and presents the most cheerful and consoling appearance. It has become a familiar resort of the natives, and from the benefits which they derive from it in various shapes, they begin to feel a dependence on and a resource in it at all times, and especially in difficult and trying occasions. There is not a day-I might almost say an hour-in which new faces were not to be seen. The smithey affords them almost incalculable facilities, and is constantly filled with ap- plicants for some essential service. It is a touching spectacle to see them, at the time of prayers, fall in with the members of the institution, which they do spontaneously and cheerfully, and, with a certain animation depicted on their countenances exhibiting their internal satisfaction.
" The missionaries permanently connected with this institution, beside the superintendent and his wife, are Robert Simmerwell and wife, Jonathan Meeker and Johnston Lykins, who is now constituted the
* The document is published in Mr. McCoy's history.
GAMALIEL TOUNSEND.
GAMALIEL TOWNSEND.
The subject of this sketch was born January 20, 1802, in Canada, and was the son of Abraham Townsend, the pioneer of La Grange Township. He removed with his parents to Huron Co., Ohio, in 1815, where he married in February, 1825, his first wife, Malinda Brown. In 1826, he emigrated to Michigan from Perrysburg, Ohio. He was in company with Israel Markham and others who had two yoke of oxen. Mr. Townsend's team consisted of a yoke of oxen with a horse hitched ahead of them. The party left Perrysburg on June 10, and arrived at Uzziel Putnam's, on Pokagon Prairie, upon July 4. It is probable that the anni- versary of national independence was first celebrated in Cass County upon that day in the enjoyable meeting of these pioneers. Mr. Townsend's journey, occupy- ing nearly a month's time, was not as disagreeable as that of the majority of early emigrants to Southwest- ern Michigan, for it was made in a pleasant season of the year and with good company. They had cows with them and therefore plenty of milk to use with their humble but substantial fare. They made slow progress and encamped in the most favorable places at night. While they were winding their way through
the heavy woods between Monroe and Tecumseh, Israel Markham's wagon broke down and the whole company was delayed three days awaiting its repair. The subject of our sketch worked during his first summer in Michigan for the Carey Mission people, cutting with Abraham Loux forty tons of wild hay, near Barren Lake. The second season they cut in the same vicinity about eighty tons. In 1829, Mr. Townsend moved to La Grange Township, settling where he now lives. He kept the first post office in the township, in 1830, at his father's house. In 1832, when the Sauk or Black Hawk war broke out, lie served as a Lieutenant in the militia. His first wife dying in 1838, Mr. Townsend married in November, 1841, Charlotte Hunter, whose family became settlers in the vicinity in 1831. The children are Statta and Abraham (deceased); Gamaliel, a resident of the town- ship; John H., who died in California ; Otis, Clau- dius, Agnes, Lewis, Candice and George. For the past ten years, Mr. Townsend has suffered the affliction of almost total blindness, but otherwise has enjoyed good health, considering his advanced age, and has been the deserving recipient of very many of the blessings of life.
UZZIEL PUTNAM.
ORLEAN PUTNAM.
1
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY. MICHIGAN.
superintendent of a missionary station called Thomas, on Grand River, a ramification from the St. Joseph's.
" There are at present seventy scholars, forty-two males and twenty-eight females, in various stages of improvement. *
* * Eight of the alumni of this institution, who have completed the first rudi- ments of education, have been transferred to acade- mies in New Jersey and New York. Two of the boys at Carey are learning the trades of blacksmith and shoemaker; the remainder, of sufficient size, are employed occasionally on the farm. The girls are engaged in spinning, knitting and weaving, and the loom has produced 185 yards of cloth this year. Two hundred and three acres are now inclosed, of which fifteen are in wheat, fifty in Indian corn, eight in potatoes, pumpkins and other vegetable pro- ducts. The residue is appropriated for pasture.
" There have been added to the buildings since my last visit a house and a most excellent grist-till, worked by horses. The usefulness of this mill can scarcely be appreciated, as there is no other within 100 miles at least, of the establishment ; and here, as benevolence is the predominating principle, all the surrounding population is benefitted.
"Numerous Indian families have since my last visit settled themselves around, and have, from the encouragement, countenance and assistance of the missionary family, made considerable progress in agriculture. Indeed, a whole village has been formed within six miles of it, under its benevolent auspices and fostering care. I visited them to witness myself the change in their condition. To good fences, with which many of their grounds are inclosed, succeed domestic animals. You now see oxen, cows and swine grazing around their dwellings, without the danger of destroying their crops. These are the strongest evidences of their improvement, and not the least of the benefits arising from the neighbor- hood of this blessed abode of the virtuous inmates of Carey.
"It is not in the immediate neighborhood alone that the efforts of missionary exertion are felt. In distant places, near the mouth of the St. Joseph, and on the Grand River, the most surprising changes have taken place. Strong and effective inclosures are made and making, and stock acquired, and at the latter place the missionary family have erected several spacious buildings, including a schoolhouse, and improved some lands."
In September, 1827, the missionaries had the pleas- ure of entertaining a distinguished visitor, Gov. Cass, who had been from the first a warm friend of the establishment. The Governor was one of three com- missioners appointed by the United States to negotiate
a treaty with the St. Joseph Pottawatomies. While negotiations were pending, Gov. Cass and the mem- bers of his party carefully investigated the management of the mission, and spoke of it in terms of approbation and admiration.
Carey Mission had now been in existence about five years. Although many of the hopes entertained by Mr. McCoy and his helpers had been realized in the institution, and notwithstanding the fact that it had been in a general way successful, it was foreseen that its usefulness could not long continue. It was known from the beginning that when the Indian title to the land had been extended, and the country occupied by white settlers, the native people, and the religious in- stitution planted in their midst, must inevitably be crowded out. Hence, for some time prior to 1827, Mr. McCoy had been devoting much attention to the projoct of removal. The stream of immigration over- whelmed the mission even sooner than its people had expected. One of the potent evils arising from the proximity of the whites was the wholesale furnishing of liquor to the Indians, and their terrible debauchery through its use. The traders could not be restrained from the traffic in whisky, and the missionaries felt that their strongest efforts were powerless to advance the condition of the Indian while they had to contend with it.
The mission was not entirely suspended until 1830. In September of that year, Charles Noble, Esq., of Michigan, and Mr. Simonson, of Indiana, made a valuation of the Carey property, appraising the im- provements at $5,080, and the growing crop at $641.50. The total of these amounts was paid to the Board of Missions by Government, and was after- wards applied in establishing a mission in the West. The school was discontinued at this time, with the exception of a half dozen pupils, who remained a few months in charge of two of the missionaries-Mr. and Mrs. Simmerwell -who remained in the country, and subsequently located at a spot not far from Carey.
The establishment of Carey Mission, as we have said at the outset of this chapter, was an important event in the history of Southwestern Michigan. It was the chief nucleus of early settlement. The con- dition of many of the pioneers was ameliorated in a large measure by their close proximity to this station. Some of them earned money there, and made their start in life with the proceeds of labor performed for McCoy. Many of the early settlers of Cass County found the mission a convenient place from which to procure seed for planting and various necessary sup- plies. The mill at Carey supplied them with flour and meal, and obviated the necessity of making long and 0
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY. MICHIGAN.
tedious trips to remote settlements, or the alternative of grinding by hand. In a score of ways the mission was advantageous to the people who located in the region surrounding it.
CHAPTER IX.
ADVENT OF THE WHITE MAN AS A SETTLER.
Indian Traders-Zaccheus Wooden, the Trapper-His Visit to Cass County in 1814-15-The White Man as a Permanent Settler-First Settlement in the Interior of the State-Earliest Settlement in Ber- rien County-The Pioneers Enter Pokagon-Dates of Early Settle- ments throughout Cass County-Causes Operating to Retard 1mmi- gration-The Sauk or Black Hawk War Scare-The June Frost of 1835.
T THE earliest white men in Southwestern Michigan
were the adventurous characters who traded with the Indians. At Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Bert- rand and St. Joseph, in Michigan, and South Bend and Elkhart, in Indiana, were important trading sta- tions, some of which were maintained for long terms of years. So far as is known, there was no station within the present limits of Cass County. This region was tributary to the traders at St. Joseph, and upon the site of Bertrand; and the Indians took the pel- tries which they gathered in its woods and upon its prairies, and upon the margins of its lakes, to one or the other of those localities.
A Frenchman named Le Clere was the first trader located at Bertrand, and it is probable that he estab- lished himself there as early as 1775. He was suc- ceeded by John Kinzie, and he by Joseph Bertrand, after whom the place was named, in 1814. In the meantime, Abraham Burnett had settled at the mouth of the river. Both Bertrand and Burnett made im- provements, which indicated their intention to remain as permanent settlers.
The first well-authenticated visit of a white man to the region now known as Cass County was made by Zaccheus Wooden. He was a native of Saratoga County, N. Y., and, in 1813, when nineteen years of age, he went to Cuyahoga County, Ohio. In the fol- lowing spring, being of an adventurous turn of mind, in company with eleven others, he engaged to go on a trapping expedition for that king of fur-traders, John Jacob Astor. The party proceeded through the woods from Cleveland to Monroe, Mich., where there was a small settlement, and there divided into pairs and penetrated the forest in various directions. Wooden and his companion went up the River Raisin, and thence to Elkhart. Making this place a rendez- vons, they followed the various water-courses, and vis- ited the lakes in the surrounding country, setting their traps where the otter, beaver, mink, muskrat and other fur-bearing animals did most abound.
The only white man Wooden saw after leaving Monroe was a Frenchman named John Kabeau, who lived with an Indian wife in a little hut on the bank of Pleasant Lake, near the site of Edwardsburg. He was a trapper, and undoubtedly in the employ of Bertrand. Upon a little piece of poorly-cultivated ground near his cabin, he raised sufficient corn to sup- ply the needs of himself and dusky partner, and he even had a little to spare, which his visitor was glad to buy on several occasions. During most of the time that Wooden was engaged in trapping in Cass County, he was alone. He visited Diamond Lake and Stone Lake, spending two weeks upon the banks of the latter. Near Diamond Lake there was a beaver dam, and he there secured quite a large number of skins. His food consisted of corn-meal cake, salt, and such game as he chanced to secure. Beaver livers, pre- pared by a peculiar process and dried, were consid- ered a great delicacy. The trapping was carried on in Cass County from November to April in the years 1814-15, and, in subsequent seasons Mr. Wooden's avocation led him to other parts of the country.
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