History of Detroit and Wayne County and early Michigan: A Chronological Cyclopedia of the Past and Present, Vol. I, Part 2

Author: Farmer, Silas, 1839-1902
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Detroit, Pub. by S. Farmer & co., for Munsell & co., New York
Number of Pages: 1094

USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > History of Detroit and Wayne County and early Michigan: A Chronological Cyclopedia of the Past and Present, Vol. I > Part 2

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The contents of the volume comprise everything that the history of an American city should be Expected to contain, and the work may well be taken as a model by other civil historians. * *

ancienne eglise des reverends peres Charmes de Castelsarrasin, ou fut enseveli le: 16 1 cobre 130 Blessing Antoine de Lamothe Cadillac, fe fondateur de Detroit. Chevalier de l'ordre militaire des! Louis, ancien gouverneur a chef du conseil superieur de la Louisiane, ancien gouverneur de la ville de Castelsarrasin.

Hommage Du Conseil municipal de Castelsarrasin. bauer Garonne. France. ( Délibération du na lévrier 182) a la ville de Detroit_Michigan Etats Unis. Pour le Conseil municipal, Le Maire de Castelsarrasin :

OLD CARMELITE CHURCH-NOW A PRISON-WHERE CADILLAC'S BONES REPOSE.

The picture and lettering are reproduced from the painting presented to the City of Detroit by the Municipality of Castelsarrasin, in France.

HISTORY

Detroit Wayne County

AND

EARLY MICHIGAN

A Chronological Cyclopedia of the

CPERAMUS

S MELIORA

RESURCET CI

¡BUS

INERIE

PAST AND PRESENT

By SILAS FARMER, City Historiographer "native here and to the manner born "

Third Edition-Revised and Enlarged

PUBLISHED BY SILAS FARMER & CO CORNER OF MONROE AVENUE AND FARMER STREET, DETROIT FOR MUNSELL & CO., NEW YORK 1890

Electrotyped and Printed by THE DETROIT FREE PRESS COMPANY.

DEDICATION.

URING the progress of this work many friends have greatly aided me in many ways; 88 one of them, like myself a native of the city, not only assisted me in the manner of others, but also gave me special encouragement, saying, oftener doubtless than he remembers : " Don't let yourself be hurried; take time to do it well." These thoughtful, helpful words were privately spoken. I delight in this public acknowledgment of the long-time friendship and hearty generosity that inspired their utterance, and gratefully dedicate this,

THE FIRST HISTORY OF DETROIT,

TO THOMAS W. PALMER,

THE FIRST SENATOR FROM MICHIGAN

NATIVE TO DETROIT.

My best wish is that he may serve the nation, state, and city in as many ways and as effectively as he has served

THE AUTHOR.

PREFACE.

" And so I penned It down, until at length it came to be For length and breadth, the bigness which you see."

Bunyan's " Apology."

IN the summer of 1874 I planned a volume entitled "A History of Detroit," with the purpose of issuing the work during the National Centennial. As preparations progressed, the impossibility of producing a complete history in so short a time became increasingly apparent, and the plan was abandoned.

After the original plan was given up, the work of gathering information went forward year by year, with the purpose of publishing only when no more material was known to be obtainable. During this period, many have asked why the volume was not finished, and to not a few, the necessity of spending so much time was not clearly apparent.

To me the advantages of delay have been daily manifest. I now fully understand that a local history bears to general history the same relation that a microscopic examination bears to one made with the naked eye; and that this is especially true when the history of a city nearly two hundred years old is to be unfolded, and a work of permanent value produced. The main purpose has been to write a history of Detroit, but the relation of the city to the territorial government was such that I have been compelled to give more of detail concerning the early history of Michigan than can be found in all other published histories.

Time, patience, discrimination, and large expenditures of money have been essential factors in the preparation of the volume; I, however, have had no regrets, for the work has been a labor of love, and I have been increasingly glad that it was my privilege to write the history of my birthplace.

In view of the strange and interesting incidents connected with the history of Detroit, and the fact that it epitomizes the history of half the continent, and furnishes much information that is duplicated in the annals of no other city, it seems strange indeed that no one has heretofore attempted a comprehensive view of our fair domain. Undoubtedly there are those who could have woven a finer web, but none could be more earnest or enthusiastic, and the work has waited many years for more skilful hands. If nativity, continuous residence for twoscore years, and passionate love for the Queen City of the Straits confer any fitness for the work, so much, at least, is mine. I have studied Cadillac's own writings, handled tomahawks and scalping-knives stained with the blood of a century ago, read original letters written by Gladwin and Clark, and, bending over the moldering dust of Hamtramck, "the friend of Washington," have received inspiration for my task.

I am compelled to believe that no stranger or resident of a few years could have accomplished what I have attempted. Without an intimate knowledge of the city, continuing through many years, various obscure and buried facts could not have been unearthed, and historic problems that have eluded all previous research would have remained unsolved. A chemist sometimes finds out what elements there are in one substance by adding others : in history one can understand certain facts only as he studies them in connection with collateral circumstances. Many topics are so closely related that the history of either could not be written without a knowledge of the other.

A good history is like a landscape, in that many things are brought at once within the range of vision ; and it should resemble a photograph, preserving those minute points which give character to the subject. Facts of little value in themselves are often of great import when considered with attendant

PREFACE.

circumstances. Stars of the first magnitude are easily found : it is the little asteroids that escape observation, and as these are discovered various planetary disturbances are explained.

In local history, details, deemed of trifling importance, are often unrecorded. These are, therefore, difficult to obtain, but the knowledge they give is frequently essential as a key to important facts. Items that would be unimportant in a national history are in the highest degree appropriate and useful in local annals. I have sometimes found that a single fact bore such relation to various subjects that allusion to it, or at least knowledge of it, was necessary to an intelligent presentation of several themes. Some facts were so far away in the dim regions of the past that patient search and close observation were required to find them, and more than once, a week has been spent in obtaining a single date. It is believed that a special feature of the book -- the giving of definite dates of a great number of occurrences - will add much to its practical value. The giving of so many dates has compelled the use of forms of expression that might else have been avoided, the interjection of a date often robbing a sentence of its smoothness ; but as the work was designed for reference, mere rhetoric has been sacrificed to definiteness of detail. I have sought for seasoning, but have not desired to serve up that alone. The facts have certainly been gathered. I have made no pretence of gathering, but have been conscientiously thorough. Incomplete literary work, alike with sham, mechanical endeavor, is the bane of the age; the one often destroys life, and the other debilitates that appreciation of the true which constitutes one of the joys of existence.

The search for information has often been pursued under difficulties that might have been discouraging if I had not often been rewarded by the discovery of interesting facts, entirely unknown before. To obtain such facts the mind must be historically magnetized, so that, moving through stores of material, it will instinctively gather that which is appropriate and useful. If I have failed to do this, it has not been for lack of a high ideal.

Duyckinck describes the style of Dr. Johnson as consisting in "inimitable generalization supported by picturesque detail, and animating suggestions enlivened by epigram and antithesis." Could there be a better standard? The tracing of some facts has been like the tracking of a hare; again and again it has been necessary to go back on the path, and renew the search, and at times, while rummaging in the garrets of old French houses and later dwellings, amid the dust and must of a century, I have almost forgotten to what age I belonged, and have for the time lived in the midst of past régimes.

As Columbus, when he saw branches of trees and seaweed drifting from the west, was led by the law of induction to infer the existence of America, so a true historian, by the presence of certain facts, foreknows the existence of others, and, like Columbus, he is ready to sail upon every sea in search of what is known but undiscovered, and as he searches for one truth, innumerable others come like reefs and islands into view. When found, he gloats like a miser over a new acquisition, and delights to recur to, and call the fact his own. In the search for material I have traversed many untrodden ways, and searched unnumbered papers and places that will not again yield information.

In local history, division and detail are inseparable and essential. It is as impossible to carry along in one narrative all the various themes pertaining to the history of a city, as to reproduce in one photograph the faces of an entire family, giving the appearance of each in childhood, youth, and age.

The method pursued in this work of treating each subject by itself has involved much added labor, and gives opportunity for closer criticism than would otherwise be possible. The plan, in the fullness with which it has been attempted, is believed to be original. The chronological relation of each import- ant fact to every other is shown in the annals at the close of the volume. Many so-called local histories should have a more general title ; they give comparatively few items on local affairs, because the obtaining of new facts involves much trouble, and it is easier to generalize than to particularize, to copy than to obtain from original sources.

My aim has been to offer so complete a list of subjects, such fullness of information, and such thoroughness of classification, as to make the volume a model of its kind; and in no instance was the major portion of the information in any chapter obtained from any one person, book, or manuscript. In certain

vii

PREFACE.

subjects, I have intentionally preserved colloquial forms of expression, because they help to show the spirit of the times, and constitute part of the history of the period. I have desired to exhibit the character- istics, and the growth of the city in its varied aspects, and to trace in connected form the development of all the varied forms of its social and governmental existence. Instead of summarizing their contents, I have often quoted at length from original documents, in the belief that others besides myself would be glad to have the exact language used.

If some of the chapters seem to lack interest, I can only say that certain subjects have obstinately resisted any other treatment than the plain recital of facts.

If to be a reliable historian, one must be always cool, and calm, and unimpassioned, as some would have us believe, then I must acknowledge that I was unfitted for my task. It seems to me, however, that, even in local history, the historian should be full of both the fervor and the flavor of the times he would describe. If it be thought that some statements are too highly colored, I can only say that concerning cer- tain parts of our story, I have felt that no description could do full justice to the reality. As far as possi- ble all persons known to have been specially connected with the growth and government of the city are appropriately mentioned, and no feature proved more difficult than the gathering and proper spelling of the thousands of names contained herein. Almost without exception the official records of the city and county prior to the last thirty-five years are so meager and so carelessly written that the obtaining of the names of many regularly elected officers was only possible by comparing and consulting various books and papers that had no necessary relation to the information sought. Many items have been obtained only after hundreds of personal interviews, and the obtaining of the information was only possible because I was able to bring it to the memory of persons interviewed by reminding them of collateral facts and dates. With the aid of definite data obtained from written records, I have been able to test the recollections of aged persons, and to verify statements that otherwise would have been valueless.

In the search for material I have personally examined, or caused to be examined, the collections and publications of the American Antiquarian Society, at Worcester, Mass., the State Historical Society, at Madison, Wis., the Western Reserve and Northern Ohio Historical Society, at Cleveland, Ohio, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia, the Massachusetts Historical Society, at Boston, the Chicago Historical Society, and the Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio, at Cincinnati. Examination has also been made of hundreds of old manuscripts and documents at Ottawa, Albany, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Cincinnati, and New York. The New York Colonial Documents in ten volumes, and the Penn- sylvania Colonial Archives and Records in twenty-nine volumes, also the Calendar of Virginia State Papers have all been carefully read. From one letter to scores of letters, with information, have been received from the following places : Boston, Cambridge, Lowell, Salem, and Worcester in Massachusetts; New Haven and Norwich in Connecticut; Newport in Rhode Island; New York, Brooklyn, Albany, Buffalo, . Syracuse, Troy, West Point and Manlius in New York; Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and Pittsburgh in Penn- sylvania; Elizabeth and Trenton in New Jersey; Ann Arbor, Algonac, Armada, Albion, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Kalamazoo, Jackson, Jonesville, South Haven, Three Rivers, Traverse City, Mackinaw, Mt. Clemens, Birmingham, Howell, Battle Creek, Northville, Owosso, Monroe, Meridian, Michigan Centre, Port Huron, Pontiac, Plymouth, Petersburgh, Palmyra, and Portland in Michigan; Madison, Milwaukee, Prairie du Chien, Calamine, Darlington, and Plymouth in Wisconsin; Chicago, Jacksonville, and Springfield in Illinois; Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chillicothe, Columbus, and Dayton in Ohio; Indianapolis, Richmond, and Peru in Indiana; St. Louis and Jefferson City in Missouri; Denver in Colorado; San Francisco in California ; Washington and Georgetown in District of Columbia; Baltimore in Maryland ; Richmond in Virginia; Frankfort, Louisville, Lexington, and Newport in Kentucky; Marietta in Georgia; New Orleans in Louisiana; Jacksonville in Florida; Toronto, Ottawa, Quebec, Kleinbergh, Brockville, and Hamilton in Canada; and from Dublin, Ireland; London, England; and Paris, France.

The whole list of letters received numbers 2,166. From the State and War Departments at Wash- ington a large amount of valuable information not heretofore published was obtained. The old volumes in the Wayne County register's office, and the plat-books, have all been inspected; also the registers and files

viii

PREFACE.

in the probate office, the records of the county commissioners and Board of Supervisors, and other records in the offices of the county clerk, county auditors, and county treasurer, including many old township records and proceedings of the Board of Election Canvassers. As having direct connection with city matters, all the old records of the Governor and Judges, and their proceedings as a land board, have been read, and with them a variety of petitions, memorials, and reports made to the Governor and Judges, the Board of Trustees, and the Common Council; also the records of the Board of Trustees of the town of Detroit, beginning with 1802, all of the proceedings of the Common Council from 1815 to the present, together with innumerable ordinances which from time to time have been passed. The annual messages of mayors and reports of the several city officers have been consulted, and every report made by the Water, Fire, Police, and House of Correction Commissioners and the Board of Public Works has furnished material for the work. I have also made use of the printed reports of the Board of Education, and have read, mostly in manuscript, the proceedings of their several meetings, beginning with 1842. Each published Directory of Detroit has been studied, and every map of the city, either large or small, consulted; also the registers and records of several of the old fire companies, and several hundred miscellaneous pamphlets.

During the progress of the work I have been aided in every possible way by those who have made a specialty of preserving information concerning the city. And first of all, I name with grateful thanks Judge James V. Campbell, who has, at all times, given without stint the advantage of his exceptionally reliable and complete knowledge of the past. But for his unfailing courtesy and long-continued help, I should have had much less courage in going on with the work. With his name I must also associate the name of that kind and courteous gentleman, C. C. Trowbridge, who so lately passed to his reward. He laid his memory and his manuscripts under contribution to furnish scores of items for this volume. No one equalled him in knowledge on many subjects connected with Detroit. Miscellaneous information of great variety and much interest was gleaned from the files of newspapers which I was fortunate in finding nearly complete, for every year from 1817 to the present time. All were carefully looked over, -for some years files of two and three papers were examined, -a total of twenty thousand copies having been consulted. In many of them, even the advertisements were scanned for items and suggestions. This effort alone occupied several months. For the use of various files I am under particular obligation to William E. Quinby, of The Detroit Free Press; William Stocking, L. F. Harter, and H. E. Baker, of The Post and Tribune; and James H. Stone, C. K. Backus, and E. G. Holden, formerly connected with the last-named paper. The files of The Evening News and the personal knowledge of its founder and chief proprietor, James E. Scripps, were also laid under contribution. It is not too much to say that, without an examina- tion of the newspaper files, it would have been utterly impossible to prepare a history of the city which would have been at all complete. In addition to the local newspapers, the files of The National Intelli- gencer at Washington from 1800 to 1817, of The Alexandria Herald from 1810 to 1825, of The Philadelphia Aurora from 1798 to 1815, and also old files of The Pittsburgh Commonwealth, The Quebec Gazette, and a full series of Niles's Register were examined. All of these publications were issued before any paper was published at Detroit, and they contained many facts not found elsewhere. Even the hotel registers have furnished some items of interest, and the reports of business, charitable, literary, and educational institutions and societies have been systematically obtained and digested.

The reports of the Supreme Court, and certain of the court files, calendars, and "short books " have contributed valuable facts, and reference has been had to various volumes in the Bar Library. Through the courtesy of C. I. Walker, secretary of the Historical Society organized many years ago, by General Cass, H. R. Schoolcraft, and other distinguished men, I had access to and have copied many of the original records, documents, and manuscripts, on different subjects, collected by that organization. Judge Walker's own library, including his private scrap-books, were also generously opened to my inspection ; also scrap-books owned by Samuel Zug, George W. Osborn, J. E. Pittman, Levi Bishop, and others. Several old wills in the probate office, the private diaries of individuals, and in several instances family records have furnished incidents and items. Many of the older families brought out for examination old hair-trunks and wooden chests full of papers, and several score of these receptacles of the past

PREFACE.

were diligently examined. In many of the old papers the signatures of Bradstreet, Carlton, Vaudreuil, and Hamilton were frequently seen. Among the valuable manuscripts, which by the courtesy of indi- viduals have been consulted, were the papers of Judges Woodward and May, also those of the Abbott, Woodbridge, Witherell, Palmer, Cooper, Brush, and Campau families.

The old account-books of the Macomb family and of Thomas Smith have afforded many curious facts. Much desirable information was secured by an examination of the original letter-books of D. Henly and General Wilkins, covering the period just prior and subsequent to the surrender of the post of Detroit in 1796. The very complete abstracts of titles in Wayne County, prepared by E. C. Skinner and C. M. Burton, were willingly placed at my service, and through the courtesy of Rev. Father Anciaux, and with the aid of H. Prudhomme, the records of St. Anne's Church, dating from 1704, were examined. In preparing the history of the Roman Catholic churches and their schools, I was especially aided by the Vicar-General, P. Hennaert, and the Secretary of the Diocese, Rev. C. P. Maes. Access was also had to the private library of Bishop Borgess, who has evinced in various ways his appreciation of my work. The clergymen of every denomination, and the officers of societies of every kind, almost without exception, have cordially exhibited the official records in their care, and have aided in obtaining from them such facts as were desired. By persevering effort, continued for nearly a year, and with the help of Senator H. P. Baldwin, ex-President R. B. Hayes, and Governor Charles Foster, I obtained access to the St. Clair Papers nearly two years before they were opened to the public eye, and long before they were published in book form. When read in connection with other facts, some of the letters are of exceeding interest. The twenty-six volumes of Sir William Johnson's Manuscripts at Albany, and the manuscript volumes of the Haldimand and Simcoe Papers at Ottawa, several hundred in number, were personally examined, and many entirely new and hitherto unknown facts gleaned therefrom.

In order to obtain information relating to Cadillac I pushed my inquiries to France, and under my direction journeys of inquiry and search were made to Aix, Fumel, Castelsarrasin, Montauban, St. Nicolas de la Grave, Caumont, Angeville, Mombeau, and Toulouse. Inquiries were made among relatives and descendants, and old notarial and parish records were examined. In these endeavors the aid ren- dered by Messrs. Flamens and Taupiac, of Castelsarrasin, was of great value, and I was specially aided by the services and suggestions of Hon. George Walker, the United States Consul-General at Paris. The gratification of finding the place and date of birth of the founder of Detroit, heretofore unknown, abun- dantly compensated for the trouble and outlay.

Through the aid of L. P. Sylvain of the Library of Parliament at Ottawa, and T. P. Bedard, Provincial Registrar at Quebec, copies of the official correspondence of the governors of New France, contained in nearly threescore large manuscript folios, were examined, and a large amount of valuable and entirely new material extracted therefrom. Access was also had to the copies of original documents and letters pertaining to Detroit, obtained in London and Paris by General Cass, only part of which were made use of by Mrs. Sheldon, and a number of other French manuscripts have been translated, and collated. Information has been obtained directly from the State officers of Massachusetts, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and Michigan, and I have examined all the laws of the Northwest Territory, the territorial documents of Indiana and Michigan, the State Laws of Michigan, the reports of Michigan State officers for every year, and all the Legislative Council, House, and Senate journals, and the governors' messages ; the registers of the official acts of the territorial governors, and copies of the correspondence of the territorial officers, with the Departments at Washington, still on file at the national capital. The very complete collection of books and manuscripts concerning Michigan, collected by the late W. S. George, of Lansing, were, with his hearty permission, consulted with much advantage. The laws of the United States from the first to the last Congress, with scores of published volumes of congressional annals and debates, and the immense tomes known as the American State Papers and American Archives, and the several census reports from 1810, have all been used. All the volumes in the Library of Parliament, at Ottawa, and the Library of Congress at Washington, and all the rich resources gathered at Madison, giving promise of any information, have also been examined.

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History of Detroit and Wayne County and early Michigan: A Chronological Cyclopedia of the Past and Present, Vol. I, Part 2

Author: Farmer, Silas, 1839-1902 Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Detroit, Pub. by S. Farmer & co., for Munsell & co., New York Number of Pages: 1094

Author: Farmer, Silas, 1839-1902
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Detroit, Pub. by S. Farmer & co., for Munsell & co., New York
Number of Pages: 1094