USA > Michigan > Genesee County > History of Genesee county, Michigan. With illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 5
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113
In consideration of the cession made by the Saginaw treaty, the United States agreed to pay to the Chippewa nation annually, forever, the sum of one thousand dollars, in silver coin, and, also, that all annuities to be paid theru in pursuance of the stipulations of previous treaties should thereafter be paid in silver. The terms of the treaty of Greenville (in 1795), giving the Indians the right to hunt and fish at will upon the ceded lands, so long as they re- mained the property of the United States, were applied to this treaty. They were also to be permitted to make sugar wherever they chose upon the same lands and during the same period, but without any unnecessary waste of the trees. And the government reserved the right to construct necessary roads through any part of the reservations. It
was likewise stipulated in the treaty that "The United States engage to provide and support a blacksmith for the Indians at Saginaw, so long as the President of the United States may think proper, and to furnish such farming utensils and cattle, and employ such persons to aid them in their agriculture, as the President may deem expedient."
PEWONIGOWINK RESERVATION.
The tribal reservation of five thousand seven hundred and sixty acres on the Flint River, before mentioned as including the village of the old chief Neome, " and a place called Kishkabawee," became known as the Pewonigowink reservation, and embraced within its area all of section 4, the west half of section 3, the cast half of section 5, the north half of section 9, and the northeast and northwest quarters, respectively, of sections 8 and 10 in the present township of Montrose, in Genesee County, and something more than double that amount of land in Saginaw. In the latter portion was included the old Indian Field, so well known to the early travelers who passed down the valley of the Flint, and used its broad open space as a camping-ground.
PLANS FOR INDIAN EMIGRATION-TREATIES OF WASII- INGTON (1836), DETROIT (1837), FLINT RIVER (1837), AND SAGINAW (1838).
It had been the intention of Gen. Cass to procure from the Indians at Saginaw an agreement that they would gradually emigrate from their old hunting-grounds in Michigan and remove beyond the Mississippi River, or, at least, to the country lying to the westward of Lake Michi- gan ; but in this the commissioner was disappointed, as we have seen. This repulse, however, did not cause the gov- ernment to abandon its cherished idea, and, finally, after many long years of persuasion, the minds of the red men seemed to have become fully prepared to entertain the proposition for ultimate removal to the new countries of the far West.
In the year 1836 a council was held at Washington by Henry R. Schoolcraft, United States Commissioner, with the principal chiefs of the Chippewa and Ottawa nations, by which those nations ceded to the United States all the remaining part of the lower peninsula to which the Indian title had not before been extinguished, with the exception of a few reservations. This treaty was concluded on the 28th of March, and proclaimed on the 27th of May, in the year named.
At the commencement of 1837, Mr. Schooleraft, as In- dian commissioner, met the chiefs and delegates of the Saginaw tribe of Chippewas at Detroit, where, on the 14th of January, a treaty was concluded by which the tribe ceded to the United States all the reservations, except those granted to individuals, under the Saginaw treaty of 1819, but retained the right to continue for five years in undisturbed occupation of their traets on the Augrais River, and on the Mushowusk River west of the Saginaw ; no white man to settle or encroach on those tracts under pen- alty of five hundred dollars. The United States agreed to furnish a farmer and blacksmith for the tribe as before, and to continue the donations of cattle and farming utensils.
23
INDIAN EMIGRATION.
The lands embraced in the ceded reservations were to be surveyed by the United States and placed in the market with the other public lands as soon as practicable, and the amount due the Indians from this source to be invested by the President in some publie stock, the interest to be paid annually to the tribe in the same manner as their annuities were paid; and if, at the end of twenty years, the Indians should wish the said stock to be sold and the proceeds divided among the tribe it might be done with the consent of the President and Senate.
By the terms of the treaty the tribe agreed to remove from the State of Michigan as soon as a proper location could be obtained, and for this purpose it was stipulated that a deputation should be sent to view the country occu- pied by their kindred tribes west of the most westerly point of Lake Superior; " and if an arrangement for their future and permanent residence can be made there, which shall be satisfactory to them and to the government, they shall be permitted to form a reunion with such tribes and remove thereto. If such arrangement cannot be effected, the gov- ernment of the United States will use its influence to obtain such location west of the Mississippi River as the legisla- tion of Congress may indicate."
The above was amended by a new treaty coneluded on the 20th of December, 1837, at Flint River, between Henry R. Schoolcraft, commissioner, and the Saginaw chiefs and delegates, by the terms of which the United States agreed to reserve a location for the tribe " on the head waters of the Osage River, in the country visited by a delegation of the said tribe during the present year ; to be of proper ex- tent agreeably to their numbers, embracing a due proportion of wood and water, and lying contiguous to tribes of kindred language ;" the meaning and intent of this being to nullify and abrogate that article of the treaty of Jan. 14, 1837, which entitled them to a location in the country lying west ol' Lake Superior. It was provided by the treaty that the sum of fifty cents for cach aere of Indian land sold by the United States should be reserved "as an indemnification for the location to be furnished for their future permanent residence and to constitute a fund for emigrating thereto."
The attesting wituesses to the treaty were John Garland, major U. S. A .; Henry Connor, sub-agent and interpreter ; T. B. W. Stockton, Gardner D. Williams, Jonathan Beach ; Chas. C. Ilascall, receiver in the land-office at Flint ; Albert J. Smith, Robert J. S. Page, Wait Beach, Rev. Luther D. Whitney, T. R. Cummings. This treaty, although not of very great importance in its results, is mentioned here, more especially for the reason that it was held at the place where now stands the beautiful and prosperous city of Flint, at a time when the spot was marked only by the straggling dwellings of a few pioneer settlers; and because, among those who were present at the deliberations, there were many whose names are well known in the annals of the city and county ; some of whom still live, and distinctly re- member the interesting occasion.
About a month after the conclusion of the treaty of Flint River, the chiefs were again assembled in council with Commissioner Schoolcraft. This time the council- fire was kindled at Saginaw. The reasons for the calling of this convention, as set forth in the preamble to the treaty which
was there concluded (Jan. 23, 1838), were, that " the chiefs of the bands have represented that combinations of pur- chasers may be formed at the sale of their lands [meaning the reservation lands, relinquished by the treaty of Detroit, Jan. 14, 1837], for the purpose of keeping down the price thereof, both at the public and private sales, whereby the proceeds would be greatly diminished; and such a pro- cedure would defeat some of the primary objects of the cession of the lands to the United States, and thereby origi- nate difficulties to their carly removal and expatriation to the country west of the Mississippi."
To quiet these apprehensions, and to insure satisfaction and justice to both parties, it was provided in the treaty there made that the reservation lands, ceded by the treaty of Jan. 14, 1837, should be offered for sale by proclamation of the President, and that the sales should be conducted in the same manner as the sales of other government lands; and that all lands brought into market under the provisions of the treaty of 1837 should be put up and offered for sale by the register and receiver of the respective land-offices, at five dollars per acre, which was declared as the minimum price ; and il' that price was not bid, the sales should there- upon be stopped ; and no reservation lands should be dis- posed of, either at public or private sale, at a less price than the one mentioned, during a period of two years from the commencement of such offering for sale. But if, at the expiration of that period, any part of the reservation lands should remain unsold, then the minimum price should be diminished to two dollars and fifty cents per acre, at which price they should be subject to entry until all were sold. If any of the lands should remain unsold at the end of five years from the ratification of this treaty, they were then to be sold at such price as they would command, provided that no such sale should be made for a price less than seventy- five cents per aere. And finally, it was agreed that if the Indians should consent to emigrate, and give up the tracts at Angrais and Rifle River (the usufruet and occupancy of which had been reserved to them for five years by the treaty of Detroit in 1837) at any time within two years, they should receive therefor, from the United States, the minimum price of five dollars per acre ; and il' they should fail to so relinquish within that period, but should relin- quish within the period for which the minimum price of two dollars and fifty cents per acre was established, then they should receive that minimum price per acre for the lands so given up and vacated.
But the plan of Indian cmigration from Michigan, formed and fostered by the government, and assented to by the tribes in the treaties of Detroit, Flint River, and Sagi- naw, was never carried into effect ; for, long before the ex- piration of the time named in the treaty for their departure, they had bitterly repented of their promise to remove to the land of the setting sun, and prayed the Great Father that they might be permitted to remain on the poor remnant of their once broad hunting-grounds, and to be buried near the graves of their fathers. The government did not insist on the performance of their agreement, and no general Western emigration took place ; but eventually the bands became in a great measure broken up, and the individual members gradually scattered away farther towards the north and
24
HISTORY OF GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
west, some of them afterwards becoming the owners of small traets by purchase (a course which was encouraged by the government), many removed to reservations in Isabella County, where they or their children are still living, and some crossed the river and lake into Canada.
CHAPTER V.
INDIAN RESERVATIONS ON FLINT RIVER.
Description of the Individual Reservations at the Grand Traverse- Their Location and Survey under authority of the Government- United States Patents issued to several of the Reservees-Lung Liti- gation between rival Claimants to the Lands.
THE Indian traet of Pewonigowink having been relin- quished to the United States by the treaty of 1837, the only reservations which then remained within the territory now comprised in the county of Genesee were the eleven tracts granted to individuals named by Jacob Smith and others in the treaty of 1819. The article of that treaty providing for these individual reservations declares that " there shall be reserved for the use of each of the persons hereinafter mentioned, and their heirs,-which persons are all Indians by descent,-the following tracts of land," and after specifying the tracts of the Rileys and " The Crow," on Saginaw River, as before mentioned, pro- eceds as follows: " For the use of Nowokeshik, Metawa- nene, Mokitehenoqua, Nondashemau, Petabonaqua, Mes- sawwakut, Checbalk, Kitchegeequa, Sagosequa, Annoketo- qua, and Taweumegoqua, each six hundred and forty acres of land, to be located at or near the Grand Traverse of the Flint River, in such manner as the President of the United States may direct."
Immediately after the conclusion of the treaty Jacob Smith removed to the Grand Traverse of the Flint, and there established his post. He had foreseen the future im- portanee of this point, and had acted accordingly in securing the reservations ; but he probably considered the lands on the north side of the river to be more eligible than those lying on the south side, and he therefore located on the former, opening his business in a log house, which stood near the river-bank, on the " burnt plain" of Muscatawingh.
In the year 1820, President Monroe, in pursuance of the provisions of the treaty, caused the eleven tracts to be sur- veyed, and located on both sides of the Flint River, at its southernmost bend ; that is, at and near the Indian crossing- place known as the Grand Traverse. Six of these tracts were laid out on the north side of the river and five on the south side. They were laid out in irregular formus, but each contained an area equal to one mile square. They were numbered from one to eleven, inclusive; and their respective locations and allotment among the several reser- vees was as indicated in the accompanying diagram, copied from the plat of the survey.
These tracts have frequently been mentioned and named upon maps, collectively, as " Smith's Reservation," and the
. A remnant of the Pewconigo Indians, however, continued to live on this reservation for a number of years after it was formally ceded to the United States.
designation is perhaps not wholly incorrect ; for, although Jacob Smith never claimed more than five of them for the reservees named by hitu, yet it seems clear that none of them could have been secured except through the exertion of his powerful influence with the Indians at the treaty. Within the limits of these reservations was comprised nearly all the area of the present eity of Flint; and the great appreciation of the value of the lands, resulting from their rapid settlement, led to much controversy and years of obstinate litigation between different parties laying claim to their ownership.
Jacob Smith died at the Grand Traverse early in the year 1825, leaving as his legal heirs five children, -one son and four daughters, -- residing in Detroit. Ilis location at the Traverse had been on the reservation numbered two, where, besides his trading-house, he had a small tract under cultivation. To what extent he had ever been in actual possession of any of the other reservations does not appear, but whatever his interest was, at this place, it was taken possession . of soon after his death, by Maj. (afterwards Gen.) John Garland, his son-in-law, in the name of the heirs, for whom it was claimed that they were the true owners of the Indian names Metawanene, Annoketoqua, Sagosequa, Nondashemau, and Messawwakut, to whom, re- spectively, sections 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 were allotted on the plat of the reservations made by direction of the President; these names, as was alleged, having been given them in infancy by their father's Indian friends, who at that time frequently visited his house in Detroit. There would have been nothing strange or unusual in their giving Indian names to white children and adults, the same thing having been done in the family of Maj. Oliver Williams, of Oakland County, every member of which received an Indian name from these same Chippewas, and many other similar instances are mentioned. In this case, however, three of the five Indian names referred to were those of males, while four of the children of Jacob Smith were daughters.
When the tide of innuigration began to set strongly in this direction, and it became apparent not only that the valley of the Flint River wust eventually take rank among the most favored and prosperous portions of Michigan, but that the Grand Traverse must become the most important point in all that fertile valley, the elaimants to the five reservations above mentioned very naturally felt desirous of establishing an absolute title to the lands in question ; and as an important preliminary step in that direction, all of those tracts (which had in the mean time been partially occupied by various lessees under Maj. Garland, the repre- sentative of the heirs of Jacob Smith) were taken in actual possession by Albert J. Smith, the claimant to the name and lands of Metawanene, he also acting on behalf of his three surviving sisters and of the heirs of their deecased sister Caroline. This was in the year 1835. At the next succeeding session of Congress these claimants memorial- ized the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, praying for the passage of an act author- izing the issuance of patents to them for the five reserva- tions as surveyed in 1820, and numbered two, three, four, five, and six on the plat filed in the land-office.
Their petition-after setting forth the well-known and
MYNIDVS NOMI TIVE MAIN
TOWNSHIP VIN, NORTH RANGE VI. EAST
TRAIL TO PINE RUN & SAGINAW
RANGE LINE
TOWNSHIP VIII. NORTH, RANGE VII. EAST
No 1
C
TAWCUMEGOQUA
Smith
y
No. 5
S
VONDASHEMAU
MEIAWANENE
Smith
SAGOSEQUA
No .3
Smith
ANNOKE TUQUA
No 10
Smith
NOIWOKESHIK
FE Campau
V .. 8
No 9
CHECBALK
MOKITCHENODUP
TRAIL
JEAN VISGER
--
E
RANGE LINE
TOWNSHIP VII. NORTH RANGEVI. EAST
TOWNSHIP VIL. NORTH RANGE VII. EAST
COPY OF THE SURVEYED PLAT "OFTHE INDIAN RESERVATIONS ON THE FLINT RIVER MICH.
ENGRAVEO EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK
TOWNSHIP
LINE
MESSAWWAKU
Smith
No-f
n
KITCHEGEEQUA CATHARINE MENE
PETA BONEQUA PHILLIS BEAUFAIT
9
25
INDIAN RESERVATIONS ON FLINT RIVER.
undisputed fact that their father, Jacob Smith, was present at the Saginaw treaty of 1819, and was greatly instrumental in bringing about a successful result to that negotiation -- proceeded as follows : " Although the reservations intended for your memorialists under the treaty of Saginaw have been partially occupied under them, and always known and acknowledged as being intended for them, yet they never have received or obtained such a title from Government as would authorize them to sell or convey any portion of the said lands, in consequence of their having been embraced- unintentionally, as your memorialists believe-among the number of reservations intended for persons being Indians ' by descent ;' owing to which the General Land-Office has not felt authorized to issue patents for said land in the names of your memorialists. . . In support of their prayer, your memorialists would respectfully refer you to the certificates of the chiefs and head men of the Chippewa nation, marked B, in which the claim of your memorialists is fully acknowledged and proven ; also to the affidavits of respectable citizens of Michigan (numbered one, two, three, and four), who possess a knowledge of the facts and un- derstood the intentions of the Indians."
The array of proof above allnded to as accompanying the memorial was, to say the least, exceedingly strong. First, was a certificate or statement made by Chippewa chiefs, signers of the treaty of 1819, fully recognizing the rights and claims of the children of Jacob Smith. This document, being an important one, is given here entire, as follows :
" The subscribers, chiefs and head men of the Chippewa nation, and subscribers to the treaty of Saginaw, hereby certify that the five reservations at and near the Grand Traverse of the Flint River, made by the treaty of 1819, were made and intended for the five following- named persons, viz. : Metawanene, alias Albert J. Smith ; Messawwakut, alias Harriet M. Smith : Sagosequa, alias Carolino Smith; Annoke- toqua, alias Louisa L. Smith ; and Nondashemau, alias Maria G. Smith (each six hundred and forty acres) ; known to us and distinguished by the aforesaid names, as the children of the late Jacob Smith. Wo further certify that the aforesaid donations to the children aforesaid were made in consideration of services rendered by said Smith (de- ceased) to the Chippewa nation, and the friendly intercourse that sub- sisted between the parties for many years. We further certity that Metawanene, alias Albert J. Smith, now present at the execution of this certificate, is the son of Jacob Smith, deceased, and that we re- cognize him as one of the five children to whom the before-mentioned donations were made and intended.
" SAGINAW, January 22, 1835. [Signed by witnesses present]
" THOMAS SIMPSON, E. S. WILLIAMS,
G. D. WILLIAMS, CHARLES II. Ronn.
[Signed by] "OCEMAWKEKETO, [totem] NONONIPENASKE,
WARBETOANCE, 44
SARWARNON,
CHINETOSHI,
SHANOE, .4
WASHWIS,
KAWGABEGO, WAYSHONONO, MONEWEG.
" TERRITORY OF MICHIGAN, ! OAKLAND COUNTY.
" Personally appeared beforo the subseriber, a justice of the peace within and for the county of Oakland, Ephraim S. Williams, Esquire, who, being duly sworn according to law, deposeth and saith that he, this deponent, was present at the execution of the witbin certificate, and saw the within-named chiefs and head men make their marks to the said certificato. Deponent further saith that the subscribers, chiefs and head men as aforesaid, reside in the vicinity of Saginaw, Oakland County, and Territory of Michigan. Prponent further saith 4
that the contents of the certificate aforesaid were by him fully ex- plained, and were cheerfully assented to by the aforesaid chiefs and head men.
[Signed] " E. S. WILLIAMS. "Sworn and subscribed before me this twenty-second day of Janu- ary, 1835.
" THOMAS SIMPSON."
This statement of the Chippewa chiefs was made at a couneil which had been called for the purpose at the place and date mentioned, chiefly through the influence and in- strumentality of the brothers G. D. and E. S. Williams, who were then traders at Saginaw. The meeting (which was not a formal treaty-council) was held in a building owned by the American For Company, and was presided over by Thomas Simpson,-known to the Indians as Lixa- boga,-who was residing among the Chippewas to instruct them in agriculture at the expense of the government. The chief interpreter on the occasion was Jacob Gravradt, who was assisted by Charles H. Rodd (who was regularly employed in that capacity by the American Fur Company ), and also by Mr. Ephraim S. Williams, who spoke Chip- pewa as well as the chiefs themselves. T. B. W. Stockton and Albert J. Smith were present as representatives of the Smith reservees, and the last named was at once and fully recognized by the chiefs as the Metawanene of the Saginaw treaty. The principal personage among the chiefs was Ogemawkeketo, who had been recognized by Gen. Cass as the " chief speaker" of the Chippewas, and who still wore upon his breast the government medal of silver which had been presented to him by the general in 1819. Here, as on the occasion of Cass' treaty, this "chief speaker" opposed, at first, the object for which the chiefs had been called to- gether. Ile fully understood that the Grand Traverse res- ervations had by the terms of the old treaty been granted to certain persons who were mentioned as all being of In- dian descent, and seeing in this a circumstance which might inure to the benefit of the tribe by causing the lands to revert to them, he made a strong speech to the effect that as the lands had been granted to individuals of Indian descent, which these children of Jacob Smith were not, and as during the sixteen years which had passed since the granting of the reservations no person bearing a trace of Indian blood had ever laid claim to them, it was plain that they had never yet passed from the ownership of the Chip- percas ; therefore, the tribe should retain them until the government or individuals should be ready to purchase at a fair price. This seemed to be a reasonable argument, and might have been fatal to the claims of the white reservees had it been adhered to; but the assembled chiefs had not yet forgotten their good and steadfast friend Wahbesins, and now they did not hesitate to declare that his white children were the rightful owners of the reservations in the true meaning and intent of the treaty. Even the astute " chief speaker" receded from the position which he had first taken, and the name of Ogemawkeketo was placed at the head of all those of the chiefs who signed the instru- ment.
Certificates to the same effect-declaring the white chil- dren of Jacob Smith to be the persons to whom the Chip- percus had intended to give the five sections of land in question-were procured from chiefs and head men at Big
26
HISTORY OF GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Rock village on the Shiawassee, Sept. 30, 1835 ; at Flint River, September, 1835; and at Grand Saline, Oet. 31, 1835 ; these being made through Capt. Joseph F. Marsac, interpreter to the Indian department, and in the presence of Stephen V. R. Trowbridge and Lient. Alfred Brush, of the United States army. The depositions of Major Robert A. Forsyth, who had drafted the treaty of 1819, and of James Connor, who also took part in the treaty (the former taken before Judge George Morell, and the latter before Judge Solomon Sibley), were to the effect that it was uuder- stood by them, at the time the treaty was made, that five or six reservations had been intended by the Indians for the children of Jacob Smith, who was a great favorite among them.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.