USA > Michigan > Genesee County > History of Genesee county, Michigan. With illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 7
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
The other claimant to the reservation, under the name of Taweumegoqua, was a full-blood Chippewa woman, the daughter of Mixanene, brother of the old chief Neome. She was about six years of age at the time of the treaty, and about the year 1830 she was married to Kahzheau- zungh, a full-blood Indian, by whom she had three children. On the 13th of August, 1841, she joined with her husband in a deed conveying the whole of Reservation No. 1 to John Bartow and Addison Stewart, the last named gentleman having been for several years in possession of a small por- tion of the tract, though claiming no title to the land on account of such occupation.
On the 6th of April, 1855, Lucy Stewart, widow of Addison Stewart (deceased ), and his minor heirs, by their guardian, conveyed their interest in the section to Daniel D. Dewey, and John Bartow conveyed his interest in it to William Hamilton, by deed dated July 3d, in the same year. Thus, whatever title to the tract had originally vested in the full-blood daughter of Mixanene was now held by Messrs. Dewey and Hamilton, while all the right to the tract which had formerly been possessed by the half-breed daughter of Bolieu (Madame Coutant) was held by Joseph Campau, who claimed to have been in actual possession since the year 1838.
Under these circumstances, Dewey and Hamilton com- menced a suit in ejectment against Campau in the Circuit Court of Genesce. The trial resulted adversely to the plaintiffs, who thereupon carried the cause to the Supreme Court, where the judgment of the court below was affirmed. The loss of the ease to the plaintiffs was on account of an informality in the acknowledgment of the deed from the Indian claimant. This defect was remedied by a new cou- veyance from her husband and children, she having died in the year 1818. On the 24th of November, 1856, Alvin T. Crosman ( who had acquired title by mean conveyances from
30
HISTORY OF GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
the heirs of Taweumegoqua ) quit-elaimed his interest in the entire section to George M. Dewey and Rufus J. Ham- ilton ; and on the 20th of July, 1857, Daniel D. Dewey and William Hamilton quit-claimed to the same grantees, who, in August of that year, brought action of cjeetment in the Genesee County Court against Joseph Campau and Alexander MeFarlan (the latter a lessee under Cam- pau). On the 29th of April, following, the venue was removed to Saginaw County, where the cause was finally tried in the Circuit Court, before Judge W. F. Wood- worth, at the January term in 1860. At this trial,* "evi- dence was adduced on the part of the plaintiffs tending to prove that at the time of the treaty of Saginaw, and for many years prior and subsequent thereto, a band of Chip- perca Indians resided at the village of Pewonigowink, on the Flint River, and about ten miles below the Grand Traverse of that river, at the place where the present city of Flint is located. That during all the time referred to Neome was the chief of this band ; that Tonedogane was the principal warrior or second chief of this band. and sue- ceeded Neome in the chieftainship on his decease. That one Mixanene was also a member of this band, a brother of Neome, and that Mixanene had a daughter, named Taw- cumegoqua, who was about six years of age at the time of the treaty, and was a member of Neome's family. That Neome also had three children,-two females, Sagosaqua and Owan- onaquatoqua, the former about ten or twelve years old at the time of the treaty, the latter a woman grown, and one boy, Ogibwok [supposed by some to have been the real " Checbalk," to whom section 9 should have been allotted], who was about fifteen years of age,-and a grandson called Metawanene; that all the children named were full-blood Indian children. . . . That Neome, his children, and said grandchild, and his band, including Tonedogane, and also Mixanene and his little daughter Taweumegoqua, were present at the treaty. That Jacob Smith was there also. That on the night prior to the last council, at which the treaty was read over and agreed to, Jacob Smith came to Neome's tent and advised him to get special reservations of land for his children, and promised to assist him in doing SO. That at the grand council, held the next day between the Indians and Gen. Cass, Neome came forward before Gen. Cass with his three children and said grandchild, Me- tawanene, and also his niece, Tawcumegoqua, Mixanene being with him and Jacob Smith standing by his side, and asked for reservations of land for these children ; that Gen. Cass assented, t and that the names of the children were written down, and that it was talked of and understood at the treaty that these children got special reservations of land." The testimony of the chief Nocchicame, and others was also introduced by the plaintiffs to show that Mixa- nene's daughter, Tawcumegoqua, was married about 1830 to Kahzheanzungh, and to identify her as the same person who joined with her husband in the deed to John Barton
and Addison Stewart, April 29: 1846 ; that she died in the fall of 1848, and that the persons who joined with her hus- band in the deeds to John Moore and A. T. Crosman were her children and heirs.
The defendants introduced evidence showing that their Taweumegoqua (alias Madame Coutant) was the daughter of the trader Bolieu, and an Indian woman (his wife) who was related by blood to the chief's Ncome and Tonedogane, and tending to prove that she (the daughter) was the true reservee. Among this evidence was the deposition of Henry Connor (then deceased) taken before David E. Harbaugh, a justice of the peace for Wayne County, Feb. 20, 1839, as follows : " I, Henry Connor, of Wayne County, State of Michigan, do solemnly swear that I was an Indian inter- preter at the treaty held with the Indians at Saginaw, in the year 1819, and that Taweumegoqua, a half-breed Indian woman, was present at said treaty ; that I acted as inter- preter for her in the matter of her claim to a section of land at or near the Grand Traverse on Flint River, in the then Territory of Michigan. I was well acquainted with said Taweumegoqua during a period of more than thirty years, and I know that she was the identical woman to whom the Indians then granted and intended to grant a section of land situated near the Grand Traverse of the Flint River afore- said. I do also know that she was married to a Frenchman named Coutant, and was called by the French inhabitants Angélique Coutant. That she had two children by said Contant, called Simon and Angélique Coutant, and that these two children are the only heirs of the said Taweume- goqua." . . . It was urged that this testimony was of great weight and importance, from the fact that Connor (on ae- count of the position held by him at the treaty) must of necessity have been fully acquainted with all the circun- stances, and with the intentions of the Indians, and also from the fact that his entire truthfulness and honesty were vouched for by General Cass, and others who had known hitu intimately for many years.
George B. Knaggs testified for the defense that he knew Madame Coutant, that he saw her at the treaty, that she was the person to whom the Indians intended to give the reserved tract, and this was understood by common conver- sation among them afterwards. This witness, however, did not sustain himself well under eross-examination, and his statements appear to have been received with distrust by the court.
Louis Campau, the old trader (who, at the time of this trial, was living in retirement at Grand Rapids), testified for the defense. He was present at the treaty of 1819, and here gave a detailed account of the proceedings on that oc- casion. He said Mrs. Coutant was present, and was then called by her Indian name, which the Indians accepted ; that she was presented by that name to General Cass, and that after her interview with him in the presence of the chiefs, he (Campau) asked her if she got the land, and she replied, " Yes, my son, my relations have pitied me, and given me a piece of land." He said that he met the chief, Tonedogane, who spoke of Mrs. Coutant by her Indian name, and called her his aunt, and that not only this Indian, but also the chiefs, Neome, Kabamiseobe, and Podagnass, told him that they had given her lands. This witness also
# Mich. Reports, vol. v., Cooley.
+ This, however, was shown to be wholly incorrect by the testimony of Gen. ('ass, given in one of the trials involving the title to other sec- tions of the Smith reservation ; in which the general stated positively that no such children were produced before him as reservees at the treaty.
31
SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTY.
testified that although he had been well acquainted with Neome since 1815, and knew all the hunters of his band, he had never known or heard that the old chief had any children, as had been stated by the witnesses on the other side. The trial, which was a long and interesting one, terminated on the 15th of February by a verdict in favor of the plaintiffs. Upon this a writ of restitution was issued, and Messrs. Dewey and Hamilton were placed in possession of the tract by Sheriff Lewis Buckingham on the 29th of November, 1860.
From the Circuit Court of Saginaw County the cause was carried by the defeated party to the Supreme Court, on a writ of error and bill of exceptions, and came to trial at the October term in 1861; resulting in an affirmation of the judgment of the court below.
The foregoing account of the principal suits, involving the original title to these reservations, may be thought un- necessarily extended ; but it has been made so not only because of the great interest which was felt in them by the people of this vicinity, and on account of the singularly conflicting nature of the evidence adduced, but also for the reason that (as was remarked to the writer by one of the most prominent citizens of Flint, and one who is intimately acquainted with the matter of which he speaks) " the set- tlement of the titles to the seven thousand acres embraced in the Stuith reservations has caused twenty times more trouble, anxiety, and litigation than all the other land-titles in the county of Genesee."
This remark, however, does not properly apply to the reservations on the south side of the river, excepting num- ber eight, which has been mentioned above at some length. The first of these (commencing at the lowest point on the river) was the one numbered eleven, of which the reservee was Kitchegeequa, a half-breed, otherwise known as Catha- rine Mene, who died a few years after the treaty. On the 30th of May, 1830, a patent was issued to Charles Mene and the other heirs of Catharine, and the title thus con- firmed, proved good and valid. The reservee of the adjoin- ing tract (number ten) was Phillis Beaufait (otherwise Peta- bonequa), a half-breed daughter of Colonel Louis Beaufait. Holders of titles derived from her found themselves secure; and this was also the case on reservation nine, which was granted to the half-breed Checbalk, otherwise Jean Visger, or John Fisher, a member of the " Fisher tribe" or band, several of whom are still living in the county. Nowoke- shik, to whom reservation number seven was allotted, was François Edouard Campau, a half-breed son of Barney Cam- pan. A patent for this traet was issued to him June 12, 1825, and on the 1st of April, 1830, he conveyed it by deed to John Todd, the pioneer of the Flint River settle- ment. Within this reservation is now included all of the second, and the greater part of the third ward of Flint, embracing the most populous and valuable portion of the city.
CHAPTER VI.
SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTY.
Low Estimate of the Value of Michigan Lands by Travelers and Surveyors-Slow Progress of Settlement in consequence-Correc- tion of the Mistaken Opinion-Settlement of the Territory now Genesee County-Regard of the Early Settlers for Education and Religious Worship.
UNTIL after the close of the last war between the United States and Great Britain, so little of actual knowledge had been gained concerning the Territory of Michigan that- with the exception of a limited region lying along the Detroit River, and contiguous to a few of the more im- portant points on Lakes Huron, Michigan, and St. Clair- the whole of the lower peninsula might properly have been termed an unexplored and unknown country. In the first year of that war, an act was passed by Congress requiring that two millions of acres of land, in each of the (then) Territories of Michigan, Illinois, and Louisiana,-in all six million acres,-should be surveyed and set apart as military traets, out of which each soldier serving in the armies of the United States in the war with England should be en- titled to receive one hundred and sixty acres of land fit for cultivation. Under the provisions of this act surveys were trade ; but, while engaged in the work, the surveyors seem to have formed an idea of the country here similar to that expressed by Honton, one of the early French travelers, who, having had a glimpse of some of the swampy regions bordering the lakes and rivers, recorded as his opinion of the peninsula lying between the lakes, that it was in truth " the fag-end of the world." Much the same was the esti- mation in which these lands were held by the surveyor- general, as is seen by the following extract from his report, dated Nov. 13, 1815, having reference to the Michigan surveys, viz. : " The country on the Indian boundary line from the mouth of the Great Auglaize River [that is, the line established by the treaty of Detroit, in 1807, and identical, or nearly so, with the principal meridian of the government surveys], and running thenee for about fifty miles, is, with some few exceptions, low, wet land, with a very thiek growth of underbrush, intermixed with very bad marshes, but generally very heavily timbered with beech, cotton-wood, oak, etc .; thence, continuing north, and ex- tending from the Indian boundary eastward, the number and extent of the swamps increases, with the addition of numbers of lakes from twenty chains to two and three miles aeross. Many of these lakes have extensive marshes ad- joining their margins, sometimes thickly covered with a species of pine called tamarack, and other places covered with a coarse, high grass, and uniformly covered from six inches to three feet (and more at times) with water. The margins of these lakes are not the only places where swamps are found, for they are interspersed throughout the whole country and filled with water, as above stated, and varying in extent.
" The intermediate space between these swamps and lakes -which is probably near one-half of the country-is, with very few exceptions, a poor, barren, sandy land, on which scarcely any vegetation grows, except very small, scrubby oaks. In many places, that part which may be called dry
32
IIISTORY OF GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
land is composed of little, short sand-hills, forming a kind of deep basins, the bottoms of many of which are composed of marsh similar to the above described. The streams are generally narrow, and very deep compared with their width, the shores and bottoms of which are, with very few excep- tions, swampy beyond description; and it is with the utmost difficulty that a place can be found over which horses can be conveyed in safety.
" A circumstance peculiar to that country is exhibited in many of the marshes, by their being thinly covered with a sward of grass, by walking on which evinces the existence of water, or a very thin mud, immediately under their cov- ering, which siuks from six to eighteen inehes under the pressure of the foot at every step, and at the same time rises before and behind the person passing over it. The margins of many of the lakes and streams are in similar situation, and in many places are literally afloat. On ap- proaching the eastern part of the military land, towards the private claims on the straits and lake, the country does not contain so many swamps and lakes, but the extreme sterility and barrenness of the soil continue the same. Taking the country altogether, so far as it has been explored, and to all appearances, together with information received concern- ing the balance, it is so bad that there would not be more than one acre out of a hundred, if there would be one ont of a thousand, that would in any case admit of cultivation."
Probably the above was an honest expression of opinion on the part of the surveyor-general, who, of course, based his report on the information furnished him by his subordi- nates who performed the work in the field ; but how they could have been so deceived (if indeed they were so far de- ceived as to believe the disparaging statements which they made) is certainly a mystery. However it may have been brought about, the result was that Congress passed a law (April 29, 1816) repealing so much of the act of 1812 as authorized the locating of soldiers' lands in Michigan, and, in lieu thereof, providing for the survey of one million five hundred thousand acres in Missouri ; so that the brave men who had periled their lives for their country should not be wronged and insulted by the donation of lands of which, according to the surveyors' reports, not one acre in a hun- dred was fit for cultivation.
The natural effect of all this was to bring the Territory of Michigan into contempt as a country unfit for agriculture ; and this belief was fostered by the Indian traders, who were thoroughly acquainted with the interior country and its ca- pabilities, but were only too willing to assist in perpetua- ting the delusion, in order to postpone the evil day (as they regarded it) when their lucrative business should be ruined by the advance of white immigration and settlement. And so there grew up a belief, which became well-nigh uni- versal, that all this region, now so beautiful and productive, was a land of irreclaimable swamps and barren sand-knolls, the home of every species of malarial disease, which must forever remain unfit for culture or white occupation ; and that its obvious destiny must be to continue in the posses- sion of wild beasts and the aborigines.
There were those, however, who believed that this judg- ment was a false, or at least a hasty one ; and chief among those who were skeptical as to the absolute, worthlessness
of Michigan lands was Governor Lewis Cass, who not only doubted, but resolved to test its truth, and to disprove or prove it by the evidence of his own senses; and to that end he set out from Detroit, accompanied by Hon. Austin E. Wing and two or three other friends, on a tour of ob- servation and discovery. Through the first stage of their Northwestern journey, after leaving the town, the aspect was by no means reassuring, and as their horses sunk knee- deep in the sloughs or wallowed through the marshy places along that trail whose horrors and miseries afterwards be- came so well known to the pioneers, it really seemed as if the dismal tales of the surveyors and Indian traders would be more than verified. But at last, after having floundered over a distance which seemed a hundred miles, but which in reality was not more than one-eighth part of it, they emerged upon higher ground and into a more open and de- sirable country, which is now the southeastern part of the superb county of Oakland. From that point their journey continued easy and unobstrneted towards the northwest, over a dry and rolling country, through beautiful open groves of oak, and along the margins of pure and limpid waters. One of these latter they named Wing Lake, in honor of a member of the party; another (the largest sheet of water in Oakland) they called Cass Lake; while a little farther on (now in Waterford township) they named a lovely lake for Elizabeth, the governor's wife. During their journey (which was of about a week's duration) they penetrated nearly to the southern boundary of Genesee ; and when they returned they carried back with them the knowledge and proof that Michigan was not the worthless desert which it had been represented ; but, instead, a beau- tiful and fertile land, awaiting only the touch of the set- tler's axe and plow, and ready to yield an abundant in- crease to reward his toil.
EARLY SETTLERS IN GENESEE.
The trader Bolieu, who has already been mentioned as being in all probability the first white man who came into this Indian country, could hardly have been ealled a set- tler under the common acceptation of the term, though it is believed that he lived for a long time within the present limits of this county. His case seems to have been that of a man who, for some cause which does not appear, -- whether for the sake of mere profit, or because of disap- pointment, disgust with the world, or from pure love of the wild freedom of Indian life, came among them, married a woman of the tribe who was a relative of one of their prin- cipal chiefs, raised a half-breed family, and adopted the Chippewa mode of living; making no improvements that are known of, and probably never expecting or wishing to see others of the white race make their homes near him.
But it was under other circumstances and in an entirely different manner that Jacob Smith came to build his cabin on the Flint River; and it was to him that the distinction properly belonged, of being the first white man who made a settlement within the region which is now embraced in Genesee County. Ile came in the fall of 1819 to the Grand Traverse of the Flint, and upon the right bank of the river, not far from the Indian crossing, he erected a log house which was at once his trading-house and his dwelling.
33
SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTY.
There can be no question that his principal object in locat- ing at this place was to take possession of the reservations which he had caused to be granted in the treaty of Sagi- naw, and to hold them for himself and children. And (with the exception of occasional absences at Detroit) he remained in occupancy of his house and lands here for the remainder of his life. It seems to be quite generally be- lieved among those who have not examined into the facts that during this time Mr. Smith was entirely engaged in Indian trade, and that he made no agricultural improve- ments here. That this is a mistake, and that a part of his lands were cleared and cultivated by him or under his direc- tion, is proved by papers to which access has been had in the preparation of this history. One of these papers is a scaled instrument which is self-explanatory, and of which the following is a copy :
" Whereas I, David E. W. Corbin, have this day canceled and given up to Jacob Smith a certain lease for a section of land ou Flint River, in the county of Oakland, dated the 21st day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-ono (1821), as by reference to said lease will more fully appear, and whereas the said Jacob Smith hath heretoforo commenced a certain suit on a book account against me before John McDonald, Esq., a Justice of the Peace in and for the county of Wayne. 4 Now, therefore, in con- sideration of the said Jacob Smith having discontinued said suit, and having given me a general release of all debts and demands what- soever, I do hereby give, grant, sell, and convey unto the said Jacob Smith all my right, title, interest. aud claim whatsoever to all the wheat, corn, potatoes, barley, peas, beans, and oats, and all other crops whatsoever, now growing on said section of land, or elsewhere in the county of Oakland, and likewise all other property of every kind and description which I now own in the county of Oakland. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this fifth day of August, in the year of oor Lord one thoosaod eight hundred and twenty-two. " Witness : GEORGE A. GAGE.
" DAVID E. W. CORBIN." [SKAL]
It is thus clearly shown that a part of the reservation had been cleared, and that crops were growing upon it, at least as early as 1822; that in that year it was occupied as a farm by Mr. Corbin, under lease from Jacob Smith ; and that the former, being for some reason unable to meet his payments, relinquished the lease to Mr. Smith in the year Damed. This Mr. Corbin had been a soldier of the war of 1812. He was for some time employed on the farm of Maj. Williams, near Pontiac, and afterwards worked for G. D. and E. S. Williams, at Saginaw. Still later, he was ap- pointed light-house keeper at Green Bay, Wis., and remained in that position until his death.
That the farin, after being given up by Corbin, was con- tinued and carried on by Mr. Smith until the time of his death, is shown by the tenor of another of the papers re- ferred to ; it being as follows :
" DETROIT, April 4, 1825.
" To all whom it may concern : Mr. George Lyons is hereby author- izel to take po-session, in the name of Metawanene, or Albert J. Smith, a minor, of the house ao I farm, situated on Flint River, lately occu- piel by Jacob Stoith, deceased, until some further definito arrange- ment. The horses, cattle, hogs, one wagon, three plows, and four sets of harness belong to me, and Mr. Lyons is hereby authorized to receive them in my name froto any person now at the farm.
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.