USA > Michigan > Ionia County > History of Ionia County, Michigan : her people, industries and institutions, Volume I > Part 43
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The second wife of Rix Robinson was the granddaughter of Chief Sip-po-qua, her Indian name was Se-be-qua ( River Woman), but she was called Nancy by her white friends. After his business as trader was gone, Mr. Robinson became a farmer at the mouth of the Thorn Apple river ( So-wau-que-sake), at one time being the owner of over three hundred acres of land. He died there on January 13, 1873, and there is a splendid monument costing $675 erected at his grave, furnished and erected by the Old Settlers' Association of Grand River valley.
Kee-wa-coo-sheum ( Long Nose), who was principal chief of the Flat River ( Quab-a-quash-a, meaning Winding stream) Indians, was one of the chiefs who signed the treaty of 1821, at Chicago, by which the United States acquired possession of the large tract of land, and the Ottawas never forgave him for this act, and when an old man he finally met his death at the hands of Was-oge-naw, and was buried in the township of Plainfield near the grave of Wa-be-sis ( White Swan ), another victim of the hatred growing out of signing treaties.
Wa-be-sis was a half-breed and chief of a band of Ottawas who made their homes in Kent and Alontcalm counties. It is said that he visited Washington, D. C., in 1836 and signed the treaty by which the government obtained possession of land, including Keene, Otisco and Orleans townships. in lonia county. The Indians were very angry at all who took part in this and as a punishment to Wabesis, he was restricted not to go beyond certain limits around Wabesis lake, on penalty of death. There, with his family. he lived for several years, until in supposed safety, he visited a "green corn dance" held in Plainfield-but he was killed with a club by Neo-ga-mah. At Grand Rapids there were Chief Noon Day and his son, Black Skin, and Old Rock. These, it is said, controlled all the Indians in lower Grand River valley in 1830 During the War of 1812 they were the allies of the British and it was the frequent last of Black Skin that he applied the torch to Buffalo, lle died in 1868, very old. Noon Day removed to Barry county in 1836-37. where he died about 1840, one hundred years old. The remnants of all the Grand River bands, except the Slates Indians and those at Peshimnecon, removed to Oceana county.
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IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
LOUIS CAMPAU.
At the "Big Bend" of Grand river, where the rapids were, was the Indian village of Bock-a-tinek, and in 1825 Chief Noon Day was in com- mand, and here it was that Louis Campan, French fur trader and agent of the American Fur Company of New York City, came in the fall of 1827 and spent that winter among the Ottawa Indians on the west side of the river and established himsent by building a log house on the east bank of the river, one-half of which was his trading post and the other half his home. The first known of this young man was when Gen. Louis Cass left to him the buikling of the bower near Saginaw. in which to hold the con- ference between General Cass and the chiefs and headmen of the tribes that led to the treaty of 1819. But in 1825 this young pioneer became a married man. In Detroit he married a beautiful French girl, and the ceremony was performed in St. Anne's church by Father Gabriel Richard, who was prom- inently associated with the early history of Michigan, and was the only priest who ever sat in Congress.
In 1828 Louis Campan returned to Detroit for his girl-wife and the two then set out on the long journey through the wilderness to their new home on the banks of Grand river, and when they arrived at the little trad- ing post the Indians gave them joyous welcome. Sophie de Marsac Cam- pau was a cultured woman of nineteen, a member of a distinguished French family and she assumed with grace and dignity the hardships and privations of pioneer life. She was the first white woman to settle at what now is known as the city of Grand Rapids, and the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution is named in her memory. Living her whole life at this place, okl residents speak eagerly of her, and her gentleness and deep religious nature, which never became coarsened by the hardships and privations of pioneer life.
Sophie de Marsac belonged to a French family of high repute in the parish of St. Andre, city of Poitiers, capital of the department of Vienne, France. Jacob de Marsac, founder of the family in America, was born in 1667 and arrived at Detroit on July 24. 1701, with Cadillac and the military. and took a leading part in the establishment of Ft. Pontchartrain. He was a leader, and records show that he went back to Montreal to have his mar- riage solemnized. His son married Theresa Campan, daughter of the cele- brated Jacques Campan, of Detroit. Their grandson was the father of Sophie de Marsac.
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Louis Campau was also a descendant of Jacques Campau, and he and his wife were fourth cousins. They lived in the log trading post for five years with no neighbors but the Indians, until the Dexter colony came to lonia, when Mr. Campau begged some of them to come on down Grand river and locate, so as to be .company for him and his wife. Joel Guild consented to do so, and so Mr. Campau and some help came with their boats to Ionia to move Mr. Guild, his wife and six children down the river, they arriving there the 23rd of June, 1833, which is the day Grand Rapids celebrates as its birthday, having been started with one family from Ionia's colony. Joel Guild "took up" the "forty" that is now the Kendall addition, also some pine lands at the southwest and bought a lot of Mr. Campau for twenty-five dollars, on which to build his home-the first frame house built in Grand Rapids-the lumber for which was procured at the Indian saw- mill, which had been built for the mission founded by McCoy and which was in charge of Leonard Slator for many years. This frame house was on the lot now occupied by the Grand Rapids National City Bank. It for a time became the center of activities, and here. in 1834, was held the first "town meeting" to determine the method of self-government of the new group of pioneers-and in that house was also solemnized the first white wedding. Louis Campan and Sophie, his wife, lived and died in Grand Rapids, as did also Joel Guild and wife, and the story of the growth of the city which they started is a most interesting one. Louis Campan died com- paratively a poor man, but his brother. Antoine Campan, amassed a large fortune. He was the grandfather of Martin A. Ryerson, who presented Campau Park to the city as a memorial to his grandfather, and later pre- sented the Ryerson Library to the city. When Samuel Dexter was there the fall of 1832, be located a strip of land which is now in the center of the business district of Grand Rapids, and afterward presented to the county of Kent ground for a court house site. This court house afterward burned and a court house was erected on another location, so all that is left of his tract is now called "Fulton Park."
FATHER FREDERICK BARAG.A.
Although missionaries began to come into the state around the shores of the Great Lakes very carly, there were no resident missionaries along Grand River valley until the summer of 1833-although Father Gabriel Richard, of Detroit, and others, used to make visits to the different posts
Louis and Sophie Campan.
Oliver Arnold,
Dr. and Mrs. William B. Lincoln.
Indge and Mrs. Erastus Yeomans.
Rix Robinson,
llon. and Mrs. Samuel Dexter.
PIONEERS OF GRAND RIVER VALLEY.
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and villages. But when Louis Campau arrived at Grand Rapids with the family of Joel Guild, June 23. 1833, the Indians met him, and told him that a Catholic priest had arrived in the settlement. This was Father Frederick Baraga, who founded the first mission in the valley. He was a man of fine culture and education. He was born in Austria, and was first cousin to the emperor of Austria. of the house of Hapsburg, and was ordained to the priesthood at Vienna. Money was often sent him by relatives in Austria, and this was used to help the missionaries in Michigan. While at Grand Rapids he translated books of devotion into the language of the Michigan Indians and these can now be seen in the historical room of the Ryerson library. After arriving at this place he soon set about the erection of a chapel. which he built on the west side of the river. in a tract of about sixty-five acres. the building standing about where the Lake Shore round house is now built, and was located there. as the Indian village was on the west side of the river. The first mass was solemnized on April 20, 1834. Father Baraga stayed here but two years. He was consecrated vicar-apos- tolie of the upper peninsula in 1853 and died in 1868 at Marquette. Baraga county is named for him.
These are a few of many of those who faced the privations of those early days unflinchingly, contented, perhaps, because they lived close to nature. Some few stand apart as an example of devotion and courage, even in those days when those traits predominated in the heart of the average man.
While Michigan is not one of the oldest states of the Union, yet it has a history dating back about two centuries previous to its admission in 1837. This history reads more like romance than the fact which it is telling of daring explorers, devoted missionaries, heroic warriors, ambitious statesmen and hardy pioneer settlers.
GENEALOGY OF THE DEXTER FAMILY.
Samuel Dexter, the founder of lonia, possessed historic ancestors on the side of both his father and mother, her maiden name being Candace Winsor. The coat of arms and crest of the Winsor or Windsors, we have been unable to obtain as yet ; but the Dexter crest and coat of arms we give below, with a history written by a student of genealogy, in 1916-Mrs. F. C. Pardee, of Providence, Rhode Island.
(30)
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DEXTER CREST.
From the Dexter coat of arms, which has as crest a ducal coronet, we may assume this Duke de Exeter lived in or near the cathedral town of Exeter. About the year 1281 the family diverged, and part of them became identified with the history of Ireland, assuming a new coat of arms. The coat of arms borne by Gregory Dexter shows military achievement and honors given for great devotion in the field. The vulned heart, pierced by two arrows, shows that blood was shed in the taking of a city and the crest -a ducal coronet -- represents a reward. "Duke," so-called, is from "duces" of ancient Rome, who were leaders of an army, and were chosen in the field by "open voice" for this honor. The title is now conferred by the king and descends to the heir.
The great grandfather of Candace Winsor was Joshua Windsor, who came to Providence, Rhode Island, from England in 1838, and his name appears there in a number of quaint records of his day, still extant, several of which are as follow :
"Providence, 1655.
"Roule of ye Freeman of ve Colinies of everie town. "Josua Winser, 1655."
"4th of the 12th mo, 1649
"Joshna Windsor sold to Gregory Dexter his share of medow, west side Mooshasuck River."
"27th 11 10, 1651.
Joshua Windsor sold to John Smith his six-acre lot."
On the Thames, twenty-one miles from London, Windsor Castle, from its commanding position, its stately group of ancient buildings, and its long list of historical associations, is the most interesting of royal residences of
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English kings. Its primitive remains of Roman and Saxon strongholds was rebuilt by William the Conqueror ( 1067). By later English history it appears that in the unsettled days of the fifteenth century Lord Edward Windsor, of this castle, a Roman Catholic, was beheaded. History also states that in the time of Henry VII-1485 to 1509-Windsor Castle, with all its lands, was presented by the Windsor family to that monarch, who enlarged and improved it and converted it into a royal residence. St. George's chapel therein ranks next to Westminister Abbey as a royal mausoleum. Among the sovereigns buried there is Henry VIII, who directed that his body be laid beside Jane Seymour, in a magnificent bronze and marble tomb.
COMING OF WHITE SETTLERS TO GRAND RIVER VALLEY.
Ionia possesses two unique distinctions, one being that it was the first town in Michigan to be started west of Pontiac and north of Jackson, another being the fact that the city of Grand Rapids was begin with one family from lonia's colony --- that of Joel Guild. Samuel Dexter is regarded as Ionia's founder, because he conceived and matured the project that led to its settle- ment, though when he made his home here he was but one of a colony of sixty-three people, whose members reached the spot the same day.
In the early thirties the fame of the lands in the territory of Michigan reached the East, and among others who became interested was Samuel Dexter, of Herkimer county, New York, near Little Falls. He was at that time forty-six years of age, had been a member of the New York state Legislature, and had also had a contract of excavating a large section of the Eric canal near his home. In the fall of 1832, in company with Doctor Jewett. later of Lyons. Michigan, he rode horseback through southern and western Michigan, looking up government lands for himself and friends. After following the lake shore to Chicago and investigating the prospects there he came back to Michigan and located lands on the Grand river at Ionia and Grand Rapids; taking a quarter section at lonia and a strip eighty rods wide on the east side of Division street reaching from Wealthy avenue to Leonard street on the north in Grand Rapids. Mr. Dexter went to White Pigeon. in the south part of the state, where the United States land office was then, entered his claims and returned home to New York, and spent the winter in selling his farm, getting everything in readiness and writing letters to induce as many as he could to join him in his new venture- that of making a new home in an unbroken wilderness.
Mr. Dexter and Erastus Yeomans bought a canal boat and a scow and
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IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
fitted it up to move the families and as much household goods as possible to Buffalo, New York. They started from Frankfort village, Herkimer county, New York, April 22, 1833, with three families-Mr. Yeomans', Mr. Oliver Arnold's and Samuel Dexter's- using their own horses to draw the boat. The name of the boat was "Walk-in-the-Water," but some one wrote on the side of the boat with chalk, "Michigan Caravan." At Utica, Joel Guild and his brother, Edward, and their families, joined the colony. At Syracuse, Darins Winsor and family cast their lot with the rest. Five young men, Dr. W. B. Lincoln, P. M. Fox. Abraham Decker, and Warner Dexter and Winsor Dexter, two of Samuel Dexter's brothers, had also joined the con- pany -- so finally the colony numbered sixty-three people. They traveled by day and at night went ashore to sleep at hotels. The boat was a motley sight. as the deck was piled with wagons taken to pieces and bound on, and every conceivable thing that could be taken to use in the country where there was nothing to be bought.
The incident of the departure of the expedition from the starting point was of course an important one in the community in which they lived and was witnessed by a throng of people who came from far and near to waft "good-bye" to the voyagers and wish them well. Their course westward to Buffalo was marked by receptions at many villages and landings, for the men- bers of the company were well known for quite a distance along the canal, and for a few days they received many hearty good wishes from crowds who assembled to greet them. Such occasions were enlivened by the poet and musician of the colony, Joel Guild, who at all these stopping places, would sing the following composition of his own, until he became so hoarse he could no longer sing it- when he wrote it on a board with chalk and set it up on the side of the canal boat :
JOEL GUILD'S SONG-"MICHIGANIA."
Come, all ye Yankee farmers Who'd like to change your lot, Who've spunk enough to travel Beyond your native spol. And leave behind the village Where pa and ma do stay, Come, follow me and settle In Michi-i-gan-i-a.
What country over growed So great in little time: Just popping from the nursery Right Into Ilke its prime?
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When Uncle Sam did wean her. 'Twas but the other day. And now she's quite a lady- This Mich-i-gan-i-a.
Then come, ye Yankee farmers. Who've mettle hearts like me. And elbow grease aplenty To bow the forest tree. Come. take a quarter section, And I'll be bound you'll say No place can hold a candle To Mich-i-gan-i-a.
A PIONEER GUIDE.
They arrived at Buffalo and, leaving the canal boat, they were trans- ferred to the steamer "Superior," bound for Detroit, which point they reached on May 10. Their bulky goods, which they did not need immediately, were carried around the lakes "via Mackinac to the Grand River valley, care of Rix Robinson, trader," as the way from Detroit across the state to their new location laid most of the way through unbroken country, so they could only bring with them what was actually necessary. At Detroit were purchased oxen to draw the wagons, also cows were bought and as much cooked pro- vision as possible and the colony set out on its tedious journey through the wilderness. The first day out from Detroit they made but seven miles, because the roads were so heavy. They stayed at Pontiac one night. it being at that time a very small place. About twenty miles west of Pontiac they stopped one night with a Mr. Gage, his young wife and baby, and he com- plained that neighbors were getting too near. From that time they had to camp out nights. At Shiwassee there was a French family, also two broth- ers by the name of Williams, who were Indian traders. Mr. Dexter applied to Benjamin O. Williams to pilot the party to their destination on the Grand river, and though Mr. Williams was then engaged in his spring farming, he acceded to Mir. Dexter's proposal, and using his own words: "I left out planting, taking my blankets and a small tent, and in six days landed them at lonia, looking out the route and directing where the road was to be. This was the first real colonizing party we had ever seen. I, myself, having never been further west than De Witt (the Indian village ). I then induced Mack- a-te-pe-nace ( Black Bird ), the son of Kish-kaw-ko, the usurping chief of all the Saginaws, to pilot us past Muskrat creek, and from there proceeded with the party."
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At Shiwassee there were three children sick with canker rash or scarlet fever, a son of Edward Guild, Prudence Dexter and Riley Dexter, the young- est son of Mr. Dexter. They stayed over one day during a heavy rain storm. The son of Edward Guild and Prudence Dexter got better, but Riley, the little son of Mr. Dexter, grew worse, and when they were in the heavy timbered land, about thirty miles east of lonia, the little boy died about four o'clock in the afternoon. Mr. Guild had a small trunk which was used for a coffin and he was laid in the grave by the light of the camp-fire which was burning, Mr. Dexter making a feeling prayer before the coffin was placed in the grave, which was piled high with logs to protect it from wolves, and his name, age and date of death was cut on a large tree before leaving the place. It was on the farm formerly owned by Cortland Hill, section 31. Bengal township, Clinton county, that the little boy was buried.
The route opened by this party from De Witt to Lyons, Ionia county, became known as the Dexter road or trail, and was cut out and traveled for a number of years, but a large part of it was afterward closed and taken into farms through which it passed. It was a hard trip from Detroit, occu- pying nearly two weeks. as they arrived at Ionia, their destination, the morn- ing of May 28, 1833, about ten o'clock. The travel by ox teams, the cutting of a road from Shiwassee to Ionia, were hardships that tried the men's souls ; while walking most of the way, being occasionally carried by the men over marshes, cooking meals by camp fires, baking biscuit in tin-bakers set up in front of the fires, making up beds at the close of a hard day, tried the souls of the women no less, but all were happy and good-natured.
A large company of Indians were living at Ionia. Although Mr. Dexter had told them the fall before of his intention to return, the arrival was so late they had given up his coming and had planted their gardens of corn, melon and squashes and did not like to leave, but through the inter- preters Mr. Dexter paid them, it is said, twenty-five dollars for their gar- dens and improvements and they then left very peaceably, never giving any trouble. The Indians had five wigwams built of bark, four of which were down by the river. These were very small, not more than ten feet square. having two bunks on one side, one above the other. The other wigwam was a few rods south and east of where the armory now stands, in the midst of a cornfield. This one was twelve or fourteen feet square, with a door- way at each end, at which were hung up blankets for doors, and Mr. Dexter's family occupied this one. On two sides was a low platform wide enough to lay a bed on. On these platforms were made up four beds, and a little space left between the foot of the beds to tuck in the little ones. In the
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center the earth floor was hollowed out a little where the Indians had had a fire. The roof in the center had an opening for smoke to escape, and it also served to let in the rain.
LOCATION OF FIRST HOUSES.
Messrs. Dexter, Yeomans and Winsor completed log houses as soon as possible, Mr. Dexter's being near where the armory now stands, Mr. Yeo- mans located on West Main street, Mr. Winsor building on the north side of what is now Main street, on the west side of the creek flowing across the street. It was in this house that the first death and first birth in lonia county took place. A little daughter of Darius Winsor who, it is said, had consumption, died the first summer after the colony arrived. and a son, Eugene. was born to them in August.
The goods and provisions that were shipped around the lakes did not reach here until mid-summer. There was no transportation except by pole- boats and it was an exceedingly long and tedious task to get the goods up from Grand Haven and in the meantime the settlers were compelled to do without some of the necessaries of life. The Indians, though, were good neighbors, and supplied venison, fish, sugar, etc., for such things as the set- thers could spare. They had a standard to which they always adhered- when they traded it was quart for quart or bushel for bushel, whether it was Hour for cranberries or potatoes for huckleberries. Paper currency they knew nothing about and given a choice between a ten-dollar bill and a silver quarter would without hesitation take the quarter.
.A few days after the settlers arrived here and lands were selected, some of the men started for the land office at White Pigeon by the way of the rapids of Grand river. They met Louis Campan, the French fur trader, who had been living there with his wife, Sophie de Marsac, since 1828. and Mr. Campau wanted some of them to come and settle there to make company for him and his wife. So Joel Guild consented and located land that is now the Kendall addition in Grand Rapids. Louis Campan and some of his French help went to Ionia in bateaux for Joel Guild's family, which consisted of his wife and six daughters, and they arrived back at the Rapids on the twentieth birthday anniversary of his daughter. Hattie, June 23. 1833, which is the day Grand Rapids celebrates as its birthday-the beginning of settlement receiving its start with one family from lonia colony. The family of Edward Guill removed to Grand Rapids after a while, as did also Darins Winsor. Warner and Winsor Dexter also left and all that is known, is that Warner
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had one son, Washington Dexter, who was a business man of Chicago, a jeweler, and died, leaving no children. Abraham Decker also left. P. M. Fox located near Muir, so when the community finally settled down there were three families and one young man of the original colony left-Samuel Dexter and family, kerastus Yeomans and family, Oliver Arnold and family and Dr. W. B. Lincoln.
While the colony at first largely occupied the bark wigwam bought from the Indians, the men sleeping under wagons, three log houses were imme- diately built. As soon as the settlers got comfortably housed, their goods and supplies finally came up Grand river. It was seen there was need for a saw-mill, so Samuel Dexter built one on the piece of land known as Dexter Park, just west of the armory ( according to letters written by his daughter, Prudence, who was a member of the colony), which was either the first or second mill in Ionia county -- some authorities claiming that H. V. Libhart, an early settler near Lyons, built the first one. The corn that first fall was pounded in a mortar dug-out by the Indians in a hollow stump, but that same fall Mr. Dexter brought from Detroit a large coffee-mill with two handles. with which his men could grind the corn. This was affixed to the front of his cabin and everybody used it to grind their corn into meal, settlers even coming from Portland and Lyons to make use of it that first winter. It was not much of a mill, but better than none, and also better than making a week's journey to Pontiac or Gull Prairie to mill, sometimes having to carry the grist afoot and conveying the flour back after the same fashion.
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