History of Kalamazoo county, Michigan, Part 118

Author: Durant, Samuel W. comp
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia. Everts & Abbott
Number of Pages: 761

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" The names of his brothers and sisters who grew up were as fol- lows: William, Josiah, Kinzie, Grovier, Samuel, James, Zephaniah, Sarah, Phobe, and Amelia, half-brothers and sisters, children of his father by his first wife ; and Elisha, Diana, Shadrack, Ephraim, and Joseph, own brothers and sisters. All of them, except the last three named, were older than Bazel, who was the third child by the second wife. None of these brothers and sisters are now living, nor are we able to give accurately the dates when they died. The father lived to a good old age, and died in Western Pennsylvania about 1812.

"The family lived near Frederick until our hero was about nine years old, when his father thought to better his condition by removing to Virginia, and the family accordingly crossed the Potomac and settled on a farm near Winchester, in that part of Frederick County which is now known as Hampshire County.

"They did not long remain there, but after five years' residence crossed into Pennsylvania, settling near Greencastle, Franklin Co., five or six miles from the Maryland line. The older children had by this time become somewhat scattered, several being married and engaged in farming in Virginia and Maryland. The family con- sisted of the father and mother and the younger children. Bazel was fourteen years old. He helped his father on the rented farm for a short time, and then went to work in a distillery, a business he fol- lowed as long as he lived in Pennsylvania. There are a few incidents of his early life that we are able to obtain. He was a steady, hard- working lad, energetic and thorough. He received but little educa- tion,-three months in the common school forming about all of his educational curriculum. He learned to read and write, however,

and took quite as much interest in books as those around him. Like most boys he early fell in love, the object of his adoring passion being Martha Stillwell, the daughter of a farmer living near his father. The attachment was reciprocated, and the young couple exchanged words of love and eternal fidelity during their happy courtship. He was nearly nineteen, and she three years his junior. Bazel, whose love gave him confidence, boldly asked consent of Martha's parents to their marriage. Her father liked his frank and kindly ways and favored the match, but dame Stillwell had higher aspirations for her daughter. She wished her to wed the possessor of broad acres and not a penniless man. Besides, how could she spare her daughter yet? No, she would not give her consent. Grieved were the lovers at the decision, but by no means obedient to the behest of the stern mother. In clandestine interviews they renewed their pledges of affection, and, encouraged by Martha's father, planned an elopement. Indeed, we suspect Mr. Stillwell was the chief conspirator, and most efficient aid did he render. The day was set, but the sus- picious mother kept close watch on her daughter. How to arrange her wedding outfit without the mother's knowledge puzzled the three conspirators.

"The simple trousseau was mostly made by stealth in Martha's own room at night, she receiving some little assistance from a sister also in the secret; but she happened to be entirely out of shoes, for it was in March, and young ladies then were not ashamed to be seen in their bare feet while in the house, and in very crude brogans when the weather made covering for the feet necessary. But the eti- quette of Greencastle, in 1790, did not permit a bride to appear shoe- less and slipperless at her wedding. Ready-made shoes were unknown in the town, and the needed articles must be made to measure. Sev- eral plans failed, and her father was compelled to move cautiously, in view of the fact that Dame Stillwell was somewhat suspicious. The matter was delayed for a favorable opportunity, until the day before the wedding, when, further procrastination being out of the question, the father invented a ruse to accomplish the object. In the forenoon of the last day of grace he came into the weaving-room, where mother and daughters were at work at the loom, and shortly began to joke Martha on the size of her feet. Picking up a shingle (carefully placed within reach beforehand for the purpose), he drew a diagram of meas- urement of her pedal extremities, the dimensions of which he laughed immoderately about with his wife, to the apparent great discomfiture of the daughter, and then carelessly threw the shingle out of the win- dow. Fifteen minutes after that shingle-measure was in shoemaker Wilkins' shop, and that worthy cobbler worked half the night to finish the pumps in which the runaway bride was to stand at her wedding on the morrow. The next day at dinner-time Martha slipped away, and, with her father for a witness, she and Bazel were made one by the village justice. The outwitted mother, of course, was indignant at first, but soon relented, and thus, March 17, 1790, was begun the matrimonial journey of Bazel Harrison and Martha Stillwell, and for nearly seventy years did the two live together as man and wife,-until June 7, 1857, the union was broken by her death.

" Bazel and his wife remained in Franklin County for three or four years, when they moved across the Alleghanies into Washington County, where they lived until 1810, and during that time ten chil- dren were born unto them, viz .: William, Shadrack, Sally, Nathan, Cynthia, Ephraim, Worlender, Martha, and two others who died young .*

" It was in Franklin County that Bazel cast his first vote. In 1792 he voted for Washington for his second term, and he has voted at every Presidential election since then, except in 1828 and 1872, in which latter year he was too ill to get to the polls, though he was especially desirous, as he said, to ' vote once more for Grant.' In 1810, with his family, he removed to Kentucky, just opposite Cincinnati, at which latter place he stopped to visit his cousin, Gen. Harrison. He was engaged in distilling in that region for about two years. After Gen. Harrison had gained his battle over the Prophet at Tippecanoe, and hostilities broke out with England, he engaged his cousin, Bazel, to work his Millbrook farm, just below Cincinnati, and took command of the Northwest frontier. Our hero was a man that disliked strife, though he did not lack courage. He was not in the war of 1812, but sent a substitute in the person of his younger brother, Ephraim. During the war he lived on his cousin's farm, working it on shares,

* Mr. Stone has it nine children, but the names he gives, with the two who died, make ten.

438

HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

and shortly after peace was declared he bought a farm of 300 acres, twelve miles east of Springfield. His oldest son, William, bought and partly-paid for a farm near his father's, and both remained there for ten or twelve years.

"It was at this time, subsequent to the war, that there was so much excitement about titles to real estate all through Ohio, growing out of military claims. Mr. Harrison was prospering finely, and settled during his occupancy no less than three military claims on his thus dearly-bought farm, but when a fourth one was proffered he lost his patience, and declared he would not buy it up, but would 'buy a farm of Uncle Sam first.' The holders of the claim offered comparatively easy terms, charging only $600 or $700,-which, of course, was nothing like the value of the farm. But Mr. Harrison would not accept the terms offered, and, rather than pay for his farm the fourth time, re- solved to abandon it entirely and go to Michigan, from which Terri- tory his son Elias had returned the year before. Elias had lived one season just over the Michigan line from La Grange Co., Ind., but had returned to Ohio with glowing accounts of the fertile prairies that skirted the southern border of the State. At the time Mr. Harrison decided to 'go West' (northwest, to speak accurately), Cynthia, the oldest living daughter, married to Henry Whipple, was living on a farm near Jefferson, Champaign Co., and Ephraim was carrying on a blacksmith-shop near his father's place. The younger children were living at home. Once decided to start for a new home, that he might get settled there before winter, he hurriedly sold off most of his stock and all of his household goods that he could not carry with them.

"The Territory of Michigan was at that time an almost unknown country. Yet some bold and adventurous men had penetrated its re- cesses and brought back to their homes in the East wonderful stories of its splendid timber, its magnificent prairies, its park-like openings, its rivers, lakes, and streams, the rank growth of vegetation, and the promise it gave of reward and wealth to the farmer and man of en- terprise. These recitals had the effect to make the Territory much talked about and the subject of many schemes of settlement. All eyes were turned to Michigan. To Mr. Harrison, with his large fam- ily and in his mood of mind, it was just the place for him, and he had no difficulty in securing company for his migratory journey. His oldest son, William, was anxious to go, but could not get away until the next year. Ephraim, the blacksmith, was ready with little prep- aration. The judge's son-in-law, Whipple, with his wife and two children, responded to the invitation, and announced their readiness to leave their rented farm. Abraham and Ephraim Davidson, neigh- bors, also volunteered, and the party rendezvoused at the judge's farm. We cannot fix the exact date of their starting, but think it was about the 20th of September. The party numbered 21 persons, as follows: Bazel Harrison and Martha Harrison, his wife; Henry Whipple and his wife, Cynthia Harrison Whipple, and two children ; Ephraim Harrison, wife, and three children ; Abraham Davidson, wife, and one child ; Ephraim Davidson, and the following unmarried chil- dren of Mr. Harrison,-Elias S., Wolender, Bazel, Jr., Martha, John S., and Almira. As they set out from the deserted homestead, with their eyes turned towards a new and unsettled country, where they were to seek a new home, they formed quite an emigrant train. First, no doubt, came the old-fashioned great Pennsylvania wagon. That was none of your modern vehicles, but was so deep that a man, stand- ing on its floor, could scarcely see over its side. It was long and high and broad, and very capacious. The box was boat-shaped,-top, bot- tom, and sides, though not at the ends,-generally painted blue, and the outside furnished with panels, made of slats or mouldings. The wheels, tires, axles, etc., were all made on the same scale of size and strength. To this conveyance were hitched two spans of horses. The harnesses used were quite another thing from those we see now ; they were in keeping with the style of wagon,-an immense amount of leathern broad bands, no collars nor hames, plain as a pike-staff, and as strong. Then came four other ' wide-track Ohio wagons,' all but one drawn by two horses, the exception being preceded by a yoke of sturdy oxen. One of the four Ohio wagons, with the horses that drew it, belonged to Whipple, one to Abe Davidson, one to Ephraim Harri- son, and the other, as well as the Pennsylvania vehicle, to the patri- arch of the party. There was also a light, single-horse wagon, in which rode Mrs. Harrison and her daughters. Then there were 3 cows, 50 head of sheep, and nearly as many hogs.

"Their good-byes said to their neighbors and friends the night be- fore, except the few who rose before the sun to say the last farewell and Godspeed,-some of the party with full hearts and tear-dimmed

eyes, and the little children full of wonderment at the vast prepara- tion,-early on that September morning the little colony bade adieu to the old homestead, and the cavalcade moved slowly away to the north, under the leadership of Judge Harrison, the hale and hearty commander of fifty-seven, the younger men acting as aids in the exe- cution of his commands. Slowly they moved forward, for the younger boys must herd the sheep and drive the swine, that needed urging to pass on without stopping to wallow in the mud-puddles by the road- side,-puddles made large by the early fall rains, and very inviting to the eyes of the grunting swine; and the youthful masters were helped by faithful dogs to prevent the sheep and swine from straying from the track. As the cortege wound around the hill and into the woods, the little children and their mothers leaned back and strained their eyes to catch the last look at the old home they were leaving behind forever.

"Thus they set out upon their long and fatiguing journey, not knowing where it was to end, but hoping that they would find at its terminus a home that, though it might be in a new, strange country, would be free from the menaces of claim-holders, and where they would enjoy the full reward of their labor and toil. The course of the journey was first through Urbana, even then a brisk and busy town ; thence west to Piqua, and north along the bank of the Miami to Sidney, where they left the river and continued north to St. Mary's. Onward they pushed through Auglaize and Van Wert Counties, cross- ing the State line into Indiana a little south of where Dixon now is. Though the roads in Ohio were comparatively good, they were obliged to move forward by short days' journeys, for long marches could not be made, driving the sheep and swine in advance, and the first days of October were upon them before they reached Fort Wayne. Their last two or three days' journey had given them a foretaste of what was before them. As they left behind them the fertile fields of Ohio, in which could be seen the golden ripened corn, the country was newer and the homes were less frequent. After the Indiana border was crossed there were no corn-fields in sight until the outskirts of Fort Wayne were reached, and occasionally Indians gave them salutations on the road.

" A day's halt only was made at Fort Wayne to gather some infor- mation concerning the new country to which they were bound. Fort Wayne was then upon the border of settlement and civilization. The course of our pioneers thence was northwest, and they had scarcely any road but Indian trails.

" . . . Very slowly they pursued their way, meeting with obstacles and obstructions continually ; sometimes following a streamn for hours before a safe crossing could be found ; often stopping to remove great trees they could not go around, and almost numberless other diffi- culties. In one instance it took them seven days to go around a swamp that lay in their path, and sometimes, when they halted for the night, they could look back and see the smoke rising from the embers of the camp-fire they had left in the morning. At night a watch-fire was built, and thus the wolves and other wild beasts were kept away from the stock, closely guarded, though all through the night the howls and screams of the denizens of the forest were heard. But there were compensations for these drawbacks. Every step forward was a new revelation, and the journey a continual sensation of wonder and de- light. How gorgeous were the woods in those autumn days, as our party wended its way ! New combinations of colors every day, new trees, new forms of vegetation, new varieties of country,the hilly slope, deeply wooded ; heavy bottom-lands, along pearly, winding streams; vast meadows; splendid openings, looking like carefully- tended parks ; prairies, like seas, stretching in airy undulations far away ; or lakes like silver mirrors bordered with emerald. The woods were full of wild fruits of various kinds, game abounded, the air was crisp and dry, and the songs of birds made the darkest recesses merry.

"Through Allen and Noble Counties they made their way, across the rich alluvial 'plains of Goshen,' and over the beautiful Elkhart Prairie to the border line of Michigan Territory. On their way the party had found only here and there a rude cabin, and an occasional trader's house. There were on Elkhart Prairie scarcely any settlers. The beautiful land was especially attractive to several of the party, and some were inclined strongly to stop there and go no farther, look- ing upon this as the promised land, Mr. Whipple especially urging that the colony ought to locate there. But Indiana had been a State a dozen years, and Mr. Harrison adventurously desired to push on and make his home in the new Territory, and so they journeyed on till they arrived at Baldwin's Prairie, just south of the State line.

439

TOWNSHIP OF PRAIRIE RONDE.

Here they halted ; a temporary camp was made, it being decided that scouts should go forward to spy out the land. Mr. Harrison selected Whipple, Abraham Davidson, and Elias Harrison to go with him, the latter having acquired some acquaintance with the Indian tongue. This party was gone a week, and soon after they set out they learned from the Indians that a great prairie, the largest in the Territory, would be found less than forty miles north of the southern Territorial line. This was in confirmation with other stories they heard from hunters and traders, and the scouts pushed forward until they reached the southern edge of the prairie, a view of which fully satisfied them of the truthfulness of the descriptions they had heard. Mr. Harrison quickly decided to return and conduct the colony thither.

"With this idea fully fixed in his mind, Mr. Harrison and his colony broke camp again and set out upon his final march, and after a few days' traveling, on the evening of the 5th day of November, 1828, just at dusk, they lighted their camp-fires on the southeastern edge of Prairie Ronde, or Wa-we-08-co-tang-sco-tah, as the Indians called it, mean- ing the 'round-fire plain,' whence comes the French ' Prairie Ronde.'

" As the party retired to rest that night they felt that the end of their journey had been reached. Before them was the greatest and loveliest prairie that they had ever seen, and Mr. Harrison and those with him were satisfied to look no farther. . .

"The next morning the whole party were up betimes, and while they were breakfasting around the cheerful fire, in the clear, crisp air of early day, Sagamaw, a chief of the Pottawattomies, accompanied by ten or a dozen of his braves, all decked in gay costume, and faces resplendent with paint, came to their camp and made friendly over- tures. Sagamaw was a magnificent specimen of his race. His looks, his manners, his fine presence, and the evident good-will which was apparent to all, inspired confidence in the pale-faces, and they freely questioned him as best they could by signs and the few words of the Indian language they understood, as to where water could be had, and in regard to such matters as most interested our pioneers at this time. Sagamaw gave them all the information he could convey to them, and the result was that the Indians conducted Mr. Harrison and two others of the party across the prairie to the northwest side, where, within the line of the woods, was a little lake, now known as Harrison's Lake. Mr. Harrison needed no further argument to con- vince him that this was the proper place for him to locate. He quickly returned, and the whole party that night encamped on the bank of the little lake, where for nearly half a century he lived.

" Here the party at once made arrangements to live, erected a rude cabin, and before winter set in were as comfortable as they could be made under the circumstances. The land was divided among the chil- dren, and subsequently entered at the land-office at Monroe, but all lived together through the first winter. The following spring Mr. Har- rison and his sons plowed land and planted corn and buckwheat, having obtained seed from White Pigeon, where they also bought more sheep. This gave them a good start. The second year they were short of seed, for wheat was very high and difficult to obtain, being worth seven dollars per bushel. They had to go to Fort Wayne for it, and for what grain they had ground they had to travel to Toland's Mill at Elkhart, Ind. But the woods were full of game, the Indians were friendly, and no untoward event occurred to discourage the colonists. " By this time, too, quite a little addition was made to the settle- ment. Christopher Bair came to the prairie and settled near the Har- risons in 1829, and Abner Calhoun, Abram I. Shaver, Erastus Guil- ford, William Duncan, George Brown, John Insley, David Beadle, and others had come the winter before. In 1830 there were some sixty families on the prairie and vicinity. . . . "

Judge Harrison was the father of seventeen children, of which number those who are living mostly reside in other States. William, the oldest son, is a resident of Charles- ton township ; Dr. Bazel Harrison, on Prairie Ronde, near the old farm of his father ; John S., the youngest son, oc- cupies the old homestead; and the youngest surviving daughter, Mrs. Almira Harrison Crose, also resides on Prairie Ronde.

Judge Harrison received his title from the fact that he was early commissioned by Governor Cass as one of the associate judges of the county court. He was also a justice

of the peace, and in all cases which came before him for ar- bitration he was impartial and humane, always striving to set at rest any enmity between neighbors by some judicious act of his own. He possessed the esteem and confidence of all, and at his funeral 1000 persons gathered to pay their last respects to the departed. He was much admired by the Indians, both for his physical appearance and the generous qualities of his nature. His death occurred Aug. 30, 1874, and his funeral was held at Schoolcraft September 1st. Five of his children were present at the funeral, viz. : Wil- liam Harrison, of Climax, aged eighty-four years; Nathan Harrison, of Wisconsin, aged seventy-eight years; Bazel Harrison, Jr., of Prairie Ronde, aged sixty-two years ; John Harrison, with whom the father resided, aged fifty-six years; and Almira, wife of John Crose, of Prairie Ronde, aged about fifty years. Eighteen grandchildren and eight or ten great-grandchildren were also present. As being very ap- propriate, his pall-bearers were six of the most aged men in the vicinity, the oldest being eighty-four and the youngest sixty-nine years of age, and the total of their ages being 466 years. These were John Brown, Robert Pursel, Judge E. B. Dyckman, Preston J. McCreary, Abner Mack, and Godfrey Knight. Judge Harrison was a strong Democrat in politics until 1860, when his first Republican vote was cast for Lincoln. In religion he was a Methodist, and be- longed to that denomination for seventy years.

A daughter of the judge, now Mrs. James Fellows, has recently returned to this county after a residence of twenty years in Minnesota, and is now living in the township of Texas. Another daughter and a son-Nathan-are resi- dents of Wisconsin. The frame house built by Judge Har- rison about 1831-32 is yet standing in the rear of the present residence of John S. Harrison, a few rods north of the road and near the shore of the lake. Harrison Lake, which, when the family first arrived upon its bank, was a fine sheet of water, averaging 12 or 15 feet in depth, is now little more than an extensive marsh, and nearly dry. Be- fore the subsidence of its waters it was several times stocked with fish, but the winter of 1878-79 was so severe that most of those remaining were killed, owing to the low stage of water.

James Fenimore Cooper's famous story, the "Oak-Open- ings; or, the Bee-Hunter," is familiar to most of the people living in the region where its scenes are laid. Its principal character, Ben Boden, has generally been supposed to have been Judge Harrison, while others assert that it was Towner Savage, an early settler of the county, whose business was that of a bee-hunter. So many opinions have been enter- tained in this connection that it is thought proper to give Mr. Stone's version, written after a careful canvass of the subject :

" It has been a matter of general belief for many years that Judge Harrison was the ' Bee-Hunter' of Cooper's novel, the ' Oak-Openings,' the scene of which, it will be remembered, is laid in Kalamazoo. Since the publication of the work this has been the accepted theory among the pioneers of the county and Judge Harrison's neighbors. We never heard the fact questioned until last year (1873), when Judge H. G. Wells informed us that Mr. Cooper told him, after the appearance of the book, that his character of ' Ben Boden, the Bee-Hunter,' was not founded on Judge Harrison, but on Towner Savage, one of the pio- neers of the county, and a bee-hunter by avocation. This being so, Mr. Cooper must have made contradictory statements, for Mrs. J. B.

440

HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

Daniels, of this village,* is very positive and clear in her recollection that Mr. Cooper repeatedly named Judge Harrison as the original of the character mentioned. Fenimore Cooper, as is well known, had considerable property interests in Kalamazoo County at one time, the township just north of Kalamazoo deriving its name from him .; He made several and long-continued visits to Kalamazoo along in the forties, and one, if we mistake not, as late as 1850, the year before his death. Mrs. Daniels was well acquainted with him, and he counted her as one of his favored friends. She met him frequently during his visits, and relates to us one occasion in particular upon which Judge Harrison's connection with the story was discussed. This was one day, probably in the summer of 1846, when Mr. Cooper was the guest of Mr. Comstock, and at the time he was writing the book. On that day, Mrs. Daniels tells us, Mr. Cooper spent hours talking with her and others of the guests about Judge Harrison, his family and pioneer history, his relations with the Indians, his bee-hunting proclivities, and various other matters connected with the early settlement of Kal- amazoo and the country hereabouts. It was known then that he was writing a book, the scene of which was laid here, and he made no con- cealment of the purpose for which he sought his information, and stated openly the character he proposed to make out of Judge Har- rison. Mrs. Daniels had come to Kalamazoo when a little girl, in 1834, and was well acquainted with the Harrisons, as well as all of the early settlers. She was one well prepared to give such information as Mr. Cooper sought, and he afterwards acknowledged her services in this respect by presenting her with a copy of the 'Oak-Openings,' and at that time he told her that Judge Harrison was the original of the 'Bee-Hunter.' Mrs. Daniels also informs us that in frequent conver- sations with the old judge he stated to her that he understood he was the person Cooper had in his mind when he created 'Buzzing Ben,' and also that he had been so informed by Cooper himself. Last year we ourselves questioned Judge Harrison on this point, but his mind was not then clear enough to comprehend the question. We have made a great deal of research to fix the identity of the 'Bee-Hunter' beyond question, and have talked with scores of old settlers. While we have found but few who claimed to have direct information on the subject, all of the testimony, except that of Judge Wells, has been to confirm the theory that Bazel Harrison was the original of Mr. Cooper's char- acter. Dozens of well-known citizens have related to us an account of a conversation alleged to have taken place between Judge Harrison and Mr. Cooper, at the time of the novelist's last visit to Kalamazoo, -the anecdote having been current ever since the incident is said to have occurred.

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History of Kalamazoo county, Michigan, Part 118

Author: Durant, Samuel W. comp Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Philadelphia. Everts & Abbott Number of Pages: 761

Author: Durant, Samuel W. comp
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia. Everts & Abbott
Number of Pages: 761