History of Kalamazoo county, Michigan, Part 141

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

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there a few years, when he also died. The Smiths, Huston, and Bow- man are all gone to the silent land. . . .

" . . . John Dix, well known as the keeper of the Big Island Hotel, and afterwards of the Three Rivers House, which he built, came to Schoolcraft in 1834, and died at Three Rivers in 1843. Capt. James Bates and his brother Hale came in 1837. The latter sub- sequently removed to Indiana, and died there; the former died at Kalamazoo in 1870. Jonas Allen, the sweet singer of Schoolcraft, also came in 1837, and for forty years has led an industrious and useful life, his clear voice still leading the choir, either in the festal song or in the last solemn hymn for the dead. Seneca Smith, a brother of Thaddeus Smith, above mentioned, came to Schoolcraft in 1838, and died there Aug. 5, 1875. He held the office of township clerk of the township of Schoolcraft twenty-two successive years, from 1851 to 1872, inclusive, except one year, when he filled the office as deputy. Frederick and Oscar Hatch were also from Vermont; the former now at Schoolcraft, the latter many years deceased. A. II. Scott came to Schoolcraft with James Smith in 1833. He became my partner in business in 1837, in which we continued till 1848; since then he has been in business at Schoolcraft, at Chicago, and at St. Joseph, where he now is."

The persons mentioned by Mr. Brown in the foregoing address were all from Vermont, and lived in the same neighborhood in that State. James Smith is remembered as being a remarkable though unfortunate man, a true gen- tleman, and the life of the settlement in which he lived. His father's family was composed of distinguished men. An uncle, Jeremiah Smith, was Governor of New Hamp- shire (of which State the Smiths were one of the first fami- lies), a member of the first Congress under the consti- tution, and a judge of the United States court. James Smith's wife was a sister of Hon. E. L. Brown, and a most estimable lady. Her death occurred a little more than a year before that of her husband:

Thaddeus Smith, the first one of the name to visit the site of the village, and the last to be laid to rest in the bosom of the prairie which, forty-seven years before, had seemed so beautiful in his sight, was born at Westminster, Windham Co., Vt., and while yet a child removed with his father to the town of Cavendish, in the same State, where the family of four sons and four daughters grew up to ma- turity. Of the sons, Ezra died many years since in Indi- ana; Seneca died in Schoolcraft, in 1875; Thaddeus in the same place, in 1876; and Foster is now living in the township of Pavilion, an honored citizen, and the father of a respectable family.

In 1819, Thaddeus Smith went to the State of Virginia in search of fortune, and soon established himself in a pros- perous business in the city of Petersburg. In September, 1825, he was married to Miss Eliza Parker, of Cavendish, Vt., and in company with his bride left the grand and green old hills of Vermont for an abode in the State in which Presidents were born. The financial crash of 1827 found an additional victim in Mr. Smith, however, and with busi- ness prospects in that locality ruined, he returned the next year to Vermont. In May and June, 1829, leaving his wife and child with friends in Vermont, he made the trip to Michigan, as mentioned, and returned to Buffalo and found employment in an auction store. There his friends met him in the spring of 1830, as described by Mr. Brown, and his subsequent career has also been portrayed by the latter gentleman. Mr. Smith's widow is yet living in the village of Schoolcraft, where also reside some of her chil- dren. Mrs. Smith states that after her husband had seen

the goods for the store safely shipped from Buffalo, he ac- companied them with his family as far as Detroit, where the steamer was left, and they proceeded across the country by wagon or other conveyance as best they could. At Detroit they met James Knight, who was then living on the south- ern edge of the prairie, two or three miles southwest of Schoolcraft. Mr. Knight gave Mrs. Smith a lucid descrip- tion of the home to which she was proceeding. He left Detroit ahead of the Smiths, and returned on foot to the prairie, arriving a day or two before them. He was the first person they met on their arrival. He was a remark- ably strong man, and a good pedestrian, and his journeys were generally performed on foot .*

As soon as possible Mr. Smith erected a log house for himself and moved into it,-he having arrived in June, 1830. Mr. Bond, who had purchased the Rue claim, built a log cabin at about the same time, and a little north of Smith, but removed from the vicinity soon after. The cabin built by Rue is said by Mrs. Smith to have stood south of her husband's place, near the marsh on the pres- ent farm of Hon. E. Lakin Brown.t

The Indians in the vicinity were usually friendly and obliging. On their return from hunting excursions, they brought supplies of choice venison to Mr. Smith, who pur- chased of them, and they also brought wild fruit, etc., to Mrs. Smith. When under the influence of liquor they were occasionally a little wild, but beyond threatening to unroof a house, or do some similar deed, they never did any damage. The present frame house in which Mrs. Smith and her son reside has weathered the storms of about forty- five years.

During his visit to Michigan in 1829, Mr. Smith wrote an interesting letter to his wife, descriptive of the region through which he had passed, of which document the fol- lowing is a copy :

"TECUMSEH, 14th June, 1829.

"DEAR E.,-I have been traveling constantly since I wrote you from Detroit. I wrote Seneca on the 7th inst., which I hope will be received this week. Have been through the Territory to the mouth of St. Joseph River, and have taken a circuitous route back as far as this place, which lies 55 miles from Detroit, on the Raison.# There are 400 inhabitants in this settlement. The first house was built but four years ago. The next settlement is 45 miles west of here, on the first crossing of the St. Joseph, without a house between, and there I found houses from five to fifteen miles of each other, until I came to the real prairies, which are considerably settled. Some of them which had only two families 18 months since have now 54, all of whom are trespassers or squatters, composed of Tom, Dick, Harry, the Devil, and his imps.

" All lands in the Territory are held by the Government for cash, and must be put up at Public Auction, when they are surveyed into townships and subdivided into 80-acre lots. The best locations are generally bid upon by speculators, particularly if they are improved. What remains unsold can be had for 7-6 per acre for cash.

" I had no more idea of Michigan than I have of the most dis- tant country in Europe. There are no mills west of any consequence,

# Mr. Knight now lives in Wisconsin.

t This cabin is thought by Mr. Brown to have been built by Nathan Harrison, as the agreement with Smith, Huston & Co. was that Rue should build near where Hon. E. B. Dyckman's residence now is. He thinks Rue possibly never built. The cabin mentioned was an insig- nificant building. In the winter of 1831-32 it was occupied by a tailor named Stowell, and was soon after torn down. Dr. Thomas, however, says it was built by Rue, on whom he called when he first came, Rue then occupying it (1830).

# River Raisin.

518

HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

nor roads that have been worked. The oldest settlements, except the mission, are but one to three years old. There is a U. S. road laid out through to Lake Michigan, which will be completed in the course of two years. The houses are built with no other tools than an axe. The roofs are covered with bark or shingles fastened on by poles. The land I like the best will not be for sale until next year. There is now a sale at Monroe which includes the St. Joseph lands as far as the Mission, 30 iniles above its mouth. I presume there are and will be 500 families in there before 12 months. I have seen ten large families plowing and planting, without any other house than an open tent made of their bedding. They will put up log huts this summer. All that travel through this country have to camp out when night overtakes them. I don't think it prudent to bring you here for twelve months at any rate. Shall return to Buffalo and get some kind of a place for us until next spring. I wish you to write me on receipt of this and direct to Buffalo. Will write you as soon as I arrive there.

" Luther Parker lives thirty miles east of this, practicing medi- cine ; is married to a second wife, and has a family of children. I have seen two of his neighbors; have also found about twenty Ver- monters that know our friends, who intend spending their days here. I will now tell you how I like the country in general. It possesses more advantages for a farmer than any country I have seen. It is the healthiest, or as healthy, as any in the United States. It is a com- plete peninsula, rising gently from Lake Erie about 85 miles, and then descending gradually to Lake Michigan. The streams run from the height in opposite directions to each lake. The land is of the best quality, timbered principally with Hickory and Oak. There is no appearance of a wilderness or new country, only the lack of inhabi- tants. It resembles more what we imagine to be the Fairy or En- chanted Land. It is interspersed with glades of timber, oak openings, and prairies. There are thousands of acres with just about timber enough to fence them, and they are more beautiful than art can make any Park, with a vast number of small lakes filled with fish, without any visible outlet or inlet. Some of the prairies on the highest ground resemble gentle swells of the sea; others are a dead level as far as the eye can reach, without a tree or bush, which bid defiance to the pencil to describe; and what caps the climax is they plow with a six-horse team, and drop the corn in every third furrow, turn the next on it, and never touch a plow to it afterward, and get from 30 to 50 bushels per acre; the year after 40 bushels of wheat.

"I have been reminded of the ' Old Trapper' and the scenes he passed through frequently. I have traveled on foot about 500 miles, been footsore and much burnt with the sun. Fail not to write. Love to our friends, and accept my best wishes.

" Your affectionate husband, " THADDEUS SMITH."

Hon. E. L. Brown, whose description of his journey to Schoolcraft, in company with Smith and Huston, in 1830, has been given, thus relates his experiences during his final trip to the country, in the fall of 1831, when he became a permanent resident at Schoolcraft :

: " I left home on the 10th day of October, 1831, traveling by stage to Albany. At Albany I learned that the first passenger-train over the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad was to leave for Schenectady the next day. I was, of course, anxious to be one of those who should make the first trip over the new railroad, and so had my trunk taken up to the station, or rather starting-point, for there were no buildings at the commencement-point of the railroad, on the open plain above the bluff, a mile or more from the city. There I found a little upright steam-engine, looking something like an inverted potash-kettle, at- tached to one or more carriages, similar to stage-coaches, filled with passengers who had come from the city to make the first trip over the new railroad. I was unable to get a place in the steam-train, but was told that it would be followed by a coach drawn by a horse, in which I could get passage, which I did, the train being followed by the horse- car at a constantly increasing interval. And so I took the first trip over the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad,-the first passenger trip on any part of that wonderful system of railroads extending from New York City to the Pacific Ocean.

". . . From Schenectady to Detroit I took the usual route, -a line- boat to Buffalo and a steamer on the lake. A two-horse stage ran to Ann Arbor, where terminated all public conveyance, and I might

almost say where the road terminated, for there was not a bridge over any stream between Ann Arbor and Schoolcraft. Now the problem was, ' how to go West, young man,' for I had a little trunk, weighing about thirty pounds, which must go with me, for it contained all my worldly goods, except what remained of about $150, with which I had set out on my travels. I had an uncle at Ann Arbor, with whomn I stopped a few days, endeavoring to get passage at least for my trunk by some casual emigrant-team, several of which passed west while I waited, but no one could be prevailed upon by any means to add a single pound to his already overloaded team. Finally, Uncle David came in one day and said, ' I'll tell you what. Lake Anson (his son) has got an old Indian pony, and I'll get Major Rumsey's little wagon and go out with you. The pony can draw one of us and the trunk and a box of provisions, and so we'll ride-and-tie.' And this we did, leaving Ann Arbor Monday morning, and arriving at Kalamazoo on the afternoon of Saturday, November 5th. Nothing remarkable oc- curred to vary the monotony of our rather tedious journey, except now and then a little episode in crossing a river, when there was generally more or less danger of losing the pony, the trunk, and the dinner in the threatening waters.

" From Ann Arbor to Kalamazoo, or Bronson, as it was then called, there were but two places where any beginning had been made in the way of a village. At Jackson there were several log cabins, and a small framed hotel, kept by a Mr. Thompson. At Marshall the Messrs. Ketchum had just built a saw-mill, and the saw started for the first time while we stopped and dined at their cabin, and all hands, men and women, were out to see it go. I do not remember but the one cabin at Marshall, although there may have been others. At Blashfield's, afterwards a noted stopping-place, we called, expecting to recruit our provisions, which were running low; but Blashfield was away after provisions, of which there was not a single article in the cabin, where Mrs. Blashfield, whom I thought a refined, cultivated lady, was the sole occupant. At Battle Creek we got dinner with a Dr. Foster, afterwards a resident of Kalamazoo, and later of Otsego, venison and.cranberries being the staple. Friday night we stayed at Mr. Cummings', on Toland Prairie. Arriving at the Kalamazoo River, we found a tin horn hung on a bush, a few blasts of which brought over Mr. Nathan Harrison, with a ferry-boat, on which we crossed the wagon, swimming the pony behind. At Bronson I found Huston fairly established in his new store, built the previous summer, and after a supper with Titus Bronson and his wife Sally, with whom Huston boarded, Huston and I rode to Schoolcraft on horseback, leaving my uncle to come down the next day with the pony.

" There were at that time four or five log cabins in Bronson, or the immediate vicinity, of which I remember the location of but three : Nathan Harrison's, on the river ; Bronson's, on Arcadia Creek, north- west of the court-house; and that of David Dillie, a little out on the Prairie Ronde road.

" At Schoolcraft were my friends, the Smiths,-Thaddeus and Ad- dison,-occupying a rather large log building, both as store and dwell- ing. The village of Schoolcraft had just been platted and partially surveyed by Stephen Vickery, for the proprietor, Lucius Lyon.

" The next day my uncle, with the pony, started for home by the way of White Pigeon and the Chicago road. The pony tired out and was left on the road, the old gentleman, then about sixty years old, having a most serious time of it in getting home. My obligations to the cheery and kind-hearted old man were beyond any means I had to repay them.

" And so ended my journey to Schoolcraft, where I have ever since had my home, and where my life and its incidents have been about as well known to my neighbors as to myself."

The firm of Smith, Huston & Co., which through the winter of 1830-31 had occupied a part of Abner Calhoon's* log dwelling in Prairie Ronde, where they disposed of the first goods sold in the county, built a log store and dwelling " east of the Big Island," in the spring of 1831, and made an addition to their stock. Joseph A. Smith had, in the mean time, been admitted as a partner in the firm. During the summer of that year (1831) they erected a frame store at Kalamazoo (the first frame structure in the place), and

# This name is also written Calhoun.

Photo. by Packard, Kalamazoo.

EVERT B. DYCKMAN.

The name of this gentleman deserves a conspicuous place on the roll of Kalamazoo County pioneers ; and a record of his life furnishes another illustrious example of that sturdy, self-reliant, and determined class of men who are the pride and boast of our country.

Evert B. Dyckman was born in Greenbush, N. Y., Sept. 25, 1800. When a child his parents moved to Onondaga Co., N. Y., where he grew to manhood, enjoying only lim- ited means of education. When nineteen years of age he purchased one hundred acres of timber land, upon which he built a rude house to accommodate himself and his father and mother, who lived with him. During the first three years the land, which had been purchased entirely on credit, was paid for, the family supported, and some com- forts secured. At this time Mr. Dyckman was married to Harriet Hinckley, of Liverpool, N. Y. Soon after this the Oswego Canal was located through his land. This fur- nished an opportunity for his genius and enterprise. He assisted in the construction of the canal, and upon its com- pletion established a boat-yard, and was engaged in boating for several years, and also carried on an extensive coopering business. He was, at the same time, engaged in the mer- cantile business, which was successfully conducted.

In 1836 he fell in with the tide of emigration then set- ting West ; came to Detroit, purchased a pony, and rode through the State, looking for a desirable location for future operations. In 1838 he closed up his business in New York, and, with his family, moved to Paw Paw, Van Buren Co., where he had purchased one thousand acres of land. While he resided in New York his wife had died, leaving seven children. These, with his father and mother,

two nephews, and two nieces, made a family of fourteen, which he brought to Van Buren County ; a very respectable addition to a frontier neighborhood. Mr. Dyckman changed his residence to Schoolcraft in 1842, where he has since resided; but his business interests have been scattered throughout several counties in the State. He has always had important interests in Van Buren County. At Paw Paw he built a grist-mill and store and the "Dyckman House." In 1853 he made an important purchase at South Haven of some six hundred acres of land which includes what is now the principal portion of the village. He erected a steam saw-mill, a store, and several houses ; improved the river, built a pier, etc. At Schoolcraft he was formerly connected with several important enterprises. At present he is engaged in the banking business with M. R. Cobb, his son-in-law.

Mr. Dyckman has been called to several offices of trust and honor; among them that of postmaster. He was a member of the Legislature at the time the location of the capital was changed, and took an active part in the pro- ceedings.

Mr. Dyckman has been four times married, and is the father of ten children, five of whom are now living, four daughters and one son, Smith A., a prominent business man at South Haven. To each of his children he has given a handsome property, and yet has an abundance of this world's goods. And now, on the eve of fourscore years, is active and vigorous, transacting business with the dispatch and accuracy of former years, when there were serious obstacles and when no transaction was too great for his enterprise.

519

TOWNSHIP OF SCHOOLCRAFT.

stocked it with goods, placing H. B. Huston in charge. E. L. Brown, as mentioned, purchased Thaddeus Smith's interest in the winter following. James Smith, Jr., al- though a member of the firm, did not arrive and settle with his family until the spring of 1833. The subsequent changes have been given by Mr. Brown, and appear in another place.

" As Prairie Ronde was the granary of the whole country for many miles about, its trade rapidly increased, and Smith, Huston & Co. counted among their regular customers not only persons from every new settlement in the county, but also from Three Rivers, from Paw Paw, from Otsego and Allegan, and even from Battle Creek and Mar- shall the great grain-producing prairie occasionally drew customers for both wheat and store goods.

"The commercial facilities of the country, as compared with those of the present day, were of the most tedious, expensive, and dis- couraging character. Goods were shipped by sail-vessels by way of Mackinac to St. Joseph, and thence boated up the St. Joseph,-or, at a little later date, the narrow and tortuous Paw Paw River,-and landed at some convenient place on the bank, without shelter or guard, till they could be hauled in by wagons. Wheat, the only exportable product, was in like manner hauled to some temporary store-house on these rivers, and sent down in boats or on arks. These last could be used only on the St. Joseph. They were simply plank boxes, some 10 or 12 feet wide by about 60 feet long, and when the cargo was landed at St. Joseph they were abandoned, or sold for a trifle, and the crews returned on foot.

"To illustrate some of the contingencies to which this mode of transportation was subject, I will relate what occurred to a cargo of wheat shipped from Three Rivers in one of these arks, in 1834, by J. & J. A. Smith & Co., the name which the Schoolcraft division of the firm of Smith, Huston & Co. had taken. The ark had been duly loaded with some eight or ten hundred bushels of wheat, provisioned for the voyage, with a hardy crew, under the command of Captain Mishael Beadle, and started off with favoring omens and every pros- pect of a safe and speedy arrival at the destined port. But the gods willed it otherwise. Capt. Beadle and his crew had provided them- selves with a barrel of whisky, with which to alleviate the toil and privations of the voyage, and had it placed at a convenient point on the shore at the head of what was called McIntaffer's Riffles, which now make the Lockport water-power, just below Three Rivers. Ar- riving near the place of deposit, the ark was laid alongside the shore, and while under full headway, and beginning to feel the in- creasing force of the current, a line made fast to the stern was thrown ashore and cast about a tree on the bank ; but so far from stopping to take on board the barrel of whisky, the willful Argo passed on un- checked, leaving the entire stern end tied up to the tree, and the good ship and cargo were speedily overflowed by the rapid water of McIn- taffer's Riffles, which then had nothing better to do."#

The old Smith & Huston store long ago gave way to newer establishments, and nothing is now left of it. And the pioneers who made it a place of rendezvous have nearly all disappeared from earthly scenes.

Village Plat of Schoolcraft and Additions .- The orig- inal plat of the village of Schoolcraftt was received for record Oct. 5, 1831. The survey was made by Stephen Vickery for the proprietor, Lucius Lyon, through the lat- ter's agent, Dr. David E. Brown. The description on the original plat, on record in the register's office at Kalamazoo, states that the village is located " east of the Big Island, on Prairie Ronde," but gives no more definite information.

It is stated by Mr. Brown that all that portion of the original village lying south of Eliza Street and west of Centre Street has been vacated by an order of the Circuit Court.

"Previous to the year 1836 all the business of Schoolcraft had cen- tered about the corner of Centre and Eliza Streets, a large hotel and well-built stores occupying all the corners. But in that year the 'University lot,' lying contiguous to Schoolcraft on the east, having reverted to government and been sold, an addition was made to the village of the south half of said lot, known as Bull's Addition ;} a public-house was erected on Grand Street, where the 'Prairie Ronde House'? now stands, and the business of the town gradually drew that way. The highway running south from the termination of Centre Street was closed after much litigation, in which the whole township became involved, and in the course of which a jury rendered a verdict of $2720 damages by the highway, which, years before, the complaining proprietor, Lucius Lyon, had himself designated and opened through land the whole body of which, at the time of the verdict, could not have been sold for one-half that sum. The conse- quence was to render nearly valueless all that had been done by the pioneers of the village, and to transfer the business and even the buildings from their old location to Grand Street."|

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History of Kalamazoo county, Michigan, Part 141

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