History of Kent County, Michigan, together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 17

Author: Leeson, M. A. (Michael A.); Chapman, Charles C., & Co. (Chicago)
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : C.C. Chapman & Co.
Number of Pages: 1434

USA > Michigan > Kent County > History of Kent County, Michigan, together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens > Part 17

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The members of this party swam their ponies across the St. Joseph river by the side of a canoe, and in a neighboring village a bushel of corn was obtained, and an Indian employed to take it back to the mission, which was on short rations so far as flour and meal were concerned. On the second day it was found that the explorers had taken the wrong trail, and Paget, the guide, became

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so bewildered, that he was of little service. The woods then re- sembled an immense park; there was scarcely any underbrush, few grubs,and no small trees. The annual burning of the grass by Indians had left the forests clear of all such obstructions, and the eye dwelt with delight upon the vista that extended before it under the leafy archway of the immense roof that expanded above in every direction, supported by those natural architraves that intertwined with more than Gothic strength and style in graceful confusion above.

All the very early settlers agree in their recollections of tliose beautiful forests. During the summer the grasses grew in great luxuriance, and in the fall dry up, wither, and bend down, covering the earth with a thick matting of combustible material. The fires would sweep through this mass of decaying grass with great rapid- ity, clearing everything in the way except the forest trees, making the country free from underbrush, and reducing to ashes old trees and debris which had accumulated since the previous conflagration. A coach and four could have been driven anywhere with safety in those grand old woods, when the ground was hard and no bottom lands to be traversed. The intermitting of the annual fires soon gave the roots of the grubs a chance to shoot up, and the seed of trees to germinate and grow, and thus the face of the wild land was changed. Through the former woods the pioneers of Kent county came hither; through the entanglements of the latter or underbrush era the American pioneers pushed their way.

" Among the Ottawa villages," says McCoy, " was one in which the natives were drinking. All appeared friendly to us except one. The women were drinking in a house by themselves. While I allowed my horse to graze for a few minutes, five or six feet from me, three pigeons which I had shot were stolen from iny saddle, where I had tied them with the design of cooking them for our next meal. Unable to bear the loss when we were in want, I de- manded the fowls, and they were restored."

The party crossed the Grand river, May 30, 1823, by the help of an Indian and his canoe. Entering the village they found that Keywaycooshcum was absent. The locality for the site which Trowbridge and the teacher Sears had selected the previous fall, for the Ottawa station, was described to McCoy, so that he believed he could recognize it at sight ; but following the directions as he understood them he could find no place in any degree answering the description given him. He searched down . the river nine miles, and the next day returned to the village of Keywaycoosh- cum, where he found the inhabitants stupid from the results of drunkenness.

The principal chief had not yet arrived, but the sub-chief desired the missionary to stay a few days. He told them he should speak in council the following day. Then he reconnoitered the country in order to select a building place, and during this time lodged at a trading house. On returning to the Indian village he was in-

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formed that Keywaycooshcum had not arrived, but that he sent a message requesting the visitor to remain a few days until he should come. This McCoy did not wish to do, as he had business at the Carey mission ; added to this he saw that the Ottawas looked upon him with distrust. They were not satisfied with the Chicago treaty, and many denied having authorized the sale of their lands, and cast the blame on Keywaycooshcum, who was thus afraid to take any more responsibility in the matter. The tribe consid- ered the sale of their country illegal, insisted upon its illegality, and determined to hold possession of their country. They es- teemed the offer of furnishing them with schools, blacksmith, farmer, and implements as a stratagem to get them to act upon some of the provisions of the treaty, and therefore make all the articles of such treaty binding upon them. They further believed they would be made to pay in the future for the educational advan- tages. Under those circumstances Mr. McCoy, his teacher, and his blacksmith determined to return at once to the Carey mission, and bestow their labors on the Pottawatomies, thus failing in the first attempt to introduce themselves to the Grand River Indians.

Just as the party was leaving the village, a company of squaws was seen carrying kettles of food to the grave of a child, who had died a short time previously. After swimming their horses across Grand river, the missionary party found that provisions were. ex- hausted. On Grand river they obtained corn, but scarcely any meat, except a meal of a ground-hog. They hired an Indian to beat a little corn in a mortar (a log hewn out hollow, and hardened by fire), and from this crude meal made a cake.

The return to Carey was accompanied by many accidents. Paget's horse failed him after a few hours' ride, and he was left in the woods. The next night McCoy's horse made an escape, having broken his hobbles, and was not found till 10 o'clock next morn- ing. During the absence of the men in search of the horse, McCoy was employed in boiling sweet corn, a little of which he pur- chased from the Ottawas ; there was no vessel to boil it in larger than a pint cup, and as the corn softened a little it was poured out on birch bark, and more placed in the cup to undergo a similar boiling process. In this manner the morning meal was prepared. At the house of Goza, on the Ke-ken-a-miz-oo, now known as Kalamazoo river, the travelers were hospitably entertained by the natives. Here they were given meat, but no bread. One of the men, unable to proceed further, owing to sore feet, was left in the care of Goza nntil better. The party reached Carey mission June 5, 1823.

The second journey to the village of the Ottawas was entered upon Sept. 30, 1823, when McCoy and one of his assistants, or rather a Government employe, set out with the intention of entering the Ottawa conntry at the Kalamazoo river, where prejudices existed that might prevent the immediate commencement of operations among them on Grand river. In order, therefore, to secure a foot-

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ing among the Indians without delay, it was proposed to begin by establishing the smithy, or blacksmith shop, on the line between the Ottawa and Pottawatomie districts. The Ottawas visited Mc- Coy and seemed well pleased with the proposition, so that by the end of November the forge was built at Kalamazoo, and means pro- vided for putting it in operation. The following spring a ship was loaded with articles for the Baptist mission at Carey. This vessel made the voyage of the lakes, and entered the river at St. Joseph, where the cargo was transferred to canoes, and brought thence to Carey.

Polke, the newly appointed teacher to the Ottawa village, set out for the scene of his labors from Carey, June 29, 1824. He was ac- companied by the blacksmith and two of McCoy's Indian pupils. They took a wagon drawn by two yokes of oxen. This party arrived at the first Ottawa village, where the teacher left two laborers at work for the Indians, and returning, reached Carey, July 9, 1824. His reception was very cool indeed. Five days later five chiefs and a number of warriors assembled at McCoy's house to have a council. July 15 a party of Ottawas visited McCoy for the pur- pose of telling him that the smith, laborers and other white men sent to their villages were going on satisfactorily. Of course the Indians received both presents of peltries and money, and returned to their homes. About Sept. 1, 1824, the smith of Kalamazoo was sent to Grand river by McCoy. He was accompanied by two Indian boys who interpreted the message entrusted to the blacksmith. This visit resulted in obtaining an Ottawa girl, seven years old, for the school at Carey.

McCoy, accompanied by Sawyer, blacksmith, Mettiz, laborer, and Goza, a friendly Indian, set out on a journey to the Ottawas' country, Nov. 24, 1824. At Kalamazoo they found that in the absence of the blacksmith, the shop was fired by Indians and almost burned up. November 27 the party encamped at Gun lake, and on the 2Sth had an interview with Naoqua Keshuck, or Noon- Day, of Grand Rapids, who was camped with some members of his band on the other side of the lake. On the 29th the party, with Noon-Day and the Indians, raised camp and proceeded on the Grand Rapids trail. December 1, Grand river was reached and a crossing made in diminutive canoes belonging to the chief. The same day McCoy selected a site for the Baptist mission, some dis- tance lower down the river than that selected two years previously by Trowbridge, the U. S. Commissioner, which, as inferred, must be in the vicinity of Ada. Thelocation was subsequently approved by Gen. Cass and confirmed by the Secretary of War .. McCoy re- turned from this partly successful visit Dec. 2, 1824, having been accompanied by Noon-Day a portion of the way. Noou-Day pointed out to him a salt spring and a bed of gypsum. A small stream of water having washed the bed, produced an unevenness similar to that made on salt-banks by animals. The guide said it was sup- posed that spirits fed there. This was probably the gypsum bed,

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subsequently worked at the old plaster-mill where the Grandville road crosses Plaster creek. The salt spring was in the vicinity where the State salt well was bored. On the evening of Dec. 4, 1824, McCoy arrived at Goza's shanty. He learned that an attempt was made by Goza and a Frenchman to remove the blacksmith's modus operandi to Grand river, which attempt failed on account of floating ice. Mr. McCoy arrived at Carey, well pleased with the result of his late travels.

December 17, 1824, Sawyer, the blacksmith, and two laborers, were dispatched to Grand Rapids, with instructions to improve " Thomas Station," the name given to the Indian mission here. Supplies were sent forward to them before the close of winter.

Polke, the teacher, a blacksmith, an Indian apprentice to that official, and a laborer, together with the Indian Goza, set out from Carey toward Grand Rapids, March 10, 1825. The party arrived and met with anything but a welcome. A few Indians, however, were inclined to treat the travelers hospitably, but the great ma- jority were maddened by their presence. This will be apparent from Polke's own story of his escape.

" The blacksmith, his apprentice and Goza were on the margin of the river, while I was standing on the river bank, near our door, looking at some canoes of fishermen in the river, when more noise than usual occurred in an Indian camp close by. At this instant the fishermen in the canoes, who could perceive what was going on in the camp, hallooed lustily to us on the bank. I could not understand them, but Goza, who did, rushed up the river bank toward me. On turning my eyes toward the camp, I discovered an Indian running toward me with a gun in his hand. I appre- hended that his intention was to shoot me, and I resolved, as he raised his gun to fire, I would save myself by a sudden leap down the bank. He approached within 15 yards, when he abruptly halted to fire. In the attempt to raise his gun he was seized by Goza. The fellow made a violent effort to effect his purpose. The Indian apprentice boy came to Goza's assistance, and they disarmed the wicked man, who was taken away by some people of his camp."

This is the schoolmaster's story; but the fact remains that the whole business was plotted by Goza, for his own good, to win a higher estimation in the minds of Rev. Mr. McCoy and the teacher, and obtain a few dollars above the average weekly largesses which he received.

Polke returned from Grand Rapids, May 17, 1825. On Sept. 5 following, McCoy and his entire corps of assistants left Carey for Grand Rapids, and reached their destinat on on the 10th. They brought with them plows, yokes, chains farming implements, mechanical tools and cattle, together with a thousand peltries; but even all this attention was ineffectual, and Mr. McCoy was forced to acknowledge his energy and z u nable to combat the Indian's stubborn character and skepticis

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ARRIVAL OF REV. LEONARD SLATER.

Rev. Leonard and Mrs. Slater arrived at Grand Rapids, from the Carey mission, May 5, 1828, with the hope of making the " mis- sion of Thomas," or Grand Rapids, their future home. This gentleman dwelt at Grand Rapids until the Indians were scattered or removed, when he moved to Kalamazoo. Toward the last days of August, in 1828, there were in Noon-Day's village, which was near the mission, 24 acres of land, well fenced, and most of it in a good state of cultivation. At Blackskin's village the Indians had 12 acres of land, fenced and under cultivation. Mr. Meeker, who could speak the Indian languages, was appointed superintend- ent and preacher.

Up to the last of November, 1826, no school had been in opera- tion at Grand Rapids. For some time men had been at work here for the Ottawas, and preparing buildings for the missionaries; but no regular missionary ever occupied them, nor was any missionary work performed, though different representatives of the Baptist mission visited the place many times.

Mr. Slater, his wife, and a Miss Purchase, who married Indian Agent R. D. Potts in 1828, had been appointed by the Board of Missions to the station at Thomas.

Nov. 28, 1828, Mr. McCoy, his wife, three small children, an Indian girl, Anthony Rollo, an Indian pupil, J. F. Polke, teacher, a blacksmith, four hired white men, and an Indian boy, set out from Carey for Grand Rapids, and after a journey of eight days crossed the Grand river, and reported at the mission house. Ly- kins, who left Carey in company with a Frenchman, Oct. 20, 1828, arrived Nov. 21 at Grand Rapids, and had the houses in order for the reception of the travelers. He also brought supplies, so that there was comparatively little trouble after their arrival here.

A council was held Jan. 11, 1827. Noon-Day, addressing Mr. McCoy, said : "My brother, when you promised to favor us, be- cause our heads might forget, you put your words on paper, which could not forget them. Look at this paper and see if it is the same you gave me; notice if we have forgotten anything you promised

Mr. McCoy replied that he had made that paper and now came to fulfill his promise, saying: "There is the blacksmith, there are the laborers, there are the milch cattle, the oxen, plows, chains, and other farming and mechanical tools. The school will be opened in a few days and I am here ready to preach to you." The school was opened Dec. 25, 1827, with five Indian pupils and one of the white laborers in attendance. The scholars were fed and clothed by the mission, and at that time only a few could be accommodated. By April 1, 1828, the school increased to 15 pupils.

It has been stated that May 5, 1828, Rev. Leonard Slater and Mrs. Slater arrived at Thomas, and at the same time a fully laden pi-

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rogue arrived by way of the river with supplies. On the 20th, a fur- ther supply was unladen from a schooner at Grand Haven and brought up the river. May 22, Mr. McCoy and his family left for his home at Carey.

The mission was henceforth in the hands of Mr. Slater and his assistant. David and Miss Eleanor Richardson, of Cincinnati, O., arrived at Grand Rapids, or " Thomas," as missionaries, Feb. 17, 1828; but Richardson remained only until July 1. McCoy visited the place Feb. 28, 1828, only to find the Indians unfriendly to the mission, and the greater number who were once friendly now ret- rograding. In July, 1829, Mr. McCoy re-visited Grand Rapids, with a view of reviewing its condition. He says: " A Miss Thomp- son had united with this station under an appointment from the Board of Missions. She was now present. Mr. Meeker was absent. The establishment was under the management of Mr. Slater. The condition of the station was sad indeed; the school was discontin- ued, the farms uncultivated, and the whole establishment appeared in a state of dilapidation. Miss Richardson left in May, for Cin- cinnati, to recover her health, which being restored, she was mar- ried to Mr. Meeker, and returned to the station in 1830. Miss Susan Thompson left the station in 1829 on account of her health. In 1833 Miss Day and Miss Bond arrived as missionaries. The former returned to Maine the same year, while the latter married Francis Prescott. subsequently well known as a Baptist preacher.

In 1835 the Indian mission was abandoned. Mr. Slater estab- lished a mission near Gull Prairie for a few Indians who refused to move westward. The majority of the persons named in connection with Mr. McCoy's missionary enterprise accompanied him to the Indian Territory, and continued to labor there among the aborig- ines until 1837-'8.

Before passing from this subject, we will quote the following let- ter from John Almy to C. A. Harris, dated at Grand Rapids, Oct 15, 1838:

" In the early part of September I wasin the city of Detroit, when I met the Hon. Lucius Lyon, at which time he put into my hands the enclosed plat and letter of introduction, and requested me, with all convenient speed, on my return home to make the sur- vey and prepare the sketch in accordance with your instructions. I returned to this place in a few days afterward, and proceeded to make the necessary surveys and examinations; but before I had completed them, I was taken down with the prevailing sickness of the county, and consequently have not, until the last 10 days, been able to complete the labor, and could not in the interval procure it to be done by a competent person. I have said this much by the way of exonerating Mr. Lyon from any censure on account of what may be supposed to be a delinquency on his part. I herewith transmit two sketches of the missionary locations, accompanied with the following remarks and explanations, to wit:

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" Plat No. 1 contains a sketch of the missionary reserve of 160 acres in a compact form, and embracing their buildings and im- provements. The buildings and so forth have been laid down on the plat according to their precise location, and, as will appear by inspection, they all are within the bounds of section No. 25. In regard to other improvements, such as lands cleared, fenced or cul- tivated by them (the missionaries), there does not appear to be anything of this nature to which they can lay claims. All the grounds on the front of sections 24 and 25 are cleared and have been occupied by the Indians, as corn-fields, from time immemorial. The quantity of 160 acres as laid out on the plat, embraces all their buildings and improvements, and is bounded in the following man- ner :- Beginning at the meandering part in the north line of sec- tion No. 25, on the bank of the river, thence down the same to the south line of the subdivision No. 3 of section 25, thence on the said subdivision line west so far that a line running north and parallel to the west line of the section to the north line, and thence on said north line to the place of beginning, shall contain 160 acres. These bounds will include: first subdivision No. 1, of section No. 25, containing 46 13-100 acres. First subdivision No. 2, of the same section, containing 45 acres; part of subdivision No. 3, of section No. 25, containing 40 29-100 acres, and a fraction of the 80 acres in the rear of No. 1 and 2, containing 28.58 acres,-160 acres.

" In plat No. 2 I have marked out the 160 acres in two separate parallels. These sketches would embrace all the buildings and im- provements. Whether this plan will be considered as a location in a compact form I will not undertake to say. I would, however, remark that such a location would embrace less of other improve- ments, which they have no claim to, as having been made by them directly or indirectly. If such a plan of laying off the missionary reserve would be in accordance with the provisions of the treaty, it might still be further improved, by laying off the half of the 94.26 acres on section 24, and the residue on section 25; so that the Bap- tist residence would occupy the central position in that location. I would observe that more time. has been consumed in making these surveys and examinations than otherwise would have been, had this tract been timbered land. Nearly all the sections border- ing on the river are old Indian improvements and oak openings. It was impossible to find posts or lines without going back two miles and finding corners to work fromn. The time actually em- ployed in making the survey was 10 days, assisted by three men, whose aggregate pay and expenses per diem were $4.50; so that my compensation will be rather a lean affair."

It is nnnecessary to refer to the mass of correspondence on the subject of the mission reserve. In a letter dated Washington, March 13, 1846, addressed to James Shields, Commissioner of the General Land Office, and afterward the hero of three wars, and the Senator from three States, Henry R. Schoolcraft says:

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" Agreeably to your desire I proceed to state my impressions on those clauses of the treaty of March 28, 1836, referred to in Mr. Scribner's memorial to the President of the 9th instant. The for- mation of that treaty by which the title of some 16,000,000 of acres of land was acquired, occupied the entire winter and spring of 1835-'6, and involved many questions connected alike with the interests of the Indians, the Indian traders, who were then creditors to a large amount, and the several missionaries who labored or taught in these Territories. Several delegations of the Ottawas and Chippewas were present with their interpreters and friends. Con- flicting views, interests and opinions were to be obviated and rec- onciled, and a harmonious and general result was not obtained without long conference and many references to the President and Secretary of War.

"To detail all these requires time and means of reference to papers which are at my residence; but such an inquiry is not necessary to come to the practical facts at issue. It is not even necessary to exam- ine the provisions of the eighth article of the treaty under which you have referred to me, further than respects the true intent and meaning of the clause pointed out. By the clause, 'the mission establishments upon the Grand river shall be appraised and the value paid to the proper boards,' was intended the Catholic and Baptist mission establishments on the north bank of the Grand river, the former of which was located at or near the foot, and the latter the head of the said 'rapids.' By this phraseology the actual or appraised outlay of each, without pretending to judge what pro- portion of expense or value one bore to the other, was secured. The Government was also secured that nothing beyond this expense should be paid. This provision did not appear to meet the wishes of the Baptists, who had brought on a delegation of Ottawas, headed by the chief ' Noon-Day,' to oppose the treaty on any terms, and who, by the hands of the Rev. Leonard Slater, presented a re- monstrance to it in open council. This remonstrance, after glanc- ing over it, I handed back to him with the remark, that the Government was treating with the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, and not with white men. Whatever were the objections of this denomination, however, to the terms of the treaty, as finally ad - justed, including the provisions of the eighth article, they were not expressed to me; but evinced themselves while the instrument was before the Senate, in efforts to defeat its ratification. The Rev. Isaac McCoy, who passed the winter and spring of 1835 and 1836 in this city, visited with careful secrecy each member of the Indian committee, and through his long and early intimacy with the late General Tipton, created strong prejudices against it. He availed himself of Judge White's political position at the moment in rela- tion to the President, to strengthen himself in the views entertained by him. Whatever the effects of Mr. McCoy's statements were in producing the numerous and important changes introduced on the ratification, and they doubtless had no effect if they were ever the

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subject of conversation on some of these alterations, it is known that he was the causeof the change from the plural to the singular form with respect to the missionary establishments and the mode of remuneration, provided by the eighth article as amended by the Senate.

" The ninth article was introduced in consequence of objections made by the President to reservations of land in any form or to any person. To meet the request of the Indians on this head, the proposed reservations at the place they asked them to be located were put into their cash value, and the price per acre or otherwise agreed on between the persons in whose favor the reservation was asked and the commissioner. Among the locations thus asked for by the Indians, and compromised with claimants in this article, was the section of land embracing the mill, built for the use of the Indians with public funds, situated on the north side of the Grand rapids in Michigan. The sum of $6,400 was granted for the tract to the Baptist agent, the Rev. Leonard Slater, in trust for an Indian member of his family, to be vested in the purchase of other lands, or otherwise employed to further the ends of said Baptist mission. All buildings or other improvements had been previously provided for by the terms of the eighth section above quoted, and the re- quests of the chief Noon-Day and his party of Ottawas, who were in the Baptist interest, were thus fully and satisfactorily to them, as understood by me, provided for. In this shape the eighth article went before the Senate, which completes a view of my agency in the transaction, so far as relates to your inquiries. It may be per- mitted to add, that the Catholic Church had no agent to attend or oppose the treaty at any stage of its progress, nor did it appear that its missionaries entertained any such wish."

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History of Kent County, Michigan, together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 17

Author: Leeson, M. A. (Michael A.); Chapman, Charles C., & Co. (Chicago) Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago : C.C. Chapman & Co. Number of Pages: 1434

Author: Leeson, M. A. (Michael A.); Chapman, Charles C., & Co. (Chicago)
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : C.C. Chapman & Co.
Number of Pages: 1434