USA > Michigan > Lapeer County > History of Lapeer County, Michigan : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 2
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On the 18th of June, 1812, war was declared by Congress against Great Britain. Previous to, and in anticipation of the dec- laration of war, General Hull, governor of Michigan Territory, was appointed commander-in-chief of all the forces of the Northwest.
On the 9th of July General Hull received orders from the sec- retary of war, to proceed with his army and take possession of Malden, (which was the key to that portion of the British prov- inces), if consistent with the safety of his posts. The garrison was weak, and seemed an easy conquest. Having arranged for the ex- pedition, General Hull crossed the Detroit River on the 19th day of July, and encamped at Sandwich, where the army remained in a state of inactivity for nearly a month, when, intimidated by the hos- tile manifestations of the Indians, and the report that a large British force would soon arrive at Malden, without having made an attack he re-crossed the river to Detroit on the 9th day of August, where he remained until the 15th, the day of his inglorious surrender. A provisional government was established by the British, at Detroit, and a small force placed in the fort. On the 10th of September, 1813, the victory of Commodore Perry, in the battle of Lake Erie, resulted in restoring Michigan to the Union, and on the 29th of the same month, Detroit was occupied by a detachment of the army of General Harrison.
On October 9th, 1813, Colonel Lewis Cass, who had rendered essential service to the territory, was appointed governor of Michi- gan. Congress, in 1823, by an act providing for the establishment of a legislative council, invested the territory with a more energetic and compact government. The council was to consist of nine members, to be appointed by the President of the United States, with the consent of the Senate, from eighteen candidates elected by the people of the Territory. They, with the governor, were in- vested with the same powers which had been granted by the ordi- nance of 1787 to the government of the Northwest Territory. By that act the legislative power of the governor and judges was taken away, the term of judicial office was limited to four years, and eligibility to office required the same qualifications as the right of suffrage. The first legislative council of Michigan convened on the 7th of June, 1824, at Detroit.
In 1831 General Cass having been appointed secretary of war, he was succeeded by George B. Porter in the government of the Territory. During his administration, Wisconsin, which had before been annexed to Michigan, was erected into a separate Ter- ritory.
On the 6th of July, 1834, Governor Porter died, and was suc- ceeded by Stevens T. Mason.
In the spring of 1835, a controversy arose in regard to the
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HISTORY OF LAPEER COUNTY.
boundary line between Michigan and Ohio, and the right to a valu- ble strip of land, to which both laid claim; the former under the provisions of the ordinance of 1787, and the latter under a pro- vision in their State constitution. Each party sent a military force to the frontier,-the one to sustain, and the other to extend juris- diction over the territory in dispute. A high state of excited public feeling existed, but the most serious inconvenience suffered by either party was the apprehension and temporary imprisonment of a few persons. By an act of Congress, passed June 15, 1836, the Con- stitution and State government of Michigan were accepted, and upon condition of accepting the boundary claimed by Ohio, she was admitted into the Union. These terms were exceedingly unsatis- factory to the people of Michigan, who were impatiently awaiting recognition as a State government, having elected their State officers in the month of October of the previous year. A convention held at Ann Arbor, on the 14th and 15th of. December, 1836, resolved to accept the condition imposed in the proposition of Congress, at the same time protesting against the right of Congress, under the constitution, to require this preliminary assent as a condition of admission into the Union.
By act of Congress, approved January 26, 1837, Michigan was declared "to be one of the United States, and a lmitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original States, in all respects whatever."
By an act of the legislature, approved March 16, 1847, the seat of government was removed from Detroit to Lansing.
TREATIES WITH THE INDIANS.
Before passing from these general events it will be well to no- tice the three important treaties with the Indians, by means of which settlement was made possible.
The first treaty of importance, which was made for the extin- guishment of the Indian title to the soil of what now comprises the state of Michigan, was the one entered into by William Hull, then governor of Michigan as a territory, and ex-officio superintendent of Indian affairs, with the natives at Detroit, in 1807, when a tract of land in the south-eastern part of the State was ceded by them to our government. Detroit and a belt of land adjacent to it, lying along the river and lake, six miles in width, were not affected by this grant, we having before that succeeded to the possessory rights of Great Britain to the District of Detroit, so called, which she had held for a series of years co-extensive with the claims of her predecessor, France, and which, by the treaty of Greenville, made by General Wayne on behalf of our government in 1795, had been reassured to and made perfect in us. With that exception, the title to the south- easterly part of our State was obtained from the natives by the treaty of 1807.
The northerly line of this grant included only small portions of what are now the counties of Lapeer and Genesee, and was a little north of their southern boundaries, thus leaving Saginaw River and its principal affluents, the Flint, the Cass, etc., entirely unaffected by the provision of that treaty. This portion of the State remained in Indian possession, with the rights of the natives intact and unaf- fected until the treaty of Saginaw of 1819.
In that treaty the Saginaw region was particularly interested, for the cessions of lands then made by the natives, with the reser- vations therein provided for, include the rich and flourishing valleys of the Saginaw and its tributaries.
General Cass was commissioned to act as the agent of the gen- eral government in securing to it this important addition to our territory. He appeared upon the Saginaw, upon the site of what is now Saginaw City, September 10, 1819, accompanied by a staff of interpreters and assistant.
The conference lasted ten or twelve days and witnessed many stormy scenes, but the terms of treaty were, at length, calmly dis- cussed and agreed to. The harmonious adjustment of their dif- ferences was reached chiefly through the instrumentality of Stephen V. R. Riley, an Indian trader who married a squaw, and Jacob Smith another trader. In the treaty agreed to, the Indians ceded to the United States all but 40,000 acres of their territory, reserved for the benefit of the tribe in common.
In 1837 another treaty was made with the Indians, in which they ceded to the United States the 40,000 acres belonging to the tribe in common. According to the terms of this treaty the govern- ment was to cause the land to be surveyed and put into market at $5.00 per acre and held at that price for a certain length of time, and then what remained unsold should be reduced to a minimum of $2.50 per acre and the Indians to receive the avails of the sales after deducting the cost of survey and sale and a large amount ad- vanced to them with which to pay their debts.
The chiefs who visited Washington to perfect this sale were, O-ge-ma-ke-ga-to, Ton-dog-a-ne, Sha-e-be-no-se, Wos-so, Mose-ga- skink, Ma-sha-way and Nau-qua-chic-a-me. The white men were Henry O. Connor, Capt. Joseph F. Marsac and Charles Rodd, a half-breed, as interpreters, and Gardner D. and Benjamin O. Wil- liams.
The result of this visit was that Mr. Schoolcraft was ordered to call a meeting at Flint, for the purpose of concluding the treaty, which was done.
The treaty of 1819 was a very important one, as this portion of the State was then in Indian possession, and the object of the gov- ernment was the cession by the natives of the vast tract in which was included the rich and flourishing valleys of the Saginaw and its tributaries. The chief speaker for the Indians was O-ge-ma-ke-ga- to, and he opposed the proposition of Gen. Cass with indignation. Said he:
"You do not know our wishes. Our people wonder what has brought you so far from your homes. Your young men have in- vited us to come and light the council fire; we are here to smoke the pipe of peace, but not to sell our lands. Our American father wants them. Our English father treats us better. He has never asked for them. You flock to our shores; our waters grow warm; our lands melt like a cake of ice; our possessions grow smaller and smaller. The warm wave of the white man rolls in upon us and melts us away. Our women reproach us; our children want homes. Shall we sell from under them the spot where they spread their blankets? We have not called you here; we smoke with you the pipe of peace."
The treaty was finally made and the Indians returned to their lodges.
The Chippewa nation was then comprised of ten or twelve bands, each governed by a hereditary chieftain. These chiefs formed a council which governed the nation and elected the ruling chief annually. O-ge-ma-ke-ga-to was not a chief by blood, but his remarkable intellectual qualities as well as his undaunted cour- age, made him a power among his people, and at the early age of twenty-five he was a leading spirit. Gen. Cass was surprised at the remarkable brain-power of the man, and remarked that he was "the smartest and most eloquent Indian he had ever met." His administration of the affairs of his people was so satisfactory that for over thirty consecutive years he was annually re-elected to the posi- tion of head chief. He never ruled a single band until in the later years of his life, when he became chief of the Tittabawassee band, to which he belonged.
His power of oratory made him a great favorite with his people, and the fame of O-ge-ma-ke-ga-to spread far and wide. Subse-
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HISTORY OF LAPEER COUNTY.
quently, at the ratifying of the reservation treaty at Detroit, many learned and able lawyers were present, not one of whom, after hearing his great speech interpreted, dare to accept his challenge to discuss the questions affecting the Indians' welfare with him.
After the treaty of Saginaw had been ratified and the Indians had become reconciled to the encroachment of the white man, O-ge- ma-ke-ga-to was quite friendly, and, like an honorable man, en- deavored to fulfill his obligations to the new comers under the treaty.
IMMIGRATION COMMENCED.
Prior to the administration of Governor Cass there was a gen- eral opinion that the whole peninsula was one vast swamp and wholly unfit for cultivation. The commissioners sent out to locate bounty lands for soldiers, after visiting Detroit and going a few miles west, pronounced the country nothing but morass, and conse- quently the bounty lands were located elsewhere. This report re- tarded immigration but the ultimate result was advantageous, inas- much as when the tide of immigration did reach its shores it brought thither the better class of population. Gov. Cass procured a survey of the territory and a wagon road was laid out from Detroit to Chicago. By this means the country was brought into notice and its real merits made known. In 1818 some of the public lands which had been surveyed, were brought into market and a steady flow of immigration began.
The population of the territory increased from 8,876 in 1820, to 31,630 in 1830.
ORGANIZING COUNTIES.
Monroe county was organized July 14, 1807; Macomb county, January 15, 1818; Oakland county, March 28, 1820; St. Clair County, May 18, 1821. About this time, as previously mentioned, immigration began to increase rapidly, and on September 10, 1822, Governor Cass, under the provisions of an act of Congress approved July 13, 1787, laid out ten new counties, of which Lapeer was one; although there was not, at that time nor for several years afterward, a single white inhabitant within its boundaries.
The proclamation issued by Governor Cass was as follows: "And I have also thought it expedient to lay out the following county; that is to say:
"All the country included in the following boundaries, beginning at the northwest corner of the county of St. Clair, and running thence west to the line between the sixth and seventh ranges, east of the principal meridian; thence south to the line between the townships numbered five and six, north of the base line; thence east to the line between the twelfth and thirteenth ranges, east of the principal meridian; thence north to the place of beginning; shall form a county to be called the county of Lapeer.
"Given under my hand, at Detroit, this 10th day of Septem- ber, in the year of our Lord 1822, and of the Independence of the United States the forty-seventh. LEW. CASS."
It is said that the name "Lapeer" was derived from a French word lapier, signifying flint-an idea suggested by the flinty sub- stances found along the banks of the Flint River, and for a long time was called Lapier, subsequently the i was dropped and e sub- stituted; since which time it has been known as Lapeer.
LOCATING THE COUNTY SEAT.
In 1830 Governor Cass appointed S. T. R. Trowbridge, G. O. Whitmore and Hervey Parkes, the latter a surveyor, and all of Oak- land County, commissioners to locate the county site of Lapeer County. The commissioners left Pontiac September 14, 1830, taking with them one Josiah Terry as guide. They encamped the first night on the Whitmore plains about twelve miles south of their destination. On the following day, September 15th, they established the county site on the northeast fractional quarter of section 5,
township 7 north, range 10 east, and thus described in the pro- clamation of Governor Cass. A point bearing south forty-six degrees thirty minutes west and distant twenty-seven chains from the northeast corner of section 5 in town 7 north, of range 10 east, and a short distance northwest from the junction of Farmers' Creek with Flint River on lands owned by the United States, being as near as may be the location of the buildings now occupied by the county of Lapeer. After completing their work, the commissioners returned to the camp of the day previous, where they spent the night, but on awakening the next morning Terry was nowhere to be found, and was next heard of in Detroit.
Terry being in the employ of Judge Leroy, of Pontiac, and the records of the United States land office showing Daniel Leroy, of Pontiac, as having bought the land above described as the county site of the embryo county of Lapeer, was a very satisfactory ex- planation of his mysterious disappearance.
COUNTY SURVEY.
Lapcer County as first laid out contained twenty-seven town- ships of land, the boundaries of which have already been described in the proclamation of Governor Cass.
The contract for surveying the country between range 8 east and Lake Huron, extending north to Saginaw Bay and south to township 6, embracing about eighty townships of land in what are now the counties of Saginaw, Tuscola, Huron, Sanilac, St. Clair, Lapeer and Genesee, had been let to Joseph Wampler, a surveyor from Ohio. In the fall of 1822 Wampler had surveyed about twenty-four townships, and being completely daunted by the hardships of the work, finally abandoned it, leaving the north line of township 10 unsurveyed, and returned at once to his home in Ohio. It is said he was starved out by the failure of the packmen, their sole means of procuring supplies being to make their way through swamps where they would be nearly stung to death by mosquitoes.
This work was not resumed till January, 1834, when Hervey Parkes, the surveyor who had assisted in laying out the county site of Lapeer County, undertook to complete the job, which he finally succeeded in doing after encountering terrible hardships. Lapeer, which had become quite a little hamlet, was the headquarters of the surveying party. The snow was then eighteen inches deep, and the streams not yet frozen over. After a few weeks' hard work, the first day of which they failed to reach their camp and were obliged to remain all night in the woods without supper, tents or blankets, they abandoned it for a time.
During this survey it was no uncommon thing for each man to shoulder and carry during the day a pack containing a blanket and several days' provisions. Under such toils it is not surprising that the men soon became exhausted. After six weeks' rest the work was resumed, and this time Parkes made three deposits of pro- visions; one at Lapeer, another at Mill Creek, and a third at Burch's Mill, on Black River, six miles north of Port Huron. Here he expected to be able to use pack horses, but was soon obliged to send them back to Romeo and rely entirely on packmen. They were at best able to make but three miles a day, often not more than two, as much of the way the men would sink to their knees at every step in the soft and spongy soil.
During the survey a packman was lost while returning from the. deposit at Mill Creek, and wandered in the woods until he fortunately met a packman returning from the Burch Mill deposit, who piloted him into camp, from which he had been absent two weeks, having suffered hardships in his aimless wanderings in the wilderness.
They were at last obliged to return home in April and wait until autumn to finish their work, when they found the country in
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HISTORY OF LAPEER COUNTY.
6
a better state, the water being partially drained from the surface. The work was finally completed in February, 1835, and the party returned home, more than twelve years having elapsed since Wampler began the lines. Messrs. M. B. Smith and E. J. White, of Lapeer, were engaged in this survey, and so far as known Mr. Smith is the only survivor of the party.
Mr. Smith, speaking of their experiences, says: "We were frequently obliged to lay down poles and pile on them hemlock boughs to keep out of the water while we slept. I remember we built one camp fire on the earth, covering roots of an overthrown hemlock, after driving center poles to scaffold up to the fire. The difficulty of transporting provisions caused us to be on short allow- ance, and I well remember at one time when our hunger had not been satisfied for days, and while establishing a corner on the bank of Lake Huron a couple of the boys killed a coon when starting for camp, and not being able to reach it before night, we roasted one-quarter of the coon for our supper and lay down blanketless for our night's repose. The remainder of the little animal, with the last pint of flour at camp, was quickly disposed of on our arrival."
CHAPTER II.
LAPEER COUNTY ORGANIZED-COUNTY OFFICERS-EARLY ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS-TOWNS ORGANIZED-FIRST SETTLEMENT-PERIOD OF THE LAND FEVER.
Lapeer County was organized by an act of the legislative council of the territory of Michigan, approved January 20, 1835, and reads as follows:
SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislative Council of the Territory of Michigan, That the county of Lapeer shall be organized from and after the taking effect of this act, and the inhabitants thereof entitled to all the rights and privileges to which, by law, the in- habitants of other counties of this territory are entitled.
SEC. 2. That all suits, prosecutions, and other matters now pending before any of the courts of record of Oakland County, or before any justice of the peace of said county, shall be prosecuted to final judgment and execution; and all taxes heretofore levied and now due shall be collected in the same manner as though the county of Lapeer had not been organized.
SEC. 3. That the circuit court for the county of Lapeer shall be holden on the Tuesday next after the third Monday in February, and on the first Tuesday after the second Monday in July.
SEC. 4. That the sheriff for the county of Lapeer shall provide a convenient place for holding courts in said county, at or near the county seat, until public buildings shall be erected.
SEC. 5. That this act shall take effect and be in force from and after the first Monday of February next.
Approved January 20, 1835.
There were then three organized townships in the county: Grand Blanc, consisting of the four southwestern townships of the county, now a part of the county of Genesee, organized March 9, 1833. Bristol was organized March 7, 1834, comprising townships 6 and 7 north, of range 12 east, now known as the townships of Almont and Imlay. Lapeer Township was organized December 30, 1834, and comprised all of the county of Lapeer, not included in the townships of Bristol and Grand Blanc.
By the terms of the act under which the county was organized, the inhabitants were entitled to all the rights and privileges of the dwellers in other counties of the territory.
The first election of county officers was held on the 7th and 8th of November, 1836. There are no records of this election among the county records, but in the records of the township of Hadley, which
was organized March 22, 1836, there is a record of it, and William Hemingway and N. H. Hart give the following list of officers elected at that time: Sheriff, Samuel Merlin; clerk, Noah H. Hart; treasurer, Joseph B. Hart; register, Caleb Carpenter; judge of probate, Henry M. Look.
COUNTY OFFICERS.
County officers elected since that time have been as follows:
1838: Sheriff, Minor Y. Turrill; treasurer, William Hart; clerk, Elijah B. Witherba; register, William S. Higley, Jr.
1840: Sheriff, John Shafer; treasurer, Horace Hinman; clerk, Noah H. Hart; register, William T. Mitchell; probate judge, Mason Butts.
1841: Alanson Porter was elected register to fill vacancy caused by removal from the county of William Mitchell.
1842: Sheriff, David Ingalls; treasurer, Horace Hinman; clerk, Augustus G. Pratt; register, M. B. Smith.
1844: Sheriff, James Bullock; treasurer, Horace Hinman; clerk, John W. Day; register, George F. Ball; probate judge, James M. Needham.
1846: Sheriff, Harvey C. Mills; treasurer, Horace Hinman; clerk, William Buck; register, George F. Ball; probate judge, Alvin N. Hart.
1848: Sheriff, Garry Goodrich; treasurer, Horace Hinman; clerk, William Beech; register, George F. Ball; judge of probate, Jacob Van Antwerp.
1850: Sheriff, Walter P. Beach; treasurer, William H. Clark, clerk, William Beech; register, Reuben McArthur.
1852: Sheriff, George W. Rood; treasurer, William H. Clark; clerk and register, William Beech; probate judge, N. B. Eldridge; prosecuting attorney, John M. Wattles.
1854: Sheriff, George W. Rood; treasurer, William H. Clark; clerk and register, William Beech; prosecuting attorney, A. C. Maxwell.
1856: Sheriff, James More; treasurer, M. B. Smith; clerk and register, Charles Rich; probate judge, Charles Kellogg; pros- ecuting attorney, Charles M. Walker.
1858: Sheriff, James More; treasurer, M. B. Smith; clerk and register, Charles Rich; prosecuting attorney, Charles M. Walker.
1860: Sheriff, Samuel Carpenter; treasurer, D. E. Hazen; clerk, Hubbell Loomis; register, William Arnold; judge of probate, Wesley Vincent; prosecuting attorney, Silas B. Gaskill.
1862: Sheriff, E. R. Emmons; treasurer, M. B. Smith; clerk, Hubbell Loomis; register, William Arnold; prosecuting attorney, Silas B. Gaskill.
1864: Sheriff, John B. Sutton; treasurer, William W. Barber; clerk, Jasper Bentley; register, U. D. Bristol; 'probate judge, Charles Rich; prosecuting attorney, Silas B. Gaskill.
1866: Sheriff, L. B. Eldridge; treasurer, William W. Barber; clerk, Jasper Bentley; register, U. D. Bristol; prosecuting attorney, Silas B. Gaskill.
1868: Sheriff, John B. Sutton; treasurer, William Arnold; clerk, Jasper Bentley; register, U. D. Bristol, probate judge, John B. Hough; prosecuting attorney, Stephen V. Thomas.
1870: Sheriff, Alonzo S. Hatch; treasurer, Orville O. Morse; clerk, Jasper Bentley; register, John Abbott; prosecuting attorney, William W. Stickney.
1872: Sheriff, U. D. Bristol; treasurer, Orville O. Morse; clerk, Jasper Bentley; register, Robert L. Taylor; prosecuting attorney, Joseph B. Moore.
1874: Sheriff, Alonzo S. Hatch; treasurer, Orville O. Morse; clerk, Jasper Bentley; register, Robert L. Taylor; prosecuting attorney, Joseph B. Moore.
AN. Hart.
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HISTORY OF LAPEER COUNTY.
1876: Sheriff, William Townsend; treasurer, Henry Lee; clerk, Henry A. Birdsall; register, Charles W. Ballard; probate judge, John B. Hough; prosecuting attorney, Harrison Geer.
1878: Sheriff, William Townsend; treasurer, Henry Lee; clerk, Henry A. Birdsall; register, Charles W. Ballard; prosecuting attorney, Harrison Geer.
1880: Sheriff, William Colerick; treasurer, William B. Hamilton; clerk, Henry A. Birdsall; register, Edward T. Wood- ruff; probate judge, Charles W. Brown; prosecuting attorney, Robert L. Taylor.
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