USA > Michigan > Macomb County > History of Macomb County, Michigan > Part 49
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· Stormned at by shot and shell Nobly they fought and fell. '
How five times Longstreet's victorious troops were hurled against them, and five times driven back. You have heard how Col. Sanborn led the regiment in its brilliant charge, and you know that round that flag fought and fell that day some of Michigan's bravest men, and how at last, its ammunition gone, it was surrounded, and the remnant of that heroic band taken prisoners. You have heard of their sufferings in the prisons of the South, and when you hear of the Twenty-second you may all feel proud, for
· Sons of Macomb and broad St. Clair And Oakland's rolling fields were there."
and as long as the Union lives, their names will be remembered in honor."
Upon conclusion of the speaking, the associations met at their headquarters and held business meetings.
The Fifth, of which there were 150 members present, elected officers as follows: President, W. D. Wilkins; First Vice President, E. H. Shook: Second Vice Presi- dent. De Wit Walker; Third Vice President, D. Owen; Secretary, T. J. West; Treasurer, D. P. Rose; Historian, H. K. Sweet.
The Twenty-second, 167 members present, elected the following officers : President, A. M. Keeler; First Vice President, S. C. Mead: Second Vice President, A. P. McCon- nell; Secretary. A. E. Collins; Treasurer, J. J. Snook.
The Eighth Cavalry, 90 members, elected: President, J. H. Riggs; First Vice Presi- dent, G. S. Wormer: Second Vice President. A. E. Calkins; Third Vice President, H. C. Wells: Fourth Vice President, W. L. Buck; Treasurer, C. Crowely; Secretary, T. M. Birdsall; Historian, J. M. Lamb; Orator, W. H. Clark: Corresponding Secretary, R. F. Allen.
The Macomb and St. Clair Association, 200 members present, elected officers as fol- lows: President, William H. Clark: First Vice President, Peter Churchill; Second Vice President, James Smith; Third Vice President, Porter Beebe; Fourth Vice President, William Jenney; Secretary and Treasurer, E. A. Jennings.
Among the Presidents of the Macomb and St. Clair Associations, as organized in June, 1877, were Col. Sanborn, Maj. A. M. Keeler, Col. J. S. Farrar, and the present President, William H. Clark, Jr. The association was formed in 1877, by fifty-one sol- liers of this district, to which number seventy-six have been added.
CONCLUSION.
In the foregoing pages, the writer has essayed to give a measure of justice to the sol- diers of Macomb. Of those who labored at home, something must also be said. Imme-
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HISTORY OF MACOMB COUNTY.
diately succeeding the commencement of hostilities, the ladies of the county became thor- oughly imbued with a sense of that duty which they owed to their country. They formed societies of aid to the sick and wounded soldiers of the armies, and so organized them- selves as to be able to render most effective service.
The citizens whose days for field service ended with the close of the first half of the century, acted well their part at home. Their co-operation with the State Military Board resulted in most important aid to the Republic.
The history of the times is one which speaks of duty done. The troops of Macomb, attached to the various regiments sent forward from Michigan. were soldiers in the full acceptation of the term. When they are considered, with what pride may their fellow- citizens and relatives look back to the seventh decade of the nineteenth century, when such a number of gallant men went forth to offer themselves upon the altars of patriotism -- to preserve the Republic. The most terrible fate threatened the truest federalization upon the earth. A visible enemy from within, aided by unnumbered enemies of liberty from without, entered into a conspiracy to destroy all that which the Revolution acquired for us. The soldiers who combatted the powers of the conspirators, who beat down every obstacle which the wealth of the slaveholders and their aristocratic allies placed before them, must live forever in the hearts of the people. The soldiers of 1861-65 have, next to those of Lexington and Yorktown, left names which can never die so long as memory lives; they left precedents. illustrious examples. which the present and the future must always observe when the Republic is threatened. Let the people follow in their tracks, and transmit, from generation to generation, a land of illimitable possibilities, a patriotism incorruptible, a government at once strong and just. a set of public principles honorable to the age, that so happiness may reign in every home within the Union, and teach the outside world the value of Freedom.
432
HISTORY OF MACOMB COUNTY.
CHAPTER XXIII. OLDEN ENTERPRISES,
The ancient cities of Macomb were something more than paper villages, There was' an carnestness of purpose apparent in every act of their builders which meritod snecess a commodity never granted them, at least in their town-building enterprises. It is just possible that, had not the panic of 1837 prostrated enterprise, stayed immigration, and plunged enterprising men into a lake of ruin, Belvidere, Frederick, Warsaw, Marcellus, Frankfort, and other villages then proposed to be built up, would exist to-day, as proud and prosperous as any of the busy conters of our population.
THE CITY OF BELVIDERE.
This city was a creature of that enterprise which marked the years immediately pro- coding the panic year of 1837. From a description of the location, published under direc- tion of James L. Conger, in August, 1836, it is to be understood that the city was situate about twenty five miles above Detroit, at the mouth of the Clinton River, being directly on the great and only route of water communication with the upper lake region and whole Western country. The advertisement stated further that "the location is, beyond all ques- tion, one of the most healthy in Michigan: and the surrounding country is well timbered with the finest oak, maple, black walnut, whitewood, and other trees, to be found in America. In fertility, richness and depth, the soil is not surpassed by any other in the Western States. Along the margins of St. Clair and the various rivers, this country has been settled and wolf improved for from thirty to sixty years, and exhibits some of the finest farms in the world. And within the last two or three years, a flood of emigrants from New York and the Eastern States, possessing both enterprise and wealth, have pur- chased and settled upon nearly a'l the lands in this section of country. A railroad com- pany, with banking privileges, has been recently chartered by the Legislature of Michigan to construct. a railroad from Saginaw to Clinton River; and another railroad is in contem- plation to connect Pontiac, Utica and other villages west, with Belvidere. Clinton River. at the mouth of which this place is located, is one of the finest rivers that empty into the Western lakos, being wider and deeper than the Cuyahoga River at Cleveland, Ohio, and its waters being beautifully clear, pure and limpid in this respect, like the waters of Lake St. Clair. Huron, etc. This river is navigable to a considerable distance into the interior for vessels of any size, after passing the bar at the mouth, which has now about six and one-half feet of water. At the last session of Congress, an appropriation of $5,000 was made to remove the bar at the mouth of this river, and no doubt is entertained of obtaining, at the
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1.
HISTORY OF MACOMB COUNTY.
next session of that body, such further sums as may be necessary to build a pier, erect is light house, and make such other improvements as will render this harbor equal to any on the Western Jakes."
Together with this notice of the city, the advertisement set forth that 100 village lots would be sold at auction October 3, 1836, and also the Belvidere Hotel. then operated by A. Wilcox. Purchasers were to pay 20 per cent cash, and the balance in four payments of 20 per cent rach, when an indisputable title and warranty deed would issue from the agent's office.
This auction took place on the appointed day Abraham Pitcher, of Lancaster, Ohio, acted as auctioneer, and Peter A. Cassat as Clerk.
The following is a summary of the record of sale:
LOT
Atuouut
25
106 feet on Clinton street ...
James L. Conger. $2(M)
30.
106 feet on Superior street
Thomas Waterhouse 190
31.
108 feet on Superior street.
James L. Conger 115
32. 120 feet on Superior street
Conger and Blackwali
102 feet on Superior street
Zora- Maynard
105
57 feet on steamboat landing.
Jaune- L, Conger
150
37 ..
106 feet on Clinton street.
Thomas HI Peck
610
18
150 feet on Clinton street
310
1.
101 fert on Clinton street
James L. Conger. James L. Conger.
120
21.
104 Feel on Clinton street
James L. Conger
175
28.
104 feet on Clinton street.
James L. Conger.
170
A shanty, a short time previously in the possession of T. C. Forbes, was sold to James L. Conger for $35.
Shanty No. 2, occupied by Sam Quimby, was sold to Conger for $26
The West barn, with the cider-mill, threshing machine, etc., etc., were sold to ) . Conger for $1330).
The Tavern House, or Belvidere Hotel, lands and appartenances, were sold to Con ger for $3,510, with the understanding that the hotel should be completed by the Belvi dere Company in the style and manner explained by the auctionver at the sale.
I'nder date November 15. 1836, Thomas Waterhouse transferred to Conger Lot No. 30. purchased by him at the auction sale. On December 8, 1836, Zora Maynard made a similar transfer of Lot 33, and on December 27, Thomas H. Beck conveyed his lot. No. 87, to James L. Conger.
BELVIDERE LAND TITLES.
In giving the names of patentees of the Hands on which the city of Belvidere was platted, it is considered unnecessary to follow up the various changes in ownership from 1811 to 1885. In the section of this work devoted to the pioneer landholders. that section of Harrison has been fully regarded. The land forming the point cand of Alexis Peltier's claim was patented to Ignace Morass October 7. 1811.
The tract adjoining this on the west was patented to the widow and heirs of
104 feet on Clinton street
James L. Conger
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HISTORY OF MACOMB COUNTY.
Alexis Peltier July 24, 1811, who deeded the land subsequently to Ignace Morass. Morass conveyed his original claim and the tract acquired by purchase to David Conger November 3. 1835. This property covered the original Belvidere purchase.
To Julian Forton, as assignee of Robert Robertjean, a patent issued April 20. 1811, for his claim west of the line of Alexis Peltier's farm. This tract was conveyed to David Conger by Iulian, Catherine, Charles and Leonore Forton, November 23, 1835. Those original owners also deeded the west half of the lands described in the patent to David Conger, at the same time, and he in turn deeded this last tract. or west half, to S. G. Lang- don October 13, 1837.
On May 22, 1838, Mr. Conger, Ed R. Blackwell, Louis Chapaton and A. C. Hatch visited the location to decide ultimately the boundaries of the Conger and Langdon farms, as purchased in 1835 from the Forton family.
The transfers which subsequently marked the proprietary of the lands of Belvidere np to 1838 may be learned from the following notices:
November, 1835, David Conger to James L. Conger, three-fourths of the Belvidere purchase, or Morass and Peltier claims: also one-eighth of the same to Thomas H. Peck, one-sixteenth to Thomas Bolton, one-thirty-second to D. B. Conger, and one-thirty-second to James L. Conger and T. H. Peck.
Thomas Bolton transferred his interest to Erick M. Segur, and Elizabeth Smith, June 6, 1836.
James L. Conger conveyed the one-thirty-second part of Belvidere to Timothy Ingra- ham November 23, 1837; gave a quit claim deed to S. G. Langdon for Lots 553, 360, 205 and 200. April 18, 1838, and one of the Steam Mill Lot February 12. 1838; to Tim- othy Andrews, in 1837, Lots 65 and 250; to Ralph Clarke, Lot 347, April 13, 1837; to Thomas C. Peck, Lots 59 and 385, January 12, 1838; eight lots to D. Garnsey March 5. 1838.
Thomas H. Peck sold the one-sixty-fourth undivided part of Belvidere to Cullen Brown January 13, 1836; one-sixteenth part to Richard Hussey March 7, 1837; a similar part to David B. Conger May 9, 1837, except Lot 300, which he deeded to Samuel Lyon May 9, 1837. He transferred thirty-one lots and a sixteenth part of the residne of the Belvidere purchase to James L. Conger January 12, 1838.
David B. Conger transferred to Thomas H. Peck, December 15. 1837, a one-sixteenth part of the Belvidere purchase, omitting Lots 117 and 300, and adding Lot 524. July 15. 1836. he transferred ten lots to Royal C. Knapp, and Knapp deeded this property to Thomas I. Howell November 11, 1836.
During June and July, 1838, a wholesale transfer of property to James L. Conger took place. David B. Conger and wife. Elizabeth Smith, Cullen Brown and wife. S. G. Langdon and wife, T H. Peck, Nelson Oviatt and wife, Erick M. Segur and wife. Tim- othy Ingraham and wife, all joined in what appears to be a partition deed. June 29, 1838.
The survey of the city of Belvidere was made by Abel Dickinson, Wadsworth, Medina Co., Ohio, and the plat was drawn at the same time by James L. Conger, of Cleveland,
435
HISTORY OF MACOMB COUNTY.
Ohio. in November. 1835. This survey began near the upper end of the first ox-bow bend in th Clinton River. on the northern side of that river.
The main thoroughfares of the city were Clinton street. running from the western limits to the extreme eastern point of land. forming the north bank of the river. forming an angle at the foot of Wayne street, which was called St. Clair place. Conger avenue, one block north of Clinton street. ran west from Division street to the lake shore. The streets running east and west north of Conger avenne were named James, Madison. De- troit, Morass and Colton. Smith street ran south of Clinton, and parallel with it. on what was to form the north bank of the proposed channel. running west from the steam- boat landing to the head of the ox-bow. On the south bank of this channel. Nelson street was laid off. and one block farther south was Ewing street. The three streets just namned extended east and west to the circular road round the ox-bow. called by the surveyor River street.
The streets running north and south were named Division street, forming the west- ern boundary: Cleveland. Alric. Superior, Peck. Erie and Wayne streets. Washington Square. a space 300x232 feet. was on the north side of Conger avenue, a half-block wide on each side of Superior street. Jefferson Landing was at the foot of Wayne street; the steamboat landing. at the foot of Peck street: in a word, the city looked majestic on paper.
FREDERICK OR CASINO.
The village of Frederick. formerly called Casino. was platted for Frederick M. and Horace Stevens. June 24. 1837. The location was on the old Harrington farm. where formerly stood the Moravian town of New Gnadtenhutten. The village tavern and mill survived the panic and prospered for many years: but little now remains to tell of its ex- istence save the rnin of the tavern. which building was blown down in December. 1881. The Stevens and Harrington dwellings are still there. The mill, built by Job Smith about 1828. was burned.
OTHER VILLAGES.
Warsaw. Marcellus. Frankfort and Clifton are all villages of a past age. Like Fred- erick. they flourished for awhile. and then drooped suddenly, never to bloom again. Those were all villages of Clinton Township. Each of them aspired to excel Mt. Clemens, and each of them fell in the attempt, leaving the enterprise which prompted their establish- ment alone to be admired.
TREMBLE CREEK.
A settlement was also made, as appears. by a Capt. François Marsac, in about 1795, at Tremble Creek. the stream just this side of New Baltimore. on the Ridge road. and also prior to 1796, at Swan Creek, beyond New Baltimore some four miles.
From the early settlement of that section, a tradition has been handed down and this tradition has many believers even now-that an English Captain, or Lieutenant, who had been largely successful in gathering together a quantity of bullion. being compelled to flee from the Indians, buried his treasure in the earth abont a mile from the present site
436
HISTORY OF MACOMB COUNTY.
of New Baltimore: that he was either killed by the Indians or died from exposure, and the secret of his treasure's hiding-place died with him. Many searches have been made by infatuated individuals after this treasure, and many believe that the ghostly shade of the deceased Captain gnards the treasure trove so jealously and has such power of mov- ing its location, that all search is in vain.
RAILROADS AND NAVIGATION.
At an early period in the history of the county, the thoughts of the settlers often ad. verted to the existing necessity for either a canal or railroad to lead their civilization into the bleak interior. The ideas of the settlers were theoretically correct, but impracticable because premature. Many great works were completed on paper. Not only was a canal to lead from Mt. Clemens into the heart of the wilderness, but also a railroad was to con- nect that little city with the land of the fierce Kishkawko. A few of the day-dreams of the period assumed practical shape, but the financial crisis of 1837 placed a quietus on enterprise, and even reduced the wild-cat banks to nothingness. For a few years the people battled manfully with the trials of that period of depression, rose superior to them, and ultimately succeeded in surpassing even the highest notions of their earlier years.
Fort St. Joseph Roud .- - At this period 1798-1800 -the means of communication with Detroit was by way of the river and lake. The Gratiot Turnpike had not then been projected or opened. This was surveyed long after. in 1827, and cut through the next year as a road of communication between Fort Detroit and Fort Gratiot, at Port Huron, and the head of the St. Clair River. In connection with the history of this turn- pike, the traveler of modern days can scarcely appreciate the difficulty of the opening of this highway. We need not tell that from Detroit to Port Huron was one vast stretch of forest, with slough-holes, pit-falls, swails and mud, at such frequent intervals as would appall the traveler of to-day. It is said that about the site of James Patton's house, some four or five miles north of Mt. Clemens -now a high, dry and pleasant location -the road passed through a swamp, which, in the wet season, furnished the wild dnek and swan with a swimming-place, and consequently the Indian with a splendid hunting-ground for bird game.
A few rods below the Carl farmhouse, three miles south of Mt. Clemens, was another slough, that would have compared well with the one described by John Bunyan in his " Pilgrim's Progress." It was two days' journey then from Detroit to the settlement at Huron River or Mt. Clemens. This was then a trading-post and stopping-place for those whose business called them to and from Detroit and Port Huron.
The Saginaw & Mt. Clemens Railroad. -- So early as 1835, these villages dreamed of great deeds, and actually witnessed the organization of a company having for its object the construction of a railroad from Saginaw City to Mt. Clemens, via Lapeer. The capital stock of those railroad builders was $1,000,000. With this sum of money, the company promised to begin work within four years after the charter would be granted; to complete ten miles of the track within eight years; forty five miles within fifteen years; and the
437
HISTORY OF MACOMB COUNTY.
whole distance of ninety miles within forty years. This company operated a banking es- tablishment in connection with its railroad business, and a few rods of the road were graded at Mt. Clemens.
De Tocqueville visited Mt. Clemens and Indian Village-now Romeo-in 1831. and pointed out almost precisely the railroad routes now in operation.
In 1822, the first stage line was established in Michigan, between Mt. Clemens and Detroit, in connection with the Steamer Walk in the Water.
From Mt. Clemens to Sault St. Marie, the Territorial road from Mt. Clemens up the North Branch of the Clinton, following as near as practicable the route of an old survey by Romeo; thence on the most eligible and direct route to the seat of justice in the county of Lapeer; thence to the town of Saginaw, to the northern extremity of the peninsula, and thence to the Sault St. Marie, in the county of Chippewa, was authorized to be laid out in 1839. Horace H. Cady, of Macomb, Daniel Le Roy and Nathaniel Squires, were the Commissioners appointed to carry ont the act.
At the same time, there was ordered to be laid out a Territorial road from Romeo to Port Huron. Roswell R. Green, Horace Foot and Thomas Palmer were the Commission- ers appointed to establish such road.
The Clinton &' Kalamazoo Canal .- The amounts appropriated for the construction of this public work equaled $40,000 in 1837; $205,000 in 1838; and 860,000 in 1839; ag- gregating $305,000 Of this sum, $115,202.92 were expended in 1838-39, leaving the bal- ance, $189,797.08, unexpended. The estimated expense of connecting the head of the canal from Mt. Clemens to Rochester, in Oakland County, a distance of sixteen miles and sixty- four rods, was $253,919. The estimated expense of connecting the head of the canal at Mt. Clemens with Lake St. Clair, by way of the river between Mt. Clemens and the city of Bel- videre, was $37,915.75. The amount actually expended on the sixteen sections of the canal up to November 4, 1839, was $101,640.28. In a letter dated May 21, 1839, Civil Engineer Hurd advised the cutting of an aqueduct across the little peninsula on which the village of Frederick was located, which advice was criticized in a letter signed by J. M. Berrien, J. S. Dutton and Tracy MeCracken, under date July S. 1839.
Sault St. Marie Canat .- Under the act for the regulation of internal improvement and for the appointment of a Board of Commissioners, Rix Robinson, of Kent County, was assigned as Commissioner in charge of the construction of the Northern Railroad, the Sagi- naw Canal, Sault St. Marie Canal, the canal round the rapids of the Grand River, and the improvement of the Grand, Kalamazoo and Maple Rivers. Tracy MeCracken was appoint- ed Engineer on the Sault St. Marie Canal and other improvements. Fifty thousand dol- lars were appropriated for constructing a ship canal at the Sault in 1837, but of this sum only $2,952.93 were expended up to the close of December, 1839, although it is reported that a sum of $5,000 was advanced to the contractors.
This subject becomes connected with the history of this county on account of the con- tractor, and the greater number of his men being old settlers here. For that reason, it obtains something more than mention in these pages.
G
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HISTORY OF MACOMB COUNTY.
THE WEEKS CONTRACT.
"An agreement made the 7th day of September, 1838, between James Smith and Trial Driggs, of the first part, and Aaron Weeks, of the second part, the party of the first part in consideration of the stipulations herein contained, do agree to assign their interests to an equal and undivided third of a certain contract executed by Rix Robinson, as Commissioner, for constructing the canal at the falls of Sault de St. Marie.
"The party of the second part, in consideration of such assignment, doth agree to turn into the said company the vessel called the Eliza Ward, of seventy or eighty tous, to be completely rigged and seaworthy, and to be used and owned by the said parties jointly.
"The second party also doth agree to bear one-third of the expense of constructing the canal, and receive one-third of the net profits. in case there should be any, and to bear one- third of the net loss. He also agrees to devote one-half of his time in superintending construction of said work, to furnish flour, pork and other materials necessary to carry on such work, at the prime cost and charges, to be paid out of the first moneys received from the said Commissioner." This agreement. was duly signed by James Smith, U. Driggs, A. Weeks, on the day named above, and further signed by Rix Robinson. Acting Commis- sioner of the Works, at Detroit, April 19, 1839.
ACTION OF THE UNITED STATES TROOPS.
By some strange oversight, the Executive of the State Government or the Commnis- sioners of Public Improvements permitted the contractors to repair to the Sault St. Marie with their men without consulting the Indians, who were owners of the land on one side, or the United States. the owners of the land on the other side. The affair is reviewed in the following testimony of the prime actor in the drama, given December 30, 1839. which was furnished o the Secretary of the Treasury:
"Aaron Weeks, of Mt. Clemens, county of Macomb, being duly sworn, doth depose and say that he is one of the contractors on the Sault de St. Marie Canal: that in April last, he employed James B. Van Rensselaer to assist him in the construction of said work, and to take charge of and oversee the hands on the same during his absence; and that the said Van Rensselaer, with about fifty men, provisions, tools and necessary implements, repaired to the Sault a few days before this deponent; that this deponent arrived at the Sanlt de St. Marie on Saturday evening, the 11th day of May, A. D. 1839; that on Sunday morning, the 12th of May, the day after his arrival on the ground, Lieut. Root called on this de- ponent and handed him a written notice, prohibiting him to proceed with the work. This deponent then went and conversed with Lient. Root on the subject of commencing opera- tions on the canal, when Root replied that he was not prepared to argue the question whether it would be an injury or a benefit to the United States, but he should not go on with the work, as his orders were positive. This deponent then wrote to said Lieutenant, and received a letter in reply from Capt. Johnson. The second day after the receipt of this letter, this deponent, with about forty men, commenced operations on the canal by re- moving the obstructions on the line and by commencing digging, when Capt. Johnson, the
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