History of Monroe County, Michigan, Part 80

Author: Wing, Talcott Enoch, 1819-1890, ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: New York, Munsell & company
Number of Pages: 882

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At the time they commenced on their own account at Brest all our local fishermen sold their catch to the dealers in Detroit and Tole- do, and as a rule were entirely in the hands of these wholesalers and packers, who purchased their catch almost at their own figures, packed and distributed them through the interior, and reaped the lion's share of the profits. The Dewey Brothers built a small freezer and pack- ing house at Brest and shipped the local in- land dealers direct from their fishery, and from

a small beginning have gradually extended their business until at the present time they have docks and packing houses at Toledo and Port Huron, operate large fisheries on Lakes Erie, Huron and Michigan, and also purchase the catch of many fisheries on the lakes. They supply the trade as far west as Denver, Colo- rado ; do a large business in the southern and castern States, and have manufactured and shipped to Europe thousands of pounds of caviar. They have always been abreast if not ahead of the times in the use of modern appli- ances, and in their plant are included steamers for carrying the catch to the packing house, tugs, steam stake drivers for putting out nets, and give employment during the fishing sea- son to about fifty fishermen in their local fisheries.

The fisheries of Monroe county have been more prolific and productive of a greater amount of wealth according to the capital in- vested than have any other fisheries of the Great Lakes. While it is true that for a few years the catch was quite light, and many en- tertained grave fears lest the supply was giving out, yet in the fall of 1888 one firm alone caught over one hundred tons of whitefish from their nets. All of the fisheries of the county did well that season, the aggregate catch amounting to over two hundred tons of whitefish, and at least five hundred tons of herring, together with catches of other species.

The white bass, once very abundant in the Raisin at certain seasons, became almost ex- tinet about twenty years ago, owing to a small worm or grub that seemed to breed in its liver. In 1876 the black bass were attacked by a parasite working in their gills, and thou- sands were seen floating upon the surface of the lake in a dead and dying condition. The ravages of the parasite nearly depleted our waters at that time of this our most gamy fish. Sturgeon also are becoming very scarce. Their great popularity as a smoked fish, to- gether with a brisk demand for the caviar, has caused them to be much sought after. Upon those fishing grounds where thousands were caught a few years ago in a season, but a few hundred are now taken. The United States Fish Commission has deposited at various times in the spring large numbers of young whitefish, which, it is believed by fisher- men, have in many instances matured, and

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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

upon their return in the ensuing seasons, have been captured in the pound nets.

In the carly days of the fishing industry, when the western States were but sparsely settled and means of transportation limited, and rapid transit of perishables unheard of, priees were very low. Whitefish were often sold for two dollars per hundred fish, sturgeon at ten cents apiece, and herring for ten cents a hun . dred fisb, while other kinds of fish which now find a ready sale could not be sold at all. Rapid transit, refrigerator cars and cold storage have extended the market, and whitefish are now served at the best hotels of every large city in the country, and the extension of the market has raised prices until instead of being the poor man's food, as they were formerly considered, whitefish and most other hard fish are a luxury. At the present time whitefish com- mand twenty-five dollars a hundred, sturgeon two dollars and fifty cents apiece, and herring one dollar a hundred weight, while other species command equally good prices. Indeed, so great is the demand that dealers in many instances find it difficult to supply the trade, which has been extended to almost every point in the country having first-class railroad fa- cilities.

River Raisin and the bays and inlets in the county have long been known to lovers of the rod as a great fishing resort. The smaller of the fish, such as perch, rock bass, bullheads, and snn- fish, are caught at nearly all times from June to November, and in great numbers. The perch are considered by many as good eating as any fish caught in these waters. The black bass and pickerel are caught mostly in May and October, and parties of three and four have often hooked as many as an hundred in a day. These are the gamiest fish in our waters, and greater skill is required to land them than the others. Fishing with seines in summer and winter, it is thought by many, destroys the fishing with hook and line, and laws have been

enacted by the legislature restricting the use of seines, but the law has never been properly enforced.

Fishing for pickerel in winter through the ice, is a sport much enjoyed. A house is built on runners, about six feet in length and height, by five in width, with a door just large enough to enter at the side. There is room within for a small sheet-iron stove at one end, and a seat . the width of the house at the other. A hole about two and one-half feet square is cut in the floor and one in the ice of the same size. The house is then drawn over it so that the hole in the former is directly over the one in the latter. The water selected is from four to eight feet deep. All light is excluded from the house, thus enabling the inmate to see everything passing under his house, while he is invisible. The spear used is a three or five tine, and the handle from ten to twelve feet long, which goes through the roof, allowing the fisherman to easily handle its great length in his small quarters. He uses a decoy fish, about five inches long, colored a bright red, blue, or gold, weighted with sufficient lead to properly bal- ance it. This is attached to a line five or six feet in length, lowered in the water to the proper depth, and the line in the hands of the fisherman, jerked quickly, causes the decoy to move in the water like a minnow. Its bright color attracts the attention of passing fish, and in following it up comes within range of the spear, and while preparing to make a meal of the decoy, the spear is lowered noiselessly and plunged into him. It is considered by many greater sport than fishing with hook and line, and fifty and sixty houses are often found on the lake in a space of half a mile. In these small houses, nicely warmed in the coldest weather, and with plenty of good company near, and nearly all other sport out of season, it naturally has many devotees, and will long continue to be the diversion for the winter season.

T . . ..

CHAPTER XXXVI.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

HON. SALMON KEENEY

F IRST visited Monroe in 1827 with the view of seeking a home in the West, and dur- ing that year purchased at the land office in Monroe the eighty acres which he subsequently cultivated in a high degree, and upon which he resided at the time of his death. This farm was inherited by his daughter Pamelia, who married William H. Wells, the son of the Rev. Noah H. Wells. The old homestead has given place to the stately residence now owned and occupied by them. The year after entering the land, Mr. Keeney emigrated from his east- ern home in the state of New York, with his family to the town of Erie, taking passage on a schooner from Buffalo. It was then custom- ary for emigrants to provide provisions neces- sary for the trip on the lake, as the captain and crew made provision for themselves only. As the schooner was delayed by contrary winds and storms, when it arrived at Cleveland they were all out of provisions, and reduced to a hack of a ham, which was picked to the bone. The stock of provisions for the rest of the trip was purchased at Cleveland, but as the crew was hauling the yawl boat containing the sup- plies purchased up the stern of the schooner, the yawl boat upset, losing all in the lake. The captain, wishing to avail himself of a favorable wind, would not permit the passen- gers to go ashore again, and thus, in a starving condition, they arrived at LaPlaisance Bay. The judge rowed a boat from the bay to Mon- roe, and returned with provisions for his almost famished family. Was the guest of Olcott C. Chapman, who kept the Mansion House, on the site of the present banking office of B. Dansard & Son. From thence he moved with his family into the old Catholic log church, with a bark roof. For the first year he taught an evening school, and for two succeeding years a day school. He is justly entitled to and regarded as the founder of the first English school in the

town of Erie. He was commissioned by Gen- eral Cass, October 22, 1829, Justice of the Peace. Was, under the county court system, one of the associate judges. Was for many years postmaster of the township. He died at his residence in Erie, March 9, 1847, uni- versally respected and esteemed as an upright, intelligent citizen, a judicious and wise coun- selor, leaving a widow and two sons, Andrew J. and William, and two daughters, Mrs. Wil- liam Wells and Mrs. Williard.

ANDREW JACKSON KEENEY

Was born in Wyalonsory, Bradford county, Pennsylvania, February 26, 1819; enjoyed the advantages of a good common school educa- tion ; thereafter attended the Genesee Wes- levan Seminary, at Lenia, New York. With his father's family removed to Michigan, land- ing at LaPlaisance Bay September 22, 1828. C'ame up the lake in a schooner, and from LaPlaisance Bay up the River Raisin to the docks by a lighter, as the schooner could not sail up the river at that time. Put up at Chapman's Hotel, located. on the corner of Front and Washington streets. The village consisted of but a few hundred inhabitants. In October of the same year the family removed to Erie, where the subject of this sketch has since resided. He assisted in clearing up the farm of heavy timbered land, on which he still lives, reclaiming it from a wilderness to a productive farm and pleasant home. His life has been devoted to farming, stock-raising, and a portion of the time largely interested in the lake fisheries, which ceased to be profitable owing to the improvident, unwise, and some- what listless manner of conducting the artifi- cial hatching and depositing young fish by the State Board of Fish Commissioners.

While a number of French families had at an

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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

early day settled at Erie, that of James Cornell was the first American family, and he for years kept a tavern eight miles south of Monroe, on the road leading to Toledo B. M. Newkirk kept a log tavern where the village of Erie now stands, and was its first postmaster. The third English family was that of Salmon Keeney, the father of Andrew J. Keeney. He was the second postmaster of Bay settlement, and had the name of the postoffice as well as the village changed to that of Erie. The fami- lies of James and Samuel Mulhollen settled in Erie about the same time, but the families of Francis Cousino, Peter Picott, Daniel Duval, and other French settlers, settled in Erie soon after the war of 1812.

The United States turnpike from Sandusky to Detroit was completed in the fall of 1828, then the only traveled road from Michigan to Ohio. The early settlers of Erie were strong, large-hearted men, hospitable, ever lending a helping hand to the "new-comers," as the new settlers were familiarly called, extending a cordial welcome to their homes and firesides, " their latch-strings always hung out." Most of the trade consisted in bartering dry goods, groceries, provisions, and whisky for deer and wolf skins, and venison hams, coon and musk- rat skins. The schools were maintained by private enterprise as there was no organized system south of Monroe, and the one organized church, the Roman Catholic, had as yet no regular service or settled priest. Mr. Keeney heard the first sermon in English preached by Father Richard, a Catholic priest, and the first Methodist sermon by Rev. William Garst.

Mr. Keeney is a member of Masonic Lodge of Monroe, No. 27. Was a member of the State Legislature in 1863-'64. Has held nearly all of the town offices from pathmaster to and including supervisor; was notary public for thirty years continuously; is now President of the Farmers' Insurance Company, of Mon- roe and Wayne counties, which office he has held for the past nineteen years ; President of the Erie Vigilance Club, and of the Bay Pointe Shooting Club. He was major of an inde- pendent regiment of light infantry under Colonel Allen A. Rabineau, Talcott E. Wing lieutenant colonel, Peter Loranger adjutant, from which he derived the name of major, by which title he is usually called.

Major Keeney has witnessed the growth of

the City of Monroe from a small, untidy vil- lage, with none but log houses south of it, with but a few hundred inhabitants, to its present proportions and pleasant surroundings. He has seen the county emerge from a wilderness to a well-settled, well-improved county, with intelligent, prosperous people, with churches, school-houses and all the evidences of thrift, culture and refinement. Instead of the large droves of cattle and hogs imported from Ohio, upon which we were dependent for pork and beef at an early day, we are now exporters. The long-eared and long-nosed hogs have given place to the Berkshires and Suffolks. Cattle have been greatly improved by the introduc- tion of blooded stock. The little, hardy, French ponies have given place to the large and powerful horses and elegant roadsters that would be a credit to any county.

When his father first settled in Erie there was but one four-wheeled vehicle in the place. Carts only were used, many of them without tires or iron of any kind. Grain was all cut with the sickle. His father made the first grain cradle seen in Erie, with a shaving- knife, jack-knife, and gimlet. It was a won- derful curiosity in those primitive days, illy comparing with the self-binders of the present. Oxen were yoked by their horns. Most of the plows were of the old bull plow pattern, every house a log house, from the River Raisin to the Rapids of the Maumee - a log house cov- ered with bark, with chimneys built of sticks and clay. He has in early days played with Indian children, wore shoe packs, eaten wild hog pork, waded the creeks barefooted in March with the French boys and Indians, spearing grass pike with wooden spears, caught crawfish and eaten them with a relish unknown to the modern epicure.

Major Keeney was married at Middlebury, Wyoming county, New York, to Miss Eliza- beth Corey, September 30, 1841. They have five children. Ellen Keeney was married January 24, 1870, to Amos A. Morse, general freight agent of the Oregon Railway and Navi- gation Company, residing at Portland, Oregon. Cora Keeney was married to Newton Stanford October 10, 1876, a commission merchant of Fargo, Dakota. Mary Keeney was married to David K. Perry, freight and baggage agent of the Chicago & Iowa and Chicago & Milwaukee Railroad Company, November 24, 1884. Jay

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

W. Keeney married Flora C. Saunders, January 20, 1878. Gordon J. Keeney married Lotty E. Nichols, April 21, 1880. Both reside in Erie, with fine farms - the former a farmer and dealer and grower of live stock, the latter a farmer and dealer in lands and real estate.

NEWTON BALDWIN, M. D.,

Oldest of six children of E. and C. A. Baldwin, was born in Monroe, 1850. His father, forced by poor health, moved on to a farm in Exe- ter, where the family continued to reside ex- cept at intervals, when driven out by the ague, until January, 1866, when the family returned to Monroe. Up to that age he had had about two terms at a country school. He entered the union school and graduated in 1869; entered the literary department of the University the following year. Spending one year in the literary department, he entered Dr. Sawyer's office as a student of medicine in 1872. He continued there until medical lectures opened in the fall of 1873. He entered the old school medical department of the University of Michi- gan, graduating in 1875; studying with Dr. Sawyer during the intervals of lectures, paying his way by collecting for Dr. Sawyer, and working in the nurseries.

He entered into partnership with Dr. Saw- yer in the summer of 1875. After one year he went to Dundee, where he staid until 1878. There he married Miss Cora V. Long in 1878. From there he removed to Staunton, Va., re- maining until 1881, spending the year 1881-82 in New York and Philadelphia hospitals.

He returned west and was appointed lec- turer on obstetrics and diseases of women and children in the homopathic department of the University of Michigan, in the fall of 1882. There he remained until the fall of 1885, when the re-organization of the faculty forced the re- tirement of all but one member because of in- ternal broils. He then removed to Coldwater, Michigan, where his intention is to make a life's work. He held in each place a remunerative business. He has two children, one son and one daughter, aged six and eight.

Doctor Newton Baldwin has but very few, if any, superiors as a diagnostician and practi- tioner, among the medical men of Michigan.

HON. SAMUEL MULHOLLEN

Was born in Monroe county, Michigan, Febru- ary 10, 1811. At the time of his birth his parents were living upon the farm of Samuel Egnew, his uncle, which was located upon the River Raisin. This farm was known in later years as the Harbston farm. The town of Monroe at present includes this property.

Mr. Mulhollen is the descendant of a sturdy Irish ancestry, both on the paternal and ma- ternal sides. His father was a hard-working farmer, who knew little of the luxuries of life, and when pleasures were few except those de- rived from seeing his family grow into useful men and women. His early education, out of necessity, was limited. School houses were few and the sessions short, lasting but three and four months during the winter, when snow and ice precluded a visit to the school for weeks at a time. In this new country where trees were to be felled, fences built and new ground to be broken, there were no hours of play for young Mulhollen ; his toys were the plow, spade and hoc, his evening hours were illuminated by a log fire or a fat lamp. Work being his principal educator, Samuel soon learned the necessity of economy and self-re- liance.

At the age of seventeen years he conceived the idea of entering into the hotel business in connection with farming, he and his eldest sister, Mrs. Mary Stowell, associating them- selves together for that purpose. This being practically his first business enterprise, he felt somewhat anxious as to the result of his scheme, but nevertheless he rented his father's farm in the town of Erie, which at that time was a very small French settlement, including but four American families, and situated on the old United States turnpike, the terminus of which was Detroit. Those traveling to and from Detroit and towns in Northern Ohio, including Fremont and Maumee, often found it necessary to patronize our young friend in his new enter- prise, so that in a short time his inn became popular and himself well known. This being the principal hostelry of that section, there gathered, as was customary, the unsophisticated Wolverine for the purpose of discussing the issues of the day. Then, as now, politics had its place in their discussions. Some were Democrats, some Free-Soilers, and others

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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

Whigs. Here it was that Samuel received his first political tuition, and where we find the first seeds sown that in after years gave to the people of Michigan that strong advocate of political liberty and equal rights. The people of Erie soon learned to regard him for his per- sonal worth and force of character, and while little more than a youth, elected him to the po- sition of assessor, which he filled so satisfacto- rily that he was selected as a commissioner of Eric a few years later. Upon the advent of the steamers on the lake, the traffic upon the public roads became so limited that Mr. Mul- hollen decided to once more return to farming, which he did in 1840.

During the last year previous to his retire- ment from the hotel, he married Miss Frances Gager, the marriage taking place at the home of David Graham, in the town of Erie, on the 16th day of January, 1839. He now felt him- self devoted to his family and farm to such an extent that he had little desire to comply with the requests of those who desired his political preferment, until 1849, when the necessities of the times and his well-known antipathy for the extension of the slave territory, forced his nomination as a candidate to the State legisla- ture from Vienna by the Whig party ; a subse- quent endorsement of the Free-Soil wing of the Democratic party secured his election. Mr. Mulhollen, though a new member, took an ac- tive part in the proceedings from the first upon all leading legislation. The State being com- paratively a new one, and sparsely settled, the sessions were quite short, lasting but ninety days.

He was again elected to the sessions of 1857, 1858, 1859, as a Republican. During the ses. sion of 1857 the swamp land act presented the most exciting feature. In this Mr. Mulhollen took a most conspicuous part as an advocate of the equal distribution of the proceeds arising from the sale of said lands for educational pur- poses and the maintenance of roads and high- ways in the State.

At the breaking out of the war Mr. Mulhollen was elected to the State senate from Monroe for the sessions of 1861 and 1862. During the ex- tra session of 1861, both the house and senate passed important measures for the recruiting of volunteers for the defense of the Union and the sustenance of the wives, children, and parents of those who enlisted. In all of these

measures Mr. Mulhollen took an active inter- est, and much of the work accomplished was the result of his hand. His labor for the cause of hu- man liberty and the preservation of the Union did not end with the adjournment of the senate, as all who know him can attest. The Presi- dent's call for troops stimulated him with new zeal, and lead him on to greater efforts. Time and money were given freely, the liberality of his hand knew no bound until the message came that Lee had surrendered. Then was his cup of pleasure full. He has been an ardent Republican since the formation of that party, ever ready to uphold its virtues and condemn its faults.

In his early life he became a member of the Presbyterian Church, assisting in the erection of the first one built in Erie in 1850, where, up to within a short time he has held the position of trustee.

Mr. Mulhollen was the eighth and at present the only living child of Daniel and Isabella (Egnew) Mulhollen, who were married at Painted Post, Steuben county, New York, in the year 1794, having emigrated from Belfast and Antrim, Ireland, at an early age. The wife of Samuel died at Erie, February 8, 1883, and was buried at Woodlawn cemetery, Toledo, Ohio. At present Mr. Mulhollen is living at Toledo, Ohio.

This is a brief sketch of a quiet farmer, cov- ering a period of seventy-seven years. In this life we find, as in all others, the conflict of hope, and fear, of joy and sorrow. While his life has been unmarked by great events, it has always been attended with devotion to duty. As a citizen he occupies a high position.

WILLIAM TANDY WHITE,

Son of Enoch and Betsy (Tandy) White, was born at Newport, New Hampshire, March 26, 1807. On his father's side he was the grandson of Enoch and Lydia (Sprague) White, and on his mother's of Parker and Mary (Thorn) Tandy, and a lineal descendant from Peregrine White, who was born on the Mayflower in 1620. He came to Monroe in 1831, and opened a variety store in which could be found nearly everything wanted by the early pioneer. In 1835 he removed to the N. W. } of section 7, township 5 south, range 10 east, and founded

2 White

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

the village of Newport, naming it after his na- tive place. Here he opened a general store, built and operated a saw-mill, managed a nur- sery and greenhouses, and for many years kept open house under the sign of "Stage and Steamboat House." During the " Patriot War " this was the general rendezvous of the " Hunt- ers," and the Malden raid was planned at and started from his place. For about thirty years he was postmaster at this point, and for most of that time served as justice of the peace.

February 16, 1837, he was married in Mon- roe to Miss Naney S., daughter of Stephen and Eunice (Hilton) Reynolds, who was born at Bavina, New York, December 20, 1816. Their children were twelve in number, of whom five are yet living : Elizabeth Mary, born Decem- ber 19, 1837, and married June 25, 1857, to J. S. Gregory, jr., one of the first settlers of and now living in Lincoln, Nebraska, engaged in the practice of law and the settlement of es- tates ; Asenath H., born March 31, 1841, mar- ried to W. J. Manning, February 12, 1862, and died June 9, 1868; V. Nathan, born March 11, 1845, and now living on the old homestead in Newport ; Milton Morrow, born October 19, 1849, and now living at Lincoln, Nebraska, en- gaged in the adjustment of accounts; Eva Viola, born November 29, 1862, and now living at home, and Nancy May, born May 3, 1858, and married September 23, 1885, to the Rev. Albert Torbett, a Congregational minister, now living at Lake Linden, Michigan.

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History of Monroe County, Michigan, Part 80

Author: Wing, Talcott Enoch, 1819-1890, ed Publication date: 1890 Publisher: New York, Munsell & company Number of Pages: 882

Author: Wing, Talcott Enoch, 1819-1890, ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: New York, Munsell & company
Number of Pages: 882