USA > Michigan > Saginaw County > History of Saginaw County, Michigan; historical, commercial, biographical, Volume I > Part 15
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"Ne-ome, the chief of one of the largest bands of the Chippewas, occupied and assumed to control the most sontherly portion of their national domain. The Flint river, with its northerly afflu- ents, was, by the line of the treaty of 1807, left a little north ofthe border in full Indian possession. It was called by the natives Pe- won-unk-ening, meaning literally " the river of the Flint," and by the early French traders, La Pierre, as was the principal fording or crossing place of that river, called by them Grand Traverse, a few rods below the Flint city bridge. By the Chippewas the site of that city was called Mus-cu-ta-wa-ingh, meaning "open plain
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burnt over." That river, after leaving the northerly part of Lapeer county, bears southward to the Grand Traverse (city of Flint) and then curves northerly to meet the Saginaw, the crescent which it thus describes lying upon the southern border (or nearly so) of what were the home possessions, intact and unaffected by previous treaties, of those bands of Chippewas whose chiefs and head-men met Gen. Cass in council at Saginaw.
"Well-beaten trails upon the Flint and its tributaries, reaching to their headwaters and upon all the affluents of the Saginaw, all converging to the main river as the center, forming a network of communication which might not inaptly be compared to an open fan, with the handle resting upon the treaty ground, gave the Chippewas, upon the banks of those streams, unobstructed access, by land as well as by canoes upon the rivers, to the Commissioner in council. The advancing wave of white settlements had already approached, and in some instances had without authority encroached upon the southerly border of their net-work of trails upon the Flint.
"In point of location, geographically, Ne-ome and his powerful band stood at the door, the very threshold of the large tract of land which our Government, through its faithful and earnest Commissioner, wanted. To any one standing at Detroit and looking northerly to the beautiful belt of land lying westerly of the river St. Clair and Lake Huron, it was plain that the old chief, Ne-ome, stood, unless well disposed toward the treaty, indeed a lion in the path. Ne-ome was honest and simple-minded, evincing but little of the craft and cunning of his race, sincere in his nature, by no means astute, firm in his friendships, easy to be pursuaded by any benefactor who should appeal to his Indian sense of grati- tude; harmless and kind. In stature he was short and heavily molded. With his own people he was a chief of patriarchal goodness, and his name is never mentioned by any of the members of his band, even atthisremote day, except with a certain tradition- ary sorrow, more impressive in its mournful simplicity than a labored epitaph.
"After Gen. Cass had made known the purpose of the Govern- ment in calling the council, he found the Chippewas were, as before detailed, with minds by no means disposed to treat or cede. There was a power rested in the hands of an Indian trader who was known to the Chippewas as Wah-be-sins (the Young Swan), and to the border settlers as Jacob Smith. He had been for a long time a trader among the Indians at different points on the Flint and Saginaw, both before and after the war of 1812. His principal trading-post, which he made his permanent one, the same year of the treaty, was at the Grand Traverse ofthe Flint, in the first ward of that city, near where the Baptist church now stands. By long residence among them he had assimilated his habits and ways of
ving to those of the natives, even to the adoption of their mode of dress, and spoke their language fluently and correctly. He was generous to them, warm-hearted and intrepid. Though small in
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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY.
stature and light in weight, he was powerful as well as agile. Like most men living upon our Indian frontiers, he had become the father of a half-breed family, one of whom, a daughter, by the name of Mo-kitch-e-no-qwa, was then living. Skilled in wood- craft, sagacious and adroit, he may be said to have equaled, if not excelled, the natives in many of those qualities which, as forest heroes, they most admire. Brought into almost daily intercourse with the large band of Chippewas upon the Saginaw and its tribu- taries, the opportunity was at hand of ingratiating himselfinto the confidence of the chief and head men of that influential branch of the natives known as Ne-ome's band; and it is safe to say, that of the 114 chiefs and head men of the Chippewa nation, whose totems were affixed to the treaty, there was not one with whom he had not dealt and to whom he had not extended some act of friendship, either dispensing the rights of hospitality at his trading post, or in substan- tial advances to them of bread or of blankets, as their necessity may have required. He had entrenched himself in their friendship; and at the time of the treaty, so nearly had le identified himself with the good chief, Ne-ome, that each ever hailed the other as brother. Even to this day, Sa-gos-e-wa-qua, a daughter of Ne-ome, and others of his descendants now living, when speaking of Smith and the old chief, invariably bring their hands together, pressing the two index figers closely to each other, as the Indian's symbol of brotherhood and warm attachment.
" Upon the treaty ground the two friends acted unitedly and in perfect unison. Smith had no position at the treaty, either as interpreter for or agent of Gen. Cass. He was personally known to the General, for when not at his trading post he was at Detroit, where he had a white family; but it is quite evident that he was looked upon with some distrust by the Commissioner. £ For days the most active efforts of the authorized interpreters and agents of the Government were ineffectual in conciliating Ne-ome, O-ge- maw-ke-ke-to and the other chiefs. Not a step of progress was made until Mr. Knaggs and other agents, who assumed, but with what authority is somewhat doubtful, to speak for the Govern- ment outside of the council room, had promised the faithful Ne- ome that in addition to various and ample reservations for the dif- ferent bands, of several thousand acres each, there should be reserved, as requested by Wah-be-sins (Sınith), 11 sections of land of 640 acres each, to be located at or near Grand Traverse of the Flint. Eleven names as such reservees, all Indian names, were passed over to Mr. Knaggs on a slip of paper in his tent. A council was again called several days after the first one and fully attended by all the chiefs and warriors. This, with other points of difficulty, had become quieted. The storm which at first threat- ened to overwhelm the best efforts of the Commissioner and the active agents had passed over, and then a calm and open discussion ensued of the terms and basis upon which a just and honorable treaty should be, and at length was concluded."
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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY.
There was but one more general council held, whichi was mainly formal, for the purpose of having affixed to the engrossed copy of the treaty, the signature of Gen. Cass and the witnesses, and the to- tems of the chiefs and head men of the Chippewas and Ottawas. A removal of the Chippewas west of the Mississippi, at least west of Lake Michigan, was one of the purposes sought to be gained by our Government at the treaty, in addition to the cession of the valuable body of land lying upon the Saginaw and its affluents. In the instructions from the War Department to the Commissioner, this purpose is set out among others; but it was discovered by the General soon after his arrival at the council, that it was impossi- ble to carry out that part of his instructions which related to the removal of the Indians, without hazarding the consummation of a treaty upon any terms. This country has been so long occupied by their people, and was so well adapted to their hunter state, in the remarkable abundance of fish in its rivers, lakes and bays, and in the game yet left to them and not very materially diminished in the forests, that they were not inclined to listen to any proposi- tion of removal. During the afternoon of the last day of the council the Indians agreed to the various articles of the treaty, affixed their totems or names in the presence of the Governor's staff and assistants, and received their first treaty money from the United States.
THE SECOND TREATY WITH THE SAGINAWS.
A treaty was made at Detroit, Jan. 14, 1837, between Henry R. Schoolcraft, in behalf of the United States, and the Saginaw tribe of the Chippewa nation, by their chief and delegates assembled in council, in which the Chippewas ceded to the United States the following tracts of land lying within the boundaries of Michigan, namely: One tract of 8,000 acres on the river Au Sable; one tract of 2,000 acres on the Misho-wusk, or Rifle river; one tract of 6,000 acres on the north side of the river Kaw-kaw-ling; one tract of 5, 760 acres upon Flint river, including the site of Reaum's vil . lage, and a place called Kishkawbawee; one tract of 8, 000 acres on the head of Cass (formerly Huron), river, at the village of Otusson; one island in the Saginaw Bay, estimated at 1,000 acres, being the island called Shaingwaukokang, on which Muckokoosh formerly lived; one tract of 2,000 acres at Nababish, on the Saginaw river; one tract of 1.000 on the east side of the Saginaw river; one tract of 640 acres at Great Bend, on Cass river; one tract of 2,000 acres at the mouth of Point au Gres river; one tract of 1,000 acres on the Cass river at Menoquet's village; one tract of 10,000 acres on the Shiawassee river at Ket-che-waun-daugumink, or Big Lick; one tract of 6,000 acres at the Little Forks, on the Tetabawasing river; one tract of 6,000 acres at the Black Bird's town, on the Tetaba- wasing river; one tract of 40,000 acres on the west side of the Sag inaw river.
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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY.
The sum of money derived from the sale of these lands after de- ducting expenses of survey and treaty, was to be invested under the direction of the President, in some public stock; and the in- terest thereof to be paid annually to the Indians. Certain sums were also set apart for the payment of their valid debts and for depredations committed after the surrender of Detroit, in 1812. The Indians agreed to remove from Michigan to some point west of Lake Superior, or locate west of the Mississippi and southwest of the Missouri rivers, to be decided by Congress.
A supplementary article to a treaty between the United States and the Saginaw tribe of Chippewas, provided for the erection of a lighthouse on the Na-bo-bish tract of land, lying at the mouth of the Saginaw river, and a subsequent article of the same treaty, con- cluded at East Saginaw, changed the location of the lighthouse to the 40,000-acre tract of land at the mouth of the same river ..
THE TREATY OF 1838.
A treaty was concluded at the city of Saginaw, Jan. 23, 1838, be- tween a commissioner of the United States and the several bands of the Chippewa nation, comprehended within the districts of Sag- inaw, in which the chief's of the Chippewas represented, that at the sale of lands for their use, a combination was formed and the prices per acre greatly diminished. The treaty then provided that all lands brought into market under the authority of the previous treaty (Jan. 14, 1837) should be sold to the register and receiver for two years from date of commencement of sale, at $5 per acre, which sum was declared the minimum price; provided, that should any portion of said lands remain unsold. at the expiration of the two years, the minimum price was to be reduced to $2.50 per acre, at which price the remaining lands were to be disposed of; and after five years from date of ratification of treaty, if any lands then remained, they were to be sold for the sum they would command, but none less than 75 cents per acre.
THE TREATY OF 1855.
Subsequently, a treaty was concluded at Detroit, Aug. 2, 1855, between George W. Manypenny and Henry C. Gilbert, Commis- sioners on the part of the United States, and the Chippewa Indi- ans of Saginaw, Swan creek and Black river, in which the United States agreed to withdraw from sale six adjoining townships of land in Isabella county, and townships Nos. 17 and 18 north, ranges 3, 4 and 5 east; agreed to pay the Chippewas the sum of $220,000, to be used for education, agriculture, building material, etc .; build a saw-mill at some suitable water-power in Isabella county, ata cost not exceeding $8,000; to test the claims and pay the just indebtedness of said tribe of Chippewas; to provide an interpreter for said Indians for five years and longer if necessary; and said Chippewas of Saginaw, Swan creek and Black river, ceded
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to tlie United States all lands in Michigan heretofore owned by them as reservations; and that the grants and payments provided in this treaty were in lieu and satisfaction of all claims legal and equitable on the part of said Indians, jointly and severally against the United States, for land, money, or other thing guarantied to said tribes or either of them, by the stipulation of any former. treaty or treaties; the entries of land made by the Indians and by the Missionary Society of the M. E. Church for the benefit of the Indians, in townships 14 north and 4 east, and 10 north and 5 east, were confirmed and patents issued.
SCHOOLCRAFT'S TRICKERY.
The treaty of 1837 is said to have been drafted by Government. Commissioner Schoolcraft in 1836, and presented before an Indian council the same year. James McCormick, who was then settled among the bands on the Indian fields, received from lis aborigi- nal neighbors a tract of 640 acres of land in recognition of his kind- ness to them during the prevalence of the small-pox epidemic. This. valuable present was received by Mr. McCormick, and went into his possession; but in the treaty presented by Schoolcraft there was no mention made of the Indian grant to McCormick. One of the Indian counselors demanded why this important item was omitted, merely gaining for his trouble the laconic answer from the Com- missioner : " It can't be done." "Very well," said the Indian orator; "we will not sell our land unless our white brother is pro- vided for. We will not sign the treaty." The assembled Indians dispersed and the Commissioner was left to dream over the situ- ation in the de serted wigwam.
In January, 1837, the Commissioner invited the counselors to meet him at Detroit, and on the 14th of that mouth they assembled agreeably to such invitation. Mr. Schoolcraft assured them that the treaty paper as now presented, contained full assurances that Mr. McCormick would be continued as lessee of the lands in ques- tion. Thus assured on the honor of an officer of the United States Government, the children of the forest deeded away their hunting grounds, and, as a few years proved, their munificent gift to their white brother also. The Commissioner never inserted an article guarantying a title to James McCormick, and as a result he was evicted from a home and farm which he improved, which he mer- ited, and which was endeared to him by many associations. About this period small-pox decimated the ranks of the Indian warriors, and where it failed to secure a victim, the officials appointed to carry out the treaty articles, generally succeeded.
CHAPTER III.
AFTER THE TREATY.
As early as 1811, the French traders found a home among the Saginaws and for years after carried on an extensive trade, giving food and peltries in exchange for furs and pemmican. Among them was one American named Jacob Smith, better known as Wah-be- sins, or Young Swan. He was a favorite hunter with the Indians, and accompanied them in their hunting expeditions until the period of the establishment of his post on the Flint river. For years his friendship for the Campau brothers was unquestioned, and with them he found a home whenever his travels led him to the great camping ground. Years rolled by, and this friendship lasted; but before the ink was dry on the treaty of 1819, a passion, as unfortun- ate as it was unjust, seized upon him; he deserted his old friend, and was the primary means of urging the Indians to ignore their debts, and rob the resident trader, Campau, of money which was justly due him. In the following pages a reference is made to the white trappers of the Saginaw.
Louis Campau, or Ne-ta-ba-ba-pin-is-id, formerly a " voyageur," settled at Detroit immediately succeeding the close of hostilities in 1815, though for years previously it was his custom to visit that part. He was a native of Lower Canada, and in possession of those faculties which are peculiarly adapted to the life of a front- iersman. Genial and even polite in his intercourse with his Amer- ican friends, he extended to the Indians, also, a warm greeting which won their confidence. In May, 1816, Mr. Campan entered upon the life of an Indian trader. Traveling to the Saginaw Ka- pay-shaw-wink, or the great camping ground of the tribe, he erected a house, on which he conferred the title, "Campau's Trad- ing Post." This building stood on the west side of Water street, opposite the location of Wright & Co.'s mill. Three years after his settlement here, Louis Campan built a log house on the east side of the river, but owing to the opposition of Kish-kaw-ko and Mish-ne-na-non-e-quet he retired for safety to the old post. The deserted structure stood where the Methodist mission was subse- quently established. The house of Norman Little took the place of the mission and in later days it formed the site of Ten Eyck's mill. In June, 1826, Mr. Campau left for Grand Rapids, where in the fall of the same year, he located two fractional quarters of the public domain, and may be said to be the prime mover in build-
ing up the city of that name. Generous to a fault, he served the settlers who flocked toward his location, faithfully and liberally; aided in every movement to build up the city; so that after the
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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY.
war of 1861-'5, the people of Grand Rapids presented their first friend with a valuable and well-filled purse. In the history of the county the old trader's connection with the valley since the coming of the American pioneers, will be referred to, and thus the name of one of the earliest white inhabitants of the district shall be per- petuated.
Stephen V. R. Reilly, a trader among the Chippewas, married Men-aw-cum-ego-qua, the beauty of the Indian village, the Poca- hontas of the tribe. The three sons resulting from this marriage were named respectively, John, Peter and James. In the negoti- ation of the treaty, Stephen V. R. Reilly exerted all his great in- fluence over the Indians, and succeeded in urging them to agree to the terms which would be offered to thein. In the grant of In- dian reserves, he located John Reilly's lands near the mouth of the Saginaw, where Bay City now stands. For Peter Reilly he obtained a grant of 640 acres of land beginning above and adjoin- ing the apple-trees on the west side of the Saginaw river, and running up the same for quantity; and for the use of James Reilly, 640 acres beginning on the east side of the Saginaw river, nearly opposite to Campau's trading house and running up the river for quantity. Part of the city of East Saginaw is built on this last described reservation.
In 1836 Gen. Stephen V. R. Reilly, who was then 73 years of age, and postmaster of Schenectady, New York, revisited Detroit, met his son John there, and advised him to sell his lands to Andrew T. McReynolds and F. H. Stevens, of Detroit, for not less than $30,000. In this manner also, were the claims of other boys disposed of.
Francois Trombley, grandfather of the Trombleys named in this review, was well known at the military posts of the St. Lawrence and the lakes as early as 1782. Ten years later. in 1792, he visited the Saginaw Indians, which proved to be his first and last exploration trip in this direction. This adventurous Frenchman was drowned, while flying far away from the Indian camp. The story of his death states that he inade a spear for an Indian, to be used in killing muskrats; another Indian came forward to beg a similar favor, and for him Trombley made a very improved rat- killer. The owner of the first spear grew jealous, abused the good old hunter, and ultimately stabbed him in the back. Retiring to liis boat, he set sail for Detroit, but never reached that post. It is said he was knocked overboard by the boom of his boat, and was drowned in the waters of Lake Huron.
Jacob Smith, or Wah-be-sins, settled with his parents in Northern Ohio. In 1811 he pushed forward to the Detroit river district, and thence north to the Flint and Saginaw. During the rambles of the "Young Swan," he won the friendship of the Indians, and as his intercourse with them became more extensive, he entered into ali their manners and customs, sympathizing with them as a tribal member, and claiming their sympathy in return. Smith was the first American who settled in the Saginaw district.
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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY.
He arrived here shortly after Campau, and erected a temporary trading-post; at Flint another structure was built by him; but the greater portion of his time was passed at Detroit, where his wife and family resided. In 1819 he built a substantial log house in Flint on the spot now occupied by the First Baptist church. Later in the year he made a journey to "Campau's Trading Post," and aided in conciliating the Indians of that band, if not in urging them to sign the treaty which Gov. Cass presented. His post, at Flint, was left in charge of his Indian assistant An-ne-me-kins, while Baptiste Cochios, a French friend of Smith's, known in later years as Nick-an-niss, accompanied him on his patriotic journey. In October, 1819, Smith and Cochios returned to the post, found that the young Indian had discharged his duties faithfully; and being satisfied that he could be further trusted, both Smith and his friend visited the Canadas, where they traded until 1821. From this period until 1825, the two travelers and traders con- tinued to have an extensive trade, the while enduring many hard- ships. Smith succumbed to disease in 1825; Cochios was the o ily white friend present at his death-bed; An-ne-me-kins, the Indian boy of his adoption, was the only red man who witnessed the dying struggles of the popular trader. The former made a rude coffin, in which he placed the body of the deceased, and, choosing a secluded spot near the post, interred the remains in the presence of the assembled Indians.
Patrice Reaume, or Wemitigoji, was, like Campau, a native of the French province of Quebec. For a period of eight years he was a trader among the Indians of the Raisin and Huron districts. Ultimately he was appointed factor for the American Fur Company at the post near Pontiac, and subsequently their trader at the posts of Tittabawassee and Saginaw. Reaume's assistant was named Louis De Quindre; both factor and trader were unpopular; nor did the action of their countryman, Campau, aid them. On the contrary, since the American Fur Company's interests were opposed to his, he took every opportunity to notice the faults of the employes of the company, and ultimately succeeded in driving Reaume and De Quindre from their post- on the Tittabawassee and Saginaw. De Quindre, who was in charge of the store at the former place, was ejected by the desperate Wah-be-man-ito; and, running for his life, left the post in possession of the Indian. After a series of wanderings through the forest, he was fortunate in reaching Saginaw. This summary ejectment was made in the winter of 1828-9, so that the young Frenchinan suffered much as a refugee, and ever afterward was mentally pained whenever the sobriquet "missabos" (hare) was given to him.
Louis Beaufort, or Wagash, was one of the most genial habitants of the valley in the pre-treaty times. He was much younger than Campau, Smith or Reaume, was a friend of each and all, and, being so, was the peacemaker in the traders' circle. It is recorded that, immediately after the treaty of Saginaw was signed, Campau and Smith had an altercation which would doubtless end
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tragically had not Beaufort's calm and gentle reasoning prevailed. He was one of the seven interpreters employed during the nego- tiation of the treaty of 1819.
Jacob Gradroot, the first white man who made a permanent settlement in what was known as Lower Saginaw, married the daughter of the fierce Kish-kaw-ko. Gradroot was a German, who settled for a time at Albany, N. Y., and, moving West, found a home among the Indians, and a wife in the person of Miss Kish-kaw-ko.
Barney Campau, known among the Indians as Oshkinawe, was a nephew of the first trader. Well fitted for either the chase or a trader's life, he whiled away his years in one or other of these pursuits, and was looked on by the aborigines as one who would not venture to take an advantage in buying or selling. They called him the "young man," and acquiesced in all his proposi- tions. His knowledge of French, English and Otchipwe [Ojibway or Chippewa] rendered him a very useful man during the nego- tiation of the treaty of Saginaw. He was engaged as an army contractor in connection with the 3d U. S. Infantry, and in this capacity he was present at the signing of the treaty.
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