USA > Michigan > Saginaw County > History of Saginaw County, Michigan; historical, commercial, biographical, Volume II > Part 22
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"It often became necessary for my father to be away from home for a day or two, and on such occasions, my mother would pile the firewood against the door at night to keep the Indians from entering. for like most of the settler's wives, she stood in fear of them. Still they were very friendly, and many were the choice pieces of game that came from their hands. Their clothing in winter was more or less of deer skins, and they wore mocassins and used paint freely on their faces. Their canoes were familiar sights as they passed up and down the river, bareheaded, save for an occasional feather. They managed their cockle-shell craft with the utmost grace and skill. At times their rich voices were heard in the wild songs of the forest, and perhaps the boom of the drum rolled out across the stream, and at night their camp fires twinkled through the gloom.
"One of the things the pioneer craved after providing a comfortable shelter for his family, was some means of educating his children. My father had built a log house for his sister across the ravine, and immediately on its banks, where for a time she and her husband lived. Later it was abandoned, and as there were now several families with children, scattered up and down the river, some rude benches were constructed and placed in the log cabin, a teacher named Elmore secured, and school begun. Mr. Elmore did not teach very long and was succeeded by Miss Agnes Ure, who is held in lov- ing memory by the few living who went to her school. The log cabin was soon after superseded by a more pretentious structure in a different locality.
"I recall an incident," added Mr. Crane, "which occurred while my aunt was living in the school-house cabin across the ravine. One evening the family dog. a fine large animal, began making an outery in the hollow, when my uncle, hearing the noise, shouted. 'Shake him. Keep! Shake him! From the sounds he knew it was a wolf that the dog was grappling. and believing that his dog was a master of any wolf, shouted to encourage him. But it was the wolf that was doing all the shaking, and when they came to the rescue poor Keep was dead. This ravine was a favorite runway for wild animals of all kinds, as it afforded them a covered passage to the water's edge and led far back into the timber."
Mr. Crane, who has passed his eightieth year, was married in 1857 to Miss Purchase, a native of New York State, who came to this valley with her father's family at an early day. In April, 1915. they celebrated the fifty-eighth anniversary of their marriage, rejoicing that their five sons and two daughters are living. William E. Crane and Riley L. Crane are prom- inent members of the Saginaw County Bar, Doctor B. F. A. Crane is widely known as a surgeon, Doctor Milo A. Crane is practicing in Chicago, while Ambrose Crane is a farmer and business man of Midland. There are sixteen grandchildren and one great grandchild.
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WILLIAM A. CRANE
Who was born on the banks of the Tittaba- wassee in 1835, and spent the greater portion of his life on a farm opposite the Red Bird Reservation.
MRS. WILLIAM A. CRANE
one of the noble pioneer women of Tittaba - wassee, who bore all the privations of border life, and raised a family of honored men and women.
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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY
William A. Williams Told of the Lumber Days
The last member of that sturdy family of pioneers, which was such an important factor in the upbuilding of this county, was William A. Williams. He was born here March 12, 1834, and had the distinction of being the first white male child born in the county. His father was Gardner D. Williams, a prominent fur trader and lumberman of the early days, and was afterward the first mayor of Saginaw City. For years William was a member of the lumber firm of George S. Williams & Brothers, and later owned and con- ducted a large farm. His eventide of life was spent in a cozy home with ample garden spot in the outskirts of the West Side.
"In 1834, the year I was born," he said, "my father and Uncle Ephraim built the first saw mill on the river, and it was located at the foot of Mack- inaw Street. There was not much demand for lumber then, and they sold better lumber for two dollars and a half a thousand feet than you can buy now for twenty dollars. Mill culls, they called them, but a man could get as good lumber as he wanted to put into a house out of mill culls. If an end of a board was a little shaky, it was graded as cull, even though the other end might be clear stuff. With all the wealth of standing timber in those days, I never thought I should see the time that we would use lumber in Saginaw shipped here from California.
"About 1850, when Norman Little began to build up the east side of the river, my brother George and I took lumber on a lighter from our mill for the first frame building put up there. Jesse Hoyt had some sort of an office building then, but I don't think it was of frame construction.
"You must remember our old house which stood on the corner of Mich- igan Avenue and Mackinaw Street. All the lumber in that house was whip sawed, except the siding which was brought from Port Huron. That seemed a long distance to bring boards, farther away than California is now. Yon will be surprised when I tell you that in the main chimney of that house there were nine thousand brick. It had five fire places and a bake oven con- nected with it. We didn't have any stoves in those days. My mother did all the cooking in an open fire place. We boys would haul in the wood on a sled, and put on more than a quarter of a cord to build a fire.
"When a boy I have seen my father load eighteen thousand bushels of cranberries into the hold of a vessel. He bought them from the Indians who gathered them in the marshes, and they were worth about a dollar a bushel. They were good berries, too, and found a ready market in the larger ports along the lakes. There were great times here seventy years ago, and the fur business was immense.
"When I notice Saginaw's prosperous citizens riding by here in their automobiles, I think of the style that prevailed in the early days. I remen- ber how I used to put straw and blankets into a dump cart, put the old pacing mare into the shafts, and then my mother, Mrs. Norman Little, Mrs. A. M. Richman, and perhaps some other member of their social circle, would get into the cart and drive out to the home of my uncle, Alpheus Williams. He lived on what is now known as the Vogt farm. They would get dinner there and then go across the river to the house of Albert Miller, where they gen- erally stayed for supper. They enjoyed life just as much as people who ride in their motor cars today; but the old cart would look rather queer alongside some of the cars that pass here.
"In 1850 I accompanied Uncle Alpheus and his family, including the son Gardner, to Pontiac when they started for California. They went through with horses and wagon. When we got to Pontiac they urged me to sell my
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conveyance and go along with them. Maybe I would have been better off if I had, but I am well satisfied to be right here in the place where I was born and reared."
George Washington Davis
One of the early postmasters of Saginaw City, who followed Ephraim S. and Gardner D. Williams, in the early fifties, was George W. Davis, a sturdy pioneer who is still remembered by our older residents. He was born April 20, 1819, and was one of eleven children, his father, Josiah Davis, being an owner and operator of canal boats on the Erie Canal. They removed from Schnectady, New York, to Michigan as early as 1837 and settled at Oxford. where the father entered government land as a pioneer settler and engaged in clearing the ground and cultivating the soil.
In 1849 George W. Davis came to Saginaw City and opened a general store in the "old red store," which stood at the corner of Mackinaw and Water Streets. This business he conducted until 1855, when, upon the death of Mrs. Davis, he sold out and later operated a small packet on the river between here and St. Charles. The rivers at that period formed the only means of communication between the two places. About 1865 he went into the grocery business, under the firm name of Davis & Harrington, at the southwest corner of Water and Franklin ( Hancock ) Streets, directly opposite the water pumping station. Two years later he put up a wooden building on Water Street opposite the freight house, but it soon burned down and he built a brick block in which he kept a grocery store for some years. In 1870 he established a dray and freight cartage business, in which he continued to the time of his death which occurred February 11, 1890.
Thadeas de Lamorandiere
An old French gentleman, familiarly known in the old days as "Teddy," who it was believed came of an old and distinguished family in their native land, was Thadeas de Lamorandiere. lle was born about 1823, and came from Canada to this valley in 1845, engaging in the fur business. When the fur trade declined he entered the employ of Daniel L. C. Eaton, in the insur- ance business, the office being in the Bernhard Block at the corner of Court and Water ( Niagara) Streets. He died in 1900 at the age of seventy- seven, survived by two daughters who reside at 820 Cass Street.
Mary Hubbard Ide Came to the Wilderness in 1835
Mary Hubbard, who in later life was Mrs. Mason Ide, mother of Frank Ide, was a little girl seven years old when in 1835 her family removed from Lockport, New York. The trip from Buffalo to Detroit was made by boat, and thence to Saginaw by wagon. The leader of the party was the late Phineas D. Braley, and consisted of seventeen persons of whom the Hub- bards counted seven. All of the party could not ride at one time, and even the children who were old enough to walk took their turns in picking their way among the stumps which covered the path through the forest. It was so obstructed in places with fallen trees and brush that the men of the party had often to use their axes to clear the way. The party was more than a week on the road from Detroit. At the Cass River they had the good fortune to meet the road crew that was cutting a way through to Saginaw. and were ferried across the stream in a large scow.
"Just before reaching the scow," relates Mrs. Ide, "my mother, who had been walking, fell utterly exhausted, and was picked up by a man of the party and carried like a child on board the scow. She was very slight and the extreme fatigue of the unusual trip had worn her out. I well remember
ADELAIDE DELISLE CUSHWAY (Mrs. Benjamin Cushway)
MARY HUBBARD IDE
GEORGE WASHINGTON DAVIS
THADEAS DE LAMORANDIERE
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that the hickory nuts were falling, and think it must have been late Septem- ber or early October. After leaving the Cass at Bridgeport Center, the road followed the Indian trail (now the extension of South Washington Avenue ) to the present Mackinaw Street bridge, where there was a scow ferry by which we were taken across the river. At that time there was a building known as the 'Little Red House', near the corner of Niagara and Mackinaw Streets, in which we spent our first night in Saginaw, the children sleeping on the floor upstairs, while the men of the party sought shelter elsewhere.
"Afterward my father and Mr. Braley located on the Tittabawassee River, the latter building a house which I think is still standing on the East River Road, on a knoll a little west of the Shattuck Creek and on the south side of the road. My father located on the river flats south of the Braley place, where he built a frame house on the bank of the river. Here we had numerous neighbors, some of whom were occasionally troublesome. The Indians were frequent callers, while bears, deer and wolves were so common that they soon ceased to be novelties. At night the howling of the latter was quite terrifying to the young children.
"One day a big bear, that had gained the idea that fresh pork would be an agreeable change of diet, was observed making preparations to enter the pig sty where were several young pigs. My brother and another boy with their guns sallied forth and interrupted the feast, Bruin making off in haste, unhurt, however, except in his feelings. Incidents of this kind were of com- mon occurrence, and many were the adventures told in front of the great fireplaces or around the old 'revolving stove.' This curious utensil of daily use was a treasured possession of the family, and was so arranged that the pots and kettles and pans could be severally brought over the fire by turn- ing the top of the stove, which revolved on a pivot. The stove had no oven. the want of which was supplied by an arrangement consisting of an iron ring with suitable covers which was placed on top of the stove, thus making a portable oven in which we baked our bread or roasted meat.
"The first year of my childhood pioncer life I well remember was one of privation, as there was but little to be obtained in the way of shoes, hats and clothing : and the mother was obliged to make shift as best she could in clothing her family. Some leather was finally obtained and the children were shod with a sort of mocassin of her own manufacture.
"It was not long before my father found that he had made a mistake in locating on the flats, for after the country began to be settled up the streams were cleared of floodwood which held back the freshest waters, and the obstructions to boat and canbe navigation in the smaller branches were removed. This allowed the floods to come out with a greater rush, with attendant high water on the lower courses. Our place was flooded out, and we lost pigs, chickens, and a horse, and my father moved away from this original location."
In young womanhood, Mrs. He taught school for several terms, her first school being located on the present site of the Thomastown cemetery. above the State Street Bridge on the West River Road. She was united in marriage with John Mason Ide in 1849 at Flint, where they lived until 1858 when they removed to Flushing. Mr. Ide died April 5, 1871, and two years later Mrs. Ide came to Saginaw, where she resided until her death in 1915.
John W. Richardson Once Lived in the Old Fort
It is not given to many to round out four-score years, and when we find a person still older who has passed almost his entire life here. we realize that he is a true pioneer and feel a quickening interest in him. This was partic- ularly true of John W. Richardson, who came here in early boyhood and
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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY
lived a useful and eventful life covering a period of seventy-eight years in this community. He was born on the island of Cape Breton, June 23, 1833, and two years after came with his parents to America, locating first at Boston. Later they spent a year in Detroit, and came to Saginaw in the fall of 1837. Ile obtained an education such as the common schools of that dlay afforded : and in 1851 was apprenticed to the late Cole Garrett, then the only harness maker in Saginaw. Throughout his active business career. he always evinced a broad public spirit ; and he possessed a keen memory which enabled him to relate many incidents of the early days in this valley.
"On New Year's day, 1838." said Mr. Richardson, "we were living in the old barracks of the fort stockade, which stood on or near the corner now occupied by the Miller Block, at Court and Hamilton Streets. It wasn't exactly that corner for the streets were not laid out when the log barracks were built, and the building probably stood partly on what is now the inter- section of the streets.
"No, there are not many people here who were residents as long as I can remember. William A. Williams, Oscar Jewett, Norman L. Miller and William A. Crane were schoolmates of mine. Miss Beach. afterwards Mrs. Samuel Shattuck, was my first teacher. She was an aunt. I think, of Emmett L. Beach, an ex-Circuit Judge. As long as I can remember there were only three German families here, so you see the pioneers of that nationality are generally junior to myself.
"After learning the harness business very thoroughly," he continued, "I opened a shop of my own in 1854. It was located on Water Street where nearly all the business houses were then situated, and when they lined both sides of the street from Jefferson (Cleveland) Street to Mackinaw. 1 was a maker and dealer in harnesses, which was largely that demanded by the lumbering industry, and also in saddles, martingales and trunks, a business 1 conducted for fifty years. When the lumber business fell off. my trade was affected somewhat and 1 felt out of touch with the newer conditions, so I gave it up several years ago.
"At different times during my active life I kept the books for certain lumber jobbers and attended to their business here. and some of them, on going to the woods for several months at a time, made a practice of leaving their money with me for safe keeping, rather than entrust it to a bank. This sounds rather queer in these days, when the solidity of our banks is unques- tioned, but the conditions were very different then. The people had not gotten over their distrust of moneyed institutions, and the disasters attend- ing the period of wild speculation and of the wild cat' bank days, were still fresh in their memory.
In the late sixties Mr. Richardson built the business block at 115-117 South Hamilton Street, and his faith in the ultimate prosperity of Saginaw was shown in his investing at times in other parcels of real estate. In politics he was a staunch Democrat, and served the city and county as alderman and supervisor. He was the last city treasurer of Saginaw City, concluding his second term when the consolidation of the Saginaws was effected. On municipal and State affairs he was very well informed, and he acquired a general knowledge of world's events by extensive reading and study.
On October 9. 1872, he was united in marriage with Miss Mary Kelley, of Belleville, Ontario; and was the father of William J. Richardson and Miss Alice Richardson. There is also one grandchild. He was a devout Roman Catholic and at the time of his death, February 13, 1915, was the oldest living member of St. Andrew's parish, of which he was one of its most liberal
GEORGE STREEB
one of the first merchants of Saginaw City, who has been engaged in the grocery busi- ness for sixty-two years, and is in his ninety- fourth year (1915).
JOHN W. RICHARDSON
A pioneer whose recollections of Saginaw go back to 1838, when his father's family lived in the old stockade fort. He was one of the carli- est to engage in the harness and leather busi- less.
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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY
supporters. He was also the projector of "St. Andrew's Cemetery, and was its treasurer for many years. In his views he was very tolerant and was highly regarded by all who knew him.
George Streeb Was One of the First Merchants
Very few of our pioneer merchants now living have attained to such a venerable age and rounded out so many years of active business as George Streeb. the veteran grocer of North Webster Street. Though his eyesight and hearing have been somewhat impaired of late years, his heart is still merry with the spirit of youth. The keynote of his life has been activity, and even in his advanced years he is always busy. He has been engaged in the grocery business on the West Side for sixty-two years, and speaks enter- tainingly of his life and work.
"I was born in Nurnberg, province of Bavaria, Germany, February 28, 1822, where my boyhood and youth was spent, but in 1850 I came to Amer- ica. Soon after, I was married in New York to my childhood sweetheart, Margaret Beck, who had preceded me to this country about three years. We came direct to Saginaw, where my wife found employment in the Web- ster House, while I went to the woods and chopped wood at forty cents a cord. After three years we had saved a little money and decided to estab- lish a grocery business, which we located first on Water Street, as that was the only business section of the town. The first permanent sidewalk in Saginaw was laid in front of my store.
"After working up a good business we moved to our present location where for forty-four years I have continued the trade. At first it was the only store west of Washington ( Michigan) Street, but since then the whole neighborhood has been built up with residences. I can well remember when the Emerson mill and office and boarding house were the only buildings on the east side of the river, and when the Indians and dog trains carried the mail to and from the northern settlements, long before the river became choked with logs, and the hum of the lumber industry was heard at every hand.
"No, I can't see to read any more, but my daughters, Margaret, Johanna and Catherine read the newspapers, both German and English, and I am still interested in world's events, even though I am in my ninety-fourth year."
What John Moore Found Here in 1851
AAmong the enterprising men who came to this valley at the beginning of its prosperity is John Moore, the father of the Union School System. In the sixty-fifth year of his residence here he is one of the few remaining links connecting the past with the present, and occupies the somewhat unique position of one whose counsel, for the last thirty-five years, has been esteemed because of the high place he attained in legal and municipal matters during his active life. His reminiscences of early days are always entertaining, and his clear, keen memory in the ninetieth year of his life brings out interesting incidents of long ago, and clothes the leading figures of our history with life and action, often picturesque and humorous.
"I first came to Saginaw in May, 1851," relates Mr. Moore, "to look over the ground and to meet J. G. Sutherland, afterward circuit judge, who had been admitted to the bar in the same class with me three years before, and with whom I was considering a partnership. There was then no railroad to these parts, but there were stages running from Detroit to Pontiac, Pon- tiac to Flint, and Flint to Saginaw. The Mackinaw Road which the State had been constructing, with Mackinaw as its objective point, then stopped at Pine Run.
SAGINAW CITY IN 1850
At the loft is shown Mackinaw Street and the Williams Mill, the first built in the valley. On the hill in the center is the old Court House and the First Presbyterian Church. Further north is the Webster House and the store of George W. Bullock, opposite, while at the extreme right is shown the "red warehouse," afterward converted into a saw and planing mill.
JOHN MOORE
one of the first lawyers to locate at Saginaw City, his residence here dating from 1831. He was the father of the Union School District and has been prominent in public affairs
JOSEPH A. WHITTIER
One of the prominent figures in our ratly his- tory, of rugged honesty and Quaker simplicity who spent a long life of usefulness and broad purpose, the memory of whom remains alive
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"The trip to Saginaw was a tedious and tiresome one as I came by my own conveyance, but I arrived safely and put up at the Webster House, then the leading hotel of the place. It was located on the northwest corner of what are now Michigan Avenue and Cleveland Street, and was the gather- ing place for the crowd. The following day was Sunday, but there was little religion here then, and the office and bar room of the hotel was a lively place. Drink was distributed freely and pleasantly.
"It was Sutherland who suggested that we visit the Halls of the Monte- zumas. I didn't know to what he referred, but he said Curt Emerson lived there, and we started. We took a canoe and paddled across the river to the Emerson property, which was where the City Hall now stands. It was a frame building, much like the other frame houses of the place and well kept. Mr. Emerson I found to be of medium height, slim and sharp featured. I afterward came to know him very well. He was an educated man and very gentlemanly when sober. Unfortunately he could not resist temptation and a little liquor seemed to upset him. It was unfortunate for him and for the city that he was so intemperate.
"I was introduced to him on this occasion and as was his custom he quickly offered us lignor. The sideboard was covered with bottles. I de- clined, however, and asked to be excused, as 1 did not use liquor. He had been drinking a little, although he was not intoxicated, and he made a demon- stration as though about to force me to take it, when Mr. Sutherland inter- fered and told him that he knew I did not drink. Mr. Emerson straightened 111).
"'Do yon think of coming here to practice law and not drink whiskey?' he asked.
"'I think so,' I said.
"'Huh" he snorted. 'You come here and we'll have you drunk as a fool in sixty days.
"Nevertheless | transacted his business for him from the time I came here, and when a friend chided him for employing me, when I took no part in his convivial gatherings, he said :
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