History of St. Clair County, Michigan, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources, its war record, biographical sketches, the whole preceded by a history of Michigan, Part 25

Author:
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, A.T. Andreas & Co.
Number of Pages: 818

USA > Michigan > St Clair County > History of St. Clair County, Michigan, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources, its war record, biographical sketches, the whole preceded by a history of Michigan > Part 25

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"Old Mother Rodd ! Old mother Rodd ! Thy ancient Indian face is roughened ; One hundred years, they say, the rod Of time, thy coppery skin has toughened. Let me observe that rounded pile Of bones in British blanket muffled, In hand a long stick all the while To guard them when her temper's ruffled.

"Old Mother Rodd ! Old Mother Rodd ! Thou lik'st to drain a sonsy bicker, Although thy race might pray to God In wrath to curse the white man's liquor. Alas ! just so it is-we see Men stagger thro' the earth and cherish The fitful cup with childish glee- They kiss, although they know they perish.

"Old Mother Rodd ! Old Mother Rodd ! Since first those small black eyes were open'd, Here in thy birthplace and abroad How many wondrous things have happen'd ! Thy sire, when he first saw the light, At council fires gave his opinion ; No white man then usurped his right, No chain surveyed his broad dominion.

"Old Mother Rodd ! dost thou e'er frown, - And thinkest thou, it is a pity Thy solemn woods have been cut down, To make room for our busy city ? In summer, when the peach trees blow, Where thou had'st made some paltry scratches With tree-top when thou wish'd to grow Thy native maize in little patches.

"Old Mother Rodd ! the river true Rolls on as then with rapid current, As when thy family's birch canoe Skimm'd lightly o'er the sky-blue torrent. Thy friends roamed here and wander'd there, With sharpen'd stone, with bow and quiver, Before the wandering brave, St. Clair, Bequeathed his name to this proud river.

"Old Mother Rodd ! Old Mother Rodd ! Does power of steam affect thy senses ? Thou art, old Dame, a living link, Connecting past with present tenses ; For thou wert mother 'mongst the squaws, With dark-skinned lover in attendance, When silly George's cruel laws, Drove our brave sires to independence.

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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY. .

"Old Mother Rodd ! Old Mother Rodd ! It is, dear dame, beyond conjecture- Death soon must lay thee 'neath the sod, And spoil thy ancient architecture. Emerged from war ! Thanks be to God, With no domestic brawl among us, We shall be kind, Oh! Mother Rodd,

So long's thou'rt left to crawl among us."

Shabbona, or Charbonneau, a warrior almost equal to Tecumseh or Black Hawk, was born at the Kankakee River about the year 1775. In 1812, he, in command of his band, joined Tecumseh, and thus became known among the Indians of Michigan-from Niles to Detroit and Black River. He acted as aid to Tecumseh, and stood by his side when he fell at the battle of the Thames. At the time of the Winnebago war, in 1827, he visited almost every village among the Pottawatomies, and by his persuasive arguments prevented them from taking part in the war. By request of the citizens of Chicago, Shabbona, accompanied by Billy Caldwell (Sauganash), visited Big Foot's vil- lage at Geneva Lake, in order to pacify the warriors, as fears were entertained that they were about to raise the tomahawk against the whites. Here Shabbona was taken prisoner by Big Foot, and his life threatened, but on the following day was set at liberty. From that time the Indians (through reproach) styled him " the white man's friend," and many times his life was endangered. Before the Black Hawk war, Shabbona met in council at two different times, and by his influence pre- vented his people from taking part with the Sacs and Foxes. After the death of Black Partridge and Senachwine, no chief among the Pottawatomies exerted so much influence as Shabbona. Black Hawk, aware of this influence, visited him at two different times, in order to enlist him in his cause, but was unsuccessful. While Black Hawk was a prisoner at Jefferson Barracks, he said, had it not been for Shabbona, the whole Pottawatomie nation would have joined his standard, and he could have continued the war for years. To Shabbona, many of the early settlers owe the pres- ervation of their lives, for it is a well-known fact, had he not notified the people of their danger, a large portion of them would have fallen victims to the tomahawk of savages. By saving the lives of whites he endangered his own, for the Sacs and Foxes threatened to kill him, and made two attempts to execute their threats. They killed Pypeogee, his son, and Pyps, his nephew, and hunted him down as though he was a wild beast.

Shabbona had a reservation of two sections of land at his Grove, but by leaving it and going west for a short time, the Government declared the reservation forfeited, and sold it the same as other vacant land. On Shabbona's return, and finding his possessions gone, he was very sad and broken down in spirit, and left the Grove forever. The citizens of Ottawa raised money and bought him a tract of land on the Illinois River, above Seneca, in Grundy County, on which they built a house, and supplied him with means to live on. He lived here until his death, which occurred on the 17th of July, 1859, in the eighty-fourth year of his age, and was buried with great pomp in the cemetery at Morris. His squaw, Pokanoka, was drowned in Mazen Creek, Grundy County, on the 30th of November, 1864, and was buried by his side.

In 1861, subscriptions were taken up in many of the river towns to erect a monument over the remains of Shabbona, but the war breaking out the enterprise was abandoned. Only a plain marble slab marks the resting-place of this friend of the white man.

BLACK DUCK MURDERS A BRITISH INDIAN.

The Sun Dance, held near the mouth of Black River in 1816, proved one of the most refrac- tory gatherings of savages since the downfall of the British power in America. The history of the meeting was obtained from Willis Stewart, and written in the pioneer records by Miss L. S. Carleton. " Among the numerous families of Indians," says the relator, " that dwelt on Black River, was that of the old Indian, Black Snake. He had a numerous family, and was related to the half-breed, John Riley, referred to in Indian history. Among the band was a strong-built savage named Black Duck, who was married to a daughter of the chief Black Snake. The Duck was strongly attached to the Americans, and seldom suffered a word against them to go unchallenged. On this occasion, he was the guest of the Indian circle at Black River, whither, also, many British Indians were invited. Whisky was plenty, and the noble red men failed not to appreciate it. The feast went forward merrily, speeches were made, and the morning promised peace ; but to the surprise of all, one of the British Indians concluded his speech with a boast of

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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

his prowess, and of all the American scalps he took during the war. Black Duck was silent until this unfortunate boast was finished. Rising to his feet he dealt very logically with the defeat of the British, and then approaching the Canadian, with raised tomahawk, said: 'You are a great brave ; you have killed many Americans ; you have taken their scalps. They whom you have killed were my friends, and you shall kill no more !' This said, the irritated savage buried the weapon in the boastful speaker's brain, and thus ended the feast."

The avenger of the slain Americans, knowing that the friends of the slain savage would seek his blood, hastened to lay his case before Gen. Cass, and to seek his protection. He was placed in the fort for safety, while the Governor acquainted John Riley of the facts. Through Riley, a propo- sition was made to settle the matter by granting a sum of money, equivalent to his worth, to the relatives of the deceased. The proposition was discussed by the council of relatives, in presence of Gen. Cass. The Indians appeared with their faces and bodies painted black, in token of mourn- ing ; but their sorrow was only skin deep, as they made the simple demand for forty quarts of whisky, and canceled all engagements to take the life of Black Duck. The Governor acceded, and directed the Secretary to draw an order on Aura P. Stewart to supply the whisky demanded.

Fisher, a half-breed, who married a sister of Francis Macompte, committed suicide about 1832. It appears he made a cruel husband, so that Macompte took his wife from him, and presented him with an English rifle as better suited to him than a wife. Fisher and the rifle lived quietly together for some years, when he returned to the Salt River Reserve, and there shot himself through the heart. About the same time a dog feast was held by the Indians on the Tucker farm.

Neome, the chief of the largest division of the Chippewas, occupied and assumed to control the southern portion of the tribal domain. The Flint River, with its northern affluents, was left a little north of the border in full Indian possession by the treaty of 1807. It was called by the savages Pewonunkening or the River of the Flint, and by the early French traders, La Pierre. The latter, also called the ford, a few rods below the present Flint City bridge, Grand Traverse; while to the village in the neighborhood of the ford, the Indians gave the name-Mus-cu-ta-wa-ingh -- which translated means "the open plain burned over."

In point of geographical location, the chief Neome and his powerful band stood on the very threshold of the trail leading to the Northwest. To any one standing at Detroit and looking northerly to the land lying west of the Lake and River St. Clair, it was plain that Neome stood indeed a lion in the path, unless well disposed toward the American settlers. The old chief 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 persuaded by any benefactor who should appeal to his Indian sense of gratitude; harmless and kind-hearted. In stature, he was short and heavily molded. With his own people, he was a chief of patriarchal goodness, and his name was never mentioned by his people except with a certain veneration, and in more recent years with a traditionary sorrow, more impressive in its mournful simplicity than a labored epitaph.

In the month of April, 1825, the Saginaw savage-Kish-kaw-ko-killed a Huron warrior at Detroit, on the spot now forming the center of the D. & M. R. R. depot. The dead Indian was taken to a blacksmith's shop, then occupying the site of the Russell House, where the Coroner- Benjamin Woodworth-held an inquest. Kish-kaw-ko and his son were interred in the old fort, after the jury declared the older savage guilty, and the Coroner sent him to await trial; a squaw brought the chief some hemlock, which he drank eagerly, and died. His son, who was no party to the deed, escaped. He sought a trail homeward by the Clinton River, was recognized by some of the Hurons, and pursued almost to the camping ground of his tribe. This Chippewa desperado and his son Chemick, were among the principal allies of the English in the war of 1812. Both were known to the pioneers of St. Clair, for in that quarter of the peninsula those ruffians, with their followers from the Saginaw, attacked men, women, and children indiscriminately. They did not enter into any battles, their warfare being only against the defenseless or unwary.

OKEMOS.

This well-known Indian, a nephew of Pontiac, and once the head chief of the Otchipwe nation, was born near Knagg's Station, on the Shiawassee, about the year 1763. The earliest account of him states that he went forth on the war-path in 1793. In the "Legends of the Northwest," by' Judge Littlejohn, the old chief is introduced in 1803. Okemos took a prominent part in the battle of Sandusky, which won for him the name of the greatest warrior and the chief of his tribe. It appears

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that himself, his cousin, Man-i-to-corb-way, with sixteen other warriors, enlisted under the British flag, formed a scouting party in search of American scalps, and ultimately reached the British ren- dezvous at Sandusky. Speaking of this period, the old scalp-taker said : " One morning while lying in ambush near a road lately cut for the passage of the American army and supply wagons, we saw twenty cavalrymen approaching us. Our ambush was located on a slight ridge, with brush directly in our front. We immediately decided to attack the Americans, although they outnum- bered us. Our plan was first to fire and cripple them, and then make a dash with the tomahawk. We waited until they came so near that we could count the buttons on their coats, when firing commenced. The cavalrymen, with drawn sabers, immediately charged upon the Indians. The plumes of the cavalrymen looked like a flock of a thousand pigeons just hovering for a lighting. Myself and my cousin fought side by side, loading and firing, while dodging from one cover to another. In less than ten minutes after the firing began the sound of a bugle was heard, and cast- ing our eyes in the direction of the sound, we saw the roads and woods filled with cavalry. The Indians were immediately surrounded, and every man cut down. All were left for dead upon the field. Myself and my cousin had our skulls cloven, and our bodies gashed in a fearful manner. The cavalrymen, before leaving the field, in order to be sure life was extinct, would lean forward from their horses and pierce the breasts of the Indians, even into their lungs. The last I remem- ber is, that after emptying one saddle, and springing toward another soldier, with clubbed rifle raised to strike, my head felt as if pierced with a red-hot iron, and I went down from a heavy saber-cut. All knowledge ceased from this time until many moons afterward, when I found myself nursed by the squaws of friends, who had found me where I fell, two or three days after the engagement. The squaws thought all were dead ; but upon moving the bodies of myself and Manitocorbway, signs of life appeared, and we were taken to a place of safety, where we were nursed until restored to partial health."

Okemos and his cousin never took part in a battle since that time, having satisfied themselves that they were wrong then.

Shortly after his recovery, he asked Col. Gabriel Godfroy, father of Richard Godfroy, of Grand Rapids, to intercede for him with Gen. Cass, which resulted in a treaty between the United States and himself and other chiefs, a treaty faithfully observed. In 1837, the small-pox and other causes tended to scatter the band near Knagg's Station, where they were located. Previous to this time, he was accustomed to wear a blanket-coat with belt, steel pipe, hatchet, tomahawk, and a long English hunting-knife. He painted his checks and forehead with vermilion, wore a shawl round his head a la Turc, and leggings. The old scalp-taker for the English died in his wigwam, a few miles from Lansing, and was buried at Shimnicon, in Ionia County, December 5, 1858.

INDIANS IN 1812.

The peaceful relations of the settlers remained undisturbed until the war of 1812. In the summer of 1813, the hostility of the savages began to manifest itself. One night the whites received warning, through a friendly squaw, that a massacre was meditated, and to escape this im- pending danger, they fled to Detroit. Before reaching Lake St. Clair, they met a pioneer named King, and Rodd, the husband of Old Mother Rodd. These men were cautioned not to proceed ; but heedless of the friendly warning both urged their canoe up the St. Clair, and the day following were massacred by the infuriated savages of the Canadian shore, the principal murderer being Wawanosh, who died near Sarnia a few years ago. Other Indians, such as Wapoose, Old Salt, and Black Foot, were prominent among the allies of the British.

EARLY TRADERS AND INTERPRETERS.

Henry Connor, or Wah-be-sken-dip, was superior to all the traders of that period in disposition and manner. He was a man possessing great muscular strength, yet gentle as a child, and only physically powerful where justice should be enforced or some important point carried. He was a faithful interpreter between the Indian councilors and United States Commissioners during treaty negotiations. After the treaty of 1819, he entered on a trader's life, and continued to the close to merit the confidence and esteem of the savages, Frenchmen and Americans. Connor was present at the death of Tecumseh October 5, 1813, when James Whitty encountered the great Indian and killed him. Whitty and Gen. Johnson, he stated, attacked the warrior simultaneously, but the former began and ended that act in the battle of the Thames.

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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

Henry Nelson, another Indian trader known to the old settlers of St. Clair, removed from the Huron to the Saginaw district in 1820, and thence with the Indians to Isabella County, where he died a few years ago.

The St. Martins were an old and respectable family. The first of the name who came to America was Adhemar Sieur de St. Martin. He settled in Quebec, and held the office of Royal Notary as early as 1660. One of his grandchildren came to Detroit in 1740. In April, 1750, is recorded a grant of land (a portion of the now Cass farm) to Jean Baptists Labutte dit St. Martin. It was his son who became interpreter of the Huron language, and who figured conspicuously during the Pontiac conspiracy in 1763. His services were highly appreciated by Gladwyn, who, in his sweeping denunciation of the inhabitants during the siege, always excepted his interpreter, St. Martin. In 1760, he married Marianne, the second daughter of Robert Navarre (Tonton, the Writer, as he was called, to distinguish him from his son Robert, whose soubriquet was Robishe, the Speaker). At the marriage of St. Martin and Marianne Navarre, De Bellestre, the last French commander of Fort Pontchartrain, was present. His family history was closely woven in the destiny of this fort of La Mothe Cadillac. De Tonty and another De Bellestre, uncles of his, had been among its first commanders. It was a melancholy irony of fate, that he should be obliged to resign to the English the post which his ancestors had struggled so nobly to retain. De Bellestre organized the first militia in this part of the country, and gave the command to his brother-in-law, Alexis de Ruisseaux, who had married a Godfrey. St. Martin died a few years after his marriage, leaving a young widow and three children-one boy and two girls.

Dr. George Christian Anthon, or Anthony as he was called by his French relatives, and who married in 1770 Marianne Navarre, the widow of St. Martin, was born August 25, 1734, at Salzugen, in the Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen. His family was a very old and distinguished one. He devoted himself to surgery, passed two satisfactory examinations, the second before the College of Surgeons in Amsterdam. He left Germany in 1754, and sailed as Surgeon in the Dutch West India trade. The vessel was captured by a British privateer and he was brought to New York. Though in a strange country, without means or acquaintances, his abilities were recognized and he was appointed Surgeon to the First Battalion, Sixtieth Regiment, Royal Americans. In 1760, he was detached with the battery which, under Maj. Rogers, took possession of Detroit. Here he met his fate in Marianne Navarre, the young widow of St. Martin. They were married in 1770.

Jean Provençal, or Awishtoia, appointed Indian blacksmith by Gen. Cass, possessed many good qualities which endeared him to the whites as well as to the Indians. William Tucker and other old residents of St. Clair remember him well, and substantiate what has been said of him.

Edward Campau, or Now-o-ke-shick, lost an arm from the accidental discharge of his rifle while hunting in this county. Notwithstanding the rude surgical operation, which only the medicine man of that time could perform, he survived and continued among the most active and popular trappers of this district, until his journey to the Northwest.

Gabriel Godfroy, known as Menissid, was a trader from the lower Huron country. He was one of the family to whom was deeded the land where Ypsilanti now stands. His visits to the upper Huron or Clinton were few, yet his acquaintance among the French and American pioneers of St. Clair was extensive. Richard Godfroy, his son, now dwells at Grand Rapids in this State.

Archibald Lyons was, like many of the white inhabitants of the country bordering on Lake St. Clair, engaged in trapping. In 1818, he left the district (now known as Macomb and St. Clair Counties) for the Saginaw Valley, where he married the beauty of the tribe, Ka-ze-zhe-ah-be-no- qua. This woman was a French half-breed, peculiarly superior to all around her, highly intelli- gent, and in possession of principles which could not sanction a wrong. Lyons, while skating down the Saginaw River, in 1827, to play for a dancing party, fell through the ice and was never seen again. After the death of her husband, the widowed Ka-ze-zhe-ah-be-no-qua married Antoine Peltier, who moved from Harrison Township to Lower Saginaw.

François Tremble, grandfather of the Trembles referred to in this section of the work, was well known from Montreal to Detroit and the Riviere aux Hurons so early as 1782. Ten years later-1792-he visited the Saginaw Indians, which proved to be his first and last exploratory trip. It appears this adventurous Frenchman was drowned while flying far away from an Indian camp. The story of his death states that he made a spear-head for an Indian, to be used in killing musk- rats ; another Indian came forward to beg a similar favor, and for him Tremble made still a better spear-head. Indian No. 1 grew jealous, abused the good hunter, and ultimately stabbed him in

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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

the back. Retiring to his boat, he set sail for his home on Lake St. Clair, but never reached the place. It is supposed he was knocked overboard by the boom of his boat, and was drowned in the waters of Lake Huron.

Capt. Joseph F. Marsac was born near Detroit on Christmas Day, 1793, and was known from his native place to Fort St. Joseph or Gratiot, and thence to Michilimackinac. Marsac was the happiest model of the Franco-American. Genial as man could be, he endeared himself to all around him, to all with whom he came in contact. During the Black Hawk war excitement, he was one of the first to organize a military company and take the field, with the rank of Captain.

Capt. Leon Snay, a hunter and trapper of great repute, belonged to the better class of French traders, and held the military commission of Captain. Like Marsac, he was well known to all the old American settlers of St. Clair, as well as to the Indians and his own people.

Peter Gruette, François Corbin, John Harsen, with other traders, hunters, trappers and inter- preters, who established temporary posts on the Clinton, Flint, Shiawassee, Black River, etc., made this county a rendezvous, and won the respect of the American pioneers.

Alexander St. Bernard, Anselm Petit, George McDougal and many others mentioned in this history were all known to the Indian inhabitants.

Harvey Williams, of Detroit, now of Saginaw, one of the few survivors of the Detroit settlers or 1818, in his journey to Saginaw in 1822, with supplies for the troops stationed there, had to ford the Clinton River at five different points. The Indians and first American settlers of St. Clair knew Uncle Harvey well. Though not a trader in the full sense of the term, his dealings with the savages as well as with the civilized inhabitants were extensive and honorable.

Dunoir or Du Nor, was one of the first and best known interpreters under American rule. His order to the Indians was a law. It is related that upon one occasion, he visited the house of John Tucker and asked him to tell the chief of the Salt River band to meet him at the Tucker House on Friday night. Onowisickaw, brother of Francis Macompte, met him as appointed, and both went into the forest in the darkness of that winter's night. This visit resulted in finding a United States cavalry horse stolen from Detroit.

Leon St. George, born at Montreal, Canada, in 1774, came to Michigan in his youth and made a settlement between Detroit and the Clinton or Reviere Aux Hurons. This French Canadian after- ward removed to Detroit, and cleared the land where the city hall stands, as well as many acres in the vicinity. When the war of 1812 broke out, St. George joined the American troops, and fought through it to its close. After the close of the campaign, he became a trader among the Hurons and Chippewas, and was well known to the pioneers of St. Clair County. His death took place in 1880.

Oliver Williams settled at Detroit in 1807, where he engaged in mercantile life, and became one of the largest dealers then in the Peninsula, bringing at one time from Boston a stock of goods valued at $64,000. In 1811, the sloop-Friends' Good Will-was built for him, which was captured by the British and called the Little Belt.

Capt. John Farley, of the United States Artillery, was among the early visitors to this section of the State.

Michel, Medor, Joseph, Benoit, Leon and Louis Tremble, whose grandfather is referred to in this chapter, were among the traders known to the Indians, French and Americans of this county previous to and for years after its organization.

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History of St. Clair County, Michigan, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources, its war record, biographical sketches, the whole preceded by a history of Michigan, Part 25

Author: Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Chicago, A.T. Andreas & Co. Number of Pages: 818

Author:
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, A.T. Andreas & Co.
Number of Pages: 818