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 29

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 29

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About nine or ten o'clock in the evening, a deputation of young ladies abducted the bride, as it were, and placed her in her little bed. In accomplishing this, they had usually to as- cend a ladder from the kitchen to the upper floor. Here in this simple pioneer bridal chamber, the young, simple-minded girl was put to bed by her enthusiastic friends. This done, a dep- utation of young men escorted the groom to the same apartment, and placed him snugly by the side of his bride. Meanwhile the dance continued. If seats were scarce, which was gener- ally the case, every young man, when not engaged in the dance, was obliged to offer his lap

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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

as a seat for one of the girls-an offer sure to be accepted. During the night's festivities, spirits. were freely used, but seldom to great excess. The infair was held on the following evening, when the same order of exercises was observed.

FORM OF MARRIAGE RECORD.

TERRITORY OF MICHIGAN, TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

COUNTY OF ST. CLAIR.

Know ye that on this day, the twenty-sixth of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty, Louis Bertrand and Maria Petit have been joined in the holy bonds of matrimony, according to law, at St. Clair, by the undersigned.

F. J. BADIN, Catholic Missionary in the Territory of Michigan. LETTER OF INQUIRY.

The following is a verbatim copy of the letter, with no alteration in the orthography or punctuation:

April the 8 1870.

Squire miney Sir about eight yeares ago Susanahn burse was mearrid to augustus Christy I sed eight but It Is nine was marrid by Squire miney now what I want to know If our mearrig was recordid it will be a to youre inrest to informm mee of the particklars i want to know emadialy if you please.

Please direct LGrensburg India

Susanahn Christy

If this leter does fall in in Squire mineys hand eney Squire will do please informe me if to parties is will to be divorse how much will cost to get it.

Some lawyear of port huron i dont care hoo that will take it upon his self to in formm mee of the pear- tikalars i will rewarde him also.

THE PIONEER FUNERAL.

The occurrence of religious worship was a stated means of friendly meeting, so that most of the settlers were in the habit of attending, although they were not all professors of religion. To enjoy such meetings many came long distances. Nor were they so delicate or so daintily dressed that a threatening cloud kept them at home. Perhaps it was on funeral occasions that social sympathy found most conspicuous expression. Few of the settlers were absent at such times. There was no officiating sexton, no pall, no hearse, then. The people met at the house of the bereaved, then formed in double file, and slowly wended their way to the schoolhouse, where services were held. In procession the able bodied men went first as bearers, and by successive changes carried on their shoulders the rude bier on which rested the coffin. The services over, the processionists resumed the march, and with silent tread proceeded to the open grave. Here thanks were given to the attendants by the clergy in behalf of mourning friends. Then followed timely admonition, and the fervent prayer, the filling of the grave by the same strong hands, then the benediction, and then the wending of ways to the sad homes of those who mourned, and of those who most sincerely sympathized.

THE OLD POST OFFICE.

A special event was the arrival of the weekly mail. The old red chest, upon which the con- tents of the pouch were cast, was often surrounded then, as such a one might be now, with pal- pitating hearts, waiting to be glad or sad, as something or nothing was in store for them. There were lovers then, as now, and to them as these, the mails were slow coaches. There were poli- ticians, too, panting for the latest news, all alive to learn whether Adams or Jackson was the victor. And then there were those lonely hearts who had left the dear old homes far away to the eastward, who never ceased to dwell upon the memories of their childhood, and to think of dear ones left behind. At even-time in more than one little hamlet, when the tinkling of the cow-bell and the song of the whip-poor-will were just beside the door, and the cricket sang his hearth song, dew drops were falling outside, and tear drops within. Usually a visit after- ward to the old homestead was a panacea for all these ills, and most returned from the east ern visit weaned from the old home and ever after happy in the new.

Letters in such days as these, how precious they were, read and re-read, worn out by read- ing, worn into the memory. . Letters then were of joyful import, and then, as now, letters breath- ing saddest sorrows, telling them as only stricken hearts can sometimes write when griefs are too great for other utterance.

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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

RETROSPECT.

How natural to turn our eyes and thoughts back to the log cabin days, and contrast them with the homes of the present time. Before us stands the old log cabin. Let us enter. In- stinctively the head is uncovered in token of reverence to this relic of ancestral beginnings and early struggles. To the left is the deep, wide fire-place, in whose commodious space a group of children may sit by the fire, and up through the chimney may count the stars; while ghostly stories of witches and giants, and still more thrilling stories of Indians and wild beasts, are whisperingly told, and shudderingly heard. On the great crane hang the old tea kettle and the great iron pot. The huge shovel and tongs stand sentinel in either corner; while the great andirons patiently wait for the huge back log. Over the fire-place hangs the trusty rifle; on the right side of the hearth stands the spinning wheel; while in the further end of the room, is the loom, looming up with a dignity peculiarily its own. Strings of drying apples and poles of drying pumpkins are overhead. Opposite the door by which you enter stands a huge deal table; by its side the dresser, with pewter plates and shining delf catching and reflect- ing the fire-place flame, as shields of armies do the sunshine. From the corner of its shelves coyly peep out the relics of former china. In a curtained corner, and hid from casual sight, we find the mother's bed; and under it, the trundle bed; while near them a ladder indicates a garret where the older children sleep. To the left of the fire-place, and in the corner opposite, the spinning wheel forms the mother's work-stand; upon it lies the Holy Bible, evidently much used-its family record telling of parents and friends a long way off, and telling, too, of children

" Scattered like roses in bloom; Some at the bridal, and some in the tomb."

Her spectacles, as if just used, are inserted between the leaves of her Bible and tell of her purpose to return to its comforts when cares permit and duty is done. A stool, a bench, well notched and whittled, and carved, and a few chairs, complete the furniture of the room. All these articles stand on the coarse, but well scoured floor. Let us for a moment watch the city visitors to this humble cabin. The city bride, innocent, thoughtless and ignorant of labor and care, asks her city-bred husband, May, what savage has set this up?" Honestly confess- ing his ignorance, he replies, "I do not know." Then see the couple upon whom age sets, frosty but kindly. First as they enter, they give a rapid glance about the cabin home, and then a mutual glance of eye to eye. Why do tears start and fill their eyes? Why do lips quiver? There are many who know why; but who, that has not learned in the school of experience the full meaning of all these symbols of trials and privations, of loneliness and danger, can com- prehend the story they tell to the pioneer? Within this chinked and mud-daubed cabin, we read the first pages of our history, and as we retire through its low doorway, and note the heavy battened door, with its wooden hinges, and its welcoming latch-string, is it strange that the outside scenes would seem to be but a dream ? The cabin and the palace standing side by side, in vivid contrast, tell the story of the people's progress -- they are history and prophecy in one.

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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

FRENCH PIONEERS.

T `HE history of the French in Michigan begins with the coming of Joseph Le Carron, a French Recollet priest, in 1615, to St. Joseph Island Mackinac, the Sault, and southward to the foot of Lake Huron. In 1623, Rev. Nicholas Veil and Frere Gabriel Sagard -- the first his- torian of Michigan -traversed the country bordering on Lake Huron In 1628-30, Jean Nic- olet, the explorer of Wisconsin, traversed the upper lake region; afterward Peres Isaac Jacques and Raymbault visited the Indians along the western shores of the lake, as recorded by Peres Druillets and Marest. Then came Marquette, Joliet, La Salle, Hennepin. To those early ex- plorers we must look for the foundation of the history of the great West, and of Michigan in particular.

LA SALLE AND HENNEPIN.

The Griffin was finished August 4, 1679, and her sails set, a trial trip made, and the name she bore bestowed upon her by Father Hennepin. On the 5th, five small cannon were placed in position. The 7th was the day appointed for entering upon that voyage over the Gitchi Gomee, or great inland seas. The morning arrived, the sun shown forth as it were a sea of gold, a favoring breeze played upon the waters, the cataract of Niagara, six miles below, reduced its roar to music, while from La Salle's new fortress the song of the Te Deum swelled upon the morning air. The sails were set, Robert de la Salle, commander of the Grif- fin, Father Lonis Hennepin, historian and chaplain, with the pilot, and a number of hunters and trappers, were embarked, the cables which kept the little vessel fast were unloosed, and their voyage toward the setting sun entered upon.

]Three days after setting out, the vessel was anchored opposite Teuchsagrondie, a Huron vil- lage then occupying the site of the present city of Detroit. From this point to the head of the St. Clair River, many Indian villages were found to exist, all of them unacquainted with the white man, save that small knowledge of him which they might have gained during the brief stay of the Jesuit fathers. Seven years after the Griffin succeeded in battling with the fierce current which then swept past the present site of Fort Gratiot, M. du Lhut caused the position to be garrisoned, and a strongly fortified trading post to be erected. This was completed in the fall of 1686, and the name of Fort St. Joseph conferred upon it, but its possession was so opposed to the ideas of French economy, that in July, 1688, the garrison received orders to evacuate the post, and to report at Michilimackinac.

On July 24, 1701, Monsieur de la Motte Cadillac, Capts. Tonti, Chacornacle and Dugue. in command of fifty regular troops, arrived at Detroit. The expedition was accompanied by a Recollet Chaplain and a Jesuit Father, who had come as a missionary priest, together with fifty trappers, traders and hunters. Before the close of August, 1701, the first fort erected in Michigan, if we except Du Lhut's fortified trading post, at the head of the St. Clair, was a real- ity. This occupied the ground extending from the Joseph Campau homestead to Shelby, and thence to Woodbridge street, a point now removed from the river bank, but which at that time would represent the head of the bank itself. The position was called Fort Pontchartrain.

Within a few years, 1703, thirty Hurons from Michilimackinac became settled at De- troit. Between 1701 and September, 1703, the settlement was further strengthened by bands of Ontawa-Sinagos, Miamis, Kiskakons and Loups, all flocking to Fort Pontchartrain, to wit- ness the magnificence of La Motte Cadillac and his command. Previous to 1706, the number of enemies made for himself by Cadillac among his own countrymen brought many and serious troubles into the very heart of the French posts at Detroit and at Michilimackinac. During the troubles at Detroit, Rev. Father Constantine and Jean la Reviere were stabbed by the Ont- awas, during their circumvallation of the fort, which continued forty days; until they raised the siege.

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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

In 1707, Jean la Blanc, second chief of the Ontawas, with Le Brochet, Meykaouka, Sakima, Kinonge, Meaninau, Menekonmak and another chief visited the Governor of Montreal, and of- fered to make restitution; but the officer ordered them to report to Cadillac. The deputation returned to Detroit, August 6, 1707, when the commandant. Cadillac, addressed the Ontawas, Hurons, Miamis and Kiskakons in turn; the council was in session four days; but at the close the Indians agreed to deliver Le Pesant, the great disturber, into the hands of the French. He was handed over to the garrison; but unfortunately received a full pardon from Cadillac. This created a want of confidence in the French among the Miamis, Hurons and Iroquois, re- sulting in the killing of three Frenchmen, and created much disaffection in every Indian village.

In September, 1708, there were only twenty-nine inhabitants of Detroit who were the actual owners of lots and houses within the stockade. Of the entire number of acres surveyed at that time-353 roods in toto-those twenty-nine freeholders owned only forty-six roods. the Hurons one hundred and fifty roods, and the Chevalier de Cadillac 157 roods. The entire num- ber of Frenchmen at the post then was sixty-three, of whom thirty-four were traders, who sold brandy, ammunition and trinkets in that and the neighboring Indian towns. During the war between France and England, which terminated in 1713, trouble after trouble surrounded De- troit. In 1712, Outagamies and Mascoutins laid siege to Fort Pontchartrain, then in charge of M. du Buisson, with thirty soldiers. The church and other buildings outside the stockade were pulled down, lest the besiegers would set fire to the pile with a view of burning the fort itself. The circumvallation of the post and hourly assaults on it, were kept up for a period of thirty days, when the Indian allies of the French arrived from their hunting expeditions- both Hurons and Miamis, drove the Outagamies and Mascoutins to their intrenchments, and confined them there for nineteen days, until in the darkness of night they withdrew to Presque Isle, twelve miles above Detroit. Thither the Hurons and Miamis pursued them, and forced a capitulation, which resulted in the massacre of all the men of both tribes, and the captivity of their wives and children. The Outagamies and Mascoutins who were not actually killed on the Island, were brought to Detroit, where the Hurons continued to destroy four, five and six per day, until the last of those warriors who laid siege to the post were no more. The massacre resulted in the death of 800 men, women and children belonging to the besieging tribes at the hands of the Hurons and Miamis.

The decade closing in 1724 was one which tried the souls of the French inhabitants of Detroit. The sale of brandy and other abuses were prohibited and a great moral change effected in the manners, customs and habits of the white garrison and settlers. A council of the Hu- rons, Ottawas and Pottawatomies was held near the fort June 7, 1721, under Capt. Tonti, then commandant. The great Indian Sastarexy of the Huron tribe was the principal speaker, and the results obtained were of a comparatively conciliating character, so much so that by the year 1725 the Outagamie savages acknowledged the French king in precisely the same manner as did the other allies of the French. About this period, also, the log house, known as St. Anne's Church, was built, new barracks erected, about forty-five dwelling houses brought into exis- tence, and the new stockade, with bastions and block-houses raised. The circular road or chemin du ronde was laid out, and numerous improvements made in the vicinity of the Gov- ernment House. In 1746, the old French war may be said to renew itself; but not until 1749 did the contest with the English soldiers take any regular form. A decade later, the French power in Canada was destroyed, and in 1760 all the French possessions, from Lake Michi- gan to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, were in the hands of the conquering Normans and Anglo-Sax- ons. Capt. Bellestre, then commandant at Detroit, surrendered to Maj. Robert Rogers in October, 1760.

In 1762, the famous Indian, Pontiac, called a council of the tribes at La Riviere a l' Ecorse near Detroit, at which council the Ottawas, Chippewas and Pottawatomies, of Grand, Sagi- naw, Clinton, Black and St. Joseph Rivers, were present, together with the Indians of Detroit and bands of Delawares, Iroquois, Illinois and Senecas. Minavavana, head chief of the Ojib- was, adopted a plan similar to that of Pontiac, and succeeded in destroying the soldiers of the English garrison at Michilimackinac. Pontiac's strategy failed at Detroit.

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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY. .

The historian, Bancroft, referring to Detroit and St. Clair districts as they appeared to the settlers of 1763, just previous to Pontiac's military enterprise, says: "Of all the inland settle- ments, Detroit was the largest and most esteemed. The deep, majestic river, more than a half mile broad, carrying its vast flood calmly between the straight and well defined banks, im- parted a grandeur to a country whose rising grounds and meadows, plains festooned with pro- lific wild vines, woodlands, brooks and fountains were so mingled together that nothing was left to desire. The climate was mild and the air salubrious. Good land abounded, yielding maize, wheat and every vegetable. The forests were natural parks stocked with buffalo, deer, quail, partridge and wild turkey. Water fowl of delicious flavor hovered along its streams, which streams also yielded to the angler a large quantity of fish, particularly white fish. There every luxury of the table might be enjoyed at the sole expense of labor."

This cheerful region attracted both the barbarian and the child of civilization; the French had so occupied both banks of the river that their numbers were rated as high as 2,500, of whon 500 were liable to and able for military service -representing 300 or 400 French fami. lies. However, an enumeration made in 1764 points out just sufficient white men there to form three military companies; while four years later the census of the place places the entire popu- lation at 572. The French dwelt on farms which were about three or four acres wide on the river front, and eighty acres deep.

The fort, then under Maj. Gladwyn, did not vary much from that known in the days of French dominion. Close by, Catharine, the Pocahontas of Detroit, lived. She it was who informed Gladwyn of the intentions of the Indians; she, who related to William Tucker, one of the soldiers at the fort, the story of Pontiac's plot, and made him acquainted with the designs of that Indian chieftain, and to hor is due in full measure, the averting of that terrible doom, which hung so heavily over the English garrison of Detroit, May 6, 1763. The death of Maj. Campbell at the hands of an Indian, whose uncle had been killed by the English at Michilmackinac, the sixty days' siege, the capture of the English supply convoy, within sight of the fort, and the round of duty imposed upon the soldiers, are all characteristic of that time. William Tucker, one of whose descendants has taken a deep interest in the history of this district, states: "I was a sentinel on the ramparts, catching a few hours' sleep, with my clothes on and a gun by my side, for sixty days and nights." During the last day of July and the 1st. of August, 1763, Capt. Dalzell's force was surprised near Maloche' house, and lost seventy men killed and forty wounded. For some years after this affair, Detroit was free from Indian assaults, treaties of peace were negotiated, and everything resumed that happy stand- ard reached under the French. Now, however, the echoes of the Revolution were heard at Detroit; Maj. Le Noult, a Frenchman in the English service, built Fort le Noult in 1778 in antic- ipation of the American siege, and this name the new fortress bore until 1812, when the name Fort Shelby was conferred upon it. Soon the American General St. Clair, Anthony Wayne, Earmar, and the soldiers of the Revolution came to claim the Northwest Territory as organized by Congress in 1787. The treaty of Greenville negotiated, August, 1795, with the Indians, conveyed Detroit and the entire Northwest to the United States. and one year later, Capt. Por- ter, in command of a company of United States troops, entered Detroit, and placed the stars and stripes and fleur-de-lis where the English flag so recently floated. Previously, the British garrison evacuated the post, after committing many acts of the lowest description, and placed it in possession of an old African, with whom the keys were subsequently found.

From this period until 1805, the settlement of Detroit and the lake and river shore grad- ually advanced, which the fire of 1805 did not retard. In 1806, Tecumseh and Ellshwatawa, at the head of the Indian confederacy, threatened Detroit and the settlements along the lake and Riviere aux Hurons, or Clinton, as far north as Mackinac, but the treaty of 1807 between that enigmatical Governor-Hull -- and the Ottawas, Chippewas, Pottawatomies and Wyandots, was effective in allaying excitement, and in conferring a spirit of confidence on the settlers.

The war against the British, declared by Congress June 18, 1812, was unfortunate for the Northwest in many respects, as there was nothing in readiness to meet the well-organized British troops. All this resulted in the scandalous, if not treacherous, surrender of Hull. Gen. Har- rison's command eventually took possession of Detroit; Col. Lewis Cass was commissioned

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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

Governor, and under his able administration, Michigan entered upon that political, social and commercial course which led her to her present greatness.

PRIVATE CLAIMS.

Soon after the organization of the Northwest Territory, the subject of claims to private property therein received much attention. By an act of Congress, approved March 3, 1805, lands lying in the districts of Vincennes, Kaskaskia and Detroit, which were claimed by virtue of French or British grants, legally and fully executed, or by virtue of grants issued under the authority of any former act of Congress by either of the Governors of the Northwest or In- diana Territory, which had already been surveyed, were, if necessary, to be re-surveyed; and persons claiming lands under these grants were to have until November 1, 1805, to give notice of the same. Commissioners were to be apppointed to examine, and report at the next session of Congress. An act was also passed, approved April 25, 1806, to authorize the granting of patents for lands, according to Government surveys that had been made, and to grant donation rights to certain claimants of land in the district of Detroit, and for other purposes. Another act was approved May 11, 1820, reviving the powers of the Commissioners for ascertaining and deciding on claims in the district of Detroit, and for settling the claims to land at Green Bay and Prairie du Chien, in the Territory of Michigan; the Commissioners discharged the duties imposed on them, and in their report to Congress in reference to the claims, they said that the antiquity of settlement being, in their view, sufficiently established, and that they being also satisfied that the Indian title must be considered to have been extinguished, decide favorably on the claims presented. the Government. About seventy-five titles were confirmed, and patents for the same were sent to the proper parties by In relation to the Prairie du Chien titles, they reported "that they met few difficulties in their investigations; that, notwithstanding the high antiquity which may be claimed for the settlement of that place, no one perfect title founded on French or British grants, legally authenticated, had been successfully made out; and that but few deeds of any sort have been ex- hibited." This they attributed to the carelessness of the Canadians in respect to whatever con- cerned their land titles, and accords with whatever is known in this regard, of the French pop- ulation throughout the country. They therefore came to the conclusion that whatever claims the people of the place possessed, and might have for a confirmation of their land titles, they must be founded upon proof of continued possession since the year 1796. The Commissioners. further say, that "since the ancestors of these settlers were cut off, by the treaty which gave the Canadas to the English, from all intercourse with their parent country, the people have been left, until within a few years, quite isolated, almost without any government but their own; and, although the present population of these settlements are natives of the countries which they inhabit, and, consequently, by birth citizens of the Northwest yet, until a few years, they have had as little political connection with its government as their ancesters had with the British. Ignorant of their civil rights, careless of their land titles, docility, habit- ual hospitality, cheerful submission to the requisitions of any government which may be set over them, are their universal characteristics." In reference to grants by the French and En- glish Governments, the Commissioners say they "have not had access to any public ar- chives, by which to ascertain with positive certainty whether either the French or English ever effected a formal extinguishment of the Indian title at many points, which also may be said of the land now covered by the city of Detroit, that the French Government was not accus- tomed to hold formal treaties for such purposes with the Indians, and when the lands have been actually procured from them, either by virtue of the assumed right of conquest, or by purchase, evidence of such acquisition is rather to be sought in the traditionary history of the country, or in the casual or scanty relations of travelers, than among collections of state papers. Tradition does recognize the fact of the extinguishment of the Indian title by the old French Government, before its surrender to the English; and by the same species of testi- mony, more positive because more recent, it is established also, that, in the year 1781, Pat- rick Sinclair, Lieutenant Governor of the province of Upper Canada, while the English Gov- ernment had jurisdiction over this country, made a formal purchase from the Indians of the lands comprehending the settlments at St. Clair and in the vicinity of Mackinac.

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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 29

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