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 3

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 3

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" They accordingly repaired to the spot and deliberated together, resolving to act with their father, as they usually do with those whom they respect. They opened the grave, unrolled the body, and though the flesh and intestines were all dried up, they found it entire, without the skin being injured. This did not pre- vent their dissecting it according to custom. They washed the bones and dried them in the sun ; then putting them neatly in a box of birch bark, they set out to bear them to our house at St. Ignatius.

"The convoy consisted of nearly thirty canoes in excellent order, including even a good number of the Iroquois " (a very ferocious tribe, who were a great terror to other tribes and especially hostile to the Jesuits), "who had joined our Algonquins to honor the ceremony. As they approached our house Father Nouvel, who is superior, went to meet them with Father Pierson, accompanied by all the French and Indians of the place ; and having caused the convoy to stop, he made the ordinary interrogations to verify the fact that the body which they bore was really Father Marquette. Then before they landed he intoned the De Profundis in sight of the thirty canoes still on the water, and of all the people still on the shore. After this the body was carried to the church, observing all that the ritual prescribes for such ceremonies. It remained exposed under his catafalque all that day, which was Whitsun Monday, the 8th of June, and the next day, when all the funeral honors had been paid to it, it was deposited in a little vault in the middle of the church, where he reposes as the guardian angel of our Ottawa missions."

So far the invaluable record of Dablon. We come now to 1706, when for well- known reasons, for which we can not pause, the Jesuits at St. Ignace broke up their mission, set fire to their house and chapel and returned to Quebec. What became of the bones of Marquette ? Did they carry them with them to Quebec? No; they left in haste, and fled almost as for their lives. "There is nothing in Canadian registers, which are extensive, full and well preserved." "Charlevoix, who was at Quebec on the return of the missionaries, is silent." There is little

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doubt, therefore, that the precious remains of the great explorer still lay in the chapel.

But the very site of the chapel was soon lost. The new chapel, still standing, was confessedly not on the site of the old one. Could the old site ever be identi- fied ? It seemed very doubtful indeed. True, there were a few local and legen- dary traditions to which reference was made some years since in his correspondence by the Hon. E. G. D. Holden, our present Secretary of State.

An Indian now living in St. Ignace told me early last Summer that " his father told him, and that his father told him," and pointed out to him the place on the shore of the bay where a black cross used to stand, which was understood to "point out the direction" of the good father's grave, and where the voyagers would invoke his blessing. I also have it in writing from a very intelligent Indian, that last Sum- mer he called on an aged Indian woman in Petoskey, claiming to be in her 100th year. "I asked her if she had heard, when a girl, anything concerning the Kitchi- ma-ka-da-na-co-na-yay, or "great priest." She said, "Yes. He died at the mouth of the river, and his body was carried to Min-is-sing,"i. e. to St. Ignace.

These are but specimens of many similar traditions ; but would there ever be anything more than tradition ?

Early in July I heard in Detroit for the first time, from Col. Stockbridge, who has a large lumber interest in St. Ignace ; that when he left there was a report that the site of the old chapel had been discovered. If so, thought I, then we have found Pere Marquette's grave at last-for the one statement in which all seem to agree is that he was buried in the middle of the chapel.

On my arrival in Mackinac I lost but little time before starting for St. Ignace. Though only four miles off we tacked a dozen times and took four hours, and worked hard at that.

On reaching Mr. Murray's house, where the supposed discovery had been made, I found precisely what had been described a few days before by a correspon- dent of the Evening News.

THE RECENT DISCOVERIES AT ST. IGNACE.

SHALL WE, OR SHALL WE NOT, RECOVER THE BONES OF MARQUETTE ? Correspondence of the Evening News.

Mackinac, July 12, 1877.

The readers of the Evening News will recollect the recently reported discovery at St. Ignace of the site of the mission chapel founded by Father Marquette in 1670, and under the pavement of which his bones were subsequently deposited. The account created considerable sensation among antiquaries. Being in Mackinac, within four miles of St. Ignatius, I improved the opportunity to cross over and see for myself what the discoveries amounted to. The little steamer Truscott crosses

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each afternoon ; fare fifty cents. A few steps from the landing we turn into a potato patch, just beyond which the boy who pilots us suddenly announces, "Here's the place." At first glance nothing can be observed more than might be noticed on any vacant lot in Detroit. A closer examination, however, reveals a very slight trench about a foot and a half wide, forming a rectangle 35 by 45 feet and located very nearly, if not exactly, with the points of the compass, the longer measurement being in the direction of east and west. At places in this trench rough stones lay embedded in the earth. At the southern side of the space, about nine feet from the western side, is a hole say three feet deep and eight or ten square, and in the southeast corner another smaller hole. Until the present Spring the site has been covered with a growth of young spruce, the clearing off of which led to the sup- posed discovery. The larger hole is assumed to have been a cellar under the church in which the valuables are kept; the smaller hole is thought to mark the position of the baptismal font, though why an excavation should be made for it is more than I can conjecture. A few feet west of the rectangle described above are two heaps of stone and earth, evidently the debris of two ruined chimneys. The outlines of the houses to which the chimneys belonged can also be faintly traced.

Mr. Murray, the owner of the ground, is a well-to-do Catholic Irishman, own- ing as he does 600 acres of land on the Point. He has lived on the place for twenty years past, and before that lived on Mackinac Island. He is inclined to be super- stitious and to magnify the mystery to which he believes he holds the key. As illustrative of this he remarked in my presence that when he was about to build a cow-house some time ago, his sons wished it located on what he now believes to be the site of the ancient church, but the protecting influences of that sacred spot strangely impelled him to adopt a different location. He is confident that by dig- ging below the surface at the center of the church, the "mocock " of bones would be discovered, but thus far owing to a difference between himself and the parish priest, not a spadeful of earth has been turned. The priest believes the location to be the correct one, and is anxious to excavate, but Mr. Murray refuses to permit it without a pledge that whatever is found shall not be carried away from the Point. He offers to give ground for the erection of a church or a monument on the spot, but insists that the sacred relics, if found, must be left where they have for two centuries rested. The bishop is expected at St. Ignace shortly, when the question will be laid before him for adjustment.

Now as to the probability of the discovery being confirmed by others yet to be made, I must confess to being less sanguine than Mr. Murray and his neighbors. It is certain that the two ruined chimneys alluded to indicate the location of dwellings at some period in the past. Bits of iron, copper and looking-glass found in the debris attest this; but whether the buildings stood fifty years ago or 200 no one can posi-

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tively assert. Mr. Murray has known the spot for a quarter of a century, and can vouch for no change having occurred in that time. I think it likely that they are of a much older date. In regard to the assumed church site I think the proba- bilities favor the existence there at one time of a building of some sort. Whether it occupied the limits assumed-45 by 35 feet-is less certain, while the existence of the cellar would seem to indicate that it was a dwelling rather than a church. On the other hand, it is certain that the mission was founded in this immediate vicinity, and the Murray farm, as fronting on the most protected part of the bay, and affording the best landing for boats, is certainly as likely a spot for Marquette to have adopted as any. But nothing can be told with any certainty till thorough investigation is made.

The tradition is that the mission was founded in 1670, that Marquette subse- quently visited Wisconsin and Illinois, establishing mission stations as far up the lake as Chicago; that upon his return via the eastern shore of Lake Michigan he died at the mouth of the Pere Marquette river, where Ludington now stands, and was buried there. A few years later his bones were taken up, cleaned and packed in a mocock, or box made of birch bark, and were conveyed with due solemnity back to St. Ignace, where they were permanently deposited beneath the middle of the church. At a still later period Indian wars broke up the mission, and to protect the church from sacrilege the missionaries burned it to the ground.

I also found in the possession of the present priest of St. Ignace, Father Jaoka (pronounced Yocca), a pen and ink sketch, on which I looked with most intense interest. This invaluable drawing gives the original site of the French village, the " home of the Jesuits," the Indian village, the Indian fort on the bluff, and, most important of all, very accurately defines the contour of a little bay known as Na- dowa-Wikweiamashong-i. e., as Mr. Jacker gave it, Nadowa Huron. Wik-weia -Here is a bay. Anglice-" Little bay of the Hurons ;" or according to the Ot- chepwa dictionary of Bp. Barraga, "Bad bay of the Iroquois squaw." Of the Indian village there is no trace. Their wigwams, built only of poles and bark, have not left a single vestige. Not so with the French village. You may still see the remains of their logs and plaster, and the ruins of their chimneys. On the sup- posed site of the house of the Jesuits, some 40 by 30 feet, are found distinct out- lines of walls, a little well, and a small cellar. Immediately in the rear of the larger building are the remains of a forge, where "the brothers" used to make spades or swords, as the occasion might require.

On further inquiry of the priest, who was equally remarkable for his candor and intelligence, and the length of his beard, I found that the sketch of the house of the Jesuits was taken by him from the travels of LaHenton, originally published in France, but translated and republished in England A. D. 1772. Only a few days

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after I saw a copy of this very same book in the hands of Judge C. I. Walker, of Detroit, and was thus enabled, to my very great satisfaction, to verify the sketch as shown to me by Father Jaoka or Jacker (Yocca).

· LaHenton says: "The place which I am now in is not above half a league dis- tant from the Illinois lake. Here the Hurons and Ontawas have each of 'em (sic) a village, the one being severed from the other by a single palisade. But the On- tawas are beginning to build a fort upon a hill that stands but 1,000 or 1,200 paces off. * * In this place the Jesuits have a little house or college, adjoining to a sort of chapel and enclosed with pale, which separates it from the village of the Hurons.

" The Cuereur du Paris also a very small settlement."-La Henton, vol. I., p. 88.

From that moment I entertained the most sanguine hope that the long lost grave of the good Marquette would again be found. Greatly did I regret that I could not remain a few days longer, when the exploration would be made in the presence of the excellent Bishop Mrak, and learn what would be the result. I saw nothing whatever in the well-known character of the bishop, or of the worthy pas- tor of St. Ignace to justify even for a moment the least suspicion of anything like "pious fraud."

Monday, September 3, 1877, Bishop Mrak dug out the first spadeful of ground. For a time, however, the search was discouraging. " Nothing was found that would indicate the former existence of a tomb, vaulted or otherwise," and the bishop went away. After a while a small piece of birch bark came to light, followed by numerous other fragments scorched by fire. Finally a larger and well preserved piece appeared which once evidently formed part of the bottom of an Indian-wig-wap-makak- birch-bark-box or mocock. Evidently the box had been double, such as the Indians sometimes use for greater durability in interments, and had been placed on three or four wooden sills. It was also evident that the box had not been placed on the floor but sunk in the ground, and perhaps covered with a layer of mortar. But it was equally evident that this humble tomb had been disturbed, and the box broken into, and parts of it torn out, after the material had been made brittle by the action of fire. This would explain the absence of its former contents, which," says Mr. Jacker, " what else could we think-were nothing less than Father Marquette's bones ! But what had become of them? Further search brought to light two frag- ments of bone-then thirty-six more-finally a small fragment, apparently of the skull-then similar fragments of the ribs, the hand and the thigh bone. From these circumstances then we deduce the following conclusions :

1. That of M. Pommier, the French surgeon, that these fragments of bones are undoubtedly human, and bear the marks of fire.

2. That everything goes to show " the haste of profane robbery."

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3. That this robbery was by Indian medicine men, who coveted his bones, according to their belief, as a powerful medicine.

4. That it must have taken place within a few years after the departure of the Jesuits, otherwise when the mission was renewed (about 1709), the remains would most certainly have been transferred to the new church in old Mackinac.

5. That Charlevoix, at his sojourn there in 1721, could hardly have failed to be taken to see the new tomb, and to mention the fact of its transfer in his journal, or history.

6. That if we have failed to find all the remains of the great explorer, we have at least found some, and ascertained the fact of his having been interred on that particular spot.

7. That the records answer all the circumstances of the discovery, and that the finding of these few fragments, if not as satisfactory to our wishes, is at least as good evidence for the fact in question as if we had found every bone that is in the human body.

Such are the leading points in Father Jacker's elaborate narrative, as published in the Catholic World, November, 1877, in connection with the article entitled " Romance and Reality of the Death of Father James Marquette, and the recent discovery of his remains," by John G. Shea, for which papers I am indebted to the kind courtesy of Mr. Daniel E. Hudson, C. S. C., Notre Dame, Indiana, to whom I return most cordial thanks.

While in some respects the results are not quite so satisfactory as might have been desired, yet the determination of the site of the old house of the Jesuits, the discovery of the tomb, the recovery in part of the mocock coffin, and above all, the finding of some of the bones of Marquette, are all of intense interest to every lover of early Michigan history.

Marquette, the great explorer-the oldest founder of Michigan, whose grave was found within her borders, and to whom belongs immortal honor, being the dis- coverer of the upper Mississippi and first navigator of the great river. The scat- tering of his bones, I am well persuaded, is only a symbol of the wider extension of his fame. Already his name is attached to a railroad, a river, a city, a diocese in Michigan ; but that is not enough. Some forty years ago it was foretold by Ban croft " that the people of the West will build his monument," and now the time has fully come when that prophecy will be fulfilled. Lest you might think that I say this merely out of state pride, or as a lover of antiquarian history, I will only add in conclusion that I say it out of a much higher motive, and with reference to a much higher object. In reading the life of Francis Xavier when a boy, I learned that there were some lessons for Christian laborers from the lives of the early Jesuits, that neither I nor any other man could afford to overlook. Granting that 3

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too often they sought to help what they deemed a righteous cause by what they knew to be unrighteous means, and so teach us what we should avoid, there are other lessons that we would do well to imitate. The spirit of union, which was to them so great a source of power, the cheerfulness with which they suffered for the cause that they had espoused ; the unlooked-for combinations of character in the same individuals, and above all the magnetism of personal importance and power by hav- ing a definite aim-such for example as we find in the good Marquette-belonging to any one church or order of that church, but to man as man, and to the world at large! There is only one regret that I should have in the erecting of such a mon- ument, and that is lest it should be built by our Catholic friends alone. Will they not permit us all to join-Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, and the whole Northwest -and do honor to the great explorer in a monument of natural rock, (like Monu- mental Rock, Isle Royale), the materials for which in that immediate vicinity have been so long waiting, apparently, for just such a noble purpose ?

LASALLE'S TRAVELS.

The next settlement in point of time was made in 1679, by Robert Cavalier de LaSalle, at the mouth of the St. Joseph river. He had constructed a vessel, the " Griffin," just above Niagara Falls, and sailed around by the lakes to Green Bay, Wis., whence he traversed " Lac des Illinois," now Lake Michigan, by canoe to the mouth of the St. Joseph river. The " Griffin " was the first sailing vessel that ever came west of Niagara Falls. La Salle erected a fort at the month of the St. Joseph river, which afterward was moved about 60 miles up the river, where it was still seen in Charlevoix's time, 1721. La Salle also built a fort on the Illinois river, just below Peoria, and explored the region of the Illinois and Mississippi rivers.

The next, and third, Michigan post erected by authority was a second fort on the St. Joseph river, established by Du Suth, near the present Fort Gratiot, in 1686. The object of this was to intercept emissaries of the English, who were anxious to open traffic with the Mackinaw and Lake Superior nations.

The French posts in Michigan on westward, left very little to be gathered by the New York traders, and they determined, as there was peace between France and England, to push forward their agencies and endeavor to deal with the western and northern Indians in their own country. The French governors not only plainly asserted the title of France, but as plainly threatened to use all requisite force to expel intruders. Anticipating correctly that the English would attempt to reach Lake Huron from the East without passing up Detroit river, Du Luth built a fort at the outlet of the lake into the St. Clair. About the same time an expedition was planned against the Senecas, and the Chevalier Tonti, commanding La Salle's forts, of St. Louis and St. Joseph of Lake Michigan, and La Durantaye, the veteran commander of Mackinaw, were employed to bring down the French and Indian

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auxiliaries to take part in the war. These men intercepted English expeditions into the interior to establish trade with the Northern Indians, and succeeded in cutting them off for many years. Religious zeal for the Catholic Church and the national aggrandizement were almost or quite equally the primary and all-ruling motive of western explorations. For these two purposes expeditions were sent out and missionaries and military posts were established. In these enterprises Mar- quette, Joliet, La Salle, St. Lusson and others did all that we find credited to them in history.

In 1669 or 1670, Talon, then " Intendant of New France," sent out two parties to discover a passage to the South Sea, St. Lusson to Hudson's Bay and La Salle southwestward. On his return in 1671, St. Lusson held a council of all the north- ern tribes at the Sault Ste. Marie, where they formed an alliance with the French. " It is a curious fact," says Campbell, "that the public documents are usually made to exhibit the local authorities as originating everything, when the facts brought to light from other sources show that they were compelled to permit what they ostensibly directed." The expeditions sent out by Talon were at least sug- gested from France. The local authorities were sometimes made to do things which were not, in their judgment, the wisest.

DETROIT.

July 19, 1701, the Iroquois conveyed to King William III, all their claims to land, describing their territory as " that vast tract of land or colony called Cana- gariarchio, beginning on the northwest side of Cadarachqui (Ontario) Lake, and includes all that vast tract of land lying between the great lake of Ottawawa (Huron), and the lake called by the natives Sahiquage, and by the Christians the Lake of Sweege (Oswego, for Lake Erie), and runs till it butts upon the Twich- twichs, and is bounded on the westward by the Twichtwichs, on the eastward by a place called Quadoge, containing in length about 800 miles, and breadth 400 miles, including the country where beavers and all sorts of wild game keep, and the place called Tjeughsaghrondie alias Fort De Tret or Wawyachtenock (Detroit) ; and so runs round the lake of Sweege till you come to a place called Oniadarun- daquat," etc.

It was chiefly to prevent any further mischief, and to secure more effectually the French supremacy that La Motte Cadillac, who had great influence over the savages, succeeded, in 1701, after various plans urged by him had been shelved by hostile colonial intrigues, in getting permission from Count Pontchartraine to begin a settlement in Detroit. His purpose was from the beginning to make not only a military post, but also a civil establishment for trade and agriculture. He was more or less threatened and opposed by the monopolists and by the Mackinaw missionaries, and was subjected to severe persecutions. He finally triumphed and obtained valuable

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privileges and the right of seigneury. Craftsmen of all kinds were induced to settle in the town, and trade flourished. He succeeded in getting the Hurons and many of the Ottawas to leave Mackinaw and settle about " Fort Pontchartraine." This fort stood on what was formerly called the first terrace, being on the ground lying between Larned street and the river, and between Griswold and Wayne streets. Cadillac's success was so great, in spite of all opposition, that he was appointed governor of the new province of Louisiana, which had been granted to Crozat and his associates. This appointment removed him from Detroit, and immediately afterward the place was exposed to an Indian siege, instigated by English emissaries, and conducted by the Mascoutins and Ontagamies, the same people who made the last war on the whites in the territory of Michigan under Black Hawk a century and a quarter later. The tribes allied to the French came in with alacrity and de- feated and almost annihilated the assailants, of whom a thousand were put to death.

Unfortunately for the country, the commanders who succeeded Cadillac for many years were narrow-minded and selfish and not disposed to advance any in- terests beyond the lucrative traffic with the Indians in peltries. It was not until 1734 that any new grants were made to farmers. This was done by Governor- General Beauharnois, who made the grants on the very easiest terms. Skilled ar- tisans became numerous in Detroit, and prosperity set in all around. The build- ings were not of the rudest kind, but built of oak or cedar, and of smooth finish. The cedar was brought from a great distance. Before 1742 the pineries were known, and at a very early day a saw-mill was erected on the St. Clair River, near Lake Huron. Before 1749 quarries were worked, especially at Stony Island. In 1763 there were several lime kilns within the present limits of Detroit, and not only stone foundations but also stone buildings, existed in the settlement.

Several grist-mills existed along the river near Detroit. Agriculture was car- ried on profitably, and supplies were exported quite early, consisting chiefly of corn and wheat, and possibly beans and peas. Cattle, horses and swine were raised in considerable numbers ; but as salt was very expensive, but little meat, if any, was packed for exportation. The salt springs near Lake St. Clair, it is true, were known, and utilized to some extent, but not to an appreciable extent. Gardening and fruit-raising were carried on more thoroughly than general farming. Apples and pears were good and abundant.

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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 3

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