USA > Michigan > St Joseph County > History of St. Joseph County, Michigan; Volume I > Part 4
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SURVEYORS USE THE OLD TRAIL.
In 1825 the congress of the United States appropriated ten thousand dollars to survey a military road one hundred feet in width between Detroit and Chicago. The surveyor made beauti- ful and elaborate plans for a grand military highway, but after he had progressed a short distance from Detroit found that he was not going to get very far along on his way to Chicago if he cut his road according to his appropriation. He therefore fell back on the
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
old Chicago trail, which became thenceforth the center line of his survey. The flagmen were sent in advance as far as they could be seen, the bearings taken by the compass, and the distance chained and marked; then the flag was advanced as before, the trees being blazed fifty feet on either side of the trail. With the exception of a single mile in Washtenaw county, every bend and angle of the Indian trail was followed by the government surveyors, from Te- cumseh to Chicago.
THE ROAD PUT THROUGH THE COUNTY.
The Chicago road was not put through St. Joseph county un- til after the Black Hawk war, but the first settlers filled up the marshes and bridged most of the streams along the route before the government put the finishing touches to their work. The stage companies also found it necessary to build more bridges and make the road more substantial, and in 1833-4 the government completed the road through Branch and St. Joseph counties. The "hundred- feet highway," as provided by the 1825 congress, was divided into three sections; for thirty feet the Chicago road was grubbed and leveled, for another thirty feet the trees were cut low, and for forty feet the trees were cut down to "ordinary height."
The Chicago trail and the Chicago road entered St. Joseph county on the east line of the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section 25, Burr Oak township, running southwest across the southeast corner of the township into Fawn River township, thence westerly between Sweet and Honey lakes to the present village site of Sturgis, and thence through the northern portions of the townships of Sturgis, White Pigeon and Mottville, south of Klinger's lake, and through the present sites of the . villages of White Pigeon and Mottville. As far as White Pigeon, it substantially followed the route of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad, passing south of it almost to the line between Sturgis and White Pigeon townships, and leaving it where the iron way bends northward from White Pigeon village to Con- stantine.
FIRST MAIL ROUTE AND STAGES.
In 1829 the first mail route in St. Joseph county was estab- lished on the Chicago road, from Tecumseh to White Pigeon, the contractor being John Winchell, of the latter place, who bound
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
himself to carry the mail weekly each way in summer and twice, a week in winter.
In 1830 two-horse stages were run over the route to Niles by Asahel Savery and the Stewarts, twice every week. In 1832 the frequency of the trips was increased to two per week, but during the several weeks covering the Black Hawk war the coaches were deserted, although they continued their regular trips.
SURVEYORS ADVERTISE THE COUNTRY.
When the government surveyors, following the old Chicago trail, ran their lines through the southern sections of the present St. Joseph county, they saw the country was most fair to look upon, and also brought back to Detroit most enthusiastic reports of its fertility, the abundance of the game and fish which crowded its woods and lakes, and the manifold excellencies of the country as a site and a creator of homes.
These enthusiastic representations found a fertile soil among the pioneers of Wayne county, with its great, malarial-breeding marshes and its dank, heavy forests, and among the prospectors who followed closely on the heels of the surveyors of the national "military road" were John W. Fletcher, George Hubbard and Captain Moses Allen. In the early summer of 1826 they started from the Detroit end of the Chicago trail, followed it to Ber- trand's, on the St. Joseph river, no cabin of a white man greeting them at this time west of Ypsilanti. Continuing their south- westerly course, in southwestern Michigan they finally sighted to the north the beauties of Nottawa prairie, which stretched to- ward the Indian reservation occupied four years before. As Nottawa prairie had not then been surveyed and Indians were still numerous, although they had their special reserve, the Wayne county prospectors failed to make any location. But in the spring of 1827 two Wayne county men actually settled in St. Joseph county with their families, thus forming the first nucleus of its population.
WAYNE COUNTY PIONEERS.
On April 10, 1827, John Winchell made his home on the west end of White Pigeon prairie, deserting Wayne county for the purpose. In May, Leonard Cutler, of Indiana, and his family of boys settled on the eastern edge of the same prairie, and not long
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
afterward Arba Heald, also a Wayne county man, made his home not far from Cutler's. The story is current that these three pioneers of St. Joseph county divided White Pigeon prairie among themselves by running two furrows across it from north to south.
The next comer to the prairie after the tripartite division of the land was Dr. David Page, who arrived later in the summer of 1827. He was the first physician in the county, unmarried, ex- tremely youthful in appearance and was accompanied by a brother, Reed Page. They built themselves a house of logs not far west from the present village of White Pigeon.
JUDGE STURGIS COMES.
In August, of the same year, John Sturgis, afterward first judge of the county court, and George Thurston, a younger man, came from Monroe, in the Lake Erie region, broke up ten acres on the eastern edge of Sturgis prairie (now in Fawn River town- ship), and sowed the tract to wheat. In the spring of the follow- ing year Mr. Sturgis brought his family to the locality to reside, but in August, 1829, took up homestead land in section 4, now Nottawa township and then near the southern border of the Nottawa-seepe reservation.
NOTTAWA PRAIRIE SETTLERS.
About the same time John W. Fletcher, who went out from Wayne county with the first band of prospectors, located on Nottawa prairie, finished a cabin in October, and celebrated Christmas eve by bringing his parents and two sisters to occupy it. Mr. Fletcher lived on this homestead for more than fifty years.
Others who came to Nottawa prairie in 1829 were Amos Howe, Henry Powers, Russell Post and Dr. Alexander McMillan, the last named living with his family all that winter in wagons.
SITES OF CONSTANTINE AND THREE RIVERS.
Captain Alvin Calhoon came to White Pigeon prairie in 1829, locating within the present limits of Florence, and probably at even an earlier date William Meek, of Wayne county, selected land at the intersection of the St. Joseph and Fawn rivers, on the site of Constantine village.
Vol. I-3
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
In the spring of the same year Jacob McInterfer and his family also migrated from Wayne county to locate on the section of land west of the Rocky river, which the head of the household had selected in the previous year. The Third ward of Three Rivers now occupies a portion of the McInterfer homestead. While he was erecting his permanent log house, his family lived in the wagons in which they had journeyed from near Detroit, and the cooking was done in an improvised shanty which he had thrown together between two trees.
CENTERVILLE AND COLON.
The coming of Judge William Connor to Nottawa prairie, in 1829, soon followed by the advent of Judge John Sturgis, Henry Powers, Henry Post and others, gave white men a foothold on the fertile acres of Nottawa prairie. Centerville, the county seat, came into being in November, 1831, when the original plat of the village was surveyed and recorded, one of its proprietors, and really the only active one, being Robert Clark, Jr., a government surveyor.
The Schellhous family was also established on Nottawa prairie in 1829, when Roswell of that name came from Ohio. In the following year three other brothers arrived, George being one of the chief projectors of the village of Colon in 1832.
FRENCH SETTLERS OF MENDON.
The first settler of Mendon township was Francois Moutan, who came to the Nottawa-seepe reservation in 1831, as the agent of the Godfroi trading post situated on the south bank of the St. Joe, opposite the site of the present village of Mendon. His daughter, Frances, afterward married Patrick Marantette, who became the agent in August, 1833, after he had served for ten years as Indian agent at Coldwater. Mr. Marantette was born of French parents, near Detroit, where his father had long been a trader and in daily contact with the Canadian Indians, whose confidence in him was unbounded. It was this paternal prestige which enabled young Marantette to receive the appointment of Indian agent for the Nottawa-seepe Indians while he was yet a mere youth, in 1823. He bought a section of land in the reserva- tion, which was reserved to him when the Indians disposed of
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
their lands to the government in 1833. Two years afterward he married Mr. Moutan's daughter, was one of the founders of the village of Mendon in 1845, and in everything which constituted a pioneer tradesman, a good and generous citizen, stood among the foremost during his long and active life. Certainly no man in St. Joseph county had a stronger or a better influence with the Nottawa-seepe Indians, or was more instrumental in finally in- ducing them to leave the country to the superior development of the white man.
Peter Neddeaux came to the reservation in 1833 and located near the fort. He was also a Frenchman, as was the next comer, Leander Metha, who came from Monroe in 1834, and settled on the north side of the river, on the present site of Mendon. There he built a rough log cabin, which was afterward used for school purposes.
FIRST COMERS TO BURR OAK TOWNSHIP.
In 1831 Burr Oak township received as its first settlers, Samuel Haslet and family and George Miller, a bachelor, who settled upon land long known as the Elder Farley farm. The village of Burr Oak was not laid out until twenty years after- ward: so that compared with the other villages of the county, it is quite immature.
A more detailed account of the settlement of the different townships of the county will be found in the sketches devoted to these civil sections.
In the foregoing narrative it is evident that the pioneer set- tlements of St. Joseph county first followed the Chicago trail, and then spread northward along the borders of the reservation and the valley of the St. Joseph river. Outside of the reserva- tion, the lands were surveyed into townships in 1825-6 and sub- divided into sections in 1828. The only settlers who occupied their land before its subdivision into sections were Winchell, Cutler and Heald.
THE WASHTENAW TRAIL.
Some of the earliest settlers of St. Joseph county who entered land and came hither to make homes for themselves took a more northerly route than the Chicago road, following what was known as the Washtenaw trail. This approached St. Joseph valley from Calhoun county, entering from the northeast corner of Leonidas
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
township, thence running in southwesterly direction to Nottawa prairie and thence, via Centerville, to White Pigeon. The Wash- tenaw trail was made the basis of a territorial road from Jackson- burg (now the city of Jackson), via Spring Arbor, the north bend of the St. Joseph river, through Nottawa prairie and Centerville, to White Pigeon. In April, 1833, it was laid out by Commissioners Edgar McCawley, Hiram Thompson and Milton Barn.
SETTLEMENTS ABOUT NOTTAWA-SEEPE.
It has been stated in a general way that a number of the earliest settlers of St. Joseph county located along the borders of the Nottawa-seepe reserve, waiting for the lands to be thrown open to the settlement of the whites. Some of these early pioneers, who thus looked with longing eyes across the border, are men- tioned by William H. Cross in a paper which he has contributed to the "Michigan Pioneer Collections." It is given below be- cause it is both interesting and historically valuable: "In 1829, Judge Connor had built his cabin, put in some crops, and was about to go to the landoffice at Monroe, to enter his land, and had saved a few dollars to pay necessary expenses there and back. One day in coming in from his work, he found his cabin had been entered, and on examination found his money gone, and could only imagine who was the thief, nor did he ever find out, but he consoled himself that it was only the expense money and not the means to pay for his land that was taken away from him, he not doubting that the robber, knowing of his intention to buy his land, had expected to find that there; but the judge had ordered the sum for the land payment to be sent him at Ypsilanti, where he could get it on his way to Monroe, and the only inconvenience was short rations and close times on the trip to the landoffice and back, which, however, he accomplished, and saved that much desired home. This, so far as is known, was the first crime to be committed by a white man against a settler in Nottawa.
GEORGE MATTHEWS.
. "When in 1831 George Matthews, from Zanesville, Ohio, came to Leonidas, he settled on the east half of section 32, just south of the St. Joseph river, and above the ford known as Apple- tree ford, where he built his cabin. The village of the Nottawa
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
Indians was on the river some distance below, generally on the north side, but at some seasons on the south or prairie side; on the river some half mile above was the trading post of Thomas Hatch, the Indian trader, and in passing from one to the other, Matthews' cabin was on the route. One day when Matthews was sick with chills and fever, and his wife also sick with fever in her bed, a drunken Indian came riding on his pony, whooping and yelling to the door, and calling him out. He tried to quiet him and have him leave, but he would not. Then Matthews' spirits rose above his chills and he went out and told him to go; but not starting, he was pulled off his horse and his face slapped. A few days after he returned with a number of Indians and squaws, and told Matthews he had insulted him when drunk, and must now fight him when sober; there was no dissent from the offer, only asking how they should fight. Rifles were chosen by the Indian, and with his rifle in his hand they went a short distance to where the Indians were seated under some trees. Mrs. Matthews, fearing something wrong, took their hunting knife under her apron and went along. When they got where the others were Matthews says, 'Come, where we stand.' The Indian looked at the determined white man and quailed, saying he would fight with knife. Matthews said: 'Well wife, go bring me my hunting knife.' She at once produced it from under her apron and he told his foe to come, but he did not. Then Matthews stepped out and cut a hickory switch, and stepping up to the fighting Indian, laid it with no light power over his shoulders. With which the Indians and squaws yelled out 'squaw!' to the Indian, and ap- plauded the brave white man and his courageous wife; and no kindness or favor was too much for the Nottawa Indians to render to the fearless 'Chemokeman' and his noble squaw so long as they were allowed to remain on their reservation.
THE DUNKIN BROTHERS.
"Among the very early settlers on Nottawa prairie was James B. Dunkin and his brother Samuel, who, with their aged father, bought and settled on sections two and three. They were Virginians, and with more than usual means for early settlers, and Dr. James B. soon made good improvements and raised grain to spare when the settlers in Leonidas and on the Reserve came in. It was often times very hard for them to get enough to eat,
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
and often times without money to buy with. At a time of great difficulty to procure supplies, application was made to the doctor for some of his grain, and he asked the person applying, 'Have you got the money to buy with ?' and the man's reply was 'Yes sir, I have the means to pay for what I need.' Then said Neighbor Dunkin, 'I cannot let you have any ; for you can get it elsewhere. I am going to keep what I have got for those that have no money to buy with, and they will pay me in work when I want it, or when they can earn it. Their families must have it.'
McMILLAN AND SHERMAN.
"In the first settlement of southwestern Michigan, it was deemed right and proper that the first person who settled on a piece of land should be entitled to the right of purchase of the same when it came into market by sale at the United States land- office of the district; and it was held unjust for any person to in any way interfere with the squatter's right. In 1828 Dr. Mc- Millan settled with his family on the southeast quarter of section 4, on the prairie, and in the early summer of 1829 Benjamin Sherman, of Mt. Morris, N. Y., was looking in the country for a location, and the beauty of this section attracted his attention, and on his way homeward he went to the Monroe landoffice and en- tered the land. Soon after, he came on and took possession, and the fact of his so doing was known from Niles to Tecumseh, among all settlers, and a prejudicial feeling created that prevented Mr. Sherman, who was a man of more than ordinary education and ability, from ever becoming a popular or highly esteemed citizen among us; and to-day, among the old settlers, when that piece of land comes to mind, that act is brought to remembrance.
JOSEPH BUTLER.
"In 1830 Joseph Butler settled on the east half of northeast quarter of section 10, in Nottawa, which he bought of another man who was on it. The next spring he had decided to purchase the east half of the northwest quarter of the same section, the lot joining him having been taken by Mr. Dunkin. One morning he was told that a man decided to buy that lot, and had just left for the landoffice on horseback. Butler went to his house, provided himself with moccasins for the journey, and on foot started on
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
the race for his land. He could track the horseman and followed as best he could, and between Tecumseh and Monroe, while the horse and man were eating, he passed them, and without loss of time entered Monroe, found the land register, made his applica- tion for his land, stepped to the receiver's office, paid his money, got his duplicate for his land, and just as he crossed the Raisin bridge on his return, met his horseman friend going into town. He took it more leisurely home. Soon after, he built on that land, which was ever after his home until his death.
ROBERT COWAN AND WIFE.
"Robert Cowan says: 'I arrived at White Pigeon, November 14, 1831, having traveled on foot from Cleveland and from Detroit, on the line of the Chicago trail; and at Nottawa creek in Leonidas, on the 15th, got ready to raise a log cabin on the 16th; asked every man within ten miles; six came and got it half up, then it set in cold, and we, being close by the Indians' summer village, went into an Indian wigwam and did not get into our cabin until April. In the spring of 1832, while at work, I heard an axe, went to see who it was, and found Alfred Holcomb of Dry Prairie, felling small trees on which to cross the creek; he had his plow irons on his back, going to Prairie Ronde, nearly thirty miles. After five days he got back. My brother James, needing a small hook in our saw- mill, walked to White Pigeon, was gone five days, and expenses four dollars, for fifty cents worth of work. In 1833, I was reduced very low with sickness. Good Mother Fletcher, of Nottawa (now seventy-five years of age), rode ten miles on a buckboard behind a yoke of oxen, on Tuesday, stayed and nursed me with a mother's care until Thursday, then rode home on a load of lumber, and all this on very slight acquaintance.'
"Mrs. Jane Cowan, wife of Robert, relates the following: 'In the fall of 1838, Mr. Cowan went to Pennslyvania on business and was taken sick and detained. Every person in the neighborhood and country was taken sick and there was no medicine in the coun- try ; our two children, the youngest some two months old, and my- self were sick and no one well enough to take care of us. It was now October, and the nights became chilly, I was not able to bring in wood; I saw a number of Indians passing on a hunting excur- sion, and crawling on my hands and knees to the door, beckoned them to come to me. They came in, a dozen or more, great, tall
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
Indians with their guns and knives. I did not fear them now. I made signs to them to bring in some wood, telling them as well as I could, that chemokeman (white man) was not at home, gone far away, back paw-maw (by-and-by), then come home and mill make naponee (flour), and I would pay them. They brought in a nice lot of wood, and when Mr. Cowan came home and started the mill, they came and got their flour. I relate these incidents to show the kindness of the Indians if they are properly and kindly treated.'
ANDREW WATKINS.
"Andrew Watkins, of Leonidas, gives us this: 'In the fall of 1833 I was living at Dry Prairie, and Benjamin Ferris, of Sher- wood, was taken very sick. I was sent for, and found Ferris very sick with pleurisy, and in great pain, and the nearest doctor, Will- iam Mottraw, of Nottawa. I at once took my Indian pony and started for the doctor, at his home; I found he had gone to Pigeon. I kept on, and at Pigeon learned that he had left for Sturgis. At Sturgis, he had just started for Bishop's in Burr Oak, and there I found him, and he inquired how he could get to Ferris'. I said I would lead him and we started, and taking my course we forded the St. Joseph river above Sturgeon lake, some two miles, and got to Ferris' soon after sunrise the morning after I had started; rid- ing about sixty miles in the day and night, and much of it guided only by my knowledge of the country and of the course of the In- dian trails and their fording places of the streams. We found Fer- ris had suffered severely, but had vigor and strength enough, with good care and the doctor's aid, to pull through and recover.' "
CHAPTER IV. PIONEER THINGS AND EVENTS.
FIRST LAND ENTRIES-LAND OFFICES-FIRST ORCHARDS-PIONEER AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS-FIRST MILLS OF THE COUNTY- FIRST REAL GRIST MILL-OTHER EARLY INDUSTRIES-COM- MENCEMENT OF BUSINESS-THE HOTEL APPEARS-ENTER POST- OFFICE AND MAIL ROUTE-LIFE AND DEATH-COUNTY SEAT LOCATED-CIVIL, POLITICAL, JUDICIAL-RELIGIOUS-EDUCA- TIONAL AND PROFESSIONAL-MEDICAL SOCIETY AND PHYSICIANS -COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY-"THE OLD LOG HOUSE," BY L. D. WATKINS IN "PIONEER COLLECTIONS"-"PIONEER- ING IN SOUTHERN MICHIGAN," BY PROFESSOR J. W. BEAL- "OLD TIMES FROM A WOMAN'S STANDPOINT," BY MRS. HENRY CHURCH-"MAPLE SUGAR MAKING," FROM "ST. JOSEPH COUNTY REPUBLICAN."
Without making any pretense at close classification, the fol- lowing array of "first things" will form a fairly accurate account of the planting of the seeds of progress in St. Joseph county up to the final relinquishment of the soil by the Indians in 1840.
FIRST LAND ENTRIES.
The first land entry was made by Ezekiel Metcalf, of Cattarau- gus county, New York, on the 14th day of June, 1828, of the east half of the northeast quarter of section 1, township 8, south of range 10, west of the principal meridian, in what is now known as the town of Sturgis. Metcalf sold his tract to DeGarmo Jones, of Detroit, November 3, 1830. A portion of the tract is included in the corporate limits of the village of Sturgis.
The other entries made in 1828 were as follows: John Sturgis, October 22nd, southwest quarter of section 6, Fawn River town-
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
ship; October 24th, Arba Heald, east half of southwest quarter sec- tion 5, White Pigeon township; Robert Clark, Jr., west half of the southwest quarter of the same section and the east half of the southeast quarter of section 6, White Pigeon; John W. Anderson and Duncan R. Clark, west half of the same quarter, and Asahel Savery southwest quarter of the same section (6), October 24th; George Buck, west half of the southeast quarter of section 1, Stur- gis, on November 24th, and on the 29th of the same month Luther Newton and John Winchell, east half of the southeast quarter of section 9, White Pigeon; Leonard Cutler, on December 11th, east half of northeast quarter, section 6, same township; Ruth A. Clarke, east half of the southwest quarter of section 1, Sturgis, and Hart L. Stewart, west half of southwest quarter of same section, on December 18th; on that day, Alanson C. Stewart, west half of northeast quarter and east half of northeast quarter, section 7, Fawn River.
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