USA > Michigan > St Joseph County > History of St. Joseph county, Michigan, with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, palatial residences, public buildings, fine blocks, and important manufactories > Part 4
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An incident occurred, in 1835, on the Nottawa reservation, near Nottawa creek, which is worth repeating. Daniel H. Hogan had employed George Benedict and Isaac Leastobaco to cut and get out timber for a barn. Early one morning, as they were falling trees, they saw John Maguago, accom- panied by an Indian named Johnson, approaching them, and who rode up and dismounted. Maguago stepped in before the axe of Leastobaco, wrenched it from him, and threw it into the woods. He then stepped be- tween the tree and the axe of Benedict, but the latter stepped around to the other side of the tree and commenced chopping again. Maguago made a second attempt to step in, but Benedict looked him in the eye, and said " if you do I will cut you in two. Move your horses, the tree is going to fall." Maguago shook his head and would not stir, but a
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
limb falling from the trunk frightened the ponies, and Maguago, in hot wrath, mounted and galloped back to the village, and in a few minutes the camp was alive with Indians, squaws, and pappooses, going in all directions, and trouble seemed to be brewing. Hogan saw at once he must treat with Ma- guago for the timber, and therefore he went at once to the village, where he negotiated with the irate Indians for the privilege to cut what timber he wanted, for one gallon of whisky, and two dozen of eggs, which Maguago insisted Hogan must go at once with him and get, and off they went, both on one horse, Hogan embracing the Indian for dear life, lest he should be unseated in the ride, which was made a la Gilpin. The bargain was finally and fully consummated only after Hogan had imbibed with the Indians for friendship's sake.
A similar interference with Hogan and Benedict when plowing, resulted differently. A party of drunken Indians attempted to drive them off, and frightened their oxen with their blankets. After bearing the interruption as long as they could, the plowmen cut some cudgels and so belabored the drunken fellows that those who were sober enough to run or walk, got out of the way, and the rest, who were lying in the furrows, were rolled out, and the plowing went on.
THE DEATH OF WISNER
was the last Indian murder in St. Joseph County, and occurred in the win- ter of 1839.
Joseph Sin-ben-nim, known by the name of Joseph Muskrat, with his squaw and two children, came to the house of Mr. Wisner, and asked to stay all night ; consent was freely given, and a good fire built up in the huge fire-place, in order that all might get warm, they being thoroughly chilled. The Indian was intoxicated, and wanted to wrestle with Wisner, but the latter declined. The Indian held a low conversation, in his own language, with his squaw, after which she seemed much excited, and took the gun and hatchet of her husband, and set them out of doors. The Indians laid down before the fire to sleep. Wisner and his wife did not undress themselves, as though apprehensive of danger. The Indian and the squaw were both rest- less, and rose several times, and at last the former seized Wisner, who threw him on the bed, and stepped back to the fire. The Indian then rose up from the bed, and before Wisner was aware of his intention, stabbed him (Wis- ner) in the temple, and he fell dead upon the hearth, with one hand in the fire. Mrs. Wisner pulled her husband out of the fire, but the wretch who had murdered him, interfered and cut one of her hands severely, crippling it for life. Mrs. Wisner called to her son, a boy of twelve years, to run and alarm the neighbors. He immediately darted out of doors, and around the house, pursued by the Indian, but escaped him, and gave the alarm. While the Indian was out, Mrs. Wisner closed the door and barred it against him, whereupon he started with his family for the settlement, stopping at the house of John De Yannond, in the extreme northwest corner of the town of Mendon, where they got refreshments, and stayed about two hours, and then went east on the town line, and were overtaken between Bear Creek and the Portage, by Thomas P. Nolan, who was in advance of his comrades. On discovering Nolan, the Indian tried to shoot him, but his gun missed fire, by reason of the priming being covered to keep it dry. Nolan fired, but missed the Indian, and they then clenched each other, and a severe struggle ensued ; but the Indian fell, and was held fast by Nolan until his comrades came up, who tied his legs and hands, and placed him in a "pung " they had brought along with them, covered him with a blanket, and started for Schoolcraft. Meeting a party of other pursuers, they went back to look at the ground where the struggle had occured, leaving DeYannond and O. Clark, who were driving the horse and walking behind the sleigh. The latter had pro- ceeded but a short distance, when the Indian, who had succeeded in biting off the rope with which he was bound, sprang from the cutter, and raised the war-whoop, but De Yannond caught him by his wrists, and held him fast. The Indian seized DeYannond's arm with his teeth, and bit through the coat and shirts, wounding the arm severely. He was thrown upon his face, his arms tied behind him, and so conveyed to Schoolcraft, where he was tried and sentenced to be hung ; but his sentence was subsequently com- muted to imprisonment for life. He died about two years afterwards.
We are indebted for the material in this chapter to P. Marantette, Hon. S. C. Coffinberry, and H. W. Laird, principally.
CHAPTER IV.
THE FIRST PROSPECTING PARTY OF PIONEERS-PIONEERS AND THEIR JOURNEYS-INCIDENTS-EARLY MARKETS, PRIMITIVE DWELLINGS AND FURNITURE-SICKNESS-DISTRESS-INCIDENTS-FAIR DEALING-PER- SONAL SKETCHES OF EARLY PIONEERS.
"I hear the tread of pioneers Of nations yet to be, The first low wash of waves where yet Shall roll a human sea."
When the government officials returned to Detroit in the fall of 1825, after their survey of the great national road from that city to Chicago, they painted with glowing colors the landscape of the St. Joseph valley, dwelling on its magnificent openings and beautiful prairies, its noble river and the eligible water-power of the numerous streams tributary thereto. Their en- thusiastic utterances fell upon the willing ears of the pioneers of Wayne county, who were dwelling in that heavy-timbered country and by the wide- spreading marshes of the Raisin ; and many of them at once resolved to see for themselves this "land of delights " so rapturously described by the sur- veyors who had passed through its borders.
Among these prospecting parties were John W. Fletcher, Captain Moses Allen and George Hubbard. They followed the Chicago trail as it was then and had been for years called, to Bertrand's, on the St. Joseph river, near McCoy's missionary station, in the spring or early summer of 1826, when there was not a white man's cabin on the trail west of Ypsilanti or north of it, except at Ann Arbor and Dexter on the Huron. They traversed south- western Michigan, finding no spot that pleased them so well as Nottawa prairie, but the land being unsurveyed and the Indians numerous, the party returned without making any location-Mr. Fletcher, however, determining in his own mind, to come back and locate at some future time.
In the following spring of 1827, quite early, another one of Wayne's pioneers took his household treasures and his cattle and came to seek a more favorable homestead, and found one to his liking at the western edge of White Pigeon prairie, within the present limits of the township of Mottville, on which he rolled up a rude log cabin, into which he gathered his family. But a few weeks afterwards, in May following, Leonard Cutler and his fam- ily of boys came in through the Hog Creek woods and settled on the east- ern edge of the same prairie, and Arba Heald soon afterward came, and it is said these three men made a tripartite division of the prairie between them- selves, their lines being determined by two furrows struck across the prairie from north to south. Not long after Heald, Dr. Page, the first physician in the county, a young and unmarried man, came and located on or near the present site of White Pigeon village, and was followed by Joseph Olds, the same year.
In August, John Sturgis, afterwards the first judge of the county court, and George Thurston, then a young man, came to that lovely gem of nature which bears the judge's name, and located a claim on the eastern edge of the prairie, in what is known now as the township of Fawn River, and " broke up" ten acres of land, sowed it to wheat and returned for the judge's family, who came on in the following spring, accompanied by Mr. Thurston's father and his family, the latter locating, however, on Oxbow prairie, just south of the territorial line.
Late in the year 1827 or very early in 1828, John Bear came in and set- tled still farther west than Winchell, in the timber, but lived there only a short time, removing to Klinger's lake, and finally to Bear lake in Cass county, where he died.
Early in 1828 Luther Newton, afterwards judge of the county court with Judge Sturgis, came to White Pigeon and located on Crooked creek, where he built the first mill in the county the same year, but lost it by high water, and rebuilt it the year following. Judge Newton sought and found a most estimable wife in the person of Miss Grisella Gardner, on Pokagon prairie, in Cass county, but which was then known as St. Joseph township, Lenawee county ; this was probably the first marriage celebrated between white people in southwestern Michigan, and which was consummated in the spring of 1828. Judge Newton was followed by Asahel Savery, the first landlord in the county, and by Neal McGaffey, who was the first lawyer to be admitted to practice in the St. Joseph county court in 1830. Klinger came into the settlement on White Pigeon prairie the same year, and located on the creek where he built his mill soon after, and removed subsequently to the shores of the beautiful lake that bears his name. Judge William Meek came in and selected his location, known for years as Meek's Mill, and now the site of the flourishing village of Constantine, in the fall of 1828, re-
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
moving thither with his family in the latter part of the following winter. A Mr. Quimby settled in the present town of Mottville, on the river, in this year, 1828, and Elias Taylor, the first sheriff of St. Joseph county, came to the grand traverse of the St. Joseph, as the crossing of the Chicago trail at Mottville was called, with a stock of goods, late in the fall of 1828 or early in 1829. Niles F. Smith took up his abode in White Pigeon in 1828, and opened a stock of goods for trade. Hart L. and Alanson C. Stewart, and Duncan Clark all came to "Pigeon " late in 1828 or early in the winter fol- lowing. In the spring or early summer of 1828 George Buck and his family came to Sturgis prairie and located their home in the present city of Sturgis, living in their wagons in Hog Creek woods, six weeks. John B. Clarke and family soon followed, and putting up a substantial log-house on the present site of the Elliott House, opened the first hotel on Sturgis prairie. That same year Ephraim Bearss came in, or early the next year.
In 1829 Nottawa prairie received its first settlers-William Connor, after- wards judge of probate, and a most prominent citizen of the county, coming first and making his selection in May, and returning to Adrian, where he taught school that summer and came back to his location the first of Septem- ber following.
In the meantime, however, Judge Sturgis had tired of his location on Sturgis prairie, and had selected one on section four in Nottawa township, and built a house or log cabin in August, which is still standing, the oldest house in the county. In August, too, Mr. Fletcher had carried out his in- tentions, and secured his present location on the prairie, and in October put up a house and brought his father and family, consisting of his mother and two sisters, to it, Christmas Eve, 1829, and on this homestead Mr. Fletcher has since lived. This Christmas party included also William Hazzard, Sr., and H. A. Hecox, with their families, Mr. Hazzard being the sole survivor of the parental heads of these families at the present time. Amos Howe, Henry Powers, Russell Post and Dr. Alexander McMillan, all came in 1829 to Nottawa prairie, the latter living with his family all winter in his wagons, the boys bringing in a living by their labor. Captain Alvin Calhoun came to White Pigeon prairie in 1829, locating within the present limits of Flor- ence, and Jacob Bonebright to Constantine. Mottville gained Aaron Brooks, Abraham Reichert and John Hartman in 1829, and Levi Beckwith and his family in 1828. Jacob McInterfer pitched his tent on the shores of Rocky river, at Three Rivers, in the same year, and Buck came into Lockport the year after.
1830 gave Flowerfield her first settler in the person of Mishael Beadle, and Thomas Cade to Sherman, and Garrett Sickles to Fabius, and Roswell Schellhous to Colon, where he was followed by his brothers, Cyrus, Lorenzi, Martin G. and George, the year afterwards. Leonidas received its first set- tlers in 1831, in the persons of George Mathews and family ; and Mendon, in the family of Francis Moutan. Burr Oak began to march towards civ- ilization the same year, Samuel Haslett and family being the first white set- tlers within its present limits. John G. Cathcart took up his residence in Constantine this same year, Judge C. B. Fitch being there before him, and removing to Lockport township on Mr. Cathcart's coming. John S. Barry came to White Pigeon in 1831, Dr. Elliott in 1832, and James Eastman Johnson in 1836. In 1829 the Kelloggs, noble men, came to White Pigeon, and, in connection with Mr. Bull, opened the first stock of goods of any pre- tensions whatever for retail in the county. John W. Anderson came as early as 1829, if not earlier, and was the first register of probate. Dr. Hubbel Loomis came in 1828, and began his rival town of Newville, east of " Pigeon," but, though he had a blacksmith-shop, and school-house and cemetery there, the attractions were not strong enough to detach the growing population of White Pigeon from their first love, and soon the worthy Doctor and the first judge of probate in the county, ceased to cherish further hopes of his in- cipient city, and it passed into oblivion, " like the baseless fabric of a vision, leaving not a wreck behind." Hon. Joseph R. Williams made Constantine his home in 1836. The Tolls, Talbots and Langleys, of Centreville, came in between 1832 and 1836; John H. Bowman, in 1834, to Three Rivers; the Wolfs and Majors into Lockport about the same time. Joseph B. Millard, and Elisha, the old ark captain, the former in 1833 and the latter in 1835, to Three Rivers; the Farrands into Colon in 1836; Marantette into Mendon in 1833, whither he was followed in 1835 by Moses Taft-between the last two dates the Wakemans coming to Nottawa prairie, just south of the reserva- tion line. The Lelands, John M. and Andrew, came for settlement in 1834, the former locating in the northeast corner of Lockport township, and the latter near by in Mendon. I. F. Ulrich came into Park in 1834, and the Fishers, Leonard and Jonas, settled the same year on the shores of the lake, to which their name was given. The Wheelers, Challenge S. and William, came to Flowerfield in 1831, Mishael Beadle selling to the former his mill privi-
2
lege, and going to Three Rivers to complete the McInterfer mill. Captain Levi Watkins began his pioneer life in Leonidas in 1832, and in the same year Norman Roys took up his residence in Florence, a young unmarried man, but where he soon afterwards found a faithful mate in one of the daughters of John Peek, who came into Florence afterwards. Elisha Dimmick and George Pashby, Sr., came into Florence in 1833 and 1834 respectively, and John Howard in 1833. William F. Arnold, with his father and family, came into Fabius in 1832; Hiram Harwood, Heman Harvey and Samuel Newell, and their families, preceding him by a year. David Petty came to Sherman in 1831.
To tell the story of the sufferings, privations, sorrows, toils, and successes of the old pioneers, would fill a volume, and make an intensely interesting narrative. The trials of all are but duplicates of any one of them, in kind, if not degree; and but a few incidents can be given, for want of space, which, however, will serve to illustrate briefly the days that "tried men's souls," and brought out their sterling qualities of manhood, that have tri- umphed at last over every obstacle, and made the old county the pride of the State.
The journeyings of the earlier pioneers to reach the goal of their hopes, a home in the west, were tedious, and severely tested, oftentimes, their perse- verance and courage. Many of them came from Pennsylvania and New York with ox-teams, slowly toiling along the roads with their household goods and wearied little ones, for months ; others, more fortunate in possessing the swifter-footed horses, came through the wilderness of forest in a few weeks; but all were rejoiced when the last corduroy was passed, the last swollen stream crossed, the last oozy marsh floundered through, the Black swamp and the Hog creek woods-terrors to the emigrant in the early day- left behind, and the openings and prairies of St. Joseph burst on their wearied vision, as the home-plat came into view.
John S. Newhall, of Sturgis, tells of crossing Swan creek when it was "bank-full," with a load of household goods piled upon poles laid upon the top of the wagon-box, the whole cargo being surmounted by a blooming young lady, who afterwards became the worthy wife of John Hull, of Florence, formerly sheriff of the county. Mr. Newhall swam his oxen across and kept the wagon upright by steadying it (by means of bracing) by the party in company with him.
Judge Nathan Osborn recounts the passage of the Maumee on a frail bridge of ice, by detaching one team and leading it behind the wagon, the family also walking, the other team drawing the goods, and preceded by guides, who with poles ascertained and kept the track, the ice on either side being so soft and porous the poles pushed through it. In the morning after the crossing, the ice was all broken up and rushing to the lake. Leonard Cutler came to a little stream at the close of the day, where, unable to proceed further, having been suffering with fever for several days before, he was laid under a tree to die. His wife and sons gathered around him, in the forest, amid the gathering darkness of an early spring-time even- ing, to receive his instructions as to what disposition they should make of his remains when the inevitable change, which seemed fast approaching, should come. The old pioneer said to the awe stricken group, " If I die, put me in the wagon, and bury me on the prairie of White Pigeon ; but I am not going to die here;" and he did not, but is still living at an advanced age (over 90) in Decorah, Iowa.
There were sorer troubles which came to some, on their journeys to the west, and the most grevious of any which have come to our knowledge is that which befel the family of John Parker, who settled on Sturgis prairie, in 1830. They came to Buffalo and took a steamer for Detroit, and when but a short distance from the city, the boiler of the boat exploded, scalding to death no less than fifteen children, among them three of Mr. Parker's. They were taken back to Buffalo, where, though strangers, their great griefs made them sympathizing friends, who assisted in burying the little ones, when the balance of the family came on to Sturgis.
The difficulties and discomforts of the journeys of the pioneers to their new homes were but a prelude to greater ones during the early years of the country's settlement. No mills were nearer than fifty to seventy-five miles distant; no crops were raised, generally, the first year after their arrival ; and though there was game.in the woods, fowls in the air, and fish in the rivers and lakes, yet there were times when the hand was unsteadied, the eye dimmed by disease, and the game passed unscathed by the wildly-flying bullet. The supplies of a neighborhood would frequently run short, and a load of corn or wheat would be gathered, and sent off in charge of some one to Niles, Tecumseh, or Fort Wayne ; " short commons" would be enforced upon all until its return, in two or three weeks. Salt, a most necessary article of diet, rose in the winter of 1831-32 to twenty dollars per barrel, and
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
forty bushels of beautiful wheat were considered its just equivalent. Money was not thought of, except as a positive good, beyond the reach of the most aspiring.
Pork, after it began to be raised in sufficient quantities to become an arti- cle of commerce, frequently sold for a dollar and a-quarter per hundred, and the finest trimmed hams brought but two and three cents per pound. This was one side of the picture ; the other side was seen in 1836, when the great tide of immigration set in, and exhausted the supply of bread-stuffs and provisions, and wheat rose to two and a-half and three dollars per bushel. Amos Howe brought a load of wheat to Captain P. R. Toll's store at Centreville, for sale, in 1836, and when told the price, two dollars and a-half per bushel, refused to take it, saying it was more than it was worth, and more than the people could pay for it.
The first houses were poorly finished, and very poorly furnished as a gen- eral thing, in the early days. Many of them had no floors but the bare ground, which in dry weather may have been passably comfortable, but in wet or snowy weather was cold, damp, clammy, or uncomfortable. The roofs were " shakes," split out of logs, which laying lengthwise to the pitch of the roof, warped, and the snow sifted in over the beds and floors, so that the sleeper on arising or stepping out upon the strip of bark, placed alongside the rude "bunk " for a carpet, frequently found he was stepping into a colder, although a whiter carpet, than he anticipated. The chairs were fre- quently nothing but logs of wood, or rude benches, the table an improvised counter, and the bedsteads, sticks driven into holes bored in the logs, of which the house was built, the outer ends supported by posts driven into the ground, and shakes laid across for a platform, on which the bed-clothing was spread. But these were discomforts only, and had there been no other sufferings for the pioneers to endure, their history would be " stale, flat, and unprofitable " indeed. Sickness came to the dwellings of the settlers, and proved many times to be but the avant courier of its grim follower, Death. Almost every person who came to the county, from the first settler in 1827, until 1840, passed through the ordeal of the malarial fevers of the country ; and owing to the lack of knowledge of the proper treatment, and the want of proper medicines, a great per-centage of the victims died. In 1834, and again in 1837-8, the sickness was terrible. There were not well ones enough to care for the sick, or bury the dead respectfully. Relays of men, many of them scarcely able to be about, went from house to house to administer the remedies the physicians left, who rode day and night to minister to the people. One doctor who had no horse, had traveled on foot until worn out, when he went to his neighbor, a well-to-do farmer in those days, and told him his needs. He was told to call the next morning, and he, the farmer, would see what could be done. On the next morning the doctor found a snug built pony, and a new saddle and bridle awaiting him, and was greeted as follows, by the farmer : " This horse cost me thirty dollars, which you can pay at your convenience ; the saddle and bridle you are welcome to." The doctor gratefully accepted the new mode of conveyance, and at once increased his practice and sphere of usefulness. Not alone were the men unselfish and assiduous in their brotherly kindness, but the women were untiring also in their heroic deeds of mercy. Not forgetting their own households, their hearts went out unto all. They gathered the children of the sick into their own houses, and cared for them tenderly, as for their own offspring, until they themselves fell victims to their own unselfishness and devotion ; and were in turn cared for by their sisters, who ofttimes rose from beds of lan- guishing to minister to others more dangerously ill than themselves. The dead were everywhere in 1837, and frequently not a single member of the family was able to stand by the grave in which their loved ones were laid to rest by the hands of neighbors. Levi Mathews came to Colon in August, 1833, and before the close of November following, five members of the family, including the father and mother, were buried. Where every one was kind, it would be invidous to specify individual instances, but we must relate one instance of devotion and neighborly solicitude, which has come to our knowledge among many others.
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