USA > Michigan > Washtenaw County > History of Washtenaw County, Michigan : together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships...and biographies of representative citizens : history of Michigan > Part 12
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HISTORY OF WASHTENAW COUNTY.
a distance of 50 miles, without difficulty. The river is subject to freshets, and the intervals, in some places, to inundations, though the high banks generally afford them sufficient protection. At the mouth it is never known to rise more than a foot, but at the rapids it sometimes rises to the height of 15 feet. The country along the river for 20 miles from its mouth is generally level, in some in- stances swampy, with lofty forests of various kinds of timber, and bearing an almost impenetrable thicket of undergrowth. Proceed- ing upward, whether deviating to the sources of its numerous tributaries or following the main channel, almost every variety of soil and timber is to be met with; sometimes the fertile prairie or opening, and again the alluvial bottom, and groves of timber. The region of country irrigated by the Grand river and its branches is not less than seven thousand square miles, and includes some of the richest and most valuable lands in the State.
AREA AND POSITION OF WASHTENAW COUNTY.
Washtenaw county is bounded on the east by Wayne, on the west by Jackson, on the north by Livingston and Oakland and on the south by Lenawee and Monroe counties. It comprises 20 con- gressional townships, a total of 720 square miles, or 460,800 acres of land.
CHAPTER II.
ORGANIZATION AND POLITICAL DIVISION.
ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY.
The Legislative Council, in 1822, passed an act defining the boundaries of Washtenaw county. On its passage, Lewis Cass, Gov- ernor of the Territory, issued the following proclamation:
A PROCLAMATION.
To all whom these presents shall come, greeting:
I have thought it expedient to lay out the following county, that is to say: All the county included within the following boundaries: beginning on the principal me- ridian, where the line between the townships numbered two and three, north of the base line, intersect the same; thence south to the line between the townships num- bered four and five, south of the base line; thence east to the line between the seventh and eighth ranges, east of the principal meridian; thence north to the base line; thence west with the base line, to the line between the sixth and seventh ranges, east of the principal meridian; thence north, to the line between the townships num- bered two and three, north of the base line; thence west to the place of beginning; shall form a county to be called the county of Washtenaw.
It is hereby declared that the county herein "laid out," to wit, the county of Washtenaw, shall be organized whenever, hereafter, the competent authority for the time shall so determine, and that until then the said county shall be attached to and compose a part of the county now organized, in the following manner:
The county of Washtenaw shall be attached to and compose a part of the county of Wayne.
In testimony whereof, I have caused these letters to be made patent, and the great seal of the said Territory to be hereunto affixed. Given under my hand, at Detroit, this tenth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-two, and of the Independence of the United States, the forty- seventh.
LEW. CASS.
At this time there was not a single white person living within the limits of the territory described. As already stated, the first settlement of the county was made the year following, but it was not until 1826 there were found to'be a sufficient number of inhabit- ants in the county for the purpose of organization. At a session of the Legislative Council, held in the fall of that year, the follow- ing act was passed:
SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislative Council of the Territory of Michigan, that the county of Washtenaw shall be organized from and after the taking effect of this act, and the inhabitants thereof entitled to all the rights and privileges to which, by law, the inhabitants of other counties of this Territory are entitled.
SEC. 2. That the county court for the county of Washtenaw shall be held on the third Monday of June and the second Monday of January in each year,
SEC. 3. That all suits, prosecutions and other matters now pending before the county court of Wayne county, or before any justice of the peace of said county of Wayne, shall be prosecuted to final judgment and execution, and all taxes hereto-
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HISTORY OF WASHTENAW COUNTY.
fore levied and now due shall be collected in the same manner as though the said county of Washtenaw had not been organized.
SEO. 4. That this act shall take effect and be in force from and after the 31st day of December, 1826.
Approved November 20, 1826.
Thus it was that the county of Washtenaw was brought into organizd existence.
POLITICAL DIVISIONS OF THE COUNTY.
After organization, the first step taken was to divide the county into townships. At a session of the Legislative Council, held in 1827, this was accordingly done, three townships being formed- Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor and Dexter, with boundaries as follows:
All that part of the county included in the surveyed townships one, two, three and four south, in range seven east of the meridian, to be a township by the name of Ypsilanti.
All that part of the county included in the surveyed townships one and two, north of the base line, in range six, and townships one, two, three and four in range six, and townships three and four, in range five, south of the base line, to be a township by the name of Ann Arbor.
All that part of the county included in the following surveyed townships: one and two south, in range five, east of the meridian, and townships one and two, in same range, north of the base line, and all the remaining townships north and south of the base line, in ranges one, two, three and four, shall be a township by the name of Dexter. .
These townships were divided up, from time to time, until finally twenty were formed, each congressional township being organized under a separate town government, which government comprises a supervisor, clerk, treasurer, three school inspectors, four justices of the peace, and four constables.
The Town of Lyndon comprises township No. 1 south, of range No. 3 east.
The Town of Dexter comprises township No. 1 south, of range No. 4 east.
The Town of Webster comprises township No. 1 south, of range No. 5 east.
The Town of Northfield comprises township No. 1 south, of range No. 6 east.
The Town of Salem comprises township No. 1 south, of range No. 7 east.
The Town of Sylvan comprises township No. 2 south, of range No. 3 east.
The Town of Lima comprises township No. 2 south, of range No. 4 east.
The Town of Scio comprises township No. 2 south, of range No. 5 east.
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HISTORY OF WASHTENAW COUNTY.
The Town of Ann Arbor comprises township No. 2 south, of range No. 6 east.
The Town of Superior comprises township No. 2 south, of range No. 7 east.
The Town of Sharon comprises township No. 3 south, of range No. 3 east.
The Town of Freedom comprises township No. 3 south, of range No. 4 east.
The Town of Lodi comprises township No. 3 south, of range No. 5 east.
The Town of Pittsfield comprises township No. 3 south, of range No. 6 east.
The Town of Ypsilanti comprises township No. 3 south, of range No. 7 east.
The Town of Manchester comprises township No. 4 south, of range No. 3 east.
The Town of Bridgewater comprises township No. 4 south, of range No. 4 east.
The Town of Saline comprises township No. 4 south, of range No. 5 east.
The Town of York comprises township No. 4 south, of range No. 6 east.
The Town of Augusta comprises township No. 4 south, of range No. 7 east.
FIRST ROADS.
It was not until 1825 that a public highway was surveyed through Washtenaw county. Previous to this time, the early set- tlers followed the Indian trails, or paths, blazed by themselves through the forests. In 1825, Orange Risdon surveyed the road from Detroit to Chicago, entering Washtenaw county on section 1, in the town of Ypsilanti, taking a southwest course and passing through the towns of Ypsilanti, Pittsfield, Saline and Bridgewater, and passing out of the county from section 33 in the latter town. It will be seen this road left out the village of Ann Arbor, the prospective county seat.
The second road was that known as
THE TERRITORIAL ROAD .*
" In the summer of 1829 the opening of a Territorial road through the counties of Washtenaw, Jackson, and westward to the mouth of the St. Joseph river, was the subject of discussion by the people in the counties named. It was known to the parties that the Federal Government was engaged in making the Chicago road ,a military road from Detroit to Chicago through the southern tier of counties of the Territory. At that time the road leading west through the next tier of counties north, had its western end at Clement's farm,
*From the pen of Gen. Edward Clark.
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HISTORY OF WASHTENAW COUNTY.
on section 24, in the township of Lima, in Washtenaw county, some seven or eight miles west of Ann Arbor. Believing that the land and other inducements were as good in the second tier of coun- ties as in the first, an effort was made to have opened a competing road and draw a part of the emigrants to Michigan on a new route; at any rate to give them a choice. Mr. Botsford volunteered to go through from Ann Arbor to the Chicago road and post notices and call the attention of the people on the route to the importance of the subject, if notices were written calling a meeting at Ann Arbor. The offer was accepted, the notices were written, and a meeting was held. It was resolved to petition the Legislative Council at its next session, to appoint commissioners and a surveyor to lay out a road. A petition was circulated and signed, it is believed, by every man on the contemplated route. The act was passed, and Orrin White, of Ann Arbor, Seely Neel, of Superior, and Jonathan F. Stratten were appointed commissioners. Mr. Stratten was surveyor as well as commissioner.
" Early in January, 1830, the commissioners started from 'Shel- don's on the Chicago road, and run the line of the new road west. When they reached Ann Arbor, a party of eight volunteered to go on with them to Grand river. Henry Rumsey, Samuel Van Fossen, Zenas Nash, Jr., Wm. Hunt, Edward Clark, Mr. McCarty, Alex. Laverty and J. Bennett were the eight. They had provided them- selves with an active yoke of oxen and a lumber wagon, a tent, blankets, provisions, rifles and axes. The object of the volunteers was to open and mark the road as fast as it was surveyed. The two parties kept together and spent the first night on the floor of Samuel Clement's log house, in Lima. Here we took on all the hay we could, for this was the last settlement. Early the next morning the parties forded Mill creek and pushed forward. The volunteers soon found use for their axes and handspikes in felling trees and rolling them out of the road. The snow was abont four inches deep, and the weather was very cold, but good progress was made each day, as the country was sparsely timbered. Each morning after breakfast the teams went forward, and the teamsters would find a camping ground and start a small fire and wait till the parties came up, when the axmen would fell trees and cut them in logs ten or twelve feet long, place skids on the ground and roll three logs on them, then two, then one on top. Care was always taken to build the log heaps so that the wind blew lengthways of the logs. The snow was brushed off the ground and the tents pitched, the blankets spread, and supper prepared and eaten with a relish. The evenings were spent in smoking, telling stories, and playing pranks upon each other. In this way the time was spent till the parties crossed the Grand river at the site of the city of Jackson. This was as far as the volunteers had proposed to go. They found a body of a log house with a roof on it at this place. A Mr. Blackman, one of the commissioners' party, had 'entered ' some land here and built this house on it and left it in this incomplete condition. There was no
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HISTORY OF WASHTENAW COUNTY.
' chinking,' doorway, nor place for a window. A hole was soon made, and both parties took possession. A rousing fire was soon burning, and the tents and spare blankets were hung up to break off the wind. The parties lay there two nights. The road was brought up to the east bank of the river. It was proposed to give a name to the place. For this purpose, on the second night a ' convention ' was organized and Judge Rumsey, one of the vol- unteers, was unanimously elected president. Here let me say the Judge had served Washtenaw county in the Legislative Coun- cil, and was acquainted with parliamentary rules, and was of a genial and mirthful disposition. Soon after the president had taken the 'chair ' -- a seat on a log-a committee of three was appointed to propose a name for the place. As soon as the com- mittee retired, that is, gone to the other side of the log heap, the president rose with all the dignity he could assume, and spoke in substance as follows: 'Gentlemen of the convention: You have ap- pointed a committee to select a name for this place, and while they are absent permit me to make a few remarks. I am personally acquainted with you all. I know that at home you are gentle- manly in your deportment. You have each of you a nice sense of honor; but I have sometimes observed that when men of good standing at home are among strangers their behavior is strangely at variance with their home conduct. Gentlemen, you represent Ann Arbor, you represent Washtenaw county, and let me beg of you, gentlemen, that on this interesting occasion you will not do anything that shall bring discredit to our village or county. When your committee has proposed the name of this place, and you have adopted it, some one may propose that it be received with cheers. If the cheers are ordered, allow me to request that they may not be given so loud as to disturb the neighbors.' As the nearest neigh- bor was more than thirty miles off the remark 'brought down the house.' The committee returned and reported the name of Jack- sonburg, which was accepted and adopted, and nine as wild cheers were sent up as fifteen men could give.
"One of the party had a violin, and a dance was next in order. Judge Rumsey and Mr. Commissioner Neel, being the oldest men, opened the ball. It soon became evident that there was strife between the dancers and the fiddler which should get ahead. As the dancers wore stoga boots, the fiddler gradually went ahead, but the race was well contested, much to the amusement of the specta- tors. After taking breath and some refreshments-for this occa- sion had been anticipated and provided for-dancing was resumed and kept up until the small hours of the morning. That morning the volunteers were to part with the commissioners and their party, and return home. After a few hours' rest all were astir, when, upon inspection, it was found that the volunteers had only about three pints of flour left. They dare not call upon the com- missioners for any of their provisions, for they had none to spare. Some water was procured, and the flour was stirred in a frying-pan
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HISTORY OF WASHTENAW COUNTY.
and partly baked. The cake was divided into eight parts, and each man took his piece and ate it hot. This is all the food the party had to travel thirty odd miles on, and break a track in the snow. As soon as it was light enough to see, 'good-bye' was said, and one party started east and the other west. Of the volunteers two were left with the team having the tent, blankets, axes, etc., the other six started out in single file, each taking his turn to head and break track a mile. On reaching the top of the short hills, Van Fossen and Nash left the party, who moved too slow for them. They started off on a trot and were soon out of sight. When the party reached the pond on the west line of Lima, they found the two men sitting on a log nearly asleep, and badly chilled. It took some time and effort to arouse them. They had hurried on, until they were warmed and fatigued, and sat down to rest. The wind swept across the frozen pond, cold and bleak, and it is probable if the party had not discovered them, that they would have frozen to death. It was long after dark when they were found. The most serious obstacle was the crossing of Mill creek, Lima Center. The water was nearly waist deep, the night was cold. It was between the party and home. There was no going around it. It must be passed, and passed it was, and the pace was increased. Disagree- able as a cold bath is in mid-winter, and unpleasant as it is to have one's clothes frozen on him, no bad effect followed. At Clement's the same stream had to be forded again, but there the water was only knee deep. Some of the party remained at Clement's, and some went on with McCarty to his home. At each place a good warm supper and a night's rest put all right again. The next day all except McCarty reached Ann Arbor in time for dinner. The trip occupied six or eight days.
" In conclusion it may not be improper to say that in the follow- ing spring the road was used to such an extent, and so many emi- grants moved west of Ann Arbor on it, that the people who had made a home at Jacksonburg concluded that they would celebrate the 4th of July in the good old-fashioned style. Gideon Wilcoxson, of Ann Arbor, gave an eloquent oration. About 70 persons sat down to a good dinner. Capt. Alex. Laverty, who had taken up his residence there, commanded the escort. Ann Arbor furnished the orator, marshal of the day, and part of the committee of arrangements, besides about a dozen citizens. The day was all that could be desired, and every one who took part in the cele- bration seemed well pleased."
CHAPTER III.
INDIAN INCIDENTS-PIONEER LIFE.
A history which did not give some of the incidents which con- nect the time when the Indians alone occupied this land and the time when the white race was wholly the possessor, would be incomplete. The incidents that might be given are many, but only a few are here presented.
At the time of the first settlement, and for some years afterward, there were a number of tribes, and parts of tribes, found in it. Even after they were forced to abandon all claim to make their homes in this favored spot, they would occasionally return, often causing great fear among the pioneer settlers. Among the tribes represented were the Ojibwas, Ottawas, Hurons, and Pottawato- mies, the latter of whom were the most numerous. These Indians were not destitute of religious ideas, but they were much col- ored by their superstitions. The Ottawas believed in Michabou, " the great hare," a mythological personage who formed the earth and developed men from animals. In this superstition the reputed doctrine of Darwin finds confirmative proof as to the orgin of man. They also believe in Mirachibi, god of the waters, and also in Missabize, " the great tiger." The Chippewas, or more properly the Ojibwas, believed in the Kitche Manitou, the Great or Good Spirit, and the Matchi Manitou, the evil spirit. The Medas was a body acting as a kind of priesthood; but each one had his own Mani- tou revealed to him in dreams. The great mythological personage among the Ojibwas was Menabojou, who aided the Great Spirit in creating the world.
AN INDIAN LEGEND.
The following is the tradition of the Ojibwas as to the way in which Menabojou assisted in the creation of the world: Menabojou is represented as being in the world all alone, and, being without companionship, he became very lonesome. Searching for a com- panion, he finally came across a wolf to which he at last became very much attached, and which likewise became very much attached to him, and they called each other brother. They were inseparable companions. In one of the lakes near by was the home of Matchi Manitou. While traveling together one day (Menabojou and his brother) Matchi Manitou enticed the wolf, the brother of Menabo- jou, into the lake, and he was drowned. Menabojou became very disconsolate at his sad loss, for he was now all alone in the world again, and he determined to be revenged of Matchi Manitou. Pass-
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ing along the lake one day, in winter, when it was frozen over, the . day being sunshiny and warm, he found Matchi Manitou and his chief devils out on the ice sunning themselves. He tried to ap- proach them unobserved so that he could send an arrow in the hated Manitou, but they saw him. They did not know what to think of the strange object-could not tell whether it was an enemy or something harmless. To settle that point Matchi Mani- tou sent one of his devils in the shape of a bear to see what it was. Menabojou, seeing the movement, assumed a position of perfect rigidity and waited his coming. The devil came cautiously to the object of his search, sniffed the air about it and began to scratch it and bite it. When Menabojou was just on the point of crying out with pain, he quit. He tried it again, and when Menabojou thought he must cry out, he quit again, and then returned to Matchi Manitou and told him that it was only a stump. But he was not entirely satisfied with his report, so he sent out another devil in the shape of a large serpent, with orders to report what the strange object might be. So it came to Menabojou and coiled itself around him with many a fold, and then it began to tighten the folds and squeeze him most fearfully. He was almost ready to cry out with pain when the serpent suddenly relaxed its hold and gave him an opportunity to breathe. Again the folds were drawn so tightly about him that he thought every bone in him would surely be broken, but just when he could stand it no longer the serpent uncoiled itself and returned to Matchi Manitou with the same report that it was only a stump. Satisfied now, they all lay down in the bright sun and went to sleep. When Menabojou saw that his time had come, he crawled up toward them, and when in proper distance, he shot several arrows into the sleeping devils, and then he hastened away to see what they would do when they awoke. When Matchi Manitou awoke and found that a number of his chief devils were dead, he looked around for the strange object and found that it was gone. He then exclaimed: " It was Menabo- jou!" So Matchi Manitou spewed out a flood of water from his mouth to follow after Menabojou and destroy him. Menabojou, seeing the flood coming, fled to the mountains. The higher he ascended the higher the waters came. He went to the highest peak and the waters followed him there. He then climbed a tree and still the waters did not abate. When he could go no further the waters kept on ascending until they reached his waist and they stood. For three days it was so, and Menabojou was about to give up in despair. On the morning of the third day he saw swimming in the water around him three animals-a beaver, an otter, and a muskrat. He called to them and called them brothers. He said to them, " What shall we do?" and they could not an- swer him. Then he said to them: "I'll tell you what to do: Each of you dive to the bottom and bring up some earth." Then the beaver did so, but the water was so deep that he was drowned before he reached the bottom. Then the otter tried it, and he suc-
Alphons Frech
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HISTORY OF WASHTENAW COUNTY.
ceeded in reaching the bottom, but before he succeeded in getting any earth, he drowned also. Then the muskrat tried it, and just as he succeeded in getting a very little earth, he likewise drowned. Menabojou succeeded in getting hold of the dead bodies of these animals, and he examined the beaver, but found nothing. He examined the otter with no better results. Almost in despair, he examined the muskrat, and in one paw he found a little earth. This he took and carefully held on his hand to dry in the sun. When it was thoroughly dry he pulverized it between his fingers, and then with a strong spurt of breath, he blew it all around him, and immediately the dry land appeared. And this is the way that Menabojou aided Kitchi Manitou in creating the world.
INDIAN ANTIQUITIES.
The first Europeans to visit the wilderness comprising the pres- ent State of Michigan were Frenchmen,-Catholic priests, " voy- agers," and "coureurs de bois." They found the State sparsely inhabited by Indians, mostly having their homes and lodges on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, in the valley of Grand river, near its mouth, and in the northern woods. The southern part of the State seems to have been a border land-common hunting ground for the Indians of Michigan, and the more powerful tribes on the southern shore of Lake Erie, Northern Ohio and Indiana. The ancestors of the Michigan Indians had formerly resided in the val- ley of the St. Lawrence, and had gradually been driven west by encroaching tribes. The Indians of Michigan were a happy race, so far as happiness is attainable by savages. The rivers, lakes and streams of the country abounded with fish, easily caught. The dark pine forests of the north and the oak openings and prairies of the south furnished plenty of game,-black bears, wolves, foxes, prairie chickens and wild turkeys. Otter were not uncommon on the banks of our own Huron. Deer were very plenty, and men are now living who have hunted them upon the very ground where now an army of 1,500 students assemble in one of the leading universities of the country. Within 40 years as many as half a dozen deer in a wild state have been seen at one time in what are now the streets of Ann Arbor. In the summer season the Indians took advantage of the waters surrounding the State to make dis- tant excursions in canoes for the purpose of hunting and fishing, peace and war. Their light canoes, carried past the rapids of Sault Ste. Marie, were often launched upon Lake Superior, and others, skirting the shores of Lakes Erie and Ontario, and passing the Great Falls, floated down the St. Lawrence as far as Montreal.
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