USA > Michigan > Wexford County > History of Wexford County, Michigan, embracing a concise review of its early settlement, industrial development and present conditions > Part 27
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G EORGE FREDERICK ROOT, a noted music publisher and composer, was born in Sheffield, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, on August 30, 1820. While working on his father's farm he found time to learn, unaided, several musical instru- ments. and in his eighteenth year he went to Boston, where he soon found employ- ment as a teacher of music. From 1839
until 1844 he gave instructions in music in the public schools of that city, and was also director of music in two churches. Mr. Root then went to New York and taught music in the various educational institutions of the city. He went to Paris in 1850 and spent one year there in study, and on his re- turn he published his first song, "Hazel Dell." It appeared as the work of " Wur- zel," which was the German equivalent of his name. He was the originator of the normal musical institutions, and when the first one was started in New York he was one of the faculty. He removed to Chicago, Illinois, in 1860, and established the firm of Root & Cady, and engaged in the publication of music. He received, in 1872, the degree of " Doctor of Music" from the University of Chicago. After the war the firm became George F. Root & Co., of Cincinnati and Chicago. Mr. Root did much to elevate the standard of music in this country by his compositions and work as a teacher. Besides his numerous songs he wrote a great deal of sacred music and pub- lished many collections of vocal and instru- mental music. For many years he was the most popular song writer in America, and was one of the greatest song writers of the war. He is also well-known as an author, and his work in that line comprises: " Meth- ods for the Piano and Organ," " Hand- book on Harmony Teaching, " and innumer- able articles for the musical press. Among his many and most popular songs of the war time are: " Rosalie, the Prairie-flower," " Battle Cry of Freedom," " Just Before the Battle," "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, the Boys are Marching," " The Old Folks are Gone," "A Hundred Years Ago," "Old Potomac Shore, "and "There's Music in the Air." Mr. Root's cantatas include "The Flower Queen" and " The Haymakers." He died in 1896.
HISTORY
OF
WEXFORD COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
CHAPTER I.
MICHIGAN.
Michigan is a part of that almost un- known quantity designated at the beginning of the last century as the Northwest Terri- tory. In 1805 a part of this great territory was set off and given the name of "Michi- gan Territory." The lines describing this territory were not the same as those 110w defining the boundaries of the state of Mich- igan, for it is said that owing to some dis- pute as to the southern boundary line, con- gress, to appease the desire of the Michigan representatives for more land. "threw in" the portion of the state now known as the Upper Peninsula, which has proven to be the (lepository of untold mineral wealth, placing Michigan well in the front rank of mineral producing states of the Union.
Owing to the fact that in those days all inland transportation and travel was by wagon and stage coach, settlements remote from the lake shore were for many years very few and were usually found along such rivers as were navigable, and these grew
very slowly. The lack of transportation fa- cilities was not the only retarding element. in the settlement of the state. The ague had full sway throughout nearly the whole southern part of the state, and it soon be- came known everywhere that to go to Mich- igan meant to be shaken with the ague for a year or more, with accompanying doctor and drug bills, and there is little doubt that the fear of the ague diverted many of those who were constantly joining in the "west- ward march of empire" from the fertile lands of Michigan to more distant homes in the still newer "West."* In this age of rapid transit and rapid development, when vil- lages and even cities spring up almost in a clay, it looks strange that it should have tak- en over thirty years for the territory of Mich- igan to have arrived at the age of
* "West" was the designation given by eastern people to all the country lying west of the state of New York. The author well remembers that when his grandfather moved from Cattaraugus county. New York. to Oakland county. Michigan, they called it "going way out west."
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WEXFORD COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
statehood ; but when we go back to that peri- od and in our mind's eye see conditions as they then existed we almost wonder that enough people could have been induced to find homes within the bounds of the state to entitle it to admission into the Union.
In June, 1836, congress passed an en- abling ast to admit Michigan to the Union. but there were certain conditions contained in the act which had to be complied with on the part of the state. In due course of time these stipulations were carried out and on January 26, 1837, a supplemental act was passed by congress by which Michigan was declared to be "one of the United States of America, and admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original states, in all respects whatever."
At that time there was not a mile of rail- road in Michigan except what was known as the Erie & Kalamazoo, which had been built from the town of Port Lawrence (which name was later changed to Toledo) to Adrian, a distance of twenty-three miles. This was what was known in those days as a "strap" railroad, the rails being made of wood and covered with a wide bar or strap of wrought iron. The cars on this line had been drawn by horses up to within six days of the time Michigan became a state, but on January 20, 1837, the owners of this line put on a steam locomotive, which was the first locomotive ever used in the state.
Previous to this time there had been much talk about railroads, and as early as 1830 a company was organized to build what was to be called the Detroit & St. Joseph Railroad. The name was changed later to the Michigan Central. After the company had expended about one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars
and within two months after the state had started in to do business for itself, an act was passed by the legislature authorizing the purchase of this road by the state and pro- viding for its early completion. The work was taken hold of on the part of the state, money being raised on state bonds to pay for the work, and within a year from its birth the state had completed its railroad from Detroit to Dearborn, a distance of ten miles. At this rate it would have taken twenty years and more to have completed the road, but the state kept on issuing its bonds and trying to build its railroad until finally it was forced to call a halt, as the continual process of issuing bonds had so injured the credit of the state that an issue of fifty thousand dollars of bonds were sold in New York in 1845 for eighteen cents on the dollar. This condition of things created a strong desire on the part of the state to sell its "elephant," and negotiations were forthwith authorized with that end in view. After many months of delay the sale was at last made, and on September 23, 1846, the road passed into the hands of the Michigan Central Railroad Company. So anxious had been the state to get the road off its hands that the company drove a remarkably good bargain, one which has caused the state a good deal of annoyance since.
During this time the state had had a somewhat similar experience with the Mich- igan Southern Railroad, now known as the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad. The state had paid out nearly a million dol- lars in the construction of this road. and upon its sale to the Southern Michigan Railroad Company, in December, 1846, it could only realize five hundred thousand dollars from its investment.
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WEXFORD COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
While these ventures in railroad build- ing were not a source of profit to the state in a financial way. they attracted public at- tention to Michigan, and the people along their hines, no doubt, came into the enjoy- ment of railroad privileges much earlier than they would have done had railroad building been confined to private enter- prise.
With the building of railroads came new settlers in increased numbers, until at the time of the adoption of the present consti- tution in 1850, the census reports show a population of three hundred and ninety-five thousand and seventy-one, as compared with about one hundred and eighteen thousand when the state was admitted. This growth, however, had been confined almost entirely to that portion of the state lying south of the center line of the Lower Peninsula. In many of the northern counties not even township lines had been surveyed when the territory became a state in 1837. It is not strange, therefore, that the whole of this northern end of the Lower Peninsula should have been looked upon by those living in the southern counties as a valueless wilder- ness. At that time there were the remnants of several tribes of Indians living in what now constitutes the counties of Antrim, Charlevoix, Emmet, Kalkaska, Grand Trav- erse and Leelenau, and as early as May, 1839, two evangelical missionaries located at what is now known as Old Mission, in
Grand Traverse county, with the purpose in view of teaching and Christianizing the Indians. They were well received and their work bore good fruit. Three years later the result of the work of the missionaries was shown by a desire on the part of the Indians to raise something more than corn
for food, consequently a barrel of wheat was brought by them from Green Bay, Wiscon- sin, and sown under instructions of the mis- sionaries. This was probably the first wheat sown in northern Michigan, certainly the first of which we can find any authentic rec- ord.
Little by little civilization kept encroach- ing upon savagery and more white people were getting a knowledge of the natural ad- vantages offered by this hitherto unknown part of the state, and in the year 1847 a hardy homeseeker by the name of Board- man took up his residence where Traverse City now stands. Ile built the first house that was put up on the present site of Trav- erse City. and from him the river, empty- ing into the bay at that point, and the lake a short distance up the river, received their name. He also built a small saw-mill, op- erated by water power on a creek which enters Boardman river about a mile from its mouth. When this mill was erected there was not another saw-mill within a hundred miles in any direction.
In 1851 the firm of Hannah, Lay & Company located at what is now known as Traverse City and started upon a business career which proved wonderfully successful. Mr. Hannah had previously visited that lo- cality and ascertained by personal examina- tion the great quantity of pine timber along the Boardman river, and, having had consid- erable experience in the lumber business, saw at once that there was a grand opening for a lucrative business. The firm bought a large quantity of pine land that cost them only one dollar and a quarter per acre. They started in in a moderate way, for in those days markets were limited, prices were low, and transportation facilities were confined
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W'EXFORD COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
exclusively to sailing vessels on the lakes and it took from six to nine days to land a small cargo of lumber in Chicago from Tra- verse Bay. Their first saw-mill was the one heretofore mentioned as having been built by Mr. Boardman and which they purchased of him. This was what was known as a "muley mill," having but one upright saw, which under the most favorable circumstan- ces would not cut more than two and a half or three thousand feet of lumber in twelve hours. This proved to be altogether too slow a process even for those slow times and accordingly, in the spring of 1852. they commenced the construction of the first steam saw-mill ever built in northern Michi- gan. Having already cleared out the Board- man river far enough to reach the first or nearest of their pine lands, they were in po- sition to do what was then considered a "big lumber business."
The advent of Hannah, Lay & Company was the "dawning of the morning" in the settlement and development of the whole Grand Traverse region. They furnished work for all applicants. They supplied the wants of all newcomers, and by their liberal and honorable dealings did much to encour- age those seeking homes. But the home seekers were not numerous for the first few years. The vast unbroken forest that stretched back from the little opening made at Traverse City to a seemingly unlimited distance was not very inviting to those who had lived in an old settled country. So the 'fifties passed by and the total population in Grand Traverse county (Indians excepted ) was twelve hundred and eighty-six. This included the people who were connected with the mill, the boarding house, the lum- ber camps and those who had been bold
enough to strike out into the forests to make homes for themselves.
Then came the great, cruel war, and for four weary, woeful years hundreds of thous- ands of "the flower of manhood" had to face far more dangers and difficulties than a Michigan wilderness offered, and the thoughts of seeking new homes in the"west" gave way to thoughts of how to economize and care for the little ones at home while the husbands and fathers were fighting the battles for the Union on southern fields, lan- guishing in pestilential prison pens, or sleep- ing the last long sleep in unknown graves in the blood-stained "sunny South." But in spite of all this strife and carnage in one sec- tion of our country there was still a steady increase in the population around Traverse Bay, the census of 1864 showing two thous- and and twenty-six, or an increase of only seven hundred and forty in four years. In the spring of 1865 the war ended and thous- ands upon thousands of the boys in blue re- turned to their former homes. The spirit of adventure aroused by army service would not perniit many of the returning soldiers to settle down to the humdrum routine to which they had been accustomed before enlisting. and the westward stream of adventurous homeseekers grew into a mighty river and such a growth and development as the new states and territories of the west witnessed in the next ten years has never had a parallel in the history of the world. One important factor in this great stride of advancement was the building of the trans-continental railroad. This, in addition to the passage of the homestead law, giving every head of a family one hundred and sixty acres of land, by the payment of a nominal sum and living on the land for five years, soon peo-
223
WEXFORD COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
pled a vast area of country which otherwise would have continued to remain in its pri- meval state for an indefinite length of time.
This great western movement of popu- lation came at a time when northern Michi- gan was ripe to receive it, and the tide surged back from the shores of the great lakes, and particularly from Traverse Bay, until the
bounds of one county were too limited to receive and contain it, and it soon began to lap over into adjacent counties as if deter- mined that the time had come when the giant forests which for centuries had held full sway throughout this whole section of the state should yield its scepter to man, the lord of creation, and henceforth administer to his desires and demands.
CHAPTER II.
KAUTAWAUBET OR WEXFORD COUNTY.
During the years 1836 and 1837 the Uni- ted States surveyors had reached the terri- tory now known as Wexford county, in their preliminary or township line survey, but it was not until the year 1840 that a name was given to that part of the state known as townships 21, 22, 23 and 24 north of ranges 9, 10, 11 and 12 west. The first name to this territory was Kautawaubet, supposed to have been an Indian name, but it was afterwards discovered that the name had no particular significance and in 1843 the name was changed to Wexford. There must have been some one around from the "Emerald Isle" when this change of name was suggested, as it is only in Ireland that we find the name Wexford applied to a lo- cality previous to its having been used to designate a part of the wilderness of north- eru Michigan.
It was some twelve or fifteen years af- ter the township hines had been established before the government found time to divide the townships up into sections. This work would doubtless have been done soon- er had there been any demand for the land, but no one then would have taken land in Wexford county as a gift, while on the prairies, in states far- ther west, it was difficult to make surveys fast enough to meet the demands of the con- stantly flowing stream of people from the east. Soon after the section lines had been run an effort was made to secure the build- ing of a state road through from Muske- gon or Newaygo counties (the settlements in these counties being then the most nor- therly on the south side of the "Big Woods") to the new settlement opening up around the shores of the Grand Traverse
224
WL'EXFORD COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
bay. This effort was crowned with success when the legislature of 1857 passed an act authorizing the construction of a state road to be called the Muskegon, Grand Traverse and Northport State Road. This name was afterwards changed and when the road was finally built it was known as the Newaygo and Northport State Road. Not much was clone toward the construction of this road until 1860.
In this connection the author feels con- fident that his readers will be interested in a letter from the pen of the Hon. Perry Hannah, written in response to a request for some reminiscences of his early experience in northern Michigan that might interest thic readers of a history of Wexford county. We do this the more readily because in the early years of the county's existence all the business of the new settlers was done in "Traverse City," and largely with the firm of Hannah, Lay & Company, managed by Mr. Hannah, and all the early settlers were well acquainted with him. The letter is here given complete :
TRAVERSE CITY, MICHIGAN, Jan. 22, 1903. J. H. WHEELER, EsQ. :
I have your request to write some early facts of my experience in the Grand Traverse country that you might incorporate in your history of Wexford county. This would be more of a tax on my time than I could well devote to it, besides it would take a book too large for your history to put only a part of it in. I should be willing to give you an item or two of my experience that has some connection with the affairs of your county.
In the winter of 1853 and 1854 I made my first trip to the "outside" world on snow shoes. Soon after the first of January, 1851, I left Traverse City, when there was not a single house outside the limits of the city, for Grand Rapids. The snow was plump three feet deep, light as feathers, and not a single step could be taken without the Indian snow shoes. I furnished myself with two Indian packers for carrying supplies. It took six days to make the trip from here to Grand Rapids. The first settlement we reached was Big Rapids, some five or six miles this side of the forks of the Muskegon river.
The wolves got on our track before the first night's camping. They were not troublesome to us in the least until we had made our camp fires in the evening, then a tremendous howl was set up and continued during the whole night. We were not in the least troubled as to their contact with us, but they broke up our sleep. As soon as we left our camp in the morning they followed us and picked up any scraps that might be left. They continued with us till we were out of the woods.
There was not a single sign of a trail of any kind to travel by, which compelled us to constantly use our compass, as very little sunshine can be seen at that season of the year beneath the thick timber that then shrouded the whole country. This was the most tedious journey I ever experienced in the early days of Grand Traverse.
In the winter of 1856-7 I was a member of the state legislature. When the legislature adjourned, early in the spring, some of the members came and shook hands with me and said, "I suppose you have to go to your home all the way by stage." This was very amusing to me, coming from state legislators, when I knew that my trip had to be made "afoot and alone" through the long woods.
In 1857 I was appointed one of the commissioners to assist in the work of laying out a state road to be called the Muskegon, Grand Traverse and Northport State Road. Before we started the survey on the line, I concluded it would be a good move to have the route looked out, so I engaged a hardy old pioneer and hunter to go from Traverse City south and look over the line through Wexford county. After being absent for some ten days he returned, and in answer to my questions regarding the feasibility of the line his reply was, "First rate; it could not be better. I tell you, Mr. Hannah, if we get a settler through to Grand Traverse on that line we will be sure of him. By golly! them hills, they be awful big, and they all slope this way, and the settler that gets here will never go back over those hills." While the hills over the state road are pretty "tall." the old hunter got a pretty poor impression on his first trip from the state-road point of view. Today we consider that Wexford county is not all hills, but is, much of it, the best land we have in the state.
Next is a little incident in building our bridge over the Manistee river. George W. Bryant, who lived in our village, had located the land where the bridge was to cross the river. I had let the contract to Godfrey Greilick, a sturdy old German, to build the bridge. Mr. Bryant notified Mr. Greilick that in building the bridge over the Manistee river he must not cut a single tree on his land. The old German, meeting him on the street of our village one day, told Mr. Bryant, in very emphatic language, "If you come where we do make dot bridge,
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IVEXFORD COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
and I see one tree grow on top your heat, py golly! I cut him off." It is needless to say that Mr. Bryant's land furnished all the timber for that bridge.
What a wonderful change in the last fifty years in Grand Traverse and Wexford counties. Traverse City today has a population of twelve thousand, and the Newaygo and Northport state road is lined with many beautiful farms.
Yours respectfully,
PERRY HANNAH.
This letter will give something of an idea of the condition of Wexford county less than half a century ago, for it should be remembered that the bridge here spoken of was built in 1864, only thirty-nine years ago.
The making of this state road progressed very slowly and its final completion was not until a goodly number of people had settled in Wexford county. Its commencement, however, was doubtless the direct cause of the migration of the first settler to the coun- ty. This person was B. W. Hall, whose home for several years prior to 1863 had been in Newaygo county, who having heard something about the Grand Traverse conn- try, and knowing of the project of building a state road through to it, made up his mind to take a trip north and see for himself if the country was as desirable as it was rec- ommended to be. It was in September, 1862, that he started on this trip, having supplied himself with provisions enough to last five or six days, for traveling through the forests in those days, even in the summer time, was no easy task. The ground throughout nearly all the forest was covered with a mat of what the early settlers called "shin tangle," a growth of vine, or ground hemlock, which grew from three to six feet in length, but by reason of the weight of the snows of many winters it took nearly a horizontal position except at the ends, which turned nearly to the perpendicu-
lar, somewhat after the manner of heavy clover when it lodges from excessive growth. Indeed, it was often called "Michigan clov- er," for in the late autumn and early winter stock would almost entirely subsist upon it, so much so that the milk and butter would taste so bitter as to be very unpalatable.
When Mr. Hall reached the platean about half a mile north of the Manistec river and one and a half miles north of the present village of Sherman he found a piece of land that just suited him. He continued on his journey to Traverse City, where the United States land office was then located, and entered the northwest quarter of section 30 in town 24, north of range II west, tin- der the pre-emption law, which held the land for an individual for six months, at the end of which time he must pay the government price of one dollar and a quarter per acre or lose his claim. The homestead law had not then been enacted, and all had to pay "Uncle Sam" the same price for his land. After cutting down the trees on a small piece of his land as a notice to all that the land was taken, he retraced his steps over the "trail" and began to make the necessary prepara- tions for an early removal to his new posses- sions in the spring.
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