History of the St. Clair County, Michigan, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources.., Part 15

Author: Western historical company, Chicago. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas & co.
Number of Pages: 814

USA > Michigan > St Clair County > History of the St. Clair County, Michigan, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources.. > Part 15

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To know the beginnings of this county, one must revert to a period in our history anterior to the era of French exploration proper- thirty years before the venerable Rene Mesnard appeared upon the shores of Lake Huron (1660), long before the Jesuit. Claude Allouez. arrived at the month of French River (1665), and longer still. before Father Marquette appeared in Michigan (1665).

The first notice of the territory bordering on Lake Huron was made about 1615, by Father Le Caron, and next in 1630. when Jean Nicolet traveled west from Nipissing, over the very route which the first missionary father adopted, as well as that traversed in after years by his Jesuit successors, and arrived on the shores of the lake. The light which this discovery shed upon history was such an exceedingly faint gleam apparently imperceptible-that it would have ceased to shine entirely had not a reference been made to it in a report sent to France by the Superior of the Canadian Jesuits, in 1632, printed in the "Jesuit Relations." of 1539, at Paris.

Upon the St. Lawrence River, Samuel Champlain built his village early in the seventeenth century. There the spirit of enterprise and energy burned brightly, for in Champlain was eentered many of those qualities which fit men to direct and govern. This illustrious Frenchman lost no opportunity to make himself acquainted with the unknown land which stretched beyond his Western explorations, and. in his search after knowledge, requisitioned Indian intelligence. so that. through report. he might be able to gain some idea of the topography of the Western country. He learned of the Mascoutins, of the Winnebagoes, and more of the Pottawatomies and Otehipwes than Huron or Algonquin had ever related to him hitherto. All that was known of the Otchipwes, during the first quarter of the seventeenth century, was, that they had come from a cold country, bordering on the northern ocean, at a remote period, with the Winnebagoes, and settled in the neighborhood of the great lakes; that they sometimes traded with the Algou- quins, and oftentimes came to the banks of the Ottawa as enemies. With this information. and an ardent desire to penetrate the mysterious West to urge him on, Champlain made inany efforts toward exploration. At length he adopted his protégé, Jean Nicolet, to dircet an ex- ploration, and this man, endowed with the controlling spirit of his director, completed a round

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of discovery in 1634, and returned to Quebec the following year. Previous to Nicolet's return, Gov. Champlain learned more and more of the chain of lakes and rivers which form the eastern boundary of Michigan, and as he was himself a practical draughtsman, he made the first attempt at a delineation of the lake region, which chart was given in his work, Les Voyages de la Nou- relle France, published in Paris in 1632. The descriptions accompanying the map are much more applicable to the country, as we know it, than the map itself, and refer very distinctly to the lake and river, ending and beginning at Fort Gratiot. In his report to the home govern- ment, in 1836, he evidently makes use of information gleaned from the explorer Nicolet, and recommends a point at the outlet of what Nicolet named Lake Huron, for the building of a mil- itary post or trading village; while in the same letter he suggests the establishment of a Mission Village some distance north, on the eastern shore. There is no record of the recommendation being acted upon immediately, although a doubt cannot be entertained regarding the building of Fort St. Joseph, near the present Fort Gratiot, by Daniel Graysolon Du Luth, in 1686. Pere Réné Mesnard established a mission at the point suggested by Champlain in 1660. It is unnecessary here to say more regarding this mission than that there is sufficient evidence to point out its establishment in 1660, and to give the following summary from Mrs. B. C. Far- rand's able paper on the reminiscences of Edward Petit, which points out the ruins and loca- tion of the mission: So recently as 1625-30, Edward Petit, son of Anselm Petit, one of the original settlers of Port Huron, entered the employ of G. & E. Williams, fur traders. His duty called him among the Canadian Indians, and while there he made a stay on the Sauble River, forty miles north of Sarnia. In the vicinity of his camp were the ruins of an ancient house, which. on measuring, he found to have an area of 960 square feet, or a floor 40x24 feet. In the south or gable end was a chimney eighteen feet high, built of stone. with an open fire- place. The hearthstone had sunk below the ordinary level. Round the ruin was a garden about twelve rods wide, and twenty rods long, bearing evident traces of ditches and alleys. Within the walls, an oak tree, three feet in diameter. and sixty feet high, minus a limb, and perfectly straight, was found to flourish. It seemed to be of a second growth, and must have been 150 years okl when observed by Mr. Petit. This ruin and tree excited the curiosity of the trader, and prompted him to ask one of the aged Saguenay chiefs, then eighty-four years old, what he knew about the house or its builders. The savage replied: "A white man built the house at a time when my great great-great-great-grandfather lived there and white people lived then in all the country round. They were not Frenchmen, and everything, no matter of how great or small value, was sold for a peminick," meaning a dollar.

It is questionable, indeed, whether the location of Du Luth's Forl St. Joseph was settled between the years 1635 and 1686; enough remains, however, to show that this district was known at that early period, and that the French military enterprise of the latter part of the seventeenth, was anticipated by that of Champlain and Nicolet of the first part of that century.

To Jean Nicolet, next to Pere Le Caron and Frere Sagard, both Franciscan Friars, belongs the honor of the first place in the history of Michigan. Nor is that honor due from mere ac- cidental events, as is so often the case in discovery of new countries: for it was won by the de. liberate accomplishment of a laborious and dangerous undertaking, whose purpose was, so far as evidence can now be adduced, substantially achieved. The sparse records of the life of this man contain but the barest outlines of his earlier days, though future research among original documents, it is to be hoped, will shed more light on the obscured details. It is known that he was of French nativity, born in Normandy. and that he emigrated to Canada in the year 1616, being a protégé of Champlain. The date of his birth is not preserved in any document extant. Upon his arrival in New France, he at once took up his residence at Allumettes Island. on the Ottawa, that he might the better study the Indian tongue, and thereby fit himself for the office of interpreter. In 1622, but four years after his arrival, he is mentioned as having acquired an extensive influence over the Algonquin tribes. From 1623 to 1631, Nicolet lived with the tribes of the Nipissing. This is stated on the authority of his friend Father Le Jenne, although other of the " Jesuit Relations" record that the period of his residence with the Nipissing tribes was from 1629 to 1632. It is determined by those who have made a special study of the subject, that Nicolet began his Western travels in the summer of 1634, and returned to Quebec in 1635.

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The nature of this work preeludes the possibility of arguing this question, but as several hith erto accepted theories are controverted, the authorities governing this deduction are named, as follows : " Jesuit Relations, Discovery of the Northwest;" "Melanges D' History of de Litera- teur." Parkman observes that " Nicolet was a remarkable man," and so he must have been, to win the confidence of the savage tribes to that degree which enabled him to penetrate into the remote regions of their homes, and there conduct a peaceful enterprise with the warlike say ages, for the advancement of commerce in fur and peltry.

The long journeying from Quebec was undertaken at the suggestion of Champlain, and in the official capacity of interpreter of the company of one hundred associates of New France. which was formed in 1627, with a view to the development of the immense resources of the Western wilderness in furs. The mission of Nicofet was not to establish peace, as distinguished from warfare, between the Hurons and Peninsular savages; but was. rather, a mission of peace, to cement the friendly relations of these tribes, as well as the Nez Percés or Ottawas, and other tribes in the general interests of the French.

Nicolet visited the Hurons on his westward journey, at their home on the eastern sido of the lake which bears their name, and negotiated with them. It is recorded by Parkman that, upon his arrival at Winnebago Town, he sent some of his Indian attendants to announce his coming, put on a robe of damask, and advanced to meet the expectant crowd with a pistol in each hand. The sqnaws and children tled, screaming that it was a maniton, or spirit, armed with thunder and lightning; but the chiefs and warriors regaled him with so bountiful a hospitali- ty, that. 120 beavers were devoured. One of the objects of Nicolet's visit to the Green Bay coun- try was to smoke the pipe of peace with its savage ocenpants, and to counsel harmony among all the tribes of the upper lakes visited by him, to the end that all might be visited by the French from the St. Lawrence, for the purpose of trading for furs. Peace was promised: but the Winnebagoes, immediately after he left them. attacked the Nez Perces, located upon the eastern waters of Lake Huron, capturing and eating two of that nation. Five years subsequent- ly, they were themselves attacked by the Illinois, from the widely-extended prairies of the south, and nearly exterminated.

In 1611, the Pottawatomies left their ancient homes on the island of the upper lakos, soek- ing refuge among the Chippewas, at the Sault Ste. Marie, near the foot of Lake Superior. Returning, however, some years afterward, and again visiting Michigan, they spread themselves through the Peninsula from Sault do Ste. Marie to Grand River, and to the fInron of Lake Erie. Nieolet visited many of the surrounding nations. He retraced his way to the St. Lawrence in the summer of 1635, reaching Quebee in safety. The parish records of that city furnish the in- formation that this brave man was occupied with various duties from 1635 to the day of his death, and shows conclusively that his journey must have been made at the date given, since he was not absent from Quebec long enough at any time to have performed the feat subsequent to 1685.

Nicolet married Marguerite Couillard, at Quebec. October 7, 1737. He fost his life while on a mission to save a poor Abenaqui from the Algonquins, by the capsizing of his boat, Octo- ber 31. 1642. To this bold adventurer, whose knowledge of the Western tribes was gained by actual experience, must all praise be given for having opened to the devoted followers of the Cross, the way to new fields of usefulness.

There were none to follow Nicolet to the wild West until 1611, when a great " feast of the dead " given by the Algonquins in Huronia, gathered there all the kindred tribes to take part in the funereal games, the dances, chants, and mournfut processions of those decennial rites. Among the rest came the Otchipwes from the Rapids, which then closed to the vessels of men the entrance of the vast upper lake. These deputies, like the rest, were visited by the Jesnit missionaries, and so won were the good Otchipwes by the gentle, self-devoting ways of those heralds of the Cross, that they earnestly invited them to their cabins at the Falls of Ste. Marie, near the foot of Lake Superior, portraying, with all the lively imagination of the child of the forests, the riches and plenty that reigned in their sylvan abodes. Ever eager to extend their spiritual conquests, to enlarge the bounds of freedom in this Western world, the missionaries joyfully accepted the invitation of the Otchipwes. By command of the superior, two mission-

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ary Fathers, Charles Raymbault, a man thoroughly versed in the Algonquin customs and lan- guage, with Pere Isaac Jacques -- no less complete an Indian scholar-were dispatched to visit them. On the 17th of June they launched their canoes at the mission house of St. Mary's, in the country of the Huron Indians, and for seventeen days advanced over the crystal waters of the inland sea (Lake Huron), amidst the beautiful islands which stretch across the lake, cluster- ing around the lake-gemmed Manitoulin, so hallowed to the Indian's mind. When they reached the Falls of St. Mario, they found two thousand Indians assembled there, and amid their joyful greetings the missionaries gazed with delight on the vast field which lay before them. They heard of tribe after tribe which lay around. and ever and anon of the terrible Madowesse (Sioux), who dwelt on the great river of the West (Mississippi). Earnestly did the Otchipwes press the two fathers to stay in their midst. "We will embrace you." said they, " as brothers; we shall derive profit from your words:" but it could not be so. The paucity of missionaries in the Huron country did not yet permit of the establishment of that distant mis- sion, Raymbault and Jacques could but plant the cross to mark the limit of their spiritual progress; yet they turned it to the south, for thither now their hopes began to tend. After a short stay, they returned to St. Mary's, and hopes were entertained of soon establishing a mis- sion on Lake Superior; but Raymbault shortly afterward fell a victim to the climate, while Jaeques began in his own person a long career of martyrdom, preluding the ruin of the Huron Mission, the death of its apostles, and the destruction of the tribe. The Jesuit missionaries located in the country of the Huron Indians, always wide awake to obtaining knowledge of the region lying to the westward and northward of Lake Huron, had. nevertheless, but meagersae- counts of the country even down to 164S.

The pipe of peace which Nicolet smoked with the Western tribes was not productive of im- mediate good returns. The death of Champlain, and the change in purposes and ambitions among the Canadian settlers. produced in the east an almost total forgetfulness of the upper lake country. For at least two decades of years after the discovery by Nieolet, very dim and shadowy is its history. Here and there references to the lakes, and the Indians inhabiting their shores, are made by Jesuit missionaries in their Relations. These "Relations " were the ree- ords kept by priests, of their experiences in their arduous calling. For many years, beginning in 1632. the Superior of the Jesuit Mission in Canada-then New France-sent every summer to Paris his reports, which embodied or were accompanied by those of his subordinates. For forty years, these reports were annually published in Paris, and were known as the " Jesuit Re- lations." Those which are of interest to the student of Michigan history begin with the year 1639-40, and extend to 1672. Says one of these records, of date 1648: "This Superior Lake extends to the northwest, that is to say, between the west and the north. A peninsula, or strip of land quite small. separates this Superior Lake from another third lake, called by us the Lake of the Pannts, which also discharges itself into our fresh water sea, through a mouth which is on the other side of the peninsula, about ten leagues more to the west than the Sault. This third lake extends between the west and the south west, more toward the west, and is almost equal in size to our fresh water sea. On its shores dwell a different people, of an unknown language, that is to say, a language that is neither Algonquin nor Huron. These people are called the Paunts, not on account of any unpleasant odor that is peculiar to them, but because they say they came from the shores of the sea far distant toward the west, the waters of which being salt, they call themselves ' the people of the stinking water."" Another account, written in 1654, after giving the arrival at Montreal of a fleet of canoes loaded with furs, belonging to friendly Indians who came from the upper country, a distance of 400 leagues, speaks of a part of these Indians being the Tobacco nations of the Hurons, and a portion Ottawas, and adds: "These tribes have abandoned their ancient country, and have retired toward the more distant nation in the vieinity of the great lake, whom we call Paunts, in consequence of their having dwelt near the sea, which is salt, and which our savages eall ' stinking water.'" The Hurons Irad been entirely overthrown by the Iroquois in 1649 and 1650, and had abandoned their coun- try. A division of this nation ealled the Tobacco Indians, with such other Hurons as had taken refuge with them, settled on Maekinae Island, where they were joined by a branch of the Ottawas, nicknamed by the French, Chereur releres, or Standing Hair; hence this statement in

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the " Relations " that these nations had "retired toward the more distant " Winnebagoos. Again in the same year, this is recorded: .. In the islands of the ' lake of the people of the sea,' whom some persons wrongly call the 'Paunts,' there are many tribes whose language eloso- ly resembles the Algonquins." In 1656, one of the Jesuits writes: " Our attention has been directed toward a number of nations in the neighborhood of the . Nation of the Sea,' whom some persons have called the Pannts, in consequence of their having formerly dwelt on the shores of the sea, which they call 'Winipeg,' that is to say. 'stinking water.'" Then follows an enumeration of the villages of Illinois and Sioux Indians, and of two other nations. the "Ponarak " and " Kiritinous." Such are the meager records of the West after its visitation by Nicolet. down to the year 1658.

In Angust, 1656, a band of the Ottawas, or other Algonquins, numbering 300, and in tifty birch-bark canoes, appeared upon the St. Lawrence. These savages demanded commerce with the French and missionaries for the boundless West. This was the beginning of the commerce of the Northwest. But for the greed of the fur-trader and the zeal of the Jesuit, the story of Nicolet would soon have passed from the minds of the Frenehmen inhabiting tho St. Lawrence; and the discovery of Michigan, like the discovery of the Mississippi by De Soto, would soon have faded from the memory of man. But a missionary, whose name is not appended to the "Relations."-and it is, consequently, uncertain who the reverend father was-took from the lips of an Indian captive, named Asatanik, and a man of considerable importance. an account of his having. in the month of June. 1658, set out from Green Bay for the north, passing the rest of the summer and following winter near Lake Superior -so called because of its being above Lake Huron. This Indian informed the Jesuit of the havoc and desolation of the Iroquois war in the West; how it had reduced the Algonquin nations about Lake Superior. The same mis- sionary saw at Quebec two Frenchmen. who had just arrived from the upper countries with 300 Algonquins in sixty canoes, laden with peltries. Those fur-traders had passed the winter of 1659 on the shores of Lake Superior, during which time they made several trips among thesur- rounding tribes. In their wandering's they probably visited some of the northern parts of what is now Michigan and Wisconsin. They saw, at six days' journey beyond the lake, toward the southwest. a tribe composed of the remainder of the Hurons of the Tobacco nation, compelled by the Iroquois to abandon Mackinac, and to bury themselves thus doop in the forests, that they might not be found by their enemies. The two traders told the tales they had heard of the ferocious Sioux, and of a great river upon which they dwelt -- the "great water." of Nicolet's guides. Thus a knowledge of the Mississippi began to dawn again upon the civilized world. It may be well to remember, in this connection, that the fur-traders came to what is now Michigan in advance generally of the missionaries. They led the way for the Josuit fathers: but as trade was their objeet, and they left no record of their visits, only vague knowledge is had of what they really saw or did. But slight mention is made of them in the Relations, where, as much as possible, their presence and doings are kept in the background.

The narrativos of the Indian captive and of the two Frenchmen were not lost upon the zealous Jesnits; for, two years later, Reno Mesnard attempted to plant a mission on the southern shore of Lake Superior, but perished in the forest by starvation or the tomahawk. Thoroughly inured to Indian life, with many a dialect of Huron and Algonquin at his command. this mis- sionary in endeavoring to establish the cross so far to the westward, went, with eight Frenchmen and a number of Ottawas. starting from Three Rivers, Canada. August 28. 1660. He made his way to the Georgian Bay, and thence to a largo bay upon the southern shore of the lake, in all probability what is now known as Keweenaw. "There, however, he met with little success in

founding a mission. He subsequently determined to visit some Hurons who were then located upon, or near. the Noquet Islands, and who had sent to implore the missionary to come amongst them. as they had long beend estitute of a pastor, and many of them were fast relapsing into Pagan habits. It should be remembered that the Hurons proper, and their allies and kindred of the Tobacco nation, had, many years before, while living near the Georgian Bay of Lake Huron; Canada. received the Jesuit missionaries at their villages, and numbers had professed Chris- tianity. Three of Mesnard's companions were sent to explore the way. Descending the Menom. onee River, they finally reached the Huron village, where they found a few wretched Indians -

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mere living skeletons. On their way they encountered great hardships, owing to the rapid cur- rent of the stream, its portage and precipices. Convinced of the impossibility of Mesnard's reach- ing the Hurons, or remaining with them if he did, they returned, encountering still greater difficulties in ascending the river. These Frenchmen were, doubtless, in their perilous journey, many times upon what is now the territory of Michigan. On their arrival at the lake, they im- plored the aged missionary not to attempt a journey evidently beyond his strength. But to their remonstrance he interposed, "I must go if it costs me my life." He set out with one French- man and some Hurons. The seventeen other companions returned to the St. Lawrence. Mesnard was soon left by the Hurons, and was afterward lost from his companions, who sought for him, but in vain. It seems that, while his attendant was employed in transporting a canoe, Father Mesnard accidentally became separated from him. This was about the 10th of August, 1661. With him perished the first mission-if, indeed, it can be called one- - upon the shores of the upper lakes. His faithful companion, Donne John Guerin, reached the Huron village in safety There was not at that time another missionary station nearer than Montreal. But the failure of this first attempt did not discourage the Jesuits, or quench their enthusiasm. But who was the man to cope with the thousand difficulties surrounding the establishment of a mission so far in the western wilds ?

With better hopes, undismayed by the sad fate of Mesnard, indifferent to hunger, naked- ness and cold, to the wreck of their ships of bark, and to fatigue and privations by night and by day-in August, 1665, Father Claude Allouez embarked on a mission, by way of the Ottawa, to the far West. Early in September, he reached the rapids through which the waters of Lake Superior rush to Lake Huron, and admired the beautiful river, with its woody isles and in- viting bays. On the 2d of that month, he entered the great lake, which the savages rever- enced as a divinity, and of which the entrance presents a spectacle of magnificence rarely ex- celled in the rugged scenery of the North. He passed the lofty ridge of naked sand which stretches along the shore its drifting heaps of bareness: he urged his canoe by the cliffs of pic- torial sandstone, which for twelve miles rise 300 feet in height, fretted by the chafing waves into arches and bastions, caverns and towering walls, heaps of prostrate ruins, and erect col- umns crowned with fantastic entablatures. Landing on the south shore. the said mass, thus consecrating the forests which he claimed for a Christian King. Sailing beyond the bay of St. Theresa (so named by Mesnard, now Keweenaw Bay), and having vainly sought for a mass of fine copper, of which he had heard rumors (this being the first known of this metal by the whites), on the Ist day of October, he arrived at the village of the Ochippewas, on the west shore of the bay of Chagouamigong or Chegoimegon. It was at a moment when the young war- riors were bent on a strife with the warlike Sioux. A grand council of ten or twelve neighboring nations was held. to wrest the hatchet from the hands of the rash braves; and Allouez was ad- mitted to an audience before the vast assembly. In the name of Louis XIV. and his viceroy, he commanded peace, and offered commerce and an alliance against the Iroquois; the solliers of France would smooth the path between the Ochippewas and' Quebec; wouldl brush the pirate canoes from the rivers; would leave to the Five Nations no choice between tranquillity and destruction. On the shores of the bay to which the abundant fisheries attracted crowds, a chapel soon rose, and the mission of the Holy Spirit was founded.

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History of the St. Clair County, Michigan, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources.., Part 15

Author: Western historical company, Chicago. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas & co. Number of Pages: 814

Author: Western historical company, Chicago. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas & co.
Number of Pages: 814