History of the St. Clair County, Michigan, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources.., Part 76

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 76

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

For nearly a year after the late war, business is said to have been the reverse of brisk. It was the cahn that succeeded the storm. At the expiration of that period. the city again grew rapidly. Trade was extended to remote settlements in the northeast; manufactures in- creased: public and private improvements began to become prominent in various portions of the city: additional schools were provided for the education of youth; new religious and secular societies were organized; agricultural interests prospered and increased, and mercantile vont- ures were vastly benefited; now railroads were incorporated, projected and built during this dreade; the bridge and internal improvements of immense value were mooted and provided for. As the years succeeded one another times became better and better. and, before the dawn of the Centennial decade, steady progress, with every appearance of ultimate success, was made in the departments, essential to municipal. public and private growth, notwithstanding the temporary paralysis of business caused by Black Friday. The year 1870 gave bright promise for the future, and the career to which this was the introductory annual has not entirely failed of a complete fruition of such promise. Hard times affected Port Huron as they did other points. The failure of Jay Cooke, followed by the panie of IST3. left its mark throughout the Northwest.

The past few years have seemed to intensify the admiration of residents, as also to attract accessions to the citizens. The beauty of location, the enterprise and liberality of the found- er's and builders not more than their educational and social prominence. the superiority of public, private, denominational and convent schools, and the comparatively high state of

494

IHISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY

morals to be found in the city, combine to render it a point at which merit will receive encour- agement and assistance in identifying itself with the town. A railroad has recently connected the city with the Saginaw Valley, and will contribute in years to come to its advancement, its wealth and its population. It is the largest city in the county, and the county seat. Around it are gathered abundant evidences of material prosperity. The glory of fields, the bounty of dairies, the fruit of trees and vines, and the sweets of blossoms pay tribute to the beautiful place, and on every side the altars of the fruitful Pan and the bountiful Ceres are redolent with incense most pleasing to the husbandmen who frequent her markets or make Port Huron a shipping point for their products.

EARLY HISTORY.

Surveyor Jewett, under date July 25, 1503, speaking of St. Clair County, says: From the mouth of the River Sinclair, six miles up, are twelve farms that front the river in the usual manner, from three to four and five acres, and forty back, none exceeding in quantity 240 acres. This land differs from the face of this country generally. Its soil possesses every mark of poverty, sandy and low in the extreme. Nothing exists to recommend this settlement, except its bordering on one of the most delightful rivers in the Western World.

The only pretension these people have to their farms is derived from a simple possession taken obtrusively in the years 1780, 1785 and 1790. They are all Canadians. From this settlement, for twelve miles up the river. not a vestige of a house can be seen, owing to its being for that distance a perfect barren; when you are suddenly and agreeably surprised with the presentation of a number of fertile and well improved farms, edging the river for the extent of ten miles to the amount of twenty-five farms, now under cultivation and laid off on the river, as other settlements in this country, with the difference, that the claimants extend their farms ten and twenty acres in front of the river, and, in two instances, from forty five to fifty, all running back to one rear line, which is, by survey, forty acres.

The River Sinclair is in length forty-five miles, and in beanty and convenience of navi- gation preferable to Detroit, though it is not quite as wide. Such is its transparency, that the eye can distinguish at the bottom, in fifteen feet of water, the most minute object. In it there are no shoals, and in depth. generally five and six fathoms.

As nearly as can be ascertained, the first white settlers on the site of the city were Denis Canslet, who settled near the mouth of Black River previous to 1790. From what Mrs. Brandamour states, it is learned that this old settler was born in 1773 or 1774. His death took place in 1859, and his remains were interred in the Sarnia Cemetery.

Peter Brandamour, Sr., who died in 1852 or 1853, located near Black River two years after Denis Causlet.

Peter Brandamour, Jr., a settler of 1792, died in November, 1880.

Mrs. Peter Brandamour was born at Port Huron March 10, 1803 This old lady still resides in the city (July, 1882), and retains in memory many of the early events in the history of the district.

Frank Brandamour, brother of Peter Brandamone, was the first white child born in St. Clair County. Mrs. Brandemour states that he was born on Mini Creek, a mile up Black River, long before Edward Petit was born. This first white native died about twenty-four years ago.

Canslet and Brandamour were couriers in the service of the French fraders. They were young men in 1790, and could not tolerate the sovere labors of that service, nor the tyranny of their task masters.

The former deserted previous to 1790, and sought a home among the Indians of Black River: the latter rebelle in 1792, and joined Causlet in his savage home.

AAnselm Petit arrived a short time after Canslet and Brandamour, and located near the confluence of the Black and St. Clair Rivers.

Peter Bonhomme or Burnham, built a log house at Ft. Gratiot, while still the river was named Otsi Sippi.

Racine had a log house at the foot of Butler street.

495

HISTORY OF ST CLAIR COUNTY

THE FUR TRADERS.

To understand in a clearer light, the service which these first squatters, at the month of Black River, deserted, the following descriptions are given:

The fur company at one time had 3,000 men under employment. The batteaux from the different departments would assemble with the furs they had collected during the winter at Mackinac, generally about the last of June in each year, and calculated to get in about the same time. They were watched for eagerly, and would come in singing their Canadian boat- song. When all in, the boats would line the shore of the bay from where the old mission house now stands to the western ond of the Island. Then would ensne a couple of months' rest for the men, and Mackinac would be full of life and gayety, somewhat rude in character. perhaps, but as thoroughly enjoyed as are the seasons at Newport or Saratoga. In those days, the island was the center of trade for all this northern country, from the southern extremities of Lake Huron and Michigan to the head of Lake Superior. The dollar of our fathers was the only coin, and the company needed more than one barrel for distribution when the fleet came in. Silver coin was as plenty as blackberries, and as carelessly expended by the men who had earned it, by braving dangers and enduring hardships such as no other class of men in our country have known. There was a spirit of emulation among them and a love of advent- ure which led them to attempt the most hazardous journeys, both on land and water. Recruits were brought yearly from Lower Canada, and the principal argument employed to get them was a narrative of the perils and hardships of the life before them. This fired the imagina- tion of the young men, and stirred their blood. What other of their countrymen had done, they could do, and were eager for the trial. Very frequently the okl voyageurs, priding them. selves npon the feats they had accomplished, would jeer at the new recruits npon their arrival. and then would follow a succession of fights of an obstinate character, for these men possessed courage and persisteney in a rare degree. They were all. however, under the complete control of the officers of the company. They were an army -a well disciplined army. The soldiers of Napoleon at Austerlitz were not ander better discipline, or more willing to brave death than these voyageurs. Their rations when starting out on their long expeditions were a quart of corn and an ounce of fat deer a day. The corn was hulled and prepared here. In one of the letters of Ramsey Crooks, he directs the purchase and sending forward of several hundred bushels of ashes to be used in preparing the corn. The voyageurs were not permitted to carry a gun. They took these long expeditions around the head of Lake Superior, to the Red River. to the Yellowstone and down the Mississippi, and up its various tributaries, with no other protection than a knife about a foot in length, and a small hatchet. The loads they carried were called packs. These packs weighed eighty pounds. A one-pack man was not regarded with much respect .. A two pack man was looked upon as a respectable voyageur. A three- packman was an object of veneration. and a four pack one was a Triton among minnows. They went in companies of from five to ten, one being designated as commander. The spirit of emulation to which I have referred led them to endure fatigue and danger cheerfully. The men from the Yellowstone. the Red River and Lake Superior looked with contempt upon the men who traded along the shores of Lakes Michigan and Huron, and in Hlinois and Indiana. The latter were called " Cads." and many a tight verurred between the two classes. As an illustration of the discipline of the men, I will state the manner in which the batteanx left Mackinac, and continued on their journey until they separated in different squads. The clerk to command would start with a boat about half loaded and six stalwart oarsmen, saying to those that were to follow. "We shall stop to-night at" (naming place). The boats that followed would be heavily laden. and have but tivo rowers, and would not reach their destination till midnight. Then a little fire would be built, and the quart of corn and ounce of fat cooked. Not more than two or three hours' rest would be permitted. and the men were not allowed to take breakfast before starting. They placed the pot of corn and fat on the seat beside them, and dipped from them and ate as they were rowing. The incidents in the lives of these voyageurs, if properly narrated, wouldl form a history as interesting and graphie as that of the explorations of Livingstone or Stanley.

Anselm Petit, François Lariviere. Baptiste Levais. I. B. Duchesne, Michel Jervais, J. B.

496

HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

Courneais and Peter Moreaux. settled near the mouth of Black River, between 1790 and 1794. At this period, the settlers gave the name La Riviere Delude to Black River, and La Riviere Jervais to Indian Creek.

Rev. O. C. Thompson, in his historical paper, says: Several French families settled at the mouth of Black River about the year 1790, among whom was Anselm Petit. They were Roman Catholics, and were permitted by the Indians to build shanties and cultivate small patches of land on the flats. They named the place Desmond. Black River they called La Riviere Delude, from a Mr. Delude, who was drowned in its dark waters. The settlement was also called by the same name. At that time and later, the place was a favorite resort of the Indians for hunting and fishing, as game and fish were abundant. Three thousand sometimes lined the banks with their birchen wigwams pitched under the shading pines. The bluff on which the present Custom House and surrounding buildings stand was their burying ground. Some time during the war of 1812, the settlers were warned by a friendly squaw of the meditated treachery of the British allies, and taking to their boats escaped the massacre. After the war, the first white settlers returned to their homes. Ft. Gratiot was built in 1814, and so named from one of the officers. The last of the military reservation was sold in 1880.

Slavery penetrated into this northern wilderness, and a man, in imitation of the patriarch Jacob, worked seven years in the mill of Park & Meldrum, and purchased one of their slaves for his wife. Desmond was not organized into a town until April S, 1838. It had a popula- tion in 1830 of 377 souls. Either in 1835 or 1837, its name was changed to Port Huron. The population was in 1840, 1,113, and in 1850, 1,584.

The city of Port Huron was organized in 1857, under a charter obtained April S, of that year. The few French families who came to the mouth of Black River in 1790, were re-en- forced in 1815 by a few more of the same nation and faith; and yet, in 1819, the primitive forest covered the site of this city. There were at the latter date only four dwelling houses in the township, two of which were within the city limits. On the flats, near the present corner of Third and Court streets, was the log house of Anselm Petit, a Roman Catholic. On the southwest corner of Military and Water streets, stood the block-house of an irreligious half-breed named John Reilly. Outside the city limits, three miles above the mouth of Black River, on its south bank, lived Richard Sansbury, and four miles down the St. Clair was the frame house of Z. W. Bunce. Thirteen years later (1832), there were fifteen buildings in the township-one saw-mill, one hotel, one log honse, two trading posts and two dwelling houses. In 1833, the original Black River steam mill and its boarding house were completed. Fine. comfortable dwellings were also erected in the vicinity of this mill. A public house and a dwelling house were built just south of the present railroad bridge, on the east side of Military street, on what was then the military road from Detroit to Ft. Gratiot. Port Huron contained one steam saw mill, two or three public houses, one shoe shop, four trading posts and eighteen dwelling houses, besides several shanties occupied by the Canadians who came for work in the mill In 1834, the row-boat over Black River gave place to a bridge, which united Huron avenue with Military street. As yet, most of the inhabitants were squatters with few signs of permanence. From 1835 to 1837, a tide of speculation platted a paper city upon the area north of Black River, which it called Ft. Gratiot. The ebb of that tide left its ordinary traces. The people were disappointed and discouraged, and readily concluded that Port Huron was only a lumber town, a fishing station. never to grow much larger; but soon to grow much smaller. Yet the place began to increase until in 1857. a city charter was obtained.

The first house ever built at Port Huron was that of Anselm Petit, near the present loca- tion of the Hogan House on Court street; the second building, which stood where Stuart's store is, was occupied by a half-breed named John Riley. It must, however, be understood that settlers had erected wigwams or shanties previous to the building of the Petit House.

The first village plat was made early in 1835 by Edward Petit, and the location called Peru. In the fall of the same year, Harrington & White platted Port Huron Village, and in 1837 the village of Paris was laid out under the direction of Maj. Thorn.

The first schoolhouse was erected by Francis P. Browning, on the west side of the park north of Black River. The first hotel was a log-house, built in 1827, on Quay street.

497

HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

John B Phillips built the first steamboat at Port Huron.

In 1833. Military street or the Military road was laid out, and the first bridge over Black River built.

PORT HURON IN 1826.

The Congress of 1825- 26 made provisions for the construction of a military road between Detroit and Fort Gratiot, and Amos Mead, of Farmington, Harvey Parke, of Pontiac, and Conrad Ten Eycke, of Wayne County, were appointed Commissioners to lay out and establish the same. The Commissioners met at Detroit early in June, and the relator of this reminiscence, then a boy of eighteen years, was employed to carry the force end of the chain. The starting post was struck near the present sito of the City Hall and Market, which at that time was at some distance from any building, out on the common. Harvey Parko was a practical surveyor, a man of gentlemanly bearing and a fine scholar.

Pushing on from the starting point, in a direct line for Mount Clemens, on the third day we struck the twentieth mile stake, opposite the court house in that village, From Mount Clemens we took as straight a line as we could for Fort Gratiot. About four miles south of Belle River, we struck a heavy windfall of timber, where we camped for the night. The next morning we started on, creeping as we could through the dense mass of fallen timber, and halted at noon on the bank of Bolle River for our cook and packer to come up with provis ions. Here we waited until next day, onduring a fast of thirty hours. The windfall proved to be of much greater extent than we had supposed. and, in seeking to get around it, our cook and packer had to travel many miles eastward, and then work their way back to strike our lines. Though deprived of our tent and provisions, and feeling the keen demands of appetite, we had rather a social time, as Deacon Erastus Ingersol, of Farmington, the axman of the party, told several stories of a funny character. The deacon was a large, fleshy man, and, it being warm weather, he had divested himself of coat and vest, retaining only his pants and a thin cotton shirt to protect him from the hordes of mosquitoes that sought to refresh themselves from the deacon's store of blood. With the aid of punk, flint and steel, carried by one of the party, we succeeded in getting up a fire: but despite the smoke, in which the deacon sought to hide from his tormentors, he had a hard time of it. Passing over Belle River and other inter- vening streams with swamps and marshes, we struck the bank of Black River, some distance above the present site of Port Huron. The only inhabitants of what is now Port Huron were John Riley and his wife-half-breeds-who lived in a block-house of two rooms, on the south bank of Black River. a little above what is now known as Military street, and a Frenchman. who occupied a frame house just south of Riley's. On the north side of the river stood a board shanty. occupied by a man who was a graduate of some Eastern college -a man of culture, but who, disappointed in love, or some other such affair, bad strayed into the wilderness and was then following the trade of a cooper. At that time, Fort Gratiot was a tumble-down affair, with a few block-houses within the embankments of the fort, occupied by some tishormon and their families. The site of Port Huron was then owned by John Riley, the half-brood just named He was not only proprietor of the place, but the chief of a band of Indians, the most of them, at that dato, residing ou the opp site shore of the St. Clair. Ho had been odneated at the Presbyterian Mission at Mackinaw, and read and spoke good English. He was a gentlemanly appearing man. mild in his address, and expressed a willingness to have the road pass through his premises, if the publie good required it. He dressed after the fashion of the whites, but his wife. a full-blooded Indian, though neat and tily in appearance, dressed in true Indian style. At that carly date, who could have dreamed that on that rude, wild spot, a city of goodly proportions was to arise? Yet so it was to be.

SALE OF BUILDING LOTS.

The following is a list of building lots, sold at Port Huron. by D. B. Harrington. between the years 1535 and 1841, with the date of sale and amount of purchase money. In the general his ory, the names of all real or personal property owners in the village in IS21 are given:

498

HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

PURCHASERS' NAMES.

Date of Sale.

Amount.

PURCHASERS' .NAMES.

Date of Sale.

Amount.

Harding & Shepard

Nov. 15, 1835

$74 90

Dale & Hancock.

May 10, 1837. ..

$200 00

G. F. Boynton ..

Nov. 15, 1835 ..

50 00

Ira Porter

May 10, 1837 ...

500 00

J. S. Ileath

Dec. 21, 1835

80 00

J. S. Comstock

.June 15, 1837 . .

150 00

J. Richardson

Dec. 21, 1835

35 00

O. A. Ilancock & Dale

August 1, 1837.

300 00

Willard Orvis

Dec. 21, 1835

50 00

M. II. Shippey

August 15. 1837.

200 00

Ruth Davis.

50 00

A. W. Campbell

Nov. 13. 1837 . .

300 00

N. V. Horton ..

Dec. 28. 1835

50 00

J. S. Comstock

Jan. 1, 1838

500 00

Mason & Powers

Dec. 28, 1835

50 00

J. S. Heath.

200 00

J. P. Minnie.

March 28, 1836.

100 00

.J. B. Flanagan

Oct. 26, 1839.

Mason & Powers

April

120 00

J. B. Flanagan

Oct. 26, 1839.

500 00

J. S. Orvis ..

April 13, 1836. .

50 00

J. Iloward. .

Feb. 25 1840

250 00

S. F. Atwood

April 19, 1836 ..

100 00

Feb. 25. 1840.

250 00

Lucien Beach.

April 19, 1836. .

50 00

.J. Miller.

July 27, 1840.

250 00

Ira Porter

May 10, 1836. .

100 00

J. Miller.

Clift Comstock.

May 12, 1836.

100 00

J. Miller.

Aug. 29, 1840.

2640 00

Minnie & Canfield

May 12, 1836. .

50 00

N. Nash

Nov. 16, 1840

50 00

J. L. Kelsey

July 27, 1836. .

50 00

Jan. 15. 1841 ..

130 00

L. M. Mason

July 27, 1836.

100 00

S. V. Thornton and others Feb. 4, 1841

300 00

J. Campbell

July 27, 1836. .

127 75

L. M. Mason.

Feb. 15, 1841

200 00

C. Thompson

July 27, 1836. .

300 00

G. F. Boynton.

Feb. 22, 1841 ..

400 00

A. & .J. B. Comstock

600 00

Robert Hickling

March 1, 18441. .

100 00

J. Campbell.

August 31, 1836

300 00

S. L. McCuot ...

March 3, 1841. .

175 00

L. M. Mason

August 31, 1836

200 00

H. W. Hopkins

March 31, 1841.

200 00

D. N. Powers.

August 31, 1836

150 00

N. S. Carpenter

April 14, 1841 ..

275 00

J. P. Minnie.

October 6, 1836.

75 00

April 27, 1841 ..

800 00

C. C. Waller

500 00

J. Bryce

May 1, 1841. .

250 00

L. M. Mason.

Jan'y 13, 1837. .

200 00

J. F. Batchelder

May 17, 1841 ..

200 00

Samuel Hall

April 11, 1837.

125 00

IIenry Dunn.

May 20, 1841.

125 00

G. Clark, .

April 11, 1837. .

200 00

L. M. Mason.

July 19, 1841.

100.00

Mason & Porter

April 18, 1837. .

200 00

Total

$16,632 65

William Moore

April 29, 1837

125 00

AFTER THE CRISIS.

The financial crisis of 1837 ended, confidence began to reign, and the people resumed their wonted occupations. A brief period was afforded them to realize all the dangers which had surrounded them, all the dangers through which they had passed, and to make a survey of the wreck caused by financial depression on the one side, and by famine and disease on the other. They saw the bones of their former savage neighbors lying scattered over the Indian garden plots, along the river banks, and, seeing, re- gretted their oft-repeated wish that the Indian would die The new solitude was real; the red men who varied the monotony of life in the wilderness were gone; and the few who remained were so stricken with the calamity which had fallen upon their band, that moroseness was added to their natural stoicism. rendering them at once objects to be pitied and to be feared.

In 1838 or 1839, the last of the Indians left this country; a little later, a business revival took place, and within a few years the age of progress was entered upon by the settlers.

Thus, year by year, was formed the nuclens from which has grown this wealthy and pros- perous commonwealth. We do not claim this a complete list of those who settled in the city during the years referred to, but have merely made a brief record of the early settlements in different localities in the county. as they have occurred to us. From 1842. the county increased so rapidly in population and the development of its resources, that any attempt to mention more individnal names would render this sketch very tedious.

ORGANIZATION OF THE VILLAGE.

The place, as yet, had no city or even village pretensions, in a government way, the town organization meeting all the requirements in this respect. It was formerly a backwoods clear-

May 27, 1841.

200 00

A. F. Ashly

April 11, 1837 ..

200 00

S. B. Carl

S. & J. S. Heath

April 18, 1837. .

350 00

Sept. 14, 1839

1200 00

J. Howard.

75 00

George Clark.

J. Spalding

350 00

L. M. Mason.

S. V. Thornton & J. Wilson Jan. 9, 1841. J. Spalding.

250 00

100 00

G. Clark & C. Flugal.

409

HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY

ing, satisfied with the name of Riviere Delnde, Desmond, and even called St. Josoph by come early travelers. In 1819. however, township government was set aside, in favor of local rule: and henceforth the little lumbering and fishing settlement trod in the ways of progress.

The first meeting of the Port Huron Village Board was held May 11. IS19, with L. M. Mason, President. Martin S. Gillett, Wellington Davis, J. W. Campfield, John Wells, H. L Stevens and Robert Hickling, Trustees: James Grover. Recorder: William Mitchell. Deputy Recorder, present At this meeting. Benjamin Bemis was appointed Poundmaster; Charles Horton was allowed $3 for services as elork of charter election anl William T. Mitchell 86 as Village Attorney. In June, ISI9, M. S. Gillett was appointed Overseer of Sidewalk Construction on Military street. between Pino and Water streets. During the fall of 1St9, the existener of a few cases of small-pox drew forth the following declarations from the Board: "Whereas, it is the opinion of the Board of Health that persons may take the small pox from dogs, it is the opinion of the Board that the dogs belonging to Drs. Bell and deraw ought not to be allowed to run at large. The Board do, therefore, authorize the Village Marshal to kill all dogs belonging to Drs. Bell and Jeraw. if found running at large."

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History of the St. Clair County, Michigan, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources.., Part 76

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