USA > Michigan > Washtenaw County > Past and present of Washtenaw County, Michigan > Part 61
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PAST AND PRESENT OF WASHTENAW COUNTY.
places covered with a coarse high grass, and uni- formly covered from six inches to three feet (and more at times) with water. The margins of these lakes are not the only places where swamps are found, for they are interspersed throughout the whole country and filled with water, as above stated, and varying in extent. The immediate space between these swamps and lakes, which is probably near one-half of the country, is, with a very few exceptions, a poor, barren, sandy land on which scarcely any vegetation grows, except very small scrubby oaks. In many places that part which may be called dry land is composed of little short sand hills, forming a kind of deep basins, the bottoms of many of which are com- posed of a marsh similar to the above described. The streams are generally narrow, and very deep compared with their width, the shores and bot- toms of which are, with a very few exceptions, swampy beyond description ; and it is with the utmost difficulty that a place can be found over which horses can be conveyed with safety.
"A circumstance peculiar to that country is exhibited in many of the marshes by their being thinly covered with a sward of grass, by walking on which evinced the existence of water or a very thin mud immediately under their covering, which sinks from six to eighteen inches from the pressure of the foot at every step, and at the same time rising before and behind the person passing over. The margins of many of the lakes and streams in a similar situation, and, in many places, are literally afloat. On approaching the eastern part of the military lands, toward the private claims on the straits and lake, the coun- try does not contain so many swamps and lakes, but the extreme sterility and barrenness of the soil continues the same. Taking the country al- together, so far as has been explored, and to all appearances, together with the information re- ceived concerning the balance, it is so bad there would not be more than one acre out of a hun- dred, if there would be one out of a thousand, that would in any case admit of cultivation."
How different is this from Cadillac's glowing description of the country. And how different from the letters sent back east by the first actual settlers. Is it any wonder that the settlers of
the War of 1812 preferred settling in some other locality ?
Before the first settlement in the county, the permanent government of this section of the country had seen several changes. Up to No- vember, 1760, it had been French territory, al- though the British had laid claim to it, yet with- out in any way enforcing their claims. It was not delivered up to the United States until July II, 1706, when the British flag was hauled down at Detroit. Yet constructively it was American territory before that and came within the im- mortal ordinance of 1787 "for the government of the territory northwest of the Ohio." Michigan was then a part of the Nortwest Territory from 1787 to May 7, 1800, when Ohio was set off and the remainder of the territory was called Indiana. But the boundary line as fixed in 1800 between Ohio and Indiana was from the mouth of the Kentucky river to Fort Recovery, and thence due north to Canada, so that what is now Washtenaw county was a part of the territory of Ohio from 1800 to 1803, when Ohio was admitted as a state and the territory north of its present bounds was annexed to the Territory of Indiana. On June 30, 1805. the Territory of Michigan was set off from Indiana. All these changes made very little difference to Washtenaw, as it yet had no white inhabitants.
The boundaries of Washtenaw were defined in 1822, at a time when there was not a single white person living within its boundaries. This was done by an act of the legislative council, and by a proclamation issued by Governor Lewis Cass on September 10, 1822. The limits of the county thus organized differed materially from the pres- ent limits, as the new county contained forty towns instead of twenty as at present, and in- cluded besides the twenty present towns of Wash- tenaw, eight towns in Jackson, eight in Living- ston, and four in Ingham, that is, it included what are now the two eastern tiers of towns in Jackson, the two southern tiers of towns in Livingston, and the townships of Stockridge, White Oak, Ingham and Bunker Hill in Ingliam. Governor Cass' proclamation stated that the territory described in technical terms, but which includes the towns described above, "shall form a county to be
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PAST AND PRESENT OF WASHTENAW COUNTY.
called the County of Washtenaw." It is declared that the County of Washtenaw shall be organized as soon as competent authority shall so determine. and that until then the County of Washtenaw shall be attached to and comprise a part of the County of Wayne. It was not until 1826, or three years after its first settlement, that there were thought to be a sufficient number of inhabitants to organize the county, and in November, 1826. the legislative council passed an act to take effect December 31. 1826. organizing the county. Sam- utel W. Dexter was appointed chief justice of the county court and Oliver Whitmore associate jus- tice, and the first term of the court began on the third Monday in January, 1827, in the village of Ann Arbor.
The legislative council of 1827 divided Wash- tenaw into three townships, Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor and Dexter. The township of Ypsilanti included the present townships of Augusta, Ypsilanti, Su- perior and Salem. The township of Ann Arbor included what is now York, Pittsfield. Ann Arbor and Northfield in Washtenaw, and Green Oak and Brighton in Livingston ; while the township of Dexter included the remaining thirty towns. These three big townships were from time to time subdivided, and, in a few years, the county was confined to its present limits and divided into twenty townships, as at present. The County of Jackson was laid out in 1829. taking eight surveyed townships from Washtenaw, but was attached to Washtenaw until 1832. The County of Ingham was laid out in 1829. taking four townships from Washtenaw, but was attached to Washtenaw until 1838. The County of Liv- ingston was laid out in 1833. taking eight town- ships from Washtenaw, but was attached to this county until 1836.
Washtenaw was the seventh county laid out in Michigan, being preceded by Wayne, Macki- nac. Monroe, Macomb, Oakland and St. Clair.
CHAPTER II.
THE EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
After the French traders came the English settlers. Although in September, 1822, when the
county was formed, there were no white inhabi- tants in Washtenaw, the advance guard of the American settlers were coming into the county to spy out the land; and. while the first settlement was actually made in 1823, a number of men had looked over the ground for eligible locations in 1822 and returned to the east to arrange for moving their families. The French claims had been given to Godfroy and his compatriots, and the first land in Washtenaw purchased from the government was in 1822. There were two purchasers that year, both evidently speculative, as neither of the pur- chasers ever resided in the county. The first purchaser of land was Eli Kellogg, and he bought on July 1, 1822, one hundred thirty-one acres, the south part of section 9, in what is now Ypsi- lanti city, near the French claims. He sold this land in February, 1824. to William Harwood. The second purchaser was Judge Augustus Bre- voort Woodward, of Detroit, the chief justice of the territory, and the man who named Ypsilanti in 1825. Judge Woodward, on August 16, 1822. purchased eighty acres, being the west one-half of the northwest one-fourth of section 10, in what is also now Ypsilanti city, paying one hundred dollars for it. This land he sold to Lucius Lyon in 1825. Thus, when Washtenaw was laid out as a county, all the land within its boundaries was owned by the United States government, except- ing the two thousand three hundred and fifty- seven acres owned by the French traders who had left the county, and two hundred eleven acres owned by two men who never resided within its borders. All of this land under private owner- ship was located in what is now either Ypsilanti city or township.
In 1823 there were fifteen purchasers of land in Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor and Superior, and none in the remainder of the county. Major Benjamin J. Woodruff was the first purchaser in 1823 and he bought the west one-half of the northwest fractional one-fourth of section 15 in Ypsilanti, about sixty acres, on April 22; and six days later he bought one hundred and thirteen more acres in sections 15 and 22. Here he located the village of Woodruff's Grove, and is commonly accredited with being the first permanent settler
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of Washtenaw county. The second purchaser for the year was James McCloskey, possibly a son-in-law of the French trader Gabriel God- froy, and he bought that part of section 26 in Ann Arbor township which lies south of the Huron river, eighteen and seventy-one-bun- dredths acres, about a mile and a half from Ann Arbor city, towards Geddes, but on the Packard street road. Titus Bronson, afterward the founder of Kalamazoo, was the third purchaser of the year, buying forty-five acres in section 15 of Ypsilanti township. He, too, got close to the Huron river. On July 17th he also purchased an additional twenty acres on section 22 near his first tract. On June 7th Thomas Sackrider, a carpenter who built a house on his land the same year, bought eighty acres in section 10 in Ypsi- lanti town. Orente Grant bought, on June 30th, the one hundred acres in Ypsilanti town where he resided for eight years. Orrin White, on July 24th, bought one hundred sixty-two acres in section 27 of Ann Arbor town, adjoining Mc- Closkey's purchase, and was the first settler of Ann Arbor town outside of Ann Arbor city. It was about a year after his purchase before he settled upon the land with his wife and three children. John Bryan, who came to Woodruff Grove with Major Woodruff, on July 29th, bought eighty acres in section 10, adjoining Sack- rider. On August 13th Hiram Tuttle, who came in Woodruff's party, bought seventy-two acres in section 23 of Ypsilanti town. On August 20th Hiram W. Johns bought seventy-one acres in sections 5 and 9 on the left bank of the Huron river in Ypsilanti, adjoining the Kellogg land. but was never identified with the history of the county. On September 26th David McCord bought eighty acres in section 14 of Ypsilanti. On September 29, 1823, there were three pur- chasers of land. Robert Fleming, who built the first saw-mill in Washtenaw county, the follow- ing year. purchased land in three townships. He. at least, was not going to put all his eggs in one basket. On September 29th he bought seventy acres in section 24 of Ypsilanti, near Rawson- ville; ninety-three acres in section 36, Ann Ar- bor, near Geddes; and forty-five acres in Supe- rior, adjoining his Ann Arbor land. On the
same day Harvey S. Snow bought eighty-five acres in section 24 of Ypsilanti, and Erasmus Guilford bought one hundred sixty acres in sec- tion 14 of Ypsilanti town. Snow's land is now Rawsonville, which for a number of years was known as Snow's Landing, and the Huron river was considered navigable to Snow's Landing. On October 1Ith Daniel Cross bought seventy- eight acres in section 15 of Ypsilanti, moved on it the next spring, shortly afterward moved to Sa- line, then to Manchester, and finally back to Ypsi- lanti again. On October 20th George W. Noyes, who shortly afterward moved to Ann Arbor, bought seventy-nine acres in section 15 in Ypsi- lanti town. He was the last purchaser for the year 1823 in Washtenaw county; and, in this year, the government had sold to thirteen pur- chasers in Ypsilanti one thousand one hundred ninety-three acres, to three purchasers in Ann Arbor town two hundred seventy-four acres and forty-five acres in Superior. Sixteen different men had purchased lands in the county in 1823. The next year, the year of the settlement of Ann Arbor, the land office in Detroit did a big busi- ness and land was sold in the townships of Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, Superior, Northfield, Webster, Dexter. Scio, Pittsfield and Lodi. In Ann Arbor alone there were twenty-three purchasers of land from the Government, and in Ypsilanti fourteen. In this year John Allen and Elisha W. Rumsey made the first settlement in Ann Arbor city, and, before the end of the year. quite a thriving village had been started.
While there may be some question as to who first settled Washtenaw county, there seems to be no question that the first settlement was made in or near Ypsilanti. For, whether Gabriel God- froy and his companions, who established a trad- ing post in Ypsilanti, built the first house and remained in the county for several years, be con- sidered as the first settlers, or that honor be given to Major Benjamin J. Woodruff, who headed a little party which settled at Woodruff's Grove in June, 1823, or to Eldridge Gee, who claims to have settled in section 33 in Superior in Febru- ary, 1823, the honor belongs to Ypsilanti or its immediate vicinity, for Godfroy erected his trad- ing post within the present city limits of Ypsi-
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lanti, Woodruff built his house about a mile south of Ypsilanti, and Gee ereeted his shanty about a mile and a half north of Ypsilanti.
A writer in the first paper published in the county, in 1829, gives Major Woodruff credit for being the pioneer, and describes him at the time the writer penned the article as "high sher- iff" of the county. This seems to have been the generally accepted opinion. The elaim that God- froy was the first settler is met by the assertion that, while it is true that he and his companion hunters and trappers ereeted the first building in in the county and even got deeds of the first land in the county they were not really settlers since they pulled up stakes when the Indian left, and left Washtenaw without a single white inhabi- tant, and probably did not occupy the post the year round, even while here. As to Gee's claim : While it is undoubtedly true that he was in the eounty in 1823, the members of the pioneer soci- ety seem to have rejected his elaim as being put forward at too late a date, and as not having been advanced by the orators at the earlier gatherings. There seems, however, no real reason to reject the truth of Mr. Gee's statement made in 1875. Nor does it seem hard to reconcile it with the statements of the early pioneers. For Mr. Gee was a squatter. He did not take up land from the government, and he was very soon evieted from the shanty which he built in Superior, by the man who bought the land from the govern- ment, on which Gee had built without acquiring title. "The earlier settlers all dated the time of their settlement from the time they brought their families, and not from the time they first came into the county or located their farms or bought the land from the government. All their written statements show this. Most of the ear- lier settlers came into the county the year pre- eeding what they always elaimed as the time of their actual settlement, to spy out the land. Hence. as Gee did not bring a wife, did not buy the land on which he built, and only staid on it a few months, and also, did not eut much of a figure in the early days of the county. it is not unnatural that they did not look at him in those days as the first settler."
All that can be said about Mr. Gee's settle-
ment is contained in the following statement by him read before the Pioneer Society in 1874:
"I first visited Washtenaw county in 1822 in the month of June in company with Epaphras Matteson (my father-in-law ), Joseph Young and Giles Downer. We started from Mrs. Dow- ner's house on the Rouge. The first night we put up in the French trading house. We took the river trail and went to where Mill ereek runs into the Huron river. We then came back to where Ann Arbor eity now is and from there to Saline, from thence back to the French trad- ing house, and from thence to Mrs. Downer's. There were no white men residing in Washte- naw county then. The trading house had no oc- cupants. In February, 1823. I moved to Wash- tenaw county. I hired three men on the Rouge to help me through. We camped out three nights: on the fourth day I got to where I thought I would stop. It was on the east half of the northeast quarter of section 33 in the township of Superior. I first built a shanty of some board I brought along, and in about six months built a house. It was the 14th of Feb- ruary when I got to where I built. I remained there fifteen or sixteen months, when I was or- dered out of the house I had built, by Philip Sines, who bought the lot I was staying on from the United States, I having neglected to enter the lot. I then moved to Woodruff's Grove. Mr. Stiles took me in. About the ist of June John Dix called on me to go to Dixboro. 1
went myself but did not move my family until after the 4th of July. Dix had a shanty. I moved to Dixboro and while there Mr. Matte- son bought the east of the southeast quarter of section 13, township of Ann Arbor. July 24. 1824. I assisted Mr. Matteson in building a house directly after the lot was bought and moved into the house with him. I was at the celebration of the Fourth of July, 1824. It was held at B. J. Woodruff's house in the grove. The meeting was hell on Saturday, July 3d. It has been stated that there were but twenty-nine persons in Washtenaw then and that they were all there. That is a mistake. There must have been at least one hundred persons in Washtenaw that day, young and old. I built the first house
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PAST AND PRESENT OF WASHTENAW COUNTY.
in Washtenaw county, except the French trad- ing house. Benjamin J. Woodruff, Orente Grant, Robert Stitt, David Beverly and Mr. Stiles came in the summer after I built my house, Benjamin J. Woodruff laid out a village called Woodruff's Grove, about four miles south of my house. I came with two sleds and drove the first team into Washtenaw county. Woodruff and his company came up the river in boats. Philip Sines bought the lot I first built on, on May 19, 1824. I was seventy-four years old February 6, 1875. I am quite feeble, pretty much broken down and reside at Dundee."
As will be seen by Mr. Gee's statement, he was twenty-two years old when he built what he terms his shanty.
Major Benjamin J. Woodruff's settlement was more pretentious. He came not merely to found a home, but to lay out a village; not merely to find some place where he could raise food suffi- cient for his family, but to found a fortune; he came not alone, but at the head of a party who were to constitute the first inhabitants of his village. He was the first purchaser of property in Washtenaw who settled upon the land he pur- chased. He was afterward the first justice, the first postmaster and the first sheriff. Most of the older settlers of Washtenaw who have writ- ten on the subject say that he was the first settler in the county. The date of his settlement is put down as July 6, 1823, on which day he, his wife, six children and a domestic moved into the house he had built on land bought from the government the preceding April. Major Wood- ruff and his party of men who came from Ohio arrived at Ypsilanti in April or May, 1823, be- gan the construction of his house June Ist, and, while the house was building, Woodruff returned to Ohio for his family, and got back to occupy the new house, which had by this time been com- pleted, July 6th.
The recollections of pioneers differ as to who constituted Woodruff's original party. We have seen that Gee states the party to have consisted of Woodruff, Orente Grant, Robert Stitt, David Beverly and Mr. Stiles. The County History published in 1880 names the party as Woodruff, Stitt, Beverly and John Thayer and Titus Bron-
son. Hon. John Geddes, who came to the county in 1825. puts Hiram Tuttle in the original party. Mrs. Alvin Cross, who came to Woodruff's Grove in the spring of 1824, furnishes in her recollections the longest list, making the original party to consist of eight. She leaves out Stitt, Thayer and Bronson. As Mrs. Cross lived in the family of Mr. Grant, in the neighborhood from which Mr. Woodruff came, and joined the party within a few months, her opportunity for obtaining exact information was naturally better than others. She is the only pioneer who left a detailed account of the first settlement, and it is here given as she wrote it, the reader being warned that, as at the time of the settlement she was eighteen years old and a member of Mr. Orente Grant's family, she would naturally be apt to magnify Mr. Grant's part in the settle- ment.
"Mr. Grant owned a large prairie farm, not far from Sandusky, Ohio, which was well culti- vated and valuable. Unfortunately the title was not good, and, after paying for the land, im- proving it, stocking it, etc., he was obliged to give it up. Three years were allowed him in which to provide a new home, and he determined that it should be situated where no previous title should disturb him-in the wilds of Michigan. At the time of which I write there resided on a part of Mr. Grant's farm a Mr. Benjamin J. Woodruff. pettifogger and school teacher, whose wife had just fallen heir to several hundred dol- lars from her grandfather's estate. They wished to invest this in a home where land was cheap, and he decided to accompany Mr. Grant. A wagon was loaded with provisions, and, driving Mr. Grant's large stock of cattle, they started for Monroe.
"The company consisted of four men, Messrs. Woodruff and Grant, William Eichlor, who was Mrs. Woodruff's brother, and Hiram Tuttle, a neighbor who also had cattle to drive. At Mon- roe they sold the cattle, reserving only such as would be needed on the farms which they in- tended to purchase. Here also they were joined by four men, Mr. Stiles, Mr. Willard Hall, Mr. George Hall and Captain Fair, who were fishing at Monroe. These men were former acquaint-
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PAST AND PRESENT OF WASHTENAW COUNTY.
ances of Woodruff and Grant, and were familiar with the new country along the course of the Huron river, having been up as far as a place called Godfroy's trading post. now city of Ypsi- lanti. From their representations it was thought best to view that part of the territory, and thither the company proceeded. leaving Mr. Eichlor in charge of the cattle and provisions. After set- tling and locating their farms, it was necessary to return to Monroe for the oxen and provisions, leaving Mr. Stiles and his party to subsist by hunting and fishing until their return, they being the only white inhabitants of the region.
"On the Ist of June. 1823. they were ready to commence the building of Mr. Woodruff's house. The unbroken forest lay before them, and with the sound of their axes began the new settlement afterward called Woodruff's Grove. When the work was well commenced, Woodruff and Grant went back to Ohio, leaving the building to be finished by the others of the party. under the supervision of Mr. Tuttle. Mr. Woodruff in- tended to return with his family-which consisted of wife. six children and hired woman, Mrs. Snow-before the 4th of the next month, that they might celebrate the great national holiday in their new home. They failed to accomplish this. not arriving until the sixth, and the festivi- ties were postponed until the following year.
"Detroit was their only postoffice, and wishing a more definite address for letters. Mr. Woodruff visited the city. and after consulting with the governor, gave the settlement the name of Woodruff's Grove. He then purchased a boat which was their only means of procuring sup- plies of provisions, lumber, etc., until fall, when a road was eut through to Detroit.
"Early in the following spring of 1824 Mr. Grant made preparations to return with his fam- ily, which consisted of Mrs. Grant, a young girl named Jane Johnson, and myself. Mr. Tuttle's wife and child were also of our company. We shipped at a small place called Venice, in the ves- sel Costello, and took with us provisions enough. as Mr. Grant supposed, to last until crops could be raised. There were four bushels of flour, one barrel of meal, one of shelled corn, one of honey, two barrels of potatoes, one barrel of wheat, one
cask of pork, one barrel of oats, and a large box of beans and garden seeds. We also had a half barrel in which were carefully packed in moist earth and moss small apple trees, current bushes, rose bushes, lilac. snowball, and other shrubs. There was also a large box of carpenter's tools and such bedding and furniture as was consid- ered most necessary.
"We were three days in reaching Detroit : there we were obliged to wait three days for the boat to come up from the Grove after us. We were six days in reaching the Grove. stopping the first night at Willard's tavern. The second day we reached the mouth of the Huron and stopped at a French house. The third night we were kindly entertained at the house of a half- breed named Parks. The next day we reached King's settlement : this was Saturday, and here we spent the Sabbath, the men who poled the boat being glad to rest. Monday night we camped in the woods; and Tuesday about noon reached our destination, on the flats about half a mile from the Grove where Mr. Tuttle had prepared a home for his family. When we were ready to land. the men began to exchange smiling glances, and Mrs. Tuttle and Mrs. Grant began to cry, realizing all at once that this wilderness must now be to them home. Jane and I were too young and too light-hearted to sympathize with such feelings, and gayly started to see the house, but soon returned, not being able to find anything but a small building, which we supposed to be a sheep pen. Our ignorance was quite excusable. for the low. rough log pen, without floor or windows, did not resemble a human habitation. It taxed our ingenuity to prepare dinner on a fire of blazing logs built at one end of the room. There was 110 fireplace and no chimney, a hole in the roof allowing the smoke to escape. Mrs. Woodruff came down before night to welcome the new arrivals and I returned with her. That night I first heard the howling of wolves and was unable to sleep. Next morning. as I stood in the door of Mr. Woodruff's house and looked around. I felt homesick.
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