USA > Michigan > Isabella County > Portrait and biographical album of Isabella county, Mich., containing portraits and biographical sketches > Part 59
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ing of 800 pounds of choice maple sugar. The canoe was a small one, and, being heavily loaded, sank deeply into the water. They had not proceeded far before the boat ran over a snag and capsized, throwing the contents in the water. Not one cake of sugar was recovered, and the loss was a severe one. An entire failure in crops to-day would not be half so hard to withstand as was the loss of that canoe load of sugar at that time. Atkin wept like a child at the prospect of want now in store for the family, they being almost destitute of clothes and having no means of procuring any.
All the men except Fraser returned home, he being the only one of the party having any money. He drifted down to Saginaw, made his purchases and helped his less fortunate neighbors out of sorry their plight.
An Indian Suicide.
HERE are some very interesting anecdotes related of the Indians, and the history of Isabella would not be complete without mention being made of some occurrences which happened not very long since. Most of the actors in the few incidents related are liv- ing on the reservation near Mt. Pleasant, and the stories, gathered from first hands, are correct.
It is believed among the Indians that none of their people ever commit suicide; but one old fellow actually did so far forget their customs that in a moment of desperation he plunged a knife into his bosom and started on his journey to the happy hunt- ing grounds alone. Judge Bennett is responsible for this, as well as several other Indian stories, and his well known popularity among the Indians gave him almost the supremacy attained by a chief.
Me-saw-bay was quite a talented, but somewhat demented, old Indian, whose mind was always rumin- ating upon the wrongs done the noble red man by their white brothers. He had made several trips to Washington to see the "Great Father " and unfold his grievances, but no official notice was taken of them. He often took long walks through the forests, and while out for one of these lonely rambles, plunged his hunting-knife into his bosom. When the body was found, an inquest was held in the old court-house,
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and a verdict rendered that he died by his own hand, there being no trace found of other footprints besides those of Me-saw-bay. Judge Bennett wanted to turn the corpse over to the Indians for burial, but they re- fused to receive it, declaring that some white man had killed him, and they would not bury the old man. The body was thus left on the hands of Judge Ben- nett, who vainly tried to get some one to help him with the interment. It was midwinter, and the ground was solidly frozen; but the Judge, armed with a pick and shovel, started for the woods and dug a hole, to which place he carted the body of the dead Indian and gave him a decent burial.
The Most Blood-Curdling Hair-Breadth Escape of All.
OHN Landon, Wm. Miles and his brother Daniel, while out on a hunting expedition, spied a bear a short distance away. Miles and Landon fired simultaneously, wounding the animal, which started to run. Landon endeavored to head him off, when the bear made for him with the intention of eating him. Hav- ing become entangled in the brush, Landon was un- able to free himself, and in his struggles fell down just as the bear reached him! In the meantime Miles came up from behind and, taking deliberate aim, shot the infuriated bear, which fell dead by the side of Mr. Landon, whose position was indeed a ctitical one. His chance for being shot was almost as good as that of being killed by the bear. When questioned in regard to the danger of shooting his staunch friend, Miles replied: "I would rather shoot you myself than see a bear tear you to pieces."
Love at First Sight.
ERHAPS the quickest case of match-mak- ing on record in this county, is that of Wm. Riley and his present wife. Mrs. Riley No. I was an Indian squaw (Sophia Gruett) who, unable to withstand the changes in diet and climate, succumbed to the inevitable.
William, not having a relish for the onerous duties
devolving upon both farm and household, concluded to engage a housekeeper. Hearing of a woman at the county faim who desired a situation, William drove over and had no trouble in making satisfactory arrangements. She accompanied him home, and, during the few miles which intervened between the county farm and Mt. Pleasant, William proposed to, and was accepted by, his present wife. It was a case of love at first sight, he having never seen her until that morning; yet, with William, to love was an easy matter, and the needs of his household were press- ing ones. Meeting Rev. R. P. Sheldon on the high- way near Mt. Pleasant, William wished him to marry them without taking the trouble to get out of the wagon. Not being so romantically inclined, the Reverend insisted that the party go into the house of a Mr. Brown who lived near, to which they assented. Mrs. Brown kindly threw open her parlors, and the wedding was consummated on brief notice.
They are doing nicely, and are as well mated, per- haps, as though they had known each other for years.
Isabella a Good County.
HE coming of some of the most prosperous inhabitants of the county was purely acci- dental. One of these was D. H. Nelson, who came in 1857 to witness the Indian pay- ment, but had no intention of locating in this section. While he was here his father came to see him and bought some land. The first work he ever did in the county was to help clear off and grub an acre of ground, on which the court-house is now located. Mr. Nelson says he has never regretted his decision to remain here, and there is no place like Mt. Pleasant and Isabella County to him.
As stated in a previous paragraph, Moses Brown brought in a small stock of goods in the fall of 1865, and opened up in the bar-room of the Bamber House. The only significance to be attached to that state- ment is, that both he and Judge Cornelius Bennett arrived the same day, Brown on a peddler's cart, and Bennett, then a young lad, on foot. Brown accident- ally broke his cart before reaching Mt. Pleasant, and had to send it back to St. John's for repairs. It took so long to repair it that he made up his mind to stay,
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as trade was fair, and to this day he is quite an active business man, dealing in all sorts of commodities, from a coon-skin to a section of land.
They tell the story on Judge Bennett, that his first purchase was a blind ox; and, having all his money thus invested and the ox not being fat enough to butcher, he too was forced to stay until the succulent grasses in the spring could fatten his recent pur- chase. While waiting for this to occur, he found employment, and by the time spring had arrived he was doing quite nicely in a financial way, and had no desire to go elsewhere. From that humble com- mencement, we find him to-day ranking among the wealthiest and most popular men of the county, and his enterprise has done much toward peopling a large portion of it, he having been engaged quite largely in buying and selling real estate.
The Indians' Love of Whisky.
EARLY all the Indians were members of the Methodist and Lutheran Churches, but all of them loved whisky, and never lost an opportunity to gratify their tastes in this respect.
Isabella City, while in its palmy days, was a great loafing place for the Indians, where, though no whisky could be obtained, the more elderly ones would frequently get tipsy. The secret was un- earthed one day, by finding an Indian (Pay-she-no- nee) lying at the rear end of Mr. Babbitt's store, in the lumber room of which was a barrel of hard cider. The door being open afforded all necessary explana- tion, and this supply was soon shut off. Upon this particular evening, several of the Indian elders, dea- cons and class-leaders were pretty well "corned " before Mr. Babbitt knew anything about it, and they had hard work to get them started home, some of them becoming quite quarrelsome and threatening to burn the store. This was averted, however, by Mrs. Babbitt, who at all times seemed to exert great in- fluence over them, and they wandered off through the woods, whooping and yelling.
The Indian Pay-she-no-nee was quite a preacher, and was one of the most enthusiastic workers in the Methodist Church. He started home preaching with
all his might, but having a hard time trying to follow the trail. He was followed by George Bradley, an- other Methodist minister, who was sober, but wanted to hear what Pay-she-no-nee had to say. After preaching to the Lord for a while and extolling his mercy and goodness, he began complimenting the devil upon his excellent attributes, and was lavish in expressions of fealty to Satan and his cause. This was more than Bradley could stand, as it seemed that his favorite exhorter was impolitic, to say the least. Hurrying up to where Pay-she-no-nee was standing, by a large pine stump, and delivering a wonderful address in hardly intelligible language, Bradley ac- costed him and asked why he was so complimentary to the devil, who, with his hosts, the Christians were so earnestly trying to conquer. Bracing up as well as he was able, Pay-she-no-nee replied : " May-be me die some time. If me good, then I sure to go to heaven. May-be get drunk, then the devil sure to get me. Me already know God: now want to know devil." Bradley fearing some sober Indian might be in hearing, upon whom such an argument would work disastrously to the Methodist cause, helped Pay-she-no-nee home as quickly as possible.
The love of the Indians for liquor is truly surpris- ing, and we have been informed by good authority, that out of nearly 2,000 who came to this county in 1856, only the chief, Sa-shaw-na-bees, would not drink it.
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Pioneer "Pleasures."
R. A. Dunham, one of the old settlers here, reached Isabella County, in com- pany with his son, in 1861. The first man he met after his arrival in the new county was " Uncle Robbins," from whom he made inquiries concerning lands, and was told to go to 'Squire Estee, who would tell him all he wanted to know. Mr. Dunham found the 'Squire, and, after partaking of a fine dinner, started out and selected a tract of land, and determined to build a shanty for his family. Unable to obtain an ax any- where in the county, he started his boy off for Alma to get the indispensable article. When the boy re- turned he brought with him an old second-hand ax, with which he built his cabin, that sheltered eight
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children, the old woman and himself, and was set- tled in his new home in just three weeks from the day he selected his land. From this time he lived com- fortably, and had plenty of maple sugar, leeks and hominy. While many hardships have been under- gone, Mr. Dunham has prospered, and yet refers to the days of his "pioneering" as being the most pleasant of his life!
Nearly all the Men in the Army.
URING the late war, nearly every man able for military duty went into the army. A man was taken sick at a lumber camp near Mt. Pleasant; and, to be cared for, was carried over to Mrs. Ellen Woodworth's, who lived near. His illness proved fatal, and the help of men could not be obtained who were able to carry the body to the cemetery. The four daughters of Mr. and Mis. Preston-Mrs. Allie Fancher, Mrs. Ellen Woodworth, and the Misses Celia and Emma Preston-procured a bier, and with their own hands carried the body to the cemetery and buried it ! There was a shoemaker living near where Maj. Long's printing-office now stands, whose name was Bently, but neither would he go, nor allow one of his hands the privilege of paying this tribute of respect to a dead stranger !
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An Odd Method of Capturing a Deer.
3 R. A. E. Chatterton once had quite an ex- citing adventure with a deer at a point in the river nearly opposite the village of Mt. Pleasant. Seeing a large buck complacently making its way across the stream upon the floating logs which covered its bosom, Mr. C. determined to effect its capture. Meeting midway of the stream, he seized it by the head, when a series of " bucking " on the part of the deer were executed which outrivaled Mark Twain's " Mexican plug." It was a rough-and-ready fight, but Mr. Chatterton finally came off victorious, although considerably
scratched and bruised. To undertake the cutting of a deer's throat, although entangled in a mass of float- ing logs, is no easy matter, and but few men would attempt it.
Pioneer Sociability.
N those pioneer days neighbors were so few and far between that it was customary to omit the fashionable call, and, hitching up GUFFFM the team of oxen, go to a neighbor's to spend the entire day and eat dinner with them. Tea and coffee, as well as other provisions, being therefore very scarce and very high-priced,-one pound of tea alone costing $2.50,-many odd substi- tutes were used. Mrs. Woodworth tells of a day spent with a friend who, in the absence of tea or cof- fee, steeped the inside bark of the pine for a beverage. Dried strawberry leaves were often used instead of tea. Scorched peas, beans, barley and corn made coffee. Sweet cakes were made with yeast and sweetened with maple sugar; and if fruit-cake was desired they had but to stir the dried fruit in this same preparation.
Two More Bear Stories.
N 1875, Mrs. Nancy Brown was going from Mt. Pleasant to her home a half mile east of the village, when she espied something moving along the road on all fours. It being dark and objects not distinctly discernible, she thought it was Billy Gruett (an Indian), who intended playing a joke upon her. Telling him to get out of the way and stop his nonsense, she was about to give the object a push with her foot, when the bear (not Billy Gruett), reared upon its hind feet, and with a sonorous growl invited Mrs. Brown to come a little nearer. She was too badly frightened to run, and as the bear did not advance she stood her ground. A wagon, happily for her, came along, and the bear ran away.
She states that often when picking berries in the woods bears have walked very near her; and once, when picking the fruit, standing on a tree which
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had blown almost down, she looked beneath, and there, within three feet of her, was an enormous bear sitting on his haunches eating blackberries, and eye- ing her complacently! The bear was content to go away, leaving her unmolested, although badly fright- ened.
Indian Morals Concerning Murder.
HERE is an Indian living in Isabella Town- ship who is quite prominent, not only with those of his own race but also among the whites as well, to whom a story is attached that is true in every sense. He, with his young wife and aged mother, had gone on a hunting expedition to one of the northern counties a few years ago, when the following incident occurred :
It was late in the autumn and trapping was ex- cellent. A large number of furs had been collected, and the party were congratulating themselves upon the result in a pecuniary way, when the mother fell sick. A brisk snow-storm came on, which delayed their departure for home, and the invalid mother continued to grow worse. She declared her inability to travel, and a council was held between the wife and her husband, who both agreed that they must leave for home at once, for fear a snow-storm should come which would render traveling impossible.
The loving son went into the wigwam to report the decision to his aged parent; but, finding her asleep, dealt her a tap on the head with his hatchet, when, to use his own expression, " she just straightened out and quit breathing!" With their hatchets a hole was dug in the ground, some bark piled over the old lady's remains, and the husband and wife packed up their traps and pelts, and made their way back to the reservation in Isabella, satisfied that under the cir- cumstances they had done the proper thing by dispos- ing of the old woman, as she was so old that only a few more months of life, under the most favorable circumstances, could be hoped for !
The U. S. Government had built a blacksmith shop, as well as a mill and the council-house, at Isabella City. Me-she-gay-ka-kee, the foreman of the shop, was a handsome Indian, and was considered a great "catch" among the dusky maidens. He was finally captured
by one of them and lived quite happily for a year or two, when his wife was taken suddenly and alarmingly ill. Condolences being in order, several of his former sweet-hearts came in to assist in caring for the sick woman; and the tender passion again quickened in the breast of Me-she-gay-ka-kee, and he proposed and was accepted by another one of the charming daughters of the forest. The wedding day was set, they thinking the sick wife could not possibly survive more than two or three days at the farthest. In this they were disappointed, she being, apparently, in an improved condition on the day the wedding was to take place. Me-she-gay-ka-kee hardly knew what to do. He did not think it just the thing to have two wives in the house at once, and feeling convinced that the sick woman must die 'some time, at least, if not just then, held a conference with wife number two, and it was decided to dispose of her in the easi- est way possible. She was carried out and deposited on the ground in a fence-corner, a kettle filled with cooked corn placed by her side, after which she was covered with pieces of bark and left to her fate. She lived, surrounded by these proofs of affection, for two days before death came to her relief! All this time the newly married pair were enjoying themselves in high glee, happy in the unexpected good fortune which allowed true love to run smoothly !
These stories are related solely because they be- long to the history of this beautiful county, and ac- tually occurred, at an early day. They are typical of Indian life, and nothing was thought of such acts, they being considered strictly legitimate.
An Old Newspaper.
RS. Ellen Woodworth has a copy of No. 21, Vol. I, of the Northern Pioncer, the first paper published in the county. This was issued June 7, 1865, and from its pages are noted several important items regarding men in business at that time. The Pioneer was a four-column folio, 12 inches by 14 in size, but was a remarkably spicy journal.
We notice by the above paper that most of the county offices were filled by Hon. I. A. Fancher, his business card appearing as Prosecuting Attorney,
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Circuit Court Commissioner and County Surveyor. William H. Nelson was Judge of Probate; John Q. A. Johnson, Sheriff; Langdon Bently, Treasurer; Milton Bradley, Clerk; Wallace W. Preston, Register of Deeds; and Cornelius Bennett, attorney and counsellor at law. The post-office address of all these gentlemen was "Blunt P. O.," except W. H. Nelson, who was a resident of Isabella City.
The peculiarity of Judge Bennett's card, in which his name appears as
C. BENNETT, LL. B.,
gave rise to much speculation among the ladies as to the significance of the abbreviated title. The Judge was at that time a young man, and was looked upon with much favor by the mammas who had marriage- able daughters. The young lawyer was possessed of very little cash ; but a pleasant face and affable man-
ners more than made amends for lack of funds, and he became the center of attraction for a host of pretty girls who swarmed about him as do moths about a lighted candle.
One, to whom more attention was paid than the rest, fondly imagined herself certain of becoming the future Mrs. Bennett. She was interviewed by a com- mittee selected for the purpose of ascertaining what LL. B. was attached to Mr. Bennett's name for, they having good reason to suppose her possessed of the knowledge. After much adroit questioning, she con- fidentially admitted that she, too, had been equally inquisitive, and had importuned the Judge until the information had been gained that the letters meant " Lots of Little Bennetts!" Thus was the secret ex- ploded, and the Judge's dream of happiness made public, for "women " have no secrets!
MOUNT PLEASANT
A T a point on the east bank of the Chippewa River, where there is a clear and rapid stream near a hundred feet broad, with banks of good height, and furnishing water- power for a generous extent of works and machinery, is the beau- tiful and enterprising village of Mt. , Pleasant situated. It is the coun- ty seat of Isabella County, a village of over 2,000 inhabitants, handsome- ly laid out with broad and straight streets, well built; and the mercan- tile establishments present an air of business unexcelled by any village of Northern Michigan. It has, in common with nearly every county seat in Michigan,
a history which, though brief, is important in a notice of this nature.
The county seat of Isabella County was first es- tablished, by commissioners appointed by the State Legislature, at the geographical center of the county. This was engineered by Dr. Jeffries, John G. Isbell and George W. Lee, who located in partnership a section from the corners of four townships, giving the new county seat the name of Isabella Center. The Doctor built a small log court-house and endeavored to work up a boom for the town, but failed. The county offices were all kept in two rooms, but the accommodations being scarcely sufficient, efforts were made to change the location of the county seat, which was effected May 10, 1860. The present site when selected was a wilderness, with no approaches save "tote roads," and no future perceivable.
Isabella City, on the river a mile below, was built
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in 1857, and was at that time the only place in the county where business was done, that being the locality occupied by the grist-mill for aboriginal use, a store and some shops and dwellings. The first plat of the village of Mt. Pleasant was made by David Ward. He was assisted in this survey by I. E. Arnold, one of the most prominent citizens of the village.
Five acres was donated by Mr. Ward for county purposes, and a court-house was built by W. H. Nelson, which cost the county $140. It was accepted July 12, 1860, and the first terin of court was held in it in that year. There were no natural advantages at the geographical center, and the founders of the town owned only 1,700 acres of land, which was sur- rounded on all sides by the Indian reservation, that had been ceded to be held in perpetuity for them and their heirs forever. This was also used as a lever when the question of voting on the relocation of the county seat was given the people. Foremost in this matter were Nelson Mosher, John M. Hursh, A. M. Merrill, David Ward and Charles Rodd (the latter an Indian), who were all possessed of much influence among the Indians, to whose vote the location of the county seat at Mt. Pleasant was mainly due. Ward, although the owner of only 120 acres, was quite liberal with his lots; and, besides the donation of five acres for county purposes, he gave five of the Indian chiefs 17 acres on the west bank of the river opposite the old depot, which of course made them his friends ; and a number of lots were distributed among the men before mentioned, as well as to several Indians who were laboring in his interest. The whole vote in the county did not exceed 400, and the majority could not have been very great. It was a wise thing to do, however, and a more elegible location for a county seat cannot be found.
The village of Mt. Pleasant was again platted in 1 863, the proprietors then being George and Harvey Morton.
The first family locating on the village plat was that of Dr. Edwin P. Burt, who built the house, or a part of it, where Mrs. Preston now resides.
Isabella Hursh was the first female child born in- side the village limits, but this event occurred long before Mt. Pleasant was thought of. The date of her birth is mentioned elsewhere.
Dexter F. Arnold, the present Village Clerk, was
the first male child born in Mt. Pleasant. This event occurred April 15, 1862.
Of course, improvements were very slow, as but few people were living in the county and very little land was under cultivation.
H. A. Dunton put in a stock of general- merchan- dise in 1864, which was the first venture in a mer- cantile way. John Kinney, a gentleman well known in the county afterward, purchased this stock of goods and that of Mr. J. C. Graves, who started a store in the summer of that year.
The Bamber House was the first hotel in the place, and was kept by W. W. Preston.
Moses Brown was the next man to embark in the mercantile line, whose stock was composed of a miscellaneous assortment of dry goods, which he brought in on a peddler's cart and displayed in the bar-room of the above mentioned hotel.
John Kinney built a log house that was used for school purposes, and the first school in the village was taught by Mrs. Ellen L. Woodworth, in 1865. This house was also used for church and other pur- poses, and the first Sabbath-school organized in the village was in this building, in 1865, the orginators of that movement being Mrs. I. A. Fancher, Mrs. Ellen Woodworth and Mrs. Langdon Bently.
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