USA > Michigan > Grand Traverse County > Sprague's history of Grand Traverse and Leelanaw counties, Michigan embracing a concise review of their early settlement, industrial development and present conditions...to which will be appended...life sketches of well-known citizens of the county > Part 27
USA > Michigan > Leelanau County > Sprague's history of Grand Traverse and Leelanaw counties, Michigan embracing a concise review of their early settlement, industrial development and present conditions...to which will be appended...life sketches of well-known citizens of the county > Part 27
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H ANNIBAL HAMLIN, a noted American statesman, whose name is indissolubly connected with the history of this country, was born in Paris, Maine, August 27, 1809. He learned the printer's trade and followed that calling for several years. He then studied law, and was admitted to practice in 1833. He was elected to the legislature of the state of Maine, where he was several times chosen speaker of the lower house. He was elected to congress by the Demo- crats in 1843, and re-elected in 1845. In 1848 he was chosen to the United States senate and served in that body until 1861. He was elected governor of Maine in 1857 on the Republican ticket, but resigned when re-elected to the United States senate the same year. He was elected vice-presi- dent of the United States on the ticket with Lincoln in 1860, and inaugurated in March, 1861. In 1865 he was appointed collector of the port of Boston. Beginning with 1869 he served two six-year terms in the United States senate, and was then ap- pointed by President Garfield as minister to Spain in 1881. His death occurred July 4, 1891.
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SHAM G. HARRIS, famous as Confed- erate war governor of Tennessee, and distinguished by his twenty years of service in the senate of the United States, was born in Franklin county, Tennessee, and educated at the Academy of Winchester. He then took up the study of law, was ad- mitted to the bar, and commenced practice at Paris, Tennessee, in 1841. He was
elected to the state legislature in 1847, was a candidate for presidential elector on the Democratic ticket in 1848, and the next year was elected to congress from his dis- trict, and re-elected in 1851. In 1853 he was renominated by the Democrats of his
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district, but declined, and removed to Mem- phis, where he took up the practice of law. He was a presidential elector-at-large from Tennessee in 1856, and was elected gov- ernor of the state the next year, and again in 1859, and in 1861. He was driven from Nashville by the advance of the Union armies, and for the last three years of the war acted as aid upon the staff of the com- manding general of the Confederate army of Tennessee. After the war he went to Liverpool, England, where he became a merchant, but returned to Memphis in 1867, and resumed the practice of law. In 1877 he was elected to the United States senate, to which position he was successively re- elected until his death in 1897.
N ELSON DINGLEY, JR., for nearly a quarter of a century one of the leaders in congress and framer of the famous "Dingley tariff bill," was born in Durham, Maine, in 1832. His father as well as all his ancestors, were farmers, merchants and mechanics and of English descent. Young Dingley was given the advantages first of the common schools and in vacations helped his father in the store and on the farm. When twelve years of age he attended high school and at seventeen was teaching in a country school district and preparing him- self for college. The following year he en- tered Waterville Academy and in 1851 en- tered Colby University. After a year and a half in this institution he entered Dart- mouth College and was graduated in 1855 with high rank as a scholar, debater and writer. He next studied law and was ad- mitted to the bar in 1856. But instead of practicing his profession he purchased the "Lewistown (Me.) Journal," which be- came famous throughout the New England states as a leader in the advocacy of Repub-
lican principles. About the same time Mr. Dingley began his political career, although ever after continuing at the head of the newspaper. He was soon elected to the state legislature and afterward to the lower house of congress, where he became a prominent national character. He also served two terms as governor of Maine.
O LIVER PERRY MORTON, a distin- guished American statesman, was born in Wayne county, Indiana, August 4, 1823. His early education was by private teaching and a course at the Wayne County Seminary. At the age of twenty years he entered the Miami University at Oxford, Ohio, and at the end of two years quit the college, began the study of law in the office of John New- man, of Centerville, Indiana, and was ad- mitted to the bar in 1847.
Mr. Morton was elected judge on the Democratic ticket, in 1852, but on the passage of the "Kansas-Nebraska Bill" he severed his connection with that party, and soon became a prominent leader of the Re- publicans. He was elected governor of In- diana in 1861, and as war governor became well known throughout the country. He received a paralytic stroke in 1865, which partially deprived him of the use of his limbs. He was chosen to the United States senate from Indiana, in 1867, and wielded great influence in that body until the time of his death, November 1, 1877.
JOHN B. GORDON, a brilliant Confeder- ate officer and noted senator of the United States, was born in Upson county, Georgia, February 6, 1832. He graduated from the State University, studied law, and took up the practice of his profession. At the be- ginning of the war he entered the Confederate service as captain of infantry, and rapidly
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rose to the rank of lieutenant-general, commanding one wing of the Confederate army at the close of the war. In 1868 he was Democratic candidate for governor of Georgia, and it is said was elected by a large majority, but his opponent was given the office. He was a delegate to the national Democratic conventions in 1868 and 1872, and a presidential elector both years. In 1873 he was elected to the United States senate. In 1886 he was elected governor of Georgia, and re-elected in 1888. He was again elected to the United States senate in 1890, serving until 1897, when he was succeeded by A. S. Clay. He was regarded as a leader of the southern Democ- racy, and noted for his fiery eloquence.
S TEPHEN JOHNSON FIELD, an illus- trious associate justice of the supreme court of the United States, was born at Haddam, Connecticut, November 4, 1816, being one of the noted sons of Rev. D. D. Field. He graduated from Williams College in 1837, took up the study of law with his brother, David Dudley Field, be- coming his partner upon admission to the bar. He went to California in 1849, and at once began to take an active interest in the political affairs of that state. He was elected alcalde of Marysville, in 1850, and in the autumn of the same year was elected to the state legislature. In 1857 he was elected judge of the supreme court of the state, and two years afterwards became its chief justice. In 1863 he was appointed by President Lincoln as associate justice of the supreme court of the United States. During his incumbency, in 1873, he was appointed by the governor of California one of a com- mission to examine the codes of the state and for the preparation of amendments to the same for submission to the legislature.
In 1877 he was one of the famous electoral commission of fifteen members, and voted as one of the seven favoring the election of Tilden to the presidency. In 1880 a large portion of the Democratic party favored his nomination as candidate for the presidency. He retired in the fall of 1897, having served a greater number of years on the supreme bench than any of his associates or predecessors, Chief Justice Marshall coming: next in length of service.
JOHN T. MORGAN, whose services in the United States senate brought him into national prominence, was born in Athens, Tennessee, June 20, 1824. At the: age of nine years he emigrated to Alabama, where he made his permanent home, and: where he received an academic education. He then took up the study of law, and was admitted to the bar in 1845. He took a leading part in local politics, was a presi- dential elector in 1860, casting his ballot for Breckenridge and Lane, and in 1861 was a delegate to the state convention which passed the ordinance of secession. In May, of the same year, he joined the Confederate army as a private in Company I, Cahawba Rifles, and was soon after made major and then lieutenant-colonel of the Fifth Regiment. In 1862 he was commissioned colonel, and soon after made brigadier-general and as- signed to the command of a brigade in Vir- ginia. He resigned to join his old regiment. whose colonel had been killed. He was soon afterward again made brigadier-gen- eral and given command of the brigade that included his regiment.
After the war he returned to the prac- tice of law, and continued it up to the time of his election to the United States senate, it 1877. He was a presidential elector in 1876, and cast his vote for Tilden and Hendricks
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He was re-elected to the senate in 1883, and again in 1889, and 1895. His speeches and the measures he introduced, marked as they were by an intense Americanism, brought him into national prominence. 3
W ILLIAM McKINLEY, the twenty-fifth president of the United States, was born at Niles, Trumbull county, Ohio, Jan- uary 29, 1844. He was of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and received his early education in a Methodist academy in the small village of Poland, Ohio. At the outbreak of the war Mr. Mckinley was teaching school, earning twenty-five dollars per month. As soon as Fort Sumter was fired upon he en- listed in a company that was formed in Poland, which was inspected and mustered in by General John C. Fremont, who at first objected to Mr. McKinley, as being too young, but upon examination he was finally accepted. Mr. Mckinley was seventeen when the war broke out but did not look his age. He served in the Twenty-third Ohio Infantry throughout the war, was promoted from sergeant to captain, for good conduct on the field, and at the close of the war, for meritorious services, he was brevetted major. After leaving the army Major Mc- Kinley took up the study of law, and was admitted to the bar, and in 1869 he took his initiation into politics, being elected pros- ecuting attorney of his county as a Republi- can, although the district was usually Demo- cratic. In 1876 he was elected to congress, and in a call upon the President-elect, Mr. Hayes, to whom he went for advice upon the way he should shape his career, he was told that to achieve fame and success he must take one special line and stick to it. Mr. Mckinley chose tariff legislation and he became an authority in regard to import duties. He was a member of congress for
many years, became chairman of the ways and means committee, and later he advo- cated the famous tariff bill that bore his name, which was passed in 1890. In the next election the Republican party was overwhelmingly defeated through the coun- try, and the Democrats secured more than a two-thirds majority in the lower house, and also had control of the senate, Mr. Mckinley being defeated in his own district by a small majority. He was elected gov- ernor of Ohio in 1891 by a plurality of twenty-one thousand, five hundred and eleven, and two years later he was re-elected by the still greater plurality of eighty thou- sand, nine hundred and ninety-five. He was a delegate-at-large to the Minneapolis Re- publican convention in 1892, and was in- structed to support the nomination of Mr. Harrison. He was chairman of the con- vention, and was the only man from Ohio to vote for Mr. Harrison upon the roll call. In November, 1892, a number of prominent politicians gathered in New York to discuss the political situation, and decided that the result of the election had put an end to Mc- Kinley and Mckinleyism. But in less than four years from that date Mr. Mckinley was nominated for the presidency against the combined opposition of half a dozen rival candidates. Much of the credit for his suc- cess was due to Mark A. Hanna, of Cleve- land, afterward chairman of the Republican national committee. At the election which occurred in November, 1896, Mr. Mckinley was elected president of the United States by an enormous majority, on a gold stand- ard and protective tariff platform. He was inaugurated on the 4th of March, 1897, and called a special session of congress, to which was submitted a bill for tariff reform, which was passed in the latter part of July of that year.
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C INCINNATUS HEINE MILLER, known in the literary world as Joaquin Miller, "the poet of the Sierras," was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1841. When only about thirteen years of age he ran away from home and went to the mining regions in California and along the Pacific coast. Some time afterward he was taken prisoner by the Modoc Indians and lived with them for five years. He learned their language and gained great influence with them, fight- ing in their wars, and in all modes of living became as one of them. In. 1858 he left the Indians and went to San Francisco, where he studied law, and in 1860 was ad- mitted to the bar in Oregon. In 1866 he was elected a county judge in Oregon and served four years. Early in the seventies he began devoting a good deal of time to literary pursuits, and about 1874 he settled in Washington, D. C. He wrote many poems and dramas that attracted consider- able attention and won him an extended reputation. Among his productions may be mentioned " Pacific Poems," " Songs of the Sierras," "Songs of the Sun Lands," "Ships in the Desert," " Adrianne, a Dream of Italy," "Danites," "Unwritten History," "First Families of the Sierras " (a novel), " One Fair Woman " (a novel), "Songs of Italy," "Shadows of Shasta," "The Gold- Seekers of the Sierras," and a number of others.
G EORGE FREDERICK ROOT, a
noted music publisher and composer, was born in Sheffield, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, on August 30, 1820. While working on his father's farm he found time to learn, unaided, several musical instru- ments. and in his eighteenth year he went to Boston, where he soon found employ- ment as a teacher of music. From 1839
until 1844 he gave instructions in music in the public schools of that city, and was also director of music in two churches. Mr. Root then went to New York and taught music in the various educational institutions of the city. He went to Paris in 1850 and spent one year there in study, and on his re- turn he published his first song, "Hazel Dell." It appeared as the work of " Wur- zel," which was the German equivalent of his name. He was the originator of the normal musical institutions, and when the first one was started in New York he was one of the faculty. He removed to Chicago, Illinois, in 1860, and established the firm of Root & Cady, and engaged in the publication of music. He received, in 1872; the degree of " Doctor of Music" from the University of Chicago. After the war the firm became George F. Root & Co., of Cincinnati and Chicago. Mr. Root did much to elevate the standard of music in this country by his compositions and work as a teacher. Besides his numerous songs he wrote a great deal of sacred music and pub- lished many collections of vocal and instru- mental music. For many years he was the most popular song writer in America, and was one of the greatest song writers of the war. He is also well-known as an author, and his work in that line comprises: " Meth- ods for the Piano and Organ," "Hand- book on Harmony Teaching," and innumer- able articles for the musical press. Among his many and most popular songs of the war time are: " Rosalie, the Prairie-flower," "Battle Cry of Freedom," "Just Before the Battle," "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, the Boys are Marching," "The Old Folks are Gone," "A Hundred Years Ago," "Old Potomac Shore, " and " There's Music in the Air." Mr. Root's cantatas include "The Flower Queen" and "The Haymakers." He died in 1896.
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HISTORY
OF GRAND TRAVERSE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
CHAPTER I.
ORIGIN OF THE NAME AND DESCRIPTION.
The early French voyageurs in coasting from Mackinaw southward found two con- siderable indentations of the coast line of Lake Michigan on the east side, which they were accustomed to cross from headland to headland. The smaller of these they desig- nated La Petite Traverse and the greater La Grande Traverse. These names were transferred to the two bays known as the Little Traverse and Grand Traverse bays, from the latter of which Grand Traverse county was named.
GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION.
Grand Traverse bay is a bay of Lake Michigan, indenting the northwestern shore of the southern peninsula of the state of Michigan. Its general direction is from north to south. Its mouth is in latitude forty-five degrees, fifteen minutes north,
and its head in forty-four degrees, forty- five minutes north. Its length in a straight line is therefore thirty-four and seventy- hundredths statute miles. The undefined re- gion bordering on this bay is generally known as the Grand Traverse region. The county of Antrim lies upon the east side of the bay, the county of Leelanaw on the west, and the county of Grand Traverse on and about the head of the bay.
The southern portion of the bay is divid- ed into the east and west arms by a belt of land from one to two miles wide and about seventeen miles in length, known as the "Peninsula." The east arm has an average width of about four and a half miles; the west arm is somewhat wider. The depth of water in the bay is generally from twenty to seventy fathoms. The east arm attains the greatest depth, being about a hundred fathoms at a point opposite Old Mission across towards Petobego lake. -
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The entire bay constitutes a harbor se- cure from all except northerly winds, while the two arms of the bay are not seriously disturbed by storms from any direction. The shores of the bay, however, present a number of harbors in which vessels may at all times lie in perfect safety.
Entering the bay at its mouth and pro- ceeding along the western shore, the first important harbor reached is Northport, which opens towards the south, being sepa- rated from the bay by a tongue of land called Carrying Point. This harbor is about two miles wide and nearly three miles deep and is a frequent resort for vessels overtaken by storm on the lake, the water being of sufficient depth for the largest vessels. Be- sides the steamboat docks here are located the car-ferry slips for the transfer of cars from the Traverse City, Leelanaw & Manis- tique Railroad between Northport and Man- istique.
Proceeding southward, twelve miles from the mouth of the bay we reach New Mission or Omena Harbor, also opening southward and separated from the bay by Shabawasson Point. This harbor is a mile and a half wide and a mile deep, with plenty of water for navigation. The village of Omena at this point is the terminus of the Leelanaw county branch of the Manistee & Northeastern Railroad. Four miles further south is Sutton's bay, opening toward the northeast and separated from the bay by Stony Point. This harbor is three miles long and a mile and a half wide, with plenty of water. On this harbor the flourishing village
of Sutton's Bay is situated. Lee's point, eleven miles from the head of the west arm, forms another shallow harbor.
Bower's harbor, on the west side of the peninsula, opens to the southwest, being isolated from the west arm by Traverse Point, to the south of which is Harbor isl- and, forming, in connection with the point, a harbor about three miles in length by one and a half in width. On the north side of this harbor is located the beautiful and pop- ular summer resort, Ne-ah-at-wanta.
On the east side of the peninsula, near the point, is Old Mission harbor, having a capacity of about one square mile.
Going southward from the mouth of Grand Traverse bay along the shores of Lake Michigan, we find a broad indentation at the mouth of Carp river, where is located Le- land, the county seat of Leelanaw county, opening towards the northwest and partially protected from west and southwest winds by the highlands of Mount Carp. Between Mount Carp and North Unity is Good Har- bor, a broad bay about five miles deep, af- fording protection from all winds except those proceeding from the north and north- west. Between North Unity and Sleeping Bear Point is another broad bay about four miles deep, forming the harbor of Glen Arbor and Glen Haven, affording shelter from all except north and northwest winds.
All the harbors mentioned above em- braced within the Grand Traverse region are just as nature formed them, as not a dollar of money has ever been expended by the gov- ernment for the improvement of any of them.
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CHAPTER II.
THE NATIVE OCCUPANTS.
For many centuries prior to the settle- ment by the whites the entire region about Grand Traverse bay and on the borders of Lake Michigan had been inhabited by the Indians. The deep and well-worn trails in various directions through the country, the old clearings at Old Mission, Cat Head Point and other places, the old scars on maple tress, deeply imbedded in the wood and near- ly grown over where they had been tapped for sugar many generations before, which were observed by the earliest white settlers, corroborate the statements made by the old- est Indians that this country had from a very remote period been a favorite resort for the aborigines.
According to the most reliable traditions the remnant of the tribes of Indians which still remain in Leelanaw county and other parts of the region first acquired possession of the country nearly two hundred years ago. The fact is very well established that in the year that Quebec was founded by the French, 1608, a party of Indians belonging to the Chippeways, which then inhabited Grand Manitoulin Island on the northeas- tern coast of Lake Huron, set sail in canoes in search of the white settlements on the St. Lawrence, being led to undertake the enter- prise by the dream of one of the old men of
the tribe, who informed them that a strange people from the region of the sun had ap- peared on the banks of that river. They proceeded on their journey in their frail crafts, little dreaming that the time would come when the waters through which they passed would be covered with great steam- ships bearing the commerce of a mighty na- tion. When they at length arrived opposite the site of the present city of Quebec they discovered the French, who invited them to land and treated them in a friendly manner, furnishing them with clothing such as they themselves wore, and giving them fire-arms and merchandise in exchange for furs. The Indians were highly pleased with the treat- ment they received and after remaining some days, went home, having promised to return soon and bring with them a quantity of furs, which the French agreed to pur- chase. In this way a trade of considerable magnitude sprung up between the French and the boldest and most energetic of the Chippeways, who in their frequent voyages between their country and Quebec, learned something of the manners and customs of civilization, which they appear to have made use of' to good advantage, as in time they gained a decided superiority over those In- dians who remained at home and took no
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part in these commercial expeditions and transactions.
The envy of those who remained at home and took no part in this commercial trade with the French was soon aroused to such a degree that the traders were finally com- pelled to abandon the Great Manitoulin Isl- and. Upon their separation from the rest of the tribe they took the name of Ottawas and located on Mackinaw Island and on the main land south of the straits. After be- coming well established in their new home they made excursions to the south and in the neighborhood of what is now Cross Vil- lage, Emmet county, encountered a hostile tribe of the Prairie Indians, who then occu- pied the Grand Traverse region. A fierce bat- tle ensued, in which the Prairies were over- come and fled. The Ottawas followed up the advantage which they had gained princi- pally by means of firearms they had ob- tained from the French and which their ad- versaries did not possess. They pursued the Prairies to Sleeping Bear Point, in the south- west corner of Leelanaw county, and again attacked and repulsed them with considerable loss, so that they were compelled to fly with such precipitance as to leave much of their camp equipage behind. They were hotly pursued by the Ottawas until they reached Pere Marquette, where they were hemmed in on a narrow point between Lake Michi- gan and Marquette lake, and where the final and decisive battle was fought, resulting in the almost total distinction of the Prairies, a few only escaping by swimming the river. The Ottawas were thus left in the undis- puted possession of the country.
In a course of time a reconciliation took place between the Chippeways, which was then one of the most numerous and powerful
tribes of the northwest, and the Ottawas, by which the former were allowed a joint oc- cupancy of the Grand Traverse region with the latter, and the two tribes have continued to dwell together to the present time. The remnants of these bands in Leelanaw county have never made rapid strides in civilization, but have copied the vices rather than the virtues of the white man, and their numbers are fast fading away, and the red man who so proudly roamed the forests of this region in the early days will soon have disappeared forever.
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