USA > Michigan > St Clair County > St. Clair County, Michigan, its history and its people; a narrative account of its historical progress and its principal interests, Vol. I > Part 12
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No. 244. Francois Bonhomme, 16 arpents by 40. Allowed on testi- mony of J. M. Beaubien that before 1796 Pierre Bonhomme was in possession and that claimant had occupied since 1802.
No. 357. Antoine Lasalle, Jr., 16 arpents by 40. Allowed on testi- mony of Charles Pouier that Alexander Bouvier was in possession from 1785 to 1808, when he sold to claimant.
Of the elaims presented to the land board in 1808, relating to land in St. Clair county, seven were disallowed.
No. 189. Alexander Harrow, 16 acres by 40. The evidence offered
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was that the land had been used for meadow since 1796 but there were no improvements. Claim rejected.
No. 201. John Harrow, 16 acres by 40. Rejected on same testimony as No. 189.
No. 457. John McGregor. 3 acres by 80. Bounded northeast by Jacques Toulouse, southwest by Jacob Thomas; no evidence was pro- duced or action taken by the board.
No. 642. Francois Fontenoy, 612 arpents by 40. Rejected as testi- mony of George Cottrell, Ignace Morass and Jean Baptiste Comparet did not show continuous possession. The father of claimant had a deed from the Indians.
No. 666. Pierre Bonome. 8 arpents by 40. Situate on the River a Dulu. Testimony was taken of Joseph Moras that his father, Antoine. was in possession before July 1, 1796. The record does not show any action taken on this claim, and it was presented before the revived board in 1821.
No. 676. James Baby. 16 acres by 40. Eight acres on each side of bis saw-mill situate on River a Gervais, bounded in front by River St. Clair. George Meldrum testified that a saw-mill had been erected on the premises before 1790, and that Negig, an Indian chief, had lived on it for six years before his death in 1809. J. M. Beanbien testified that for thirty years (before 1810) he had known the premises to belong to the Baby family; that they were known and called Baby's mills by the whites and Indians. Further hearing of this claim was postponed.
No. 677. James Baby, 16 aeres by 40. Bounded in front by River St. Clair. on the upper side by River a Dulu. Francois Ricard testified that many years previous to July, 1796, claimant was in possession. This claim was also postponed, and no final action appears on the records preserved. although the evidence seems as conclusive as in many of the others which were allowed. James Baby was a son of Duperon Baby. who obtained a deed of land from the Indians which included these claims in 1780, and who died in 1790.
At the meeting of the revived board. in 1821. Pierre Bonhomme pre- sented three claims:
No. 1. Six arpents in front by 40 deep, bounded in front by River St. Clair.
Pierre Brandimore testified that Ruse Lovielle was in possession of the land near where Fort Gratiot was then standing (1821) about 1794: he occupied it until he sold to claimant. Pierre Lovielle testified that he took possession of the land in the fall of 1792 and built a house and raised erops, and sold to claimant in 1799. Jean Baptist Cavitory testi- fied that he made the deed from Lovielle to claimant; there was then a house, stable and blacksmith's shop on the premises.
The commissioners on this testimony confirmed the claim, but ob- served that Fort Gratiot stood upon the land; but as the claim was made in 1808 it was before the land had been reserved for military purposes.
No. 2. This is the same claim as No. 666 before the former board. In addition to the testimony taken then, Alexander Beauvin testified
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that claimant had been then (1821) in possession of the land for 20 years. This claim was confirmed, provided the eastern boundary should not come nearer to Lake Huron than ten arpents. This claim was in- eluded within the Fort Gratiot military reservation, and does not seem to have been patented, although it was surveyed by the United States district surveyor in 1828.
No. 3. Land on the south side of River a Delude, 16 arpents in front by 40 in depth. This claim was filed in 1808 but no action taken. In 1810 Alexander Beauvin testified that claimant had been in pos- session for sixteen years. In 1821 Pierre Brandimore testified that about 1791 he took possession of this land, fenced in and cleared two acres, and two years later sold it to claimant.
The board confirmed the claim. but referred to the fact that it was within the Chippewa reservation. After the reservation was bought by the United States in 1836, this land was by aet of congress. authorized to be patented to Joseph Campau, assignee of Bonhomme.
No. 4. John Askin claimed a tract five acres wide by 150 deep situate on border of River St. Clair at a place called the Bell river. The clain had been presented to the first board and rejected, and no new testimony being offered it was again rejected.
Nos. 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 were for Harsen's Island in claims of 640 acres each to Francis, William and Jacob Harsen and Mary Stewart; Francis also having one claim as assignee of his brother James.
The evidence of William Thorn was that he knew of the occupation by Jacob Harsen, the father. in 1786, and it had been continued. All the claims were confirmed.
The same land board considered another class of cases: Those in which a strong equity appeared although the claim was not filed within the time required by the act reviving the board. Such claims as relate to land in St. Clair county were :
No. 1. Victor Morass, 640 acres on south side of River Dulude, bounded on the lower side by the Chippewa reservation.
Pierre Bonhomme testified that in 1798 Antoine Morass was in pos- session of this tract and had a saw-mill which was then in operation. Jean Baptiste Deschamps testified that before 1796 Antoine Morass had a mill and lived on the tract. Ignace Morass testified that as early as 1792 his father, Antoine, built a mill on this tract on Gorse creek. Pierre Brandimore also testified, and the board recommended this claim for confirmation except such part as was included in the publie surveys and already sold, but no patent ever issued to the claimant. In 1854 congress passed an act allowing Morass to enter without payment at any land office in Michigan, 280 acres upon his releasing this elaim.
No. 2. Victor Morass, 640 acres on border of River St. Clair, to be laid out in a square form and to include the month of Baby creek as near the center of the front as may be practicable.
This is practically the same land as is included in the James Baby claim, No. 676, to the former board. In that claim the creek is called River a Gervais, while in this it is called Baby creek, and later became known as Bunce creek, its present name. A part of this land was that
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upon which Z. W. Bunce settled in 1817, and purchased from the government in 1818, and he was in possession at the time of these pro- ceedings before the land board.
To support the Morass claim, Ignace Morass testified that about 1786 his father, Antoine, built a house and saw-mill on Baby's creek and cleared two or three acres of land.
Pierre Bonhomme testified that in 1793 or 1794 he worked for Antoine Morass, who was in possession of land on which there was a saw- mill-the land now in possession of Mr. Bewel (probably a misprint for Bunce).
Jean Baptiste Deschamps testified that before 1796 there was an improvement and mill on the tract. It appearing that the greater part of the land had been sold, the board recommended the confirmation of other land to the claimant, but this does not seem to have been done.
No. 3. Jean Marie Beaubien, land in sections 17 and 18, township 5 north, range 17 east, fronting on River St. Clair.
Pierre Bonhomme testified that claimant was in possession and had improvements on the land in 1793. This was corroborated by John Baptiste Laderoute and Peter Livea, and the board recommended it for confirmation to the extent of 640 acres, and the patent was issued to Joseph Campau, assignee of claimant.
No. 4. Ann Smith, 1,500 acres, claimed under a purchase from Richard Cornwall, who had a deed from the Indians. On the evidence the claim was rejected, but the board recommended it because of claim- ant's poverty, to the favorable review of congress, which, however, took no action upon it.
No. 5. Angus McDonald. Land on Thompson's or Stromness (now Dickinson) Island. 600 acres. William Harsen testified that in 1792 there were four improvements on the island, two belonging to Thompson and two to Captain John Laughton.
William Thorn testified that in 1784 there were four farms on the island occupied and improved.
Angus McDonald was a printer who had come from Scotland to Bal- doon with the Earl of Selkirk's colony. and in 1800 had taken from James Cartwright a bond for deed of this tract. The board, entertain- ing doubts of this transfer, postponed action. and do not seem to have afterwards acted upon it, except as shown in the following claim :
No. 6. Gage and Davenport. Land in Thompson's or Stromness of Cartwright's Island. which includes same land as No. 4. After hearing considerable testimony regarding conflicting claims, the board recom- mended the confirmation in such way as to preserve all rights.
Jean B. Racine had made claim for land on north side of Black river, at its intersection with St. Clair river, but no record remains of it. In 1823 the board considered it and took the evidence of Pierre Bonhomme that Racine, who was killed by the Indians in 1811 or 1812, had occupied the property in 1801 or 1802, which he had bought from Alexis Bouvier, the previous occupant.
The board recommended this for confirmation. It was this grant which, through the daughter of Racine, came to John Thorn, and is now Thorn's plat of Port Huron. It contained, when patented, only
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59 acres, as on account of delay in the presenting of the claim, due probably to the death of Racine, adjoining land, now included in But- ler's plat, Port Huron, had been surveyed and sold by the government.
Aaron Greeley was appointed in 1807 surveyor of private claims, and in that capacity he surveyed out the claims in this county in 1810. In his surveys Mr. Greeley did not always pay the closest attention to the boundaries stated in the claim, but in general he was careful to give good measure. After completing his surveys he went to Washing- ton to prepare his final certificates, maps, etc., and in 1812, while on his return to Detroit, having in his possession many of the patents to the private claims for delivery to the owners, he was captured by the British near Malden, and the papers taken and never returned. These patents, however, were not of as much importance as in ordinary cases, as by the terms of the act of 1808, title to the land became vested in the claimant upon the favorable decision of the land board and the issue of its certificate to that effect. The subsequent survey and issue of patent by the government, while evidence of title, were not necessary.
From the foregoing it will be seen that the title to a large part of the river and lake front of the county originated in possessions taken, frequently under deeds from the Indians, from about 1780.
BRITISH GRANT
The title to Dickinson's Island, of Stromness, or Thompson's, or Laughton's, or St. Clair's Island, has been held by the Michigan supreme court to be presumptively based on a British grant, and under the treaty, between the two countries entitled to recognition by the United States as a complete title.
In September, 1780, five chiefs of the Chippewa nation executed to James Thompson, a merchant of Detroit, a deed of the island ealled Pakasanecayank, lying between the north and middle channels. It seems probable that Thompson's deed was at least partly in the interest of John Laughton, naval storekeeper for the British at Detroit, and who gave the island the name Stromness, from a town on one of the Orkney islands. Until 1821 it was generally understood that all the islands in Lake St. Clair belonged to Canada, and no attempt was made by the occupants of them to obtain confirmation of their title from the United States. Don M. Dickinson succeeded, upon the death of his father, Asa C. Dickinson, to all the old rights, and in 1895 the state of Michigan brought suit against him to recover the island upon the claim that it had acquired from the United States all the latter's rights, which had never passed to private ownership. Mr. Diekinson made a vigorous de- fense, which was upheld by the Supreme Court, chiefly upon the ground that from the fact of the Thompson deed, made in 1780 and then put on record, the consequent knowledge of the British authorities to the claim, the further fact that no attempt was ever made by the British to disturb
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the Thompson or Laughton possession during all the time the island re- mained under their jurisdiction, together with the fact that there were several records lost eovering the time in which the formal British eon- firmation of grant would have been made, and that no attempt was made to sell the island to others, coupled with the long continuous possession of more than a century, with elaim of title, there was a reasonable presump- tion that Thompson or Laughton did have a conveyance from the then recognized source of title. the English government.
When the surveys of the private claims were completed in 1810, and a map made of them. it showed two claims in the very southwest corner of the county, through which the present county line runs, fronting on Anchor bay. Ten claims in the present township of Clay, fronting on the North channel, and two more above Algonac, fronting on St. Clair river, twelve claims in the township of Cottrellville, five claims in the township of East China, six claims in the city and township of St. Clair, eight elaims in the city of Port Huron. five claims on Harsen's Island and one on Stromness Island. Considerable distances often in- tervened between claims, and with the exception of the claims all the rest of the county was unconceded and unsurveyed land.
In 1807, Abijah Hull was appointed deputy surveyor of the United States, and shortly after the Indian treaty made by Governor Hull he received instructions from the surveyor general to run out and mark the Indian boundary line, but shortly after resigned, and the line was not surveyed until 1815.
SURVEY INTO TOWNSHIPS
By an act of congress, approved by Washington. May 8. 1796. the system of rectangular surveys of publie lands into townships of six miles square was firmly established. An act of March 26, 1804, author- ized the opening of a land office at Detroit. and the sale of land in quarter seetion tracts. There was not at that time, nor for fourteen years afterward, any publie land for sale at the Detroit office, as the publie land had not been surveyed. One cause of the delay was the necessity of providing for and locating the private claims, but even after their survey had been completed. it was four years before the survey of the publie lands in Michigan began, and it was not until 1817 that any of the lands in St. Clair county, except private claims, were sur- veved. During the years 1817 and 1818 all the townships in the county south of the north line of Port Huron township were surveyed, while the townships north of that line were not surveyed until 1823, when that work was done by Lucius Lyon, one of the first United States sen- ators from Michigan.
PUBLIC AND SCHOOL LANDS
Although there was a strong demand for the opening up to sale of the public domain in Michigan, it was not until 1818 that such lands were offered for sale. Under the laws then in force the price of all land was two dollars per aere, one-fourth down, and the remainder in
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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY
the second, third and fourth years, with six per cent interest. But few purchases were made in this county under those terms. Z. W. Bunce. who had taken possession of the land the previous year, purchased land in seetions 28 and 29 of Port Huron township. Solomon Sibley pur- chased the land included within Butler's plat of the city of Port Huron. Jean Baptiste Yax, Samuel Ward and Gabriel Richard, bought land in section 1, and the heirs of Bazil Petit, land in section 12 in Cottrellville township.
April 24, 1820, the law was amended, the price of public land was reduced to $1.25 per acre, cash; all credit being abolished, and that has since remained the price in general; with the exception of section 16 in each township, reserved for schools, all land which had been surveyed was open for sale at the fixed price. However, the sale of land in this county proceeded very slowly. There were no sales between 1818 and 1822, and in the latter year but one, in 1823 two. in 1824 fourteen, and in 1825 thirteen. In the latter year Hartford Tingley, of Providence. R. I., appeared as the first land speeulator on a large scale in the county, purchasing about 3.500 acres in eighteen sections. For some years sales languished. In 1826 there were but eight purchasers, in 1827 three, in 1828 five, in 1829 two. From 1830 the tide began to rise and in 1836, at the height of the speculative land fever then raging in the eastern United States, and which was felt more in Michigan than in any other territory or state, there were nearly 200,000 acres of government land purchased, almost half the entire county.
In the act of congress of June 23, 1836, relating to the admission of the state of Michigan into the Union, it was provided that section 16 in every township should be granted to the state for the use of schools, and that all salt springs within the state. not exceeding twelve in num- ber, with six sections of land ad joining, or as contiguous as may be to each, were granted to the state to be selected on or before January 1, 1840, to be used as the legislature might direct. but not to be sold or leased for a longer period than ten years without the consent of con- gress.
I'nder these provisions there passed to the state for school purposes every section 16 in the county, in all 17,040 aeres. These lands through- out the state provided the basis of the primary school fund, which has been of the utmost importance in establishing primary education.
Under the act, by what seems a somewhat liberal interpretation, the state legislature selected for a part of the salt springs' land, seventeen sections in the township of Emmett, although there is not known to be a salt spring in that vicinity.
In 1847 congress authorized the state to sell the salt springs land in such manner as the legislature might direct, and in 1852 congress confirmed the selection by the state, of sections 2. 3. 4, 5, 8. 9. 10, 11, 12. 14. 15. 17. 21, 22. 28 in township 7 north, range 14 east, in lieu of twelve other sections incorrectly noted. In 1855 the state appropriated this land, which amounted to 9,525 acres. for the benefit of the State Agricultural School.
Vol. I-6
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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY
RAILROAD LANDS
June 3, 1856, congress granted in aid of a railroad from Grand Haven and Pere Marquette (now Ludington), to Flint, and thence to Port Huron, every alternate section of land designated by odd num- bers for six sections in width on each side of said road, with provi- sion for making up any deficiency caused by lands having been pre- viously sold or otherwise appropriated. This grant was accepted by the state by act approved February 14, 1857, which provided that the lands granted by congress to aid in the construction of a railroad from Grand Haven to Flint and thence to Port Huron vested in the Detroit and Milwaukee Railway Company and in the Port Huron and Mil- waukee Railroad Company. The eighth section of this act established a board of control to manage and dispose of these lands.
This grant, so far as related to the Detroit and Milwaukee Railway Company, was declared forfeited by the board of control August 26, 1857. The Port Huron and Milwaukee Railway Company had been incorporated in 1855 and it accepted the terms of the grant. It bought property for terminals at Port Huron and graded a short distance westward and then ceased operations. There was a Port Huron and Lake Michigan Railroad Company incorporated in 1847, to construct a railroad from Port Huron to some point at or near the mouth of Grand river on Lake Michigan, and in 1866 the Port Huron and Lake Michigan Railway Company was organized by W. L. Bancroft, and this company claimed to succeed to the rights of the Port Huron and Mil- waukee Railroad Company.
The act of 1856 had fixed the period of ten years in which the roads receiving the grant must be completed. and as the Port Huron and Milwaukee road had failed to comply with the terms of the act, it no longer had any rights in the land. However, in 1869 Amos Gould, as judgment creditor of that company, levied upon all the lands which had been set aside for the railroad, and upon sale, became the pur- chaser.
In 1871 the board of control decided that these lands should be transferred to the Port Huron and Lake Michigan Railway Company, which had then built a railroad from Port Huron to Flint, and on May 30, 1873, the governor, in pursuance of the action of the board of control, made a patent to the company of the lands, and the company immediately deeded them to one William R. Bowes as trustee.
May 14, 1877, the state legislature passed an act ratifying and con- firming the action of the board of control in conferring upon the Port Huron and Lake Michigan Railway Company these lands. March 3, 1879, congress released to the state of Michigan the reversionary in- terest of the United States, which might exist by reason of the non- construction of the railroad within the time limited. Bowes had in the meantime sold a large part of the lands, and was succeeded in his trust by Augustus D. Griswold, who also sold a portion. Finally, in order to clear up the title to these railroad lands, the legislature, by act approved June 9, 1883, made provision for the giving of patents to such lands as had been purchased in good faith from W. R. Bowes or
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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY
Augustus D. Griswold, or from Amos Gould. The lands in St. Clair county, aggregating 3,568 acres, had been bought by one purchaser from Bowes, and the same purchaser also obtained a deed from Gould, so that the way was at last made clear for the obtaining of a good title to these lands.
INDIAN RESERVATION LANDS
By the treaty made with the Black river and Swan Creek bands of Chippewas in 1836 they ceded to the United States their reservations in this county. This land was to be sold and the proceeds distributed in annuities and a part retained by the United States and the interest divided. The two reservations were surveyed and subdivided in 1837 and the land was sold at public auction in 1839. The Black river res- ervation included parts of sections 3, 4, 9, 10, 15, 16 in the township of Port Huron, in all 1,287 acres, and the Swan Creek reservation con- tained all or part of eighteen sections in Ira and Casco townships, in all 6,135 acres.
SWAMP LANDS
The public domain of the Mississippi valley and the Lake States contained a large amount of swamp and overflowed land and Michigan ranked fourth in the amount of such land within its borders. The surveyor-general of the United States reported in 1815 that a large part of the southeastern portion of the territory of Michigan was swamp and practically worthless.
As early as 1826 attempts were made in congress to have land of this character granted to the states, but it was not until the act of September 28, 1850, that a general swamp land law was enacted. By that act all "swamp and overflowed lands made unfit thereby for cul- tivation," were granted to the state, and it was further provided that all legal subdivisions, the greater part of which was wet and unfit for cultivation, should be included in the lands to be granted, and that the proceeds of all such lands, whether by sale or by appropriation in kind, should be applied exclusively, as far as necessary, to the pur- pose of reclaiming such lands.
The reasons actuating congress in making this donation were:
1st. The alleged worthless character of the lands in their natural condition, and the inexpediency of attempting to reclaim them by national effort.
2nd. The sanitary improvement from the reclamation of marshy districts.
3rd. The readier sale and increased value of the adjoining govern- ment land.
The state, in accepting this gift from the nation did not feel itself bound to strictly follow the terms of the donation as to the purposes for which the land or its proceeds should be used. While large amounts were used for the construction of drains and roads, a considerable amount was diverted to other purposes.
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Both the nation and the state were in the carrying out of this piece of legislation, inexcusably careless. Nearly six million acres of so- called swamp land was patented to the state. As a matter of fact. much of this land was not swamp or overflowed, but high, and even well timbered with pine and other valuable woods.
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