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 19
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Thomas Chittenden Fay. who is entitled to the credit of establish- ing the first newspaper in St. Clair county, was a strange, eccentric man who came to St. Clair in 1829. He was born in Bennington. Ver- mont. and having learned the art of printing. established, in 1811, a newspaper called the Lynx in Onondaga county. New York, which he
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managed for about two years, and during this time he had as appren- tice, Thurlow Weed, then a boy of 14. He was a man of rather violent temper, and in September, 1812. after a quarrel with his associates, he left them and his family and never returned there. The next known of him is in Georgetown, South Carolina, where, in 1827, he married Mary J. Broderick, and not long afterward went to St. Clair, probably expecting it as the county seat to be a desirable location. He bought several parcels of property for his wife and her mother, Jane Crosby. and in 1830, his family came to St. Clair. He returned south in 1833 and in 1834 shipped to St. Clair as a payment on his land purchases, a printing press and outfit with which the St. Clair Whig was issued in the latter part of the same year, Mr. Thomas M. Perry being the printer and pub- lisher. A few years later he died without returning to St. Clair.
James Ogden lived in the township of St. Clair and had a saw mill several miles up Pine river, and later became a partner in the lambering and saw mill business at St. Clair with Dr. Harmon Chamberlin, until they sold out to Wesley Truesdail in 1852.
Jerauld Miller, who moved to Port Huron in 1836. and later to Lexington, was a resident in 1830.
Mrs. Ruby Cox, with her family of five sons and three daughters. one of whom married Jacob Miller, one David Vance, and one Charles Kimball, came in 1830.
Jonathan Burnham, in default of other residence available, ocenpied the court house in the winter of 1829-30 as a dwelling.
Thus in 1830 there were fourteen families resident in the village. Mark Hopkins, having died in 1828, his widow. Tacy L., continued to live there with her children : his son, Samuel F. Hopkins, had married and after living for a time in East China township, had returned to St. Clair. In the meantime Reuben Hamilton had moved to Fort Gratiot light house. At this time the county officers were: Chief justice of the county court. John K. Smith ; associate judges. David Oakes and Lewis J. Brakeman ; Henry Cottrell. sheriff; Harmon Chamberlin, county clerk ; John K. Smith, judge of probate; John Thorn, register of probate.
The census of 1830, which was taken by James HI. Cook, omitted sey- eral well known residents of the county. Thus it did not include either John Thorn or his father, William Thorn, David Oakes, George MeDou- gall, Peter F. Brakeman, Isaac Pulcifer, all of the Brandimores. Caus- leys, and Laforges, and probably a number of others.
EARLY PORT HURON
After Fort St. Joseph had ceased to exist. nearly a century passed before the site of Port Huron was again occupied. The establishment of the French fort at Detroit and the slow growth of the settlement there did away with the necessity or desirability of any other settlement in this vicinity. The transfer of the country from the French to the British brought about a somewhat different policy, although for twenty-nine years after that event, the fort of Sinclair was the only evidence upon St. Clair river of the white man's presence. Even at that time there were few of any other nationality than French in this section. When the census of Detroit was taken in 1782, out of 321 names returned. only forty-seven are other than French.
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It was about this time that the earliest permanent settlers came to the site of Port Huron. Pierre Brindamonr. or in the modern spelling. Brandimore. Denis Caslet. or modernized. Cansley, were the first or among the first. Antoine Morass in 1786 came to the locality and either built or took over a mill on what is now Bunce's creek, and within a few years after went up on the south side of Black river a short dis- tance above the Grand Trunk railroad bridge and built another mill on what was then called Gorse creek. He seems to have been the first man of capital. and the first employer. Before 1800 there had come to Black river, then known as River a Delude, or Du L'IInt. (from the famous French officer and voyager. who established in 1686 at the foot of Lake Huron the fort which was called varionsly Fort St. Joseph and Fort Duluth) a number of Frenchmen who built for themselves small shanties and lived by hunting and fishing. Most or all of them came from Mon- treal. and free from all restraints of government. lived the simple life.
Among those who are known to have lived here during that period are Pierre Bonhomme, or Burnham, as the Americans generally called him, who worked for Antoine Morass, and who bought. in 1793. from Pierre Brindamour the land on the south side of Black river generally known as the Campan Tract.
Pierre Lovielle, in 1792, took possession of the land upon which Fort Gratiot was afterwards built, and occupied it until 1799. when he sold to Bonhomme. Alexander Beanvier, probably the same person sometimes called Alexis Bouvier, was in occupation of the land just north of Black river, near its month.
In 1796 Jean Baptiste Deschamps was in the vicinity. Francois Bonhomme was here as early as 1794 and ocenpied what is now a part of the MeNiel tract. In February. 1797, Capt. Alex Harrow. who was then living on his place, which he called Newburgh. a short distance above Algonac, wrote to a Mr. Bellear at Riviere Delud. or Black river. asking him to tell Lonis Baby to ent him several pieces of cedar. This. of course, indicates the presence of those two men at that time in this vicinity.
There seems to be tradition that in 1790 seven Frenchmen, Anselm Petit, Francois Leviere, or Lariviere, Baptiste Levais. Duchien. Michel Jervais, or Gervais, Coarneais and Moreaux, arrived at Black river. but this is rendered doubtful by the fact that the only one who furnishes record evidence of presence here is Anselm Petit, a native of Quebec. who came to Detroit a young man and in 1804 married Angelique Cam- pan, a daughter of Simon Campau. It is probable that he had come to this locality before that time and brought his bride here. and several of their children were born here. It has been said that their son, Edward, who was born February 7. 1812, and who lived to be a prominent citizen of Port Huron, was the first white child born within its limits, but this is probably a mistake. The late Mrs. James Brandi- more, who was a Miss Cansely. was born here in 1802, and Jean Baptiste Deschamps, who came from La Prairie near Montreal about 1790, mar- ried here the widow of one Lavere, and they had a son born here in 1805. This same Deschamps was living on the north side of Black river east of where Seventh street bridge is located in 1824, as in that year a
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Mr. Videto, a United States surveyor, on his way to Sanilac and Huron counties to survey the public lands, came up from St. Clair with two ponies carrying his outfit. The road was little better than a trail; there was no bridge aeross Black river, but Mr. Videto saw a building upon the north side, halloed loudly, and a man came over with a canoe and carried him over, swimming the horses. This man proved to be Des- champs and Mr. Videto stayed with him all night. As Jean B. Desroyer, who at that time owned a part of the land which subsequently became the military reservation, had a ferry license from the county court to operate a ferry across Black river near its mouth. it is probable that Deschamps was employed by Desrover.
Anselm Petit was something of a dealer and fur trader and some of the Frenchmen whose names are preserved may have been employed by him occasionally. When Deschamps came up the river in 1790 from Detroit, he found a saw mill in operation on Bunce creek and stopped there for a while. He is afterwards found at Black river, later on a elaim of Meldrum and Park opposite Stag Island, in 1824, at Port Huron, and in 1830 he removed to Goderich, Ontario, where he died.
The possession of most of these early Frenehmen was fugitive and slight. Anselm Petit built a house near the east end of Court street and made a clearing, Morass and Bonhomme had small clearings, but on the whole they made but slight impression. Most or all of them could not read or write, and thus were ignorant of the fact that under the law passed by congress in 1807, such of them as had taken actual possession of any land prior to July 1, 1796. would be entitled to receive without charge a government patent for any amount desired up to 640 acres. A few claims were presented and allowed, several others were equally entitled.
In 1803 C. Jonett, the Indian agent at Detroit, made an examina- tion of the conditions along Lake and River St. Clair and reported upon occupancies and claims, but he does not appear to have come as far north as Black river, and in his report makes no reference to any occu- paneies above Pine river.
The first action on the part of the government in this vicinity was the surveying by Aaron Greely, United States surveyor of private claims of the lines of the Indian reservation on the south side of Black river. Provision for this had been made in 1807 in the treaty with the Indians, but it was not until 1810 that it was actually carried out. The east line of this reservation began at Black river a few rods east of Military street and ran in a southwesterly direction to a point a little south of Griswold street, just west of Sixteenth street. During the same year the Bonhomme and Lasselle claims. comprising the McNiel tract, were surveyed.
So far as known, this locality and its few inhabitants remained un- disturbed from that time until 1814 when the officers and men appeared to construct Fort Gratiot. They made no inquiry, and probably cared nothing for private rights, and in fact the fort was built upon land which in equity belonged to Pierre Bonhomme, and to which he became legally entitled.
In 1817 the survey of the township in which Port Huron lies was
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completed, but the public land did not become subject to entry and sale until the following year. At that time Mr. Solomon Sibley of Detroit. took up all the land that he could get north of Black river. and lying between it and St. Clair river. What he obtained subsequently became Butler's plat. The land contained in Thorn's plat was in an uncertain position, being claimed by the heir of one Racine by right of occupancy under the United States law. This matter was not entirely straightened out until 1836. South of Black river the land situation also was not promising. The Indian reservation covered the land which subsequently became the fourth and sixth wards of Port Huron and a part of the second ward. Anselm Petit was in possession of the land lying north of Griswold street and east of Fourth, claiming it under rights of occu- pancy, although he subsequently purchased from the government. Joseph Watson, at one time secretary of the territory. took up the land lying between Petit and the Indian reservation, and the way was clear to make a city.
While the settlement at St. Clair was slowly growing so that in 1830 there were only fourteen families. containing 102 persons. in the community. it was still the largest in the county. In 1824 Samuel Ward tried to get the county seat removed from St. Clair to his property at Belle river, upon which Newport was afterwards located. but it was not until after 1840 that enough population existed at Port Huron to in- duce its most zealous partisan to believe that it should become the county seat.
In 1821 much the largest part of the present city was occupied by two reservations, one the Military reservation attached to Fort Gratiot. extending from St. Clair river to Black river, bounded on the south by Suffern street, and on the north by State street extended through. This reservation had not been legally made at that time. but the gov- ernment was in possession. The other was the Indian reservation on the south side of Black river, and included all west of a line starting a little east of Military street bridge and running in a southwesterly direction. The only resident of Port Huron found upon the assessment roll of 1821 was Anselm Petit. although there were undoubtedly a few French families occupying shanties. but having no land interests.
In 1825 the light house was built, which brought to the locality the keeper and his assistant, and the same year. James H. Cook came as representative of Thomas S. Knapp. who built a store and trading house on the north bank of Black river. Henry Germaine, who mar- ried Marie Germaine. daughter and sole heir of Jean Baptiste Racine. (the original claimant of the land included in Thorn's Plat) occupied a small house east of Cook, but moved over to Canada before 1830. In October. 1828, Jonathan Burtch arrived. and taking the Deschamps building, then unoccupied. he filled it up and used it as a store, and the following year he built a new frame building, the first one in the settle- ment. These were near but north of River street and west of Huron avenue. Burtch was preceded by Louis Facer, who was a resident of the county as early as 1825. came in 1827 and occupied the store house built by Cook, remaining until 1832. when he moved to Lakeport. In
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1828 Reuben Hamilton came up from St. Clair and moved into the dwelling attached to the lighthouse.
In 1830 Edward Sales, who bought, in 1831, an interest in the Butler plat property, moved in, so that in the census of 1830 there were in the community on both sides of Black river, about eight families and fifty people of all ages and sexes.
FROM 1830 To 1835
Port Huron was not in 1830 as populous as St. Clair. in fact there was no settlement large enough to warrant a name. John Riley, the In- dian half-breed, lived in the northeast corner of the Indian reservation, near the southwest corner of Military and Water streets. Anselm Petit lived on his land east of Fourth street. and not far from the pres- ent Grand Trunk freight station. Michael L. Kerley had brought from Detroit the frame of a store building which he erected in 1828 on Black river adjacent to the Indian reserve line, or a short distance east of the St. Clair County Savings Bank, at which point he built a wharf. Pierre Brandimore occupied a building on the bank of the St. Clair river not far from Miller's coal dock. These were all the buildings south of Black river. On the north side, Louis Facer occupied the building put up by Thomas S. Knapp in 1825. a short distance east of what is now Huron avenue. The Fort Gratiot turnpike was not yet built and there was no bridge across Black river. Jonathan Burtch occupied a log building between River and Butler streets, west of Huron avenue. James H. Cook lived east of the Facer place. George MeDongall was the keeper of the light house and lived in the dwelling attached. as did also Reuben Hamilton, who assisted in the care of the light. Jean B. Desroyers lived on the Military reservation, and Edward Sales, who owned an interest in the tract which became the Butler plat, lived somewhere upon it, probably not far from Burtch. These. in addition to the garrison at the fort, comprising in all about eighty men. and a few French families along Black river, were all the inhabitants of what is now Port Huron, in 1830.
The next six years saw a rapid change. The military road was com- pleted from Detroit to Fort Gratiot. South of Black river it followed the erest of the hill so that from the railroad bridge north it was some rods east of the present Military street : north of Black river it ran up what is now Huron avenue to the bank of St. Clair river. and then along the bank to the fort. The small canoe ferry gave way to the bridge. The Black River Steam mill was built west of Seventh street bridge. and near it, and within the five acres belonging to the Steam Mill Company, were a boarding house and four or five small dwelling houses. Burtch had built a wharf and store house west of Military street bridge and after occupying it for about two years, sold it out to Daniel B. Harrington. Porter and Powers built a hotel building, painted white, at about the corner of Butler street and Huron avenue on the west side. Peltier and Doran had a store house and wharf east of Military street bridge. J. W. Campfield had a shoe shop about half way between the bridge and the saw mill. Westbrook had a house on Military street south of the rail-
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road bridge, and the old brown school house was built. In 1834 another hotel was built a short distance north of Quay street on the east side of Huron avenue, and also one on the west side of Huron avenue, on the site now occupied by the Central block.
In the spring of 1835 Joseph B. Comstock, who had been in the general store business with D. B. Harrington in 1832-3 at Hersey's Mills on Stony creek in Oakland county, came to Port Huron and went in business with his brother. Alfred, in the Kerley building and wharf, and rented from Isaac Halstead the tavern which he had built on the north side of the river east of Huron avenue, or as Butler plat had not then been laid out, the street is referred to as the turnpike leading from Detroit to Fort Gratiot. This property had about an acre of land connected with it used for garden purposes, and the tavern was painted white. Probably painted buildings were not common, as the conveyances of that time identify the property by reference to the white building. The follow- ing year the Comstocks moved across Black river and bought the Peltier and Doran wharf and store. the latter being painted red. In their store- keeping accounts the item of whiskey is a common charge and as the price was only 50 cents per gallon, most people were able to indulge. Powder sold for the same price per pound that whiskey did per gallon. eggs sold at 19 cents per dozen, sugar and pork one shilling per pound. butter 20 cents per pound. potatoes were high, one dollar per bushel. four six dollars per barrel : shingles formed a considerable item of com- merce; being easily made by hand they were brought to Desmond, as the settlement was then called. and shipped to Detroit on the steamboat Gen. Gratiot, which came up in Black river to the wharves near the bridge. The current price for the shingles was $1.50 per thousand, and this was the chief source of ready money. The small scale on which business was conducted is of interest. The Comstocks often borrowed small amounts from their friends or customers, and again appear as lenders. When it was desired to send a draft east to pay for goods, it was necessary to send the currency to Detroit and there purchase a draft on New York or Boston. In 1843 Rev. Dr. Nash records in his diary his attempts to get back nails which several of his neighbors had bor- rowed from him.
EARLY MARINE CITY
That part of Marine City in section 1. lying between Belle river and St. Clair river and north of Bridge street, was purchased in 1818 by Samuel Ward and Father Gabriel Richard, the Catholic priest of De- troit, who was at one time the territorial delegate in congress from Mich- igan, and who was an energetie publie spirited man. It is not known how it came about that the two men united in this purchase, as Mr. Ward did not belong to the Catholic faith, but they did not long own the land in common. Father Richard conveying, in 1824, his interest to Mr. Ward, who also bought the small fractional section 6 lying directly east.
That part of the same section 1, which lies west of Belle river, was the location of the French settlement, which included the Yax, Du- chene, and a few other families. It was bought in September, 1818, by
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Jean Baptiste Yax under the part payment plan, and his interest was afterwards assigned to John R. Williams, a merchant of Detroit, who ob- tained a patent for the land in 1823.
Directly south of the Yax land on the west of Belle river and along St. Clair river was section 12, which was bought by Basil Petit in Oc- tober, 1818, upon the installment plan, and later, upon full payment, patented to his heirs.
The property known as Catholic Point also lies in section 12 and was purchased in June, 1824, by Father Richard in trust for the Roman Catholic inhabitants of the parish of Saint Agatha. The title to this property has never been conveyed from the church, although a large part of it was occupied for many years by the Marine City Stave Com- pany, and it was upon this property that the first well to the salt roek was put down under the auspices of Mr. Croeket MeElroy, president of that company.
Although this property was bought for the Catholic church, no church building was erected upon it until 1849, and the church and parish at that time bear the name of the Holy Cross. In 1826 land was obtained for a Catholic church less than 2 miles away in private claim 187. the church to be called St. Felicity. This church, probably the first church edifice in the county, was built and after a few years de- stroyed by the land upon which it stood being washed away by the river before the Holy Cross church was built.
In the assessment of 1821 appear the names of at least five of the French settlement, including Yax, Jarvis, Bourdenau, Duchene, and Leeson, but none of these except Yax appear to have had any land interest. Although at this time the owner of a large part of what is now Marine City, Samuel Ward was not assessed for any real estate.
By 1830 the population of the future city had not greatly inereased. Samuel Ward's unsuccessful attempt in 1824 to remove the county seat had not brought any addition to his own settlement, and James H. Cook, the census taker, found three Chortier famliies on the west side of Belle river, Dr. Amasa Heminger. Bela Knapp, Etienne Rousselle, or Russell, three Yax families, Samuel Ward. and David Loekwood, with- in the present limits of Marine City. It was not until 1836. two years after the first village plat was made by Ward, that people from outside began to come in. and a community to be formed.
The first method of crossing Belle river was by ferry, James R. Wol- verton having been licensed by the county court in January, 1822, for that purpose. In 1825 the license was granted to Louis Chortier. In 1831 a floating bridge was built across Belle river, probably on the section line as in 1834, when the plat of Newport was made the street on the section line running from St. Clair to Belle river was named Bridge street.
Although the plat of Newport was made in 1834 the time was not quite ripe for influx of population, but in 1836 Erick M. Segar, Henry G. Folger, James H. Tallman, John P. Phillips and Timothy Ingraham started the movement by the purchase of a large part of the village plat. Folger the following year built a saw mill near the upper end of the town, and as has been stated elsewhere, the speeulation of the purchase Vol. I-10
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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY
proved a losing one. James H. Tallman at about the same time was en- gaged in a similar enterprise in the town site of Belvedere, near the mouth of Clinton river in Macomb county, which likewise proved a losing venture.
The efforts made to make known the advantages of the place resulted in bringing a considerable population between 1836 and 1840. One of the early comers of the new town was Marcus HI. Miles, who in 1836 bought property and moved in, a young man of 23. He early showed ability in obtaining office. becoming postmaster in June, 1837, and hold- ing the position until January. 1839, when he moved to St. Clair. Dur- ing his life he held many offices and filled them capably and satisfac- torily.
Others coming the same year or soon thereafter were Gen. Duthan Northup. who. after the collapse of the land speculation. went to Port Huron in 1838; Charles and Solomon Gardner. James Robertson. a son of the Robertson who as one of the earliest residents along the river had received patent to private claim 568.
In 1829 Seth Taft, who was a resident of the county as early as 1821. bought property from Samuel Ward. and the same or the follow- ing year undertook the operation of a tannery built by Ward just north of Broadway on St. Clair river, and continued it for about two years when it closed down.
In 1832 Eber B. Ward came to the settlement and the building of boats, which Samuel Ward had begun as early as 1820, went on with increasing rapidity, some of them on St. Clair river. but more on Belle river.
In 1837 Curtis Bellows, who became postmaster when M. H. Miles moved to St. Clair, H. A. Caswell. Daniel Wilkins, John P. Phillips, Lydia Thorn, who later married Doctor Hemenger. David Fish, and George W. Buddington, all bought property in the village. Some of these did not remain long. as the only industry was the building of boats.
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