USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. I > Part 21
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86
"All this shall not deprive me of the writing you a ew lines in answer to your obliging letter by Robertson. The news is that General Clinton, below Albany, fought and beat General Gates, in which 7,000 of the enemy and their general fell.
"Before this reaches you perhaps you'll have the account, more fully by
199
200
CITY OF DETROIT
Niagara, great numbers of canoes are on their way here from Montreal. Lieut- enant Bennett left this a few days ago for the grand portage."
DEJEAN'S SUCCESSOR
When Dejean left Detroit to follow Governor Hamilton to Vincennes, and subsequently to Williamsburg as a prisoner, Detroit was left without a justic or record-keeper. Thomas Williams was given a qualified appoint- ment as notary and justice by the military commandant, Capt. Richard B. Lernoult, and it was expected that a proper appointment would be granted to Williams as soon as possible.
Lernoult was succeeded by Maj. Arent Schuyler De Peyster and it was to the major that Williams' commission was sent in the fall of 1779. All the records in the interval were kept by Williams, so that he may be considered as the immediate successor to Dejean.
Almost the last act of Hamilton before he left Detroit was to forward to Lieutenant-Governor Cramahe such legal papers as he had in his possession, to be delivered to the proper officers. These papers consisted of the following items:
1. Depositions taken at Mackinac before Major De Peyster.
2. Depositions taken in Detroit before Dejean and twenty-four jurors.
3-4. Deposition in favor of Nicholas Thibault, of Detroit, who was charged with murdering a Panis. The witness was Jean Baptiste Dumet or Dumay.
5. Examination of Michael O'Neil, a volunteer in LaMothe's company. The witnesses were Pierre LeMay and Patrick McKinley, of the same com- pany.
The governor adds to his report that the law proceedings here were vague, and perhaps as irregular as can be, but the situation must excuse and account for it.
.
The troubles that had overtaken Hamilton and Dejean by reason of their illegal actions specified in the findings of the jury led Major De Peyster and Thomas Williams to exercise more caution in the village affairs. De Peyster wrote to Haldimand that he had lately heard that justices of the peace had no power to meddle in money matters, though it had been understood formerly that they could try causes where the amount involved was less than ten pounds.
"Now, if some power and for a granted sum, too," he writes, "is not given, this place will go into confusion, as it will hardly do to summon people to ap- pear at Montreal for such trifling affairs, and if they are not there will be no recovering small debts."
The laws, however, were not changed, and Detroit was left without power to protect its citizens against dishonest debtors.
REAL ESTATE SPECULATION IN 1780
It was at this time, commencing about 1780, that the land fever struck Detroit. There had been for some time an earnest desire to have the war ended, and nearly everyone felt that it could be terminated only with the aeknowl- edgement of the independence of the United States. There was also a feeling that a large part of Canada, certainly all that portion lying south of the Great Lakes, would become part of the new government. This feeling was shared in alike by the military officers and by the civilians. If the new government was to have control soon, each one felt that he would like to be possessed of some
-
-------
-
201
CITY OF DETROIT
fertile farm lands about the post before the change of government took place. The British government had never favored buying lands from the Indians, but the people-speculators, traders, everyone, in fact-now set about buying large tracts from the Indian tribes. It became the duty of Williams, as reg- ister, to accept and record these Indian conveyances and there are hundreds of them in these records.
The consideration generally expressed is the love borne by the Indian chief to his white friend, to whom the deed was made, but the real consideration was a little money, some trinkets, vermillion, powder, lead and a good deal of rum. If all other inducements failed, a liberal quantity of rum would serve to supply the deficiency.
All the farm lands up and down the river and on both sides, which were not already occupied by the whites, were sold by these Indians and some parcels were sold several times over.
Major De Peyster purchased a large tract in what is now St. Clair County, and the two Schiefflins bought the entire parcel upon which Amherstburg is located, as well as many square miles of land around it. De Peyster's grant was never accepted as valid by the government, and the deed to the Schiefflins was set aside by the British government as having been obtained by fraud. De Peyster left Canada after the war and went to live in Scotland, the home of his wife. He died at Dumfries, Scotland, November 26, 1822. The Schief- flins, Jonathan and Jacob, moved to New York, and some of the family went into the drug trade, becoming very wealthy. Their descendants still live in New York City, and are considered of the aristocracy. Some of them have tried to forget their Detroit ancestors, while others of the family are "every day" sort of people and are generally liked.
William Forsyth, the step-father of John Kinzie of Chicago, obtained a deed to 2,000 acres on the St. Clair River September 20, 1780.
PETITION FOR MILL
To show how thoroughly the country here was under the control of the military officers, the following is the substance of a petition of inhabitants living at Petite Cote, on the south side of the river.
The petition is dated July 1, 1780, and sets forth that, for the public good, it will be necessary to have a water mill built at that place to grind the grain of the locality. They ask that Simon Drouillard be granted permission to build a stone mill on the public domain. The petition is signed by John Bondy, J. Pouget, Charles Reaume, Rene Cloutier, Theophile LeMay, Joseph Belle- perche, Antoine Lafontaine, Baptiste Dufor, Antoine Cloutier, Jean Baptiste LeBeau, Pierre Meloch, Pierre Pranez, J. B. Drouillard, J. B. Petre, George Knaggs, Charles Renot, Charles Fontaine, J. B. Bonparre, J. B. Faignant, August Peuparre, Francois Lesperance, Francois Proux, and Louis Rebeau. Upon filing the above petition, the commandant, De Peyster, granted license to Simon Drouillard to build a water mill on la riviere aux Dindes (Turkey Creek).
PROTESTANT MARRIAGE CEREMONIES
The following entry in Volume C, on page 99, explains itself:
"I hereby certify to have joined Thomas Williams, Esq., of Detroit, and
202
CITY OF DETROIT
Miss Cecelia Campeau, daughter of Mr. Jacques Campeau, of Detroit, in the holy bonds of Matrimony, conformable to the rule of the Church of England. "Given under my hand at Detroit, this seventh day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-one.
"A. S. DE PEYSTER, "Major King's Regt.
Commanding Detroit and Its Dependencies.
"Witness:
"ALEX GRANT,
"D. MERCIER, Lt. King's Rgt."
The peculiarity of this marriage certificate is that the ceremony was per- formed by the military commandant. There was no minister or chaplain in the garrison. Perhaps the justice of the peace was authorized to perform the mar- riage ceremony, for there are several signed by Dejean. Whenever persons did not wish to go before the Catholic priest, they went before the commandant, and he generally officiated. Possibly a full record of the marriages performed by him may sometime be found, but all search for such a list in every place where public records of that date are to be found has so far been in vain. We know that many marriages took place at this time, but there are no records to prove them. This one was preserved only because the husband, Thomas Wil- liams, was the keeper of the records and so recorded his own marriage eer- tificate.
The village priest desired to keep all of his people within the church, but he was not always able to do so. The church records were carefully kept, and whenever we know of a marriage that is not of record in Ste. Anne's or in the Church of the Assumption, we conclude that the commandant or the justice performed it. We know that James Sterling and Angelique Cuillerier were married, but there is no record extant in either of the above churches. When- over there was doubt in the mind of the priest, Father Simplieus Bouquet, as to the propriety of a proposed marriage, he refused to perform it. Then the bride and groom had to go to the commandant or wait until the obstacles were removed. In 1775 Francois Gouin wished to marry Angelique Godet, but the priest objected because of the youth of the young lady, and also because her grandmother did not want the marriage to take place. The uncle and aunt of the bride appealed to Capt. Richard Beranger Lernoult, the commandant, and by his order the priest performed the ceremony, but he added to the ree- ord a note that if he has deferred to the decision of the commandant, it was because he feared the couple would be married in English fashion, and the scandal thus occasioned would be followed by other unnatural children.
CENSUS OF 1782
In 1782 Williams was employed by De Peyster to take the census of De- troit and its surroundings. Such a census had been taken by Dejean in 1773, and the two, for comparison, give the population as follows:
1773
1782
Men
298
321
Women
225
254
Young Men
S4
336
Boys
284
526
Girls
240
503
203
CITY OF DETROIT
Young Women
58 !
72
Servants
93 |
Male Slaves
46
78
Female Slaves
39
101
Total
1,367 2,191
This is exclusive of the garrison and Indians. The increase was due largely to the influx of persons desiring to avoid the war. Governor Hamilton had constantly urged the loyalists to flee from the states and come to Detroit, or to locate in some place where they could be protected by British soldiers. Ham- ilton had won for himself the title of the "hairbuyer general" from his offer of reward for scalps of the white people in the Ohio country, but if he wanted scalps of the "rebels," he was equally anxious for the safety of all who were loyal to King George. A proclamation of reward for scalps issued by him was found pinned to a man murdered and scalped, lying in the woods of the Ohio district and accompanying the proclamation was a letter of authority given by him to Edward Hazel, offering protection to all who would assemble at Detroit, the Miamis (near Toledo), Sandusky, and Vincennes, stating that they should receive such protection as the British arms afford to refugees. These papers have found their way into the goverment archives.
The result of these efforts was the assembling at Detroit of five hundred or more people who were detained as refugees and prisoners of war. Adding this number to the garrison, the total population must have exceeded three thousand persons. Not all of these people were loyal citizens and the intract- able ones were sent down to Montreal for confinement for a time, but the num- bers there became so great that Governor Haldimand refused to receive more, and those at Detroit were kept and set to work on the new fortifications- Fort Lernoult, afterwards Fort Shelby.
'The number of refugees at Detroit became so great that Haldimand warned the commandant to watch them carefully and imprison them if he thought best. He was afraid they might become numerous enough to overpower the garrison and turn the post over to the Americans.
TERRITORIAL CHANGE AFTER 1782
The end of the war practically came in 1782, though the final treaty of peace was not signed until a year later. Detroit was included in the new ter- ritory of the United States and Congress set about governing the land. All of the land south of the Miami of Lake Erie soon came into the actual posses- sion of the new government, but the territory north of that river was con- structively part of the United States and really part of Canada, for the British troops still occupied and controlled it. All the lands north of the Ohio River formed what soon came to be called the "Northwest Territory," and the east- ern states soon (with the exception of Connecticut) released their claims, so that it fell under the direct control of the federal government. Some acts were passed by Congress before the close of the war for the division of this land into states, but the earliest move of general interest to us was Jefferson's ordinance of 1784.
The ordinance was drafted by Jefferson, but it was superseded by the ord- inance of 1787, and the earlier one had lost its legal importance. It is rarely found in printed form. A copy is in the American Historical Leaflets No. 32.
204
CITY OF DETROIT
The original is in the archives at Washington and a photograph of it is in the Burton Historical Collection. This paper is very interesting to us historically, as showing the proposed geographical divisions of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Mich- igan and Wisconsin, comprising the Northwest Territory, into ten states pro-' vided by that ordinance.
An atlas published by William McMurray, shortly after the date of this ordinance, contained a map of the new territory divided into ten states, as mentioned in Jefferson's draft, by the names of Sylvania, Michigania, Cher- ronesis, Assenisipta, Metropotaia, Illinoia, Saratoga, Washington, Polypo- tamia and Pelisipia. There were other maps of the country engraved at that time, the one made by John Fitch, the inventor of the steamboat, being the most unique: this was engraved by himself, printed in a eider press and sold for six shillings a copy, to raise money to carry on his steamboat inventions.
Had this ordinance remained in force, the present address of our citizens would be the City of Detroit in the State of Cherronesis. The State of Michi- gania was located on the west side of Lake Michigan. To anticipate for some years the history of our peninsula, when Congress was searching for a name for this territory in 1805 it was proposed to call this land Huron Territory, and the present State of Wisconsin was to be called Michigan Territory, so that on two occasions Wisconsin has barely missed being christened Michigan.
KING'S OWNERSHIP OF DETROIT PROPERTY
It is not often that we find the King of England as the purchaser of a piece of property in this country, but there is a deed on record conveying a house and lot in the village of Detroit, bounded in front by St. James Street, in the rear by St. Joseph Street, sixty-nine feet wide, to "our sovereign lord, George the Third, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, king, defender of the faith, etc." The house occupied by the lieutenant-governor was located nearly on the site of the present Michigan Mutual Life Insurance Company building, and the lot above described is nearly a block towards the west and a little to the north. It was probably intended to have been used for a jail, for there was no jail in Detroit at this time. Governor Haldimand did not approve of the purchase of the property, and it was returned to its former proprietors, William and Alexander Macomb.
MILITARY AUTHORITY OVER DEBTS
To show to what extent the military department exercised authority to aid in the collection of debts, there is a statement made by Gerrit Graverat which is very interesting. Graverat and John Visgar were partners in trade under the name of Graverat & Visgar. Abraham C. Cuyler, a trader from Albany, came to Detroit to collect an old debt due him from Graverat personally. Graverat refused to pay the old account, alleging that he had no property other than that belonging to the firm and that he could not take such prop- erty until the firm's creditors were first satisfied. Cuyler appealed to the mili- tary commandant, Major De Peyster, and laid the matter before him. De Peyster summoned Graverat to his house. Upon his arrival "De Peyster, in the presence of Alexander Macomb, William Edgar and John Askin, declared, and confirmed the same with an oath of seeming resolution, that if Graverat did not pay his account to Cuyler at once, that he would send Graverat down the country (to Montreal) on the vessel that was just then ready to sail."
.
205
CITY OF DETROIT
Graverat was so thoroughly frightened by the threat that he turned over all the partnership property he had, in order to satisfy Cuyler's elaim. He then entered a protest to the high-handed proceedings in September, 1783.
IMPROVEMENT OF RIVER LAND
The traveler along the River St. Clair today would hardly believe that a few years ago the borders of that river were thiekly studded with pine trees, but that was the faet. Patt Sinelair, who was lieutenant-governor of Maek- inae, had purchased at Pine River, the site of the present city of St. Clair, a large tract of land from the Indians. This purchase was connived by the Brit- ish offieers, though contrary to orders of government. At the end of the Revo- lution, Sinelair went to the island of Orleans, and from that place gave directions for the eare of his possessions, and from these writings, now a matter of record, one derives the best information obtainable regarding the improvements made on the river.
He directed Nicolas Boulvin to take possession of his farm on Pine River, which was his property by Indian conveyance made in the presence of the commanding officer of Fort Detroit and of his majesty's Indian agent; also by letter from General Gage, then commander-in-chief, as well as by the assent of government to his rights therein sinee that time. Boulvin was to take charge of the stoek, houses, barns, orchards, gardens and timber on said lands. No person was permitted to eut timber except for the use of the king. In later times a village ealled Palmer, after the father of the late Sen. Thomas W. Palmer, was located on this land. The name of the village was subsequently changed to St. Clair.
Sinelair was prominent in the affairs of the village as early as 1767 and in that year the citizens presented him with a silver loving-eup, suitably inseribed. He afterward beeame lieutenant-governor of Maekinae, and built Maekinae on the island. On his return to England, after the Revolution, he carried this silver eup with him and it is now in the possession of his great granddaughter, Miss H. H. Sinelair Laing.
HEALTH MEASURES IN EARLY DETROIT
The board of health of Detroit was somewhat inefficient or nearly power- less in 1782, and in order to protect the health of the people in the village, Major De Peyster made them a proposition to clean up the river front, as . follows :
"Gentlemen: As the vaeant spaces of ground lying between each of your lots and the water side is now occupied with all sorts of filth and become a nuisance which should be removed, if you will go to the expense of filling up the whole of them with good earth and render it an even surface, at the same time extending your lot with fenees so as to leave only a passage for earts be- tween them and the water's edge, you shall have such spaces of ground in lieu of the expenses you may be at, but if you do not choose to occupy them on these conditions, let me know and I will give them to others, for I ean no longer suffer them to remain as they now are."
Until the date of this offer, June 1, 1782, the pieket line of the post was in the shallow water a little south of Woodbridge Street, extending from Gris- wold Street to Wayne, or perhaps to Cass Street. The filling in extended the solid bank nearly to Atwater Street. The offer was taken advantage of by the
206
CITY OF DETROIT
adjoining landowners immediately, and constituted one of the charges made by Jehu Hay against De Peyster, a year or two later, when the latter indi- vidual came to Detroit as its governor.
REMOVAL OF RECORDS TO QUEBEC
Williams resigned his office as keeper of the records in July, 1784, and Guillaume Monforton received a conditional and temporary appointment in his place. There is an entry in the public records showing the whereabouts of these records from this date until their return to Detroit in 1790. It is as follows:
"This record was sent down to Quebee by order of the commander-in- chief in the year 1784, where it remained until the year 1790, when it was brought up from thence by William Dummer Powell, Esq., first judge of his majesty's court of common pleas for the district of Hesse, and afterwards deposited in my office in the year 1790, in the month of May, and is now con- tinued. During the interval the records of the district were in the hands of William Monforton, who acted as notary public, to which reference must be had.
"T. SMITH, "C. C. Pleas. District of Hesse. "24th May 1790."
The three volumes which contain these old records were sent by the Can- adian government to Detroit some years ago. When the records were sent down to Quebee in 1784, the people attempted to enter a protest against the act, and governor (John Hay) represented to Haldimand the concern of the people over the sending out of the records, but the protest was in vain. It was at the end of the war. All work on the fortifications was stopped and the sol- diers were getting ready to leave. Everything in the form of government property was taken away or was being prepared for shipment. It was not until some months after this that Haldimand was notified that it was the intention of the British government to retain possession of the western posts.
The fourth volume of these old records is now in Ottawa. The volume contains this statement: "This book belongs to C. F. Labadie and he has the right to it whenever he wants it, wherever he finds it" and "John Stuart of Windsor purchased this book of C. F. Labadie." It further appears that Guil- laume Monforton, the notary and register, carried off the old record and upon his death left it to his son by the same name and that it next came by inherit- ance to a grandson by the same name. In 1858 the third Guillaume Monforton gave the book to Charles F. Labadie. It covers the period from 1786 to 1792 and contains 350 pages. There must be at least one other volume still missing, to carry the record to 1796. The first Guillaume Monforton became distressed in his old age and at one time was in prison for debt.
FORMATION OF DISTRICT OF HESSE
By his proclamation of July 24, 1788, Lord Dorchester added a few more districts to the Province of Quebec. The district of Nassau as then organ- ized was bounded on the west by a north and south line interesecting the ex- treme projection of Long Point in Lake Erie, and the district of Hesse com- prised all of the residue in the province in the western or inland parts thereof, of the entire breadth thereof, from the southern to the northern boundary
207
CITY OF DETROIT
of the same. The uncertainty in fixing this western limit of the district of Hesse was so planned as to include Detroit and the lands lying west of the Great Lakes without mentioning them by name. These western lands formed a part of the new United States and any open assertion of ownership by Great Britain would have irritated the people of the country, and probably have reopened the war just closed.
APPOINTMENT OF ASSESSOR
In 1780 Governor Haldimand directed a commission to be made out for a person to act as Judge of the Court of Common Pleas at Detroit and another commission for some Canadian to act there as an assessor. He appointed Arent Schuyler De Peyster and Thomas Williams justices of the peace. The attorney-general, J. Monk, while wishing to comply with the order of the gov- ernor, did not purpose to do so without investigating the matter. He writes:
"The appointment of some Canadian to act as assessor at Detroit puts me to the difficulty and necessity of requesting you will please to obtain the governor's directions and signify to me what powers this officer is to be vested with by such commission, as it is an office new and undefined by any com- mission heretofore made in this government. Are the powers of the judge of common pleas at Detroit limited to any district, town or tract of any country, and what? It may be proper to express this clearly in his commission to avoid any doubt or difficulty hereafter."
In answer to the above questions the governor replied that at all posts where lieutenant-governors were stationed, provision was made for a judge and as- sistant or assessor. According to the instructions, the latter is to give his advice to the judge in any matter where necessary. but to have no authority or power to attest or issue any process, or to give vote or judgment in any case whatsoever. All that is meant by the general at present is to afford a tem- porary relief in the case of small debts at the settlement of Detroit until the legislature has leisure to take the matter up, when, undoubtedly, the limits of its jurisdiction will be assigned. Of course, appeals in all cases above the value of ten pounds sterling must be allowed.
HAY AN UNPOPULAR GOVERNOR
Two old documents written in Detroit have lately been found and they contain interesting information. The first is from the governor, Jehu Hay, to General Haldimand, dated at Detroit, October 9, 1784. Mr. Hay was not particularly well-liked either by the citizens or by his superior officers. He had been in Detroit many years as a subordinate officer in the army and in the Indian department. He was a follower of Governor Hamilton and had been made a prisoner at the surrender of Post Vincennes to Gen. George Rogers Clark. Coming back to Canada he received the appointment of lieutenant- governor of Detroit, but did not at once return there. Arent Schuyler De Peyster, the military commandant, stated that Hay was a military officer subordinate to himself and he refused to remain in command of the military department if the civil department was turned over to Hay. Hay was there- fore detained at Montreal, Carleton Island and Niagara until a new place was found for De Peyster as commandant at Niagara. Hay was ill and died shortly after returning to Detroit and was buried on the site of Michigan Mutual Life Insurance Company, at Jefferson Avenue and Griswold Street.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.