USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. I > Part 50
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WALTER BUIL &CO
FINNEYS HOTELTHE SEAL SKIX GARMENTS
OLD FINNEY HOTEL, BUILT IN 1853, AT CORNER OF WOODWARD AND GRATIOT AVENUES
KENT'S.
COACHES FICOUPES.
THE OLD FINNEY BARN AT NORTHEAST CORNER STATE AND GRISWOLD, SITE OF THE DETROIT SAVINGS BANK The old barn was a place of refuge for slaves who were escaping to Canada, via the "Underground Railroad."
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the day mentioned, the agent, or one or more friends, would go down to the bank of the Ohio, after dark, a wagon in waiting a mile or two away, and lie perhaps for hours, at the water's edge, listening for the sound of muffled oars, which were always used to propel a skiff across the river. On landing, the fugitive would be put in charge of runners, to take from station to station, either in wagons, on foot, or on horseback. Often the horse's feet would be muffled, by having the shoes removed, and sometimes by wrapping a bit of carpet over each hoof.
But crossing the Ohio River, which was well guarded by a patrol on the Kentucky shore, and by fugitive slave-hunters, on the lookout for a reward, on the northern shore, was a difficult business. To attempt the feat with a skiff was a dangerous experiment, since, if the skiff were captured, all who were in it would be liable to imprisonment, if white; and, if colored, to be sold into slavery. Consequently other means were resorted to, by which the pas- sage was made on the steamboats. Generally the white agent, dressed to represent a southern planter, or a merchant, would get on board the boat at Louisville, or even further down the river, and secure a stateroom. Immediately on purchasing his ticket, he would inquire anxiously of the clerk of the boat if a boy, or a woman, as the case might be, had brought a bundle aboard for him. The clerk would answer no. The agent would anxiously expect such a messenger. Another agent on the bank, catching a signal, would notify the fugitive who would presently board the boat, with a bundle of clothes, bear- ing the card of some well known clothing-house, or with a basket of clean linen, and inquire for "Massa Delmar," or whatever name was given by the agent. The agent would recognize his bundle, and proceed to point out his stateroom. The fugitive, having slyly received the key, would go boldly to the stateroom, and lock himself in. The agent would linger outside, in the cabin, or on deck, play cards, or join in conversation with passengers, and not go to his state- room at all, or until very late at night. When the boat arrived at Cincinnati, or some other good stopping place, a southern passenger, with his servant, would land, or the fugitive would slip off alone. Frequently women were employed to bring away women in this way. Agents rarely or never spoke to each other, and never spoke to the fugitives in their care in the presence of others. If any one should turn traitor, or be discovered and arrested, nobody could suspect the others of ever having known him.
One of the principal "passenger depots" upon the northern end of the under- ground railroad in Detroit was that conducted by Seymour Finney, a native of New York state, who came to Michigan in 1834. Mr. Finney was a tailor by trade and followed this vocation in Detroit until 1838, when ill health forced him to seek other occupations, among them being that of hotel-keeper. It was in this connection that he became of service to the fugitive slaves. In the year 1850 he purchased a site at the corner of Woodward and Gratiot avenues, where later stood the Finney House; he also bought the lot at the corner of Griswold and State streets, where now stands the Detroit Savings Bank build- ing, and here he erected a commodious barn which he operated in connection with his tavern, then known as the Temperance Hotel. Being strongly sympa- thetic with the cause of the escaping slaves, Mr. Finney employed every means to assist those that were sent to him across the river into Canada. His barn served as a hiding-place for the negroes until they could reach the river bank, whence they either swam across or were transported in small boats, invariably Vol. I-31
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at night. Hundreds were taken care of in this way by Mr. Finney and his descendants relate that many of the black men, in their gratitude, assumed his name after reaching Canada. Many times, when his hotel housed the pursuing slave-masters, he was "accommodating" the pursued in the nearby barn.
There were countless variations in the methods of reaching Detroit, every story almost constituting a separate romance. If a fugitive once reached this city he was comparatively safe. There were plenty of sympathizing friends here with sure places of concealment, and secret means of getting across the river. The fugitives who settled in this part of Canada, between 1840 and 1860 were counted by the hundreds.
THE RIOT OF 1863
In 1863 came an anti-negro riot that was not connected with the slavery question. At that time there had arisen a bitter feeling against the negroes in many northern cities. Many democratic papers had been charging that the war was caused by the Abolitionists. They pointed to the negro as the cause of all the sufferings of the nation. They declaimed against the draft that was then approaching and stirred up a feeling against the provost marshal who was then preparing for carrying out that measure. Many of them sympa- thized with the Knights of the Golden Circle and other secret disloyal associa- tions that had correspondents here, and in many ways they inflamed the pas- sions and prejudices of the mob. The city was close to the Canadian refuge of deserters, bounty jumpers and fugitives from the impending draft. Thurs- day, February 26th, a man named William Faulkner, having a trifle of negro blood in his veins, was arrested charged with having outraged the person of a girl named Mary Brown. Though young, she was even then of doubtful reputa- tion and afterwards became a prostitute and common thief. The first day set for the trial the proceedings were prevented by a mob which assaulted Faulkner when on his way from the jail to the court room, and he was barely rescued from their hands and returned to jail. The next day the trial proceeded, and on the testimony of the girl Faulkner was convicted and sentenced to prison for life. Attempts were made by the mob to secure his person for the purpose of lynching, but those were frustrated by a squad of soldiers from the provost marshal's office. The mob then turned against other negro residents. Black men, women and children were savagely attacked, and houses were pillaged and set on fire. In the course of the day and evening thirty-five houses were burned, two persons were killed, four others received pistol wounds, a dozen or more others were maimed or disfigured for life, while many fled to Canada for safety. The local military companies were called out and five companies of the volunteer army were brought from camp at Ypsilanti. By midnight order was restored.
Faulkner always strenuously maintained his innocence and his claim came to be generally accepted, as the girl also confessed that it was a "put up" job. But he remained in prison for seven years, when he was pardoned by Governor Baldwin.
THE JOHN BROWN RAID
The plans for John Brown's raid were matured in this city. He arrived here with fourteen slaves from Missouri in the summer of 1859. It happened that Frederick Douglass was lecturing in this city the same evening that Brown
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arrived. After the lecture the leaders of the insurrectionary movement got together in the house of William Webb, on Congress Street, near St. Antoine Street, and arranged the plan for the raid on the South, which broke out pre- maturely at Harper's Ferry. Leading colored people of Detroit and Chatham were present at the meeting. Douglass objected to Brown's plan, which origin- ally was to make raids on single plantations until he had collected a force of about 1,000 slaves, and then swoop down on the large towns and cities, collecting force and material as he progressed. Brown became angry, and asked Douglass if he was a coward, and referred to his successes in Kansas as an augury of the Vir- ginia campaign. Douglass replied that he was not a coward, and would give material aid to the plan even if he did not approve of it, or did not go himself. George DeBaptist also disapproved of the plan, but proposed a gunpowder plot, by which some of the largest churches in the South would be blown up on a fixed Sunday. Brown objected to that plan on the score of humanity, asserting that by his plan not a hundred lives would be lost, his intention being not to shed blood unless it became absolutely necessary. DeBaptist still urged radical measures, declaring that Brown's plan would fail, and perhaps cause the loss of a million of lives before the troubles likely to ensue would be ended. He cited in support of his position the fact that the Nat. Turner insurrection, in 1831, by which fifty-three white lives were lost, had had the effect of causing the next Virginia Legislature to consider a bill for the gradual emancipation of the slaves, which bill was lost by only two votes.
Ossawatomie's counsel finally prevailed, and the only favor, besides money and advice, that he asked of his Detroit friends, was to furnish him one man, which they did-a Chathamite. The news of the disturbance at Harper's Ferry, which took the nation with so much surprise, was perfectly well under- stood by the colored people of this city. They anticipated the event, since one Foster had divulged in Washington the plans of Brown, who, in consequence, was obliged either to abandon his enterprise or precipitate matters. He chose the latter alternative, though aware that he was taking a desperate chance.
AN ENFRANCHISEMENT CELEBRATION
Thursday, February 7, 1870, was a memorable day for the colored people in Detroit, for on that day the full citizenship that the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution brought them was commemorated. The celebration called out most of the colored people in the city, and many from Windsor and Sandwich, with a host of sympathizing white friends. The national flag was displayed on the post office and many private buildings. In the procession with which the celebration opened were a squad of the metropolitan police, the full band of the Twenty-eighth United States Infantry, one hundred and fifty members of the Union League, the Youths Mental Improvement Company, colored members of the Masonic fraternity, officers and speakers of the day, the Light Guard Band, a chariot carrying twenty-nine girls representing the twenty-nine states that ratified the amendment, and hundreds of citizens on foot. On the banners that were carried in the procession were portraits of William Lloyd Garrison, Charles Sumner, Thaddeus Stevens, President Grant, President Lincoln, Senator Revels and John Brown. There were many appropriate inscriptions, and George De Baptist displayed on his place of business a "Notice to all stockholders of the Underground Railroad, This office is closed. Hereafter all stockholders will receive dividends according to their merits."
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At the opera house where the exercises were held the veteran William Lam- bert presided, and Governor Baldwin made the opening address. Letters were read from William Lloyd Garrison, Sen. Carl Schurz, Sen. Jacob M. Howard who framed the fifteenth amendment, Frederick Douglass and others. A poem was read by J. Madison Bell, of Toledo, "the colored poet of America." The orator of the day was John D. Richards, an associate of DeBaptist and Lambert in the earlier struggles of the race, and one of the best known and most talented colored men in the West. Other speakers were William A. Howard and William Jennison.
The exercises were continued in the evening at Merrill Hall, where the first address was by Lewis Clark of Canada, the "George Harris" of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," and congratulatory speeches were made by about a dozen others, both white and colored. The celebration, taking it all together, was one of the most notable and most interesting ever held in the city, and the colored people of Detroit thus entered upon their new duties and privileges with high hope and keen anticipation.
PART III INDUSTRIAL
CHAPTER XXI
AGRICULTURAL PROGRESS
FIRST FARMING IN WAYNE COUNTY-GAME AND WILD FRUITS-PRIMITIVE METHODS-CADILLAC'S LAND GRANTS-IMMIGRATION ENCOURAGED-UNDER THE BRITISH-FAMINES-UNITED STATES SURVEYS-FIRST AUCTION SALE OF PUBLIC LANDS-RECLAIMING THE SWAMPS-FRUIT GROWING-PEAR TREES - AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES AND FAIRS-FARMERS' INSTITUTES-SEED FARMS AND SEED DISTRIBUTION.
The first farming in Wayne County was done by the men who came with Cadillac in the late summer of 1701. The first wheat was sown on the 7th of October of that year. As a large number of the Frenchmen who came at that time were soldiers, and as the fur trade was the principal reason for the estab- lishment of the Detroit post, little attention was paid to agriculture during the early years of the settlement. Game was plentiful, hence the French pioneers had little need of domestic animals for food. Elk, moose, deer, bear, and smaller animals such as squirrels and rabbits abounded and any desired quantity of meat could soon be obtained by a skillful hunter. The lakes and the Detroit River contained an inexhaustible supply of fish, while waterfowl of all kinds were so tame that they could be killed without difficulty. In a letter to one of the Paris officials, dated October 8, 1701, Cadillac said:
"The gabbling goose, the duck, the widgeon and the bustard are so abun- dant that to give an idea of their numbers I must use the expression of a savage whom I asked before arriving if there was much game. 'So much,' said he, 'that they draw up in lines to let the canoes pass through.'"'
Wild fruits, too, especially grapes, plums and various kinds of berries, grew in profusion. From the Indians were learned the arts of cultivating Indian corn and making maple sugar, and swarms of wild bees stored their honey in the hollow branches of the trees. In a country where Nature had done so much to provide for the wants of man, it is not surprising that agricultural progress was slow for some years after the founding of the colony. The first farms were small and poorly tilled, chiefly because there was no incentive to greater effort, the only market for the surplus product of the farms being that afforded by the soldiers of the garrison, the few tradesmen and their families.
CADILLAC'S GRANTS
When Antoine de LaMothe Cadillac received his commission to establish a post on the Detroit River, he was granted a tract of land "fifteen arpents square." As the French arpent and the United States acre are nearly the same, Cadillac's grant contained about two hundred and twenty-five acres. In 1803 the United States Government instructed Mr. Jouett, the Indian agent
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at Detroit, "to inquire into and report the situation of the titles and occupa- tion of the lands private and public." His report states: "Of the 225 acres granted to Cadillac in 1701, only four acres were occupied by the town and Fort Lernoult; the remainder, except twenty-four acres added to William Macomb's farm, is a common."
While it may be that the direct grant to Cadillac consisted only of the small tract fifteen arpents square, copies of documents on file in the archives at Quebec show that he claimed all the land on both sides of the Detroit River from Lake Erie to Lake St. Clair (some writers say to Lake Huron). His reasons for this claim were: That he had been at heavy expense in planting the permanent post at Detroit; that the establishment of the fort there would prevent the English from gaining control of the trade with the western Indians; that the treaty of peace negotiated by him with the Iroquoian tribes would result in great benefits to New France; that he had settled friendly Indians at points along the river to assist him in maintaining the French supremacy over the territory; and that for all these services he was entitled to the land as a reward.
Whether or not the title to these lands was every fully vested in Cadillac is an open question, but there is no doubt that, under the instructions given him by Count Pontchartrain on June 14, 1704, and the royal edicts of June, 1706, he was granted authority to dispose of the lands along the river for the general good of the colony. So far as can be learned, the first grants made by Cadillac were made in the spring of 1707. According to the records of Ste. Anne's Church for July 29, 1708, "Francois Clarembault, Sieur d'Aigremont, Navy Commissary in Canada, subdelegate of the Surveyor and King's Deputy for surveying the Military Posts," was then in Detroit. In his official report Aigremont says that he caused the lands at Fort Pontchartrain (Detroit) to be measured and found 350 arpents improved, of which LaMothe had 157 arpents and the French inhabitants forty-six arpents. . He does not account for the
other 147 arpents in his report. IIe states, however, that sixty-three of the inhabitants owned lots inside the stockade and twenty-nine had farms outside.
Clarence M. Burton, in his "Detroit Under Cadillac", states that he had found the names of thirty-one of Cadillac's grantces. These names, in the order in which the grants were made, are as follows:
1. Pierre Mallet 17. Francois Margue
2. Francois Fafard de Lorme 18. Jacques L'Anglois
3. Baptiste Gorion
19. Paul L'Anglois
4. Jacob de Marsac 20. Antoine Texier
5. André Bombardie
21. Francois Jardis
6. Pierre Hemard
22. Pierre Chantelon
7. Bonnaventure Compien 23. Jean Richard
8. Jerome Marliard 24. A man named Laloire
9. Pierre Esteve
25. Pierre Leger
10. Estienne Bontron
26. A man named Lefleur
11. Antoine Dupuis
27. Michel Campos (Campo)
12. Joseph Parent
28. Jean Durant
13. Michel Dizier (Disier)
29 Blaise Surgere
14. Francois Bosserou
30. Francois Massé
15. Jacob de Marsac
16. Antoine Dupuis
31. Damoisell de la Mothe
The last named was a daughter of Cadillac. Her grant extended three
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leagues down the Detroit River from the mouth of the Ecorse, was five leagues deep and included Grosse Ile. (In addition to this list of land grants for farms, there is the list of grants within the village and in the "gardens," given in Chapter VI of this work. A full description of all the grants is published in Volume 33, pp. 373-82, Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society Collections.) Mr. Burton states further :
"The farm lands, so far as we can now know, were nearly all granted up stream from the fort. One grant, the only one of which we had positive knowledge, up to the discovery of the transfers I have recently unearthed, was to de Lorme. This farm is still called the de Lorme farm, from its original proprietor, and is situate in the Township of Grosse Pointe, a short distance east of the present water-works. * *
"Every farm had a narrow frontage on the river. Only a few acres were cultivated, but a log house was built and an orchard planted. There was a road along the front as close to the river as possible. During the wet seasons of the year this road was impassable and the neighbors communicated by boats on the river; for every family had a canoe. The people had cattle, sheep and horses. The latter were originally brought from France. There is no evidence that the Indians, in this part of the country, had any ponies before the coming of the Europeans. Mention is made of one horse, Colon, which Cadillac had in the village at the time of his command, as the only equine in the country.
"The farms were all very narrow and each fronted on the river. There was a two-fold reason for this way of dividing the country. Every farm had its own water right and the dryest season never prevented a supply of water for necessary purposes. The farms were so narrow, and the houses on them so near to each other, that in case of danger, each house could signal to the next one without much delay or trouble. * * * The lands in the country in the rear of these river farms were never granted, either by the French or British governments. The first grant of any considerable size was that made by the United States to Michigan Territory in 1806 of the ten thousand acre tract, now partly in the City of Detroit."
The list of those who had contracts for gardens around the fort follows: M. D'Argenteuil, Pierre Mallett, Jacob De Marsac, Jacques L'Anglois, Louis Normand, Pierre Estevé, Jerome Marliar, Michel Disier, Estienne Bontron, Bonnaventure Compien, Chantelon, Pierre Porrier and Pierre Leger. All of these claims were of one half arpent, except that of D'Argenteuil, which was of one arpent.
Although the terms on which the first land grants were made were so onerous as to discourage intelligent efforts at farming, when the grantees were assured of their tenure of possession, agricultural conditions were greatly improved. After 1707 there was usually a good crop of wheat every year, and it is said that 2,400 bushels were exported in 1714. Besides wheat, Indian corn and a variety of vegetables were cultivated, enough produce being raised to supply the needs of the garrison and the villagers. There are but few recorded instances of food scarcity between the year 1710 and the surrender of Detroit to the English in 1760. In 1747, when the rivalry between the French and English for control of the fur trade became so intense that war was imminent, a large number of Indians collected at Detroit and they were supplied with food in order to hold their allegiance. This caused a shortage so serious that Le Moine, the commandant, appealed to the authorities at Montreal for aid. On Septem-
.
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ber 22, 1747, Captain Celoron arrived with several bateaux loaded with pro- visions and about one hundred and fifty men, among whom were a number of traders and their servants.
Two years later Comte de la Gallissoniere, governor-general of New France, decided to encourage immigration to Detroit and on May 24, 1749, issued the following proclamation:
"Every man who will go to settle in Detroit shall receive gratuitously, one spade, one axe, one ploughshare, one large and one small wagon. We will make an advance of other tools to be paid for in two years only. He will be given a cow, of which he shall return the increase, also a sow. Seed will be advanced the first year, to be returned at the third harvest. The women and children will be supported one year. Those will be deprived of the liberality of the King, who shall give themselves up to trade in place of agriculture."
Under this liberal offer more than one hundred men came to Detroit during the next two years, several of them bringing their families. A census taken in 1750 showed a resident population of 483, who owned 160 horses, 682 cattle and a large number of domestic fowls. More immigrants came in 1751 and 1752, but in the latter year the crops were almost an utter failure and immigration practically ceased. Prosperity evidently returned to the colonists, for Bougain- ville, who visited Detroit in 1757, wrote:
"There are two hundred habitations abundantly supplied with cattle, grains and flour. The farmers can raise as many cattle as they want, as there is abun- . dant pasture. They gather, in ordinary years, 2,500 measures of wheat and much oats and corn. * * It would be well for the authorities to encourage the inhabitants of Detroit in the cultivation of their land and afford them facili- ties for selling their produce. It would be a great advantage to procure from them all the provisions needed in the garrisons of the forts Presque Ile, Mar- chand, Riviere-de-Boeuf and Duquesne, as the expenses of transportation from Montreal are excessively high, and there is such great difficulty in getting the provisions that the garrisons are often in danger of being in need."
UNDER THE BRITISH
After the surrender of Detroit to the English in 1760, agriculture languished. This was due to several reasons. In the first place there were the unsettled conditions which naturally came with a change of government. Then, about the time the English authority was firmly established, came the Pontiac War. A few years later the industries of the community were greatly disarranged by the English policy of banishing those suspected of entertaining disloyal senti- ments. The farms were all owned by Canadians, many of whom fell under the ban of suspicion. Some writers have asserted that the French farmers were slothful and negligent. Perhaps this is true, but it should be remembered that there was no inducement for them to be more industrious and frugal. If they raised a large crop the surplus had to be sold in a restricted market at unremunera- tive prices; and if any one dared to utter a sentence unfavorable to the British he was liable to be arrested and sent into exile. The fur trade was the only business that brought an income from abroad. Within a very few years this trade was monopolized by the English. The farmers then began to raise merely enough to supply themselves and families, spending much of their time in hunt- ing and fishing.
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