USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The history of Detroit and Michigan; or, The metropolis illustrated; a chronological cyclopedia of the past and present, Vol I > Part 86
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The Detroit Firemen's Fund Association was incorporated on April 17, 1867; its objects are
520
THE FIRE DEPARTMENT SOCIETY.
to afford relief to sick and disabled firemen who are connected with the Fire Department, and to re- lieve the widows and children of deceased mem- bers.
Any member incapacitated from attending to his work is entitled to five dollars per week, for such time as a committee deem proper; and by a two- thirds vote of the trus- tees, a larger sum, not exceeding twelve dol- lars per week, may be granted. In case of death, a sum of not over one hundred dollars may be appro- priated for funeral ex- penses. Widows and children are relieved by such monthly pay- ments, and for such length of time, as the trustees may agree upon.
The initiation fee of active members is five dollars, with annual dues of four dollars, payable quarterly. Honorary members pay five dollars a year, but have no privileges. The annual meeting is on the first Monday of April. Twenty trustees are elected on the last Saturday in March be- fore the annual meet- ing, each fire company being entitled to one trustee.
All active members of the Fire Depart- ment are members, and there are besides a large number of honorary members.
Further provision was made for the welfare of the firemen by Act of June 16, 1885, which pro- vided that all members of the Fire Department who have been employed for the period of twenty-four years, dating from October 24, 1860, may, by vote of the commission, be placed on the list of retired firemen, and all such persons shall be paid thereafter, during their lifetime, a sum equal to one-half of the salary paid them at the time of retirement, provided the amount to be paid to those retired does not ex- ceed $450 per year ; and, in case of the death of any
fireman while in the discharge of his duty his widow is to be paid the sum of $300 per year, or if he leave no widow, but living children, the sum of $300 is to be paid the children until they are 16 years of age.
THE FIRE DEPARTMENT SOCIETY.
The public interest felt in the Fire Department, and the facilities which old Firemen's Hall af- forded for meetings, led to the organization of this society. A consti- tution was drawn up by James A. Van Dyke, and adopted in Janu- ary, 1840. The first election was held Janu- ary 20, when the fol- lowing officers were chosen: Robert E. Roberts, president; Frederick Buhl, vice- president : Edmund R. Kearsley, secretary ; Darius Lamson, treas- urer ; Elijah Goodell, collector. The Board of Trustees was com- posed of the officers of the society, the chief engineer, and delegates elected from each com- pany.
ENGINE HOUSE, SIXTEENTH, HEAD OF BAGG STREET.
The object of the or- ganization was to har- monize the interests of the firemen, and to pro- vide for the relief of dis- abled and indigent fire- men and their families.
On February 14. 1840, the society was incorporated under the name of the Fire De- partment of the City of Detroit. Membership certificates were fixed at two dollars each ; other funds were received from entertainments of various kinds, and from donations of citizens whose prop- erty was saved from loss.
The society became increasingly popular and the funds grew quite rapidly, and in September, 1848, there was $6,000 in the treasury, and after many meetings and much consideration of the question, it was decided to build a large Firemen's Hall. The lot on the southwest corner of Jefferson Avenue and Randolph Street, from which the old Council
THE FIRE DEPARTMENT SOCIETY.
521
House had a few months before been swept by the fire, was purchased, and on January 15, 1849, J. A. Van Dyke, H. H. LeRoy, and Hugh Moffat were appointed as a building committee. Comparatively little was done until a year later ; then, on January 26, 1850, it was resolved to solicit loans of money in sums of fifty dollars and upward, and gifts of building material, or goods of any kind that could be turned to account in erecting the struc- ture. From this time the work went forward; on July 4, 1850, the corner-stone was laid, and the occasion celebrated by a parade of all the fire companies, the reading of the Declaration of In-
Mr. Van Dyke retired from the presidency; the department tendered him its thanks for his untir- ing zeal and successful efforts in its behalf, and resolved, as a token of high esteem and affection- ate regard, to procure his portrait to adorn the walls he had spent so much time to raise. The portrait, a very striking one, was painted by Hicks of New York, and cost, with its elegant frame, nearly $700.
After the completion of the Hall the department inaugurated a course of lectures, the first of which was given on January 7, 1853, by J. A. Van Dyke ; his subject was "The Fire Department of Detroit,-
A STEAM FIRE ENGINE.
dependence, an original ode by W. H. Coyle, and an oration by U. Tracy Howe.
On February 14, 1851, the department gave a supper and concert in aid of the enterprise, which were very successful, and on October 23, 1851, the Hall was opened with a concert by Theresa Parodi. She subsequently addressed a letter to the president of the department, in which she complimented the Hall by saying, "I think it one of the very best that I have ever sung in." The formal dedication, by a grand ball, took place on Thursday evening, December 4.
The lot cost $9,000 and the building $18,000. The Hall is fifty-six by seventy-five feet and twenty- six feet high. It was originally seated with arm- chairs, and was for many years the best public hall in the city. On the completion of the Hall,
Past, Present, and Future." One month later U. Tracy Howe delivered an address on "The Fine Arts." During 1854 a donation of $100 was received from James Stevens, and on January 15, 1855, the department adopted the following :
Resolved, that this Fire Department appropriate the $100 received from Mr. James Stevens towards the purchase of a lot in Elmwood Cemetery, to be used for the interment of deceased firemen.
During 1876 the society erected an elegant Fire- men's Monument on the lot. It cost $5,083.
In 1858 the walls of the Hall were raised and the front and roof re-constructed at a cost of $6,000. The Hall was re-opened on July 8 with a concert by Miss Caroline Richings. On August 21, 1858, the department opened a library and reading room.
34
522
THE FIRE DEPARTMENT SOCIETY.
The wealth of the corporation continued to increase, and on January 25, 1859, an Act of the Legislature gave it power to hold $60,000 worth of property, and exempted it from taxation.
The disbanding of the companies, caused by the introduction of steam engines, made it impracticable to elect trustees from the several companies, and, by Act of March 15, 1861, it was therefore provided that, on approval of the society, twelve trustees should be elected by ballot at the annual meeting on the third Monday of January, six to be chosen for one, and six for two years, and six annually thereafter. These trustees, with the president, vice-
28, 1870, but no practical results grew out of the action.
Meanwhile, many members neglected the pay- ment of their dues; the officers held that they had thus forfeited their rights as members ; and on May 21, 1877, the Legislature provided that every mem- ber who had failed for three years or more previous to January 1, 1878, to pay his dues should cease to be a member ; and that members failing for three years after that date to pay their dues should forfeit their membership; the Act also provided that new members, selected by the trustees, might be admitted by a two-thirds vote of the society at any lawful
FIREMEN'S HALL, S. W. CORNER OF JEFFERSON AVENUE AND RANDOLPH STREET.
president, and secretary, were to manage the affairs of the society. On November 30, 1861, the society voted in favor of this method, and provision was made for reducing the dues to fifty cents per year. Notwithstanding this reduction, the membership constantly decreased, and as there was little occa- sion to apply its funds to the use originally in- tended, the Legislature, on April 3, 1869, author- ized the society to maintain "an Institution or Institutions for moral and intellectual improve- ment and the relief and instruction of such home- less and destitute persons of the city of Detroit as the Board of Trustees may select." The society accepted the provisions of the Act on September
meeting. By an Act approved April 21, 1883, it was provided that property to the amount of $120,- 000 should be exempted from taxation, and each member was authorized to appoint some one to suc- ceed him on his demise; and in case any member neglected to appoint his successor, the trustees were authorized, on the death of a member, to name a successor, who should have and exercise all the rights of the original member.
In 1883 there were about one hundred and thirty members, and the property of the corporation amounted to nearly $100,000, about one half being in cash or its equivalent.
There being no longer any special need for the
523
THE FIRE DEPARTMENT SOCIETY.
continuance of the organization, the society, on April 16, 1886, decided to divide up and apportion its assets and wind up its career. Accordingly, $500 each was given to St Mary's, St. Luke's and Harper Hospitals, to establish in perpetuity a free bed for members of the society, or the widows of members, and when there are none of these left, then the members of the present Fire Department are to become entitled to the benefits. The society then gave to each of its 116 members the sum of $500 in cash, and deposited a reserve fund of about $20,000 in the custody of C. H. Wetmore, Luke Crossley and Joseph Hudson as trustees, said amount to be applied to the benefit of needy mem- bers of the organization and their friends. The several valuable paintings belonging to the society were presented to the Public Library. The build- ing of the society was sold to the Board of Water Commissioners for $40,000.
The presidents of the society have been : 1840, Robert E. Roberts; 1841-1843, John Owen ; 1843,
Chauncy Hurlbut ; 1844-1847, David Smart; 1847- 1852, James A. Van Dyke; 1852-1855, Eben N. Willcox , 1855- 1857, John Patton ; 1857, Robert T. Elliott ; 1858, Robert E. Roberts; 1859-1861, John D. Fairbanks ; 1861, Benjamin Vernor ; 1862, H. H. Wells; 1863, H. W. Newberry ; 1864-1866, L. H. Cobb; 1866-1868, S. G. Wight ; 1868-1870, T. H. Hinchman ; 1870-1872, Robert McMillan; 1872- 1874, Jerome Croul; 1874-1876, W. S. Penfield ; 1876-1878, J. S. Vernor ; 1878, T. H. Hinchman ; 1879, William Adair; 1880-1882, Alexander Cop- land ; 1882-1884, R. S. Dillon; 1884, John Camp- bell ; 1885-1888, Joseph Hudson.
The secretaries have been : 1840, E. R. Kearsley ; 1841, W. B. Wesson ; 1842-1846, H. M. Roby, 1846-1848, B. D. Hyde ; 1848, P. C. Higgins ; 1849- 1851, R. W. King; 1851-1854, R. E. Roberts ; 1854-1857, C. S. Cole ; 1857-1859, B. Vernor ; 1859- 1861, G. W. Osborn; 1861, H. Starkey; 1862-1877, George W. Osborn; 1877-1879, G. C. Codd ; 1879- 1886, Mark Flanigan ; 1886-1888, D. R. Peirce.
PART VIII. RELIGIOUS.
CHAPTER LVI.
ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARIES AND PRIESTS .- CHURCHES .- BISHOPS AND DIOCESES. - THE CATHOLIC UNION.
MISSIONARIES AND PRIESTS.
THE first settlements in the West differed from nearly all the eastern colonies, in that the settlers were not Puritans, but members of the Roman Catholic Church. Long before the first posts were established, the Jesuit and Sulpitian missionaries, with unsurpassed devotion to their faith, and with skill and courage that no difficulties could over- come, traversed the entire West, exploring, study- ing, and planning for the future of their Church. One after another they visited the region of the lakes, and the Indian soon learned to respect the "black gowns," and in form, if not in fact, to adore the Crucified. Of the earlier visitors to Michigan Fathers Raymbault and Jogues came in 1641; Dablon, in 1655; Menard, in 1660; Allouez, in 1666; Marquette, in 1668; and in the spring of 1670 the Sulpitian Galinee was at Detroit with La Salle.
A bishop and nuns from the highest ranks, rep- resenting the best blood of France, followed in the footsteps of these priestly explorers. Father Hennepin came in 1679. Twenty years later the settlement was determined upon, and in 1701 the cross was set up on the shores of the Detroit. It was well that the old faith was represented by the ancient Gallic Church: independent but faith- ful, zealous but liberal, the impress of her spirit remains to this day.
St. Anne's Church.
One of the first acts of Cadillac was to provide a place of worship. He arrived on July 24, which was St. Anne's Day, and two days later he laid the foundations for a chapel. Father François Valliant, a Jesuit, and Father Nicholas Constantine del Halle, a Franciscan, both aided in the pious work.
Cadillac's letters and various other old manu- scripts make it evident that he preferred the Fran- ciscans, who were usually in charge of the posts. The directors of the colony, however, chose to estab- lish a Jesuit missionary, and agreed to allow 800 francs yearly, necessary food and clothing, and free transportation for those who were sent to the settle-
ment. The personal preferences of Cadillac did not trouble the colonists, and ere the settlement was a month old the little log church just outside the stockade was completed, the rude cross pointed to the sky, and thereafter the bell was daily rung and daily prayers were said; and when harvest time had passed, the priest's granary was full.
Father Valliant and Cadillac did not agree, and early in the fall of 1701 Valliant left the settlement. The presence of a Franciscan priest was dis- tasteful to the Jesuits, and, hoping that the settle- ment would prove a failure and that the Indians would return to Mackinaw, they evaded the king's orders directing them to establish themselves at Detroit, and for several years after Valliant left there were no Jesuits at Detroit.
In 1703 some Indians, who had become disaf- fected, set fire to a barn, and as a result the church and the home of the priest were burned, together with other buildings. A new church was immedi- ately erected, in which, as will appear, Father del Halle was buried.
With the year 1704, so far as is now known, the records of the church began; and, excepting those of the Roman Catholic churches of St. Ignace and Kaskaskia, which date back to 1695 and 1696, there are no manuscript records in the West so ancient and so interesting as those contained in the thin quarto volumes now in possession of the parish priest of St. Anne's. The records are complete from the beginning, and the faded and yellow pages tell the history of events that thrilled the hearts of the colonists of Detroit for generations before the war of the Revolution. Their authenticity is at- tested by the signatures (as witnesses at weddings and burials) of Cadillac, De la Forest, De Noyelle, Tonty, Bellestre, Dubuisson, Boishebert, and other noted military characters. The record of births, deaths, and marriages, from 1704 to 1744, is con- tained in a small book of three hundred and thirty- four pages. The following translation of one of the pages gives evidence of a care which has pre- served them to the present time :
The undersigned Recollect Priest, exercising vicarial functions at Fort Pontchartrain of Detroit, declares that the present book
L5271
Cremedo mas quese confrantin Del hala fresa c rance therefex fu Reculet et animamer an fort de point haver. Marie Molte cadillac certifi danou confère le saint Baloney ou Mame Atenção. fille tequeme de Monvara Delacarte antenne canilhac commandant posso la Roy an Jis fort at De allasame Name Theree Gron fel perif et mere a our pour parais ur Beafriend etarnauto es paris Marine Alle Genneviene le Renover enfor Dequay nous avons signes le 2 me fefurter DE L'an 1704
frese confturim Delhalle Diach @ Arnautzz genemine letendre.
Razemne
De marquer f. 27 Launch 1704 & qui Patisce au fors de montes the way artrin In detroit marguerite fille legitime & presse Boy et De Marguerite owabankikowescheut Avier parain henry belille . It fa pour manne Isabelle coup en foy de quay nous avons signes le cour et lan comme Jefes O comprantes Delhalle Recolhaum
La marine declare na presumoco Signer
FIRST PAGE OF ST. ANNE'S RECORDS. [528]
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MISSIONARIES AND PRIESTS.
contains thirteen sheets of paper, being the veritable first Book or Registry of Baptisms and Interments at Fort Pontchartrain, and that it has been prepared and arranged by the venerable Père Dominique de la Marche, formerly Professor of Theology and Recollect Priest, my predecessor at this said mission of Fort Pont- chartrain; and for the purpose of giving to this Registry all necessary force and value, I have requested Monsieur Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, Commandant for the King at said Fort, to honor it with his signature. Done at said place the 15th of Janu- ary, 1709.
FRÈRE CHERUBIM DENEAU, Recollect Miss. Priest.
We, Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, Lord of the places of Doua- guet and Mont Desert, Commander for the King at Fort Pont- chartrain, certify that the present book contains thirteen sheets, being the First Registry of Baptisms and interments ; in faith of which we have signed.
Done at said Fort, January 16th, 1709.
LA MOTHE CADILLAC.
A reduced fac-simile is given of the first page of the record; 1 the size of the original is seven by eight and three quarters inches.
The second entry tells of the baptism of the child of a soldier and an Indian woman.
From 1704 to 1709 three or four other books of registry were formally opened by the priests in charge, and a special registry is preserved, in which baptisms of savages, principally of the Huron tribe, are noted.
Between April 24 and August 16, 1706, during an attack on the fort by the Indians, while walking in his garden outside of the stockade, Father del Halle was seized ; he was soon released, but as he turned to enter the fort he was shot and instantly killed by one of the Indians; the place of his burial was the chapel in which he had officiated. In after years, when newer and larger churches were erected in different localities, the remains of del Halle were four times removed, the first time in 1709. Two of the removals are described in the following transla- tions from the records :
In the year of our Lord 1723, May 13th, at the request of Rev. Father Bonaventure Leonard, Franciscan Missionary for the post of Detroit on Lake Erie, we the undersigned declare having been on the ground where was formerly the church in which had been buried the late Rev. Father Constantine del Halle, Franciscan, fulfilling the functions of a missionary for the said post ; and, according to the indication given us, we recognized the exact spot where his remains would be found. The Rev. Father Bonaven-
1 Translated, the entry reads :
I, brother Constantine del Halle, missionary, Recollect Priest, and Chaplain at Fort Pontchartrain, certify that I have conferred holy baptism on Marie Thérèse, legitimate daughter of Monsieur Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, commandant for the King, and of Madame Marie Therese Guion, the Father and Mother. There was for Godfather, Bertrand Arnauld, and for Godmother, Md'lle Genevieve le Tendre. In faith of which we have signed, this 2d of February, 1704.
FRÈRE CONSTANTINE DEL HALLE, Recollect.
ARNAUD.
GENEVIEVE LE TENDRE.
ture paid two men to make researches in the said ground. The same day these men found the coffin of the late Rev. Father, who was recognized by the marks every one has seen ; that is, a small cap, many pieces of cloth of his cloak, very distinct marks on his body of a string and of haircloth. After that examination the Rev. Father Bonaventure ordered the body to be taken into the church.
In testimony whereof we assure whomsoever it may concern of the truth of our present attestation. Made at the Post of Detroit on Lake Erie, May 13th, 1723.
(Signed) H. CAMPAU. PIERRE HUBERT LACROIX
CHS. CHESNE. BONAVENTURE.
In the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and fifty- five, the thirteenth day of July, we, priest, Franciscan, and chap- lain at the Fort of Detroit, in the name of His Majesty, the King Louis, and fulfilling in the said place the holy functions of priest, rector in St. Anne's parish, according to the resolution taken December 24th of the preceding year (1754) have transferred from the old church into the new one, first, the remains of the vener- able Father Constantine del Halle, heretofore Franciscan Mis- sionary, who had been killed by the Indians in 1706, in the per- formance of his holy duties.
In the year 1723 these remains had been already transferred into the said old church, and buried under the steps of the altar by our predecessor, Rev. Father Bonaventure Leonard.
We have deposited them, pro tempore, under the steps of the altar in the new church, until the lengthening and other improve- ments may be made ; then we will give him a last sepulture con- formable to his dignity and to the miracles performed through his intercession ; these miracles are related by many persons worthy to be trusted.
Finally, we have transferred also to the new church all the other bodies and bones found in the old one, and we have said a Requiem Mass for the rest of their souls.
(Signed)
SIMPLE BOCQUET, Priest, Franciscan Missionary.
Immediately after the death of Del Halle, Cadillac induced two Franciscans to take charge of the little flock, one of whom remained three years.
In 1708 it was decided to build a new church, and in the following year it was erected, proof of which is found in papers deposited with the Department of Marine in Paris.
In 1712, at the time of the attack of the Outa- gamies, the commandant burned the church lest it should afford a place of refuge to the Indians. About this time, on account of the discouraging condition of affairs, many of the inhabitants left the settlement, and consequently there were several unoccupied houses, one of which was used for church purposes.
On June 6, 1721, Pierre Francis Xavier de Charle- voix, a Jesuit missionary, arrived on a visit to the colony, and remained nearly two weeks. Two years later, on May 13, 1723, Father Bonaventure arrived, and within a year he began the erection of a church, which was duly completed and was the first to receive the name St. Anne's. It was situated near the stockade, and was probably the first church located inside the pickets. Both the church and the cemetery then occupied a portion of the property now lying between Griswold and Shelby Streets, on the north side of Jefferson Avenue.
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MISSIONARIES AND PRIESTS.
Concerning priestly life and labor at this time, Father Emanuel Crespel, who visited the settlement in 1729, says:
In the spring I made a journey to Detroit on the invitation of a brother of our order, who was there on a mission. In seventeen days I reached Detroit, and was received by the priest I went to visit with a warmth which showed the extreme pleasure we ex- perience in meeting one of our countrymen in a distant region ; besides, we are brethren of the same order, and quitted our coun- try for the same motive.
I was therefore welcome to him on many accounts ; nor did he omit any opportunity of convincing me how pleased he was with my visit. He was older than I, and had been very successful in his apostolic labors. His house was agreeable and convenient ; it was, as I may say, his own work, and the habitation of virtue. His time which was not employed in the duties of his office was divided between study and the occupations of the field. He had a few books, the choice of which afforded a good idea of the purity of his morals and the extent of his knowledge. With the language of the country he was familiar : and the facility with which he spoke it made him very acceptable to many of the Indians, who communicated to him their reflections on all sub- jects, particularly religion. Affability attracts confidence, and no one was more deserving of the latter than this good man. He had taught some of the inhabitants the French language ; and among them I found many whose good sense and sound judg- ment would have made them conspicuous even in France, had their minds been cultivated by study. Every day I remained with this man I found new motives to envy his situation. In a word, he was happy, and had no cause to blush at the means by which he became so.
In 1733 Father de la Richardie founded the Huron mission at Sandwich. He afterwards went to Mon- treal, and was succeeded by Father Peter Potier, who as early as 1742 was in charge of a mission among the Hurons on Bois Blanc Island. In June, 1747, the Hurons fell out with the French, and Potier returned to Detroit. In 1748 friend- ship was restored, and Fathers Potier and De la Richardie built a church and established a mission among the Hurons at Sandwich. For several years prior to 1761 Father J. B. Sallenauve was in charge of the Sandwich mission, and then Father Potier, who in the interim had been in Detroit, was again at Sandwich.
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