The history of Detroit and Michigan; or, The metropolis illustrated; a chronological cyclopedia of the past and present, Vol I, Part 87

Author: Farmer, Silas, 1839-1902
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Detroit, S. Farmer & co
Number of Pages: 1096

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 87

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Concerning Father Potier, the Pontiac manu- script says, "The French, who knew and respected the Jesuit Father as a worthy ecclesiastic, considered him as a saint upon earth." He spent much of his time in Detroit, where he died July 16, 1781. His death was occasioned by a fall which fractured his skull.

In 1754 Father de la Richardie was again in charge of the Huron mission, which was still at Bois Blanc Island.

With the year 1749 immigration took a new start, and so great was the increase of the inhabitants in Detroit that a larger church became a neces- sity ; and in 1754 Father Bocquet, who then had charge of the parish, determined that one should be erected. Accordingly, either on the old site, or in

its immediate vicinity, just west of the present Gris- wold Street, and covering a part of Jefferson Avenue, the church was erected. In March of the following year it was consecrated by the Right Rev. Henri Dubreuil de Pontbriand, Bishop of Quebec. He was here the 16th of March, and spent several weeks in the vicinity.

It will be borne in mind that, at this period, in addition to the inhabitants inside the stockade, there was a large number of settlers on both sides of the river and on either side of the fort. It was not always safe or convenient for them to attend ser- vices at the fort, and therefore as early as 1763, and probably soon after the capitulation of 1760, Jacques Campau, in pursuance of a religious vow, built a small church, about twenty by thirty feet in size, on his farm, now known as the James Campau Farm, or east half of Private Claim 91. The building stood near the river, and was known in more recent times as the Red Chapel. On May 13, 1787, Father Frechette, for the first time, said mass in it, and the odor of incense mingled with the smell of apple- blossoms from the surrounding orchards. The building was burned in August or September, 1843. It was doubtless at this church that these services alluded to in the Pontiac manuscript took place :

On Sunday, Ist of May, about three in the afternoon (the French then returning from vespers), Pontiac, with forty chosen men, appeared at the gate.

On the Moon day, the 9th of May, the first day of Rogations, according to custom, the curate and all the clergy made a pro- cession out of the Fort very peaceably. The mass was celebrated in the same manner.

With regard to the feelings of the Indians towards Pothier, the manuscript says :

Father Potier, a Jesuit missionary of the Hurons, who in the quality and by the power he had over them, had brought part of them, particularly the good band, within the bounds of tranquil- lity, by refusing them the sacrament.

We find also in the same document the following interesting item :

Thursday, June 16th. It is usual, in places besieged and blockaded, to observe silence, and not on any account to ring the bells of the churches, in order that the enemy might not know the time the people go to church. The bell of the French church of this place had not been rung since the commencement of the siege. The commander having inquired of the curate why the bell was not rung, permitted it to be rung, and it commenced its function by ringing the Angelus.

Trustees for the parish of St. Anne's were ap- pointed as early as 1744, and the pews were prob- ably first rented about that time. An old account book in possession of the writer contains this entry :

Widow McDougall, Dr. September 28th, 1781, cash paid her seat in the church, 16s.

The best known of the older priests was the

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Rev. Gabriel Richard, of the order of Sulpitians. He arrived here on the feast day of Corpus Christi, in June, 1798. He was a man of great catholicity of spirit, much esteemed by both Catholics and Protestants, and for nearly a quarter of a century labored assiduously for the interests of his flock, and the whole city as well. His connection with educational and publishing interests is set forth elsewhere. In 1807, on the invitation of Governor Hull and others, he preached several times in the Council House. Although an accomplished French scholar, his English was defective ; yet his discourses commanded respect because of the character of the man, and because they were devoid of churchly assumption. During the War of 1812 he was imprisoned for a time at Sandwich, because of loyalty to the United States. After his release, during the period of distress that succeeded the war, he was actively engaged in ministering to the necessities of the people.

In 1823 he had the rare honor, for a priest, of being elected a delegate to Congress; he served until 1825. This is the only instance in the history of the Territory or the State where a clergyman held this position. A short time before his elec- tion one of his flock married a second wife, without having obtained a divorce from the first. For this he was excommunicated by Father Richard, and so injurious were the consequences that he sued for damages, and obtained a judgment for $1,116. Father Richard was unwilling or unable to pay the amount, and was imprisoned in the old jail, remain- ing there three or four weeks. After he was elected to Congress, Messrs. Louis Beaufait, Charles Rivard, and Joseph Berthelet became his bail, and one even- ing, about nine o'clock, he was released, and pro- ceeded to Washington, where he faithfully served the Territory.

At the time of the first visitation of the cholera he was unselfishly active in affording temporal and spiritual relief to the sick and dying; finally, on September 13, 1832, at 3 A. M., he was himself carried away by the dread scourge. His decease was universally lamented, and both Protestants and Catholics were sincere mourners at the funeral, which took place at 5 P. M. He was buried in a crypt beneath St. Anne's. Beside him, in other crypts, are the remains of Fathers Vanderpoel and De Bruyn, Louis Antoine Beaubien, and a sister whose name is unknown. A memorial window, bearing an excellent likeness of Father Richard, occupies a conspicuous place at the left, as you enter the church. It cost $400.

The church in which Father Richard first offici- ated is shown in the view of the city as it was in 1796. It was a large building, towering far above the surrounding houses. In the fall of 1799 it was

repaired and enlarged at an expense of about $3,000. On June 11, 1805, it, with the rest of the town, was burned. At this time Rev. John Dilhet was associated with Father Richard. The ruins of the old church, overgrown with weeds, remained on what is now Jefferson Avenue until 1817 or later.

After the fire a tent was erected on the Commons, and for a short time services were held therein. Meldrum's warehouse, which stood not far from the foot of the present Woodward Avenue, was next negotiated for, the trustees, on August 27, voting to offer $300 New York currency for the property. Whether they bought it or not does not appear, but for about four years it was occupied by the church. From the Meldrum Warehouse, as early as the first of January, 1809, the services were transferred to Spring Hill Farm, so called, now known as Private Claim 30 in Springwells. This farm was rented of the United States, for $205 per year, by Father Richard. The Government had taken the farm in settlement of its account against Matthew Ernest, who, while collector of customs in Detroit, became a defaulter to the amount of $6,000 or $8,000. Father Richard remained on the farm until Novem- ber 1, 1810, or later, and was so unfortunate that in 181 I the United States had to sue for a portion of the rent. During this period occasional services were held in a chapel built on the Malcher or Church Farm in Hamtramck.

It was evidently the congregation which wor- shiped in this chapel that had the disagreement with Father Richard spoken of in Spalding's " Life of Bishop Flaget." The trouble seems to have grown out of the proposed removal of the old cemetery from the church grounds, through which Jefferson Avenue had been extended. The dis- agreeing members were also opposed to the building of St. Anne's on the site it now occupies. On Feb- ruary 24, 1817, Bishop Flaget issued a pastoral letter reproving the schismatic members at Detroit and in- terdicting their church. In order to fully settle the difficulty, the bishop, in company with Reverend Fathers Bertrand and Janvier, and Messrs. Godfroy and Knaggs, left St. Thomas for Detroit on May 15, 1818, They made the entire journey on horse- back, and on June 1, when within ten miles of De- troit, they were met by a number of persons who escorted them into the city. The bishop soon brought about a reconciliation between the chief members of the congregation on the Melcher Farm, and they agreed on behalf of the congregation

to remove their dead from the street and lot, to contribute towards the erection of the new church in Detroit, and not to speak of the past, but to bury it in oblivion. On his part, the bishop promised to raise the interdict on their church, to permit burials in the cemetery, and to send them a priest once a month.

The preliminaries of the reconciliation having been satisfac-

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torily adjusted, the bishop determined to render the ceremony of removing the interdict as public and solemn as possible. Ac- cordingly, on Tuesday, the 9th of June, 1818, he was conducted to their church in grand procession, the discharge of cannon announcing the approaching ceremony, and the music of the regimental band mingling with that of the choristers. Addresses were delivered in English and French. An affecting public recon- ciliation took place between the schismatics and their pastor, M. Richard, who shed tears of joy on the occasion. A collection of $500 was taken up on the spot, which the bishop considered a substantial omen of a permanent peace."

The corner-stone of St. Anne's was laid the same day. Later in the day, while the bishop was returning from a dinner party at General Macomb's, his horses took fright, and he was thrown down the high bank, then existing below what is now Cass Street, receiving a severe injury on the right shoulder from which he never fully recovered.

On June 17 the bishop, with Father Bertrand, left in a sailing vessel for Montreal. He returned on July 27, and remained until September 3, when he went up to Sault St. Marie, returning on the 11th of October. When he arrived he was quite ill, but gradually recovered, and on November I he con- firmed two hundred persons. Soon after this he commenced a "spiritual retreat" at the Malcher Farm church, discontinuing it on the 17th for a trip to the River Raisin, and resuming it after his return on December 30. The exercises were abun- dantly profitable to the people. On April 19, 1819, he again visited the River Raisin, returning in May. On the 29th he took his final departure from De- troit, going by steamer to Erie.

The first church on the Malcher Farm was built of logs, and was consecrated May 10, 1809. During the year 1834 it was repaired. The following extract from a letter of Rev. Mr. Kundig to Bishop Le- fevere, dated January 12, 1857, gives interesting particulars as to its condition at that time :

He, Bishop Rese, ordered me to repair the old shabby church, which I did by taking off the casing and shingles. But the night following, February 22d, 1834, the whole concern was, by a great storm, blown to the ground. It had looked as old as if it was Noe's Ark itself. He then put up a new church, he built the additions to the old and worthless house and repaired it, and from that time he took care to have a clergyman remain there.

The new church was built by a man named Payee, and was consecrated by Bishop Fenwick. At various times Fathers Bernier, Warlop, Vander- poel, Kilroy, Maxwell, and Duboix were stationed here. Father Duboix procured a bell for the church in 1848. The building was burned on July 13, 1861.

Returning to the history of St. Anne's Church, we find that in 1798 the use of about an acre of ground was given for a cemetery. Seven years later, on account of the wider streets laid out in re- building the city, after the fire of 1805, a new church location became desirable. Accordingly,

Father Richard presented a petition asking for a definite grant of the ground the church had been using for a cemetery, and on October 4, 1806, the Governor and Judges passed the following :

Resolved, that the Roman Catholic Church be built in the centre of the little military square, on section No. I, on the ground adjacent to the burying ground ; the said lot fronting on East and West Avenue (Michigan Avenue) two hundred feet wide and running back two hundred feet deep, and bounded on the three sides by three other streets.

It will be noticed that no title was conveyed by the above resolution, and the description does not define all the land which was actually conveyed at a subsequent date. About six months after the pas- sage of the resolution, "The Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman Church of St. Anne, of Detroit," was incor- porated under a general law for the incorporation of religious societies, passed a few days before. One of the provisions of this law was that trustees could acquire and hold personal property, "slaves ex- cepted ;" but no society could hold more than two thousand acres of land at one time, and the property was liable to taxation.

The articles of incorporation were drawn up and signed April 12, 1807, and recorded three days later, in Liber 2 of Deeds, page 149.

The following persons were named in the articles as trustees : Antoine Beaubien, François Chabert, Gabriel Godfroy, and Jacques Campau. The cor- porators were Charbert Joncaire, Henry Berthelet, Pierre Desnoyers, Charles Poupard, Joseph Beau- bien, Antoine Cecille, Etienne Dubois, Alexis Cerat, Joseph Coté, Presque Coté, Gabriel Godfroy, and Francis Frerot.

On January 11, 1817, in consideration of the re- linquishment by the church of all right to the prop- erty lying within the limits of the then new Jefferson Avenue, the Governor and Judges conveyed to the church certain property which they had previously occupied on Jefferson Avenue, near Griswold, and also the interior triangle of Section I, sixteen lots in the block adjoining on the north, and thirteen lots in Section 9. Under the treaty of Fort Meigs, of September 29, 1817, St. Anne's Church also ob- tained an undivided half of the six sections of land given by the Indians. This land was located in Monroe County, and was sold about 1840.

On March 26, 1834, the Governor and Judges gave a new deed for the interior triangle of Section I and the sixteen lots adjoining on the north, shown on John Farmer's map of 1831. The chief point of difference between this deed and that of 1817 was, that the new deed gave the church the right either to dispose of the property or to erect buildings for any use, instead of exclusively for church purposes. In 1841 a brick residence for the bishop, facing Ran- dolph Street, was erected on the property.

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The house was built about an old wooden dwell- ing. Tradition says that the property on which the wooden house stood was given to the church to be used as long as the building should remain standing, and that the brick encasement was designed to pre- serve the inner building. A careful investigation of the deeds fails to afford the slightest evidence upon which to found any such tradition.

As to the erection of the church, the following advertisement from the Detroit Gazette of August 19, 1818, gives interesting facts :

GREAT BARGAIN ! Offered by Gabriel Richard, rector of St. Anne, 200 hard dollars will be given for twenty toises of long stone, of Stony Island, delivered at Detroit, on the wharf of Mr. Jacob Smith, or two hundred and forty dollars, if delivered on the church ground. 100 barrels of lime are wanted immediately. Five shillings will be given per barrel at the river side, and six shillings delivered on the church ground.

It has been said that the stone for St. Anne's was brought in bateaux up the Savoyard Creek, but the above advertisement indicates nothing of the kind, and the late Peter Desnoyers, on two different occasions, told the writer that the statement as to the conveying of the stone up the Savoyard was en- tirely incorrect. The stone was furnished by J. B. St. Amour and Louis Desvalcour. The timber was supplied by Messrs. Young and St. Barnard, and was obtained on Pine River, St. Clair County. It was while this church was in process of erection that Father Richard issued the " shinplasters " which were so extensively counterfeited.

It was at first intended to have a row of pillars about the outside of the church, and numbers of them were procured. This plan, however, was re- considered and abandoned ; several of the pillars were finally used in building a porch in the rear of the bishop's residence.

The steeples were completed and tinned over in the fall of 1820. While putting on the tin, the workmen used a pot of live coals to heat their irons, and by some carelessness one of the steeples took fire. It was late at night when it was discovered, and one of the firemen, who had been out on a hunt all day, was thoroughly tired out ; when aroused and warned to hurry up, he carelessly turned over in bed, saying, "Oh, never mind ! It won't burn much till morning ; it's all green timber." His careless prophecy proved true, and the old steeple still remains.

In 1820 the basement was opened for use. The upper portion of the church was completed and first used December 25, 1828. There was placed in it the pulpit and two of the side altars saved from the fire of 1805, and these relics are still preserved. The old bell, with its birthmark of 1766, rescued from that fire, no longer rings the Angelus, but is laid away as a memorial of the past.

The size of the church is sixty by one hundred and sixteen feet. Originally there was in the center an octagonal dome, thirty feet in diameter and thirty feet high, and two small cupolas at the rear. The center dome was surmounted by a representation of the sun, on which was a human face, and over it a cock. On the smaller cupolas were representa- tions of the moon and a fish. The center dome and the cupolas were removed in 1842. The next year the towers were fully enclosed and the front porch erected In the spring of 1850 the brick extension in the rear was added, and it, with a wing extending out to Bates Street, was used for school purposes, and a school with sev- eral hundred pupils was maintained here up to 1864.

The changes of the passing years have affected not only the property, but the customs of the church. A curious illustration of past scenes, and of the mingling of the duties of the territorial militia with those of the church militant, half a century ago, is afforded by the following copy of an official letter on record at Lansing :

ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, DETROIT, May 28th, 1820.

SIR,-

By general order of the 21st inst., which will be inserted in the next Gazette, the company lately commanded by Captain Beau- fait in the second Battalion of the first Regiment, has been con- solidated with that commanded by you. It therefore becomes necessary that you should take immediate measures to carry that provision of the General Order into complete effect on or before the first Monday of June next. You are also hereby directed to cause your company to be assembled at 3 o'clock P. M. of that day, at which time the Adg't. and Insp. General will attend in person for the purpose of inspecting the state of their discipline, and of introducing the system of discipline established by law.

In the interim you are requested to appear with your company, on the General Parade ground in the rear of this city, on Satur- day next at 2 o'clock p. M., with a view to prepare your men to attend as a military escort at the celebration of the anniversary of the institution of the feast of the blessed sacrament of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Your obt. serv't,

JOHN R. WILLIAMS.

To Capt. Jacques Campau, and to Capt. P. Godfroy, on the subject of the consolidation of their companies.

A further relic of the olden time is the following advertisement from the Gazette of June 2, 1820, which has reference to the same occasion :

NOTICE.

According to ancient custom, the solemn Procession in com- memoration of the Blessed Sacrament, commonly called the Lord's Supper, will take place on Sunday next at 5 o'clock P. M., within the enclosure of the Church of St. Anne. A short ad- dress, explanatory of the ceremony, will be delivered at half past four. Christians of all denominations are welcome. It is ex- pected, however, that they will conform to all rules observed by Catholics on such occasions by standing, walking and kneeling. The Military on duty only may remain covered.

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It is enjoined on all persons to preserve profound silence during the whole ceremony.

N. B .- A collection will be made, the proceeds of which will be employed in completing the steeples of the Church of St. Anne, and covering them with tin.

ST. ANNE'S CHURCH. Original appearance.

In earlier days, this procession on Pentecost, or Whitsunday, was suc- ceeded by the feast of Corpus Christi. On such occasions, almost the entire set- tlement turned out, and nearly all united in the procession. Priests with lighted candles and acolytes bearing small flags preceded the host, which was held aloft enclosed in the ostentorium, and shielded by a canopy, which was usually borne by four prominent citizens. The highest military officers often assisted in this service; and it was no unusual sight to see Major-General Macomb, of the United States Army, and General John R. Williams, of the Territorial Militia, assist in carrying the canopy. This naturally secured the co-operation of the troops and the militia; and thus, with the booming of cannon and a gen- eral parade of soldiers, these occasions possessed uncommon interest. The procession usually formed at St. Anne's, proceeding from thence to the little chapel on the Campau Farm, or to sim- ilar chapels on the Lafontaine and God- froy Farms on the west of the town, and and to other shrines temporarily erected. These public processions were kept up until about 1825. At this same period, during the last week of Lent, the church

bell hung untolled and unrung ; and instead thereot, men stood upon the street corners, and with crécelle or rattle called the people to prayer. The Roga- tion days, spoken of in the extract from the Pon- tiac Manuscript, were publicly observed up to 1828, and probably somewhat later. On these days the procession proceeded from St. Anne's, circled about the farms, and blessed and prayed for the fertile fields, while seeds and grain were brought to the altar to receive the priestly blessing. These were the halcyon days of security and peace.

The corporation of St. Anne obtained possession of a large amount of land when it was of compara- tively little value, and as a natural result is now the wealthiest church organization in Detroit. It has also received at least one valuable gift. On February 15, 1845, Presque Coté, one of the original corpora- tors, deeded to Bishop Lefevere, for the church, Lot No. 61 in Section 2, located on the west side of Woodward Avenue near Larned Street, and now occupied by the stores of T. A. Parker and James L.

ST. ANNE'S ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.

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Fisher. The deed, which is recorded in Liber 16, page 157, provided that the property could never be alienated, sold, or rented away from the corporation, and imposed the further condition that forty masses annually be said for the repose of the souls of the father and mother of the grantor, his brother Joseph and sister Madeline; and ten masses yearly for himself, after his decease. This property affords a yearly income of about $4,000. In 1883 the esti- mated value of the whole property belonging to the church was $250,000,

In 1880 the church sold a portion of the property fronting two hundred and fifty feet on Larned Street and extending on Randolph to Congress Streets, for $100,000, and five years later they sold the remain- der of the entire square to the Bagley estate for the sum of $113,880.

The last services in the old building were held on June 27, 1886, and the following week it was torn down. Prior to this last sale several lots on the south side of Howard, between Eighteenth and Nineteenth Streets, had been purchased at a cost of $11,500, and upon these a church, chapel and parochial residence was erected at a cost of about $100,000. Services were first held in the chapel on June 28, 1886. The church was completed and blessed on October 27, 1887. It seats 1,400.

The old church seated eight hundred and fifty, and in 1880 there was an average attendance of five hun- dred and fifty. At that time, the priest's salary was $700; the expenses for the choir, $700, and for sex- ton, $300. The total annual expenses were $3,500, and the receipts from pew rents $2,500. The parish contains eight hundred families, and includes all French inhabitants west of Woodward Avenue. The following is a list of the priests whose names appear in St. Anne's records. The date of the first and last entry by each is given. It will be noticed that several must have been here only on a visit, their names appearing but once :

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The history of Detroit and Michigan; or, The metropolis illustrated; a chronological cyclopedia of the past and present, Vol I, Part 87

Author: Farmer, Silas, 1839-1902 Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Detroit, S. Farmer & co Number of Pages: 1096

Author: Farmer, Silas, 1839-1902
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Detroit, S. Farmer & co
Number of Pages: 1096