Michigan History LMagazineN
Y
OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE MICHIGAN HISTORICAL COMMISSION AND THE MICHIGAN PIONEER AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY
VOLUME VI
Published Quarterly by the
MICHIGAN HISTORICAL COMMISSION
LANSING
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MICHIGAN HISTORICAL COMMISSION
A STATE DEPARTMENT OP HISTORY AND ARCHIVES
ORGANIZED MAY 28, 1913
MEMBERS
Hon. Alexander J. Groesbeck, Governor of Michigan Claude H. Van Tyne, Ph. D., Ann Arbor, President Augustus C. Carton, Lansing, Vice President Clarence M. Burton, M. A., Detroit William L. Jenks, M. A., Port Huron William F. Murphy, LL. D., Detroit William L. Clements, B. S., Bay City
EXECUTIVE OFFICERS
George N. Fuller, Ph. D., Secretary and Editor Floyd B. Streeter, M. A., Archivist Marie B. Ferrey, Curator Percy H. Andrus, Chief Clerk
MICHIGAN PIONEER AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Founded in 1874; Successor to the Historic^ Society of Michigan ; founded in 1828 by Lewis Cass and others
TRUSTEES AND OFFICERS
Alvah L. Sawyer, Menominee, President William L. Jenks, Vice President Clarence M. Burton William L. Clements Clarence E. Bement, Lansing Claude S. Larzelere, M. A., Mt. Pleasant Lew Allen Chase, M. A., Marquette Charles A. Weissert, Hastings Carl E. Pray, M. A., Ypsilanti Gerrit Van Schelven, Holland Benjamin F. Davis, Lansing, Treasurer George N. Fuller, Secretary ex-ofpcio
A Magazine of Michigan history for Michigan people, contain- ing new information on interesting subjects by Michigan writers.
Historical news and reports from county and other local soci- eties and from schools and clubs doing work in Michigan his- tory will be received and disseminated to all parts of the State.
As the official organ of the Michigan Historical Commission and the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society, the Mag- azine will contain the important official acts of these bodies and the plans and progress of their work.
Members of the Society are urged to make the Magazine a medium of communication with other members and societies respecting their historical needs, or the needs, plans, and progress of their respective societies.
Due notice and credit will be given for all biographical sketches, reminiscences, letters, diaries, memoranda, account books, photographs, old newspapers, maps and atlases, museum objects and other items of historical interest re- ceived.
All communications should be addressed to the Michigan Historical Commission, Lansing, Michigan.
CONTENTS
NUMBER 1 1922
Page
Historical News, Notes and Comment 3
Ninth Annual Report of the Michigan Historical Com- mission, 1921 58
Supporting Members of the Michigan Pioneer and His- torical Society Enrolled Since January, 1921 61
Donors and Their Gifts to the Pioneer Museum, State •
Capitol, January 1, 1921, to January 1, 1922 71
JUDGE R. A. WATTS — The Trial and Execution of the
Lincoln Conspirators 81
Hox. WILLIAM RENWICK RIDDELL — Some Marriages in
Old Detroit Ill
MRS. FRANC L. ADAMS — Women and History. 131
ARNOLD MULDER — Michigan as a Field for the Novelist . . 142
DR. F. N. TURNER — Chief Okemos 156
FRANK L. DYKEMA — A Record of the Development of the Grand Rapids Americanization Society's Plan of
Citizenship Training Through the Ballot 160
HORACE ELDON BURT — William Austin Burt : Inventor . . 175
SUE I. SILLIMAN— The Chicago Indian Treaty of 1821. . 194
Lansing Lodge, Sons of Veterans — Old Veterans' Stories 198
NUMBERS 2-3 1922
Historical News, Notes and Comment 211
WARREN W. LAMPORT — Michilimackinac (Poem) 269
KENNETH G. SMITH — How White Lake Was Named . . . 273
MRS. MARY F. ROBINSON — Rix Robinson, Fur Trader. . . 277
MRS. ALZINA CALKINS FELT — Incidents of Pioneer Life. . 288
JAMES RUSSELL — Peter White 296
FRANCIS JACKER — Assinins and Zeba 315
CHARLES R. COBB — Ho ! Gogebic County ! 328
CHARLES J. JOHNSON — In Memory 346
M. L. COOK— My Early Days in Hastings 357
MRS. PAULINE T. HEALD — Mary F. Thomas, M. D., Rich- mond, Ind 369
vi CONTENTS
MRS. VICTORIA C. EDGCUMBE — Benton Harbor College
and Its President, Dr. George J. Edgcumbe 375
L. O. W.— Source Material of the Detroit Public Library as Supplied by the Acquisition of the Bur- ton Historical Collection 386
ALVAH L. SAWYER — Historical Work in Michigan 401
GEO. R. Fox — What About Michigan Archeology 415
HENRY BEETS — Dutch Journalism in Michigan 435
J. H. BROWN— How We Got the R. F. D 442
F. H. VANCLEVE— Railroads of Delta County 460
NUMBER 4 1922
Page
Historical News, Notes and Comment 479
R. CLYDE FORD — The Indian as an Orator 515
T. A. FELCH — Early Days in the Upper Peninsula 536
HENRY A. HAIGH — The Michigan Club 540
STANLEY NEWTON — The Adventures of Alexander Henry 558
FRED DUSTIN — Chief Pokagon and His Book 565
ARCHIE M. TURRELL — Some Place Names of Hillsdale
County 573
BYRON A. FINNEY — Reminiscences of Will Carleton .... 583 CHARES E. BELKNAP — Christmas Day Near Savannah in
Wartime 591
MRS. MARTHA D. AIKEN — The Underground Railroad. . 597 SISTER M. CELESTINE — Rt. Rev. Monsignor Frank A.
O'Brien 611
WILLIAM W. POTTER — Michigan's First Justice of the
Peace 630
HENRY S. LUCAS — The Beginnings of Dutch Immigration
to Western Michigan, 1846 642
R. C. ALLEN and HELEN M. MARTIN — ,A Brief History of
the Geological and Biological Survey of Michigan . . 675
ILLUSTRATIONS
NUMBER 1 1922
Page
Judge R. A. Watts 82
Americanization Poster 164
Posters 169
Hon. Win. A. Burt 177
Mr. Horace Eldon Burt - 178
Burt's Solar Compass 182
Early Surveying Scene 182
Equatorial Sextant 184
Burt's Typographer. 186
Austin Burt 190
Replica of Original Typographer 192
NUMBERS 2-3 1922
Rix Robinson 277
John R. Robinson 282
Dr. George J. Edgcumbe 375
Assembly Room. Ben ton Harbor College 378
Art Room, Benton Harbor College 382
Manuscript Letter (Signed, John Williams) 390
Map locating approximately the Enclosures, Rectangular Enclosures, Circular Mounds and Embankments in
Michigan 421
Map showing the approximate locations of Gardenbeds in
Lower Peninsula 423
NUMBER 4 1922
Page
Lewis (lark and Willis Lawrence, Michigan's First R. F. D. Carriers, Around the R. F. D. Memorial Monu- ment at Climax, M icli 449
Central Hall, Hillsdale College 573
Smie on St. Joseph River 573
Scene of Will Carleton's "Over the Hill to the Poor
House" . 583
viii ILLUSTRATIONS
Charles E. Belknap 591
Rt. Rev. Alonsignor Frank A. O'Brien, LL. D 611
Manuscripts (In Dutch, Holland Colony) 642, 657
R. A. Smith 675
Alexander Winchell 689
Carl Rominger 689
Charles E. Wright 689
M. E. Wadsworth 689
L. L. Hubbard 711
Alfred C. Lane 711
R. C. Allen ; 711
Douglass Houghton 711
CONTRIBUTORS
MRS. FRANC L. ADAMS, Mason. — See Contributors, 1920, Michi- gan History Magazine, Vol. IV.
MRS. MARTHA I. Z. AIKEN, Union City. — Past teacher at the State School, Coldwater; late appointed to investigate the homes and conditions of indentured children throughout the State; member of the Women's Club.
R. C. ALLEN, Lansing. — Former State Geologist.
REV. HENRY BEETS, Grand Rapids. — Secretary of Missions of the Christian Reformed Church; editor of the Banner; for- merly library commissioner of Grand Rapids.
HON. CHARLES E. BE&KNAP, Grand Rapids. — See Contributors, 1919, Michigan History Magazine, Vol. III.
JAMES H. BROWN, Battle Creek. — Associate Editor of the Morning Enquirer and Evening Neivs of Battle Creek ; Field Editor of the Michigan Farmer, Detroit; General Manager "Michigan Automobile Tours."
HORACE ELDON BURT, Chicago, 111. — First president of the Detroit High School Association; Republican candidate for State Senate; manager of Charcoal blast furnaces for twelve years; practicing lawyer for ten years; contributor to various magazines and periodicals.
SISTER M. CELESTINE, S. S. J., Kalamazoo. — Principal Nazareth Junior College and Academy ; Postmaster, Nazareth, Mich. ; teacher in Michigan schools for twenty years.
CHARLES R. COBB, Bessemer. — A. M., University of Michigan; Superintendent of Schools, Bessemer; vice-president Gogebic Range Schoolmasters' Club; secretary Gogebic County His- torical Society; Summer lecturer in American History, Northern State Normal School ; honor roll member listed by the War Loan Committee of the Ninth Federal Reserve District ; associate member of the Legal Advisory Board for Gogebic County ; member of the Board of School Examiners of Gogebic County; member of the State Industrial Com- mission for the rehabilitation of disabled civilians.
M. L. COOK, Hastings. — Secretary of the Hastings Table Com- pany and International Seal and Lock Company; vice- president of the Hastings City Bank; publisher of the
x CONTRIBUTORS
t%
Hastings Banner; member of the Michigan Pioneer, and Historical Society.
FRED DUSTIN, Saginaw, W. S. — See Contributors, 1921, Michi- gan History Magazine, Vol. IV. * |
FRANK L. DYKEMA, Grand Kapids. — Secretary of the Ameri- canization Society of Grand Rapids; secretary of the Kent County Conference of Social Work; treasurer and finance director of the Michigan State Conference of Social Work.
MRS. VICTORIA C. EDGCUMBE, Benton Harbor. — Pioneer of Benton Harbor.
THEODORE ALPHEUS FELCH, Ishpeming. — M. D., Detroit Medical College, 1874; Ph. B., University of Michigan, 1871: for- merly a member of the Council Michigan State Medical Society and the Michigan State Board of Registration in Medicine; Mayor of Ishpeming for two terms; director in the Miners' National Bank; surgeon for the Oliver Iron Mining Company and the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company; president of the Marquette County Historical Society.
MRS. ALZINA CALKINS FELT, Mason. — Pioneer of Mason.
BYRON A. FINNEY, Ann Arbor. — See Contributors, 1917, Mich- igan History Magazine, Vol. I.
R. CLYDE FORD. Ypsilanti.— Ph. B., Albion College, 1894; Ph. M., 1897; Ph. D.. University of Munich, 1900; studied at University of Freiburg, Germany, also at Geneva and Paris ; teacher country7 school and superintendent of village school ; teacher Anglo-Chinese School, Singapore, Malaysia, 1891-2; assistant professor French and German, Albion College, 1894-9 ; professor modern languages. Northern State Normal School, 1901-3, and Michigan State Normal School since 1903; member Modern Language Association of America; Michigan State Teachers' Association and Michigan School- masters' Club; contributor to various magazines and per- iodicals.
GEORGE R. Fox, Three Oaks. — See Contributors, 1919, Michigan History Magazine. Vol. III.
HENRY A. HAIGH, Detroit. — See Contributors, 1921, Michigan History Magazine. Vol. V.
MRS. PAULINE T. HEALD, Hartford. — Former president and patriotic instructor of the W. R. C. ; member of School
CONTRIBUTORS xi
Board for nine years; organizer of the Hartford Woman's Club.
FRANCIS JAC&ER, Assinins. — Former Postmaster at Craig; keeper of the Raspberry Island Station in the Apostle group ; taught school at Baraga and held private schools at various places; also at Government Indian School at Assinins; con- tributor to various magazines and periodicals.
REV. DR. CHARLES J. JOHNSON, Marquette. — Historian Mar- quette County Historical Society ; member Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society; publicity director of the Michigan Historical Commission for the centennial celebration of the establishment of American sovereignty in the Upper Penin- sula of Michigan; Author of the ''Marquette Pageant;" lec- turer on Upper Peninsula history; member Marquette City War Board ; former pastor First Methodist Episcopal Church, Marquette; former Chaplain branch prison at Marquette, Mich.; member Detroit Annual Conference; alumnus North- western University.
WARREN W. LAMPORT, Lake City. — Member of the Michigan Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church; pastor at Central Lake; contributor to various magazines and period- icals.
HENRY S. LUCAS, Seattle, Washington. — A. M., University of Indiana, 1915; Ph. D., University of Michigan, 1022: In- structor University of Michigan, 1918-1 9 ; assistant professor of Mediaeval History, University of Washington, 1921 ; studied at University of Leyden, Holland. 1919-20.
HELEN M. MARTIN, Lansing. — A. B., M. S., University of Mich- igan; teacher of geology and physiography. Battle Creek High School ; teaching assistant University of Michigan, Department of Geology ; Geologist, Michigan Geological Sur- vey; member Michigan Academy of Science, The American Association of University Women, Woman's Research Club of the University of Michigan ; past president Lansing Branch, American Association of University Women.
ARNOLD MULDER, Holland. — A. M., University of Chicago; city editor Holland Daily Sentinel; publicity director of the Michigan Tuberculosis Association; editor of Michigan Out- of -Doors; formerly publicity director of the Michigan Tuber-
xii CONTRIBUTORS
t%
culosis Survey ; novelist ; author "The Outbound Road," "The Sand Doctor," etc. (Houghton Mifflin, Boston.)
STANLEY NEWTON, Sault Ste. Marie. — Secretary Booth-Newton Company; director Upper Peninsula Development Bureau; president Great Lakes Mission Board; member Sault Ste. Marie Carnegie Library Board; charter member Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society ; author Mackinac Island and Sault Ste. Marie.
WILLIAM W. POTTER, Hastings. — See Contributors, 1920, Michigan History Magazine, Vol. IV.
Hox. WILLIAM RENWICK RIDDELL, Toronto, Canada. — Justice Supreme Court of Ontario; B. A., 1874, B. Sc., 1876, LL. B., 1878, Victoria University ; hon. L. H. D., Syracuse University, 1911; hon. LL. D., LaFayette College, 1912; F. R. S., Edin- burgh; Trinity College, Hartford, Conn.; hon. J. U. D., hon. LL. D., McMaster University, 1915; also Wesleyan, North- western, Rochester, Syracuse, Yale and University of Toronto; honorary president Ontario Bar Associations, hon- orary member American Bar Association, and bar associa- tions of Georgia, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, North Dakota, Wis- consin, Michigan, New York, etc.; president League of Na- tions Association, Toronto; called to Ontario Bar, 1883; created K. C., 1897; Bencher, 1891; re-elected each election until 1906; practiced Cobourg and Toronto; retained for city during Toronto municipal investigation, 1904; general coun- sel in Canada for Wabash Railway system; received present appointment 1906; Fellow, Royal Historical Society. Has written on British and United States forms of government, the courts and the people, and many legal and constitutional questions; author "The Canadian and American Constitu- tions," and many other papers. Chairman, Cobourg Collegi- ate Institute Board, president Educational Society, Eastern Ontario ; president Alumni Association, Victoria University ; member Board of Regents, Victoria University; Governor, Western Hospital, Toronto. Was a Liberal and president West Northumberland Reform Association; Hon. Colonel, Canadian Militia.
MRS. MARY F. ROBINSON, Grand Rapids. — Pioneer.
CONTRIBUTORS xiii
JAMES RUSSELL, Marquette. — See Contributors, 1920, Michigan History Magazine, Vol. IV.
ALVAH L. SAWYER, Menominee. — See Contributors, 1919, Mich- igan History Magazine, Vol. III.
Miss SUE I. SILLIMAN, Three Rivers. — See Contributors, 1920, Michigan History Magazine, Vol. IV.
KENNETH G. SMITH, Lansing. — State supervisor of Industrial Education; and State director of vocational rehabilitation; vice-president, National Society for Vocational Education; secretary Michigan Society for Vocational Education.
F. N. TURNER, Lansing. — See Contributors, 1920, Michigan His- tory Magazine, Vol. IV.
ARCHIE M. TURRELL, Hillsdale. — Professor of mathematics and science in Purrahou College, Honolulu, Hawaii; graduate of Hillsdale College.
F. H. VAN CLEVE, Escanaba. — Pioneer of Escanaba.
R. A. WATTS, Adrian. — Judge of Lenawee County Circuit Court; president Adrian State Savings Bank.
MRS. L. OUGHTRED WOLTZ, Detroit. — Archivist, Burton His- torical Collection, Detroit Public Library.
MICHIGAN HISTORY MAGAZINE VOLUME VI 1922 No. 1
GEORGE N. FULLER, Editor
MICHIGAN HISTORY MAGAZINE
VOL. VI 1922 No. 1
HISTORICAL News, NOTES AND COMMENT
GENERAL
rpHE National Memorials Committee of the American Legion in their report to the Third Annual Con- vention of the Legion at Kansas City, Mo., included the following extract, which will be of special interest to all citizens interested in the preservation of war records :
Your chairman has investigated conditions in Washington relative to a proposed National Memorial. As there is an imperative and immediate need of an archives building and as this building will house all the records of the service men and women of this War, it is thought that we should urge congress to include in its next appropriation an amount for the archives building. Our National Historian, Comrade Putnam, has ably assisted this committee in gathering data showing the crying need for properly caring for and housing our records as well as all other records. The American Historical Association has been at work on this project and has the approval of Senator Sinoot. This building should be of the type approved by the American Historical Association, and this committee believes it should be located on Pennsylvania avenue, and as close to the Library as possible.
This project is so imperatively needed that the
(3)
4 HISTORICAL NEWS
necessity of providing for the records is recognized universally by congress.
As the care and preservation of the records of the men in the World War was made a part of the duties of the National Memorials' Committee, before the appointment of the National Historian, that part of his report, dealing with an investigation of the national Archives has been embodied herein, and follows:
RECORDS OF THE WORLD WAR— The volumi- nous records concerning the military operations of the United States during the period in which the American Legion is particularly interested, are housed in many buildings at Washington and in many military posts throughout the country, in addition to what may be found in the hands of state officials and semi-public organizations.
The national records at Washington concerning our participation in the World War, are of several classes. The records of G. H. Q., A. E. F., were made up at Onaum and shipped home, and with the records made up in this country by the Historical Branch, War Plans Division, Chief of Staff, are of primary impor- tance for the history of unit operations. As the two series of records to some extent duplicate each other, it is often necessary to examine both files to find a desired record. Many important records of the S. O. S. are also in the Historical Branch. The records of the Adjutant General's Office, pertaining chiefly to organi- zations, administration, and personnel, together with the previously mentioned series are stored at present in Building E, at 6th and B streets, which is a building
NOTES AND COMMENT 5
with concrete walls and wooden floors, and poorly adapted for protection against fire originating within the building. The files occupy about 140,000 square feet of floor space, are contained in steel filing cases, four drawers deep, and weigh nearly 2,000 tons.
Here are to be found the individual records of the men serving in the army.
In the State, War and Navy Buildings are other large collections of records, the most important of which are those of the Mail and Record Division of the Adjutant General's Office, containing records of return of troops, rosters and many personnel records; the records of the Judge Advocate General (largely proceedings of courts martial), and of the Inspector General.
The records of the Graves Registration Service, now a branch of the Cemeterial Division of the Quarter- master General's Office, are deposited in the Munitions Building.
The Munitions Building has become the depository for records, in part, of a number of branches of the service. In the office of the Chief of Engineers are the records of the Engineer Corps. There is no very clear line of demarkation between the records of the World War Division of the Adjutant General's Office and of other branches of the service of the War Department, hence part of the records of the Engineer Corps will be found in the Adjutant General's Office. Also part of these records are stored at Camp Humphrey, Va.
Five hundred tons of records pertaining to the Con- struction Division, camps, cantonments, etc., are
6 HISTORICAL NEWS
housed to a small extent in the Munitions Building, to some extent in the temporary building across the street, and mostly unless removed since this report was pre- pared, were in a temporary structure.
Building. F, 7th and B streets, scantily protected from fire, either from their arrangement or housing. This is an important series of records, and covers the whole history of operations.
The historical records of the Quartermaster Corps, taken over from the Historical Branch, Purchase and Storage Division, are in the Munitions Building, but the greater part of the records of the Quartermaster are at Fort Meyer. The records of the Transportation Division, and the bulky records of the Ordnance Divi- sion, with which are being assembled field ordnance records, are also stored in the Munitions Building.
The records of the Chemical Warfare Service, made up at Washington, formerly in_a temporary building, and those of the Signal Corps, likewise in a similar building, either have been or soon will be removed to the Munitions Building. The Chemical Warfare Serv- ice, A. E. F., records are, however, at Edge wood Arsenal.
In the Munitions Building also will be found the main body of records of the Air Service, including unit histories. Other Air Service records will be found in the files of the Signal Corps; General Headquarters, A. E. F., Historical Branch, W. P. D., and the Adjutant General's Office.
The records of the Coast Artillery and of the Field Artillery are for the most part in the files of the Adju- tant General.
NOTES AND COMMENT 7
Important records of troop units are to be found at every military post in the country, mostly housed in buildings which afford little or no protection against fire, and the custodians are often ignorant of their contents.
The General Staff College has in addition to its own records, records of the World War Plans Division and of the Military Intelligence Division.
The Historical Section of the Office of Naval In- telligence and the Bureau of Navigation contain the most important naval records of the War, and are housed in the New Navy Building at 17th and B streets. Nearly all the records of the Navy for this War are in the same building, as also are the records of the Marine Corps and of the U. S. Shipping Board, which occupy the greater part of ten large rooms, and comprise the records of the Emergency Fleet Corporation, Division of Planning and Statistics, and of Marine and Dock Industrial Relations.
The records of the Medical Corps and of the Army Nurses Training Corps are partly in the Surgeon General's Office in the Munitions Building, at the Army Medical College (where a medical and surgical history of the War is being prepared), and in the files of the Adjutant General's Office.
A particularly important collection of casualty cases filling 225 file drawers, are at National Head- quarters of the American Red Cross, where also are the Chapter histories, and much other material, in all comprising 3,500 cases. Some of the Chapter records require 100 file drawers, and at Division Headquarters
8 HISTORICAL NEWS
are more than 375 cases of records. Many relatively unimportant records still remain in France, and may subsequently be destroyed there.
The records of the War Risk Bureau occupy about 90,000 square feet of floor space at the Arlington Build- ing, and relate chiefly to the Allowance and Allotment Division, Insurance Division, Compensation and Claims Division, and the Marine and Seaman's Division. Each Division has an alphabetical card index of cases and the individual jackets often contain records of military service. Other records of the War Risk Bureau and nearly all important records of the Public Health Serv- ice are in the Butler Building, and those of the Re- habilitation Division of the Federal Board of Vocational Education are in a temporary building at 20th and D streets, and in local and district offices, some of which are alleged to be fire-proof.
The Selective Draft records are housed in several buildings of Washington Barracks, and include records of the Provost Marshal General's Office, of 51 State and Territorial Headquarters, 155 District Boards, 4,658 local boards, medical advisory and legal advisory boards, and of 23,908,576 registrants, and have a total weight of 8,000 tons.
The important records of the Council of National Defense, War Industries Board, and Committee on Public Information were in July last transferred to the custody of the Assistant Secretary of War and removed to the Munitions Building. Those of the Food Admin- istration and the Grain Corporation are still to be found in Temporary Building No. 1. The records of the W^ar
NOTES AND COMMENT 9
Trade Board and of the Fuel Administration in another temporary building, are quite as poorly protected. The records of the Railroad Administration are at 18th street and Penn. avenue, those of the War Finance Corporation, and some of the Liberty Loan records, (others are at the Federal Reserve Bank) are in the Treasury Building; of the Bureau of Mines and Geo- logical Survey in the Interior Building and many other important files of the Department of State, Agricul- ture, and Commerce and Labor are found in the files of the Departments, in the Federal Trade Board, in files of House and Senate Committees, and in the Library of Congress.
This very brief summary of a survey of the char- acter of our latest War records and their places of deposit, made during the past summer at the request of the National Historian, serves not only to indicate where one interested in obtaining certain information would first direct his steps, but the woefully inade- quate method of storing the records and protecting them against the ever constant menace of fire, of damp, and of vermin. Unquestionably, the mass of useful national archives has more than doubled since 1917, at which time there were no adequate housing provisions for their preservation and protection. The memorials of a nation, the records of those who established and maintained this government, and of what they achieved ; of intensely human interest, constantly examined by students, both trained and amateur; of incalculable value, which if destroyed can never be restored, are in no other progressive civilized country so poorly Jpro-
10 HISTORICAL NEWS
tected, the menaces to their safety so lightly regarded by the nation's legislators, as in our own country.
STATE RECORDS— The Adjutant Generals of the several states have been furnished by the Adjutant General of the Army with abstracts of the individual service records of enlisted men and of casualties. These cards are compiled from the records, and have been found on examination to be in some cases incorrect as to residence, unit with which engaged, date of enlist- ment or induction, overseas duty and discharge. The most frequent error was, it is said, the statement of wrong year or number of the unit to which the man be- longed, and these errors in the instance of one state are reported as estimated to have been as great as 10%. One state which has contemplated a roster of its citi- zens in the service, refrained from compilation for publication until the applications of men for the bonus granted them could be compared with the records sent from Washington. It thus behooves every ex-service man to inspect as opportunity occurs the record of his service as it appears in the files of the Adjutant-General of the state, who upon due proof of error will undoubt- edly be glad to take the matter up with Washington. It is a matter of importance to the individual that his record be complete and accurate.
The states which have granted a bonus or special opportunities, to service men from their states, have in the filed applications an invaluable series of records. These when collated with the carded service records in the Adjutant General's Office, should afford a reason- ably accurate record from which a roster of all men from any given state could be compiled.
NOTES AND COMMENT 11
In addition to these official records at the state capitols, many of the states established War History Commissions, or made grants to encourage the forma- tion of county commissions which should function in the work of preserving the history of the country and state in the War, and some of these organizations have already begun the publication of historical material. Indiana has published a Gold Star volume. The middle western states as a rule have shown the most energy and broadest vision in connection with this work.
The Convention adopted the following resolution: Whereas, the American Legion is vitally interested in the securing and preservation of the archives of our national government, now
Be It Therefore Resolved, by The American Legion in convention assembled, that the American Legion urges the proper legislation for the erection of a suitable repository for all national archives where they may be safe from any future possibility of fire, vermin, or other causes for their destruction.
THE STATE
TN the death of Right Rev. Monsignor Frank A.
O'Brien, of Kalamazoo, member of the Michigan Historical Commission and a trustee of the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society, the cause of Michigan history loses a true friend.
Monsignor O'Brien passed away December 19, 1921, after a lingering illness. He was born in Monroe, Michi- gan, and had reached his seventieth year. His life was
12 HISTORICAL NEWS
>*
distinguished for philanthropic work. Such was the quality of his labors that as dean of the parish of St. Augustine he became one of the most widely known priests in America. He was a personal friend of gover- nors and presidents, many of whom were guests at his hospitable home in Kalamazoo. Among the numerous honors conferred upon him was his elevation to the papal household on the Pope's volition, an honor con- ferred upon but one other priest in the United States. An appropriate sketch of the life and work of Mon- signor O'Brien will appear in a later number of the Magazine.
TVTICHIGAN was signally honored in November by * a visit from Marshal Foch, commander-in-chief of the Allied armies in the World War. At Detroit, he said, as reported in the Detroit Free Press (Novem- ber 8) :
'Your mayor has spoken of my unified command, and much has been written of it<. It was the unity of our ideals, as much as the merger of our forces, which led us to final victory.
"Old men and young men, old women and young women were animated by the same purpose and your commander-in-chief had but to release them and they marched forward to victory.
"At the supreme moment when I was in the pres- ence of the plenipotentiaries of the German govern- ment and sent out a call to our generals to be ready to move forward if our parley failed, there was a una- nimity of_not_onlyithe_military_forces but also of the nations represented by those forces.
NOTES AND COMMENT 13
"Nations are only strong when their aims are the aims of justice. If we apply the same principles in our pursuit of peace, we should secure a lasting peace the same as we achieve victory in time of war. "
Marshal Foch reached Detroit from Chicago, on his way east from the national meeting of the American Legion at Kansas City. At Ann Arbor the University paid homage to the distinguished guest when his train stopped for five minutes at the Michigan Central station. A parchment folder was presented to the Marshal, on which, beautifully illumined in gold, red and blue was a m^sage from the University, written in French. In presenting it President-Emeritus Hutchins said:
"Marshal Foch:
"Your presence here this morning, sir, means much to us, particularly to the thousands of students who are before you. This will always be a red letter day in our calendar. You will appreciate this when I tell you that more than 12,000 alumni and under-graduates of the University of Michigan served in the great war for democracy under your distinguished leadership and that 235 made the supreme sacrifice.
"In behalf of the President, the University, the several faculties, and the student body, I have the honor to present to you this testimonial of greeting and appre- ciation."
On the cover of the parchment folder was inscribed : "To Marshal Foch, Ann Arbor, November 7, 1921." Inside was this greeting: 'The President, the Regents, the faculties, and the students of the University of Michigan, greet Marshal Foch, and through him the
.
14 HISTORICAL NEWS
French nation. They desire to express their admiration for his military genius and gratitude for his unfaltering devotion to the common cause of civilization. "
At Battle Creek, Governor Groesbeck and many state officials met Marshal Foch. During the Mar- shal's visit there the Roosevelt Community House near Camp Custer was formally turned over by the State of Michigan to the American Legion as a hospital for the relief of Michigan's tubercular veterans.
"pLANS for the construction of the American Legion national headquarters building are well under way. Indianapolis is the fortunate city, the Indiana legis- lature having appropriated nearly ten million dollars for the war memorial to house the Legion's main offices. The project will cover five blocks in the heart of the city. The building will occupy the middle block, with the remaining plots transformed into a magnificent city plaza. At one exterior of the memorial site is located the federal postoffice building, erected at a cost of $6,000,000. Facing the outer end of the plaza is the $3,000,000 city library.
Invitations have been issued to national headquar- ters of the Grand Army of the Republic, the Women's Relief Corps, Service Star Legion, American War Mothers, Spanish War Veterans and Women's Auxiliary of the Legion to occupy quarters in the memorial build- ing along with the Legion.
In Michigan, progress has been made in erecting community memorials to the veterans of the WTorld War, but no state memorial has yet been made. It
NOTES AND COMMENT 15
is generally agreed that this should take the form of a memorial building at Lansing, to be used as head- quarters for the veterans of all wars in which Michigan has taken part, also for other state organizations of a patriotic nature, and for properly housing the public archives, the state museums, and the materials of Michigan history.
In 1920 at the annual meeting of the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society in Lansing, a committee of nine was appointed to take up the subject with citi- zens and with the state government. The committee consisted of Gerrit Van Schelven of Holland, William L. Jenks of Port Huron, Alvah L. Sawyer of Menominee, William W. Bishop of the University Library, Divie B. Duffield of the Detroit Public Library Commission, Henry J. Gilbert of Saginaw, Mrs. Burritt Hamilton of Battle Creek, Miss Alice Louise McDuffee of Kala- mazoo, and Miss Annie A. Pollard of the Grand Rapids Public Library. A large sub-committee of several hundred citizens selected from every county in the state was organized for publicity work. It was pro- posed to present the matter to the Legislature of 1921, and a bill was drawn for that purpose. But the finan- cial straits of the government which later developed made it clear that the time was inopportune.
The work of organization however has gone steadily on. Among all of the historical and patriotic recon- struction movements none has found more favor. Al[ thinking people are alive to the wider outlook which regards the movement as a social service of high order, a tribute not only to the hero dead but to the public spirit of Michigan and an inspiration to generations of
16 HISTORICAL NEWS
the future. It is the common sentiment that whatever building is erected by Michigan it should not fail to express worthily the sentiment intended, in keeping with similar buildings of other states and with the National Memorial Building erected in Washington whose cornerstone was laid last November.
T T PON the invitation . of the Indian Government, ^ Professor Claude H. Van Tyne left November 15th for Delhi, the new capital of India, to start a study of India's recently created native Legislative Assembly. The invitation was extended to Professor Van Tyne by Alexander Frederick Whyte, formerly a member of the British Parliament who is at present president of this latest experiment in parliamentary government.
In writing to Professor Van Tyne, Mr. Whyte says : "We have embarked upon a big enterprise in constitu- tional government. We are only in the midst of the first start but we have made so good a beginning that the apparent progress of the experiment seems fairly well assured. In presiding over it I have an almost unprecedented opportunity to study parliament in em- bryo. The spirit shown in the legislative assembly was of a remarkably high order and the proceedings were conducted with a sense of responsibility which was, I think, a surprise to everyone. "
It was in the fulfillment of his desire that some American historian or political scientist might study on the spot the development of the new system that the invitation was extended to Professor Van Tyne. Mr. Whyte felt that it would be not only of great value
NOTES AND COMMENT 17
to the British to have the candid comment of a genuine political student on the situation, but at the same time it would serve to inform the American public as to how far India has gone in the direction of self-government.
Professor Van Tyne expects to be in Delhi for three or four months gathering the material which will eventually appear as a book on the New Indian Par- liament. He has been promised every opportunity for meeting the officers of the Indian administration and every facility for the consultation of important docu- ments. He will thus be, in a very real sense, a guest of the government of Ilidia.
Mr. Whyte, in one of his letters, says, "It is not very easy to describe the situation truly. It changes rapidly almost from week to week; and the ferment created by the war has not yet spent itself, but public life generally in India is in a much healthier state than it was before the war, mainly because practically all agitation is conducted in the light of day and bomb conspiracies are much less frequent than they used to be. " —Michigan Alumnus.
JN honor of four Michigan "M" men who gave their lives in the World War, a memorial tablet was un- veiled just before the opening of the Minnesota game. Major James K. Watkins, '09, was in charge of the ceremonies.
The tablet is of bronze, and has been temporarily mounted in front of the Ferry Field club house, until such a time as a new stadium and club house is built, when it will probably be placed in the trophy room.
3
18 HISTORICAL NEWS
On the plaque appears an eagle, mounted on a block "M" and bearing in its talons a furled American flag. Below is the inscription,
"In Honor of the 'M' Men of the University of Michigan Who Gave Their Lives for Their Country in the World War."
Then follow the names of the hero athletes : Curtis G. Redden, '03, Howard R. Smith, '12, Otto Carpell, '13, and Efton James, '15. Beneath the names are the words of eulogy, "Not Dead; But Living in Deeds. Such Lives Inspire. "
During the war Redden was a lieutenant-colonel with the 149th Field Artillery. He died in Germany after a brilliant career and a recommendation for pro- motion to the rank of brigadier general. Smith was a lieutenant in the aviation corps, and was killed in an air- plane accident in England, while Carpell, another aviator, died of heart failure following an attack of influenza in a southern camp. James, first lieutenant in the infantry, was killed in action in the Verdun sector, October 14, 1918. Redden had been both a football and baseball man during his college days; Smith was a pitcher on the Varsity nine and pitched the famous eighteen inning game with Notre Dame winning 3 to 2. Carpell was one of Yost's half-backs during 1911 and 1912; while James played end during the 1914 season.
The new tablet erected was purchased by the "M" club. — Michigan Alumnus.
PROM Mr. E. G. Pipp, editor of Pipp's Weekly, Detroit, we have received some interesting docu- ments having to do with the Union League, or Loyal
NOTES AND COMMENT 19
National League of America, a secret organization which was in existence during the War of the Rebellion and must have attained considerable proportions. These are three manuscript books, original records of the organization at Brighton, Michigan, and an original copy of the constitution and ritual; also a sheet from a book of some sort which gives a list of the state officers ; also some of the original badges to members.
From the length of the list of members in Brighton, apparently the Order included everyone in town.
Mr. Pipp's father appears fourth on the list.
In a letter transmitting the documents Mr. Pipp writes :
"A notation in the front of one of the books shows 800,000 members in the country January 1, 1864 and also that on September 2, 1863 they reported 31,163 in Michigan and 430 members in Livingston county. And by December 30, 1863 the state membership had grown to 35,793. Looking over the Brighton member- ship, it contains nearly every business man and sub- stantial farmer of early days. The signature of the chief officer, nationally, as found in the back of the ritual and constitution is J. M. Edmunds; the same signature on the outside of the small envelope shows that Mr. Edmunds was commissioner of the General Land Office under President Lincoln, which rather leads me to infer that it had a sort of a semi-official recognition under the Lincoln administration.
"I notice from a newspaper clipping pasted in the front of one of the books that Gen. O. B. Wilcox issued an order asking citizens not to join secret organizations on account of some trouble in Indiana and with it is a
20 HISTORICAL NEWS
general order from Mr. Edmunds saying that it had been determined by the Grand Council that the Union League was not such an organization as was referred to in Gen. Wilcox's order and for them to continue their work — well, the order shows for itself.
"I notice in the proceedings of the Brighton council a motion to raise money for a memorial to Capt. John Giluly. If I remember correctly Judge Withey, who was a Brighton boy and later a Circuit Judge living in Reed City, married a daughter of Capt. Giluly; per- haps if you wanted additional information something might be gotten from him.
"I notice, too, from one slip, they checked up on some of the citizens politically, to see how they were going to vote. "
The Michigan Historical Commission would be pleased to receive other information or documents relative to this Order.
LETTER of interest to teachers:
State of Michigan Department of Public Instruction
Thomas E. Johnson, Superintendent Horace Z. Wilber, Deputy Superintendent
George N. Otwell, Assistant Superintendent Wilford L. Coffey, Assistant Superintendent C. Lloyd Goodrich, High School Inspector, Floyd A. Rowe, Director of Physical Education
Lansing, Jan. 1, 1921 To the teachers of Michigan:
Michigan is rich in local history. There is scarcely a community
NOTES AND COMMENT 21
whose annals if written would not furnish a distinct contribution to Michigan history. Junior historical societies are being organ- ized throughout the state under various auspices and I am writing you requesting that some arrangement be made to give such credit in history, geography, or civics as may be appropriate for actual work done by individual members of these groups.
Faithfully yours,
T. E. JOHNSON
LIBRARY SERVICE, bulletin of the Detroit Pub- lic Library, announces:
The Library is now prepared to furnish photostatic reproductions of any part of its resources upon request. Applications may be made through any department upon blanks supplied for the purpose. A photostat is an important adjunct to the reference work of a library. It furnishes an absolutely accurate copy of a printed page or diagram at a small cost.
Facsimiles of rare texts, such as are found in the Burton Historical Collection; machine drawings or other scientific drawings or portions of scientific texts in the Technology collection; statistical tables; patent drawings or articles about patents to prove cases; out- of-print music, or portions of music scores from the Music and Drama Department; family trees or coats- of-arms — all cases where absolute accuracy of copy is necessary — here is where the value of photostat work lies.
The Library makes a nominal charge for photostatic reproduction intended merely to cover the cost of the process and materials. The work is done twice a week
22 HISTORICAL NEWS
and the finished prints are ready to be. delivered to the patron on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons. For rush orders a special charge is made.
. DIVIE B. DUFFIELD, president of the Detroit Library Commission, in his annual ..report to the Common Council of the City of Detroit, writes :
I cannot close this report without some reference to the Burton Historical Collection, in the administration of which one's pride is so often excited by the comments and praise of those students of history who are com- petent to express an opinion upon the great value of the collection. It is envied by many institutions, its vast possibilities as the original source for historical study are only just beginning to be known and the dissemination, in publication form, of its treasures is a duty we owe to posterity. Our gratitude to its donor can never adequately be expressed, yet it is typical of the man that he seems to prefer that we do not express it. It must be recorded, however, that he has commenced the building up of an endowment fund, the income of which shall be used to add to the collection. Already the generosity of Mr. Clarence M. Burton has placed in our hands the first two installments of this fund.
JN closing a story of Michigan's first adventure in finance, — the famous $5,000,000 loan in the days of
the "Boy Governor" —Mr. Arthur II. Vandenburg
writes:
"Modern citizenship rarely hears nor long remem-
NOTES AND COMMENT 23
bers these stories out of the heroic past. If there were greater familiarity with these stirring periods of foun- dation, there might be greater respect for the modern Institutions beneath which these foundations were placed. It was a big task for Gov. Groesbeck to face the 'Soldiers' Bonus Bonds' in 1921. It was a vastly bigger task for Gov. Mason to face the 'Internal Im- provement Bonds' in 1837. Indeed, the whole early history of Michigan is such a throbbing romance, rich in colorful inspirations, that it is nothing short of a shame that greater organized effort does not undertake to acquaint modern generations of Michiganders with the legends and the lessons of yesterday. "
The story referred to is told in the Grand Rapids Herald for September 18, 1921, and is very well told indeed.
JVJR. HORACE ELDON BURT whose paper on William Austin Burt appears in this issue is hale and hearty at the age of 80, having reached that mile post in life's journey July 18, 1921. Born in Michigan near Detroit, it was in that city that most of his life service was given. He attended the University of Michigan for several years and then took a trip abroad, after which he entered the Albany Law School and the Rochester University, from which institutions he was graduated in 1867. He practiced law in Detroit for a number of years, later superintending the construction of large iron furnaces in Michigan and Wisconsin. Mr. Burt retired from active business a number of years ago and now divides his time between relatives in
24 HISTORICAL NEWS
Chicago, 111., and Waterloo and Cedar Rapids, Iowa. His wife died in 1909. Of his eight children who are living, five are daughters. Some of the children were present at the recent celebration of his eightieth birth anniversary, on which occasion was read the following "Birthday Ode":
O, some may sing of "sweet sixteen",
The age when a lad is young and green; And there are virtues to youth, I ween,
It's charms I have no wish to demean. But I sing of an age but rarely sung —
O, it's great to be four-score glad years young!
It's fine to have lived 'til you've learned how;
To boast, "I've the hang; I can do it now!" To have weight of years to which others must bow.
Youth has some advantages, I'll allow, But it's fine to this glorious life to have clung
Until you are four-score glad years young!
It's, fine to have sprinted past three-score-and-ten,
To find it so good you would do it again, To call back to middle-aged women and men,
"The water is fine, come in, my friend." I'm glad that so long to life, I've hung.
O, it's great to be four-score glad years young!
O, you who think that age is drear
I bring you glad tidings of greatest cheer. I wish to make this matter clear
That youth has dangers that you should fear. It's safer to climb to a higher rung.
O, it's great to be four-score glad years young!
The wild oats that youth is apt to sow
Into a fateful crop will grow; And the harvest is certain in time, you know.
So look to your planting, young fellows below. The red flag of danger I've warningly flung;
But it's safe to be four-score glad years young.
NOTES AND COMMENT 25
And you who struggle to get the pence,
In the marts of life who now commence, Who must stick to biz with a fire intense,
O, it's rich to have learned good business sense; In the fields of plenty your scythe to have swung,
O, it's great to be four-score glad years young!
And there are riches worth more than mon.
To have such wealth of them is great fun. Wisdom comes only when you've farther run.
From this height, I could spare you advice — a ton, Not stingy from spigot, but lavish from bung.
O, it's great to be four-score glad years young!
It's fine to have children and grandchildren, too,
And lots of interests and plenty to do, And friends of a life-time, whose hearts are true,
To gather and pay their tribute to you. To be the center these groups among
Because you are four-score glad years young!
Fair sailing, I find since the stress is o'er,
And I've put to sea afar from the shore. Unhindered by sandbars and weeds as of yore,
The joy of the ocean possesses me more; So I shout from the depth of my lustiest lung,
O, it's great to be four-score glad years young!
CHARLES H. WHEELOCK, secretary of the Battle Creek Historical Society, sends us this one, by Mr. Chas. Kraft, — about Battle Creek's first automobile "as I saw and used it," —who writes:
Some little time ago I read an article in the Battle Creek Evening News written by Mr. J. H. Brown about the early days of the automobile in Battle Creek, and I well remember some of the happenings myself.
The first automobile owned in Battle Creek (then called a horse-less carriage) was owned by E. C. Adams, who was then in the bicycle business on McCamly street where the Evening News office now stands. It
26 HISTORICAL NEWS
was a steam machine made by the Pope Manufacturing Co. Another of similar type was later owned by Joy Rathbun. But the first real one-lunger gasoline buzz wagon owned in Battle Creek was owned by Harry Burt. It sure was looked upon as some Auto, but merciful heavens what a noise it made when it started; a boiler shop would have felt ashamed of itself, if it could have heard it; I often wondered why the thing was not arrested for disturbing the peace. I recall how Harry came to my home one clear crisp moonlight night in the Fall, about 9 o'clock and asked me to go for a ride with him. I readily accepted the invitation (and, by the way, Harry had his machine tuned right up to "G"). We drove out Lake avenue to the Prairie road and then drove as far west as Tuttle Cor- ners. We sure did sail some, fifteen or eighteen miles an hour, but it seemed awful fast those days; however we are both very much alive yet.
Among the first owners of automobiles in Battle Creek were W. I. Fell, S. O. Bush, Frank Kingman and Chas. Young, the druggist. I well remember how Mr. Fell drove his run-about over to Mendon, and had the misfortune to strip the clutch (a common occurrence) and how he telephoned to Frank Palmer, the then authorized agent, to send some one over to bring it back. As I was then working for Mr. Palmer I was delegated to go to Mendon to repair the machine and bring it home. This was on Friday, so I got together the necessary tools and went to Mendon. I arrived there about 4 o'clock that p. m., found the machine in an old blacksmith shop, took it to pieces that evening and the next morning repaired it and was ready to
NOTES AND COMMENT 27
shirt hack at 11 a. m.; but rain held me hack until 2 p. m., when I started for home. The first thing I en- countered after leaving Mendon was a long steep hill, and that run-about, true to its name, run about half way up that hill and stopped. It was an easy matter to let it back down the hill, and while I was tinkering it back to running again, two farmer boys came out and kindly offered to help push the thing up the hill. They said an automobile of this kind was never able to make that hill. But after I got it tuned up again I went right up that hill a-flying. When I was going into Leonidas an old lady came running out to the road waving her sunbonnet and apron and thinking some terrible accident had happened, I stopped the auto and asked what was the matter. She asked me if I would be careful, as her cow was staked down the road and she was afraid I would run into it. I pacified her by saying I thought I was in more danger than the cow. I reached Leonidas that evening about 6 o'clock, put the run-about in my friend's barn (Mr. Wilcox's), had supper and stayed all night at his home; and the next morning, Sunday, I got up early, filled up (the machine, mind you) with gasoline and asked Mr. Wilcox to go for a little ride. He seemed a little reluc- tant about going, but finally decided he'd take a chance. So he got in, and after going a short distance I threw her into high speed, fifteen or sixteen miles an hour. Well, that was sure too fast for Mr. Wilcox, for he threw both arms around me and begged to be let out. I told him I would drive slower and I returned him home all O. K. When he got out he remarked, "I've had a ride in an automobile and am still alive." I returned
28 HISTORICAL NEWS
home via Climax and reached home that same day at noon.
Another incident I well remember was one morning about 3 a. m, I heard a knock at the door and on open- ing I found it to be Erastus Penner, who was then a member of the Frank Palmer force. He said he had been having a joy ride and the machine was four miles out on the Verona road and flatly refused to run and would I go out and help him get it in. So we went down to the shop and got another machine and went out to the one stalled. On looking it over I found the wire leading from the batteries to the spark plug had become loose, so after giving the nut a turn or two he was able to get back home in a hurry.
PROM Mr. John W. Fitzgerald of St. Johns, we have received the following interesting communication respecting Zachariah Chandler, and an incident con- nected with the state and national elections of 1864:
In 1879 I was the publisher of The Clinton and Shiawassee Union, a newspaper established that year on the line between Clinton and Shiawassee counties, located at Ovid. That fact of itself has no special interest, but on the first day of November of that year, Zachariah Chandler, United States senator from Michi- gan was found dead in his bed at the Grand Pacific hotel, Chicago.
In the issue of the Union above referred to, I had written an editorial, nominating Chandler for the presidency of the United States, subject of course to the action of the National Republican party conven-
IS'OTES AND COMMENT 29
tion, which was to be held in Chicago the following June.
We had just put the paper to press, 10:00 o'clock a. m. when a message was brought into the office an- nouncing the death of Chandler. The press was stopped and messages from Chicago and elsewhere confirming the report asked for. In the meantime a short editorial announcing his death was written, as well as a brief account of his life.
The paper was again put to press and the papers mailed throughout the state, a bundle of them being distributed to the passengers of a Grand Trunk train passing eastward for Detroit, an hour or so later.
This was the first paper in Michigan to announce the death of Chandler, as the morning papers of Chicago had all left the presses before his death became known, as was the case in Detroit, his home. As was the custom in those days the paper was dressed in mourning, and from the Chandler family upon receipt of a copy of the paper I received due acknowledgment.
It is the strangeness of the happening; the article placing him in nomination for the presidency in one column and on the opposite page announcing his death, which makes the copy I possess, together with the sub- ject matter, of some historical value.
Senator Chandler at the time of his death was the national chairman of the Republican committee and because of that fact was out delivering addresses in some of the prominent cities of the country; he had made a speech in Chicago to a crowded audience the evening previous.
30 HISTORICAL NEWS
In 1864 when Abraham Lincoln was a candidate for the presidency for his second term, George B. McClellan, retired Union general being his opponent, the soldiers in the field were given permission to vote. I was a member of Company "G" 3rd Michigan cavalry, and my regiment on that election day, 1864, was camped some twenty miles from Little Rock, Ark., where our votes as a regiment were taken. The ballots cast at that election were gathered up and turned over to each company commander.
I have now in my possession the ballots which were cast on that occasion by my company. They carry besides the national ticket the full Michigan state ticket, including the presidential electors. Henry H. Crapo heads the state ticket for governor.
These tickets represent an historical event in the life of our country; they were the first ballots ever cast for a president by a soldier in the field wearing the Union uniform and voting for a candidate who believed that the sisterhood of states as formed by the fathers should remain unbroken.
GIFT of some 200 manuscript documents at least one-half of which pertain directly to America and some of which relate to the Revolutionary War, have been given to the University by Regent W. L. Clements of Bay City. The papers, which were the property of the late Lord Shelburne, a prominent Eng- lish statesman, were brought back after being pur- chased from an auction by Mr. Clements while in France last summer.
NOTES AND COMMENT 31
They will give University students and others an opportunity to study the liberality of the four great British statesmen, Pitt, Fox, Burke and Shelburne. The collection includes some official documents, some private correspondence between Shelburne and his friends Pitt, Fox and Burke and notes on the meetings of the British cabinet while Shelburne was a member.
following resolution was adopted by the Michi- gan State Federation of Women's Clubs at their annual meeting held October 11-14 in Grand Rapids:
Whereas, There is, in the State of Michigan, no suitable place for the housing and care of many price- less relics, pictures, papers, books and records belong- ing to the state, be it
Resolved, That the forty thousand women com- posing the Michigan State Federation of Women's Clubs petition the Legislature to provide a State Memorial building at Lansing to the pioneers and the soldiers and sailors of all wars who went out from Michi- gan for the defense of their country and where the work of the Michigan Historical Commission may be carried on in a befitting manner.
QERTRUDE B. SMITH, wide-awake historian of
, the Calhoun County Historical Society, writes:
Our present Calhoun County Historical Society —
the successor of one of earlier date that evidently
adjourned sine die-— received its first inspiration from
32 HISTORICAL NEWS
the Monday Club of Marshall, historic town of southern Michigan.
Although organized but two years ago, the society has already accomplished some very effective work and has large visions for the future.
During the present year we have secured a room in our library building where have been placed suitable cases for the preservation and exhibition of the historic treasures already collected and of the many more we hope to have.
There are now upon our shelves many original documents preserved by the early settlers, — land grants, deeds signed by U. S. presidents; letters describing the pioneer days, their labors, joys and privations; photographs and old daguerreotypes of early residents; picture prints and lantern slides of persons, places and events of important note; posters of the Civil and of the World War; books, old and rare; newspapers of old times with their quaint advertisements, and contain- ing articles now of great interest and historic worth; maps of town, county and state of an early date; keep- sakes and precious heirlooms, — the nucleus of a col- lection which we hope to make much worth while. Other treasured relics and articles of historic interest are being sought out, collected, catalogued and placed on exhibition in our cases, where they may be seen, read and enjoyed by all the county round.
A fine scrap book of newspaper clippings of old time events and later happenings is already begun and is being constantly enlarged. We have also a book where- in are gathered signatures, letters and notes of the early settlers and of other residents who have made for
XOTES AND COMMENT 33
themselves a name and a place in our local history. We have sought to interest the students of our schools in historic research. Questions have been published in the newspapers to which answers are requested and later reported, provoking quaint interest and discus- sion among our citizens.
Tablets to mark historic places are on our program. The Old Territorial Road blazed through the wilder- ness in 1830 now the chief auto thoroughfare across southern Michigan is already marked by a boulder and bronze tablet donated by the D. A. R. A tablet will adorn the old oak tfee in the Gorham lawn where in 1834 the educational system of our state was worked out by two of Michigan's noblemen, — Rev. John D. Pierce and Hon. Isaac E. Crary, — a work so well planned that it was copied far and wide and became the foundation system for schools, colleges and uni- versities all over our land. A boulder and tablet will soon point out the site of the celebrated "Cross white Affair" of 1847, an incident in the tragedy of slavery that led to the passage of the national Fugitive Slave Law, — one of the general causes of our Civil War.
Besides our general meetings which are held in Marshall, special gatherings are held in various places in the county to create and extend interest in the society and in the collection of articles of historic value. These papers of local history are read and later placed in our archives — reminiscences of "the good old days" are given, old time songs are sung, exhibitions of old time relics are made and a good time enjoyed.
We are proud of our Historical Society.
May it grow !
5
34 HISTORICAL NEWS
following resolution was passed by the State League of Women Voters in convention at Detroit, November 9-11, 1921:
Because of the very valuable work being done by the Michigan State Historical Commission, not only to the citizens of this generation but of future genera- tions, BE IT RESOLVED, that the League of Women Voters urge the next legislature to appropriate suffi- cient funds to carry on this work in an efficient manner and properly house the museum.
A reading room in the Michigan Union at Ann Arbor is to be dedicated to the University's hero dead of the Great War. This room is known as the Upper Reading Room, which up to the present time has been left unfinished. It is to be completed and furnished by combined action of three organizations, the Richard Neville Hall Post of the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Gun and Blade Club, at a cost of $15,000. It is proposed to raise this money, very appropriately, by giving a series of student entertain- ments during the year.
Our friend Dr. R. Clyde Ford, contributor to the Magazine and charming lecturer on Michigan history, is spending a year in the sunny south of France and in Italy. Knowing his scholarly mind and the genuine- ness of his human interests we may expect him to bring back to us something very much worth while.
NOTES AND COMMENT 35
Mr. John Campbell, president of the Baraga County Historical Society, died December 13, 1921. Mr. Campbell was within one day of being 71 years old, and as a pioneer resident of L'Anse he lived through the wonderful growth of the Upper Peninsula during half a century. He came to L'Anse in 1872. Mr. Campbell has been honored by his community with many public trusts, which he has discharged faithfully and well, and in his death the historical interests of Michigan suffer the loss of a warm-hearted friend.
A feature of the work of the history department of the Northern State Normal School this fall has been the preparation of original historical accounts of the home towns of the students, which in several instances have been published in the local newspapers and have attracted favorable attention. This work helps the students, the towns and the Normal. Considerable new material has come to light in this way.
At a meeting of the Three Oaks Historical Society in October, a profitable experiment was tried on the members present, who were wont to pride themselves on their knowledge of local history. A list of thirty- four questions was asked, covering the important points of the history of Three Oaks and the surrounding region, any one of which every citizen should have been able to answer. In the test made, no member was able to answer every one of them, and in many instances pride was humbled low, much to the amusement as
36 HISTORICAL NEWS
well as profit of the victims and others. The complete list of questions was published in the Acorn for October 13. Try it at your next meeting.
Among recent additions to the archives department of the Historical Commission are a number of papers, 1814-1823, of the Supreme Court of Michigan Terri- tory. For the same period has been secured a collec- tion of miscellaneous material covering accounts, affidavits, bills, bonds, claims, sundry correspondence, dockets, inquests, naturalization papers and writs. With the transfer of the Commission's offices to the new state building, the archival work can now advance more rapidly, having fire-proof quarters. The Com- mission will be pleased to receive material from citizens of Michigan and other states, especially documents of public origin which may be in private hands.
The North Carolina State Library desires Vol. 1, No. 1, and Vol. 2, No. 1 of the Michigan History Maga- zine. The publishers' supply is entirely exhausted and we should be obliged if any one will supply this library with the missing numbers, which may be sent in care of the Michigan Historical Commission, Lansing.
We are pleased to welcome to our desk The National Outlook, published monthly, October to May inclusive, by The Bay View Reading Club, Detroit; it is a Maga- zine of high quality, which every citizen of progressive
XOTKS AND COMMENT 37
and cultural inclinations will desire to receive in his library. As its title states, it is a Magazine of national scope. For the season of 1921-22 it announces a series of articles on "Problems in Democracy," and the articles that have thus far appeared rank with the best in the older Magazines. The contributors are largely university and college men and women, specialists in their fields. The National Outlook is the successor to the Bay View Magazine which was founded by John M. Hall in 1893. Mr. George Gerald Betchel is the editor, and Bessie Leach Priddy, Professor of History in the Michigan State Normal College, is assistant editor.
In press is the second of the two volumes of the Michigan Bibliography, compiled by Floyd B. Streeter, archivist of the Michigan Historical Commission. The first volume will not be distributed until the second is ready, as the latter contains an elaborate cross-index which is necessary to the best use of either volume, but it is probable that both volumes will be ready to dis- tribute to libraries early in the fall.
FROM OUR EXCHANGES
J^OCAL history and the local newspaper are close friends, which leads an exchange to give us this glimpse of work in a local library. A patron asks:
"Can you tell me the date the Baptist church burned — I mean, of course, the famous fire that all the old inhabitants talk about?"
The librarian looked up from her work. "No, I
38 HISTORICAL NEWS
can't tell you the exact date, but I think I can find it for you quickly, for we have the files of the local paper since it was started. My impression is that the fire— the big fire, as they call it — was about 1873, and it won't be a very long job to look it up."
She went to the stacks in the rear of the library, pulled out a dusty bound volume marked "Herald, 1873," and spread it open on the table. "Ah, here it is," she said, after a minute spent in turning over the yellow leaves.
The person who had inquired for the date, a mem- ber of the woman's club of the town, sat down and read the article. 'This gives me exactly the information I wanted," she said.
"I thought it would," said the librarian. "I fear most people do not appreciate how valuable is the local newspaper from the viewpoint of local history. In fact, it seems to me that it is about our only source. Only when an event gets into print is it officially re- corded and filed for reference. Flimsy as it is, the printed word of today is the counterpart of the ancient stone inscriptions that give us our records of a long-ago yesterday. I consider the bound volumes of our local papers perhaps the most valuable possession of this library. "
appreciative writer makes our humble friend say:
I am the Country Newspaper.
I am the friend of the family, the bringer of tidings from other friends; I speak to the home in the evening
NOTES AND COMMENT 39
light of summer's vine-clad porch or the glow of winter's lamp.
I help to make this evening hour ; I record the great and the small, the varied acts of the days and weeks that go to make up life.
I am for and of the home; I follow those who leave humble beginnings; whether they go to greatness or to the gutter, I take to them the thrill of old days, with wholesome messages,
I speak the language of the common man ; my words are fitted to his understanding. My congregation is larger than that of any church in town; my readers are more than those in the school. Young and old alike find in me stimulation, entertainment, inspiration, solace, comfort. I am the chronicler of birth, and love and death — the three great facts of man's existence.
I bring together buyer and seller, to the benefit of both; I am part of the market-place of the world. Into the home I carry word of the goods which feed and clothe and shelter, and which minister to comfort, ease, health, and happiness.
I am the word of the week, the history of the year, the record of my community in the archives of state and nation.
I am the exponent of the lives of my readers.
I am the Country Newspaper.
. NORAH CULVER, historian of the Van Buren County Pioneer Society, writes in the Courier- Northerner (Paw Paw) :
It is surely the duty of the people of this county to perpetuate the names
40 HISTORICAL NEWS
of their pioneers, to furnish a record of their early settlement, and to relate the story of their progress.
The civilization of our day, the enlightenment of the age, and the duty that men of the present day owe to their ancestors, to themselves and to their posterity, demand that a record of their lives and deeds should be made. Surely and rapidly the great and aged men who, in their prime entered the wilderness and claimed the virgin soil as their heritage, are passing or have already passed. Knowledge of the incidents of their first days of settlement is small, indeed, so that an actual necessity exists for the collection and preser- vation of this information without delay before all the early settlers are cut down by the scythe of time.
To be forgotten has been the greatest dread of mankind from remotest ages. The means employed to prevent oblivion and to perpetuate the memory of men has been proportioned to the amount of intelligence they possessed. The pyramids of Egypt were built to perpetuate the names and deeds of great rulers, the erection of great obelisks was for the same purpose. Coming down to a later period we find the Greeks and Romans erecting mausoleums and monuments and carving out statues to chronicle their great achievements and carry them down the ages. It is also evident when we go back as far as Mound Builders that they had this idea: To leave something to show that they had lived. And all these memorials, no matter how costly, give but a faint idea of the lives and characters of those whose memory they were in- tended to perpetuate and scarcely anything of the masses of people that then lived.
It was left to modern ages to establish an intelligent, undecayijig, im- mutable method of perpetuating a full history through the art of printing. To the last generation, however, we are indebted for the admirable system of local biography. By this system every man, though he may not achieve what the world calls greatjness, has the means to perpetuate his life and his history throughout the coming ages. ,
In collecting the attainable facts of the history of Van Buren county pioneers, it will be the aim of the officers of the Historical Society, not to gain any credit or prestige for themselves, but to glean information from reliable sources that will perpetuate the memory of the early settlers of this county.
J?ROM the Marquette Mining Journal:
The sixth annual upper peninsula meeting of the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society, which con- cluded its sessions at L'Anse August 12, is declared to be the most successful meeting ever held by this organi- zation outside of Lansing. The meeting was held
•NOTES AND COMMENT 41
under the auspices of the Baraga county division of the Keweenaw Historical Society.
That L'Anse and Baraga county did themselves proud in showing the down-state guests what the upper peninsula can do and is doing, as well as what it has done in the past was agreed by the visitors. The attendance and intelligent interest shown is said by state officers to have been beyond expectation. The picnic at Pequaming Friday was largely attended from the copper country, Marquette and various points
within reasonable distance for automobiles. There
«
were in the neighborhood of 300 automobiles parked on the picnic grounds and vicinity.
Credit for this showing is due to Mr. John Campbell, of L'Anse, who represents the Keweenaw society in Baraga county, and to his fine corps of helpers. Men- tion also should be made of J. J. O'Connor, T. D. Tracy, Leo Paquette, T. G. Belanger, Edward Sicotte, D. P. Menard, W. S. Crebassa, H. J. Pennock and Octave Sicotte, while thanks is due Baraga county and the several townships for liberal financial backing in behalf of the meeting.
The convention opened Thursday with the Hon. J. J. O'Connor, of L'Anse presiding. Invocation was given by the Rev. W. H. Rule, pastor of the Methodist church in L'Anse. Mrs. Cora Anderson, of L'Anse, welcoming the guests in a brief address, made every one feel at home and desirous to come again at the first oppor- tunity. Fred H. Begole, former mayor of Marquette, recalled old times in a paper of reminiscence about Baraga county when he resided there in the 80's.
The Rev. W. F. Gagnieur, S. J. of Sault Ste. Marie,
42 HISTORICAL NEWS
told of the early missionary, Rene Menard, S. J., who early labored in this part of the peninsula and who gave his life in the hardships of the work.
Music was furnished throughout the session by Mrs. Ed. M. Leiblein of Hancock, accompanied by Mrs. Bries, also of Hancock. Immediately following the program an auto drive to Assinins was enjoyed by several hundred of the guests and townspeople and lunch was served there in the open. This proved to be a most enjoyable event, the credit of which is largely due to L. G. Hillyer and his famous cook, Charles Cardinal, and helpers.
In connection with the visit to Assinins a marker was placed in commemoration of the landing of the Rev. Fr. Baraga in 1843. An historical address was delivered by the Rev. Charles J. Johnson of Marquette, and remarks were made by Father Gagnieur.
On Thursday evening George N. Fuller, executive secretary of the Michigan Historical Commission, and ex-6fficio secretary of the State Historical society, gave a talk on the work of those two organizations and out- lined the program of historical work for Baraga county. Professor L. A. Chase, head of the department of his- tory of the Northern State Normal of Marquette, talked on historical work in Marquette county. Professor Chase's droll humor in illustrating his experiences there was greatly enjoyed.
Charles R. Cobb, superintendent of schools of Bessemer, concluded the evening with a most enjoyable talk on the history of Gogebic county. Music of the evening was in charge of Mrs. Mildred Romsdahl Bruns, of Calumet, whose brilliant and sympathetic
NOTES AND COMMENT 43
work won the hearts of her hearers. She was accom- panied by Mrs. A. N. King, of Calumet.
Friday morning was given over to an auto drive ending at Rock Beach near Pequaming where a white fish and green corn dinner was served to about 1,000 people. The Prairie Club, of Chicago, composed of campers mainly from Illinois, and the Zeba Indian brass band dispensed music which was greatly enjoyed.
The afternoon program at L'Anse consisted of a talk by Claude F. Hancock, of Chassell, on the history of the Peat industry in the peninsula, a paper by Ethel Robinson, of Houghton, on "Modes of Travel in Early Days in the Peninsula," an address by the Rev. John- son, of Marquette, on "The Indian Mission of L'Anse. " Stanley Newton, of the Soo was to have talked of the famous early trader, Alexander Henry, but owing to the late hour, gave a humorous and complimentary talk appropriate to the occasion and announced that he would "put Alexander Henry on ice where he would keep until some other meeting. " Miss Florence Fribley, of Baraga, sang a solo number. Miss Maysie Stratton, of Baraga, gave several readings and little Miss Mary Cosgrove entertained the audience with her violin. All of these numbers were encored and thoroughly en- joyed;
Stereopticon pictures of the copper country and vicinity by John T. Reeder featured the evening pro- gram. It would be hard to find a more beautiful col- lection of pictures than these natural colored marvels.
Thomas Conlin, of Crystal Falls, concluded the program of the evening with a paper of some length on the O. and B. land grant and its effect upon the iron
44 HISTORICAL NEWS
country. Alvah L. Sawyer, of Menominee was to have discussed the Michigan-Wisconsin boundary contro- versy, but owing to the lateness of the hour he told the audience he "would place it on ice along with Mr. Newton's Alexander Henry."
The spirit of the meeting throughout was unsur- passable, declared Secretary Fuller, who spoke in warmest praise of the general spirit of enterprise he had observed in the upper peninsula. Mr. Fuller was principal of the high school at L'Anse from 1896 to 1900, and through a quarter of a century has been interested in the development of the upper peninsula.
In his talk Thursday evening he paid a warm tribute to the Indian missionaries, the early explorers and prospectors in the iron and copper mines, the pio- neers of the lumbering industry and the railroad and lake commerce, the builders of the schools, the churches, and the press. "All of these who have made the ancient wilderness the abode of a happy and prosperous people have added their part to the great historic life picture of the peninsula. In all of our historic study let us remember that the pioneers lived for us. It is we who enjoy the fruits of their love and toil and sacrifice, and it is for us to be zealous in collecting and preserving the records for the true history of the work," was the mes- sage he left with the meeting.
At the closing session there was organized for the purpose "The Baraga County Historical Society" with officers as follows: President, John Campbell, of L'Anse; secretary, Leo Paquette; treasurer, L. G. Hill- yer, of Baraga.
NOTES AND COMMENT 45
J-IALL J. ING ALLS, the man who superintended the burial of old Chief Okemos, says the boulder placed in his memory by the D. A. R. rests on the exact spot where the famous Indian was laid away.
"I ought to know, for I put him there myself," was his terse comment.
Mr. Ingalls recalls the incident surrounding the death and burial in detail. He and Al Nichols were rushing work on the Indian school house, on the reservation known as "Shim-Ne-Con." It was near the chief's home and he walked over every day for a chat. One day he failed to come and an Indian told Mr. Ingalls the chief was ill. That night he visited Okemos' home.
"Are you sick?" he asked the chief in the Indian language.
The old man shook his head in t*he negative.
"Not sick; just tired," in the language "both understood so well.
Whiskey was commonly used both as a medicine and a beverage those days.
"Want whiskey?" Mr. Ingalls inquired.
There was another feeble shake of the head.
"Me go to happy hunting grounds like Okemos — not like whiskey makes him," was the reply.
This remark should be perpetuated in history by the present generation, which frowns upon hard liquor. The dying chief had known the taste of fire- water and observed its effects. In his cups he was not Okemos. He wanted to enter the presence of the Great White Father with his faculties unimpaired. Yet they say he was a pagan and as such he was buried in what was known as the heathen cemetery. Some of the Indians had been converted to the Christian religion and as they were called were laid away like the palefaces, in the cemetery of their own. No pagan presence desecrated the silent settle- ment— not even a dead one.
Next day there was again the sound of hammer and saw. The men were at work on the school house. The sounds reached the cabin where the chieftain slept. Gradually they grew fainter and then seemed to cease entirely, for they fell upon deaf ears. Old Okemos had come to the end of the long, long trail.
The news of his death was brought to Mr. Ingalls. Because he had laid away many of the tribe he was called upon to bury the chief.
The grave the Indians dug was larger than usual, for it had to hold the personal effects of the chief as well. It was four feet deep, seven feet long and four wide. Mr. Ingalls had the Indians gather bark. A floor was laid on the bottom and the grave was also sided up with bark.
It was so close to the hut where the remains were lying that but few steps were required. The body was lowered and then covered with blankets. Blankets were placed under the head, so that the August sun, almost at the western horizon, fell full upon the face. At the chief's right were his two guns.
46 HISTORICAL NEWS
At his left his tomahawks, scalping knives and other personal effects were placed and over the whole went another blanket as a shroud. Bark was then laid over the whole and the grave filled with earth.
Fires were started on both sides of the mound, fed by sassafras wood and they were kept going for three days and three nights. By night they sent forth a greenish glow and no doubt served well the purpose for which they were intended, that of frightening away the evil spirits.
Three years later Mr. Ingalls' brother George, living close by, heard a noise in the night and peering in the direction of the grave saw the flickering of lanterns. The story that many valuables had been buried with the chief had gone the rounds. George crept out of his home and made a stealthy ad- vance through the underbrush. When he was within a few feet of the graveT robbers he let out an unearthly yell. Three men were seen to run from the spot as rapidly as their legs would carry them. The men left their shovels and picks, as well as their lanterns. Next day they visited the vicinity.
"I don't know whether you are the men who tried to rob this grave or not, but the shovels and lanterns are over there, " George said, pointing in the di- rection of a clump of bushes. "If they are gone when I come back I shall know they belonged to you. I ought to scalp you on the spot, but never dare to set foot upon this spot again, " he warned.
When he next visited the pagan burying ground the tools were not there. Hall Ingalls knows the identity of the men, but as some are still living and have probably many times repented he is helping them to keep their secret.
The Ingalls brothers, to guard against another such attempt, collected a large number of stones and placed them in the hole where the ghouls had dug. They are still there and this is how it came about that when the women of the county came to mark the historic spot Hall Ingalls led them confidently to it.
"The boulder is directly over Chief Okemos' head," he says, and he is the only man who knows. — Portland Review.
village of Ada in Kent county was the objective point August 18 of everyone interested in the early history of western Michigan, who was able to make the trip, the occasion being the celebration of the centenary of the first settler in the village, Rix Robinson, who happens to be also one of the most prominent and ro- mantic figures in the story of the development of the state. Robinson was identified closely also with Grand Haven and north Ottawa county.
NOTES AND COMMENT 47
The earliest feature of the day was the marking of the site of the trading post Robinson established at Ada before he made that a permanent residence which continued for at least 50 years or until his death in 1875 at the age of 86.
The principal speaker of the day was Miss Mary Robinson of Ann Arbor, a niece of the pioneer, who left no direct descendants. She read a paper upon the life and times of Rix Robinson and had with her some of the finery which belonged to one of Robinson's Indian wives, the one who thought Indian blood was better than white and would not eat at the same table with her lawyer husband, herself being a princess.
Among the other speakers were Capt. Charles E. Belknap of Grand Rapids, George Hefferan and Jud Davis. William Farrell, Ada's pioneer schoolmaster and secretary of the pioneers' association, was director of ceremonies.
It was his call to the more elemental modes of warfare that led Rix Robinson to quit the study of law only a few months before he was due to be admitted to the bar of New York an* to come west. His fortune was $1,000 which his father gave him when he turned his back on Auburn. After a 26-day trip, between Buffalo and Detroit, he became sutler to the U. S. troops at the Straits and saw his first of frontier life while he was following the soldiers from post to post in this capacity. Two years of this life left him with little profit, so he went to St. Louis and invested his capital in tobacco. This trip and pur- chase resulted in his establishing several trading posts. He started two in Illinois, one at Calumet, near the head of Lake Michigan in 1817, one on the Illinois river 25 miles from its mouth in 1819, one at Milwaukee, Wis., in 1820, one at the mouth of the Grand river in Ottawa county, Mich., in 1820, and one during the same year at the mouth of the Thornapple in Kent county.
From 1821 to 1834 the arrival and departure of his trading vessels was the only thing to break the monotony of frontier life at Grand Haven. His vessels were entering the Grand river when the site of Grand Haven city was a forest.
He lived to be 86 years old, however, and served the state senate before his death at Ada in 1875, mourned as one of their own by both whites and Indians. He spoke fluently all district dialects of the Indian tongue, and it was due largely to his influence over the Indians that they "retired so grace- fully upon the coming of the 'white man'." — Holland Sentinel.
CARLETON DAY— Friday, October 21, 1921,-
will long be remembered in Hudson and southern Michigan as the day on which one of the largest gath- erings of people from far and near assembled to do honor to the memory of her most distinguished son— the famous poet, Will M. Carleton.
48 HISTORICAL NEWS
Estimates will vary on the size of the great throng assembled, but it is not too much to say that it was probably the greatest throng that ever gathered in Hudson. They came from all walks of life. Wealthy people drove up in $6,000 limousines, and rickety one-horse vehicles were there. They even came on foot. However they came, whether rich or poor, or no matter what their station in life, they were there to pay tribute to the poet of the plain people. To one who, in whatever he wrote touched the heartstrings of the people.
Even the engineer on a passing freight train blew three long mellow blasts that fitted in well with the program that it interrupted just for the moment. High over head soared an aeroplane dipping and saluting in graceful curves.
The day was a perfect one, as only an October day can be perfect with a tang in the air and a snapping breeze that sent the multi-colored leaves of autumn scurrying hither and yon.
The parade formed on Grove street shortly after 1 :30 and moved slowly down Main street, headed by the Ladies' band from Tecumseh. The Frensdorf car followed the band. In this were seated Miss Florence Frensdorf, Edward Frensdorf and the speaker of the day, James Schermerhorn. The president of the Carleton Memorial Association, Judge C. L. Newcomer, and other officers of the association followed in other cars.
At one point in the parade were several cars bearing former schoolmates to the number of twenty.
A number of floats depicting many of Carleton's well-known poems, were the principal features of the parade. Some of these floats were very well arranged, such as "Autumn Days," with six beautiful young girls with a canopy of multi-colored leaves over them; "The Old Singing School," which sang "Auld Lang Syne" as it drove through the town; "Mending the Old Flag;" "The Day We Graduate;" the "Carleton School;" "The Old Front Gate." One float contained two Roman gladiators, and a soldier of the late war; another a beautiful young lady clad in flowing white robe, with a golden crown upon her head ; another a Christmas tree, with little girls clad as white- winged cherubs, and a tiny Santa Glaus surrounding it; another, an old settler, sitting before his cabin, a deer he had killed lying before him; another con- tained an old-fashioned organ surrounded by a teacher and scholars singing "Onward Christian Soldiers;" and others, school boys and girls from Morenci, Pittsford, Addison and the "Mockingbird Club" of Hillsdale College.
A float from Hillsdale College which attracted some attention was one depicting the Carleton poem, "Gone With a Handsomer Man." Then there was another band and hundreds of automobiles, all being driven slowly east- ward.
The procession, headed by the parade of floats, stretched from Hudson clear to the Carleton place. Already there were parked about the roadsides and fields thousands of autos.
From a stand on the east side of the home the program was given and was attentively listened to by thousands through the use by the speakers of a
NOTES AND COMMENT 49
sound amplifier on the speakers' platform. They were called to order by Mrs.
A. K. Deane, president of the Lenawee County Federation of Women's Clubs. Miss Florence Frensdorf presided. There was a song, " Home, Sweet Home, " by the Hudson High School chorus and the Hillsdale College Glee Club; the address of welcome by Mrs. C. B. Stowell; unveiling of the monument by Mrs. Clara Blossom and Miss Ruth Blossom, Carleton's nearest relatives; an address, "The Completed Task," by Miss Frensdorf; an ode to Carleton by Edgar A. Guest; song by the Hillsdale Glee Club; "A Lifelong Friendship" by
B. A. Finney; "Reminiscences of College Days," J. W. Mauck, president of Hillsdale College; talk on the Carleton Memorial Association by Judge C. L. Newcomer, president of the association ; address of the day by James Schermer- horn.
It was a proud moment for the niece and grand-niece of the poet, Mrs. Clara Blossom and Miss Ruth Blossom, when they drew aside the flag from the beautiful bronze tablet revealing the words:
Birth Place
of
WILL CARLETON 1845— Poet— 1912
Erected by
The Lenawee County
Federation of Woman's Clubs
1921
— Hudson Post-Gazette.
pRINCESS ELLA PETOSKEY, only surviving granddaughter of the old Chief Pe-to-se-ga who once owned the site of Petoskey and after whom the city was named, will make Petoskey her home after the first of next June. She is at present in Grand Rapids. The Grand Rapids Herald says:
Miss Petoskey is an actress, a vocalist of note, a poet and a lecturer. She graduated from Carlisle and later took a normal course in Dr. Edgecomb's private institution then known as the Benton Harbor college. Then she taught in the government Indian service in Pennsylvania, Nevada, North Dakota and Wisconsin. When Indians of northern Michigan staged their
50 HISTORICAL NEWS
famous production, "Hiawatha," the princess carried the leading role of "Minnehaha" during the seasons that it was performed and won the plaudits of many thousands of summer tourists. The play was given at Wa-ag-a-mug, several miles from Petoskey, and the "stage" was an island in Round lake. The spectators' grandstand was on the main land. It is probable that the abandoned play will be revived with the return of its star.
The princess' father was Joseph Petoskey, who was the fifth of the old chief's 10 children. Before Ella was born her father traded his Petoskey home for a farm in Friendship township, seven miles north of Harbor Springs, and she was one of five children. Two of the five survive, the other being Cyrillus Petoskey, a resident of Lansing, Mich., and a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity.
pROF. FRANCIS W. KELSEY of the Latin Depart- ment of the University of Michigan, who has re- cently returned from Europe and Egypt, has brought to Ann Arbor one of the most important collections of ancient documents discovered in recent years. The Michigan Daily says:
The documents were ,a part of the files of a record office in or near the city of Tebtunis, Egypt, and were written in Greek with the exception of a few in Demotic. They were discovered about four months ago and nearly all of them were perfectly preserved. To properly interpret and explain these papers in their relation to the history and life of the Roman empire at that time will require from 10 to 15 years of steady work.
NOTES AND COMMENT 51
Among the papers are leases, receipts for wages, official orders, petitions to public officials, tax receipts, accounts, agreements regarding loans, a contract of indemnity, a receipt for dowry, discussions relating to the ownership and transfer of slaves, and a part of a register of deeds. There are also contracts of sale covering both personal and real property.
A perfect example of an ancient scroll of the kind referred to in the Bible, particularly in the Book of Revelations, is a roll nearly eight feet long with writing on both sides.
A number of papyri written in the Coptic language in the early Christian centuries were also included in the collection brought back by Professor Kelsey. The most important is a papyrus book consisting of 12 leaves, on which are written out the incantations and formulas used by a master magician.
The entire collection was damped out and made ready for decipherment in the British Museum, which has a workroom for the treatment of fragile and valu- able writings.
soon now the Old Engineering Building, one of our oldest Campus landmarks at the University will begin to come down in order to make room for the Clements Memorial Library, which is to house the Clements Library of Americana. Only the western tier of rooms will be torn away from the old building to begin with, for the library will not occupy exactly the old site. Building operations will begin as soon as the contract can be formally let. The contractors have al-
52 HISTORICAL NEWS
ready been notified that they are the low bidders, but that certain details require adjustment. It is estimated that the building will cost $175,000.
The building, of Italian renaissance design, will cover a plot approximately 80x100 feet and will be two stories high above a deep basement. One will approach it over a broad terrace and enter through a pillared loggia directly into the main reading and exhibition room. This room is to be about 36x90 feet and runs through both stories to the roof. On the first floor there is also to be an office for the Professor of American History, one for the custodian of the collection, and a study room for students. The custodian's room is so placed that work done in the study room goes on under his supervision. It also adjoins the vault room in which the many rare and precious books for which the collec- tion is distinguished are to be kept.
On the second floor are located the administrative offices for such work as collating and cataloguing. There is also an office for the Associate Professor of American History, a map room, and cases in which re- prints of rare books are to be kept for students' use.
In the basement provision has been made for re- ceiving incoming books. There is also a room for the making of photostat copies of valuable books, and a large stockroom for storing the files of early newspapers, in which the library is particularly rich.
This building is going to be simple and useful in construction and beautiful in appearance, a very fitting unit to face south from the Campus. It will house what historians declare to be one of the most valuable li- braries of Americana, which, like the building, is the
NOTES AND COMMENT 53
gift of Regent W. L. Clements, '82. Mr. Clements has been many years in gathering the books and other items that make up the collection, and has spent for them upwards of $400,000. Yet, as George Parker Winship, librarian of Harvard University, says, "Get- ting the books, not paying for them," is the great gift from Regent Clements. That has required the utmost devotion, patience and discrimination. Many men could expend half a million for the University ; few could make for it such a collection as the Clements Library of Americana. — Michigan Alumnus.
REQUEST for information: The following is from the Michigan State Dental Society Bulletin, Septem- ber, 1921 :
We are glad to be able to report that the old records of the Michigan State Dental Society have been found which makes the compilation of a history much easier. The book containing the records from 1881 to 1904 was handed to your historian at the last meeting and information from Floyd B. Streeter, Archivist of the Michigan Historical Commission, brought to light the fact that the first record book containing the records from 1856 to 1880 was in the Burton Historical Col- lection in the Detroit Public Library. A visit to the Detroit library resulted in Miss Krum, the custodian of the Collection, loaning the book to us.
We have also unearthed a biography and picture of Dr. James J. Jeffres, who was a charter member of this society. This leaves only one hole in our records. We still lack a picture of Dr. Geo. P. Bennett, who
54 HISTORICAL NEWS
practiced in Jackson from 1842 to 1859 and was a charter member of this society.
AMONG THE BOOKS
MODERN DEMOCRACIES, by the Right Hon.
James Viscount Bryce, scarcely needs an intro- duction to any reader of the author's earlier work, The American Commonwealth. Out of a rich background of political experience, study and travel Lord Bryce at the age of 83 years has produced his monumental work. Throughout it is characterized by unfailing clearness of thought, masterly grasp, and simplicity of style. The aim of the work, the author states, is "to present a general view of the phenomena hitherto observed in governments of an earlier type, showing what are the principal forms that type has taken, the tendencies each form has developed, the progress achieved in creating institutional machinery, and, above all, what Democracy has accomplished or failed to accomplish as compared with other kinds of government for the well-being of each people." The study is based upon six representative democracies, — France, Switzerland, Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zea- land,— and divides into three parts. Of profound interest is Part III, "The Future of Democracy," which is sanely optimistic. The author says:
'The statesmen and philosophers of antiquity did not dream of a government in which all men of every grade should bear a part: democracy was for them a superstructure erected upon a substructure of slavery. Modern reformers, bolder and more sanguine, called
NOTES AND COMMENT 55
the multitude to power with the hope and in the faith that the gift of freedom and responsibility would kindle the spirit self-government requires. For them, as for Christian theologians, Hope was one of the Cardinal Virtues.
"Less has been achieved than they expected, but nothing has happened to destroy the belief that among the citizens of free countries the sense of duty and the love of peace will grow steadily stronger. The experi- ment has not failed, for the world is after all a better place than it was uivier other kinds of government, and the faith that it may be better still survives. Without Faith nothing is accomplished, and Hope is the main- spring of Faith. Throughout the course of history every winter of despondency has been followed by a joyous springtime of hope."
Modern Democracies will be a guide to statesmen, students, and practical men for generations to come, and as such should be in every school and college li- brary and in the library of every thinking citizen (Macmillans, N. Y., 1921, 2 Vols., pp. 508 and 676. $10.50).
POWERS AND AIMS OF WESTERN DEMOCRACY, by William M. Sloane, is the work of an historian of imagination, as well as of conserva- tive tendencies. , On the whole he is optimistic. He sees the present in the long perspective of world his- tory, and present-day unrest as in no essential way more ominous than other great periods of transition. The work divides into three parts. First, the develop-
56 HISTORICAL NEWS
ment of democracy in thought and action covers the history of democracy from earliest times to the present day, discussing its institutions, its devices, its formulas and terms, its foes, its gains, and its degree of efficiency. The second part deals with the evolution of the modern nation in its relation to democracy. Most interesting is part three, the struggle for peace, especially the con- cluding words on peace as the test of our democracy. The easy style and clear thought of the book make it very readable (Scribners, N. Y., 1919, pp. 489. $3.50).
FOUNDING OF NEW ENGLAND, by James Truslow Adams, is probably the best book on this subject yet written. The author says in his preface:
"There is no lack of detailed narratives, both of the entire period covered by the present volume and, on an even larger scale, of certain of its more important or dramatic episodes. New material brought to light within the past decade or two, however, has necessitated a revaluation of many former judgments, as well as changes in selection and emphasis. Moreover, our gener- al accounts do not, for the most part, adequately treat of those economic and imperial relations which are of fundamental importance; for the one outstanding fact concerning any American colony in the colonial period is that it was a dependency, and formed merely a part of a larger and more comprehensive imperial and eco- nomic organization. Consequently, the evolution of such a colony can be viewed correctly only when it is seen against the background of the economic and im- perial conditions and theories of the time."
NOTES AND COMMENT 57
It is the imperial problem that has interested the author and to which he gives most careful attention. Those who desire a thorough treatment of the New England Puritan, particularly his contribution to edu- cation, government, ecclesiastical polity, and land ownership, will need to consult other works, for the author has touched only casually upon the institutional side of Puritan life. The style of the volume is literary and will please a wide circle of readers outside of the teaching profession (The Atlantic Monthly Press, Boston, 1921, pp. 482. $4.00).
EUROPE SINCE 1870, by Prof. Edward Raymond Turner, University of Michigan, is a useful ampli- fication of a portion of the author's earlier work, Europe ,1789-1920. Beginning with Germany's victory in the Franco-Prussian war and ending with the de- feat of her world ambitions in the recent great struggle, the book covers of course the period most highly signifi- cant for an interpretation of the present. It is more than a detailing of the facts of politics and war ; it is an evaluation of contemporary European history, in terms of the life of the people. The treatment is scholarly, forceful, and graphic. Thirty-six maps help to eluci- date the text. Like the author's earlier volume, this book, while intended particularly for college and uni- versity classes, will be enjoyed by the general reader (Doubleday Page and Co., Garden City, N. Y., 1921, pp. 580. $3.00).
58 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
NINTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE MICHIGAN HISTORICAL COMMISSION, 1921
TN accordance with Act No. 271, Public Acts of 1913, the Michigan Historical Commission herewith sub- mit the ninth annual report, covering the period from January 1 to December 31, 1921.
The members of the Commission for this period were as follows:
Gov. Alexander J. Groesbeck, ex officio
William L. Clements, Bay City
Augustus C. Carton, Lansing
Rt. Rev. Mgr. Frank A. O'Brien, Kalamazoo
Claude H. Van Tyne, Ann Arbor
Clarence M. Burton, Detroit
William L. Jenks, Port Huron
Monsignor O'Brien, owing to continued ill health, resigned from the -Commission in November, and was succeeded by Rev. Wm. F. Murphy, appointed De- cember 1.
At a meeting of the Commission held May 25, 1921, Commissioner William L. Clements of Bay City was elected president, and Commissioner Augustus C. Carton of Lansing vice-president.
Following is the financial statement for the fiscal year June 30, 1921 :
Total amount of appropriation for fiscal year ending
June 30, 1921 $15, 000.00
Expenditures from appropriation for fiscal year:
Personal Service $7,-899.40
Supplies 91.13
Equipment and Furniture 1 1 1 . 53
MICHIGAN HISTORICAL COMMISSION — 1921 59
Stationery, Books and Paper $992 . 48
Printing and Advertising 2, 993.40
Transportation, Telephone and Telegraph . 885 . 00
Fixed Charges 240.00
Total disbursements . . $13, 182 . 94
Total balance on hand June 30, 1921 $1, 817.06
During the year the Michigan History Magazine has contained the following articles:
Romance and Adventtire on the Ontonagon, by H. M. Powers.
New England Men in Michigan History, by Wm. Stocking.
Recollections of Zachariah Chandler, by O. E. McCutcheon.
A Brief History of the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company, by J. E. Jopling.
Laura Smith Haviland, by Mrs. Caroline R. Humphrey.
Michigan's Memorial and Historical Building, by Murray MacKay.
A Sketch of Some Institutional Beginnings in Michigan, by W. O. Hedrick.
Early Days in Petoskey, by Henry McConnell.
Public Schools of Battle Creek, by W. G. Coburn.
Michigan War Legislation, 1919, by Charles Landrum.
Polygamy at Beaver Island, by Milo M. Quaife.
The Legend of Me-nah-sa-gor-ning, by Samuel M. Leggett.
A Daring Canadian Abolitionist, by Fred Landon.
What the Glaciers did for Michigan, by Franklin S. Dewey.
Historic Spots Along Old Roads and New, by William M. Bryant.
A Forgotten City, by Ralph Chester Meima.
Charcoal Humor, by Thomas Clancey.
Overland to Michigan in 1846, by Miss Sue I. Silliman.
Pioneer Days in Wexford County, by Clarence Lewis Northrup.
Old Veterans' Stories, by Lansing Lodge, Sons of Veterans.
Rail Growth of Michigan's Capital City, by Glen K. Stimson.
60 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
Historical Sketch of the Muskegon Schools, by Miss Addie Littlefield.
The Story of Battle Creek's First Bank, by Forest G. Sweet.
Early Days in Dearborn, by Henry A. Haigh.
General Joseph Brown, by W. B. Hartzog.
Memories of Early Marquette, by Mrs. Philo M. Everett.
The following works are in press or in preparation :
Bibliography of Michigan history.
Michigan Historical Readings for schools.
Biographies of Michigan Public Men.
History of Women's Clubs of Michigan.
Autobiography of John Ball.
War Work, Michigan Division, Council of National Defense.
Life and Times of William Dummer Powell.
History of Sault Ste. Marie.
Records of the Governors and Judges of Michigan Territory.
History of the Federal Land Survey of Michigan.
Messages and Papers of the Governors of Michigan.
Michigan in the World War.
Extensive cooperative work has been carried on during the year with other states in calendaring the national archives, and in Michigan with the schools, libraries, women's clubs, chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Americanization societies, and work of other civic and patriotic organizations, reports of which have appeared in the press and in the Michigan History Magazine. A detailed six column report of the work of the Commission was published in Pipp's Weekly, Detroit, in the issue of December 3, 1921.
HISTORICAL SOCIETY ENROLLED SINCE JAN., 1921 61
SUPPORTING MEMBERS OF THE MICHIGAN PIONEER AND
HISTORICAL SOCIETY ENROLLED
SINCE JAN. 1921
ALPENA:
Fletcher, Frank Ward, Alpena Lyall, Mrs. Ida A., Alpena Veenfliet, Mrs. Mary L., Alpena
BARRY:
Bellinger, Mrs. Mary F., Hickory Corners Colgrove, Philip T., Castings Messer, Chester, Hastings
BAY:
Bateson Bros., Bay City Butterfield, Geo. E., Bay City Perkins, Mrs. A. B., Bay City Sheldon, Mr. Clarence L., Bay City Shields, Mrs. Irene P., Bay City
BERRIEN:
Babbitt, Mrs. Webster L., Niles Babbitt, Mr. L. W. Niles, Banyon, Walter Edward, Benton Harbor Blish, Mrs. W. G., Niles Fox, Geo. R., Three Oaks Strang, Mr. Clement J., Buchanan Three Oaks Woman's Club, Three Oaks White, Mrs. Martha, Three Oaks
BRANCH:
Thomas, Miss Mary, Union City
CALHOUN:
Cook,' Mrs. Justin T., Homer Cortwright, Mrs. W. H., Homer Hamilton, Mr. Burritt, Battle Creek
62 SUPPORTING MEMBERS
Mary Marshall Chapter, D. A. R., Marshall Miller, Craig, Marshall Ruff, Mr. Joseph, Albion Wheelock, Mr. C. H., Battle Creek
CASS:
Warren, Miss Margaret E., Cassopolis
CHARLEVOIX:
Armstrong, R. B., Charlevoix Harsha, Mrs. H. S., Charlevoix McConnell, Mr. Henry, Walloon Lake
CHIPPEWA :
Emery, Mr. B. R, Sault Ste. Marie Fowle, Mrs. Otto, Sault Ste. Marie Kemp, Mr. George, Sault Ste. Marie
CLARE:
Dorsey, Mrs. T. S., Clare
CLINTON:
Daniels, Mr. J. T., St. Johns Fitzgerald, Mr. J. W., St. Johns
DELTA :
Brennan, Mrs. Mary K., Escanaba Carlson, Mr. Roy W., Escanaba Yelland, Judge Judd, Escanaba
EATON :
Ernsberger, Mrs. Emily Louisa, Charlotte Stinchcomb, Mrs. Lydia M., Sunfield Strange, Mr. Daniel, Grand Ledge
EMMET:
Linehan, Mr. Thomas, Harbor Springs
GENESEE:
Bigelow, Mrs. Garrett, Grand Blanc Countryman, Mrs. Hannah E., Flint
HISTORICAL SOCIETY ENROLLED SINCE JAN., 1921 63
Dusenbery, Mrs. C. M., Flint Edwards, Mrs. Asenath B., Flint Manning, Mr. Albert, Flint Stever, Mrs. A. E., Flint
GLAD WIN I
Croll, Mrs. Henry, Beaverton Foster, Mrs. Cora, Gladwin Foster, Mr. Isaac, Gladwin McGregor, Mrs. G. A., Beaverton Niggerman, Mrs. Frank, Beaverton Prindle, Mrs. F. I., Gladwin
Woodward, Mrs. W. E., Gladwin
d GRAND TRAVERSE:
Hamilton, Mr. Frank, Traverse City Love, Mrs. William, Traverse City Traverse City Woman's Club, Traverse City
HILLSDALE I
Dudley, Mrs. Cornelia, Jones ville
HOUGHTON:
Hancock, Mr. Claude F., Chassell Jacker, Mr. Francis, -Tacobsville Lieben, Miss Dora M. Reeder, Mr. John T., Hough ton
HURON:
Scranton, Hon. Gilmore G., JIarbor Beach
INGHAM:
Brown, Mrs. A. M., East Lansing Burdick, Miss Clara M., Lansing Dilliman, MA Grover C., East Lansing Graham, Mrs. M. S., Lansing Haight, Judge Charles F., Lansing Havens, Mr. E. R., Lansing Herrmann, Mr. Christian, Lansing Hungerford, Mrs. Angeline E. H., Lansing Traver, Mr. George, Williamston
64 SUPPORTING MEMBERS
IONIA:
Marshall, Mrs. Levi, Ionia Morse, Mr. Grant M., Portland
IQSCO:
Bradley, Miss Ina M., Tawas City Loud, Mr. Edward F., Oscoda Twentieth Century Club, Tawas City
IRON:
Conlin, Mr. Thomas, Crystal Falls Murphy, Judge Fred F., Iron River
ISABELLA :
Doughty, Mrs. Eva, Mt. Pleasant
JACKSON:
Bulson, Mrs. Florence I., Jackson Dixon, Mrs. C. F., Jackson Fritz, Mr. Richard V., Jackson Luther, Mr. George E., Jackson Scott, Miss Mabel C., Jackson Sister Francis Stace, Jackson
KALAMAZOO :
Boudeman, Mr. Dallas, Kalamazoo
Buckley, Mrs. F. J., Kalamazoo
Clark, Mrs. Jenny N., Vicksburg
Follmer, Mrs. Mary Dennis, Vicksburg
Hobbs, Mrs. Henry, Kalamazoo
Hoyt, Mrs. Mary E., Kalamazoo
Ladies' Library Auxiliary, Vicksburg
Lucinda Hinsdale Chapter, D. A. R., Kalamazoo
McDuffee, Miss Alice Louise, Kalamazoo
Oakley, Mrs. Kate Russell, Kalamazoo
KENT:
Abbott, Miss Ethelyn, Grand Rapids Anderson, Mr. W. H., Grand Rapids Avery, Mr. Noyes L., Grand Rapids
HISTORICAL SOCIETY ENROLLED SINCE JAN., 1921 65
Ball, Miss Lucy, Grandville Beets, Rev. Henry, Grand Rapids Blodgett, "Miss- Helen, Grand Rapids Davis, Mrs. E. M., Grand Rapids Deane, Mr. Fred M., Grand Rapids Glasgow, Mr. William J., Grand Rapids Hamilton, Mr. Claude, Grand Rapids Heath, Mr. Ferry K., Grand Rapids Hollister, Mr. Clay H., Grand Rapids Kenny, Mr. Willard F., Grand Rapids Leonard, Mr. Frank E., Grand Rapids Markham, Mrs. Ida May, Grand Rapids O'Brien, Mr. J. T., Grand Rapids Rouse, Mr. Guy W.,Tjrand Rapids Schouten, Mr. John H., Grand Rapids Sweet, Mrs. Edwin F., Grand Rapids Vander Velde, Miss T. E., Grand Rapids
Waters, Mr. Dudley E., Grand Rapids
•
LEELANAU I
Allen, George, Omcna
LENA WEE :
Frensdorf, Mr. Edward, Hudson Graves, Mr. S. E., Adrian Satterthwaite, Mr. J. N., Tecumseh
LIVINGSTON
Philip Livingston Chapter, D. A. R., Howell Tubbs, Mrs. R. M., Howell
• 9
MACKINAC I
Donnelly, Helen M., Mackinac Island Murray, Judge David W., St. Ignace
MACOMB:
Chapoton, Mr. Henry O., Mt. Clemens Dalby, Mrs. Spencer, Mt. Clemens Slocum, Mr. Grant H., Mt. Clemens 9
66 SUPPORTING MEMBERS
MANISTEE :
Beache, Mrs. P. J., Manistee Schumacker, Rev. A., Manistee
MARQUETTE I
Bell, Mr. Frank A., Negaunee Dougherty, Miss Mary J., Negaunee Duncan, Hon. Murray M., Ishpeming Jopling, Mr. Alfred O., Marquette Longyear, Mr. J. M., Marquette Pendill, Miss Olive, Marquette
MECOSTA :
Fairhead, Mrs. Anna R. Gardner, Big Rapids Malone, Father James, Big Rapids
MENOMINEE :
Radford, Miss Frances D., Menominee Vennema, Mrs. H. A., Menominee
MISSAUKEE :
Lake City Woman's Club, Lake City Lamport, Rev. Warren Wayne, Lake City Merchant, Mrs. A. S., Stittsville
MONROE :
Conant, Mr. Harry A., Monroe Newberry, Mrs. Marie A., Dundee Sister Mary Fidelia, Monroe
MONTCALM :
Fowle, Mr. Delos A., Stan ton Hinds, -Mr. Henry H., Stan ton Pierson, Mr. John W. S., Stan ton Prevette, Mr. Geo. C., Stanton Ranney, Mrs. E. W., Greenville
MUSKEGON :
Galpin, Mrs. William, Muskegon Hume, Mr. Thomas H., Muskegon Moon, Mr. Paul, Muskegon
HISTORICAL SOCIETY ENROLLED SINCE JAN., 1.1)21 67
Nims, Mrs. Ellen S. McReynold, Muskegon Smith, Mr. and Mrs. James L., Muskegon
OAKLAND :
Bachelder, Dr. Frank S., Pontiac Carlisle, Ruth, Farmington Clark, Mrs. Mary J., Pontiac Coss, Mr. Preston B., Pontiac Hagerty, Mrs. Mary Hayes, Royal Oak Patton, Mrs. Mary E., Pontiac
OCEANA :
Munger, Mrs. Edith G., Hart Woman's Literary Club, Pentwater Woman's Progressive* Club, Hart
ONTONAGON I
Powers, Mrs. Mary A., Ontonagon
OSCEOLA:
Bass, Mr. L. Burdett, LeRoy Evart Woman's Club, Evart
OTTAWA :
Marsilje, Mr. Isaac, Holland
Jesiek, Mr. A., Holland
Van Eyck, Mr. William O., Holland
OTSEGO I
Shipp, Mrs. F. J., Gaylord
ROSCOMMON:
Finnigan, Mr. J. T., Houghton
SAGINAW :
Boynton, Mrs. John F., Saginaw Dustin, Mr. Fred, Saginaw Wallace, Mr. William H., Saginaw
SAINT CLAIR:
Ballentine, Mrs. Carolone F., Port Huron Ernst, Mrs. George L., Port Huron
68 SUPPORTING MEMBERS
Howe, Mrs. George W., Port Huron Ottawawa Chapter, D. A. R., Port Huron Thompson, Mr. Ethon W., Port Huron
SAINT JOSEPH
Cummings, Mrs. Frank S., Centerville Miller, Mrs. L. O., Three Rivers
SCHOOLCRAFT :
Thorborg, Mrs. Nettie, Manistique
SHIAWASSEE I
Killian, Mrs. Etta, Garland McCartney, Mrs. Frank, Owosso
VAN BUREN:
Cochrun, Mr. Edgar R., Paw Paw Miller, Mabel Hayes, Paw Paw Scott Club, South Haven Smith, Mr. Dana P., Paw Paw
WAYNE :
Banks, Dr. S. Gertrude, Detroit Bates, Mr. W. G., Detroit Beaumont, Mr. John W., Detroit Bowen, Mr. Herbert, Detroit Brotherton, Mrs. Wilber, Detroit Butler, Mr. E. H., Detroit Carr, Mr. Edward L, Detroit Chandler, Mrs. C. J., Grosse Pointe Chapin, Mr. Roy D., Detroit Couzens, Hon. James, Detroit Crapo, Stanford T., Detroit Dussault, Mr. Paul, Detroit Finn, Mr. Albert H., Detroit Ford, Mr. William, Dearborn Haigh, Mr. Henry A., Detroit Harbeck, Miss Ida C., Detroit Harvey, Miss Caroline, Detroit Heckel, Col. Edward G,, Detroit
HISTORIOA^ SOCIETY ENROLLED SINCK .TAX., 1021 69
Joy, Mr. Richard P., Detroit Lambert, Mrs. Benjamin L., Detroit Inland, Mr. Henry M., Petrol t Lightner, Mr. Clarence A., Detroit McGlogan, Miss Margaret, Detroit McGlogan, Miss Lucy, Detroit Nielson, Mr. N. C., Detroit Raynale, Mrs. H. E., Highland Park Rippey, Mr. Owen, Highland Park Rockwell, Mr. Samuel R., Detroit Stoddard, Mrs. E. W., Detroit Walker, Mr. Bryantv Detroit Warren, Mr. Charles B., Detroit Wells, Mr. Daniel, Detroit Willebrands, Louise, Detroit
WASHTENAW:
Easterly, Miss Ruth, Dexter English, Mr. Albert D., Manchester Finney, Mr. Byron A., Ann Arbor Ladies' Literary Club, Ypsilanti Osborn, Mr. Milton E., Ann Arbor Soule, Major Harrison, Ann Arbor Woodbridge, Mrs. Charles O., Saline Ypsilanti Chapter, D. A. R., Ypsilanti
SUPPORTING MEMBERS OUTSIDE OF STATE
Bedford- Jones, Mr. H., Evansville, Ind. Boisseau, Mr. O. G., Holden, Mo. Brown, Mr. Charles W., La G/ange, Ind. BurtjMr. H. E., Chicago, 111. Cox, Mr. William Armstrong, Cleveland, Ohio Denham, Mr. Edward, New Bedford, Mass. Dolan, Mr. H. A., Portland, Maine Eichhorn, Mr. John P., DeKalb, 111. Gratiot, Dr.'C. C., Shullslmrg, Wis. Green, Mr. Edwin O., Cleveland, Ohio Griffin, Mr. A. A., Davenport, Iowa
70 SUPPORTING MEMBERS *
Kelton, Dr. Ann L., Montpelier, Vermont Lane, Mr. Alfred Church, Cambridge, Mass. Lewis, Mr. L. W., Harriman, Tenn. McCutcheon, Mr. O. E., Idaho Falls, Idaho Mack, Rev. J. J., Cambridge, Mass. Mandelbaum, Mr. Maurice H., Chicago, 111. Morrison, Mr. Noah F., Elizabeth, New Jersey Murray, Mr. William H., Indianapolis, Ind. Nichols, Mr. A. C., National City, Calif. Northrup, Mr. Clarence L., Hurlock, Md. Patton, Mrs. William L., Brooklyn, N. Y. Reed, Dr. Charles B., Chicago, 111. Ryan, Mr. Edward J., Harrisburg, Pa. Smith, Miss Valentine, Chicago, 111. Truax, Mr. A. L., Crosby, N. D. Wade, Mr. Clifford G., Lake Superior, Wis.
THE DECEASE OF THE FOLLOWING MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY HAS BEEN REPORTED SINCE APRIL 1921:
Andrews, Mrs. George, Flint, Mich. Appleyard, Mrs. James, Lansing, Mich. Barnes, Mrs. Amanda F., Lansing, Mich. Bates, Mr. G. W., Detroit, Mich. Bissondte, Mr. Charles A., Grand Rapids, Mich. Buck, Mr. May ton J., Lansing, Mich. Dennis, Mr. Elmore W., Jackson, Mich. Downey, Mr. Charles P., Lansing, Mich. Eastman, Mrs. Mary V. H., Lansing, Mich. Fowle, Mr. Otto, Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. Grant, Mr. C. B., Seabreeze, Fla. Morse, Mr. Allen B., Ionia, Mich. Palmer, Mrs. Eliza, Grand Rapids, Mich. Palmer, Anna A., Saginaw, Mich. Raynale, Mrs. Harriet E., Highland Park, Mich. Simons, Miss Mercy Helen, Battle Creek, Mich. Smith, Mr. John Jr., Romeo, Mich. Turner, Mr. George H., Coldwater, Mich.
DONORS AND THEIR GIFTS 71
DONORS AND THEIR GIFTS TO THE PIONEER MUSEUM,
STATE CAPITOL, FROM JANUARY 1, 1921
TO JANUARY 1, 1922
(LIST MADE BY MRS. M. B. FERREY, CURATOR)
1. ABBOTT, MRS. SARAH — Wedding bonnet.
2. ARNOLD, MRS. STELLA (Bay View) — Chair used in home of
her grandparents, Rev. and Mrs. J. M. Arnold, June 7, 1821.
3. BENEDICT, MRS. FELICE (East Tawas) — Four card photo-
graphs of stump fences.
4. BENNETT, Miss SUSIE (Lansing) — Irridescent glass pitcher.
5. BISSONETTE, CHARLES A. (Grand Rapids) — Paper written
on the early history of Michigan.
6. BLAIR, MRS. CHARLES A. (Lansing) — Paper received from
Geo. W. Latimer relating to work of the Woman's Patriotic Association during the Civil War; program used at Booth's Theater, New York City, Dec. 27, 1875.
7. BLAIR, MRS. KATHERINE H. (Lansing) — Membership certifi-
cate for her father, Chas. H. Horton, in the F. & A. Masonic Lodge "of the village of Port Huron," May 12, 1851.
8. BOWERMAN, ALMON (Ionia) — Picture of D. A. Blodgett's
lumber camp on White Pine River, W. M. Smith, fore- man; picture of N. I. Garrish's lumber camp on White
. Pine River; two small Spanish coins dated 1773 and 1775
respectively. Obtained from his daughter, Mrs. F. K. Allen, Chesaning, Mich.; one book, Pilgrim's Progress, published by John Holdbrook, Brattleboro, Vt. Owned by his grandfather, John H. Bowerman.
0. BROCKWAY, Miss MARY (Mason) — Child's drum bought in Civil War times; child's bureau, 1865; rocking chair, 1875; card basket; glove box bought in 1871; small looking glass used by her father since 1850; feather flowers made by her mother in I860; small basket of painted flowers; green vase bought in 1861, ornamented with white flowers; brown cuspidor bought in 1855; Bissell carpet sweeper bought
72 DONORS AND THEIR GIFTS
in 1878; her mother's knife and fork used when she began house-keeping; white iron-stone china platter, wedding gift of mother, 18.55; stocking basket made by Indians, 1865; colored basket given her mother by her pupils in 1854; vase bought in 1861.
10. CALKINS, MRS. J. J. (Mason) — Uniform worn by her husband
in the Civil War.
11. CAMPBELL, MRS. JAMES H. (Grand Rapids) — Few records of
New York and Virginia, 1863, received from Wm. Berwick, Washington, D. C. He restored Manuscript in Congres- sional Library including Constitution 1835, 1850, 1908.
12. CHAPIN, MRS. E. C. (Lansing) — Two fans for shielding face
from fire place, used about 1836 by her mother, Mrs. H. S. King; turkey wing fan.
13. CLARK, E. M. (Big Rapids) — Four kodak views of the Old
Stage Coach owned by Mr. Newcomb, Big Rapids.
14. COWLAN, MRS. M. I. (Grosse Isle) — Two original dining
room chairs brought to Detroit in 1835 by her great uncle.
15. CROTTY, JOHN (Lansing) — Two views of the Capitol in process
of construction.
16. DALY, THOMAS F. (Lansing) — Twelve Indian relics picked
up on his farm.
17. DORSE Y, MRS. T. S. (Clare) — Manuscript copy of history of
Clare County. Thirty- three handwritten pages.
18. DAVIS, MRS. E. M. (Grand Rapids) — Pitcher, brown ware;
pink tea saucer marked "Royal Bonn" design, " Theetrinke, " Germany.
19. DOLLS sent by City Federated Clubs of Detroit under direc-
tion of chairman of Americanization Committee, Mrs. William Baldwin. Each doll represents some nationality in its original costume. Twenty-one dolls in all.
20. DUNCAN, MRS. ROBERT (Lansing) — Two volumes Shakes-
peare's Life and Works, edited by Chas. Symons, D. D., published by Harper & Bros., New York, 1844; English reader by Lindsey Murray, Ithaca, published by A. P. Searing & Co. 1826; circular from C. H. McGregor, private dancing academy, Mason, Nov. 19, 1878.
DONORS AND THEIR GIFTS 73
21. ELKIN, MRS. N. A. (Clare) — Three card photographs of
stump fences in Michigan.
22. ERNSBERGER, MRS. EMILY L. (Lansing) — Pair of horse-hair
bracelets made by her sister, Sarah A. Phillips, aged 14.
23. FEIER, MRS. (Holt) — Piece of surveyor's chain used by Gen.
Fremont. Chain was made of braided raw-hide. The original is displayed in Chamber of Commerce, Los Angeles, Calif.; flag given to her brother, Frank Abels, when he cast his first vote in 1861 in Eaton County; New York Herald containing news of assassination of President Lin- coln, printed by Union Army on wall paper in a rebel office just as peace was declared.
24. FERRET, MRS. M. B. (Lansing) — Chinese doll, bought of
A. M. Emery; Holland doll bought in Saugatuck; Negro doll bought in Lansing; Japanese doll bought in San Fran- cisco, Calif.
25. FERRIS, WOODBRIDGE N. (Big Rapids) — Photo of himself at
his desk in Capitol; Photo of himself and Mr. Edward T. Bigelow standing by high stump fence in 1914.
26. HARDY, MRS. A. C. (Lansing) — Plated cake basket, Rogers'
triple, 1834; China tureen with cover, design "Peruvian Horse Hunt. "
27. HILL, H. C. (Lansing)— Ale mug engraved on top "F. G. H.,
1825". Secured by Mrs. Florence S. Babbitt.
28. IRONS, MRS. MARIAN H. (West Branch) — Cowbell whittled
out of wood. Wooden clappers, rope handle; Ammish doll made by Mrs. Ida D. Munroe, blind woman, and used to hold back door.
29. JAMES, MRS. A. G. (Lansing) — Framed picture of her
ancestor, Stephen Hopkins, one of the signers of the Decla- ration of Independence; black-crepe fringed shawl once owned and worn by family of Commodore Oliver Perry.
30. JOHNSON, MRS. A. (Lansing) — Illustrated Family Magazine,
1846, published by Bradbury, Soden & Co., Boston; His- tory of American Rebellion, Elliott G. Storke, Auburn, N. Y., vol. 1, 1863; Mormonism Unveiled, by John D. Lee, St. Louis, Bryan Brand & Co. 1877; cape over 150 years
74 DONORS AND THEIR GIFTS
old; basket brought from Wales, England over 100 years old.
31. JOHNSON, T. E. (Lansing) — Framed oil portrait of Supt.
Joseph Estabrook in his office, 1887-1890.
32. KELLER, J. (Lansing) — Piece of cloth from German aeroplane
shot down in drive on Argonne Forest, France.
33. KNAPP, W. H. P. (Riley)— Childs World, May 1865.
34. LEE, HON. W. O. (Port Huron) — Biography and half-tone of
his father, W. O. Lee.
35. LEIGHTNER, MR. AND MRS. (Shepherd) — Seventeen Indian
arrow heads.
36. LEIGHTON, MRS. CARRIE (Concord) — Rag doll made for her
in the winter of 1848 by her mother, Mrs. E. A. Mosier, and her aunt. It had velvet shoes and was so fine she was only allowed to hold it while she sat in a chair. It has been in her possession seventy-three years.
37. LIGHTNER, WILLIAM (Fremont) — Skull of beaver with arrow
embedded in it. The arrow is made of brown pottery and is thought to be a relic of the mound builders.
38. LOOMIS, MR. AND MRS. RUDOLPH (Lansing) — Three pictures
of "dehorned" rail fences taken between Greenville and Lake City.
39. MANLY, MRS. BARBARA T. (Sandusky) — Shawl, stamped and
colored border and black center. Worn by her aunt about 1868.
40. MARTIN, HENRY J. (Vermontville) — Oil painting of his
mother, Mrs. Emily R. Martin, a pioneer of Michigan since about 1830, died 1885.
41. MILLER, LORENZO F. (Long Beach, Calif.) — Spanish War
veteran's suit of blue jeans; machette carried in Cuba before liberation. Blood spots pitted into blade, scabbard tipped with silver; Spanish dirk knife with loaded silver and horn handle. Mr. Miller served in Co. F. 31st Mich. Vol. in the Cuban War; picture of the wreck of the "Maine " in Havana Harbor; picture of the review of the "twin regiments" 31st Mich, and 1st Georgia at Camp Poland, Sept. 15, 1898.
DOXOKS AND THEIR GIFTS 75
42. MORRISON, MRS. D. J. S. (Royal Oak) — Deed of property,
signed by Andrew Jackson, President of United States July 1, 1831. Secured by Mrs. V. M. Shoesmith of East Lansing.
43. NORTON, Miss HELEN S. (Flint) — Chair bought from Mrs.
Baker, Lansing. Used in Old Capitol at Detroit, during Gov. Mason's time.
44. PAPERS left in Capitol by a Legislator. These papers were
captured during the Civil War at Fairfax Court House, Va.
45. PENDRY, MRS. F. E. (Detroit) — Three leather-bound books,
The Psalms of David in Song, by I. Watts, D. D., Notting- ham. Printed by C. Sutton, 1796. Marked "Eliza Tanner Oct. 18, 1818.'^ Prayer book used by F. E. Praig; hat with white plume and jacket embroidered in white, used by Mr. W. A. Praig, member of Detroit Commandery No. 1.
46. PETERSON, Miss RUTH (Tawas City) — Swedish doll made by
her at the direction of her mother who was born in Sweden.
47. PITCHER, white, with flower design. Donor unknown.
48. PUBLIC DOMAIN DEPARTMENT (Lansing) — Marker sent
to Glen Munshaw, Lansing, from Munising Foundry Co.
49. REED, MRS. E. G. (Lansing) — Oval frame used for wax fruit
and flowers.
50. RICE, GEORGE A. (Reed City) — Wooden shoes made and worn
by farmer near Reed City.
51. RUSSEL, J. HERBERT (Detroit) — Wooden boot-jack marked
"Lew. Cass, 1836. " Secured from J. W. Rosier, Sandwich, Ontario.
52. SEYDELL, MRS. L. V. (Grand Rapids) — Framed Insignia of
United States troops during the World War. Made by Mending Bureau, Camp Custer, Battle Creek, under direc- tion of Miss Pearl Goff and Mrs. A. M. Alvord, Mrs. Wm. H. Waite and Mrs. M. Strong. Displayed at Continental Hall, Washington, D. C.
53. SHOKSMITH, MRS. V. M. (East Lansing) — Deed signed by
Andrew Jackson. Secured from D. J. S. Morrison.
76 DONORS AND THEIR GIFTS
54. SIMONS, Miss HELEN (Lansing) — Photograph of 4th of July
celebration of 4th Ward pupils in "Mark's Bus."
55. SLAYTON, MRS. E. (Hart) — Bound red book containing auto-
biography of C. Crane.
56. SLOCUM, MRS. CARRIE (Lansing) — Flax wheel and reel used
by her grandmother.
57. SLY, REV. W. S. (Lansing) — Skeleton leaves and flowers in
round glass standard, made by and presented to them by Mrs. Mary, wife of Capt. Gear, during Mr. Sly's pastorate at Alton, III, about 1870.
58. SNOW, IRA (Parma) — Piece of stone thought to be of meteoric
origin.
59. STEELE, MRS. L. (Lansing) — Snuff box; portrait of T. W.
Wescott, leading tailor of Lansing at one time, who always dressed in cut-away coats and beaver hat; Cuban almanac dated 1838.
00. STEFFENSON, MRS. NETTIE (Manistique) — Indian Legend " Kich-iti-ki-pi-Spring, " and memorial pamphlet to Dr. Anna Howard Shaw.
61. STONE, MISSES NINA AND EDITH (Lansing) — Scarf worn by
their father, Justice Stone, when he was a member of the congressional escort at the funeral of President Garfield at Cleveland, O., Sept. 26, 1881.
62. SULLIVAN, MRS. WARREN (Lansing) — Pink lustre teapot.
63. TAYLOR, MRS. DORA (Lansing) — Two 3x4 wood etchings.
Carved at top "Centennial Exposition." One represents the Main building and the other Memorial Hall.
64. TEMPLE, MRS. SARAH E. (formerly of Lansing) — One page
of records of sixteen soldiers who enlisted in Civil War 1862.
65. THAYER, MRS. ARTHUR (Mason) — 27 Indian arrows; 2 axes;
1 skinning stone; 1 gray pipe; 1 ceremonial; 1 small peace pipe; found near Mason.
66. THAYER, MRS. ISABEL (Saginaw) — Thirteen stereopticon
views of early Lansing taken by her brother-in-law, B. F. Hall.
67. TYLER, C. E. (Jackson) — Piece of wood obtained at Zam-
bouange, Philippine Islands during war. The natives bury
DONORS AND THEIR GIFTS 77
this wood to insure a high degree of polish; cane of diamond willow wood made and carved by Indians; bottle bought of French sailor on vessel in Columbia River; coat made from intestines of the walrus, impervious to water.
08. VINCENT, MRS. CLARA (Mason) — Natural wood handle, roll of bark.
69. WILLIAMS, MRS. HELEN ASTON (Grand Rapids) — Old button string, originally the longest and oldest string in Central School, Middleton, Conn. Many of the buttons were brought over from England.
PAPERS
THE TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF THE LINCOLN CONSPIRATORS
BY THE LATE JUDGE R. A. WATTS
ADMAN
A T the time of the assassination of President Lincoln **: I was at home, recovering from a wound received during the final assault upon the Confederate lines in front of Petersburg,,April 2, 1865.
When I returned about April 25 I found our old division in camp near Alexandria, eight or ten miles from Washington, and at once reported to General Ilartranft in command on whose staff I had served during the last year.
Within a day or two after my return an order from the war department was delivered to the general, directing him to report at once at the Washington arsenal, in the city of Washington, for special duty. Accompanying this order was a private note from Major General Hancock, commanding the middle military division, saying that the special duty, for which the
One of the most interesting contributions to war-time history made in recent years is this story of the trial and execution of the Lincoln conspirators as told by the late Judge R. A. Watts of Adrian, Michigan, and published serially in the Adrian Telegram, in April, 1914. Its contribution of material that has not before been made public, war- rants its preservation in permanent form and it is here reproduced substantially as pub- blished in the Telegram. Of the narrator the Telegram says, in its issue of April 17: "Judge Watts, whose military service extended throughout the war writes from the standpoint of not only an eye-witness, but of an active participant. At the time he was attached to the staff of General Hartranft and was on duty at the federal prison at Washington throughout that tense and excitin? period, as acting assistant adjutant m-nt-ral. His duties included the carrying of all dispatches between Secretary Stanton and the prison, and the handling of many official orders, arid he was in constant personal touch with eve.-y detail of the momentous proceedings, from the reception of the prisoners to tlu ir death and burial." Judge Watts died June 2">, 1920, at his home in Adrian, in his K3rd year.
11 (81)
S2
JUDGE K. A. WATTS
EXECUTION OF THE LINCOLN CONSPIRATORS 83
general had been detached, might continue for several months and that he was at liberty to take with him such of his personal staff as he might choose.
The general handed me the order of the secretary of war and the note of General Hancock, with instruc- tions to be ready to accompany him.
Within an hour the command of the division had been transferred to General Griffin, the next officer in rank, and we were mounted and on our way to Wash- ington. Neither of us had the remotest guess what the special duty might be,^md it may be imagined that our curiosity was at high tension during that ride.
As we rode upon the Long Bridge, spanning the Potomac, I was most forcibly reminded of the last time I had passed over it and the marvelous contrast be- tween then and now. That was on Wednesday follow- ing the first battle of Bull Run. I was then a private soldier stretched out in an ambulance by the side of Captain Will Graves, my company commander, who like myself, was suffering from a severe wound received in that battle. I was also suffering from a fierce attack of the measles. My wound had not been dressed, and my clothes were stiff with blood and dirt; each jolt of the ambulance caused severe pain.
The first battle had resulted in an utter rout and— shameful retreat. To me, weak from the loss of blood mid most fearfully sick, everything looked awfully dark. On the seat by the side of the driver sat the late Capt. J. H. Fee, then Corporal Fee, my chum in college :md comrade in arms. He was the quartermaster, com- missary, surgeon, and nurse for this squad of two.
At this crossing four years later the war was over,
84 JUDGE B. A. WATTS
the Union preserved — no more battles, no more wounds, home not far away. I was well mounted, wearing the uniform and sword of a staff officer, riding by the side of the major general I loved so well, and in excellent health. All the world looked happy and my own heart sang with joy.
On reaching the entrance to the arsenal grounds we were met by Major Benton of the ordnance department, who seemed to be expecting the general, as he at once escorted us to the residence part of the old District of Columbia prison, but unused as a prison for a number of years. We there found quarters provided for us, con- sisting of pleasant rooms with desks, tables, chairs, beds and stationery, all ready for use and needful for comfort.
Very soon General Hancock and several of his staff drove up and the general at once explained that this place had been designated as a military prison for the confinement during the trial, of the parties charged with the conspiracy to assassinate the president and others, and told General Hartranft that he had been selected as special provost marshal general to be in command, and that he would at once be furnished an official order from President Johnson defining his duties.
We then passed back into the prison proper and there found a number of cells, constructed in the usual manner of early days, with walls, ceiling, and floors of heavy stone masonry, opening into corridors. These cells had lately been cleaned.and prepared ready for use.
After returning to the office provided, General Han- cock very earnestly impressed upon General Hartranft
EXECUTION OF THE LINCOLN CONSPIRATORS 85
thai the secretary of war and others were in possession of facts, indicating that the conspiracy to assassinate was widespread, and that there was apprehension lest there might be an organized attempt to rescue these assassins, and then added, "You have been selected for this command because of the confidence Secretary Stanton has in your fidelity and courage. "
I, who had served at his side from the wilderness until the final close throughout all those trying days during which every soldier showed the metal of which he was made, felt that I knew the general as well as any other man and was made very proud that he had been thus distinguished.
But, notwithstanding the honor thus bestowed upon the general, and my appreciation of his kindness in keeping me with him, I was free to admit to myself that the situation was not to my taste. I had but little liking for cells and bars and the mystery, and things whispered but not seen, and as the situation developed from day to day, I liked it much less.
It grew to be extremely gruesome.
The next morning a brigade of infantry, a battery of artillery and a battalion of cavalry reported to Gen- eral Hartranft and went into camp just outside the arsenal grounds and during the day one of the regi- ments marched inside the enclosure and stacked arms.
The Washington arsenal is situated on a point of land at the foot of Four and One Half street, near the navy yard; on the west and south it is touched by the Potomac river, on the east by a deep channel for the use of vessels. My memory is that in 1865 it was sur-
86 JUDGE K. A. WATTS
rounded by a high board fence, with a high gate at the entrance.
The prison building was an old-fashioned brick structure 60 to 80 feet wide, three stories high, about 200 feet long. It stood in the center of a large area, surrounded except at the entrance by a thick brick wall 20 or 30 feet high, after the usual manner of state prison enclosures.
On the afternoon of this day a heavy guard was stationed all around the main enclosure, and from that time until the prison was closed in July neither egress nor exit to or from these grounds was permitted, except on a written pass. The only exception was the coming in and passing out of a regiment of infantry each morn- ing as the guard was relieved. The same regiment never returned nor did the same soldier ever stand guard twice on the same spot. When all the regiments of the brigade had once been used as guards, another brigade took its place, and thus many regiments were used during the two months' time we occupied this place.
On the second morning General Hancock visited us again. At that time it was considered necessary that we have more assistance in the main prison building, and Col. McCall of the 200th Pennsylvania, Col. Frederick of the 209th, Col. Dodd of the 211th, and Lieut. Geisinger of the 208th, all of our old division and all exceptionally trusted officers, were ordered to report at once, and all remained until after the execution in July following. Assistant Surgeon George L. Porter of the regular army, a nephew of Admiral Porter, also re-
EXKCTTIOX OF THE LINCOLN CONSPIRATORS 87
ported and was added to the staff, and remained with us until after the prison was closed.
A week or two later my old comrade Capt. Rath, with whom I had served fgr two years in the 17th Michi- gan infantry, was also ordered to report for such special duty as might be required.
Soon after dark of the second day Col. L. C. Baker, chief of the government secret service, came to the prison, accompanied by four secret service officers, who were assigned quarters and remained on duty continu- ously until after the execution in July.
Near midnight General Hartranft, Col. Baker, the four detective officers, Colonels Dodd, Frederick and McCall, with a company of infantry, moved down to the wharf in the rear of the prison, and on a signal from Col. Baker a gunboat lying at anchor in the Potomac steamed alongside, and the commandant of the vessel delivered to General Hartranft the prisoners Payne, Atzerodt, Herold, Spangler, O'Laughlin, Samuel Arnold and Dr. Mudd, all heavily ironed. They were at once placed between two lines of armed soldiers, marched to the prison, and placed in separate cells.
An evening or so after, Col. Baker and another officer brought Mrs. Surratt in a closed carriage. She was for the time being also placed in a cell, but sub- sequently removed to a room on the third floor.
From the time the prisoners entered these cells until their execution on July 7, two armed soldiers stood guard, night and day, at the door of each cell, while at the main door leading into the prison apartment either Col. Dodd, Col. McCall, or Col. Frederick, with a company of infantry, were at all times on duty. The
83 JUDGE I{. A. WATTS
company of soldiers was relieved each morning, others always taking their place, and, as in the case of the out- side guard, the same men never returned a second time and no soldier ever stood guard at the same post twice, nor more than two hours.
To avoid self-destruction, each of the prisoners ex- cept Mrs. Surra tt was compelled to wear a thickly padded hood upon his head, with only holes for his eyes and a slit at the mouth, through which he was fed.
The handcuffs consisted of heavy bands of iron about each wrist, connected by a bar ten inches in length; upon the ankles an iron band was riveted, con- nected by a chain of only sufficient length to permit short steps, and to this chain was attached an iron weight. These manacles upon wrists and ankles were worn continuously, all during imprisonment, night and day.
Mrs. Surratt was never manacled and, although always under strict guard, was furnished suitable whole- some food, and at all times and in all ways was treated with the courtesy, lenity and kindness due to her sex. During much of the time she occupied a large airy room on the third floor, and her daughter Anna was frequently permitted to be with her.
As the summer advanced the heat became so in- tense that danger of insanity or death, caused by the fearful heat of these hoods, seemed greater than the possibility of self-destruction, and the hoods were re- moved.
While the health and safety of these men were guarded with the utmost vigilance, to • make certain that the gallows should not be robbed, it must be con-
EXECUTION OF THE LINCOLN CoNsriRATORS 89
fessed but little care was taken for their comfort.- In- deed, it is beyond question that no prison of modern times was ever guarded with such rigid rules and severe discipline.
I held the official position of acting assistant adju- tant general. My duties never brought me into personal contact with any of the prisoners, and I rarely saw any of them, except as they were seated in the court room during the trial. However, all orders, communications, reports, and official papers, pertaining to the manage- ment of the prison, came within my department and I was familiar with all that transpired.
Assistant Surgeon Porter made personal examina- tion of each prisoner twice each day, and his report was incorporated into the general report each day made of all conditions about the prison, and a copy furnished the War department.
General Hancock visited the prison at least once a day during the time of our occupancy, and General Thomas Eckhert, then one of the assistant secretaries of war, also spent much time each day in and about the prison. He was afterwards for many years president and general manager of the Western Union Telegraph company.
By means of the daily reports of Generals Hancock, Eckhert and Hartranft, the great secretary of war was kept in constant touch with every detail, and it was well understood that it was his iron hand that controlled and specified every precaution for the safe keeping of I lie prisoners here confined.
A room in the third story of the building was fitted up for I lie use of the military commission during the
90 JUDGE R. A. WATTS ,
trial. This room was about 30x50 feet in area, situated in the northeast corner.
Across the west end was a raised platform used as a dock for the prisoners. At the south end of the dock a door opened from the prison, so that they never passed near any spectator, as they were brought in and taken from the court room.
A large table was placed near the north side, for the use of the commission, around which they were seated during the trial. Near the west end of this table was an elevated seat for the use of the witnesses while being examined.
Near the south side was a long table for the use of the official shorthand reporters, Samuel Pitman and the Murphys, father and two sons. Close to the prisoners' dock were two tables for the use of the counsel for defendants. At the east end an elevated seat was occupied by General Hartranft, provost marshal general.
About the first of May President Johnson issued an order convening a military commission for the trial and directed the secretary of war to detail nine competent military officers to serve as such commission, and further directed the judge advocate general to prefer charges against the eight conspirators under arrest, and all others alleged to have been associated with them in the conspiracy; and to proceed with the trial as speedily as the ends of justice would permit.
The secretary selected Major General David Hunter, General Lew Wallace (author of "Ben Hur" and "The Prince of India"), General A. V. Kautz, General F. M. Harris, General A. P. Howe, General James A. Ekin,
EXECUTION OF THE LINCOLN CONSPIRATOR 91
General Robert S. Foster, Col. D. R. Clendenin and Col. C. H. Thomkins. General David Hunter was designated as president of the commission.
Judge Advocate General Joseph Holt, Col. H. L. Burnett and John A. Bingham, a member of congress from Ohio and appointed special assistant judge advo- cate for this trial, represented the government.
Within a few days the members of the commission and the prosecuting officers assembled in the room pro- vided, and as soon ^s they were organized ready to proceed, the eight prisoners were brought into the room. Each was seated in the dock by the side of an armed soldier, and at all times thereafter each prisoner was seated between two soldiers while in the court room.
Reverdy Johnson, United States senator from Maryland, one of the leading constitutional lawyers of the country, appeared as counsel for Mrs. Surratt; associated with him were Messrs. Clampit and Aiken of Washington.
General Thomas Ewing, Jr., a son of former Senator Ewing, was retained by Dr. Mudd and Edward Spangler. Frederick Stone of Maryland appeared for Samuel Arnold and young Herold. Walter S. Cox, an able attorney of Charles county, Maryland, was em- ployed by Michael O'Laughlin. Payne and Atzerodt were represented by Mr. Doster, a bright young attor- ney from Baltimore.
The charge and specifications against defendants were then read by Col. Burnett, assistant judge advo- cate. The substance of the charge against each was: 'Maliciously, unlawfully and traitorously, and in aid of the existing armed rebellion against the United
92 JUDGE B. A. WATTS
States, on or before the 5th day of March, 1865, and on divers other days between that day and the 14th day of April, 1865, combining, confederating and conspiring together, with [naming each defendant] John H. Surratt, John Wilkes Booth, Jefferson Davis, George N. Sanders, Beverly Tucker, Clement C. Clay, Jacob Thompson, and others unknown, to kill and murder Abraham Lincoln, late President, Andrew Johnson, Vice-presi- dent, William H. Seward, Secretary of State, and Ulysses S. Grant, then in command of the army of the United States," etc., closing with the formal parts of the charge.
The specifications varied as to each defendant. Surratt was specifically charged with harboring, con- cealing, counseling, aiding and abetting all the de- fendants.
The specifications against Herold was aiding and assisting Booth to escape, knowing he had assassinated the President. Dr. Mudd was alleged to have aided and assisted in the escape of Booth.
The specifications against Payne was assaulting, cutting and wounding Secretary Seward with intent to murder him. Atzerodt was charged with lying in wait with intent to murder Andrew Johnson. That against O'Laughlin was lying in wait with intent to murder Ulysses S. Grant.
Spangler was alleged to have aided Booth in reach- ing the President's box in the theater, and guarding the approach, to prevent interference with Booth's attack. Samuel Arnold was charged with counseling, combining, and confederating with each and all of the other defendants.
EXECUTION OF THE LINCOLN CONSI'IRATORS ' 93
After the charge and specifications had been read, Senator Reverdy Johnson handed to General Hunter a plea to the jurisdiction of the military commission.
After the plea had been received, General Harris, one of the commissioners, objected to the appearance of Senator Johnson as counsel, claiming that he had written and published a letter advising the citizens of Maryland that the test oath of allegiance was not binding. The voice of General Harris indicated much feeling, when he said that he for one would not permit any man entertaining such sentiments to challenge his right to sit in this trial.
These two, both southern men, one from West Virginia, the other from Maryland, were typical illus- trations of the fierce bitterness entertained between those of the South who were in opposition during the Civil War. Both were large men, and both became very excited and aggressive during this controversy.
Senator Johnson seemed to be in a towering rage, when replying to this imputation of disloyalty. He said he was licensed to practice his profession before every court in the state of Maryland and before every federal court in the country, including the supreme court of the United States; that he had taken the oath of a United States senator and occupied his seat un- challenged as to his loyalty. The senator and General Harris glared at each other, with such threatening looks that it seemed as if there might be immediate trouble.
At this point General Wallace suggested that in view of the broad terms of oath of a United States sena- tor, it seemed wiser to withdraw the objection, General
94 JUDGE R. A. WATTS
Harris complied with the suggestion and the plea to the jurisdiction was filed and read.
Mr. Johnson then picked up his hat, bowed to the commission, and retired. My memory is that he did not again return to take part in person during the trial.
A copy of the charge and specifications was then delivered to each of the counsel for defendants, and the court adjourned.
After the commission had reconvened on the next morning the prisoners were again brought in and seated in the dock. The taking of testimony was at once begun and continued from day to day, until all the evidence on behalf of the government and of the de- fendants had been produced, closing about the middle of June.
While I remember much of the general substance of the evidence, it would not seem profitable to attempt to summarize it, as lack of space would forbid.
Mrs. Surratt and Dr. Mudd were convicted chiefly upon the testimony of a Mr. Weichman, who at the time of the assassination and for some time previous had made his home with Mrs. Surratt. He was an intimate friend of the family and had been a college chum of John H. Surratt. If he had at any time been in sympathy with the conspiracy to assassinate, it did not appear either in his own or any other evidence. He was seemingly not only a willing witness but a " swift witness." Counsel for the defendants did not attack him as severely as it seemed to me they might have done. It may be, however, that they had in mind the legal maxim "never prove too much."
The most notable witness was Gen. U. S. Grant.
EXECUTION OF THE LINCOLN CONSPIRATORS 95
His testimony was intended to establish the boundary lines of the military district, which included the city of Washington, and its purpose was to show that the assassination and conspiracy was within the authority of the military and thus born upon the jurisdiction of the military tribunal.
Our office, being upon the ground floor of the build- ing, was first entered by the general. He came in alone, his escort remaining outside. This was the first time I had ever met General Grant face to face, and naturally I observed him very closely. I had formed the impres- sion that the general was slow and cautious in both his physical and mental movements and was much sur- prised to find just the opposite characteristics. When notified that the court was ready for him, he darted out into the corridor and swiftly went up the stairs.
His swift motions nearly caused him a serious, if not fatal, accident at that time. The corridors to each of the three stories of the building were alike, with a door at the end of each, but the outside balcony at the third and second floors had been removed. When the general came downstairs into the second story corridor, seeing the door at the end, he started swiftly for it and barely saved himself from rushing out and falling fifteen to eighteen feet upon the stone steps at the entrance.
During the long trial, clashes between counsel were frequent and often most spirited.
Mr. Bingham was an able trial lawyer, and at every opening given by opposing counsel he would rake the whole Confederacy, from Jeff Davis all down the line to the prisoners at the bar. The Confederate chief having been named in the charge, gave a wide range
96 JUDGE R. A. WATTS
for his savage onslaughts. He always addressed himself directly to the counsel for defendants, and as all of them except General Ewing were Southern men and the loyalty of some of them not of the positive kind, it may be understood that they were often forced to exercise much self-restraint.
General Ewing, however, had a record for loyalty not open to attack. He had held the position of briga- dier general in the federal army. His brother Hugh Ewing'was also a general officer and still in the service. His sister was the wife of General W. T. Sherman, who in skill and great achievements was at least second, if not equal to either Grant or Lee. More than that he was an able attorney, splendidly equipped, and he never hesitated to strike back with vigorous blows.
The duty of preparing the evidence and presenting it in logical sequence largely fell to Col. H. L. Burnett, assistant judge advocate, and was performed with much skill. No one connected with the trial had a more minute familiarity with all the details.
Judge Holt was an elderly man of even, conservative temperament. He had been at one time on the bench in Kentucky. During the trial he seemed to act as legal adviser to the commission and often intervened to quiet disputes between counsel. I remember him as the Nestor of the legal members present during the trial.
It has been asserted many times that the trial was behind closed doors. That is not true; yet it must be conceded that but few of the general public could gain admission to the court room.
The limited space would admit but few at a time,
EXECUTION or THE LINCOLN CONSPIRATORS 97
and the officials, attorneys and guards almost filled it. However many military officers, judges, governors, senators, members of congress, and others of sufficient influence to secure a pass, were admitted. It is needless to say that, under no circumstances, could any one gain entrance to the arsenal grounds, much less to the court room, without evidence of loyalty free from doubt.
After the testimony had closed, in order to give counsel time to prepare their arguments, the court ad- journed until June 16.
When the commission reconvened the first argu- ment, having been prepared by Senator Johnson, counsel for Mrs. Surratt, was read by Mr. Clampit, associate counsel. The substance of the senator's argument was a very elaborate and able discussion of the plea to the jurisdiction of the military commission, which had been filed when the defendants were first arraigned.
The special points raised by counsel were:
1. The crime charged was not an offense against any military rule or law, but was a crime cognizable only by the common and statute law, and therefore not triable by a military tribunal.
2. That the civil courts in the District of Columbia were all open and exercising all their functions without hindrance or obstruction of any kind whatever.
3. That each of the defendants was a civilian and had at no time belonged to any branch of the military service of the United States, and therefore entitled to a trial before a jury of twelve men and in a civil ceurt.
4. That at the time of the trial the war had closed by the surrender of all the insurgent armies and navies.
13
98 JUDGE E. A. WATTS
i
Attorneys Ewing and Cox following also made very able arguments along the same line, and in addition analyzed and discussed the evidence, so far as it applied to their respective clients. The argument of General Ewing was particularly emphatic and almost caustic, even going so far as to insist that the finding and sen- ' tences of the commission could not be justified under even the color of lawful authority.
The other attorneys made able arguments in behalf .of their clients and, with the exception of Payne, Atze- rodt and Herold, insisted with all the power at their command that the rule of reasonable doubt should apply and that if applied, it would acquit their clients.
To those who listened as spectators, however, this rule of reasonable doubt had but little if any place in this trial. It seemed to be only a question of proba- bilities. Neither the members of the commission nor the people of the North were in a frame of mind to entertain or even tolerate any technical rules.
These nine soldiers constituting the judges in this case had but little sympathy or patience with the senti- mental saying that "It is better that ninety -nine guilty escape than one innocent should suffer. " The suffering of the innocent during the last four years had filled the measure. There was no place for sympathy here, and every attempt to create favor by appeals of that nature met with frowns and disapproval.
The arguments of counsel lasted about two weeks, closing near the last of June. Mr. Bingham consumed several days in his closing address.
I recall Mr. Bingham with a clearer vision than any of the other attorneys or members of the commission.
EXECUTION OP THE LINCOLN CONSPIRATORS 99
He was of small stature, a spare but most expressive face, and when excited his eyes fairly glowed. During his address he wore a long black coat, after the fashion of that day. It reached almost to his shoe tops. When referring to the rebellion or any of its leaders, especially Mr. Davis, his invective burned and seared like hot iron, but when he touched upon the great and lovable qualities of the martyred Lincoln his lips would quiver with emotion and his voice become as tender and rev- erent as if he were repeating the Lord's prayer.
On June 30th the'commission convened to consider their verdict and fix the penalties.
It may be of interest at this place to state some of the powers and duties of a military commission, which are much greater than those of the ordinary jury in criminal cases.
This tribunal was a law unto itself. It made its own rules of procedure. It was the sole judge of the law, as well as of the facts. It passed upon the admissibility of all evidence offered during the trial, and exceptions to its rulings were not entertained or recorded. It was empowered not only to decide the question of guilt but it also had the power, and it was its duty, to fix the penalties.
The president of the United States and he only, could review, change, modify, approve or disapprove of the findings or sentences.
The deliberations of the commission were behind closed doors, only the members of the commission and the judge advocate and his assistant were present.
The verdict and sentence were required to be as- smtcd to by only two- thirds of the members of the com-
100 JUDGE K. A. WATTS
mission. Nothing in the records, so far as I ever knew, stated whether the verdict was unanimously agreed upon, or by only two-thirds, as the form of the verdict followed the form uniformly adopted. It was sub- stantially as follows:
"After mature consideration of the evidence in the case of x x x x the commission find the said x x x x of the specification guilty, of the charge guilty, and the commission do therefore sentence him the said x x x x to be hanged by the neck until he be dead, at such time and place as the president shall direct. Two-thirds of the commission concurring therein."
The same form was used in the cases of Payne, Herold, Atzerodt and Mrs. Surratt. In the case of O'Laughlin, Spangler, Arnold and Doctor Mudd the only variation was in the sentences. Spangler was sentenced to imprisonment at hard labor for the term of six years at such place as the president shall direct. Dr. Mudd, O'Laughlin and Arnold were sentenced to hard labor for life at such place as the president should direct.
On the 5th of July the President issued the following order :
"The foregoing sentences in the cases of David E. Herold, G. A. Atzerodt, Lewis Payne and Mary E. Surratt are hereby approved and it is ordered that the sentences in the cases of David E. Herold, G. A. At- zerodt, Lewis Payne and Mary E. Surratt be carried into execution 'by the proper military authority under the direction of the secretary of war on the 7th day of July, 1865, between the hours of 10 o'clock a. in. and 2 o'clock p. m. of that day."
EXECUTION OF THE LINCOLN CONSPIRATORS 101
On the same day the President made a further order directing that O'Laughlin, Arnold, Spangler and Dr. Mudd be confined in the military prison at Dry Tortu- gas in accordance with their sentences.
On the morning of the 7th Messrs. Clampit and Aiken, counsel for Mrs. Surratt, applied to Judge Wyle of the District of Columbia for a writ of habeas corpus for their client. The judge issued the writ and caused it to be served\ipon Gen. Hancock, commanding him to produce the body of said Mary E. Surratt before him at 10 a. m. of that da^ at the criminal court room in the city of Washington.
General Hancock immediately sent a staff officer notifying General Hartranft of the situation, and cau- tioned the general to instruct the guards not to admit the United States marshal to the grounds of the prison under any circumstances, as he understood a like writ had been issued directed to General Hartranft.
If such writ had been issued it was never served, and indeed could not be served for the reason that the marshal could not have gained entrance to the prison grounds.
As soon as President Johnson learned the writ had been issued he promptly made an order suspending the writ and specifically directed General Hancock to state the fact of the suspension of the writ, as his return thereto, and to proceed with the execution in accordance with the previous order.
Between one and two o'clock of that day, July 7th, Mrs. Surratt, Herold, Atzerodt and Payne were re- moved from their cells and escorted by a soldier on each side to the gallows standing in the open area inside
102 JUDGE K. A. WATTS
of the high brick wall. Mrs. Surratt was accompanied by two Catholic priests, each carrying a crucifix and breviary, and uttering a prayer which Mrs. Surratt seemed to be repeating. This scene was most solemn and affecting. Each of the others was also attended by a clergyman.
The four were assisted to ascend the steps leading up to the gallows platform and seated in chairs. Major General Hartranft and staff, in full dress uniform, passed up onto the platform, and the General at once in a low quiet tone read the sentences. While reading, the general's hat was removed and, the sun being ex- cessively hot, the writer of this narrative held an um- brella over him.
The ropes, fastened to a cross beam above, dangled in front of each. The noose was quickly adjusted upon each by a secret service officer and they were required to rise and step forward upon the traps, Mrs. Surratt and Payne upon one, Herold and Atzerodt upon the other. The traps were held in position by heavy braces beneath. Capt. Rath gave a signal, the two braces were knocked from under by a heavy beam swung by two soldiers, and the four simultaneously dropped to death and eternity.
After thirty minutes each was examined by Surgeon Porter, pronounced dead, taken down and placed in separate boxes. To avoid any mistake in identification in the future, I wrote the name of each upon a slip of paper, sealed it up in a small bottle, and placed it in each respective box.
A detail of soldiers at once closed the covers and
EXECUTION OP THE LINCOLN CONSPIRATORS 103
buried them in separate graves just inside the prison wall.
Within a day or two the other four, Arnold, Spangler, O'Laughlin and Dr. Mudd were placed upon a man of war and taken under charge of Col. Dodd to the military prison at Dry Tortugas.
The remains of Booth had been buried underneath one of the prison cells the night before our occupying the prison.
Thus closed the long trial by the punishment of the active members of this most wicked conspiracy — a trial which, because of the world-wide fame of Abraham Lincoln and of the cowardly and execrable manner of his taking off, and because of the love of a great people which will continue all down the ages, will be known as the most famous recorded in the history of America.
During the time of the execution, Major General Hancock and staff and a number of other military officers of rank, in full uniform with side arms, and many officials of the government, stood near the gal- lows; a battalion of infantry stood at attention inside the wall, and another battalion fully armed were stationed upon the high wall surrounding the prison.
The order of the President, that the sentences of these parties "be carried into execution by the proper military authorities under the direction of the secre- tary of war," was certainly obeyed with all the for- mality and dignity that would be expected of two such soldiers as General Hancock and General Hartranft. The whole was most solemn and impressive.
During our charge of the prison we also received for safe keeping Burton Harrison, who had vServed as pri-
.
104 JUDGE R. A. WATTS
vate secretary to President Davis during the existence of the Confederacy; Prof. McCullough of North Carolina, reputed to be a skillful chemist; and General Harris, a congressman from Missouri before the war, and afterwards a senator from the same state in the Confederate congress.
So far as I know, no specific charge was ever made against either of these parties.
Mr. Davis was at that time in prison at Fortress Monroe, in charge of General Miles. I suppose Mr. Harrison was held upon the presumption that, if Davis could be shown to have encouraged or approved of the assassination of President Lincoln, his private secretary would have knowledge of the fact.
I remember Mr. Harrison as having an unusually strong, intellectual face, and understood that he was a young man of fine literary attainments. He was ex- cessively dignified and haughty, but whether these characteristics were natural, or whether he had imbibed them from his great chief, I do not know. He subse- quently married a Miss Gary of Virginia, who has written many charming reminiscences and stories of those tumultuous days. Mr. Harrison's son, Burton Harrison, Jr., is now one of the most vigorous and able members of congress from New York and a very influential leader and adviser of the Democratic party. (He is now governor of the Philippines.)
Prof. McCullough was suspected to have assisted in preparing clothing infected with smallpox and yellow fever for distribution in New York, Philadelphia and other northern cities, and in an attempt to place poison in the Croton reservoir in New York. General Harris
EXECUTION OF THE LINCOLN CONSPIRATORS 105
had written a letter, introducing McCullough to Presi- dent Davis and commending him as. an expert chemist.
After the execution and removal of the conspirators, Mr. Harrison was taken by Capt. Rath to Fort Dela- ware. General Harris was taken to Fort McHenry by the writer. I do not recall the disposition of McCul- lough.
After the purposes of the military prison were ful- filled, the writer in compliance with the order of the war department, at once caused all official reports, orders, and documents pertaining to the prison, to be boxed up and in person delivered them to Judge Advo- cate General Holt.
While a receipt was being prepared, I was seated in Judge Holt's office, when the execution -was men- tioned. I said that all the officers at the prison were much surprised that, because of her sex, the sentence of Mrs. Surratt had not been commuted.
The substance of the judge's reply was, that the president believed that she had been as guilty as any of the others, but added that he might not have in- sisted on her execution, but for the imprudent action of her attorneys in obtaining the writ of habeas corpus. Everyone, he said, who knew Mr. Johnson, understood that he would not tolerate an attempt to force him into any action, and when he learned of the writ of habeas corpus the President became very angry, and promptly ordered the execution to be carried into effect.
I mention this statement of Judge Holt, because of a subsequent bitter dispute between him and the President, wherein the President sought to charge Judge Holt with misleading him into ordering Mrs.
106 JUDGE R. A. WATTS
Surratt to be hung. It is, at least, a part of the res gestae of that controversy.
One of the last official acts of President Johnson was granting pardons to Dr. Mudd, Samuel Arnold and Edward Spangler. For this he received bitter censure from many. Having heard the testimony against these men and observed them during the trial, I have always felt glad that they were released. Michael O'Laughlin died in prison.
The successful management of all the details of the military prison fully justified the confidence reposed in General Hartranft. When the prison was closed, he not only received the commendation of General Han- cock and the secretary of war, but also the thanks of the members of the commission, and the attorneys on each side, for his uniform courtesy and assistance dur- ing the long trial. But I felt that the most touching compliment, and I believe the most appreciated by him was the sincerely expressed kind wishes of all the prisoners as their last good-bye.
There has been much discussion as to the merits of the question of the jurisdiction of the military com- mission, as well as to the question whether the evi- dence was sufficient to warrant the conviction, at least of a part of the defendants.
Whatever may be the better construction of the constitution and the law on the question of jurisdiction, it cannot be fairly said that this commission should be criticised for maintaining their authority to try these defendants. It must be remembered that they were soldiers, wearing the uniform of the United States army, still in the service, subject to the orders of the com-
EXKCITIOX OF THE LINCOLN CONSPIRATORS 107
mander-in-chief, the President of the United States, and to the commands of the secretary of war; that this commission was ordered by the President, and that these officers had been detailed for this special duty, and had been directed to proceed with the trial of the persons accused of the murder of Abraham Lincoln.
That these soldiers should be expected to refuse to obey and to desert their post is most absurd. Indeed, if they had disobeyed, they would have been subject to court martial and dismissed from the service in dis- grace. It is the soldier's duty to obey, and not to ask the reason why.
It would seem that the learned counsel must have known in advance that their able arguments would fall upon deaf ears, and it must have been that their only purpose was maintaining their reputation as members of their profession when the history of the trial should be written.
In anticipation of this grave question, the charge and specifications had been drawn with skill and great foresight.
The charge was "maliciously, unlawfully, and trai- torously, and in aid of the existing armed rebellion against the United States X X X X combining, con- federating, and conspiring together X X X X to kill and murder Abraham Lincoln, president, Andrew Johnson, vice-president, William H. Seward, secretary of state, and Ulysses S. Grant, then in command of I lie armies of the United States."
Being "in aid of the existing rebellion" and against the heads of the government, made the crime of a higher and greater grade than the simple murder of an
108 JUDGE R. A. WATTS
individual; it was also a crime against the life of the government itself.
It may be seriously questioned whether the framers of the constitution intended to prohibit the trial of even citizens before a military tribunal under circum- stances and conditions then existing.
The trial and swift punishment of these execrable assassins was of the utmost importance. The excite- ment throughout all the land, north and south, was intense. The very air in and about Washington was murky with suspicion; whispers and rumors of con- templated assassinations were everywhere. President Johnson, members of the cabinet, commanders of the armies and other leading men of the administration were surrounded with cordons of guards for their pro- tection. It may be well said that the country at large might have suffered far greater by temporizing, quib- blings and delays than by any technical infraction of the strict letter of the constitution. General Grant spoke wisely when he said: "The will of the people is the law of the land. "
At that time it was patent to everyone that a trial of these people before a jury impanelled in the Dis- trict of Columbia would have failed to convict. Why make a farce of a cause of such stupendous importance? The trial and failure to convict John H. Surratt for the same offense two years later, before a civil jury, verified the wisdom of the military tribunal in this case.
As to the actual guilt of Atzerodt, Herold and Payne, there was no room for doubt. In the cases of Arnold, O'Laughlin, Spangler, Dr. Mudd and Mrs. Surratt there was much contradictory testimony.
EXECUTION OF THE LINCOLN CONSPIRATORS 109
If the government witnesses were entitled to credit, the verdict was justified. If the witnesses for the de- fendants told the truth, there was room for doubt and for reasonable doubt, particularly in the cases of Arnold and Spangler.
But here entered the serious difficulty for these defendants. All or nearly all the witnesses for the de- fense were either active sympathizers with the rebel- lion, or at best of most doubtful loyalty to the govern- ment. More than all else however every one of the defendants were mgst bitter in their hatred of Mr. Lincoln and the United States Government. These facts were the terrible make-weights that condemned them, where otherwise there might have been hope. What a boon to Arnold, Spangler and Mudd, would a fair reputation for loyalty have been !
It has been said that the conspiracy to assassinate the President, Vice-president and other chief officers of the government, was but the wild scheme of crazy men. The same was also said of John Brown and his fanatical followers, in their raid at Harper's Ferry. But may it not also be said, with equal plausibility, that such insanity was but another form of the same disease which in the early days of 1861 dominated many of the best and brainiest men of the South, im- pelling them to organize the most gigantic conspiracy recorded in history, with intent to assassinate the best government in the world, solely because the wisest and most lovable of men had been elected president?
Having thus referred to the leaders of the rebellion, I may be pardoned if I add a word, in recognition of the valor, and as I believe, the good intentions of the
110 JUDGE R. A. WATTS
common people of the South in following their states into secession.
After the governors and legislatures of the eleven states had, under the forms of regularity, withdrawn their states from the union and ratified the organiza- tion of the confederacy, then the question arose as to which government should have their allegiance. Add to this the fact that our northern armies were rapidly organizing, with the avowed purpose of marching into their states and forcing them to return to the union. It certainly is not surprising that such gallant men should take up arms, in what they felt to be in defense of their states, and, as many of them believed, of their homes and firesides.
Unfortunately the people of the South were rushed into a choice so swiftly that they were only given op- portunity to remember the first half of the historical proverb, that, regardless of the merit of the question or the motive of the participants, "successful revolu- tion is always called patriotism, and unsuccessful re- bellion is forever branded treason. "
SOME MARRIAGES IN OLD DETROIT
BY THE HON'BLE WILLIAM RENWICK RIDDELL, LL. D., F. R. S. C., &c.
TORONTO
pvETROIT, the City on the Straits, had interesting *^ if not unique vicissitudes of fortune : at the end of the 18th century, there were many of her citizens of middle age who had «een her and lived in her under three flags.
From 1701 when Cadillac with his band of a hun- dred persons — soldiers, artisans, farmers, and a few women and children, — founded Detroit, until the sur- render to Major Rogers in 1760, the banner of the French kings floated over the nascent city, — thereafter until the evacuation by the British, August, 1796, under the provisions of Jay's treaty, the meteor flag of Britain was displayed, and since that day the Stars and Stripes.
When the terms of peace between Britain and France were arranged in Paris in 1763, all the territory which was later Canada, and much more passed from France to Britain.1 Detroit and its dependencies were included in the cession as part of "Canada with all its dependencies. "'
The Royal Proclamation of October 7, 1763, created a ''Government" or Province of Quebec, in •Inch "all persons inhabiting or resorting to" it "might confide in Our Royal Protection for the Enjoy - icnt of the Benefit of the Laws of Our Realm of Eng-
(iii)
112 WILLIAM REN WICK EIDDELL, LL. D., F. E. S. C.
land."3 This Province, however, did not contain all of Canada, — the Proclamation made its western boundary, the line from "the South End of Lake Nipissim" [Nipissing] to the point at which the line of the 45° N. L. crosses the River St. Lawrence.4 Ac- cordingly Detroit was left out of the new Province and did not have the advantage of the King's promise of English law.5
When by the Quebec act of 1774 Detroit was taken into the enlarged Province of Quebec with much other territory, the same act provided that "in all matters of controversy relative to property and civil rights, resort shall be had to the laws of Canada."6
It will be seen that the civil law of England was never introduced into Detroit by Imperial legislation.
When the Province of Upper Canada was started on its separate career under the provisions of the Canada or Constitutional act of 1791, the boundary on the east had been fixed by order-in-council "at a stone boundary of the north bank of Lake St. Francis," but all of the former Province of Quebec (as consti- tuted by the Quebec act of 1774) to the west of the Eastern boundary, fell into the Province of Upper Canada.7
The definitive treaty of peace between Great Britain and her revolted colonies was signed at Paris in 1783.
That treaty gave to the new nation, the United States of America, all the territory to the right of the Great Lakes and connecting rivers, — of course includ- ing Detroit and such of its dependencies as were on the same side of the river and lakes. But another article of the same treaty provided that creditors on
SOME MARRIAGES IN OLD DETROIT 113
either side should "meet with no lawful impediment to the recovery of the full value in sterling money of all bona fide debts" theretofore contracted.8 South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, had passed legislation whereby the English creditors were impeded in the recovery of their debts; and these states refused to repeal the offensive statutes, — the still somewhat loose aggregation, the United States of America, could not compel them to do so, — the treaty was broken on the one hand, and Britain determined to hold the border posts to secure the performance by the United States of article IV. Detroit and other border posts were held by Britain for some years; and it was not until August, 1796, that the United States were allowed to occupy Detroit.9 Until August, 1796 then, Detroit was de facto part of the Province of Upper Canada from the creation of that Province by Order-in-Council, August, 1791 ; and' the right of the Legislature of Upper Canada to legislate for Detroit was asserted in the plainest language and by unambiguous acts. The very first act of the Province of Upper Canada introduced the laws of England in matters of property and civil rights,10 and Colonel John Graves Simcoe, the Lieu- tenant Governor of the Province, emphatically re- pudiated the idea that any other law should prevail in Detroit: he was supported to the full by the Admin- istration at Westminster who said, "Settlers at Detroit and the other parts are subject to the laws of the Province ... so long as the Posts are in our possession all persons resident within the same must be considered to all intents and purposes as British subjects. "u
15
114 WILLIAM REXWICK RIDDELL, LL. D., F. R. S. C.
It is a principle of international law fully accepted by the English courts that where a country with any- thing that can be called civilized law is conquered, the existing law continues until it is changed by competent authority.12 On this principle, before the act of 1792 the French Canadian inhabitants of Detroit were en- titled to their own Canadian civil law, — as neither the Royal Proclamation of 1763 nor the Quebec act of 1774 imposed any other. Let us first speak of the law of marriage before the coming into force of the Upper Canada statute of 1792.
The French Canadian law followed the Canon law of the Church of Rome, in which a marriage to be valid must be celebrated by a priest ordained by a Roman Catholic bishop, — marriages between French Catholics in Detroit in which the marriage ceremony was per- formed by a Roman Catholic priest had before the cession of Canada to Britain been and consequently continued to be valid.13
In the post itself, and among the soldiers, another principle might have been applied had the facts called for its exercise: within the lines of a British Army wherever serving, the soldiers and British subjects accompanying the army are not subject to the local law; but they may marry with the forms of their British law so far as it is possible to observe them and except in Scotland itself "British law" means English law, and "the King's troops . . . impliedly carry that law with them."14
In the parts of the Detroit country which were not at all settled and which therefore might fairly be called a heathen country, the principles of English law de-
SOME MARRIAGES IN OLD DETROIT 115
clared that in the case of British subjects the same rule applied as in the garrison.15
By the English law (since the Reformation) the marriage ceremony must be performed by a priest or a deacon episcopally ordained.16
In the case of the garrison and those accompanying it, as well as in the case of British subjects in the wilds, there can be little if any doubt that a marriage cere- mony performed by a priest or deacon of the Church of England would have been valid.
Merchants and others having no connection with the garrison were in different case. If they could induce a Roman Catholic priest to marry them, the marriage would be valid. This course would be unpalatable to all parties where the intending spouses were Protestant, and it had obvious disadvantages.
By a somewhat liberal interpretation of the rights of the military, it was considered that the English speaking inhabitants would be validly married if mar- ried in the same way as members of the garrison: it should be said, however, that some who were qualified to express an opinion, had serious doubts of the right of a garrison chaplain to perform the marriage cere- mony. No question, however, was ever raised by the courts as to the validity of such a marriage, — and in our system of law it is the decisions of the courts which are binding and effective, not abstract principles or the >pinions of text writers or commentators. If a garrison •haplain were available, therefore, there would be no •eat difficulty for anyone, for the Roman Catholic lurch always saw to it that the country was supplied
116 WILLIAM REN WICK RIDDELL, LL. D., F. R. S. C.
with priests of that communion, and Protestants could then go to the fort.
But in the early times of British occupation there was no garrison-chaplain in the upper posts, Niagara, Detroit, and Michilimackinac. As was most natural and inevitable there were young men and young women who desired to be husband and wife, and dire necessity drove many to irregular marriages. They would go before the officer commanding the post, and he would read the marriage office in the English Book of Common Prayer, using the ring and observing the other forms,— sometimes the officer commanding would decline and the adjutant or the surgeon of the post would officiate. In Detroit the ceremony was often performed by a layman who had been appointed by the Protestant inhabitants to read prayers to them on Sunday,— there were no Church of England clergymen stationed in this part of the country.
Later, after the definitive treaty, when the United Empire Loyalists were coming into the country, jus- tices of the peace sometimes performed the ceremony in the same manner, — and after 1788 when a number of persons were appointed justices of the peace for the District of Hesse17 that was the usual practice.18
So far we have been speaking of marriage before the act of 1792, — after that act the law of England undoubt- edly came into force throughout all the territory which was de facto part of Upper Canada,19 and all marriages of French or English, Catholic or Protestant were irregular unless the ceremony was performed by an Anglican clergyman either priest or deacon. Detroit and the District of Hesse were not singular in their
SOME MAKIUAUES IN OLD DETROIT 117
difficulties — the other Districts were in much the same condition. Not quite so bad indeed, because while Hesse had no Church of England clergymen up to the time the first Parliament of Upper Canada met, Nassau (the Niagara country) had a few months before got one, the Reverend Robert Addison of Niagara, and the two lower Districts Mecklenberg (Kingston) and Luneburg (Cornwall) had each had one from 1786.20
But the situation was so grave that it imperatively called for legislative action, particularly when it ap- peared that two meinbers of the Legislative Council, one of whom had been recommended as a Member of the Executive Council by Sir John Johnson and as a member of the Legislative Council by Dorchester and Simcoe, "an old and faithful servant of the Crown," also at least one member of the Legislative Assembly; and the only regularly called lawyer in the Province (except the Attorney General, White, who had come from England) had contracted such irregular mar- riages.21
A bill to validate these marriages in 1792 failed but another in 1793 was successful.22 The act of 1793 vali- dated all marriages theretofore "publicly contracted before any Magistrate or Commanding Officer of a Post or Adjutant or Surgeon of a Regiment acting as Chaplain or any other person in any public office or employment." We should probably have known little or nothing of these marriages had it not been for the further prqvision of the statute for preserving the testimony of them; those who desired to preserve the. testimony of their marriage were authorized within three years of the passing of the act to make affidavits
118 WILLIAM BEX WICK RIDDKLL, LL. I)., F. R. 8. C.
of the marriage and issue of such marriage before a magistrate in the form specified, and when certified by the magistrate administering the oath it was to be filed on paying a shilling fee to the clerk of the peace of the District who would enter it in a book kept for the purpose; and this was to be sufficient evidence of marriage and children in any court.
It has been known for some time that such a book was kept at Kingston for the Midland District (the former District of Mecklenburg) : much of the material for the subsequent part of this paper is taken from a similar book kept for the Western District (the former District of Hesse) . It is practically certain that a book of the same kind was kept for the Home District (the former District of Nassau) : if it is not equally certain that one was kept for the Eastern District (the former District of Luneburg).23
The act of 1793 was approved July 9, 1793, but it was not until the time allowed for making and filing the affidavits had nearly elapsed that advantage was taken in Detroit of the provision for preserving evi- dence.
1. The first to have such an affidavit filed was William Macomb of Detroit, one of the members of the legislative assembly for the County of Kent in the first Parliament of Upper Canada (Francis Baby being his colleague). Macomb swore at Detroit, February 17, 1796, that he publicly intermarried with Sarah Dring at Detroit, July 18, 1780, and that they bad living issue, John, Ann, Catharine, William, Sarah, Jane, David, and Eliza. His wife swore to the same facts. Angus Mackintosh, J. P., certified to the affidavit and Walter
So. MK MAKIIIA<;KS IN OLD DETROIT 119
Hoc1, clerk of the peace for the Western District, regis- tered them February 19, 1796.
2. After the Member of Parliament comes the lawyer, Walter Roe of Detroit, Barrister at Law, who intermarried at Detroit with Ann Laughton, March 1, 1790, and had living issue two sons John James and William: William Harffy, J. P., certifies to the oaths of Walter Roe and Ann Roe, February 16, 1796, and Walter Roe as clerk of the peace registers them, February 19, 1796.
The most interesting entry however, in respect of this marriage is the certificate of the Honourable Alex- ander Grant, member of the Legislative Council, who says:
"I do hereby certify to have joined Walter Roe of Detroit, Esquire, Barrister and Attorney at Law, in the holy bonds of matrimony to Miss Ann Laughton of the same place by their mutual consent and desire in the presence of Mr. John Laughton, her father, William & Sarah Macomb her friends & John and Susannah Sparkman her brother & sister in law at Detroit this first day of March, one thousand seven hundred and ninety.
Signed Alexander Grant, J. P., D. H." i. e., Justice of the Peace, District of Hesse)
Signed John Laughton William Macomb
Sarah Macomb
Present.
John Sparkman Susannah Sparkman
3. William Hands of Detroit, Merchant, had inter- married at Detroit with Mary Abbott, December 10,
120 WILLIAM KEN WICK HIDDELL, LL. ])., F. If. 8. C.
1789, and had living issue, Elizabeth, William, Ann, and Frances: William Harffy, J. P., W. D., certifies the oaths, May 30, 1796, and Walter Roe registers them next day.
4. A justice of the peace came next, Angus Mackin- tosh of Detroit, Merchant, who intermarried at Detroit with Archange St. Martin, June 17, 1783, arid had living issue, Duncan, Alexander, Ann, Archange and Isabella. William Harffy gives his certificate, May 31, and Walter Roe registers the oaths, June 2, 1796.
5. Peter Laughton of the River St. Clair came in a little late, — he had intermarried with Catharine Har- sen of St. Clair, September 14, 1788, and had living issue, Mary, John Bilton, David and Peter: the oaths were certified by William Park, J. P., W. D., Septem- ber 26, 1796, and entered in the book by Walter Roe, quantum valeat?*
By this time the evacuation of Detroit and the territory to the right of river and lake was complete; those who so desired crossed the river into British territory: and of those who remained, such as within a year after the evacuation declared their election to remain British subjects could do so with effect.25
6. One of those who passed over the river was Gregor McGregor who had been superintendent of inland navigation when he was appointed by Dorches- ter in 1788, sheriff of the District of Hesse. He had taken the affidavit of marriage in time, May 1, 1796, at Detroit before Thomas Smith, J. P., who had been clerk of the court of common pleas for the District, but he had omitted to have it registered. In 1797 there was considerable agitation over the marriage
SOME MARRIAGES Ix OLD DETROIT 121
question, and an act had been passed by the legislature which, however, had been reserved by Peter Russell, the administrator, for His Majesty's pleasure. This act had been passed "to extend the provisions of" the act of 1793; and while* there were in it no such ex- press words, it seems to have been considered as extending the time for registering affidavits under the earlier act.26
"Gregor McGregor, County of Kent, Esquire, Lieutenant Colonel of the Kent Battalion of Militia" swore in Detroit he had intermarried with Susan Robert at Detroit, August 12, 1776. Susan Robert swore the same; living issue were James, Anne, Susan, Catharine, and John; Thomas Smith, J. P., W. D., gave his certifi- cate and Walter Roe registered the documents, Sep- tember 8, 1798. Thomas Smith had also crossed the river; he .became member of the legislative assembly for the County of Kent.
7. Another who left Detroit was John Askin; he went to Sandwich and there, February 27, 1798, swore before William Harffy, that he had at Detroit, June 21, 1772, intermarried with Ar change Bar the, and there were living issue Therese, Archange, Allice, Charles, James, Phillis Eleanor, and Alexander David. Walter Roe registered these affidavits, January 26, 1799, with- out a certificate from the magistrate. This marriage in 1772 is the earliest of these irregular marriages of which we have any trace.
8. One who took an active part as magistrate in performing irregular marriages and as member of par- liament in having them confirmed, now appears.
"Alexander Grant, Esquire, Member of the Execu-
122 WILLIAM RENWICK RIDDELL, LL. D., F. R. S. C.
live Council and Commandant of the Marine Depart- ment on the Upper Lakes," also member of the legis- lative council, who afterwards in the war of 1812 was, at the age of 85, after a devoted service of 50 years, commodore on Lake Erie and died from overexertion during that war, swore February 27, 1798, that he had at Detroit, September 30, 1774, intermarried with Therese Barthe, and had living issue, Therese, Archange, Phillis, Arabella, Anne, Elizabeth, Nelly, Alexander; and Maria his wife made the same affidavit. The Magistrate, Thomas Smith, at Sandwich did not give a certificate, but Walter Roe registered them, January 26, 1799.
9. John Sparkman we have met before: he was present at the marriage of his sister-in-law27 Ann Laughton, March 1, -1790, to Walter Roe; he was barrack-master of the garrison of Detroit and conse- quently could lawfully have been married by the chaplain of the garrison if there had been such an officer, —there was not: he accordingly swore that, December 17, 1787, at Detroit, he intermarried with Susannah Stedman, living issue being Elizabeth, James and Phillip Stedman. The affidavits of Sparkman and his wife were made at Detroit, April 26, 1796, before the evacuation: certified to by Alexander Grant, they were registered by Walter Roe, January 28, 1799.
1 1 . John Askin of Amherstburg, at Detroit, October 21, 1791 intermarried with Madelaine Peltier; he made an affidavit to that effect as did his wife, September 26, 1803, before William Caldwell, J. P., who gave his certificate the same day Askin produced to the new clerk of the peace, James Allan, a certificate from
So. MI: MARRIACJKS Ix OLD DETROIT 123
"Alex Grant, J. P. for Upper Canada" as follows: "I do hereby certify that I married John Askin, Junr., to Madelaine Peltier, the twenty -first day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-one": and James Allan registered the docu- ments, October 1803.
12. Timothy Desmond swears he intermarried with Barberry Desmond at Detroit, September 13, 1792, before William Harffy, J. P. and that there are issue: William, John, Mary, Ann, and Lucie: so does Barberry: both make their mark before William Shaw, J. P., Camden, August 13, 1806, and though there is no magistrate's certificate, Allan registers the docu- ments, August 28, 1806.
13. The next marriage to be noted is very inter- esting. The Act of 1793 authorized magistrates to perform. the marriage ceremony if there was "No Parson or Minister of the Church of England" within eighteen miles of either of the intending spouses,— he was to give a certificate and the certificate could be registered by the clerk of the peace. The entry is as follows: "Whereas Robert Surphlet and Margaret Pike were duly married on the fourteenth day of March, 1785, by Alexr. Macomb Esquire, of Detroit, and have ever since lived together as husband and wife, but having neglected in due time to preserve the testi- mony of such marriage as prescribed by an Act of the Provincial Parliament of Upper Canada. These are to certify that in pursuance of the powers granted by an Act of the Legislature of the Province passed in the thirty-third of His Majesty's Reign, I, Prideaux Selby, one of His Majesty's Justices of the Peace, having
124 WILLIAM RENWICK RIDDELL, LL. D., F. R. S. C.
caused the previous Notice required by the Statute to be given I have this day remarried the said Robert Surphlet and Margaret Surphlet together and they are become legally contracted to each other in marriage.
Petite Cote, 2nd March, 1801.
(Sd) Robert Surphlet
(Sd) M. Surphlet (Sd) P Selby
Present at the above marriage
(Sd) Timothy Murphy
(Sd) Elenor Murphy
Registered at the request of Mrs. Margaret Pike this 18th of March, 1801 (Sd) W. Roe, C. Pe. Wn.
Dt."
The same Magistrate on the same day at the same place in the presence of the Surphlets as witnesses re- married Timothy Murphy and Eleanor Murphy who had been married by William Park, J. P., at Detroit, May 4, 1794, — the first marriage was after the act of 1793, and consequently valid, but the parties had not registered it — now Walter Roe registered the certificate "at the request of Mrs. Eleanor Murphy this 4th of April, 1801."
The last entry of this kind to be noted was much later : and it recalls a romance of early frontier life.
The celebrated Simon Girty, the so-called renegade, a noted Indian fighter, had himself been a prisoner of the Indians as a boy and was well acquainted with their language and customs. In 1783 or 1784, visiting a town of the Munceys on the Scioto river he met a white captive of the tribe who had been adopted by an Indian family. Three years before, Catherine Malott accompanying her father and mother from Maryland,
SOME MARRIAGES IN OLD DETROIT 125
being then a girl of fifteen, had been taken prisoner by the Indians when a passenger in a fiat boat upon the Ohio a few miles below the present city of Wheeling. Girty and Catherine fell in love with each other, and Girty procured her release from captivity. He took her in the Fall of 1784 to his farm in the present town- ship of Colchester: and they were there married by an English Church clergyman, a missionary at that point.
Girty died in 1818 and his widow claimed dower in some of his lands,— *but there was no record of the marriage, and the clergyman was no longer available to prove it. The legislature in 1818 had passed an act extending the time for registering such affidavits for three years28 but she had not taken advantage of that act.
In '1831, however, the time was extended for six years29 and now the widow took action. She appeared May 19, 1832, before William McCormick, J. P., at Colchester and made the following affidavit.30
"I, Catherine Girty, do solemnly swear that I did publicly intermarry with Simon Girty at the mouth of the Detroit River now the Township of Maiden, in the summer of the year of our Lord, 1791, and there is now to me living issue of said marriage, viz: Sarah now the wife of Joseph Munger, born on the 18th day of April, 1792, and Prideaux Girty, born on the 20th day of October, 1796, and that such marriage was solemnized by Frederick Augustice Norstbaugh, Church of England Clergyman of the new settlement, now the Township of Colchester in the County of Essex and Western District of Upper Canada."
126 WILLIAM KENWICK RIDDELL, LL. D., F. II. S. C.
The affidavit being certified by Mr. McCormick was registered in "Marriage Register A" by Charles Askin, clerk of the peace for the Western District, on October 24, 1832; and Catherine Girty's status as lawful wife was conclusively established.
Thus an act intended to validate irregular marriages became the means of proving one which was regular. Unfortunately her claim for dower failed on other grounds, for William Mickle had a perfect defence.
I have said nothing of the doubt entertained by some lawyers and others of the right of Church of England Clergymen to celebrate matrimony at that time and in that country. This would involve the dis- cussion of legal principles, quite foreign to my subject. Of lawful marriages in Detroit by magistrates after the act of 1793 we find only one recorded.31 Allan Belling- ham of Detroit, Gentleman, was married to Monica Baby of Detroit, Spinster, by William Park, J. P., March 22, 1795, "there being no Parson or Minister of the Church of England living within eighteen miles of them." But there were many across the river which are outside the scope of this paper.
No disgrace attached to a "Magistrate's Wedding. " August 4, 1801 the marriage at Sandwich of William Smith and Mary Cowan of the same place by William Hands, J. P., was attended by the Chief Justice, John Elmsley and the Solicitor General, Robert Isaac Dey Grey, who were attending the assizes for the Western District and who (with others) signed the certificate as witnesses.
SO.MI: MAI:KIA<;I:S I x OLD DETROIT 127
NOTES
"The Treaty of Paris concluded February 10, 1763, says in Art. IV: " . . . : Moreover his Most Christian Majesty cedes and guarantees to his said Britannic Majesty in full right, Canada with all its dependencies. " Shortt & Doughty, Documents relating to the Constitutional History of Canada 1758-1791, 2nd Ed., Ottawa, 1918 p. 115 — a most valuable work, a credit to its learned editors, to the Canadian Archives and to Canada — (cited as Const. Docs.).
*The Articles of Surrender by the Marquis de Vaudreuil at Montreal to General Am- herst, September 8, 1760, had provided by Arc. Ill for the surrender of the posts "situate on our frontiers, on the side of Acadia, at Detroit, Michilimaquinac and other posts". Const. Docs., pp. 2, 25. It was under this surrender, that Major Rogers acted in de- manding and receiving possession of Detroit later on in the same year. The expression " Detroit and its dependencies" was frequently used in after years. The " dependencies" were the settlements on either side of the river through its whole extent from Lake Huron to Lake Erie, and an indefinite extent of territory besides: perhaps the only definition which can be given is " the territory which looked to Detroit for protection. " The term was not only indefinite but broad, e. g. the fort at the falls of the Maumee was considered a dependency of Detroit.
*Const. Docs., p. 165. This has always been considered to have introduced the English law, civil and criminal, into the Province created by this proclamation.
*Const. Docs., p. 164. The line crossed the St. Lawrence about the present Town of Cornwall, Ontario: a considerable part of the present Province of Ontario being east of this line was consequently included in the original Province of Quebec; there were, how- ever, very few inhabitants in the territory so included.
5This was not an inadvertence: the Lords of Trade in their letter, June 8, 1763, to the Earl of Egremont (who had succeeded October 9, 1761 to William Pitt as Secretary of State for the Southern Department and who was in charge of the American Colonies) recommended that to take full advantage of the fur trade which next to the fisheries was the most obvious benefit to Britain of the Cession of Canada, certain territory should be left to the Indians for their hunting grounds; no settlement by planting should be, at least for a time, attempted there, and " no particular form of Civil Government . established." It was recommended that 'a freo trade with the Indian tribes should be granted to all Your Majesty's Colonies and Subjects under such regulations as shall be jinij,'t'(l most proper for that end and under the protection of such Military Force to be kept up in the different Posts and Forts as may be judged necessary." Const. Docs., pp. 136, 138. And it was recommended to make the western line of the settled government where it was afterwards actually placed, — ibid, p. 141.
•(1774) 14 Geo. Ill, c. 83, (Imp.) this made the boundaries of the Province run from the point at which the 45° Parallel N. L. meets the river St. Lawrence from the east, then westerjy along the east bank of the river to Lake Ontario, through Lake Ontario and the Niagara river along the east and southeast bank of Lake Erie to the western boundary of Pennsylvania, southerly along this to the river Ohio, then down along the bank of the Ohio to the banks of the Mississippi, then northward to the Hudson's Bay Company's territory ("northward" was interpreted to mean "up the Mississippi") Const. Docs., p. 571. The section as to laws, &c., js usually given as sec. 8 — but the act is not always printed with the section numbered. Ibid, p. 513.
'The Canadian or Constitutional Act is (1791) 31 George III, c. 31 (Imp.), ibid., pp. 1031-1051: the Order in Council, August 24, 1791, 4th Report Archives of Ontario (for 1906) pp. 158-160: the Royal Message of Intention to divide Canada, February 25, 1791, 4th Rep. Arch. Ont. p. 158: 28 Hansard, Ho. Com. Deb. p. 1271.
*For the Definitive Treaty of.Paris see Treaties and Contentions of the U. S. A., Wash- ington, 1889, pp. 375-379: Const. Docs., pp. 726-730. The article fixing boundaries is Art. II, that concerning debts. Art. IV.
•By Jay's Treaty concluded November 19, 1794, Treaties and Contentions, pp. 379-395.
128 WILLIAM EENWICK RIDDELL, LL. D., F. II. S. C.
The United States undertook to pay these debts when ascertained by arbitrators, and Britain agreed to give up the territory held by her. The troubles of these arbitrators are told in my paper before the Royal Society of Canada, " When International Arbi- tration Failed, " 40 Can. Law Times (1920), pp. 351, 360. The arbitrators could not agree and the United States ultimately by the Convention of January 8, 1802 — Treaties and Convtntions, pp. 398, 399 — agreed to pay £600,000 sterling in three equal annual install- ments of £200,000 each, — the £ sterling being reckoned at $4.44 of U. S. money.
"(1792) 82 George III, c. 1, s. 3 (U. "C.); the act was passed at Newark (now Niagara- on-the-Lake, until 1797, Capital of the Province) October 15, 1792.
"Captain Stevenson an active officer who had accompanied Simcoe to Canada and was much in his confidence, was entrusted by Simcoe with despatches in November, 1792, after the session of parliament, as he was going to England: Simcoe in an official letter said that Stevenson was in a position to give any information concerning the statutes, etc., desired by the Secretary of State for the Home Department (then in charge of the Colonies): Stevenson in Simcoe's name suggested to Henry Dundas (afterwards Lord Melville) the Secretary of State, that the French Canadians at Detroit might be allowed their own laws: Dundas, October 2, 1763, sent a dispatch to Simcoe in which the words quoted in the text are employed. Can. Arch. Q. 279, 1, 261, 264. When Simcoe received this letter he indignantly repudiated Stevenson's suggestions and conduct and although he had thought so much of him as to recommend him for the position of deputy quarter master general he spoke of his suggestion as that of "a hasty inconsiderate person, scarcely endowed with common sense." Can. Arch., Q. 280, 1, 106. Letter Simcoe to Dundas, York, February 28, 1794. J. Ross Robertson's Diary of Mrs. John Graves Simcoe, Toronto, 1911, pp. 43, 59, 139.
"The celebrated case of Campbell v. Hall (1774), Cowper's K.B. Cases, 204: Lofft's Reports, 655, "very elaborately argued four several times" before the Court of King's Bench at Westminster, decided this once for all. Lord Mansfield delivered the unani- mous opinion of the court, which is a legal and constitutional classic.
13I have myself no doubt of the validity of such marriages: but I have heard very good lawyers deny or at least query.'
"While the authorities speak only of an -army of occupation or otherwise in a foreign country, the same principle must apply to an army post anywhere. See Westlake's Private International Law, 5th Ed. 1912, p. 72. I follow sec. 31 almost verbally; King v. Brampton (1808), 10 East's Reports, 282, lays down the law clearly. Ruding v. Smith, 2 Haggard's Consistory Reports, 393. See also Burn v. Farrar (1819), 2 Haggard's Con- sistory Reports, 369, in which Sir William Scott (afterwards Lord Stowell) doubts whether an English officer in the army of occupation at Paris was at all subject to the French law. There would not now raise even a doubt: as Lord Ellenborough, C. J. said in King v, Brampton, 10 East at p. 238, "the law of England, ecclesiastical and civil, was recog- nized by subjects of England in a place occupied by the King's troops who would im- pliedly carry that law with them." It is possible that a marriage by a Presbyterian minister following the Presbyterian ritual would be equally valid with one by a clergyman of the Church of England where no statute interfered; Catterall v. Catterall, 1 Robert- son's Reports, 580; 5 Notes of Cases, 466; it is unnecessary to pursue this enquiry.
15I know of no binding and authoritative statement of the law in that regard: but the general opinion is as stated in Hammick's Laws of Marriage, 2nd Ed., 1887, at p. 266. "There is little doubt that in a heathen land, marriages between British subjects may lawfully be celebrated by a clergyman of the Church of England either on board ship or on shore."
"Before the act of (1753), 26 George II, c. 83, a marriage in England by a Roman Catholic priest after the English ritual, though irregular, was not void, although it prob- ably would have been had the Roman Catholic ritual been employed. Serimshire v. Scrimshire, 2 Haggard's Consistonj Reports, 404, Since Reg. v. Millis (1844), 10 Clark & Finnelly's Reports in House of Lords, 534, "it must be taken that there never could have been a valid marriage in England before the Reformation without the presence of
SOME MAKUIAUKS IN OLD DETROIT 129
a priest episcopally ordained or afterwards without the presence of a priest or of a dea- con." Beamish v. Beamish (1861), 9 House of Lords Cases, 274.
17Lord Dorchester, Captain General and Governor-in-Chief of the Province of Quebec, by Letters Patent, dated July 28, 178*. divided that part of the Province which after- wards became Upper Canada into four Districts, — Luneburg, Mecklenburg, Nassau and Hesse: Hesse, which in 1792 became the Western District of Upper Canada, extended from the extreme projection of Long Point into Lake Erie to the west of the Province. This District included Detroit. Cons'.. Docs., pp. 953, 954, 4th Rep. Ont. Arch., (1906) pp. 157, 158.
Kor the District of Hesse the following were appointed justices of the peace, all well known men of the time: Alexander Grant, Guillaume La Motte, .St. Martin Adhemar, William Macomb, Joncaire de Chabert, Alexander Maisonville, William Caldwell and Mathew Elliot. Can. Arch. Q. 39, p. 134. 11 Mich. Hist. Coll., p. 622.
"See the Honble. Richard Cartwright's Report to Lieutenant Governor Simcoe, Can. Arch., Q. 261, 1, 169, printed in full in note 6 to my Article "The Law of Marriage in Upper Canada." 2 Can. Hist. Review (September 1921), pp. 241, 242.
"The Territory of Michigan did not recognize this act as legally and effectively abolish- ing the French Canadian law, — but the territorial legislature in 1810 passed a statute ex- pressly repealing the Coutume de^Paris, Lorman v. Benson (1859), 8 Mich. 18, at p. 25: Coburn v. Harvey (1864), 58 Wis. 146 at p. 158. Dr. Sherman in his splendid work, Roman Law in the Modern World, Boston 1917, Vol. 1, p. 251, sec. 263, mentions the fact of repeal but says nothing of the reason for it.
2°See the Report of Hon. Richard Cartwright mentioned in note 18 supra.
-'Indeed Simcoe in an official despatch to Dundas, Navy Hall, (Niagara) November 4, 17'.)2, says "almost all the Province are in that predicament." Can. Arch. .Q. 278, pp. 79 ff. At Detroit two out of the four English speaking magistrates appointed in 1788 for the District of Hesse and the only lawyer were " in that predicament " as will appear later in the text.
22See my Paper referred to in note 18 supra for a full account of the legislative vicissi- tudes of these bills. This Paper contains a full historical account of the legislation upon the subject of celebration of marriage in the Province of Upper Canada. The act of 1793 is (1793) S3 George III, c. 5, (U. C.): the validating section is sec. 1, that for preserving testimony of them is sec. 2.
23The first account in print of the Midland District book (so far as I know) was my article in Volume 51 of the Canadian Magazine (September 1918), pp. 384-386, "Marriage in Early Upper Canada. " See also my paper referred to in note 18 supra. The Western District book had escaped my research: it was brought to my attention by Andrew Hraid, Esq., secretary of the Essex Historical Society, Windsor, Ontario, who was good enough to procure for me a personal examination of it. I wish to express my appreciation of and thanks for his kindness and courteous consideration.
In the Midland District book are only two marriages recorded, Richard Cartwright of Kingston, who was a legislative councillor, and Magdalene Secord at Niagara on or about October 19, 1784 who had living children James, Richard and Hannah; and David McCrae and Erie Smyth at Michilimackinac, October 13, 1783, who had living children \\ illiam, Sophia, Frances and Amelia.
• while he copied the oaths of Peter and Catharine Laughton and the certificate of Park did not certify that they were registered, — no doubt because the three years al- lowed by the act had gone by and the entry was therefore irregular and without legal justification.
s treaty concluded November 19, 1784, Treaties and Conventions of the U. S. A., pp. 379 ff, Art. II, provides for evacuation by June 1, 1796, and retention of allegiance on the terms set out in the text.
2«This act was passed in 1797, but the royal assent was not promulgated by proclama- tion until December 29, 1798, and it is quoted as (1798) 38 George III, c. 4 (U. C.) "How he and his wife were brother and sister-in-law of Ann Laughton as certified by 17
130 WILLIAM KENWICK KIDDELL, LL. D., F. K. S. C.
Grant, does not appear, — perhaps his brother had married her sister. Sparkman was afterwards, and as late as 1807, deputy barrack master at Amherstburg, Can. Arch. C. 673, p. 106: 15 Mich. Hist. Coll., p. 41.
28(1818) 69 George III, c. SI (U. C.)
z«(1830) 11 George IV, c. 86, a. 2 (U. C.). The act came in force March 2, 1831, but was passed in March, 1829, and was reserved for the royal pleasure.
3°It is quite certain that the date 1791 which is interlined is a mistake, — her first child who died in infancy was born in 1785; Ann, who afterwards married Peter Gouvereau, in 1786; Sarah afterwards Mrs. Munger, in 1791; and Prideaux in 1797.
"There may of course have been many more which were not recorded by the clerk of the peace in his book.
WOMEN AND HISTORY
BY MRS. FRANC L. ADAMS MASON
AND HISTORY! This combination came about through the simple process of evolu- tion. All history began at the Creation, and women from that time, as the mothers of men, have been the source from which history has grown. We notice the connection between women and history in the Garden of Eden, and I have no need to remind you that Eve began her historical career and made a name for her- self before Adam began any activities in that line, and while we are not proud of the part she took, neither do we take pride in that taken by Adam, who established a precedent still followed by those of his sex, that of laying the blame for all evils on the woman.
Always woman has been looked upon as the weaker vessel, and it has taken twenty centuries to perfect the plan whereby women, in some parts of the earth, (and we rejoice that Michigan is one of those "parts") appear in the same category with men, but let us not lose sight of the fact, that as mothers of men, women are responsible for all the history the world has ever known. We of today will not admit that man is a superior animal, but agree rather with Burns when he said,
His 'prentice hand He tried on man, And then He made the lasses.
The names of women, from the time of Eve to that
Read before the State Historical Society at Laiiaing, May 27, 1920.
[(131)
132 MRS. FRANC L. ADAMS
of Sarah, the wife of Abraham, are made noticeable by their absence in that greatest of all histories, the Bible, but we know the women were there, otherwise where appear the names of hundreds of men would have been a blank and the "beget" and "begot" columns would have been entirely lacking.
Sarah was appointed by the Lord of Hosts to be "the mother of nations," and the history of the ages proves the fulfillment of that covenant. The founda- tions of modern history were built in part by the women who amid surroundings which cannot even be con- ceived by us, reared the men whose names appear in the early chronicles of the Bible, though many genera- tions passed away before women were given credit in their own names and really had a part in the world's work.
Women like men have made both noble and ignoble history, but as Stevenson says,
There's so much bad in the best of us, And so much good in the worst of us, That it doesn't become any of us To talk about the rest of us.
The only things worthy of record are those which tend toward world betterment, and these are plentiful all down through the ages and can best be represented by types.
'The pages of the Old Testament teem with the names of women, who may well be called pioneers in history, and from the beginning of the Christian Era the names of women who have performed notable deeds have been ever on the increase. Glimmers of light reflected from their brave deeds shone through the fog even in the Dark Ages.
\VO.MKX AND HISTORY 133
The Pilgrim mothers formed a combination of Women and History from which our American history has grown; in them can be traced the indomitable spirit possessed by the women of early days as they came into an unknown land where they ' had been promised "freedom to worship God" and endured all the hardships incident to such a life as they reared men whose names form a noted galaxy on history's pages.
The brave women of 1776, who by their courage and devotion helped make it possible for the Stars and Stripes to wave o\*er the American Colonies, and whose names were never transcribed on the records of our country helped to make our history just as much as those with whose names we are all familiar. They made history just as much as did Betsy Ross, Mollie Pitcher, Barbara Frietche, Sarah Bradlee Fulton, mother of the Boston Tea Party, Lydia Darrah, the Philadelphia Quakeress who prevented Howe's cap- ture of Washington, Mercy Warren, the first woman to advise separation from England, and many others who might be mentioned.
Coming closer to our own day, during and just pre- ceding the War of the Rebellion we find Florence Nightingale, the "Angel of the Crimea" as she was called, known as the pioneer who paved the way for the alleviation of suffering on the field of battle and in military hospitals and whose plans our own Clara Barton carried on and perfected in such a manner that never since time began has there been a union of women and history that has led to such stupendous results.
Some worship the man with money, others the man witli power, while still others bow down to the sculptor,
134 MRS. FRANC L. ADAMS
artist or musician who has gained a famous name, but whoever we place on our historical pedestal of fame it is one who has achieved great deeds or done something for humanity. No name stands higher than that of Clara Barton who is known the world over as the greatest humanitarian of her sex that ever lived. That her work was a part of Michigan history all may not know.
The first local Red Cross society formed in the United States was organized by Clara Barton at Dans- ville, N. Y., her summer home, and its first work was to assist the Michigan fire sufferers in 1881.
Linked with the name of Clara Barton are those of Marie Logan, "Mother" Bickerdike and Frances Wil- lard, all women who were prominent in making the his- tory of this nation. But if all the historically famous women of the ^nited States should be mentioned, the list would be a long one and each would be entitled to credit for some special line of work or service.
Women and History! Let's draw the lines still closer until they contain only Michigan, for our own state records have a wonderful array of historical women of renown.
For 219 years women have had a prominent place in the annals of this great commonwealth, for it was soon after the founding of Detroit in 1701 that Madame Cadillac and Madame Tonty, cultured women of France, turned their footsteps toward the new world to become pioneers with their husbands in the wilderness and to become known as the first white women who blazed the trail into Michigan.
I have no need to relate the deeds of Catherine, the
WO.MKX AND HISTORY 135
Ojibway girl, Mrs. John Johnson, Susan Zeisberger, "Aunt" Emily Ward, "Aunt" Laura Haviland, Lu- cinda Hinsdale Stone, Miss Emily Mason, Madame Mitchell, Sojourner Truth — but the list grows too long, and we are all more or less familiar with the part these women, and many others, had in the making of Michi- gan history. Each had her line of work, and no two experiences were the same; had it been otherwise, had all had the same interest at heart and worked for one object alone, "women and history" would not have meant much in Michigan. There is probably not a man in the state today with any knowledge of pioneer days who does not admit that the women had as great a part in subduing the wilderness, building up the schools and churches, organizing public institutions, helping solve the good roads problem, and bringing about the statewide prohibition and equal suffrage, as did the masculine element.
Women who have made history in Michigan! Their name is legion, and though the majority of them have never been heard of by the public, all honor is due them as pioneer mothers. Women thought no sacrifice too great, no hardship too severe to keep them from the side of their husbands when they came into the unbroken forests of Michigan to build a home. With- out a murmur they rode in the covered wagons behind plodding oxen, through swamps and forests, across wide, swift-flowing rivers they were obliged to ford as they traveled, until they came to the spot they had chosen for the new home. Here were hastily felled enough trees to erect a rude cabin in which they lived, many times without even the most common necessities
136 MRS. FRANC L. ADAMS
of life, and here the women, all unknowingly, made history that will live as long as Michigan remains a state.
What has been said of the women of Michigan holds equally true of the women of Ingham county who came here in pioneer days.
Webster defines a pioneer as "one who goes before, to prepare the way for another," and the key-note was struck by one who called a pioneer a "leader." "It matters little," he said, "whether he blazed a trail into a new country and became its first settler, instituted needed reforms or worked out a plan for improving the world and making it better, he is a true pioneer, because he is a leader."
It may savor of "carrying coals to Newcastle," to draw the lines even closer and mention a few typical women pioneers of Ingham county, for each county has its women pioneers to whom honor is paid, but there is the chance that there are women leaders in this county to whom your attention has never been called.
Mrs. Nancy Meach came into Leroy township in 1836, and in a record of her life written by herself we find that it was in January with the snow so deep that the party was one whole day covering the last eight miles of their journey. For eight months this brave pioneer never saw the face of another woman, but her adventures with Indians, wolves and bears made thrill- ing stories. She was one of the first school teachers in the county, and the helpful spirit with which she as- sisted those around her, causes her name to be spoken reverently by the older inhabitants of the township. She was but one of the many pioneer mothers whose
WO.MKX AM* HISTORY 137
part in history was similar to hers and whose fortitude and courage have been an inspiration to the generations following them.
Abigail and Delia Rogers founded a seminary in Lansing in 1855 where girls were encouraged to gain a higher education. Miss Abigail Rogers devoted much energy to forcing open the doors of the University of Michigan so women could squeeze through, and all know it was a tight squeeze at first.
Among the teachers of local fame were Mrs. Jona- than Bush, Mrs. Hannah May, whose picture hangs on the walls in the Senate Chamber in the Capitol, and her sister, Mrs. Mary Still man, who now at the age of 89 is still telling the story of those early days. She and her five sisters all taught school and between times braided straw hats. She says, " When we saw a stranger coming toward the house we knew he was after either a straw hat or a school ma'am. " Those were the days when teachers received the princely salary of from twelve to twenty shillings a week, provided the teacher was of the feminine persuasion, and in addition she was given the privilege of "boarding round." One story Mrs. Stillman loves to relate is how she made toast for Governor Cass when he stopped near the Rolfe settle- ment for a meal while driving from Detroit to Lansing when the Capital was first located there. She thought him the homeliest man she ever saw. The roads were in even worse condition than we find them some places now, and when the stage coach lurched into a huge in iid-hole his silk hat fell into the slough and he had to ride with his bandanna tied over his head.
Mrs. Harriet Tenney and Mrs. Mary C. Spencer as
138 MRS. FRANC L. ADAMS
state librarians, have not only added to the history of Ingham county, but their names are well known be- yond the confines of the state in connection with library work.
Mrs. Marie B. Ferrey occupies a position in which she has no counterpart. The work she has done as curator of the State Historical Museum places her in a class by herself, while her patriotic work has made her a place to which few attain. During the last few years she has visited hundreds of schools and clubs of the state and never fails to urge a more extensive and thorough study of Michigan history. She often takes with her on her trips the costumes of different periods and in this manner better conveys to her hearers the history of each epoch.
Women and History ! Women in History ! Women who are pioneers in Webster's sense of the word, that is, leaders in new movements, have increased in num- bers very rapidly during the last few years, and in this they have shown the same courage and fortitude which their mothers and grandmothers displayed. The courage, perhaps, is of a different nature, for it takes moral as well as physical courage to face the adverse criticism these modern pioneers have encountered, something our foremothers knew nothing about. But, to use a modern phrase, the women of today have "made good," and the outlook for the feminine popu- lation, as well as the future history as connected with women, has received an impetus that will carry it on until it results in the emancipation of women from all the hampering restrictions of other days. New avenues
\\'<>.M i ;\ AND HISTORY 139
a rr being constantly opened and women are now travel- ing paths hitherto unknown to the world.
Let us follow some of the devious pathways that our leaders have blazed within the last few years and see where they lead us. They are historical paths, we all know, and they who forged ahead into the Unknown fully realize this, and their experiences are as beacon lights for those who follow.
Mrs. Carrie Chapin of Eden was the first woman to cast her vote in Vevay township after the equal suffrage law passed, and at% the same election received the majority vote for justice of the peace, over her son who ran against her. Her husband, the late J. W. Chapin, belonged to the well known Chapin family that came into Vevay in 1843, and she combines agriculture with her magisterial work, for she conducts the farm that has been in the family all these years. Miss Alice Chapin, the oldest daughter of the family, a graduate from the Mason high school, has brought honor to her Alma Mater and her home county in several ways. She was one of the first to establish a game refuge on her farm in Eden; was the first Ingham county woman to work with defective children in school, and is now at the head of a large settlement house in Minneapolis, Minn., where she is attracting nation-wide comment on her work.
Rev. Augusta Chapin, one of the members of the original family, was the first woman to be ordained as a preacher in Ingham county, and held pastorates in California, Illinois, New York and Michigan before her death. She was th£ first Ingham county woman to personally conduct tourists to and through Europe.
140 Mus. FRANC L. ADAMS
Mrs. Dora Stockman was well known to the public for years as a Grange lecturer, and was the first woman to be elected a member of the State Board of Agri- culture.
Mrs. Harriet W. Casterlin, whose father, Rev. Hosea Kittridge, was the first resident Presbyterian pastor in Mason, proved her pioneer leadership wJien she served in the Ingham county court as the first woman juror to be drawn on a regular panel.
Miss Daisy Call, though young to be called a pio- neer, blazed the trail for the women of Ingham county when she entered the political arena and was elected county school commissioner.
The first medal from the Carnegie Hero Fund com- mission granted in Ingham county was given Mrs. Eva Prince for a deserving act of heroism done in 1913.
Ingham county has at least one authoress of note, Miss Belle Maniates, who is best known as having written Amarilly of Clothes Line Alley.
Lansing has added luster to its history in electing Mrs. Ella Aldinger president of the Board of Education, and Mrs. F. E. Mills as a member of the board.
The list grows apace, not only with the names of women who are making history, but with the new lines of work into which they are entering.
As women and history have been associated to- gether from the beginning of the world, so they will continue to be until the end of time.
Women and History! 'Tis still a mystery How the combination began. ^ We may argue and reason, , And still it's not treason
To declare 'twas the work of no man.
WOMEN AND HISTORY 141
God gave woman brains,
And through them she attains
To power on the same plane with man ;
For this she has sought,
She's worked and she's fought
Since the days when Creation began.
And now she's victorious,
After work most laborious
And years of ceaseless endeavor.
To God she gives praise,
That in these latter days
She's considered both wise and clever.
And down through the ages
Will go history's pages,
That proves she had talents God-given.
These "Mothers of men"
Their reward receive, when
God judges the motive with which thoy have striven.
MICHIGAN AS A FIELD FORJTHE NOVELIST
BY ARNOLD MULDER, M. A.
HOLLAND
TT WILL seem like a negation of my subject when I * say at the very beginning that in fiction, and in general literature too for that matter, geographical boundary lines should not be taken into consideration. Any fiction that is worthy of the name will inevitably transcend all geographical limits. Literature, in this respect, is like nature. When one crosses the boundary from Michigan into Indiana or Ohio or Wisconsin, one does not realize it by any signs in nature. The grass on one side of the line is exactly like the grass on the other side; the trees are just aS green in Ohio as in Michigan, the skies just as blue. A tree growing on the Michigan side of the line impartially sends its roots into Indiana and Michigan soil alike. Nature knows no boundary lines.
Nor does literature. I have little faith in state or local authors' associations in so far as these associations exist for the exaltation of state or local pride. A work of art is no less a work of art because it was produced in a far distant state, and it is no more a work of art be- cause it was produced in Michigan. State pride cannot take the place of intrinsic merit. I would always rather read a well written novel by a writer from California or New York or Missouri or West Virginia than an in- differently written novel by a writer from Michigan. And more than that, I would always rather read a well
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MICHIGAN AS A FIELD FOR THE NOVELIST 143
written book by an English or a Norwegian or a Ger- man or a Spanish or a Russian writer than I would a poorly written book by an American. There are not even any national boundaries to art. The democracy of the spirit is worldwide.
But this point of view carries with it as its natural complement that there is no reason for indulging in the very common depreciation of the product of the native writers. If art knows no boundary lines, there is no reason why great art should not be produced in Michi- gan just. as readily ae in California or New York or in London or Paris. There is no reason why the greatest writer of the Twentieth century should not spring from Michigan. A prophet is not without honor save in his own country, and it is an almost unconscious fashion for Michigan people to think patronizingly of Michigan writers — as if there is something home-made about them, and as if they are lacking in the element of pro- fessionalism. People think of New York or Boston as the place where the real writers live. But nothing could be more mistaken than this. The real writers in America today either live in the Middle West or hail from it. H. L. Mencken, America's most arresting literary critic, recently testified to this fact when he said that by far the greatest majority of the really vital writers of America lived within two hundred miles from Chicago. It is largely because of my conviction that there is no reason why letters should not flourish in Michigan as well as anywhere else in America that I am presenting these thoughts on "Michigan as a Field for Fiction. "
There is such a phrase as "the Indiana school of
144 ARNOLD MULDER, M. A.
novelists;" there is no such phrase as "the Michigan school of novelists." Why the former and why not the latter? Is there something in the ozone of Indiana that develops novelists, something in its topography, in the genius of its people? I do not pretend to be able to explain "the Indiana school of novelists." I am inclined to think that it is no more than a phrase any- way. Michigan probably has about as many novelists as Indiana, but whereas Booth Tarkington, Meredith Nichelson and others of that school are known as dis- tinctly Indiana writers, Michigan's novelists are not known as Michigan writers. Few people outside of Michigan, for instance, think of Rex Beach as a Michi- gan writer, or of Clarence Buddington Clelland, or of Henry G. Aikman. One of the few Michigan novelists of first rank who is widely known as a Michigan writer is Steward Edward White, and the reason probably is that "The Blazed Trail," the book that made him famous, has its scenes frankly laid in Michigan.
Aspiring young novelists often are under the im- pression that romance is to be found only in some other place, that they must migrate to New York and write about scenes there to be successful. I personally be- lieve that this idea has spoiled many a- young writer. There is unquestionably good material for fiction in New York, as O. Henry has conclusively demonstrated, but it is folly for a young writer who would have a good chance to be original with the material that he finds right at his own door to go to a far-away scene and be- come a mere imitator with the unfamiliar material.
And Michigan as a state is particularly rich in variety of interests and aspects of life that should make
MICHIGAN AS A FIELD FOR THE NOVELIST 145
it a wonderful field for the novelist. Take first of all the state's geography. Compare it with such a state as Indiana. The Hoosier state is for the most part one level plain. For practical purposes it may be described as a huge cornfield. Now a cornfield is not particularly inspiring as a background for fiction. But what has Michigan to offer as background material for the novelist? All one needs to do is take a look at the map of the state — almost completely surrounded by a group of great lakes that speak of ancient prehistoric geologi-' cal eras that cannot help but excite the imagination. Lake Superior, the largest body of fresh water in the world, bounds one side of the state, while Lake Michi- gan and Lake Huron seem to hold the lower peninsula in a loving embrace. A whole literature could be built up about these wonderful lakes. Their fierce storms give an opportunity for dramatic interest that is not surpassed anywhere in the world. Joseph Conrad has built up a series of novels, perhaps the most wonderful of this generation, about life on the ocean vessels. Is there not in Michigan some future Joseph Conrad who will do the same for life on the Great Lakes? There is no reason why just as great fiction should not be written about the Great Lakes as about the Seven Seas.
Then there is the upper peninsula, a field for fiction as yet practically untouched. Joseph Hergesheimer, in one of his stories, gives a hint at the possibilities of that section, giving the impression that he considers it one of the most romantic spots in America. Gertrude Atherton wrote a novel about life in the Montana cop- per district. There is no reason why a greater than Gertrude Atherton should not arise in the upper penin-
19
146 ARNOLD MULDER, M. A.
sula and lay the scene of a novel or of a whole series of novels in the copper and iron country of that section. Preferably it should be a native son, or at least one who has lived in the district long enough so that he has become saturated with his material and with the spirit of the country. There are too many novelists who use a quaint bit of country of a curious community merely as a stage back-drop in their stories, not as a genuine background. A real background, to be worth the trouble that is put on creating it, should be an integral part of the story. It should in a way be a character in the story itself. The mere topography of a place is of minor importance; it is the life of a scene, its spirit, that gives it vitality. And there is opportunity for a great fictional epic about the copper and iron country of the upper peninsula-, provided a novelist can be developed who can see what is before his eyes and who can grasp the possibilities of the place as a fictional background.
Take the single example of the great strike of a few years ago. There is enough dramatic material in that for several novels. Add to that the dramatic interest that is inherent in all mines — the ever-present chance of men being trapped in the mazes underground, the clash of foreign personalities, the inherent tempera- mental differences between the races that work the mines, and you have a mass of material that a novelist like Eden Phillpotts could glorify so that critics all over the world would call it the work of genius.
Michigan's woods are not what they once were, but there is plenty of forest left for fictional purposes. Steward Edward White has probably exhausted the
MICHIGAN AS A FIELD FOR THE NOVELIST 147
possibilities of the woods of this state as material for the novel. But what he has done proves my point that this state contains as much inherent interest for the novelist as any state in the Union. What Steward Edward White has done with the woods, other novelists can do with other features of the state that are more or less peculiar to Michigan.
Few people for instance seem to realize that the dunes along Lake Michigan are as effective a back- ground for fiction as the woods were at one time. I have felt for years that here is a region that in romantic interest is second to none. These vast masses of shift- ing sand, millions of tons of it in a single dune some- times, restless, migratory, shaped and reshaped a thousand times each year by the winds and the storms, choking out the lives of trees and shrubs, overwhelming sometimes a whole village — these sand masses have a charm and an appeal for many who have lived in close communion with them that make them ideal material for fictional background purposes. Mary Kelly Graves, describing in a free verse poem a rainstorm in the dunes, said of these sand masses:
"Architects have dreamed such things But never have carved them in stone."
Michigan cities are perhaps no different from other American cities and it would be almost an act of supererogation to try to build a paragraph on the thesis that Michigan cities can more effectively serve as a background for fiction than the cities in any other state. I do not wish to make any such contention; but on the other hand, there is also no reason why the scene of a great novel should not as naturally be laid in Detroit or Flint, let us say, as in Chicago, or Indian-
148 ARNOLD MULDER, M. A.
apolis, or Cincinnati. Booth Tarkington usually lays his plots in "the Midland City," which is obviously Indianapolis, and Mary S. Watts merely speaks of "the City" in her books, which city is just as obviously Cincinnati. Michigan writers frequently go to Chicago or New York as the scenes for their city stories. There is no reason why they should not localize them, except for the aforesaid absurd feeling that there is something home-made and not quite professional about the home scene. Moreover, a city like Detroit or Flint, with the very large admixture of foreigners in the population, gains tremendously from that fact in fictional value. It is a truism that a happy, contented people does not furnish much material for the history books; in the same way, a happy city, with no foreign elements to complicate life and to furnish civic and municipal problems, is not a good field for fiction. The novelist feeds on the troubles that stir up the life of a com- munity. Such troubles are the drama of life.
The Saturday Evening Post during the past ten or fifteen years has done perhaps more than any other agency to develop the "literature of business." Until within the last decade or two business was not looked upon as legitimate material for fiction. But today it is one of the best fields for the novelist. And what business today is the colossus among businesses? Without hesitation the answer is of course the auto- mobile industry. And what one state in the Union is the home of the auto industry. Just as unhesitatingly Michigan of course.
Not a tithe of the novels have been written about the automobile industry that are going to be written
MICHIGAN AS A FIELD FOR THE NOVELIST 149
and that can be written. Consider the romance of the life of such a man as Henry Ford. If the literal story of his life had been written by a novelist twenty years ago, not departing one jot from the actual truth as we all know it today, the writer would have been set down as the most promising candidate for the Ananias Club that the century had produced. There is absolutely no reason why a Michigan H. G. Wells should not be stirred into literary activity by the story of this curious business genius, this friend of Edison and the late John Burroughs, and transmute him into a literary figure as arresting as the transformation of Paul Guiguin, the French painter, into "Charles Strickland," in W. Somerset Maugham's much discussed book, 'The Moon and Sixpence. " And a novelist need not become a worshiper of Ford or agree with his political or social ideas to do that. The novelist, for the purpose of his art, has nothing to do with political quarrels or the right or wrong of social or economic experiments. All that counts for him is that Henry Ford is a Michigan citizen who is one of the most romantic figures not only in America but in the world. He is so full of fictional interest, there are so many corners to his character and career to which the imagination of the novelist could hitch itself as starting points, that it is a marvel to me that no great novelist of business has written a great novel about his unique personality, if not about the facts of his life.
The automobile industry has a wealth of romantic i nl rrest for the writers of the novels of business that has not yet begun to be utilized in any adequate way. Booth Tarkington in "The Magnificent Ambersons"
150 ARNOLD MULDER, M. A.
makes very good use of the early beginnings of the auto- mobile in his "Midland City." A novel that would follow the state of Michigan in its rapid transition from an agricultural to an industrial state, due largely to the automobile industry, would be a real achievement in American fiction. There are plenty of people not yet forty years old who very distinctly remember the first time they ever saw an automobile. To put into a work of fiction the very spirit of an autoless world and then trace the development of a world that is finally almost dominated by the automobile, all of it taking place in less than a quarter of a century, showing how this bit of motive mechanism has affected the thought- life, the mind, the heart and the very body, of the people whose lives it has touched — such a study in fiction would have a value that cannot be over-esti- mated. Arnold Bennett, in "The Old Wives' Tale" and in the "Clayhanger" series, traces social changes in England during several generations. There is no reason why the same thing could not be done with Michigan's great industry as the focusing point.
I have already alluded to the iron and copper region in the upper peninsula as a background for fic- tion, but there are further possibilities for the fictionist in mining as a business. Perhaps nowhere else in America does a business so dominate, for better or worse, the whole civic and communal life as does the mining business in some sections of the upper peninsula. In some instances the big mining companies build the roads, pave the streets, lay the sewers and assume many of the other burdens that the voters assume in
MICHIGAN AS A FIELD FOR THE NOVELIST 151
other sections. The big corporations in some cases almost take the place of the government.
The effect that such a situation has upon the peo- ple is a theme that is full of rich possibilities for the novelist. And in working out such a theme in fiction he would have material that ought to stir the imagina- tion. No one who has ever stood at the mouth of one of the famous mines in the copper or iron district and has seen the miners go down the shaft can forget the types. There is a rich exoticism about them that whets curiosity about their lives, about their family relations, about their psychology, about their attitude toward life. Anyone who could- truthfully reproduce in fiction these foreign types would be doing a service to art and to a better understanding of the elements that go to the making of American life whose value cannot be over-estimated. And the possibilities for drama in these lives is obvious even to the most casual observer.
In addition to being an automobile manufacturing and a mining state, Michigan is known all over America as a resort state. Frankly, there is but little fictional value in this great feature of the state's life. Who, offhand, can think of a great resort novel? The very concepts of great art and summer resorts seem antipa- thetical to anyone who takes art seriously. Anyone who knows the typical summer resort understands that life there is not of the stuff that true drama is made of. Summer resorts are the cream-puffs of life, not the substantial bread and meat that is necessary for any fiction that is worth writing. Intellectually, most suminer resorts are in a state of coma, and those men and women who visit them who are really vital intel-
152 ARNOLD MULDER, M. A.
lectually are on vacation mentally as well as physically. All the conditions are inimical to that disciplined and sustained effort that is the prerequisite of serious art. The supremely great dramas of the world could not have had their setting at the typical summer resorts and the great characters in fiction would have been out of place there.
But if the state's resort life cannot be made the background of worthwhile fiction, it can be used to good advantage by the novelist as a foil to the more permanent life of the state. Think of the technical difficulties that the resorts can be made to solve. If for instance the novelist should need a president or a vice president in his story, it would be the most natural thing in the world for such a personage to be resorting in Michigan. And the same thing might be true of any famous personage. And also the contrast of the playlife of the resorts with the crushing toil in mine or on farm or in factory can be used to good advantage to make the latter more dramatically real. Contrast is one of the novelist's most effective weapons, and as a means of contrast the resorts of Michigan are one of the state's greatest fictional assets.
Finally, the people of Michigan are not homogene- ous, and that is one of the state's greatest recommenda- tions to the novelist. The writer of fiction requires variety. A state's population made up of people who are of the type of the United States senators would be a state of an extraordinary intellectual development, but it would be practically worthless to the novelist. There would not be any drama there, no clash of races, no conflict between types. The essence of all fiction,
MICHIGAN AS A FIELD FOR THE NOVELIST 153
as of all drama, is conflict, and the life of the criminal is often more promising material for the novelist than the life of the statesman or the scholar. And Michigan has all types imaginable. Anyone who travels exten- sively in Michigan soon discovers that. They are all here — the Sons and Daughters of the Revolution, the native Yankee, the aboriginal Indian living under al- most tribal conditions, the Hollander in large numbers, the German, the Swede, the Finn, the Czek, the Italian, the Greek, the Oriental. There are whole counties and groups of counties dominated by the life of European countries, so that the life and customs of these commu- nities stand marked off from the rest of America by their quaintness. It is in such communities that picturesque characters are to be found that are the true gold of fiction. Joseph C. Lincoln became famous by writing novels about the Cape Cod folk. There are communities in Michigan that are fully as interesting as Cape Cod. All they need is an interpreter.
In conclusion I should perhaps say something about Michigan history as material for the novelist. But it so happens that I have little or no faith in the historical novel. Great historical novels have of course been written, as witness "Henry Esmond;" but in most cases I believe such novels have been great in spite of their historical character, not because of them. I do not wish to be dogmatic on this subject. No one re- spects pure history as a literary type more than I do, but I believe that nine times out of ten both fiction and history suffer when the two are combined. Such futilities as Irving Bachelor's "A Man For the Ages" are in my opinion not worth doing. But if a great his-
154 ARNOLD MULDER, M. A.
torical novelist should arise and if historical novels must be written, the record of Michigan's life from its earliest beginnings is full of color and incident.
Coming back to my original contention, we do not wish to develop a distinctive Michigan literature. That would be supremely foolish and futile. Literature is too big a thing to be confined within the boundaries of any state. What is needed is that Michigan writers shall take their full share in the great progressive move- ment in literature that is on in America today. Michi- gan writers need to become conscious of their literary lives. They must understand that all the materials of their art are right here at their doors. The age of romanticism in fiction is dying and the age of realism is upon us. "Miss Lulu Bett" by Zona Gale, "Wines- burg, Ohio," and "Poor White," by Sherwood Ander- son, "My Antonia," "The Song of the Lark" and "O Pioneers!" by Willa Sibert Gather, "Main Street" by Sinclair Lewis, "Zell" and "The Groper" by Henry G. Aikman (a Michigan man), "Moon-Calf" by Floyd Dell — these are but a few of the titles that come to mind on the spur of the moment of books that are representative of the great movement toward realism in American fiction that bids fair to give America for the first time in its history a fiction that can fairly rival the fiction of England. As it happens, every one of those I have here mentioned is from the Middle West. They wrote about the life at their own doorsteps, not about a distant scene shot through with an unreal glamor. They gained authenticity for their work by being faithful to the life they knew. And if Michigan writers are to do really vital work in American fiction,
MICHIGAN AS A FIELD FOR THE NOVELIST 155
they must do just that. They must not strive for provincialism in fiction, but they must attain univer- sality by interpreting faithfully and truthfully the life they know.
CHIEF OKEMOS
BY DR. F. N. TURNER LANSING
HPHIS meeting today is for the purpose of marking the last resting place of one who in the past was a chief of the Chippewas or O jib way tribe of Indians. This powerful tribe is nearly gone. There are only a few members left. Poverty and disease had scattered Okemos' family before his death. A neighbor, — a white man, buried him on this spot on the banks of Grand river and placed some boulders on the grave to mark the place. We look from this grave and we find no dwellings, no schoolhouse or church to tell us the occupancy of the Okemos family; saddest of all, we have no members of his tribe or family to join with us in paying this tribute to the dead.
A brief history of Chief Okemos would be interest- ing to those present and especially those who have spent the time and who have been to some expense in locating and marking this grave. The writer of this biography has been handicapped by a very scant historical record. The red race has nearly vanished and the only means we, their successors, have of finding anything about them are the old legends handed down from generation to generation by white traders and missionaries. All the people of the red race have left are a few burial mounds. Even these have been desecrated by the wjiite race for relics and bones to display in our public
Paper read at a meeting of the Stevens Thomson Mason Chapter, D. A. R., of Ionia, Sept. 18, 1921.
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CHIEF OKEMOS 157
museums. The only way our children can remember this aboriginal race is by the Indian names they have given our rivers and other natural objects and the modified Indian names of our villages and pioneer cities.
Chief Okemos was born in Shiawassee county, this state, about 1775. His father's camp at that time was on the banks of the Shiawassee river, at a point where today the Grand Trunk railroad crosses the river in Vernon township. Years ago there was a small railroad station at this crossing, named Knaggs' Station. Okemos was a nephe.w to Pontiac, the powerful Chip- pewa chief, head of the "Five Indian Nations." Some of my talks with the old pioneers gave me the impres- sion that he was a Pottawatomie and his father be- longed to that tribe. In searching the pioneer history of our state I find he was a Chippewa. His father was a simple hunter and trapper and so Okemos had no hereditary claim to the title of Chief. He was ambi- tious to become famous so he entered the warrior ranks in early life. Nature had endowed him with an iron constitution, sturdy frame and, — for an Indian, an extra amount of courage. He proved himself an able warrior on many a bloody battlefield.
When opportunity offered to become Chief, as it did when his kinsman Tecumseh formed his great con- spiracy, by service in the British army, he renounced his allegiance to the United States and joined his rela- tive. Okemos has been blamed for this act but his ambition and obligations were stronger than loyalty to our government. Some of the white soldiers under General Wayne did the same thing when they were placed in a similar position. Okemos was sent with
158 DR. F. N. TURNER
his cousin and 16 warriors to stop by ambuscade a detachment of United States cavalry at the battle of Sandusky. He attacked twice his number, but the United States forces were reinforced and he and his band were hacked to pieces and every one left as dead on the battlefield. The squaws in caring of the dead for burial found Okemos and his cousin severely wounded, but by careful nursing saved their lives. His cousin was an invalid and cripple all his life, but the iron con- stitution of Okemos was so great, that in after years he could only make people believe he had been in this great battle by showing the saber scars on his head and body. This service and courage gave him his title. He was revered by the Chippewas as a great warrior and chief. Okemos, in his old age, always wanted to be addressed as chief. After he recovered from his wounds he was held in custody by United States authorities as a prisoner of war until General Cass pardoned him and sent him to an Indian reservation in Shiawassee county. He and his relatives were after- wards placed on the reservation in Danby township, Ionia county, Michigan. This reservation is on the banks of the Grand river and contained 140 acres of land. Okemos named it Me-shim-me-ne-con-ing. He died in December, 1858, at the age of 83 years.
Okemos, before he became incapacitated by old age, was a great hunter and travelled all over Shia- wassee, Clinton, Ingham, Jackson and Washtenaw counties. His favorite route was along the banks of the Grand and its branches, the Red Cedar and Huron rivers in Michigan, and the Maumee river in Ohio. The banks of these rivers were his hunting and trap-
CHIEF OKEMOS 159
ping grounds while the rivers and lakes near them were their fishing preserves. He had favorite places where he camped and planted corn. One of these was on the bank of Red Cedar river, seven miles east of Lansing. The village located on this camping ground was named after him. Four miles east on the bank of the same river was another camping and planting ground. The late J. H. Mullett who owned this farm where this planting ground was, was acquainted with Okemos and his younger brothers played with the Okemos children. Pioneers of Jackson, Ann Arbor, Dexter, Ypsilanti, all knew Okemos and his canoes on the Huron. He and his band would come up Grand river to Lansing, then up the Red Cedar to Okemos, then up the west branch of the same to Cedar Lake, portage or carry canoes across to the head waters of the Huron to Lake Erie, then down the lake to Sandusky. That old battle- ground near Sandusky had a fascination for this band as it does to every warrior, red or white.
When he was old, poverty and hunger compelled him to make a journey to Sarnia, Canada, to beg an annuity from the British government for service he rendered under Pontiac. On one of these journeys his aged wife died and was buried among strangers. Okemos was a pagan and lived and died in the Redman's belief of the Great Spirit and Happy Hunting Grounds. His totem was the bear. He was buried as a pagan chief in the pagan part of the Indian burying ground.
A RECORD OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE GRAND
RAPIDS AMERICANIZATION SOCIETY'S PLAN
OF CITIZENSHIP TRAINING THROUGH
THE BALLOT
BY FRANK L. DYKEMA GRAND RAPIDS
nnHE PLAN now carried out in Grand Rapids for the development of citizenship was not formulated in detail at the time the work was initiated. Our present methods are the net result of many experiments, but our conception of the necessity for this work coincides with our initial motive.
This necessity, as we see it, rises out of the lack of any sense of obligation on the part of the average citi- zen, to know about, or participate in, the affairs of the community, state and nation. Matters of common concern provoke no sense of responsibility, and the apathy, inertia, or indifference of men and women is the outward sign of a low citizenship morality. This is the real malady afflicting America today.
'The light vote, the alien, and the radical problems are considered as causes, whereas, they are really ef- fects, directly traceable to the untrained and uncon- scious citizen.
Specifically, if every citizen, man and woman, had a true conception of the sacredness of the ballot, a con- ception sufficiently alive to compel him to vote every election day, politics as a business would be eliminated, because politics as a business exists only through the /'light vote," and because of the citizens' lack of in-
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(jrUAM) KAl'IDS AMKKK'ANiJSATlOX SOCIETY 161
formation about community affairs, the latter would also be cured if he felt the obligation to vote, since a recognized obligation to perform a duty includes the securing of the necessary information to perform it properly.
If, in addition to voting, and keeping informed about community affairs, men and women in contact with foreign-born people in industry or socially, felt a personal responsibility to invite the foreigner to join America, helped him through the naturalization process, and put a spirit of welcome into the relation, the great- est obstacle in the way of the absorption of the alien would cease to exist. Radical propaganda will be coun- teracted only when every American understands our Constitution and talks for it as assiduously as the radi- cal talks against it. people are like phonographs. They play the record that is given them. If we let the radical furnish all of the records, we must expect the conversational output of the individual to be what the radical gives him. If on the contrary, we desire positive Americanism, we, the American citizens must furnish the record.
Aiming to meet the situation outlined above, and assuming that the present day citizen could be stimu- lated into a realization of his responsibilities, by a direct appeal, based on the ballot, a plan of "tagging the voters" was built up on the principle that "Every Man Should Be a Regular Voter." The belief was that if a full vote* were assured every election day, the evils outlined above would be corrected.
The first work occurred in August 1918, in con- nection with the primary election, held on August 21
162 FKAXK L. DYKE MA
27th. The war was still on and methods used were parallel to those used in Liberty Loan and Red Cross campaigns, and the war spirit was utilized in every way to get over the message of citizenship.
A preliminary announcement appeared in all news- papers, and on posters and on circulars generally dis- tributed throughout factories and industries.
A campaign of publicity, including newspapers, posters, films and circulars, constantly impressed the fact that every voter would be tagged on August 27th, that the non-voter was as much a slacker as the non- fighter. Accompanying this idea was the suggestion that aliens be sent to the courts so that they might be- come citizens and voters.
The results were most satisfactory. The number of votes cast was greater than at any previous August primary, a general citizenship interest was developed, and hundreds of aliens took out first papers, and peti- tioned for second papers. From that day until this, there has been a consistent movement on the part of our foreign-born population into naturalization.
It was proven by many war activities, including the service in the army and navy, participation in Liberty bond issues, and subscriptions to the Red Cross, that any standard applying first to the Americans, is quickly accepted by the foreign-born. The willingness of the foreign-born to recognize an American community standard and to endeavor to live up to it was demon- strated in their acceptance of this citizenship standard. As soon as it became generally known that everyone was expected to be a voter, our aliens began to take the necessary steps to qualify themselves for partici-
KAi'ins AMIOUICAXIZATIOX SOCIETY 163
pation in elections, in order to measure up to the American standard.
The first campaign was conducted by an Ameri- canization Committee of the Federation of Social Agen- cies, this being the Central Office of the local service agencies. It was soon decided best to establish a new agency, to carry on the work, and in October 1918, the Americanization Society was organized. The objects of the Society, as stated in the by-laws, were to en- courage and promote regular voting by all persons legally qualified to vote*; to educate the rising generation as to the duty of voting; and to accelerate, in all rea- sonable ways, the naturalization and Americanization of the alien. The membership consisted of three representatives from each of the following organiza- tions: Kent County War Board, Grand Rapids Asso- ciation of Commerce, Grand Rapids Unit of the Woman's Committee of National Defense, Federation of Social Agencies and Grand Rapids Trades and Labor Council. These organizations had been doing some work with the foreign-born. All this was now to be taken over by the Americanization Society.
This Society carried on the second citizenship campaign, which occurred in connection with the gen- eral election in November 1918. The same program was carried out; voters were tagged at the election and newspaper stories and publicity were along the same line. At this election, women were enfranchised in Michigan.
Following this campaign, the next and most im- portant piece of work was considered to be the regis- tration of the women who had been enfranchised at
1G4
FRANK L. DYKEMA
the November election. Plans were developed during December for a publicity campaign to be conducted from January 1, 1919, to February 15, 1919, which was the last registration day, preceding the March primary election, the purpose of this being to realize immediately on our new community asset, the citizen- ship represented by the women voters.
An intensive campaign was carried on through the newspapers, motion picture theaters, and through a speakers' bureau, the purpose of which was to educate the women in their duties as citizens and to influence them to register. The result of this campaign, and the one that followed it, in connection with the April election, was the registration of 26,500 women, which in proportion to the population is a record for any city within the limit of our statistics.
One of the main features of this campaign was a window emblem, which was given to the women as registered at the office of the city clerk. This was dis- played in the windows of the homes of the women who had registered and every part of the city made a fine showing of these emblems as soon as the campaign was well under way.
LIVING HERE
HAI
REGISTERED TOVOTE
THEREBY AJJUM1NC REJPONJ-IBILITY OF
wllll
(IRANI) K.vi-iits AMERICANIZATION SOCIETY 165
The record registration on any one day in the city clerk's office was fifteen hundred women. Undoubtedly, the heavy registration was also stimulated by the fact that the beer and light wine issue was before the peo- ple, on a referendum, and the women desired to be able to express their views on the subject.
Following the close of the registration campaign on February 15th, schools for instructing the women in the details of voting were conducted in connection with women's organizations, and also in the down-town stores. Motion picture films, showing the actual opera- tion of voting in an election precinct were shown in all of the downtown theaters.
The March 1919 election campaign was built around the slogan, "Wear a Tag and Shame the Shirker." Posters, circulars, and newspaper space; motion picture films and lantern slides, were used but the big tjiing we did in this campaign was to bring the children into it. They were brought into the plan merely as an agency for influencing the "grown-ups" to vote, and not with any definite idea of the education of the child, although our by-laws require that "we educate the rising generation as to the responsibilities of voting." When those by-laws were written, the thought was that child training must be done through some regular part of the school work.
It was more or less an inspiration that the children were asked to take part in a voting contest in connection with the March election. With the cooperation of the superintendent of schools, and the teachers, this plan was carried out. The schools were placed in compe- tition in "Tit ing men and women to vote, and the win-
166 FRANK L. DYKEMA
ning school was to be -the one whose children collected the largest number of tags in proportion to the children enrolled.
Children were impressed by their teachers with the importance of voting; were asked to talk with their families, friends and neighbors, to request them to vote, and to save their tags for the children who ap- proached them. They took the work seriously, made a splendid effort to get the people to go to the polls, and one of the schools in a district of moderate homes, won the distinction of making the best showing. The number of voters who went to the polls was very satis- factory, and this result seemed largely due to the work done by the children. So in the April 1919 general election, which followed, we built our campaign en- tirely around the children. No newspaper space of any consequence was used, and only a limited number of posters and circulars, the whole effort beting con- centrated in the schools. To make it more interesting to the children, and to give them something more definite to work for, flags were offered as prizes to the schools making the best showing; namely, number of tags collected in proportion to children in the school. This applied to both public and parochial schools. The children worked hard and the largest vote was cast that had ever been registered in Grand Rapids.
Make Good with . the Children =
Up to this time, the children were being used merely as an agency in getting out the vote, the educational
<JKAXM KAI-IUS AMKUICAXIZATIOX SOCIETY 167
value, as relates to the children, not having been realized, but the new value of this work became appar- ent from about two hundred letters, which, at the re- quest of the secretary of this organization, were written by school children to him. These letters were to answer the questions, "Why should everyone be a regular voter; what was the child's experience in the work; and what were the issues?"
These letters were a revelation because they indi- cated the seriousness with which the children were carrying on this citizenship work, and they made ap- parent that the self-activity of the child, in doing it, was forming the habit of citizenship, and laying the foundation for the future citizenship of the nation.
The experience with the children brought us to a realization that we had also been dealing with effects, rather than causes. It became apparent that the malady afflicting America, which as heretofore stated, is low citizenship morale, the symptoms of which are apathy, indolence, indifference and inertia on the part of the citizen, is the result of the failure of our schools, homes and churches to train our citizen of today, dur- ing the plastic years of childhood, in the obligations of citizenship, and we came to realize that the real work of the Americanization Society, and the real work of the schools of America, is the proper training of the child, through self -activity, to an understanding of the obligations of American citizenship, so that he will feel a compelling obligation, when he reaches maturity, to perform the duties of citizenship.
We discovered also' that the "grown-up" American votes when he is interested, instead of feeling that he
168 FRANK L. DYKE MA
must be interested because he must vote, or in other words, that he must know about things concerning his government, because he must take part in it. We real- ized that inasmuch as he was not sensitive to the direct appeal we were making, that our plan was doomed to ultimate failure unless we built definitely on the prin- ciple of childhood training, and made our appeal to the "grown-ups," either citizen or alien, on the basis of the welfare of the child, an appeal to which he is sensitive.
Continued contact with the foreign-born had also made clear to us that he is looking to the American for leadership, and he follows wrong leadership as readily as right. A twenty -five, thirty or forty per cent vote on election day, justified him in putting off the day of his naturalization, because it does not seem important for him to qualify to perform a duty casually neglected by the American, while a strict • observance, by the American, of the duty of voting, would set an example to the alien which he would feel obliged to follow.
Further experience proved to us that we had found the right relation between the ballot and the school, and through the discovery had developed a tangible and permanent method of vitalizing citizenship, of stimulating the foreign-born into naturalization, and of training the child, through self-activity, into a true conception of the obligation of an American citizen. Through the work in the school, the child went to the American home, with the request that the parents per- form an obvious duty, and the parents in order to set the proper example to the child, are forced to go to the polls. In the foreign-born home, the request of the child is that the parents become citizens so that they
< I HANI) KAI-IDS AMERICANIZATION SOCIETY
169
may be voters, and so that the child may enjoy good standing in his school.
Fully forty per cent of the men who are becoming citizens in Grand Rapids today, are doing so because of the child's desire that they and their parents shall meet the standard of the community.
Don't Gamble With Your Ballot YOB
r vy "
IAWAN AMERICAN
I VOTED
DID YOU?
Every Voter S1 Will Be Tagged!!!
AMERICAN
.frtci**
»ea*e^LM«W^jf^feeA
i5it_*<
^ZN1%5I?? WILL BE TAGGED
O
I AM AN
AMERICAN
I VOTED
DID YOU?
Novembers
A Ballot at Home Is As
Effective for Democracy
As a Bullet in France
Vote Nefp Make Every Man a Voter
Americanization Society
170 FRANK L. DYKEMA
There were no more elections in 1919, and our next work consisted in the organization of direct work with the foreign-born. We adopted a mail circular ization plan, based on the follow-up idea. We made up a list of names of men who had made their declaration of intention (first paper), a list of approximately four thousand names. These were classified under three headings; those who had first papers for two years, and who had been in this country five years, and who came here after June 29th, 1906 (this group requiring a certificate of arrival before being qualified to petition for second papers) ; those who had filed their declaration of intention, but who had not been in this country two years, and were not qualified to petition for second papers; those men who had had their first papers two years ago, and had been in this country five years, and who arrived before June 29th, 1906, and who could file a. petition for second papers without a certificate of arrival.
There are five sessions of the naturalization court during the year, and circularization of these men is coincident with these dates. This gives us the element of continuity, which is essential. Letters sent consist only of a friendly invitation to "join America," with the various arguments as to their duty to do so, to- gether with information about citizenship and lan- guage classes.
As fast as men file their petitions for second papers, they are placed on special lists, and another set of let- ters sent to them, urging them to attend the classes, in citizenship, so that they may be prepared when called before the court. Starting in February of 1920,
<}KAM> RAPIDS AMERICANIZATION SOCIETY 171
our Americanization meetings became part of our regu- lar program, these meetings being in the nature of graduating exercises, following each session of the court. They are given in honor of the men who are admitted to citizenship at that session. We have held seven of these meetings. They add dignity to the naturalization process and make a very favorable impression on the foreign-born. The program consists of music, informal talks by well known men, and enter- tainment features. As part of the program, the citi- zenship certificates are given to the new citizens. The meetings are well attended by both foreign-born and American people.
The increase in results in naturalization is indicated in the following table:
Declarations Petitions Papers Issued Both Courts Both Courts Both Courts 1013 370 171 107
1914 430 162 130
1915 373 126 113
1916 542 227 141
1917 1882 322 202
1918 1185 165 219
1919 , 737 401 355
1920 620 -929 725
6139 2668 1992
During the interval between the last election in 1919 and the March primary 1920, a somewhat standardized plan was developed for carrying out the work in the schools. This consisted, first, of a series of citizenship lessons, which went into the schools for six days prior
172 FRANK L. DYKE MA
to the election. These lessons idealized voting, urged children to use their influence in getting mothers, fathers, neighbors, friends and relatives to vote, arid to get foreign-born people to become citizens. Tags were given to voters, these tags being given out by citizenship committees, composed of school children and of Boy Scouts, who were stationed in the precincts. Tags were collected by the children following the March and April 1920 elections, and flags were awarded to the schools as before.
Following the April election in 1920, we started what was to be an annual affair, a citizenship essay contest. The purpose of this was to enable us to learn how much the children were gaining from the work and to furnish an opportunity to give individual prizes to the children who had done the best work. Essays told the story of actual experiences in getting people to vote, and in bring- ing foreign-born men to citizenship. Following the elec- tion, the prize winning children of forty-eight in all, were taken before the Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions, Ex- change and other men's luncheon clubs, in groups of eight, and as part of the day's program read their essays. Each child was presented with an American flag. This was a great event for the children and made a tremendous impression on the men.
In the August 1920 election the schools were closed and we depended on women's organizations for in- fluence in getting out the vote, but in November, we conducted a regular campaign along the same lines as in the Spring, except that instead of awarding flags to school collecting the largest number of voters' tags, awards were made to all of the schools in the ward in
GRAND KAPIDS AMERICANIZATION SOCIETY 173
which the vote was largest in proportion to registration. Under this plan, the children are actually doing citi- zenship work in getting people to vote, whereas, under the old plan, the collecting of tags sometimes appeared more important than the number of votes actually cast.
The elections in March and April 1921 included the citizenship lessons, giving out of tags, and instructions by teachers as to activities in getting citizens to vote, and aliens to become citizens. The climax was the second annual essay contest, in connection with which forty children, who verc winners in this contest, read their essays on the subjects, "What I have done to get an American to vote," or "What I have done to get a foreign-born man to become a citizen," before Rotary, Kiwanis, Exchange and other clubs of the city. Children were presented with flags, by the clubs. Newspaper publicity was excellent, and alto- gether the campaign was most successful.
Work with the foreign-born has been continued along the same lines as given heretofore and will be carried on in connection with every session of the court. There are four elections in 1922 and substantially the same program will be carried out in connection with them, as was found successful in 1921. There will be something doing all of the time to stimulate the de- velopment of the spirit of citizenship in the children, "grown-ups," and aliens.
What precedes is a record of the evolution of an idea. Starting with a very crude plan, aiming to cor- rect a condition by influencing the men and women to take part in the affairs of the community, evolving from what seems to us to be a true conception of our
174 FRANK L. DYKEMA
work, the training of the child in the fundamentals of citizenship, through the child's activity, and reaching the "grown-up" American and foreign-born, through the appeal of the welfare of the child.
Every activity we adopt is based on continuity, the essential element in sales or education. Elections and court sessions are recurrent, so that this element is assured. The whole plan is based on the recognized moral obligation of the citizen to do his duty "as a citi- zen, and the alien to become a citizen so that he can take his place in the community.
WILLIAM AUSTIN BURT: INVENTOR
BY HORACE ELDON BURT CHICAGO
W7ILLIAM AUSTIN BURT, fifth of nine children of Alvin and Wealthy Austin Burt, was born June 13, 1792, on his father's farm in the town of Petersham, Mass. His parents were able to send him to school in the summer and winter terms from the time he knew his alphabet until he was nine years of age. Owing to a reverse in circumstances, the farm was sold in 1802 and the family moved to Freehold, N. Y., and the fol- lowing year to Broadalbin. His mother had thus early instructed him in piety and virtue and his whole life was influenced by her teachings.
At this early period nis mind took a mechanical turn and a thirst for knowledge. With knife and gimlet, little saw mills and grist mills were made and set run- ning by a rivulet near by. He watched the sun, moon and stars with delight as they coursed the heavens, and was inquisitive about them. No answer more in- telligent than that "God made them" was given to him.
When about fourteen he was permitted by his father to attend the district school three weeks and begin the study of arithmetic, in which he made good progress. Thereupon he persistently pursued the study without a teacher, at all leisure moments, — part of the time at night by the light of a pine knot in the fireplace, and again with book on an improvised rack while en-
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176 HORACE ELDON BURT
gaged with draw-shave in making shingles. About this time his father allowed him the perusal of a book on navigation, published in 1779. He studied this work with great interest. As he came to understand the traverse table and method of determining latitude he was seized with an aspiration to become some day master of a ship. He pursued nautical studies without a teacher, as best he could. His mechanical skill en- abled him to construct a quadrant, with which he de- termined the latitude of his father's house with near approach to accuracy. He had never seen a nautical instrument before. He also endeavored to extend his astronomical knowledge by comparing a large number of almanacs of different dates with each other and with certain data found in the treatise on navigation.
Books on astronomy were then unknown to him, and the means to buy were lacking had he known. He was often reproved for his studious habits by others of his own age, and even by men who should have en- couraged or assisted him. However, he left his favorite studies occasionally to engage in games of ball and similar amusements, until a dispute caused him to re- solve to engage in like games of strife never again.
It was at about the age of fifteen that he resolved not to engage in any calling but such as would be useful to mankind. He continued his studies in all leisure moments in mathematics, natural philosophy, and astronomy whenever he could borrow books that treated in any degree of these subjects.
When he was about sixteen, his father sent him to school for three or four weeks, during which time his daily labors for his father were not lessened, but were
WILLIAM Ai srix BURT: INVENTOR
177
equal to those performed by other young men in the range of his age.
These facts are from Judge Burt's own pen when he was sixty-two years of age, and show his lifelong studious habits in the reading of scientific subjects which characterized his boyhood days.
HON. WM. A. BURT.
Other data concerning him enable me to state that his mother, whose father, William Austin, had been lost at sea, dissuaded her son William from becoming
23
178 HORACE ELDON BURT
master of a ship. Instead of this, he when eighteen bought a surveying compass, out of repair, which he repaired and with which he engaged in surveying in the vicinity of his father's home, then near East Aurora, Erie county, N. Y.
On July 4, 1813, he married Miss Phoebe Cole. He held several offices of a public nature — justice of the peace, postmaster, county surveyor — while residing at Wales Center, Erie county. In 1817 he undertook a journey, in large part on foot, in part by small boats, in part on horseback, from his home to Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, St, Louis, and thence by a northerly route through Illinois and Indiana to Detroit, thence by boat to Buffalo. This was preparatory to the time when he hoped to become a United States deputy surveyor. Meantime he practiced the trade of millwright in New York and in Michigan.
After moving to Michigan he soon made the ac- quaintance of prominent men in the territory who urged him to settle in Detroit, but he thought the country life for his four sons preferable. By the time (1833) he was appointed United States deputy surveyor, three of his sons, John, Alvin and Austin, were old enough to be initiated into the mysteries of the sur- veyor's art. In the eighteen years following, his five sons (those mentioned above and Wells and William) became United States deputy surveyors, and scores of other young men in the neighborhood of Mount Ver- non, Macomb county, also, having been trained under the master in Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa.
Two surveying seasons were spent in Iowa — 1836-7 and 1842-3. There Judge Burt ran the course of the
MR. HORACE ELDEAIBURT
WILLIAM AUSTIN BURT: INVENTOR 179
fifth principal meridian in Iowa, using his solar com- pass for the first time in 1836. His son Alvin surveyed with the same instrument the boundary line between Iowa and Minnesota. To settle differences between Wisconsin and Michigan, Judge Burt was selected to make a re-survey of the boundary line between them. In 1845, after the death of Dr. Douglas Houghton, by drowning, Judge Burt took over his geological notes and completed the work in the upper peninsula of Michigan satisfactorily to the government. He became prominent not only in Michigan but in the nation by reason of his achievements and activities.
When the original patent on his solar compass was about to expire, he went to Washington intending to apply for a renewal. The land commissioner, senators from Michigan and others, recognizing the value of Hurt's solar compass in the public land surveys, per- suaded him to forego renewal and petition congress for suitable advance compensation. Such compensa- tion did not, in Judge Burt's lifetime, nor afterward, materialize. The pictures of Judge Burt and his solar compass accompanying this article were reproduced from those in the History of Michigan (1878). In the preface to his Key to the Solar Compass and Surveyor's Companion, a book of 118 pages, published in 1855, the author, William A. Burt, refers to the many re- quests for such a book. A second edition was published in January 1858. There being no patent on the solar compass after 1850, mathematical instrument makers catalogued "Burt's solar compass" for use of surveyors.
There is a large mass of material accessible to some competent editor, in the archives at Washington, in
180 HORACE KLDON BURT
the capitals of several states, in state historical societies, in the files of newspapers and among the descendants of William Austin Burt for a unique and most fascinating book.
[The following letter by the writer of this paper gives other important matter in the career of William Austin Burt. It was written, as will appear, in behalf of a place for Mr. Burt as an inventor in the Hall of Fame of New York University.]
4932 Lake Park Ave., Chicago, Illinois, April 8, 1920. Mrs. William Vanamee,
Acting Director and Secretary of the Hall of Fame, New York University,
New York City, N. Y. Madam :
The undersigned, a grandson of William Austin Burt, hereby nominates him for election to a place, as an inventor, in the Hall of Fame.
He was born in Petersham, Worcester county, Mass., June 13, 1792. He died in Detroit, Mich., August 18, 1858, his remains being interred in Elmwood Cemetery in the Burt Family lot.
His first important invention was that of a "Typographer," for which he received Letters Patent of U. S. A., dated July 23, 1829. The Patent Office record regarding this Typographer plainly states: "This Patent discloses the actual construction of a typewriting machine for the first time in any country." He became thereby the "Father of the Typewriter."
The original model was burned in the Patent Office fire of 1836. A replica was constructed from the description and drawing in the Letters Patent in the spring of 1893, by his great-grandson, Austin Burt, then a student in the University of Minnesota, and exhibited with other Patent Office models at the Columbian Expo- sition of that year, in Chicago. The replica, as well as the original, was a practical typewriting machine, no more crude when com- pared with the latest Remington model typewriter than was Robert Fulton's first steamboat on the Seine and Hudson rivers
WILLIAM AUSTIN BURT: IXVKXTOK 181
as compared with the best types of seagoing steamships of the present time.
At the convention of the National Shorthand Association at Detroit, held last August, by resolution, unanimously adopted, a wreath was ordered placed on the grave of William Austin Burt in Elmwood Cemetery, in recognition of him as the first shorthand reporter (1809) and the inventor of the first writing machine (1829).
Mr. Burt, owing to appointment as judge of a Michigan terri- torial court, after his settlement in Michigan in 1824, was usually, thereafter, to the end of his life, addressed as "Judge Burt". Inasmuch as the Typographer was "born out of season," it found little or no market, and Judge Burt turned his practical mind in other channels. He was quite early in life a student of mathe- matics, navigation, astronomy, geology, surveying, and mechanics. Prior to 1833 he took contracts for the construction of grist and saw mills.
Owing to recognized qualifications, he was made a member of the Michigan Territorial Council and as such had much to do with internal improvements then in progress or contemplated.
In 1833 he received an appointment from the General Land Office at Washington as a United States deputy surveyor and con- tinued in that capacity for about twenty years. In 1834-5, while executing a surveying contract in the vicinity of Milwaukee, Wis., he encountered embarrassing difficulties due to magnetic attrac- tion, which made the use of the common surveyor's needle compass an unreliable and expensive instrument. Before that survey was finished he conceived of a solar device, and his astronomical, mathematical and mechanical knowledge served him in the con- struction of an instrument which he named "Burt's Solar Com- pass," for which, in 1836, he received Letters Patent of the United States.
This instrument was exhibited by the inventor at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, in 1836, and again "improved" in 1840, for which he received a Scott's Legacy medal and twenty dollars in gold.
I will here quote substantially from the New International
182
HORACE ELDON BUKT
WILLIAM Arsnx Bi^rr: INVENTOR 183
Encyclopedia: "Burt, William A. (1792-1858) an American Sur- veyor. He was born in Worcester, Mass., but in 1824 he settled near Detroit, Michigan. He became U. S. Deputy Surveyor in 1833, and in this capacity surveyed nearly the whole of northern Michigan (1840-47). He invented the Solar Compass, and in 1851 he received the prize medal for it at the London Industrial Exposition. He was Judge of the Michigan Circuit Court, and as a member of the Legislature in 1852 was prime mover in the con- struction of the Sault Ste. Marie Canal."
Under the head of Engineering in this encyclopedia are cuts of the solar compass and of the common surveyor's needle compass. Under the head of Surveying, in the same encyclopedia, "An in- strument called the Solar Compass, invented by Burt in 1836, determines the true meridian by a single observation, the sun being on the observer's meridian. This instrument has been adopted by the United States government for use in surveying the public domain. "
In the course of three-quarters of a century's use of the solar compass in the public surveys, the great saving to the people and government in cost thereof can hardly be estimated, especially when accuracy is considered. The iron ore region of the upper peninsula of Michigan was accurately surveyed by Judge Burt in 1844. In his book, The Hon. Peter White and the Lake Superior Iron Country, Ralph D. Williams (1905) describes the excitement <»« < nMoned by the deflection of the compass needle (87°) by saying substantially: "Burt could hardly contain himself any longer. 'Boys,' he said, 'look around and see what you can find.' Each member of the party began an independent search, and soon found out-croppings of iron ore in great abundance. Mr. Burt was well advanced in years and was much more interested in the per- formance of his Solar Compass than he was in the deposits of iron be."
The deposits were duly reported in his field notes, delivered to the Land Department. The survey of this region demonstrated tin- jjreal value of the solar compass, without which the survey could not have j>een completed within the terms of the contract.
Mr. Burt was author of the Key to the Solar Compass and
184 HOKAC§ ELDON BUUT
Manual of Surveying. In all institutions where civil engineering has been taught since the invention of the solar compass and its adoption by the government in surveying the public lands, Mr. Burt and the solar compass were well known to professors and students.
Judge Burt visited the Crystal Palace exposition in London, England, in 1851, and there exhibited his solar compass, as before stated. While in England he became acquainted with Hugh Miller, Sir David Brewster and Sir John Herschel, an acquaintance kept up after his return home.
On the return voyage he took passage on a sailing vessel, and the result of six weeks' passage thereon and of his observations of inaccurate courses laid by the ship's compass, led to Judge Burt's third invention, the equatorial sextant.
In the winter of 1857-8, Judge Burt was engaged in instructing a class of seagoing captains in the use of the instrument, but a fatal heart affection cut his purpose short, and the instrument, cordially approved by Lieut. M. F. Maury of the United States Navy failed to get into seagoing service.
It will be noticed from the above brief outline that, in each invention, Mr. Burt had in mind a wide and far-reaching benefit to mankind and to his country in particular. In his case this was in fact the only real compensation, as the monetary returns were quite negligible.
Of the equatorial sextant, in a pamphlet printed January 1, 1858, describing it and its use, William A. Burt (patentee 1856) states: "The use of the instrument is to find the position of ships at sea. By it many problems in Nautical Astronomy are solved at once,. without computation or liability to any material error."
The following is a quotation from a letter, dated at Washing- ton, D. C., March 11, 1856, written by Lieut. M. F. Maury of the Navy to Com. Jos. Smith, acting chief of the Bureau of ^Ordnance and Hydrography: "Sir: I have examined the instrument referred to by Mr. Burt in his letter of the 6th inst., to the Secre- tary of the Navy, which letter and instrument were referred to this office for examination and report. The instrument is very ingenious and beautiful in principle and has great compass. It is
A^
EQUATORIAL SEXTANT
WILLIAM AUSTIN BURT: INVENTOR 185
capable of solving a problem of this sort. The declination being known and any given altitude being set off upon the Equatorial Sextant just before such altitude is to take place, and the result of its taking place being announced by an observer with a common Sextant — the Equatorial Sextant being manipulated properly — it will show without computation, but by a simple reading off, the latitude, hour angle and azimuth, and this at any time of day. * * * * It will be readily inferred that the Equatorial Sextant when properly constructed, will be capable of affording by its reading, from observations, at any time, any two of the following five (parts or) quantities — the other three being given — namely: Declination, Altitude, Latitude, Hour Angle and Azimuth. M. F. Maury, Lt. of the Navy. "'
Under date of March 29, 1856, at Washington, the superin- tendent of the coast survey wrote to John Burt, eldest son of the inventor, a letter in equivalent terms to that of Lieut. Maury.
A quotation from Supt. A. D. Bache's letter follows: "The instrument you have submitted to me for examination is a combi- nation of the reflecting sextant, with meridian, azimuth, and hour circles, designed to give at once the azimuth and hour angle by observation of the altitude of heavenly bodies, the corresponding angles being read off on the respective circles. It dispenses, there- fore, with the ordinary modes of computation, except so far as corrections for refractions, dip of horizon, etc., are required, and substitutes in their place a mechanical solution of which the principles are correct, and when the instrument is accurately made and adjusted it will probably give with a degree of precision corre- sponding to that attainable in the observation of the altitude."
Mr. Burt was of modest and unassuming demeanor, but withal a forceful and far-seeing man of vision, as straight-forward and true to his course of life as were the lines he ran with his solar compass through the forest wilds of Michigan and over the undu- lating prairies of Iowa.
Respectfully,
HORACE ELDON BURT.
186 HORACE ELDON BURT
On page 526 of the last edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, under the head of Typewriter: "Among early U. S. patents was one issued by W. A. Burt, July 23rd, 1829."
The Michigan State Historical Commission advises me as follows : Mr. Burt was elected as one of the two members of the territorial legislative council for 1826-7: also, that he was appointed by the federal government April 23, 1833, associate judge of the Macomb circuit; also, that it was of the legislature of 1853 that he was in the house of representatives; that he was chairman of the committee on internal improvements.
[Following is a letter received by the writer from the Department of the Interior, General Land Office, Washington.]
April 29, 1920. Burt'-s Solar Compass: Reference thereto in manuals and correspondence. Mr. Horace E. Burt,
4932 Lake Park Ave., Chicago, 111.
My dear Sir:
I am in receipt, by departmental reference, of your letter dated April 14, 1920, relative to the use of Burt's solar compass in the Survey of the public lands.
In reply, you are advised that there was an estimate made in 1852, in a letter to the chairman of the Committee on Public Lands, U. S. Senate, indicating that in the mineral regions of Michigan, Wisconsin and Arkansas alone there had been surveyed about 10,000,000 acres of land, by the use of said instrument.
"Which, without its discovery and use in said Service, could not have been surveyed without re-
BURT S TYPOGRAPHER
WILLIAM AUSTIN BURT: INVENTOR 187
sorting to the tedious processes involved in the use of transits and other instruments, causing delays in the execution of the work and proportionally swell- ing the costs of the surveys of the same bodies of land... "
It would be a task of too great a scope for this office to undertake determine what proportion of the public lands have been sur- reyed since 1836 by the use of said instrument; it may be said, >wever, that in 1855, when the first Manual of Surveying In- ductions was issued by this office to the Surveyors General of ublic Lands of the United States, the following paragraph re- iting to the instrument ii\ question may be found :
"1. Where uniformity in the variation of the needle is not found, the public surveys must be made with an instrument operating independently of the magnetic needle. Burt's improved solar compass, or other instrument of equal utility, must be used of necessity in such cases; and it is deemed best that such instrument should be used under all circum- stances "
The foregoing paragraph was copied verbatim from the in- struction approved March 3, 1851, to the Surveyor General of Public Lands in Oregon, and in the manual of 1881 appears a similar reference to the use of Burt's improved solar compass in the survey of all principal base and meridian, standard parallels, and auxiliary meridian, and township lines.
There has been a continuous use of the solar compass in the survey of public lands since its invention to the present day and there is no prospect of its discontinuance.
The principle of the solar compass has been adapted to the form of a solar attachment to a surveyor's transit and this solar transit has been in use for the past forty years, but the latter in- strument cannot be said to have replaced the solar compass; rather it may be said that each instrument has had its own field of action
188 HORACE ELDON BURT
and the two have in many cases been used in the same party, each for the particular purpose to which it was best adapted.
Very respectfully,
D. K PARROTT,
Acting Assistant Commissioner.
[The following is quoted from the report of the 45th annual convention of the New Yoik State Shorthand Reporters' Association.]
WILLIAM AUSTIN BURT
(1792-1858)
Inventor, maker and patentee of the first typewriter constructed at any time in any country.
"The Typographer," as Mr. Burt, of Detroit, called the first going typewriter ninety years ago last summer, was so aptly designated that for the following forty -five years writing machines were generally given this name by their inventors. During the forty-five years from 1874 to 1919 this name gave way to "The Type-Writer " as a name for a writing machine with the name hy- phenated until the eighties when William Ozmun Wyckoff, the president of our association in 1886, and founder of the Remington Typewriter company, made the compound name so well known that the public accepted the word unhyphenated as we have it today.
Patented on July 23, 1829. Four classes of type- writers have thus far been recognized by the U. S. Patent Office: the first of all was an Index-wheel machine by William Austin Burt on July 23, 1829; the first Bar machine was by John B. Fairbanks, September 17, 1850; the first Plate machine by Oliver T. Eddy, on November 12, 1850; and the first key-wheel machine by John Pratt on August 11, 1868.
WILLIAM AISTIN I>i I;T: I \\K.\TOK 189
A complete working model of "The Typographer" was in the model room of the Patent Office from 1829 until the fire of December 15, 1836, destroyed all the models and patents in the Patent Office. The Collec- tions of patents in the great public libraries of the world as well as in the offices of the development engineers of the better known typewriters are wanting in American patents prior to 1836. The only complete public col- lection of typewriter patents today seems to be the one in the Patent Office. This collection includes the Burt patent of July 23, 1829. The original Letters Patent granted to Burt for his "Typographer" done on parch- ment has been uninterruptedly in the possession of the inventor or his heirs. As might be expected from one of the ablest civil engineers of his day, the plans and specifications filed by Mr. Burt with his claim and made part of the Patent are so complete that working from them any competent mechanic can build a work- ing replica.
In 1892 the Patent Office decided to present as its contribution to the Columbian Exposition models of all the great American inventions from the beginning. They soon located Austin Burt, a great-grandson of the inventor, then a student of engineering in the University of Minnesota, now Manager of the Citizens' Gas & Electric Co., of Waterloo, Iowa. Working from the parchment copy patent and other family papers, he produced a perfect replica, and on April 1, 1893, wrote the accompanying letter on the machine.
If speed be eliminated from the comparison, index- wheel machines, like the Typographer of 1829 or its counterpart, the World Typewriters of our day, are
190 HORACE ELDON BUKT
Minneapolis, Minn*
April 1st. 1863
. My Dear Graiib-f a ther ; I
It gives neplcaaure to inform
you that the Typographer is finished and I am d'Oubly ..pleased to write the first letter to you. It took oie about a month to make the -machine as many of the partis had to.
be made by hard* It will be s-*»nt to the World**1 Fair next week. I hav.e bee.n requested to exhibit it at the University before sending it away. Photographs will be taken aud one1
sent to you-
Vfith love, and best wishes from Your Grand e o_n ,
AUSTIN nrirr
WILLIAM AISTIX UUUT: INVENTOR 191
capable of turning out work fully up to the standard of neatness, clearness and beauty possible with the best bar machines such as the Remington and Underwood. This cut of the replica, from a photograph taken in 1893, gives an idea of its general appearance.
With the Fair closed, the Patent Office exhibit was returned to the model room in Washington. There the replica of "the Typographer" remained until 1903 when it was decided to discontinue the Model room. The machine was shipped on July 15, 1903, to Hiram A. Burt of Marquette, Michigan, as the head of the family. Later he removed to Maine, and placed the machine and the original Letters Patent in the care of his daughter, Mrs. Howard Corning, Bangor, Me., who now has the Patent. The replica is in the Smithsonian Institution.
On the official copy of the Burt Patent of 1829, is this endorsement: 'This Patent discloses the actual construction of a typewriting machine for the first time in any country." August 22, 1919, The National Association in convention at Detroit, Michigan, unani- mously voted to place a wreath on the monument over I lie i^rave of Mr. Burt in Elmwood Cemetery, Detroit, as "The inventor of the first writing machine."
The shorthands in this country for the past century have been imported fpom England or adapted from such importations. On the contrary, from the begin- ning the superiority of American typewriting machines lias been recognized in all parts of the world. Yet
here has been a pronounced tendency in most en- cyclopedias and histories of invention to credit to Eng-
ish inventors priority in the typewriting field. While
192 IJouACE ELDON BUKT
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REPLICA OP ORIGINAL TYPOGRAPHER
WILLIAM AUSTIN BURT: INVENTOR 193
much of this misinformation may be due to the Patent Office fire of 1836 and to the enthusiasm of British lec- turers, encyclopedists and historians of inventions, yet it should be noted that the French authors, Dupont and Senechal in " Les machines a ecrire" as far back as 1906 set forth the facts about the Burt machine substantially as above.
Favorable kction by the Board of Electors on the nomination of William Austin Burt will for all time serve the two-fold purpose: of recognizing his leader- ship among typewriter inventors, and of ensuring world-wide recognition of the priority of American inventors in the great field of typewriting machines.
25
THE CHICAGO INDIAN TREATY OF 1821
BY SUE I. SILLIMAN (Past State Historian, D. A. R.)
THREE RIVERS
TN a quaint pioneer stronghold out in the wilderness of the Old Northwest, just a century ago, south- western Michigan began its career in civilized govern- ment. Though for two centuries France had claimed it by right of exploration, England by the might of conquest and the United States by the spirit of '76, it was not until 1821 that the three Indian nations whose right was that of actual ownership through occupation, ceded the land which lies south of the north bank of the Grand river, north of the south bank of the St. Joseph, east of the eastern shore of Lake Michigan and west. of the boundaries of the Detroit and Saginaw treaties.
Rich in historical lore, southwestern Michigan presents no more picturesque scene than the signing of the old Chicago treaty of 1821 when on the parad< ground within the old stockade at Ft. Dearborn, in the gay splendor of beads and feathers and buckski] fringes, there were gathered the majority of the chiefs of the Ottawa, Chippewa and the Pottawatomie natioi from Canada, Michigan, the Indiana and the Illinois: for according to their tribal laws the consent of th< majority of the nation's chiefs was necessary to legally dispose of their hunting lands.
We picture the chieftain in dignified council: — T(
(194)
THE CHICAGO INDIAN TREATY OF 1821 195
pe-na-be, Match-e-be-nash-she-wish, Met-tey-waw and other chiefs of high degree surrounded by their warriors, Indian interpreters, Indian agents, fur traders, soldiers
>f the fort; we hear the confusion of tongues, listen to the simple eloquence of the Indian orators and eagerly ik the two white men who, on horseback or in birch canoe, have made the long journey to this wilderness outpost to represent the great father at Washington.
>ne of them, in the prime of a vigorous life, General Lewis Cass, whose many years in Indian service had proven him fearless and determined, absolutely honest —a man who valued his word as he valued his life.
'he second commissioner was Solomon Sibley, the first
nited States settler in Detroit and Detroit's first president, — the man who so ably fought that Michigan be not merged with Indiana, the man who later super- intended the building of the Chicago road along the old Chicago trail. These were the men with courage, foresight and loyalty who represented civilized govern- ment to the savages.
The terms of the treaty are interesting: The Tinted States granted the reservations of Mang-ach- (jna village, Prairie Ronde, Na-ta-wa-se-pe, Mick-ke- >;i \v-be track and the Match-e-be-nash-she-wish at the head of the Kalamazoo and many grants to indi- viduals,— Bertrands, Rileys, Burnetts, Kaw-kee-me the Indian princess, and many others, — which recall romance and tragedy of a time when fur trading the one great industry in the Grand river valley and in the valleys of the St. Joseph and the Kalamazoo. Tlu« United States granted the Indians the right to hunt on the ceded land as long as it remained the
196 SUE I. SILLIMAN
property of the United States and in return the Indians granted permission to construct and use a road through the Indian territory which lies between Detroit and Chicago along the old Chicago trail.
In consideration of the cession, the United States promised the Ottawas $1,000 annually, forever, and the Pottawatomies $5,000 annually for twenty years; each nation was to receive $1,000 annually for fifteen years for the support of a "Blacksmith, a Teacher and Agri- culturist." It is to be noted that the blacksmith was first mentioned and the word capitalized.
The results of the treaty were unexpected for the reservations so humanely made, for the white man was the direct cause of the Indian's- moral degeneration and financial loss. In contrast with the honorable methods of Cass and Sibley, the squatters and many of the settlers with whiskey and trickery obtained the choice lands within twelve years which had been re- served to the Indians forever.
The Old Northwest furnishes no more vivid picture of Indian justice than that meted out by the Pottawa- tomie chiefs, who though they refused to sign the sec- ond Chicago treaty to cede the reservations, neverthe- less fulfilled the terms of that treaty fraudulently signed by unauthorized warriors, because the pledged word of the Pottawatomie nation had been given, — but they killed the Indian signers.
Of the Indian signers of the Chicago treaty of 1821, sixty-five in all, there remains scant record, — only the names on the musty old document, and beside each name a cross, his mark; but in the centenary year just passed during which wre commemorated one hundred
THE CHICAGO INDIAN TREATY OF 1821 197
years of growth and prosperity in the land which now includes Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Jackson, Albion, Battle Creek, Niles, Three Rivers, Hillsdale, Coldwater Adrian, Allegan, St. Joseph, Benton Harbor, Elkhart, South Bend and many other interesting cities and towns, the people of Michigan paid tribute not only to the statesmanship of General Cass and President Sibley but to the pledged word of the Ottawa, Chippewa and Pottawatomie nations who ceded to the United States government the homeland of their tribes, August 29, 1821.
OLD VETERANS' STORIES
BY THE LANSING LODGE, SONS OF VETERANS
IN THE DOG TENT
CONTRIBUTED BY BERNARD B. WHITTIER LANSING
"\/VELL' children," said Grandma Harford, "I am afraid this means no picnic today."
"Isn't this awful," said Ethel, looking out the back door at the driving rain, and the black storm clouds above.
"Oh, well," said her twin brother, Bert, philo- sophically, "I s'pose it might be worse. We might have got out there 'fore it began."
"That's a good way to look at it," said Grandpa, "though I dunno's a good clean shower ever hurt much more than one's feelings. Never did me, anyway."
"Now you go to crowing, you old rooster," said Grandma.
"And you cackle," retorted Grandpa.
Grandma laughed, and so did the twins. Grandpa and Grandma might pick at each other ever so much, but the twins never saw them get really provoked. They had come to believe it was impossible for Grandpa and Grandma to get really angry. But Bert thought maybe he smelled a good antidote for the shower in Grandpa's remark. Grandpa Harford was an antidote
(198)
OLD VETERANS' STORIES 199
for most anything, when he got wound up for story telling.
" Did you ever get caught out in the rain? " he asked, looking up at his grandfather.
"Oh, mercy, yes!" said Grandpa. "That used to be our favorite amusement in the army. In fact, 'twas about all the bath we would get for days and weeks at a time, maybe, sometimes. "
"How does it feel to get all rained on?" asked Ethel. The twins lived in the city, where to be caught in a rainstorm was a calamity, and the more open life
ch accepts a shower as a refreshment was almost incomprehensible to them.
"How does it feel?" repeated Grandpa. "How loes it feel? Well, it mostly feels wet, I guess. I dunno how else you'd describe it."
"Didn't the soldiers get under cover somewhere when it rained?" asked Bert.
'That depended very much on whether there was any cover to get under," said Grandpa.
"Couldn't they even find a tree sometimes?" asked Bert.
"Well, no. Sometimes they really couldn't," said Grandpa. "And then, too, in a storm like this, a tree isn't so very much of a shelter, after all. I dunno but I'd rather be right out in it, than to be under a tree being wet by degrees. It's like goin' in swimming. If you dive in all at once, you don't mind the water being a bit cold ; but if you wade in an inch at a time, you die by torture an inch at a time."
The twins smiled. Grandma had busied herself about the kitchen work. Grandpa was always happy
200 BERNARD B. WHITTIER
with the little folks, and loved to tell them stories as well as they loved to hear them.
"Sometimes," he continued, "we got so wet we didn't mind it at all. Just felt natural wet, and would have wondered what was the matter if we had dried off. The main difference a little rain ever made to us, unless it was pretty cold, was that it made it that much harder to keep our powder dry. "
"Did you ever — fight, when it was raining?" asked Bert.
" Oh, my, yes, " said Grandpa. "And eat and march and sleep."
"Sleep" ejaculated Ethel.
"Lawsy, yes, child. Don't suppose a tired soldier is going to mind a little thing like rain when he gets a chance to lie down and go to sleep, do you?"
"Why, grandpa!"
"Why, Ethel!"
"Why—" Ethel caught herself short. She was going to say "Why, Grandpa" again, but decided it might not sound just right. "Why," she repeated, "I never heard of such a thing. "
"No?" said Grandpa. "Never heard of it raining eggs, either, I suppose? Well, it did once, near where I was. Maybe I'll tell you about it sometime. But that ain't much like goin' to sleep in the rain, though, is it?
"But talking of getting wet, I got a good soaking once, down on the peninsula. I don't know what the name of the bloomin' little creek was. Probably didn't deserve a name most of the time.
"We had been marching hard that day. And not
OLD VETERANS' STORIES 201
only had we been marching hard, but it was hard marching. It rained like Ned, or something worse, from early morning until I don't know when. Every man Jack of us was soaked before he was dressed, and we stayed soaked all day. First it was just our clothes that was soaked. Then after a while we began to feel soaked clear through."
"That's different than 'twas when you marched to Gettysburg, wasn't it?" interrupted Bert.
"Heavens, yes!" said Grandpa. "Ought to have sort of mixed the two, hadn't we?"
"Why didn't you?" asked Ethel.
"Well, I guess we were trying to make up for what we didn't have at Gettysburg," said Grandpa, "for we certainly did get some soaking that day. I don't believe there was a man of us that would have dared to take a drink. We got enough that just soaked in.
"Well, to make a short story long, we marched something like fifteen miles or so, which was a big march in all that mud; and we were just dead tired, when we finally got orders to pitch camp that night, in a little valley on a creek bottom. The valley wasn't very wide, between low bluffs, with the stream rushing, apparently full to the banks, down through the middle of it.
"As much as it had been raining, and as long, still it never entered our heads that the creek might rise more. My company was camped the nearest to the stream of any; and my tent, on the far end of the com- pany, nearest the creek, was probably forty or fifty yards from it.
"Everything was too wet to start any fires and get
202 BERNARD B. WHITTIER
ourselves something warm to eat, so we stuck up our dog tents right quick, and crawled into them and ate a few hard-tack, and some cold meat we had thought- fully brought with us in our knapsacks. Our dog tents, you know, were small affairs of light cloth, each man carrying a half of the tent. When we camped, we stuck up a pole, and buttoned the halves of the tent together, and threw it over the pole. There was room for two men to lie down in it, if they didn't get to quarreling over which one should have the straw for a pillow.
" We stuck them up right quick that night, you can bet, and laid our blankets down, and crawled into them. I found a couple short pieces of log near by, and brought them in and laid them crosswise of the tent, one for a pillow for our heads, and the other for our feet. A soldier can learn to sleep in the most enjoyable of positions. "
"I should think as much," said Grandma, from the pantry door.
"You get them hard-tack sandwiches ready," said Grandpa. "This storm isn't going to last long."
"Say, 'tis getting lighter already," said Grandma, taking a peek out the window.
"Sure it is," said Grandpa. "We will have our outing just the same."
"And won't have to be rained on all day, either, said Bert.
"Oh, shucks, " said Grandpa. " If the rain had bee all, I would have been happy.
"I went to sleep that night just about as soon as I had caught a couple hard-tack, where they were trying
OLD VETERANS' STORIES 203
to run away, and put them where they belonged. I propped my head up on my 'pillow', and my feet on their prop, and I went to snoring without any further orders from the colonel.
"It seemed to me that I had hardly been asleep at all, when I was pestered with dreams of going in swim- ming in the old mill pond back home. I guess that day's soaking had been about enough to make any one dream of mill ponds, or some other kind of ocean.
"Then it became a regular nightmare, for I was seemingly out in the middle of a great sea of water, and my head was going under, and I couldn't keep it up to save myself. Then it fairly choked me, and I beat the water harder than ever to get my head back up, and woke myself up.
'Then I thought there was no wonder I was dream- ing of the old mill pond. Evidently I had not soaked up enough water during the day, so it had to flood the creek to overflowing, and flooded our tent for us. There I had been lying with my head and feet up, and my middle down in the water, for I don't know how long. Finally the water had risen till it began trickling into my mouth, and of course I had sucked some of it into my wind-pipe.
"Well, I got up, and stuck my head out of the tent, to find it was morning, and the rain had stopped, and that the whole company were waiting patiently for me to float off down stream."
The twins and their grandmother laughed heartily at their soldier boy's predicament. Then Grandma's practical nature asserted itself.
234 BERNARD B. WHITTIER
"Did you get something warm for breakfast, after that?" she asked.
"The boys had scraped up enough dry wood to make s.ome coffee," said Grandpa, "and we managed to herd some hard-tack into that. You can bet it tasted good, too. Come on, kids, let's get the things ready. This storm is nearly over. "
ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF VICKSBURG
(Notes from the Diary of the Late Addison S. Boyce, Co. A, 20th Mich.
Vol. Inft.)
/^VN June 17th we went on board the boat and went up the Yazoo river to Haines Bluff. The river in many places is so narrow that it would be impossible to turn the boat around in it, but it is very deep and rapid. We marched from the Bluffs to Milldale, a distance of twelve miles, and went into camp by the side of a small stream running down from the moun- tain, a beautiful place right in the meadow. The 20th Michigan is on the right at the head of the column. Orders were given not to put our bunks on the ground, but to procure crotches and drive them into the ground, making our beds 15 to 18 inches high, and cutting cane from the cane brake for the bottom of our beds and get- ting dried mistletoe from the fences to take the place of straw and covering all over with our blankets. The object of building our beds high was to avoid snakes, lizards, and other reptiles that abound in this warm climate. Hanging our beds high served us a good pur-
OLD VETERANS' STORIES 205
pose as will be seen, for a few days later one of the boys from Co. E was bitten by a snake (the darkies called it a ground snake) in the upper part of the thumb. The poison spread through his system rapidly and by morn- ing he was dead, there being no known remedy for the bite.
AVe were now part of the rear defense, consequently a detail was at work every day throwing up a line of breastworks to be ready in case Joe Johnson should try to go to Pemberton's relief at Vicksburg.
There had been ai> incessant cannonading kept up around the doomed city all night. At three o'clock*in the morning it was so heavy that the noise awoke me. It was beginning to get daylight, so I thought I would go where I could hear better, and accordingly climbed to the top of a small knob ("knob" being what the natives call a small peak of a mountain), about 200 feet above our camp. Here everything sounded so plain that one would think it was only two miles dis- tant, when in reality the nearest point was seven miles from us. From this point on a dark night the mortar shells could be distinctly seen as they took their flight from battery to city. This morning, between the re- ports of the heavy artillery, I could distinctly hear the sharp and saucy crack of the picket's rifle as he tried to pick off the rebel gunners. I could not help but think and wonder, as I looked at the sleeping and seemingly disinterested army covered with their white tents stretching along the valley at my feet, and compare them with the struggling army about Vicksburg.
It was reported that Gen. Grant said in a council of war with his Corps Commanders one day, that he could
206 BERNARD B. WIIITTIER
storm the works and take the city in less than four hours, but it would cost the lives of eight or ten thou- sand men, so he thought it would be cheaper to hold their lines and starve the Rebs out.
They carry on the war here far different than they do in Kentucky. There foraging is strictly prohibited. There the rooster can mount the fence and crow his defiance, the turkey can gobble and the goose can hiss, but you cannot resent the insult. Here things are different. They take everything they come to: nig- gers, mules, cattle, hogs, and chickens. (Turkeys and geese are never found.)
The boys begin to think that they will not be al- lowed to fire a gun nor see a rebel here in the West, as the Western army seems to be jealous of us from the East. Well, we do not care one snap, they can do all the fighting if they wish; we move when we are called upon and never refuse to obey orders, whether those orders take us to or from the enemy.
On the 24th I went up to Haines Bluff on detail with the Quartermaster, after supplies, and had plenty of time to look over the fortifications that were cap- tured by Sherman. They were the best works I ever saw, and armed with the heaviest artillery, but the Rebs seem to have made a fatal mistake in planning their defence, not seeming to dream of an enemy froi the rear, as they had constructed no rear defence, an< when they found Admiral Porter coming up the Yazoo river, and Gen." Sherman advancing in the rear, they soon became panic stricken and skedaddled for Vicks- burg. They burned everything that could be burned, aiid spiked the guns. They abandoned sixty pieces of
OLD VETERANS' STORIES 207
artillery and a large number of siege guns. I returned to cainp at night tired but well paid for my trouble.
On the 26th I received my commission as Drum Major which gives rank of First or Orderly Sergeant.
July 4. GLORIOUS FOURTH OF JULY! We expected they would have a great time at Vicksburg today, but have been disappointed as Gen. Pemberton surrendered Vicksburg to Gen. Grant this morning at 10 a. m., and with the news of the surrender came the order to be ready to move at 12 Noon, which we did promptly, in the direction of Black River.
MICHIGAN HISTORY MAGAZINE
VOLUME VI 1922 Nos. 2-3
GEORGE N. FULLER, Editor
MICHIGAN HISTORY MAGAZINE
VOL. VI 1922 Nos. 2 and 3
HISTORICAL NEWS, NOTES AND COMMENT
II) AD AXE, the home of former Governor Sleeper, is planning to erect a community building. The movement which was started by the American Legion now includes the Women's Auxiliary of the Legion, the Bad Axe Woman's Chib, the Public Library, the Com- munity Club, the County Road Commission and the City of Bad Axe.
Frank Wentland post No. 253, American Legion of Royal Oak, is planning to build a memorial building to be occupied by the post as headquarters. The post has been offered a site on which it is proposed to erect a building that will cost $65,000.
Nearly $3,000 was contributed by Michigan School children to the Foch Medal Fund, to be used towards building in France two model high schools. They will be known respectively as the Foch-Pershing and the Washington-Lafayette schools.
A splendid opportunity to inculcate patriotism in the minds of the children will be lost if they are not permitted to contribute to the expense of the memo- rials, whatever their nature, which are being erected in cities and villages throughout the State for the soldiers and sailors. The taxpayers are willing to bear their share of the cost, but to honor those who gave their lives in the defense of American homes and liberties
(211)
212 HISTORICAL Kuws
is the privilege of every citizen and especially of the Children.
Survivors of "Custer's Brigade, " the Michigan G. \. R. and Spanish War veterans of the 33rd voluntary infantry association held a week of reunions at Detroit in June. About 50 of the famous cavalrymen were on hand when the Custer reunion opened, with Mr. W. O. Lee of Port Huron presiding.
Mrs. Elizabeth B. Custer, widow of General George Armstrong Custer, famous Indian fighter and Civil War hero, is understood to be writing a Life of General Cusier. Mrs. Custer was born in Monroe, Michigan, and was the daughter of Daniel S, Bacon, a pioneer settler of Monroe. She lives now in New York City, at number 71 East 87th Street.
The memory of Francis Scott Key was honored on Flag Day, June 14, with the unveiling of a monument to him, erected by Congress near the spot in historic Fort McHenry over which floated the Star Spangled Banner immortalized in his poem.
The planting of memory trees on Arbor Day for gold star soldiers was a feature which distinguished the D. A. R. programs this year in several counties. Co-operation was given by the local posts of the Ameri- can Legion.
The centenary of General Grant's birthday was celebrated in Detroit by the ladies of the G. A. R. on April 27 with appropriate exercises at the house at 1369 Fort Street East where Grant lived in 1849 and 1850. At Washington the magnificent Grant memo- rial sculptured by Henry Merwin Shrady was unveiled at the Pennsylvania Avenue end of the Capitol grounds.
NOTES AND COMMBNT 213
Vice-Presldent Coolidge delivered the address of the occasion. President Harding spoke at Point Pleasant, Ohio, the birthplace of General Grant.
Memorial Day was observed this year quite gener- ally throughout the world, partly owing to the efforts of the American Legion. The Legion has urged that May 30 be made a memorial day not only throughout the United States, but in American communities the world over in memory of all Americans who have died for their country. To the women of Columbus, Geor- gia, belongs the honor of having conceived Memorial Day, the first observance being on April 26, 1866. It was the idea of Miss Lizzie Rutherford, who was a member of the Ladies7 Aid Society in that city, and it spread rapidly throughout the South. At the urgent request of Mrs. John A. Logan, wife of General Logan, commander-in-chief of the G. A. R., who learned of the practice while visiting in the South, General Logan issued to all Grand Army posts an order to celebrate Memorial Day on May 30, 1868, from which time it has grown into the revered custom of today.
The work of returning to the United States the bodies of American soldiers who died in France was completed in March, with a total of over 45,000. For the four cemeteries which are to be the permanent resting place of nearly 30,000 Americans who fell in the Great War, an extensive scheme of beautification has been developed by a special Fine Arts Commission ! for the four Fields of Honor in France: these are Suresnes cemetery, near Paris; Bony, near St. Quen- tin; Belleau Wood, near Chateau-Thierry: and the Argonne or Romagne cemetery near Romagne-sous- Montfaucon. One of the most touching features has
214 HISTORICAL NEWS
been the way in which the French people have made these sacred spots their own. It is said that a Sunday never goes by without scores of French people visiting them and placing flowers on the graves.
The D. A. R. of Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, are engaged in an effort to preserve for historical purposes the remains of old Fort Crawford at that place, per- haps the most famous of the forts in the Old North- west. Zachary Taylor was commandant of it at one time. One of his lieutenants was Jefferson Davis. Among the fort surgeons was Doctor Beaumont, famous for his experiments on Alexis St. Martin at Mackinac Island. Others stationed at the fort at various times were Henry R. Schoolcraft, Winfield Scott, and Abra- ham Lincoln when a young lieutenant in the Black Hawk War.
The Federation of Women's Clubs of Cass County Michigan, have planned a series of monuments at vil- lages along the route of the old Detroit-Chicago turn- pike. One has already been placed at Union, a fine boulder on which is cut the legend " Chicago Road, 1826." This is placed at the point where the road forks, and is a monument not only to the old pike, now almost 100 years old, but to the public-spirited women who form the clubs and wish to see the old-time places marked for the benefit of future generations. This turnpike was projected by the Federal Government, and the surveys were begun in 1825, to facilitate the settlement of southern Michigan. It followed in the main the old Chicago Indian trail over which the western Indians used to come to Maiden annually to receive presents from the British. Kessington and Edwardsburg seem destined to be the next points to
NOTES AND COMMENT 215
have monuments on this pike in Cass County. Mr. Daniel W. Eby is taking a deep interest in the one for Kessington and should be given much credit for his work in its behalf.
Cadillac's birthday was elaborately observed by the City of Detroit early in March. "Movie" films of the street pageant were made under the auspices of the Detroit Free Press.
On June 3 the Daughters of the American Revolu- tion of Flint unveiled a bronze memorial tablet mark- ing "The Grand Traverse of Flint River" used by the Indians on their original trail between Detroit and Saginaw.
A memorial monument to the late Ammi W. Wright, philanthropist and benefactor of Alma, was unveiled by the city of Alma on Memorial Day. It is erected 'in Wright Park, a beautiful wooded tract of seven acres which was given to the city by Mr. Wright shortly .before his death ten years ago.
Abiel Fellows Chapter, D. A. R. of Three Rivers, put on a parlor masque and pageant recently in honor of the signing of the Chicago treaty one hundred years ago. Miss Sue I. Silliman, past historian of the D. A. R. of Michigan, was one of the chief promoters. Miss Silliman's article on this treaty appeared in the Janu- ary number of this Magazine.
Daniel Boone's old home in Pennsylvania, where the famous Kentucky pioneer was born, has aroused the interest of the Clarke County Historical Society of Kentucky, which is considering its possible purchase. The building is a stone house in the foothills of Exeter township, Bucks County, which has withstood the ele-
216 HISTORICAL NEWS
ments for nearly two centuries, but is slowly falling to pieces. It is on an estate of 160 acres, valued at the present time at about $15,000. If the purchase is made, the old home will be devoted to historical pur- poses.
The historic old steamer Y antic at Detroit, which if it could talk could doubtless unfold a thrilling ro- mance of the sea from its 60 years of service, has been replaced by the U. S. S. Dubuque as the flagship of the United States Naval Reserve Force in Michigan. The Y antic was built in 1864, designed originally to be President Lincoln's yacht, but gunboats were more needed and the Y antic was pressed into service. She was brought to Detroit in 1897, and in 1907 was tem- porarily replaced by the Don Juan de Austria captured by Dewey at Manilla.
Mr. Arthur S. White of the Michigan Engraving Company, Grand Rapids, sends us a bundle of charm- ing articles about "people and- things" of pioneer days
Mrs. Lillian Drake Avery of Pontiac is to be com* mended for the splendid interest and energetic work she has put into collecting material for the history of Oak- land County, especially its activities in the Great War- To talk with Mrs. Avery on this subject is an inspira- tion.
Mrs. Franc Adams of Mason has practically com- pleted her work on the volume of pioneer history of Ingham County, which is to be published under the auspices of the Ingham County Pioneer and Historical Society. Mrs. Adams has long been secretary of the Society.
NOTES AND COMMENT 217
The Grand Lodge, Knights of Pythias of Michigan, has sponsored a citizenship essay contest in high schools throughout the State with the object of creating a greater interest in a better and higher citizenship. The subject for the essays is, "American Citizenship- Its Aims, Ideals and Responsibilities." The judges in the contest have been appointed by State Superin- tendent of Public Instruction Thomas E. Johnson. The authors of the two best papers, as determined by the judges, will be invited to appear before the Grand Lodge when it meets at Charlevoix September 6, and deliver their essays as orations. Their entire expenses will be paid, and they will receive a gold medal and a silver medal as the two grand prizes.
According to Mr. George E. Bishop, secretary- manager of the Upper Peninsula Development Bureau, that organization has acted favorably upon the sug- gestion of having a National Park for the Upper Pen- insula of Michigan. It has been proposed that a cer- tain section in the Keweenaw Peninsula,— the "Tip of Cloverland," — be reserved and set aside as a Na- tional Park, and that its natural features be left un- disturbed for the benefit of future generations. This section of the peninsula is now much as it has been since the white man first set foot upon this region, and it is in order that these natural historic and scenic spots may be conserved for all time as a genuine and typical "sample" of Cloverland, as the pioneers knew it, that the movement for a national park was begun. The Keweenaw Peninsula, with its scenery and history, its high cliffs, its harbors, its jagged rocks, lakes, streams and virgin timber, is truly an ideal selection.
218 HISTORICAL NEWS
Lovers of romance have been interested in the con- troversy about the re-naming of the sand dunes along the shore of Lake Michigan. Protest has been made against re-christening these mounds, many of them of appealing beauty, and some of which have featured in works of fiction. Their original names have been acquired in some cases by common consent and usage, in others from Indian designation in which there is a suggestion of the romance of the Dunes as the camp- ing grounds of great Indian tribes. Attempts to re- name the Dunes for friends of interested parties, as has been done, is to be regretted. We agree with the editor of the Grand Rapids Herald, who says: "The romance of the sands — and it is a romance not limited to the great dunes of the Gary region, but extending along the entire shore line of Lake Michigan — is best expressed in Indian or historic nomenclature. Gentle- men seeking to preserve the names of their good friends should be advised to explore the Arctic, where there still remains numerous unnamed ice fields.*'
At a recent meeting of the Bay County Historical Association a paper on "The Life and Characteristics of Chief Shoppenagon" was read by Mr. F. L. West- over, written by Mr. Babbitt of West Branch. Mrs. L. G. Hewlett read a charming sketch of Indian life, based on an interview with Mrs. Nockchicima, a pic- turesque old Indian woman, in which she gave the Indian meaning and derivation of many names of places near Bay City. Mrs. G. A. Shields of Bay City, who is largely responsible for the fine impulse given to historical work in Bay County, gave a report of her attendance at recent meetings of the State Historical Society.
NOTES AND 'COMMENT 219
Mi\ Charles H. Wheelock, Battle Creek, sends us a leaflet describing an exhibit of "Pictures of some hunters, hunting camps, hunting dogs, etc., in the forests and on the streams of Michigan." He states that this highly interesting and educational exhibit is furnished by Hon. E. C. Nichols, and is being shown in the spacious lobby of the Old National Bank of which institution Mr. Nichols is Chairman. The ex- hibit will have to be seen to be fully appreciated. Mr. Wheelock is secretary of the Battle Creek Historical Society. He writes that he has recently secured a list of more than fifty names of pioneers in his city over 75 years of age, and letters with them. An interesting booklet on pioneer life in Battle Creek is doubtless in store for us.
The Eaton County Pioneer Society celebrated its semi-centennial at Eaton Rapids on Washington's Birthday.
At the 48th annual meeting of the Oakland County Pioneer and Historical Society Mr. Richard H. Rose of Royal Oak was again elected president. Mr. Mortimer A. Leggett was elected first vice-president, and Mrs. Lillian Drake Avery of Pontiac was continued as secre- tary.
The Shiawassee County Historical Society at its recent annual meeting elected as president Mr. A. W. Burnett of Corunna; secretary-treasurer, Mrs. Frank McCartney of Owosso; historian, Mrs. Etta Killian of Carland.
The Ingham County Pioneer and Historical So- ciety celebrated its fiftieth anniversary June 21 at
220 HISTOBICAL NEWS ;
Mason. The forenoon was devoted to renewing ac- quaintances, and was followed by an old-time dinner. In the afternoon Mrs. Harriet Casterlin spoke on "Mason Fifty Years Ago," and Mrs. Simons-Dunn on "Early Days in Lansing." The program closed with a genuine old-fashioned love feast, with the pioneers in a reminiscent mood. Glowing tributes were paid to the memory of the late Col. L. H. Ives, president of the Society for many years, and to Mrs. Franc L. Adams for her long service as secretary and for her work on the new History of the county soon to be published by the Society.
The St. Joseph County Pioneer Society held its 48th annual meeting at Centreville. Notable among the addresses were those of Rev. F. M. White, on "St. Joseph County Before the Pioneer," and Hon. Dallas Boudeman on "Pioneering," also that of Rev. F. M. Thurston on "Pioneering Today."
The Detroit Historical Society was recently organ- ized, with Mr. Clarence M. Burton president. Mr. T. A. E. Weadock and Mr. R. J. Service are vice-presi- dents; Mr. Albert H. Finn, secretary; Miss G. B. Krum, assistant secretary; and Mr. J. Bell Moran, treasurer. The Society may be addressed at the De- troit Public Library. Its object, as expressed in the By-Laws is, "to encourage historical study and re- search—to collect and preserve the materials of his- tory, and especially such as concern the history of De- troit." Active members pay a fee of $2 a year. The annual meeting is held on the second Thursday of January. The educational committee is instructed "to arrange for at least one popular meeting each year,
NOTES AND COMMENT 221
which shall be open to the public." The depository for historical materials is the Detroit Public Library, and "all rights and titles to such property shall be vested in the Detroit Library Commission."
Rev. Henry P. Collin of Coldwater has been pub- lishing during the past month an interesting series of articles on the history of Branch County in the Cold- water Daily Reporter and the Quincy Herald. Mr. Collin is the author of the History of Branch County issued some time ago by the Lewis Publishing Com- pany of Chicago. \t is one of the best histories in that series. Much new data is added in the articles mentioned.
The Detroit Saturday Night has carried recently a series of exceedingly readable and instructive articles under the caption, "Bits of the Old World in Detroit," describing the various foreign settlements in Michigan's metropolis, written by Faye Elizabeth Smith for the publicity department of the Detroit Community Fund.
The following papers read at the Mt. Pleasant mid- winter meeting of the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society will later be published in the Michigan History Magazine: "Pioneer History of Isabella County," by Mr. I. A. Fancher of Mt. Pleasant; "Social Life of Mt. Pleasant in Pioneer Days," by Mrs. Eva Doughty of Mt. Pleasant; "In Memory," by Mr. U. S. Hold- ridge; "Pioneering Today," by Mrs. E. W. Ranney of Greenville; "A Sketch of Indian Life," by Mrs. Irene Pomeroy Shields of Bay City; "Pioneer History of Clare County," by Mrs. G. E. Lamb of Farwell; "Early History of Montcalm County," by Mrs. Mary E. Dasef of Stanton.
222 : .-HISTORICAL- N.EWS :
-Mr. W: G. Lelahd, 1140 Woodward Building, .Washington, D. C., writes :to' the "Editor: "On behalf :.af .the Union Academique Internationale which is about to publish the complete writings of Hugo Gro- tius, the. eminent Dutch statesman and author (1583- 164 &), I desire to locate in American libraries and col- lections original letters of Hugo Grotius. I will be greatly obliged for any information on such material to be sent to Professor Dr. A. Eekhof, Leyden Uni- versity, Leyden, Holland.
The "Burton Historical Collection Leaflet/' pub- lished monthly by the Detroit Public Library, contains interesting excerpts from the manuscripts in the Burton Historical Collection described in another part of this number of the Magazine. These leaflets, paged con- secutively for binding into a volume, may be had on application to the Library.
To Mr. Albert H. Finn of Detroit the Michigan Historical Commission is indebted for a fine collection of records and papers of the Northern Baptist Conven- tion, very valuable for students of Baptist history in Michigan. Among these papers are the Annuals for various years, besides Handbooks and Manual. The Annuals contain the minutes of the Convention and reports of church work in home and foreign fields. In the Handbooks are found the acts of incorporation, by-laws, and lists of officers and members of various boards; directories of organizations; list of Baptist journals and educational institutions; and varied sta- tistical information. The Manual, which covers the ten years 1808-1818 is specially valuable for its his- torical articles and summaries.
NOTES AND COMMENT 223
A History of the Constitution of Minnesota with the First Verified Text, by William Anderson and Albert J. Lobb, is issued as number 15 in ' 'Studies in the Social Sciences," by the University of Minnesota. It is a comprehensive study of the constitutional history of Minnesota.
The offices of the Michigan Historical Commission have been changed to convenient and commodious quarters on the 5th floor of the new State office build- ing at Lansing. The pioneer museum is being moved to a large fire-proof. room on the first floor. Adjoin- ing the offices on the fifth floor are two large vaults which enable the Commission to give fire-proof pro- tection to its priceless documents. The Commission now has on hand something over a million documents of great historical and administrative value, which await funds for proper casing.
Prof. C. H. Van Tyne, head of the history depart- ment at the University of Michigan, and President of the Michigan Historical Commission, has recently re- turned from his visit to India, where he went last No- vember at the invitation of Sir Frederick Whyte, presi- dent of the new Legislative Assembly of India. The results of his investigations are being published in the Atlantic Monthly.
The Clements Library on the campus of the Uni- versity of Michigan is well on the way to completion. The corner stone of the building was laid March 31, marked by simple ceremonies in the presence of dis- tinguished guests of the University. As is well known to most of our readers, this building is a gift to the
224 HISTORICAL NEWS
University from Regent William L. Clements, past president of the Michigan Historical Commission, and a Trustee of the Michigan Pioneer and Historical So- ciety. It will house a library of Americana valued by expert collectors at over a half million dollars, which is also a gift from Regent Clements. The building will cost approximately $200,000. Excellent descrip- tions both of the collection and the building have ap- peared in recent numbers of the Michigan Alumnus.
The Michigan Daily tells us that as a supplement to his original donation of American newspapers to the University, Regent W. L. Clements, of Bay City, has purchased an additional collection, consisting chiefly of New England papers, with a considerable representa- tion of New York and Pennsylvania publications. The papers, purchased from the American Antiquarian Society, at Worcester, Mass., are chiefly weeklies dat- ing from approximately 1800 to 1840. A few are of the 18th century. The supplementary collection has arrived at the General Library, but for lack of space will not be unpacked at present, and will not be avail- able for use until the new Clements library building is opened.
The Michigan Historical Commission has frequent calls for volumes 1-3, 5, 7, 22-29, and 32 of the Michi- gan Pioneer and Historical Collections which are now out of print. If you have one of these volumes and wish to sell it, they can put you in touch with a buyer.
The degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon Governor Groesbeck by the University of Michigan at its recent commencement. Among the eleven re- cipients of honorary degrees on this occasion were also
NOTES AND COMMBNT 225
the poet Robert Frost; Sir Thomas Lewis, physician of the University Hospital, London, Eng.; and Charles Evans Hughes, Secretary of State.
Since the last issue of the Magazine a number of deaths have occurred in the membership of the Michi- gan Pioneer and Historical Society, among them Major Harrison Soule of Ann Arbor (Jan. 2, 1922), Justice John W. Stone (March 24, 1922), and former Lieut. Gov. John Q. Ross (May 12, 1922), of whom appro- priate biographical sketches will appear later in the Magazine.
Rev. Francis Xavier Barth, prominent and loved member of the Michigan Pioneer and Historical So- ciety, died at his home in Escanaba on Memorial Day. Health has been failing for two years and death was not unexpected. In his passing Michigan loses "a talented pastor, masterful leader, peerless orator, and devoted citizen." A sketch of the life and work of Fr. Barth will appear later in the Magazine.
A CCORDING to present plans, the National Vic- P*- tory Memorial will be completed by 1925.
The present plan for financing the project is through State participation, each State subscribing a sum of money for each citizen who served in the Great War; these citizens will be represented by blue and gold service stars, which will form State clusters on a huge service flag in the dome of the building.
It is President Harding's suggestion that this insti- tution at the national capital become, in its varied uses, a veritable "university of American citizenship/' with its numerous assembly rooms forming the head- quarters of national military and patriotic organiza-
226 HISTORICAL NEWS
tions, and special rooms for the exclusive use of each state and territory.
The site chosen for the building is the spot where President Garfield fell. The cost of building and site is estimated at $10,000,000.
France has her Pantheon, England her Westminster Abbey, and now America is to have ker Victory mem- orial, dedicated, in the words of General Pershing "to that era of international relationship and friendliness which alone will guarantee a lasting peace."
A "WAR Memorial Everlasting," in the form of a school and home for the orphans of veterans of the World War has been outlined by the state execu- tive committee of the American Legion.
"Our idea," said Paul A. Martin, State Commander, in presenting the plan, "is that the highest type of war memorial must combine the elements of useful help, permanency and a just appreciation of the sacrifices of the dead.
"When the American Legion of Michigan under- takes this great work it will have assumed national leadership in a movement which cannot fail to catch the .spirit of patriotic imagination and support every- where.
"My idea is that the home should be located in the country, where the best combination of healthful sur- roundings can be found.
"There is no need for us to decide just where, for there will be much competition among various com- munities to obtain this unique war memorial."
NOTES AND COMMENT 227
A NATION'S tribute to the glorious dead reached fr its climax Decoration Day in Washington, at the dedication of the memorial erected beside the Potomac to Abraham Lincoln.
Spread across the wide terraces, the lawns and the circling driveways were thousands of Americans, and distinguished men from foreign lands also came to pay their homage at this new shrine. Close on the marble steps were gathered the men who today hold in their .hands the destiny of that government "of the people, for the people and by the people'* which Lincoln gave his life to save, but belfind these over a mile deep on the mall and clear away to the base of the Washington Monument, a mile distant from the memorial, were the common folks from whom Lincoln came and for whom he toiled until he was cut down.
Foremost among the men who gathered at this cere- mony were the aged veterans of the G. A. R., men who at Lincoln's call put aside their citizen's garb for the blue of the army uniforms and fought for the salva- tion of the nation.
The statue shows Lincoln in the pose that has long endeared him to American hearts. It is cut from a solid block of Georgia marble. On the back wall of the memorial runs the simple legend that tells of the greatness of the man and the love that his countrymen have come to bear for his memory.
The sculptor has presented Lincoln as the presi- dent must often have been seen in life, when he sank back in his heavy chair at his desk in the White House and brooded over the havoc that civil war would make. The figure is relaxed with arms outspread on the arms of the chair; the wide shoulders are pressed back for
228 HISTORICAL NEWS
support, but the head is erect, and the quiet, gaunt, deeply-lined face is fit setting for the brooding eyes looking thoughtfully, almost in sorrowing pity, over the memories of the scenes they witnessed or of the sorrows they knew. (Contributed by one who was there.)
\ RMISTICE Day, 1921, brought to a member of -£*• the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society, rec- ognition from France for her war work in the Great War.
April 1917, Mrs. William Henry Wait of Ann Arbor was appointed Publicity Director of the War Relief Service Committee, National Society, Daugh- ters of the American Revolution. Mrs. Wait immedi- ately entered upon the duties of that office converting into an office a room in her own home, and here with- out financial compensation from any source and wit! only the occasional service of a stenographer, sh< labored eight, ten and twelve hours a day for two years, except such time as she in her capacity of State R< gent of the Daughters of the American Revolution oi Michigan was visiting the chapters officially, speaking throughout Michigan for the United War Work Cam- paign or Liberty Loans or attending meetings of th< National Board of Management in Washington.
Mrs. Wait as Publicity Director wrote, publishe< and issued to the Department Director of the War Relief Service Committee forty-four different Bulletins on War subjects, for every chapter of the Daughters in every State in the Union, Hawaii, the Philippines, the Orient and Argentina.
Of these fortv-four Bulletins, seven were in the
Copy of Diploniii citinjr grounds of award for which tfio silver medaille de In Reconnaissance Francaiso was itcstowcd upon Mrs. William H. Wait of Ann Arbor, Mich., by France. The Diploma is '2\ x 15 inches.
Medaille de la Reconnaissance Frnncuisc, awarded to Mrs. Win. II. Wait of Ann Arbor, Michigan, by France for her war services to that country. The colors are the red, white and blue of the French Flag.
NOTES AND COMMENT
interest of France on such subjects as "French War Orphans," "Tilloloy, A Devastated French Village,'* "Rechickenizing France," and " Reconstruction in France." After the needs in the case had been thor- oughly investigated, and after consultation with other members of the War Relief Service Committee, Mrs. Wait carried to the National Board of Management, Daughters of the American Revolution, Oct. 17, 1917, her resolution "That the National Society make as one special branch of our National War Relief Work, the restoration of the French village of Tilloloy, France, the expense <3f which is not to exceed $51,000," recommending at the same time that the money be raised by asking fifty cents from each member of the Society which numbered over a hundred thousand women. The motion carried and the plan of raising the money was adopted.
After the second German invasion, it was voted by the National Board of Management at the request of the French Government, that this money be diverted from its original purpose of restoration of the homes of the village to the installation of a waterworks system for the village, dedication of which took place, Auer. 23, 1921.
At Mrs. Wait's suggestion, the Daughters gave or collected about ten thousand dollars for Rechicken- izing France. Upon her initiative the Society co-oper- ated with the American Committee for Devastated France. In her Bulletin No. 43, Mrs. Wait plead for the re-establishment of the returned refugees in the Department of the Aisne. This Bulletin included French patterns for crocheting shoulder shawls for the aged women and stockings for the children, dimen-
HISTORICAL NEWS
sions for making sheets and pillow cases of the size used by French housewives before the war. The plea also netted many bolts of cloth, sewing materials, kitchen utensils and various kinds of garments.
"Feb. '22,.. 1921, the New York Times published the announcement that the day before, the Journal (ffficiel, Paris , at the instance of the foreign office, had be- stowed "for meritorious service" in the war, the silver "Medaille de la Reconnaissance Francaise" on four women in North and South America, Mrs. William H. Wait of Michigan being one of them.
Armistice Day, 1921, the medal and a diploma stat- ing the grounds of award were received by Mrs. Wait. Photographs of the medal and diploma illustrate this article. A translation of the grounds of award cites that Mrs. Wait "has contributed important aid to the devastated regions, notably Tilloloy, has furnished to our refugees important quantities of clothing."
Owing to her work with the American Committee for Devastated France, Mrs. Wait was the recipient also of autographed photographs of Premier Clemen- ceau and Monsieur Leon Bourgeois, chairman of the French Delegation League of Nations Conference at Versailles, in recognition of her services in "helping re- establish the returned refugee in the Department of the Aisne."
MICHIGAN needs to rename its thousands of lakes, says the Grand Rapids Herald. Each of these bodies of water represents actual dollars and cents' value to the State of Michigan. Each is distinctive in its beauty. It would be as impossible to find two lakes alike in Michigan as to find a resemblance be-
NOTES AND COMMENT 231
tween black and white. Yet with the exception of perhaps one per cent they are all misnamed. Not only are the names wholly lacking in beauty, but they fail to establish identity.
For example, there are two Camp Lakes in Kent County. Ask the farmer south of Grand Rapids the location of Camp Lake and he will direct you to a placid body in the southern section of the county. Ask a farmer north of Grand Rapids the same question and he will send you to another Camp Lake a couple of miles from Sparta.
There are at least 20 Long Lakes in Michigan; as many more Crooked Lakes; a dozen Round Lakes; ten or 15 Pickerel Lakes; more than half a dozen Mud Lakes, and three or four each of Crystal, Bluegill, Bass, Perch, Silver, Indian, Bullhead, Rice, Grass, Green and Pine Lakes.
It is only a shameful lack of appreciation of our natural resources that makes possible any duplication in the name of such a beautiful lake as Crystal, east of Frankfort. To those who know this lake, one of the largest in the State, there is only one Crystal Lake. But for others there is a Crystal Lake near Shelby and another near Greenville. Portage Lake at the mili- tary reservation near Grayling is an exquisite scenic spot; but Portage Lake north of Manistee is just as beautiful.
Michigan needs to re-name its lakes; not only be- cause of the multiplication of names, but because of the lack of distinctive merits in most of the names. Where is there anything suggestive of scenic delight in Bluegill Lake or Bullhead Lake? What is the value of such a title as Long Lake or Crooked Lake?
More and more we are coming to realize the value
232 HISTORICAL NEWS
to Michigan of its great numbers of inland lakes. To emphasize that value we should give fitting title to them. We are of the opinion that Governor Groes- beck could very appropriately name a commission or individual to survey the State's great inland water resources and suggest new names for consideration by the sections within which the lakes are located. The present muddle is merely a result of lazy nomencla- ture.
THE Mackinac Island State Park Museum, says The Catholic Vigil, has added to its collection the silverware and the diary of the Rev. Father Pierre, the first Jesuit missionary to become a permanent resi- dent of this section. The gift is made by Mrs. Brayton Saltonstall of Charlevoix, daughter of George W. Bell, the Cheboygan attorney, who executed Father Pierre's will. The pioneer priest lies buried in Calvary ceme- tery, Cheboygan, and many tourists make a pilgrim- age to his grave.
Father Pierre, immortalized by Constance Fenni- more Woolson in ''Anne," her story of the early days of Mackinac, was in charge of the mission at Macki- nac in the days of John Jacob Astor's fur trading operations there. In his canoe in the summer and with a dog team in the winter, he traversed the re- gion. His headquarters in Les Cheneaux Islands are still pointed out to tourists.
He came direct from France, highly educated, cul- tured and possessed of considerable wealth. His diary, written on the margins of newspapers and scraps of paper, for stationery was scarce in this region in those days, was translated by Mrs. Saltonstall. It gives a
NOTES AND COMMENT 238
picturesque account of his arrival in New York City and his experiences at the Astor House, a quaint vil- lage lodging house, where, he states, they used two- tined forks and table manners were atrocious. The silverware, including knives and forks, and the diary were among the things left in the care of Mrs. Salton- stall's father at the time of Father Pierre's death.
AN important factor in the building up of Macki- nac Island as a resort, was the opening in 1883 of the first telegraph office on the Island, says Miss Helen M. Donnelly *of the Western Union Telegraph office at Mackinac Island.
The idea was conceived by Mr. Cornelius C. Cor- bett, Sup't of the 5th District of the Western Union Telegraph Company, with headquarters in Detroit, now retired and living at Grosse Pointe Farms, Michi- gan.
The laying of the cable between St. Ignace and Mackinac Island was under the supervision of fore- man John Beamer, a life-long employee of the com- pany. The submarine cable was a one conductor, which had previously been used between Mackinaw City and St. Ignace, having been the first cable laid in the Straits of Mackinac. This cable was in use until 1892 when it was replaced by a three conductor sub- marine cable.
The office was managed the first summer by a Miss McGee of Detroit and at the close of the tourist season, was moved from the village to the Fort, Lieutenant Edward H. Plummer, 10th U. S. Infantry, then sta- tioned here, taking charge, Colonel Edward H. Plum- mer since retired and living at present in California.
234 HISTORICAL NEWS
Under instruction of Lieut. Plummer my sister Mar- garet Donnelly took up the study of Telegraphy, fin- ishing later in the Main W. U. office in Detroit and in the spring of 1884 taking charge as manager and I as messenger girl. The salary paid manager was high or considered so in those days, but the company made no provision for other expenses, such as messenger service, rental, light, etc., these expenses were supposed to be covered by the manager's salary, a rather unique arrangement, which failed to work out to the advantage of the messenger girl.
Sister Margaret who is now Mrs. John McArdle living in the Indian village, Detroit, managed the island office until November 23, 1889, when she was trans- ferred to St. Ignace taking charge there, while I as manager filled the vacancy here, a position I still hold.
Having the means of communicating with the outside world brought to the Island many business men and their families, who could keep in touch with business daily by wire, while they remained here dur- ing the summer months, many of whoin built sum- mer homes here. These men were among the repre- sentative citizens of Chicago, Omaha, Kansas City, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Ft. Wayne, Detroit, Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo.
Like many others seeking homes in a foreign land, my father, Mr. Thomas Donnelly, came to the Island in 1852, previous to that time my mother's uncle, Mr. Charles Omally, settled here, building the well- known hotel, Island House, that part of building which stands between the two wings, added later by its present owner, Mrs. John M. A. Webster. Mr. Omally at one time was a member of the State Legisla-
NOTES AND COMMENT
ture and it was he who suggested the changing of the Indian names, given to several counties by Mr. Henry R. Schoolcraft, to those of Irish names, known today as Roscommon, Clare, Emmet and many other coun- ties were renamed by him.
We have very few of the old pioneers of the island left, who struggled here to make a home. A home denied them in their native country — Ireland — where famine forced them to leave, while wealthy England, with an abundance of food at her door, offered little or no relief to the famine stricken people of Ireland. These staunch and worthy men and women made good here and although driven from their native soil, they were in heart and soul united to the land of their birth and it is to be regretted that they should have passed to the great beyond, before the dawn of the "New Ire- land" of today.
^HE Mississippi Valley Historical Association held its 15th annual meeting May 11 and 12 at Iowa City. The sessions were held in the rooms of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the University of Iowa gave active cooperation. Notable speakers were pres- ent from various sections of the Valley and adjacent regions. Arrangements were made for guests and dele-* gates to visit the State Historical Department at Des Moines, Iowa, in charge of Edgar R. Harlan. Another trip was arranged to the Amana Community, 23 miles west of Iowa City, one of America's most interesting religious and communistic brotherhoods. A large meas- ure of credit for the success of this meeting is due to Dr. John C. Parish and Prof. Benjamin F. Shambaugh of the University of Iowa, and to the faithful efforts
236 HISTORICAL Nuws
of the Society's secretary, Mrs. Clara S. Paine of Lin- coln, Nebraska. Mr. William E. Connelley, secre- tary of the Kansas State Historical Society, gave an able presidential address on "John Brown. " The edi- tor of the Michigan History Magazine was chairman of the program committee.
HHE following report was graciously furnished by -*• a citizen of Mt. Pleasant:
Mount Pleasant had the honor of entertaining the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society at its mid- winter meeting, January 25 and 26. Arrangements for the meeting had been made by committees from Cen- tral Michigan Normal School, The Mount Pleasant Woman's Club, Isabella Chapter D. A. R., and the Chamber of Commerce. The county newspapers co- operated in giving publicity to the meeting.
The Wednesday afternoon and evening sessions were held in Assembly Hall at the Normal as was also the Thursday morning session. The Thursday after- noon and evening sessions were held in the Auditorium of the High School.
The music for the opening session consisted of com- munity singing by the audience and a piano solo by Mr. Brillhart of the Normal music faculty. The even- ing session opened with community singing led by Miss Craw of the Normal department of music, Mr. Brill- hart at the piano. Mr. Thayer Walsh then gave two vocal numbers.
Between sessions and after the evening session the public were invited to an Exhibition of Antiques, col- lected and arranged by the D. A. R. The exhibit was held in the history class room of Miss Amy Burt at
NOTES AND COMMENT 287
the end of the corridor opposite Assembly Hall and was so enthusiastically received that it was continued by request, until the following Saturday night. Mount Pleasant has a wealth of historical articles only a few of which were exhibited.
At the close of the evening session, an invitation was extended to the entire audience to attend a recep- tion given by the Woman's Club and the D. A. R., in the class room of Miss Wightman, director of art. A large number of people accepted the invitation.
Thursday morning ^the Woman's Club furnished automobiles for a visit to the U. S. Indian School, and at 9:00 a. m., the out-of-town guests accompanied by Mrs. Charles Vowles, President of the Woman's Club, and Mrs. S. E. Gardiner, Regent of the D. A. R., were driven to the Indian School. The following people made up the party:
Dr. George N. Fuller, Lansing, Secretary State Historical Commission,
Mrs. Marie B. Ferrey, Lansing, Curator State Museum,
Miss Pollard, Grand Rapids, Public Library,
Mrs. C. W. Oakley, Kalamazoo,
Mrs. E. W. Ranney, Greenville,
Mrs. G. E. Lamb, Farwell,
Mrs. Eva C. Doughty, Mount Pleasant, and
Mr. U. S. Holdridge, Evart.
Upon arrival at the Indian School, Supt. R. A. Coch- ran personally conducted the party, showing them va- rious interesting things. One that seemed to attract the most attention was the "Log Cabin" Domestic Science Building built by the boys, pupils of the school. In this building the girls are taught cooking and the
238 HISTORICAL NEWS
care of the kitchen and utensils, correct serving and the care of the dining-room, including the making and care of dining-room linens.
Several class rooms were visited. The children of the primary room gave the Flag Salute. Mrs. Ferrey told a story to the children of the fourth grade and the children and guests sang "America." Visits were then paid to the laundry, the kitchen, the bakery, the sew- ing room, and the greenhouse.
Returning from the Indian School, the guests were driven to the Normal and there conducted through the various departments until time for the address by Dr. Charles Upson Clark at 11:00 a. m., on "The Current European Situation."
Before the opening of the afternoon session, the guests were shown through the beautiful new High School building by Mrs. Charles Vowles, of the Board of Education.
In the absence of Pres. Sawyer, Mrs. S. E. Gardi- ner, Regent of the D. A. R., acted as chairman. The meeting opened at 2:00 p. m., with two vocal selections by a group of Junior High School boys, accompanied by Miss Zelinski, director of public school music. Later in the program, Miss Zelinski delighted the audience with two vocal numbers. Miss Mclntyre accompanied Miss Zelinski.
At this session, a Provisional Committee was elected to look into the matter of forming a County Pioneer and Historical Society. Mrs. Eva C. Doughty was chosen chairman of the committee and Fred Russell and C. S. Larzelere the other two members of the com- mittee, the committee to call a meeting for organiza- tion at their discretion.
NOTES AND COMMENT 239
The evening session at the High School, with Mrs. •harles Vowles, President of the Woman's Club, as chairman opened with music furnished by the High School Orchestra.
Programs for the occasion were furnished by the Chamber of Commerce.
The program was full of interest from beginning to end and Mount Pleasant was fortunate indeed to have been chosen as the meeting place of the Michigan Pio- neer and Historical Society.
[A description of the exhibition of antiques by Mrs. S. E. Gardiner, which appeared in the Mount pleasant Times was so good that we give it entire.-Ed.J
There are many notable collections in the city, no one of which was given in its entirety; and some very interesting ar- ticles from out of town were shown. The oldest articles exhib- ited were in the McKinnon collection of ancient Scottish origin. In this collection, a Scottish gun, a dirk, and an incense burner each claimed the distinction of 450 years of age, and a French gun five generations.
A punch bowl, brought over in the Mayflower,, owned by J. Q» Walling, elicited a great deal of interest. Other interesting bits of china were an old cup and saucer 200 years old, several pieces of Mulberry ware, an old Willow ware platter, a Wash- ington vase plate, several pitchers, a dark blue teapot, the ation of which was MacDonough's Victory at Lake Cham- plain, an octagonal tureen, and a cake plate that had come down through four generations of the Hampton family.
Several good pieces of pewter were noted, among which was the Bradstreet porringer, two Britanma teapots, and an old tor spoon.
Many old silver articles were shown, an old butter dish, al spoons, candlesticks, and a sugar creamer of the time ing (icorge III.
Several old quilts were shown, the oldest of which was pieced
240 HISTORICAL NEWS
by the wife of Lieutenant Dalton, who was on the staff of Washington, the next oldest one was a beautiful example of a Rose pattern in applique, there was another excellent applique quilt, also one of wool quilted in an elaborate pattern, another had a lining of homespun linen.
There were linen sheets, homespun woolen blankets, and several beautiful coverlets 'of indigo blue and white, and one coverlet of a rich madder red, indigo blue, a lighter blue and white, and one of red, white and green. Old cutlery — broad bladed knives, and short two-tined forks, an old foot stove, a Revolutionary fife, an old sword, a Civil War musket, and a Jesse James pistol.
There was an old flax wheel, a flax hetchel with flax, a pah* of cards, a reel for winding yarn, a set of swifts, a bit of home- spun linen thread, several pieces of homespun linen such as table cloths, sheets and towels, and one of the early sewing machines.
There were old clocks, tongs, an ancient teakettle, sheep shears, iron candlesticks, candle molds, bullet molds, an old powder horn, an old razor, an old press board, an old hat mold, two pairs of spectacles 150 years old, a butter print, a wonderful old brass skimmer, several snuff boxes, a pair of knee buckles worn by a Revolutionary soldier, a square used by another Revolutionary soldier, and a Norwegian jewel screen and nap- kin ring 200 years old.
A large number of old books were shown, the oldest of which was printed in 1685. Several old letters, an old family record, an old coat of arms, an old journal, several records of military companies, a book of old deeds, a photostat copy of a Revolu- tionary soldier's discharge and application for pension, a bound volume of Harper's Weekly for 1860 containing an account and a picture of the convention which nominated Lincoln for pres- ident, two bound volumes of The Enterprise, some pictures of early settlers and of first buildings in Isabella County. Also a copy of the Washington memorial edition of The Ulster County Gazette, published January 4, 1800. This paper was framed
NOTES AND COMMBNT 241
between two sheets of glass and presented to Isabella Chapter D. A. R. by Mrs. Stephen Potter. There was a poem written by Elijah Woodworth of Leslie, Mich., and dedicated to the State Pioneer Society, in 1884. A scrap book full of interesting items connected with the early days of Mt. Pleasant was on exhibition.
Several old dresses were on exhibition, the oldest of which was a Watteau wedding gown of beautiful Flemish silk brocade, an heirloom from the Hale family. The exact age of this gown is not known, but is placed about the year 1750. There was a sleeve of a wedding dress of 1857, and some of the other dresses had served as wedjding dresses.
Many hats and bonnets were shown. These were of dif- ferent periods, the oldest one being 150 years of age. There were caps of different materials one of which was a hand-made infant's cap of lace made for Madame Brooks' father. There were hand-embroidered collars, a white muslin hand-embroid- ered shawl, also an embroidered petticoat, a fine shirt with elaborate bosom worn by a bridegroom of 1857 was shown. Also a coat and vest worn by a boy of twelve in 1870. A "best handkerchief," heavily embroidered by hand, a hand-made corset, and a skirt extender woven over cordings of candle wicking.
There were old shawls of silk, of lace, and of wool, and a cape made from a black lace shawl, also veils of silk, one a piece of an old wedding veil. There were hair ornaments, and rings and bracelets made of hair,, and a pair of small square-toed wedding slippers without heels that seemed too small to have been worn by any grown person.
Several old samples with their fine even stitchery told of the days when every girl was taught to sew. Three beautiful old beaded bags of over 100 years of age were shown. And a carpet bag of 175 years occupied a prominent place.
Time and space do not permit further enumeration of the articles which were shown, but a record of exhibitors and arti-
242 HISTORICAL NEWS
cles exhibited was kept, and is now being put into permanenl form for the chapter archives.
Isabella Chapter D. A. R. wishes to thank every one who in any way assisted in making this exhibition a long-to-be-re- membered occasion.
MRS. HANNAH VOWELS, daughter of "Father Sheldon' ' (Rev. Robert P. Sheldon) writes to Mr. Gould of the Isabella County Enquirer, from eastern Maryland, under date of Jan. 25, 1922:
The Enterprise informs us that the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society will meet in your city this week. I regret I cannot be among those privileged to be present; but am sending a reminiscence of the early days of the county when father w missionary to the Indians.
Should it prove of interest you may publish it.
The Rev. Robert P. Sheldon (Father Sheldon to the pi neers) came into Isabella County in the fall of 1860 as mission ary to the Indians, and continued his good work later amon all citizens until his death, in 1882. [Father Sheldon's mem ory is perpetuated in Methodist church history by a me- morial window in the M. E. church. — Ed.]
. In those early days when we first moved on the In Mission, mother was much afraid of the Indians although th tribe was peaceful. There was in particular one old chief Naw-ge-sac, who was of commanding stature, haughty mien, and to her of ferocious aspect, who filled her with many mis- givings, as it was said he had been on the war path and taken scalps from the pale faces in his youth. To give more color to these gruesome tales, the tobacco pouch he carried was said to be made of the skin of a white baby.
He was much interested in the Indian school which father taught and often visited the school room. On one occasion, after having observed the proceedings of the school for some time, he decided to make a call on the schoolmaster's wife.
The missionary's quarters were built on the side and bac
NOTES AND COMMENT .243
of the school building, and a door in the rear of the schoolroom used by the family opened into a small room we used as a store room for provisions, and a closet in which to hang clothes.
It was nearing the noon hour and mother making prepa- rations for dinner came hurriedly into this room for meat, and was transfixed with horror to see the dreaded chief, with whom she had nearly collided, standing half concealed by the hanging garments.
All the stories of treachery and bloodshed by the Indians rushed to her mind, and with a blood curdling scream she rushed wildly through the house to the outer door and into the yard where a backward took showed the chief in hot pursuit. Fear lent wings to her feet. Escape was her only thought, and she fled with piercing screams into the fields beyond.
The ear-splitting cries penetrated the wall of the school room, and brought father and the pupils to the scene, where they joined in the mad chase, the young Indians uttering loud excited whoops.
The awful din caused her to cast a fearful backward glance, which made her increase her speed, for Naw-ge-sac and a horde of yelling demons were bearing down upon her. But the chief in spite of age outdistanced the other pursuers.
With streaming hair and gasping for breath, she stumbled on until overcome with fatigue and terror she fell nearly faint- ing, and the chief caught her in his brawny arms, patted her on the shoulder, saying, over and over, "no hurt white squaw/' until the others came up when he carried her to the house care- fully. He explained why he was in the store room : He was on his way to the living room, but never having seen such clothes, he stopped to examine the beautifully ironed starched white petticoats which hung there and partly concealed his body.
He came many times after, but mother never feared him again and formed a genuine liking for chief Naw-ge-sac.
244 HISTORICAL NEWS
TlEPORT of the Ingham County Pioneer and His- torical Society to the Michigan Pioneer and His- torical Society, May 24-25, 1922, by Mrs. Franc L. Adams, Secretary:
"If you put a little loving into all the work you do, And a little bit of g adness, and a little bit of you; And a little bit of sweetness, and a little bit of song, Not a day will seem too toilsome; not a day will seem too long."
If the poet meant by this that to put one's whole self into work being done would lighten the labor and shorten the time, then I am a living proof of the cor- rectness of this theory; for while there has been scarcely a day during the year just ended that I have not done something in connection with historical work, the time has passed all too swiftly.
The Ingham County Pioneer and Historical So- ciety has every reason to feel proud of the year's record, and the interest taken in the work by those never be- fore interested is a matter for rejoicing.
The annual meeting held in Mason on June 14, 1921, was both pleasant and profitable. Many plans were made for the ensuing year, and today it is very gratifying to the secretary to be able to report that some of these plans have been successfully carried out.
Pres. L. H. Ives, although on crutches, was there and took charge of the meeting. Mayor V. J. Brown eulogized the pioneers as he welcomed the guests. Rev. F. G. Ellett used "Integrity of Purpose" as the key-note in his response. G. K. Stimson of Lansing gave an historically patriotic address, in which he recommended that the children be given a place in the work of the society, and he was appointed to help
NOTES AND COMMENT 245
work out some plan for having one pupil from each rural school sent as a delegate to the annual meeting.
The Secretary in giving a report of the year's work made the following recommendations:
1st — That the membership be made permanent; V. J. Brown. P. A. Stone and R. J. Bullen were made a committee to formulate a Constitution and By-Laws that would put the society on a better working basis.
2nd — That a chairman from each township be ap- pointed to plan for Towrnship Historical meetings, where the history could be obtained by school districts, thus bringing it out in detail.
3rd — That the society mark some historic spot in the county, and V. J. Brown, Mrs. Adams and Rev. F. G. Ellett were appointed to do this work.
Mrs. M. B. Ferrey gave a talk appropriate to the day, Flag Day, and the descriptions and histories of the Flags of our country as given by her, would form a valuable work for reference in schools.
Maj. Rolph Duff, of Lansing, gave the address of the day. He paid a high tribute to the pioneers who blazed the way for us, and urged the preservation of their experiences, which otherwise will soon be for- gotten. He spoke with regret of the lack of conserva- tion of the forests of the State.
At this meeting more than the usual number of pioneer reminiscences were told, and these were caught and are being added to the Pioneer History of Ingham County.
Mrs. Almeretta Blake was the oldest person present, and she declared herself 93 years young. We shall miss her at the annual meeting this year, as a few months ago she passed to her reward, with 152 others
246 HISTORICAL NEWS
whose faces were familiar to us, but whom we shall see no more on earth.
The officers were re-elected, making Col. L. H. Ives president for the twelfth time, adding the twenty- ninth year to W. M. Webb's term of service as treasurer, while as secretary, Mrs. Adams is making reports for the eighth year.
The secretary has continued her work of compil- ing a Pioneer History for Ingham County, hoping that before the fiftieth anniversary of the society in June, 1922, it might be completed and published as a memo- rial. During the fifty years of its existence the society has many times voted to have a county history pub- lished, and each time a committee was appointed to do the work, but this semi-centennial sees the work still unfinished, though the manuscript is ready for the publishers.
The publishing committee decided to have a pros- pectus of the book gotten out with a return card on which the receiver would state whether he would pur- chase a book or not. The secretary mailed out 2,200 of these, hoping that 700 of them would bring favor- able replies, as that many pledges to take the book at $3.50 would insure its publication.
As the secretary has received no compensation for her time or labor, the only expense will be the actual cost of publication, making this 1,000-page book, filled from cover to cover with readable matter (things largely told by the pioneers themselves) so low in price that no one can refuse to buy on that score.
The one big disappointment of the year is the fact that the book could not be completed in time to be presented at the fiftieth anniversary, but "Hope
NOTES AND COMMENT 247
springs eternal in the human breast," and the com- mittee is still hoping.
Since the plan for holding township meetings was adopted, there has been an increased interest shown throughout the county. Six of these meetings have been held; Delhi, Alaiedon and Aurelius held very interesting meetings, and much data of value was gathered from the papers given.
Onondaga, Leslie and Vevay have also held meet- ings and organized into township societies.
In October Onondaga organized with G. O. Dox- tader as president, but the school children of the town- ship included in the membership.
Leslie organized in November with Mrs. Palmyra Hahn as president.
Vevay held an intensely interesting meeting in April, 1922, when Mrs. Vance Douglas was elected president.
Three unique Flags, typical of early days, were dis- covered through these meetings. Children, and even older people, find it hard to realize that seventy-five years ago, one could not buy a Flag in Ingham County or any of the trading posts in this section of the state, for love nor money, and many of them living here at that time had never seen a Flag.
At the Aurelius meeting there was displayed the first Flag ever used in church in that township, some time during the late forties.
A Sunday-school rally was to be held and all thought a Flag would add greatly to the importance of the occasion. No Flag could be bought in Jackson, the nearest trading post, but failure was not included in
248 HISTORICAL. NEWS
the vocabulary of the pioneers, and one of them, Mrs Fowler, set her wits to work thinking out a plan wher by a Flag could be evolved. She took a piece of un bleached muslin, 3x5 feet, made a field of inch wid strips of red, white and blue and set in the prop corner. Thirteen big stars of red figured calico were sewed at intervals on the remaining space, this was mounted, and to this banner the Sunday school paid reverence as the members tacitly pledged their allegiance to God and Country.
At Leslie one the same age was used as all gave the Flag salute. This one was made by Mrs. Clark Graves, an early settler, for a Fourth of July celebration. This, too, was of white muslin; instead of field, a young boy of the family had, with pen and ink, sketched a large eagle with outspread wings on a sheet of paper, and this was pasted in the center of the cloth, wit thirteen big red stars sewed around it. As in the other case it represented the ingenuity of the pioneers, an served them as a symbol of patriotism as it was use in the Fourth of July parade.
Mrs. Harriet W. Casterlin of Mason has a Fla made by her brother, Kendall Kittridge, when h was a lad of thirteen, just before the Civil War. H could find no place where Flags were sold, but he ha the right conception of its appearance as he no doub had heard of the one planned by Geo. Washington and Eetsy Roes. He sewed together his stripes of red figured calico and white muslin, made a field of blue d.erim and sewed on his white stars. This was car- ried in .all the patriotic demonstrations so common "befo' de wah."
Just those three stories alone give us an insight into the home and community life when the pioneers worked
NOTES AND COMMENT 249
against heavy odds, and set us an example in thrift, ingenuity, patriotism and loyalty that has come down to us as a sacred legacy. And these stories should be preserved.
No historic spot in the county has been marked, though the committee has proceeded so far as to make a list of desirable places for markers. Lansing Chap- ter Daughters of the American Revolution, whose his- torical activities are always counted as a part of our county work, marked the grave of Ephraim Wheaton, a Revolutionary soldier buried in the North Stock- bridge cemetery, on May 29, 1921, with appropriate
On May 28 (next Sunday), they will go to the Lane jemetery in Onondaga township, to place a marker honor of Sergeant Major John Champe, one of rashington's aides. In the family lot is a small tonument bearing his name with crossed swords above it, but he sleeps in an unknown grave in Kentucky. in the same family lot is buried Nathaniel Champe, rho served in the War of 1812, and his wife who, when young girl, acted as a spy in that war, for the U. S. forces.
Here, too, in this little rural cemetery lie six other leroes of 1812, while two others are buried in the Onondaga cemetery.
Onondaga people will assist in this ceremony, and it is expected that the school children will give the his- >ry of these 1812 soldiers as their work for the town- dp society.
The work in Ingham County may seem of little ?ount when compared with that of other counties,
250 HISTORICAL NEWS
but we are pleased to report that so many lines of work, greatly desired, are under way.
The Lansing Chapter D. A. R. expects before many months to erect a marker on the Okemos trail, also known as the great Mackinaw trail, in the township of Alaiedon.
AMONG interesting pioneer and historical sketches appearing in our exchanges recently are the fol- lowing:
"Historical and pioneer sketches." — Williamston Enterprise, Apr. 19, 26, May 3, 10, 17, 24, 31 (Contents: State Capitol; M. A. C.; State Re- form School for Boys; State Board of Health; Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society; the courts).
"Somebody gave away scheme and old Indian Chief was the goat, but history is mixed on this tragedy." By Charles R. Angell. — Belding Ban- ner-News, Apr. 26, 1922.
"The .Days of Old Lang Syne." — losco County Gazette, East Tawas, Apr. 27, 1922.
"Michigan Supreme Court records hold suit be- tween county and township." — Pittsford Re- porter, April 28, 1922.
"Milford in 1885. Items of interest from the Times files of that year." — Milford Times, Apr. 28, 1922.
"The History of Lake Odessa." Written by the Class of 1922. — Lake Odessa Wave-Times, May 5, 1922.
"Lovers' Leap, show spot of Mackinac Island, gets its name from plunge taken by daughter of Chief
NOTES AND COMMENT 251
at invitation of feathered spirit." — Pittsford Re- porter, May 12, 1922. "Michigan Indians knew about the Deluge, even
though Noah and his Ark were not in their
legends; tablets also tell the story."— Pittsford
Reporter, May 19, 1922. "Delicate girl leaves her life of comfort to teach
first school in forest." — Grand Haven Daily
Tribune, May 23, 1922. "Pioneer days in Michigan." — Elk Rapids Progress,
May 25, 1922. "Kalamazoo jurist is held originator of state fair."
—Courier- Northerner, Paw Paw, May 26, 1922. "Michigan sounds war-call of bygone days." By
Henry W. Wiltse. — Detroit Free Press, May 28,
1922. "My Recollections of the Civil War Conflict." By
Hiram Rix. — Williamston Enterprise, May 31,
1922.
"It may have been bravery and it may have been bluff, but whatever it was saved the life of this Indian brave." — Northwestern Weekly, May 19, 1922, also in the Pittsford Reporter, June 2, 1922.
"What became of Jennie Mills is Michigan mystery, which years have failed to solve." — Northwestern Weekly, Grand Rapids, June 2, 1922.
CECRETARY Lew Allen Chase sends us thefollow- ' ing report, which is a model for terse statement of worth-while business:
The annual meeting of the Marquette County His- torical Society was held at the Peter White Public
252 HISTORICAL JNEWB
Library, Marquette, Tuesday evening, January 10, 1922.
. . The auditorium and exhibition rooms were crowded. A. very complete exhibit of the industrial progress of the district, covering transportation, mining, agricul- ture, lumbering and other pursuits had been prepared by the Rev. C. J. Johnson, Historian of the Society, and attracted much interest. Arrangements had been made for the inspection of this exhibit by school pupils and the general public during a period of several days following the meeting.
Mr. J. M. Longyear, president of the society, made the long journey from his present home at Brookline, Massachusetts, to read a very interesting paper of reminiscences of the early days in the Upper Peninsula following Mr. Longyear's arrival in Marquette in 1873. Mr. John S. Pardee of Duluth gave an historical ac- count of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Deep water- way. Mr. Pardee is one of the officers of the Tide- water Association.
The following officers were elected for the year 1922: President, J. M. Longyear; vice-presidents, Dr. T. A. Felch of Ishpeming; Mr. E. C. Anthony of Ne- gaunee, and Mayor Harlow A. Clark of Marquette; corresponding-secretary, L. A. Chase, Head of the His- tory Department of the Northern State Normal School, Marquette; recording-secretary, James Maynard, Mar- quette: treasurer, L. A. Melhinch, Marquette; histor- ian, Rev. C. J. Johnson, Marquette; curator, Miss Olive Pendill, Marquette.
Experience had shown the desirability of amending the constitution of the society in several particulars. Two new offices were created, that of recording-secre-
NOTES .AND COMMENT 253
tary to have sole charge of memberships, and that of curator to be custodian of the collections and museum. It is planned that the curator will open the museum and collections, which are housed on the second floor of the Peter White Public Library, Marque tte, to occasional public inspection. As amended, the con- stitution carefully defines the duties of each officer. The corresponding-secretary will purchase documents, prepare programs, collect biographical records, and attend to correspondence. The Historian will collect material, chiefly antiquarian, prepare exhibits and have charge of the marking of historic sites. A num- ber of such markers were placed at points in Marquette County, last summer, and there is abundant testi- mony that their presence has been much appreciated by visitors and residents of the district.
The corresponding-secretary reported that the card index of the books in the Peter White Public Library, containing matter relating to the Upper Peninsula, had been completed and that 175 biographical records of old residents of the county had been secured through the agency of students in the history department of the Northern State Normal School, using a questionnaire prepared for this purpose. A considerable number of books had been purchased, it being the object to secure all publications bearing on this territory.
. The recording-secretary reported an aggregate mem- bership of 343, of whom 268 reside in Marquette. The membership fee is one dollar per year and the consti- tution was amended so as to fix the life membership fee at fifty dollars. It is known that several such memberships can be secured.
The treasurer reported the total receipts during the year to have been $862.47, and the total disbursements
254 HISTORICAL NEWS
$737.64. The receipts include $200 from Marquette County, and the disbursements include such items as metal filing cases, markers, stationery, books, clerical assistance in card indexing, and office supplies.
Articles of incorporation had been prepared by Mr. George P. Brown, city-attorney of Marquette, at the request of Mayor H. A. Clark, and it was voted to proceed with the incorporation of the society.
1V/TISS OLIVE PENDILL, Curator of the Marquette •*•**- County Historical Society writes:
Since the 1921 Annual Meeting of the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society the following have been added to the library and museum collections of the Marquette County Historical Society:
Lake Superior Silver Lead Company, N. Y. Final Report of U. P. Development Bureau. Brief Account of the Lake Superior Copper Com- pany, by an Original Stockholder. Act of Incorporation and By-Laws of the Jackson
Mining Company, Jackson. History of the Catholic Missions among the Indian
Tribes of the United States, by J. G. Shea. 1st, 2nd and 31st Premium Lists of Marquette
County Fairs, 1883, 1884, and 1921. Am. Hist. Ass'n pamphlet giving membership arid
Historical Societies in U. S. in 1896. Newspapers, bound: Lake Superior Journal Lake Superior News Lake Superior News and Journal Lake Superior Journal.
NOTES AND COMMENT .255
Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company, its Development and Resources, 1850-1920.
Legends of le Detroit, by Marie C. W. Hamlin.
Historic Green Bay, 1634-1840, by E. H. Neville, Sarah G. and Deborah B. Martin.
Report of Commissioner of General Land Office, 1868.
Report of the Mineral Resources of U. S., 1867.
Reports of the City of Marquette, 1919-1920.
Michigan Manual, 1863.
Michigan Manual," 1881.
Indian Tribes of the Upper Mississippi Valley and Region of the Great Lakes, Emma H. Blair.
Articles of Association of the Lake Superior Sav- ings Ass'n Bank of the Village of Harvey, Mar- quette County, 1873.
Discharge paper of Civil War veteran of Mar- quette Co.
Photographs of persons and places in U. P. of Mich- igan.
Numerous programs.
200 Biographical Records of residents of Marquette Co. secured by history students of N. S. N. C.
United States Flag, 13j^x24 ft. with 35 stars, which was purchased with the subscriptions of the peo- ple of the village of Harvey, Marquette Co. and raised on Fourth of July, 1864.
Letters have been written to Michigan Librarians in the effort to secure the services of one trained in Historical Library and Museum work that a simple system may be worked out for the filing of the collec- tions of this society.
256 HISTORICAL NEWS
IN THE death of Mr. John M. Longyear of Mar- quette, the State has lost a citizen whose service to her historical interests was noteworthy. Mr. Long- year was president of the Marquette County Historical Society from its organization in 1917, and at the time of his death had plans well under way for the erection of an Historical building to house its collections and meetings and to serve other civic needs of the city and county. The Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society elected him an honorary member at its recent meeting in Lansing in recognition of these services actual and potential. In this number appears a well-deserved tribute to the life and work of Mr. Longyear who was one of the real pioneers of the Upper Peninsula. All will be interested in the following unpublished remarks which he made in welcoming the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society to Marquette on the occasion of its meeting there in August, 1918. Mr. Longyear said:
"It is a great pleasure, on behalf of the Marquette County Society, to welcome the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society to this historic spot. It is easy to believe that the first white men who came here, — those intrepid, enterprising French Jesuit priests who were the pioneers, — landed and walked upon the sandy shores of our Iron Bay. This city and county bear the name of the earliest of these, Marquette. The highest hill to the south of the city bears the name of another, Mesnard. Here was inaugurated the now mighty traffic in Lake Superior iron ore. The first discovery of Lake Superior iron ore was made in this county and the first ore removed from the vast deposits of the region was carried over the site of this city of Marquette.
"In the late 'forties' a small schooner, then probably
NOTES AND COMMENT 257
the largest craft on Lake Superior, cast anchor in Iron Bay and from it landed a crew of men who began what is now the City of Marquette. It was first called 'Worcester,' but subsequently renamed and called Marquette.
"In the first boat-load was a boy who lived to be- come Marquette's foremost and most widely-known citizen; the man who founded the library now housed in this building and whose name it bears, — the Honor- able Peter White.
"Recent years have made history rapidly in this region. My own acquaintance with it began in 1873. Then the Lake Superior Iron Ore District was Mar- quette County. Except for the product of two small mines over the line in Baraga County all the Lake Superior iron ore known to commerce came from this county. 1873 was the great year of production up to that time. A little over 1,250,000 tons were produced and there were those who deprecated such swamping of the market. In forty-five years this trade has grown to more than 66,000,000 tons in a year and no man can tell what tonnage will be produced in future years.
"Since 1873 I have seen the development of five other great iron ore districts, or ranges, as they are usually called, in the three states bordering on Lake Superior and important industrial history has been made on all of them.
"In the year 1873 the schooner 'Pelican' carried from a Marquette dock a 'record' load of iron ore of 1,250 tons and many predicted financial disaster for such reckless increase in the size of lake vessels. Now, there are many steamers on Lake Superior which carry loads of 10,000 to 15,000 tons.
" Beginning at Marquette, the first railroad in the
258 HISTORICAL NEWS
Lake Superior region was built to the iron mines. It was about sixteen miles in length and would today be an insignificant enterprise, but in 1855-6 it was a tre- mendous undertaking, demanding great courage and faith from the builders. In 1873 this road had been abandoned for a more modern railway and equipment. Part of this first railway is now occupied by a county highway over which I hope you may ride during your visit.
"In this strenuous and distressful time, when the eyes of all mankind are turned toward the sights and scenes of the bloody, savage, noble, self-sacrificing, in- spiring, depressing, history-making, daily, on another continent, it is a relief, occasionally, to turn to other scenes and to contemplate history of quieter times, the harsher notes of which have been softened by the passage of time. Say, such as we offer here.
"Indian legends have their sites near us and his- tory encircles us here, and to these historic and legend- ary spots, in behalf of the Marquette County His- torical Society, I bid you welcome. "
AMONG THE BOOKS
URAL MICHIGAN, by Prof. Lew Allen Chase, is to be published this fall. Prof. Chase is head of the department of history of the Northern State Normal School at Marquette, and a Trustee of the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society. His inter- est and training in economic problems assure us of a scholarly book. The readers of this Magazine are probably familiar with Prof. Chase's Geography of Michigan, one of the most useful and teachable books on civics that we have seen. Rural Michigan will be published by the Macmillan Co., N. Y.
NOTES AND COMMENT 259:
A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY OF AMERICAN INDUS- TRIAL SOCIETY is in course of preparation for the Arthur H. Clark Co., of Cleveland. It will be com- pleted in 10 volumes, in an edition of probably 1,000 sets. Obviously it should be in every public and pri- vate library where intelligent thought or discussion is given to present day commercial, labor and social problems.
\ NEW volume by John C. Wright is just out, F* issued by the Michigan Education Company, Lansing. It is entitled, The Great Myth. These 170 pages make a fascinating story, about which Mr. Wright says in his introduction:
A few years ago a Chicago gentleman and his wife spent several months at a northern resort near which there dwelt the remnants of a tribe of Ottawas. The couple made numerous visits to the Indian settlements and became greatly interested in the local legends and traditions. While making these trips their curiosity was especially aroused by the frequency of the mention of the name of Na-na Bo-sho. Always in their investi- gations and inquiries it appeared; in fact, they heard so much about this Wonder- Worker of the Algonquin tribes, that they determined to learn all they could concerning him.
At one of the hotels in the neighborhood, the lady one day related her experience to a friend and casually asked if he could give her any inkling or information that might assist her in her search.
"It appears that all Indian lore centers around the figure of Na-na Bo-Sho," she declared.
"Everywhere we go among the Indians they have
260 HISTORICAL NEWS
something to say about him — some wonderful story to relate. I wish I might find someone who could tell me his whole history. It must have been a remark- able one and I am so interested in the matter.'*
An old, French-Canadian guide, who happened to be sitting nearby, overheard the conversation. Arising with hat in hand he approached the lady and asked:
" You want to find out 'bout Na-na Bo-sho?"
"Indeed I do," replied the woman turning toward him. "Do you speak Indian? Do you know any re- liable party who can tell me his story?"
"I know all 'bout him, me, myself," assured the guide. "On my house is paper Frenchman write long, long time 'go zat geeves ze life of Na-na Bo-sho."
This information served to greatly excite the woman. "Oh, I must see it!" she exclaimed. "Cer- tainly something has been written about this remark- able person. I shall be so glad to examine anything you may have upon the subject."
She thereupon employed the old guide to take her to his home and show her the paper in question.
It proved to be an age-worn, French manuscript, probably written by one of the early voyageurs in the northern lake region. It purported to be the true story of Na-na Bo-sho, the Miracle Man of the Algon- quins, as told the writer by the Indians when he first came to the New World.
The manuscript was purchased by the lady and her husband, and though some of the pages were badly torn and effaced, a transcript was made. "The great Myth" was the result.
NOTES AND Ccm M ENT 261
MICHIGAN, THE GARDEN, THE WORKSHOP AND PLAYGROUND OF THE NATION, IS the title of a six-
page pamphlet issued by the State Department of Agriculture in collaboration with the Lansing Cham- ber of Commerce.
The booklet will be given nation-wide distribution under the direction of the Lansing Chamber of Com- merce, which believes it will be instrumental in bring- ing to the attention of people in other states the de- sirability of Michigan as a State for the founding of homes and launching of business and industrial enter- prise.
In the introduction of the booklet, the reader is told that Michigan "holds thousands of square miles with climate and soil equal to the finest prairie in the country — virgin cut-over land which is still ringing with the sounds of the axe.
"A land with nearly 200,000 farms among which are some of the most fertile and oldest homesteads of the middle west. A land which has every advantage of being close to the large manufacturing centers, with values untouched by the inflation which has gripped the other farm lands of the country."
Then follow more than 100 pertinent facts about Michigan and its cities, such as population, area, shore line, climate, railroads, educational facilities, its mam- moth industrial plants, agriculture, parks, and the pop- ularity of the State with tourists in summer.
"^HE INLAND LAKES OF MICHIGAN, by Professor I.
D. Scott of the University of Michigan has just
been received in the office of the Geological Survey
Division of the Conservation Department at Lansing.
This publication is the result of several summers'
262 HISTORICAL NEWS
study of the lakes of Michigan by Professor Scott authorized by the former Board of Geological Survey. The studies were made under the direction of State Geologists R. C. Allen and R. A. Smith. The book contains careful description of the origin, history and present conditions of the lakes, their basins and shores, especially of the large lakes of the State and brief re- views of many of the smaller important lakes.
Tourists, students and teachers of physiography and owners of lands adjacent to the lakes will find the book interesting and valuable. It is copiously illustrated by excellent half-tones and many drawings.
Publications of the Survey are sent gratis to citi- zens of Michigan for postal charges only. The publi- cation on the Inland Lakes is Publication 30, Geological Series 25, of the Michigan Geological Survey, and may be obtained by addressing the office of the State Geolo- gist.
TV /TICHIGAN BIBLIOGRAPHY has just issued from the -LVJ. press, prepared by Floyd Benjamin Streeter.
The purpose and scope of this work is expressed as follows in the preface, written by the editor of this Magazine as secretary of the Michigan Historical Commission, under whose supervision the work was done.
Few States in the Union are more diversified in resources, development and history than is the State of Michigan in the heart of the Great Lakes region, and its varied life has produced an enormous and be- wildering mass of printed and manuscript materials expressive of this growth, — materials indispensable to the professional investigator, but equally so to the
NOTES AND COMMENT 263
casual writer, the newspaper man, the club woman, the speaker, the lawyer, the preacher, the student, the citi- zen, in search of information upon any one of thou- sands of subjects. These materials, at first widely scattered in the places of their origin, have been par- tially collected into libraries and other depositories. Yet it is often not easy to learn in what libraries they are or what is their nature and extent. To make this easier is the bibliographer's task, and a patient and laborious task it is.
Starting with the jmrpose of making a complete bibliography of Michigan, it later seemed best to limit the work to certain definite lines. This was impera- tive, on account of the vastness of the material, if the work was to be held within reasonable limits. The de- cision was made to cover the titles of all printed ma- terials, maps and atlases relating directly to Michigan included in the Library of Congress, the Detroit Pub- lic Library, the Grand Rapids Public Library, the Michigan State Library, the General Library of the University of Michigan, experiment station bulletins in the Library of the Michigan Agricultural College, and the maps in the Port Huron Public Library and Library of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, —also the manuscript materials in the Burton His- torical Collection, — all Michigan materials accessioned in these libraries before July 1, 1917.
These sources have provided the work with 8,643 entries, including a thousand maps and atlases and two thousand volumes of manuscript. They do not how- ever include much of the materials in newspapers, magazines, books of exploration and travel and sepa- rate items in many other classes of publications. It is planned to cover these in succeeding volumes, together
264 HISTORICAL NEWS
with materials from other libraries and scattered ma- terials from the general field. Indeed any scope de- cided upon for a given volume or volumes of a bib- liography must necessarily be tentative, since new "finds" are constantly coming to light and "the mak- ing of books and records" ceases only with time. (Michigan Historical Commission, Lansing, 1921, 2 vols.; free to public libraries, schools, and institutions; to individuals $1 per volume.)
A SHORTER HISTORYOF ENGLAND AND GREATER BRITAIN, by Arthur Lyon Cross, Ph. D., Richard Hudson Professor of English History in the University of Michigan.
The author's viewpoint is stated in his preface: "The present work is a shortened form of the author's History of England and Greater Britain, brought up to the beginning of 1919. Four chapters have been added, two of which aim to re-survey the relations between the Mother Country and the Self-governing Dominions beyond the seas and British foreign rela- tions from 1870 to 1914, and two of which seek to describe the activities of Britain and Greater Britain in the World War, as well as the problems of govern- ment and administration which the War involved."
This "shorter" History however occupies about the same space as the earlier volume, the difference being that minor political matters have been pruned away to make place for four new chapters on recent events, and for earlier events specially significant for the new perspective projected by the Great War.
In its present form the volume is more teachable, and more serviceable to the public. It shows the same care and scholarship of the earlier work. The narar-
NOTES AND COMMENT 265
tive is well balanced, and proper emphasis is placed on industrial, intellectual and religious conditions. The style is pleasing to the general reader, though the work is intended primarily for introductory courses in college. It is unquestionably the best single volume in print covering the entire field of England and Greater Britain (Macmillan, N. Y., 1920, pp. xxviii — 942, $4.50).
'"PHE FUNCTION OF IDEALS AND ATTITUDES IN SOCIAL
EDUCATION, by Paul Frederick Voelker, Ph. D., President of Olivet College, Michigan.
This experimental study in the function of ideals as agencies in the control of conduct was made by Dr. Voelker at Teachers College, Columbia University. It is based upon the fundamental postulate that "social education is a business of prime importance to the life of a democracy." Respecting the actual practice of our generally accepted principles of formal education in relation to present problems of democ- racy, President Voelker makes this cogent statement:
"It is a curious fact, however, that while the im- portance of social education is universally admitted in theory, in the actual practice of our schools it does not receive the emphasis which it deserves. It is true that from the beginning of our public school systems in America, the general aim of education has been prep- aration for citizenship. At least this has been the im- plied aim; this has been the reason for levying taxes for the support of public schools. But this general aim has gradually been subverted into the more individual- istic aims of imparting cultural knowledge or of develop- ing vocational skill as a means of giving advantage to
266 HISTORICAL NEWS
individuals in their struggle of existence. To-day the avowed purpose of the schools is service in the inter- ests of individuals, their method is utilization of indi- vidual effort, and the motive to which they most fre- quently appeal is individual success. Individual effi- ciency is the primary product; social efficiency is the by-product of our educational systems. Whatever social efficiency we have achieved has depended largely upon accidental influences, such as the per- sonality of the teacher, the traditions of the play- ground, the informal education of the home, the church, the neighborhood, and the street. The net result of our formal education has been enlightened self-interest; social motivation has been neglected. We have given little attention to the development of group loyalty, initiative, and co-operation, which are the raw materials out of which good citizenship is made. The result has been that the more efficient our schools have become as individualizing agencies, the more have they tended to weaken the social order which they were organized to perpetuate. Many of our present problems are probably the actual result of our individualistic education."
A general idea of this volume's interest for the gen- eral reader may be gained from bare mention of such topics as "The ideal of trustworthiness," "Loyalty," "Social Service," "Social Sympathy," "Social Con- science," "Social Co-operation," "Social Initiative," "Social Justice," "Social Control," "Tolerance," "Rev- erence," "Faith," topics treated in the first chapter.
In another chapter Dr. Voelker takes up the gen- erally accepted assumptions of present educational practice, — that social education can best be given in a social environment; that standards should be built
NOTES AND COMMENT 267
up within the group and not imposed from without; that every modification of the standards of the group and every moral readjustment in the minds of the individuals composing the group can best be brought about by means of grappling with vital issues ; that the positive social virtues can best be strengthened by means of actual participation; that group motivation is the only valid means of overcoming the individual- istic tendencies of mere learning; that the virtues of the small group should be strengthened and used as a basis for the strengthening of the virtues that will be useful in the larger group; that the limits and the con- flicts between the small group and the large group rela- tionships must be clearly defined and situations must be provided for solving problems in which such con- flicts occur; that the personality of the teacher or leader is a fundamental factor in the establishment of standards and traditions; that mottoes, slogan?, shibboleths, taboos, and other words or phrases in unifying or organizing for each individual the stand- ards which he is accepting, are of high utility; that the best way to build an inhibitive habit against an anti- social practice, is to associate the practice with dis- satisfaction or annoyance; that ideals and attitudes are generalizations of specific habits; and finally, that ideals are best strengthened through emotional ex- periences.
A chapter is devoted to setting up the hypothesis that "ideals and attitudes are among the resultants of education and that their function is to guide, con- trol, and stabilize human conduct;" and to pointing out that "this hypothesis is in agreement with the opinion of the majority of the world's educators, with the known laws of nature, and with the laws of learning
268
HISTORICAL NEWS
in so far as they are understood." Another chapter sets forth the experiments by which the proof is ob- tained.
Altogether, a serious and careful piece of work de- serving of study by all who are interested in one of the most powerful modern trends of education (Teachers College, Columbia University, New York City, 1921; published also as a Bulletin of Olivet College, Michi- gan).
269
MICHILIMACKINAC
BY WARREN W. LAMPORT LAKE CITY
Sleeping, sleeping as an infant
On its mother's breast, Lie at last the laughing waters,
Gently hushed to rest. Softly, softly as an angel
Through the heavens wide, Steal the sunbeams of the morning
O'er the northern tide. Suddenly above the waters,
Broad and high and steep, Springs an island full of beauty,
Fairest of the deep. And the redmen gaze in wonder,
Shouting at the sight, "Michilimackinac! bur new home!
Manitou's delight!" Michilimackinac! Fair Island!
Worthy of thy fame! Fitting is it all our northland
Shares thy honored name. Here of old the Queen of Beauty
With a lavish hand Scattered far and wide her treasures
Over 'lake and land. Busy Romance too has left us
An abundant store, Equaled only by the wealth of
Legendary lore. Michilimackinac! the Muses
In a thousand songs Could not sing one-half the glory
That to thee belongs.
PAPERS
HOW WHITE LAKE WAS NAMED BY KENNETH G. SMITH, M. E.
(State Department of Public Instruction) LANSING
FOR many, many years before the early explorers with their Indian guides had paddled their canoes along the eastern shore *of Lake Michigan, White Lake lay hidden behind a screen of pines and birches. Its surface, like that of all the Great Lakes, was a little higher than at present and a low rounded sand dune covered the spot where now the government channel enters. The river forming the outlet wound its way beneath a canopy of vines and trees following the course of what is now called the "old channel" and emptied into Lake Michigan at its present mouth.
The lake lay undisturbed in its solitude except for an occasional Indian hunter or a prowling war party of Iroquois. It was wondrously beautiful in those days: a crystal sea, lying in a setting of white birch trees backed by the dark green of the sombre pines. On the bright spring afternoons its surface was like a mirror and reflected perfectly the glistening sentinel sand
On an old French Map of 1726 White Lake, appears as La Riviere Blanche,
e white River. The lake was then considered a widening of the river as
s the case with the lakes at the mouth of the Muskegon and Grand
vers. We know that the name was given by the French explorers and
t it is a translation of the earlier Indian name. We also know that in
spring of 1075 Father Marquette and his companions coasted along the
:ern shore of Lake Michigan on their return from the country of the
The old records tell us that the Father saw visions and communed
the saints and angels for a time before his death, which occurred near
ainpton at the mouth of the river which bears his name. That he
•nped at or near the old mouth of White River it is at least reasonable to
>ose. As for the rest— well that is for those who know White Lake to
judge.
(273)
274 KENNETH G. SMITH, M. E.
dune at the end and the white-clad birches along its banks.
On just such an afternoon three birch bark canoes came up from the south along the shore of Lake Michi- gan. As they came to land one was seen to be manned by Frenchmen and the other two by Indians. As the two Frenchmen beached their canoe, a third man was visible resting on a roll of skins in the bottom. As his companions stepped out he half rose and asked, "How far is it to St. Ignace, Pidrre?" "It is yet many leagues, father, but let us camp here tonight and rest." "I pray to the Holy Virgin that I may see my mission at St. Ignace before I die, yet I would gladly stop for I am weary with the journey," replied the elder. As he rose slowly to step from the canoe one recognized at once the long black robe and crucifix of the Jesuit. It was Father Marquette with his two companions, Pierre and Jacques, returning from his second journey to the country of the Illinois, weakened by hardships and privations, struggling with all his remaining strength to reach his little mission at St. Ignace before he died. Gently his two companions helped him up the beach and seated him on a bear skin robe spread upon the sand.
Jacques busied himself making camp, but Pierre, ever eager to explore, paddled the canoe into the mouth of the river and up the channel beneath the overhang- ing trees and vines. Reaching the point where the river broadened into the lake he turned back to the camp. The sun was still an hour high. Father Mar- quette lay stretched upon the ground in his favorite posture beneath a little shelter of green boughs erected by the faithful Jacques. Not a word of complaint escaped his lips. On the contrary he consoled and
How WHITE LAKE WAS KAMED 2?5
comforted his companions assuring them that God would watch over and protect them to the journey's end.
As Pierre came down the little stream and landed, Father Marquette roused himself from a half slumber and murmured "Maria mater gratiae, mater dei, memento mei," Pierre stepped to his side, "Do you feel stronger, father, this bright spring day?" "I do, my son, and yet I know my end is not far distant. I find comfort in thinking that the waters of this migh- ty lake are held in the hollow of His hand. This shore though strange and new to us has been His from ever- lasting to everlasting. But the vastness of this lake of the Illinois oppresses and wearies me. I love the little lakes and rivers better. Pray, where does this little river lead? Did you follow it any distance?" "I did, father, and it broadens into a lake of wondrous beauty just beyond the sand hills there, the shores of which no white man has ever trod. Would it rest you to see it?" "My son, I am weary of the leagues on leagues of water and I fain would see this little lake and river if 'tis not too far." "But a bow-shot, father, just behind the trees."
With Father Marquette half reclining and half sit- ting in the bow of the canoe, Pierre paddled back up the little stream into the lake. They reached it just as the rays of the setting sun came over the rounded dune and fell glittering upon the surface of the lake. The dune itself shone with a dazzling whiteness. Father Mar- quette gazed long upon the scene. "Pierre, "said he, "it reminds me of the words of the Blessed St. John, 'And he showed me a pure river of the water of life clear as crystal.' Surely this must be like to the river he saw
276 KENNETH G. SMITH, M. E.
in his vision/' Again he gazed through half closed eyes. The sun sank lower and its level rays illumined the white birches across the lake. Suddenly he leaned forward. "They beckon me," he said. Pierre started. "Who beckon father?" "There on the farther shore, those in white, do you not see them?" Pierre shaded his eyes and looked. "I see nothing but the birches and pines, there is no one there."
Father Marquette settled back upon his couch. 'It was a vision, my son. Methought I stood upon the shore of the crystal sea that lies before God's throne surrounded by the white-clad throng. They beckoned me to come and I fain would have followed. It was only a vision, Pierre, only a vision. Let us return." Silently Pierre drove the canoe down the little river to the mouth. Jacques and his companions were eating their evening meal. Father Marquette could eat nothing and lay beneath his shelter in silence.
After the sun had disappeared in the surface of the lake he called Pierre to his side. "What is the little river called, my son?" "Jacques and I were just talk- ing of its name, father. The Indians call it Waubish- sibi, the White River, because of the white clay at its mouth." "Waubish-sibi, La Riviere Blanche," said Father Marquette slowly, "it is well named, my son. To me it is La Riviere Blanche, 'the river of the water of life,' for here the Holy Virgin sent me a vision of the white-robed throng I soon must join. Pierre, ] shall not reach St. Ignace. To me has come that clear- er sight vouchsafed to those whose end is near. I have glimpsed the farther shore. Credo quod redemptor meusvivit. . Goodnight."
RIX ROBINSON
RIX ROBINSON, FUR TRADER
BY MRS. MARY F. ROBINSON
GRAND RAPIDS
RIX ROBINSON was born in Mass., Aug. 28, 1792. His father's name was Edward Robinson, and his mother's was Eunice Rix, hence he bore his mother's maiden name. He was tall, had a dignified manner, and was wrell educated and agreeable. In 1814, then a young man of twenty-one years of age, he left his home where refinement and education had smoothed a way to a life free from toil and privation, for a trial of frontier life. He was in school at the time, and was within three months of graduating from the Law De- partment, which would have admitted him to practice at the bar. At this time something happened, which was of an entirely personal nature; he determined to abandon the brilliant prospect as a lawyer, and launch out upon the uncertainties of what might be developed in the West.
He was twenty-six days en route from Buffalo to Detroit, where he entered into partnership with a Mr. Phelps. They were to do business as sutlers to the Vnited States troops stationed there, supplying the troops with provisions as they went from post to post along the frontier; they also traded with the Indians.
His father had given him $1,000 in specie, which he exchanged for bank bills at an advance of $80, with which amount he went to New York and made his purchases as his investment in the company's business.
After two years of varied experiences in profit and
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278 MRS. MART F. ROBINSON
loss (mostly loss), he closed this partnership venture, by taking old notes amounting to $2,500, only one of which was any value at all, against a well known operator at Mackinac, Michael Dousman, in addition he took $100 in specie as his share of the Company's assets. With this and what he received on the Dousman note, he went to St. Louis and invested in tobacco, from which he realized enough capital to enable him to make a small beginning in trading with the Indians. This enterprise was quite a success, so he established a trading post at the Calumet in Illinois, near the head of Lake Michigan, among the Potawatomis and Kickapoos in 1817, on the Illinois River twenty-five miles above its mouth in 1819, at Milwaukee in 1820, and at the junction of the Grand and Thornapple rivers in 1821.
During these years the yearly journey was made to and from St. Louis by canoe and barge, following water courses and across the land as was the manner of the Indians in their travels, a slow and tedious process, to obtain his supplies of merchandise and to carry back the results in furs and peltries.
When Mackinac became the central depot of the American Fur Company for the Great Lakes, he found it much more convenient to patronize that market, as it could be reached by coasting along the shores of Lake Michigan, with what were called bat- eaux. This style of craft soon went out of service. The voyages of these bateaux along the lake to and from Mackinac, carrying the heavy freightage of this commerce of the Lakes, was the great event of each year, not only to the trader, but to the many tribes of Indians that then peopled the entire Northwest.
These boats were light and long in proportion to
Rix ROBINSON, FUR TRADER 279
the breadth, and wider in the middle than at the ends. They were rigged with wide-spreading sails, to catch favoring winds. Sometimes the oar had to be used for propulsion, and each boat would be manned by a crew of from eight to twelve voyageurs, generally French Canadians, and one principal who acted as steers- man, captain and general supervisor of his craft and men. We can imagine from ten to thirty of these bateaux starting out some bright morning on their return to those distant posts in what are now Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa and 'Minnesota, up the Mississippi and Missouri to the hunting grounds of the Indians, the Stars and Stripes streaming out from each flag staff on the stern, oars manned by stalwart men who kept even strokes to the song sung by a leader, and all joining in the answering chorus. All this was not soon forgotten by those who witnessed the sight.
During all this time Rix Robinson seldom had a companion other than the Indians, except a trader or a prospector. Neighbors, we might almost say, they had none; to the north none nearer than MacMnac, to the west the lonely Lake, to the east two families in Kent County, to the south thirty miles off, one family.
The arrival and departure of Rix Robinson's fleet of bateaux to and from Grand River, once a year, was the grand event to break the monotony of frontier life along the valley, from 1821 to 1834.
In 1821 Rix Robinson was the first known white man to locate in Western Michigan. One of his most important posts was at the junction of the Grand and Thornapple rivers, where the village of Ada now stands. At that time there was not even a spot marked in
280 MRS. MARY F. ROBINSON
the wilderness where Grand Rapids now stands; and where Ada is, was a favorite place for the Indians to hold their annual corn feasts and pow-wows. Lowell was another place.
In Ada he built his little cabin home among the Indians, and established friendly relations which were never broken. In September, 1821, on one of his north- ern trips, he married an Indian woman, the daughter of an Ottawa Chieftain. This marriage was not for life, but for a number of moons (I think one hundred or more), according to the custom among the tribe. A son was born to them March 5, 1825, at a point be- tween Muskegon and White River, known then as Duck Lake. He was named John Rix Robinson, after his father and his Uncle John.
When he was six or seven years old, his father and mother were divorced in accordance with the Indian law. He was then placed in the family of the Lasleys at Mackinac, where he remained until ten or twelve years old, when his father brought him to Ada. Before this he had attended the Mission School, and had made good progress. He was kept in school here until he had obtained a fair common school education. He became what you may call a fast young man. The dollars that his father had saved, hje spent with as much ease as the young man of the present time. His father helped him into business, as he certainly pos- sessed business qualifications. He conducted the experiment so long that it cost him many thousand dollars, and he gave it up. It seemed as if with him, life was a failure.
In 1848, the community was surprised with the news that John R. Robinson had eloped with Lucy A. Withey
Rix ROBINSON, FUR TRADER 281
daughter of Gen. Solomon Withey. They were married at Grandville, and lived together happily until her death, which occured April 8, 1884. One daughter and four sons were born to them; only two, James B. and Eva lived to grow up.
In 1869 while living in the northern part of the Lower Peninsula, he attended revival meetings and soon professed himself converted. Those who knew his former life had very little faith in its lasting; but a still greater surprise followed, when he announced that he was about to enter the ministry. His father made this remark: "I will give him three years to lose it all, and become worse than ever." But not so. In- stead of being worse, his faith grew stronger, and he was instrumental in converting his dear father in his old age. For more than twenty-five years he led an exemplary Christian life. His life was an example of what Christian faith can do.
His remains lie in a little cemetery at Shepherd in Isabella County, away from his kin. He died poor. He loved his father, and it was his wish that when his remains were committed to earth, they should be by the side of his father.
These sketches of the career of Rev. John R. Robin- son that I have given you, I took from a clipping my father had saved. I think he must have cut it from a Grand Rapids paper several years ago. They were invcn in Ada at a pioneer gathering, by attorney George White of Grand Rapids. He said, "For all that I have told you of his career, I am indebted to his own statements, made to me on Dec. 26, 1884, and now that his lips are closed in death, they are our only source of information."
282 MRS. MARY F. ROBINSON
Rix Robinson's second marriage was more roman- tic. He was making a trip among the Saginaw Indians, and in some manner he offended one of the chiefs. They made him prisoner and after abusing him shame- fully, and having all kinds of fun with him, they threw him into the river, where he would have perished had it not been for another chief's daughter, who rescued him and took him to her wigwam where he was nursed back to life again. He rewarded her kindly acts by marrying her. He took her to his little cabin home in Ada, where she lived until her death. Her picture shows that she was a good looking woman, dressed very well; she was also an industrious and model housekeeper.
In 1825 Rix Robinson was located as Indian trader with his principal station at Ada in Kent County, and he had several other stations, among which was that at Grand Haven, at the mouth of Grand River.
The Rev. Wm. Ferry, who had been a missionary among the Indians at Mackinac, together with his family and all his interests came to Grand Haven to make it his permanent home. We might say he was the first white settler who came with his family to stay. They landed Sunday morning, Nov. 23, 1834. As it was Sunday, none of their goods were landed, but in Rix Robinson's log store, like the pilgrims two hundred and fourteen years earlier, they united in solemn worship, Mr. Ferry took for his text, Zacha- riah, 4-10, "For who hath despised the day of small things?"
The first act was an act of prayer and praise, thus consecrating the future village and city to God. They stopped with Rix Robinson during the winter, and
JOHN R. ROBIXSOX
!
Rix ROBINSON, FUR TRADER 283
twenty-five persons lodged in the log store, which was 16 x 22 feet, part sleeping in the loft and others in a vessel that wintered in the harbor. He and Rix Robin- son were the founders of Grand Haven.
In 1835 seven brothers of Rix Robinson, together with their families, forty-four in number, emigrated from Cayuga, New York, by way of Detroit, Mackinac and Grand Haven. One brother, Dennis Robinson, remained in New York.
When they arrived in Detroit, there was no boat in readiness for them, so *they had to be patient and wait two weeks for one that was building to be finished. The name of the vessel was St. Joseph. This was the first sailing vessel to enter the harbor at Grand Haven. It certainly must have been a grand sight to the Indians who watched it as it sailed into the harbor. While the crowd of half nude Indians were admiring the grandeur of this sailing boat, the women passengers were won- dering how they could ever live with such uncivilized human beings as these Indians appeared to be.
This colony of Robinsons, of which my father, Hiram Robinson, was a member, but only two years old at that time, stopped but a short time at Grand Unveil. They secured from Detroit a scow boat, or poleboat as they were sometimes called, not quite so errand and convenient as the sailing vessel, but they were very glad and thankful to get it, and when their families and goods were loaded, they poled up Grand River in search of a desirable place to locate. Some stopped off near Grand Haven, others ten miles from the village. When the township where they located was organized it was named Robinson, in honor of them, as they were among the first settlers.
My grandfather, who was Rodney Robinson, and
284 MRS. MARY F. ROBINSON
his brother Lucas, brother of Rix Robinson, poled farther up the river, and landed at what is now Bass River, in the township of Robinson. Here they found a little log cabin which had been used for a trading post, and in this small hut the two families lived until they could secure their land and build a double log house.
My father's sister, Mrs. Clarinda Stocking, who was a little girl seven years old at that time, remember- ed well the two years spent on the bank of Grand River, then a dense forest of heavy pine timber, inhabited by Indians and wild beasts. She told me a few inci- dents of their pioneer life while there which I will try to relate. The land on the south side of the river had just come into market and the land office was located at Kalamazoo. Grandfather and his brother were deter- mined to buy some land, so providing their families with plenty of food and enough for themselves, they each secured an Indian pony and set off for Kalamazoo. It required two weeks to make this journey on horse- back. There were no railroads then, not even wagon roads, nothing but Indian trails. There were no farms or villages along the Indian's highway, nothing but wigwams and howling wolves, which were his only marks of civilization. They had fresh venison steak for the deer were numerous, and as they had their guns they could kill one very easily and broil their steak before a fire, not lighted with a match, but with the spark from the flint, or by firing off their flintlock guns.
I imagine they must have enjoyed their trip quite as much if not more than they would have done if they had ridden in a palace car.
However they were having a more enjoyable time
Rix ROBINSON, FUR TRADER 285
than the families left behind in the little hut. The first night after they left, grandmother and her sister-in- law before retiring for the night were very particular to see that the door and window of the cabin were se- curely fastened, as they were afraid of the Indians and wild beasts. They retired for the night with a feeling that all was safe, and slept soundly until morning. When they awoke they discovered that they had a lodg- er. Some wayfaring Indian, who had been in the habit of lodging in the hut, did not know it was inhabi- ted by palefaces, and h^d found an entrance. Although they were sure that all the openings were closed and fastened, there must have been one that they did not find, and the Indian found it without any trouble and without awakening them. He rolled up in his blanket and lay down on the floor (or ground I should say, as the cabin had no floor) and had a good night's rest. When he awoke, to his surprise palefaces had posses- sion of his hut, and Mr. Indian put on his blanket and went away peacefully. He realized that the women and children were frightened, but he could not apologize, as he could not speak the paleface language.
Grandfather and his brother secured their land and returned to the cabin where they had left their families. They found them all there and well. I know these two weeks were very long and lonely ones for grandmother ;nu] her sister-in-law. Grandfather and Uncle Lucas built their double log house and moved in before cold weather came. My father's brother Lucas was born in this lop: cabin (Little Luke he was called). The country did not please them, as they were looking for land suitable for a farm. They did not care to invest in the pine forest, as the value of lumber was almost nothing at that time. I often heard my father
286 MRS. MARY F. KOBINSON
Hiram Robinson, tell about a lumbering job his Uncle Ira Robinson, who lived in Robinson, did one winter. He cut and put in the river, 996 pine logs for the Grand Haven Company, at 50 cents per log. The company failed to buy, and the logs lay for several years in the river, and were finally sold for one barrel of flour and two barrels of pork, — a whole winter's work for one barrel of flour and two barrels of pork. 996 pine logs would buy a good many barrels of flour and pork now!
After the treaty with the Indians at Grand Rapids, a land office was established at Ionia, and the lands on the north side of Grand River came into market. The two brothers decided to push farther up the river, so they chartered another scow boat, and loaded their families and goods and poled up the river to what is now the village of Lowell, a distance of fifty miles, where they secured land on the west side of Flat River. On the east side of the river was quite a large Indian village. They got away from the pine forests, but not the Indians. Here they built log cabins and began pioneer life again. This was in 1837.
Uncle Rix Robinson could speak several of the In- dian dialects very well, and the Indians said that he could talk Indian better than the Indians themselves.
Through a long life he held a front rank in the his- tory of this State. He was a man of pure integrity, with a wonderful control of those with whom he moved. He was an honorable and esteemed representative of that class of men who so many years ago dared to open the way to civilization in the Northwest.
The welcome the savage tribes gave the early settlers was due to his control over them. His name stands as one of the foremost of those who have held positions of trust and honor in our State. With truth
Rix ROBINSON, FUR TRADER 287
and honor as a ground work of his character, he ful- filled every demand upon his manhood.
In 1873, at the age of 81, at his home in Ada, his eventful life ended, as it had been lived, without fear and without reproach.
INCIDENTS OF PIONEER LIFE BY MRS. ALZINA CALKINS FELT
MASON
•
TN September, 1841, Caleb Calkins, with his wife and •*- six children, Edwin, Edmund, Alzina, Caroline, Dimis and Daniel (an infant in his mother's arms) with Sherman Fletcher and his wife, Fanney (Piper) Fletcher who was a half-sister of Mrs. Calkins, started in an emigrant wagon, drawn by a good team of horses, from the old home in Alabama Township, Genesee County, New York to the new one in an almost unbroken Michigan wilderness, to carve out for the future genera- tions a home of which they might well be proud. Their household goods had previously been sent from Buffalo by boat to Detroit where they were transferred to a train and shipped to Pontiac, the nearest railroad sta- tion.
From Pontiac their household goods, consisting of a cook stove, dishes, bedding, one bedstead, three chairs, a caldron kettle, a brass kettle, a box contain- ing clothing, full cloth, flannel, cotton cloth and calico and a box of leather for making shoes, were brought to the new home by team and wagon.
In these days it took one week to make the round trip from the new home in Clayton Township, Genesee County, to Pontiac with a team of horses. What a contrast to going in an hour or two either by train or automobile as we do at the present time? From Alabama Township we went to Lewiston, where we were ferri
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INCIDENTS OF PIONEER LIFE 289
across to Canada. Here we were met by the "red-coats" who were on guard at that place. We drove from there through Canada to Windsor and were ferried across to Detroit. When we reached Detroit we were chilled through by the cold wind which was blowing down the river.
The hotel was a frame wood-colored building on Atwater street, and the entrance to the second story was by a flight of out-door stairs. While the landlady was having a stove put up to warm the wayfarers we went to the kitchen to warm. Here I had my first taste of a ripe tomato, which I did not relish very well, although it looked very inviting to my childish eyes. We spent two nights and a day here while father was looking after the household goods and laying in a supply of some necessary things that had not been shipped, among them the caldron and large brass kettles which were shipped to Pontiac with the other goods.
On our way from Detroit to Flint we passed through Birmingham, Pontiac, Grand Blanc and Whigville. In the Township of Grand Blanc was the famous "Grum- law Swamp". The only way we could cross this swamp was by means of a "Corduroy Road," which means a road made by cutting down trees and laying them side by side in the mud and swampy land which is found in a new country. Sometimes soil was hauled in to fill up the spaces between these logs and at other times the logs were left as they were laid, which when traveled over, proved well to my childish mi ad the truth of that old saying "as rough as a corduroy road." There were other small settlements besides the towns mentioned above, and a great many inns or wayside hotels, nearly all of which were built of logs.
On all this trip we did not see a railroad train, al-
290 MRS. ALZINA CALKINS FEI/T
though we saw the smoke of a locomotive when we were between Detroit and Pontiac.
Flint was a very small place with few houses and stores. The principal stores were Henderson's, Decker's and Walker's. These with the little hotels formed the nucleus of the present beautiful city as we know it. It took two days from early morning until set of sun to make the journey from Flint to the Calkins homestead, where we arrived October second. There were no cut out roads or bridges after we left the Thread Creek, only a trail that wound through the woods past the few clear- ings and houses where the following named families lived: Graham, Chase, Hyslop (where we spent the first night after we left Flint), Cronk, Wallace and Diamond.
For the first few days after we reached the home- stead we had to stay at the home of Samuel Wicka] until Uncle Sherman Fletcher could get the roof on his log house, the body of which he had built on a pre- vious trip to Michigan. We then moved into Uncle's house and lived there without doors or windows (just quilts hung up at the openings) until our house was ready for us. This house was a frame house (I think it was the first frame house in Clayton Township) and consisted of a large living room, a bed room, pantry and stairway on the first floor and a large sleeping room in the second story. Additions were made to this, until at the time of my father's death it was a large farm house.
The barn on the farm, built in 1844, was the first frame barn in the township, and settlers had to come eight or ten miles to help raise it, men coming from Swartz Creek, Flushing, the English and Lyons settle- ments. An incident in regard to the raising of the barn:
INCIDENTS OF PIONEER LIFE 291
A neighbor, Mr. Stowell, came to father and said, " Calkins, I am going to Flint, do you want to send after a jug of whiskey?" Father said, "No, I am not going to furnish any whiskey, but T am going to furnish the men with a dinner." Neighbor Stowell said, "I guess you won't get your barn raised," and father replied, "I have a family of boys, and the barn frame can lay there then for I am not going to have any whiskey around." However the barn frame was successfully raised without the customary jug of whiskey. Mother and Aunt Fanny Fletcher were up all night and baked for the occasion the night before. I remember they had new bread and butter, honey, pumpkin pie and a sweet cake sweeten- ed with maple sugar, and cucumber pickles made with maple sap vinegar for dinner. The drink was just cold water, as tea and coffee were almost unheard of luxuries. This was a very elaborate meal for pioneer days in the Michigan woods, as dishes were very scarce and the men helped themselves and ate out of hand.
Before father moved his family he had been to the farm twice. The first time to see the land, and the second to see about having some chopping done. He hired Mr. Wickham to clear two acres where the house was to be built, and Enos Miller and his brother Peter to chop off four acres more.
The team of horses and new wagon were traded for the lumber to build the house, and a yoke of oxen, a wagon and a cow. There was nothing to feed the horses, but the oxen and cow could live on "browse," which means the buds and small twigs of the forest trees that were felled so that the cattle could get at tops of the trees.
The first winter Father made a wash tub, pork
292 MES. ALZIXA CALKINS. FELT
barrel, sap bucket, sap barrel for storing sap during the sugar season, and a barrel for cooking sugar. These were all made from a pine tree that he got north of Flushing. The cooking sugar was made by boiling the maple sap until- it grained, then it was poured into the barrel and allowed to cool. A plug was then pulled from the bottom and the syrup drained out leaving a fine soft sugar in the barrel. Splint brooms, made of hickory, were the only kind used in the home until broom-corn could be raised and other brooms be made.
In the spring of 1842, seeds that father had brought with him were planted, so that by fall we had quite a nursery, containing apple, . cherry, peach and plum trees. The currant cuttings came from the farm known as the Gifford farm and were planted five years later.
Our large colony of bees came from wild bees that were "lined" and the bee trees cut down. A short length, containing the bees, was cut out and taken near the house and as the bees swarmed new oolorie? were added. Father "lined" wild bees by going into the woods with some bee-comb and a covered box containing maple sugar or honey. The comb was burned, to call the bees to the box containing the sweet, and while a number of bees were enjoying the feast the cover was put on; then taking the box he would walk some distance, remove the cover and release some of the bees, which would at once take a straight course for the bee tree. By following the directions taken by the bees and releasing a few at a time he was usually successful in locating the tree.
The first candles my mother made were "dipped candles." These candles were made by putting a loop of -candle wicfcing over a smooth stick and allow-
INCIDENTS OF PIONEER LIFE 293
ing it to hang down about six or eight inches. Venison tallow and coon oil were put into a kettle containing boiling hot water and the hot fat formed a deep coat- ing on the top of the water. The wicks were dipped into the kettle and the fat would stick to the wicks which were allowed to cool and were then re-dipped and cooled a number of times until the candles were large enough to use.
When we did not have dipped candles we used a hollowed out baga turnip or potato with some grease in it, and for the wick two or three circles of cloth were cut and tied over a button. When the button was dipped into grease and the cloth greased and lighted we were ready to sew, knit, piece or quilt.
The clothing was always in style, no matter what we wore. Mother had a loom and spinning and flax wheels, and assisted by her daughters she spun and wove our woolen and linen cloth from the wool and flax that were raised on the farm. The caps were made from the skins of wild animals, and the mittens and stock- ings knit by hand from home-spun yarn.
Some of the things a pioneer family had to eat: The Spring diet was maple syrup, sorrel pie, custard and dried pumpkin pies when the cow gave milk, leeks, cowslip greens and dried fruit. The fruit, wild goose- berries, raspberries, blackberries, plums and grapes, which for winter use were dried. In summer we had new wheat, boiled and eaten with milk or syrup; po- tatoes, green corn, black seed onions, beans and other garden truck. As soon as corn was glazed in the fall father used to take a carpenter's plane and shave off the kernels and make what was called "samp". The "sump" was boiled and made into mush, which was
294 MRS. ALZINA CALKINS FELT
eaten with milk or maple syrup. The bread was wheat- bread, johnny cake and buckwheat cakes. The baking soda was the ashes made by burning corn cobs. Our meat was venison, fish, pork, fattened on "shack" (acorns and beech nuts), squirrels, rabbits, partridge, quail, and an occasional wild turkey.
The first school in the neighborhood was held at the home of Alan son Niles. The school-room was made by hanging up quilts across one end of the living-room. The seats were boards laid on the end of blocks of wood that had been sawed off to the right height so the children could place their feet on the floor.
Mr. Niles' home was about fifteen rods east of the present school-house in the Hurd district.
The books used in this primitive school were of all kinds, just whatever was in the home. Some had a Bible, others a Testament, speller, reader, arithmetic, or almanac. When one child had learned the lesson assigned, the book was passed on until all in that class were ready to recite. What would the children of the present day think of attending school where there were no black-boards, slates, pencils, pens, ink, paper, or any of the other things considered so necessary to prepare their lessons and recite them.
Three months was the length of the school term and six days per week the school week. The teacher was paid a salary of one dollar per week and board herself. The salary was raised by a "Rate Bill" (the number of days each child had attended were added up and a per cent paid according to the number of days attendance).
During the summer of 1843 a school-house was built diagonally across from the present school-house, and
INCIDENTS OF PIONEER LIFE 295
for years it was known as the " Carpenter School". About the first of December, 1843 the term of three months school was begun in the new school-house.
At this time the children followed a "trail" that was marked by "blazed trees," the "blazes" being made by cutting the bark from the side of the trees leaving a white spot on the side nearest the "trail."
The children living farthest from the school-house had to come about a mile and a quarter. The follow- ing children attended the first school held at the Niles home, taught by Miss, Huldah Wallace. The pupils were:
Franklin Niles
Myron Niles
Florinda Stowell
Charles Brotherton
William Morrish
Thomas Morrish
Smith Jacox
Elias Jacox
Fanny Glass
John Glass
Eugene Parsells
Abigal Finch
Sarah Finch
Edwin Calkins
Caroline Calkins
Edmund Calkins
Alzina Calkins
Sarah Wickham
Nathaniel Wickam
Abagail Wickham
Dow Wickham of whom very few are living at the present time.
In closing, would say that in order to know how pioneers live, and what they do, you have to be one.
PETER WHITE
BY THE LATE JAMES RUSSELL
MARQUETTE
T CAME to Marquette in the early summer of 1881 to •*• take editorial charge of the Mining Journal, the late A. P. Swineford then being owner and publisher of the paper. I recall very vividly the impression then made on me by the city and its people. I was quite amazed to find here such a thriving town, and even more by the beauty of the location. Before I came, I expected to land in a straggling village, planted amid rude surroundings, with but little of the activity then to be found in the thriving municipalities that were so rapidly growing up in Wisconsin and Illinois. When I arrived at Marquette I found here a well laid out an fairly well built city, with a railroad that was doing a rushing business in hauling ore to the dock here from the mines above then opened up, and taking back coa and other supplies for the mines and the loca- tions which had grown up about them. Here was a beautiful bay filled with shipping; boats being loade and unloaded, and every evidence that this was th seat of an already considerable traffic flowing east an west. But what impressed me most was the characte of the business and professional men whom I foun here. They seemed to be brimming over with ener and ambition, with nothing of the backwoods air about them. They had created here an atmosphere of intense and vitalizing energy that was not to be found in the cities farther south which were centers for agricultural
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districts. There was more of the spirit of adventure among them and they were marked by an address, polish and ease of manner which indicated that they were much in touch with the leading spirits in larger communities east and south of here where business was then being done on a large scale under direction and management of men familiar with the conduct of vast enterprises.
I had not been her.e long before I had discovered that Peter White was a potent factor in the business, social and political affairs of Marquette, and a domina- ting force in giving direction to the activities of the community generally. Soon afterward I met him, and a friendship was then formed that continued until the day of his death, the memory of which I shall ever cherish as a precious thing in my life. I found him to be a man of tireless energy, of affable manner and out- reaching sympathies. There was nothing of the auto- crat in his nature, although, even at that time, he had attained to high financial standing here, and wielded a power that he could easily have used oppressively. He was president of the only bank here; almost entire- ly controlled the insurance business of the city and the growing region then tributary to it; was connected in a managerial way with one of its largest mercantile establishments; was interested in every manufactur- ing enterprise then in existence here, and was, in fact, a moving force in sveiy venture making for the growth and development of the place.
What struck me most forcibly in the man, however, u'n< that his admitted leadership came to him not through any obvious effort on his part to secure it, but as a free-will offering from the people generally,
298 JAMES RUSSELL
as also from the remarkably able coterie of men here who, at the time, were actively identified with the management of the expanding industries of the city and county. It came to him as a spontaneous tribute from his fellow-citizens, and was worn by him grace- fully and easily, as though he were unconscious of the power and prestige he had won.
The subject of this paper was born at Rome, Utica County, N. Y., October 31, 1830. Nine years later he removed with his parents to Green Bay, Wis., where the next six years of his life were spent. From the record of his life, beginning with his fifteenth year until the very day of his death, it can be readily in- ferred that he was at that age a lad of high courage and abounding ambition. He had heard much of this Peninsula, mainly concerning the remarkable develop- ment of the copper mining industry in Houghton County, and the desire grew upon him to cast his lot with the mining country. When he had reached his fifteenth year, he left home on his own motion, intend- ing to make his way to the copper district. His firsi objective was Mackinac Island, where he obtaine< employment for the time being. Later, he worked his way to Detroit, where he secured a place as clerk in store there. A year later he returned to Mac kin* Island and obtained work there during the summei with Captain Canfield of the lighthouse service, who was engaged in construction work for the Government, securing a clerkship in the store of Edward Kanter during the winter. The next two years of his life were spent on Mackinac Island. Meanwhile, interest had been aroused in the iron deposits of Marquette County. In 1849, Robert J. Graveraet visited the Island in search of men to work at the iron deposits that had
PETER WHITE 299
been discovered at Negaunee. He induced Peter to enter his employment and return with him to this county, where he was later to make his home and enter upon a career that brought him wealth, fame and happi- ness before he had reached middle age.
Early in June of that year what is now the city of Marquette was selected as the location for the center from which the effort to develop the iron mines above here would be directed. The first tree felled on the site of the present city was cut down by Peter, then a youth of eighteen years. A dock was built to facili- tate the landing of sup'plies from vessels. It was a very primitive settlement, as there was not a saw mill to cut lumber, and the difficulty of getting in furniture or supplies of any kind was almost insurmountable. Peter took part in all the work and endured all the hardships of the pioneer hamlet. He handled the axe, drove an ox team, took care of the cow that furnished the little community with milk, and was an all-round handy-man, making himself useful wherever his ser- vices were needed. Originally, the embryo was named Worcester, but soon afterward it was re-christened and given the name it now bears, in honor of the great Jesuit missionary who was said to have landed at this point long before on his initial trip to the Lake Superior region.
It is told of Peter White that when the first steam boiler was set up here, he took the contract for fill- ing it with water preparatory to getting up steam in it, his bid being a dollar and a half for the job. It took him three days and two nights to fill the boiler and earn his dollar and a half. He next handled the plant as • i iv man and engineer. Subsequently he went to work
300 JAMES RUSSELL
in a machine shop with a view to becoming a mechanic. It will be seen that he began at the very bottom, but he worked his way up with unyielding patience and tire- less industry.
Graveraet was attracted to him by his quick intelligence, loyalty and ability to make himself at home and get along amicably with the varied racial elements of the little community, which was made up of English, French, Irish and Germans, and the Indians who were found here. He picked up languages with great readiness, and soon acquired a speaking familiar- ity with the French tongue, also acquiring quite a mas- tery of that spoken by the Indians. About this time Graveraet had occasion to send a man to Escanaba on an important mission. He selected Peter for the trip, and gave him a couple of Chippewa Indians to accom- pany him and assist him in finding his way through the wilderness stretching between this point and Escanaba. It took him and his guides seven days to make the trip to Escanaba. The return trip was made in five days. This was a trying experience and one that he vowed he would never repeat. But he executed the mission that he was sent on satisfactorily and this strengthened the high regard in which he was held by Graveraet, who was then the foremost man of the settlement.
A similar but more a.rduous trip was taken by him later when he made his way to Eagle River and back on foot and alone. He had to go there to get the county clerk's certification of some legal papers, — Marquette being then attached to Hough ton County for judicial purposes. He went from Ma.rquette to L'Anse and crossed the ice to Portage Entry, made his way up the river, over Portage Lake, and across the Portage to
PETER WHITE 301
Eagle River. Having dispatched his business, and after having been most hospitably treated by the officials and other friends of his there, he started on the return trip. Working his way back to L'Anse Bay, he found the ice in the bay broken up. He was held at the Entry for three days by an attack of what was known as "snow-shoe sickness." When he had sufficiently recovered, he set out through the woods to the Catho- lic Mission at L'Anse. For a time he sought to keep in sight of the bay, but finding this impracticable, he struck boldly out into, the woods, where he hoped to be able to make his way more rapidly. It was bitter cold at the time, twenty degrees below zero. The dis- tance to be traversed was about seventeen miles. The day wore on without bringing him in sight of the head of the bay. Becoming bewildered, he traveled in a circle, and presently came upon his own snow-shoe tracks. He had been traveling for hours without mak- ing headway. Finally it grew too dark for further prog- ress and he had to make his dispositions for spending the night in the forest. The only provisions he had with him were a couple of cans of oysters that he was bringing back from Eagle River, and those he was unable to make use of. Giving up hope of reaching his destination that night, he decided to spend it in the woods and fashioned a resting place for himself in the snow at the foot of a large hemlock. He managed to build a fire, and rested in the place he had prepared for himself in the snow until morning. Bishop Baraga had left the Entry later than Peter, and, having arriv- ed at the Mission, judged from the fact that Peter had not reached there that he was lost in the forest Next morning he sent out an Indian to find him. The Indian came across him in the woods, exhausted by his exer-
302 JAMES RUSSELL
tions and hunger, about three o'clock in the afternoon and assisted him to the Mission. This kindly service of Bishop Baraga Peterjiever forgot and it was the beginning of an enduring friendship between them.
But I must not dwell at greater length upon the experiences of Peter White during the earlier portion of his career. I pass to the maturer stage of his life, when he reached man's estate and took his place among men to bear the heavier burdens and greater responsi- bilities that came crowding on him rapidly. The develop- ment of the mining interests in the western part of the county had gone on apace and Marquette had got to be quite a thriving village, while the mining loca- tions had brought into the county a considerably increased population. In 1843, Marquette County was established by an Act of the Legislature. It comprised all of the present county, with part of what is now the counties of Alger and Luce on the east and Iron and Dickinson on the south and southeast, being one of the six into which the entire Upper Peninsula was then divided. The first election in Marquette County was held in 1851. In that election Peter White was chosen Register of Deeds. He was appointed Deputy County Clerk by the Clerk-elect, and in that capacity attend- ed the first meeting of the board of supervisors of the county. The members of the board were the supervi- sors of the two townships into which the county was then divided, P.M. Everett representing the township of Marquette, and A. R. Harlow the Carp River township. The official record of the proceedings is in Mr. White's handwriting and signed by him as Deputy Clerk Subsequently he was elected County Clerk and some years later was appointed Postmaster of the city, which office he held for twelve years. When the land
PETER WHITE 303
office was removed from Sault Ste. Marie to Mar- quette, in 1857, he was appointed agent in charge, and was subsequently named Collector of Customs for the port of Marquette, this being then made a port of entry. In the same year that he became agent of the land office, he was admitted to the bar and engaged in the practice of law. He engaged in practice in partner- ship with M. H. Maynard. Ten years later he relin- quished his law practice, having by that time taken on so many business and other burdens that he found it impossible to continue it. It will be seen from the facts given that even while he was young in years he was called on to give considerable service to the public in official capacities.
In politics Mr. White was a Democrat and continued in affiliation with that party until it became infected with the Free Silver heresy under the leadership of Wm. J. Bryan. In the great election of that year he withdrew from the Democratic fold and announced himself a supporter of the candidates and policies of the Republican party. But while he was a Democrat he was a sturdy and loyal member of the party and did campaign work in the county and throughout the peninsula for several of its candidates for president, as also for its State tickets at different times. He was a personal friend of Samuel J. Tilden and stumped the district for him in the historic campaign of 1876. He also did strenuous work in the three campaigns for Drover Cleveland in which the latter was before the people as a presidential candidate. While he did not pretend to be an orator, he was a forceful speaker and lii> personal strength enabled him to hold his party together in this peninsula during all the years of his adherence to it, despite the fact that it was a weak
304 JAMES RUSSELL
minority party in the State, and especially so in this division of it. It may be proper to remark here that were it not for his unswerving allegiance to the Dem- ocratic party while he remained connected with it, Mr. White might have been one of the foremost public men of the nation, for he possessed the breadth of vision, the familiarity with public affairs, and the bus- iness capacity which would have made him a valuable man in public life, while his popularity was such that if he had been in accord with the dominant party there is hardly any office in Michigan in the line of his capa- bilities but might have been his for the taking.
During Grover Cleveland's second term in the presidency, Mr. White was offered a position that he would have loved to take, but was compelled to decline because of the condition at the time of his wife's health. It was that of Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Pres- ident Cleveland had become acquainted with Mr. White during his first term as Chief Executive. The Pres- ident conceived a great fondness for him. During his visits to Washington, Mr. White was frequently a guest at the White House and on such occasions he entertained the President with his French dialect stories and unique tales of this region. The acquaintance ripened into more than a warm friendship. The Presi- dent had learned of his knowledge of the Indian nature and his acquaintance with and kindly attitude toward the Red man. He had learned of his remarkable busi- ness capacity and immaculate integrity. He was just the man the President desired to have as Indian Commis- sioner. "The office I ask you to accept," said the President, "is one of even greater importance than a seat in my Cabinet, for you will have absolute control
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in that branch of Governmental work, being responsi- ble only to me. You are especially well qualified for the trust, for you understand the Indian nature and have a kindly sympathy for these poor wards of the I nation. You will have control of the disbursement of I millions of dollars yearly. If you will accept the office I it will greatly relieve my mind and will be a favor to me that will be deeply appreciated." Every word the President uttered was true and appealed strongly to Mr. White. When he told me on his return from Wash- ington of the tender of the office that had been made him in such flattering* terms and that he could not accept it, tears dimmed his eyes and his voice faltered, so keen was his regret that he felt compelled to decline it. But the state of his wife's health at the time render- ed it impossible that she should leave her home and live in Washington, while the duties of the office re- quired that, if he accepted it, Mr. White would have to make his home there while he held it. That he could not accept the President's tender of the position was unfortunate for the country, for he certainly would have made an exceptionally useful Commissioner through his knowledge of the Indian nature, his com- mand of the language and familiarity with the customs of Indian tribes.
One of the great services rendered the iron mining interests of this district by Mr. White was in connec- tion with the issue of "iron money" by the mining com- panies here during the panic of 1857. The companies operating in this region at that time felt the effect of that panic severely. It was impossible to obtain money to meet their requirements. They were in a desperate condition and to tide over the emergency the idea was conceived of issuing what was called "iron
30fi JAMES RUSSELL
money;" that is, scrip issued by each company, which, in effect, would be a lien on the property, and answered every purpose of money, always providing that it would be accepted as such by the employes of the companies and the public generally. This scrip was printed on a grade of paper and in a form which gave it the appear- ance of Government currency. For a time this home made currency was accepted and in common use up here, but presently the Government took note of what was being done by the companies. They had no legal right to issue these notes, and steps were taken to punish them for having transcended their legal author- ity in the matter. They could have been severely punish- ed by heavy fines for having put what was really an illegal currency in circulation. Steps were taken to bring them to task for the offense. The companies appealed to Peter White to do what he could to ex- tricate them from the dilemma. He immediately pro- ceeded to Washington and took up the matter with Michigan's representatives in the House and Senate. The task that confronted him when he got there was one to put his diplomatic skill and persuasive powers to a crucial test. Days were spent in working on the sympathies of the officials who had charge of the pros- ecution of the case against the iron companies, and in explaining to them the ruin that would be brought on a great and growing industry should it be pushed to the limit under the law. I cannot take space in this paper to describe the effective work that he did to save the companies from drastic punishment for their ill-advised action in usurping a governmental function. It is enough to say that he succeeded fully, and the Federal authorities finally consented to drop the prose- cution provided the companies would cease issuing
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this makeshift form of currency. It is very certain that no man then living in this region but Peter White could have accomplished what he did to extricate the offending companies from the peril in which they had involved themselves.
In the interval that had elapsed following the earlier efforts to work the iron deposits discovered at Negaunee much progress had been made in developing the mines there. The first ore hauled to Marquette was brought down by teams. This method of transportation was found to be impracticable for the handling of any considerable quantity of ore. A plank road was then built, to be followed by a strap railroad. Neither of these proved adequate to meet the growing traffic between Marquette and the mines. In 1853 Heman B. Ely was attracted to the Peninsula. He was a man of large vision and saw that the onJy practical method of meeting the increased demand for transportation facilities be- tween the mines and the lake port would be a steam railroad. He entered into an agreement with the Cleveland and Jackson Mining Companies by the terms of which he agreed to build a railway and was in return to be given the carrying trade of both the com- panies, at fixed rates for the service. He failed to secure the capital needed for the venture. In 1853 Morgan L. Hewitt moved to Marquette, bringing his family. He was connected with the Cleveland Company. Four years later, on September 27th, the marriage of Mr. White and Ellen S. Hewitt, a daughter of Dr. Hewitt, took place. By this time it had become apparent that the strap railroad would not suffice and a movement was instituted to ob- tain a grant from the State in aid of the construe-, tion of what was to be known as the Iron Mountain Rail-
308 JAMES KUSSBLL
road. Mr. White was induced to serve as the represen- tative from the district in the Legislature in the belief that he could secure it. Need it be said that he succeed- ed in getting what he wanted? The railroad was built and the mines were provided with an adequate trans- portation system for getting their ores to the dock here and supplies back to the mines in the western part of the country.
Eighteen years later Mr. White was again elected a member of the Legislature, this time to a seat in the Senate. This was in 1874. He took his seat at the session following and was one of the most influential members of the upper house. This time his mission again was to get assistance from the State in providing for the construction of another railroad, that being the Detroit, Mackinac and Marquette road. He secured a grant in aid of the construction of this road and was given a widely enthusiastic reception on his re turn at the close of the session. The road was built and passed through various changes of ownership until it finally became a part of the Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic Railroad, and is now a link in a great trans-continental system of which that road forms a part.
Prior to this, the movement to have a ship canal built at Sault Ste. Marie had eventuated in success and to that movement Mr. White's influence and work were freely given. A co-worker of his in this movement was Charles T. Harvey, who afterwards became potentially connected with the work of getting the canal built. But I find that I must not attempt to follow Mr. White in all his activities having in view the development of transportation facilities for the growing traffic of this region, if I would spare any space for mention of his efforts to build up the city in which his memory
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is so lovingly cherished. He had become interested in many of the mining properties above here, and also in every manufacturing project that was launched in the city. Not all of the latter proved successful. But he was a "good loser" and took his disappointments without disturbance of his habitual serenity. His most important ventures proved highly successful. In 1863 he had the bank which he was conducting here incorporated as a National Bank. Its first president as the First National Bank of Marquette was Samuel P. Ely. Mr. White became its cashier and manager. Later he became president of the bank and under | his management it grew to be one of the great finan- cial institutions of the Upper Peninsula, a rating which it still retains.
The first library established in Marquette was locat- ed in a small building back of the First National Bank which Mr. White owned, and it was mainly supplied at the outset with volumes from his own library. The quarters originally provided for it soon proved inade- quate and he set aside a suite of rooms for it in his bank building, where it had its home for several years, until it became necessary to provide it with yet more space. He then placed at its disposal the upper floor of a busi- ness building owned by him on Washington Street. It soon outgrew its quarters there and he took the initia- tive in securing a site for a new library building, also the funds to provide for its construction. The result is the beautiful building known as the "Peter White Library". It is built of Bedford limestone, thereof being red tile. Architecturally it is a gem. The in- kier finish and arrangements are in keeping with ' e artistic beauty of the building itself. The city laced in this library a bust of Peter White, executed
310 JAMBS RUSSELL
in white marble by the artist Trentanove, a famous piece of whose work, the bronze statue of Pere Marquette, occupies a conspicuous place in the "Hall of Fame" in the Capitol at Washington. There are other monuments to Mr. White's memory in Marquette, but none more worthy to bear his name than the beautiful public Library with which he was so largely instrumental in providing the city.
An educational institution was located here that has grown to be a potential factor in advancing the effi- ciency of the teachers in the public schools of the Peninsula, the Northern State Normal School. This school was established by the State in response to an insistent demand from the people of the Peninsula that it be provided. In the effort to secure the requisite action by the Legislature, Mr. White participated in his customary whole-hearted manner. The first of the buildings were completed and the school opened in 1900. When the appropriation was obtained he was equally energetic in the endeavor to secure the location of the school for Marquette. Today it stands another home monument to his memory, and in recognition of what he did to have the State make provision for it, and later to bring about its location here, its Science Hall has been given his name. In addition to this great service which he rendered the city, he was ever a strenuous advocate of having suitable buildings pro- vided for our grade schools, as well as for the High School, located in the choicest residence portion of the city.
Another of Marquette's beautiful edifices is the brownstone chapel built by Mr. White in memory of his son, Morgan. It is known as the "Morgan
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Memorial Chapel". During his life he was largely instrumental in building up and maintaining the Episcopal Church here and was the chief factor in having the Upper Peninsula created a diocese of that Church, with Marquette as the diocesan seat. But his liberality extended to all the other churches. He was a generous contributor to the Cathedral building fund of the Roman Catholic Church and to the splendid parochial school later erected across the street from the Cathedral. As illustrative of his broad mindedness in this respect and the appreciation in which it was held I deem it worthy of mention that when the corner stone of the Baraga School was laid Mr. White was an honored guest at a dinner given by the Bishop of the diocese just before the ceremony, and that he was the only layman who delivered an address on that occasion. Bishop Messner was present and delivered the principal address. The ceremony was attended by two Catholic Bishops and a large gathering of Catholic clergymen and lay members from all parts of the diocese.
The Marquette Club was originally established by Mr. White. Its beginning was the Snow Shoe Club, organized by him. This had quite a vogue for several years, and in the snowshoe tramps that its members were accustomed to take he led the way with his characteristic vigor and staying power. A clubhouse was provided where the members enjoyed many a joy- ous evening, with its founder as the chief entertainer. Later this developed into the Marquette Club, which has grown to be one of the popular institutions of the city, with a membership comprising all its leading citizens.
But, the greatest benefit Mr. White conferred on the people of Marquette was in securing for them their splendid city park, "Presque Isle." This off-shoot from
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the mainland, with which it was connected by a piece of impassable swampy ground, was a Government reservation for lighthouse purposes. It lies about four miles from the business section of the city. Mr. White had long greatly desired to secure it for a city park. A lighthouse had been built at what was then the end of the breakwater stretching out from what is now known as Lighthouse Point into Iron Bay. As this was a better location for it than Presque Isle would be there was no likelihood that Presque Isle would ever be needed for that purpose. Mr. White's opportunity came during the presidency of Grover Cleveland. Without letting his object be known, he took a trip to Washington and worked in his usual diplomatic manner among the mem- bers of the House and Senate to secure their consent to having that piece of ground granted to the city for park purposes. He felt sure that he could persuade the President to sign the bill, provided its passage could be brought about. The bill was passed and the President's I signature obtained. A reservation of ten acres for! lighthouse purposes, should the erection of a lighthouse there ever become necessary, is contained in the grant. Aside from that, the beautiful park is a free gift from the Federal Government to the city of Marquette, obtained for them solely through the efforts of the Honorable Peter White.
But though the park became ours to have and hold and enjoy, there was no means of easy access to it. It could only be reached by boat from the city. So Mr. White again put his shoulder to the wheel. He got together a fund to which he was the main contributor and built a good road from the city to the park that made it available to the people of Marquette, also building a driveway around Presque Isle. The city
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has since taken on the burden of caring for the road and driveway, and has converted it into a splendid boulevard. A street railway now connects Marquette with its park so that the delightful place has been rend- ered accessible to everybody here and to people from communities up the road who visit it in hundreds dur- ing the pleasant season of the year.
Among the notable achievements of Mr. Peter White was the celebration at Sault Ste. Marie of the fifteenth anniversary of the opening of St. Mary's Ship Canal, for which he obtained an appropriation from Congress and another from the State of Michigan by action of the Legislature. This was a pretentious affair and was attended by many of the leading men of the country. The principal address was delivered by Mr. White. Quite a fleet of vessels was present, the most notable among them being the Wolverine, the only battleship at the time on the Great Lakes. An impos- ing feature of the pageant was a military parade by two battalions of the State Militia, two of the United States Regulars, and a battalion of the Michigan Naval Militia. Three military bands furnished the music. The Chief Marshal of the parade was, very properly, Charles T. Harvey whose name is so intimately identified with the building of the canal.
Memorable also was the celebration here at the unveiling of the replica of the statue of Pere Marquette, secured for this city through the efforts of Mr. White and the celebration later held at Mackinac Island when a similar repLca was unveiled there.
Among the many devoted friends whom Mr. White made during his long and useful life was Dr. William H. Drummond of Montreal. Dr. Drummond was the
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author of a volume of exquisite verses written in the Canadian French dialect. This volume he dedicated to Peter White. I feel that I cannot close this paper more fittingly than by quoting this beautiful tribute paid him by Dr. Drummond:
"Strong in his gentleness, wise in his simplicity, practical in his enthusiasms, pioneer in an age of pioneers, the man whom children on the street know only as Peter White, stands today, it seems to me, the very highest ideal of that civilization of which the American people are so proud. When such men build the foundations, easy it is to raise the superstructure, and the trail Peter White has cut through life is blessed by acts of private charity and deeds of public devotion that will serve as a guide to those who follow in the foot- steps of a truly great and, above all, good man."
Peter White died in June, 1908. His wife, Ellen S. White, died in July, 1905. Their lives were full of good and kindly deeds.
"May their souls rest in peace."
ASSININS AND ZEBA
THE TWO OLDEST PERMANENT SETTLEMENTS ON KEWEENAW BAY
BY FRANCIS JACKER ASSININS
WHEN the tourist approaching Lake Superior from the east has crossed the Huron Mountain range and speeding down the steep grade leading shoreward, emerges from the shadow of the woods into broad day- light, an agreeable surprise awaits him. A grand sheet of water tinted in ultramarine, stretches out before his gaze, toward the north until lost in the vast expanse of the lake. Its unlimited horizon gives the mind an idea of th( magnitude of this unsalted sea, the mightiest in existence.
Leaving L'Anse, the County seat, to our right, the "Fire Car" after a short run along the water's edge, reached Baraga, the sawmill town. Closely nestled in the furthest nook of the bay, it lies west of L'Anse. Less than three miles due north, running on a perfectly level road-bed through an idyllic pine-grove, takes us to Assinins, the Catholic Indian Mission. Here we get out, leaving the iron horse and proceed into the heart of the Keweenaw Peninsula.
The late Mr. Curzon, rector of the Episcopal Church
of Houghton, once asked the writer, "How comes it
that the Catholics, who have always been first taking
a foothold in the wilderness, were beaten by the Method-
i ists in the establishment ot a mission in Keweenaw Bay?"
The writer is an octogenarian. To mount Pegasus at this state of life is like I trying to obtain a wholesome draught from a pool of stagnant water, laboriously forced through rusty pipes, as compared with a swallow from a living spring bub- bling up from Mother Earth ever sparkling and delighting. — Note by the writer.
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316 FRANCIS JACKER
I could not answer the question then and there and simply took cognizance of the fact. True, the founda- tion of the Methodist Mission takes precedence of the Catholic by a few years.
Jesuit missionaries had penetrated into the Lake Superior country and labored among its inhabitants as early as the seventeenth century. The latter kept changing their camps with the seasons and had never yet seen a white man. Father Menard, as early as 1660, made his headquarters in St. Theresa Bay, as he named our bay of Keweenaw. There, in all proba- bility at the present site of Pequaming, he erected a temporary chapel. Less than a century ago a band of Ojibways were still enthroned there in a village. On this same ground, our Methodist Indians gather for their annual camp meeting.
Menard remained at this place nine months, where- upon he started with three Indians for the headwaters of Black River, where, he had been told, a band of Hurons, many of tliem Christians, were awaiting him. In spite of the warnings and entreaties of his compan- ions to turn back, he continued his perilous march in the direction of Lac Vieux Desert, in the vicinity of which he got lost. Whether he starved to death or was killed by the Indians will never be known.
Keweenaw Point, the narrow tongue of land reach- ing far out into Lake Superior, may be compared with an arrow, the configuration of the lake indicating the bow -drawn ready for action. The resemblance is striking and the comparison the more appropriate as the surrounding country has always been the home of the Ojibways with bow and arrows the principal weapons used in battle as well as in the chase. The peninsula with its rich copper-bearing rock forms an
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important part of the State, and its history presents a parallel to the history of Manhattan the world's capital. Both islands were acquired by the United States from the natives for a ridiculously low price. Today the value of these two possessions, if divided among the descendants of the tribes concerned, would create millionaires of them, every man, woman and child; in the case of Manhattan Island, multi-millionaires. Previous to 1866, a narrow neck of land, the Portage, connected the "Point" with the main body of the Upper Peninsula, thus disqualifying it from being classed as an island ; but since in the interest of naviga- tion this neck has been removed, the minor peninsula is entirely separated from the main body. It now actually forms an island.
"Fire Water" a generation ago, was the demon against which the missionaries had to battle hardest in converting the Indians and keeping them within the laws of God and man. To obtain the accursed drink, they would hazard life and liberty. Since the prohibition law came into effect, we see a change for the betterment of the race. A shocking percentage of accidents ending fatally were attributable, either directly or indirectly, to intoxicating drinks. The fol- lowing incident which came under the writer's personal observation, may serve as an example.
Moses Obimigijig, a blind old man, dependent for his living on public charity, was in the habit of mak- ing annual trips all through the mining towns, accom- panied by his sturdy wife. He carried with him a paper stating his affliction and recommending him to the charity of the public. The paper was his demigod, for it gained, both for him and wife, an easy living and
318 FRANCIS JACKBR
no end of booze. Being handled so much, it had to be recopied from time to time, which act of grace was performed by someone anonymously. However, when Moses' investment in liquor increased to an alarming degree, some conscientious copyist inserted a warning to the public to restrict their charity to food and cloth- ing and not give the couple any money. This caused a big drop in their cash earnings. They could not ex- plain the cause until some dusky friend, who was able to read, enlightened them. So one day Moses and his spouse appeared before the writer explaining their errand and producing a greasy sheet of paper to- gether with a clean one, requesting me that I make a new copy omitting two heavily underscored lines— the objectionable clause. I accommodated them will- ingly as far as I conscientiously could and copied the document, word for word, not excepting the clause. In making them believe it was all right, I perhaps told the biggest lie in my life. They both were exuberant with their thanks and left me smiling and happy. It was the last I saw of them alive. The next thing I heard about the couple was the news that their little craft, a row boat, had been found in Big Portage, partly filled with water, a half empty beer keg floating in it. That occurred on July 4th. A few days later the body of the woman was found on a sand beach near Bool jack; that of the blind man near Sturgeon River mouth, a week later.
The saddest part of the tragedy remains to be told. Relatives of the unfortunate couple insisted upon mak- ing an investigation as to where the latter had ob- tained the liquor, so as to bring the guilty party before the tribunal of the law, which they professed was their object. Accordingly, a party of four left Assinins in a
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sailboat steering for Houghton. They stopped for the night near Portage Entry at the home of their friend John Sky, a well-known character at that time. He was an expert hunter, but still more famous in locating a blind pig, if any existed within the radius of a day's journey. His visitors, contrary to their expectations, found him home perfectly sober. There was a blind pig only half a mile away, but John's pocketbook had collapsed and the lawless vendor of fire-water was careful and would not sell a drink without the cash, even to so good a customer as John. However, his friends carried some money with them, so when the sun had set and a veil began to hang over the waters, he, with one of his friends, crossed the river and enter- ing the premises of the Dutchman through a private door, had his jug filled. That night there were some free musical performances in improved Ojibway style, which kept the two or three neighbors, the writer among them, awake up to a late hour. The party after enjoying a much needed day's rest, gave another free though less animated entertainment the night fol- lowing and at day-break made preparations for home, the wind being favorable. They got what they wanted, a good spree and the knowledge, to be taken advantage of in the future, of a place easily to be reached where one can get drunk undisturbed as much and as often as he likes to. Alas! This longed-for chance never came. They sailed through the river and out into the bay without any mishap, but once in the open lake, the wind increased in force, striking the sails squarely on the beam, and coming in puffs as it did, a clearer head and a steadier hand were required than any of the four possessed; the boat capsized and its inmates were plunged into the cold waves of Superior. The
320 FRANCIS JACKER
bodies of young Obimigijig and his cousin were picked up with their clothes stripped in the vain endeavor to swim ashore. One of the other two was Chief Meia- wash, whose death was much regretted.
DESCRIPTION OF VILLAGE
Assinins is a village of perhaps thirty dwellings, not including the convents scattered without place or regularity over perhaps as many acres. The land rises from a sandy beach, traversed by a railroad track to a moderate height. The county road from Hough- ton to Baraga passes through the village. When Father Baraga (in constituting its only street in 1843) established this mission, he built the log houses all in a row along the sand beach as close as safety permitted yet far enough apart to leave room for a garden be- tween each house. These structures have long since been removed; frame houses have been erected instead farther back on the top of the hill, where there is more room and better soil. The population at that time was about 150 souls, mostly full-blooded Indians. There were several white settlers outside the village proper within a radius of a mile or more who were married to squaws. Counting these with their children the num- ber of souls under the missionary's charge may have reached 200. This is about the present population, with this difference, — 50 years ago more than half the inhabitants were full-blooded Indians, while today only six may be found with never a drop of white blood, — and one hundred years hence, the nearest approach to an Indian, in the United States, will be, we predict, the man, woman or child one-quarter Indian; but before that day arrives, they will be in spite of what blood may yet pulsate in their veins, no more Indians;
ASSININS AND ZEBA 321
the race with the extinction of its language will have ceased to exist. Mingo, — yes the most of the new generation will think and dream entirely in the English vernacular, and with the language adopt the life and manners of the nation they associate with, and even a change may take place — yes, will take place in their physical appearance, if their mother has weaned them forward. Let this truth be fixed in your mind. No man may claim fellowship with a nation which has become literally dead to him. We repeat, the Indians as a race are doomed..
Meanwhile, we may still look at or describe the Indian from a sacred angle. He is unproductive and improvident as to the future. Many of the L'Anse Indians who held valuable allotments on their reserva- tions and disposed of them for a good price, went through their little fortunes in a year or two and will be left beggars or end in the poorhouse. Still, there are more now than ever before who have become wise through experiences and live economically. They are using their earnings for improvements on their houses. Certainly, some once were inveterate drunkards, a nuisance to society, who through necessity turned sober, industrious and God-fearing men, and may serve as an example to others.
THE TRIO
The following incident which occurred while Father Jacker was in charge of the Catholic Mission is worthy of keeping on record, as it gives an interesting insight into the psychology of the Indian character from a new angle.
One day, a trio of men 'from across the bay were perambulating the beach at Assinins, looking for the
322 FRANCIS JACKER
loan of a boat. They had just come out of the woods and wanted to cross over to Zeba, where they hailed from. As they had been tramping the woods all day gathering medicinal herbs, they were tired and dreaded to return by the circuitous route around the head of the bay by which they had come in the morning. It happened that most of the mission people were out berry-picking and those left in the village had no par- ticular liking for this party, whose reputation, indeed, was somewhat scaly. "Why not try the Black Robe," suggested one who seemed to be the leader. "I see his boat over yonder and I know just how we can get the use of it. You remember when we passed Solo- mon's place this morning, we heard him cough; it sounded like a bad cough to me and he being Catholic, may be glad to see the priest and thank us for bringing him over. So this is our opportunity." Accordingly, they went to see the Black Robe, told him of Solomon's fictitious condition, that he wished to see a priest, explaining at the same time that they had gone afoot around the head of the bay on account of the heavy west wind and that they had expectations they could not borrow a boat to take them back to Zeba. Con- trary to that, the good Father, of course, willingly got his little craft ready for the trip, though it was hardly safe to carry them all. However, the wind was ii their favor and they reached shore without any mis hap. They at once hastene^d to their habitation, th< trio preferring not to call at the sick man's until later. Solomon's wife happened to stand in the open door awaiting, as it seemed, his visitor. The Black Robe quietly advanced and in a.low voice asked, "Is he con- scious. " "Conscious, yes," reiterated the nonplussed woman eyeing him sharply. "What do you mean,
ASSINJNS AND ZEBA 323
conjurers. He has been chewing a ham bone for the last half hour." And spying at this moment some figures who were hastily retreating behind a thicket, she, with a sudden light in her eyes, added quickly, "Did you come over with these worthless scampers, Father. I wonder what they are up to now."
The case explained itself. However, this is not the end of our story. The best part, in our consideration, is what follows.
This shameful treatment of the kind missionary at the hands of these tricksters embittered him at first against them, but later on he looked at it in a more humorous light. It was, however, not much of a joke to row three miles against a dead headwind in the dark and alone. Though the perfectly healthy Solomon offered to take him home, the missionary would not hear of it. The perpetrators of the deed themselves felt the great wrong they had done the good Father and they honestly waited for the chance to right the wrong. This chance presented itself at the next an- nual payment. The missionary happened to be there. After leaving his boat at the landing and taking a few steps through the assembled crowd, he felt a hand laid upon his shoulder and turning around, met the gaze of a well remembered visage. Though somewhat guilty looking, the former spokesman confronted the aston- ished Father with the regular greeting of "Bo Jo," and stretched out his hand for a kindly shake which was responded to. Then the penitent culprit, after another shake, faced the crowd nearest him and ac- costed them. " Friends J You see the Black Robe from across the bay, whom, as you all know, I treated so shamefully the other day. He was kind and help-
324 FRANCIS JACKER
ful and we wronged him, I and my cousins. You have heard of the foul trick we played him and for which I have been sorry ever since. He has some old and poor people in his charge who need help. I want to try and make good my wrong and beg you to join me." Saying this, he took off his hat, grabbed a note from out of his pocket, placed it in the crown of his hat and started his round, encouraging the faltering with say- ing, "You all have money today. If you only give a quarter, it will help and not hurt you." There were those who would not respond; but most of them, catch- ing the spirit of the occasion, contributed at least something. The Black Robe was naturally elated over this unexpected psychological enigma.
LIFE AT THE MISSION IN THE 40's AND 50's
The most conspicuous objects of this little village spread out over the top of a rocky hill, are the closely ; interwoven edifices of the church, convent, schools, and priest's house, built of solid rock extracted on the very spot. The well cultivated ground surrounding it has been turned into a large garden, its walks bor- dered by a splendid orchard. There are two water- mills supplying the necessary moisture to this natur- ally rich soil. One of the windmills is in the center of the garden; the other one, now seldom used, is on a lower level, right where the ground shears off abruptly, meeting the sand beach of the lake shore. There are barns, stables and woodsheds. All the inhabited parts are provided with modern heating apparatus and elec- tric lights. The owners and their wards keep every- thing in the place trim.
Fifty years ago this mission boasted of a church built of logs by Father Baraga, beginning to show
ASSININS AND ZBBA 325
signs of decay. A small school and a little farm house was just in process of erection for the priest's quarters, who himself was the architect, carpenter, and mason, with another one of the Indians helping him. There were about twenty log houses Father Baraga had built partly at his own expense and with his own hands, the population being perhaps 150 souls at that time (1843). They lived almost exclusively on fish and various game, keeping neither cows nor horses, — dogs and chickens being their only company. The fur of the game which they killed and the berries they picked when the season came around and what sugar they made out of the maple sap, all helped to make ends meet, although all or most of these articles were plenti- ful, especially the trout and white fish: there was no market for it. They had to dry their berries, and smoke their fish and venison for their own use, which was a good thing; for there come periods during the year when the condition of the weather prohibits fishing, when game is scarce or hard to catch, and sea- sons when the huckleberry crop is failing, due to frost or other causes. Yet if they had been provident starvation would never have threatened them. There was enough food for dwellers near the lake spread out so thinly, — enough to carry them through from one season to the other: if they only provided for the future in time of plenty. Of course, being so plentiful, fish was cheap and it was not easy, especially in the winter time, to dispose of it to the nearest settlers, of whom there were not many. The country was in its primeval state until the mines began to develop. There was no other way to travel but by shoe paths in the winter time or a canoe trip. Fifty years ago, a settler along the Keweenaw Bay was practically as far away from
326 .FRANCIS J ACKER
a. market as Chicago is today from New York. Their nearest to it, the Copper mines, just growing into life, were 24 miles distant, — the only road leading thither consisted of a snowshoe trail through the never-ending woods or a moccasin path when the snow was gone. The ice on the lake was not always available for travel on account of the fissures opening at -times, which in closing again threw up masses of heavy ice, hard to pass. But when the ice both in Keweenaw Bay and Portage Lake was in fine condition, traveling with dogs and sleighs was fine. The nearest habitation on their way to Houghton was a shanty two miles south of Houghton. In summer of course these new towns could be easily reached with bark canoe, which a few L'Anse Indians still possessed and but few were able yet to construct. The winter's journeys after a heavy fall of snow when every track was wiped out were all but demoralizing. Sometimes the load of a barrel of flour on their toboggan as they toddled along through the silent woods got stripped off on their way un- awares, by the overhanging bushes with their load of snow; or the packs on their sleigh would be shaken from side to side, loosening the bonds and necessitating adjustment, and it was unavoidable that melting snow penetrated mittens and coat-sleeves and all too suddenly reached their sweating bodies. If their fin- gers were at all delicate and apt to get frost bitten, that was the time to freeze them good and hard.
FISHING
Today when towns in actual reach in the Kewee- naw Peninsula are no further apart than a couple of miles, connected by steam, rail or water, — almost too short a ride for real enjoyment, when you cannot find
ASSININS AND ZEBA 327
a hamlet or isolated farmhouse along the road which does not carry its own wire and when you can call up sooner by phone than you can reach your neighbor half a mile from you across a snowbank or a half-frozen river, — there is a good market for fish and game, almost anywhere, but where is the fish. It was sold during the Civil War for 3 cents per pound for trout and 5 cents for whitefish of the largest size, perhaps 5 pounds.
When the Keweenaw Peninsula awoke from its long slumber in the 5£)'s and 60' s and towns and mills began to grow up like mushrooms, there was no more difficulty for the Indian fisherman to dispose of his fish, but the trouble was how to make ends meet with the various industries developing in the mining coun- try. The fishing industry also enlarged its scope and soon experienced fishermen flocked to the Superior shores and conducted the new industry on a hereto- fore unknown scale. Steam power took the place of sails and oars, and miles of netting at places the width of Keweenaw Bay were ruled off at a time.
HO! GOGEBIC COUNTY! BY SUPT. CHARLES R. COBB, M. A.
BESSEMER
ID ACKWARD, Turn backward, O Time, in your -*-* flight, — make me a child again just for tonight," sang the poet with the vanishing visions of youth. But time has never turned backward; none of us has ever been a child again even for a night. We have passed the parting of the ways and there have been many partings. We assemble now and again to_re- new and record the memories of the yesteryears. ^_ As I stand before this assembly of pioneers it seems but fitting that I should bow my head in silent rever- ence as I visualize the trials and tribulations, the struggles, and the sacrifices that have made possible a history of the Upper Peninsula. If in our schools we fail to give the cost in life and limb and sacrifice of the civilization which we and our fellow citizens now enjoy, we shall have failed to completely teach respect for law and order. e^We assemble today that we may go back on the trail of passing events to that time when the Indiai warrior in full stature stood beneath the tall hemlocl on the hill-top and sang to his mate in spirit and pei chance in truth, "Arowona, on my honor 1*11 take of you, I'll be kind and true in a wigwam built for two," and then made her chop all of the wood, carry all oi
Address before the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society, at L'Anse, Aug 11. 1921.
(328)
Ho! GOGEBIC COUNTY! 329
the water and bear the numerous other burdens that he might see fit to thrust upon her.
From this stage of savagery to this day of gas, running water, electric lights, washing machines, auto- mobiles, and aeroplanes, is a long, long journey, the cost of which only those know best who have been active participants in the passing of events.
In Gogebic County the organization of an Histori- cal Society has been a belated piece of work. We are so far behind that I can best illustrate our position by telling you the story of little Sammy Stutter.
Sammy attempted to cross the Atlantic on one of the larger steamers as a stowaway. They had been out but a few hours when Sammy was discovered and made assistant to the assistant of the assistant cook. One morning Sammy hastened to the Captain and began Ka-Ka-Ka-Ka — k-k-Kap-tain. "Go tell it to the first mate," said the captain, "I haven't time to get it." Sammy went to the first mate and began, M-m-m-m-ma-ma-mate. "Go tell it to the second mate," said the first, "he'll have time to wait." Sammy went to the second mate and began, M-m-ma-ma-ma- mate. "Oh, sing it," said the second mate. And this was Sammy's message; Sh-sh-sh-Should old ac- quaintance be forgot and never brot to mind, the cook has fallen over board and's twenty miles behind."
Gogebic County is situated at the western extrem- ity of the Upper Peninsula with Lake Superior on its north, the State of Wisconsin on the south, Iron River on the east, and Hurley on the west.
It has an area of 1,150 square miles with approxi- mately 725,000 acres of land, about two-thirds of which is suitable for agricultural purposes and susceptible
330 CHARLES R. COBB, M. A.
to the highest state of cultivation. The surface is a rolling plateau of glacial origin, interspersed by many beautiful lakes and streams. Some of these lands have been cut over by the lumbermen who cut the pine and left the hardwood standing.
Again there are thousands of acres of virgin forest which have never felt the woodsman's* ax.
The soil is a rich black sandy loam with a pervious clay subsoil varying in depth from a few inches to many feet, containing a large amount of nitrogen, potash, phosphoric acid and lime content, the essential ele- ments in the rapid development of plant life.
After the fall of the pine came the iron ore ex- plorers, whose discoveries made possible the develop- ment of the mines which have called for the popula- tion this county now has. In this county you will find progressive communities, good roads, good churches, good schools, good water, good climate, good merchants to greet you, and good health. The Indian maiden, tradition tells, beguiled and consoled by the gew-gaw glass beads and baubles of the tran- sient whites, first led men to the iron ore deposits which have made possible the present development of the mines, the principal industry of the county, — an industry with a payroll of more than half a million every month in normal times.
Since the time when this county was a part of Ontonagon we have grown tremendously. Ironwood, the metropolis of the county, is a city of some 16,000 inhabitants. It has all the modern equipment that it is possible for a modern city to have. Ironwood is situated on the Montreal River seven miles west of Bessemer. Wakefield is six miles east of Bessemer,
Ho! GOGEBTC COUNTY! 331
the county seat, situated on the Chicago and North- western Railroad. Between Wakefield and Bessemer is the village of Ramsey. Sixteen miles east of Wake- field is Marenisco; Watersmeet is 32 miles east of Bes- semer, situated at the top of the great divide between the Lake Superior river system and the Mississippi Valley. This, ladies and gentlemen, will give you some idea of the county, a more or less detailed history of which I may be able to give you.
This historic data of the various communities has been gathered on a .sort of intermittent installment plan.
To William H. Knight we owe much for our data on the Ironwood section. Captain Knight has been for many years a resident of Ironwood. He is a type of the sturdy mining pioneer. Tall and strong, with the hair of his head as thick as the proverbial Indian's, and as white as the driven snow. Mining explora- tions were first made in the Ironwood locality by Land- seer Norrie who came from New York in 1881. He first sunk a shaft in what is now known as the Ash- land Mine. Dissatisfied with results here he later sunk a shaft on the Norrie location, in what is now known as the old Norrie Mine. J. D. Day was one of the early superintendents of this mine. He was fol- lowed by a Mr. Tribelcock, and he in turn by Captain W. H. Knight. The Norrie is one of the largest pro- ducers on the range. It was early controlled by the Metropolitan Land and Iron Company of which S. S. Curry was president and manager. Mr. Curry is an exceptionally active man for one of his age, making the trip from Boston to Ironwood last spring unac- companied. A man of medium size and patriarchal beard, of Scotch descent, both canny and witty.
332 CHARLES R. COBB, M. A.
The'Norrie was the first mine to produce 1,000,000 tons of ore in one year. This occurred under the supervision of D. E. Sutherland who has been an offi- cial of this mine from its earliest days, and is at present its general superintendent. Hale and hearty, he fishes pickerel in Lake Gogebic today with the zest and en- thusiasm of a man who has made of fishing a fine art.
Shortly after the abandonment of the Ashland mine by Norrie, the Hays brothers of Ashland sunk the shaft deeper, and still control this property.
About this time John Burton of Geneva, Wiscon- sin, discovered and developed the Aurora mine, first as an open pit and later as an underground mine. One of Aurora's earliest captains was Mr. Brewer, who died last winter of heart trouble while attending a murder trial at Bessemer.
East of the Aurora is the Pabst mine, discovered by Fred Pabst, one of the men who helped to make Mil- waukee famous.
Again John Burton, not content with the Aurora discovery, continued his explorations and later dis- covered the Iron King, which was opened in 1886. This is now the Newport location of 320 acres. Chuck Stevens was the first Captain and J. R. Thompson gen- eral manager. Thompson demonstrated in the work- ing of this mine that ore could be secured at deeper depth than was previously deemed possible. But this he did after much pleading and persuasion; it was far from an easy task to get the capitalists to sink their money far below the point where their contemporaries ceased to invest. At last a certain sum was set aside for Mr. Thompson with the definite understanding that if ore was not discovered by the expenditure of
Ho! GOGEBIC COUNTY! 333
this sum, no more would be forthcoming. The money was spent, no ore was found and the phantom Despair greeted our determined and desolate captain. But like Columbus of the 15th century he lost not faith, and the word that he gave was, "Dig on and on." He did not however give the word until he had left the field of action and pleaded and begged that he might have money sufficient to go just another one hundred feet, and he offered his own service without charge if at this additional depth no ore was found. He at last prevailed UROU his directors and having suc- ceeded returned to the field of action, with steadfast faith that ore would be found. Having gone but 50 feet he discovered the vein that he sought and from this mine today they're hoisting ore.
In October, 1884, the Milwaukee, Lake Shore and Western Railway entered the county. At this time we were still a part of Ontonagon County. This road was soon bought by the Chicago and Northwestern. In October 84 trains were running into the mining camps on the Montreal. The station was as yet un- named. A few engineers and prospectors were stand- ing one autumn afternoon near the tracks viewing the plotting of the unnamed community, when someone asked, What shall we name this new born child in the galaxy of American cities? At this psychological moment old Captain Wood came stalking down the track. Captain had been rechristened by his asso- ciates and was commonly known as "Iron" Wood. Upon his appearance one of the men immediately sug- gested the name of Ironwood and thus the metropolis of Gogebic County received its name.
Captain Hibbard of the Aurora was first president
334 CHARLES R. COBB, M. A.
of the village of Ironwood. In this city where now stands the up-to-date store of Davis & Fehr was a tote road and piles of cordwood. What is now the "Walker House" was the first hotel, established by a Mr. Webb in 1884. James Monroe was the first State Representative of Gogebic County. Mr. Monroe is still living, hale and happy, a regular reservoir of in- formation. The early doctors were McCabe and Thomas. Among the attorneys were Buck, Humph- rey, Gammond, and Hascombe. Many of the pioneers are still living, many have crossed the Great Divide, and it is our sincere hope and purpose to gather from those who remain, records of the things that were in their lives but commonplace, but as data in the records for future generations are of incalculable and intrinsic worth.
For data on the first discovery of ore in Gogebic County and the growth of Bessemer village we are indebted to William Guyer of Bessemer, since 1885 and before this time of Rockland. Mr. Guyer has for years been city clerk in Bessemer. In '93 he was driver of the city fire team, and previous to this team- ster for Clancy and Bond. He is of French descent, short, fat, and sparse of hair, congenial, courteous, kind and accommodating, well liked and appreciated by all who know him. With this gentleman and his wife we spent one splendid evening gathering data on Bessemer's birth, growth and development.
Over in the village of Rockland dwelt a woodsman, short of stature, long of hair, an Irishman by birth, quiet and easy going. From Rockland he wended his way to what is known now as the Victoria mine; from here by tote road he made his way to the Norwich
Ho! GOGEBIC COUNTY! 335
exploration; from here by Indian trail to the North end of Lake Gogebic; on and on he traveled, from the south end of Lake Gogebic by Indian trail to what is now known as Wakefield, and on again by Indian trail to a point that is known now as Summerling's farm. Here he left the trail, going south by west across the ravine and over the ridge to the place where he dis- covered and developed in 1878 the Nemikon pit, a point nearly one hundred miles from his home in Rock- land. In 1882 he discovered the Galena, and also magnetic ore at the south end of Lake Gogebic. For many years he lived the life of a woodsman at the north end of the lake. In his later years he became blind and was taken to the poor farm at Ontonagon i County where he passed from the land of Indian trails to the long, long trail of eternity. Thte Nemi- kon was just a little south of what is now the Tilden office and the remains of the cabin in which Dick Lang- ford lived while developing the Nemikon may still be seen on the farm of Charlie Johnson. In 1885 Sell- wood, Moore and Wood opened the North & South Colby pit not far from the Nemikon and west of the Tilden office, in what is now the city of Bessemer. In 1885 the Ironton shipped some ore but was closed in 1889. At this time Captain Christopher, Clancy, Sampson and Holms secured an option on these prop- erties, the Colby & Ironton, but because of depleted funds gave up the option in 1895. These properties were opened again in 1905 by the Corrigan McKinney Steel Co., and have been active since that time. In 1909 the old Valley mine that had been opened earlier by Numanacher & Benjamin, later by a Mr. Werder, was bought by the Ashland Iron & Steel Company. . This mine is now known as the Yale and is con-
336 CHARLES K. COBB, M. A.
trolled by the Charcoal Iron Co. of America. It is one of the best on the Range in the equipment it has, the buildings constructed, the homes provided for employees, and the ore it produces (337,000 tons in one year). The superintendent in charge is Wm. E. McRandle, a highly efficient and capable man.
The Tilden mine was developed by the Tilden Iron Mining Co. about 1890. In 1905 it was taken over by the Oliver Iron Mine Co. This mine has been and is a steady producer. Captain Harry Byrne, the super- intendent in charge is a "home product." His father Andy Byrne, for many years mayor of Bessemer, is at the present one of the highly respected citizens of the town. Many improvements are being made under Captain Harry's administration at the Tilden.
In 1884 Pat Dolan built the first hotel in Bessemer. This was a log structure located on Mary street east of the present post office. In 1884 M. H. Martin started a store on Mary street. The same year Clancy & Bond opened a store on Sophia street near the site now occupied by the Babicky Cash Store. In 1885 C. D. Fournier opened the Puritan hotel. This hotel prospered for many years, due not only to the service rendered but also to the especially kind, congenial and energetic personality of its proprietor, Mr. Fournier, a typical hotel man. Mr. Fournier was succeeded by his son Charles who later disposed of the property, he himself having yielded to the call of his environment by taking an active interest in the more recent iron ore developments of the range.
In 1886 was established the first and now the oldest bank in the county, the Bessemer bank now known as the First National Bank of Bessemer. A Mr. Garner
Ho! GOQEBIC COUNTY! 337
was the first cashier. Mr. W. F. Truettner, the present cashier, has been such since January 1903. He was made vice-president of the institution January 6, 1912. This bank under the management of its keen, energetic, square and progressive cashier has now a capital of $1,000,000; deposits of $1,412,272.91; with resources amounting to $1,832,286.53.
Many people had moved to Bessemer in 1885-86 from Ontonagon and Rockland, and Bessemer was incorporated as a village in 1887. Ontonagon up to this time had been the county seat. We were still a part of Ontonagon county. On June 4, 1886, a vote was taken on the division of the county; this was opposed by but one citizen. Mr. Levi Rice, at present president of the Bessemer division of the Gogebic County Historical Association, was very active in the consummation of this work. In February, 1887, a bill passed both houses of the Legislature creating a new county. This new county was named Gogebic by abbreviating the name of Lake Agogebic. Ironwood and Bessemer were both in their own opinion entitled to the seat of justice, one because of its size, the other because of geographical advantages. Bessemer won. All parties interested in this election as far as we can ascertain from pioneers on both sides, voted every- thing but dogs, horses, cows, and tin cans. One team and teamster spent the entire day hauling the laborers from one mining exploration to and from the polls. This was necessary not because of the number of voters at this camp, but because of the number of times each voter functioned.
Leaving Bessemer at ease* on the county seat, we find further to the east of us another village. In 18S4
338 CHARLES K. COBB, M. A.
Hubbard & Weed of Menominee built a saw mill at the place now known as Ramsey. From 1884 to 1889 this mill handled only pine lumber and for six miles up stream took all of the pine that was standing. Here as in other places the explorations became numerous from 1885 to 1887. The Eureka was opened about this time. The Standard Oil Company opened up a pit that is now known as the Asteroid Mine. The Mikado at this time was perhaps the largest explora- tion. This was opened in 1886 by a John Lester. The mill of Hubbard & Weed burned down in 1889. Ramsey at the present time is dependent upon the mines for its support. The Eureka, the Castile and the Mikado are the most important.
Passing eastward still from the village of Ramsey with its river-etched valley and mine-dotted hills, we come to the town of Wakefield, plotted in March, 1886. As early as 1878 Byron White of Ontonagon with a group of men, among them the father of Wm. Guyer, I was exploring on the east end of Sunday lake. The | Iron Chief, a later exploration and discovery, was north of the lake and west of the Star explorations. Fink, Wakefield, and Asherman were interested ifl mining activities at this place. Because of the un- usual activities of Mr. Wakefield in the development of this place it was called Wakefield. For much of our information we are indebted to Mr. and Mrs. Bedell. Mr. Bedell arrived in the exploration and lumber center of what is now Wakefield in March 1886. Mrs. Bedell was clerk for the firm of Nunanmacher & Benjamin who at that time were working the Iron Chief. It was necessary for this man to come to Bes- semer for the mail, a drive of 14 miles. Because of
i
Ho! GOGEBIC COUNTY! 339
this inconvenience Mr. Bedell with the consent of his company and the assistance of Col. Knight of Ash- land secured the establishment of a post office in Wake- field. Mr. Bedell was appointed postmaster, and be- ing unable to attend to both the duties of clerk and postmaster he sent for Mrs. Bedell. Her first meal consisted of crackers and sardines, self-served on a dry-goods box in the rear of Hayward & Wescott's store. There were at this time no restaurants or ho- tels in the camp. Mrs. Bedell then assumed the duties of postmistress. All Betters received were dated on the envelope by hand and all stamps were likewise scratched, the government as yet having furnished no other means of cancellation. The men for miles around would call for their mail, and have letters written home for them by the kindly postmistress. Many of them would leave their money for safe keep- ing and all she had for months was a cigar box in which to secure their funds. Postal hours were ir- regular, men in their race for pleasure forgetting until late in the night their mission to the postoffice, and then waking the postmistress at unheard of hours to secure their mail.
Nunanmacher & Benjamin soon sold their inter- est in the Iron Chief to Wells Smith who controlled the Sunday Lake mine, which had been developed dur- ing the years 1885-86. The Hanna people were work- ing on what is now known as the Brotherton mine. Peem Mitchell who at the present time is in the employ of the Oliver Iron Mining Co., discovered the Comet mine and later followed with the discovery and growth of the Castile property over which P. S. Williams is general superintendent, and Mr. Fellman local manager. Capt. Pitzsemans was at this time one of
340 CHARLES K. COBB, M. A.
the explorers on Section 18. His daughter Gertie was the first teacher in Ironwood and his son Mat was later cashier of an Ironwood bank.
After the transfer of the Iron Chief to the Wells Smith firm, Mr. Bedell built a store in which was also located the postoffice. Hayward & Wescott estab- lished a banking department in their store, thus reliev- ing the postmistress of her cigar box responsibility. Mr. Ringsmith at this time established a cigar factory thus furnishing more cigar boxes after the postmistress had ceased to need them. Mr. Ringsmith is at the present time an active director of the affairs of the First National Bank of Wakefield.
The first school held in Wakefield was during the summer of 1887, and for a schoolhouse a tent was used. People were afraid that their children might be injured by the wild animals in the woods, and for safety's sake they secured a young woman from Antigo, Wisconsin, for the summer months to teach their children. From the tent of this summer of 1887 they moved to a frame building another summer. Mr. Eddy, a brother of Doctor Eddy of Wakefield, was the first superintendent of schools. He was succeeded by a Mr. Watson, who was a cousin of Dr. Fox, the president of our county historical organization. Wakefield now has as finely equipped and managed school system as any town on the range.
That we may get some idea of the class of labor, let me say that the Iron Chief employed only 65 men at any time and yet 150 names appeared on the pay- roll during the month, which would indicate that laborers were highly transient.
Shortly after the Bedells had established their new
Ho ! OOGEBIC COUNTY ! 341
store a "variety house" or vaudeville concern was es- tablished in the rear of the saloon adjoining the store. The entrance to the show house was through the saloon. The performance and the audience could both be seen through the windows in the rear of the building. The manager of the place was generous. As the ladies of course objected to passing through the saloon to see the show, he left the curtains up and the wives and the mothers and others planted themselves on a log pile in the rear and thus saw the performance, their husbands, brothers, an<J beaus.
The first hotel was the Hotel De Miner. Mr. Miner was an elderly man who had met with financial reverses and came to Wakefield to readjust his condi- tion. His wife, a milliner, came with him bringing a small stock. There was not much demand for this line of goods, but there was a demand for beds and board. Men were sleeping on bags which had been filled with straw and thrown on the floor, and meals were literally hand to mouth as you secured your crackers, sardines, cheese and bologna. So Mrs. Miner who was a milliner and not a cook, decided to assist her husband in the establishment of a hotel. With the aid of more than kindly neighbors she soon shifted her trade from trimming hats to frying spuds and the Hotel De Miner was thrust into being.
Now Chicago, in the vernacular of the day, has nothing on Wakefield. Paddy O'Flynn's cow kicked over the lantern in 1867 and Chicago went up in smoke. Now the "variety house" of Wakefield had a monkey that stole money, watches, jewelry and jam. On Christmas night 1887 this monkey knocked over a lamp and the business section was burned to the
342 CHARLES R. COBB, M. A.
ground. The only fire department was a brigade of men who threw snowballs on adjoining roofs, retard- ing as best they could the spreading of the fire. Dur- ing the fire the vultures of misfortune stole what goods were saved from the flames almost as fast as the res- cuers could carry them into the streets. After the fire these pioneers, undaunted by the hardships and mis- fortunes of the past, started anew, many with less than nothing, and have survived.
Leaving at this point the story of Wakefield's de- velopment we pass east for just a glimpse of Marenisco and Watersmeet. For data concerning Marenisco we are completely indebted to Mr. and Mrs. Gene Ormes, pioneers of the type that live and survive. Mr. Ormes arrived in what is now Marenisco on the 7th of September, 1885. Mrs. Ormes came later. At the present time Mr. Ormes is postmaster of the village, owner and proprietor of a thriving and progressive de- partment store. The Fair Brothers established a saw- mill in Marenisco in 1885. In 1886 E. H. Scott of La- Porte, Indiana, who owned the land at this point, gave the N. W. R. R. every other lot for platting the town. During the years of 1885 to '87 the town depended largely upon mining explorations for its existence and growth. From this date it has depended largely upon the lumbering interests, although some exploring has been done from time to time since then. In the later eighties there was much exploring in silver and lead options and at the present time the R. B. Whitesides people are running dia.mond drills in this locality. For 36 years faith in iron has lived and may yet ma- terialize in Marenisco. This community has not in- corporated as a village but is under township organ-
Ho! GOGEBIC COUNTY! 343
ization. In 1890 the Fair Brothers' mill was burnt. In 1897 another mill was built by M. B. Ormes. In 1909 the Gogebic Lumber Company established an- other mill. Most of the lumber handled here has been pine. At the present time the largest operations are the Charcoal Iron Company of America. The mill however is at the present time leased by the Boniface Lumber Company. The Charcoal Iron Company use the hardwood for their chemical plant at Ashland and the soft wood is sold to the paper mills. In 1886 a postoffice was assigned to this place of Marenisco, and Robert Fair of the Fair Brothers mill was the first postmaster.
At first thought you would conclude that Marenisco was perhaps an Indian name, or the name of some prominent or notorious resident of the earlier days. But E. H. Scott when he left LaPorte, Indiana, to further his real estate interests, left behind a little woman by the name of Mary Enid Scott, the choice of his youth and maker of his home. He had not for- gotten, as men are so often accused of doing, this help- mate of his, back in the old home town. If you but glance at the three words Mary Enid Scott and take the first three letters of each you will have named as he did this place we now call Marenisco.
Now hastily we pass along to Watersmeet, when John Kelly in 1882 with coach and four took by stage travelers from the Northwestern railway to Ontona- gon, Rockland, Bruce's Crossing, Boniface and other points on the stage route. Mr. Kelly also had charge of the United States mail service on the stage line. The road from Watersmeet to Ontonagon was known as the military road. This road was built by the
344 CHARLES R. COBB, M. A.
Government back in the 60's at the time when the Indians of the Northwest were about to assert them- selves in protest against infringements by the white man. The military road extended from Showano, Wisconsin, to Watersmeet, from here to Rockland, thence to what is now Greenland, known at that time as Maple Grove, thence to Houghton, Hancock, Calu- met, and Eagle Harbor.
Interior, Wisconsin, was a large lumber camp nine miles in from the railroad at Watersmeet. The traffic to and from this camp necessitated the establishment of a trading post at this point. Watersmeet has been entirely dependent upon the lumber industry and the railroad shops. The Kelly brothers, Pat and Ted and Joe, are direct descendants of the late John Kelly. They are owners and managers of a large garage and hotel in this place. They are of the type of men that you are glad to know and claim as friends, possessing the personality that fosters and the spirit that de- velops the very best e' sprit de corps among their fel- low men. When driving through, fail not to stop at Watersmeet.
But the time has been long and your life is fleeting and much must be omitted; just a word about the panic on the range. A census was taken in '93 in all the villages, of the men, women and children, and pro- visions were allotted on the army ration plan. Many suffered and many were the hardships endured. Many and varied were the donations made by outside places, —food, silks, satins, and broadcloths, prayerbooks, and Bibles. But the story of Samuel Pruca, as told by a lady who then was shopping in one of the "poor stores" on the range will suffice. Samuel came in
Ho! GOGEBTC COUNTY! 345
one morning with a soap box on his shoulder. There was evidently something in the box, as Mary judged by the care with which he carried it, and she said, "Sam, whatever have you got in that box?" Sam set it on the counter, and then it was that Mary knew. In this box was a dead child, and Sam had carried it miles that it might have a last resting place near the village in the city of the dead.
In this incomplete way I have tried to tell the story which memory has recorded, of only a few passing events, that perchance, we may be inspired to delve deeper into the details of the pioneer days and learn of all the monkeys, mines, and men. with which our history may be replete. And I can assure you that we are greater in the things we hope to do than the things that we have done. We are glad to fall in line to save the remnant of a heritage which will soon be forever lost, and if even a portion shall be rescued from oblivion it will be worth many times the cost, to those who seek to know in future years the things that have seemed to us but commonplace.
IN MEMORY BY THE REV. DR. CHARLES J. JOHNSON
MARQUETTE
0
THE assembly room of the Peter White Public Library was filled Sunday afternoon, on the llth day of June, 1922, with citizens of Marquette County who gathered to pay tribute to the memory of the late John Munro Longyear. The memorial services were conducted under the auspices of the Marquette County Historical Society of which the deceased was the President.
Many of the older residents, business associates, intimate friends and others were present to participate in the exercises. The Saturday Music Club Quartette, composed of Mrs. William Pohlman, Miss Kate Snell, Mrs. L. R. Walker, and Mrs. F. A. Hatch sang, "And He shall wipe away all tears. " Professor J. E. Lautner read the Twenty-third Psalm, after which he led the assembly in reciting in unison the Lord's prayer. Various addresses were then delivered by those with whom the late Mr. Longyear had been associated in some connection. At the conclusion of the exercises, a song was sung, "Beautiful Isle of Somewhere," by Mrs. L. R. Walker and Mrs. F. A. Hatch. The serv- ice was closed with the pronouncement of the bene- diction by Rev. Johnson.
The meeting was opened by Dr. T. A. Felch, of Ishpeming, Acting President, who spoke as follows:
"My dear friends: The purpose of this meeting is to honor the memory of our late President, the Hon-
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IN MEMORY 347
orable John Munro Longyear. At a special meeting of the Board of Directors, held Monday, June 5th, the Rev. Dr. Charles J. Johnson offered a resolution which he had prepared and the same was unani- mously adopted. It is not long, and since it states precisely the reason for this service, I will, with your permission, read it in its entirety. It is as follows:
WHEREAS, The late John Munro Longyear was the hon- ored President of the Marquette County Historical Society, and
WHEREAS, His administration has been marked by earn- est endeavor and enlightened liberality in advancing historical research and its diffusion, and
WHEREAS, Death has deprived our Society of his wise counsel and splendid leadership; therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That, in recognition of his distinguished services and as a mark of respect to his memory, a public memo- rial service be held Sunday, June 11, 1922, at three o'clock in the afternoon, in the Assembly Room of the Peter White Public Library for addresses on his life, character, and public services; and be it further,
RESOLVED, That this memorial be entered upon the minutes of the Society, and that a copy thereof be transmit'ted to the family.
Signed, CHARLES J. JOHNSON OLIVE PENDILL
"Thus the officers of our historical society wisely thought it would be appropriate to call this memorial meeting at this time that they might express, and have other friends express, the high esteem and affection in which they hold the memory of our departed Presi- dent. We are all familiar with the great interest Mr. Longyear took in our organization and its usefulness. Few men would have the inclination, and fewer still
348 DR. CHARLES J. JOHNSON
the ability to sponsor the research and investigations connected with this work as Mr. Longyear has done.
' 'Being himself a pioneer in this county, and having tasted somewhat of the hardships and sacrifices con- nected with such conditions, he well knew the interest such research work would be to future generations and of its value to the historian.
"Long ago he had the vision of the needs and oppor- tunities of our county, and he lived to see the begin- ning of his dreams come true.
"Each individual member will always hold in fond remembrance their social relations with our late Presi- dent, and this Society itself will be a memorial to the genius and enthusiasm of Mr. Longyear."
Mr. J. E. Sherman told how in the summer of 1881, on the street in Lansing, he met Mr. Edward Sparrow, who was a boyhood friend of Mr. Longyear. Mr. Sparrow said, "Mr. Sherman, I want a good man to send up to Marquette. Munro Longyear wants some- body to help him in his office." Mr. Sherman said, "How would I do?" "First rate," was the answer. In about three days Mr. Sherman landed in Mar- quette and went to work for Mr. Longyear, and, added Mr. Sherman, "I have had no other allegiance since. It seems to me there could be no business man on earth whose mind could work freer of all prejudice and truer to the right things than did the mind of Mr. Longyear."
Mr. M. J. Sherwood, who was associated with Mr. Longyear through a quarter of a century, said, "Mr. Longyear had many most admirable outstanding char- acteristics,— perhaps the most noticeable were his love of justice and his scrupulous honesty and integrity.
IN MEMORY 349
Mr. Longyear was one of the fairest and most just of men, and he was the personification of honesty. His success in business was due entirely to his own efforts and his far-sighted vision. He never speculated. I recall at one time many years ago suggesting the pur- chase of stock in a copper mine then being developed. The stock was selling at a fraction of what it surely would be worth if the mine developed as it then prom- ised. On Mr. Longyear 's declining to purchase, I said, * You'll buy this stock when it is selling for ten times its present price,' to which he replied. , '.Yes. I'll know then that it is a mine and that the Stock is worth the price.' Mr. Longyear saw, as few -did in the early days of the Upper Peninsula, the future of this great country. He studied and learned it thor- oughly, and in order to do so, day after day, tramped through these forests with his pack on his back, camp- ing under the trees wherever night overtook him. With the knowledge thus obtained, aided by the con- fidence his integrity inspired, he had little difficulty in enlisting the capital necessary to make desired invest- ments. He was a builder, not a wrecker. He did not build success out of the mistakes or misfortunes of others. He never took advantage of the necessities or frailties of anyone. I was one day standing before Mr. Longyear's home in the company of one of Michi- gan's best known public men. This man said to me: 'Longyear is the one and only multimillionaire I have ever known about, whose fortune never cost a sigh or a sorrow from any living creature. His fortune has been made entirely by himself and not a penny of it has ever been taken away from someone else.' Great wealth must have brought to him the satisfaction of achievement, but it brought no pride of purse. He
350 DR. CHARLES J. JOHNSON
remained always the same modest, dignified, demo- cratic gentleman, — easy of approach, courteous and kind. In his dealings with others, he was positive. He could say 'No' and he could say * Yes/ and each was said in the same kind, courtly, considerate way. He was never self-centered. The number of young people he has helped to get a start or to obtain an education is large, but these acts were kept always in that silence which he would still desire. Mr. Long- year had a keen sense of humor and enjoyed with spontaneous laughter anything witty or humorous. But his mind and thoughts were pure. He was an ideally attentive host and a charming guest, a lovable companion. His love for his country and for Michigan his native State was intense, — he loved every rock and tree and stream of this great north country. It was here he most enjoyed life, and it was here that he wished his ashes to lie. Mr. Longyear was a type of the ideal American gentleman."
Hon. Fred H. Begole spoke of his many years of association with Mr. Longyear, and of his personal qualities and public spirit: "For thirty years it was my good fortune to have been associated with him ii business. For thirty years it was my happy lot t< know that he was my friend. Never during all thos years did an unkind word pass between us. His lif( in this county was an example to us all. The story of his life for a half century is an inspiration to a genera- tion which knows nothing of hardships as he knew them and as he conquered them. He was modest, unassuming, successful. He was a good neighbor, a loyal citizen, a conscientious man, and a faithful friend. What higher praise than this can be given by
IN MEMORY 351
anyone. Mr. Longyear was always public spirited, and freely gave of his time, wealth and talents, when- ever called upon to do something for the public good. To his family who survive him, we all tender our deep- est sympathy and assure them that the perfume of his kindness and gentleness will linger in our mem-
ories."
Mr. Frank J. Jennison spoke also of his fine per- sonal traits: "During many years acquaintance with the late John M. Longyear I have been in a position to observe closely many ajcts of his that indicated unmis- takably the strong and sterling character of the man. My own impulse, however, is to dwell upon his per- sonal characteristics, traits that endear a man to his circle of friends — his modesty, patience, dread of no- toriety, quick sympathy and wise counsel, his kindly humanity and approachability at all times. A vivid memory will always be his absolute refusal to counte- nance sharp dealing in any form and his silence when encountering misunderstanding or criticism. As an upright business man, as husband, father, as a friend, and as a Christian gentleman, he approached the Heal."
Prof. Lew Allen Chase, Secretary of the Marquette County Historical Society, spoke of Mr. Longyear's historical interest and gave some very interesting rem- iniscences of their friendship. He said: "My first impression of Mr. Longyear was gained from an illus- trated lecture which he delivered at the Michigan College of Mines after his return from the island of Spitzbergen where he was interested in developing a coal property, which was later . disposed of to Nor- wegian interests. I was impressed with his precision of information and readiness of expression, although
352 DR. CHARLES J. JOHNSON
commonly Mr. Longyear did not impress one as a fluent speaker. Only last year I happened upon a report on the present condition of this Spitzbergen enterprise prepared by one of our Consuls in Norway. It occurred to me that in all probability Mr. Longyear would be interested in this report and I left it on his desk. He expressed pleasure at having had the oppor- tunity to peruse it, but it was illustrative of the full- ness of his information on a wide range of topics that he casually observed that much of the matter contained in this account was already known to him. When my official connection with the Marquette County His- torical Society threw me into personal contact with Mr. Longyear, I was frequently struck with the sanity of his judgments and the definiteness and range of his information. If I had occasion to show him a report or other document bearing on the history of this region, he speedily ran onto something therein which elicited an illuminating comment based upon his own experi- ence. He was not ignorant of the operations of the old Lake Superior Silver Lead Company, or the slate quarry at Arvon in which his relative, James Turner of Lansing, was an unfortunate investor, or of gold mining in Marquette County, or of cattle ranching; and, of course, he knew a great deal about the past of iron mining and lumbering. When I called atten- tion to the interest that some conservationists had ex- pressed in the data relating to standing timber to be found in the files of the Michigan State Tax Commis- sion, he promptly expressed his opinion of the worth- lessness of those records, based on knowledge of the inexact methods of .cruising which led to uncertain results. He said that he himself often went over the
.. IN MEMORY 358
same tract of timber on different days under varying atmospheric conditions and obtained widely varying results. Mr. Longyear got some of his earliest experi- ences in the woods in the Saginaw Valley in the early 70' s. It was a rough life but it did not seem in any way to corrupt his mind. He seemed to love to revert to these early experiences and to his Lansing home. I remember on one occasion his telling me of being carried about the streets of Lansing in 1893 by one of the earliest automobiles constructed by Mr. R. E. Olds. On another occasion he gave at length with great particularity the 'inside' story of the struggle between James Turner of Lansing, a relative of his, and the Grand Trunk Railroad for the control of the line which Turner had built between Lansing and Flint. Unknown to the Grand Trunk, Turner had effected a junction of interest with the Vanderbilts and this gave him success. Whenever I laid a new document before him, he perused it with great interest and generally found therein some item of information that recalled some experience of his own that bore on the matter. His recollection was always full and his judgments well weighed. He liked to tell a story that had some point of humor in it but I never heard him narrate anything that was in the slightest degree questionable. He was in hearty sympathy with the acquisition of material for the Society, believing that the time to acquire was when the opportunity pre- sented itself. That seemed to appeal to his business sense. I think death was to him quite unexpected for when on one occasion I referred to someone who had attained the age of sixty-five as old, he remon- strated with me, saying that such a man should be in the prime of life. So he seemed to be until last
354 DR. CHARLES J. JOHNSON
summer, when an old injury to his limb gave him re- newed trouble and kept him indoors for some weeks. His heart was in the Upper Peninsula and it is very fitting that his ashes should repose at his beautiful Ives Lake farm which he loved so well.'*
Rev. Johnson spoke also of Mr. Longy ear's his- torical interests, and particularly of his interest in furthering the study of the history of the Upper Penin- sula of Michigan. Said Dr. Johnson: "He was a student of history. He knew history and understood it. He caught the significance of events as applied to human life and human destiny. His name is in- separably linked to a priceless collection of docu- ments and objects, relating to the growth and de- velopment of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and donated to the Marquette County Historical Society. The task of gathering memorials was one of the delights of his last years. In that collection, there is hardly a picture that he has not seen; scarcely a book or pamph- let that he has not examined; but few maps or charts that he has not inspected; and not an object or docu- ment of any description that has not afforded him in- tellectual pleasure. His interest is shown in the markers that dot the highway of our county. The county appropriated the means for their material structure, but it was Mr. Longy ear's fine thought that made the research possible which established these facts and interpreted their significance. We all re- member the Marquette Pageant, staged at Teal Lake, a few years ago, in commemoration of a century of Americanism in the Upper Peninsula, an event that drew, it is estimated, some 25,000 people together. He made its literary production possible. We remem-
IN MEMORY 355
ber the historical exhibit held last winter, when for three consecutive weeks, by day and night, three thousand five hundred people came to inspect it. It was owing to his thoughtfulness that the children were being instructed, by the maps and models, charts and pictures, objects and documents, concerning the basic industries of Marquette County. Though still in- complete, this educational monument will recall him daily through all the years to the people of the County of Marquette, arid to those who come to refresh their enthusiasm. But his^ aspirations for the furtherance of Upper Michigan history was much greater than the assembling of historical material. It was his fine in- tention that out of it should be compiled a history of the Upper Peninsula, comprehensive and authorita- tive, tracing the civilization of our Upper Country through two centuries, including a portrayal of the economic expansion of the County of Marquette in its earliest decades. Like the collection, the com- pilation is in the making. Mr. Longyear's deep inter- est in advancing historical research and its diffusion received appropriate recognition at the last session of the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society; just a few days before the silver cord was broken, the State Society by unanimous vote made him an honorary member."
Mr. Longyear was deeply sincere in his religious views, and his favorite hymn was read by Mrs. A. Matthews, an intimate friend of the family. It is as follows:
O Life that maketh all things new, —
The blooming earth, the thoughts of men, —
Our pilgrim feet, wet with thy dew, In gladness hither turn again.
356 DR. CHARLES J. JOHNSON
From hand to hand the greeting flows, From eye to eye the signal runs,
From heart to heart the bright hope glows; The seekers of the Light are one.
One in the freedom of the truth, One in the joy of paths untrod,
One in the heart's perennial youth, One in the larger tho't of God.
The freer step, the fuller breath, The wide horizon's grander view,
The sense of Life that knows no death, — The Life that maketh all things new.
MY EARLY DAYS IN HASTINGS
BY M. L. COOK (Publisher, Hastings Banner)
HASTINGS
I WAS born in Barry county and my home has always been within its borders, 55 of my 60 years in Hast- ings. I have had some opportunity to note the won- derful changes that have taken place in the surround- ings and home life of their people.
When I began to observe such things, Barry County was far from an unbroken wilderness. Probably half its area was*still virgin forest. Log houses were com- mon. Ox-teams were numerous. Wooded areas of considerable extent were plentiful. The larger wild animals had disappeared, but small game was abun- dant. I can recall seeing the skies darkened with im- mense flocks of pigeons on their migrations to or from their nesting places in the north woods. Wild ducks and geese — occasionally wild turkeys— rewarded the hunter's quest for game in the fall. And you should have seen the squirrels sometimes — the fox, the gray and black — seeking nuts in the autumn. I well re- member witnessing a hunter, in just a few minutes, shooting nine black squirrels from a single tree close to one of the main traveled roads within a mile of this city.
When my father started to clear the underbrush for the home which he later erected on West Green Street in what was then woods, he was startled by the whirr of the wings of a frightened partridge, and a
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358
M. L. COOK
little later discovered a whippo or will's nest within six feet of what was afterward the front wall of the house he built, where Keller Stem now resides.
I spent the long summer vacations, when a boy, at my grandfather's farm home in the township of Prairieville. We had to go four miles to get the mail at the Prairieville postoffice. The stage came once a week from Kalamazoo, then proud to be called "the big village of Michigan." Later the stage made two and still later three trips a week. Contrast this with the daily rural free delivery of mail, and the coopera- tive telephone in nearly every rural home! I have been an eye witness of the marvelous changes in farm operation brought about by the self-binder, the steam thresher, the up-to-date tools for plowing, harrowing, sowing, and securing of crops. Changes more wonder- ful these than all that had taken place in rural life from the dawn of history up to sixty years ago.
I vividly remember some incidents connected with our ride from Prairieville to Hastings in the fall of 1863, when we moved from the farm to Hastings, then a village of 1,000 people. From west of West Creek to the bend in Green Street all was woods. On the south side of the street and bordering it were clear- ings. Back of these was Dunning's woods, whose trees I have seen fairly alive with pigeons. Where P. T. Colgrove's residence now stands was a dense growth of brush, covering half of the block. The "High- 'lands" west of the schoolhouse, then called "Bumble- Bee Plains," could boast a few small houses, in its thickets of hazel, thorn bushes, and oak grubs. What is now the second ward had a few scattered homes. The first ward, north of the river, had not many more.
MY EARLY DAYS IN HASTINGS 359
In every direction the town seemed hedged in with woods.
There was no railroad in 1863, nor till five years later. Mail was brought every day from Battle Creek in the big stage, drawn by four horses. I can see it now coming down Jefferson Street, the driver cracking the whip, and the prancing horses showing off at their best as they turned the corner at State Street, and were brought to a standstill on the vacant corner, by the Hastings House. Before he reached what are now the corporate limits, and as he was journeying down Jefferson Street, the driver would announce his coming to the slow-going villagers by frequent blasts on a musically-toned horn. The coming of the stage was an event, — it was the town's one and only touch with the great outside world.
I was too young to know much about the Civil War. I can recall that when we were living on the farm in Prairie ville, my mother took me to the door to let me see a company of young recruits going away to the front, marching by our home, with the Stars and Stripes proudly waving over them. I remember when near the close of the war a soldier's body was brought here for burial in the cemetery, which was then where the new High School building now stands, and a company of men in uniform fired the customary volley at the grave side.
The conspicuous feature of the down-town portion of the village was the old two-story frame court house, placed near the center of the square. The block was then fenced to protect the yard from the cows which roamed at will in the public streets. Stile steps at the north and south boundaries of the square were the
360 M. L. COOK
means of gaining access to the wide pine-plank walks which led to the entrances to the county's building, the Mecca then as now for people from all quarters of the county. In those days what was done in the old court house, particularly conventions and court pro- ceedings, bulked large in the otherwise very uneventful life of the village.
Next in size, and north from the public square, was the old frame two-story hotel, the Hastings House. At the corner, bordered on two sides by the hotel, and on the other two by State and Church Streets, was a small vacant square where the stage drew up at night- fall, and the weary passengers alighted after their 26 miles journey over rough and hilly roads from Battle Creek. Here on the Fourth of July, or when Fore- paugh's show came to town in the summertime, Mine Host turned many a pretty penny from the dancing that took place, all day and all the night, in the leafy "Bowery," constructed for those who delighted in tripping the more or less "light fantastic."
The larger homes of those early days were grouped near or surrounded the court house square. They were hospitable homes, too. Not a single residence or busi- ness place in town was of brick. The only structure of that material was the jail, known as the "Big Brick," but that name sadly belied its size and appearance. It was situated a block west of the court house square where the home of Philo Sheldon now stands.
The business district then comprised two and one half blocks on State Street, and one on Jefferson. The stores were one and two story frame structures, highly inflammable as to materials, and monstrosities when viewed from the standpoint of art. On both
MY EARLY DAYS IN HASTINGS 361
sides of State, from Broadway to Michigan avenue, were wide board walks, made of the choicest two-inch white pine plank, with the same material for "string-' ers." A plank with a knot in it would be rejected. The same clear, white pine was used for the narrower walks on the residence streets, with inch boards instead of two inch. The same care was exercised in select- ing boards for the smaller walks. That lumber, which had to be renewed every five years or so, would be worth $100 per thousand feet now. But the citizens of that day did not feel at all puffed up over being permitted to walk on such boards. Pine was .so plentiful then that no one dreamed of a time when it could be con- sidered an extravagance to use clear white pine in a sidewalk.
The business and professional men of my early boyhood days whom I now recall were: Hon. Henry A. Goodyear, Nathan and Wm. Barlow, R. J. Grant, O. D. Spaulding, Alvin Bailey, Julius Russell and J. M. Nevins, who conducted general merchandise stores; D. G. Robinson and R. B. Wightman, hardware mer- chants; D. C. Hawley, Joseph Cole, Mason Allen and George Preston, grocers; George Keith, landlord of the Hastings House; James Roberts and F. D. Ackley the druggists; Augustus Rower and J. G. Runyan the shoe dealers.
Of lawyers I remember Hon. James A. Sweezey, Wm. Hayford, Isaac Holbrook, C. G. Holbrook, Wm. Burgher, and Lawyer Mills. As I recall the justice court and circuit court trials of that period, prominent features were: the browbeating of witnesses; cuttingly critical and very personal remarks which the attorneys addressed to each other; oratorical efforts to win the
362 M. L. COOK
sympathy of the jury for their clients, rather than arguments.
The health of the village was safely reposed in the hands of Drs. Wm. Upjohn, J. M. Russell, A. P. Drake, C. S. Burton and John Roberts. The dentist was Dr. Wm. Jones, although Dr. Drake also did some work of that kind. The first Barry County young man who graduated from the Dental department of our State University and then began his dental prac- tice in the county was Dr. S. M. Fowler, a resident of this city for several years, now Major Fowler, whose home is in Battle Creek. He was stationed at Camp Custer during the War.
The pioneer barber shop in Hastings was estab- lished by the late John Bessmer in 1864. He after- ward engaged in the jewelry business.
The industries of that early period consisted of the upper and lower grist mills on Fall Creek, also a saw mill on the same stream, and a carding mill, where good old Deacon Van Brunt and later Welcome Marble carded into rolls the fleeces brought to the mill. The power was furnished from a dam across the Thorn- apple River near the present site of the Wool Boot factory, and the water was conveyed through a race to the mill 100 rods down stream. Two dams on Fall Creek within the village stored the water for the grist mills, and in winter furnished fine recreation for the youngsters who enjoyed skating. The "Old Swim- ming Hole" was at the bend in the river, just north of the Bookcase factory.
The two-story frame building that occupied the center of the school house square was the "temple of learning. " It was quite an imposing structure. Archi-
MY EARLY DAYS IN HASTINGS 363
tecturally it* stood in a class by itself, and was not im- pressive. Its location on the hill overlooking the town was all that could be desired. Providence mercifully spared me the pain of viewing its ugliness for too long; for one night early in the year of 1871 it burned to the ground. It had four rooms and five teachers. But its meager appliances, and its lack of modern methods, did not prevent its doing the founda- tion educational work for Clarence M. Burton, an authority on Michigan history, an author, and for many years president^ of the State Historical Society, also for his equally talented brother, Charles, famed as a Detroit attorney, and also for Loyal E. Knappen, now an honor to the federal bench. All of which goes to prove that something more than a fine school build- ing and splendid equipment are required to fit a man for a large place in the world. Unless there be added the ability to think, to vision things straight, together with high ideals, the fine building and equipment may not compare favorably in output with less pretentious structures.
An event connected with my early schooldays which I recall was that after the railroad had been completed to Hastings the entire school was dismissed one afternoon to witness the arrival of the first pas- senger train. We marched to the old depot in the second ward and hopefully for hours and hours looked to the east to see the expected train, only to suffer disappointment. An accident prevented its arrival, and its coming was the event of another time when the schools were not dismissed. But never doubt that we were witnesses of many later arrivals which her- alded the end of the old stage coach. Pictures of the Barry, Eaton, Jackson, and Kent, names of the engines
364 m M. L. COOK
which drew the trains to and from Hastings, are viv- idly impressed on my mind. They were exactly alike as to size and polished brass ornamentation, and were named for the four counties through which the Grand River Valley Railroad passed. Naturally we were partial to the "Barry." They all burned wood. In smokestacks they were gigantic, but in every other respect they were the merest dwarfs by the side of the locomotives of today.
Recent fires have brought to my mind the old time Hastings methods of fighting that destructive ele- ment. If flames were discovered in one's home the alarm was given by the lusty voices of its discoverers. If access could be had to one of the churches the bell was rung. Arrived at the endangered dwelling, a line was formed to the nearest cistern or well, from which water was pumped or drawn as rapidly as possible and the pails passed from hand to hand down the line, possibly up a ladder, to the men who tried to put the water where it would subdue the flames. The success of this method was more than you might credit, es- pecially if the wind were not blowing. Shortly after we removed here the village fathers decided that the growth of the town warranted a better means of fight- ing fires and they committed the unpardonable extrava- gance of purchasing a "hand engine" as it was called, which some more ambitious town had discarded. If you could have seen it, and especially have witnessed the back-breaking labor of the twenty men, ten on each side, who operated this venerable outfit, you would have quickly reached the conclusion that the town which parted with it -at any price did a mighty good stroke of business. With the advent of this "hand engine" came the hose cart and the formation
MY EARI/Y DAYS IN HASTINGS H65
of a volunteer hose company. In the day-time teams would draw the apparatus to the Jire; in the night more or less willing hands would drag the heavy load. In the absence of the regular company others volun- teered or were called on to man the big hand engine. Sometimes in winter, after it had been pulled by hand to the vicinity of the burning building, it would be dis- covered that all the cisterns in the neighborhood were dry, so the engine was useless, as the suction pipe could not reach the water level of the open wells. On State Street two big cisterns were made, so as to assure a water supply in case fire should invade the business district. The location of one of these cisterns is re- sponsible for the big depression in the brick pavement in front of the Morrill-Lambie store.
There were but two churches in Hastings in 1863, the Presbyterian and the Methodist. Soon after the war there was established the third, the Episcopalian. It was a hard struggle to keep them going, for I doubt if their combined membership including members from the country was 150. The business element in Hast- ings, with a few shining exceptions, in those days seemed to be quite indifferent about the churches or their work. They did not oppose them but seemed to feel that their support was the other fellow's job.
Part of the funds for paying the preacher was de- rived from socials, — not your modern * 'suppers," where you eat, pay and make a quick get-away. The church social of that time was held in someone's home. There were light refreshments later in the evening; but you were expected to come with the wife and children and visit, sing, and play such entrancing games as "snap and catch 'em." The elders as well as youngsters entered with great zeal and fervor into that and other
366 M. L. COOK
games. This social was no "pay as you enter" propo- sition. Quite the contrary, a receptacle was put in a conspicuous place on the parlor table, and you were expected to drop a fiver, or if you were of the aristoc- racy, a "tener" of the shin plaster currency of that period, — the five and ten being cents, — not dollars, mind you.
And who could or would forget the "donations" to the preacher? There was variety for you, in more ways than one! These social functions were always held at the preacher's own home. We would say that was "Rubbing it in" on the good man. But I doubt if in those days the annual donation visit was considered by the Dominie as anything less than one of the inscrutable methods of a kind Providence for maintaining orthodoxy in the world. Everything seemed to be coming the preacher's way that night, — stovewood, a quarter of a beef, bushels of potatoes, onions, and apples, bags of flour, baskets of eggs, baked things and some cash. Neither can I forget the donation supper, when the "kid" was not asked to wait for the second table, but had his plate filled over and over again with substantial food, and no limit except his capacity for the baked chicken served thai night!
Michigan was supposed to have prohibition durinj this period. But the law was so loosely drawn, and technical, that a conviction under it was quite impos sible. The proverbial Philadelphia lawyer must have been its author. Under it drinking places flourished. A small stock of wet goods and a room to sell them ii were the sole requirements to set one up in the liquoi business. When Hastings was a town of less than
MY EARLY DAYS IN HASTINGS 367
2,000, in the early 70's, there were 27 places where liquors were vended here. In front of, or in the rear of, or underneath, every grocery store in Hastings, there was a liquor saloon. I can remember the first grocery established here without a saloon. Where there were so many, competition made most of them ready to ignore all considerations except personal gain in the^ sale of their goods. Drunken young men as well as older men were so common when there was a crowd in town that the attention paid to them con- sisted in getting out of their way. Then came the day of "regulated" saloons! We at first, as I recall it, had 14 licensed saloons. But the "regulation" by license was a sorry failure. Then came a wave of popular sentiment against them for their utter defiance of all law. They were vigorously prosecuted and a few con- victed and heavily fined. In return for this, the saloon crowd daubed the fronts of the Methodist and Presby- terian churches, also the homes of some of their promi- nent members, with great splotches of ink. All through its history in Hastings, the licensed saloon was an abom- ination. No wonder Barry County was among the first nine, after Van Buren, to wipe out the curse, and happy are we over the fact that today the Stars and Stripes wave over a saloonless nation.
With present day tolerance of opposing views, the politics of the late sixties and early seventies was a marked contrast. It hardly seems believable that men who ordinarily were on terms of amity, who would take one another's word about all other matters, who were even close personal friends, could view each other's political opinions and actions with such marked dis- favor and suspicion. It was no doubt the survival of the bitterness growing out of the Civil War, and of the
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sentiments which men entertained as to the necessity for it, and the manner in which its issues should be settled. With our quiet, orderly ways of conducting elections, under the Australian system, we can hardly believe that in that period on election days a crowd always stood around the polls, many peddling tickets for the party of their choice, and pleading with the unstable or doubtful to vote for this or that party, or at least to use one of the slips for some favorite candidate. Drunkenness at the polling places was common, and sometimes personal encounters and rough and tumble fights.
The old time political meeting, with its intense partisanship, manifested in torch-light processions, parades, etc., can hardly be realized. In the Grant and Coif ax campaign in 1868 I can recollect that a large troop of young ladies came from Woodland on horseback twelve miles to Hastings, and rode their horses in the Republican parade. Can you imagine young ladies doing such things now.
The change from the Hastings of 1863 to the Hast- ings of 1919 is typical of the progress of our country. Boasting is quite unseemly; but we nevertheless think that few towns of its size in the country have more of the comforts and conveniences of civilized life, more of the things that speak of helpful living and useful in- dustry than has this little city. And yet one cannot forget that living in that earlier time with its simple pleasures and easy going ways had its compensations. There was a spirit of real neighborliness, of helpful interest in other folks, a sociability that was founded upon good will and kindness, that make the older days seem delightful, and make us feel that we are being robbed of much human good by the hurry and bustle of our modern life.
MARY F. THOMAS, M. D., RICHMOND, IND. BY MRS. PAULINE T. HEALD HARTFORD
'"PHIS Victory Year seems a suitable time to remem- ber some of the women who so long ago started the agitation which helped to make possible the use of the ballot for you and me.
I wish I could make you see something of the life and service of my mother in the forty years when I knew her, and the more than thirty years since she went away. From many of her writings, it has been hard to decide how little I could use.
My mother was of Quaker parentage, born in Mary- land, and in church government men and women were on a basis of equality. It was not strange that she early saw the injustice to women in the world. When only eighteen years of age she felt this so strongly that she took for her life work, helping women and chil- dren.
First, the anti-slavery movement gained her inter- est, especially from one incident while the family were living in Washington City. A slave girl came to the kitchen door asking for food and shelter, and her master and overseer came to the front door at the same time; the poor girl was taken back to slavery, crying bitterly. My mother's father, Samuel Myers, with
Read by Mrs. Pauline T. Heald, daughter of Mrs. Thomas, before the Michigan League of Women Voters, at Battle Creek, Mich., on Sept. 30, 1920.
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370 MRS. PAULINE T. HEALD
Benjamin Lundy, held the first anti-slavery meeting in the United States, in Washington, D. C.
In 1832 the family removed on account of slavery from Washington City to Salem, Ohio, where many Quakers were already settled. Then for some years she and a younger sister helped her father on the farm, as the only brother was a little boy. The sisters studied at night with their father who had been one of the best teachers in the East. In 1839 she was married, by Friend ceremonies, to Owen Thomas, the parents on both sides having been married by the same ceremony. Later, when possible, she studied medi- cine with my father, who was then a practicing phy- sician. Her home always came first with her, so she waited until the youngest of the three daughters could be left safely with her parents, when she went in 1852 to Penn Medical University, Philadelphia, the only college then open to women in the United States. Her sister, younger, Dr. Hannah E. Longshore, was practicing in Philadelphia where no druggist would then fill her prescriptions because she was a woman, so a brother-in-law with whom she had studied always got her medicines for her. Even her daughter, Mrs. Lucretia L. Blankenburgh, whom many of you know both as a suffragist and club woman, was ostracized by the boys and girls at high school because her mother was a doctor. Another much younger sister, Dr. Jane V. Myers, afterwards practiced medicine in Phila- delphia. In the West there never was the same preju- dice against women physicians that there was in the East, so my mother could always buy her own medi- cines and have her prescriptions filled.
The family lived for some years at Fort Wayne,
MARY F. THOMAS, M. D. 371
Ind. Then they went to Richmond, Indiana, on ac- count of the better school system, largely fostered by the many Quakers and by the lack of foreign popula- tion; so, from 1856 for more than thirty years Rich- mond was the family home.
My mother already knew personally or by corre- spondence many of the suffragists both in the West and the East. Lucy Stone lectured in Fort Wayne in 1855, and then began their lifelong friendship. In 1857 my mother for a year or two edited and published The Lily, the first woman's paper in the West. It was published first by Amelia E. Bloomer of Council Bluffs, Iowa, then by Mary B. Birdsall of Richmond. In some early numbers of The Lily so many women's names appear that were household words to us,— Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone of course, Lucretia Mott an old family friend, Frances D. Gage, Helen Tracy Cutler, Earnestine L. Rose, Amelia Bloomer, Rev. Amanda M. Way, Emi B. Swank and many others, both men and women. Mrs. Lizzie Bunnel Read then took The Lily, changed its name to The Mayfloicer, and published it for about ten years at Peru, Ind.
In 1859, for the first time, my mother was presi- dent of the Indiana Woman's Rights Association. As its president, she addressed the State Legislature on the legal status of woman; this address, a copy of which I have, might have been used in our State cam- paign as well as then. She was State President for many following years, helping to hold Conventions in different parts of the State.
My mother always had a large correspondence", and besides the care of her family, which always came
372 MRS. PAULINE T. HEALD
first, and the practice of medicine, she found time to write for many of the papers of the State on the ques- tions of the day. How she could do so much, I have never been able to see.
In the early years of her practice, while she could buy her own medicines and have prescriptions filled, the best physicians would not counsel with her; but she had my father to counsel with. She was refused admission to the Wayne County Medical Association, and my father declined to be a member if she could not; but in 1870 conditions had changed greatly, when she was asked to join the County Association, and by that body was made delegate to the State Association at Indianapolis; and early in the 80's that body hon- ored itself by sending her as a delegate to the National Medical Association which met in Chicago; there were besides my mother two or three other women physi- cians as delegates.
When the Civil War came, my father was in charge of a Government hospital on the Pacific coast, and my mother did much war work, as have our women for the World War. Then much of the war work was done by the Sanitary and United States Commissions, Our War Governor, afterwards Senator Morton of Indiana, sent doctors and nurses down the Mississippi to bring home the sick and wounded Indiana soldiers, my mother going once to Memphis and again to Natchez, Mississippi, on that errand. On the return of father from his work on the Pacific coast, he served as Surgeon in charge of the Refugee Hospital at Nashville, and my mother as Matron, — a woman could not hold the posi- tion of Surgeon.
The family were again at home in Richmond, my
MARY F. THOMAS, M. D. 373
mother resuming her practice of medicine as well as helping in all good works of the day in the city. The slaves were free. Then came work for Temperance and Woman's Suffrage. Often she was City Phy- sician, and in that capacity could know of people who needed practical help. One night my mother was called to a rooming-house to see a sick woman and her baby. The woman was a Catholic and the baby had never been baptized, so one winter morning, at four o'clock, my mother went for her good friend, the Catho- lic Priest, to come and baptize the baby; and so at its death the mother was cfomforted. A widow with three little children, having a struggle to make both ends meet, was helped by my mother to get a toll gate where house rent and a small lot of ground were free. In the Temperance work she helped in the organ- ization of the Good Templars and the W. C. T. U. In the early years of the Suffrage agitation there were the two societies, the National with Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and others as leaders, — their annual meetings were always held in the East. The Indiana State Association was auxiliary to the Ameri- can, with Lucy Stone, Henry B. Blackwell, Mary A. Livermore, my mother and others as leaders, — their conventions were held in the Middle West and as far South as Louisville, Ky. In 1882, I think it was the date, — the convention was held in Omaha, Neb. My mother was then president of the American and did much work for the success of this meeting. She helped to secure the separate prison for Indiana women at Indianapolis, also trying to secure the property rights of women. From that time on, and in 1888 when she left us, she was full of good works, doing the Master's work in so many ways.
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MRS. PAULINE T. HEALD
It is a great comfort to the two daughters left, one in France during the World War, that her later years were, we think, the happiest. She had overcome much of the prejudice of early days. Any doctor in that part of the State was glad to counsel with her, and she was universally respected and beloved. One of her last conscious utterances was "Tell Lucy Stone, the principles we have advocated are right, and I know it," — and the beloved physician was at rest.
DR. GEORGE J. EDGCUMBE
BENTON HARBOR COLLEGE AND ITS PRESIDENT, DR. GEORGE J. EDGCUMBE
BY THE LATE VICTORIA C. EDGCUMBE BENTON HARBOR
AMONG Michigan educational institutions, Benton Harbor College held a leading place for almost a third of a century. * George J. Edgcumbe, M. A., Ph. D., was one of the founders of the institution, and was President of it from the beginning until his health failed in 1913. The leading place which this college held was due largely to the attractive personality of Dr. Edgcumbe and his remarkable ability as a teacher.
Dr. Edgcumbe was born near Plymouth, England, November 17, 1844, and was the son of William and Eliza Edgcumbe. He passed his childhood years in his native place, and when about six years old was brought to Canada. His boyhood years, full of dis- appointment, were passed under adverse conditions. Through an accident he became an invalid, and for years was confined at home, in bed most of the time, where his only comfort was reading and studying. But so well did he improve his time under these un- fortunate circumstances, that he was ready to take up his life's work when the opportunity came. He was only thirteen years old, and an invalid, when his father and two brothers were frozen to death on Lake Ontario, April 1, 1857.
At the age of nineteen the boy, improved in health,
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376 MRS. VICTORIA C. EDGCUMBE
was working in a printing office, with no thought of teaching, when two members of the Board of Education came in and asked the publisher of the paper, who was also a member of the board, what they could do about a new teacher in the local school. On the inspiration of the moment Mr. Edgcumbe said: "I'm your man, but let me go home and talk it oyer with mother." His mother said, "George, you can't do it, my son. You have never tried such an examination in your life." With the same perseverance which had carried him through the years of ill health, he answered: "I can, and will, pass the examination if you will let me try. All these months I have been in bed have not been wasted." He passed with high standing, and made good in the school, which was not an easy task, for several teachers had given up in despair after a few weeks of trial; it was the custom in this school for the big boys to put the teacher out of the school house and lock the door. Mr. Edgcumbe, however, had no difficulty in governing this school. His success in -the teaching profession was due largely to the fact that he was a born teacher. He was always devoted to his work and never entered upon his day's task without asking for help and guidance from his Heavenly Father.
After spending some years as teacher in the public schools of Canada, he entered Victoria University, from which he graduated in 1875, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts; later the degrees of Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy were conferred upon him by Illinois Wesleyan University.
He came to Michigan in 1877 as superintendent of the school in Deerfield, Lenawee County, and after
BENTON HARBOR COLLEGE 377
five years there he was appointed superintendent of the Benton Harbor schools. While in that position he effected many improvements and succeeded in placing the schools upon a substantial footing. Through his efforts the local school was put on the University list, the first and for a long time the only accredited school in southwestern Michigan.
- In 1886 Dr. Edgcumbe, in company with Mr. Seely McGord, founded an educational institution at Ben- ton Harbor under the name of The Benton Harbor Normal and Collegiate Institute. The idea of this school may be said to have originated spontaneously. Several citizens of Benton Harbor, chief among whom was Rev. E. L. Hurd, D. D., sometime pastor of the Presbyterian Church, became interested in the estab- lishment of a school of higher education in southwestern Michigan, and early in 1884 plans were prepared for its organization. Just when everything seemed ready, Dr. Hurd received a call to the Presidency of Black- burn University. Disappointed but determined to carry out their plans, the promoters early in 1886 urged Dr. Edgcumbe to accept the presidency of the school. The institution then became a reality, and on September 2 of that year, it was opened and the inaug- ural exercises were held, on which occasion Hon. Thomas M. Cooley delivered the address.
Under President Edgcumbe' s management the school grew rapidly, commanding respect wherever it was known. It attracted students from all parts of Michigan and neighboring States. In 1892 the insti- tution was incorporated and entitled to grant aca- demic and professional degrees. The name was changed to "Benton Harbor College and Normal."
The first three years of the work were carried on in
378 MRS. VICTORIA C. EDGCUMBB
a two-story frame building located in the southern part of Benton Harbor, on the site where the Catholic Church now stands. The academic year 1889-90 saw the college removed to Morton Bluff, a beautiful loca- tion overlooking the lake and the city. The buildings consisted of a main building and two dormitories. Institute Hall, the main building, was three stories in height, with a basement which contained a large dining hall, kitchen, two butteries, furnace room and janitor's apartments. On the first floor was the Presi- dent's office, art room, music room, kindergarten, model school, museum, halls and cloak rooms. The second story contained an assembly hall, capable of accommodating 600 people, together with reading room and recitation rooms; the business department, reci- tation rooms, matron's room and wardrobes were located on the third floor. The Eliza Edgcumbe cot- tage, a dcrmitory for young ladies or young gentlemen, was also the home of the President. Looe Cottage, a young ladies' dormitory, was presided over by the Lady Principal.
The school was very well equipped for all courses taught. The library and laboratory facilities were ex- cellent. It is said that the collection of physical and chemical apparatus had few superiors in the State. Full instruction in the art of apparatus-making was a special feature of the science work, in order that teach- ers might be able to construct inexpensive apparatus in their schools. The location of the school was favor- able to landscape and nature study, as many beautiful scenes lie along Lake Michigan, and the Paw Paw and St. Joseph rivers, including forest trees and under- growth. In the art rooms were models and casts, giv- ing the students many advantages.
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In the music department instruction was given in vocal, piano and violin music under capable and pains- taking teachers. Monthly recitals were given by the students. Concerts and lectures were maintained throughout the year, and the people of Benton Harbor were proud of the fine conservatory.
The business course, aside from its regular work, sought to emphasize those traits of character which are essential to success in business. Dr. Edgcumbe always kept in close touch with the students. The approval by business nien of the clerks furnished by Benton Harbor College spoke well for the success of his efforts.
The work done in elocution was of special value to the young people because of the individual attention given to each pupil.
In connection with the college was a kindergarten, where students in training were required to practice. Following the Kindergarten came the Primary school. There were several courses in Literature, Science and Art. The classical course required special attention to the Ancient classics, the Scientific to the Natural Sciences and Modern languages, and the English or Literary course to English literature, Mathematics, etc.
The teaching force consisted of from seventeen to twenty men and women, most of whom had degrees from higher institutions of learning. Dr. Edgcumbe tauirht classes in Pedagogy, Natural Sciences and Mathematics^ His wife, Mrs. V. C. Edgcumbe, had charge of the Kindergarten, Primary and Prepara- tory departments, and was subsequently a teacher in the public schools of Benton Harbor. Prof. John H.
380 MRS; VICTORIA- C; ; BDGCU ^BB
Niz, who was educated in Germany, became professor -of Modern Languages in 1888, and remained a mem- ber of the faculty to the close of Dr. EdgQUmbe's presi- dency. Dr. Harry MacCraken, at present Dean of .the Detroit College of Medicine and Surgery, was for some time an instructor in Benton Harbor College. Mrs. Dr. Yale, a sister of Dr. Edgcumbe, was the first Lady Principal, a teacher of real worth, who had rare ability in imparting her: knowledge to others. Mrs. W. H. Richards of Battle Creek also filled this position with credit for several years. The success of the music conservatory was due to the efforts of Mrs. Nellie H. Smyth and Mrs. W. H. Bracken, women of wide ex- perience as teachers and artists. Miss Watson, an inspiring teacher of Elocution and Dramatic Art is at present in Germany, having general charge of the women engaged in "Y" work abroad. For several years before the close of the college this department was under the management of Mrs. Carrie E. West, who is now a successful business woman in Chicago. Mr. W. B. Parker (deceased) who was head of the Business department for seven years and teacher of Literature and Business, was a native of New England. He spent seven years in Dartmouth College, where he gave his attention to the pursuit of the classics. Later he studied law and received his degree. The Short- hand department was presided over by Miss Jessie Wheeler, who previously was a teacher in Sandusky Business College. Miss Wheeler now lives in Los Angeles, California. Many other names might be added to the list of teachers of Benton Harbor College if space would permit.
A good idea of the character of the college may be had from the statement of Hon H. R. Pattengill
HARBOR COLLEGE 38 1
in. 1891 shortly after a visit to the institution, who wrote as follows :
"We are in receipt of a thirty-eight page Calendar of the Benton Harbor Normal and Collegiate Insti- tute. The tasty pamphlet fitly represents the fine school which Prin. Edgcumbe has succeeded in build- ing up.
"We find the school in charge of a faculty of seven- teen experienced instructors. We find extensive lab- oratories and liberal courses, Collegiate, Academic, Preparatory, Teachers' Training, Business. Kinder- garten, Elocution, Art and Musical departments. All of these in actual running order and liberally supplied with students. The character of the school may be gleaned at once, when we know that it is one of the regularly accredited preparatory schools to the State University in all courses. A fine, large building in a pleasant location, makes a home for the school and Mr. Edgcumbe can look with complacency on the achievements of five years work; for the school was founded in 1886.
"We visited Prin. Edgcumbe recently and are thus able to state that this is no 'paper' institute, but a live, vigorous, growing, pushing, busy, happy school. We never dreamed that such a school could be built up and flourish as this has in Michigan. The best feeling prevails between the public school teachers of the dis- trict and Prin. Edgcumbe. The school is able to adapt itself to the wants of young men and women a little more flexibly than can the high schools. Many an one goes to the school for a review term, and is led to take a complete and thorough course, and the way pointed out to College. Others get enough of business educa-
382 MRS. VICTORIA G. EDGCUMBB
tion to help pay their way temporarily, and later come back to take a full course.
"This is no aristocratic reform school. Pupils must behave or leave. No one suspended or expelled from the public schools can make a hospital of the institute. The students are inspired with a love for study and trained to think and act as becomes young men and women. Bro. Edgcumbe is doing a good work. 'Long may he live and prosper.' !
Hundreds of young men and women from far and wide received training in Benton Harbor College. Many prepared for college and went direct from this institution to Wellesley, the University of Michigan, the State Normal College at Ypsilanti, Northwestern, Ohio State University and other universities and col- leges. Others became teachers or entered upon a busi- ness career or went into some other of life's many activi- ties. One of the graduates of this institution whc was seeking admission to Holy Orders in the Protestanl Episcopal Church requested from Dr. Edgcumbe statement of his standing as a graduate. Upon ceiving Dr. Edgcumbe's reply he wrote as follows:
"I am very grateful for your sympathetic letter, and the certificate of my standing as an alumnus of the College, in response to my request. I understand per- fectly your surprise at my new plan, but I am sure your approval is very genuine, remembering so well your own devotion to the blessed faith. I hope you will even take a little pride in my course, for however unmindful of spiritual things your old student may have seemed in the days when you knew him, he was sufficiently impressed by the depth and fervor of your religious life never to forget it as an example; and it
1V
BENTON HARBOR COLLEGE 383
has played its incalculable part, beyond a doubt, in the influence — an irresistible stream of influence for good, which has caught up his drifting life and borne it to this high decision. I am sure you will be glad to know this, for it is very easy, in your ignorance of what becomes of your old students, to lose all sense of your power over their wayward purposes. Doubtless you have never given thought of me as a witness to your own high dreams."
The first commencement exercises were held in May, 1887, with ten graduates in the various depart- ments. The calendar for 1887-88 lists the names of 161 students, distributed as follows: Academic courses, 57; Business, 39; Special, 57; and Art, 8. The enroll- ment steadily increased, so that by the school year 1894-95 it had reached 476. Including fourteen names which were duplicated, the number of students in each department was as follows: Collegiate 152; Normal 112; Business 45; Art 29; Music 42; Preparatory 55; and Kindergarten 41.
The "Little College on the Hill" was a private insti- tution, dependent entirely upon its merits for existence, without endowment save that of energy, integrity and skillful management. While purely undenominational, it was ever the desire of its managers to make it de- cidedly a Christian school. Mr. Edgcumbe conducted large and interesting classes in Bible study, and it was his one great desire to make better men and women of the young people under his guidance. Expenses were reasonable. A catalogue in the 90's states that board I in the hall could be secured at $2 per week, while in i clubs the cost might be considerably reduced. Room rent ranged from 25 to 75 cents per week. Tuition
384 MRS. VICTORIA C. EDGCUMBB
for the Summer Term was $6 and for the regular school year in most departments it was $8 to $10 per term of nine weeks, while the cost of instruction in music ran considerably higher. The fee for the diploma was $3 and for the degree $5.
In addition to training the mind, the college authori- ties provided for the development of the body. Shortly after the founding of the institution, military drill was instituted. The cadets were armed with Springfield rifles and uniformed precisely after the West Point pattern. . Students coming to college were advised not to make any special provision for new clothes, but to plan to wear the cadet uniform all the time. Phys- ical training for young women was provided. Daily exercises in gymnastics were required. The Swedish and Delsarte systems of physical culture were taught.
As an encouragement to better scholarship, several prizes were awarded for excellent work. Among these were the following: Prize for the highest average standing, open to members of the graduating class; for the best essay, open to members of the graduating class; for the highest average standing in the Business Department; for the first in Elocution; and for excel- lence in German.
Student activities outside the regular courses were fostered. There were societies each year, maintained by the students, the object of which was literary and scientific culture. The students published an eight- page monthly paper, "The Institute/' the editorial staff being elected from among their number at the beginning of the academic year. The subscription price of the paper was fifty cents per year. Frequent illustrated lectures and interesting musical concerts
BENTON HARBOR COLLEGE 385
were given during the college year, to which the stu- dents were admitted free.
The institution, both in point of attendance and grade of scholarship, ranked among the best in the State until the spring of 1913, when President Edg- cumbe was injured in an accident. From that time he slowly declined, and died in Benton Harbor, September 29, 1915, at the age of 71. His school continued for a time under another management as a business college.
Dr. Edgcumbe made a specialty of Pedagogy and the Natural Sciences, -on which he wrote many valuable papers for periodicals. For many years he was promJU nent in Institute work in Michigan and gave lectures in many places in the State.
At the time of Dr. Edgcumbe' s death, Mr. H. R. Pattengill paid him the following tribute in the Moder- ator-Topics: "Mr. Edgcumbe was a man of rare spirit, fine culture, profound learning, wondrous teaching ability, magnetic personality; an inspiring speaker, a genial companion, a loyal friend, a Christian gentle- man, a most estimable citizen. Many men and women are better, truer, nobler, today because they came under the uplifting influence of George J. Edgcumbe/'
.
SOURCE MATERIAL OF THE DETROIT PUBLIC LIBRARY AS SUPPLIED BY THE ACQUISITION
OF THE BURTON HISTORICAL COLLECTION
BY L. 0. W.
DETROIT
IN every department of public interest and usefulness it is the aim of the administration of the Detroit Public Library to serve the citizens of Detroit with both reference and popular material that will meet all reasonable demands.
In earlier years of library development, such serv- ice attempted nothing beyond the wants of what was then designated as "the reading public. " Special libraries, or the libraries of special societies, took care to provide material incident to the discussion and elucidation of their individual subjects. Student needs were scarcely noticed, and municipal matters were left to the controlling body of civic affairs, and to the newspapers. Especially to the newspapers. That was their province, their raison d'etre, we might say. Besides, it was not good taste to "want to know/' and such material was therefore infra dignatatem of the spirit of the old-time public library.
But modern thought demands knowledge, — knowl-
Those who are familiar with the Burton Historical Collection will recogniza that this article refers only to the Manuscript Division, and makes no mention of the numerous books, pamphlets and rare maps in the Collection. Indeed, as the author would doubtless admit, this is a very inadequate sketch of even the Manuscript Division, many points of interest being necessarily omitted owing to the condensed nature of a magazine article. Readers will appreciate however this general outline, which may be followed later by similar articles on other divisions. — Ed.
(886).
DETROIT PUBLIC LIBRARY 387
edge of all things in the heavens above and in the earth beneath and in the waters under the earth, — and only the wisdom of a Solomon could meet that demand. Yet this is the task the City of Detroit expects from its Library Commission, and which they, in their turn, ask of their representatives in the library. It is the demand of a metropolitan city for metropolitan service.
Thus the Detroit Public Library, in its various de- partments, may lay claim to meeting this demand in a measure. Only in one department was it, from very necessity, handicapped. A collection of source ma- terial, like many other departments, was not generally considered within the province of a public library; such a collection was the work of historical societies and of the antiquarian; moreover, it meant years of patient research, much wisdom as to historical values, and a perfect genius in locating and bringing to .light papers and documents of the long ago.
In view of this increasing service of the library, not to speak of the sentiment involved, Mr. Burton's gift of his collection of Americana, a collection of fifty years' unceasing accumulation, was a timely one. It was a timely gift not only as a valuable adjunct to the public library, but for much correlative information that could come from no one but its founder and that was necessary for its adequate interpretation. This was especially true of its source material. Books, maps and pictures have a definite place in historical treatment, but manuscripts may have a varied inter- est, an interest as wide as the activities of the indi- vidual, and much of this may be lost for want of suffi- cient information. In this one aspect alone Mr. Burton's continued active interest in the Collection is relatively invaluable.
388 yv :ii.O.W.: ;
Invaluable, too, as records of original entry, is the material of this division of the Burton Historical Col- lection known as source material, or the Manuscript Division. Such material is the basis for all subse- quent historical writing. Contemporaneous with the time of occurrence, it has the authority of an eye-wit- ness and the charm of actual participation. It repre- sents the mind and action of the past, correcting tra- ditional errors, confirming facts under dispute, and visualizing events as they developed by an intimate knowledge of how men thought and lived. Local letters, documents, and books of business record give us every phase of the daily life and take us into the trading house, the home, the church, the infant indus- tries and the courts. They show us the effort, not only to meet existing conditions, but to build for future expansion.
For very earliest records Mr. Burton has gone to the archives of Paris, Quebec, and Montreal. Save for an occasional chance document here and there, Cadillac records are existent only in government and court archives. The Department of marine and of the colo- nies in France furnished data for twelve large manu- script volumes and an equal number of the English translation made in London. Montreal notarial ar- chives were searched for local information and the result is over seven thousand pages of manuscript. These notarial acts fill out the records previous to our own as found in the early volumes, A, B, and C, 1754- 1796, in the Wayne County Building. There is a volume D, or the register of William Monforton, 1786- 1793, in the Canadian government archives at Ottawa. All volumes — A-D — have been copied for Mr. Burton,
I )BTROIT '.PUBLIC" LIBRARY 389;
but it is to be'regretted that the originals in the Wayne County Building are not better preserved than is possible under constant public usage. The Quebec provincial archives have the Intendants' registers and -those of the Conseil Superieur. These have been copied for the record of settlement at this post under seigniorial tenure, and we are entirely dependent upon these records for our information of royal and seigniorial rights and prerogatives, and also for the lists of settlers at definite periods, with one exception. For there has come to the Collection through the Cicotte family to the first Michigan historical society and thence to the Detroit Public Library a book unique in record and contents. It is the official register of settlement at this post in 1749-1750, when special inducements to settlement were offered by La Galissoniere, adminis- trator of New France. So far as we know there were no similar inducements at any other time nor at any otDer post. The interpretation of the book may be found in the correspondence of La Galissoniere to the French colonial minister in 1749, as copied from the copies in the Ottawa archives.
This correspondence shows that the French and Indian war was already imminent in the minds of the French commandants in America. Under date of June 26, 1749, La Galissoniere gives his reasons for the Celeron expedition to the Ohio — * 'riviere Oyo" — and says that if the English are allowed to establish a post there they will have entree to all the French posts and even an open road to Mexico. His letter of Oct. 5 stated the need of a stronger garrison at Detroit. 4 'From all time/' he says, "this post has been of the utmost importance." It is not only the geographical
390 L. O. W.
center for many Indian tribes, but the place from which any opposition to English encroachment must proceed ; it is the most convenient location for the fur trade, and furnished provisions for the voyageur on his way to the southern posts. " These are our reasons, Mon- seigneur, for taking it upon ourselves last spring to send as many families to this post as we could find, to whom we have promised rations for two years and farming implements. The number is not as great as we would wish, being only 46 persons in all, men, women and children. We did not wait for your ap- proval in this, being persuaded that your sentiments would conform to our own, and it is our intention to send more next spring if we can find them."
This phrase, "si nous en trouvons," would indicate no great willingness for the Detroit post on the part of the French habitant, hence probably the induce- ments of rations and farming implements. From his familiarity with the writing of Robert Navarre, sub- delegate of the French Intendant at Detroit, 1743- 1760, Mr. Burton is of the opinion that the volume registering the settlement here in 1749-50 may also be of Navarre's record. The book is in the form of a business ledger in so far as the entries are made under the personal headings of each habitant, on pages cor- responding to the debit and credit sides of a ledger. The left-hand page shows the date of settlement, extent and location of the grant, and the number of persons in the family. The right-hand page is ruled for two lists, one being the donations outright, — ra- tions and farming implements, — and the other show- ing what has been allowtd as a loan only, — seed grain and oxen, with occasionally cows "a ferme," meaning
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DETROIT PUBLIC LIBRARY 391
a return to the local official department of part pro- duce. The entry for Rene" LeBau states that in 1755 he took two cows "a ferme, suivant la coutume," that one was killed by the savages in the spring, and the other on Sept. 7, of 1756. We learn that Am- broise Tremblay came up in 1750 in the king's trans- ports with his wife and four young children; that he was given a grant of three arpents on the north side of the river; that he was allowed four rations for the six in the family from Aug. 3, 1750, to Feb. 3, 1752, and was also given the following: axe, spade, scythe, sickle, 2 augers, a plough, a sow, seven hens, 6 Ibs. of powder, 12 Ibs. of lead, 2 measures of wine, a pint of brandy, 1 Ib. of rice, a tarpaulin, 80 nails, and 8 sides of venison. He must return (or buy) : 1 ox, 1 cow, 20 minots of wheat and lj^ minots of corn.
Following the settlement of this district and the period of French occupation, Mr. Burton's research work took him to the British Museum for narrative account of the struggle against English encroachment on the Ohio, and to the Public Record Office of London for later and unpublished documents that would aid in the elucidation of the controversy over the northern boundary of the United States. These were of general historical interest; local events and conditions needed the more personal element, worked out in the details of daily business and social life, ior any definite under- standing of their influence on the development of our city and state in its infancy and growth. This is the element found in personal papers, and these papers are the bulwark of the Burton Collection.
392 L. O. W.
Translation of letter of John Williams, Nov. 9, 1796. This letter is from the Campau papers.
River Huron, Nov. 9, 1796, Dear Uncle
This is to inform you that I am disposed to come to stay with you but one thing hinders me and that is that I am in great need of clothing. If you will give me what is necessary when I come to you and give me board and lodging and let me attend an evening school under some good master, I feel I would like to do what I ought to do or do whatever a clerk should do, and to report myself to you at once.
I am, with respect, Your very humble & obedient Nephew
John Williams*
The reason I do not come to the Fort is thiat I have not been able to find a saddle horse.
; Translation of Proclamation of Henry Hamilton regarding strangers in Detroit, 1777. This Procla- mation is from the Moran papers.
Strangers who arrive (from any country whatever) into this settlement are to be reported immediately to the Captain of Militia by those at whose house they are staying, and the Captain of Militia will report the same (within twelve hours) to Monsieur, the Lieu- tenant Governor, under penalty of fine. Given at Detroit, Aug. 23, 1777.
Henry Hamilton,
*It is uncertain just when Mr. Williams began using the middle initial E. Th« first noticed is his •ubecriptton to a letter of date June 4. 1806.'
DETROIT PUBLIC LIBRARY 393
Chronologically we might divide these collections of personal papers into three periods of a half century each, beginning 1750 and ending 1900. The Asian, Williams, Campau, Curry, Henry, and Browning pa- pers cover a century of trading and commercial inter- ests, trade that extended from Montreal to Mackinac, and from the Ottawa River to the Ohio. The "Ad- ventures" were well named, — "Adventure to the Pin- ery," "Adventure to the Miamis," — outfits or "equip- ment" of beads, thread, files, saws, tea, English cot- tons, broad cord, narrow and plain cord, scarlet cloth, cod lines, pipes, powder horns, silk handkerchiefs, gold tinsel lace, silver ditto, blankets, pins, paper framed looking glasses, rifles, guns, beaver traps, tomahawks, combs, coloured ribbon, crimson ditto, axes, — we take a ledger page at random and here we have the savage and civilization, the wild life of the hunter and the comforts of English tea and combs, — all exchanged for . the furs that were brought to Detroit, baled and sent down to Montreal in canoes to be shipped to Europe, — . the selection of goods for the return trip, — all shows a -busy life, and a gay life. A Quebec merchant writes to his London agent, "It is essential that our goods, for variety, may be selected from all parts of the Em- pire, not only for the amount of our contracts, but for different styles. It is the only way to attract many commissions."
And that Detroit was a gay town during the fifty or sixty years prior to 1805 and justified Gov. Hull's criticism of the expense of living here, is readily evi- dent from these same ledger pages. An entry in Com- modore Grant's account reads, "Your share of an entertainment at Forsyth's, £15-17-9 — William Rob-
394 L. O. W.
ertson is charged with cash paid for his share of an Assembly (or ball) at Cox's, £14-2-6— "Sold Dr. Harffy for the Assembly 5 gallons No. A Maderia at 34sh." — "Your subscription for a horse race, 16sh." — "7 Ibs. scented hair powder at 4sh." — "4 yds. fashionable silk gauze at 16 sh."-— "Lent Mr. Reward for mending a silk stocking, 2sh." — "1 pr. Lady's silver shoe buckles £3-4"--"! pr. gold enamelled shoe buckles, £8"- "1 pr. engraved gold sleeve buttons, £4-10" — "Em- broidered satin vest, £10-14-8" — "A fine dress cap for Mrs. Ridley adorned with very rich flowers and a white feather, £4-16"— "5 half dollars won at cards"- "To 1 neat chair, gilt, French varnish, with arms, &c. £92-16-5"--"! gauze apron and ruffles, £3."
Only from such papers as these can future genera- tions learn the evolution of our money system. Hard money, or cash, was scarce enough in the little town at any time, but with what dismay we of today would be told we were shopping under the handicap of differ- ent valuations for the unit. English, or sterling, cur- rency really fixed the rate, but Halifax currency, at a variable advance on sterling, was the standard in Que- bec and Montreal, and trade with the eastern colonies had introduced the "York shilling," 60% advance on Halifax. Mr. Askin's ledger for 1795-1798 has rules for the ready reduction of money, which includes "Reduction of English money to New York currency when the advance of Halifax on sterling is given." If a leading merchant felt the necessity of a "ready reckoner" what must it have been for those less skilled in calculation. Then there was the French currency of livres, sols and deniers, used for daily wages. All the bateau, or canoe, men were paid in this. The
DETROIT PUBLIC LIBRARY 395
value of trading equipments and furs was likewise so calculated. John Asian's invoice book of 1798-1799 is ruled for Sterling and Halifax (Halifax 80 per cent advance on Sterling) and an account for furs amount- ing to 1,454 livres is also given as £60-11-8 Halifax, or £96-18-8 New York. Notice that this is a rough cal- culation from Halifax to New York, using the 60 per cent advance on each unit separately and not on the total as a whole.
We have mentioned the standard units only. To a student of the currency previous to 1800 there are many other references. A single receipt from James Sterling to Charles Moran in 1773 mentions livres, ecus (or crowns) and New York currency, — the whole summed in livres and changed to the pounds, shillings and pence of New York. John Askin writes from Michilimackinac in 1778, "Mr. C. Morrison is here . . . he got 28 American paper dollars for a half Joe ($4). Judge the repute of their currency." In 1786, Commodore Grant offered a bounty of a half Joe to all who would engage in the Lake service for another year. An account book for trade in the Indian country in 1786 has the value of items carried out in beaver currency. In 1800, Point de Sable's bill of sale stipulates for "6000 livres de vingt cop- pers," or the full value of twenty sous, — a copper coin, —to the livre. Point de Sable takes no chances on local variance. He may even wish to insure cash pay- ment. Financial panics were not unknown, and the close of the eighteenth century showed such depression that old traders spoke of it as beyond anything in their entire experience. Alexander Henry of Mon- treal predicts bankruptcy for most of the merchants
L. O. W.
"unless it rains a shower of half Joes." Richard Cart- wright, of Kingston, says he is willing to have his account with Mr. Askin settled in good buffalo robes, "mockson" leather, and even a Mackinac feather bed or two. But Mr. Askin has neither feather beds, leather nor robes.
Such financial stress was the inevitable consequence of uncertainty and change. From 1796, with the coming of the Americans, Detroit assumed a different atmosphere. Individual documents are largely identi- fied with the organization of geographical boundaries and of systematized government, — Detroit as an in- corporated town, Wayne County, and Michigan as a Territory. The papers of this time are invaluable for historical reference. The Sibley papers alone are a mine of information. The Woodbridge papers, the Cass papers, all carry us through the War of 1812, supplemented by photostatic copies of government records from Washington. But it is in the personal papers we get the sudden revelation of actual- condi- tions^—letters written with no thought of future refer- ence. John Anderson and his wife have been left in charge of the home of Solomon Sibley who had taken his family to Marietta through the crisis, . : and Mr, Anderson writes that it has helped much to have the two cows and milk for the sick soldiers. Every night he goes out and tells the soldiers they must respect Mr. Sibley's property. Charles Askin writes to his father from Queenston, "Old Hull is far his superior as a general," referring to Gen. Smith.
With the return to normal conditions, there is rapid progress in city and state development. The Williams papers for the three decades following the
DETROIT PUBLIC LIBRARY 397
War of 1812 seem to cover every phase of human inter- est, commercial, political, military, social and religious. We wonder somewhat at the foresight and versatility of Detroit's first elected mayor until we remember his training and his daily intercourse as a youth with his uncle, Joseph Campau, that master of early finance in Detroit. But there is much natural shrewdness and ambition. When only fourteen, he bargains with his uncle for a clerkship under him, his services (trans- lated from the French) "what I ought to do, or all that is required of a clerk, " in return for board, lodging, evenings at school witfi a good master, and clothing. This last he mentions as a chief hindrance to his com- ing at once, "I am in great need of clothing, and this is a present necessity," as though he fears his uncle might exact service first. Three years later we have expressions of Mr. Campau's confidence in the still youthful John. Writing from Fort Erie he says (also translated from the French), "I am assured of your good disposition and of your judgment as far as you know. Try always to keep in mind the price of goods in Sterling so that you are sure of a profit, but if you find there will be any advantage in buying at other rates, take some money and make the purchases. Keep your goods well assorted and do not allow the other merchants to get the start of you in this, in my absence. Try to be patient with the savages, so as not to drive them from the shop. Always be discreet in business, anything else is fatal. I assure you I am not disturbed about my affairs. You know my trade and my way of doing things. You will always follow this and do even better. You may give credit to those who you know are capable of paying. Take all kinds
398 L. (X W.
of grain at the current price, but chiefly wheat. Try to make those pay who owe me and neglect nothing. I close by wishing you good health."
Such a business manual to the youth and the les- sons so learned proved to be Detroit's gain in later years. Many are the memorials and petitions in this well-known and perfect script, — to "The Mayor, Alder- men, recorder & freemen of the city of Detroit/' in 1827, for a lot suitable for the erection of a Chamber of Commerce, — to "The Honorable, the Legislative Coun- cil of Michigan Territory," in 1834, for the incorpora- tion of an insurance company with banking privileges. For half a century John R. Williams omitted no cal to serve his native city. Nor did others of like calibre. And it is all on record for students of history or ec< nomics.
Through the nineteenth century we may follow th< development of Michigan as a State in the various papers where some one interest was the moving factor. The Trowbridge, Hastings and S. D. Miller papei are largely of banking interest, though it would decidedly unjust to limit them to one issue. Es] cially are we impressed with the capacity of C. Trowbridge for business, church and family trusts Sometimes he advises from "experience dearly pi chased." He is the plank road man of Michigan, the papers of James F. Joy show the railroad financier. Michigan surveys are given in the John Mullett papers. A century of legal interest is covered by the Sibley, Woodbridge, Emmons, Howard, Moore and Duffield papers. The papers of Gov. Austin Blair, with others of society and hospital record, and individual letters, show Michigan's unstinted share in the Civil War.
DETROIT PUBLIC LIBRARY 399
It is a source of much gratification to Mr. Burton and the Library administration that family papers of rare interest are being added to the Collection and thus made accessible for research work. Mr. John Bell Moran recently supplemented the gift of his father, John Vallee Moran, to Mr. Burton some years ago, with a further donation that brings the Moran family papers within a century period, 1758 to 1847. Miss Hinchman donates Civil War papers of her uncle, Col. Marshall Wright Chapin, of Detroit. Mr. Burton has just located a manuscript letter of Gov. Cass, of fourteen pages, to Postmaster Lanman, of Monroe, in 1820, in which Mr. Cass discusses the Indian situa- tion and states clearly his reasons for the stand he takes that no amendment is advisable of the Act of Congress then in force regulating Indian trade and intercourse.
That the Burton Collection was a timely and a valu- able gift to the City of Detroit through its Public Library will be more and more evident as the years leave fewer traces of former days; that it was appre- ciated by his fellow citizens as expressed by the Board of Library Commissioners may be read from the mural tablet in bronze at the entrance to the Collection in the new Public Library:
IN HONOR OF
CLARENCE MONROE BURTON A CITIZEN OF DETROIT.
HIS GENIUS AND INTEREST LAY IN THE
COLLECTION OF THE ORIGINAL SOURCES OF
HISTORY OF THIS
CITY AND STATE AND
OF THE NORTHWEST
TERRITORY. HAVING
DEVOTED A LIFETIME
OF EFFORT TO THIS
WORK HE PRESENTED
THE RESULTS OF HIS
INTEREST AND INDUSTRY
TO HIS FELLOW CITIZENS
ANNO
DOMINI
M C M X X I
(400)
HISTORICAL WORK IN MICHIGAN
BY ALVAH L. SAWYER (President Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society)
MENOMINEE
TN THIS day, when it is a recognized fact that the • women of the country are doing a large part of the historical work, it is not to be wondered at that I, a mere man, felt highly complimented on being invited to discuss this topic before your Club, and I accepted the privilege as an honor, and with pleasure.
Why it is that the women of today are more active than the men in historical work may be a question. Some have attributed the situation to the fact that men are more absorbed in business affairs and find 'little time to interest themselves in current events. JBe this as it may, it is my opinion that, besides the pleasure found in historical work there is also a duty commanding it, and I am therefore led to inquire as to i whether or not it may be that women are first to recog- nize the duty.
It does seem to be a fact, however, with both women and men, that, once well started, the work be- omes attractive and yields its own reward. The con- Hi -ion follows, that the secret of success in this work is o get the people well started in it, and it will grow be- cause of its own merit and attractiveness.
As to the duty of every person to perform his or her share of historical work, it has been well said that a
Read at the History Day program of the Women's Club, Iron Mountain, Jan. 26.
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402 ALVAH L. SAWYER
people which does not honor the memory of its fore- bears does not deserve to be and will not be honored by those who come after.
It is in line with this sentiment that I compliment your club in its work, in its recognition of the call to duty, and I ask and urge you to continue until the inspiration of the work is extended to all your people.
Had I been asked to deliver a sermon instead of a simple address I would have selected as my text that passage from the Holy Writ,
" Honor thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long upon the earth which the Lord, thy God, gaveth thee."
Wherein does this Divine command differ, in senti- ment, from that first referred to; the application, his- torically, being that we must honor our ancestors, our forebears, if we would ourselves deserve or expect to be honored, — that our days should be long. Here, then we find the obligation. Our work is made doubly pleasurable, first, in the realization of duty performed, second, in the incentive connected with the work from its educational standpoint. From a utilitarian stand- point I may add that it should find favor in the business world where it is recognized that ''experience is a dear teacher/' and that it is an element of economy to profit , by the experience of others. History not only ac-; quaints us with the experience of generations gone1 before, but it acquaints us with the trials and hard-, ships under which that experience was had, and thej result is, not simply knowledge, of much value, but! the development of a reverence for our pioneers, and a loyalty to the Government they so worked to estab-1 lish.
HISTORICAL WORK IN MICHIGAN 403
No lover of History can be other than a patriot.
Historical work is in the first line of American propaganda.
To talk to you upon "Historical Work in Michigan" is a far different task from talking upon the History of Michigan. The latter would have to begin in remote ages and be based on such evidences as are found em- bedded in, or chiseled by the winds and waters upon the rocks.
Historical Work combines the study of that part of history through tl\e many changes of many cen- turies down to and through the many more recent changes to the present day. A thorough study of history from its beginnings, finds many satisfying evidences within our own State where there have been radical changes in the formation of land and water divisions and our water courses. That this country was for a long period of time entirely and heavily covered with the glacial drift is established by much evidence, but leaving wide fields for conjecture as to time and effects.
Then, too, we come to the fact that during the period of modern history this part of the country has been subjected to the savagery of the Indians, and to the successive rule of France, England and the United States.
As to Historical Work within the State, its com- mencement should undoubtedly be credited to the Jesuite Fathers, who in their efforts to civilize and christianize the Indians, penetrated the wilderness, and plied their Holy work along our Lake boundaries, back in the 17th century. For a period of forty years they made record of their religious work in this part
404 ALVAH L. SAWYER
of the world, and incidentally therein they made men- tion of, and thereby recorded for our use, many items of great historical value, including much as to the habits and customs of the Indians, geological and geo- graphic conditions, and sad to say, the effects of French military control, because of which the great work of the faithful Missionaries was forced to be abandoned.
Following that short period of civilized visitation this country lapsed into and passed through a century and a half of barbarism, so dense that little light has permitted records upon the pages of history.
It was not until near the beginning of the nineteenth century that real civil history may be said to have had its beginning in Michigan; strategic points only having theretofore played prominent parts, and those from a military standpoint.
You, of course, know that the American Flag was first flung to the breezes of Michigan in 1796, when Captain Porter, with a detachment of troops from Gen. Wayne's army, took possession of Detroit. That year Wayne County was organized, not as a part of Michigan, but as a part of the Northwest Territory. It included what is now Michigan, and portions of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin, with the County Seat located at Detroit. It is therefore proper to say that organized government began, in Michigan, in 1796, but in the Upper Peninsula, the British Flag held sway, at Sault Ste. Marie, until 1820.
Territorial Government was established in 1805, and Michigan became a State in 1837. Even then large areas, especially in the } Upper j Peninsula, con- tinued a wilderness of the wildest kind.
It can be well understood why, in those trying
HISTORICAL WORK IN MICHIGAN 405
times of the beginnings of local government, while the pioneers were battling not only with forests and swamps, but also with savages, they found little time, and probably little incentive, for historical work, and it was not until about 1871 that organized work in that line was begun.
In that year a call was issued for a meeting of
"Gentlemen who have been permanent residents
of Detroit and vicinity for thirty years or more,"
and at that meeting the Pioneer Society of Detroit
was organized. •
The first Legislative action in the line of this work was in 1873, when a joint resolution was passed direct- ing the State Librarian to issue a printed circular in- viting the citizens of the State to deposit in the State Library mineral and geological specimens, and books, pamphlets and papers pertaining to the history of Michigan; also Indian relics and curios of any kind.
During the same month the Legislature passed an act providing for the incorporation of State, County and Municipal, Historical, Biographical, and Geologi- cal Societies.
Here, again, we find a woman prominent in the active beginning of historical work in Michigan. Mrs. Harriet S. Tenney, State Librarian, in June of that year, in obedience to said resolution, issued a very comprehensive and interesting circular, which was widely distributed, and which was the active beginning of a work that has been and is being continued, and which has already resulted in the acquisition by the State of a very valuable, indeed a priceless Historical Collection.
The work thus once started; the inspiration spread
406 ALVAH L. SAWYER
throughout the State, and, upon the suggestion of the Detroit Daily Post, a meeting was held in Lansing, in March, 1874, followed by an adjourned meeting April 22, of the same year, at which the present Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society was organized, although its name was then "Michigan Pioneer Society."
The collection of material called for by the Libra- rian's circular, accelerated, and the importance of which was emphasized by the activities of the Society and its members, evidenced much interest in the work.
At the annual meeting of the Society in 1876 there was appointed a "Committee of Historians," to pre- pare the material on hand for publication, and to solicit, from each county, papers relating to the early history of the counties,
"so as to preserve a history of the State given by • , the pioneers themselves."
This "Committee of Historians" issued a circular which was sent to several persons in each county call- ing for the desired material.
That the response was general is shown by the re- port of the Committee, made in November of that year, with the material for Volume 1, of the Michigan Pioneer Collections ready for publication.
A glance at that volume speaks strongly in praise of the efficiency and activity of that Committee, and the civic pride and patriotism of the citizens through- out the State (worthy of emulation today).
This portion of the State was then a part of Menom- inee County, and its early development, including mineral discoveries, found mention by the pen of Judge Eleazer S. Ingalls, who that year wrote the Centennial History of Menominee County, who was
HISTORICAL WORK IN MICHIGAN 407
progressive pioneer and did much in the making of Michigan History; having formulated and secured the enactment of the law organizing Menominee County, and in many other ways he was active in governmental as well as physical development, and at the same time active in historical work.
The work of the Society thus commenced has been continued until, in a series of 39 volumes, it comprises a history, "by the pioneers themselves," of incalculable value to the State. It is being continued in the form of the Michigan History Magazine which I will men- tion again later, and in a series of documentary vol- umes.
Aside from the collection of historical papers men- tioned, there has been a large collection of relics in a wide range of interest, of positively incalculable value, being representative of places, ages, times and people, covering the entire State, and they now constitute Michigan's Historical Museum, which can and should be preserved and added to for the benefit of present and future generations.
One cannot view these two magnificent collections of records and relics without a realization of the ex- tensive, persistent, untiring, and yet volunteer efforts that have been put forth by the workers of the past fifty years, nor without being aroused to a sense of duty in the people of today to make certain the preservation of those collections, and the continuance of the work.
In 1888 the name of the State society was changed to the present name of "Michigan Pioneer and His- torical Society," and the name of the published col- lections has been changed, accordingly.
In 1913 the Legislature created the "Michigan His-
408 ALVAH L. SAWYER
torical Commission," and provided it with an ap- propriation for carrying on its work. The Governor is, ex-officio, a member of the Commission. It has been the general practice to appoint the other mem- bers of the Commission from the personnel of the Board of Trustees of the Society, with the result that these two Historical bodies have acted jointly and harmoniously, without duplication of work.
With the appropriation granted, the Commission defrays expenses that could not otherwise be afforded, and this includes compensation for a Secretary who acts as such for the Society as well.
Dr. George N. Fuller, who had been especially fitted for the position by his work at Harvard, Yale and the University of Michigan, was chosen as Secre- tary, and in that capacity he has been of great value to the State. In addition to his Secretarial work he has, in an executory way, added much to Michigan's recording of History, by the production of a number of Historical volumes on various topics, and he is pi ducing an exceptionally fine work in the Michigan History Magazine.
It is the purpose of the State Society to encourj organization of local societies in each county and maintain close relationship therewith, thereby to pe] feet, in detail, the Historical records of the entii State.
It was largely to extend this feature of the work throughout the Upper Peninsula that it was decided by the State Society to hold mid-summer meetings in this Peninsula, and to hold the same from place to place, jointly with local societies. Six such annual
HISTORICAL WORK IN MICHIGAN 409
meetings have been held, and with increasing popu- larity, thus proving the wisdom of the plan.
The meeting at L'Anse last summer was very en- thusiastic, even to the attendance upon a White Fish Dinner at which the Society and visiting friends were elaborately entertained by the citizens, at Pequaming Point, where, at a conservative estimate, one hun- dred and fifty automobiles were parked in the woods surrounding the picturesque site of the generous feast. Not all the enthusiasm was exhausted, however, in the dinner. On the contrary each session of the con- vention was largely attended and much enthusiasm in the work was exhibited.
Next summer the joint meeting is to be held at Mackinac Island, and the historic incidents of that place, alone, should cause the inspiration necessary to secure a large attendance, to say nothing of the good program that may be expected.
Before closing I want to make special mention of a few important features of present historical work and needs in Michigan.
First. Is that of support for the Michigan History Magazine. The small sum of one dollar, sent to Sec- retary Fuller at Lansing, will make you a member of the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society, and at the same time bring you the Magazine, quarterly, for a year. The Magazine, alone, is well worth the price, and I do not hesitate to recommend it to all my friends, as an investment, to say nothing of my interest in se- curing for the Society a large and representative mem- bership throughout the State, and especially through- out this Peninsula, and to say nothing of the pleasure
410 ALVAH L. SAWYER
it will bring you to be engaged in this state-wide work.
Second. Let me mention the importance of mark- ing historic places. Every locality has places of his- toric interest, at least locally, and the importance thereof will increase with the passing of time. It is important to mark them now, when it may be done with accuracy, even should your markers be temporary, to be replaced by permanent ones as opportunity affords.
Then, too, historic places are matters of first interest to tourists, and their erection will aid in the attraction and holding of the tourist traffic, which is of so much interest and importance that the Upper Peninsula Development Bureau is exerting strenuous efforts to encourage it, and in those efforts is included the marking of Historic spots.
Third. Let me mention that the laws of Michigan especially authorize Boards of Supervisors of counties to appropriate, not to exceed $200 in any year, to aid in marking Historic places, and a further like sum for other historical work. With the aid of such ap- propriations, systematic effort, to a reasonable degree, will accomplish much in a few years.
Fourth. I desire again, because of its great import- ance, to call your attention to the next mid-summer meeting to be held at Mackinac Island in July, 1922, the dates for which will be announced at an early day. In addition to an attractive program, there will be the opportunity to, at one and the same time, combine a delightful summer outing with a visit to that place, of all Historic spots in Michigan, so inspiring because of its fullness of interesting events in early history,
HISTORICAL WORK IN MICHIGAN 411
and its combination of picturesque grandeur, in which both land and water strive for precedence. Then, too, permit me to call your attention to the fact that this meeting will afford an opportunity to bridge the natural channel that divides the two Peninsulas of our great State, when history workers and history lovers of both can clasp hands on common ground. Pardon personal mention, when I say that I made mention of this fact in a recent talk at a D. A. R. conference in Detroit, and there I threw down the gauntlet to the people of the Lower Peninsula in the matter of attend- ance, feeling assured that it would require but a simple announcement to the loyal citizens of the Upper Pen- insula, to secure their attendance, en masse, to meet our southern friends. This is an occasion when George should not say, "Let Mary do it," but both George and Mary should go and share the pleasures, and duties, awaiting us there.
I realize that my subdivisions have already become rather numerous, but I feel impelled to make use of this opportunity to add a
Fifth. For I desire to mention that most of the counties in the State have regularly organized His- torical Societies, some of which are very active, and each county owes to itself, as well as to the State, the organization and maintenance of such a local Society. Except in two or three places organized work in the Upper Peninsula is comparatively new, and needs to be pushed and encouraged, so that this entire Penin- sula may be alive with Historical activity; splendid examples of which are to be found in the Keweenaw Peninsula and in Marquette County, where the busi- ness public and citizens in general have become
412 ALVAH L. SAWYER
aroused to the pleasure and benefits afforded, and where frequent meetings are well attended.
In this connection let me further say that I shall feel a personal pride in the result, if historical work is perceptibly advanced in this Peninsula during this year, and I'll tell you why. You know that it has long been felt that in the affairs of the State the Upper Peninsula has fared scantily, and some loud complaints have been uttered. It seems to be a fact that there is a slight awakening to our complaints, and the awaken- ing is evidenced in the action of the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society which, for the first time in his- tory, has chosen its President from the Upper Penin- sula. While I am proud of the honor that fell to me I realize that it was because of my good fortune in being a resident of our beautiful Peninsula, rather than from personal merit, that the honor fell to me. It is yours, it belongs to the whole Peninsula as a recog- nition of the dawning realization that we are a con- siderable part of Michigan. Will not the Peninsula justify the realization, and permit the announcement, at the next annual meeting, of an active increase in our work; in the organization of new societies and an expansion of the work of others.
If you will permit me another subdivision, Sixth (which I positively promise will be my last), I will call to your attention one of the most, if not the most important duty of the citizens of Michigan, from an Historical standpoint. It is the construc- tion of a State Historical Building. As has already been said, Michigan has a very valuable Historical Collection. It must be seen to be: appreciated. It is
HISTORICAL WORK IN MICHIGAN 413
in danger of loss by fire, and we have no suitable or adequate space in which to display it; consequently we are deprived of its full benefits. It is tucked away in the attic of the Capitol and much of it is packed in boxes because of lack of room for display. It is the result of fifty years of Historical activity, and it is priceless. The largest part of it, if destroyed, cannot be replaced. The loss of it would be immeasurable and irretrievable. We owe it to those who have col- lected it, to ourselves and to our descendants, yes, we of today, owe it to our State to see that it is preserved. Besides this the working facilities of our Historical organizations are grossly inadequate to the require- ments. We need a new Building. To say we need it, ought to be equivalent to saying we must have it. Our sister States have such buildings, some of them magni- ficent in design, and commodious in scope and ar- rangement. Why not Michigan? Why not one ade- quate to our demands, and worthy of our great and progressive State.
Prior Presidents of our State Society have been wont, for years, to call attention, from time to time, to this great need, but the public was not aroused, and there seems to have been a general feeling that we should "let George do it" and George has been loth to start the work.
Finally, however, at the annual meeting of the Society in 1920 a Committee was appointed to take up the matter. After several meetings, considering financial conditions in the State, the Committee con- cluded that the time was not ripe for launching the project. However, at the last annual meeting the Committee was continued and we may expect that
414
ALVAH L. SAWYER
when conditions are favorable, a plan will be reported. I have spoken of it thus at length because of its great importance, and so then when the project is launched we may be prepared to "get behind" and help to "put it over" for the glory of Michigan, and in honor of her pioneers.
WHAT ABOUT MICHIGAN ARCHEOLOGY?
BY GEO. R. Fox (Director, The Edward K. Warren Foundation)
THREE OAKS
A MICHIGAN'S work in the historical field is second *-**• to none of other states of the Union. Through the activities of the* Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society and under the supervision of the Michigan Historical Commission, a vast amount of material has been collected, edited and given to the world; and much more is retained in the archives or is waiting to be handled.
The work of the Society and of the Commission comprehends in a large measure only the broader fields of Michigan History. Each county, each city, even each township and village will find a wealth of materials but waiting the coming of an interested recorder. By far the greater will be but of local interest, but there are some materials to be found nearly everywhere in Michigan that reach into the wider field of the State.
These are designated remains archeological, the works of an aboriginal people in days when there was no Michigan; and can best be comprehended when studied in their statewide relations. While they are usually considered under an historical head, they do not depend for their value upon written records. Over- lapping with the historic periods on one side, on the other they extend backward into time an unknown distance. Though Michigan has an excellent record
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416 GKO. B. Fox
on the historical field, her work in archeology of her own territory is not so praiseworthy.
Michigan's fame in this field goes back fifty years and rests largely upon types of remains which attract- ed great attention at that time. These were the "Mich- igan garden beds/' and the "aboriginal copper mines." Concerning the first, similar remains have been found in many states; in her possession of the pits from which the aborigines digged then* copper, Michigan stands alone. But of the other remains in the State little was said; they received scant attention.
For the purpose of this article references to papers dealing with Michigan archeology are necessary. The bibliography on this subject other than minor references in books and reports, is brief. Including only papers which deal with this subject, of all articles which deal with Michigan antiquities, nearly one-half concern the copper working on Isle Royale and the Keweenaw Peninsula.
Articles from the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections are:
"Prehistoric and Modern Copper Mines of Lake Superior," by Samuel L. Smith, Vol. 39, pp. 137-151.
"Prehistoric Man on Lake Superior," by John T. Reeder, Vol. 30, pp. 110-118.
"The Mound-Builders and their Work in Michigan," by Henry H. Riley, Vol. 3, pp. 41-48 (partly on the copper pits).
"The Mound-Builders in Michigan," by Henry Gilman, Vol. 3, pp. 202-212 (largely "Ancient Mining at Isle Royale, Michigan").
From other sources:
"Mound-Builders and Platycnemism in Michi-
WHAT ABOUT MICHIGAN ARCHEOLOGY? 417
gan," by Henry Oilman in the Smithsonian Report for 1873, pp. 364-390; fully one-half the article is given over to a discussion of prehistoric copper mining on Isle Royale.
Aboriginal mines in Keweenaw County are describ- ed by Henry Oilman in the Smithsonian Report for 1874.
"Aboriginal Copper Mines of Isle Royale," by Wm. H. Holmes, in the American Anthropologist, N. S. Vol. 3, pp. 684-696.
" Ancient Mines on the Shores of Lake Superior," by Chas. Whittlesey, Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, 1863, p. 17.
"Precolumbian Copper Mining in North America," by R. L. Packard in the Smithsonian Report for 1892.
Of articles on other than these primitive mines, the list is short. From the Michigan Pioneer and Histori- cal Collections,
"Ancient Garden Beds," by Bela Hubbard, Vol. 2, pp. 21-35.
"Saginaw County as a center of Aboriginal Popula- tion," by Fred Dustin, Vol. 39, pp. 252-260.
"Prehistoric Forts in Macomb County," by Geo. H. Cannon, Vol. 38, pp. 73-78.
"Mounds and Mound Builders in Saginaw Valley," by W. R. McCormick, Vol. 4, pp. 379-383.
"Mounds and Circles on Rabbit River," by H. D. Post, Vol. 3, pp. 296-298.
These with the two articles previously quoted by < Oilman and Riley on Mound-Builders, comprise nearly ill the extended material in the Collections giving defin- te locations and treating of different groups. There
418 GBO. B. Fox
are a few more treating of archeology as a whole, and a host of references in other articles which mention and sometimes locate mounds, enclosures, village sites, garden beds and the like. But a few of these need be mentioned to show how the references are found.
In "Early History of Berrien County," by Damon A. Winslow, Vol. 1, on page 124 he describes an Indian burial ground. Under " Resources of Michigan/' Vol. 12, pp. 390, ten mounds are listed for Ontwa Township, Cass County. On page 509, in Vol. 17, G. W. Moore in " Historical Sketch of Medina Township, Lenawee County, Michigan/' locates two groups of mounds, one of ten, the other of forty units.
In addition to this material in the Collections, there are Harlan I. Smith's "Summary of the Archeology of Saginaw Valley," published in three parts in the American Anthropologist, N. S. Vol. 3, Nos. 2, 3 and 4, and his "Primitive Remains in the Saginaw Valley, Michigan; the Ayres Mound," in The Archeologist, Vol. 3, No. 3.
The Smithsonian Institute of Washington, D. C.,j in its annual Reports has published some valuable papers on Michigan archeology.
"Ancient Mounds in Clinton County, Michigan," and "Ancient Forts in Ogemaw County, Michigan," both appear in the Report for 1884, pp. 839-851. Both! were written by M. L. Leach of Traverse City.
The report for 1879 lists several mounds and mounc groups on pages 434-435. The most extensive work or Michigan archeology appears to have been done bj Henry Oilman. His "Mound-builders and Platycnem ism in Michigan," Report for 1873, pp. 365-390, besides the account of the copper workings on Isle Royale
WHAT ABOUT MICHIGAN ARCHEOLOGY?
419
BAP
Showing the Approximate locations of ITcunds in the Lower Peninsula
Largely from the lists
prepared by Harlan I. Smith
FOUKDATICK
420 OEO. R. Fox
contains several plats on which are accurately located many mounds .and mound, groups in the Southern Peninsula.
The most valuable work for archeology in Michigan has been done by Harlan I. Smith, now Archeologist to the Geological Survey of Canada. Two papers published by him under the Michigan Geological and Biological Survey are ths first attempts to collect all possible information on this subject and to systema- tize the knowledge.
Publication 1, Biological Series 1, contains his first paper, which lists alphabetically and geographically 389 sites of mounds, villages, cemeteries, garden beds, enclosures and a few other antiquities.
In publication 10, Biological Series 3, pp. 167-180, is his "Memoranda Toward a Bibliography of the Archeology of Michigan." In this are listed only major references or easily found articles. None of the minor notes in the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections, previously mentioned here, find a place.
Using Smith's list of aboriginal sites as a base, and ; including all references found in the 39 volumes of Collections, three maps of the Lower Peninsula have i been prepared. These cover the three major classes of remains: (a) mounds, (b) earthworks, enclosures, circles, etc., and (c) garden beds.
It has been considered necessary to delineate only the Lower Peninsula, for there are reported from the Northern Peninsula neither enclosures nor garden beds, and only three mounds. One of these is (or was in Henry Gilman's day) on Point La Barbe on the north side of the Straits of Mackinac, and the other two are on the Ontonagon River in Ontonagon County. There may
WHAT ABOUT MICHIGAN ARCHEOLOGY?
421
MAP
Locating approximately THE ENCLOSURES, EECt- AITCDLAR ENCLOSURES, CIRCULAR MOUNDS AND EMBANKMENTS in Michigan
-From the list* of H.I. Smith and the volumes of the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society
/ THE KDBARD K. '=""°hEH FOlOTUTIOi- of Three Cake
422 ..Quo. B. Fox
be great numbers of antiquities in this part of the State but unfortunately no one has yet reported them. That this has not been done may be due partly to the fact that this region is about where the Southern Peninsula was seventy years ago, pioneer land. The great majority of early settlers cared but little for aboriginal remains; usually they only noticed them when the earthworks interfered with their utilization of the soil. Later in life when they began to take an interest in historical matters, they recalled where stood these remains left by a prehistoric people.
On the map (a) showing^the mounds, there are checked 168 sites. While thejmajority of these marks stand for a single mound, some represent groups of from two to forty members. Taking Berrien County as a fair average for all the State, the four crosses in this county stand for eight mounds, an average of two mounds to a group. With this proportion holding for the State as reported, only 339 mounds are known, of which all are in the Southern Peninsula save three. And of these 339 it is doubtful if twenty-five per cent are in existence today.
A glance at the map shows that the mounds are found in greatest numbers from the St. Joseph River in Berrien County northeast to Saginaw Bay, with a narrower belt encircling the whole peninsula and follow- ing the shoreline. One-half the counties appear to have no mounds. This can hardly be the case, and if a thorough survey were made, mounds would probably be found in all.
On map (c) the "B" stands for garden bed groups It will likewise be noticed that they are practically all
WHAT ABOUT MICHIGAN' ARCHEOLOGY?
423'
tiff
Shoeing the approx- •cate locations of •GARDENBBDS
in tho Lower Peninsula
from
Lists of H&rlwi /I. Smith and tb the volujree of the Klchigen Pioneer end Historical Society
Prepared by Geo.R.Fox
424 OBO. B. Fox
included in the Saginaw Bay-St. Joseph Belt. These plots number 30.
On the third map (b) are shown the enclosures. The circles and the few squares mark the points at which old forts, circular mounds, circles, enclosures, the class of antiquity described by many similar names, were located. While it is possible that some of the circular mounds here recorded are really tumuli, wherever the term "circular mound" has been found it has been inferred that an enclosure was meant.
It is plainly evident at once that these enclosures are found in different groupings from either of the other two classes. On the map, 59 localities are check- ed, each circle standing for a single enclosure. On all three maps the locations are only approximate; an attempt has been made to put each recorded antiquity as nearly that part of the county as the map will permit but in some cases so many are reported from one locality that the best that could be done was to put the correct number in the county.
These three maps are given, and the articles giving something of Michigan archeology are listed in order that a bird's-eye view may be obtained of what is known of Michigan's prehistoric remains. The impor- tant papers in the Bibliography number twenty-two. Possibly there are more, though not many. Of these, nine deal wholly or in large part with the aboriginal copper mines. Ten (or twelve including Gilman and Riley's articles) are concerned with remains on the Southern Peninsula; and of these, four refer to Saginaw Valley and its archeology. The maps locate 168 mound groups, 30 garden bed plats, and 59 enclosures.
Why this paucity of aboriginal remains in Michigan?
WHAT ABOUT MICHIGAN ARCHEOLOGY? 425
Why are the articles concerning them so few? Largely because they have not been reported and no one has taken the trouble to write of them. No historian, burdened with important historical work, can take the time to investigate reported archeology sites without neglecting the more important work of recording and studying the phases of historic development in the past and in the present. In some instances, when archeology work is dominant, historical investigation is relegated to to second place; in others wholly neglected. In some other places the two types of historical study proceed side by side without'interference, one with another.
It is easy to criticize, but this paper is attempting solely to point out a constructive program which if undertaken it is hoped will result in Michigan's antiqui- ties being located, platted and recorded, and possibly some of them preserved.
There appear to be three ways in which this might be done. First, have the State establish an archeological survey and appropriate sufficient funds for its mainte- nance. This was attempted some years ago, without success in obtaining the appropriation.
Secondly, form a society of those interested in arche- ology and have these members undertake the work in their vicinities: the result of their work can be pub- lished in The Michigan History Magazine and sent to all members. Such a society might be incorporated independently of other organizations, as a ward of the State; or it might be placed under the guidance of the Michigan Historical Commission; or even under the Biological Survey of Michigan, for it is a question whether or not ethnology and archeology are not as closely allied to biology as to history.
426 GEO. R. Fox
Thirdly, there might be a combination of the two forms; a society with a secretary or other official maintained by the State, the reports to be published as State documents and with a membership paying dues to the society.
That it may be seen what Michigan might do, here is a brief record of what Wisconsin has done.
Up to about the year 1900, Wisconsin was in much the condition archeologically that Michigan is at the present. There were no records and but little literature save the survey made by Increase A. Lapham. The results of his work were issued as The Antiquities of Wisconsin, about 1855 as one of the Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge. Of lists, such as Harlan I. Smith's "Sites of Aboriginal Remains in Michigan," Wisconsin had none.
But shortly after 1900 a number of men interested in archeology formed the Wisconsin Archeological Society, which was incorporated March 23, 1903, for the purpose of advancing the study and the preserva- tion of Wisconsin's antiquities. Three classes of mem- bership were instituted, annual, sustaining, and life; and since its beginning, the membership has varied from 300 to 600 and is slowly increasing.
Incorporated as a ward of the State, the quarterly magazine, The Wisconsin Archeologist, is issued as a State publication, the Legislature appropriating each year a small sum for this purpose. The funds derived from the dues of the members are used wholly in meet- ing the necessary expenses and in surveying and re- search work. After several years of activity when the results accomplished by the Society were plainly in
WHAT ABOUT MICHIGAN ARCHEOLOGY? 427
evidence, the Legislature appropriated a sum for a sur- vey of the archeological remains of the State.
In the period before the appropriation was received, many members had done extensive field work, defraying all expenses from their own pockets. And when the money was received from the State, the Society determined not to expend one cent for salaries, but to use the whole amount in paying only the necessary expenses of parties on the survey; the members doing the work gladly donated their time and received from the funds only sufficient to cover their traveling expenses. All ac- counts were handled through and audited by the Wis- consin State Treasurer.
As a result of the work of the Society extending over nearly twenty years, Wisconsin today has many volumes of reports dealing with her antiquities. In no State is more known concerning its aboriginal remains than in Wisconsin.
The Society's magazine, The Wisconsin Archeolo- gist, first appeared in October, 1901, and up to the pres- ent time 75 numbers containing from 100 to 250 pages have been issued. The articles are well illustrate^, and deal not only with the recordjs in the State but many cover the field that interests the collector, as a few titles taken from various issues will show:
"Aboriginal Pipes of Wisconsin/' by Geo. A. West, Vol. 4, No. 3.
"Native Copper Implements of Wisconsin," C. E. Brown, Vol. 3, No. 2.
"Implement Caches of Wisconsin," Chas. E. Brown, Vol. 6, No. 2.
"Birdstone Ceremonials of Wisconsin," by Brown, Vol. 8, No. 1.
428 GEO. R. Fox
"Silver Trade Crosses," by Chas. E. Brown, Vol. 9, No. 4.
While at one time perhaps the majority of the mem- bers were interested in the society from a collector's standpoint, even from the beginning the greater part of the articles were devoted to the science of archeology and to recording the remains. Articles discussing types, such as ''Intaglios," "Gardenbeds," "Cornhills," and the like have been issued. But one of the most valuable pieces of work of the society was the issue of The Record of Wisconsin Antiquities, which appeared in the April, 1905, issue of the magazine; this was long before a systematic survey was undertaken, but even at that time, after the issue of "The Record" corrections and additions poured in at such a rate that within the next few years three more additions to "The Record" were issued..
When the survey was begun it was found most feasible to study the remains by regions, rather than attempt to work a whole county at one time. Conse- quently, of the reports issued, a large proportion are devoted to the different sections. Many of the surveys were undertaken before the State appropriated any funds, the members going into the field, bearing all the expenses and doing the work for the love of it. Some of the regional surveys are:
"The Archeology of the Lake Koshkonong Region," by A. B, Stout and H. L. Skavlem, Vol. 7, No. 2.
"Summary of the Archeology of Eastern Sauk County," by A. B. Stout, Vol. 3, No. 2.
"Ancient Copper Workings on Isle Royale," G. R. Fox, Vol. 10, No. 2.
WHAT ABOUT MICHIGAN ARCHEOLOGY? 429
"Undescribed Groups of Lake Mendota Mounds," by Chas. E. Brown, Vol. 11, No. 1.
"Mounds of the Lake Waubesa Region," by W. G. McLachlan, A. B., M. D., Vol. 12, No. 4.
"Indian Remains on Washington Island," by Geo. R. Fox, Vol. 12, No. 4.
While it has been difficult to survey counties, yet there are many which have been worked. A few of these :
"Winnebago County," by P. B. Lawson, Ph. D., Vol. 2, Nos. 2 & 3.
"Fondulac County Antiquities," by W. A. Titus, Vol. 14, No. 1.
"Indian Remains, Manitowoc County," Louis Falge, M. D., Vol. 14, No. 4.
"Outagamie County Antiquities," Geo. R. Fox, Vol. 15, No. 1.
"Milwaukee County," by Chas. E. Brown, Vol. 15, No 2.
"Waushara County," Geo. R. Fox and E. C. Tagatz, Vol. 15, No. 3.
"Adams County," by H. E. Cole and H. A. Smythe, Vol. 16, No. 2.
As a result of this work between 15,000 and 20,000 mounds of which about one-third are effigies, have been reported, hundreds of plots of different groups made, and nearly all the effigies have been fully surveyed. Of the total number of mounds it has been found that fully two-thirds remain, so that Wisconsin still possesses the major portion of her archeological treasures. To the mounds reported must be added hundreds of plots of cornhills and gardenbeds, and thousands of village
430 GEO. R. Fox
and camp sites, pita, cairns, pictographs, spirit stones and other classes of prehistoric works.
But not the least important work of the Society is preserving for future generations some of the more important mounds and mound groups, and other antiquities. Great success has attended the efforts oi the organization along this line. Not only have many been saved but a large number have been permanently marked with bronze tablets.
In the preservation of these antiquities it has been the plan of the Archeological Society to enlist as many other organizations in the work as possible. Local Women's Clubs, Historical Societies and commercial bodies are usually willing to give every assistance to- ward saving any prehistoric monument near their locality.
It was by a union of efforts that the first mound park was established. With the Sauk County Histori- cal Society and other clubs of Baraboo, the famous Man Mound near that place was made a public park owned and controlled by the Sauk County Historical Society and the Wisconsin Archeological Society. In a like manner the Intaglio at Fort Atkinson was saved.
Other mounds permanently preserved are a fine bird on Devil's Lake, the mounds on the Asylum Grounds, Lake Mendota; on Beloit College Campus, Beloit; on the Carrol College Campus, Waukesha; in Cutler Park, Waukesha; in the parks of Milwaukee; on the State Fair Grounds at West Allis; in Mound Cemetery, Racine; in Smith Park, Menasha; at the Soldiers' Home, Waupaca; in Hilgen Spring Park, Cedarburg; on the Delavan Lake Assembly Grounds; along the right-of-way of the Wisconsin Central Railway at
WHAT ABOUT MICHIGAN ARCHEOLOGY? 431
Buffalo Lake; many in and about Madison; with others at different points.
The Regents of the Wisconsin State University have not only ordered the mounds on the property of the University preserved, but have marked several of them. Largely through the efforts of the Society, all mounds on all State lands are not to be disturbed. One fine representative of the effigy class is on the State Park Grounds at the north end of Devil's Lake.
But there is a greater benefit even than the making of parks; this organized campaign for preservation is working a change in the minds of Wisconsin citizens. Because of the interest the Society is showing and be- cause of the attention various antiquities on farmland and other tracts are receiving, the owners have awakened to a knowledge of then* value. From all over the State comes word that farmers and other owners are carefully refraining from destroying^or damaging these ancient earth-works.
One farmer near Lake Koshkonong takes such pride in a unique effigy on\his place^thatlhe calls his home "Squirrel Mound Farm,"'after the mound/ f A man near New London has preserved at considerable sacrifice, a unique lot of the workings of the primitive agricultur- ist, consisting of garden-beds and corn-hills intermin- gled. The deer mound, a remarkable effigy on a lot in Baraboo is to be deeded by the owner to the Sauk Coun- ty Historical Society for a park. The McConnell Group of mounds, on the west side of Lake Waubesa, consisting of some of the finest examples of the work of the effigy builders extant, a goose, a rabbit, a beaver, a muskrat ;m eagle and others, has been saved, the owners stating that these will never be disturbed. These are but a few
432 GEO. B. Fox
of the many instances of the good work accomplished by the Wisconsin Areheological Society.
All this without the slightest friction between the Areheological Society and any other societies in the State. The Wisconsin Historical Society has been glad to turn over to this organization this branch of histori- cal work. In fact the Secretary of -the Areheological Society and the man on whose shoulders has fallen the task of planning the work of the society, Mr. Chas. E. Brown, is also Chief of the Museum of the Historical Society. Many members of the Areheological Society are also on the rolls of the Historical Society, and several of the officers of the former have been and are officers and trustees of the latter.
The situation in the two states, Wisconsin and Mich- igan, archeologically speaking, may be summed up thus:
Wisconsin has produced a literature upon her anti- quities, covering nearly the whole State. Michigan, save for certain spots, notably Isle Royale, Keweenaw Peninsula and the Saginaw Region, is without refer- ence works.
Wisconsin possesses a detailed knowledge of the archeological resources of the State covering every county and fully two-thirds of the area. Michigan has but a fragmentary record save in a few counties and localities.
Wisconsin has recorded more than 15,000 of her mounds and thousands of her other antiquities. Michigan has knowledge of not to exceed 500 sites, recording about the same number of mounds, garden beds and enclosures.
Wisconsin has now permanently preserved in parks types of nearly every antiquity, to the number of more
WHAT ABOUT MICHIGAN ARCHEOLOGY? 433
than 100 individuals in the various groups and single mounds on the different locations; and in addition there are other hundreds of remains being saved and cared for by the owners of the land on which they lie. So far as can be ascertained Michigan has saved but a single monument, the mound in Bronson Park, Kalamazoo.
Just as today the explorers and surveyors for the Wisconsin Archeological Society find mounds and other sites in every county, so there must be in Michigan many remains waiting to be explored, recorded and perhaps saved for thpse who come in the years to follow.
But with every passing year more and more of Michigan's antiquities are being destroyed. If they are to be studied and some of them preserved, the task should not be put off longer.
There is much to be said in favor of having a depart- ment, established and maintained by the State, make the survey; but if the State cannot be persuaded to do this, then what?
Suppose a society similar to that of the Wisconsin organization were formed. A membership of from one to two thousand, at two dollars each annual dues, should not be difficult to obtain. In addition there should be from 100 to 200 sustaining members, annual dues $5.00 each; and from the funds derived from life members, a permanent endowment should be created. At $50.00 for a life membership there should be enough friends of Michigan to gather within a few years 100 such members. If the money is never used but only placed out at interest, an amount gradually increasing with the years, from $300 up should be available for survey and other research work each season.
Should such a society be incorporated under State
434: GBO. R. Fox
auspices, could not the Legislature, as does the Wiscon- sin lawmakers, be persuaded to appropriate a small sum each year for the publication of a Michigan Magazine on Archeology?
Michigan is one of the greatest of the states. She is wealthy, populous and has a cultured citizenry. In many ways she excels her neighbor across the water to the west.
Has not Michigan among her people enough men and women who are interested in studying and saving her aboriginal remains to form an organization kindred to that in Wisconsin? If this great and wealthy State does not awake, if her historians and other scientists do not rouse, ere long there will be but a few scattered remnants worth studying and preserving; and the children's children will look back at these early genera- tions and stigmatize them for their failure to appreciate and to safeguard her natural and aboriginal treasures.
DUTCH JOURNALISM IN MICHIGAN
BY HENRY BEETS
GRAND RAPIDS
r~pHE people of the Netherlands are and have been for J- centuries greatly interested in literature oi all kinds. Many Hollanders believe that the honor of the inven- tion of printing belongs n6t to the German Gutenberg, but to the Dutchman Laurens J. Koster. They can advance some excellent reasons too for maintaining that their countryman invented printing as early as 1423, when he carved some letters out of the bark of a tree in the famous woods of his native city Haarlem, and having wrapped them in a piece of paper to give to his grand-children as playthings, noticed the im- print they had made and so was led to think of printing with movable type.
Whatever in this be true or false, it is a fact that books circulated quite extensively among the Dutch long before their Eighty years' war with Spain was begun. Their universities are among the oldest and most renowned of western Europe, and the illiteracy of the people of Holland has for a long time been ex- ceedingly low. Little wonder, since their Reformed Church order required that every congregation should make provision for the maintenance of schools for primary education.
In the field of Journalism also the Dutch have been in the front rank for centuries. When the Secession Church of 1834 and following years originated under
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436 HENRY BEETS
the leadership of the Revs. H. P. Scholte, A. C. Van Raalte and others, one of their first undertakings was the publication of a monthly called De Reformatie, begun in 1837. It was small wonder that when the Dutch immigration to the United States in 1846 and following years had obtained something of a foothold, an attempt was soon after made to have a weekly paper designed to meet the needs of the Hollanders in America who, except a few of their leading people, were at the time unacquainted with English.
Strange to say it was not Michigan to which the Rev. A. C. Van Raalte had led so many and where the Dutch population had become so strong, that the first attempt at journalism was made This honor belongs to the Wisconsin city of Sheboygan where Mr. Jacob Quintus started his Sheboygan Nieuwsblad in the autumn ot 1849. This paper was a single sheet, at first Democratic in its politics, later on Republican, and from the beginning quite religious in spirit. Dur- ing a couple of years it was announced as the exclusive or only organ of the Netherlanders in North America. But soon it had competitors. During September, 1850, a paper was started in Allegan, Mich., called De Hol- lander, published by Hawkes & Bassett. At first one- half of this paper was Dutch and the other half English, but soon it was exclusively Holland. In 1852 Mr. H. Doesburg became the editor and Holland became the place of publication. This paper continued to appear till December 24, 1895. It played an important role in the history of the Michigan Colony. It was at times strongly arrayed against the father and founder of the Colony, Dr. A. C. Van Raalte.
In 1858 Mr. Quintus removed to Grand Rapids where he began the publication of De Stoompost (The
DUTCH JOURNALISM IN MICHIGAN 437
Steampost), the oldest Dutch paper of Grand Rapids. In the course ol time Grand Rapids became the seat of the publication of a large number of Holland papers, most of them with a more or less pronouncedly reli- gious spirit.
We may mention De Lantaarn (1876); De Honigbij (1879); De Vrijheidsbanier (Banner of Liberty); De Stem Des Volks (a prohibition party organ) ; De Christen Werkman (a labor party organ) ; Stemmen Uit De Vrijc Gemeente; DeGids- De Kerkbode; DeGetuige; De School- bel (devoted to the* Christian primary school move- ment); De Geestelijke Wandelaar] The Yankee-Dutch (part Holland and part English) ; and De Standaard, begun in 1875, by Von Strien and Schram.
De Getuige, Schoolbel and Gids were amalgamated some years ago in a weekly paper called De Calvinist. And that in course of time was changed to the Christian Journal, at present published by M. Berghege, and on its front page claiming to be Vol. X.
Mr. Berghege is also publisher of a Dutch weekly called Standard-Bulletin, an eight-page paper formed by the amalgamation of De Standaard mentioned above and The Bulletin vvhich Mr. Berghege began when De Gids ceased to function.
Mr. H. H. D. Langereis has been active in publish- ing Het Ideaal, De Huisvriend and De Hollandsche Only De Ideaal, Huisvriend survives to this day as a 16-page monthly.
Another monthly paper De Boodschapper (The Mes- senger), containing sermons by Christian Reformed preachers, was amalgamated with De Huisvriend.
In the interests ot the Holland Home of Grand Rapids there appears since 1893 "Holland Home
438 HENRY BEETS
Newt," a paper which notwithstanding its English title, is almost exclusively Dutch in contents.
Grand Rapids is also the home of De Wackier, a weekly which during many years was published in Holland, Mich., and which is the Dutch weekly organ of the Christian Reformed Church in North America. Since May, 1922, a Dutch periodical is printed in Grand Rapids, "DeHeidenwereld," a missionary monthly serv- ing the Reformed Hollanders throughout our Union. The paper is 26 years old and of Iowa origin.
To return once more to Holland, Mich. In the same year that Mr. Quintus started his Stoompost in Grand Rapids Mr. C. Vorst, in 1858, began with the publication of De Paarl, a paper which lived only two years. In 1867 this enterprising publisher started Een Stem Uit Het Westen of which only one issue appeared. The next year Mr. Vorst, under ecclesiasti- cal auspices, began the publication of De Wachter, now as already stated, published in Grand Rapids.
Before De Paarl had ceased to circulate, the Hol- land Colony Teachers7 Association in 1859 began the publication of De Wekker, issued in the interests of education, missions, etc., but this undertaking lasted only two years.
In 1862 Mr. J. Binnekant of Holland started De Verzamelaar (The Collector), designed to bring before the Holland Reformed people the best religious liter- ature obtainable. In 1865 this publication was amal- gamated with De Hope which has appeared uninter- ruptedly to this day as the weekly Dutch organ of the Reformed Church in America, in so far as that church is still using the Dutch tongue.
But even before the Verzamelaar appeared, another
DUTCH JOURNALISM IN MICHIGAN 439
Dutch weekly had been started in Holland, Mich., viz. De Grondwet (the Constitution), begun in 1860 with John Roost as publisher, and M. Hoogesteger as editor. This paper is the oldest Holland weekly and is able to boast not alone of uninterrupted publication from 1860 to this day, but it can also claim to have been loyally Republican from its start to the present.
Holland, Mich., however has become the graveyard of many a Dutch paper.
During twenty years a monthly paper appeared in Holland, Mich., called De Gereformeerde Amerikaan, published by H. Holkeboer. Alas! its promising career was terminated in 1916. Other papers, printed in Holland City, which enjoyed only a brief existence are: Gereformeerd Maandblad; De Heraut', De Volkstem (Free Silver, 1896); Ons Vaandel, 1901, a paper which tried to imitate the wellknown Standaard of Dr. Kuyper in Amsterdam. Ons Vaandel (Our Flag) appeared three times a -week and negotiations were begun with the Synod of the Christian Reformed Church, owner of De Wachter, to make it a daily issue. Its career was as brief as that of De Volkstem, a Socialistic weekly, 1908, and Voorwaarts, a bi-weekly periodical also Socialistic, begun in 1914 and discontinued January, 1915.
Kalamazoo, Mich., has also been the home of Dutch newspapers. As early as 1850 a Holland weekly ap- peared, De Nederlander, edited by Mr. Vander Wai and advocating the interests of the Whig party of these days of long ago. But like the party which it repre- sented it passed away in course of time. Thirty-three years ago another Dutch paper began its career in the Celery City, De Hollandsche Amerikaan, now appearing
440 HENRY BEETS
three times a week, the only journal of its kind which is able to do this, and it has kept up this record already many more years than the ill-fated Ons Vaandel already alluded to. Another Dutch Kalamazoo paper is Teekenen Der Tijclen (Signs of the Times), formerly, for about five years, a monthly, and recently changed to a weekly.
In Battle Creek at one time a Holland periodical appeared in the interest of Adventism.
Muskegon was the home for a brief season of a weekly, De Volksvriend (Friend of the People), and at present is the seat of a publication company which issues De Bereer (The Berean), which appears twice a month as the spokesman of a group of churches which in recent years withdrew from the Christian Reformed Church because of its opposition to certain teachings involved in Pre-Millennialism.
Holland journalism as at present functioning in Michigan is represented by the following papers, ar- ranged alphabetically:
Bereer, semi-monthly, Muskegon Christian Journal, weekly, Grand Rapids Grondwet, weekly, Holland Heidenwereld, monthly, Grand Rapids Hollandsche A merikaan, tri-weekly, Kalamazoo Holland Home News, monthly, Grand Rapids Hope, weekly, Holland Huisvriend, monthly, Grand Rapids Standard-Bulletin, weekly, Grand Rapids Teekenen Der Tijden, weekly, Kalamazoo Wachter, weekly, Grand Rapids Some of these papers seem to be increasing their circulation. Most of them we presume are at a stand-
DUTCH JOURNALISM IN MICHIGAN 441
still, and one or two are perhaps seeing their circulation dwindle slowly but surely. The latter is due to thf acceleration of the Americanizing process among the Dutch in Michigan. The two largest denominations among them have already taken measures to provide their younger members with weeklies in the English language, the Reformed Church publishing The Leader, at Holland, Mich., and the Christian Reformed, The Banner, published at Grand Rapids.
Dutch journalism in Michigan is moribund, in- evitably, although it no doubt will survive during several decades, especially in serving country readers. A language as a rule dies very hard. It is too much the very soul of a people. But whatever fate be in store for this branch of activity among Holland Americans of our commonwealth, we may say that as a rule Dutch journalism has functioned in Michigan in an honorable way and in days of national trial and danger as well as during times of peace it has tried to make true American patriots of the Dutch immigrants, and their descendants, instilling love for only one flag, the Stars and Stripes, and inspiring supreme devotion to only one country, that of the land of the free and the home of the brave. We have good reasons to believe that, barring possible exceptions, its leaders have felt something of the senti- ments expressed in the "Song of the Holland-Amer- icans:"
4 'But though we love Old Holland still
We love Columbia more,
The land our sons and brethren fill
From East to western shore."
HOW WE GOT THE R. F. D.
(The First Historical Sketch of the Establishment of Our Rural Mail Sarvi ;e*
BY J. H. BROWN
BATTLE CREEK
THE Michigan Farmer had a very prominent part _in the job of helping start "Rural Free Delivery" in this country, and especially in Michigan. During the years 1895-6 Congress was importuned by the Na- tional Grange, Michigan State Grange and other farm organizations, to appropriate a little money to test out the experiment of delivering mail to farmers' doors. The writer was on the Michigan Farmer editorial staff at that time, and was more or less instrumental in stirring up the demand for, and in helping to start, rural free delivery in Michigan.
Finally the National Grange executive and legis- lative committees, after a long stay in Washington, poking up the animals more or less constantly, stirred up excitement enough in the Capitol to secure the pas- sage of a bill appropriating fifty thousand dollars to do something to molify the farmers and prove that rural free delivery would be a fizzle. Many Congressmen were positive it would be a waste of money, and not a few hoped it would pan out so poorly that not a single farmer would ever show up or stick around asking for another dollar to have his mail taken out of the post office and delivered to his home way out in the country.
But it worked the other way, and even exceeded
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How WE GOT THE R. F. D. 443
the fondest anticipations of the original R. F. D. pro- moters. Congressmen were surprised, and some bit- terly disappointed. The test was such a success that the National Grange and a multitude of the farmers of the United States, including the Michigan Farmer and other leading agricultural periodicals, demanded that more money be appropriated the next year and the experiment broadened out.
In spite of the demand, Congress the next year, 1897, finally allowed the small sum of $40,000 to get out of the government till, just to get rid of the pesky farmers who were bothering the Congressmen. Then some of them washed their hands of the whole R. F. D. business forever, and hoped their rural constituents would be satisfied after they had done so much for them against their own principles and consciences in the matter.
Poor Congressmen, how they must have suffered from loss of sleep for the next night or two, realizing they had voted to waste so much of the government's money in such a fizzle scheme.
This was ten thousand dollars less than the first appropriation, and the general feeling among some members was that it would be the last to use in such an idle dream. But let's see how it turned out.
In 1896 there was one R. F. D. route in Michigan, at Climax, our farm home post office, and one each in several other states. In 1897 there were eighty- three rural routes in operation in the United States, and the appropriation was but $40,000. In 1898 Congressmen had a fit over the pressure brought to bear around them by "the pesky farmers," and had to hand over $50,000 to get the ruralites started for home once more. That
444 . J. H. BROWN
year there were one hundred and forty-eight rural routes working to get mail to farmers' doors.
In 1899 the Congressional appropriation for rural free delivery was $150,000. Number of routes in oper- ation, three hundred and ninety-one. In 1900 the astounded Congressmen shelled out $450,000, and R. F. D. boys were driving, biking, and wading over all sorts of roads and trails on 1,276 rural routes in this great and glorious country. At the next session of Congress there were some scared senators and rep- resentatives who had heard from home more than once, including thousands of letters written in farm homes from both enthusiastic and irate tillers of the soil, who wanted their hired man down at Washington to hop around and do something so their folks might have an R. F. D. in good working order in their midst. And it worked down at Washington. Congress shelled out that year, 1901, the sum of $1,750,000 for R. F. D. activity, and it helped get 4,301 rural carriers. This was quite a shower, after the little sprinkle of the first two years of the R. F. D.
In 1902 the appropriation was $3,993,740. Num- ber of routes in operation, 8,466. The 1903 appropri- ation was $8,054,000. Number of routes, 15,119. The 1904 appropriation was $12,921,700, and number of routes in operation was 24,566. The tenth (1905) year of R. F. D. service saw Congressmen shell out $21,116,600, and there were 32,055 rural routes in operation in the various states and territories.
In selecting the first route in each one of several states in 1896, the purpose of the R. F. D. was stated to be to carry mails daily, on a fixed line of travel, to people who would otherwise have to go a mile or more
How WE GOT THE R. F. D. 445
to a post office to receive their mail. It was required that roads traversed should be kept in good condition, unobstructed by gates; that there must be no unbridged creeks or streams not fordable at all seasons of the year, and that each route of twenty-four or more miles in length domicile one hundred or more families. A slight variation was allowed under special conditions.
After the first appropriation was announced in the press dispatches, and we had referred to it in the Mich- igan Farmer, we wrote to United States Senator Julius C. Burrows, asking thaj; the first experiment in Mich- igan be made from our farm home post office at Climax. Later on a federal inspector from the post office depart- ment came to Climax and asked us to help inspect and lay out the first route. We spent two days doing this and found that it would be impossible for one carrier to get over the roads daily. So two carriers were sworn in arid the route divided. Our hired man on the farm, Lewis A. Clark, and Willis L. Lawrence, in the village, were appointed. Then we drew a map of the first rural free delivery in Michigan and printed it in the next issue of the Michigan Farmer, and a copy was also sent to the department at Washington.
We are wondering if there is not some farm home in which files of the Michigan Farmer of the year 1896-7 have been preserved? We lost our issue in which the first map appeared, and which covered the front page of the paper; and the files of that year in the Michigan Farmer office were burned in a big fire several years later. However, in response to many requests, we again printed the map, somewhat reduced, in the Mich- igan Farmer issue of January 21, 1899, just twenty years ago.
Lewis Clark was receiving good wages ($18 per
446 J. H. BROWN
month), at that time working on our farm. He had just bought a new high-grade bicycle and conceived the idea that he would like to try the new job of rural mail carrier and use his bicycle when the weather was favorable. Upon his urgent desire, we recommended him to the post office inspector and he was sworn into the service. In those days there were good bicycle paths along the side of the road in many localities, so that Lewis was able to carry mail much of the time during the next few" years. In all he rode over twenty- four thousand miles o|n that machine, and probably there is not another rural carrier in the United States who has such a record. He has the same bicycle yet in fair running order, and his two young boys have used it nearly every summer for several years.
The roads around Climax when the service started were like all country roads. Climax prairie soil is heavy clay loam and very sticky when it is wet. Only about one- third of the two original rural routes were on this prairie, the rest being diversified soil and rolling country outside. When the two original carriers started out that first morning from the Climax post office, December 3, 1896, it was not very good bicycle travel- ling. However, Lewis Clark stuck to it, even in mid- winter, on certain days when the ground was frozen, little snow, and the roads smoothed down by wagons with wide tires. But he quickly found it necessary to get a horse and cart, and before the first winter was over both carriers were using two horses.
There was precious little mail to carry during the early days of this first service in Michigan. Some mornings either carrier could stuff all the mail for his route in his coat pockets. Sometimes there were less
How WE GOT THE R. F. D. 447
than a dozen letters. Hardly a farmer took a daily paper. On Fridays and Saturdays there were a goodly number of copies of the Michigan Farmer, and it was on such a day that we took the picture of Lewis Clark and his "machine" at our farm mail box.
Willis Lawrence lived in the village and drove his horse and cart west and south. He had a more level country to drive over, but the roads were no better, as a rule. Later on gravel was spread over some portions that were the worst, and a few years ago, under the new county system of building state reward roads, the road south of Climax was improved.
When Clark and Lawrence started out, December 3, 1896, they had about twenty-five to twenty-six miles each day to carry mail. The picture shows them start- ing out with their horses and road carts. We had pre- served that old picture all these years and it now appears in bas relief on one bronze tablet on the north side of the new R. F. D. memorial monument standing in the center of the intersection of the two main streets of the village.
In the early days there was very little mail to carry. Only one or two days each week when the Battle Creek and Kalamazoo weekly papers, and the Michigan Farmer, came, was there a sack anywhere near full. But the boys had some hard work to do some of the time when the weather and roads were bad, and it cost more than half as much then for equipment and main- tenance as now. Each carrier had to keep two horses, sometimes using one, other times both.
The salary was but $25 per month, in those early days, and each carrier had to pay about all his expenses. Hundreds of farmers used to wonder how the carriers
448 J H. BROWN
managed to keep up and make both ends meet. Of course, living expenses were less and feed was much cheaper, but our hired man left a job 'that paid him $18 per month clear profit. He had his board, lodging and other incidentals furnished. He was not married and his worries were few and far between. Soon after he became an R. F. D. carrier, he got married and started a home of his own. Three children came in due time, and still Clark hung onto his R. F. D. job, and likewise stuck closer than a brother to all his other appurte- nances, all on $25 for each calendar month. His good wife has been a help-meet, in the full acceptation of the term. If she had not, Lewis Clark would "have gone busted" long ago.
When the automobile first came along it was the joke of the farmers, their wives, sons and daughters, from Kalamazoo to Oshkosh and back to Ypsilanti. And when the idea of utilizing one of these original gasoline carts for carrying R. F. D. mail was first pro- posed to Willis Lawrence he laughed at it long and loud. Willis was a first-class mechanic and he thought it would be a cold day when he got caught between a rural mail bag and a chug wagon that was mostly wheeze and inclined to buck any old time or place.
But one day, after these two original R. F. D. car- riers had navigated about 71,417 miles over all sorts of roads, in all kinds of weather, Willis met and fell in love with a pioneer chug wagon that probably had been abandoned by its parents or guardians. We don't know just how Willis adopted the poor thing, but in less time than it would have taken at Camp Custer, he was first lieutenant and chief engineer of the bus and it had the honor of being the first automobile to carry mail on the first R. F. D. route in Michigan. Willis could
How WE GOT THE R. F. D. 449
box the steering gear with one hand and throw out mail with the other. When the farmer's wife or good looking daughter heard the chug, chug, a mile or two away, she had time to change her clothes and be stand- ing by the mail box when Willis hove to and threw out the anchor. And then, provided the chugger couldn't or wouldn't stop its chugging to catch its second or third wind Willis would shut one eye and cast the mail overboard; and the womenfolks would catch it on the fly, if the wind was in the right quarter, and sail into the house to read a spell.
It was during this period that we one* day drove to Climax to take a picture. At that time there were three carriers out of the village. Willis Lawrence was still making his first love go like a charm. Lewis Clark had a fine new motorcycle, and the new carrier, Leo Roof, had purchased one, and for the first time in its history the first R. F. D. in Michigan was fully motor- ized. In the picture, Lewis Clark is ahead and beside the touring car. All three vehicles are well loaded with
mail and the boys were ready to start out.
* * *
Lewis Clark and Willis Lawrence, the pioneer rural free delivery carriers of Michigan, had stuck to their job through hot and cold, wet and dry weather, and had navigated fairly good and miserably poor roads for about nineteen years without any let-up or much of a vacation. They showed symptoms of sticking like a bull dog for quite a spell yet, and had proved them- selves good soldiers in fighting poor roads and weather and punching mail into the farmers' mail boxes along their routes.
So we thought over a plan of erecting some kind of a marker or memorial in the village of Climax to com-
450 J. H. BROWN
memorate the starting of rural free delivery in Michigan and also provide a permanent recognition of these carrier boys and their long service on the original routes out of Climax postoffice. Then we submitted the plan to the farmers on the routes and to the Climax "Men's Fellowship Club," at one of their meetings, illustrat- ing the plan by means of sketches. The idea took unanimously.
Our next move was to take up the plan with our Chamber of Commerce in Battle Creek, as the writer was the chairman of the agricultural committee. The Chamber of 'Commerce voted to send the writer to Charlevoix to attend the annual meeting of the Michi- gan Rural Letter Carriers and extend an invitation to them to meet at Battle Creek the next year. We did so, and explained that we wished the carriers to meet in our city, and that we wanted to erect an "R. F. D. Memorial Monument" in Climax in time for the State association to help dedicate it. The plan was enthus- iastically and unanimously endorsed, and the date was set for Thursday, July 26, 1917.
During the months of June and July the memorial was constructed. At our suggestion a local building committee was appointed to work under our direction. It was a rather slow job to collect and sort out the stones, place them in position, make sketches and number each stone and assign to its proper owner. The writer, as general chairman, and designer of the monument, had to spend a portion of twenty-seven days driving to the village to work and direct all details.
The plan we made was to use one stone from each of the farms along the original routes traversed by Clark and Lawrence. In spite of careful instructioi
How WE GOT THE R. F. D. 451
many of the stones brought or sent in by the farm- ers were too large or too small. In order to build up such a shaft of field stone, without a single bit of chip- ping or breaking, it was necessary to lay out and try many stones in position before the final setting. By using the larger ones at the bottom and in the corners, and gradually working in smaller ones in the upper tiers, it was possible to harmonize the great variety of shapes and colors and make a beautiful shaft of rough field stone. But it took some time and trying out. We found that it would be better to take in all three rural routes and secure more stones.
There are exactly 239 stones sticking out of the shaft — nine from old, historical sites in the village, and one each from about 230 farms on the Climax rural routes. It was a decided novelty, and this is, so far as we know, the first memorial so constructed. It is officially known that this is the "First R. F. D. Memo- rial in the United States," and the reverse side of each of the road signs declares this fact. The beauty of the plan is that in the years to come, each farmer, his family or descendants, on the first rural route in Michigan, can go to this monument and pick out the stone that came from his or an ancestor's farm. There are fifteen tiers on each of the four sides. We made a map on each side wall, marked each stone with its official num- ber, and printed an alphabetical list. This list and the maps will, with some pictures we took during and after construction, be framed and hung up in the post office.
Previous to commencing construction of the monu- ment, we applied to the village council for legal
452 J. H. BROWN
authority to erect the shaft in the exact intersection of the two main streets, thus making it a practical and permanent semaphore, with road signs above the cap stone, to direct and divert local and through traffic. This was officially conferred and then we asked the county road commission to establish the street level and grade, in order that we might have the concrete foundation top about eight inches above the pavement surface, when the pavement is laid.
The concrete base is about six feet square, laid four feet deep in the ground, solid concrete with sm.all stone thrown in. In the early days of the village there was a well and town pump on this spot. Years ago it was filled in, but we took precautions to reinforce the bot- tom of the foundation.
The stone shaft is about ten feet high to the bottom of the Barre granite cap stone, which is fifteen inches thick and four feet square. This cap stone is massive, handsome, weighs one and one-half tons, and was cut out by the prisoners of Jackson prison. The four bronze tablet blocks are also of Barre granite and pro- ject into the stone shaft from twelve to fifteen inches. The shaft is solid stone and concrete, with a vertical three-inch black-iron sewer pipe in the exact center extending from top to bottom. From the bottom angle it runs in a trench to and up an electric light pole at the southwest corner sidewalk. Thus we laid an insulated and waterproofed double-line light wire under ground and up through the monument to the four large electric lights above the cap stone. The sewer pipe extends down the monument; through the trench and up the pole and thoroughly protects the light wire. We give
How WE GOT THE R. F. D. 453
particular description of this construction because a score or more historical, college and other organizations have visited this memorial and have asked for construc- tive details for a_somewhat similar design memorial. One was a college alumni association in eastern Ohio, that praised the idea of a field ^tone shaft with one stone contributed from each member.
I have one close-up picture that shows the construc- tion of all four side walls of field stone, also two of the bronze tablets. After laying two or three tiers of stones it was necessary to carefully scrape out the fresh cement-concrete mortar, after it had partially set, from between the stones for a depth of two inches. This was a slow and particular job to secure evenness and make each stone stick right out like life, as the picture shows. Not a single stone was broken or chipped, but left just as it came from its farm yard, wall foundation or field, and no stone has any identi- fication mark. Each stone was tagged until it was laid in the wall, when we recorded it on our chart and a.pha- bet.cal list. We answer numerous questions that have come to us, in the above description, as it seems others are desirous of erecting some kind of marker or memo- r^al of field stone made up of individual contributions.
The stone shaft is about five feet square at the base and three feet square at the top. It stands perfectly plumb and level, and tapers harmoniously to present a fine appearance to the eye, from any point of view. Before commencing to lay a single stone we erected a staging and gu.de for construction work. The e-ecthc light wire pipe is plumb in the center of the foundation and the outer point of projection of each stone was measured and set by using the pipe as a guide. It was a s.ow and particular work, and tiie mason, Fred Beais,
454 J. H. BROWN
a boyhood schoolmate of ours, did a fine job in laying the stone.
The beauty of the stone shaft is enhanced by the projecting massive Barre granite blocks that support the heavy bronze tablets. There are four of these tablets, and the information they bear on their face, along with the inscriptions on the four porcelain-en- amel road signs above the cap stone, give condensed and full information as to what the monument stands for. Thousands of tourists have stopped to look at the memorial, as it attracts instant attention, even a block away. " There is nothing like it in the whole wide world, " a noted traveller exclaimed when he saw it for the first time. "It is massive, handsome, harmo- nious in contour and design, and stands for one of the greatest benefits that ever happened to the farm homes of the United States; the tablets give full infor- mation, and the completed monument is an everlast- ing credit to the designer."
The bronze tablet on the north side we designed to bear the picture of the two carriers, Clark and Law- rence, starting out from the Climax post office, each with his horse and road cart. This picture was made from the one shown in an issue of the Michigan Farmer. Below the picture is the following inscription: "First Rural Free Delivery Carriers Starting Out From Climax Post Office. (From Photo Taken by Frank Hodgman). This Tablet Erected by Michigan Rural Letter Carriers' Association."
On the west side is the bronze tablet donated by Michigan State Grange. It reads: "The First Congres- sional Appropriation to Try the Experiment of Deliver- ing Mail to Farmers' Homes was Secured through the
How WE GOT THE R. F. D. 455
Strenuous Efforts of the National and State Granges in 1896. The Amount was $40,000. This Tablet Erected by Michigan State Grange, 1917." The lower section of the tablet has the additional inscription: " Monu- ment Construction Committee, Frank L. Willison, William H. Sheldon, Simeon E. Ewing."
Pictures of the other two tablets are in my possession. One was donated by the D. A. R. chapters of Calhoun and Kalamazoo counties, and is erected on the south side of the shaft. On the east side is the tablet erected by the Climax people. and includes local historical information.
On the northeast corner of the stone shaft, in the ninth tier, is the famous "Pork Barrel Stone" (marked by an arrow), that came from the family of Benjamin Harrison, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. This stone was used in Virginia and Maryland by the Harrison family, and was brought to Michigan by William Harrison, son of Judge Bazel Harrison, who was the first white settler in Kalamazoo county in 1830. From that time, when "Uncle Billy" and his bride, America, settled on the farm and built the first cabin on Climax prairie, for over eighty-seven years, that stone was used in the family pork barrel to hold down layers of pork in brine. While we were erecting the R. F. D. stone shaft the youngest son of Uncle Billy told us about this pork barrel stone, and expressed a desire to have it go in the monument to represent the Harrison Farm, which was on the original R. F. D. route out of Climax. It was kept under lock and key until ready to set in the corner on the ninth tier where it points directly toward the old pioneer farm of the Harrison family. Until the concrete set, the stone was carefully guarded. It is the most famous
456 J. H. BROWN
stone in the monument, and thousands have looked for
and asked its location.
* * *
There are now over two thousand rural mail car- riers in the State ol Michigan. This is quite a jump from the two pioneer carriers of 1896 who started out, each with his horse and road cart, from the Climax post office over and through all sorts of roads.
I have a picture which shows the carriers with their mail loaded up all ready to drive over their original routes about as they did twenty-six years ago last December 3. Lewis Clark is seated in the top buggy at the left and Willis Lawrence in the open rig. Each wears a heavy fur overcoat. We took this picture for the Michigan Farmer, and nearly all the two thousand rural carriers in the State will see it, along with the others, in various issues. Probably there is not a single one of these carriers who does not deliver each week copies of this paper to the farmers on his route. In fact, it is because so many of these carriers and the farmers of Michigan have repeatedly asked for the story and pictures of the first R. F. D., and the new memorial monument, that we have written this com- plete illustrated story for the first time.
I have one picture that shows the old Ide Building back of the monument, one of the oldest in the village. The exact center of the monument base (the right angle of the iron sewer pipe for the electric light cable) is over the vitrified clay section corner post set down by Frank Hodgman many years ago when he was county surveyor. The old parchment deed of the quar- ter-section taken up by the first permanent settler in 1830, signed by President Andrew Jackson, was given
How WE GOT THE R. F. D. 457
us to deposit in the copper box in the solid concrete under the cap stone. This box was well filled with various things of historical importance.
The picture also shows the monument completed, all but a much-needed heavy pipe railing around the base. The new road signs we erected on a mid-winter day in January when it was mild and pleasant. We drilled the holes in the heavy galvanized pipe shaft above the cap stone bare-handed and with our heavy coat discarded. Then we bolted on the iron scroll brackets and suspended the road signs. The sign pointing north gives the distance to Battle Creek, ten and a half miles. To Camp Custer, seven miles. The reverse side of each sign has the following: "Climax R. F. D. Memorial. First in the U. S. A."
It was the biggest day in the history of Climax village when the monument was dedicated. Several thousand people were present, including invited guests and speakers from the State and Washington. Over seventy loaded automobiles formed at the city hall and Monument square in Battle Creek, driven by leading business men, and carrying delegates of the Michigan Rural Letter Carriers' Association and prominent State and national officials.
The writer, as general chairman, led the parade in his car and carried Mrs. W. H. Wait, state regent of the Daughters of the American Revolution; Master John C. Ketcham, Michigan State Grange, and Pres- ident W. H. Jehnzen, of the Michigan Letter Carriers' Association. With a band ahead in two trucks, this long parade drove ten miles to Climax and was met at the monument by the village delegation. The band played "The Star Spangled Banner" while little Kathryn Brown unveiled the monument and raised the
458 J. H. BROWN
small flag to the top of the staff above the light globes. We introduced the above-mentioned speakers, who presented the bronze tablets. During and after the ceremony of dedication, moving pictures were taken by the Pathe corporation operator. Messrs. Clark and Lawrence, in their old horse and road cart rigs, with mail pouches over their shoulders, started out from the old post office and drove slowly past the monument, just as they did twenty years before, while the picture machine on a high platform recorded the scene. Later on this film was shown in the leading theaters in every large city in the United States.
Then the parade was led by the band a few rods fur- ther to the large and fine school grove. A large plat- form and hundreds of chairs and seats had been pro- vided. Over two hours were spent listening to music and addresses by United States Senator Chas. E. Town- send, Congressman J. M. C. Smith, Lieut.- Govern or Dickinson, President Frank S. Kedzie, M. A. C., Master J. C. Ketcham, Mrs. W. H. Wait, State High- way Commissioner Frank F. Rogers, President W. H. Jehnzen, and others.
Officers of the Michigan Rural Letter Carriers' Association present were Rex Anthony, of Ada; Georgt Smith, of Kalamazoo; F. A. Butler, of Charlevoix John Brinkman, Holland; George Fleury, Monroe: Mrs. Sylvia L. McMillen, Greenville. Mr. Butler has been secretary for several years. Mrs. McMillen was the only woman delegate and had carried mail on her route out of Greenville for fourteen years.
The rural carriers of Michigan have carried millions of copies of the Michigan Farmer on the more than two thousand routes of both peninsulas. But history has
How WE GOT THE R. F. D.
459
recorded the fact that the very first copies of the Michigan Farmer ever punched into a rural mail box were handled by Lewis Clark and Willis Lawrence on the Climax original route on December 7, 1896. — Ab- breviated from the Michigan Farmer.
RAILROADS OF DELTA COUNTY BY F. H. VAN CLEVE
ESCANABA
IN THIS article I intend to deal mainly with the his" tory of the Chicago and North Western Railway Com- pany in Delta County and the various incidents of its location and construction that came under my personal observation, having been connected with the construc- tion of the Railway from its beginning at Fort Howard (now Green Bay) to Escanaba.
There were several lines of railroad built at various times in Wisconsin and Illinois between the years 1845 and 1855, and some of these roads were finally brought together by purchase and consolidation under one con- trol and management. In June, 1859, the legal name and title of this consolidated Company became the Chicago and North Western Railway Company.
In 1855 one or two lines of railroad had been author- ized by the Legislature of Wisconsin and a new corpo- ration, called the Chicago, St. Paul and Fond du Lac Railroad, took them over and was authorized by the Legislature of Wisconsin to build a railroad north from Fond du Lac to the north line of Wisconsin at some point on the Brule River. If this line had been built, it would have come into Michigan in what is now Iron County and about where the village of Iron River is now located, and this line would have gone to the west of the present cities of Oshkosh, Neenah, Appleton and Green Bay. The panic of 1857 put a stop to all the
(460)
RAILROADS OF DELTA COUNT* 461
activities of the last named railroad. The Chicago, St. Paul and Fond du Lac Railroad became bankrupt, and by purchase under the foreclosure of its mortgages, its franchises and rights passed to the Chicago and North Western Railway Company.
Permission from Congress was obtained by the Chicago and North Western Railway Company to change the line of that railroad as originally planned, and the Chicago and North Western Railway Company were then authorized by the Legislature of Wisconsin to extend its lines north from Fond du Lac tia Fort Howard (now Green Bay) to tne north line of Wisconsin at the Menominee River. This extension began at once and was completed to Fort Howard (now Green Bay) in 1862, and for the next ten years the terminus remained at Fort Howard.
In 1856 or 1857, a Railroad was organized to build a line from Marquette, Michigan, to the head of Little Bay De Noc in Delta County. This road was never built, and in 1861 or 1862 all its rights and franchises were obtained by William B. Odgen and others, and in 1862 the Peninsula Railroad was organized.
At that time William B. Odgen was President of the Chicago and North Western Railway and Samuel J. Tilden was one of its directors. Both of these men were interested in mines in Marquette County. The work of construction was started in 1863 on the Penin- sula Railroad. According to the original maps the terminus of this road was to be at the head of Little Bay De Noc where Masonville is now located. The place at that time was called Gena, and was the county seat of Delta County. Owing to some misunderstand- ing between property owners at Gena and the official e
462 F. H. VAN OLBVE
of the Peninsula Railroad, the line was changed and the terminal made at Sand Point (now Escanaba). This road was built to haul iron ore from mines in Marquette to be shipped by water to the lower lakes from Esca- naba, and also to secure the business of the Upper Peninsula for the Chicago and North Western Railway Company. Mr. S. H. Selden was the engineer who located and constructed this road, and his principal assistant was Mr. C. E. Brotherton, both of whom lived in Escanaba after the road was completed. Mr. Selden was the Division Engineer of the Peninsula Division, and Mr. Brotherton became the Chief Land Examiner of the Chicago and North Western Railway Company, a position which he held continuously until his death some years ago. The road was completed to the Jackson mine the latter part of 1863, and in October of 1864 the Peninsula Railroad was taken over by the Chicago and North Western Railway Company as the Peninsula Division.
Work was started on the first ore dock in Escanaba in 1863 and 1864, and the dock and railroad were com- pleted and in operation in 1865. In 1864 Mr. H. A. Barr came to Escanaba and had charge of the pile- driving for the new ore dock. This dock is the one that was known in later years as dock number ''2", and was at that time the largest dock of its kind ever built in this country, being larger than the dock then in use at Marquette. This dock was taken down some years ago and never re-built. The first officers ot the Division at that time^were ^Robert Campbell, Super- ^intendent, S. H. Selden, Engineer, Alfred Hull, Assist- ant Engineer, C. E. Elliot, Master Mechanic, C. M. Lawler, Road Master, Mr. Beardsly, Station Agent, and R. A. Connelly, a contractor doing the dock and bridge
RAILROADS OF DELTA COUNTY 463
work ior the Company. In 1867 came W. B. Linsley as Clerk in the Freight Office. At this time, also, D. E. Glavin was in the employ of the Company in the Supply Department.
In 1862 the Green Bay Transit Company, finally owned by ths Chicago and North Western Railway Company, was incorporated to put steamers on Green Bay, running between Fort Howard and Escanaba, carrying passengers, freight, express and mail and con- necting with the Peninsula Division at Escanaba. Three fine steamers w«re put oh this route, the Sarah Van Epps, George L. Dunlap and the Saginaw, and were continued in the service until the line between Fort Howard and Escanaba was completed and ready for business. In the winter, passengers and freight, express and mail were carried between Green Bay and Escanaba by the stages of the Lake Forwarding Com- pany.
During the years previous to 1871, the lumber business at the mouth of the Menominee River and south along the west shore of Green Bay had grown to immense proportions. The various towns between Green Bay and Menominee had no railroad facilities, being served by boat during the season of navigation and by stage during the winter. These towns were very desirous of railroad connections with the outside world and the lumbermen of that section headed by former Senator Stephenson of Marinette, had for a long time been negotiating with the Chicago and North Western Railway Company to extend their lines to the Menominee River, thereby giving those towns the long needed rail facilities. Preliminary surveys had already been made from Fort Howard to Menominee, and also
464 F. H. VAN CLEVB v
north to Escanaba, and it was finally decided by the C. & N. W. Ry. Co., to extend their line not only to Menominee, but also through to Escanaba and thus fill the gap from Fort Howard to Escanaba. This line was to be built in two sections, the first from Fort Howard to Marinette and the second from Marinette to Escanaba. The work of construction on the first section was begun in the spring of 1871.
In 1870 the writer, just out of college, was employed as an assistant engineer of construction on a road in Iowa that was being built by the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Company. He flras stationed at Centerville, Iowa, where he lived for -over a year. In the latter part of May, 1871, he was informed that the Chicago and North Western Railway Company desired an engineer to act as principal assistant on construction of a railroad in Wisconsin and that he had been recom- mended for the position, and if he desired the place, to go at once to Green Bay and report to the engineer in charge of the construction. As this was a decided promotion, the writer left at once and on June 3, 1871, entered the employ of the Chicago and North Western Railway Company; on June 5, 1871, he was located at Green Bay as principal assistant to the engineer of construction, whom he found to be Mr. Edward Powei better known at that time as the " Western Philosc pher," on account of his strong belief in the theory oi producing rain by firing cannons and who in substan- tiation of that belief had written many articles foi the scientific papers and magazines. Mr. Powers, also, at that time, was writing a book on that subject, whicJ was published the next year. The proofs of this boo] the writer helped to correct, by comparing these printed
RAILROADS OF DELTA COUNTY 465
proofs with the written manuscript, a job which he found to be most tedious and uninteresting.
The grading on the line between Fort Howard and Menominee began in June, 1871, and by the first of July the work was well started all along the whole length of the line. The contractors for all the work on this section was the firm of Dunlap and Ellis and the work was rushed from the start. The weather that summer and autumn was very dry and the whole surrounding country suffered extremely from the droughts; there was almost all the time a continous fire along the right of way which was something fearful, on account of which the work was greatly hindered and the loss of property in the shape of ties, timber and camps was enormous.
It was on the night of October 8, 1871, that the vil- lage of Peshtigo was entirely wiped out by a tornado of fire in which over eleven hundred lives were lost. The fire, fanned by a high 'wind, swept on in a north- easterly course across the Menominee River, and died out only when it reached the waters of Green Bay, about twelve miles north of Menominee. As soon as the writer heard of the burning of Peshtigo he went to Menominee and at once drove to Peshtigo to see whether the Company's engineer and assistant, in charge of the work at that point were safe. It was a horrible ride, for along the road could be seen the burned bodies of animals and human beings. In many instances in that fire- swept waste, little heaps of white ashes marked the place where men, women and children had fallen to their death. Both the engineer and assistant were found to be safe, but both, as may be imagined, were rather shy of clothes as everything they owned in
466 F. H: VAN CLBVE
Peshtigo had been lost in the fire. Mr. Pingree, the engineer, had on a suit of clothes, but no hat and only one boot, while Mr. Hunt, his assistant, had boots, hat and trousers, but no underwear, in place of which he had one of those old fashioned rubber coats which did not seem to be very comfortable. I returned with them to Marinette where they were soon fixed up again.
They had just started to drive the piles for the foundation of the bridge across the Peshtigo River. Neither the pile driver nor the piles were burned, but the camp ol the bridge crew was entirely destroyed. The bridge contractor soon had a new camp prepared with all the necessary supplies and the work went on again about the same as before the fire.
Soon after, orders were received to hurry the work, and that line of road was soon pushed to completion. On December 27, 1871, the first regular passenger train from Fort Howard ran into Marinette. Up to this time the writer had been living at Green Bay, but when the road was completed to Marinette, he made that place his headquarters. All construction work had been stopped for the winter with the exception of the railroad bridge across the Menominee River. This was a very long bridge of the Howe Truss pattern and was built by the contracting firm of Seymour and Pass- more. The bridge was completed about the middle of April, 1872, and in the meantime a side track had been built down to the village of Menominee and a tempo- rary track laid to the Merchant Dock where connection was had with the Railroad Company's steamer Sagi- naw; this boat carried passengers, freight, express and mail between Menominee and Escanaba during the season of 1872, at the end of this season the steamer Saginaw and Captain Trowell and the Clerk John Lan-
RAILROADS OP DELTA COUNTY 467
nigan, known so long and so well by the older residents of Escanaba, passed out of the history of the Cnicago and Nortn Western Railway Company in Delta County.
During the year of 1871, while the road from Fort Howard to Menominee was under construction, the Railroad Company had a surveying party in the field locating the line from Menominee to Escanaba. Two or three preliminary lines were run before the final line was located. According to the original map filed by the Railway Company the road from Menominee to Escanaba was to be built following close along the shore of Green Bay the whol distance between the two places. But a short time previous, iron ore had been discovered in large quantities on the Menominee range, so the Railway Company by an act of Congress obtained permission to change its line to run directly north from Menominee to the nearest point to the newly discovered iron range from which a branch from the main line could be readily built to open up these new fields. In accordance with this permission, the line was located to a point forty-two miles north from Menominee which is now the station of Powers, and from Powers the main line ran almost east to Escanaba. While the surveying party was locating the line to Powers, the line from Escanaba to Powers was also being located by Mr. Selden, engineer of the Peninsula Division assisted by Mr. C. E. Brotherton, and in the spring of 1872 work was begun on the section between Menominee and Escanaba. The contract for building this part of the road was let to Wolf and Carpenter, a railway building firm from Iowa. They got started on the construction in due season, but for some reason the
468 F. H..VAN CLEVE
work lagged and went along very slowly; when July came hardly anything had been accomplished, and about that time Wolf and Carpenter gave up their con- tract. The work was immediately re-let to a contrac- tor by the name of Alexander Wallace who had just finished some railroad work in Iowa. He started to work with quite a large outfit, but he did not seem to accomplish anything more than the other contractors. So the Railway Company cancelled his contract and they themselves took over the building of the road, retaining, however, Mr. Wallace for a time as a general foreman or overseer of the construction. Mr. W. F. Fitch was sent up from the Chicago Office to look after supplies and material and to see that everything needed for the construction of the road was on hand when wanted. This arrangement worked very well. Late in the fall of 1872 the road was fairly well built to Pow- ers and trains were run between Powers and Menom- inee. The work also had been pushed from the Escana- ba end and by the middle of November, 1872, the track was laid from Escanaba to a point about two miles west of the present station of Indiantown, leaving a gap of about four miles of heavy work in a very unfinished condition. As the winter was coming on, merely enough work was done on that unfinished portion to lay the track and so connect up with the track already laid and in use from Menominee. It was intended that the first work in the spring would be to lower the grades in the cuts that were not fully down to grade and bring all banks up to grade where they were found to be below the proper grade.
The work of track laying was well done by the middle of December, 1872, and the track from Menominee was connected up with the track from Escanaba at a point
RAILROADS OF DELTA COUNTY 469
which is now the station of Spalding. A few days later the first passenger train ran from Escanaba to Menom- inee, and the whole road from Fort Howard to Esca- naba was opened for business and the track of the Pen- insula Division was at last joined to the great system to which it belonged.
A short time before the road was completed to Escanaba the Engineer of Construction, Mr. Powers, was transferred to other work on the North Western line and Mr. J. E. Ainsworth was appointed engineer. The writer was contiifued as principal assistant to Mr. Ainsworth and at that time took up his residence at Escanaba.
During the latter part of 1872, the Railway Com- pany had begun an erection of another large ore dock at Escanaba the construction of which came under the charge of the writer. The approaches to the dock were completed and a few of the foundation piles were driven and some of the bents of the dock were raised by Janu- ary, 1873. The only construction work done during the ensuing winter of 1873 was on this new dock and rebuilding the bridge across the Escanaba River. This was a long bridge of six spans with pile piers, and the superstructure was of the Howes Truss pattern. The bridge was completed in March, 1873. The ore dock at that time was near completion. The foundation was completed and the superstructure all up, and on the opening of navigation the necessary dredging about the dock was begun and continued through the greater part of the summer. The whole dock was completed and in commission by the end of the summer of 1873. The contractor who built this dock was R. A. Connelly, and his Superintendent was Alfred Hull. This dock
470 F. H. VAN CLBVB
was considerably larger in every way than the first dock; in fact, it was the largest dock of its kind in use. This dock later on was known as dock No. "1" and some years ago it was taken down and never rebuilt.
In the spring of 1873 the work of taking the cuts down to grade and bringing up to grade all the banks that were below was begun and carried on to comple- tion. The whole line of the road between Escanaba and Menominee was thoroughly ditched and surfaced, and by the end of 1873 the Peninsula Division of the Chicago and North Western Railway Company in Delta County was completed. At that time S. C. Baldwin was Superintendent, S. L. Pierce Master Mechanic, G. H. White Foreman of the Round-House, A. J. Perrin Road Master north from Escanaba, A. Hinman Road Master on the line south from Escanaba. W. B. Linsley Station Agent, H. A. Barr Foreman of the docks, O. B. Sloat Train Dispatcher. O. A. Page acted as Train Master at Ishpeming and D. E. Glavin as Assistant in the Supply Office, and J. F. Oliver, who came to Escanaba in 1867, was Cashier, S. H. Selden was Division Engineer.
The panic which occurred in the fall of 1873 put a stop to all railroad work and was very disastrous to all kinds of business, especially in the iron business. This state of affairs continued for some years. In the meantime, however, work of exploring on the Menomi- nee range had gone forward and several large mines opened; and as the iron business had begun to improve, in order to take care of this new business the Company in 1877 built the branch from Powers to Quinnesec; and as new iron ore discoveries had been made in va- rious places north and northwest of Quinnesec, the
RAILROADS OF DELTA, COUNTY 471
branch was gradually extended to these new finds of iron. In 1880 the road was extended from Quinnesec to Florence; in 1882 it was extended from Florence to Iron River and to Crystal Falls, and in 1887 it was built from Iron River to Watersmeet. The Whitefish Valley Siding was built in 1900 and the Beaver Branch in 1903.
There was supposed to be a vast territory, highly mineralized, in the vicinity of a location called the Felch Mountain. So in 1882 the Felch Mountain branch was built which leaves the main line at the present station of Narenta. After a large amount of time and money had been spent in exploring that new district, very little ore was found and only a very small amount came over the Felch .Mountain branch. But owing to the immense amount of timber that was contiguous, that branch has always done a good business; and as most of the lands along the branch were good for agricultural purposes, a great many fine farms have been developed. The iron business, which begun to improve in about 1876 continued to get better as time went on, and in 1880 the Railroad Company built ore dock No. "3"; in 1888 ore dock No. "4" was built, and ore dock No. "6" was built in 1902.
In 1887 Ferdinand Schlesinger and his associates obtained possession of the Chapin mine at Iron Moun- tain and began to reach out for other mining properties. Schlesinger obtained a location on Little Bay De Noc just north of the Chicago and North Western Railway Company property and at once began to build a rail- road, called the "Escanaba, Iron Mountain and West- ern," from Iron Mountain to Escanaba, and also began work on a large ore dock at Escanaba. This railroad and ore dock were completed in 1890 and some
472 F. H. VAN CLEVB
ore was handled at that dock. Later Schlesinger got into financial difficulties and all his iron properties were sold, the Mines going to the Mark Hanna interest at Cleveland and the Escanaba, Iron Mountain and Western Railroad with the ore dock at Escanaba was purchased by the Chicago and North Western Rail- way Company. It has since been in very active service. This dock is now known as No. "5." In 1910 it was rebuilt and at that time was the largest and most up- to-date dock in the country. All the ore docks at Escanaba with the exception of Nos. "1" and "2" have been rebuilt at various times, and each time a larger and better dock was erected. Dock No. "4", which was built in 1888, burned down in November, 1897, and was at once rebuilt in 1898. The period between 1877 and 1891 was a very busy time for the ore docks, as the demand for ore was increasing rapidly. The boats at that time supposed to be of the very best type, carried only between thirty-five hundred to four- thousand tons and therefore it took a great many vessels to move the ore; it was not an uncommon sight to see from sixty to seventy of these large boats at anchor in harbor awaiting their turn at the dock, and at that time it was right and proper that Escanaba was called the "Iron Port of the World."
In the latter part of 1874, Mr. Baldwin resigned as superintendent of the Peninsula Division and Mr. J. B. Muliken was appointed. Mr. Muliken remained only a short time and in the early part of 1876 Mr. W. 1 Linsley was appointed superintendent and Mr. H. Barr, Station Agent, but still continued also in charge of the docks. In 1882 Mr. Linsley was transferred t< the Chicago Office and Mr. W. F. Fitch was appointed superintendent; in 1885 Mr. Fitch was transferred to
RAILROADS OF DELTA COUNTY 473
a western division of a road, and Mr. Linsley returned as superintendent and held the place until his retire- ment in 1912. He was succeeded by Mr. C. E. An- drews, who died in July of 1916. Mr. Andrews was succeeded by the present superintendent, Mr. F. J. Byington. Of those employed in 1873 very few remain. At the General Office only two remain, Mr. D. E. Glavin now Purchasing Agent of the Peninsula Divi- sion and the writer, who is General Land Agent for the Railway Company.
It might be well #t this place to call attention briefly to the other Railroads that have been built in Delta County. In 1884 the Minneapolis, Sault Ste. Marie and Atlantic Railway started building from Minneapolis toward the Soo. Sixty miles had been constructed and in 1885 Mr. W. D. Washburn who was at that time United States Senator from Minnesota and also President of that road, together with his Chief Engineer Captain W. Rich, came to Delta County to look up a location on Little Bay De Noc for their lake terminal, as the line of the road to the Soo led around the head of Little Bay De Noc. Several places were looked over and finally the location at Sanders Point seven miles north of Escanaba was chosen; in 1887 the road was built through to the Soo, and the village of Glad- stone was laid out as their lake terminal. At that time the name of the railroad was changed and is now known as the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railway Company, and has developed into a great railway system. Elevators for the shipment of wheat and flour, and coal docks, were built at Gladstone, also an ore dock which handled, under contract, the ore shipped by the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway. When that contract expired and the Chicago,
474 F. H. VAN CLBVE
Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway had made other ar- rangements for the shipment of its ore, the ore dock at Gladstone was taken down. In 1897 the Soo Road built a branch from Rapid River up to Whitefish to connect with the Munising Railway in Alger County. In 1899 I. Stephenson, Daniel Wells, Jr., and J. W. 'Wells built a logging road up the Escanaba River to handle all logs and material for the I. Stephenson Com- pany. This road has since become the Escanaba and Lake Superior Railroad and has developed a great business. It extended its line to a station on the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Road called Chan- ning; at that point it now receives all the ore of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Road which is hauled over the Escanaba and Lake Superior Railroad and delivered to the dock of the St. Paul Railroad at its terminal at Escanaba. This shipping terminal was acquired by the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul in 1900, and since that time two fine large ore docks have been constructed through which a large amount of ore is shipped annually.
As stated in the beginning, this article only deals with the railroads in Delta County, stating when they were built, by whom they were built, and the principal reason why they were built. It does not go into the his- tory of the great developments that have taken place in Delta County by reason of the construction and oper- ation of the various railroads.
The writer regrets exceedingly that time and space in this brief article will not permit him to call by name all those splendid men who were connected with the Division when he came in 1873, and by whose earnest efforts and conscientious work the foundation was laid
RAILROADS OP DELTA COUNTY 475
to make the Peninsula Division that which it has since become, the Banner Division of the North Western System.
It might be appropriate at this place to append a list of all who have served as principal officers on the Peninsula Division.
Superintendents.
Robert Campbell, S. C. Baldwin, J. B. Muliken, W. B. Linsley, W. F. Fitch, W. B. Linsley, C. E. Andrews and F. J. Byington.
Assistant Superintendents.
G. M. West, C. E. And*?ws, R. F. Armstrong, C. E. Helmer and T. M. Coughiin.
Master Mechanics.
C. E. Elliott, J. Patrick, S. L. Pierce, G. H. White, J. Symonds, W. S. Clark, Frank Slater and E. Becker.
Station Agents. Mr. Beardsley, W. B. Linsley, H. A. Barr and C. R. Henderson.
Dock Agents. W. F. Look and H. J. Robertson.
Division Engineers.
Alfred Hull, S. H. Selden, C. Palmer, W. W. Gaffin, W. J. Towne, A. E. Winters and George Loughnane.
Road Masters North of Escanaba.
C. M. Lawler, A. J. Perrin, J. H. Macdonald, Alexander Sutherland, William Manley, D. Mooney, J. E. McDermott, E. C. Jones and J. A. McKettrick.
Road Masters South of Escanaba.
A. Hinman, O. Reeve, J. Powers, D. Mooney, D. McFadden, George Cluney, C. Newberg and H. Rassmusson.
Fuel and Purchasing Agent.
D. E. Glavin.
General Land Agent. F. H. Van Cleve
MICHIGAN HISTORY MAGAZINE
VOLUME VI 1922 No. 4
GEORGE N. FULLER, Editor
MICHIGAN HISTORY MAGAZINE
VOL. VI 1922 No. 4
HISTORICAL NEWS, NOTES AND COMMENT
Prof. E. H. Ryder <5f the Michigan Agricultural i College was among the speakers at the Summer meet- ing of the Clinton County Pioneer Society, which was held at St. Johns.
The Supervisors of losco County have voted $200, in accord with the Weissert Act of 1920, to aid the Pioneer Society to compile a history of the county. Mr. W. H. Price, president of the Society, and Miss ttna Bradley, county school commissioner, presented • the Board the need of a text book on local history tor use in the schools. An active part in the gathering of material for this volume will be taken by the schools of the county.
Mr. Harold Titus, well known novelist, author of Timber and numerous stories of Michigan, has been elected secretary of the newly organized Grand Trav- erse Historical Society. Mr. L. H. Gage, one of the )ldost residents of the county, was a prime mover in the formation of the Society. The principal objects pf the Society will be to preserve historic sites and father data for a history of the county.
(479)
480 HISTORICAL NEWS
The summer meeting of the Eaton County Pionee and Historical Society was held at Charlotte. Dj Paul Voelker, president of Olivet College, gave th chief address, on the spirit of the pioneer. Daniel JV1 Strange of Grand Ledge, the historian of the Society read the first chapter of the history of the count; which he is writing, and a committee consisting o Sumner Hamlin, editor of the Eaton Rapids Journal and Frank A. Ellis, editor of the Charlotte Leader, wer appointed to consider means of publishing this histor; when completed. Mr. Frank N. Green was electe< president for next year, when the Society will go t< Bellevue, which celebrates the 90th anniversary of it founding in 1923.
Congratulations to the Tribune Publishing Company of Manistique, which has taken steps to preserve frou destruction by fire or otherwise, the files of the Pioneer Tribune for the past 40 years, by renting storage spaa in the new safety deposit vaults of the First Nationa Bank for the 60 volumes covering this period. Thes< volumes are of priceless value, being now the onlj records containing the history of the city. The com pany announces that it will be glad to receive and pa} for copies of any paper, record or photo concerning th< history of Manistique previous to the files now or hand. Early files were lost in a fire which destroyed the plant of the company some 40 years ago.
Mr. W. W. Warner was elected president of tli< Allegan County Pioneer Society at a recent meeting and Mrs. Winona Moore Sherwood secretary, both o Allegan.
At the summer meeting of the Washtenaw Count} Pioneer Society, Mrs. Byron A. Finney of Ann Arbo
NOTES AND COMMENT 481
was elected secretary to succeed Mr. Robert Campbell, deceased, who had been for 22 years the faithful secre- tary of the organization. This meeting was notable for the chronicle of an unusually large number of deaths among the older pioneers, reported by the president, Mr. M. S. White. Mr. O. C. Burkhart was elected president for next year.
What was unanimously voted the best and biggest Old Settlers' picnic in the history of the Association was held in the pretty groves of Benzonia last summer, when pioneers from all corners of the Grand Traverse Region met in annual reunion. From every county in the region drove men and women who came to Northern Michigan with the first whites, took possession of the forests and made settlement of the region possible. They are old men and women now but their memories were unimpaired when they sat beneath the trees of the pretty academy town and retold the yarns of early days. W. S. Anderson found three pioneers who have been in the Grand Traverse Region for more than 70 years and each of whom is more than 80 years of age. Harvey Avery of Grand Traverse County, Archie Buttars of Charlevoix and J. Judson of Benzonia were the three oldest settlers attending the picnic. Old Mission was selected as the picnic place for next year and E. O. Ladd was elected president. Other officers elected were Mrs. J. G. Mills, secretary; A. V. Fried- rich, treasurer, and Mrs. N. C. Morgan, historian.
On April 20 Moderator-Topics (Michigan Educa- tion Co., Lansing) began the publication of a series of articles on " Housing Our Public Servants," containing much historical data relative to the various buildings occupied by State officers from the days of the "first
482 HISTORICAL NEWS
Capitol," which was erected at Detroit about 1825. The series is interestingly written, by "Philetus Phillips" (Mr. Gildart, of the Moderator- Topics staff) and will prove of service to teachers of history and government. We hope to see these articles published together and made available in pamphlet form.
The students of the Traverse City schools have been gathering data for an Industrial History of that city. They visited the various factories and prepared reports of what they saw and heard, and these were graded and the best sent in to the office of the Supt. of Schools, Mr. Charles L. Poor, who writes: "This fall we plan to have the Commercial Department type- write enough copies of these to furnish each building with one for use in studying the various industries represented. It will have a value in vocational guid- ance, also in boosting: our own industries and city. The interest has been keen both on the part of pupils and of manufacturers."
At the summer meeting of the Emmet County Pioneer Association it is estimated that 2,500 people were in attendance, from all parts of the region. A most profitable and enjoyable time is reported.
Prof. Lew Allen Chase, head of the history depart- ment in the Northern State Normal at Marquette and secretary of the Marquette County Historical Society writes, that the Society is making steady progress with cataloging its fine collection of books, pamphlets, manuscripts, newspapers, and museum objects. Miss Olive Pendill has charge of the Collection as curator of the Society, and has engaged the services of Miss Anna Lagregen, chief cataloguer of the Chicago His-
NOTES AND COMMENT 483
torical Society, to assist temporarily. The Society has also procured considerable new filing equipment for its fine rooms in the Peter White Public Library and is preparing to provide such other facilities as may be required for the proper public use of its Collections.
The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society is issuing publications of great value to all interested in the history of rail transportation in Michigan. Mr. R. W. Carlson of Escanaba, Mich., is corresponding
secretary of the Society.
^
The Twentieth Century, Vol. I, number I, published in Detroit by the Clarendon Publishing Co., made its appearance in June. This welcome new monthly is devoted to history, biography, art, literature and cur- rent events. The price is $1.50 a year. The first number contains sixteen pages, every one of much in- terest. Mr. J. T. Fielding is editor, and Miss E. Cora DuPuy associate editor, 311 Majestic Building.
Miss Alice Louise Me Duff ee of Kalamazoo was recently elected Vice President General of the National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution, being succeeded in the State regency by Mrs. L. Victor Seydel of Grand Rapids, who was formerly State Vice Regent for Michigan. The Michigan Historical Com- mission accords high praise for the excellent work that has been done by the Daughters of the American Rev- olution in Michigan under the direction of Miss McDuffee as State Regent.
The summer meeting of the Huron County Pioneer and Historical Society Js reported to have been one of the most successful meetings ever held by the Society.
484 HISTORICAL NEWS
The meeting took place at Port Hope. An interesting program was given in the fine pavilion. Among the speakers was Mr. C. D. Thompson of Bad Axe, and Mr. Geo. H. Howe of Port Huron, secretary of the St. Clair County Pioneer and Historical Society. Mrs. Flor- ence M. Gwinn, secretary of the Huron County So- ciety, was elected a delegate to the annual meeting of the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society at Lan- sing next May.
Seventy-five years ago, on March 16, 1847, the bill was signed making Lansing the capital of Michigan. Teachers will find a number of interesting articles on the subject of the removal of the Capital from Detroit to Lansing, in the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections. Vol. 8 has two, one on "Locating the State Capital at Lansing, " and another "Removal of the State Capitol from Detroit" (pp. 121-135). Vol. 11 contains "How Lansing Became the Capital" (pp. 237-243). Vol. 33 has "Driving the First Stake for the Capitol at Lansing" (pp. 10-22).
Among articles of local historic interest appearing in our exchanges since the last issue are the following:
Historical and Pioneer Sketches — Williamston En- terprise, June 7 to^A-Ug. 16.
Grand Haven^f History — Grand Haven Daily Tribune, June 28. |i fe^NM
A History of Saugatuck's Transportation — Holland Sentinel, June 30.
A Forgotten City — Allegan Gazette, July 1.
Detroit's Priceless Historic Library, by W. Woolsey Campau — Detroit Free Press, July 23. gJ^Recollections of a Pioneer — L'Anse Sentinel, Aug. 11.
NOTES AND COMMENT 485
The Chelsea Tribune says this of history in adver- tising: " Historians who study .<, newspapers to learn the habits and customs of peoples say they gain more information from advertisements than from news ac- counts, and that the information imparted in adver- tisements is more accurate. Advertisements tell their stories without the intrusion of the editorial blue pencil. They show the development in transit, they disclose the changing conditions of the home, they announce the birth of scientific discovery and invention, they prove the worth of tjiat which is true and lasting and unmercifully expose the sham and the fraud. They tell of our varying taste in dress, they show our belief in sanitation, they disclose our love of sport, describe our work, they mark the change in the status of wo- manhood and youth, they visualize the moulding of our morals and our methods."
In a recent address to students at Lincoln College, Nebraska, former United States Senator Lawrence Y. Sherman paid this compliment to most of the school histories long in use, that "they would shed more light on a disordered world in a bonfire than in the school room." (Did we hear a voice, saying, "Amen, Senator"?)
'T^HE ANNUAL SUMMER MEETING of the Michigan -*- Pioneer and Historical Society was held at St. Ignace, Mackinac Island, and Mackinaw City, July 27-29, with headquarters on the Island at the New Murray hotel and the John Jacob Astor House.
The summer meeting is one of the most enjoyable meetings held by the Society during the year, and is usually held in the Upper Peninsula at the invitation
486 HISTORICAL NEWS
of some city or local society. This year it was held at the joint invitation of the three cities of the Straits, and a more enjoyable occasion has rarely been experienced by those in attendance. The place and time were specially fine for a combination of summer pleasures with historical profit. The romantic background of the Mackinac country, with its early missions, the fur trade, the wild life of the forests and of the Indians and the military regime at the forts, made an atmos- phere most happy for a meeting at this time of the year, and the hospitality of the citizens of the Straits left nothing to be desired.
The opening session was held at St. Ignace July 27. Visiting delegates and guests who had gathered at the Island were taken by the Arnold Transit Com- pany's boat to St. Ignace, and delegations began ar- riving early from southern Michigan and points west in the Upper Peninsula. Local arrangements were in charge of Rev. Fr. J. T. Holland, of St. Ignatius Church. The program was given at Marquette Park, in memory of the famous missionary, Father James Marquette, who founded the mission at that point in 1671, and whose remains lie buried there on the site of the Mission Church. Upon the platform erected near the monument were gathered representatives of other churches, and leading citizens of St. Ignace, including Mayor A. R. Highstone and attorney Prentiss M. Brown, who presided. The mayor in his genial manner extended the city's welcome to the visitors. Secretary G. N. Fuller of the State Society responded in place of President Alvah L. Sawyer of Menominee, who was absent on account of illness. The principal speakers of the day were Rev. William F. Gagnieur, S. J. of
NOTES AND COMMENT 487
Sault Ste. Marie and Rev. John McClorey, S. J. of the University of Detroit, whose excellent addresses will later appear in the Michigan History Magazine. The music was in charge of Miss Blanche Giasson of St. Ignace. An excellent dinner was provided by St. Ignace citizens at the Hotel Northern, the well-known hostelry presided over by Mr. O. P. Welch, after which an auto ride was enjoyed, a courtesy extended by St. Ignace business men. Those who were present that day will long remember the hospitality of St. Ignace and this most enjoyable program.
July 28 the Society met at Mackinaw City, at the Michilimackinac State Park. Crossing from Mackinac Island on the Algomah on the eleven o'clock trip the guests were met by Mrs. W. P. Robertson and enter- tained at the beautiful Hotel Windermere until dinner time. Dinner was served at "The Old Fashioned Inn" in the elegant service they have been noted for since their opening. Members of the Society were very highly pleased with the service* which appealed to the eye, and with the menu which appealed to the inner man.
After dinner the members of the Society and guests were escorted to the Park where they were cordially greeted by the manager of the Pavilion, Mr. Lloyd Stimpson, who proved a most gracious host.
The program was in charge of Mrs. W. P. Robert- son who introduced the speakers in her usual gracious manner.
Stanley Newton of the "Soo" gave a very interest- ing talk about Alexander Henry and the massacre of 1763. Bray ton Saltonstall of Charlevoix gave a very entertaining sketch of Chief Keshkauko, one of the Indians who fully exemplified Miles Standish's opinion
488 HISTORICAL NEWS .
of Indians, that the only good Indian is a dead one. Mrs. James T. Flaherty of Grand Rapids was intro- duced and spoke briefly of a scenario she has prepared with much time and study, an Historical Pageant of Michigan. Mrs. James Campbell, also of Grand Rapids, spoke very forcibly against the billboards she saw while driving through the State Park. Frances Margaret Fox, the popular writer of Children's stories spoke briefly, suggesting that the name of Mackinaw City be changed to Michilimackinac. A suggestion from Mr. Lew Allen Chase of Marquette that one of the main trunk auto roads be named the Red Arrow in honor of the 32nd division of the U. S. A. who made such a record of daring and bravery during the World War met with hearty approval. Mr. Merriot from the Soo spoke briefly on the work of the Sault Historical Society. Mrs. Luella Overton spoke upon the need of a museum to preserve the history of this section. Citizens of Mackinaw voted the afternoon one of the most enjoyable they have had since the dedication of the park about fourteen years ago. Messrs. Galbraith, Sommers, Hall and Stimpson gath- ered the guests into cars and gave them a ride through the park and to the dock where 'they boarded the Algomah for Mackinac Island. Citizens expressed the hope of having the Society meet with them again in the near future.
The sessions held on Mackinac Island came Thurs- day and Friday evenings and Saturday. Mr. Frank A. Kenyon, Superintendent of Mackinac Island State Park, was in charge of arrangements and made a royal host. Through his kindness the Society was able to hold its meetings in the old Commissary building at
NOTES AND COMMENT 489
the Fort. Thursday evening Rev. Charles J. Johnson, historian of the Marquette County Historical Society, addressed the meeting in a very able and useful paper on the "Pageant of St. Lusson," at Sault Ste. Marie in 1671, when France formally and picturesquely took possession of the Great Lakes region and tributary lands.
Friday evening was given over to a dedication of the Fort Museum and Historical Rooms, and to an address by the Rev. Percy G. H. Robinson upon the history of Trinity Church, Mackinac Island. Rev. Johnson of Marquette presided. Mr. Frank Kenyon in a delightfully informal talk gave a brief history of the Fort Museum, which came into being during his superintendency. Brief addresses appropriate to the occasion were made also by Rev. Carlos H. Hanks of Newark, Ohio, Mr. Junius E. Beal of Ann Arbor, and Mr. Lucius L. Hubbard of Houghton. Following the meeting a visit was made to the museum.
Saturday forenoon, starting from Convention head- quarters, delegates and guests were given a ride to points of scenic and historic interest on the Island, and in the afternoon an open air meeting was held on the Fort grounds near the old barracks, Secretary Fuller presiding. Mr. Harold Titus, well-known novelist and story writer of Traverse City, gave a most entertaining address upon the Study of Michigan history in the schools, and particularly on the possibilities of histor- ical work in the north country. A general discussion followed upon methods of study and research in the local field, resulting in the exchange of many use- ful suggestions,
490 HISTORICAL NEWS
The meeting of the Society next summer will be held at Ironwood, in Gogebic County.
SARA CASWELL ANGELL CHAPTER of the D. A. R. and the Washtenaw Chapter of the S. A. R. recently co-operated in placing a monument to mark the place where the Old Territorial Trail left Ann Arbor, the ladies furnishing the tablet and the men the boulder. The boulder is a splendid specimen about ninety per cent granite and weighing, as near as can be esti- mated, five tons. It was brought in to Ann Arbor by a four-horse team from about seven miles west on the Jackson road.
Regent Beal of the University gave a very instruc- tive talk on old trails, and Dean W. B. Hinsdale told how the boulders were brought to this part of the State from north of the Great Lakes by the glaciers. He called them the * 'first immigrants to the United States."
Miss Sara Whedon, Regent of the Sara Caswell Angell Chapter of the D. A. R., presented the monu- ment to the city, and Mayor Geo. E. Lewis, on the part of the city, accepted it, and in his remarks said that he wished there were more societies like the S. A. R. and the D. A. R. to assist in beautifying the city and in placing monuments to mark the old historic places which abound in this region.
The tablet was unveiled by Mrs. Herbert M. Slauson and Milton E. Osborn, the chairmen of the committees of their respective societies.
Those passing through Ann Arbor will observe the monument about a mile out West Huron St. at the fork of the roads leading to Dexter and Jackson.
NOTES AND COMMENT 491
OTEPHEN EDWIN WHITTIERWAIT, pioneer ed- K-' ucator and philanthropist of the Grand Traverse region, was honored on July 21, 1922, by the citizens of Grand Traverse County. This day would have been his 88th birthday had he lived. There was placed to his memory a granite boulder bearing a bronze tablet, with the inscription:
In Memory of S. E. Whittier Wait Born July 21st 1834 Died March 17th 1919 Who taught the first school in the Grand Traverse Region, dur- ing the winter of 1851, aboard the schooner Madeline, anchored off this point.
Mr. Wait was born in Fairfield, Vt., July 21, 1834, the son of John James Whittier by his first wife, Maryann Elizabeth (Fox). After the divorce of|his father and mother, the boy accompanied his mother, who went west from the Vermont home, and later married a Mr. Wait, who adopted the boy and brought him up under that name, by which he has been known ever since.
While he was still a boy the family moved into what was then the wilderness of Michigan Territory, and it was here that Mr. Wait spent the remainder of his life, following such occupations as the development of the new Territory demanded, finally settling down as the leading pharmacist of Traverse City, in which profession he has trained all his children.
492 HISTORICAL NEWS
It is fitting that a memorial should be dedicated to the first school teacher of the Grand Traverse region. It was seventy-one years ago, in November of 1851 in fact, that Stephen Edwin Whittier Wait took the con- tract to teach the crew of the schooner Madeline while the schooner was tied up for the winter at what is now Bowers Harbor.
In addition to the 17-year-old teacher, the school consisted of five boys, or rather men, who wished to improve their education during the cold weather. Comfortable quarters were established aboard the schooner, and regular school hours and discipline kept, but outside of the school hours the six improved their opportunities in other ways. The five students were: Wm. Fitzgerald, Michael Fitzgerald, and John Fitz- gerald (brothers), and Wm. Bryce and Edw. Chambers.
Mr. Wait was not only the first school teacher, but the first in many other things that made for the devel- opment of the Grand Traverse region. The erection of the granite boulder with the bronze tablet is a small ! thing, but it will help keep awake the sentiment of progress that was his life. The Grand Traverse < Woman's Club was largely instrumental in securing j this memorial.
/T^HE SUBJECT OF THE STUDENTS* PRIZE ESSAY Contest
-*• in Michigan History for 1922-23 is "A Treasure Hunt."
Some folks seek fame, some seek for gold, some seek for treasures of an historical character. Priceless histor- ical treasures lie within easy reach of almost every one- old letters, photographs, pictures, diaries, early news- papers, scrap books, account books, Bible records,
NOTES AND COMMENT 493
genealogies, Indian and pioneer relics, of endless de- scription.
The essay in this contest should tell the story of an historical "Treasure Hunt" made by the student. It should describe some of the "finds," tell how they were discovered, and show how they are of historical value.
THE CONTEST IS OPEN TO ALL STUDENTS OF ALL SCHOOLS IN MICHIGAN. IN FORMER CONTESTS THE STUDENTS IN SMALL SCHOOLS HAVE BEEN SUCCESSFUL.
The contest wijl be conducted jointly in each com- munity by the Supt. of Schools, the Regent of the D. A. R. Chapter, President of the Women's Club, the Chamber of Commerce, or by any one of them, who shall also judge the essays.
First and second prizes will be given in two groups, to students in the Grades, and in the High School. The local committee will determine the local prize to be awarded.
The judges should forward the prize essays to the Michigan Historical Commission on or before April 30, 1923, when they will be examined by the State commit- tee, whose names are signed below. The essays selected by the State committee will be published by the Michigan Historical Commission.
The State committee is composed of the following: Thomas E. Johnson, Mrs. William R. Alvord,
Superintendent of President, Michigan Fed-
Public Instruction eration of Women's
Clubs
George N. Fuller, Mrs. L. Victor Seydel,
Secretary, Michigan State Regent, Daughters
Historical Commission, of the American Revolu- Chairman tion
494 HISTORICAL NEWS
The essay may be as long- as the student desires, but not less than 500 words.
ALL ESSAYS MUST 'BE TYPEWRITTEN.
Pictures illustrating the essays should be included, if possible.
The winners in the contest for 1920-21, on the subject, "Lessons from the Pioneers,'* were as follows:
Winners over 15 years of age,
1 . Dorothy Zryd, Marquette
2. Helen Dennett, Marquette Winners under 15 years of age
1. Isabel MacDonald, Marquette 2 Edward R. Tauch, Marquette
TUNIOR HISTORY CLUBS have been organized the J past year in a number of schools, among pupils of the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades, through efforts of the Michigan Historical Commission assisted by the State Department of Public Instruction, the D. A. R. chap- ters, and Women's clubs. The organization of these History Clubs is simple, and can be adapted to any school. Try it this year.
The teacher acts as president of the club, and the pupils take turns as secretary. Committees are ap- pointed by the teacher on several divisions of local history. There is a committee on Early Settling, dealing with the Indians, wild animals, waterways, and natural advantages for settlement; a committee on the Pioneers, their nationality, customs, and ex- periences, which involves consulting the early news- papers and official records and a host of personal records such as diaries, letters, account books, old at-
NOTES AND COMMENT 495
lases, museum objects, etc.; a committee on Names of county, townships, cities, villages and settlements of the locality; a committee on Early Improvements, in roads, railroads, bridges, public buildings, mills, school- houses, and churches; a committee on Early Occupa- tions, fur trade, lumbering, farming, spinning and weaving; a committee on Early Social Life, logging bees, husking bees, quilting bees, barn raisings, spelling matches, singing schools, donation parties ; a committee on Important Personages, officers, soldiers, doctors, teachers, preachers* editors and authors; a committee on Pioneer Relics and Museum materials; etc.
Every pupil is on some committee, and tries to help all the committees. In small schools of course there are not enough pupils in the seventh and eighth grades to have all these committees but the work is covered by combining several of them.
Organizing such a club does not take more than one or two class periods at the beginning of the year. One class period a week is given to reports of the com- mittees to show their progress in the work, and com- petition among the committees to show good work is easy to encourage. Each committee makes a written report of all the information that it is able to obtain on the topic chosen, and this is done each week, rather than for a period covering several weeks, to give it the ad- vantage of immediate interest while the data is warm in the mind. Teachers find that this data makes splendid material for composition work.
When the entire report is written, several copies are made, typewritten if possible. One is kept on file in the school, one sent to the County Commissioner, one to the State Department of Public Instruction,
496 HISTORICAL NEWS
and one to the Michigan Historical Commission. The local newspaper is of course glad to get a copy to publish for its readers, and this gives the pupils an added impulse to prepare their reports well, to say nothing of the pleasure of seeing the reports in print.
Scarcely anything serves better to stir parents to interest in their local history, and nothing more cer- tainly insures an active interest in local and State history among the boys and girls.
AT ANY SCHOOLS AND COMMUNITIES IN MICHIGAN ob- 'L**- served Magna Charta Day, June 15, along with Flag Day, June 14. The following letter from the State Superintendent of Public Instruction which was sent out to the schools last March through Moderator- Topics, is to be highly commended:
My dear Fellow-teachers:
Our institutions, our government, and our civilization are, of course, in great part derived from the mother country.
We understand that practically every institution we have, the majority of our customs, and the most cherished of our liberties come to us as direct heritages from our English fore- fathers. Public sentiment, of course, has been largely affected by the relationships during and following the Revolutionary War. Today we understand that the Revolutionary War was a part of the struggle for real democracy; the English liberals and the American patriots were fighting for the same principle. Naturally in view of these facts English and American tradi- tions are practically the same. Because of this and to secure better appreciation of our common heritage, and a better and closer understanding with the mother country, it would seem wise to endeavor to bring about the national honoring of the birthday of constitutional government/ — Magna Ch&rta which is, as you all know, the 15tb day of JUR§,
NOTES AND COMMENT 497
Many prominent people in this country will co-operate in the movement, and we hope that where schools are open at this time that history and government courses, together with any other available agencies, will be used to bring home the importance of the fact that after all American liberty came from seeds sown in the minds and hearts of our English fore- fathers. Faithfully yours,
T. E. JOHNSON.
During the present school year, teachers and students will find pleasure and profit in co-operating with the Magna Chart# Day Association, of which President Harding is honorary president for the United States, and President Marion L. Burton of the Univer- sity of Michigan is a member of the National Com- mittee for this country. Every boy and girl in America should be familiar with the origin of trial by jury, the principles of Magna Charta, Habeas Corpus, the Right of Petition, the Petition of Right, the overthrow of the Divine Right of Kings, the Bill of Rights, the development of responsible government through the cabinet system and Parliament, the extension of the franchise, the equitable adjustment of representation, and the development of labor legislation in English speaking countries. Magna Charta Day is a day for perennial observation.
DETROIT Free Press of May 7, 1922, has the following editorial on "Truth and History": The school histories are catching it again. This time it is because they are "disrespectful" to national heroes. The unusual complaint is that they are bias- ed, inaccurate or untruthful. Mrs. Arthur O'Neill, of the United Daughters of 1812, is finding fault
498 HISTORICAL NEWS
with them because she has learned that they have been letting in the light on practices of "the founding fathers'* that seems to her to be unseemly.
"It almost seems like a general conspiracy to make a joke of the fathers of our country," asserts Mrs. O'Neill, spiritedly, adding, "it is time to put a stop to it."
Perhaps Mrs. O'Neill is disturbed unduly. It is true there has been, of late, a tendency on the part of those who prepare histories for our school rooms to treat their characters more completely and to give their readers a better understanding of them than was formerly the custom. But the change is for the better. It marks a breaking away from the attitude that regarded history as propaganda and sought to give the people only what was believed to be good for them.
A little truth won't hurt any history. This nation no longer is a stripling. It is full grown and entitled to know the facts about its swaddling days and the men who attended it in that period. The best na- tional interest has not been served by text books which have glorified American diplomacy and arms inordinately ,> misinformed our youngsters as to the patriotism and prowess of the pioneers and made them believe that our country's growth was accom- plished by men of faultless mien and habit. There is enough unconscious error in written history with- out confusing it by falsifying deliberately.
It is, of course, inexcusable to drag out unflattering incidents from the careers of the founders solely to embroider the record. It is, on the other hand, equally inexcusable to ignore such incidents as shed
NOTES AND COMMENT 499
light on their characters and the value of their services. And we are not likely to think any the less of George Washington when we learn that he was an excellent judge of wine, or of John Hancock when we know he was found guilty of partaking in a little smuggling expedition. These men were quite human, after all, and it does us no harm to realize it.
rT^HE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN has acquired forty- •*• one Greek biblical .manuscripts at the sale of the library of the late Baroness Burdett-Coutts, in London. These formed by far the most important part of the manuscripts collected by the Baroness while traveling in Albania in 1870-1871. They were probably all written by monks in the monasteries of the Balkan peninsula in the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth centu- ries, although a few are of later date. They include thirteen of the four Gospels. The value of these manuscripts has long been known to experts from reports which were made on them by the biblical scholars, Caspar Rene Gregory and Scrivener.
From another source the University has received also a notable Greek manuscript of the tenth century containing the Homilies of St. Chrysostom on the Acts of the Apostles, which quote a considerable por- tion of the text of Acts from an ancient source used by St. Chrysostom in 400 A. D., when the Homilies were delivered. The manuscript disappeared at the time of the Napoleonic wars and has only recently come to light again.
All these manuscripts come to the University of Michigan as a gift, but neither the name of the donor
500 HISTORICAL NEWS
nor the sum paid for them has been made public. Their acquisition will make it possible for the Univer- sity to continue the work in the field of biblical scholar- ship which was commenced with the publication of the Freer biblical manuscripts. — Michigan Alumnus.
IV/TR. JOHN W. ANDERSON, OF DETROIT, haspre- "*•**• sented to the University of Michigan a unique collection of 114 original legal documents from the time of Christ and the Apostles. The gift is made in the name of the 1890 law class of the University, of which Mr. Anderson was a member.
The documents are written on papyrus. Nearly all are in Greek, a few being in Demotic, or Demotic and Greek. They were discovered in 1921, on or near the site of the city of Tebtunis, in Egypt, and, on ac- count of the dryness of the soil, are almost perfectly preserved. In many of them, every letter can be read. They are all dated in the reigns of the Emperors Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula and Claudius.
The oldest document is a part of a contract dated in the year 7 A. D. It contains the subscription of a woman, who undertakes not to bring any claim against i her brothers. To the same period belongs a marriage contract of the "unrecorded" type which is bilingual, being written in Demotic as well as Greek. Among the other papers embodying agreements of various kinds is a contract for indemnity, dated in the year 48 A. D.
Some of the documents deal with loans, others with the sale of lands, houses, slaves and other property. There are also leases. One of the most interesting is
NOTES AND COMMENT 501
a lease with a provision for service in lieu of cash payment.
A number contain accounts and receipts, such as receipts for wages and rents and for payments of dowry. There is one receipt for taxes. Of special importance are several petitions to public officials.
The collection, as a whole, touches many aspects of the life of the time, and is full of human interest. It will throw new light upon economic, social and poli- tical conditions in the first half century of the Christian era. Up to the present, time, material has been very scanty for the decades immediately preceding and fol- lowing the crucifixion.
The collection was brought to the United States by Professor Francis W. Kelsey as a part of the manu- script material obtained by the University of Michigan expedition. Genuineness of the documents is un- questioned. They were critically examined before acceptance.
The work of reading and interpreting the docu- ments has been committed to Professor A. E. R. Boak, of the University, who will devote several years to the task. Professor Boak eventually will publish all of the texts with a translation and commentary. — Detroit Free Press.
AMONG THE BOOKS
SOCIAL HERITAGE, by Graham Wallas, author of Human Nature in Politics, &nd'The Great Society. It is refreshing to read this scholarly presentation of themes about which zealots are wont to rant and
502 HISTORICAL NEWS
vilify. A portion of the material was given in a course of lectures in 1919 on the duties of citizenship in Yale University.
The book is in large degree the making over of the material in the author's earlier volume, The Great Society. By the "great" society Mr. Wallas means the complex modern industrial organization as distin- guished from the small units which existed in the days when communities were practically self-sufficing. His general thesis in both works is that in the present social structure, "each generation, if it is to live hap- pily and harmoniously, or even is to avoid acute suffer- ing, must adapt to its present needs the social heritage which it received from the preceding generation." He points out that "sometimes, as in the Athens of Pericles, or in Italy of the Renaissance, or France of the Revolution, a wide and conscious effort has been made to survey the whole field of our social heritage, and to bring the old into systematic relation with the new. Such a wide and conscious effort of "reconstruction" may be found by future historians to have followed, after an interval for recovery from nervous exhaustion, the world war of 1914-1918."
He voices this warning: "The new fact of modern industrial organization is spreading over the earth, and we have learnt that the dangers arising from that fact are equally universal. Unless, therefore, an at- tempt is now made, in many countries and by many thinkers, to see our socially inherited ways of living and thinking as* a whole, the nations of the earth, confused and embittered by the events of 1914-1920, may soon be compelled to witness — this without hope or illusion — anotherjmore destructive stage in the suicide of civilization."
NOTES AND COMMENT 503
Chapters 4, 9, 10 and 12 are largely new, dealing with the nation, world co-operation, constitutional monarchy, and the church.
The distinctive feature of Mr. Wallas's treatment of the subject is, that instead of repudiating our social heritage, along with school of Nietzsche and others, he would conserve it and readjust it to meet the actual facts of human nature. "Does society exist for the individual, or the individual for society, or both for each, and in what way?" The average reader will not agree with the autkor on all points, but he will find in this volume at least an intelligent consideration of problems delightfully presented from the viewpoint of an eminent scholar (Yale University Press, New Haven, Conn., 1921, pp. 307, $3.00).
r"PHE AMERICAN RAILROAD PROBLEM, by I. Leo •*• Sharfman, Ph. D., Professor of Economics in the University of Michigan.
Professor Sharfman says: "The object of this book is to provide for the intelligent citizen, — including the large inarticulate public, as well as the student, the publicist, the legislator, the business man, the shipper, and the railroad security holder, executive, and employee, — an analysis of the American railroad problem as it presents itself today." No one doubts the far-reaching nature of the problem, for the general welfare; and the ability to reach a satisfactory solution will, he thinks, be a fair test of American democracy.
The interests involved are complex. Not the least of them is the interest of the general public. In this volume this interest is kept uppermost. It is shown
504 HISTORICAL NEWS
to be the only approach to a just solution, though it has been variously stressed in different periods.
Special attention is given to the post-war railroad situation. Beginning with a chapter^on "The War Administration of the Railroads, " in which a brief general survey of the problem is traced, the author brings the work down through the war period, and then discusses the essentials of reconstructive policy, the elements of the railroad adjustment, and the Trans- portation Act of 1920.
The discussion throughout is in non-technical language (The Century Co., New York City, 1921, pp. xvi-474, $3.00).
A MERICAN CATHOLICS IN THE WAR, National -** Catholic War Council, 1917-1921, by Michael Williams.
This volume is dedicated to the Right Reverend Peter J. Muldoon, D. D., Bishop of Rockford and Chairman of the Administrative Committee, National Catholic War Council. A preface is supplied by the late James Cardinal Gibbons, in which he says:
"This book might in very truth be called the 'promise fulfilled' — the promise made by the Hier- archy assembled in Washington, April, 1917. "That promise meant the consecration in patriotic service not only of our priests and of our religious but also of our laymen and laywomen; it meant not only one organization but every organization; not only one source of support within the command of the body Catholic — chaplains in the service: men in the army and navy: trained Catholic men and women who would devote themselves to all the men of the service:
NOTES AND COMMENT 505
the support of government appeals by our Catholic parishes, the erection of huts and visitors' houses within the camps here: of service clubs in the cities: of welfare work both at home and abroad.
"That promise was big in its vision; it looked be- yond the war into the trying days that would follow. Almost immediately after war was declared the Na- tional Catholic War Council was established. Com- posed of the fourteen Archbishops, the Council operated through an Administrative Committee of four Bishops; this committee, in .turn, functioned through two sub- committees, the Committee on Special War Activities and the Knights of Columbus Committee on War Activities. The splendid work of the Knights of Columbus brought glory to them, and to the Church, and great benefits to the country, and has been dealt with by the historians of our devoted Order. This book is particularly concerned with the work accomplished by the Committee on Special War Activities. From the first day of the War Council's activity, its interests were in care of Rev. John J. Burke, C.S.P., Chairman of the Committee on Special War Activities. While the text of this narrative will bear testimony to his singular insight, efficiency and devotion, I feel it a duty to add here the expression of my gratitude to him and of my admiration for the qualities of mind and heart that he brought to the doing of a great work for Church and country.
"The National Catholic War Council united in patriotic effort all Catholic organizations: it aided the government by immediate contact in Washington: it explained and it defended Catholic rights. Its beneficial work was extended to all soldiers and sailors:
506 HISTORICAL NEWS
its employment and reconstruction work was not, and is not, confined to Catholics: its community welfare work is for the entire community.
"It has brought into national expression the Catho- lic principles of justice and of fraternal service that be- speak the continued prosperity and happiness of America as a nation.
"It has opened the way for its successor — the Na- tional Catholic Welfare Council — to win still greater achievements in the days of peace for God and for country."
The earlier chapters of the book tell the part played by the Catholic Church in previous wars of the United States. A large portion of the remainder is devoted to the story of the organization of the National Catholic War Council and its work. Specially interesting are the chapters on the work done by Catholic women. Many Michigan Catholics were engaged in war work through this Council, but the lack of an index makes it hard to find them. Father John R. Command of Detroit has been for some time chief in charge of gathering the data for the history of Michigan Catholics in the War, and it is hoped that a special volume on their work may be forthcoming in the near future.
HP HE SHORT CONSTITUTION, by Martin J. Wade and -*• William F. Russell, with annotations by Charles H. Meyerholz.
Mr. Wade is a United States District Court judge, and Mr. Russell is Dean of the College of Education in the State University of Iowa. Mr. Meyerholz is Professor of Political Science in the Iowa State Teachers
NOTES AND COMMENT 507
College. These names speak for the character of this work.
"What has America done for me and for my chil- dren?" is the question in the hearts of millions of Americans today, and the authors speak this word to teachers :
"All those who attempt to teach Americanism to foreigners, and to Americans, must be prepared to answer this question. It can only be answered by teaching the individual guaranties of the Constitution of the United States, and of the States, which protect life and liberty and property.
"It can only be answered by convincing the people that this is a land of justice and of opportunity for all; that if there be abuses, they are due not to our form of government, but that the people are themselves to blame, because of their ignorance of their rights, their failure to realize their power, and their neglect of those duties which citizenship imposes.
"All over the land earnest men and women are endeavoring to teach the great truths of Americanism, and with substantial success; but those who understand human nature realize that the faith of our fathers can only be firmly established by lighting the fires of pa- triotism and loyalty in the hearts of our children. Through them the great truths of our National life can be brought into the homes of the land.
"And the Nation will never be safe until the Con- stitution is carried into the homes, until at every fire- side young and old shall feel a new sense of security in the guaranties which are found in this great charter of human liberty, and a new feeling of gratitude for the blessings which it assures to this, and to all future generations."
508 HISTORICAL NEWS
This little book is one of a series of volumes entitled "Elementary Americanism/' intended for use in the home, the club, the school, and in general Americani- zation work. It is not a text book on civics, but a study of human rights under the Constitution. It is based upon the idea that patriotism is of the spirit, a thing to be caught, rather than taught. It shows how to make Americanization work concrete, vivid and alive.
Mr. Frank L. Dykema of Grand Rapids who is general manager of this fine enterprise of "putting the Constitution into every school and every home in the country," writes to the editor of this Magazine:
"The situation now in reference to teaching citi- zenship is about parallel to what it was at the time the training in health was put in the schools. The teachers then said, we are teaching health, believing that in the teaching of physiology, having to do with bones and muscles, they were giving real health training. Teachers today say they are teaching the Constitution and that they are teaching citizenship, referring always to the courses in Civil Government, which is actually the same as teaching about the bones and muscles of government, instead of the real spirit of the Consti- tution and the ballot."
fS The book is published by the American Citizen Publishing Co,, Iowa City, 3rd ed., 1921, pp. 228, $1.00.
STORY OF MANKIND, by Hendrik Van Loon, •*- Ph. D., Professor of the Social Sciences in Antioch College, author~of The Golden Book of the Dutch Navi- gators, A Short Story of Discovery, Ancient Man, and histories of Holland.
NOTES AND COMMENT 509
As a means of helping to make historical reading easy for young and old, The Story of Mankind has hard- ly a rival. Mr. Wells helped considerably with his Outline of History, Dr. Van Loon's book covers much the same field in much simpler terms. Mr. Wells came as a teacher and prophet with strong personal bias, anxious to drive home certain views of his own — Dr. Van Loon is a story teller. He himself says:
"The origin of 'The Story of Mankind' is a very simple one. I suffered as a child from the exceedingly bad method of history teaching which was used in my native land. When I crossed the ocean, I discovered that my own children in the schools of my adopted country were taught a sort of history which made them the sincere and devoted enemies of history for life.
"At the same time the political development of the world during the last six years, and the entrance of America upon the scene of international politics as the most important actor, destined to 'play the lead' for the next five hundred years, convinced me that a proper and reasonable understanding of historical cause and effect was the most important factor in the lives of the rising generation.
"And so my book does not divide history into several unconnected watertight compartments ; it treats the entire history of the human race as a single unit, and shows us and our children that we are but links in an endless and fascinating chain of human develop- ment. It begiiis in the dim and hardly understood realm of the earliest pagt; it can be continued forever."
Entertaining, often humorous and whimsical, the work is yet accurate history and splendidly informative.
510 HISTORICAL NEWS
It is the best survey of universal history we know of to put into the hands of children.
The author was not unmindful of Alice's query, "What is the use of a book without pictures?" And so he made for the book a series of illustrations, not works of art, but better suited to a child's imagination than many an artistic triumph. There are over 140 black and white line cuts, eight four-colored pages, numerous animated maps and full page half-tones (Boni and Liveright, New York City, pp. xxx-483, $5.00).
ROAD TO THE WORLD, by Webb Waldron, U. of M. '05 is refreshingly real, so real indeed that one feels it must be in large measure autobiographical. It is a story of intense fascination. Deep down in each of us is the realization that its hero, Stan Hilgert, is making the struggle that we too have made in finding our "road to the world."
. Stan is a Michigan boy who first sees the light in a little town somewhere in the vicinity of "The Thumb." The story carries him through all the ex- periences of boyhood and young manhood, — his in- stinctive craving to write, the handicaps of poverty, the escapades of school days, his discovery of "the girl," his plunge for college, his disgust with the tram- mels of conventional thinking, and his student days at the University of Michigan, where he meets "Karen," the star that is to change the course of his life.
The brave and beautiful story that follows, of two lives each true to itself, seizes upon one with subtle interest. It is not the ordinary "love story," for the story is a tragedy from that point of view. At many
NOTES AND COMMENT. 511
points we venture a guess at how it will end, and when it does end, quite differently, we have a sense that it could not have ended otherwise and been true to life. To conceal the outcome of a 400 page story until within two pages of the end and have it true to life is an achieve- ment. And it is in this ending that many will make a self-discovery, which for them will be the value of the book.
The Road to the World will doubtless win its way with "the independent thinker." But a warning, — it is not a book for persons who are easily "shocked" (The Century Co., N. Y., pp. 416, $1.90).
PAPERS
THE INDIAN AS AN ORATOR
BY PROF. R. CLYDE FORD YPSILANTI
American Indian, whatever else we may say of him, certainly has always been a picturesque and romantic character. From the beginning of our history he has figured more or less in almost every stride we have taken as a people. From the beginning of our history — he himself is largely the beginning of our history —from the time the ships of Columbus made a landfall on this side of the ocean till within recent times our story as a people has been interwoven in some way with that of the first rude dweller of the land.
Within the last generation, however, his memory has begun to fade. Contact with him has become less and less noticeable, and as he has sunk from sight he has dropped from our recollection and attention. He is no longer in evidence, and out of sight is out of mind. The actual Indian we are fast forgetting. But as a myth he still exists, — a legendary character, in unreal and distorted proportions. The good in him we have interred with his bones, the evil that he did lives after him. In our histories and literature he is mostly the bad Indian, the cruel, revengeful, treacherous redskin who harried our frontiers in early days, lusting for scalps and plunder, and always ready to drown in fire water whatever human qualities he may have possessed. How many of our old-time novels are punctuated by his blood curdling war-whoops and inhuman butch- eries !
515
516 PROP. K. CLYDE FORD
But our children, with a sure and certain instinct, have dealt more fairly than their elders with the In- dian. They have glimpsed him as a picturesque creature of forest and plain, and have conjured him over into their dreams. To them the word ' 'Indian" is magic, a potent charm that calls up wigwams and bark canoes, red children and wild things of the forest, a wonderful, entrancing world. Undoubtedly that conception of the Indian is a better one than the other.
But to come now to the subject of our paper, — The Indian as an Orator. We know of a surety that he was many things; he was a brave defender, a daring, indefatigable warrior, a clever hunter, a keen observer, he was dignified and serious in manner, honest in his dealings with his fellow men, loyal and devoted in his friendships, persistent in his hatreds. He. was also a person of dreams, for he built up stories around the flowers, the wild creatures that lived in the forest with him, the forces of nature that prevailed about him, the come and go of the seasons. But with all his lore, his vices and his virtues, — was he an orator? Could he feel and understand human motives, and interpret them in a way to arouse men to action? Was he able with the magic gift of eloquence to sway the hearts of his fellows and bend them to his will? All this is certainly a question worth while.
The Indian's education was limited, yet in a way it was a regular and systematic education. Kah-ke- wa-quo-naby, known in English as the Rev. Peter Jones, wrote a history of the Chippewas and throws some light on this subject. And Dr. Charles A. East- man in his book An Indian Boyhood describes at length the way he was reared among the Sioux. The
THE INDIAN AS AN ORATOR 517
Indian youth was taught to be a good hunter, skilled in all the lore of the wilderness. A little later he was instructed in the art of war, and his parents and the wise old men of the village recounted to him the won- derful exploits of the braves of other days in order to fire his imagination. Finally, he was initiated into the mysteries of religion, the fasts, feasts, offerings, religious songs and dances, and the rites of the secret orders. This made of him a brave, an individual that did not differ any from all the other fighting men of the tribe.
However, some particular Indian youth might rise to eminence, and become a man of distinction, and enter the councils of his tribe. Here his education widened, and the gifts of oratory became a require- ment. When once he could state his views convinc- ingly and eloquently he rose at once to a position of influence. The government of a tribe was vested in a council, made up of chiefs of various bands or of elders of the tribe, and all questions touching the gen- eral welfare were debated at great length. Decisions were generally arrived at only by unanimous consent, and of a necessity the deliberations were long and animated. To be fitted to take part in such assemblies was the ambition of every warrior. And such dis- tinction was recognized, and the powerful speaker was looked up to and listened to with admiration and respect. The Indian's language had qualities in it which adapted it particularly to oratory and appeal. It was evolved in contact with nature and possessed much rugged power and beauty; it abounded in imag- ination and symbolism and poetical speech, and when he had a great cause to plead, he frequently responded
518 PROP. R. CLYDE FORD
to the occasion with subtle skill and ingenuity, and even with eloquence and passion.
Pontiac's first address to the assembled chieftains in the famous council at Ecorse, April 27, 1763, fully illustrates this point. Let us review briefly the cir- cumstances. Pontiac with rude statesmanship had worked out the plans for his uprising in the winter of 1762-3; with something like genius he had been able to kindle enthusiasm and loyalty in remote Indian tribes from Lake Superior to the south, and from the Mississippi to the Alleghenies and beyond. And now that his preparations were complete there remained but to touch a match to the tinder. And this match was to be his address in council. Undoubtedly he had thought long about it. He knew well what respon- sibility hung upon his words, what far reaching con- sequences would devolve upon the impression he would make. The white man's yoke was getting heavier upon the Indian's neck with each succeeding year; his hunting grounds to the east had been taken from him; and now the wilderness of the Great Lakes had passed to the control of a flag which boded ill for the red man. Realization of this filled his soul with bit- terness and fury.
We do not know all that happened in his prelim- inary council, but the so-called Pontiac MS. hints at much and tells more. Pontiac evidently began by recounting the wrongs of his people, and when his eloquence had caught the ears of his listeners he related how a certain Indian of the Wolf or Delaware tribe had received a communication in person from the Great Spirit, the Master of Life. With much skill and fine language he described how the Indian jour-
THE INDIAN AS AN ORATOR 519
neyed across dale and forest till he came at last to a precipitous mountain which barred his progress. Here a radiant vision of loveliness met him and told him if he wished to go further he must cast away any im- peding thing, — gun, food, clothing; that he must wash away his sins in a limpid stream near by, and then go into the presence of the Great Spirit. All this he does and he comes finally to a large plain with three large villages in it, where he is ushered into the presence of the Great Spirit who thus addresses him:
"I am the Master 'of Life and since I know what you desire to know and to whom you wish to speak, listen well to what I am going to say to you and all the Indians.
"I am He who has created the heavens and the earth, the trees, lakes, rivers, all men, and all you see and have seen upon the earth. Because I love you you must do what I say and love, and not do what I hate
"This land where you dwell I have made for you and not for others. Whence comes it then that you permit the white man upon your lands? Can you not live without him? I know that those whom you call the children of the Great Father supply your needs, but if you were not evil, as you are, you could surely do without them. You could live as you did live before you knew them, before those whom you call your brothers had come upon your lands. Did you not live by the bow and arrow? You had no need of gun or powder, or anything else, and nevertheless you caught animals to live upon and to dress your- selves with their skins. But when I saw that you were given up to evil I led the wild animals to the depths of the forest so that you had to depend upon your
520 PROF. K. CLYDE FORD
brothers to feed and shelter you. You have only to become good again and do what I wish and I will send back the animals for your food. I do not forbid you to permit among you the children of your Father ; I love them. They know me and pray to me, and I supply their wants and all they give you. But as to them who come to trouble your lands, — those dogs dressed in red, drive them but — make war upon them. I do not love them; they know me not, and are my enemies, and the enemies of your brothers. Send them back to the lands which I have created for them and let them stay there.". . . .
In this adroit way Pontiac fired the minds of his hearers with a message from Heaven. And the In- dian's religious feelings were easily played upon— we know this from the influence exercised by Tecum- seh's brother, Elks-wa-to-wa, the prophet, and by the Messiah craze among the Sioux Indians within our own recollections.
Once more we behold Pontiac as a pleader of his cause — this time in a council which was held with the French settlers near Detroit, May 23, 1763, when they protested against the lawlessness and depredation of his warriors.
1 'My brothers, we have never intended to do you any injury or harm, neither have we pretended that any should be done to you, but among my young men there are some, as among you, who are always doing harm in spite of all precautions that one can take. Moreover, it is not for personal vengeance merely that I am making war upon the English; it is for you, my brothers, as well as for us. When the English have insulted us in the councils which we have held with
THE INDIAN AS AN ORATOR 521
them, they have insulted you, too, without your know- ing it. And since I and all my brothers, also, know that the English have taken away from you all means to avenge yourself by disarming you and making you sign a paper which they have sent to their own country, —a thing they could not do to us,— for this reason we wish to avenge you equally with ourselves, and I swear the destruction of all that may be upon our lands.
"What is more, you do not know all the reasons which oblige me to act.as I do. I have told you only what concerns you, but you will know the rest in time. I know very well that many of you, my brothers, consider me a fool, but you will see in the future if I am what people say I am, and if I am wrong. I know very well, also, that there are some among you, my brothers, who side with the English in making war upon us and that grieves me. As for them, I know them well, and when our Great Father returns I shall name and point them out to him and they will see whether they or we will be most satisfied with the result in the end.
"I do not doubt, my brothers, that this war causes you annoyance because of the movements of our brothers who are coming and going in your homes constantly; I am chagrined at it, but do not think, my brothers, that I inspire the harm which is being done you. As a proof that I do not desire it just call to mind the war with the Foxes, and the way I be- haved as regards you seventeen years ago. When the Chippewas and Ottawas of Michillimackinac, and all the northern nations, came with the Sacs and Foxes to destroy you, who was it that defended you? Was it not I and my men?
522 PROF. R. CLYDE FORD
1 ' When Mackinaw, the great chief of all these nations, said in his council that he would carry the head of your commander to his village, and devour his heart, and drink his blood, did I not take up your cause, and go to his village, and tell him that if he wanted to kill the French he would have to begin first with me and my men? Did I not help you to rid your- selves of them and drive them away? How does it come then, my brothers, that you would think me today ready to turn my weapons against you? No, my brothers, I am the same French Pontiac who helped you seventeen years ago; I am French, and I want to die French, and I repeat that it is altogether your interest and mine that I avenge. Let me carry out my plan. I do not demand your assistance, because I know you could not give it; I only ask you for provisions for myself and all my followers. If, however, you should like to help me I would not refuse; you would please me and get out of trouble quicker, for I promise when the English shall be driven away from here, or killed, we shall all withdraw into our villages, following our custom, to await the coming of our French Father. "
This speech, copied from the Pontiac MS., was undoubtedly heard by the one who entered it in the journal, and aside from the comment that Pontiac listened intently to the reproaches of the French we have no hint as to his feelings or the way he voiced them. But we can understand, as somebody has said, that a warrior who could speak with such com- pelling force had no need of the petty tricks of elo- cution and of oratory.
i: Before taking leave of Pontiac let us follow him to the great council of Ottawas, Chippewas and Pot-
THE INDIAN AS AN ORATOR 523
tawatomies held near Detroit, August 27-28, 1765, and hear him as he makes his submission to Colonel Croghan and the British government. In behalf of the several nations present he spoke as follows:
"Father, we have all smoked out of this pipe of peace. It is your children's pipe; and as the war is all over, and the Great Spirit and Giver of Light, who has made the earth and everything therein, has brought us all together this day for mutual good, I declare to all nations that I have settled my peace with you before I came here, and now 'deliver my pipe to be sent to Sir William Johnson, that he may know I have made peace, and taken the King of England for my father, in presence of all the nations now assembled; and whenever any of those nations go to visit him, they may smoke out of it with him in peace. Fathers, we are obliged to you for lighting up our old council-fire for us, and desiring us to return to it; but we are now settled on the Miami River, not far from hence: when- ever you want us, you will find us there. "
The next year he appeared before Sir William John- son in the State of New York and spoke in a similar strain. Surely there is something pathetic and at the same time grand and heroic in the spectacle of this surrender of a leader of a lost cause.
But of all the Indian speeches that have found publicity, probably none has enjoyed the celebrity which fell to the words of Logan, the chief of the Min- goes, in his message to Lord Dunmore. In Europe and America this speech has often been cited and quoted as a masterpiece of rhetoric. The older ones here present today will remember it out of their school readers. Logan, by^birth an Iroquois, of the.Cayuga tribe, because of his character and reputation was
524 PROF. R. CLYDE FORD
elected chief of the Mingoes in eastern Ohio about the year 1770. In 1774 almost the whole of his family was murdered in cold blood by the whites. This aroused him to such fury that he incited the Indians to rebellion and drenched the Ohio border in blood, taking as many as thirty scalps with his own hands. The so-called Dunmore War was the result of this uprising, and, here again, as always, the Indians were overpowered by superior numbers and reduced to submission. When finally Lord Dunmore at the head of his punitive expedition reached the neighborhood of the Indian tribes on the Sciota he was met by a messen- ger with a flag of truce who requested on the part of the Indians an interpreter through whom they could sue for peace. Chief Logan refused to attend the council and Dunmore sent a man named Gibson, who is supposed to have married Logan's sister, to learn the cause of his absence. When Gibson arrived at his village the chief met him and requested him to go with him into the woods near by. Here they sat down and Logan, overcome with tears, narrated his pathetic story. This is the message which Gibson brought back to Lord Dunmore, written out in English, for and in the name of the chief:
"I appeal to any white man to say if ever he entered Logan's cabin hungry, and he gave him not meat; if ever he came cold and naked, and he clothed him not. During the course of the last long and bloody war Logan remained idle in his cabin, an advocate for peace. Such was my love for the whites that my countrymen pointed at me as they passed, and said: 'Logan is the friend of white men.'
"I had even thought to have lived with you, but for the injuries of one man. Colonel Cresap, last
THE INDIAN AS AN ORATOR 525
spring, in cold blood and unprovoked, murdered all relations of Logan, not sparing even my women and children. There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any living creature.
"This called on me for revenge. I have sought it. I have killed many. I have glutted my vengeance. For my country, I rejoice at the beams of peace. But do not think that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. Logan will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan? Not one!5'
The authenticity of this speech has been much discussed by various writers, but comparing all sources and copies there seems hardly any doubt that it is practically Logan's own words. We have followed the version in Jefferson's notes, published in February, 1775, only a few months after the council, and based directly on conversations with Lord Dunmore.
The sad fate of Logan is quite in accord with the unhappy end of almost all our great Indian warriors from the beginning of our history. The white man's treachery or fire water was their undoing. After the downfall of his people Logan wandered about from tribe to tribe, broken hearted and dejected, most of the time seeking forgetfulness in drink. He was murdered somewhere near Detroit by a savage com- panion, as he sat bowed in moody reflection by a camp- fire, his elbows on his knees, his head resting on his hands. So perished Logan, worthy of a better fate.
I have referred to the fact that Logan was an Iro- quois. The Iroquois race has produced a number of famous orators and leaders, among whom looms to eminence also Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket, a chief of the Senecas. He fought on the side of the English during our Revolution, but sided with the United
526 PROP. B. CLYDE FORD
States in the War of 1812 and materially assisted our forces by the valuable information he gave concerning the plans of Tecumseh. He, too, fell a victim to drink, and at one time was deposed by a council of chiefs. .Later he was restored to office. At first he was in favor of education for his people, but later be- came a pronounced opponent of schools and Chris- tianity. In the year 1806, Mr. Crane, a missionary, appeared at a council of chiefs of the Six Nations and spoke of the work he proposed to do among them. At the conclusion of his address Red Jacket made a re- joinder which has gone far to establish the claim that he was the most eloquent of all the Indian orators.
"Friend and Brother: — It was the will of the Great Spirit that we should meet together this day. He orde'rs all things and has given us a fine day for our council. He has taken His garment from before the sun and caused it to shine with brightness upon us. Our eyes are opened that we see clearly; our ears are unstopped that we have been able to hear distinctly the words you have spoken. For all these favors we thank the Great Spirit, and Him only.
"Brother, this council fire was kindled by you. It was at your request that we came together at this time. We have listened with attention to what you have said. You requested us to speak our minds freely. This gives us great joy; for we now consider that we stand upright before you and can speak what we think. All have heard your voice and all speak to you now as one man. Our minds are agreed.
"Brother, you say you want an answer to your talk before you leave this place. It is right you should have one, as you are a great distance from home and we do not wish to detain you. But first we will look
THE INDIAN AS AN ORATOR 527
back a little and tell you what our fathers have told us and what we have heard from white people.
"Brother, listen to what we say. There was a time when our forefathers owned this great island. Their seats extended from the rising to the setting sun. The Great Spirit had made it for the use of the Indians. He had created the buffalo, the deer, and other animals for food. He had made the bear and the beaver. Their skins served us for clothing. He had scattered them over the country and taught us how to take them. He had caused* the earth to produce corn for bread. All this He had done for His red children because He loved them. If we had some disputes about our hunting-ground they were generally settled without the shedding of much blood.
"But an evil day came upon us. Your forefathers crossed the great water and landed on this island. Their numbers were small. They found friends and not enemies. They told us they had fled from their own country for fear of wicked men and had come to enjoy their religion. They asked for a small seat. We took pity on them, granted their request, and they sat down among us. We gave them corn and meat; they gave us poison in return.
"The white people, brother, had now found our country. Tidings were carried back and more came among us. Yet we did not fear them. We took them to be friends. They called us brothers. We believed them and gave them a larger seat. At length their numbers had greatly increased. They wanted more land ; they wanted our country. Our eyes were opened and our minds became uneasy. War took place. Indians were hired to fight against Indians, and many
528 PROP. R. CLYDE FORD
of our people were destroyed. They also brought strong liquor among us. It was strong and powerful, and has slain thousands.
"Brother, our seats were once large and yours were small. You have now become a great people, and we have scarcely a place left to spread our blankets. You have got our country, but are not satisfied; you want to force your religion upon us.
4 'Brother, continue to listen. You say that you are sent to instruct us how to worship the Great Spirit agreeably to His mind; and, if we do not take hold of the religion which you white people teach we shall be unhappy hereafter. You say that you are right and we are lost. How do we know this to be true? We understood that your religion is written in a Book. If it was intended for us, as well as you, why has not the Great Spirit given to us, and not only to us, but why did He not give to our forefathers the knowledge of that Book, with the means of understanding it rightly. We only know what you tell us about it. How shall we know when to believe, being so often deceived by the white people?
" Brother, you say there is but one way to worship and serve the Great Spirit. If there is but one religion, why do you white people differ so much about it? Why are not all agreed, as you can all read the Book?
"Brother, we do not understand these things. We are told that your religion was given to your fore- fathers and has been handed down from father to son. We also have a religion which was given to our fore- fathers and has been handed down to us, their children. We worship in that way. It teaches us to be thankful for all the favors we receive, to love each other, and to be united. We never quarrel about religion.
THE INDIAN AS AN ORATOR 529
"Brother, the Great Spirit has made us all, but He has made a great difference between His white and His red children. He has given us different complex- ions and different customs. To you He has given the arts. To these He has not opened our eyes. We know these things to be true. Since He has made so great a difference between us in other things, why may we not conclude that He has given us a different religion according to our understanding? The Great Spirit does right. He knows what is best for His children; we are satisfied.
"Brother, we do not wish to destroy your religion or take it from you. We only want to enjoy our own.
"Brother, you say you have not come to get our land or our money, but to enlighten our minds. I will now tell you that I have been at your meetings and saw you collect money from the meeting. I can not tell what this money was intended for, but suppose that it was for your minister; and, if we should conform to your way of thinking, perhaps you may want some from us.
"Brother, we are told that you have been preaching to the white people in this place. These people are our neighbors. We are acquainted with them. We will wait a little while and see what effect your preach- ing has upon them. If we find it does them good, makes them honest, and less disposed to cheat Indians, we will then consider again of what you have said.
"Brother, you have now heard our answer to your talk, and this is all we have to say at present. As we are going to part, we will come and take you by the hand, and hope the Great Spirit will protect you on your journey and return you safe to your friends. "
530 PROF. R. CLYDE FORD
The Indian has been called cold, impassive, in- scrutable and without feeling, but intimate accounts go to show that when he was aroused by some great question he threw off his reserve and granite demeanor and spoke in words which pulsated with an agony of feeling. Caleb Atwater, who was present at many councils, remarked this. As soon as the orator took up some such subject as cession of the tribal lands, or removal of his people from the home of their ancestors, he became surcharged with the awful responsibility which rested upon him. In breathless silence, the audience hung upon his words; they wept with him; they exulted as he exulted; they followed him in his grief and despair. He had suddenly become in his own expressive phrase, a human beine[, a MAN, and like one in whose veins flowed the blood of free-born men he pleaded his cause.
In a council held at Prairie du Chien, July 1, 1829, to negotiate a cession of Indian lands, Hoo-wa-ne-ka, or Little Elk, made the following speech:
"The first white man we ever knew was a French- man. He lived among us as we did. He painted himself, smoked his pipe with us, sang and danced with us, and married one of our squaws, but he never wanted to buy our land.
"The Red Coat came next. He gave us new coats, leggins and shoes, guns, traps and knives, blankets and jewels. He seated our chiefs at his table to eat with him; he fixed epaulets on their shoulders and put commissions in their pockets. He suspended large medals on their breasts, but he never asked us to sell our country to him.
|fc "Next came the Blue Coat — the American. No sooner had he seen a portion of our country, than he
THE INDIAN AS AN ORATOR 531
asked for a map of the whole of it. Having seen the map he wanted to buy it all. Governor Cass last year at Green Bay urged us to sell all our country to him, and now you, father, make the same request. Why do you want to add our small country to yours which is already so large?
"When I went to Washington City to see our Great Father, I saw great houses all along the road, and Washington and Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York are great and splendid cities! So large and beautiful was the President's house; the tables and chairs, the mirrors and carpets were so beautiful that I thought I was in Heaven, and that the old man there was the Great Spirit! But after he had taken us by the hand and kissed our women I found him like our- selves, nothing but a man!
"You ask us to sell our country and wander off into the boundless regions of the West. We do not own that country, and the deer, elk, bison and beaver there are not ours, and we have no right to kill them. Our wives and our children, now seated behind us, are dear to us, and so is our country where rest in peace the bones of our ancestors. (Here he spoke with great emotion) Fathers, pity a people few in number, poor and helpless! Do you want our country? Yours is larger than ours! Do you want our wigwams? You live in palaces! Do you want our horses? Yours are larger, stronger, and better than ours.
"Do you want our women? (And now pointing to the wives of the American officers present, and to the wife and daughters of the agent of the American Fur Company, he said:) Yours are now sitting behind you, and they are handsomer and better dressed than
532 PROF. R. CLYDE FORD
ours. Once more I ask, my fathers, what can be your motives? Why do you want to rob us of our land?" (Taken from a so-called Historical Document in Magazine of American History for the year 1880.)
But as eloquent as was the speech of Little Elk, it was surpassed by Black Hawk in an address which he made to his people in the spring of 1831 upon notifi- cation by the United States agent that he was ordered to remove with his tribe to lands west of the Mississippi. It is as follows:
4 'Warriors: — Sixty summers or more have gone since our fathers sat down here, and our mothers erected their lodges on this spot. On these pastures our horses have fattened; our wives and daughters have cultivated the corn-fields, and planted beans and melons and squashes ; from these rivers our young men have obtained an abundance of fish. Here, too, you have been protected from your old enemy, the Sioux, by the mighty Mississippi. And here are the bones of our warriors and chiefs and orators.
"But alas! what do I hear? The birds that have long gladdened these groves with their melody now sing a melancholy soag! They say, 'The red man must leave his home, to make room for the white man/ The Long Knives want it for their speculation and greed. They want to live in our houses, plant corn in our fields, and plough up our graves! They want to fatten their hogs on our dead, not yet mouldered in their graves! We are ordered to remove to the west bank of the Mississippi; there to erect our houses, and open new fields, of which we shall soon be robbed again by these pale-faces! They tell us that our great father, the chief of the Long Knives, has com- manded us, his red children, to give this, our greatest
THE INDIAN AS AN ORATOR 533
town, our greatest graveyard, and our best home, to his white children! I do not believe it. It cannot be true; it is impossible that so great a Chief should compel us to seek new homes, and prepare new corn- fields, and that, too, in a country where our women and children will be in danger of being murdered by our enemies. No! No! Our great father, the chief of the Long Knives, will never do this. I have heard these silly tales for seven winters, that we were to be driven from our homes. You know we offered the Long Knives a large toact of country abounding with lead on the west side of the Mississippi, if they would relinquish their claim to this little spot. We will, therefore, repair our houses which the pale-faced vagabonds have torn down and burnt, and we will plant our corn; and if these white intruders annoy us, we will tell them to depart. We will offer them no violence, except in self-defense. We will not kill their cattle, or destroy any of their property, but their scutah wapo (whiskey) we will search for, and destroy, throwing it out upon the earth, wherever we find it. We have asked permission of the intruders to cultivate our own fields(, around which they have erected wooden walls. They refuse, and forbid us the privilege of climbing over. We will throw down these walls, and, as these pale-faces seem unwilling to live in the com- munity with us, let them, and not us, depart. The land is ours, not theirs. We inherited it from our fathers; we have never sold it. If some drunken dogs of our people sold lands they did not own, our rights remain. We have no chiefs who are authorized to sell our corn-fields, our houses, or the bones of our dead. The great Chief of the Long Knives, I believe, is too wise and good to approve acts of robbery and
534 PROF. R. CLYDE FORD
injustice, though I have found true the statement oi my British friends in Canada, that 'The Long Knives will always claim the land where they are permitted to make a track with their foot, or mark a tree.' I will not, however, believe that the great Chief, wh< is pleased to call himself our 'Father* will send hi* warriors against his children for no bther cause thai contending to cultivate their own fields, and occup; their own houses. No! I will not believe it, until see his army. Not until then will I forsake the graves of my ancestors, and the home of my youth !" (Fro: Gallan4's Iowa Emigrant, 1840.)
But alas, the army came, and with it the hoi Black Hawk had so long foreboded. General Gain< and Gov. Reynolds of Illinois called a council an< demanded once more that Black Hawk remove to th< other side of the Mississippi.
"Your father asks you to be seated, " said th< interpreter to him.
"My father !" he answered haughtily, repeatinj the words of Tecumseh to General Harrison twenl years before;
"The sun is my father; the earth is my mother; will rest upon her bosom !"
At last, however, Black Hawk sullenly took hi* seat with the fifty assembled chiefs and warriors. The treaty was read, sentence by sentence and in- terpreted by Antoine LeClaire. Then Black Hawk was called upon to sign. He arose slowly and with dignity, yet grief and humiliation were visible in his handsome face, but he took the pen, made a bold cross upon the paper and resumed his seat amid a breathless silence. Thus ended the impressive scene. (Geo. A. McCall in Letters from the Frontier.}
THE INDIAN AS AN ORATOR 535
The Indian was the first American and we Amer- icans of yesterday, a stronger and more cultured race, have crushed and displaced him; his glory has departed and he lives now only by our sufferance and bounty.
But though we took away his land and his native freedom we were never able entirely to rob him of his racial pride. He lived as an upstanding man, with certain noble traits among his vices and we must credit him for what he was.
We have not been able to assimilate him; we have not been able to change him; we have been able only to blight and supplant him. His mind was not like ours; his traditions were only the inheritance of a free people of the forest and the plain. He turned his face to the dawn and communed with the Great Spirit; he stood in solitude in some lofty height and studied the sunset and thought of the rewards of the Happy Hunting Grounds.
Alas, he was a simple son of the wilderness and knew the white man only to hate him and despise him. He and his people have succumbed before us and our march of empire. The ignominy of his plight oppressed him and he poured out his abhorrence of it upon us, his conquerors. Therein lies the genius of his oratory, — it was one long cry of protest and revolt against the fate which weighed down upon him. Truly, it was too bad about him.
EARLY DAYS IN THE UPPER PENINSULA BY DR. T. A. FELCH
ISHPEMING
TT is now a matter of common knowledge that the •*• portion of our State which lies above the Straits of Mackinac embraces a large, rich and important sec- tion of country. Although probably a good deal better known to the early explorers than the Lower Penin- sula, it still is not thickly populated and the diversified interests which obtain in the Lower Peninsula find scant lodgement with us. That is necessarily so from the climatic, commercial and other conditions pre- vailing. Nevertheless, we are a rich and important section of the State and are becoming more and more appreciated by the people of the Lower Peninsula.
Probably at the time Michigan acquired this Upper Peninsula the great majority of the people of the State considered that what they had gained in no way compensated in value for what they thought they had lost. Neither could they be blamed for having reached that conclusion, for at that time this region was almost unknown; it was a region of wild Indians and wilder white adventurers; a region of mystery and one un- desirable for a civilized community. And so after that Opera Bouffe affair, the so-called "Toledo War," they accepted the suggestion of Congress and unwill- ingly hitched us on to their star.
In this connection I might mention an incident which I heard from my father, who was in a position to know all about it. Congress referred the matter in dispute to a committee, who discussed the matter
536
EARLY DAYS IN THE UPPER PENINSULA 537
at some length without coining to a conclusion. One day, asjhey were abcmt to adjourn for lunch and were walking ^toward the exit, they brought up standing before a map of this region hanging on the wall. One member regarded it attentively for a few moments, then pointing with his cane to the Menominee River, said "Gentlemen, why not give Michigan all this stretch of land north of this river, " and they all fell in with the suggestion.
And thus, when Michigan found herself in unwilling possession of this Northern Peninsula, she set about finding out what kind of a gift she had received. She sent one of her most scientific men, Dr. Douglass Houghton, to find out. Here was a land of mystery suitable for romance and adventure of a peaceful and commercial kind. The Indians here then were few and not warlike and they and their descendants show their business instincts even to this day by demanding pay for lands which one in a position to know told me the Government had already paid for three different times. Although the existence of copper had been known for many years, still Dr. Houghton was really the discoverer, in that he showed it to be in quantity and of commercial importance. Soon afterward the famous Minesota Mine proved his theory. A certain History of the United States says that copper was first found in the Minesota Mine in Minnesota, which was correct, except that Minnesota never had a copper mine and moreover Minesota, the mine, is spelled with one "n," while Minnesota, the State, is spelled with two "n's." Dr. Houghton was also the discoverer of the iron ore deposits in this end of the Peninsula. In auto trips in this neighborhood tourists may see in Negaunee a monument erected to mark the spot.
538 DR. T. A. FELCH
Dr. Houghton had associated with him some who afterward became men of note in the State, School- craft, Dr. Samuel Douglas and John Burt.
Years afterward Dr. Douglas used to show his friends a small vial of gold dust which he had gathered in this region. Urged to give the location, he refused, saying that a rush of gold hunters did a country no good. Some thirty years ago gold ore was discovered a few miles north of Ishpeming; the company or- ganized and the mine was worked, producing some- thing like a half million dollars worth of gold, but finally it closed because commercial conditions were not favorable. It's re-opening, however, is a future possibility.
While silver mining as such is not now one of our industries, still an immense amount of silver is pro- duced in connection with copper mining.
If you wish to know something of the romance of mining in Michigan, read the story of Silver Islet, a story stranger than fiction. Those things were done by the practical miner. • Now we lead through the Michigan College of Mines and the mines themselves in developing an army of highly educated young men, who carry their civilization and technical knowledge to all parts of the earth.
Mr. John Burt, mentioned before as associated with Dr. Houghton, was a most remarkable man. He was the inventor of the solar compass, an instrument which has been of untold usefulness, not only to our country, but to the world. He did not take out letters patent on this invention and consequently neither he nor his heirs were ever able to get recognition from Con- gress, though a bill to that effect was before Congress for many years. Mr. Burt also invented a sewing
EARLY DATS IN THE UPPER PENINSULA 539
machine and also a typewriter, many years before those things were commercially known. And these also were of no financial benefit to him.
Regarding the men who pursued the practice of medicine in those days, we must regard them as truly pioneers as the woodsman or the miner. Energetic, resourceful men they were, well educated, independent. I may mention that Dr. Cornelius R. Agnew once practiced in the Copper Country, but owing to a dis- agreement with his superior he walked out of the coun- try and afterward beoame one of America's foremost oculists and the moving spirit in the Sanitary Com- mission during the Civil War, an organization some- what similar to our present Red Cross. Then there was Dr. Joseph O'Dwyer, who as a young man clerked in a store in this city and who afterward became a professor in a New York college and invented and perfected the operation of intubation used in certain conditions sometimes found during the course of diphtheria and other diseases. Dr. Wm. Beaumont's experiments on the wounded Alexis St. Martin at Mackinac Island placed the knowledge of the phy- siology of digestion on a scientific basis which is ac- knowledged today. You may see within the Fort at the Island the monument which was erected by the joint efforts of the Upper Peninsula and the Michi- gan State Medical Societies.
If you would read the little book called The Honorable Peter White you would get a good idea of the social and business conditions of the early times, an auto- biography of one of the truly great men of Michigan.
THE MICHIGAN CLUB
BY HENRY A. HAIGH
(First Secretary (1884) and later President (1898) of the Organizatic
DETROIT
CUFFICIENT time has probably now transpired ^ justify the relating of a brief account of the "Old Michigan Club," the famous Republican organization that exerted such marked influence in this State dur- ing the eighties and nineties of the last century.
Probably no other organization ever really cut a greater figure in the politics of Michigan, and no other organization — I venture to say — is remembered with a kindlier and more tolerant regard.
The Michigan Club had its origin in the necessity for recuperation and readjustment which confronted the Republican party at the close of the disastrous campaign of 1884.
The fatal tragedy of '84, when Elaine, the "Plumed Knight" of Republicanism, and "Black Jack," — John A. Logan, the most popular and inspiring military hero then living, went down to ignominious defeat before the victorious hordes of democracy, brought Republicans everywhere to a realizing sense of what had happened to their beloved party and what had been happening to the G. O. P. during the previous eight years.
In national politics, it dawned depressingly on "stalwarts," "liberals" and all elements of the party that, beginning with the near disaster of 1876, which was only doubtfully terminated by the narrow out- come of the uncomfortable Hayes- Tilden controversy,
540
THE MICHIGAN CLUB 541
the grasp of power of the "patriotic" party that had "saved the Union" had really been none too secure; and in State politics, staunch old republicans who had boasted the birth of their party "Under the Oaks at Jackson" and had pointed with pride to their brilliant line of State executives — Blair, Crapo, Baldwin, Bag- ley, Croswell and Jerome — had been forced to endure imagined humiliation under the Democratic adminis- tration of Josiah W. Begole.
A determined effort had been made to make the republican campaign of 1884 a success. The two most beloved and popular men in the party — James G. Blaine and "Black Jack" Logan — were selected to head the national ticket. The State ticket was headed by a new and brilliant figure in Michigan republican- ism— General Russell A. Alger; while as candidate for congressman from the first district of Michigan, Col. John Atkinson, then at the zenith of his fame, popularity and oratorical power, had been selected.
A vigorous campaign was valiantly fought; all dif- ferences were put aside in a common effort to elect the entire ticket, and recover the prestige and power which "the preservers of the country" felt they de- served. All the old-time weapons of political war- fare were brandished to the full. We had wonderful meetings — noon-times, afternoons and evenings, — with bands, songs, processions, banners and speeches galore. We had orators, the like of whom we never since have heard, who labored with a zeal that brought some of them to grief. I remember that even Bob. Frazier, a leviathan of word-power, had a dismal crack come into his voice, but still he kept on talking!
Well, it all came to naught. We were defeated ignorniniously in the National and in the local con-
542 HENRY A. HAIGH
gressional campaigns, and in many of the so-called safe Republican states. One bright ray of sunshine brought some suspense of sorrow in Michigan — Alger pulled through brilliantly and entered upon a career which took him to the Cabinet and the Senate, — but the great and glorious party that had saved the Union, the party of Lincoln, Grant and Garfield, went down to defeat.
Oh, it was awful. Think of it! Those detested Democrats after a quarter of a century of deserved banishment were jumping up and down like Hotten- tots and yelling for the flesh pots, — with Mugwumps, Ku Klux, Copperheads and whatnots joining in the din, as the sickening sense of horror bore down upon sorrowing Republicans that at last the "rebels had captured Washington!"
Something had to be done, but what?
We were holding a final meeting of the Con- gressional Committee, of which I was Secretary, on the day after our defeat. Walter H. Coots was chair- man. Corliss, Jim Stone, Babcock, Donovan, Levi Grandy and several other faithful actives were present, groping in the gloom over the details of winding up and disbanding the Committee.
Col. Atkinson came in rather cheerily, thanked the Committee for their devoted work, said he was glad the Committee's debts were all paid, and added that, while its term as a party organization had expired, it was no time to disband as workers for a worthy cause. "Victories are won in defeat," the Colonel said, "and now is the time to organize for future victory." think some reference was made to Disraeli's "Prim- rose League," which had been a means of returning
THE MICHIGAN CLUB 543
that statesman to power, and some analogies were drawn.
But it was the plea of John Atkinson about "organ- izing in defeat for future victory, " that started the Michigan Club. Of course the conditions and the atmosphere had to be right, and the mood for it had to exist, and did exist in the situation above described; but the subtle touch and inspiring words that stirred the hearts and started a movement that ran far, far beyond the fondest hopes or wildest expectations came from the brilliant mind of the defeated candidate, John Atkinson.
After the meeting Col. Atkinson asked me to send out to all the fellows who had worked with us so faithfully and to any one else who might be inter- ested, an informal note, requesting them to attend a conference a few nights later.
The response was generous, and perhaps twenty- five gentlemen attended the conference, which was held in our committee room in the Old Buhl Block sometime in the middle of November, 1884.
Among those who came was Mr. Brownell, who was Mr. Christian H. Buhl's agent for the Buhl and Seitz Blocks, who said that he felt sure that Mr. Buhl would gladly allow us the use of the room, rent free, for our meetings. I refer to this because at the next meeting my recollection is that Mr. Buhl himself dropped in, confirmed Mr. Brownell's offer and warmly commended the movement. This may have sug- gested his selection as the first president of the organ- ization— a fact of much significance, because it at once gave the movement a standing among the sub- stantial and conservative members of the party.
544 HENRY A. HAIGH
Formal organization was determined upon in De- cember, 1884, and perfected during the following month by the adoption of Articles of Association, the election of officers and directors, and by incor- poration under an appropriate act of the Legislature.
The selection of the first president of the new organization has seemed to me significant.
CHRISTI-AN H. BUHL, FIRST PRESIDENT
Mr. Buhl, while never an active politician, an< not taking any great part in the affairs of the Michij Club, represented, as few others did, the substanti; interests of the city of Detroit and State of Michigai
Born in Pennsylvania, of Dutch parentage, in 181! he came to Detroit on attaining his majority in 1831 and at once embarked in business enterprises, which were always successful, always increasing and always useful and important. Long before his selection as the first president of the Michigan Club he had be- come identified with some of the most important industries of the State and Nation. He had the reputation of undertaking enterprises which always came through to good success. He remarked that he was willing to be president of the new organization, provided it would be pushed to the success which its objects deserved, though he could not be expected at his age, 72, to do much active work.
JAMES MCMILLAN, VICE-PRESIDENT
Not less significant was the selection of the first vice-president. Mr. McMillan was not at that time regarded in the light of the politician and statesman which he subsequently became. His reputation then was that of one of the most successful and substantial
THE MICHIGAN CLUB 545
of the younger business men of Michigan. He was not born until five years after Mr. Buhl had begun business in Detroit. But he developed rapidly and in 1864 when only 26 years old, in collaboration with the late John S. Newberry, he organized the Michigan Car Company, which was rapidly developed into one of the most important manufacturing enterprises in Michigan. Later this was consolidated with the Pen- insular Car Works, and both subsequently merged with the St. Louis Car Works, which Mr. McMillan and his brother William kad acquired, and all, together with other allied industries, became the American Car and Foundry Company, one of the great and good trusts of the country.
But even at that time, Mr. McMillan's many close friends recpgnized in him great abilities as a clever, upright and successful politician, and this resulted in his selection as chairman of the Republican State Central Committee, where presently a general recog- nition of his broad capacity for statesmanship led him later to his brilliant career in the United States Senate.
I have dwelt upon the attractive qualities of these two noted men because their names, leading the roster of officials of the new organization, gave it at once luster, dignity and importance, and must have cut a large figure in the wonderful and unexpected growth of the Michigan Club.
My selection as the first secretary was due solely to the fact that I was there in the harness, a handy young fellow on the spot and willing to work hard without pay.
546 HENRY A. HAIGH
THE FIRST BOARD OF DIRECTORS
This was by no means an insignificant body, and it turned out to be a very serviceable one. It was composed of men, all of fetching qualities, some of attained and others of promised greatness. They were James F. Joy, James L. Edson, Hazen S. Pin- gree, Clarence A. Black, John Atkinson, James H. Stone, James W. Fales, Digby V. Bell, Robert E. Frazer, Thomas Berry, George H. Hopkins, S. S. Babcock, S. B. Grummond, Henry M. Duffield, Dr. John H. Carstens, John B. Corliss, Walter H. Coots, Charles Wright, Frank A. Noah and Ervin Palmer.
In addition to the foregoing officers and directors, there were charter members, consisting of Russell A. Alger, Allan Shelden, A. G. Lindsay, A. M. Henry, J. W. Donovan, Magnus Butzel, Wm. L. Carpenter, Wm. Livingston and J. K. Burnham, the acknowledg- ment to the Articles of Association being taken by Allan H. Frazer.
The avowed purpose of the Club was to help re- habilitate and reinstate the Republican party in power, — locally, in the State and in the Nation, though this object as stated in the Articles of Association was " the promotion of the study of political science" and "the collection and dissemination of knowledge con- cerning the civil and political institutions of the State and Nation. "
The attainment of this object was .striven for in various ways, the most notable of which was the hold- ing of monthly "Club Talks/' at which all sorts of questions were discussed — often with great jvdgor, and the giving of the famous annual banquets on Wash- ington's Birthday each year, the first of which was held thirty-seven years ago this year.
THE MICHIGAN CLUB 547
I recall that my first serious work, aside from the routine of my office, was the preparation of a little pamphlet called the "Michigan Club Manual," which set forth the objects of the organization, its Articles of Association, officers, directors and charter members, and such other members as had joined up to that time, among whom were many very prominent people, such as Henry P. Baldwin, Philo Parsons, S. M, Cutcheon, Frank J. Hecker, Dexter M. Ferry, John N. Bagley, Conrad Clippert, Isaac Marston, D. Be- thune Duffield and others of like high standing.
This was sent out broadcast to Republicans, who were all asked to join and help the movement. There was no limitation or restriction on membership, every- body was eligible, the only condition imposed being the payment of a membership fee of $2.00, which entitled the holder to a ticket to the annual banquet.
What it was that brought in new members, not only by hundreds — as was expected — but literally by thousands — which was not expected — was, as stated, probably the condition of the party throughout the country, and the appeal created by the array of noted names connected with the initiation of the movement.
Of course there were attractive details of effort appealing to various tastes. A Committee on Organ- ization undertook the extension of the movement into every county, city and village of the State; a Com- mittee on Legislation was charged with watching and reporting on and suggesting legislation in city, county, state and nation; a Committee on Taxation, then, though not so seriously as now, a troublesome ques- tion. Altogether I think there were five standing com- mittees, some of which did considerable work.
548 HENRY A. HAIGH
Then we had some enthusiastic members, who were wonderfully facile in accomplishment — men who were really greater than they themselves, or the rest of us, then realized.
John Atkinson was the peer, and in many respects the leader, of all who aided in the early days of the movement, a man of consummate but somewhat sup- pressed ability, a deep thinker, a wonderful orator and at heart a most kindly and lovable man.
James H. Stone was I think the most versatile politician of any man in Michigan at that time. He was what might be called a professional politician, and he was an honest one, uncompromising but inde- fatigable. He began his political career in boyhood as a page in the Legislature and later Clerk of the House of Representatives, Secretary of the State Senate, Reading Clerk of several national conventions, member of the National Republican Committee, and an important federal official in Detroit for many years. He was simply invaluable as a director. He knew everybody in the party, and could call the names and tell the histories of more politicians — State and na- tional— than any man I ever met. To James H. Stone perhaps more than to any other single director, was due the wonderful success of the great banquets of the Michigan Club.
S. S. Babcock was the hardest working member on the Board, was a director from first to last and never missed a meeting. Col. Duffield was to me one of the most genial and delightful members of the Board, a man of much ability and a charming gentleman. And George Hopkins was like unto him.
Col. Fred Farnsworth, who succeeded me as secre- tary, was the most wonderful secretary that ever was
THE MICHIGAN CLUB 549
born. Everything that he was secretary of succeeded. He had system that was marvelous, intricate perhaps, but infallible. It always worked out right. He be- came in great demand as secretary for all sorts of things. Art loans, museums, expositions and associa- tions, concluding with that of the Michigan State Bankers, from which he graduated into the secretary- ship of the American Bankers Association, where in some capacity he has been ever since.
We had been in our Buhl Block quarters but a few months when it was found that we would require a regular club house for our activities. Accordingly the old residence No. 95 West Fort Street was rented and fitted up for the purpose. Here the first great annual meeting and banquet was planned, and carried into such successful consummation that it cheered and vivified the Republicans of the whole nation, gave us at once a nation-wide and exalted reputation, caused our plan to be adopted in many states and finally resulting in the organization a year later at Chickering Hall, New York, of the National League of Republican Clubs, that wonderful organization with many millions of members that performed such valiant service and assistance in keeping the Grand Old Party in power, for over a quarter of a century.
THE FIRST GREAT BANQUET
The first annual meeting and banquet of the Michi- gan Club was held on Washington's Birthday, 1886. A reception was held in the afternoon at General Alger's palatial home on Fort Street, the first of that delightful series of semi-social gatherings that made the genial General's hospitality a grateful feature of many memorable meetings.
550 HENRY A. HAIGH
The banquet was at Princess Rink, which had been beautifully decorated for the occasion and was made notable by the presence of some of the most distinguished Republicans of the country, including Senator Wm. M. Evarts of New York, Gen. John A. Logan, senator from Illinois, Governor J. B. Foraker of Ohio, and Senator C. F. Manderson of Nebraska.
Genial" Tom" Palmer, then our United States Sena- tor, who had brought the guests on from Washington, acted as toastmaster and did it with such inimitable felicity that he was kept in that important position for six or seven successive banquets following.
One remark made by Senator Palmer in his open- ing address struck the popular ear and was much quoted afterwards. It was about putting our ears to the ground like the Indians of old, to listen for the approach of danger and for movements of friends or foes, saying that Republicans should listen with fullest sympathy to the movements of the grand army of wage-workers in quest of common weal.
General Alger, then Governor, welcomed the hosts of Republicans in a very clever little speech, his refer- ences to Senator Evarts, who was then the recognized Republican leader of the Senate, and specially to Gen. John A. Logan, then almost as much beloved as Elaine himself, eliciting great applause.
I cannot recall very much of what either Senator Evarts or General Logan said, except that they both commended our effort at organization and thought it augured well for future party success.
I recall that our then famous and witty Michigan congressman Roswell G. Horr of Saginaw was seated at the speakers' table and just at the last moment was called upon, and in a two-minute speech set the whole
THE MICHIGAN CLUB 551
assemblage roaring, — an incident that made that ro- tund, jolly but able congressman a welcome guest at many later meetings.
I recall very vividly that at a subsequent banquet Gen. Benjamin Harrison, who had just been defeated for re-election to the United States Senate, began his address by a sentence which ran all over the country — "I come to you a dead statesman, but a living and rejuvenated Republican' ' — an exclamation claimed to have had much to do with his subsequent selection as the party's standard bearer and his defeat of Cleve- land and triumphant election as President of the Republic.
That first banquet was a success far beyond our expectations. It brought us nation-wide notoriety. We were given the credit of having worked out here in Michigan a national scheme of party reorganization a little in advance of other states. But the conditions were ripe for some such effort everywhere. Probably Evarts, Logan, Foraker and the rest took occasion to expound our plan on their return to their several home states.
By the following year, clubs more or less like ours had sprung up all over the land, and that great con- vention in New York City in December, 1887, amal- gamated and cemented the widespread effort by the organization of the National Republican League.
Of the many great annual gatherings and banquets following, several were superior in merit to this first notable success, and all attracted wide attention. The McKinley banquets, so-called, were always great. McKinley was a staunch friend of the Michigan Club. He was most helpful and accommodating, and could
552 HENRY A. HAIGH
always be depended upon. And Michigan was always very loyal to McKinley.
Many very prominent people and some wonder- fully eloquent orators graced the occasions of the Club's annual reunions. A glance at a partial list of speak- ers at the earlier banquets shows some great historic names. Besides Evarts, Logan, Foraker and Mander- son, who came to the first banquet, there followed within the next few years a brilliant array of speakers, among them Benjamin Harrison and Major Wm. McKinley (both later presidents of the United States), Jos. G. Cannon, still in the ring, Jos. R. Hawley, Gov. John S. Wise, Senator Jonathan P. Dolliver, Green B. Raum, Warner Miller, Gen. James Longstreet, Senator Jacob H. Gallingher, Chas. H. Grosvenor, H. H. Bingham, John M. Thurston, Wm. P. Frye, B. K. Bruce, John A. Runnells, John R. Lynch, Albion W. Tourgee (famous writer), J. Sloate Fassett, Fred- erick T. Greenhalge, Joseph N. Dolph, Governor Richard Yates, Senator Anthony Higgins, Stephen A. Douglas (son of the great Stephen), Howard Duffield (eloquent divine), Wm. B. Allison, Henry Cabot Lodge, John L. Stevegs, Stewart L. Woodford and Henry D. Estabrook. The last named will be remembered as by far the most eloquent man of all who addressed these great gatherings. His speech on "The Venge- ance of the Flag" has become a classic.
Senator Tom Palmer, beloved by all, was the de- lightfully entertaining toastmaster of nearly all the earlier banquets, and he was a genius at the business- witty, eloquent and bubbling with a magnetic bon- homie. I recall that Alfred Russell once presided,— graceful, polished, dignified but very felicitous. Also
THE MICHIGAN CLUB 553
that John Atkinson was given one opportunity to charm the audience as toastmaster.
Of the activities of the Michigan Club outside of its annual meetings and famous banquets, it is im- possible to speak in detail, and difficult to single out and mention those most successful. They were many fold. The general purpose was to interest voters in politics — Republican politics; to make them cham- pions of Republican politics; and to educate, inspire and hold them ardently faithful to Republican prin- ciples, policies and practices. Good Government by party — the Republican party — was our watchword and slogan. To keep the party worthy, and make it safe, strong and successful was our aim. The old time party boss had become in doubtful repute and was passing. We aimed to replace his leadership by that of intelligent interest of the rank and file. We made no attempt at the control or dispensation of patronage, and there was an unwritten rule against endorsing any candidate.
We made a partial exception in the case of General Alger's candidacy for the presidential nomination in 1888, but came near splitting later on the question of endorsing Pingree for governor.
ALGER FOR PRESIDENT IN 1888
Though there was no formal action of the Club as an organization in putting forward General Alger for the presidential nomination, still the members unanimously espoused the project with great en- thusiasm.
The Alger movement was launched and mainly conducted by a self-constituted committee of the General's neighbors, friends and admirers, but as all
554 HENRY A. HAIGH
were members of the Club, the movement soon came to be regarded as a Michigan Club activity. Michigan had not had a presidential candidate since the days of Lewis Cass, and everybody in Michigan favored this movement. It aroused much enthusiasm.
How this movement was_carried out and how near it came to being successful^ a story that would be interesting to narrate here* did space permit, as it forms an interesting and important incident in the political history of Michigan.
UNION WITH CANADA .AND ^HAWAII
The Club talk on the question of a closer union with the Canadian provinces was made to include also a discussion of the admission of the Sandwich Islands- then so-called — as a territory of the American Re- public.
Great interest in the latter subject was then taken, coupled with not a little indignation on account of President Cleveland's action in ordering the hauling down of the Stars and Stripes which had been flying for some time over those important islands of the Pacific.
Col. Frank J. Hecker gave a carefully prepared address on the "Sandwich Islands Question/' based on a personal investigation of conditions and resources there, which left no doubt of the propriety and great desirability of re-acquiring the islands as a territory of the United States.
The Hon. Elgin Meyers, a brilliant lawyer of the Toronto Bar, had been attracting some local attention by his advocacy of a closer union of Canada with the United States, and he was the guest of the Club and delivered an address on that subject.
THE MICHIGAN CLUB 555
Hon. James F. Joy presided at the meeting, and, introducing the speakers, said there was no question of the righteousness and desirability of annexing Hawaii, and that the matter would be, as indeed it was, speedily settled. But on the question of a closer union with Canada, Mr. Joy observed that, if the distinguished barrister of Toronto had in mind any- thing in the nature of a political union, such a thing was, in his judgment, an impossibility.
Mr. Meyers' address, as I recall it, was a scholarly presentation of the economic and industrial advantages to both Canada and the United States of a closer political union of the two countries.
Mr. Joy's claim that desirable as such a union might seem it could never come to pass because Canadians as a whole were more loyal to Great Britain than Englishmen themselves, was prophetic in view of subsequent history.
THE PINGREE MOVEMENT
Likewise the Pingree Movement, so-called, was interesting and important, but it was not an avowed Michigan Club movement, though it grew out of Michigan Club activities.
There were very many conservative and sub- stantial members of the organization who could not sanction all of Detroit's aggressive mayor's radicalism, and had the attempt to commit the Club fully to his various doctrines been pushed, it would have failed. The matter was wisely dropped. Mayor Pingree was an interesting, honest and useful citizen, and he de- veloped into a clever politician. He became a most striking State Executive. His friends were legion. At heart he was a very kindly man.
556 HENRY A. HAIGH
MONTHLY CLUB TALKS
One of the most important lines of activity by which the organization sought to advance its objects was as stated the series of so-called Club talks, which were held at intervals, usually monthly, though some- times more frequently in periods just prior to import- ant campaigns. The purpose was to discover issues and harmonize sentiment, thus preventing schisms. If any considerable number of members manifested interest in any proposed political or economic action, a Club talk on the subject was arranged, and they were given opportunity to expound their doctrine.
Thus woman's suffrage was discussed, and the Wayne County Women's Republican Club was organ- ized and held regular meetings at the Club House.
The First Voters' Club, the Young Men's Re- publican League and the Alger Club of Michigan were all successful offshoots or really subsidiaries of the Michigan Club. They formed an important means of carrying on its general work.
Of the officers and directors who guided the desti- nies of the Club during its first decade of useful activity, nearly all have passed away.
Buhl, Joy, Baldwin, McMillan, Alger, Palmer, the Duffields, Atkinson, Edson, Elliott, Thomas Berry, Pingree, Van Zile, Grummond, Dr. Carstens, Geo. R. Angell, Magnus Butzel, Horace Hitchcock, Jas. H. Stone, Robt. E. Frazer, Allan H. Frazer, Geo. H. Hopkins, Walter H. Coots, Dexter M. Ferry, W. M. Lillibridge, Mark S. Brewer, August Rasch, Oren Scotten and Otto Kirchner have gone to their reward.
Of the sixteen presidents, four or five are living,— Col. Hecker, alert and vigorous; S. S, Babcock, now in
THE MICHIGAN CLUB 557
his eighty-first year but mentally active; Clarence A. Black, who removed to California some years ago; Joseph R. McLaughlin, now a prominent business man of Cleveland; and myself, but I was younger than the others.
Col. Farnsworth, the famous and efficient secretary, is still active in financial affairs in New York, and Mr. O. C. Tompkins, later secretary, I believe is still living. The late Justice Flavius L. Brooke (rest to his soul) was secretary for a time, as was also Judge James 0. Murfin. •
All of the treasurers, Andrew McLellan, Frederick Woolfenden, Samuel R. Mumford and George Peck are dead.
Thus we see how brief is the span of human life.
And even great movements of widespread influ- ence, effecting far-reaching results, achieving their ob- jects, come to an end "like a tale that is told."
THE ADVENTURES OF ALEXANDER HENRY
BY STANLEY NEWTON
SAULT STE. MARIE
A BOUT a year ago I prepared with great care a -^*- paper on "The Life and Adventures of Alex- ander Henry, " for the yearly meeting of the Society at L'Anse. This paper was one of tremendous erudi- tion and scholarship, a paper that would have done credit to Father Gagnieur, Dr. Johnson, or the other learned and eminent men who have addressed the meetings of the present session. Fortunately or unfortunately for my L'Anse audience, the late- ness of the hour prevented my presentation of the paper, and I was requested by Doctor Fuller to read the same at this year's meeting. This I felt was fortunate, since it gave me the opportunity to recount the most stirring episodes in Henry's career on the precise spot where they occurred. The paper which cost me so much time and labor I find I have left in my grip on the Island. I shall, therefore, speak ex tempore, trusting to memory for dates and incidents, and to these beautiful surroundings and to this occa- sion for inspiration.
Alexander Henry was born in August, 1739, in what is now the State of New Jersey. We know but little of his early life. His story starts with the ut- most abruptness in the year 1760, when he accom- panied the British expedition under General Amherst into Canada. This was the year following the decisive battle on the Plains of Abraham near Quebec, in which Wolfe and Montcalm went down to death to-
558
THE ADVENTURES OP ALEXANDER HENRY 559
gether, and which determined Canada's fate as a British possession.
Henry came into Canada and to Michilimackinac as a fur trader, and permission to engage in this trade was reluctantly given him by General Gage, the Com- mandant at Montreal. No treaty of peace had been made between the English and the Indians, and the latter were still in arms under the leadership of Pontiac. But Henry knew that the English trader Bostwick had preceded him to this locality, and he used this fact to gain the General's consent to a permit for himself. As it happened, Bostwick was present with Henry at the massacre which took place on this very spot.
So we see Henry landing in safety on Mackinac Island, in 1761, where he found a village of about one hundred warriors, some of whom eyed him suspiciously, but apparently none suspected him to be an English- man. He crossed the strait, and landed upon the beach before us with his assistant Campion and his goods, which were placed in a small house within the fort. Campion posed as owner of the merchandise, and Henry endeavored to conceal the fact that he was an Englishman, without success. Detected by the French inhabitants, he was promptly and civilly ad- vised by them to get out, for to stay was to risk his life. He decided to stay.
His next visitors were the band of Chippewa war- riors before mentioned, from Mackinac Island, under the leadership of their Chief, Minavavana. To the number of sixty they entered his cabin in silence, and in single file, each carrying his tomahawk in his right hand and a scalping knife in his left. The speech of the Chief, carefully recorded by Henry, would do credit to Poutiac or Logan. It ended with a handshake all
560 STANLEY NEWTON
around and the Chief's request for some English milk, meaning rum.
His next visitors, who were three hundred Ottawa braves from L'Arbre Croche, were not so complacent. They were on the point of stripping Henry of all his goods, when three hundred British troops, under com- mand of Lieutenant Leslie, appeared at the Fort, and Henry's troubles were over for a brief period. The traders despatched their canoes to outlying points, apparently under the care of detachments of soldiers, and although the season was late, Henry and his brothers felt sure of a tranquil and a profitable season. Henry spent the winter fishing through the ice and trading with the natives.
In May, 1762, Henry visited Le Sault de Sainte- Marie for the first time. Here he found a stockaded fort in the midst of a beautiful plain near the rapids. He was entertained by Monsieur Cadotte, the French interpreter, whose wife was a Chippewa. Pigeons and other game were abundant, whitefish were almost crowding their numbers out of the rapids, so thick were they in the clear waters. It was a summer para- dise. Lieutenant Jemette with a detachment of British soldiery came to garrison the fort. Here, too, Henry fished with great success, and sent his dried fish to Mackinaw. On the 22nd day of December, however, all the houses within the stockade except M. Cadotte's, and a large part of the fort itself, were burned. Had this fire not occurred, it is likely that we should not have the stirring account of the massacre at Fort Mackinaw, as it was this disaster that brought Henry back to the fort at the straits in the winter of 1762-3. It is true that Henry was back at the Sault shortly
THE ADVENTURES OF ALEXANDER HENRY 561
after for the maple sugar-making season, but the lack of living accommodations seems to have deter- mined, as much as anything else, his choice of resi- dence at this present site. And still there were indefi- nite rumors of secret hostility of the Indians, who came and went however with much show of friendship and respect.
Shortly after Henry's first arrival at Mackinaw, an Indian Chief named Wawatam had come to Henry's abode with his family and with presents. He told Henry that in a dream he had adopted him (Henry) as his brother, and begged him to accept the presents. Henry not only accepted, but made gifts in return, declaring his willingness to accept so good a man as Wawatam for a friend and a brother. To this circum- stance Henry owed his life in the trying times which followed.
On the second day of June, 1763, Wawatam came to warn his brother Henry, in a very roundabout and typically Indian way, to get out of the country with no delay. Henry was busy, failed to sense the veiled warning, and remained. Wawatam, stolid In- dian that he was, even let fall a few tears at Henry's refusal, but he did not inform his brother of the fate in store for the English.
The fateful day, June 4th, dawned hot and sultry. It was the King's birthday, to be celebrated by a game of baggatiway, Chippewas versus Sacs, ball- grounds and goals to be laid just without the fort gates, which were left wide open for the occasion. In a twinkling the ball game was converted into a massacre. The ball by pre-arrangement was knocked within the stockade, followed by troops of Indians, who with furious yells produced concealed weapons and launched
562 STANLEY NEWTON
themselves on the English soldiers and traders wher- ever found. Henry, writing in his room, looked out the window to see Lieutenant Jemette scalped and butchered. From the bodies of others ripped open, their butchers were drinking blood scooped up in the hollow of joined hands, and quaffed amid shouts of rage and victory. Henry, shaken with fear and hor- ror, dashed over his back fence to the house of his neighbor Langlade, having seen through his window that the French inhabitants of the fort were calmly looking on at the massacre, without molestation. Langlade refused to give him succor, but said nothing when an Indian woman offered Henry shelter in the Langlade garret. In the ensuing search for hidden Englishmen, the Indians almost stepped on poor Henry while ransacking the garret in which he cowered hidden under a heap of birch bark.
The next day Langlade, fearing no doubt Indian ill-will, voluntarily turned Henry over to the Chief Wenniway. Wenniway of course knew Henry, and it is likely he knew of the latter's brotherly connection with Wawatam. For Wenniway that day saved Hen- ry's life from the attacks of other and drunken Indians, Henry's debtors some of them, who desired to kill him. Suspended between hope and despair, Henry's situa- tion was a desperate one.
It appears that Henry's plumpness had reserved him for another fate. Together with Major Ethering- ton, the traders Bostwick and Solomons, and others, Henry was taken in canoes toward the Beaver Islands. On the way the Chippewas and their prisoners were in turn taken captive by a band of Ottawas, who informed the whites that their intended destination had been the cannibal flesh-pots of the Chippewas
THE ADVENTURES OF ALEXANDER HENRY 563
on the Beavers. Soon they were back at the fort again, this time with the Ottawas in possession and the whites still closely guarded. A great Indian pow- wow ensued. Now the Ottawas turned back to the Chippewas their prisoners, with the cheerful assurance to the latter that the Chippewas were about to make broth of them.
Just then, to Henry's immense relief, the long- absent brother Wawatam returned, while the Indians in council were debating the fate of their prisoners. Wawatam's plea for his brother and the Chief Mina- vavana's reply, as recorded in Henry's narrative, are excellent examples of Chippewa oratory. The assembly delivered Henry to his Indian brother, and the trader walked forth a free man.
Not so with the other prisoners. Seven of them were killed by one of the chiefs, and at least one of these bodies was cut up, boiled, and eaten on the spot. Wawatam's share, according to Henry, was a hand, and a large piece of flesh. This he ate in Henry's presence. What must have been the latter's thoughts as he watched his Indian brother consume that fright- ful meali
Thus did the dream of an Indian save Henry's life, at a critical and desperate moment. For safety, Wa- watam took his brother Henry to Mackinac Island, as being a place less likely to be surprised by enemy attack; and in fact, the entire Chippewa band at the fort on the mainland moved over to the Island. A supply of liquor having been seized by the Indians from some incoming Montreal canoes, Wawatam se- creted his brother from the possible assaults of drunken Indians in what is now known as Skull Cave or Henry's Cave, where the latter lay safely for two days until the
564 STANLEY NEWTON
drunken orgy had spent itself. Then came a trip down the east shore of Lake Michigan with Wawatam and his family, in pursuit of beaver and other game. In the spring of the following year, Indians and white man returned to Mackinaw, whence Henry wished Wawatam to accompany him to Sault de Ste. Marie. The warning dreams of Wawatam's wife prevented Wawatam's going, and Henry leaves us a touching picture of Wawatam kneeling in the shallow water of the beach, praying for his brother as the latter leaves for the Sault with Madame Cadotte.
Here our narrative, for the purposes of this occa- sion, may fitly conclude. Henry afterward built ships at Pointe aux Pins, near Sault Ste. Marie, he engaged in the Lake Superior trade, prospected for copper and iron, and returned after many years to Montreal. There he married and became one of the city's greatest merchants, living to a ripe old age with the respect of many friends.
Henry's narrative, while not always consistent, is clear-cut, straight-forward, and very readable. One discerns no exaggeration; there is apparent a strong desire to record the facts with the utmost care; and such errors as the critics have found in the narrative are undoubtedly due to the fact that the story was finally compiled thirty years or more after the happen- ing of the events described therein, being set down from memory and from scraps of paper on which the original jottings were made. If you are interested in securing a copy of Henry's work, now, I understand, quite scarce, I suggest that you communicate with Mr. James Bain, Librarian, Toronto Public Library, whose edition was issued by Morang & Co., Toronto, in 1901.
CHIEF POKAGON AND HIS BOOK
BY FRED DUSTIN SAGINAW
A FEW YEARS ago the writer came into posses- ^A sion of a small volume bearing on its title page the caption, "O-gi-maw-kwe-nit-i-gwa-ki (Queen of the Woods)/' written by Simon Pokagon, and printed in 1899 by C. H. Engle, Hartford, Mich. There have been plenty of books, good, bad and indifferent, which men have written out of the fullness of their hearts, but rarely have I read a book in which information, fact, history, pathos, romance and poetry have been so wonderfully combined.
Following the title page is this dedication;
As a token of sincere appreciation, I, Pokagon, hereby inscribe "Queen of the Woods" to all societies and individuals — benefactors of our race — who have so bravely stood for our rights, while poisoned arrows of bitter prejudice flew thick and fast about them, boldly declaring to all the world that "the white man and the red man are brothers, and that God is the father of all."
Following the dedication is a brief preface and a brief sketch of the old chief's life, covering twenty-nine pages, by the publisher, in which we are told that Pokagon was a full-blooded Pottawattamie Indian, and that his education, beginning at that time, con- sisted of three years in the Notre Dame school near South Bend, Ind., one year in Oberlin College and two years in similar work at Twinsburg, Ohio. His father, a chief, dying when Pokagon was ten years
565
566 FRED DUSTIN
old, had owned the site of the City of Chicago. As the representative of his people, he ceded the same to the United States for a large sum, but did not then receive payment. It was not until 1866 that Pokagon, after persistent effort, secured a payment of $39,000 and in 1896 a further payment of $150,000; and there still remains a large sum lawfully due to the remnant of the tribe.
Pokagon's life story is of intense interest, and is all too briefly told. His own writings are remarkable in language, thought and beauty, and I can do no better than to quote from his introduction to the story. When we learn that in the six years of school- ing he acquired an excellent knowledge of English, French and Latin, and was able to read the New Testament in the original Greek, we have the key to the wonder, and we feel that had he possessed the restless ambition of white men of no greater ability, there are but few heights to which he could not have attained. But he was above these things; he was a philanthropist, a philosopher and a poet. He was a sturdy and unyielding foe of intemperance and vice in every form, and a staunch advocate of all that is good.
Pokagon devotes a short chapter to the Algonquin language. I quote a few passages.
1 'In presenting Queen of the Woods to the public, I realize that many of its readers will inquire why so many Indian words are used. All such will please bear in mind that the manuscript was first written in the Algonquin language, the only language spoken by me until fourteen years of age, and that in translat- ing it into English, many parts of it seem to lose their force and euphony, insomuch that I deeply regret
CHIEF POKAGON AND His BOOK 567
that Queen of the Woods can not be read by the white people in my own language. In consideration of the fact that the language of the great Algonquin family is fast passing away, I have retained such Indian words and expressions as appear, as monuments along the way, to remind the reader in after-generations, that such a language as ours was once spoken through- out this loved land of our fathers.
"I also wish to leave on record the fact that our language is not a sort of gibberish, containing a few hundred words, but that on the contrary it contains at least twenty thousand words, aside from their many variations.
"There are only seventeen letters in the pure Al- gaic language: four vowels, a, e, i, o, and thirteen consonants, b, c, d, g, h, j, k, m, n, p, s, t, w. The sound of the vowels never changes: a, is pronounced as in father; e, as in met; i, as in pin; o, as in note. There are some diphthongs, and both vowels must be pro- nounced distinctly.
"There are nine parts of speech in our language, as follows: — The Substantive, The Pronoun, The Verb, The Adjective, The Number, The Preposition, The Ad- verb, The Conjunction and the Interjection. I believe that in our language there is greater liberty in the transposition of_the words in a sentence than in any other, unless it may be the Latin, and in that the changes cannot_be made without suffering greater violence than in ours.'*
Pokagon then takes the sentence, "Thy father will come here today," six words, and gives eight transposi- tions with the translations, using only four Algaic words.
568 FRED DUSTIN
He gives the names of the months in his language with their translations, which are:
The Moon of the Spirit. (January) The Moon of Suckers-fish. (February) The Moon of Crust on the Snow. (March) The Moon of Breaking of Snow-Shoes. (April) The Moon of Flowers and Bloom. (May) The Moon of Strawberries-heart-berries. (June) The Moon of Raspberries-red berries. (July) The Moon of Whortleberries. (August) The Moon of Gathering Wild Rice. (September) The Moon of Falling Leaves. (October) The Moon of Freezing. (November) The Little Moon of the Spirit. (December) He gives other examples of the language including the numerals, and ends the all too short chapter with the following sentences which I commend to those individuals who may have looked upon the American Indian as an ignorant, brutal savage.
" Having presented a very few of the peculiarities of our dialect, I trust that you will bear in mind, as you consider them, that they are but a few objects scattered along the shore, while the great ocean lies unexplored beyond; yet, having studied them, you will be better able to form a correct conception of the beauty, per- fection, and magnitude of our language, than you otherwise could have done."
In the opening chapter of the story proper, Pokagon says: "On my return from Twinsburg, O., where I had attended the white man's school for several years, I had an innate desire to retire into the wild woods, far from the haunts of civilization, and there enjoy
CHIEF POKAGON AND His BOOK 569
mysolf with bow and arrow, hook and line, as I had done before going to school."
Accordingly, he in company with an old Indian hunter, and his mother, went a day's journey by canoe, to an abandoned wigwam in the depths of the forest, where Pokagon and his mother spent the sum- mer. He says:
"Near the summer's close while living there, a little maiden, every now and then, appeared across the stream, with waist of red and skirt of brown, with waving tresses floating^in the breeze, following up but never down the stream. She was always singing as she gaily tripped along, in mimicry of the music of the birds.
" While I was fishing along the river's bank for several days, each morning she so appeared while I was all alone, awakening such sacred feelings in my soul that I held it as a vital secret from my mother. At times, a snow-white deer about the maiden played in circles, like the lamb."
At last his mother discovered his secret, and Poka- gon on the following day set about building a bark canoe. When it was completed, he clothed himself in native style, buckskin moccasins, trousers, and birchbark cap trimmed with quills and feathers, and in early morning before break of day paddled across the river. He then tells of the meeting, in words so beautiful that I must repeat them:
"Her dark eyes full of soul beam forth surprise. She sees the newly made canoe — the boatman sees. Softly, on tiptoe she turns about moving noiselessly away. With struggling heart pressed in my throat, I step from out the boat upon the shore, saying, 'Boo- zhoo?' Then I said in trembling voice, 'Nic-con'
570 FRED DUSTIN
(My friend). With modest smile almost suppressed from her dark eyes, she greeted back, 'Nic-con/ with voice so winning and so bland my heart-strings vibrated with her tones.
"Slowly I stepped toward her, when backward she withdrew, saying by look and deed, Tlease, sir,
no nearer come/ '
I will relate nothing more of this courtship. If I tried to tell it in my own language, words would fail.
In due time in the "Moon of Flowers and Bloom/' Pokagon and Lonidaw were married. He says:
"No wedding cards were passed around, no gifts were made, no bells were rung, no feast was given, no priest declared us one. We only pledged our sincere faith before her mother and the King of Heaven. Our hopes, our joys were one.
"Two years flew quickly by, when Olondaw, our first child was born. The night he came, no man of skill, or neighbors gathered at our home. All one, in the presence of the Great Spirit and myself, Loni- daw went down to the gateway of death's dark valley, and brought forth our darling boy, together with a father's and a mother's crown, one for her and one for me/'
Three years later, a little girl, Hazeleye, was born in the autumn time.
When the boy was twelve years old, Pokagon and his wife were persuaded by a priest to allow him to go away to school. Lonidaw 's father had been a drunk- ard, and she was more than reluctant to let the child go, but after exacting a solemn promise from the priest that he should be carefully cared for, she con- sented.
CHIEF POKAGON AND His BOOK 571
In three years he came home to die with the rum- habit so firmly fastened upon him that he could not break it. It was only in the second week at school that the beginning of his downfall took place. What so quickly became of that solemn promise?
When Hazeleye was budding into maidenhood, she was out on the lake fishing in a bark canoe. Two white men who had drunk freely of whiskey were row- ing about the lake, and ran into her canoe, wrecking it, and throwing her into the water. The drunken wretches were too thoroughly drunk to attempt her rescue, and even guzzled at their bottles while she was drowning. Her mother and the dog saw her from the shore and tried to save her, but in vain, and Loni- daw herself would have sunk had it not been for the noble dog by whose assistance she reached the shore exhausted, where she was found by Pokagon on his return from hunting, but the shock proved fatal, and in a few short weeks, Lonidaw was laid to rest.
His tale of her death and funeral is so touching that I forbear relating it. On her death-bed, Pokagon gave her his solemn promise never to give up the fight against the drink-demon.
I wish that every one of the advocates of "light wine and beer,'* every demoralized bootlegger, every ignorant, greedy and sordid maker of moonshine, could read and be granted brains to understand this particular chapter of Pokagon's book.
The two last chapters of the book are powerful appeals for the temperance movement in the wonder- fully poetic language of which Pokagon was master. Pokagon was a prophet. Would that this noble Indian could have lived to see the adoption of the prohibi- tion amendment. But the prophets are not permitted
572 FRED DUSTIN
to see in the flesh what they see with the eye of the seer. It is well that they are not honored in their day, for the very calumny that assails them lifts them to far greater heights, and those who come after them profit by their inspired words. I will close with Poka- gon's last words.
"Come forth, all ye lovers of justice, equity and humanity; stand in line, and in the name of your God, home and country, move bravely forward under the glorious banner of Temperance, on which is emblazoned in characters of life, * Total Abstinence Now and Forever.' Let the general government decree that noble emblem, royally begotten by pity and love, to be the law of this loved land of my fathers and mothers, and Pokagon in full faith believes that in less than eight years King Cain of this generation will abdicate his throne forever, and the glorious sun of universal temperance will roll away the gloom-clouds of sadness and sorrow that now hang like a funeral pall above us, and will shine forth in newness of life, while the rainbow of promise will hang its archway of cheering aspirations across the pathway of the departed storm, filling the hearts of weeping brides, mothers, and children everywhere throughout this glorious land of my fathers with great joy and gladness.
"That new day of jubilee is surely coming; but on account of old age, I do not expect to behold it; but, thanks to high heaven, I am now permitted to stand where Moses stood, on the top of Mount Nebo, be- holding Paradise regained, while from every future home in America, I hear the welcome voices of Poka- gons and Lonidaws of every race with their loved children, shouting, 'Victory! Victory!' which rolls on, undying, to freedom's farthest shore."
CENTIIAL HALL. IIILLSDALE COLLEGE
ST. JOSEPH RIVER
SOME PLACE NAMES OF HILLSDALE COUNTY
BY ARCHIE M. TURRELL HILLSDALE COLLEGE
TTILLSDALE COUNTY is in the middle of the lowest tier of counties of southern Michigan. Its name suggests its topography, for its surface is somewhat rolling and hilly. It forms a part of the watershed of the State, its highest point being 603 feet above Lake Erie a*nd 616 feet above Lake Michi- gan. It is the source of all the principal rivers of the southern part of the State. Within its boundaries rise the Grand, Kalamazoo (once known as the Kekala- mazoo), St. Joseph, Little St. Joseph, and feeders of the Raisin and Tiffin rivers. It sends water to both Lake Erie and Lake Michigan.
The origin of the names of rivers, towns, and lakes is so inextricably interwoven with the history of the county that a brief historical sketch is almost neces- sary. Facts concerning the earliest inhabitants of this region are somewhat mythical, but from old burying grounds found chiefly in Jefferson township there seems reason to suppose that the Mound Builders, descend- ants of the Aztecs, preceded the * 'noble red men.'* According to LaSalle the Miami Indians occupied the Valley of the St. Joseph River in 1678. In 1721 a band of Potawatomis numbering about two hundred came down from- the Green Bay region, making the shore of Baw Beese lake their home. Concerning the naming of the lake, a letter from Mrs. Emily S. Hill of Houston, Texas, and other sources has this to say:
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574 ARCHIE M. TURRELL
Richard Fowler was born in Westfield, Massa- chusetts, September 18, 1791. He came to Michigan in 1834 and took up land in Adams township. "We arrived November 11 and the hardships of that first Michigan winter cannot be effaced from my memory. And how while my brothers (Henry and Frederick Fowler) were skating on a small pond near our place an Indian came to them and told them that if they would go with him he would show them a big Beese (which was the Indian name for lake); they did so, and since then the lake has been known as Baw Beese." In 1840 the two just named opened a store in Hills- dale. The first white settlers on the north side of Baw Beese lake were John and Sam Gilmore. At this time Baw Beese' s tribe numbered about one hundred and fifty and often camped near Bird Lake (Pen-nay- shen-og, or Lake of the Birds as the Indians called it). The Indian chief was known as the ' 'peace chief" and has been described thus, "He was a tall, handsome, well-proportioned man. In business transactions his word could always be relied on."
By the treaty of 1833 the Potawatomis ceded the land in this section to the Whites, but Baw Beese remained here till 1840. He was transferred with his little band of followers to Iowa, and in 1850 was sent to a reservation about thirty miles square which was seventy-five miles west of the juncture of the Missouri and Kansas rivers. Miss Caroline L. Ford has this to say about the passing of the Indians;
"From the old house on the east end of our two hundred acres we saw Chief Baw Beese and the In- dians of his tribe pass north along the road, being taken by the U. S. soldiers to the Missouri reserva- tion. It was a pitiful sight, but no sound was heard;
SOME PLACE NAMES OF HILLSDALE COUNTY 575
one sait; the Indian stoicism. The women carried the papooses and the wigwam equipments. The few ponies were ridden by the men."
If anyone has noted a map of Michigan, he will see that its counties are laid out in systematic box- like form in contradistinction to the counties or "shires" of the New England states. This is due to the early survey of the western lands in 1825. Present county surveyors comment on the accuracy of place- ment of the old iron markers which they occasionally find. When one thinke of the tangle of underbrush which the early surveyors encountered, it is remark- able. In 1827 this region was opened up for settle- ment by the Government. On June 8, 1828, Benaiah Jones, Jr., took up land at the present site of Jones- ville; the town was given this name because of him. In the same year Captain Moses Allen, a veteran of the War of 1812 and a member of one of the early surveying parties, after having toured the valley of the St. Joseph in this section selected a prairie known by the Indians as Mas-co-et-ab-si-ac or Sand Creek Prairie. An old trading post owned by one Campau was located here previous to actual settlement by the Whites, but it now became known as Allen's Prairie. The village of Allen is now located here. It was men- tioned that Captain Allen was a member of an early surveying party. In 1824 Congress authorized the construction of a highway one hundred feet wide from Detroit to Chicago. The original thought was to make it a straight line between the two points, but on recommendation of the surveyors the road fol- lowed the Old Indian Trail connecting the lower end of the two lakes. The Old Indian Trail, or The Great Trail, or the Chicago turnpike as it is now known,
576 ARCHIE M. TURRELL
enters the county two miles south of the northeast corner, passes through Somerset, Moscow, Jonesville, Allen and leaves the county one-half mile north of the center of the west line. An amusing incident is connected with the advent of the turnpike. About the time the road was first established, an Indian came to make a call on Mrs. Timothy Gay of Wheat- land township. Once during the afternoon Mrs. Gay went to the hearth to look at her yeast which she was preparing for the baking. As she uncovered the yeast she was surprised to hear the ejaculation "Turnpike/' The explanation was that the Indians had seen the Whites heap up the dirt in oval form, and had been told that it was a turnpike. It bore a resemblance to the raising yeast.
South from the turnpike at Somerset runs a road to Hudson. It is still known as the Plank road, be- cause like others of the early roads it was built across low places by first laying planks lengthwise across the road. The village of Somerset was once called Gam- bleville after Thomas Gamble, an early pioneer in that section.
In the early times there were a few men possessed of such adventurous spirit that they built cabins along the road and began to keep hotels for emigrants and thirsty savages. One such road house was located at Somerset, another at Somerset Center. "Somerset Tavern" is still practically unchanged on the exterior but for the modern stone porch and a coat of paint.
A later geodetic survey was made of Michigan about 1875. In doing this work around Hillsdale County three high elevations were selected, towers erected on them, and the land surveyed by the triangu- lation method. The hills chosen were Prospect, Pratt,
SOME PLACE NAMES OP HILLSDALE COUNTY 577
and Bundy Hill. The first is in Lenawee County, but the last two are in Hillsdale. Bundy 's Hill is re- ported to be the highest elevation in the Lower Penin- sula. It was named thus because Warner Bundy once owned the land, and it still goes by that name. Two scenes of the turnpike are given as it passes over the hill about a hundred yards to the south of its summit. A view looking west from the summit shows the turnpike winding away toward Moscow. Twenty- two lakes can be counted from the hill on clear days, and on good nights the lights of Jackson and Hillsdale some eighteen miles away can be seen. It is located in the northeast part of the county.
Pratt's Hill is located within the west city limits of Hillsdale, and is also named after the man who once owned the land, Daniel L. Pratt, once a member of the county bar, who came here in 1845.
The St. Joseph River has its origin in Baw Beese Lake southeast of Hillsdale City, and finally ends its devious windings in Lake Michigan near St. Joseph. The river is said to have been named by LaSalle, the French discoverer, who built a fort at its mouth in 1679. This is not to be confused with the little St. Joseph of the Maumee which starts at Cambria Mills and finally reaches Lake Erie. There is another St. Joseph River flowing south through Ft. Wayne and ending in Lake Michigan concerning which a Reading booklet has this to say:
"It is a fact not generally known that the St. Joseph which winds its way to Lake Michigan has its source in Reading township."
The little St. Joseph of the Maumee runs through what is known around the south part of the county as Drinker's Valley. The valley is at the juncture of the
578 ARCHIE M. TURRELL
east and west branches of the river. In an early day a Dutchman named Drinker came to the valley, built a dam across the valley, and constructed a grist mill. From an elevation above the mill down to the water the old man had constructed two parallel tracks on which he operated two cars. Power was furnished by filling one car at the top of the grade and letting it coast down the grade, thus drawing the empty car up on the other track. One day the young son of Drinker was killed by a descending car. The father lost heart in the work, and continued in it half-heartedly till his death. His property was portioned among his relatives and the mill taken down. Portions of the dam and old mill, however, can still be seen.
About a mile and a half north of Drinker's Valley is Whitetown, or Austin as it is now known. The Whites were the first settlers in that part, hence the name. It has not entirely drawn away from the old cognomen, and is sometimes found on some maps under one name, on some by the other.
' It is rather confusing to have three St. Joseph rivers in the county, and just how this happened I was unable to ascertain. The last of the three men- tioned begins in Long Lake. The lake is about_two miles long and a quarter of a mile wide, which fact suggests the reason for its name.
This county was originally known as the Town of Vance, having this nomenclature because the offi- ciator at the naming ceremonies had a friend named Vance living in a neighboring state. It was first placed under the guardianship of Lenawee County. In 1831 the Governor proclaimed it a county, giving it the name it now has because a number of settlers around the present county seat had organized them-
SOME PLACE NAMES OF HILLSDALE COUNTY 579
selves into what they called the "Hillsdale Company." Jonesville was named as the county seat. It was later moved to Osseo, because of the more central location, but as no suitable buildings were provided it VM;. moved to Hillsdale in January, 1843.
On r Yrch 17, 1835, the county was divided into four parts or townships: Wheatland, Moscow, Fay- ette and Allen. Later the first named division was separated into Adams, A in boy, Florida, Pittsford, Rowland, and Somerset. In Adams is located the village of North Adams, which used to be known as Cutler's Corners after* Wm. Cutler who came to those parts in 1835. In 1850 Florida became known as Jefferson township, and in 1848 Rowland (named for Rowland Bird, the first settler in that section) was called Ransom.
Fayette was divided into Cambria and Scipio. Mosherville village is situated in Scipio township and derives its name from the Mosher family. The father, Samuel Mosher, a Quaker, came from the Hudson val- ley in New York and erected a grist mill in 1850. There can still be seen under the eaves of the mill the date 1850. It was the second mill in the township, the first being Genesee Mills erected by John Gardner on the St. Joseph River at an earlier date. Genesee is an Indian name meaning ''shining valley" or "beauti- ful valley."
The fourth named division of the county, Allen, was subdivided in 1837 into Litchfield and Reading townships, and in 1839 into Camden. As to the origin of the name Litchfield the Litchfield Gazette of January 24, 1907, says:
"In response to last week's request for information concerning the naming of the village of Litchfield,
580 ARCHIE M. TTTRRELL
C. M. Stoddard comes forward with the information that the name was given to it by his grandfather. Grandfather Stoddard was Jesse Stoddard, who was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, and came to Michi- gan in 1836. At that time this harmless little group of buildings was known by the euphonious title of Smithville, having been named after Deacon Harvey Smith, who was one of the pioneer settlers. From these facts we deduce that Litchfield, Michigan, de- rives its present cognomen from that Litchfield in Connecticut which was the native town of Jesse Stod- dard. " There is a road in the village called Sara- toga Street which was so named because at one time so many of the residents on the street came from Saratoga, New York.
Reading was once known as "Basswood Corners" from the fact that a group of seven basswood trees once stood on the intersection of Main and Michigan streets. These trees were 'from 12 to 18 inches in diameter and all came from the same stump. They were on land belonging to Thomas Berry and as they stood very close to the section corner he left them as a landmark. History has it that the Legislature gave the name of Reading after the old eastern town of that name. However, old timers have always insisted that it was named in honor of Wright Redding, one of the very early settlers who located on the west shore of Long Lake, where it was once thought of establishing the village. This version does not explain why the spelling came to be "Reading" instead of "Redding."
The trunk line railroad through Hillsdale from Toledo to Chicago was first owned by the State, and was known as the Southern Railroad. It reached Hillsdale in 1843, was extended to Jones ville in 1849,
SOME PLACE NAMES OF HILLSDALE COUNTY 581
and reached Chicago by 1852. A 1921 July issue of the Hillsdale Daily News contains this interesting little item about early railroading:
"L. A. Daniels of Adrian, formerly of Hillsdale, writes that if there is anyone going to Adrian this year to celebrate the Fourth of July, they will find travel- ling much different now than it was in 1847. That year a party consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Vely, Don Wells, Henry Keefer, and others made the trip. The party left Hillsdale at 6:00 a. m. and arrived at Adrian at 12:00 a. m. The train ride was then something of a novelty and was a part of the celebration. The men had lots of sport jumping on and off the train to kill rattlesnakes and pick strawberries. There was no danger of getting left, the train moved so slow. The train went on to Toledo. It was expected back at 6:00 p. m., but it did not return till midnight and the party was back in Hillsdale at 6:00 o'clock the fol- lowing morning."
The county seat is also the location of Hillsdale College. The institution was opened at Spring Arbor, Michigan, in 1844, and was called Michigan Central College because of its central location in the lower part of the State. In 1853 new buildings were started at Hillsdale, and in 1855 the school opened here as Hills- dale College. It is the Alma Mater of Will Carleton, Michigan's beloved poet. The former county Poor Farm is still standing, around which Carleton built his widely known poem "Over the Hills to the Poor- house." The property is now a farm house owned by Mr. Nelson Wolcott. It is situated close to the east city limits of Hillsdale.
One should not mention Hillsdale College without naming Mt, Zion, as it is interwoven with her tradi-
582 ARCHIE M. TURRKLL
tions. Yes, the county has a mountain, though it hardly deserves the name from its size. Its naming dates back to the early days of the College when the institution was a Baptist school, and the young "theo- logs" in company with their ' 'beaux" made Sunday pilgrimages to the lovers' Mecca. Here also budding ministers were wont to test their forensic powers on the patient bovine. The hill is about a half mile east of the school.
The "Winona," the College annual, published by the Junior class, is named for the daughter of Chief Baw Beese. Concerning the death of Winona the Rochester Democrat printed an item several years ago, which was published later in 1861 by A. W. Bennett of London in a book on Indian history. The tragedy is as follows :
"Winona, daughter of Chief Baw Beese, had killed her husband, Negnaska. By Indian law the Chief had to sentence his daughter to death, and by the same law the execution must be by the next of kin of the murdered one. Therefore, Jo-ne-se livingjiear Ft. Wayne came to avenge his brother's death. Is The execution took place in Allenjnear the_Camden line about a mile west of the house once occupied by John G. Me Williams."
SCENE OF WILL OARLETOX'S
•OVER THE HILLS TO THE POOR
HOUSE"
REMINISCENCES OF WILL CARLETON BY BYRON A. FINNEY
REFERENCE LIBRARIAN EMERITUS, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
ON BEING asked to give some reminiscences of my boyhood playmate, schoolmate, and chum, Will Carleton, who came to be Michigan's loved poet and interpreter, I am overwhelmed with a multitude of memories. Only a few may here be jotted down, and they may not be the most valuable or instructive, but any facts of his life will be likely to testify to his char- acter, or its development.
The date of Carleton's birth has been generally accepted as October 21, 1845, although there has been some difference of opinion as to the particular day of the month, owing to a birth date set down at the time of his registration at Hillsdale College. But this was not in his own handwriting, and it happens that we have recently found a statement in his own hand that settles any question in the matter. During his first period as a student at Hillsdale College, in the fall of 1862, Will kept a diary, in which he had begun to set down his inmost thoughts and aspirations. This little volume happens to be temporarily in my possession, in connection with the completion of Brag- don's Life of Carleton, which I hope to have ready for publication, or for such disposition as the Carleton Memorial Association may determine, at the time of its annual meeting at Hillsdale in October. In it, under date of October 21, 1862, the youthful poet has written: "Today I am seventeen," and then goes on to consider the little he thinks he has accomplished
683
584 BYRON A. FINNE*
in his first seventeen years, and to set down some of his hopes and resolutions for the future. It may be pos- sible to publish this whole volume.
My acquaintance with Will began a little before the outbreak of the Civil War, when he was about twelve or fourteen years old, and I was some three years younger. His elder sister had married an uncle of mine, and we were thrown much together. His home was two miles east of Hudson, while I lived in town, and we visited back and forth frequently, as boys will, sleeping together, and enjoying the farm work together, that being attractive to a town boy.
Will's imagination was constantly seeing person- ality in the animals, and the * 'honest face" of one of the horses much impressed him. He would talk to the old sorrel horse as if he could understand all he would say, and interpret his answers in long-winded speeches of horse-talk.
And he was ambitious to make political speeches, getting up on some convenient stump, and urging me to mount another at a suitable distance, from which vantage points we would harangue each other on the vital questions of the day. My feeble voice in reply could attract little attention, but his bursts of oratory sometimes brought his father's command from a distance to get to work and not be wasting his time in foolish ' 'stump speeches."
This was not later than his fourteenth or fifteenth year, when he had not yet left the district school on the corner of the Carleton farm. In this school, one winter or spring, they were to have an "exhibition," and somehow I was invited to take part in it. I re- cited a humorous piece of verse entitled "Uncle Ben," which told the exploits of a butting ram, and which
KBMINISCBNCES OF WILL CARLBTON 585
I had rehearsed in the Carleton home. More than fifty years after that, while visiting Carleton in Brook- lyn, he proved the freshness of his wonderful memory, by reciting the whole of that poem, every line of which I had entirely forgotten.
It was at that same exhibition that some of Will's latent humor, so fruitful in his future poems, came to light. One of the features of the program was announced as "The Silent Cell." Will came out on the platform bearing a chair in one hand and a guitar in the other and sat dgwn as if to play. And there he sat. No sound from the instrument, nor from the audience, which was sympathetic, thinking he had forgotten the piece he was to play. Finally he rose, and, with his chair and instrument, silently retired from the platform. It was some moments until realiza- tion had stirred the audience and the silence of the "sell" was broken with applause.
It is known to comparatively few of the readers of Carleton's poems that he wrote any dramas; but he did write several. They were produced on the stage, in order to hold the copyright, and were intended for only amateur performance. But there was a play, mostly of his creating, in which I happened to col- laborate, which never reached the point of publica- tion, nor was it even set down on paper. It was in 1865, when Will was trudging the two miles daily to the public school in Hudson village. With two girl students, we were scheduled for one of the "exhi- bitions" to put on a farce, the name of which I do not remember, but which involved the family diffi- culties of a certain Mr. and Mrs. Mouser. For some real or fancied affront, on the very day of the event, the girls went on a strike, and decided not to appear.
586 BYRON A. FINNBT
"Never mind," said optimistic Will, "Let's show 'em we do not need their help. Let's get up a farce of our own, for two to play." So we began rehearsing diligently an original comedy which would occupy perhaps some twenty or thirty minutes to carry through, and which we decided should be called "The Lone Lost Brothers." We improvised as we went along, and rehearsed repeatedly until we felt quite prepared for the evening's performance.
But — ! When the girls learned that we were able to go it alone, the strike was off. They came to us, and said contritely that they had decided to do their part, after all. The reconciliation was accepted, the "Long Lost Brothers" never had a public hearing, and a masterpiece of literature was lost to the world.
Carleton's college experiences in Hillsdale have been frequently told, but a feature of that life has been recently brought to my memory. While he and I were rooming together in the west wing of the Col- lege, which has since then been burned down, a room just above ours was occupied by Harvey Fuller, a blind student, who graduated in 1868, the only blind student ever graduated by Hillsdale College. It was our pleasure and good fortune, with some others, to read to Fuller and help him get his lessons, although, and sometimes to our mortification, he would come to the classroom better prepared in his lessons than were we who had read to him. Fuller was a credit to the College, and after a long life of public lecturing and the reading of his own poems, retired to a pleasant home in Tallmadge, Ohio, a suburb of Akron, where I saw him last summer, hale and hearty now in his eighty-eighth year. Until^mV death, Carleton kept up his intercourse and relations of friendship with
REMINISCENCES OF WILL CARLETON 587
Fuller, which he always regarded as an inspiration in his own work.
During after years Will and I saw each other less often. Perhaps it was a sailing trip on Lake Erie, his part of which was brought to an untimely end by the fact that the comrade captain of our little sloop thought that his dignity could only be maintained by the exercise of much nautical profanity. Carleton left the cruise in high dudgeon, saying that he would not stand it to be sworn at by anybody, even if he was a captain. •
Perhaps we searched the stars in the observatory at Ann Arbor. He was greatly interested in astron- omy.
Perhaps we breasted the Atlantic together. A few years before his death we were in the sea at Coney Island, and became objects of anxiety for one of the guards, who hovered around us in his little boat as if looking for disaster. So we went far out, and tried his patience as well as our endurance to the utmost— "for," said Carleton, "he thinks we are a couple of old duffers who can't swim."
The story of his later life, of his attainment to eminence and popularity as an American poet and a successful lecturer, is better known; how he first struck the heart of the people with his Farm Ballads, particularly "Betsey and I are Out" and "Over the Hill to the Poor-House," and followed them with Legends and Festivals, both of Farm and City, — until the center tables of homes all over the country, es- pecially those of farmer families, that did not show one of his volumes, were rare, and his name became a household word of inspiration.
588 BYRON A. FINNBY
Though the exigencies of authorship and publi- cation, the publishing of his monthly periodical en- titled Every Where, which involved him in great finan- cial loss, did call him permanently away from Michi- gan, he was always at heart a Wolverine, and never lost his affection for his native State.
This is aptly shown in a poem which he read at a dinner of the Society of Michigan in New York, in 1906, in which he refers feelingly to his former news- paper work in Hillsdale. From this I quote:
Michigan! Michigan! How I do wish again I had my old editorial "posish" again! Keeping close tab on a rural community, Cracking old jokes with astounding impunity; Blowing long puffs with rhetorical reaches in, When they brought apples, pears, pumpkins, and peaches in; Gravely announcing the deaths and the marriages, Also the new need for juvenile carriages; Framing stray ads with much detail and pondering, When a sheep, horse, hog, or heifer, went wandering; Dunning the debtors, and soothing the creditors, Dodging the chap that came gunning for editors; Full of sweet joys and adversities fiery- Penning and printing a village's diary!
Michigan, Michigan, dear unique Michigan,
Once more in memory's waves now we fish again!
Once more we feel thy moist atmosphere blessing us —
Once more thy glorious lake zephyrs caressing us;
And the night-winds through the pine branches clambering,
Sing us sweet songs that we still are remembering.
Now we are exiles; the hand of fate fingering,
We in the wilds of Manhattan are lingering;
Still our look back to our mother is dutiful;
Still if thou seekest peninsula beautiful,
Fill up the beaker, the pipe, and the dish again.
Give us a cheer and a shout for old Michigan !
It is to commemorate Carleton as the pioneer poet of Michigan, and to keep his memory and example alive before the people, and especially the children
REMINISCENCES OF WILL CARLETON 589
of the State, that the WILL CARLETON MEMO- RIAL ASSOCIATION was founded. This was in 1915, less than three years after the poet's death in Decem- ber, 1912. The Association has established a loan fund for deserving students in Hillsdale College, a policy in which Carleton had always been interested when a member of the Board of Trustees of the Col- lege. The Carletoniana gathered by the Association— his works and manuscripts, published and unpub- lished, portraits and material connected with his life, forming a regular literary museum, will be preserved, probably in a "Carleton Room," in connection with the Library of Hillsdale College.
The Lenawee County Federation of Women's Clubs placed last October a mammoth boulder and tablet by the roadside in front of the poet's birthplace near Hudson, and it is expected that the highway running from Toledo by the homestead and by the county poor-house near Hillsdale, where it is hoped to place another tablet next year, will be named the "Carleton Highway."
This highway was the road over which the poet's father, John Hancock Carleton, came as a pioneer to the Bean Creek Valley, and it is as a pioneer, the son of a pioneer, and the representative of the pioneer in poetry, that we hold Will Carleton before us in memory today.
At the annual meeting of the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society in 1910, to an audience that crowded the Senate Chamber of the Capitol, he spoke these words: "I know all about the pioneer days. I know all about the hardships of those times, and I know all about the wilderness and its dangers;" and,
590 BYRON A. FINNEY
after a pause, he added, in his humorous way, "My father told me."
But he himself has told us, in enduring form, of the trials and hardships and courageous spirit of the pio- neers who made the wilderness to blossom as the rose. This history, the actual foundation and strength of our commonwealth, our children must not be allowed to forget.
And especially must be kept before them, as an inspiring exampile, Carleton's own struggles and priva- tions in order to acquire an education with which to accomplish the fulfillment of his ideals.
.It is to keep his work and example before our chil- dren that, through the efforts of the Carleton Associa- tion and the wise foresight of our legislators, we have secured the enactment of the law, now effective in Michigan, for the observance of "Carleton Day" in the public schools of the State on the 21st of October in each year.
The story of his struggle for an education — a struggle involving hardship, economy, a great hope and a wonderful perseverance — this story, illustrated by its success and its literary product, cannot fail to be a stimulus and an inspiring example to the children of his own State; and the reading of his poems in the schools on "Carleton Day" will bring his voice again to be heard by our children's children:
The voice that always held a cheerful note,
And never told a hopeless story, That sang the common life with swelling throat,
Its simple grace and glory.
And this, his message — we may hear — we can,
If earnestly we hark, and listen: The diamond in the heart of every man
Will sometime — sometime — glisten.
CHARLES L. BELKNAP
CHRISTMAS DAY NEAR SAVANNAH IN WARTIME
By CHARLES E. BELKNAP GRAND RAPIDS
TN ALL the Christmas lore for ages past, Santa •*• Glaus comes from the land of ice and snow with high-headed reindeer adorned with many pronged antlers. Who has not seen in the frosty air of Christ- mas night in the North the reindeer sledge and heard the music of the bells and the voice of the ancient mariner of the air?
But who has seen the reindeer of the South? Only a few of the soldier boys of Sherman's Army, for who but the "bummer boys" would have thought of putting a pair of antlers on a pack mule's head and driving about an enemy's country filling the stockings of hungry babies. It was nearing Christmas day of 1864 when the Captain, with ninety men in command, re- ceived instructions to proceed at once to the relief of the citizens of a little village north and west of Savannah. Both armies had foraged the place and its people were without food.
The orders were concluded with the information, " Straggling bands of the enemy are pillaging. Cau- tion and promptness are important."
One hundred mules were packed with hard bread, pork, coffee and sugar and, guarded by the ninety mounted men, filed up from the harbor wharfs through the congested streets of Savannah where fifty thou- sand refugees from the surrounding country, as well as most of Sherman's Army, and its own town people were assembled.
591
592 CHARLES E. BBLKNAP
The road leading out into the country passed over wide marshy rice fields or along palmetto bordered sandy roads, where having to travel single file made the train half a mile long. Great flocks of rice birds came out of the marshes. Wild ducks whirled over- head. Lazy alligators slipped about on the muddy banks. At times we wound through the forests of live oak where long sprays of gray moss in festoons waved dreamily about in the wind. In places groups of magnolias with clusters of white blossoms gave out a fragrance under the clear sun of the Southern winter.
All this was so new to the men of the North who led the column in advance with their carbines ready for action against a possible enemy who might be sheltered in the great stretches of palms upon either side.
Many of these men had missed for three years the Christmas in the North. Said one, "I am singing to drive away the homesickness that is eating the heart out of me"; and the Captain answered, "Sing a song for me, for I am thinking of the stockings hanging by the chimney at home. Drop out by the side and tell the boys as they come along to sing. Damn them if they don't." And soon the trailing line with the clank of the bell on the lead animal, the shouts of the drivers, the crack of whips and the chants of the soldiers, were filling the air with their medley.
The shades of night were falling when we reached the village in the pines. The voices of mothers sooth- ing their hungry children came from many a home where roses were blooming in the gardens, but there were no lights in the windows. The tramp of animals and the voices of the drivers marked another inva- sion of hungry soldiers and in alarm the doors had
CHRISTMAS DAT NEAR SAVANNAH IN WARTIME 593
been closed. There were no welcome greetings, their last bit of food for man or beast had disappeared.
The corral and camp were made in the village square. Fires were soon lighting up all about, the odors of frying pork and boiling coffee filled the air and, as the Captain had expected, mothers were soon coming with their children and grouped about with the soldiers, sharing in the rough fare.
Then the Captain said to them — and it was the first speech he ever made — " Uncle Sam is not making war upon women and children and has sent us with the best he had in store that you may have a Christ- mas dinner and will fill your tables with enough to carry them over until you can be cared for in other ways."
There was such a touch of home about it all — the women and children and the campfires, the Christ- mas spirit — that those bummer boys fairly bubbled over with happiness. Men joined in with the songs who had never tried a note before in their lives. When the fires burned low, the town people trailed away to their homes and the soldiers and mule packers rolled up in their blankets under the trees. Along toward the first rays of morning light, when sleep is so sweet, especially to the weary soldier, the camp was startled by a new order of Christmas music, by the loudest and most space penetrating bray they had ever heard. A moment passed and the bray was repeated in a deeper key; then another and another, each with a different modulation. Then all the mules in the corral volunteered in the operatic role and the morning air quivered with notes. Sometimes all the mules but one would cease and he would execute the solo part, the rest coining in by way of chorus. We had the
594 CHARLES E. BBLKNAP
soprano, the first and second tenor, the baritone, the basso profundo and the falsetto. One would attempt a florid passage and the others would come in with applause or ridicule.
All the rest of that Christmas night the bell mule with a shake of his neck gave out the key, or, as Big Hank, the boss packer, said, "Set the chune."
We knew from experience that mules were vicious, but were now convinced they were totally depraved, that they had not the true Christmas spirit, but were possessed of a devil and they let him out through their mouths. These reindeers of the South were on strike for corn and their Christmas chimes kept agoing until they got their rations.
The particular reindeer that started that concert had once before made a record with the command and we loved him not, but needed him in our business. I remember well when we drafted him into the Army. We were making strenuous marches through the hill country, over rough trails where wagons could not be used and all equipage was transported on mule- back. The boss mule packer was a contraband, known as Big Hank, who was drafted into the army from a plantation where he had inherited much mule training. One night, while in camp near the "Acorn Boys," he came in with a roan mule about seventeen hands high, a wild-eyed, long-eared animal, with a tail full of burs. That was a bad mule sign, but as we were in great need of pack animals we felt obliged to keep him, although he kicked down a company line of shelter tents before he was anchored to a tree for the night.
The command had made camp the evening before in a side hill forest, near the banks of a creek, not
CHRISTMAS DAY NEAR SAVANNAH IN WARTIME 595
knowing just where they were, but it happened a part of Joe Wheeler's confederate cavalry were camped on an opposite hill about a mile away. At daylight next morning Hank tried to pack that mule and there occurred an interesting dispute. The animal's head was well anchored to a tree, but his fighting end was busy — the score standing two to one in favor of the mule, as against the packer, who, armed with a club, was kept busy dodging heels. He had the advantage in the use of cuss \^ords, but they made no impres- sion on the animal's sense of military discipline. This disturbance aroused the enemy on the oppo- site hrll and they came out to investigate and that led to a fight. Finally the pack was made up, blankets, coffee pots, frying pans, a music box that played four tunes, and last, but not least, three game cocks which were champions. One, known as Sheridan, had licked everything in the 14th army corps. Another was called Kilpatrick, because he would sooner fight than eat corn.
If it had not been for that roan mule we would have gotten away from the camp without a fight, but just about the time the last hitch was made, the music box grinding out, "Jordan's a hard road to travel" and the game cocks crowing defiance at each other, the first shell from the enemy's guns came crashing through the tree tops. It exploded near the pack mule and he, being a new recruit, tried to climb the tree to which he was tied. Not succeeding in that, he slipped his halter, charged down the hill into the creek, where, under an overhanging tree, the pack sad- dle with its load was dumped into the water. Half the command were at once in pursuit and, lined up behind trees, were fighting with the Johnnies for possession of
596
CHARLES E. BBLKNAP
the duffle in the creek. Those game cocks, the music box and the coffee pots were salvaged. In the con- fusion, the mule, under full head, braying that forlorn and penetrating air that had wakened us on Christ- mas morning, went away into the forest to escape for a time the terrors of war.
So now on Christmas morning in the little Southern village Big Hank and his aides cinched his pack sad- dle, trimmed his halter with pampa grass plumes and loaded him to the limit with army rations. To the music of a cowbell they led a parade from house to house with their gifts until every woman and child was cared for.
These reindeer of the South have faded out with the trials and homesickness of long ago and the Bum- mer Captain with his great grandchildren at his side joyfully awaits old Santa Claus and his reindeer com- ing in on glistening paths of ice and frost." — Michigan Tradesman.
THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD
BY MRS. MARTHA D. AIKEN UNION CITY
time was 1843. The place a small village in •*- southern Michigan, and on the bank of one of its rivers flowing west was Station No. 2, Underground Railroad. The station agent, known far and near as "The Squire," stood in the door of his shop just below the bridge intently watching the approach of a large covered wagon of the style known to pioneers as "prairie schooners.7'
"Possibly a train for my station," mused he.
The team stopped, the driver, a white man, alighted, followed by a small boy, black as ebony. Hastening out, the alert station agent gave cordial greeting.
"What place is this?" asked the stranger.
On being told, he asked,
"Any Abolitionists here?"
"Thick as blackberries."
"Where can I find one?"
"Look at me, friend, what wilt thou?"
"Food and shelter for man and beast."
"Plenty of both to which you are welcome. Cross the bridge, turn to the right. I will follow imme- diately."
Ah! You don't know what you are bargaining for," pointing to the wagon. Looking within the Squire saw a man of about fifty years, a woman and
597
^
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598 MRS. MARTHA D. AIKEN
four children all of color contraband; the eldest, a boy of ten years, still standing by the driver, an in- terested listener.
"Not an unusual train for my station/' said the Squire. "You are all welcome."
"What ribber be dis, massa; be dis de Jordan what we sing of down in ole Car'line?" asked the boy.
"We may call it a branch of that river, since by crossing the bridge yonder you gain freedom for your body, while you must plunge in the other to rid your- self of sin," said the Squire, smiling as he looked at the earnest face of the boy whose eyes sparkled as he turned toward the river.
"We have had a tiresome journey but it is evident we have reached a safe harbor at last," remarked the man, who was none other than Augustus Wattles, famous in that day as the "Quaker Abolitionist," whose home in Ohio was a refuge for escaped slaves, and who was conducting this company of refugees to Canada.
During the two days taken for rest and recupera- tion at Station No. 2, the story of the old man of the party, William Smith, a mulatto, was learned. He was from North Carolina, the slave and also the son of Percival Nelms, a wealthy planter. It was of such that Dickens wrote when he said: "He dreamed of freedom in a slave's embrace and waking, sold her offspring and his own in public markets." Although the relationship was well understood by this son, he had served as a slave for nearly fifty years. That Nelms had some regard for him was made evident by the fact that he had never permitted the lash to touch him and had allowed him to learn to read and write.
THE UNDERGROUND KAILROAD 599
He had also promised that before his death he would give him his freedom notwithstanding he was valued at $1,000.
Fifty years had passed when one morning William was called from the field for an interview with his father who said: "William, the time has come for me to fulfill my promise to you; here are your manu- mission papers/' virtually a title deed to himself. (Hide your face, O Goddess of Liberty! A title deed to a human being in this, our boasted land of free- dom!)
"You have some money," continued Nelms,— "Here is more, take the horse, Hunter, and go; he knows the mountain passes and you will have no trouble in finding the way; but let it be inferred you are going on business for me as you have often been. Go straight on, however, to Mercer County, Ohio, and give this letter to Augustus Wattles. You will find in him a friend."
Now came a cruel struggle in the soul of the slave. "Ought I to purchase freedom at such a price? Can I leave my wife and children in bondage and flee to safety?"
The decision had to be made at once, and obeying the scriptural injunction, he made unto himself "friends of the mammon of unrighteousness."
On an adjoining plantation lived Ralph Pemberton, between whom and the Nelms family there existed a deadly feud of long standing. Taking advantage of this, William sought assistance from the enemy and not in vain, for here, thought Pemberton, is an opportunity, patiently waited for, to strike an effective blow.
William had several children, the eldest, Andrew, a strong, active man of twenty years and valued as
600 MRS. MARTHA D. AIKEN
a slave accordingly. It being impossible to effect the freedom of all, the father, acting on Pemberton's advice, determined to do his best for this boy, and a tripartite treaty was made, the parties being Smith, Pemberton and Andrew. Smith was to go directly to Mercer County and on his arrival there, his free papers, which were regularly made out, with the seal of the county affixed, were to be so amended as to describe and apply to Andrew. Thus altered they were to be sent with a letter of instruction to Pem- berton; he would do^the rest, and father and son should be reunited.
Thus comforted, William mounted Hunter in the morning and rode away, reaching the Quaker's home without mishap. There was at that time in Mercer County a small colony of Negroes, chiefly from North Carolina, who had been set free by their owners. This colony was under the guardianship and pro- tection of Augustus Wattles. To him William re- vealed the plot for liberating his son, and it was en- tered into without delay; for although peaceful, law- abiding citizens, the Abolitionists were a law unto themselves in t'he matter of slavery, interpreting literally that clause which declares all men to be free and equal, no mention having been made as to color.
The important document was amended; the letter of instruction for Andrew was sent to Pemberton; then William Smith, now a refugee, with no proof of his liberation, started under the protection of the Quaker, with the Negro woman and her four children for Canada by way of Station No. 2, Underground Railroad.
Meantime the Nelms family had neither slumbered nor slept, and while putting on the appearance of
THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD 601
dove-like innocence, were using the cunning of serpents and kept their enemy under their constant espionage. The postoffice was watched, — Smith's letter to Pem- berton opened, read, sealed and remailed.
The plan of the treaty had been that on receipt of the papers, Andrew should leave his master's planta- tion, secrete himself in a place provided by his friend, where he would remain until the heat of pursuit was over, when he was to be orally instructed as to his course, given the coveted papers and sent on his way.
Into the hiding place Andrew was led and secreted; his place of concealment was changed from one dark corner to another; weeks passed, his restlessness and fear were lulled by plausible reasons for delay and fair promises. At last, suspecting treachery, he dis- covered the paper, took it and under cover of night started for Ohio and liberty.
Unable to read or write, knowing almost nothing of the direction to follow, hiding by day and travelling by night, he finally reached the Blessed Refuge in Mercer County, hungry, footsore, and weary, having been taken up but once on suspicion of being a run- away slave; after the examination of his papers he was discharged without further trouble.
Up to the time of Andrew's departure the policy of the Nelms family had been masterly inactivity, but they had not for an hour lost sight of their slave. His several hiding places were known and also his flight before it was discovered by Pemberton. Now was the time to pounce upon their foe, and they did it with all the severity permitted by law. He was arrested, charged with running off a slave, a_crime which in the estimation of slaveholders of that period was con- sidered equal, if not worse than murder. Abundant
602 MRS. MARTHA D. AIKBN
proof was in their possession and Pemberton was helpless in the hands of his powerful enemies. A fine of $1,000 and costs of the suit was imposed. Se- curity for the amount being taken on his slaves, of which he owned twenty. In return Perceval Nelms executed and conveyed to his arch enemy a title deed to the body of his grandson, Andrew Smith, according to the laws of North Carolina.
Four months had passed since the arrival of the big wagon which brought William Smith to Station No. 2. November had come and he was still with the Squire, who on this particular morning was attending to business on the flats when an unusual sight attracted his attention, — three Negroes on foot led by a white man mounted on a beautiful thoroughbred, for which the South has alway/s been famous. A pair of ca- pacious saddle bags — the suitcase of that early day- were thrown over the saddle.
"More wayfarers for my station," said the Squire, hastening out to greet with friendly hand and cordial welcome the travelers.
"A goodly company you have under convoy," said he; "an underground railroad train I presume. Well, you have reached in safety a way station where you must rest and refresh yourselves." To all of this the stranger — Pemberton himself — gave acceptance with a low bow. At that moment William dropped his tools and rushing out clasped one of the Negroes in his arms, exclaiming: "Andrew, my son, bless the Lord!" The situation was explained, the long ex- pected son had arrived. To emphasize his friendship, Pemberton dismounted and gave William a most friendly greeting and clasped Andrew in a close em-
THE UNDERGROUND KAILROAD 603
brace. A second Judas indeed! beguiling with kind words him whom he would betray.
On reaching the house the men, black and white alike, were ushered in and the horse led to the barn where the Squire diligently grooming him was in- terrupted by one of the Negroes greatly excited: "You don' know who y' hab in dat house," he gasped.
"What do you mean, Pemberton is all right, isn't he?" replied the Squire.
"All right! He de very debil; he gwine take An- drew back to slab'ry\ We know sumpin awful gwine to happen, for after dark las' night we saw a hor'ble goblin hidin' 'hind a stump, and dat man he ketch us jes 'fore we gets here."
"Oh well! do not fear," said the Squire. "We will show him a play worth two of his; it wins every time, for freedom is a trump card here."
Returning to the house, dinner was announced and Pemberton displayed his qualities as an entertainer. Crafty, base and treacherous, his appearance was that of a cultured gentleman, and he was bright and witty. It was not till night, when the enemy slept, that Andrew told his story. After reaching Mercer County he had found work and was industriously engaged when one morning he felt a tap on his shoulder and saw before him a United States Marshal with warrant of arrest in one hand and a pair of handcuffs in the other, evidently considering Andrew a dangerous person to attack. It developed that Pemberton on discovering Andrew's flight armed himself to the teeth with bowie knife and revolver, mounted his horse, effected the perilous mountain passes and reached the Negro colony in Mercer County, evaded the vigi- lance of its guardian, Wattles, and without being him-
604 MRS. MARTHA D. AIKBN
self discovered found Andrew who now in handcuffs was taken into court charged with one of the most dreadful crimes known at that time in our land of freedom — love of Liberty.
But the good old Quaker was on hand and proved sufficient for the occasion. He found a flaw in the warrant large enough to let the captive through, who thus liberated lost no time in preparing to travel the road that led to Station No. 2, U. G. R. R. He was accompanied by two trusty friends, contraband like himself. There was in possession of the three a rusty knife and two ancient revolvers that might possibly go off. The night was dark, but carefully instructed by the Quaker for their journey they started.
Morning came. In a dingy, low-roofed log cabin inn, not far from the Mercer County Colony, there was one defeated sorrowful soul, a victim of the lawless scheming of Abolitionists. That man was Pemberton, and in all that region not one so "poor as to do him reverence" nor give him information concerning his absconded property. But the light of Underground Station No. 2 was not hidden, and riding swiftly he got on the track of the fugitives one mile east of that "Haven of Rest." They were now at the mercy of the law. The title deed to personal freedom once possessed by William Smith was of course useless, and equally useless for Andrew in whose interests it had been amended.
Here was a peculiar situation. Under the same roof was Pemberton representing slavery, with the law to support him, and the Squire representing free- dom, earnestly striving for the privileges which the world accords to men. He remembered those great words of the Declaration: "We hold these truths to
THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD 605
be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain in- alienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. " And although the law was at this time opposed to this declaration, the Squire was sup- ported by a body of able men who believed the law of God superior to the law of State and were ready to respond at a moment's notice in defense of the op- pressed. On the retirement of Pemberton to his room that night these men were summoned to give counsel in this emergency, and. before separating they knelt, beseeching the Father of mercies to give them wisdom and to shield the fugitives in their peril.
It was morning, and the Squire, calling Pemberton to breakfast, was bidden to enter: "Look," said the guest, "Aren't these beauties?" — pointing to his open saddle bags wherein lay a six cylinder Colt's revolver and a murderous looking bowie knife with curved point and glistening blade. "This has the lives of six men in it," said he, taking up the revolver.
"Indeed," replied the Squire, looking at it with the eye of a connoisseur. "It looks like a good tool."
"You may well say that. I should be a hard cus- tomer to capture."
Running his finger along the blade of the knife, with all the nonchalance he could command, the Squire replied: "We think but little of such light implements in the North; we prefer the breechloading rifle and do some nice shooting with it when occasion demands; but let us go to breakfast."
The meal over, Pemberton accompanied Smith to the shop. His scheme was to quiet Smith's fears for the safety of his son, by reiterated professions of affection.
(*>0() MRS. MARTHA D. AIKEN
Andrew with his faithful guardsmen remained at the house watchful and wary. At several meetings of the Abolitionists during the ten days of Pemberton's stay he enlarged upon the 'direful consequences to himself should Andrew refuse to return. He had al- ready decided it would be impossible to seize him where Abolitionists were the rujing party. "It will only be necessary," he said, "for him to cross the border of the State to exonerate me from the charge of running off a slave, otherwise my slaves must be sold and their families broken up." Great tears rolled down his cheeks, to impress his listeners with the tender relations existing between himself and his slaves.
Is it a wonder that honest men believed and sym- pathized with him? He gave the names of numerous titled men to verify his statements. Generals, majors, judges and others were cited, to whom the Squire might refer. Finally the Squire said: "Pemberton, give Andrew until December; we will meantime cor- respond with the gentlemen whom you have mentioned, and if they corroborate your statements we pledge ourselves to persuade Andrew to comply with your request; you in the meantime will be at liberty to return to your urgent business." To this proposition Pemberton gave ready assent.
An early breakfast was served; the departing guest with the manners of a Chesterfield bade adieu to the family, and grasping the hand of the host said: "On the honor of a gentleman I swear to fulfill my part of this agreement," and the declaration was accepted without question. The day passed, another morning dawned, breakfast was in progress at Station No. '< Andrew's faithful guards had gone. He alone was gloomy and restless.
THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD 607
"What is the matter, Andrew?" asked the Squire.
"Don* know/' he replied.
"Fear de mattah," said his father.
"Fear of what or whom?" asked the Squire.
"Slabeholders, — he think dey be arter him, and he neither eat nor sleep."
"That being the case you shall go over the line into Canada, find work and if all is well, be ready to meet Pemberton as we have agreed," was the Squire's reassuring reply. But among the Abolitionists who were too honest themselves to doubt the fair promises of Pemberton, there was one "Doubting Thomas." Henry Gage believed discretion to be the better part of valor. Meeting Andrew's friends after the depart- ure of the enemy, he said: "Now, friends, I think the best time to prepare for war is when everything is peaceful, and I want to know what we are to do if all those promises have been given us as sleeping powders?"
"It isn't possible!" exclaimed all.
"Perhaps not," said Gage, "But we are bound to protect Andrew, and should Pembertoa return he must be held until Andrew is out of reach. Squire, did he pay his board bill before leaving?"
"Board bill! there was none. He was my guest."
"Well, guest, or no, if he returns, he must be held here for an unpaid board bill, until we get Andrew across the U. S. line."
After much argument, that was agreed upon.
Down on the flats, not far from Station No. 2, I was a big haystack, built on a rail foundation, where I one could hide things animate or inanimate. Andrew's I fears of capture increased hourly, so he was hid under ilthe stack, to remain until removal was considered ! safe.
608 MRS. MARTHA D. AIKEN
One morning as Andrew was resting contentedly in his retreat and the family was finishing breakfast at Station No. 2, bad news like a bomb was suddenly exploded in camp. A horse wet and panting dashed to the door, and the rider breathless with excitement exclaimed, "Pemberton is coming! — an officer with him for Andrew!"
It was true. Pemberton had ridden to the county seat, secured the services of a United States Marshal, and provided with handcuffs as well as authority expected to make an easy capture.
Scarcely an hour passed after the alarm before the pursuers arrived. Being admitted, Pemberton shouted: "I have come for my property, and in the name of the law I demand that you produce him."
"If the honest man whom you designate as your property had been as easily duped by your false prom- ises as we were you might have found him here, but thanks to his knowledge of your treachery he is beyond your reach," calmly replied the Squire.
Like match to powder the wrath of Pemberton blazed. To be outwitted a second time by these hated Abolitionists was too great a humiliation to endure: "I brand you as a set of outlaws, utterly regardless of the rights of others. I'll dare anyone of you to come. I'm ready for you," shouted Pemberton in wrath, as he tore off his coat and clenched his fists.
"We have a better way to settle our differences in this part of the country," said the Squire. "The law is our refuge."
"And speaking of the law," interposed Gage, "we are not accustomed to having strangers and aliens eat the bread of honest toil for a week and leave without offering to settle the bill, so you may consider yourself
THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD 609
under arrest. Here is proof of my authority," throwing back his coat and showing his badge of office.
"Under arrest!" exclaimed Pemberton. "Do you dare treat me with such ignominy? Here, take your money. "
"Oh, no; we are quite systematic in our methods and settle matters legally; we will, however, attend to the business as soon as possible," said Mr. Gage, "that you may start on your homeward journey. Meantime the rooms you have occupied for the past ten days are at youy disposal."
Showing his unbounded wrath and indignation in unmistakable ways, Pemberton retired to those rooms more of a prisoner than he realized. He could not seek relief by escape, since there were no railroads, and his horse with saddle bags and weapons were safely guarded in a locked barn.
While these events were taking place, Andrew down under the haystack was being comforted and reassured by Joe Bell, who often hunted on the flats. On this particular morning he carried a remarkably large luncheon, and on pretense of resting from his long tramp through the fields he was putting the greater part of his food through the rails.
"Now boy, don't you get worried," he said. "Mr. Gage has gone for the preacher and old Pompey, you will be safe with them. By tomorrow you will be in Canada, where Pemberton can't get you. The Squire is keeping Pemberton here till you are out of his reach."
Among the Abolitionists of the village was the Congregational minister, who not only could preach but work with equal energy for the protection of his fellow man; for he read, as did others, that all men are brothers, without specification as to color. And so,
610
MRS. MARTHA D. AIKEN
responding to the summons of Mr. Gage, "Pompey," a horse that had on other occasions traveled the road to freedom, was harnessed. In the wagon were two rifles, and in the preacher's pockets plenty of ammuni- tion and patent caps.
"Not that I expect to kill anyone,'* said the preach- er, "but my present business is Andrew's safety, and anybody that interferes will get into trouble."
There were two Underground railroad stations between No. 2 and Detroit. At one of these Pompey was exchanged for a fresh horse. Detroit was reached on the second day. There Andrew was transferred to a boat and was soon a free man. He remained in Canada for years, working faithfully until he accumu- lated considerable property. He visited Station No. 2 once with his wife and two children. His father, "Uncle Smith" as he was called by his many friends, still lived with the Squire. There also "Uncle Smith" lived to see that blessed day when he and all his race were made free by the Emancipation Proclamation.
RT. REV. MONSIGNOR FRANK A. O'BRIEN, LL. D.
RT. REV. MONSIGNOR FRANK A. O'BRIEN, M.A., LL.D.
BY SISTER M. CELESTINE, S.S.J. NAZARETH ACADEMY, NAZARETH, MICHIGAN
HPHE influence of the Black-robe has been a potent factor in Michigan history from those early days when a Dablon, an Allouez, and a Marquette assem- bled the dusky children of the forest and taught them to praise the great Creator, to love the crucified Sa- viour, and to rejoicp at the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It continued when a de Seille and a Badin journeyed through the vast woodlands or paddled up the winding rivers to minister to the scattered faithful, to teach the eager young neophyte, or to baptize the dying babe. It became more powerful when a Richard labored for the social and moral good of a large com- munity in and around Detroit, when he represented that community in the national Congress, and when he aided in the direction of the State University. It was a force when a saintly Sorin and his no less holy confreres journeyed over the wooded acres of south- western Michigan everywhere dispensing blessings. That it is no less potent today we are reminded by the life story of the late lamented Monsignor Frank A. O'Brien of Kalamazoo.
The death of Monsignor O'Brien in December, 1921, created a void in the hearts of the citizens of Michigan. He was a man universally and deservedly beloved. Few had given more willingly of their time, their in- terest, and their zeal thaa this unselfish priest. And the reason for his generous serving is evident in the cardinal principle of his life: "the disciple is not greater
611
612 SISTER M. CELESTINE, S. S. J.
than the Master." He was a follower of the greatest Teacher of mankind, — the meek, gentle, and untiring Jesus of Nazareth. From the close and intimate study of our Saviour's life, Monsignor O'Brien drew up the model of his own apostolic career. Those who knew him best declare he was never found wanting. Wher- ever there was work to do, there was found Monsignor O'Brien. And once the work was assumed, it was an assured fact that it would continue to a happy com- pletion, for Monsignor O'Brien was a man of undaunted will and a possessor of almost superhuman energy.
Someone wisely said, " Genius is nothing but the infinite capacity for infinite pains." That this is eminently true may be learned from the life story of this man who has been styled "the Catholic genius of Kalamazoo." Francis Alphonsus O'Brien was born of humble, God-fearing Irish-American parents, Mi- chael and Margaret O'Brien, in the quaint old town of Monroe on June 7, in the year 1851. As far as can be learned his ancestry was eminent only in virtue, industry, and simplicity. Yet this son of toilers rose to a high degree of eminence both in Church and State for he took infinite pains with himself and with others. In his childhood days he had besides the influence of his sturdy father and his kindly mother, that of one who was ever held in highest esteem, the venerable Mon- signor Joos, and the wise direction of a prince among American schoolmasters, Mr. John Davis. These four trained the young boy to an appreciation of all that was good and noble. And his ideals of Christianity, and of useful American citizenship were based upon the teachings, by word and by deed, of these four moulders of his youth.
KT. REV. MONSIGNOR FRANK A. O'BRIEN, M. A., L. L. D. 613
When Frank O'Brien had completed his elementary school course, he spent a short time with the Detroit Free Press. The journalistic career attracted him but the longing of his soul was for "the courts of the Lord/1 Accordingly the young man began his studies for the priesthood. These he carried on at Assumption Col- lege and at Mt. St. Mary's of the West. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1877. A new life opened out before him, but the young priest was of a delicate constitution and his Bishop was lenient for the first few years of the ^priesthood. " Father Frank," as everyone affectionately called him, was appointed assistant professor at Assumption College, pastor pro tern, of St. John's, Monroe, assistant pastor at St. Vincent's, Detroit, and later private secretary to his Ordinary. It was not until December 14, 1883, that he came to Kalamazoo. Here was the zealous young priest to do his life work. St. Augustine's then was an ordinary country parish heavily in debt. Kalama- zoo itself was famous only for its name. The thirty- eight years that witnessed the growth of the city saw also a change in Catholic activities, a change due, in large measure, to the truly apostolic zeal of the young priest assigned to the pastorate of St. Augustine's.
In the charges he had previously known a knack for organization was displayed and in his new post this gift was particularly prominent. A school had been established and was in fair condition, though a portion of it had to be equipped and steam heat in- troduced, but there was no organization within the church which could aid in parish development. The first work of this kind undertaken was the reorgani- zation of the Young Ladies' Sodality. This took place during a retreat conducted by the Right Reverend
614 SISTER M. CELESTINE, S. S. J.
Bishop Borgess on March 10, 11, and 12 of the next year. On April 1st the Father Label Memorial Tablet was solemnly blessed. This was the first in- dication of the memorial tablet idea in the mind of Monsignor O'Brien. In rapid succession came the organization of the Young Men's Sodality, the Chris- tian Doctrine Society, the Children of Mary, St. Anthony's Cadets, the School Society; and the women of the parish, not wishing to be outdone by younger members, began to work more faithfully in the Altar Society. A Purgatorian Society and a Temperance Society were also formed. A library was established and a series of socials inaugurated which not only materially aided the struggling pastor to meet the in- creasing demands for money but bound the people very closely together.
While all this had been taking place, Father O'Brien had interested himself also in the children. He believed fundamentally in the need of Christian education, and if he seemed extremely interested in the material well-being of St. Augustine's, it was only that the spiritual and moral good might thereby be advanced. To this end he spared no pains that the children of the parish might receive a solid education. He seconded all the efforts of the good Sister Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary then in charge of the school, and procured able young men who later entered the priesthood, as instructors for the older boys. He visited the classes and instructed the children in the principles of their religion while he encouraged their advancement in the common school branches. It was he who, realizing the benefits of education, in- augurated the free parochial school movement.
RT. REV. MONSIGNOR FRANK A. O'BRIEN, M. A., L. L. D. 615
But though busy with school and parish, Father O'Brien found time to keep in touch with Catholic progress outside his city, so that he was well-prepared for the able paper on Catholic charities which he read before the State Board of Charities and Corrections. He was appointed to the membership of this board by Governor Alger in 1886. It is noteworthy that to his judgment Michigan owes a series of reforms in the charitable and penal institutions of the State. Mr. Harrison also recognized the worth of this energetic young worker. It is not known what drew the atten- tion of the President to this Michigan priest, but by him Father O'Brien was made one of the examining board at West Point.
This same year, before the Michigan State Federa- tion of Women's Clubs Father O'Brien read his scho- larly paper on the Diocese of Detroit. This was Father O'Brien's first work in Catholic historical re- search. It opened up for him a new field of interest. Fortunately, for Michigan, his earlier and later asso- ciations were such as to further this interest; this re- gion was particularly adapted to the work; and among his intimate friends were many who might aid him.
Another development of importance to Kalamazoo and its Catholic pastor was the division of the Detroit Diocese into sections called deaneries. At the head of each division was placed a priest remarkable for his prudence and ability and especially for his eminently priestly life. Father Frank O'Brien was selected as Dean of Kalamazoo and was made irremovable rector of St. Augustine's in 1886. This new office brought with it the duty of assembling the associated Fathers in conference each quarter. At these meetings ques- tions pertaining to moral training, church progress,
616 SISTER M. CELESTINE, S. S. J.
and discipline were thoroughly discussed. Through them the spirit of the seminary continued to influence the life of each associate and the high ideals of the priesthood were maintained.
It was about this time that the young pastor was called to the county jail to administer the Last Sacra- ments to a dying man. The place was squalid and dirty. It lacked even the semblance of comfort. Father O'Brien questioned the turnkey as to the man's crime and was astonished to learn that not only was the man guiltless of crime but that he was a charity pa- tient cared for in the jail because there was no hospital in Kalamazoo. This incident fired the enthusiasm of the charitable priest, who determined on the spot that Kalamazoo should have a hospital. The venture seemed of appalling magnitude to those who knew of the struggles St. Augustine's parish had endured. But the priest would not rest content. From this time on his own words in praise of a friend might be fittingly applied to himself: "His days were too short to realize his ambitions and his nights must have been dreams of how to make others happy." He met with rebuffs, but he was not disheartened. Speaking to his Bishop he said, "I will have a hospital or die in the attempt." Against such a will was it possible to contend? His Bishop thought not, and the first sub- stantial aid for the new hospital was a Christmas gift of $5,000.00 out of the Bishop's private fortune. In the spring the Walter home on Portage St. was bought for the hospital. And on July 6, 1889, Father O'Brien welcomed to Kalamazoo the eleven Sisters of St. Joseph who had responded to the call of charity and had come from Watertown, N. Y., to care for the new work and also to establish within the Diocese of De-
KT. REV. MONSIGNOR FRANK A. O'BRIEN, M. A., L. L. D. 617
troit the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph. Henceforth this band of women was identified with every movement for a better Kalamazoo. They be- came the willing helpers of Father O'Brien. But whatever of good has come to them is due to the ini- tiative and unstinted devotion of the noble priest who was, in virtue of his right as Founder, immediately made their Spiritual Director.
The parish had been steadily growing and Father O'Brien was given two assistants. The first was Father Joseph McManus, a child of the parish; his successor was Father Thomas Ryan, and his associate Father John P. Ryan. These energetic young men were a great help to the busy pastor. As the years advanced these earnest priests were promoted to the pastorates of churches and their places were filled by younger men. Thus did Father O'Brien gain the opportunity of influencing diocesan growth. For his home was like a model seminary and he the Father- director. The exemplary priestly life of the older man was appreciated by his young confreres. They observed the regularity and order, the piety and zeal that characterized the pastor of St. Augustine's and in their own parishes they emulated all this. Indeed, after twenty years one of the earlier assistants was heard to remark, "I'd be perfectly happy if I could order my house and church as the Dean does his."
At the close of the Dominican mission in 1889, the first unit of the Holy Name Society in Michigan was or- ganized by Dean O'Brien. At last he had a society for his older men and every group of his parish was brought under organized rule. To the end this re- mained the society dearest to the eager priestly heart. The second Sunday of the month was set aside as
618 SISTER M. CELESTINE, S. S. J.
Holy Name day and it was a marvelous sight to see this group of men performing in a body their religious duty. In and out of season Dean O'Brien preached the Holy Name Society. For his own band he de- signed the Holy Name button, the first to be used in the United States. By his earnest pleadings and his forceful writings he did much to advance the cause of the society throughout this country.
Meantime the need of a proper school building had become urgent. In the spring of 1890 the contract for a new building was let and in September 1891, the school, Le Fevre Institute, named in memory of the second Bishop of the Diocese, was formally opened. The Sisters of St. Joseph, at the invitation of Father O'Brien, assumed charge of the school. They taught the eight grades of the elementary course and continued to conduct the department of music. The new build- ing and the children's delight in their school increased the parishioners' pride in their church and their ad- miration for the enterprising pastor.
In 1893 a parish paper was established and Father O'Brien added the duty of editor to his already long list of labors. For a time this little eight-page jouri was published by a Detroit house and was known the Kalamazoo Angelus but when it was printed ii Kalamazoo, the name Kalamazoo Augustinian was given to the paper. The purpose of the paper was to familiarize the parishioners with affairs of the church, to give home news to the children of the parish whos< life work called them from Kalamazoo, and to knii the interests of the mission churches, — there wei several of these, Mendon, Otsego, Plainwell, and Watson, — to those of the mother church and thus to advance the cause of Catholicity.
RT. REV. MONSIGNOR FRANK A. O'BRIEN, M. A., L. L. D. 619
Organization within the church had kept pace with the material progress. Two societies in particular deserve mention: the Newman Club, "a society for the mutual improvement and study for the younger members," and the Foley Guild, a social club for the young men. This latter organization erected a club house and gymnasium. It was completed in 1894, a monument for the Jubilee year of the parish. At the close of this year it was found that the parish was thoroughly organized, its appointments were perfect, and the per capita debt was $5. It would seem that now the pastor might rest.
But Father O'Brien was a dreamer of dreams, a builder of castles, which unlike the castles in Spain, were bound to materialize. If there ever was such a being then he was a practical idealist. He dreamed of Kalamazoo as a Catholic center and he realized that if it was to become such, schools for higher edu- cation must be established. He accordingly began negotiations for a site and plans for an academy for girls. A two hundred acre farm on Gull Road three miles east of Kalamazoo was chosen as the ideal lo- cation and in the spring of 1897 the building was begun. By fall Nazareth Academy was ready for occupancy and the doors were opened to its first class. The advancement of this school became the cherished work of this zealous priest's heart. From the first he maintained that Nazareth must be a home school for girls and girls not of the wealthy class, but for those of moderate circumstances. For this reason the tuition was low but the ideals and aims were equal to those of the highest-priced school in the land. The Dean interested as he was in the growth of the young in- stitution drove to the academy daily. And on recre-
620 SISTER M. CELESTINE, S. S. J.
ation days, the little girls watched eagerly for white- faced horses, because one, Prince by name, always brought Father O'Brien, and Father O'Brien always had sweetmeats hidden away in his pockets for the minims. Frequently Father O'Brien had a companion. Sometimes it was a visiting priest, or it might be the Reverend Dr. Gray, president of the Michigan Female Seminary, whom Father O'Brien often "picked up" or gave "a lift." These two gentlemen were the best of friends and the merits of their respective schools were often the subject of teasing conversation. At Father O'Brien's request the young ladies from the seminary were occasional visitors at Nazareth. During the first year of its existence, Father O'Brien himself looked after the spiritual and temporal welfare of the new school.
He carefully planned the course of study, provided that "worthy poor girls" be admitted, and interested himself in all that promised the betterment of Naza- reth. Societies were organized. Literary, musical and debating clubs were fostered. And the publica- tion of a school paper was encouraged. Every Frida: night Father O'Brien spent at Nazareth. This wi the night selected for "the talks" so well remembere< for their inspirational effect by the first students Nazareth. Late in the year, the services of a residenl chaplain were procured. For this office the Reveren< N. Sifferath, a venerable Indian missionary, w< chosen. Then Father Sifferath's Indian stories wei added to the many interesting fables of Father O'Brien and thus was instilled a love for history tales and folk- lore in the young minds of the students.
September 22, 1898, Father O'Brien brought to Kalamazoo a gentleman renowned in Catholic circle
RT. REV. MONSIGNOR FRANK A. O'BRIEN, M. A., L. L. D. 621
and of high esteem in the diplomatic world, Archbishop Martinelli, who was to dedicate Nazareth Academy. A number of other distinguished ecclesiastics, and priests, prominent in the diocese of Detroit, also honored the city with their presence. By the year 1902 the academy had proved its ability to meet the need of the day and Father O'Brien directed his overflowing energy into another channel. There was no private school for little boys in Michigan and Dean O'Brien had noted with regret the sad neglect of boys. His big heart devised a way of coring for them. The interests of the academy could be made to reach out and include a school for small boys. The lack of means was made up by the generous gift of Mrs. Betsy Morton Barbour, the venerable mother of Honorable Levi L. Barbour of Detroit. Dean O'Brien had long been counted one of "Mother" Barbour's boys. In memory of the noble woman who mothered all boys as well as out of grati- tude for her bounteous gift, he named the boys' school Barbour Hall. All that Father O'Brien had been to the older school he became to the younger. He was the ideal of his boys.
"Dean O'Brien's boys" they were proud to call themselves. And what marvelous associations he crea- ted for these boys. The great and good in Church and State were brought to the school; noble examples of goodness were set before the students and another advance was made in the cause of Christian education. So popular did this school become that within two de- cades it was enlarged three times. Cardinal Falconio solemnly dedicated the school October 29, 1909. The Muldoon-Hickey Band which has added greatly to the fame of this boys' school was organized at the request of Dean O'Brien. It was always his pride
622 SISTER M. CELESTINE, S. S. J.
and his delight. It commemorates two of Dean O'Brien's best friends, the enthusiastic Bishop of Rockford, Illinois, and the accomplished Bishop of Rochester, New York.
A classical high school for boys was established under the direction of the Basilian Fathers of Toronto in 1904. This was intended to do for the boys of St. Augustine's what was already being accomplished in the girls' high school by the Sisters of St. Joseph, to complete the work of the elementary school and to create a desire for more advanced studies. This school was successively taught by the Viatorians and the Fathers of the Holy Cross. As these societies were withdrawn because of scarcity of teachers, the boys' high school united with the girls'. It was the intention to maintain the co-educational school only until arrangements could be made for a young men's college.
St. Joseph's parish in the south end of Kalamazoo owes its origin to the initiative of this indomitable worker. St. Michael's Polish church is in the same measure indebted to him. St. Agnes Foundling Home was established at his instance to care for little outcast babes. St. Anthony's Home for the Feeble-minded also owes its beginning to his boundless charity. Away back in 1886 when Dean O'Brien served on the Board of Charities and Corrections the need of a school for the most neglected and despised of God's creatures was brought to him. It is characteristic of this noble man that he never forgot the lessons of earlier days. So when God's good time came, he provided a school, the first school of its kind under Catholic auspices to help the poor little ones of God. Originally it was located north of Nazareth Academy but in time a
RT. REV. MONSIGNOR FRANK A. O'BRIEN, M. A., L. L. D. 623
beautiful farm on the Kalamazoo River in the village of Comstock was obtained and a splendid school was erected. It was for this, not to dedicate a grand cathedral, nor a great university, but a simple school for backward children that a prince of the Church, Archbishop Bonzano, Papal Delegate to the United States, came to Kalamazoo in September, 1912. The citizens showed their appreciation of this act by a public demonstration which has seldom been surpassed. They entertained the distinguished guest right royally but when the evening had run its course there Game a demand, riotous and spontaneous, for the man whose zeal and splendid executive ability were equalled only by his practical service. He was found in the back- ground delighting in the honor paid to others. This hour of public recognition and appreciation was a trial to him.
While these various works of such potency as moral and intellectual forces were beine advanced Dean O'Brien had all along been riding a hobby. His pref- erence in this line was indicated by his membership in the Michigan Historical Association and the Catholic Historical Association. Papers of considerable in- terest were those contributed by him at the 1912 meet- ings. These were published in a booklet under the title Two Early Missionaries to the Indians. They were Lady Antoinette von Hoeffern and Father Frank Pierz. Later he wrote Forgotten Heroines which deals in particular with the work during the Civil War of the Sisters of the Holy Cross. Describing these and sim- ilar booklets the editor of the Michigan Catholic wrote : "Monsignor O'Brien has published several highly in- teresting booklets in recent years which tell of the heroism and sacrifices of early day Catholic mission-
624 SISTER M. CELESTINE, S. S. J.
aries, both clergy and laity, and these are more inter- esting to read than any high class fiction. They tell in golden letters of the hardships, the trials and the ventures of the heroic men and women who crossed the seas to bring the cross to the savage, and in fol- lowing in their footsteps through the pages of these little volumes, it is like treading the paths worn by the saints whose lives we are taught to read and emu- late."
The greatest honor of this gifted man's life came to him March 14, 1913 when he was raised to the rank of the Mjonsignori and made a domestic prelate to His Holiness, PiusX. The occasion of his investiture on May 7 with the purple of his new office was memorable in the annals' not alone of Kalamazoo but of the State. Congratulations from all parts of the country poured in upon him. Then it was this humble, retiring, yet enterprising and resourceful leader learned of the es- teem in which he was held. Telegram followed tele- gram; letter followed letter; visitor succeeded visitor; editorials and journalistic notices proclaimed the great- ness of the man who had labored so unceasingly to further God's kingdom on earth. One editor wrote: "No field of human endeavor open to the priest has Father O'Brien not entered, and in none has his in- fluence not been convincingly felt. Well may he wear the purple then. It is the ermine of his wisdom and his greatness." Another truly said, "Purple will not increase the worth of Dean O'Brien, nor will any gar- ment add to the sum of his merits." Ecclesiastic and statesman, priest and layman, old and young, united on that day to bless the name of Dean O'Brien and to sing his praises. Nor was there ever a more worthy subject of praise. All that be had, h§ gave freely,
KT. REV. MONSIGNOR FRANK A. O'BRIEN, M. A., L. L. D. 625
and more, for he labored day and night for the greater honor and glory of God and the welfare of his neighbor.
Later in this year Monsignor O'Brien with his associates was responsible for the legislative enact- ment which provided that the Michigan Historical Commission become a regular department of State with the duty of "honoring the great men who made Michigan so prominent, of conserving and handing down the story of what our forefathers accomplished for our civilization and comfort." It seemed a natural consequence of such activity that Monsignor O'Brien should be appointed a member of the Commission by Governor Ferris and later that he be made president of the Commission. It was during his administration that the tablet idea, the credit for which Monsignor O'Brien assigned to Honorable Edwin O. Wood, orig- inated. Several tablets were placed during the year 1916. Perhaps the most celebrated of these was the Cass Memorial Tablet erected on Mackinac Island as a present-day testimony to the worth of an honest man, Governor Lewis Cass. In presenting this me- morial to Governor Ferris for the State of Michigan, Monsignor O'Brien rendered this tribute: "The holiest aim of humanity is that which was upheld by justice, wisdom, moderation, conciliation, — all were his virtues. He had the moral courage to defend the weak against the strong. No bribe, menace or insult could drive him from what he thought was right. He was an honest man." Strange that he should not have realized how accurately these words applied to him who delivered them.
But time marches on unceasingly and so Mon- signor O'Brien found and with its march progress is inevitable. Though Borgess Hospital had been twice
626 SISTER M. CELESTINE, S. S. J.
enlarged since the equipment of the first building in 1899, by 1917 it had become evident that more room was needed for hospital purposes. Immediately the good priest began again. A site on Gull Road was purchased and a unit of a magnificent new institution was completed and ready for reception of patients in the fall of 1918. It was given the name of New Borgess and it was fortunate for Kalamazoo that the splendid energy of this untiring worker had not yet begun to flag, for when the dread ''flu" epidemic seized the city and settled particularly in the S. A. T. C. groups, there was a hospital ready to receive the suffering boys, and nurses, gentle and tender, to care for the sick and dying.
This was the last active contribution of the heroically self-sacrificing man who so loved Kalamazoo as to spend his life for her. This same winter brought the outward manifestation of the dread disease he had fought for nigh a dozen years. The worn body refused to serve him who had always found happiness in serv- ing others. Now began his Gethsemane. He who had gone so gladly to others awaited in a wheel chair the coming of his friends. He who had given un- grudgingly of his strength now relied upon the service of others. Yet though the body was frail, though it was torn with pain, he did not relax. He could still give brain service and gladly and wisely he counselled and directed, he considered and planned always with the thought of a better Catholic community, of a grander Kalamazoo. Once he said to his doctor, "Keep me going. I want to die in the harness."
But there came a day in the summer of 1921 when he realized that the task was too great, that he must yield a little of the responsibility weighting down his
KT. KEV. MONSIGNOR FRANK A. O'BRIEN, M. A., L. L. D. 627
tired but valiant heart. That day he sent for his Bishop, the Right Reverend Bishop Gallagher, and resigned the pastorate that had been his for thirty- eight years. After some days his Bishop accepted the resignation but in doing so he wrote to this martyr to duty a letter that must have cheered and comforted him as it gladdens his friends. One passage in par- ticular should be quoted. Few are the men who in their lifetime have had such recognition: "Only in the lives of the greater Saints and the founders of our religious orders do* we see such wonderful achieve- ments as you have been privileged under God to ac- complish during the years of your sacred ministry." The Monsignor's reply stated that he would be pre- pared October 1 to hand over the parish to his suc- cessor. It was October 28 when the final separation came. The old church of St. Augustine had been the scene of many a joyful and many a sad event. But that day it witnessed a scene that had no parallel in its history. The pastor who had grown old in serving his people came before them to say farewell. What a contrast there was between the handsome, vigorous, stalwart, young priest of 1886 and the bowed, worn, and trembling man who told his people good-bye. Even in this hour when he climbed Calvary's summit, he forgot himself to encourage his people, to thank those who had helped him during the heat and burden of the day. What wonder that the orator of the day in speaking of Monsignor O'Brien's material work said that this was not his monument, for it was not of brick and mortar, but of flesh and blood and was to be found in the lives of his people. It was a glorious tribute to the dear old pastor, one earned by loyal devotion and love. But the sweetest and saddest
628 SISTER M. CELESTINE, S. S. J.
came when his people knelt for his blessing and kissed the wrinkled hand so often raised in their behalf, to comfort, console, to absolve. God and his angels must have strengthened the feeble old man to endure that parting. Yet it seemed too much for the frail body a ad the Monsignor began to weaken only to rally in a last strong effort to add one more testimony to the need of Christian education. It was his last wish that the residence college for boys be opened by the Basilian Fathers in the old Seminary. November came and went, and December with its promise of Christmas joys gladdened the people of Kalamazoo for their Monsignor seemed to gain in strength. He sat more erect in the car during his daily drive and there was a rumor that he was beginning to walk un- attended. December 18 he visited several of the institutions that had known his fostering care and he bade his Barbour Hall boys good-bye and Merry Christmas. The next day he visited the girls at the academy, chatted with and encouraged them. To these also he said good-bye and Merry Christmas and then he went home to his room at New Borgess to meet his lawyers and discuss ways and means for the new school. Truly he was to die in the harness. In two short hours he had answered the final summons and gone forth to meet the Master he had loved and served in joy and in sorrow.
Tributes of honor were part of the condoling mes- sages sent to those who mourned the passing of a saint. He was termed prudent, generous, self-sacrificing, faithful, charitable, zealous, benevolent. He was praised for his work, lauded for his foresight, honored for his charitable magnanimity. And indeed he was deserving of all these tributes and more. His char-
KT. REV. MONSIGNOR FRANK A. O'BRIEN, M. A., L. L. D. 629
acter had left its impress on a whole people, — a com- munity, a state, a nation. He never asked of another what he would not willingly do himself. He received those whom no one else would befriend. His right hand knew not the good deed of his left. Yet if he were asked today how he wished to be remembered beyond a doubt he would say:
"To the heights of love divine
My lonely feet have trod, —
I want no fame, no other name
Than this, — a priest of God."
MICHIGAN'S FIRST JUSTICE OF THE PEACE
BY WILLJAM W. POTTER HASTINGS
AT THE close of the French and Indian War the •**• military and trading posts on the Great Lakes passed forever from French control; but, notwithstanding the fleur de Us was supplanted by the cross of St. George, the colonists and traders at the western posts retained in a large measure their habits, manners and traditions. Detroit, at this time, was a village community. Outside the garrison at the Fort and a few traders whose shops and storehouses were near at hand, the fixed inhabitants for the most part lived upon the front of their long narrow farms which extended from the river back into the forest sometimes for miles. Shortly after the Revolution, Major Matthews de- clared that had the British Peace Commissioners seen this delightful place they surely never would have signed away the right of the nation to it; adding, that in point of climate, soil, situation and the beauties of nature nothing could exceed it. Detroit was not the only western post, but it was the established military headquarters, the chief distributing place of presents to the Indians, and the center of British influence in the Northwest. It stood like an oasis in the forest wilder- ness. To the north stretched the widening, rippling blue of Lake St. Clair and beyond the tall primeval pines stood darkly silhouetted against the sky, south- ward the sun scintillated from the waves of Lake Erie's wind swept face, while to the west the solitude of the
630
MICHIGAN'S FIRST JrsricE OP THE PEACE 631
unbroken forest, silent, mysterious and grand, greeted the traveller now just as a century before it had greeted LaSalle when he first traced his forest path across the State.
The Fort garrisoned by a hundred British regu- lars constituted nearly the only military force in all the region extending from Niagara to the Pacific, from the Ohio to Hudson's Bay. The business was almost wholly concerned in the fur trade. A few farmers tilled the soil and their crops and produce found ready market among the merchants, at the post, and among those outfitting for the Indian trade. But by far the greater part of those dependent on the post were In- dians too shiftless to work and coureurs de bois of all races attracted by the wild life, reckless adventure and freedom from restraint which naturally followed embarking in the Indian trade; bold, hardy, reckless, quick with the gun, familiar with every lake and stream, the arts of woodcraft to them an open book; they packed their baled peltries across the portages, poled their batteaux up the rapids that often almost barred their way, and mingled with the red men of the forest with an ease which only their indifference to civilization could beget. They were not ideal citizens. Major Matthews, writing to General Haldi- mand in 1787, says, "In trade the lowest of all the profession resort to these obscure places, they are without education, sentiment, and many of them with- out common honesty. These are perpetually over- reaching one another, knowing that they are too distant for the immediate effects of the law to over- take them."
Here was a free and unostentatious hospitality and a social atmosphere that spurned restraint. The
632 WILLIAM W. POTTER
red sash and tasselled toque of the half breed bush- ranger was seen side by side with the scarlet coats of British subalterns, and the flashing eyes of Basque and Norman maids were seen as they danced indis- criminately with merchants, traders, bushrangers and officers of the Fort. At times these hardy pioneers faced danger without fear, but far more often they chose to placate with presents the savage red men rather than run the risk of ambuscade or open war.
Civil government at Detroit was conspicuous only by its absence. Captain Hamilton while commandant at Detroit retained his rank in the British regulars but he was also Lieutenant Governor of Detroit and was included in a commission of the peace of the entire province at large. Hamilton, writing to General Haldi- mand in 1778, indicated that he doubted the authority seemingly conferred upon him. Patrick Sinclair when about to be commissioned Lieutenant Governor of Michilimackinac in 1779, questioned directly the wis- dom of accepting a commission uniting into his own hands both the civil and military authority. On August 20, 1779, General Haldimand wrote him that:
"As lieutenant governor you are of course civil magistrate. Mr. Hamilton whose commission is ex- pressly the same as yours has always acted as sue] in cases where it was necessary."
Judge Frazer in his introduction to the Territoi Laws of Michigan says :
"In all matters of controversy between the inhabii ants justice was meted out by the commandant of th< post in a summary manner. The party complaining obtained a notification from him to his adversary ol his complaint accompanied by a command to render justice. If this had no effect he was notified to appear
MICHIGAN'S FIRST JUSTICE OF THE PEACE 633
before the commandant on a particular day and answer the complaint and if this last notice was neg- lected a sergeant and file of men were sent to bring him —no sheriff — no taxation of costs. The recusant was fined and kept in prison until he did his adversary justice."
This agrees substantially with Major Matthews' letter to General Haldimand, written in 1787, where it is said :
"The only resource in all matters in dispute is the commanding officer, for our justices of the peace it seems are not authorized to take cognizance of mat- ters relating to property, on which almost every differ- ence arises so that if the commanding officer is indolent or indifferent he will not hear them at all, or if he does hear and decide his judgment tho perhaps equitable may be very contrary to law and hereafter involve him in very unpleasant consequences besides that, acting in the capacity of a judge, his whole time is so employed that he cannot pay the necessary attention to his pro- fessional duties. It is much to be wished that some mode for the prompt and effectual administration of justice were established, for the want of it is a tempta- tion to many to take advantages and commit little chicaneries disgraceful to society and distressing to individuals. In all matters where I cannot clearly decide I make the parties refer to arbitration, binding themselves to submit to the decision."
The condition which existed under Major Mat- thews had existed at Detroit for many years. In 1778 we find Lieutenant Governor Hamilton writing the Governor General of Canada, Guy Carleton, that "the persons resident at this place are chiefly traders and must give up their business if they accepted the
634 WILLIAM W. POTTER
place of judge, as it requires the knowledge of two languages besides some acquaintance with law . pro- ceedings. I cannot find anyone here who will under- take it.'* And again during the same year we find him writing General Haldimand that: "A very able and amiable person (Mr. Owen) was destined for the place of judge at this post. His absence which I have sufficient cause to lament has occasioned me to act at the risque of being reprehensible on many occa- sions * * I am obliged to act as judge and in several cases as executor of justice."
Judge Cooley in his History of Michigan says that "at the beginning of 1767 Captain Turnbull who was then in command issued to Philip Dejean a commis- sion as Justice of the Peace but with such specifica- tion of powers as seemed designed to make his court one of arbitration and conciliation only." Mr. Utley in the first volume of Michigan as a Province, Terri- tory and State, says: "One Philip Dejean was appointed by Hamilton a Justice of the Peace and to him appar- ently was given jurisdiction in all matters civil and criminal." In a marriage contract of July 27, 1770, Dejean describes himself as "Philip Dejean, Royal Notary by act of law, residing at Detroit," and not as Justice of the Peace. In some cases temporary com- missions as justices of the peace were granted by the commandants of the posts but these commissions were in all cases ratified by the Governor General. If De- jean was commissioned by the commanding officer at Detroit as a Justice of the Peace this ratification seems to have been overlooked.
Lieutenant Governor Hamilton in a letter to Gen- eral Haldimand written in 1778 says:
MICHIGAN'S FIRST JUSTICE OF THE PEACE 635
"Mr. Dejean who has been justice of the peace here a long time is indefatigable but he as well as myself require to be better informed and better sup- ported.'*
Judge C. I. Walker in a paper read before the Wisconsin Historical Society says "Criminal justice was administered by a justice of the governor's ap- pointment and a jury was provided for in criminal cases by the Quebec Act and the sentence of death was more than once inflicted."
In February, 1777, Governor General Carleton wrote Hamilton that he was included in a commission of the peace of the entire province, adding:
"In that capacity you have a right to issue your warrants for apprehending and sending down, any persons guilty of criminal offenses in the district at least such as are of consequence enough to deserve taking the journey but these must be signed by you and not by Mr. Dejean whose authority is unknown here." The Quebec Act was passed in 1774 but these instructions to Lieutenant Governor Hamilton from the Governor General are not entirely consistent with Hamilton's letter above quoted. Again on Septem- ber 15, 1777, we find the Governor General writing Hamilton saying: "I am not authorized to Delegate the power of appointing civil officers to any persons whatsoever."
This correspondence establishes that Dejean's au- thority as Justice of the Peace was unknown at the office of the Governor General, and therefore it is improbable that his commission, if he had one from the Lieutenant Governor, was ever ratified, and that Hamilton had no power or authority to appoint De- jean a Justice of the Peace at all, for in the same letter
636 WILLIAM W. POTTER
the Governor General says: " Neither the civil or mili- tary officers of your settlement can be properly author- ized to act in their several capacities without com- missions from the Governor or Commander in Chief of the Province."
These facts however were not sufficient to dis- concert Dejean, who was at all events a Justice of the Peace de facto, as some learned to their sorrow, because his orders were backed up by military au- thority.
We can see Dejean even now, short, fat and swarthy, of active mercurial temperament, with an exaggerated idea of his own importance, with a fixed conviction that his official dignity must be upheld at all hazards, a pompous, pious bungler who was willing to send any suspect to the gallows on short notice for the fee there was in it.
His office, one scant story in height, roughly con- structed of logs chinked with timber and plastered with mud, with shake roof and puncheon floor, the rude door creaking upon its wooden hinges, the latch- string hanging outside, stood a short distance from the site of Detroit's present city hall. The floor was plentifully besprinkled with tobacco juice which from every part of the room had fallen short of the fire- place at which it was aimed; a few hand made chairs, a table whose whitewood top had been planed by hand and above which were rudely constructed pigeon-holes, the handiwork of some frontier artisan, completed its equipment.
It was here in March, 1776, there was brought be- fore Dejean a Frenchman named Jean Contencinau, charged with stealing furs from Abbott & Finchley, a commercial firm, and Ann Wyley, a negro slave,
MICHIGAN'S FIRST JUSTICE OF THE PEACE 637
charged with stealing a purse of six guineas from the same firm, the money having been found upon her person. Dejean impanelled a jury of six Englishmen and six Frenchmen and before them the case was tried.
Mr. Utley says the jury returned a verdict of guilty, that the prisoners were sentenced to be hanged, that "the woman was reprieved but the man was hanged a week later/' Judge Walker says that they were tried for stealing and for attempting to set fire to the house of the same firm, that the jury acquitted them of the last offense but that "they were sentenced to be hanged" * * * "and they were hanged ac- cordingly." Mr. Hemans says that the woman was given her liberty for acting as executioner of the man. Mr. Frazer, who agrees with Judge Walker, says he gave the original papers in the case to Mr. Lanman for his history of Michigan, and Lanman says "The record of this trial has come down to us and it is a most singu- lar document." He says nothing of the woman but declares they "convicted the individual of the crime alleged against him." Undoubtedly one at least of them was executed.
We have seen that Hamilton regretted that he had acted as executor of justice and in a manner that seemed reprehensible. Others undoubtedly had the same view, for the grand jury of the Court of King's Bench in Montreal on September 7, 1778, filed a pre- sentment against both Hamilton and Dejean, charging them as follows:
"The jurors for our Sovereign Lord the King for the Body of the District of Montreal do present that whereas by certain testimonies and evidences to them offered it hath appeared that one Philip Dejean of De- troit, in the district aforesaid, hath at divers times
638 WILLIAM W. POTTER
during the years of our Lord 1775, 1776, 1777, at Detroit aforesaid in and under the government and command of Henry Hamilton, Esq., the Lieutenant Governor of Detroit, aforesaid, acted and transacted divers unjust and illegal, tyrannical and felonious acts contrary to good government, and the safety of his Majesty's Liege subjects. The jurors aforesaid upon their oath aforesaid are bounden to present further to this Honorable Court that it may be stated and represented to His Excellency, His Majesty's Governor in Chief, in and over this province that the said Henry Hamilton hath not only remained at Detroit aforesaid and been witness to several illegal acts and doings of him the said Philip Dejean, but has tolerated, suffered and permitted the same under his government, guidance and direction, and as com- missioner as proven upon oath before this inquest, hath authorized the said illegal acts and doings of the said Philip Dejean."
Before their arrest Hamilton and Dejean both left Detroit and before either of them were reached there was a change in the administration of Canadian affairs. Lord George Germain, now Governor General, in a communication under date of April 16, 1779, says:
"The presentments of the grand jury at Montreal against Lieut. Governor Hamilton and Mr. Dejean are expressive of a greater degree of jealousy than the transaction complained of in the then circumstances of the province appeared to warrant. Such stretches of authority are however only to be excused by un- avoidable necessity and the justness and fitness of the occasion and you will therefore direct the Chief Justice to examine the proofs produced of the criminars guilt and if he shall be of opinion that he merited the punish-
MICHIGAN'S FIRST JUSTICE OF THE PEACE
ment met with, tho' irregularly inflicted, it is in the King's pleasure that you do order the Attorney Gen- eral to grant a nolle prosequi and stop all further pro- ceedings in the matter."
On July 4, 1778, George Rogers Clark, fresh from his victorious campaign against KaskasMa, Cahokia and the settlements on the Illinois, captured Vin- cennes, a settlement of about seven hundred inhabit- ants on the Wabash River at or near the present site of Vincennes, Indiana. Hamilton was anxious to dis- lodge the Americans? and having obtained permission from Montreal he set out with a considerable expedi- tion by way of the Miami and the Wabash to attempt its recapture. Clark was absent with his men and the post fell easy prey to Hamilton's superior force.
It was necessary to send supplies from Detroit to Vincennes and on February 9, 1779, an auxiliary expedition under command of St. Martin Adhemar left Detroit for that place. News of his indictment had undoubtedly reached Dejean, for Judge Walker says:
"By the urgent request of Justice Dejean he was permitted to accompany the expedition in order to obtain from Governor Hamilton his warrant or author- ity to justify his own conduct as magistrate and es- pecially as to the executions already mentioned."
News of the British success had reached Clark at Kaskaskia and he now undertook by a perilous winter march across the snow and ice-covered prairie to reach Vincennes. This he did after great hardships and intense suffering on the part of his men. Hamilton surrendered to the Kentucky colonel February 23, 1779, and learning of the approach of Adhemar's expedition laden with supplies and provisions, Clark
640 WILLIAM W. POTTER
dispatched Captain Helm who had been compelled to surrender the fort at Vincennes to Hamilton to capture it. This Helm did, and on March 5, 1779, Dejean was brought to Vincennes a prisoner of war. Dejean had letters and papers for Hamilton who says, "Mr. Dejean heard we had fallen into the hands of the rebels but had not sufficient presence of mind to destroy the papers which with everything else was seized by the rebels."
In a letter written April 19, 1779, by Moses Henry, an attache of Clark's army, Dejean is spoken of as the "Chief Judge of Detroit/'
Early in March, 1779, Dejean together with Hamil- ton and others started their overland journey of twelve hundred miles to their destination, the Virginia prison at Williamsburg, where they arrived June 15 of the same year. Here they remained for some time. A parole was offered the prisoners, but while its terms seemed to Hamilton to be too onerous to be accepted by him they did not apparently so affect Dejean, who after one hundred and twenty days in prison accepted the parole offered him, it seems largely through the influence of Thomas Bentley, and returned to Vin- cennes. July 28, 1780, Dejean wrote the commandant at Detroit and referring to the charges against him and Governor Hamilton says:
"The only thing in which I can reproach myself is in having too blindly obeyed his orders. I flatter my- self that if the affair had been conducted according to the real tenor of the law he only would be to blame."
In this same letter he declares that he cannot visit Detroit without violating the terms of his parole, and urges the commanding officer to allow Madame
MICHIGAN'S FIRST JUSTICE OF THE PEACE 641
Dejean and his family to come to Vincennes. On the same day he dispatched a similar letter to General Haldimand.
At this time the French were actively assisting the Americans. Dejean was undoubtedly satisfied to re- main at Vincennes which was within the territory actually controlled by the colonists and whose French inhabitants were as friendly to them as was prudent when their proximity to Detroit is considered.
Here Philip Dejean disappeared from view. Far down the winding Wabash near the spot immortalized by " Alice of Old Vincennes" lie the remains of Ehilip Dejean, Grand Judge of Detroit, whose name will be known to history long after you and I have passed away. His only claim to fame, his outrageous usurpa- tions of power, his illegal and arbitrary condemna- tions and executions and the fact that he was the first judicial officer who dwelt within and exercised jurisdiction over any part of the territory now consti- tuting the State of Michigan.
THE BEGINNINGS OF DUTCH IMMIGRATION TO WESTERN MICHIGAN, 1846
BY HENRY S. LUCAS UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
A7ERY little is known of the reasons which induced V the Rev. A. C. Van Raalte and his band to sail from the Netherlands in October, 1846, and found the Dutch colony of western Michigan in the following year. These events have, it is true, repeatedly en- gaged the attention of several writers. The first of these was D. Versteeg who produced his popular Pil- grim Fathers of the West in 1886. 1 This book was published as a presentation copy by the publishers of De Grondwet to their subscribers, and appears to have found considerable favor. Its vogue, however, ap- pears to have been lost to-day; copies of it are well- nigh unobtainable. In 1893 Dr. Henry E. Dosker published his biography of Dr. A. C. Van Raalte in which he presented in so far as the data were then accessible a much fuller and more accurate account of the early stages of the movement.2 For many years the well-known pioneer and trustee of the Michi- gan Pioneer and Historical Society, Mr. Gerrit Van Schelven of Holland, Michigan, devoted a part of his leisure to cultivating an intimate acquaintance of the
»D. Versteeg, De Pelgrem Vaders van het Westen, Eene geschiedenis van de worstel- ingen der Hollandsche Nederzettingen in Michigan, benevens eene schets van de stich- ting der Kolonie Pella in Iowa, Grand Rapids (C. M. Loomis & Co.), 1886.
2Henry E. Dosker, Levenschels van Rev. A. C. Van Raalte, D. D. "Een man krachtig in Woorden en Werken." Een der Vaders der Scheiding in Nederland en Stickler der Hollandsche Kolonien in den Staat Michigan, Noord Amerika. Uit corspronkelijke bronnen bewerkt door Rev. Henry E. Dosker, Nijkerk (C. C. Cal- lenbach), 1893.
642
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BEGINNINGS OF DUTCH IMMIGRATION 643
movement of which he himself was a member. A num- ber of popular and useful articles from his pen have been published.3
Also in the Netherlands has there been interest in the matter, especially in recent years. In 1910 Dr. A. Brummelkamp, Jr., member of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Estates General, published a biographical study of his father, Prof. A. Brummelkamp4 who, as brother-in-law of the Rev. A. C. Van Raalte, was intimately associated with the early attempts to send poor Netherlander »to this country. In describing his father's activities as pastor in Arnhem, the author had occasion to give a very good account of the begin- nings of this movement.5 Unfortunately, this splendid book has not met with the reception which it deserved in his country, partly, no doubt, because of the lan- guage in which it is written. Even among those of Dutch extraction few have become acquainted with this work which is undoubtedly the most important contribution yet made to the history of the Hollanders in Michigan. Five years after its appearance J. A. Wormser produced his biography of Dr. Van Raalte. For the steps leading up to the emigration in 1846,
»Cf. Early Settlement of Holland, by G. Van Schelven, in Historical and Busi- ness Compendium of Ottawa County, Michigan, Vol. I, Grand Haven (Pitt and Conger), 1892 or 1893, pp. 15-35; Michigan and the Holland Immigration of 18^7, in Michigan Magazine of Historu, Lansing, October, 1917, pp. 72-98; Historical Sketch of Holland City and Colony, in History of Ottawa County, Michigan, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of some of its Prominent Men and Pioneers, Chicago (H. R. Page & Co.), 1882, pp. 77-78; Historical Sketch of Holland City and Colony, delivered on the Fourth of July of the Centennial Year, 1876, in De Grondwet, Holland, Michigan, 1, 8 and 15 June, 1915; Documents bearing upon the Ecclesiastical Union, in De Grondwet, Holland, Michigan, 21 July, 1914.
*Levensbeschrijving van wijlen Prof. A. Brummelkamp, Hoogleeraar aan de Theo- logische School te Kampen door zijn jongsten oon A. Brummelkamp, Kampen (J. H. Kok), 1910.
., pp. 200-274.
644 HENRY S. LUCAS
however, the author depended mainly upon Dr. Brum- melkamp's work. This book has also received but little notice in this country.6
Notwithstanding this perennial interest in the sub- ject, no systematic exploitation of all materials in this country and in Holland has yet been made.7 There are accordingly numerous points upon which more in- formation is needed and even some parts of the story which are practically unknown. Chief among these lacu- nae are the plans and preparations for emigration during 1846 which in the fall of that year started an exodus to Western Michigan that has never ceased. It is the purpose of this article to trace these events in the light of such data as the writer has been able to bring to- gether.
THE DOCUMENTS
The materials which must provide the facts for such an account have been preserved in manuscript in an account book 5^ inches wide and 13j^ inches long. This book was the property of the Rev. An- tonie Brummelkamp and upon his death passed into the possession of his son.8 On the outside of the cover there are written in Van Raalte's handwriting
•In twee merelddeelen. Het leven van Albertus Christiaan Van Raalte geschetst door J. A. Wormser, in Een schat in sarden vaten, in De " Afscheiding" in levens- beschrijvingen geschetst door J, A. Wormser, eerste serie, deel I, Nijverdal (E. J. Bosch Jbzn.), 1915.
7A dissertation by Miss A. Pieters dealing with the early history of the Dutch immigration from 1847 to about 1860 is in progress. — Letter of Miss Aleida Pieters, Milwaukee, 30 May, 1921. Professor Henry J. Byskamp of Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan, has begun a similar study of the movement after 1856.
»Dr. Brummelkamp died 15 January, 1919. — Cf. "In memoriam", in Jaar- boek ten dienste van de gereformeerde kerken in Nederland, 1920. Onder redactie van de predikanten G. Doekes en J. C. Rullmann, vierde jaargang, Goes. (Ooster- baan en le Cointre), pp. 309-313. This book is at present the property of Mrs. A. Brummelkamp of The Hague. Through her great kindness I was not only allowed to study its contents but also to take it with me to this country.
BEGINNINGS OF DUTCH IMMIGRATION 645
the words "Landverhuizing Memoriaal, 1846 — ".* This volume contains a variety of documents some of which, however, are only of minor importance for the purpose of this article.
The first of these, which may for the sake of con- venience be designated as No. 1, contains one of the earliest sets of rules designed to guide the emigrants in their journey to and settlament in the United States. It is written on four folio pages of pale blue paper and appears to have been transmitted through the mail from the ^act that it has traces of having been folded several times. It is from the hand of the sheriff's officer, J. A. Wormser, who lived in the Pijlsteeg in Amsterdam. This fact is abundantly proved by an examination of the letters written by him to the noted statesman Guillaume Groen Van Prinsterer whose correspondence is preserved in part at least in the National Archives in The Hague.
The next three documents (Nos. 2, 3 and 4) are all in the handwriting of the Rev. A. C. Van Raalte. No. 2 contains twenty folio pages and bears the title " Sketches for a Plan of Colonization in the United States of America,"10 Nos. 3 and 4 apparently were drawn up after No. 2 had been discarded. The cor- rections in No. 3 are all in the handwriting of the Rev. A. Brummelkamp. No. 4 is a copy of No. 3 with all the corrections and improvements inserted and is written on nine folio sheets of white paper. The first page bears the title "Rules of the Society of Christians for the Holland Emigration to the United States of North America."11
•"Emigration Memorial, 1846 — ".
10"Schetsen voor een ontwerp van Kolonisatie in de Vereenigde Staten van Noord Amerika."
""Grondslagen der Vereeniging van Christenen voor de Hollandsche Volksver- iiuizing naar de Vereenigde Staten in N. Amerika."
646 HENRY S. LUCAS
The remaining document which may be referred to as No. 5 is of supreme importance for our study. Really it is a permanent copy of No. 4 in Van Raalte's beautiful handwriting and fills fifteen folio pages. The first six have already been printed by Dr. Brummel- kamp in the biography of his father.12 However it is so important that it was deemed desirable to have it reprinted as Appendix No. 1 at the end of this article and provided with a parallel translation.13 The last nine pages with the exception of the first three para- graphs which were also printed by Dr. Brummelkamp have likewise been placed in their entirety at the end of this article.14
The book also contains a variety of documents on loose pages of varying sizes. One is a letter dated the Saturday after Easter (13 April), 1846, from the Rev. O. Heldring, the well-known philanthropist, to the Rev. Brummelkamp regarding the rules of which the latter had sent him a copy. The others concern the matter of emigration, plans, expenses, routes, receipts, accounts, etc., some of which are hardly intelligible. Two of these, however, are important enough to merit a place in the appendix. The first contains a statement of expenses for passage and pro- visions necessary on the voyage.15 The second con- tains some addresses, information concerning the ex- change rate and the routes which might be taken.16 The last document printed in the appendix is a letter from Van Raalte, dated 21 September, 1846, to his
i*Levensbeschrijving van wijlen Prof. A. Brummelkamp, Hoogleeraar aan de Theologische School te Kampen, pp. 205-209. "See "Rules for the Society, >f etc. "Appendix II. (Not here published. — Ed.) "Appendix III. (Not here published.— Ed.) "Appendix IV. (Not here published.— Ed.)
BEGINNINGS OF DUTCH IMMIGRATION 647
friend, the noted statesman and historian, Guillaume Groen Van Prinsterer. While not found in the ' 'Emi- gration memorial" it is important enough to demand a place there not only because it reflects the feeling of the writer upon the eve of his departure from Arn- hem but also because it throws some light upon the disputed question of the name of the ship.17
THE EMIGRATION OF 1846
The movement in favor of emigration to the United States was *the result of certain social, eco- nomic, ecclesiastical and other conditions which de- veloped during the decade or more preceding 1846. Dissatisfaction with the organization of the Reformed Church as it was finally constituted in 1815 and 1816 led to a schism of a part which called itself the "Af- gescheidenen" or the "Seceders." The legal position in which these people thereupon found themselves was exceedingly trying because the government per- sisted in treating their meetings as unlawful and even attempted to suppress them in accordance with articles 291, 292 and 294 of the Napoleonic penal code. An- other cause of discontent was the inability to educate their children in their own Christian schools. Largely recruited from the lower classes, its members felt the pressure of unfavorable economic conditions. The heavy national debt occasioned by the late war with the Belgians and other conditions had led to more increased taxation which bore heavily upon this class. In addition to these there were the successive failures n Append** V, {Not here published,— Ed,)
648 HENRY S. LUCAS
of the potato crop which entailed so much hardship upon the working classes of parts of Germany, Bel- gium, Holland and Ireland.18
Under these circumstances it apparently needed only a suggestion to stimulate a desire to emigrate. The movement was quite sporadic at first.19 But as the months of 1846 wore on the tendency to leave the motherland became more and more pronounced. On 15 May the Rev. H. P. Scholte who was to lead the Hollanders to Iowa in the following year wrote to his friend, Guillaume Groen Van Prinsterer, that many Christians, not only of the poor, but also many of the better to do, were considering the advisability to emigrate to the United States.20
In December the total number of those who were thought ready to leave was estimated at 6,000. The liberal opposition to the government even announced a new paper under the title The Emigration to appear at Amsterdam on 19 December.21 It was to agitate the desirability of leaving the country and assume a general hostility towards the conservative govern- ment.22 From Gelderland, especially from Varseveld and Winterswijk, it seems, some parties had already left for the United States and settled in the middle
18A general survey of these causes will be made in a study of the beginnings of Dutch immigration to Iowa from 1847 to 1860, which I have in preparation.
i»Cf. the case of Vroegop who is said to have come to America in 1845. — Article by C. Van Loo, De stichter van Zeeland, Jannes Van Den Luijster, in Historical Souvenir of the Celebration of the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Colonization of the Hollanders in Western Michigan. Held in Zeeland, Michigan, August 21, 1907. Published by order of the Executive Committee [Zeeland], 1908, p. 65. Of the sup- posed description of his travels, etc., I have been unable to find any trace. — Ibid. For the case of A. De Bree from Oudelande, Province of Zeeland, cf. ibid. For the Ernessee family in Rochester, New York, in 1843, a Cappon at Pultneyville in the 30's, and a De Kruif at about the same time, all from Zeeland, cf. De Volks- vriend, Orange City, Iowa, 29 September, 1904. In 1845 A. Hartgerink, a school- master in Neede, left for this country. — J. A. Wormser, In twee werelddeelen. Het leven van Albertus Christiaan Van Raalte, p. 106.
"Letter, written from Utrecht, preserved in the Correspondence of G. Groen Van Prinsterer in the National Archives (Rijks Archief) in The Hague.
""De Landverhuizing."
"Cf. the letter of J. A. Wormser to G. Groen Van Prinsterer, dated Amster- dam, 19 December. — Brieven van J. A. Wormser medegedeeld door Mr. Groen Van Prinsterer. Eerste dcel (18^2-1852). Uitgegeven door de Vereeniging ter bevordering van Christelijke lectuur, Amsterdam (Hoveker en Zoon), 1874, p. 91.
BEGINNINGS OP DUTCH IMMIGRATION 649
west. These had maintained connections with friends and relatives at home, many of whom were later directly or indirectly concerned with Van Raalte's plans.23 Also in Friesland there was genuine inter- est in the matter. On 28 October a committee ap- pointed by those who proposed to emigrate conferred with Rev. Scholte in Utrecht. Many were said to be anxious to leave.24 In the province of Zeeland also there was discussion of the matter. This likewise centered in the same circles as elsewhere. The congre- gation of the "Seceded" at Goes appears to have weighed the matter, and, following the decision of its foremost member, Jannes Van Den Luyster, many prepared to leave.26 Even among the Catholics on the poor lands of Noord Brabant a large number were ready to follow the steps of Father Van Den Broek in order to found a settlement in Wisconsin.26
Some parties were not in favor of forsaking Nether- landish territory and advised against the proposed
"Cf. "Rules for the Society, etc." A. Hallerdijk and Looman from Winterswijk had left Hellevoet in April, 1845. The former was in Vandalia, Illinois, in May, 1846, and in June in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where there were a number of other families from Gelderland, — A. C. Van Raalte en A. Brummelkamp. Landver- huizing, of waarom bevorderen wij de volksverhuizing naar Noord- Amerika en niet naar Java? Derde druk, Amsterdam (Hoogkamer en Compe.), 1846, pp. 37, 40-41. A. G. J. Meink and others, also from Winterswijk, arrived in Milwaukee as early as May, 1845, — Ibid., p. 42. There was a J. A. Beukenhorst in Decatur, Illinois, on 16 June, 1845. He had come by way of New Orleans. — Ibid., p. 44. A. Hartgerink from Neede, near Zutphen was in Toledo, Ohio, on 3 May, 1846. — Ibid., pp. 47-53. On 25 August, 1846, Hallerdijk and nine other families were reported to be living in Milwaukee. — Stemmcn uit Noord Amerika met begeleidend woord van A. Brummelkamp, bedienaar des goddelijken Woords, Te Amsterdam (Hoogkamer en Compe.), 1847, p. 33. At Waupun, Wisconsin, several parties with a number from Dinxperloo and Winterswijk had made their homes by this time. Their names are Beest, Boland, and Rensinck. — Ibid., p. 59. Cf. also A. Brummelkamp, Levensbeschrijving, p. 202. The emigration from this part of Gelderland was perhaps greater than from any other part of Holland. The Seceders had a church in Winterswijk since 1843. About five years later about two-thirds were reported as having emigrated to the United States. — A. J. Van der Aa, Aardrijkskundig woordenboek der Nederlanden, deel XII, Gorinchem 1849. p. 514.
"Letter of H. P. Scholte, dated Utrecht, 29 October to G. Groen Van Prinsterer. National Archives, The Hague.
"Cf. C. Van Loo, De stickler van Zeeland, Jannes Van Den Luyster, in Historical Souvenir of the Celebration of the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Colonization of the Hollanders in Western Michigan, p. 65. A series of rules was at once drawn up. — Reglement der Zeeuwsche Vereeniging ter Verhuizing naar de Vereenigde Staten van Noord-Amerika (Met een woord aan den lezer), Te Goes (bij De Wed. C. W. de Jonee), 1847.
"De Reformatie, Serie III, Deel III, Utrecht, 1847, p. 339.
650 HENRY S. LUCAS
emigration. Chief among these who had intimate connections with the classes which wished to leave the country was Otto G. Heldring. This active phil- anthropist had studied conditions in the Dutch East Indies and now proposed that the emigration should be directed thither, especially to the islands of Java, Ceram, Ubi or Borneo.27 Van Raalte and Brummel- kamp were apparently never much interested in this proposal, probably because of the favorable reports they already had from America. Scholte, however, made some attempt to secure the approval of the Minister of Colonies, but was repulsed.25
So crying was the need for relief that any pro- crastination now appeared impossible to these men. Many poor folk in Gelderland were without work or bread although anxious to do anything to gain a liveli- hood.29 The potato, which was the main article of diet with them, was practically a failure during 1845. In September it was reported that of the 79,477 bunders planted, 65,516 were diseased.30 This calam- ity created consternation. There were slight dis- orders in The Hague, Haarlem and Delft among the classes who saw no means to provide themselves with food.31 Dire predictions of famine appear to have
2K). G. Heldring, Leven en Arbeid, Leiden (E. J. Brill), 1386, p. 131.
"Cf. ibid., and his letter to G. G. Van Prinsterer, dated Utrecht, 15 May. 1846. — Correspondence of the latter in the National Archives in The Hague. Cf. also Landverhuizing, of waarom bevorderen wij de volks-verhuizing naar Noord-Amerika en niet naar Java? Derde druk, Amsterdam (Hoogkamer en Compe.), 1846, pp. 23-24, 35. There was also some sentiment in favor of Dutch Guiana in South America and South Africa. — De Reformatie, Serie III, Deel III, Utrecht, 1847, pp. 18, 27. Cf. also O. G, Heldring, De Christen werkman als zendeling, Amster- dam (H. Hoveker), 1847.
"Cf. letter of H. P. Scholte to G. Groen Van Prinsterer, dated Utrecht, 15 May. — National Archives, The Hague.
»°S. Vissering, Eenige opmerkingen ter zake der aardappelziekte, Amsterdam (P. N. Van Kampen), 1845, p. 13. These figures do not contain returns for Utrecht, Groningen and some parts of Noord Brabant.
u's-Gravenhage, Haarlem, Delft. Een blik op de wanordelijkheden aldaar gep- leegd, met een toespraak aan den gegoeden burger, een woord aan den gemeene man, eene bede aan de regering, Gorinchem (J. Noordwijn en ZJoon), 1845.
BEGINNINGS OF DUTCH IMMIGRATION 651
been common.32 The congregation at Arnhem had difficulty enough to help its poor. The consistory repeatedly discussed the problem of relief.38 On 11 September it was decided to take measures to lay in a food supply for the poor in view of the serious shortage in the country.34 The most varied efforts were made to help the needy.35
As in other places the congregations of Arnhem, Velp and Oosterbeek also began to plan an organiza- tion which would give intelligent direction to the con- stantly growing desire to emigrate. Numerous indi- viduals were interested in this particular project. J. A. Wormser of Amsterdam presented a proposed constitution which has already been mentioned. Ac- cording to this document, the object of the society was to direct the emigration of Netherlandish Chris- tians to North America (art. 1). The document contains sixteen articles and was a tentative or sug- gestive basis of organization. This would seem to be confirmed by the fact that wherever sums of money or numbers of people are to be stipulated the space was left vacant to be filled in upon maturer delibera- tion (art. 2, 3 and 7). All persons who intended to emigrate, who were at least twenty years of age and possessed of at least a hundred florins, could become
« William Van Houten. Bemoediging. Een hartelijk woord aan mijne land- genoolen, ten einde hen gerust te stellen tegen roekelooze voorspellingen van hongersnood, ten gevolge van het mtslukken van den aardappeloogst, Tweede druk, Rotterdam (M. Wijt en Zonen), 1S45.
«*Cf. e. g. the minutes of 22 January, 1845, Art. 10, 11; 5 February, Art. 6: 25 February, 1845, Art. 4; 21 April, Art. 4; 30 April, Art. 4; 3 June. Art. 6, 7, and 9; 23 June, Art. 2; 4 August. Art. 3. On 15 August it was decided by the consistory at the instigation of Van Raalte and Brummelkamp to set aside 26 August as a special day of prayer and fasting. — Ibid., Art. 3. These minutes were placed at my command through the obliging kindness of the Rev. J. G. Kunst at present one of the pastors of the same congregation which Van Raalte served.
"Ibid., 11 September, Art. 5.
»*Thus on 6 November it was decided to provide them with cabbage, beans, rye and clothing. — Ibid., Art. 6, 7. Cf. also the resolutions of 11 December, Art. 3-7; 22 December, Art. 4-5; 1 January, 1846. Art. 3; 26 February, Art. 5; 21 May, Art. 3 and 30 July. Art. 4. On 20 August the consistory could not find the means with which to pay Van Raalte for his services. — Ibid., Art. 7. On 22 October poverty occasioned by lack of opportunity to work, was again discussed. — Ibid., Art. 8.
652 HENRY. S. LUCAS
members (art. 2). When the society had attained a certain membership, a majority should choose a direct- ing board of five members from among the members or others not connected with the society (art. 3). This board was to receive moneys from intending pur- chasers, and was to buy the land (art. 4) as soon as a sufficient number had signified their purpose to emi- grate (art. 5). It was to appoint a committee to purchase land, secure deeds and provide for homes (art. 6). Significant is the emphasis placed upon the Christian character of everybody connected with the movement. The board was to be composed of God- fearing men (art. 3), as also the committee (art. 6), and no one could become a member unless he could present proof of Christian conduct (art. 2). As soon as a certain number had settled in America, the society was to send over a God-fearing minister and a school- master, who was to be able to give instruction in both English and Holland, whose salaries were to be de- termined by the board in Holland (art. 7). The colonists as they were called were to control their own school, church and other activities (art. 8). For this purpose the members were to pay five per cent, of the amount of money they had to invest (art. 10). Articles 11, 12, and 13 are only concerned with the immediate problem which lay at the root of much of the emigra- tion agitation, namely poverty. Wormser's ideal was to found a community in America where Christians possessed of some means would have an unhampered opportunity to regulate their own secular life in accord- ance with the ordinances of God. The poor, to be sure, came in for a share; this was to be part of their Christian duty. The board was to appeal to Chris- tians in the Netherlands to make donations in order to
BEGINNINGS OF DUTCH IMMIGRATION 653
further the emigration of "God-fearing though desti- tute and poor" people (art. 11). With these gifts the board was to send overseas from time to time such people and provide them with a small piece of land among the other immigrants (art. 12). This was to be made possible by appeals to the public for funds (art. 13). Account was to be sent within five years after each party had emigrated (art. 15), and, should there be some residue of cash, the committee was re- quired to hand the same over to the church and school organizations whicfy had been organized (art. 16).36
The plan appears workable enough and vouches for the good sense and judgment of a business man like Wormser. But it did not fit the needs of the class which was in imperative need of assistance and had to emigrate. It is accordingly not strange that these plans were not accepted by the pastors of the Arn- hem congregation who were nearer the people and who knew their needs better. Van Raalte and Brum- melkamp now drew up another body of rules more adapted to their purpose. Several plans were drawn up, (1) to "provide the founders and other Christians an opportunity to lead a pious and honorable life in those regions, to enjoy the utmost religious freedom and conditions under which they may be able to bring up and educate their children unhampered in the fear of the Lord" and (2) "to aid needy people who are more and more bowed down under the oppressive burdens of the times, work and food." These are the introductory words of the first plan but they express the same motives as the others that were drawn up immediately afterward.37
"Landverhuizing Memorial, 1846- . "Ibid.
654 HENRY S. LUCAS
It was planned to have a general meeting of all those who were interested in the project. These would at that time|be divided into two classes of members, the direct, i. e., those who were prepared to leave the motherland, and the indirect, i. e., those who were not ready to leave but were nevertheless to lend the emigrants support. Each class or division would then appoint a committee of ten members. To the committee of the first division was entrusted the gen- eral direction of the emigrating members. Minute in- structions were to be given them. They were to secure lands in the United States about forty degrees north latitude, where the climate was temperate. These lands were under no circumstances to be located with- in the slave districts, and were to be suitable for the homes of Christians who would be able to develop agriculture, cattle raising and general industry. This committee was also ordered to gather information on many points which might prove useful to the emi- grants. The committee of the second division in the motherland was to send out from time to time such "able, thrifty, though needy, workmen and farmers'* as the colony might need, give information concerning the colony which had been furnished them in the first place by the first committee, purchase and send such materials as the colonists might find necessary and support the wives and children of the emigrants that had been sent on ahead. Before these committees were to take up their activities actively a third and a temporary one was to be formed. This was to pro- ceed to the United States at the expense of the society as soon as plans had progressed enough to purchase land and such other things as the emigrants might need. They were also to acquaint the President of the United
BEGINNINGS OF DUTCH IMMIGRATION 655
States with the immigration project, its purpose and its causes, and invoke his protection over "a young colony the largest and most important part to be com- posed of Christians who could be regarded as an asset for the United States because of their industry." Upon their return the emigration could then make a formal beginning under the direction of the first and second committees.38
It appears that this plan was at once subjected to a thorough revision. Many of its features were re- tained in the next draft (document No. 4). Notice- able among its defects was the absence of financial clauses, and no statement is made regarding the source of the moneys. The new draft was hastily written by Van Raalte, and then radically revised. The corrections were added in the margin by Brum- melkamp, and a definitive copy made by Van Raalte (document No. 4). The idea of two committees was retained, one for the colony and one for the mother- land. Membership was open to all men over twenty, without any regard to their financial standing (art. 2). General meetings were to be held twice a year, and each committee was to inform the other immediately of the proceedings (art. 3). The tone of the document is thoroughly Christian (art. 3, 6, 7 and 13). In order to care for the spiritual welfare of these emigrants who knew no English and were ignorant of American customs it was desirable to keep them together. In this way they would also surmount all economic diffi- culties, and by buying land collectively they could prevent the intrusion of strangers who might operate to the detriment of the original purpose of the society (art. 9). It was to be financed by gifts from indi-
656 HENRY S. LUCAS
viduals and churches who desired to aid the poor or by the investments of people who wished to secure lands either for speculation or their own use. Further- more all voting members were required to work two days a year for the benefit of the Colony on its lands (art. 10). These moneys were to be spent in buying land, helping the needy to emigrate, supporting the widows and orphans, and to provide for the intellectual and spiritual well being of the colonists (art. 13). The society was to publish the causes which con- tributed to bring about the emigration. The idea of a third committee was not entirely dropped. It was proposed to send over a number of needy farmers and workmen in May, who would be able to make a liveli- hood by their labor. They were to go to Wisconsin and Illinois where a few families in Gelderland had located a year or two before, after which they would meet at Milwaukee to compare notes and transmit to the society a full report of their findings (art. 16). 39 A limited number of those who were interested in the project met at the home of Deacon Donner during the early days of April and accepted it.40
This definitive form of the constitution was gener- ally found acceptable although there was some prefer- ence shown for the Dutch Indies. Its clauses were again read in a meeting of many sympathizers from the congregations in Velp, Oosterbeek, Genemuiden in Overijssel and elsewhere who had come for that pur- pose to Brummelkamp's home in Arnhem on the 15th. After a general discussion and explanation of its provisions it was unanimously accepted. Brummel- kamp thereupon subscribed 1000 florins, Van Raalte
"Ibid.
"Appendix II. (Not here published.— Ed.)
^
^
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tli6i't*t A H »//» V/i 'H/fiM /4>*
«&^M<
} / /L. s & jrr s S
O^/5* ttt*, d**i£&&tttfet if A ^S/^^dfadtp dfat/L*»*s's .,
4fryi^&ite/M<lt»t/&£da *** <fa£b&*4Aji»!«Jk
faxttodtt*/. _ . ^ _ _
BEGINNINGS OF DUTCH IMMIGRATION 657
500 florins and John Bennekant, 100 florins. The meeting was then concluded with the singing of psalms and prayer.41 Almost two weeks after this, 28 April, another meeting was held at the home of Deacon Donner to hear a report of many Hollanders who were lukewarm in supporting the emigration to the United States, and who deemed it advisable to go to the East Indies.42 These people were apparently of the same opinion as O. G. Heldring who preferred Java or even Port Natal.43 Their proposals, however, were barren of any direct result,* unless it was to withdraw some support from the project.
Shortly after this they decided to commence. On 14 May another meeting was held at the home of Deacon Donner. Van Raalte and Brummelkamp pro- posed to begin by sending a few needy families to the coast cities of the United States. Arrived at their destination they would earn some money and gradu- ally work their way westward. In this way Dirk Arnoud and Willem Kwinkelenberg and their families were chosen to be the first to go.44 On 27 May Van Raalte and Brummelkamp paid their subscriptions45 and 333 florins were at once loaned to Dirk Arnoud and 386 florins to Willem Kwinkelenberg, for which each was bound to furnish satisfactory promises of repay- ment.46 On the morning of 28 May they met with a large number of the members in the church, and after singing the beautiful 121st psalm and invoking divine
"In his letter from Hemmen, dated Saturday after Easter (13 April). 1846, he stated "Mijn lievelings gedachte was Java. ... Ik zoude zelf Port Natal gekozen hebben boven Noord Amerika". — Letter in the Landverhuizing Memoriaal 1846-".
"Arnoud's poverty was discussed in a meeting of the consistory on 21 May. — Of. minutes, 21 May, Art. 3.
"Appendix II. (Not here published.— Ed.)
"Ibid.
658 HENRY S. LUCAS
blessing, they were accompanied to the steamboat which was to take them to Rotterdam from whence they were to proceed to Philadelphia.47 They carried a letter dated 25 May, 1846, at Arnhem, and signed by Van Raalte and A. Brummelkamp which recom- mended them "to the Believers in the United States of North America."48 Upon their arrival in this coun- try this letter fell into the hands of the Rev. Isaac Wyckoff, pastor of the First Reformed Church of Albany, through whom it was translated and inserted in The Christian Intelligencer.49 Eight days later, on 4 June, a number of men were sent out to act as investigators of the society. They were S. R. Sleijter,50 deacon of the church in Velp, Rademaker, elder of the church at Varseveld and the Brusse brothers of the same church who were accompanied by a number of other men, women and children. They also met in the church in Arnhem, and were accompanied to the ship which carried them to the port from whence they took passage in the "Barrington" to Boston.61 The society continued its activities unabated during the summer months. Several parties were sent such as the gun- smith Van Gurnster, Berends, the tailor, L. Liesveld, shoemaker, F. Smith, a smith from Hattem in the Province of Gelderland, and J. Binnekamt.52 Money
"Ibid.
48"Aan de Geloovigen in de Vereenigde Staten van Noord Amerika", which was printed by A. Brummelkamp and A. C. Van Raalte in Landverhuizing, pp. 30-39. The Arnoud family arrived at Boston 21 July. — Of. their letter in Stemmen nil Noord Amerika met begeleidend woord van A. Brummelkamp, Bedienaar des god- delijken woords, Te Amsterdam (Hoogkamer en Compe.), 1847, p. 35. For another letter written by them 30 December, 1846, from Boston, cf. ibid., pp. 93-96.
*9The Christian Intelligencer, New York, 15 October, 1846. A supplementary note states that it was translated by a "Mrs. S., a member of Dr. Wijkofl's church in Albany, who emigrated from Holland a short time since."
*°S. R. Sleijter was in Waupun, Wisconsin, on 25 August, 1846, where he had settled. — Cf. his letter in Stemmen uit Noord Amerika met begeleidend Woord,, pp. 53-59.
//, (Not here published.— Ed.)
BEGINNINGS OF DUTCH IMMIGRATION 659
was also received from various parties as e. g., 200 florins from Ter Vree who lived in Zwolle, Dr. Weerd and his family and friends in Nicuw Leusden, in the Province of Utrecht, 1000 florins, S. Nibbelink from Arnhem, 500 florins. These all wished to receive land from the society.83 Information concerning passage and things needed on the voyage was also collected. This is evident from a few detached pieces of paper on which there are various notes concerning this matter. On one of these we find the following facts: Passage from Rotterdam (H«llevoltsluis) to New York was 35 florins for those above 12, below that age, 30 florins. There was no charge for infants of one year. This price included fuel, fresh water, room for preparing meals in the kitchen and sleeping space. Beds and straw ticks were to be provided by the passengers. Food could also be procured on board ship. Each passenger required 25 pounds ship bread or biscuits, <l}/2 fine meal, 2^ rice, 2 butter, 10 dried beef or pork, 25 dried fruit, or 100 potatoes and a quantity of vine- gar. This could be procured on shipboard for 21 florins, which included the use of cooking utensils.64 Information was also solicited from a German con- cern, for we have a similar list printed in German. What the charges for these services on this boat were is not given."
Useful facts were also collected which might be of help on their journey after arrival in New York. On another separate sheet in Van Raalte's handwrit- ing is a list of names of individuals of Dutch extraction who might be interested in the proposed emigration.
"Appendix III. (Not here published.— Ed.) ""Landverhuizing Memoriaal 1846-."
660 HENRY S. LUCAS
The first in the list is the esteemed Rev. Isaac N. Wyckoff, minister of the First Reformed Church in Albany,56 who was later to be of great service to Van Raalte and his followers. Other names are E. Ten Voorden, merchant of Pittsburg, I. D. Ten Voorden of Evansville, Indiana, H. Schulekamp, a farmer near Pittsburg, G. Weibering, a merchant in Pittsburg, and a widow named Semmelink who also lived in Pittsburg. At the foot of this list are a few notes regarding the means of travel westward by rail or canal from Baltimore to Pittsburg.57 At this time one plan of travel apparently was by this route.
When everything was ready for departure Van Raalte's financial and other affairs were brought in order. On Sunday morning, 20 September, he preach- ed his farewell sermon at Velp and in the evening before the congregation at Arnhem. His text on this occasion was the first part of verse 4, chapter VII, of the First Epistle of John. On Monday morn- ing his financial concerns were brought in order. The sums deposited with the society by Jan Binnekant, Ter Vree, De Weerd and Nibbelink were entrusted to him. To this sum were added 500 florins to be ex- pended for the benefit of the colonial treasury. Three days later Brummelkamp deposited another 500 florins with which land was to be purchased in the colony for his own use, and this was also given to Van Raalte.58 On the same morning the Arnhem congregation ap- proved his request for dismissal which was accordingly granted by the consistory on the ground that his presence was necessary among the Hollanders who
"Cf. E. T. Corwin, A Manual of the Reformed Church in America, 16SH-1901, 4th edition, New York, 1902, pp. 922-924. "Appendix IV. (Not here published. — Ed.) "Appendix II. (Not here published.— Ed.)
BEGINNINGS OF DUTCH IMMIGRATION 661
had already emigrated in order that they might have the proper spiritual care in a strange land and not be scattered. In a general meeting, held at the same time apparently, Brummelkamp thanked Van Raalte in the name of the congregation for all his services and recommended him to God's care. On Tuesday morning, 22 September, a large part of the congrega- tion accompanied him and his band to the boat. Rev. Brummelkamp went with them to Rotterdam from where passage was taken in the "Southerner" for New York.69 •
Every attempt made thus far to secure an official or an authoritative list of the people in this company has failed. In 21 September Van Raalte wrote to his friend Guillaume Groen Van Prinsterer from Arnhem concerning the motives of the emigration. While the letter does not contain any particulars, it is never- theless important as it gives us an idea of the feel- ings which filled his heart upon the eve of his departure. In a postscript Van Raalte requested addresses and recommendations from Groen and informed him that his address for 23 and 24 September would be: "Messrs. Hudig and Blokhuizen, a shiploading firm at Rotter- dam where the ship the 'Santherner' is being loaded and with which I hope to depart on the 25th. "«° With this as a clue I made an effort to find the papers of this firm which is still in existence, but under the new name "Hudig and Veder." I was, however, informed that a short time ago all the papers for these years had been destroyed.61 A fully authoritative
"Ibid.
"Appendix V. (Not here published.— Ed.)
"Letter from W. C. Hudig to Jonkheer Reuchlin, late director of the Holland America Line, dated Rotterdam, 6 January, 1920. To these parties and to Mr. W. L. Schumacher of Leiden I must here express my thanks for their personal interest in this matter.
HENRY S. LUCAS
list of names of Van Raalte's band was thus impossible and we must accordingly be satisfied with what tradi- tion and the pioneer accounts have given us. Perhaps the best of these is furnished by the accounts of Eg- bert Frederiks who was one of the founders of the Dutch colony and wrote his reminiscences apparently in 1881. 62 Another and a fuller list is offered by Mr. Van Schelven who arrived somewhat later.63
The name of the ship was in all probability the "Southerner." Dr. H. E. Dosker was of the opinion in 1893 that it was "The Sultane," the name given in The Christian Intelligencer of 3 December, 1846. This name, he thought, had been given by Van Raalte himself to the party responsible for the article.64 But in view of the fact that Van Raalte mentioned the ship as the "Santherner" in the postcript of his letter to Groen Van Prinsterer on 21 September,65 and that Brummelkamp who accompanied the band to Rotterdam and undoubtedly saw them depart66 called it the "Southerner" in the Memoriaal, the probability is perhaps in favor of the latter. Van Raalte himself was but very imperfectly acquainted with the English language and may have erred. The report, further- more, may not have come from him at all for Van Raalte at once left for Albany and Buffalo after his
«Cf. R. T. Kuiper, Uit de Portefeuille van Twee der Eerste Settlers in de Hol- landsche Kolonie in Michigan. Medegedeeld door Egbert Frederiks te Graafschap, in Jaarboekje voor de Hollandsche Christelijke Gereformeerde Kerk in Noord Amerika voor het Jaar 188Z, Grand Rapids, Michigan, (D. J. Doornink) 1881, pp. 61-75.
63For this list, which the author claims to be complete, cf. Historical Sketch of Holland City and Colony, Delivered on the Fourth of July of the Centennial year 1R76, in De Grondwet. 1 June. 1915.
«*H. E. Dosker, Levenschets Van Rev. A. C. Van Raalte, D. D., pp. 67-68. The news item in question reads, "The Rev. A. C. Van Raalte of Arnhem in Holland, with his family and emigrants to the number of a hundred souls, adults and chil- dren, reached here by the 'Sultana' from Rotterdam, on Wednesday, the 18th of November. They left for Wisconsin the next day, by the way of Buffalo and the lakes, being fearful to make any delays on account of the closing of naviga- tion being at hand. They expect some to join them this winter by the way of New Orleans. Mr. Van Raalte is one of the signers of the 'Appeal to the Faithful in America,' a translation of which was published in the Intelligencer.' — The Christian Intelligencer, 3 December, 1846.
"Appendix V. (Not here published. — Ed.)
"Appendix II. (Not here published.— Ed.)
BEGINNINGS OF DUTCH IMMIGRATION 663
arrival in New York on 18 November,67 and not until at least two weeks later did the item appear in the Christian Intelligencer.
Some statement should also be made at this point regarding the traditional organization of Van Raalte's followers as a church. Local tradition in Western Michigan represents this as having taken place in The Netherlands. I have been told repeatedly by pioneers of Ottawa and Allegan counties that this was the case. The official proceedings, however, of the Arnhem consistoi^ would seem to make this story impossible. On 22 October, the day after Van Raalte's departure, the matter was brought up for discussion whether the emigrants should be given their church letters. It was decided that this could not lawfully be refused and that they should be given as it had pre- viously been done in the case of Van Gumster and VanDerWal.68 There was thus hardly sufficient time left before the departure to go through the regular procedure of organization, and in fact no record of any such action can be found. The letters were granted to the emigrants as particular members only, exactly as had been done in the case of the few who had departed previously as individuals. The organ- ization undoubtedly occurred after the settlement in Ottawa County.69
A careful study of the way the Dutch immigrants governed their affairs- during the early months of their
•7H. E. Dosker, Levenschets tan Rev. A. C. Van Raalte, p. 68.
•8"Wordt gesproken over bet afgeven van kerkelijke attestation aan degenen welke naar N. Amerika vertrekken en besloten dezelve niet te weigeren maar af te gey en zooals naar Waarheid behoort gedaan te worden, en zooals deze bereids geschied is, en afgegeven zijn aan Van Gumster en Vander Wai, waar van Breeder Otto door Ds. Brumraelkamp die van Vander Wai ter overschrijving aangeboden worat."-Art. 6.
••It was impossible for me to look up the matter further by investigating the local records of the Ninth Street Church, in Holland, Michigan. The Jaarboekje ten dienste der Christelijke Gereformeerde Kerk in Noord Amerika, acht-en-deriigste iaargang (1918), p. 21, gives the date as 1849 which would certainly seem too
664 HENRY S. LUCAS
settlement at Holland, Michigan, would assuredly reveal a very close relationship to the constitution or "Grondslagen" which had been drawn up at Arnhem in the spring of 1846.70 Many meetings (volksver- gaderingen) were held in which matters of general con- cern to the colony were discussed and decided. At first glance these might be assumed to be a realization of the plan expressed in art. 5 of the constitution and providing for .periodical meetings of the members of the society. But such an interpretation would be quite unwarranted. The peculiar circumstances under which the project had been conceived produced a re- markably homogeneous type of immigrants. In ac- cordance with their ideals of life and to meet the new and trying exigencies of a frontier existence in a strange society they naturally tended to live in a way more or less like that outlined in the "Constitution." These rules cannot accordingly be regarded as consti- tuting in any way the basis of their association during the first months of their settlement, but rather as an ideal purpose cherished by these humble folk to which Van Raalte sought to give the best possible expression. As far as the committee of those interested in The Netherlands is concerned there is, it seems, no record of any meeting whatever after Van Raalte left Rotter- dam. However, it should be noted that up to the date of his departure from Arnhem, Van Raalte ap- parently regarded the rules binding upon himself and his company. This would seem to be proved by the fact that he stated in his own handwriting in the "Memoriaal" that he was taking 500 florins with him for the benefit of the colonial treasury and that during
7°See "Rules for the Society, etc."
BEGINNINGS OF DUTCH IMMIGRATION 665
the fortnight before several parties had deposited sums for the purchase of lands to be made by the colony.71 From this moment it is safe to say that the emigrants were held together by their common inter- ests rather than by the constitution.
The financial part of the movement now appears to have become practically a personal matter with Van Raalte and Brummelkamp as these assumed re- sponsibility for all sums contributed to further the emigration. On 27 May they had together contributed 1500 florins, while only 10 florins had been given by an unnamed party.72 Accordingly, when Dirk Arnoud and William Kwinkelenberg with their families were about to leave, they gave promissory notes bearing interest in favor of Van Raalte and Brummelkamp.73 No statement is made with regard to the repayment of the 70 florins paid to the gunsmith Van Gumster in order to satisfy his creditors before going to Amer- ica.74 On 26 August, three days later, however, 225 florins were granted to the tailor Berends and family, J. Liesveld, the shoemaker, and F. Smit and his family upon the condition that they should repay the principal with five per cent, interest as soon as they had earned enough money.75 As the day de- termined upon for the departure of Van Raalte and his followers drew near, further sums were deposited in the treasury of the society. On 6 September Jan Binnekant gave 190 florins, on the 14th Ter Vree from Zwolle gave 200 florins and De Weerd with his friends 1000 florins and on the 21st S. Nibbelink de- posited 500 florins, all of which were to be used in pur-
"Appendix II. (Not here published.— Ed.)
»/Wd.
"7Wd.
"JWd.
666 HENRY g. LUCAS
chasing land in the proposed colony.76 By this date a total of 3410.00 florins were deposited in the so- ciety's treasury. On the 21st Van Raalte took with him the sums paid by Binnekant, Ter Vree, De Weerd and his friends and Nibbelink and 500 florins extra for the benefit of the colonial treasury.77 This left a balance of 298.55 florins in the treasury. Apparently at the very last moment before departure Brummel- kamp gave his brother-in-law 500 florins more for the purpose of buying land in the proposed colony. Upon his return to Arnhem he recorded this fact in his own handwriting.78 The chief reason, perhaps, why so few people left for America under the auspices of this society was that in the provinces outside Gelderland special companies under the leadership of local pas- tors made independent plans and began to leave during the following year. Thus the Rev. M. Ypma came with a band from Friesland, the Rev. S. Bolks from Overijsel and the Rev. J. Van Der Meulen and Jannes Van Den Luyster from Zeeland. A discussion of these movements, however, lies beyond the scope of this article. Most of the people in Van Raalte's com- pany undoubtedly paid their own expenses. There were few so poor, it seems, that when they had dis- posed of their effects they could not pay their own passage.
During the spring of the following year several parties were provided with considerable sums with which to pay their voyage expenses, amounting to 1193 florins. As no moneys were deposited in the treasury after Van Raalte's departure, it would seem that Brummelkamp himself advanced these sums.79
"Ibid. •'•'Ibid.
BEGINNINGS OF DUTCH IMMIGRATION 667
In 1848 the first repayment appears to have been made. Berends, who had received 50 florins from the treasury on 26 August, 1846, repaid this amount on 23 March. From the account it would appear that no interest was paid.80 On 7 September what seems to be the last financial help extended was a sum of 120 florins to Antje Bosboom,81 which makes a grand total of 1213 florins paid out since September, 1846, or 914.45 florins more than the treasury contained at that moment. It would seem that Brummelkamp ad- vanced since that ti*ie from his own resources 1414.45 florins. Adding the amount of his original contribu- tion made on 27 May, 1846, 82 it will be found that Brummelkamp advanced in all 2414.45 florins. Van Raalte undoubtedly settled accounts with Binnekant, Ter Vree, S. Nibbelink and De Weerd cum suis in this country. This of course left Brummelkamp as the only party interested in the account. The reim- bursement of the various loans was accordingly made, not to the treasury of the society, but to Brummel- kamp.
Only gradually and never completely, it would seem, were these loans repaid. The family of the widow Liesveld returned 200 florins on 16 March, 1849, and 145 more in November. At this time 25 florins were also paid to the creditor by a third party who had some connection with an inheritance acquired by the debtors. In May, 1851, another payment of 25 flor- ins was made. The total thus returned was 395 out of a debt of 413.50 florins. Whether Brummelkamp ever received the balance and the interest we have
»«JWd.
668 HENRY S. LUCAS
no way of knowing.83 During this same year Brum- melkamp repaid a sum of 200 florins which had been deposited with him by the brother-in-law of a certain Streng in July, 1847, for sending the father of Dirk Arnoud. It had been planned that when Streng should arrive in New York the Arnoud family should repay this amount to him. But Arnoud did not go and the sum had now to be returned.84 The last payment to be recorded occurred in 1866. Frans Smit, who had received 150 florins on 26 August, 1846, now paid through Rev. Van Raalte, who was visiting The Netherlands in the summer of that year, $25.00. Whether this sum represented a balance still unpaid cannot be determined. So unstable was the foreign exchange that Brummelkamp realized only 42.60 where the normal value should have been 62.50 florins.86 At this time Van Raalte gave him 1000 more. A few years prior to this the land purchased by Van Raalte for his brother-in-law shortly after his arrival in Michigan, had been sold. Van Raalte had proposed to use this sum at seven per cent, interest which was agreed upon. But so unfavorable was the exchange rate in this summer that Van Raalte found it difficult to pay this interest and proposed that his brother-in- law cancel this amount. Brummelkamp magnani- mously acceded to this proposition.86 If all repay- ments were recorded by Brummelkamp, which can hardly be assumed with justice, the latter received only 1459.00 out of an original expenditure of 2414.00 florins. He thus appears to have lost 955 florins, not to mention the interest which apparently was never
BEGINNINGS OF DUTCH IMMIGRATION 669
paid on nearly all of his financial advances. From this discussion it is no doubt sufficiently clear that the colonial treasury provided for by the "Grondslagen" never was really in existence and that the financial matters were regarded by Van Raalte and Brummel- kamp as a personal account in which the latter was most heavily interested.
The story of how Van Raalte and his followers fared in this country and the reasons which induced them to prefer the Black Lake region in Ottawa County to Wisconsin and Iowa properly belongs to the next phase of the movement which falls outside the limits of this brief study. Let us hope that a full adequate account of this may soon be furnished.
RULES FOR THE SOCIETY OF CHRISTIANS FOR THE
HOLLAND EMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES
OF NORTH AMERICA
ART. 1
All emigrants or supporters of these emig/ants and inhab- itants of the Colony are members of the Society. All male members of twenty years and over have the right to vote.
ART. 2
The management rests in the hands of two committees, one in the motherland and the other in the colony, and each to be composed of ten members. The committee in the motherland shall be chosen by the voting members of the society, and the one in the colony by the male inhabitants of the same who are twenty years and above. Vacancies shall be filled in the same manner. Each committee shall have executive powers where it shall be located, although no change in the general rules or principles can be made except with the approval of a majority of at least two-thirds of the members of the whole society both in the motherland and in America.
670 HENRY S. LUCAS
ART. 3
The committees shall discharge their duties out of love toward God and the brethren. Accordingly no compensa- tion shall be allowed them. In so far as the discharge of such duties shall necessitate compensation, they shall be allowed to appoint, at the expense of the treasury, bookkeepers to keep account.
ART. 4
In case of difference of opinion the matter in question shall be decided by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members present.
ART. 5
A general meeting shall be held twice in each year, on the second Wednesday of May and of November. The committee shall meet as often as the circumstances may demand, and they shall send each other a complete report of the state of affairs as regularly as possible.
ART. 6
The committee shall not have any secular control nor exer- cise any ecclesiastical authority inasmuch as the latter must be exercised by the community in accordance with God's Word while the first lies in the harids of the government of the United States.
ART. 7
The first calling is to make the colony Christian, wherefore it is recommended to the care of the committees which are to be concerned with accepting, aiding and sending emigrants, to seek such salting element for the colony as shall be necessary to give it a majority Christian element. For that reason they shall not accept any other persons for colonisation than those from whom it may be expected that they will be obedient to the Word of God, so that in that way there may be established not only a Christian church government, but also a Christian goverameat for the protection of God's command, which is the strength of every state.
BEGINNINGS OF DUTCH IMMIGRATION 671
ART. 8
Those who have been accepted as members of the colony, although they may not be able to contribute anything towards paying the expenses of the passage, first settlement, etc., shall nevertheless remain absolutely free citizens, subject to no other burdens than the rest of the inhabitants. To pay the expenses incurred by them, one-fifth of all incomes or profits, whatever they may be, of their lands shall be set aside until the principal and the interest (5 per cent.) of the moneys ad- vanced shall.be paid. Not until then shall they be able to enter into full possession of any property.
Q|
ART. 9
In order that the difficulties, the dangers and expense of purchasing lands shall not overwhelm each emigrant, and that scattering may be prevented and the introduction of strangers be hindered, the purchase of lands shall be made in the name of the society. These lands shall in turn be transmitted to the citizens of the Colony by deed, signed by the double com- mittee in the name of the society for the exact original price plus the expenses incurred by the purchase. This perpetual obligation which is expressed in the deed of sale shall be as- sumed only when each inhabitant of these lands who has the right to vote shall work or have some one work for him gratis two days each year for the benefit of the fund of Holland em- igration to America. The time when this is to be done shall be stipulated by the American committee.
ART. 10
The moneys accrue from: a Gifts from individuals, b From communities and individuals who wish to have
their poor participate in the colonisation. c The duty of each inhabitant voter of the colony to work two days a year or have some one do so for him on the lands of the colony for the benefit of the treasury, d Payment of debts.
672 HENRY 8. LUCAS
e Advances made out of love or personal interest by such as may receive land from the committee.
ART. 11
Contributions shall be made on the basis of percentage and in accordance with the needs of the treasury.
ART. 12
Those who have advanced money can receive its equivalent in land or in cash installments, but this latter only in so far as the condition of the treasury will allow. For such advances not more than 5 per cent shall be paid to be computed from day of deposit. Nor shall the payment of the interest be obligatory until the condition of the treasury permit it, in which matter the committee shall pass judgment. As soon as this can be done they shall be required to pay all such ar- rears of interest at compound interest. Payment of such mon- eys on a percentage basis shall be permitted.
ART. 13 Moneys can be spent only as follows :
a For the purchase of lands.
b To send and aid such as are in need of help.
c For the needs of widows and orphans.
d For the benefit of the intellectual interests of the colony.
e For the advancement of the interests of God's king- dom on earth.
However not for the three last named purposes before all duties towards those who have provided capital shall have been discharged.
ART. 14
Accounts shall be kept both in the colony and in the mother- land. Each half year both committees shall inform each other of the particulars of their administration so that these facts may be entered in one book in the motherland as well as
BEGINNINGS OF DUTCH IMMIGRATION 673
in the colony. Each year, in the first half of the month of May, account must be rendered before all participants not only in the motherland but also in the colony.
ART. 15
For the dissolution of the society at least three-fourths the votes of the members of the entire society shall be necessary. In this case the rights of those who have invested capital shall first be satisfied and the remaining moneys shall be expended for the advancing the interests of God's Kingdom on earth.
ART. 1C
•
The occupation of the society from this moment onward shall be:
a Publication of the cause and purpose of its formation in such manner and place as may be deemed proper in order to impart concentration and a careful direction to the manifest desire to emigrate.
b To this end it is to give information to all that may wish it. It is to provide those who want to emigrate with land and necessary papers. It is also to arrange for the passage, and as soon as possible a regular pas- sage each quarter of the year.
c Preliminary to founding a colony a few farmers and laborers who can earn their bread there with their hands shall be sent over in the following May to Wis- consin and Illinois and their expenses, incurred in the interests of the society, shall be paid by the treasury. These will unite with some families from Gelderland who have gone thither a year or two ago in order to take advantage of the knowledge already acquired by them and live there two years and investigate. There- after they shall meet at Milwaukee in Wisconsin in order to inform the committee in the motherland the results of their investigations concerning the oppor- tunity of purchase and the fertility and general features of the land. They shall do this by letter or by a rep-
674 HENRY S. LUCAS
resentative. After this representatives with full pow- ers shall be sent in accordance with the condition of the treasury and the demand for land to purchase a quantity sufficient for founding a community or a village upon the account of the committee which shall then have been formed and also to make the first preparations to receive emigrants. •
R. A. SMITH 1919—
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE GEOLOGICAL AND
BIOLOGICAL SURVEY OF MICHIGAN: 1837
to 1872, BY R, C. ALLEN; 1872 to
1920, BY HELEN M. MARTIN.
rT^HE Geological Survey of Michigan is almost as old as the State itself. It was established in 1 837 by Act No. 20 of the first Legislature. The first Survey was terminated in 1845 by the untimely death of Dr. Douglass Houghton, the State Geologist. In 1859, the legislature provided for its continuance but the out- break of the Civil War interrupted the work in 1861 ; it was resumed in 1869* soon after the close of the war.
THE FIRST GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 1837-1845
For the earliest organized statements concerning the geology of Michigan we are indebted to Dr. Douglass Houghton and his assistants. Such explorations as were made prior to 1837 were purely geographic although some disconnected observations on rocks, minerals and soils were noted even in the accounts of the travels of the Jesuits. The explorations conducted by Alexander McKenzie in 1789, General Cass in 1819, Major Long in 1823, and H. R. Schoolcraft in 1831* should be mentioned. The accounts of these travels are rich in descriptions of the country on the routes of travel which, however, were confined to the water ways and in Michigan mainly to the coast of the Northern Peninsula.
A proper appreciation of the work of the first Survey should view it in relation to the condition of
'Act No. 206, Public Acts, 1859.
»Act No. 65, Public Acts of 1869.
-Dr. Douglass Houghton accompanied Schoolcraft as physician and botanist to the expedition to the sources of the Mississippi River. An interesting account of this expedition has recently come into the keeping of the Michigan Historical Commission in the form of H ought on's original notes Kept in diary form.
675
676 R. C. ALLEN AND H. M. MARTIN
the country, the state of advancement of the natural sciences and the general regard in which they were held by the people. In 1837 there were less than 24,000 people of European descent in Michigan. These were mainly in Detroit and the sparsely settled counties south of the Grand and Saginaw rivers, a few settle- ments along the coast as at the Soo and Mackinac, and isolated groups of huts occupied by traders and trappers. The coast was only roughly charted, the northern two-thirds of the State was an unsurveyed wilderness including all of the Northern Peninsula and practically nothing was known of its interior into which very few white men had ever penetrated. Michigan was viewed generally in the East at that time as an unhealthy land of alternating muskeg swamps and sand hills and the Northern Peninsula was thought to be fit only for the habitation of savages. The Geological Survey was created for the purpose, among others, to act as an agency through which these damaging false beliefs could be effectively laid at rest, for Michigan was suffering a loss of good settlers in consequence of them.
Geology had not then become, as now, a common branch of instruction in schools and colleges. The liter- ature of the subject was meagre and not in general circu- lation among the people. Its principles were generally unknown even among the more learned elements of the population. Even the educators of those days as a class had slight regard for the natural sciences, be- lieving that a study of the classics and mathematics is alone requisite to a liberal education. But geology especially was viewed in active hostility by a large ele- ment of the academicians and the clergy. The former denied not only its value as an applied science but its
HISTORY OF THE GEOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 677
•
cultural value as well, while the latter interpreted its teachings as contrary to revealed truth and therefore in contravention of the tenets of religion.
It is therefore noteworthy and interesting that the first of the departments of the State government to be created by statute was the Geological Survey. This is a fine testimonial to the courageous intelligence of the first Legislature. But the Survey is not to be viewed as an entirely spontaneous work of the law makers, for the history of those years makes clear that Dr. Douglass Hough*ton is not only responsible for the idea and plan but it was also through his personal influence on the individual members that the Legis- lature became willing to commit the people to the un- dertaking.
The history of science, like political history, is founded in the lives of individuals. Now and then men emerge in bold relief on the background formed by their contemporaries. Such a man was Douglass Hough ton, the first State Geologist of Michigan.4 He died an untimely death by drowning in Lake Superior in 1845, aged only 36 years.
Houghton was one of Michigan's great pioneers and most devoted public servants. He combined the skill and learning of the physician and scientist with marked business ability, executive capacity and po- litical sense. He was a fine writer and probably the intellectual peer of his day in the West. As a geologist he was little known outside of Michigan, which is unfortunate for his memory. He has left enough of his writings to warrant the belief that, had he lived to publish his complete report on the geology of Michigan,
«For ji biography of Houghton consult: A Memoir of Douglass Houghton, 1889, Alvah
678 E. C. ALLEN AND H. M. MARTIN
•
he would have taken rank with the foremost geolo- gists of his time.
Although the organization of the first State Surveys of Massachusetts (1830), Tennessee (1831), Maryland (1834), New Jersey, Connecticut, Virginia (1835), Maine, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania (1836), preceded that of Michigan by from one to seven years, their results were as yet only meagerly available and were therefore of little aid to Dr. Houghton in planning for the labors which opened before him in the wilds of Michigan. It is an interesting fact, as well as an evidence of Houghton's genius, that as early as 18385 the Survey had been organized on the plan that in the main essentials exists today in Michigan and in a number of other States. This plan provided for geo- logical, topographical, zoological, and botanical depart- ments, each in charge of a specialist under the direc- tion of the State Geologist. The departments of botany and zoology did not survive the second year of their organization, on account of straightened finances and the hostility of the Legislature to labors which promised no early practical benefit to the material progress of the State; they were abolished in 1840 by legislative enactment6 over the strong but futile pro- tests of Dr. Houghton.7
The law of 1837 contemplated the completion of the survey in four years, but it was soon apparent that a long time would be necessary for even a cursory examination of the entire State. Nevertheless a large part of the field work was actually accomplished in 1842 and the funds which were thereafter expended
'Act 49, Public Acts of 1838. •Sec. 1, Act 40, Public Acts of 1840.
7See Communication from the State Geologist Relative to the Geological Sur- vey, March 7, 1839, Senate Document No. 25, 1839.
HISTORY OF THE GEOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 679
were drawn from the unexpended balance,8 not includ- ing small sums devoted to engraving. The incom- pleteness of the U. S. linear surveys which were then in progress in Michigan also contributed to delay the work, for Houghton depended on these surveys for skeleton maps of the townships on which to plat the physiographic and geologic features of the country.
In fact, Dr. Houghton conceived the idea of en- listing the land surveyors themselves in the service of the geological survey, and "derived the idea of ac- complishing a thorough geological, mineralogical, top- ographical, and magnetic survey of the new lands of the United States contemporaneously with the government surveys." As the act making provisions for the State Geological Survey expired in 1842 leaving still a large territory in the Upper Peninsula unex- plored, Dr. Houghton set about effecting a plan which he had previously conceived of connecting the linear surveys with the minute geological and mineralogical survey of the country. In 1844 he laid his plan before the government. Its feasibility was at once compre- hended, and Houghton was given a contract of run- ning 4,000 miles of lines at a price but little, if any, exceeding that which would have been paid for a linear survey alone.9
The system was abandoned after his death, but enough had been done to show that had the system remained in operation to the completion of the surveys we should have been possessed of information which was acquired several decades later, with vastly greater expense and labor.
•The actual expenditures of the Houghton Survey from 1837 to and including 1845 were only $32,829.03.
•Memoir of Douglass Houghton by Bela Hubbard, American Journal of Science, Vol. 55, p. 221, 1848.
680 R. C. ALLEN AND H. M. MARTIN
The published results of Houghton's Survey appear in seven annual reports to the Legislature and a num- ber of short communications relative to the develop- ment of salt springs and other subjects. The final report was well along towards completion when it was interrupted by the death of Dr. Houghton. The state topographer immediately impressed upon the Legislature the importance of entrusting the comple- tion and editing of the final report to Dr. Houghton's chief assistants. The Legislature responded10 by au- thorizing the Governor to appoint a suitable person, but no appropriation was made to defray his expenses and remuneration. Whether the appointment was or was not made we do not know, but it is certain that the work was not done, and a vast collection of notes, sketches, maps, and manuscript, representing eight years of unremitting toil by Houghton and his assist- ants, was lost.11
Just how much had been accomplished is not known, but it is evident from the fragmental reports in the documents of the House and Senate of the Michigan Legislature that Houghton had attained a fairly clear understanding of the succession and structure of the Paleozoic (secondary) rocks, had blocked out the Michigan Coal Basin, understood in a measure the later history of the Great Lakes and had traced the position of some of their former shore lines, had called
iojoint Resolution No. 26, 1846.
"In the Annual Report of the State Geologist, 1861, Dr. A. N. Winchell reports that "on the decease of Dr. Houghton his administrators employed Messrs. Wil- liam A. Burt and Bela Hubbard to complete reports on the geological results of the work for 1845 from the field notes of that year. Mr. Burt's report was pre- pared from his own notes and Mr. Hubbard's from those of Dr. Houghton. These two reports unfold in an admirable manner the geological studies of the trap and metamorphic regions of Lake Superior, and anticipate results which were after- wards worked out by the United States Geologists. The notes and maps of three townships were in Dr. Houghton's possession at the time of his death and were never recovered." These reports were not published but the materials were doubtless incorporated in Jackson's report of 1849-50. (Senate Documents, 31st Congress, 1st Session, Vol. 3, No. 1.)
HISTORY OP THE GEOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 681
attention to the importance of the deposits of natural brines,12 gypsum, coal, peat, marl, clay, limestone, iron ore, and copper, and had discovered gold. The influence of his report on the copper bearing rocks was a factor in not only attracting capital to the copper country and exercising a wise guidance on early pros- pecting and financial operations, but in hastening the construction of the first canal and locks around the falls of St. Mary's River.
Little more than a year after the suspension of the Survey under Dr. Houghton Congress passed an act, approved March 1, 1847, embracing provisions for the geological exploration of the Lake Superior Land District, organized by the same act. Under this act Dr. C. T. Jackson was appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury to execute the required survey.
After having spent two seasons in the prosecution of this work he presented a report of 801 pages13 and resigned his commission. In the meantime the survey was continued and subsequently completed by Messrs. Foster and Whitney."14
Some of the assistants of Dr. Houghton were em- ployed by Jackson, Foster and Whitney and Hough- ton's results were made use of in other ways to such an extent that a large part of the credit rightfully belongs to him although no proper acknowledgment of it is made by these geologists.
"The United States Government ceded to Michigan 76 sections of land for the development of salt springs. Houghton was placed in charge of the borings begun oy the State. Wells were sunk at Grand Rapids and on the Tittabawassee River in Midland County.
"Senate Documents, 1st Session, 31st Congress, Vol. 3, 1849-50.
"Report on the Geology and Topography, the Lake Superior land district: part 1, Copper Lands by J. W. Foster and J. D. Whitney, Executive Documents, 1st Session, 31st Congress, 1849-50, Vol. 9, No. 69. Report on the geology and topography of the Lake Superior land district, part 2, The Iron Region by J. W. Foster and J. D. Whitney. Senate Documents, Special Session, 3<*nd Congress, 185 1, Vol 3, No, 4,
682 R. C. ALLEN AND H. M. MARTIN
SECOND GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 1859-1863
The second geological survey was inaugurated in 1859, during the administration of Governor Wisner.15 It was suspended in 1863 from failure of the Legislature to make an appropriation for its continuance.16 The act is almost identical with the original act of 1837. It authorized the Governor to appoint a competent person and other necessary assistants to finish the geological survey of the State and furnish "a full scientific description of its rocks, soils, and minerals and of its botanical and other natural productions."
Dr. Alexander Winchell, who was then professor of geology in the University, was appointed State Geol- ogist March 9, 1859. On December 31, 1860, he made a report to the Governor which was printed in 1861 under the title ''First Biennial Report of the Progress of the Geological Survey of Michigan." This is the only publication of the second geological survey. It is unaccompanied by maps, sketches, or other illus- trations which rendered it less useful than it would otherwise have been.17 Dr. Winchell sketches the history of previous geological work in Michigan and gives a full account of his activities and those of his assistants. He gives the only orderly and connected general account of the geology of the State which had ever been made. The non-fossiliferous rocks, which include those of the Northern Peninsula west of a line connecting Marquette and Menominee, are, however, dismissed with a brief statement based on the work of other geologists but the fossiliferous rocks underlying
"Public Acts of 1859. No. 206.
18The total appropriations for the second geological survey, 1859-63, were $9,000.00 of which only $6,000.00 was drawn from the treasury.
"The Legislature apparently disapproved the emphasis laid on the botanical and zoological investigations which were accounted for in this report for in 1861 it directed the state geologist to "restrict his labors to the geological department exclusively." Act No. 64, Public Acts of 1861.
HISTORY OP THE GEOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 683
the remainder of the State are described in considerable detail and compared with similar formations in other States but more especially with those of New York where the work of James Hall and others had developed a succession which had become and still remains in some degree, a standard of reference. Dr. Winchell made large collections of fossils most of which were deposited in the University museum. The chapter devoted to economic geology is interesting, — although it is lacking in statistical matter, — in that it indicates the progress of the non-metalic * mineral industry in the Southern Peninsula since Houghton's time. Part II contains a catalog of the plants, mammals, birds, reptiles, and molluscs of the Southern Peninsula.
The second geological survey made a long stride in the study of the geology of the Southern Peninsula. When it is considered that the work was practically abandoned a little more than two years after it was started, that the appropriations were small, and that the time which Dr. Winchell was able to devote to it was limited by his professional duties in the University, it is not surprising that the published results are not more voluminous.
The second geological survey was definitely termi- nated by joint resolution of the Senate and House approved March 7, 1863,18 directing Professor Winchell, 4 'the late State Geologist, to transfer to the Board of State Auditors all of the property of the Survey in- cluding the specimens not already distributed to the educational institutions as provided by law and to deliver to the Auditor General a schedule of all in- struments, property and materials used in the survey belonging to the State."
"Joint Resolution No. 10; Session of 1863.
684 K. C. ALLEN AND H. M. MARTIN
THE THIRD GEOLOGICAL SUKVEY, 1869 .
By the year 1869 a strong public demand had arisen for a resumption of the geological survey and Governor Baldwin made the following recommenda- tion in his message to the Legislature:
"I submit to you the importance of providing a thorough and complete geological survey of the State. Many years ago, in our early history, this work was partially prosecuted by the late Dr. Douglass Houghton, whose sudden death put a stop to this important work. Small appropriations were subsequently made, but no general survey has been effected. The develop- ments made by the very partial work hitherto done, have many times repaid the comparatively small ex- penditure. But what is needed, is a thorough and comprehensive examination of the whole State.
" Great and varied as are its present resources, we know as yet but little of the hidden mysteries which lie developed within its borders."
In due course a bill was introduced in the House by Mr. Yawkey after which the matter was taken under advice by a joint committee of the House and Senate.19 The report of this committee reviewed the previous geological work in Michigan and the legisla- tion concerning it including references to other States and made the following recommendation:
"A period of twenty-eight years of general growth, prosperity and development has been allowed to pass, and the richest mineral territory in iron and copper in the world has been left wholly unaided by State appropriations in the development of its gigantic pos- sibilities. Is it any wonder that the enterprising
"Lyman D. Norris, Chairman Senate Committee; John Q. McKernan, Chair- man House Committee.
HISTORY OF THE GEOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 685
people of that far away region, who have accomplished so much with such little means, grow restless in a connection that brings them no share of the public money derived from a common taxation, that has been profusely scattered over the lower half of the State, in the shape of Prisons, Reform Schools, Insane, Deaf, Dumb, and Blind Asylums, Normal School, Agricul- tural College, University, geological surveys and in- ternal improvements, and all the thousand and one ways that those nearest to the public treasury reach for its contents?
"In the meanwhile, those hardy pioneers have la- bored and waited, until now, with a population of near 35,000, a capital invested in 112 companies for developing copper of $16,250,500, upon which has been paid dividends of $5,880,000, and an iron interest which, in the twelfth year of its commercial life, pro- duced over one-fifth of all the iron mined in the United States, they have rights, and the State has duties — long neglected duties — toward them, which it were wise to no longer neglect.
"Your committee are of opinion that the State is fully able, and ought to be willing, to enter now upon an enlarged and liberal geological survey of both peninsulas; that if but one can be undertaken, the Lake Superior country is entitled to the preference; and that the survey there, in addition to the duties usual- ly assigned to such officials, should also include the statistics and history of the mineral, mining, smelting, manufacturing, and transportation interests; the com- pilation of accurate maps, showing the topography, geology and timber, and the position of all mines, furnaces and roads of the iron and copper region.
686 R. C. ALLEN AND H. M. MARTIN
Your committee would further note the fact that within the limits of the proposed survey the State owns a large amount of swamp and school land, re- served from market on account of its supposed mineral value, the determination of which value is a matter of common interest to all the people, while the United States are also holders of large tracts of supposed mineral land, whose value is wholly unknown, as much of the data given by Foster and Whitney, near twenty years ago, is shown by private examination to have been erroneous and imperfect.
"The Legislature have had their attention called by Prof. Winchell in his address, among other matters, to the history of neighboring state legislation, and asking your earnest and thoughtful attention to that address, they content themselves by presenting to you the accompanying bill and joint resolution, unani- mously recommending their passage, and ask to be discharged from the further consideration of this in- teresting subject."
The bill embodying the recommendations of the committee was promptly passed and was approved by the Governor on March 26, 1869.20 It created the Board of Geological Survey, an ex-officio body con- sisting of the Governor, Superintendent of Public Instruction, and President of the State Board of Edu- cation. The Board was authorized to appoint "a suitable person possessed of the requisite knowledge of the science of geology who shall be the Director of the Survey" and at the nomination of the Director such assistants as were necessary, to fix the salaries of the Director and his assistants, and in general to "regulate all expenses incident to the Survey."
"Act No. 65, Public Acts of 1869.
HISTORY OF THE GEOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 687
The Director was charged with all of the respons- ibility for the scientific and administrative work of "a thorough geological and mineralogical survey of the State, embracing a determination of the succession, arrangement, thickness, and position of all strata and rocks; the mineral character and contents, and their economical uses ; an investigation and determination of the organic remains of the State ; a general examination of the topography, hydrography, and physical geogra- phy of the State; an investigation of the soils and sub- soils, and the determination of their character and agricultural adaptation; the investigation of all deposits of brine, coal, marl, clay, gypsum, lime, petroleum, metals, and metalic ores, building stone, marble, grit stone, materials for mortar and cement, mineral paint, and all other productions of the geological world capable of being converted into the uses of man.'*
The act provided a continuing annual appropria- tion of $8,000, and directed that one-half of the ex- penditure be devoted to work in the Northern Peninsula including "the collection of statistics and history of the mineral, manufacturing, and transportation in- terests; to the preparation and compilation of accurate maps, showing the topography, geology, and timber, and also the position of mines, roads, and improve- ments; to the determination of the position and struc- ture of the minerals and mineral rocks; to compiling and collecting all useful knowledge that would be of practical value in finding and extracting ores, and mining and smelting in those districts of the Upper Peninsula known as the iron and copper regions. "
688 K. C. ALLEN AND H. M. MARTIN
A joint resolution21 of the House and Senate was passed instructing the Michigan Senators and Rep- resentatives to ask Congress to appropriate annually for three years $8,000, to assist in making the survey, but the request proved futile and no appropriation was made by Congress.
It is worthy of note that the act of 1869 made no provision for zoological and botanical investigations as did those of 1837 and 1859.
DR. ALEXANDER WINCHELL APRIL 24, 1869-APRIL
17, 1871
The act of 1869 became effective on March 26 and on April 24 Dr. Alexander Winchell was for the second time appointed Director of the Survey at a meeting of the Board held in the offices of the Governor at Detroit.22
During the eight years that had elapsed since the termination of the second Survey, Dr. Winchell had been "mainly engaged, so far as strictly geological work was concerned, in elaborating its paleontological results and in special surveys of the limited districts with special reference to their economic resources. Thus he became familiar with the geological conditions of the salt and petroleum rocks of Michigan, Ohio, and Canada, on which he made special studies. In respect to the salt-bearing strata of Michigan he established the basin-shaped form of the strata, and defined not only the principles but also the geographic area in which brine might be found. His chief geological problem, however, during this interim was the estab-
"Joint Resolution No. 27. Public Acts of 1869.
"The first Board of Geological Survey were H. P. Baldwin, Governor, Oramel Hosford, Supt. of Public Instruction, and. Witter I, Batcher, Pres, of the State Board of Education,
ALEXANDER WINCHELL 1859-1863, 1869-1871
CARL KOMINGER
1872-1885
CHARLES E. WRIGHT
1885-1888
M. E. WADSWORTH
1888-1893
HISTORY OF THE GEOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 689
lishment and defense of the ''Marshall Group" "
Dr. Winchell's second administration of the Geo- logical Survey was destined to be, like the first, short lived. What were the exact causes which led to his resignation is not known. His brother states that they were of a political nature. But whatever they may have been it is evident from the minutes of the meetings of the Board that in 1871, during the meeting of the Legislature, serious disagreements arose concerning the scope and management of the Survey and that Dr. Winchell could not be reconciled to the decisions of the Board. Dr. Winchell had presented a report of progress in November 187024 together with a plan for the completion and publication of the results of the survey to which the Board apparently dissented. The history of the work during the next two decades is the demonstration of the unwisdom of the failure to carry out the Director's plans which were very comprehensive and complete. The turning away of Dr. Winchell from a work on which he had set his heart and mind was not only unfair to him but a very great loss to the State. The accomplishments of Winchell's second administration of the Survey are well told in his own words:
"It was understood to be clearly the intention of the law, that the moiety assigned to the Upper Penin- sula should be expended in the development of the iron and copper interests of that portion of the State. The adoption of an equitable and judicious plan for the prosecution of this portion of the work was felt by the Board and by the Director to involve a serious responsibility, and very full and candid consideration
"Memorial sketch of Alexander Winchell. Nathaniel Winchell — Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., Vol. 3. 1891.
"Report of Progress of the Geological Survey. Alexander Winchell, 1871. 64 pp. 8 vo.
690 R. C. ALLEN AND H. M. MARTIN
was given to the subject. Finally, in view of the mag- nitude of the work which ought to be performed in each of the metalliferous regions of the Upper Penin- sula, and in view of the limited amount of means at the disposal of the Board, it was decided not to extend the work in each region over the entire two years which should intervene before another session of the Legislature, but to devote the entire annual moiety to the iron interest in 1869, and to the copper interest in 1870.
11 Accordingly, a contract was signed with Major T. B. Brooks, by which he was required to complete a survey and report of the ' Marque tte Iron District,' in accordance with a 'Letter of Instructions' from the Director (hereto appended, marked A), and for which he was to receive, in installments, the sum of $4,000. A similar contract was signed the following year, with Prof. R. J. Pumpelly, by which he was required to conclude such portion of the survey of the Copper Region as could be accomplished with the desired degree of unity and completeness for the other $4,000. The work of Major Brooks began June 4, 1869; and such has been his laudable ambition to produce a result not only adequate to the requirements of the contract, but as complete and creditable as possible to all con- cerned, that he has actually continued his labors to this date, and intends to prolong them into the next year. He has been assisted by John N. Armstrong, draftsman, C. M. Ross, mining engineer, and S. M. Walker, engineer. He makes acknowledgments also to sundry engineers and others, for valuable assistance which will be mentioned in detail in the final report. The work of Prof. Pumpelly began June 1, 1870, and will be continued until brought to a conclusion which
HISTORY OF THE GEOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL, SURVEY 691
can be guaranteed as satisfactory. He has been assisted by A. R. Marvin, mining engineer, and by L. G. Emerson. He acknowledges also the cordial cooperation of the inhabitants of the Upper Peninsula.
"Both of the gentlemen placed in charge of the work in the Upper Peninsula, besides possessing the advantages of a thorough scientific education, had had extensive experience in geological investigations in the United States (and Prof. Pumpelly also in foreign countries), and had already expended three or more years in the geological investigations of the metal- liferous regions of the Upper Peninsula.
"Under these arrangements, the entire expense of the general direction of the work, and of the general investigations, was devolved upon the moiety of the appropriation assigned to the Lower Peninsula. The same fund has also borne the expense of all field work in the Upper Peninsula which has not properly be- longed to the survey of the Iron and Copper districts, as already specified. Under the appropriation for the Lower Peninsula, Prof. N. H. Winchell was ap- pointed a permanent assistant; and Prof. M. W. Harrington of the University, Prof. E. A. Strong of Grand Rapids, Mr. A. S. Wadsworth of Traverse City, C. B. Headley of East Saginaw, A. O. Currier of Grand Rapids, and J. H. Emerton of Salem, Mass., have been under engagement for specific periods. Henry S. Cluff of Grand Haven has generously acted as a volunteer in an important work for which we have not found means to guarantee a compensation; and in other voluntary labors not strictly provided for by the intent of the law, we have been favored by Prof. M. W. Harrington, J. B. Steere of Ionia county, and Prof. W. J. Beal of the Agricultural College. * * *
692 K. C. ALLEN AND H. M. MARTIN
"The portions of the State actually subjected to examination during 1869-70 are:
(1) The Copper district of Portage Lake.
(2) The Marquette Iron District including what is now known as the Gwinn Iron District of Marquette county.
(3) St. Mary's Peninsula, by which is meant that portion of the Northern Peninsula ex- tending from St. Mary's river west to the Whitefish river of Little Bay De Nocquet.
(4) The Green Bay Region.
(5) The Cheboygan Region.
(6) The Little Traverse Bay Region.
(7) The Thunder Bay Region.
(8) The AuSable river Region.
(9) The valley of the Manistee River.
(10) The valley of the Pere Marquette River.
(11) The valley of the Muskegon River.
(12) Kent County.
(13) Lapeer County.
(14) Many other localities in the Southern Penin- sula.
Investigations of a most general nature were made on the following subjects:
East Shore statistics of Forest, Lumber and Fish- eries.
West Shore statistics of Forest, Lumber and Fish- eries.
Fruit statistics of the west shore of the Southern Peninsula.
Meteorological Investigations."
Dr. Winchell had planned and in great degree as- sembled the material for a series of publications which would have been of the utmost value in the develop-
HISTORY OF THE GEOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 693
ment of the State. The comprehensiveness of this plan may be inferred from the following outline: Part I, Physiographic Features of the State.
Book 1. Geographical Position and Area in 6 chapters including (1) general geographic relations of Michigan to North America, (2) form and boundaries of the two peninsulas and treaties and laws establishing the State boundaries, (3) list of latitudes and longi- tudes established by astronomical observations and differences in time between Detroit and other principal points in the State, (4) dimensions of the different degrees of latitude and longitude in Michigan, air line distance between principal points and a list of all islands exceeding 1/100 of a square mile in area, (5) an exposition of the public land surveys and the inaccuracies incident to them, and (6) a record of the areas of all of the townships and islands.
Book 2. Lakes and Streams in seven chapters including (1) sketch of the Great Lakes, dimensions, areas, coast lines, harbors, soundings, profiles, annual and secular fluctuations, tides, seiches, currents, storms, climatic effects, and relations of discharge to pre- cipitation and evaporation, (2) navigation and com- merce of the Great Lakes, (3) fisheries of the Great Lakes, (4) the inland lakes, (5) the rivers, (6) navigation of the rivers, and (7) water powers.
Book 3. Topography in six chapters including (1) relation between topography and geological struc- ture, (2) description of prominent land forms, (3) cata- log of elevations and profiles, (4) marshes, alluviums, prairies, and sand dunes, (5) erosions and depositions along the lake shores and river valleys, (6) and scenery.
Book 4. Climatology in six chapters including (1) Elements of climate, i. e. temperature, winds,
694 B. C. ALLEN AND H. M. MARTIN
humidity, atmospheric pressure, (2) meteorological tables, (3) discussion of meteorological data of Michi- gan, (4) special climatic phenomena, (5) general de- scription of the climate throughout the year, and (6) climate in relation to agriculture.
Book 5. Magnetography in two chapters including (1) nature and phenomena of magnetic force and (2) uses and properties of the magnetic needle.
Book 6. Vegetation in two divisions including
(1) duration and succession of forest growths, reciprocal influences of forest and climate, character and dis- tribution of Michigan forests, lumber and other forest products, and (2) herbaceous vegetation including medicinal and edible herbs.
Book 7. Sanitary Characteristics of the State in two chapters including (1) natural sanitary districts and their climatic and terrestrial characteristics, and
(2) mortuary and sanitary statistics.
Book 8. Population and Improvements including settlements and trend of populations and state of internal communications.
Book 9. Fruit Production with special reference to the fruit belt of western Michigan.
Book 10. Agriculture including chapters on ce- reals, root crops, hay and grass, nurseries for fruit trees, stock, general farm crops and difficulties en- countered by the Michigan farmer.
The other 9 parts to which Part I is introductory had not been so minutely outlined but it was the in- tention of Winchell to treat them with equal thorough- ness.
Part II. General Geology of the State. A descrip- tion of the succession, distribution, and structure of the rock formations.
HISTORY OF THE GEOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 695
Part III. Economic Geology. A description of all of the natural products of the rocks excluding copper and iron.
Part IV. The Iron Resources of the State.
Part V. The Copper Resources of the State.
Part VI. Detailed Geology. A discussion of the geology of each county in detail.
Part VII. Paleontology. A description of the organic remains or fossils in the rocks.
Part VIII. Zoology. A description of the animal life of Michigan.
Part IX. Botany. A complete account of the plant life of Michigan.
Part X. Antiquities. A study of relics and works of Indians, prehistoric peoples in Michigan.
The plan of the Survey and publications had doubt- less already met with opposition. Winchell had asked for an appropriation of $61,300 for a completion of the work he had planned and in publishing his report of progress and outline of work for future accomplish- ment which only a short time previous had been orally discussed with the Board, he introduces a defense of his plans and at the same time pleads for adequate support in executing them. He says:
"I am deeply interested in this work, in every way. I am in a condition to urge it forward as rapidly as it is practicable to do it. I am in possession of the ac- cumulated notes and observations of a seventeen years' period of residence and study. I have access to the original notes of Dr. Houghton; to a folio volume of notes of my own survey in 1859-60; to several scrap- books filled with items and documents bearing upon the material resources of the State; all the materials of former surveys gathered together in the Museum
696 R. C. ALLEN AND H. M. MARTIN
of the University; all my original notes of investigation upon these materials, besides the two or three folio volumes of notes accumulated during the past two years. I feel therefore, not only interested in the work but prepared to prosecute it. I have no purpose however, of protracting the work beyond such period as the legislation which may be had shall necessitate. I would like to complete it within the next two years. It can be done, and should be done. I should feel impatient over a lingering labor prolonged through the interference of parsimonious or illiberal views on the part of the State government. It would be in- justice to myself, as well as damage to the State. I have other enterprises lying before me in the future. I have no disposition to sacrifice them, and cannot. When this work is concluded I desire to visit foreign lands. When this work is concluded I have another work which has the pledge of my undivided attention. I have no motive therefore, to protract this survey. Its pecuniary recompense to me is but a pittance; though I am content. I confess that I labor rather to be remembered with gratitude and respect, than to leave an inheritance to unknown heirs. * * *
"Sixty thousand dollars is not a large sum of money for the great State of Michigan to expend upon a work which is destined to complete the State itself to the eyes and apprehension of the world. It is too large a sum to squander. Not a cent of it should be misap- plied or yielded to a spirit of greed. This work ac- complished, Michigan will be read and known of all men. She has nothing to conceal. Her highest en- conium is the fullest truth. This exposition 'of her mineral resources and physical characteristics will proffer irresistible invitations to immigration, to man-
HISTORY OF THE GEOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 697
ufacture, to wealth, culture, education, and all that constitutes a great and glorious commonwealth.
"It is not an expenditure for the benefit of a single class of our citizens. It is not an appropriation for the insane, nor the idiotic, nor the deaf and dumb. It is not exclusively for the farmer, nor the mechanic, nor the professional class. It is not for the improve- ment of a river, nor a harbor, nor for the construction of a canal or railroad which would benefit but one portion of the State. It is not for education alone— either primary, higker, normal, or professional. It is for all these classes, for all these objects, and for all sections at once. It is an expenditure of 5 cents and one mill by each individual of our population to add millions to the valuation of our real estate, millions to the value of our public lands, and thousands to our population. *****
"It is through making the world acquainted with the facts respecting our States, instead of leaving them in ignorance and consequent suspicion; through the disclosure of positively attractive characteristics — through the consequent influx of immigration, not only of the indigent foreign class, but of the native, enterprising, competent, Americanized classes; through the consequent establishment of manufactures and the proper diversification of our industries; through the opening of roads of every description to supply the wants and conveniences of widening and thickening population; through the enhancement, by such means of the aggregate valuation of real estate, and the corre- lative reduction of the rate of taxation; by these means, and others, will the Survey swell the aggregate of wealth and comfort and civilization within the limits of our State. ******
698 R. C. ALLEN AND H. M. MARTIN
"I cannot help believing that our Legislature will take such action in this case as shall illustrate and fairly represent the intelligence and breadth of view which characterize the population of our State."
But the plans and hopes of Dr. Winchell were des- tined to fail. During the months of February and March 1871, there were frequent meetings of the Board of Geological Survey and from the brief minutes which are preserved it is evident that the Board was dis- satisfied with the direction of the Survey and sought to persuade Dr. Winchell to alter his course in accord- ance with their views. Thus on February 23 "it was resolved to give the survey a more practical direction and to secure more direct and immediate benefits" and on March 13 "The Board after mature reflection and consultation advised the Director to a course of action, to which, however, the Director was unwilling to consent." The discussions between the Director and the Board were continued on March 14 and again on the 21st when the differences remaining unsur- mountable Dr. Winchell tendered his resignation which was laid on the table, discussed on the following day, and not finally accepted until April 17.
In the meantime the Board had proceeded to have the law changed in such a way as to abolish not only the power and duties of the Director but the office itself and to center the full responsibility as well as authority in the Board. The Legislature acted prompt- ly and amended the law in accordance with the desires of the Board, at the same time repealing the provision requiring an equal division of the work and expend- iture between the Northern and the Southern Penin- sulas.25 In other respects the law remains unaltered.
"Act No. 179. Public Acts of 1871. Approved April 17, 1871.
HISTORY OF THE GEOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 690
Dr. Winchell's resignation was accepted on the day the amendments became effective and on this same day Dr. Carl Rominger was appointed to continue the survey of that part of the State not included in the investigations of Major Brooks on the iron ranges, and of Prof. Pumpelly in the copper country.
DR. CARL ROMINGER, 1872-1885
"THE SURVEY OF THE NORTHERN PENINSULA UNDER BROOKS, PUMPELLY, AND ROMINGER, 1871-2
In 1871-2 Dr. Rominger completed a survey of the Paleozoic rocks which cover the east end of the North- ern Peninsula from Marquette to St. Mary's river while the studies of Brooks and Pumpelly on the iron and copper districts were brought to a close. Near the end of 1872 the manuscripts and illustrations were practically finished and were transmitted by the Board to Julius Bien, publisher, of New York. In 1874 an edition of 2,500 copies were delivered to the Board consisting of Vol. I (12 vo.) in three parts, viz.: Part I, 319 pp., Iron-bearing Rocks by Major T. B. Brooks; Part II, 143 pp., Copper District by Raphael Pumpelly assisted by A. R. Mar vine, L. G. Emerson, and L. B. Ladd; Part III, 105 pp., Paleozoic Rocks by Carl Rominger, accompanied by an atlas of geological maps, sections and statistical data; and Vol. II (12 vo. 298 pp.), Appendices to Part I of Vol. I, containing a lithological description of specimens of rocks by Alexis A. Julien, Major Brooks, an,d Chas. E. Wright.26
The appearance of this report marks an epoch in the study of the geology of the Northern Peninsula.
"The total cost of the edition was $22,208.00 or $8.88 per set.
700 R. C. ALLEN AND H. M. MARTIN
Twenty-one years had passed since the reports of the Jackson-Foster-Whitney surveys had been given to the public. In the interim a few articles by various writers on various subjects of the geology of the Northern Peninsula had appeared in certain periodicals but no considerable advance in understanding of the general geology had been made. Previous accounts had been based on explorations more or less widely extended but the studies of Pumpelly, particularly on the copper bearing rocks, and Brooks on the Marquette range were based on those minute observations which have characterized nearly all subsequent work in this region. Pumpelly 's "Paragenesis of the Minerals Associated with Copper" is one of the classics of geology, and Marvine's "Detailed Structure and Stra- tagraphic Sections" remains even today the standard for comparison and correlation of the formation mem- bers of the vast thickness of sedimentary beds and lava flows of the copper bearing series on Keweenaw Point. Brooks' report on the Marquette Range is devoted mainly to the economic aspect of iron mining and smelting but nevertheless a great advance was made in his studies of the structure and succession of the Huronian system in this range. Brooks was the first to perceive that the Marquette range is a great synclinal trough forty miles in length pitching west- ward from the vicinity of Marquette. He also, in company with Pumpelly, made reconnaissance exam- inations of the Gogebic range from Penokee Gap in Wisconsin eastward to Lake Gogebic in Michigan and determined correctly the relations of the Laurentian, Huronian, and Keweenawan systems in this range. Numerous details of the geology of the Menominee and Felch Mountain ranges are also given.
HISTORY OF THE GEOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 701
Rominger's report on the Paleozoic rocks is the first comprehensive description of the geology of "St. Mary's Peninsula" and maintains the high standard set by Pumpelly and Brooks.
During the four years 1872-1876 Dr. Rominger was engaged practically alone in the work of the Survey. The results of his researches are embodied in Volume III of the Survey reports — a discussion of the geological structure of the Southern peninsula, confirming and carrying further the views and researches of the earlier geologists, Houghtofr and Winchell, as to the "basin structure" of the Michigan area. Included as an appendix to Vol. Ill, is a report on the salt wells by Dr. S. S. Garrigues, the State Salt Inspector. But by far the most important part of this publication is Part III, a carefully elaborated monograph on the indigenous fossil corals of the State, which was the first treatise of a state Survey devoted wholly to corals, and which remains today the classic treatise of fossil corals of the Michigan Basin.
In the spring of 1887, the Board of Geological Sur- vey, although comprehending the valuable work of earlier geologists, realized that much exploration of a geological nature remained to be done in the Northern Peninsula, and that despite the arduous labors of Houghton and Winchell, investigations were only commenced and should be continued "Not alone in the appreciation of the economical importance of a thorough knowledge of the geology of this part of the State, which by its mineral wealth belongs to the most favored spots of the continent, but they thought also that the pride and duty of the citizens of the common- wealth required it to contribute to the promotion of science in general with the same liberality as many
702 E. C. ALLEN AND H. M. MARTIN
other States have done and are still doing, and to have so interesting a part of its territory fully ex- amined. " Therefore the Board accepted the report of Dr. Rominger and approved his plan "to examine with careful accuracy certain small circumscribed districts, so related as to embrace the most important rock formations developed in the region. " For the successful execution of such a plan accurate topo- graphic maps were indispensable, but here Dr. Romin- ger, like earlier and later geologists, found his work hampered and delayed by the lack of such maps, having to depend upon the government maps of the linear survey of the United States, upon which the topography was often either omitted or inaccurately recorded. However, the need for careful topographic work as well as a general geologic reconnaissance resulted in the discovery of many "instructive" out- crops which would have been overlooked in less care- ful and painstaking work. Three summer seasons were spent in a detailed investigation, and in the construction of a special geologic and topographic map (scale 2 in. : 1 mi.) of the district about Marque tte, Negaunee and Ishpeming — an area of over 200 square miles. Also Dr. Rominger examined the then im- portant mining locations — Washington, Champion, Republic, Spurr, Michigamme. The season of 1880 was spent in a similar careful examination of the Menominee region, the carefully written report of the work appearing as Vol. IV of the Survey Reports. "Part II, on the Menominee Iron Region was especially valuable in guiding explorations for iron ore in Iron and Dickinson Counties, a region at that time almost an unbroken wilderness."
HISTORY OF THE GEOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 703
During 1884, continuing his plan of careful examina- tion of small areas, the State Geologist continued work in the Northern Peninsula in the copper and iron coun- try. Although the report of the season's work on the copper, gold and iron regions of the Northern Peninsula would have been of great value to mining companies, it would make so small a volume that the Board deemed it advisable to delay its publication, therefore a report pertinent to the mining problems of the day was not placed before the public until ten years later, when it appeared as part of Volume V, 1895.
Dr. Rominger continued as State Geologist until May, 1885, when he was succeeded by Mr. Charles E. Wright of Marquette, who had been Commissioner of Mineral Statistics since 1878, and a member of the Board of Control of the Mining School at Houghton.
CHARLES E. WRIGHT 1885-1888 DR. M. E. WADSWORTH 1888-1893
Mr. Wright remained State Geologist until his death, March, 1888. During the field season he was engaged in making maps of the topography and sketches to illustrate geologic phenomena of the Northern Penin- sula, and in the collection of 3,300 specimens of rocks to be the nuclei of the rock collections of the Univer- sity and various colleges of the State. In the Southern Peninsula, he visited the salt wells and from informa- tion there obtained prepared sixty sections of deep borings. At the time of Wright's death, however, in spite of his zealous labors to fit himself for the position of State Geologist, by years of research and study, and although he had planned and laid out work on a large scale, nothing was available for publication, and many
704 K. C. ALLEN AND H. M. MARTIN
facts and conclusions reached by him were lost to the public.
Following the death of Mr. Wright, pressure was brought to bear upon the Board of Geological Survey to appoint someone as State Geologist who could take up the work where Mr. Wright had left it, the choice falling upon Dr. M. E. Wadsworth, Director of the State Mining School, who had been for many years an associate of Mr. Wright. An arrangement was made with the Mining School whereby Dr. Wads- worth was permitted to manage that institution and at the same time act as State Geologist. That such a union of offices was unwise was brought to the at- tention of the Board, but "the inadequacy of the means provided for carrying on the Survey27 rendering it im- possible for the Board to employ men, furnish rooms, and equip a suitable laboratory, caused the argument that the interests of the School and Survey were, in a measure, identical and that each would aid the other in the objects sought, to prevail."
With the appointment of Dr. Wadsworth, the Sur- vey at last secured offices of its own. Up to that time the Survey had had no habitation other than the private offices or homes of the various geologists, a condition which makes it not surprising that much Survey property had been lost. In May, 1889, the Mining School gave a room, rent free, about twenty-five by thirty feet in size, in which all indoor work of the Survey could be performed, and in which was stored all the property of the Survey, except manuscript and pub- lished volumes. The School also allowed the Survey unrestricted access to and use of all its departments
"$8,000 a year, any part of which remaining at the end of the fiscal year must be returned to the State treasury.
HISTORY OF THE GEOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 705
and laboratories, thus providing a means of more rapid indoor work, preparation of specimens, thin sections, analyses, and map work, which should have hastened publication of reports.
Dr. Wadsworth continued Wright's plan of de- tailed surveys in the Iron Districts, exploring the territory between Iron River and Gogebic Lake, and between the State boundary and township 46 on the north, and in mapping unsurveyed districts near the Marquette district in 1888; in 1889 extending the ex- ploration westward from Lake Gogebic to the State boundary and in exploring the eastern boundary of the copper bearing rocks.
In 1889 arrangements were made for the coopera- tion of the State Survey with the United States Survey, enabling the State Survey to devote most of its time and resources to the economic geology of the State, leaving the more purely scientific studies, particularly in paleontology, to the United States Survey. The Board at that time upon the recommendation of Dr. Wadsworth, voted to correspond with Prof. Menden- hall, Superintendent of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, asking him to undertake the triangulation of the State, the making of a topographic map, and the running of a line of levels in the State, but apparently nothing further was done to aid the inauguration and progress of the much needed topographic survey.
The Board of Geological Survey of 1890-9228 seems to have taken a very lively personal interest in the work of the Survey. They accepted Dr. Wads- worth's very ambitious plans of organization of and
"Winans, Babcock, Fitch.
706 R. C. ALLEN AND H. M. MARTIN
work for the Survey29 but from the minutes of the meet- ings it is evident that they were " dissatisfied and disappointed" with the slow output of material for publication and "dissatisfied that the rock specimens and thin sections were not being prepared and sent to the various schools and colleges with greater rapid- ity." The Board visited the offices of the Survey at Hough ton and at a joint meeting with the Board of Control of the Mining School, it was decided that Dr. Wadsworth should be released from his duties as Director of the school until May 1, 1892 (from August, 1891), "to such an extent as was necessary to enable him to complete the work to date." Also the State Geologist was requested to supply the Board with
"1st. — History of the former geological work done in Michigan with the results obtained.
2d. — A general index of all past publications that relate to the general and eco- nomic geology of Michigan, giving ranges, townships and sections as an aid to the explorer, miner, quarryman, and others.
3d. — Republication of the reports of Dr. Douglass Houghton.
4th. — Unpublished report of Dr. Bominger.
5th. — Sketch of the life of Chas. E. Wright, M.E., late State Geologist, contain- ing his annual report.
6th. — Township or district maps of the distribution of the rocks and geological formations, for the use of the explorer and others, covering the chief parts of the counties of Baraga, Marquette, Iron, Menominee, and Gogebic, with some por- tions of Ontonagon, Houghton and Keeweenaw counties.
7th. — Descriptive text to accompany above maps containing an account of the geological structure so far as known, and a description of the observed rocks and minerals.
8th. — A classification and description of the minerals of Michigan, their distribu- tion, methods of determination, etc., to assist the explorer and others.
9th. — A general classification and description of rocks, with special relation to Michigan rocks, for general use.
10th. — A general classification and description of ore deposits in general, with special reference to the Michigan ore deposits, as an assistance to explorers, miners, and others.
llth. — The iron ore deposits of Michigan, their origin and relations, with sections, maps, etc., together with a discussion of the comparative relations of other iron ore deposits.
12th. — The gold and silver deposits of Michigan, with maps, etc., together with a comparison of the mode of occurrence of related deposits.
13th. — The copper deposits of Michigan and related districts.
14th. — The gas and salt wells of Michigan, with sections and a general discussion of the occurrence of gas, petroleum and salt.
15th. — The building stones, their properties, mode of pccurrence, etc.
16th. — Gypsum, coal, limes, clays, marls, and the minor mineral products of Michigan.
17th. — Methods of mining, timbering, hoisting, etc., particularly those employed in Michigan.
18th. — Methods of ore dressing used in Michigan, and elsewhere if adapted to Michigan products.
19th. — Metallurgical processes suitable for use in Michigan.
20th. — Rectification of the boundary line between the copper bearing rocks and the Eastern sandstone, with a discussion of their relations and the probable ex- tension of the copper belt.
HISTORY OP THE GEOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 707
"data for their annual report by January 1, 1891." In this request the Board was disappointed and the somewhat acrimonious correspondence ensuing led Dr. Wadsworth to tender his resignation March 3, 1891, which resignation was not however accepted, but a sharp communication was sent him "that unless the material required for the annual report of the board is forwarded to the Board by the first of April next, the Board will take steps forthwith to transfer its property to Lansing, discharge its present employees and employ such <5thers as it sees fit." Also a com- mittee, Messrs. Babcock and Fitch, was appointed to visit the State Geologist to ascertain what progress was made in preparation of the report. This investigation and a letter to the Board (see footnote29) giving in detail the State Geologist's plan and the statement that "suspension of its operations or any change in the Survey now would result either in putting back the publication for many years, or more probably would cause the entire loss to the State of the past ten years' work already done since no one can take up the work of another, in its partial development, and carry it on as fully and as rapidly as the originator himself," resulted in continuing Dr. Wadsworth as State Geol- ogist and writing him that "the differences between him and the Board had arisen from a misunderstanding of the amount of work to be completed," and in the report of the Board is written "Dr. Wadsworth has the survey thoroughly organized, and has surrounded himself with intelligent assistants, and so far as the time given the Survey will permit, is making considerable progress."
Although the papers comprising Vol. V of the Survey publication, excepting the manuscript relating
70S E. C. ALLEN AND H. M. MARTIN
to*salt, gas and petroleum wells, were in the hands of the Board in June, 1892, and in spite of the fact that it was the lack of published results of the progress of the survey that stirred this Board to its singular activ- ity, the Board retired with the volume unpublished, publishing only "The Report of The State Board of Geological Survey for the years 1891 and 1892," to which are appended Exhibits setting forth the ex- penses of the Survey from its inception to November 1892, the reports of Dr. Carl Rominger for the years 1881 and 1882-3; of Mr. Charles E. Wright for the years 1885-8, of Dr. M. E. Wadsworth for the years 1887, 1890, 1891, 1892; also a provisional report by Dr. Wadsworth upon the geology of the iron, gold, and copper districts of Michigan. This provisional report of Dr. Wadsworth's is the only contribution of the Wright and Wadsworth administration. It was published without maps and is for that reason of less value than it otherwise would be.
This is the first and only report by a Board of Geological Survey of Michigan, as such; although the law provides that such a report shall be made, it makes no provision as to the official or body to whom the report is to be presented. In this report it was ob- served that the members of the Board are such ex- officio (the Governor, Superintendent of Public In- struction, and Secretary of the State Board of Educa- tion) and that if the law intended the annual report to be made to the governor, it would in effect require the governor to make a report to himself. The Board of 1891-2 made its report to the Legislature, and suggested that the law be amended to specify the official body to whom the report shall be made. Among the recommendations for remedial legislation made
HISTORY OF THE GEOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 709
by this very active and interested Board were some which were significant of future changes to be made in the conduct of the Survey: one was, that "a room in the Capitol be set aside for the Geological Survey *****" thus foreshadowing the time when the Survey would be severed from Mining School or University and be an independent institution with offices in Lansing; another asked an increased appro- priation so as to secure the entire time of competent geologists, so paving the way for the time when the Director of the Suivey should also be independent of Mining School or University or other institution, paving the way for the time when the finances of the Survey should be on a plain business basis, and the work of the Survey should no longer be hindered by the divided interests of the Director (Dr. Winchell and Dr. Rominger were professors in the University, Mr. Wright was a practicing mining engineer, and Dr. Wadsworth was President of the College of Mines), but the compensation of the Director be such that he could devote his entire time to the Survey; a third recommendation brought about some immediate though partial result, but was partially carried out nearly twenty years later. The Board said: "We are unable to see any reason for the existence of a Commissioner of Mineral Statistics independent of the Geological Survey. The work of the officer naturally falls under the supervision of the Survey, and could better be done by it than by such commissioner. Should that office, therefore, be united with the Survey, and an additional officer be added to the Board of Geological Survey, whose duties should be to discharge the funo- tions now performed by that officer, great good would accrue to the State. The Geological Survey would
710 K. C. ALLEN AND H. M. MARTIN
be properly looked after, and equally valuable results obtained relative to mineral statistics, with but little if any additional expense to the State."
The Legislature took no action at this time, but eventually the recommendations were partly carried out and the successors of Dr. Wadsworth have devoted their undivided efforts to the Survey.
The succeeding Board, Gov. John T. Rich, Hon. Perry Powers, and Hon. H. R. Pattengill, acted upon the recommendations of their predecessors to the extent of considering legislation to incorporate the office of Mineral Statistics with the Survey, and to appoint a State Geologist independent of the College of Mines. When informed of the intentions of the Board, Dr. Wadsworth offered to resign as President of the Mining School and devote his entire time to the directorship of the Survey, if his compensation would be placed at $4,000 a year. The Board did not accept Dr. Wadsworth's proposal, however, and on July 1, 1893, appointed Dr. Lucius L. Hubbard of the Board of Directors of the Mining School to the office of State Geologist, and Dr. A. C. Lane, Assistant State Geologist.
DR. LUCIUS L. HUBBARD, 1893-1899
With the appointment of Dr. Hubbard the Survey entered upon a period of thorough reorganization- it was severed from Mining School and University, the efforts of the Director were not henceforth to be divided with other interests, the Survey was no longer to be an appendage to the University or the College of Mines, a condition considered by the Board to be beneficial to those institutions, but detrimental to the Survey.
L. L. IIUBBARD 1893-1899
ALFRED C. LANE 1899-1909
C. ALLEX 1909-1919
DOUGLASS HOUGHTON 1838-1846
HISTORY OP THE GEOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 711
On October 6, 1893, the Board of Control of the Mining School passed a resolution giving the Survey permission to erect "a suitable building on the east side of the Michigan Mining School property ****** on a piece of ground to be designated by the Executive Committee of the Board of Control, and to occupy the same rent free for the purposes of carrying on the work of the Survey, but for no other purpose; said ground occupied by said building to be under the general management of the Board of Con- trol of the Minin'g School; the Board of Control re- serving the right, if at any time the ground occupied by said building should in their judgment be needed for the use of the Mining School, to remove the said structure to some other part of its grounds; the said Geological Survey to occupy said ground on which said building shall be erected as tenants at the will of the Board of Control of the Michigan Mining School." The offer of the Board of Control was accepted, and through the efforts of Dr. Hubbard the citizens of Houghton contributed $1,100 to which the Survey added $1,500 and a small one and a half story building equipped with a fire-proof vault was erected, and at last after an existence of over half a century, the first department of the State to be created secured housing of its own, partly equipped with apparatus most necessary for its work.
Up to this time the history of the achievements of the Third Survey is mainly a record of exploration and progress in the Northern Peninsula, aside from the brief, interrupted work of Prof. Winchell, 1859- 1863 and the lonely work of Prof. Rominger, and some records and statistics collected by Mr. Wright on the salt and gas wells of the Southern Peninsula, But
712 K. C. ALLEN AND H. M. MARTIN
since the United States Geological Survey was at this time completing the Monograph on the Lake Superior District30 and further work by the Michigan Survey in the Iron District would lead to duplication, Dr. Hubbard made an agreement with the Federal Sur- vey to do no work in the Iron District, continuing, however, work on Keweenaw Point and Isle Royale. However, exploration was extended to the Southern Peninsula under the direction of Dr. Lane, Assistant State Geologist. Dr. Lane had been engaged for some time past in making microscopical studies of the thin sections of Michigan rocks collected by Mr. Wright; he had also carefully worked over the notes on and the records of gas and salt well sections left by Mr. Wright and from these prepared the first important contribution since that of Prof. Rominger to the literature of the Geology of the Southern Peninsula — "The Geology of the Lower Peninsula with Reference to Deep Borings." This work "was particularly valu- able, both scientifically and economically because it enabled correlations to be made between the strata in one part of the Southern Peninsula with similar strata in all other parts, and thus not only clarified the geologic history of the Paleozoic Era in Michigan, but furnished a valuable guide for the prospector in search of any of the products of these rocks, such as gypsum, coal, building stone, cement materials and especially salt and bromine." It developed from these studies of Dr. Lane, that there are four horizons that yield commercial salt and brines. This report with an introduction by Dr. Hubbard on "The Origin of Salt, Gypsum and Petroleum" was published in
"Monograph 52 U. S. G. S. Van Hise and Leith.
HISTORY OF THE GEOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 713
1895 as Part II of Volume V, Part I being the long delayed report of Dr. Rominger on the Geology of the Upper Peninsula.
During the years 1895-96, Dr. Hubbard was en- gaged in intensive field study of the copper bearing rocks,31 the Keweenaw Series, on Keweenaw Point, and at the same time, Dr. Lane was engaged in a similar study of the same series of rocks which com- pose the unique Isle Royale. Dr. Hubbard made particular study of problems untouched or uncon- sidered by other geologists, particularly in connection with the acid intrusives in the lower part of the series; he obtained much data enabling him to elucidate many valuable details of structure, and interpret results of explorations, particularly near Portage Lake.
Dr. Lane's studies on Isle Royale were similar in scope to Dr. Hubbard's for Keweenaw Point, but Dr. Lane included minute studies of the copper bear- ing rocks, or Keweenaw Series forming the island, their origin, present composition, structural and topo- graphic relations and the geologic processes by which they have been metamorphosed to their present condi- tion. Dr. Lane reported also on the prehistoric copper mining on Isle Royale, and described modern attempts to locate and mine copper from all of which he was enabled to give valuable advice concerning future exploration.
The reports of these two surveys embody the high- est type of geological work; they were accompanied by valuable maps and were complete and ready for pub- lication in December, 1896. But they also were fated
"A direct result of the geological studies made by Dr. Hubbard in the copper district was his discovery of the Champion Mine, which is now (1921) Michigan's most valuable copper mine. "The Champion Mine is valued at $11,000.000.
has produced 341.669,308 pounds of copper and paid $25.850.260 in dividends. For the eight year period 1912-1919 the Champion paid to the State $993.338.89 in taxes," nearly twice the total cost of the Michigan Geological Survey since 1869:
714 R. C. ALLEN AND H. M. MARTIN
to delay in publication. For some reason the Board of Auditors refused to publish reports of the Geological Survey unless authorized to do so by the legislature. This caused a delay of two years in publication and resulted in the passing of Act No. 78 of the Laws of 1899, by which the Board of Geological Survey was authorized "to order the publication of reports which it is by aforesaid act32 authorized to require." "By publication is understood to include printing, and at their discretion electrotyping, of the reports above mentioned, and the preparation of illustrations and maps thereto appertaining; * *
Sec. 2. Bills for the expenses incurred under the provisions of Section 1 of this Act shall after approval by the Board be presented to the State Board of Auditors and after allowance ol them audited by the Auditor General and paid for from the general fund ****** *." Following the passage of this Act, the two reports appeared as Vol. VI of the Survey Reports published by Dr. Hubbard's successor, though prop- erly belonging to Dr. Hubbard's administration.
Many inquiries from people within and without Michigan relative to the economic mineral deposits of the State came to the office of the Survey, and be- cause the absence of knowledge as to the exact loca- tion of such deposits was a serious drawback to pos- sible exploitation by would-be investors, and therefore to the development of the State, the Survey planned the accumulation of knowledge of such nature, and Dr. Hubbard laid out a plan for work in the Southern Peninsula, a plan which was determined by the geo- logical structure of the Southern Peninsula. "As is well known, the geological structure of the Lower
"Act No. 65. Laws of 1869.
HISTORY OP THE GEOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 715
Peninsula can be compared to a series of bowls placed one within another, the center is occupied by the coal measures and from the center outwards the different formations may be expected to occur more or less regularly in all directions in sequence. Consequently the geology of any given segment of the bowl-aggregate or basin will be likely to match approximately any other segment. The geology of Monroe County will correspond to the area about Cheboygan and St. Ignace. Sanilac and the greater part of Huron and Tuscola being without the coal basin, will represent the geological conditions that prevail in losco, Mis- saukee, Newaygo, Kent, Barry, Washtenaw, Lapeer and other counties contiguous to the coal basin. * * * The plan of the survey was to begin simultaneously on different parts of the formations, in counties where the rock outcrops were supposed to be most abundant and where these outcrops supplemented by data from artesian and other wells, would enable us to construct maps showing the surface contour and other maps showing the rock contours — that is, the calculated depth from the surface to rock at any point. The de- tailed enumeration of these reports of the different economic products encountered during the progress of the work, not only would be an aid to the invest- ment of capital at the point or points specified, but would serve an even more important purpose. The citizens of Cheboygan, knowing that they are on the same belt that passes under Monroe County, would know that unless geologic conditions had changed much to the north, they might find in their neighbor- hood both pure and hydraulic limestone, glass-sand and salt; * * * Thus the publication of one county report would have significance and interest for the citizens
716 R. C. ALLEN AND H. M. MARTIN
of many counties, and might stimulate exploration at many points. It would be for the Survey to deter- mine later with more precision the exact boundaries of the different belts as its systematic work was ex- tended to other counties. * * *"33
In the consummation of this plan field work was carried on in Huron County by Dr. Lane, in Sanilac County by Dr. C. H. Gordon and in Monroe County by Prof. W. H. Sherzer. The work was begun most auspiciously, the manuscripts on Huron and Sanilac counties being submitted in January and September 1897, and the field work on Monroe County being completed early in 1898, but the facts did not reach the people of the State for whom they were intended due to the refusal of the Board of Auditors to order printing of plates for the county bulletins. Pending legislation on the question Dr. Lane addressed a num- ber of Farmers' Institutes on the subject "The Best Farm Water Supply," "this," quoting Dr. Hubbard, "appeared to be the best medium available to bring before the people a part, at least, of the results of the Survey work."
During the early history of the salt industry in the Saginaw Valley, the refuse from the lumber mills had furnished readily available fuel, but this "inex- haustible supply of pine" became exhausted, and if the salt industry was to flourish, a cheap fuel must be found within the State since lacking competition, the cost of imported coal from Ohio and Pennsylvania was almost prohibitive. This caused in 1895 a rapid de- velopment in the coal areas which had been known for over fifty years. In 1898, Dr. Lane had prepared a report on the Coal Basin to help development and "to
"Sixth Annual Report of State Geologist, L. L. Hubbard, Jan. 1899.
HISTORY OF THE GEOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 717
give the land owner of Lower Michigan that amount of geological information which would enable him to form an intelligent estimate of the value of his land for coal mining purposes, and to plan intelligently for the economical development thereof,34 and to make the report available and of value, it was printed serially in the Michigan Miner (Saginaw). It may be said here that later these reports were all issued by the Survey.35 But the delay in printing having made the work of the Survey temporarily useless, Dr. Hubbard declined. to continue the county survey on the same scale as in the three counties already sur- veyed, so that during the season of 1898 the county survey was carried on only in Tuscola County, by Prof. C. A. Davis working almost alone.
January 10, 1899, Dr. Hubbard tendered his resig- nation from the directorship of the Survey. His ad- ministration had been most efficient; he had thor- oughly reorganized the Survey, perfected a plan for its development, which still remains in effect to some extent, surrounded himself with competent assistants, and though sadly embarrassed by the unaccountable opposition of the Board of Auditors, had secured results of benefit to the State.
DR. A. c. LANE, 1899-1909
In April, 1899, the Board of Geological Survey elected Dr. Lane as State Geologist. Dr. Lane had been connected with the Survey during Dr. Wads- worth's administration, and had served as Assistant State Geologist with Dr. Hubbard. He was thor- oughly conversant with the plans of Dr. Hubbard
"Vol. VIII.
«VoL VII.— 1900, and Vol. VIII.— 1903.
718 R. C. ALLEN AND H. M. MARTIN
for the development of the Survey and continued to put them into execution.
The main office of the Survey was now transferred to Lansing and quarters for it secured in the old Hoi- lister block and later in the Old State Building. Mr. Savicki, working under the direction of Dr. Hubbard, was left in charge of the Houghton office. The build- ing which this office occupied was later moved from the grounds of the College of Mines to a lot on East Street which was later purchased by the Survey, al- though it was always the dream of Dr. Lane that the State might build a substantial, preferably stone, building in which valuable drill cores (costing $2.00 to $5.00 per foot) might be kept — "a stone library for a library of stone. "
Hitherto the interests of the Survey had been de- voted mainly to the Northern Peninsula and to struc- tural geology. The geology of the Southern Peninsula is far less complex than that of the Northern, and the economic minerals and deposits at or near the surface are more numerous and varied, though even in the aggregate not so valuable as the minerals of the Northern Peninsula. This fact coupled with the num- erous requests for data on such deposits, on artesian water supplies, on coal, etc., make it not at all sur- prising that the Survey publications began to assume a more diverse character as to subject matter. Investi- gations of the economic geology continued — particu- larly investigations of coal, clay, shales, and marls.86 At the suggestion of Prof. Russell of the University of Michigan, Mr. J. H. Cole in 1902 was engaged in a field study of the St. Clair Delta, a formation unique
"Vol. VIII. Part I, Clays and Shales, Dr. H. Ries, Cornell; Part II. Coal, Dr. Lane; Part III, Marl. Dr. D. J. Hill.
HISTORY OF THE GEOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 719
among deltas since it is being formed by a short river which serves as the outlet of a great lake.37 During the same season Mr. G. P. Grimsley of the Kansas Survey was investigating the gypsum industry of the State.37 The activities of the Survey were widely distributed throughout the State as well as being diversified in character. For the division of geology in the Northern Peninsula, Prof. I. C. Russell was engaged in exploration and reconnaissance along the northern shores of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron31* and in a study of*the surface geology of Menominee, Dickinson and Iron Counties.39 Mr. W. C. Gordon, then in charge of the Houghton office, explored, ex- amined and made a geologic section of the copper bearing rocks of the Keweenaw Series between Bes- semer and Lake Superior down Black River, a work designed to call attention to a then little known area of copper bearing rocks.40 Dr. Hubbard had con- tinued without salary, to direct work in the Northern Peninsula, but about 1903 found it impossible to devote time to the Survey and Dr. Frederic E. Wright "a highly trained man from the College of Mines was engaged as Assistant State Geologist." Dr. Wright brought to his study of the Porcupine Mountains41 and Mt. Bohemia42 the same painstaking care which later made him an expert in the field of petrography. Towards the close of Dr. Lane's administration, Mr. R. C. Allen began a study of the Iron River District. Preparation of a report on the Surface Geology of the Northern Peninsula was in charge of Mr. Lever- ett of the United States Geological Survey. From the
"Part I. Vol. IX. Part II, Vol. IX.
"Ann. Kept. 1904.
"Ann. Kept. 1906.
"Ann. Kept. 1906.
"Ann. Kept. 1903.
"Ann. Kept. 1908.
720 R. C. ALLEN AND H. M. MARTIN
numerous requests reaching the Director's office Dr. Lane had become interested in the water supply of the State and besides his interest in the correlation of copper drilling from data furnished from the mines, Dr. Lane made a study and analysis of the potable waters of the Peninsula. The published reports of these last three investigations did not appear till some time after Dr. Lane's resignation from the Survey.
In the Southern Peninsula following the plan of Dr. Hubbard to secure data on the economic deposits of the State, examinations were made of salt shafts, peat deposits, the Port Huron oil field and of foundry sands. Most of the Michigan foundries secured the needed molding sands from Ohio, and as these deposits approached exhaustion it seemed advisable to de- termine whether Michigan's many factories could not be supplied by Michigan sand. Accordingly Prof. H. Ries was engaged to examine and report on the deposits of molding sands in the State. The report43 shows that Michigan has many deposits of sand although much of it is too coarse for molding purposes and many of the deposits are limited in area. Reports of counties — Lapeer,44 Muskegon,44 Bay,45 contiguous to the Coal Basin were continued, the reports on Arenac County44 completed and that for Wayne County begun. The Board of Supervisors of Alcona peti- tioned for a survey of that coutoty, but the funds at the disposal of the Survey did not permit the sur- vey of that county without dropping work of equal importance begun elsewhere. Therefore with a public s*piritedness worthy of emulation, Mr. J. H. Kill- master of Alcona County gave the free use of his
«Ann. Report. 1907. "Ann. Kept. 1901. «Ann. Kept. 1905.
HISTORY OF THE GEOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 721
team of horses and the supervisors of Alcona County voted to expend $200 on the survey under the direction of Dr. Lane.
Perhaps the most important contribution to the literature on the geology of the Southern Peninsula during Dr. Lane's incumbency is that contained in the Annual Report for 1908 — The Geological Section of Michigan, by Dr. Lane and Prof. A. E. Seaman. The section was made from a careful examination and correlation of well records46 by Dr. Lane for the Southern Peninsula and for the Northern Peninsula from drill records and the observations made by Dr. Seaman. The section was published in 1909 — a fitting close to Dr. Lane's long active connection with the Survey. It is in the main tentative, but nevertheless its chief correlations remain substantially as worked out by the authors.
In securing legislation and appropriations for the Survey, Dr. Lane was not so successful as in securing aid in the scientific field. From the amount of work done in the State, and the very meager appropriations ($8,000 a year) one is constrained to believe that much of the work was a "labor of love," perhaps fittingly repaid by indorsement of the scientific world but most unsubstantially rewarded by the chief bene- ficiary— the State of Michigan. However some very needed and long asked for legislation was secured — the establishment of the divisions of topographic and biologic surveys.
From the time of Douglass Houghton, every State Geologist had urged the need of a topographic survey of the State, every legislature, after the first four, had failed to heed that need and meet it with a proper
"Vol. V. GeoL Surv.
722 R. C. ALLEN AND H. M. MARTIN
appropriation. In 1891, Dr. Wads worth reported that * 'plans are being formulated for a complete topo- graphical map of Michigan in part at least by the aid of the United States Coast Survey and the United States Geological Survey." In 1892, he writes that "some correspondence has been had with the United States Geological Survey" in an effort to obtain the needed survey, and he urged that the Board press the needed legislation and secure the proper appropriation, but with no result. Ten years later, Dr. Lane found that because of the removal of the Houghton office, plans for summer field work in the Northern Peninsula were delayed and the sum of money for such work rendered available for work in the Southern Peninsula. This sum was used with the consent of the Board, "in preparing a sample sheet of a topographic map such as the United States is prepared to execute in coopera- tion with the State." Accordingly August 17, 1901, a contract47 was signed by C. D. Walcott, Director of the United States Geological Survey, and Dr. Lane, State Geologist of Michigan, for the execution of a cooperative topographic survey of one thirty minute quadrangle between latitudes 40° and 40° 30' and longitude 83° 30' and 84° — nearly covering Washte- naw County and portions of adjacent counties on the north, east and south. Thus, following repeated but futile appeals to the Legislature by nearly all the former State Geologists, by the Michigan Academy of Science, Engineering Society, the faculty of the University, Prof. Russell and others, was inaugurated with the very meager funds at the disposal of the State Geologist, a survey which benefits a greater variety of man's pursuits than any other single de-
«Ann Beport. 1901, p. 261.
HISTORY OF THE GEOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 723
partment of the Geological Survey, a survey which had been needed from the establishment of the Sur- vey in 1837, earnestly desired by Douglass Hough ton,48 and all succeeding geologists and whose value had been demonstrated by the use made of the Menominee sheets prepared by the Federal Survey. According to the agreement between the Director of the Federal Survey and the State Geologist, $4,000 was to be expended from the Federal Survey and $2,000 ap- propriated from the meager general fund of the State Survey. This sum, however, jwas not sufficient to complete the mapping and the^quadrangle was com- pleted at Federal expense.
The satisfactory execution of this map, the re- peated urgings of Prof. Russell, endorsements of scien- tific men and Michigan's representatives in Congress, the earnest solicitations of the members of the Uni- versity faculties, and the indefatigable efforts of the State Geologist, convinced the Legislature of 1903 of the need of such topographic work, and it therefore appropriated the sum of $1,000 (!) to continue the work.4* This act was a step in the right direction but it did not go far enough — it merely appropriated a small sum to further the work, but the Legislature of 1905 by Act 251 authorized the Board of Geological Survey "to confer with the director or representative of the United States Geological Survey and to accept its cooperation with this State in the preparation and completion of a contour topographic map of this State, which is hereby authorized to be made/'80
"Witness that Act No. 49. 1838 did provide for a topographical department and Act No. 92, 1844 provided a salary for a State Topographer, but the reorgan- ization of 1859 and 1869 made no provision for further topographic work.
"Act 178. 1903.
"Act 251. Public Acts 1905.
724 R. C. ALLEN AND H. M. MARTIN
The division of topographic survey has since grown steadily but the State Legislatures during Dr. Lane's administration did not see fit to appropriate sufficient funds to carry the work to the speedy completion in which the Federal Government was willing to cooperate.
The original acts creating the Geological Survey provided also for a zoological and biological Survey of the State61 but with the reorganization of the Survey in 1869, with lack of that vision which actuated the organizers of the first Survey, and failing to appreciate the economic as well as purely scientific value of a thorough survey of the fauna 'and flora of the State, the Legislature made no provision for carrying on the biological work; so for thirty-six years a most, im- portant field was neglected. The Michigan Academy of Science endeavored to remedy matters and from 1900 brief references are made in the minutes of the Board of Geological Survey to the attempts to re- establish the biological division. Dr. Lane asked for an appropriation of $1,000 ''until we can see what the work needs." In 1903 the Board authorized Dr. Lane to confer with the heads of departments of Zo- ology and Botany of the University and Agricultural College, Experiment Station and Board of Forestry and submit a plan for the conduct of the Biological Survey. As a result of these activities the Legisja- ture realized that the work of the biological survey would * 'pro vide information which if used in legisla- tion will save the State literally millions of dollars in augmented crops and actually return to the people of Michigan hundreds of thousands of dollars in ani- mal food and fur alone. * * that the wild life is a valuable resource and that an inventory and
"Acts No. 20, Public Acts 1837, and No. 49, Public Acts 1838.
HISTORY OF THE GEOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 725
appraisal are necessary to an intelligent administering of this resource,'* therefore the Legislature enacted52 4 'that the Board of Geological Survey is hereby author- ized and required to make under the direction of the State Geologist, appointed by them, a thorough bio- logical survey of the State, embracing a determination of the range and distribution of the various plants and animals inhabiting the State and the relation to their environment and the welfare of man."
The Biological Survey did not lack material for early publication. * During the summer of 1904 an eco- logical study of the Porcupine Mountains, Ontonagon County, and of Isle Royale had been made by an expedition sent out by the University Museum of the University of Michigan under the direction of Dr. C. C. Adams then curator of the museum, with Mr. A. G. Ruthven as chief naturalist of the party. The region of the Porcupines had been prospected over during the early days of mining activity but a half century had elapsed since the sinking of shafts so that the region had reverted practically to its primeval con- dition. Since the encroachment of civilization had so destroyed habitats and exterminated plant and animal species in the Southern Peninsula it was desirable that collections be made from these primitive regions of the Northern Peninsula before the approach of civilization made it too late.53 Only a few weeks could be devoted during 1904 to the work on Isle Royale but the work was completed in the 1905 season.54 These surveys were made at no expense to the State but were made possible through the generosity of public spirited
"Act No. 250, Public Acts 1905.
MThe reports of this survey by Mr. Ruthven, Otto McCrary and Dr. Byrant Walker appear in the Annual Report for 1905.
"Biological Survey of Michigan 1908, C. C. Adams.
726 R. C. ALLEN AND H. M. MARTIN
friends of the University Museum, Mr. H. M. Kauff- man and Hon. Peter White of Marquette and Dr. Bryant Walker of Detroit.
The prolonged strike of the hard coal miners in 1902-3 followed by scarcity and high prices of all sorts of fuel led to consideration of all possible sources of available fuel supply, among them peat, since about one-seventh of the area of Michigan was estimated swamp or muck land. Dr. Lane prepared a brief report on peat in 1902, and later assigned to Prof. Davis the task of making extended investigations into the method and accumulation of peat, causes for its variation, in structure and appearance, and its distribu- tion within the State. From these investigations one of the most valuable papers of the biological survey was prepared for publication in 1906.56 The demand for this publication proved the wisdom of the establish- ment of the biological survey, and of presenting to the people of the State accounts of the biologic resources, if there were any doubt of such wisdom.
A biologic survey was made of Walnut Lake in Oakland County by Mr. T. L. Hankinson and asso- ciates.66 The main object of this survey was to de- termine why whitefish, which the Michigan Fish Com- mission had planted in a number of lakes, should thrive in this particular lake when unable to maintain themselves elsewhere — to determine what factors of the Walnut Lake habitat cause the whitefish to flourish there. A knowledge of these conditions makes it possible to determine in what other lakes of the State this valuable food fish may be planted and raised. Other papers of scientific and economic interest were
"Annual Kept. 1906. "Ann. Kept. 1907.
HISTORY OF THE GEOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 727
well under preparation by 1909 to appear in future publications, i. e. on the Crataegus (the Thornapple) of Michigan (Ann. Kept. 1907), crawfish, insect galls, sites of aboriginal remains, etc.
An outcome of the organization of the biological Survey as a division of the Geological Survey was the recognition by Dr. Lane and the Board of Geological Survey of the wisdom of having an advisory com- mittee, an extra-legal body, of scientific men as a Board of Advisors for the Survey. Accordingly in 1905 Dr. Lane was, authorized to appoint such a board consisting of two geologists, two botanists and two zoologists, and chose Dr. L. L. Hubbard and Prof. I. C. Russell, geologists, Prof. Jacob Reighard and Prof. Barrows, zoologists and Mr. W. J. Beal and Prof. F. C. Newcombe, botanists as the first advisory board of the Survey. In 1908 Dr. A. G. Ruthven of the University of Michigan was appointed Chief Natur- alist of the Survey.
In 1909 Dr. Lane resigned from the Survey to accept a position in Tufts College. Dr. Lane had been associated with the Survey for more than twenty years, and had watched and fostered its growth from a State department which as an adjunct to the College of Mines had employed the partial services of a State Geologist and a few assistants in work in the Northern Peninsula, to an independent department employing the expert services of a large body of trained scientists in investigations in both Peninsulas, a department not of geology alone, but with the added divisions of topography and biology, thus complying with the wise provisions due to the genius of Douglass Houghton and embodied in the Act 20, 1837, by which the first survey was organized. Though hampered always in
728 R. C. ALLEN AND H. M. MARTIN
his plans by insufficient appropriations and the apathy, lack of foresight, or utter indifference of the Legisla- ture, Dr. Lane had so firmly established the Third Survey that it was ready to enter that wider scope brought about by his successor. In accepting his resignation the Board of Geological Survey passed the following resolution:
"Whereas, Dr. Alfred C. Lane, for twenty years State Geologist for the State of Michigan, has resigned his position in this capacity, Therefore Be it Resolved by the State Board of Geological Survey that Dr. Lane's resignation is greatly regretted by this Board. His administration has been unprecedented in length of time and unparalleled by amount of publication and marked by uninterruptedly harmonious relations with other Boards and the great schools of the State. Geological work has been fairly distributed in all parts of the State, and without neglecting pure science, economic results have been attained. Among the results obtained have been copper lodes located; the coal production has increased from 50,000 tons to 1,500,000 tons; rock salt is now to be mined; soda, salt, mineral water, limestone, cement and clay indus- tries have been fostered and valuable advice on water supply given. In view of these well known facts be it further
Resolved, that the severing of Dr. Lane's official relations with the work is a distinct loss to the State and that another State is to be congratulated on secur- ing the services of a man who has for so long done valuable work for Michigan, and be it further
Resolved, that a copy of these resolutions be spread on the minutes of the Board of Geological Survey."
HISTORY OF THE GEOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 729
MR. R. C. ALLEN, 1909-1919
Dr. Lane's resignation took effect in September, 1909, and he was immediately succeeded by Mr. R. C. Allen as State Geologist.
With the foundation laid by Dr. Lane, the Survey under his successor has been able to build and expand, to take its place as one of the extremely vital forces in the development of the State. With a dynamic director unfettered by academic traditions and ties, the Survey became the dynamic force in Michigan welfare that Doug&ss Houghton visioned, of "practical and immediate application in the administration and development of State policies and laws bearing upon the development, use, exploitation, and taxation of the natural resources of the State."
A review of the new series of publications is a re- view of the purely geological work undertaken. A perusal of these publications will show that geology as a pure science has nowhere overshadowed geology as an economic science of daily value to all the citizens of the State. Some of the geological work was under- taken before the present regime but completed and published since 1909. Prof. A. W. Grabau and Prof. W. H. Sherzer completed a study of the Monroe forma- tion.57 It may be stated here that from this study and subsequent studies based upon it knowledge was obtained of the valuable glass sand deposits of Monroe County. This was a knowledge of extreme value during the War, since cut off from German sources of optical glass supply, America seemed on the verge of impotence in those researches using optical instru- ments. An available supply of pure, iron-free glass
"Pub. 2, Geol. Ser. 1, 1910.
730 R. C. ALLEN AND H. M. MARTIN
sand would relieve that condition. Michigan has such glass sand and supplied it and continues to supply it in quantities sufficient for all government uses for high grade optical glass.
"The Monroe Formation of Michigan and Adjoin- ing Regions" is the first of a series of monographs on the Paleozoic formations of Michigan.. Four others are still in preparation — the Devonian formations by Professor Grabau, the Marshall and the Coldwater formations by Professor G. H. Girty, and the Niagaran limestones by Mr. George M. Ehlers. These mono- graphs when completed will give an exhaustive his- tory of the Paleozoic geology of the Michigan province and will be a repository of valuable information on the mineral resources and gj*oundwater supplies of the Southern Peninsula and the eastern half of the North- ern Peninsula.
Of Dr. Hubbard's proposed county reports two have been completed. Arenac County5S by Professor W. M. Gregory, and Wayne County by Prof. Sherzer.59 The Wayne County report is written in such a careful and admirable style that it is used as a textbook by teachers of geography in Detroit. This use of the Wayne County report shows that the Survey publica- tions are not written only for pure science and to fill library shelves ; more teachers of the State could greatly increase their personal efficiency as well as add to the in- terest of their classes by a greater use of Survey publica- tions— many of which are prepared by teachers having other teachers in consideration.
"Pub. 11, Geol. Ser. 8, 1911.
"Pub. 12, Geol. Ser. 9, 1911.
Reports on Sanilac, Monroe and Huron counties. Vol. VII, 1900. The reports on Bay and Tuscola Counties were published in the Annual Reports of 1905 and 1908 respectively during Dr. Lane's administration.
HISTORY OP THE GEOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 731
Two other publications show the wide application to State problems — The Surface Geology of the North- ern Peninsula60 and the Surface Geology of the South- ern Peninsula61 by Frank Leverett. So great was the demand for these publications that the editions were exhausted but were later revised and republished as one volume — Surface Geology of Michigan.62 Since Michigan lies within the area of continental glaciation of the Pleistocene (" Great Ice Age") its surface geology is simple in main features but very complex in detail. The surface of the«State is covered by "drift" varying from zero to more than a thousand feet in thickness. As the ice front retreated ground moraines and till plains were developed from the debris gathered during the ice advance. Some of this material was sorted by water action, some not, adding to soil complexities. At times a readvance of the ice equalled its retreat, i. e. melting equalled forward movement. At such times and places the debris was piled in tumulated ridges of heterogeneous rocky materials — the "mor- aines," which, because of the lobate character of the ice-front in the Southern. Peninsula form festoons about the Lake Erie and Saginaw Bay depressions. Part of these ridges of hummocky hills, the kames, are water laid or their material water sorted; between the moraines are till plains, back of them the ancient lake beds of Algonquin and Nipissing time when the north- easterly ice-impounded waters extended farther to the south and west than at present. Along glacial and present river valleys are river laid deposits; swamps and lakes of the Ice Age and subsequent time have disappeared leaving palustrine and lacustrine deposits
"Pub. 7, Geol. Ser. 5, 1911. «Pub. 9. Geol. Sor. 7, 1911. nPub. 25, Geol. tier. 21, 1918.
732 R. C. ALLEN AND H. M. MARTIN
varying from peat and muck to clay. Such facts ac- count for the complexity in detail of the surface geology of the State, the soils are of great variety and of varying productivity, the surface is of varying slope and eleva- tion, hence complicating the problem of drainage. Only incidental study of these surface conditions had been made until 1904 when Professor I. C. Russell began a series of studies of the glacial (surface) forma- tions of the Northern Peninsula63 and Professor C. A. Davis of peat deposits.63 For the Southern Peninsula Dr. Lane in 1907 published a large scale map of the surface (soil) formations with an explanatory text setting forth also an easily comprehended history of the ice advance and retreat in Michigan. In August, 1905, Mr. Frank Leverett of the United States Geological Survey began studies of the glacial geology in Michi- gan. In 1910 these studies were made possible and available for Michigan through the courtesy of the Director of the United States Geological Survey in granting the State Geologist's request for Mr. Lever- ett's services. In the early days, people of the East were dissuaded from settlement in Michigan by re- ports that most of Michigan was an area of swamps, muskegs and lakes, unfit for habitation of anything but huckleberries and Indians. Most of these false- hoods had been nailed for the Southern Peninsula, but agriculturists were still kept from the Northern Pen- insula by the belief (encouraged by the lumberman who wished to preserve his timber) that it is mountainous, barren, — inhospitable to any but the miner and lum- berman. But when the forest cover is removed from a region, agriculture develops there. So it is in the Northern Peninsula; the Upper Peninsula Develop-
"Ann. Repts. 1904, 1906.
HISTORY OF THE GEOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 733
ment Company was organized late in 19 10^ and thus the issue of the Surface Geology of the Northern Peninsula with new maps was most opportune. The Southern Peninsula suffered less from long believed tales of its inhospitability to the farmer but there are areas still undeveloped. To meet the demand for information on this territory and to prevent and offset fraudulent land deals by unscrupulous promoters, the Surface Geology of the Southern Peninsula was pre- pared (with a new 1:1,000,000 map and a chapter on climate). The eo^tion was exhausted, and, as before stated revised and combined with the earlier Northern Peninsula publication and issued in 1918 as the Surface Geology of Michigan. This last publication is in a sense a stop-gap to meet the present needs of a growing and insistent demand for a complete soil survey of the State. The farmer now applies scientific prin- ciples to farm management and crop cultivation. He has become an agriculturist. When buying new land, and for land he already owns, he demands more detailed information as to soil and subsoil conditions, ground water level and control, soil composition, texture, structure, and absorptive properties, the type of fertilizer needed and its source of supply, and types of crops suitable to the land. The State Geologist and the Board of the Geological Survey recognized this demand and in the minutes of the meetings of the Board we find references to a soil survey from 1910. In 1912 we find in the Director's report "The law of 1869 * * * authorizes and directs you to investigate soils and subsoils in their relation to agriculture and to publish and disseminate this information among the people. * * * The State Geologist has had prepared and issued general soil maps of the State * * * these
734 R. C. ALLEN AND H. M. MARTIN
maps still constitute the basis of accurate and reliable information regarding the soils of Michigan * * . A private edition of 65,000 copies of this map of the Northern Peninsula was authorized and issued and the Board of State Auditors have had printed 20,000 of the Southern Peninsula maps for the use of the Commissioner of Immigration. These maps are ex- tensively used by the College of Agriculture and large numbers are being distributed by the State Geologist on requests from all parts of the country. The maps are general in scope and scale and do not permit of detail * * ". The Director then discussed plans of cooperation with the Federal Bureau of Soils and sug- gested legislation for a soil survey. Gov. W. N. Ferris devoted a considerable part of his inaugural mes- sage to the need of a soil survey and the Legislature of 1915 discussed the plan but the matter was held in abeyance until the 1917 session of the Legislature when Representative M. H. Wiley introduced a bill pro- viding for a soil and economic survey of the State. This bill became a law upon the affixing of the Gov- ernor's signature May 11, 1917, to No. 373 Public Acts 1917. Though Michigan has a law authorizing the making of a soil and land survey the exigencies of war time and the number of soil geologists withdrawn from civilian pursuits to the military establishment made it inadvisable to initiate the soil survey at that time.
The demands for Publication 7, 9 and 25 because of the information, although meager, which they con- tain in regard to agricultural drainage, the paucity of accurate and reliable information on drainage prob- lems in Michigan, the acute problem of drainage in the Saginaw Valley, all show the urgent need of a State
HISTORY OF THE GEOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 735
survey of drainage conditions. Proper study and solution of the drainage problems are however bound up in and partially dependent on the topographic sur- vey. But the topographic survey has progressed slowly due to insufficient funds and the drainage prob- lems are becoming acute. Men of various pursuits became interested and involved in the problem — members of the Michigan Engineering Society, State Highway Department, United States Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Public Roads, the Association of County Drain Commissioners, the courts,64 — until it became the practically unanimous opinion of engi- neers, commissioners, drainage experts, judges, that there should be an early and thorough revision of the Michigan Drain Laws "and that in order to afford the Legislature a basis for the most intelligent con- sideration of this matter, a thorough investigation of the whole drainage system of the State should be made together with a review of the progress and laws of other States in connection with our present needs." Accordingly in October 1917 the Board of Geological Survey authorized cooperation with the United States Department of Agriculture in a drainage investigation of the State. An agreement was entered into between the Board and the Bureau of Public Roads, Depart- ment of Agriculture, in pursuance of which during 1918 every county in the State was visited by an engineer representative of Drainage Investigations, Bureau of Public Roads, conferences were held with each county drain commissioner relative to drainage in his county, drain records were examined and data abstracted and compiled, county officials were interviewed, field trips made and drains investigated. The results of thes€
"City of Saginaw et al. vs. Drain Commissioner.
736 B. C. ALLEN AND H. M. MARTIN
investigations are embodied in a report65 which con- tains also a history of the development of agricultural drainage in Michigan, a discussion of types of drain- age and certain drainage problems, suggestions for improving the drainage conditions, suggested legisla- tion, and abstracts of working drainage laws of Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri and Georgia, States having drainage problems similar to those of Michigan. The report was prepared for the Legislature and the county drain commissioners, but although a bill to remedy drainage conditions was introduced the Legislature of 1919 adjourned without passing the much needed law.
The Northern Peninsula, especially west of the meridian of Marque tte, presents many problems to intrigue the interest of the mining geologist. The once scorned territory that contains Michigan's famed mineral wealth in iron and copper, also, as a part of the Lake Superior District, holds a key to the pre- Cambrian problem.
Naturally from the earliest survey these facts have caused more emphasis to be placed on geological work in the western half of the Peninsula than in the eastern where economic geology is similar to that in the Southern Peninsula and the purely scientific problems are of the less complex Paleozoic type. The investiga- tions and solution of the geological complexities of this region — often made more difficult of solution by the overlying mantle of glacial drift — the study and map- ping of pre-Cambrian rocks with particular reference to the determination of the age and correlation of the various formations and the economic uses, if any, to which these formations or any part may be devoted
•»Pub. 28, G. S. 23, 1919.
HISTORY OF THE GEOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 737
—have been for a number of years and are still the problems of Mr. Allen and his chief assistant, L. P. Barrett.
The results of these investigations which in some instances disprove and set aside the theories advanced by other geologists are set forth in the Survey Publica- tions 3, 16, 18.
The enabling acts of 1869 and 1871 authorize the Director of the Geological Survey "to make a thor- ough * * * mineralogical survey of the State" but in 1877 by Act No. 9P the Legislature authorized the ap- pointment of a Commissioner of Mineral Statistics whose duties were "to make an annual report to the Governor, setting forth in detail the mineral statistics for the year with the progress and development ot the mining and smelting industries; * * to make such geological surveys and other surveys as are needed for fully carrying out the purposes of this act; to observe and to record by maps and plans when necessary special facts which may be developed in the progress of mining and exploration * * to collect typical suites of copper, iron and other ores * * and examine them microscopically, to name and classify them, showing by geological sections their stratigraphical positions, * * " The act was amended in 1879, 1883, 1895 to make appropriations, provide for publication and to limit the term of the commissioner.
It will be noted that the act provides another department whose work and duties by law duplicate those of the Geological Survey. There may have been reason for such an act during the directorate of Dr. Rominger, who rather scorned assistants and with the eccentricities of genius preferred to work alone, therefore, since he had other duties also as a professor-
738 R. 0. ALLEN AND H. M. MARTIN
in the University, conducting the Survey for twelve years in a somewhat desultory and very leisurely manner. A lover of pure science and a not-to-be- hurried student, it is conceivable that Dr. Rominger would view with distaste the collection of statistics. But why the law was made and why the commissioner of mineral statistics was not made an officer of the Geological Survey is not known. Despite a few ex- cellent reports from some commissioners the office was a failure. Some commissioners made no reports at all —this may have been due to the defect in the law which ordered the commissioner to pay for printing and distribution of reports, office expenses, etc., from the $2,500 which he drew as salary from the State. That the commissioners recognized the duplication of efforts is shown by Charles D. Lawton writing in 1891, "The duties of the office ** are purely scientific and identical or nearly so with those which pertain to the office of the State Geologist. But in practice it has been found better to make the reports of the Com- missioner statistical and economic, avoiding lithology and introducing only economic geology to the descrip- tions of the mines and mineral formations." In 1892 the Board of Geological Survey said: "We are unable to see any reason for the existence of a Commissioner of Mineral Statistics independent of the Geological Survey. The work of that office naturally falls under the supervision of the Survey and could be better done by it than by such commissioners." In April 1910 at a meeting of the Board of Scientific Advisers Dr. L. L. Hubbard explained "That it is the unanimous opinion of the mining interest of the Northern Penin- sula that the State Geologist should be charged with the duties now devolving upon the Commissioner of
HISTORY OF THE GEOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 739
Mineral Statistics" and a motion was made and car- ried "that the State Geologist incorporate in his future annual reports, geological descriptions and sec- tions of the various mines of the State and so far as pos- sible a report of the general situation with regard to the mining industry." Accordingly with the consent and approval of the Board of Geological Survey the State Geologist requested the Governor and Legislature to abolish the office of Commissioner of Mineral Statistics, setting forth his reasons in a letter to Governor Os- born, December 6, 1910. As a result the Legislature of 1911 by Act No. 7 repealed Act No. 9 of 1877 and transferred the duties of the Commissioner of Mineral Statistics to the State Board of Geological Survey, "to continue the collection of statistics, the conducting of investigations, the making of reports and all other duties as specified in said Act No. 9 of the public acts of 1877." Since this act went into effect there have been issued eight annual reports66 of the mineral resources of the State.66 Each publication contains a review of the copper industry in Michigan, a resume and statistical tables of the miscellaneous metallic and non-metallic minerals, and a directory of mineral producers. Each report contains also a more or less lengthy treatise on some one or two non-metallic industries. To amplify these reports the Survey has published two reports on economic geology "Occur- rence of Oil and Gas in Michigan"67 by R. A. Smith and "Brine and Salt Deposits of Michigan" 6S by Charles W. Cook, the latter publication being a treatise presented by Mr. Cook and accepted for the doctor's degree by the faculty of the University of Michigan.
"Pub. 8, G. S. 6, Pub. 13. G. S. 10. Pub. 16. G. S. 12. Pub. 19. G. S. 16, Pub. 21, G. S. 17. Pub. 24. G. S. 20. Pub. 27. G. S. 22. Pub. 29. G. S. 24. "Pub. 14. G. S. 11. 1911. "Pub. 15. G. S. 12. 1913.
740 R. C. ALLEN AND H. M. MARTIN
A very important development from the work of the Survey in collecting mineral statistics is the co- operative work of the Survey with the Board of State Tax Commissioners. The plan of cooperation is an outgrowth of the "Finlay appraisals" of iron mines in 1911. The fact that these appraisals were too high and former tax valuations altogether too low made evi- dent the wisdom of close supervision over the assess- ment of such property by a central authority — the Board of State Tax Commissioners — the "Tax Com- mission." The Board of Tax Commissioners decided on an annual reappraisal of the iron mines, and knowing that the Geological Survey has on its files records and information dealing with the geology and mineral re- sources of the region in question and that the State Geologist, Mr. Allen, by his scientific interest in and special studies of the region and his highly trained technical knowledge is peculiarly fitted to assist in the geological considerations of the appraisal, the Board of Tax Commissioners requested him to assist in the appraisal of the iron mines of Gogebic, Iron and Dick- inson Counties. Mr. Allen was requested to submit to the Commission his ideas in regard to the establish- ment of permanent cooperative relations with the Survey. Accepting the conclusions and tentative plans of Mr. Allen the Board of Tax Commissioners con- veyed to the Governor a resolution pointing out the necessity of cooperation with the Board of Geological Survey. The plan69 was approved by the Board of Geological Survey and its Board of Scientific Advisors, and was given legal sanction by the Legislature of 1913 through an appropriation of funds to the Geological
"Kept. Board of State Tax Commissioners 1913-14.
HISTORY OF THE GEOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 741
Survey for the purpose of assisting the Tax Com- mission.70
The system devised by Mr. Allen and the Tax Commission is the first strictly scientific system of mine appraisal for taxation established and maintained by a Board of Tax Commissioners, and the Geological Survey of Michigan is the first survey to adapt itself to the needs of administration of the tax laws. The system has attracted attention throughout the coun- try; it is pronounced by the National Tax Association the most admirable that may be devised; and it is the system recommended in final consideration by Dr. L. E. Young, Economist of the University of Illi- nois who has made an intensive study of the whole subject of mine taxation in the United States.71 The system has now been in operation nine years and has proven fair and equitable to mine owners and the State and has maintained the assessment of mining property at its full cash value.
Cooperation is also extended to the Public Domain Commission. This commission is required by law to reserve all mineral rights in the sale of State lands, and the determination of mineral rights naturally falls to the Geological Survey. In 1916 the attention of the Commission was brought to the fact that various dredging companies were removing sand and gravel from the lake bottoms and shores of Lakes Michigan, Huron, and St. Clair. Residents along Lake St. Clair claimed considerable damage was bein^ done the beaches by the removal of shore sand and gravel. The State Geologist was consulted concerning these cases of trespass by the sand and gravel dredgers and
"Act No. 341, Pub. Acts 1913.
"Mine Taxation in the United States, Lewis Km manual Young. E.M., Ph.D. University of Illinois Studies in Social Service. Volume V. No. 4. 1916.
742 R. C. ALLEN AND H. M. MARTIN
in cases considering royalty rates on sand and gravel dredged from the waters under the control of the State. Perhaps the most important cooperation with the Public Domain Commission has been with the Bio- logical Division of the Survey and will be considered later.
Interdepartmental cooperation has been maintained since 1913 with the Michigan Securities Commission in administration of the so-called "Blue Sky Law"72 which requires the Securities Commission to consider and prevent or allow the sales of stocks, bonds, and securities in Michigan, so protecting the investor from fraudulent or unsafe speculations. The Commission may require and make "a detailed examination of such investment company's property, business and affairs, which examination shall be at the expense of such investment company. It may cause an appraisal to be made .... including the value of patents, goodwill, promotion and intangible assets . . . ." Under this provision of the law examination and valuation of mining, oil, gas, coal and other mineral development companies is undertaken and directed by the Survey. The cooperation requires investigations of mineral lands in many other States as well as in Michigan — of coal in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Illinois, Ohio, of oil in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Wyoming, of copper in Colorado, and so on.
It will be remembered that by Act No. 251 of the Public Acts of 1905 a topographical survey of the State was authorized to be made in cooperation with the Federal Survey. The plan of the Federal Survey is to make a topographic map of the entire country under a
"Act No. 46, Public Acts of 1915.
HISTORY OP THE GEOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 743
uniform plan to be used in all the States. The Federal Survey with its large corps of trained topographers and ample experience and equipment is able to maintain a high standard of work at the lowest possible cost. It offers to meet the State dollar for dollar to the extent of $25,000 a year in order to secure cooperation and expedition in the work. For ten years the Legisla- tures saw fit to meet this generous offer with a most inadequate sum, and the making of the topographic map of Michigan lagged while in many other States it was hurried to -completion. Michigan has entered an era of rapid development and improvement. Agri- cultural drainage, good roads, local hydrographic and sanitation problems, problems of State and County boundaries, military operations — in fact all public works demand accurate maps of topographic condi- tions. The city of Jackson has recently completed an elaborate large scale map with a one-foot contour interval, to be used in city sanitary engineering prob- lems. This map was completed at a cost to the city of about $80,000. Such maps are needed by all other large or rapidly growing cities of the State, for engi- neering problems in connection with water supply and sanitation if for no other purpose. Recent Legisla- tures have in a measure recognized the untold value of the topographic map73 and have appropriated much larger sums for the completion of the topographic map of the State. Only 16 per cent, of the State or a little more than 9,600 square miles is as yet adequately mapped. The mapping of certain parts of the State, the Leonidas, Union City, Battle Creek, Galesburg
"The maps are executed on a scale of 1:625.000 in units or quadrangles 15' of latitude by 15' of longitude, and register with adjacent quadrangles making it easy to combine separate sheets to form a map of a larger area — county, drainage district or system, or natural physiographic province.
744 R. C. ALLEN AND H. M. MARTIN
and Kalamazoo quadrangles was hastened by I the War, — by the need for topographic maps for military use in and about Camp Custer. The Battle Creek and Galesburg maps are also published on one sheet as the Camp Custer quadrangle.
A most interesting cooperative work of the topo- graphic branch was in the relocation and marking of the Ohio-Michigan boundary line. The historical cartographical blunders which led to the original boundary disputes and the settlement of the dispute by acceptance of Ohio's claims and the gift to Michi- gan of statehood and the (then considered almost worthless) Upper Peninsula are well known. During the years that had elapsed since the 1836 and 1842 surveys, many of the original boundary marks — stakes, fences, etc., — had been obliterated, the eastern terminus, — the most northerly cape of Maumee Bay had been washed away for many years, and because increasing land values caused disputes it became advisable to permanently settle the long dispute by accurate relocation and permanent monumenting of the boundary. Accordingly upon the passing of laws by the legislatures of Michigan74 and Ohio75 authorizing the retracement and appropriating funds ($3,600 by each State) an agreement was entered into with the Federal Survey for the employment of Mr. S. S. Gannett, Chief Geographer of the United States Geo- logical Survey, "to act as engineer in executing the field work under the direction of the commission"- Mr. R. C. Allen, Director of the Michigan Geological Survey and Prof. C. E. Sherman, Inspector Ohio Topographic Survey. The surveying party under
"Act No. 84, Public Acts 1915.
"House Bill 701, Eighty-first General Assembly of Ohio.
HISTORY OF THE GEOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 745
direction of Mr. Gannett took the field July 12, 1915, and on October 26 following had completed all survey- ing and placed all the monuments. The monuments are enduring granite posts five and one-half feet in length, one foot square, imbedded in concrete to a depth of four feet. The posts are lettered "Michigan'7 on the north side, "Ohio" on the south, "State Line" on the east and "Post" on the west. The initial or terminal western post, a block of granite replacing the original "niggerhead" boulder, is twelve inches below the surface of the road in Lat. 40°41'46.2", north, and Long. 84°48/21.1// west. The eastern termi- nal post, Post 71 is set in swampy land a little more than 900 feet from Maumee Bay, therefore Post 70 is the "Monument Post." The completion of the survey and the setting of the Monument Post was appropri- ately celebrated November 25, 1915. Thus in a very amicable way was forever settled the disputed points in the boundary line between the two States.76
The biological division of the Survey which was re- established by Act No. 250 of the Public Acts of 1905 is supervised by Dr. A. G. Ruthven, Chief Naturalist of the Survey. The Biological Survey is both an inven- tory and an appraisal of the wild life of the State and should be of recognized economic value to the citizens of the State. However the appropriations for so great a work are ridiculously small but the work ac- complished has been great since the men engaged have done the work with personal sacrifices and a oost to the State of practically field expenses only. "At present most of the resources are being devoted to the
"The report of the Commissioners is given in detail in the Biennial Reports of the Director of the Michigan Geological Survey, Pub. 22. G. S. 18. 1916
746 R. O. ALLEN AND H. M. MARTIN
determination of the animal and plant life of the differ- ent sections of the State. The main activity is thus the making of an inventory. Men are engaged each year to go to selected areas and list and obtain samples of fauna and flora." The zoological collections are assigned to the University Museum, the botanical to the Michigan Agricultural College. "In the course of this work they make as extensive studies of habits and abundance as is possible in the time available Some of the results obtained have been pub- lished, with the consent of the Chief Naturalist, in scientific journals and Museum Publications — at no cost to the State — in order to be placed before the public in as short a time as possible. Other reports have been published by the Survey.77
The Public Domain Commission has sought the aid of the Chief Naturalist in carrying out its chief purpose — the conservation of the wild life of the State, and has cooperated with the Survey to the extent of financing one field season for Prof. Sponslor's work in a survey of the woodlots and timberlands of Michi- gan.
Nor did the War find the Survey unprepared. The War Minerals Council of the Committee of Na- tional Defense found in the Survey records without special investigations, an adequate source of informa- tion concerning those minerals needed. Mr. R. A. Smith was called upon from time to time to furnish such information. Two members of the staff en-
"Crawfishes of Michigan, Insect Galls, Birds of Schoolgirls' Glen; Preliminary lists of sites of aboriginal remains: Pub. 1, Biol. Ser. 1, 1909.
Biological Survey of the Sand Dune Region on the South Shore of Saginaw Bay: Pub. 4, Biol. Ser. 2, 1911.
Herpetology of Michigan: Pub. 10, Biol. Ser. 3, 1911.
Miscellaneous Papers on the Zoology of Michigan: Pub. 20, B. S. 4, 1915. Agaricaceae (Gilled Fungi) of Michigan: Pub. 26, B. S. 5, 1918. Michigan Fishes, and Michigan Wild Plants in preparation.
HISTORY OF THE GEOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 747
listed in active warfare in France, Captain O. R. Hamilton commanded Company B 28th Engineers which he had recruited, and Captain L. P. Barrett served in the 5th Field Artillery. The Director served in Washington as a member of the Board of Tax Re- viewers.
Following the Armistice the Survey prepared to return to more intensive work in the economic field. The routine work of the War period gave way to more precise geological investigations and to plans for ex- pansion with the* return of that portion of the staff engaged in active War work and military operations. Topographic mapping was renewed, and plans were made for appraisals of the copper as well as the iron mines, and for investigations of various economic and geological problems related to the mineral industries.
As a result of increased need for competent geolo- gists in the post- War reconstruction of the industries of the country Mr. R. C. Allen was made numerous flattering overtures by various mining and mineral interests. October 1, 1919, Mr. Allen resigned as State Geologist of Michigan to become the general manager and vice-president of the Lake Superior Iron Ore Association — a position offering flattering inducements and at the same time allowing Mr. Allen to remain in touch with his especial scientific problem — the solution of the geologic puzzle of the pre-Cambrian area of the Lake Superior District.
The Board of Geological Survey on October 28, 1919, appointed Mr. Richard A. Smith to the office of State Geologist and Director of the Geological Sur- vey of the State. Mr. Smith has been connected with the Survey since 1909 as Assistant State Geologist
748 R. C. ALLEN AND H. M. MARTIN
and was practically acting director during Mr. Allen's absence in Washington.
In brief review the Third Survey organized by law in 1869 to make a mineralogical and geological survey of the State has been expanded by various acts of the Legislature until now it consists of three main departments: Geological, with the divisions of Geology, Appraisals and Mineral Statistics; Topo- graphical; and Biological. The Survey is housed in offices on the fourth floor of the Capitol National Bank Building. It has investigated and is investigat- ing the geology, physiography,78 drainage, topography, economic resources in metals and non-metals, fauna and flora of the State as well as assisting other depart- ments of the State government particularly in the appraisal of mines for taxation purposes. "The Sur- vey as now organized occupies a unique position among the similar organizations of other States because it has led the way in adapting the results of its scientific investigations as well as the technical ability of its staff to the practical needs of the State not only in the development, use and conservation of our natural resources but also in the direct administration of some of the important laws. The Board and its staff have seized on every opportunity for useful service so far as the facilities and funds have permitted."
It has not been possible in this sketch of the history of the Survey to review the work of all the geologists and their assistants, and it has been necessary to neglect entirely the work of many others who have directly or indirectly furthered the work of the Sur- vey. To enumerate them all would be to recall the
"Scott, I. D., The Inland Lakes of Michigan: Pub. 30 G. S. 25, Michigan Geo- logical Survey.
HISTORY OF THE GEOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 749
names of geologists, mineralogists, biologists, topog- raphers, and others connected with the various educa- tional institutions of this and other States, and with the Federal Survey whose studies have enriched the literature and contributed to the present fund of knowledge of the geology and natural history of Michi- gan as well as those private individuals whose gener- osity and interest in scientific pursuits have made many of the studies possible. All have believed in and sought to make the world see the truth of the motto on the State coat of arms — "Si quaeris peninsu- lam amoenam circumspice."
AFTERWORD
As a result of the legislation of 1921 the powers and duties of the Board of Geological Survey were trans- ferred to the Department of Conservation of the State. The Legislature did not see fit to make appropria- tions for the vitally necessary topographic survey, the soil and land survey, or the biological survey. The work of these divisions is now at a standstill. The interdepartmental relations and cooperations still remain, and the geological work continues. In the summers of 1920, 1921 parties under the direction of Mr. L. P. Barrett and Dr. W. I. Robinson (who joined the staff after the resignation of Mr. O. R. Hamilton and Mr. O. W. Wheelwright) made explo- ration of the iron formations of the Northern Penin- sula; and Mr. R. C. Hussey was engaged in a study of the Ordovician shale group, Mr. Hussey's investi- gation being carried on in cooperation with the Uni- versity of Michigan. During 1919 and 1920 Prof. I. D. Scott completed his Studies of the inland lakes of the State. The results of these studies are embodied in
750 R. C. ALLEN AND H. M. MARTIN
an admirable text and a descriptive report, The Inland Lakes of Michigan.78 An economic survey of the clays and shales of Michigan has been undertaken by Mr. G. G. Brown of the University of Michigan, under the direction of the State Geologist with the cooperation of the Department of Chemical Engineering of the Univer- sity. Early in 1922 the long proposed and demanded soil and land economic survey and census of natural resources was inaugurated in cooperation with the State Department of Agriculture, the Michigan Agricultural College and the University of Michigan, with Mr. R. A. Smith, State Geologist, acting as Director of the Michigan Land Economic Survey.
"Scott, I. D., The Inland Lakes of Michigan: Pub. 30, G. S. 25, Michigan Geo- logical Survey.
INDEX
MICHIGAN HISTORY MAGAZINE VOLUME VI, 1922
MICHIGAN HISTORY MAGAZINE VOLUME VI, 1922
INDEX
Abbott, Mrs. Sarah, donor to
pioneer museum, 71 Ada, centenary of first settler, 46-47; Rix Robinson at, 279- 282
Adams, Mrs. Franc L., Women and History, 131-141;* history of Ingham County announced, 216; report on work of Ing- ham County Pioneer and His- torical Society, 244-250 Adams, James Truslow, The Founding of New England, re- viewed, 56-57
Agriculture, see State Depart- ment of Agriculture Aiken, Mrs. Martha D., The Underground Railroad, 597-610 Aliens, see Dutch Allegan County Pioneer Society,
see Societies
Allen, R. C., and Martin, Helen M., A Brief 'History of the Geological and Biological Sur- vey of Michigan, 675-750 American Industrial Society, A Documentary History of Amer- ican Industrial Society (Arthur H. Clark Co.), reviewed, 259 Americanization, A Record of the Development of the Grand Rapids Americanization So- ciety's Plan of Citizenship Training Through the Ballot (Dykema), 160-174
American Legion, report of Na- tional Memorials Committee on Need of Archives Building, 3-11; plans for national head- quarters building, 14; building at Royal Oak, 211; National Victory Memorial, 225-226 ; school and home for orphans of veterans planned, 226 American Revolution, Daughters of, see Daughters of the Amer- ican Revolution
Anderson, John W., donated University collection of legal documents from time of Christ and Apostles, 500-501 Anderson, William, and Lobb, Albert J., A History of the Constitution of Minnesota with the First Verified Text, re- viewed, 223 Anti-Slavery, see Underground
Railroad
Archeology, What About Michi- gan Archeology1! ( Fox), 415-434 Archives, report of National Memorials Committee of American Legion on records of great war and need of Archives Building, 3-11 ; records relating to Union League of America donated by E. G. Pipp, 18-20; ballots cast in election of 1864, 30; gift of
(755)
756
INDEX
manuscript documents to Uni- versity by W. L. Clements, 30- 31; papers of Territorial Su- preme Court, 36; see also De- troit Public Library
Arnold, Mrs. Stella, donor to pioneer museum, 71
Assinins, Assinins and Zeba the Two Oldest Permanent Settle- ments on Keweenaw Bay (Jacker), 315-327
Automobiles, Chas. Kraft on early days of, in Battle Creek, 25-28; automobile industry as field for novelist, 148-150
Avery, Mrs. Lillian Drake, col- lecting material on Oakland County, 216
Bad Axe, community building planned, 211
Baldwin, Governor, recommend- ations relative to geological survey, 684
Baptists, material on, donated to Historical Commission, 222
Barth, Rev. Francis Xavier, death announced, 225
Barry County, My Early Days in Hastings (Cook), 357-368
Barton, Clara, work of, 134
Battle Creek, early days of automobile in, 25-28; exhibit of pictures, 219
Bay County Historical Associa- tion, see Societies
Beets, Henry, Dutch Journalism in Michigan, 435-441
Begole, Hon. Fred H., tribute to John M. Longyear, 350-351
Belknap, Charles E., Christmas Day Near Savannah in War- time, 591-596
Benedict, Mrs. Felice, donor to pioneer museum, 71
Bennett, Miss Susie, donor to pioneer museum, 71
Benton Harbor College, Benton Harbor College and Its Presi- dent, Dr. George J. Edgcumbe (Edgcumbe), 375-385
Bessemer, see Gogebic County
Bibliography, Archeology, 416- 420, 426, 427-429; bibliography, 262; biography, 212, 583, 642, 643; economics and sociology, 501, 503; fiction, 140, 144, 150, 153, 154, 510, 587; geology, 699, 701, 702, 708, 712, 721; Great War, 504; history, 54, 55, 56, 57, 223, 258, 259, 260, 261, 264, 406, 407, 508, 632, 634; Indians, 516, 534, 565; materials added to Marquette County Historical Society Library, 254-255; Michigan Bibliography announced, 37; Political Science, 506; social education, 265
Biographical sketches, Burt, Horace Eldon, 23-25; Burt, William Austin, 175-193; Campbell, John, 35; Edgcumbe, Dr. George J., 375-385; Henry, Alexander, 558-564; Longyear, John Munro, 346-356; O'Brien, Rt. Rev. Frank A., 611-629; Okemos, Chief, 156-159; Poka- gon, Chief, 565-572; Robinson, Rix, 277-287; Thomas, Mary F., 369-374; Wait, Stephen Edwin Whittier, 491-492; White, Peter, 296-314
Biographies, Custer, Mrs. Eliza- beth B.: Life of General Custer, announced, 212
INDEX
757
Biological Survey, see Geological and Biological Survey
Bissonette, Charles A., donor to pioneer museum, 71
Black Hawk, speech, 532-534
Blair, Mrs. Charles A., donor to pioneer museum, 71
Blair, Mrs. Katherine H., donor to pioneer museum, 71
Boone, Daniel, possible purchase of old home of, 215-216
Boulders, see Monuments
Bowerman, Almon, donor to pioneer museum, 71
Boyce, Addison S., On the Out- skirts of Vicksburg, 204-207
Branch County, articles by Rev. Henry P. Collin, 221
Brockway, Miss Mary, donor to pioneer museum, 71-72
Brown, J. H., How We Got the R. F. D., 442-459
Bryce, Right Hon. James Vis- count, Modern Democracies, reviewed, 54-55
Burt, Horace, Eldon, biograph- ical sketch, 23-25; William Austin Burt: Inventor, 175-193
Burt, William Austin, William Austin Burt: Inventor (Burt), 175-193
Burton Historical Collection, see Detroit Public Library
Bush, Mrs. Jonathan, teacher, 137
Cadillac, birthday observed, 215
Calhoun County Historical So- ciety, see Societies
Calkins, Mrs. J. J., donor to pioneer museum, 72
Call, Miss Daisy, county school commissioner, Ingham County, 140
Campbell, Mrs. James H., donor to pioneer museum, 72
Campbell, John, death, 35
Capitol, see State Capital and Capitol
Carleton, Will, Reminiscences of Will Carleton (Finney), 583-590
Carleton Day, gathering of peo- ple on, 47-49
Casterlin, Mrs. Harriet M., first woman juror in Ingham County, 140
Catholic Church, Rt. Rev. Mon- signor Frank A. O'Brien, M.A., LL.D. (Celestine), 611-629
Celestine, Sister M., Rt. Rev. Monsignor Frank A. O'Brien, M.A., LL.D., 611-629
Chapin, Rev. Augusta, first woman ordained preacher in Ingham County, 139
Chapin, Mrs. Carrie, pioneer in Ingham County, 139
Chapin, Mrs. E. C., donor to pioneer museum, 72
Chapin, Miss Mary, work, 139
Chase, Lew Allen, report on work of Marquette County His- torical Society, 251-254; Rural Michigan, reviewed, 258; tribute to John M. Longyear, 351-354
Chandler, Zachariah, John W. Fitzgerald relative to, 28-30
Chelsea Tribune, see Newspapers
Chicago and Northwestern Rail- way Company in Delta County, see Railroads
Chicago Indian Treaty, see Treaties
Citizenship, A Record of the De- velopment of the Grand Rapids Americanization Society's Plan
758
INDEX
of Citizenship Training Through the Ballot (Dykema), 160-174; essay contest, 217
Civil War, see War
Clark, Arthur H. Co., A Docu- mentary History of American Industrial Society, reviewed, 259
Clark, E. M., donor to pioneer museum, 72
Clark, Lewis, mail carrier on R. P. D., 445-449
Clements, W. L., gift of manu- script documents to University of Michigan, 30-31
Clements Library, see University of Michigan
Cobb, Supt. Charles R., Ho! Gogebic County! 328-345
Collin, Rev. Henry P., articles on Branch County, 221
Commission, see Michigan His- torical Commission
Cook, M. L., My Early Days in Hastings, 357-368
Cowlan, Mrs. M. J., donor to pioneer museum, 72
Cross, Arthur Lyon, A Shorter History of England and Greater Britain, reviewed, 264-265
Grotty, John, donor to pioneer museum, 72
Culver, Mrs. Norah, work for Van Buren County Pioneer So- ciety, 39-40
Custer, Mrs. Elizabeth B., Life of 212 General Custer, announced,
Custer's Brigade, reunion, 212
Daly, Thomas F., donor to pioneer museum, 72
Daughters of the American Revolution, tablet marking "The Grand Traverse of Flint River," 215; change in officers, 483; monument to mark Terri- torial Trail at Ann Arbor, 490
Davis, Mrs. E. M., donor to pioneer museum, 72
Delta County, Railroads of Delta County (VanCleve), 460-475
Dejean, Philip, Michigan's First Justice of the Peace (Potter), 630-641
Dental Society, see Michigan State Dental Society
Detroit, Some Marriages in Old Detroit (Riddell), 111-130; articles in Detroit Saturday Night, 221; under British rule, , 630-634
Detroit-Chicago turnpike, monu- ments planned by Women's Clubs of Cass County, 214
Detroit Free Press, editorial "Truth and History," 497-499
Detroit Historical Society, see Societies
Detroit Public Library, prepared to furnish photostatic repro- ductions, 21-22; report of Divie B. Duffield on Burton Histor- ical Collection, 22; "Burton Historical Collection Leaflet," contents, 222; Source Material of the Detroit Public Library as Supplied by the Acquisition of the Burton Historical Col- lection (Woltz), 386-400
Donnelly, Miss Helen M., on tele- graph in building up Mackinac Island as resort, 233-235
Dorsey, Mrs. T. S., donor to pioneer museum, 72
INDEX
759
Duffield, Divie B., report on Bur- ton Historical Collection, 22
Duncan, Mrs. Robert, donor to pioneer museum, 72
Dunes, see Sand dunes
Dustin, Fred, Chief Pokagon and His Book, 565-572
Dutch, Dutch Journalism in Michigan (Beets), 435-441; The Beginnings of Dutch Immigra- tion to Western Michigan, 1846 (Lucas), 642-674
Dykema, Prank L., A*Record of the Development of the Grand Rapids Americanization So- ciety's Plan of Citizenship Training Through the Ballot, 160-174
Eaton County Pioneer Society, see Societies
Edgcumbe, Dr. George J., Ben- ton Harbor College and Its President, Dr. George J. Edg- cumbe (Edgcumbe), 375-385
Edgcumbe, Victoria C., Benton Harbor College and Its Presi- dent, Dr. George J. Edgcumbe, 375-385
Elkin, Mrs. N. A., donor to pioneer museum, 73
Emmet County Pioneer Associa- tion, see Societies
England, see Great Britain
Ernsberger, Mrs. Emily L., donor to pioneer museum, 73
Essays, see Prize essays
Feier, Mrs., donor to pioneer museum, 73
Felch, Dr. T. A., Early Days in the Upper Peninsula, 536-539
Felt, Mrs. Alzina Calkins, Inci- dents of Pioneer Life, 288-295
Ferrey, Mrs. M. B., Donors and Their Gifts to the Pioneer Museum, State Capitol, from January 1, 1921, to January 1, 1922, 71-77; donor to pioneer museum, 73; historical work, 138
Ferris, Woodbridge N., donor to pioneer museum, 73
Finn, Albert H., material on Baptists, 222
Finney, Byron A., Reminiscences of Will Carleton, 583-590
Fitzgerald, John W., on Zacha- riah Chandler and election of 1864, 28-30
Five Million Loan, compared with Soldiers' Bonus Bonds, 22-23
Foch, Marshal, visit to Michigan, 12-14
Foch Medal Fund, contributions to, 211
Ford, Dr. R. Clyde, spending year in Europe, 34; The In- dian as an Orator, 515-535
Foreigners, see Citizenship; Dutch
Fort Crawford, preservation of remains, 214
Fox, Geo. R., What About Michi- gan Archeology? 415-434
France, Foch Medal Fund, 211; recognition of Mrs. Wait's work, 228-230
Fur trade, Rix Robinson, Fur Trader (Robinson), 277-287
Genesee County, Incidents of Pioneer Life (Felt), 288-295
Geological and Biological Sur- vey, A Brief History of the Geological and Biological Sur-
760
INDEX
vey of Michigan (Allen and Martin), 675-750
Gildart, E. O., articles on State Capitol, 481-482
Gogebic County, Ho! Gogebic County! (Cobb), 328-345
Grand Rapids, Dutch newspa- pers in, 436-438, 440
Grand Rapids Americanization Society, A Record of the De- velopment of the Grand Rapids Americanization Society's Plan of Citizenship Training Through the Ballot (Dykema), 160-174
Grand Rapids Herald, quoted on re-naming sand dunes, 218
Grand Traverse Historical So- ciety, see Societies
Grand Traverse Old Settlers' Association, see Societies
Grant, General, Centenary of birthday, 212
Great Britain, A Shorter History of England and Greater Britain (Cross), reviewed, 264-265
Great War, see War
Haigh, Henry A., The Michigan
Club, 540-557 Hardy, Mrs. A. C., donor to
pioneer museum, 73 Hastings, My Early Days in
Hastings (Cook), 357-368 Heald, Mrs. Pauline T., Mary F.
Thomas, M.D., Richmond, Ind.,
369-374
Henry, Alexander, The Adven- tures of Alexander Henry
(Newton), 558-564 Hill, H. C., donor to pioneer
museum, 73
Hillsdale County, Some Place Names of Hillsdale County (Turrell), 573-582
Histories, Senator Sherman on, 485
Historical Building, see Michi- gan Historical Building
Historical Commission, see Mich- igan Historical Commission
Historical Societies, see Michi- gan Pioneer and Historical Society; Societies
History, see Local History
History Clubs, see Junior His- tory Clubs
Holland, Dutch newspapers in, 438-441
Hollanders, see Dutch
Houghton, Dr. Douglass, geologi- cal survey work, 675-681
Hubbard, Dr. Lucius Lee, geolog- ical survey work, 710-717
Huron County Pioneer and His- torical Society, see Societies
Illustrations, Judge R. A. Watts, 82; window emblem of Grand Rapids Americanization So- ciety, 164; Posters of Grand Rapids Americanization So- ciety, 169; Hon. Wm. A. Burt, 177; Mr. Horace Eldon Burt, 178; Burt's Solar Compass, 182; Early Surveying Scene, 182; Equatorial Sextant, 184; Burt's Typographer, 186; Aus- tin Burt, 190; Replica of Origi- nal Typographer, 192; Copy of Diploma citing grounds for which the silver medaille de la Reconnaissance Francaise was bestowed upon Mrs. Wil- liam H. Wait of Ann Arbor, Mich., by France, 228; Me-
INDEX
761
daille de la Reconnaissance Francaise, awarded to Mrs. Wm. H. Wait of Ann Arbor, Michigan, by France for her war service to that country, 228; Rix Robinson, 277; John R. Robinson, 282; Dr. George J. Edgcumbe, 375; Assembly Room, Benton Harbor College, 378; Art Room, Benton Ha»- bor College, 382; Documents in the Burton Historical Col- lection, 390, 391; Map showing The Approximate Locations of Mounds in the Lower Penin- sula, 419; map locating ap- proximately the Enclosures, Rectangular Enclosures, Cir- cular Mounds and Embank- ments in Michigan, 421; map showing the approximate lo- cations of Gardenbeds in the Lower Peninsula, 423; Lewis Clark and Willis Lawrence, Michigan's first R. F. D. car- riers, around the R. F. D. Me- morial Monument at Climax, Mich., 449; Central Hall, Hills- dale College, 573; St. Joseph River, 573; -Scene of Will Carleton's "Over the Hill to the Poor House," 583; Charles L. Belknap, 591; Rt. Rev. Mon- signor Frank A. O'Brien, LL. D., 611; page from Rules for the Society of Christians for the Holland Emigration to the United States of North Amer- ica, 642; Subscriptions to fi- nance the Dutch colony in Western Michigan, 657; R. A. Smith, 675; Alexander Win- chell, Carl Rominger, Charles E. Wright, M. E. Wadsworth,
689; L. L. Hubbard, Alfred C. Lane, R. C. Allen, Douglass Hough ton, 711 Immigration, see Dutch
Indians, Chief Okemos (Turner), 156-159; The Chicago Indian Treaty of 1821 (Silliman), 194- 197; missionary work of "Father Sheldon", 242-243; The Great Myth (Wright), 259-260; Rix Robinson, Fur trader ( Robinson ) , 277-287 ; The Indian as an Orator (Ford), 515-535; Alexander Henry among, 559-564; Chief Pokagon and His Book (Dus- tin), 565-572
Ingalls, Hall J., on burial place of Chief Okemos, 45-46
Ingham County, pioneer women of, 136-140; pioneer history by Mrs. Adams announced, 216
Ingham County Pioneer and His- torical Society, see Societies
losco County, plan for county history, 479
Iron Mines and mining, in Upper Peninsula, 307-308
Irons, Mrs. Marian H., donor to pioneer museum, 73
Isabella County, Indian mission of "Father Sheldon", 242-243
Jacker, Francis, Assinins and Zeba the Two Oldest Perma- nent Settlements on Keweenaw Bay, 315-327
James, Mrs. A. G. donor to pio- neer museum, 73
Jennison, Frank J., tribute to John M. Longyear, 351
Johnson, Mrs. A., donor to pio- neer museum, 73-74
762
INDEX
Johnson, Rev. Dr. Charles J., In Memory, 346-356; tribute to John M. Longyear, 354-355
Johnson, Thomas E., letter to teachers on Junior historical societies, 20-21; donor to pio- neer museum, 74; on observa- tion of Magna Charta Day, 496- 497
Journalism, see Newspapers
Junior History Clubs, organiza- tion of, 494-496; see also So- cieties
Justices of the Peace, Michi- gan's First Justice of the Peace (Potter), 630-641
Kalamazoo, Dutch newspapers in, 439-440
Keller, J., donor to pioneer mu- seum, 74
Kelsey, Prof. Francis W., collec- tion of ancient documents for University, 50-51
Kent County, centenary of first settler in Ada, 46-47
Keweenaw Bay, Assinins and Zeba, the Two Oldest Perma- nent Settlements on Keweenaw Bay (Jacker), 315-327
Key, Francis Scott, monument, 212
Knapp, W. H. P., donor to pio- neer museum, 74
Kraft, Chas., on early days of automobile in Battle Creek, 25- 28
Lakes, need of renaming, 230- 232; The Island Lakes of Mich- igan (Scott), reviewed, 261- 262; How White Lake Was Named (Smith), 273-276
Lamport, Warren W., Michili- mackinac, 269
Lands, ceded by Chicago Indian Treaty of 1821, 195
Lane, Dr. A. C., Geological sur- vey work, 717-728
Lawrence, Willis, mail carrier on R. F. D., 447-449
Lee, Hon. W. O., donor to pioneer museum, 74
Leland, W. G., on writings of Hugo Grotius, 222
Leightner, Mr. and Mrs., donors to pioneer museum, 74
Leighton, Mrs. Carrie, donor to pioneer museum, 74
Lightner, William, donor to pioneer museum, 74
Lincoln, Abraham, The Trial and Execution of the Lincoln Conspirators (Watts), 81-110; memorial to, 227-228
Little Elk, speech, 530-532
Local history, work of Northern State Normal School, 35; ex- periment of Three Oaks His- torical Society, 35-36; found in local newspaper, 37-38; see also Societies
Logan, Chief, speech, 524-525
Longyear, John M., death an- nounced, 256; unpublished re- marks, 256-258; In Memory (Johnson), 346-356
Loomis, Mr. and Mrs. Rudolph, donors to pioneer museum, 74
Loyal League of America, see Union League of America
Lucas, Henry, The Beginnings of Dutch Immigration to West- ern Michigan, 1846, 642-674
McDuffee, Miss Alice Louise, vice President General Na- tional Society, D. A. R., 483
INDEX
763
Mackinac Island, telegraph fac- tor in building up as resort, 233-235
Mackinac Island State Park Mu- seum, see Museums
Magazines, see also Newspapers
Magazines, Moderator-Topics, ar- ticles on State Capitol, 481-482; The National Outlook, publica- tion of, 36-37; The Twentieth Century published, 483
Magna Charta Day, observation of, 496-497
Mails, see Rural Fre% Delivery
Maniates, Miss Belle, authoress, 140
Manistique, preservation of files of Pioneer-Tribune in, 480
Manly, Mrs. Barbara T., donor to pioneer museum, 74
Manuscripts, on Dutch immigra- tion to Michigan, 644-647; see also Detroit Public Library; University of Michigan
Maps, see Illustrations
Marquette, buildings and insti- tutions, 309-313
Marquette County Historical So- ciety, see Societies
Marriages, Some Marriages in Old Detroit (Riddell), 111-130
Martin, Helen M., see Allen, R. C., and Martin, Helen M.
Martin, Henry J., donor to pio- neer museum, 74
May, Mrs. Hannah, teacher, 137
Memorial building, see Michigan Historical Building
Memorial Day, observation of, 213
Michigan, Michigan as a Field for the Novelist (Mulder), 142- 155; Historical Work in Mich- igan (Sawyer), 401-414
Michigan Bibliography, Michigan Bibliography (Streeter), re- viewed, 262-264
Michigan Club, The Michigan Club (Haigh), 540-557
Michigan Geological and Biologi- cal Survey, see Geological and Biological Survey
Michigan Historical Building, movement for, 14-16; resolu- tion of Women's Clubs relative to, 31
Michigan Historical Commission, resolution of State League of Women voters relative to ap- propriation for, 34; papers of Territorial Supreme Court, 36; Ninth Annual Report, 58-60; Pioneer Museum, State Capi- tol, From January 1, 1921, to January 1, 1922 (Ferrey), 71- 77; material on Baptists, 222; offices moved, 223; request for volumes of Collections, 224; creation and work, 407-408; Prize essay contest announced, 492-494; see also Michigan Pioneer and Historical So- ciety; Societies
Michigan history, Women and History (Adams), 131-141
Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society, sixth annual Upper Peninsula meeting, 40-44; sup- porting members enrolled since Jan. 1921, 61-70; Decease of members reported, 70; papers at Mt. Pleasant meeting, 221; supplementary list of deaths, 225; report on Mount Pleasant meeting, 236-242; organization and work, 405-407, 408-409; an- nual summer meeting, 485-490 ; see also Michigan Historical Commission; Societies
764
INDEX
Michigan State Dental Society, old records found, 53-54
Michigan State Federation of Women's Clubs, resolution rel- ative to Memorial historical building, 31
Michigan University, see Univer- sity of Michigan
Michilimacklnac, Michilimacki- nac (Lamport), 269
Miller, Lorenzo P., donor to pio- neer museum, 74
Minnesota, A History of the Con- stitution of Minnesota with the First verified Text (Anderson and Lobb), reviewed, 223
Missions and missionaries, at As- sinins, 321-326
Mississippi Valley Historical As- sociation, 15th annual meeting, 235-236
Monuments, memorial tablet to Michigan "M" men who gave lives in World War, 17-18; tablets in Calhoun County, 33; boulder for Chief Okemos, 45- 46; tablet to Will Carleton, 47-49; to Francis Scott Key, 212; planting memory trees for gold star soldiers, 212; me- morial to General Grant, 212; planned along route of Detroit- Chicago turnpike by Women's Clubs of Cass County, 214; tablet marking "The Grand Traverse of Flint River", 215; memorial to Ammi Wright, 215; National victory Me- morial, 225-226; school and home for orphans of veterans planned, 226; memorial to Abraham Lincoln, 227-228; mural tablet to Clarence M. Burton, 399-400; R. F. D. Me-
morial Monument at Climax, 449-456; boulder to mark Old Territorial Trail at Ann Ar- bor, 490; boulder to Stephen Edwin Whittier Wait, 491; at Negaunee to mark discovery of iron, 537
Morrison, Mrs. D. J. S., donor to pioneer museum, 75
Mulder, Arnold, Michigan as a Field for the Novelist, 142-155
Museums, Donors and Their Gifts to the Pioneer Museum, State Capitol, From January 1, 1921, to January 1, 1922 ( Ferrey ) , 71-77 ; Mackinac Island State Park Museum added silverware and diary of Rev. Father Pierre, 232-233; collections added to museum of Marquette County Historical Society, 254-255
National Victory Memorial plans,
225-226
Naturalization, see Citizenship Newspapers, valuable for local history, 37-38; talk of country newspaper, 38-39; additions to Clements Library, 224; histori- cal articles listed, 250-251; 484; files added to collection of Marquette County Historical Society, 254-255; Dutch Jour- nalism in Michigan (Beets), 435-441; see also Magazines; Chelsea Tribune, on history in advertising, 485; Clinton and Shiawassee Union, on death of Zachariah Chandler, 28-29; Courier Northerner, work for Van Buren County Pioneer So- ciety, 39-40; Detroit Free Press, on Marshal Foch's visit
INDEX
765
to Michigan, 12-14; editorial "Truth and History," 497-499; Detroit Saturday Night, arti- cles on Detroit, 221; Grand Rapids Herald, comparison of Five Million Loan to Soldier's Bonus Bonds, 22-23; on renam- ing lakes, 230-232; Michigan Daily, on newspapers in Cle- ment's Library, 224; Michigan Farmer, aid in getting R. F. D., 442, 445; Manistique Pioneer Tribune, 480
Newton, Stanley, The Adventures of Alexander Henry, 558-564
Normal School, see Northern State Normal School
Northern State Normal School, work in local history, 35
Norton, Miss Helen S., donor to pioneer museum, 75
Novelists, Michigan as a Field for the Novelist (Mulder), 142- 155
Oakland County, material col- lected by Mrs. Avery, 216
Oakland County Pioneer and Historical Society, see Socie- ties
O'Brien, Right Rev. Monsignor Frank A., death announced, 11-12; Rt. Rev. Monsignor Frank A. O'Brien, M. A., LL. D. (Celestine), 611-629
Okemos, Chief, burial place, 45- 46; Chief Okemos (Turner), 156-159
Old Veterans, Old Veterans' Stories (Lansing Lodge, Sons of Veterans), 198-207
Pageants, parlor masque and pageant in honor of signing of Chicago Treaty, 215
Parks, National Park in Upper Peninsula proposed, 217
Pendill, Miss Olive, report on materials added to Marquette County Historical Society library and museum, 254-255
Pendry, Mrs. F. E., donor to pioneer museum, 75
Periodicals, see Magazines; Newspapers
Peterson, Miss Ruth, donor to pioneer museum, 75
Petoskey, Princess Ella, to re- side in Petoskey, 49-50
Pierre, Rev. Father, silverware and dairy in Mackinac Island State Park Museum, 232-233
Pioneer and Historical Society, see Michigan Pioneer and His- torical Society
Pioneer life, Incidents of Pioneer Life (Felt), 288-295; My Early Days in Hastings (Cook), 357-368
Pioneer Museum, see Museums
Pipp, E. G., donor of records relative to Union League or Loyal League of America, 18-20
Pokagon, Chief, Chief Pokagon and His Book (Dustin), 565-572
Politics, see Republican party Pontiac, Chief, speeches quoted, 519-523
Potter, William W., Michigan's First Justice of the Peace, 630-641
Prize essays, contest announced, 492-494
766
INDEX
Railroads, Railroads of Delta County (Van Cleve), 460-475; The American Railroad Prob- lem (Sharfman), reviewed, 503-504
Railway and Locomotive Histor- ical Society, see Societies
Red Jacket, Chief, speech, 526- 529
Reed, Mrs. E. G., donor to pioneer museum, 75
Republican party, The Michigan Club (Haigh), 540-557
Rice, George A., donor to pioneer museum, 75
Riddell, Hon. William Renwick, Some Marriages in Old Detroit, 111-130
Robinson, Mrs. Mary F., Rix Robinson, Fur Trader, 277-287
Robinson, Rix, celebration of centenary of first settler in Ada, 46-47; Rix Robinson, Fur Trader (Robinson), 277-287
Rogers, Abigail and Delia, sem- inary, 137
Rominger, Dr. Carl, geological survey work, 699-703
Royal Oak, memorial building planned, 211
Rural Free Delivery, How We Got the R. F. D. (Brown), 442-459
Russell, James,. Peter White, 296-314
Russell, J. Herbert, donor to pioneer museum, 75
Ryder, Prof. E. H., speaker at meeting of Clinton County Pioneer Society, 479
St. Joseph County Pioneer So- ciety, see Societies
Sand Dunes, controversy over re- naming, 218
Sawyer, Alvah L., Historical Work in Michigan, 401-414
Scott, Professor J. D., The In- land Lakes of Michigan, re- viewed, 261-262
Settlements, see Dutch
Seydell, Mrs. L. V., donor to pioneer museum, 75
Sharfman, I. Leo, The American Railroad Problem, reviewed, 503-504
Sheldon, Rev. Robert P., mission- ary to Indians, 242-243
Sherman, J. E., tribute to John M. Longyear, 348
Sherman, Senator Lawrence Y., on school histories, 485
Sherwood, M. J., tribute to John M. Longyear, 348-350
Shiawassee County Historical Society, see Societies
Shoesmith, Mrs. V. M., donor to pioneer museum, 75
Silliman, Sue I., The Chicago In- dian Treaty of 1821, 194-197
Simons, Miss Helen, donor to pioneer museum, 76
Slavery, see Underground Rail- road
Slayton, Mrs. E., donor to pio- neer museum 76
Sloane, William M., The Powers and Aims of Western De- mocracy, revieiced, 55-56
Slocum, Mrs. Carrie, donor to pioneer museum, 76
Sly, Rev. W. S., donor to pioneer museum, 76
Smith, Gertrude B., on work of Calhoun County Historical So- ciety, 31-33
INDEX
767
Smith, Kenneth G., How White Lake Was Named, 273-276
Smith, Richard A., geological survey work, 747-750
Snow, Ira, donor to pioneer museum, 76
Social education, The Function of Ideals and Attitudes in Social Education (Voelker), reviewed, 265-268
Societies, letter of State Super- intendent of Public Instruction on junior historicial societies, 20-21; see also Michigan His- torical Commission; Michigan Pioneer and Historical So- ciety
Allegan County: Pioneer So- ciety, officers, 480 Bay County: Historical Asso- ciation, papers at meeting, 218 Calhoun County: Historical Society, Gertrude B. Smith on work of, 31-33
Detroit Historical Society, or- ganization and object, 220-221 Eaton County: Pioneer So- ciety, semi-centennial celebra- tion, 219; summer meeting, 480 Emmet County: Pioneer Asso- ciation, summer meeting, 482 Grand Traverse: Historical Society, organization, 479 Grand Traverse: Old Settlers' Association, Old Settlers' pic- nic, 481
Huron County: Pioneer and Historical Society, summer meeting, 483-484 Ingham County: Pioneer and Historical Society, fifteenth anniversary, 219-220; report, 244-250 Marquette County: Historical
Society, report, 251-255; memorial services for John Munroe Longyear, 346-356; progress in cataloging, col- lecting, 482-483
Oakland County: Pioneer and Historical Society, 48th an- nual meeting, 219 Railway and Locomotive His- torical Society, publications of, 483
St. Joseph County: Pioneer Society, 48th annual meeting, 220
Shiawassee County: Historical Society, annual meeting, 219 Three Oaks Historical Society, meeting, 35-36
Van Buren County: Pioneer Society, work for, 39-40 Washtenaw County: Pioneer Society, summer meeting, 480- 481
Solar compass, invented by Wil- liam Austin Burt, 181-184
Sons of Veterans, Old Veterans' Stories, 198-207
Spencer, Mrs. Mary C., State Librarian, 137
State Capital and Capitol, articles on, by E. O. Gildart, 481-482; articles on removal of capital to Lansing, 484
State Dental Society, see Michi- gan State Dental Society
State Department of Agriculture, Michigan, the Garden, the Workshop and Playground of the Nation, reviewed, 261
State League of Women Voters, resolution relative to appropri- ation for Historical Commis- sion, 34
768
INDEX
Steele, Mrs. L., donor to pioneer
museum, 76 Steffenson, Mrs. Nettie, donor to
pioneer museum, 76 Stillman, Mrs. Mary, teacher, 137 Stockman, Mrs. Dora, Grange
lecturer, 140 Stone, Misses Nina and Edith,
donors to pioneer museum, 76 Streeter, Floyd B., Michigan
Bibliography, reviewed, 262-
264 Sullivan, Mrs. Warren, donor to
pioneer museum, 76 Supreme Court, papers of, in
Archives Division, 36
Tablets, see Monuments Taylor, Mrs. Dora, donor to
pioneer museum, 76 Temple, Mrs. Sarah E., donor
to pioneer museum, 76 Tenney, Mrs. Harriet, State
Librarian, 137 Territorial Road, boulder at Ann
Arbor, 490 Thayer, Mrs. Arthur, donor to
pioneer museum, 76 Thayer, Mrs. Isabel, donor to
pioneer museum, 76 Thomas, Mary F., Mary F.
Thomas, M,D., Richmond, Ind.
(Heald), 369-374 Three Oaks Historical Society,
see Societies Three Rivers, parlor masque and
pageant in honor of signing
Chicago treaty, 215 Titus, Harold, secretary of Grand
Traverse Historical Society,
479 Traverse City, Industrial history
by students, 482 Treaties, The Chicago Indian
Treaty of 1821 (Silliman), 194-
197 Turner, Prof. Edward Raymond,
Europe Since 1870, reviewed,
57 Turner, Dr. F. N., Chief Okemos,
156-159 Turrell, Archie M., Some Place
Names of Hillsdale County,
573-582 Tyler, C. E., donor to pioneer
museum, 76-77 Typewriter, invented by William
Austin Burt, 180-181, 188-193
Underground Railroad, The Un- derground Railroad (Alken), 597-610
Union League of America, records relating to gift of E. G. Pipp, 18-20
University of Michigan, gift of manuscript documents to, by W. L. Clements, 30-31; reading room in Michigan Union dedi- cated to hero dead, 34; collec- tion of ancient documents, 50-51; Clements Memorial Library, plan for building, 51-53; Clements Library, build- ing and collection of news- papers, 223-224; degree of Doc- tor of Laws conferred, 224-225; acquisition of Greek biblical manuscripts, 499-500; collec- tion of legal documents from time of Christ and Apostles, 500-501
Upper Peninsula, National park proposed, 217; Early Days in the Upper Peninsula (Felch), 536-539
Van Buren County Pioneer So- ciety, see Societies
Van Cleve, P. H., Railroads of Delta County, 460-475
Vandenburg, Arthur H., compar- ison of Five Million Loan to Soldiers' Bonus Bonds, 22-23
Van Loon, Hendrik, The Story of Mankind, reviewed, 508-510
Van Tyne, Prof. Claude H., study of India's Legislative Assem- bly, 16-17; return from India, 223
Veterans, see Old Veterans
Vincent, Mrs. Clara, donor to pioneer museum, 77
Voelker, Paul Frederick, The Function of Ideals and Atti- tudes in Social Education, re- viewed, 265-268
Vowels, Mrs. Hannah, on mis- sionary work to Indians in Isabella County, 242-243
Wade, Martin J., and Russell, William F., The Short Consti- tution, reviewed, 506-508
Wadsworth, Dr. M. E., geological survey work, 704-707
Wait, Stephen Edwin Whittier, boulder and biographical sketch, 491-492
Wait, Mrs. William Henry, recog- nition from France for war work, 228-230
Waldron, Webb, The Road to the World, reviewed, 510-511
Wallas, Graham, Our Social Heritage, reviewed, 501-503
War, Civil War, records relative to Union League of America donated by E. G. Pipp, 18-20; ballots cast in election of 1864, 30; The Trial and Execution
INDEX 769
of the Lincoln Conspirators (Watts), 81-119; Old Veterans' Stories (Lansing Lodge, Sons of Veterans), 198-207; reunion of "Custer's Brigade," 212; Christmas Day Near Savannah in Wartime (Belknap), 591- 596; Great War, report of Na- tional Memorials Committee of American Legion on records of Great War and need of Archives Building, 3-11; read- ing room in Michigan Union dedicated to University's hero dead, 34; planting memory trees to gold star soldiers, 212; return of soldiers' bodies to United States, 213-214; ma- terial in Oakland County col- lected by Mrs. Avery, 216; school and home for orphans of veterans planned, 226; recognition of Mrs. Wait's work by France, 228-230; American Catholics in the War, National Catholic War Council, 1917-1921 (Williams), reviewed, 504-506
Washtenaw County Pioneer So- ciety, see Societies
Watts, Judge R. A., The Trial and Execution of the Lincoln Conspirators, 81-110
Wheelock, Charles H., on ex- hibit of pictures in Battle Creek, and list of pioneers, 219
White, Arthur S., articles on pioneer days, 216
White, Peter, Peter White (Rus- sell), 296-314
White Lake, How White Lake Was Named (Smith), 273-276
770
INDEX
Whittier, Bernard B., In the Dog Tent, 198-204
Whyte, Alexander Frederick, in- vitation to Prof. Van Tyne to study New Indian Parliament, 16-17
Williams, Mrs. Helen Aston, donor to pioneer museum, 77
Williams, Michael, American Catholics in the War, National Catholic War Council, 1917- 1921, reviewed, 504-506
Winchell, Dr. Alexander, geolog- ical survey work, 682-683, 688- 699
Wisconsin, archeological work in, 426-433
Woltz, Mrs. L. O., Source Ma- terial of the Detroit Public Library as Supplied by the Acquisition of the Burton His- torical Collection, 386-400
Woman's Rights Association, Mary F. Thomas, M.D., Rich- mond, Ind. (Heald), 369-374
Women, Women and History (Adams), 131-141
Women's Clubs, see Michigan State Federation of Women's Clubs
Women voters, see State League of Women Voters
Wright, Ammi, memorial monu- ment to, 215
Wright, Charles E., geological survey work, 703-704
Wright, John C., The Great Myth, reviewed, 259-260
Yantic, steamer replaced by Dubuque, 216
Zeba, Assinins and Zeba, the Two Oldest Permanent Settle- ments on Keweenaw Bay (Jacker), 315-327
? Michigan history
561
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