Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2017 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== Port Huron Times January 8, 1875 PIONEERS OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY Early Settlements on the Lake and River - A Barrel of Rum for a Wife - Wolves and Wild Cats - Cities and Villages - The Travels and Recollec- tion of a Pioneer Minister. The following reminiscenses of early days in St. Clair County, written by the Rev. O. C. THOMPSON, now of Detroit, formerly of St. Clair, appear in the Detroit Free Press. FIRST SETTLEMENT ON THE ST. CLAIR. Within the memory of those now living there were three or four famalies (sic) of pioneer residents on the river St. Clair who had been there since WAYNE'S victory at Monroe in 1796. At what pre- cise date these persons commenced their residence there cannot now be ascertained. They lived in what is now called the Township of Cottrellville, a few miles below the Belle River. Their names were CAPTAIN COTTRELL, Capt. ALEXANDER HARROW, Capt. WM. THORN and a Mr. PASCHAL. Capt. JOHN COTTRELL was a captive among the Indians and was adopted by a man of the name of COTTRELL, and from him received the appellation. His real name was HAVEN, and he was kidnapped by Indians from Kentucky. His first name is supposed to have been JOHN, but he always went by the name of CAPTAIN. BARTERING RUM FOR A BRIDE. Capt. ALEX. HARROW, a young adventurer, located himself on the river a little below CAPT. COTTRELL'S. He was unmarried, and, fortunately for him, there was among the Indians in the neighborhood a captive white girl, whom they had stolen from her parents in Kentucky. She was only fifteen, intelligent and handsome. Young HARROW offered the Indians a barrel of rum for his captive. The offer was accepted and she became Mrs. HARROW after the manner of wedlock in those regions at that time. After raising a fam- ily of children they were married in the form that civilization requires. The family were quite respect- able, and many of them are still living. Capt. WILLIAM THORN was the father of JOHN THORN, who afterwards owned and platted the first part of the Village of Port Huron. NEW SETTLERS. At the close of the last war with England many new settlers came to the St. Clair country. Among these were CHARLES CHORTIE, DOMINIQUE MINNIE, JOSEPH BEESNA, WILLIAM HILL, JOSEPH MINNIE, WM. BROWN, ANDREW WESTBROOK, Capt. ROBERTSON, GILBERT GAX, JOSEPH RECORD, Mr. ST. BARNARD, L. W. BUNCE, and Mr. PETIT. These all occupied farms on the main land between Point de Trouble and Black River. About this time JACOB HARSON, a gunsmith, associ- ated with a Mr. GROVEROS, a silversmith, came to Harsen's Island. HARVEY STEWART, the father of Capt. JOHN STEWART, the well known sailor of those times, generally in the employ of OLIVER NEWBERRY & Brother, and of HENRY P. STEWART, still living at Algonac, came from York State on foot through Canada in 1810 - had many adventures with the Indians and British during the war, and finally settled on Har- sen's Island in 1815. a Mr. McDONALD, one of the Selkirk colony on the Thames, settled immediately after the war on what is now known as Dickenson's Island. He was a British subject in heart and soul, so bitter toward the Yankees that he could by no reason be induced to live outside of the British Dominions. Therefore he bought on this island be- cause it was on the British side of the north chan- nel, not doubting but that the dividing lines would run through the union channel and leave him in the government of his choice. He was greatly dissatis- fied when the commissioners fixed the line in the south channel. THE FIRST SQUIRE. The daughter of McDONALD became the wife of JOHN H. SMITH who settled at Point du Chien, and was a prominent man in his day. He held offices of trust from the time he came to the day of his death. The family still have in their possession the original document from Gen. CASE, then Governor of the Ter- ritory, appointing him justice of the peace in Ma- comb County, which then included all of St. Clair County. Suits were brought before him from all the country around, frequently from Black river, now Port Huron, thirty miles away. He was the first postmaster in St. Clair County and held the office thirty-three years. The mail was brought across Lake St. Clair in a canoe to his office, and ABRA- HAM, his son, carried it to Pine River, now St. Clair. Mr. SMITH was appointed collector of customs in 1832. Mrs. SMITH, who came with her father from Scotland in 1804, is still living at Algonac, hale and hearty. AN OLD VILLAGE. St. Clair was the first village on the St. Clair River. JAMES FULTON bought the land of MELDRUM & PARKS, and laid out the village. Subsequently he sold out his interest to THOMAS PALMER, of Detroit. This was the site where Gen. ST.CLAIR built his fort. It stood on the rise of ground south of Pine River. The ruins of this fort were plainly visible when I first went to St. Clair. Judge BREWER says he saw a chimney of one of the old fort buildings standing, twenty feet high, when he came into the country. About a mile above Pine River there lived a Frenchman by the name of ST. BARNARD. He was at one time a particular friend of FATHER RICHARD, and was engaged by the Rev. Father to get out timber for building St. Ann's Church, in Detroit. The venerable priest frequently visited and encouraged the men in their work, until the job was completed and timber delivered in Detroit. BUSINESS AND BENEVOLENCE. FATHER RICHARD had made payments from time to time, until more than half of the account was paid, and then ceased. Rev. ST. BERNARD went to Detroit for the balance of his bill, and was met by FATHER RICHARD, in his inimitable, affable and good natured way assured ST. BERNARD that so much was certainly his due, but that he could do no less than give it to the church. ST. BERNARD, thus diplomatically be- set, was obliged to forego his little account. About this time he was running for Congress, and a neigh- bor of ST. BERNARD asked him who he was going to vote for. "Don't know! Don't know!" answered ST. BERNARD. "FATHER RICHARD very good man for religion, but him bad man for business." THE FIRST TURNPIKE. At the time of the writer's first visit to St. Clair, in 1831, the Gratiot turnpike was being built by the United States Government, and had been completed as far north as Mt. Clemens. For many years after this no road from the river St. Clair communicated with the turnpike below Port Huron. WINTER TRAVEL. Our best way of getting to Detroit in the winter was by the river and lake on the ice. On one oc- casion I took the ice at St. Clair and did not leave it until I came ashore at the old tavern then three miles above Detroit. We drove out into Lake St. Clair five or ten miles from shore. It was not always safe on account of seams in the ice. On one occasion with deacon S. S. BARNARD and Mr. COFFIN in my cutter with me we were far out from land and came to a seam where the ice was raised up like the roof of a house. It appeared perilous to venture over, so we voluntarily turned in towards shore, and finally found a track where a man had ventured over. Following this, when our horse was fairly on the ice it began to settle down. The horse was up to his knees in water, and when the solid ice was reached the cutter was afloat. A WONDERFUL ESCAPE. Frequently persons made this trip up and down the river and across the lake on skates. Some- times there were air holes in the ice, both on the lake and the river. On one occasion a man under the influence of liquor was driving fur- iously across from the Canada shore to the vil- lage of St. Clair, (his daughter being with him) and drove directly towards one of these air holes. It was several rods across it. Several persons standing on the shore at St. Clair saw the opera- tion, and they held their breath as the horse plunged into the water, but neither the horse nor driver entirely disappeared but gained the solid ice and came ashore. It appears that a large field of ice was floating down under the air hole, on which the horse found footing. Often deer were chased by the dogs from the forests back of St. Clair and caught by them on the ice, and in the summer men would capture them in the water by going out in canoes or boats. HUNTING SPORTS. The deer is a poor swimmer. On one occasion a great buck, followed by hounds, came bounding through the village green one Sabbath morning. The boys did not go to church that day, but, to atone for this they presented their pastor with a ham of venison. The bears were very plenty, and disputed with the inhabitants the right to fresh meats which were not under lock and key. DAN FOLLANSBEE was out one morning early looking for his cow and came across a very large bear with two cubs. The cubs ran up an elm tree, the old bear, remaining as sentinel at the foot. FOLLANSBEE summoned JOHN E. KITTON, and the two, with an old fowling piece loaded with slugs such as they could find, with much trouble captured the three black "varmints." A bear - as we afterward discovered - came to our cellar, stealing nothing, however, but soap-grease. I suppose he was manufacturing bear's oil and needed "more grease." I fixed the doors to capture the beast, but never suc- ceeded. About this time I changed pulpits for a Sabbath with Mr. HYDE, of Rochester, and Mrs. THOMPSON related to him the circumstance of the bear. Brother HYDE said that he would like very much to see such an animal. That night the bear came to the porch of the house and Mr. HYDE was taken with such a sudden fear that for a time he could not get up. Later in the night Mrs. THOMPSON was awakened by a noise at her window, and there directly be- fore her face was the old fellow himself with both paws and his great nose pushing against the glass. Some young men in the village undertook to capture one of these fellows in this wise: They killed a pig and laid him out on the common, and building over it a high scaffold as a tower of safety waited for their visitor. He came, but his presence put the boys into such a trepidation that they both fell from their loft directly upon the bear, who ran away, carrying the pig with him. THE SECOND VILLAGE. Capt. SAMUEL WARD came to the mouth of Belle River in 1720 (sic?), and laid out the vil- lake (sic) of Newport (now Marine City) in 1831. This was the second village on the St. Clair. Although it did not grow much for several years, it has recently come to be quite a town, and is noted for its ship building. More steam- boats and sail vessels have been built in these ship yards than anywhere else in the State. The following are the names of some of these boats. The Huron was the first, then the Champion, Detroit, Sam Ward, Frank Moore, Pacific, At- lantic, Ocean, Arctic, Oregon, Traveler, Cleve- land, Caspian, Pearl, Ruby, Montgomery, Wade, Water Witch, Forester, Forest Queen, Susan Ward, Milton D. Ward, Marine City, Alpena, Ke- weenaw, Planet, St. Paul, Coburn, Minneapolis, E. H. Collins, Geo. S. Frost, Salina, A. E. Bissel, River Queen, Rose, James Lord, Easta- brook, Geo. Hart, Wm. Conway, Birckhead, and Bay City. A recent published account placed the whole number of steam and sail vessels at ninety-seven. The cost of these vessels was not far from $3,000,000. This is pretty well for a town that is not yet forty years old. A GOOD PLACE TO BEGIN. There has been a remarkable success in busi- ness men who have begun operations here. E. B. WARD stands at the head of these, and is sup- posed by some to be worth $10,000,000. Several others are worth $500,000. Some fifteen, at least, can be put down as worth over $100,000. Very many $50,000 and so on. When I first be- came acquainted with E. B. WARD, forty years ago, I suppose his entire earthly inheritance would be put at less than $100. The inquiry has been made why the remarkable success of so heavy business men at Newport or Marine City. I think it originated mainly from old Capt. SAMUEL WARD. He was scrupulously honest, fru- gal and industrious, and he spared no patience to impress the importance of these things upon everybody around him. He seemed to magnatize everybody with his spirit and inculcate them with an isatiable desire to make money. When I first knew him he was a man of very moderate means, and kept a tavern at Belle River on one of the old French farms which he had bought, and on which he had laid out his village. When he died he was a millionaire. THE THIRD VILLAGE. Port Huron was the third village on the St. Clair. The beginning of this village was made by JOHN THORN, on the north side of Black River. Some years after this DANIEL B. HARRINGTON and F. C. WHITE of Whiteborough, New York, bought the strip of land lying between the Indian reservation and the St. Clair river, on the south side of Black river, and laid it out into village lots. Subsequently Dr. NOBLE and some others bought the Indian reservation and added it to the village. This has come to be the im- portant place on the river. In 1832 the Black river mill company put up a large steam mill that greatly aided the growth of the place. THE FOURTH VILLAGE. The next and fourth village on the St. Clair was Algonac, laid out in 1836. Dr. JUSTIN RICE, DEGARMO JONES, Mr. LUSE and Dr. CLARK were en- gaged in this enterprise. Judge BUNCE, aged eighty-six, and apparently good for ten or fifteen years more, has lived at Port Huron since its settlement. At one time he knew personally every man who lived in the Territory of Michigan. He was Presiding and Associate Judge of St. Clair County till his presence seemed a fixture in the court room. He was chosen to the first Legislature in Michi- gan, and served as a member of that body from 1821 to 1824. THE FIRST EARLY MILLS. The same year of his arrival here he built a mill for cutting pine lumber on Beaver Creek. But this was not the first; a mill was built there 130 years ago. All these were pro- pelled by the waters of the creek. The fourth and last mill is still standing but not used. MELDRUM & CLARK built a mill on the creek called by their name, and another about a mile below the old JEROME mill on Pine River. Both these mills were in ruins more than half a century ago. The work of getting out pine logs for these mills was performed without any team whatever. The logs were cut twelve feet long and flattened with a broad-ax on two sides and drawn to the mill by men. EARLY MISSIONS. In 1823 a mission was established at Fort Gratiot for the purpose of educating and Christianizing the Indians, who occupied the buildings at the fort, there being no troops there at that time. This mission was conducted by HUDSON & HART. It was never very successful. A score or more of Indian children were gathered into the school. There is now living on the Can- ada side of the St. Clair an old Indian preacher who was educated at HUDSON & HART'S mission school. This mission was continued three and a quarter years only. About this time the mission at Mackinaw was established, which was far more successful. SETTLING A LAWYER. Gen. DOUGAL, the keeper of the light house above the fort, was somewhat noted in his day. He was a member of the Detroit bar, but so ex- ceedingly rough and severe in his caustic speeches that they determined to get rid of him, and so they had him appointed to this station with a salary greater than his services would command in Detroit, and so he was disposed of. TRANSPORTATION. In these early days there were few roads. The birch bark canoe of the Indian, and the batteau of the French trader were the only conveyances. For many years after Judge BUNCE lived on the river his method of getting to Detroit was in a canoe. He would start so as to reach Lake St. Clair in the fore part of the evening and at bed time wrap himself in a blanket and sleep while the men rowed through the whole night and reach Detroit in the morning. The night was chosen because the lake was then least disturbed by winds and it would bring him to Detroit in time to attend to business. In the winter the ice was used and a French train drawn by an Indian pony took the place of the canoe and batteau. AFTER A TIGER CAT. Once while crossing Lake St. Clair on the ice, driving across nearly the middle of the lake, Judge BUNCE, saw an animal in the beaten road before him and he gave chase, but the animal kept ahead for miles. The snow was deep on each side of the track. After a long drive the brute tired out and jumped into the snow and stood on his haunches. The Judge raised his heavy hickory whip stock and struck at the animal's head and so stunned the beast that he cut his throat with- out difficulty, and put him in his train. When reaching the shore he inquired of a French set- tler what it was. The astonished man asked the Judge where it came from. "Oh, I got him back here on the ice." "Got him," shouted the French- man, "got him alone! Mon Dieu! you must thank the Virgin that he did not get you!" It was a huge wild cat. THE FIRST COURT HOUSE. In 1834 the writer of this paper was installed pastor of the Congregational Church at St. Clair, the county seat of the county. A court house had been built previous to this time, containing on the first floor the county jail and the residence of the sheriff as jailor. On the second floor was the court room, and the grand jury in the chambers, to which they ascended by means of a ladder on the outside, and entered through a window. This house was finished when I went there. In the court room religious meetings were held, and for that matter almost all meetings were held there. AN EXTENDED CIRCUIT. Although my parish was St. Clair, and the distance of a Sabbath day's journey across it, yet practically it extended from Lake St. Clair on the south to Lake Huron on the north and west indefinitely, sometimes including Romeo. Into all parts of this territory I was frequently called to attend religious services, especially funerals and marriages. At different times I had regular appointments at Port Huron, St. Clair, Newport and Algonac. I organized the first churches at each of these places. One year I preached regu- larly every alternate Sabbath at Romeo. Our labors also extended to the other side of the St. Clair river at Mooreville and Port Sarnia, before they had those names. In those days there was marrying and given in Marriage, even as now, but we did a sort of loan office business in that line. The laws on the marriage service in Canada were burdensome and ex- pensive. This brought almost all that business over the river, and I had my full share of it. Many of our regular attendants at public worship came from the other side of the river. FIRST STEAMBOTS (sic) The Walk-in-the-Water, the first steamboat aboat on the waters above Niagara Falls, had made her first trip and passed up the river as far as Fort Gratiot. The Argo, whose hull was made of two large logs dug out and put together in the form of a canoe, was on the route in 1831, and was that season super- ceded by the steamer General Gratiot. The following are the names of the boats which have done a passen- ger business on the St. Clair to the present time: Argo, Gen. Gratiot, Lady of the Lake, Andrew Jackson, Jack Downing, Gen. Brady, Macomb, Erie, Huron, Red Jacket, Telegraph No. 1, Frank Moore, Telegraph No. 2, Ruby, Pearl, Fashion, Forester, Canadian, Forest Queen, Dart, Reindeer, Milton D. Ward, Evening Star, Carrie Blood, Geo. S. Frost, and Grace Dormer. FIRST CHURCH. The first Protestent meeting house on the river was built at Point de Chien, near Algonac, and cost some $250. It was a house of respectable dimensions for the time, but it was never finished. Religious meetings were held there until after the village of Algonac was laid out. The building of that house taxed the pecuniary resources of the whole county. There was scarcely a man on the St. Clair whose name was not on that subscription paper. PAYING IN KIND. The original paper I saw and it is now in the hands of the SMITH family at Algonac. It is a novelty, illustrating the uselessness of money. Almost every subscription was to be paid, and was paid, in such things as the subscriber produced or dealt in. Some promised to pay lumber, some shingles, some timber, some work, nails, sash. One woman subscribed the front door, others so many stockings, some gave needlework, etc., etc. But no paint was subscribed and none was used. At the time of building this church there was a Methodist class, whose headquarters were at this church. They gathered into it persons of that faith on the St. Clair River, and so were able to number a full dozen. Some of them lived at St. Clair, sixteen miles away from the place of meeting. The people in those days made more effort to attend church than they do now. One of the deacons of my church at St. Clair, Mr. BANCROFT, lived twelve miles away, still he was always at church with his whole family, and was generally among the first to put in his appearance on Sabbath morning. ===========================================================================