Bay County, Michigan - The whole text, 1883 (part 2 of 20)

Deed In Trust

year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven, between Stevens T. Mason, Frederick H. Stevens and Abby E., his wife, Electus Backus and Mary L., his wife, Horace Hallock and Elizabeth, his wife, Henry R. Schoolcraft and Jane J., his wife, John Hulbert and Maria E., his wife, James Eraser and Ehzabeth, his wife, Andrew T. McReynolds and Ehzabeth M., his wife, Henry K. Sanger and Caroline, his wife, Phineas Davis and Abigail, his wife, of the state of Michigan, of the first part, and F. H. Stevens, John Hulbert and Electus Backus, of the state aforesaid, of the second part. Whereas, the said parties of the first part stand seized and possessed as Tenants in common of all that certain pieces or parcel of land known and described as follows : - Beginning on the east bank of the Sagina River at the northwest corner of the John Riley Reservation, being also the southwest corner of the Nabobash Reservation; thence east by the north line of said Riley Reservation 35.82 chains; thence south three degrees west, so far that a line running thence north eighty seven degrees west and thence northerly by the courses of river to the place of beginning shall contain two hundred and forty acres in the following individual proportions and shares, respectively, to wit: - The said Stevens T. Mason of twosixteenths, Frederick H. Stevens of four- sixteenths, Electus Backus of one -sixteenth, Horace Hallock of one -sixteenth, Henry R. Schoolcraft and John Hulbert of one -sixteenth, James Eraser of one -sixteenth, Andrew T. McReynolds of four-sixteenths, Henry K. Sanger of one-sixteenth and Phineas Davis of one -sixteenth, and have agreed to associate themselves together and form a company under the name and style of the Sagina Bay Company, for laying out a town on said tract, and for other purposes under the conditions, limitations and agreements set in the Articles of Association hereunto annexed, the said articles being hereby declared a part and parcel of this indenture for the completion thereof, and more fully to carry into effect their intentions as set forth in said Articles of Association, have severally named, constituted and appointed the said Frederick H. Stevens and Electus Backus as trustees, to act in behalf of all the above parties of the first part, in holding, managing and conveying all the real estate belonging to them. Now this indenture witnesseth that the said several parties of the first part, for and in consideration of the premises and object herein before declared and the agreements, conditions and limitations aforesaid, and in further consideration of the sum of one dollar, to them well and truly paid, by the party of the second part, and receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, have severally, according to their respective estates, herein granted, bargained, sold and conveyed, and by these presents do grant, bargain, seU and convey unto the said parties of the second part, and to the survivor of them and to the successors and assigns, of said parties of the second part, and to the survivor of them and to such persons, his or their successors or assigns or the survivor of them, may at any time hereafter be constituted or appointed pursuant to the Articles of Association hereinafter set forth and referred to, all the above described pieces or parcels of land, premises and every of them, together with aU privileges hereditaments and appurtenances thereunto belonging, and all the right, title, interests, properties, and demand of the said parties of the first part, and each of them therein and thereto respectively. To have and to hold, the said bargained premises and every part thereof as aforesaid unto the said parties of the second part, and the survivor of them, their, and his, successors and assigns and the survivor of them and unto such others and additional trustee or successors as aforesaid, their and his successors and assigns forever, in trust for themselves and the said parties of the second part, subject to and upon the trust, limitations and conditions following, and to no other use, intent, or purpose. That is to say: the said Frederick H. Stevens, John Hulbert and Electus Backus, the survivors of them and such successors of them as aforesaid, and the survivor or successors of them, shall hold the said described lands and premises and other, hereby conveyed as trustees for themselves and the other several cestui que trusts as aforesaid and their legal representatives, according to their respective shares and interests therein, under the subject to the several provisions, agreements, Hmitations and conditions contained within said Articles of Association which are hereunto annexed as part of this indenture, and shall do and perform all legal acts, of every kind, conformable to the said articles, and necessary to carry into effect the provisions thereof and make and execute all deeds and conveyances of sale of any part of the aforsaid lands and premises, pursuant to the requirements of the board of directors in said articles contained. And it is hereby declared all the aforesaid lands and premises shall be deemed joint stock of said company to be held and subject, and under and in conformity with the present articles of association with all amendments and alterations to be made therein and thereto, pursuant to the provisions in that behalf contained. And it is furtlier declared and agreed that the said trustees, as well as those hereby created by this indenture, their successors and survivors of them and those hereafter to be chosen, shall derive no estate nor title to the said lands and premises by reason of this or any future conveyance, beyond a mere legal estate for the purpose of giving effect to the resolutions of the said board of directors, and that the said trustees, the survivors or survivor of them and their successors and assigns and said all other trustees, their successors or assigns, the survivors or survivor, shall be bound to do all such legal acts and make and execute all such legal assurances of any part of the property belonging to said company, as the said board at its proper costs shall require. Provided the members of the said company shall be held bound for every personal covenant made or liability incurred in the execution of said trust, in pursuance of the articles aforesaid, and it is fully understood that the refusal of all or any of the trustees now or hereafter to be appointed, their successor or successors, assign or assigns, to perform such acts or make such assurances as aforesaid, shall be taken and deemed as a resignation, and the legal estate heretofore vested in him or them shall forever cease and determine, and be vested in the survivor of the said trustees, and in case of vacancy occurring from time to time among the said trustees, by death or resignation, or otherwise, the survivor or successor of them shall in all such cases hold the estate hereby created and conveyed, and be capable of doing legal acts until a new trustee is named, pursuant to the provison in that behalf in said articles of association contained, and until such new trustee or trustees shall be appointed.

This company 'caused 240 acres of this purchase in the northwest portion on the river to be surveyed and platted for a town, and named ifc Lower Saginaw. The boundries of this embryo city were the present Wood side Avenue, the Saginaw River, a line about 400 feet south of and parallel with Tenth Street, and a line 100 feet east of and parallel with Van Buren Street.

It would seem that this formidable company had dreams of wealth as great as the fabulous price they paid for the land, for they commenced making extensive improvements to induce capitalists to invest in this new city by building a dock and warehouse, and a large hotel was framed and lumber provided for its completion, and yet the plans projected were but partially developed.

The finance bubble had swollen to the fullest extent about this time all over the West and East ; the wild mania for speculation had culminated in the suspension of specie payment, because of the run upon all the banks for the specie with which to purchase the United States lands. This company were unable to "stand from under," and were thus crushed in aU their dreams of wealth, in the greatest crash in the finances this country ever knew. About the only one of the original company who survived, was James Fraser, whose race with Lower Saginaw was not yet run. After 1838 no further active operations were carried on by the company as first organized.

At Portsmouth, several sales of village lots had been made, and during the winter of 1836-'37 a saw-mill was built by Judge Miller, B. K. Hall and Cromwell Barney, and a postoffice established. The financial revulsion visited the same fate upon this place as befell its neighbor and the glowing prospects of both were enveloped in darkness. From this time on the operations at these two points are told in the history of Bay City.

After the great financial crash the Legislature of Michigan passed a general banking law, afterwards known as the "'Wild Cat" system, which was intended to bridge over the chasm," but it only plunged the people into a deeper one. There were two banks projected to be organized under the law above referred to, and located within the present limits of Bay City, to-wit: - The Commercial Bank, of Portsmouth, to be located at Portsmouth, and the Saginaw County Bank, to be located at Lower Saginaw. A banking house was built for the Saginaw County Bank, and bills were engraved for each of the banks, but none were put in circulation except some of those of the Saginaw County Bank that were stolen while in transit from the engravers in New York, and the names of fictitious officers signed to them. However, they were just as good as if they had been regularly issued under the law. The name " Wild Cat" w^as given the currency by an old fur dealer in Detroit, who, in assorting his furs, was accustomed to select his choice furs, and the refuse and unsalable portion, composed, in part, of wild cat skins, he would throw aside and call the pile '^ wild cat." After the bills issued under the law of 1837 became a circulating medium, in assorting his money he would select the Eastern money and the issues of the banks with special charters, and the other he would put into a parcel and label it '' Wild Cat," and from that the name became attached to that particular currency.

After every effort to keep the bubble inflated had failed, the people became more interested in devising means by which they could obtain a livelihood than they were in building towns or making land speculations. Many, who a few months before were considered in affluent circumstances, found themselves without available means of support. The class that suffered least in the financial troubles were the farmers, which afterward induced many to turn their attention to that business, and they prospered finely along the rich alluvial bottom lands of the Saginaw.

Six Yeaks Of Languishing

During the interval between 1838 and 1844, all was quiet along the Saginaw. The movements concerning Lower Saginaw and Portsmouth, as towns, are given in the chapter of their history. The two hamlets were emphatically waiting for something to '' turn up." There were a few new comers. Dr. D. H. Fitzhugh purchased several parcels of land where West Bay City now stands, about 1840. In 1842, James G. Birney came in pursuit of solitude, and found it.

During the Winter of 1838-39, Gen. Eosseau was engaged with his brother, Capt. Eosseau, and his uncle. Dr. Eosseau, in the performance of a surveying contract with the government, their work being the subdivision of townships in this vicinity. Other surveying was done by Louis Clawson, who arrived in the Spring, having a contract to survey territory up the shore.

In July, 1839, Stephen Wolverton arrived, commissioned to build a light house at the mouth of the river. He came on a smah vessel, commanded by Capt. Stiles, and commenced the work which was afterwards finished by Capt. Levi Johnson, of Cleveland, Ohio. It was during this year that John Hulbert, the Indian paymaster, came to Lower Saginaw to make the last payment to the Indians for the purchase of their reservation. There were 1,700 Indians camped in the vicinity of the Globe Hotel. They remained about two weeks and received $80,000.

Prior to 1843, this entire region was included in the township of Saginaw. In the Winter of 1843 the township of Hampton was erected, and included the Lower Saginaw region, and territory north as far as Mackinaw. The name " Hampton '' was selected by James G. Birney, that being the name of his Avife's country seat in New York State. The township was organized in the Spring, and the first election held at the Globe Hotel, April 1, 1843. This was an important meeting, - a supervisor had to be elected. There is no tradition of any caucuses, no stuffing of the ballot box, no intimidation at the polls. Party spirit evidently ran high, for the contest was a close one. There were thirteen votes polled, of which S. S. Campbell received seven and James G. Birney six ; and Mr. Campbell was declared duly elected, to attend meetings of the county board at Saginaw, and paddle his own canoe both ways. The expenses of the township for the first year were about f 60.

In 1855 the town of Williams was organized by the Midland Board, and comprised Towns 14, 15, 16, north. Range 3 east, and all of Arenac County.

Indications Of Returning Life

With the beginning of the year 1844 there appeared faint indications of returning life to the Lower Saginaw region. A start in the manufacture of lumber had been made by James McCormick & Son at Portsmouth, and in the Winter of 1844 James Fraser and Cromwell Barney built a mill at Kawkawlin, and other mills followed as narrated in the chapter of lumber history.

In 1847 an Indian Mission Church was erected on the KawkawHn Eiver. This was the first church built within the present limits of Bay County.

Pioneer Life Illustrated

James McCormick, one of the very early settlers of the Saginaw Valley, was born near Albany, N. Y., May 25, 1787. His father, Archibald McCormick, was born in Galloway, Scotland, in the year 1757. When he became of age, he left his paternal roof and went to Ayreshire, where he married a Scotch lassie by the name of Mary Cummings, and rented a small farm near the birth-place of the Scottish poet, Robert Burns. He emigrated to America in the year 1778, where the subject of this sketch was born. Here he purchased an old Norman patent of 700 acres of land, four miles southwest of the city of Albany, on the Normanskill Creek. Here James McCormick received his early training, working on the farm in Summers and going to school Winteis. Here he worked, helping to clear the farm, until he was twenty-four years old, when he married Miss Ellen Garratt, daughter of Robert Garratt, of Otsego County, N. Y., one of the old pioneers of that county, and founder of Garrattsville. His father had promised to give him a farm out of his 700 acres, when he married, but he recanted and said a heretic should have none of his property, as James McCormick had previously left the old Scotch Presbyterian Church and joined the

Universalists. This was a sin the old gentleman could never forgive, until a few hours before his death, when the last words he said were, "I cannot die in peace, I have wronged my son James; I have never given him anything, and he has done more for me than all my boys." James bought a farm adjoining his father's, where he accumulated a handsome fortune for a farmer in those days. In 1830 he went on bonds with some friends to the amount of $16,000, which he had to pay, and had to sell his fine farm to pay his obligations. After settling up he had but |300 left, with a large family to support. In the meantime, two of his brothers had got their father to deed them all his real estate, cutting James off without a dollar. This exasperated him so, that he determined to go to the far West, as it was then called.

He left Albany the 1st of May, 1832, with his large family, consisting of Robert, James, Ann, Wilham R., Ehzabeth and Sarah. Joseph, the second son, had previously gone with a friend to Kentucky. Says William:

"Well do I recollect that memorable journey. My boyish life was full of anticipations of the future. It was the happiest day of my life when we went aboard of the canal boat to go West. But my mother was sad. No doubt she was thinking of the beautiful home she had left, and the misgivings of the future, with her large family to commence anew in a new country. We were seven days in reaching Buffalo, and a pleasant time we children had.

"At Buffalo we were transferred to the steamboat " Superior, " and my father bought a steerage passage for his family to Detroit, including a horse and Avagon we had brought with us, for which he paid $50. When the boat left the wharf hundreds of people stood on the shore waving handkerchiefs and bidding their friends adieu. There were but three steamboats carrying passengers on the lakes at this time. We were three days and nights in reaching Detroit, with a fair wind all the way, and as the steamboats carried spars in those days, this increased our speed very much. ' It was \ published in the papers at the time, that it was the quickest time that had been made between Buffalo and Detroit.

"At Detroit my father hired some rooms for his family. This house was situated near the river bank, in an old pear orchard, and in rear of where the Biddle House now stands, and as we had brought no furniture with us we took our meals from the top of a large chest. Detroit at this time contained about 3,300 inhabitants.

"After my father had got his family temporarily settled, he, with brothers Robert and James J., took the horse and wagon we had brought with us, and started in the country to look for a farm. In his walk around the city he had met and formed the acquaintance of the late John R. Williams, who advised him to go to Saginaw.

"They finally started for Saginaw. They went as far as Grand Blanc, where they were obliged to leave the horse and wagon, as there were no roads any further. So they hired pasture of Rufus W. Stevens, an Indian trader, for the horse, and started on foot on the Indian trail for Saginaw. They went as far as Flint River, where they stopped with a man by the name of John Todd. Here they stayed a few days, as they liked the country very much, and decided to locate here.

"The United States Government at this time had commenced building a United States military road from Detroit to Saginaw, as Michigan was a territory and under the control of the General Government at this time. A man by the name of Davis had taken the contract of the government to build the bridge across the Flint River. He employed my father and brother Robert to work on the bridge, while brother James J. planted some potatoes. This must have been some time in the month of June, 1832. Soon after this my fatlier purchased of a Mr. Ewing a "half-breed" title to one hundred and twenty-five acres of land on the north side of the river, and on the east side of what is now Saginaw Street, now the First Ward of the city of FHnt, but could find no house for his family, as there were but two houses there at this time, one occupied by John Todd, on the south bank of the river, and the other the old Indian log trading house of Jacob Smith, on the north bank, some twenty-five rods below where Lyman Stow, afterwards Judge Stow, of Genesee County, then lived. So my father got a small log building near the Thread River, one and a half miles south of Flint River, for his family until he could build on the land he had bought. He then sent my brother James J. back on the Indian trail to Grand Blanc to get the horse and wagon, and remove the family from Detroit to Flint. My father got a young man by the name of Miller to go with him, as James J. was then only fifteen years old. This man Miller is now the Hon. Judge Albert Miller, of Bay City, and late president of the State Pioneer Society of the State of Michigan, Avho, prior to this, had come up from Saginaw to teach a school for the little settlement at Grand Blanc. They arrived in Detroit on the third day, as the roads in those days were almost impassable. We all went to work, packing up our little household goods. My mother hired a man by the name of Mosher with his team to carry a load to Grand Blanc for $25. There was great excitement in our little family to see our new home among the Lidians.

"We started from Detroit for Flint River, some riding and some walking, and all walking where the roads were bad. This must have been the fore part of July, for I recollect the celebration of the 4th was a few days before we left, at the old capitol building, which was then away out on the common, having been built in 1825, and was located some little distance northwest of where the soldiers' monument now stands. At any rate, there were no buildings near it. But to proceed with our journey. The roads were very bad, and we only got across the Swamp to Royal Oak the first day. That part of the country laying betw^een Royal Oak and Detroit was in those days called the Swamp, and of all roads I ever saw I think this was the worst. The next morning we proceeded on our journey. The country become more broken, and the roads better, and that night we reached a Httle log house on the bank of a pretty lake, where a man by the name of Fuller had settled. This is now Springfield. We started early the next morning and at night reached Grand Blanc, and stayed all night with a man by the name of Rufus W. Stevens, who kept an Indian trading house, or store, for trading with the Indians for furs. Our father and oldest brother had come up from Flint River to meet us, and how glad we were to see them. Here Mr. Mosher, the teamster, left us, as he could go no further, this being the end of all wagon roads. From here to Flint was nothing but a narrow road cut to let sleighs pass through in Winter, but not wide enough in many places for a wagon. We started early with our one horse wagon, my mother and the larger children walking, while my father and elder brother went ahead to clear the road. We worked hard all day, and at night, tired and worn out, we reached the Thread River, six miles from where my father had prepared a temporary abode for his family. Consequently, this was the first wagon that had come through to the Flint River.

"We lived here a short time until my younger brother, Archibald, was born, October 31st, he being the first white male child born between Grand Blanc and Mackinaw. My father soon built a house on the land he had bought, which now comprises the First Ward of the City of Flint, where he soon removed. After getting his family ' settled he began to look around for provisions for the Winter. ! There was plenty of venison to be had of the Indians, but there was I no pork in the country. j

Saginaw, to buy pork for their families. On their way down the river they encamped on the old Indian fields about seven miles south of what is now Bridgeport, and about fourteen miles from Saginaw, by the road, and twenty-five by the river.

"My father took a great fancy to this old Indian field, which contained about 150 acres, without a stump or a stone, and all ready for the plow.

"Here he could raise enough to support his family. The Indians had abandoned it years before, because the grub worms ate their corn as it sprouted from the ground, which they attributed to the wrath of the Great Spirit. They left it, and made new com fields farther up the river. On my father's return home he said to my mother that he would sell hi 5 place the first opportunity, and remove down the river on the Indian fields, where he could raise more extensive crops, as the soil was much richer. Finally, in 1834, my father sold his place for $600, and thought he was making a great speculation, as he had only given $125 for it two years before.

'*He then negotiated with Ton-dog-a-ne for a lease of 610 acres, including the Indian fields, for a term of years, for the nominal price of twenty-five bushels of potatoes and twenty-five bushels of corn, per year.

"These Indian fields were within the reservation of the Indian chief, Ton-dog-a-ne, of the Flint River band of Indians, which comprised over 7,000 acres.

"We then moved down the river to the Indian field spoken of before, and arrived at that place the second day, unloading our canoes after dark. We had no place to stop, but we went to work and built a large fire, and made a tent of blankets for my mother and the children. I recollect a circumstance that night which made me feel very bad, and which I cannot even now recall without a sense of pain. My mother was sitting on a log close by the fire, crying. We asked her what was the matter. She said * she never thought she would come to this - no roof to cover her and the babes ' - for at this time some of the children were quite small. She had known better times, as they say. My father had been the owner of a handsome estate near Albany, and the house over which my mother presided was as delightful as any which at that time graced the banks of the noble Hudson. It w^as a fate which a mother's heart could not easily bear, to see that beautiful home sold to satisfy the demands of a New York broker for whom my father had undersigned; to see the toils of a lifetime brought to ruin; to see the hopes of the future all struck down by a rude and cruel blow; and to turn her face and steps toward the wilderness of the great West, there to seek, with such strength as might be left, to partially retrieve the fortune that had been so suddenly wasted to redeem another's name and obligation. Hard, hard indeed, was it for her when the darkness of that memorable night surrounded her in the great forests, and she wept because there was no roof to shelter her babes from the weather.

"The next morning we all went to work, and on the second day we had quite a comfortable shanty to live in. We then began the construction of a log house, which we soon finished, when we took down our shanty and moved into the house, where we lived many years. There was a black walnut flat just above the fields, of beautiful timber, which we made into rails, and fenced the 150 acres with black walnut rails ; - a rather expensive timber for rails at the present day. Our first year's crop was excellent. The second year we sold 1,000 bushels of corn to the American Fur Company, to be taken to Lake Superior for the Indians. The only drawback we had was in converting our grain into flour. A grist mill had been built at the Thread, one and a half miles south of Flint. We had to take our grain, in a canoe, up the river some thirty-five miles, and then get it drawn to the mill and back to the river and then come down the river home. It usually took us four days to go to mill and back, camping out every night, and the hardest kind of work at that. This work always fell on my brother James and myself, for though a boy, I could steer the canoe and my brother would tow it over the rapids with a rope. Our feet used to get very sore walking in the water so much. When Winter came on it was impossible to go to mill, as there was no road, so in the Winter evenings we all took turns pounding corn in a mortar - made in the end of a log, sawed about three feet long with a hole in one end to pound corn in, similar to what the Indians used to pound corn in in those days.

*'Many of the old settlers of Saginaw will recollect how, in coming down the river, they made thoir calculations to reach our house to stay all night without camping out, and how happy they were when they got there, for at that time it was the only place between FHnt and Sa^ginaw where they could stay over night without camping out. There was nothing but a and part of the year it was impassable, especially for ladies; consequently most of the travel went up and down the river in canoes and skiffs.

"In 1835 my father went back to Albany, his native place, and was eleven days in reaching his destination. He considered it a quick passage. This was before the age of railroads. When he returned, he brought a mill, something like an old-fashioned colree mill, but five times as large; the hopper would hold about a peck, and had a handle on each side. This was a great thing in those days, for with it we could grind a bushel of corn in an hour. We now threw away the old mortar and stopped going to mill, as we had a mill of our own.

"This year we had two neighbors, and they used to come in the evenings to grind their corn at our mill, which was worth its weight in gold to that little settlement.

**A circumstance happened at this time that I will give, if you will have the patience to hear me. My father being of a poetical turn of mind, the day after he came from the East, sat down on the bank of the river and composed the following verses, which I have taken from his note book of poems :

"In 1886 (this was wild cat times) the country was overrun with persons looking land; in fact, the people had gone land crazy. My father's house was crowded with land speculators. As there were only three rooms in the old log house, it was necessary to make what is called a ' field bed ' before the old-fashioned fire-place, w^hich would hold from ten to fifteen. On one occasion we had got out of flour, so my father started my brother James and myself to Saginaw in a canoe for some. At that time there were three ' drift w^oods ' in the river, one sixty, one thirty-five and one twelve rods long. Around these w^e had to draw our canoe and carry what we had. At Saginaw we purchased two barrels of flour for $18 per barrel. On oar return it commenced raining and rained all day. We paddled till late in the night up the Flint River to find land high enough to permit us to build a fire and dry ourselves and he down ; but we did not sleep long, for in the middle of the night the water raised so that our camping ground was under water.

'*We had to take to our canoe and sit in it until daylight, so we could see to go ahead. We soon arrived at the drift wood. Here w^e had another obstacle to contend with. How to get our flour around was a question, as the mud and water were about four inches deep, and carry the barrels we could not. Tbere was no other way but to roll them around in the mud and water. We arrived home that night with our two barrels of flour covered all over with a coating of mud.

*' The next Winter my father sold his crop of corn to parties in Saginaw for f 1.50 per bushel. As usual, my brother James and myself drew it down on the ice to Saginaw, and got our pay in bills on the Flint Rapids Bank. A few days after our return home my father started for Flint, and found, after his arrival, that the Flint Rapids Bank was a wdld-cat concern and had failed a day or two before. Thus was aU our

<'The next year the Indians were terribly afflicted with smallpox; forty-seven of them died at the Indian village above my father's house, and all through the country they were dying by scores. At Green Point, at the mouth of the Tittabawassee, several were left unburied, and were eaten up by the hogs. To add to the horrors of sickness and death, they were starving, as there were not well ones enough to hunt for the rest.

" My father sent word to the Indian village above him, that they must not starve, but to bring down their canoes to the upper end of the field, above the house, where they would find plenty of potatoes, corn, beans, pumpkins, squashes, etc., piled up on the bank of the river, and when they wanted more, come to the upper end of the field and shout, and they could have all they wanted.

** My father continued to supply them with food until they recovered and could provide for themselves. This favor they never forgot, for, said they, * if it was not for our white brother, 'as they used to call my father, *we should have all starved to death.' Soon after this they called a council of the chief and bead men and made a new lease to my father of one section of land, 640 acres, where he then lived, on the lower end of the reservation, for the term of ninetynine years. This lease was signed by the chiefs and head men of the nation, in presence of Judge Devenportand others, as witnesses.

*' This was done in gratitude for what my father had done for them, when they had the small-pox and were starving; which corroborates an old saying, and a true one, that an Indian never forgets a favor, which I have in a great many instances experienced.

'* Soon after this Henry E. Schoolcraft, the superintendent of Indian affairs, was sent on by the government to make a treaty with the Indians to cede the several reservations lying on the Flint, Shiawassee, Tittabawassee and Cass Eivers to the United States government.

** The chiefs and head men of the different bands of each reservation were notified by Mr. Schoolcraft to meet him in council at Flint, to negotiate for a sale of their reservations. A treaty or sale was made to the government of all the reservations except the Flint River Reservation. Ton-dog-a-ne and his band refused to sell their seven thousand acre reservation on the Flint River, unless they sold subject to a lease they had given to James McCormick, of a section of land, 640 acres, on the lower end of the reserve where he then lived.

'* This Mr. Schoolcraft, the government commissioner, refused to do. Then, said the chief, Ton-dog-a-ne, and his head men, ' We will not sell our lands unless our white brother is provided for; we will not sign the treaty. ' The treaty was then broken up in regard to the FHnt River Reservation. Subsequently, Mr. Schoolcraft, through his intei^reter, Capt. Joseph F. Marsac, notified Ton-doga-ne and his band that he would purchase their reservation subject to the terms specified. With this understanding the chief, Ton-doga-ne, and the head men, signed the treaty, with full confidence that Mr. Schoolcraft had done as he agreed, and that their white brother was provided for. This afterwards proved not to be the fact, as he had left it oat of the treaty altogether. The government afterwards sold the land occupied by Mr. McCormick, to which he thought he had a just title by the treaty, and he was ejected therefrom.

In 1841 James McCormick removed to Portsmouth, now South Bay City, and in company with his son, James J. McCormick, purchased B. K. Hall's interest in the old Portsmouth steam mill, formerly built by Judge Albert Miller and others, and commenced the manufacture of lumber. This was the second mill built on the Saginaw River. James McCormick shipped the first cargo of lumber that ever went out of the Saginaw River. It would run 60 per cent uppers, and he sold it in Detroit to the late James Busby, brother-in-law of the late James Fraser, for $8 per thousand - one-third down, and the balance on time. The vessel was the" Old Conneaut Packet, "Capt. George Raby, and the cargo consisted of 40,000 feet. Clear lumber was then selhng at the mill for f 10 in store trade, as there was no money in the country. So you see lumbermen did not get rich in those days.

They only opened the way for those that came after them to make their fortunes. The early pioneers came into the valley twenty years too soon to get rich. But then, again, what would our beautiful Saginaw Valley have been to-day but for the perseverance, the privations and the hardships of these early pioneers?

James McCormick and his son, James J., continued the manufacture of lumber up to the year 1846, when James McCormick died. He died at the old homestead, April 2, 1846, deeply regretted by all the old pioneers. His wife continued to live at the old homestead, dispensing her hospitality to all who came, as there was but one public house in the lower end of the valley, at this time. She lived here until 1854, when her children insisted she should break up housekeeping and live with them the rest of her days, which she did. She died at her daughter's, Mrs. John Malone's, in the township of Taymouth, Saginaw County, July 22, 1862, beloved by all who knew her.

Her remains, together with her husband, James McCormick, have been removed to Pine Ridge Cemetery, where a suitable monument has been erected by friends to those old pioneers' memory, with the following inscription :

To The Memory Of

Pioneers of the Saginaw Valley. They pitched their tent in the Wilderness in 1832, and planted a vineyard; but the Master called them hence e'er they gathered the fruit!

Judge Albert Miller also writes as follows: - "I knew James McCormick from the time he came to Michigan until he died, and upon perusal find the foregoing sketch to be a correct review of his life. He was a man who possessed rare natural gifts, and integrity and benevolence were conspicuous traits of his character. I have reason to remember him kindly for his many acts of kindness, and noble traits of character.''

Joseph, the second son, was never identified with the Saginaw Yalley, having left Albany when a boy, in 1831, for Kentucky, where he was a heavy contractor for many years. He died in Kansas some years since.

Sarah, the third daughter of James McCormick, is the wife of Medor Trombley, of South Bay City, one of the pioneers of Michigan, having been born in the state; also of Bay County, having settled in what is now Bay City, in 1835.

Ann, the fourth child uf James McCormick, married John Malone, a farmer of Taymouth, Saginaw County, and resides on the same land he entered from the government, nearly fifty years ago, ten miles from East Saginaw.

Archibald L. McCormick, who was the first white male child born northwest of Grand Blanc, Oct. 31, 1832, was the fifth son of James McCormick. He removed to Illinois, and went into the mercantile business. After the breakiug out of the Rebellion, he enlisted in the Fifty -second Illinois Regiment, and was promoted to orderly sergeant. At the battle near Island No. 10, he was promoted to second lieutenant. At the battle of Stone River he took command of his company, and for bravery on the battle field in capturing a battery, he was promoted to captain. He was soon after taken prisoner, but was exchanged,, after fearful suffering. He came back and reported for duty. He asked leave to go home to recruit his health, as he was almost a walking skeleton, and also to get recruits to fill up his company, which was granted. He soon recovered and with his company filled with new recruits, he reported for duty, and joined the army on its march to Atlanta. At the bat- tie of Kenesaw Mountain the enemy had a masked battery which was making sad havoc with our troops. Gen. Bradley sent for Capt. McCormick to take that battery, saying he took the battery at Stone Eiver and he knew he would take that. He took the battery, but fell on the breastworks, pierced with seven balls, a martyr to his country.

Andrew V. McCormick, the youngest child of James and Ellen McCormick, Avas the first child born in what is now the Township of Taymouth, Saginaw County, December 20, 1836. In 1854 he went to Illinois and commenced farming. He also enlisted in the Union army and served until just before its close, when he was wounded and retired from the service. He is now a wealthy farmer in Kansas.

Elizabeth, the second daughter of James McCormick, married Orrin Kinney, a farmer, a well-known citizen of the Saginaw Valley, and an old pioneer, being identified with all of its early developments. They still live on their farm, within the present limits of Bay City, surrounded by their children and grandchildren.

*' James J. McCormick, third son of James McCormick, was born near Albany, N. Y., in January, 1817, and was in the fifty-sixth year of his age at the time of his death, which occurred in Bay City, November 25, 1872.

"My first acquaintance with Mr. McCormick happened in this wise : - In the Summer of 1882 I started on foot, from Saginaw, for a journey to Detroit, having with me a draft on James Abbott, of Detroit, upon which to raise money to purchase some land from the government; but when I arrived at Flint, I learned that my draft had not been properly endorsed, and that I should have to return to Saginaw and get the endorsement before I could raise the money on it. While at Flint I was introduced by the late E. E. Ewings, Esq., fco Mr. James McCormick (father of the late J. J.), who, although a stranger, kindly volunteered to loan me the money, so that I could proceed to Detroit and purchase the land I was anxious to secure. Mr. McCormick's family at that time resided in Detroit, and he was about sending his son, James J., to Detroit, with a one-horse wagon, and I was offered a free ride, which, under the circumstances, was highly appreciated ; for at that time there was no public conveyance on any portion of the road between Saginaw and Detroit. In passing over the road on that journey with James J. McCormick, a familiar acquaintance was formed, which ripened into a strong friendship for each other, which lasted wh le time lasted, with him, and the severance of which is a great grief to myself. Afterwards the family removed to the Flint Eiver, and engaged in farming. James J., being the eldest son at home, bore the brunt of the hardship in supplying the family with the necessaries of life, every article of which, that was not produced from their own farm, had to be transported either from Fhnt or Saginaw, sometimes in a canoe, sotnetimes on horseback, and at other times, when neither of the above mentioned modes were available, the men were obliged to carry them on their own backs. James early evinced a good business talent, and for some time previous to becoming of age, transacted all his father's business. While the family resided at Pewanagowink, James J. went to Kentucky, where he was engaged with an elder brother on a railroad contract. While there he became acquainted with Miss Jane Shelton, an amiable young lady of prepossessing appearance, whom he married and brought with him on his return to Michigan. After his return he resided a short time at Pewanagowink, before removing, in 18'41, to Portsmouth. At that time there were but few families residing in this vicinity; but the business enterprise of the Messrs. McCormick soon made a change in the appearance of the place. They repaired the old Portsmouth mill, and commenced the manufacture of lumber, and not finding a ready sale for it, they erected buildings for different persons in this vicinity, on contract, furnishing all the materials, and by that means used up considerable of their lumber. They erected buildings for James G. Birney, Joseph Trombley, Medor Trombley and Capt. Joseph F. Marsac. The ground upon which J. J. McCormick built his palatial residence was purchased, with a small house upon it, from Capt. Marsac, and paid for by erecting buildings for the Captain on other lands. In 1846, James McCormick, Sr., died at Portsmouth; and after that James J. carried on business for himself, till 1848, when the writer bought an interest with him in the old mill,' and we were connected in business till the Spring of 1849.

' 'It was during the last mentioned period that the writer became more fully acquainted with the industry, integrity, and sterling manhood of the late deceased. During the whole course of our intimate business relations there was never an unpleasant w^ord passed between us. We labored then with our own hands, each taking our turn at the saw with our employes, and attending to our business matters while they were asleep ; but there was never a time when Mr. McCormick was not wilHng to bear his full share of the burden, neither do I know of an instance where he desired to appropriate more of the proceeds of our joint labor to himself than he was willing to concede to me. Mr. McCormick was ambitious, and when the news of the discovery of gold in California first reached him, he became anxious to participate in the golden harvest that awaited those who would brave the dangers and undergo the hardships necessary to be endured by those who would reap it. The dangers, privations and hardships of the journey had no terrors for him, his only misgiving being in leaving his wife and children behind; but, after making provision for their support during his absence, he procured an outfit, consisting of a yoke of oxen and a wagon, on which was loaded the necessary articles to be used on his journey, which he ferried across the Saginaw Eiver on a raft of flattened timber, about the middle of March, 1849, and thus started alone to traverse the then almost unknown track across the continent to the Pacific Slope. He joined some acquaintances on the way, with whom he journeyed a portion of the distance, but was separated from them before reaching their destination, one of whom, Mr. Alfred Goyer, of Genesee County, he met, after having been in California a year, at a spring, where they were both watering their horses. They did not recognize each other till after inquiries were made as to their former residences, when they learned each other's identity.

* 'After that I believe they remained together, and returned home in each other's company after an absence of two years and a half, or thereabouts. I know but little about Mr. McCormick's success in the mines. I know he brought home some money with him, with which he commenced the lumber business, building a mill near his late residence, at which he has been successfully engaged in the manufacture and sale of lumber till about the year 1871, when he sold his mill to Mr. Webster. Mr. McCormick's first wife died in 1854, leaving three children, one daughter and two sons, two of whom survive their father, - the daughter, who is now the wife of Mr. Bassett, of the firm of Bassett, Seed & Co., and the youngest son. Mr. McCormick's eldest son, at the breaking out of the Eebellion, entered the army of the Union, where his health was impaired, in consequence of which he died, in 1867. Mr. McCormick married, for his second wife. Miss Matilda Wayne, who died in 1880.

"Mr. McCormick was a member of the first Council of Bay City, and was mayor of the city in 1869. In 1868 he erected the McCormick Block, on Water Street. He was also part owner of the

Opera House. Few men had more personal friends, and his death left a vacancy difficult to fill. He was a prominent member of the Masonic Order, and had received "the highest degree possible in this country. "

William R. McCormick, another son and one of the very early pioneers of the Saginaw Valley, and Bay City, was born near the city of Albany, N. Y., August 16, 1822. He came with his parents to Michigan in 18B2, and first settled at FHnt, Genesee County. In 1834 his parents removed to Saginaw County and settled near the Indian village of Pewanagowink, where he helped his father on the farm up to 1837. For a short time after his parents removed to this place there were two other settlers, a Mr. Hayden, and Mr. Nelson, but they soon removed to Saginaw; then their nearest neighbors were Messrs. Charles and Humphrey McLeans, of Pine Run, some fifteen miles off.

So all the playmates WilHam had when a boy were the young Indians. He often joined them on their hunting excursions, and became so uamiliar with their language, that, in the Fall of 1837, he was employed by Messrs. Coburn, Dixon, and others, as Indiai\ interpreter and clerk in their store, at Green Point, at the mouth of the Tittabawasse River, for trading with the Indians for furs, in opposition to the American Fur Company at Saginaw. While at this point he read everything of book kind he could find in that outpost of civilization, and while here he improved all his leisure time he could, to acquire an education. After remaining here for some time, the company failed, not being able to compete with the extensive firm of the American Fur Company, which was backed up by John Jacob Astor, of New York City.

After the company had failed he returned home to help his father on the farm another year, when he wanted to do for himself. He wanted to go to Illinois to his brother's, as he had got tired of living in the wilderness, where he could not get an education or make any money; but his father objected, saying it was a long journey and he would have to stage it most of the way. So, to compromise with him he got a place in Saginaw, with Maj. Mosley, who lived in one of the block houses inside the old fort, where he was to do chores night and morning for his board, and go to school through the Fall and Winter. In the Spring of 1838 he returned home again to help his father on the farm. In June, 1839, after the Spring work was all done, he again asked his father to let him go to his brother's in Ilhnois, and he again objected. This worked on his mind so much that he determined to go, let the consequences be what they might. So in his father's absence, he got his clothes, put them in a pack on his back, and with what little money he could raise he started on foot. He went to Detroit, and then took the old Chicago road, which he followed as far as Laporte, Ind., when he left it and turned south to Valparaiso, when his money gave out and his feet became so sore traveling that he could go no further. Here he went to work until his feet got well, when he started again for Vincennes, Ind., near where his brothers lived. This was a long tramp.

The next Winter his father made his sons a visit, and William returned home with him with a span of horses and a wagon. It took eighteen days travel for the return trip home. He remained with his father on the farm until 1841, then with his father removed to Portsmouth, now Bay City, where he remained until 1846, when he was offered a situation with a wealthy uncle East, where he married a Miss Angelica Wayne, of Albany Co., N. Y., and after some years returned to Bay City, where he has since resided. In 1860 a company was formed in Portsmouth, of which Mr. McCormick was one of the stockholders, to bore for salt. Mr. McCormick was elected superintendent and secretary, with full power to proceed with the work to see if salt water could be found. It proved to be a success.

Salt water was found at the depth of 600 feet, and the manufacture of salt was soon commenced. This was the first salt well in Bay County. Afterwards Mr. Mc Cormick turned his attention to the inspection of lumber, which he followed up to 1873, when he was offered the deputy state salt inspectorship, which he held up to 1882, since which time he has turned his attention to the care of his real estate. No man is better known in Bay County than Mr. McCormick, the oldest pioneer hving in the Saginaw Valley, except Judge Albert Miller. He has filled many positions of trust and responsibility, to the entire satisfaction of the state and county, and is yet a hearty, jovial old gentleman. He has lived to see Bay County grow from one house to a population of over twenty thousand inhabitants. He still resides at the old home he built many years ago, corner of Mc- Cormick and Twenty-third streets, surrounded by his children and grand-children, with the comforts of life around him.

In 1832 Mr. McCormick made a journey from Fhnt to Saginaw, in company with one Col. Marshall. During this trip the Indian propensity for fire-water was illustrated by a young son of the forest, who assisted them in getting their canoe across a shallow place in the river, and in return for his kindness was given a pull at the canteen. The party pro39eded with their journey, and after going a distance of about twelve miles, halted for dinner. Just as they had settled down to their meal up came the Indian who had assisted them in the mornhig. Upon inquiry it was found that he had come the distance of twelve miles for another drink of whiskey. While at Saginaw, Col. Marshall wanted to go to the mouth of the river, and Mr. McCormick accompanied him. Of this trip, he says : **As we proceeded down the river, in our canoe, we found great quantities of ducks; the river was fairly black with them. We met an Indian who had killed thirty- seven at seven shots with a * squaw gun.' The first house we saw after leaving Saginaw was a twostory log house below where Carrollton now stands, called the Mosby House. The next house we came to was a small log house on the bank of the river, near where the Wooden Ware Works now stand, at South Bay City. This was occupied by a Frenchman named Masho, who had married a squaw, and had a large family of children. We continued down the river two or three miles, and came to a little clearing on the bank of the river, where we found a log house standing near the present corner of Water and Fourth Streets. This was where Leon Trombley lived. These were the only two houses where the city of Bay City now stands."

Mr. McCormick has devoted a great deal of time and careful attention to the collection of early history pertaining to the Saginaw Valley. He has a large portfoHo of manuscript, which he has prepared at leisure, and which contains a large amount of valuable and interesting history relating to the Saginaw Valley during the last fifty years. A number of his sketches are given in this work, and will be found faithful ani interesting representations of pioneer life. He has six children, ail living in Bay City.

The eldest daughter, Matilda, is the wife of Mr. F. B. Chesbrough, an extenseve lumber manufacturer ; and the two other daughters, Hattie and Addie, live with their parents.

Thomas Rogers was born in Scotland, October 16, 1804. His father emigrated to Canada in 1818, and settled some five miles north of Toronto, wh^re Thomas learned the trade of blacksmith and machinist. Here he married Miss Elizabeth Wilcox, November 13, 1828, where he lived until the Patriot war broke out, when he and his brothers espoused the side of the Patriots. His brothers were arrested and taken to Kingston and put in confinement in the fort as prisoners of war, or rebels. Shortly after, one of the brothers scaled the fort and made his esca.pe to the United States. Shortly after, the two other brothers were released and returned to their homes. Thomas, the subject of this sketch, came to Michigan in 1836 or 1837. At Detroit he met our old fellow pioneer, Harvey Williams, now of East Saginaw, who employed him to go to Saginaw to help put the machinery in a mill that the Messrs. Williams were then building at Saginaw City, which was the first mill on the Saginaw Eiver. After working here for some time, Mr. Eogers was employed to go to Portsmouth, now South Bay City, to put the machinery in a mill that was then building there by Judge Miller, now of Bay City, B. K. Hall, and others. This was in the month of October, but what year it was we have no record, but think it was in 1837 or 1838. The next July he started back for his family and removed them to Portsmouth, where he moved them into a little log house on the banks of the river, which stood where Albert Miller's upper salt works now stand. After running the mill a short time, the hard times came on, and the mill was shut down as there was no sale for lumber, and the mill remained still for some time, when B. K. Hall sold his interest to James McCormick & Son. When Mr. McCormick removed his family from his farm above Saginaw and commenced running the mill, again, Mr. Eogers was employed to put the machinery in order and to do the blacksmith work. Prior to this. Judge Miller had got a mail route established between Portsmouth and Saginaw, and the mail came once a week. Judge Miller was postmaster and Mr. Eogers was deputy. Mr. Eogers did the machine work in the mill besides carrying the mail once a week to and from Saginaw. He was to have the proceeds of the office for carrying the mail, which did not consist of over three or four letters and two or three papers at a time. In the Summer he went in a canoe and in Winter he carried it on foot, walking on the ice, making about twenty-eight miles travel to and from Saginaw, which was not a big paying contract. Nevertheless, it was kept up for years, until settlers became more plenty, when Mr. Eogers was relieved and the government established a regular mail route to connect with the regular Winter mail to and from Sault St. Marie and Mackinaw, which was brought to Lower Saginaw with dog trains over two hundred mile?, by half breed Indians. After James McCormick bought the miU Mr. Eogers continued carrying the mail and doing what little blacksmith work there was to be done for the few settlers. Mr. Eogers removed from Portsmouth to Lower Saginaw, now Bay City, in 1842, and built a small house on what is now the corner of Center and Water Streets, where the Shearer Block now stands, and built a blacksmith shop on the opposite side of Water Street, where the Griswold Block now is, where he worked at his trade many years. In the Summer of 1852, Mr. Eogers went up alone on the prairie some three or four miles above Bay City to cut prairie hay, and was there taken sick with the cholera, where he would have soon died ha4 not Orrin Kinney and Archibald McCormick, who were returning home from cutting hay, found him. They soon made a litter of two poles and a IJanket and brought him home, but he only survived a short time. He died Augyst 9, 1852, much respected by all the old pioneers who had shared with him in his joys and sorrows, and in the trials they had all passed through. Mr. Eogers was a sincere (Christian in the latter part of his life. He left a wife and seven children, viz. : Peter L., Hial B., Ester, Bettie, John A., Ellen and Thomas J. Peter L. is at Deadwood, D. T; Hial B. died in 1867; Ester is the wife of Capt. Eiley M. Burrington, of Bay City; Bettie is the wife of Charles B. CottreU, of Bay City; John A. is at AuGres, Mich., engaged in the shingle and mercantile business; Ellen is the wife of F. W. Lankenau, of West Bay City; and Thomas J. is now in Texas.

And now in regard to this noble man's wife ! I fear I am inadequate to do her justice. It would take a better pen to portray her many acts of benevolence, her many acts of womanly devotion to suffering humanity and to the pioneers and their families in the hours of sickness and death in those early days that tried men's souls.

Mrs. Elizabeth Eogers, wife of Thomas Eogers, was the daughter of an eminent physician. Dr. Wilcox, of Watertown, N. Y., who afterward moved to Toronto, Canada. She was born November 12, 1809. When a young girl she attended her father's office and filled his prescriptions. She became a great student, and to such an extent did she pursue the study of medicine that at the age of eighteen she was often consulted by her father on different cases, and it was that which fitted her in after years to be of such great benefit to the settlers of the Saginaw Valley. At the age of nineteen she became the wife of Thomas Eogers. After residing for a time near Toronto, she came with her husband to Michigan in 1837-'38 and settled in Portsmouth, now South Bay City.

From 1837 to 1850 she was the only practicing physician to the early settlers. At all hours of the day or night, when called upon, you would find her at the bedside of the sick and dying. Through storm or snow, rain or shine, it made no difference to her. Sometimes on horseback, sometimes on foot through woods. She felt it to be her duty, and like an angel of mercy, she did it, and would have continued to do so, but as settlers began to come in, also doctors came. She still visited the sick of a few old settlers, for they would have none other but her. There was scarcely a birth for twenty years but what she was present. In that dreadful year of the cholera, which swept off so many of the inhabitants, she was at the bedside of the sick and dying, administering assistance and comfort without money and without price. Yes, without any remuneration, for she made no charge. She felt it a duty she owed her fellow creatures, and nobly did she do it. Oftentimes the settlers would send her something, and she would accept it thank fully. Your humble servant was once taken with the cholera. She was immediately sent for, and but for her I might not now be here to pen these few lines as a tribute to her memory. Some time since, in conversing with the old lady, she said, "How things have changed." "Yes," I answered, "we have seen Bay City and its surroundings rise from three or four families to a population of 20,000. " "No," she said, "I do not mean that; but there are no such ijoble hearted men and women now, as among the early pioneers. It seems almost as if God had chosen such men and women to make the beginning here, or it never would have been done." I thought she was right.

She said, "When we first came here, we lived in a little log house on the bank of the river, and the wolves howled so at night we could not sleep. I have looked out of my door many a time in the middle of the day, and have seen a pack of wolves playing on the opposite side of the river where Salzburg now stands." One day two Indians who had been drinking came to her house while her husband was away to work some miles from home. She fastened the door. They demanded admittance and told her if she did not open the door they would break it down. They went to the wood pile, got the ax and began breaking in the door. She seized an iron rake, opened the door and knocked the first Indian senseless; the other ran off. This is only to show what a courageous woman she was. When circumstances required, she was as brave as a lion, and when her sympathies were called into action she was as tender as a child. Mrs. Eogers died in Bay City, July 16, 1881.

Cromwell Barney was born in Swansea, Mass., September 9, 1807, was married to Miss Belinda Peirce, January 3, 1830. The first year they lived in Swansea, when Mr. Barney removed to Warren, R. I., where he Hved five years. Mr. Barney was by occupation a millwright, and being tired of the life he was then following, and having no prospects of bettering his condition where he then was, he determined to go West. He made provisions for iiis wife and child and they were to remain at Warren, R. I., while he would go West to try and better his condition. He started in 1886 for Michigan ; arriving at Detroit he inquired in what part of the Territory there was the best prospect of lumbering, as he wanted to get work as a millwright, and was told that the Saginaw Valley would be eventually,as then there was the most pine in that region. So he started on foot for Saginaw. When he arrived there he could find no employment at his trade, but was told that parties had commenced a mill at Portsmouth. Mr. Barney obtained work here and followed it one year. The next year he returned to Rhode Island for his family, and brought them to what was then Lower Saginaw, now Bay City, and moved into the old Indian trading house of Leon Trombley, which stood on the bank of the river near the corner of Water and Fourth Streets, near where the Jarge hardware store of Forsyth & Pierson now stands. This Indian trading house was a small affair, - too much so for the comfort of his family. He moved into the block house near by. Here their daughter Mary E. Barney was born May 22, 1838, the first female child born in what is now Bay County, late wife of Alfred G. Sinclair, of Bay City. Mr. Barney continued to live in this block house some four or five years, when he sold out to the late James G. Birney, who was afterward candidate for the Presidency, in 1844, on the Abolition ticket. While Barney lived in this old block house he had occasion often to go to Detroit in Winter for supplies for himself and others, which would take him nine days to make the trip. What a difference from the present time ! Now we can go and do our business and return the same day. Mr. Barney then bought a farm and moved on to it, which was situated where Dolsonville now stands, comprising what is now the First Ward of Bay City. The old farm house is still standing, and the fields he once tilled are now covered over with streets and buifdings. After residing on his farm for a few years, he went into partnership with the late James Fraser,in building the Kawkawlin Mills, and in lumbering on the KawkawHn River, where he soon after removed with his family, and where he lived until his death, which occurred November 30, 1851. He left a noble record after him for uprightness and fair dealing with his fellow men ; he was one of the most industrious men I ever saw ; he never could be still while there was any thing to do. He was just the man James Fraser required to assist him in carrying on that extensive business. His widow is still living with her son-in-law in Bay City, at the age of seventyfive, one of the few no'ble pioneers that are left.

Among the well known characters in the Saginaw region at an early day was Michael Daley, who now lives in Bay City. Stories of his extraordinary feats of pedestrianism in his younger days are still upon the lips of the old settlers.

Mr. Daley was born in New York City, May 24, 1825. He came to Saginaw in 1837, then a boy of twelve years old. He soon procured work in a tannery, grinding bark by horse power, at the salary of fo a month. After working some time, he saw the necessity of getting an education, and he went to live with Capt. Maiden, who kept a tavern in the old block house, corner of what is now Court and Hamilton Streets, originally the barracks where the soldiers were quartered while building the fort. He was to do chores nights and mornings for his board, and go to school. He continued to live with Capt. Maiden until 1843, during which time he had picked up a good deal of the Indian language. He was then employed by Harvey Williams to go to the mouth of the Kawkawlin River to trade with the Indians at his trading post, and also to attend to his fishing business, where he soon learned to speak the Indian language fluently, and he felt competent to go into business on his own account. In 1846 he started in business for himself and was very successful up to 1855. He had previously purchased real estate in Bay City, where he built a nice residence in 1857, and married a Miss Longtin, an old pioneer's daughter. He has kept on buying and selling real estate up to the present time. Mr. Daley has been a great sufferer for years with rheumatism, caused by hardships and exposure, fishing and trading with the Indians in his younger days. He has often taken his blanket and pack on his back in the Winter,as this was the season for buying up fur,and started on the ice from the mouth of the Saginaw River and followed the west shore as far north as Mackinaw, picking up all the fur he could on the route. On one of these excursions he came from Lake Superior to Mackinaw just as the dog train was starting with the mail for Saginaw, accompanied by two Indians or half-breeds on snow shoes. He said he would go with them. They told him it was of no use, as no white man could keep up with them, as they calculated to go over fifty miles a day. He said he would try it. So they started, the half-breeds doing their best. Mr. Daley kept up with them for over 150 miles, when he left them and came into Saginaw some time ahead. When they arrived they made inquiries for the little white man. When they were told who he was they replied, " ! we have heard the Indians tell about the little white man that beats aU the Indians traveling or running. "

Capt. Joseph F. Marsac, one of the original pioneers of Michigan and the Saginaw Valley, died at the old homestead in Bay City, June 18, 1880, aged about ninety years. No man was better known in the Saginaw Valley or more universally respected by all classes for his amiable qualities as a gentleman of the old school.

Capt. Marsac was born five miles above Detroit, in the township of Hamtramack. His exact age cannot be ascertained, as the records have been lost.

But at the battle of the Thames, in 1812, he commanded a company, and must have been at least twenty-one years old. In conversation with Mr. King, an old gentleman of West Bay City, in regard to Capt. Marsac's age, he said: - *'I was born in Detroit in 1800, and consequently I was a boy of twelve years when the army left Detroit to pursue Proctor, and I distinctly recollect seeing young Marsac at the head of his company, as at that time I knew him well."

These facts make it certain that at the time of his death Capt. Marsac was ninety or more years of age. He told me a short time before his death that he thought he was ninety-two years old.

His ancestors originally came from Fraiice. The original name was De Le Marsac, and his was originally one of the noble families of France. The army was pursuing Proctor up the Thames before the battle was fought; the commanding general wanted to send some dispatches to the garrison at Detroit. He called James Grosebeck, a man well acquainted with the Indian character, to be the bearer of the dispatches. The Indians being all around them, Grosebeck declined to go unless young Marsac would go with him. Finally Grosebeck and Marsac were dispatched. They had to skulk around and travel nights to avoid straggling parties of Indians. They finally reached Detroit and delivered their dispatches and started to return, when they met couriers bringing the news that the battle had been fought and won. " Then," said the captain, " I was mad, for I had lost a good fight. " Although, no doubt, he had done a greater service for his country.

Soon after this, Capt. Marsac and his company were sent to Fort Gratiot to work upon the fort, and from there to Fort Maiden, where he remained until the time of his enlistment expired, when he returned home to assist his father on the farm.

In 1816 he was employed by Kinzie Prichard and others to go to Chicago as interpreter and sell goods to the Indians. Chicago then consisted of five houses, including the trading post. He started on horseback on an Indian pony and took the Indian trail for Chicago. At the Indian village on the St. Joseph Eiver, near where Niles now stands, he traded his pony with the Indians for corn, which he loaded in canoes, with which he proceeded down the St. Joseph Eiver to its mouth, and then around the south shore of Lake Michigan to Chicago, where he remained in the employ of the fur company some time. After his time had expired he returned to Detroit on foot.

In 1819 he was called by Gen. Cass to go with him to Saginaw to make a treaty with the Chippewa Indians of northern Michigan. He accompanied Gen. Cass on horseback to Saginaw, whik a small schooner had been dispatched around the lakes with a company of soldiers to protect them at the treaty, for some of the Indians still preferred war to selling their lands. After the treaty Capt. Marsac returned to Detroit in the vessel that had brought out the troops.

Gen. Cass and Capt. Marsac were always the greatest of friends, and to this the latter was indebted for the many offices of trust he held for many years under the Government, which he always filled with the strictest integrity. During many years he was engaged in the custom house in Detroit and other public offices.

At the breaking out of the Black Hawk War he received a captain's commission from Gov. Porter, and raised a company of Indian fighters and started for the seat of war, with his company, on foot, as there was no other conveyance in those days. When they had nearly reached Chicago, news came that Black Hawk had been captured, and a courier was dispatched by Gov. Porter, ordering Capt. Marsac, with his company, to return.

In 1836 or 1887 he was employed by the government as Indian interpreter, to assist in making a treaty with the Indians of the Saginaw Eiver and its tributaries for the sale of their reservations to the United States Government, which took place where the city of Flint now is.

In 1838 he emigrated to Lower Saginaw, now Bay City, where he was appointed by the Government Indian farmer for the Saginaw Eiver and its tributaries, which position he held for many years; until he was superseded by the late James Fraser.

No man in the Saginaw Valley was so well known as the late Capt. Marsac for his unbounded hospitality and fund of anecd6tfc, and no man is so missed from the community in which he lived. He has left a record that his children may well feel proud of: '* An honest and noble man, respected by all who knew him.

Theeesa Eevakd, wife of the late Capt. Joseph F. Marsac, was born at Grosse Point, above Detroit, July 22, 1808, and in 1829 was married to Capt. Joseph F. Marsac, of Hamtramack, by whom she had six children, viz: Charles, Octavi\is, Mrs. Leon Trombley, Mrs. William H. South worth, Mrs. Thomas J. McClennen and Mrs. George Eobinson, all of whom now live in Bay City.

Mrs. Marsac was a remarkable woman for tlie times in which she lived, and no woman was more dearly loved by the early settlers, for her motherly kindness enciicled them all. Her house was a resort for the poor and afflicted ; her chief aim was to alleviate the sufferings of others. None knew her but to love her. She died at the old homestead in South Bay City, August 9, 1881, deeply mourned by aU the pioneers, and through her death earth lost a noble woman - heaven gained a saint. Her memory will be sacredly treasured in the annals of the Saginaw Valley pioneer life.

Reminiscence Of Captain Wilson

Capt. John Wilson, one of the early pioneers of the Saginaw Valley, was born in Jefferson County, N. Y., September 30, 1804. In his younger days he followed the occupation of saiHng and fishing. In 1837 he left his family for the season to engage in the fishing business at Thunder Bay Islands,in Lake Huron, where he removed the same year. While he was there he had occasion to visit Saginaw for supplies and was so well pleased with the country that he determined to make it his future home. He soon made preparations to remove his family to Lower Saginaw, as it was then called, (now Bay City), which he did, November 16, 1840, after a cold and tempestuous voyage, none too soon, as the river froze over the next night after his arrival and remained frozen all Winter. He removed his family into a little log house on the river bank in Portsmouth near where Albert Miller's upper salt works now stand.

This Winter he spent in hunting and trapping, and was very successful, as game was very plentiful in those days. He continued to live in this little log house until he bought a piece of land of Capt. Joseph F. Marsac, lying between what is now Eighteenth and Twenty-first Streets, on the river, comprising twenty-seven acres, where he removed in the Spring of 1842, to make room for Mr. McCormick, who had purchased the property where he had lived. In the Winter of 1842-'43 he superintended the rebuilding of the little schooner "Mary," of forty tons burthen, at Saginaw, for Smith & Little, and the next Spring took command of her in trading between Detroit and Saginaw. This was the first regular trading vessel to the Saginaw Valley, and he continued in command of her until the Fall of 1844. When on his way from Detroit to Saginaw, late in the Fall, laden with goods for the few white settlers and Indian traders, he was caught off the mouth of Saginaw Bay in a terrible storm, and his little vessel was driven across Lake Huron to the Canada shore, and was wrecked. It being late in the season, snow falling heavily, and the vessel covered with ice, Capt. Wilson and his crew suffered untold hardships.

At Saginaw there was great excitement, for they knew that the little vessel could hardly withstand that terrible storm, and moreover all the provisions and goods for the few settlers for the Winter were lost, and there would be much suffering. Anxiously for weeks did the settlers watch for that little craft and her crew, until all hope failed, and Capt. Wilson and his crew were given up as lost. But fortunately this was not so. Capt. Wilson, seeing no other method of saving himself and crew, determined to beach her. She struck a rock, however, some distance from shore, and went to pieces, the captain and crew being washed ashore on part of the wreck on the Canada shore some eighty miles north of Goderich. There were no inhabitants there at this time nearer than Goderich.

They finally procured a fire and built a small hut with such materials as they could get together from the wreck that had washed ashore, and commenced picking up such portions of the cargo as came ashore intact, especially the barrels of flour, in order to save as much as they could for the owners. When they had secured all they could, they left one of the crew in charge and started for Goderich on foot along the beach. They had saved a package of socks and they put on four or five pairs each, believing they could get through snow and water better, although the most of them had their feet frozen. After several weary days they reached Goderich, but being unable to procure conveyances, they started on foot for Detroit, which place they had left six weeks before. Here they received assistance, and again started on foot for Saginaw, as there were no conveyances in those days, and they were necessitated to travel very slow, as their feet were very sore. On reaching Saginaw thev were received with great joy, as they had long been given up as lost. To add to Capt. Wilson's distress, his eldest daughter had died in his absence. He now settled down and commenced improving his land and set out a fine orchard, of which he took great care, .little dreaming that in after years it would be cut down to make room for the buildings and streets that cover his old homestead at the present time. Capt. Wilson and his amiable wife were much respected by all the old pioneers. He was very hospitable, and would never owe a man a dollar if it was in his power to pay it. His word was as good as his note. By his frugality and the advance of property he accumulated a competency for old age.

Capt. Wilson had fourteen children, of which seven are living, viz: - Mrs. J. A. Wansey, of Marine City; Mrs. G. L. Howard, of West Bay City; Mrs. H. Laraway, Mrs. Wm. Gordon, James D. Wilson, Mrs. E. T. Bennett, of Bay City, and George B. Wilson, of Chicago. Capt. Wilson died at the old homestead in Bay City, August 21, 1879, and his amiable wife soon followed him.

Indian Hospitality

In December, 1833, Judge Miller went to Midland upon some errand, and while returning to his home along the highway of the Tittabawassee, passed through an experience which he relates as follows :

**When I started for home, about sunrise in the morning, I put on my overcoat and thought a few vigorous puUs at the oars would warm my blood so that I should be comfortable the rest of the day. I had just pulled far enough to get into deep water, when my oars slipped from the rowlocks, I lost my balance, and plunged heels over head into the icy fountain of the Tittabawassee. After much ado, I got on board the boat again, but the prospect for a comfortable day was not very flattering. Twenty-five miles of rowing before me, to get home, and sixteen before I should come to a house where I could warm myself or dry any of my clothes. After passing down the river two or three miles I saw an Indian wigwam on the bank, where I landed, and being able to converse in the Indian tongue, I told the woman of my mishap and requested the privilege of warming myself and drying some of my clothes. She made up a rousing fire and furnished the best facilities she could for me to dry my clothes. When I first went in she sent a little girl to the river with an earthen plate to wash ; after the plate (which was an unusual piece of furniture in a wigwam), was made clean, she took some meat that was cooking over the fire, placed it on the plate and offered it to me to eat; but I told her I was not hungry, and she put it back in the kettle. Presently a neighboring Indian woman came in, and after learning why I was there, and not seeing any signs of my having partaken of any food there, she inquired of her neighbor with much surprise if she had not given me anything to eat; the woman told her she had oft'ered me something but I had told her I was not hungry. That circumstance and all my experience in my contact with the red man led me to believe that the virtue of hospitality was never wanting among them. My experience was, that whenever I was at an Indian's camp, so far away from home that I could not get there at meal time, I was invariably offered the best they had to eat; and if I wished to stay all night, the best place in the camp for sleeping was allotted to the white stranger, and for that reason, though their begging propensities are sometimes annoying, I can never have the heart to turn them empty away. After getting my clothes partially dried, I returned to my boat, and soon after leaving the Indian's camp, had an extjiting chase after a deer that was swimming in the river; so I got home without experiencing so much inconvenience as I anticipated when I was bumping my head against the bottom of the boat, endeavoring to find the end so that I could chmb into it."

Another Experience

" I have mentioned in a subsequent article having a stock of cattle and horses feeding on the rushes of Quanicassee in the Winter of 1835-'36, with a camp near for the convenience of the men who cared for the stock. At the breaking up of Winter, when it was no longer practicable to get supplies to the camp, it was broken up, and the cattle and horses, for the time being, left to themselves. One bright morning in April, 1836, I started from my home, near Crow Island, accompanied by B. F. Trombley, to cross the prairie and timber, to the point where the stock was kept. The water on the prairie averaged about ten inches in depth, but the weather was warm, and we passed along without much inconvenience from it, and crossed the Cheboyganing Creek on a fallen tree, and at night arrived at an Indian camp, near our place of destination, where we remaiaed during the night. The next day, during a heavy rain storm, we spent in looking after the stock. We found the cattle all doing well, but some of the horses had died, after the men had left the camp. At night the rain still continued to fall, and we encamped without any shelter on the driest spot of ground we could find near the Quanicassee prairie, preferring that to traveling three or four miles out of our way to reach one. The rain continued until about twelve o'clock, when there came such a change in the weather as is known in but few localities outside the Saginaw Valley. In the morning, our blankets that we had slept under, were frozen hard, and all our clothes being saturated with the recent rain, we were not in a very good phght to encounter the fierce northwest wind that swept over the prairie, but after partaking of a scant breakfast, we started for home, and when we got to the prairie, we found that the rain had greatly increased the volume of water, and before we got across the Quanicassee prairie, we sometimes had to wade waist-deep in the water, but when we reached the timbered land we had four or five miles of comparatively comfortable traveling; but when in the afternoon we reached the Cheboyganing prairie, the prospect was rather disheartening for tired pedestrians ; the wind was blowing a fierce gale, accompanied by frequent snow squalls. The water on the prairie was a foot deep, covered by ice that would bear us about every tenth step. There was five miles of that kind of travehng, and the Cheboyganing Creek between us and home ; and it was presumptuous for us to undertake to perform it under the circumstances, for we could have built a fire in the timbered land, and subsisted till a change came in the weather; but we thought of nothing but to push ahead, and started out. Trombley wore moccasins which the ice soon cut in pieces. He then tied his mittens on his feet, and walked in my tracks, so as to protect his feet as much as possible. Our limbs soon became completely benumbed with the cold, and our movements seemed mechanical, and we passed along in great suffering till, at the dusk of evening, we reached the Cheboyganing Creek, the volume of which had been greatly increased by the recent rain ; and nothing could be seen of the bridge that had carried us over safely two days before. I walked into the water till I could progress no further, when, without any motives or thoughts of why I did so, I sent forth a shrill Indian whoop or yell, which was immediately answered by an Indian, and in a moment a canoe hove in sight, paddled by an Indian who had been out on the creek hunting for ducks. He came and rescued us from our perilous situation, and in a few minutes landed us on a dry spot of ground on the opposite side of the creek, where he had encamped that day with his family, preparatory to making maple sugar. We were so much exhausted that we could hardly walk from the canoe to the wigwam, but the In- dians made a good fire for us, and after a good supper we soon revived. After spending the night with our kind Indian friends, we proceeded to our home, which was about two miles from the wigwam, but so great had been the sufferings of that day, that we presented the appearance of convalescents from a severe illness."

Monuments Of The Past

"On the Saginaw Kiver, towards its mouth, when we come to what is now the corner of Twenty-fourth and Water Streets, in Bay City, where the Center House now stands, we find the site of the old McCormick homestead. Here were two large mounds in the garden, which my father plowed and scraped down. They contained a number of skeletons, stone axes, knives, and quite an amount of broken pottery.

"Some thirty rods below, on Water Street, between Twenty-second and Twenty-third Streets, is an elevation, the highest on the river, on which are located the Bay City Brewery, Barney Hotel, the residence of W. E. McCoimick and other residences, comprising nearly two acres. I wish to describe this elevation as I saw it, in a state of nature, fifty years ago. For many yea:rs it was considered to be a natural elevation of the land, but subsequent excavations have proved it to have been constructed by some remote race of people,

"When I first became acquainted with the location it was covered with a dense growth of timber, with the exception of the mound, and about an acre and a half in the rear of it, where the earth was taken from to build the mound. It was then a duck pond, with water three feet deep, grown up with alder bushes. In grading Twenty-second Street through the north end of this mound, some years since, we found, at a depth of eleven feet, three skeletons of very large stature, with large earthen pots at the head of each. In excavating for the cellar of the Bay City Brewery, we found, at the depth of four feet, the remains of Indians, in a good state of preservation, with high cheek bones and receding forehead, while below these again, at the depth of four or five feet, the remains of a more ancient race, of an entirely different foimation of skull, and with those buined stone implements and pottery were found. I have been unable to preserve any of these skulls, as they crumbled to dust when exposed to the air. I found one skeleton in a sitting position, facing the west, with a very narrow head, and long, as if it had been compressed. I laid it aside in hopes to preserve it, but in a few hours it had crumbled to pieces.