Bay County, Michigan - The whole text, 1883 (part 5 of 20)

Andrew C. Maxwell came here in March, 1857, from Lapeer, Mich. He was born in Onondaga County, NtY., July 11, 1831. When thirteen years of age he removed to Michigan with his parents, who settled in Oakland County. He was brought up on a farm, and studied law at Pontiac. In June, 1853, he was admitted to the bar and settled in Lapeer, where he began the practice of law. December 28, 1853, he married Sarah M. Hait, who belonged to the pioneer family of Lapeer County. While there he held the office of prosecuting attorney one term. Li March, 1857, he settled in Lower Saginaw, where he has been in continuous practice longer than any other attorney now here. He was a member of the Board of Supervisors in 1870-71, and from 1876 to 1880, when he resigned. Li 1881 he was again elected and re-elected in 1882 and 1883. He was a member of the Legislature in 1865 and in the Fall of 1882 was the Democratic candidate for Congress in the Tenth district. In 1872 he built a block on Water Street, known as the Maxwell Block. Mr. Maxwell has had more to do with the affairs of Bay County than any other man in it on account of his long service on the Board of Supervisors and his recognized ability as a lawyer. He also took an active part in the organization of the county. As a lawyer Mr. Maxwell long ago had acquired a state reputation, and for upwards of twenty years has had a very extensive practice in the courts of Northern Michigan. To those who know him it would sound exceedingly tame to say that '* Maxwell is an inveterate joker," when for a quarter of a century accounts of his acts of generosity and interestedness in others' affairs upon auspicious occasions, have been the current anecdotes in this part of the state, several of which are recorded in another part of this work.

TnEOPHmus Cotton Gtrier, judge of the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit, from 1870 to the time of his death in 1872, was in his day a prominent member of the Bay County bar. Judge Grier was born on the 2nd of January, 1834, and he was consequently in his thirty-ninth year at the time of his death. His parents resided at Ravenna, Ohio, duriag his early childhood, but they both died when he was quite young. He then resided with an uncle for some time. He was a descendant, on his mother's side, from the Rev» John Cotton, of Boston, and of Pilgrim fame. At fifteen years of age he was apprenticed to Joel B. Brattles, editor of the Trumbull County Democrat^ Ohio; after that he attended an institution of learning in Marietta, and studied law in the office of Riddle & Hathaway, at Chardon, Ohio, in 1851. In 1857 he married the lady who was his faithful companion till the day of his death. Shortly after his marriage he was admitted to the bar and removed to Pine Run, in this state, where he commenced the practice of law in the same year. In the latter part of the year 1859 he removed to Bay City. At that time he was in very destitute circumstances, but with that courage and ability he possessed, he soon secured a good practice and continued to increase it until it became quite lucrative. Judge Grier was frequently elected to offices of trust and honor. In 1860 he was elected prosecuting attorney and Circuit Court commissioner for the county. In 1862 he was, however, not fortunate, and was defeated in the election for the same offices. In 1865 he was the attorney for the city, and in 1867 was elected representative to the Legislature from this district. While filling this office he distinguished himself both as a debator and good working member. In 1870, by unanimous request of his legal brethren of the Bay City bar, and without opposition, he was chosen judge of the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit.

Luther Beckwith is one of the early members of the Bay County bar, having settled here in the Fall of 1860. He is a native of Washtenaw County, and a graduate of the University of Michigan. He was admitted to practice in 1860, and began practice in Bay City. He held the office of prosecuting attorney from 1863 to 1867, and has also been alderman of the city. He is well known and has a good reputation as a lawyer.

Archibald McDonell settled in Bay City in June, 1861. He was born in St. Andrews, Nova Scotia, January 1, 1833. He received a grammar school training and taught in his native province about three years. In 1859 he entered the law department of Michigan University,and graduated in the Spring of 1861. The following June he entered upon the practice of his profession in Bay City. He has held several local offices, among which were those of mayor of the city, supervisor, circuit court commissioner, city attorney and alderman. Mr. McDonell has been very successful, both as a lawyer and business man, and ranks among the wealthy men of Bay County. He is a member of the hardware firm of Logan, Bialy k McDonell, and has large real estate interests in the city and county.

Isaac Marston, late associate of the Supreme Court, has recently engaged in the practice of law at Detroit, but it is impossible to separate liis name from the history of progress in Bay City and County during the past twenty years.

He was born in Ireland, January 2, 1839, his father being a small landed proprietor of English descent. His mother maintained and educated the children after their father's death. He determined to take his chances in the busy world on this side of the water, and in 1856 came to America, where he began his career by working upon a farm in Oakland County, where he attended school for two months. He was here with no advantages save his indomitable will and fixed determination to make the best use of the talents given him, yet he has far outstripped the thousands whose surroundings made easy the way to success. In 1859 he entered the law department of the University of Michigan, and graduated in 1861. During a portion of the time he was in the employ of Judge Cooley, with whom he afterwards sat upon the Supreme Bench. After graduating he practiced law for six months at Alma, Gratiot County, where he lost his library by fire. He then practiced for a short time at Ithaca, after which he came to Bay City. His career since coming here twenty-one years ago, has been one of continued improvement, not only in the extent and value of his professional work, but in the positions of public trust which he has been called upon to fill. March 18, 1863, he formed a partnership with Hon. H. H. Hatch, which continued, substantially, up to 1874, when Judge Marston wa« appointed attorney-general by Gov. Bagley. This formed the strongest legal firm in Northern Michigan, and both of its well known members have acquired an enviable reputation as well as the more substantial evidences of the esteem in which they are held by the public. Before receiving the appointment above referred to. Judge Marston had acted in the capacity of justice of the peace, prosecuting attorney and city attorney, and was chosen State Representative, in aU of them showing the same conscientious regard to the duties and responsibilities of his position as has characterized him in the higher honors to which he has since been called. In April, 1875, he was elected justice of the Supreme Court, to fill the vacancy caused by the election of Judge Christian cy to the United States Senate, and remained upon the bench until his resignation in February last. He has been a power in promoting

Hon. Herschel H. Hatch, of Bay City, member of Congress from the Tenth Congressional District, was born in Morrisville, Madison Co., N. Y., February 17, 1837. The experiences of his early Hfe were similar to those of the average American youth of that day. He was naturally studious and ambitious, and received the best education a boy could secure from the public schools of his native village and from the instruction of his father. When he came to decide upon a life pursuit,he chose the law and was admitted to the law depai'tment of Hamilton College, from which he graduated in 1859. He then opened an office and began the practice of law in his native village, where he remained until 1863. In March of that year he came to Bay City, and the same month became associated with Isaac Marston in the practice of law. The next year James Birney was admitted io the firm, which then became Birney, Marston & Hatch. In about a year Mr. Birney retired, and the firm of Marston & Hatch continued, and was recognized as one of the leading law firms in the state. This firm was dissolved by the election of Mr. Marston to the Supreme Bench in 1875. Mr. Hateh was one of the first aldermen of Bay City, being elected to that position on the incorporation of the city in 1865. In the Fall of 1868 he was elected judge of probate of Bay County, and held the office until 1872. In 1874, the Legislature having directed Gov. Bagley to appoint a commission to revise and amend the constitution, and Mr. Hatch having gained a state reputation as a lawyer, he was selected by Gov. Bagley as one of the eighteen commissioners to perform the work. Gov. Jerome being his colleague from the . Saginaw district. In 1881 he was one of the five commissioners appointed by the Governor, under the bill passed by the Legislature to revise the tax laws of Michigan. The present tax law is the work of that commission, of which Mr. Hatch was a leading and influential member. He has held various other positions of trust and influence, and especially in educational matters he has always taken an active interest and has done much toward their advancement. While Mr. Hatch has been almost continuously in public service,he has never been considered a politician in the commonly accepted meaning of that term. His ambition and energies have been directed to his profession, in which he is recognized as one of the leading lawyers of Michigan, and has been associated with some of the most important cases that have aiisen m this part of the state. He is a man of great energy, and is a hard worker, both as a student and practitioner. He possesses many marked characteristics, prominent among which are decision of character, and directness of speech and action. In the Fall of 1882 he received the nomination of Eepresentative in Congress, from the Eepublicans of the Tenth District, and was elected by a majority as - surprisingly large as it was satisfactory to himself and political friends. He was married in June, 1864, at Morrisville, N. Y., to Miss Eliza E. Houghton, of that place. They have four children. Their family residence is on the corner of Tenth and Washington Streets.

Following are the present members of the bar: - E. Anneke, L. Beckwith, John Brigham, Jr., Samuel L. Brigham, George P. Cobb, Fatio Colt, Edgar A. Cooley, F. B. Clark, C. L. CoUins, M. A. Dowling, Henry Fenton, C. H. Freeman, G. H. Francis, S. P. Flynn, Isaac A. Gilbert, H. M. Gillett, J. C. Greening, Frederick K. Gustin, S. T. Holmes, H. H. Hatch, John Hyde, John Hargadon, A. H. Ingraham, A. M. King, A. P. Lyon, Henry Lindner, A. C. Maxwell, J. W. McMath, A. McDonell, George W. Mann, Daniel Mangan, W. J. McCormick, M. J. McHugh, L. McHugh, H. W. Nevvkirk, Frank S. Pratt, Edward W. Porter, C. E. Pierce, E. W. Eider, T. F. Shepard, W. Scofield, John L. Stoddard, John E. Simonson, E. E. Slawson, H. Selleck, E. B. Taylor, H. M. Wright, T. A. E. Weadock, F. L. Westover, Thomas E. Webster.

The identity of Bay City can be traced back as far as the Spring of 1838, and its history, therefore, covers a period of fortyfive years. Upon preceding pages have been described the early conditions of this region; the luminous advent of the Saginaw Bay Company in 1837, its spasms and speedy strangulation. March 1, 1838, Sydney S. Campbell and family arrived upon the site of Lower Saginaw and estabhshed themselves permanently in a home and business. This was the first permanent settlement made in Lower Saginaw and in the fine of Bay City's development and history. So numerous and varied have been the accounts of the early settlement of Bay City, that the confusion of the reader is Hable to be still further increased unless the earhest movements are described in this chapter with greater minuteness than would otherwise be deemed necessary.

Back of 1838 no plan took shape that was preserved and became a part of the organism of Lower Saginaw, which developed into Bay City, while the village of Portsmouth, although first projected, maintained a separate municipahty until 1873, when it ceased to exist and became an addition to Bay City by annexation. The mterests of the two places were so much in common that a detailed history of each would necessitate a repetition. To avoid this as much as possible, we will briefly summarize the early movements in the

Village Of Portsmouth

The fame of Portsmouth consists chiefly in priority of existence, having been, as already described, the first town projected near the mouth of the river. When returning Hfe began another struggle in this region, Portsmouth also led the way for a few years, in the way of first enterprises. Joseph and Medor Trombley became first settlers by remaining here contrary to their first expectations. Nearly fifty years have rolled round since they halted in the wilderness, and both are still in the county. The Center House had been built here ; Judge Miller had laid out a town, and built a mill. In February, 1837, the Portsmouth Company was organized. Among its members were Henry Howard, the state treasurer; Kensing Pritchet, secretary of state; John Norton, the cashier of the Michigan State Bank ; John M. Berrien, of the United States Army, and Gov. Stevens T. Mason, who individually purchased all the land subsequently included in the Portsmouth plat. These formed the stock company and caused the same to be re -surveyed *and re-platted in 1837 by , John Farmer.

A portion of this plat of Portsmouth was re-surveyed and replatted by A. Alberts surveyor for Wilham DagHsh, in 1855, under the name of Daghsh Addition to Portsmouth.

The first physician in this region, Dr. J. T. Miller, located here in 1836. The second physician, Mrs. Thomas Rogers, of sainted memory, also located here with her husband. She was truly a ministering angel of comfort and aid.

The first lumber manufactured in this region after 1837, was in the Portsmouth mill by James McCormick & Son, in 1841. They also shipped the first cargo of lumber out of the Saginaw Valley.

The first vessels built on this part of the river, after the "Java," were the "Essex" and "Bay City," built by the Braddocks at Portsmouth in 1857 and 1858.

The coming of the McCormicks, in 1841, was the first revival of business, but there was no marked improvement for several years. Capt. Marsac had located here in 1838 and Capt. Wilson in 1841.

In ,1848 Judge Albert Miller came to reside permanently, and occupied a house built by John Rice, on what is now Fremont Avenue, near Water Street; the first school being taught in this building. Judge Miller operated the mill in company with J^mes J. McCormick for a short time.

C. L. Russell and Capt. Lyman Crowl came about 1849 and formed a copartnership with Jadge Miller, under the firm name of Russell, Miller & Co. In the Winter of 1850 they built a mill on the present site of the Miller & Lewis Mill. They built several houses to accommodate their workmen, and opened a store. In 1850 they hired a minister, and erected a small building for a church. This building was after ivards fixed over for a school house. The first hotel was the "River House," kept by Daniel Chappel, in the building known afterwards as the "Center Hou^."

Portsmouth as first platted extended north to the present line of Twelfth Street, and south to a line between Thirty-Second and Thirty-Third Streets. When the village of Bay City was incorporated it took in Portsmouth as far south as the section line, and finally to Twenty-Fourth Street, and in 1873, by annexation, acquired the whole of Portsmouth village. Several additions had been made, among them being Medor Trombley's, Dr. Daglish's and Ingraham's. The various elements that entered into the growth of Portsmouth are necessarily given elsewhere, and it is therefore needless to repeat a history of them here. As enterprising men as ever came into the valley composed the bone and sinew of the village, and promoted its growth. Some remain, but the number who have ceased from Hfe's activities is comparatively very large. The history of Portsmouth recalls such names as Trombley, Miller, McCormick, Marsac, Wilson, Braddock, Stevens, DagHsh, Southworth, Beckwith, Watrous, Wilmot and Kinney. Of this force but a remnant remain.

"bay city in 1837" was attempted to be recalled by an artist in 1874, and the result of the effort has since done duty as the frontispiece of a locaL and very creditable publication. The scene pictured is quite romantic and attractive. The serene repose that pervades the spot reminds one of a New England Sabbath in June. The intense stillness, however, has a depressing influence upon the future prospects of the place, somewhat damaging to its material interests. The two fishermen upon the dock are waiting reverentially for a "bite," and a bark canoe, containing a pair of Indians in war paint, is being propelled through the water of the river with noiseless strokes of their oars. Judge Campbell is seen issuing from the front door of the Globe Hotel to take his accustomed seat in the shade, but no other evidence of hfe is visible in all the realm. The effect of the picture, however, is somewhat marred by the fact that the cluster of

Co., N. Y., February 29, 1804. In 1830 he emigrated to Michigan and settled at Pontiac, whence he removed to Cass Eiver Bridge in the Spring of 1836. Here he laid out a town and called it Bridgeport; his partner in the business being Mr. G. D. Williams. A postoffice was estabhshed and Mr. Campbell was appointed postmaster. But Bridgeport was blighted by the hard times, and in the Winter of 1838 he was induced by Mr. Fraser to remove to the new city on the Saginaw, and start a hotel. Some of his Saginaw friends who knew his love of ease when not on a chase for deer, said that "Syd" was too frequently disturbed while at Bridgeport by travelers coming along and requiring entertainment, and that he had opened a tavern at Low^er Saginaw where he would not be disturbed in that way. However, he removed here with his family in the Spring of 1838 and opened the Globe Hotel, as related elsewhere in this work. He arrived here on the first day of March, buildings represented did not exist in the year name J. Even the Globe Hotel had not then taken shape, and Judge Campbell was a resident of Bridgeport. A correct picture of Lower Saginaw, at March 1, 1838, would represent a clearing extending from the present line of Third Street, south to a point just beyond Center Street, and from the river east to about the present line of Saginaw Street. There were two or three log houses and the block house built by the Saginaw Bay Company, near the present corner of Fourth and Water Streets, for a boardmg-house. The Globe Hotel building was in process of construction, and Cromwell Barney was at work upon it. A mile or so to the south were the big house of the Trombleys, and a deserted saw mill. Such was the birth and birth-place of Bay City. The future has few secrets more securely locked up than those which pertained to the destinies of this germ of enterprise.

Sydney S. Campbell

or Judge Campbell, as he is generally called, was unquestionably the first to locate in Lower Saginaw and effect a permanent settlement, after the town was projected. He was born at Paris, Oneida and the following day killed a large buck on the opposite side of the river, the last one that he saw for five years. That month, March, 1838, is described by Mr. Campbell as being as warm as is usual for the month of June. In addition to the lot on which the Globe Hotel was built, and still stands, he purchased several other lots which he was wise enough to keep. He had married, March, 1830, Miss Catharine J. McCarty, of Schenectady, N. Y. They have had three children, two of whom are still living. Edward M. Campbell, who died in 1879, was the first boy born in Lower Saginaw, or in what is now Bay County. He was the first supervisor of Hampton Township, and held the office for several years. He was probate judge of the county for sixteen years after its organization. In 1873 he built a brick business block just north of ihe Globe Hotel, on Water Street, which he rents. He and his wife now live on Woodside Avenue, and twice every day he visits the Globe Hotel, which he has owned for forty-five years, though it has been considerably enlarged and improved since it was first built. The incidents of Judge Campbell's early connection with the place appear at different places in this work. For forty-five years he has been a witness of the changes which, in history, Hnk the busthng metropohs of the present with the desolate opening^ in the wilderness nearly half a century ago.

Upon arriving here the 1st of March, Mr. Campbell's family occupied the block house for a short time until the "Globe" was finished, when they took possession and opened the first tavern in Lower Saginaw. In those days supplies were not ordered through telephone, nor yet by stepping out to some market place a block away, and often Mr. Campbell would paddle a canoe sixteen miles to Saginaw for a pound of tea. In 1862 the old hotel building was enlarged to its present size, and endowed with the name "Globe Hotel."

A year or two after settling here, Mr. Campbell borrowed the government oxen, and plowed a piece of land near where Folsom & Arnold's saw mill now stands, which he sowed with buckwheat. When the time came to gather it he would take his canoe, his wife accompanying him, and go down to the field. On the way he would shoot ducks for their dinner. Spreading a sail cloth upon the ground, Mrs. Campbell would bring the bundles of buckwheat together, and he threshed it out on the sail cloth. After winnowing it with a shovel it was put in bags and taken in his canoe to the hotel, where it was emptied into a bed-room up-stairs. The 'following Winter there was a scarcity of flour, and in February the supply in Lower Saginaw became exhausted. None could be had at Saginaw or Flint, but people in those days did not starve. In this instance Mr. Campbell's harvest of buckwheat was opportune. Fred Derr, who lived in the "Wild Oat" building opposite the "Globe," had a big coffee mill, and it didn't take the settlers long to study out a way to get flour. Each one as he needed would visit the buckwheat pile, and taking what he needed, grind it in Mr. Derr's coffee mill. In this way, the only flour used in the settlement for three weeks was made, and it is not recorded that the avoirdupois of the place diminished, or that the bloom of health was dulled.

"Yankee" Brown, as he was called, kept boarders in the block house, and Cromwell Barney was living in the old log house, previously occupied by Leon Trombley. Fred Derr was working with Cromwell Barney, while the Globe Hotel was being built. He afterwards married Miss Clark, who taught school a short time near where William Peter's mill now stands. They were the first white people in Lower Saginaw to unite for better or worse, but they went to Saginaw City to get the solemn sentence pronounced. She died in about a year after they were married, but he is still living East. Mrs. Derr was the second person buried in the burial place selected for that time, as described elsewhere.

The first white child born in the county was Elizabeth, daughter of Cromwell Barney, and the late wife of A. G. Sinclair, now of Bay City. She w^as born in the log house in May, 1838.

During 1838, the bank building was built nearly opposite the Globe Hotel, on what is now the corner of Water and Fifth Streets. The reasons why this building was never used for a bank have already been given. The warehouse also was built on the river. During the Summer Mr. Campbell borrowed the government oxen of Leon Trombley and plowed a piece of ground, but the operations of the place were not extensive, and the hotel business did not exceed the facilities.

With 1838 the operations of the Saginaw Bay Company ceased. Its affairs went into chancery, and Lower Saginaw was under a shadow more dismal than that of the surrounding wilderness, for two or three years.

There is a story told in connection with the wreck of the Saginaw Bay Company that illustrates the ups and downs of life. At the time of the crash, Theodore Walker was a tailor in the city of Brooklyn, and had a claim against one of the bankrupt stockholders of the company. Having nothing else left at his disposal, he turned over to Mr. Walker a strip of land in Lower Saginaw. It was not supposed to be of any value, either in reality or expectancy, but Mr. Walker accepted it because nothing better was to be had. He kept it, and some years later came to Lower Sajinaw, and died here, but not until after his worthless land had become very valuable. Mr. Walker used to tell this circumstance during his residence here.

Judge Campbell kept the Globe Hotel for three or four years, and then moved into a house still standing on Water Street, just below Third Street, that James Burly had built, but lightning dashed into the clearing one day and gave an exhibition on that building, leaving it in tatters. Judge Campbell fixed it up and occupied it is a residence. The Globe then had several proprietors. Col. Garrett kept it for a while, then Capt. Benjamin Pierce, who came here on the schooner "Maine," and afterwards a man named Tait.

About 1841 the forces that were to enter into the future development of the place were being gathered together. It was about this time that the scrip for mt)st of the land owned by the Saginaw Bay Company came into the possession of James Eraser, Dr. D. H. Fitzhugh, James G. Birney and Theodore Walker. In 1840 Dr. Fitzhugh had purchased several parcels of land bordering on the river, opposite Lower Saginaw and Portsmouth. So that practically the

Peopeietoes Of Lower Saginaw

PEOPEIETOES OF LOWER SAGINAW were James Eraser, James G. Birney and Dr. Daniel H. Fitzhugh, of whom we make the following biographical sketches.

The Projector Of Bay City

James Eraser's business career is inseparably intertwined with all the important features of a history of Lower Saginaw and Bay City. The former he founded, and developing into the latter has become the monument of his sagacity and unfaltering courage. We shall attempt in this connection only an outHne of his life, as the history of his business relations, and the results of his efforts, necessarily appear in other places in this work.

Mr. Eraser was born at Inverness, Scotland, February 5, 1803. His father in aarly life was a soldier in a British regiment, and in 1796, in the war with the French, lost a leg at the Island of St. Luce, and was afterwards a pensioner of the government. His mother spent the last year of her life in the family of her son James, and with daughters at Lower Saginaw/ Her death occurred in 1850.

When quite young Mr. Eraser engaged in business for himself, and accumulated several thousand dollars, which he brought with him to America. He had no advantages of early education or fortune, beyond what his own unaided energy secured. In the after years of' his wealth he never forgot his origin or desired others to forget it. The contrasts of the different circumstances of his life he neither boasted of nor sought to conceal, though he often referred to the scenes of his youth, when he waded bare -legged through the snow to carry a message for a ha'penny, or his taking daily a brick of turf under his arm as a contribution to the fire of the village school. He emigrated to America in the year 1829, bringing with him the few thousands of dollars he had accumulated. His first business experience was temporarily disastrous, though, perhaps, ultimately profitable. In company with two or three of his fellow countrymen an attempt was made to build a saw mill near Rochester, in Oakland County. They spent the Winter in making preparations, paying exorbitant prices for material and supplies, and in the Spring their funds had run so low that the enterprise was abandoned. Mr. Eraser found his capital reduced to less than f 100, and with this remnant he went to Detroit. There he estabhshed a small grocery and made money rapidly. In 1832 he married Miss Elizabeth Biisby, a young English lady of more than ordinary personal attractions, who, with her parents, had emigrated from London the year previous. In the Autmnn of 1833 he determined to move to Baginaw, and occupy a tract of land he had previously purchased on the Tittabawassee Kiver. All that time there was only an Indian trail between Flint and Saginaw ; the usual mode of travel being on horseback. The distance was thirty-eight miles, and Mrs. Eraser having a young child must have some easier vehicle than the saddle. Mr. Eraser's resources were equal to the emergency, and he had a rude ox sled made with a comfortable seat upon which Mrs. Eraser rode, while her father and mother accompanied Mr. Eraser on horseback to their new home.

Soon after getting his family settled, he returned to Detroit to purchase some cattle for his farm, and while driving in on foot, between Elint and Saginaw, his cattle got wild and would not keep the trail. He chased them until he got tired, when he took off his coat and after carrying it a while, and getting near the trail once more, as he supposed, he hung it on a tree in order to head off the cattle. In doing so, he lost the location where he left his coat and he could never find it. Mr. Eraser used to say in after years, when he was worth nearly a million, that "this was the greatest loss he ever had in his life, as his pocket contained $500; all the money he had in the world was in that coat pocket." There was great hunting for that coat, but it was never found. Undoubtedly the wolves pulled it down and destroyed it.

He cleared some land and planted an orchard that was afterwards noted as being the most flourishing in this part of the state. With true Scotch feeling, he was always averse to parting from that farm, and held it while he lived. In the division of his estate it went to Mrs. Paine, of Saginaw, in whose possession it sfcill remains. Mr. Eraser soon found a more profitable occupation than farming, in locating and dealing in government lands. During the early part of 1836, he removed his family to Saginaw City, and never returned to his farm.

Erom this time on, his business operations outreach the limits of biography and are traceable through the general history of progress and development in the Saginaw Valley. During 1835 and 1836 land in favorable locations reached almost fabulous prices, and Mr. Eraser's sagacity enabled him to reap a golden harvest. In 1836 he was a leading spirit in the organization of the Saginaw Bay Company, which purchased the present site of Bay City. The financial crash of 1837 wrecked this company and most of the stockholders, Mr. Eraser being about the only one who survived. His business achievements from 1835 to 1838, including his successful issue from the great panic of 1837, must be regarded as among the most remarkable on record. He bought when lands were cheap, and was shrewd enough to sell when the advance would realize him a handsome profit. It was one of his rules to always keep on hand an amount of ready money, and by doing this he was not only prepared for a panic, but was ready to improve the best opportunities for making a good bargain. After the Saginaw Bay Company went down he associated with him James G. Birney and Dr. Daniel H. Eitzhugh, and they purchased considerable of the scrip, and became the proprietors of Lower Saginaw. In 1845 he built a water mill at Kawkawlin, and began the manufacture of lumber. During the next three years he was interested in the building and operation of two steam saw mills on the Saginaw Kiver, and later in a steam mill on the Kawkawlin Eiver. He succeeded Judge Eiggs as Indian agent, and that was the only office with any emolument that he was ever induced to take. In 1848 Mrs. Eraser died, leaving a family of three sons and three daughters. October 28, 1850, he mairied

Miss Susan Moulton, of Westport, Conn., a woman of beautiful character, whose spirit of Christian benevolence has made her life one of great usefulness. The union was one of mutual happiness and blessing. It was the law and custom of Connecticut in those days to "cry out the bans" in church, and to escape this publicity, they were married in New York City. The fruit of this marriage was one daughter. In 1857 they removed to Lower Saginaw, and here in his commodious mansion was dispensed a most liberal hospitality. Here his great energies were directed, not alone to his private enterprises, but to public improvement and the general development of the county. About the last enterprise of his life was the erection of the large brick block that now bears his name, "The Eraser House," at the corner of Center and Water Streets, but which he did not live to see completed and occupied. The church edifice on Washington Street, in w^hich the Baptist Society first worshipped, was almost entirely a gift from him.

In 1864 he began to feel that he would like a more quiet life, and with his family went to Brooklyn for a few months and thence to Westport, Conn., where he continued to reside until his death, although much of his time was spent in Bay City. His last sickness commenced with an ordinary cold, which developed into typhoid pneumonia, and resulted in his death January 28, 1866. The announcement of his death produced a profound impression in Bay City, and the event received appropriate public recognition by the citizens of this place. His remains were buried at Westport. Of the children, only four are living: - Mrs. William McEwan and Mrs. E. B. Denison, of Bay City; Mrs. A. B. Paine, of Saginaw, and Mrs. George T. Blackstock, of Toronto, Canada. Mrs. Eraser is now the wife of Hon. William McMaster, a wealthy banker of Toronto and a member of the Dominion Parliament.

The life and character of Mr. Eraser were truly remarkable in energy, persistency and endurance, although in every respect he was a man of marked traits. It was, however, in his working faculties that he stood most conspicuously before his fellow men. It is safe to say that there are few men living capable of enduring even for a short time what he passed through as the daily routine of life. At a time when the saddle and canoe were almost the only means of communication, his business required his presence in almost every part of the valley, and often at the headquarters of the state in Detroit. He was then literally ubiquitous. He seemed entirely insensible to fatigue, heat or cold, or anything which stood between him and the object at which he aimed. He more than once rode straight through from Saginaw City to Detroit by the light of a single sun, - a distance of about ninety-five miles, - on some occasions never changing his horse. But this was nothing; arriving at home at nightfall, after toils which most men would have considered a warrant for a long rest, and finding a letter or a message which required his presence elsewhere, with scarce a pause, he would spring again into the saddle, and no matter how dark, or wet or cold, he would plunge into the almost pathless forest with a seeming recklessness, but with an instinctive sagacity and force of will and power of endurance that always brought him through, and generally, "on time." With the land office at Detroit for the goal, a choice section of land for the prize, it is believed that there was never a man who could beat James Eraser in the race. Often in the dead of night, the solitary settler at the Cass Crossing would hear a horse thundering at full speed across the bridge, and would say the next morning that James Eraser had gone in or out, as the case might be. An acquaintance, speaking of Mr. Eraser, says: - "The first glimpse I ever had of him was in the trail between Elint and Cass in 1836. The mud was knee deep, and water was above the mud, but he passed through at speed with merely a shout. He was without a hat, and covered with mud, his head being bound with a handkerchief. On meeting him afterwards I learned that he had heen all night in the woods, having lost his way, and afterwards his hat, but he was going to Detroit to enter some land at Lower Baginaw, and his errand brooked no delay."

In the Spring of 1850, his eldest son was sick at Detroit. Growing suddenly worse, his father's presence was desired as quickly as possible, and a messenger was despatched to inform him. Mr. Fraser was in Saginaw when the intelligence reached him. Instantly ordering his famous horse "Fair Play," he was soon in the saddle and away. It was in the month of March, and the roads of those days were worse even than usual, if such a thing were possible. But a better pair never started upon a race for life, even under the graphic colorings of fiction, than James Fraser and his pet, "Fair Play ; " and in eight hours and forty-five minutes from the time of starting, the distance of ninety-five miles had been traversed and Mr. Fraser was at the bedside of his dying son, having changed horses two or three times on the way.

Instances similar to the foregoing, of the feats perfoimed by this man, are numerous enough to fill a volume. The horse, "Fair Play," was an animal of great beauty and endurance, and known 'throughout all this region. But horse and rider long since halted at the end of life's journey. The wilderness through which they plunged by day and night has disappeared; the trails they followed have become highways of mighty industries, and the stations at which they stopped are populous centers of activity and thrift.

In his intercourse with the world Mr. Fraser was one of the most genial and pleasant of men. The fervor and enthusiasm of his social qualities are well remembered traits of his character. In his home he was truly hospitable, his house being for a long time headquarters for strangers who came to the valley.

It has been truly said of Mr. Fraser that as a business man he was a class by himself. For many years his head was his ledger and his hat was his safe, yet, with a memory clear and tenacious, even to the smallest details, he transacted his affairs with the utmost exactness. When his affairs extended entirely beyond his capacious mental grasp, he was forced to employ the usual agencies for doing business, but even then he was inclined to continue his primitive methods to a certain extent; methods that had brought him a fortune of nearly or quite a milhon dollars.

Mr. Fraser was never a member of any church, but during the last years of his life gave his attention to religious matters and observances. He became an industrious student of the Bible and conducted family worship, and at the last met death cahnly and peacefully.

Such is an imperfect outline of the character and career of the man whose mighty activity flashes across all the changing scenes through which Bay City has passed. One who knew him well says truly that the biographer who could have caught and combined the story of James Fraser's life as it frequently fell from his own lips in his own racy and graphic language during moments of free social intercourse, might have given the world a most amusing and instructive book. To the student of human nature it would have presented some new and interesting combinations of the threads and colors which enter into the warp and woof of human life.

The Fitzhughs

Dr. Daniel H. Fitzhjgh, one of the proprietors of Lower Saginaw, was born in Washington County, Md., April 20, 1794. He studied medicine, but becoming interested in real estate ventures, he never engaged in the practice of that profession. In 1816 his parents removed to Livingston County, N. Y., where the family home has since been. As early as 1834, Dr. Fitzhugh came into the Saginaw Valley for the purpose of investing in land, and his first purchases were in the vicinity of Saginaw City. After the treaty of 1837 he purchased several parcels of land bordering on the river, where West Bay City now stands, and still later became one of the proprietors of Lower Saginaw, as elsewhere stated. He was never a permanent resident here, but the association of his name with this region, extending throughout its history, is continued by his sons. Dr. Fitzhugh died in the Spring of 1881, at the advanced age of eighty- seven years.

Charles C. Fitzhugh was born in Livingston County, N. Y., in 1821. In 1841 he came to Saginaw in connection with the land interests of his father. The following year he returned home and married a Miss' Jones, of Mount Morris. They came to Saginaw, where they remained three years, and then settled on a farm at the forks of the Tittabawassee Kiver. He remained there until about 1855, when he came to Lower Saginaw to take care of the real estate interests of his father, and has resided here since that time. Mr. Fitzhugh is not a demonstrative man, but has always been regarded as one of the reliable men of the county. He has extensive real estate interests both in the city and country. He has for many years been trustee of the old Saginaw Bay Company.

Daniel H. Fitzhugh, Jr., is also a native of Livingston County, N. Y. He first came to Lower Saginaw in 1847 and built a house on the corner of Third and Water Streets. It was the seventh dwelling house in what was at that time the corporate limits of the town, and was a very pretentious dwelling for that time. It was afterwards occupied by his brother, William D. Fitzhugh, until destroyed by fire. He remained about three years and returned East, and was engaged in the brokerage business in New York for some years. In 1870 he again came to Bay City for a permanent residence, and is engaged in attending to real estate interests. Mr. Fitzhugh is quite a noted sportsman, and w^as the first to discover the habits, and caused to be properly classified, the fish known as grayling, which is now a famous fish, and quite abundant in the waters of the northern portion of this peninsula.

William D. Fitzhugh came to Lower Saginaw in 1850, and in 1851 built a dwelling house at the corner of Tenth and Washington Streets, at that time in the midst of the forest. Before building this house he lived in the one built by Daniel Fitzhugh, Jr., until it was destroyed by fire. He remained here until 1856, when he returned East to reside permanently. During his stay here he was very active in promoting public interests. He and his wife were the founders of Trinity Church, and various other enterprises were liberally encouraged by him. In 1873 he donated to the city a tract of twenty acres of ground, for a public park, and which has been improved for that purpose. Mr. Fitzhugh was one of the early salt manufacturers of the valley, as appears in the history of that industry.

Frank Fitzhugh settled in Wenona, now We&t Bay City, in 1863, his father having extensive real estate interests on that side of the river. Wenona at that time had but one or two houses. He continued his residence there until September, 1882, when he removed to Bay City, where he now resides. Like his brother, his business consists of managing real estate interests which he has on both sides of the river. Henry M. Fitzhugh, another brother, is a resident of Baltimore.

The Birneys

The name and fame of James G. Birney have long since passed into history, and the connection in which he appears in this work is only a trifling incident in his life, although the name of Birney has been associated with all the progressive operations of Bay County for a quarter of a century. James G. Birney was a native of Danville, Ky. His early life was surrounded with all the comforts and advantages which wealth could command. He received a finished education, graduating at Princeton, N. J., in 1810, and afterwards pursuing the study of law. He began the practice of law at Danville, his native place, and soon after was elected a member of the Legislature of Kentucky. His next field of labor was ^Huntsville, Ala., where he attained distinction as a lawyer, and was elected sohcitor-general of the state. In 1828 he was one of the presidential electors selected by the Whig party of Alabama. About this time he made a profession of religion and became an influential member of the Presbyterian denomination. By inheritance and purchase he became the owner of slaves, and had a cotton plantation carried on under his direction. Soon after this his mind became engaged upon the subject of slavery as a question of morals, which resulted in an espousal of the doctrine of immediate emancipation. Carrying at once into practice the belief he adopted, he executed deeds of manumission for each and all of his slaves. From this time on he battled for the emancipation of a race, and to free his country from disgrace and disaster. Bravely enduring the insults of his fellowmen, and the thick dangers that beset his pathway, he prosecuted his work with courage and vigor. The impression which his noble and courageous conduct made at that time was fitly described by Dr. Cox, of New York, who said: - "A Birney has shaken the continent by putting down his foot; and his fame will be envied before his arguments are answered or their force forgotten."

In 1839 his father died, leaving a large estate, consisting of land, money and slaves. His sister and himself were the only heirs. He requested that all of the negroes might be computed at their market valuation as a part of his share. This was assented to, and he immediately emancipated all of them. In 1840 he visited England as one of the vice-presidents of the World's Convention, and in May of that year was nominated for the Presidency by the Liberty party, and at the election received 7,000 votes.

It can be readily understood that Mr. Birney's large fortune had become greatly reduced in his conflict with a great but popular wrong. About 1840-'41 he became one of the owners of Lower Saginaw, and wishing to look after his interests here, and also to find retirement for a time, he decided to remove to this place. In the Fall of 1841 he arrived at Saginaw City, where he remained during the Winter. At this point we quote from the recollections of Judge Albert MiUer, as follows :

*' I first saw Mr. Birney in the Summer of 1841, when he and C. C. Fitzhugh, Esq., made their first visit to Sagmaw, accompanied by Dr. Daniel H. Fitzhugh, who at that time knew well and highly estimated the advantages possessed by the Saginaw Valley. Some time after they returned to their homes, I heard Mr. Eraser say he had just received a letter from Dr. Fitzhugh, in which the Doctor stated that Mr. Birney's friends were all endeavoring to dissuade him from taking up his residence at Lower Saginaw, but Mr. Birney had fully made up his mind to settle here with his family, and that at a certain time they might be expected to arrive. At the time of Mr. Birney's arrival with his family at Saginaw City in the Fall of 1841, at so low an ebb were all the business interests of the valley that the Webster House, one of the largest hotels in Michigan at that time outside of Detroit, built in 1837, was no longer required to accommodate the traveling public or the people of the city, but had for some time been standing unoccupied. Mr. Birney and his family occupied the Webster House as a private dwelling during their residence at Saginaw City, which I think was . about one year. Previous to this time, Mr. Birney,Dr. Fitzhugh and Mr. Eraser had purchased the stock of the Saginaw Bay Land Company, which company owned the John Eiley reserve, and had laid out the town of Lower Saginaw, and they became the successors of that company, and the title was conveyed to Mr. Birney, and he acted as trustee till a division of the property was made between the stockholders. On the 4th July, 1842, while Mr. Birney resided at Saginaw City, a few of the inhabitants gathered at Jewett's Hotel and had a dinner, and while discussing the question of doing something in honor of the day, it was proposed to invite Mr. Birney to give us an address. The late Norman Little and the writer were appointed a committee to wait on Mr. Birney, and extended the invitation to him. On performing that duty, Mr. Birney repHed that he could say or do nothing to honor that as the anniversary of the birthday of American Independence and Freedom, for that day would not have arrived till the release from bondage of the three or four milhons of American citizens who were then held to service by their oppressors. We invited him to come, and he chose his own theme for a discourse. He came and addressed us eloquently on the subject of emancipation, which he at that time considered of so much importance that he spent the best part of his life and fortune to promote it, and which^has since proved to be of more importance to the people of the United States than perhaps he ever anticipated, for it brought on a war which convulsed the country from ocean to ocean, and caused mourning in almost every family in the land.

"After removing to Lower Saginaw in the Spring of 1842, Mr. Birney, aside from looking after the interests of the Saginaw Bay Company, for which he was trustee, engaged in stock raising and agricultural pursuits generally. He brought here a fine herd of blooded cattle from the stock of Mr. Sullivan, of Ohio, which has been celebrated for its purity. That importation has served greatly to improve the grade of stock in Saginaw and Bay Counties. Mr. Birney was a kind neighbor and a benevolent man. Some parties in Bay City are much better off now than they would otherwise have been had it not been for the assistance rendered by Mr. Birney in securing to them real estate in the early settlement of the plat. During the latter part of Mr. Birney's residence here, after his health failed, he mingled very little in society, and he finally left for the East, where his earthly career was terminated before his earher anticipation with reference to the growth and importance of Lower Saginaw were reahzed, and before the day arrived which he would have considered the birthday of American Independence."

Mr. Birney's residence here was the building that was originally the block house that the Saginaw Bay Company built on the corner of Fourth and Water Streets, and was fixed over for Mr. Birney's use. In 1843 Mr. Birney was again nominated for the Presidency, and at the election in 1814 received 62,300 votes, and in 1845 received 3,023 votes for Governor of the state of Michigan.

As elsewhere stated, Mr. Birney used to conduct rehgious service in the little schoolhouse, and this practice was continued until others came in to carry on the work.

In 1855 he returned East to Englewood, N. J., for the purpose of educating his son, Fitzhugh Birney. He remained there until his death, which occurred November 23, 1857, at the age of sixtyfive years. He did not live to see the triumph of the great cause to which his life was devoted, but another generation have witnessed it and given his name its proper place. One of his biographers says of him: - " No man ever more mildly spoke tlie words of truth and soberness than he. He reviled no man. A rule which uniformly guided his own conduct, and which he habitually urged upon his own household, was to speak evil 'of no man.' Often he has been known to rebuke a disparaging remark concerning his bitterest opponent. His sin was that he was a generation in advance of his day."

Mr. Birney's successor in Lower Saginaw was his oldest son, now Judge James Birney, of Bay City. He purchased the interests of his father at Lower Saginaw, and also made large purchases of land from the government. Mr. James Birney is a native of Dan- ville, Ky. His collegiate education was obtained at Centre College, Kentucky, and at Miami University, Ohio. At the latter institution he graduated in 1836, and during the two succeeding years was employed in the University as professor of the Greek and Latin languages. During the next two years he attended the law lectures of Judge Storm and Prof. Hitchcock, of the Law School of Yale College, at New Haven, Conn. He subsequently removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, and entered upon the practice of law. He devoted himself to this business, and became distinguished as a successful practitioner. While in New Haven Mr. Birney married Miss Moulton, step-daughter of Nathaniel Bacon, of that city. Of this marriage there were five children, only two of whom are living. In 1856 Mr. Birney came to Lower Saginaw to look after his real estate interests, and in the Summer of 1857 removed his family here, and at once interested himself in the development of the town and county.

His first important public service in the interest of the new settlement was to procure the passage of a bill in 1857 changing the name to Bay City. He was elected a state senator in 1858, baing nominated by the EepubHcan Senatorial Convention more as a compliment than otherwise, the district, which extended to the Straits of Mackinaw, being Democratic. The portion of Saginaw embraced within Bay had always been regarded as the Democratic stronghold, but Mr. Birney received all the votes of the county but five given for the regular Democratic candidate, and a few scattering votes for a stump candidate. The volume of session laws of 1859 contains some fifty acts he presented for his district, every one of which was adopted. One of the measures which has had an important bearing upon the interests and development of the Saginaw Valley and the Tenth District, which Mr. Birney secured the passage of, was the bill giving a bounty for the manufacture of salt. The bill proposed the payment of 5 cents a bushel, but Mr. Birney nresented its merits in such favorable light that 10 cents was granted.

In 1860 Mr. Birney was nominated by the Kepublican State Convention for lieutenant-governor, and elected by over 20,000 majority. He was received with great favor as president of the Senate. During his term as lieutenant-governor, a vacancy occurred in the office of circuit judge, and the Governor tendered the appointment to him. It was accepted, and he presided as circuit judge in a most acceptable manner during the next four years. The circuit embraced Saginaw, Midland, Gratiot, Isabella, Iosco and Bay Counties. He was unanimously renominated by the EepubHcan Judicial Convention, but the district having a Democratic majority, he was not re-elected, and returned to the practice of his profession. In

1871 Mr. Birney estabhsKed the Bay City Chronicle, and in 1873 it was issued as a diily. It was pubhshed until after Mr. Birney's departure for the Hague, when it was merged into the Tribune, In

1872 Gov. Baldwin nominated Mr. Birney to President Grant as Centennial Commissioner for Michigan to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 1876. He did not serve upon the commission, having been appointed December 17, 1875, as United States Minister to the Netherlands. He went to his charge in the Spring of 1876, and served his country with distinguished ability and fidelity until he resigned the post a short time since.

Mr. Birney has always been one of the most devoted citizens of Bay City, and has done all in his power to promote its growth and welfare. Few public improvements have been made that he has not aided. He was prominently connected with the enterprise of securing the first railroad, and also the state and other public roads in the county. He is a gentleman of the broadest culture, and ranks high as an orator.

The eldest son, James G. Birney, distinguished himself in the army as captain of the Seventh Michigan Volunteers, and died while an officer of the regular army in 1869.

Arthur Birney conducted the Chronicle for several years, but after it was merged in the Tribune, he retired from journahsm, and in 1879 accompanied his father to Europe. After an absence of eight months he returned, and went to Montana, where he died in January, 1882.

Theodore Walker was a tailor in Brooklyn, N. Y., and came to Lower Saginaw about 1860 from Long Island, where he had been living for some time. His only business here was to look after his real estate. He was a very eccentric man. He continued a resident of Bay City until his death, which occurred about 1870.

From 1842 To 1848

Life in the new settlement during the six years following 1842 was rather monotonous. There were a few arrivals, but a transient visitor was a severe tax upon the larder of the place. The Httle settlement was hemmed in by swamps and forests, and often there was but a handful of meal in the barrel, but that ^^ as common property to all who were hungry. The settlers knew the true meaning of the word "neighbor," and no Lazarus ever fed upon crumbs on the floor while there was bounty on the table. In 1842 Frederick Backus brought a stock of goods and opened a store.

In 1843 the chief event was the organization of Hampton Township, and the first election was held at the Globe Hotel. W. E. McCormick's hat was the ballot box, and its dimensions were ample for the thirteen votes that were polled.

In 1844 the first school house was built, near where the Detroit and Bay City Passenger Depot now stands. After Mr. Birney came, he used to conduct rehgious services in this building on Sundays, and the irrepressible Harry Campbell officiated as chorister. He was an excellent singer but could not be always relied upon to make a judicious selection of tunes. It somefcimes happened that after four or five stanzas of a good" old Presbyterian hymn had been reeled off, Harry, with an expression of countenance as intensely solemn as a church covenant, would start with vigorous unction, into some rollicking melody, and be halted by Mr. Birney, who would reprovingly point out his mistake. Harry would be astonished at the impropriety of his selection and repeat it upon the very next auspicious occasion.

In the Winter of 1846-'47 the first saw mill was built by Hopkins, Pomeroy & Fraser, and during 1846 the Hampton postoffice was estabhshed in Thomas Kogers' house. J. B. and B. B. Hart came this year. P. J. Perrott had arrived in 1845.

Mr. Eogers was a justice of the peace, and a couple, whose names are not obtained, presented themselves at his blacksmith shop to have the solemn rite administered. Mr. Rogers was not famihar with the language of the ritual, but knew that a couple under such circumstances must be "pronounced" upon. So, removing his leather apron, he commanded the radiant pair to join hands, when, with official unction, he said: - "By the power vested in me I pronounce you husband and wife." There was no marriage bell, no orange blossoms, no ushers, no giving away the bride, no reception, but, so far as known, the knot tied by the sturdy blacksmith at his anvil held firmly until loosened by an unseen hand.

In the Spring of 1846, Hon. James Birney paid a visit to his father. He was then living in Connecticut, and came to Detroit and thence to Flint. There he took the stage, which was a wagon without springs drawn by a pair of ponies. The roads were either mud or corduroy, and each was worse than the other. Arriving at

Saginaw he waited two days for some way of getting to Lowei; Saginaw. Finally, he hired an Indian for seventy-five cents to bring him down in a canoe. When he arrived here he found his father fixing a fence, about where St. Joseph's Church now stands, and the mud and water was ankle deep. There were no streets, and but little use for any. There was not a wagon and but one saddle in the settlement. There was not much about Lower Saginaw to charm a stranger, and he little thought then that he would, in a few years, erect his domestic altar upon its site, and live to see standing here the third city in the state.

In the Winter of 1847, Mr. H. W. Sage came to Lower Saginaw to negotiate with Mr. Birney for his interest in the plat of the village. Mr. Sage was accompanied by Deacon Andrews and Jarvis Langdon, of Elmira, and Joseph L. Shaw, of Ithaca, N. Y. They arrived here on Saturday, coming in a sleigh from Saginaw City. They put up at Judge Campbell's tavern, although the Judge was not keeping it at that time. They found Mr. Birney sick and unable to attend to any business, but it was too late in the day to return to Saginaw. When it came time to go to bed they found the only accommo- dations at their disposal consisted of a small bed room containing one bed. There were four in the party, and while three might manage to crawl into the bed, four would be entirely beyond its capacity. One must sleep on the floor, and to decide who should have the more spacious but rather uncomfortable berth, they cast lots, and Deacon Andrews drew the floor. He was the eldest of the party and in poor health, so Mr. Sage, being robust and accommodating, induced the Deacon to take the bed, and he wrapped himself up on the floor. Sunday morning Mr. Sage revolved the situation in his mind and concluded he didn't care to spend another day, and particularly another night, in Lower Saginaw. His longing for salt pork was appeased and he had seemingly exhausted the restful qualities of his bed on the floor. He announced his intention of returning to Saginaw, and all agreed willingly to the proposition but Deacon Andrews. He said he could not travel on the Lord's day. Mr. Sage replied that all days were the Lord's, and he should improve that particular one by going to Saginaw. The good Deacon couldn't reconcile the idea of traveling on Sunday with his notions of right, and opposed the arrangement. Finally he went out into the holy calm of a Winter's Sabbath in Lower Saginaw. There were no chimes of Sabbath balls, no murmurs of anthems stealing softly upon the ear, no procession of hymn books moving reverentially toward a place of worship. Not even a church spire pierced the drooping clouds, and even the great sanctuary of nature was as a barren waste to his vision. Stumps and buildings cropped out above the snow, presenting great similarity of expression and dimension, and the current of the river was hidden beneath a roof of ice. There was a far away look toward Saginaw in the Deacon's eyes as he turned back into the tavern. A conflict between duty and inclination was raging fiercely in the Deacon's mind, and he groaned inwardly as he observed with sinful satisfaction that duty had "taken to the woods" and that the team for Saginaw was at the door. With regretful accent he told the party that, "being so poorly," perhaps it was unwise for him to remain here longer, and it was noticed that the Deacon was the first one of the party to reach the sleigh.

Thirty- six years later, one of the party - the one who slept on the floor - related to the writer the facts of the incident as given. The Deacon has long since gone to that country whose fields are "dressed in living green," and "where Sabbaths never end." The old tavern still remains, though changed in form, while about it have grown up the beautiful busy cities, divided by the river, grown to a great highway of commerce, whose traffic is an exhibit of the mighty industries along its course.

It was during 1847 that Daniel H. Fitzhugh, Jr., arrived and built what was then thought to be an extravagant house on the corner of Third and Water Streets.

From 1848

the prospects of the settlement began to brighten, although it cannot be said with truth, that the arrivals were sufficiently numerous to seriously disturb the quietude of those already here.

Curtis Munger and Edwin Park arrived heavily laden with pioneer experience ; Thomas Carney and wife arrived in pursuit of a pleasant and healthful abode; J. S. Barclay and wife settled bere about that time.

Life in Lower Saginaw about this time was not altogether a barren waste. The female society was composed of Mesclames Catlin, Eogers, Barney, Cady, J. B. Hart, Carney, Campbell, Barclay, and perhaps two or three others. All belonged to "our set',' and kept perpetual open house, and disseminated the local news with conscientious promptness and diligence. A serpentine footpath dodged along among the stumps near the bank of the river, and furnished an ample thoroughfare for the equipages of that time.

The greatest activity, however, prevailed during the mosquito season. The Lower Saginaw mosquito is represented in tradition as being an animal of prodigious size and ferocity, and of a hardy variety. The average fish story of the present day is made to appear exceedingly insignificant when a robust pioneer unfolds one of his favorite mosquito legends. Baking day, however, was the picnic season of these colonized torments. It was the custom of the housewife to "shoo" out the kitchen, and securely fasten the doors and windows before beginning the exercises of the day. Then, heaping a pile of brown sugar upon the hot stove, she prepared her bread for the oven, unless driven from her fortress by the smudge of the burning sugar. It is nowhere alleged that these defensive measures ever interfered with the operations of the mosquitoes, but they had all the elements of formidable demonstration, and were therefore comforting to reflect upon in after years.

1850-'51 witnessed a number of arrivals and the introduction of new industries. Dr. George E. Smith introduced the healing art, and James Fox opened a law office. William and Alexander Mc- Ewan came and built a mill; also Henry Eaymond and James Watson. Charles E. Jennison came and went into the mercantile business with James Eraser in a building where the Eraser House now stands. J. S. Barclay built the Wolverton House, still standing in an enlarged form, on the corner of Third and Water Streets near the bridge, and owned by Mr. Barclay.

Among the others "who came about this time were Henry Hero, E. Stanton, Thomas Whitney, Clark Moulthrop, George Carpenter, the Drake brothers, and J. W. Putnam. Capt. Cole was also interested in river navigation.

1852 was marked by the visitation of cholera, which prevailed CO a distressing extent, especially among the mill laborers. Upwards of seventy deaths occurred, among whom were Thomas Kogers and Mr. Monroe. Men would suddenly disappear from their posts of labor and the next known of them would be that they were dead. This dread visitor found easy victims among the foreign population that had come in here to work in the mills and were living under circumstances calculated to invite disease.

In 1853 the Methodist Church was built "way out" in a swamp, on the present line of Washington Street. Its location was thought to be the means of more boat riding on the Sabbath day than was in harmony with scriptural teachings.

Some time in 1855 or 1856, B. E. Partridge purchased land of James Eraser on what is now the corner of Center and Van Buren Streets. He cleared off the timber and built a house. It was about half a mile from Water Street, and was reached by a crooked path through the woods. People could not understand why he wanted to start a hermitage in the depth of the forest when there was plenty of room and mosquitoes in town.

About 1854 a schooner was built by J. A. Weed and George Carpenter. It was called the "'Java," and was fitted out for the fishing trade. Mr. Charles B. Cottrell located here this year.

The foregoing is only a brief synopsis of some of the movements during the period named. The history in detail of the various interests is given in the various departments of the work.

In 1855 or 1856 a well known character named Dodge built a small hotel near the present corner of Saginaw and Third Streets. This locality at that time was a swamp. The hotel was called the "Earmers' Home," though it is not remembered that it ever had a farmer for u guest. The young folks used to have occasional dances here, and when there was a shortage of girls, a shawl would be wrapped about an Indian who would be pressed into service as a belle of the ball.

In 1857 kerosene oil and lamps were first introduced by the Cottrell's, who had a store at the corner of Water and Second Streets, and from that time the glory of tallow candles gradually departed.

Still other settlers and interests came in during those years as appear in the several departments. The next important event was the change of name from Lower Saginaw to Bay City.

Change Oe Name

As the resources of the Saginaw Valley began to be developed in earnest, and the fame of this region widened, it was felt that the village near the mouth of the river should have a title by which it could be more easily and readily distinguished. Accordingly, in the Winter of 1857, Hon. James Birney drafted a bill and presented it to the Legislature. The bill was passed, and the act approved Eebruary 10, which provided, " That the name of the village of Lower Saginaw, in the Township of Hampton, State of Michigan, be, and the same is, hereby changed to Bay City."

Some Oe The Eakly Comers

In the classification of subjects, some of the early settlers and their experiences are mentioned elsewhere in this work. The following biographical reminiscenses are of others who were connected with the early history of Lower Saginaw :

Israel Catlin was one of the early comers to this region. He was born in Schuyler County, N. Y., in 1814. His chosen trade was that of carpenter, which he followed for several years, during which time he went to sea as ship's carpenter, and was absent about two years. In 1844 he came to Lower Saginaw, and was engaged by Eraser & Barney in building and superintending the running of a mill at Kawkawlin. His first meal in the region was obtained at the house of Harvey Williams, at the mouth of the Kawkawlin River. He remained at Kawkawlin about two years, and then came to Lower Saginaw, and in company with the late James Eraser built a steam saw miU, which he operated a few years, when he sold out. He afterwards formed a copartnership with Mr. Arnold, of West Bay City, and they carried on an extensive business in the manufacture of sash, doors and blinds. His health failed, and for several years he has been unable to do any business. Mr. Catlin has filled an honored place in the community where he has lived so many years. He was postmaster of Hampton from 1850 to 1853, and was one of the first aldermen under the village charter. He has held various positions of trust, and was one. of the founders, and has always been one of the leading members, of Trinity Church. Mr. Catlin still resides in Bay City, a much respected citizen.

Patrick J. Perrott is a well known pioneer of the Saginaw Valley. He was born in Ireland in the year 1827. In 1842 he emigrated to this country with his father, 0. A. Perrott. In 1845 Mr. Perrott arrived in Lower Saginaw, now Bay City, his father having come here in 1843. He was then an intelligent Irish lad of eighteen years, small in stature, but active and resolute. His first occupation was that of cooper, which he followed for a time, making fish barrels. Not being able to make money fast enough at coopering, he abandoned it and engaged in fishing, which he followed until about 1860. Erom 1860 to 1870 he was sheriff and acting sheriff, and for several years past has been deputy sheriff. Erom 1875 to 1877 he was comptroller of the city, and has been a member of the Board of Public Works since in 1881. Mr. Perrott is an untiring worker, and one of the men who accomplishes whatever he undertakes. He is thoroughly versed in local affairs, and having a correct memory, is excellent authority upon matters of pioneer history. The compiler of this work is indebted to him for many historical facts of great value. Mr. Perrott was married Eebruary 4, 1850, to EHzabeth, youngest daughter of Leon Trombley, the first resident of Lower Saginaw. Mrs. Perrott was the first wliite girl that came to the lower part of the Saginaw Valley, having come here in 1833. A school was started some eighteen miles up the river, taught by Albert Miller, now Judge Miller, of Bay City, which Miss Trombley attended. She is now the only pupil of that school living. Mr. Perrott and Miss Trombley were married at the house of Daniel S. Chapell, who lived in the vicinity of where the Peter Mill now stands. The ceremony was performed by George liaby, a justice of the peace, a functionary who did the most of the marrying in those days. Mr. Perrott's father died in May, 18e58.

Julius B. Habt will be long remembered in connection with the early days in Lower Saginaw. He was born in Litchfield, Conn., in 1816. In 1833 he emigrated to Michigan, and in 1846 came to Bay City with his brother, B. B. Hart. They established a trade with the few whites who were here, but dealt more extei: - sively with the Indians. In early years they were extensively engaged in the fur and fish trade. There are few persons in this region who have not heard of "Jule" Hart's red letter day in the muskrat skin trade, in which he was so ably assisted by George Lord. This occurrence is narrated on another page. Mr. Hart continued in various business enterprises, but never allowed business to interfere with an opportunity to play a joke upon anyone who chanced to come along. In 1875 he retired from active business, and died in Bay City, in November, 1877. With all his fondness for fun, Mr. Hart was emphatically a humane man, and as willing to do an act of kindness as to play a joke.

B. B. Hart continued in business with his brother until about 1850, when they dissolved. Subsequently he was engaged in the manufacture of lumber and salt with Dr. George E. Smith, and still later they were in the grocery trade until about 1874, when they sold their business to other parties. Mr. Hart is now a resident of Minneapolis, where he has been engaged for two or three years in the coffee and spice business.

Curtis Munger was born in Bergen, Genesee Co., N. Y., March 20, 1820. Came to Michigan in 1840, and settled in Oakland County, where he learned the trade of cooper. In the Fall of 1846 he, with some others, went to the Thunder Bay Island, Lake Huron, in the coopering and fishing business, catching whitefish for the Eastern market, where he remained until the latter part of November, 1848, when, with his party, he intended to take one of the down steamers from Chicago to Detroit, and return home. Several steamers passed the island, but so far off in the lake that they could not see their signals. It was getting very cold, and they had got out of provisions, so the party took turns sitting up nights keeping signal fire to hail any passing vessel to take them off. After waiting eight or ten days without any hope of relief, and to add to their suffering their provisions were all gone. The party consisted of Curtis Munger, James Beebe, Edwin Park, and Michael Daily, who yet reside in Bay City, and W. H. Hunter and Joseph Parkerson, who have left the country. A heavy snowstorm from the northeast set in, and what to do they did not know; to remain would be folly, as the Winter had commenced, and they were getting hungry, as they had finished their last provisions two days before. A council was held as to what should be done. Joseph Parkerson proposed they should start in their open fishboat for Lower Saginaw, as Bay City was then called, and if ihey could reach there he knew an old lady by the name of Mrs. McCormick, who lived in the largest house there, with whom he had lived when a boy, and whom he called mother. If they could only reach there she would take good care of them. This Mrs. McCormick was the wife of the late James McCormick, one of the first settlers of the Saginaw Valley, who died two years before, in 1846, and was the mother of the late James McCormick, and also W. R. McCormick, who still lives in Bay City. They finally made up their minds to start for Lower Saginaw. They put six half-barrels of fish in the boat for ballast, then went to the lighthouse and saw the keeper, Capt. Maiden, but could get no provisions, as he was nearly out himself. He gave them one good square meal, and they started in their open boat for Lower Saginaw. None of them had ever been over the route before except Michael Daily. The storm was blowing a hurricane from the northeast, accompanied with snow. They had to keep bailing their boat to keep her afloat, in which they took turns during the night. After much suffering they reacbed Point Au Gres. The wind died away, so that they were obliged to take to the oars before reaching the point. A gale sprang up from the south; they landed on the north side in the smooth water; went ashore, cut some cedars, and made a place to lay down to sleep, without anything to eat, tired and worn out. In the morning the ice had frozen on the north side of the point, where their boat lay several rods from shore, and the wind blowing a gale from the southwest, so that it was impossible to leave. Towards night, Parkerson said he was going to have some supper. They asked him where he was going to get it. He said: - "I will show you." He un- ' headed one of the half-barrels of fish, and took an old bailing dish he had in the boat, which had a hole in the bottom, put the fish in it, and put it on the fire, but in a few seconds the water had all run out, which also extinguished the fire. He tried this several times. "At last he cried out to the boys that supper was ready, but when we tried," says Mr. Munger, "to eat, we found that it was scarcely warmed through, so we ate it raw. It did not do me much good, for in a few minutes I vomited it all up." On the second day, towards night, the wind changed to the northeast, blowing very hard, increasing every minute. They went for the boat and found her pounding on the rocks, and in a little while she would have gone to pieces. They got her off after a long time by wading in the water ; got her around the point to the south side out of danger. They now got ready to start, as the wind was fair, but the wind increased to such a gale that they were obliged to wait until morning, or until the gale went . down. They laid in their boat in their wet clothes until morning. Says Mr Munger: - "I never slept a wink,but nearly froze to death." When the morning came, the wind had somewhat abated ; still there was a heavy sea running. They then hoisted sail, and started for the Saginaw Eiver. When they reached the mouth, Michael Daily left them, and started for old Uncle Harvey Wilhams', at the mouth of the Kawkawlin Eiver. After proceeding up the Saginaw Eiver two miles, they came to a little house on the side of the river, when Mr. Munger asked Parkerson who lived there, when Parkerson replied, "Trombley." They had not gone far before they came to another house, when Munger again asked who lived there, when Parkerson replied, "Trombley." They soon came to another, where the village of Banks now stands, when Mr. Munger says to Parkerson: - "This is a comfortable looking house ; I guess we can get something to eat here. Who lives here?" when Parkerson replied: - ''Trombley." "My Lord," says Mr. Munger, "is there no one but Trombley' s in this country." They proceeded on up the river, and soon came to the house of Mother McCormick's, as Parkerson called her. This house is still standing, and is now called the Center House, on the corner of Twenty-fourth and Water Streets. Mr. Munger says : - "When we landed I was in my stocking feet, as my feet were so swollen by exposure that I could not get on my boots ; so I say that when I first came to Bay City I was in my stocking feet; this was December 1, 1848. We were hospitably received by Mrs. Mc- Cormick, who did everything in her power to alleviate our sufferings, and whose kindness I shall never forget " While here, Edwin Park and Mr. Munger took a contract for making fish barrels during the Winter after their return from Detroit, where they had to go to get their returns for their fish, which they had shipped from Thunder Bay Island. So they left Mrs. McCormick, and started for Detroit on foot. They crossed the Saginaw Eiver on the ice at the elbow, and stirted up the bank of the river over the prairie, the snow and water two feet deep most of the way to Zilwaukee, where they stayed all night. Mr. Mimgersays: - "This was the hardest day's work I ever did ; I never was so tired in all my life. The next day we started for Flint early, as there was not much of a road between Flint and Saginaw at this time. We met but one person this day between Flint and Saginaw, which was the mail carrier, with an Indian pony, with the mail strapped on his back. I called the attention of my comrade, Edwin Park, to see how nicely that pony would walk a log to keep out of the mud. We arrived that night at Fhnt. The next day we reached Pontiac, and the next day Detroit." After settling his business in Detroit, he returned with Edwin Park to Lower Saginaw, and made it his home with Mrs. McCormick, and went at his contract with Edwin Park, making fish barrels. He continued working at the cooperage business for about two years. In the year 1850, Mr. Munger went into the grocery business on Water Street, between First and Second, under the name of Park & Munger, up to 1854, when Mr. Munger's brother came on, joined the firm, when they enlarged their business, and went into a general stock of dry goods, groceries, etc., under the name of Munger & Co. In 1861 Mr. Edwin Park retired from the firm, and went into the hotel business. Their business became so large that they were obliged to build a more commodious building. They joined James Snearer in building^ the Shearer Block corner of Water and Centre Streets, and moved into their new location in 1866, and commenced the exclusive business of dry goods. This building in a few years became too small for their increasing business. They then commenced the erection of the Munger Block, on the corner of Saginaw and Centre Streets, with double stores for extensive dry goods, into which they removed in 1873. In 1874 they sold out to Messrs. Cooke & Co., and retired from active business, since which time Mr. Curtis Munger, with his brother, has devoted his time to taking charge of his large real estate. Mr. Munger has held many public offices in Bfty City. He was the first president of the village council for two consecutive years. Was for two terms elected county treasurer of Bay County, and many other offices of public trust, all of which he has filled with the entire confidence of the public. There are few men that are more identified with the growth and prosperity of Bay City than Curtis Munger, and who are so invariably respected.

Edwin Park, one of the early pioneers of the Saginaw Valley, was born in Tioga County, N. Y., November 15, 1822, where he lived until 1842, when he came to Michigan and settled at Marengo, near Battle Creek, where he followed his trade of cooper. After working there for some time, and business getting duU, he went to Chicago, where he found work at his trade. He stayed there until January, when he went to Ottawa, on the Illinois Eiver, where he worked at his trade until late in the Spring of the same year. Work getting scarce, he started on foot for Pontiac, Mich., where he found work at his trade until the follov/mg December, Work getting dull again, he went to Franklin, Mich., wheie he worked at his trg-de until 1846. He then went to Thunder Bay Island, on Lake Huron, to make fish barrels during the Summer of the same year. From thence he went to Au Sable, and in order to build a shop he had to go to Devil Eiver to procure lumber. This was the first building erected at the place. Here he worked until late in the Fall, when he, with five others, took their open sail boat and started for Detroit, as they could not stay all Winter in that isolated place, as there were no provisions to be had. They arrived in Detroit after a long and tedious voyage, being nearly ship- wrecked twice. It was a hazardous undertaking for five men in an open sail boat to cross the Saginaw Bay and down Lake Huron at that season of the year. Mr. Park said thirty-six years after that it was the hardest time he ever saw, and that he never expected to reach land alive. He stayed in Detroit until the Spring of- 1847, when he returned to the Au Sable, where he remained until the Fall, when he came to Lower Saginaw and with Mr. C. Munger went into the coopering and fishing business. During this time, he and his partner, C. Munger, made their home with Mrs. McCormick, widow of James McCormick, the old pioneer who had died the year before, whose residence, on what is now the corner of Twenty-fourth and Water Streets, is still standing, and is what is called the Center House. Soon after this, he and C. Munger built a small store on Water Street, between Third and Fourth Streets, and went into the grocery trade in connection with their cooperage business. It was not long before they found their little store was too small to accommodate rapidly increasing trade; they then had to build "a larger store which they filled with a general assortment of hardware, dry goods, groceries, liquors, and drugs, when he took A. S. Munger as a partner. This was in 1854, and from that time the firm of Munger & Park was changed to Munger & Co., up to 1861, when Mr. Park withdrew from the firm and went into the hotel business as landlord of the Wolverton House, up to 1862. Previously he had made a contract for making the first salt barrels in Bay County, and he refrained from hotel business in order to fulfill the same and other contracts. Some time after, he with C. McDowell purchased the corner of Third and Water Streets and erected a fine brick block. They then went into the wholesale liquor trade for eight years, when he sold out and went into the tug and barge business in carrying lumber from the Saginaw Valley to eastern and western ports.

Jonathan Smith Barclay, more familiarly called Uncle John, was born in Northumberland County, Penh., August 8, 1808. I When sixteen years old he went to Mauch Chunk, where he learned I the trade of mill-wright. When twenty-two years old he went to I Tamaqua, Schuylkill County, to build railroad. From there he i went to Pottsville, where he worked at his trade six or seven years ; thence to Lycoming County to build a furnace. When finished he started for Eochester, N. Y., hearing there was a great demand for mill- Wrights at that place. Here he stayed two years, helping to build some of the largest flouring mills there. At this time the war between Texas and Mexico was raging, so he with a party of young men started as volunteers for Texas, but when they reached Cleveland, Ohio, news came that Santa Ana was taken and had surrendered to the Texans. At this time, the Toledo war had broken out concerning the boundary line between Ohio and Michigan, so instead of going to Texas, he with sixteen others took a boat for Monroe. When they landed. Gov. Mason was removing his troops. After the review was over, he with his party of sixteen went to the Governor and ofi'ered him their services, which he declined, saying he had nothing to feed them, and no arms to arm them with. He then started for Detroit, where he stayed a few days and started on foot for Jackson and from there to Albion, looking for work, but found none. He then went to Tekonsha where he took a contract to build a saw mill and afterwards a hotel. He stayed there three years, when he returned to Albion to help build the first flour mill, and tended it for five years. While here he was elected justice of the peace, which duty he attended for years, besides occasional pettifoging suits. He was also appointed agent for the Michigan Central Eailroad, which position he held four or five years. During this time he married Miss Sarah Ann Sweeney; he then moved to Detroit and kept the Michigan Central Eating House in the depot for the accommodation of passengers. He then went into company with a man by the name of Hiram McKaint, in a general assortment for a country store, which they were to start at Lower Saginaw, now Bay City. They purchased their stock and started for Lower Saginaw, where they arrived the 20th of December, 1849.