Written and read by E. Lakin Brown.
_Ladies of the Association_:
At the urgent request of your committee, but with much fear of failure
of any good result, I have consented to write a brief article upon the
early history of Schoolcraft, and the character and peculiarities of its
first settlers; and by Schoolcraft, I mean not merely the village, but
the township; or rather, Prairie Ronde and Gourdneck prairies. And
first, of who constituted the Vermont colony, who first came to
Schoolcraft, and how they happened to come here; and I fear this will
necessarily be too brief and sketchy to be interesting, and too long for
the occasion.
In the winter of 1829-30, I was teaching the district school in
Cavendish, Vt., where my brother-in-law, James Smith, Jr., resided. I
was to be 21 years old in the spring, and a life to be spent upon a
hard, rough farm in the mountainous town of Plymouth, where my father
lived, with a large family of boys and girls, did not seem to me to
offer very attractive prospects.
My father's brother, Daniel Brown, had removed with his family to the
state of New York when I was about four years old, and after various
chances and changes, had finally settled at Ann Arbor, Mich., one of the
very earliest settlers of that place. Occasional letters from him had
set forth in glowing colors the beauty and advantages of that place and
vicinity, and in casting about as to what I should do when "of age," I
decided that I would go to Michigan as soon as the Erie canal should be
open in the spring. I communicated my intention to Smith, and before my
school was finished he too, declared his intention of going. When I went
home in the spring, I met Hosea B. Huston, a young man who had grown up,
a near neighbor of ours, in the family of one John Lakin, and who had
not, so far as I know, a living relative in the world. He too, had just
finished teaching a winter's school, and learning my intentions, decided
at once to become a third member of the party to Michigan. We left on
the 18th of April, 1830, our destination Ann Arbor, Michigan. Anything
beyond that was an unknown land. Of the incidents of our journey, though
tedious and somewhat eventful, this is not the time nor the occasion to
relate them. It is only important to say that on arriving at Buffalo,
where we were aware that Mr. Thaddeus Smith was then living, we stopped
and looked him up, and remained with him and family two days. Thaddeus
Smith was not a relative of the Smith family of Cavendish, Vt., but a
neighbor and intimate friend of theirs, and his wife was a cousin of
mine, and of course, of my sister Mrs. James Smith. The year before, in
1829, Thaddeus had made a trip to Michigan, looking for a place to
locate, and had come to Prairie Ronde, where he found a few settlers,
Bazel Harrison and family, who had come to the prairie in the fall of
1828, and several who had come the next year. He described Prairie Ronde
in glowing terms, said it was the garden of the world, and we must on no
account fail to go there. We arrived at Ann Arbor about the 12th of May,
and after a stay of a few days, Smith and Huston started for Prairie
Ronde, by way of Tecumseh and White Pigeon, known as the Chicago Trail,
the more direct route through Jackson and Calhoun counties not having
yet been opened. They bought a pony and "rode and tied," that is, one
rode on ahead as far as he thought proper, then dismounted and tied the
horse to a tree to be taken in turn by the man on foot when he came up.
Arriving at Prairie Ronde, they came to the east side of the "Big
Island" as the settlers called it. There the only settler was a man by
the name of LaRue, who had squatted and made a pre-emption claim on the
80 acre lot which was afterwards laid out as the village of Schoolcraft.
He had built and lived in a little cabin which stood for some years just
west of the dwelling built and occupied by Col. Daniels, and afterwards
by Judge Dyckman. Smith at once decided that the land on the east side
of the Island, being a central point on the prairie was the best point
for locating a business establishment, and determined to start a store
there. So he bargained with LaRue for his claim, and further, for the
erection of a log cabin that would serve for a store, to be done by the
time he could go to New York, buy goods and get them here. He paid him
ten dollars, and was to pay him fifty more when he took possession.
Smith and Huston then returned to Ann Arbor; Smith was to go to New York
and buy a few goods, and Huston to remain a while at Ann Arbor and then
come back to Prairie Ronde and take charge of the trade under the firm
name of Smith & Huston. Smith started for New York, and I for Vermont.
On arriving at Buffalo we again called on Thaddeus Smith, and it was
agreed upon that when the goods arrived at Buffalo, he and his family
should go on the vessel with them as far as Detroit, and thence across
the country to Prairie Ronde, Thaddeus to be a partner in the concern.
I went to Vermont and remained until October 1831, when I again started
for Michigan. Arriving at Ann Arbor, there was no public conveyance
farther west; and my uncle said that he wished to see the western part
of the territory, and he would go out with me. With an old Indian pony
and a light wagon, and a box of provisions we started, only one of us
riding at a time, by way of Jackson, Marshall and Battle Creek, in each
of which places there was a log cabin or two, the road being a mere
trail from Ann Arbor to Bronson, now Kalamazoo, and not a bridge in the
whole distance. At Bronson where we arrived just at sunset on November
5, having left Ann Arbor on the last day of October, there were four log
cabins, one of which was occupied by Titus Bronson, the proprietor of
the future village, where the county seat had already been located.
There was also a small two story framed store, which Smith, Huston & Co.
had built in the summer of that year and supplied with goods from the
store at Schoolcraft, Huston taking charge of the same. Leaving my uncle
at Bronson's where Huston boarded, Huston and I took horses and rode to
Prairie Ronde where we arrived about 9 o'clock at night, at the log
cabin which served as both store and dwelling for the Big Island branch
of the business. My uncle came the next day, and on the day after left
for his home. In giving this detail of my own story till my return to
Michigan, I have necessarily delayed giving the fortunes of the Big
Island venture. The goods sent by James Smith, arrived in due time by
canal at Buffalo, and were there transferred to a schooner for St.
Joseph. Thaddeus Smith, his wife and son Henry P. took the same schooner
as far as Detroit, and from there took the Southern or Chicago road to
White Pigeon, and thence to Prairie Ronde. Huston reached Prairie Ronde
about the same time from Ann Arbor. There they learned that LaRue,
instead of building a cabin on his claim as he had agreed, had re-sold
his claim to a man named Bond, and run away; so there was no place to
store the goods when they should arrive nor a place for the family to
live. It was finally arranged that they should have the occupancy of
one-half the little cabin of Abner Calhoon, on the west side of the
Prairie for the winter and put up one of their own on the east side of
the Island in the spring. Early in the spring this was done. A pretty
large log building was erected just west of where my son Addison now
lives, and the family and goods were removed to it. In May, James Smith
again came from Vermont, accompanied by his brother Addison, who had
some cash capital which he invested in the concern, and became a member
of the firm of Smith, Huston & Co. and was to remain in charge of the
business, while Huston was to go to Bronson, and build a store there--a
branch of the business at the Big Island; James Smith going immediately
to New York to purchase a stock of goods to supply both stores. This was
the condition of things when I arrived at the Big Island store November
5, of that year as I have already related. And from that very day the
terms Prairie Ronde and Big Island were dropped as signifying the place
of business here, and the name Schoolcraft was used.
Lucius Lyon, a well known government land surveyor, and afterwards one
of the first two senators elected to the U. S. senate from the new state
of Michigan, had purchased of Mr. Christopher Bair, one of the early
settlers on the west side of the prairie, the E. 1/2 of the N. W. 1/4 of
Sec. 19, and had also become the owner of the E. 1/2 of the S. W. 1/4 of
Sec. 18. in this township, and through his agent, Dr. David E. Brown,
proceeded to lay out a village, embracing the whole of the last
description, and a tier of lots on the north end of the first one.
Stephen Vickery, surveyor, Dr. Brown, in honor of the Indian agent and
explorer in the north-west, Henry R. Schoolcraft, a friend of Lyon's
named it Schoolcraft. The survey of the village was finished on the day
I arrived here. The inhabitants of the village on that day consisted of
the inmates of the log store and dwelling above mentioned, namely,
Thaddeus and Eliza Smith and their children Henry P., aged 5 years, and
Helen, aged six weeks; Mary A. Parker, sister of Mrs. Smith, who came in
the summer preceding, J. A. Smith, and a young man from New Hampshire,
Edwin M. Fogg, a cabinet maker, who built a shop, occupied for many
years for the purpose for which it was built, and afterwards for a
dwelling, and recently known as the Strew house. The frame of this shop
was also raised the day I arrived. Such was the genesis, birth, and
first year of the village of Schoolcraft. It is said that the postscript
of a lady's letter is usually longer than the body of it. On the
contrary, the preface of this article has been longer than all that will
follow it. I could not make it shorter and tell you clearly how the
village got born. And here I am strongly tempted to leave it. The
program which I indicated at starting frightens me. In a brief
continuation, however, I will say that in the following winter I
purchased the interest of Thaddeus Smith in the concern and took his
place as a member of the firm of Smith, Huston & Co.--that on the
arrival for permanent settlement here of James Smith, a settlement and
dissolution of the firm was made, Huston taking the property at Bronson,
and a new firm formed at Schoolcraft, consisting of James and J. A.
Smith and myself, under the firm name of J. and J. A. Smith & Co., which
continued in business until January 1, 1836. When I arrived in
Schoolcraft, the old firm had commenced the framing of the timbers for a
large hotel, which was finished the next summer by the new firm, and Mr.
Johnson Patrick was installed as landlord. His administration of affairs
was not a success. After about two years occupancy he left the hotel,
which was soon after taken by Mr. John Dix, from Cavendish, Vt., and it
became a popular and profitable hostelry till he left it at the close of
the year 1837. In the summer of 1833, J. and J. A. Smith & Co. built and
occupied a very convenient store-house on the south-west corner of
Center and Eliza streets which was occupied by James Smith after the
dissolution of the firm. So far I have related, briefly as I could, the
history of the transactions of these parties, because I could not give
an account of the origin and early history of the village otherwise, as
they were the origin and main factors in most that was done in the
village for some years. I had intended to go farther, and give some of
the leading events in the history of the village, mentioning some of the
most noted persons who settled not only in the village, but on the
prairies--Prairie Ronde and Gourdneck--with some of their
characteristics, enlivened with anecdote and story. But this article is
already too long for the occasion, and I am appalled at the difficulties
of what I had undertaken. At the great age of 89 years, with many
infirmities, I find it difficult and painful to remember and compose and
write for any considerable time. With the exception of my three sisters,
Mrs. Pamela S. Thomas, who came in 1833, Mrs. Lephia O. Brown who came
in 1834, and Mrs. Sally E. Dix, who came in 1835, I know of but a single
person, man or woman who came to the village or either prairie as early
as the latter date, and who had reached maturity at that time, who is
now living. The exception is Abner Burson. And the exceptions are very
few of those who came before 1840. I know of but one or two, Justin
Cooper, of this village being one.
Ladies, excuse me for what I have so imperfectly done as well as for
what I have not done at all.