We were soon settled in a comfortable house left by the Mormons. The
houses as a rule were placed close together in groups of three. Their
yards were nicely laid out and filled with handsome flowers, which were
now in bloom. When we reached there houses were plenty and we could take
our choice. Mr. C. R. Wright and family had returned to the island,
starting a large cooper shop and employing a number of workmen. Mr.
James Moore and family, T. D. Smith and family, and many others who had
left in 1852 had now returned. Mr. James Cable had taken possession of
his property at the head of the island and was again in business. Mr.
Peter McKinley had returned and was in business across the harbor on the
opposite side from the point at what was called the "Gregg property."
Mr. McKinley had been elected to the State Legislature at Lansing, so
did not return to the island until late in the fall. His brother
Morrison taking charge of the business. Peter McKinley was first cousin
to William McKinley, our late President of the United States.
There was a very comfortable school house, built by the Mormons. It was
a frame building containing a large library of fine books which belonged
to the King. There were books of Greek and Latin, with histories and law
books. Our school was taught that winter by Mr. Isaac Wright from
Illinois. The Mormons had always had good schools, as the king wanted to
have his subjects educated, but would not allow them to go outside to be
educated. The teachers being their own people.
About a mile back from the shore on high, level land was Mr. Campbell's
farm. This was a beautiful location on the south side of the harbor.
This family had remained when the Mormons had left. They were glad to be
left in peace and had become tired of Strang's rule. They were my
neighbors for many years and proved themselves kind and true friends.
Mrs. Campbell had been one of Strang's greatest enemies in preventing
his enforcing the laws of polygamy. She carried her family Bible to the
temple, and there with many other women read God's laws from its pages
faster than the king could explain it in his way. She told me all this
herself, and said many times when she started for the temple it was with
fear and trembling, not knowing sometimes whether she would ever return
to her home.
She knew she was defying the King, and no one at the time could tell
what the outcome might be, adding, "But we knew we were right and were
fighting for our homes. We kept agitating and gained time. Strang began
to find his power was not absolute. We women banded ourselves together
and fought him with words so strong he had to stop to consider where he
stood. Before it was settled the king was shot."
DR. McCULLOCH'S RESIDENCE.
At the harbor side, or St. James, was quite a village. Two docks, two
stores, with the two hotels and two or three boarding houses; further
around the bay was the old Mormon boarding house building that had been
run by the Mormon with four wives. It was built of logs smooth on both
sides. Mr. C. R. Wright converted that building into a large cooper
shop. There were about twenty houses back along the hill, reaching along
past the temple and Strang's cottage, with several more in the other
direction around the bay toward the point. Just back a short distance
from the street just opposite the dock stood what was called "Dr.
McCulloch's residence." A very pretty gothic story and a half cottage.
It was painted white with a white picket fence around it. Dr. McCulloch
was the Mormon doctor from Baltimore. A fine physician. Coming to the
island just to rest, he gained his health and liked the climate so well
he settled there. His wife was a highly cultured lady. While not wholly
Mormons, they were just enough so as to live peaceably with the King.
Mrs. McCulloch was the leader in much of their amusements, and she often
ridiculed Strang about his way of living and insisting upon the women
wearing short hair and bloomer costumes. She always wore her dresses
long when going on her annual trips home to Baltimore. But when on the
island she wore the regulation short dress, as she said, "Just for
fun."
The year we returned, in 1857, a Mr. Burke, a merchant from Buffalo,
N. Y., had been that summer at the island with a stock of goods, leaving
in the fall, selling his goods to Mr. George R. Peckham, of Toledo, Ohio,
who carried on the business a few years alone, after which C. R. Wright
went partner with him; then for a number of years the firm of Peckham &
Wright was known. Later George Peckham sold his interest to Mr. Wright,
and then the firm was known as C. R. Wright & Son. The business grew, as
thousands of barrels of fish were caught and shipped every season. It
soon became equal to the fish market at Mackinac Island, it being nearer
to most of the fishing grounds. In a few years the property at the point
was bought by the firm of Dormer & Allen, of Buffalo, N. Y. A large
store and warehouse was built, with the dock improved, and the business
was carried on at the point with success by that firm for a number of
years.