Pioneer history of Ingham County, compiled and arranged by Mrs. Franc L. Adams, secretary of the Ingham County pioneer and historical society.

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PIONEER HISTORY OF INGHAM COUNTY

after the boys. The only thing that saved them was one of the
cubs squealed and the mother turned around and the boys got
away. Another time Mr. Meech came to our place and having
to make the trip home through the woods after dark, got lost and
had to camp in the woods. Mrs. Meech, at home in the shanty,
was besieged by wolves and had to climb up in the loft to escape
as there was no door except a blanket one. My grandmother,
who came to our home in 1839, went through the woods to Mr.
Rosencrans, got lost and had to lie out all night in the woods.
When found the next day by my father, the fright and exposureit was in the month of November-had unsettled her mind and
she never fully recovered the same. When I was about six years
old I had a tame deer. It stayed close to the shanty at night,
but one night a band of wolves chased it away and killed it.
One day at the noon hour a black bear came to the hog pen and
stole a hog and carried it off in the woods where it killed and ate it.
Indians were quite numerous in the township and camped near
us in the summer months. They did not remain long in one place
but, like the gypsies, roved from one place to another. I never
was afraid of them or considered them dangerous. They were in
my opinion a lazy, shiftless people. If they could swap (wascos)
deer meat for (napanee) flour or (scuda waboo) whiskey they were
satisfied. I may say more about them in my next paper.
When the Grand river turnpike was cut through from Detroit
to Lansing in the winter of 1842-3 it gave the pioneers more of an
outlook in the outside world.
The nearest post office in 1837 for my people was Ann Arbor,
forty miles away. My father heard that he had a letter there in
the winter of 1839, but it was not delivered until spring. When
he went after his letter he carried a cake of maple sugar that he
sold to pay the postage (twenty-five cents) on the same. The
post office had no stamps in those days and the postage was
written on the outside of the letter as follows:
Mrs. Orren Dana. (New York)
Ann Arbor, 25 cents postage.
Mich.
On the back of the envelope was a red wafer or seal to seal it
together.
Our first school in 1848 was taught by a girl for seventy-five