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

LESLIE TOWNSHIP AND ITS HISTORY

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mitted the theft and gave up the articles, but was warned never
to come near the camp again or he would be burned at the stake.
To show their friendship to the good boys, the Indians made
each a bow and arrow for himself, and peace was restored.
Among the Indians best known in Ingham county was Chief
Okemos; he was a good Indian when sober, but a bad one when
drunk. His trails through Ingham county are still remembered,
and may some day be marked.
Bateese, or Batiste, the trader, was at the head of a small band
of Indians in the northeast part of Jackson county, and lived near
the lake which bears his name, and was well known in the southern part of Ingham county, where were many early settlers who
traded with him. He was not a full-blooded Indian, but had
French blood in his veins. He was a trader, with several daughters but no sons. His wife and daughters were often seen in the
richest of silks and were the envy of many. One daughter married a Frenchman named Beaureaus, and it is said that Batiste
Beaureaus traded with settlers in Michigan as far back as 1815.
He not only had a large log store, where he kept a big supply of
goods, but a farm where he raised much farm produce. Batiste
and his wife are buried on top of the hill in the Miner cemetery
just over the line in Jackson county, and it is said his wife was
buried with much fine jewelry upon her body.
Among the early pioneers in Bunkerhill was John Vicary, who
came from Devonshire, England, when what is now farm country
was unbroken forest with only a footpath trod by the Indians.
He wrote back to his family in England, "Boys, hurry up as fast
as you can. I've got a farm for each of you, with just enough
stone to stone up a well and build a stone fence."
This saying was handed down in the family, and the son William
had the stone well on his farm, and James the stone fence as foretold by the father.
Many a time have the Indians entered the log house of William
Vicary in the night and laid down on the floor by the open fireplace, close to the trundle bed in which slept the two little girls,
Sara and Laura V. Vicary, the latter Mrs. Arthur Holling, of
Leslie. The Indians called the little girls "pretty papooses," and