History of Ottawa County, Michigan with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers.

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HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.

ICHIGAN derives its name from the Indian words,"itch~i
ASawgyegan," the meaning of which is the " Great Lake," or
"Lake Country," a name peculiarly appropriate from the position it
occupies; having Lake Superior for its northern boundary, Lakes
Erie, St. Clair, and Huron on the east, and Lake Michigan on the
west. The extent of its domains is 57,430 square miles.
Previous to the year 1641, the territory now embraced within
the limits of the State, was inhabited only by the red man, though
Detroit, as far back as the year 1620, then an Indian village, was
the resort of the French missionaries. In 1639, a plan for the establishment of missions in "( New France " was formed; but as the
French, in consequence of the hostility of the Mohawks, were excluded from the navigation of the waters of Lakes Ontario and Erie,
their only avenue to the West was the Ottawa River, through which,
in the year 1641, the first bark canoe, laden with French Jesuits,
was paddled to the Falls of St. Mary, which they reached after a
navigation of seventeen days. Charles Raymbault, the first missionary to the tribes of Michigan, returned in the year 1642 to
Quebec in consequence of declining health. Thus, at this early
period, the French advanced their missionary posts beyond the
shores of Lake Huron, and to the outlet of Lake Superior.
The first settlement commenced by Europeans within the bounldaries of Michigan, was the mission of St. Mary, which was established in the year 1668, by Allouez Claude Dablon, and James
Marquette. In May 1671 a Congress of French soldiers and
chiefs from fourteen of the Indian tribes of the Northwest, was convened at the Falls of St. Mary, called by Nicholas Perrott, an agent
of the French government, at which time and place, a cross and
cedar post, bearing upon a shield the French lilies, was raised,the lands formally taken possession of by 1f. de Lusson, and the
savages were informed that they were under thle protection of the
French King.
The death of Marquette, on the 18th day of May, 1675, is
thus recorded by Bancroft: " In sailing from Chicago to Mackinac,
he entered a little river in Michigan; erecting an altar, he said mass,
after the rites of the Catholic church; then begging the men who
conducted his canoe to leave him alone for half an hour,
' In the darkling wood,
Amid the cool and silence, he knelt down. And offered to the Mightiest, solemn thanks
And supplications.'
At the end of half an hour they went to seek him and he was no
more. The good missionary, discoverer of a world, had fallen
asleep on the margin of the stream that bears his name. Near
the mouth, the voyagers dug his grave in the sand."
Michilimackinack (now written Mackinac or Mackinaw) was
one of the oldest forts erected. Its foundation was laid in the year
1671, by Father Marquette, who induced a party of Hurons to make
a settlement at that place, as a nucleus for a future colony. At that
period, no permanent settlement had been made at Detroit, as the
French had a more direct and safer route to the upper lakes,

from Montreal to Michilimackinac, through the Ottawa or Grand
River. The pest of Detroit was regarded alike by the French and
English, as a valua.ble point, and both nations were considering
measures for its acquisition. A grand council was called, which
convened at Montreal, and was composed of chiefs of the various
tribes, from the St. Lawrence to the Mississippi, the Governor general of Canada, and the most prominent seigneurs of the country.
The council is described by French historians, as the most numerous
and imposing assemblage ever collected around one council fire. In
the mnnth of June, 1701, Mons. Antoine de la Motte Cadillac, under
a commission from Louis XIV., left Montreal in company with a
hundred men and a Jesuit missionary, with all the necessary means
for the establishment of a colony, and reached Detroit in the month
of July.
Here, then, commenses the history of Detroit, and with it
the history of the Peninsula of Michigan. How numerous and
diversified are the incidents compressed;within the period of its existence! No place in the United States presents such a series of
events, interesting in themselves, and permanently affecting, as they
occurred, its progress and prosperity. Five times its flag has
changed, three different sovereignties have claimed its allegiance, and
since it has been held by the United States, its government has
been thrice transferred; twice it has been besieged by the Indians,
once captured in war, and once burned to the ground.
On the 13th of September, 1759, a battle occurred between the
French under Gen. Montcalm and the British army under Gen.
Wolfe, on the banks of the St. Lawrence, resulting in the defeat of
the former, and the capitulation of Quebec on the 18th, to Gen.
Murray, who was successor to Gen. Wolfe, who fell in the engagement; and on the 8th of September, 1760, the French surrendered
to the crown of England, Detroit, Michilimackinac, and all other
places within the government of Canada then remaininfg in the possession of France. This action was ratified by the 1"Treaty of
Paris," February 10th, 1763.
In the year 1772 silver was discovered upon the shore of Lake
Huron, by a Russian named Norburg.
In 1773 a project was commenced for working the copper mines
of Lake Superior, and a company was formed for that purpose,
under a charter granted in England.
The struggle for independence under the American Revolution
was enacted without the bounds of Michigan. The people of Canada, within which Michigan was then included, were removed from
the immediate causes of the war. The result of the Revolution was
the recognition of our independence.
By the " treaty of peace " made at Versailles in 1783, between
Great Britain and the United States, it was claimed that Michigan
was within American bounds, but minor questions sprung up between the two governments, producing mutual dissatisfaction; and
when President Washington sent Baron Steuben to Quebec to make
arrangements for the transfer of the Northwestern forts, he was
informed by Sir Frederick Haldimand that the surrender of the

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