History of Saginaw county, Michigan; together with ... portraits ... and biographies ... History of Michigan ...

184

HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY.

that time some of the children were quite small. She had known
'better times', as they say. My father had been the owner of a
handsome estate near Albany, and the home over which my mother
presided was as delightful as any which at that early day
graced the banks of the noble Hudson. It was a fate that a
mother's heart could not easily bear,-to see that beautiful home
sold to satisfy the debts of a New York broker, for whom my father had undersigned; to see the toils of a life-time brought to
ruin; to see the hopes of the future all struck down by one rude
and cruel blow, and to turn her face and steps toward the great
wilderness of the West, there to seek, with such strength as may
be left, to partially retrieve the fortunes that had been so suddenly
wasted to redeem another's name and obligations. Hard, hard
indeed, was it for her when the darkness of that memorable
night surrounded her in the great forests, and she wept because
there was no roof to shelter her from the weather!
'"The next morning we all went to work and on the second day
we had quite a comfortable shanty to live in. We then began the
construction of a log house, which we soon finished,when we took
down our shanty and moved into the house, where we lived many
years. Our first year's crop was excellent. The second year we
sold 1,000 bushels of corn to the American Fur Co., to be taken
to Lake Superior for the Indians. The only draw-back we had
was in converting our grain into flour. A grist-mill had been
built at the Thread, one and a half miles south of Flint. We had
to take our grain in a canoe up the river some 35.miles,
and then get it drawn to the mill and back to the river, and then
come down the river home. It usually took us four days to go to
mill and back, camping out every night, and the hardest kind of
work at that. This work always fell on my brother James and
myself; for, though a boy, I could steer a canoe, and my brother
could tow it over the rapids with a rope. Our feet used to get
very sore walking in the water so much. When winter came on
it was impossible to go to the mill, as there was no road. So in
the winter evenings, we all took turns pounding corn in a mortar
made in the end of a log of wood, sawed about three feet long,
with a hole in one end to pound corn in, and similar to what the
Indians used for the same purpose in those days.
"Many of the old settlers of Saginaw will recollect how in
coming down the river they would make calculations to reach our
house to stay all night, without camping out, and how happy they
were when they got there., for at that time it was the only place
between Flint and Saginaw where they could stay without camping out.
"There was nothing but a trail, or bush road, between Flint and
Saginaw, and part of the year it was impassable, and especially
for ladies; consequently most of the travel went up and down the
river in canoes and skiffs.
"In 1835, my father went back to Albany, his native place, and
was 11 days in reaching his destination. He considered it a